Couple(s): Chloe/Lex

Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: Everything but the plot belongs to someone other than me.

Spoilers for: nothing

Half A Person

******

On the ride home from Guy's, they, once again, didn't talk much. Chloe drummed her fingers against the car door and stared out the window; Lex focused on driving, though he shot her curious glances every few minutes.

"You okay?" he asked finally.

She faced him, eyes wide in fear. "What the hell did I just do?"

A sigh filtered through his lips while he pulled to the side of the road and stopped the car. "I thought this was what you wanted!"

Her hand tightened around his. "Well, I-I don't know; I said I wanted to kill him, but I think that was just anger. I only planned to scare him with the gun--get him to stay away from us--but then I saw the vengeful way he was looking at you, and I snapped. I never wanted to commit murder, Lex." Her voice grew soft, and he slipped off their seatbelts so he could hold her. "I'm a mother; what kind of example am I setting if I kill everyone who hurts me? And what are we going to say to the police?"

His hands automatically rubbed her back, and he paused while considering what to say. "Don't worry about the police, Chloe; that's my problem. I don't know what else to tell you, except that I doubt Guy would have left us alone--even with a restraining order and therapy. And you know that, if he had a gun in his hands, it could have been considered self-defense."

Lex's calm tone usually put her at ease immediately. Usually. "Don't justify what I did, Lex. And don't pay off the authorities, either; I deserve whatever punishment they give me." Her eyes searched his handsome face, and he drew in a sharp breath; when she stared at him that way, there was no changing her mind.

******

She always swam when she needed to clear her head; it was something she'd started doing when pregnant with Lena, and it had become almost a tradition. The afternoon she and Lex returned from their mission, she headed straight for the pool.

As soon as she dove into the cool, clear water, her worries evaporated. She swam several graceful laps before flipping onto her back and floating. *I'm pregnant again,* she told herself, still not sure whether or not to be happy about that thought. *I'm having another baby.*

If the child were Lex's, Chloe would have been blissful; since it wasn't, she was conflicted. *We can't blame the baby for what happened; we'll love him or her just the same as we do Lena and John. Won't we?* She decided she would, but she had no idea how Lex felt.

Footsteps on the concrete. Startled, she ducked underwater and resurfaced near the pool's edge. Lex, his arms crossed over his chest, was smirking slightly. "Sorry to frighten you."

Chloe climbed out and accepted the fluffy white towel he handed her. "Don't worry about it. What's up?"

He scuffed the toe of his black dress shoe against the ground, oddly uncomfortable. "I just wanted to see you, that's all; to make sure you're okay. Are you?" Reaching out, he tenderly tucked a strand of damp hair behind her ear, letting his hand linger on her cheek for a beat longer than necessary.

"I'm peachy," she shot back, lowering herself onto a metal chair that stood next to a matching table. "Hand me my clothes, would you?"

After a moment's searching, he located a pair of jeans and a black t-shirt on another chair. She accepted them with a forced smile and headed into the bathroom that was connected to the pool room. "Have you called the police yet?" she called from behind the ajar door.

"No," he admitted. Leaning against the doorframe, he politely looked away while she dressed. "I don't know if I will."

She marched out of the room, completely clothed, drying her hair with the towel. Standing directly in front of him, she frowned. "Why?"

"I told you a few days ago that you have to let me protect you," he whispered.

"Meanwhile," Chloe retorted, "I shot a man to death. And why? Because he raped me. Even that doesn't make murder *proper*."

He stuck his hands into the pockets of his khakis, rocked on his heels. Her sudden change of heart continued to baffle him. "Being a Luthor means you have to be unethical on occasion; it's the only way to survive in the world. I've told you that before; you understood that the day you agreed to be my wife. Get used to it." An edge crept into his voice.

"Being a Luthor is your excuse for everything, isn't it, Lex?" She spun on her heel and glided to the door.

"Hey!" he yelled after her.

She whirled around, eyebrows cocked. "What?"

"I don't want to fight with you over this; I say you did what was right at the time. Stop beating yourself up." Despite the harshness of his tone, his eyes were soft.

