A/N: Hey all! I'm back to regular (Wednesday) updates on this, now the the holidays are over.

Also, FFN stats aren't working right now, so the only way I know whether anyone is reading this is if you let me know. Review or shoot me a PM if you are enjoying—I love to hear from people! :)

Chapter 25 - Bullets

Lex's eyes fluttered open. His head pounded, and sweat dripped down his face—or rather, dripped up his face. The room was upside down; his ankles were numb. He went to wipe the sweat away, but his arms were pressed against his sides by the straightjacket.

Adrenaline flooded through his veins. He pulled hard against the restraints, swinging, and breathed in to call for help, but then it all came back to him. He'd been taken from the Kent farm. Clark would have noticed it happen. He'd have followed, and he would be watching. Lex couldn't call out for help yet; he still needed to find out what was going on with the dead man.

He swallowed hard. This was a torture position; he might have to use the code word early if he couldn't stand the pain. He steeled himself—his father would have berated him for thinking that way. Luthors weren't weak.

A voice: "You ready to talk? You're finally where you should have been three years ago. Exposed in the spotlight."

Lex cleared his throat. "You're Jude Royce, aren't you?"

The man walked into the room and stood before Lex. It was impossible, of course—but maybe Lex could find out who he really was.

Lex tried to catch his eye. "What do you want from me?"

"The truth about Club Zero."

Lex tried to adjust his weight to regain some feeling in his feet, but it was no use. "If I tell you the truth, you tell me how you survived?"

Jude scoffed and coiled back a fist.

Pain exploded in Lex's abdomen, and he swung, gasping.

"Let's get one thing straight, Lex. I call the shots here. You've got no leverage. No cards to play. So why don't you tell me what happened?"

Lex struggled against the straightjacket, but finally he let his breath out. Talking hurt his head, but he managed to get through the rehearsed explanation of the events at Club Zero: "You were cheating on Amanda. I took her to Club Zero to catch you in the act. We fought, you stabbed me. Max Kasich was working security and shot you in defense."

"Liar! That's what it said in the papers, but that's not what really happened.

"It's the truth! Read the police reports."

"I know you covered it up. I don't know how you did it, but you're going to pay." Jude held up a gun to Lex's head.

Lex was out of time. He had to use the code word—but in the panic of the moment, he had no idea what he'd told Clark the code word was.

"Daddy can't save you this time, Lex."

Lex squeezed his eyes closed. If Clark was here, he'd probably know to come to Lex's rescue, and Lex would probably live. If not . . .

His life flashed before his eyes, and he wondered if anyone would even miss him besides Clark. His father wouldn't, and no one had loved him since his mother. His nanny had betrayed him. He'd killed his best friend from school, and his little brother. And Amanda might not ever even know he was dead . . .

The gunshot came, and Lex flinched, but when he opened his eyes, Clark stood in front of him. Clark winced and grabbed at the back of his shoulder. "Ow," he whispered, then whirled around.

Lex craned his neck to look past Clark. A familiar man stood with a gun, mouth hanging open.

Clark smirked. "You missed," he said.

The man gasped. "How did—how . . ."

Lex's brow furrowed, glancing from Jude Royce, who was out cold on the floor, to Clark, back up to the man with the smoking gun. "You're the contractor from the Talon."

The man didn't say anything, just cocked the gun again. Clark knocked it out of his hand—it flew across the room and smashed against a wall—then raised a hand to hit the contractor in the head. At the last moment, he shook his head and stepped back, wincing. He glanced back at Lex, and the look was clear. It had been too recently that Clark had hurt someone. He'd taken down Jude to save Lex's life, but he didn't want to hit an unarmed man.

Lex worried the contractor might dart for the gun again, but the man just stood, frozen, panic in his eyes. "Who are you?"

"I'm Lex's best friend. I'm the one you have to go through if you want to hurt him." Clark stepped back to Lex and turned him to undo the buckles on the straightjacket.

