Chlex Fanfic: Orchestrato, Chapter 2
Ahoy, Chlexers! *salutes* ;-)
Happy to present the next chapter of Orchestrato And it's nice and looong.. Hope you all like it!
Enjoy. Awesome banner by ctbn60 - thanks again, Carol! :-)
Written for the awesome kitmerlot1213. :-)
Title: Orchestrato
Author: BabyDee
Pairing: Chlex
Rating: PG13 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.
Chapter 2
An hour and three cups of coffee apiece later, and they were all done.
“I don’t think we’ll have any surprises or slip-ups with this, you’ve done really well,” Lex said as he packed his files back into his briefcase. “I’ll pop in again with Williamson in a weeks’ time, just to refresh your memory.”
Her face fell. A whole week? “Oh. Okay,” she said lamely.
Lex noticed her reticence and frowned. “Unless…you’d rather we came by sooner..?”
“No, that’s fine,” she said hurriedly, taking the coffee cups back to the kitchen. “A week is fine.”
She put the cups in the dishwasher with a sad sigh and folded her arms. She hadn’t realised how starved for company she actually was, and the thought of Lex leaving her alone for a whole week…
“Chloe,” he groaned loudly from the other room. “Damn it, I should have known…”
Chloe frowned. “Should have known what?” she queried as she walked back into the living room. His back was to her, but as soon as he turned around and she caught sight of her laptop in his hands, she froze.
“That you were the elusive Sentinel,” he said sternly, tapping a finger on the screen which housed her anonymous online newsblog. “Chloe, what part of ‘no contact with the outside world’ did you not understand?”
Chloe gulped and tightly squeezed her eyes shut.
Busted.
***
She gnawed on her bottom lip and stared silently at Lex, who was clearly waiting for an explanation.
“Well?” he prompted.
“Okay, I know how this looks…” she began.
“Really?” he asked, putting the laptop down and folding his arms, his steely eyes grim. “Tell me how this looks, Chloe. I’m all ears.”
She wrung her hands nervously. “I, um…look, I know I took a huge risk, setting up a newsblog, but there are issues going on in the city that need to be addressed, and…”
“…and you’re the only person in the world who can sort it out?”
“I never said that!” she protested.
“Or, you tried to resist your inner journalist for all of two seconds, but failed miserably,” he finished flatly.
She swallowed and stared at the ground, and Lex gave a heavy sigh.
“You just risked jeopardising this entire operation, Chloe.”
She sighed heavily. “I’m sorry,” she said quietly. “But in my defence, Lex, it’s an anonymous blog; nobody knows it’s me, and I deliberately changed the way I write to make doubly sure.”
“The hardest thing in the world is to try and hide who you really are, even in print,” he pointed out gently, and gestured to the screen. “I mean, look at this; it wouldn’t your friends too long to discover who The Sentinel is, all they’d have to do is
read a couple of lines.”
“Well, Lana’s all the way over in Paris, so she’ll probably never read this,” she declared. “And as for Clark…” she trailed off, her eyes tearing up as they always did when she remembered that her best friend was still missing and unaccounted for.
“He’ll come home, Chloe,” he said gently. “I’ve got private investigators scouring the state for him as we speak, okay?”
She nodded, but for some reason she didn’t think they’d have much success locating him. Every instinct she possessed told her that Clark’s disappearance was down to one of the many supernatural oddities that cursed this stupid town, and it was killing her that she couldn’t go out there, track him down and bring him home herself.
“In the meantime…no more blogging,” Lex said, bringing her back to the present as he snapped her laptop shut with an air of finality.
Chloe’s brows drew downward in a stubborn frown. “We just established that none of my friends are likely to find me, so what’s the harm?” she demanded.
“It’s not your friends tracking you down that I’m worried about,” he replied, pinching his brow with a tired sigh. “What if someone else recognises your writing style; say like my father, and uses it to locate your whereabouts?”
“He can’t,” she replied triumphantly. “I put the IP address on an international piggy-back and looped it, so it changes source every five minutes. I covered my tracks, no problem.”
“And you don’t think the fact that you’ve taken so much trouble to protect your identity isn’t a clue in itself that you’re probably still alive?” he countered.
Chloe exhaled in frustration. “I can’t win with you, can I?” she grumbled.
“You’d be surprised,” he murmured with a knowing smile. “So what great evil are you taking down today?”
“Improper use of state funds,” she replied, opening her laptop to show him the article. “Too much money has been sunk into the city sewer refurbishment project, and I have a feeling that Mayor Gillingham has his hands on a golden goose construction contract that he wants to keep flourishing. It’s the perfect cover for siphoning hard-earned tax dollars.”
