Author: MitchPell
Disclaimer: I don’t own anything that has to do with Smallville, it’s characters, DC comics, or the WB. I’m just using them for a little bit of non-profitable fun.
Authors Notes: Ok, I know that these last two chapters have been lacking Chloe and Lex interactions. But don’t worry, this is and always will be a Chlex fanfiction. But we have to remember, that these two just met. They aren’t going to see a lot of each other to start off with. I promise though, that the next chapter will have them together. I’ve done a lot of research about the medical stuff, but if I’ve made any huge errors let me know. After all, I’m not an expert. I’ve decided that the episodes are going to take place on the week they were aired. So, since “Craving” aired 11/27/01, the events that deal with “Craving” in this fanfiction will take place during the week of 11/27/01. I’ll try to let you guys know approximately what time of year it is. I’m going to using any and all spoilers, so read at your own risk. This story is going to be a long one. I already know that it is going to span the course of 5 years, and probably longer. I appreciate any and all feedback. Tell me whatever you think: the good, the bad, the ok, the grammar errors, etc… Trust me, I need the help!!
Summary: Lex and Chloe just seem right for each other. I don’t know why, they just do.
Email: mitchpell@yahoo.com
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It was 10:15, and Dr. Vargas was late. It took all of his willpower not to pace around the small waiting room, but somehow Lex managed to keep himself anchored to his chair. He looked at his watch for what must have been the thousandth time that day. Between the limo ride and the waiting room, Napoleon must be thinking that Lex was seriously pissed at him. Lex chuckled to himself. Now that he thought about it, his choice of vehicle was rather absurd. He couldn’t think of many people who went to doctor appointments in limousines. But then again, he hadn’t had much time to think about it. Plus, he wasn’t about to let Frank drive one of his sports cars.
He checked his watch again. 10:20 a.m. Where is the Vargas anyway, Lex thought? The fucker wakes me up at 7:00 in the morning, scares the shit out of me, orders me not to eat anything, and then has the audacity to be late. Truthfully, he couldn’t tell if the doctor’s tardiness was making him more relieved or anxious. Lex was dying to know what they had found that required him to rush up here. But the fact that Vargas hadn’t met him at the door was also giving him some hope that whatever it was, it wasn’t that dire.
The door leading into the examination rooms opened and an older looking nurse stepped out. She looked down at her clipboard, and ran her finger ever so slowly down a list of names. Lex was about ready to jump up and grab the board from her when she called out his name. Despite his eagerness, he still managed to slowly and calmly rise from his seat and glide over to her. He followed her into an examination room, where he was told to wait. You have to love these places, he thought. You spend hours moving from one waiting room to another, just to be seen by the doctor for no more than 15 minutes tops before you are billed and sent on your way. That was why he usually had his doctors come to him.
The room that he was lead into was larger than the usual examination room. It was adorned with a typical examination table, a small counter that contained a sink, a small cabinet, a rolling stool, two chairs, and a hospital bed. Refusing to leap up onto the patient’s table, he sat down in one of the chairs. After another 10 minutes of tolerant waiting, Lex lost the composure he had managed to gain in front of the nurse. He opened the room’s door, grabbed his chart out of its little box, removed its contents, replaced the folder, and shut the door.
He returned to his chair and starred at the file in his lap. The answer to the questions that had kept him up all night was right in front of him, yet he couldn’t force himself to read the words. He bit the inside of his lip, and let out a sigh. “Fuck it,” he said as he turned his attention to the document and began to read. He scanned the page until his eyes came to rest on the following line: WBC 12000 cells/mcl – presence of myeloid differentiation inconclusive, recommend immunophenotyping. “Fuck,” he muttered. He let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding, and got up to place the file on the counter.
They hadn’t found anything. They couldn’t tell whether or not the cells were cancerous. He walked over the window, and looked out over the city. It wasn’t much of a view, but it was better than nothing. He had just leaned his head against the cool glass when the door behind him opened. Dr. Vargas entered the room followed by another doctor that Lex didn’t recognize.
“Mr. Luthor, how are you doing today?” Dr. Vargas asked. The question seemed rather daft to Lex and he was about to say so when Vargas interrupted him. “This is Dr. Gatemen, he’s the head of the Oncology Department.”
Lex grimaced ever so slightly at the mention of the other mans specialty. He gave the doctor a half smile as he introduced himself. “Lex Luthor,” he said while extending his hand. As they shook hands, Gatemen gave Lex what could only be considered a sympathetic smile. “Mr. Luthor,” was all he offered as a response.
“So, I see you’ve looked over you chart.” Vargas said.
“Yes, I have. Though, it didn’t tell me anything I didn’t already know. I gather that is why I’m here today.”
“Why don’t you have a seat,” Vargas said as he patted the top of the examination table.
