Couple(s): Chloe/Lex
Rating: PG-13 for mild language and angst
Disclaimer: Everything but the plot belongs to someone other than me. The title comes from the Remy Zero song of the same name
Spoilers for: the other four parts of this series
Author's Note: I don't know why I wrote this; the Luthors were happy and then I had to-well, I can't give anything away. I don't know if the Luthors really have a private investigator, but I invented one for this story. For the record, Kyle is in no way related to Kyle Tippett; I just really enjoy that name.
Perfect Memory
Chloe rolled over in the giant bed she and her husband shared, not extremely surprised when she discovered that his side was empty; he'd been staying up until dawn for months, working on some 'secret project'. Though she had her suspicions regarding the specifics of said project, she mentioned nothing to Lex about it.
"'s four o'clock; I have to be at work in an hour and a half. Might as well get up," she mumbled, wrapping her red silk robe around her slender frame and padding across the tan carpet toward their private bathroom.
Standing under the stream of hot water for ten minutes, she allowed the shower to loosen her stiff neck muscles. Bending over a computer all day, writing stories for the Smallville Ledger, was proving to be bad for her back.
When she was clean--and dressed in loose black pants and a red button-down shirt that covered her pregnant stomach--she glided down the imposing staircase that led to Lex's equally imposing first floor office.
Peeking around the doorframe, Chloe noticed that his stocking feet were propped on his spotless desktop, meaning that he was sound asleep. Their ten-month old daughter, Lena, slept in her playpen, which stood next to his desk. Evidently he'd heard her crying and brought her downstairs with him so his wife could sleep. He'd done it before, but his concern for her still made Chloe's heart melt.
"Hey, what time is it?" he whispered, waking as she crept inside as quietly as she could.
"It's about four-thirty," she returned, perching on his welcoming lap and sighing. "Were you down here all this time?"
Her statement reminded him that he had been working; he smoothly snatched a handful of papers, stuffed them in a folder, and dropped the folder into a deep drawer. "No. Lena woke me up around one so I decided to get some stuff done." His bright blue eyes softened. "I'm sorry."
Though she feigned disinterest by shrugging, he knew she was upset; she just didn't like to say so. "Don't worry about it, Lex. I can't hear you mumble in your sleep when you're here, anyway," she teased, her own shining blue eyes sparkling when she grinned.
He tickled her ribs mercilessly, well aware that she was most ticklish there. "I do not talk in my sleep!" he insisted, grinning himself.
"I didn't-" she burst into a fresh set of giggles and slapped his hand away- "-say that you talk; I said you mumble. There's a difference, honey."
He relented and moved his hands so they were holding hers. "My wife, the Journalism and English major." Rolling his eyes in mock annoyance, he laughed. "I love you, Clo," he whispered, staring into her eyes.
Chloe let his gaze warm her entirely before responding. "I love you, Lex." Husband and wife kissed then shared a look that made them feel like newlyweds, despite their having been married for nearly three years.
"I love you more than anyone or anything," Lex added seriously. There was an intensity in his tone and eyes that she hadn't witnessed for months. Something felt slightly off, but she assured herself that she was simply being paranoid.
Lena squealed to be picked up, breaking her parents' incredibly romantic moment. "Except for you, Miss," Lex announced cheerfully, lifting up his daughter and planting a kiss on her forehead. "I love you about that much."
The sight of her two favorite people made Chloe eternally grateful that she'd been able to marry Lex. For one thing, she couldn't imagine life without him. For another, she adored their daughter more than she could say. "There's my girl," she said happily, taking the squirming bundle from Lex's arms. "Let's get you some breakfast, hmm?"
Lex smiled as he watched his two favorite women traipse toward the kitchen, still not sure why he'd been so lucky.
* * * * *
"Martha is here, sir," their housekeeper announced about fifteen minutes after Chloe had left for work.
Grinning, Lex stood up and marched into the foyer, Lena in his arms. Martha Kent--Clark's mother and recent widow--handed her light jacket to the doorman, then broke into a bright smile. "Lex," she said affectionately, greeting him with a warm hug.
"Hi, Martha. How's the crop doing?"
