Title: Honesty Prequel 3 -- Epiphany
Author: PepperjackCandy
Series: Follows "New Year's Day"
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. *The Snow Queen* is copyright 1980 by Joan D. Vinge, who is a goddess.
Feedback: Always welcome, either by e-mail or using the review system at fanfiction.net.
A/N: My hubby found a copy of World's End, the sequel to The Snow Queen, which is out of print, at a used book store. We have framed signed prints of Michael Whelan's covers of The Snow Queen and The Summer Queen on our living room wall, too. An explanation for Lex's odd comment about the Milvian Bridge can be found here: http://www.ukans.edu/history/index/europe/ancient_rome/E/Gazetteer/Places/Europe/Italy/Lazio/Roma/Rome/bridges/Ponte_Milvio/home.html. You'll probably have to cut-and-paste the link. And yes, the "don't need to practice" joke is lifted from an old episode of Soap.
========
Clark had spent hours on Tuesday night making out with Lex, and then . . . nothing. He'd waited all day Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, to no avail. Several times he picked up the phone and dialed Lex's number, but Lex never answered, and Clark always hung up before the machine picked up.
He no longer blushed thinking of Lex's lips on his. His face now flushed with anger, instead.
Saturday morning found him coming down to breakfast to find his mother in the kitchen putting a bouquet of flowers in a vase. "Dad got you flowers?"
Martha shook her head. "No. I don't know who they're from. They were on the back porch. They just had a card with my name on it."
Clark raised an eyebrow. "You have a boyfriend?" He tried to say it without bitterness, remembering just a few days earlier, when he'd thought that he had a boyfriend, himself.
Apparently it didn't work. "What's the matter, honey? You seem upset about something."
Clark shook his head. "I just didn't sleep well last night." That, at least, was true. Worry that he'd done something to blow it with Lex, compounded with fear that Lex had just been toying with him, and anger at Lex for not even bothering to call, added up to a sleepless night.
He had to admit, the flowers were beautiful, though. He didn't know much about flowers, especially since these looked exotic to his eyes, with sprays of something that might be orchids, but which were less frilly than the ones that some of the women wore as corsages to church on Mother's Day. They weren't what he or his father would have chosen for his mother, but the way she carefully put them in a vase and displayed them on the counter, she certainly seemed pleased with them.
Being winter, most of the work on the farm was repair work, but that was rapidly becoming the time when Jonathan needed him most - his strength, his thoroughness, and occasionally, when things went wrong, his invulnerability.
After grabbing a Pop-Tart from the box and nearly gulping it down whole, Clark went out to the barn to begin some of the repairs his father had asked of him. All the while, thinking.
Thinking about his birthday. Thinking about the watch his parents gave him for his birthday, saying that maybe now he'd be on time for something. Thinking about the phone - frustratingly silent for the past three days. Thinking about why he landed *here* of all places, where his path would cross with Lex's, where he'd give his heart to a man who . . . to a man who was willing to put off their first kiss, for fear of rushing things and ruining their friendship.
This gave him his first ray of hope all day. Lex had been concerned about their friendship. He'd wanted to protect it at all cost, even at the cost of missing out on a chance at love. Why would he do that and then ignore him?
Clark made up his mind to call Lex right after . . .
"Clark! Lunch!"
His mother's voice startled him. He had no idea so much time had passed. Wiping his hands on a relatively-clean rag, he walked toward the house.
After he was done eating, he said, "I've got some homework to do. And I want to give Lex a call. He's been really busy lately and I'd just like to, you know, check on him. See how he's doing."
Jonathan rolled his eyes, but refrained from commenting.
Martha sighed and looked concerned, but her only response was a nod and a slightly strained smile as she said, "Sure. Go ahead."
Clark waited until his parents seemed busy with other things, then took his cell phone out of his book bag and took it upstairs to call Lex.
Lex answered on the third ring. "Lex Luthor." He said flatly.
