Author's note: I haven't really decided on a central couple for the story, but I think it's safe to say it will focus on more than one.
Part 1
Walk like a Luthor
The sports car pulled into the driveway of the Daily Planet after a dizzying show of speed through Metropolis. Lana didn't know where she had learnt to drive like that. The citizens of Metropolis however didn't seem shocked or surprised to see her driving like a lunatic through downtown. Actually they seemed to have grown accustomed to it. Lex used to drive like that, she recalled. She stared at the wedding ring on her finger – she hadn't quite brought herself to take it off for some reason. The car came to a screeching halt and she got out. She was surprised once again how used to the stiletto heels she seemed to be. She had tried to find something to her liking in the massive wardrobe in her apartment – shoes over shoes, party dresses over party dresses and a drawer full of sexy lingerie she had blushed for hours on end after seeing – but she had scarcely come up with anything remotely comfortable. Everything was far too elegant or far too sexy and all far too expensive looking. She still felt like someone would be returning to that apartment, that wardrobe and hold her responsible for every little crease on those perfect designer clothes or every object out of place. She recalled Florence catching her trying to remove a carpet stain she had accidentally made with her morning coffee and the shocked expression on the girl's face. Apparently, Lana Luthor never raised a finger to clean up anything.
Lana walked – in her designer suit, in her stiletto shoes – through the doors of the Daily Planet. Every person she passed by stared at her. Surprised to see her there. Some even looking like they were frightened. Yes, Isobel could frighten people, but not Lana.
"Mrs. Luthor, to what do we owe the pleasure?" a middle-aged man asked coming up to her.
"Uhm, I was wondering if Chloe Sullivan is here. My assistant called earlier but she couldn't find out exactly when Chloe would be in so I thought I'd try and see if I can find her now," Lana told him politely.
"Aaaah…Chloe…well, the truth is… I'm not sure she's in. She was supposed to take an interview this morning and I don't think she came back yet," he told her on an apologetic tone.
"Well I'm sure Chloe can spare some time for a dear old friend like Mrs. Luthor," Chloe said with a sarcastic smile coming out from behind a desk in the back of the room.
"Chloe!" Lana said with a smile of relief. Her friend didn't seem too changed.
"If you'll step up to my desk, Mrs. Luthor," she invited her to sit opposite her at her desk. Behind her, on the wall, Lana noticed an intricate maze of pictures and notes, many of which contained the name Luthor. "Not exactly Smallville's wall of weird, but I like to think of it as Metropolis' sleaze panel."
"Is my name there?" Lana asked squinting her eyes to be able to read the names better.
"Why are you here, Lana?" Chloe suddenly dropped the sarcastic front and the heavy formality.
"Aren't we friends anymore?" she asked looking at her uneasy.
"The last time I tried to talk to you, you had two tugs beat the crap out of me. Those flowers you sent me to the hospital were a nice touch though. Very…Luthor of you," she said leaning back in her chair.
"No! I would never…," she wanted to protest.
"Spare me the public denial, Lana, this is off the record," Chloe scoffed. "Lex tracked down the tugs, remember? He apologized in your name," she paused for a moment before going on: "You know, Lex might be evil too, but at least he doesn't totally forget who his friends were at some point. He even visited me at the hospital."
"Yeah, well maybe he needs a new bed comforter," Lana replied and her eyes went wide when she realized what she had just said and she brought her hands to her mouth.
"Now that's the Lana Luthor I know," she said with a smirk.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to say…to imply something like that," she apologized.
"Since when do you apologize for anything?" she shook her head. "Look, if this is about Lang Pharmaceuticals, you're wasting your time. My testimony still stands and I don't intend to back out of it for all the money in the world."
"Actually I wanted to talk to you about something else," Lana said uncomfortable. "I wanted to ask you whether you know where Clark is."
"You tell me, Clark's been missing for the last two years. You're the last one who saw him before he mysteriously vanished," she reminded her.
"When was this?" Lana asked trying hard to think back to the events before her total blackout.
"When you came to. In the hospital," Chloe said. "Here in Metropolis." Lana tried hard to remember, but couldn't recall a single thing. "It's funny," the reporter said with a weak smile. "You woke up, saw Clark and then a week later you married Lex. Somehow it doesn't sound like the way the story's suppose to go."
"Chloe, listen," Lana bit her lip. "This is going to sound crazy and you probably won't believe me, but I swear it's the truth." Chloe looked at her confused. "I don't remember anything that's happened in the last 2 years. The last thing I recall is the helicopter I was in crashing. I think somehow…Isobel took me over."
"You're right. That's a good joke," she said laughing nervously. "And yeah, I don't believe you. Not after everything you and Lex have done. To me, to this city, to hundreds of thousands of people."
"It's the truth," Lana insisted and tears formed in her eyes. Only instead of impressing her, her tears only made Chloe mad. She stood up and yelled at her:
"Get out!" and when Lana didn't move she repeated pointing toward the exit: "GET OUT!" The people in the room looked back at Chloe in shock. No one told Lana Luthor to get out. And there would be consequences for Chloe's actions that would affect them all. Lana stood up and made her way out of the Daily Planet still in tears.
"Sullivan, are you freaking insane!" the editor in chief asked coming up to Chloe.
"Maybe," Chloe said looking after Lana out the windows. "It's weird. Feels like she wanted me to do this."
"Yeah, so she could have a reason to take us down. Or to question your testimony," he shook his head.
