Chapter 6 - Gentleness
Gabe gave Lex a little nod. "Afternoon, boss. Get the reports I sent?"
"On Friday. Yes." Lex waved a hand dismissively. "I've been meaning to speak to you about your position."
Gabe watched Lex's hand wave, and then he looked Lex right in the eyes. "You doing alright, Lex?"
"I'm well. You'll be happy to know that I'm relieving you of your additional duties. I'll be taking over from here," Le said. Gabe meant well, but his heart was soft, and he had nothing resembling the ruthlessness that was required to keep a company afloat in the long term. He was going to have to do a lot of promoting and demoting to get his team to the place he wanted it.
Gabe blinked. "Uh, you sure you're up for that? It's really no trouble, if you want me to continue managing the plant. I know you have a lot on your plate, what with LuthorCorp—"
"It's really not your place to question my business decisions, Gabe."
Gabe's mouth fell open for a moment before he collected himself. "Forgive me. It's just, you don't seem quite yourself, boss."
"Excuse me?"
"Ever since your father passed." Gabe's eyebrows knitted. "You've changed."
Lex chuckled to himself. He'd known that it was only a matter of time before people started to figure out what had happened. He wasn't going to play the nice guy forever. But he had never expected that the first person to notice the change would be Gabe Sullivan. "This is bordering on insubordination."
"Don't get me wrong, Lex, I don't blame you. I think anyone would change in your place. But . . . some of the decisions you're announcing in your staff memos, and some things I've been hearing from the other employees, it's like . . ."
Lex could see him struggling to say what was on his mind—that Lex seemed like an entirely different person since Lionel had died. He breathed in to tell Gabe to clean out his desk when the voice interjected: "You can't fire him. He'll tell the Kents the truth about you."
Lex frowned. He knew his weakness liked Gabe, but it also made a good point—Gabe could absolutely clue in the Kents about what was really going on. He would have thought the weakness might consider it a small price to pay, to protect the Kents. If anything, it seemed to want the Kents to remain in the dark about what had happened.
He took a deep breath, just loud enough so Gabe could hear it. "You're right, Gabe. I'm not myself lately. I'm afraid I've lost my way."
"Don't be so hard on yourself. It's not easy losing a family member, especially when the relationship was complicated."
Lex had to bite back a remark about how that was absolutely none of Gabe's business. "The reason why I'm relieving you of your extra duties is that I want to promote you again," he said. "I'd like for you to be my advisor. Help me put the company back together. How's this for a raise?" Lex wrote a large number on a post-it note and handed it over.
Gabe's eyes widened. "I won't let you down, Lex."
Lex nodded and gave him a light smile. Gabe could be useful after all—having an advisor who was too soft for his own good could help Lex keep up his facade for longer.
As soon as Gabe was gone, Lex closed the door behind him. For the first time since their positions had been reversed, he spoke aloud to his weaker side. "What is it that you want, exactly? I can't figure you out."
It didn't speak. It didn't even feel.
"You don't know what you want, do you?" Lex smirked. "Oh, you know you want to take me over. That much is clear." He began to pace in his office. "But that's not your first priority. You care more about those lying, meddling Kents than anything else."
"And you're the greatest threat to them."
That was probably true. Given the chance, he would happily dissect the alien for parts, as many times as he could—he had a feeling the kid would just keep healing back up. It was for the greater good, after all. "So I'm wrong. Your first priority is to take back over your body. You think that's the best way to protect them."
"Leave me alone."
"Oh, come on!" Lex slammed his hand down on the table as he passed it. "What am I gonna do, if I know what you're planning? Sooner or later you'll slip up and let me know anyway."
It said nothing.
It didn't matter. Lex could figure this out on his own. He continued to pace, thinking it through. "You're letting me get close to your precious Kents. No, not just letting me, you're helping me. Why on earth would you do that, if you think I'm the greatest threat to them?"
He considered for a moment, then he nodded as he realized. Of course. "Because I'm not a threat to them, am I? Not as long as I'm still trying to convince them I'm you. Sure, I'll take a little of Clark's blood here and there . . . but it's nothing you wouldn't have done. You and Clark would do it to save lives, I'm only doing it for the money, but it doesn't matter. As long as they think nothing's changed, they're safe from me. More or less."