"Lex? It's me. Clark." Clark said, even though Lex should have seen his number on his caller I.D. and known it was him.
Lex made an affirmative, but still noncommittal, noise. "Mm-hmm."
"Are you all right? Are *we* all right?"
"Mm. Fine." Lex responded without inflection.
Someone in the background, a male voice, said something.
Clark heard the rustle of Lex's hand covering the mouthpiece and a muffled response that sure sounded like "produce delivery" to Clark, but he wondered if it was just his paranoia running away with him.
"Lex? Is someone there?" He asked.
"Hm? No. Not at all."
Clark knew that Lex was lying. There *was* someone there, but Clark couldn't understand why Lex was trying to hide it.
This, in turn, brought back his burgeoning paranoia in full force. He couldn't help wondering if Lex was trying to keep his visitor a secret - or Clark. Either way, he didn't like it.
"All right." Clark tried to keep the disappointment out of his tone, but failed.
As he cursed himself for sounding so desperate, he heard Lex say, "Yes. That will be fine. Thank you."
And then Lex hung up.
Clark pressed the 'end' button on his cell phone and returned downstairs, where he took his algebra book from his book bag and went into the dining room to start his homework. This was fruitless, as the sounds of his mother rummaging around in the kitchen was too distracting, so he took his book bag and went out to the barn, climbing into the loft and lost himself in his algebra homework.
It had long since grown dark, and Clark had finished his algebra homework and moved on to English. He had to start on the spring semester outside reading and he had selected a science fiction novel that his English teacher had recommended highly - "The Snow Queen." He sat under the lamp his mother had put up there for him reading when he heard feet coming up the steps.
Figuring it for his mother or, more likely, his father, he decided to just let them wait until he'd finished the chapter. Sparks had just told Arienrhod that he was going to challenge Starbuck, when he heard his visitor clear his throat. He looked up, to find Lex standing there, his hat in his hand, literally.
"Hi," Lex said, looking at Clark like a starving man looking at a good steak.
If Lex had been just a little over a minute earlier, when Arienrhod and Sparks were mourning the loss of Moon, Clark would have run to Lex, seeking comfort. Instead, Clark's heart jumped, but he stomped it down forcefully. "I'm just a page short of finishing this chapter." He indicated the book in his hands and looked back down at the book, effectively dismissing Lex from his presence.
Lex waited patiently, but when Clark turned the page and kept reading, he spoke again. "I'm sorry about this afternoon."
Clark closed the book and put it to one side. "What's to apologize for?" He shrugged with what he hoped was an air of nonchalance.
"Not calling you all week. Then when you call me, I'm rude to you. I'd say that's something I need to apologize for."
Clark, uncertain what to say, shrugged. "I don't have any claim on your time."
"But you do." Lex sat on the floor next to Clark.
This surprised Clark. "All right." Still, he held his body and his tone rigid. "So explain."
"My dad's been riding my ass all week. He was after me for the end-of-year numbers. He knew I couldn't possibly have them ready by the first of the year, so he wanted them by the first of the year. Every time the hoop gets a little higher and a little smaller."
"The hoop?"
"The hoop my dad wants me to jump through. He sent over a couple of his own number-crunchers and told me I wouldn't get any rest until he had those numbers. I did it." Lex laughed, a little hysterically, and Clark suddenly saw the dark circles under Lex's eyes.
"Jeez, Lex, didn't he at least let you get any sleep?"
"Of course he did." Lex responded with false indignation. "Four whole hours per night. And last night I had four and a half hours to myself. From two-thirty until seven. That's when I ordered the flowers."
Clark was confused. "Flowers?"
"You didn't get them? I had them addressed to your mom?"
Clark's eyes widened. "Those were for me? From you? Why?"
"Well, I wanted to do the proper boyfriend thing, and send you flowers, but when I was ordering them last night, I sort of chickened out. I was afraid I'd make things difficult for you here. I know your folks aren't my biggest fans . . . . Anyway, I figured that anonymous flowers to your mom might raise their eyebrows, but wouldn't upset them." Lex leaned back against the wall of the barn, yawning.
