Closer

A/N: Like I promised, here is the end of this episode. I didn't actually realize it before, until some of you asked, but I didn't straight out say who had died. I thought I would be obvious who I meant, but when I reread the story again I realized that it was a little vague. Sorry. It's clarified in this chapter. As for episode eight, there are no spoilers at the end of this chapter because I haven't written it yet. Just know that it will be called Celebration and will center around Lex's birthday...hopefully not as angsty as this one ended up being. But hey, Smallville is full of angst so why can't my fics be? Thanks for the reviews!

It always rained at these things. Always. At least at the ones that mattered to him. He knew that he shouldn't care, it shouldn't matter, but family loyalty had been drilled into him years before and it was hard to forget it.

Considering the fact that the man was a criminal, a record number of people had shown up to see Lionel Luthor put into the ground. Most were there for appearances, some of the women shed a tear or two, and some were there to make sure that he was really dead. The Metropolis elite was all there, everyone important in society; and Lex didn't notice a single one of them. He only noticed the people that were important to him.

Lana had called that morning from Paris to offer her condolences, and she actually sounded sorry. The Kent's stood off to one side of the grave, Pete Ross standing with them, listing solemnly to the reverend speak. And Lex stood at the foot of the grave, staring impassively at the monument, Chloe on his left and Lucas on his right. The seven people that meant anything to him, the ones that made him Lex Luthor and didn't let him become Lionel. He was glad that they were there, but he couldn't understand why any of them would bother to show up and pay their respects for a man who had hurt them all so much.

The reverend led the crowd in a prayer, which Lex didn't join in on. He was never one to put faith in a higher power, and even if he was, Lionel didn't deserve a peaceful resting place. The graveyard was a sea of black: coats, umbrellas, and a string of black cars...mostly limos. The reverend wore a white sash around his neck, on top of the black robes. He raised his arms wide, calling amen. Lex didn't repeat it.

"Lionel Luthor was a great business man," the reverend spoke over the falling rain. Lex looked at Martha and Jonathan Kent.

'Lionel Luthor murdered his own parents for money,' he thought bitterly.

"He was a loving husband..."

Lex looked to the monument, to his mother's name. 'He drove his wife insane."

"Lionel Luthor was a proud father..."

Lex looked at his brother. 'Lionel Luthor abandoned, ignored, and tried to kill his sons.'

"He was a supporter of science, and he funded many beneficial programs for medical research..."

Lex looked over at Clark Kent. 'He gambled with his son's life and funded programs that hurt innocent civilians; people like Clark Kent, like Adam Knight.'

"Lionel Luthor cared about each and every one of his employees..."

Lex looked at Chloe. 'Lionel Luthor robbed her of her family and tried to take her life.'

"He was a great man," the reverend finished. "He will be missed." Lex took a deep breath and begged himself to feel something besides contempt for the dead man.

The coffin began to lower into the ground now, and he still didn't feel the pain. Beside him, Lucas averted his eyes, staring at his shoes. Chloe sniffled softly and Lex could make out a small track of tears down her face. Martha Kent cried into a handkerchief and Clark stared back at Lex in concern.

Lex felt nothing.


She found him hidden in his study, lost on the upper level in a sea of bookshelves, a copy of Oedipus Rex in hand. She briefly considered knocking on one of the bookshelves to get his attention, but didn't. He knew she was there.

"You're brother's gone," she informed him. "He just left. I think he was a little disappointed that you didn't see him off."

"He'll get over it," Lex said dryly, setting the book back on the shelf and turning to face her. "Lucas will be back by the end of the month. Now that our father's gone he'll be around for his share of the inheritance."

"It always seems to come back to that doesn't it," she sighed and sat down on one of the leather chairs there.

"Everything comes down to that Chloe, in the end," he told her, letting his hands run along the spines of the books. Machiavelli, Dante, Plato, Marx, Nietzsche...

"Do you think he'll want to join Luthor Corp?" she asked him.

"He might," Lex flipped through a copy of The Prince. "He'll want his shares in the company anyways."

"So he might be around more then?" she tried to sound hopeful but didn't really feel it. Lucas was kind of hard to take.

"He might."

"I suppose it wouldn't hurt to have your brother around," she pushed. "You probably want to get to know him better."

"I think I know Lucas as well as I'm ever going to," he flipped through a copy of Republic now. "Besides. I don't need a brother around."

She shook her head. "You need someone Lex," she insisted. "He's your family."

"He's related to me," Lex corrected. "The last of my family died a long time ago."

"That's grim," she retorted hotly. "Considering that you do actually have a brother out there, willing to leave his life in Edge City."

"Lucas would never move to Smallville, Chloe," Lex sighed and sat down in the chair opposite hers.

"Maybe Metropolis," she suggested. "You have a nice penthouse available, and it has extra room in it."

"Maybe."

The short answers weren't really fooling her, but she knew that he didn't feel like talking. "Well, just think about it," she added sadly. 'Maybe I should just go?'

Lex looked more lifeless than she'd ever seen him, and it terrified her. "Are you okay?" she finally asked.

"Yes."

"You don't look okay," she insisted. "You look..."

"I'm fine," he insisted, not meeting her eyes.

She wanted to scream that he was a liar, that he obviously was not fine, but she didn't. "Good, that's convincing," she snarked lamely. He looked at her now.

"Chloe what do you want me to say?" he asked tiredly. "It's been a long day and I don't really feel like going a round with you right now."

She nodded and sat back quietly. They didn't speak for several minutes and she was beginning to get uncomfortable. Finally he sighed angrily and turned to her. "Why did you cry?" he demanded.

"What?" she asked in surprise.

"At the funeral," he clarified, studying her like she was on trial. "Why did you cry? He was a monster Chloe! He destroyed my family and he murdered yours! So why did you cry for him?"

She felt her throat tighten up. "I didn't," she choked out.

"I saw you!" he insisted. "We all saw!"

"I didn't cry for Lionel," she insisted in return. "It wasn't for him..."

"What?"

"I don't care about him!" she snapped, regretting the words even though they were true and he didn't seem to mind. "He murdered my father and he tried to kill me repeatedly. He can rot for all I care about him! But he was your father Lex, and he died...and I know that a part of you had to be in pain about that."

"I'm fine," he said again.

"You wanted him to love you," she brought up the previously taboo subject...truth hurts. "You may not have liked the man but he was still your father. I knew that you wouldn't let yourself grieve...I didn't cry for him."

Lex averted his eyes again and climbed quickly to his feet. She was surprised when he went back over to the bookshelf and removed one of the books that he'd been flipping through earlier; she'd thought for sure that he was going to leave. He sat back down in his chair and stared down at the book in his hands thoughtfully.

"Do you want me to leave?" she asked timidly, her voice sounding foreign in her own ears. He didn't reply and she took is silence as an affirmative. Resisting the urge to cry, rejected, she climbed to her feet and began to make her way to the stairs.

Her foot was already lowering onto the first step when he answered her, his own voice sounding as foreign as hers had. "No," he met her gaze now when she turned back. "Stay."

Chloe nodded silently and walked back over, this time sitting down in the chair beside his. She read the title of the book, The Prince again. Lex fingered the pages distractedly. She reached out a shaky and uncertain hand and took the book from him, opening it to a random page.

He sat back in his chair and closed his eyes, listening silently. Chloe found her voice, deeper and headier than usual, and began to read.

"...let no one be surprised at the facility with which Alexander was able to hold Asia, and at the difficulties that the others have had..."

End.