A/N: This chapter's a little longer then the other ones. What can I say? When you're on a roll, you gotta write!

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They reached the last row of trellises, separating them from an uninhibited view of the ocean. Chloe paused, and peeked through the vines as the moon was slowly coming into view. The silver light streaked across the water. The sight was beautiful, and the beauty acted like a salve on Chloe's tangled emotions. She sighed.

Lex watched, amused as Chloe halted and stared out at the water. She had never struck him as the kind of person totally effected by romantic things and here she was sighing at the moon. He tugged on her hand. "We need to keep moving." He said quietly. "You can come back to the ocean some other time, okay? Hell, I'll bring you, but we need to move now!"

Chloe nodded, and followed close behind, as Lex started off parallel to the trellises, but not stepping out into the open. They walked quietly for what seemed like hours, but in reality was probably only ten minutes, before the began approaching a fence and what looked the back end of the property.

Lex stopped at the edge of the vineyards, observing the fence. It was more like the walls of a fortress. About ten feet high and made solidly of brick, with what looked like a high voltage wire running around the top of it. Lex could make out two cameras from the shadows, but they looked to be facing outwards.

"How are we supposed to get over *that*?" Chloe demanded quietly.

Lex shook his head. "Give me a minute." He walked out into the open, with Chloe reluctantly following. He approached the wall, and then walked along it to where it dipped sharply, and headed down a steep hill, almost a cliff, towards the ocean. Lex glanced at Chloe speculatively as he formulated a plan.

"What?" Chloe demanded, watching his mind work, and not wanting to be left out of the decision making process.

"We don't go over it. We go around." He said, gesturing to the ocean.

Chloe looked out over the water. The ten foot wall dropped all the way to the foot of the cliff, and went out into the water, where it gradually shrank in size until it disappeared into the water about a hundred yards out.

"I dunno, Lex." Chloe said. "That's kind of a long ways out. And we're handcuffed, and I know I've never tried swimming with one arm attached to someone else."

Lex was about to answer when a voice from behind them said, "You're not going anywhere!"

Chloe felt the cold metal of a gun muzzle against her ear. For a second she thought her heart had stopped, but before she could even formulate a plan, Lex whipped around with his free arm, and hit the man in the head with a branch that Chloe hadn't even seen him pick up.

The man dropped to his knees, groaning, but still conscious. Lex stepped over him, and to Chloe's dismay, hit the man in the back of the head. Lex was raising his arm again, when Chloe grabbed his wrist to stop him.

"Lex, you knocked him out." She said quietly. "Please don't kill him. Not in front of me!"

Lex looked over at her, and was pained to see fear creeping into her eyes. He dropped the branch. "Chloe, he held a gun to your head, what did you expect me to do? At the very least, he would have knocked you out again." She wouldn't meet his eyes, so Lex caught her chin, and forced her to look up at him. His face was cool, but not unkind. He strove to drive his point home. "I won't let them hurt you, okay?"

She nodded, and tried to smile. Warmth finally filtered back into Lex's eyes and he smiled. Then he dropped to one knee, and began searching the man for his weapons.

Chloe stood, watching Lex go through the man's clothing with systematic efficiency. Her lingering fear gave way but she was still left with a feeling like a hollow pit in her stomach. Somehow she knew that if she hadn't been there, Lex would not have stopped at two blows. She struggled to reconcile this coldly unemotional Lex, with the brash but subtly teasing character that was Clark's friend.

Lex took the 9mm gun out of the unconscious man's hand, and a spare clip from his coat pocket. He tucked the gun into the back of his pants and put the spare clip in his pocket. He stood up and looked around cautiously before speaking.

"No cuff keys." Lex said quietly. "We can use the gun when we're further away, okay?"

Chloe nodded. "So we *are* going to try and swim?" She asked.

Lex nodded, and stepped over the edge of the hill, and started down. Gallantly, he offered his arm at the very steep places, and Chloe was thrown for a loop again. Lex was back to being chivalrous.

Careful not to pull her with him, Lex hopped over a log that was blocking their way and landed on uneven dirt a couple of feet below. He turned and before Chloe could object, had caught her by the waist, and lifted her down. He smiled at her bemused look, and kept going.

