A/N: The covers I made for the story can be found here: http: me know what you think.

Clark and Lex were on the way back to Smallville from Metropolis – Lex had finally gotten the leg-cast removed and was on crutches. "Lex?" Clark questioned shyly, looking at the man in passenger seat out of the corner of his eye while he down-shifted to pass the car in front of them.

"Yes, Clark?" Lex grinned at the younger man's timidity.

"Do you want to come over for dinner tonight? I talked to Mom about it and she said she'd love for you to join us. That you need to get out of the mansion after spending a full month cooped up in there. Besides, I'd really like it for you to be there."

"Is there some sort of celebration going on at the Kent house that I'm not aware of?"

"Depending on how you count, we've been together for exactly two months today," Clark grinned, hardly keeping his excitement contained. "I think I want to tell my parents."

"How do you think they'll react? Especially your father? I don't really feel like spending another couple of months in a cast after finally getting out of that one."

"I think Mom already suspects. You know my mom. Not much of anything gets by her. She seemed really happy that I asked if you could come over for dinner with us. And, Dad...Well, I can't remember the last time he said something even slightly mean about you. You've been in his good graces since the virus scare – I told him about you refusing to test the antidote on me. I want to tell them that I told you about me, too. I think that will help them understand how I feel about you. Only the people I trust know my secrets."

Lex reached for Clark's hand, threading their fingers together. "I'm ready if you are."

At dinner, Clark had waited patiently for a good opportunity to present itself, but none did. A few moments after Martha served pie for dessert, she noticed that Clark hadn't started on his yet. "Clark, honey, are you feeling okay?"

"I'm in love with Lex," he blurted.

Martha looked somewhat shocked, then immediately panicked when she noticed Jonathan clutching his chest and sputtering. "Jonathan!"

"I'm fine, Martha," Jonathan gasped, holding up a hand. "I just inhaled some pie is all."

"God, Clark. I thought for sure you'd given your father a heart attack," Lex said.

"I thought he had, too," Martha sighed, sagging against her husband. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Considering." Jonathan took a drink of water, then another bite of pie, chewing thoughtfully.

Clark watched his father for a long couple of minutes. He wondered if his admission had been completely ignored. "Dad, I know-"

Jonathan held up the hand not holding a fork to silence Clark. "I'm gonna need some time with this, son."

"I know, but-"

"I need to process this."

"I know. But...keep an open mind. And...know that no matter what you say, my feelings for Lex won't change."

Martha placed a gentle hand on Jonathan's shoulder, eyebrows raised, expression slightly expectant. "We've...thought...that this might happen. So, while I've had time to think about the possibility...that it's actually happened?...well."

Clark's mouth was agape, eyes wide, and Lex voiced the words that weren't materializing themselves on Clark's tongue. "You've given this – us – prior thought?" His disbelief was evident. Also, he was surprised at how calm Mr. Kent seemed to be with the topic. He hadn't expected anything less than a shouting match ending with one of the Kent men sulking away in defeat.

"As a parent, you learn to expect the unexpected."

"Even more so, I'd guess, with a kid like Clark."

Martha and Jonathan exchanged a look, and Clark sighed. "I told him everything. I love him. I trust him. All I want is for you to be able to do the same."

The rest of the evening didn't last long after that. Clark helped his mother with the dishes while Lex sat uncomfortably across the table from Jonathan and the man's quiet scrutiny.

"This would go a lot quicker if you let me use my abilities," Clark said, gently nudging Martha's arm with his elbow.

"You're going to be going off to school soon. I want to spend as much time with you as I can before you go." She looked up at him with expressively wide, blue eyes.

Clark grinned and kissed her cheek. "All you've got to do is call me and I can be here in a matter of minutes. We can do the dishes every night if you want."

Martha flicked the soapy dishrag at him. "As much as I'd like that, you know that you can't be running home every day."

Dishes done, Clark placed a lemony scented hand on Lex's shoulder. "Well, I suppose I better get you home, huh? Probably have the nurses in a tizzy."

Lex's eyebrows arched when Clark said 'tizzy.' "Yeah." He pushed himself up from the table and took his crutches when Clark handed them to him. "Thank you for having me for dinner, Martha, Jonathan."

Martha embraced him lightly. "It was our pleasure, Lex. You should come over more often."

The smile she aimed at him was genuine and Lex smiled back. "I'd like that."

Jonathan took Lex's hand in one of his large, calloused paws, shaking it warmly. "Don't be a stranger, Lex."

"I won't. Goodnight," he said, slightly dazed as Clark led him out the screen door and into the back yard. "Well. That was..."

"Amazing," Clark laughed. "My dad. I can't...Wow."

Lex hobbled towards the passenger side behind Clark. "Any possibility of body-snatchers?" he questioned, only half-serious.

