in waking dream she thought she saw

Crisis Averted

Thu, 31 Jan 2008 20:22:50 GMT

Yesterday I checked my mail to find out that I wouldn't be getting PAID this month for my teaching because of an office error, which basically meant that the paperwork wasn't filed soon enough. I feel the boot on my bum. Get out of here!

So yesterday I was very o.O about it all, and today I checked with the Writing Center to make sure THEY had it on the ball, and thank ZOD, I've been credited for my work here and I'll be able to make my rent and eat this week, so I'll be good until the check comes. So. Phew.

Okay, in other news, it's fucking snowing here, and it needs to stop 4realz. I hate the cold. I need to get a job in Southern California or something so I can stop having to shiver and die when I want to walk somewhere. >:P!

Other other news:
Aspartame is killing you

And lack of good caffiene is killing ME. ROAR.

View Poll: SV Y/N

Fat and Sassy, or something like that

Wed, 30 Jan 2008 15:45:43 GMT

Dude, my underwear fits.

Okay, backing up. I have these cute little pairs of undies that I bought a year or so ago that have little pictures of pie, ice cream, donuts, etc. Recently, due to ~~my fat ass~~ extenuating circumstances, I couldn't really wear them, because they would slip off while I was walking. Didn't really fit.

I grabbed a pair this morning because I was wearing my yellow threadless t-shirt, and black and yellow striped socks, so I wanted to match my undies (black bra and yellow panties with a donut with sprinkles on). To my amazement? When I was walking to work, they didn't ride down. At all. They fit! \o/

I don't know where that goes on my resolution to 'lose weight'* but it's something. When I get home, I'm going to put on my Sexeh Jeans and see how they fit. :D

I don't actually weigh myself, so who knows.

Icons!

Wed, 23 Jan 2008 14:50:40 GMT

I failed at manipping yesterday, mostly because I was too tired and impatient to make it happen.

Have some icons instead:

All gankable w/credit
Brush is from colorfilter

I worked out this morning. I am AWESOME.

Yesterday I emailed important people, paid bills, made sure OTHER bills got to the post office despite our mailman's asshattery, almost finished another fic chapter, read articles, checked out books, went to both jobs, and then came home to collapse.

The day before I read about five 20ish page articles.

Let's hope I win today, too.

Cranky

Mon, 21 Jan 2008 23:43:55 GMT

I want a nap. :(

Okay, since this is taking forever.

Today:
Val called the UPS morons to get them to find our house. HOPEFULLY my books will arrive tomorrow.
I went to the bank.
I got Starbucks.
Then I came home to start on making this acorn squash thing.

Basically, the recipe I got didn't work, so I fiddled with it. It SMELLS good, but the way the recipe suggested cooking it just ain't working given the time and heat they're asking. So I added some stuff. You could probably dice up some green to put inside, or just have a salad on the side or whatever.

Rainy Day Acorn Squash

1 Acorn Squash
sliced mushrooms (about a cup or a small can)
about half cup sweet corn
1 clove garlic
Ground Cloves, Cinnamon, and Nutmeg
olive oil
salt n pepa
Cheddar (or Mozzarella) cheese OR Cheeze recipe from fatfreevegan.com
(1 cup water
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 tsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. powdered garlic
1/4 tsp. dry mustard
1 tablespoon tahini

Stir all together and heat over medium. Sauce will thicken with the heat, and you may need to cut with rice milk (or soy if you like it). Sauce should be creamy and drizzleable.)

pre-heat oven to 400C
Cut squash in half and scoop out the seeds. (These can be set aside for toasting.) Sprinkle insides with cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg. Fill with as much mushrooms and corn as you can. Cut tips off the garlic clove and cut in half. Stuff one into each side. If you like, splash a bit of olive oil and sprinkle with a bit of salt and pepper (lemme shoooop doobie doop…) for a bit of extra flava (but it does okay without, if you're watching your sodium). Place on a pan and put in oven. When edges start to curl inward and it looks a bit squishy, take out and put chedder cheese on top. Put back in for a few minutes until cheese is melted.

If using Cheeze, just pour over the open halves.

Eat!

FIC: Must Be Dreaming

Tue, 20 Nov 2007 07:00:03 GMT

Title: Must Be Dreaming
Series/WIP: Sequel to So Much Dreaming
Pairing: Clex!
Rating: PG-13
Summary: After being abducted by aliens and discovering that Jonathan Kent is alive, Lex must come to grips with his shifting relationship with Clark and an unexpected pregnancy.
Spoilers: Through S5, after Cyborg.
Warnings: MPREG!!

Thanks to herohunter for the fabulous beta! *kisses!*

Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter 5.1
Chapter 5.2

Chapter Six

Between his dreams and Mxyzptlk’s words, Lex had been extraordinarily jumpy. Clark hadn’t called in over a week, and Lex had needed to lock himself in his office once to simply sit and cry. Damn alien hormones.

Clark’s sudden scarceness around the castle told Lex that maybe whatever lure Clark had felt as a result of Lex’s illness or scent was starting to wear off. Clark would soon come to his senses and stop paying any attention to him unless he needed something. Regardless, Lex was starting to feel a bit better, a bit more capable of going about his business and getting back to the important research that could possibly save the world or his life.

The only problem was, he felt a strange ache when Clark wasn’t around, and it made him a little unstable when Clark was around because it felt as though that unrequited need would never be filled if he let Clark out of his sight. He desperately wanted to get a grip on this situation, but desiring Clark so much made it almost impossible to see clearly. Lex hated being so out of control.

The decision to visit Clark wasn’t one that Lex had made consciously, but when he realized he was headed in that direction instead of home, he decided to go with it. He had considered calling, but bearing in mind how much good that had done him last time, he skipped the step and concentrated on driving.

