CHAPTER 4: Pretending
LECLERC PLANTATION- LOUISIANA- OCTOBER 2007
Lana's return to The States wasn't as high-profile as would have been expected of a Luthor. Wanting to preserve her anonymity for a longer while she wore a blonde wig and altered her make-up. The camouflage protected her from prying eyes in New Orleans and was discarded as soon as she'd settled down on the plantation belonging to Sœur Dominique's family.
The French nun's cousin and his young wife opened the doors of their home to her and pampered her with their southern hospitality. However, Lana is anxious to get back to the real world now that she's been pulled out of her forced exile.
"Everything's set," states the attractive Creole, sitting down at the breakfast table.
"I don't know how I'll pay you for what you're doing for me," replies Lana, setting down her half-empty cup on the saucer.
"I've been waiting for an opportunity like this for years. It's I who should thank you for letting me help. Enjoy your breakfast. Jacqueline will give you a hand with your packing and you'll be able to be leave; that is, if you haven't changed your mind. You know that you're welcome to stay for as long as you wish."
"I appreciate the offer, but I can't hide forever, Louis."
"OK. I've arranged a car to take you to Smallville. The ball's rolling; all that's left for you to do is wait."
THE KENT FARM- SMALLVILLE- THE FOLLOWING MORNING
It's mid-morning when she arrives in the rural Kansas town which saw the Fairy Princess on the cover of Time magazine grow into the secretive young woman she now is. Smallville both attracts and repulses her for it's full of happy memories as well as of dramatic loss; it is the town which gave her friends and her first teenage love and, above all, it is the town which introduced her to the first grown-up who believed in her, and then helped her mature and stand on her own feet. Still, Smalville is also the town which took her parents away from her and stood in the way of Lex's happiness and hers. Given the choice she'd have never come back and yet, this is the place which holds the answers she's looking for.
She knows that returning to Smallville is a dangerous gamble, that she is tempting fate and twisting the knife in both Lex's and her wounds by seeking refuge with the boy who used to be his best friend and the ghost that poisoned many of their days as a couple. She also loathes being this unfair to Clark, encouraging feelings with her return to Smallville and him which she'll never be able to fulfil because her heart lies with somebody else. She, who has always hated lies and accused the farm boy of not trusting her, is ready to lie to his face and keep secrets from him.
She doesn't want to hurt Clark, but it is a necessary evil and when all is said and done she hopes he'll understand and forgive her. She spent most of her teenage years trying to unravel the mystery behind the farmboy and now she no longer cares about what he's been hiding; it is enough for her to know he'll protect her the way he used to- he is the only one she knows who can. Trusting him so blindly makes her feel a traitor to Lex in more ways than one and yet, it is the only way she could think of to give him what he's always had to procure for himself.
I never had anyone protect me like that.
"Lana, I thought you were gone. If you knew how that felt..." says Clark in disbelief, cleaning the grease off his hands with a cloth and giving her a bear hug in the barn.
She feels the prickling of tears behind her eyelids. Warm as they are, his are the wrong arms. His clean and natural scent isn't the sophisticated and sensual perfume she misses on her pillow. And the strong muscles she can feel wrapped around her slim frame are the ones which have pulled her back from the brink of death more than once, but they aren't the muscles that have been pierced by bullets aimed at her or the ones to which she's clung in the throes of passion.
And so begins her life as a fake diligent farmer's partner; keeping home for her once boyfriend and denying him what is no longer hers to give, her heart and her body.
THE KENT FARM- A FEW DAYS LATER
Days drag on as she waits for Louis' plan to yield the desired result, days filled with furtive meetings, hiding on the farm from Clark and her newly-arrived cousin for fear of having her best-kept secret revealed.
Only when both Kents are away is she able to breathe again and shed away the hypocritical mask and empty smile which have become second nature to her ever since her return. And it is one morning, when she finds herself alone, that her last memory of the Kent farm assaults her.
Standing at the foot of the stairs, her hands holding a basket full of laundry she's just removed from the washing line, she is suddenly struck by a flashback which plays in front of her eyes in slow motion as if she weren't the protagonist but an unwitting witness.
"Who is this?"
"You can't hide from me... not even in Clark Kent's bedroom. I know everything about you."
"I don't care what you know or how you know it, but there's an army between us, and you're never going to get close enough to touch me."
"I'm closer than you think, Princess."
She looks up at the landing and sees once again Lex's security chief- Brady- his throat cut, lying in a growing pool of blood in front of Clark's door. And then she observes herself grab his gun as her mobile phone rings again.
Why are you doing this?
Because you deserve it.
The nightmare started then, the minute Brady reached out his hand to grab her ankle and the shock sent her stumbling backwards, falling head over heels down the stairs to land at their foot like a broken doll.
"Hi, sweetheart. You're okay. You're in the hospital now, and you're in good hands. Mack called Dr. Langston," Mrs Kent calmed her down as she woke up.
"That was quite a fall you took, Miss Lang," stated her doctor, going over her chart.
"All I care about is… " she replied with a note of panic in her voice.
"The baby will be fine. Would you excuse us, Mrs Kent, please?"
" Yes. I'll be outside," said Clark's mum, squeezing Lana's arm gently.
