CHAPTER 4: Requests
THE APARTMENT ABOVE THE TALON- 5.40 p.m.
Chloe was stretched out on the sofa- her body propped up against some colourful cushions she had bought at a hippie fair in Metropolis last summer- when Lois entered carrying a tray with two smoky cups of coffee and some pie.
The blonde reporter wrapped her body in the duvet she had grabbed off the bed and blew her nose with the last tissue left in the box. She wished Lois had knocked at the door before walking on a very private moment. Chloe berated herself for her stupidity- she should have locked the door to keep everyone away.
"Hi, Chlo´! I´ve brought you some coffee and a piece of your favourite pie," smiled Lois as she set the stuff down on the coffee table." You don´t look well. How are you?" she frowned, observing her cousin´s puffy nose and red-rimmed eyes.
"Don´t look at me that way, Lo´. It´s just a damn cold or something. I´ll be up and about tomorrow morning," she said, clearing her voice.
"You haven´t answered your phone since yesterday and, when I asked Clark about you, he darted glances all over the place and babbled some stupid answer," responded the elder cousin, watching Chloe take a few sips of her coffee with her eyes closed.
"Don´t blame him, Lo´. He was just doing what he thought was best. He knows what you´re like... Look at the way you´re fussing over me because of a stupid cold," exclaimed the snarky blonde, folding the screen of her laptop to prevent Lois from snooping into what she´d been researching.
"Don´t lie to me, Chloe. I can smell something rotten here. Come on, cuz, spit it out. I really don´t feel like beating around the bush. I´ve already had cue ball dismiss me like a stupid kid," she glared, pacing up and down the room.
"Lex?" gulped Chloe, scalding her throat with the hot coffee.
"Yes, Lazarus. He´s a f*cking freak, that´s what he is and a constant pain in the butt. If he weren´t the owner of The Planet, he´d have to hear me out," she fumed not noticing the sudden pallor on Chloe´s face. "I´ve never understood it. How come he´s allowed you to stay here after everything you´ve written against him and everything he´s done to you and your mum? And... you´ve never said anything about moving out. It´s been more than a year, Chlo´" replied the brunette, sitting down on the sofa.
"Getting an apartment in Metropolis- one I could afford with a rookie´s salary- isn´t that easy, Lois. Besides... Lex isn´t the only owner of The Talon," said Chloe, pinching the fork in the pecan pie.
"Yeah, right. Let´s not forget Clark´s fairytale princess," said Lois snidely. "By the way, have you noticed anything amiss between those two lately? This morning you could cut the air with a knife around them," she prodded on while Chloe zoned out.
Why had Lex allowed her to move in and make her home in that apartment after Black Thursday? Well, she´d had several theories- none of which had prepared her for the answer she got while being in Lex´s mind; it was a response which changed everything. As to the reason for her accepting Lana´s offer to live above The Talon knowing Lex was co-owner of the property, Chloe´d never dared stop to analyse it. Although she´d never been afraid to dig up the truth and face the consequences, this was one truth her rational half found hard to handle. That summer, four years ago, she thought there could be no greater pain than having her best friend and secret crush choose Lana over her time and time again. How naïve she´d been! She hadn´t been prepared for what was to come next.
"Chlo´, are you listening to me?" Lois interrupted the blonde´s musings when she realised her cousin was staring at the door of the apartment. "Chlo´? " she insisted, stretching an arm to brush a few strands of fair hair off Chloe´s face. "Sweetie, what´s wrong?"
Lex reached the first floor determined to face the person whose enmity he had cemented four years ago when fate had shown its ugliest face and he had been forced to hurt them both. It hadn´t been an easy decision but he had been left no option. No, at that moment, he cursed Lionel Luthor and thanked God for having spared him any additional guilt.
He walked purposefully to the door of the apartment, which had once been inhabited by the woman he´d thought could fill the void Chloe had left, give him what he´d never be able to have with Clark´s best friend. He raised his left hand and, after a split-second hesitation, knocked on the door.
"Damn! " exclaimed Lois through clenched teeth." I forgot cue ball said he´d be up in a few minutes. I can´t pretend I´m not here, Chlo´, he´s seen me climbing up with the tray. If you´d rather..." she continued in a concerned voice.
"It´s OK, Lo´. The sooner we hear what he´s got to say the sooner he´ll be on his way," Chloe cut her off with a small smile and an assumed calmness she was far from feeling.
"Mr Luthor, " responded a collected Chloe, standing up from the sofa not to give him the advantage of speaking to her from a vantage point.
