Author's note: Sorry for the shorter part, but I wanted this to be a stand alone thing. Also sorry for my absence, I'm back in the city I attend university in and it took me a while to get myself settled in.

Part 14

Goodbye, Isobel

"Mmm, almost forgot how good that felt," Isobel muttered perched up as she was on his desk, naked, crossing her legs provocatively and looking over at Lex, now half dressed, with a seductive smile. He stared at her for a moment intently, then shaking his head – as if to chase away some sensual fantasies – picked his shirt off the floor. Instead of putting it on however, he neared her and wrapped it around her shoulders gently. She accepted it and pulled it on. He started meticulously buttoning the shirt with the care a parent would probably do it for a child. She looked at him with a frown and then removed his hands. "Stop it. I'm not her."

"And I would feel better if you let me pretend you were," he said sighing and stepped away from her, heading toward the bar to pour himself his by now familiar glass of scotch.

"Oh, stop being so dramatic," she said grimacing and hopping off the desk.

"Stop pretending to care," he replied looking back at her with a half smile.

"What's that suppose to me?" she asked faking offense.

"Almost forgot how good that felt?" he raised his eyebrows. "I found out something interesting this afternoon. From our 'cleaning crew'. Apparently Quentin Terrane's body was swiped off the floors of your apartment. Autopsy said he was in post-coital bliss."

"Are you jealous?" she asked smirking.

"Of a corpse?" he asked and took a sip of his scotch. "Don't flatter yourself."

"Maybe I was talking about you before…," she suggested nearing him, but he walked away from her before she had a chance to invade his private space. She sighed. "Okay. What's wrong? Is this about the factory? Because that was your own fault. You started it, you knew it would end here."

"No, it's not about the factory," he stated calmly, staring down into his glass pensively.

"Are we keeping secrets now, Alexander?" she asked tilting her head to catch his gaze.

"I don't know about we, Isobel, but you have most certainly proven to be more than just a little secretive," he pointed out.

"I thought you would be proud," she pouted crossing her arms over her chest.

"Stunned would be a better choice," he suggested instead emptying the glass with one swift motion.

"But didn't you feel…," she neared him again and taking the glass from his hands and setting it aside, put her hands around his neck. "…just a little bit proud that it was your wife who had seen it all through?"

"No," he pulled away. "I would've been proud if you had told me about it before setting it into motion."

"But what's the point of bragging with something that only exists in theory? About something you could do or want to do? I always believed the best way to impress a person is to put it in front of an already completed plan," she explained, leaning on the bar and looking serious for once.

"All this was just to impress me then?" he raised his eyebrows skeptically.

"Of course not, silly. Although I do love your money and power and just a little bit you, it was never enough. Metropolis wasn't enough. I hoped you would see it, but you were blinded by…other things," she grimaced the way she always did when referring to his hopeless love of all things Lana Lang. "So…I took it in my own hands and one way or another, I will rule the world. With or without you, Alexander."

"Not if I have a say in it," he said in a warning tone.

"You think you can stop me? At this point? There is a reason for which you only found out now. There is no way back. Metropolis will fall pray to Lang Pharmaceuticals and the world will follow shortly," she raised her voice.

"You're right, I can't stop your plans," he admitted. "But I can stop you."

"Don't be ridiculous," she laughed. "You would never harm this body. And if you – by some great miracle – could bring yourself to want to harm it, then I'm afraid you'd have a hell of a time trying to get to it," and to emphasize her words she formed a translucent shield around herself.

"I guess someone got her old bag of tricks back," he noted unimpressed. He had realized by now she had probably regained her powers. He had been told of the unusual aspects of Quentin Terrane's death. "Unfortunately for you, that's exactly what signed your own death sentence. You never thought Bouvier would amount to anything more than blowing dust off old books."

"Bouvier? Please! That worthless piece of decaying flesh?" she laughed dryly. "What could he possibly do to harm me?"

"Find your old spell book? How about that for starters?" he suggested.

"He's had it for over a year now," she scoffed. "He was trying to find a solution to my bodily predicament…," she started saying, but trailed off as soon as she realized something. "That little weasel."

"You were the one that left the books in his care," Lex said with a satisfied grin. "You made one fatal mistake: you underestimated someone you thought was harmless. No one's harmless, Isobel, I thought you would've learnt that by now."

"You forced him into it then? Told him what was really going on?" she asked a little troubled.

"You left me no other choice," he sighed.

"And you're willing to go through with it?" she asked incredulous. "Now?"

"Yes," he nodded. "Oh and if I were you I wouldn't be thinking about tracking Bouvier down at this point. I made sure he'd be in a place where you and your powers couldn't reach him."

"Why would you want to do it? At this point?" she turned serious. "Lana doesn't love you and once she'll grasp the enormity of everything you've allowed me to do with her body, she will hate you with the heat of a thousand suns. I'll make her remember everything. Every dark deed we've schemed, every dirty little thing we've done, every word we spoke to each other until she'll be so ashamed of herself that the first thing she'll do when she wakes up will be to jump off a fucking building!"

"No. She won't," he shook his head. "She's strong and she'll know it was not her making those calls."

