Clark held Lex for several minutes, reveling in the sensation of having him close. Finally pulling back, he initiated one last kiss when the living room lights suddenly turned on.

"Oh my God!" Pete stood stiffly in shock at the other end of the living room.

Clark yelped, practically jumping out of Lex's arms. "Pete!"

"You…and you…and him…Oh My God!" His friend bolted out of the room and down the hall.

Clark quickly ran after him, catching up easily and halting Pete's flight by grabbing him by the arm. Looking around to see if anyone could be listening, Clark pulled him into an empty spare bedroom for good measure.

"We need to talk about this Pete!"

He shook his head wildly, still in shock. "No! No we don't man. We really, really don't."

"You can't tell anyone." In his state of panic, Clark tried not to just grab and shake him until he agreed. "You have to promise me you won't tell anyone."

"What are you nuts!" Pete started to regain a little of his composure. "Chloe and Lana…"

"I don't care about Chloe and Lana." Clark cut him off. "You can keep their secrets for them! What can't you keep this one for me?"

"Are you actually accusing me of not keeping your secrets?" Pete looked really angry. His nose was even doing that weird flaring thing.

"No." Clark quickly tried to calm down and do some damage control. "All I'm saying is that I don't want anyone to know about it right now and if our friendship ever meant anything to you, you'll forget what you just saw. Please!"

Pete seemed to think about what he said for a minute while Clark looked at his friend with all the desperation he felt.

"Fine Clark." He agreed.

Clark didn't think his expression was as agreeable as his words.

"I'll keep everyone's secrets." He bit out. "I'll try my damnedest to repress what I just saw. And you can all hang yourselves on your own damn ropes."

Pete stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

Lex's brain, which had more or less shorted out as soon as Clark kissed him, repaired itself and snapped back to attention after the two boys fled from the living room in such haste.

He had kissed Clark. Ok, so Clark had kissed him first, but he was the adult. Clark was an impressionable teenager still in high school.

It was official. Lex was going to hell and Martha, upon hearing about it, was probably going to send him there. She had been clear on "not giving him a free pass to do whatever he wanted as far as Clark's concerned."

Lex had translated that as, "You better take care of him and for god's sake, wait till he's an adult."

Martha had also told him not to push about Clark's secrets, and not only had he tread a thin line earlier where that was concerned, he had given Clark a whole new set of secrets to keep. He loved Clark and this relationship between them couldn't possibly be good for him. Lex had to let him go…except he meant what he told Clark. He couldn't even if he wanted to.

Headache coming back full force, Lex walked down the hall towards his office where he knew he had Tylenol and a bottle of liquor, only to be confronted with a very pissed off Pete Ross storming out of one of the guest rooms and slamming the door.

"He's all yours man and I won't tell a soul. I hope you're finally happy!" Pete sneered at him before moving off towards the media room.

Having no real response to that, Lex resumed walking down the hall and into his office. He rummaged around in his desk drawers, found the red and white bottle, popped open the lid and downed the maximum dosage.

A small knock bounced off the oak of his office door.

Silently, he begged for it not to be Clark. He just wasn't ready to deal with it right then. "Come in."

One of Lana and Chloe's new friends gently opened the door and came into the room. Her name was Joannie…no that was the Goth girl. This was Jamie or Janie…Jenny.

"Jenny." He said tentatively. "How are you?"

"I'm ok." She shyly came forward. "I just wanted to thank you for everything you've done for us in the past couple of weeks."

"No need. It's been my pleasure." He lied.

"No really. You've were great with everything that happened last weekend and today you took time out of your schedule just so a bunch of kids could go have some fun. You've practically given up your whole weekend and I really wanted to thank you for that." Jenny was absolutely sincere. It reminded him that he was a bad, bad man.

"Well, you're welcome." He managed to get out. Lex hadn't done anything for them, not really. He stepped in last weekend because Clark, Chloe and Lana were involved and those football players just really pissed him off.

