CHAPTER 10: Family
SMALLVILLE- KENT FARM
Clark had got up earlier than usual and spent three hours doing farm chores that always took him a couple of minutes. He hadn´t been able to sleep at all- his mind being in a whirl after getting that manila envelope in the post. Even though there was no forwarding address on the outside, the brief message enclosed didn´t leave too many options open unless he´d been too careless on one of his recent hero escapades.
Walking out of the barn he removed the gloves his dad used to wear and tossed them on a workbench. His hands would never get calloused no matter what he did, but someone could be out there observing him and he wasn´t willing to run the risk of being discovered.
"Good morning, Clark," said Martha warmly when he stepped into the kitchen and kissed her on the cheek.
"Good morning, mom," he smiled, grabbing a freshly-baked biscuit from the baking sheet.
"Just like your father," Martha told him with a frown, brushing away his hand. "They´re still hot."
"Hey, Smallville!" Lois greeted him from her post at the breakfast table.
"Hello, Lois. I thought we´d have to drag your city butt out of bed to have you share our early breakfast," responded the farm boy, opening the fridge to take the jug of milk.
"You´re kidding! And miss your mom´s homemade cookies? After months of munching sawdust at the college cafeteria I´d give an arm for a batch of Martha´s baking. I´m surprised you´ve doubted me after suffering the after-effects of that nuclear waste you had for lunch yesterday."
"Clark?" frowned Martha, wondering what all that was about; Clark had never had stomachache in his life.
"Lois thinks I´ve got a sensitive stomach."
"I think? You should have looked at yourself in the mirror yesterday," mumbled the General´s eldest daughter unfolding the Sunday edition of The Planet. "I can´t believe it! That rattlesnake got away even in death."
"What are you talking about, Lois?" asked Clark, shutting the door of the fridge and walking towards the breakfast nook.
"Lionel Luthor; that´s who. It says here the investigation´s closed. Inconclusive evidence... No witnesses," she gritted her teeth."The Luthors think they can buy everything and everyone, that they´re above and beyond the law. I wonder if Lex had something to do in all this."
"I don´t think Lex would take part in a conspiracy to help his father, "said Martha, leaving a baking sheet on the worktop.
"Mom..." began Clark belligerently.
"I know you´re no longer friends, sweetie. And that you blame him because of Lana, but you of all people should know the way his father always treated him and how hard he and Chloe worked to see Lionel pay for what he´d done in Suicide Slums all those years ago. I can´t imagine Lex allying with his father, not after everything that happened."
"Maybe he didn´t but maybe he doesn´t want the truth to come out because it´s inconvenient," Clark interrupted Martha.
"Believe me, Martha, I´d have gladly joined the firing squad to wipe the Magnificent Bastard off the face of the earth if Lex had recruited me- and I´m definitely no fan of his. However, I think there´s something fishy here. Did you know Lex had him cremated? What if he didn´t want anyone to know how he died? Perhaps he was trying to protect someone," concluded Lois, setting the newspaper down on the table.
"And why don´t we nominate him for sainthood, now that we´re at it?" suggested Clark ironically as his eyes strayed to the front page and he sobered.
"Clark!" exclaimed Lois jumping out of her chair when the jug he was holding exploded in a million pieces and the spilt milk soaked his clothes. "Are you hurt?" she rushed to his side, trying to grab his hands to look at his palms, which she was sure the shards must have pierced.
"I´m fine," he said in a raspy voice, snatching his hands away."I´ll get changed. Mom...?" he added, shooting a glance at Martha.
"It´s OK, sweetie. I´ll bring the mop and," she pasted a practised smile on her face," I´ll fetch you a clean pair of jeans from the laundry."
"Thanks, mom. I´m sorry," Clark told her apologetically on his way to the bathroom.
"Gee! Did you see that? What do you feed the farm boy? Those cookies must have a secret ingredient," Lois babbled on as she observed the pulverised glass scattered on the floor.
"It must have been already cracked."
"Cracked? I´ll remember to wear an armour while Smallville´s around. Those shards flew like projectiles."
"Lois, could you watch over the last batch of cookies I have in the oven?" asked Martha, trying to distract her.
"Sure," responded Chloe´s cousin getting around the spill and the broken remnants of the milk jug.
