GONE CHAPTER FIVE
Author's notes: Yay! Lucas! I love Lucas almost as much as I love Lex. He's like Lex without being all cool and rational. A little bit of psycho never hurt anyone.
So Pete had taken the plunge.
Chloe had been en route to the Gray Room when Louis, the man Lex relied on to keep everything in the mansion running smoothly, tapped her on the shoulder.
"Miss Sullivan, there is a Mr. Pete Ross here to see you."
She stopped and reversed direction, heading back toward the main hall. "What did he say?"
"Only that he wished to speak with you, miss."
"I've told you before, Louis. My name is Chloe. You know I'd prefer if you called me that."
"Understood, Miss Chloe."
"Now you're just being cheeky." She muttered, seeing Pete around the bend of the hallway.
Louis had the sense to smother the smile that was threatening to appear. "I would never do such a thing."
"Sure," Chloe left him and called Pete's name.
Pete turned to her with a fleeting grin. "Hey!"
They met halfway and she hugged him to her tightly. When he finally pulled back, there was a strange look in his eye.
"What?" She automatically ran a hand over her hair. "Is there something on my face?'
"No," he hastened to reassure her, slipping an arm around her shoulders. "Just... what was that for?" He asked, referring to the long hug.
There was an odd look in Chloe's eyes when she replied, "Can't a girl miss her best friend these days?"
Pete grinned. "Well, yeah, but--"
"Pete, it's nothing. It if makes you feel any better, pretend it didn't happen, okay?"
He wasn't going to let her retreat into her shell again. "Wait just a second."
Chloe stopped and faced him with her hands on her hips. "What now?"
"You're... different."
"Am I? How so?"
'You mean besides the whole calm-collected thing that I swear you've picked up from Luthor?' He thought. Instead, he managed, "You seem... I don't know. More grounded."
Her brow rose. "And that's a bad thing?"
"No, it's just--" Pete shook his head. "Forget it."
She smirked and folded her arms, leaning against the wall comfortably. "No, go on. I want to hear this."
He sent her a nasty glare. "Now you definitely sound way too much like Lex."
That gave her pause. Without even realizing it, she lifted her chin defiantly and proceeded to stare down her friend, even though she was inches shorter. "And that is a bad thing, yes?"
Pete sighed loudly. "I don't know. Let's just forget this ever happened, okay?"
Unable to help a smile from creeping over her face, she smartly replied, "Wasn't that how this whole conversation started?"
"And so the snark returns."
She beamed. "Yep. I resurrected it sometime last night."
"Took long enough."
"It needed a brief vacation," was her only reply.
He gave a long once over. Still grinning, she stuck out her elbow. Pete accepted as they walked down the hall.
"You know I don't like this, Chlo."
"I thought we were past all of that," she gestured vaguely, giving him a pleading look.
"It's just a little hard for me to adjust, that's all. Clark seems to like him okay, but you're..."
"—What, a girl? You want to go storm into his office and demand that he declare his intentions?" She rolled her eyes. "Such shows of testosterone, you'd think I was at a fertility clinic."
Pete gripped her arm, halting their walk. "Not. Helping."
Chloe summoned a bright smile from the depths of her well and dragged him with her. "Come on, let's go to the movie room. I want to watch Ferris Bueller's Day off so I can rub in your face that you're still in school and I'm not!"
Releasing the last hold on his reservations about Luthors in general, at least for now, and for her sake, he let his best friend take him past what seemed like hundreds of doors. A person could very easily get lost in this place.
Funny. She seemed to know exactly where she was going.
She fell back into the chair and sighed.
"If it takes so much out of you, why do you have him come over?"
Chloe groaned. She knew she should have checked the room when she'd walked in. "Because he's my friend."
"So? Clark's my friend and if I'm too busy or don't feel like dealing with his latest tale about Lana, I tell him so." He softened the statement with a smirk.
She sat up straighter, seeing the amused glint in his eyes. "Yeah, well, when you don't go to school, or the Talon anymore, you kinda get left out of the loop."
"So basically, you're using Mr. Ross for news." Lex wove through two chairs and a table to rest his hip against the stairwell across from her. "Even though we have just about every connection to the outside world right here."
"Hey, can I help it if I'm not ready to use the resources at hand just yet? I have to get used to having five dining rooms and a movie theater first."
Typical stubborn Chloe.