And the only reason he had taken this little trip with them was because Lana Lang was a little manipulative pink pit bull when she wanted something and he couldn't say no. 'Someday she would make a great society wife.' He thought. 'Any charity lucky enough to get her on it's side would have all the funds that it ever needed.'

"You know you remind me of my father." Jenny commented, still standing in Lex's office. "Not that you're that old or anything, it's just that you're really understanding, courageous and kind of modest about all the nice stuff you do."

He was a bad, bad man. "I'm not all that..."

"But you are." She interrupted him. "It takes a lot of courage for a person in your position to stand up for us. I mean you can tell by the last election that people like us aren't exactly politically correct anymore. Even the people who don't care who we fall in love with or not don't want to get involved and I'm not stupid. I know you're a business man and your image has to stay somewhat conservative, but it's like you value us as people more than you do what everyone else thinks."

Lex tried to ignore all of the girl's misplaced compliments. "You shouldn't have to be thankful someone values you as a person."

"I know, but I am…and I just wanted to say so."

"Is Lex in there?" Lana asked Jenny as she came out of a door at the end of the hall.

"Yeah. I was just thanking him for today." She replied.

"Yep. He's great. I just have to talk to him about some stuff."

"Oh, ok. I'm going to go back in with the others."

"That's probably a good idea. They're talking about ordering pizza, so you should go tell them what you want." Lana told her as she opened the door to Lex's office and went inside.

"Lana." Lex greeted her, setting down the glass of scotch he just poured. "What do you need?"

"I just wanted to talk to you about the sleeping arrangements." She launched into her idea to turn this little overnighter into an opportunity. "I've got it arranged between the three bedrooms and couches so that everyone will be sleeping with someone appropriately platonic, but I can't seem to figure out where to place Clark."

He took a drink and nodded for her to continue.

"We can fit three people into each of the King sized beds in two of the guest rooms, two people in the smaller bedroom and a person each on the couches in the living room and TV room, but that leaves us one short and logically I thought that Clark could just sleep with you."

He choked on his drink, but quickly recovered. "Absolutely not."

"Why not?" She willed herself to look innocently confused.

"I'm suppose to be the chaperone." He answered her. "It wouldn't be appropriate for one of you to sleep in the same bedroom as me."

"But everyone knows that you and Clark are just good friends."

He paled just a little and Lana thought for a moment she might have overplayed her hand.

"It doesn't matter what everyone knows. Certain appearances have to be maintained." Lex stated.

"Well what do you suggest?" She asked him.

"There's another empty bedroom behind the kitchen for the staff." He punched a whole in her strategy. "You can use it."

Admitting defeat for this round, Lana started to head back out the door. "Thanks Lex, that'll work."

Before she could shut the door behind her, Lex called out to her. "Oh and Lana"

"Yes."

"Have everyone up by 8 am. I want to leave Metropolis by 9 at the latest."

"Sure." She pasted on a smile and silently cursed at the missed opportunity.

Chloe woke up before anyone else, found the coffee and settled herself down for a cup while she mentally replayed the odd behavior of her friends from the previous evening.

Pete was fuming about something and not speaking to anyone. Clark went back to sulking, while alternating randomly between anxious, depressed and angry. Lana obviously didn't get her way with something and henceforth pouted for the rest of the night. And Lex…well, he probably did the smart thing by locking himself in his office, avoiding them all and then going to bed early. She envied him.

And as if speaking of the devil, Lex came walking through the kitchen door and headed straight for the coffee. "Is everyone up?"

"I think so." She reverently nursed her caffeinated bliss. "You know, I'm thinking that we shouldn't have teased Clark like we did at the restaurant."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. I think something happened to set him off again. His bad mood made a reappearance again last night after you went to bed."

He stiffened like he knew something about it.

"Did you guys get in a fight last night?" She asked.

"No." He didn't look up at her. "We barely spoke."

