Author's note: Well my dear friends, it's time to finally put my baby to rest. This was my first fan fic, and it's still the most dear to my heart. It has been a wonderful learning experience writing this, as well as a lesson for my heart. To hear that I have touched you with this story, to hear that my Audrey found a way into your heart is a compliment I will always treasure.

Thank you for loving Lex and Audrey as I do, and thank you for allowing me to tell their story to you. :o

Please Note--as you all are aware now, this story is about the events surrounding Lex in Season three. To try to place this storyline within Smallville's timeline, I am bringing this full circle with some text from the episode Delete. I have woven in my own words around Lex's discussion with Dr. Garner, but I wanted to clarify that some of the dialogue are direct quotes. :)

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Epilogue:

Lex recognizes that swagger because he used to have it. It's the swagger of a man who believes he's invincible, who believes he can't be touched. Lex knows just as surely, that swagger makes you a target for someone to flick you off the ant hill. Lionel flicked Lex off of his ant hill, and now it was Lex's turn to do the same to Dr. Garner.

Lex thought Dr. Garner might be difficult, or at the very least a worthy opponent. But, watching him walk out of the Summerholt Neurological Institute just makes Lex think of him as an overconfident ant.

"Mr. Luthor," Garner pauses smugly, "I should have known when young Clark stopped by that you wouldn't be far behind."

If that was his best shot, Lex would have no trouble with him. Did he really think such a simple play to Lex's ego would rattle him?

Rolling his eyes at the pompous doctor, Lex decides that he doesn't have patience for the game.

"Any more attempts on Chloe Sullivan's life would be...ill-advised," Lex says, trying to sound menacing, but quickly realizes he's too exhausted to muster the energy to be so. He'd spent too much thought on Audrey that afternoon, the mystery taking more out of him than he'd imagined.

"Molly seems to have vanished into thin air. I don't suppose you'd know anything about that," Garner retorts feebily.

Thankfully, Garner was making this easy. If this were chess, Lex could see the finish, see his every move, and know Garner's every misstep.

"Molly's in the care of people who should be able to help her, not exploit her," Lex says, wondering if his righteous indignation rings false; not just if Garner judges it to be false, but if Lex himself doesn't feel it's true.

"Lex, you're a smart man, you know that the line has to be bent every now and then in order to make progress," Garner says, sounding just like Lex did before the winter. For the first time, Lex begins to see the world through his father's eyes. He can see himself throwing a half-learned lesson back at his father, and lets the same knowing sneer that used to decorate his father's face creep across his own.

"I believe there's a difference between bent and broken," Lex says, stricken with a quick shiver as his mind spins with deja vous.

Was this a conversation they had? Was it a lesson she tried to teach him once?

Pinching the bridge of his nose, he tries to concentrate on the soft voice in his mind, needing to hear the answers to his questions.

"You've never been so close to a discovery that you'd be willing to do anything to see it through?" Garner asks, picking up on Lex's internal struggle.

Lex thinks of Audrey, thinks of the many puzzle pieces laid out before him and how they make a picuture he doesn't recognize. He does know how close he is to unveiling the truth, and so he allows Garner's words to ring true.

"My work could change the way the world views intelligence-, thought," Garner continues, but Lex ignores him. He doesn't have to hear him to beat him, he's already anticipated these moves. Tactically, Lex is poised to spring his trap.

However, there's that pang in his heart he'd been feeling for weeks. The pang that makes him have to swallow before speaking his words.

"I don't think your research is worth the cost of innocent lives," Lex says, unable to think of anything but the innocent lives in his own past, and how his father's quest for power had extinguished them. Sliding his hand into his pocket, wrapping his finger within the delicate gold chain, his purpose becomes clear.

Rubbing the small charm between his finger and thumb, he fixes his jaw, disquising his eyes as his desires play out in his mind. He just can't let Garner see them.

"I don't think I have time for a morality lesson. Excuse me," Garner says, turning to leave, not realizing check mate is at hand.

"Chloe's article is a real page turner. Almost worth killing over. Wouldn't you say, Doctor?" Lex quips, disappointed how predictably Garner turns back to face him.

"What do you want, Lex?" Garner turns his king down.

Lex knows what his answer is supposed to be. In the simplest terms: he wants to defeat his father. He knows that isn't the best answer to allow to cross his lips, but his heart sinks when the first thought that passes his mind is how Audrey smelled.

It's a faint memory of a warm breeze carrying that scent across a sun dipped field. It's the most intimate memory he could recall of her, but it's enough to entice him to want more. It's enough to make him need more.

With that being his true motivation, Lex answers, "Your help. A few months ago I had an unfortunate session of shock

therapy that basically erased seven weeks of my life. I want those seven weeks back."

X x X x X

The early morning sun parts the branches that stretch across the grounds, shading the lush grass still moist with dew drops. Stoically he stands; the marks from his footsteps still present behind him, his Italian loafers speckled with newly cut blades of grass. A soft breeze stirs the air, rocking the fragile magnolia blossoms, their fragrance adding comfort to this peacefully painful place.

Blocks of granite cut the earth, shining like mirrors as they reflect the bring sun. Before him rest the most elegant one, forever etched with the name of his beloved; her time on earth cut too short by circumstances he will never believe. Nature could never so callously steal a creature so gentle, a soul so pure. There is only one with the power to erase all things of beauty, and hope and life.

Leaning down, he lets his fingers glide across the letters chiseled into the stone, sweeping the fallen debris away with his breath. The beautiful script letter lined in the finest gold represent a woman who never put value in things such as that. Yet, in thinking of her, he made sure to place her in the humblest spot, tucked beneath the trees where, in happier times, he might see her perched, painting the world as only she could see it.

Lex stands erect, his coat billowing in the wind, casting a dark shadow over the earth beneath him. As though one of the ornate statues guarding the gardens, the tormented Luthor stands frozen, his mind still unable to fully recall all the tender moments that were snatched from him.

From behind his back he presents a pair of white roses, their petals the picture of perfection. Still feeling like a suitor, unworthy of the love of one so fair, he gallantly lays the pair at her feet; a rose for the dream that ended too soon, and one for the dream that never came true. His heart slowly hardens to ice in the warmth of spring, unable to accept the season which signifies a new beginning for everyone else.