"Are you OK?" he asked, noticing the ashen paleness of her freckled complexion.
"I´m fine, thanks. I´ve caught a twenty-four-hour bug or something. To what do we owe the honour of your visit?" she told him, making an effort to hold the look of his intense blue-grey eyes, which she knew were almost all-seeing.
"Well, I´ll make it brief," he replied, slipping his left hand inside the overcoat and taking out some folded legal papers which he handed over to Chloe.
"What´s this?" frowned the blonde reporter, grabbing them with a frown.
"Eviction papers, Luthor?"snapped Lois, rushing to her cousin´s side to take a peek at the documents.
"On the contrary, Miss Lane. It´s a deed of property in your name, Chloe. I´m transferring the ownership of the building to you and..." he added, extracting an envelope, "I´m also giving you my share in this business."
"What are you trying to do, Luthor? Buy her off?" hissed Lois.
"Lo´," Chloe cut her off with a pleading look in her eyes," let me handle this. Could you... could you give us a few moments alone, please?"
"But Chloe, don´t you see...?" the brunette pressed on.
"Lois, I don´t need you or anyone to speak for me. I appreciate your intention, but if you´ll excuse us, I want to have a word with Lex alone, " Chloe said to Lois, gently pushing her out of the room.
"All right, cuz. We´ll talk after closing time," she complied, shooting a warning glance at Lex, who responded with a cocked eyebrow and a smug smile."Mr Luthor," she bid him goodbye coldly.
"Miss Lane," he answered smoothly," I´m looking forward to reading that article you´ve been working on. Grant had faith in your reporter skills and I hope you´ll prove him right. I must say I was somewhat sceptical when he sang his praises judging by what I had seen thus far. Still, Chloe´s one of the most promising journalists in the business and her blood runs through your veins... I´m willing to give you the benefit of the doubt."
`One of the most promising, eh? Is that why you fired her?´ Those were the lines Lois would have liked to utter, but she knew they might cost her her own job at The Planet so instead she toned them a little bit down. " If this an attempt to win me over, Luthor... " she replied with the hand on the doorknob.
"Lo´, " Chloe interrupted her with a shake of her head to show her it was high time she held her tongue.
"OK, the`muffin peddler´ is on her way out," sighed Chloe´s cousin, hearing Lex´s chuckle as the apartment door was shut firmly behind her.
The minute General Lane´s eldest daughter had stepped out of the flat Lex felt the atmosphere suddenly change. He looked at Chloe´s back and let his eyes roam over her until they reached her shoulders and her soft nape; she was visibly tense and he was aware he was the one to blame. Still, something felt different somehow as if the wall they had both erected between the two had started to crack.
"Chloe?" he said quietly when he couldn´t stand the silence any longer.
The young woman felt him get closer as she stood by the window with her back to him, trying to control her throbbing heart and the overwhelming urge to cry. No, everything wasn´t all right, and she feared what he might ask- she, who had never let anything stand in her way to get to the truth, now couldn´t handle everything that had been revealed to her when her essence had transferred itself to the man she´d learnt to hate in recent years. Although she had got many answers, she had also been bombarded with questions that haunted her- questions she wanted replied but, at the same time, feared to ask.
"Why?" she whispered, blinking her eyes to chase away a couple of treacherous tears."Why are you doing this now, Lex?" she added with a firmer voice.
"It´s my imperfect way to say `I´m sorry´. I know that a lifetime might not be enough to compensate you for what I´ve put you through, Chloe. I thought this could be a first step... giving you something you´re attached to," he responded, swallowing the lump in his throat.
"Then Lois was right. This is a bribe," she said, finally finding the courage to turn around and face him.
"It could be interpreted as such. I´d like to see it as an olive branch. Coffee´s always been the safest way to your heart," he smiled faintly.
"The Lex Luthor we all know would have offered me something more valuable to me."
"Your old job at The Planet? I thought of it but then, I turned down the idea; you would have thrown my Luthor grand gesture in the face. For all your independence you´re still a traditional girl- you wouldn´t have taken back the job if it had entailed being regarded as the boss´ whore by your co-workers."
- ... I´ve always known, Lillian. Did you think you could hide something this big from me for ever?
- What are you going to do now, Lionel?
- Do? Oh, I know exactly what I´m going to do!
- I want a divorce.
- Do you think I´ll let you walk away from me, Lillian?
- I don´t love you.
- But you love your son, and you´d do anything to protect him, right?
