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Metropolis...Metropolis Museum of Art...Late Evening...
She's wearing gold. One of those tight Herve Leger dresses that the underfed Hollywood starlets favor. She fills it out the way they can't. It hugs every curve, molds to every contour.
The color should be all wrong for her pale skin. Any stylist worth his or her salt would have made her get spraytanned for the cameras.
Instead, the gold fabric lights up her skin, eyes, and hair and sparkles under the camera flashes. It stands out against the black of his suit, the bronze shade of his tie.
Of all the ways Lex Luthor had pictured Chloe Sullivan, dressed in a $5,000 outfit and wrapped up in Oliver Queen's arms at a museum event was not one of them.
At least not until about two months ago, when his investigators starting sending him pictures of them two them out and about around Metropolis, all over each other.
The first set of photos actually caught him by surprise and Lex prided himself on never being surprised. The last he had checked, Oliver Queen was doing his monk impression - some kind of self-imposed penance after years of whoring – and Chloe Sullivan was a grieving widow. Lex knew that Oliver had even had a brief fling with that big-mouthed cousin of Chloe's – Lois Lane - but that was a while ago.
After shaking off his initial surprise, Lex had run through the scenarios that might explain the photos and settled on the most likely.
Oliver had his fill of vapid underwear models and decided to try the small town girl fantasy?
Lex couldn't blame him. He'd fallen for that once himself and he considered himself far brighter than Queen.
In fact, Chloe Sullivan herself was far brighter than Queen, if Lex remembered correctly. And not unattractive. Maybe she'd finally gotten tired of her sad life as second rate reporter in an unforgiving city and decided to put her wits and her body to good use. And set her sights on the closest, dimmest billionaire she could find.
Now that was news. Sanctimonious to a fault, Chloe had always claimed that Lex's money didn't matter and now she was likely fucking Oliver Queen for his. Well, everybody had a price, especially those who claimed they didn't. Chloe Sullivan was no exception.
It was a shame because as far as Lex was concerned, she was priceless and Oliver Queen would never, ever be able to appreciate that.
It was the reason why Lex kept surveillance on Chloe Sullivan at all. She was far too valuable of an asset to lose. Her healing ability, once properly harnessed and understood could be Lex's biggest breakthrough to date. A power without match. And, eventually, all his.
The problem with Chloe Sullivan, however, was that she had a nasty habit of slipping through his fingers through a mixture of her oddly powerful friends, her wits, and dumb luck. Eventually he would have her again, when her friends were distracted and her luck run out. Until then, he could be patient. Lex was nothing if not patient when it came to things as valuable as Chloe Sullivan.
And he had been, until he'd seen the first photos of her and Queen.
In the park. Outside his building. Outside her apartment. At a sidewalk cafe. In his car. Even at the airport, getting ready to fly with him as he went to Gotham on business. Kissing, holding hands, touching. Making no secret. All out in the open as if it were a real relationship and not a financial transaction.
As most things like this actually were, in Lex's experience.
Oliver Queen of all men.
Well, Chloe always did like her men tall, handsome and light on brains. And unlike with Clark, Oliver could buy her all the clothes, shoes, computers, and whatever it was that stirred her fancy these days. He could dress her up in expensive clothes and make her think she was something other than a small town girl with a secret only a select few could appreciate.
Lex brought himself back to the present. Back to the opening night of the new exhibit at the Metropolis Museum of Art. The night where they hit up the wealthy art lovers of the city for donations before the let the masses in. The Museum spent a small fortune on wine, canapes, and music in hopes of getting a large fortune in pledges to the endowment. The wealthy would spend the evening being photographed for the society pages while pretending to know something about art which Lex found oddly pathetic. At least when the masses came to view the pieces, they didn't bother to pretend.
Lex watched as Chloe flashed Oliver a smile in between their brief conversations with the other guests. A genuine looking smile. Then ran a hand down his back.
Lex had to hand it to her. She could preform like a pro. Maybe she had missed her calling. She should have been a pro. Was it any different that what she was doing now?
One look at Queen and Lex knew she had him wrapped around her little finger. Small town girl fantasy or not. She was making him believe he was the only man in the world.
