This had to be it. The ship had to be what contained the secret of time travel. It had to be where future-Clark had learned how to manipulate time and send himself backwards through it. If Clark's people had been able to design a ship that would send him to Earth and keep him in stasis for however many years that took, then it was a possibility that they knew about time travel as well. If nothing else, they seemed significantly more advanced than humans.
The two of them were standing inside the Kent's storm cellar looking at what had to be Clark's ship. It was small and kind of oblong with a raised circular part in the center. Lex assumed the circular part was where baby Clark would have been placed to make his journey to Earth. And didn't that all just sound too unbelievable to be true?
Lex was still cold and shivering slightly from the trip out to the farm. Traveling at Clark's speed always made him feel like that, even when he was wearing two layers and a heavy jacket like he was then. He wrapped his arms around himself to try and help warm up.
"Well, this is it," Clark said and gestured down at the ship sitting on the floor.
Lex stepped forward and ran his fingers over the ship. It was smooth and surprisingly warm to his touch. Normal metal wouldn't feel like that, not in the middle of a May night in Kansas. He continued to trail his fingers along the surface of the ship, moving around it until he came to a small octagonal depression in the hull. His fingers slipped inside. It looked so familiar and suddenly the color and texture of the metal seemed familiar to Lex as well. His eyes snapped up and he turned to look directly at Clark.
"Yes, your paperweight," Clark confirmed and produced the small octagonal piece of metal that had once sat on Lex's desk before the tornado that had ripped through the town in 2002.
"What is it?" Lex asked and nodded at the piece of metal Clark was holding.
"A key," Clark told him.
He walked over to the ship and stood next to Lex. Lex could feel himself holding his breath, and slowly let it go. He didn't know what to expect here. What would the ship do when Clark turned it on? Lex couldn't even imagine. Clark reached out and placed the small piece of metal into its hole. Lex watched as the 'key' seemed to melt and become part of the ship. Then the whole thing rose off the ground, and started to hum and glow softly.
"Does it always do that?"
"Always," Clark assured him with a nod.
A second slot next to the key slid open. Lex looked up at Clark, curious as to what was happening, but Clark was already moving across the cellar. He grabbed another piece of metal off one of the shelves and came back over to where Lex was standing. This piece was rectangular and had strange markings across its face. Clark slid it into the slot and it melted into the ship in the same way that the key had.
Suddenly the ship was making noises that sounded like speech and Lex realized that it was speaking to Clark in a language that was so incredibly foreign that it could only be alien. Clark placed his hand on the ship and answered back in the same strange language. It was almost surreal. If Clark and the ship hadn't convinced him of the truth of Clark's origins already, this strange conversation would have. It sent a shiver up Lex's spine.
A beam of light shot out of the ship and formed into a man. A man that looked an awful lot like Clark, except older. He had the same black hair, and the same green eyes. Lex was pretty certain that this was Clark's biological father. He started speaking to Clark and Clark again answered him in the strange language. Lex was almost certain that he heard his own name somewhere in the exchange.
"Clark?" Lex asked after a few minutes of their fast exchange in the alien language. It was fascinating, but it was rapidly getting old that Lex had no idea what they were saying. He had the feeling that they were talking about him and he didn't like it.
Clark turned to look at Lex and smiled softly.
"Who or what is that?" Lex nodded towards the man.
"My father, or rather a holographic representation of my father. It's really quite good, has his personality apparently."
"What's he saying?"
"I'm telling him who you are."
"And the language?" Lex asked. He hadn't known that Clark spoke anything other than English.
"Kryptonian," Clark supplied.
"You know it?"
"I spoke it as a child and apparently it was somehow genetically programmed into me so that I would be able to speak with him when the time came."
"It's kind of weird standing here and having no idea what you're saying," Lex complained lightly. He didn't want to make Clark feel badly about it.
Clark nodded and blushed softly. Lex had the feeling that maybe he hadn't even realized how discomforting it might have been for Lex. "English, Father," Clark requested.
The man looked annoyed, but only slightly. Lex was almost surprised to find that the computer, or whatever was generating the hologram, actually knew the language when he started speaking in clear unaccented English a few seconds later.
