CHAPTER 3: DON´T LEAVE ME
LUTHOR MANSION
The moment the limo parked on the driveway of the mansion and the chauffeur stepped out to open the door for his employer, Lex experienced a sudden bout of dizziness and a pull on his chest as if something were fighting to get free. He closed his eyes and tried to concentrate on his breathing as he clenched his fists to control the pain that was ripping his insides.
"Goodbye, Alex, " murmured a feminine voice laced with concern before he opened his eyes in bewilderment and the frantic pumping of his heart started to slow down.
"Sir?" asked the chauffeur with a frown when he saw the lost look on his master´s face. "Sir?" he insisted.
Lex unclenched his fists and, swallowing the lump in his throat, pulled up his left cuff to check the time on his Napoleon-franc watch. Two-oh-five.
"Are you feeling all right, Mr Luthor? I can drive you back to the medical centre, sir" said the worried employee.
"I´m fine, Johnson. I´ve been through a lot this last twenty-four hours. I just need to rest; that´s all," responded Lex with the ghost of a smile as he started to get out of the limo." You can take the day off. I won´t be needing you, at least, until tomorrow."
"OK, sir. I´ll take the limo to the garage then," replied the chauffeur, shutting the door and making his way around the vehicle to the driver´s side.
Lex climbed up the front steps of the castle and walked through the polished mahogany door his British butler was keeping open for him.
"Good afternoon, sir. It´s good to see you back in one piece, " the dignified servant greeted him.
"Thanks, James. I´ll go up to my room to freshen up. Would you prepare a tray for me and take it to the study? I haven´t eaten lunch today."
"Hospital food wasn´t up to your standards, sir? " said the middle-aged man with twist of his lips.
"Mashed pumpkin and artificially-flavoured jello isn´t my idea of gourmet cooking, "replied Lex with a smirk.
"Of course not, sir. I´ll see what we can put together," came the butler´s response as Lex started to climb up the staircase to the first floor.
In the privacy of his bedroom Lex kicked off his shoes and, taking off his jacket, started to unbutton his dress shirt and unbuckle his belt. He had stripped down to his underwear when his reflection on the full-length mirror made him stop. Only a couple of already greenish bruises bore witness to what had happened the previous night. He touched his old scars with careful fingers- the long one on his flank from two Christmases ago and the one of the stabbing at Club Zero were the scars he spent more time retracing. They were reminders of two decisive moments in his life, moments which had changed the course of history... his own history.
Lex approached the mirror and leant forward to observe his forehead closely. He raised his left hand and gingerly touched the spot where the bullet had pierced the flesh, drilled the frontal bone and started its trajectory through his brain- only there was no physical trace of it, no proof of his fateful encounter in that Detroit scrap yard. A mere couple of bruises, which he knew for certain would have disappeared by the time he woke up the following morning, weren´t reminder enough of what had happened to him before coming out of the coma. He couldn´t remember the last eighteen hours, but any doubt he might have had about its all being a dream had vanished five minutes ago in the limo. He had heard `her´ voice, and a fleeting image of himself- twenty years younger, standing in the middle of a dark corridor- had taken him unawares. `Don´t leave me, ´ his childish voice had said. `Goodbye, Alex, ´ had responded a warm feminine voice charged with regret and something Lex couldn´t pinpoint.
Lillian had begged him to stop looking for answers and he knew it´d be a hard struggle when every bone in his body told him to look for clues in his mind, clues that could lead him to the truth and to that being of light who had pulled him out of the coma and healed his latest injuries.
He stepped under the shower and welcomed the feel of hot water running down his coiled-up muscles- he could use a relaxing massage to relieve the tension which had worsened the months prior to his wedding to Lana. He closed his eyes in an effort to chase away the pain of betrayal and disappointment that overwhelmed him every time he put his defences down. He tried out one of the breathing techniques he´d been taught while recovering from his hellish experience as a castaway; only this time his efforts to empty his mind backfired.
Lex planted both hands on the tiled wall in front of him to steady himself as an overload of disconnected and rapid-fire images popped into his mind- Julian dead in his crib; taking the blame for his baby brother´s death; Lionel manhandling Lillian; getting poisoned by his dad; Duncan´s accidental death; slapping Lana´s face the day she walked out on him and then... warmth and... laughter... his laughter and someone else´s... . He tried to remember what his mother´s laughter sounded like, but he was too stressed out. There hadn´t been much laughter in his life, and the only times he remembered smiling- truly smiling not just putting on a practised smirk- had been when Lionel was abroad on business and Lex spent the holidays with his mum on their ranch in Montana, and the times he had visited Chloe during her exile.