But then, at one point, even Lex had believed in Chloe Sullivan. That one summer, when he'd kept her alive and safe from his father, Lex had briefly believed that Chloe was one of kind. He'd even been so far gone as to fantasize about her. About that small, curvy body now wrapped in gold twenty feet away. About her wide mouth and the things she could do to him with it. For a brief time, he'd believed that she was different. Selfless, honest, brave, loyal.
She had a way of making you want to believe those things. She would smile at you and you wanted everything she said to be true. Or she would narrow those green eyes and dare you to prove that they weren't.
Now, though, Lex no longer believed that Chloe was any of those things.
She turned, revealing the backless splendor of the dress. She was all pale smooth skin to the waist, unmarred by straps or strings, and Queen was predictably pawing her back like an oversexed teenager.
Lex been right about one thing, she was one of kind - just not in the way he'd thought.
Chloe was a selfish whore, like all the others. But she was a whore with a one in six billion ability. And that made her different. It made Lex want her, though not in the way he once had.
Not the way he had wanted her when he was still weak.
Now he wanted her back. On his terms.
*****
Lex's date – a statuesque TV hostess with long jet black hair and red Angelina Jolie lips - had stopped trying to talk to him. She disappeared into the crowd, probably hoping to entice a back-up for the evening if he decided to ditch her, which he might very well do. The lips, at first enticing, became creepy when he realized she couldn't smile with them. Apparently the procedure that created them was just a bit too recent.
After a bland conversation with the member of the museum’s board, Lex caught sight of Queen and Chloe again, this time by the bar.
He was leaning against the bar, with her leaning on him. She was running the fingers of her right hand along the stem of her glass. He was running both of his hands over her. Lex recognized the territorial movements: hands low enough on her hips to mark them as his. To let every man who would consider approaching her know that she was a regular in his bed. That only he was allowed to touch her like this. That everything under that gold fabric was his to play with.
Once a Neanderthal, always a Neanderthal, Lex supposed.
Not that she seemed to mind. She pressed herself willingly into him. Smiled, laughed, and talked directly into his ear. Close enough to kiss him but never actually doing it. A sickening display of not-quite PDA. It's was almost as if they were flirting with everyone watching them as well as with one another.
Lex looked around, Sure enough, he wasn't the only one watching them. The other guests, the photographers, even the museum employees were stealing glances at the blond couple by the bar.
Oliver Queen and his date were news. They were far more interesting to the the guests than the priceless art on the walls. There was no accounting for taste.
Chloe brought her left hand up to rest on Queen's chest and that's when Lex spotted the ring on her finger. Platinum band and setting, emeralds and not diamonds, but the meaning was clear.
Lex grabbed a drink from a passing server. A recent development? How had his investigators missed that? Someone had some explaining to do.
*****
Lex's date found a back up plan. Out of the corner of his eye, he'd seen her exchange cell numbers with a very married city councilman. It was just as well, Lex decided. The thought of those chemically-plumped lips on any part of his body had been starting to make him ill.
On his way to another drink, Lex leaned into her ear to let her know she was relieved of her duties as his escort for the evening. He didn't bother to stay around to see her reaction.
Twenty minutes later, as he was writing out a check to the museum, he spotted Chloe Sullivan pulling Oliver Queen into an adjacent, and empty, gallery.
Lex handed over the check, pocketed his checkbook, and waited a few moments before letting his curiosity get the better of him. He followed them out another door, as each gallery had several entrances and exits. Lex made short work of the velvet ropes blocking access to the room and cautiously looked inside. He could learn more if they didn't know he was there, obviously.
The room was dimly lit only by the city light streaming in through the large windows and doors and a few small spotlights over key pieces. Since the room was not open to the party, there were no guards. The only sounds in the room were the soft moans from the couple at the other end and the faint staccato buzz of a malfunctioning EXIT sign.
He'd lifted her up on a wide marble window sill so that her face was even with his and her thighs were on either side of his hips. So far they'd only gotten as far as kissing but Lex was dubious that it would stay that way for much longer.
“Ollie...”
“Mmmmm...”
“Ollie!”
“What?”
“Please tell me we can leave soon...Haven't we been here long enough?”
“You're the one who pulled me out of the party...”
