Oh reviewers, you flatter me ;)

I'm writing the last chapter right now. Without editing, it looks like the end will be chapter 43/44. (And yes; it's happy ;))

I know there's a bit of grrr towards Oliver, and sadly it will only get worse before it gets better. But don't you worry, everything works out well for both of them.

Previously; Chloe met with Green Arrow and handed over a flashdrive of Lex's crimes. In her plans to run away, she told him she was free, but as she returned, Lex stepped in and took control. Oliver and Dinah look over the flashdrive to find the jackpot, only they realise they cannot use it until 33.1 is shut down. Oliver rushes off to find Chloe and tell her everything.

Chapter Thirty-Eight; 359

'You're either with me or against me, choose right now.'- Lex Luthor (Season Three, Episode Shattered).

Chloe woke to a dark room. She rolled and corrected herself, not room, 'cell'. There was no bed for her, no comforts. Just a pitch black, tiny room she'd been dumped in, her limbs reached across to each wall with ease. She pushed herself to sitting, fending off the headrush. Whatever he'd given her, it did not have pleasant after effects. Her body ached, her muscles felt like they'd never been used. Like when you sit for too long and standing up becomes an issue. She noted to herself to find her strength again before trying to stand otherwise she'd be bambi on ice. She reached out her hands, squinting to attempt adjusting to the darkness. But it was pointless as a light clicked on outside her cell. Light streamed in, highlighting the window in her locked door. Well, she presumed it was locked, sorta pointless if not. Sure enough, she shuffled to it and confirmed her theory; locked.

"Don't get up on my account." She heard a voice call, and there was Lex, peering through the window.

"Where am I?"

"You can be back at the mansion if you tell me what I want to know." he bartered.

"And if I don't."

"You'll have a little longer stay at 33.1." he announced. Chloe felt her spine tingle, 33.1. She was officially a lab rat for Lex's commands.

"Monster." she hissed to the bars.

"Such a difference from the saviour you used to call me." he reflected sickly.

"Let me free and I'll call you whatever you like."

"Tell me who they are and I'll let you free."

"Fine." she sighed. "Andy. Billy. Claire. Darwin. Edgar and Frank." she spat, pissed.

"Cute." Lex complimented. "Sadly, until I finish another little potion for you, I don't have much to do on this angle. However… there's another little freak part of you I'd like to try out."

"I'm not your lab rat Lex!" she hissed, but the sound of the key hitting the lock made her pause. She balled her fists, ready for the fight for her freedom. But as the door opened and she flew for him, she felt a shock of electricity pound into her neck, making her scream instead and clutch her neck. There, blunky beneath her fingers was a collar. A metal ring around her.

"Just to keep you in line."

The pain ebbed and she rose her eyes to him, dark and cold. In that moment, she knew the hate she felt towards Lionel had spread to cover the entirety of the Luthor coven.

"Just like your father." But the words didn't cause the usual flinch, in fact he seemed proud. Twisted; that was Lex.

"Try anything and I'll keep cranking the voltage up until it fries your brain to mush." he threatened. "Walk." he ordered, stepped back from the open door and gesturing down the corridor.

Chloe pushed down on the floor, crawling up from her knees to kneel and then stand. She was wobbling, everything hurt and she used the wall to keep stable but she managed the steps out of the door. From then, she refused to show weakness, especially before Lex, so she stood tall and walked carefully and precisely down the hall, but walking soon took an automatic pilot route back into her usual steps as her eyes swallowed the sight before her. Chambers and corridors, windows into locked doors. People crying, people screaming, people pleading in the darkness of the cells.

"Who are they?" she couldn't stop herself from asking, but she knew the answer; they were the other 'patients' of 33.1.

"They're the ones that behave." Lex narrated, sending chills down her spine again. He seemed proud, all over again. Sick. Lex was disturbed in the head. How could he do this?! How could he look at this and believe he was doing good?! They were screaming for help for god's sake. Chloe's eyes locked on the next door, the eyes of a child peering from the window, tears streaming down her cheeks. Chloe ran to the door, but an arm came across her track. "Keep walking." he ordered.

"She's just a child!" she snapped, whipping back to him. But she saw the sinister expression she'd hoped was just her imagination before. Lex liked this.

Lex didn't say anything, just tapped her collar with a finger. Reminding her of the consequences. Chloe stepped back, her eyes apologetic to the girl, but she was gone from the window. Lex nudged her and she started walking again.

