Smallville Amor Vincit Omnia

**A/N: I don't watch Smallville anymore, haven't since the end of Season 7, so this is an AU beyond that point.**

_**Disclaimer: All characters belong to Millar Gough Inc, DC Comics, and other important people that aren't me!**_

Amor Vincit Omnia

Initially when she woke, all memory of what had occurred was gone. For a few seconds, Chloe assumed she was asleep in her own bed and would open her eyes to the morning's light trickling in through her window. It took just a few moments more for her to realise this was not the case at all.

The light was indeed bright enough to make her wince when her eyes finally opened, but it was far too stark and white to be the sun. The bed beneath her body was too rigid to be her own, and somehow the air did not feel the same as it came too quickly in and out of her lungs. She couldn't afford to panic, but then when Chloe eased herself up to a sitting position, she knew she no longer needed to.

Though the room around her was not her own, it could well be mistaken for that very same place. Each detail was precise, from the bed linen surrounding her to the paper on the walls, the furnishings of the living room and kitchen she could see beyond the bedroom door. In short, it was an almost perfect replica of the apartment she'd called home these past few years.

A slight frown marred her features and a hand went to her head as she felt a little woozy. How exactly she had ended up here was vague and uncertain. The last coherent thought she could conjure was getting in the back of the cab with Lois, going out to lunch as they often did together. They never arrived wherever they were headed, at least Chloe knew she hadn't.

Swinging her legs over the side of the bed, she took a moment to steady her still fully-clothed form, before placing her feet on the ground. Almost immediately, she heard the front door open and looked up sharply to see a large-shouldered suited man enter. A gun was clearly strapped beneath the jacket he wore, and he meant business, of that Chloe was certain.

"Where is he?" she asked, as he stood there in what passed for her bedroom doorway, though she knew very well it was not.

The caveman in a too-tight suit remained stoic and silent as she stared at him.

"Come on, Jeeves" she snapped at him, not at all phased as she got to her feet and fought the nauseous feeling that rose in her throat, "I'm not playing the whole 'take me to your leader' thing" she told him as she pulled herself up to her full height, short as it was, "You don't scare me, and we both know that. It's not what you're here for anyway. Now tell me where _he_ is" she said again, more forcefully.

"Chloe" her name in his voice, it had been so long since she'd heard it so calmly spoken and in a moment her eyes searched around the bodyguard for the man she had wanted to see from the beginning.

"I knew it" she smiled in spite of herself as he whispered something to the guard and the ape took up his post by the front door, out of sight and out of mind for Chloe now, "It had to be you" she said as her apparent kidnapper stood right there before her, bold as brass and twice as handsome if it were possible, "How have you been, Lex?"

"Dead, apparently" he told her candidly.

"I'm guessing that makes two of us" she sighed as she glanced around her surroundings, the very facsimile of the world she'd left behind.

"Well, that all depends" said Lex, without much explanation for now, "We have a lot to talk about"

"Agreed" she nodded once, though her finger moved to halt his lips when they dared to move again, "Soon" she told him, moving her hand from his face only when she was sure he would not speak, her fingers trailing from his shoulder down the length of his arm and away, "Give me a minute to bask" she smiled as she took in the sight of him.

For a dead man, Lex Luthor looked stunningly well. Pale perhaps, but he had always been that way inclined. Clearly he'd kept in shape somehow and not suffered so very much despite all he had been through. Yes, he was every inch the man Chloe had fallen in love with long ago, gone was every trace of the parasite that had controlled him these past years, this she knew the moment her eyes met his and he smiled.

"When you were gone, I told myself it was for the best" she told him then, "Not having you there at all was better than living with what you became..."

"Chloe" he said with a slight shake of his head, believing that since she was now speaking, perhaps he was permitted to do the same, "There's so much I need to explain"

"I doubt there's much I didn't already figure out on my own, Lex" she assured him, "It was Zod, wasn't it?"

Though he did not answer her question, the way he could no longer meet her eyes or even face her at all told Chloe all she needed to know. He was ashamed of the things he had done, so many unforgivable things, at least they might have been if he had committed each crime. No, he had lost control, and not like a person bound for an asylum or prison might. Something, or rather some_one_, took him over. A small piece at a time, but it was enough, and Chloe watched the man she loved slowly become a monster she loathed.

It wasn't Lex, and she told herself that fact every day, but he felt the guilt of the crimes his body and infected mind had committed, as she knew he must each and every time he found a moments clarity. Now he was back, fully aware and here before her, alive in spite of everything he had been through. She was certain he must have already spent plenty of the time from then to now feeling so very ashamed of all he had appeared to do.

"I'm so sorry, Chloe" he told her as he turned back and forced himself to meet her eyes again, tears already trickling from his own.

She shook her head to tell him that none of it mattered to her, that she understood. She wanted him to know but the lump in her throat refused to shift. At a loss for any other way to express herself, Chloe threw herself forward, wrapping her arms tight around his neck and pulling him close to her. He hugged her back, clinging to her body as if she were the rock that would keep him from drowning in fear and guilt and tears too numerous to mention.

These past weeks, he had missed nothing of the world he'd been taken from, nothing but her. Immediately he knew his new life was not worth living without Chloe at his side, the only one who might just understand him, believe in him, after all that had come before. Still, fear dwelled within him, worry gnawed at his insides until today, the moment when he walked into the room and saw her smile. He had prayed to whomever would listen that she would understand, and somehow she did.

