Plot: Emma Frost and Lex Luthor attend sibling boarding schools. It starts as a simple dare, but will it turn into something else? And what happens when Victoria Hardwick steps in to save her best friend? Featuring appearances of Oliver Queen, Bruce Wayne, and Sebastian Shaw.

Rating: R/M.

Disclaimer: I do not own many of these characters, unfortunately. Marvel owns Emma Frost and Sebastian Shaw, and DC owns Lex Luthor, Bruce Wayne, Oliver Queen, and Victoria Hardwick.

Comments or Questions: Any questions/comments, e-mail me or leave a comment. Fluff ahead.

Chapter Ten

Everything around her was white. The marble floor had a sheen to it that was reminiscent of diamonds. Her immediate area was cleared in a circle, but the rest of the environment was clouded by white smoke. The chair she was sitting in was made of the same material as the floor, and the high backed, intricately decorated chair was more like a throne. It took great effort on her part to even be here. Her fingers were gripping the arms of the chair so tightly that her knuckles were white.

Her hair was pulled back into a high ponytail, blonde and straight, and not a strand was out of place. Her makeup was white with a silver gleam, and her clothes were much more provocative than usual. Her top was off the shoulder with long sleeves that extended into gloves that cut off at her knuckles. Her long nails were painted the same silvery white as her makeup. The shirt clung to her breasts and ended above her midriff to show off her muscled stomach. The leather pants had an all-white belt, and they clung to every curve. They ended in platform boots. One of her legs was crossed over the other.

There was a diamond necklace around her neck. It was strung with a gold chain, and it was a surprisingly simple pendant. She breathed deeply and closed her eyes in order to concentrate. A glance through her slitted eyes told her that her efforts were not wasted. The white mist turned lilac in color. Lex came walking out the other side of the mist. He looked older and more mature, much like she did, and he was dressed in an all-black suit with a violet tie. It was fitted, and there was not a smudge on it. He looked down at himself, as if he didn't believe what he saw, and then looked up at her.

He looked concerned almost immediately. "Emma," he breathed. It only took a few steps to reach her, and the click of his shoes on the marble echoed throughout their little circle. "Where the hell are we?" His voice seemed surreal. Half of the floor had turned purple, and there was another chair across from hers, but he was ignoring the scenery. He only had eyes for her.

It was a struggle to even speak in this plane. "I temporarily connected our minds so that we could talk. This is a meeting place. It was hard to make." Her exhaustion was showing already, especially in her eyes. Lex's, on the other hand, were bright. He was probably already recovering.

"Wow. That's impressive." His voice softened considerably as he ran his fingers down her face.

"What's the last thing you remember?" Emma didn't know how long she had been unconscious. She kept getting bits and pieces, but they were all blurry and fuzzy. None of them would stick. She had a feeling that it was a result of painkillers.

"We got taken to the hospital downtown. I had to have reconstructive surgery on my face. It's already healing. The doctors say it'll be back to normal in no time." His eyes shifted to the side. "They won't let me visit you until tomorrow. The police came by my room yesterday, but my father's lawyers kept them from questioning me yet."

"Have you heard anything about me?" She certainly didn't feel well. If Lex was already recovering, it had to have been at least a couple of days since she'd been conscious.

"I charmed one of the nurses into telling me." She couldn't resist a small smile, but his expression remained serious. "They had to revive you twice. You have a concussion, a swollen jaw, and a broken arm. They said that your knees should be fine with some physical therapy. You've been vomiting a lot, but they said that it's from the concussion, and it should clear up soon. Your jaw's rested already, so you should be able to use it in no time."

"And my arm?" No wonder it was so hard for her to use her telepathy. She was probably being pumped full of drugs for the pain.

"Fractured in two places. You'll have to wear a full cast and a sling for eight to ten weeks." He was avoiding telling her something. The most important thing.

"How long have I been unconscious?" The question hung between them and made the silence heavy.

"Ten days," he said quietly. "They put you into a drug-induced coma because of the extent of your injuries. They said if you woke up, the shock of it all might kill you."

She breathed out a shaky sigh. "Right. Plus what happened."

"Yeah." There was an uncomfortable silence. She could remember every detail vividly. It made her shiver.

"I can't keep this up much longer." She looked down at her hands, which were trembling. He placed his hands over hers to steady them before he leaned forward to kiss her. It was a chaste kiss on the lips, but she could feel the love he was showing her. It was more powerful here, in a construct of the mind where emotions reigned freely.

"I love you. What happened wasn't your fault." His eyes were suddenly like steel. "If I ever find out who did that to you, I'll..." Now he was shaking.

She touched her forehead to his and looked directly into his eyes. "We'll work it out, right? I don't want you doing anything rash." Even though she wanted to kill them herself. The actual event hadn't actually embedded itself in her mind yet.

