Title: Requital and Remembrance
Author: PepperjackCandy
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Clark/Lex
Category: Romance, Drama, Futurefic
Spoilers for: MotWs from Season 1
Disclaimer: I own nothing Smallville-related, or related in any other way to Clark Kent, Superman or any of the various creations of the wonderful folks at DC Comics.
Feedback: Always welcome, either by e-mail or using the review system at fanfiction.net.
A/N: Originally prepared for the LexSlash mailing list's ReMemory contest, then published in the Silk & Flannel I print zine.
=======
It was summer, and Clark had taken a job at the Talon to help out with the family finances. And to be near Lana, or so everyone thought. Actually, he'd taken the job to spend more time with Lex. So far, no one seemed to have noticed that Clark's hours were all conveniently scheduled when Lex just happened to be over to examine the books.
Wondering what Lex was doing in the office, Clark glanced up the stairs.
"Excuse me," a woman's voice intruded on his thoughts.
"Yes, ma'am." Half of the wait staff was on vacation, so Lana was covering the tables that Clark couldn't serve without risking his cover. The woman was sitting at a table that Lana had handled. He cringed, wondering what was wrong.
"I ordered a vanilla latte, and this is clearly hot chocolate." She held out the cup for his inspection.
"Sorry about that ma'am. I'll correct that." He held out his hand for the cup, which slipped from the woman's grasp, spilling hot chocolate for several feet in all directions.
Clark flinched. "Sorry. I'll get something to clean that right up." He hurried back to the bar slowly, wishing he could afford to go at super-speed. "Can I have a vanilla latte, please? And a rag?"
Chuckling, Nell handed him a rag. "The latte'll be up in a minute."
"Thanks." He turned around to see Lana coming right towards him on a path that would take her straight through the puddle of hot chocolate.
Clark saw the impending disaster. "Lana!" He called out, a second too late.
Her foot hit the puddle of hot chocolate and she went over, landing heavily on her backside, her head, flung back, hitting the next table over as she fell.
This time, Clark put on an extra burst of speed as he hurried to her side. "Lana? Are you all right?" He hunkered down next to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, touching her face gently.
A moment later, her eyes opened. "Mmm," a sound of pain at first, which became something...more. "Mmm, hey, Clark." She gave him a sultry smile.
Clark blinked in astonishment, shocked into silence.
Lana shook her head as if to clear it.
"Are you all right?" Clark finally found his voice and asked solicitously.
Lana smiled wanly as Clark helped her to her feet. "Fine. I just had the weirdest flashback of a dream I had a while ago."
Clark walked Lana to a chair, vaguely aware of other employees hurrying to clean up the spilled hot chocolate. "Oh?" he asked.
"It was weird. I was wearing that really skanky outfit that Nell got me for my sixteenth birthday. You know, with the boots and the miniskirt and the Victoria's Secret undies?"
Clark broke Lana's gaze and stared at the floor.
"Wait. You missed the party. Why do I think that you've seen it, though? Oh, that's right. The dream."
Oh, God. Clark thought with trepidation, She's remembering...
That was as far as he got, because soon Lana's eyes went wider, as her jaw dropped and the faintest of blushes tinted her cheeks. "That wasn't a dream, was it?"
Clark wished he could play stupid, but he really owed Lana more than that. "No. It wasn't."
Lex worked silently in the office, balancing the books. His accounting classes in college had been almost enough to kill him, but once he got out into the real world, where it was real money-in this case, his real money-suddenly it got more interesting.
Plus it didn't hurt that he had the latest accounting software package on the office computer. Beat the hell out of doing it all by hand.
Sometimes he listened to music while he worked, but today he chose to let the hum of conversation from the dining area keep him company.
Until the sound stopped completely.
Lex stood and walked to the door of the office, opening it and looking out. Conversation gradually built back up, as he noticed Lana sitting at an empty table, Clark hovering solicitously at her shoulder.
Damned if he'd let that continue.
He'd tried his hardest to push Lana and Clark together for the first six months he'd been in Smallville, but the more he got to know the precious Miss Lang, the more he loathed her.
Lex sometimes wondered who he should try to fix Clark up with. Chloe had always been a good friend to Clark, but something about the girl never quite sat well with Lex. Like most of the journalists he'd known. Like she wasn't above using a friend to get a good story.
And when Lex was completely honest with himself, he knew the real reason why neither Chloe nor Lana was good enough for Clark. Because only one person was good enough for Clark.
Lex Luthor.
Which is why he left the office and was currently headed across the dining area towards the pair. He almost didn't see the spill until it was too late, but managed to avoid it just in time. Lex had to laugh to himself, imagining himself ass-over-teakettle on the floor. Followed immediately by the bitter realization that Clark, so wrapped up in Lana, would never have noticed.
But then he was close enough to hear what Clark and Lana were talking about.
"Oh, my God. You mean that I actually..."
Clark nodded.
"I'm so sorry. I mean, I can't believe I'd do something like that."
"Don't be," Clark assured her, then realized how it sounded. "You weren't yourself. It was after you'd been effected by the Nicodemus flower. If I blamed you for it, I'd have to blame my father for..." Shooting me with his shotgun, Clark finished silently, but he was saved from having to finish by Lex's arrival.
"Are you all right, Lana?"
There was something in Lex's tone that sounded like sarcasm, and Lex flinched inwardly at the tone. He'd meant to sound conciliatory, he really had, but his intentions were foiled by seeing Clark put his hand on Lana's shoulder.
Lana looked up at him and nodded, then the light pinkness grew several shades darker. Her eyes widened. "I'm so sorry, Lex."
For one insane moment, Lex thought that she was apologizing for encroaching on his territory, Clark, but then he came back to reality and asked, "Sorry for what?"
"For..." She seemed unable to finish the thought.
"Whatever it was that happened between you when Lana was under the influence of the Nicodemus flower," Clark explained.
"Oh." Lex's eyebrows would have disappeared into his hairline at this, if he'd had any hair. After a moment, he regained his composure. "It's all right. I know it was the flower talking, not you."
Lana nodded gently and looked up at Clark. "Clark?" she asked hesitantly, looking around at the people bustling around.
"Would the two of you like to sit in the office and talk about whatever it is that you need to discuss?" Lex offered.
Clark nodded, relieved. "Thanks, Lex. Can you stand up, Lana?"
"The only thing wounded is my pride."
Together, they walked across the room and up the stairs to the office.
Clark sat down in the desk chair, which squeaked loudly. "Once this place starts making a profit, you probably should buy a new chair. This one sounds like it's about to fall apart," he said, trying to lighten the mood.
It had about half of the desired effect. One corner of Lana's mouth turned up in a smile. "It only sounds like that when you sit down in it."
Clark manfully resisted the temptation to stick his tongue out at Lana. "Like I was saying downstairs, I don't blame you at all for what happened. You...weren't yourself."
"Clark?"
"Hmm?"
"I was right about your feelings for me, wasn't I?"
"Yes. You...were." He wondered what Lana would say if he told her that he really meant it when he said that she had been right, but that she no longer was the object of his affections.
"So why didn't..."
Clark sighed. "Because. I've always thought that my first time.... Well, there's a sort of continuum."
"Continuum?" Lana giggled.
Clark looked at her seriously. "A continuum." He held his hands out in front of him, a shoulders' width apart. "Over here is, you know, my wedding night." He indicated his right hand. "Over here is it just meaning something." He indicated his left hand.
He shrugged. "I guess I've always wanted my first time to be, you know, somewhere in between those two points. And taking advantage of a friend who's under the influence is way, way over there." He jerked his head toward the door, which was on the other side of the room to his left.
Lana smiled at him. "Thank you."
"For what?"
"For not taking advantage of me. Not a lot of guys would do that."
"Well, I guess I'm not a lot of guys." They stood and walked towards the door.
"No, you're not a lot of guys." Lana said as she opened the door and turned to kiss Clark on the cheek.
Lana walked back towards the counter, and Clark headed for Lex, who was watching them, an inscrutable expression on his face.
"Thanks," Clark said.
"No problem. I assume you got everything straightened out?"
Clark nodded, trying not to notice the way that Lex's eyes had hardened as he asked his question. "Yeah."
"Good."
Lex turned to head back into his office, but Clark couldn't just let him go like that. "Lex!"
Lex turned back around, the hard look still in his eyes.
God, I wish I knew what happened. I don't suppose he could be jealous over that little kiss? Naaah. Wishful thinking. "Nothing. I'll talk to you later."
Later, Lex drove home, unable to get the image of Clark and Lana together out of his mind. He walked immediately to the study and poured himself a snifter of brandy.
"Mr. Luthor?" a quiet voice came from the door into the corridor.
Lex recognized it instantly as Candy, the cook's assistant. Not that Margaret had enough work cooking for only him to justify an assistant, but Lex bought so much produce from the Kents that the cook spent hours every week canning it, preserving it and cooking it into dishes which were shipped to the Salvation Army food distribution center in Metropolis.
According to Margaret, Candy was worth her weight in gold.
"Yes, Candy?"
"Margaret would like to speak with you about what to do with the beets the Kents sent over."
"Beets?"
"Yes, sir."
Wondering what Margaret could be thinking of-she'd never worried him about the Kents' produce before-Lex headed down towards the kitchen.
He walked into the kitchen to find the beets neatly sliced and boiling on the stove, sterile jars waiting for them on the counter.
He turned to find Candy...he was tempted to call it 'lurking' behind him.
"Well," he said, "looks like she's decided to go with pickling them."
She looked behind him and saw the beets cooking on the stove. "I guess she has. Sorry about dragging you all the way down here."
"No problem." He sighed. "It's not like I had anything to do, anyway."
The questions, doubts and recriminations swirled in his mind again as he walked back to the study-regretting all of the maneuvering he did to try to give Clark what he wanted; wishing that Clark would be able to just move on to someone else. Someone....
Like you? a voice in his head taunted.
Lex snorted aloud. That'll be the day.
He'd arrived back at the study by then, so he hastened to his reunion with his brandy snifter. Lifting it to his lips, he took a sip.
Apparently, he thought, that sip was larger than I thought. 'Cause, boy, did that have a kick. Let's have another one.
He sipped again. Wow. Definitely stronger than I expected. What could do that? I'd better sit down while I think this over.
Bonelessly, he flopped onto the sofa as he took one more sip. If I didn't know better, I'd say that this was supsiciously, susspissusly, suspiciously strong...
He lost consciousness.
As soon as he could reasonably get away, Clark went to see Lex. It was the summer, and Clark wanted to spend some time with his friend.
Friend, he thought, and, in my dreams, more than that.
He rang the doorbell, as the butterflies that usually accompanied him to Lex's fluttered in his abdomen.
The door was opened by Candy, the assistant cook.
"Hey."
"Good afternoon, Clark."
"You don't normally answer the door."
She shrugged. "I happened to be walking by when the doorbell rang."
"Is Lex in?"
"No. He's at a meeting."
"Really? I thought he'd come right home after he left the Talon."
"Oh. He did. But then a conference call came in that he had to take. I can see how long he'll be, if you'd like."
"Nah. Don't bother." Clark shook his head affably. "Just ask him to give me a call when he's done, all right?"
Candy nodded. "I will."
"Thanks."
Lex awoke in bed. At least, he thought it was his bed. The mattress was the right firmness, certainly. But there was something wrong. He ran his hand over the fitted sheet below him. Egyptian cotton, 250 count, at least.
He wasn't in his own bedroom.
He sat up, clearing his throat. "I don't know where I am, but this is not my bedroom. Could whoever is responsible for this please just get this over with and tell me what you want?"
