A/N: Food is good, right? I've been trying to decide if they should "go" cannibal… I would really hate for my favorites to do so… Hmmm… Well, let's just see what happens… (And that's what should happen with any good story. The characters propel the story forward instead of the writer being some sort of weird taskmaster with a whip…)

And can I just say a little something… I am having the hardest time writing in past tense! Why would that be? It's so frustrating. I write a sentence and then have to fix the verbiage. -sigh- Life just bites sometimes!

Chapter 14

Chloe and Clark meandered down the hallway toward the enormous formal dining room. They were giggling on their way, their attitudes totally at odds with the current situation, but how could they be totally serious? They'd just realized that the feelings they each thought were single-sided were fully returned. How could they not be happy? And why would they want to hurry when the villain of the piece had just "invited" them to dinner?

Pete gazed forlornly after Lana. Now he knew how Clark had felt for allthose years. He thought that Lana had really liked him, but it had probably been Lionel's way to keep him from causing trouble. "'Cause you know I would have," he muttered to himself, drawing a curious glance from Jonathan. He was oblivious to it all and continued. "I woulda' blown this whole operation open if she hadn't distracted me. This is all her fault!" Jonathan just shook his head. Who was he to try and talk a teenager that wasn't his son out of his maudlin thought pattern?

"Food," Martha intoned, a wall lighting up to reveal her lecture area, "has always played a vital role in life's rituals. I know my boys wouldn't be able to start their days off right if I didn't make the effort to have breakfast ready in the mornings. But there are many different types of meals… The breaking of bread… The last meal of the condemned man… and now this. But you know and I know that this meal isn't going to be fun for any but Lionel Luthor and his minions."

Jonathan turned to stare at the spot that was now dark. Was he seeing things? He turned, about to ask Pete if he'd seen it, but decided against it. Like this oblivious teen would have noticed anything besides his own misery!

Double doors were spread wide open to reveal a remodeled dining room. The table was certainly bizarre. It was an odd shape and draped with a cheap white sheet. Names had been set around for each place setting and they reluctantly sat at their assigned places. Chloe was mildly surprised that Lana was sitting at the table. She had previously had a servant type roll, but now she was sitting with the family while Lois and Lex were doing the serving. Life was just really bizarre… Well, at least when it came to trying to figure out Lionel Luthor.

Lionel sat at the head of the table, flanked by Pete and Lana while Jonathan sat opposite him with Clark and Chloe beside him. The two new lovebirds tried to play a little footsy, but both painfully (well, except for Clark) stubbed their toes on the bizarre table in front of them. Out of curiosity, Chloe ducked under the cloth to see what the table was made of. "What are you doing down there, Miss Sullivan?" Lionel barked.

Chloe immediately resurfaced, her face white with shock. She stared at Clark before turning to Lionel. "Oh, I d…dropped m…my napkin…" She tried to smile, but it came out a grimace. Thankfully, Lionel just thought that his shouting had startled her rather than anything else and moved on.

He quickly got to his feet and raised his glass. "To absent friends…"

The group looked around at each other. They obviously hadn't been expecting some sort of wacky toast, but they obediently raised their glasses. "Absent friends," they chorused and took a small sip of the liquid in their glasses. Clark, Chloe and Pete spluttered and choked as an unfamiliar flavor flowed over their tongues and burned the back of their throats. Lionel chuckled, but surprisingly didn't say anything and just sat down.

Lex and Lois entered the room with a huge roast on a platter. Before flopping it down before Lionel, Lex gave his father a look that might as well have spoken his feelings about doing such menial work out loud. As per type, Lionel totally ignored his son and began to cut the meat. The table was totally silent except for the sound of an electronic meat carver.

Chloe looked at Clark and desperately tried to convey something fairly urgent. As Lex and Lois began throwing the meat onto their plates, Chloe's face turned green and she tried to keep the contents of her stomach where they should be. She picked up a fork and began toying with her food, but refused to cut it or place even a sliver in her mouth. Clark looked at her questioningly, but followed her example. Something had to be terrible wrong for her to refuse to eat a little something. He'd been hearing her stomach growl for the last hour so he knew she was hungry.

Jonathan poked at the slice of meat, but decided he didn't want to eat it. It was too rare for his tastes. He liked his roasts pretty well done. He looked at Lionel who was fastidiously digging in and decided to broach the subject most on his mind. "Listen, Luthor. Supposedly we came here to discuss Jason…"

Lana gasped and her cutlery clattered to her plate. "Jason?"

Lionel snapped his head so quickly to glare at Lana that Jonathan thought for a moment that he'd throw it out of alignment. When the girl was effectively quelled, the older man went back to eating. After taking another bite, he smirked. "That's a rather tender subject… Another slice anyone?"

Pete looked up from his meal blankly and then the realization came. He turned bright red and tried to sit there calmly. He couldn't have heard what he'd just thought he'd heard. He looked closely at Lana, whose eyes had filled with tears. She rose quickly and murmured, "Excuse me," before bolting from the room. After the door closed, her wailing could be heard from inside the room, but everyone seemed rather unmoved.

Jonathan looked at his son. "When Jason signed on with the Luthors, I knew he was in with a bad crowd, but there was nothing I could do to stop him. He was seduced by the dark side!"