"We'll see," she said as she saw Lana getting in her car and speeding out of the Daily Planet's driveway. She couldn't not feel suspicious about Lana's visit. The Luthors were famous for their ulterior motives after all. But what if she had been telling the truth? She'd soon find out.
When Lana returned to her apartment, she found a stack of messages waiting for her from Florence. A Mister Jeffries had called 20 times and had left his number just in case she didn't have it. She had received a large bouquet of flowers from someone with a note that said: "For the best night of my life. Signed, Q.". Next to the vase Florence had put the flowers in, there was the latest edition from a Metropolis tabloid with a picture of her kissing some guy on the front page. The title said: "Who's in Mrs. Luthor's bed tonight?"
Hesitantly, Lana opened the tabloid to the article in question. There were even more pictures with her and the same guy from the cover and the article said:
"Mrs. Luthor does it again. The multibillionaire minx, recently accused of producing contaminated pharmaceuticals on a grand scale, doesn't seem to be worried of the upcoming trial when she will be put up against the masses of outraged buyers that have suffered from Lang Pharmaceuticals' products. She still appears at public benefits and private parties, showing off that grade A smile and the latest in European fashion. And, of course, her latest conquest. This week it was Central City's bad boy Quentin Terrane, son of oil tycoon Terrence Terrane," Lana looked back at the bouquet of flowers and frowned. At least now she knew who Q. was and what he looked like. She returned to the article: "Meanwhile, her husband, the infamous Lex Luthor, was halfway around the world sealing a deal to open a Luthorcorp enterprise in Shangai and bad mouths say enjoying the company of an exquisite Asian flower whose name we do not dare mention in the pages of this fine publication."
Lana threw the tabloid on the table and sighed. She then noticed two thick envelopes lying behind the flower vase. One of them had Lex's handwriting on it. She had learnt to recognize it after they had started doing business together. She opened his envelope first. It was full of pictures of her and that Quentin guy. But these pictures were a bit more explicit than what the tabloid had gotten. She blushed a furious shade of red and read the note attached to the pictures. It had only two words on it, oozing Lex's brand of sarcasm: "Nice choice." She could see him smile without him even being there. She quickly put away the envelope not even thinking about the fact those pictures had probably been in the hands of a photographer and maybe even more people. The second envelope had pictures of the same nature, except Lex was in them with an Asian woman. A typewritten note brought to her attention that the woman was the Chinese ambassador to the United States.
Lana put the envelope away and sighed. Lex hadn't lied. They were both carefully – and very closely – watching each other.
"Mrs. Luthor?" Florence asked shyly from the door. Lana Luthor was known for her mood swings.
"Yes?" she looked up at her after glancing nervously back at the envelopes now laying one over the other. She wondered whether Florence knew about the existence of that 'mutual spy-system' Lex had mentioned to her that morning.
"Mister Jeffries called again," she told her. "He said he needs to talk to you urgently."
"Uhm," she chuckled nervously. "Which Mister Jeffries are you talking about? It's slipping my mind right now."
"Your lead attorney on the Lang Pharmaceuticals trial," she reminded her, thinking it was strange for her to forget someone as important as Mr. Jeffries. "Should I tell him you're in now?"
"Aah, can you just, I don't know, tell him to call back tomorrow? Tell him I'm feeling sick or something," she suggested.
"Will do, Mrs. Luthor," Florence nodded. When she was half way out she came back inside and told her: "Mister Terrane called earlier too. He wanted to see if you were free for dinner. I kindly reminded him that the Luthorcorp benefit party is taking place tonight and that you would be attending it with your husband." Florence thought she was going to be yelled at, smacked around even – she had heard one of Mrs. Luthor's previous assistants had gotten the beating of her life after she had accidentally ruined her favorite dress – but Lana only told her:
"Good," and after a paused enquired: "This benefit party…Is it important for me to go?"
"Well, I'm sure your husband would appreciate your presence," she offered hesitantly.
"Are Lex and I separated? Or we have separate bedrooms or apartments?" she asked looking around. It had occurred to her while she had been getting dressed that morning that she hadn't found any indication that a man was living in the same room with her.
"I believe the two of you decided it was best if you lived separately," Florence said expecting Lana's fury to explode at any moment for the insolence of having even implied such a thing, although everyone knew that was the truth.
"Where does Lex live?" she asked her.
"Right there, Mrs. Luthor," Florence pointed out the windows at the building right across the street. Lana realized their apartments were probably parallel to one another.
"If we're separated that means I'm not obligated to attend that benefit party," Lana said. "Could you tell him I can't make it?"
"Of course," Florence said swallowing hard. It was one of her duties she despised more. Telling Lex Luthor that his wife was 'unavailable'. He always screamed and cursed a lot and the second day Florence always got a flower bouquet and an apology note for being so rude. Although the flowers were nice, Florence would've preferred simply not to have to speak to him.
"Thank you," Lana said and after a moment asked: "Tell me, Florence, do I happen to have some picture albums around here? Or some sort of…article archive?"
"Yes, you have the private albums you keep in your wardrobe, Mrs. Luthor," she told her. Why was she so forgetful that day? She had probably drunk too much the previous night. It happened sometimes.
"And articles about me?" she enquired.
"Uhm…no," she shook her head and reminded her: "You burn all of those."
"Oh," Lana let out. "That'll be all, Florence," she told her assistant and the girl made her way out of the apartment. As soon as she was gone, Lana headed straight for the wardrobe. Maybe Isobel had left some clues as to what she had been doing in the last 2 years.
End Part 1
