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  • Convenience

    Author: Phoenixnz
    Title: Convenience
    Genre: Romance, drama, AU
    Rating: PG13 (at most)
    Warning: Schmoop, plus some spoilers for up to season 7
    Pairing: Chloe/Lex

    Summary: What if Lex fell for Chloe the first time they met, stayed friends with both Clark and Chloe and actually became a good guy. And what if, to help Chloe with her finances, he proposes a marriage of convenience?

    A/N: There was no Lexana and Lex knows Clark's secret.

    One



    “It’s unbelievable, and totally unfair.” Chloe was in full rant mode and all Lex could do was sit back and watch the fireworks. It was no good even trying to talk some sense into her when she was like this. “I mean,” she continued, “what kind of idiot denies financial aid when I so clearly need it. What am I going to do – I need my degree if I’m ever going to be a full-fledged journalist – a respected one at that.”

    She took a breath and picked up a handful of the Moroccan Chicken dish she was sampling. Why she had chosen a Moroccan restaurant this time around, Lex couldn’t fathom. But Chloe was always up for something new. It was one of the things he admired most about her.

    Before she could get her second wind and start on another rant, Lex leaned forward.

    “Chloe, it’s not the end of the world. I can help with your tuition, you know that.”

    Chloe’s emerald eyes widened as she looked at him, mouth half open in the middle of chewing. For a moment, Lex thought she was going to start ranting at him about how he threw his money away left, right and centre, and that she wasn’t some kind of charity case and didn’t want to owe him anything, but he already had his argument in that little debate. He owed his life to the feisty blonde sitting across from him. If it hadn’t been for her friendship, or Clark’s, for that matter, he wouldn’t have survived his father.

    Thanks to his two closest friends, Lionel had been rotting in a state prison for more than three years now, and Lex was grateful for that. Okay, so some people would say that paying a year’s tuition was more than that gratitude was worth, but not from where he sat.

    “Lex, while I appreciate the sentiment,” Chloe said finally, calmly, “I really can’t accept it.”

    “Why not?”

    “Because I need to do this on my own – my own terms.”

    “It would still be on your own terms. I mean, if it makes you feel any better, we can call it an interest-free loan and you can pay me back when you can manage it.”

    Chloe continued to stare at him, her food forgotten.

    “Lex, you do know how much journalists get paid, don’t you? Even at the Daily Planet.”

    He shrugged. “I could always buy the newspaper and raise the salaries,” he offered.

    “Don’t joke about these things.”

    Lex picked up his drink and sipped from it. “Who’s joking?”

    “Leeex,” she wailed plaintively.

    “All right, fine,” he sighed. “I won’t buy the Daily Planet. Yet.”

    Chloe gave an exasperated sigh. She’d often told him in the past that no one was more infuriating than he was. He liked to think of it as keeping her on her toes. He grinned, unrepentantly.

    Lex had trouble remembering, sometimes, how things had changed. Sure, when they’d first met, he and Chloe had been wary of each other. And he’d been more focused on his friendship with Clark. Back when Clark was a freshman at Smallville High, Lex had just been exiled to the town from Metropolis. After years of partying hard, and nearly getting his name splashed all over the tabloids, Lionel had decided it was the last straw and had sent Lex to take over management of what Lex had loosely termed ‘the crap factory’.

    But one afternoon, he’d been driving too fast and hadn’t been able to stop in time to prevent catastrophe. His car had hit a bale of barbed wire and he’d smashed into the railing of a bridge. At the same time, he’d hit Clark Kent, although, of course, Clark had denied it.

    That had been the beginning of their friendship. And since then, Lex had adopted Smallville as home, much to Lionel’s disgust.

    It was through that friendship that his friendship with Chloe Sullivan, the feisty young blonde reporter with the pixie haircut, began.

    Lex smiled as he remembered the first time Chloe had attempted to interview him. It had been almost funny how quickly she had gone for the jugular. She’d been asking about a recent incident at Level Three at the plant. Something Lex had not been aware of.