Halfway down the hill, Chloe had stopped wondering about the many moods of Lex Luthor, and was simply relieved that Lex was being so chivalrous. She cursed herself for her vanity, every time her foot turned in the strappy sandals she had chosen to go with her outfit. By the time they reached the bottom, Lex was supporting almost all of Chloe's weight, as she had rolled her ankle and couldn't walk without pain. He wrapped his arm around her waist as they made it the last couple of feet.

"How are you holding up?" He asked, as they sat down on the sand near the bottom of the hill to rest.

Chloe ran her hand over her ankle. "I think it's okay. It's just strained, not sprained."

Recognizing an opportunity when he saw one, Lex reached down, and ran his hand over her ankle as well. It was swollen but she was right, it wasn't sprained. Nothing immersion in cold salt water wouldn't cure he thought, eyeing the ocean.

Chloe tried to focus on the situation at hand while Lex ran his hand over her ankle. She knew he was just making sure that she was all right to continue, but she couldn't help but let her mind wander to what it would be like for him run his hands up higher, skimming over her flesh, raising her skirt inch by inch...

Her reverie was broken, when he dropped his hands and stood. Chloe glanced up at Lex as he looked out to sea. She rolled her eyes, thinking that her thoughts were a little inappropriate considering who she was with and the situation she was in.

Lex caught the eye roll and smiled. "What?"

"What?" Chloe repeated, looking up. She realized he wanted to know what she'd been thinking, and blushed. Thanking her lucky stars it was too dark for Lex to see, she just shook her head. "Nothing. Are we going?"

Lex nodded and caught her hands, pulling her to her feet, before wrapping his arm around her again and heading for the water.

As they crossed the empty sand between the shelter of the hill and the ocean, Lex kept a close watch on the top of the hill. He hoped that he'd see anyone if they stood on the edge, but the wall, and the vineyard provided a dark backdrop. He didn't think anyone was up on the hill, but he couldn't be sure.

Chloe stopped when they reached the waves, the water gently lapping at her toes before receding.

"So, seriously, how are we going to manage this?" Chloe asked.

Lex looked at the wall as it went marching into the sea. "Well, to be honest. I'm hoping that it isn't all that deep all the way out there, and that we won't have to swim very far."

Chloe nodded. "That's a nice hope. What if it's deep, three feet out?"

Lex smiled at her pragmatism. "I'll tow you." He said matter-of-factly.

"What?"

"Well, we can't both swim. It won't work. We could blast the handcuffs with the gun, but that would ruin the element of surprise and I would like to get out of this mess without being shot at. So, since I'm stronger, I'll tow you, and swim with one arm."

Chloe was a little piqued that Lex assumed she couldn't tow him. She protested. "I could tow *you*, y'know." She pointed out. "I'm a strong swimmer."

Lex gave her a look like he thought she was crazy. "Maybe, but I'm a lot bigger then you and you've hurt your ankle, which may have an effect on how well you kick. Plus to be completely honest," He said with a smile. "I don't think you'd make it." He pointed to the wall. "All the way out, and all the way back the other side." He shook his head. "I'll do the swimming. You just relax."

As Chloe was trying to form a decent argument for not being treated like a helpless woman, Lex stooped, and untying his shoes, handed them to Chloe.

"Hang on to these." He said. "I'll need them on the other side."

"You know, I have a mind to drop them out where it's deep."

Lex smiled, as he began to walk into the water. "I had no idea you had such a mean streak!"

Chloe opened her mouth to make a scathing remark when the water hit her up to her knees. Gasping at the temperature, she stopped and shuddered.

Lex looked her over his shoulder at her. Deliberately provoking he said, "Wimping out on me already Sullivan?"

She glared at him. "I'm adjusting to the water, okay?" She pointed at his legs. "*You've* got pants on, and *I'm* not even wearing socks! It's just a little bit cold is all."

Lex kept gently easing her deeper as she spoke. The water rose to her knees, deepening to her thighs with each incoming wave. When they were almost waist deep, a rolling wave broke over their heads effectively soaking them both, and preempting Chloe's desire to ease into the water.

Chloe stood shivering, as she tried to convince herself to further immerse herself in the freezing water. She took a step to walk forward, and bumped Lex who hadn't moved. She glanced up at him.

