Hey, guys!
So, I have to admit that I did not expect to update this again so soon, but I'm super inspired to write this right now, lol. xD
Oh! Also, originally, I said this story had three parts, but I've decided to add a part four!
Hope you enjoy!
Chapter Thirty
The next two days went by quickly.
Lex and Clark went home the evening he woke up, and things had been going well.
When Clark had first woken up, he hadn't been able to eat or drink much, but now he was back to his normal portion sizes and was also eating a snack or two along with his three meals a day.
He seemed more clingy though, but Lex didn't mind. In fact, he wanted to be as close to his child as possible. He had seen him die. His lips had been as blue as Julian's… He couldn't ever let that happen again.
Lex tried not to think about it though. He tried just to get through the day without remembering what he had seen.
"Daddy, is it Christmas yet?" Clark asked as they sat at the table.
Lex reached over and poured some cereal into Clark's bowl. Even in the midst of everything else, Clark still asked about Christmas every chance he got. It was important that Lex remembered that he had told Clark that Christmas was on the 29th of December after he had been in a coma over the 25th.
"Nope," he told Clark. "Not yet, bud."
Clark groaned as he picked up his spoon. "How much longer?"
Lex grinned. He had been waiting for so long to tell Clark this. "It's tomorrow," he said.
Clark clapped his hands excitedly as his own smile began to appear. "Really!" he asked.
Lex nodded, and he could feel his grin growing wider. His son's reaction was everything that he had hoped it would be. "Yeah! It's Christmas Eve today," he said. "Tomorrow is Christmas."
"Can we go to bed now?" Clark asked.
Lex laughed. Of course his child would want Christmas to get here as soon as possible. "No, Silly," he said. "We still have a list of things that need to be done."
Clark let out a small sigh. "Like what?"
Lex tried to think back on all of the Christmas Eve traditions he could remember, but unsurprisingly, he couldn't think of much.
"Well, we have to make cookies to set out for Santa," Lex said. "And we have to hang our stockings."
"Santa?" Clark asked as he tilted his head.
Lex frowned in confusion, then realized something. With how busy and stressful everything had been, he hadn't told Clark anything about Santa Claus.
"Did I ever tell you about him?" Lex asked.
Clark shook his head.
Lex nodded. "Eat your cereal and then I'll tell you all about him."
Lex wasn't sure that he had ever seen Clark eat so fast, but the bowl Cheerios was empty before Lex had even finished his coffee.
"Tell me now, Daddy?" Clark asked as he wiped the milk off of his lips.
Lex smiled. "C'mere," he said.
Clark walked over and climbed onto his lap. He curled up against Lex's chest, then looked up at him in expectation. His eyes were glowing happily, they sparkled with life…
Lex had almost lost him…
He couldn't focus on that though. Clark was alive and well. That's what was important. Not the what if's and the almosts.
"So, you want to know about Santa Claus?" Lex asked as he pulled Clark in closer.
Clark nodded. "Uh huh!"
"Every Christmas Eve Santa comes in his sleigh and leaves presents for all of the good little boys and girls around the world," Lex told him. "He dresses in red and has a big sack of toys."
Clark's eyes glittered with excitement, so Lex continued.
"His sleigh is pulled by nine flying reindeer. He lands on the roof and comes in through the chimney," he said. "And he lives at the North Pole during the rest of the year."
Suddenly, Clark's whole demeanor changed. The excitement left his eyes, and he looked down towards the ground. "What about bad boys?" he asked hesitantly.
"He gives them coal instead of presents," Lex answered.
"O-oh…"
Lex watched as Clark bit his lip and sniffled softly.
"Hey," Lex said as he cupped Clark's cheek and raised his head gently. Clark's eyes were full of tears. "What's wrong, bubba?"
Clark sniffled again, then buried his face in Lex's shirt as he began to cry.
Lex's stomach twisted as he began to rub Clark's back and rock him gently. Had he done something wrong? Was Clark in pain? He needed to find out.
"Talk to me, bubba," Lex said. "What's wrong?"
"I-I'm gonna… get c-c-coal!" Clark sobbed.
Lex's heart felt like it had been placed in a vice. "Why would you think that?" he asked.
"I was bad…"
"Shhh…" Lex soothed. He didn't know why Clark thought that he was bad, but he wasn't going to let him think it for much longer. "You're not bad, Clark."
"I ran," Clark said between tears.
Lex held Clark tighter. "Oh, bubba…" he said. "Everyone makes mistakes sometimes. Santa only gives coal to people who are really bad, and you're the best little boy I know."
Clark wiped at his eyes and looked up at Lex. "Really?" he asked. "You promise?"
Lex nodded. "I promise."
For most of the day, Lex and Clark sat around and watched Christmas movies. They watched some of the classics, but they also took a chance at some of the newer ones.
In the middle of the afternoon though, Lex pulled himself and his child off of the couch and walked into the kitchen.
"So," he began as he set Clark down on the counter. "Gingerbread or chocolate chip?"
Clark frowned in thought for a minute, then looked up at Lex. "Chocolate chip!"
Lex grinned. Admittedly, he did enjoy a chocolate chip cookie more than a ginger one, and he knew that Clark did too. He reached over and ruffled his son's hair.
"I'll get the ingredients," Lex said. Normally, he would let Clark help, but he was scared of what might happen if Clark was too active. He didn't want to see his child sick again. Ever.
"Okay, Daddy," Clark said as he swung his legs back and forth.
Lex ruffled Clark's hair again. "Good boy."
"Daddy?" Clark asked as Lex opened the fridge.
