Chapter 7
Time went on, and Harmony's voice returned. Lex gathered the evidence he needed to prove his father had been behind the murder of Joseph Kent. Clark prepared the emergency safety net that Harmony had been planning for the inevitable day that Lex would not be able to save her. Life in Smallville went on oblivious.
The hesitant whispers of romance slowly grew between Lex and Harmony.
One day, as the Smallville sun beat down, Lex suggested he and Harmony go for a dip out at Crater Lake. "It'll be refreshing," he urged.
Harmony rolled her eyes. "Fine. But we're racing. I hate the way you drive."
This time, it was Lex who rolled his eyes. "There's nothing wrong with my driving, Harm."
"Look, Lex," Harmony planted her fists on her hips. "A person can only take so many near-death experiences in a lifetime, and driving with you just pushes the limit!"
"You're just scared!" Lex pushed her teasingly.
Harmony huffed, pushing him back. "Scared! I most certainly am not scared!"
"Ok, we'll race," Lex sneered. "My car against-wait, you don't have a car!" he mocked her.
"Clark's dirt bike!" Harmony laughed in his face, running for the barn.
A moment later, she peeled out of the garage in a scream of gravel, shouting at Lex and jamming the full-size helmet on her head. Lex bolted for his car. "You cheated!" he hollered after her vanishing form as he leapt into the driver's seat of his corvette. Then, he too was gone.
Jonathan and Martha watched the exchange from the kitchen window. "I don't like it," Jonathan shook his head as he took a sip of his coffee. "She's becoming too close to Lex."
"Jonathan," Martha admonished. "You said the same thing about Clark."
"And I've always been right," Jonathan pressed. "Remember the room in the mansion Clark found? And the file on Clark you found in Lionel Luthor's office? And the vial of blood Lex let get away from us? And the Key that keeps finding its way back to the Luthors?"
Martha shook her head. "Not all of that had to do with Lex. Besides, none of that has anything to do with Harmony."
Jonathan sighed. "I think he's just using it as more excuse to be around as much as possible. You know he suspects there's something different about Clark. Remember the reporter from Metropolis that almost exposed Clark? He knew Lex on a personal level. Everything bad that ever happened to us has always in one way or another been tied to the Luthors."
"But our son is friends with the younger Luthor," Martha reminded him. "You cannot forbid him to be friends with the man that is currently sworn to protect his cousin."
"I can try, can't I?" Jonathan asked, but it was a feeble question. "I just don't like it, Martha."
"What don't you like?" Martha put down her dish towel, sitting herself in the chair across from her husband. "The fact that Lex is around all day every day, the fact that he's the one protecting your niece when you can't and he's the one who's gonna figure out what's going on when you can't, or the fact that she's falling in love with a Luthor?"
Jonathan stared at her. She'd done it again. As always, his amazing wife had, in one fell swoop, nailed each and every thought wreaking havoc on his swarming mind. "Yes, yes, yes, and she most certainly is not! Is she?" He dropped his head.
Just the Clark came in the room.
"Mom, I wanna ask you something," he sat down next to her. "Is there something going on between Lex and Harmony?"
Martha smiled, looking at Jonathan, who groaned. "I suspect there is, Clark." She answered, looking back at her son. "Though I think you'll have to ask her.
"Oh," a pause, then "My dirt bike's missing."
"Harmony took it. She's racing Lex to Crater Lake." Jonathan mumble.
Clark stared at the tablecloth for a moment. "I think I'm gonna borrow the truck for a while, Dad. I need to go talk to the girls about this whole Lex and Harmony thing. Maybe they can explain it."
Martha chuckled. To be a teenager again, when such trivial things were the most confusing and complicated issues of all. She sighed to think back on the days when here life was that simple.
Harmony skidded to a stop, staring at the crystal blue waters of Crater Lake. Clark had told her how much he and his friends had enjoyed coming out here as they grew up, and she could see why. It was beautiful, wild, and peaceful. Harmony stared around her at the huge lake, mountains standing guard over the far beach, the distant end of the oval lake too far away to see. The sun, though beating down temperatures above 95 degrees, didn't seem so cruel here.
Until Lex pulled himself from the water, that was. Harmony snarled. "Lex!" She shouted. "How did you get here before me?"
He pointed to the tree line behind her. When she turned around, she saw his silver car hidden in the trees where she hadn't seen it before. "My car's just faster than your bike," he spoke from her elbow, startling her so she jumped.
Her foot caught on a dead branch and she lost her balance. "Whoa!" she threw out her arms to catch herself.
Lex was faster. He swept her up off her feet so that her arm landed across his shoulders. She gasped, staring up at him. For a moment, he looked the part of a child's fantasy champion. "Thanks," she murmured.
