PAST THE TEMPEST, INTO THE VORTEX
AN: Thanks to the Smallville Fan Fiction Resources for the short email
transcription from Tempest.
She adored the chic espresso machine that graced Lex's kitchen. That was the entire reason she always hung out in the manor. Chloe wondered if telling him that at this moment would cheer him up. She mulled over that for a moment before deciding to trash the idea. The joke wasn't cheering even her up, and she was just affected to the second degree. Lex was the one who was in hot, no, boiling water here.
Chloe poured two cups of the lovely smelling coffee and brought it with her to the table, where Lex was slumped, head in hands. "How are you doing?"
He looked up at her and managed a brief smile that quickly vanished. "It shows, doesn't it?"
"Terrible then, I take it." Chloe grinned a little to lighten the mood before settling on the chair beside him and taking his hand. "You're not alone."
"You're hiding it better than I am," he responded. Lex picked up the steaming cup and help it up to his nose, breathing in the scent that always reminded him of a golden-haired ten year old sipping the dark liquid in secret during grown-up affairs. She had blossomed so beautifully and settled into this new community, a town that was in such stark contrast to the fast-paced life she was used to in Metropolis, and now his problem with his father would uproot her yet again. "Chloe-"
"It's not your fault," she quickly interjected.
Lex sighed and sipped the hot espresso. "If it hadn't been for my stubbornness-"
"I would so hate you," she completed for him. "It's not you to just blindly follow what your dad tells you. If you suddenly turned into his robot, I wouldn't recognize you for the guy you are, Lex. And I would have hated it if you left me to be your dad's-what did he call it-special adviser to the chairman emeritus?"
"Impressive title, isn't it?"
"Translated roughly, that's spineless lackey, Lex."
He cringed at the stinging remark, although he knew it was not directed at him. He pitied the man who would try to take on the reigns with Chloe Sullivan present. She was a spitfire and she was remarkably lovely to be so caustic to specific people. "Right now the only available move for me if to go back to Metropolis and work for dad, get into his good graces and convince him to reopen the plant."
"Lex, I don't want us to go back to Metropolis in any semi-permanent basis!" she protested.
Lex smirked. He was aware that she was talking about returning with her father, but for the purposes of his delusion, he took it to mean that she and Lex would leave Smallville and move to Metropolis together. A man could dream.
Despondently, she took her reporter's notebook out of her bag and rifled through it until she reached a blank page. Chloe started scribbling some figures and tapping her pen on the wood. Lex would have found it irritating if another person were doing it. Because it was Chloe, he adjusted to the rhythm and let her noise soothe him into some sort of calm after the storm caused by his father's announcement.
"If only your father didn't own the plant, he wouldn't be so high and mighty about it," she commented.
He reacted so quickly to her words that he took his arm's support away before he even raised his head. Lex hit the table loudly and Chloe pushed her chair back and ran to him quickly. "Ouch," he mumbled, and looked up with a reddened forehead.
"Oh, Lex, that's nasty!" she gasped. Chloe reached to trace the soreness gingerly. "Poor Lex. It's like the entire world hates you today."
"Thanks for the pep talk, Chloe."
She giggled and pressed a small kiss on the hit. "I can't help it. That was like the stupidest way to get yourself injured!"
The soft brush of her lips, amazingly enough, made him forget about the throbbing pain for a few seconds. When it started again, it did not matter because he had just been kissed. "You'll love me when I tell you why." He caught himself a little at the end, when he remembered the exact extent of loving they can allow now. She was going out with Clark. There was no other perfect partner for Chloe.
"I already do," she told him cockily. "But please dispense the wisdom."
"It will take guts from my employees. And a lot of help. Trust too. It will be hard."
"I know how they look at you, Lex. At least I know very well how dad does, and he's like the bellweather, so don't worry about that. They will be behind you as long as you sound logical." She waited patiently as he seemed to be deep in thought. A few seconds later, she prodded, "Well are you going to tell or do I have to squeeze it out of you?"
Lex nodded and took a deep breath. "Here's the thing."
When he related his plan of the buyout and his generous offer to use the money that his mother had left to him, Chloe was speechless. She stood up and hugged him tightly. "You have to meet with them!"
"You think it will work?"
Chloe nodded vigorously. "Of course it will. It's sheer brilliance!"
"All right. I'll do it." Lex stood up from his chair. "I'll call Gabe right now."