    “So, Mr Luthor, are there any more secret projects going on at Level Three of the Smallville plant?”

    “Please, call me Lex,” he’d insisted, hating the formality, especially when it was Clark working the camera Chloe was using.

    “Okay, Lex,” she’d said, her green eyes flashing evenly. And he just knew he was in trouble. “You going to answer my question?”

    Yep, he thought. He had been in trouble all right. He hadn’t been able to get the blonde out of his head since.

    But she had been only fifteen, and there was no way he was going to do anything about it then. So he’d settled for friendship. Dating other women – even getting married a couple of times to, as it turned out, women who only wanted him for his money. Both homicidal. Lex had breathed a sigh of relief when he’d come out of it almost unscathed.

    Lex looked up when Chloe kicked his ankle.

    “Wake up sleepyhead,” she said, frowning at him. “You were day-dreaming.”

    Lex started to protest but she just grinned. She picked up a piece of the spicy chicken from her plate and offered it to him. He shook his head. Call him obsessive-compulsive, but he had a thing about hygiene.

    “Oh come on, Lex, live dangerously. It’s not like you can get sick.”

    “Chloe!”

    “Wuss,” she snorted.

    Oh, if only they weren’t in a public restaurant where one of the patrons was likely to have a camera. But the press knew all about his friendship with the young reporter and they had little interest in something they saw as exceedingly dull.

    “So, anyway, we were talking about your financial woes,” Lex prompted.

    Chloe sighed.

    “Look, Lex, I appreciate the thought that you want to help out, in that grand gesture sort of way that you’re famous for, or maybe I should say infamous?” She shook her head. “Anyway, I’d rather not borrow money from you. Thanks all the same.”

    “Then what are you going to do? I mean, your dad’s salary isn’t going to be enough to pay for your tuition. And if you can’t get financial aid ...”

    “Look, don’t think I’m not grateful for everything you’ve done for us Lex. I mean, if you hadn’t talked to Oliver Queen, my dad wouldn’t have his job in Star City.”

    Oliver Queen. Former Excelsior Academy alumni. For years they had hated each other. Oliver had bullied him in school, all because he’d appeared to be weak. But then they’d had to work together on a lucrative business deal and Oliver had come out of it not only richer, but also with a new respect for Lex. He’d finally apologised for everything that had happened between them at boarding school.

    When Lionel had blacklisted Gabe Sullivan, Lex had felt guilty. So he’d asked Oliver for a favour. And Gabe Sullivan had moved to Star City to manage one of Queen Industries’ smaller subsidiaries. It was perfect, even if the salary wasn’t quite enough for Gabe to have saved money for Chloe’s education.

    Lex did feel sympathy for Chloe’s situation. It was her final year of college but Met U had made some cutbacks due to the recession, and those students who had received financial aid in previous years were being turned down this year. Lex really wanted to help his friend, but he knew her pride was getting in the way of accepting it.

    But Lex thought he had a solution.

    “You know, Chloe, there is a way we could do this. I mean, a way I could actually pay for your education without you worrying about how to pay it back. And all you’d have to do is sign a little contract.”

    Chloe looked intrigued in spite of herself. But experience had taught her to proceed with caution in these instances.

    “What kind of scam are you planning? I mean, you’re not thinking of, I don’t know, buying the university or something, are you?”

    Lex scoffed. “Please! Even I couldn’t afford to buy Met U. No, Chloe, I’m talking about something completely different. What if there was a way for you to have access to my money, free and clear. Or anything you want.”

    Chloe snorted with laughter. “Right. I suppose that means I’d have to marry you or something.”

    “Not ‘or something’ Chloe. That’s exactly what I mean.”

  • #2
    Well...I have to say this sounds really interesting Leanne. I like the banter between Chloe and Lex. Now I can't wait for the next installment.

    And I get to be first poster. I just can't get enough of that.