Lex raised the blue water bottle to his lips and sipped. "You know my brother's coming for a visit in a few days." The bottle hovered in front of his chest. "School might not seem like too bad an alternative after a few days with him."
"C'mon Lex. He's a teenager, like me. How bad could it be?"
Ah. Famous last words.
She saw him arrive. And watched, unobserved, while he walked into the place like he owned it. As the light filtered in through the many windows, painting the young man in an array of colored shadows, Chloe sat at the top of the stairs, slightly hidden from view. She watched as he dumped his bags with a thud and sighed dramatically.
"It's good to be home."
She rolled her eyes. He'd lived here for all of what--three days?--when he kicked Lex out, but apparently that was enough time to call it home. "Arrogant. Who the hell does he think he is, coming into my hou--" Her eyes widened and she stopped abruptly.
"Glad to see you're feeling possessive of the place. Someone needs to."
"Lex--"
He gave her an amused smile and slowly led her down the stairs to his office. "Come on. There's someone I'd like you to meet."
He hated when Lex kept him waiting. They both knew that Lex had been informed of his arrival before he had even walked through the front doors. There was really no excuse for this and he personally thought Lex should have been the one waiting.
As a show of indifference, Lucas chose to sit facing the window, with his back to the door. It wasn't as if he was going to be the surprised one, after all. No sooner had he reassured himself of the fact then did Lex walk through the door followed by a still-too-thin Chloe.
Lucas grinned to himself and turned around, fully braced for the outrage that was surely about to come.
Chloe took in the leather jacket, dark jeans and sunglasses tucked casually into his black tee shirt--all details she hadn't really paid attention to when she was watching his arrival before.
Her eyes narrowed. "It was you!"
Lucas turned innocent eyes to his brother. "Do you know what she's talking about?"
"Not a clue. Chloe, allow me to introduce you to my brother Lucas," Lex smoothly interrupted, moving to the safety of his desk.
"We've already met," she spat, her green eyes fiery with indignation. "Lucas was the one responsible for practically stuffing me into a trash can."
He shook his head sadly, with the slightest hint of condescension. "I wish I knew what you were talking about."
Lex frowned and directed his gaze to her. "I didn't know anyone tried to stuff you into a trashcan."
She clamped her mouth shut and glared at the younger Luthor.
Lucas shrugged. "Innocent party, over here."
"I'm not so sure," Lex glanced again at the fuming blonde. "Maybe she has a point."
"Don't you think she would have told you if we'd bumped into each other?"
"Chloe's never met you before," Lex said, "how would she know?"
"I've been in the paper, y'know."
"And she is quite familiar with the media. Yet somehow she didn't recognize you. Why is that, Lucas?"
"I'm not sure, Lex."
"--Stop it! Just stop talking about me like I'm not even here!"
They paused in their conversation to watch her speak animatedly. "For all I know, you could have sent Lucas to throw me around like a rag doll," she pointed at Lex. "And right now you're just pretending you don't know what's going on."
Chloe snatched up a thin gray book neither of the men had seen her bring in. She headed for the doors, "And I'm not the end all and be all to things journalistic," she tossed over her shoulder, storming out and slamming the doors behind her.
After a minute of silence, Lucas sat down in front of his brother. "Does she usually do that to your business acquaintances?"
Still staring at the doors Lex distractedly replied, "I haven't yet introduced her to anyone but you." He shook out of it and reached for the phone. "If she keeps that up much longer, I'm going to have to get those doors rehinged."
And the day got worse. Actually, it got pretty damn bad, and if today was anything to go by, things were heading towards horrific.
Aside from that horrible first meeting--which Chloe admitted she still harbored some hostility over--in the span of his first 15 minutes, he'd managed to piss her off even further, spill coffee on her favorite shirt, step on her foot, kick her out of the screening room, steal the remote and send her fleeing for safety in Lex's study.
"He's insane! Send him home!"
Lex wavered between smirking at her and wondering just how much trouble it would get him in. "Normally, this would be where I say, "I told you so," but I really don't think that's what you want to hear."
"What I want to hear is that you're sending him home."
"--Now, why would I do that? I'm the only one who can kick his ass at pool."
Chloe mumbled something under her breath about Luthors and their obsession with controlling things. Aloud, she said determinedly, "Lex, I will take pool lessons from a master until I can wipe the floor with you, if you promise to send him away."