She rolled her eyes and exasperatedly blew a stream of air through her lips. "Ask me that in another month. I'm just glad that I could hire some local boys to help me; I don't know how Jonathan managed to run the whole farm by himself."
"He had Clark."
Shrugging, she nodded. Lex suddenly realized that her son was a subject of sadness for her. Of course he knew why: Clark was, in fact, Superman. "I believe this is yours for the next few hours," he exclaimed teasingly, passing Lena over after kissing her cheek.
"Hi, sweetie," Martha cooed, causing the girl to giggle.
"Daddy has to get some work done, but he'll have lunch with you, okay?" he told his daughter, aware that he had reverted to 'baby talk'. "I love you." To Martha he added, "thanks again. We really appreciate it."
The woman patted his cheek. "No problem; I need to do something all day. See you in a while."
He nodded, told her to have fun, then retreated back to the recesses of his office. "Let's see.." He opened his laptop and tapped a few keys, calling up a file of research.
"So if the meteor fragments caused Clark to react that way, then they must..." He mumbled to himself as he cross-referenced the typed document with several pages of hand-written notes.
When his cell phone rang shrilly a few seconds later, he jumped in surprise. It took him several seconds to locate the device--it had, apparently, been knocked on the floor--so, when he answered finally, he was out of breath from a rapid search. "Hello?"
"Lex Luthor?" a gravelly voice asked.
"Yes..." He almost asked who the caller was, but he knew better than that.
"Are you investigating Superman?"
That seemed to be an odd way of describing what it was Lex was doing, but he responded in the affirmative. "What do you want?"
"Your findings."
"No," he said emphatically.
The chuckle sounded devilish. "Oh, really? Then kiss your wife and daughter one last time, because you might never see them again." The call was ended before he could even react.
* * * * *
Lex had only been truly frightened a few times in his life. The first time was when his mother passed away due to complications with heart disease. The second time was when he thought Chloe, the only woman he'd ever loved, was ending their relationship all those years ago. The third time was when she went into labor. When he set down his phone, he added a fourth tally to his mental list.
He was shaking so badly that he didn't trust himself to stand. Instead, he banged his forehead against his desk, trying to make sense of the call. He wanted feverently to believe that the caller was simply some twisted psychopath who had a bizarre Superman obsession.
"That's not logical, Lex. They wouldn't threaten Chloe and Lena if they weren't serious. Or maybe they would. Damnit, what do I do?" He felt helpless; the sensation drove him crazy.
"I'm calling Chloe," he said to the framed photo of her and himself on their wedding day. They were grinning, arms around each other. He pressed the first 'speed dial' button--which was connected to her office--trying vainly to focus. "Hi, may I speak to Chloe Sullivan, please?" She had decided to keep using her maiden name at work, since she had been so well-known before their marriage.
"Just a minute." Musak began to blare in his ear, and he grinded his teeth together in annoyance.
It seemed to take hours, but someone finally picked up the phone. "Chloe Sullivan."
Any other time her concise, professional greeting would have made him smile. That day, he was too preoccupied. "Hi, honey." He tried to keep the nervousness out of his voice, but she picked up on it nevertheless.
"Lex," she greeted him, sounding a touch surprised. "What's up? Is everything okay?"
They had a completely honest relationship; they told each other absolutely everything. Still, he wasn't sure how much truth she could take. "Maybe. I got a threatening phone call today." Somehow, she knew exactly to what he was referring.
Her ashamed sigh traveled over the wires, making him feel guilty. She hated that he felt the need to hypothesize about Clark; she felt it was degrading and unfair. He'd said, before, that he would stop, but, of course, he couldn't. "I told you you would get yourself in trouble one of these days."
His ears and head burned with embarrassment. He loathed making her sad. "I'm sorry, Chloe," he whispered, and meant it.
"Well, maybe 'sorry' isn't good enough, Lex." Her voice was thick was anger. "I'm disappointed in you, to be honest; it's more than the simple fact that you're treating Clark like an experiment. You lied to me. I can not believe that--"
He cut her off. "Look, can we argue later? The important thing is that you and Lena might be in immediate danger. Can you come home?"
Silence.
"Clo?"
