Chapter 30 - Compromise

Clark took out his cell phone and called his dad while Lex went to his room to grab a jacket. The advantage to the size of the mansion was that Clark had time to say that he was bringing Lex home, and to ask his dad if he could get mom to talk with Lex for awhile so Clark could have a conversation with his dad alone. He knew his father would grill him with questions when he got home, but over the phone, he just told Clark it was fine, and that he'd see him in a few minutes.

The car ride from the mansion to the farm was quiet. Clark wasn't sure if Lex was upset or just tired. Fatigue wasn't something that he really understood. During the one day he'd spent as a normal human, when Eric Summers had taken his powers, he'd been tired all the time, but most of his friends didn't act like they were always tired, and he knew people often said they were tired when they were actually upset about something.

Clark's mom met them at the side door to the kitchen. She gave Clark a hug and tousled his hair before turning to Lex and hugging him as well.

It had been weird at first for Clark to watch his mom hug someone else like a son, but he didn't begrudge Lex his mom's comfort. Lex seemed stressed and uptight most of the time; he'd started smiling so much more often since he started spending more time with their family, and he always looked so serene in her arms. His eyes closed, and his shoulders relaxed.

She patted Lex on the back and let go, turning back to Clark. "Clark, your father wants to speak to you up in your room. Lex, come into the kitchen with me, I have something for you."

Clark nodded and gave Lex a little wave before trudging to the staircase and making the long trek to his room.

His father was already there, sitting on a chair beside the bed. Clark sat on his bed. This was a familiar position for him—it was the way they used to sit when Clark was in trouble, though his mom often sat beside him when it was time for the lecture part. He didn't think he'd be in trouble for things he said on red meteor rock, but his dad would probably still panic and maybe give him a disappointed look, which was worse than any grounding.

His father rested his elbows on his knees and looked Clark right in the eyes. "What's on your mind, son?"

Clark swallowed hard. "I messed up, Dad. When I was on red meteor rock, Lex came into the barn and told me I couldn't go into the caves anymore, and I said something . . . bad."

"Your mother told me a little about that. Is he having a hard time forgiving you?"

"No, I think he forgave me, but . . . he asked if me going into the cave was really just about a term paper, and I said you wish you knew, or something like that."

His father brought a hand to his face, rubbing his forehead. "And the reason you didn't tell your mother about this?"

"I completely forgot I even said it."

"But Lex didn't."

Clark shook his head. "I think he was ready to let it go. But I could tell there was still something bothering him, so . . . I pushed him to tell me what was wrong, and he asked why I keep lying to him, and . . ."

His dad's face fell. That was the disappointed look Clark was so afraid of.

Clark winced. "I was on red meteor rock, Dad, I didn't mean to." He waited another moment, feeling the tension in the room. "Am I in trouble?"

His dad took a deep breath. "No, son. Tomorrow, though, we're going to have a long talk about strategies for dealing with the red meteor rock. I will never punish you for something you can't control, but that doesn't mean there aren't real life consequences for your actions."

Clark's eyes stung. "I really hurt Lana today."

"I know, son."

"And I hurt Lex, too."

"Yes, you did."

Clark blinked back his tears. "I think, uh . . . I can fix things with Lana, it just might take a long time for her to forgive me. But . . . I can't take back what I said to Lex. He knows I'm keeping something from him."

"He'll let it go with time. You can't tell people your secret, Clark. It's not safe for you or for them."

"But he knows I'm lying. And now he'll always know. I can't take that back."

"You could tell him you were just trying to get a rise out of him."

"I did. He said he believed me, but I think I messed that up by immediately insisting he come over, then leaving to go to my room to talk to you . . ."

"Then why did you?" he snapped.

Clark flinched. "Because I felt terrible! I was going to leave it alone, but you and Mom keep saying he's family, and I used that to get him to open up to me. I told him brothers were honest with each other and that I wouldn't lie to him."

"Clark!"

"I didn't know what to do, Dad! I can't take this back. And I was thinking, his dad lies to him so much, and I want him to believe we're different, and that he's part of our family, but now—"

"Now it's worse." Jonathan sighed and rubbed his eyebrows. "It's not your fault that it's worse. But it's one thing for him to find out a friend is lying to him, and quite another when it's coming from a brother."

Clark shifted his weight a little. His parents had wanted to bring Lex into the family to help him, but right now it was making things worse. "What do I do?"

His father lowered his head and pinched the bridge of his nose for awhile. "We're going to be honest with him."

"About my secret?"

"No. Not unless he already knows it. It would put both of you in danger."

"Then what are we going to say?"

"Do you trust me, son?"

"Of course."

"Then let's go down and talk to him together." He stood, and Clark followed. His father put a gentle hand on his shoulder, and Clark took comfort in its warmth and sturdiness.

He couldn't imagine not being able to trust his father. A weight settled onto his chest as it occurred to him that that distrust was how Lex felt all the time about his own father—and now he felt it about Clark, too.

"What did he say to you?" Mrs. Kent set a box of muffins on the table and sat down beside Lex.

"Ah, nothing serious." He looked down at the muffins, but he didn't think he could eat. "I hired a linguist to help me with translations in the cave, but he insists on working alone. Clark's upset because I said he couldn't go into the caves for awhile."

"What did he say?"

Lex let his breath out. He didn't want to repeat any of it. "He said he was going to go into the caves anyway. Also said to stay away from him."

She raised her eyebrows. "Oh, did he?"