His eyebrows went up. “You have proof of this?”
“I’m very close to getting it; why?”
“Because I know all about this project; Gillingham’s contractors outbid me for it by less than five thousand dollars,” he said. “He must have had an insider in my camp. If you take him down, I stand to pick up on that contract where he leaves off.”
“Well, you look for the leak in your department, and I’ll do what I can to hand you the smoking gun,” she said with a smile.
Lex tapped the computer again. “And you’re sure this can’t be traced?”
“Positive.”
“Then I have only one thing left to say…” he handed the computer back to her with a smile. “Sentinel’s a good name for you. You’re certainly looking after my interests.”
She blushed and took the laptop from him, her fingers brushing his as she did so. That tingly feeling ran up her spine again, and her knees shook slightly. She clenched her fingers tightly around the edges of the laptop to stop it slipping from her grasp.
“You might want to go easy on the thesaurus, though,” he advised as he settled down on the sofa.
“How do you mean?”
“Let’s see… ‘Despite constant reassurances from the councilman that the project would be completed on time and within budget, there has been little activity on the site,” He quoted.
Wow. He remembered all that?
“Good memory, Lex, but I don’t see why you thought I went overboard on the tech terms,” she said.
“I’m getting there,” he promised, and went on. “Worse, a most odoriferous aroma continues to emanate from the sewage pipes, which wafts leisurely over the city like a controlled cloud.’” He stopped and gave her a sardonic look. “Odoriferous, Chloe? Really?”
She shrugged a dainty shoulder. “It works.”
“It’s too much,” he shot back. “You’re a brilliant writer, but you do tend to run a little garrulous at times.”
“I’m no more loquacious than the next journalist,” she replied sweetly.
He rolled his eyes. “Please. You’re the most verbose person I know!”
“Who’s throwing the thesaurus around now?” she smirked, and he laughed.
“Just meeting you on your own playing field,” he joked. “Unless your knowledge of unfamiliar words isn’t as vast as I’d previously assumed…”
Chloe folded her arms and grinned. “You don’t know who you’re getting into a battle of words with, Lex. I know pretty much every tricky word there is out there.”
“On the contrary,” he replied. “I know exactly who I’m getting into a battle of words with, and that’s what makes it fun. Very few people can challenge me intellectually.”
“And you think I’m one who can?”
“That depends on the success you achieve in your sedulous juxtaposition of words, Chloe,” he smirked. “Challenge me you may, but I assure you…I will win. I always do.”
“Oh, I am so taking you down!” she exclaimed, sitting down next to him. “And for the record, sedulous juxtaposition was way too easy.”
“Agreed,” he replied. “Okay, Chloe; you give me a word, I’ll tell you what it means, and vice versa.”
She grinned. “You’re on.”
He made a gallant gesture in her direction. “Ladies first.”
Chloe nodded and cleared her throat. “Coruscate.”
“Glittery,” Lex replied without hesitation, gazing into her eyes. “Dazzling, sparkly; kind of like your personality.”
Oh, he was a smooth talker. Chloe felt her cheeks growing warm under his ardent gaze, and tried to ignore the warmth spreading through her insides.
“Your turn,” she whispered.
“Osculate.”
“Osculate, that’s um…” her cheeks grew redder. “That’s…kissing, isn’t it?”
“Correct,” he murmured, and leaned forward slowly until his face was so close she could feel his breath on her cheek. “Your turn again.”
“Huh?” she whispered, mesmerised.
“I said it’s your turn,” he replied with a knowing smile.
“Oh. Oh!” She cleared her throat and thought hard. “Estival.”
“Estival…” he paused. “That’s something seasonal…spring, summer…?”
“Summer,” she nodded. “Nicely done. Your turn.”
They went on trading words for another five minutes before Lex finally came up with a winner.
“Pulchritudinous.”
She blinked. “Polka-what?”
“Pulchritudinous,” he repeated and smiled. “Any clues?”
“I, um…” she thought hard for several seconds and eventually gave a deep sigh. “I hate to admit defeat, but this one’s way over my head.”
He smiled. “It means beautiful.”
“Really?” she said, surprised. “No wonder it isn’t more widely known, it’s the ugliest word for pretty that I’ve ever heard. So…does this mean you win?”
“Not until I’ve given you an opportunity to draw level,” he said, and folded his arms. “Give it your best shot.”
She thought hard, and then grinned as the perfect word came to her.
“Lunula,” she said.