    Comment


    • #3
      Oh, the possibilites of Cluthoropolis. Why oh why did TPTB not go there if they knew Chlark/Chlois wasn't on the cards? I'd have taken Chlex, and I know a lot of others would have, too.

      Lovely story, Leanne. So all Lex really needed was the love of a good woman. Unfortunately, he got saddled with Desiree, Helen and Lana. If only I could turn back time...

      I wish I knew some SAS peeps who could give you a Kelly Souders makeover so we could make a switch and drop you in the SV writer's room. You come up with the most interesting stories which, while shippy, have a strong plot component to them. Love your writing, babes.

      Well done on this. I really hope there's more to come!

      Comment


      • #4
        A marriage of convenience that turns into something else is a classic and one that I enjoy reading. It reminds me of a WIP fic by Kimbo- Embrassez la Mariée- back in our little Chlex heaven on the net.

        I'm looking forward to seeing what Chloe will say and what arguments Lex will use to convince her to agree.

        Comment


        • #5
          Originally posted by gem65
          Well...I have to say this sounds really interesting Leanne. I like the banter between Chloe and Lex. Now I can't wait for the next installment.

          And I get to be first poster. I just can't get enough of that.
          I know how you love being first.
          This story was actually going to be a romance novel, sort of, for me, but I admit I like the idea of making it a Chlex romance instead. The two characters have such great chemistry.

          Comment


          • #6
            Originally posted by BabyDee
            Oh, the possibilites of Cluthoropolis. Why oh why did TPTB not go there if they knew Chlark/Chlois wasn't on the cards? I'd have taken Chlex, and I know a lot of others would have, too.

            Lovely story, Leanne. So all Lex really needed was the love of a good woman. Unfortunately, he got saddled with Desiree, Helen and Lana. If only I could turn back time...

            I wish I knew some SAS peeps who could give you a Kelly Souders makeover so we could make a switch and drop you in the SV writer's room. You come up with the most interesting stories which, while shippy, have a strong plot component to them. Love your writing, babes.

            Well done on this. I really hope there's more to come!
            Oh I plan this to be a multi-parter. But pay attention to the warning. It is going to be schmoopy (haha) I just wanted to put Lex in a situation he's never been in - where he falls head over heels for someone unexpected. Hence the AU.

            I keep hinting that I would love a job writing Smallville, but I don't think they're listening

            Comment


            • #7
              Originally posted by lexie2
              A marriage of convenience that turns into something else is a classic and one that I enjoy reading. It reminds me of a WIP fic by Kimbo- Embrassez la Mariée- back in our little Chlex heaven on the net.

              I'm looking forward to seeing what Chloe will say and what arguments Lex will use to convince her to agree.
              Sigh, I have a confession - I grew up reading sappy romance novels - they were the only ones my mother would read.

              I hope to do this classic theme justice with two fantastic characters.

              Comment


              • #8
                Will work on this soon. Have a couple of other stories I need to update first.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Chapter Two

                  Chloe choked, spitting out some of the soda she’d just been sipping. Lex calmly took a napkin and wiped it up.

                  “Married?” Chloe spluttered. “Are you completely insane?”

                  Chloe saw his face. He gave an odd sort of grimace and she just knew he was remembering the time his father had drugged him to make him think he was crazy and had him locked up in Belle Reve. She immediately reached over and put a hand on his.

                  “Oh, Lex, no, I didn’t mean it like that. I just ... it sounds so crazy.”

                  “What’s crazy about it?” he said. “Look, put it this way, we’ll be doing each other a favour.”

                  “A favour,” she said, crinkling her nose sceptically.

                  “Yeah. You get a year’s college out of it and I get to avoid the latest homicidal maniac looking to become the next Mrs Luthor.”

                  “Well, when you put it that way ... no, absolutely no freaking way!”

                  “It’s just an idea, Chloe. I just thought I’d put it out there.”

                  He tried to make it sound as casual as possible, but inside his heart was breaking at her reaction. God, Chloe, can’t you see how I feel?

                  “Besides, it’s not like you’ve got so many other options,” he said.