His eyes remained steady. "I can't promise that, Emma. Those guys, they..." He pursed his lips in anger. "I can't forgive them for that, and you shouldn't either."

"I'm not saying you should. I just don't want you to kill anyone or get into legal trouble." His hands were like pillars, holding her steady and giving her strength.

"My dad's lawyers are good. Even if I killed someone, they could get me off on small charges." She didn't like the determined tone of his voice.

"By doing what? Losing evidence and misplacing paperwork? That's wrong, Lex." The hot anger in his eyes frightened her.

"What they did was wrong, Emma. I'll go to the ends of the earth to find them and make them suffer." The word struck a nerve.

"That's what one of them said. He wanted to see me suffer. You're just like them if you do that." He wasn't the only one who could have eyes of steel, though hers were more like ice.

"Then maybe I am. But I'm doing it for a good fucking reason." When he lifted one of his hands to touch her face, she turned her face to the side so that it missed its target.

"You're not like them," she said in a soft whisper. "But there's no such thing as killing for love. It's revenge."

Her image was fading, even under his strong hands. "Emma!" She couldn't stay there any longer. She felt a mental jerk as she was pulled out of their meeting place, and their minds separated from their intense connectivity. Instead, she returned to her vacation from the rest of the world. It wasn't long before Lex's thoughts started to drift into her mind. They were mainly centered on her, but he was also reading a few books to keep himself occupied.

She learned a little about the Trojan War and a lot about Alexander the Great. His thoughts were coasting underneath the surface of her mind, but she suddenly broke through to the surface with an urgent thought of her own. Oh my god, and suddenly she was having the worst bout of nausea. Instinctively, she was up and leaning forward. Her working hand found a plastic bin that she was extremely grateful for in her lap, and she threw up into it. She felt Lex's hand rubbing her back gently, and his low voice was soothing even if she couldn't make out what he was saying.

The world was still fuzzy, like she couldn't do everything at once anymore. Sensation kicked in when the heaving of her stomach finally stopped and a wet cloth was dabbed against her mouth. She allowed Lex to wipe her mouth since he could do it better than she could and vaguely noticed a nurse walking in.

"She's supposed to be asleep!" the woman chastised far too loudly, and she winced at the shrieking quality of her voice.

From the corner of her eye, she saw Lex shoot the woman a glare that made her huff and leave the room.

"She's probably going to get the doctor," he said softly, obviously sensitive to her pounding head. "How are you feeling?"

"Like I got run over by a train." She offered him a small, dazed smile. "How are you feeling?"

"Good." When her vision decided to kick in, she saw that he had red lines on his face. That was probably where they cut into him for the surgery. She hoped they weren't permanent.

He took the bin and set it down. When she was offered a cup of water, she drank it. It didn't quite wash the taste out of her mouth, but it was a lot better than before. Her body seemed to be operating at half its usual capacity, so when she looked down, her vision had to adjust before she saw that her left arm was in a cast. Her knees felt stiff, so she assumed that they were in braces of some sort. Her jaw ached, but she was able to talk with little problem.

When the doctor came in, he looked down at her chart and then back up to her. He had an easy, charming smile and pretty green eyes. "I see you've woken early, Miss Frost. That's great, actually. It means that you're recovering faster than we expected."

Lex smiled at that and held her good hand.

The doctor's eyes fell on Lex, and he gave her a conspiratorial glance. "Mr. Luthor, I'm just going to update Miss Frost on her numerous conditions. You've already heard all this, so why don't you get something to eat from the cafeteria?"

Lex didn't miss much. She could tell that she was going to have some explaining to do when he returned. "Sure," he said politely before letting go of her hand and leaving the room. Her telepathy was only drifting at the moment, but she was careful to close her mind off fully now that she was alone with the doctor.

"What is it you have to tell me, doctor?" She was almost holding her breath. Nothing could be worse than her condition right now.

"You catch on fast, Miss Frost." He gave her a small smile, but then his face returned to the serious expression that doctors usually wore. "I've sent Mr. Luthor out of the room because I do have some private information for you. We did a mandatory blood and urine test when you came in, and both test results came back positive for something we didn't expect. You're pregnant, Miss Frost, and it's not from the assault."

Her body went cold. Pregnant? Everything clicked. She couldn't eat as much as she used to without putting on some extra pounds, she'd had to work out to keep up her body shape, and the constant nausea wasn't really because of the concussion. "How far am I?" Her voice sounded distant, like she was standing outside her body and observing what was happening.

