Title: Honesty -- Chapter 11, The Trip to Metropolis
Author: PepperjackCandy
Series: Follows "Monday"
Archive : Smallville Slash Archive, my writing at fanfiction.net
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Clark/Lex
Category: Established Relationship
Spoilers for: Nothing
Disclaimer: I own nothing Smallville-related, or related in any other way to Clark Kent, Superman or any of the various creations of the wonderful folks at DC Comics.
Feedback: Always welcome, either by e-mail or using the review system at fanfiction.net.
A/N: My page on Lena, DCcanon!Lex's sister (subject to change at without notice) - http://www.geocities.com/pepperjackcandy/lena.htm
Also if the "worth mentioning twice" thing sounds familiar, it's because it's not mine originally. It's paraphrased from the Red Dwarf episode Holoship.
John Henry Irons is played by Avery Brooks in my reality (who should have played the role in the Steel movie, imnsho). Natasha is, at this point, uncast, but you can see her, and Boris, who also appears in this story, here: http://digital-priest.tripod.com/steel/steelfree.htm
============
"Morning, Mom." Clark said, grinning, as he held out a bouquet of flowers to her.
"For me? What's the occasion?"
"No occasion."
Martha narrowed her eyes at him. "You're up to something."
Clark pasted on his 'extra wide-eyed and guileless' expression. "No, of course not."
"Clark . . ."
Clark sighed. "All right. I thought that while we were in Metropolis, Lex and I might sneak out to go visit his mother's and sister's graves. I had Chloe look it up for me. They're buried at Mt. Sinai."
"Oh."
"I've got the cooler and ice packs to keep the flowers fresh, and if Nell asks you about stargazer lilies, tell her they were beautiful."
Martha glanced at her stargazer-lily-free bouquet. "All right . . ."
The clock chimed nine.
"I've gotta run. Lex is picking me up at Lana's house." He kissed his mother on the cheek and before she could respond, was out the door and headed to the street, bearing the cooler in his hands.
"Have a nice time in Metropolis." Martha said to the now-empty room.
Minutes later, Clark met Lana on the front porch of the house Lana shared with her aunt, Nell Potter.
"What's in the cooler?" Lana asked.
"Something for Lex." Clark evaded carefully.
"Would you like to sit down?" Lana indicated the swing.
"Thanks." Clark sat, and Lana sat down a discreet distance from him.
Taking a chance, Clark opened the conversation with a question that had been plaguing him since Jenny McIntyre had hospitalized Lana and Nell. "Can I ask you a question?"
"Sure."
"Have you ever wanted to be . . . different?"
She turned confused brown eyes to him. "Different how?"
"Just anyway you can think of."
"Like hair color? I've always wondered what I'd look like as a redhead."
Clark shook his head. "I wouldn't recommend it. You look perfect just the way you are."
Lana smiled softly. "Thank you, Clark." She sounded surprised by the compliment.
"Any other way you'd want to be different?"
She shook her head. "Not in years."
"Oh?"
"Yeah. When I was little, I used to have . . . nightmares. About my parents."
Clark cringed. "That's understandable."
"I was sad all of the time. I was really miserable."
"So, what happened? You just outgrew it?"
"Yeah. Somehow, it seemed to get better once Nell adopted me." She shrugged. "I figured I just needed a family, and once I had one again, it got better."
Clark was spared the need to respond by the arrival of a huge, white sport-utility vehicle. Clark was surprised to see Lex behind the wheel.
Lex got down from the driver's side and walked around to open the passenger side door.
"Lex." Clark smiled at his lover. "Quite the vehicle. We going to Metropolis or Montana?"
Lex shrugged. "Turns out I don't have anything in my garage that seats three comfortably in the back. It's a rental."
Clark nodded for Lana to go ahead and take the passenger's side seat. He wasn't sure Lex would be happy about it, but it just felt wrong to him to stick Lana in the back by herself.
"I need to put this in the back." Clark indicated the cooler at his feet.
Lex shrugged. "All right."
Together, the two men walked to the back of the SUV, and Lex opened the back door. Clark lifted the nearly-empty cooler into place, then grabbed Lex's hand and squeezed gently. Grinning, Lex lifted their linked hands to his mouth, kissing Clark's hand surreptitiously.
After Lex closed the door, Clark said, "I want to make a small side trip while we're in Metropolis. Just the two of us."
Lex's eyes twinkled wordlessly.
He didn't need to use words. Clark grasped his meaning easily. "It's nothing like that." He hastened to assure Lex.
"A guy can hope." Lex grinned.
"And," Clark pulled Lex closer, whispering conspiratorially in his ear, "I think you're right about the meteors. Lana and I had a conversation while we were waiting for you."
"Oh, really?"
"I'll tell you more about that later, too."
Lex and Clark exchanged grins and then walked around the car, where Clark reached up for the handle to the back door, only to find Lana already there. He opened the door anyhow. "What are you doing back here?"
"I just thought I should sit back here, you know . . ." Lana looked quizzically from Lex to Clark and back.
Clark, surprised, looked from Lana to Lex. The confused expression in his lover's eyes mirrored his own. Clark gently closed the door and walked around to the passenger's side front seat where he climbed in as Lex, already seated in the driver's side, started the engine.
Before he put the vehicle in gear, Lex craned around in his seat to face Lana. "How big is your purse?"
Lana held up a bag barely large enough to hold a wallet and lipstick. "Not too big."
"Does Chloe usually carry a large purse?"
"Why are you suddenly so interested in girls' accessories?" There was a strange, quiet slyness in Lana's tone that took Clark aback for a second.
Apparently, Lex was startled as well, because it took him a few seconds to answer. He picked up a bundle of papers. "I've got everything here -- tram tickets, dolphin show tickets, a list of animals' feeding times . . . . Two copies of everything, so the three of you can carry one, and Clark and I can keep the other."
"Oh. Well, Chloe usually has notebooks and things in her purse, so it'll probably be big enough. Where are you keeping your copy?"