"I wish I could be here to see your triumph," she said, hands clasped before her like a proud parent. "But I need to get to class. Call me when you're done?"
"I will. Thanks, Chloe."
"Good luck." She stepped closer to him, but miscalculated the distance so they stood so close, almost pressed together. Chloe bit her lip and looked up at him from beneath her lashes. "Ummm.. good luck. I know, if." She could smell his fragrance, almost feel his breath, this close to him. "If anyone can make something like this work, it's you. Lex." And he was so beautiful up close. "You can pull it off, Lex. I believe that."
Lex closed his eyes as her words washed over him like the much-needed balm they were. He sniffed her hair and leaned his head down to catch more that a whiff. "Chloe." His eyes fluttered open and he saw her lashes flickering. "Thank you."
She nodded. "Anything." That brief instant she forgot that she was going to Spring Formal with her hero Clark.
~~
[I].rebel, prompting Alexander to march on their city. Calmer heads do not prevail. Alexander seizes the "opportunity" to send a powerful statement to the rest of his empire. He and his armies kill six thousand Thebans, demolish the city, and sell the 30,000 survivors into slavery. Scorched earth, Lex. That was how Alexander the Great chose to inaugurate his reign at what my college history professor liked to call the first modern empire's birthplace. But that is only history. Now you have a choice between seizing the opportunity or fleeing from the danger. What you so will define your regime, as Alexander's actions defined his for generations to come.
I sincerely hope you will seize this "opportunity" to show your father and the business world -- as well as those of us who serve you -- an example of righteous and compassionate leadership. My family and I pray that you will.[/I]
Lex smiled slightly, allowing himself just a measure of comfort from his plant manager's thoughtful extension of support. From his conversations with the man, which ranged from his daughter's latest misadventure to the Pyrrhic victory that was every war the United States fought, the two of them had established a relationship that extended any normal working one. For all intents and purposes, Gabe became a father to him at the times when Lex would allow him to. This was such a time. While his own father was determined to destroy the identity and the life Lex had created for himself in Smallville, Gabe seemed to take it upon himself to back Lex's decision and show him that he respected the younger man's strength of character and ability to head the company.
He idly wondered how proud Gabe Sullivan would be if he learned that his proposal came about because of his own daughter. Lex held back the information, knowing for certain that if Gabe believed Chloe might have influenced Lex, he would withdraw his support. It would not be because he did not believe in Chloe, but because Gabe knew that Chloe too often got caught up in the moment.
Even though Gabe himself advised in his email that it would be the brash and bold moves that would allow him to defeat the enemy, it was a different thing if his own brazen daughter contributed to the plan of attack.
He was confident that he learned of Gabe's support. Just as Chloe had predicted, the rest of the leaders of the various unions of employees of the plant assented after learning of Gabe Sullivan's decision.
Lex wondered at his own self-respect when all it took for him to rethink his offer was his father's magnificent and repulsive entrance, veiled threats and a sheaf of paper that gave his father the Smallville Property and Loan. After his father walked out of his study, he immediately picked up the phone to call the one person he knew would be able to converse with him rationally until Lex was able to form another plan.
"Gabe," he said curtly into the receiver. "Tell me. Do you remember how it was that Philip of Macedonia paled in the annals of history? What was it that enabled Alexander to push past his father and establish his name and legacy throughout the world, while Philip's name soon became nothing but an appendage to the emperor?"
~~
Roger Nixon was haunting him. It was true what they said, that your old mistakes would come out as soon as you found peace and they would destroy you. Lex would not let Nixon take away the fragile happiness he had found in becoming friends with Clark Kent.
Months ago, Lex had spoken to Chloe about the man. He confessed to hiring the man to stop hounding him. Then he had told himself that to have the reporter trailing after him would expose those who were close to him to unpredictable types of publicity. He knew how the press would create stories, titillating yet untrue. He did not want to take a chance that one day he would wake up to a cover story about Clark being his illegitimate brother, Lana being a transvestite or Chloe being his underage bed partner. Chloe had giggled at first, told him that he had the most amazing imagination. Her reaction had lightened his guilt, and so he gave her another truth. He wanted Roger Nixon to investigate the accident.