Papers rustled and her chair squeaked. "I'm on my way."
"Great. I love you."
The responding 'click' told him that she'd hung up.
* * * * *
Martha studied him, her forehead creased with worry. The spoon with which she was feeding Lena--Lex was too upset to do anything--hung, motionlessly, in the air. "I'm shocked."
Nodding, Lex buried his face in his hands. "Not only did I let down the woman I love, but I put her and our daughter in danger! I'm so sorry, Martha. If anything happens to Clark because of this, you can sue me or go to the police--"
Never before had she seen him so distraught. Her free hand stroked his back through the silky, black button down shirt he wore over khakis. "Lex, I trust you. Clark trusts you. Don't worry."
He met her kind smile with a forced one of his own, but then went back to frowning. "Chloe's never going to forgive me."
Clark's mother continued feeding strained carrots to Lex's daughter, talking to him over her shoulder. "Believe me, she will. You and I know as well as anyone that Chloe's always been dramatic; she just needs to think about this a little more." A pause as she encouraged the girl to eat more. "I'm not saying that I condone what you're doing--"
Wincing, he felt his ears grow pink with embarrassment. "I'm sorry."
"--but I understand. Clark might be a little peeved, but he's basically accepted that you're curious about him. In other words: don't worry. Everything will work out in the end."
Talking with Martha never failed to make him feel better, and that time was no exception. "Okay. Thank you for listening."
She squeezed his hand quickly and smiled. "Anytime."
The front door slammed and someone rushed toward the bright dining room. When Lex saw the worry on his wife's face, he leapt up from the table and embraced her. Martha watched as the pair whispered together, overhearing the words, 'relax', 'threat', 'okay', 'handling it'. She politely turned back to her charge, not wanting to eavesdrop completely.
Chloe pulled out the chair next to Martha's and sank onto its cushion. "Hi, Martha." Her usually glowing face was tired.
"Hi, Chloe. It's good to see you again. Your due date's getting close, right?"
Glancing down at her stomach, the reporter smiled slightly. "Yeah. Sometime in the next two months, thankfully. I don't understand how some women can actually enjoy giving birth multiple times." She rolled her eyes.
Lex rested his hands on her shoulders, grinning down at her. "You were the one who wanted another baby."
Crossing her eyes at her husband, she stuck out her tongue, causing Martha to be reminded of what Chloe was like in her youth. "Next time I say something so obviously insane, tell me shut up."
He winked and leaned over to kiss her. Martha assumed that their little argument was finished.
"So, Martha, you can leave now, if you want," Chloe said brightly, when she playfully pushed her husband away. "But you're always welcome to stay for dinner."
The older woman pondered her choices for a second before smiling at the couple. "I could use the company, if you're sure that's all right."
"Martha," Lex replied with a dramatic sigh, "we've been over this..." He trailed off with a warm smile.
She laughed. "I know, I just don't want to--" She cut herself off when he held up a silencing hand. "You guys are so good to me."
Chloe stood and threw her arms around Martha's shoulders in a backwards hug. "After the way you took care of us when Clark and I were younger, it's only what you deserve."
"Tell you what--" Martha stood and kissed Lena's head before handing her to Chloe. "I'll go get something cooking." She rubbed her palms together and grinned. "It's so great to be needed again." She scurried in the direction of the kitchen, leaving Chloe and Lex to smile at her enthusiasm.
The pair was quiet for several minutes; Chloe played with their daughter, and Lex found himself studying her. "I understand that you're angry," he began.
She tilted her head back so she could see him while they talked. "Didn't we just make up?"
Licking his lips, he perched on the seat next to hers. "Yes, but if we don't discuss what happened..." He held out his hand so Lena could grab his finger.
"Sweetheart, like Martha said, I'll forgive you. I'm just sad."
He sighed. "I know. I was a pompous jacka--" He censored himself when he noticed that their daughter was gaping at him. "-jerk for not thinking about the repercussions of my investigation." After a second's thought, he added, "how do you know what Martha said to me?"
She raised her eyebrows and smirked. "The first rule of investigative reporting: eavesdrop whenever possible."
Her husband laughed. "You're incorrigible."
