Chlexville
Season 1
Episode 12 : AWAY FROM ALL THE LEECHES
She really hoped that Lex was back from his trip to Metropolis. Chloe walked briskly through the corridors of the mansion and knocked rapidly on the door. When she heard his voice call out a terse, "Come in," she breathed a sigh of relief.
Chloe pushed open the door and walked inside. "Hey."
Lex Luthor's frown dissipated when he saw her. He closed the laptop and stood up at the sight of her. "You look terrified," he told her, taking in her harried appearance. Lex took her upper arms in his hands and pulled her to him. "What happened?"
Chloe bit her lip. "Remember Super Boy?"
"I distinctly remember having the maid run up to me with a copy of the Ledger right before I was leaving for Metropolis. Your first by-line in that paper," he said, smiling.
Chloe didn't smile back at him, which was a cause for concern. Lex tipped her face up so he could study her eyes. Whatever she was feeling, he could always read through the hazel orbs. "Well he hurt Clark. There was this huge fight in the parking lot today. It was so scary. The ambulance came," she narrated, "but I couldn't go with them. So I thought you'd want to know. I called you from school and you weren't home yet."
"I must have been on my way then."
"I was just so freaked."
Lex nodded. Chloe had generally always come to his place whenever something scared her. There weren't a lot of things that could do that, least of all mutants. Once, in the company picnic, Chloe had sat in the lawn watching him all day, saying nothing and not even approaching him. She had merely stayed within his vicinity. He had later found out that Mrs Sullivan had left her family just the day before. "Well I'm glad you came here. You know that nothing bad will ever touch you in this house."
He felt her nod against his chest. "Yes, you told me," she mumbled.
"And I meant it." Lex knew that he should check on Clark. "I'm going to drive to the hospital and see if Clark's alright."
"Okay."
"Would you like to stay here?"
"I should go home."
"You don't want to stay here alone, do you?"
Chloe pushed away from him and gave him a lopsided smile. "You think you can leave me here after what happened with invisible boy?"
"Well it's not going to happen again. Didn't I promise you that after I so dashingly rescued you?" At Chloe's arched brow, he sighed. "Fine. I'll drop you off before I go check on Clark. Thanks for telling me."
Her eyes wandered over to the laptop on his desk. "What were you working on? It looked important."
A shadow of a frown marred his features when she looked at the laptop. "That's the business I was taking care of in Metropolis."
"What's wrong, Lex?" He had mostly been unaffected when it came to deals and contracts. Chloe wondered what was different about this one. "Want to tell me about it?"
"God, no!" he burst out without thinking. And then he held her tight against him. "The last thing I want to do is to get you involved in this. Business is dirty, Chloe And I'm not just talking about the crap factory." He detected a hint of a smile come over her face. "I want to keep you out of that world as much as possible. Save the dirty dealings to women like Victoria."
"What makes her strong enough for that and me not?" Chloe demanded. "I'm one feisty woman!"
"I have no question about that," Lex agreed.
"So why can you talk business with her and not with me? I may be young but I'm intelligent enough to understand." After a minute, she added, "At least I think I am."
"You're more than smart enough," he assured her. "But I prefer to keep you out of that. When I go to Metropolis and deal with these things, I'm prepared to encounter schemes and manipulations. But I want to know that I can call you up or go home to someone unspoiled by all that shit. You'll be my lighthouse, okay?"
Through his speech, she met his gaze unwaveringly. When he finished, Chloe burst out giggling. "That was so lame!"
Lex chuckled too. "It was. But true."
"You mean like a ship at sea? And then you'll look for my light so you can find your way back to land?"
"Okay, yes, that was lame."
"See?" Chloe grinned at him and pulled him along with her out of the house. "Glad you recognized how high that speech was in the lameness meter." The two of them took their respective seats in the car. "Are you still researching the accident?" she asked suddenly.
"You'll be very interested in the results," he told her. He and Chloe shared the same passion for investigation, and in their conversations they always learned something new from the other. It was a little hobby they shared to spend time together. Still, he was never going to expose her to that sleazebag Nixon. "I'm just not sure why Clark is so against it. He says he's not hiding anything but his reaction to my pursuit of answers says otherwise. How about your Wall of Weird research?"
Her eyes widened in excitement. "Well I saw Super Boy's abilities first hand. I think we can add them to our notebook of Smallville oddities," she offered.
"Really? Like what?"
"Well, if you read my article, you'd know most of them," she pointed out.
"Most of them?"
She gave him a smug grin. "You didn't think I would tell all, did you? I kept some facts for myself."
"So I gathered from your article that he had impenetrable skin, incredible strength and superspeed."
Chloe nodded her head at each enumeration. "He had super hearing," she informed Lex. "I was talking to Pete and mentioned something to him. The next day, when he came up to me to thank me, he mentioned it."
"Interesting." Lex was a little disappointed when he pulled into the Sullivans' driveway. "Since you're in Super Boy's good side at the moment, then I know you'll be safe from him. But either way, be careful."
"Thanks for the ride." She stepped out of the car and was surprised when Lex slammed out of the driver side too. "You're walking me in?"
"I'm a gentleman," he told her teasingly.
Chloe opened the door and turned to Lex. "Well, you should go. Hopefully, you'll catch Clark before Mr. Kent carts him home." They stared at each other uncomfortably. "Ummm bye." Chloe waited for him to turn around and leave.
Lex leaned close and stared at her lips. His eyes flew to hers. He cleared his throat. "So go inside," he whispered.
Chloe licked her lips. "Ummhmm."
Lex rubbed the bridge of his nose and pecked her cheek. And then he spun around and made his way to his car.
"Lex!"
He stopped right as he was about to open the door. He looked back at her.
Chloe smiled. "You're my lighthouse too." Realizing the utter drama of that, she made a gagging gesture and blew him a kiss, which he caught with his hand.
"You couldn't leave it romantic, could you?" he called back.
Chloe rolled her eyes. "We don't need romance, Lex. We have heart."
Lex shook his head, chuckling, and got into the car. He waited until the front door of Chloe's house was closed before pressing his palm against his lips.
fin