Abaris' Arrow
by linda-seton
With a blue water bottle pressed to his wounded cheek, Lex flips through Gabe Sullivan's personnel file. The intercom on his desk buzzes and without looking up from the papers he presses the speak button.
"Yes."
"A Ms. Sullivan is asking to see you, sir." A man's voice crackles in response.
"Send her in." Lex straightens and places the bottle on his desk. He reconsiders and drops it in the trash basket. Then he buries Gabe's file under a stack of EPA reports.
The door of his office eases open and Chloe Sullivan, gaze deliberately fixed on the floor, enters the office. Something in the bag she wears slung across her shoulder seems to be causing her to list a little to the left as she walks toward Lex.
Chloe reaches the desk, squares her shoulders and curls her slapping hand against her stomach. "I'm sorry that I hit you." She lifts her chin and meets his gaze.
Lex glances down at his own hands. "I know that I should have been at that meeting instead of your father. And I should have made it very clear to him to stay at hotel in Metropolis."
"Hold it. Hold it." She shakes her head. "None of this is your fault. None of it." Her voice quavers and she fights down tears, "You're actually the victim in this piece so there's no reason to blame yourself for anything. I'm sorry."
She heaves her bag off her shoulder and upends it. The contents slide across the desk with a soft whoosh of paper and a clatter, clatter, clatter of tapes.
A photo of Lex making a less than polite gesture in the direction of the camera falls just at the young man's fingertips. He swallows, hard, and goes completely still.
Half asleep, Chloe begins to collect her personal belonging – lip gloss, a couple of tampons, pens, various cards and a roll of packing tape – from the arrest reports and tabloid photos. She feels as if she is moving in slow motion. She reaches for her library card and her fingers just brush the side of Lex's hand.
The contact breaks the man out of his trance.
Swinging up and out of the chair, Lex shoves the massive mahogany desk with enough force to cause it to stutter a few inches across the floor. In the low light of the room his eyes seem completely black.
Chloe takes half a step back. He moves around the desk and closes ground. She slides around the side of the desk. She prefers having at least one corner between them.
"Where did you get this?" His voice has an odd breathy quality to it.
"Roger Nixon's ex-wife." Chloe explains. Lex pales and she offers, "Maybe you should sit down."
Without seeming to move at all, he sweeps a dozen or so tapes off the desk. A few connect with Chloe's arms and mid-section before deflecting off and scraping across the floor.
She stifles a yelp and scurries around to the back of the desk.
Lex struggles for control and after a deep breath, "What do you want?"
"What?"
"What do you want?" Each syllable is louder than the previous.
"Want? I don't want anything." Chloe tries to make her exhausted brain work and she regroups. "Actually, I do want something. I want you to accept my apology for marching through your personal life."
"How charming. Without a second thought, without a first thought, you rashly rush into something. You acquire the most intimate detail of my life and then actually want me to believe that all you want is to be forgiven. How much money do you think the tabloids would pay a novice reporter for this?" He sends more tapes flying.
Chloe holds her ground. "Rash? Maybe so. But I think I'd rather be rash than what you're accusing me of being. I'm not calculating." Angry, she moves a few steps toward Lex and forces him back. "I'm not like that. I'm not Roger Nixon."
She strides forward and Lex slides around the desk.
"What did Roger Nixon want, Lex?"
"Nothing that should concern you."
"And now that Nixon's dead no one has to concern themselves with him at all." Chloe offers with a voice that ultimately cracks and goes soft.
A vein throbbing in his temple, Lex stalks forward. "You think I killed Nixon to save myself? And you thought I knew about the tapes and tried to have your father killed?"
"Yes," Chloe swallows.
"What kind of man do you think I am? Oh, wait, you went through all the psychological data available on the subject and now you've come to the conclusion that I'm some monster."
"No. I don't think you're a monster…"
"But you thought I tried to hurt Gabe?"
His voice drops and he moves closer.
Chloe holds her ground and tries to string together the last few hours in some coherent way. "I told Clark I had the tapes. I thought he told you about them. Somebody broke into my house last night looking for the tapes. I managed to drive him off…"
"You were attacked in your home?" Lex takes another half-step closer.
Uncomfortable with the proximity and what she has to say, Chloe musses her hair. "By Jonathan Kent."
There is the type of silence that might have preceded the creation of the universe. Lex finally manages, "What?"
"After you left the hospital I saw Mr. Kent. He had bruises that I would have left on whomever was in the house." Chloe pauses and almost laughs. "I'm sure if you ask Clark he'll tell you it was a tractor accident."
"Clark? Clark was here earlier." Lex leans against his desk and half-smiles. "He was trying to tell me about his overprotective father."
Without really acknowledging the statement Chloe begins to gather the tapes and documents that seem to flow in waves across the tile.
