Chapter 7 – One Step Forward
Chloe sat in the driveway trying to compose herself. The drive back to the house was torture. She drove and replayed the video of her and her mother over and over in her mind. Anger welled up inside so heavy that she pulled off the road in the middle of nowhere. Getting out of the car, she kicked the tires and leaned against the car and screamed. She wanted to choke him, put a bullet him, run over the injured man with her car, check for his movements, and then run over him once more to end the job.
She thought about Lionel trying to sooth her feelings. He didn't know how she felt; he was his son, just older and not as well kept. She got back in the car and gripped the steering wheel until her knuckles went sheet white. Slamming her head into the steering wheel, she replayed the rest of the video she watched after Lionel and Clark left in her mind.
Over a loud speaker, a voice spoke, "I want her sedated during the test." One of the masked men looked in the direction of a window and nodded. The glare in the man's hood reveled a speck of crimson or violet.
Her body laid motionless on the table as the men on the video moved about another table where medical equipment mixed chemicals and added to tubes of different types. One hooded man gave a thumbs up to the same glass. "Do we have any idea what the outcome is?" the person behind the glass said smoothly.
"We have a positive, but no immediate answers from the affected rodents."
"Very well. Put the tracking device in and leave us." The hooded man turned around and sliced a small incision in her shoulder and firmly placed the device in. The incision was slight and quickly patched with a professional plastic surgery job. The hooded man turned and pointed out the waiting time to the man behind the glass before attending to his subject.
It was not a normal evening. He never previously been hands-on with the acquisitions. He had simply left the science to the men in the coats that he paid handsomely. But this one was different. She was an acquaintance, and more now a threat to his career and livelihood. After going through the entire test results now appearing on the screen, he could see the higher levels of meteor rocks in her blood. It was no question with all her run-ins, but the blood was mixed decidingly different than the typical meteor infected. Her content was higher and yet not attached to any of cell-like organisms. Not developed perhaps, not activated more likely.
Depressurizing the room, he slid a pair of small white protective boots over his shoes and entered the stark white room with sunglasses on. He eased over to the lab mice and noticed nothing changed for the last hour. Checking the time, he knew that he only had a few more precious moments with the woman.
Sliding his hands out of his pockets, he traced his fingers along the side of her face and pushed the one strand that had stuck to her eyelashes out of the way. "Chloe, what are you carrying? What could you tell me?" Lex slid his hand down her arm and seductively eyed the scantily clad milky white skin. Turning around he glanced at the clock and then back to her body.
"I bet I made a mistake with Lana." He pulled the small rolling chair over and sat down next to the still unconscious Chloe. Running his fingers down her arm, he took her fingers nimbly through his and closed his eyes. He lifted her hand up and rubbed it against his face and closed his eyes. Laying her hand down, he eyed her small tightly covered bosom and sighed. Running his fingers through her hair, he smiled, "You hold the answers I want; you always have."
Chloe snapped back to reality hearing someone beating on her window. "Are you ok?" she heard coming from the other side of her window.
She rolled the window down and squinted at the bright light in her face. "Yes officer, just had to stop for a bit."
"Miss, it's not exactly safe out here alone. Maybe you should be getting on unless you need an escort to a hotel for a rest."
Chloe nodded and thanked the older gentleman, starting the car back up. She drove the rest of the way home contemplating her next move. She had the entire contents of Lex's computer, a completely unknowing Lex Luthor, and his father nervous that he tried to play her again. She should feel set. But something was missing.
Pulling in the driveway another hour later, the plan played out in her mind to perfection. She was now in charge of her own destiny and Lex's. This was now her power play. She had watched Lex for so many years try to pull the rug from under his father just to be dragged down by his unconscious need to be loved by the man first. Chloe didn't need, nor wanted, Lionel's love. It was the only way, and the most frightening thing that both Lionel and Clark could imagine. It was the most frightening thing she could imagine. Saying a small prayer, she asked for her father's forgiveness. Wiping her eyes one last time, she freshened up her makeup and walked into the house.
