Lana insisted on painting the nursery herself. She'd been deprived of the pleasure before, and took real joy in picking out colors and fabric for drapes to match. The only thing she kept from the old room was the rocking horse, and even that was refinished.
Already the room felt lighter to her, hopeful and finally she felt the anguish of the past begin to slowly fall away. Lex even began to come around as he watched her transform the place. He teased her for having paint in her hair one late night, and they ended up making love on the floor.
Once the room was finished, Lana felt a knot slowly release in her chest. All her life she had to brace herself against the inevitable demise of everything close to her, and rarely had those things that were lost been returned to her. Lex. Clark. Her child. Of the three, the last was the one that she could truly call her own.
In the seclusion of the mansion, it was easy to forget about the outside world. Unfortunately though, the outside world wouldn't forget about her. During the past several weeks she fielded numerous calls from Chloe asking her to come to Metropolis.
Technically she went to Metropolis every day, but there was just no way to tear herself away from the lab. As it was, it became harder and harder to leave each night. The babies were literally growing right before her eyes, doing in weeks what it took months for normal babies to do.
Since she'd been watching over them, seven of the boys had died, leaving her grief stricken and that much more determined to stay with them as much as possible. It wasn't until Chloe "jokingly" threatened to have the police check to be sure that Lana was still living, that she finally agreed to have lunch with her.
"Earth to Lana," Chloe called, waving her french fry around in circles.
"Sorry," she mumbled, lost in thought.
"Okay, what's going on with you?" Chloe asked in a serious tone. She peered into Lana's face with her reporter's eye looking for answers.
Lana gave the girl her best smile. "Just life," she answered cryptically. Well, it was the truth after all.
"Life?" Chloe asked, arching an eyebrow.
Lana laughed. "Yeah, you know. Things are just going well for me lately."
"Oh," Chloe said, sounding surprised. "So things with Lex are . . ."
"Better," she answered honestly.
"Well, that's good." Chloe gave her the best smile that she had, but it wasn't convincing.
"What?" she asked, fearing the answer.
"Lana, we've just been really worried about you is all. The mansion is practically in lockdown. You're not seeing visitors or taking calls. What's going on over there?"
"I've just been very busy lately," she said, noticing Chloe's blank stare. "And Lex and I have been trying really hard to get back to where we were as a couple."
Chloe shook her head in surprise. "I'm sorry Lana, but the last time I saw you it really seemed like you were about ready to leave Lex, and now suddenly the two of you are giving it another shot? What about everything's he's done? You're actually going to just sit there and be Mrs. Luthor?"
"I am Mrs. Luthor, Chloe," Lana corrected. The name sounded foreign even to her own ears.
Chloe's mouth gaped open. "What about Clark?" she blurted out.
Acid splashed into the back of her throat and she tried to keep her composure. Thoughts of Clark had been forcibly pushed from her mind lately. There was no way she could run off into the sunset with him now, not with the babies coming. She would have to squash down hard on that part of her heart for their sakes. "What about him?" she asked in mock boredom.
"He loves you Lana," Chloe said in a whisper and the words caused Lana's heart to skip a beat. "I thought you loved him too."
Lana took a shallow breath and steadied her nerves, gathering her purse and laying money on the table as she stood to leave. "I did," she finally said, looking Chloe straight in the eyes. "But that's over now."
As she walked back towards her car she felt a twinge of regret knowing that Chloe would probably relay the news back to Clark. But it had to be so. For the children.