"One of the myriad things you absolutely adore about me, right?" She batted her eyelashes playfully.
He pretended to mull it over. "Well, all right."
Her face suddenly grew serious. "So, what are we going to do about this psychopath?"
Frowning, he crossed his arms. "'We'?"
Her eyes flashed with defiance as she rested the girl's head against her shoulder. "Alexander Joseph Luthor: if you think I'm just going to sit on my butt while you figure out who's behind this, then you don't know me as well as you think you do."
He had to stifle a laugh; he decided that she was the greatest person to ever exist in the history of the universe. "Believe me, Clo, I know you want to do this more than anything; that's why I almost didn't tell you about the call. I just don't want you to put yourself in danger. I would never forgive myself if that as-" He glanced at his daughter. "-that pig were to hurt you." His hand drifted to her cheek.
"Lex," she said firmly, resting her hand on his. "I wouldn't be a reporter if I didn't like living dangerously. Besides, where's the fun in letting my beloved husband be the hero? I love you more than anything, but I want--"
He moved his hand to her lips, quieting what would become her familiar, 'I am woman, hear me roar', rant. "I should've known better than to say that." He chuckled when she nodded emphatically. "I love you."
"Can I talk now?" she mumbled against his hand.
"No." He kissed her for several moments. They broke apart, staring deeply into each other's eyes. It certainly wasn't the first time that she'd decided that Lex was the most perfectly flawed man on the face of the planet.
"You're beautiful, Lex," she whispered.
Running a hand over his perpetually bald head, he replied. "I know."
She wrinkled her nose. "You just totally ruined my romantic line."
"And I apologize from the bottom of my heart." He winked, making her grin. "Should we consider the 'psycho caller' matter closed for now?"
Martha shouted that dinner was prepared, so Chloe fastened a sleepy Lena back into her high chair, then grabbed her husband's hands and pulled him to his feet. "It's closed entirely. I'm helping you, and that's that."
"Yes'm," he said quickly, following his wife into the kitchen. It still amazed him how Chloe managed to make him change his mind; no one ever had before, as he'd inherited the Luthor's penchant for stubbornness. She's more stubborn that I am, he mused, while admiring the quick meal Martha had whipped together.
Over baked chicken, flavored mashed potatoes, and corn, the couple didn't say anything more about that morning's incident. Instead, they simply enjoyed each other. Lex decided that there was no way Chloe could ever fathom just how much he loved and worshipped her. Sometimes it still frightened him how quickly and deeply he'd fallen for her.
"Sexy Lexy? You with me?" When he snapped back to reality, he found her waving her fork in front of his face and smirking.
He frowned. "What did you call me?"
"I called you 'Sexy Lexy', darling," she shot back, completely deadpan. Her expression faltered, and she burst out laughing, when he made a face.
"Did you just....make that up?" Lex asked, bewildered.
"Sadly, no. When I was wasting time at the Beanery a few months ago, I heard a bunch of teenage girls talking about you. That's, apparently, their nickname for you. I think it's fitting."
Focusing on his daughter who was watching the exchange with interest from her high chair, he picked up a corn kernel. "Watch, sweetie; Daddy has perfected the art of food-throwing. Remember this whenever a boy gives you trouble." He flicked the piece of food across the table and smiled smugly when it bounced off his amused wife's nose.
"That was good," she replied, straight-faced, before dipping her fingers in her potatoes and flinging them back at him.
"Screw great-grandmother's tablecloth," he announced when her projectile landed in the middle of his freshly-pressed shirt. "This is a battle." His own potatoes were next.
If Martha heard the commotion or noticed that the food she'd worked hard to prepare was being thrown around the room, she made no indication.
Ten minutes later, Chloe ducked an ice cube that he'd fished out of his water glass, and hurtled into the kitchen. Not even noticing that Martha was no longer sitting at kitchen counter eating her own dinner--the woman refused to join the Luthors in the dining room--she returned to the other room with a container of chocolate syrup and a can of whipped cream. She tossed the former to her husband, then noticed that they weren't alone.
"I'll put her to bed," Martha said with a wink, gingerly pulling Lena out of her chair. "I think I might stay the night, if that's okay." Chloe nodded. "Thanks a ton, Martha. Of course you can stay."