`Don´t leave me, ´echoed a childish voice in his head, and Lex opened his eyes again panting.
He took a minute to stabilise his breathing and then, turned off the tap before coming out of the stall to dry and change into a pair of black trousers and a light-blue dress shirt. As he finished buttoning up he looked at himself in the mirror above the washbasin. His complexion seemed paler than usual, and his eyes had lost that cold intensity he had got used to seeing every day in the looking-glass; there was something in their depths which hadn´t been there in a long time- `hope ´, a flickering light the world had done its best to crush.
`I´ll always be there. ´
THE TALON- 5.30 p.m.
The coffee shop had opened its doors half an hour before, in time for the regular influx of patrons that swarmed on Friday afternoons, when school was over for the week and Smallville´s teenagers hung out with their friends to make plans for Saturday evening. The house was packed, and Lois- who was earning a few extra bucks waiting on tables and controlling the till- had her hands full behind the counter as she filled orders, charged the customers and supervised the waitresses without aid.
"Hey, Darleen! "called out General Lane´s eldest daughter. "I need to step away for a few minutes. Could you take these two orders to the booths at the back?" she asked one of the waitresses.
"Sure, Miss Lane ," responded the twenty-something, grabbing the tray that Lois had left on the counter.
"Thanks. You´re a doll, " sighed the exhausted brunette." I want to check on my cuz, " She added, locking the till.
Chloe was cooped up in the apartment and hadn´t come down to drink her habitual jumbo cup of mocha with a piece of pecan and chocolate pie. It was not like her to remain immune to the enticing smell of caffeine wafting up from the coffee house, and Clark´s clumsy cloak-and-dagger routine had piqued Lois´ interest even more. Lois knew her younger cousin well enough to be able to tell when she was using her beaming smile to cover up what she was actually feeling.
"A frothy cup of java and a piece of this freshly-baked pie will do the trick," murmured Lois, replacing the cover to keep the pastry fresh. `Shoot! What´s cue ball doing here? He collects freaks at 33.1, but he sure is the weirdest of them all. How the heck did he survive that shooting? Oh, no, mister! You aren´t getting closer to Kara again if I have anything to say in the matter, rambled Lois to herself.´
Zor-El´s only daughter was sitting alone at a small table, sipping a tall glass of orange juice and listening to her favourite song on her MP3 player, when the patrician, bald man she had met at the coffee shop in Detroit materialised in front of her.
"Hey!" she smiled, removing the earphones and inviting him to sit down.
"I hope I´m not interrupting," he responded warmly.
"You are not. I was just trying to reacquaint with myself, if that makes any sense," she fidgeted, looking into his blue-grey eyes with the ghost of a smile.
"I know the feeling," he answered, holding her baby-blues and wondering if he was strong enough to resist the temptation to pursue his original plan." Any luck so far?"
"No," she shook her head." Lois and Clark seem nice people but... ."
"Look, I know I told you I´d help you... and I don´t intend to back down... but I believe the best way to..." he began, leaning forward.
"What are you doing here, Mr Luthor?" glared Lois.
"The last time I checked I was co-owner of this coffee shop, and your employer, Miss Lane. By the way, I´m glad to see you´re all right. It seems we´re both made of resilient stuff," he smirked.
"Yeah... well..." she fumed. "Can I have a word with you?"
"You might not have noticed it, but I was in the middle of a conversation when you made your presence known," he cocked an eyebrow." Why don´t you take that tray away before someone complains? I´ll be right up," he added, curving a smile when he saw the volatile brunette boil." Now, Miss Kent, where were we?"
"Kara," smiled the blonde teenager, stealing a glance at Chloe´s cousin.
Lois gripped the tray tighter and tried to control her temper, telling herself not only her roof but her position at The Planet were at stake if she dared alienate LuthorCorp´s CEO. She´d have to find the moment to talk to the amnesiac girl alone.
Shooting a murderous last glance at the coldly urbane billionaire, General Lane´s daughter made her way to the stairs which led to the apartment above.
"As I was saying... I believe the best thing for you to do now is to be around family and people who care about you."
"What about the treatment you suggested in Detroit?" she frowned.
"The mind´s a very complex mechanism that´s better left alone, Kara. I´ve been both a willing and an unwilling lab rat. I´m still missing several weeks of my life courtesy of my dad. Believe me, Kara, I know what´s like to want to remember only to come up against a brick wall," he responded gravely. "Desperation can lead to making decisions which you might come to regret later on."