"Good day, Lex of the family Luthor, bonded mate of my son Kal-El. I am Jor-El of the planet Krypton," the man said to Lex.
Lex was so stunned to be greeted in such a way that he almost didn't know what to say. "Hello." He almost stepped forward to shake the man's hand before remembering at the last moment that he wasn't real and that he very likely didn't have a solid form.
"Wait, wait," he turned to face Clark again, "bonded mate?" he asked. It had just hit him exactly what the man had said. He could have understood mate or partner or any number of other titles, but 'bonded mate'? That implied something that Lex didn't know about.
"I...," Clark started but trailed off. He looked really uncomfortable and Lex had a good feeling that he wasn't going to like the explanation of this one, whatever it was.
"My son hasn't told you?" Jor-El asked with a hint of amusement in his voice. "We of Krypton bond to our mates for life as Clark has bonded to you. He will be able to love no other as long as you are alive."
"Is this true?" Lex demanded of Clark.
Clark looked down and scuffed his feet. It would have been endearing if the situation hadn't been so serious. "Umm, yeah."
"We're bonded in some way?" Lex continued. He liked this less and less the more he knew about it.
"You do not suffer the same fate, Lex of the family Luthor, because you are not Kryptonian. You will never be able to complete the bond with my son, and yet he is bound to you just as tightly as if he had been able to take a Kryptonian mate."
"I don't know what to say," Lex eventually said and looked at Clark to find some hint as to how he was supposed to be taking this news. On one level, he was thrilled to learn that Clark would always be with him, but on another level he worried that Clark would come to hate him because Lex would never be able to give him his freedom. Additionally, what if someday Lex himself decided that it was time to move on? It wasn't likely, but it could happen. How could he live with leaving Clark knowing that the other man would never find happiness with anyone else?
"It is the way of our people," Jor-El supplied. "It cannot be undone."
"I'm sorry, but I can't say that I mind it too much. I love you, Lex, and I always want to be with you," Clark told Lex. He stepped forward and placed his hand on Lex's arm. "Please don't hate me," he pleaded.
"Hate you?" Lex asked. "I don't hate you, Clark. I am worried that you might feel trapped in this enforced relationship, though." He reached up and placed his own hand on the side of Clark's face.
"I love you, Lex," Clark assured his mate. "I would never feel trapped with you."
Lex smiled and leaned in to kiss Clark. It was deep and passionate. It would have felt strange kissing like this in front of Clark's other father, but Jor-El wasn't really there and he didn't say anything to them. He simply waited until they were finished.
Lex turned back to face Clark's father and asked the question he'd been dying to ask since they'd entered the storm cellar and Lex had become certain that Clark wasn't simply taking him for a ride. "Your people were a space-faring race?"
"We were," Jor-El confirmed with a nod.
"For how long?"
The man seemed to think for a moment and then nodded. "For approximately ten of your centuries. We ruled an empire, but eventually it gave way to a new order. An ancient enemy defeated us in battle and destroyed our planet. What is left of our people is scattered over a hundred different planets."
"So Clark isn't the last of your people?"
"No," the man confirmed, "but he is the only Kryptonian on this planet. From what information I have been able to gather about your technology, it is unlikely that he will ever be able to leave and join the rest of our people."
"That's what I'd like to talk to you about," Lex supplied. Space travel was almost as exciting as time travel, and if it would allow Clark to be reunited with his people then there was nothing that Lex wanted more. He couldn't even imagine how lonely it must have been for Clark knowing that there was no one like him on the entire planet.
"Lex is a physicist like you, Father," Clark supplied.
Lex's eyebrow rose. It just kept getting better and better here. Clark had a ship from an alien planet. The hologram inside knew about their technology and was a physicist. It was like Lex's dream come true.
The man nodded and looked directly at Lex. "Intelligence is always a good quality in a mate."
Lex nodded back, but didn't know how to respond to that. "I would like to speak with you about your technology. Can I do that?"
"Yes," Jor-El supplied. "What do you want to know?"