A voice came from the shadows in the corner. "I want you to fix what your father did to me."
Lex snorted. "If I could fix things my father did to people, I'd start with the things he did to...people I care about."
"Oh, come on now, Mr. Luthor. You run the fertilizer plant. Certainly you have records of the projects they've worked on."
"Not necessarily," Lex mumbled half to himself. Then, louder, "Is this about Level Three?"
"Level Three? Is that where you Luthors perform your...experiments?"
"What did my father do to you?"
"Now you're admitting it."
"I'm not admitting anything. I don't know anything. But if you want me to fix whatever my father did, you have to tell me what it was, first."
"We aren't getting anywhere. You will find a large selection of books through the door over there."
Lex saw a door on the far side of the room, and a television with cable.
"You will get three square meals a day, but you won't be able to leave until you tell me what your father did, and how to reverse it."
The shadowy figure moved along the perimeter of the room, until it finally opened the door, closing and locking it behind itself.
Lex made a sound somewhere between a chuckle and a sigh. This room really does look like my bedroom. They would have had me fooled, if they hadn't known that the sheets I keep for company are not the same ones I use in my own bedroom. Speaking of which, I doubt my knight in shining flannel will be coming to my rescue any time soon.
Clark wasn't able to sleep. He'd plugged a phone into the extension jack in his room and he'd plugged in his cell phone to recharge in case Lex called, but they both stayed frustratingly silent.
He went back downstairs for the book he was reading, taking it up to his bedroom with him.
Morning came, and he was still awake and still reading.
Martha stuck her head into his room. "Are you all right?"
"Yeah. Fine," he responded halfheartedly.
"Are you sure?" She walked to his side and felt his forehead. "Not that you've ever had a fever, but I figured it can't hurt to check." Smiling, she kissed his forehead, and sat down on the edge of the bed. "Want to talk about it?"
Unbidden, his eyes glanced at the phone. "It's Lex."
"He never called, huh?"
Clark, near tears, shook his head.
Martha became concerned. "You know that it's normal to have crushes like this, right?"
Clark nodded. "Only, I don't think it's just a crush." At Martha's shock, he explained. "It's not the things he can give me, or the fact that he's handsome, or worldly or anything like that. I really know Lex. And he knows me. I can imagine us spending our lives together. I think I really do love him."
"And how does Lex feel about you?"
Clark snorted. "I'm just a friend to him. That's all I'll ever be. His little brother."
Martha's sadness increased at the bitterness in Clark's tone. "Unrequited love is never fun." She stroked his hair. "But if he does think of you as a brother, then I'm sure he didn't mean not to call you. He probably just got off that conference call later than he expected. Why don't you give him a call in a couple of hours?"
Clark smiled. "Yeah. I think I will."
A couple of hours later, Clark called the castle.
"Luthor Residence."
"Candy?"
There was a long pause. "Yes. Clark?"
"Yes. What are you doing answering the phone?"
"I happened to be walking past it when it rang."
Clark thought about this for a moment. "Is Lex there?"
"No. He had an early meeting. Out of town."
This struck Clark as an odd way to phrase it. "Do you know when he'll be back?"
"I'm afraid not. I'll have him give you a call when he gets back, though."
"Thanks, Candy."
"No problem, Clark."
Clark hung up. Something didn't sit right with him. He picked up the phone again, this time dialing Lex's cell phone number.
After five rings, he got Lex's voice mail. "Hey, Lex. It's me. Clark, in case you don't recognize my voice. Anyway, I heard that you're out of town. Give me a call back when you can. Bye."
Clark hung up and went outside to continue his chores.
Lex was awakened by the sound of his bedroom door opening.
At least he thought it was his bedroom; the walls were the right shade of burgundy, the woodwork the right shade of walnut, but he could tell from the way his drool had collected on the Egyptian cotton sheets under his head that he was somewhere else.
"Good morning, Mr. Luthor." The androgynous voice of his captor reached his ears. "I've brought your breakfast and a little task for you."
Lex rolled over, groaning. "Just five more minutes, Mom," he said wryly.
"Very funny, Mr. Luthor." He heard the unnerving sound of a gun being cocked. "Now, will you cooperate with me?"
Lex sat up. "What do you need?" he sighed.
A hand held out his cell phone. He took it, but the hand withdrew before he could see anything more than that it was shaped like a human hand. Not a paw, or a claw, or anything like that. Once again, he wondered what his father had done to the poor unfortunate.
"Call Jenny. Tell her that you're in Boston on business."
Lex glanced down at the display. Missed call from Clark, it read.
"Yes. You got a call this morning. That's why I want you to call Jenny. Head off anyone else looking for you."
Lex couldn't help the rush of happiness at seeing Clark's name. He's looking for me. He'll find me. I'm sure of it. He just hoped it wasn't just wishful thinking.
"Mr. Luthor. You can make the call with a bullet embedded in your thigh." His captor gestured, the muzzle of the gun emerged from the shadows for a moment.
He pressed speed dial number two and waited for his assistant to answer.
"Lex Luthor's office."
"Jenny, hi, it's me. Lex." He tried to sound nonchalant.
"Oh, Mr. Luthor. I have Mr. Kent on the other line..."
Lex interrupted her. "I'm out of town. In Boston. On business. I don't know when I'll be back. I'll let you know more when I find out."
Jenny sounded nonplused. "All right. I'll send out an e-mail to the managers."
"Thanks, Jenny. And let Clark know for me, too, would you?"
Clark couldn't concentrate. Usually his chores took his mind off of his problems, but today that wasn't the case. Finally, throwing the pitchfork down in frustration, he headed for the house.
He picked up the phone and dialed Lex's direct dial at work.
"Lex Luthor's office."
"Jenny? It's Clark Kent."
"Hi, Mr. Kent. Mr. Luthor's not here."
"I know. I called his house and they told me that he was called out of town on business. Do you know anything about that?"
"I'm afraid not, Mr. Kent." She paused. "Can you hold on for a minute?"
"Sure."
Clark was put on hold for a minute or two, listening to the contemporary hits radio station out of Topeka. Lex had put a far-reaching antenna on the building just so he could get the stations from Topeka, 45 miles away, at work.
The station had just changed songs when Jenny came back on the line. "That was Mr. Luthor. And he is out of town. He says he's in Boston, but I don't know what kind of business he'd have there."
That did it. Now Clark knew that something was up. And apparently, Candy knew something about it.
"I don't know, either. But I think I might know someone who does."
Lex hung up. "There. I've done what you wanted. Can I eat my breakfast now?"
"Not so fast. First, give me the phone back." The hand emerged from the shadows again. This time he could see the thick fingers and slightly orange tinge to the skin. He handed the phone over.
"Now you may eat your breakfast." And with a decisive click, the door shut behind his captor.
His heart in his throat, Clark sped to the castle. He walked into the kitchen without so much as knocking. Margaret and Candy were in the middle of preparing their daily shipment of food to the Salvation Army kitchen in Metropolis.
"Clark! What brings you here?" Margaret asked cheerfully.
"Margaret," Clark said in greeting. "May I borrow Candy for a few minutes?"
"Certainly," Margaret responded with a concerned look at her assistant.
Clark waited for Candy to walk ahead of him, then stalked behind her to Lex's study. "Where's Lex?"
"Clark, I told you. He called this morning to tell us he was going out of town."
He advanced on her menacingly. "And if I ask Margaret, what story will I get?"
Candy's jaw came up and she stared into his eyes defiantly. "The same."
"Because she spoke to Lex herself, or because that's the story that you told her?"
Candy didn't respond.
"Well?"
"Where..." Her voice faltered. "Where did you get an idea like that?"
"Because. Lex called Jenny while I was on the phone with her, to tell her that he was out of town. After I'd already spoken to you."
Candy flinched, and that was enough. Clark grabbed her shoulders tightly and lifted her off of the floor, pinning her against the wall. "Where. Is. Lex?"
He could tell he was hurting her, but, at the moment, he didn't care. "I've never hit a woman before, but there's a first time for everything. Now, where is he?"
She started to cry. "You don't understand. I had to."
Fear clutched at his heart and he reflexively tightened his fingers. "You had to do what?"
"I..." She sniffled. "I put something in his scotch last night to make him sleep. He's the only chance she has."
"She?"
"My sister. Mandy. We're twins." Tears were pouring openly down her face now. "But Lionel Luthor did something to her. Changed her. Her only chance is to convince Mr. Luthor to undo what he did to her!"
Clark let Candy drop from his nerveless fingers. "I don't know what Lionel did to her, but I can swear to you that Lex doesn't know anything about it."
"He has to! He's taken over the plant!"
"Candy. I know that Lex doesn't know anything about it. His father cleaned up all of his records before he gave the plant to Lex. Plausible deniability, he called it," Clark concluded with a bitter laugh. "It almost got him killed once."
Candy looked as though he were speaking a foreign language.
Clark sighed and sat down, motioning for her to do the same. After she sat, he began. "Remember last fall, when my class got held hostage by Earl Jenkins?"
She thought for a moment. "At the plant? Disgruntled former employee?"
Clark nodded. "Earl thought that Lex knew about the things that Lionel had done at the plant, too. He was wrong."
Slowly, Candy's eyes widened as she realized the import of what she'd helped her sister do. "We've got to tell Mandy," she gasped.
"Lex is in Topeka?"
Candy nodded.
"Could Lex be in any danger from her?"
"I don't think so. But she does have a gun."
Clark's heart nearly stopped in his chest. "What? Can you call her and tell her it's a mistake?"
"No. She's taken the phone off the hook. We decided it'd be better if she didn't have any interruptions."
That made up his mind for him. "I've got to go. I'll meet you there."
And then he was off, out the door, headed east, towards Topeka.
Several seconds later, he was halfway there, when it occurred to him that he had no idea where in Topeka Lex was. But he had a tendency to develop gifts just as he needed them, and he hoped that whatever deity or angel was in charge of handing out gifts would come across in this situation.
Figuring his best bet was to cover the city in concentric circles, he started at the state capitol building, then went down 9th Street to Kansas Street, then south towards 10th Street.
He'd been running like this for five minutes, always careful to run around pedestrians and to keep his speed fast enough that no one could see him, when he heard it.
"How many times do I need to tell you that I don't know anything?"
It was Lex's voice. He focused on it, allowing it to guide him to Lex.
Lex's voice led him to a third-floor apartment in a relatively well-to-do neighborhood. He speed-vibrated the doorknob until it fell apart in his hand with the merest tinkle of metal.
"I'll leave you alone for a moment, Mr. Luthor. Maybe then you'll be willing to tell me the-" Mandy's voice cut off as Clark shoved her into the wall.
As he did this, Lex got his first good look at his captor. He was...huge. Bulked out in an son-of-Arnold Schwarzenegger-and-the-Incredible-Hulk kind of way.
"How dare you?" he growled.
"Mandy, just calm down. I have to talk to you."
Mandy? Apparently she was...huge. Bulked out in a daughter-of-Arnold Schwarzenegger-and-the-Incredible-Hulk kind of way.
"I don't want to talk to anyone but him!" She gestured angrily at Lex.
Clark pressed his hands into her upper arms, attempting to restrain her. "Candy and I spoke," he said calmly. "She's on her way here."
"You're lying!"
"No. I'm not. You have it all wrong. Both of you have it all wrong."
"Wait, she knows Candy?" Lex asked, suddenly realizing, "Candy slipped me a mickey, didn't she? That's how I got here."
"Yes," Clark said over his shoulder. "I'll explain in a minute."