"I´ll be back in a minute. I´m going to give Clark his jeans," Mrs Kent told Lois, grabbing them from the laundry basket.
Clark had stripped down to his underwear in record time and was now leaning heavily on the washbasin- his hand gripping the sides with contained strength when there was a knock at the door. He studied his face in the mirror, opened the tap and splashed some cold water on his face.
"Clark, can I come in? I´ve got you a clean pair of jeans," said Martha´s muffled voice. "Sweetie," she murmured when he opened the door," what happened? I know you and Lex aren´t best friends now but... since the engagement was broken, I thought that maybe... you´d be willing to... try and patch things up."
"Patch things up? After everything he´s done?"
"Clark, it takes two to tango. It was Lana ´s decision to make the choice she did."
"And Chloe, mom? If he hadn´t interfered, none of this would have happened," he fumed.
"You don´t know that, Clark. Chloe made a foolish mistake when she accepted Lionel´s offer, but I believe Lex honestly tried to help her."
"Lex doesn´t do anything unless he´s sure he´ll get something in return."
"Clark, there are things that you don´t know."
"What´s that supposed to mean?"
"It was a hard year for you... for all of us. Many things happened around you that you didn´t notice at the time."
"Like what?"
"We all lost things... someone... that year, and you were too wrapped up in your own emotional turmoil to see how fragile two of your best friends were."
"That isn´t true. I tried to help Lex... I tried to stop Lionel and... you and dad both told me it´d been for the best."
"I accept my degree of guilt in making your relationship with Lex more strained. I know how much he valued your friendship and understand his need to have someone trust him. We robbed him of that to protect you. I´m not blaming you, Clark.; I´d do it again in a heartbeat, but in retrospect... I wish there had been another way. I don´t approve of many of the things he´s done in the last few years and still... I can´t help but feel we gave up on him too soon. He just needed someone to believe in him, to trust him..."
"Yeah, Chloe did that and look what it cost her and Gabe."
"It was Lionel that had that house blown up, Clark."
"Lex was supposed to protect her! If I..."
"Look, there´s a lot of guilt going around..."
"Hey, Smallville! There´s someone on the phone for you," Lois interrupted them with a knock on the door.
"Tell whoever it is I´ll get back to him later," responded Clark.
"I tried to ask him for his phone number, but he said it was urgent."
"OK. I´ll be right up," he sighed, buttoning up his flannel shirt. "Must be about my internship application," he told his mum.
"Go, sweetie," smiled Martha, grabbing the soaked clothes.
Clark opened the bathroom door- half-expecting to find Lois eavesdropping- and traversed the kitchen to answer the phone call on hold.
"Hello?" he said, picking up the handset.
"Hello, Kal," responded a smug voice on the other side.
LEX´S PENTHOUSE- 1 p.m.
Chloe had woken up at around ten after spending half the night awake thinking over the events of the day and replaying the conversation she´d had with Lex before going to bed. She still couldn´t believe her reaction or the words she spat at him when he talked so possessively and passionately about her and Laura. It was as if by meeting Lex once again her old self- her real self- had resurrected. She was awake for the first time in three years and wondered where this rebellious and stubborn young woman had been hiding. Maybe Lex was right; maybe she needed him around to feel alive.
He opened the front door of the penthouse to find Chloe comfortably perched on his sofa amidst scattered papers and scribbled notes. He looked at what she had on her lap and thanked his foresight; nothing could be left to chance with Chloe hanging around.
"I hope you don´t mind," she said, pointing at the laptop."You don´t have a PC so I used this to hook on the net. I needed to send a couple of e-mails, tell Jerry we´d be away for a few days. We left in such a hurry that I didn´t have time to talk to him in advance."
"It´s all right. I told you to make yourself at home," he smirked, picking up a few papers and perusing their contents with a poker face.
"I just... I guess I´m not the type to sit on my butt while things are happening around me. I simply couldn´t stay here doing nothing..."
"Don´t worry, Chloe. You´re welcome to use my laptop anytime. I´m not so sloppy as to keep corporative secrets where anyone could find them," he said smugly." And by anyone... I mean someone who used to be able to penetrate the best firewalls and crack any codes."
"Well, I haven´t used that particular talent in years."