On a whim, he dropped by Á La Mode and picked up a couple of pints of gourmet ice cream. If nothing else, he could deliver this to the Kents as thanks for being kind to him when he’d been sick.

When he reached the farmhouse, Lex smiled involuntarily as he pulled up. At least something was stable in his life. At this hour, Mrs. Kent would probably be moving around the kitchen, starting up dinner. Mr. Kent would be either finishing up chores or spending some time with his son, and Clark, well, if he weren’t with his father, he’d be in the loft. Spying on people or puttering around. He walked slowly up to the front door and knocked lightly.

“Hang on!” Jonathan yelled. He came to the door a moment later wearing a blue apron and wiping his hands with a dishcloth. “Hey, there, Lex. C’mon in. I was just starting dinner.

“Oh?” Lex, a bit jarred, held up the bag from Á La Mode. “I come bearing chilled gourmet dessert.”

“Really? Wow. Too bad Martha’s not here. She was craving ice cream something awful before.” Jonathan took the bag. “I’ll put this in the ice box.”

Lex nodded and frowned a little. “Where did Mrs. Kent go?”

“She had to head out to deal with a ‘situation.’” Jonathan called from the kitchen. He came back quickly and continued in a hushed voice, “Her chief of staff was murdered.”

Lex raised his brows in surprise. “Really?”

Jonathan shook his head and licked over his lips. “The craziest thing. She was standing in front of a mirror, and it shattered into her. Shards went straight into Naomi’s body. Now, the police are saying ‘accidental death,’ but…”

“But a mirror shattered into her.” Lex rolled his eyes to the ceiling, thinking. “I can’t think of anyone who had a power specifically like that, but it could always be a telekinetic. They’re rare, though.”

Jonathan nodded. “So, Martha’s out taking care of it. So us boys are stuck at home. Want to stay for dinner?”

“If it’s not trouble for you. Do you want me to get someone on this case?”

“Ahhh…” Jonathan shrugged. “We’ll have to talk with Clark about it. At this point, I dunno the history on it or anything.”

“You’d think I’d remember if anything like that had happened… maybe I filed it under something else. Or maybe this is a new meta.”

“Meta?”

Lex shook his head to remind himself that this was new lingo for most people. “Sorry. Meta-human. It’s the PC term for ‘meteor freak.’ Well, not just meteor mutants, but other types of humans with powers.”

“Oh. Well, I’d hate to be insensitive; meta it is then. Clark’s at the dining room table.”

Lex nodded. “I could help you with dinner.”

“Nah, I gotta learn. I’ll let you boys know if I get stuck.”

Lex headed into the dining room and raised his brows yet again. Clark was sitting there, with a little girl, coloring with crayons.

“Ahem.” Lex gave a sideways smile when the two of them looked up. The girl was about ten years old, and her light brown hair was bound into two braids on either side of her head.

“Oh, hey, Lex. Maddie, this is Lex. He’s my best friend.”

Oh, I am? That’s a surprise. Then call me, jerk. Lex held his tongue and smiled at the little girl, who widened her eyes in alarm. Well, if dogs hated him on sight, why wouldn’t children? Still, it bothered him how uncomfortable he felt. He would be having a child soon enough. Sooner every day. Shouldn’t he be able to get along with them? What if he couldn’t? What if his baby was a mutant-hybrid freak who hated him?

Lex made his mind shut-up already and walked around the table to sit on her other side. “What are we coloring?”

“I was just showing Maddie what a good artist I am.” Clark held up a picture of a stick figure and what was probably a barn.

“Wow. Call the Louvre, we’ve got our next DaVinci right here.”

Maddie giggled. Lex lit up. He made the kid smile!

“So what are you drawing?”

Maddie looked up at him with large, fretful eyes.

“Maddie is a woman of few words,” Clark said meaningfully. Lex put it together. Maddie was from the chief of staff, possibly her daughter. The kid was traumatized and likely knew something about what had happened.

“Wise choice.” Lex took a piece of paper and started to sketch a few lines.

Clark looked over at Lex. “We’ll have her for a few days. Until CPS finds another place for her.”

“Yeah?” So, no father, either.

Jonathan poked his head in the room. “Clark, you mind to come in here a sec?”

Clark nodded. “Don’t flirt with her too much while I’m gone.”

Lex crooked his mouth and rolled his eyes. He looked at the picture Maddie was working on. She really was quite talented.

“So how old are you? Eleven?”

She nodded.

“I guessed it? Dead on.” Lex began to draw the towers. “When I was your age, a year older, actually, I stopped talking to people. For a few months. I’m not sure they were listening to begin with, though.”

She frowned at her drawing.

“I saw something really bad. Something… I couldn’t comprehend and couldn’t talk about. I’ve only told one other person.” Lex took a deep breath. “And when you see someone hurt like that… you wonder… will anyone believe you? And after awhile… I started to wonder if it really happened. How it happened. I started to blame myself. Eventually, I started talking again, but…” He felt tears in his eyes. Damn alien hormones. “But it didn’t change what had happened. And there was no one I could confide in. No one who could make it better. I think if I’d been able to tell someone, I wouldn’t have grown up so… angry at everyone and everything. Things just kept getting worse. And I never had anyone I could tell who would really be on my side.”

Her small hand touched his shoulder, and she looked up sympathetically and opened her mouth a little bit.

“Maddie, you don’t have to say anything. I just hope someone can be there for you when you’re ready.” He slid his picture over to her. “This is where I live.”

She frowned dubiously.

“It’s true. I live in a castle. My dad told people that it was our ancestral home and we were royalty, but I think he just picked a castle from Scotland and uprooted it.” Lex pointed to a window. “This is my office. I live in that place, I swear. Until recently I didn’t sleep in a bed. I slept on the couch in my office or in the jet or car on the way to business meetings, when I had to.” He smiled at the look on her face. “Yeah, I’m weird. Clark made me start sleeping in a bed, though. He’s a good guy.”