Clark sighed and placed his hand on Lex's arm. "Not tonight, Lex. I'm tired. I just wanted you to meet him. We can come back sometime soon."
Lex didn't want to leave, but he understood that Clark didn't want to stay there the entire night. It had been a long day. Lex nodded his acceptance of Clark's suggestion. "Can I come and see you on my own?" Lex asked Jor-El. It wasn't that he didn't want to come with Clark, but he wanted to be able to come wherever he wanted to. And some of the stuff that he wanted to ask, he didn't really want to do in front of Clark. He didn't want to get the other man's hopes up too high before he was sure of anything.
"Clark can set the ship so that it will activate upon your presence."
"There is so much I want to know," Lex said.
"I will tell you what I can, Lex of the family Luthor," Jor-El promised and bowed slightly to Lex.
"Is that okay with you?" Lex asked Clark.
"Yeah," Clark conceded with a shrug. "You're stuck with me. My ship is your ship."
Lex smiled. Being with Clark was the best decision he ever could have made.
***_***
*May 28, 2007*
Lex's phone was ringing. It had rung twice in the last half an hour. Whoever was calling obviously wanted to get hold of him, and pretty badly at that. He sighed, apologized to the man he was speaking with, and finally answered the caller.
"What?" he asked testily.
"Lex?"
"Clark," Lex returned in a softer voice. "Sorry about that. What can I do for you?"
"Where are you?"
Lex looked around himself, took in the storm cellar, the space ship and the sight of Clark's Kryptonian father. He wasn't sure that he was really ready to admit to his boyfriend that he had run off to Smallville to talk to the man so soon. "I'm doing some research. Do you need something?" It was strange that Clark was calling him in the middle of the day on a Monday. He usually worked Mondays and it was rare that Clark would call from his job.
"Do you know where *I* am, Lex?" Clark asked. He sounded irritated and Lex tried to remember what on Earth it was that he might have forgotten that could have put Clark into that mood.
"Work?" Lex guessed. He really hoped that was the case.
"Lex," Clark sighed. "I'm at the penthouse. I'm supposed to be moving in today. Did you completely forget?"
He actually had completely forgotten. "I'm sorry," Lex apologized. "I just got busy and it slipped my mind."
"Well come home. You're supposed to help me decide where to put this stuff," Clark demanded. Lex was sure his boyfriend was irritated now. He would never normally have been so short with anyone.
"I can't. Not right away anyhow."
"Why not?"
"I'm three hours from Metropolis."
Clark paused before speaking again. "You're in Smallville, aren't you?" he eventually asked.
"Yes," Lex admitted. "I'll be back as soon as I can."
"I'll be waiting," Clark said shortly and terminated the call.
Lex looked at the phone for a moment before placing it back into his pocket. Clark was annoyed and Lex wasn't sure if it was because Lex had forgotten that he was moving in that day or because he had come out to see Clark's father so soon after his last visit. It was probably a bit of both, if Lex was going to be entirely truthful about it.
"I'm sorry, Jor-El," Lex addressed the hologram of his lover's father, "we're going to have to continue this later."
The man bowed slightly and then disappeared. Lex retrieved that key and the tablet from the ship and headed home as quickly as possible.
***_***
*January 26, 2008*
"Clark," his mom exclaimed as she opened the front door and saw her son standing on the porch.
Clark smiled up to her and tried not to look as upset as he felt. He hadn't thought that he would be out here visiting his parents that night, but there wasn't really anywhere else for him to go. Lex had buried himself in his work and his lab again. They'd moved the spaceship into Lex's lab a couple of months before, and since then prying Lex out of the place had been almost impossible. his mom had turned out to be right. Lex was obsessed and it hurt so badly to know that Clark was second best to his work. He didn't know what to do, though. He needed to make this relationship work because of the bond, but he had to admit that without it he might have already walked away.
"Hi, Mom," Clark greeted her and stepped towards the inside of the house. His mom moved backwards so that he could enter.
"Is Lex with you?" she asked. She seemed confused and more than a little concerned. She tried to look behind Clark to see if Lex was still out in the yard.
"No," Clark told her. "I'm here by myself."