Lex opened his jacket, revealing a bundle of papers in the inside pocket and grinning. Then, he turned around, snapped his seatbelt shut, and put the engine in gear.
Soon, they were in front of Pete's house, where Pete and Chloe were waiting.
"Where have you guys been?"
Clark glanced at his watch. They'd told Pete and Chloe they'd be there around 9:15. It was only 9:20. "Sheesh. We're only five minutes late."
Pete and Chloe climbed into the back. Pete in the center, next to Lana, Chloe sat on the far right.
"Nice car," Chloe said approvingly.
Lex smiled at Clark and said, "It's a rental."
"Figures. The Jag in the shop?"
"No. My Jaguar's running just fine. I figured that it'd be friendly to get something that seats three comfortably in the back."
"Well, my butt thanks you for that," Pete said.
"How big's your purse, Chloe?"
Chloe wordlessly held up a satchel looked to Clark more like a suitcase than a purse.
Lex picked up the bundle of papers and handed it to her. "All of the stuff you'll need is in here - tickets for everything, lists of highlights you might want to check out, like all of the babies born there in the last year."
Chloe thumbed through the sheaf. "They really keep track of how many hissing cockroaches are born at the zoo?"
"Of course. They have to keep an inventory, plus they do a lot of research at the zoo. The list of ongoing research projects is in there, too."
"So if one of the cockroaches ate another, they'd have to keep a record of that, too?"
"Chloe!" Pete whined, a distasteful expression on his face.
"What? Cockroaches are cannibals. At least I've always been told they are." Chloe shrugged.
"Yeah, but it's not something I want to *watch*. Or talk about just after breakfast."
Soon they were on the expressway, and they chatted amiably the hour and a half to Metropolis.
They exited and drove through the suburbs until they reached the zoo, where Lex slowed down in front of the gate. "Out you go." Lex craned his neck around to look at Lana, Pete and Chloe.
"You're just throwing us out?" Chloe asked indignantly.
"We have errands to run. Alone." Lex said pointedly.
Chloe opened the door and slid out. Pete followed, but not before a parting shot, delivered with a grin. "So that's what the kids are calling it these days."
"Go." Lex said sternly. "We'll meet you around . . . " He looked at Clark.
"3:00?"
"We'll meet you at the grizzly bear enclosure at 3:00."
Lana slid out and closed the door. "Have fun, you two." She gave Clark the shock of his life when she winked at him.
Lex pulled smoothly away from the curb. "I think we have to be more discreet. Apparently, Lana's picked up on it."
"Ah, but remember these two important facts. One, Lana spends a lot of time with Pete and Chloe, and two, Lana spends a lot of time with Pete and Chloe. I know that's only one reason, but I thought it was such a big one it was worth mentioning twice."
"So, where do you want to go?" Lex said, his eyes still on the road.
"Um, I was thinking maybe . . . Mt. Sinai Cemetery?"
Lex slammed on the brake. He turned to Clark. "Did I hear you right?"
Clark hesitated to meet his lover's eyes, but when he did, he was surprised to find tears building up in them.
"You know who's . . . buried there, don't you?"
Clark nodded. "Your mom and sister."
"You want to visit Mom and Lena?"
"Yeah."
"Do you know how long it's been since I visited them?"
Clark shook his head wordlessly.
"It's been so long that I can't remember how long it's been."
"Well, if you don't want to go, then . . ."
"Of course I do! I was just surprised is all."
"So, you're OK with it, then?"
Lex smiled. "I'm . . . speechless."
"That's good, right?"
Lex was amazed at Clark's need for reassurance. "Yes. Very good."
They smiled at each other, then, and Lex signaled for the turn that would take them towards the cemetery.
"So you wanted to talk about your conversation with Lana?"
"Yeah. I think I know what the meteors gave her."
"Yes?"
"I . . . I think they made the pain go away. The pain of losing her parents."
Lex nodded, impressed. "And how did you come to this conclusion?"
"Well, she told me that she was desperately unhappy . . . until Nell adopted her. She said she thought the pain went away because she needed a family, but I think it was the necklace."
"It made her happy?"
"No. I think it made her . . . calm."
"Calm."
"Is that . . . wrong?"
"It's just that it's more charitable than the word I'd use."
"And what word would you use?"
"Affectless."
"Affectless." Clark repeated.
"You know. Unemotional. Flat."
"You're right. Calm is more charitable." Clark took the sting from the words with a smile.
They still had several miles to go, so Lex tried a different conversation. "What do you want to do? Have you given any consideration to that?"
"You mean like after high school? Well, college of course."
"Yes, but beyond that."
"Well, I thought that I could help people. Like on September 11. I could have helped so many people. Like the firefighters did. But I wouldn't have had to risk my life."
"And how much would you charge?"
"Charge?" Clark was clearly flabbergasted.
"Well, yes. It's the firefighters' *job*, Clark. They get paid for it, and so should you."
"Well, could it be a hobby, or something, then?"
Lex grinned, suddenly feeling silly. "I'd be happy to keep you as . . . trophy husband, Clark, but I thought you'd want something more for yourself."
"Trophy husband?" Clark repeated back, grinning. "That's a new one."
"If you want to make saving lives your hobby, like garden club or something, then . . ."
"I have something I want to do, but you'd think it was silly."
"Try me."
"Well, being around you, talking about science and things, has gotten me thinking about ways I could help people that way."
"I don't follow you."
"I think I'd like to become a doctor."
Lex's eyes widened and he nodded. "I could really see that. I think you'd make a wonderful doctor."
"Really? You don't think it's stupid?"
"Of course not. You could help people, and you've got to admit the money's pretty good. But of course the money isn't why you'd do it." Lex supplied for Clark, affection flavoring his tone.
They reached the cemetery soon after this, and Lex drove to the site of his mother's and sister's graves. He stopped the engine and, pulling Clark to him for a brief kiss, climbed out.
Clark walked around to the back of the vehicle. "Lex!" He called out. "Could you open this for me?"
Lex came around the back and opened the door for Clark, who took out the cooler.
