A/N - Here's the deal kiddos....I couldn't make it through a story at PG13, so we're going to call this update M, even though it ain't nearly that hot.

Long Distance Relationships – Chapter 13

"Chloe," Magnil popped her head into the bedroom and knocked. "There's a call coming in for you honey." Chloe rolled over and stared at the clock. She slept later and later each day. Her job at the newspaper required very little effort and the bar was on off-season hours for a few more weeks.

Crawling out of bed, she trudged to the conference room and plopped into the chair, careful to hold her head up where Lex could at least see her in the small camera. "Good morning."

"How are you feeling? Magnil said that you had been sick yesterday."

"Decent. Let me try to eat something first and then ask me. How's the tour of the world going?" Chloe slumped back in the chair, pulling her knees into her.

Lex threw his legs up on the side of the desk in the mansion office and sat back. The method of communication was working the best possible. She understood and that was what mattered. "Almost done. I leave for London tomorrow and then onto Hong Kong. Most of the damage you read about in the papers I've been able to fix minus the idiots in Los Angeles. Guess that's why I like working international."

Chloe smiled and knew he wasn't going to go into detail even if she asked him. "So what else is going on?"

"The Crows won the Homecoming Game last night and this town was lit all night long. And Clark and Lana stopped by a couple of nights ago for dinner."

"Your idea or theirs?"

"Mine." Lex paused. Chloe didn't ask about them much more and Lex wondered if she really cared about their current situation. "They asked about you right before asking to use the mansion for the wedding."

"And what did you tell them?" He watched Chloe's face as the words came out. She didn't seem put off or upset. Her small smile on her face said she was ok with whatever answer he offered up.

"I told them nothing as you and I had left it. And they are going to be using the mansion for the wedding. It's sometime in March. I'll get the exact dates and let you know. I still think you should talk to them. They still care about you even if they weren't not always there for you."

"I know." Chloe drew up the coffee that Magnil brought her to her lips and sipped carefully. "Maybe I should…"

"Do what you feel comfortable with honey. It's not like you're pining over the boy anymore, at least I hope not for my sake." She watched the sly grin creep across Lex's face and shook her head in the camera. "Anyway, I have another call in a few minutes. Tell Magnil I will call her later this afternoon to do some comparative notes and you get better."

"Will do." Chloe put her cup down and looked around at the closed door in the conference room. Pulling her robe apart, she ran her hands over her bare chest, pinching her nipples and seductively watched Lex's position in his chair change. "I love you. Talk soon?" She cooed as she massaged her breasts teasingly.

"Thanks Chloe. This is going to be an uncomfortable conference call."

"I do what I can," she stated pulling the robe together again.

Lex shook his head and rolled his eyes. "Love you too. Get some rest." Chloe smiled as the screen went black. She stared at the screen for a couple moments longer before hearing her stomach calling her toward some kind of food.

Feeling her continual stare at the screen, Lex waited another moment before completely shutting the computer closed. Their conversations seemed to become more natural and simplified every time they talked.

He had been duped into having feelings, whether love or otherwise, with women. They had tried perilously to hold his attention, with only Helen ever actually making it through to his soul. Everyone had witnessed his demise and stupidity in that moment.

He risked a lot when he let the word love drop from his lips in front of Chloe. She had been his friend and things could have easily gone the exact opposite direction. He ran his fingers along the picture in the frame on his desk. He had never kept personal effects on his desk until a few days ago. But the surfer insisted that they needed a picture together. He never realized what an awful lopsided smile he had when he was truly smiling. It was something he rarely remembered seeing.

*************

"I'll get it!" Lana ran through the Kent's house looking for a phone and landed square on the couch. "Hello?"

Chloe sat on the other end of the phone and heard the perky voice answer at the Kents. Lex had informed her of everything that had transpired over the months that she had been gone. She was actually happy for them and knew that it had been wiser for all involved when she had left. Clark would have never made the commitment if she had stayed.

"Lana, it's Chloe."

Lana nearly dropped the phone. "Chloe? Oh My God! Chloe! Hang on." Lana covered the receiver but Chloe still heard her screaming Clark's name before another receiver picked up. "How are you? Where are you?"

Clark sat down next to Lana on the couch and listened on the other line, even if he didn't need to. "I'm good. Tan. And in love. I hear you two are getting married?"

