Hey, guys!
Omg, it's here. I finished part one! The whole part turned out to be 20.3k words, which is a lot for 12 chapters in my opinion. I hope you guys enjoyed the first part! And I hope you enjoy this chapter!
Chapter Twelve.
That night, Lex left the motel.
He had to get back to the mansion to grab a few things, and he decided that it would be best if he did it in the middle of the night. No one would be around. It would be the safest time to do the packing up he needed to get done.
He went to his office first and grabbed his computer and phone. He checked the computer for bugs before putting it in the bag though. Thankfully, it was free from any sort of normal tracking device.
Then he went to his room and packed a handful of outfits. He packed a few suits, a couple of casual outfits, and all the underwear and socks he had. He knew he would have to stop at laundromats multiple times during the time that he and Clark were gone, but he didn't want to have to stop every other day because he didn't pack enough.
He also grabbed his pillow, his and Clark's toothbrushes, toothpaste, and Clark's hair necessities. Everything else would have to be purchased on the road.
When he got to Clark's room, his heart stopped.
The room had been overturned. Every item was on the floor, his bedsheets were in a wad on the floor. The dressers, bed, and other furniture items had been pushed around or knocked over.
Lex bent down and picked up Julian's blanket. It was covered in shoe prints and there was a tear in the satin border.
Had the men been in here when they had broken in earlier? Or had they come back?
Lex jumped as his phone began to ring.
"Hello?" He answered.
"Alexander," Alistair Wylie answered.
Lex frowned. Alistair rarely called him, especially not this late at night... "Alistair, is something wrong?" He asked. "It's late."
"It was a very stupid idea for you to come back to the mansion, Lex," he said, and the pit that had been forming in Lex's stomach got a little deeper.
"You know, you might have been able to get away with 33.1 if I hadn't come over for dinner," Alistair told him. "But now we know where he is, and that you did keep him."
Suddenly, Clark's face and reactions to Alistair made sense. Lex could hardly breathe.
"You were the head scientist," Lex said. "That's why he was so scared of you."
Alistair hummed over the phone and Lex could almost see his smile. "33.1 was never very fond of me," he said. "Speaking of 33.1, thank you for leaving him unaccompanied at the motel. My extraction team will have a much easier time getting back my property without you around to get in the way."
"No!" Lex shouted. "You bastard!"
Alistair chuckled. It was a deep, dark chuckle, something Lex would almost classify as an evil laugh.
"Watch your language, Alexander," he said. "Imagine what your father would say if he heard you say such a foul word."
"You're not getting the child back," Lex said. "I won't let you hurt him again!"
"Don't you understand? There's nothing you can do, Alexander," he said. "I've already won."
Lex sped down the road back to the motel, though his heart beat faster than his car moved.
He hoped that Alistair had been gloating, and that Clark was still safe. Even if it was only for a few minutes, it would still be long enough for him to grab him and get out of there. He would be able to figure out what to do while they were on the road. Everything would work out.
He pulled up to the motel and jammed the key into the lock and turned it.
"Daddy?"
Lex grinned, then ran over and picked up Clark. "Oh, I'm so glad you're okay," he said.
Clark wrapped his arms around Lex's neck and curled closer to him. Lex began to gently pat Clark's back as he thought about everything that he had learned. Everything that Alistair had told him.
It had been Alistair all along. He had been the one that tortured Clark. The reason Clark had been so scared of him was because Alistair was the man who had conducted the experiments. Every ounce of pain that Clark had ever felt could be traced back to Alistair.
And it made Lex's blood boil.
He had let Alistair into his home. He had welcomed him in and even gone as far as to introduce Clark to him. Alistair didn't deserve any of that. He deserved to rot in prison and spend eternity in the depths of hell.
As Lex continued to think about everything that had happened, something began to nag at his brain.
Alistair had made it a point to call him and expose himself, he had told Lex that he was the bad guy and that they were currently on their way to get the child.
