--Mistakes--
Maybe it was the stress, the weeks of worry or perhaps, Clark had finally tired of Lex's cat and mouse games. Clark stalked up to Lex and slapped the imported water bottle out of his hand. He reached back and punched Lex square in the nose.
Clark snarled, "No more GAMES Luthor, where is LANA?!!"
Lex's head snapped back and blood started to trickle out of his damaged nose. "Classy, Clark! I believe you are leaving right now. Security will walk you off the grounds." Lex said and started to walk to his desk.
Clark grabbed Lex and slammed his head into his desk. He then hauled the billionaire up and pushed him into the wall with such force that he could have sworn he heard something crack on impact. Lex blinked as his head made contact with the solid wall.
Clark felt disconnected from himself; it was like he was playing observer to this event. He knew it was wrong, but he couldn't help feeling a little satisfied with battering Lex Luthor.
Clark sneered. "Where is she? What have you done to my Lana?!"
Every question was punctuated by Lex being slammed into the wall. Soon a bloody spot formed on the wall that had started to crack with each smash.
"Not telling…sworn to…secrecy." Lex said in a dreamy voice. Lex was seeing stars; this whole thing was spiraling out of control.
Clark roared and tossed the rag doll, rich boy into the mini-bar. Glasses and crystal decanters shattered and splintered as Lex collided with the whole set up. He felt an awful sting as shards ripped into him. It also felt vulgar that he was lying in an expensive pool of imported scotch. He rolled over and tried to regain his footing. There was no way he was going to be beaten up by a self-righteous farm boy.
Clark could hear the blood pounding in his veins. He could feel the raw power he possessed and it was telling him to beat the answers out of Lex. As he ruminated on these feelings, he noticed that Lex was trying to get to his feet. Lex's sapphire, blue shirt was torn and dark spots were growing across the back. Lex's face, head, hands, and arms where bleeding. The normally striking young man was floundering around like a fish out of water. Clark went and stood over him, not offering to help him. Instead he used his foot to push Lex back down into the shards of glass. The splinters dug into his knees and hands more, as well as further into his back under Clark's foot.
Lex cried out in pain as his body was ground into the mess that once was his mini bar. Clark, he could only theorize, had suddenly gone mad. There had been other occasions like this where the pacifist Clark had turned around a full 180 degrees.
Clark pushed harder. "Last chance LEX! Where is LANA? If you hurt her, I swear this will be nothing in comparison to what I will do!"
Lana turned the corner that led to the office when then she heard a crash and she picked up the pace. A raised voice was echoing down the halls, and she recognized the voice immediately. She skidded to a halt and gasped as she took in the scene. Lex lie under Clark's foot in what looked like a mixture of broken glass, blood and by the smell of it scotch.
"Clark, WHAT are you DOING?!" Lana demanded.
Clark looked surprised. "Lana? You're OK! He didn't do anything to you."
"Of course not! Why would you think that Lex would hurt me?!" She demanded.
Clark lifted his foot off Lex and took a step towards her. She backed away, and then went to Lex. He was panting and struggling to rise. There was blood smearing the floor all around him.
"Lex, don't move." She said to him.
If he moved, it would only further injure him because there was sharp glass everywhere. It crunched under Lana's feet as she tried to comfort him. She noticed there was also quite a bit of it in his exposed skin. On the back of Lex's head, were a serious gash, swelling, and a bruise forming. He flinched as Lana laid a hand on a place that she thought was unmarred by injury.
"What happened here!" she demanded.
This was more then just a quarrel between two over hormonal people. Lex looked like he went a few rounds with Mike Tyson, while Clark was untouched.
Lex's clouded mind finally caught up with the new voice filling his ears. "Lana…", he uttered in a relief-filled voice and sank off his hands and knees back to the littered floor. He turned his head towards her and his eyelids fluttered.
"No, Lex don't fall asleep! Stay with me for a few minutes more, OK?" She said.
It was obvious that a head wound like that would come with a serious concussion. She got up and called for an ambulance, and once that was done, she glared at Clark.
"Well!!" she said.
Clark said the first thing that came to mind. "He wouldn't tell me where you were…"
"So you decided to BEAT it out of him?!" Lana practically shouted at him.
Clark shook his head. "I don't know what came over me; I didn't come here to hurt him. I just needed to know that you were OK. Chloe couldn't find you and the newspapers where telling different stories. I thought well that…"
"What? That I was dead because Lex killed me?! If you hadn't noticed, Lex never hurt me!" Lana pushed passed the dumbfounded Clark.
She grabbed one of Lex's monogrammed towels and using her shoe, she cleared off a place on the floor. She sat down and gently eased Lex's head into her lap. It was not a comfortable position since Lex was lying on his stomach, but perhaps the discomfort would keep him awake. She placed the towel on his freely bleeding head wound and pressed on it. Lex moaned in response.
"I'm sorry Lex. It's OK; help is on the way." She cooed to him.
Clark retorted. "He wouldn't tell me where you were, and before the wedding, we were going to run off together! He threatened you; I know it. That's why you married him!"
