Hey, guys!

Sorry this chapter took so long! At first, I had to figure out a couple of things, but then I had a recital I had to practice for and I got super busy, lol. Hopefully the next chapter will come out a bit sooner.

I hope y'all enjoy!

Chapter Two.

The ride home was filled with a thick silence.

Lex didn't spend much time focusing on the road. His focus instead went to the little alien sitting quiet and small in the seat beside him.

He tried to reason with himself that this had been a good choice even though he literally had no experience with kids. He didn't even have any experience with a good father.

But so far, the kid had practically been an angel. Of course, he had an idea of why the child was like that, but the thought of the experiments and the abuse that happened at the lab made his skin crawl.

Lex pulled into the driveway of his Smallville mansion, then got out of the car and opened the passenger side door.

He smiled down at the kid, but on the inside he was panicking. Would he do something wrong? What if he hurt him? Could his father's own abusive behavior make him a monster too?

"Hey," he said as softly as he could manage, but his dry throat made the words come out in an awkward croak.

The child looked up at him for a second, then back down at the floor of the car. He stayed quiet. If it hadn't been for the yelp he had released after being grabbed in the lab, Lex would have thought that he was unable to make any sounds. He was so quiet…

"Why don't you come inside with me?" Lex said. "I have some toys that I think you would like."

It was a lie. Lex hadn't seen a toy since the day Julian had died, but he hoped that a couple of billiard balls would keep him occupied long enough for Lex to come up with a plan.

The child made no indication that he was going to be getting out of the car, and Lex sighed.

"C'mere," he said as he scooped the child into his arms, his heart shattering as he realized that the kid was skin and bones.

The child let an ear-piercing shriek, then began to openly sob. Thick tears rolled down his thin cheeks and onto Lex's suit.

Lex slightly tightened his grip on him as he began to squirm and try to wriggle free. He didn't want to hurt the child, but he also didn't want him to run away. That wouldn't be much better for the alien than the lab.

On the inside though, Lex felt horrible. He shouldn't have grabbed him. After over two years of being a lab rat, there was no way the kid wanted to be grabbed and held tightly. The pit feeling in Lex's stomach sank even deeper.

Lex put the child down as soon as he shut the door behind them. He could go for a drink right about now… In fact, he wasn't sure that the strong beverages had ever seemed more tempting.

But he had other things to focus on.

Within five seconds of being put down, the child had pushed himself into the only empty corner in the room.

Lex ran his hands over his scalp, then sat down on the floor beside the child.

"I'm sorry," he said, though he wondered if the child could even understand him. "I didn't mean to scare you."

The child looked up at him with his big blue eyes, but didn't speak. Somehow those eyes spoke more than words ever could.

Lex stood up. "Well, I have something that I have to work on, but you can look around if you want to." Lex said. "And there's food in the kitchen if you're hungry. They'll make you anything you want…"

Lex stopped, realizing that he had been rambling. He shook his head. He didn't ramble…

Lex stood there until he was sure that the child wasn't going to say anything, then walked to his office. There was a lot of stuff to be done and he needed to come up with a plan.

A few hours later and Lex was no closer to coming up with a plan than he was one he first walked into his office.

There wasn't a clear direction to go with his whole mess, and it was giving him a headache.

The sensible part of him said to send the child with child services, but the more impulsive side of him wanted to keep the child for himself. Not to torture in the name of science like his father had, but to raise as his own child.

He rubbed the bridge of his nose, then stood up. This wouldn't be something that he could decide tonight, and he had a child to take care of.

What do aliens like for dinner? It was a silly question to Lex, but it was also a valid question. He had no idea what to feed the kid.

That was when another question entered his mind. What was he going to call him? The child deserved a name, but he had never been good at naming anything.

He shook his head, and the thoughts of the ten names that flew into his mind. Dinner first, then names. There was no way he was going to think of anything decent while he was hungry.

When he opened the door, he almost jumped.

The child stood right outside of the door, his head tilted and his big eyes shining. He was a cute kid, but it was the last thing Lex had been expecting.

Lex tried to take a steadying breath, but he wasn't sure that it worked. He hadn't been scared like that in years.

How long had he been standing there? Had he followed Lex hours ago when he went to his office?

"Hey, kiddo," he greeted as he lowered himself to the boy's level. "Are you hungry?"

The child hesitated for a moment, then nodded.

Lex felt himself grinning before he even realized he was doing it. This was the first time the child had nodded. The first time he had shown any kind of communication.

He held out his hand, though he wasn't sure that the child would take it. "Let's go find something to eat."

It had been a long time since Lex had last eaten frozen chicken nuggets.

Finding something the child would or could eat had been difficult. For starters, the entries in the file had never documented what he had eaten. Plus Lex wasn't sure if the child had been starved.

So he made a variety of foods.

Yes, normally his chef would have cooked, but the chef had the weekend off. It hadn't been a problem until Lex found himself overcooking a box of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese noodles to the point that they were almost mush.

Lex shook the memory from his head. There was no reason to relive the failure over and over again. It was a box of mac 'n cheese, not anything expensive or rare. Plus he had a chef most days.

He looked at the child and watched as the boy nibbled on the nuggets. He wanted to do right by him, but he wasn't sure how.

Did doing right by him mean keeping him and raising him as his own? Or contacting an adoption agency and sending him to somewhere where someone could actually cook a box of mac 'n cheese?

At the moment, all he knew was that he was going to keep the child as far away from scientists and anyone who wanted to experiment or exploit the child. He wouldn't let anyone take advantage of the little boy. He wouldn't let anybody hurt him.

"Do you like it?" Lex asked.

The child didn't look up from his plate, but nodded. That was all Lex needed. A nod. Maybe one day the boy would talk to him, but for now, a nod would do. In fact, Lex was grateful for every nod he was getting.

They sat there in silence while Lex waited for the child to finish his dinner. Meanwhile, he took the opportunity to really try to come up with a name.

His first thought was a name from space, but he quickly shook it away. None of them fit the blue-eyed boy in front of him.

Then the names of rulers came next, but none of them fit either.

Lex swallowed. Only one name kept popping into his mind and staying there. He wondered what made it stick so well. Was it the dark hair? The big eyes? Or maybe it was the guilt Lex felt in both cases.

Either way, he wouldn't be calling the child Julian. He couldn't.

Lex sighed, then looked at the child and smiled when he saw him. The poor little thing looked exhausted. The naming would have to wait until tomorrow. It was bedtime.

"C'mon," Lex said as he stood up. "Let's get you in bed."

Here you go! So, hopefully the chapters and scenes will start to get a bit longer as Clark begins to open up, but we'll see, lol. Please follow, fave, and review. I would love to know what you thought!

Thanks for reading! Love y'all!