Mandy was making a good attempt at escape. Clark suddenly felt a strange shakiness come over him, and with almost no effort, he slammed Mandy back into the wall, leaving a Mandy-shaped dent.
"Listen," he said through gritted teeth as the colossal woman looked at him with fear. "You've got the wrong man. Lex knows nothing about what Lionel did to you."
Mandy's jaw dropped. "He's got you fooled."
"No. I know him, Mandy." His voice softened, though his hold on her arms remained as firm as ever. "I know him inside and out."
"So, then, why?"
Clark suddenly grew intent. "How old are you?"
"Twenty-two."
Clark laughed, shortly. "When did this happen?"
"Nineteen-eighty-nine."
"Meteors?" Lex asked from behind him.
Clark nodded. "Let me guess. You were in a situation where you felt powerless, and sometime soon after-immediately, the next day, a week later-you were like this."
Mandy nodded. "Bullies cornered Candy and me."
Lex stood and walked to where Clark still had Mandy restrained. "Clark, let her go."
Clark slowly, reluctantly, released her.
"This has happened to a lot of people in Smallville. I'm one of them." He ran a hand over his scalp. "I have a doctor, in Metropolis, who's working to reverse the things that the meteors did. I've set up a sort of group home. You'll be with people like you, who've been changed in different ways, and working with some of the best doctors in the country. I also have a therapist on staff to help the people affected by the meteors deal with the changes. Would you be willing to give it a try?"
Mandy looked from Lex to Clark, who nodded. "I have a friend there, a girl named Jody. I visit her sometimes, and I can visit you, too."
Mandy nodded. "I think I'd like to be in a place like that."
Lex smiled and Clark let out a sigh of relief.
They heard the sound of someone running across the tile floor of the outer apartment.
It was Candy. "Mandy! Thank God!" She threw her arms around her sister. "I was so afraid..."
"I'm all right. And so's Mr. Luthor," Mandy assured her twin.
"What happened to the doorknob?" Candy asked.
Clark looked at his feet, and Lex stepped into the breach. "Candy, Mandy here has agreed to go into a group home that I've set up for people like her. Who were affected by the meteors that hit Smallville back in '89."
Candy looked to step in front of her sister, but Mandy stopped her. "We...well, this young man here..."
"Oh. Clark Kent." Clark held out his hand to shake Mandy's.
"Clark told me that he visits a friend in that home and that he'll come visit me. You can come, too."
Candy looked distrustfully at Lex, then at Clark.
"I promise, Candy," Clark said with painful honesty. "It'll be fine. They've got really good doctors there, and the other patients are really friendly." He left out the few whose violent tendencies led to them being confined at all times.
"And it's nothing secret. It's listed in the phone book, you can claim it on your insurance, everything," Lex assured her.
"Well, if you're sure…." She looked at her sister.
"I am."
Lex said, "If you'll give me my cell phone back, Mandy, I can give them a call to let them know you're coming."
Mandy shuffled from the room, returning a moment later with the cell phone. Lex went over into the corner to make the call. When he returned, he looked around. "Paper and a pen?"
Mandy gamely went to get it.
"Now, here's the address and how to get to it from I-70." He handed the slip of paper to Candy.
She glanced down at it and nodded. "Got it."
The twins turned to leave, then Candy turned back around. "Oh. Do you need a ride anywhere?"
Lex smiled. "No, I'll call for a car."
"All right."
They stepped towards the door again, and this time, Mandy came back, throwing her arms around Clark in an enthusiastic hug. "I'm sorry for what I did." She said, "You've got one hell of a grip."
Then, smiling, the twins left the apartment. The silence was oppressive.
"Nice room," Clark commented.
"Yeah. Apparently, Candy and Mandy-Candy and Mandy?-went to a lot of effort to make it look as much like my bedroom as possible," he shrugged. "I guess they wanted me to feel at home."
"So how'd they do?"
"Pretty well, actually, but they missed a couple of details." His eyes were drawn to those damn Egyptian cotton sheets.
He was about to suggest that he call for a rental car to take them home, but suddenly his entire field of vision was filled with Kansas farmboy.
Clark took Lex in his arms. "Are you all right? Did she hurt you?"
"I'm fine. Just a little rattled."
Clark ran his hands up and down Lex's back. Lex felt so good. It was so comforting to have him there, under his hands like that. Suddenly Clark wondered if it would be all right to kiss him. Just once. To reassure himself that Lex was really there.
Lex knew that Clark just meant the hug as a friendly gesture. It was in Clark's nature to want to touch and be touched. It was one of the things that separated them, yet bound them together. But Lex bet that Clark had no idea how it was turning him on, as though every nerve ending in his body was up and pointing at Clark.
He got the shock of his life when Clark bent his head down and kissed him.
Clark had been kissed three times in his life, but this was the first time he'd ever initiated a kiss. At first he was afraid of rejection, but when Lex moaned and deepened the kiss, Clark poured everything he felt for Lex into the kiss.
Lex knew he should stop this before it got too far, but he couldn't help but try to show Clark his feelings for the young man. Swept away by the passion, Lex moved his hands to the button band of Clark's flannel shirt, opening it and pushing it halfway down his arms. Then when he had him suitably trapped, he kissed his jaw and down onto his neck. Clark's gasp of surprise egged him on.
Clark had no idea that kissing could be anything like this. Seconds after Lex had moved on to his neck, he allowed the flannel shirt to slip down his arms and onto the floor. He realized that Lex was still wearing the same suit jacket he'd been wearing the day before and that was just wrong, so with one smooth movement, he slid the jacket off and onto the floor.
Lex laughed throatily as he was divested of his jacket. He bared his throat, willing Clark to do whatever he would.
Clark couldn't resist the sight of Lex's throat. He licked and kissed the bared flesh, moving his hands up to Lex's collar, unbuttoning it. Then by the time his brain knew what his feet were doing, he'd walked Lex backwards halfway to the king-sized bed.
Later, Lex woke up warm and sweaty. This was a disorienting experience, because it had been a long time since he woke up anything but cold. Then he recognized the source of the warmth-he wasn't alone. There were six-feet-plus of warm farmboy wrapped around him.
Happiness is a warm farmboy, apparently, Lex thought with a smile, watching Clark sleep.
Clark's eyes cracked open and he smiled up at Lex sleepily. Then he realized the situation he was in. He'd always heard that people who had been through harrowing experiences acted out sexually, and he knew that was what Lex had done.
Lex allowed himself to really feel the love he had for Clark, and he was rewarded with Clark's eyes shuttering as he withdrew, not physically, but emotionally. He'd pushed Clark into something Clark hadn't wanted. His heart filled with regret.
Clark saw the pain in Lex's eyes and knew that Lex regretted what they'd done. Part of him panicked, wondering if somehow he'd forced himself on Lex. He replayed their lovemaking, searching for signs of resistance, of refusal.
Lex suddenly felt awkward, a first for him. He'd found himself in bed with less likely partners with less emotional discomfort. He stood and walked around the bed to his pants and underpants. Not turning his back to Clark, he bent to put his underpants on. "I'd better call for that car."
Clark felt himself on the verge of humiliating himself-begging Lex to love him, not to leave him. But he screwed up his courage and acted like an adult. At least, how he thought an adult would act in a situation like this. "Yeah. You probably should."
Lex put on his pants and, picking up Clark's boxers and jeans, handed them to Clark before crossing to his cell phone.
Clark looked down at his clothes. Lex might as well have said that it was a nice fuck, but that he had to move on. Clark dressed, trying to ignore the breaking of his heart.
"Do you need a ride?" Lex asked, not daring to look Clark in the eye.
"No. I've...got my own transportation." Clark picked up the rest of his clothes.
"Ah. So I'll see you back in Smallville?"
Clark paused while he finished dressing. "Yeah. You'll be all right?"
"Yeah. I'll be fine." Lex gave him a half-hearted smile and dialed the national 1-800 number for a rental car chain.
Clark watched Lex for a minute, then, his heart heavy, began the trek home.
When Clark walked into the kitchen, his mother was there, starting dinner. "I take it you and Lex worked things out?"
"Yeah." He tried to sound matter-of-fact, but he just sounded sad.
"Why do I get the feeling there's more to it than that?"
"Nah. That's all."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah. I'm going to go upstairs and wash up before dinner."
He walked slowly up the stairs and into the bathroom.
Lex parked the rental car in the circle in front of the mansion and went inside.
"Mr. Luthor, Candy disappeared this afternoon."
"It's all right, Margaret. She was with me."
"Oh."
"She had some family business to attend to. She'll be back tomorrow."
"Thank you, Mr. Luthor."
"Oh, and Margaret?"
"Yes?"
"Can someone call Galaxy Rent-a-Car to have someone pick up the rental out front? Thanks."
Without waiting for a response, Lex trudged upstairs. He toyed with taking a shower, but instead, he just dropped the jacket on the floor and threw himself into bed. As he snuggled into his flannel sheets, he thanked whatever powers were in charge of his life that Clark never found out how hooked he was on the farmboy.
The next day when Clark went in to work at the Talon, his head hoped that Lex wasn't there. His heart hoped he was. When he didn't see any of Lex's cars out front, his head had the satisfaction of having things its way.
"Hey, Lana," he said as he came into the room.
"Hi, Clark." She gave him a halfhearted smile.
"Is something wrong?"
"I was just about to ask you that."
Clark looked at her, confused.
"Well, it's...how should I put this? Lex called to tell me he wasn't going to be in. I said that you'd be disappointed, and he sort of...laughed."
Clark's heart dropped through his stomach. "Laughed?"
"Yeah. Like he didn't believe me. That's why I wondered if the two of you had a fight or something."
"A fight?"
The first thought in Clark's mind was that she somehow considered him and Lex to be a couple, but he realized differently when she said, "I don't think I've ever seen the two of you on bad terms like this, where Lex would think you didn't want to see him."
"I...don't know what to say."
She smiled softly. "Don't worry. Whatever it is, I'm sure you'll work it out."
Clark wondered again if Lana thought they were a couple as she walked back to the counter and he went to punch in.
Later that afternoon, Lex came in to the Talon to look over the books. "Is Clark here?" were the first words he spoke to Lana.
She shook her head. "No."
Lex didn't visibly change, but Lana got the feeling he had let out a breath he'd been holding. "I'll be in the office if you need me for anything."
Lex had been working for half an hour when he heard a knock at the door. "Yes?" he called out listlessly.
It was Lana. "Can I come in?"
"Sure. My office is your office."
Lana walked in and sat down in the guest chair.
"What can I do for you?" he asked.
"You can accept my apology."
"For what?"
"For the way I behaved when I was under the influence of the Nicodemus plant."
Lex, not planning to make this easy on her, nodded for her to continue. "You've said that already."
"Well, you see, it's pretty obvious that Clark has always had a crush on me."
"You have a pretty high opinion of yourself."
"You aren't trying to deny that it's true."
"No. I guess I'm not."
"Well, I've been losing Clark. And once I realized that my inhibitions had been reduced by the Nicodemus flower, I knew how to get him back."
"You realized what was happening? I thought that you were totally out of control." Lex's piercing blue eyes met her smug brown ones, searching for the truth.
"That might be true," Lana shrugged, "for the others. They were only under the influence for what? Two hours? Three? I was under the influence for over twelve hours, Lex. From 10:00 at night to 10:30 the next morning. It gave my brain more time to sort things out."
"And so how was throwing yourself at me going to win Clark back?"
"You have a certain...reputation, Lex. I figured that you'd at least be tempted by me, and I might even get a kiss out of it. When Clark came into the Talon, he'd find out that you took advantage of my condition, and become more sympathetic to me. Plus..."