"I´m sure it´ll come back. There are things which are like riding a bicycle," he said in a silky voice with a gleam in his eye. "Have you found anything interesting? On the net I mean. I already have an inventory of the penthouse," he added ironically.
"Are you accusing me of snooping around?" she cocked an eyebrow.
"You wouldn´t be the woman I fell in love with if you didn´t. We´ve always been two of a kind. We´ve never been able to resist digging into other people´s lives, particularly when we believe they´re hiding something from us," he responded, scanning a printed sheet.
"You can´t blame me for wanting to find answers."
"I don´t," he told her, leaving the sheet on the coffee table.
"Have you ever met Lois and my uncle Sam?" she asked looking him in the eye. "I entered this cool site where you can trace your ancestors and relatives and found out they´re in the area."
"I met Lois a few years ago... yes. She came to Smallville for your... funeral and ended up staying. You have another cousin, Lucy- an interesting character, " he smiled," the family´s black sheep. I don´t know what she´s up to now. The last time we heard of her she ran away with one of my Mercedes and $50,000 in bonds."
"What?"
"A long story. And none you should worry about."
"What about Uncle Sam?"
"Sam Lane´s Lois´ dad," he said curtly.
"Yes, I know that. I mean... have you met him? What kind of man is he?"
"I can´t claim to know him really well."
"But you´ve met him," she insisted.
"Briefly, yes."
"And?"
"He seems to be a very protective kind of guy. Have you had lunch yet?"
"Yes, sorry. It was past Laurie´s lunchtime. I left you something in the oven. Lex, why are you trying to sidetrack me?"
"I´m not."
"Then why is it that I have the impression you don´t want to talk about this."
"Hi!" Laurie smiled at Lex as she tiptoed quietly into the living room with her bear tucked under one arm.
"Hello, Laurie," he said warmly, thanking the girl´s timing crouching down to be at her eye level. "Did you sleep well last night?
"Uh huh, " she responded, nodding her head.
"What did you do while I was away?" he asked her, hearing the distant sound of a children´s TV programme in the entertainment room.
Chloe felt her eyes turn misty as she observed the exchange between father and daughter and noticed Lex´s faintly veiled hesitation before his hand caressed the girl´s cheek gently to brush a couple of stray hairs off her face. It was evident he wanted to be more tactile with the child and found the experience new to him. Chloe wondered what it must be like for someone used to being so confident to feel so awkward all of a sudden.
"Mommy said watch ´toons, but..." she pouted.
"What´s wrong?" he frowned.
"You don´t have the channel she usually watches at home," explained Chloe. "But that´s OK, Laurie, right?"
"Well... I suppose I c..." Lex began to say until he caught a discreet gesture of Chloe´s out of the corner of an eye, "... don´t spend too much time at home to know what channels I have," he added, seeing the blonde reporter relax.
"You don´t watch toons?" asked Laurie wide-eyed.
Lex saw disbelief on his daughter´s childish face and thanked God for having granted her a mum such as Chloe, who was making sure she had a healthy childhood, enjoying the simple pleasures of her age. Lex couldn´t remember ever watching cartoons while growing up- there had been no TV in his room and the only shows that the Luthor household used to tune in had to do with politics and the world market. Even now he could remember Lillian arguing with his father the one time she took him to the cinema to see Snow White their last winter together. Lionel thought there was more to learn from books and the ancient philosophers than in the dark room of a cinema watching a girlie film; he wasn´t going to allow her to make a sentimental weakling out of his heir.
"Tell you what," he responded to Laura in a gentle voice. "I´ll heat up something to eat and we can watch some together."
On hearing Lex´s suggestion the girl´s cherubic face lightened forgetting that a minute before she had been moping.
"Mommy, co´nut cookies?" asked the blonde sprite.
"Thanks for not flaunting your Luthor power back there. I know you´d love to change the orbit of a LuthorCorp satellite just to give your daughter the chance to watch every cartoon channel on earth or to send one of your minions on a shopping spree to get every animated movie in the market, but I´ve promised myself Laurie won´t be a spoilt brat. And I can assure you she´d have you wrapped around her little finger in no time."
"So says the unrelenting mother who´s baking her coconut cookies," he smirked, setting his lunch on a tray to take to the entertainment room while Chloe was busy sifting a bowl of flour and hunting Lex´s larder for the necessary ingredients.
