Disclaimer: Don't own.
Chapter 1
Her room smelled like all other hospital rooms. Held within these walls was the despair of family members; some of their hope, sorrow, and joy. The beeping, that signified she was alive and well for someone in her condition, pushed its staccato beat into the otherwise silent room. It was stark and jarring, but it meant that she was alive. It was dark in her room, well passed the hour she could have visitors, but it was the only way to see her. He had patiently waited until everyone else had their fill of staring at her unmoving frame and projecting all their hope and longing onto her.
He glanced around the hall. The nurses knew not to disturb him. It was a perk of buying the children's ward all new equipment, for annually raising funds. He was king and Metropolis was his city-state. He treated her well and he demanded she give him his due. Tonight, it came in the form of enforcing the rules for everyone else save him. Stopping his casual perusal of the hallway, he returned his attention to the figure that had been so close to death. "Even now you defy me."The accident had left its mark in a myriad of ways on her. He had to admit that it was all that she deserved.
Lex Luthor sauntered into the room. Herroom. He gently took her hand in his own. Caressing it, he felt both her frailty and her strength. The pulse that beat strongly under her skin. His touch was feather light. It was a gentle stroke that quickened the pulse of numerous other women and served as a clear indication of his intent. To screw. To fuck. To hear his name on their lips. He dragged a chair closer to her bed and sat down. It was a trick to make oneself comfortable in the silly chairs hospitals provided, but one that he had learned from necessity.
Once again, Lex took her hand into his, contemplating his current situation. Chloe had wreaked havoc at his facility. His IT and lab techs all said that everything was there and that they couldn't be sure what she had done, which threw everything off-kilter. On one hand, it would've been so much easier to investigate what she had done if she'd died in the crash. On the other, he had no idea what kind of plans she made in the event of her death, so he couldn't even end her in the hospital.
Lex laid her hand back onto the bed and drummed his fingers on the lowered railing. He added his voice to rhythmic sounds of the machines in her room, "What can I do with you, Chloe? Kill you or not, you are decidedly an issue."
She was the only variable that he hadn't, couldn't work out to his satisfaction. Her new cohort, Oliver, would be an issue. Lex didn't exactly know their relationship, but he knew that something more was happening between them. It would not surprise him in the least if she had done this on his behest. If Oliver had not given her a graceless push into his activities. It really didn't matter in the end.
"Oh, Chloe. You are far too smart to let Oliver call the shots."
Oliver had some delicate dealings on the horizon and it would not be difficult to make those deals fall through. In fact, he would enjoy it. It would be enough to divide his attention between his work and Chloe. Oliver wouldn't be able to resist the competition. His ego wouldn't allow it. Oliver's acquisitions were as good as dead and his failure would push him into doing stupid things. Lex had seen it before.
Oliver fancied himself a player in the business world; and to some extent, he was correct. But Oliver could never consistently do the things necessary to truly elevate himself; and when he did attempt it, he fell into a dark place after. A place of vice. Of booze and self-loathing. All he needed was a violent heave from his old school chum, Lex Luthor. "Something I am all too willing to provide."Even if Oliver, somehow, won this little, meaningless test, he would be in no position to help Chloe. It would be too late.
Of course, there was always the chance that Oliver would choose Chloe and her knowledge over whatever business dealings he had; but he would lose face in the business world as a consequence. Lex didn't believe Oliver had the will to endure such a humiliation. And when it happened, there Lex would be. Crowing to the world. Revealing that he was behind Oliver's tumble. It would taste better than a woman. This is what he was made for. The thrill of the hunt, of conquering his foe. Lex felt his blood quicken and smiled into the room. "You have always been worthy, Chloe."
It left only Clark and his special, snowflake brand of idiocy. Lex shrugged his shoulders and flicked non-existent lint from his breast pocket. It would be no small problem to unleash some of his 33.1 subjects onto Smallville. The ones he had in mind were violent and so far gone that they no longer had the ability to find their way back from their madness. Clark would have his hands full.