Lex, appalled by the things Lana had already confessed, said, "Spit it out."
"Well, you see, I've been losing him to you."
Lex blinked silently for a moment. "Are you sure you know what you're saying?"
She nodded and leaned forward, as if pushing her words towards him so they'd make a deeper impression. "I've seen the way he looks at you, Lex. It's more than a friendly look, if you get my drift."
"Why are you telling me this? What's in it for you?"
"Can't I just want my friend to be happy? The way you've been avoiding each other isn't making him happy."
Lex looked at her steadily, every pore radiating mistrust.
"Plus he really screwed up the orders yesterday. If I wanted everyone to get the wrong orders, I'd be waiting tables myself." She grinned slyly.
"You really are a piece of work, you know that? If you ever get tired of being the poor little orphan girl, I'll see if my dad would like to adopt you. He'd be proud to call you his own." He was about to give her an earful more, but then his phone rang.
"Lex Luthor. Gabe? I really need to- The DOJ? Damn. I'll be there in a minute."
He disconnected, then said to Lana, "Appears the old man's being investigated. Good thing I bought the plant last May."
"So what do they want with you?"
"They want to go through our books from when LuthorCorp owned the plant to see if they can find anything else to indict my dad over." He shrugged. "So it looks like your attempts will just have to wait for later." He stood and started putting things back into his briefcase.
"Just promise me that after you're done with the investigators, you'll consider talking to Clark about whatever it is that happened between you?"
"Yeah. I guess I can do that."
And with that, he left to deal with the mess his father had left behind.
After he left the Talon, Clark literally ran to Metropolis to visit Mandy. He took the elevator up to the top floor of the office building where Lex had built the clinic.
"Good afternoon, Mr. Kent," the security guard greeted him as he signed in. "You here to see Ms. Melville?"
"Hey, Jim. Actually, I'm not. I'm here to visit Mandy-Amanda. The new patient?" He suddenly realized he didn't know Candy and Mandy's last name.
"Nolan," Jim told him, and Clark dutifully filled the last name in on the sign-in sheet. "I think you can find her..." he looked down at the pad in front of him, "in the dayroom."
"Thanks, Jim." Clark smiled wanly as the security guard buzzed him through the door.
Clark knew where he was going. The dayroom was where he usually met with Jody, whom he ran into on the way down the main corridor.
"Clark! I wasn't expecting you today."
"Well," he said a little sheepishly, "I'm here to visit someone else."
"Fine," she snorted, feigning offense. "Be that way."
"You know that I'll be back with Chloe and Pete next week."
"I know. I'm just playing with you. So, who're you here to see?"
"Amanda Nolan. The new girl?"
"Mandy? Oh, she's great. We spent last night looking through fashion magazines."
Clark was stunned. "I thought that..."
"Oh. We made fun of them, mostly." She laughed. "Trying to figure out what would possess a woman to do things like that to herself."
Clark nodded. "You seem happy."
"I am. I think that Dr. Digby's doing me a lot of good. He's really great."
"Jody!" a nurse called out. "It's time for your afternoon snack."
Jody blushed. "I've got to go."
"Afternoon snack? What's that?"
"You really don't want to know."
"Of course I do. Anything that effects you is interesting to me."
"Well, they've figured out that I stay stable as long as I get a high-fat diet. High in animal fat, specifically."
"So...what? You gnaw that fatty pad off of a brisket once a day?"
"Ewww!" Jody made a face. "No. My afternoon snack is actually...two sticks of butter."
Clark laughed. "Not the humiliating secret I was expecting."
"Well, my butter's melting, so I'd better go."
"Happy snacking." They exchanged a brief hug and then Clark headed for the dayroom.
It wasn't difficult to find Mandy in the dayroom. It wouldn't be difficult to find Mandy anywhere. Clark walked up to her, then around in front of her. "Hi."
She looked up. "Clark. I wasn't expecting you."
"If this is a bad time, I can come back."
"No. I don't want to put you out. It's such a long trip from Smallville. Although, from what Candy said," she lowered her voice. "It didn't take you that long to get here, did it?"
Clark looked around. "No, it didn't actually." He didn't know why it was easy to talk to her about it. Maybe because she'd seen-and experienced-his gifts like she had.
Mandy nodded. "Well, even though this isn't a huge inconvenience, I won't make you leave. Have a seat." She indicated several empty chairs in the vicinity.
Clark pulled one of the chairs over. "How are things going?"
"Pretty good." She nodded. "I met your friend Jody. She's really nice."
"Yeah. I ran into her on my way in. She told me that she'd met you."
"Hard to believe that the meteors changed this many people." She looked around. "You?"
It took Clark a minute to realize she was asking if he was a mutant. He could lie to her, but he wouldn't. "No. I was born this way. I think. I was awfully young at the time."
Jody nodded. "So you're used to it, then."
"Not really."
She looked at him, surprised.
"Well, I keep...changing. I get stronger, or faster. I can see through things."
"Things?"
"Walls, sometimes. Skin, others."
"Like an x-ray? Ick!" Mandy made a face. "What does Mr. Luthor think about all of this?"
"What? About you being here?"
"No. About your powers. About you changing."
"He doesn't know."
"Didn't."
"Didn't?"
Mandy slid her sleeves up to reveal her biceps, which had two neat, hand-shaped bruises. "If he didn't before, he probably does now."
"I did that to you? I'm sorry."
"That's all right." She smiled. "I wasn't exactly thinking clearly at the time. You did what you had to do to rescue Mr. Luthor."
"Yeah," he replied dubiously.
"That's why I figured the two of you were together, you know? 'Cause you did such an effective job of protecting him."
"No. Anything I feel for him is strictly unrequited."
Mandy's jaw dropped. "You feel... But I thought... Do you have any idea how he feels about you?"
"Yeah. I'm his best friend." The words were laced with bitterness.
"Clark. I saw the two of you together. He looks at you in a more-than-friends kind of way."
"Says the woman who spent half her life in seclusion," he couldn't stop himself from saying, then he winced.
She chose to ignore his tone. "I watch television. I read. I'd have to be blind, deaf and numb to not feel the vibe coming from him."
"No. You've got to be wrong."
"Why, Clark? Why do I have to be wrong? Are you happy like this?"
"Of course not!"
"Then take a chance. Tell him how you feel."
After Clark got home from Metropolis, he called Lex's cell phone. Not getting an answer, he left a message for Lex to meet him in the Fortress of Solitude as soon as he could. And then he went out to the barn to wait.
He finished the book that he had been reading. Lex had loaned it to him and Clark figured that he could return it to Lex when he-if he-arrived, and moved on to another one.
After a while, exhaustion caused him to lose his ability to focus, so he gave up and went to sit in the doorway of the loft, looking out at the Kansas night sky.
He lost track of time, thinking about stars, and planets, and the people who might be found out there. He was brought back into the moment by a familiar voice whispering up to him. "Clark!"
Clark looked down, his heart jumping, as he gestured for Lex to come up.
Moments later, Lex was standing behind him in the loft.
"Come here," Clark said, patting the floor next to him.
Lex blanched. "I...think I'll just stay here."
"I won't let you fall," Clark responded, hoping that Lex would hear the I love you in his tone and spare him the embarrassment of having to say it aloud.
"I know," Lex said in a flat tone that didn't give away anything of what he was feeling. Nevertheless, he sat down next to Clark, his back against the wall, facing in towards the barn, rather than hanging his legs out like Clark was doing.
"Sorry I didn't get here sooner, but I had to meet with some folks from the Department of Justice." He left it hanging there like that, waiting for Clark to ask.
"Department of Justice? What happened?"
"Part of the government's attempt to clean up corporations. They're going after LuthorCorp in general, my father in particular."
"Why are they involving you in it?"
"They wanted to look over the records from before I bought the plant in May. To see if there was anything indictable in them."
"And was there?"
Lex shrugged. "Just more of the same stuff they found in Metropolis. All predating my arrival, of course."
"Of course." Clark tried to project his confidence in Lex, his memory of the way Lex refused to fire the employees that Lionel wanted him to fire. "So what's going to happen to him?"
"He's probably not going to prison. Hopefully, he set up LuthorCorp properly, so that his personal holdings won't be affected, either."
"Otherwise, you're out of a home."
"I don't think I have anything to worry about, though. My trust fund will see me through, if nothing else. So, you called me here for a reason?" Lex tried to keep the desperate hope out of his voice.
"We need to talk."
"About what happened?" Lex asked.
"Well, yeah, but other things, too. You've seen some things, especially when I came to rescue you from Mandy..."
Lex nodded.
"It's not adrenaline. It never has been." Clark stared at a spot on the ground outside the barn. "I'm different, and it's not from the meteors."
Lex brought one hand under Clark's chin, guiding his eyes up so they were looking at each other directly. "You don't need to tell me."
"Yes, I do. I need to tell you, so that," when I tell you that I love you, "you can make an informed decision about...things."
"Are you sure?"
Clark nodded.
"Then I'm all ears."
And then he told Lex, haltingly at first, but with increasing fluency as he saw only acceptance in Lex's eyes. Finally, he stopped.
"Anything else you want to say?" Lex asked gently.
"The meteors. They make me sick when I get too close to them." He was back to staring at the ground outside.
"The meteors make you sick?"
Clark nodded, still looking down.
"When you hauled Earl and me up, how did you feel?"
Clark looked up, surprised. "I don't know," he paused, trying to remember. "Weak, shaky, like I was going to throw up. But I had to get both of you up, save both of you. Especially you."
Lex smiled, as if he were going to tell Clark a secret. "You didn't lie to me on Level 3."
"I did. I..."
Lex silenced Clark by putting his index finger over his lips. "Earl has about a half a pound of meteor bits inside him. Enough to weaken you?"
Clark nodded.
"You couldn't have done it without adrenaline. You just didn't know you were telling me the truth."
"Well, geeze. I guess I didn't need to confess everything, then," Clark deadpanned, then laughed. "Of course I needed to tell you. I've hated lying to you all of this time." Clark looked into Lex's eyes. "All right. I used this with Lana, maybe it'll work with you."
He saw Lex shutting down. "I'm not sure I want to be included with anything involving Lana."
"Please." Clark put his hand on Lex's arm. "Trust me."
Lex nodded, and Clark could see him attempting to make himself receptive to what Clark had to say. Clark slid back, pulling his legs up into the barn, and sitting cross-legged across from Lex. He held his hands out in front of him, a shoulders' width apart.
"I've always expected my first time to fit along a sort of continuum." He stopped Lex from asking with a pointed look. "Over here is, you know, my wedding night." He indicated his right hand. "Over here is it just meaning something." He indicated his left hand.
Lex's heart seized up. He was afraid to ask, but ask he did. "And our time in Topeka...?"
"Was way, way over there." He indicated the depths of the barn beyond his right hand.
"But if that's your wedding night, then over there is..."
Clark looked at Lex, his whole heart in his eyes. "Everything."
The whole world around them grew silent. Even the crickets stopped chirping.
"Everything?"
Clark nodded.
"I...didn't know."
Clark's heart broke, until the next words out of Lex's mouth.
"I hoped, but-"
"You did?" Clark interrupted him.
"Yeah. I did." Lex felt an unbidden smile turn up the corners of his mouth.
Clark smiled back and they sat there, grinning stupidly at each other, for a moment.
Finally, Clark's eyes slid down towards Lex's mouth. "Is it all right, I mean, could I, um, can I kiss you?"
Lex's smile grew even larger. "I'd be disappointed if you didn't."
