Author: Pirate Turner
Dedicated To: My beloved Mother and the love of my life, Jack, who's been asking me for a happy Clex fic
Rating: R for mentions of sexual content
Summary: Lex gains a mother and learns a lesson some one should have taught him a long time ago.
Warnings: Slash, Religious Debate, Het
Word Count (excluding heading): 9,961
Challenge: This story started as an effort to answer MD's challenge to write a story that takes place in Summer during good weather but grew into its own by leaps and bounds and then became a Mother's Day present.
Disclaimer: Clark "Superman" Kent, Lex Luthor, Martha Kent, Jonathan Kent, Lionel Luthor, Lana Lang, and Smallville are & TM DC Comics and any other respective owners, not the author, and are used without permission. Emeril is & TM himself, if any one, and is used without permission. Everything else is & TM the author. Rolex and all mentioned games are & TM their respective owner, none of which is the author, and are used without permission. The author makes absolutely no profit off of this work of fan fiction, and no copyright infringement is intended.
Chapter One
Lex closed his eyes as he walked into the clearing. The delightful aromas that filled the hideaway location Clark had found for them never ceased to amaze his senses. The sun was warming his skin, and a gentle breeze tugged at his suit. Birds sang, their cheery voices reminding him that there was still happiness and innocence in the world. The air was ripe with the scents of sweet strawberries; honeysuckle; wild roses; lush, Spring grass; and a dozen more scents that Lex could not put a name to yet reveled in nonetheless.
His blue eyes drifted open, and Lex smiled as he released a contented sigh. Then he chuckled quietly as he saw a flash of a cute, white tail bounding away through the trees on the other side of the clearing. This spot truly was Nature at her best.
That thought brought another chuckle as Lex reached out and plucked a plump strawberry off of a vine growing nearby. He popped it into his mouth and chewed slowly, savoring the berry's succulent juice, as he reflected what all the people who thought they knew him, with the sole exception of his beloved Clark who was the only one who truly did know him, would think if they were to overhear him make such a remark. The outside world believed that, as a Luthor, he was cruel, wicked, and unable to take pleasure out of anything as "simple", beautiful, and innocent as the paradise currently surrounding him.
Only Clark knew better, and only with his love could Lex let his defenses down and be himself rather than the tyrant the world expected him to be and feared him as before he could even speak one word to them. Lex sighed and then let the outside go as he thought defiantly, {Let the imbeciles think what they will.}
He shrugged out of his designer jacket and let it fall onto the grassy meadow floor. He slipped his socked feet out of his shoes, then removed one sock at a time and dropped each into his abandoned shoes. He stood for a long moment, just wriggling his bare toes in the cool, green grass as he let the peace of the forest wash over him.
It was man who was tyrannical, Lex knew. Men like his father and hundreds, if not thousands or more, of others who would cast an eye upon this wonderful place, be blinded to its beauty, and see only the crisp greenbacks that could be made from destroying it all and building a shopping center or something of similar ilk in its stead. Lex would never be like that, he swore. He would preserve the time, trust, and openness it took to treasure such beauty, beauty that his eyes would have never been opened to in the first place if not for his beloved Clark.
Clark had shown him so many wonders that he'd never known existed that Lex had come to think of Clark as being more experienced than he often times. Though Clark would have argued with him, Lex knew it was true. He might know the world, but Clark knew the Earth, love, and everything that was truly important. Lex knew that he was lucky to have Clark in his life to show him all those marvelous miracles and share them with him.
Movement in the trees ahead caught his attention, and Lex's smile broadened as he saw the fawn sticking his little head out from around a tree and peering curiously at him. At least there was one little, innocent soul still completely untainted by the cruelty of mankind. He bent to one knee and held out a hand, palm facing up. He wished he had thought to stop and buy a salt lick along the way as he coaxed softly, "Here, fellow. It's okay."
The fawn continued to gaze at him unblinkingly, and Lex wriggled his fingers ever so slightly. He ceased movement immediately as the fawn took a step backward. As he continued to try to coax the baby deer out of hiding, Lex couldn't help thinking that Clark would have had him eating out of his hand by now. Clark had a way with animals that Lex supposed had something to do with his own innocence. He knew they felt a kindred soul in Clark for his heart was as huge, innocent, and timid as their own.