Cold… the corridors were freezing.

Was the cell she'd been in that cold? Or had she just not felt it? But now she knew it was there, she felt it more and more, like her fingers were freezing on her hand. She tucked them into fists to warm the digits. Her arms crossed against her chest. She was still wearing the same clothes as before, still wrapped for winter, bar the coat, but she felt like she was freezing.

"Side effect of the drug." he answered without her question ever passing her lips. She chose not to reply. She couldn't without insulting him and getting herself shocked. So she let him follow her silently down the halls, she let him point left and right down the tunnels.

He was confusing her mind, she noted. They'd passed corridors before, but as he planned, she'd lost her route in her mind, the inner map had become a maze. She couldn't find her way back without Lex again. She imagined he didn't bother with this for all the others, just her. Special treatment sucks.

"Stop." he ordered after another 2 minutes of walking. She froze before the room labelled 325a. He pressed his palm to the scanner and the door slid open. He pushed her in, not waiting for her to develop hesitance. The room was white walled, clinical looking, just without the smell. No tables, no chairs. Just a suited man standing alone in the centre of the room. He stood to attention as Lex walked in.

"Mr Luthor. Miss Maine." He greeted them both and Chloe joined the dots. He was a security guard for the Luthors. In fact… she remembered his face. He was one of the guards she'd gotten into a bar fight so she could escape and see Arrow. He had covered for her. He was a good man. So what was he doing here?

The door shut and locked as Chloe recalled the man. The sound echoed in the room and she felt the tight grip of dread again. It paired with her cold temperature well. She truly felt the impending hell Lex was about the raise.

It happened fast, one second; she was contemplating greeting the man, the next; Lex was pulling a gun, another and the room exploded in a blast of sound. Chloe blinked and the white shirt of the guard was bleeding red, he crashed to his knees, the light already flashed from his eyes. He was dead before he hit the floor. But he did, he hit the floor, the noise echoing in the room. Her ears rang, her throat burned and the chill in her blood turned to fire as adrenaline shocked her system.

"Heal him." Lex spoke, no remorse in the tone.

"What?!" she asked, incredulous of his request.

"Save him." Again, no emotion, just an order.

"You shot him." Maybe she was in shock, she'd never seen this darkness in him.

"And he'll die if you don't heal him."

"I don't know how!" she spat, but raced to the man. He was already gone, already headed to the light.

"Figure it out." Lex just answered, crossing his arms over his chest, waiting for the meteor power to kick in.

"Sorry." Dinah whispered, Oliver stepping out of the elevator looking like a lost puppy.

"She's gone." He looked like he did a week ago, when he'd dropped by every night to see her, and she hadn't been around.

"What about her phones, her car? We could track GPS." Dinah suggested, heading into the kitchen behind him. He pulled down two cups and started the automatic process of making coffee.

"Left both phones behind, same for the car."

"She left the car?" Dinah enquired, sitting herself at the counter.

"Just took clothes and money I imagine." he muttered quietly.

"Laptop?"

"Gone too." He turned back to see her at the counter, the same place Chloe had been little more than a week ago.

"Train stations, airports."

"Not there either." he grumbled.

"Ports?" Dinah tried, knowing his answer would be the same. If he had found her, she would be here with him, and Dinah would be kicked out the door while the monkeys made love. Oliver just shook his head. "If we can't find her… it probably is for the best. It means that no-one else can." Dinah started, tenderly approaching the topic. "Like the police."

She waited, gave Oliver a few seconds to process.

"You're right." he finally spoke, shocking Dinah slightly. She didn't expect that. "But we need all the evidence before we do anything." He continued. "We finish searching through the information we have. We find 33.1 and shut this down. And then, we finish Lex."

"Or… we could target Lex first…" Dinah suggested, not following him.

"And what happens if there's something in these files that could condemn more innocents?" he questioned. "What happens if he sees red and blue lights and decides to cut his losses, burying 33.1 or demolishing it to the ground- everybody still inside?"

"Alright." Dinah agreed. "We need to split this load." she pointed out, nodding in the direction of the computer.

"Tomorrow." he thought aloud. "We start tomorrow. Vic will want to take the majority. Otherwise, we'll work a folder at a time each."

"Sounds good." Dinah agreed, accepting the milky coffee from Oliver. "I had a browse." she admitted. "While you were out." she finished and took a sip. "There's nothing that discloses the location of 33.1"

"Nothing?" He joined her at the counter.