Author: PepperjackCandy
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Clark/Lex
Category: Romance, Drama, Futurefic
Spoilers for: MotWs from Season 1
Disclaimer: I own nothing Smallville-related, or related in any other way to Clark Kent, Superman or any of the various creations of the wonderful folks at DC Comics.
Feedback: Always welcome, either by e-mail or using the review system at fanfiction.net.
A/N: Originally prepared for the LexSlash mailing list's ReMemory contest, then published in the Silk & Flannel I print zine.
=======
It was summer, and Clark had taken a job at the Talon to help out with the family finances. And to be near Lana, or so everyone thought. Actually, he'd taken the job to spend more time with Lex. So far, no one seemed to have noticed that Clark's hours were all conveniently scheduled when Lex just happened to be over to examine the books.
Wondering what Lex was doing in the office, Clark glanced up the stairs.
"Excuse me," a woman's voice intruded on his thoughts.
"Yes, ma'am." Half of the wait staff was on vacation, so Lana was covering the tables that Clark couldn't serve without risking his cover. The woman was sitting at a table that Lana had handled. He cringed, wondering what was wrong.
"I ordered a vanilla latte, and this is clearly hot chocolate." She held out the cup for his inspection.
"Sorry about that ma'am. I'll correct that." He held out his hand for the cup, which slipped from the woman's grasp, spilling hot chocolate for several feet in all directions.
Clark flinched. "Sorry. I'll get something to clean that right up." He hurried back to the bar slowly, wishing he could afford to go at super-speed. "Can I have a vanilla latte, please? And a rag?"
Chuckling, Nell handed him a rag. "The latte'll be up in a minute."
"Thanks." He turned around to see Lana coming right towards him on a path that would take her straight through the puddle of hot chocolate.
Clark saw the impending disaster. "Lana!" He called out, a second too late.
Her foot hit the puddle of hot chocolate and she went over, landing heavily on her backside, her head, flung back, hitting the next table over as she fell.
This time, Clark put on an extra burst of speed as he hurried to her side. "Lana? Are you all right?" He hunkered down next to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, touching her face gently.
A moment later, her eyes opened. "Mmm," a sound of pain at first, which became something...more. "Mmm, hey, Clark." She gave him a sultry smile.
Clark blinked in astonishment, shocked into silence.
Lana shook her head as if to clear it.
"Are you all right?" Clark finally found his voice and asked solicitously.
Lana smiled wanly as Clark helped her to her feet. "Fine. I just had the weirdest flashback of a dream I had a while ago."
Clark walked Lana to a chair, vaguely aware of other employees hurrying to clean up the spilled hot chocolate. "Oh?" he asked.
"It was weird. I was wearing that really skanky outfit that Nell got me for my sixteenth birthday. You know, with the boots and the miniskirt and the Victoria's Secret undies?"
Clark broke Lana's gaze and stared at the floor.
"Wait. You missed the party. Why do I think that you've seen it, though? Oh, that's right. The dream."
Oh, God. Clark thought with trepidation, She's remembering...
That was as far as he got, because soon Lana's eyes went wider, as her jaw dropped and the faintest of blushes tinted her cheeks. "That wasn't a dream, was it?"
Clark wished he could play stupid, but he really owed Lana more than that. "No. It wasn't."
Lex worked silently in the office, balancing the books. His accounting classes in college had been almost enough to kill him, but once he got out into the real world, where it was real money-in this case, his real money-suddenly it got more interesting.
Plus it didn't hurt that he had the latest accounting software package on the office computer. Beat the hell out of doing it all by hand.
Sometimes he listened to music while he worked, but today he chose to let the hum of conversation from the dining area keep him company.
Until the sound stopped completely.
Lex stood and walked to the door of the office, opening it and looking out. Conversation gradually built back up, as he noticed Lana sitting at an empty table, Clark hovering solicitously at her shoulder.
Damned if he'd let that continue.
He'd tried his hardest to push Lana and Clark together for the first six months he'd been in Smallville, but the more he got to know the precious Miss Lang, the more he loathed her.
Lex sometimes wondered who he should try to fix Clark up with. Chloe had always been a good friend to Clark, but something about the girl never quite sat well with Lex. Like most of the journalists he'd known. Like she wasn't above using a friend to get a good story.
And when Lex was completely honest with himself, he knew the real reason why neither Chloe nor Lana was good enough for Clark. Because only one person was good enough for Clark.
Lex Luthor.
Which is why he left the office and was currently headed across the dining area towards the pair. He almost didn't see the spill until it was too late, but managed to avoid it just in time. Lex had to laugh to himself, imagining himself ass-over-teakettle on the floor. Followed immediately by the bitter realization that Clark, so wrapped up in Lana, would never have noticed.
But then he was close enough to hear what Clark and Lana were talking about.
"Oh, my God. You mean that I actually..."
Clark nodded.
"I'm so sorry. I mean, I can't believe I'd do something like that."
"Don't be," Clark assured her, then realized how it sounded. "You weren't yourself. It was after you'd been effected by the Nicodemus flower. If I blamed you for it, I'd have to blame my father for..." Shooting me with his shotgun, Clark finished silently, but he was saved from having to finish by Lex's arrival.
"Are you all right, Lana?"
There was something in Lex's tone that sounded like sarcasm, and Lex flinched inwardly at the tone. He'd meant to sound conciliatory, he really had, but his intentions were foiled by seeing Clark put his hand on Lana's shoulder.
Lana looked up at him and nodded, then the light pinkness grew several shades darker. Her eyes widened. "I'm so sorry, Lex."
For one insane moment, Lex thought that she was apologizing for encroaching on his territory, Clark, but then he came back to reality and asked, "Sorry for what?"
"For..." She seemed unable to finish the thought.
"Whatever it was that happened between you when Lana was under the influence of the Nicodemus flower," Clark explained.
"Oh." Lex's eyebrows would have disappeared into his hairline at this, if he'd had any hair. After a moment, he regained his composure. "It's all right. I know it was the flower talking, not you."
Lana nodded gently and looked up at Clark. "Clark?" she asked hesitantly, looking around at the people bustling around.
"Would the two of you like to sit in the office and talk about whatever it is that you need to discuss?" Lex offered.
Clark nodded, relieved. "Thanks, Lex. Can you stand up, Lana?"
"The only thing wounded is my pride."
Together, they walked across the room and up the stairs to the office.
Clark sat down in the desk chair, which squeaked loudly. "Once this place starts making a profit, you probably should buy a new chair. This one sounds like it's about to fall apart," he said, trying to lighten the mood.
It had about half of the desired effect. One corner of Lana's mouth turned up in a smile. "It only sounds like that when you sit down in it."
Clark manfully resisted the temptation to stick his tongue out at Lana. "Like I was saying downstairs, I don't blame you at all for what happened. You...weren't yourself."
"Clark?"
"Hmm?"
"I was right about your feelings for me, wasn't I?"
"Yes. You...were." He wondered what Lana would say if he told her that he really meant it when he said that she had been right, but that she no longer was the object of his affections.
"So why didn't..."
Clark sighed. "Because. I've always thought that my first time.... Well, there's a sort of continuum."
"Continuum?" Lana giggled.
Clark looked at her seriously. "A continuum." He held his hands out in front of him, a shoulders' width apart. "Over here is, you know, my wedding night." He indicated his right hand. "Over here is it just meaning something." He indicated his left hand.
He shrugged. "I guess I've always wanted my first time to be, you know, somewhere in between those two points. And taking advantage of a friend who's under the influence is way, way over there." He jerked his head toward the door, which was on the other side of the room to his left.
Lana smiled at him. "Thank you."
"For what?"
"For not taking advantage of me. Not a lot of guys would do that."
"Well, I guess I'm not a lot of guys." They stood and walked towards the door.
"No, you're not a lot of guys." Lana said as she opened the door and turned to kiss Clark on the cheek.
Lana walked back towards the counter, and Clark headed for Lex, who was watching them, an inscrutable expression on his face.
"Thanks," Clark said.
"No problem. I assume you got everything straightened out?"
Clark nodded, trying not to notice the way that Lex's eyes had hardened as he asked his question. "Yeah."
"Good."
Lex turned to head back into his office, but Clark couldn't just let him go like that. "Lex!"
Lex turned back around, the hard look still in his eyes.
God, I wish I knew what happened. I don't suppose he could be jealous over that little kiss? Naaah. Wishful thinking. "Nothing. I'll talk to you later."
Later, Lex drove home, unable to get the image of Clark and Lana together out of his mind. He walked immediately to the study and poured himself a snifter of brandy.
"Mr. Luthor?" a quiet voice came from the door into the corridor.
Lex recognized it instantly as Candy, the cook's assistant. Not that Margaret had enough work cooking for only him to justify an assistant, but Lex bought so much produce from the Kents that the cook spent hours every week canning it, preserving it and cooking it into dishes which were shipped to the Salvation Army food distribution center in Metropolis.
According to Margaret, Candy was worth her weight in gold.
"Yes, Candy?"
"Margaret would like to speak with you about what to do with the beets the Kents sent over."
"Beets?"
"Yes, sir."
Wondering what Margaret could be thinking of-she'd never worried him about the Kents' produce before-Lex headed down towards the kitchen.
He walked into the kitchen to find the beets neatly sliced and boiling on the stove, sterile jars waiting for them on the counter.
He turned to find Candy...he was tempted to call it 'lurking' behind him.
"Well," he said, "looks like she's decided to go with pickling them."
She looked behind him and saw the beets cooking on the stove. "I guess she has. Sorry about dragging you all the way down here."
"No problem." He sighed. "It's not like I had anything to do, anyway."
The questions, doubts and recriminations swirled in his mind again as he walked back to the study-regretting all of the maneuvering he did to try to give Clark what he wanted; wishing that Clark would be able to just move on to someone else. Someone....
Like you? a voice in his head taunted.
Lex snorted aloud. That'll be the day.
He'd arrived back at the study by then, so he hastened to his reunion with his brandy snifter. Lifting it to his lips, he took a sip.
Apparently, he thought, that sip was larger than I thought. 'Cause, boy, did that have a kick. Let's have another one.
He sipped again. Wow. Definitely stronger than I expected. What could do that? I'd better sit down while I think this over.
Bonelessly, he flopped onto the sofa as he took one more sip. If I didn't know better, I'd say that this was supsiciously, susspissusly, suspiciously strong...
He lost consciousness.
As soon as he could reasonably get away, Clark went to see Lex. It was the summer, and Clark wanted to spend some time with his friend.
Friend, he thought, and, in my dreams, more than that.
He rang the doorbell, as the butterflies that usually accompanied him to Lex's fluttered in his abdomen.
The door was opened by Candy, the assistant cook.
"Hey."
"Good afternoon, Clark."
"You don't normally answer the door."
She shrugged. "I happened to be walking by when the doorbell rang."
"Is Lex in?"
"No. He's at a meeting."
"Really? I thought he'd come right home after he left the Talon."
"Oh. He did. But then a conference call came in that he had to take. I can see how long he'll be, if you'd like."
"Nah. Don't bother." Clark shook his head affably. "Just ask him to give me a call when he's done, all right?"
Candy nodded. "I will."
"Thanks."
Lex awoke in bed. At least, he thought it was his bed. The mattress was the right firmness, certainly. But there was something wrong. He ran his hand over the fitted sheet below him. Egyptian cotton, 250 count, at least.
He wasn't in his own bedroom.
He sat up, clearing his throat. "I don't know where I am, but this is not my bedroom. Could whoever is responsible for this please just get this over with and tell me what you want?"
