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: I'm doing pretty well right about now with the whole plotline and everything. I think I actually know where's it going
Reviews: Thanks for the reviews guys! Keep them coming and I'll keep posting!
Previously:
Chloe
It was sad really, and on some level she admitted that to herself, but thinking of Clark was more painful than thinking of Lex. With Lex there was never the question of acceptance, never the doubts in the back of her mind that she wasn't good enough for him.
Clark
All the curiosity, the frustrated desire and the hidden want, came out in a desperate rush. He'd held it all back for so long, telling himself that it wasn't right, that he was just being a typical guy, that he was being ridiculous and crazy. But now he couldn't imagine what had been stopping him, why he had not held her like this, touched her like this, had her like this, every night of his life… And just like that it all came rushing back to him. All the reasons he hadn't let this happen before, all the reasons he shouldn't be doing this now, they came back and they weighed him down, slowing his movements. It began with his secret, and ended with hers.
Lex
Chloe had been the key, was the key. Without her he'd never have come up with the design for Project Hercules in the first place. Whatever the reason, his curiosity had paid off, and now he was on the verge of a major breakthrough. He wouldn't allow thoughts of Chloe to bring him down, not now, not when he was about to accomplish so much. So, as he had for so long, Lex took all of his emotions, all of his feelings, anything and everything that he thought would weaken him, all of it connected to Chloe, and he shoved it in a safe, locked and stowed away in the deepest corner of his heart.
Ch. 20 Tell Me
Previously:
"Clark stop-"
"No Chloe! Tell me! I want to know! Why is he so much better than me! Why-"
"Lex never made me feel like I wasn't good enough!"
She screamed the words at him and then her eyes widened in horror at what she had said. But Clark barely took notice. Because for him the world had just stopped spinning, his heartbeat pounded in his ears but he couldn't feel his body anymore.
"Lex?" It fell off his tongue and dropped to the floor, he couldn't get rid of the horrible taste it had left on his tongue.
The name resounded in his head, drowning out every other thought and suddenly he could feel the rage and the betrayal, burning hot and bitter in his veins. She had been sleeping with Lex. His enemy. The very embodiment of evil and all that was wrong with this world.
And Chloe, his Chloe, had been sleeping with him.
Nothing else mattered anymore. His fury pounded harder with every passing second and Clark shook with the force of it, his fists clenching to keep himself from going to Lex and wringing his neck.
His voice trembled with anger and disbelief and betrayal.
"How could you?"
Never in her life had Chloe been this scared of Clark. It was very rare that she was scared of him at all, at least in the sense of being scared that he might hurt her physically, emotionally it was an entirely different story, he hurt her emotionally without even knowing about it. But right now he had murder in his eyes as he loomed over her with clenched fists and gritted teeth.
"Tell me," he growled through his clenched jaw, "that you did not just say Lex."
Chloe looked up at him and tried to shrink back farther, but she was already against the wall, she had nowhere to go. She opened her mouth to say something but anything she might have said was choked behind the tears that were stuck in her throat. He knew. He finally knew. And he was reacting just as she thought he would. Disgusted.
He grabbed her by the shoulders and, his body shaking with rage. And it hurt. He was hurting her.
"Cl-ark," she said, her voice breaking as her heart did the same. It was composed of glass shards carefully glued together along the cracks, and now it broke open, the very thing she had been trying to prevent for so long.
Letting her go, the disbelief disappeared from his face, replaced by bitter betrayal, and all she wanted was to go back to bed with him, turn back the clock just a few minutes and change what had happened. "You can't. Can you?" He turned away from her, and she admired the muscles in his back, his broad shoulders. But this time, her gaze inspired a tinge of fear that crawled down her spine.
"God Chloe what were you thinking!" He whirled around and roared at her, inches away from her face, and Chloe wanted to cower in fear. From her best friend. From her would be lover. From the man she had loved all her life.