She pointed to his picture.

“Yeah. But a lousy artist. And a dork.”

She smiled. He picked up another sheet of paper and started to sketch out a picture of his mom. “This was my mother. She meant a lot to me. She had lots of bright red hair, like mine. Well, mine before it all fell out.”

Maddie reached up curiously. Lex started to pull away, but stopped himself, then leaned over so she could feel his head. Her small fingers moved gently over the soft skin. It tickled a bit, but Lex didn’t move. He wasn’t accustomed to people other than Clark touching him there. Moving her thin lips a little, she smiled and then took the picture he was drawing and looked at it, then up at him curiously.

“What do you want to know about her? Her name was Lillian. She was a classically trained piano player.” Lex frowned haplessly. He didn’t know what to tell her. “I’m sorry? Um… she was Jewish? I don’t know what you’re asking.”

Maddie seemed frustrated. She rubbed his shoulder sympathetically, then she took a red crayon and drew a heart on the side of the picture and pointed to it.

“Yeah, I loved her a lot. I missed her so much when she died. Heh. I still miss her, sometimes. I don’t know if it gets better with time, but… I wonder if I just haven’t forgotten. You lose things, with time. The pain doesn’t seem to be so sharp. And I think that’s just because I can’t see her smile as clearly as I used to.” Lex traced a finger around the outline of his mother’s face. “Maybe that’s the only way we can cope with loss.”

The two of them sat in silence, Lex trying to fill out his mother’s features, and Maddie working on another picture. Lex supposed that he shouldn’t be surprised that he’d failed to connect with the child. He’d only just met her, and to this point, he had very rarely managed to connect to anyone else.

“How…?” A small voice asked. Lex jerked his head up.

“Maddie?”

“How…” Her voice was delicate and very timid. Lex turned fully to listen to her. “How did she die?”

“She… she was sick for a long time. In the end, her heart gave out.” Lex felt his lip crumble.

“Oh.”

He could see her face shutting down. Lex sighed. It wasn’t as though this little girl would be talking to anyone else. “She was mentally ill. I’m not sure… for how long, but…” He sighed. “She was depressed, and I never knew how much of her illness had to do with her mental problems and the medications she was taking.” He sighed again shakily. “My father just kept pushing her. You can’t push a sick woman like that. She had a heart problem… but I’m pretty sure she killed herself. They would never tell me. I wasn’t there for that, but…”

Maddie looked up at him with shining eyes.

Lex started shaking his head. “She smothered my baby brother in his crib. She was out of her fucking mind.”

The girl’s nose wrinkled, and she began to sob. Lex fought with himself, watching her cry. He put his arms around her, rubbing her back comfortingly as she pressed against her head against his chest. A tear slid down his own face.

“I felt like it was my fault.” His voice choked on the tears he refused to shed. “But there was nothing I could do. Nothing… and no one I could tell… fuck.”

***

“Dad… oh, god.” Clark turned to his father.

“What is it?”

“Maddie spoke. Lex got her to talk. Wow.” Clark stared at his father, mouth agape and his back straight.

Jonathan moved quickly to enter the dining room, and Clark followed him. “No, Dad. Wait.”

“She’s talking?”

“She spoke a little, but… I think we should wait to go in there. I don’t want to spook her.” Or spook Lex. I can’t believe he never told me that! No wonder he went so crazy over losing Julian. Clark stepped back. Jonathan nodded and went back to cooking dinner.

“I guess we’ll just have to wait to see how this turns out?”

Clark waited until he heard the sobbing die down, then announced himself, by saying loudly, “You guys getting hungry?”

Lex turned to him with clear, but red-rimmed eyes. The two of them were looking over a picture of a car. There was a lot of red covering the woman inside.

“What’s this?”

Lex met Maddie’s eye before answering Clark. “This is what happened to Maddie’s mom.”

Clark studied the picture. It looked like the windows of the car were attacking the driver. “But it was her foster mother who died. She was in a house.”

Lex shook his head.

Clark noticed the little seat in the back. “Ohhh.”

This situation had just gotten a lot more complicated.

Clark sat with them quietly, thinking this new development over, until Lex excused himself to go to the bathroom. Maddie looked over her shoulder forlornly.

“He won’t be long,” Clark promised, taking his seat beside her and looking over their drawings. Maddie pointed to Lex’s drawings of the castle and a beautiful redheaded woman. Oddly, Clark hadn’t known that Lex could draw that well. He picked up the picture of Lex’s mother and studied it. Lex had her eyes.

“Oh! Hi, who is this?” Lana said brightly, showing up unexpectedly. She hadn’t even knocked, and Clark cursed himself for not listening around the house for her clopping shoes. Maddie scooted back in her chair, uncertain about this new person, and Clark watched to see if she would speak again, but she had shut in again tight as a clam.

“This is Maddie. We’re looking after her for a few days.”

“How fun!”

Maddie frowned and looked over her shoulder again, obviously wanting Lex to come back. This was awkward, though Clark knew that it was par for the course in his relationship with Lana for fights to be ignored until they blew up again.

When Lex came strolling back into the room, his face stiffened noticeably when he saw Lana. He rolled his shoulders and tried to relax. Typical Unflappable Lex response. Though Clark had noticed he seemed much more flappable these days.

“Hello, Lana. How’ve you been?” he asked in an easy tone.

“Not bad,” she replied coolly, walking over to the table and taking his seat next to Maddie. The girl looked up at Lex fretfully. “What are you drawing, Maddie?”

Lana grimaced and seemed affronted by the bloody picture. Maddie snatched it away and held it tightly in her hands as she stared at the table.

