Clark awoke to the sounds of a shower running and the feel of slightly damp air as it touched his skin. The sound of a dresser opening could be heard and he slowly cracked open his eyes. He was still in Lex's bedroom, and Lex had clearly just taken a shower. That was what all that damp air was: steam.

"Good show last night," Lex said with a laugh when he saw Clark was awake.

Clark laughed softly and rolled on his back, stretching. "You even made it believable to me."

Lex grinned softly, and Clark thought that perhaps he'd enjoyed scaring him like that just a little too much. Lex always had possessed a thing for touching on Clark's innocence, but at the same time preserving it. "I had to make you look the part somehow."

"Bastard!" he exclaimed, realizing Lex had played him, although at the same time he was thankful. The whole facade might have fallen through otherwise.

"You did look the part too. The whole wide-eyed thing was very convincing. I was sure I was back in Smallville for a moment."

"I wish we were," Clark said softly. He was a bit frightened to realize he meant it. Things had been easier then. He'd only had to worry about Lana Lang and his crush on her, getting good grades, and maybe the freak of the week. Now he had to worry about an entire alien race.

Lex glanced at him, and Clark saw something akin to sympathy. Maybe Lex longed for those days sometimes too, even if he wouldn't admit it. Whatever it was, the look was gone as quickly as it had been there. Lex moved over to his mirror and began to put on a tie.

"How'd you get rid of the shirt? You know, the bugged one."

Lex laughed lightly. The sound fell easily on Clark's ears. Such a carefree attitude wasn't common anymore. "I spilled bleach on it. It's ruined-unsalvageable. It's a pity really," he explained, his face displaying an expression that showed he thought just the opposite.

"You're really too good at this," Clark said with a laugh.

"Yes, I am," Lex agreed, straightening his tie and sparing Clark a glance. "Now get out of bed; I have the feeling we're going to have a visitor today."

Clark raised an eyebrow but complied. "What do you mean?"

Lex grinned as he looked one last time in the mirror to make sure his tie was straight. "I think one Miss. Lana Lang is going to be feeling very put out."

-----------------------------------

Lex was right, and Clark was beginning to think that on such things it was beginning to be too common of an occurrence. Lana showed up at the mansion around noon. "Invite her for lunch on the roof," Lex told the slave who came to report her arrival.

The man bowed deeply and scurried off to do so. When Lex turned around he caught Clark's deep frown that had developed at the sight of the slave. "I don't like it, you know," Clark said, his tone brooding.

"Don't like what?" Lex asked, completely unconvincingly. Clark would have laughed if he wasn't so annoyed. Lex could be such a good actor sometimes, but with his friends there were times when his emotions were so obvious.

"That could have been me, Lex. You know that."

Lex sighed, finally conceding to the fact that he knew all too well what Clark was talking about. "But it's not, Clark."

"It could have been."

"But it's not."

Clark's frown turned to a scowl. "Don't be stubborn."

"I'm nothing but stubborn, Clark. You know that."

"It's wrong. He's your race."

Lex looked at Clark seriously, and Clark thought he might have seen a little remorse. "I know."

"Then why are you still doing it?"

"Because war isn't pretty and it's necessary to have help. You of all people know what it's like to do what's necessary."

Clark sighed and swallowed his words. Lex had a point, and even if he loathed it, he couldn't really debate. "So why the roof? You know you can't push her off," he pointed out, only half-jokingly.

"You can't listen in through walls up there."

Clark nodded understandingly. "Will she be scanned for a recording device?"

"Most definitely," Lex said with a curt nod, gesturing for Clark to follow. Clark did, and Lex led him through a very complicated system of hallways and stairs, that Clark couldn't hope to remember, until they ended up on the roof.

"You wanted to make sure she'd have to be escorted out as well, didn't you?" Clark said with a laugh. "Marco Polo couldn't find his way back down."

"And neither can Lana Lang," Lex replied with a grin. Clark couldn't help but think that she wouldn't have made down the first three flights of stairs without getting lost, but that might be his bias. He'd never been objective like Lex-he'd never been able to predict how things would turn out without any emotional sentiment. It was one of his shortcomings, but he knew he was strong in other places so he didn't worry too much about it.

Lex gestured to the table in the middle of the roof. It reminded Clark of something distinctly French country, as did the entire roof. Even the fence around the edge was undeniably of French design. "She'll feel right at home up here," he noted. "It's very French."

Lex wrinkled his nose. "I personally hate it, but I spend so little time up here anyway that it would be a waste to change it."

"And it will serve a purpose, at least today," Clark noted.

The door from the passage to the roof opened and Lana was escorted out. Lex's face immediately became unreadable, and Clark swore he saw Lana flinch. "Thank you," Lex told the slave. "That will be all."

