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: Sorry it took so long! Life has been complicated lately.

Reviews: Thanks so much guys! I live on these reviews!

Previously:

Chloe

She wasn't good enough for him. She wasn't. Not anymore. She probably never had been. No one could love her now, she was dirty, defiled, broken beyond knew what had happened to her during that missing year. Chloe knew it in her bones and even though she never wanted to see his face again, she knew she would come back to him. He had all the answers to her questions.

Clark

Clark couldn't figure out why he was so jealous. They were just friends. Why was this so uncomfortable for him? He'd decided he wanted to tell her, why couldn't he just come out and say it? Because what if she runs away? What if she runs away to the normal guy she's been with and I never see her again? It felt like she was already slipping away from him and he didn't want to do anything that might push her farther away. He could ignore the fact that she was keeping secrets if she wouldn't ask about his.

Lex

Because that meant she knew she was with him. With him. By choice. Because she wanted to be. It was the same reason he always made sure she kept her eyes open. Because she had to know she was with him. Not with Clark. With him. It was weakness and he knew it, but he couldn't help but start to miss her before she was even gone… And that was the way Lex fell asleep, with her sleeping in his arms, and a warmth surrounding him that he never wanted to let go.

Ch. 17 Plans

Chloe woke up from another nightmare, sweating and holding back the scream that threatened to leap from her mouth. Or at least she thought she had.

"Chloe?!?" Clark had spent the night on the couch, Chloe surrendering and throwing a blanket over him when he fell asleep with papers on his lap and a pen in his hand. But that had sentenced her to the bed, and her nightmares had been awful.

"Chloe are you okay?" He rushed into the room and the first thing she noticed after his panicked expression was the fact that he had on only boxers.

"Clark why don't you have any clothes on!"

At least he had the decency to look embarrassed for a second, his face turning a deep shade of red, lit up by the lamps she had on around the room. "My jeans were uncomfortable."

"Oh…"

"I can put them on if you want?"

She looked a little longer at his chiseled chest, her gaze lingering on the muscles in his arms and then drifting lower, to where the dark trail of hair snaked under the waistband of his boxers. Chloe knew she should tell him to go put some more clothes on, especially because all she wanted right now was for him to wrap his arms around her and make her forget her nightmare.

"No that's… that's fine. What time is it?"

"Almost six."

"Six in the morning? Shit… it's Saturday."

"Are you okay Chloe?" He came over to the bed, sitting down next to her, the entire bed shifting with his weight so she was leaning towards him.

"Yeah Clark I'm fine, just a nightmare."

"Want to talk about it?"

"No."

He sighed, and she knew he was growing tired of her never answering his questions. "Okay… well… are you hungry?"

"Starving." Where had she heard this conversation before?

"We have coffee and cold pizza."

"Yum."

"I'll be right back. Do you want your pizza cold or…?"

"Umm… I don't know, yeah. Cold is good."

She watched him walk out the door, seeing Lex in her mind doing the same thing. Two weeks. It had been two weeks. And not a word. He hadn't called, he hadn't e-mailed, he hadn't come to see her. She wasn't going back to him unless he apologized… and maybe not even then. She missed him, she would admit it to herself but never to him.

She missed the way he looked at her like she was the only thing on his mind, the way he would hold her, like he couldn't get enough, and the feeling she sometimes saw in his eyes when he didn't know she was looking. He cared about her, he knew how messed up she was and he still cared about her. It was nice not to have to pretend all the time, it was nice to have someone who understood her.

Chloe ran her fingers through her hair, trying to calm it down, and ran her fingers under her eyes to see if she had any eyeliner creating the illusion that she was related to the raccoon. Why are you trying to look good for him Chloe? Force of habit. When he came back in he had pajama pants and a T-shirt on, carrying a platter covered in pieces of cold pizza from her fridge.

"What happened to Mr. September Clark?"

"He found some clothes."

"Where?"

"Just stuff I'd left here from before."

For some reason she didn't believe him, but she gave in and let it go. Reaching for a piece of pizza she smirked at him. "I liked you better half naked Clark."

He walked over to the other side of the bed and sat down, not even looking at her. "Yeah okay Chloe."

"No I'm serious. Where'd you get all those muscles Pop Eye?"

"Spinach." Chloe laughed, almost spitting out her mouth full of pizza in the process. "Don't choke." He was laughing too, his face returning to a normal color, losing its tomato look.

"Hey where's the coffee?"

"In the pot."

"Oh."