A brief grin swept over his face so quickly it stopped her heart for a beat. "With an offer like that, I can't say I'm too inclined on sending him away either. Why don't you take those lessons and then try to beat us both?"
She bit back a scathing remark when she saw the twinkling in his eyes, and finally realized just how unreasonable she was being. She was probably just overtired. Normally she wouldn't let anyone get to her this much. "Okay, look. I'll give him another chance. But he only gets one. After that, he'd better get ready. 'Cause I can bring the war straight into this place and divide it down the middle. And no one will be safe, not even you."
A cough startled her from her announcement. She closed her eyes in embarrassment. "You're not here."
Lucas winked at his brother and took Chloe by the arm. "I think we got off on the wrong foot. After all, you're practically family now and--" he bit his lip, searching for the right way to phrase things, "family doesn't normally make war statements this early in the game."
She opened her eyes and raised a brow.
"Okay, so maybe this family does, but really. If we're going to be living like this for a while, we should try to at least be civil."
Chloe eyed him warily. "How long are you here for?"
"Until my spring term starts again." He saw her skeptical look and added, "at least another six weeks."
With her jaw open, she turned to Lex pleadingly. He merely shook his head at the two of them and went back to work. "I wash my hands of this. You two have to settle this on your own."
Growling under her breath, Chloe turned back to Lucas. "Fine. But there's a snowball's chance in hell that we're going to come out of liking each other."
Lucas put his arm around her shoulders and hugged her against his side. "Didn't you know by now, Chloe? Our family lives in Hell."
She had to give him credit. The boy had done his homework. He driven them into town, breezed through only two of the six stop signs, and marched her straight into the Talon, where he made her sit in a comfy chair while he got them drinks. Lucas returned with two steaming mugfuls of some whipped cream confection and a wide grin. From inside his leather jacket, he pulled out three papers. The Daily Planet, The Inquisitor, and the local Metropolitan High School.
"Thought you'd like to see your competition," he remarked offhandedly, watching as she came alive within seconds of reading. She didn't respond as she took in the news, scanned over the headlines and finished, not too long after, with a contented sigh.
"It really fascinates you, doesn't it?"
She looked up from stirring her drink. "What, Metropolis?"
"No," he waved his hand at the papers. "All of this."
With a rueful smile, Chloe admitted, "Yeah. I guess it does. After," she sipped some of her drink, still unwilling to talk about her father's death, "I was in a fog. My journalism's been the only thing that kept me going. It's always been there for me."
Lucas nodded in understanding. "And when you were in Metropolis that day," he smirked, "What were you investigating?"
"What makes you so sure I was investigating anything?" She shot back, folding her arms.
"Let's just call it a hunch."
Chloe wondered if she was ready to share her information with the newly adopted Luthor. He seemed different from Lex and Lionel, less affected by his last name and what it could do for him; more carefree than either of his family could ever hope to be. But she wasn't ready to give it up yet. Especially since she hadn't decided if she liked him or not. "The jury's still out on that," was her cryptic reply.
He didn't press her further and she appreciated that. "Let me know when that changes."
"I will." She said, and was surprised to find she meant it.
Who was this rogue Luthor and how had he gotten under her skin so fast?
Suddenly uncomfortable with the way things were going, she shifted in her seat nervously and rummaged through her bag. "We should probably get going."
With eyes that seemed all too knowing, Lucas merely nodded.
He escorted them out of the building and they drove back to the manor in silence.
That night, when Chloe was in bed, she grabbed the gray journal from under her pillow. She looked at the clock on the nightstand. Lex wasn't due for another half hour, at least. She had time.
And all of the sudden, she knew what to write. She'd been carrying the journal around with her for days, not knowing what to do with it. Knew her pen was flying across the paper and she almost couldn't get the words down fast enough. When she finally stopped to get her thoughts organized and make sure she'd gotten everything out, Lex was sitting next to her in the bed, reading papers over.
Feeling her gaze, he looked up. "Looks intense."
Protective of the small book, she hugged it to her chest. "It is. It's personal."
The corner of his mouth quirked up. "I wasn't going to ask."
Feeling a tad sheepish, she relaxed, and closed it up, putting it in the nightstand drawer. "Sorry. I'm a little paranoid."
