Title: Breaking Chloe Sullivan

Summary: Her strength is intriguing him, her fire captivating him, but can she survive his interest? Lex decides it's time to find out, what exactly will it take to break Chloe Sullivan?

Shipping: Chlark Chlex mostly Chlark

Major Characters: Chloe Clark Lex

Author's Note: Okay, so some parts in this are a little iffy I think, but over all I actually like this chapter. It took me longer than I'd expected to finish it, and the ending definitely isn't what I originally planned, but I figured I'd give it to you anyways!

Reviews:

Kit Merlot: I know you know I'm not going to tell you what's going to happen. But you know Chloe, and you know Lex, so we'll see how it goes. As for the Howards, that's up for grabs.

inspire16: I like your plan...but I'm not sure if that's how my story will go...still, it's not fully written so who knows. And about the one-shot, I don't know if you should have let him get away... those little bunnies are sometimes the kick in the ass I need to get writing again, and they're great inspiration lol.

breathe-in3: Thanks! I think this update will come sooner!

ayana45: Lol see reviews aren't that hard? If you want quick updates you'd better keep reviewing...evil laughter repeat to fade, lol.

SamanthaMT: Thanks, and I will definitely be continuing!

Previously:

Chloe

So she turned the knob and pushed slowly, opening the door, and opening an entryway from her old life into her new one. She would do this, with or without Clark, it was her life to live and she planned to make the most of it.

Clark

What can I do for you Chloe? Clark was almost desperate to somehow ease her pain, but he didn't know how. He went upstairs and changed for bed, but he knew he wouldn't be getting any sleep tonight.

Lex

This could be a problem, if, and only if, he didn't gain some control over himself. And Lex Luthor wasn't one to lose control, he was the one who made others lose it. He took another sip, and saw Chloe's face reflecting in the flames of his fire. I control her. This was how it was going to be.

Ch. 3 Somebody to Want Me

Four Months Later

Everything was dark, she couldn't see anything, but she could feel, and what she felt was warm and sticky and all around her. Panic began to take hold even before the light switched on. She could see him now, he was standing in front of her, his eyes open but dead, his mouth curled in a sneer. "I think my dad is dead," he said to her, imitating her voice. "Of course I'm dead! It's all your fault!" She turned away but he was everywhere, his dead eyes confronting her at every turn. Everything, the walls, the floor, and even her own body, was covered in blood. "It's all your fault!" he repeated relentlessly."No," she screamed, "it was an accident! It was an accident!"

Chloe bolted upright in bed, her heart pounding in her chest, her breath coming fast and labored. Her eyes frantically searched around for that haunted face, and her ears listened for his terrifying accusations. But she saw nothing, and she heard nothing. Gradually her heart began to slow, and she began to relax. It was just a nightmare, it wasn't real... it wasn't real. Groaning, she flung her legs over the side of her bed, and got up. Her bare feet sunk into the plush carpet slightly, reminding her just how expensive it was.

Once in her bathroom, she flipped on the light switch and looked in the mirror. It had been a few weeks since her last nightmare, and she had welcomed the reprieve, but she'd known it wouldn't last long. There goes another night of sleep. Easily falling back into what had become a routine, she turned the faucet on cold and cupped her hands under the stream before dousing her face. After using the maroon colored, 100 percent, cotton towel hanging on the silver rod next to the sink to dry off, she headed downstairs, running to the only thing that could give her solace on a night like this one.

Even in the dark she knew the way, down the carpeted stairs, take a left down the hardwood hallway (this was always where, after about ten steps, she regretted not taking the time to put on socks), take a right down yet another hallway, and then another right and she was there. At this point Chloe paused, thinking about what she was about to do, and all the previous times she'd sought out this comfort. It was one of her many vices, and she knew it, but at times like this, she failed to care. Still hovering at the threshold, Chloe knew she should just go back upstairs and try to get some sleep, because she knew she'd regret this when the morning light flooded through the windows and illuminated her secret. Oh, screw it!