It was entirely too early in the morning, but her instincts were screaming at her to wake up and figure out what happened. However Lex was a tougher cookie to crack than Clark, so she opted to change subjects.

"So when are we heading back?"

"The drivers should be ready at 8:45 to take you guys back to your own cars. I'm going to drive one of the cars I have up here back to Smallville myself." He explained, taking the sting out of his comment by smiling. "And I think I'm going to buy you a new car. That thing can't be safe."

She snickered. "Your fear of my car is really starting to worry me."

Lex scoffed. "You're delusion that that piece of metal is actually a car is starting to worry me."

In the middle of their resulting laughter Clark walked in. Chloe took one look at his demeanor and registered that Clark had indeed shifted out of brooding mode and into angrily determined mode.

"What's so funny?" He asked them.

"Oh Lex is just threatening to buy me a new car. His phobia of my baby's going to cause him to drive back all alone." Chloe mocked.

Clark got a wicked look in his eyes. "Oh Lex won't be alone. I can ride back with him."

"That's alright Clark. I'll be alright." Lex countered.

"But I'll miss you." Clark smirked as Lex nearly burnt himself on his coffee. "And besides, Chloe's car is really too small for me."

"You could sit up front." Lex stated.

"And come between two people so obviously meant to be together? Even for a moment…I wouldn't think of it." Clark replied.

Ok, something had definitely happened. Chloe was sure Lex and Clark were carrying on a whole different conversation from the one that they were having and that she just couldn't translate it yet.

"Fine Clark. You want to come with me? Well I think it's time we had a little talk." Lex challenged.

"So do I." He agreed.

"Fine!"

"Fine!" Lex quickly walked out of the kitchen, having gotten the last word in.

"That was interesting." She commented.

Clark seethed and didn't bother to acknowledge her.

"You want to tell me what that was all about?" She asked him.

"No." He snapped at her.

Chloe decided to ignore whatever fit he was having and resume drinking her coffee.

Clark and Lex drove in silence for a whole hour before either one of them spoke.

"You avoided me last night." Clark accused him.

"Yes." Lex admitted.

"And? What you're just going to pretend nothing happened?" He felt hurt and couldn't understand what happened between them since the kiss.

"No. It just that…I don't know how this is suppose to work."

"You said you weren't letting go. You promised."

Lex sighed. "I know and I'm not. I'm just…"

"Freaking out." Clark answered for him.

"A little." Lex agreed. "You're still in high school Clark."

"So this is about you being older than me?"

"Yes. No. It's about me being an adult and you still being a adolescent."

"I'm not a child." He stated defensively.

"But you're not an adult either. You're not ready for this yet."

"I'm ready. I'm going to be eighteen in a couple of months." Clark protested.

"The fact that you think that will solve everything only proves my point Clark."

"I don't understand."

"I know."

"Well can you explain it to me?"

Lex took a deep breath. "You behave and react to things too immaturely to have a serious relationship."

"I act immaturely." Clark said in disbelief.

Lex kept his eyes on the road and didn't respond.

"When do I act immaturely?"

"You jump to conclusions, don't discuss things, take your anger out on people who don't deserve it, react impulsively, judge others by a moral standard you don't apply to yourself and react harshly when others don't live up to your standards. You lie so much it's like second nature to you, you take others for granted and you don't take responsibility for your actions." Lex vented his frustrations.

"If you think that, why do you even want me around?"

"Because I care about you."

"How can you care about me when you think I'm so awful?"

"You're not awful. You're a teenage boy and most of those traits simply come with the territory. For the rest of it I make allowances." Lex shrugged. "You're also compassionate, sometimes generous to a fault, protective of the people you care about, brave and self sacrificing. You're just not an adult yet."

"When have I done those things?"

"You stole my car to bail Pete Ross out of a bad situation and lied about Bart West stealing something that belonged to me."

"I'm sorry I lied to you about the car, that was wrong." Clark conceded. "But I was just trying to protect my friends and do what was best both times. And the manuscript is a map is a part of where I came from. It didn't really belong to you in the first place."