                  “I can get another job,” she said.

                  “On top of your internship at the Planet? You’re already working yourself to the bone there,” Lex pointed out.

                  “Well, I want to make my mark there. And what with Lois getting the job there too.”

                  Now it was Lex’s turn to choke on his water.

                  “Wait, Lois? Your cousin? I thought she was at the Inquisitor.”

                  “Yeah, well some eager beaver editor saw her hanging around at the Planet and told her to go out and get him a front page story and then he’d offer her a job.”

                  Lex groaned. “God help us all.”

                  “She’s not that bad. It just ... I don’t know, it kind of irks that she can just walk in the door, point her chest some guy’s way and get a job – without a degree I might add.”

                  Lex had always had the feeling that while Chloe loved her cousin dearly, there were moments when she was jealous of her. Lois was taller and as far as Chloe was concerned, prettier. But Chloe didn’t see how beautiful she was. Lex had tried convincing her of that so many times. Not only that, she was smart, talented – he could make a long list, but then she’d accuse him of bias because he’d never really taken to Lois.

                  They went their separate ways after dinner, making plans to meet up again the same time the next week. Lex looked forward to these evenings with Chloe. His life got so complicated at times and the hours spent with one of his best friends reminded him of happier times, when life wasn’t so stressful. It wasn’t easy being the CEO of a major corporation.

                  He didn’t sleep much that night, worrying over what he’d said to Chloe. Had he given himself away, he thought. It was obvious she didn’t feel the same way. And was he crazy? Hanging on to feelings he’d had for a girl he’d known since she was fifteen?

                  Lex sat at his desk the next morning staring into space. He’d moved to Metropolis shortly after Clark and Chloe had graduated. Since they were both going to the university there, he wanted to be within regular contact with his friends. Not that it made much difference to Clark, of course, who could run between Metropolis and Smallville in about a minute – if he was running slowly.

                  Clark would often drop in, especially if he had an assignment Lex could help him with. The other stuff – the superhero stuff, he often asked Chloe to help him with. Well, she was an expert hacker. And Lex worried about that sometimes. What if she got caught breaking into some system she wasn’t supposed to, like the National Power Grid or something. She could really get in trouble with the Department of Domestic Security. And god knew, they’d already had enough problems with Kara getting caught.

                  Thinking of Clark’s blonde cousin from Krypton had Lex then thinking about his best friend. It hadn’t been the easiest year for him. First, last year, Lana had confronted Clark about what she knew about his abilities, and had broken up with him, again, because he wouldn’t tell her the truth. She’d gone back to France to ‘find herself’, like she had the summer of their senior year at high school. Clark had been miserable. As if losing his father wasn’t enough.

                  Lex had known the truth about Clark since that senior year. There hadn’t been any kind of confrontation, no arguments, just a quiet confession. Just as quietly, Lex had questioned Clark.

                  “We need to talk Lex,” Clark said, walking into the study at the mansion where Lex had been finishing up some business transactions.

                  “About what?” Lex said, almost defensively. The past few months had been tense ones between them, full of accusations and bitterness and he was tired of it.

                  “Look,” Clark said, shifting his feet uncomfortably. “I know things haven’t been great between us lately, and part of that’s my fault.”

                  Lex raised an eyebrow at him. Clark was apologising? But he let him continue.

                  “I know you know my secret. At least part of it. The thing is, I couldn’t tell you.” He raised his hands before Lex could say anything. “I know. It’s just ... well, people who know my secret tend to get hurt.”

                  “What do you mean?” Lex asked, heart pounding, because this was something he’d wanted to know from the day Clark had breathed life back into him on that riverbank. And he was afraid that if he said the wrong thing, or used the wrong tone, Clark would shut up and say nothing and they would be back to worse than square one.

                  “Remember the FBI raiding our house? And Pete getting beaten up? That was because of me. Because he knew my secret.”

                  “My god, Clark.”

                  “I just want to protect the people I care about.”