“It’s okay,” Lex said quietly. He put a gentle hand on her shoulder. She jumped out of her chair and moved closer to him and further away from Lana. Her reaction pleased Lex in no small amount. “Tired of drawing? Want to help Mr. Kent? Or we could go see Clark’s Fortress of Solitude. It’s pretty cool. You can spy on almost anyone in town from there.”

“Hey!” Clark laughed. “I don’t spy on people… anymore.”

“Yeah, we can go see the barn,” Lana tried again cheerfully. Maddie cocked her head and looked Lana over in confusion. The four of them stood awkwardly. Suddenly they looked up as the windows shook. Maddie’s eyes widened, and she ran out of the room. Clark and Lex exchanged a glance and then Lex ran after her.

“Lana, I don’t think it would be a good idea for you to be around Maddie. Someone just killed her foster mother, and we think the same person may have killed her mom.”

“Is that why she freaked out just now?”

“I don’t know, but she really trusts Lex. If there’s tension between the two of you…”

“Are you telling me to leave?”

Clark felt conflicted. He really did want her to leave. “No. Just… maybe just… we’ll go to the barn. Come get us when dinner is done, and we can keep you and Lex apart. You guys can manage not to fuss at each other over dinner, right?”

“I can if he can.”

“Sorry you walked into this mess. Maybe… call next time?” Clark asked. Her face soured as he turned to go out to the barn. “Why don’t you help dad with dinner? Or at least keep him company and make sure he doesn’t burn the house down?”

She sighed heavily and nodded.

Sorry, Dad, he thought to himself as he walked in the direction Maddie had fled. After looking for a few moments, he listened for the two of them, and he heard Lex’s even, reassuring voice outside.

“It’s fine, Maddie. I believe you. Look, you aren’t the only one. That much is for sure. Just… try to stay calm, and we’ll take care of you.”

“Okay,” she whispered. Aside from their two voices Clark could hear a faint, but very quick sound. He couldn’t quite place it. Two heartbeats, their breathing, various organs working, blood rushing through their veins, and a sound almost like a humming. Or a whooshing. It was near Lex, for certain, but Clark had no idea what it was. A bug? But it didn’t sound like a bug.

Clark came outside and walked up to the two of them slowly. “You guys alright? Sorry about Lana, that was… kinda weird.”

“She’s your girlfriend. Is it strange that she comes over?” Lex asked.

Maddie frowned incredulously.

Lex gave her a conspiring grin. “Yeah, I know. Clark dates girls? Yuck.”

“Lex, stop it. It’s weird because the last time I saw her, we were fighting. Now, boom. Hi, Lana.”

“Isn’t that the way it always works with you two?” Lex asked, leading Maddie to the barn.

“Yeah, I guess. But usually, she’s the one who walks out on me. Then it’s sort of wow, I guess she forgave me!”

Lex shook his head along with Maddie. “Don’t be that girl, Maddie. Passive aggressive is not attractive to men. Or women. Or intersexed people. Or aliens…”

“Shut up.”

The two of them laughed, and Clark felt like they had bonded through their trauma and were now ganging up on him. Lex rubbed the girl’s back as they walked along, and she seemed a lot more relaxed after Clark had shown her around the farm.

They reached the barn, and Clark took the lead. “And this is the world-famous Kent barn. When I was about your age my dad used to let me jump in the haystacks in here.”

He looked back to Lex and Maddie, the two of them standing there close together. It was like Lex was her protective big brother. Or maybe her father, although that would mean that Lex was like fifteen when she was born, so… Clark had to stop that line of thought immediately.

“Do you wanna see my loft? It's kind of like my clubhouse. I bring lots of girls up here,” he said, turning to go up the stairs.

Lex made an amused noise in his throat. Was Lex making fun of him?

“Whaat?” Clark complained.

“Are you… are you serious?” Lex asked, trying not to smile. “You’re going to take her up into your loft? You take lots of girls up there? She’s eleven.”

Maddie put her hands over her mouth and laughed. Clark blushed.

“I didn’t mean it like that!”

Maddie laughed even harder. Clark sighed and figured he could do with a little embarrassment if it made this poor kid smile.

There was a bark, and Shelby ran into the barn. Lex took a step back.

“Hey, Shelby!” Clark walked over to his dog.

Maddie smiled and ran over to the dog to ruffle his fur.

“Hey boy, good doggie,” she whispered into his ear. Then there was that humming sound again, behind them. Ignoring it for the moment, Clark smiled, knelt down beside her, and gave Shelby a pet.

“Yeah, he can be a good dog when he wants to be. Getting kinda old. You know, Maddie you and I have a lot more in common than you think. I was an orphan too. I lost my parents when I was just a baby, and the Kents adopted me.” He gave Shelby another pet. “Looks like Shelby likes you. Animals are great, aren't they? They listen to you, don't say mean things back. Look, I might not be as furry as Shelby or wag my tail or bark, but I promise I'll never say mean things to you.”

He caught Lex out of the corner of his eye making that face where he was trying not to laugh and smushing his lips together. Clark bit his lip. Maddie made no pretensions. She looked back at Lex, who shrugged and nodded to her encouragingly.

“Do you want to go see the horses? Or we could play with Shelby some more until dinner,” Clark offered.

Maddie hugged Shelby and raised her brows at Lex.

“I’m not really a dog person,” Lex admitted. “They all growl at me. Give me a cat any day.”

She grinned and then very softly said, “I like cats a lot, too.”

“We don’t have any barn cats around. We had this one tom that used to run around here and mark Nell’s house, but he died about three years back,” Clark said.

“We can go see the horses,” Maddie said, standing and moving back towards Lex.

“Don’t curb your plans on my account.” He stepped towards Maddie and received a growl from Shelby.