She bounced over and gave her daughter a huge hug; she hadn't been spending as much time as she would have liked with her, but Chloe planned to rectify that situation over the weekend. "I love you, pumpkin," she cooed.
Setting his own weapon on the table, Lex gave his daughter a kiss and rubbed his nose against hers. "See you in the morning, cutie-pie." She made a gurgly noise in response, causing her parents to grin.
"Have fun," Martha said, softly closing the huge double doors behind her.
Chloe passed the can dramatically between her hands, narrowing her eyes at her husband. "Oh, we will have fun."
"This is one battle you're not going to win," he shot back, aiming the bottle. "Ha!" She squirted some whipped cream onto her palm and flung it at him. He responded by squeezing chocolate syrup on his finger tips and smearing it on her face.
The 'food fight' went on for another forty-five minutes before they retreated to their ominously large bedroom. After changing into pajamas, the couple laid down in bed and slept next to each other for the first time in months.
* * * * *
The ear-splitting sound of breaking glass came around two-thirty in the morning. Lex bolted awake and raced out of the bedroom. Maybe it was parental instinct, but something made him check his daughter's room before going downstairs.
Glass from the nursery's single, wall-length window lay in a ragged pile on the floor and in the crib. The. Empty. Crib.
"Lena," Lex whispered, his legs frozen from fear. "LENA!" He tried to stay calm, but the grief he suddenly felt was staggering.
Bare feet slapping against the hard wood floors, quieting when they reached the Oriental rugs. Chloe bounded into the room, instantly noticed the broken window, and burst into hysterical tears. "My BABY!" she shrieked, banging her fists against her husband's bare chest when he tried to hold her. "Where the HELL did those psychos take my baby?"
Martha was next to the distraught couple in a second, her arms around both of them. She could offer no words of comfort, as they were just that: words. Cold, empty words. And so the three adults could do nothing but stand in the middle of the nursery and hold each other.
"I'll call the police," Lex whispered. He knew that he should have done that immediately, but he hadn't been thinking. As he stepped into the hallway with his cell phone, he berated himself: Those...those bastards could be halfway across the country with our daughter by now. In a flash of clarity, he fully understood his father's rule against crying. Grieving gets you no where.
"Hello, nine-one-one emergency. How can I help you?"
* * * * *
Chloe couldn't stop shivering, despite the grossly-expensive central heating system in the manor. She sank into the tan couch that stood in the middle of the Luthors' rarely-used living room. The walls were painted a bright yellow with off-white trim, and there were several pieces of cream-colored furniture to match. The cheerfulness annoyed her more than the fact that the color-scheme was the same as the one in the nursery.
Martha wrapped a blanket around the younger woman's shoulders, then sat down. Instantly, Chloe buried her face against Martha's shoulder. "Breathe, Chloe. Breathe."
Somehow, Chloe had been holding her breath since the police had arrived. She couldn't wait to find out if they knew something, anything, to get her baby back. So far, they were simply getting Lex's statement. "My baby," the blonde woman whispered, facing her friend and sighing. "Will they find my baby, Martha?" There were no more tears; only a deep, endless pit in the base of her stomach. The sensation was already spreading throughout her body, and the horrifying incident had only occurred an hour before.
"I don't know, sweetie," Martha whispered, rubbing Chloe's back in a motherly gesture. She knew that the latter had never had a mother in her life, and, thus, was determined to be emotionally there for her. In tragic times, mothers give comfort as best they can; Martha was going to say and do whatever she could for the woman that she still saw as a bouncy, brash fifteen year old girl.
"..Missus Luthor, Missus Kent? We'll need your statement." a male officer--whose nametag read, 'Smithee'--said gently, his pen poised over his notepad. He was young, tall, dark, and handsome. Chloe couldn't help but compare him to Clark.
Chloe opened and closed her mouth, but no sounds came out. Thankfully, Smithee appeared sympathetic. He smiled in compassion. "I understand this is hard for you. Take your time and tell me what you can, when you're ready." He even sounded like Clark.