"I'm not sure why you need a cooler in a cemetery, but all right . . ." Lex said bemusedly.
Clark kissed him quickly. "You'll see."
Lex led the way as they walked to a large monument with a scaled-down version next to it.
Clark put the cooler down and opened it, withdrawing two stargazer lilies bound together by a strand of purple ribbon. He looked up at Lex. "You said that stargazer lilies were your mother's favorite flower."
Lex felt stupid. He just knew he was going to burst into tears right there in the middle of the cemetery. Not trusting his voice, he nodded silently.
"I . . . got two of them. One from each of us. I asked Nell if she had any violets, but she didn't, so I went by the five and dime and got some purple ribbon instead."
Lex's continued silence made Clark nervous. "Is this . . .? I mean, this is all right, right?"
Lex nodded, then tried testing his voice. "More than all right. It's the nicest thing I think anyone's ever done for me." His voice broke on the word 'me.'
"Really?"
Lex saw the shyly pleased expression on Clark's face. Lex pulled him in for a kiss, then leaning his head forward so that he and Clark were resting their foreheads together, eye-to-eye. "Really."
Finally, Clark broke their eye contact, lifting his head and then glancing down at the flowers. "So, would you like to . . .?"
Lex smiled. "Yeah. Thanks." He took a couple of steps forward and laid the flowers on his mom's grave. "Do I say a prayer or something?" He asked Clark.
Clark shrugged. " I guess you can say a prayer or whatever. Lana talks to her parents."
"I shall defer to Lana's greater experience, then." Lex smiled at Clark, then addressed his mother's grave.
"Hi, Mom. I know I haven't been here . . . in years, but I've been. . . . You know." He stopped, grinning wryly and chuckling. "You remember Dad.
"Well, I've been busy helping Dad build his empire." Lex rolled his eyes. "And falling in love." He beamed at Clark. "This is Clark. Though, if you can see me from wherever you are, you probably know that already. Falling in love with him - us falling in love with each other - is the most important thing I think I've ever done. I think . . . . No, I know that you would love him, too." Lex looked up at Clark, love shining clearly in his eyes.
As they walked back to Lex's car, nearly hand-in-hand, Lex said, "Thank you. I haven't been here in ages. I needed this."
"You're welcome."
They got into Lex's car. "I've got a couple more stops to make before we go back to the zoo. All right?"
Clark shrugged. "Sure."
"All right, then. First stop, the jewelry store."
Lex pulled up aside a parking meter and stepped out, heading right for the jewelry store.
"Lex!" Clark called out as he stepped out of the passenger side. "The parking meter?"
"It's Saturday. You only need to feed the meter Monday through Friday."
"Oh." Clark nodded. Then, just in case, he popped a quarter into the meter anyway before hurrying into the store behind Lex.
"Good afternoon, Mr. Luthor." The saleslady behind the counter greeted him.
"Hello," he paused. "Mandy, is it?"
"Yes, sir." She beamed at him.
"Do you have Jean-Pierre's 2002 emerald piece?"
"Yes, sir." She walked to the other side of the store, returning with a royal blue velvet box and opening it for Lex's approval.
Lex nodded approvingly, then motioned for Clark to join him. Clark looked into the box, where a pin in the shape of a dragonfly sat on the cushion. The legs and wings were made from a silver metal of some sort, but the body of the dragonfly was made from three emeralds cut to the correct shape for the body part, head, thorax, and abdomen. The facets of the jewels caught the light.
"Wow." Clark whispered.
Lex nodded. "Every stone Jean-Pierre uses is flawless."
"Wow." Clark whispered, more forcefully.
Lex grinned. "I'll take it. You can send the bill to my home."
"Very well, Mr. Luthor." Mandy went to ring up the sale.
"Who's that for? Or are you a collector?" Clark asked.
Lex grinned. "It's for a friend who's doing me a major favor."
"Must be some favor."
Mandy brought the box and receipt to Lex. "It is. I owe her a lot more than this." He held indicated the box.
"So, where are we going now?" Clark asked as they headed for the car.
Lex looked upwards, inviting Clark to follow his eyes. Standing tall above the other buildings around it, Clark saw the LuthorCorp tower.
"Home." Lex said simply.
They pulled into the parking garage of the LuthorCorp building, heading to the top of the garage, where the Luthor family's private garage was located. Lex pulled into a parking space alongside the garage, and the couple got out of the car.
Clark looked apprehensively at Lex as Lex led him to the private family elevator.
"Don't worry. Dad's supposed to be out of town, and if he isn't, Max'll handle him for us." He took Clark's hand as they stepped into the elevator.
"Max?" Suddenly, Clark had an image of an attack dog savaging Lionel.
"Maxine. Dad's housekeeper. She's expecting us."
"Ah. The dragonfly . . ."
"Right." Lex nodded. "She loves Jean-Pierre's jewelry, and she's partial to emeralds, so when she does me a favor, I buy her a piece of his jewelry. It works out nicely that way."
The elevator doors opened onto a gray marble hallway with a mahogany door set into the wall opposite the elevator.
Lex pulled a key out of his pants pocket and unlocked the door. He motioned with his head for Clark to follow him as he stepped across the threshold.
Behind the door was a credenza holding a vase of flowers. The credenza was also of mahogany, with a gray granite top that harmonized beautifully with the gray satin wallpaper on the walls.
Lex winked and dropped to his knees. He opened one of the cabinets of the credenza and started pulling books and boxes out. He handed them, one by one, to Clark. After the cabinet was empty, and Clark's arms were full, Lex put the jewelry box in the cabinet and stood, brushing off his pants.
"Max!" Lionel's voice bellowed through the penthouse. "Are my shirts back from the laundry?"
Lex's and Clark's gazes met. Lex stepped to the door and opened it, Clark hurrying out into the foyer, not even pretending to be inconvenienced by the stack of books and boxes he was carrying and together they headed right for the elevator, which was still waiting for them.
The doors slid shut, and Lex and Clark collapsed in relieved laughter.
