A/N: R&R please! and Thank you to mrsfizzle for your reviews! Things are going to start heating up a bit between Kelly and Lex.
"What kind of man sends his son to do his dirty work?" Earl sneered when Lex and Kelly entered the room.
"I'm not doing anyone's dirty work, Earl. This is my plant," Lex replied calmly.
"Who's she?" Earl demanded, pointing the gun toward Kelly.
Instinctually, Lex stepped in front of her.
"I'm Kelly Lang. I'm a doctor," she answered.
"Why are you here?"
"To help them."
He relaxed a bit, motioning with the gun for her to go to the kids. She quickly went over to her sister and Whitney, pulling supplies from the bag.
"What are you doing here?" Lana whispered.
"Helping. Is anyone else hurt?" Kelly replied.
Lana looked over at Clark, who shook his head.
"I'm fine," he told her.
She nodded and went back to checking out Whitney. His nose was busted but not broken, he possibly had a small concussion, and he needed stitches on the cut on his arm. She put some gauze on the wound and wrapped a bandage tightly around it, then fastened a makeshift sling for him to rest his arm.
"Well, Whitney, I think you'll be ok, but I have some bad news," she told him as she double-checked his nose.
"What?" he asked fearfully.
"Your face is still going to look like that. I'm afraid there's nothing I can do," she said with a small smile, just to let him know she was joking.
He sighed and rolled his eyes.
"Do you really think now's the time to be making jokes?" Lana angrily asked.
Kelly leaned closer to her sister, "Listen to me, I need him to stay calm, ok? So if that means telling a shitty joke, then I will. You need to keep him calm."
Lana nodded with a frown.
Kelly nodded back at her sister and got up, going over to Lex.
"How is he?" he questioned.
"He needs a doctor. I can only do so much for him," she answered, glancing at Earl.
"Earl," Lex began.
Kelly hadn't noticed until now that he'd taken off his vest.
"Listen, if you let the kids go, I'll take you to level three," he finished.
Earl pointed the gun at him and thumbed back the hammer. Kelly quickly reached out and grabbed Lex's shoulder, ready to push or pull him out of the way.
"You stop lying," Earl growled.
"I'm a man of my word. Let them go and I'll take you."
Earl scrunched his brow, then started yelling, "Get out! Get out! Everyone out!"
"I'm not leaving you," Kelly told Lex.
"Go. Get the kids out and get Whitney to a medic," he directed.
"But-"
"Go!"
She reluctantly turned and ran over to Lana and Whitney, helping Whitney to his feet and out the door.
Kelly ran with the kids toward the exit, keeping Lana and Whitney in front of her. When she saw the door at the end of the corridor, she let Lana go, watching them run. Lana must've sensed that her sister wasn't near her, because she turned around seeing Kelly standing still.
"Kelly, what are you doing? Come on!" Lana urged.
"Lana, go! Keep running," Kelly shouted.
Whitney grabbed Lana's arm, dragging her toward the door.
"Whitney, stop! Kelly!" Lana screamed.
"Go! Don't look back; just keep going! I'll be there!" Kelly yelled back before turning and running back down the hall.
The last thing Lex expected to see was Kelly returning to the room he and Earl were in. But there she was, standing in the doorway with her hands raised and breathing heavily.
"Kelly, you need to get out of here," he told her.
"I told you. I'm not going anywhere," she said with a shake of her head. "The kids are out."
Earl nodded slowly, "Alright. I kept my end, now it's your turn."
Lex sighed, "Earl, there is no level three. It's all in your head."
Earl let out a cry of frustration, striking Lex in the head with the gun. Kelly rushed forward, only to be met with the barrel of the gun in her face.
"Ah ah ah" Earl warned, "All you Luthors are the same. Can't be trusted."
Neither Kelly nor Lex moved. One slip up, or if Earl began to shake again, the gun could go off, putting a bullet in Kelly's head.
"Earl… Earl, I found level three. They put a wall in front of the elevator but it's still here." Clark's voice was coming over the intercom. Kelly's heart stopped. Didn't Clark get out with the others? He wasn't supposed to be there. His parents were probably terrified as soon as they realized he wasn't with the rest.
"Don't play with me!" shouted Earl.
"Get outta here Clark!" Kelly yelled.
"Earl, it's here. Don't you want to see it? I promise."
Earl pulled Lex up by the collar of his shirt, dragging him toward the exit, using the gun to push Kelly in front of him. They walked down the hallways, following the red pipes to the janitor's closet where the wall was destroyed, an elevator on the other side.
Earl pushed Lex into the elevator, "You son of a bitch! How do you explain this?"
"I can't," Lex replied.
Kelly was pulled into the elevator and the doors closed, two buttons lit on the panel.
"Two buttons. Two floors," she stated.
The large man glared at her as he pushed below the second button, a hidden third button lighting up. She looked at Lex, who looked back at her with fear in his eyes and it was then that she realized that the situation wasn't going to end well at all.
The elevator opened again, Earl pushing Lex out first, keeping the gun on his back. Kelly followed behind, looking around the now lit room.
"I told you it was here!" Earl exclaimed, looking over the bridge.
His face dropped and his hands rested on top of the railing, taking the gun off of Lex. He looked over at Kelly, who beckoned him toward her, and started moving slowly backward.
"Where is it?" Earl said harshly, "It was here. There- there was a field of corn over there with sprayers. Every night they'd spray this green mist everywhere. What did you do with it?"
He pointed the gun at them, Lex trying to block Kelly from the line of fire.
"I don't know, Earl. I never knew about any of this. They lied to me too," Lex told him.
The elevator dinged again, Kelly seeing Clark step out.
"Earl, let's go back upstairs and talk about this," he tried to persuade.