As soon as Lex's arms were free, he pulled himself up to reach for the ropes around his ankles. His weakness startled him—his abdomen throbbed before he could pull himself up halfway.

"Here." Clark reached up and untied him.

"Wait, wait—" Lex dropped to the floor, his shoulder striking hard.

"Oh, I'm sorry!"

"I'm okay." The pain in his shoulder was nothing to what he was feeling in his legs now that the blood was rushing back to them.

Clark disappeared suddenly, and when Lex managed to pull himself up to sitting, he saw Clark holding the contractor's hands behind his back. Apparently the contractor had tried to make a run for the gun.

Clark looked up at Lex. "No meteor rocks. Not on this guy or his . . . friend." He nodded toward Jude Royce.

"Who is he?" Lex asked the contractor.

The contractor spat in Lex's direction.

Clark tightened his grip, and the man winced. "Who is he?" Clark shouted. "A shape shifter?"

"He's just a lookalike! I swear! I hired him to help me avenge my sister."

"Your sister?" Lex pushed himself up to kneeling, hoping to stand, but sat back down—his legs were practically gelatin.

"Amanda Rothman. She committed suicide because of what you did to her, you bastard!" He wrenched away from Clark suddenly and lunged toward Lex, managing to get in one hard kick to the ribs before Clark caught up and grabbed him again.

Lex shouted, doubling over in pain. Their plan had been for nothing—Clark could have saved him sooner. There was nothing related to the meteor rocks here.

"My hands are a bit full," Clark said. "Think you're up for a call to the police?"

Lex nodded. They had enough evidence to make a case. They were both witnesses, and the Jude Royce lookalike would take their side when he found out the contractor had tried to kill him. Aside from that, the forensics team at the Kent farm would find the contractor's fingerprints all over the steel drums that had leaked the toxic materials, if Lex told them what to look for. There would be some evidence of the struggle in the van as well.

Lex rubbed feeling into his tingling arms before reaching into his pocket for his cell phone.

The police gave them a ride back to the mansion. Clark walked Lex through the halls in the mansion, arm supporting him under his shoulders, similar to the way he had after Lex fell out of the window.

"You're bulletproof," Lex said as soon as they knew they were alone.

"Kind of." Clark's shoulder still hurt badly from the impact, even though the bullets hadn't pierced his skin.

"That's amazing."

Clark couldn't hold back his smile.

Lex tried to turn toward the study, but Clark guided him toward his room instead.

"Ah, right," Lex said. "Need to get ready. Talon grand opening tonight."

"Not for you," Clark said. "You're going to sleep."

"Don't be ridiculous, Clark. Lana—"

"Will be just fine without you. You were tortured today."

"You prevented that."

Clark raised an eyebrow. "How'd they get you in the van?"

"Ah, taser? I think?"

"So you were electrocuted, hung upside down overnight, punched, kicked, fell on your shoulder—"

"I'm fine."

"Okay." Clark pulled away his supporting arm.

Lex winced and immediately leaned against the wall.

"See? You're not fine."

"I've got a couple of hours until the opening. I'll take some painkillers and get some rest."

Clark offered his supporting arm again, and Lex leaned against him. "No, Lex. You're not overdosing on painkillers so you can go to a party."

"I promised Lana I'd be there."

"She'll understand." They'd arrived at Lex's room. Clark pushed the door open and helped Lex over to his bed. "I'll go grab you some painkillers."

"Grab me some coffee while you're at it?"

"I'll tell the kitchen staff to make you some chamomile."

"No, that'll put me to sleep."

"That's the idea."

"Clark . . ."

Clark stood up straight and crossed his arms, imitating the look his dad gave him when he wasn't going to let something go. "You're not well, Lex. And letting you get kidnapped was a stupid idea. Your stupid idea."

"It would have been worth it if—"

"No, it wouldn't have." Clark understood that now. It had been hard enough to watch Lex hang, unconscious, by his ankles overnight. Seeing the pain in his eyes when he landed . . . Clark wasn't going to allow it again. "I'm not gonna let you hurt yourself any more."