"Dad!" Clark gasped. It hadn't been very long since one of his supposedly best friends had betrayed him and he was still used to defending Lex to his father.

Lionel just laughed. "Oh, go on, Jonathan. I haven't had a good laugh for awhile."

"What exactly are you implying?" Pete growled, standing up.

Lionel just sneered at him, but his hand moved closer to his carving knife. "That's alright, Pete," Jonathan practically shouted, motioning forhim to sit back down.

"But, Mr. Kent!" Pete looked rebellious, but obeyed his friend's father. It had helped that he had noticed what Lionel had been reaching for and Pete had no illusions about his chances of survival if Lionel decided to finally get rid of him.

Chloe could only stare at the tableau in front of her. It was like she was powerless to say anything. The sight under the tablecloth… She shuddered and veered her mind away from the subject. And then she heard the music and shuddered again. It was surprisingly chipper for such a tense situation…

Jonathan looked directly at Lionel Luthor and began. "From the day he hit town, he was trouble. He was the thorn in my young son's side.Clark tried in vain…"

No one was surprised when Martha appeared and sang, "But he never won her… It was a shame," and then promptly disappeared again.

Jonathan pulled out a book of newspaper clippings and pictures of Clark and began showing it to Chloe. "Clark came home. He was so fried! From the day she came home, what Jason got was a good football team and a job, all right? A load of junk!"

He snapped the book shut as Martha's room lit up again. Chloe wondered how she could stand the lights going on and off like that. She had a few things to say and then the lights would disappear. Was she not important enough to the situation other than extraneous commentary? "He is a low down cheap little punk!"

"Taking Lana Lang for a ride…" Jonathan's eyes narrowed at the empty chair. He'd been willing to understand that she couldn't put up with the secrets that surrounded Clark's life, but to choose that namby-pamby mama's boy…

Everyone in the room stood and started swaying from side to side, doing a little background dancing. "When Jason said he didn't like his mommy, you'd think he was a no good kid. But when she threatened his life… No cash… What a plight…"

Lionel practically purred, "What a guy…"

Chloe wanted to choke on the words, but they came anyway. "Made her cry…"

"And she did," Jonathan intoned gravely.

They all turned to the wall lining the neighboring room that had been lit up with Lana lying on her fluffy pink bed, sobbing her heart out into her pillow. She was holding an 8x10 picture of Jason in her hands and caressing his face with the tip of her finger. "The Luthors always shoved him. I very nearly loved him. I said, hey, listen to me, stay sane and leave those stones alone. But he hopped a plane and left me here alone!" When she tossed herself back on her bed and began sobbing, no one in the other room reacted sympathetically other than perhaps Pete, but whether that was in sympathy for her plight or the realization that he was the rebound guy, no one would ever really know.

Jonathan began smirking as he continued. "But he must have been drawn into something, which made him warn Lana in a note which reads…" Triumphantly, he pulled a piece of paper from his jeans pocket.

Everyone sang, "What's it say, what's it say?" The teens gathered around him quickly to read the note for themselves. Lex and Lois glared at Lionel. Obviously he hadn't been watching young Mr. Teague closely enough and had very nearly overthrown their plans by his cavalier attitude.

Jason's voice sounded and Chloe could have sworn it came from the table. "He's out of his head! Oh, hurry or I may be dead. They mustn't carry out their evil deeds!"

His scream at the end made Chloe shudder again, but it couldn't stop her from joining in the chorus, even if she would have wanted to. She was too tired to fight the irritating and inexplicable song cues. "When Jason said he didn't like his mommy, you'd think he was a no good kid. But when she threatened his life… No cash… What a plight…"

"What a guy!" Lex murmured under his breath.

Clark growled, "Made her cry…"

"And she did," Jonathan nodded.

Chloe hoped briefly that the song was over, but she knew she was just dreaming. Of course in this type of do-wop song they had to repeat the chorus! "When Jason said he didn't like his mommy, you'd think he was a no good kid. But when she threatened his life… No cash. Such a plight."

"What a guy…" Lois warbled.

Chloe rolled her eyes as they rest of them were relegated to true back-up singers. "Woe woe woe…"

"Made her cry…" Pete sniffed. He hadn't always been Lana's number one fan, but to have your boyfriend treat you as second best… especially to try and find something that wasn't actually yours to begin with. But he wasn't surprised that Jason had been revealed as his mother's tool at last.

"Hey, hey, hey…"

Jonathan reached down to the depths of his soul to finish out the song. He'd always loved singing bass. "And she did…"

"Jason!"

Lois laughed softly as Lionel quickly pulled the tablecloth away. Jason was revealed, lying in a glass coffin. Screams sounded all around as Jason looked rather grisly. It looked as if they had been served side o' Jason for dinner…

A/N: That's a gruesome image, isn't it?

Snowbunny3: Don't you worry about not reviewing right away. It's all good... :D

MarkMark261: Thank you so much for the proofing! Although I do have to say that I'm rather proud that it's only one or two a chapter… :D And I'm glad you approved about the song switch. It kinda' worked, but it could have been left out... However, the words came so easily and after that… Well, I couldn't justify not putting them in!