"It's surprising actually." she noted. "There's floor plans, and it looks massive." Oliver had expected as much. "Huge… but, even where he has all the location of the old facilities- by the way, we missed one in Argentina, but it's shut down now anyway- 33.1 is never listed location."

"Internal security threat?" Oliver guessed. Had Lex known Chloe would betray him?

"Or…" Dinah began with a smile on his lips. "He doesn't need a set of directions to get there." She guessed. "Could be local, could be familiar. He could go there every other day."

"Possible." Oliver allowed, not sold though.

"I pulled Lex's schedule from the files as well." To this Oliver rose an eyebrow; impressed and curious. "Nothing stood out. Nothing labelled circus of doom anyway. But he's got a few 'appointments' we might want to look further into."

"Good. We have a starting point." Oliver smiled to her. She saw how it didn't touch his eyes. He was keeping himself together with sheer will it seemed.

"And then there's this." She shuffled in the chair, standing slightly to take a paper from the tight pockets of the jeans. She slid it across the table to him. "Lex's account details for Cobra Security."

"Cobra security… why does that sound familiar?"

"You probably give them money too." she replied smugly. "It's a private security system that puts GPS into cars. If they're stolen, they'll turn on GPS with nothing more than a password and account number." She tapped the paper again. "Like I said; we need Lex's real schedule."

Oliver grinned.

"You got busy after I left." he spoke approvingly. "I should leave you alone more often."

"And with that I'll take my leave." She stood, finishing the coffee. "I imagine you can handle Cobra tomorrow?"

"Thanks Dinah." He nodded, standing with her.

They walked to the elevator together, but as she wriggled into her jacket she turned to him, her expression serious but soft.

"I'm sorry Ollie." she whispered. He didn't reply, but she knew he heard her. "She'll come back." To this, he met her eyes, the question hanging wondering why she's do that. "She has unfinished business." Dinah answered. "Maybe not with Queen… but Arrow still has her heart." The elevator doors opened and she gave Oliver's hand a quick squeeze before she stepped in and left him alone.

Oliver spent the night on rooftops, he'd taken Arrow up a step, it had overtaken Oliver. Arrow had a chance where Oliver didn't. If she'd come back for Arrow, then he'd be Arrow as much as he could.

He stood in the cold whip of the night air, a police scanner turned on on his belt. There was a jewellery store robbery in progress on the other side of town. He didn't care, he was going there. He needed it. Arrow needed it. She had to know where to find him when she came back, and if that meant he had to save everyone and be splashed across the front page; then he would.

Chloe was back in her cell, awake and alone. Blood was on her hands, her hair was knotted, and she felt a world beyond tired. But sleep was not an option.

Whatever powers she had were refusing to work and Lex had finally given up on her after the guard had laid dead for half an hour under her hands. He'd pushed her all the way back to the cell and shot her with a mint coloured liquid. Well, he'd shot her with it after he'd shocked her again for trying to fight him off.

"What the hell have you given me?" she shouted, kicking to force him further away after he stepped back. She rubbed her arm, but there was nothing but a tiny dot where he'd shot her with the serum.

"MBN-4" he answered smugly.

"What the hell is that?" she snapped, but she felt no different. Maybe it was slow acting. Would it kill her?

"During sleep, the brain repairs cell that are damaged during the day." he lectured, standing in the doorway again, his hand on the button that would shock her if she lunged for him like her eyes promised she would. "So, if you can repair the cells without 8 hours of sleep… why not?"

Had he given her some drug to prevent her sleeping? What use would that have? But he explained. "MBN-4 turned 8 hours of repair into 30 minutes per night." At least that explained how he worked with such little sleep, but why was he using this on her, she had nothing to do. And there… that was the reason. "So that means you'll be awake for 23 hours and 30 minutes every day you're here." He watched her freeze, the realisation sitting in. "With nothing to do but think." He crouched before her, his finger poised for her attack, but it didn't come. "We trialled it on prisoners… 23% killed themselves within the week." He rose a finger to stroke along her jaw, she moved from him, but his fingers grasped tighter, forcing her eyes to him. "They pleaded, they said they'd do anything."

"You wish I was that weak." she hissed.

"The beauty is-" he grinned. "Even if you wanted to sleep longer you can't, and your brain and body, although fully repaired, they still crave those extra unattainable hours. It hurts. It really hurts." He ran his thumb over her lips. "You hallucinate after three days, become paranoid after five, and your brain starts to mimic schizophrenia after nine." He paused, dropping his thumb. "You'll tell me anything I need to know, whether you want to or not." If her eyes spoke the truth, it was a promise to rip him limb from limb. "I can double doses if you like." he proposed sadistically.

