Part 14 - Loose Ends and Love.

Clark woke with a yawn, he leaned over to get the alarm only to find that his movement was hindered
by an arm that lay around his waist. As he looked down he was amused to see Lex was asleep,
wrapped around him as if he were a security blanket and did not seem to want to let go. Clark wriggled
experimentally, working his way loose and then hit the alarm, it was 7.30 and he had to get to the
newsroom if he was going to be there for when the story broke; he only hoped that Lex would
understand.

"Come on sleepyhead." Clark said as he tried to rouse the sleeping figure, Lex grumbled a little but
then woke when Clark placed a sloppy kiss on his lips. Lex responded, albeit sleepily and moaned as
he felt the effect of the kiss travel through him.

"Morning breathe." Lex mumbled as Clark leaned in for a second kiss but he ignored him and kissed
his lover for a second time anyway.

"I love you." Clark said, this woke Lex more quickly than he had thought possible, a wide grin
spreading across his friend's face. "But I have to get to work."

Clark wanted to laugh as Lex tried to pout, it was obvious that this didn't work for the billionaire but
then why should he have ever cultivated a pout, it was not as if he needed one, most people gave into
him immediately.

"We can't all own the company." Clark said as he placed one final kiss on Lex's lips and then slid out of
bed, heading for the ensuite in his room and a quick, cold shower. He did not want Lex to see that the
few morning kisses had affected him too, if the other man had his way Clark would never get to the
office and it was too big a story to miss out on taking the credit for.

Lex lay in bed working on the possibilities that he could bribe Clark to stay at home, of course his lover
was beyond corruption, just one of the annoying traits he had picked up from the Kents. Lex wondered
if there was another way around this instead, without asking Clark to give up his life he would have to
make do with both of them having busy careers.

Clark was gone when he woke next but there was a note on the bedside, Lex wondered if this was how
it would be.

"See You Tonight. I love you. Clark."


Lex sighed, he supposed that having his lover stay over for another night was the most he could expect,
he ought to be happy that they were even back together after what had happened before.
-----------------

Clark dawdled to the Planet, he could have had an extra five minutes in bed with Lex but somehow five
minutes would not have been enough, somehow the dream of being a journalist, or giving the truth
back to those that had taken it from him no longer seemed to appeal. The shining gleam that his career
ambition had once held was tarnished and paled in comparison when he held it up to the radiance of
Lex's love.

As he entered the building of the newspaper, crossing the threshold with the large Planet sign above it
he wondered what it would be like if he hadn't had to rush off, if they had been able to spend a long
morning in bed together. Would Lex have hurried into work? Somehow Clark thought that the answer
was no, Clark knew that his lover had taken a few months off when he had first gotten out of his
nightmare prison, and yet here he was unwilling to take one day to be with Lex. Maybe it was about
time he started to make the sacrifices in their relationship.

The lift got to his floor, the top floor of the planet building, and he was surprised to see a large banner
with "Well Done Clark" written on it, Perry was clutching a copy of the front page and had a wide grin
on his face. Lois stood behind him, faking a smile but even she seemed to be proud of him and Jimmy
was the one that was most full of pride as if he was seeing his hero take his rightful place at the
winner's podium, as he made his way into the crowd Clark noticed that he was the only one that was
not beaming at his success.

"Well done son, you could go far." Perry said as he handed him a glass of champagne. "The business
papers are fuming that you got this exclusive, the bosses are reeling from the advanced sales and there
are a few network people that want an interview. This is a huge accomplishment for our paper."

"Thanks." Clark said, blushing slightly.

"I have to hand it to you rookie, you did good on this one." Lois said. "Obviously being my partner has
paid off."

Clark smiled, matching Lois' false smile with one of his own and not wanting to tell her exactly what
he thought of her journalistic endeavours.

"Perry, can I see you in your office?" Clark asked, Perry smiled and nodded. Turning to Lois before he
followed Clark.

"This is where he asks me for a big raise and to work on his own more often. It's a shame, you two
would have made a good team."

Clark waited in the office, taking a seat when Perry offered him one and then reaching for the note he
had drafted on the way up to work, he had wanted to type it but he thought it would be best to talk this
over with his boss first.

"What can I do for you Clark?" Perry said. "I have to say that you're flavour of the month around here
so if you're looking for a raise or something now would be the time to do it."

"I want to resign." Clark said. His boss coughed, half shocked and half laughing until he realised that
Clark was not joking and that this was obviously a serious proposal.

"Is it another paper?" Perry asked. "I mean we gave you a chance here and I like to think that you
would have some loyalty, we can probably match their offer and I'm sure that the board would be
willing to do so if it meant that we got to keep our bright young star."

Clark blushed at the flattery and realised that this was pretty bad timing, as far as his career was going
it was just taking off but he wanted to spend more time with Lex and this was the only way he could
see to do it.

"Actually I just want to spend more time with my family." Clark said, and it was true because Lex was
all the family that he had and all the family that he needed. "Working long hours is putting a lot of
strain on us and we can afford it."

"Well, I have to admit that we'll miss you and if you want to stay on with us on a freelance basis I'm
sure that the higher ups will be only too happy to buy any other stories that you pass our way,
especially exclusive ones." Perry said, Clark beamed that was one thing that he had not thought of.
That way he could work on stories but also have time for Lex.