A voice came from the shadows in the corner. "I want you to fix what your father did to me."
Lex snorted. "If I could fix things my father did to people, I'd start with the things he did to...people I care about."
"Oh, come on now, Mr. Luthor. You run the fertilizer plant. Certainly you have records of the projects they've worked on."
"Not necessarily," Lex mumbled half to himself. Then, louder, "Is this about Level Three?"
"Level Three? Is that where you Luthors perform your...experiments?"
"What did my father do to you?"
"Now you're admitting it."
"I'm not admitting anything. I don't know anything. But if you want me to fix whatever my father did, you have to tell me what it was, first."
"We aren't getting anywhere. You will find a large selection of books through the door over there."
Lex saw a door on the far side of the room, and a television with cable.
"You will get three square meals a day, but you won't be able to leave until you tell me what your father did, and how to reverse it."
The shadowy figure moved along the perimeter of the room, until it finally opened the door, closing and locking it behind itself.
Lex made a sound somewhere between a chuckle and a sigh. This room really does look like my bedroom. They would have had me fooled, if they hadn't known that the sheets I keep for company are not the same ones I use in my own bedroom. Speaking of which, I doubt my knight in shining flannel will be coming to my rescue any time soon.
Clark wasn't able to sleep. He'd plugged a phone into the extension jack in his room and he'd plugged in his cell phone to recharge in case Lex called, but they both stayed frustratingly silent.
He went back downstairs for the book he was reading, taking it up to his bedroom with him.
Morning came, and he was still awake and still reading.
Martha stuck her head into his room. "Are you all right?"
"Yeah. Fine," he responded halfheartedly.
"Are you sure?" She walked to his side and felt his forehead. "Not that you've ever had a fever, but I figured it can't hurt to check." Smiling, she kissed his forehead, and sat down on the edge of the bed. "Want to talk about it?"
Unbidden, his eyes glanced at the phone. "It's Lex."
"He never called, huh?"
Clark, near tears, shook his head.
Martha became concerned. "You know that it's normal to have crushes like this, right?"
Clark nodded. "Only, I don't think it's just a crush." At Martha's shock, he explained. "It's not the things he can give me, or the fact that he's handsome, or worldly or anything like that. I really know Lex. And he knows me. I can imagine us spending our lives together. I think I really do love him."
"And how does Lex feel about you?"
Clark snorted. "I'm just a friend to him. That's all I'll ever be. His little brother."
Martha's sadness increased at the bitterness in Clark's tone. "Unrequited love is never fun." She stroked his hair. "But if he does think of you as a brother, then I'm sure he didn't mean not to call you. He probably just got off that conference call later than he expected. Why don't you give him a call in a couple of hours?"
Clark smiled. "Yeah. I think I will."
A couple of hours later, Clark called the castle.
"Luthor Residence."
"Candy?"
There was a long pause. "Yes. Clark?"
"Yes. What are you doing answering the phone?"
"I happened to be walking past it when it rang."
Clark thought about this for a moment. "Is Lex there?"
"No. He had an early meeting. Out of town."
This struck Clark as an odd way to phrase it. "Do you know when he'll be back?"
"I'm afraid not. I'll have him give you a call when he gets back, though."
"Thanks, Candy."
"No problem, Clark."
Clark hung up. Something didn't sit right with him. He picked up the phone again, this time dialing Lex's cell phone number.
After five rings, he got Lex's voice mail. "Hey, Lex. It's me. Clark, in case you don't recognize my voice. Anyway, I heard that you're out of town. Give me a call back when you can. Bye."
Clark hung up and went outside to continue his chores.
Lex was awakened by the sound of his bedroom door opening.
At least he thought it was his bedroom; the walls were the right shade of burgundy, the woodwork the right shade of walnut, but he could tell from the way his drool had collected on the Egyptian cotton sheets under his head that he was somewhere else.
"Good morning, Mr. Luthor." The androgynous voice of his captor reached his ears. "I've brought your breakfast and a little task for you."
Lex rolled over, groaning. "Just five more minutes, Mom," he said wryly.
"Very funny, Mr. Luthor." He heard the unnerving sound of a gun being cocked. "Now, will you cooperate with me?"
Lex sat up. "What do you need?" he sighed.
A hand held out his cell phone. He took it, but the hand withdrew before he could see anything more than that it was shaped like a human hand. Not a paw, or a claw, or anything like that. Once again, he wondered what his father had done to the poor unfortunate.
"Call Jenny. Tell her that you're in Boston on business."
Lex glanced down at the display. Missed call from Clark, it read.
"Yes. You got a call this morning. That's why I want you to call Jenny. Head off anyone else looking for you."
Lex couldn't help the rush of happiness at seeing Clark's name. He's looking for me. He'll find me. I'm sure of it. He just hoped it wasn't just wishful thinking.
"Mr. Luthor. You can make the call with a bullet embedded in your thigh." His captor gestured, the muzzle of the gun emerged from the shadows for a moment.
He pressed speed dial number two and waited for his assistant to answer.
"Lex Luthor's office."
"Jenny, hi, it's me. Lex." He tried to sound nonchalant.
"Oh, Mr. Luthor. I have Mr. Kent on the other line..."
Lex interrupted her. "I'm out of town. In Boston. On business. I don't know when I'll be back. I'll let you know more when I find out."
Jenny sounded nonplused. "All right. I'll send out an e-mail to the managers."
"Thanks, Jenny. And let Clark know for me, too, would you?"
Clark couldn't concentrate. Usually his chores took his mind off of his problems, but today that wasn't the case. Finally, throwing the pitchfork down in frustration, he headed for the house.
He picked up the phone and dialed Lex's direct dial at work.
"Lex Luthor's office."
"Jenny? It's Clark Kent."
"Hi, Mr. Kent. Mr. Luthor's not here."
"I know. I called his house and they told me that he was called out of town on business. Do you know anything about that?"
"I'm afraid not, Mr. Kent." She paused. "Can you hold on for a minute?"
"Sure."
Clark was put on hold for a minute or two, listening to the contemporary hits radio station out of Topeka. Lex had put a far-reaching antenna on the building just so he could get the stations from Topeka, 45 miles away, at work.
The station had just changed songs when Jenny came back on the line. "That was Mr. Luthor. And he is out of town. He says he's in Boston, but I don't know what kind of business he'd have there."
That did it. Now Clark knew that something was up. And apparently, Candy knew something about it.
"I don't know, either. But I think I might know someone who does."
Lex hung up. "There. I've done what you wanted. Can I eat my breakfast now?"
"Not so fast. First, give me the phone back." The hand emerged from the shadows again. This time he could see the thick fingers and slightly orange tinge to the skin. He handed the phone over.
"Now you may eat your breakfast." And with a decisive click, the door shut behind his captor.
His heart in his throat, Clark sped to the castle. He walked into the kitchen without so much as knocking. Margaret and Candy were in the middle of preparing their daily shipment of food to the Salvation Army kitchen in Metropolis.
"Clark! What brings you here?" Margaret asked cheerfully.
"Margaret," Clark said in greeting. "May I borrow Candy for a few minutes?"
"Certainly," Margaret responded with a concerned look at her assistant.
Clark waited for Candy to walk ahead of him, then stalked behind her to Lex's study. "Where's Lex?"
"Clark, I told you. He called this morning to tell us he was going out of town."
He advanced on her menacingly. "And if I ask Margaret, what story will I get?"
Candy's jaw came up and she stared into his eyes defiantly. "The same."
"Because she spoke to Lex herself, or because that's the story that you told her?"
Candy didn't respond.
"Well?"
"Where..." Her voice faltered. "Where did you get an idea like that?"
"Because. Lex called Jenny while I was on the phone with her, to tell her that he was out of town. After I'd already spoken to you."
Candy flinched, and that was enough. Clark grabbed her shoulders tightly and lifted her off of the floor, pinning her against the wall. "Where. Is. Lex?"
He could tell he was hurting her, but, at the moment, he didn't care. "I've never hit a woman before, but there's a first time for everything. Now, where is he?"
She started to cry. "You don't understand. I had to."
Fear clutched at his heart and he reflexively tightened his fingers. "You had to do what?"
"I..." She sniffled. "I put something in his scotch last night to make him sleep. He's the only chance she has."
"She?"
"My sister. Mandy. We're twins." Tears were pouring openly down her face now. "But Lionel Luthor did something to her. Changed her. Her only chance is to convince Mr. Luthor to undo what he did to her!"
Clark let Candy drop from his nerveless fingers. "I don't know what Lionel did to her, but I can swear to you that Lex doesn't know anything about it."
"He has to! He's taken over the plant!"
"Candy. I know that Lex doesn't know anything about it. His father cleaned up all of his records before he gave the plant to Lex. Plausible deniability, he called it," Clark concluded with a bitter laugh. "It almost got him killed once."
Candy looked as though he were speaking a foreign language.
Clark sighed and sat down, motioning for her to do the same. After she sat, he began. "Remember last fall, when my class got held hostage by Earl Jenkins?"
She thought for a moment. "At the plant? Disgruntled former employee?"
Clark nodded. "Earl thought that Lex knew about the things that Lionel had done at the plant, too. He was wrong."
Slowly, Candy's eyes widened as she realized the import of what she'd helped her sister do. "We've got to tell Mandy," she gasped.
"Lex is in Topeka?"
Candy nodded.
"Could Lex be in any danger from her?"
"I don't think so. But she does have a gun."
Clark's heart nearly stopped in his chest. "What? Can you call her and tell her it's a mistake?"
"No. She's taken the phone off the hook. We decided it'd be better if she didn't have any interruptions."
That made up his mind for him. "I've got to go. I'll meet you there."
And then he was off, out the door, headed east, towards Topeka.
Several seconds later, he was halfway there, when it occurred to him that he had no idea where in Topeka Lex was. But he had a tendency to develop gifts just as he needed them, and he hoped that whatever deity or angel was in charge of handing out gifts would come across in this situation.
Figuring his best bet was to cover the city in concentric circles, he started at the state capitol building, then went down 9th Street to Kansas Street, then south towards 10th Street.
He'd been running like this for five minutes, always careful to run around pedestrians and to keep his speed fast enough that no one could see him, when he heard it.
"How many times do I need to tell you that I don't know anything?"
It was Lex's voice. He focused on it, allowing it to guide him to Lex.
Lex's voice led him to a third-floor apartment in a relatively well-to-do neighborhood. He speed-vibrated the doorknob until it fell apart in his hand with the merest tinkle of metal.
"I'll leave you alone for a moment, Mr. Luthor. Maybe then you'll be willing to tell me the-" Mandy's voice cut off as Clark shoved her into the wall.
As he did this, Lex got his first good look at his captor. He was...huge. Bulked out in an son-of-Arnold Schwarzenegger-and-the-Incredible-Hulk kind of way.
"How dare you?" he growled.
"Mandy, just calm down. I have to talk to you."
Mandy? Apparently she was...huge. Bulked out in a daughter-of-Arnold Schwarzenegger-and-the-Incredible-Hulk kind of way.
"I don't want to talk to anyone but him!" She gestured angrily at Lex.
Clark pressed his hands into her upper arms, attempting to restrain her. "Candy and I spoke," he said calmly. "She's on her way here."
"You're lying!"
"No. I'm not. You have it all wrong. Both of you have it all wrong."
"Wait, she knows Candy?" Lex asked, suddenly realizing, "Candy slipped me a mickey, didn't she? That's how I got here."
"Yes," Clark said over his shoulder. "I'll explain in a minute."
