A/N- I know I promised an AU Crimson oneshot next, but this won't leave my brain so you'll just have to deal. I felt like writing an extension of Clark and Lex's conversation in Lexmas, just for kicks. Because only I could inject the most blatantly Lexana episode short of Vessel and Static with a megadose of Clois. It's weird, because writing this made my latent early-season Chlark shipping kick into overdrive, and yet somehow is still Clois.


[Title]: It's a Wonderful Life
[Episode]: Lexmas
[Characters]: Good!Lex, Clark, Clois ship
[Inspiration]: Because Lillian Luthor clearly didn't check her facts (or else she was lying about everything). Chlark is great, but Clois is better.


"I talked so much, I'm sure
I didn't realize I'd gone crazy,
Didn't catch my bloody nose
Or that my heart tried to explode.
I still live with my high school friends;
Some people never change at all."
-Jack's Mannequin


Lex feels like George Bailey. This dream, or hallucination, or whatever it is, is next to nothing like the plot from the old Jimmy Stewart film, but that's how he feels. He's not getting a glimpse of a dystopic present, but of a utopian future, and he feels like a drowned man given a new lease on life. Free, or close to it. It feels good to be talking to Clark like this again. They've been on shaky terms at best for months, and at worst he suspects that his one-time best friend has begun to see him as more nemesis than ally.

Champagne and curiosity and the warmth in his glowing heart loosen his tongue and he says, couching a question in a joke: "It's something I still can't quite believe. Me and Lana... now how the hell did that happen?"

Clark laughs and shrugs, a grin wide on his face. "You became the kind of man she could love," he says matter-of-factly.

"You mean, the kind of man you've always been?"

Lex can't help but wonder. As long as he's known Clark Kent, the man has been pining for Lana Lang. He finds it hard to believe that such a happy vision of the future can possibly be real. Surely there's something dark, something sinister just waiting to wreck this. Surely if he lives this dream through to the next day, this seemingly content Clark will turn around, declare his love, and Lana will leave him behind with nothing but a son he loves but barely knows and the ink slowly drying on fresh divorce papers.

But Clark only looks at him with a hint of confusion on his face. "And, Lex, you offered her something I didn't."

"What held you back, Clark? I mean, I know you love her... loved her." The correction is hard to make, but the baffled expression still on his old friend's face makes it easier to imagine Lana-and-Clark as past tense.

Clark shrugs. "I guess I just wasn't ready, Lex." A pensive look crosses his face as he studies the frosty and idyllic scenery, and he leans forward, bracing himself on the porch rail with both hands. "Maybe I never will be."

This insecurity of Clark's is something old and familiar, and yet still just as strange to him. Clark has the world on a string, and yet there is some flaw somewhere in him that keeps him tripping over himself and continually getting in his own way.

"What about Chloe?" Lex asks leadingly, thinking of the rapport between the two when they ran into each other at the Christmas tree farm.

At that, though, Clark laughs out loud. "Are you still on that? I've told you a hundred times, Lex: Chloe and I are friends."

So all that banter, all that couple-y vibe between them, isn't based on romantic interest? Bullshit, surely!

"You don't look like just friends to me," Lex points out.

Clark gets that lopsided smile that is reserved for his most wryly honest moments. "You're right, Lex. Chloe and I are more than "just" friends. Chloe's been by my side for some of the worst days of my life, and some of the best. Maybe once upon a time we could've been something more, but we've accepted that and integrated those feelings into our friendship, I guess, and it's made us stronger. Our relationship is complicated, but she's my best friend and I like it that way. Besides," he adds with a smirk, "I don't think her fiance would appreciate me getting in the middle of things."

Lex's eyes widen. "Wait, Chloe's engaged? When did that happen?"

"It's actually pretty recent," Clark confides. "They haven't told a lot of people yet."

"Wow, well who's the lucky guy?"

"He's a photographer named Jimmy Olsen. They've known each other for years, and reconnected a few years ago when Chloe was still working at the Planet. Actually, I think you may have met him a time or two."

Doing his best to play along in the role of this future Lex, he says, "The name does sound familiar." He turns and leans against the porch rail, arms crossed, studying Clark's expression, trying to gauge his feelings about the match. "So you and Chloe really aren't...?"

"No, we really aren't," Clark confirms.

Lex gives him an arch look. "Shame," he comments. "I always thought the two of you were well-suited to each other. So there's really no Someone Special in the life of Clark Kent?"

They've been friends long enough that Clark knows exactly what he's doing. He laughs and looks away, and while it could be a trick of the multitudes of Christmas lights strung around the porch, Lex is pretty sure Clark is turning red.

"I didn't say that," he says.

"So there is someone," Lex says triumphantly.

"In my dreams, anyway," Clark replies wistfully.

"So who is this mystery girl?"

Clark doesn't respond, just turning a deeper shade of scarlet instead.

"Come on, Clark, you can tell me," Lex prods. On a guess, he adds, "I thought we'd decided to tell each other everything from here on out?"

At that, Clark sighs, and runs a hand through his hair in consternation. "It's Lois, okay?"

Lex is pretty sure that if he had a hairline, his eyebrows would have buried themselves in it. "Lois Lane? Really?"

"I know, I know," Clark groans, running a hand over his face. "It's ridiculous. It's beyond ridiculous, actually. I don't know how the hell it happened. One day we're running around Metropolis together, Lois and Clark getting the scoop, the old team, you know? And the next, suddenly it's like I can hardly take my eyes off her."

"Funny how that happens," Lex remarks softly, thinking of Lana.

Clark doesn't notice his brief lapse in attention, still obviously wrapped up in thoughts of the feisty young woman he's obviously fallen hard for. "Thing is, I think I've felt this way for a lot longer than I knew," he says thoughtfully.

Lex smiles. "Well then, by all means, Clark, do something about it!"

"And ruin our partnership at the Planet? I don't think so!"

Lex doesn't know Lois all that well, so he refrains from trying to offer advice about how to win her affection. Instead, he suggests, "You weren't ready with Lana, but did you ever think that maybe the reason you couldn't take that leap was because she wasn't the right girl for you?"

Clark looks at him with guileless eyes. "I don't have to think that; I know it's true. But that doesn't mean Lois is, does it?"

"I don't think I can answer that question for you, Clark," Lex replies mirthfully, giving him a pointed look.

Clark's eyes spark up and he opens his mouth to speak, but what he was going to say, Lex never gets to find out. Martha Kent interrupts, exclaiming that something has happened to Lana, and a cold pit of fear forms in Lex's stomach...