"Honey?"
"I know," Clark sighed. "He's working."
"But it's your birthday," she protested.
"I don't think he even noticed this year. You're right, Mom. Lex is obsessed with his work. It's been bad since he graduated and it's only gotten worse since November when we moved the ship to his lab. Now he's there all the time. I barely see him anymore."
"Ah, sweetie," Martha said with sympathy in her voice. "Come in and sit down." She ushered him inside and pushed Clark towards one of the couches in the living room. She closed the door behind him and moved to join him on the couch.
"I'm just so unhappy lately," Clark said softly when his mom sat down next to him.
"Have you talked to Lex about this?"
"I... I've tried, but he doesn't seem to listen. He always tells me that it will get better, and it does for a while, but then he always goes back to his old habits. He stays at the lab so late. By the time he gets home I'm usually asleep."
"Ah, Clark."
"We never do anything together. I don't think he loves me anymore, Mom," Clark said with a quiver in his voice. He felt like he was on the verge of tears. "Sometimes I just want to leave, but I know that I can't. I can't leave because no matter what I do, I'll leave my heart there with him. I love him so much. This isn't fair."
His mom pulled him into her arms and just held him. "I know this is hard, Clark. There's got to be some way for you to get through to him, because you're right. With this bond, you're always going to love him. This is why I was always so worried about it."
"I never thought it would be like this, Mom," Clark said with a soft sniffle.
"I know, Clark. No one ever thinks that they'll have problems in their marriage, but it happens to almost everyone. That's why you need to speak with him. I know you love him and I know that he loves you too. That's more than a lot of people have. There has to be some way that you can work this out."
"I'm so tired."
"I know. Do you want to spend the night here?"
"Can I?"
"Of course," Martha told her son. "You'll always be welcome here, no matter what."
"What about Dad?"
"Dad will always love you, Clark. He just doesn't always agree with the choices that you make in your life and he's stubborn. Reminds me of someone else I know," she commented with a fond look.
Clark nodded slowly. "Thanks, Mom," he said and hugged her tightly.
"I'll always love you, Clark."
"Me too, Mom," Clark returned. He needed to talk to Lex and work this out. There weren't a lot of other alternatives. He couldn't very well leave Lex, could he?
The two of them were standing inside the Kent's storm cellar looking at what had to be Clark's ship. It was small and kind of oblong with a raised circular part in the center. Lex assumed the circular part was where baby Clark would have been placed to make his journey to Earth. And didn't that all just sound too unbelievable to be true?
Lex was still cold and shivering slightly from the trip out to the farm. Traveling at Clark's speed always made him feel like that, even when he was wearing two layers and a heavy jacket like he was then. He wrapped his arms around himself to try and help warm up.
"Well, this is it," Clark said and gestured down at the ship sitting on the floor.
Lex stepped forward and ran his fingers over the ship. It was smooth and surprisingly warm to his touch. Normal metal wouldn't feel like that, not in the middle of a May night in Kansas. He continued to trail his fingers along the surface of the ship, moving around it until he came to a small octagonal depression in the hull. His fingers slipped inside. It looked so familiar and suddenly the color and texture of the metal seemed familiar to Lex as well. His eyes snapped up and he turned to look directly at Clark.
"Yes, your paperweight," Clark confirmed and produced the small octagonal piece of metal that had once sat on Lex's desk before the tornado that had ripped through the town in 2002.
"What is it?" Lex asked and nodded at the piece of metal Clark was holding.
"A key," Clark told him.
He walked over to the ship and stood next to Lex. Lex could feel himself holding his breath, and slowly let it go. He didn't know what to expect here. What would the ship do when Clark turned it on? Lex couldn't even imagine. Clark reached out and placed the small piece of metal into its hole. Lex watched as the 'key' seemed to melt and become part of the ship. Then the whole thing rose off the ground, and started to hum and glow softly.
"Does it always do that?"
"Always," Clark assured him with a nod.
A second slot next to the key slid open. Lex looked up at Clark, curious as to what was happening, but Clark was already moving across the cellar. He grabbed another piece of metal off one of the shelves and came back over to where Lex was standing. This piece was rectangular and had strange markings across its face. Clark slid it into the slot and it melted into the ship in the same way that the key had.