"He didn't tell you because I told him not to! I needed time to think, to come to terms with everything. Lex never threatened me, Clark." She spat back at him.
Clark shook his head. "I could see it in your eyes; you wanted to be with me, even after you married him. Something changed, and I knew what it was."
"Lex didn't threaten me!" Lana retorted.
Clark kneeled by Lana and grabbed her arm. "I'll protect you from him; you know what I can do."
"LEX didn't intimidate me; LIONEL did!" she blurted out. "Lex didn't know anything. Lionel caught me writing a note to Lex saying I was going to leave him. Lionel threatened to hurt you if I didn't go ahead with the marriage," she said wrenching her arm out of Clark's grip.
"Ohhhh Daaad…Baaaad Daaad.." Lex mumbled.
She stroked Lex's cheek, and admonished herself for releasing that tidbit so freely. "Sorry Lex, I wanted to tell you…but I couldn't," Lana said as tears glistened in her eyes.
Clark looked surprised. "He wouldn't do that…"
"S'Kay." Lex gurgled out.
"Come on Clark, get real. Lionel LUTHOR. He can and he did." Lana said.
Lionel knew about Clark's secret and Clark tried not to be surprised that Lionel would used something like this against him.
"As for what you can do, if this is what you're capable of, I don't think I want to see you anymore. I thought you were special. You're just like the other meteor freaks, just a power-riddled bully!" She hissed at him.
Clark thought she knew he was an alien, but she tacked up his abilities to being a side effect from the meteor rocks.
"Cllllark special…faaast…ssstttrong…ssstop caaar wiiith booody." Lex babbled out.
Clark gasped, what a time for Lex to remember the event with Morgan Edge.
"Keep talking Lex. That's good stay awake." Lana said in a soothing voice.
Lana wondered what was taking the medics so long; her pants felt warm and wet with blood.
"Lex offered me time to make up my mind; I was in Paris, CLARK. I was unsure at first but the alone time made me realize something. I made up my mind and came back, and you know what I decided?" Lana said, her voice dripping with anger.
Clark shook his head.
"I was all ready to give Lex back his rings, so I could be with you, Clark." Lana said looking at her rings.
The bands like her hands where covered in blood. She resisted the urge to ball her hands into fists and continued to care for Lex.
Clark was about to say something, but Lana, sharply, cut him off.
"Now, seeing this act of barbarism; I know I made the wrong choice. This proves to me that you don't really love me." Lana said.
Clark broke in. "But I DO love you Lana! I don't know what happened here; I can't explain it."
"I can, it's been building up ever since I got together with Lex. You were sad that I had moved on, but it made you angry that I would fall for Lex. You never showed anything to me when I was single; you even did your best to avoid me. Then I started living with Lex when we were still just friends and you were jealous. Jealous that I had moved on and you had not, even though it was your decision to push me away." Lana reasoned. "It's like I am some prize in this war you have against Lex. He has me and now you want me back!"
Clark shook his head. "No, it's not like that, I swear!"
"I am not convinced. Lex is battered like a piñata, CLARK, and you don't have a mark on you. You are here, again; no doubt, uninvited as usual and I caught you in the act. You were beating up on my husband without regard for anything except your own satisfaction! Did it feel good to you, your abilities to batter a normal man? Did it make you feel like a tough guy?!" Lana said as her anger rose. "There's always some excuse for when you act like a royal jerk! I've forgiven you and believed in the lies from everyone, but this...this is just SICK!"
Just then sirens could be heard drawing closer; Clark made a grab for Lana. He tried to pull her to him, and was surprised when she countered his grab with a defensive move.
"DON'T TOUCH ME!" She roared at him as she assumed a defensive stance. "You'd better leave Clark! Security will be in here soon wondering why there has been a call for an ambulance. Never come back and never bother me or my husband again!"
Clark felt like she was punching him in the gut every time she called Lex her husband. He had messed up good and proper this time; there was no way he could make up for this gross lapse in common sense. She was too angry to listen to reason right now; later, he'd have Chloe tell her about red K, his alter ego. Surely, there had to be a reason why he had acted this way, some excuse that turned him into a jealous lunatic. He heard footfalls and the decision was made. In a whoosh of air, he ran out of the mansion leaving his mistakes behind him.
Lana relaxed as Clark left in a blink; she looked down at Lex and noticed he was no longer talking. When Clark had grabbed her, Lex's head struck the floor causing him to lose consciousness.
"Oh God Lex, come on, wake up! You can't sleep now; I've made up my mind! You have to wake up so I can tell you what I am going to do!" Lana cried as she shook Lex's limp form.
She was ready to do anything, even make a joke about his less then stellar security force. She would do anything to make him open his eyes. She kneeled at his side, not caring that there was glass slicing into her shins and knees.
It was quite a scene to see Mrs. Lana Luthor crying over her husband's limp and battered form. She refused to let him go even when the paramedics wanted to work on him. After some coaxing, she was pulled away from him.