Lex let his head drop, and he nodded. "Okay, Clark." He adjusted himself so he was laying down, though he winced on the way down.

"Might be awhile before I see you after this. I'm going to be grounded for weeks."

"Nothing I can do about that?"

"Not without making it worse." Clark gave a slight smile and went to grab the painkillers and send word to the kitchen staff.

Clark's mom was crying hysterically when he returned home. His parents had been up all night long, worrying about him. Her hug would have been crushing if he hadn't been invulnerable, and the guilt of making her worry would have overcome him if he weren't certain that Lex would be dead if he'd made any other decision.

He couldn't tell the truth about where he'd been all night, but he couldn't completely lie either—word would get back to his dad, since Sheriff Ethan was his friend. Clark managed to make it sound as if stumbling upon Lex and saving his life had been an accident, but he remained evasive about why he never picked up the phone.

The scolding his dad gave him was the hardest he'd ever received in his life, focusing on how badly Clark had broken their trust and how deeply he had disappointed them. Clark never would have admitted it to anyone, but he spent minutes on end sobbing into his pillow after his dad left his room. When they'd all calmed down, though, Clark was able to negotiate permission to attend the Talon grand opening in exchange for an extra week of grounding on top of the month he already had. Lucky for him, though, his dad also insisted he continue attending his internship, even asking if he could pick up extra shifts to make up for the ones he'd missed while helping with the Talon.

The Talon looked even better than Clark had imagined it. Lana had managed to pull quite a lot together at the last minute—the decor was amazing, and the place was absolutely flooded with people.

Lana herself, of course, was absolutely glowing. It took his breath away.

She came over to him when he arrived. "Well? What do you think?"

"I'm definitely surprised." He was vaguely aware of how stupid he sounded, but his heart was still pounding a million times a minute.

"Me too. But, um . . . it's weird, I haven't seen Lex."

Clark looked around to make sure his dad wasn't around, then softly said, "He was hurt today."

Lana's eyes widened. "Oh no! What happened?"

"He's okay, and he's safe. The police took the guys who hurt him. But, uh, he's in a lot of pain, and he needs to rest."

She frowned. "How did you hear about it? You barely know Lex. Actually, you seem to be avoiding him every time you help out at the Talon."

Clark swallowed—time to change the subject. "I got this for you." He took the wrapped package from behind his back. "Don't worry. It's not a body part. It was up in the attic, it was my grandfather's."

She smiled and unwrapped the frame with the photo of the Talon.

"It was taken just after the Talon opened. I figured you could hang it up above the counter."

She looked him right in the eyes. "Clark, it's amazing. Thank you."

His heart just about stopped.

Glass shattered at the other side of the room. "I better get back to work," Lana said.

She started to walk away, but Clark called after her, "How does it feel?"

She grinned. "Terrifying. Don't tell anybody."

"Your secret's safe with me." Clark was floating. He barely noticed his dad come up beside him.

"They really did a great job with this place," his dad said.

Clark swallowed hard, crashing down hard after the elation of the last few minutes. "You sound surprised."

"Ah, I guess I am. Considering who was heading it up."

Clark's heart pounded hard for a completely different reason. "Lana?"

His dad let out a short laugh. "Well, I suppose you're right, son. I was thinking of Lex Luthor, but it's pretty clear his hand wasn't in this at all. He couldn't even be bothered to show up for the opening."

Clark breathed in to correct him, but finally just let out his breath. "Yeah," he said. "It's like he doesn't even care."

"I think he might have been using the Talon as a way to get close to you, son. I'm glad you haven't let him win." His dad squeezed his shoulder. "I admit, I'm still not happy about last night, but . . . I'm glad you're coming to understand how important it is to keep away from the Luthors, son."

Determination renewed to keep his friendship with Lex a secret, Clark nodded. "Me too, Dad."