"Lex? I'm home. Are you aw… What happened?" Chloe dropped her purse on the counter and walked around the kitchen island. Seeing one leg, she hurried her pace and fell next to him on the floor. He was covered in something that smelled good. Janine was nowhere to be seen. "What happened?"
She grabbed a towel from the island and wiped his face and shirt off. He had changed from the earlier morning. She realized that she had been gone for almost twelve hours. Looking around for his wheelchair, she smirked at him. "Spill it."
Lex leaned against the cabinet and gazed at his wife with the worst puppy eyes she had ever seen. Clark couldn't beat the look Lex had come up with. "Janine got called away, and we had been working on me using my, God I hate to say it, walker. So I thought I would come in here and lean on the counter and make dinner for us." He laughed as he took the towel from her and blotted the places on his shirt. "I even dressed up for you."
Chloe eyed his burgundy shirt and his unusual choice of jeans. "You look nice. Pick it out yourself?" She dabbed the cloth on his face and proceeded to wipe the last of what was dinner off him. "Come on, let's get up." She stood up and placed the overturned walker in front of him.
Lex took a grip on her arm and another on the counter, pulling himself up before leaning against the counter. "I guess it's ruined."
Chloe peered over the kitchen at the pasta drained in the sink and the remainder of the jar of sauce on the counter. "I think we can salvage something. I'm just glad that you didn't burn the house down." She watched Lex lean into the walker and barely shuffle down the hall to the room. Wondering if he had clothes there, she followed him.
"So, did you fall or have another seizure?"
"Fell like a dumbass." Lex started undoing his pants and pulling on the buttons of his shirt. "Hey, can you get me some thing new to jump into?" Chloe concentrated on the small movements of his hands, struggling to control herself. She could feel them up and down her back like the night before and yet the same fingers pressed buttons and that mouth gave commands to dissect her, to cut her open. Mortified and strangely turned on, she picked up his shirt and threw it in the chair by the door. "Chloe?"
"Sorry, sure. I'll be right back." Chloe took the shirt with her as he leaned back in the chair to rest. She walked up the stairs and threw the shirt in the hamper. Leaning against the wall, she slid down to the floor. Burying her face in her hands, she sobbed. She couldn't do it. She stared at him and knew he was hurting, but he hurt her first. His pain was a figment of his imagination, a very detailed one. Hers was real. He had part of her somewhere in a lab and destroyed her family. Again, she thought about her idea. It was risky, but she hoped for the best. The worse – she would die at the hands of Lex Luthor. Opening her eyes, she wiped her tears away and tried to make her chin stop quivering.
Walking into his closet, she found a nice slate color pullover. The buttons were more than he should be trying to concentrate on at the moment. She closed the door and looked at the picture next to the closet. It was a picture that she had forced a smile through at the wedding. The headshot did not display the dress she had worn but she admitted the picture came out nicely.
Chloe walked back in the room and noticed Lex leaning back in the chair asleep. She laid the shirt down on the bed and pulled the blanket off. Covering him up, she heard her name drop almost silently from his lips as he smiled softly. Closing her eyes, she pictured him over her again on his computer and walked out of the room.
Chloe looked up from the computer a couple of hours later and wondered if she should wake him. They needed to eat and she had cleaned up the mess he had made. He tried; she would give him that. Staring back at the computer, she opened up another file and watched the video. The man was screaming for his life, begging for mercy. She watched another scan just as hers was done. Notes followed the video that explained the power to walk through objects and the experiments that would take place at a later date. All were initialed LL. Vague, she thought.
"My you have been busy today." Chloe froze in her place on the couch and silently prayed. She felt a hand on her shoulder over the back of the couch and turned to meet his eyes. "Now I see why you didn't wake me. How did you get into my father's computer anyway?" Chloe beamed at Lex, biting her lip teasingly.