"Funny, I remember paying for it."

"Just because you pay for something doesn't mean it belongs to you."

Lex didn't respond, but instead pulled off the main road onto a smaller one, stopping at the end when they got to an old abandoned scenic turnout. He unbuckled his seat belt and got out of the car.

Clark did the same. "What are you doing?"

"I'm not having this conversation trapped in a car with you while driving." Lex said walking up to one of the fences to lean against it and look out at the view.

Clark waited for him to start speaking.

"You went to my father to keep me from remembering a part of my life that's still lost to me and then lied about what you knew, putting your secret ahead of my welfare and making a decision for me that you had no right to make. I don't even want to get into your accusations, telling me I was becoming as bad as my father one moment and then asking why he hated me so much the next, like I deserve his treatment."

Clark closed his eyes, remembering how he lashed out at him in fear and anger. "I shouldn't have said some of those things. I was scared. I told you before that I was only trying to protect you and I just didn't know what to do."

"But you didn't. You protected yourself and my father."

He could hear the anger and bitterness in Lex's voice.

"Those experimental treatments you were doing were dangerous. Garner almost killed me and he would have just hurt you if you continued to go to him."

"Clark. Do you even know how you ended up in that tank?"

"Lionel told me that he was going to have you put back into Belle Reve again and when I confronted Garner put me in the tank."

"My father and Garner were working together to get you there. He was in on it and he manipulated you."

"You never told me that." He felt stupid for never guessing it.

"You blamed me and wouldn't listen to a word I said. If you weren't lying to me in the first place, you could have warned me about it and we could've discussed it like adults, but you didn't."

"I was trying to protect you. I made a mistake."

There was another brief period of silence between them in which Lex turned around to study Clark.

"You and Chloe's cousin almost got Chloe killed last summer, you know that? You're little hunt for her which included digging up the grave in broad daylight, searching the internet on a computer my father had monitored and Lois Lane's little visit to my father's jail cell are what tipped him off that she was alive in the first place. And you had the nerve to act like I did something wrong by hiding her in the first place."

"I wouldn't have helped Lois if you had told me she was still alive and what was going on." He protested.

"When Clark?" Lex yelled. "When should I have told you? You ran away again, to god knows where because I sure as hell couldn't find you, after declaring that you wanted nothing to do with me. Then you suddenly show up out of the blue and begin your little quest. By that point, I was already too busy trying to fix what you had done to worry about letting you in on everything."

"I didn't run away." Clark said angrily. "It wasn't my choice."

"Really? You had no choice in your disappearance? Considering it coincided with our fight, the evaporation into thin air of the FBI agent investigating you, Pete moving to Wichita and Lana leaving town, I find that hard to believe."

"I didn't want to leave." He insisted. Clark thought about how easily he fell for Jor-El and Kara's trap. "I just trusted the wrong person."

Lex nodded in acceptance. "I'd believe that."

"And while we're bring up the past," Clark said bitterly. "Why don't we discuss some of your mistakes and lies, since we're being all adult about this."

"By all means."

"The Nicodemus flower." Clark simply stated.

Lex winced. "That was three years ago and we found a cure."

"Followed by the truth serum you had in development and the nightmare inducing virus you had produced." He pointed out.

"Those were all accidents. Hamilton wasn't suppose to be working on that project. Chloe was only exposed because she broke onto private property and neither the truth serum nor the virus were my projects to begin with. I was just cleaning up Dad's messes."

"You expect me to believe you had no interest in the effects of the meteorites? That you weren't the least bit responsible for what happened with those experiments when you allowed them to continue the way they did?"

"In hind sight, I should have stopped them." He admitted.

"I know you care about people and wouldn't want to hurt anyone, but it's like you just don't think anything can go wrong if your involved. You want to believe you can be in control of things that are uncontrollable and it's dangerous."

Lex remained silent.

