Chloe's sitting at the computer in her bedroom, absently chewing on the end of a pen. On the screen, she has several windows open, and is still cross-referencing Luthor appearances from the Inquisitor society pages with LuthorCorp blurbs in the Planet's business section. She's been at it for hours, too focused to realize Lana's been watching periodically from the doorway.

When it comes to Chloe, Lana isn't sure of much -- or rather, she's sure of certain facts. Like that she's grown more comfortable with Chloe than anyone before in her life. That it makes her ill to see what the obsession with taking Lionel down does to her, stress like a low-level hum, where she forgets to eat, forgets her homework, forgets to live her life.

It's a little frightening. It makes her want to hold Chloe still, or to drag her kicking and screaming back to reality...which is...complicated. But for now at least, she's made a decision. Gabe left this morning for three days of meetings in Metropolis. She's not sure what she's going to do yet. Whether she'll lay it all out on the line for Chloe, or just drag her to the mall in Grandville for a change of scene. Lana isn't sure, but what she does know is, more and more, she can't seem not to reach out and touch her.

She presses a warm hand to Chloe's back. "You spend more time at the computer than anyone I know."

Chloe leans her head back and smiles. "You're home."

"I have been for a while now. You didn't hear me in the shower?"

"I guess not."

Lana's hands linger on her shoulders, then begin rubbing tentatively at the knots. "Any luck finding a pattern?"

Chloe shakes her head and lays the pen on the desk with a bit too much force. "I haven't started the secondary background checks yet, but so far, there's nothing but the obvious."

"How annoying," Lana says, hands raking up through Chloe's hair to massage her scalp.

"Ooh, that feels good."

"Doesn't it? It's so worth the extra ten bucks at the salon."

"Mmm."

"Hang on," Lana says, and vanishes for a moment. A small sound of disappointment escapes Chloe's mouth, but Lana's back in a moment with a bottle in her hand. "Aromatherapy. Sit back."

"But..."

"Shh," Lana says, pushing her fingers through Chloe's hair. "Let me."

"What kind is it?" she asked, sniffing.

"A blend...lavender, patchouli, and some stuff I can't pronounce." Lana's fingers work circles into Chloe's scalp, from her forehead to her ears, down the back of her skull to her neck, over and over.

"Mmmh, you're too good to me."

Lana digs into Chloe's neck and shoulders, pushing at the knotted muscles. "I wish you wouldn't let him get under your skin like this. It isn't healthy."

"Don't worry about those," Chloe murmurs, still semi-focused on the LuthorCorp article on the screen. "They never go away."

"Hrm. Do you mind if I try?"

"What, me turn down a free neck rub?" Chloe turns her head, grinning up at her.

Lana smiles and shoves her hands through Chloe's hair again, rubbing a fingertip up back and forth over the very top of Chloe's forehead. "Turn this thing off and get on the bed. It'll be easier."

"But I'm not done yet."

"Chloe, it's late. Just let it go until tomorrow, okay? Tonight, you de-stress." Lana leans over her, hand moving the mouse to save bookmarks and put the computer to sleep.

"But..."

"I mean it."

Chloe's breath catches in her throat as Lana's cheek brushes against her ear. "Okay, but why?"

"Because you need it. And I can." Lana smiles and tugs at Chloe's hand until she's on her feet, moving toward the bed.

"I think running the Talon's having an effect on you," Chloe says over her shoulder, dumping her schoolbooks from the bed to the floor.

"You're just as bossy when you're putting the Torch together. Take off your shirt?"

"Yeah, well..." Chloe laughs, stripping off her t-shirt and lying down.

"Bra, too. You don't want to get it greasy."

"Greasy?"

"Essential oils are oily. Ooh, how about we do a day of beauty together for your birthday?"

"Um, okay," Chloe answers, unhooking the back clasp and shrugging out of the straps.

"There's nothing like a massage from a real massage therapist." Lana presses her hands against the pale skin of Chloe's back, rubs down to the waist of her loose black wind pants. "Hey, these are mine...."

"Oh, yeah, sorry. I got cold and my sweats are in the --" Chloe inhales sharply as Lana straddles her hips. "-- wash."

Her fingers are back on her neck, guiding Chloe's forehead to rest on the edge of the pillows and stroking, slow and steady. "Shh. You're going to relax whether you like it or not."

"Mmrph."

"Good."

Chloe's giggle breaks off into a groan as Lana works through the muscles of Chloe's shoulders. She takes her time, unraveling knots with her thumbs, and travels firmly down each arm to pull the tension from each fingertip with a tiny releasing snap.

Then she returns to Chloe's back, taking her time, rubbing lotion into her skin and watching the long, finger-shaped pressure streaks rise and fade in lines parallel to her spine.

Gripping Chloe's hips, she rubs heavy circles into her lower back with her thumbs, while Chloe moans into the pillow.

"You sit too much."

"Mmmh. Where did you get so good at this?"

"I'm not done yet. Can I do your legs?"

"Sure, I guess. I'm a puddle. I can't think."

"Excellent," she says, as Chloe makes a feeble attempt to lift her hips. Lana tugs the waistband down and yanks the pants off, straightening the edge of Chloe's black panties and pouring more lotion.

"That would be my ass," Chloe giggles, as Lana pushes deep circles into her glutes.

"Which, technically, is the top of your leg. And did I mention you sit too much? You hold a lot of tension in your hips."

Chloe muffles a cry in the pillow as Lana jabs another knot. "I didn't even know I could have knots there."

"Relax. Stop thinking and just let it go."

"It's hard."