“That definitely has something to do with illumination, light; most likely moonlight,” he guessed. “Am I right?”
She shook her head. “Nope.”
He frowned. “Am I close?”
She thought for a moment. “There’s kind of a clue in there, but…” she pondered, and then shook her head. “Nah, not really.”
Lex folded his arms and smiled. “Now you’re deliberately being vague, Chloe.”
“I’m not, I promise you,” she laughed. “But I can honestly say that none of what you’ve guessed so far is actually right. Peripheral at best, but far from correct.”
“Consider the towel thrown in, then,” he conceded. “What’s the answer?”
Chloe smiled and quietly reached out and took his hand. Lex regarded her curiously as she held it between hers and just studied it for a moment.
His palms were smooth, his fingers long and tapered. Artist’s Hands, she thought, as she traced his palm with her fingertips. One would be mistaken for thinking his manicured hands reflected a lack of skill. Lex was a trained martial artist, an excellent swordsman and a supremely gifted pianist. There was a world of talent within those hands.
She noticed he’d gone very still; probably questioning her fascination with his hands, she thought, surprised to realise she wasn’t at all embarrassed. For some reason she actually enjoyed touching him. Carefully she turned his hand so that his palm was down over her left one and with her right forefinger slowly trailed a path up the back of his hand until she got to the tip of his manicured thumbnail.
“This,” she whispered.
He cleared his throat loudly. “Uh…what?” he said, his voice gravelly and low.
She tapped his thumb. “That pale, crescent moon at the base of your thumbnail,” she explained softly. “That’s your lunula.”
Lex lifted his head and met her gaze, and she blinked in surprise at the expression in his eyes. Their stormy depths more grey than black, and he was breathing heavily, his chest rising and falling as if it was suddenly something that required conscious thought.
“That’s why I said your clue was kind of a clue, because it’s a moonlike-shape, and it’s pale in colour, but it has nothing really to do with light,” she babbled, trying to fill the suddenly intense silence.
“Right,” he whispered, then suddenly straightened, took his hand out of hers and quickly got to his feet. Chloe frowned and was about to ask what was wrong when he spoke.
“I’m sorry, but I’m late for a meeting,” he said shortly as he strode to the table and gathered his belongings. “I’ll see you later this week.”
And then he was gone, out the door before she could even respond to his parting words.
***
Chapter 3…
Happy to present the next chapter of Orchestrato And it's nice and looong.. Hope you all like it!
Enjoy. Awesome banner by ctbn60 - thanks again, Carol! :-)
Written for the awesome kitmerlot1213. :-)
Title: Orchestrato
Author: BabyDee
Pairing: Chlex
Rating: PG13 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.
Chapter 2
An hour and three cups of coffee apiece later, and they were all done.
“I don’t think we’ll have any surprises or slip-ups with this, you’ve done really well,” Lex said as he packed his files back into his briefcase. “I’ll pop in again with Williamson in a weeks’ time, just to refresh your memory.”
Her face fell. A whole week? “Oh. Okay,” she said lamely.
Lex noticed her reticence and frowned. “Unless…you’d rather we came by sooner..?”
“No, that’s fine,” she said hurriedly, taking the coffee cups back to the kitchen. “A week is fine.”
She put the cups in the dishwasher with a sad sigh and folded her arms. She hadn’t realised how starved for company she actually was, and the thought of Lex leaving her alone for a whole week…
“Chloe,” he groaned loudly from the other room. “Damn it, I should have known…”
Chloe frowned. “Should have known what?” she queried as she walked back into the living room. His back was to her, but as soon as he turned around and she caught sight of her laptop in his hands, she froze.
“That you were the elusive Sentinel,” he said sternly, tapping a finger on the screen which housed her anonymous online newsblog. “Chloe, what part of ‘no contact with the outside world’ did you not understand?”
Chloe gulped and tightly squeezed her eyes shut.
Busted.
***
She gnawed on her bottom lip and stared silently at Lex, who was clearly waiting for an explanation.
“Well?” he prompted.
“Okay, I know how this looks…” she began.
“Really?” he asked, putting the laptop down and folding his arms, his steely eyes grim. “Tell me how this looks, Chloe. I’m all ears.”
She wrung her hands nervously. “I, um…look, I know I took a huge risk, setting up a newsblog, but there are issues going on in the city that need to be addressed, and…”
“…and you’re the only person in the world who can sort it out?”
“I never said that!” she protested.
“Or, you tried to resist your inner journalist for all of two seconds, but failed miserably,” he finished flatly.
