"Damn it." Lex yelled and threw his glass of scotch across the room, shattering it against the wall.

Lena whistled as she entered. "Problem?"

Lex sighed, his hand over his eyes. "Warren just called."

"And this upset you?"

"He's having a dinner party this weekend and wants me to come. With Chloe." Lex explained.

"Just say no." she replied as if talking to a two year old.

"I can't. Warren made it very clear that he's comfortable with me running his company because he sees how 'devoted' I am to Chloe." Warren's word caused Lex to recall how Chloe looked at him when she left the mansion the other day. His heart constricted painfully. "Without her, he may just end this whole thing."

"But he can't do that."

"Yes he can. The deal is still in escrow. He can call it off at any point until next month." Lex told her.

Lena sat across from him, biting her lip in concentration. Lex turned his head from the action. "Tell him Chloe can't make it."

"I have to at least ask her." he whispered to himself. But he already knew what her answer would be.

"You can't!"

"I can control myself around her for one evening." he assured is daughter.

"I don't buy that for one minute." she muttered, walking out of the room.

……………….

Chloe closed her laptop when she heard knocking on her door. She groaned as she stood, she had been at her computer for twelve hours. Anything to get Lex out of her mind.

Then she opened the door to see him standing in her hallway. She promptly slammed it in his face.

"Chloe, I need to talk to you." he yelled through the door.

"Not interested." she yelled back.

Sighing, Lex turned to leave. He didn't want to give up, but he knew that tone of voice. Chloe was not going to listen to him right now. Unless he could figure out a way to get in there.

As quietly as he could, he began searching around the door for a spare key. He remembered Gabe's penchant for misplacing his keys, and figured there had to be at least one somewhere. After searching all around the door frame and light fixture in the hall, he decided to check under the fire extinguisher at the end of the corridor. Bingo.

He walked back to Chloe's door, praying it was the right one. It was.

"Hey!" Chloe cried in indignation when the door swung open. "I should have you arrested for breaking and entering."

"I have a key. No breaking involved." he said and tossed it to her.

"What do you want Lex?"

"I need a favor."

………………..

"I cannot believe you're doing this." Lois said from Chloe's bed.

"Lex may not be my favorite person right now, but he needs my help." Chloe told her.

"Naïve." Lois muttered. She held firm to her belief that Lex was up to something. He had pursued Chloe for months only to drop her for another girl just when she started showing interest. No he wanted her to go to a dinner with him. Definitely up to something.

"Well?"

Lois looked up at Chloe's voice and whistled. "Very nice cous." Chloe was wearing a dress of Lois's. It was red and strapless with a slightly flared knee-length skirt and beading on the bodice. She had her hair up and was teetering in a pair of Lois's red stilettos.

"I gotta go. Be careful." Lois said and hugged her good-bye.

Chloe scrutinized her reflection in the mirror. "Okay, what is wrong with this picture?" She had to admit she looked good. She'd spent longer getting ready for tonight than she ever had in her life. 'Maybe I really am a masochist.' she thought.

Knocking interrupted her train of thought, and she was glad her dad wasn't there to see her going to another dinner party with Lex. He would most definitely have questions.

"God, you look gorgeous." Lex said when she opened the door. She blushed at the compliment and hated herself for it. "Can we just go?" she asked snappishly.

That stung. It was quite obvious she did not want to go. But she had agreed out of friendship, despite the anger. Just like he knew she would.

………………..

"Chloe dear, how wonderful to see you again." Elizabeth Steele exclaimed and embraced Chloe in an overly perfumed hug.

"Thank you for inviting me." she said.

She hooked her arm through Chloe's and said happily, "There are a few people you just have to meet."

Chloe threw a look over her shoulder at Lex and mouthed "You will pay." He grinned.

"Ah, to be young and in love." Warren said behind him. Lex turned and shook his hand. "Warren, thank you for having us."

"My pleasure. She's a lovely girl Lex. Don't let her get away." His eyes were sparkling good-naturedly as he looked at Chloe.

"Believe me Warren," Lex told him honestly, "if I had my way, I never would."

…………………

Chloe was in a very bad mood. Lex had been talking business all night while she had to talk with air-head debutantes and dancing with increasingly touchy-feely men. Like the one she was currently dancing with, Dan, or Dave or something like that. She didn't really care. Just wanted to leave.

"So Chloe. How long have you known Lex?" he asked.

"Since I was a freshman." she answered.

"In college?"

She shook her head. "High school." His eyes widened. "That's a long time."

Chloe was about to tell him that it actually wasn't when she spotted Lex eyeing her and her partner from across the room. Without a word to the man he was talking to, he broke away from their conversation and made a beeline to them.

"Chloe, we're leaving." he said sharply.

"Why?"

Lex was giving the man Chloe was dancing with a glare that made her blood run cold. She saw the man gulp. Instead of answering her question, he leaned in to the man and said quietly "If you ever come near her again I'll kill you." He then placed a hand on her back and began pushing their way through the crowd.

"What the hell was that all about!" Chloe screamed as the elevator doors closed.

