Lex sat on the edge of the bed staring at his young friend's back. It was bruised and the distinct red lines burned with heat and obvious pain. He rubbed his hand across his scalp and thought over the evens of the last few hours.

After Clark had been removed from the ballroom the festivities had continued. He knelt by Joshua's side sick about what he had just done. People came to talk with Joshua and not one of them dropped their attention to Lex other than the odd stroke of his scalp or scan of approval. They were interested in his presence but seemed too afraid to be bold with their interest.

Lex felt awkward as he thought about the women he had brought to various parties as eye candy. Had this been how he had treated them, nothing more than a nice decoration by his side. No, he had always shown them respect and treated them well, he reasoned with himself. Or had he, doubt would service again and again throughout the night.

He had tried to think of anything other than where Clark was and what he had done to shatter his friend. He had played out there first meeting in his mind a thousand times sitting there behind the head table. He had been considering how their first meeting would go when Joshua's hand slapped him sharply on the back of the head. Lex looked up at him with contempt in his eyes, which he quickly masked.

Joshua stood to leave and Lex had no choice but to follow. The crowd of remaining guests parted again as they crossed the dance floor. Lex couldn't remember feeling so relieved, he had made it through the night and there were no eyes on him in the halls as they walked through the mansion.

They walked in silence until they reached the door to Lex's apartment. Joshua stopped and turned to face Lex. "You conducted yourself in a manner most befitting your position here this evening. I was impressed by your acceptance of your place and the way in which you completed your tasks. You will do well with this new persona. I know it is an act for now but eventually it will become second nature and you will no longer question your subservience or your loyalty to me. In time you will come to miss me in my absence and enjoy what time we have together."

Lex stared blankly ahead trying not to snort in disgust and furry. He didn't say a word for fear of the ramifications and that fear infuriated him even more. If someone had told him that he would actually be fearful of speaking his mind and being defiant he would have laughed at them. Now here he was tempering his defiance out of fear, fear of Joshua, fear for Clark, fear of the unknown.

"Go and see to your friend. You have demonstrated your desire for his company. You and Clark will have a great many years to reestablish any bonds of trust that may have been broken between you this evening."

With those words Joshua turned the key and opened the door to the apartment. Lex entered looking around the room from this angle for the first time. His attention was immediately drawn to the large grey tinted window along the far wall. He imagined himself standing on the other side looking in. He approached the window and strained his eyes to see trough to the other side. He was both unnerved and relieved at his inability to see through it. He would always know there was a possibility that someone was on the other side watching him but he would never actually see them watching.

His eyes scanned the room looking for Clark. He crossed the living room area and entered the bedroom. Clark was sprawled out naked on the bed, lying on his stomach asleep.

Lex had been sitting on the edge of the bed lost in thought for sometime now. His attention was drawn back to the present when he felt Clark shift beside him.

"Lex?"

"I'm here Clark." Lex's heart broke at the pain in Clark's voice. "How are you feeling?"

Clark didn't answer right away and Lex's worry increased. "Clark?"

" 'm okay I guess. It just hurts so much."

"I know." Lex repositioned himself on the bed and began cleaning the blood from Clark's back with a cloth and cold water from the nightstand.

But Lex didn't know, Clark thought to himself. Lex didn't know that Clark wasn't used to pain. He knew what pain from kryptonite felt like, but not this kind of pain. This was a dull, throbbing pain that itched and burned and felt like a thousand paper cuts when he tried to move. The fact that he wasn't healing confirmed to Clark that there had to be kryptonite somewhere in this room.

"Clark how did you get here?"

"I went to see your father about the documents you had in your safety deposit box." Clark's words were slow as he cringed trying to move to look at Lex. "He said that you were in a hospital here in Sudan. I needed to know if he was lying."

"Clark." Lex sighed in exhaustion and mild frustration with his naivety. "I told you that my father couldn't be trusted. You should never have come here. Couldn't you see that it was a trap?"

"I had to see if you were alright and besides I didn't think it would end up like this." Clark's words were never so true. He really had thought that given his powers and strength he would be able to get Lex out of whatever trouble he was in. He hadn't anticipated there would be kryptonite to contend with so far from Smallville.

"So what, you thought you could just walk in and rescue me. No questions asked?"

"Well sort of." Not sort of, that was exactly what he thought would happen. It should have been as simple as that. Clark looked around the room again trying to locate the meteor rocks green glow.

