Something Old, Something New

Chapter 4: Hostile Takeover

Midnight came and went as the credits for 'The Sixth Sense' rolled. Clark and Lana were cuddled on their couch, much to Chloe's obvious disgust. She was laying full length on her own couch, with Pete sitting on the floor and leaning his back against it. Lex sat comfortably on the third couch, with Kate fast asleep with her head on his shoulder.

Kate had recovered fairly quickly from the shock of her phone call to Daniel, and the twelve-hour movie marathon had come to a close with any further dramatics strictly confined to the screen.

"This was fun," Clark said softly as Pete shut off the DVD player.

"Yeah," said Lana. "Kate's great, Lex."

Lex smiled, watching the others beginning to stand and stretch. They would soon be heading to their respective homes, and Lex was preparing to finish crunching some numbers before going to bed himself.

"Leave that," he said to Clark, as the young man started to pick microwave popcorn from the couch he had been sitting on. "Mrs. Jacobs will clean in here in the morning; it'll be good as new."

"I should be getting home," Chloe said with a glance at her watch.

The others agreed, and began gathering their jackets and other belongings from around the room.

"Forgive me if I don't see you out," Lex said softly, gesturing to Kate with an affectionate smile as she slept peacefully on his shoulder.

"Sure," Clark laughed. "We know the way."

"Goodnight, Lex. Thanks for having us," Lana gave him a smile as they crept out of the room.

"No problem." Lex watched them exit then turned to whisper, "Kate. Katie, wake up."

Her eyes opened slowly and she lifted her head to look around the room. "Did I miss the end?"

"Yes, but I'm sure you've seen it," Lex smiled.

"Where did everybody go?"

"Home to bed," Lex said. "And it's about time for you to get to bed, too."

"What are you, my mom?" Kate laughed, waking up more steadily now.

"I thought you'd be happy to get some rest after such a crazy day," Lex said reasonably.

"Yeah, you're right," Kate admitted. "I haven't been sleeping well lately. Nervous about the wedding, I guess."

"And see how pointless your worrying was," Lex pointed out with a smirk.

"I know," Kate joked. "I should have called the whole thing off months ago; save myself a lot of trouble."

Lex smiled grimly and Kate sighed. "I just wish things had turned out better," she said simply.

"I know," Lex agreed, "but you know you made the right choice. You wouldn't want to wake up in ten years time and finally admit to yourself that it was a waste."

Kate looked at him sideways, "You just don't like Daniel."

"No, I don't," Lex admitted. "But that's not why I think you made the right choice."

"I know," Kate yawned and ran her hands through her hair. "I need to get some sleep. Can you direct me to my room from here?"

"I'll show you the way," Lex grinned. He led her out of the room, and they arrived at Kate's new quarters without incident.

"My room's right here if you want me," Lex said, pointing to a door adjacent to Kate's. "Just call out, okay? And there's an intercom to downstairs if you need Mrs. Jacobs at all."

"Okay," Kate smiled shyly. "Thanks for everything, Lex. I know it's not exactly convenient for you to have me here, and I promise I'll be out of your way as soon as…"

"It's no inconvenience," Lex interrupted. "I'm glad to have you here. It's been too long since I saw you, Katie; I want you to stay for as long as you like."

Kate smiled at the use of her childhood name, and stood on her toes to kiss Lex lightly on the cheek.

"Thankyou," she opened the door to her room and disappeared behind it.

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Kate looked at the digital clock beside her bed for the sixth time in four minutes. It flashed angry red numbers at her – 3:27am. She sighed audibly and sat up in bed. She eyed the intercom to downstairs, wondering if she dared wake Mrs. Jacobs at this hour to bring her something to drink. She decided not.

She clambered out of bed and switched on her bedside lamp before leaving the room, hoping that the light would help her to find her way back again. She crept down the hallway, aiming for silence as she tried to remember which way would get her back to the long staircase that lead towards the kitchen. It had been a long time since her last visit.

Just as she reached the stairs, Kate jumped at the sudden sound of continuous clicking, followed by a whispered curse. She smiled at the realisation that Lex must be up, and knocked quietly on the door nearest to her.

"Yes?" Lex was getting bad-tempered. Why could no one leave him alone to work, even in the middle of the night?

"Hey," Kate opened the door slightly, craning her neck around it. "Working late?"

Lex smiled upon seeing her and raised a hand from his computer keyboard to beckon her in.

"I'm sorry," he said quietly. "I didn't wake you, did I?"

Kate shook her head, "I couldn't sleep. I was trying to find the kitchen; am I even close?"

"Just down the stairs, to your left." Lex said. "You can call Mrs. Jacobs from your room, you know; that's what I employ her for."

"To bring me something to drink at 3:27 in the morning?" Kate scoffed.

"3:31," Lex corrected. "And yes."

"Whatever," Kate rolled her eyes. She walked over to his desk and sat on the edge of it, well away from his computer to protect his privacy. "What are you working on?"

"Hostile takeover," Lex said almost proudly. He poured a second glass of scotch from the crystal bottle on his desk, added ice cubes and handed it to Kate without her request.

"Still into making other people suffer, huh?" she asked, gesturing to the computer monitor.

Lex frowned, "Actually, I'm trying to avoid the suffering."

"Your own or other people's?"

"Both at the moment." He sighed deeply and Kate's heart went out to him. "My father has taken over all of my projects," he explained. "That means all of my employees are now his. Put simply, I want them back."

"Who owns them in the eyes of the law?" Kate asked, going into business mode automatically.

"He does," Lex said grumpily. "I want to buy them from him legitimately, but there are two problems: One, I don't have nearly enough money on my own; and two, he'd never sell them to me anyway."

Kate mirrored his frown, "So you need an investor."

"An extremely wealthy one," Lex nodded. "That would fix problem number one."

Lex smiled subconsciously. He enjoyed Kate's company, and had always thought that they made a force to be reckoned with when both had their business hats on.

"Is your mother keeping your dad's hotels running?" he asked idly, turning from the screen and sipping his scotch.

Kate laughed, "She has nothing to do with it. Dad left me everything when he died."

Lex raised his eyebrows and grinned, "How does she feel about that?"

"She's fine," Kate shrugged. "I do all the work to keep the hotels running, and she gets an allowance to do whatever she wants with. She would have spent everything in the first month otherwise, and we'd both be on the streets by now."

Lex laughed, but inside his mind was ticking over. Kate was his friend; surely she would want to help him to escape from his father's evil clutches and survive on his own? She would make the perfect business investor, and if anyone could help to overthrow Lionel Luthor…

"What are you plotting?" Kate asked suspiciously.

"Nothing," Lex said, his casual expression slipping effortlessly back into place.

"I know that look, you can't fool me," Kate insisted. Lex looked pointedly innocent, and she shrugged in resignation. "Fine, keep your little secrets; I'm going to bed."

Lex smirked at her now empty glass, "Scotch always did make you fall asleep."

She smiled before sliding off of his desk and walking towards the door. Lex looked at her fondly, and smiled when she turned at the door to speak.

"Don't stay up too late," she whispered, wagging a finger at him in an endearing imitation of his late mother. She turned serious, adding, "And don't worry too much about your companies – we'll figure something out."

Lex grinned at his insight as she disappeared into the hallway – Kate would be the perfect person to help with his business plan; all he had to do was convince her before Lionel sold LexCorp to his buyer in France.