"Jonathan, honey, I just don't know." Martha was pulling down the bedsheets, climbing in as her husband turned off the bedside lamp. He followed her into the bed, the two of them pulling up the quilt to their chins as they prepared for sleep.
"Baby, I just don't know what to do either. Lex was worried, and that worries me." Jonathan rolled onto his side, wrapping one strong arm around his wife. "I worry about you and Clark. You're my responsibility, to keep you safe. I can't do that if Lionel starts with his tricks."
"But what about Lex? He's turning into such a nice man- I'd hate to abandon him to his father."
Jonathan groaned. "I know. I know. I just don't…" He sighed loudly, "know what else to do but to stop having him over for dinner. Lionel can play unbelievably dirty- and I don't want to loose you. Or Clark."
"Oh baby," Martha rolled to face Jonathan, giving him a quick kiss. "I doubt Lionel would go that far. It's just dinner." She smiled in the darkness, "besides, how can I finish my nefarious plan if Lex stops coming over?"
Jonathan laughed. "Oh yes, your plan. I almost forgot." He held Martha closer. "He's surprised me, you know. He's turning out to be a decent man."
"I know." Martha replied.
"Even if he practically comes from a different planet- I still can't get over how his lousy excuse for a father never taught him football as a boy. Or even hired someone to do it. That's just ridiculous."
Martha chuckled in the darkness. "Not everyone values sports so highly, Jon-baby."
"Yeah, well, the world would be a better place." Came the grumbled reply.
There was silence, and then. "Jonathan? We can't give up on him."
A sigh. "I know." A pause, "You never could abandon the helpless."
"That's why you love me."
"One reason."
A longer pause while they shared a kiss, "Dinner? This Sunday, like always?" Martha sounded hopeful.
"Ahh… yes. But- only because I believe Lionel would say something to us before he did anything. And if he does- family first, Martha. And don't argue with me."
"Yes Jonathan."
////
"I feel like a spy or something," Clark whispered, lightly walking along the dry creek bed, "all these secret engagements and stuff." Overhead, the setting moon barely bathed them in its feeble light.
"Don't be silly." Lex said behind him, "I prefer to think of them as clandestine business meetings. Speaking of which- that funny bit of circuitry you saw in my phone?" He had shown Clark his cell phone the last time they had gotten together in the middle of the night, and Clark had 'seen' something suspicious in it. Lex still had to figure out how the young man was seeing through walls. But figuring out how could wait- at least he was profiting from Clark's special abilities. He hiked up his largely oversized blue jeans.
"Yeah?"
"Tracker. Dear old dad likes to keep a handle on me- see where I'm going. Ran my clothes through an X-ray machine, found two more- in my shoes and in my coat. Figure the car is bugged. Now I only have to worry about micro-circuitry."
"So that's why you're wearing my spare clothes?" Clark turned, grinning at Lex.
"Yes. And next time- bring some underwear." Lex snarled to Clark's chuckle. "Did you look at your house?"
"Yeah, a little. The nails get in the way, and the stuff is so small. But I think I found something in the living room. No cameras though- I checked them against the pictures you gave me."
"Don't touch them, try to pretend they aren't there." Lex warned.
"I know, I know. I still can't believe that your father would care so much about you hanging out with us."
Lex sighed. "You're my friend, Clark. And Luthor's don't have friends- we aren't supposed to associate with the mere mortals below us. Average people and us don't mix."
Clark turned around, stopping. In the dim light, Lex nearly ran into him before he stopped walking forward as well. "Lex-" Clark whispered, sounding hurt, "is that the only reason you hang out with me- the only reason you can bear to get down from your pedestal and-"
"No." Lex replied, "That's not it at all. I will admit that you intrigue me, but… You're father's perfectly normal, and I do miss talking to him. Any ideas on when they'll relent and let me come over again?"
"Soon. Mom misses your company, and so does dad- even if he won't admit it." Clark was smiling in the dim light.
Lex sighed. "I… want to come over, Clark. But I'm worried. Especially since we know that my father will know that I came over."
"Don't worry about it. Your father would probably try something against me first- at least then we'll have warning."
The pale bald man shook his head, "I don't want it to get that far- I won't be able to protect your family then."
"I can make whatever accident he has planned look like it failed. Don't worry about me."
"Just don't get caught coming out here- I don't need dear Lionel to find out you're sneaking out the same time I am." Lex glanced at his watch. "I need to get back, and so do you. Tuesday night then?"
"Yeah."
////
The day was blindingly bright, not a cloud in the early spring air. The wind still smelled of frost- it was too early to plant, and Clark and Jonathan where sitting on the fence rail overlooking their field. Behind them, Lex was walking out of the house.
"Martha sent me out bearing gifts," Lex said as soon as he got close enough not to yell. He walked up, handing a pop to Clark and a beer to Jonathan. Quick movements, and Lex was seated between them, taking long swallow from his own beer.
"And she said that dinner would be ready in twenty minutes." Lex added. Then he looked over the field. "I've always heard that there was nothing to do in Smallville except watch the corn grow. Nice to know my reports were right."
Clark sheepishly smiled, "we were talking about when to plant."
