Closer

Clark knocked tentatively on the door to Lex's study, not entirely sure if he actually wanted to go in or not. "Come in," Lex answered from the other side. Clark pushed open the heavy door and walked in. Lex was standing up on the second level, with the books, looking down curiously at him. "Hello Clark."

"Hi," Clark smiled awkwardly and walked farther into the study but made no move to join him upstairs, choosing instead to crane his neck back and look up at Lex. Lex was wearing his usual, cool, "I'm-handling-it-just-fine" face, but Clark wasn't fooled.

"I'm glad you're here Clark," Lex told him, making his way over to the stairs and down to the main floor. "I owe you a thank-you Clark. You stopped me from making an enormous mistake." Lex held his hand out but Clark couldn't bring himself to shake it, something was making him feel guilty.

"To be honest Lex, I almost didn't stop her," Clark confessed. "A part of me really didn't want to."

Lex frowned. "I know that we haven't exactly been as close as we used to be Clark—"

"No! That's not why," Clark assured him. "It's just…I know that what she did was wrong, and that she needed to stopped, but a part of me really thinks that you all might have been happier if I had just let it happen."

"Clark that's crazy," Lex shook his head and made a beeline for the bar. He opened a new bottle of scotch and poured himself a glass. "I would never be happy in a marriage that I was tricked into."

"But you were happy, Lex," Clark smiled sadly. "You have no idea what it's like to see the people that you care about get what they've been looking for, and be the one to take that away from them."

"I really wasn't looking for a wife Clark," Lex assured him.

"But you were looking for a brother," Clark countered. "And apparently so was Lucas. You remember the rehearsal dinner, what Lucas said…what Chloe said. Lex she was really smiling for the first time in months! She was Chloe again: living in the world instead of just existing in it. I took all of that away."

Lex looked at him seriously, his grip tightening visibly on the glass in his hand. "Clark, I'm not going to try to pretend that we weren't happy," Lex told him steadily. "We were all…" he trailed off uncomfortably before starting again. "Serena Gilmore gave us a lot of the things that we wanted, but none of us would have wanted them like that. Chloe wants to be happy again, but she needs to get there on her own. You know that given the choice she wouldn't want to give up her freewill for the lies that Serena built. They were just smoke and mirrors Clark: pretty little untruths that she used to keep us from resisting. Chloe and Lucas would never want that. Neither would I."

Clark nodded. "You're right," he admitted. "Lex I'm just scared that a part of you will always resent me for letting you know that it was just smoke and mirrors."

"If it scares you so much Clark, why did you do it in the first place? Why didn't you just let it happen?"

Clark didn't even hesitate. "Because it was wrong," he answered immediately. "If I had stood by and let you believe it I would have been no better than her."

Lex smiled and took another sip of his drink. "Exactly Clark. I would have resented you if you had let her get away with it. I learned a long time ago that you always do the right thing. Don't shatter that illusion too."

The sound of approaching footsteps echoed off of the stone walls, and they both turned to see Chloe enter the study through the same door that Clark had. "Lucas is gone," she told them, shrugging helplessly. "I went up to his room…all of his stuff's gone."

"I didn't really expect him to stick around," Lex walked back over to the bar to refill his drink. Clark couldn't bring himself to look at Chloe, couldn't stand to see the constant morose look on her face, so he studied his shoes. No one seemed to know what to say, and the uncomfortable silence compelled Clark to say something.

"I think I'm going to go," he announced with false enthusiasm. "Farmer's market tomorrow morning…last one of the season…gotta get up early…"

Chloe raised an eyebrow at that and Lex just nodded. "See you later," Clark had to refrain from zipping out of the room.

"Bye," Chloe called just as he was closing the door behind him. Clark sighed deeply and began the long trek to the front door. Feeling the need to hear Chloe say something else, he activated his super hearing while he walked, narrowing in on the study.

"I think I'm going to go to bed," Chloe was saying. "Good night."

"Good night," Lex replied absently. Clark could see him in his mind, toying with his glass of scotch, swishing the amber liquid around thoughtfully. Chloe's footsteps once again echoed in Clark's ears, followed by the telltale creak of the door opening. "Chloe?" Lex called out.

"Yes?"

"Do you believe in love at first sight?" Lex asked her, surprising Clark…and probably Chloe too.

"I- I don't know," Chloe answered. "Do you?"

Clark could almost see Lex smirk, shake his head, and could hear his soft chuckle.

"No."

End