Her feet met the tile floor and carried her to the refrigerator. She opened the freezer side of the stainless steel appliance and a grin met her face as the automatic light switched on and lit up the carton of Cookies n' Cream ice cream. There you are! Grabbing the carton and a silver spoon from the drawer next to the fridge, she pulled out a chair at the counter and sat down. The first bite was heaven, it always was, and just like that she felt a little bit better.

A few delicious bites later was when she felt it. There was no sound, or smell, or sight to give it away, just a presence. She could feel it, and as always, a small smirk graced her lips before she spoke. "Good morning Lex." Chloe heard the whoosh of air leave his lungs as he gave up trying to scare her. He walked to the counter and sat opposite her, grabbing the extra spoon she'd made sure to have at the ready. "Good morning Chloe."

Ever since the main water pipe at the Howard's house had burst a month after she'd moved in, and they had moved into the mansion, Chloe and Lex had grown closer. It was the second night of her ice cream escapades about three months ago when Lex had come down and shared her craved dessert. The first time they hadn't talked, just sat there in comfortable silence, eating ice cream together. After that, they had begun to talk about everything, and yet they talked about nothing. Chloe noticed that Lex always waited for her to speak first, she also noticed he always let her choose the topic. He let her take the lead, even though it would have been so easy for her to follow him, to depend on his cues.

They always fell into an easy form of banter that Chloe found herself looking forward too. Even though their topics stayed off of anything that Chloe was sure Lex was dying to talk to her about, their debates were always lively and sometimes grew heated. He never brought up her reason for being down here, never asked about her nightmares, and in return, Chloe never asked about his reason for joining her in the early AM hours. She made sure they never talked about her dad, they never talked about Lex's mom, and they never talked about Clark. He didn't push these topics and that, Chloe appreciated greatly. They talked in innuendos, in hidden meanings and allusions, and Chloe had never enjoyed talking to someone quite so much.

"So Lex, are you ever going to give up on your feeble attempts to scare me?" she asked him, grinning as he swallowed the ice cream in his mouth and met her eyes. "Are you ever going to stop attempting to get me to stop?" he said in return. "Always answering a question with a question... will I ever get a straight answer out of you?" Chloe's eyes twinkled in the moonlight streaming in the windows and Lex smirked at her. "Maybe." Chloe burst out laughing and Lex chuckled along with her, always surprised at her ability to get him to laugh.

She took another spoonful of ice cream before asking, "What time is it?" "Well what's your definition of time?" Lex asked in return. Chloe raised one eyebrow and gave him that "are you kidding?" look she did so well. He laughed again before looking above her at the kitchen clock. "Almost 4 A.M." Lex watched her blonde hair shimmer as she nodded, and resisted the urge to reach his hand across the table and finger those silky strands. Lex what are you thinking? She looked up and their eyes locked. It was one of those intense moments that he'd come to love and hate at the same time. Her hazel eyes pierced him deeper than any other human being had managed to look, and yet she didn't turn away, turn away from the ugliness he was sure resided there.

Then the clock chimed and the moment was broken as Chloe looked away. She sighed and ran a hand through her hair before taking a huge spoonful of ice cream and shoving it into her mouth. The moan that came from her throat had Lex gritting his teeth in an effort to control himself. God Chloe! "That was some sigh," he said, trying to turn his mind from its current train of thought, which mainly consisted of all the things he would do to make her moan like that. "I'm just not all that thrilled at the prospect of being in school four hours from now. Why? What were you thinking?" I was thinking about how I want to throw you down on this counter and...whoa, whoa, calm down Lex.

"I was thinking about how I have to be at work in four hours. So why do you despise high school so much?" She looked at him funny for a second but let it go and got up to put the ice cream away. "Come on Lex, I dread that place. And the first day of school is definitely the worst, because then you know the whole year is waiting for you. Cocky teachers waiting to give you mountains of homework because they're mad they got stuck in that profession, stuck up cheer leaders waiting to make fun of you behind your back, and of course the jerks or jocks, whichever term you prefer, waiting to make fun of you to your face. Oh yeah, high school, sounds like fun."

