Magnetic Attraction
The Lowell county fair was busy and colorful. Chloe looked around at the various rides and stands littering the wide area. People screamed as the roller coaster spiralled several times. As if the noise was not enough, an audience surrounded the bad of prformers onstage, clapping and cheering.
Chloe waited while Lana inspected a snow globe merchandise that was distinctly Smallville. It held Smallville's title as "Meteor Capital of the World," propagating the dubious repute. A small house and a replica of the Smallville watch tower were encapsulated inside. Lana shook the globe and small green meteor fragments float around in the liquid.
Lana screwed her lips. "How tasteless. They probably used real meteor rocks."
At first sight Chloe recognized it as a nice gift for Lex. It was trite and cheap, but it was something she knew he would appreciate. After all, the meteor rocks set Smallville apart from all the places in the world he had ever been. "It's the American version of closure," Chloe answered. "You only get over grief when you figure out how to merchandise your tragedy." Chloe looked away at a distance.
Lana handed the globe to the proprietor. She drew eight dollars from her purse and took the bag with the globe inside it.
"Are you nervous that someone's going to capitalize on your secret?" she asked.
Chloe glanced at Lana, her lips parted in surprise. Then she swiftly covered it with a grin. "I don't have any secrets, Lana."
The brunette nodded and slipped the bag in Chloe's hand. "This is for you. I know you enjoy meteor stuff. Just don't tell Clark you have that. He hates the sight of a meteor rock!"
Chloe accepted the gift and thanked her friend. She wondered what Lana had meant by the secret she referred to. Surely Lana didn't know.
"Cotton candy!"
The two started towards the vendor. On the way, Chloe was plagued with doubt. Was it truly possible that Lana knew? They lived in the same house. She must have heard Chloe on a sick morning. Lana must have noticed that Chloe had not touched any of the pads in their cabinet for months. Chloe took a deep breath. If Lana knew, she would have told Gabe or Clark. Since neither had approached Chloe yet, Chloe had to believe that Lana didn't know. The little comment was a slip.
Chloe did not know how to respond know. She could just crash back to normality and forget Lana mentioned anything. She was grateful when Lana started talking about Clark.
Chloe took her cotton candy and sighed in pleasure. The sweetness burst inside her mouth as the candy melted.
"Hey!" Lana laughed, pointing to the pink moustache Chloe seemed to have. "Not too much okay? It's not good for you."
Chloe stopped chuckling when Lana smiled at her.
When Lex saw Chloe's name on the list of people checking up on the trail he was following, Lex shook his head. Fate had a marvelous sense of humor, he thought. He was already spending his nights on a constant battle against haunting dreams about her. Even in waking Chloe would not leave him.
He visited the Torch office and thought he imagined the first line that came out of her mouth. "Finally. I didn't think you were gonna show." It was as if his dreams came true. The next line shattered his hopes. Not that Clark Kent ever operates on the same speed as the rest of the world."
He managed a casual parry. "Interesting observation, Chloe."
Chloe froze at the sound of his voice. She turned around and braced herself for another exposure to eyes that had no recollection of her. "Hey, Lex. Uh, Clark's not here obviously."
"I was looking for you." His whole life probably, but that is another matter entirely. "It's come to my attention that you've been checking into my father. I saw your name on the Metropolis County Records log."
Since Lionel expressed an amount of concern for her in the nightmare that was Lex's funeral, Chloe had been reading up on Lex's father. The last show of consideration, of giving Lucas money clearly meant to be spent on her pregnancy sealed the deal. She had to know more about this multi-faceted man. "Oh, yeah that. Um, I'm just writing a story on him for the Torch."
''Oh, really? A story that involves obscure childhood medical records?''
Chloe turned away and fixed her table. She was afraid that was the specific record Lex was talking about. She had told Lucas they would not need it. However, when the doctor mentioned just a small oddity in her checkup, Lucas insisted on bringing medical records of Lex and her father. Chloe, he asked to retrieve Lionel's. "Better to be safe than sorry," he had told her.
"I'm just trying to be thorough." Her answer was lame even to her own ears.
Lex nodded. He had perfected the inscrutable look. He hoped to heaven his training i emotionlessness would not fail him now. "The mark of a good reporter. And you are a good reporter, Chloe." He noted the flicker inhis eyes, and almost instantly knew she had exoected something beyond his capacity to tell her. "So good, apparently, that my father pulled strings to make you the youngest columnist in the history of the Daily Planet."
