The Heart of a King -- Part 6, Cool
By: PepperjackCandy
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Het, Genderbending
Pairing: Lex (sort of)/Clark

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Leo stood to one side, watching Martha cutting firewood with a chainsaw. "Mrs. Kent!" She yelled.

Martha didn't seem to hear her; she just kept sawing.

"Mrs! Kent!" She yelled louder.

Still no response.

Finally, she walked quickly around Martha's other side, until she came into her line of vision. Waving her hands, she yelled, "Mrs. Kent!"

Martha nearly lost her grip on the saw as she startled. She shut the saw down. "I'm so sorry. I didn't hear you. What brings you out here in the middle of the day?"

"I'm here to place an order. I need about thirty artichokes."

"Thirty? That's a lot of artichokes."

"I'm meeting with some local farmers about some financial options. A lot of farms in town are having money trouble."

"Most people aren't looking for more loans."

"I'm offering my role as an investor-help people modernize and expand. This town once grew twenty percent of the corn in the state. Smallville was a heavy hitter. It just lost the drive to stay competitive.

"I'd appreciate hearing your thoughts on my proposal even if you're not interested."

Leo walked up to the Beanery to see Clark looking at Lana through the shop window.

"I'm surprised you haven't made your move yet."

"'Made my move'?" he repeated back incredulously.

"I expected you two to be inseparable by now."

Clark looked down at the ground, clearly uncertain about what to say next.

"You know, I bet if you ask Lana to go with you to the Radiohead concert in Metropolis tomorrow, she'll say yes," Leo pulled two concert tickets out of her pocket.

"And if she says yes... "

"I'll give you the tickets."

"Why are you doing this?"

"You're like the younger brother," she paused, "I never had."

"I don't know. It's just so hard."

Leo restrained from making a rude comment, "The hardest thing in the world is telling the girl you love that you like her. I'll raise the bet. You ask her in the next sixty seconds, you get the tickets, and I'll throw in a round-trip limo ride, starting now." She folded her arms and looked down at her watch.

Clark flashed Leo a hesitant grin before taking the tickets, clearing his throat and going into the Beanery.

"Hey, Lana, you busy?"

"Completely swamped. That's why I'm sitting in a coffee shop attempting to wade through a Russian classic."

"Oh."

"That was a joke, Clark."

"Good. 'Cause there's this thing tomorrow night."

"Define 'thing'."

"It's a concert-Radiohead, to be exact-and I got a couple tickets."

"Wow. Where'd you get these?"

"A friend. Something came up at the last minute, and I was wondering if you'd like to go, you know, with me."

"I'd love to."

"Wait, let me get this straight - you walked in to get a cappuccino and walked out with a date with Lana Lang?"

Clark nodded and smiled, not a little bit smugly, "Yep."

"How did you score the tickets?" Pete asked.

"Leo hooked me up. Actually, Chloe, I have you to thank."

"What did I do?"

"You were right. I just had to get it out there."

This time it was Chloe's turn to be smug. "Well, good. I'm glad."

"Mr. Kent! Mrs. Kent! I'm delighted you decided to come." Leo greeted the Kents as they stepped into her study.

"Your house it's very-"

"Large?"

"To put it mildly."

"Well, if you're going to do something, might as well do it right, right?" She asked.

"I-I'm sorry, are we early?"

"I think we should go."

"Wait, wait, Jonathan, just because no one else came-"

"That is if anyone else was even invited."

"Oh, I don't think Leo would- "

"Actually, I would. I did. But only because I wanted you to have the first chance at this. I know that you're having problems, Mr. Kent. It's a small town."

"So you thought you would just take advantage of my family's problem."

"No. I thought I could help."

"Well, then, I guess we're here to listen."

Lana waited several hours for Clark to return to the Beanery. Eventually, she walked home.

The lights flickered. "Guess the generator works. Power must have blown. Where were we?"

"I believe you were explaining how you could single-handedly save the family farm," Jonathan responded snarkily.

"Jonathan. . . "

"It's okay, Mrs. Kent. I understand your husband's skepticism. Your farm's drowning in debt. We both know it. All I'm trying to do is offer you a hand but you keep slapping it away."