Visibly sighing, she walked back over to him. After kissing his lips gently--her way of apologizing--she hugged him. "You know, 'unethical' and 'illegal' are two completely different concepts."

He returned the embrace. "I told you I'd take care of it."

"Your way of 'taking care of things' isn't exactly squeaky-clean, is it?" she muttered against his chest.

"Do you *want* to get yourself arrested for murder, Clo?" He was annoyed again.

"I should be, regardless of what I want!" Now *she* was angry. "Money can't solve everything, Lex."

Lifting her chin with his finger, he bit back the urge to scream. "You don't have the right to say that to me."

She scoffed and very nearly slapped him. "That may be true, but I refuse to let you pay off a bunch of police officers to keep me from going to prison. If you'd shot him, I'd want them to arrest you, even though you *are* my husband; even though I do love you."

Her words threw him completely off-guard; he licked his lips and forced himself to not blow up at her. "No one I love goes to jail for something that I don't consider completely wrong. If that makes me unethical or a bad person, so be it; keep in mind that, while I may love you and the kids more than life, I still handle things differently than most people. That may bother you, but that's the way I work. You *aren't* going to prison." Pausing, he allowed his soliloquy to sink in. "We all do things we aren't proud of, Chloe. It's part of being human."

Chloe darted her eyes to the floor, mulling this over. "Don't expect me to jump for joy."

"I know you well enough to know that you won't. All I ask is that you understand why I'm doing this." He was gazing at her firmly, his hand cupping her cheek.

"I just thought you got past all that bullshit when your father died," she whispered sadly.

"Do you understand?" he repeated softly, ignoring her comment.

"Yeah, I guess I do."

Lex nodded once, more to himself than to her. "I love you."

"Love you, too," she said immediately. For the first time since they'd been together, it didn't sound like she meant it.

******

They had a lot of serious discussions in their bedroom, Lex noted. It made sense--they didn't have many opportunities to talk during the day--but it was something they'd been doing more and more frequently.

"Lex," Chloe began that same evening, setting down her book. She wasn't getting any farther in it, he'd observed; not that he blamed her for being too distracted to read.

*Here we go again...* "Yes, dear?" His own book was set on his bedside table.

"You need to be aware that I've decided to keep the baby." She stretched out so her head was resting against his bare chest.

"I figured you would; adoption is a messy process, and abortion is out of the question."

"Yeah." She ran her fingers lightly up and down his arms.

"Something else on your mind?" he asked, curious. It was unusual for her to be so quiet.

"Are you okay with my decision?"

Lex chewed on his lower lip and averted his gaze to the ceiling. "To be honest," he began, placing a hand on her lower back, "I'm uncomfortable with the idea of raising another man's child. I think, though, it would be impossibly more difficult to give him or her to an orphanage."

Her eyes peered into his, asking him to continue. "You'll be able to handle it?"

He took several minutes before answering, wanting to be completely positive. "Yes, I believe I can. It's half yours, anyway."

"Right. It's half mine." She said this to herself, so he didn't remark upon it. "For once, I'm not having your baby. We're raising a child that doesn't belong entirely to us. What do we tell people if they ask why he or she doesn't look at all like you? Aren't you petrified?"

Chloe had already freaked out about the situation the day before; he didn't, however, expect her to get over it soon. "Yes, I'm afraid," he admitted, running his fingers through her hair. "I can't explain to you *why*, yet I am; I hate being scared, Clo. I'm scared for us, the baby, John & Lena...what if this tears us apart? Look how many arguments we've had since this whole thing started; we rarely ever fought before."

Hearing his speak so honestly about what he felt moved her. "Like you keep telling me, Lex, we'll get through this together." It was her turn to be the one in control; the naked fear in his gaze was enough to make her forget her doubts for a while. "I won't let this ruin us; you mean too much to me. If I didn't have you in my life, I don't know what I'd do."

He smirked mirthlessly. "If you didn't have me, you'd probably be with Clark right now; none of this would happen to him."

She rolled her eyes. "Don't be like that; you're just never going to let that go."

His mouth moved up her neck, found her own lips. "Yeah, I will. Someday."

The kisses they shared put an end to their conversation.