                  “Clark, I get that. I do. But you can’t protect everyone. And surely it’s my decision to make.”

                  “I just don’t want you getting hurt.”

                  “Clark, I’d rather take my chances.”

                  “You don’t know what you’d be getting into,” Clark insisted.

                  “I’d still rather be informed. You know they say that forewarned is forearmed.”

                  Clark nodded. He took a deep breath.“I’m not from around here,” he said quietly. “I’m an alien. From a planet called Krypton.”

                  Lex listened as Clark told the entire story. About his planet exploding, his parents sending him to Earth, being found by the Kents, the meteor shower and how since he’d learned about the meteor rocks, he’d been doing everything he could to stop those infected by the radiation and protect his friends.

                  Lex had immediately stopped him there, sensing that Clark blamed himself for the irradiated rock becoming attached to his ship. There was no way Clark could have caused the meteor shower, or for his parents to have possibly predicted what would happen to humans once they came into contact with it.

                  Since then, Lex had done everything in his power to protect his friend’s secret. The fact that he was trusted made an enormous difference in his life. He considered his business decisions more carefully, ensuring that everything was done to a high ethical and moral standard.

                  Speak of the devil, Lex thought with a little grin as Clark ambled into the room.

                  “Clark,” he smiled. “I was just thinking about you.”

                  “Yeah?” Clark dropped down into the leather armchair in front of the desk. Lex stood up and went to sit opposite his friend.

                  “What’s up?” he asked.

                  Clark shrugged. “Nothing. Just, you know ...”

                  “Lana,” Lex guessed.

                  “Yeah.”

                  Lana had come back from France and confronted Clark with what she knew. She’d obviously done her homework. And faced with the facts in black and white, Clark had been forced to tell her everything. Lex was angry at the girl for that. How dare she make it a condition of their relationship? Okay, so he knew he was being slightly hypocritical, when he’d always wanted to know the truth about Clark. But it had never been a condition – he had never said, ‘tell me your secret and I’ll be your friend’. Maybe in the beginning, he had cultivated the friendship because he wanted to know about Clark’s abilities. But that was before he’d got to know the good hearted Clark Kent.

                  “So what happened this time?”

                  “She somehow got my abilities. Well, partly.”

                  “Oh.”

                  “And it didn’t take too well. I mean, at first it was great. You know, because we could ...”

                  “You mean, you weren’t before?”

                  “The only time we did was when I didn’t have my powers.”

                  Lex knew Clark was still insecure about his power. As if he thought he could hurt Lana if he slept with her while he had those powers. Given how skinny Lana was, Lex could see the girl breaking easily.

                  “Then what happened?”

                  “Well, then she got it into her head that we were like a super-couple and she went looking for meteor freaks. She nearly killed one of them, Lex.”

                  “Ouch!”

                  “Yeah. Anyway, I got the powers away from her. But she’s pretty mad at me.”

                  “I’m not surprised.”

                  “It’s just ... the human body’s not meant to have those powers, Lex. They can’t handle it. I found that out with Eric Summers. And then my Dad, and Jeremiah.”

                  “Don’t keep blaming yourself for the deal your Dad made with Jor-El. He said it himself. He’d go back and do it all again.”

                  “He’s dead because of me.”

                  “No, Clark. You have to stop thinking that right now. Your father’s heart was weak, that’s all.”

                  “A direct result of the deal he made with Jor-El.”

                  “A decision he made on his own.”

                  Lex sighed. They’d had this argument before, and he knew Clark would still keep blaming himself for Jonathan Kent’s death.

                  Clark returned the sigh. “You’re right. I’m sorry. So, how goes it with you? You look tired.”

                  “I didn’t sleep much. I had dinner with Chloe last night. Moroccan Chicken.” He made a little grimace. Lex was as adventurous as the next person, but he’d rather avoid indigestion.

                  “Her and her ‘experiments’,” Clark snorted.

                  “She likes to call it living dangerously,” Lex said fondly.