"Shit." Lex said between whoops of laughter. "Last thing I need is to be cornered by Dad when I'm out with my boyfriend."
The elevator doors opened again, and the two young men stepped out onto the rooftop of the garage.
"What is all this stuff, anyway?" Clark asked as Lex opened the tailgate of the SUV.
"My childhood."
"Your . . ."
Lex nodded. "My mom. Lena. Pictures. Videotapes. Things. It's all in there."
"Wow. I can see why you paid Max so well."
Lex nodded. "She's worth every penny."
They got into the SUV and Lex drove down to the Commerce street exit. "You ready to go back to the zoo?"
"Almost." Clark leaned in and pulled Lex to him by the lapels. After kissing his lover soundly, Clark said, "Now I'm ready to go back to the zoo."
Soon enough, they were back at the zoo. "All right. Where do you suppose they are?" Clark asked as they stepped through the gate.
Lex shrugged. "You have your cell phone?"
Clark nodded. "And Chloe's never without hers, so I can just give her a call . . ."
Lex put his hand on Clark's arm to keep Clark from reaching for the phone. "Let's wait on that. I think I want to keep you to myself a while longer. Maybe all the way until 3:00."
Clark shared a grin with his boyfriend and they began walking.
They'd just finished watching the bears in the bear enclosure and were about to move on to the reptile house when a deep, booming voice called out, "Lex! Lex Luthor!"
Lex flinched, like he was expecting to be shot. And for all Clark knew, maybe he was.
Lex pasted on a phony smile and turned to face the man calling his name. "John! I haven't seen you in ages!"
John turned out to be a tall African-American man, goateed, but otherwise every bit as bald as Lex.
John looked pointedly from Lex to Clark and back again.
"Where are my manners? John Irons, this is Clark Kent."
John reached out and took Clark's hand in a firm grip. "Pleased to meet you." John said in his deep, powerful voice.
Clark nodded. "You too." Once they were standing close enough, Clark realized that John was very tall - nearly as tall as he was himself.
"So, what brings you to Metropolis?" Lex asked casually.
"You evidently haven't been keeping up with the alumni newsletter." John said. "I've left the Department."
At Clark's confused look, Lex said, "John was a classmate from my college days, in the engineering program at Princeton. Though he was studying . . . mechanical engineering?"
John nodded.
"And after graduation, he went to work for the Department of Defense. A job that he has, apparently, recently left?"
"I was no longer . . . comfortable there." John said without further elaboration.
"So what are you doing now?"
"I'm in the process of starting a consulting business with an electrical engineer here in Metropolis. It's not even coming close to paying the bills, so I'm doing construction work on the side in the meantime."
"What kind of bills do you have? You didn't have a very pricey lifestyle in college."
"That was before I ended up taking in my . . ."
"Uncle John! Uncle John. You won't believe who I ran into . . ." The young woman's voice faded out as she realized that John wasn't alone. "Hi." She greeted the other two men.
"What is it, Natasha?" John asked with an obvious show of patience.
"You won't believe who I found here!" She exclaimed. It was then that Clark realized that Natasha had a deathgrip on the wrist of . . .
"Pete?"
Pete sighed heavily and nodded.
Natasha looked from Clark to Pete and back. "You know each other?"
"Yeah. We go to school together." Pete said. "Hi, Uncle John."
"Hello, Pete." John said in an amused tone.
"Uncle John?" Clark asked Pete.
"Yeah. Natasha's my cousin. My dad is her mom's brother. Uncle John is her dad's brother."
"Ah." Clark felt a momentary pang of jealousy. His family had always been small, and while the intimacy was nice, he sometimes wondered what it would be like to have a larger family.
He was jolted from his reverie by the sound of feet behind him. He turned to see Chloe, Lana and a boy about their own age with shaggy brown hair hanging around his face and in his eyes.
"Well, our whole group seems to be here now." Lex said with a smile. "That's Lana Lang and Chloe Sullivan."
"And that's Natasha's friend. She calls him Boris, but his real name is . . ."
"Paul." A surprisingly pleasant voice emerged from beneath the mass of hair.
"Tell you what." Lex said with a smile. "Since we're all together, why don't we head out to dinner? There's a great pizza place up by Met U, and we can get a really big table and all eat together." He looked at John, challenging him to argue. "My treat, since I'm the multi-billionaire."
John's face darkened, but he nodded shortly. "All right."
Lex gave John the directions, and soon they'd separated into their original groups and headed back to their cars.
Half an hour later, they were standing in the lobby of the restaurant. The hostess asked, "How many in your party?"
Lex paused while he counted heads. "Eight. Non-smoking, please."
The hostess consulted her chart and nodded. "Right this way."
She led them upstairs to a round table for ten beneath a stained-glass skylight. The group quickly sat down, with John next to Lex, followed by Clark, then Chloe, Lana, Pete, Natasha and Boris. There were two empty chairs between Boris and John.
Lex ordered several pitchers of root beer for the sixteen-year-olds, and he and John ordered beers for themselves. By the time dinner started, everyone had gotten into conversations in groups of two or, in the case of John, Lex and Clark, three.
The exception was Chloe, who was stuck between Clark and Lex's conversation and Pete and Lana's. Natasha looked up and saw Chloe sitting forlorn between Clark and Lana. "Boris, move over a seat." She ordered her friend.
Boris complied calmly, as if he were used to following Natasha's dictates.
"Chloe?" Natasha called out. "You wanna come down here and sit by us?"
Chloe blushed and shook her head, shrinking back against her chair, pretending to become invisible.
Natasha just looked at her steadily.
"You'd better do it," Pete advised his friend. "She's going to get her way anyhow. She always does."
Chloe stood and moved to the seat between Natasha and Boris sulkily. She sat down, and soon Natasha and her sidekick had her at her ease, talking and laughing with them like old friends.
Clark looked around the table, from his boyfriend, to one best friend covertly holding hands with the girl of his dreams, over to the other one who'd made two new friends.
