Chlex Fanfic: Orchestrato, Chapter 6
And now, for some more Chlex! In which we finally start moving towards the business end of things. ;)
After this chapter I’ll probably have to take a break while I write my Big Bang fics, but as soon as I get a spare moment, I’ll be back. Promise!
Enjoy. Awesome banner by the amazing ctbn60. Thanks, Carol! :)
Title: Orchestrato
Author: BabyDee
Pairing: Chlex
Rating: R for now, NC-17 later
Warnings: None
Timeline: Safehouse Summer of Love, End of Season 3/Beginning of 4
Disclaimer: All characters belong to the CW & DC comics.
Summary: Lex inexplicably bonds with Chloe whilst keeping her survival a secret from the world
Feedback: …makes me squee. :)
Read previous chapter here.
Read story from the beginning here.
Chapter 6
She was playing with fire.
Chloe tried to mentally caution herself as she showered the following afternoon. Yesterday she and Lex had indulged in some very raunchy word play which had started innocently enough, but then escalated until they were all but having e-sex via iPhone. And she rather than resist or be coy, she’d actually encouraged and egged him on.
She wondered what he really thought of her; probably that at seventeen, she was too young to play grown-up games. She also wondered what she really wanted from him. Maybe it was a result of having been cooped up on her own for months on end with no-one else but him for company; maybe it was the fact that they had the most interesting conversations ever; maybe it was just that from the moment she’d first met him, she’d been intrigued by all that panther-like grace and simmering sex appeal, and she was itching to explore it further.
Chloe sighed, and accepted that it was probably a combination of all three. She was attracted to Lex; he turned her on like no-one else ever had. When he’d hugged her yesterday, he’d pulled away before she could ascertain whether or not she also had the same effect on him. But from the conversations they had, and the mere fact that he’d pulled away from her so abruptly, she’d be willing to bet that yes; she did turn him on.
Even so…they came from different worlds, she and Lex, and she had no business even considering the possibility of anything happening between them, especially not with his father’s court case pending. Any change in the status quo before the trial could only hurt their cause. They both needed to remain focused on ensuring that Lionel Luthor got judgement for his crimes. And after the trial was over…
She made a wry face as she rinsed her hair. Somehow she didn’t see Lex inviting her over to the Mansion for dinner and cocktails.
She sighed, shut the water off and stepped out of the shower. Just as she reached for a towel, she heard a dull thunk behind her and swung around.
Lex was standing in her room.
“Lex!” she exclaimed, and hastily wrapped the towel around herself. “What are you doing here?” She glanced around and her eyes widened as she realised that the door was on the other side of the room. “Wait a minute; how did you get in here?”
He heaved a sigh of relief and headed towards her. “Thank God you’re safe,” he breathed, wrapping his arms around her. She managed to maintain some control over her reasoning faculties and step away from him, tucking the towel securely under her arms whilst she made what she hoped was a disapproving face.
“I know I always say that this is ‘technically’ your place, Lex, but on this occasion I think you’ve taken it a little too literally-”
“Grab your hard drive,” he said urgently. “And your iPhone, and…whatever else is absolutely essential to you.”
Chloe frowned, and for the first time noticed just how agitated and tense he was.
“What is it?” she whispered, sounding fearful. “Lex, what’s wrong?”
He walked briskly across the room and secured the door, effectively locking them in. When he turned back to face her, his stormy eyes were grim.
The safehouse has been compromised,” he replied quietly. “They’re coming for you, Chloe. We need to leave now.”
***
Chloe paled. “Oh, my God…”
“Your things,” he repeated. “Grab them. Quickly.”
“Of-of course,” she said, and grabbed her hard drive and iPhone off the dresser. She headed for the door to her room and started to open it, but Lex slammed his hand against it before she could get very far.
“My laptop…it’s in the den,” she explained, but Lex shook his head.
“No time. Is it backed up to the hard drive?”
She nodded. “Yes.”
“And is it self-locking and password-protected?”
“Of course, but-”
“Then you don’t need it.” Quickly he took her arm and steered her towards her wardrobe, which she realised was where he’d entered from. Beyond her bedroom door, she could hear the sickening sound of twisted steel.
Suddenly she had a chilling thought.
“Is my Dad okay?” she asked as he pushed her in.
“He’s fine. He’s been moved already, but they don’t seem to be after him.”
“What happened, Lex?” she asked as he entered behind her and closed the wardrobe door. She heard him feeling his way across the back wall, and heard the light beep of electronic buttons. “How did they find me?”
The back wall of the wardrobe slid open, and Lex quickly ushered her into a small, dimly-lit pod-like enclosure. He squeezed himself in behind her and pressed a button, and the door slid shut and sealed behind them.
“How did they find me?” she repeated urgently.
“Someone tipped them off,” he replied curtly.
“Who?” she asked. “Who knows I’m alive?”
Lex turned her to face him and stared down at her, his eyes dark in the muted light.
“Clark.”
***
“Clark?” she echoed, her eyes lighting up. “He’s alive?”
“We’ll talk about this after I’ve gotten you out of here,” he said gruffly. “Hold on to me.”
She did as he asked, lifting her arms and looping them around his neck. He tapped a few buttons on a panel in the pod, and an engine instantly purred to life.
“What are you doing? Where are we going-?”
“Just hold on to me,” he repeated harshly. “Hold tight, and hold still.”
She tightened her hold on him, blushing as the knot in her towel unravelled and it began to slip. She reached down with one hand to pull it back up, but the pod jerked and slid into a horizontal position, then suddenly shot off through a tunnel at lightning speed. Chloe shrieked and clung to him like a limpet, all embarrassment forgotten.
