RETURN OF THE PRODIGAL
To say that he was incensed would have been a sin. That he was furious was an understatement. Lex had never experienced such an intense mixture of anger and betrayal in his entire life-and his teenage years were no picnic.
Lex pressed harder on the gas pedal, veering left to the familiar drive.
It was not even that his father had frozen his assets. What drove deep was the look in the eyes of the brother he had searched for. Even if his primary goal in finding him was to force his father's hand, Lex had felt that Lucas could be a real brother to him given time. Earlier, he was none of the surprised delight that graced his brother's face when Lex had found him. Lucas' eyes were as calculating and cold as their father's were.
It was almost as if this were not the same young man who sat across from him and Chloe in the limousine, fast departing the scene in Edge City. That young man had been awed by Lex's revelation. That Lucas had been eager to listen to every word that Chloe uttered as she explained how she found him, how she helped Lex track him down, and how eventually the trail of tragic games led them to the coast.
Standing behind his father, Lucas no longer looked like his brother. He merely looked like a Luthor.
"Something you learn at the tables, Lex," Lucas had told him. "You size up your options. You never know when you might have to change your strategy mid-hand."
He shook the words out of his head, reminding himself that his brother was young and despite all the games he had played, Lucas did not known just how hard it was to win in real life. Lex knew. You stick to the cards you were dealt and have faith that they would pull you through.
He slowed down in front of the Sullivan house. He had one ace up his sleeve that he still had no idea if his father truly knew about. Nevertheless, Lex smoothly got off the car and almost ran up to the door. He pitied his brother despite the treachery. Lucas did not have the same guiding light Lex had, and was more vulnerable to go down the dark road that lay before his family.
Lex rang the bell, eager to see her and breathe in her scent. It was the only thing certain to calm him after being kicked out of his own house. His father would call this demanding return for investment. Lex simply thought of it as his need.
The door opened slightly. Chloe's hair was mussed around her face. He could tell that she had just fallen asleep on freshly showered hair. She was even still wearing the worn bathrobe he had repeatedly tried to replace with designer ones. Yet there was something about the soreness of her eyes that told him that this was more than a sleepy gaze.
"May I step in?"
She met his eyes only briefly before looking away. Chloe blinked the sleep from her eyes. "The house is a mess, Lex."
"I've seen your house in a mess."
"And I'm in a robe, Lex."
His eyebrow arched in silent reply. He would have made a comment about it had he not seen how she bit her lower lip and shifted an inch inside the house, away from him.
"Maybe another time," she said.
Lex straightened when Chloe started to close the door. He slammed his palm flat on the wood and shook his head. "No, you don't. Something's wrong with you. You're going to tell me what it is now," he said in a low tone. He did not know that it was possible for his own problems to slip away the way they did. He was amazed by how he discarded the cloak of his own family's betrayal by Chloe not acting like his Chloe.
For the first time since he arrived, she met his eyes and he could see that hers were moist. The soreness rimming them was not from sleep at all, but from crying, he realized now.
"And you know me so well," came her soft whisper.
The tone, more than the words, got him worried. The command that he had used earlier would have driven Chloe in either of two directions-shrilly offended or high-pitched anger. This reaction worried him. It was a Chloe Sullivan that he did not know.
"Tell me if I don't then. Help me understand so I can help you."
She frowned and Lex noticed how her eyes were unfocused, as if she were staring at something beyond him. "I need.I need to be alone, Lex. Maybe some other time."
He was losing her to that damn point past him she was looking at. And Lex couldn't do anything about it because he couldn't see it. He needed to stay with her, even if he had to do it like this-outside her house freezing his ass off with her trying to close the door on his face.
"My father kicked me out. He replaced me with Lucas. I need to stay with you, Chloe."
One ephemeral moment when she actually tuned in to him. Her eyes ran over him from head to die, checking to see if he was physically alright from the encounter. It relieved Lex to know that she still cared enough to do it.
"I think it would be better if you stayed with Clark, Lex. His house is bigger. I'm sure Mr. Kent can give you a room. Or you can stay in Clark's Fortress."
"I'm not just looking for a place to stay," he told her, hoping that he still had enough of the cursed Luthor charm to convince her.
"You know Clark, Lex. He'll lend you an ear."
And before he could respond, the door closed in front of him. The thought occurred to him that that was their first encounter since they got together that he was never even able to touch her.
~~
She'd put it off for a whole day now. Chloe stared at the box sitting on the sink. All through last night she had regretted sending Lex away. It would have been so easy to pull him inside and tell him. The words were simple. She had dreamed of using them for such a long time. When reality came though, she was nothing more than a cowardly little girl pretending to be smart and mature enough to be worthy of Lex.