“Why is he doing that?”

Lex shrugged. “Dogs don’t like me.”

“Hold your hand out. I bet if he sniffs you, he’ll trust you more. Dogs read you first to see how to react,” Maddie advised.

“That’s perfectly alright. I’m good over here,” Lex said, stepping back. Maddie smiled at him and followed.

”Scared.”

”I’m not scared. I just don’t particularly like being bitten by an animal that large.”

Maddie continued to smile knowingly. “Will you ride with us?”

“I don’t think we have time to ride before dinner.”

“Are you scared of horses too?”

“I’m not scared of horses, and I’m not scared of dogs,” Lex insisted. Clark chuckled. Lex shot him a glare.

“Then you’ll ride with us,” Maddie insisted.

“Well, I could call my doctors, but I’m guessing that would be a hell no from both Toby and Tanaka.”

“Oh, right,” Clark said. “Yeah, it wouldn’t be good for Lex to ride, Maddie. He’s had some trouble with his blood pressure. It would be really bad if it dropped and he fell from the horse.”

“Oh no.” Maddie frowned with concern and moved closer to Lex, holding his arm. “Can you go up in the loft?”

“If Clark promises to catch me when I swoon,” Lex replied raising his brows at Clark.

“Oh, milady, your faints are perfectly safe. I shall be your gentleman to the fullest,” Clark said. Maddie giggled as she bounded up the stairs into the loft.

Lex headed up to the telescope and looked in it. “Well. Guess what Maddie. You can see my house from here.”

She went over to the telescope to look, as Lex shot Clark a dubious gaze. The telescope was aimed right at his office.

“Do you really live in a castle? Oh! Wow! Lucky!”

“You can be lucky, too, Maddie. It's not too late. We're gonna find you a good family,” Clark assured her.

“People don't like me.” She frowned a little, still looking around with the telescope.

“People don’t like me either, and I manage,” Lex said. Maddie looked up.

“Then people are dumb. How can they not like you? Did you know, Clark, that if you had a more powerful telescope, you could look right into Lex’s office? I bet you could catch him sleeping on the couch. Or changing or something.”

“Ahh haha…” Clark laughed in embarrassment.

Lex snorted.

Clark turned his head a little, feeling himself blush. “Well, uh… those people are crazy. I like you. I like both of you.”

“Maybe you’re crazy, too,” Lex suggested with amusement.

“More and more possible every day.” Clark moved away from them onto the couch. Lex got up from where he was crouching, rubbing his abdomen and looking a bit dizzy. Clark lifted his head and asked, “You okay?”

“Fine,” he snapped. Then he rubbed the corners of his eyes in annoyance at himself. “I’m just a little lightheaded. We’re not hitting collapsing time yet.”

“Come sit down.” Clark patted the seat next to him. Lex raised a brow before walking over there and slowly taking a seat, where Clark reached over and started to rub his neck with one hand. Lex leaned back and made a pleased noise. Behind the telescope, Maddie was watching them sneakily with a big smile on her face.

“Dad said you brought us ice cream. I take it that means your day was awesome?” Clark asked a little sarcastically.

“Ugh. That’s really all I can say. That, and well, ice cream is awesome, and you missed out last time we went.”

Clark winced. It didn’t seem like a dig, but it hurt anyway. Then, well, there it was. That wonderful musky scent, drifting into his nostrils, making him want to curl around Lex and protect him from everything. Suddenly, his arm was around Lex, and he was sniffing his neck brazenly, as his heart quickened and his cheeks flushed. He couldn’t help it. He had to touch him had to love him had to have him RIGHT NOW. The need made him shake. Lex stiffened in his arms and turned his head to say something to him.

Clark met his lips with a kiss.

***

Well, that negates my diminishing alien hormone theory, Lex thought, trying to pull away. The problem was, now he was caught up in Clark’s scent, and he didn’t want to get away. He wanted Clark to hold him and love him. He wanted Clark to be his rock and keep him safe from harm. He wanted Clark to be there for him and his baby so much it made his teeth ache and shivers run up his spine. Even as he tried to pull away, he pressed into the kiss, into Clark’s arms.

I’m turning into such a damn woman. Look at me. Crying all over the place, getting emotional at work, trying to bond with this kid… kissing Clark… Lex heard a little gasp and wondered if Maddie had caught them. They were probably traumatizing her. Wait till the Social Services boys got a hold of this one.

Clark’s arm held Lex tightly in place and the other hand cupped his face a little more gently. Their lips undulated together, sloppy open kisses. Lex was the first to begin slipping his tongue along the inside of Clark’s lip, and once he’d gained entry, he began exploring the taste and texture of Clark’s mouth as dutifully as any proper scientist should.

But soon enough Lex realized that if he didn’t stop this, they would really be traumatizing Maddie by stripping their clothing off. He began to pull away again, this time with a little more control, now that he had his daily dose of Clark.

“Need to breathe!” Lex said, hoping Clark’s sudden care for him would extend past making out like horny teenagers.

Apparently, it did, as Clark pulled away and caressed the back of Lex’s head with his fingertips, looking into his eyes with both adoration and confusion. Lex turned to look for Maddie, who didn’t appear traumatized at all, but instead was about to die of giggling as she leaned against the railing, hands covering her mouth.

“Sorry about that.”

She simply giggled.

“Hey, guys! Dinner time!” Lana called from the floor of the barn. Clark’s eyes bulged, and he looked like he’d just gotten his hand smacked for dipping into the cookie jar.

“We’re coming,” Lex called. Ugh. “Down!”

Clark attentively helped him to his feet, and Lex let him, careful to keep his features blank as he descended the stairs to face Lana. Clark was going to look red-faced and guilty no matter what, but Lex at least could manage a façade of propriety. On the way down, Maddie slipped between them and took his hand. The three of them descended the stairs together, and Lana’s face became an unreadable, cold mask.

