Disintegrate
By Shakespeare's Girl
Seventh in a Series
I cannot make love linger any longer than sunlight, but I don't want to die without feeling it's warmth on my face.
Lex sat in his cold, clinical room at Belle Reve, unsure exactly how long it had been since he last moved.
It didn't matter, though, because Clark was dead.
His legs felt numb, so he decided maybe it was time to stand. He tried, but his legs collapsed under him, and he fell to the floor, with his face to the plastic window.
He wondered if this was how Hannibal Lecter had felt sometimes, isolated and alone and capable of almost anything if only the right reasons and opportunity would present themselves.
He had been staring at someone outside his window for a while now, but it had taken him until now to notice that it was a person. Lex slowly sat up, staring even more intently. The man outside his window was wearing blue jeans and a red t-shirt. He had dark hair, nearly black, and green eyes. His skin was a golden tan, and he looked tall and strong and alive.
There was only one person who looked like that in all the world.
"Clark?" Lex breathed.
In an instant, Clark was inside the room, picking Lex up off the floor, cradling his incapacitated body against his chest. "Lex," he smiled down at the frail man. "I'm here. I'm alive. It's all right."
"You're alive."
"Yes."
"I watched you die."
"I wasn't quite dead. Evidently, Kryptonians can exist for long periods of time with no oxygen, in what is apparently a comatose state. Anyway, after they put me in the morgue, I somehow wound up in the arctic, and Jor El did something and resuscitated me, and I couldn't do anything before I found you again."
"I didn't know what to do anymore."
"I know, Lex, it's all right."
"I thought you were gone, and there was no point anymore."
"You shouldn't have let them put you back in here, Lex. You're worth so much more."
"I couldn't do anything without you. I just...stopped."
"Lex, I'm never going to leave you again. I promise. I will not let you disintegrate like this. You're too important to me." Clark's strong arms lifted Lex's weakened body. "God Lex, it feels like you haven't eaten in a month!"
Lex attempted a grin, but it didn't work. "Um, probably longer."
"Lex," Clark said, and his voice was a warning and a comfort and a relief and suddenly the world started spinning again.
"I know, I'm sorry." Lex turned in Clark's arms and hid his face in Clark's shoulder. "I've barely moved since that day..."
"Lex, don't feel guilty about it. I would have tried to do the same thing if I was in your shoes."
"But you wouldn't have."
"Lex, I may be Superman, but even I can't tell the future." Clark paused, and looked at the delicate man in his arms. "I think when you die, I will be even further gone than you were."
A/N: The quote at the beginning was said by Sean Connery in "First Knight." I am not Sean Connery. I look nothing like Sean Connery. I own nothing in this fic except the ideas.