Lex considers the situation as Chloe works. The only sound in the room is the dull shuffle of the papers against the floor. She finally retrieves everything and cautiously places the items on the desk.
She turns to face Lex and her stomach growls. Nervous, she murmurs, "to have gone with his arrow all round the world without once eating. Oh, sorry…"
"Abaris with his arrow?" Lex smirks. "It's a little unnerving to have had someone with a good memory go through one's life."
"I could apologize again but I'm figuring you're probably getting tired of hearing it."
Lex makes the slightest of sounds. "Did you know that Abaris' arrow was a gift from Apollo? A gift of light and healing and knowledge." Lex moves around to face Chloe. "Ultimately, the Gods set the arrow in the heavens where it became known as Cupid's Arrow. A symbol of passion and loss of control."
"The Greek's balancing act?"
"Exactly. It's all about finding the proper balance between the head and the heart." He speaks in a strained but slightly lighter tone, "Or in our case finding a balance between my wanting to kill you and you not wanting to be killed."
Chloe stifles a giggle. "I'm sorry. I'm sleepy and hungry and guilty." She clamps her hand over her mouth.
"Do you want to know what we're going to do, Chloe?"
She shakes her head 'yes'.
"We're not going to do anything." Lex turns in a half-circle and then back. "Jonathan Kent obviously wanted the tapes so he could have some sense of power over me. And Clark…"
"Clueless?" Chloe asks.
"That goes without saying."
"So, you're just going to pretend that nothing has happened?"
"I know what it's like to have an insane parent. And I think you're likely to torture yourself more effectively than I ever could."
"Thanks."
The two lapse into silence.
Chloe straightens and shoulders her bag. "I should go. I'll just tell Clark that I destroyed all the tapes and I never saw you about it." She exhales. "And I am sorry." Without losing eye contact with Lex, she backs toward the door. With an ungraceful turn and a soft thud of bag against door facing, Chloe is gone.
Lex sighs. He hates the fact that the only thing he can do is sit still and wait. Jonathan Kent? All he can do is try to keep out of the man's path. Chloe? It would be like cutting the wings off a butterfly. His father would enjoy it, which is reason enough for Lex just to leave the girl alone.
He looks at the pile of documents and tapes on his desk. Five years of his life. He returns to his desk chair and drops down. Without really looking he chooses a tape and slides it into the player on his desk.
His voice, younger and irritated, explains, "Yes, my name is Alexander Luthor and I don't know why I'm here…"
The End
by linda-seton
With a blue water bottle pressed to his wounded cheek, Lex flips through Gabe Sullivan's personnel file. The intercom on his desk buzzes and without looking up from the papers he presses the speak button.
"Yes."
"A Ms. Sullivan is asking to see you, sir." A man's voice crackles in response.
"Send her in." Lex straightens and places the bottle on his desk. He reconsiders and drops it in the trash basket. Then he buries Gabe's file under a stack of EPA reports.
The door of his office eases open and Chloe Sullivan, gaze deliberately fixed on the floor, enters the office. Something in the bag she wears slung across her shoulder seems to be causing her to list a little to the left as she walks toward Lex.
Chloe reaches the desk, squares her shoulders and curls her slapping hand against her stomach. "I'm sorry that I hit you." She lifts her chin and meets his gaze.
Lex glances down at his own hands. "I know that I should have been at that meeting instead of your father. And I should have made it very clear to him to stay at hotel in Metropolis."
"Hold it. Hold it." She shakes her head. "None of this is your fault. None of it." Her voice quavers and she fights down tears, "You're actually the victim in this piece so there's no reason to blame yourself for anything. I'm sorry."
She heaves her bag off her shoulder and upends it. The contents slide across the desk with a soft whoosh of paper and a clatter, clatter, clatter of tapes.
A photo of Lex making a less than polite gesture in the direction of the camera falls just at the young man's fingertips. He swallows, hard, and goes completely still.
Half asleep, Chloe begins to collect her personal belonging – lip gloss, a couple of tampons, pens, various cards and a roll of packing tape – from the arrest reports and tabloid photos. She feels as if she is moving in slow motion. She reaches for her library card and her fingers just brush the side of Lex's hand.
The contact breaks the man out of his trance.
Swinging up and out of the chair, Lex shoves the massive mahogany desk with enough force to cause it to stutter a few inches across the floor. In the low light of the room his eyes seem completely black.
Chloe takes half a step back. He moves around the desk and closes ground. She slides around the side of the desk. She prefers having at least one corner between them.
"Where did you get this?" His voice has an odd breathy quality to it.
"Roger Nixon's ex-wife." Chloe explains. Lex pales and she offers, "Maybe you should sit down."
Without seeming to move at all, he sweeps a dozen or so tapes off the desk. A few connect with Chloe's arms and mid-section before deflecting off and scraping across the floor.