Rage filled the corners of his mind to which he'd banished his weaker side. "And I'd kill you if you hurt them!"
His muscles tensed with the anger, but he found it almost amusing. "No. You wouldn't. You don't have the strength. See, all that anger? It fuels me, not you." That's when it hit him. He smiled broadly. "Oh. The Kents fuel you. Their, ah, kindness and gentleness, everything that softens me. Without Martha Kent's damn hugs, you have no chance of coming back."
"And you can't avoid them, if you want to evade their suspicion."
Unfortunately, his weakness was right about that much. He was going to have to soldier through the cloying, saccharine parenting. He was pretty sure he'd survive it. He pulled up his laptop and got to work, laying off employees he didn't need.
When Lex got back to the mansion, Clark was already there, waiting for him in his study.
Lex checked his watch. "What, you run here from school?"
"Yeah. I'm here for my donation."
"Oh, no, no, Clark . . ."
Lex gave him a long stare—if he didn't hesitate, Clark would suspect something. "You sure you want to do this?"
"If it'll help people . . ." Clark shrugged. "How can I turn that down?"
"I spoke to the lab," Lex said. "They're making good use of the blood you gave yesterday."
"So you don't need any more today?"
"Well, not exactly." Lex sat down and waited for Clark to sit beside him. "What they're really looking for is marrow."
"You BASTARD."
Clark frowned. "Marrow? Like, from bones?"
Lex nodded. "I told them it was out of the question, of course. Even for a human—"
"Would it help?"
"Clark, I don't think you understand. I don't know what kind of anesthetic would even work on you, and the needle has to go into your bone—"
"But would it help people?"
"Just because it can help people—"
"How can I turn it down? It's just a little pain, Lex, I'll be fine."
"Your parents would never allow it."
"I'm seventeen. I can make my own choices."
Lex made a show of pausing, then he nodded. "If it becomes too much for you at any time—"
"I'll let you know."
"Then let's take you into one of the guest bedrooms. You'll need to be lying down for this."
"I'm going to kill you. I'm going to drive you to madness, rip my way out of your skull . . ."
Lex had almost come to find the rantings of his weaker side to be amusing. He picked up the materials he needed and led Clark into a guest bedroom, instructing him to remove his shirt and lie on his stomach.
The process of drawing Clark's marrow wasn't nearly as enjoyable as he'd thought at might be. Lex wasn't squeamish about it, of course, and knowing he held that measure of control over the boy who had once lied relentlessly to him was satisfying in its way. But Lex was no sadist, and he took no pleasure in Clark's tears or screams. Meanwhile, his weakness was yelling louder than Clark was, and it filled him with all of the distress it felt.
When everything was over, Lex took the kryptonite medical equipment into another room, stored the marrow for shipment, and went back into let Clark know he could head home.
Clark was still lying on his stomach. The puncture wound in his back where the needle had gone in had healed, but he was still trembling.
Lex's weakness took a break from its stream of cursing to say, "He needs me. Go to him, hold him."
Lex winced. It was one thing to keep his words gentle and kind, and quite another to cuddle with some teenaged kid just because he was in pain. That was where he drew the line. He handed Clark his shirt, and Clark slipped it on with shaky hands, then lay down again.
"NOW. I'll keep you up all night reciting all of Lionel's worst lectures in your head if you don't."
Lex resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He went over to sit on the edge of the bed and put a gentle hand on Clark's shoulder. "Hey. You took that really well."
Clark apparently took that as an invitation. He sat up and threw his arms around Lex.
Lex sighed and wrapped his arms around Clark, patting his back lightly. "It's okay. You're okay. That was really brave."
"Clark, I'm so sorry, I'm so, so sorry . . ."
"I'm sorry, Lex, I—I don't know what's wrong with me."
"No, no, it's a painful procedure. You did great, Clark." Lex's hand came up to squeeze the back of Clark's neck, and for just a split second, Lex thought he was losing control of himself. It had been so absentminded.
Clark relaxed into Lex's embrace. It took a long time for the trembling to stop. Lex was craning his neck to see the clock—it was almost ten full minutes. When it was finally over and Clark let go, Lex insisted on giving him a ride back to the farm; he was in no state to be running or even walking long distances.
It was just as well that Lex was leaving for Russia in the morning. If his other side was right, and being around the Kents could strengthen it, that was the last thing Lex wanted.