Superman...where are you? "I can't tell you anything! I didn't see anything! My daughter is gone, and that's all I can say! What more do you want?" She broke from Martha's calming hug and began to pace across the blue Oriental rug. "Shouldn't you be doing something?" she snapped at the unfazed cop.
Before she could complete a second rotation of the floor, her husband grabbed her shoulders and stared at her firmly. "Chloe!" The edge in his voice made her stop in her tracks. "We need to keep it together. Okay?"
Covering her trembling mouth with her shaking hand in order to stifle a sob, she nodded. She let him kiss her forehead tenderly, before she looked Officer Smithee straight in the eye. "Sir, as my husband said, we were awakened around two-thirty when the nursery window was broken. We investigated immediately, but we neither saw nor heard anything else. I apologize for freaking out."
Lex wrapped his arms around her from behind and rested his chin on top of her head. He was proud of her for controlling her outbursts; she always had been, and always would be, extremely vocal and stubborn, where he was disciplined. He'd needed years of practice to keep his temper in check, and he still worked on it. She, however, had only begun to calm down when she worked for the Ledger; he remembered that, at the very beginning of their relationship, she used her snarky, sarcastic opinions as a defense-mechanism. He was pleased to notice that, once they fell in love, she seemed to not need those defenses as frequently.
"That's perfectly understandable, ma'am, given the situation," the officer said gently. He motioned to his partners who, until then, had kept perfectly quiet. "My men will need photos of your little girl to show during tonight's newscast. Are you both absolutely sure that no other strange events have occurred recently?" He seemed to want them to have skeletons in the closet; such is the curse of being a Luthor.
It crossed Lex's mind to mention the phone call, but he knew the police wouldn't do anything about it. In fact, he'd only called them in first place for Chloe's benefit; he himself had other ways of dealing with threats against his family. "No, officer, I can't think of anything else."
"Missus Luthor?"
Chloe had, apparently, also recalled the phone call. She frowned up at her husband, but he imperceptively shook his head. "No, sir."
"Missus Kent?"
Martha, having had given her quick statement when Chloe finished with hers, shook her head from her spot on the couch. "No."
The three gentlemen tipped their hats and accepted several photos of Lena from one of the servants, who had taken it upon herself to look for them without being asked. "Very well, then. We'll show these on the news and canvas the area with them. If you think of anything else," he extended his card- "here's the number of our precinct. Ask for me."
Taking the card, Lex set his jaw. "Thank you, gentlemen."
"Certainly. Good day."
Good friggin day to you, too, Lex thought evilly. Once the trio was in their various squad cars, he tore the little piece of cardboard in half and tossed it on the floor.
"Lex!" Chloe shrieked. "Why did you do that?"
His careful, self-controlled wall was slipping every so slowly. "Clo, you know we have private detectives for things like this," he reminded her quietly, tucking a strand of wave blonde hair behind her ear.
She slapped him across the face, causing Martha to gasp. Lex blinked, his gaping mouth revealing that he was shocked. "I don't believe you, Alexander Joseph Luthor!" Chloe shouted. Any other time, in any other circumstance, her use of his full name would have made him laugh. "We spend who-knows-how-long talking to the three most incompetent men to ever live in Smallville, and you wait until after they leave to remind me that you have a detective on your speed dial? Our daughter is coming closer and closer to her untimely demise, and you call the police when we have a detective? What are you thinking?"
"I did it for you, Clo!" He kept his voice as stable as he could. It wouldn't do to have them both angry. "I thought you'd be less worried if I called the police instead of..." He trailed off when he realized how utterly pathetic his excuse was. After all, he'd never called the police before. As soon as something went wrong, his detective was the first person he called. But that time...
"Lex," she groaned, covering her face with her hands and jerking away from his touch. "Do you care at all that those psychos have our daughter? Or is it too much to ask for you to think about something other than yourself for once?"
She wanted to take the words back as soon as she said them. His eyes flashed, but he stood firm. "Martha," he said softly, "could you excuse us for a second?"
Sensing the looming fight, Martha gladly headed for the stairs. "I'll be in the guest suite if you need anything."
"I'm sorry, Lex. I spoke without thinking," Chloe whispered once they were alone. "I never should have said that to you." She instinctively flinched as he raised his hand, but relaxed when he rested it on her lower back.