"You need to get some sleep." Clark admonished him gently.
"No. I'm fine. Really." Lex shook his head, his heavy eyelids belying his words.
"Well, I can't stay out here much longer. Mom's going to call me in to dinner soon."
"Oh." Yawn. "I forgot. She told me that you were out here. The same time she asked me to tell you that dinner's on." Lex rested his head against the wall of the barn, his eyes falling shut.
"Well, you want to join us? Lex?"
The only response was the sound of Lex's soft snoring.
Clark smiled and picked up a blanket, carefully placing it over Lex and tucking it in. Then, smiling gently and walking very quietly, he went down the stairs and back to the house for dinner.
Clark ate as quickly as he could eat without arousing his parents' suspicions, then he returned to the barn and continued reading, keeping watch over Lex late through the night.
As the sun peeked up over the horizon, Clark felt gentle lips touching his own. He jerked awake. "Wha -- ?"
Lex was sitting on the floor next to him, smiling softly. "Morning." He whispered. "I was trying to get out of here without waking you, but I couldn't leave without a good-bye kiss."
"You don't have to go." Clark, still half-asleep, slurred his words.
"Actually, I do. I haven't taken a shower since seven o'clock *yesterday* morning. I need to brush my teeth, and . . . "
"Shave?"
Lex pinkened slightly. "Not so much. No."
Clark tilted his head, confused.
"I don't have any functioning hair follicles."
Clark glanced at Lex's eyebrows and eyelashes, but decided that it was too early in their relationship to go there, so he didn't comment.
Lex leaned forward, kissing Clark again. "You should probably get your chores done early."
"Why?"
"Because I'm taking you out this afternoon."
They shared a smile, then another kiss, then Lex put his hat back on and walked back down the stairs and out into the early winter morning.
Clark got started on his chores, only stopping when Lex returned.
"You ready to go?"
Clark, who hadn't heard Lex arrive, jumped, his eyes wide. "No. I need to take a shower." His stomach rumbled. "And I haven't eaten anything."
"Well, then, go take a shower, by all means. And we'll stop for lunch on the way."
Clark began to walk towards the house, but he stopped. "On the way where?"
"Ah, ah. That would be telling. Now go."
Clark glanced around quickly, and, determining that they were alone, he kissed Lex quickly before jogging off to the house for his shower.
Soon, they were parked in a booth in the diner, Clark finishing off his second hamburger. "I didn't have breakfast." He said around his final mouthful of french fries.
"Geeze, Clark. It's going to cost a fortune to feed you in the future." Lex said, the import of those words, that he was willing, as well as able, to pay that fortune, straggling along in the wake of the words themselves.
Clark looked up at Lex, a deer-in-the-headlights expression on his face. He blushed.
Lex had the awful feeling he was blushing, himself. He offered a tentative smile.
Clark offered a blindingly-white grin in response, and all of the tension dissipated.
"So, where are we going now?" Clark asked.
"Are you sure you're finished?" Lex ribbed him.
In one long pull, Clark drained his glass of Coke. "I am now."
"Well, then, why don't I show you?"
Together, they stood and left the diner.
They drove out of town, ending up on Carlan Road. Clark began feeling nervous as they headed farther down the road. He now knew where they were going, and feared what Lex would ask once they got there.
They pulled to the side of the road just short of the bridge and Lex climbed out, Clark, head stooped as if he were headed for the block, followed.
Lex looked over at him and smiled. "It can't be that bad, Clark. You look like you're going to the dentist or something." He held out his hand.
Clark, pleased, and more than a little bemused, took the proffered hand, and together they walked out onto the bridge.
"My own, personal, Milvian Bridge." Lex said, expansively.
"Huh?"
"You know from the Emperor Constantine?"
Clark shook his head. "I've heard the name, but . . ."