He would set free psychotics with super-human strength, agility, impenetrable skin, the list was truly extensive, and all of them knowing two things: green meteor rock would stop the one responsible for their torment and that Clark Kent was the one responsible. It would weaken the one who would seek to destroy them. Lex would enjoy watching Clark fight them. He had no doubt that Clark would somehow see his way out of true harm; but once again, it would be too late for him to help Chloe. The rest of Chloe's inner circle were inconsequential. Her cousin could be killed and so could Gabe. "Easy."
Taking her hand into his once more, holding it gently, he stood and leaned over the bed. His lips next to her ear. His voice a soft, lover's caress, "I will enjoy this contest, Chloe."
Lex drew his lips across her forehead. A touch of intent. A tremor passed through her hand. He smiled down at her. Of course she would accept his challenge. He expected nothing less.
Lex Luthor left the room. His gait one of merriment and purpose. He would succeed where no other had. It was only a matter of time.
The next day saw Gabe sitting at his daughter's bedside. It was a Saturday so he didn't have to work. He thought that he had done right by her. He may not have been the most attentive father and he knew that there were times when he simply couldn't understand her; but he thought that his loving her would be enough. That the hole her mother left would eventually be closed. Gabe knew that he hadn't taken her seriously enough at times, and he regretted it.
He didn't blame himself for the crash, nor for the person she had become because that person was a good one. He just wished the things that everyone in his situation had wished and would wish for. Gabe wanted her to know and understand that he had tried his best and that he was sorry for any failings. He wanted her to open her eyes and smile and tell him it was okay. He didn't want his baby girl to die not hearing those words from him. Most of all he wanted his little girl back.
Gabe put his head in his hands and fisted his hands. The momentary pain of pulling his hair was worth it to not feel numb. The best of him was lying in a hospital bed. It was in a coma and unaware. It was alone and in darkness. That part of him wouldn't come back until she did. Idle conversation from the nurses meant that he knew she had died three times. Once in the ambulance and twice on the operating table. Gabe had no idea how many she had left. She kept that part of herself hidden from everyone and he was no exception.
His voice was broken, "God, Chloe, what more can I do?"
Without a doubt, Gabe knew that he was stretched thin.
He felt a hand on his shoulder. Looking up, he saw that it was Lois. Gabe was happy to see her. He knew that Lois loved Chloe as a sister. Truth be told, he needed his family. This was something he couldn't handle alone. Gabe needed someone else to share in his misery. He wasn't strong enough or selfless enough to do it alone.
Clark Kent stood behind her. There were nuances in Chloe's relationship with Clark that he would never understand; but he did know one thing: he was the root cause of so much of her turmoil. While he couldn't let her off the hook for her own decisions, he could place the blame where it also rested. It was the domain of children to be callous. Their parents and society tempered it and, in most cases, made them worthwhile human beings.
They cast off the base and heathen desires of youth and entered the world. But Clark Kent wore righteous and privileged indignation like a second skin. In this, he was exactly like Lex Luthor. Two people that, for some reason, inspired loyalty in others. Inspired them to do what they wouldn't normally. Sometimes for the better, many times not.
Gabe knew people. He read them well. Chloe didn't develop and adopt mannerisms and thoughts in a vacuum. He taught her to be aware because, deep down inside, Gabe thought that if he had seen Moira for who she was, then the heartaches that followed could have been prevented. That woman took a part of him when she left, but she gave up the best of them both. He didn't need to know her reasons because they didn't matter. Moira didn't talk to him. She didn't let him try to fix them and so would never have his understanding.
He was understandably less warm when Clark entered the room. Gabe knew that he visited daily, but it didn't matter. If Chloe had not held him in such regard, he would've asked Clark to leave long ago. Clark seemed to understand that the regard Gabe had once held for him had lessened considerably with time.
Lois' practically whispered when she spoke to Gabe. He had to strain to hear her. This would be one of the few circumstances that this would happen. "How is she?"
Clark knew that Chloe's healing should've kicked in by now. Something else was wrong and he didn't understand why she was in a coma now. "She should be better now."Although, that would've also caused problems. Her car was too smashed for her to walk away unscathed from it. It was a blessing and a curse that she was now in her current state.
Gabe sighed. "She's in a coma and won't wake up until her body feels ready, which could be today, tomorrow, or a year from now. She has brain function and she doesn't need a ventilator. She's just…in a coma."