"This is sleep deprivation torture Alex." she hissed to him.

"Careful Chloe." he warned and his grip came back to her jaw tightly. "It's a fine line."

"You'd torture me for a simple name?!"

"You're only torturing yourself by refusing me answers Chloe." She snarled, or something akin to a snarl at him. He just grinned and crushed his lips to hers. The show of power pushing her will into a corner. She was well and truly his prey. "I'll be back tomorrow for your confession." And he dropped her jaw, a smug smile on his lips as he locked her in the darkness with nothing but herself.

That was hours ago. Now, even in the darkness, even as her mind grew weary, she stayed alert and awake. Nothing but the crying of the other prisoners around her to keep her company. No bed, no blanket for the chill of winter, no chair, no toilet, no shower. Just four walls.

She hated to admit it, but Lex had chosen a clever way to drain information from her. Sleep deprivation was harsh and yet didn't leave a mark. Well, it didn't leave a physical mark, psychologically, the brain was fried. She wondered why Lex hadn't turned mental, but he probably didn't take this every night, just chose when he needed it.

Chloe wasn't craving sleep right now though, she was craving the toilet, a shower and… something to eat. When was the last time she ate?

She hadn't since she 'died', no wonder she was hungry. And the more she thought about it, the hungrier she got. Her stomach turned, rumbling in the darkness. Oh, she was hungry, that was the god damn truth.

Thirsty too, her throat was dry, scratching even. She raised her hand to her neck, the collar in the way of her soothing touch. She figured she should investigate the lock, see if she could fix something to unlock it. She ran her fingers along the collar, finding the clasp at the back, she smoothed her fingers along the join and along the slots. It seemed to be a triangular key, like you'd bleed radiators with. There was no way she could undo that. Not with what she had with her now, which was nothing.

A light flashed on in the corridor blinding the dark adjusted eyes and she turned from it. She was up on her feet the next second, pressed to the window. She watched a man dressed in black walk the cells, stopped at the door next to hers and hammer at the door.

"79. Relief time." he called and waited. Chloe watched as he opened the door and a scruffy teen stepped out, falling into step behind him, she wore the same collar as Chloe.

"Hey!" Chloe called. "Please, I'm hungry!" she cried out. The guard lifted his head.

"You're not scheduled for 30 minutes 359. Silence." he ordered then kept walking.

"Please, I-" and then he turned, and Chloe felt the shock race through her, just a small warning shock, but she dropped back to the floor. 30 minutes, she could wait that long… right?

Minutes started to slow, seconds dragged and she swore she'd been forgotten about until she saw the lights flash back on again, the teen returning to the cell next to her.

"359. Relief time." he called, hammering on the door of Chloe's cell. Chloe raced to the window. "Step back 359." There was that number again. Chloe stepped back, then again as he motioned his hand.

She presumed she was the latest addition to this hell hole, did that mean there were 358 others?

The lock clicked and she lifted her eyes again. She prepared to rush him, to get the control from his hand, but whatever he saw in her eyes, he pre-emptively gave her the same warning shock as before. "No funny business 359, or you'll be in here until tomorrow in your own filth." Chloe swallowed hard, but followed him from the room. She thought of how easy it would be, to jump him, to put the sleeper hold and drop him. But, then she saw the way the cameras followed her, the way the guard showed no fear to walking in front of her.

It was useless.

The walk was short, shorter than before and he stopped at a room labelled; relief three.

"30 minutes, you'll be dragged out if you're a second late." And he held the door open for her. She stepped in, expecting another trick. But no, whatever was left of Lex's humanity was filled in the room. Plastic cutlery on a bolted table next to a bowl of what looked like cold soup and leftover bread. A toilet and shower with nothing more than a bar of soap and toilet roll off to side. And a huge clock bolted to the wall.

Chloe got the impression this was Lex's version of a prison.

The clock ticked loudly, annoying her purely from the mocking sound but she moved fast, taking care of her full bladder and eating what was laid out. It was bland, cheap and showed she got no preferential treatment for being the ex-lay of the boss. She then moved to the shower, but there were no clean clothes, nothing more than a skimpy ratty towel for dying. Guess this was the limit of humane treatment for Lex.

