A/N - I am so sorry if you have been waiting on this. I have had it done and totally forgot to post the rest here. Hope you enjoy!

Words, Words, Words – Chapter 7

Chloe and Lex returned to the mansion late in the evening. Lex stopped the car and looked over in her direction. "It was a nice day. Thank you, although you were a little hard on me."

Chloe grinned and shook her head. Lex deserved the treatment he received for the act that he was pulling. She was a ploy, a pawn in a game. Still her body shivered slightly at the thought of the kiss that didn't feel like a gameplay. Lex had actually kissed her on the beach. She felt her chest starting to heave up and down harder at just the thought of it.

Looking back in his direction, he had his arm comfortably curled around the steering wheel, staring in her direction while his hand was draped gently on the passenger seat. She smiled nervously, "I guess you're used to be being treated very carefully." Chloe looked away from the man as he seemed to drink in her presence. Her feelings were completely confused.

Lex felt the nervousness warm the car as she turned her face away from him. Thinking he had to save face for the evening, he changed the subject. "So when can I get the pictures?"

Business, I can do this Chloe thought to herself. "Tomorrow."

"Can you drop them by the office?"

Chloe stopped and thought about the trip into town, "Sure, I guess."

Lex smirked at her general lack of answer. "Good, then goodnight Chloe." They both let a few seconds roll past in silence. He wondered who should be the first to leave the car. He was fully expecting her to bolt immediately after he said goodnight, but she remained there in the seat twiddling her thumbs through the camera strap. Closing his eyes, he slid his hand from the back of the seat to her shoulder and leaned in.

Chloe turned to acknowledge his presence and met his lips. First gently and then increased her distance to him as his hand gently gripped her upper arm. Chloe closed her eyes and concentrated on her breathing as she felt his tongue brush past her teeth and lightly graze hers.

Lex pulled out of the kiss with Chloe's hand still firmly on the back of his neck. He hadn't even noticed that she had brought it around to him. Opening her eyes, she let out a small sigh that she wished she could have not revealed. "Goodnight," she whispered as she let go of Lex and left the car.

Lex leaned back in the seat and took a couple of deep breaths before rubbing his face with his hands. He needed to get perspective. She was a job and nothing more. He would play it out like it was to be done and then cut the ties. Send her on her way. No one would dare want to spend their life with Lex Luthor anyway. She already made that perfectly clear by saying she scared him.

Lex got out of the car and headed to the house. Not noticing that Chloe had stopped to peer at the one window in the house who's light was still on. Lucas was finally awake. He walked up behind her and shook his head. "You know my father once asked Lucas why he never went into the office anymore." Lex looked at the window and then down at Chloe who had turned to face him. "And Lucas said what do they need me for, they have Lex."

Lex stared at her and thought about his brother's lack of interest in work. She wanted to talk about the business; he was fully expecting an inquisition about the kiss in the car, but the moment didn't seem to phase her. Maybe she wasn't as interested in him as Lex thought. Maybe she was playing the game right along with him. Becoming irritated at how quickly the story went back to Lucas, he irritatingly answered, "Listen, I do real work in the real world. Lucas watches from the top of the mansion tower."

Chloe was hurt for Lucas and for Lex. Neither could find a balance; they both needed the very opposite things that they had. "Look, I know you in the real world, and you are awfully good at it. I bet you haven't made a wrong move since you were three." She paused and smiled trying to picture Lex ever as a child having fun. "But that's work. Where do you really live Lex?" Chloe dropped her head as Lex's lips parted in aghast at the cut.

Lex took a deep breath and tried to form words to cover himself, but nothing came to him. I would love to show you, he thought to himself as he shoved his hands in his pockets and tried to cover his unusually nervous feeling. "I had a nice time tonight Lex. Thanks."

Chloe walked off and left Lex standing in the driveway with his thoughts. Looking around the grounds, he sighed and went in search for a drink, a stiff one. There was more scheming to plan and ways to keep from getting attached. Chloe would eventually leave; she would have to for the company's sake. And he had to make it happen.

Chloe climbed the stairs with a smile on her face. She had intended on the trip being perfectly business and watching Lex bury his face in file for hours on end while she took pictures. But he had kissed her, twice. Trying to control her excitement before walking past her dad's door, she shivered and bit the inside of cheek. "Chloe," her father caught her. "We're you in town?"