Lex smirked at her, "I wouldn't trade you places, or would I? The business world isn't waiting to cut you any slack either Chloe, trust me." Lex watched as she stretched to reach the coffee mugs on the top shelf of the cupboard. Her over sized T-shirt lifted so he could see the edge of her very short, shorts. He allowed himself to appreciate the view for a full two seconds before she grasped a mug and turned around. "Trust you?" she questioned, before moving to the coffee maker and pressing the on button. "You see Lex, I have this policy about trusting people. They have to earn it first." She set the mug on the counter and paused at the door, looking over her shoulder. "Oh, and Lex? I have news for you, the world isn't waiting to cut you any slack. Period." Chloe turned and left Lex sitting there grinning.

He got up and went to his study, turning on his laptop and pulling up some files. He was planning his next move, they'd gotten closer, she was beginning to get comfortable, so now it was time to rip it all out from underneath her. The only question was, how to do it. There were so many different options, and he was going back and forth between causing physical trauma and emotional trauma. Somehow the thought of physically hurting her didn't really appeal to him at this point, so he was left with somehow hurting her emotionally. This left far too many options for him to consider, so it was taking longer than he'd expected to set this next phase of his plan in motion. But it was going to happen...and it was going to happen very soon.

"So Clark what are you up to tonight?" Chloe's voice caused a smile to curve his lips as Clark turned from his locker to find her pretty little face smiling up at him. "Nothing really Chloe, why?" "Well I was wondering if you had any plans for tonight because Lex has this home movie theater and there's this movie that just came out..." Out of the corner of his eye Clark caught a glimpse of long raven hair and he failed to catch the rest of what Chloe said. Lana... As she walked by Clark stared, fascinated by her smile and her laugh. Face it Clark, she's out of your league!

If only he could get the courage to talk to her, really talk to her, maybe even tell her how he felt. What would he say? What would she say? The different scenarios played out in his head constantly, and while some went well and others went extremely well, he couldn't get the nerve to tell her. Because some days, the daydreams went bad, and he didn't want it to happen like that. So here he was, stuck on the sidelines, always watching. Clark just go up and- Fingers snapping in front of his face interrupted his thought and he turned back to Chloe only to find her looking really annoyed.

"Earth to Clark! Did you even hear a word I said?" Clark hesitated for a second, wondering why she was so mad. "Yeah you were talking about a movie-" Chloe cut him off, "Yes Clark, congratulations, I was talking about a movie! But which one?" He opened his mouth to respond but couldn't because he realized he really didn't know. "Yeah, that's what I thought. You know what Clark, never mind. Just go after Lana okay?" Chloe why are you being like this? "Come on Chloe that's not fair!" "Finally you get something right Clark! It isn't fair is it? Just please stop the whole love sick puppy routine, it's getting old!"

"Chloe..." Clark said softly, hurt showing in his face. Chloe took a deep breath and closed her eyes. When she opened them her expression was much softer, as was her voice. "I'm sorry Clark, I, it's just...it's been a long day. I didn't mean to yell at you." Reaching out, Clark gave her a one armed hug as he shut his locker and they headed down the hallway. "It's okay Chloe," he said, "So what were you saying?" Taking another deep breath, Chloe smiled up at him. "Nothing, never mind, it's okay. I'll see you tomorrow okay?" She took a step away from him to head towards her new bus but stopped and turned around. "You know Clark, you really should just go and talk to her, because hiding your feelings isn't going to get easier, it's going to get harder, trust me." With that, Chloe turned and walked away, getting on the bus and leaving Clark standing there with a puzzled look on his face.

What did she mean? Somehow it seemed to him that she wasn't really talking about him and Lana, she was talking about herself and...and who? Him? People were walking past him, bumping into him, but he couldn't seem to move. All he could do was stare at where Chloe had been only a minute before, all he could do was think about that look on her face, that look in her eyes. He couldn't understand why she'd gotten so defensive about such a little thing. Of course there was the whole thing that had happened at the Spring Formal but that had been months ago, and they'd talked about that. Hadn't they? "Hey Clark!" The pretty little voice came from his left, and it snapped him out of his frozen state. "Hey Lana..." And just like that, Chloe was at the back of his mind.