"But you said the procedure was harmless," she insisted.
"Not even the best precautions can prevent something from going wrong and, if something were to happen to you during the procedure, I would never forgive myself," he responded passionately.
Kara eyed him with a puzzled look on her face and the billionaire took a deep breath before resuming his discourse.
"I know you don´t remember it, but you saved my life a few months ago and, for that, I´m eternally indebted to you. What´s more, it´s always been my policy to protect those who have been nice to me and- in your case- it was more than not giving me the cold shoulder. As you must have noticed, neither my kin nor I are well-regarded in this community. Friends are a luxury no amount of money can buy and the ones I had... well... let´s just say one of them died at a very young age and the other one... he gave up on me."
"Why?"
"I´m afraid it´s too complex an issue to discuss over a cup of coffee. Besides, I wouldn´t like to burden you with my problems, you already have your plate full as it is. I´ve got to take care of something now; I´ll leave you to your music."
"Lex?" she started to get up, stretching an arm to detain him.
"You´ll be OK, Kara. You couldn´t have a better family than the Kents. I wish I had been that lucky."
"I´m scared," she murmured.
"You can count on me if you need someone to talk to. You know where to find me, but I´ve got a feeling your cousin Clark´ll be much more adequate than me to help you sort out your identity," he replied, standing next to the table and squeezing her arm gently.
"Can I ask you a question?" she said in a low voice not to attract the patrons´ attention.
"Sure, if it´s in my power to answer it," he smirked.
"Yesterday... when you tried to rescue us... you were... I saw him pull the trigger... Lois and I saw you lying on the ground... with a bullet in the middle of your brow... How...?"
"I´m afraid that´s a question for God- if you happen to believe in him," he responded with the ghost of a smile.
"You haven´t got a scratch," she added, squinting and raising a hand to touch his forehead.
"When you have lived as long as I have in this town, you learn anything is possible... even the most bizarre," he acknowledged.
"But we weren´t in Smallville. And... I know what I saw..."
"I´m as baffled as you are, Kara, but I´ve learnt along the way that trying to get all the answers can lead you to very dangerous places- dark paths you swore you´d never tread. It became an obsession for me, and obsession is a double-edged weapon- it can prove to be the way to greatness when it pushes you to achieve things no one has ever dared dream of but it can also be your doom," he explained gravely.
"But aren´t you a tad curious about it? I mean you´ve survived a fatal injury. "
"Curious? Of course, I´m curious. And, believe me, there´s a part of me which wants to find out the truth about what happened in Detroit yesterday. I´ve searched for answers all my life, Kara, lived for the thrill of the quest until I became the man I´d sworn I´d never be," he told her passionately.
"It´s hard being you, isn´t it?" she said sympathetically.
"A man´s born into his life, but it´s up to him what he chooses to do with it. I´ve been misunderstood, misjudged and betrayed many times in my life by people I cared about, but there are lots of things I wish I had done differently. I´ve been given another chance and I intend to make the most of it. I know it must be frightening not knowing who you are, and where you come from, but listen to a pro: Take this amnesia of yours as a clean slate, an opportunity to start afresh."
"Why would I want to start afresh? I had a life before this happened to me," she whined." Do you know something you aren´t telling me?" she added, cocking an eyebrow.
"Talk to your cousin, Kara. I won´t interfere in Kent business again. I admired your uncle a lot but he was never able to see beyond my name, and Clark´s turned out to be a lot like Jonathan. Don´t get me wrong- he´s a nice kid, but he doesn´t think too much of me right now. I wouldn´t like to make matters worse for either you or me. Trust me, everything´ll be sorted out if you get him to be straight with you. Although we were close friends once, he never really trusted me. Still, you´re family and, somehow, I believe that´ll make the difference."
"You´re talking in riddles, Lex. I´m more confused now than when you crossed that door," she frowned.
"Clark Kent´s an enigma I´ve wanted to unravel ever since I set foot in this town. Don´t let the farm boy appearance fool you, Kara; he´s much more interesting than he seems."
"More than you are?" she smirked.
"I should be flattered, I guess. Don´t say that in front of your Clark, though, or I´ll have him barging in my study crying havoc," he smiled smugly. "It´s been nice seeing you again, Kara. Take care."
"You too, Lex. I hope you´ll find what you´re looking for," she responded warmly.
"So do I," he smiled back.