And yet… Lex had shown up before them.
Suddenly, it dawned on Lex.
They weren't tracking Clark, they didn't have a way to do that. But they could track something almost as easy. Something that would stay close to the child, that would run back to him if it thought the child was in danger.
They could track his father.
They weren't tracking his son, they were tracking him.
Lex felt like he was going to throw up.
He grabbed the child and the bags, then ran for the car.
As soon as they made it outside though, Clark began to scream.
Lex looked at the area surrounding him. Around the two of them were three men dressed in black. In the hands of one of the men was a glowing green rock.
Meteor rock.
Lex backed away as he held Clark protectively closer to his chest. After a second, he bumped into the motel wall.
"Stay back," Lex warned, but he knew that he didn't pose as much of a threat. He was unarmed and unprepared.
"We have our orders," the man with the meteor rock told him. "Now hand over the child and no one will get hurt."
"Stay behind me, Bubba," Lex said as he put the child down on the ground.
As soon as Clark was safe on the ground, Lex charged at the men.
He threw a punch at the smallest one, and it painfully collided with the man's jaw. After the punch had connected, he kneed the man in the groin, then pushed him to the ground and kicked his kneecap. He hoped the man would stay down long enough for them to get out of here.
When Lex turned around, a hand connected with his own jaw. The pain burst through his jaw and vibrated through his skull and teeth.
He threw a blind punch, but it didn't hit anything.
Clark screamed and Lex watched in horror as the man picked him up around the waist.
Suddenly, the man screamed and Lex pushed him to the ground with all of his might. In the darkness, Lex had no idea what had caused him to scream, but the distraction had been enough for Lex to get the upper hand.
Clark looked up at Lex, and the blood on Clark made it obvious what had happened. Clark had bit the man. Hard.
Lex reached down and grabbed the gun from the man's belt, then pointed it at the one holding the meteor rock.
"Stay back!" Lex warned again as he picked up Clark and the bag he had tossed to the ground.
Lex kept the gun pointed at the man until he made it into his car and turned it on. He locked the doors.
He pressed the gas pedal down as quickly and hard as he could. When he looked behind them in the rear view mirrors, there was nobody following.
They had made it out. They were safe.
For now.
Lex looked back at the child in the backseat. "Clark?" He asked. "You okay, Bubba?"
Clark nodded, but kept his eyes focused on the velveteen rabbit in his hands. Julian's blanket was wrapped around him, pulled tightly like a lifeline. Lex could make out the tear tracks on Clark's face though. He had been just as scared as Lex, if not more scared.
They had almost gotten him. They had grabbed him. If Clark hadn't bitten him, they could have won the fight.
They drove in silence for ten minutes, until Lex pulled over into someone's field. He almost felt bad for the person who's crops he had damaged, but he didn't have the time to feel guilty. He needed to come up with a plan.
Though, the more he thought about it, the more he knew that he already had a plan. He just didn't want to use it.
Lex walked over to the backseat and opened the door. He grabbed the child's items that he had packed, then picked up Clark.
Clark whined in his sleep, then curled closer to Lex. Lex pressed a gentle kiss to his son's fluffy hair, before beginning to make the long journey to the one place his son would be safe.
Lex had thought about his decision. For most of the night, to be exact.
As he walked, he tried to come up with a different option, a different plan. One that would keep the child close to him, but also one that would keep Clark safe.
The problem was that it wasn't possible for Lex Luthor to disappear. He wasn't some average person who everyone walked by. He was the son of Lionel Luthor, and the owner of LuthorCorp. At most, he would make it a week.
That didn't even include how easy it would be to track his phone or laptop… With that factored in, he would hardly stay hidden for two days.
It just wasn't possible. Alistair knew him too well. He knew where he would go and what he would do. He had already proven that to Lex once.
Lex looked down at the child sleeping peacefully in his arms. He didn't want to say goodbye. He didn't want to leave him. He wanted to raise him, to protect him.