Clark helped him into the car. "Lex," the tone in his voice the same that Martha used when admonishing Clark. "Dad's changed a lot. After all the problems with his heart and everything, he's got this...new outlook on life, you know?"

"Experienced that first-hand," Lex said, threading his fingers through the silky hair at Clark's nape and pulling him down for a kiss.

Clark had already been at Metropolis University for a week when Lex called him. "Lex! Hi. I've missed you. Are you all settled in at LuthorCorp?"

"Best I can be with my father constantly hovering over my shoulder. How's school so far?"

"It's great. I haven't made my bed all week. Mom would kill me, and that kinda makes me feel guilty. But not enough to make it."

Lex could hear the grin in Clark's voice and chuckled. "You want to meet me for lunch?"

"Sure. Where?"

"There's this little outdoor bistro downtown..."

Clark was already at the café and stood from the table when Lex approached. He leaned over the table to kiss Lex like he had a thousand times at home, but Lex stuck a hand out, which Clark dumbly shook while maintaining an awkward smile similar to Lex's. They both sat. "I don't know what I was thinking, asking you to have lunch with me in such a public place. There's media everywhere," he said, never dropping the smile.

"Lex," Clark sighed, finally understanding why Lex was so tense. "I don't care if they know about us."

"That's not what I'm worried about, Clark. Under normal circumstances, I could care less about them. But they're going to get really curious about you. They'll start digging. Clark, we can't have that. I won't let them get that close." Then Lex looked like he'd made a decision, like he'd resigned himself to the last possibility.

"Lex?" Clark wanted to know what was going on in his boyfriend's head, but he didn't want to push too hard.

"Let's just eat lunch. We'll talk about this later."

Their later never came. Clark arrived home on a Friday night – almost two weeks after his lunch with Lex – to have dinner with his parents and found one of Lex's cars in the driveway behind his dad's pickup. Clark focused his hearing on the conversation in the kitchen where his x-ray vision showed his parents and Lex sitting around the table.

"It's in Clark's best interest. I wouldn't even think of doing this if it weren't."

"I have to agree with you, Lex," Martha said.

"It'll break his heart," Jonathan said quietly, something in his voice that Clark didn't think he'd ever heard before.

"It's the only way I can protect him. That article piqued Lionel's interest even more than it already has been in the past. He knows well enough to leave you and Martha be, but I wouldn't put it past him to stoop as low as torturing others for information that he wants."

"You don't think he'd-" Martha stopped herself, sounding as though it were unthinkable.

"He's done it before. Made me forget, though, in that case."

Jonathan sighed. "If it's the only way..."

"I assure you, it's the only one I could come up with."

"...then we're behind you on this."

"Now, how to tell Clark."

"Tell me what?" Clark questioned, in the house in less than a second, fake sunny grin plastered on his face.

"I can't believe you went behind my back to talk to my parents about this," Clark said incredulously as he paced the loft.

Lex sat on the couch, elbows on his knees as he ran his hands over his scalp. "Clark, we agree it's best."

"For who?" Accusatory as he stopped in front of Lex and stared down at him.

"For you. To protect you."

"This isn't about me."

"This is all about you," Lex said, only controlling his anger because one of them had to.

"If it was, you would've asked me, Lex. You wouldn't've just made this type of decision without me. You're talking about erasing me from your fucking memory. Like everything we've been has meant nothing." Clark looked as defeated as he sounded when he finished his short tirade, leaning against the loft window. "Is that all I meant to you? Nothing?"

"Clark..." Lex stood, wooden floorboards creaking as he crossed the small expanse to the hunched figure at the window. He pressed a kiss between Clark's shoulder blades as he wrapped his arms around Clark's waist to intertwine their hands on the sill. "You mean everything to me – you know that," he spoke into Clark's back. "If you didn't, and I'm not sure that would ever be a possibility, do you think I'd go through so much trouble to keep you safe? It's going to be me forgetting everything, you'll remember. But this is only temporary – it's reversible."

"What's the point, though?"

"I can't let my father find out about you and make you some sort of experiment. I could never live with myself if that happened."

"Suppose he finds out anyway – some other way? What then? You won't remember us at all and I won't ever be there to remind you. What then, Lex?" Clark turned in Lex's arms to look down at him.

"He won't. He won't bother your family-"

"How do you know?"

"Because he's infatuated with your mother. I don't think he could ever bring her harm intentionally."

"But he can hurt you."

"That's what we're trying to avoid with this, Clark."

"I don't like it."

"Neither do I. But it's necessary to keep your secret safe."

"When?" He could feel the familiar burning in the back of his throat.

"In a couple of days."

"For how long?" Followed by a deep breath.

"I don't know. Until my father is no longer a threat."

"That could be years." Clark dropped his head against Lex's shoulder, unwilling to let his tears fall.

"Will you wait for me?"

"Forever."