Sobered by the heavier burden on his shoulders, Chloe had rationally explained to him that he did nothing wrong by hiring Nixon to dig deeper into a mystery that puzzled him too. "Lex, there is nothing wrong with asking. It's the root of all knowledge. I would be the last person to stone you for being curious, for needing to investigate."
He did not know when it got out of hand. All he wanted was to see Clark, ask him carefully phrased questions about the Spring Formal and advise him, as his friend, to make sure that Chloe had fun. When he found Clark, it was to see him being hounded by the same mistake that was snapping at Lex's tail now. And he was forced into another lie. He hoped that fixing his friend's tie would make up for the smallest deception. Lex certainly did not do it so that Clark's date would think him handsome.
When he came back to the manor on the night of the Spring Formal, Lex found himself stalking back and forth in his study. He was moody and irritated. The past few days have not been kind to him. As if the problem with the plant and Roger Nixon were not enough, it suddenly hit Lex how much of a milestone tonight would be for Chloe. Knowingly, he had sent her off with the boy she had been attracted to. This was one of those nights that a girl remembered until she died.
His eyes fell on the table and the missing metal octagon. Having found something to vent his frustration on, Lex tore the room apart searching for it. He went through his desk and threw the contents of the shelves into the floor in his mad hunt.
That was the state he was in when his father walked in. Lex was in no mood to parry his father's words with biting ones of his own. In retrospect, the content of his conversations with his father was the same as the ones he had with Gabe Sullivan. Now they argued about forging destinies and forfeiting futures, topics he had spoken about at length with Chloe's father. The harsh criticism Lex took with every one of Lionel's interjections worked to enrage him.
"I believe the words were 'Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war!'"
Lionel grabbed his son's face, pulling it close to his to spit the threat right where Lex was sure to register it. "I'll bury you and everyone in Smallville who takes your side!"
Outside, the weather built and the storm climbed in the same proportion as the argument between the two men inside the house. The glass windows exploded and sent the shattered pieces into the study, the force knocking both Luthor men down. Where the strong personalities of both failed, nature succeeded.
Lex staggered to his feet, his injured eye sending a blinding pain through his brain every once in a while. He looked down at his father who begged him for help. This was the man who just assured him that if he wished, he could make certain that Lex would be destroyed. What irked Lex the most was that in the same breath, although indirectly, Lionel had threatened both Chloe and Gabe. He had no idea how much of his life his father knew, but he would not put it past Lionel to know everything he shared with Chloe.
His mind worked quickly through the possible consequences of his decision at that moment. The glaring answer was that he could not allow his father to die while reasoning in his mind that he was doing it so that Chloe would not be hurt. He pulled his father to relative safety and called for an ambulance.
Unable to move from the floor, Lex was unable to pick up the phone when it rang several times. He heard the machine ask the caller to leave a message.
"Hey," the soft feminine voice came through the now quiet air of the study. Neither of the Luthor men moved. Lex listened. "There's a twister. I think. I think there's actually three according to the principal. I'm not sure. I wanted to call and make sure you were safe." A slight pause. "I'm here at the gym, waiting. You know. I shouldn't be bothering you. I just called to tell you to take care. Clark left. I'm. I'm just here. Well-"
The line was cut off. Lex reached for the cell phone beside him again to call Chloe back, make sure that nothing bad happened. There was a dead tone on the line. Just as he suspected, mobile networks were down. Still trying to catch his breath, Lex glanced at his father who seemed to be slipping in and out of consciousness. He hoped that he never heard that message.
Lex performed his duties as Lionel Luthor's son, accompanying his father to the hospital despite his deepening worry for Chloe. He tried his phone again and again but found that the networks were still down. Once Lionel was stable, he called the school from the hospital landline and was informed that the students at the Spring Formal already left an hour ago. He tried dialing the Sullivan house but there was no answer.
He was going to drive around. Lex was going to take the chance. She may have ended up helping out or taking pictures of the damage caused by the natural disaster. He was frantic and panicked and strode out of the hospital just a second before the door to the Emergency Room opened and Chloe rushed in to pick up Lana Lang.
~~
Morning the next day dawned bright on Smallville, mocking the citizens who were anxiously awaiting news of their missing relatives. The sunlight ill suited the ravages left by the twister. The Talon, temporarily turned into a Tornado Relief Center, saw people coming in and out, the venue for a community coming together to help members with their various tragedies.