"I'm sorry I got you into this mess." Lex turned again to dip the cloth in the water watching the color turn a pink hue with blood.

"Don't be silly Lex. I chose to come here. I wanted to find you."

"Load of good it did, now we're both stuck here." Lex shot out in frustration.

His features softened when he saw the look of hurt on Clark's face. "I'm sorry Clark. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean it that way. I'm just worried about you. Did you tell anyone you were coming here?"

"Well kind of."

"Kind of?" Lex struggled to keep his voice neutral.

"I told Chloe. I had to tell someone in case I couldn't find you or your father did something like this." His one arm flailed around beside him pointing to the room.

"Chloe." Lex smirked. Of all the people Clark could confide in he had chosen Chloe. Lex had to commend him for his taste. Lana was beautiful but not near as resourceful as Chloe. She was smart, witty and had a lot of spunk. Spunk that unfortunately could lead to her disappearance at the hands of his father if she pushed to far. Lex had no doubt that her tenacity would get her in trouble.

"Lex, I told her everything. I told her where I was going, all about your father."

"It's okay Clark. It's okay. Don't worry about that now."

Clark tried to move again and sharply sucked in his breath with the pain.

"Lie still."

"What happened?"

"Hmm?" Lex questioned unsure what aspect of the fucked up situation Clark was referring to.

"Why do I hurt so much? What happened? All I remember is waking up in this room and trying to find a way out. Two men came and-" He paused in thought. How could he explain that two men came in with meteor rocks and chained him up?

"And what?"

"Two men came in and drugged me. The parts I remember are a bit hazy after that. I remember a lot of hands on me. People were poking and staring. I remember the pain of the whip and, and-" Clark stopped at that unable to relive in words the next part of his memories. He turned his head away from Lex and rested his head back down on the pillow as tears spilled over his eyelashes.

Lex didn't answer. He didn't know what to say. He dipped the cloth in the water again and administered it to his friend's back.

"Lex please. I need to know."

Lex cleared his throat before beginning to answer. "You were brought into a ballroom where people were waiting to bid on you." He paused as he let the words sink in. " I was given the choice to let you be sold or keep you here with me. I did what I had to do to keep you here."

"What- what did you do?"

Lex sighed at the persistence. He hadn't really thought that his vague answer would suffice but it was worth a shot.

"I was told that I had to deliver twelve lashes to your back and-" He stopped again and swallowed. He hands were shaking as he wiped at Clark's back. "And rape you." There he had said it. It was out and he couldn't take the words back.

"But." Clark paused, "No-no that wasn't you." He thought of the few memories of pain and disorientation he had of the rape.

"I'm sorry."

"Why? Why Lex?"

"You have to understand. It was that or you were going to be sold to a man who would use you, beat you and kill you. I didn't see any other choice."

Clark felt anger begin to rise. He was confused about where that anger should be placed. Lex had violated him; he had hurt him, yet he had done it to protect him. If Lex had let him be sold he would have gone somewhere without kryptonite and he would be free, his powers restored. But Lex didn't know that, he couldn't know that, Clark reasoned with himself. He was angry and hurt and embarrassed. A few moments of silence passed as Clark focused on directing his anger at the situation not Lex.

"Clark?" Lex's voice sounded nervous.

"It's okay Lex." Once the words were out the anger that had been building seemed to lessen. He could forgive Lex, after all he had only been trying to protect him.

The words hung in the air for a while before either boy spoke again.

"I'm so sorry." Lex repeated not too sure what else to say. His eyes welled up with tears as he sat staring at the floor. No one had ever forgiven him for anything. Every mistake he had ever made had been held against him at every opportunity. He had a difficult time believing that this would be any different. But Clark was different. Clark's family was different. Maybe this time it would be different.

Clark didn't respond. He didn't know what to say exactly. There was a long awkward silence between them as Lex finished up with the cloth and headed to the couch to sleep.

"Lex." Clark called out.

"Yeah."

"Where are you going?"

"To sleep." He turned to look at his friend still lying on his stomach on the bed.

"Don't leave me." Clark tried to turn his head to look at Lex.

Lex didn't say anything as he returned to the side of the bed and slipped under the covers. He gently lifted the light bed sheet across Clark's back to give him some warmth without too much pressure on his cuts.

Sleep didn't come quickly to either of them. Both lay lost in their own thoughts and trying to regain the physical comfort of their friendship.

Neither knew there was a set of eyes that watched them from the other side of the glass. Joshua watched, pleased with the way his two new additions were settling in.