"Now just let me do all the talking." Lana instructed her as they entered the offices of the Daily Planet.

Chloe sighed. "I've had a lot more experience with this than you have. I should be the one to talk to the interviewer."

"How do you have more experience?"

"Lana! I'm a reporter. I run the school newspaper. I had a column at the Daily Planet once."

"But you're never on the other end of it all, are you?" Lana punched the elevator button. "I've actually had more experience getting around your little investigations."

"My little investigations?" She raised her eyebrows. "Do you mind rephrasing that?"

Lana waved her off. "You know what I mean. Besides, I've rehearsed."

"They can tell when it's rehearsed."

Lana pouted.

Chloe huffed. "Fine. You can do it, but be careful not to go off on a tangent or say anything without really thinking about it first."

"I won't." She smiled and before Chloe knew it, Lana kissed her…in an elevator where they were completely alone. Her stomach flipped a little. As the other girl pulled away the elevator doors opened, rescuing her from having to say something.

Lana grabbed her hand and pulled her through the maze of desks where Chloe had once worked, stopping only once they had reached the end of the third row.

"Matt Jones?" Lana asked.

He looked up quickly and then did a double take, right past Lana. "Chloe Sullivan," he stood up, knocking his chair back, and hugged her. Chloe pulled her hand from Lana's and returned the embrace. "How you doing kid?"

"I'm ok."

He pulled back with a smile that shone even from his dark blue eyes. "What are you doing here?"

Lana grabbed her hand back and yanked Chloe next to her. "We're here to give you an interview."

He looked at them questioningly.

"You see…" She started to explain.

Lana cut her off. "Chloe said you were a fair reporter, so we've come to give you our side of the story about last weekend."

Matt still looked hopelessly confused.

"The Lex Luthor Scandal." Chloe elaborated.

"The one about the teenagers up at his penthouse?" Realization dawned upon him. "You're the teenagers?"

"Two of them." Lana answered. "Will you write a story about what we have to say?"

"Yeah, sure." He grabbed some supplies from his desk. "Let's do this somewhere private."

Two days had passed since Lex kicked him out of the castle without so much as a phone call for Clark. He did everything in his power to resist sneaking back in to talk to Lex. The sound of the barn door opening and closing broke him out of his morose daze.

"Dad?" He called out when after a few seconds, no one announced their presence.

"No." Lex's voice answered from the staircase. "I hope you don't mind me stopping by like this, but I wanted to…" Clark speeded over and kissed him soundly, interrupting him in mid-speech. "…see you"

"Why haven't you called?" Oh god, he sounded whiney even to himself.

Lex didn't seem to mind and smiled affectionately up at him. "Do you mind if I come in?"

Clark picked him up from where he stood on the last step, turned around and set him down on the loft floor as an answer.

"I've had a problem with the phone lines being tapped and for a castle, it's been surprisingly crowded at home with my staff and father hovering."

He nodded and then frowned. "What's going on with Lionel?"

"I don't know." Lex withdrew from his arms. "He's acting even stranger and more unpredictable than usual. He claims he's changed."

"He didn't seem different the other day."

"No…but he's been odd. I don't know how else to describe it. Personally, I can throw him farther than I trust him." He made his way over to the desk and lent against it.

"I can throw him a lot farther…" Clark trailed off when he caught a full smile on Lex's lips, brightening his entire face. He smiled back and walked over to stand closer to the other man. "How did you get here? I didn't hear a car drive up."

"I used your truck to sneak out of the castle and blend in with the locals, then parked on the other side of the field and walked across."

"Reporters?"

Lex nodded his head and shifted forward a little.

Clark moved even closer until he could feel gentle puffs of breath on his skin. "I'm glad you came."

"I missed you," he admitted, bringing his right hand up to thread through Clark's hair.

Clark pressed into his touch. Putting one hand on the desk behind Lex, he leaned down until his face touched the other man's and whispered in his ear. "I missed you too."

Lex shifted until their lips brushed. He rested his other hand on Clark's hip, squeezing lightly when their kiss deepened.

A quiet peace, not unlike the moment before their first kiss, settled over Clark. He took the opportunity to memorize the feeling of the other man in his arms. Lex smelled of cologne and something more subtle, something uniquely Lex.

Clark found the firmness of his lips broken only by a thin scar which he couldn't help but lick. He quickly grew addicted to the heat and the smooth feeling of the pale skin that his hands found themselves itching to explore.