A solitary tear burned a path down her cheek as she looked into his furious eyes. "How could you!" he yelled. "How could you sleep with Lex!" He slammed his fist into the wall beside her head and Chloe involuntarily shrieked in fear, turning away from him, her entire body trembling so hard she thought she might break apart.
She heard him breathing heavily, felt him take his hand away. "Chloe…" he said, softer this time, touching her shoulder. Chloe flinched, scared of what he might do, scared of the way she felt so dirty beneath his gaze, beneath his touch.
Clark took a breath, and Chloe could picture him with his mouth open and eyes looking at her, trying to think of something to say. But she would give him no help, her eyes were clenched shut, willing him to leave, so she could fall apart in peace. He exhaled and then she felt him move away, across the room. Still she didn't move, just concentrated on the way her heart was pounding, the way her chest was heaving up and down. She tried to control it and failed.
He took his clothes and left, but Chloe did not relax until she heard the door leaving her apartment slam shut, and then she collapsed, sliding down the wall. She cried great, choking sobs, her body shaking with the force, tears coursing down her cheeks.
She had told him one of her most carefully guarded secrets, one of the things that she had needed to keep from him at all costs. Because of this. Because now he would try to lecture her, he would try to get her to see that what she had done was wrong, now he would hate her for being weak. Chloe wanted to go after him, beg for his forgiveness, say she was sorry, say she was only human.
Fresh sobs ravaged her small frame as Chloe told herself the truth. He would never forgive her, he would never understand. She had needed Lex. She had. There was no denying it, he had been there for her, for comfort and to help her forget, help her feel something. He had been there to pull her out of the black hole inside herself that was devouring her from the inside out.
Now Chloe felt herself slipping back in.
No.
No. Not again. She would not jump at her own shadow anymore. She would not drink herself into oblivion to forget something she never would. Chloe got to her feet, and swiped furiously at her cheeks, trying to erase her tears. Grabbing her shirt she pulled it over her head and walked out to the kitchen, her steps quick and determined.
She yanked open the freezer door and wrapped her fingers around the neck of the bottle of vodka that resided there. As she poured the alcohol down the sink, Chloe gathered pieces of steel from where Clark had carelessly scattered them, and she braced her spine with some and others she placed around her heart, and when she was done Chloe was Lois again. The person she had been for so long, before Clark had forced his way back into her life, melted the barriers she had erected, made her weak. The person she had been before would never have gone running to Lex, Lois didn't need anyone.
You don't need anyone.
Chloe set the empty bottle down on the counter and looked at the clock. It was only a little after 5 PM, there was still plenty of day left. She went to her laptop, sat on the couch, and opened it, waiting for it to turn on. Taking it, she got up and went to the counter, setting it next to her purse. Digging in her purse, Chloe pulled out the pad of paper she had written the guy's license plate number on.
She had hacked the DMV before, other times when she hadn't wanted to go through proper channels or wait for her contact to get back to her. Because she was familiar with the system, it didn't take her very long to break its defenses again. In twenty minutes she had gotten in and was entering the license plate number into the search engine.
While it was searching she went back to her bedroom to change, not allowing herself to be idle for a moment, scared of what thoughts would attack her if she stopped doing something. She went through her closet, picking out clothes. Deciding against professional looking clothes, not wanting to intimidate this man too much, she grabbed jeans and a green, scoop neck sweater. Knowing the search would not be complete yet, she changed and added long socks to the ensemble, because it was most likely below freezing outside.
When she was dressed, she went back to the kitchen and the search was still going. She stood for a second, tensed, and then she went to the bathroom. Chloe busied herself with brushing her hair, fixing her make-up, brushing her teeth. She went back to her bedroom and searched for a gold pair of earrings, spirals that hung from her ears, and a gold necklace with a green heart for the stone. She ran her fingers over the jewelry, feeling a tinge of sadness and pride at the same time. No one had given her this necklace, although it was her favorite, there were no memories attached to it. But she had paid for it herself, with her own, hard earned money. Chloe straightened her shoulders and stared at herself in the mirror.