"You overestimate your small town princess, Lex. Get her off that damn pedestal you've put her up on and you'll see she's nothing but a common girl your overheated imagination coated in gold. She'll never be what you want her to be. The perfect wife, the womb from which a new generation of Luthors will rise victoriously," she snapped. "By the time her memory's going to be fully restored, she won't let you touch her with a ten foot pole let alone conceive your bastard children that you've been raving on about for two years now…" she stopped for a moment and then went on, reaching out with her hand to caress his naked shoulder. "While I on the other hand might be open to suggestions…"

"Haven't we already played this game?" he asked pulling away.

"Oh, come on, don't tell me you actually believed me back then," she scoffed. Lex remained serious. She chuckled: "I would've pegged you for a million things, Lex Luthor, but never a naïve."

"You have…," he looked at the watch on the wall, "about two hours left…is there anything else you'd like to say?"

"Yes…DIE!" she yelled and Lex suddenly flew into the windows, but nothing happened. He fell to the floor and laughed:

"We had extrastrong Plexiglas installed last month after two members of our executive board decided to kill themselves by jumping out the windows in the middle of a meeting, remember?" he reminded her and knocked on the window above him as if to prove their efficiency. He pulled himself together and stood up. "I have to admit, I am going to miss this. However," he said nearing her. "There are more pleasant ways of spending your last two hours than trying to kill me…" he raised her chin up with one finger and when she pulled away roughly, he grabbed her indelicately and kissed her forcefully.

"This can't be your choice," she muttered breathlessly when he pulled away.

"You and I would've made a fine pair a few centuries ago, Isobel, but I'm afraid this is no longer your time," he replied while his hands made their way beneath her shirt with expert moves.

"And what do you plan on doing now? You'll become a good little boy? You've tried it before, but it didn't work, remember?" she reminded him as the shirt slipped off her shoulders.

"No, I'll continue to do what I do best. I know she'll forgive me, out of the goodness of her heart," he muttered as he nuzzled her neck.

"While she has a heart," she replied smirking and then added with genuine disdain in her voice: "I hope you rot in hell."

"Not before you," he replied before he kissed her again and pulled her closer.

When Lana Lang woke up, she was not alone. She had a strange yet familiar feeling running through her body. Something she – or her mind – had not grown accustomed to yet, but her body seemed to fully understand and enjoy. The blood rushing through her veins was the first sensation she came into contact with, then her heart beating hard against her ribcage. Her eyes opened and she realized she was staring at the ceiling. Her mouth was half open and she had let out a sound of…pleasure? Her eyes turned away from the ceiling and looked down.

"Oh god…," she let out, but instead of the words coming out as a shock or surprise as she had intended, they were moaned and seemed to have a totally different connotation. She felt like her face was about to turn a deep shade of red, but then realized it was rather ridiculous to blush at this point, while she was naked on top of a just as naked Lex and their bodies were…uhm, intimate. Her body didn't seem to care which consciousness currently resided within it, it was moving in ways Lana had never imagined, making her mind spin and ecstatic sensations run through her entire being... She knew she had to stop, to pull away…Lex had betrayed her, betrayed Clark and was probably thinking she was Isobel at that very moment. A little voice inside her mind wondered why she couldn't let him think that and let him do all those things she was afraid to remember to her…No, she had to stop it, but, but, but…she found herself chanting and when Lex half-stood up and looked into her eyes, she knew all it would take would be one word, but instead of telling him to stop, she found herself kissing him and then burying his head between her breasts.

When it was over and she was resting against his chest with a dazed look in her eyes, without saying a word, but absently playing with a button of the disregarded shirt lying next to them, Lex knew she was Lana. He wanted to say something – anything – to make her forgive him for everything that had happened in the past. For Clark. For Isobel. For everything he had allowed and he had done. He realized that in truth, he would do anything for her, if only she stayed with him. Screw crime, screw corporate frauds and world dominance…having her with him would mean he had won the world ten times over. He found that he could not say anything though. He was too afraid that any sound would break whatever magic had made her not scream out horrified when he was making love to her. He knew however that no one moment could last forever.

"Lana…," he muttered and that single word was enough to break the spell and Lana stood up from his chest and her warmth was gone and so was the heart that had been beating next to his.

"I-I have to go," she said hesitantly, her eyes cast downwards as if to not register his or her own nudity. She noticed some clothes scattered on the carpet that could have only been Isobel's and she started putting them on in silence. He didn't say anything. He took his pants on and the shirt without buttoning it. Once she was dressed, Lana headed for the door without another word. Lex neared her and put a hand on the door to stop her from opening it.

"Will I see you home tonight?" he asked her.

"I'm going back to Smallville," she told him finally looking up at him. He couldn't read anything in her eyes. There was something unrecognizable in them. Like it was not the old Lana Lang anymore, not Isobel either, but something different. He let go of the door and Lana rushed out of the office. Outside, in the reception area, Lex's secretary was just coming in. It was morning. She noticed her boss's appearance, but said nothing. She sat down at her desk and pretended not to have seen anything unusual.

End Part 14