She had wanted to call him all night. Why should Lex spend his time in Clark's cold barn when he could stay in her house? She wanted so much to drop by the Kents, pretend to be visiting Martha and just find an excuse to talk to Lex and apologize. Since she still had no idea how to explain herself, Chloe opted to help him another way. She researched even deeper into Lucas' past and had Clark deliver the information to Lex. At least in that much, she could help him without anyone becoming suspicious.
Chloe wanted to claim it was guilt that was driving her to the bathroom every hour, but she knew it was an entirely different thing. The answer to her problem sat there jeering at her, taunting her to take it.
She reached out a trembling hand. Seeing how her fingers jerked, Chloe closed her hand into a fist and breathed. Finally, she grabbed the box and opened it, trying to read the instructions at the back. She had perhaps browsed through the words four times when she gave up. Her brain did not have the capacity to comprehend, but she had watched to many movies to not know how this was done.
Chloe left the test on the sink again, not knowing why she was crying the entire time. She wanted to have a family with Lex. They've talked about girls who looked like her and boys who looked like him. She had no doubt in her mind that Lex adored her, loved her. Yet Chloe had no idea why she was suddenly so scared she was almost paralyzed by the reality she faced then.
Lex had everything going on. There was Lionel, who had always been a problem. Now though, Lucas joined the mix. She had been there through the two weeks of search. Chloe had witnessed how much Lex looked forward to meeting his brother. Lex had so many things to share with Lucas, if only Lucas did not turn from him. Here she was, the only person he could have trusted to be his bolster, about to tell him that she was having a baby. After months of hiding, their secret would explode this way. She did not want this, did not want people thinking of him as a seducer of teenage girls, that he knocked her up at the same time that he lost all his assets. Chloe knew how proud Lex was. He would be devastated at the thought that he had lost his fortune just when he was going to have a child.
And what about her?
Chloe shook her head. She did not want to depress herself further if she had any plans of facing Lex today. That was the purpose of the test after all. If she was not, then she could put this behind her. If she was, then.
Maybe Lex could figure out.
There was a loud rapping on her door. Since she was alone in the house, Chloe wrapped herself in her bathrobe again. She hurried towards the door. If this were Lex, then he just made it easier for her. Again, the load rapping. That was when she knew it wasn't Lex. Lex had the grace to use the doorbell. She peeked in the hole and hurried to open the door an inch.
"Why do the Luthor men keep appearing on my doorstep?"
"I'm not a Luthor. My name is Dunleavy." Lucas merely pushed the door open wider and stepped in.
"I didn't invite you in," she snapped.
"Shut up," Lucas gritted out.
"I want you to leave," Chloe said. She pulled her bathrobe tightly closed. "I'm busy."
"I need to know something and then I'm out of here. You were with Lex when he picked me up from Edge City. You're the only one who can answer my question."
Tired, she released her breath and asked, "What is it?"
"He's using me to get his money."
"That's not a question." Lucas ran his fingers through his hair in frustration. "Lex may have had that in his mind too, Lucas, but you've been foremost on his priorities since he found out about you. If Lex ever wanted you to help him remove his father from the board, it's so that the two of you can leave independent of Lionel."
"All of you are liars," Lucas told her. "Why should I believe you now?"
"Because you want to," Chloe suggested. "You wouldn't have come to my house if you didn't want to hear this."
"I want to know the truth," he corrected her.
"You want to know this truth," Chloe replied. "Admit it, Lucas. You would not have gone to my house simply for truth."
Lucas stood up. "Believe what you will." He walked towards the wall and looked at the framed photos of Chloe as a baby, as an infant, until some shots of her, Clark and Pete in high school.
Chloe saw the rebellious yet longing look in Lucas' eyes. "You know, teenage life is hellish. You didn't miss a lot," she said sympathetically.
"I've been in hell, Chloe. I doubt we have the same idea of it." Chloe's eyes widened when Lucas stopped in front of the bathroom door. "I'm leaving." She sighed in relief. "I just need to use your bathroom."
She closed her eyes when Lucas vanished behind the door. True, the test was on the sink. It was on the corner though. And even if Lucas saw it, he would not have an idea about what it is. At least she hoped so.
Lucas left the room without saying anything, so Chloe smiled a little. At least she was spared that. She walked Lucas to the door and waved him off. She hoped that his short visit changed his mind about the side he would join.
Chloe slowly walked to the bathroom to check for herself-every step long, deafening, and paralyzing.
~~
Dear Chloe,
I sent Lucas away under my protection. He's going to be fine. It still surprises me why he suddenly had a change of heart.
But he told her you want to see me.
So I have a small idea why.
Will you see me now?
Lex
Lex,
We need to talk.
Chloe
Dear Chloe,
Open your door.