The man nodded and hurried back down the stairs. Clark lost no time in looking over Lana's dress coat and form-fitting black pants. She was scowling mightily and Clark grinned when he saw the tiny tare on her sleeve.

"They stripped you of the recording device, huh?" he asked with a light laugh. He was immensely enjoying her obvious anger at that turn of events.

Her eyes narrowed slightly as she hissed, "I don't know how you got around that search the other night, but-"

"But what, Lana?" Lex cut in. "Didn't they tell you what they saw?"

She rolled her eyes and threw her hands up, a high girly laugh erupting from her throat. "You actually expect me to think that you're sleeping with him?" she asked incredulously. "I'm not stupid, Lex."

"Of course not," Lex agreed with a nod. "Just a small town princess who can't play this game, especially not against me."

"You're not the invincible god that you think you are," she snapped.

"And you're not really a fairy princess who can grant wishes," Clark cut it. "I think it's time we all stopped pretending."

Clark wished he had a camera to capture the look on her face. "Pete's dead, you know," he said conversationally, despite the inner turmoil that he was feeling.

She paled a little at that. "He is?" she whispered.

"What did you expect to happen?" Lex cut in, sounding as though he thought Lana a fool. Clark didn't think her a fool, just a backstabber.

"Is Chloe alive?" she asked, and Clark was surprised at the tint of hope in her voice.

"Yes," Clark told her. "That's one more person for you to worry about. And Chloe always was more vindictive than I was."

Lana shot him a scathing look and then faced Lex. "I don't care what facade you set up for the search party the other night, I know you're not really sleeping with him and that'll come out."

"And you're really not loyal to the regime, Lana," Lex said casually, sipping some of the scotch he'd poured for himself. "You're not really loyal to anyone but yourself; not you boyfriend, not your best friend, and not the man who saved your life on countless occasions."

"There's no way I'll believe that you're loyal to this regime," she spat angrily.

Lex rolled his eyes. "Scotch?" he asked politely. She took the drink from his hand and took a sip. Clark couldn't help thinking was a messed up version of a dinner party this seemed to be. "What would lead you to believe that I'm not loyal? I've followed them from the beginning and have never wavered."

"Because you're harboring an enemy as a guest. You're not allowed to treat him as you're treating him," she yelled, waving her hand in Clark's direction. Clark merely leaned back and took a sip of his drink.

"We seem to keep coming back to that point," Clark pointed out casually. "Is that really all you've got? Because it won't be enough."

Clark caught Lex's grin out of the corner of his eye. Trust Lex to find it fun to make an erstwhile small-town princess angry. "Especially since you can't prove it," Clark added.

"You don't have the means or the brains to take me down, Lana," Lex said bluntly, watching her coolly, clearly gauging her reaction.

"I had the brains to survive underground for nearly five years as part of the resistance. Do you think high society life will be harder?" she spat.

Lex only smirked softly. "I think you're going to find out its got its own challenges. And you won't have Clark to save you, either."

She abruptly set her glass of scotch down on the table. "Is he worth sacrificing everything you've got?" she asked his icily, referring to Clark.

"Who, Clark?" he asked with an amused grin. Clark looked on with amusement of his own. Lana was far too emotional to play with Lex. Clark had only ever been able to because he'd his abilities on his side. Lana was all too clearly out of her league. "I'm not going to loose anything, Lana," Lex replied, his grin remaining as if she were a mere school girl who was whining about something trivial. "You forget he survived just as long as you did in the resistance, and, if I recall correctly, he never needed you to save him—you always needed him."

She paled slightly and turned, heading out the door, just barely shy of running. "Was she always this full of herself?" Lex asked Clark seriously once the door had slammed shut.

He shook his head and glanced over the edge of the roof carelessly. It seemed so much further down without his abilities. "No. It's just since she's ended up here. Isn't she going to get lost on the way out?"

Lex shrugged and raised an eyebrow a little. The gleam of something similar to the way a cat looks when playing with a mouse flashed in his eyes. "I'll send someone to help her out after a while."

Clark grinned. "You're awful."

"Most certainly." He looked far too much as if he'd of taken that as a compliment from anyone—not just Clark. "Anyway, Chloe's coming here today."

Clark's eyes immediately lit up at that prospect. He'd missed her...so much. She'd been like his strength through everything and being without her had been terrible. Seeing her again would be like coming home, even if he no longer had a home to go to. "What time?"

"Anytime. We should actually go downstairs to wait," he told Clark, downing his scotch and standing up.

Clark nodded. "Right then."

They both left their glasses on the balcony and headed down. Clark had to really work to keep his calm visage at the promise of Chloe. Even so, he knew Lex saw through it, saw how much he needed her—and he was fine with that. He suspected Lex might even have understood.