The heat in his gaze curled Chloe's toes and warmed her from the inside out. She suddenly figured it was good that he was standing in freezing cold water. She followed his gaze down to her chest, where her nipples were poking through the now soaking wet fabric of her shirt. Suddenly feeling very self-conscious, Chloe crossed her arms. An action that pulled Lex's handcuffed wrist closer to her breasts than she was comfortable with. She uncrossed her arms, and waved a hand in front of Lex's face.

Lex slowly pulled his gaze away and made eye contact with Chloe. Smiling at the confusion that he saw there, he said, "Well, you're all wet now, we can just plunge right in."

"What?" Chloe said, not sure if Lex meant any double meanings or not.

"We can swim." He clarified, trying to keep his smile to himself. "It looks like it's getting a lot deeper."

Nodding, and trying to ignore the sexual pull she was feeling, Chloe took a couple more steps into the ocean.

Lex was right. The bottom abruptly dropped out from beneath them. One minute Chloe was chest deep, and the next she went under because her feet couldn't touch the ground.

Lex pulled her above the surface, and back to where she could touch. "Okay, now we swim." Lex turned her, so that her back was to him, his handcuffed arm coming under her free arm and settling across her chest. He pulled her back against him, and then kicked off the ground, floating, with Chloe above him. He began to kick out sideways, using his arm to pull them forward.

Chloe remembered not to drop Lex's shoes, as he spun her around, and wrapped his arm across her chest. The sensation of being completely dependant on Lex was a strange one, as her position didn't leave her much option of doing anything but hanging limp, while Lex swam and kept her head above the water. Accepting that Lex had probably been right, and she couldn't have towed him without drowning them both, Chloe hung limp and offered as little resistance as possible.

Lex stroked powerfully out into the waves, bearing a little ways from the wall to avoid being slammed into it. As Lex swam, Chloe began to relax and her eyes began to droop, partly because it felt good to have Lex's arm around her again, but mostly because the cold, cold water was beginning to take effect.

Lex noticed Chloe's eyes drooping, and realized that there was another variable that he hadn't really accounted for. Chloe was much lighter then he was, and she was dressed in much less. Not that he didn't appreciate the feel of the thin fabric under his hand, but he could see that it wouldn't take much more for Chloe to start drifting towards hypothermia.

"Chloe, open your eyes." Lex said, and he continued to swim out to clear the wall. "You need to stay awake, all right?"

Chloe opened her eyes, and watched as the moonlight rippled across the waves. "I'm okay Lex." She said, through chattering teeth. "Thanks for caring." She was about to say more, when she noticed two figures on the beach.

Her heart pounding, she whispered, "Lex, look!"

"I see them. Keep quiet. We're almost clear of the wall. We'll be out of sight soon."

Chloe shut her mouth, and watched in fear, as they made their way around the wall at an agonizingly slow pace.

They cleared the wall without any shouts of recognition. Chloe hoped they had made their escape undiscovered, because it sure was an ordeal getting away.

Lex breathed a sigh of relief as they made their way around to the far side of the wall. He could see that there was another mansion on this side. He assumed that they were simply adjoining properties. There weren't any lights on, and Lex took that to be a good sign. No need for the neighbors to go calling the bad guys...

Lex was getting tired as he continued to swim towards the shore. Just when he was about to go beyond exhausted, his feet touched the sand, and he groaned as he stood on firm ground and let the arm he'd been swimming with relax.

"We made it!" He said; feeling a great deal of pride for the task he'd just accomplished. "You still got my shoes?" He asked.

When Chloe didn't answer, he tipped her head back. Her eyes were closed and her skin was pale white. Her arms were hugging his shoes, but she looked like she was frozen in place.

"Chloe!" Suddenly feeling a sensation that he was unfamiliar with, Lex realized he was deeply afraid for Chloe.

Riding the waves in, and swimming, Lex made it to the beach in a time span two minutes ago he had thought himself incapable of.

He pulled Chloe up on the sand, and all the way to the shelter of the hill, still aware, that they were being hunted. He lay Chloe down, and felt her skin.

She was like ice. He put his ear against her mouth, and could hear the faintest sounds of air escaping. Relief made Lex weak, before her pulled himself together. Scooping Chloe up into his arms, he made his way up the cliff, towards the mansion he had seen on their side of the brick wall.

TBC...

A/N: How am I doin'? Story flows okay? Characterization is good? I know the handcuff schtick is a little over used, but it's so fun, I couldn't resist! More feedback, more! It's so addictive! Heh heh.