Gabe Sullivan was talking, as he had been for the past – Lex looked at his watch for the nineteenth time – four hours. He took his hand out of his pocket and ran it over his scalp. If he had to hear one more manure pun…
One of the doors to the room opened and everyone turned to look. Gabe even paused in the middle of a fascinating story about overhauling one of the processing machines.
Lex looked up from his position of one hand in his pocket, the other on the back of his neck, and looking at the floor. A smile immediately spread over Lex's face. He wanted to run over and hug her. It felt like he hadn't seen her in days. The thought briefly crossed his mind that he actually had been on this tour listening to Gabe Sullivan talk for days, but quickly dismissed it. He had looked at his watch so many times, he would have known.
"Mr. Luthor," she held up a manila folder that she was holding. She began to walk over to him.
Lex noticed that Gabe's droning was still at a halt. "Rhone, what can I do for you?" Lex said coolly, despite his thoughts.
"I hate to drag you away from Mr. Sullivan," she started, "But we have run into a – small problem." She held up the manila folder again. She said the words "small problem" seriously to convey that there was a severity to the situation.
Lex straitened and lied, "Gabe, I'm sorry we have to cut this short…" He wondered what he could have possibly done now. He wasn't doing anything else as – questionable as the particle accelerator.
"Certainly, Mr. Luthor," Gabe said a little disheartened. However, he knew that this invoice thing for the government was something that Luthor Corp. wanted completed in the least amount of time possible. And if there was a problem, he didn't want to be the focus of any kind of residual anger.
Rhone turned and walked out stoically. Lex followed her, taking in her displeased demeanor. He followed her out the door and shut it behind them. "What's wrong?" Lex asked concerned.
She knew no one was around, so she turned to face him and handed him the folder.
Lex opened the folder, but there were no papers in it. It was completely empty. There was some small print on the inside. Lex brought it up closer to his face to read it. It said: "Gotcha." He looked up and she was grinning widely. His concerned face turned into a wide smile.
"Nothing is wrong?" he was still smiling at her. She had him worried for a moment. He didn't want her to be mad at him or anything. She shook her head to let him know that nothing was wrong. "You were – convincing," Lex said, doing a poor job at pretending he was angry at her little stunt.
"If you would like, you can go back and hear about the epic struggle of Man vs. Manure from Mr. Sullivan…" she began.
"Since I'm already out here, maybe we should just call it a day," Lex said, still grinning. She saved him.
They began walking down the hallway. "So, how was my performance?" she asked. WE should just call it a day? She felt the tips of her ears get hot. What the hell is that? She must be – malfunctioning. She concentrated and returned her heart rate to normal.
"Believable," Lex said with a faint grin.
She was quite the actress. She had done a few missions that required her to do some undercover work. She looked at him uneasily, "I didn't know if I should have."
"Should have what?" Lex looked at her as they walked.
"Mount a bogus expedition to retrieve my partner from the clutches of boredom," she said after a moment.
"You can save me anytime," he said. He immediately realized what he had said. He was going to add something to his statement, but decided against it. He meant what he said on any level that she could take it.
She continued to control her heart rate. "I'll remember you said that," she said honestly. Most people thought that they were too good to be saved – until shit hit the fan and they fell apart like a balsa wood chair.
Exactly what kind of a response was that? It wasn't a rejection; that was for sure. He looked down at her hand – just reach for it and hold it. It frustrated him that when he was around her it was like he was ten years old again. Debating whether or not to hold a woman's hand?
They walked past Lex's secretary. Rhone gave a quick wave to Claire.
Claire watched the two of them leave, side by side. She watched her employer quickly step in front of the young woman and open the door for her. Rhone hesitated, like she had done every other time Claire had seen him do something of that nature for her. But what she searched for and found, was the way they looked at each other when they thought the other wasn't looking – when they thought no one was looking. Claire smiled thoughtfully to herself as they walked out the door.
They walked toward the parking lot, still walking next to one another. "So," Rhone said with a pause, "What do I get?"
"What do you mean, what do you get?" he really didn't know what she was talking about.
She unlocked her car door. She noticed that he followed her to her car – last time, he went directly to his car. "Yeah, Clark pulls you out of a sinking car, you buy him a truck. I saved you from a fate worse than death, The Saga of Fertilizer by Gabe Sullivan. What do I get?" she was smiling widely. She was standing with her car door ajar, as if any moment she would open it fully and get inside.
"What do you want?" Lex asked softly, as he put a hand on the car door, much like the previous evening.
Do not answer that, Rhone, she told herself. She didn't know if she could answer it if she wanted to. Well, she could. It was standing right in front of her – but it was impossible. No one can ever forgive what you are, she thought to herself. Not to mention, he is Lex Luthor: stunning, rich, powerful, super model magnet…
"I think I'll just leave it as the son of a billionaire owing me a large favor," Rhone said with a smile. He chucked at her response and then there was a pause between them. "Audience," she said out of nowhere.
He gave her a quizzical look. "We have an audience," she clarified.
Lex looked to the building. He saw his assistant doing some unnecessary window cleaning. "I think I'm going to put an ad in the paper," Lex said with a slight smile.
"I like her – great sense of humor," Rhone said, obviously referring to the incident that caused Lex to blush the day before.
He chuckled as he looked down to the ground, "If by great sense of humor, you mean impudent."
"That," she began, "is exactly what I meant."
He looked up, "See you in an hour?"
She reached into the tiny back seat of her car and pulled out one of her standard fitted t-shirts. "Normally, I'm prepared like a boy scout," she said.
"I have some papers to sign at the Smallville Savings and Loan. It shouldn't take long," Lex remembered one of the messages his assistant had handed him earlier.
She didn't exactly have anything to do in the meantime, and she liked being around the hairless magnificent. "I'll meet you there," she opened her car door.
Lex wasn't expecting her to say that. He smiled, "Alright." She really did like spending time with him. At least some of his – opinions were reciprocated.
She put her artist's tube and the t-shirt in the car. "Bye," she couldn't help but smile at him.
Lex held the door as she got in her car. He placed his other arm on the roof and leaned into the car slightly, "Bye." He shut the door and took as step back watching her start her car and pull away.
I don't believe I just did that, Lex thought to himself. That was so corny. Maybe he would be lucky and she would mistake it for suave.