"About two months. Your body weight has stayed surprisingly low, so we've been administering extra vitamins and food intravenously. You may not want to hear this, but you need to gain weight in order for the baby to come out healthy." She stared into space. Just a second ago, she'd been a sixteen-year-old in private school. Now she was a pregnant teenager. He seemed to catch on to her train of thought. "The baby can be legally aborted within the first sixteen weeks. You have eight more weeks to decide if you want to keep it or abort it."

She didn't want a baby. That was her first thought. She wanted the damn thing out of her as fast as possible. She needed to talk to Lex. Or not tell him at all. There were suddenly so many decisions to make, and it seemed like she was supposed to decide all at once. "Does my father know about this?" That thought made her catch her breath, because if her father knew, he would make her get rid of it. Rebellion flared up inside her for a moment. It was her baby and her body, so this would be her decision.

"No. We can't legally tell him, but I recommend that you do. Teenage pregnancy is hard enough without parental support." She snorted. Yeah, right, like her parents would really support her. They would just try and control her life to make her abort, because she was supposed to be something better than a teenage mother. Her mother would absolutely faint at the idea of becoming a grandmother. Her father would probably kick her out of the house and disinherit her.

"Thank you for your opinion, doctor. I'll have Lex update me about the rest." She'd already been updated, but she wasn't going to tell him that. She felt like she was going to be sick again, but this time, it was more mental than physical. Why did this have to happen to her? She would never be a good mother. The doctor left her with her thoughts, and, a moment later, Lex re-entered the room with a thermos in his hand.

He could read her so well, because after five seconds of examining her, he quickly sat down next to her and ran his fingers down her face. She didn't realize she was crying until he wiped away her tears. "What's wrong, sweetheart?" It was a rarely-used, well-cherished nickname, and it comforted her at her worst times. He knew just when to use it, and it was the fact that he didn't use it often that made it all that much more special.

Should she tell him? It was his baby too. She shouldn't take away his choice in this, should she? She was ready to tell him that it was nothing and cover it up, but she glanced at those sweet, beautiful, baby blue eyes, and her decision was made for her. "I'm pregnant." It kind of slipped out of her mouth, and she was immediately relieved. She wanted someone to know. She wasn't used to keeping things to herself.

He sounded like he'd been punched in the stomach. She bit her lip. "I'm sorry; I shouldn't have said anything."

"No, it's okay. I'm glad you told me," he recovered. He smiled and held up the thermos. "Do you want some hot broth?"

"Sure." Were they just going to ignore it? She wouldn't mind that, really. She opened her mind back up and exhaled as she took a sip of broth. It tasted fantastic to her, and her stomach rumbled hungrily.

"Don't eat too much at once," he said softly and ran his hand through her hair. "What do you want to do?" She knew he wasn't talking about the soup anymore. She gave it a moment of thought and took another sip of the soup he'd so kindly brought up to her.

"I don't know yet. I can still get an abortion for eight weeks, so I have to think about it." Her eyes flickered over to him. "What do you think I should do?" She wanted his opinion. Lex was always right, after all. She wasn't sure there was a right answer for this.

"I want to do whatever you want to do, Emma. If you want an abortion, I can understand that. Neither of us are ready to be parents. If you want to have it, we could always run away together and try anyways." She suspected that the last part had been a joke, but his face remained stony.

"Our fathers would find us in a second." Lex's father probably had a tracking device somewhere on him. He seemed like the type.

"Does that mean you want to run away together?" There was no sarcasm in his voice. Rather, she heard a hint of hope.

"Do you?" She could've laughed at the circular answer if she wasn't so intent on hearing the response.

"I do if you do." His eyes were bright, and his fingers were playing with her hair again. "We could take what money we have and buy an old car. We could drive across the country to California and buy a flat. You would go shopping, and I'd get a steady job if we needed more cash. I'd have to wear a hat all the time, though."

"Have you thought of this before?" His ingenuity continued to surprise her. "It sounds like you have it all planned out."

He ran his hand over his scalp and looked the tiniest bit guilty. "Yeah. I figured that if we were really in love, we could eventually do all that someday. But since you have a new 'condition', we'd have to speed it up."

"I don't want to run my father's company," she admitted softly. "I've always kind of wanted to teach."

"Neither do I." His fingers on his cheek felt so good that she closed her eyes. "I've always wanted to be a scientist, but I could do some manual labor until I found something else."

"I'm tired, darling," she murmured sleepily. She felt him remove the thermos from her hands and heard him screw the cap back on.

"Then sleep. I'll be here when you wake up," he whispered into her ear.

She must've been sleeping for a long time when Cordelia came, because Lex was sleeping too. She woke in a foggy haze, but the sight of her younger sister made her smile immediately. "Cordy!" At her excited call, Cordelia came and hugged her while being careful not to hurt her. Lex woke up like he was never asleep, but he did look slightly confused. "Oh my god, I've missed you so much!"