Once down the stairs, Clark walked up to Lana and walked beside her. He made a move to put his hand on her shoulder, but chickened out. After a few minutes of silence, Clark dropped back and walked on the other side of Maddie.

“Lucky girl,” Lana said as they entered the house. “Got both these boys all over you.”

Maddie said nothing and followed Lex into the kitchen. He made sure that Maddie sat beside him. “Want some milk?”

She nodded.

“I got it, Lex,” Jonathan said. When Clark entered the dining room, Jonathan turned to him. “Chloe called back. Oh, and we have another guest. Good thing I made too much. All of Martha’s recipes make too much.”

Clark grinned. “That’s so we can have leftovers. And because when I was growing up, I ate like a horse.”

“Y’still do,” Lois said, coming in. “Hey! Martha told me you were having some trouble. With her chief of staff gone, she asked me to come by and help. Martha said you were an artist, Maddie. I brought crayons and a coloring book!”

Lois stepped forward and shoved them in Maddie’s face. Lex reached out with one hand and shoved them back. “That’s great, but it’s dinner time. You can teach Maddie to color outside the lines after she eats.”

“Settle down, kids,” Jonathan demanded, pointing at the table. Lois and Lana seated themselves, and Clark moved towards the door.

“Lemme just call Chloe back?”

“That’s rude,” Lois said. “Sit your butt down and eat.”

Jonathan stared at her. She began busily focusing on the placement of her napkin.

“Go ahead. It’s important,” Jonathan told him. Clark left, and Jonathan put the casserole dish on the table. “Right, so we have Martha’s macaroni casserole, baked chicken, and broccoli and cauliflower. I made it exactly to the recipe, so let’s hope it’s edible.”

Lex grinned. “It smells fine to me.”

“Maybe we should have Lex taste-test it. He’ll be the first darting for the bathroom if it’s not okay,” Jonathan joked.

“God, isn’t that the truth.” Lex picked up the macaroni dish and began putting a little on Maddie’s plate. “How much do you want?”

She nodded when it was enough, and Lois and Lana gaped, watching Lex set her plate up for her before he did his own. Jonathan grinned and passed the plates around. When Clark came back, he found the only seat was in between Lana and Lois.

“Chloe say anything interesting?” Lois asked.

”She’s uh, we called her when they brought Maddie over to check out her history. You haven’t met Chloe, but she’s pretty genius at finding connections that normal people wouldn’t see.”

“Damn straight she does,” Lex said cutting up his chicken

“Language,” Lana admonished.

“She’s already heard me say worse. Not intentionally. It’s not like she’s going to swear at you,” Lex returned. He looked over to make sure Maddie was navigating her chicken all right. She had set down the fork and begun picking the meat off with her fingers. Lex reached over and got her a few napkins.

“Anyway, she was just telling me what she’d found from Maddie’s records and um… we have nothing so far… It’s taking a little while because of her hurt wrist, but I’m sure she’ll figure it out.”

Maddie smiled at him gratefully.

The meal went fairly smoothly, with only a few barbs between Lex, Lois, and Lana. Jonathan began to clean up the dishes, and Clark stopped his hand. “My turn.”

”I’ll help,” Lex offered, wiping his hands.

Clark let his jaw drop with mock surprise. “You can wash dishes?”

“Fancy private schools like Excelsior usually just punish their brats with chores. I had more KP duty than a clumsy private in the army.”

“Why don’t I get it? I haven’t been helping much, and you guys have been babysitting Maddie all afternoon,” Lana suggested.

“Yeah, we wouldn’t want to mess up Lex’s manicure,” Lois added, grabbing some dishes awkwardly.

“Okay,” Clark said uneasily, watching Lois maul the dishes. The remaining four went into the living room to sit a bit before breaking out the ice cream.

“So, Maddie, you like the farm life?” Lex asked her, sitting on the couch with her. She smiled and leaned against him. Lex couldn’t help but smile back and feel warm. He couldn’t believe this kid liked him. “My parents owned a ranch in Montana, once. We used to go out there, work with the hands. Clean up after the horses. Milk cows.”

Jonathan snorted.

“I loved it!” Lex protested. “Well, I was just a kid then, but until I was about ten, I didn’t exactly get outside much. My mom would get me an allergy shot and take me to the ranch so I could run around with the animals like a normal kid.”

“I wonder how much you’d love it, if that were your job,” Jonathan said.

Lex shrugged. “It’s not a bad job. It’s a precarious one, financially speaking, but I think it’s worth doing. Especially since you’re one of the few farmers around here who doesn’t use the meteor rocks to grow your food.”

“You’d get bored with it,” Jonathan said with certainty.

“I get bored running a company sometimes,” Lex admitted.

“So you run for office?”

Lex gave a dry laugh. “I didn’t run because I was bored. And despite what my father thinks, I didn’t run for vanity, either. There are several issues coming up for the senate that I wanted to be involved in. Also, I turned 25. Might as well get some experience now.”

“I kind of wondered about that,” Clark said. Lex shrugged.

“You never asked me why I was running. Not that it matters now. I hope Martha has the sense to see the issues the way I did, but I have no idea, really, since she wasn’t debating against me.”

“I didn’t ever know what the hell you were talking about in the debates,” Jonathan retorted.

Lex cringed. “Sorry. I was nervous. It’s easier to hid behind a mask of twenty dollar words when you aren’t feeling confident.”

“Don’t know what you had to be nervous about.”

“As soon as you announced your candidacy, people started resurrecting all of these old lies about me. It was unnerving to be on the stage with you when your ethos centers on Honorable Family Man and despite my best efforts, mine still centers on Deviant of Multiple Varieties.” Lex shook his head. “I was going for Progressive, but what can you do.”