Lex looked down at Harmony. He thought he saw in her bright green eyes almost a need for something he couldn't quite place. Probably just my imagination, he thought to himself. "No problem," he smiled softly, setting her down reluctantly. "You ok?" He still had his arm around her waist.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Harmony straightened her shirt, dusted it off, then looked up into Lex's eyes, dropping her hand on his arm. She smiled. She thought she saw, for the briefest of moments, a desire shining deep in the blue. Probably not, she thought ruefully.
They stood together; speaking through their eyes, before Lex finally cleared his throat. "Well, the water feels great," he said. "You can throw your clothes in my car if you want. I'll wait for you on the dock." He stepped away, sliding his hand across her back, then down her arm, and finally squeezing her fingers before letting go of her hand. With a last glance, he trotted down the beach and onto the dock.
Harmony watched him go, her entire body shivering with the tingle of his touch. Am I falling for Lex? She asked herself. She thought about how she'd felt over the past few months. As she'd slowly been recovering, Lex had always been there for her. He'd always encouraged her, always pushed her, and always known when to back off. He'd been a friend and a confidante. In the beginning, when she realized she actually enjoyed having him around, she began to open up to him, and then she began clinging to him. She found he also filled the role of the older brother she never had, just as Jonathan and Martha Kent had quickly filled the roles of the parents that had been stolen from her, and Clark had become the brother of nightmares. Harmony suspected that Lex, however, was beginning to sneak his way past the role of brother and possibly on to something that she wasn't sure she was willing to put into words, even in her thoughts.
Before she knew it, she was sitting in the driver's seat of Lex's Corvette barefoot in her undergarments. She looked toward the dock, where Lex waited. She could see the glare of the sun off of his bald head, and the thought made her laugh out loud. It made her think of an old man. Lex certainly wasn't old. In fact, she thought she found that little scar on his upper lip quite sexy. The way he seemed to be smirking even when he wasn't doing anything at all certainly sent a shiver down her spine. Did that mean love? Harmony was pretty sure it meant like, at least. I'll call Lana and Chloe, she decided as she stood up, closing the car door.
Down at the dock, Lex waited for Harmony to join him. He, too, was thinking about his own feelings. After his betrayal by his ex-wife about a year ago, he was very reluctant to get involved again, but he found himself drawn to Harmony. In the beginning, his interest was purely to find out why his father had arranged for her father to be killed. Since then, he'd stuck around because he found himself looking on this newest Kent almost as a sister, much as he looked on Clark as a younger brother. He wondered, though, if it wasn't possible that he might eventually be able to-
No. He shook the thought from his head. Women have always had ulterior motives. The last time he'd gotten involved with a woman, he'd crashed on an island and been left for dead for 3 months, and when he finally made his way home, it was only to be locked in a mental institution after finding out that his wife had been the one who'd betrayed him. He wasn't going to allow that to happen again. The best way to avoid being betrayed like that again was to simply not allow anyone that close again.
But he knew Harmony was different. Didn't he? He'd been around her all day, every day for months, much longer than he'd known any other woman he'd ever been involved with, and he wasn't even involved with Harmony. He knew Harmony much better than he'd known anyone in his life. He would have found out by now if she were a betrayer. She's not like the others, he insisted to himself. For the first time, he didn't feel like he was trying to convince himself. He smiled, looking out at the lake. Maybe it would be ok to think differently about Harmony after all.
Just then, he heard rustling in the gravel behind him. He turned around, standing up. Harmony smiled at him as she crossed the beach in her undergarments. He stared. He'd always thought she'd grown rather attractive in the months since she'd come to the Kent farm, filling rather nicely into her frame under Martha's nutritional tutelage and Jonathan's rigorous chores that served as excellent workouts. He had no idea how natural and beautiful she was under her clothes, though. Probably how Lana looks to Clark, he later remembered thinking.
"Hey," Harmony, shielded her eyes from the sun. "You gonna get in the water?"
"Um, yeah," Lex shook his head. "Just waiting for you."
"Ok, well, I'm here now," Harmony shrugged. Then she noticed what Lex was wearing. "Clovers?" She laughed. "Did your dad buy your underwear? Because if he did, you know it was out of spite, right?"
"Look, I just grabbed whatever was on top," Lex glared, grabbing at Harmony's arm. "Stop making fun of my shorts. You're in your underwear, too."
"Well, I didn't exactly see a bathing suit in your back seat," Harmony allowed Lex to reach her arm, feigning a trip so she could once again fall into his arms. She could have laughed at herself for her teenage tactic.
As before, he jumped to catch her, also startling himself at his urgency to feel her in his arms again. Then, Harmony turned the tables on him as no one ever has. She planted her small hands on his ribs, kissed his cheek, and deftly shoved him over the side of the dock.
With a cry, he splashed into the lake, sputtering to the surface. "Harmony Marie Kent! That wasn't nice! Or funny."
Harmony was laughing hysterically. "Actually, Lex," she choked. "It was. Funny, anyway." She sat down, dangling her legs over the side of the dock.
Lex considered pulling her off the dock and into the water with him, then decided rather to lean on the dock next to her. "Wanna get in?" he asked.