"Martha's Vineyard actually." Chloe paused seeing her father put his book down at the awkward statement. "Lex wanted me to take some pictures for him of the house." Chloe leaned against the bookshelves that adorned her father's quarters and smiled to herself. Gabe nodded in acknowledgement of the strange request before putting the situation together. He wasn't to pry; she was a grown woman, but he was still her daughter with his boss.

"Lex did. Interesting."

Chloe looked back up at him and shook her head. She wanted to change the subject, but not really. She just didn't want to talk about it as father and daughter. "I love so many things about you dad. But you know what I love about you best of all? That you decided to become a chauffeur so that you would have time to read." She glanced at her father while running her hand across his shelves of knowledge, some even borrowed from the mansion. "I just always picture you at the front of a string of long limos waiting for the Luthors while reading your latest book." Glancing back at her dad, she couldn't hold it in anymore, "We had baked clams. Lex baked them." She paused and smiled, "I used to be so afraid of him."

Gabe broke his silence, "It was appropriate."

"What was Lex like as a child?" Chloe smiled intriguingly.

Gabe responded drolly, "Shorter."

**************

"I am up late and see some young woman in the courtyard, and wonder who is this woman late at night, so I am looking and looking and I see this Chloe and she's talking to a man and I look and look and she's talking to a man, not her daddy…"

"It was Lex. Chloe was out with Lex," the housewoman interrupted the maid.

"Yes, it was Mr. Lex," the maid conferred to get her last word in.

The gardener turned up his nose and looked at the two as if they had been seeing things, "Chloe went out with Lex Luthor; that is too weird. Wait, I thought Mr. Luthor was gay."

"Mr. Lex is not a gay," the maid interrupted.

"It's gay, not a gay," the housewoman interrupted her again. She really cared less for the woman.

"Lex Luthor is gay? That makes me like him better," the other maid asked.

Gabe strolled in unseen and wrapped his coat around the chair at the end of the table. Sitting down after grabbing something to drink, he announced to put an end to the gossip, "Mr. Luthor is a heterosexual." Not saying anything else, the rest of the staff stopped talking and let Gabe eat in peace.

Meanwhile, Chloe made her way up the stairs to see if the other Luthor was up and around. She had thought about the two all night. She was conflicted. As Lucas just started showing her some attention, even if it was only from her change in her style, she still wanted to feel that attention the other women received. On the other hand, Lex had pushed the envelope, and it scared her. To everyone else, Lex was the man to be hated, to be feared, and she could hold her own with him. By all means, Lex was more her equal, but Lucas was still her desire. Then again, maybe not, she thought.

"He's still asleep," the nurse answered before Chloe had the opportunity to ask the question.

"Is that normal?"

"With what he's been prescribed, no." The nurse went back to reading her magazine. Chloe watched as the woman tried to dismiss her as a common guest. But she had to know. After being gone a full day, Lucas had to have missed her a little.

"Did he ask for anyone?"

"Yeah, Bert and Ernie." Chloe smiled fakely and headed back down the stairs disappointed.

"Could you tell him Chloe was here."

The nurse flopped her magazine closed as if Chloe's conversation was interrupting something more interesting, "I could tell him the Pope came to visit, but I don't think it would matter." Chloe sighed and thanked the nurse who had returned to reading her magazine. She walked back down the stairs and headed for the car.

*********

Lex stared out over Metropolis and missed all the appointments his assistant was running through for him. She worked tirelessly for him, but he rarely showed his true self in front of her. An older woman that his father knew through his mother's friends, she was loyal to the family and the business. "Quarterly Reports by publishing will be online by four, International wants a teleconference at 5:15, and Harvey called…"

"Mac, you know that old brick building in Martha's Vineyard? I want you to call and find out the tax benefits of getting it turned into a halfway house. Just consider the whole block. You ever heard me referred to as the world's only living heart donor?"

Mac giggled and quickly straightened back up at attention with Lex's overly unamused look. "And if there isn't any benefit?

"Forget it," Mac nodded and walked back out of the office, interrupted by Lex again, "No, donate it anyway. And two tickets for whatever the biggest show is tonight and a table at the Carlile for drinks."

"For whom?"

"Me." Mac's head popped to one side as she almost dropped her pen. She stared at Lex questioningly. "I know I seldom go to the theater."

"Seldom," she asked sarcastically.

"Ok, I'm not a theatre buff."

"Buff?" She tried to withhold her ever increasing desire to laugh. His look told her to stop. "The most difficult tickets will be for a Broadway musical where there will most certainly be dancing and people that burst into song." Lex waved at her to just take care of it without him having to answer and be ridiculed by her anymore. Word traveled fast in the office, and this would be upstairs at his father's ear before the lunch hour. He grimaced at what his father would say later.