"You have no idea how much I missed you" she said, words muffled just a little against his shoulder, "And I don't just mean since the Fortress" she explained, pulling away so he could see her face, not blotchy and damp with her own tears, "After he took you over, you were never the same, Lex. It wasn't you but I didn't know how to help"

"I didn't know how to explain" he told her, hand holding hers tight now as they stood close together, both so overwhelmed by all they were feeling, "I still don't" he admitted.

"It's okay" she promised, squeezing his fingers tightly in her own, sniffing back further tears that wanted desperately to escape, "We have all the time in the world to figure that out"

"Chloe, please don't make me any promises you won't be able to keep" he urged her, "If I have to lose you again, it has to be now and not later" he told her, putting a hand to her cheek, "You have no idea how much I hated hurting you..."

His voice trailed away and she couldn't breathe nevermind answer him. It had been so long since he'd looked at her this way, since her eyes had met his and she'd seen a man she could love, that she would _always_ love. All those awful things that had happened, there was nothing for her to do but turn her back and pretend it wasn't happening. When he yelled at her, she gave as good as she got; when he had her taken away and experimented on, she bore it as best she could; when he married Lana Lang, she hid away her broken heart where no-one else could see. Behind closed doors, she cried for all these reasons and so many more, praying to whoever might listen that one day Lex would find a way out of the prison that held him. His face sneered at her, his voice called her names, but none of it was him, and it seemed she was the only one to see it.

"This is kind of amazing" she said then, turning her head and glancing at the paper walls surrounding them, all the details that made this place just exactly like the apartment she called home in Smallville, "but I'm guessing we're not in Kansas anymore"

Lex didn't answer, just led her over to the window and pulled aside the thick curtains to reveal blackened brick walls beyond, with bright lights fixed up high on them. Fake sunlight in the underground bunker, he really had thought of everything, she realised with a smile.

Watching her wander around the facsimile of her apartment, Lex could almost allow himself to imagine they were back home. Of course, Smallville was never an option for him now, a normal life could never happen. He was guilty of too many crimes that had no reasonable earthly explanation. Besides, if the authorities didn't catch up with him, Lex knew others would. Clark Kent, aka Kal-El of Krypton, would see to it that his own brand of justice was done.

Lex had always thought that his old best friend would never have it in him to kill or even stand by and watch another die. Now he wasn't as certain, after the events at the ice fortress. Besides, the Kryptonian had his band of human-based beings to help him now, and there was no telling what they were capable of, especially after what his altered self had done to each of them.

Stood a short distance away, eyes glancing over every detail of her faux-apartment, Chloe showed no signs of it, but her mind was racing at a mile a minute. If she wanted to walk out of here, she knew she could. Lex would never hurt her, not really. She'd seen him angry and they had some terrible fights, not least the day of the second meteor shower, but he cared enough for her not to condemn her to this life if she did not choose it.

The dilemma sat before her now, whether to stay or go. Either way meant a loss of some kind, and right now Chloe couldn't help but think staying here would be the lesser of two evils. What did she have back in Smallville? Clark could make do without her, he had Lois now, and the pair were so obvious in their feelings despite the fact they themselves failed to see it apparently. The Justice League fought the crime and supernatural issues, and they'd manage well enough without their Watch Tower, a replaceable role in a lot of ways. That just left Jimmy, and when comparing the photographer she cared about, to the return of the man she had always been so in love with, there was no contest, no real choice to make.

Chloe's eyes fell shut of their own accord at the feel of Lex's fingers at her shoulder. The simple touch sent shivers through her body even now, and for a moment she could imagine she was seventeen again. Of course, back then she knew her life was almost permnatenely in danger, the complete opposite to now when she had strangely never felt safer.

Turning into the embrace of the man she loved, and believed she always would, Chloe encouraged his arms around her and buried her face in his chest. Holding on tight, she didn't want to think about what would happen next, how she got here, what would happen if she did or did not leave. There were a hundred thousand questions she could ask, and so many answers and explanations she was sure they could both find to give, but right now it was all too much to bear, too much for her head to handle.

"It was selfish of me to bring you here" she heard him whisper into her hair, "I can't expect you to give up your whole life for me..."

"Lex" she interrupted him, looking up into his eyes and finding words then failed her in that same moment.

Shaking her head almost inperceptibly, all thoughts of anything to say were gone. For one so full of smart comebacks and with such a skill for writing, it was almost incredible to realise Chloe was rendered speechless by anything. Still, this was a situation like no other, and would never again be anything else.

Pushing herself up on her toes, Chloe's lips sought Lex's own and she softly kissed him. He was apprehensive, she could feel the tension in his body at the brief contact, but that was what she expected, truth be told. He had a hard time believing she was even here and happy to be so, after all that had happened, for that she could not blame him. Theirs had never been a smooth relationship, never normal or simple, but it was the most real thing Chloe had ever felt in her life, and she wanted Lex to know that more than anything.

The next kiss, she didn't let go so easily, holding on until finally he gave in to what she knew he must be feeling.

The moment began and so easily forgot to end, a passion long ago ignited finding its fire again, deep beneath the frozen emptiness of the arctic wasteland.

The End


End file.