“That's because I thought I had a better chance of convincing you to leave if we're were alone than if all those awful people were watching us.”
“Hmmm, there's not a lot wrong with that logic.... So convince away...”
There was a pause as the couple exchanged more kisses... When they finally came up for air, Chloe spoke, teasingly, “The sooner we leave, the sooner you get me out of this dress...”
“Try again, Professor. It just so happens that I am very much enjoying watching you move in that dress...I'd like to watch a little longer...”
“You can watch me back your apartment.”
“Or I can watch you right now...I've never been a fan of delayed gratification.”
Lex couldn't see clearly in the darkened room but he could make out Oliver's head dipping down towards Chloe's bare neck.
“Oliver... I've been an exceptionally good fiancee all night. I think I deserve a reward, don't you?”
“Believe me, I was planning on rewarding you. In fact...”
She cut him off, “I was thinking of a reward that didn't involve cold, hard window sill.”
“Speaking of hard...”
Chloe kissed him again. “We get out of here in the next ten minutes and I leave the dress and the shoes on for the first round. What do you say?”
Even Lex's body had a reaction to that mental picture. He was no fan of semi-public sex either. Not anymore. Those days were over. Although semi-public sex with Chloe Sullivan, knowing all the people it would shock and disgust...it had a certain appeal to it. He couldn't help but wonder what she looked like when she came. What she sounded like. What she felt like.
Oliver Queen knew. Of all people, Oliver Queen knew.
“That, my dear, is how to negotiate. You're getting very good at this.”
“I'll show you what else I'm good at in the limo if you get my wrap from the coat check.”
“Going...but here, put my jacket on.” Oliver shrugged out of his suit jacket.
“Why?”
“Because you are not wearing a bra under that dress and if anyone else sees you right now, I'm not interested in them seeing how worked up I just got you.”
“Oh...whoops.” Chloe laughed and let Oliver help her down from the windowsill before he draped his jacket over her shoulders.
“Yeah, be right back. Don't move,” Oliver told her before kissing her one more time.
“I'll call and have Robert bring the car around the back.”
“Good idea.”
Lex watched as Oliver left from one of the far gallery doors and waited for a few long moments, just observing Chloe.
After she made her call, apparently to Oliver's driver, she strolled slowly around the gallery, Queen's suit coat almost completely engulfing her small frame. Every once and a while she would stop in front of a painting, studying it in the dim light before moving on. Lex realized they were in the European wing. Late 19th Century.
She lingered in front of a piece by Pierre Puvis de Chavannes.
War.
Interesting choice, Lex thought.
The companion work, Peace, hung a few feet away but she ignored it.
Lex found himself walking towards her before he could stop himself. His footfalls alerted her to his presence and she turned.
She looked surprised to see him but to her credit, she did not retreat.
“Miss Sullivan.”
“Mr. Luthor.”
“You and your companion have managed to avoid me all night. Should I be offended?”
“I don't know, are you capable of being offended?” she retorted evenly.
“Touche.”
“Then it shouldn't matter to you whether we greeted you at all during this little farce. I doubt you were anxious to have your photo taken with us. Isn't that all these little soirees are good for?”
“Well, now you sound like quite jaded for someone so new to the experience. Surely sharing your good news with the elite was worth the unpleasantness.” He nodded at her left hand, which was holding the sides of Queen's jacket closed.
“Not really. These people...aren't my friends. I'd just as soon keep our good news to ourselves but Oliver has a profile to maintain. I respect that.”
Lex titled his head to take a closer look at the ring. “I haven't checked QI's share price lately but surely Queen can afford diamonds.”
“I don't like diamonds.”
“Of course not. Politically correct to a fault, aren't you?”
“Did you want something, Lex, or is this just a general annoyance call?”
Lex wanted at lot of things. And she probably knew that. “I'm just here to offer you my congratulations on your engagement. You two truly surprised me.”
“Translation: the people you have following us failed to inform you of it. I think you need better people, Lex.”
“I'll take it under advisement. Now allow me to give you some advice,” He circled behind her and spoke directly into her ear. “Oliver Queen isn't capable of appreciating everything that you are.”
He came to a stop in front of her and she drilled him with an icy green stare. “Does it look like I care what you think?”