She had no idea how long or how far underground they travelled, only that it felt as fast as a rocket. The pod eventually shuddered to a stop, and Lex activated the door mechanism. As soon as it swung open, he climbed off of her and stepped out, his gaze briefly flickering southward. Quickly she grabbed her towel and rearranged it around herself.
“Where are we?” she asked, sitting up and looking around a stark-looking hallway.
Lex held out a hand to help her up. “The Mansion.”
Her eyes widened. “I’ve been in Smallville all this time?” she exclaimed.
“You needed to be close, and Smallville was so obvious a choice that it was the last place they’d look for you.” He walked towards a door, and she quickly followed him.
“But what about here?” she asked as he opened the door and ushered her into the adjoining room. “What if they find me here? You’ve got cameras all over this place, it’s far too dangerous-”
“There are no cameras in this part of the building,” he assured her. “And they’ve already been here looking for you once, so they won’t do it again.”
“But that tunnel we just took, they can follow us through,” she argued.
“They can’t; it was designed to collapse behind us,” he assured her. “All they’ll find if they hammer through the back of your wardrobe is rubble. It’ll take them weeks to dig through, by which time the trial will have come and gone.”
“Oh, okay. Speaking of my wardrobe…” she shivered and clutched the towel tighter to herself. “I kind of left in a hurry, and now I have nothing to wear, not even…” she blushed. “…underthings.”
Lex’s eyes twinkled. “Use your iPhone to order some new clothes, but have them delivered to this address,” he said with a smile, and wrote it down. “It’s an old warehouse of ours. I’ll pick them up for you and bring them home.”
“So I have to stay here until the trial?” she asked timidly.
“I can’t move you again without you being seen, Chloe,” he pointed out gently.
“But surely someone will see me here,” she babbled. “Someone on the staff is bound to be loyal to your dad, and-”
“Chloe - stop panicking,” he said, rubbing her shoulders gently. “Just take a deep breath…”
She did as he asked, taking deep breaths and gazing into his silver-grey eyes as the panic slowly receded.
“This part of the house fully self-contained, and off-limits to everyone,” he explained. “You’ve got your own kitchen, bathroom…everything. I can’t be here all the time as that will arouse suspicion, but I’ll visit you as often as I can. You’ll be fine here, Chloe. Trust me.”
She nodded and tightened her towel again, which didn’t go unnoticed by Lex.
“Wait here,” he instructed, and headed out the door. When he returned about five minutes later, he was holding a black monogrammed robe, a white Ralph Lauren sleeveless t-shirt and some grey silk boxer shorts by the same designer, which he handed to her.
“You can wear these in the meantime,” he offered, a hint of a smile on his face. “Unfortunately I don’t have anything remotely resembling a bra, so…”
She blushed and took them from him. “Thanks for these,” she said, eyeing the boxers with some worry. Those were going to be very snug across the hips.
“I’m sure they’ll fit,” he said with a smile, then turned around so that his back was to her. “Let me know when you’re done.”
She frowned, and she realised with a start that he expected her to get changed.
“Right. Right…” she dropped the towel, conscious of his presence even though he wasn’t facing her. She wriggled into the boxers and heaved a sigh of relief as the soft fabric slid up her thighs and clung snugly to her hips. The t-shirt was another close fit, and her breasts clearly stood out and stretched the material across her chest, but she looked reasonably okay.
“So…Clark,” she said as she slipped into the equally silky robe and belted it. “What happened?”
“He’s an idiot with the subtlety of a sledgehammer,” he said darkly. “He and that hare-brained cousin of yours…”
“Lois?” she exclaimed. “Lois is in town, too?”
“Believe me, you’ll wish she wasn’t,” he grumbled. “From what I hear, she found Clark naked in a field and suffering from amnesia, so she took him to the hospital where she ran into Martha Kent. He has no idea of where he was all this time or how he got back, but his memory has returned, and he’s fit as a fiddle.”
She heaved a sigh of relief. “That’s good to hear,” she replied. “But how did he know I was alive?”
“Somehow he found out your grave was empty - don’t ask me how,” he said, holding his hands up. “He came busting into my office yesterday to accuse me of keeping you prisoner.”
Her eyes widened. “What did you tell him?”
“That your grave was empty because there wasn’t anything to bury, which is technically true,” he replied. “He wasn’t satisfied, but he was willing to drop the accusations until your stupid cousin dug up your grave in broad daylight.”
Chloe’s already wide eyes opened even further. “She what? Oh, Jeez…”
“Lana’s back, too. She found her there, and now all three of them have been traipsing all over town looking for you,” he said. “They found your old safehouse, the one that got blown up, and only left when government helicopters came to shoo them off. Only now, that’s strengthened their belief that you’re still alive, and word has clearly gotten back to my father.”
“But you can’t be sure that Lionel’s actually done anything to try and hurt me,” she started, but he shook his head.
“Chloe, he sent an assassin. Your guards at the safehouse…I’m pretty sure they’ve all been killed,” he said gently. “That’s why I had to get you out of there.”
Oh, Christ. Her knees wobbled, and she felt the blood drain from her face. To think of the narrow escape she’d just had…
“So…what now?” she asked fearfully.
Lex came and wrapped his arms around her. “The trial’s only five days away now,” he said gently. “I won’t let anything happen to you.”
She rested her head on his chest and allowed the steady thrumming of his heart to calm her.
“I’m scared,” she said tremulously, her voice muffled against his chest.
His arms tightened around her, and she felt him kiss the top of her head. “I’ll keep you safe, Chloe,” he whispered, holding her close. “I promise.”
***
Chapter 7…