"Thanks a lot Mr. White. For everything." Clark said. "I'll work out my notice period if you need me
to."

"No need son, you've been here less than three months." Perry said. "I'm only sorry that this hasn't
worked out for you."

"I bet Lois won't see it that way." Clark said bitterly, Perry looked at him with a raised eyebrow and
shook his head. He was not about to start in on that one with Clark, even though he could see that his
lead reporter wanted the rookie, she just wouldn't say it. She always did have a soft spot for the
hopeless cases.

As Clark went to leave he wondered if Lex had left for the office yet, maybe he could surprise his lover
while he was still in bed.

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Lex had spent a lot of his time after Clark had left dwelling on matters that he had not wanted to dwell
on; thinking of the things that Clark had brought to mind in his leaving and how they could spend more
time together. The usual Luthor response to a problem was to throw money at it, that is if it could not
be deleted or killed. Lex's first thought was buying the Planet, he could give it to his lover as a kind of
'welcome home' present. Yet Lex knew that this was not the real solution, Clark would give it back as
he had the truck when he was younger, there was no buying a Kent and that was just one of the many
reasons that he loved Clark. The only problem was how to solve this dilemma without using money.

The phone ringing pulled him out of his daze, it appeared that there was a delivery in the lower parking
lot for him and because there was no staff at th Penthouse he would have to accept it himself.

Lex made his way down, wary of anything that was being delivered without his knowledge and was
surprised to see a large truck. It looked suspiciously like one of the trucks that a Smallville farmer
would drive and when he saw the licence plate he smiled wryly. It looked that way because it was, to
be exact it was a truck he had bought for the farm, it had stayed at the Kent property with no one to use
it but it seemed odd for there not to be one parked outside.

"Hi." Clark said as he climbed down from the cab of the truck and made his way around the back.
"You wouldn't believe some of the looks you get taking this into the city." He said. "You want to give
me a hand getting this stuff upstairs?"

Lex was bemused and watched as his lover unloaded two suitcases and a small backpack from the flat
bed of the truck, it looked as if the entire contents of Clark's life was packed into these bags.

"Can I ask what you're doing?" Lex asked, Clark looked at him as he reached in and pulled out the final
items, a small potted plant that looked as if it had seen better days, there was also a small box of files
and a framed picture. Clark threw the plant and the picture in the box and handed it to Lex,
shouldering the pack and taking a suitcase in each hand. It was only when they were both fully ladened
that Clark turned to answer the question.

"Isn't it obvious?" Clark asked with a slight smile. "I'm moving in."

"But…"

"I told you I would see you later." Clark said with a small smile, he looked as if he was enjoying this
far too much. "I had to pack up the apartment, drop off the keys and hand in my notice at the Planet.
But I was always planning on coming back."

Lex had to struggle hard not to drop the box that he was holding, instead he tightened his grip. He had
spent the whole morning stewing over exactly this problem and here was his lover giving him a way
out of it all. He felt as if he ought to disagree, to oppose Clark giving up his entire life for him when he
was not doing the same and yet Clark did not seem to mind. He had to be sure that this was what Clark
really wanted and not out of some strange sense of owing something to Lex.

"And this is what you want?" Lex asked, Clark looked bereft and Lex suddenly realised that maybe his
cool reaction made it seem as if it was not what he wanted. "Because if it is, I would love to have you
here permanently. This is your home Clark, for as long as you want it to be."

"I still have some things that I need to organise, to sort out in my life but I want you to help me with
them." Clark said. "I don't want to be alone anymore."

There was a tone of complete loss in his voice as he spoke the words and Lex knew how that felt, to be
alone and scared in the world, he remembered that from the cornfield aged nine and again when he had
lost Clark from his life, he didn't want to feel it again and could see why Clark wanted to escape it.

"I love you." Lex said and Clark smiled, a smile that reached his eyes for the first time in a long while.
The younger man leaned over and kissed Lex softly, having to guide his way around boxes and bags
but it was the kiss that was important, as if it sealed the deal.

From here things could only go up.

-------------------------

Epilogue.

Iris could hardly believe the call that she had just taken from her boss, Lex Luthor had been behaving
very strangely for the last six months or so, ever since the company had absorbed into it the research
company that had housed a top secret government project. It was good though, she wasn't sure when
Lex Luthor had met the young man, the one that was frequently in his office but he seemed to make
Lex smile and that was only a good thing. She was usually a businesslike professional but she saw Lex
as a good boy, one that had lacked his mother's love a lot while he was growing up and she hoped that
with this additional love in his life he would blossom into the great man that he was destined to be, at
least that way he would be a better man than his father.

There was a few things that she had to put into place too, a trust fund, or rather a set of trust funds for
Peter Ross Jr and his twin brother Clark and for Richard (known as Ricky) and Chloe Fordman. Other
than that it was just the arrangements for Mr. Luthor's three month sabbatical, he was taking time off to
spend with his lover. She wondered if this had anything to do with the calls he had made to the
President recently but would not deal with it personally, that was too much beyond her job description.
He may be like a son to her but he was still her employer, she was just glad that he was happy.

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END

Note: I know that I left it open ended, whether Superman was created between the pair or if they just
wandered into the sunset together holding two fingers up to the world, well, that is up to you…

And if you want an excuse as to why I've not been around, well check out the Clark Lex FuhQ Fest.

That's where all the slash writers are hiding ;)