Chapter 8

She ran. She wasn't sure who she was running from, but Lex was no where around, and she knew that she'd die if whoever was chasing her were to catch her. Never had she known such fear. Frantic, she glanced over her shoulder, but she didn't see anyone. She knew they were back there, though. Whoever had tried to kill her would try again. Where was Lex? She ran on. She could feel the desperation driving her.

Ahead, she heard the sound of a car. "A road!" she said to herself. "Help me!" Pulling herself up the embankment, she waved to the car, but it didn't stop, nor did the one after it. "Please!" She screamed. She didn't know where she was. She ran after the traffic. Her only hope was to keep moving.

But she was growing tired. Clark. "Clark!" She screamed again. "Clark!" He had to hear her. He always heard her. But even he didn't come. Exhausted, frantic, and losing hope, she collapsed, bursting into tears. Her mind spun, desperately grasping for something that it knew, but couldn't quite remember. Her fear had taken control and refused to relinquish. She suspected only one person could pull her back.

Suddenly, she heard the scuffling of boots on the gravel behind her. Gasping, she began to crawl when she realized her legs wouldn't cooperate. They'd given in to the weakness of terror. But it was too late. Her pursuer had found her. She looked up, but the darkness hid his face. She didn't know who he was.

"No," she begged. "Please, don't kill me."

Her back hit a tree, and she pressed against it. The faceless man before her raised his arm, and moonlight danced off the blade of a long, cruel knife. "You know too much," he growled, then swung down toward her head.

"LEX!" she screamed, hiding her face in her hands. She knew she was going to die. She couldn't control the shaking. "Lex, help me!"

"Harmony," she heard the voice growl. "Harmony!"

"Harmony! Wake up!"

Bolting upright, Harmony screamed. Only then did she realize that she'd already been screaming. Her eyes came into focus, and before her, Lex was grasping her arms. Sobbing, she threw herself at him.

"Shh," Lex soothed, holding her tight. He pulled her into his lap, swinging the bed's extra quilt around her. "It's over, Harm. I'm here now. It's ok."

Still shaking, Harmony finally stopped sobbing. Lex stroked her head gently, kissed her forehead, and began to hum a lullaby. At last, even the shaking stopped. She sat up long enough to press her lips to his for a few moments, then, she wrapped her arms around Lex's body, snuggled deeper and drifted back to sleep. Lex continued to hum until he was sure she was asleep, then carefully stood up and laid her back down. Tucking the blanket around her, he kissed her cheek, then turned to go.

Harmony reached for Lex's hand. "Stay," she whispered groggily, but her grip was surprisingly strong. Lex smiled gently, walked around the bed, and slid under the covers. He moved closer to lay with his chest against her back, carefully wrapping his arm around her. To his surprise, she pressed herself against him, grasping his hand in her own and pulling his arm tighter. She tucked his hand under her face, kissing the back of it as she sighed. With a smile, he relaxed, drifting off to sleep.

The next morning, this was how Jonathan Kent found them.

"Uncle J, you're being crazy!" Harmony chased after Jonathan toward the main house. The yellow paint shone in the morning sun.

"I'm being crazy?" Jonathan whirled. "I just found my niece in the arms of a Luthor, in bed, no less, and you think I'm being crazy? Be glad I'm not homicidal! Yet!"

Harmony tugged her coat on the rest of the way, then continued following Jonathan. When at last she caught up to him, she grabbed his arm. "What's your problem? You think that just because he's a Luthor, he's automatically a bad person?"

"Yes, Harmony, I do!" Jonathan glared at his niece. "You don't know him like I do. You don't know his family like I do. You don't know what his father's done to us, to this town, or what he's gonna do to you when he finds out about this!"

"I'm not a child, Jonathan Kent, and dammit, I know Lex a hell of a lot better than you think!" Harmony blew up. "I know about the room, about the vile, about caves, the Key, the reporter, you name it! I know how Lionel blamed Lex when he shut down Lex's factory. I know how Lionel blackmailed you when he helped you with Clark's adoption, and about the file that used to be in his office, and about all the other nasty things Lionel Luthor has done to Smallville. Lex, too."