He took her hand into his own and felt her warmth. Gabe closed his eye and rested his forehead where their hands clasped. He wanted to feel her, but it he was distracted by Lois and Clark.
"She's strong, Uncle Gabe. Chloe won't let this take her," Lois' voice ended on a tremor. She hated it. Chloe wasn't the only person in the room who loathed showing their weaknesses.
Lois gestured at a chair that sat against the wall under the television. Clark finally got the message and brought it over to her. She sat down and threw her arms around Gabe. He didn't move or otherwise acknowledge her; but she knew by the slight easing of the tension in his shoulders that he appreciated her.
Gabe lifted his head and looked into Lois' eyes. She saw the man who could stare down other managers and important people to get the necessary results for companies like Luthorcorp. She saw the businessman and not the affable uncle she had known growing up. He swung his gaze away from hers to Clark's and Lois let out a soft sigh of relief. She didn't know that man and didn't want to.
There was strength in him that everyone underestimated, "Do you know what she was doing?"
Clark took a deep breath and prepared to lie to his best friend's father. "No, Mr. Sullivan. She said she had an errand to run and that was it."
Gabe's jaw tightened. He lowered his little girl's hand and shook off Lois. He walked to Clark and didn't stop until he invaded the younger man's personal space.
His voice was low, dangerous, and calm. It was tempered steel, "She's my daughter, Clark. My only child. And if I find out that you're lying, I promise that no matter what I have to do, you and Oliver will regret it. This reeks of something Luthor-related. Nothing short of that would've led to this and nothing short of one of you asking her to do this would've caused this. Leave. I don't want you here today."
Gabe held his stare a moment longer, deliberately turned his back on Clark, and resumed his bedside vigil. Clark knew that Gabe was serious. It was then that he realized that everything he saw in Chloe was in her father. Everything she was had been lovingly nurtured and allowed to grow at its own pace. Some things pruned, others encouraged. The things that drove her to success, that caused her to fail were probably found somewhere in Gabe; though he had a lifetime of dealing with those things or at least pushing them aside when he had to do so. Gabe could prove just as dangerous to his secret that he thought Chloe had or that Lex did.
Clark turned away to leave, but not before he saw the stunned look on Lois' face. Her mouth was agape and she looked dazed. There was also confusion and warning in her eyes. He had no idea why this revelation should come as a surprise to either of them. To know Chloe was to know her father. And now they both understood that.
He left the room and heard Lois trail after him. Clark sighed. He had to evade her questions, keep her with Gabe and out of his way, and still somehow alleviate her curiosity. She called out to him. Clark didn't want to face her, but he didn't really have a choice. Not if he wanted to accomplish his objectives. He didn't have time for this.
Lois spat her words out at him. They were like a physical lash, indicting him for whatever role he had in Chloe being hurt. "What did he mean?"
He deliberately misinterpreted her question. "I have no idea. He's probably just stressed."
"Don't do that! Don't play dumb with me! You know something," Lois would've been yelling had they been anywhere else. Her hands gestured frantically.
"What is it that you want me to say? I don't know what she was doing or why. I have no idea what she thought would come of it."
Lois stared at him. "What does Oliver have to do with it?"
He imagined that he heard jealousy, but that was something to ponder on a different day. Clark walked away, "Ask him yourself. I have to go."
Her eyes narrowed. "Go where?"
Clark whirled around and for the first time that day, he was truly angry, "Away from here, like her father, your uncle, wanted! And it's none of your business, Lois." He turned away and quickly walked down the hall. It would, in no way, deter her, but he had bought some time.
Lois clenched her jaw and watched his retreating back. Something was going on and she had to find out. Chloe and Gabe were family and she would be damned if Chloe's intrigues and Clark's and Oliver's maneuverings would stop her from discovering the danger her cousin was in.
Clark had to speak with Oliver. The situation had spun out of control. Lex would be in a mood for war and they had to prepare. He had no idea what that meant or how to do it, but they couldn't wait. Lex's, and it could be no one else's, goons had come close to killing Chloe. It was graceless and ugly and he never did anything like that. At least, not without incredibly good cause.
He had lied to Gabe and Lois in that he knew that Chloe was going somewhere at the behest of Oliver, and that it wasn't a simple errand. Whatever they had been doing was deep and he had to know what it was.