You did this. You can take care of yourself, you always have.
Finally, when she went back to check on the laptop, it had a match. The car belonged to a James Heath. Chloe copied down the address and then she sat down and began a background search, wanting to be prepared.
James Heath was forty-four years old. He had graduated top of his class at Harvard with a medical degree, and had then gone directly to work for LuthorCorp. Getting 'em early Lex? His work for LuthorCorp was of course not on his records, he was simply listed as a consultant, but his pay grade was far too high for that. James had been married seven years, and had two daughters, one six and one four. He had left LuthorCorp six years ago, right around the time his daughter had been born. Chloe wondered what he must have had on Lex to be able to just leave. Lex doesn't just let people go. Now James lived outside the city, working at a small practice as a pediatrician, and received money from LutherCorp on a regular basis.
What did you do James? And why did you recognize me? Because Chloe was absolutely positive that he had, she'd gone over the moment again and again and there was no mistaking that look as one of recognition. But Chloe could not for the life of her remember seeing him before. There wasn't even an inkling, a memory at the edges of her subconscious that she simply couldn't grasp. There was nothing, just an absolute blank.
Chloe grabbed her purse and her keys and headed out the door. She didn't normally drive her car, it sat in the parking garage unused, but when she wasn't sure what she would be doing exactly, when she was out investigating, she took her car.
Chloe wasn't sure what it was that James knew. But she was going to find out.
Clark was outside Lex's office, rage racing like fire through his veins. Chloe was fragile, she was broken, and Lex had taken advantage of it, he had used her, and Clark wanted to break him because of it. His mind flashed back to Chloe's apartment, to her flinching when he tried to touch her, like she was afraid of him. She was terrified you would hurt her Clark.
The image had ripped a jagged, aching hole in his chest. He could feel it there now, throbbing every time his heart beat, and he wanted to make Lex hurt like he did, hurt like Chloe did.
He had been waiting out here for Lex's secretary to come back out and show him in but he wasn't going to be kept out here anymore. Clark pushed through the doors, and walked in with purpose, with anger in every step, threatening to burst from him with every breath he took.
"Sir you have to wait-" Lex's secretary looked frustrated as she turned to him.
"It's alright Eliza, I'll handle this." Lex looked at him and Clark could see the smug smile forming on those lips, and all he could think about was him kissing Chloe, him touching Chloe and- Clark stop it, you're only going to make yourself angrier.
He waited until Eliza had left the room and the doors had shut behind her, and then he advanced across the floor towards Lex. "What the hell did you think you were doing Lex!"
"Nice to see you too Clark, how've you been?" His tone was patronizing and it pissed Clark off even more, he had to clench his fists to keep himself from literally tearing Lex apart.
"How could you!"
"Clark you're going to have to be a bit more specific, I know you don't exactly approve of my business practices. However, I had thought that the next time you came to see me, it would be for something other than accusations, since you haven't spoken a word to me in years."
"You know exactly what I'm talking about!"
Lex leaned against his desk and put his hands in his pockets, a smug smirk finally appearing on his face, as he looked at Clark. "I think I may have an idea, yes. You're talking about my recent relationship? With a certain woman we both care for."
"Don't put me in with you Lex!"
"Why not Clark? We both care about her, we've both hurt her, and are trying to make amends, we've both kept things from her."
Clark ignored the reference to his secret, the thing he and Lex had eventually been unable to overcome when it came to their friendship. Clark had gotten sick of Lex's underhanded business, and Lex had been unwilling to not search for what Clark was hiding from him.
"I am nothing like you."
"So when did she tell you?" Clark just glared at him, and Lex breathed out a laugh. "Just now I'm guessing. An accidental slip? She was so terrified of you finding out."