But by doing this, he was protecting him. This was Clark's best chance.
When the farmhouse came into view, Lex began to tear up. A heavy lump formed in his throat as he thought about what he had to do next. His eyes burned as the thought of the sacrifice he was about to make.
This decision wouldn't just affect him, but it would also affect Clark. Would he understand what had to be done or would he resent Lex for abandoning him?
Lex looked down at Clark. So much had changed since the little alien boy had come into his life. He felt happier, like he had a purpose. Before the child had come into his life, he had been going through the motions, all he had done was work and partying. The child showed him that there was more to life than that. There was family. A real family that actually cared about you. That there was love. A love so deep that Lex was willing to do what he had to do to keep the child safe. It was also a love that hurt.
He would be back though. As soon as Clark was safe from Alistair and the workers at the lab, Lex would hold him tightly in his arms again and never let go.
Lex would fix this. He had to.
He knocked on the door of the Kent's farm house. The first rays of the sun were reflecting off of the window. How could a day so awful begin so beautifully?
Martha Kent opened the door, and Lex felt his chest grow heavier. These were the last few minutes he would be spending with his son. If he was lucky, he would be back with the child in a couple of weeks. If he wasn't, then he would never see his son again.
The tears spilled out of Lex's eyes before he could even get the words out. He wanted to keep Clark so badly, but he couldn't. Not now.
Martha wrapped her arms around Lex. "Shhh…" She soothed. "Everything is going to be okay."
"I need you to take him in," Lex told her between gulped sobs. The weight on his chest was like an elephant now. It was going to crush him. "They… They're tracking me, and… And I can't let them get him. Please."
Martha hesitated, then looked over at Jonathan before looking back at Lex. "Are you sure?" She asked.
Lex nodded. At this point, the tears had slowed, but they were still falling. "There's no other option," he said.
Jonathan nodded. "We'll take him in," he said. "And we'll take good care of your boy for you while you're gone."
"Thank you," Lex said. The weight on his chest was still there, but the anxiety that weighed the rest of him dissipated a little bit. Clark would be safe here. He would be loved here.
"Do you wanna wake him up to tell him goodbye?" Martha asked.
Lex looked down at the child who was still sleeping in his arms. He tried to memorize every detail of his little face. Who knew when they were going to see each other again?
Lex shook his head. "No," he said. "I wouldn't be able to do this if he was awake. And I have to do this. For him."
Martha nodded, then held out her arms for her to get Clark with.
Lex pressed one final kiss to the top of Clark's head and whispered a soft goodbye.
As soon as the child was off of his chest, Lex felt like an ice cube had been placed there instead. It was a cold, painful reminder of what he had just lost.
He didn't wait to see what Martha and Jonathan would do next, instead, he turned around and started the long walk back to his car.
When he got back to his car, he turned the key in the ignition and began the long drive to Metropolis. That was where he would go first, where he would find out who all needed to pay for what they had done.
He looked in the rear view mirror and saw something in the backseat out of the corner of his eye.
He turned around to get a better look at it, and as soon as he did the lump was back in his throat.
Nestled in the backseat of the car, the velveteen rabbit laid on his side. In the midst of all of the panic, Lex had forgotten to grab his son's beloved stuffed bunny.
He looked at it with its shining plastic eyes and soft ears for only a moment, then it was too much.
Lex pulled over on the side of the road, and began to sob for the child that he had to leave. For Clark, the child he had so desperately wanted to raise and love, but had been pulled out of his grasp.
He would have his son back, and he would make the monsters who worked in the lab pay. He would take them down. By any means necessary.
End of Part One.
So! There you go! A lot of things happened in this chapter! Remember that part two will be posted here in this same story very soon, I just gotta work out a couple of kinks. Please follow, fave, and review! I would love to know what you thought!
Thanks for reading! Love y'all!