"Yeah, but no announcements…wait, how do you know?" Lana stopped and looked at Clark. Nodding that he had no idea, they waited for Chloe to start talking.

"Lex." Chloe paused as she could imagine the looks that Clark and Lana were giving each other. "Yeah, he and I kind of kept in touch…everyday. I'm living in the Virgin Islands and he came to visit once he figured out where I was and we kind of hit it off from there." Lana and Clark stared at each other and Chloe could tell from the awkward silence that both were flabbergasted by the immensity of the simple sentence.

"So he was with you all the time that Luthorcorp was down there after the hurricane?" Another pause came from both lines. "Chloe, explain hit it off."

Clark wanted to clarification.

Chloe kind of giggled as she tried to sidestep the question and remembered talking to Lex a few nights earlier about Clark and Lana. He wasn't ready for the whole world to know about the two of them, but his laugh indicated freaking out the high school sweethearts was acceptable.

"Lex came to visit me after we had been corresponding for a couple of months. He kind of got stuck here during the hurricane and spent the month with me. Actually, I spent it with him since he bought a house here. Anyway, we are together. Look, I just wanted to keep it between him and me where I was because I needed to get my head straight and so did he. We're good for each other and…"

"Chloe," Clark interjected. "We're not mad. You had your reasons; we were just worried about you."

"And it's good to hear about you and Lex. You two always shared some kind of bond that no one ever understood, as long as your banter hasn't interrupted the foreplay." Lana stated directly as Chloe pulled away from the phone and looked at it, in disbelief.

"No, but we still discuss plenty," Chloe giggled. "I guess we all have grown up some in the last few months." Chloe paused and thought about how awful this conversation would have gone only a few months earlier. Everyone had moved on and found themselves finally. "I guess all I can ask is if there is anything that I can do for your wedding. That is so great that it's going to work out."

Lana and Clark looked at each other and shrugged, "Find us somewhere nice to stay there maybe," they giggled as Clark sheepishly asked.

"Sure. I know a couple of places that owe Lex a favor or two for construction. Look, I have to get going, but I promise the next phone call will not take five months."

"It better not," Lana accused. The three said their byes and Chloe sat on the couch and breathed a sigh of relief. She truly never wanted to go back to Smallville for anything, not even the wedding. Her life no longer existed there. But at least everyone was now happy, including herself.

"How's it going hon?" Magnil walked through the living room and looked at Chloe's face as she put the phone back. "You look a little flushed."

Chloe laid back into the pillows and put her hand on her head as Magnil returned from the kitchen with a wet washcloth. "Thanks. This bug comes and goes."

************

Chloe walked up to the bar and set her stuff behind the counter. "Hey! How's my little walking tip machine?" Don laughed from behind the bar.

"Ehh, tired. But I am really happy to be out and about again. Things are going real good and…where's Rey?" Chloe looked around for the resident drunk that always came in before everyone else.

Don slapped the towel down on the bar and moved around to sit next to his favorite and sweetest bar maid. He never met someone like Chloe. She had been able to stay true to herself throughout her time on the island and from Magnil's explanations, the bald billionaire was the sole reason.

"Rey has a meeting in Metropolis this week." Don dropped without any further explanation.

Chloe's head whipped around from the beach and stared at Don. "Nooooo, he didn't."

"Yeah, your boyfriend called Rey last week and flew him over yesterday to meet with some company to mass produce his scotch. Rey's just stoked as you can get. He was all nervous because he heard what a hard ass Lex was and stayed up all night with his diagrams of his process."

"I'm sure he'll be fine. One thing Lex doesn't screw around with is his liquor and if he believes it will sell, Rey won't need to worry much longer." Chloe watched as a couple walked into the bar and sat at a far table. "I got it." She smiled at Don, happy to be back in the land of living again.

Trudging back up to the main dock later that night, Chloe grabbed her head and slunk into a bench on the side of the marina. The dizziness returned with a vengence the last half hour at work and she wasn't sure what god hated her. "Crap."

She walked over to the small medical center and rung the bell. "I need to see someone about the crud." She smiled as the nurse took her information and showed her to a small room. She silently went through her mind the steps that she would have to go through to keep this from Lex and Magnil.

"Chloe is it? What seems to be the issue?"

"I'm just tired all the time. I get weird dizzy spells and stomach aches. It's nothing really major just annoying and it comes and goes." The doctor nodded.