Something about the way he said it made Clark pause, and curiosity started to surpass the anger. Despite not wanting to give Lex the satisfaction of asking, Clark couldn't help himself, "What do you mean she was terrified of me finding out?"
Lex looked at him, a true smile beginning to form on his lips. "You don't know?"
Clark just looked at him, his desire to know and his desire to physically assault the smug bastard in front of him battled it out on his handsome features. "She didn't want you to know Clark. Chloe never wanted you to know." And even though he knew deep down that Lex would have seen through Chloe's disguise as Lois, him saying her name was like he fired a bullet into Clark's lungs, knocking the air out of him.
"Because she was afraid I would be jealous?" Clark was still trying to grasp why exactly Lex was talking like he had won something here, like Clark finding out was what he wanted.
Lex looked at him with a superior tilt of his chin and a mocking glint in his eye. "Is that what you think Clark? Are you still that naïve? She told you she was seeing someone, she just didn't tell you that it was me."
The wheels were halted in Clark's head, he just couldn't grasp whatever it was Lex was hinting at, he didn't understand. Chuckling softly under his breath, Lex walked over to stand in front of him. "You don't get it do you? Chloe's finally figured it out, she may deny it but she knows."
"Figured out what?"
"That she belongs with me." Lex's voice saying those words echoed inside Clark's head until he could hear nothing else. It felt like the world had gone out from under his feet but he couldn't fly. It was that sinking feeling you get just before you fall.
"You're wrong," he said, his voice a desperate whisper.
Lex smirked at him, "Am I Clark? Think about it. Does she seem different to you? Not the sunshine girl you used to know? Admit it to yourself. You never really knew her, and now she's a complete stranger. You're trying to hang onto something that was never really there in the first place."
Clark was shaking his head, at a loss for words, hating himself for believing Lex's words for even the smallest amount of time. "You're wrong!" he said, his voice stronger now.
"Admit it! She's more like me than you!" Lex took a step back, taking a deep breath, his eyes losing their slightly desperate look, and becoming that cool grey that disguised what he was really feeling. "Clark," he said, as if trying to reason with him, "I understand her better than you. The things that she's been through… she's not the same person Clark."
But it was the wrong thing to say, and Clark immediately switched from defense to offense, remembering what he had learned at the bar last night. "And you would know wouldn't you Lex? What she's been through?" Anger and hatred reverberated in his voice, hitting the walls of Lex's office and coming back to assault the both of them a second time.
"Just because she hasn't told you Clark, doesn't mean you have the right to be mad at me about it."
That stopped Clark cold. She told him? He felt everything falling down around him, he didn't know what to do. Frantically, he searched for a response, an emotion, something, anything.
And then he found one. Anger.
"You're lying Lex! Everything that comes out of your mouth is a lie! I don't know what you told her to get her to…" Here he paused, not wanting to say the words out loud.
"Sleep with me?" Lex smiled at him, and then he leaned in conspiratorially, and said in a low voice, "She tastes so good."
Clark lost it. He grabbed Lex by the front of his shirt and screamed at him, "Shut up Lex!"
"What're you going to do Clark? Kill me?"
With eyes filled with disgust and loathing, Clark glared at him, releasing his grip and clenching his fists at his sides. "I don't know what you did Lex," he said, his voice blazing with fury as he stabbed an accusing finger at Lex's chest, "but I'm going to find out. I'm going to stop you."
He turned and started to leave the room, stopping with his hand on the door handle. "And if you ever go near Chloe again Lex, I will kill you."
And with his parting threat, Clark stormed out of Lex's office and out of the building, determined to follow through on what he had said. Whatever it was that Lex had done, whatever it was that he was up to, Clark was going to find out. I'm going to stop you Lex.
Lex watched Clark leave the building on his security cameras, a smirk on his face the entire time. It had been a cruel jab, the comment about Chloe tasting good, but Clark was acting so much like a naïve child that he couldn't help it. And it wasn't a lie. Lex felt that familiar flame run through his gut to his groin at the very thought of just how delicious Chloe tasted.