"Miss Chloe Sullivan is here sir." Lex nodded as the assistant opened the door wider for Chloe to enter. Lex looked up again from his desk and stalled a few seconds. She was professionally dressed in a pant suit that must have been customly tailored for her shape. She looked like perfection for a working woman's magazine cover. He smiled at her presence which got a return smile, though somewhat nervous looking. He stood up and welcomed her in.

Chloe walked halfway across the office and handed Lex the pictures. "Hi," she said while lighting up the room with her smile.

"Please, sit down and make yourself comfortable." Lex sat down in one chair and watched Chloe gently slide back into the chair directly across from him. She again caressed the arms of the chair like she had the ones one the place. She gazed around the room and then over at Lex in his oversized leather chair.

"Wow, it's big." She stared at Lex as he flipped through the pictures. "You really have to have all this room? I mean you have an office the size of a conference room and a conference room."

Without looking up, Lex continued through the pictures, marking the backs of some of them. "This is where I do that real work in the real world instead of what you so aptly put as living." Chloe turned and glanced at him, a little bit miffed at the direct assault on her comment from the night before. He must have thought more about it than she did.

"Ah, you remembered." Chloe lowered her head in somewhat embarrassment.

"It doesn't come up everyday. Would you like some coffee?" Chloe didn't respond as he continued through the pictures. "This is an unusual view of the house," Lex stated and handed her a picture.

Chloe laughed at the palace picture, "You said you wanted it to look bigger." Chloe walked around as Lex continued through the pictures, pocketing the one he took of her while she was looking out the window. "You have to admit, the place is beautiful," she said speaking of the palace.

"I would if you would let me."

"I found myself in Europe; a friend said that."

Lex looked up at her questioningly, "You were missing?"

"Yes."

"I once was lost and now I'm found." Lex looked back down at his file in his lap after placing some of the pictures back in the folder.

"You're making fun again," Chloe jokingly accused him.

"It's my turn," he said as he passed her to sit back down at his desk. He took the pictures he still held and stared at the one of himself. Chloe spied over his desk and laughed at his ego obviously getting the best of him.

"You're photogenic."

"Because I am handsome," Lex remarked as he passed the picture.

"Uh, no it's not."

Lex looked up at her, "But just not as handsome as Lucas."

Chloe's face beamed at his mention and she then remembered her whole reason for her infatuation with the family, "Nobody is ever as handsome as Lucas. Even Lucas."

"Ha! Don't tell him that until he fully recuperates. Anyway, are you sure you don't want anything?" Lex poured him a drink and waved the partially empty container in Chloe's direction. "Coffee, snails, fries?" He paused as she laughed. He loved her laugh; it was genuine, not like the women that laughed at the parties. She really meant to jokingly giggle. "Maybe theatre tickets."

"What?"

" I thought I would take that first step into what you so eloquently call living that I don't do." Chloe's face curled up in part amusement and part confusion. Kneeling over the back of his couch, she propped herself up on her elbows and rolled her eyes teasingly.

"Maybe it was a bad idea from that look."

"You know what's a good idea?" Chloe giggled to herself as Lex raised an eyebrow while gulping down his drink. He wondered exactly her trip into the city that he had so careful orchestrated was straying to. Once again, she was the end of all carefully arranged plans.

Lex gazed over at Chloe as she asked to be seated in the small little café with strange music and rugs all over the floors and walls. He walked through seeing the different patrons sitting around small tables on the floor and glanced over at Chloe. "You are serious?"

Chloe dropped her purse at the table the young Indian man had stopped at and thanked the host. "Come on – where's your sense of adventure. I found this neat little place in London almost identical to this and have wanted to try this place ever since dad told me about it." Chloe sat down Indian style and gazed over the menu. "We should get the 4 course dinner. It feeds two, but if you aren't up for it…"

"No, that's fine. I just never quite pictured …"

"And you're cultured? " Chloe looked at the waiter who had approached the table and ordered for them. Lex was awe. He hadn't openly admitted to her that she was almost too much for him, but she bordered on it. He watched her as she talked more about her travels and childhood memories. He marveled at the times he had openly laughed or tried to make a joke and she laughed with him. Again, he was captivated and it was dangerous.

When the meal arrived, Lex watched Chloe as she carefully dipped out the odd mixture of food in his bowl. She laughed watching him try to decide on what utensil would work best. Lex felt lost; he had been overseas to the Orient, but fell short of the customs for India. "It's really best if you eat with your hands."