- What do you want from me?
- You know what I want, Lillian. We´ve discussed it a lot lately.
- I can´t. I won´t.
- You will or Lex will know what kind of a mother he has.
- If I do this... will you promise to leave him alone?
- For now...
-Bastard! He´s an innocent child. What has he done to you?
- Wrong question, my dear. You know what the problem is and there´s only one way to fix it.
- Let me go, Lionel. Let us both go. I don´t want a divorce settlement. Just give me my freedom and you won´t have to see either of us again. You´ll be single again; free to take a new wife.
- And what will you do? Run to him? I´m afraid it´s too late for that. What? Surprised? Oh, I know who he is.
"Chloe? Chloe?" Lex called her insistently, shaking her gently.
"What? " she answered weakly, coming out of her trance and trying to focus her eyes on Lex.
"Are you sure you´re all right? You seemed to be miles away from here, " he frowned, seeing the racing pulse on her neck and feeling his own heart starting to hammer as he grudgingly removed his hands from her shoulders.
"I´m fine," she told him, taking a couple of steps away from him." What do you want from me, Lex?"
"A second chance," he told her gravely, boring his blue-grey eyes into her.
"A lot of water has run under the bridge. You can´t buy someone´s forgiveness, Lex," she responded, biting her lower lip. It was turning out to be really hard to maintain the coldness which had characterised their relationship in the past four years, but she told herself she couldn´t give in so easily or he might start to suspect. Although Chloe knew he wanted to earn her trust, Lex would expect for it not to come easy. "I can´t accept this," she added, giving him back the deed and the legal papers transferring her the shares.
"Chloe," he began with a flash of hurt in his eyes.
"I really don´t know why you´ve allowed me to stay here for so long. Hell, I can´t even explain to myself why I haven´t moved out yet."
"We were... maybe not friends... but partners once, Chloe. After what happened on Black Thursday I felt responsible. It was the least I could do."
"Are you sure that was the reason? You had another chance to do things right after the Zod debacle and you blew it- you got even more driven and obsessed. I´ve been burnt too many times by the Luthors to believe so readily in miraculous transformations."
"I´m not my father," Lex told her gravely.
"Well... you could have fooled me these last years, Lex. There was a time I saw something in you that gave me hope- that told me you were different from him, but you did everything in your power to crush that glimmer of hope."
"I made countless mistakes in my past. I won´t beg, Chloe. I´ve knelt down and crawled too many times in my life. I just wanted to do something for you, considering how much I´ve hurt you and those close to you. I know it won´t be easy to believe this time will be any different, but I´m planning to make the most of the opportunity I´ve been given. I´d like for you to be part of my life... Clark´s a very lucky guy to have you as his friend and I wish I could call you `my´ friend sometime too. However, if that isn´t in the cards... "
" You said you wanted to do something for me," she cut him off, crossing her arms in front of her. She was going to ask him for it; there had been a moment a year ago when she had almost done it, when she´d even considered offering herself in whatever capacity he wanted her- as a guinea pig, as a minion or as someone to warm his bed.
"Name it."
"If you say `yes´, you won´t erase the past but I´d be willing to give you the benefit of the doubt... My mum... I want to talk to her again."
"You´re asking the wrong billionaire, Chloe. We both know you and Clark asked Oliver to find her treatment."
"Her state hasn´t changed. LuthorCorp´s the only corporation which has the technology to help her, Lex."
"I´m dismantling 33.1, Chloe."
"But you still got the serum, right?"
"There´s no proof the cure´ll last for ever and the long-term side-effects aren´t known. You´ve seen what refined meteor rock can do to a person..."
"You didn´t have so many qualms when you submitted her to the treatment last year," she spat at him through clenched teeth.
"I can provide you with the drug, Chloe, if that´s what you want, but..."
"I need to talk with her once more, Lex," she cut him off." Or is there something she knows you don´t want her to share with me?"
"I´m just concerned about you. If the drug doesn´t work indefinitely, are you ready to lose her all over again?" he responded, clenching his fists deep in his pocket.
"Send the serum to Queen, Lex, and don´t worry about me. I´ll deal with the consequences myself."
"All right. Suit yourself," he shrugged resignedly.
Lex would give her more than just the serum; he owed it to her. `Today´s another day,´ he told himself; deciding it was high time he started getting rid of assets he´d acquired with the idea of controlling and manipulating those who were meddling in LuthorCorp business.
Chloe thought she might be closer to getting some answers. The question now was, would she be ready to accept them?