Clark truly had not been able to fathom what appeal it was that Lex held for Chloe. Or maybe he just didn't want to admit it. But Chloe knew. She knew that Lex understood her in ways that good little Clark never would.
He knew what the darkness looked like. How it tasted on your tongue, how it felt on your skin. He knew the pleasure and the pain it held, and he knew how to live inside it without letting it overtake you. He knew how to be its master instead of its slave. There were so many things Chloe could learn from him, so many things she needed him to teach her.
He had only just begun his lessons.
No matter, she would come back to him soon enough. Every trail she was investigating led to him, all the answers she wanted were with him.
Lex checked his watch and realized he was late for his meeting with Dr. Fields. He grabbed his coat from his secretary, and called Richard on the road.
"I'll be there in half an hour, have everything ready."
He'd decided to drive himself, he'd missed the feeling of going too fast down back roads, tempting fate and proving himself to be more powerful than it. As he navigated Metropolis traffic and then the practically empty roads that led to his warehouse, Lex thought about what he was about to do.
They'd spent eleven years on this project. The first seven had been spent collecting all of the different specimens. And the next three getting the formula right, trying to get everything to work together cohesively, without the genetic structure collapsing, figuring out which parts could exist together within the same organism. There had been a lot of mistakes, dangerous and disastrous mutations and other mishaps. Then, finally, last year, they'd figured it out.
There was a specific genetic structure that could handle the modifications. It had been there in front of them the entire time, hiding in plain sight.
Tonight they were beginning the first experiment. Lex didn't dare hope that it would work on the first try, but he was excited for it nonetheless. If they could get this to work, when they could get this to work, it could change the world.
He was going to change the world.
Chloe was sitting in her car, across the street from Dr. James Heath's house. She could see lights on through the curtains covering the window of the front room, and she could see lights on in one of the upstairs windows. It was a little before 8 o'clock, not too late to drop in and surprise him. She was hoping that element was going to get her some answers.
Taking a deep breath, she opened her car door and was immediately assaulted by the cold winter air. It was the wake up she needed though, and she marched her way to the front door with purpose radiating from every step. When she got to the door she didn't even hesitate to ring the doorbell.
Adrenaline raced through her blood like wild horses, and she couldn't decide if she was terrified or excited or angry or any mixture of the three. Then the door opened.
"Yes can I…" He stood there, with his hand on the door, as frozen as the ground beneath her, staring with wide eyes and a slack jaw.
"Hi, my name is Lois Lane, can I come in? I just have a few questions for you."
His expression was strained as he started to protest, "No I'm sorry but-"
"I know you recognize me Mr. Heath. And I'm not leaving without answers. Please. I don't want to make a scene, I just want answers." Chloe looked meaningfully towards the living room where his wife was sitting with one of his girls, and his entire body sagged, as if exhausted.
"Okay… Yeah," he said, defeated, opening the door farther to allow her passage in. Chloe walked past him, determined not to let her guard down, and to get what she wanted, but grateful she hadn't had to do anything crazy like threaten to claim she was his mistress.
"Honey! We've got company!"
A tall, pleasantly plump, but very pretty red haired woman with striking green eyes came into the entryway. Her smile was wide and welcoming, "Hi my name's Danielle."
"Hi, I'm Lois, you have a lovely home," Chloe said, reaching out to shake her hand.
"Well thank you Lois. How do you know James?" She looked from her husband back to Chloe, and he looked at her with pleading eyes.
"I'm a writer, and I'm just asking your husband a few questions about being a doctor. It's for something I'm working on and I just want everything to be realistic."
"Well," Danielle said, smiling still, "I have to help our daughter with her homework, but James can definitely tell you about being a doctor."
"It was so nice meeting you."
"You too, come back for dinner some time."
