Thanks to Opal for inspiring this chapter!

Clark and Lucas weren't talking. It had been almost 2 weeks. Lex was ready to throttle the hell out of the both of them but this wasn't his argument so he was trying to stay as far away from Clark and Lucas as possible, which was next to impossible seeing as how he lived with Lucas and Clark was an almost permanent fixture in the castle now more than ever. But no matter how loud he told both of them to solve it themselves he knew he was the only one that both of them could talk to and who was talking to both of them so he sucked it up and listened to the bitching from both sides.

Chloe could kick Clark Kent in his big fat head. How dare he do what he did after what he had done (it all made sense in her head). He was the most stubborn, self righteous, UGH MAN! Kick, kick, kick him in the head, that's what she wanted to do. She settled though for commiserating with Lucas over the oh so many ways Clark had wronged them and how they could make him pay. Psychologically of course, they didn't get physical, in their minds it mostly ended in Clark groveling.

Clark could NOT believe Lucas. Clark knew Lucas was worried that he was turning into a meteor mutant and okay he hadn't done anything to disabuse him of that fear until the night of the cave thing. But WHYdid he have to go to Chloe before telling him he was going to look into it? Now he had to admit to Chloe that he had lied to her sooooo many times over the years that he'd lost count plus the whole dumping her for another guy thing still stung a little, he was lucky to leave with his head after the verbal tongue lashing Chloe gave him.

Chloe stormed into the barn. "HOW COULD YOU CLARK KENT!" She yelled at the top of her lungs at him, startling him as he was tossing a bail of hay so as he accidentally threw it through the wall.

"Chloe hi…" He said with a slight blush as he tried to think of how to explain what he just did.

"So um was that another of your adrenaline related accidents?" She accused as she pointed to the new drive through window in the barn. "Because if I were you I'd really get that adrenal gland checked out before you put somebody into the hospital, or maybe rip the roof off of a car." She said with her arms crossed over her chest.

"Whatcha talking about Chloe?" Clark tried to cover his nervousness. He was going to kill Lex.

"I mean the fact that nothing you have told me since WE WERE 12 has been the truth!" She said, her voice raising a few octaves.

"Chloe I don't know what Lex told you or why…"

"Lex, you think Lex told me! Why the fuck would Lex…" She stopped talking as she realized what Clark had just said. "So you told Lex about this before you told me! Thanks a lot Clark!"

"Well if Lex didn't tell you then…Lucas." Lucas was going to hear about this.

"Yeah, Lucas. The guy you let worry himself into a frenzy over the fact that he was morphing into some hideous meteor mutant for two days, TWO DAYS CLARK KENT! He was so afraid of turning into some hateful, angry, killer who would wind up hurting you or your children that he came to me to research it. Meanwhile you had an inkling that this was due to your little, shall we say, 'difference'. How could you do that to him?"

"Chloe I never meant for any of this to happen. And I didn't tell him right away because I didn't want to…fine I didn't want him to reject me."

She calmed a bit. "Clark we all have to face rejection some time, I've been dealing with it for a very long time now. But you had no right to do that to him, you should have told him before you started anything with him. Now look what happened. You hurt him Clark, and he's too thrilled with the fact that he's not the new Freak of the Week to tell you how much you hurt him. He's been lied to his entire life, he deserves better than that and you know it!"

Clark didn't mean to say it, he just did. "What makes you angrier Chloe, the fact that I didn't tell Lucas or the fact that you didn't get to write about your friend the alien for the Daily Planet?" He glared at her furiously.

"Clark I would never…"

"No but you'd think about it. That's why I didn't tell you first."

Chloe didn't say anything, she just stormed out of the barn crying, nearly knocking Mr. Kent over on the way out.

"What was that all about?" He asked concerned.

Clark just shook his head. "I have to head over to the castle. I'll fix that when I get home." With that he zipped out of the barn.

Lucas was swimming laps in the pool, since he couldn't lift weights, do crunches, or go jogging anymore, when Clark burst through the doors and onto the deck. "We have to talk now!" He all but growled at Lucas, who was in the middle of the backstroke.

He swam to the edge of the pool and looked up to see a pissed off Clark Kent glaring at him. "What no hello?" Lucas asked nonchalantly. Clark just continued to glare. "Fine, fine." Lucas climbed the ladder out of the pool and stood soaking wet on the deck. "Alright you have my attention. What's wrong now?"

"Can we talk somewhere a little more private?" Clark asked, still angry.