Lex led Clark to a convenient spot, which just happened to be diagonally opposite the place where Clark had been brooding when Lex had hit him, resting his elbow, their fingers still interlaced, on the barrier.
"Well, Constantine's probably directly responsible for you being Christian."
"Me? What about you?"
Lex gave him a quirky half-smile. "I'm Jewish."
"Oh. I didn't know your family was Jewish."
"They aren't. I am. My mom was Jewish, and the law says the religion of the mother is the religion of the child, so . . . . I don't practice, though."
"Oh. Maybe you don't need to practice. Maybe you're just good at it."
Lex gave Clark a quirky smile at the joke, then went back to lecturing. "Back to European history. Constantine ruled half of the Roman Empire. Well, technically, he shared the rule of his half with another Emperor, Maxentius. Constantine wanted it all, though, and fought Maxentius for it. At the Milvian Bridge. Maybe. But that's another story.
"Well, so the story goes, he prayed for guidance, and received a vision, with the words, in hoc signo vinces. You know what that is?"
"Latin?" Clark guessed, hoping he was right.
"Well, yes, but do you know what it means?"
Clark shook his head wordlessly.
"By this sign, you will conquer. Well, I fought a battle, on a bridge, and received a sign from above as well." He looked up at Clark. "Remember when I said that we have a future together? I meant it."
"But you lost. I mean, the barbed wire won." Clark said in a tone that was like a question.
"Merely a setback. I wasn't defeated. You saw to that. And I decided that maybe, just maybe, it really was a sign."
"What kind of sign?"
Lex shrugged. "I didn't know. I spent quite a lot of time and energy, and more than a little money sort of . . . nosing around, trying to figure it out." He pulled Clark closer for a quick kiss. "But I think I figured it out eventually."
Clark grinned as Lex kissed him again. "Well, I'm glad you figured it out."
"When do you have to go home?"
"I've got some reading to do for biology, so I should probably head home after dinner."
Lex nodded and, still holding Clark's hand, led him back towards the car. "Well, why don't we head back to the castle and we can play video games or something until dinner, then?"
Author: PepperjackCandy
Series: Follows "New Year's Day"
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. *The Snow Queen* is copyright 1980 by Joan D. Vinge, who is a goddess.
Feedback: Always welcome, either by e-mail or using the review system at fanfiction.net.
A/N: My hubby found a copy of World's End, the sequel to The Snow Queen, which is out of print, at a used book store. We have framed signed prints of Michael Whelan's covers of The Snow Queen and The Summer Queen on our living room wall, too. An explanation for Lex's odd comment about the Milvian Bridge can be found here: http://www.ukans.edu/history/index/europe/ancient_rome/E/Gazetteer/Places/Europe/Italy/Lazio/Roma/Rome/bridges/Ponte_Milvio/home.html. You'll probably have to cut-and-paste the link. And yes, the "don't need to practice" joke is lifted from an old episode of Soap.
========
Clark had spent hours on Tuesday night making out with Lex, and then . . . nothing. He'd waited all day Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, to no avail. Several times he picked up the phone and dialed Lex's number, but Lex never answered, and Clark always hung up before the machine picked up.
He no longer blushed thinking of Lex's lips on his. His face now flushed with anger, instead.
Saturday morning found him coming down to breakfast to find his mother in the kitchen putting a bouquet of flowers in a vase. "Dad got you flowers?"
Martha shook her head. "No. I don't know who they're from. They were on the back porch. They just had a card with my name on it."
Clark raised an eyebrow. "You have a boyfriend?" He tried to say it without bitterness, remembering just a few days earlier, when he'd thought that he had a boyfriend, himself.
Apparently it didn't work. "What's the matter, honey? You seem upset about something."
Clark shook his head. "I just didn't sleep well last night." That, at least, was true. Worry that he'd done something to blow it with Lex, compounded with fear that Lex had just been toying with him, and anger at Lex for not even bothering to call, added up to a sleepless night.