It was only then that Lex considered another possible reason for the offer. He rebelled against the thought of his father ever having connections with the beautiful girl in front of him. She's Lucas' girlfriend.
Chloe, on the other hand, was flooded by memory of Lionel's own words. IThis job will ensure that you will maintain you journalistic integrity and keep you well provided. Isn't that what a reporter wants--at least one as idealistic and realistic as you are?/I
Chloe shook her head free of this memory. Instead, she focused on the man in front of her. He had to leave. Now. Or else she did not know how long she would survive keeping up the horrendous pretense. "What do you want, Lex?" Desperately she wanted him to say her.
"I'm just curious. I'm wondering why a high school reporter is digging so deeply into my father's past. Maybe I'll just ask him about it at dinner tonight."
Chloe started. She glanced at Lex and knew a tiny hint of fear was revealed by that look. Lucas had been so certain that Lionel was playing them. He knew. Who could even attempt to second guess Lionel with regard to how much he would reveal to Lex? Fortunately, Lex moved to leave.
Chloe smiled in relief. Still, she had to stop him from going to his father. "Go ahead," she said, tauntingly. "Since the only way you could've found out about those records is if you looked into them yourself.''
Lex smirked. "At least I'm prepared for what I might find. I'm not so sure you realize what you've gotten yourself into.''
Chloe's smile faded. The words were like a slap in the face. Some time ago, long before her world shattered at his loss, just a few weeks after the pregnancy scare that almost drove her away from him but for his patience and understanding, she and Lex made the conscious, adult decision to make love. To hell with the consequences.
IHer eyes were twinkling when she retorted, "Why do you feel so good then?"
Lex let out a rush of breath. "Careful, Chloe. I thought we weren't going there yet?"
"I don't want to keep myself from being happy just because we're scared. We can be careful, right? Besides, I know that whatever happens, you'll take care of me."
"Always."/I
When they made a baby, they were consenting persons in love.
IChloe would not dare close her eyes. Once upon a time, she could not help but squeeze her eyes shut to revel in the sensations that his touch brought. Tonight, everything was different. The urgency was heightened, for no reason at all, she told herself. Everything between them was the same. Yet from the moment he slipped inside her, Lex held his gaze as though there was nothing else in the universe except for him and Chloe. The room did not exist. Smallville did not exist. Even the sheets they were lying on did not exist. The two of them were the only entities floating magically amidst the stars.
She gasped with each pure reaction that burned through her body. His movements were slow, and he possessed her in the way she loved so much. Lex's eyes never left hers, not even when he intertwined their fingers and brought her arms above her head. There, he held them fast. She lay completely exposed to him, bare and glowing in the moonlight they both adored.
Even then, in her naked abandon, his eyes never left hers.
She could see how close he was. Lex's jaw was tight, and Chloe felt the change in his thrusts. He was moving with uneven force, a slightly more erratic pace. His lucid gaze was clouded by the feelings rushing over him. Chloe's hands tightened on his until their fists were against the headboard. All her feelings coalesced into a tempest pooling in the depth of her belly.
And her gaze strayed from his.
When finally, the stars converged inside her body, and exploded magnificently in hot, viscous languor, Chloe's vision went white. A sigh escaped her. But her eyes were still on his.
Lex held none of himself back. He gave her everything until he had none left. Spent, he collapsed on top of her, gasping for breath. His open lips lay on her cheek. But even his sightless regard was trained on her./I
"Believe me, Mr Luthor, I knew what I was doing."
The next day, it was the terror that gripped her when she saw the ransacked Torch office that forced Chloe to take the phone and seek Lex out. This had happened once before. She had melted into a heap at the center of the newspaper office, gripping the handset as she sobbed into the mouthpiece, asking him to come without using so many words. At that moment of fear there was no hesitation for Chloe. Even when she had thought that Lex was gone, she still did not remove him from her phonebook, not even from her speed dial. When the phone rang and Lex answered, she searched for words in her suddenly empty vocabulary.
Chloe hung up the phone and mustered enough courage to storm into Lex's office instead. If she could not in any way come running to him for help, because there would be no evident reason for such action, she could at least act the way all people in Smallville did.
She took her jacket and wrapped it around her body, ensuring that she was securely covered in her faceoff with Lex.
Chloe took a deep breath and headed to the castle.
Chloe stomped into the lower level of Lex's study. It surprised her how little effort it took for her to be angry at that moment. Perhaps it was the residual anger at being caught in this situation that she never wanted. She signed up for a lifetime with Lex, didn't she, when she agreed to let him go for a mock wedding with that pretentious doctor. And then again Lex wanted to do it even less than Chloe did. How could a small decision affect her entire life?