Lucas just rolled his eyes and wrapped a towel around his waist and lead Clark up to his room. "Alright we're in private. What have I done to earn the evil eye?" Lucas asked as he closed his bedroom door and went about looking for something to wear.

"You had no right to tell Chloe!" Clark stood in the middle of the room, seething with anger.

Lucas stopped what he was doing and turned around, crossing his hands over his chest as he leaned against the wall. "I see Chloe's paid you a visit and from your general demeanor it wasn't a happy one." He smirked.

'Was that a smirk?' Clark though angrily. "Why did you tell her? It wasn't your place!"

"It wasn't my place to tell her what is going on in my life? Since when do you dictate my life? I thought that since you had told Lex you would have told her too, I didn't know."

"You should have told me you were going to research it with her!"

"Why so you could have stopped me?" He leaned off the wall and stalked toward Clark. "So you could have lied to me again?"

"Lucas I was going to tell you I swear…"

Lucas snorted a cynical laugh. "I'm sure of it. Let me think, you knew Chloe what like 6 years and still hadn't told her, with Lex it took four before you told him, so yeah I guess you would have told me given proper motivation. Lucky for me it came so quickly."

"Lucas I never meant to hurt you."

Lucas' eyes narrowed in anger. "Well isn't that just peachy for me."

Clark's anger had almost completely dissipated and now was replaced with sadness and fear. He lowered his gaze to the ground and whispered. "Lucas I'm sorry."

Lucas narrowed his eyes and glared at Clark. "Yeah so am I. I'm sorry I let myself believe you actually cared about me. Because from what I've seen today you don't."

Clark's head shot up. "Lucas I'm so sorry, I know I should have told you everything before we started seeing each other. Once I had you I didn't want to lose you."

"Well that's too bad. First you lie to me about who you really are then get me in the most precarious of situations then you have the gall to come into my house and berate me like a child for not knowing that you were lying to your best friend and accidentally outing you to her. Fuck you Clark! Go home!"

"Lucas no..." Clark closed the few feet between them with a step and tried to somehow touch Lucas, as if that would make it better. He tried to hug him, but Lucas just swatted his hands away, he tried to kiss him but he just turned his head.

Clark just swallowed the lump in his throat and fought not to cry. "If that's what you want." He walked to the door and put his hand on the knob. "I'll call you later."

Lucas didn't even turn back to talk to him. "Don't bother."

Clark almost started sobbing right then and there. He just opened the door and left.

Lucas was still standing in the middle of the room, staring out the window when Lex walked in and leaned against the door frame. "He is truly sorry."

"So what." He didn't turn back to look at his brother, he didn't want Lex to see the tears running down his cheeks.

"Lucas don't…"

"GO AWAY LEX!" His voice cracked a bit.

"Alright, but if you want to talk you know where I am."

"Yeah, thanks." He waved a dismissive hand at him.

Lex walked out of the room and closed the door behind him.

"Fucking hormones," Lucas muttered to himself as he absently rubbed his stomach.

Clark zipped into the house and ran upstairs slamming his bedroom door so hard the entire neighborhood could hear. Martha wiped her hands on her apron and walked up to his room. "Clark?" She called to him as she knocked on the door. All she heard was a loud sniffle from the other side so she opened the door and sat on the bed next to him. She placed her hand on his back. "Clark what happened."

The dam broke and Clark sobbed as he spoke. "Chloe(sob)yelled(sob)Lucas(sob) hates…" He trailed off not being able to talk anymore and just hugged his mom as he sobbed harder and harder.

Martha held her baby boy and let him cry out his frustrations. "Oh sweetie. Give him time, he'll come back around. Chloe will too."

Well it had been over 2 weeks and neither of them had been able to talk to the other. Strike that, they couldn't even look at each other. Every time one walked into a room the other was in, or the Talon, the other walked out as quickly as possible obviously avoiding any and all contact, Clark out of fear and shame, Lucas out of anger. Chloe and Lex were tired of the two of them but they didn't know what to do about it. Not that they hadn't tried to get them to 'accidentally meet' in various places and have some kind of civil conversation. But both were too stubborn and too hurt to even try. So they just decided to let nature take it's course because somehow they'd find their way back to each other.

Lionel's unannounced visit to the castle couldn't have come at a better time according to Lex, and that was saying a lot coming from Lex. The three of them were sitting in the dining room having a long, quiet dinner.

Lionel tried to get conversation started. "So Lucas what classes are you going to be taking at school this fall?"

