CHAPTER 21

"Selling the house so soon?"

"Go away, Mr. Luthor."

Lex stood awkwardly in the doorway, pulling his checkbook out of his back pocket. "I hope you don't mind, the door was open. I'd like to help you. And for the future, taking a shower works better without the excess apparel."

Chloe walked over to Lex, looking at the ground rather than making eye contact. "Put your checkbook away." She moved him slightly so that he was outside of the doorframe and closed the door in his face, locking it. The doorbell rang.

Then it rang again.

And again.

"Chloe, can you get that?" Lana called out from the bedroom.

"It's not anyone I want to talk to." She responded calmly.

Lana trudged into the front room with a MetU sweatshirt and a pair of pajama bottoms. "These should do for now." She handed them to Chloe before unlocking the door and pulling it open. "Lex? What are you doing here?" She asked curiously.

Lex looked at Lana, her beautiful hair, expressive eyes, lithe form. 'It's amazing how far away from our original plans life can take us,' he thought matter-of-factly, surprised that he really didn't feel it was for the better or worse. "I'm here to make an offer on the house." He scribbled in his checkbook before ripping out a check and handing it to Lana. "I hope it's satisfactory."

Lana nearly fainted as she read the cash amount. "Lex, this is way too much."

"I don't want him to have it." Chloe spoke levelly.

"Lex?" Lana asked him, wide-eyed.

"That's the amount I am willing to pay for the property, and I'll be willing to take it off your hands by the end of the week." He glanced over at Chloe. "If that suits the owner."

Lana pulled Chloe to her side and whispered frantically into her ear. "Chloe, this could cover the rest of your tuition at school, plus give you enough spending money to get you through the next few years. Take the offer."

Chloe peeked at the check from over Lana's shoulder and nodded curtly. "Fine. You want it, you got it. But I'm not going back to MetU, Lana, so don't get your hopes up."

Lex furrowed his brow. "A college education is important, Miss Sullivan. If money is still a problem, I'm sure we could work out an arrangement."

Chloe glared at him. "As hard as it may be for you to understand, I don't want your help. So if you want to buy this house, as property for a new LexCorp experiment farm for meteor-enhanced cows or maybe just as some sort of sick memento, then good for you. But I don't need anything else, and I certainly don't need advice." She turned back to Lana. "The paperwork?" Lana nodded dumbly and left the room to get the necessary papers.

"Why are you doing this to yourself?" Lex asked Chloe, his voice low and hard.

"I could ask you the same thing." She grinned, but it didn't look like it used to. Instead, of the light feeling in his chest at seeing her smile, Lex found himself a little nervous.

"I thought you wanted to major in journalism. Go back to work at the Daily Planet."

"Plans change, Lex." She said dully. "All I know is that I have to get out of here. Out of this house and away from you."

"I'm not my father, Chloe." He growled. "My father did this. You know he did. It wasn't me. He left his path so easy to trace, it was like-"

"He wanted you to catch him? Hmm. Tough one there, Lex. Your dad wanted to remind you who's the boss. Big surprise. We both already knew your dad was an asshole. At least you have one."

"Had one." Lex's eyes burned into hers.

Chloe paled and wrapped her arms around herself tightly. "Lex, no..."

"You said to me that there's no such thing as fate, and I just can't accept that. My father deserved whatever he got. I hope he suffered just like he made me suffer. And you, who didn't deserve any of it. For the first time in my life, I've achieved some sort of balance. If wickedness is punished, that must certainly mean that goodness is rewarded. Right?" His eyes glowed with passion and intensity, pleading with her to understand. Instead she took a step away from him.

"You sound insane, Lex." She murmured.

"Says the girl in soaking wet clothes." He commented dryly.

"How...how did he die?"

"A gas explosion."

Chloe tilted her head in thought. "Ironic."

Lex reached out to her, grabbing her hands and pulling her close. "I believe the correct word is coincidental."

His mouth was so close to hers, she could feel his breath tickling her face. The scent of him, the feel of him, everything she had wanted to forget. "Semantics," she whispered, before closing the space and brushing her mouth softly against his. He responded immediately, enthusiastically, wrapping his arms around her and pressing her so close that she could hardly remember where one began and the other ended. She pulled her head away, gasping for breath as Lex bent down to kiss her neck. "You killed your father."

"He got what he deserved." He repeated, in-between kisses, the words resounding hot against her neck. "And besides, he killed yours."

Chloe stiffened in his arms. "No." She started to struggle against him but he held his arms tight around her. "No, don't do that to me, Lex. Don't put another death on my conscience."

"That's not what I meant!" He argued between clenched teeth as he wrestled with her in his arms. "Chloe, please, just calm down and let me explain."

"I all but lit the match! I killed my father and I killed yours. We did." She shook her head, her hands snaking between their bodies to press against her temples. "We did...we're tied together in death, Lex. This isn't the way I wanted it."

Lex let her go, dropping his arms to his sides. "I need you, Chloe."

Chloe kept shaking her head, the ground spinning beneath her. "No...no don't say that."

Lana came in and stood stunned in the hallway, not quite sure how to handle the situation. "What's going on?" she asked inquisitively. Lex ignored her, focusing intently on Chloe who had now backed herself up against the wall.

"Why not? It's true." He laughed bitterly. "Do you have any idea how hard it is for me to say that? I have spent my entire life learning not to rely on anything and yet I find myself in this strange situation. I need you. And hell, Chloe, I want you. I still do. For some reason, you bring out the best in me."

Chloe looked up through her trembling hands, her voice rising hysterically. "The best? The best? You just..." She looked over at Lana, whose eyes were wide with shock and curiosity. She couldn't say it, not with Lana here. "You know what you did, Mr. Luthor. You can still have the house, but I can't give you any more of me. I don't have anything left to give you. So just...take the house and let me go."

Lana looked at Lex, standing straight and tall and powerful in the middle of the room, then looked over at Chloe, practically cowering in the corner. "Lex, time to leave." She shook her hands at him, shooing him out the door. "You have terrible timing." She smiled, and he felt anger build in his throat at the look of pity she was giving him. "Just give her some time to heal. I'll stop by the mansion later to go over the details of the estate sale." She noticed the dark circles under his eyes and quickly added, "Get some rest, Lex. See you later."

Lex walked back to his car, lost in contemplation. He couldn't let this go. His need to protect her and be with her had taken over his every thought, and he wasn't ready to relinquish that feeling when it was still so novel and inspiring. Now that he was alone, he could admit to himself that he was slightly affected by the loss of his father, but Lionel had never truly been a father, not in the real sense of the word. Not the way Gabe had been to Chloe. It was the first time that things were making sense to him, and he couldn't let go of the key to his enlightenment. She held answers and happiness somewhere within her, he was sure, and he would get to them eventually. He had to.