"Let's get a couple of samples and we'll see if we can figure out what we can do for you."

Chloe sat nervously in the small room for almost an hour as the doctor disappeared to run tests. She flipped through all the magazines and then dozed off on the small table to wake up to the door opening. "Nice nap?" Chloe sat up and smiled as the doctor started talking to her.

Another hour later, Chloe leaned on the edge of the ferry returning to the other island, staring repeatedly at the pamphlets the doctor gave her in addition to the prescriptions that had been filled. It wasn't something you discussed over the phone. She wasn't sure how to discuss it at all. She eyed the edge of the villa from the ferry as they docked and sighed.

*************

Six weeks had passed since Lex had been home. The webcalls had done everything they could possibly do for both of them. Chloe thought about just a few nights earlier, Lex promised the call but was tense and holding a glass of scotch. Something had gone terribly wrong but he wouldn't talk about. Chloe still hated his internalizing everything but tried to help him relax. When Chloe excused herself and reappeared in the camera holding a vibrator, he laughed.

"I want you baby," Chloe purred into the camera as she pushed back the robe she was wearing to reveal her breasts that now looked firmer and larger than normal. She watched Lex as the camera suddenly changed and then he appeared on the couch. It was a good sign.

Lex sat the laptop up on his knees and groaned, putting a hand on the side of the couch and finishing off his drink. "Only a couple more days."

"But I can't wait," Chloe pouted, teasing him while rubbing her hand down her chest and gently tugging on the tie of the robe. She sat in silence with her bottom lip pressed out while she shimmied out of the robe.

"I hope you locked the door." Lex replied still trying to keep his cool, but Chloe noticed the camera moving and knew he was doing some of his own readjusting.

She continued to run her hands over her bare body pushing the chair away slightly to give him a better angle. "Better?"

His eyes closed as he groaned and Chloe knew she had him. "So how are you planning on using your assistant?" Lex moaned again as Chloe ran the almost identical size to himself vibrator over her chest and tucked it into her panties. "Turn it on high."

A curl formed on Chloe's lips as she slipped out of the underwear and started running the object over her folds. Automatically, she moaned Lex's name as her hips started a rhythm. Almost losing herself in the moment, she looked back at the camera and smiled, seeing Lex's head thrown back on the couch as he stroked himself.

The two continued to trade glances as both sped up their own ministrations. Chloe caught Lex as he briefly stopped to pull his ultra expensive pants out of the way and undo his shirt. She stopped briefly, watching as his naked body writhed in rhythm with his hand and listened to him moan her name. Tempted, she thought better than to hit record on the webcam.

"Lex," Chloe panted. Lex's eyes shot open as he watched Chloe shake in the conference chair while balancing her feet on the table. Throwing her head back to the side of the high back chair, she screamed his name, causing his excited release as well.

Chloe pulled her robe together and turned off the well-used tool before smiling at the camera. Lex Luthor, high-class business tycoon, lay immovable on the leather sofa, naked and smiling. "I'll be right back," Chloe heard before he disappeared from the picture.

Returning back to the computer, Chloe noticed his pants back on. "How are you feeling now?"

"Like I should have been requesting that on all my trips instead of booze." Chloe smiled and blew him a kiss.

"See you in two days. Night Lex."

"Night honey." Chloe smiled and scampered out of the conference room. Damn, if she wasn't in the mood again. The man really should not tease her by not wearing a shirt.

***************

Chloe stretched out in the bed and yawned with her eyes closed. 19. She was 19 today and from what she heard from Magnil and Lex was that Don and her would be celebrating her birthday very much alone.

Opening her eyes, she saw Carmen quietly moving about the lanai, setting out her new coffee that she had switched to and fluffing the pillows in the recliner where Chloe spent most of her mornings on the computer. She blessed the day that Lex installed wireless Internet in the house and she never looked back.

Turning she fully expected to run her hand down Lex's empty pillow but saw a small box. Sitting up, careful to keep her bare body covered from the slightly cooler fall breeze, she pulled out the card and stared at.

Happy Birthday Honey. You can tell me your answer in person. But you have to find me.

Lex

Chloe opened the small box and gasped. "Yes," she whispered to herself as she slipped the ring on her finger, threw on her robe, and headed out on her search for her fiancée.

TBC