“I'm just stating the obvious...Chloe. I know your secrets and I know Queen. He's not equipped to handle someone like you.”
“I'll be the judge of who's best...” her eyes flickered over his body, “--equipped to handle me, Lex. And, for your information...I have no secrets from Oliver.”
Lex found this hard to believe. “Queen doesn't do well with anything that falls outside his narrow point of view. I find it very difficult to believe that he would be able to understand everything that you are.”
Chloe stepped away. “It's been a very long time since I cared what you believe, Lex.”
Now that was a bold-faced lie. By his estimation, she'd never cared.
“Is that a fact? I didn't think you ever cared. I think you said what you needed to get what you wanted from me.”
Chloe snorted and took another step away, keeping her eyes on him. “You haven't exactly impressed anyone with your ability to read people, Lex, especially women. Maybe we're just not your forte.”
Bitch.
She was in no position to mock him. Didn't she realize that she had a target on her back? He could have her at any time. Back where she belonged.
“Remember who you're talking to, Chloe,” he bit out. “I don't enjoy being disrespected.”
“I know very well what you enjoy, and the last thing you're going to get from me is respect.” She moved to turn away from him, to move towards the door but he could not have that. He would decide when this meeting was over. He reached for her shoulder instinctively to pull her back.
And found his forearm caught in the iron grip of Oliver Queen.
“Now, I know it's tempting...but you can look, but you can't touch,” the taller man said with just enough lightness in his voice that the casual observer wouldn't know the comment was a threat.
But there were no observers present, casual or otherwise, and the pressure on his arm told Lex that it was indeed a threat.
Lex attempted to pull his arm away but Oliver held firm, even squeezed harder, hard enough to leave bruises. “How about this? You keep you hands to yourself, Luthor, and I don't break them off. Everybody wins.” He loosened his grip and Lex yanked his arm back, as if burned.
Neanderthal. An arrogant show of force with no thought behind it. That was Oliver Queen.
Oliver wrapped a possessive arm around Chloe's shoulders, not bothering to give her the wrap in his hand or take his jacket back.
“Ready to go?” he asked her.
She nodded, her silence likely a means of letting Queen revel in his role as hero. But Lex knew better. Chloe Sullivan was no damsel. She was a puppet master. She was playing Queen and she thought she could play him. Lex woudn't allow it. And he wouldn't allow Queen to think he'd intimidated him.
He remained cool. “Congratulations on your engagement, Oliver. Never figured you for marrying kind.”
“I didn't either but I suppose anything's possible, especially when you find the right person. Most of us only need to find one of those,” the other man replied pointedly, an obvious crack at Lex's string of failed marriages. “Thanks for the sentiments, though. Chloe and I will take them in the spirit they were intended.”
Lex fought to keep a sneer off his face.
“By the way, Lex, if you're looking for your date, she's currently giving Councilman Rollins a blow job in the back stairwell. She looked like she was almost done if you're looking to call it a night. See you around.”
Lex didn't bother to watch them go.
*****
Metropolis...Luthor Penthouse...Later That Evening...
Lex went home, alone, letting his date go home with her married councilman. He briefly considered calling out for some paid entertainment from one of his trusted services but pushed away the thought when he found he wasn't really in the mood.
Instead, he found himself in his home office, still half-dressed from the gallery event. Glass of scotch half-drunk and forgotten on the edge of his desk. His collection of photos from Chloe Sullivan's extensive files spread across his desk.
He had the last year of her life in front of him. He knew her habits. Where she bought her coffee, her clothes, her books...
He knew what magazines she read, what kind of takeout she ordered, what her favorite pair of shoes were...
He knew what colors she liked to wear, how she preferred to wear her hair when it rained...
He seriously doubted Queen knew all that.
And despite what she had said, he seriously doubted that Queen knew what she could do. What the meteor-rocks had turned her into.
One of those “freaks” she's been so obsessed with as a teen.
Chloe's relationship with Queen would make it difficult to take her back. Difficult but not impossible.
It might even be fun to make a game of it. Take her and give her back. Tease him a little. Make Queen think that she was his when in reality, it was only a matter of time.
Before she was Lex's again.
End.