"Comes with the territory," he almost smiled, setting his papers down. "You wouldn't understand this family half as well as you do if you didn't begin to take on some of our characteristics."
"You know, that doesn't bother me half as much as it should," she thoughtfully replied.
This time he did smile. "I suppose that's a compliment, in an odd sort of way." Lex watched as she kept silent, quietly wrapped up in her thoughts. "Ready to call it a night?"
She met his eyes evenly and nodded slowly. "Yeah. I think I am."
He flicked off the lights and drew the covers up to her shoulders. "I know you're rolling your eyes."
"You just practically tucked me in," she groused. "What the hell am I supposed to do?"
He chuckled and turned over. "It if bothers you, go jump into bed with Lucas. He's right down the hall."
She stiffened. "Okay, I'm getting used to him, but I don't think I'll ever be ready for that."
"Never say never. Look where you are now."
Look where she was now, hmm? Inside a huge mansion, sleeping next to Lex Luthor, with more access than should ever be granted a 17 year old... and still, somehow, not completely numb to it all.
"You're special," Lex said into the darkness, as if hearing her thoughts. "Don't let that change. Ever."
"I'm going to have to change someday," she said wistfully.
"Not before you're ready."
Her lips curved up in a smile at his firm reply. "With comments like that, it's a wonder you haven't been doing this all your life."
He was silent and then moved to a near sitting position. She heard a drawer open. Seconds later, a dark bundle was resting next to her head. Chloe reached for it.
"I can feel how cold your feet are from over here."
She rolled her eyes again. The man made sure his house was a balmy 68 degrees, all year round, but had a thing when her feet were the slightest bit cold. She reached under the covers and slipped the socks on. "Better?"
"Much."
As she was drifting off to sleep, a thought occurred to her. "Lex?"
"Yes?" He sounded a little groggy.
"Does Lucas know about..."
"Not unless you feel like telling him anytime soon."
"Oh. Okay."
Lex smirked, and closed his eyes.
"I saw that."
"Go to sleep. I promise you can beat me up about it in the morning."
When she didn't reply, he turned over to make sure she was okay. Chloe was out cold. He smiled and went to sleep content.
Chloe now has a livejournal. Links don't display correctly in the formatting here, but I will tell you that her username is: grayroom.
Author's notes: Yay! Lucas! I love Lucas almost as much as I love Lex. He's like Lex without being all cool and rational. A little bit of psycho never hurt anyone.
So Pete had taken the plunge.
Chloe had been en route to the Gray Room when Louis, the man Lex relied on to keep everything in the mansion running smoothly, tapped her on the shoulder.
"Miss Sullivan, there is a Mr. Pete Ross here to see you."
She stopped and reversed direction, heading back toward the main hall. "What did he say?"
"Only that he wished to speak with you, miss."
"I've told you before, Louis. My name is Chloe. You know I'd prefer if you called me that."
"Understood, Miss Chloe."
"Now you're just being cheeky." She muttered, seeing Pete around the bend of the hallway.
Louis had the sense to smother the smile that was threatening to appear. "I would never do such a thing."
"Sure," Chloe left him and called Pete's name.
Pete turned to her with a fleeting grin. "Hey!"
They met halfway and she hugged him to her tightly. When he finally pulled back, there was a strange look in his eye.
"What?" She automatically ran a hand over her hair. "Is there something on my face?'
"No," he hastened to reassure her, slipping an arm around her shoulders. "Just... what was that for?" He asked, referring to the long hug.
There was an odd look in Chloe's eyes when she replied, "Can't a girl miss her best friend these days?"
Pete grinned. "Well, yeah, but--"
"Pete, it's nothing. It if makes you feel any better, pretend it didn't happen, okay?"
He wasn't going to let her retreat into her shell again. "Wait just a second."
Chloe stopped and faced him with her hands on her hips. "What now?"
"You're... different."
"Am I? How so?"
'You mean besides the whole calm-collected thing that I swear you've picked up from Luthor?' He thought. Instead, he managed, "You seem... I don't know. More grounded."
Her brow rose. "And that's a bad thing?"
"No, it's just--" Pete shook his head. "Forget it."
She smirked and folded her arms, leaning against the wall comfortably. "No, go on. I want to hear this."
He sent her a nasty glare. "Now you definitely sound way too much like Lex."
That gave her pause. Without even realizing it, she lifted her chin defiantly and proceeded to stare down her friend, even though she was inches shorter. "And that is a bad thing, yes?"