To say that he was incensed would have been a sin. That he was furious was an understatement. Lex had never experienced such an intense mixture of anger and betrayal in his entire life-and his teenage years were no picnic.
Lex pressed harder on the gas pedal, veering left to the familiar drive.
It was not even that his father had frozen his assets. What drove deep was the look in the eyes of the brother he had searched for. Even if his primary goal in finding him was to force his father's hand, Lex had felt that Lucas could be a real brother to him given time. Earlier, he was none of the surprised delight that graced his brother's face when Lex had found him. Lucas' eyes were as calculating and cold as their father's were.
It was almost as if this were not the same young man who sat across from him and Chloe in the limousine, fast departing the scene in Edge City. That young man had been awed by Lex's revelation. That Lucas had been eager to listen to every word that Chloe uttered as she explained how she found him, how she helped Lex track him down, and how eventually the trail of tragic games led them to the coast.
Standing behind his father, Lucas no longer looked like his brother. He merely looked like a Luthor.
"Something you learn at the tables, Lex," Lucas had told him. "You size up your options. You never know when you might have to change your strategy mid-hand."
He shook the words out of his head, reminding himself that his brother was young and despite all the games he had played, Lucas did not known just how hard it was to win in real life. Lex knew. You stick to the cards you were dealt and have faith that they would pull you through.
He slowed down in front of the Sullivan house. He had one ace up his sleeve that he still had no idea if his father truly knew about. Nevertheless, Lex smoothly got off the car and almost ran up to the door. He pitied his brother despite the treachery. Lucas did not have the same guiding light Lex had, and was more vulnerable to go down the dark road that lay before his family.
Lex rang the bell, eager to see her and breathe in her scent. It was the only thing certain to calm him after being kicked out of his own house. His father would call this demanding return for investment. Lex simply thought of it as his need.
The door opened slightly. Chloe's hair was mussed around her face. He could tell that she had just fallen asleep on freshly showered hair. She was even still wearing the worn bathrobe he had repeatedly tried to replace with designer ones. Yet there was something about the soreness of her eyes that told him that this was more than a sleepy gaze.
"May I step in?"
She met his eyes only briefly before looking away. Chloe blinked the sleep from her eyes. "The house is a mess, Lex."
"I've seen your house in a mess."
"And I'm in a robe, Lex."
His eyebrow arched in silent reply. He would have made a comment about it had he not seen how she bit her lower lip and shifted an inch inside the house, away from him.
"Maybe another time," she said.
Lex straightened when Chloe started to close the door. He slammed his palm flat on the wood and shook his head. "No, you don't. Something's wrong with you. You're going to tell me what it is now," he said in a low tone. He did not know that it was possible for his own problems to slip away the way they did. He was amazed by how he discarded the cloak of his own family's betrayal by Chloe not acting like his Chloe.
For the first time since he arrived, she met his eyes and he could see that hers were moist. The soreness rimming them was not from sleep at all, but from crying, he realized now.
"And you know me so well," came her soft whisper.
The tone, more than the words, got him worried. The command that he had used earlier would have driven Chloe in either of two directions-shrilly offended or high-pitched anger. This reaction worried him. It was a Chloe Sullivan that he did not know.
"Tell me if I don't then. Help me understand so I can help you."
She frowned and Lex noticed how her eyes were unfocused, as if she were staring at something beyond him. "I need.I need to be alone, Lex. Maybe some other time."
He was losing her to that damn point past him she was looking at. And Lex couldn't do anything about it because he couldn't see it. He needed to stay with her, even if he had to do it like this-outside her house freezing his ass off with her trying to close the door on his face.
"My father kicked me out. He replaced me with Lucas. I need to stay with you, Chloe."
One ephemeral moment when she actually tuned in to him. Her eyes ran over him from head to die, checking to see if he was physically alright from the encounter. It relieved Lex to know that she still cared enough to do it.
"I think it would be better if you stayed with Clark, Lex. His house is bigger. I'm sure Mr. Kent can give you a room. Or you can stay in Clark's Fortress."
"I'm not just looking for a place to stay," he told her, hoping that he still had enough of the cursed Luthor charm to convince her.
"You know Clark, Lex. He'll lend you an ear."
And before he could respond, the door closed in front of him. The thought occurred to him that that was their first encounter since they got together that he was never even able to touch her.
~~
She'd put it off for a whole day now. Chloe stared at the box sitting on the sink. All through last night she had regretted sending Lex away. It would have been so easy to pull him inside and tell him. The words were simple. She had dreamed of using them for such a long time. When reality came though, she was nothing more than a cowardly little girl pretending to be smart and mature enough to be worthy of Lex.