He started to pull back when his heat vision activated, only to be startled by someone loudly clearing their throat from behind them.

"Clark, dinner's ready. Why don't you bring Lex down so we can have a little talk?" His mother's voice instructed from the top of the stairs.

Clark went completely still and the burning from behind his eyelids instantly let up.

The interview went fairly well. Lana told the bare minimum of facts and managed to appear only mildly rehearsed. She also made sure to let Matt know how she felt guilty for the mess their little field trip had caused for Lex. The sole snag for Chloe had been Lana's fierce clasp on her hand underneath the table. She felt it was time to revisit Lana's motives in their relationship, but also felt extremely reluctant for the confrontation ahead.

Chloe had gone into the whole situation under the impression that the plan was brought on by an interest in fixing Clark and Lex up. Later, she suspected Lana's problems with Jason had a great deal to do with it, but after the kiss in the elevator and the obvious display of jealousy over Matt, doubts surfaced.

The problem was that she had no one to really talk to about it since nobody knew the truth except for her father and Pete.

Chloe chose the lesser of two evils and dialed the phone from the privacy of her bedroom.

"Hello."

"Hey Pete, it's Chloe. How are you?"

"Fine." He sounded suspicious. "What's up?"

"I…I need to talk?"

"It's blowing up in your face isn't it." He didn't have to sound so smug about it.

"No…well just a little…I think," she admitted.

"I read the Inquisitor. Did they find out?"

"No." Chloe took a deep breath. "It's Lana."

"uh huh," he signaled for her to continue.

"Things have gotten weird. Well…weirder."

"How?"

Chloe hesitated. "I think she might actually like me."

"Like you, like you."

"Yes." She exclaimed. "What? Are we in the fifth grade?"

"I was just clarifying." He had the nerve to laugh. "So why do you think she has the hots for you?"

"It's not funny! She kissed me for no good reason when no one was around and then got all jealous when a guy I know hugged me."

"Are you sure nobody was around?"

"We were alone in an elevator."

He burst into laughter again.

"Pete."

More laughter greeted her.

"Pete!"

"Ok, ok…just give me a second."

She waited patiently.

"Have you talked to her about it?"

"No, and I don't really want to."

"Well that's a good way to get an answer." He replied sarcastically.

"You think I should talk to her about it? What do I say?"

"You're allergic to pink." He giggled.

"Seriously."

"Tell her you're not a lesbian…you're not, are you?"

"I don't think so."

"You don't think so?"

"Well, I've never really tried it out." She twirled the phone cord around her hand and laid down on her bed.

"It's not something you try out."

"How do you know?"

"I just know." He sighed. "Do find other girls attractive?"

"Aesthetically." She admitted. "Have you ever checked another guy out?"

"No. No. No. Absolutely Not."

"So you've never done anything with another guy?"

"What part of those no's did you not get? I'm strictly into girls." He stated vehemently.

"The kissing's kind of hot," she admitted. "I mean it was awkward at first, but now it's just kind of nice."

Pete went silent for a minute. "How much have you two been kissing?"

Chloe felt herself blush. "A few times a day."

"Do you hold hands?"

"Sometimes," she confessed.

"Do you talk about your feelings?"

"We talk about everything."

"Do you miss her when she's not around?"

"A little."

"Oh yeah, you've definitely got yourself confused. You need to break it off and date a guy."

"But…I'm not sure I want to."

He became quiet again.

"Then why are you talking to me? Go talk to Lana."

"What if she isn't really into it and I'm just imagining things?"

"Well, don't just go into the conversation laying it all out." He advised. "Play it cool. Ask her why she kissed you when she didn't need to."

"Thanks Pete"

"You know, I can't believe what's happened since I left. It's all turned upside down. Clark's kissing Lex Luthor and I'm giving you advise on dating Lana." He ranted. "And what happened to all the mutants?"

"I don't know…wait a minute, Clark kissed Lex?" She sat bolt upright in bed.

"Um…I wasn't suppose to say that."

"Well you did. When did this happen? Where? How do you know? Give me the details." She demanded.

Pete groaned, but gave in. "You didn't hear it from me."

"Ok, I didn't hear it from you. Now spit it out."

"I walked in on them at the penthouse. They were going at it pretty well."

"Do they know that you know?" Chloe asked.

"Uh huh. Clark made me swear not to tell anyone, which means that you can't tell him I told you."

"I'll play it cool," she promised. "You're a really good friend."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. Now go talk to your girlfriend."