Clark smiled, knowing that life was good.
Author: PepperjackCandy
Series: Follows "Monday"
Archive : Smallville Slash Archive, my writing at fanfiction.net
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Clark/Lex
Category: Established Relationship
Spoilers for: Nothing
Disclaimer: I own nothing Smallville-related, or related in any other way to Clark Kent, Superman or any of the various creations of the wonderful folks at DC Comics.
Feedback: Always welcome, either by e-mail or using the review system at fanfiction.net.
A/N: My page on Lena, DCcanon!Lex's sister (subject to change at without notice) - http://www.geocities.com/pepperjackcandy/lena.htm
Also if the "worth mentioning twice" thing sounds familiar, it's because it's not mine originally. It's paraphrased from the Red Dwarf episode Holoship.
John Henry Irons is played by Avery Brooks in my reality (who should have played the role in the Steel movie, imnsho). Natasha is, at this point, uncast, but you can see her, and Boris, who also appears in this story, here: http://digital-priest.tripod.com/steel/steelfree.htm
============
"Morning, Mom." Clark said, grinning, as he held out a bouquet of flowers to her.
"For me? What's the occasion?"
"No occasion."
Martha narrowed her eyes at him. "You're up to something."
Clark pasted on his 'extra wide-eyed and guileless' expression. "No, of course not."
"Clark . . ."
Clark sighed. "All right. I thought that while we were in Metropolis, Lex and I might sneak out to go visit his mother's and sister's graves. I had Chloe look it up for me. They're buried at Mt. Sinai."
"Oh."
"I've got the cooler and ice packs to keep the flowers fresh, and if Nell asks you about stargazer lilies, tell her they were beautiful."
Martha glanced at her stargazer-lily-free bouquet. "All right . . ."
The clock chimed nine.
"I've gotta run. Lex is picking me up at Lana's house." He kissed his mother on the cheek and before she could respond, was out the door and headed to the street, bearing the cooler in his hands.
"Have a nice time in Metropolis." Martha said to the now-empty room.
Minutes later, Clark met Lana on the front porch of the house Lana shared with her aunt, Nell Potter.
"What's in the cooler?" Lana asked.
"Something for Lex." Clark evaded carefully.
"Would you like to sit down?" Lana indicated the swing.
"Thanks." Clark sat, and Lana sat down a discreet distance from him.
Taking a chance, Clark opened the conversation with a question that had been plaguing him since Jenny McIntyre had hospitalized Lana and Nell. "Can I ask you a question?"
"Sure."
"Have you ever wanted to be . . . different?"
She turned confused brown eyes to him. "Different how?"
"Just anyway you can think of."
"Like hair color? I've always wondered what I'd look like as a redhead."
Clark shook his head. "I wouldn't recommend it. You look perfect just the way you are."
Lana smiled softly. "Thank you, Clark." She sounded surprised by the compliment.
"Any other way you'd want to be different?"
She shook her head. "Not in years."
"Oh?"
"Yeah. When I was little, I used to have . . . nightmares. About my parents."
Clark cringed. "That's understandable."
"I was sad all of the time. I was really miserable."
"So, what happened? You just outgrew it?"
"Yeah. Somehow, it seemed to get better once Nell adopted me." She shrugged. "I figured I just needed a family, and once I had one again, it got better."
Clark was spared the need to respond by the arrival of a huge, white sport-utility vehicle. Clark was surprised to see Lex behind the wheel.
Lex got down from the driver's side and walked around to open the passenger side door.
"Lex." Clark smiled at his lover. "Quite the vehicle. We going to Metropolis or Montana?"
Lex shrugged. "Turns out I don't have anything in my garage that seats three comfortably in the back. It's a rental."
Clark nodded for Lana to go ahead and take the passenger's side seat. He wasn't sure Lex would be happy about it, but it just felt wrong to him to stick Lana in the back by herself.
"I need to put this in the back." Clark indicated the cooler at his feet.
Lex shrugged. "All right."
Together, the two men walked to the back of the SUV, and Lex opened the back door. Clark lifted the nearly-empty cooler into place, then grabbed Lex's hand and squeezed gently. Grinning, Lex lifted their linked hands to his mouth, kissing Clark's hand surreptitiously.
After Lex closed the door, Clark said, "I want to make a small side trip while we're in Metropolis. Just the two of us."
Lex's eyes twinkled wordlessly.
He didn't need to use words. Clark grasped his meaning easily. "It's nothing like that." He hastened to assure Lex.
"A guy can hope." Lex grinned.
"And," Clark pulled Lex closer, whispering conspiratorially in his ear, "I think you're right about the meteors. Lana and I had a conversation while we were waiting for you."
"Oh, really?"
"I'll tell you more about that later, too."
Lex and Clark exchanged grins and then walked around the car, where Clark reached up for the handle to the back door, only to find Lana already there. He opened the door anyhow. "What are you doing back here?"
"I just thought I should sit back here, you know . . ." Lana looked quizzically from Lex to Clark and back.
Clark, surprised, looked from Lana to Lex. The confused expression in his lover's eyes mirrored his own. Clark gently closed the door and walked around to the passenger's side front seat where he climbed in as Lex, already seated in the driver's side, started the engine.
Before he put the vehicle in gear, Lex craned around in his seat to face Lana. "How big is your purse?"
Lana held up a bag barely large enough to hold a wallet and lipstick. "Not too big."
"Does Chloe usually carry a large purse?"
"Why are you suddenly so interested in girls' accessories?" There was a strange, quiet slyness in Lana's tone that took Clark aback for a second.
Apparently, Lex was startled as well, because it took him a few seconds to answer. He picked up a bundle of papers. "I've got everything here -- tram tickets, dolphin show tickets, a list of animals' feeding times . . . . Two copies of everything, so the three of you can carry one, and Clark and I can keep the other."
"Oh. Well, Chloe usually has notebooks and things in her purse, so it'll probably be big enough. Where are you keeping your copy?"