Suddenly the ship was making noises that sounded like speech and Lex realized that it was speaking to Clark in a language that was so incredibly foreign that it could only be alien. Clark placed his hand on the ship and answered back in the same strange language. It was almost surreal. If Clark and the ship hadn't convinced him of the truth of Clark's origins already, this strange conversation would have. It sent a shiver up Lex's spine.
A beam of light shot out of the ship and formed into a man. A man that looked an awful lot like Clark, except older. He had the same black hair, and the same green eyes. Lex was pretty certain that this was Clark's biological father. He started speaking to Clark and Clark again answered him in the strange language. Lex was almost certain that he heard his own name somewhere in the exchange.
"Clark?" Lex asked after a few minutes of their fast exchange in the alien language. It was fascinating, but it was rapidly getting old that Lex had no idea what they were saying. He had the feeling that they were talking about him and he didn't like it.
Clark turned to look at Lex and smiled softly.
"Who or what is that?" Lex nodded towards the man.
"My father, or rather a holographic representation of my father. It's really quite good, has his personality apparently."
"What's he saying?"
"I'm telling him who you are."
"And the language?" Lex asked. He hadn't known that Clark spoke anything other than English.
"Kryptonian," Clark supplied.
"You know it?"
"I spoke it as a child and apparently it was somehow genetically programmed into me so that I would be able to speak with him when the time came."
"It's kind of weird standing here and having no idea what you're saying," Lex complained lightly. He didn't want to make Clark feel badly about it.
Clark nodded and blushed softly. Lex had the feeling that maybe he hadn't even realized how discomforting it might have been for Lex. "English, Father," Clark requested.
The man looked annoyed, but only slightly. Lex was almost surprised to find that the computer, or whatever was generating the hologram, actually knew the language when he started speaking in clear unaccented English a few seconds later.
"Good day, Lex of the family Luthor, bonded mate of my son Kal-El. I am Jor-El of the planet Krypton," the man said to Lex.
Lex was so stunned to be greeted in such a way that he almost didn't know what to say. "Hello." He almost stepped forward to shake the man's hand before remembering at the last moment that he wasn't real and that he very likely didn't have a solid form.
"Wait, wait," he turned to face Clark again, "bonded mate?" he asked. It had just hit him exactly what the man had said. He could have understood mate or partner or any number of other titles, but 'bonded mate'? That implied something that Lex didn't know about.
"I...," Clark started but trailed off. He looked really uncomfortable and Lex had a good feeling that he wasn't going to like the explanation of this one, whatever it was.
"My son hasn't told you?" Jor-El asked with a hint of amusement in his voice. "We of Krypton bond to our mates for life as Clark has bonded to you. He will be able to love no other as long as you are alive."
"Is this true?" Lex demanded of Clark.
Clark looked down and scuffed his feet. It would have been endearing if the situation hadn't been so serious. "Umm, yeah."
"We're bonded in some way?" Lex continued. He liked this less and less the more he knew about it.
"You do not suffer the same fate, Lex of the family Luthor, because you are not Kryptonian. You will never be able to complete the bond with my son, and yet he is bound to you just as tightly as if he had been able to take a Kryptonian mate."
"I don't know what to say," Lex eventually said and looked at Clark to find some hint as to how he was supposed to be taking this news. On one level, he was thrilled to learn that Clark would always be with him, but on another level he worried that Clark would come to hate him because Lex would never be able to give him his freedom. Additionally, what if someday Lex himself decided that it was time to move on? It wasn't likely, but it could happen. How could he live with leaving Clark knowing that the other man would never find happiness with anyone else?
"It is the way of our people," Jor-El supplied. "It cannot be undone."
"I'm sorry, but I can't say that I mind it too much. I love you, Lex, and I always want to be with you," Clark told Lex. He stepped forward and placed his hand on Lex's arm. "Please don't hate me," he pleaded.
"Hate you?" Lex asked. "I don't hate you, Clark. I am worried that you might feel trapped in this enforced relationship, though." He reached up and placed his own hand on the side of Clark's face.