Jonathan stared at her. "So why are we even having this conversation? He's a bad person to be involved with. If you know him so well, you should know that."

"If you know him so well, you'd know he's not all that bad," Harmony retaliated. "Just like you're not all that good!"

Just then, Martha stepped out onto the porch. "What's all the shouting about?"

"He's a pighead!" Harmony answered.

"She's blind!" Jonathan retorted.

Martha shook her head. "Get in here. Both of you."

With a sigh, both equally hard-headed Kents headed for the kitchen and Martha's ever-on-target wisdom.

Back at the guest house, Lex was equally angry and hurt, but wasn't shouting so much. He was already in the kitchen over a cup of coffee, sitting with Clark, who was working on a breakfast of bacon and eggs for himself and Lex.

"So Dad found you two in bed together?" Clark grinned at Lex. "That musta gone well."

"Better than I woulda suspected," Lex answered, taking a sip of his coffee. "I'm still alive."

Clark laughed. That was definitely the first thing he noticed when he rushed to the guest house when Jonathan's bellows woke him up. "Means he likes you."

Lex snorted. "Not from what we just heard through the window."

"Dad's just a little difficult, that's all," Clark tried to sooth over Jonathan's words.

"No, Clark," Lex stood up to help Clark. "Your dad doesn't like me. He'll never like me. No matter what I do or how hard I try to prove myself, he'll never trust me."

"Well," Clark tried to choose his words carefully as he scooped eggs onto the plates Lex was holding out. "Can you blame him? I mean, you did kinda do some pretty bad things to us in the past. The whole studying up on me and stuff, you know? I mean, I can forgive you, especially now that Harmony's involved, but Dad, well, he's a little less forgiving."

"No, don't worry about it," Lex waited for Clark to finish putting the bacon on the plates, then took them to the table. "I'm not always the best person to trust. Your dad may be right."

"Don't say that, Lex," Clark chided. "You're my best friend. He should be cooler to you just because of that."

"Thanks, Clark," Lex smiled. Sometimes, it surprised him to know that someone as open and forgiving as Clark could have been raised by someone as closed as Jonathan Kent. "What about your mom, though? How's she gonna feel about all this?"

"Well, she's not the one that caught you in bed with my cousin," Clark smirked as he set two glasses of orange juice on the table.

"And you?"

"I'll admit it, part of me is a little wierded out by it. But I'm not gonna freak out on you like Dad. I can see that Harmony's happy. That's all that matters, right? I assume you're happy, or we probably wouldn't even be talking about it."

"Well, yeah, I am," Lex's mind drifted. "After Helen, I thought I'd never trust anyone again, much less love."

"I wouldn't, either, if my wife crashed me on an island for three months just to take my money," Clark shook his head. "Wait, love?"

"Then I met Harmony," Lex continued, tipping his glass to let Clark know he'd heard him. "She's so strong-willed, so vibrant. She has a will to live like I'd never seen before. At first, I was just curious about this fiery little woman, you know. Just wanted to see what made her tick. Then I was surprised to see that I wanted to find out the hard way, rather than just getting on my computer and looking it up. I actually wanted to spend time with her. After a while, I began to enjoy being around her, then looking forward to it, and now, it's like I actually almost need to be with her. For a long time, I kept telling myself that she was just trying to get to my money, this and that, like Helen. I looked for faults, for flaws, for reasons not to like her, or event to hate her. Sure, there are things about her I don't like, but they just add to her character."

"I guess it didn't help your case that she tried to kill you the first time she saw you and she spent her first month home from the hospital chasing you with Mom's cast-iron skillet," Clark chuckled.

Lex laughed, leaning back in his chair. "No, it didn't. It was times like that that reminded me that she's not like Helen. Helen didn't like me because I stood between her and my money. Harmony just plain didn't like me."

"Or just flat-out hated you," Clark scraped his plate with his fork.

"Thank you," Lex said sarcastically. "Just for that, you do the dishes. By the way, nothing happened last night. She had had a nightmare, so I stayed with her to make sure she'd be ok."

