Clark followed Lex up to the bedroom, but stood back in the doorway as his host stepped inside. He wasn't ready, not just yet.

"Lex, I think maybe we should talk a little bit first."

"Hmm?" Lex turned around and faced his guest. "Yes, sure, whatever you want." He nodded.

"You're not to me, Lex listening, are you?" Lex reached into a drawer on the bedside table.

"Sure I am. Come over here and we'll talk." Luthor ran his hand over the box, but did not take it out. He was afraid, and more importantly, he didn't want to hurt Clark. Clark Kent had been the only person in all of Smallville (Lex shuddered) who had trusted him. Clark had been his only real friend through out his whole life.

"That's some friend you got there. Let you think you had gone crazy. Let them cart you away to the loony bin and fry your brain like that." Lex shut his eyes tightly and tried to convince himself that Clark hadn't had any choice.

"What did they do to you, in the hospital?" Clark sat down next to the man with whom he had once been in love. There was still a spark between them; Clark was pretty sure he was still in love. He just needed to know how Lex felt. He had gotten his heart broken once before by this man, and he didn't want that to happen again.

"Clark, please don't-"

"I need to know that I can trust you, Lex. You really hurt me-"Lex slapped the boy, it did no harm, but it came as a shock all the same.

"You wanna know what they did to me, fine, I'll tell you, but you aren't going to like hearing this. And more importantly, you shouldn't talk about hurt. Do you have any idea what it's like for EVERYONE to think that you're crazy? I even thought that I was nuts. I didn't know what I had seen, and then it turns out what I saw, was real. . ."

"I'm sorry, Lex. Really. I don't know what else to say. I-what are you doing?" Clark asked as Luthor reached inside the desk drawer. "Oh God, oh no. Lex is that-is that what I think it is?"

"Of course it is Clark."

"But why," he had tears in his eyes, the beginnings of them anyway. So close to crying. Lex wanted to reach out and hold him, wanted to comfort him. But Luthor knew what he had to do. He had to punish Clark for the torture he went through. Clark had to suffer, like he had suffered.

"I don't want to, Clark, but, I have to. Do you have any idea what I went through, because of you? Because you didn't, you wouldn't help me." Lex took out the chuck of Kryptonite. Clark began to feel its effects immediately.

First his chest tightened. It felt as if somebody had wrapped steel bands around his ribcage, Clark imagined this was how Lex must have felt whenever he had his asthma attacks as a child. The rock also made Clark feel nauseated, close to vomiting. His head felt light, and the room began to swim. Sweat ran down and out of every pore on Clark's body. He thought he was going to die.

Lex felt completed exhilarated. His cock sprang to life as he watched Clark, sprawled out on the bed, completely under his control. Lex leaned over the boy's body, and spat in his face. "I told you I'd never forgive, Clark. I bet you thought I'd forgotten all about that, but Luthor's never forget."

"I wanted to help you Lex. I tried to help you. I tried to get you out, remember? I'm sorry it didn't work. Lex, I'm so sorry," he panted. The words came out between gulps of breaths. Clark was desperate for air, he tried to suck more into his lungs, but nothing seemed to work.

Luthor closed his eyes. He HAD forgotten, not surprising, a lot of things had been forgotten since the shock treatments. Not that he was left incompetent by any means. As a child, Lex had undergone IQ tests, and had tested off the charts. The psychologist who administered the test to him had put him somewhere between 230 and 250, but she said that was only a guess.

Even after the treatments, Lex remained extremely intelligent. He would never go back to being a so called super genius, but he was still light years ahead of people he knew. As far as his memory was concerned, sure there were some bits and pieces missing here and there, but for the most part he was okay. Once in a while he just had to sit down and concentrate, hard.

Lex had forgotten about Clark's failed rescue attempt. But the boy reminded him.

// the two boys in the asylum. They had a meteor rock. One of them had hurt Clark and the other one had beaten him up. Lex had tried to run after them but . . . //

"Clark, oh God. I'm so sorry, baby." Lex picked up the rock and threw it as hard as he could. It landed and skidded out of the room. "I forgot, I'm sorry Clark. I'm so sorry." Lex picked the boy up in his arms and began to rock back and forth. Clark started to sob.

"I should go," he said when he was finally able to collect himself again. "I really should go, it's getting late."

"Please stay. I-I just forgot. I didn't mean to hurt you like that. It was an accident."

"Bullshit!" Clark pushed away from the older man. He stood up and started to back away. "You knew exactly what you were doing. I bet you even got hard off of it. I bet you just loved that. How long were you gonna leave me like that? I thought I was dying. I always defended you Lex. Everyone always said you were a total creep and not to be trusted, but I-I never listened to them."

"You're right, Clark. About everything. I was wrong. That's really hard for me to admit, you know that. I hurt you, because I forgot how you tried to save me. Please, I know you're scared, but come back here." Clark sat down on the very edge of the bed. He looked up at Lex terrified.

"I wanted to break you out, really, I knew what they were gonna do, and I didn't want that to happen. I wanted to help you, Lex. I tried, so hard, but it didn't work. I'm so sorry." Clark continued to sob, he tried to wipe the tears away with his sleeve, but his nose was stuffed up. Apparently even Kyrptonian's had that problem.

"I'm the one who should be apologizing. You did everything you could, Clark. Some things just aren't meant to be. I guess. . ."

"No. Don't say that. You weren't supposed to have to go through that." Clark ran his hand over the man's bald scalp. Lex rested his head against his chest. "I love you."

"I love you too, Clark." Lex lifted his head up just enough to kiss him. This time, Clark kissed him back. "Does that mean your feeling better?" Lex giggled as he felt Clark's erection against the thin cloth of his pants. Clark nodded. "Well then, I think we have a busy night ahead of us. Gotta make up for lost time."

"Wait." Clark put his hand onto of Lex's.

"What now?" Lex asked angrily. This was the second time in a very short period that he had been interrupted while trying to get himself off. Lex was getting tired of this, and if it had been anyone but Clark, he would have kicked them out. Either that or he wouldn't have listened.

No, Lex told himself, I'm not like that anymore. Never again. Never, ever, ever. . .

"I still want to talk first." Clark swallowed hard. It had been so tough just to get up and into this room. He was so scared, and the last thing he wanted was to just give in to his passions. If that happened, Clark Kent wasn't sure he'd ever see Lex again. He had been hurt so badly, when Lex left Smallville without even saying goodbye and that couldn't happen again. "Please?"