"I love you, Lex," Clark assured his mate. "I would never feel trapped with you."
Lex smiled and leaned in to kiss Clark. It was deep and passionate. It would have felt strange kissing like this in front of Clark's other father, but Jor-El wasn't really there and he didn't say anything to them. He simply waited until they were finished.
Lex turned back to face Clark's father and asked the question he'd been dying to ask since they'd entered the storm cellar and Lex had become certain that Clark wasn't simply taking him for a ride. "Your people were a space-faring race?"
"We were," Jor-El confirmed with a nod.
"For how long?"
The man seemed to think for a moment and then nodded. "For approximately ten of your centuries. We ruled an empire, but eventually it gave way to a new order. An ancient enemy defeated us in battle and destroyed our planet. What is left of our people is scattered over a hundred different planets."
"So Clark isn't the last of your people?"
"No," the man confirmed, "but he is the only Kryptonian on this planet. From what information I have been able to gather about your technology, it is unlikely that he will ever be able to leave and join the rest of our people."
"That's what I'd like to talk to you about," Lex supplied. Space travel was almost as exciting as time travel, and if it would allow Clark to be reunited with his people then there was nothing that Lex wanted more. He couldn't even imagine how lonely it must have been for Clark knowing that there was no one like him on the entire planet.
"Lex is a physicist like you, Father," Clark supplied.
Lex's eyebrow rose. It just kept getting better and better here. Clark had a ship from an alien planet. The hologram inside knew about their technology and was a physicist. It was like Lex's dream come true.
The man nodded and looked directly at Lex. "Intelligence is always a good quality in a mate."
Lex nodded back, but didn't know how to respond to that. "I would like to speak with you about your technology. Can I do that?"
"Yes," Jor-El supplied. "What do you want to know?"
Clark sighed and placed his hand on Lex's arm. "Not tonight, Lex. I'm tired. I just wanted you to meet him. We can come back sometime soon."
Lex didn't want to leave, but he understood that Clark didn't want to stay there the entire night. It had been a long day. Lex nodded his acceptance of Clark's suggestion. "Can I come and see you on my own?" Lex asked Jor-El. It wasn't that he didn't want to come with Clark, but he wanted to be able to come wherever he wanted to. And some of the stuff that he wanted to ask, he didn't really want to do in front of Clark. He didn't want to get the other man's hopes up too high before he was sure of anything.
"Clark can set the ship so that it will activate upon your presence."
"There is so much I want to know," Lex said.
"I will tell you what I can, Lex of the family Luthor," Jor-El promised and bowed slightly to Lex.
"Is that okay with you?" Lex asked Clark.
"Yeah," Clark conceded with a shrug. "You're stuck with me. My ship is your ship."
Lex smiled. Being with Clark was the best decision he ever could have made.
***_***
*May 28, 2007*
Lex's phone was ringing. It had rung twice in the last half an hour. Whoever was calling obviously wanted to get hold of him, and pretty badly at that. He sighed, apologized to the man he was speaking with, and finally answered the caller.
"What?" he asked testily.
"Lex?"
"Clark," Lex returned in a softer voice. "Sorry about that. What can I do for you?"
"Where are you?"
Lex looked around himself, took in the storm cellar, the space ship and the sight of Clark's Kryptonian father. He wasn't sure that he was really ready to admit to his boyfriend that he had run off to Smallville to talk to the man so soon. "I'm doing some research. Do you need something?" It was strange that Clark was calling him in the middle of the day on a Monday. He usually worked Mondays and it was rare that Clark would call from his job.
"Do you know where *I* am, Lex?" Clark asked. He sounded irritated and Lex tried to remember what on Earth it was that he might have forgotten that could have put Clark into that mood.
"Work?" Lex guessed. He really hoped that was the case.
"Lex," Clark sighed. "I'm at the penthouse. I'm supposed to be moving in today. Did you completely forget?"
He actually had completely forgotten. "I'm sorry," Lex apologized. "I just got busy and it slipped my mind."