                  Clark looked his friend over. He knew how Lex felt about Chloe. He’d seen the looks Lex had given his friend.

                  “So?”

                  “I asked her to marry me,” Lex confessed.

                  “You did? Lex, that’s awesome!”

                  “She said no.”

                  “Is she crazy?”

                  “No, but evidently, she thinks I am.”

                  “What did you say to her?”

                  “I pretty much suggested a marriage of convenience.”

                  Clark was shaking his head and sighing.

                  “God, and I thought my love life was bad. You’re hopeless, Lex. Why don’t you just tell her the truth?”

                  “Why? So she can run screaming?”

                  “Chloe wouldn’t do that, Lex. I know she feels the same way about you.”

                  “No, she doesn’t.”

                  “Fine, Lex. Whatever you say!” Clark sighed again.

                  “So, how goes things on the Lois front.”

                  “She’s still driving me crazy. If she wasn’t Chloe’s cousin I’d ...”

                  “Ah, come on, she can’t be that bad.”

                  “You don’t even like her,” Clark pointed out.

                  “But I’m not you.”

                  Clark grinned at him. “Noo,” he said thoughtfully. “But just think, if you and Chloe got married, she’d be like your in-law.”

                  Lex groaned. “Oh god, don’t remind me.”

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    I loved this chapter. It's so much fun to read about Lex being a good guy. And who knows? Maybe if Lex had learned Clarks secret, he might not had gone down that dark path. I guess we'll never know. *sigh*

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Originally posted by gem65
                      I loved this chapter. It's so much fun to read about Lex being a good guy. And who knows? Maybe if Lex had learned Clarks secret, he might not had gone down that dark path. I guess we'll never know. *sigh*
                      You're right about that. I do love a good guy Lex.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Lovely update. I'm curious to see what Lex'll plan to make Chloe change her mind or to make her fall in love with him if she isn't already- maybe Clark knows something we don't, right?

                        I also believe things might have been different between Lex and Clark if the boy had been open with the billionaire and trusted him. I don't know if this would have saved him but I'm sure he'd have made different decisions.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          *sighs* So beautiful! There are so many areas I'd love to quote, but it's three in the morning and I need to get me some shut eye.

                          I'll be back with a fat-ass review tomorrow. I shall go to bed with a smile on my face!

                          Awesome story, Leanne!

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Chapter Three

                            Lex wasn’t the only insomniac that night. Chloe kept thinking about the things Lex had said. Part of her had wanted to say yes immediately, but the other part of her felt that Lex had only been doing it as a favour. It wasn’t that he really wanted to be married. Not to her, anyway.

                            She’d always had secret fantasies about him. She’d slowly begun to realise that her crush on Clark was just a crush when the bald billionaire had begun entering her thoughts. There had been that one fantasy, when she was sixteen, of Lex coming in to the Torch office, pushing her up against the Wall of Weird and ... No, she so wasn’t going there.

                            She tossed and turned in her bed in the tiny apartment above the Talon. She knew Lex didn’t really care about the coffee shop. He’d done it for Lana. And for Clark. And the apartment – that was pretty much a token thing. The rent was minimal.

                            But Chloe knew it couldn’t last forever. If she wasn’t going to continue her studies, she would need to get a full-time job. Which meant not only sacrificing her dream of being a reporter, but also giving up the apartment. But Lex's idea played on her mind. It would be a good solution. Damn it, Lex, she thought. Why did you have to go and complicate things with that stupid proposal?

                            After a sleepless night, Chloe was nowhere near bright-eyed and bushy-tailed for her lectures. These were the last ones before her finals and she knew she needed to pay attention. After all, they were giving important details about the exams. But she found her eyes drooping in her American History class.

                            “Are we boring you, Miss Sullivan?”

                            A titter was heard around the class and Chloe snapped awake. She sat up and tried to listen to the lecture, conscious of the many pairs of eyes looking at her in amusement. Coffee, she thought. She needed a double espresso.