Still she washed her hair in the shower, not bothering with her body, she wasn't quite desperate enough to strip off in the cold room to shower for who-knows how many cameras and pervy guards.

She dried her hair and only realised by the unlocking of the door just how long the process had taken her.

"359. Out." She heard and turned to the guard at the door. She took the towel from her hair and held it in her hand, again, she felt the shock shudder through her, raking her bones and skin, turning her inside and out. "No more warning shots for you 359." And he held open the door. She complied, dropping the towel where she stood and following the guard back to the cell.

Lex lay in his bed, his laptop on his knee, Lana sleeping to the left of him.

She was unhappy with him and he couldn't be bothered to fix it if he was honest. He'd come back to the mansion after seeing Chloe expecting alone time to ebb the anger he felt from Chloe's betrayal, only Lana had been sitting with his father in his parlour, learning how to play chess with him. There she was, laughing politely for the man. He'd diffused the situation, Lana had gone upstairs to bed without more than a kiss and a kind word, Lionel had been more of a bother.

"How's Chloe son?"

"None of your business. What are you doing here? Again." Yes, he knew it was abrasive, but the man struck his every nerve.

"So you know where she is right now?" Lionel probed again, resetting the chess pieces slowly.

"Unlike you, I don't need a 24 hour tab on my property to trust it is secured."

"So that's a no."

Lionel summed, looking up to his son from his seat.

"She's working." Lex answered dismissingly. Lionel waved his hand across the board, offering Lex to play him. "Please, make yourself comfortable dad." Lex replied sarcastically instead, walking from the game to pour himself a stiff drink.

"It's something when my own security can't find her son."

"She's where she needs to be." Lex offered.

"You have too much trust in her son. She's already betrayed you and now you're letting her run from you."

"The contract still stands dad. If that's what you're worried about."

"Worried; never." His father answered, standing from the set and crossing to Lex. "Concerned; yes. It's a concern that double checks the numbers to find a hole in the finances Lex." Lex rolled his eyes.

"Your purpose for being here?" Lex primed, turning back to his father. He looked less pale… was he on new medication? He'd make some calls after he left.

"Simply checking on my son."

"Concern, I imagine." he replied smugly.

"I am your father, it is my right."

"You lost that right the day you replaced my fairy tales with Sun Tzu's 'The art of war'."

"Losing your mother at an early age must have damaged you more than I thought Lex." Lex felt the anger bubble beneath his skin, Lionel knew exactly where all his buttons lie. "I am surprised you don't have more concern for your property Lex. You cannot let her walk away from you like this."

"You tried your method and she reluctantly obeyed. My method will have her begging to help me." Lex spoke, refusing to grumble like he wanted.

"How blind are you Lex? Trusting her like this."

"Unless you have anything else to say Dad." Lex prompted, waving an arm to the doors.

"I recommend you find her Lex. She knows too much to be out of your grasp." But he walked from the parlour.

"Worried?" he called.

"Concerned." Lionel corrected, leaving out the door.

Lex had gone upstairs to find Lana asking far too many questions. He'd given her short answers. She'd started pawing him, asking for answers with her feminine wiles. He'd answered with a rough kiss, taking his anger for Chloe out on Lana through sex. She'd been fine, until she'd wanted to cuddle and then called him cold and harsh. He'd forced an apology from his lips, told her business was getting him down and that was the end of it.

But now, he was sitting on the laptop staring at numbers and not finding the will to bother with them. His mind wanted to be elsewhere, he wanted to understand what the hell was wrong with Chloe. He wanted to have her as loyal as she was the first day. He wanted her to never question him, to obey and stay on his side. But the woman had thrown a spanner in his delicate plans and now everything was crashing. But there was the plus side of this; she had all the answers, if he could crack her, the answers he longed for would finally be his.

He was sure she knew, sure as he could be. The way she looked at him, the way she blinked up and lied straight to his face. Her meteor powers on the other hand, they needed work. He didn't know the trigger and without their performance he couldn't bottle her healing skill like he had with others.

Lex shut down the laptop violently, sliding it to the floor under the bed and tried to find sleep. Lana automatically curled into his hold, but he found no comfort in her small hands searching for him. He was just angry… How could Chloe turn against him like this?!