Two people that never shadowed the Talon's doors that morning were Chloe Sullivan and Lex Luthor. After spending the night back in the hospital seeing to his father's needs after finally being able to contact Chloe, Lex drove to the Sullivan house for breakfast.
Gabe warmly admitted him into his house just before he left to see if there were damages to the plant. The older man was still hopeful that either Lionel Luthor would change his mind or that they could find another way around the obstacle that Lionel planted their way.
Left by themselves, Chloe and Lex smiled at each other. Their last encounter had them pressed almost from head to toe. Chloe jerked her head towards the living room, indicating that they should go there. To Lex's surprise, he found a veritable breakfast feast on the coffee table. They dropped down on the couch, squished together, but neither minded. After a scare such as the one the day before, they ignored the impropriety of their position.
Lex picked up a muffin dripping with honey and held it a couple of feet above the plate, waiting for all the excess syrup to drop back on the ceramic. Chloe watched him bite into the confection with an expectant look on her face. When he swallowed, she asked, "Well?"
"You did not make this!" he exclaimed in a half-moan.
She squealed and clapped her hands. Chloe wondered if it was a sin to be so delighted while a lot of families out there were suffering from losses. "It's that good?!"
Lex nodded and grinned. He held the sticky pastry to her mouth and said, "Try it for yourself."
"I was just waiting for you!" She bit off a healthy chunk and groaned in pleasure. "I'm so good," she mumbled through her full mouth.
They finished off the pile on the table and sighed. Lex leaned back on the couch and Chloe followed soon after, slumping against his form. "You're a breath of fresh air," he told her as he smelled her hair. His eyes widened when some of her hair stuck to his honeyed lips. He quickly picked off the blonde strands and tried to wipe his mouth with his handkerchief. "After that huge blow out with Clark, and that long night with dad, you're just what I need."
Chloe smiled and looked up at him, but did not remove her head from his chest. "It all comes back to the two of us. No matter what we try to do in between, these moments are the ones where it's most comfortable. You wanted me to try it with guys you think are more suitable. I keep doing that, Lex. But after Sean, you were the one who took care of me. After Justin, you were there with your flashy car and nice fluffy towels. Now, after Clark, and it's so weird to call it that, you're still the one I come back to."
Lex held her gaze, silently agreeing with everything that she said. Now, all those thoughts he had been thinking were being spoken out loud, and he was almost afraid. There was going back or hiding behind the pretense that they were not aware of the other's intentions. "What does that tell us?"
Chloe reached up and touched the bandage on Lex's eyebrow. And then her fingers trailed down his cheek. She brushed her thumb on his lips. "Maybe this," she answered. Chloe's lips parted as his went closer. She closed her eyes and sighed in relief when his lips touched hers. Chloe felt the electric tingle rush through her toes and her fingers. She smiled against his lips when she felt his tongue tease her mouth to open again. Tentatively, Chloe allowed his tongue entrance. The hot slick movement in her mouth made her feel full at first. Lex's tongue wrapped around hers and all she felt then was the warm parry. Her bones melted into warm fluid. She melted against his body.
The hand that was cupping his cheek not fell to rest on his shoulder. Chloe moaned softly in her throat when his lips lift hers. She opened her eyes to find out where he was going. There was no chance to tell him not to leave because the next thing she knew, she was being moved from his chest to the foot of the couch. She lay limp and weakened by a simple kiss.
His eyes sparkled when he took off his coat and loosened his tie. With flair, Lex whipped it off his neck. He covered her with sleek, fluid movements. Despite the added weight, she was certain that she had been transported to heaven. Out of her mouth, his tongue now did naughty ticklish things to her ear.
"You tasted like honey," she sighed.
"So did you," Lex whispered into her ear. He inserted his body between hers and the back of the couch. When Chloe felt like she would have fallen, he spooned her and held her around the waist, tight against his body.
"What happens now?"
"You have to leave for your internship," he said. "And I have to attend to my father's treatment in Metropolis. We'll be together away from prying eyes."
"Lex."
"I love you, Chloe."
She closed her eyes and let the words surround her. They've said it so many times before. Now it was different. Somehow, it was more complete. "I don't want them to know. Not yet."
He was silent for a moment. Chloe knew that he was weighing her decision. Finally, he said, "All right." His tone was a little disappointed, but it was not from her decision to keep one more part of them a secret from their friends.