                            Filing out after class, she headed immediately for the cafe and ordered the coffee. But when she finally managed to get the beverage and sit at a table, she found herself staring into space.

                            “Penny for your thoughts?”

                            For the second time that day, Chloe had to snap herself out of a daze. She looked up at Clark.

                            “What?”

                            “I said penny for your thoughts. Although given the rate of inflation, not to mention what you’re thinking, I would say the rate probably went up to about five million bucks, or thereabouts.”

                            “Huh?” Chloe was puzzled. God, she really must be tired if Clark wasn’t making any sense.

                            “You looked like you were miles away. You haven’t even drunk your coffee.”

                            “Oh!” Chloe took a sip and winced. It was still hot. “Damn it!”

                            “Boy, you’ve got it bad, haven’t you!”

                            “I just didn’t sleep last night, that’s all.”

                            “Case in point.”

                            “What are you talking about?” She studied him. He had a smile on his face like he knew something she didn’t. “Clark ...”

                            “Come on, Chloe. Think I don’t know?”

                            “You’ve been talking to Lex.”

                            “Yup.”

                            Chloe whimpered and lay her head on her arms. “My life is over!”

                            “Why? Because Lex proposed?”

                            “I can’t marry him.”

                            “Why not?”

                            “Because I’m inlovewithhim.” Her voice was muffled.

                            “Sorry, I didn’t get that last part. You what?”

                            She lifted her head wearily and looked at him.

                            “I’m in love with him. I have been since I was sixteen.”

                            “And this is why you turned him down?”

                            “Come on, Clark. I can’t. I mean, for one thing, what would people say? That I’m a gold-digger?”

                            “Number one, you have never cared what people thought. Why start now?”

                            “And number two?”

                            “You’re not a gold-digger.”

                            “Tell that to the gossip columnists. God, don’t you see how stupid this is.”

                            “So, you’d rather sacrifice your own future, just because you suddenly start worrying about what other people think of you. Surely it’s more important what you and Lex think.”

                            “He doesn’t love me. To him, it’s just a business arrangement.” Clark already knew that, but Chloe needed to talk it out, so he said nothing.

                            “Is that really what he said?”

                            “He said, and I quote: ‘We’ll be doing each other a favour’.”

                            Clark looked at his friend thinking he was so going to kill Lex. The man had never learned to really say what was on his mind. He’d always danced around the truth. Clark supposed it was the lessons he’d learned from his father. To never say what he really meant. His best friend was an idiot!

                            But right now, he had another best friend who needed to vent.

                            “Okay, so maybe it’s not such a good idea. But what are you going to do? For your tuition, I mean.”

                            “Maybe I should check out the want ads. And, I don’t know, try and get a bank loan or something.”

                            But after a week of talking to every bank loans officer who would give her an appointment, Chloe realised she had to admit defeat on that point. They pointed out things she already knew. She had no collateral. She was not a good risk. Even with her father to back her up, and her job at the Daily Planet, it still wasn’t enough.

                            As for the job, every one she applied for was already filled. And that was odd because, since she worked in the newspaper, she saw the ads before they went to press. It just didn’t make sense. Finals week came and went and Chloe became even more stressed. She worried that she hadn’t studied enough, that she had flunked out of college. She worried about everything, forgetting even to meet Lex for dinner. He’d called her asking if everything was okay. It wasn’t like her to miss a ‘date’, although Lex never used that term when it came to their regular meeting.

                            Things just seemed to be going from bad to worse. Even a job she thought she would be a shoo-in for fizzled out to nothing. A classmate had recommended it. She’d had an interview and everything. But then the manager had called her and said that as much as he would like to have hired her, they’d had to cut back on staff due to the recession and he just couldn’t help.

                            Worse was yet to come. Chloe reported to work as usual at the Daily Planet only to find a message waiting for her from her supervising editor, asking her to come to his office.

