The Making of a Monster

Chapter Five

"I know, Dad."

"I didn't think you liked the bad boy type, Chloe."

"And I don't, Dad, honest. The Clark everyone else sees is all all bravado and underneath that is a really nice boy."

"I don't think I've ever heard a Luthor called nice before."

"Dad, I..." she wasn't sure how to tell her father what life was like for Clark without breaking his confidence. "You know Lionel, Dad. He's bad enough to work for, imagine being his son."

"Chloe, I won't stop you. Even if I wanted to, I know I couldn't, just... be careful, will you? I don't want you to get hurt."

"I will, Dad."

III

After dinner, Chloe was laying on her bed sorting through the most recent LuthorCorp financial reports. Unfortunately her mind kept wondering to the youngest Luthor.

As if on cue, he tapped on her window. Chloe scrambled to open it before anyone saw him hovering in mid-air.

"What, are you psychic now too?" she asked quietly as he climbed in.

"You were thinking about me?" He grinned.

She smiled back. Suddenly her expression grew serious and she took a deep breath. "Clark, I... Okay."

Clark looked confused. "Uh, did I miss something?"

Afraid she would change her mind if she hesitated, she reached up on her tip toes and kissed him softly. Surprisingly, Clark was too shocked to respond to the kiss.

A smile spread across his face as realisation dawned on him. He stepped in close to her and leaned down to kiss her again. He tried to match her soft kiss so as not to frighten her off but she was the one who deepened their lip-lock.

When he pulled away he felt lighter and perhaps even slightly light headed. As he gazed down at, he smiled warmly. She was his.

"Come on," he said, taking her hand and pulling her towards the window.

"What?"

"We need to celebrate," he explained, climbing back out.

Chloe looked to the papers lying on her bed, she thought about her father, who would probably be asleep on the couch by now, she looked into Clark's eyes.

"Okay," she said, looking both fearful and excited.

He helped her out onto the window ledge and and swept her into his arms.

"Where are we going?" she asked.

Clark smiled. "Somewhere special," he said cryptically before taking off into the sky.

Much to her surprise, Clark took her to an old ruin and gently set her back on her feet.

"Where are we?" Chloe asked as she looked around. The half of the roof that covered what looked like the living room and kitchen was missing. She wandered into the next room. It had probably been a bedroom but now it was a living area. It reminded her of a child's tree house.

"I call it my Fortress of Solitude" he said, watching her.

There was a fireplace along one wall and grouped around it was an old two seater sofa, a few tables, books and comics were strewn around on various surfaces.

"How did you find it?"

"This is my mothers cottage. Adopted mother," he clarified. "Though it's just a ruin now."

"But it's only got two rooms," she said.

"My mother wasn't rich. This belonged to her parents and was left to her when they died. She would bring me here sometimes, just for a week or two. She seemed to know that I would bear the brunt of Lionel's longings for power and narcissism. Lionel didn't like it so when she died, he had the roof removed. I rebuilt part of it. I thought if I rebuilt the whole thing, he'd find out, somehow."