"Yes?" Lex answered, then grabbed the eggs and vanilla.
"How does Santa get the toys?" He asked.
Lex smiled as he placed the ingredients on the counter beside Clark. He would never stop loving his child's curiosity and hunger for knowledge.
"He makes them," Lex explained. "He and the elves spend all year making toys."
"Oh!" Clark said, then instantly launched into the next question. "Why does he use reindeer?"
Lex chuckled before placing the dry ingredients onto the counter. "Because horses are more expensive," he said, then added. "And they don't fly."
"Ohhhh," Clark said, as if what Lex had told him made any sort of logical sense. Lex really had no idea why Santa Claus used reindeer.
"And before you ask why he uses the chimney, it's because the front door is locked and breaking a window would mean that he would get coal in his stocking too," Lex told him as he began to tickle Clark's sides.
Clark squealed, then began trying to bat away Lex's hands as he squirmed. "Stop!" he exclaimed, but Lex only tickled harder. "Stop!"
Lex laughed and picked up Clark. He held him close, then pressed a kiss to Clark's forehead. "Okay, okay," he said. "I'll stop."
"Daddy?" Clark asked.
"Yeah?" Lex answered as he adjusted Clark on his hip.
"Can I break the eggs?"
"Uhhh, no," Lex told him, even though it was so hard not to cave into Clark's every request. He didn't really want to be cleaning up that mess or eating cookies with eggshells in them. "But you can mix them in."
Clark grinned. Lex had missed that precious little grin so much. "Okay!"
That night, Lex brought two wrapped packages over to where he and Clark had been sitting in the living room.
"I have something for you," Lex said as he sat down beside Clark.
Clark leaned closer, curiosity sparkling in his eyes. "What is it?"
"Well, I thought you might want to open one of your Christmas gifts early," Lex said. "And Miss Martha also wanted you to open one from her tonight."
Clark's sparkling eyes widened. "Really?" He asked excitedly.
Lex nodded. "Yeah!" He said.
"Can I?" Clark asked as he wrung his hands nervously.
"Of course you can," Lex told him. "They're yours, after all."
Lex handed Clark the one from him first, then watched as Clark tore through the shiny wrapping paper. He couldn't believe how much Clark had changed since he had first been given a gift. There was no hesitation this time, just excitement.
Clark gasped as he pulled a soft and warm pair of pajamas out of the wreckage and held them to his chest.
"Do you like them?" Lex asked.
Clark nodded. "Uh huh!"
Lex smiled. "Why don't you go put them on, then you can open the gift from Miss Martha?" He suggested.
He watched as Clark ran off with the pajamas in his hand. He wondered if Clark had any idea how adorable he was, how precious? He wished every day that he had found Clark sooner, that he had been able to spare him from so much torture.
The unredacted reports from the lab had been so eye-opening to Lex on what Clark had gone through as 33.1, but it also made Lex feel more guilty. If he had just been a bit more aware… Maybe he could have saved him sooner.
It was only worse when Lex realized that he had added to the trauma of Clark's childhood by leaving him so soon after becoming his father, and then yelling at him… Lex still didn't like to think about what had happened a few days prior.
He was pulled out of his thoughts by the sounds of Clark's little footsteps, and he grinned when he saw his child in the pajamas.
"Do they fit?" Lex asked.
Clark fiddled with one of the sleeves, then nodded. "Uh huh." he replied, and Lex could hear the exhaustion in his son's voice.
Lex patted the seat beside him. "Want to open the gift from Miss Martha?" he asked.
Clark nodded and pulled himself up onto the sofa. Once he was settled, Lex handed him the present. It was a thin gift, wrapped in a candy cane striped paper and it had a red bow.
Clark ripped at the paper, then grinned as he pulled out a book. "Daddy, look!" he exclaimed.
Lex grinned, but then he remembered what Martha had said when she gave it to him. It had been a couple of days before Clark ran away.
"This gift is for both of you. Hopefully, both of you can make some good memories throughout the years with it."
"Can I see?" Lex asked as he leaned over to read the title.
Clark hesitated for only a second before letting Lex look.
Twas the Night Before Christmas.
Lex swallowed. It had been years since he had seen, or even thought about this book. He remembered his mother reading it to him along with a couple of other Christmas books.
"Can you read it to me?" Clark asked. He had already flipped through all of the pages at this point and was holding it close to his chest.
Lex nodded. "Of course," he said.
Clark handed over the book, then curled up to Lex. "Ready!" He said, then yawned.
Lex smiled, then opened the book and began to read. "Twas the night before Christmas when all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse."
Lex continued to read, and it wasn't long before he felt Clark curl closer. Lex only smiled and pulled him closer.
"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night," Lex finished a few minutes later.
Lex looked down at Clark and chuckled softly. At some point during the story, Clark had lost his battle with sleep.
Lex picked him up, then walked upstairs to Lex's bedroom. It wasn't really ideal for Clark to be sleeping in his bed all of the time, but after everything that had just happened… Lex wanted Clark close.
He laid Clark on the bed, then quickly changed into his pajamas and laid down beside his son.
For a moment, he just watched Clark. The even breathing, the way he slept with his thumb right against his bottom lip, the smile on his face even when dreaming…
Lex sighed happily, then leaned against his own pillow to go to sleep.
The last thing he saw before he let himself drift off to sleep was Clark's sweet smile, and he wondered if visions of sugarplums were dancing in his son's head.
It's finally happening! Clark is gonna get to celebrate his first Christmas! I would love to know what you thought!
Thanks for reading! Love y'all!