"I know." Lana's hands move slowly down her thigh, push gently at the back of her knee, and drive long, deep lines through her calf. Pinching her Achilles tendon lightly, she says, "I'm going to save your feet for last," and moves across Chloe's body to focus on her other hip.

Chloe wraps her arms around the pillow and stretches happily. "You're amazing, you know that?"

"Thanks, but just wait until you get someone who's really trained at this."

"Mmmh. You're amazing. End of story."

Lana giggles softly, glad Chloe can't see her face, and kneads her way down Chloe's hamstring to finish the rest of her leg. With a squeeze to the other Achilles, she says, "Your feet will be much easier if you roll over. You can pull a sheet over if you want to be modest."

"Mmmh." Chloe blinks and flips over, pulling ineffectually at the corner of the sheet she's lying on. "I don't care. You know what I look like."

"Well, if I didn't before..." Lana says with a grin.

She plants herself Indian-style at Chloe's feet and sets to work, rubbing the tension out of her feet and pulling each toe with the same small snapping motion she'd used on her fingertips. Chloe moans softly at each one, and then shivers as Lana presses a light kiss to the top of each foot.

Lana watches Chloe's lips part in a languid smile that tears at something low in her belly. "I think you broke me."

"Melted you a little, that's all." She slides up the bed and lies on her side, head propped on her elbow. Her free hand strokes through Chloe's hair, then over her forehead, rubbing away the little crease of worry between her eyebrows.

"You --"

"Stop thinking."

"Come here," Chloe says, pulling Lana into an embrace.

"Chloe --" Lana says against her mouth. And then her mouth is on hers, and the softness of her skin is nothing compared to the softness of her lips and the silk-smooth slide of their faces against each other.

"Mmmh, I've wanted to do that for ages," Chloe says, then kisses her again.

When Chloe pulls away, Lana is blushing. "I wasn't sure."

"You weren't?" Chloe asks, pulling Lana's hand down to her belly, then drawing it up between her breasts, over her throat, and finally to her lips, where she kisses her knuckles and nibbles at the pad of her thumb.

"Uh-uh..."

"So a mostly full-body massage wasn't meant to be a seduction?"

"I don't think I thought that far ahead. I just...you get so tense. I worry." Lana's blushing, shaking her head. Loose pieces of hair slip free of her ponytail and fall around her face.

Chloe meets her eyes, and she doesn't know the words for what she sees there. "I don't want you to worry, but thank you." Chloe pushes Lana's hair back and kisses her again, softly at first, then harder. "Can I...? I want to feel you," she says, pulling up on her nightshirt.

Lana blinks, she can't help it. "Really?"

Chloe laughs and helps her pull it over her head. "Look at you. You're so beautiful."

"So are you," Lana whispers, settling against her. They both shiver at the contact of skin against skin.

Chloe's lips part as she shifts under her, and Lana never imagined. Chloe warm and soft and flushed underneath her, nipples peaked against her own. And Chloe's hands. Her hands stroke down Lana's back to her ass; fingernails graze up her ribs and the sides of her breasts. Lana is gasping, rocking against her, and now kissing deeper. She needs to know Chloe's mouth like she knows her neck and back and legs. She needs.

And Chloe raises a knee, pushes her thigh hard between Lana's, and draws out a long, low moan.

Chloe is trembling against her, the strip of Lana's panties a damp, burning heat against her thigh. Chloe's tongue just as hot, licking insistently into her mouth. It's a surprise when Chloe grabs Lana's ass and rolls her own hips up to where there is leverage, where she can grind up against her, too.

"Chloe, you're so..."

"More," she urges, biting a kiss to Lana's neck.

Lana cries out, bucking, and Chloe kisses her neck again, grazing from ear to shoulders. Lana writhes, and the fingers teasing Chloe's nipples clamp down hard as her body shakes, and shakes, and her mouth opens wide and closes and opens again.

Chloe's hips piston up and up, riding hard against Lana's thigh. "Lana..." Her voice is a low wail against her shoulder between fierce kisses.

Remembering how to breathe again, Lana says, "Here, roll with me," and pulls them over so Chloe's on top. Kissing her mouth again hard, Lana drives Chloe's hips back into rhythm against her. She feels how wet Chloe is on her thigh, the thin fabric soaked through. She wants to have that, too, to put her mouth to that heat. But it's too soon to ask for that, so she arches up to suck hard on Chloe's right nipple.

Chloe bows into the suction and Lana's hand on her ass squeezes harder. "Kiss me," Chloe gasps, thighs clamping hard around Lana's leg. Lana kisses hard, fingers tangling in Chloe's hair, tongue thrusting in rhythm with their hips, and Chloe comes moaning into her mouth.

They hold on for a long time, kissing softly, until the shivers dissolve and all Lana feels is perfect. Then Chloe rolls over with a huge yawn, Lana nuzzling against her.

"That was...I don't have words." Chloe's voice is dreamy and matches the expression on her face.

"You're amazing," Lana says, kissing her again.

"We should do this..." Chloe trails off, blushing again.

"A lot?"

"I would love that," she answers shyly.

"Good," Lana says tenderly, and fails to stifle a yawn.

"You mean it?"

"Definitely." Lana kisses her again and pulls the covers up around them both.

"I just. Wow...." Chloe begins again, cutting herself off with another yawn.

Lana puts her arm around Chloe's waist. "Shh, it's late. We'll talk tomorrow."

"Mmmh. Okay..." Chloe thumbs the switch for the lamp and nestles deeper into Lana's arms.

"Sweet dreams," she murmurs, and Chloe presses Lana's hand to her heart.