"Ah." Lex nodded his head. He smiled to himself. "Important, I'm sure." He paused, "Mr. Kent… I wanted to thank you for inviting me to come over for dinner tonight."
"Not a problem, Lex." Jonathan good-naturedly replied. There was no reason to mention Lionel Luthor's threats, or the weeks it had been since his last visit.
Lex looked over the fields, taking a deep breath. Ever since Jonathan's comments, he had a little whisper of curiosity tickling the back of his head, and he couldn't scratch it. "But… I was wondering. I know it isn't really my business, but what did my father do that… colored your opinion of him? I couldn't find any record of your family having a business deal with him."
Jonathan looked over the fields, running a hand through his wavy blond hair. "If you need to ask, then he obviously never told you. Not that I'm surprised. Are you sure you want to know?"
"I asked, didn't I?"
"Yes. Clark- I don't want you to pass this around the school, you've got that?" Jonathan could really use that 'fatherly' tone of voice when he needed to.
"Dad! I wouldn't!"
"Of course. Well, Lex, it was about twenty-five no, thirty years ago. The Luthor's had just bought a large tract of land outside of Smallville, and the whole town was stirred up about it. Your grandfather came into town, bringing your father with him. Looking over the land- there was talk of a factory with hundreds of new jobs. Naturally, everyone was pretty excited about that. And your father was a charmer- still is, in a lot of ways. He was young, handsome, single, and richer than the whole town put together. He even had a degree from some fancy college out east."
"I had a cousin- I was a freshman in high school that year- she was a senior, cheerleader, long curly blond hair. Name was Danielle Jackson, her mother was my dad's sister. She was the prettiest thing to come out of our county. And she caught your father's eye." Jonathan took a long drink of his beer.
"It didn't take long- her steady boyfriend suddenly had better things to do than to go out with her, and she found herself properly swept off her feet. Most of the kids thought they'd get married, but her parents knew better. They worried; asked her to stop seeing him- tried all they could do, shy of warning him off their land with a gun. Didn't work."
Jonathan fell silent, and Lex asked, "And then?"
Jonathan shrugged. "She got pregnant. No one doubted who the father was- but your dad wouldn't own up to it. Went back to Metropolis the day she told him. Never called on her again." He sighed, "then it went downhill. This was before Roe vs Wade- and she was afraid, and so she got an illegal abortion. Don't know who gave her the contact, but she died from it. Abortions were usually preformed by the worst doctors- ones who had most likely lost their licenses for one reason or another. A lot of girls died from them that you never really heard about."
"But her father knew who to blame. He had to bury his daughter, because Lionel Luthor wouldn't be a man. And so, he made his biggest mistake- he crossed the Luthors. He publicly decried them ever coming to Smallville. He was drunk at the time, and at a bar. But he spilled the whole story over his beer. Everyone knew that Lionel and Danielle were an item, and that they 'broke up', but no one knew the whole story till then. Just rumors."
Jonathan tersely continued, "He died a week later- farm accident involving his thresher. Ripped his arm off, bled to death."
Lex sipped his drink. "Damn convenient."
"I know." Jonathan growled.
"Oh." Clark said, "That's why you were so upset that Lionel Luthor managed to buy the Jackson farm." To Lex's questioning gaze, Clark added, "About five years ago, I think. I was in fifth grade…"
Jonathan nodded, "She had three older brothers- they kept the farm going, but they finally went under. Your father bought the land off the auction block when they foreclosed. It's a good thing he only sent a representative, old Mrs. Jackson would have probably shot him."
Lex snorted. "That would have been a loss."
"Lex!" Clark gasped, playfully swatting at him.
Behind them, Martha called from her open backdoor, "Boys! Dinner!"
////
Ms. Wellspring sat on her toilet, one perfectly manicured hand clutching the white plastic stick while the other daubed at the mascara running down her face.
"Hold yourself together, girl. This isn't the end of the world." She gulped in big gasps of air. "Just pull yourself together, and lets get ready for tonight." She lifted her head; pushing back her dark curls from her face. Determinably, she flung the stick in the trash, pulling a towel from the rack.
"He never keeps a girlfriend for more than two months- and you're only a single week late. This relationship is more than half over anyway, so have fun while you can." Jessica Wellspring lectured herself as she leaned into the mirror, checking her hair. "Damn- time to get my roots redone. He hates redheads." Jessica mentally made a mental note to get her hair appointment at her favorite salon. All of it- Lionel would throw her out on the street if he knew her real hair color. And that wasn't part of the plan.
Jessica prided herself at not being a fool. She had entered into this relationship with Lionel Luthor knowing that the whole deal was on a very short fuse. Her only two goals where to wrangle as many pretty rocks out of the older man as she could, and to set herself up in higher society for her next relationship. She had her eye on two vice presidents of LuthorCorp- both were a bit younger, and both really needed a mistress. And everyone knew that Lionel didn't mind his leftovers going to his underlings. In fact he seemed to get a kick out of it.
After all, Jessica mussed as she entered the steaming shower. He need never know- any of it. Not her hair color, or that she never intended on keeping him- (unlike her grasping predecessors), nor her current 'condition'. That last would be easily fixed, as soon as he moved on.
////
Author's Notes: They call it pop in Kansas, so I called it pop here. So sue me.