"I love you more." His relief was evident, and so was his joy. Against her shoulder blade pressed against his chest, she was feeling the rapid beat of his heart.
She adored the chic espresso machine that graced Lex's kitchen. That was the entire reason she always hung out in the manor. Chloe wondered if telling him that at this moment would cheer him up. She mulled over that for a moment before deciding to trash the idea. The joke wasn't cheering even her up, and she was just affected to the second degree. Lex was the one who was in hot, no, boiling water here.
Chloe poured two cups of the lovely smelling coffee and brought it with her to the table, where Lex was slumped, head in hands. "How are you doing?"
He looked up at her and managed a brief smile that quickly vanished. "It shows, doesn't it?"
"Terrible then, I take it." Chloe grinned a little to lighten the mood before settling on the chair beside him and taking his hand. "You're not alone."
"You're hiding it better than I am," he responded. Lex picked up the steaming cup and help it up to his nose, breathing in the scent that always reminded him of a golden-haired ten year old sipping the dark liquid in secret during grown-up affairs. She had blossomed so beautifully and settled into this new community, a town that was in such stark contrast to the fast-paced life she was used to in Metropolis, and now his problem with his father would uproot her yet again. "Chloe-"
"It's not your fault," she quickly interjected.
Lex sighed and sipped the hot espresso. "If it hadn't been for my stubbornness-"
"I would so hate you," she completed for him. "It's not you to just blindly follow what your dad tells you. If you suddenly turned into his robot, I wouldn't recognize you for the guy you are, Lex. And I would have hated it if you left me to be your dad's-what did he call it-special adviser to the chairman emeritus?"
"Impressive title, isn't it?"
"Translated roughly, that's spineless lackey, Lex."
He cringed at the stinging remark, although he knew it was not directed at him. He pitied the man who would try to take on the reigns with Chloe Sullivan present. She was a spitfire and she was remarkably lovely to be so caustic to specific people. "Right now the only available move for me if to go back to Metropolis and work for dad, get into his good graces and convince him to reopen the plant."
"Lex, I don't want us to go back to Metropolis in any semi-permanent basis!" she protested.
Lex smirked. He was aware that she was talking about returning with her father, but for the purposes of his delusion, he took it to mean that she and Lex would leave Smallville and move to Metropolis together. A man could dream.
Despondently, she took her reporter's notebook out of her bag and rifled through it until she reached a blank page. Chloe started scribbling some figures and tapping her pen on the wood. Lex would have found it irritating if another person were doing it. Because it was Chloe, he adjusted to the rhythm and let her noise soothe him into some sort of calm after the storm caused by his father's announcement.
"If only your father didn't own the plant, he wouldn't be so high and mighty about it," she commented.
He reacted so quickly to her words that he took his arm's support away before he even raised his head. Lex hit the table loudly and Chloe pushed her chair back and ran to him quickly. "Ouch," he mumbled, and looked up with a reddened forehead.
"Oh, Lex, that's nasty!" she gasped. Chloe reached to trace the soreness gingerly. "Poor Lex. It's like the entire world hates you today."
"Thanks for the pep talk, Chloe."
She giggled and pressed a small kiss on the hit. "I can't help it. That was like the stupidest way to get yourself injured!"
The soft brush of her lips, amazingly enough, made him forget about the throbbing pain for a few seconds. When it started again, it did not matter because he had just been kissed. "You'll love me when I tell you why." He caught himself a little at the end, when he remembered the exact extent of loving they can allow now. She was going out with Clark. There was no other perfect partner for Chloe.
"I already do," she told him cockily. "But please dispense the wisdom."
"It will take guts from my employees. And a lot of help. Trust too. It will be hard."
"I know how they look at you, Lex. At least I know very well how dad does, and he's like the bellweather, so don't worry about that. They will be behind you as long as you sound logical." She waited patiently as he seemed to be deep in thought. A few seconds later, she prodded, "Well are you going to tell or do I have to squeeze it out of you?"
Lex nodded and took a deep breath. "Here's the thing."
When he related his plan of the buyout and his generous offer to use the money that his mother had left to him, Chloe was speechless. She stood up and hugged him tightly. "You have to meet with them!"
"You think it will work?"
Chloe nodded vigorously. "Of course it will. It's sheer brilliance!"
"All right. I'll do it." Lex stood up from his chair. "I'll call Gabe right now."