                            She knocked on the door. She didn’t have much to do with Perry White, despite the fact that he supervised some of the interns. She remembered him, though, from her junior year at Smallville High. When he’d still been working for X-Styles, the crappy tv show about the sorts of things that used to be the mainstay of her Smallville Torch career. She’d tried to help him then, as he’d once been the kind of journalist she wanted to be.

                            Perry didn’t smile at her when she came in.

                            “You wanted to see me?”

                            “Sit down, Sullivan.” Perry leaned forward, his hands on the desk. “Look, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but ....”

                            Chloe sighed. And she thought she was over the worst. Did this mean she was fired?

                            “So that’s it? No second chance?”

                            “What?”

                            “Three years, Perry. Three years I’ve worked my ass off for this paper and they don’t even have the grace to give me a pink slip? I mean, I know it’s not really pink, but you know what I mean. How can they just do this.”

                            “Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold up there, Sullivan,” Perry said, lifting his hands in a gesture of surrender. “You’re not being fired.”

                            “I’m not?”

                            “We just have to cut down your hours, that’s all. We know how hard you work, but that’s part of the problem. It’s interfering with your studies, and you know how important we feel your studies are.”

                            “But Perry, I really need this job. I’m not even sure I can continue my studies without it.”

                            “Sugar, I hear ya, but the recession has hit everybody hard. And I can’t give you more. I’m sorry.”

                            Sighing, Chloe nodded. “I understand.”

                            She didn’t know how she got through work that day. But she somehow made it home to her apartment to find Lois crying into a tub of Rocky Road. Inwardly, she moaned. Her life was already down the toilet and here was her cousin, obviously with problems of her own.

                            “Hey Lo. What’s up?”

                            “Clark Kent, that’s what’s up.”

                            “Lois ... “

                            “The guy’s a freak. I mean, I just don’t get it. For three years now we’ve been like this, I don’t know, like hot fudge and halibut, you know? Oil and water, sugar and salt, and oh, you know, and suddenly it’s like we’re ...”

                            “Wild Cherry and Vanilla ice-cream?” Chloe suggested, raising her eyebrows questioningly. Since when had Lois started developing a crush on her best friend?

                            “I mean, I was going out with Oliver last year and that was great, you know? I mean, Oliver Queen. Hello? And then I broke up with Oliver and Clark’s been, you know, practically living with Lana and ... god, why am I obsessing over this?”

                            Chloe sank wearily to the sofa and curled up next to her cousin.

                            “What brought this on, Lo?”

                            “Clark was here. Just before you got home. He and I were talking, you know, about Oliver.”

                            “Wait, Oliver was in town?”

                            “Oh yeah. And we broke up for good this time. I mean, I had dinner with him and everything and I kissed him, but it was so weird, it was like zip, zilch, nothing. No chemistry. No fireworks. Nothing like when I kissed Green Arrow. And I don’t know what happened. Clark was hugging me and we just looked at each other and there was this moment, you know? Like we just got closer together and our lips met and it was like ... magic.” She said this last in a whisper. Chloe knew how she felt.

                            She’d kissed Lex like that once too. Not that he would have remembered. He was under the influence of yet another of Smallville’s meteor freaks at the time. And he’d been compelled to kiss her. The kiss had been amazing. Sweet, soft – nothing like the kisses of passion she’d read in one of those silly romances that could be bought at the supermarket. But nice. No, more than nice. It had been magic. There had been a connection between them. That had been the moment Chloe had known she would love him forever.

                            Getting up, she grabbed a spoon and began digging in to the ice cream with her cousin. She didn’t tell Lois what was really bothering her, just letting her cousin think she was comfort eating in sympathy. If Lois only knew, she thought.

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                            • #15
                              I'm really enjoying this story. But then again, I enjoy all your stories. I think that Lex and Chloe do make an fascinating couple. It's definitely going to be interesting to see how their relationship progresses. Another great job my friend.

                              Getting up, she grabbed a spoon and began digging in to the ice cream with her cousin. She didn’t tell Lois what was really bothering her, just letting her cousin think she was comfort eating in sympathy. If Lois only knew, she thought.

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