"Things in my life are uncontrollable all the time. It's one chaotic mess after another and I most of the time I can't tell the truth without endangering someone. I don't just do it for myself."

The other man nodded.

"But that's not what scares me most when it comes to you." Clark said shakily. "You have this way of not always seeing people as people."

Lex's head immediately snapped up to look Clark straight in the eye. "When have I done this?"

"Shannon Bell, Eve Andrews and every other person you've used for sex."

He gave a strangled sort of laugh. "Clark, I know I apologized to you about that, but you know what? I did it to keep our friendship, not because I was the bad guy in that situation."

"You don't think you did anything wrong?"

Lex scoffed. "No, I don't. Not everyone agrees with your small town morals. I'm an adult and I've had a sex life. I shouldn't have to apologize for that. I didn't cheat on anyone and I never led any of those women on. They were all consenting adults and they used me as much as I used them. I didn't deserve to have one try to frame me or kill me for it. And I didn't deserve to have my best friend berate me for something that was none of his business when I was the victim."

"You were one of the victims Lex. The may have used you, but it doesn't cancel out the fact that you used them."

"I think if this happened to Lana, you wouldn't react this way."

"Lana wouldn't sleep around." Clark regretted his words right away.

"So I had it coming?"

"No. That's not what I meant." He replied. "In case you don't remember, I did everything I could to clear you."

Lex looked away from Clark. "Well don't stop there. Tell me who else I've used and not treated like a person."

"Me." It hurt Clark to say it out loud to Lex. "You investigated and studied me for three years."

"I know you think it…but I've never thought of you as a science project. That room wasn't about figuring out your secret, I already pretty much knew. It was about being close to you."

"It wasn't just the room." Clark admitted. "Before your father had you committed, you saw me get hit by another car and not get hurt. You stared at me like some kind of freak show and said that 'I wasn't even human'. Like I was something less. You looked at me the exact same way I always feared you would when you found out.."

"I don't remember."

"I know. I wasn't just protecting my secret by lying to you. I didn't want to see you ever look at me that way again."

"I'm sorry I did that. I don't think of you as less than human…I just wasn't myself."

Clark thought about all the times he said that to other people when he had been on red kryptonite and saw how remorsefully Lex was looking at him. "I believe you."

Lex let out a breath he had been holding in and rubbed his eyes with his hand. "I really didn't mean to get into all of this. I wasn't going to just unload on you the way I did."

"I think we needed to clear the air." Clark said, feeling much lighter despite the harsh things they had said to one another. "The point is…actually I don't remember my point."

Lex laughed and Clark smiled.

"You're too young for this relationship."

"So what do you want to do? See other people until you think I'm ready or just give up on it altogether?"

"Neither." Lex looked a little defeated. "We're going to have to take this slowly and be really careful about it."

His stomach leapt and he crossed the distance between them. "Can I kiss you again?"

Lex nodded and Clark leaned in to kiss him.

"So?" Clark asked after they returned to the car. "How did you figure out that I'm an alien?"

"Let's see…I hit you with my car and you bounced off, I've got countless security recordings I've had to erase showing you moving so fast you're a blur, and you've demonstrated exceptional strength on more than one occasion. The Kents just happened to find you on the day of the meteor shower with which other people had reported seeing a UFO. There were the octagonal disc made of extraterrestrial minerals, the strange spores and parasites which didn't come from this planet, but seemed connected directly to you somehow. You get sick around the meteorites faster than anyone else does. And your blood, of course."

Clark groaned, thinking of how obvious it sounded when Lex listed all his evidence out loud.

"You definitely over identify with the story of Numan, which is about a super strong alien arriving with a meteor shower and who can shoot fire from his eyes." Lex paused. "Can you really shoot fire from your eyes?"

Clark blushed. "Only if I think dirty thoughts."

A/N: This chapter turned out surprisingly longer than I anticipated, I hope everyone made it through. But you didn't really think I'd let them go without at least one discussion about their issues, did you? And as always, thank you for the reviews.