Chloe sat staring out the window at the familiar scenery and she wasn't really seeing. Tears stung her eyes but there was no way in hell she was going to cry. Come on Chloe just get over him already! I can't! She had tried so many times, to just move on, to forget about him, but every time she kept coming back. But coming back to what? Pain Chloe, you're coming back to pain...and hurt and unwanted memories... She shut her eyes against the images that haunted her dreams only to find them engraved in the darkness. Her eyes flew open just as the bus stopped in front of Lex's long driveway.

Her legs carried her down the steps and out the door automatically. The gate keeper, George, buzzed her in and the large iron gate swung open. In some ways Chloe welcomed the long walk up to the mansion, for one, because it gave her time to think, and, for another, it relaxed her. Trees lined either side of the driveway and Chloe stepped off the gravel to weave in and out of them. Her hands brushed leaves, some still green, and others beginning to turn color with the onset of fall. Why was it that she did this to herself? Chloe's forehead wrinkled, revealing her troubled thoughts, her inner turmoil.

When she got to the mansion Chloe paused with her hand on the handle, and felt the air. It was going to rain... she could smell it. Opening the door she dropped her bag and went back outside. There was a path she knew, it started around the side of the massive stone building that she'd come to think of as home...almost. It was a stone path, almost like the ones in fairy tales, the ones that lead to magic wishing wells or whatever the place was where the princess gets everything she wants. It had been on one of the long summer nights that Chloe had ventured here the first time, and since then it had become a haven of sorts.

The path went through trees and bushes until it opened into a secluded little clearing complete with a pond, several large rocks, and even a bench, you know, the kind that swings? As soon as she got there, Chloe slipped off her shoes and went to the edge of the pond. She sat on a rock and let her feet hang in the warm water. So... what now? Often when she came to this place Chloe's thoughts came clearer and she could think more rationally, so, naturally, this was where she did a lot of her thinking.

So, to start off, let's do a summary of the day, let's start small. The warmth of the sun felt nice on her shoulders, bared by her spaghetti-strapped top. All around Chloe, everything was peaceful, from the sound of the birds to the ripples her feet made in the water. Why can't my life be like this? School had been school, with teachers preaching the same rules and regulations regurgitated at the beginning of every school year that no one listened to anyways, and students so wrapped up in themselves they failed to notice any one else. Chloe had sat through every class and despite the mundane repetition, she found herself actually looking forward to the school year. Because it gave her something to do with herself, something to occupy her mind, and that was something she desperately needed.

Pete had been there, with his funny remarks and his knowing looks. He was a great friend, and Chloe wasn't sure what she'd do without him. Because he was there when Clark was off with Lana, even if it was only Clark's mind that was with Lana. Oh here they come... Once again the tears came, threatening to spill, and this time, Chloe didn't try and stop them. She watched the ripples in the water's surface as her tears disrupted the mirror she had been looking into. Her image became distorted, more and more as each tear hit the pond. Why? It was all she could think, why did she feel this way, why did he affect her this way, and why didn't he know?

Will I always be second? It was a dreadful thought but one she couldn't help but think. Then she felt it...the rain... She turned her face to the sky and let the rain wash away her tears. What's that saying? Oh yeah...I love walking in the rain...because no one knows I'm crying. It was a warm, end-of-summer, kind of rain. Come on Chloe, you can do this. She would get through high school, and then she would leave Smallville, leave all of this behind.

The rain was soaking through her clothes, but Chloe didn't really want to go inside, back to where reality hit her from every angle. Even though the Howards had been really nice to her, kind, caring, and even understanding up to a point, they weren't family, they never would be. Most of the time, they were just a constant reminder that she had no family now. But at least they want you... isn't that all you've ever wanted, just someone to want you? Someone to want me... But it's not that...it's more, it's that they need me... The Howards don't need me, I'm just something extra.

Chloe sighed, a deep sigh that started at her toes and traveled through her entire body. Her muscles relaxed for a moment, and she just felt tired, tired of it all. Of the fake smiles she would give, and the sleepless nights that never seemed to end, and the nightmares that always came back...she was just tired. Come on Chloe, pull yourself together! Okay, okay fine...

