Disclaimer: Smallville is not mine.
He read a quote once in some archive or another about the repetition of the same behavior while expecting to receive a different result being the definition of insanity.
It dawns on him while he is staring at a series of charts and diagrams and timelines that he has constructed to help himself determine where it is that he is failing to make the difference that he needs to make to fix the mess that he sees every time that he can arrange to check up on his own little unintentional splinter universe that that quote sums up the essence of his problem.
What he is doing is not working because he is only doing variations of the same thing over and over again. He is aiming all of his planning (he refuses, even inside of his own head, to use the word attacks) directly at Chloe Sullivan in one way or another. For reasons that he cannot begin to determine, some bizarre facet of the universe seems to counter all of his efforts somehow leaving the situation either unchanged or changed in a manner that causes further damage without rectifying the underlying problem. It is as puzzling as it is annoying, and the ever increasing anger that he is feeling is interfering with his ability to approach decisions about his next steps with detachment and logic.
Something has to change, and in that brief moment of crystal clarity, he realizes that what needs to change is his approach. He can do that. He is adaptable. He looks at the names and dates with color coded lines of divergence in front of him and ponders where on the outskirts of his target's life it would be best to strike.
He knows how things are currently going to go. The plant in Smallville will need an expansion, and Gabe Sullivan will move his family (including a not particularly pleased with the move senior in high school Chloe) to oversee the project. An eighteen year old Chloe with time on her hands, a hefty dose of attitude, and observational skills without the ingrained habit to view as normalcy of a lifelong Smallville resident is as perilous to the keeping of Clark Kent's secrets as dripping blood into shark infested waters is to the continued health and well-being of a nearby scuba diver. Her acquisition of secret keeper status twists the timelines into such convoluted patterns that he isn't sure that they can actually be unraveled. That was why it had always been so imperative to eliminate Chloe before she could meet Clark.
He's already failed at that even if neither one of them will ever remember the occasion. He simply cannot afford to fail in that again. There is a solid chance that if he allows their paths to intertwine, then there will be so much damage that it will be impossible for their universes to integrate when the splinter universe completes the arc of its boomerang trajectory. He's read the theories. He's poured over them so much that he can recite them in his sleep. Faced with an inability to integrate, things begin to collapse and remove themselves from existence. That cannot happen because of him.
It won't happen because of him.
Maybe, just maybe, if he prevents the meeting, then he won't have to eliminate Chloe. He can steer her away from the pivot points of history. She can have a life (a quiet one where she interacts with other people as little as possible). It might not be enough, but he is willing to give her a chance. It is, as he has told himself more times than he can count, not her fault that this happened.
He decides to tackle the plant's owners. They are the ones who will eventually send Gabe in the Smallville direction. He needs them to not do that.
Lex is easier to manipulate than he expected. The boy is eager to grasp at a wide variety of vices that might be placed in his path - both of the substance and female variety. He isn't overly mindful about being caught either. It's far simpler than he thought it would be to make a timely phone call here and push the wrong person there or arrange for the wrong item to make an appearance at just the right time. He tells himself that he doesn't feel guilty. He isn't making any of the choices for the teenager. He can't make any of the choices for him that he is making. Ultimately, he is doing it all himself. He's just nudging a little bit. He already knows where the man's path will end. What does it matter if there is a little additional havoc on the road to getting there?
He's been telling himself that a lot lately.
Before long, Lionel is dividing most of his time between writing checks to keep people quiet and fighting a public relations battle that would have buried a less determined individual. His goal is simply to keep the man so engaged elsewhere that the fertilizer factory will fall through the cracks. He is pretty sure that it is working. He heads home knowing that he is pushing his bounds in the realm of time spent elseworld and not getting caught, but he feels good about what he has accomplished. He is so certain that he has solved his dilemma that he gives himself a bit of a vacation when he gets back. He throws himself into regular projects and visits with people that he has been ducking. He is so unused to those things that were once his normal that it is a little disconcerting. He has been losing himself in his attempts at correcting his mistake. It's good to remember who he should be.
When he gets around to checking on his latest results, he actually screams out loud in frustration.
He most definitely accomplished something. He accomplished the creation of some sort of bizarre parenting discipline involving exile in the inundated with his son's missteps family patriarch that ended with Gabe being asked to move his family to Smallville even earlier. An eighth grade introduction between Chloe and Clark gave the girl nearly five years to entangle herself in the teen's life. How was he supposed to fix that? Could he even fix that?
He can't stop. He can't just leave two worlds to their fate. He will have to go back to direct intervention with Chloe. Just because nothing has worked yet does not mean that nothing is going to work ever. He just has to keep trying.
Is that the definition of insanity? Maybe.
And maybe sanity is a luxury that he can no longer afford.