AN: After I finished When It Rains... last night I got this picture of Lex and Conner in my head that was too adorable not to share. But I couldn't really think of how to fit it in the greater scheme of the series, so here it is, an Intermission just so I could help you guys fill out you adorableness quota for the week. This takes place a couple weeks after When It Rains...

Clark was sitting at the kitchen table, doing some work, when his phone rang. "Hello."

"I can't get Conner to wake up," said Lex.

Clark laughed and leaned back in his chair. "You let him fall asleep?"

"Is that a bad thing?"

"I don't know about a bad thing," Clark said. "But short of a convenient explosion, you aren't going to be able to wake him up again until tomorrow morning."

"Which would be a bad thing, since he distinctly told me that Martha expects him home by ten tonight," Lex responded.

Clark frowned; Conner never had any kind of curfew when he came over to Clark and Lois's place. His mother claimed that she understood that Lex was a different person now, or rather the same person he had been before Smallville had gotten to him and made him paranoid, but she sure didn't act like it. She probably wouldn't have even allowed Conner to spend any time with Lex, if Clark and Conner hadn't both put their feet down on that one.

He glanced at his watch, 9:50. "Kind of cutting it close aren't you?"

"If you don't factor in that I've been trying to wake him up for about ten minutes, yes," Lex agreed.

"Fair enough," Clark chuckled. "Just give me a minute to wrap things up here," he said, saving the document on his laptop and closing the screen down, "and I'll come over and fly him back to Mom's."

"Great, thanks."

"Bye," Clark said and hung up the phone. He glanced over at Lois, relaxed in the arm chair reading a book. For a brief moment he mourned the time a year ago, a few months ago even, when the two of them would have been sitting side-by-side on the couch, still working separately, but absorbing one another's nearness.

"Lois, I need to-"

"- make sure Sleeping Beauty is back in time for parole," Lois completed, not looking up from her book. "Go on ahead; I'll see you in a bit."

Clark flashed into the Superman suit – he couldn't risk flying Conner back in civilian clothes even if it was the middle of the night – paused by the window to say a quick goodbye to Lois, and took off toward Lex's penthouse.

He had landed on Lex's balcony before he realized that he hadn't kissed Lois, or told her he loved her, before he left.

The sight that greeted Clark when he entered the room Lex and Conner were in, left him frozen in the doorway with a strange feeling in his chest. Conner was curled up asleep on the couch, his head pillowed in Lex's lap. Lex was ostensibly watching the TV, but it was clear that, regardless of where his eyes were directed, the whole of his attention was focused on the boy in his lap and his own fingers, which were carding through Conner's hair.

Lex looked up, saw Clark standing there, and smiled. A real smile that showed genuine pleasure in Clark's presence and redoubled the feeling in Clark's chest. It wasn't that Clark had forgotten that Lex could look that way, it was just that memories faded and paled over time, and Clark still hadn't gotten accustomed to the reality of it again yet.

"I'm not even entirely sure how this happened," Lex confessed quietly. "He was curled up asleep here, and after I got off the phone with you I came and sat down next to him. Next thing I know…" Lex trailed off to look fondly down at Conner's sleeping face.

"He likes you," Clark offered, as though it explained everything, from Conner snuggling up to Lex, to the expression on Lex's face, to the way Clark's heart was beating just a little faster than normal. And maybe it did.

"He does, doesn't he?" Lex replied, not looking away from Conner. And then he smiled again, soft and affectionate, and a million other things that, for a reason the Clark couldn't quite place, made Clark's breath catch in his throat.

The moment seemed to stretch on forever, Lex looking at Conner and Clark looking at the both of them. Finally Lex looked up at Clark again, breaking whatever spell it had been that washed over them. "Did you want to take him?" he asked.

"Oh, yeah," Clark said shaking himself. "Just let me…" He crossed the room and scooped Conner up, cradling him in his arms. The boy stirred a little at the change in position, and, though he was sure Conner was still fast asleep, Clark leaned his head down and whispered in Conner's ear, "Shhh, it's just me."

"Dad," Conner murmured happily as he cuddled up closer to Clark's chest.

And that, on top of everything else tonight, was almost too much for Clark to handle. So, after a quick nod to Lex, Clark more or less rushed out of the penthouse and to D.C.

He'd go to his Mom's place, drop Conner off in his bed, and then Clark would go back out and just fly for a while. He had a lot to think about.

Sequel is "In Time, After Much Pie and Cream Cake" (Story ID: 8738978).