"Smart ass. By the way, we haven´t finished our conversation. Has my uncle done something to earn the Luthor cold shoulder?" she probed, disposing of the egg shells.
"I have an old debt to settle with him. He made a decision for which I begrudge him and, though I´m trying to be understanding because I know where he was coming from... let´s say the fact that he´s your uncle is keeping him in one piece," he confessed in an attempt to be as honest with Chloe as he could without actually telling her the whole story. "Does knowing I might act on my animosity towards someone spook you?" he added gravely, looking her in the eye.
"I remember enough to know you can be a dangerous man to cross. However, I also know you wouldn´t strike back without good cause. I´m aware there´s darkness in you but there´s also a whole other side to you."
"I´m afraid most people wouldn´t agree with you. And to be honest, although part of their dislike is unwarranted, there are many things I´ve done I´m not proud of. Given the chance I would change a couple of decisions I took not so long ago. There might be things in my life you won´t like, Chloe."
"As long as I can remember, I´ve always tried not to jump to conclusions about anything. I´m not into passing judgement on a person because of any preconceptions."
"I promise I´ll try to be honest with you, Chloe. However, there are some things which are non-negotiable."
"I assume we´re talking about LuthorCorp business here."
"Mostly."
"While doing my research after you called on me at the coffee shop I came across some disturbing reports concerning LuthorCorp´s experiments with refined meteor rocks."
"Ever since I moved to Smallville I´ve been studying them- I won´t deny that. We´ve been trying to find some positive application for something that has caused a lot of pain to numberless people. The majority of the town´s population has been affected by them in some way."
"Your white cell count and Laura´s, right?"
"Yes, you might see it as a curse, but we could have done worse. Believe me."
"All these freaks... I´ve been reading the electronic issues of The Torch. I was as obsessed with them as the media seems to believe you are now. Are all as dangerous as the ones I wrote about?"
"In my experience when it comes to them there´s no such thing as being too cautious."
Chloe opened the oven to remove the first batch of cookies and pondered whether it was the right time to ask him if the buzz which talked about a secret LuthorCorp project called 33.1 was just an urban legend or another Level 3 like the one she´d written about. She was itching to pursue her line of questioning already feeling the thrill of exercising her dormant reporter muscles. Still, there were other priorities to consider first- namely to find out who the people behind the threats to their family were. Funny; they´d been at Lex´s penthouse only a day and Chloe was already thinking of them three as a family.
"Have I ever shown any strange abilities?" she blurted out when a sudden flashback caught her unawares as she straightened up to set down her oven glove on the worktop.
"Apart from your uncanny ability to find yourself in the worst places at the most inconvenient times and shaking more than an occasional hornet´s nest?" he responded with a lopsided grin.
"I was thinking more in the line of meteor-induced powers," she said gravely before turning around and meeting his steel blue-grey eyes.
Lex looked at her with his mask of indifference firmly in place, wondering exactly what was going through her mind and if her question had been prompted by some recollection of hers or only by mere curiosity. Not only both their lives in Smallville had been filled with the bizarre, she had also acted out of character due to the green rocks more than once. Nevertheless, there was one particular occasion that remained branded in his mind because of its personal significance. No one apart from themselves had witnessed what was said in his study at the mansion, and he couldn´t remember ever feeling so vulnerable and exposed as he did the day he told Chloe he wanted his father to love him.
"You and Pete were bitten by a parasite in the Kawatche Caves."
"Pete?"
"Ross. His family owned Smallville´s Creamed Corn Factory until my father bought it and turned it into a fertiliser plant. I´ve never been on his Christmas list; he even tried to murder me once when he was under the effects of an ancient flower powered by green rocks. I couldn´t blame him for charging towards me that once, although he aimed at the wrong Luthor. It wasn´t me who broke the promise not to make changes to his family´s factory and ended up laying off the entire staff. "
"And how did the parasite affect me?"
"You? Well... it revealed the sexy teaser in you. You enjoyed flirting shamelessly with someone else in front of me and made jokes about my baldness. It was sheer torture; especially because I was doing my damnedest not to see you as a sexual being in those days. I didn´t envy Clark more than that morning I saw you in his arms."
"Clark?"