"I learned a long time ago from a man much smarter than myself that you need to solve your own problems."

"Your father lived in different times, and he had his share of help. It seems government subsidies carried him through a number of lean years."

Martha leafed through the file that Leo handed them, "Where did you get these?"

"It's a matter of public record. I'm making a business offer. I had to do my due diligence."

"Why are you so interested in our family, Leo?"

"I told you. I want to make a business investment. I'm giving you the first chance because I care about Clark."

Jonathan bridled at the mention of his son's name. "I don't think we're interested."

"Mr. Kent, Clark's my friend. I want him to have . . . ."

Without another word, Jonathan stood and left the room. Martha threw an apologetic look back at Leo. "I'm sorry."

Leo sighed, "So am I, Mrs. Kent."

Soon after the Kents left, the lights went out and stayed out. Leo sighed and went outside to check the generator.

She soon got it started again, only to be stopped by a blue teenager, "Lovely evening, isn't it, Miss Luthor?"

"Get away from her, Sean!" Clark appeared out of nowhere, interposing himself between Leo and Sean.

"I just want to get warm. And you'll do just as well as she would," Sean advanced on Clark, grabbing his wrist. "In fact, I think you'll do even better."

"Leo, go in the house," Clark told her without breaking eye contact with Sean.

"No," Leo rested one hand tentatively on Clark's shoulder.

"I need you to call 911."

"I'm a second-degree black belt, Clark."

"Just go. Please."

He could almost hear her cross expression and pursed lips as she left.

He wrenched his wrist from Sean's grasp and took off at a lope towards the farther reaches of Leo's property. "Turn yourself in, Sean," he said, hoping to distract him.

"For what? So I can spend the rest of my life in jail?"

"Tell them that you didn't mean to kill Jenna."

"Right. 'Cause I sucked the heat from her accidentally."

"You didn't know, did you?"

"Know what?"

"What it'd do to her."

Finally, they'd reached the place that Clark was heading for.

"Well, since I'd already killed the school nurse that way, I think I did." As Sean spoke, Clark stepped quickly out of the way, tripping him at superspeed. Sean tumbled headfirst into the lake.

The splash he left as he fell froze even as it stretched upwards.

Clark headed back towards the house.

"What happened?" Leo greeted him as he came through the front door.

"I tricked him into falling into the lake out back. The lake froze solid around him. When'll the police get here?"

"I didn't call the police."

"What?"

They heard the sound of a siren approaching and cutting off.

"I called an ambulance. I thought you might need it."

Clark panicked, knowing that the last thing he needed was to be examined by EMTs. "I'm fine. Sean might need help though. If he's still alive out there."

"What are you doing here, anyhow, Clark? Shouldn't you be out on your date with Lana?"

"Oh, my gosh!" Without another thought for the teenager frozen in the lake out back, Clark took off running at a fast human speed past the ambulance and out the gate.

Once he was out of sight, he kicked his speed up and after a quick stop at the Beanery, was standing outside of Nell's house in ten minutes.

He knocked on the door.

"Clark! Come in," Nell said, smiling widely, as she opened the door.

"Is Lana here?"

Nell nodded, "I take it things didn't go well on your date?"

"There . . . Can I just talk to Lana?"

"She's in the kitchen."

Clark walked into the kitchen and Lana looked up from her homework, her eyes red like she'd been crying.

"Are you all right?" He asked softly.

"Chloe must've been in some trouble."

"Nah. I mean, she was, but it's all right now. I was wondering if you'd like to come over tomorrow night. We could rent a movie or do homework or something."

"That'd be nice," she smiled weakly.

"So I'll see you then."

"Yeah. Good night."

"Night."

The next morning, Leo approached Jonathan as he worked in the barn.

"Good morning. I heard you took out a bank loan today."

"Did you?"

"Small town," she reminded him. "Well, anyway, I'm meeting with Tom McGregor tonight. Hopefully he'll have the good sense to let me invest in his operations."

"Tom McGregor?"

She nodded, "I told you. I want to invest in a local farm. I'm just sorry that it's not going to be you." Leaving Jonathan to chew on that, Leo departed.