"Surprise?" Chloe turned back and replayed the video that she had already watched, knowing Lex was not mentioned or seen in the clip. He had been in others. She would have to be careful. "My secret, but I thought it might help our little situation out. Maybe turn the tables on him."
Lex leaned further over the couch, more for balance than anything, and grasped both of her shoulders. "Baby, I love you." Turning back to Lex, she smiled. Lex leaned in and kissed her gently on the lips. Pulling out of the kiss, Chloe reached up to the collar of the shirt she had brought him and tugged on it.
"I know," she whispered almost playfully before returning the kiss, licking his lips before feeling his mouth open slightly. It wasn't a full tongue kiss, but he was good. She thought it was cruel to lead him on, but she now found the key to getting out of her predicament. She had to control the situation as well as Lex ever did. "Come sit with me for a bit." She closed her laptop and grabbed his one hand as he slowly guided himself around the couch's end. Helping Lex down into the couch, she placed the laptop out of reach and rubbed his knee with her hand. "You want me to try dinner again?"
Lex caught her eyes and smiled at her, gazing over her whole body. Chloe felt a sudden urge to run from him; the peering of her body up and down felt like he was undressing her like the video from earlier. "Sure, I'm going to catch my breath and I'll be in there for my meds later."
"What happened to Janine?"
"She got a call from her kid and had to go." Chloe wanted to ask the time the child called and could almost bet that his initials were LL. It would be Lionel to try to play one card that made him feel superior by pulling Chloe's only escape from helping Lex with everything. He was a twisted individual still even though Clark trusted him so. "I have no idea when she'll be back."
Chloe smiled and halfway giggled at the place Lionel put her in. "I'm going to see what I can save from dinner. Come in a few ok?" Lex released his grip on her hand as she headed to the kitchen. Chloe looked around in the refrigerator at the leftovers and threw them in the microwave. She pulled a bag of salad out and threw it on the counter before looking for a bowl. "You want me to," Chloe started hearing Lex shifting slowly into the kitchen before catching her breath when his lips met the back of her neck.
"I love your smell." He balanced on either side of her legs, wrapping his arms around her waist and nuzzling his face into her neck and hair.
"That's dinner Lex." Chloe continued to concentrate on the task at hand as she felt Lex's hands concentrate on her midsection. Feeling one finger slide the front of her shirt up slightly, she hitched a breath and questioned, "Hey, do you want to eat?"
"I thought I was," Lex continued murmuring into her neck as he continued nipping at the back of it. Chloe adjusted her shoulder, elbowed him, and felt him stop. "What's wrong?"
Chloe slipped out of his grip as he held the counter. "I just think it's nine at night and we should eat and just retire. You should be sitting and resting anyway." Chloe moved around the kitchen and finished up preparing the meal that Lex had started and strewn over the floor earlier. Lex grabbed the small pile of pills that the nurse left him and carefully shuffled across the floor and sat down. "You're getting better at that. You'll be upstairs in no time."
Lex swallowed and put his glass down. "I suppose." Chloe heard the sadness in his voice and closed her eyes. She knew it was because her once again rejection of him. "Did you sleep with him? With Clark? You just seem so distant." He continued to stare straight ahead. Chloe stopped and dropped the bowl of pasta on the table next to him.
"I'm not talking about this at dinner. I have told you, I have promised you. Why do you keep beating it?"
Lex looked across the table at her, "Because I can't imagine that you can just put Clark in the back of your mind without any kind of reservation for him. I've seen you around him – you're like this lovesick puppy. But suddenly, I come home and you're all standoffish. If Clark had crashed his car, you'd be by his bedside hour after hour. You always were."