Lex opened his jacket, revealing a bundle of papers in the inside pocket and grinning. Then, he turned around, snapped his seatbelt shut, and put the engine in gear.
Soon, they were in front of Pete's house, where Pete and Chloe were waiting.
"Where have you guys been?"
Clark glanced at his watch. They'd told Pete and Chloe they'd be there around 9:15. It was only 9:20. "Sheesh. We're only five minutes late."
Pete and Chloe climbed into the back. Pete in the center, next to Lana, Chloe sat on the far right.
"Nice car," Chloe said approvingly.
Lex smiled at Clark and said, "It's a rental."
"Figures. The Jag in the shop?"
"No. My Jaguar's running just fine. I figured that it'd be friendly to get something that seats three comfortably in the back."
"Well, my butt thanks you for that," Pete said.
"How big's your purse, Chloe?"
Chloe wordlessly held up a satchel looked to Clark more like a suitcase than a purse.
Lex picked up the bundle of papers and handed it to her. "All of the stuff you'll need is in here - tickets for everything, lists of highlights you might want to check out, like all of the babies born there in the last year."
Chloe thumbed through the sheaf. "They really keep track of how many hissing cockroaches are born at the zoo?"
"Of course. They have to keep an inventory, plus they do a lot of research at the zoo. The list of ongoing research projects is in there, too."
"So if one of the cockroaches ate another, they'd have to keep a record of that, too?"
"Chloe!" Pete whined, a distasteful expression on his face.
"What? Cockroaches are cannibals. At least I've always been told they are." Chloe shrugged.
"Yeah, but it's not something I want to *watch*. Or talk about just after breakfast."
Soon they were on the expressway, and they chatted amiably the hour and a half to Metropolis.
They exited and drove through the suburbs until they reached the zoo, where Lex slowed down in front of the gate. "Out you go." Lex craned his neck around to look at Lana, Pete and Chloe.
"You're just throwing us out?" Chloe asked indignantly.
"We have errands to run. Alone." Lex said pointedly.
Chloe opened the door and slid out. Pete followed, but not before a parting shot, delivered with a grin. "So that's what the kids are calling it these days."
"Go." Lex said sternly. "We'll meet you around . . . " He looked at Clark.
"3:00?"
"We'll meet you at the grizzly bear enclosure at 3:00."
Lana slid out and closed the door. "Have fun, you two." She gave Clark the shock of his life when she winked at him.
Lex pulled smoothly away from the curb. "I think we have to be more discreet. Apparently, Lana's picked up on it."
"Ah, but remember these two important facts. One, Lana spends a lot of time with Pete and Chloe, and two, Lana spends a lot of time with Pete and Chloe. I know that's only one reason, but I thought it was such a big one it was worth mentioning twice."
"So, where do you want to go?" Lex said, his eyes still on the road.
"Um, I was thinking maybe . . . Mt. Sinai Cemetery?"
Lex slammed on the brake. He turned to Clark. "Did I hear you right?"
Clark hesitated to meet his lover's eyes, but when he did, he was surprised to find tears building up in them.
"You know who's . . . buried there, don't you?"
Clark nodded. "Your mom and sister."
"You want to visit Mom and Lena?"
"Yeah."
"Do you know how long it's been since I visited them?"
Clark shook his head wordlessly.
"It's been so long that I can't remember how long it's been."
"Well, if you don't want to go, then . . ."
"Of course I do! I was just surprised is all."
"So, you're OK with it, then?"
Lex smiled. "I'm . . . speechless."
"That's good, right?"
Lex was amazed at Clark's need for reassurance. "Yes. Very good."
They smiled at each other, then, and Lex signaled for the turn that would take them towards the cemetery.
"So you wanted to talk about your conversation with Lana?"
"Yeah. I think I know what the meteors gave her."
"Yes?"
"I . . . I think they made the pain go away. The pain of losing her parents."
Lex nodded, impressed. "And how did you come to this conclusion?"
"Well, she told me that she was desperately unhappy . . . until Nell adopted her. She said she thought the pain went away because she needed a family, but I think it was the necklace."
"It made her happy?"
"No. I think it made her . . . calm."
"Calm."
"Is that . . . wrong?"
"It's just that it's more charitable than the word I'd use."
"And what word would you use?"
"Affectless."
"Affectless." Clark repeated.
"You know. Unemotional. Flat."
"You're right. Calm is more charitable." Clark took the sting from the words with a smile.
They still had several miles to go, so Lex tried a different conversation. "What do you want to do? Have you given any consideration to that?"
"You mean like after high school? Well, college of course."
"Yes, but beyond that."
"Well, I thought that I could help people. Like on September 11. I could have helped so many people. Like the firefighters did. But I wouldn't have had to risk my life."
"And how much would you charge?"
"Charge?" Clark was clearly flabbergasted.
"Well, yes. It's the firefighters' *job*, Clark. They get paid for it, and so should you."
"Well, could it be a hobby, or something, then?"
Lex grinned, suddenly feeling silly. "I'd be happy to keep you as . . . trophy husband, Clark, but I thought you'd want something more for yourself."
"Trophy husband?" Clark repeated back, grinning. "That's a new one."
"If you want to make saving lives your hobby, like garden club or something, then . . ."
"I have something I want to do, but you'd think it was silly."
"Try me."
"Well, being around you, talking about science and things, has gotten me thinking about ways I could help people that way."
"I don't follow you."
"I think I'd like to become a doctor."
Lex's eyes widened and he nodded. "I could really see that. I think you'd make a wonderful doctor."
"Really? You don't think it's stupid?"
"Of course not. You could help people, and you've got to admit the money's pretty good. But of course the money isn't why you'd do it." Lex supplied for Clark, affection flavoring his tone.
They reached the cemetery soon after this, and Lex drove to the site of his mother's and sister's graves. He stopped the engine and, pulling Clark to him for a brief kiss, climbed out.
Clark walked around to the back of the vehicle. "Lex!" He called out. "Could you open this for me?"
Lex came around the back and opened the door for Clark, who took out the cooler.