Lex stared at Chloe as she took a handful and shoved it into her mouth. Appalled, he tried to shimmy his sleeves up enough to get over the bowl. Trying to not look like an idiot, he dropped the first bit in his lap that the waiter had previously covered in a blanket of some sort. Now he knew why. "Guess they'll wash that." Chloe just giggled and continued her story.

The two talked the rest of the way through dinner. Lex sat back and relaxed further into the pillows built up against the wall behind him and shook his head, partially at Chloe's unending trail of interests but also at his ever changing feelings. Her eyes sparkled when she talked. She could say nothing and her face was enough to read her mind. Leaning back against the wall of pillows at the end of the evening, closed his eyes for a few moments just to drink in her voice. How could anyone, Lucas included, ignore her. How could he ignore her.

Chloe watched Lex as she prattled on about her trip and growing up in the Luthor house. She noticed Lex always acknowledged her, laughed more than he probably had in many years combined and never broke his attention to her. As the night wore on, other women came and went past but his gaze never trailed. She had always wondered what it was like to be the center of someone's attention. She was curious moreover how much of an act he was really putting on. He was good at it at work; apparently too good. Chloe was taken by his smile and afraid of what feeling came over her. She stopped talking.

"And what does the river tell you?" he asked about her trip to river in the country.

"That's between you and the river." She smiled and sighed.

Lex saw her reaction and her sudden change in perception. He cast the first play to see if she bought into it. "You know sitting and listening to you talk about the peace of it all. Makes me wonder if," he paused.

"What?" Chloe gazed over at him.

"I don't know; something's different. I feel different. At work I don't," he paused and looked down. "I love the action, don't get me wrong, but lately I wonder what it would be like to spend some time in a place that I love like that. Not just few days, but like a real change."

Chloe stared at him and bit her lip at his suggestion. Was he playing her or was he for real she couldn't tell. "Are you thinking of leaving?"

"I don't know. I actually have been thinking about for awhile now, but didn't really think the suggestion was viable until you ummm,"

"What exactly are you saying then?" Chloe held her breath in anticipation.

"I'm not sure," Lex paused and laughed at himself, "I do what my dad does, what his dad did. My whole life I never chose anything."

"You're not really thinking about Europe?" Chloe leaned in and laid her hand on the table, intensifying her stare.

Lex saw the gesture of her hand and backed away and shook his head. "No, how could I? I'm already a lost cause. Nothing that a continent could bring back." He gently smirked as Chloe's eyes saddened at his statement about himself.

"I don't think anyone is a lost cause," Chloe stopped and met his eyes and his halfway quirky smile that lifted only one side of his mouth. Her breath hitched in the back of her throat as she lost her next words. Trying desperately to break the stare, she redirected, "What time is it?"

"Nine, I think." Lex sat up confused about the sudden change in the direction of the conversation. He was feeling so close to her, and she broke the moment. She stared at her watch and jumped to her feet. "Ticket please," he asked the waiter as she started babbling about being back for Lucas at seven. Chasing after her outside the restaurant, he stopped her in her tracks. "Where are you going?"

"I was supposed to get back and see Lucas tonight."

"Look, he probably still out cold and not really going to be able to talk. Let's just walk a bit." Lex saw the stare on her face as if she had been scared by a ghost. She was almost shivering as he put his overcoat around her.

Looking up at him as he placed his coat around her, she gulped slightly and took a long breath. "Thank you," she whispered as they continued down the street to the car.

"I heard you visited Paris once. How did you like it?" Lex had been there once and had barely left the airport grounds. The meeting was held in the conference room at a hotel at the airport. It was probably the quickest take down of a company that he could remember.

"It was alright. I was there for a weekend, fashion show. Things there were expensive. I did a lot of window shopping and only went inside the shops if they had something I wanted. Besides, the language was a bit challenging to learn in a weekend." Chloe laughed as Lex nodded in agreement and looked in one of the windows of a store they passed.

Chloe turned and looked at his reflection in the window as he said something in French. She couldn't make out the statement but it sounded so lovely coming from him just the same. "What does that mean?"

Lex turned to her and repeated himself, backing her into the window of the store. He stood so close he swore he could feel the heat radiating from her nervous pink cheeks. Taking another step closer, he dropped both hands at his sides, being careful not to touch her again. "It means," he waited to see her eyes lock his. "I'm looking at what I want."

TBC