“I never sponsored those ads slamming you, Lex,” Jonathan argued.

“I know. You wouldn’t have run that kind of campaign.” Lex smiled slightly. “If you ran disparaging ads against me, they would be completely true.”

Jonathan laughed.

Lex felt the wave nausea before he recognized the smell. He put his hand to his lips and tried to will his stomach to behave.

”Wow, Lex, you just got really pale,” Clark remarked, leaning over to get a better look at him. Lois strolled back into room wiping her hands.

“Did… someone just put on coffee?” he asked softly, almost afraid to open his mouth.

Lois frowned at him. “Yeah, Lana did while we were taking care of the dish- Lex?”

He was bolting from the room as fast as he could. This was going to be bad.

***

Clark followed Lex slowly to the bathroom and listened for him. Then immediately pulled back on the superhearing because Lex was clearly puking up dinner, lunch, breakfast, and possibly his kidneys and a portion of his lower intestine.

“Uh, are you okay?” Clark asked unnecessarily.

Lex paused gagging for a moment, then yelled out with more than a little aggravation, “Yeah, could you come in here and hold my hair?”

Lois cackled. Lex had been loud enough that they could hear him in the other room. Maddie came forward, looking worried. She drew near Clark and whispered, “Is he going to be okay?”

“Oh, probably. He’s just been sick lately. He was having a hard time keeping things down. Maybe that hasn’t cleared up as much as we thought.”

She gave him a nervous look and leaned against his side. Clark automatically reached up with one hand and began to pet her hair.

“Oh… what happened?” Lana said ingenuously as she came out of the kitchen. Clark turned to her with a glare.

“I think the smell of the coffee made Lex sick.”

“Why are you looking at me like that? How could I possibly know the smell of coffee made him yak? He used to drink two or three double cappuccinos a day!” She creased her forehead and stomped back into the kitchen.

“Everyone else feel okay?” Jonathan asked. “It could’ve been my cooking.”

“Well, I’ve got an iron gut. Nothing makes me puke,” Lois declared. “Except Swedish Meatballs. Yuck.”

Clark heard water running. “Back up, guys.”

Lois went back into the living room. Lex came out slowly, holding a lavender handkerchief over his mouth and nose.

“Air,” he said simply, making a beeline for the door. Clark got out of his way. Then moments later, he and Maddie followed Lex out and sat with him on the front steps. Lex was breathing through the handkerchief. “Sorry, Clark. I just needed to get away from that smell.”

Clark rubbed his back. “Feeling a little better?”

“Ugh.”

“Want to come in for ice cream? Once we clear the coffee smell?”

“Not really, Clark. With the way my stomach feels, I don’t want to risk it. I like that ice cream too much to be put off from it later because I’m sick.”

Clark smiled and kissed the back of his head. “Thanks for bringing it though. And thanks for staying to help.”

“No problem.”

“I’m going to get you some water.” Clark got up and left them on the steps. Moving back into the living room, where Lana was serving coffee, he leaned against the doorframe of the kitchen and sighed. “Sorry, Lana. I shouldn’t have snapped at you.”

“No, you shouldn’t have. I was just trying to be considerate.”

“I’m sorry. It’s just hard watching him not really getting any better when we don’t really know what’s wrong.”

“You could ask Chloe. She’s the one who always finds these things out, isn’t she?” Lana suggested, turning her head from him slightly.

Clark thought about it. “I guess… hm. I hadn’t thought to ask. I just figured if it was find-out-able, she would find out and tell me.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure,” Lana commented lightly. She sipped her coffee slowly.

“You don’t think Chloe can? Or you don’t think Chloe would tell?” Lois asked. “Cause… number one, my little cousin can find anything out.”

“I don’t know, Lois.” Lana waved her hand. “Do you want me to pour out the rest of the coffee? I figured Mr. Kent and Lex would be drinking a few cups.”

“Go ahead. I’ll break out the air fresheners.” Jonathan stood to go find them. Clark went into the kitchen to get a bottle of water and his cell phone.

“Hey, Chloe.” He stepped outside and sat beside Lex, who had his head in his hands, still holding the handkerchief in place. Clark poked his shoulder with the bottle of water.

“Any news on our little foundling?” Chloe asked. He could hear her pecking at the keyboard.

“Not other than what I told you before. Hey, can I ask you something? I mean, you really don’t have to answer, but I’d like to hear your side.”

Lex sipped the water and looked at Clark in askance.

“Shoot,” Chloe chirruped.

“What were you and Lana fighting about?”

“Um… yeah, that’s kind of personal.”

“Well, she hasn’t mentioned it at all, and I’m kind of wondering. She’s been acting weird. And just now she insinuated that if I asked you to help me figure out why Lex is sick, you either couldn’t do it or wouldn’t tell me what was going on?” He waited and frowned when Chloe said nothing. “Did Lana ask you to help her figure out why Lex is sick? Why would she care?”

“Clark…”

“Did you figure it out?”

Now Lex was looking at him intently with wide eyes.

“You’d at least tell Lex, right?”

“Lex knows as much as I know at this point, Clark. I’d tell him if I cracked the case. I’m not talking to Lana because it’s none of her damn business what’s wrong with Lex. He’s not her boyfriend; they’re not even friends anymore. I should have told her that when she got all creepy on me about it!” she insisted in a distressed voice. “Spirit of the stairway, or whatever.”

Clark looked to Lex. “She said she’s not telling Lana anything because it’s none of her business. Sorry, you looked worried.”

“Can I… speak to her?”

“Wait, is Lex there?” Chloe asked. “I feel like the two of you are setting me up or something. Stoppit! If you want to know something, ASK LEX!”