He had to admit, the flowers were beautiful, though. He didn't know much about flowers, especially since these looked exotic to his eyes, with sprays of something that might be orchids, but which were less frilly than the ones that some of the women wore as corsages to church on Mother's Day. They weren't what he or his father would have chosen for his mother, but the way she carefully put them in a vase and displayed them on the counter, she certainly seemed pleased with them.
Being winter, most of the work on the farm was repair work, but that was rapidly becoming the time when Jonathan needed him most - his strength, his thoroughness, and occasionally, when things went wrong, his invulnerability.
After grabbing a Pop-Tart from the box and nearly gulping it down whole, Clark went out to the barn to begin some of the repairs his father had asked of him. All the while, thinking.
Thinking about his birthday. Thinking about the watch his parents gave him for his birthday, saying that maybe now he'd be on time for something. Thinking about the phone - frustratingly silent for the past three days. Thinking about why he landed *here* of all places, where his path would cross with Lex's, where he'd give his heart to a man who . . . to a man who was willing to put off their first kiss, for fear of rushing things and ruining their friendship.
This gave him his first ray of hope all day. Lex had been concerned about their friendship. He'd wanted to protect it at all cost, even at the cost of missing out on a chance at love. Why would he do that and then ignore him?
Clark made up his mind to call Lex right after . . .
"Clark! Lunch!"
His mother's voice startled him. He had no idea so much time had passed. Wiping his hands on a relatively-clean rag, he walked toward the house.
After he was done eating, he said, "I've got some homework to do. And I want to give Lex a call. He's been really busy lately and I'd just like to, you know, check on him. See how he's doing."
Jonathan rolled his eyes, but refrained from commenting.
Martha sighed and looked concerned, but her only response was a nod and a slightly strained smile as she said, "Sure. Go ahead."
Clark waited until his parents seemed busy with other things, then took his cell phone out of his book bag and took it upstairs to call Lex.
Lex answered on the third ring. "Lex Luthor." He said flatly.
"Lex? It's me. Clark." Clark said, even though Lex should have seen his number on his caller I.D. and known it was him.
Lex made an affirmative, but still noncommittal, noise. "Mm-hmm."
"Are you all right? Are *we* all right?"
"Mm. Fine." Lex responded without inflection.
Someone in the background, a male voice, said something.
Clark heard the rustle of Lex's hand covering the mouthpiece and a muffled response that sure sounded like "produce delivery" to Clark, but he wondered if it was just his paranoia running away with him.
"Lex? Is someone there?" He asked.
"Hm? No. Not at all."
Clark knew that Lex was lying. There *was* someone there, but Clark couldn't understand why Lex was trying to hide it.
This, in turn, brought back his burgeoning paranoia in full force. He couldn't help wondering if Lex was trying to keep his visitor a secret - or Clark. Either way, he didn't like it.
"All right." Clark tried to keep the disappointment out of his tone, but failed.
As he cursed himself for sounding so desperate, he heard Lex say, "Yes. That will be fine. Thank you."
And then Lex hung up.
Clark pressed the 'end' button on his cell phone and returned downstairs, where he took his algebra book from his book bag and went into the dining room to start his homework. This was fruitless, as the sounds of his mother rummaging around in the kitchen was too distracting, so he took his book bag and went out to the barn, climbing into the loft and lost himself in his algebra homework.
It had long since grown dark, and Clark had finished his algebra homework and moved on to English. He had to start on the spring semester outside reading and he had selected a science fiction novel that his English teacher had recommended highly - "The Snow Queen." He sat under the lamp his mother had put up there for him reading when he heard feet coming up the steps.
Figuring it for his mother or, more likely, his father, he decided to just let them wait until he'd finished the chapter. Sparks had just told Arienrhod that he was going to challenge Starbuck, when he heard his visitor clear his throat. He looked up, to find Lex standing there, his hat in his hand, literally.
"Hi," Lex said, looking at Clark like a starving man looking at a good steak.