Lex feared the day Clark would lose his innocence, but before that thought could continue, urgent twittering resounded from one of the trees to Lex's right. His bald head jerked up, and the fawn skittered backwards behind the trees. Lex rose slowly to his feet, his widened, blue eyes riveted on a nest of birds. He could see a bunch of tiny heads, but two birds in particular were making all the fuss. One was considerably larger than the rest, and Lex deduced she must be the mother of the brood. Her mouth was screeching, and her small wings were flapping hysterically as she tried to call her baby back from where the adventurous tyke had tottered to the edge of the nest. She took to the air, calling out at the top of her lungs, and Lex watched in horror as the baby fell out of the nest.
Lex moved forward, though he knew he could never reach the baby in time. It spiraled through the air, flapping its tiny, feathered wings for all it was worth, with its mother flying behind it and desperately darting in as she tried to figure out how to save her baby. Then a strong, tanned hand appeared underneath the baby and gently caught it. The mother's screeches grew even wilder as she darted in, pecking at the face of the handsome hero. Lex breathed a sigh of relief at the welcome sight of his beloved Clark, his heart skittering and skipping a beat before settling back to normal. Clark's smile sent warmth crashing all the way through Lex, curling his toes, and washing away all his cares.
"Hi," Clark spoke as though rescuing a baby bird falling out of its nest was a normal, everyday occurrence.
Lex knew he was grinning like an idiot and didn't care as he responded, "Hi."
Clark briefly turned his attention to the mother bird who kept squawking at the top of her lungs while lunging at his face with her beak and talons. "Sh," Clark spoke as though he thought such a command might actually calm the bird. "It's okay, Mama," he tried to reassure her while keeping his voice so gentle and soft that Lex could barely hear him. "Your baby's okay. I'm just gonna lean up here like this . . . " He continued talking to the frightened bird as he leaned up on the toes of his cowboy boots and stretched his muscular, tanned arm up to the nest.
Lex felt his breath again catch in his throat as the sunlight glinted on Clark's bronze muscles, and he found himself yet again, as his heart hammered in the confines of his chest, reflecting on how lucky he was that this man was his. " . . . and put your baby . . . safely back in your nest."
Clark deposited the baby bird back into its home and stepped back. The mother bird gave a final squawk before flying back into her nest behind her baby and gathering her babies to her in her wings. As she began to clean the child she had almost lost, she started to sing a merry tune meant to be reassuring to her children. Her song also spoke to the hearts of the two men who had snuck away to this secluded paradise.
Clark turned from watching the birds to find Lex standing patiently behind him with a warm smile curving his light pink lips. Clark noted his bare feet, and his smile grew. "Started the party without me?" he asked softly as he stepped into Lex's open arms.
"Never," Lex murmured in response as he hugged his love close to his heart.
Each man relished every moment spent in the other's arms, and their tender hug was no exception. Lex let his eyes drift shut in rapture as he wished he could stay there, holding Clark, forever. His lips brushed Clark's jet black hair, and his smile grew even more, though he'd thought it impossible, at Clark's happy sigh.
It seemed to Clark that he was now waiting his whole life for these treasured moments with his beloved Lex that were far too few. Working on the farm, school, spending time with his family and friends, even saving Smallville on rare occasion -- all had become boring for no matter what else he might be doing, what he wanted to do was spend valuable time with the man he loved more than anything, or one, else in the world.
Clark was still holding Lex sweetly against his muscular chest when he sighted movement in the woods behind his love. His breath caught in his throat. If they were discovered, both their worlds would be destroyed! Lex's secret would be revealed to the entire world, and whereas Clark's sexual orientation would never shock the entire globe, it would shake his world until he was knocked, begging, to his knees for no one he loved other than Lex, not his dearest friends or even his loving parents, would ever understand.
They really would think him a monster, as evidenced from the last time he'd gone to Metropolis with his parents and heard his father talk about an openly gay couple who'd dared to hold hands. The act of holding hands was a simple gesture of lovers, but even that was forbidden to the ones of the same sex who fell in love together. Every one on the streets had either looked pointedly away or glared condescendingly at those two men who had dared to refuse to hide their feelings for each other.
Jonathan had been one of the latter, and Clark had felt his heart break when his father had told him to divert his eyes from the Devil's doing. He'd burned to shout at his dad that love was never the Devil's handiwork, that he should not begrudge any one their love, and that he himself loved a man but had managed to stay silent after also seeing his mother's teary gaze.
Clark's memory broke as the bushes moved . . .
To Be Continued . . .