She stifles a yelp and scurries around to the back of the desk.
Lex struggles for control and after a deep breath, "What do you want?"
"What?"
"What do you want?" Each syllable is louder than the previous.
"Want? I don't want anything." Chloe tries to make her exhausted brain work and she regroups. "Actually, I do want something. I want you to accept my apology for marching through your personal life."
"How charming. Without a second thought, without a first thought, you rashly rush into something. You acquire the most intimate detail of my life and then actually want me to believe that all you want is to be forgiven. How much money do you think the tabloids would pay a novice reporter for this?" He sends more tapes flying.
Chloe holds her ground. "Rash? Maybe so. But I think I'd rather be rash than what you're accusing me of being. I'm not calculating." Angry, she moves a few steps toward Lex and forces him back. "I'm not like that. I'm not Roger Nixon."
She strides forward and Lex slides around the desk.
"What did Roger Nixon want, Lex?"
"Nothing that should concern you."
"And now that Nixon's dead no one has to concern themselves with him at all." Chloe offers with a voice that ultimately cracks and goes soft.
A vein throbbing in his temple, Lex stalks forward. "You think I killed Nixon to save myself? And you thought I knew about the tapes and tried to have your father killed?"
"Yes," Chloe swallows.
"What kind of man do you think I am? Oh, wait, you went through all the psychological data available on the subject and now you've come to the conclusion that I'm some monster."
"No. I don't think you're a monster…"
"But you thought I tried to hurt Gabe?"
His voice drops and he moves closer.
Chloe holds her ground and tries to string together the last few hours in some coherent way. "I told Clark I had the tapes. I thought he told you about them. Somebody broke into my house last night looking for the tapes. I managed to drive him off…"
"You were attacked in your home?" Lex takes another half-step closer.
Uncomfortable with the proximity and what she has to say, Chloe musses her hair. "By Jonathan Kent."
There is the type of silence that might have preceded the creation of the universe. Lex finally manages, "What?"
"After you left the hospital I saw Mr. Kent. He had bruises that I would have left on whomever was in the house." Chloe pauses and almost laughs. "I'm sure if you ask Clark he'll tell you it was a tractor accident."
"Clark? Clark was here earlier." Lex leans against his desk and half-smiles. "He was trying to tell me about his overprotective father."
Without really acknowledging the statement Chloe begins to gather the tapes and documents that seem to flow in waves across the tile.
Lex considers the situation as Chloe works. The only sound in the room is the dull shuffle of the papers against the floor. She finally retrieves everything and cautiously places the items on the desk.
She turns to face Lex and her stomach growls. Nervous, she murmurs, "to have gone with his arrow all round the world without once eating. Oh, sorry…"
"Abaris with his arrow?" Lex smirks. "It's a little unnerving to have had someone with a good memory go through one's life."
"I could apologize again but I'm figuring you're probably getting tired of hearing it."
Lex makes the slightest of sounds. "Did you know that Abaris' arrow was a gift from Apollo? A gift of light and healing and knowledge." Lex moves around to face Chloe. "Ultimately, the Gods set the arrow in the heavens where it became known as Cupid's Arrow. A symbol of passion and loss of control."
"The Greek's balancing act?"
"Exactly. It's all about finding the proper balance between the head and the heart." He speaks in a strained but slightly lighter tone, "Or in our case finding a balance between my wanting to kill you and you not wanting to be killed."
Chloe stifles a giggle. "I'm sorry. I'm sleepy and hungry and guilty." She clamps her hand over her mouth.
"Do you want to know what we're going to do, Chloe?"
She shakes her head 'yes'.
"We're not going to do anything." Lex turns in a half-circle and then back. "Jonathan Kent obviously wanted the tapes so he could have some sense of power over me. And Clark…"
"Clueless?" Chloe asks.
"That goes without saying."
"So, you're just going to pretend that nothing has happened?"
"I know what it's like to have an insane parent. And I think you're likely to torture yourself more effectively than I ever could."
"Thanks."
The two lapse into silence.
Chloe straightens and shoulders her bag. "I should go. I'll just tell Clark that I destroyed all the tapes and I never saw you about it." She exhales. "And I am sorry." Without losing eye contact with Lex, she backs toward the door. With an ungraceful turn and a soft thud of bag against door facing, Chloe is gone.
Lex sighs. He hates the fact that the only thing he can do is sit still and wait. Jonathan Kent? All he can do is try to keep out of the man's path. Chloe? It would be like cutting the wings off a butterfly. His father would enjoy it, which is reason enough for Lex just to leave the girl alone.
He looks at the pile of documents and tapes on his desk. Five years of his life. He returns to his desk chair and drops down. Without really looking he chooses a tape and slides it into the player on his desk.
His voice, younger and irritated, explains, "Yes, my name is Alexander Luthor and I don't know why I'm here…"
The End