It must have been around 4am, she summed. She'd had her 30 minutes of sleep and like Lex said, she was left with her thoughts and nothing more. Her back hurt from the short stay on the hard floor, her feet hurt from the continuous tapping. They were tapping now, beating out the drum rhythm to an old song stuck in her head. She hummed along to herself, her fingers patting against her thighs as she sat, boosting the song's life. There wasn't much in her head she found she liked. There was Oliver, and there was Arrow, but she didn't find it a happy topic of focus. There were memories of Lionel and Lex, but Lionel was a nightmare and Lex was nothing but reflections and glimpses of questions asking why she hadn't seen this before. So, she didn't want to stay there either. In fact, she had very little in the shape of memories she wanted to keep.

Well… she had Oliver. When she separated him from Arrow; when she blocked out everything Lex wanted to pull from her. Without all of the merry band of crime fighters she found peaceful memories of her time with Oliver and that was what she focussed on.

So she tapped out the beat to another song as she thought, keeping her mind occupied. The thoughts soon turned to daydreams and she leant back on the floor, her toes still tapping, her hands patting the floor as her head rested by the door. It was pitch black, nothing else in the cell, and her mind morphed her thoughts into somewhere else she'd rather be.

"Chloe." Oliver called, walking across the beach to where she sat. The sand ran between her toes, the sun poured its energy and warmth down onto her skin, the sea raced against the beach with a calming sound and she pried open her closed eyes to see Oliver walking across the sand to kneel by her, his business suit as clean and crisp as usual.

No, she corrected herself. Why would he be wearing a suit at the beach?

Oliver walked across the sand to her wearing beach shorts and nothing else.

Chloe grinned to the ceiling. Much better.

"You look beautiful." he complimented, sitting in the sand. "I wanted to ask you something." he proposed and she cracked open an eye to him.

"What's up honey?"

No, that sounded far to cheesy.

"What's up sweetie?"

Too puke inducing.

"What's up Ollie?"

Urgh. Why was it so difficult to figure out herself?! Urgh, she'd just have to roll with it, however little it sounded like herself.

"What's up Ollie?" she asked curious and pushing to rise from the beach towel, squinting in the bright sunlight to see his features. He looked as magnificent as he always did, that five o'clock shadow of stubble across his jaw in that delicious style she loved.

"I think you should work for me." he spoke calmly, lifting the sunglasses from her face to see her eyes.

"Work for you? Doing what?"

"Helping save the world."

"You want me to join your crew?" she questioned. "But Lex…"

"Forget about Lex. He's your past. I'm your present."

Chloe opened her eyes at the classic romance novel line she'd given to him. She really wished she had a book at the very least… this daydreaming was going to end one of two ways; either dirty or elaborately. She sighed and went back to humming to herself, her feet too tired to tap now.

She had to find a way out. Attacking was useless, she'd be gone before she could lay a finger on them. But she couldn't stay as she was. No, that would only lead to failure of her goal; keeping Oliver safe.

Chloe sighed. She needed to either convince Lex she didn't know. Or, she needed to lure them into a false sense of winning and knock that shock button from their hands before they could stop her attack.

Well, that or lose the collar, but that seemed impossible without the key.

Lex… he would have the key.

She had to get close to Lex. It was the only way.

Oliver turned in the bed, sleep not staying for longer than a few minutes at a time. He felt haunted by Chloe leaving him. What was he going to do now she was gone?

He'd rang Mercy, she'd told him to buck up and find her. But, he had no idea how to do that. She was probably already miles away.

He rolled again, his pillow still smelled like her. He hated the reminded though and flipped it over to the cold side. His arms felt the burn of the workout. He'd been out most of the night as Arrow, he'd been flashed by the press here and there on his saves. But ultimately he'd come back unsatisfied. He'd lifted weights, he'd rolled across the mats with himself, but even now tired and aching he was having trouble adjusting to the truth; she was gone.

She was free from lex, but away from him too.

He closed his eyes, imagining where she'd be. She seemed like the kind of woman to like the sun, to be laid on a beach, sprawled out in the sun, thrilled by the heat on her skin and the soothing wash of the ocean. But… he could see her huddled in a blanket by a roaring fire in the middle of a winter wonderland too. She'd be right at home with a mug of cocoa and a good book.

He wondered where she'd be. He wished he could be there with her. But… he reminded himself of the same thing over and over since she left. It was what she wanted. It was what she'd been denied for years. She was free of Lex. He could hardly blame her for not wanting to stick around.

It didn't mean the thought of her being happy made him feel any comfort though.

He missed her.

He squeezed his eyes shut and thought to her, where would she be?

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