Lucas glanced up from the food he was pushing around on his plate and looked at his father, trying to keep his face emotionless. He cleared his throat before speaking. "Well since it's my first year it'll just be gen eds." He lied smoothly, he really didn't want to have to explain the Clark thing to his dad.

"Nonsense." Lionel chuckled. "You have advanced placement credits. You should be taking more upper level courses."

"I don't know what I want to major in so I'd rather take gen eds than waste my time on some bs class that won't help me out in the long run."

"And how exactly will intro to theater help you in life?" Lionel challenged.

Lucas rolled his eyes and stabbed a pea pod. "I don't know dad, maybe I'll become a theater critic and be responsible for making sure Cats has another successful 15 year run." Lucas said sarcastically. 'Someone please kill me.'

Lex mentally chuckled, he felt bad for Lucas but he was glad the heat was off him for once.

Lionel laughed. "You do have your brother's sense of humor."

"Lucky me." He muttered to himself.

Okay now Lex was going to heave. "So dad how was Tokyo?"

"Same as always, our technology division is more and more promising by the day. Maybe within the next few years you'll be ready to make a move out there." Lionel alluded.

Lex managed a tight lipped smile. "Thanks dad but you know how fickle technology can be. Let's hold off on that."

"Very well. So Lucas what dorm are you staying in next year?"

That caught Lucas off guard he had to think for a second. "Umm…Actually I was thinking of living off campus. Lex said I could use the penthouse."

"But if you lived on campus you'd get that full collegiate experience. Maybe even join one of the fraternities."

Lucas shrugged. "I'm not much for sharing my space with others so living in a 10x10 room with another guy doesn't sound all that appealing. As for frats, those are for people who have to be defined by their social status because they have no redeeming qualities."

"I was in a frat." Lex guffawed.

Lucas just smirked and raised an eyebrow then took bite of steak off his fork.

"If I remember correctly Lex you were expelled from the school with the fraternity you were in."

"Minor detail."

"So Lucas what have you found to abide your time in Smallville?"

"A lot of reading, hanging out. Normal things." 'Being impregnated by me male alien lover whom I'm not currently speaking to.' The last part was added mentally.

"Hanging out? Am I correct in assuming that you have found some friends in the town you so delicately termed 'Crapville USA'?"

"What can I say, stranger things have happened."

"Speaking of oddities, Lex I hear your friend Clark Kent was awarded a scholarship through LuthorCorp. The funny thing is when I went to look at his application it wasn't there. Now how do you suppose that happened?" Lionel inquired, he wasn't upset that Lex had given Clark the scholarship even though he didn't apply he just wanted to remind to always cover his tracks.

"Well that was obviously a filing error. I'll have it sent over Monday."

"No need. I trust your judgment. After all Clark is a remarkable young man."

Lucas didn't need to hear his father glow about Clark right now. "I'm not feeling too well I think I'm going to go do some reading. Later dad." Lucas pushed himself away form the table and headed to the garage. He hopped into his black Audi convertible and sped away from home as quickly as possible with the top down and the music blaring. He wasn't paying attention to where he was driving his body was on autopilot while his mind mulled over the past few months. 'Stupid college, stupid fucking town, damn Lex, grrr dad, fucking meteors, fucking Clark (in all senses of the word).' "AHHHHHHH!" He yelled at the top of his lungs in frustration. Before he knew it he was navigating his car up the Kents driveway and contemplating getting out or not. The decision was soon made for him. He didn't see Jonathan on his way in or hear him walk up to the car.

"He's not here."

Lucas heart leapt into his throat so hard he almost choked, he looked up blinking at Jonathan who was currently holding a pitch fork. "Well that's just perfect."

"I know what happened."

'This just keeps getting better and better.' "And what do you think I should do, because he was still wrong in the way he treated me."

"I know. Being Clark isn't easy, and although that is not an excuse for what he said to you or the way he's acted I know he'd never hurt you or anyone he cares about on purpose."

"Why are you being so nice to me? I figured you of all people would be happy that the evil Luthor spawn was forever out of your son's life."

Jonathan had to think for a second before answering. "I don't agree with the way your father does business a lot of the time. And I used to think your brother was the same way, and the last time you came to town, well you didn't make the best of impressions. But after getting to know you and your family I know Clark is safe with you. I may not always agree with the decisions he makes but I have enough faith in the way I raised my son to know that he knows what is best for him."

"Where is he?"

"I think you know."

Lucas smiled a little. "Thanks Mr. Kent."

"Call me Jonathan."