Her sister's hair was short, black, and spiked. On any other girl, it would look terrible, but it just looked adorable on Cordy. Her midnight blue eyes almost looked black in this light, and the piercings in her lip, tongue, and eyebrow glittered in the fluorescent light. She was wearing a black t-shirt with baggy blue jeans that were torn in scandalous places.

"I came as soon as I heard. Daddy was really quiet for a few days, then he finally told Mom and me at dinner last night. I got the earliest flight I could." In her haste, Cordelia hadn't noticed Lex, even though he was studying her curiously.

"Oh, I'm being rude. Cordy, this is my boyfriend, Lex Luthor. Lex, this is Cordelia, my younger sister." When Lex offered a hand to shake, Cordy grabbed his fingers with hers and touched her knuckles against his. She was much more eccentric than anyone else in the family, and Lex threw her a glance before smiling.

"Nice to meet you, Cordelia." His tone was sly. The boy was a natural charmer.

"Call me Cordy. My parents call me Cordelia when I'm in trouble." She stuck her hands in her pockets and cocked her head to the side. "Does Daddy know about you two?"

"Sort of," came Emma's vague answer. "He's seen us together. He approved."

"I'm in a relationship too," Cordy announced proudly.

"With who? I hope it's not that punk down the street again." Cordy's relationships were known for being ill-chosen.

"You have to promise not to tell Mom and Dad." Cordy was fidgeting.

"I promise." She almost rolled her eyes. As if she ever willingly told their parents anything.

"I'm dating a girl from Boston. She's a senior in high school." She'd always suspected something, but she'd never been able to confirm her suspicions before.

"What's her name?" Emma asked. Lex was quiet, but she could tell he was very interested in the conversation. Men and lesbians.

"Brianna." She paused for a moment. "You're not mad?"

She scoffed. "Hell no. Just don't ever come out to Mom and Dad. Christian did, and you see where that got him." Her voice was strained. Her eyes stung. Poor Christian.

Suddenly, she was being hugged again. "Thanks, Emma. It's hard to deal with Daddy now that you're not around. And Adrienne..." Cordy's eyes narrowed as she looked down. "She's getting so much worse. She's been attacking people and screaming your name."

Emma couldn't suppress a shudder. Lex watched her carefully. He didn't like to show affection in front of other people, but she could tell that he wanted to hold her. "They should just keep her locked up all the time. She hasn't gotten any better."

"That's what the hospital said, but Daddy said no. He's paying them extra to let her interact with other people. I think he's still hoping she'll come back, fully recovered, and run the company for him." Emma kind of wished that too, but she knew that it was never going to happen. Her sister would never be sane again. "I hate to cut this visit short, but I have to go. I'm catching a flight to Boston to visit Brianna, so lie for me if Daddy calls."

Emma laughed. "Of course I will. I don't mind." She didn't think that she could ever stop hugging Cordy, but her sister pulled away. She saw the subtle wipe of the eye after Cordy straightened up, and she knew that her sister had been tearing up. "Come visit me again when I'm well."

"I will," she promised and kissed Emma's forehead. "Get better."

With that, her sister was gone. Silence reigned for a moment, and then Lex finally spoke up.

"Your sister's cute."

"I can't believe you just said that." She was offended, even if Lex meant it as a joke. "Too bad she's a lesbian, you fucking jerk."

"Hey," he said in a hurt tone, "you know I love you. I just wouldn't mind seeing Cordy and her girlfriend make out."

"You're such a guy." She tried to turn away from him, but the cast on her left arm wouldn't let her.

"Is that supposed to insult me?" He put a hand on her hip. "It's every guy's fantasy to watch two girls get it on."

"Don't," she snapped. The sensation of touch brought back flashes of unpleasant memories, and Lex must've gotten some of them, because he snatched his hand back immediately.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to..." He was definitely sincere.

"It's not your fault. It's just going to take a bit of getting used to." She hated that she was almost crying. "I wish the police would find these fuckers and at least throw them in jail."

Lex's eyes darkened. "They're waiting on a statement. Neither of us have given them one. Even so, my lawyer said they probably won't be able to find anything out."

"I'd know his voice if I heard it." He kissed her fingertip. She was almost in a daze.

"I still want to kill them both." She barely noticed that he was shaking with anger. She turned her head to look at him with her soft blue eyes. "But I won't. Unless you change your mind."

She shook her head. "I won't change my mind." Of course, she was wrong.

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I never knew
I never knew that everything was falling through
That everyone I knew was waiting on a queue
To turn and run when all I needed was the truth
But that's how it's got to be
It's coming down to nothing more than apathy
I'd rather run the other way than stay and see
The smoke and who's still standing when it clears and

Everyone knows I'm in
Over my head
Over my head
With eight seconds left in overtime

Over My Head - The Fray