"I'm not sure why you need a cooler in a cemetery, but all right . . ." Lex said bemusedly.
Clark kissed him quickly. "You'll see."
Lex led the way as they walked to a large monument with a scaled-down version next to it.
Clark put the cooler down and opened it, withdrawing two stargazer lilies bound together by a strand of purple ribbon. He looked up at Lex. "You said that stargazer lilies were your mother's favorite flower."
Lex felt stupid. He just knew he was going to burst into tears right there in the middle of the cemetery. Not trusting his voice, he nodded silently.
"I . . . got two of them. One from each of us. I asked Nell if she had any violets, but she didn't, so I went by the five and dime and got some purple ribbon instead."
Lex's continued silence made Clark nervous. "Is this . . .? I mean, this is all right, right?"
Lex nodded, then tried testing his voice. "More than all right. It's the nicest thing I think anyone's ever done for me." His voice broke on the word 'me.'
"Really?"
Lex saw the shyly pleased expression on Clark's face. Lex pulled him in for a kiss, then leaning his head forward so that he and Clark were resting their foreheads together, eye-to-eye. "Really."
Finally, Clark broke their eye contact, lifting his head and then glancing down at the flowers. "So, would you like to . . .?"
Lex smiled. "Yeah. Thanks." He took a couple of steps forward and laid the flowers on his mom's grave. "Do I say a prayer or something?" He asked Clark.
Clark shrugged. " I guess you can say a prayer or whatever. Lana talks to her parents."
"I shall defer to Lana's greater experience, then." Lex smiled at Clark, then addressed his mother's grave.
"Hi, Mom. I know I haven't been here . . . in years, but I've been. . . . You know." He stopped, grinning wryly and chuckling. "You remember Dad.
"Well, I've been busy helping Dad build his empire." Lex rolled his eyes. "And falling in love." He beamed at Clark. "This is Clark. Though, if you can see me from wherever you are, you probably know that already. Falling in love with him - us falling in love with each other - is the most important thing I think I've ever done. I think . . . . No, I know that you would love him, too." Lex looked up at Clark, love shining clearly in his eyes.
As they walked back to Lex's car, nearly hand-in-hand, Lex said, "Thank you. I haven't been here in ages. I needed this."
"You're welcome."
They got into Lex's car. "I've got a couple more stops to make before we go back to the zoo. All right?"
Clark shrugged. "Sure."
"All right, then. First stop, the jewelry store."
Lex pulled up aside a parking meter and stepped out, heading right for the jewelry store.
"Lex!" Clark called out as he stepped out of the passenger side. "The parking meter?"
"It's Saturday. You only need to feed the meter Monday through Friday."
"Oh." Clark nodded. Then, just in case, he popped a quarter into the meter anyway before hurrying into the store behind Lex.
"Good afternoon, Mr. Luthor." The saleslady behind the counter greeted him.
"Hello," he paused. "Mandy, is it?"
"Yes, sir." She beamed at him.
"Do you have Jean-Pierre's 2002 emerald piece?"
"Yes, sir." She walked to the other side of the store, returning with a royal blue velvet box and opening it for Lex's approval.
Lex nodded approvingly, then motioned for Clark to join him. Clark looked into the box, where a pin in the shape of a dragonfly sat on the cushion. The legs and wings were made from a silver metal of some sort, but the body of the dragonfly was made from three emeralds cut to the correct shape for the body part, head, thorax, and abdomen. The facets of the jewels caught the light.
"Wow." Clark whispered.
Lex nodded. "Every stone Jean-Pierre uses is flawless."
"Wow." Clark whispered, more forcefully.
Lex grinned. "I'll take it. You can send the bill to my home."
"Very well, Mr. Luthor." Mandy went to ring up the sale.
"Who's that for? Or are you a collector?" Clark asked.
Lex grinned. "It's for a friend who's doing me a major favor."
"Must be some favor."
Mandy brought the box and receipt to Lex. "It is. I owe her a lot more than this." He held indicated the box.
"So, where are we going now?" Clark asked as they headed for the car.
Lex looked upwards, inviting Clark to follow his eyes. Standing tall above the other buildings around it, Clark saw the LuthorCorp tower.
"Home." Lex said simply.
They pulled into the parking garage of the LuthorCorp building, heading to the top of the garage, where the Luthor family's private garage was located. Lex pulled into a parking space alongside the garage, and the couple got out of the car.
Clark looked apprehensively at Lex as Lex led him to the private family elevator.
"Don't worry. Dad's supposed to be out of town, and if he isn't, Max'll handle him for us." He took Clark's hand as they stepped into the elevator.
"Max?" Suddenly, Clark had an image of an attack dog savaging Lionel.
"Maxine. Dad's housekeeper. She's expecting us."
"Ah. The dragonfly . . ."
"Right." Lex nodded. "She loves Jean-Pierre's jewelry, and she's partial to emeralds, so when she does me a favor, I buy her a piece of his jewelry. It works out nicely that way."
The elevator doors opened onto a gray marble hallway with a mahogany door set into the wall opposite the elevator.
Lex pulled a key out of his pants pocket and unlocked the door. He motioned with his head for Clark to follow him as he stepped across the threshold.
Behind the door was a credenza holding a vase of flowers. The credenza was also of mahogany, with a gray granite top that harmonized beautifully with the gray satin wallpaper on the walls.
Lex winked and dropped to his knees. He opened one of the cabinets of the credenza and started pulling books and boxes out. He handed them, one by one, to Clark. After the cabinet was empty, and Clark's arms were full, Lex put the jewelry box in the cabinet and stood, brushing off his pants.
"Max!" Lionel's voice bellowed through the penthouse. "Are my shirts back from the laundry?"
Lex's and Clark's gazes met. Lex stepped to the door and opened it, Clark hurrying out into the foyer, not even pretending to be inconvenienced by the stack of books and boxes he was carrying and together they headed right for the elevator, which was still waiting for them.
The doors slid shut, and Lex and Clark collapsed in relieved laughter.