She had wanted to call him all night. Why should Lex spend his time in Clark's cold barn when he could stay in her house? She wanted so much to drop by the Kents, pretend to be visiting Martha and just find an excuse to talk to Lex and apologize. Since she still had no idea how to explain herself, Chloe opted to help him another way. She researched even deeper into Lucas' past and had Clark deliver the information to Lex. At least in that much, she could help him without anyone becoming suspicious.
Chloe wanted to claim it was guilt that was driving her to the bathroom every hour, but she knew it was an entirely different thing. The answer to her problem sat there jeering at her, taunting her to take it.
She reached out a trembling hand. Seeing how her fingers jerked, Chloe closed her hand into a fist and breathed. Finally, she grabbed the box and opened it, trying to read the instructions at the back. She had perhaps browsed through the words four times when she gave up. Her brain did not have the capacity to comprehend, but she had watched to many movies to not know how this was done.
Chloe left the test on the sink again, not knowing why she was crying the entire time. She wanted to have a family with Lex. They've talked about girls who looked like her and boys who looked like him. She had no doubt in her mind that Lex adored her, loved her. Yet Chloe had no idea why she was suddenly so scared she was almost paralyzed by the reality she faced then.
Lex had everything going on. There was Lionel, who had always been a problem. Now though, Lucas joined the mix. She had been there through the two weeks of search. Chloe had witnessed how much Lex looked forward to meeting his brother. Lex had so many things to share with Lucas, if only Lucas did not turn from him. Here she was, the only person he could have trusted to be his bolster, about to tell him that she was having a baby. After months of hiding, their secret would explode this way. She did not want this, did not want people thinking of him as a seducer of teenage girls, that he knocked her up at the same time that he lost all his assets. Chloe knew how proud Lex was. He would be devastated at the thought that he had lost his fortune just when he was going to have a child.
And what about her?
Chloe shook her head. She did not want to depress herself further if she had any plans of facing Lex today. That was the purpose of the test after all. If she was not, then she could put this behind her. If she was, then.
Maybe Lex could figure out.
There was a loud rapping on her door. Since she was alone in the house, Chloe wrapped herself in her bathrobe again. She hurried towards the door. If this were Lex, then he just made it easier for her. Again, the load rapping. That was when she knew it wasn't Lex. Lex had the grace to use the doorbell. She peeked in the hole and hurried to open the door an inch.
"Why do the Luthor men keep appearing on my doorstep?"
"I'm not a Luthor. My name is Dunleavy." Lucas merely pushed the door open wider and stepped in.
"I didn't invite you in," she snapped.
"Shut up," Lucas gritted out.
"I want you to leave," Chloe said. She pulled her bathrobe tightly closed. "I'm busy."
"I need to know something and then I'm out of here. You were with Lex when he picked me up from Edge City. You're the only one who can answer my question."
Tired, she released her breath and asked, "What is it?"
"He's using me to get his money."
"That's not a question." Lucas ran his fingers through his hair in frustration. "Lex may have had that in his mind too, Lucas, but you've been foremost on his priorities since he found out about you. If Lex ever wanted you to help him remove his father from the board, it's so that the two of you can leave independent of Lionel."
"All of you are liars," Lucas told her. "Why should I believe you now?"
"Because you want to," Chloe suggested. "You wouldn't have come to my house if you didn't want to hear this."
"I want to know the truth," he corrected her.
"You want to know this truth," Chloe replied. "Admit it, Lucas. You would not have gone to my house simply for truth."
Lucas stood up. "Believe what you will." He walked towards the wall and looked at the framed photos of Chloe as a baby, as an infant, until some shots of her, Clark and Pete in high school.
Chloe saw the rebellious yet longing look in Lucas' eyes. "You know, teenage life is hellish. You didn't miss a lot," she said sympathetically.
"I've been in hell, Chloe. I doubt we have the same idea of it." Chloe's eyes widened when Lucas stopped in front of the bathroom door. "I'm leaving." She sighed in relief. "I just need to use your bathroom."
She closed her eyes when Lucas vanished behind the door. True, the test was on the sink. It was on the corner though. And even if Lucas saw it, he would not have an idea about what it is. At least she hoped so.
Lucas left the room without saying anything, so Chloe smiled a little. At least she was spared that. She walked Lucas to the door and waved him off. She hoped that his short visit changed his mind about the side he would join.
Chloe slowly walked to the bathroom to check for herself-every step long, deafening, and paralyzing.
~~
Dear Chloe,
I sent Lucas away under my protection. He's going to be fine. It still surprises me why he suddenly had a change of heart.
But he told her you want to see me.
So I have a small idea why.
Will you see me now?
Lex
Lex,
We need to talk.
Chloe
Dear Chloe,
Open your door.