"I wish I could be here to see your triumph," she said, hands clasped before her like a proud parent. "But I need to get to class. Call me when you're done?"
"I will. Thanks, Chloe."
"Good luck." She stepped closer to him, but miscalculated the distance so they stood so close, almost pressed together. Chloe bit her lip and looked up at him from beneath her lashes. "Ummm.. good luck. I know, if." She could smell his fragrance, almost feel his breath, this close to him. "If anyone can make something like this work, it's you. Lex." And he was so beautiful up close. "You can pull it off, Lex. I believe that."
Lex closed his eyes as her words washed over him like the much-needed balm they were. He sniffed her hair and leaned his head down to catch more that a whiff. "Chloe." His eyes fluttered open and he saw her lashes flickering. "Thank you."
She nodded. "Anything." That brief instant she forgot that she was going to Spring Formal with her hero Clark.
~~
[I].rebel, prompting Alexander to march on their city. Calmer heads do not prevail. Alexander seizes the "opportunity" to send a powerful statement to the rest of his empire. He and his armies kill six thousand Thebans, demolish the city, and sell the 30,000 survivors into slavery. Scorched earth, Lex. That was how Alexander the Great chose to inaugurate his reign at what my college history professor liked to call the first modern empire's birthplace. But that is only history. Now you have a choice between seizing the opportunity or fleeing from the danger. What you so will define your regime, as Alexander's actions defined his for generations to come.
I sincerely hope you will seize this "opportunity" to show your father and the business world -- as well as those of us who serve you -- an example of righteous and compassionate leadership. My family and I pray that you will.[/I]
Lex smiled slightly, allowing himself just a measure of comfort from his plant manager's thoughtful extension of support. From his conversations with the man, which ranged from his daughter's latest misadventure to the Pyrrhic victory that was every war the United States fought, the two of them had established a relationship that extended any normal working one. For all intents and purposes, Gabe became a father to him at the times when Lex would allow him to. This was such a time. While his own father was determined to destroy the identity and the life Lex had created for himself in Smallville, Gabe seemed to take it upon himself to back Lex's decision and show him that he respected the younger man's strength of character and ability to head the company.
He idly wondered how proud Gabe Sullivan would be if he learned that his proposal came about because of his own daughter. Lex held back the information, knowing for certain that if Gabe believed Chloe might have influenced Lex, he would withdraw his support. It would not be because he did not believe in Chloe, but because Gabe knew that Chloe too often got caught up in the moment.
Even though Gabe himself advised in his email that it would be the brash and bold moves that would allow him to defeat the enemy, it was a different thing if his own brazen daughter contributed to the plan of attack.
He was confident that he learned of Gabe's support. Just as Chloe had predicted, the rest of the leaders of the various unions of employees of the plant assented after learning of Gabe Sullivan's decision.
Lex wondered at his own self-respect when all it took for him to rethink his offer was his father's magnificent and repulsive entrance, veiled threats and a sheaf of paper that gave his father the Smallville Property and Loan. After his father walked out of his study, he immediately picked up the phone to call the one person he knew would be able to converse with him rationally until Lex was able to form another plan.
"Gabe," he said curtly into the receiver. "Tell me. Do you remember how it was that Philip of Macedonia paled in the annals of history? What was it that enabled Alexander to push past his father and establish his name and legacy throughout the world, while Philip's name soon became nothing but an appendage to the emperor?"
~~
Roger Nixon was haunting him. It was true what they said, that your old mistakes would come out as soon as you found peace and they would destroy you. Lex would not let Nixon take away the fragile happiness he had found in becoming friends with Clark Kent.
Months ago, Lex had spoken to Chloe about the man. He confessed to hiring the man to stop hounding him. Then he had told himself that to have the reporter trailing after him would expose those who were close to him to unpredictable types of publicity. He knew how the press would create stories, titillating yet untrue. He did not want to take a chance that one day he would wake up to a cover story about Clark being his illegitimate brother, Lana being a transvestite or Chloe being his underage bed partner. Chloe had giggled at first, told him that he had the most amazing imagination. Her reaction had lightened his guilt, and so he gave her another truth. He wanted Roger Nixon to investigate the accident.
Sobered by the heavier burden on his shoulders, Chloe had rationally explained to him that he did nothing wrong by hiring Nixon to dig deeper into a mystery that puzzled him too. "Lex, there is nothing wrong with asking. It's the root of all knowledge. I would be the last person to stone you for being curious, for needing to investigate."