Lex recognized that look—he didn't want to get Clark into trouble. "I'm sure he doesn't mean it. He was just angry. I guess I'm just confused about why. I know he's writing a term paper about the caves, but I don't know, it seems like there's more to it."

"Did you ask him?"

"Actually, I did."

She blinked a couple of times. "Oh. What did he say?"

"He said, 'You'd like to know, wouldn't you?'"

She sighed heavily. "Oh, sweetie."

"He came by to apologize, says he was just trying to get a rise out of me—"

"It's not personal, Lex, and it's not just you. It was an off day for him. He said some things to Lana, too—"

"I know." He decided against telling her how he knew.

"But he really cares about you. We all do."

Just then, Clark came into the room closely followed by Mr. Kent. "Have a seat, son," Mr. Kent told Clark, and they sat, Mr. Kent across from Lex, Clark beside him.

"How are you two doing?" Mr. Kent asked, looking from his wife to Lex.

"It's been a rough day." Mrs. Kent placed a hand on Lex's on the table, gently stroking his fingers.

Lex pulled his hand away, his cheeks feeling warm. "I'm fine."

"I understand Clark said some things to you today."

Clark winced. "Dad . . ."

"It's okay, Mr. Kent," Lex said quickly. "He apologized. We're good."

"He lead you to believe we know things about the caves."

"He explained that, too. I know he was having a bad day." Lex didn't believe it for a minute, especially not with how strange the Kents were acting now, but he was far too sore emotionally to take a scolding for pushing them.

"Lex . . . I know trust can't come easy to you. But I hope you can believe me when I say we're not doing this to hurt you."

Lex's heart rate spiked. "You're not doing what to hurt me?"

Mr. Kent took a deep breath. "Keeping secrets."

Adrenaline flooded through Lex's veins with such intensity that the whole room looked fuzzy for a moment. A million questions fought for first consideration, but he couldn't make his mouth move.

"You're an intelligent young man, Lex. I'm sure you can tell when someone is lying to you, and you know Clark's lied to you quite a bit over the past year or so."

Lex had a hard time convincing himself he wasn't dreaming. "I—I mean—"

"I hate lying to you," Clark said softly.

"But Lex, as much as you're going to hate to hear it, the secrets we keep really are for your protection and ours."

"Can you believe him?"

Lex swallowed hard. The darkness didn't usually dare speak at the Kents' dinner table.

"He admits to lying to you, then has the audacity to claim it's for your protection."

For once, Lex didn't want to argue with the voice. He wanted to snap at Mr. Kent that he could take care of himself, but he still couldn't get himself to form words.

"I can imagine that's hard for you to believe, but I want you to think about the past year and a half. Well over a dozen of Clark's classmates have either died or been committed to mental institutions. His Kawache friend, Kaya, passed away as well. You've had to save Clark's life several times, and he's saved yours as well."

"And I still don't understand how," Lex said, suddenly finding a voice. "That day on the bridge—"

"I'm not bringing these things up to remind you of all the things you don't know. I'm bringing these up to give you an idea that what we're dealing with is dangerous. For all of us."

"You know what happened on the bridge? And about the caves? And about the meteor rocks, and the octagon, and—"

"Lex, we'd tell you if we could!" Clark sounded desperate.

Lex's eyes darted around the table. "All three of you know."

Mrs. Kent reached for his arm. "Lex—"

He pulled away. "All three of you. You know everything!"

The darkness hissed: "Of course they do. They're a family."

Mr. Kent's eyes fell closed for a moment. "The three of us know things that put us in danger. But we're also not currently fighting a war against one of the most dangerous and powerful men in the state."

Lex's teeth clenched. "Do you think I'd betray you to my father?"

"No. But I think you have enough danger in your life without mixing ours with yours."

"He doesn't trust you."

Lex knew the Kents didn't quite trust him—that much was on Lex, for his lies a few weeks ago—but he couldn't quite trust them right now, either. True, Mr. Kent made a good point about the danger. A statistically impossible number of students at Smallville High had died in strange circumstances. But didn't that make it more important that Lex knew what was going on? Especially if it ever came up in the fight with his father?

"But Lex," Mr. Kent went on, "you're part of this family, and that means we don't want to lie to you anymore."

"How do I know that's not a lie?"

He'd known for a long time they were keeping something from him. Hearing it said aloud shouldn't have changed anything, but somehow it did. It changed everything. Because they didn't just know something—they knew everything.

Lex felt crushed under the weight of the sheer number of times they'd lied in the past year and a half. Clark had even yelled at him for asking questions a few times. The Room of Obsession wasn't big enough to contain his pain over that number of lies. The mansion couldn't contain it.

He couldn't contain it.

All those times they'd said they loved him . . . he'd tried so hard to trust them. How could he now?

Lex's throat closed up, and he blinked a few times. They'd seen him cry before, but he didn't want them to see him tear up over this.

"I'm tired." Lex meant the word in so many ways, and even if he didn't trust the Kents about anything, he trusted that they would understand that.

"It's okay, Lex. Let's talk more tomorrow."

He shook his head. "I'm going to be pretty busy at the plant this week."

"Give us a call when you can, son."

"I'm not your son."

A long pause. "We'll talk more when you've had a chance to think."

Lex stood from the table, numb. Mrs. Kent followed him to the side door. She stepped toward him, beginning to open her arms, and he flinched away. He saw the hurt in her eyes as she stepped back, but he looked away. She'd lied to him, too.

He didn't go straight home. He hit the highways, speeding faster and faster until the dark landscape blurred as much from the speed as from his tears.