"Yeah, I suppose," Harmony smiled. She planted her hands on Lex's shoulders, leaping gracefully onto his back. He carried her out deeper into the water where he flipped her over his shoulder onto her back.
"This is nice," Harmony closed her eyes, spreading her arms. The sun was heating her skin, but Lex's touch cooled it.
Lex dragged her slowly across the surface of the lake, dripping water on her exposed stomach. He thought they could stay together like this together forever, but he knew that was impossible. He couldn't remember a time when he had so thoroughly enjoyed himself. Even when he'd been with Helen, his mind was always alert for hidden conspiracies. Somehow, he just knew there was nothing to find with Harmony.
Suddenly, she sat up. "What?" he asked. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing's wrong, silly," Harmony chuckled. "Now it's your turn."
Lex stared at her, one eyebrow raised. "My turn? My turn for what?"
"To relax."
He stood still. She wanted him to relax? To lie back on the water like she'd been?
"Come on," Harmony moved behind him, tugging on his shoulders until finally he relented, positioning himself into a float. She proceeded to glide him across the water just as he had for her.
He found it surprisingly relaxing, just as Harmony suggested. Her hands were soft and gentle on his arms. As his mind began to drift, he realized it didn't drift far. In fact, it stopped on Harmony. He knew he wanted to know everything about her, but he was surprised to realize he wanted to learn about her at her pace, rather than simply delving into his family's vast resources to force his way into her past. The biggest surprise to Lex was that this inner revelation didn't scare or anger him. This afternoon with Harmony had completely changed his thinking about his chances of the possibility of happiness. He smiled as he thought about Harmony.
He didn't know that Harmony had been thinking about him, but she noticed when he smiled. "What are you thinking about, Cute Man?" she asked him, not fully realizing the nickname she'd used. She'd been thinking about the possibility of a future with Lex, too.
"You," Lex answered automatically, not opening his eyes. He didn't catch the nickname right away either. When he did, though, Harmony did, too.
Harmony gasped at her lack of any amount of décor and her complete release of what she was thinking. She leapt back from Lex. Lex jerked, falling into the water. For the second time that day, he found himself sputtering lake water, but he still found it funny.
Harmony was momentarily mortified, but when Lex started laughing, choking as he did, she had to laugh as well.
"Lex!" she grabbed his arms. "You're gonna have to calm down and breath. Apparently you can't laugh and choke at the same time."
Lex grinned, throwing a wave of water over Harmony's head. "If I'm choking, you're gonna join me!"
Harmony gasped, and indeed, she began choking. "That was vindictive, Lex Luthor!"
Impulsively, he grabbed her around the waist, heaving her out of the water and spinning her around. She laughed, throwing her head back as her arms wrapped around Lex's neck. She couldn't remember when she'd last had so much fun, simply for the sake of fun. Still laughing, he gently returned her to her feet, but didn't let her go.
She smiled up at him. "Thanks, Lex," she murmured.
"For what?" he asked.
"For today," she gently touched his cheek. "For everything you've done. For always being there for me."
"It was my pleasure," Lex whispered, lowering his head.
"Mine too," Harmony raised her head, guiding his face with her fingertips.
Then, they kissed. As the water swished gently around their legs, Harmony lost all track of her own thoughts and Lex's heart began beating in a way he hadn't known it ever could. They stayed locked together for what felt like an eternity to both of them.
Neither Lex nor Harmony was aware that Clark stood in the trees beside Lex's car. "Harmony?" Clark whispered. "Lex?"
Lana and Chloe had told him that they had guessed Harmony and Lex were interested in each other. Somehow, though, a part of Clark had hoped that they had been wrong. Lex was his best friend and Harmony was his cousin. He didn't want them together! Though, he had to admit to himself, if he were to choose, he thought that was the pair he'd choose. But for some reason, he still didn't feel totally comfortable with the idea of Lex and Harmony together.
Then it occurred to him that his father was going to be furious. Should I warn him? Clark wondered to himself. He turned away from the scene at the lake, beginning to jog back home. Jonathan Kent had always despised Lex. No matter what good things Lex had done, even the smallest infraction had set him back to the beginning in Jonathan's eyes. Clark had always been able to forgive Lex for wrongdoings, but Jonathan could only bring himself to a grudging acceptance of Lex's presence. Clark wasn't sure what he should do.
His mother would know. Clark nodded. Yes. His mom could always fix problems. She'd know whether or not to tell Clark's dad. Clark figured he was going to have to get used to the idea of his cousin and his best friend being an item, because he was going be happy for her. He'd seen that Lex had been making a concerted effort to make Harmony happy recently, almost even going out of his way at times, and Clark thought that should be encouraged.
"Harmony and Lex," Clark said out loud to himself. He smiled. "It has a nice ring to it. Lex and Harmony. Yeah."
With that, he vanished into a flash, sprinting for home.