Chloe stiffened hearing the accusations flying through the air. "You are just home from the hospital. I know you aren't much for doctor's advice but you need to follow it to get better. I was at work today, and…"
Lex eyed her, "No you weren't. You never answered your phone. I called the main desk and they said you never reported this morning. I left you voice mails." Lex leaned back away from the table and crossed his arms. Eyeing the ring on her finger, he grunted, "Do you even love me anymore? Do you still want the baby?"
Chloe's eyes snapped up from her dinner as she dropped her fork. Staring across the table, she saw Lex nervously twist at his wedding band. "Lex, I was on assignment. And as for Clark, I was hoping that we could work things out without his interruption. But you seem to bring him up over and over." Chloe shook her head and sighed heavily.
Lex listened to her words while staring off in space. He loved her with every ounce of his being; she had always been the only one even though it took years for him to learn it. Clark was the perfect son, with a hidden prick attitude just under the surface. Lex couldn't imagine his life alone; they had both wanted this. He just truly didn't know where he had gone so wrong. "Did you sleep with him?"
"NO," she answered emphatically. Throwing down her silverware again, she picked up her plate and tossed it in the sink, listening to pieces crash. She watched Lex stiffen at the sound.
Still looking away from her, he asked calmly, "Tell me you love me." Chloe stood behind him and said nothing. She watched as he attempted to turn in his seat and looked at her. "Please Chloe, just tell me the truth." He put his hands up, pleading for a straight answer.
Backing against the cabinet, she stared at her husband. His eyes screamed mercy on his heart. Her husband; she had never thought of that until that moment. Pushing the idea out of her mind, she knew now that Lex was hooked to her. He had seen the computer and thought it was his father's. Lionel hadn't counted on this small nugget of fortune.
Chloe closed her eyes and pursed her lips together. Opening her eyes, Lex still sat sideways in the chair and waited for the answer.
Chloe put her best acting face on and curled up her lip to force the tears to build. Almost inaudible, she whimpered through her building tears. "I love you Lex." She covered her mouth and caught her breath between sobs. "I'm just so worried about you. It's stressful and," Chloe collapsed in a ball on the floor. Looking up at Lex moving slowly toward her, she put her hands on her head and pleaded with him, "God, I'm sorry. I never meant to hurt you."
Lex halfway collapsed on the floor, scooping Chloe up in his arms. "And?"
Chloe buried her face into his chest and sobbed, grabbing his shirt on either arm. "I will never be with someone other than you. And we're going to have a beautiful baby." Chloe looked up his eyes as tears from his face dripped to her cheek. She could feel his grip tighten around her as he buried his face into hair and kissed her repeatedly.
"I love you Chloe. I don't know what I'd do." She heard Lex cut the statement off and lift her face to his.
"I love you," she bit her lip in aguish of the double meaning in the words. She needed him, but not the same way he needed her.
Lex put an arm up on the counter and pulled himself up from the floor. Holding his hand out, he watched Chloe ignore it and get up on her own. "Chloe," he questioned.
"No, I really think you supporting both of our weights would probably be the wrong move right about now." Lex wrapped his arm around her standing next to him now and smiled down at her. "Sorry for the blow up – I'm just stressed out. And I haven't felt really good today. I stopped twice today and thought I was going to have to call for help I got so ill."
Lex leaned against the counter, letting go of her. He watched as she moved back to the table and sat down, breathing a sigh of relief to finally sit down again. Lex shuffled carefully back over and sat down across from her. "Maybe you should also take it easy for a couple of days. Call in sick – it's not like you're pregnant and don't have a reason." He continued eating as Chloe snacked on the rest of her salad.
She honestly had felt sick most of the day but not from a pregnancy. The feeling came and went as she tried to desperately to not confuse the two Lexes. She wished there was more information about Lex's condition. That was her only glitch. She had pretty much control over her situation except for his doctors. They knew they worked for Lionel and would definitely tell him if she asked questions.