"Thanks Jonathan." Lucas turned the car around and headed out. A few minutes later he was headed up route 12, five minutes from the caves when the steering on his car locked up. "What the hell." He struggled to keep the car straight, he tried breaking and downshifting but the car was out of control and it was quickly headed for a tree. "Shit." Lucas braced for the impact and blacked out soon after.

Clark was in the caves looking at the pictures on the walls and tracing the outlines, thinking of the many ways he had been terrible to Chloe and Lucas when a sudden feeling of dread and panic began to set in. He didn't know how or why but he was sure something was wrong with Lucas. Just then the room stared to glow with an orange light and Jor-el started to speak.

"Go to him Kal-el."

"Where is he, what's wrong with him?"

"He has been injured not far from here, there is not much time. Go to him and bring him back here."

Without further instructions Clark sped out of the caves in search of Lucas. As soon as he exited the caves he could hear a dull moaning and the slowing of a heart beat, no 3 heart beats. Clark headed down route 12 and as he got closer the noises he was hearing got louder, when he got there and saw him the noises stopped, not because they were gone but because he was where he needed to be. Nothing prepared him for what he saw, the front of Lucas' precious Audi was wrapped around a large oak tree on the side of the road. Lucas was passed out, face was completely covered in blood, presumably from the large gash marring his forehead where he'd hit the steering wheel since the airbag didn't deploy. There were also other various cut covering his body from the seat belt and the windshield shattering. When he got closer he scanned his body for broken bones, his entire rib cage was broken and one of his ribs had punctured his left Lung. He scanned the twins, they were there but their heart beats were slowing down, as was Lucas'. "Shit." Clark quickly ripped the door off the car and gathered Lucas in his arms and sped to the caves. As soon as Clark entered the room with Lucas in his arms a purple light began to glow.

"Place him on the ground and step back." Jor-el commanded.

Clark did as he was told and stood against a wall a few feet away from Lucas. Soon the entire cave was filled with a purple light, and the ground was glowing purple also. Clark just watched in a state of shock as the purple light began to heal Lucas. Three distinct strong heart beats began to fill the room and soon the light went away.

Lucas started coughing and tried to sit up but groaned in pain. Clark was by his side immediately with a hand on his shoulder and another on his hip, also noticing that the blood was gone and the cut was beginning to heal but it was still fresh. "Don't try to move too much. You were in a car accident." He helped his sit up.

"How'd I get here?" He asked as he looked around the cave.

"I got this feeling there was something wrong, and Jor-el told me to go to you before it was too late." Clark began to crumble and tears started flowing down his cheeks. "I'm sorry. I never should have yelled at you the way I did."

"I know you didn't want to hurt me, but you still did."

"I know, and I'm sorry." He hugged Lucas gently, yet firm, not wanting to let him go or hurt him. "I will never hurt you like that again. I swear. Please don't leave me. it's bad enough I almost lost the 3 of you." He buried his face in the crook of Lucas' neck and cried. "I can't lose you."

"It's okay Clark." Lucas hugged him back and ran a hand through Clark's hair. "Shhhhh. It's okay, we're okay. I'm right here. I'm not going anywhere."

After a few minutes Clark calmed down. He let go of Lucas and sat back. Lucas reached out an wiped the tears off Clark's cheeks. "I will never lie to you again. And I am so sorry that I yelled at you for telling Chloe. I should have told her a long time ago."

"Yes you should have, but I understand you were scared." Lucas leaned forward and gave Clark a light kiss. "Come on, let's go home. I need to explain to my brother why I need to buy a new car."

"Sounds like fun. I don't know what it is with Luthors and cars." Clark teased.

"Guess what."

"What?"

"Dad's here, for the entire weekend."

"Oh god."

"Exactly."

"We'll tell him together."

"We don't have to if you don't want to."

"We'll do it now. We'll tell him everything." Clark helped Lucas to his feet. "I swear, neither of them are ever getting their licenses."

"Now what's the fun in that? If it weren't for bad driving you and I wouldn't be together."

"How so?"

"Well if my brother had never driven off that bridge you wouldn't be friends with him, and you wouldn't have met me."

"I guess we were destined to be together." Clark wrapped his arms around Lucas and kissed the top of his head as they walked out of the caves together. "Still, they can't go through cars the way you two do." Lucas laughed.

Alright folks, I've all but ignored my other 2 fics because of this one, plus it's almost time for finals so I don't know how much updating I'm going to be able to do to any of them but I'll try. Thanks again for all the reviews, I thrive off them,