She stretched her arms over her head and reached to the sky, a smile coming to her lips despite everything as she opened her eyes and found sunlight shining through the rain drops. Pulling her legs up, she stood and grabbed her shoes, singing softly to herself. "So stand in the rain, stand your ground, stand up when it's all crashing down, you stand through the pain, you won't drown, and one day what's lost can be found, you stand in the rain...hmm...you stand in the rain..." Slowly, she began her way back to the mansion, swaying gently from side to side, singing so only she could hear. Who sings that? Dang it...now I'm gonna have to go look it up... At this point, with the sun shining and the rain falling down, Chloe actually felt okay, felt as though she would be okay... but little did she know, her world was about to get turned upside down, again.

He sipped brandy from a crystal glass, and watched her. Sometimes these moments made Lex feel like a stalker, or a peeping tom. No, he wasn't watching her changing or in any way violating her. But still, these were times when Chloe thought she was completely and utterly alone, these were times when she let herself just be... and watching her made him feel as though he was infringing on her privacy. The rain washed out her image, but he could see her, through the glass, and this was one of those pictures of Chloe he would memorize and ponder later. A picture of her, dancing in the rain and even for a second, experiencing a childlike sense of peace. Enjoy it while you can Chloe...

She was almost around the side of the mansion, out of his range of vision, and as soon as she turned the corner, Lex headed down the stairs to the second floor, he went to his study and set down his glass. He knew, that if he timed it right, he could catch Chloe on her way to change. He counted to three, and then went back out of his study and down the hallway to the stairs, where he promptly ran into Chloe.

"Lex!" Her hair was plastered to her head, some strands in her eyes, rain water still running in rivulets off her face.

"Hello Chloe, it looks like you got caught in the rain." Lex's eyes drank her in, from the way her eyes were bright from tears, to the way her mouth was open in surprise. In one quick glance he realized that the rain had caused her thin top to stick to her skin, and he could clearly see that skin...as well as the outline of her bra. Her skirt was black, and therefore, unfortunately, not see through, but it was glued to her legs in such a way that he had no trouble picturing the skin that material hid. Lex...be careful.

"Well Sherlock, what gave you that idea?" Her smile was playful and it was all Lex could do not to reach out and trace those curves with his fingertips.

"My brilliant ways of deduction..." Chloe took another step towards him and he could feel the warmth of her body...and it was calling to him.

"Deduction huh? Are you sure that's the word you wanted?" She paused, looking up at him. "Well those brilliant ways must be getting a little rusty, because I didn't get caught in anything..." Her smirk told him she had seen his look, and she knew what game they were playing. "But still, maybe you could teach me something in the ways of... deduction." Lex couldn't help but smile back, even as his fists clenched at his sides in an effort not to grab her and show her he was past the point of needing his powers of seduction to take her. She's 16 Lex...she's only a child! Lex looked at those smirking lips again and forced his eyes up to hers, only to find no refuge from her there. That is no child standing in front of me! Lex! Remember the purpose of her being here! Remember what you have to do!

"If you want, maybe some lessons are in order..." He let his face lose its playful nature, and he sighed deeply, breaking her gaze and turning away. "But first Chloe...there's..." Purposefully breaking off he waited for her to say something and as he'd known it would, when she walked around to face him again, her face had lost its playful expression as well, and a concerned one had taken its place.

"Lex? What's going on?" Worry had crept into her tone and Lex suppressed a smile at the thought that he could play her so easily.

"Maybe we should wait until after you get cleaned up..." The hesitancy in his tone was perfectly calculated to make sure she wouldn't listen, and of course, she didn't.

"No! Lex whatever it is, tell me now! I want to know!" He let a concerned look enter his eyes and as she saw it, Chloe slumped, realizing how bad this news must be. "Lex, no games, no attempts to protect me, just tell me...please." Her tone was softer, and this was when Lex knew he had her. She had moved into an acceptance of whatever new change was going to mess up her life next, and this was what he wanted. It was time to begin the next phase of his plan, and see if she could handle what was coming next.

So, any good? I know, it's just a little bit of a cliffy, but I couldn't help myself! So review if you would like to know the next twist in Lex's plot!