"Hey? You about done?" Chloe looked up and smiled as Lex leaned back in the chair and sighed deeply. As she cleaned the table, Lex watched her move about the kitchen. She swore she could feel his eyes move boring into her flesh like the laser from the experiment. But the feeling was different; she glanced over from her pile of dishes and giggled as he leaned against the back of the chair watching her.
Getting up from the table, he pushed the walker to the side and shuffled between counters until he stood next to her. "Hand me that," he pointed at the dainty towel hanging above her head. Chloe looked up and hip bumped him ever so gently. It was worth a shot to make some amends at her end. She would need them to be convincing later. She continued to dump clean dishes in the other part of the sink and watched as Lex picked each one up and dried it meticulously. "You missed a spot," he said as he handed the plate back to her.
"Still anal as ever."
"I was never anal – just careful," Lex put the last dish in the cabinet.
"Bullshit," Chloe halfway coughed. Lex looked in her direction and threw down the towel on the counter. Turning to face her, he glared at her. She had the dumbest grin on her face he had seen since her high school years.
"Well, you're overbearing and a pain in the ass when you're in work mode." Lex smirked and laughed slightly.
"At least it gets the job done." She put her hand on her hip and curled her lip as she lifted her chin. "I don't have to be controlling like someone though."
Lex crossed his arms, carefully leaning his hip against the counter. "You little know it all. You're going to pay for that one." Lex turned, grabbed his walker, and disappeared down the hall.
Once around the corner, Chloe threw her head back and cussed, "Shit." Rubbing her forehead, she wanted to beat against the counter in her stupidity. The man's ego was already fragile. She had to keep reminding herself of his situation. She ran her hands through her hair before walking into the living room. She turned the laptop off, unplugging the external drive and locking it in the closet in the hallway. Heading to the bedroom, she stood outside the bedroom door and took several deep breaths. She was no way feeling like she should ever apologize to the man, but it had been an unfair blow, at least in his present condition.
She pushed the door open and looked around. The lights had been dimmed and water was running in the bathroom. Knocking on the bathroom door, she squinted hoping not to see a naked man. "Come in," Lex softly spoke over the water running. Chloe walked over to the jetted tub and stared at the bubble bath that he had made her.
"I'm sorry about earlier – the control thing."
"Why? It's not like you haven't said that a million times before to me. Actually, I was kind of missing out little one upmanship sessions. Just be forewarned, I let you win this time honey." He took her hand, kissed it, and used her to pull himself up. "Now, relax. I'll see you in a few if I don't fall asleep before that." Pulling her chin up to him, Chloe gulped and closed her eyes. She mentally steadied herself to loosen up before meeting his lips again. She could do this. She felt his lips graze hers and parted hers.
Lex balanced his body by leaning into a wall, forcing Chloe between his body and the wall. Deepening the kiss, he eased his tongue further into her mouth, running it along the inside of her teeth and grazing her tongue with his. Trying to concentrate on the reason she hated him, she continued to convince herself it was all part of the job. And now more important than ever. Running her hands along his chest, she hitched a breath as he jumped slightly.
Lex moaned and let out of the kiss slowly as if to taste her longer. "Still tender, but," he rubbed his hand along her face and through her hair. "I'm not done with you. The bath is lavender vanilla." She watched Lex guide himself slowly along the walls and saw the closet light come on. She eyed to see the towel laying already neatly folded over the towel warmer next to a silk gown and something evidently from her underwear drawer. Lifting them up, they were not her typical underwear.
"Lex?" She waited a moment until he was carefully leaning against he doorframe. "How did you get upstairs?"
"No, I had Janine chase it down before she left. Now, get in there or you're going to force me to help you get undressed." Lex left the bathroom, and Chloe heard light piano music start up in the bedroom. Listening, she realized even his tastes had changed some. She wondered if he really ever wanted to be that monster he had become. Shivering again, she forced the idea from her mind and simply repeated what he had said, "I'm not done with you yet either." Undressing, she slipped into the bath up to her neck and, for the first time that day, genuinely smiled about her predicament.