She swallowed and stared at the ground, and Lex gave a heavy sigh.
“You just risked jeopardising this entire operation, Chloe.”
She sighed heavily. “I’m sorry,” she said quietly. “But in my defence, Lex, it’s an anonymous blog; nobody knows it’s me, and I deliberately changed the way I write to make doubly sure.”
“The hardest thing in the world is to try and hide who you really are, even in print,” he pointed out gently, and gestured to the screen. “I mean, look at this; it wouldn’t your friends too long to discover who The Sentinel is, all they’d have to do is
read a couple of lines.”
“Well, Lana’s all the way over in Paris, so she’ll probably never read this,” she declared. “And as for Clark…” she trailed off, her eyes tearing up as they always did when she remembered that her best friend was still missing and unaccounted for.
“He’ll come home, Chloe,” he said gently. “I’ve got private investigators scouring the state for him as we speak, okay?”
She nodded, but for some reason she didn’t think they’d have much success locating him. Every instinct she possessed told her that Clark’s disappearance was down to one of the many supernatural oddities that cursed this stupid town, and it was killing her that she couldn’t go out there, track him down and bring him home herself.
“In the meantime…no more blogging,” Lex said, bringing her back to the present as he snapped her laptop shut with an air of finality.
Chloe’s brows drew downward in a stubborn frown. “We just established that none of my friends are likely to find me, so what’s the harm?” she demanded.
“It’s not your friends tracking you down that I’m worried about,” he replied, pinching his brow with a tired sigh. “What if someone else recognises your writing style; say like my father, and uses it to locate your whereabouts?”
“He can’t,” she replied triumphantly. “I put the IP address on an international piggy-back and looped it, so it changes source every five minutes. I covered my tracks, no problem.”
“And you don’t think the fact that you’ve taken so much trouble to protect your identity isn’t a clue in itself that you’re probably still alive?” he countered.
Chloe exhaled in frustration. “I can’t win with you, can I?” she grumbled.
“You’d be surprised,” he murmured with a knowing smile. “So what great evil are you taking down today?”
“Improper use of state funds,” she replied, opening her laptop to show him the article. “Too much money has been sunk into the city sewer refurbishment project, and I have a feeling that Mayor Gillingham has his hands on a golden goose construction contract that he wants to keep flourishing. It’s the perfect cover for siphoning hard-earned tax dollars.”
His eyebrows went up. “You have proof of this?”
“I’m very close to getting it; why?”
“Because I know all about this project; Gillingham’s contractors outbid me for it by less than five thousand dollars,” he said. “He must have had an insider in my camp. If you take him down, I stand to pick up on that contract where he leaves off.”
“Well, you look for the leak in your department, and I’ll do what I can to hand you the smoking gun,” she said with a smile.
Lex tapped the computer again. “And you’re sure this can’t be traced?”
“Positive.”
“Then I have only one thing left to say…” he handed the computer back to her with a smile. “Sentinel’s a good name for you. You’re certainly looking after my interests.”
She blushed and took the laptop from him, her fingers brushing his as she did so. That tingly feeling ran up her spine again, and her knees shook slightly. She clenched her fingers tightly around the edges of the laptop to stop it slipping from her grasp.
“You might want to go easy on the thesaurus, though,” he advised as he settled down on the sofa.
“How do you mean?”
“Let’s see… ‘Despite constant reassurances from the councilman that the project would be completed on time and within budget, there has been little activity on the site,” He quoted.
Wow. He remembered all that?
“Good memory, Lex, but I don’t see why you thought I went overboard on the tech terms,” she said.
“I’m getting there,” he promised, and went on. “Worse, a most odoriferous aroma continues to emanate from the sewage pipes, which wafts leisurely over the city like a controlled cloud.’” He stopped and gave her a sardonic look. “Odoriferous, Chloe? Really?”
She shrugged a dainty shoulder. “It works.”
“It’s too much,” he shot back. “You’re a brilliant writer, but you do tend to run a little garrulous at times.”
“I’m no more loquacious than the next journalist,” she replied sweetly.
He rolled his eyes. “Please. You’re the most verbose person I know!”
“Who’s throwing the thesaurus around now?” she smirked, and he laughed.
“Just meeting you on your own playing field,” he joked. “Unless your knowledge of unfamiliar words isn’t as vast as I’d previously assumed…”
Chloe folded her arms and grinned. “You don’t know who you’re getting into a battle of words with, Lex. I know pretty much every tricky word there is out there.”
“On the contrary,” he replied. “I know exactly who I’m getting into a battle of words with, and that’s what makes it fun. Very few people can challenge me intellectually.”