"Well come home. You're supposed to help me decide where to put this stuff," Clark demanded. Lex was sure his boyfriend was irritated now. He would never normally have been so short with anyone.
"I can't. Not right away anyhow."
"Why not?"
"I'm three hours from Metropolis."
Clark paused before speaking again. "You're in Smallville, aren't you?" he eventually asked.
"Yes," Lex admitted. "I'll be back as soon as I can."
"I'll be waiting," Clark said shortly and terminated the call.
Lex looked at the phone for a moment before placing it back into his pocket. Clark was annoyed and Lex wasn't sure if it was because Lex had forgotten that he was moving in that day or because he had come out to see Clark's father so soon after his last visit. It was probably a bit of both, if Lex was going to be entirely truthful about it.
"I'm sorry, Jor-El," Lex addressed the hologram of his lover's father, "we're going to have to continue this later."
The man bowed slightly and then disappeared. Lex retrieved that key and the tablet from the ship and headed home as quickly as possible.
***_***
*January 26, 2008*
"Clark," his mom exclaimed as she opened the front door and saw her son standing on the porch.
Clark smiled up to her and tried not to look as upset as he felt. He hadn't thought that he would be out here visiting his parents that night, but there wasn't really anywhere else for him to go. Lex had buried himself in his work and his lab again. They'd moved the spaceship into Lex's lab a couple of months before, and since then prying Lex out of the place had been almost impossible. his mom had turned out to be right. Lex was obsessed and it hurt so badly to know that Clark was second best to his work. He didn't know what to do, though. He needed to make this relationship work because of the bond, but he had to admit that without it he might have already walked away.
"Hi, Mom," Clark greeted her and stepped towards the inside of the house. His mom moved backwards so that he could enter.
"Is Lex with you?" she asked. She seemed confused and more than a little concerned. She tried to look behind Clark to see if Lex was still out in the yard.
"No," Clark told her. "I'm here by myself."
"Honey?"
"I know," Clark sighed. "He's working."
"But it's your birthday," she protested.
"I don't think he even noticed this year. You're right, Mom. Lex is obsessed with his work. It's been bad since he graduated and it's only gotten worse since November when we moved the ship to his lab. Now he's there all the time. I barely see him anymore."
"Ah, sweetie," Martha said with sympathy in her voice. "Come in and sit down." She ushered him inside and pushed Clark towards one of the couches in the living room. She closed the door behind him and moved to join him on the couch.
"I'm just so unhappy lately," Clark said softly when his mom sat down next to him.
"Have you talked to Lex about this?"
"I... I've tried, but he doesn't seem to listen. He always tells me that it will get better, and it does for a while, but then he always goes back to his old habits. He stays at the lab so late. By the time he gets home I'm usually asleep."
"Ah, Clark."
"We never do anything together. I don't think he loves me anymore, Mom," Clark said with a quiver in his voice. He felt like he was on the verge of tears. "Sometimes I just want to leave, but I know that I can't. I can't leave because no matter what I do, I'll leave my heart there with him. I love him so much. This isn't fair."
His mom pulled him into her arms and just held him. "I know this is hard, Clark. There's got to be some way for you to get through to him, because you're right. With this bond, you're always going to love him. This is why I was always so worried about it."
"I never thought it would be like this, Mom," Clark said with a soft sniffle.
"I know, Clark. No one ever thinks that they'll have problems in their marriage, but it happens to almost everyone. That's why you need to speak with him. I know you love him and I know that he loves you too. That's more than a lot of people have. There has to be some way that you can work this out."
"I'm so tired."
"I know. Do you want to spend the night here?"
"Can I?"
"Of course," Martha told her son. "You'll always be welcome here, no matter what."
"What about Dad?"
"Dad will always love you, Clark. He just doesn't always agree with the choices that you make in your life and he's stubborn. Reminds me of someone else I know," she commented with a fond look.
Clark nodded slowly. "Thanks, Mom," he said and hugged her tightly.
"I'll always love you, Clark."
"Me too, Mom," Clark returned. He needed to talk to Lex and work this out. There weren't a lot of other alternatives. He couldn't very well leave Lex, could he?