Pete sighed loudly. "I don't know. Let's just forget this ever happened, okay?"
Unable to help a smile from creeping over her face, she smartly replied, "Wasn't that how this whole conversation started?"
"And so the snark returns."
She beamed. "Yep. I resurrected it sometime last night."
"Took long enough."
"It needed a brief vacation," was her only reply.
He gave a long once over. Still grinning, she stuck out her elbow. Pete accepted as they walked down the hall.
"You know I don't like this, Chlo."
"I thought we were past all of that," she gestured vaguely, giving him a pleading look.
"It's just a little hard for me to adjust, that's all. Clark seems to like him okay, but you're..."
"—What, a girl? You want to go storm into his office and demand that he declare his intentions?" She rolled her eyes. "Such shows of testosterone, you'd think I was at a fertility clinic."
Pete gripped her arm, halting their walk. "Not. Helping."
Chloe summoned a bright smile from the depths of her well and dragged him with her. "Come on, let's go to the movie room. I want to watch Ferris Bueller's Day off so I can rub in your face that you're still in school and I'm not!"
Releasing the last hold on his reservations about Luthors in general, at least for now, and for her sake, he let his best friend take him past what seemed like hundreds of doors. A person could very easily get lost in this place.
Funny. She seemed to know exactly where she was going.
She fell back into the chair and sighed.
"If it takes so much out of you, why do you have him come over?"
Chloe groaned. She knew she should have checked the room when she'd walked in. "Because he's my friend."
"So? Clark's my friend and if I'm too busy or don't feel like dealing with his latest tale about Lana, I tell him so." He softened the statement with a smirk.
She sat up straighter, seeing the amused glint in his eyes. "Yeah, well, when you don't go to school, or the Talon anymore, you kinda get left out of the loop."
"So basically, you're using Mr. Ross for news." Lex wove through two chairs and a table to rest his hip against the stairwell across from her. "Even though we have just about every connection to the outside world right here."
"Hey, can I help it if I'm not ready to use the resources at hand just yet? I have to get used to having five dining rooms and a movie theater first."
Typical stubborn Chloe.
Lex raised the blue water bottle to his lips and sipped. "You know my brother's coming for a visit in a few days." The bottle hovered in front of his chest. "School might not seem like too bad an alternative after a few days with him."
"C'mon Lex. He's a teenager, like me. How bad could it be?"
Ah. Famous last words.
She saw him arrive. And watched, unobserved, while he walked into the place like he owned it. As the light filtered in through the many windows, painting the young man in an array of colored shadows, Chloe sat at the top of the stairs, slightly hidden from view. She watched as he dumped his bags with a thud and sighed dramatically.
"It's good to be home."
She rolled her eyes. He'd lived here for all of what--three days?--when he kicked Lex out, but apparently that was enough time to call it home. "Arrogant. Who the hell does he think he is, coming into my hou--" Her eyes widened and she stopped abruptly.
"Glad to see you're feeling possessive of the place. Someone needs to."
"Lex--"
He gave her an amused smile and slowly led her down the stairs to his office. "Come on. There's someone I'd like you to meet."
He hated when Lex kept him waiting. They both knew that Lex had been informed of his arrival before he had even walked through the front doors. There was really no excuse for this and he personally thought Lex should have been the one waiting.
As a show of indifference, Lucas chose to sit facing the window, with his back to the door. It wasn't as if he was going to be the surprised one, after all. No sooner had he reassured himself of the fact then did Lex walk through the door followed by a still-too-thin Chloe.
Lucas grinned to himself and turned around, fully braced for the outrage that was surely about to come.
Chloe took in the leather jacket, dark jeans and sunglasses tucked casually into his black tee shirt--all details she hadn't really paid attention to when she was watching his arrival before.
Her eyes narrowed. "It was you!"
Lucas turned innocent eyes to his brother. "Do you know what she's talking about?"
"Not a clue. Chloe, allow me to introduce you to my brother Lucas," Lex smoothly interrupted, moving to the safety of his desk.
"We've already met," she spat, her green eyes fiery with indignation. "Lucas was the one responsible for practically stuffing me into a trash can."
He shook his head sadly, with the slightest hint of condescension. "I wish I knew what you were talking about."
Lex frowned and directed his gaze to her. "I didn't know anyone tried to stuff you into a trashcan."