The gesture surprised him; he would never, ever even think of touching his wife and daughter in any sort of harmful way. Yet, she seemed to think he would. Even when I pledge my undying love and devotion for her, Chloe still subconsciously thinks of me as a 'Luthor' and not 'Lex'. It was a stretch, but he believed it was true. The thought made him sad.
"I should call our detective," he said in his normal speaking voice, trying vainly to pretend that the whole exchange had never happened. "I've been wasting valuable time." He knew he shouldn't have added the last part, but it had occurred to him that he was reacting when he should've been acting.
I just put my daughter in even more danger by being a slave to my temper. How does Chloe live with me? He pressed the second speed dial button on his ever-present cell phone. It rang twice before a deep voice answered,
"Hello?"
Relief flooded Lex's tense body at the sound of the man who, he dearly hoped, could bring their joy back. "Kyle. It's Lex Luthor. Our daughter was kidnapped, and we need you to find her."
"That's what I'm here for, Lex. Did you talk to the police?" Kyle was always ready to do whatever was asked of him. Lex admired him for that.
Chloe was back to her nervous pacing, Lex noticed out of the corner of his eye. This time he would do nothing to stop her. "Yes, we just got finished speaking with three officers who were...less than comforting."
"That figures," Kyle rumbled. "I'll be right over. Stay calm."
"See you soon."
* * * * *
Kyle was a tall, reed-thin man with an imposing voice, long black hair that was pulled back in a tight ponytail, and harsh green eyes. When he shook Chloe's hand, his grip was strong. Despite his fierce appearance, Chloe instantly felt safe around him. He exuded an air of trust and support.
She didn't have much to contribute to the conversation; Lex, bless him, was handling everything. The couple had already realized that, by showing their daughter's picture on TV, they could put her in graver peril; it would alert the kidnappers that the police were on to them. Kyle had connections in the police force, and was going to get the entire story pulled from that evening's news.
"We don't want the public to find out that your daughter is missing; you're sure to get 'copycats' who'll pretend to be these people just to get ransom money from you. It's best this way." He glanced at Chloe who was curled up on the sofa, a mug of freshly brewed tea in her hands. "I'll do everything in my power to find Lena. You have my word."
She managed a smile, then stood up again. "I believe you, Kyle. We're prepared to help however we can." Her hand clenched in Lex's, and he bent over to kiss her lips quickly. He was impressed that she managed to remain collected, even though it was obvious that she was ready to hurt someone.
"We'll start by tapping your cell phone, Lex; without a voice or any other concrete evidence, there's not much else I can do. You're certain to get a ransom call within a day or so." He held out his hand and Lex placed the phone in his palm.
"What should we do if we get a call?" Chloe spoke up.
Kyle answered as he dug through his briefcase and began to work on the phone. "Keep the person talking as long as you can. If they ask you anything at all, be extremely vague with your answers; people like the ones we're dealing with like to bait their victims; get them to say things that they'll throw back at them later. If they ask for money--"
"We'll give them anything!" Lex interjected, his calm facade slipping a bit more.
"Except your research," Chloe countered sarcastically.
"This isn't my fault, Clo," he said firmly, almost as though he was trying to convince himself as well as his wife.
"I didn't say it was," she shot back.
The cell phone was finished, and Lex slipped it back into his pocket. "Is there anything else you can do at this time, Kyle?"
The detective sighed. "I wish there was. You didn't see or hear anyone, you don't have any threatening notes...other than checking out the nursery in the off-chance a note blew away or something, there's nothing to be done until you get another phone call." He saw Lex's breath catch and he repeated, "you will get another call."
The rest of the evening went by in a haze. Chloe remembered sitting down to dinner with Kyle--who wanted to stay for a few days to watch over things--Lex, and Martha; she remembered passing by the nursery and wanting to check on Lena; she remembered hugging and kissing her husband; she remembered apologizing for snapping at him; she remembered him saying that he understood and wasn't angry; she remembered him saying that he loved her, and then herself returning the words; she remembered falling asleep wrapped in Lex's embrace.
What she didn't remember was how anything felt.
******