Here it finally is! The last chapter! Phew!

Mindgames
Part 10

Lex had been studiously ignoring his father to the best of his ability for the last twenty minutes. Lionel had deemed it necessary to spring yet another surprise visit on his only son, as always hoping to catch him out and as always, failing. Even a day after being held hostage at the whim of a so called madman, Lex had everything spick and span.

His desk was repaired, the pool table once again up upright with the balls in their proper places, the whole room was restored to its original grandeur. Indeed, anyone unaware of the events of the day before would not suspect a thing.

Lionel knew far too well of the events of the day before, and Lex more than suspected this was the real reason for his visit than just 'catching up' and 'making sure everything is working in order' as the elder Luthor had claimed.

So far all Lionel had talked of was stocks and shares, business and Metropolis and bank accounts. So far Lex had supplied the occasional "I'm sure" and "uh-huh" to create the impression he was listening intently, but at the same time extremely bored.

He pulled it off spectacularly, he could tell because his father's efforts at conversation were becoming clipped and few and far between. Finally Lionel turned from admiring, actually inspecting would be a better word, the suit of armour guarding the door and paced across the room to his son.

"Son, I know you're angry about what happened-"

Lex looked up, a coldness in his eyes. "Angry doesn't express the half of it." He said plainly. And it was true. He didn't know what he'd been feeling for the last 24 hours, overwhelming sadness, anger, bitterness were just how a few of the emotions could be described as, but the rest was a blank nothing that Lex didn't know how to swim up out of.

The corner of Lionel's mouth twitched of its own accord, the way it did when he was stopping himself from doing something rash, like choking the life out of his son for all he was worth. Instead he frowned and looked away.

"I did everything I could to prevent it, Lex. Now it's up to the authorities what happens to Mr. Asidian." By 'authorities' he of course meant LuthorCorp.

"Actually, it's up to LexCorp what happens to Aaron now." Lex corrected. and his father's gaze snapped back to lock onto his eyes. Lex leaned forward, interlacing his fingers on the desk. "He is in a top security cell in Metropolis. He'll be receiving specialised treatment and by the end of the month a group of experts will assess his condition. If all's well he will be released and his sister returned to him, after serving the appropriate length of time in prison, of course."

Lionel performed his trademark low chuckle he always did when he was surprised. He leaned back into the expensive leather chair, never taking his eyes off his son's satisfied face. "Lex, what kind of game are you trying to play? Aaron is unbalanced, a month's worth of treatment won't cure anything. He tried to kill you, son!"

Lex nodded patronisingly, smiling. "And he would have succeeded if it hadn't been for your unwavering loyalty, Dad." Without waiting for a reply, he picked up his cell phone and started tapping in numbers, spinning his chair around to his computer. His back turned and the topic clearly closed, he said, "I'll see you at the conference. Drive safely."

Lionel sat there for a moment, bristling silently, until Lex began to speak on the phone, a blatant signal for him to get out. He did so, a sneer of irritation twisting his face as he slammed the door behind him.

A few minutes passed after Lionel left, then Lex warily looked around at the door. It was closed, his father gone.

Breathing a small sigh of relief, he leaned his head back and pinched the bridge of his nose.

Abruptly he snapped up his cell phone again and held it to his ear. "Dr. Mason. I have… an addition… to the room that you might want to take a look at."

He clapped the cell shut and withdrew from the drawer the length of thick, orange rope that had bound him to that chair for hours upon hours yesterday. The ends were strangely frayed.

---

"I saw what you did."

Chloe's voice was sudden, unexpected, and Clark froze in the process of extracting contraband from his bag. His eyes slowly travelled up to hers. He licked his lips, mouth suddenly very dry.

"What?" He said sharply.

"I saw what happened with Mike." She confirmed, and Clark felt his stomach plunge through the floor as if a lead weight had been dropped into it from a great height. "I was awake, and I could see you, but there were visions overlapping the room at the same time… it's a little fuzzy now… there was a knife…" She frowned intensely, remembering seeing her mother one moment and shards of metal from the knife showering down on the room superimposed a second later.

Clark fumbled with the bag uneasily, breaking eye contact, and said with a forced offhand manner, "Must've been another hallucination."

"Uh-huh." Chloe said in a non-commital manner.

Clark straightened up and cheerfully offered her her homework. Chloe's heart sank and her face fell but not for the reasons she told to Clark.

She put effort into a groan about the homework, pretending she'd bought his explanation and had by now forgotten all about it. If only he knew. She slumped further into her pillow. "I wish I'd never asked for it."

Clark grinned nervously and pulled out the flowers from behind his back. "Then perhaps this'll make up for it." He offered, and a bright smile lit up his best friend's face.

Chloe took them reverently, glancing up at him to show her thanks.

"I thought red roses would be too much of a cliché." Clark shrugged self-consciously, and Chloe stared at him.

"Roses?" She repeated softly, hardly daring to believe it.

He smiled awkwardly, his eyes looking at anywhere but her and a blush rising in his cheeks. "Yeah." He replied, equally softly.