They sat there in silence for a minute, both eating, comfortable with each other. Chloe caught Clark looking at her out of the corner of his eye and she made a face at him, trying to ignore the fact that he was still worried about her. He laughed, getting up to go get coffee.

"Hurry up!"

"I'm going I'm going!"

She could be with him. The thought made sadness begin to seep back into her bones. But they would be so good together, she knew it, she'd always known it. Since the first day she had met Clark she'd known they would be important to each other. It just had turned out that they played different roles in each other's lives. He was the person she had fallen asleep and woken up thinking about since she was in eighth grade. Her world had revolved around him for so long it had been hard to readjust her axis when he'd been forcibly removed from of her life. And she was just his friend, a good friend, but a friend.

He wouldn't want to be with her if he knew. If he knew what she'd done he'd probably never speak to her again. If he knew what she had allowed that man to do to her he'd never touch her again. She could never tell him. He could never know.

"Hey Chloe here's your coffee." She took the mug he offered her, sipping it, savoring the bitter taste. He sat down next to her, and she resisted the urge to lean against him.

"So what are your plans for today?"

"Well… I thought I'd get some more research done on the Luthor article."

"Working Chloe?"

"What else do we do Clark?"

"We have fun."

"Yeah… we do."

They talked about the case, going over what they would do for the day but Chloe was so tired. She didn't even want to move out of bed. Her coffee was gone and still she was ready to fall asleep and not wake up until the next morning.

"Chloe are you feeling okay?"

"For the thousandth time, yes Clark I'm okay."

"No I mean, you look a little pale. Are you sick?"

"Clark I don't get sick."

He rolled his eyes at her, getting up and coming back with a thermometer. "Just let me take your temperature Chloe."

"I have a thermometer?" Chloe allowed him to stick it in her mouth and sat there while he looked at her with that damned concerned expression.

"101.7 Chloe, you're sick."

"It's the coffee Clark."

"Chloe you're staying home today."

"But Clark-"

"Forget it! You said you were tired anyways."

"You know I'm just going to get up as soon as you leave."

"Then I won't leave." He pulled up the covers and slid in underneath them next to her. Reaching for the remote, he switched on the TV and started flipping through channels.

"Clark Kent, what do you think you're doing?"

"Watching TV."

Chloe sat there for a minute, silently fuming, debating about what she should say next. But he wasn't going anywhere, she knew that, he was stubborn once he'd made up his mind about something. And it felt nice to have him next to her, a solid presence that made her feel safe. So with a sigh she settled in, leaning against him as he picked some sports show to watch. It didn't take him long to put his arm around her, and for her to sleepily snuggle into his chest.

She tried her hardest not to fall asleep, just to close her eyes and pretend. In a way it was an experiment to see what he would do once her exhaustion got the better of her. But more than that she wanted to stay awake as long as possible so she could enjoy the feeling of his arm around her, the sound of his heartbeat, the smell of his skin, and the warmth of his body. Again she had the feeling that she belonged here, here with him, like this.

But then she would hear Lex's voice in her head, telling her that she wasn't good enough for him. That Clark would never understand the things she'd done, that he'd judge her for them. Get out of my head! Chloe pushed him out of her mind, choosing instead to just live in this moment, and pretend, just for a little while. As sleep pulled her down into oblivion, she felt the brush of Clark's fingers moving her hair out of her face.

She was so beautiful. Clark felt her soft skin, felt her silken hair beneath his fingers. Why couldn't it always be like this? Why did they have to fight? Why did there have to be so many secrets? Why couldn't it just be this. Just them. Just her in his arms like this. She felt so good here.

He didn't want to leave, didn't want to move at all. He wanted to slide down a little so he would be lying next to her, he wanted to just stay in bed with her all day. Too bad you're meeting Lana later. Shit. Lana. He had completely forgotten. They were supposed to go out for lunch in a few hours, she had wanted to see him. It was weird, for him not to want to see her, but he really didn't. He wanted to stay here with Chloe. Shouldn't it be the other way around?

Clark's relationship with Chloe had always been a little closer than most people would expect. More often than not he knew they crossed that line, the one between friends and something more. Some of the things they did, this included, were pushing past that boundary. But it was just so easy with Chloe. Even when they were teenagers and he'd found out that she liked him their relationship had never altered that much, he had never been so uncomfortable that he couldn't go to her to talk.

He was slowly beginning to slide down beside her when he heard a knock at the door. What? Clark got up carefully, trying not to wake up Chloe. But he didn't have to worry, she was sound asleep, and he pulled the comforter up to her shoulders. When he reached the door and looked through to see who it was he stepped back, puzzled. Who had sent Chloe flowers?