She clamped her mouth shut and glared at the younger Luthor.
Lucas shrugged. "Innocent party, over here."
"I'm not so sure," Lex glanced again at the fuming blonde. "Maybe she has a point."
"Don't you think she would have told you if we'd bumped into each other?"
"Chloe's never met you before," Lex said, "how would she know?"
"I've been in the paper, y'know."
"And she is quite familiar with the media. Yet somehow she didn't recognize you. Why is that, Lucas?"
"I'm not sure, Lex."
"--Stop it! Just stop talking about me like I'm not even here!"
They paused in their conversation to watch her speak animatedly. "For all I know, you could have sent Lucas to throw me around like a rag doll," she pointed at Lex. "And right now you're just pretending you don't know what's going on."
Chloe snatched up a thin gray book neither of the men had seen her bring in. She headed for the doors, "And I'm not the end all and be all to things journalistic," she tossed over her shoulder, storming out and slamming the doors behind her.
After a minute of silence, Lucas sat down in front of his brother. "Does she usually do that to your business acquaintances?"
Still staring at the doors Lex distractedly replied, "I haven't yet introduced her to anyone but you." He shook out of it and reached for the phone. "If she keeps that up much longer, I'm going to have to get those doors rehinged."
And the day got worse. Actually, it got pretty damn bad, and if today was anything to go by, things were heading towards horrific.
Aside from that horrible first meeting--which Chloe admitted she still harbored some hostility over--in the span of his first 15 minutes, he'd managed to piss her off even further, spill coffee on her favorite shirt, step on her foot, kick her out of the screening room, steal the remote and send her fleeing for safety in Lex's study.
"He's insane! Send him home!"
Lex wavered between smirking at her and wondering just how much trouble it would get him in. "Normally, this would be where I say, "I told you so," but I really don't think that's what you want to hear."
"What I want to hear is that you're sending him home."
"--Now, why would I do that? I'm the only one who can kick his ass at pool."
Chloe mumbled something under her breath about Luthors and their obsession with controlling things. Aloud, she said determinedly, "Lex, I will take pool lessons from a master until I can wipe the floor with you, if you promise to send him away."
A brief grin swept over his face so quickly it stopped her heart for a beat. "With an offer like that, I can't say I'm too inclined on sending him away either. Why don't you take those lessons and then try to beat us both?"
She bit back a scathing remark when she saw the twinkling in his eyes, and finally realized just how unreasonable she was being. She was probably just overtired. Normally she wouldn't let anyone get to her this much. "Okay, look. I'll give him another chance. But he only gets one. After that, he'd better get ready. 'Cause I can bring the war straight into this place and divide it down the middle. And no one will be safe, not even you."
A cough startled her from her announcement. She closed her eyes in embarrassment. "You're not here."
Lucas winked at his brother and took Chloe by the arm. "I think we got off on the wrong foot. After all, you're practically family now and--" he bit his lip, searching for the right way to phrase things, "family doesn't normally make war statements this early in the game."
She opened her eyes and raised a brow.
"Okay, so maybe this family does, but really. If we're going to be living like this for a while, we should try to at least be civil."
Chloe eyed him warily. "How long are you here for?"
"Until my spring term starts again." He saw her skeptical look and added, "at least another six weeks."
With her jaw open, she turned to Lex pleadingly. He merely shook his head at the two of them and went back to work. "I wash my hands of this. You two have to settle this on your own."
Growling under her breath, Chloe turned back to Lucas. "Fine. But there's a snowball's chance in hell that we're going to come out of liking each other."
Lucas put his arm around her shoulders and hugged her against his side. "Didn't you know by now, Chloe? Our family lives in Hell."
She had to give him credit. The boy had done his homework. He driven them into town, breezed through only two of the six stop signs, and marched her straight into the Talon, where he made her sit in a comfy chair while he got them drinks. Lucas returned with two steaming mugfuls of some whipped cream confection and a wide grin. From inside his leather jacket, he pulled out three papers. The Daily Planet, The Inquisitor, and the local Metropolitan High School.
"Thought you'd like to see your competition," he remarked offhandedly, watching as she came alive within seconds of reading. She didn't respond as she took in the news, scanned over the headlines and finished, not too long after, with a contented sigh.
"It really fascinates you, doesn't it?"