His eyes darted back up to hers to find they were sparkling with disbelief and happiness. Clark's hand crept across the bed and found hers, never breaking eye contact.

"You mean…?" Chloe didn't want to jump head first into a relationship only to find Clark didn't mean what she thought. That would be so embarrassing she was sure she'd dig herself a hole out in the woods and never show her face to the light of day again.

"Yeah." He said again. "I mean, if you feel the same way…?" He added, seeing the look of disbelief on Chloe's face and feeling another lead weight drop into his stomach, pulling his confidence down with it.

Chloe simply nodded hesitantly, hardly daring to believe it was true. "Ok. We can take it slow, right?"

"Right." He confirmed. They smiled at each other for a few seconds then she suddenly looked away, pulling her hand sharply from Clark's as if it burned. His smile faded and he withdrew his hand.

"I'm sorry… its just…" Tears sprung to her eyes and she took a deep but shaky breath, trying to stem the flow. "It's just… I'm not sure… if either of us are ready for this…"

Clark frowned. "You know, usually when girls say that it means they don't like you but don't like to say so."

Chloe smiled in spite of herself and shook her head. "No, no, it's not that… it's… I've done some things I'm not too proud of… and there's Lana."

Her voice shook on the last word. The tears won the battle and they overflowed down her cheeks, leaving wet trails of uncertainty. Clark shuffled closer to the bed and gently wiped away a few droplets with his thumb. Then he swallowed.

"Look, I won't lie to you Chloe, Lana will always be there. I can't just flip a switch and suddenly those feelings for her will be gone, but I like to think my feelings for you are stronger. You've always been there for me, supporting me, now I think it's time I'm there for you too."

During his little speech Chloe's face had been cheering up somewhat, reassured by his candid words, but at the last sentence she crumbled and a flood of tears streamed down her cheeks.

"Chloe, I'm sorry - was it something I said?" Clark said, bewildered as she reached for the tissue box on her bedside table and blew her nose.

"No." She said, sounding nasal. She sniffed loudly, pulling herself together. After a few minutes she turned her gaze to Clark with wet eyes.

"No, it's just… it's just I've been feeling a little emotional lately… with all the drugs they've been pumping into my system I'm not surprised!" She offered a small smile, missing out the part about the sleepless nights. The little sleep she had gleaned was full of overflowing joy, visions of her mother alive and well and making toast as if she'd never been gone, her father wrapping Chloe and her Mum in a hug, Clark gazing lovingly into her eyes beneath the stars…

The happy images never lasted. Far too soon for Chloe's liking the dreams shifted, her mother's cold face turning blue as she lay in her coffin, her father drunk and depressed moping around the house and shouting abuse, Clark rejecting her, the love in his eyes turning to disgust at her, a burning hatred.

"Chloe?" She realised she'd been staring into space for the last few minutes and snapped herself out of it. Clark's eyes were looking at her, full of concern and the promise of love.

She smiled a genuine smile as suddenly those fears seemed so far away.

"So do you have any idea why Aaron went after you?" Clark changed the topic, and her smile faded.

Hesitating, she debated between telling him the truth about her deal with Lionel and risk her nightmare becoming a reality, or keeping it to herself - a secret. It wasn't like Clark didn't have any of those, she thought reasonably, playing with the corner of her blanket. No, some secrets are better kept, she decided, besides, what does it matter anyway?

She glanced back up at Clark, opening her mouth to deny any knowledge, but no sound came out. She looked at him, so sweet and innocent. How could she shatter such trust in her? How could she show him the truth of her deception?

Tears once more welling in her eyes, she turned her head away, under the pretence of leaning over and delicately arranging the flowers in an empty vase, and slowly shook her head no.

Clark tilted his head curiously, his instincts telling him to press her for more but his heart telling him to let her come to him in her own time. For once he decided to follow his heart. He sighed quietly and stood up.

"I'll see you tomorrow morning, ok? You get some rest." He leaned down and pecked her on the cheek, wanting to kiss her on the lips but feeling that would be too forward. They'd decided to take it slow, after all.

Chloe gave him a half hearted smile, her heart breaking in two as he grinned at her brightly and slung his bag over his shoulder before exiting the room, leaving her one last lingering gaze.

She stared at the door long after he'd gone, sinking down into her fluffy pillow and letting the minutes turn to hours as her emotions warred with each other. She wanted to run and fling herself into his arms, to sob out every last painful detail. She knew his secret, she knew he'd been deceiving her. She knew his deceit could never compare to hers.

A single tear wound its way down the side of Chloe's face and soaked into her pillow. The clamminess of it on her cheek felt uncomfortable and she rolled over. As she did so, a bright shock of yellow caught her eye. The daffodils lay on the table in the empty vase, the once fresh green stems now shrivelled from hours out of water.

Fin

I hope you enjoyed, please tell me what you think, and thanks so much for all the reviews that kept coming, even though I kept you waiting so long! All I can say is I'm glad I've finally finished it, and I wanted to write a happy ending but it turned out like this. I've started writing the sequel which will hopefully have a happy ending, but I currently have a writer's block the size of Everest.Thanks again, and thanks to my beta katieishere if she's reading this :)