Clark laughed, picking up Lex's empty plate and glass. "I wasn't concerned. If something happened, that's between you guys. I don't wanna know. It's too weird."

Lex just shook his head. He and Clark headed toward the main house to check on Harmony and Jonathan. Lex hoped they'd be able to work out their differences.

Unfortunately, the conversation between Jonathan and Harmony wasn't going as smoothly as the one between Lex and Clark.

"Nothing happened!" Harmony insisted, leaning on the table toward Jonathan, who was standing on the other side.

"Then why was he in bed with you?" Jonathan leaned back toward her.

"Because I'd had a bad dream and freaked out. He was worried. Where were you?" Harmony threw at him.

"That's not fair," Jonathan crossed his arms. "You're the one who wanted to move to the guest house. If you'd stayed in here, none of this would have happened."

"None of this," Harmony straightened. "This had nothing to do with my moving to the guest house. You hate Lex just because he's a Luthor!"

"Yes!" Jonathan admitted, throwing out his arms. "I do! What more reason do I need?

"How about a real one? What's in a name? I'm a Kent. Does that automatically make me a saint?"

"Now just a minute," Jonathan held out his hand. "We all make mistakes, but-"

"But nothing, Uncle J! You just made my point! We all make mistakes."

"His mistakes coulda gotten us all killed," Jonathan insisted.

"My coming here coulda gotten us all killed, and that woulda been one hell of a mistake, now wouldn't it?" Harmony's sarcasm dripped from her voice, but she was tired of trying to get through to her uncle.

Outside, unbeknownst to the arguing Kents, Clark and Lex stood on the porch, eavesdropping through the screen door.

"He's a fool man for thinking his money can protect you from his father, and you're a fool girl for trusting him to protect you!" Jonathan hollered.

"Now Jonathan," Martha attempted to intervene, but was flatly ignored, like she'd been from the beginning. With a sigh, she turned to her sink full of dirty dishes.

"Well, you're sure doing a mighty fine job!" Harmony hollered back. "Why can't you just trust him? I do! Better yet, why can't you trust me? I'm a big girl, Uncle J. I can think for myself, you know."

"Not if your thinking is gonna get you romantic with a Luthor!"

Harmony pounded her fists on the table, making Martha jump. "That is it!" Harmony yelled. "That's enough! If I want to love him, that's my choice, not yours! I'm leaving, and when you decide to pull your head out of your butt, you can call me. Until then, I'll be staying with Lex."

"Oh, no you won't!" Jonathan moved to intercept her. "You will stay right here. You're not going anywhere with Lex Luthor!"

"You're not my father!" Harmony screamed. She turned away so Jonathan wouldn't see the tears. She knew those words hurt him as much as they hurt her. Jonathan had been more of a father to her over the years than her own father had been, in many ways, and for her to imply otherwise was a stab to her own heart as well as to his.

Sure enough, when Harmony picked her coat up off the chair it had been discarded to and walked out the back door into Lex's waiting arms, Jonathan stood frozen in place. With a glance over her shoulder at her uncle and a goodbye to her aunt, she walked with Lex and Clark to Lex's car.

"I'll talk to him," Clark hugged Harmony. "Don't worry."

"Thanks, Little Cuz," Harmony was glad to have a cousin like Clark.

"Clark, I'm sorry," Lex began.

"Lex, don't be," Clark cut him off.. "Just take care of my cousin." He jogged back up to the house.

"You sure about this?" Lex asked Harmony.

"Yeah," Harmony took a deep breath. "I just can't deal with his prejudices anymore."

"Ok," Lex opened the car door for her, then shut it when he was sure she was all the way in. "Let's go. How about some breakfast before we go back to the mansion?" They pulled away from the Kent farm and headed into town.

"Talon, please," Harmony requested. "I wanna talk to Lana."

"Why don't you invite her and Chloe to the mansion for a girl's night?" Lex suggested. "It'll make you feel better. You'll have all day to get settled, then you can have some fun tonight."

Harmony looked over at Lex. "Thanks, Lex. I'll do that."

Lex picked up Harmony's hand and kissed it in response.