He did not know when it got out of hand. All he wanted was to see Clark, ask him carefully phrased questions about the Spring Formal and advise him, as his friend, to make sure that Chloe had fun. When he found Clark, it was to see him being hounded by the same mistake that was snapping at Lex's tail now. And he was forced into another lie. He hoped that fixing his friend's tie would make up for the smallest deception. Lex certainly did not do it so that Clark's date would think him handsome.
When he came back to the manor on the night of the Spring Formal, Lex found himself stalking back and forth in his study. He was moody and irritated. The past few days have not been kind to him. As if the problem with the plant and Roger Nixon were not enough, it suddenly hit Lex how much of a milestone tonight would be for Chloe. Knowingly, he had sent her off with the boy she had been attracted to. This was one of those nights that a girl remembered until she died.
His eyes fell on the table and the missing metal octagon. Having found something to vent his frustration on, Lex tore the room apart searching for it. He went through his desk and threw the contents of the shelves into the floor in his mad hunt.
That was the state he was in when his father walked in. Lex was in no mood to parry his father's words with biting ones of his own. In retrospect, the content of his conversations with his father was the same as the ones he had with Gabe Sullivan. Now they argued about forging destinies and forfeiting futures, topics he had spoken about at length with Chloe's father. The harsh criticism Lex took with every one of Lionel's interjections worked to enrage him.
"I believe the words were 'Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war!'"
Lionel grabbed his son's face, pulling it close to his to spit the threat right where Lex was sure to register it. "I'll bury you and everyone in Smallville who takes your side!"
Outside, the weather built and the storm climbed in the same proportion as the argument between the two men inside the house. The glass windows exploded and sent the shattered pieces into the study, the force knocking both Luthor men down. Where the strong personalities of both failed, nature succeeded.
Lex staggered to his feet, his injured eye sending a blinding pain through his brain every once in a while. He looked down at his father who begged him for help. This was the man who just assured him that if he wished, he could make certain that Lex would be destroyed. What irked Lex the most was that in the same breath, although indirectly, Lionel had threatened both Chloe and Gabe. He had no idea how much of his life his father knew, but he would not put it past Lionel to know everything he shared with Chloe.
His mind worked quickly through the possible consequences of his decision at that moment. The glaring answer was that he could not allow his father to die while reasoning in his mind that he was doing it so that Chloe would not be hurt. He pulled his father to relative safety and called for an ambulance.
Unable to move from the floor, Lex was unable to pick up the phone when it rang several times. He heard the machine ask the caller to leave a message.
"Hey," the soft feminine voice came through the now quiet air of the study. Neither of the Luthor men moved. Lex listened. "There's a twister. I think. I think there's actually three according to the principal. I'm not sure. I wanted to call and make sure you were safe." A slight pause. "I'm here at the gym, waiting. You know. I shouldn't be bothering you. I just called to tell you to take care. Clark left. I'm. I'm just here. Well-"
The line was cut off. Lex reached for the cell phone beside him again to call Chloe back, make sure that nothing bad happened. There was a dead tone on the line. Just as he suspected, mobile networks were down. Still trying to catch his breath, Lex glanced at his father who seemed to be slipping in and out of consciousness. He hoped that he never heard that message.
Lex performed his duties as Lionel Luthor's son, accompanying his father to the hospital despite his deepening worry for Chloe. He tried his phone again and again but found that the networks were still down. Once Lionel was stable, he called the school from the hospital landline and was informed that the students at the Spring Formal already left an hour ago. He tried dialing the Sullivan house but there was no answer.
He was going to drive around. Lex was going to take the chance. She may have ended up helping out or taking pictures of the damage caused by the natural disaster. He was frantic and panicked and strode out of the hospital just a second before the door to the Emergency Room opened and Chloe rushed in to pick up Lana Lang.
~~
Morning the next day dawned bright on Smallville, mocking the citizens who were anxiously awaiting news of their missing relatives. The sunlight ill suited the ravages left by the twister. The Talon, temporarily turned into a Tornado Relief Center, saw people coming in and out, the venue for a community coming together to help members with their various tragedies.
Two people that never shadowed the Talon's doors that morning were Chloe Sullivan and Lex Luthor. After spending the night back in the hospital seeing to his father's needs after finally being able to contact Chloe, Lex drove to the Sullivan house for breakfast.