" The only thing I'm concerned about is your blood pressure, which is running a little higher than I'm comfortable with, so I'm going to give you a mild sedative, and that'll bring it right down."
" No," she tried to protest, shrinking back when Langston approached her with a syringe.
" No, it won't hurt the baby. I promise," Langston murmured as the sedative started to take effect almost immediately and she slipped into unconsciousness.
"Lana?" comes a distant voice from the kitchen, bringing her back to the present.
Lex.
She knew he'd come, but she hadn't expected it to happen at such a vulnerable moment when the memories are so fresh in her mind and the tears are still glazing her eyes. And she can see him, standing in front of the storm door of the kitchen, the morning sunlight filtering timidly into the room throwing them both into an ambiance of shadows and pale lights.
She finds comfort in the dimly-lit room, entrenching herself behind the polished table placed on the raised-level dining area. She can't let him see she's been crying or that he affects her as strongly as he does, especially when her feelings have nothing to do with remorse or hatred. She needs the physical barrier not to run into his arms and confess it all. She needs the distance to be able to pull this off. She needs the shadows for him to buy her act.
"Lana… I got your message. I guess it would have been a little awkward for you to come to the mansion."
"You promised you'd take care of everything, that I could come back to Smallville."
" Well, with a little persuasion, the, uh... the D.A. has agreed to not press charges. The evidence has been destroyed, and the felon my father bribed to confess to the crime died in prison of natural causes. You - you're a free woman. "
The hesitation and the broken quality in his voice when he takes from his overcoat what she knows are the divorce papers almost undoes her. It makes her heart bleed to see him and hear him like this and to know herself responsible for this emasculation. It doesn't matter that her hand isn't that of the actual perpetrator, it is enough that he believes it. And fear overwhelms her, fear that when he puts his armour back on he'll smother the love she knows he still feels for her driven by resentment towards the woman who dared break down the walls around him and play him like a fool.
"My lawyer 's drawn up the settlement agreement. It only needs your signature," he adds in a resigned tone which sounds so alien coming from the man she fell in love with.
" I don't want your money," she tells him, feeling her mouth suddenly dry.
"Should I assume that excludes the $10 million you skillfully siphoned out from under me?"
Ten million dollars. It appears that is the price nowadays to compensate a woman for losing the man she loves and the new life they created the night of the Costume Ball.
"I was trying to escape."
The lie tastes bitter in her mouth but keeping the pretence protects him; it protects them all, so he allows him to believe she is no different from all those blood-sucking bitches who never cared about him. Better this than the fate she knows awaits him if she were to fight to clear the tainted image he now has of their love.
" I'm not admonishing you. I'm applauding you. It's not every day someone is clever enough to manage a coup like that. Although I'm not sure Clark would see it that way. "
Moving in with Clark was the right move to play on Lex's insecurities and cement in him the belief that she is ready to put the past behind and start afresh with the boy who's always idolised her.
"I understand he has a cousin visiting."
" From Minnesota."
" I look forward to meeting her," he finishes, opening the kitchen door to step out into the light, leaving her in the shadow.
Kara is now a distraction and Lana welcomes it. Lex busy with a new riddle to unravel is preferable to having him completely focused on theirs; it gives Lana hope. The wheels have already been set in motion and Lex's observant eyes and sharp mind can only get in the way.
THE DAILY PLANET BULLPEN- A WEEK LATER
"What's up, Lo'?" asks Chloe on seeing her eldest cousin ruminating behind her desk.
"I'm sitting on a big lead and the editor's just ordered me to back off. He says there's no story there. Head out to the set and sniff out a scandal. Those were his exact words. I don't care what game Luthor's playing but…"
"Lo', maybe our editor's watching out for you. I know that you've got a big grudge against Lex because of what happened to Wes..."
"Don't tell me you are among those who've bought cue ball's new act, Chloe. "
"I haven't said that. Has this got anything to do with what you were working on a couple of days ago? Lo', you know those initials aren't enough to make a case. "
"Well, I'm getting quite good at reading people and that poker-face he wore when I confronted him yesterday evening told a whole different story," smiles Lois smugly.
"You should know better than to stir a hornet's nest when there's a Luthor around, Lois."
"When has that stopped you?"
"That's why I'm warning you. I know what it's like to get tangled in a Luthor's net. Now it's too late to back down, so I suppose I'll have to give you a hand, but we can't do it from here, it'd be suicide if he's actually involved."
LUTHOR MANSION- SMALLVILLE
"I want to know who authorised this and I want the information on my desk before the day's over."
"We'll do our best but these things take time, Mr Luthor."
"I'm paying you for fast and accurate results. If a former reporter from a second-rate small town paper could dig this up, it can't be that difficult to identify who's behind this. I want to believe my hired employees are much better than a would-be journalist barely out of high school. I'll have the results on my desk by seven today. Is that understood?"
He's been too busy trying to find the angel who's given him another second chance and things, important things, have been escaping his radar. Being outsmarted by a cub reporter with an attitude is inexcusable, least of all when what is at stake is a lot more than a project or the Luthor millions.
Lois Lane has provided him with the strongest lead to help him understand why and he has no intention of letting the chance pass him by.
A/N: The flashbacks in italics and portions of dialogue have been taken near verbatim from "Arrow", "Trespass", "Fear" and "Action".