Clark's protective stance over Lex gave him a warm feeling in his chest. It also unsettled him to think he might need physical protection from Clark's parents.

Truthfully, he was more afraid of Martha than Jonathan.

They exchanged awkward and stiff pleasantries when he entered the house, appearing entirely too civil in Lex's opinion, and proceeded to go about dinner as if nothing happened. Lex started wondering about just how functional the Kents really were under the nuclear family facade.

"So how long have you two been in a relationship?" Martha asked half way through the meal, apparently having tried to lull them into a false sense of security.

Clark froze with his fork in mid-air.

Jonathan continued eating as if he was purposely tuning out the entire conversation.

"Since this weekend." Lex answered for them both.

"Uh huh." She replied, still freakishly calm. "Why weren't we told?"

Clark still looked shell shocked and hopelessly panicked. "I was going to tell you…it's just that it's new."

Lex thought that was a perfectly viable excuse. "Also, with the whole press scandal and my father, it's been a little hectic. I just haven't found the time," he added.

Martha wore an expression which clearly said she knew they wouldn't have said a word until they had to. "Clark's had plenty of time," she said accusingly.

Clark ducked his head, abashed.

"We don't keep secrets from each other in this house." She continued. Lex thought that was a pretty rich statement considering the amount of secrecy which surrounded the Kents. "I'll let it go this time because I know it can be difficult to talk to your parents about this kind of stuff, but there are going to be some rules enforced."

Lex nodded his head.

"First, no more overnight visits until Clark's eighteen." She spoke, looking directly at Clark. "Second, Lex will announce himself when he comes over for a visit. Third, I hope you'll be a little better at keeping this a secret from others because I do not want you to have to deal with the public backlash until absolutely necessary."

"I completely agree." Lex put himself back into the conversation.

Martha redirected her gaze over to him. "Lex, you know I like you." She smiled. "I think of you as one of the family. But if you do anything unacceptable, I'll let Jonathan hurt you."

Clark's father perked up at her last remark and Lex gulped. "I won't," he promised.

"Good." She relaxed a little. "Now, is there anything else that we should know?"

Clark looked a little scared at her question for some reason. "There's um…"

"What?" Martha asked.

"Lex knows."

Jonathan stiffened up. "Knows what?" He looked back and forth between Clark and Lex.

"That I'm…not human."

Jonathan looked like he was thinking of where to hid the body. "You told him?"

"No," Lex answered for Clark. "I guessed."

"I suppose on some level I always figured you'd put all the pieces together, but you've got to understand how dangerous it is for Clark…people like your father would…" Martha trailed off, somewhat panicky.

"I know what my father's capable of, but I think you should know by now that I would do anything to protect Clark."

"Do you think Lionel's figured it out too?" She asked worriedly.

"Unfortunately, yes," he replied. "I've done what I could to neutralize him, but…"

"Short of killing the bastard, there's not much we can do." Jonathan voice held a frightening amount of venom.

"Jonathan!" Martha chastised her husband.

"It's true," Lex admitted. "But I'm not ready to consider that an option."

"You're not seriously talking about killing your father?" Clark exclaimed.

"No, I'm just agreeing with Jonathan that he's a real threat." Lex rubbed his tired eyes and decided to come clean about his suspicions, "I think he's working with someone else on this now…someone even more powerful than him."

"Whoever got him out of jail?" Jonathan asked.

"Yes, and I don't know who it is."

"I don't like this. Is there anyone else who might have guessed about Clark?" Martha asked.

"Chloe," Clark answered. "She pretty much told me that she knows."

"I'm more worried about her safety than what she would do." Lex responded. "I've had security watching the Sullivans since my father got out." He decided not to mention the two women he currently had watching the Kents also. He'd cross that bridge when he had to. "But like Jonathan said, there's not much else we can do."

The Kents nodded in agreement, then the dinner table fell silent.

"Clark, can you help me clear these dishes and get desert?" Martha asked, surprising Lex. No one had yet to finish their dinner. "I think we could all do with a little comfort food."

"Pie?" The dark mood cleared to some extent with Clark's innocently hopeful expression, making Lex smile.

Martha smiled affectionately also, "Yes, pie."

A/N: I know I've been a little slow updating, but RL has speeded up somewhat since the holidays. Barring some unforeseen disaster, I'll try not to make it more than a week in between updates. And once again, a big thanks to all who reviewed