Honesty

Clark entered Lex's office, hesitantly. He was very curious to see what Lex had to say, after he had just met Lionel.

"How come you're always at your office Lex? Don't you have any life whatsoever, outside this company?"

"Hello Clark." Said Lex with a smile. "And to answer your question… This company IS my life Clark. Which is the reason why you are here."

"Really?" asked Clark curious as to what Lex was meaning.

"I'll get straight to the point Clark. I want to turn a new page for this company. I want to take it to the next level. But I have to work on the image of the company first. Which is where you come in…"

"Me? What do I have to do with the image of your company Lex?"

"Actually a whole lot, since you're the one who constantly slams me and everything related to me in your articles, but that's besides the point. I want you to work for me as a middle man."

Clark now was really curious. "Middle man? Between you and who?"

"Superman." Answered Lex with a smile.

"What! Are you serious?" said Clark in amazement.

"Oh yes… Very… I want to turn a new leaf for Luthorcorp. I want to try and set straight all the bad ties of my company, which I must admit are quite a few. But I can't do that alone. That's why I want Superman's help. I want him to help me clear out the vermin. I mean… I acknowledge that not all of the facets of Luthorcorp are clean cut, but you can expect that in such an enormous global organization. Just imagine it Clark… Plus I'll once again be on the side of the angels…" said Lex with a smirk.

Clark was caught by surprise. He never expected to hear something like this from Lex, and now that he did, he wasn't sure if he believed him. "Is this for real, or is it just a way to shed all the bad publicity?"

Lex laughed. "Clark the major source of bad publicity is already in my hands, namely the Daily Planet. Although I must admit that having Superman on my side will do wonders for my international image, even you can see the possibilities for something good and big, don't you? We could usher in a new era, for all the world."

Clark looked at Lex troubled and skeptical. "Why do you want to do this Lex? What do you hope to achieve with this?"

"Recognition and for my name to take the place it deserves in the annals of history. If things keep going the way they are, sure… I'll still be making a lot of money, Luthorcorp will still get bigger, but no matter how much money I donate each year, no matter how mow many foundations I've opened, the world still feels as if I'm the big bad wolf out to devour the world. I now want that to change. I want to finally get the recognition I deserve Clark, and Superman can help me achieve that. As you see I'm being as honest as I can be about my goals… so what do you say? … Will you take my offer to him?"

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Lana was laying in her bed, but sleep kept avoiding her. Many thoughts kept swirling in her mind. She needed to find a job, and now seriously considered taking Lex's offer. She also wondered on whether she should move to Metropolis or not and if she did, would it be a good thing for Laura? And of course her mind also went to Clark Kent.

She then returned abruptly to reality as she heard a soft, barely audible, tap on her window. She got up and approached the window. As she opened it she gasped and almost let out a scream when she saw Superman hovering outside her window.

"Clark what are you doing here? You scared the hell out of me!"

"Sorry… Don't worry nobody saw me… I was extra careful…" said Clark with a sheepish look.

"Well… don't just… hover… out there come in quickly before anyone sees you."

Clark got in her room through the window. "Sorry Lana… if this is a bad time I'll leave…"

"No… it's ok… It's just… you caught me by surprise… I mean… why the uniform? Why not come in through the door?"

"I wasn't sure if you were asleep… and besides I was out flying, to clear my head… it was a bizarre night to say the least."

Lana relaxed a bit, even though the suit still made her feel somewhat uncomfortable. Even in her room she kept worrying that someone might see him there. She went and sat on her bed.

"Anything you want to share?"

Clark looked torn. "I… I'm not sure… I mean I don't want to get you involved in any of this…"

"Clark… knowing what's troubling you, doesn't mean that I'm immediately involved in the affairs that trouble you… unless of course it has something to do with me…" she said softly to him, to try and alleviate his worry.

"Well… now that you mention it, Lex said something about you when we talked."

"You talked to Lex?"

"Yeah… he called me and told me about an offer he wants to make me."

"That's right!" said Lana as she remembered her talk with Lex the other day. "He told me that he wanted to tell you something."

"When did you talk to him?" asked Clark concerned.

"On your mother's funeral, when he came to pay his respects to her. In fact he seemed genuinely worried about you, and then he told me that he was meaning to make you an offer."

"Well he did… but I want you to stay away from him… at least for the time being… Until I figure out what's going on…"

"Stay away from him? Why?"

"Because I still don't know what's going on between him and Lionel and it seems dangerous."

"But Clark… he offered me a job… that I can't ignore… and… "

Clark cut Lana off. "Lana please… just wait for a while… I will get to the bottom of this…"

"I need this job Clark… I mean… it's not like the offers are coming in abundance right now…"

"We'll think of something…" said Clark looking at her pleadingly.

We? He said We? I… it's so simple… yet it sounds so wonderful… we…

"Ok Clark… I'll wait for a little while more…" she said smiling reassuringly to him.

Clark approached her and took hold of her hands, as he looked intensely in her eyes. "Thank you Lana… I… just don't want anything to disrupt you and your daughter's life. I… " as he was looking at her, he felt the urge to kiss her and he didn't fight it.

He leaned closer and kissed her tenderly. Lana was taken by surprise at first, then she responded by kissing him back, but then her brain started working again and screamed to break this off. She broke the kiss and turned away from Clark.

"I… I'm sorry Clark… I …. I don't know… it's…" stammered Lana as she felt her eyes get all misty.

"No Lana… you have nothing to be sorry about… I've been thinking a lot about everything that's happened lately… If there's anyone here who should be sorry, that's me. I'm sorry for many things. I have made many mistakes in my life and I managed to completely mess it up, which is only fair. But unfortunately, I managed to mess up your life too… and for that I will always feel ashamed. The biggest regret of my life is not trusting in you and what we had more. I should have followed my mother's advice and trust you to let you make your own decisions, instead of stupidly trying to do that for you. If I had realized that earlier… things could have been so different for both of us…"

As Clark was pouring his soul, Lana was turned away from him, and she was now crying. Her heart felt pain, joy, relief and regret and her mind was filled with two big questions. "Why" and "what if?".

"I know that it's probably too late to try and make things right, but I want you to know, that everything I did, I honestly thought it was for your own good. And even though I did love Lois, my soul was, is and will always be yours."

With that Clark opened the window and flew out into the night sky.

Lana slowly turned around and stared at the open window with tears in her eyes.

To be continued…