Mandy was making a good attempt at escape. Clark suddenly felt a strange shakiness come over him, and with almost no effort, he slammed Mandy back into the wall, leaving a Mandy-shaped dent.
"Listen," he said through gritted teeth as the colossal woman looked at him with fear. "You've got the wrong man. Lex knows nothing about what Lionel did to you."
Mandy's jaw dropped. "He's got you fooled."
"No. I know him, Mandy." His voice softened, though his hold on her arms remained as firm as ever. "I know him inside and out."
"So, then, why?"
Clark suddenly grew intent. "How old are you?"
"Twenty-two."
Clark laughed, shortly. "When did this happen?"
"Nineteen-eighty-nine."
"Meteors?" Lex asked from behind him.
Clark nodded. "Let me guess. You were in a situation where you felt powerless, and sometime soon after-immediately, the next day, a week later-you were like this."
Mandy nodded. "Bullies cornered Candy and me."
Lex stood and walked to where Clark still had Mandy restrained. "Clark, let her go."
Clark slowly, reluctantly, released her.
"This has happened to a lot of people in Smallville. I'm one of them." He ran a hand over his scalp. "I have a doctor, in Metropolis, who's working to reverse the things that the meteors did. I've set up a sort of group home. You'll be with people like you, who've been changed in different ways, and working with some of the best doctors in the country. I also have a therapist on staff to help the people affected by the meteors deal with the changes. Would you be willing to give it a try?"
Mandy looked from Lex to Clark, who nodded. "I have a friend there, a girl named Jody. I visit her sometimes, and I can visit you, too."
Mandy nodded. "I think I'd like to be in a place like that."
Lex smiled and Clark let out a sigh of relief.
They heard the sound of someone running across the tile floor of the outer apartment.
It was Candy. "Mandy! Thank God!" She threw her arms around her sister. "I was so afraid..."
"I'm all right. And so's Mr. Luthor," Mandy assured her twin.
"What happened to the doorknob?" Candy asked.
Clark looked at his feet, and Lex stepped into the breach. "Candy, Mandy here has agreed to go into a group home that I've set up for people like her. Who were affected by the meteors that hit Smallville back in '89."
Candy looked to step in front of her sister, but Mandy stopped her. "We...well, this young man here..."
"Oh. Clark Kent." Clark held out his hand to shake Mandy's.
"Clark told me that he visits a friend in that home and that he'll come visit me. You can come, too."
Candy looked distrustfully at Lex, then at Clark.
"I promise, Candy," Clark said with painful honesty. "It'll be fine. They've got really good doctors there, and the other patients are really friendly." He left out the few whose violent tendencies led to them being confined at all times.
"And it's nothing secret. It's listed in the phone book, you can claim it on your insurance, everything," Lex assured her.
"Well, if you're sure…." She looked at her sister.
"I am."
Lex said, "If you'll give me my cell phone back, Mandy, I can give them a call to let them know you're coming."
Mandy shuffled from the room, returning a moment later with the cell phone. Lex went over into the corner to make the call. When he returned, he looked around. "Paper and a pen?"
Mandy gamely went to get it.
"Now, here's the address and how to get to it from I-70." He handed the slip of paper to Candy.
She glanced down at it and nodded. "Got it."
The twins turned to leave, then Candy turned back around. "Oh. Do you need a ride anywhere?"
Lex smiled. "No, I'll call for a car."
"All right."
They stepped towards the door again, and this time, Mandy came back, throwing her arms around Clark in an enthusiastic hug. "I'm sorry for what I did." She said, "You've got one hell of a grip."
Then, smiling, the twins left the apartment. The silence was oppressive.
"Nice room," Clark commented.
"Yeah. Apparently, Candy and Mandy-Candy and Mandy?-went to a lot of effort to make it look as much like my bedroom as possible," he shrugged. "I guess they wanted me to feel at home."
"So how'd they do?"
"Pretty well, actually, but they missed a couple of details." His eyes were drawn to those damn Egyptian cotton sheets.
He was about to suggest that he call for a rental car to take them home, but suddenly his entire field of vision was filled with Kansas farmboy.
Clark took Lex in his arms. "Are you all right? Did she hurt you?"
"I'm fine. Just a little rattled."
Clark ran his hands up and down Lex's back. Lex felt so good. It was so comforting to have him there, under his hands like that. Suddenly Clark wondered if it would be all right to kiss him. Just once. To reassure himself that Lex was really there.
Lex knew that Clark just meant the hug as a friendly gesture. It was in Clark's nature to want to touch and be touched. It was one of the things that separated them, yet bound them together. But Lex bet that Clark had no idea how it was turning him on, as though every nerve ending in his body was up and pointing at Clark.
He got the shock of his life when Clark bent his head down and kissed him.
Clark had been kissed three times in his life, but this was the first time he'd ever initiated a kiss. At first he was afraid of rejection, but when Lex moaned and deepened the kiss, Clark poured everything he felt for Lex into the kiss.
Lex knew he should stop this before it got too far, but he couldn't help but try to show Clark his feelings for the young man. Swept away by the passion, Lex moved his hands to the button band of Clark's flannel shirt, opening it and pushing it halfway down his arms. Then when he had him suitably trapped, he kissed his jaw and down onto his neck. Clark's gasp of surprise egged him on.
Clark had no idea that kissing could be anything like this. Seconds after Lex had moved on to his neck, he allowed the flannel shirt to slip down his arms and onto the floor. He realized that Lex was still wearing the same suit jacket he'd been wearing the day before and that was just wrong, so with one smooth movement, he slid the jacket off and onto the floor.
Lex laughed throatily as he was divested of his jacket. He bared his throat, willing Clark to do whatever he would.
Clark couldn't resist the sight of Lex's throat. He licked and kissed the bared flesh, moving his hands up to Lex's collar, unbuttoning it. Then by the time his brain knew what his feet were doing, he'd walked Lex backwards halfway to the king-sized bed.
Later, Lex woke up warm and sweaty. This was a disorienting experience, because it had been a long time since he woke up anything but cold. Then he recognized the source of the warmth-he wasn't alone. There were six-feet-plus of warm farmboy wrapped around him.
Happiness is a warm farmboy, apparently, Lex thought with a smile, watching Clark sleep.
Clark's eyes cracked open and he smiled up at Lex sleepily. Then he realized the situation he was in. He'd always heard that people who had been through harrowing experiences acted out sexually, and he knew that was what Lex had done.
Lex allowed himself to really feel the love he had for Clark, and he was rewarded with Clark's eyes shuttering as he withdrew, not physically, but emotionally. He'd pushed Clark into something Clark hadn't wanted. His heart filled with regret.
Clark saw the pain in Lex's eyes and knew that Lex regretted what they'd done. Part of him panicked, wondering if somehow he'd forced himself on Lex. He replayed their lovemaking, searching for signs of resistance, of refusal.
Lex suddenly felt awkward, a first for him. He'd found himself in bed with less likely partners with less emotional discomfort. He stood and walked around the bed to his pants and underpants. Not turning his back to Clark, he bent to put his underpants on. "I'd better call for that car."
Clark felt himself on the verge of humiliating himself-begging Lex to love him, not to leave him. But he screwed up his courage and acted like an adult. At least, how he thought an adult would act in a situation like this. "Yeah. You probably should."
Lex put on his pants and, picking up Clark's boxers and jeans, handed them to Clark before crossing to his cell phone.
Clark looked down at his clothes. Lex might as well have said that it was a nice fuck, but that he had to move on. Clark dressed, trying to ignore the breaking of his heart.
"Do you need a ride?" Lex asked, not daring to look Clark in the eye.
"No. I've...got my own transportation." Clark picked up the rest of his clothes.
"Ah. So I'll see you back in Smallville?"
Clark paused while he finished dressing. "Yeah. You'll be all right?"
"Yeah. I'll be fine." Lex gave him a half-hearted smile and dialed the national 1-800 number for a rental car chain.
Clark watched Lex for a minute, then, his heart heavy, began the trek home.
When Clark walked into the kitchen, his mother was there, starting dinner. "I take it you and Lex worked things out?"
"Yeah." He tried to sound matter-of-fact, but he just sounded sad.
"Why do I get the feeling there's more to it than that?"
"Nah. That's all."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah. I'm going to go upstairs and wash up before dinner."
He walked slowly up the stairs and into the bathroom.
Lex parked the rental car in the circle in front of the mansion and went inside.
"Mr. Luthor, Candy disappeared this afternoon."
"It's all right, Margaret. She was with me."
"Oh."
"She had some family business to attend to. She'll be back tomorrow."
"Thank you, Mr. Luthor."
"Oh, and Margaret?"
"Yes?"
"Can someone call Galaxy Rent-a-Car to have someone pick up the rental out front? Thanks."
Without waiting for a response, Lex trudged upstairs. He toyed with taking a shower, but instead, he just dropped the jacket on the floor and threw himself into bed. As he snuggled into his flannel sheets, he thanked whatever powers were in charge of his life that Clark never found out how hooked he was on the farmboy.
The next day when Clark went in to work at the Talon, his head hoped that Lex wasn't there. His heart hoped he was. When he didn't see any of Lex's cars out front, his head had the satisfaction of having things its way.
"Hey, Lana," he said as he came into the room.
"Hi, Clark." She gave him a halfhearted smile.
"Is something wrong?"
"I was just about to ask you that."
Clark looked at her, confused.
"Well, it's...how should I put this? Lex called to tell me he wasn't going to be in. I said that you'd be disappointed, and he sort of...laughed."
Clark's heart dropped through his stomach. "Laughed?"
"Yeah. Like he didn't believe me. That's why I wondered if the two of you had a fight or something."
"A fight?"
The first thought in Clark's mind was that she somehow considered him and Lex to be a couple, but he realized differently when she said, "I don't think I've ever seen the two of you on bad terms like this, where Lex would think you didn't want to see him."
"I...don't know what to say."
She smiled softly. "Don't worry. Whatever it is, I'm sure you'll work it out."
Clark wondered again if Lana thought they were a couple as she walked back to the counter and he went to punch in.
Later that afternoon, Lex came in to the Talon to look over the books. "Is Clark here?" were the first words he spoke to Lana.
She shook her head. "No."
Lex didn't visibly change, but Lana got the feeling he had let out a breath he'd been holding. "I'll be in the office if you need me for anything."
Lex had been working for half an hour when he heard a knock at the door. "Yes?" he called out listlessly.
It was Lana. "Can I come in?"
"Sure. My office is your office."
Lana walked in and sat down in the guest chair.
"What can I do for you?" he asked.
"You can accept my apology."
"For what?"
"For the way I behaved when I was under the influence of the Nicodemus plant."
Lex, not planning to make this easy on her, nodded for her to continue. "You've said that already."
"Well, you see, it's pretty obvious that Clark has always had a crush on me."
"You have a pretty high opinion of yourself."
"You aren't trying to deny that it's true."
"No. I guess I'm not."
"Well, I've been losing Clark. And once I realized that my inhibitions had been reduced by the Nicodemus flower, I knew how to get him back."
"You realized what was happening? I thought that you were totally out of control." Lex's piercing blue eyes met her smug brown ones, searching for the truth.
"That might be true," Lana shrugged, "for the others. They were only under the influence for what? Two hours? Three? I was under the influence for over twelve hours, Lex. From 10:00 at night to 10:30 the next morning. It gave my brain more time to sort things out."
"And so how was throwing yourself at me going to win Clark back?"
"You have a certain...reputation, Lex. I figured that you'd at least be tempted by me, and I might even get a kiss out of it. When Clark came into the Talon, he'd find out that you took advantage of my condition, and become more sympathetic to me. Plus..."
