There were six envelopes taped to the presents, one addressed to each of them. They opened their envelopes, finding cards inside. Clark's was taped to the biggest box. He flipped open his card.

Clark-

Thanks for the caroling. Enjoy.

Your friend,

Lex Luthor

Clark tore the bright green paper off the box. He made a pretense of borrowing his parents' keys to break through the tape holding the box shut. Inside was another note on a plain piece of paper.

May this give you many happy hours of 'strategic planning.'

Lex

Looking closer at the jumble of items in the box, he realized it was Lex's model of the sacking of Troy, wooden horse, warriors, landscape and all. Clark looked around to see what everyone else had gotten. Martha was admiring her new cooking set, Chloe was going on and on about technical things, holding a metallic green laptop, Lana was trying to get Chloe to pay attention to her certificate and the picture of the new espresso machine, and Jonathan was bouncing a set of keys in his hand, examining a picture of a new red truck.

Pete cheered. "Hey guys, check it out!" He proudly displayed a photo of a sleek blue convertible. "The keys were in my box, and the car's at home!"

Everyone appropriately oohed and aahed over everyone's present. Then they moved over to Clark.

"What'd you get?" Chloe asked, peering into the box.

"Lex's model of Troy," Clark said proudly.

"Wow, that must be worth a fortune!" Lana said appreciatively. "Look at the detail on those things, I bet that drawbridge actually works!"

"He shoulda given you a car," Pete told Clark.

"Yeah, but my parents will actually let me keep this," Clark replied. "Right?"

"Sure, son," Jonathan said after Martha prodded him. "Of course you can keep that."

"Now can we go find Lex?" Clark asked.

"Let's go thank him for the gifts," Martha suggested.

They left without complaints-Clark left his box there, sure it would be there when he got back.

It didn't take much to figure out where Lex was. The doctors informed them that 'Mr. Luthor' was going to be all right, but he was resting and they couldn't be in there long. The group filed into the room.

"He looks dreadful," Martha said softly.

"Yeah, that must have been some crash," Chloe agreed, whipping out her camera. Clark rolled his eyes; doubtless the story of Lex's accident would be in the Torch when they went back to school.

"He's sleeping-maybe we should go," Lana whispered to Clark. They turned to leave.

"Hey, Clark." Clark turned around. Lex gave him a pale smile.

"Hey, Lex!" Clark cried enthusiastically.

"How are you? Okay?" Lana asked.

"I'm fine," Lex assured her, waving aside her concern.

"Thanks for the gifts Lex, that was very kind of you," Martha said.

"Yeah, Lex that was-er- really nice," Jonathan agreed a moment later, after Martha nudged him again.

"Thanks, Mr. Kent. I'm glad you think so," Lex said seriously.

There was a long moment of increasingly awkward silence.

"You should go," Lex muttered finally. "You've got Christmases to get back to."

"What, and leave you here alone on Christmas?" Lana asked incredulously.

Lex gave her a thin, somewhat bitter smile. "I've had practice in the field, Lana." He turned his head away, clearly dismissing them.

"Let's go," Martha said quietly, ushering everyone out.

"Merry Christmas!" Clark called over his shoulder.

"I feel awful, leaving him alone on Christmas," Lana confessed as they left the hospital, presents in tow.

"We aren't," Martha replied. "We're going to our house to prepare a few things."