She looked up from stirring her drink. "What, Metropolis?"
"No," he waved his hand at the papers. "All of this."
With a rueful smile, Chloe admitted, "Yeah. I guess it does. After," she sipped some of her drink, still unwilling to talk about her father's death, "I was in a fog. My journalism's been the only thing that kept me going. It's always been there for me."
Lucas nodded in understanding. "And when you were in Metropolis that day," he smirked, "What were you investigating?"
"What makes you so sure I was investigating anything?" She shot back, folding her arms.
"Let's just call it a hunch."
Chloe wondered if she was ready to share her information with the newly adopted Luthor. He seemed different from Lex and Lionel, less affected by his last name and what it could do for him; more carefree than either of his family could ever hope to be. But she wasn't ready to give it up yet. Especially since she hadn't decided if she liked him or not. "The jury's still out on that," was her cryptic reply.
He didn't press her further and she appreciated that. "Let me know when that changes."
"I will." She said, and was surprised to find she meant it.
Who was this rogue Luthor and how had he gotten under her skin so fast?
Suddenly uncomfortable with the way things were going, she shifted in her seat nervously and rummaged through her bag. "We should probably get going."
With eyes that seemed all too knowing, Lucas merely nodded.
He escorted them out of the building and they drove back to the manor in silence.
That night, when Chloe was in bed, she grabbed the gray journal from under her pillow. She looked at the clock on the nightstand. Lex wasn't due for another half hour, at least. She had time.
And all of the sudden, she knew what to write. She'd been carrying the journal around with her for days, not knowing what to do with it. Knew her pen was flying across the paper and she almost couldn't get the words down fast enough. When she finally stopped to get her thoughts organized and make sure she'd gotten everything out, Lex was sitting next to her in the bed, reading papers over.
Feeling her gaze, he looked up. "Looks intense."
Protective of the small book, she hugged it to her chest. "It is. It's personal."
The corner of his mouth quirked up. "I wasn't going to ask."
Feeling a tad sheepish, she relaxed, and closed it up, putting it in the nightstand drawer. "Sorry. I'm a little paranoid."
"Comes with the territory," he almost smiled, setting his papers down. "You wouldn't understand this family half as well as you do if you didn't begin to take on some of our characteristics."
"You know, that doesn't bother me half as much as it should," she thoughtfully replied.
This time he did smile. "I suppose that's a compliment, in an odd sort of way." Lex watched as she kept silent, quietly wrapped up in her thoughts. "Ready to call it a night?"
She met his eyes evenly and nodded slowly. "Yeah. I think I am."
He flicked off the lights and drew the covers up to her shoulders. "I know you're rolling your eyes."
"You just practically tucked me in," she groused. "What the hell am I supposed to do?"
He chuckled and turned over. "It if bothers you, go jump into bed with Lucas. He's right down the hall."
She stiffened. "Okay, I'm getting used to him, but I don't think I'll ever be ready for that."
"Never say never. Look where you are now."
Look where she was now, hmm? Inside a huge mansion, sleeping next to Lex Luthor, with more access than should ever be granted a 17 year old... and still, somehow, not completely numb to it all.
"You're special," Lex said into the darkness, as if hearing her thoughts. "Don't let that change. Ever."
"I'm going to have to change someday," she said wistfully.
"Not before you're ready."
Her lips curved up in a smile at his firm reply. "With comments like that, it's a wonder you haven't been doing this all your life."
He was silent and then moved to a near sitting position. She heard a drawer open. Seconds later, a dark bundle was resting next to her head. Chloe reached for it.
"I can feel how cold your feet are from over here."
She rolled her eyes again. The man made sure his house was a balmy 68 degrees, all year round, but had a thing when her feet were the slightest bit cold. She reached under the covers and slipped the socks on. "Better?"
"Much."
As she was drifting off to sleep, a thought occurred to her. "Lex?"
"Yes?" He sounded a little groggy.
"Does Lucas know about..."
"Not unless you feel like telling him anytime soon."
"Oh. Okay."
Lex smirked, and closed his eyes.
"I saw that."
"Go to sleep. I promise you can beat me up about it in the morning."
When she didn't reply, he turned over to make sure she was okay. Chloe was out cold. He smiled and went to sleep content.
Chloe now has a livejournal. Links don't display correctly in the formatting here, but I will tell you that her username is: grayroom.