"Hey," he said, opening the door.

"Good morning, can I just get your signature?" The guy handed him a clipboard and a pen and then traded him for the enormous vase of flowers.

"Do you know who sent these?"

"Umm, there's a card, but I don't take the orders man, I just deliver 'em."

"Okay, thanks." Clark shut the door and walked over to the counter, setting the flowers down and searching for the card among the roses. Who else knew that Chloe loved red roses? There must have been at least 2 dozen of them. Finally finding the card he pulled it out.

I'm sorry.

That was all it said. Just I'm sorry. They had to be from that guy she was seeing, the one she was in a fight with. It had taken him two weeks just to say I'm sorry? If it had been him he would have been begging on his hands and knees to get back in her good graces. But it's not you is it Clark. He had the sudden urge to burn the flowers up and throw the ashes in the trash. It would be so easy, just one little shot from his heat vision and they would catch fire.

But he stopped himself. Clark why are you so jealous? And that was it wasn't it? He was jealous. He was insanely jealous of this guy he'd never met. Why? Because he's had her in ways you never have. Why couldn't he shut off that stupid voice? He didn't want Chloe that way. He didn't. They were only friends.

Clark went to the couch to get his phone and call Lana.

"Hey Clark!" Why did she have to sound so happy?

"Hey Lana."

"What's up? We still on for lunch later?"

"Umm, actually Lana…"

"What? Don't tell me you can't go Clark, this is the third time you've cancelled!" Yeah well… the first time there was a fire, the second time there was a bank robbery, and now Chloe needs me. Since when does Chloe trump Lana?

"I know Lana and I'm sorry, but something came up and I have to take care of it."

"Fine. Whatever Clark." And she hung up the phone.

Sometimes he wished there were two of him. What was he going to do? He couldn't be in two places at once. Even now that he'd learned to fly he hadn't managed to accomplish that feat. Clark looked at the picture he'd given to Chloe, a framed one of him and her at the planet that Jimmy had snapped when Chloe was laughing at a joke he'd told.

There were so many things he wanted to tell her. There were so many things he wanted to ask her about. Last week his mom had suggested that he get a costume. Because eventually he was going to have to save someone he knew, and if they recognized him it was all over. It wasn't such a bad idea.

Lex had had those Warrior Angel comic books… superheroes wore costumes, that was just how it was. But those were comic books and this was real life where only crazy people and strippers wore that amount of spandex. Would Chloe think he was a superhero? Or would she think he was crazy? She would know what to do, she would-

"Clark!" She screamed his name from the bedroom, she sounded terrified.

He was there in an instant, switching to regular speed as he hit the doorway. "Chloe are you okay?!?"

She was sitting up in bed gasping for air, her hands clutching the sheets and her eyes wildly searching for some unseen attacker. He went and wrapped his arms around her and felt that she was shaking. Despite how mad and worried he was there was also this small amount of pride and happiness clapping and cheering in the back of his mind at the fact that it was his name she had called.

"Sorry Clark… I… umm, it was just a umm… just a nightmare." But she wasn't pushing him away, she was leaning into him.

"Chloe what do you have all these nightmares about?"

"Nothing Clark, nothing."

He pulled back and forced her to look him in the eye. "Chloe."

"Nothing Clark," she insisted, but she looked away from him as she said it.

Even as he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close again Clark had to work to keep himself under control. This was the last straw. He was so tired of her brushing off these things that terrified her and saying they were nothing. She couldn't sleep in the dark, she couldn't sleep through the night without having these awful nightmares. Something terrible had happened to her and he was sick of not knowing what. He was going to find out what she was hiding. Even if she wouldn't help him and even if she didn't want him to he was going to find out.

He wanted to go over to her apartment.

Lex stood in his office by the window looking out at the roof of her building. He hadn't gotten any work done today, he'd just been thinking about Chloe, debating back and forth in his head about what he should do. Debating and remembering… remembering the way her skin felt against his, remembering the way she had smiled at him, the way she had looked at him, remembering the feel of her lips beneath his.

And remembering the way she had looked with tears streaming down her face, betrayal and hurt in her eyes. How could he have hurt her like that? His stomach hurt from the memory of her voice pleading with him to stop. She was digging too far Lex. But he knew better. Knew better than to shout words from his heart and his soul when he was mad. His father had taught him to think about what he said before he said it. Control was everything. Everything! But she made him lose it every time… in one way or another.