"Clark, you have to believe me, I didn't know about this," said Lex.
"It's ok, Lex. I believe you," Clark assured.
"He's lying! He's just like his father!" Earl screamed.
He began to shake again, the gun in his hand going off before falling to the floor. Before it went off, the gun was aimed in Kelly's direction. Lex being in the middle of the catwalk, away from her, was worried that she was hurt.
"Kelly?" he yelled.
"I'm alright," she called back.
His sigh of relief was short-lived as the catwalk gave way, sending Lex and Earl over the edge.
"Lex!" Kelly screamed.
She and Clark ran over to where they had fallen, the rest of the bridge shaking, causing Lex to lose his grip. He started to fall but was able to grab onto Earl's legs.
"Clark!" Lex shouted.
Kelly noticed Clark was having a bit of a hard time pulling them up, so she reached down and tried to pull Earl up by the arms. She had a good grip on his forearms, but couldn't lift him. She started to slip down over the edge, Clark quickly grabbing her and using her arms to pull the men to safety. Once everyone was pulled into the elevator, the bridge collapsed to the floor.
"Clark," Lex panted, "How did you pull us up?"
"I don't know," Clark answered, "Adrenaline, I guess."
"Adrenaline's a hell of a thing," Kelly added, slightly hissing from pain in her arm.
Clark let out a deep breath and rested his head against the wall, Earl laying still on the floor.
"Oh, yeah," Kelly remembered, pushing Lex's shoulder hard, "Asshole."
Lex rubbed his shoulder, "What?"
"That's for taking the damn vest off," she replied.
He let out a breathy laugh, his face quickly dropping to a frown when he sees blood running down Kelly's arm.
"Hey," he called, pulling her arm toward him.
"Damn," she said dryly.
"You were shot?" Clark inquired.
She looked at him, then Earl, "It's a graze. It's fine."
"It's not fine. You need a doctor," Lex told her.
Kelly just sighed and pressed her hand over the wound.
When they got outside, Earl was put on a stretcher and taken away, Kelly was pulled away by a paramedic, and Lex and Clark went over to their families.
The paramedic cleaned up the blood from her arm and disinfected the wound.
"You're gonna need some stitches," he informed her.
"I know," she replied tiredly.
"If you don't mind, um, just getting in back, I can, uh, take-take you to the hospital to get them done," he stuttered.
"You don't know how to do it?"
He shook his head, his face turning white as a sheet.
"How old are you, kid?"
"19."
"You got a stitch kit in there?"
He nodded.
"Come on. Teach you something."
She ducked into the back of the rig, the paramedic following her.
"What are you? A doctor or something?" he asked.
"Sort of. Didn't they teach you how to do field stitches in school or training or whatever?"
"Well, yeah, but… I passed out."
"Are you being serious?"
"Yeah. They said if no one else could do it just to keep the patient together and get them to the nearest hospital."
Kelly rolled her eyes.
"Kids." she thought to herself.
She grabbed a reflective sheet of metal and handed it to the kid, grabbing the kit from his hands. She sat across from him and angled his hand so she could see what she was doing in the reflection. She threaded the needle and began stitching. The kid looked like he was going to be sick, but tried to pay attention to what she was teaching him. By the time she finished, the kid was positively green.
"What's your name, kid?" she inquired.
"Randall," he told her.
"Well, Randall," she began, "You should think about another profession."
He nodded with a weak smile.
"I'm gonna get one of your buddies to bring you home, ok?"
"Ok."
She clapped her hand on his shoulder and climbed out of the ambulance, fixing the sleeve of her shirt. She spotted another medic and got her attention,
"Hey, you should take the kid, Randall, home. He's not doing so well," she informed her.
"Yeah, thanks," the girl replied, heading to Randall.
Kelly looked around and saw that most of the people had cleared out, save for Lex and his father, and a few cops. She leaned against the wall and pulled her cell phone out of her pocket, dialing the house number.
Nell picked up after a few rings, chastising Kelly for being so reckless, but letting her know she was glad that she was ok. The phone then went to Lana, who asked questions at a thousand miles an hour.
"Lana, calm down and slow down," Kelly told her, "I'm fine. Are you ok?"
"I've been worried about you," Lana answered.
"Well, I told you, I'm ok. What about Fordman?"
"He's fine. His nose wasn't broken, but he has a nasty bruise. No concussion and he needed a few stitches in his arm."
"Good. That's good."
"Are you coming home?"
"Yeah. Yeah, I just need to talk to someone first."
"Lex?"
"Never you mind. Just go to bed and you'll see me in the morning."
Lana sighed, "Ok. Goodnight. I love you."
"I love you too. Goodnight."
She hung up the phone, spying Lex coming her way.
"I thought you would've gone to the hospital by now," he stated.
She shrugged, "A few stitches. No reason for a hospital trip."
"Come with me. I want to talk."
"Ok."
They got into his car and drove off, Lionel glaring at the car until the lights disappeared.
He ended up bringing her back to the mansion, going into the study, and throwing his keys on the desk.
"Your dad?" Kelly asked as she looked around.
"He's going back to Metropolis," he answered.
"Are you ok?"
He sighed, "I don't know. I don't think the adrenaline's quite worn off yet. Then there's you."
"Me?"
"I don't know if you're stupid or insane. Putting yourself in that position."
"You mean saving your ass?"
"I don't know why you didn't just listen and stay outside. Or put the damn vest on."
"The vest you took off?"
He got close to her face, "You could've gotten yourself killed, you incredible pain in the ass!"
"You're so not one to talk!" she yelled back.
Before she knew what was happening, his lips were on hers, his hands gripping her waist. She kissed him back with equal intensity, grabbing his shirt in her hands.