Gabe warmly admitted him into his house just before he left to see if there were damages to the plant. The older man was still hopeful that either Lionel Luthor would change his mind or that they could find another way around the obstacle that Lionel planted their way.
Left by themselves, Chloe and Lex smiled at each other. Their last encounter had them pressed almost from head to toe. Chloe jerked her head towards the living room, indicating that they should go there. To Lex's surprise, he found a veritable breakfast feast on the coffee table. They dropped down on the couch, squished together, but neither minded. After a scare such as the one the day before, they ignored the impropriety of their position.
Lex picked up a muffin dripping with honey and held it a couple of feet above the plate, waiting for all the excess syrup to drop back on the ceramic. Chloe watched him bite into the confection with an expectant look on her face. When he swallowed, she asked, "Well?"
"You did not make this!" he exclaimed in a half-moan.
She squealed and clapped her hands. Chloe wondered if it was a sin to be so delighted while a lot of families out there were suffering from losses. "It's that good?!"
Lex nodded and grinned. He held the sticky pastry to her mouth and said, "Try it for yourself."
"I was just waiting for you!" She bit off a healthy chunk and groaned in pleasure. "I'm so good," she mumbled through her full mouth.
They finished off the pile on the table and sighed. Lex leaned back on the couch and Chloe followed soon after, slumping against his form. "You're a breath of fresh air," he told her as he smelled her hair. His eyes widened when some of her hair stuck to his honeyed lips. He quickly picked off the blonde strands and tried to wipe his mouth with his handkerchief. "After that huge blow out with Clark, and that long night with dad, you're just what I need."
Chloe smiled and looked up at him, but did not remove her head from his chest. "It all comes back to the two of us. No matter what we try to do in between, these moments are the ones where it's most comfortable. You wanted me to try it with guys you think are more suitable. I keep doing that, Lex. But after Sean, you were the one who took care of me. After Justin, you were there with your flashy car and nice fluffy towels. Now, after Clark, and it's so weird to call it that, you're still the one I come back to."
Lex held her gaze, silently agreeing with everything that she said. Now, all those thoughts he had been thinking were being spoken out loud, and he was almost afraid. There was going back or hiding behind the pretense that they were not aware of the other's intentions. "What does that tell us?"
Chloe reached up and touched the bandage on Lex's eyebrow. And then her fingers trailed down his cheek. She brushed her thumb on his lips. "Maybe this," she answered. Chloe's lips parted as his went closer. She closed her eyes and sighed in relief when his lips touched hers. Chloe felt the electric tingle rush through her toes and her fingers. She smiled against his lips when she felt his tongue tease her mouth to open again. Tentatively, Chloe allowed his tongue entrance. The hot slick movement in her mouth made her feel full at first. Lex's tongue wrapped around hers and all she felt then was the warm parry. Her bones melted into warm fluid. She melted against his body.
The hand that was cupping his cheek not fell to rest on his shoulder. Chloe moaned softly in her throat when his lips lift hers. She opened her eyes to find out where he was going. There was no chance to tell him not to leave because the next thing she knew, she was being moved from his chest to the foot of the couch. She lay limp and weakened by a simple kiss.
His eyes sparkled when he took off his coat and loosened his tie. With flair, Lex whipped it off his neck. He covered her with sleek, fluid movements. Despite the added weight, she was certain that she had been transported to heaven. Out of her mouth, his tongue now did naughty ticklish things to her ear.
"You tasted like honey," she sighed.
"So did you," Lex whispered into her ear. He inserted his body between hers and the back of the couch. When Chloe felt like she would have fallen, he spooned her and held her around the waist, tight against his body.
"What happens now?"
"You have to leave for your internship," he said. "And I have to attend to my father's treatment in Metropolis. We'll be together away from prying eyes."
"Lex."
"I love you, Chloe."
She closed her eyes and let the words surround her. They've said it so many times before. Now it was different. Somehow, it was more complete. "I don't want them to know. Not yet."
He was silent for a moment. Chloe knew that he was weighing her decision. Finally, he said, "All right." His tone was a little disappointed, but it was not from her decision to keep one more part of them a secret from their friends.
"I love you more." His relief was evident, and so was his joy. Against her shoulder blade pressed against his chest, she was feeling the rapid beat of his heart.