If Lex had been just a little over a minute earlier, when Arienrhod and Sparks were mourning the loss of Moon, Clark would have run to Lex, seeking comfort. Instead, Clark's heart jumped, but he stomped it down forcefully. "I'm just a page short of finishing this chapter." He indicated the book in his hands and looked back down at the book, effectively dismissing Lex from his presence.
Lex waited patiently, but when Clark turned the page and kept reading, he spoke again. "I'm sorry about this afternoon."
Clark closed the book and put it to one side. "What's to apologize for?" He shrugged with what he hoped was an air of nonchalance.
"Not calling you all week. Then when you call me, I'm rude to you. I'd say that's something I need to apologize for."
Clark, uncertain what to say, shrugged. "I don't have any claim on your time."
"But you do." Lex sat on the floor next to Clark.
This surprised Clark. "All right." Still, he held his body and his tone rigid. "So explain."
"My dad's been riding my ass all week. He was after me for the end-of-year numbers. He knew I couldn't possibly have them ready by the first of the year, so he wanted them by the first of the year. Every time the hoop gets a little higher and a little smaller."
"The hoop?"
"The hoop my dad wants me to jump through. He sent over a couple of his own number-crunchers and told me I wouldn't get any rest until he had those numbers. I did it." Lex laughed, a little hysterically, and Clark suddenly saw the dark circles under Lex's eyes.
"Jeez, Lex, didn't he at least let you get any sleep?"
"Of course he did." Lex responded with false indignation. "Four whole hours per night. And last night I had four and a half hours to myself. From two-thirty until seven. That's when I ordered the flowers."
Clark was confused. "Flowers?"
"You didn't get them? I had them addressed to your mom?"
Clark's eyes widened. "Those were for me? From you? Why?"
"Well, I wanted to do the proper boyfriend thing, and send you flowers, but when I was ordering them last night, I sort of chickened out. I was afraid I'd make things difficult for you here. I know your folks aren't my biggest fans . . . . Anyway, I figured that anonymous flowers to your mom might raise their eyebrows, but wouldn't upset them." Lex leaned back against the wall of the barn, yawning.
"You need to get some sleep." Clark admonished him gently.
"No. I'm fine. Really." Lex shook his head, his heavy eyelids belying his words.
"Well, I can't stay out here much longer. Mom's going to call me in to dinner soon."
"Oh." Yawn. "I forgot. She told me that you were out here. The same time she asked me to tell you that dinner's on." Lex rested his head against the wall of the barn, his eyes falling shut.
"Well, you want to join us? Lex?"
The only response was the sound of Lex's soft snoring.
Clark smiled and picked up a blanket, carefully placing it over Lex and tucking it in. Then, smiling gently and walking very quietly, he went down the stairs and back to the house for dinner.
Clark ate as quickly as he could eat without arousing his parents' suspicions, then he returned to the barn and continued reading, keeping watch over Lex late through the night.
As the sun peeked up over the horizon, Clark felt gentle lips touching his own. He jerked awake. "Wha -- ?"
Lex was sitting on the floor next to him, smiling softly. "Morning." He whispered. "I was trying to get out of here without waking you, but I couldn't leave without a good-bye kiss."
"You don't have to go." Clark, still half-asleep, slurred his words.
"Actually, I do. I haven't taken a shower since seven o'clock *yesterday* morning. I need to brush my teeth, and . . . "
"Shave?"
Lex pinkened slightly. "Not so much. No."
Clark tilted his head, confused.
"I don't have any functioning hair follicles."
Clark glanced at Lex's eyebrows and eyelashes, but decided that it was too early in their relationship to go there, so he didn't comment.
Lex leaned forward, kissing Clark again. "You should probably get your chores done early."
"Why?"
"Because I'm taking you out this afternoon."
They shared a smile, then another kiss, then Lex put his hat back on and walked back down the stairs and out into the early winter morning.
Clark got started on his chores, only stopping when Lex returned.
"You ready to go?"