Lex, appalled by the things Lana had already confessed, said, "Spit it out."
"Well, you see, I've been losing him to you."
Lex blinked silently for a moment. "Are you sure you know what you're saying?"
She nodded and leaned forward, as if pushing her words towards him so they'd make a deeper impression. "I've seen the way he looks at you, Lex. It's more than a friendly look, if you get my drift."
"Why are you telling me this? What's in it for you?"
"Can't I just want my friend to be happy? The way you've been avoiding each other isn't making him happy."
Lex looked at her steadily, every pore radiating mistrust.
"Plus he really screwed up the orders yesterday. If I wanted everyone to get the wrong orders, I'd be waiting tables myself." She grinned slyly.
"You really are a piece of work, you know that? If you ever get tired of being the poor little orphan girl, I'll see if my dad would like to adopt you. He'd be proud to call you his own." He was about to give her an earful more, but then his phone rang.
"Lex Luthor. Gabe? I really need to- The DOJ? Damn. I'll be there in a minute."
He disconnected, then said to Lana, "Appears the old man's being investigated. Good thing I bought the plant last May."
"So what do they want with you?"
"They want to go through our books from when LuthorCorp owned the plant to see if they can find anything else to indict my dad over." He shrugged. "So it looks like your attempts will just have to wait for later." He stood and started putting things back into his briefcase.
"Just promise me that after you're done with the investigators, you'll consider talking to Clark about whatever it is that happened between you?"
"Yeah. I guess I can do that."
And with that, he left to deal with the mess his father had left behind.
After he left the Talon, Clark literally ran to Metropolis to visit Mandy. He took the elevator up to the top floor of the office building where Lex had built the clinic.
"Good afternoon, Mr. Kent," the security guard greeted him as he signed in. "You here to see Ms. Melville?"
"Hey, Jim. Actually, I'm not. I'm here to visit Mandy-Amanda. The new patient?" He suddenly realized he didn't know Candy and Mandy's last name.
"Nolan," Jim told him, and Clark dutifully filled the last name in on the sign-in sheet. "I think you can find her..." he looked down at the pad in front of him, "in the dayroom."
"Thanks, Jim." Clark smiled wanly as the security guard buzzed him through the door.
Clark knew where he was going. The dayroom was where he usually met with Jody, whom he ran into on the way down the main corridor.
"Clark! I wasn't expecting you today."
"Well," he said a little sheepishly, "I'm here to visit someone else."
"Fine," she snorted, feigning offense. "Be that way."
"You know that I'll be back with Chloe and Pete next week."
"I know. I'm just playing with you. So, who're you here to see?"
"Amanda Nolan. The new girl?"
"Mandy? Oh, she's great. We spent last night looking through fashion magazines."
Clark was stunned. "I thought that..."
"Oh. We made fun of them, mostly." She laughed. "Trying to figure out what would possess a woman to do things like that to herself."
Clark nodded. "You seem happy."
"I am. I think that Dr. Digby's doing me a lot of good. He's really great."
"Jody!" a nurse called out. "It's time for your afternoon snack."
Jody blushed. "I've got to go."
"Afternoon snack? What's that?"
"You really don't want to know."
"Of course I do. Anything that effects you is interesting to me."
"Well, they've figured out that I stay stable as long as I get a high-fat diet. High in animal fat, specifically."
"So...what? You gnaw that fatty pad off of a brisket once a day?"
"Ewww!" Jody made a face. "No. My afternoon snack is actually...two sticks of butter."
Clark laughed. "Not the humiliating secret I was expecting."
"Well, my butter's melting, so I'd better go."
"Happy snacking." They exchanged a brief hug and then Clark headed for the dayroom.
It wasn't difficult to find Mandy in the dayroom. It wouldn't be difficult to find Mandy anywhere. Clark walked up to her, then around in front of her. "Hi."
She looked up. "Clark. I wasn't expecting you."
"If this is a bad time, I can come back."
"No. I don't want to put you out. It's such a long trip from Smallville. Although, from what Candy said," she lowered her voice. "It didn't take you that long to get here, did it?"
Clark looked around. "No, it didn't actually." He didn't know why it was easy to talk to her about it. Maybe because she'd seen-and experienced-his gifts like she had.
Mandy nodded. "Well, even though this isn't a huge inconvenience, I won't make you leave. Have a seat." She indicated several empty chairs in the vicinity.
Clark pulled one of the chairs over. "How are things going?"
"Pretty good." She nodded. "I met your friend Jody. She's really nice."
"Yeah. I ran into her on my way in. She told me that she'd met you."
"Hard to believe that the meteors changed this many people." She looked around. "You?"
It took Clark a minute to realize she was asking if he was a mutant. He could lie to her, but he wouldn't. "No. I was born this way. I think. I was awfully young at the time."
Jody nodded. "So you're used to it, then."
"Not really."
She looked at him, surprised.
"Well, I keep...changing. I get stronger, or faster. I can see through things."
"Things?"
"Walls, sometimes. Skin, others."
"Like an x-ray? Ick!" Mandy made a face. "What does Mr. Luthor think about all of this?"
"What? About you being here?"
"No. About your powers. About you changing."
"He doesn't know."
"Didn't."
"Didn't?"
Mandy slid her sleeves up to reveal her biceps, which had two neat, hand-shaped bruises. "If he didn't before, he probably does now."
"I did that to you? I'm sorry."
"That's all right." She smiled. "I wasn't exactly thinking clearly at the time. You did what you had to do to rescue Mr. Luthor."
"Yeah," he replied dubiously.
"That's why I figured the two of you were together, you know? 'Cause you did such an effective job of protecting him."
"No. Anything I feel for him is strictly unrequited."
Mandy's jaw dropped. "You feel... But I thought... Do you have any idea how he feels about you?"
"Yeah. I'm his best friend." The words were laced with bitterness.
"Clark. I saw the two of you together. He looks at you in a more-than-friends kind of way."
"Says the woman who spent half her life in seclusion," he couldn't stop himself from saying, then he winced.
She chose to ignore his tone. "I watch television. I read. I'd have to be blind, deaf and numb to not feel the vibe coming from him."
"No. You've got to be wrong."
"Why, Clark? Why do I have to be wrong? Are you happy like this?"
"Of course not!"
"Then take a chance. Tell him how you feel."
After Clark got home from Metropolis, he called Lex's cell phone. Not getting an answer, he left a message for Lex to meet him in the Fortress of Solitude as soon as he could. And then he went out to the barn to wait.
He finished the book that he had been reading. Lex had loaned it to him and Clark figured that he could return it to Lex when he-if he-arrived, and moved on to another one.
After a while, exhaustion caused him to lose his ability to focus, so he gave up and went to sit in the doorway of the loft, looking out at the Kansas night sky.
He lost track of time, thinking about stars, and planets, and the people who might be found out there. He was brought back into the moment by a familiar voice whispering up to him. "Clark!"
Clark looked down, his heart jumping, as he gestured for Lex to come up.
Moments later, Lex was standing behind him in the loft.
"Come here," Clark said, patting the floor next to him.
Lex blanched. "I...think I'll just stay here."
"I won't let you fall," Clark responded, hoping that Lex would hear the I love you in his tone and spare him the embarrassment of having to say it aloud.
"I know," Lex said in a flat tone that didn't give away anything of what he was feeling. Nevertheless, he sat down next to Clark, his back against the wall, facing in towards the barn, rather than hanging his legs out like Clark was doing.
"Sorry I didn't get here sooner, but I had to meet with some folks from the Department of Justice." He left it hanging there like that, waiting for Clark to ask.
"Department of Justice? What happened?"
"Part of the government's attempt to clean up corporations. They're going after LuthorCorp in general, my father in particular."
"Why are they involving you in it?"
"They wanted to look over the records from before I bought the plant in May. To see if there was anything indictable in them."
"And was there?"
Lex shrugged. "Just more of the same stuff they found in Metropolis. All predating my arrival, of course."
"Of course." Clark tried to project his confidence in Lex, his memory of the way Lex refused to fire the employees that Lionel wanted him to fire. "So what's going to happen to him?"
"He's probably not going to prison. Hopefully, he set up LuthorCorp properly, so that his personal holdings won't be affected, either."
"Otherwise, you're out of a home."
"I don't think I have anything to worry about, though. My trust fund will see me through, if nothing else. So, you called me here for a reason?" Lex tried to keep the desperate hope out of his voice.
"We need to talk."
"About what happened?" Lex asked.
"Well, yeah, but other things, too. You've seen some things, especially when I came to rescue you from Mandy..."
Lex nodded.
"It's not adrenaline. It never has been." Clark stared at a spot on the ground outside the barn. "I'm different, and it's not from the meteors."
Lex brought one hand under Clark's chin, guiding his eyes up so they were looking at each other directly. "You don't need to tell me."
"Yes, I do. I need to tell you, so that," when I tell you that I love you, "you can make an informed decision about...things."
"Are you sure?"
Clark nodded.
"Then I'm all ears."
And then he told Lex, haltingly at first, but with increasing fluency as he saw only acceptance in Lex's eyes. Finally, he stopped.
"Anything else you want to say?" Lex asked gently.
"The meteors. They make me sick when I get too close to them." He was back to staring at the ground outside.
"The meteors make you sick?"
Clark nodded, still looking down.
"When you hauled Earl and me up, how did you feel?"
Clark looked up, surprised. "I don't know," he paused, trying to remember. "Weak, shaky, like I was going to throw up. But I had to get both of you up, save both of you. Especially you."
Lex smiled, as if he were going to tell Clark a secret. "You didn't lie to me on Level 3."
"I did. I..."
Lex silenced Clark by putting his index finger over his lips. "Earl has about a half a pound of meteor bits inside him. Enough to weaken you?"
Clark nodded.
"You couldn't have done it without adrenaline. You just didn't know you were telling me the truth."
"Well, geeze. I guess I didn't need to confess everything, then," Clark deadpanned, then laughed. "Of course I needed to tell you. I've hated lying to you all of this time." Clark looked into Lex's eyes. "All right. I used this with Lana, maybe it'll work with you."
He saw Lex shutting down. "I'm not sure I want to be included with anything involving Lana."
"Please." Clark put his hand on Lex's arm. "Trust me."
Lex nodded, and Clark could see him attempting to make himself receptive to what Clark had to say. Clark slid back, pulling his legs up into the barn, and sitting cross-legged across from Lex. He held his hands out in front of him, a shoulders' width apart.
"I've always expected my first time to fit along a sort of continuum." He stopped Lex from asking with a pointed look. "Over here is, you know, my wedding night." He indicated his right hand. "Over here is it just meaning something." He indicated his left hand.
Lex's heart seized up. He was afraid to ask, but ask he did. "And our time in Topeka...?"
"Was way, way over there." He indicated the depths of the barn beyond his right hand.
"But if that's your wedding night, then over there is..."
Clark looked at Lex, his whole heart in his eyes. "Everything."
The whole world around them grew silent. Even the crickets stopped chirping.
"Everything?"
Clark nodded.
"I...didn't know."
Clark's heart broke, until the next words out of Lex's mouth.
"I hoped, but-"
"You did?" Clark interrupted him.
"Yeah. I did." Lex felt an unbidden smile turn up the corners of his mouth.
Clark smiled back and they sat there, grinning stupidly at each other, for a moment.
Finally, Clark's eyes slid down towards Lex's mouth. "Is it all right, I mean, could I, um, can I kiss you?"
Lex's smile grew even larger. "I'd be disappointed if you didn't."