"You're a Luthor, so it's a given that you're unscrupulous, but I really thought that petty larceny was beneath you, Lex," Chloe charged, looking up at Lex.
The view from up there was beautiful. Lucas' girlfried was magnificent even in her anger. "Can you be a little more specific with the charge?" he requested. Lex started climbing down the stairs. It was not every day that Chloe Sullivan sought him out. He sure would not waste the opportunity by putting distance between them.
She hid her fear by masking it with fury. "I caught some creep in my office trying steal one of my computers. I figured either you or your father hired him."
At that, Lex was furious as well. Who would dare do that to her? He could tell at once that she was jarred, and rightly so. She couldn't be brave forever. 'Where did that stray thought come from?' "Yet you came to me."
"You're the lesser of two evils." She hated that even that sentence came out as if she was asking him to protect her. She had no right to ask that anymore. He was no longer hers.
"What do you say we pay a visit to your, uh, intruder?"
Chloe watched him leave the study in confusion, before rushing after him.
Chloe shivered in front of the dead body in the morgue. It was the first time she truly appreciated the change that the amnesia had brought to Lex. The old Lex, who had been an older childhood friend and then a lover, and always a protector, would never have thought of taking her to a place like this. Even when they were together he treated her as if she would break if exposed to the dark. He had made her want to dare things just because she knew it would irritate him.
At the first sign that she was cold, Lex took off his jacket and threw it over her own. 'At least that part of him is the same,' she thought.
"How did he die?" she whispered.
"Natural causes," Lex provided. His hand involuntarily closed around Chloe's elbow. "Apparently his heart just gave out."
"And you believe that?"
"Given what he was looking into, I doubt there was anything natural about his death."
The door of the morgue screeched heavily. Lex stiffened and turned towards the closing door. He walked over and tried to pull it open, but it did not budge. They were in a fully air-conditioned morgue, and they were stuck with dead body.
"Looks like we'll be here for the long haul," Lex smirked. His eyes quickly scanned Chloe's body. "Or at least until tomorrow when the janitor arrives. How are you?"
Chloe frowned. There was no telling how morning would find her, especially these days. She was just lucky she was now in the early part of her second trimester, and she was not as sick as she used to be.
"How do I know you're not just playing me here?" she demanded.
"You're right, Chloe. I could be. I often bring high school girls to the morgue to show them what happens when trained professionals cross my father."
"Well, there's nothing in my files worth killing for."
"We've got a corpse here that says you're wrong."
Chloe turned around, tired of looking at the dead man. She ambled over to the side of the room and saw an empty bed. She shuddered at the thought of bodies having been rolled in to the morgue on that bed. Still, she was exhausted physically and emotionally. Lex was right there in the room with her, and she could not even ask him to come and warm her up.
"I'm calling Lucas," she decided. She flipped open her phone and dialled. "Lucas, I'm stuck in the morgue with your brother. You've got to come down and get us." The call was cut and she looked at the screen. The signal was dead. "Shit."
She looked cold and scared. It was obvious. Lex walked over to where she sat on the white bed. He sat beside her and took the phone from her hand. He tossed it over to the other bed. "Chloe, you're involved in a very dangerous game. I can protect you."
Chloe sighed and unconsciously laid her head on Lex's shoulder. She truly doubted that Lionel would ever hurt her. He had done so many things in the course of the last few months that proved to her that he suspected the truth and cared about what would happen to her. Sure, Lionel had his own obsessions, but Chloe knew she was safe fron Lionel's long-reaching arm.
"Lex, you have no idea what you're offering," she responded, looking up at him with liquid eyes.
Lex looked down at the young woman who at that moment looked totally dependent on him. This was his dream. Stuck alone with her, far apart from the rest of the world, in a room where his brother did not figure, he and Chloe could see each other in a way they never could outside. He slipped his hand to cup her cheek and said, "On the contrary. I know everything that this entails. I can and will protect you, Chloe." He drew closer, and she felt his breath against her lips. Lex very gently brushed his lips against hers, sending shivers down her flesh. "You have my word."
"Lex," she sighed against his lips.
"Break up with Lucas," he requested as his kisses trailed down her jaw line.
"Okay," Chloe promised. She took Lex's face in her hands and turned him so that their lips could meet again.
"Chloe! Lex! Where are you?" They sprang apart. The door burst open and light flooded in, silhouetting Lucas who had a few blankets thrown over his arm.