Clark, who hadn't heard Lex arrive, jumped, his eyes wide. "No. I need to take a shower." His stomach rumbled. "And I haven't eaten anything."
"Well, then, go take a shower, by all means. And we'll stop for lunch on the way."
Clark began to walk towards the house, but he stopped. "On the way where?"
"Ah, ah. That would be telling. Now go."
Clark glanced around quickly, and, determining that they were alone, he kissed Lex quickly before jogging off to the house for his shower.
Soon, they were parked in a booth in the diner, Clark finishing off his second hamburger. "I didn't have breakfast." He said around his final mouthful of french fries.
"Geeze, Clark. It's going to cost a fortune to feed you in the future." Lex said, the import of those words, that he was willing, as well as able, to pay that fortune, straggling along in the wake of the words themselves.
Clark looked up at Lex, a deer-in-the-headlights expression on his face. He blushed.
Lex had the awful feeling he was blushing, himself. He offered a tentative smile.
Clark offered a blindingly-white grin in response, and all of the tension dissipated.
"So, where are we going now?" Clark asked.
"Are you sure you're finished?" Lex ribbed him.
In one long pull, Clark drained his glass of Coke. "I am now."
"Well, then, why don't I show you?"
Together, they stood and left the diner.
They drove out of town, ending up on Carlan Road. Clark began feeling nervous as they headed farther down the road. He now knew where they were going, and feared what Lex would ask once they got there.
They pulled to the side of the road just short of the bridge and Lex climbed out, Clark, head stooped as if he were headed for the block, followed.
Lex looked over at him and smiled. "It can't be that bad, Clark. You look like you're going to the dentist or something." He held out his hand.
Clark, pleased, and more than a little bemused, took the proffered hand, and together they walked out onto the bridge.
"My own, personal, Milvian Bridge." Lex said, expansively.
"Huh?"
"You know from the Emperor Constantine?"
Clark shook his head. "I've heard the name, but . . ."
Lex led Clark to a convenient spot, which just happened to be diagonally opposite the place where Clark had been brooding when Lex had hit him, resting his elbow, their fingers still interlaced, on the barrier.
"Well, Constantine's probably directly responsible for you being Christian."
"Me? What about you?"
Lex gave him a quirky half-smile. "I'm Jewish."
"Oh. I didn't know your family was Jewish."
"They aren't. I am. My mom was Jewish, and the law says the religion of the mother is the religion of the child, so . . . . I don't practice, though."
"Oh. Maybe you don't need to practice. Maybe you're just good at it."
Lex gave Clark a quirky smile at the joke, then went back to lecturing. "Back to European history. Constantine ruled half of the Roman Empire. Well, technically, he shared the rule of his half with another Emperor, Maxentius. Constantine wanted it all, though, and fought Maxentius for it. At the Milvian Bridge. Maybe. But that's another story.
"Well, so the story goes, he prayed for guidance, and received a vision, with the words, in hoc signo vinces. You know what that is?"
"Latin?" Clark guessed, hoping he was right.
"Well, yes, but do you know what it means?"
Clark shook his head wordlessly.
"By this sign, you will conquer. Well, I fought a battle, on a bridge, and received a sign from above as well." He looked up at Clark. "Remember when I said that we have a future together? I meant it."
"But you lost. I mean, the barbed wire won." Clark said in a tone that was like a question.
"Merely a setback. I wasn't defeated. You saw to that. And I decided that maybe, just maybe, it really was a sign."
"What kind of sign?"
Lex shrugged. "I didn't know. I spent quite a lot of time and energy, and more than a little money sort of . . . nosing around, trying to figure it out." He pulled Clark closer for a quick kiss. "But I think I figured it out eventually."
Clark grinned as Lex kissed him again. "Well, I'm glad you figured it out."
"When do you have to go home?"
"I've got some reading to do for biology, so I should probably head home after dinner."
Lex nodded and, still holding Clark's hand, led him back towards the car. "Well, why don't we head back to the castle and we can play video games or something until dinner, then?"