They both watched her go back into the living room and then James turned to her, the smile wiped off of his face, "My office is back here." He led her down the hallway to a door on the left, and after shutting it behind him, he motioned her to the two armchairs sitting in one corner.
Chloe looked around, the office was lined with book shelves, full of pictures and heavy, official looking medical books. It was all dark, deep wood and glossy silver frames.
"What do you want to know?"
She looked at him, deciding where to begin. "How do you know me?"
"What?" he said, like he was surprised, but his voice was higher, nervous.
"You recognized me, at the post office."
"Well you're a famous reporter right? Don't people recognize you all the time?"
Chloe gave him a look, not buying any of it. "No not really, I don't put my picture in the paper, I have an unlisted number and address. I like to stay under the radar, helps with the job." She didn't add that she had been hiding out for the past ten years, that she'd been terrified of someone recognizing her picture if she'd ever allowed it to be in the paper.
He was at a loss for words and Chloe decided to try a different approach. "You worked for LuthorCorp, Mr. Heath? After you graduated from medical school?"
"Yes."
"Why did you stop working there?"
"Well I… umm… "
"You stopped working there after your daughter was born? Your first one?"
"Umm… how-"
"Did you not like the work you were participating in Mr. Heath? Was that it?"
"I don't know what-"
"What were you doing Mr. Heath?"
"I can't-"
"What did you have on him?"
And here he stopped, finally given enough time to respond to her assault. "What?"
"On Mr. Luthor," she said, careful not to call him Lex, "What did you have on Mr. Luthor?"
"Why do you think-"
"I am not an idiot Mr. Heath. Lex Luthor would never let you go and then pay you five thousand dollars a month simply because you had a child."
"I… I just…" He looked to be on the verge of tears, and suddenly Chloe felt a stab of empathy for this man, for whatever it was that Lex had put him through. She reached out and put a hand on his shoulder.
"Mr. Heath, I know you must have been through a lot, but please…"
When he met her eyes she couldn't understand it, he was looking at her like she was crazy, and like he pitied her. "I can't tell you anything, I'm sorry."
"Please-"
"I can't! He threatened to kill my family! My family!"
"Why is he paying you?"
"Because… I told him I needed the money for my kids… we wanted to send them to private school. And with my pay downgrade now that I work as a pediatrician and not for him…"
"He wouldn't pay you for that."
"I uhh…"
"Tell me why he paid you."
"I can't!"
"Tell me why he paid you!"
"Please I-"
"Tell me-"
"Because of you!"
His eyes were red and watering and the veins were popping out of his neck and forehead. But Chloe saw all of that as if she was underwater, drowning in the words that had just come out of his mouth. He covered his mouth with his hands and rose to his feet, turning away from her and pacing the length of his office, not able to meet her eyes.
Chloe stood on shaky legs, but her voice was steady, "What?"
He turned and looked at her, tortured, torn with not knowing what it was that he should do. "I uhh…"
"Tell me!" She advanced on him, backing him into the bookshelves. "Tell me what you know!"
His shoulders slumped, and all the resolve drained out of his fingertips, slack at his sides. "I told him I would tell you. That's why he's paying me. He doesn't want you to know. He would give anything for you to never find out."
"Find out what?" Chloe was desperate to know, every cell in her body hummed with the desire.
"I can't tell you that."
"Please! Please I have to know!" She felt tears prick her eyes and fought them back with clenched fists and a ramrod spine.
"It's my family! My family! I can't… I'm sorry. You have to go."
Something in his voice made Chloe agree, made her leave. He wasn't going to give her anymore, and despite how badly she wanted to know, she could understand why he couldn't tell her.
But she was going to find out whatever it was that he wouldn't say, whatever it was that they'd been working on that James had thought was too risky to be involved in when he had kids. There were other ways to get what she wanted, and she would exhaust all of them until she got what she wanted, until she found out what Lex was doing, what he had done.
And until she found out what the hell it had to do with her.
So? How did you like it?