"Shit." Lex said between whoops of laughter. "Last thing I need is to be cornered by Dad when I'm out with my boyfriend."
The elevator doors opened again, and the two young men stepped out onto the rooftop of the garage.
"What is all this stuff, anyway?" Clark asked as Lex opened the tailgate of the SUV.
"My childhood."
"Your . . ."
Lex nodded. "My mom. Lena. Pictures. Videotapes. Things. It's all in there."
"Wow. I can see why you paid Max so well."
Lex nodded. "She's worth every penny."
They got into the SUV and Lex drove down to the Commerce street exit. "You ready to go back to the zoo?"
"Almost." Clark leaned in and pulled Lex to him by the lapels. After kissing his lover soundly, Clark said, "Now I'm ready to go back to the zoo."
Soon enough, they were back at the zoo. "All right. Where do you suppose they are?" Clark asked as they stepped through the gate.
Lex shrugged. "You have your cell phone?"
Clark nodded. "And Chloe's never without hers, so I can just give her a call . . ."
Lex put his hand on Clark's arm to keep Clark from reaching for the phone. "Let's wait on that. I think I want to keep you to myself a while longer. Maybe all the way until 3:00."
Clark shared a grin with his boyfriend and they began walking.
They'd just finished watching the bears in the bear enclosure and were about to move on to the reptile house when a deep, booming voice called out, "Lex! Lex Luthor!"
Lex flinched, like he was expecting to be shot. And for all Clark knew, maybe he was.
Lex pasted on a phony smile and turned to face the man calling his name. "John! I haven't seen you in ages!"
John turned out to be a tall African-American man, goateed, but otherwise every bit as bald as Lex.
John looked pointedly from Lex to Clark and back again.
"Where are my manners? John Irons, this is Clark Kent."
John reached out and took Clark's hand in a firm grip. "Pleased to meet you." John said in his deep, powerful voice.
Clark nodded. "You too." Once they were standing close enough, Clark realized that John was very tall - nearly as tall as he was himself.
"So, what brings you to Metropolis?" Lex asked casually.
"You evidently haven't been keeping up with the alumni newsletter." John said. "I've left the Department."
At Clark's confused look, Lex said, "John was a classmate from my college days, in the engineering program at Princeton. Though he was studying . . . mechanical engineering?"
John nodded.
"And after graduation, he went to work for the Department of Defense. A job that he has, apparently, recently left?"
"I was no longer . . . comfortable there." John said without further elaboration.
"So what are you doing now?"
"I'm in the process of starting a consulting business with an electrical engineer here in Metropolis. It's not even coming close to paying the bills, so I'm doing construction work on the side in the meantime."
"What kind of bills do you have? You didn't have a very pricey lifestyle in college."
"That was before I ended up taking in my . . ."
"Uncle John! Uncle John. You won't believe who I ran into . . ." The young woman's voice faded out as she realized that John wasn't alone. "Hi." She greeted the other two men.
"What is it, Natasha?" John asked with an obvious show of patience.
"You won't believe who I found here!" She exclaimed. It was then that Clark realized that Natasha had a deathgrip on the wrist of . . .
"Pete?"
Pete sighed heavily and nodded.
Natasha looked from Clark to Pete and back. "You know each other?"
"Yeah. We go to school together." Pete said. "Hi, Uncle John."
"Hello, Pete." John said in an amused tone.
"Uncle John?" Clark asked Pete.
"Yeah. Natasha's my cousin. My dad is her mom's brother. Uncle John is her dad's brother."
"Ah." Clark felt a momentary pang of jealousy. His family had always been small, and while the intimacy was nice, he sometimes wondered what it would be like to have a larger family.
He was jolted from his reverie by the sound of feet behind him. He turned to see Chloe, Lana and a boy about their own age with shaggy brown hair hanging around his face and in his eyes.
"Well, our whole group seems to be here now." Lex said with a smile. "That's Lana Lang and Chloe Sullivan."
"And that's Natasha's friend. She calls him Boris, but his real name is . . ."
"Paul." A surprisingly pleasant voice emerged from beneath the mass of hair.
"Tell you what." Lex said with a smile. "Since we're all together, why don't we head out to dinner? There's a great pizza place up by Met U, and we can get a really big table and all eat together." He looked at John, challenging him to argue. "My treat, since I'm the multi-billionaire."
John's face darkened, but he nodded shortly. "All right."
Lex gave John the directions, and soon they'd separated into their original groups and headed back to their cars.
Half an hour later, they were standing in the lobby of the restaurant. The hostess asked, "How many in your party?"
Lex paused while he counted heads. "Eight. Non-smoking, please."
The hostess consulted her chart and nodded. "Right this way."
She led them upstairs to a round table for ten beneath a stained-glass skylight. The group quickly sat down, with John next to Lex, followed by Clark, then Chloe, Lana, Pete, Natasha and Boris. There were two empty chairs between Boris and John.
Lex ordered several pitchers of root beer for the sixteen-year-olds, and he and John ordered beers for themselves. By the time dinner started, everyone had gotten into conversations in groups of two or, in the case of John, Lex and Clark, three.
The exception was Chloe, who was stuck between Clark and Lex's conversation and Pete and Lana's. Natasha looked up and saw Chloe sitting forlorn between Clark and Lana. "Boris, move over a seat." She ordered her friend.
Boris complied calmly, as if he were used to following Natasha's dictates.
"Chloe?" Natasha called out. "You wanna come down here and sit by us?"
Chloe blushed and shook her head, shrinking back against her chair, pretending to become invisible.
Natasha just looked at her steadily.
"You'd better do it," Pete advised his friend. "She's going to get her way anyhow. She always does."
Chloe stood and moved to the seat between Natasha and Boris sulkily. She sat down, and soon Natasha and her sidekick had her at her ease, talking and laughing with them like old friends.
Clark looked around the table, from his boyfriend, to one best friend covertly holding hands with the girl of his dreams, over to the other one who'd made two new friends.
Clark smiled, knowing that life was good.