The roses had been something he'd been thinking about since the sleepless night he'd experienced the day that she left. All women loved flowers. Period. But Chloe wouldn't love them because they were beautiful, or because there were so many. She would love them because they came from him, because they represented the fact that he missed her and the fact that he was sorry. It was a sort of subservient gesture, admitting that she had been right and he'd been wrong.

She would come back to him. This was a certainty, something that Lex was sure of. Not because she missed him or cared for him, but because he still had information she wanted, and she knew it. It was his ace in the hole. As long as she thought he knew things she didn't she would come back to him, it was as much her nature as breathing.

The entire point of hiring Smith had been to scare her to the point where she would be scared to search for answers. Otherwise, with her investigative talent, she would have found out things he didn't want her to know. That and another part of him had wanted to see how she would handle it, how strong she would be. There were only so many things he could throw at her and this had been one of the options. Through all of it she had kept going, she'd been determined not to give up and she'd gotten what she wanted.

She was now the top reporter in the city. She was respected and her opinions were listened to. Everyone knew who Lois Lane was. Or they thought they did. As far as he knew, only two people in the city knew who she really was. Him… and Clark. Why did Clark always have to be in the way? And still there was something about him, his secret, that Lex wanted to know so badly he knew he was on the verge of becoming obsessed.

Secrets had never sat well with him, he was the kind of man who had to know the truth. Again there was another reason why they were so alike, him and Chloe. They both had to know the truth, had to figure out what people were hiding, and meanwhile, they themselves had the biggest secrets of all. It irked him that if he thought about it Clark would also fit into this category he wanted to be for only him and Chloe. So he just chose not to think about it.

Chloe belonged with him. That was all there was to it. And so he would wait, just a little longer, for her to come back to him. Because she would. She needed him. He was the one that held the keys to the doors of her past. He would just have to be careful which ones he gave her.

Roses. He had gotten her roses. Chloe couldn't decide if she was pissed that he was trying to buy her off with flowers or ridiculously girlishly happy that he cared enough to apologize with twenty four gorgeous specimens of her favorite flower. Mostly she was stuck somewhere in the middle, mad and floating on a cloud all at the same time.

She wouldn't forgive him. Or at least she didn't want to. But if she was willing to admit it to herself she already had, she'd forgiven him the day after, when her tears had finally stopped. It wasn't in her nature to stay mad for long, especially when she knew he was right. At least partly right anyways.

But although they hadn't gotten him forgiveness Lex's roses had accomplished what she knew he'd intended. She was going to go see him. It had been inevitable and they both knew it from the moment she left. He had answers. And she had to find out what he knew and what he didn't know. Even though it pained her to play right into his hands she had to do it. But she would do it on her terms not his.

She was going to ambush him. Chloe had decided that she couldn't confront him in his penthouse, there were too many memories of times when he had held all the power. His office wasn't much better, because everyone bent over backward for him there since he was their boss. Her options were limited though, because he didn't exactly go many places. At least not ones she could get into without a name badge and security clearance.

It had to be at one of those places though. It had to be somewhere he wouldn't expect her, somewhere he would be taken off guard. He was scheduled to make a trip to one of his warehouses tomorrow. It was down some back country road between Metropolis and Smallville. Lex had to have some kind of experiment or something going on there, because he'd made three trips out there in the last ten days.

She'd been able to track his cell phone's GPS by hacking into the company security system. It hadn't been easy but now she knew everywhere he'd been in the last two weeks. After that the logs automatically deleted themselves, presumably some sort of safety feature so that if the police ever wanted to check it they could only find so many of the places he had been.

Chloe wasn't necessarily worried about getting into the warehouse and past security, she was more worried about getting Clark to stop fussing over her and leave her alone for a few hours. Not that she didn't enjoy the attention and the chicken noodle soup, it was just that at every turn he was there, reminding her she could never have him. It wasn't fair. Stop whining Chloe.

God she just wanted Lex to make her forget about all of it. Stop Chloe. Stop. She knew she didn't need him. Well… she did need him, but she needed to use him the way she knew he used her. And he had. He used her. So why was there this small voice in the back of her mind telling her he cared? It was just something, she didn't know what it was, but it told her he had feelings for her. Worse than that, it told her she had feelings for him.

And that, more than the secrets he was keeping from her, more than what he knew about her past, more than anything else, that was what scared her.

So???? What do you think? Let me know! I hope to have this story finished by the end of October but I'm not sure how it's ending yet and you all know I have no control over what comes out of my fingers and ends up on these pages, so we'll see.