“I’m fine where I am, thank you.” Lex replied shortly. “I would very much appreciate it if the two of you would fill me in on what’s going on. I think I’ve been kept in the dark long enough.” Lex said as he glanced between Vargas and Gatemen.
“Mr. Luthor,” Dr. Gatemen began, “Dr. Vargas asked me to look over your blood work from yesterday’s physical. He said that you had some concerns, but that he didn’t think there was anything wrong.” After that comment Vargas made a disgusted snort, which caused Gatemen to shoot him a look.
Lex chided himself for having missed the animosity between the two. Obviously Vargas doesn’t like to be proven wrong, Lex mused. However, the joy of seeing Vargas’s wounded pride was quickly erased as his thought hit home.
“The increase in your WBC count caught my attention,” Gatemen continued, “so I had the cells examined for any myeloid differentiation. However, no noticeable change was found.”
“Then why am I here?” Lex asked. He was quickly becoming annoyed with what he felt was obvious stalling on Gatemen’s part. He couldn’t figure out why the hell he was being force to pry the answers out of these two men. If they wanted to have a pissing contest they could do it at the cost of someone else’s nerves.
“Well, there are some types of leukemia which do not cause noticeable myeloid differentiation in WBC. Therefore, to rule out leukemia completely, I want to immunophenotype your cells. The best way to do this is to use a sample of bone marrow.”
“You must be fairly concerned if my presence was required immediately,” Lex stated.
“In situations like this it is always best to act immediately. Early detection is a major factor in recovery. Your WBC count is high enough to warrant enough concern to proceed with the tests, even without the appearance of any external symptoms.” Gatemen paused for a brief moment before continuing. “So, if you have no other questions, we can get started.” Lex didn’t bother to voice a response, but this didn’t seem to bother Gatemen. “Good. We just need you to sign a consent form and put this on.” As Gatemen said this Lex was handed a clipboard and hospital gown that Vargas had retrieved while the two had been talking.
The two doctors excused themselves, and then left the room. Lex skimmed over the form before scribbling his name at the bottom. He then turned his attention to the offensive garment in his hand. “God I hate hospitals,” he muttered before beginning to change.
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Chloe plowed through the swarms of students to her locker. She never understood why the socialites insisted on talking in the middle of the hallway. On the inside she screamed at them to get out of her way; on the outside she plastered a fake smile on her face. After she reached her locker, she exchanged her books for the ones she needed for the second half of the day, and then headed to lunch. She stopped abruptly when she saw Clark waiting for her outside the cafeteria. It struck her that she had forgotten to come up with a gift idea for Lana. She desperately tried to think with something that the ex-cheerleader would want as she crossed the remaining distance between her and Clark. Unfortunately, she must have left her brain back at her locker because she was drawing a complete blank. All she could do was pray that Clark had already decided on something and wouldn’t bring it up.
“Hey, Clark.” She said while grinning up at him.
“Hey Chloe.” He responded while flashing a smile of his own.
“So…how’s your day been going?”
“Not to bad. Oh! Before I forget, we had a pop quiz in English today.”
“You’re kidding right? Man! You know, it figures. The one night I don’t do my English homework we have a pop quiz! I swear, Mr. Miller has it out for me!” She exclaimed. “Clark you have to give me a run down of what happened.”
“Oh, do I?” He teased.
“Don’t make me beg, Clark Kent. Trust me, it won’t be pretty. And I’m certain you would die of embarrassment at the scene I would make.” She replied.
Clark consented, and the two spent the remainder of their time spent in the lunch line discussing the latest actions of Ralph, Piggy, and Jack in The Lord of the Flies. As they emerged from the line with their trays, the conversation turned to the events that took place yesterday.
“I called the hospital this morning. Dustin’s in a coma. His body went into shock from the loss of fat. He hasn’t told the police anything.” Duh, Chloe, she thought. Of course he didn’t tell the police anything he’s in a coma.
“Time to revisit the fat-sucking vampire theory.”
“You know, if you hadn’t been there, he probably would have died, Clark.”
“What I can’t figure out is why anybody would want to steal body fat.”
“I know, it takes eating disorders to a whole new level.” They scanned the crowd until they saw Jody. The three had planned on doing some last minute cramming before their Algebra test.
“Jody,” Clark said as a greeting. He and Chloe joined her at the table.
“Hi, guys. What’s up?” Jody asked.
Chloe still couldn’t get over how much weight Jody had lost. She was worried. She liked Jody and she didn’t want anything to happen to her. “Uh, study group, remember?” She asked. She came off as snotty, and immediately regretted it. She decided not to bring it up, and hoped that Jody would let it slide.
“Totally slipped my mind.” Jody said.