"Yes, Clark Kent," he clarified. "You remember him?" he asked calmly, trying not to unleash the jealousy that was threatening to spring up as he wondered whether her memories connected with Clark had resurfaced earlier than theirs.
"Not really. I saw his name in several articles in The Torch. He seemed to be always at the right place at the right time."
"You, Clark and Mr Ross used to be joined at the hip. Clark´s always been a boy scout. I suppose you´ve read about my miraculous rescue the day I arrived in Smallville," he added, seeing Chloe nod. "Selfless heroism´s the thing he´s stood out for- and many of us owe him a debt of gratitude," he conceded, pouring himself a glass of wine and setting it on the tray."He won´t be remembered by his contributions to the paper, though. Typing the menu for the school cafeteria can hardly be described as serious journalism," he smiled faintly.
"And my writing articles that only a rag like The Inquisitor would print can?"
Lex took a large sip of wine and felt a muscle on his face twitch. She might not remember Clark but even now she was ready to defend him. Her loyalty to her friends was one of the things Lex admired in her and yet, his jealous streak was always haunting him when it came to her and her close relationship with Clark. He knew it was a childish reaction because he had been sure of her love before the explosion. Unlike Lana, Chloe wasn´t fickle in her affections and alliances and still, Lex´s insecurity when it came to his own capacity to earn someone´s love and trust forever made him fear Clark´s ghost once again. He berated himself for his weakness; they knew each other too well to misinterpret the signs- he only had to look in her emerald eyes and hear the slight breathlessness in her voice when he was around to realise his feelings weren´t unrequited.
"Don´t belittle your talent, Chloe. Clark has never been and will never be the amazing reporter you are."
"Was."
"Are. Give it time. It´ll come back just like your memories."
"You said he´ll never be. Does it mean he´s still in journalism?"
"The last time I heard of him he was studying journalism at Central Kansas... with your cousin Lois."
"Lois? As in Lois Lane?"
"Yes," he said gravely ."Chloe, I know it´s killing you not to know more about your past life and that you´d like to see your family and let them know you´re alive. However, I don´t think it´d be the best move right now. Trust me. The fewer people are aware of it the better chance you´ll have of staying under the radar. And believe me, letting your cousin know you´re alive would be like posting the news on the front page of The Daily Planet."
"What difference would it make?" she exclaimed frustrated." These people already know who I am and where I live."
"It´s true, but if word got out you survived and that you were married to the man who died at that garage with Lionel Luthor, your life would become a freaking media circus and protecting you and Laura would be a nightmare. I don´t want to make things easier for these people than they already are, Chloe."
"I don´t know how long I´ll be able to handle being cooped up here, Lex."
"You mean cooped up here with me?" he corrected her.
"Mommy?" a childish voice interrupted them.
"Hi, sweetie," responded Chloe warmly, cleaning her hands with a tea towel and putting on a smile for Laurie´s benefit.
"Are you angry?" asked the girl in a shaky voice that signalled she was on the verge of tears.
"I´m sorry, Laura," replied Lex, crouching down to look at her in the eye. "Mommy and I were just talking some boring adult stuff. We didn´t want to scare you. Everything´s OK, honey. Are you ready to watch that animated film you picked?"
"Uh huh," she nodded, clutching at her teddy bear as Lex wiped away a couple of tears which were rolling down her cheeks.
"So, lead the way," he smiled reassuringly, grabbing the tray he had set down on the kitchen island. "Chloe," he added from the doorway," will you join us?"
"It´s OK. You go. I´m going to clean the mess I´ve made in your kitchen and take a shower," she responded with a small smile, turning around to start working on the dirty dishes.
"I wish things were different, Chloe. I hope I haven´t come across as an over-possessive bully that doesn´t want you to step out of his sight. I just want what´s best for both you."
"I know, Lex," she told him, blinking a few tears away.
"Are you OK?" he insisted, cursing Lionel Luthor for all the stumbling blocks on their road to happiness.
"I will be once you´ve found these bastards and make them pay. Go, Lex. You´ve missed enough time with your daughter already."
Lex looked at her back one last time torn by his urge to comfort her and his desire to share his first quality time with their daughter. He shouldn´t have had to choose between them and if God was merciful with him this once, they wouldn´t have to wait too long to be the family he´d always dreamt of and never thought he´d have.