"Stay away from that guy Chloe. He's trouble."

"And you're not?"

Pain flashed in his eyes and she felt guilty for saying it. But not enough to apologize.

"I'm serious Chloe. He's dangerous." The pleading look in his eyes made it impossible for her to believe that this was mere jealousy at work. He was genuinely concerned.

"Why do keep doing this to me?" she whispered.

"Doing what?"

"This!" she gestured between them. "You pursue me, then ignore me. You practically beg me to come with you tonight and again ignore me. Now you're so worried that another guy might be interested in me that you're pretending that he's dangerous. Why won't you just be straight with me?"

"I am being straight with you. That man is not someone you should be involved with. He's not stable." Lex argued.

"Fine, I'll stay away from him. What's his name again?" she sighed.

"David Buchannan." The name left a bitter taste in his mouth. He was guilt-ridden at the idea he had been too busy and that monster had actually touched her.

"You didn't answer the rest of my question."

"Which would be?"

"Why you keep giving me mixed signals. It's not really fair and I don't appreciate it." she held his gaze, chin stuck out defiantly.

"That was never my intention." he told her. "I still want you Chloe. The feelings haven't gone away. But I know now that it will never lead to what we both want. So there's really no point in pursuing it."

Tears stung the back of Chloe's eyes but she refused to let them fall. "And just what is it you want?"

His heart broke as he looked into her eyes. "I want forever."

………………..

"You were supposed to get her alone."

David sighed. "I tried. Luthor is much more possessive of her than we thought. This won't be easy."

"Well, we'll see about that won't we."

………………..

"This has got to stop." Lois announced as she strode into Chloe's room and yanked open the curtains.

"Hey!" Chloe cried from her bed. She was so not in the mood for this right now.

"Don't 'hey' me." Lois snapped. "You have been lying here, feeling sorry for yourself for a week now. I will not allow you to wallow anymore."

"I'm not wallowing." Chloe said.

Lois picked up two of the dozen or so empty Ben & Jerry's containers littered across the floor. She raised her eyebrows at her cousin, daring her to deny the evidence. Chloe huffed and sunk down further into her bed. "What do you want?"

"I want you back among the living and your father instructed me to get you out of this room by any means necessary."

"Meaning…" Chloe asked.

"Meaning if I fail to persuade you, Clark is downstairs fully prepared to come up here and carry you out as soon as I call." Lois informed her, arms crossed and mouth crossed in a triumphant smirk.

Chloe's mouth dropped. "You didn't!"

"Try me."

"I just need some more time." Chloe finally said softly. Lois recognized the change in her voice and went over to sit beside her. "Does this have anything to do with Lex's new little friend?"

"It's not what you think." Chloe said.

"Sure. He's all over you till he sees her and suddenly she's at the mansion and you're here burying yourself in Cherry Garcia. It doesn't take a genius to figure out what's going on." Lois tried to hide the anger in her voice. She hated herself for talking Chloe into this in the first place.

Chloe sighed. She knew she couldn't defend Lex to Lois without telling her the truth. And no one in their right mind would believe it. "I just want to forget Lex Luthor ever existed."

Lois laid down beside her and wrapped her arms around her. "Fine. But do you mind if I bash him a little more first?"

Chloe laughed despite herself. "What about Clark?" She felt Lois shrug her shoulders behind her. "He'll find something to occupy him. Maybe a cat will get stuck in a tree. That would make his day."

They laid there a few minutes, then Lois began her bashing. "I can't believe he did that. After everything he put you through. What a jerk."

"Lois, you don't know the whole story." She try to dissuade her from more, but once Lois gets started it would take something much more powerful than Chloe to shut her up.

"You know what the weird thing is?" Lois continued as if she hadn't heard her. "Lex is known for his infatuation with brunettes. Now he's dumped one blonde for another."

"Her hair's more red than blonde." Chloe pointed out. She was a little offended by Lois's declaration that Lex had 'dumped' her, but didn't say anything because she knew she hadn't meant anything by it.

"But it's still blonde. And she reminds me of you in a way."

Chloe rolled over and looked at her. "What do you mean?"

"Well she's petite for one. She has green eyes that look a whole lot like yours. She chews her bottom lip like you do. I even saw her roll her eyes at something he said to her in the Talon." Lois explained.

A cold air was creeping into Chloe's stomach. Something wasn't right here.

"Do you know her?" Lois asked.

"I met her. Her name's Lena." Chloe answered.

"Lena?" Lois's eyes about popped out of her head.

"Yeah…why?" Chloe didn't see the cause for Lois's reaction.

"Chloe-that was our grandmother's name. Don't you think that's weird?"

Chloe sat up in her bed, her mind piecing the puzzle together. Her eyes. Her mannerisms. Her grandmother's name. Strawberry-blonde hair. Blonde.

"No." Chloe whispered.

"No what? What's wrong?" Lois asked.

Without answering her Chloe jumped out of her bed and changed her clothes. She grabbed her purse and raced out her car without another word to either Lois or Clark, who was indeed downstairs.

Lex Luthor had some serious explaining to do.