“So, no more veggie shakes, huh?” She was trying to lighten the mood, but failed miserably. She gave Clark a worried look, and he took the hint.
“Are you feeling okay? Pete said you felt sick yesterday.” Clark asked.
“Oh, that. I’m fully recovered.”
“I guess it’s safe to say that the diet’s finally over,” Chloe added. Maybe if I keep pushing the food issue she’ll let something slip, Chloe thought.
“Mmm, I’m starving. I haven’t eaten anything all day.” She looked up to see both Clark and Chloe giving her strange looks. Self-consciously she added, “I’m just a little nervous about the party tomorrow.”
“Yeah,” Chloe said in disbelief.
“So, um, I’ll see you guys tomorrow.” Jody said, as she got up and rushed out of the room, leaving her tray behind.
“Okay, what was that about?” Chloe asked.
“I don’t know,” Clark said. He looked thoughtful for a minute, but shook off whatever he had been thinking. “I gotta fly. We’ll talk about this later?”
“Okay. Hey, where are you going?”
“I’m still working on Lana’s birthday gift.”
Chloe’s breath hitched for a minute. Please don’t ask, please don’t ask, she prayed. After he didn’t reply, she asked, “Any hints?”
“Yeah, it’s not a gift certificate.”
Chloe watched as Clark walked off. She really didn’t care what Clark got Lana. Ok, so maybe she did, but only because she wanted to compare it to the gift he had given her for her sixteenth birthday. She was a little hurt that Clark was putting so much effort into Lana’s gift, but it didn’t surprise her. After all, Lana was the apple of Clark’s eye. She just hoped he didn’t choke.
She spotted a snack pack on Jody’s tray and picked it up. Then it hit her. It was Jody. Jody was the one who had attacked Dustin and the deer. Whatever had caused her to lose all that weight was also causing her to burn food at a pace that was too fast for her body to keep up. And Chloe had a pretty good idea that the meteor rocks were involved. She grabbed her bags and headed to the torch office. Algebra could wait, this was more important.
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Lex woke up as the door to the limo opened. He blinked his eyes as the afternoon sun poured into the car. He was slightly embarrassed by the fact that he had fallen asleep, but he was tired and sore from the procedure. The sedative and anesthetic Gatemen gave him had worked wonders. He had barely been able to feel the doctor cut the two pencil-thick holes into his pelvis. Lex awkwardly lifted himself out of the car. He was looking forward to grabbing something to eat, maybe popping in a movie, and crashing on the couch. Looking around he was shocked to find several vans parked outside his home. He let out a groan as he remembered Lana’s party. He had no idea what on god’s green earth had possessed him to agree to let Nell Potter have her niece’s birthday celebration at his house. As he slowly walked towards the door he heard someone call his name.
“Hey, Lex! Wait up!”
Lex turned to see Clark bounding up the driveway. Why is it that whenever I want company there is no one to be found, but when all I want is to be left alone it feels as if the whole world is knocking at my door. Lex thought. He gave Clark a half smile before asking what he could do for him.
“Oh, I just stopped by to see if you’ve gotten the stuff for Lana’s gift.”
“I don’t know.” Lex responded truthfully. “It was supposed to have arrived this morning. Come on in, and I can check.”
They entered to find the mansion bubbling over with various people arranging things for the party. Lex led them through the hordes and into his study. “Can I get you something to drink?” Lex asked as he walked over to his desk, which had a large package sitting on it.
“No, I can’t stay long. My parents don’t know I’m here. But I thought I could stop by real quick on my way home from school. Thanks, by the way. I really do appreciate you helping me out with this.”
“Don’t worry about it. That’s what friends are for.” He handed Clark the package, then the two said their goodbyes. After Clark left, Lex grabbed an apple out of the bowl on the windowsill and then headed upstairs to his room. If he couldn’t crash on the couch, then his bed was the next best place.
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The party was raging on throughout several rooms in the house. After failing to cheer up Lana, Lex retreated to the sanctuary of his study. He immediately regretted it as his eyes fell on the letter sitting on his desk. It had arrived in the mail and had been sitting on his desk since early that afternoon. He used any excuse he could find not to open it. He had even pretended to oversee the festivities of Lana’s party as an excuse to avoid it. He was planning on speaking with Clark to further divert himself from the letter, but alas Clark had failed to show up.
Out of excuses and unable to hold out any longer, Lex slit open the envelope and removed the letter. He bit his lower lip as he held the document in front of him. After scanning the paper, he crumbled it up and stuffed it inside his desk drawer. He stared blankly at the wall for a minute, fighting to keep his breathing under control. A flood of emotions flowed through him. He wanted to scream, to cry, to hit someone, or throw something. He wanted to get out of that room, which seemed to have collapsed upon him. Grabbing his keys he bolted for the door.
TBC…
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