“And you think I’m one who can?”
“That depends on the success you achieve in your sedulous juxtaposition of words, Chloe,” he smirked. “Challenge me you may, but I assure you…I will win. I always do.”
“Oh, I am so taking you down!” she exclaimed, sitting down next to him. “And for the record, sedulous juxtaposition was way too easy.”
“Agreed,” he replied. “Okay, Chloe; you give me a word, I’ll tell you what it means, and vice versa.”
She grinned. “You’re on.”
He made a gallant gesture in her direction. “Ladies first.”
Chloe nodded and cleared her throat. “Coruscate.”
“Glittery,” Lex replied without hesitation, gazing into her eyes. “Dazzling, sparkly; kind of like your personality.”
Oh, he was a smooth talker. Chloe felt her cheeks growing warm under his ardent gaze, and tried to ignore the warmth spreading through her insides.
“Your turn,” she whispered.
“Osculate.”
“Osculate, that’s um…” her cheeks grew redder. “That’s…kissing, isn’t it?”
“Correct,” he murmured, and leaned forward slowly until his face was so close she could feel his breath on her cheek. “Your turn again.”
“Huh?” she whispered, mesmerised.
“I said it’s your turn,” he replied with a knowing smile.
“Oh. Oh!” She cleared her throat and thought hard. “Estival.”
“Estival…” he paused. “That’s something seasonal…spring, summer…?”
“Summer,” she nodded. “Nicely done. Your turn.”
They went on trading words for another five minutes before Lex finally came up with a winner.
“Pulchritudinous.”
She blinked. “Polka-what?”
“Pulchritudinous,” he repeated and smiled. “Any clues?”
“I, um…” she thought hard for several seconds and eventually gave a deep sigh. “I hate to admit defeat, but this one’s way over my head.”
He smiled. “It means beautiful.”
“Really?” she said, surprised. “No wonder it isn’t more widely known, it’s the ugliest word for pretty that I’ve ever heard. So…does this mean you win?”
“Not until I’ve given you an opportunity to draw level,” he said, and folded his arms. “Give it your best shot.”
She thought hard, and then grinned as the perfect word came to her.
“Lunula,” she said.
“That definitely has something to do with illumination, light; most likely moonlight,” he guessed. “Am I right?”
She shook her head. “Nope.”
He frowned. “Am I close?”
She thought for a moment. “There’s kind of a clue in there, but…” she pondered, and then shook her head. “Nah, not really.”
Lex folded his arms and smiled. “Now you’re deliberately being vague, Chloe.”
“I’m not, I promise you,” she laughed. “But I can honestly say that none of what you’ve guessed so far is actually right. Peripheral at best, but far from correct.”
“Consider the towel thrown in, then,” he conceded. “What’s the answer?”
Chloe smiled and quietly reached out and took his hand. Lex regarded her curiously as she held it between hers and just studied it for a moment.
His palms were smooth, his fingers long and tapered. Artist’s Hands, she thought, as she traced his palm with her fingertips. One would be mistaken for thinking his manicured hands reflected a lack of skill. Lex was a trained martial artist, an excellent swordsman and a supremely gifted pianist. There was a world of talent within those hands.
She noticed he’d gone very still; probably questioning her fascination with his hands, she thought, surprised to realise she wasn’t at all embarrassed. For some reason she actually enjoyed touching him. Carefully she turned his hand so that his palm was down over her left one and with her right forefinger slowly trailed a path up the back of his hand until she got to the tip of his manicured thumbnail.
“This,” she whispered.
He cleared his throat loudly. “Uh…what?” he said, his voice gravelly and low.
She tapped his thumb. “That pale, crescent moon at the base of your thumbnail,” she explained softly. “That’s your lunula.”
Lex lifted his head and met her gaze, and she blinked in surprise at the expression in his eyes. Their stormy depths more grey than black, and he was breathing heavily, his chest rising and falling as if it was suddenly something that required conscious thought.
“That’s why I said your clue was kind of a clue, because it’s a moonlike-shape, and it’s pale in colour, but it has nothing really to do with light,” she babbled, trying to fill the suddenly intense silence.
“Right,” he whispered, then suddenly straightened, took his hand out of hers and quickly got to his feet. Chloe frowned and was about to ask what was wrong when he spoke.
“I’m sorry, but I’m late for a meeting,” he said shortly as he strode to the table and gathered his belongings. “I’ll see you later this week.”
And then he was gone, out the door before she could even respond to his parting words.
***
Chapter 3…