The last part was shouted so loudly that both Lex and Maddie jumped. Lex motioned for Clark to give him the phone.

“Chloe?”

“Jesus Christ,” she sighed in frustration.

“No, it’s Lex.”

“Funny. Look, I haven’t told anyone anything. It’s nobody’s business but yours, okay?”

“What do you think that you know?”

“I don’t want to say on a cell phone, but I know that you’re going to be shopping for binkies pretty soon. Other than that, I think I know everything that you do.”

Clark watched Lex’s face grow tight. What the hell was a binky?

“I appreciate your discretion.”

”I figured I’d only be telling Clark if, you know, Milton Fine reappeared and things got dangerous. I mean, he can be clueless, but after a certain point, he’s not going to need to be told.”

Lex took a deep breath.

“That probably didn’t help, did it?”

“Not really, but… alright then. You didn’t tell Lana anything?”

“I told her that your lackey Mercy was buying you herbal tea instead of coffee.”

“Did you tell her why?”

“No, I wouldn’t tell her that you’re-“

“No, I mean, did you tell her what coffee is doing to me?”

“That it makes you yak? Yeah. Did that… did she figure it out?” she asked in surprise.

“No, she just brewed a pot of coffee to spite me.” Lex rubbed his forehead. “The anticipated reaction occurred.”

“Ew! Uh, sorry.”

“I’m fine. Well, now that my stomach is empty. Thank you, Chloe, again.”

“I’m still looking into it. In case I find anything… Wall of Weird Worthy.”

“Beyond the obvious?”

“This is by far not the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen. Besides, the more I research this, the more I find that… this happens.”

“Really?” Lex looked over to Clark. “Sorry, I’m stealing your minutes.”

“Clark has free calls after seven,” Chloe answered immediately.

“Can we talk about this another time? I’d like to hear about those other cases.”

“Uh… sure. If they aren’t going to squick you out.”

“Nothing is more disgusting than coffee right now. Which is a sad thing, since I used to breathe the stuff.”

She laughed. “Okay, does Clark have anything else he wants to say? I’m still digging on the Maddie Van Horn case.”

Lex offered the phone back to Clark.

“Thanks, Chloe. Sorry for prying.”

“I’ve gotten more ‘sorries’ tonight than, I think, the entire time I’ve known you. Have I gotten Lana in trouble?”

“Don’t worry about it. She’s just digging herself a deeper hole now.”

“God, the never ending Clark/Lana soap opera,” she groaned. “Confront her you passive-aggressive little girl!”

“Bye, Chloe.”

“Bye.”

Then Clark and Lex looked at one another.

“She made Lex sick on purpose,” Maddie complained.

“She isn’t going to get away with that,” Clark said, standing.

Lex put a hand on Clark’s leg. ”Clark, she will deny it to her dying day. Don’t start this now.”

“But…” Clark huffed. “Come back inside.”

“No, I think I’m just going to go home.”

“Can I come with you?” Maddie asked.

“I think Social Services would want you here.”

“Please?”

Lex looked up at Clark, who practically picked Lex up onto his feet. “Stay, Lex. Don’t let her run you away.”

“I’m tired. I’m just going to fall asleep on you.”

“You could stay the night,” Maddie suggested.

“No, I really couldn’t.”

Together the two of them pulled him inside. Lex raised the handkerchief again, just in case.

“Oh, yay, it’s the puke-machine,” Lois muttered. Maddie glared at her. The windows shook. Clark looked at them anxiously. Lex was rubbing her back and telling her to stay calm. The windows stopped.

“Good to see you’re feeling better, Lex,” Lana said with a friendly smile.

“Yeah, more or less. I’m going to head home, as soon as these two let me,” Lex muttered, giving Clark and Maddie a sideways glance.

“Well, maybe you should go. You look pretty pale, Lex,” she suggested with sugary sweet fake concern and reached over to touch Lex’s shoulder.

Her mug shattered in her hand. Lana screamed.

“I’m sorry!” Maddie pressed her hands over her head and backed away.

Lex wrapped her in his arms and said soothingly, “It’s okay, Maddie. You’re okay. Just stay calm, alright?” He turned his head sharply and ordered, “Clark, take care of Lana! Is she cut?”

Jonathan ran to the other room and returned with a few towels. Clark knelt beside her and inspected her hand. “It’s not bad.”

”Did you see that?” Lana demanded. “Did she do that?”

“She can talk?” Lois asked.

“Everyone calm down. Hold still, Lana, I need to get some ice. You’re more burned than cut.” Jonathan pressed the towel against her lap and left again.

“She’s a monster, Clark. She shatters glass!” Lana said stridently.

“She’s not a monster,” Lex replied firmly. “She got upset, and she can’t always control it, that’s all.”

“You knew?” Lana’s voice raised an octave. “When were you going to tell us about that?”

“Try never. Something she tells me in confidence stays there, Lana.”

“So… you were upset with Naomi?” Lois asked, stepping away from her. The windows started to shake. Maddie started to whimper.

“She can’t do it through walls, Lois. It wasn’t her fault,” Lex explained in a firm voice.

“You should have told us, Lex,” Clark said in a quiet, suspicious voice.

“She didn’t do it, Clark,” Lex shot back. “She’s not a murderer. She’s just a kid!”

“That’s a lot more naivety than I expected from you, Luthor. Don't let her rosy cheeks and saucer eyes sway you. That girl's one step short of the demon seed,” Lois said.

Jonathan returned with the ice and pressed it against Lana’s hand. “Hold this. Now, what the hell are you shouting about?”

“Lex knew that she had a glass shattering power,” Lana said heatedly. “He knew. You put us all in danger!”

“Having an ability doesn’t make her a killer,” Clark said finally. “Everyone cut it out.”

Lex moved Maddie away from them, and she clung to him anxiously. “You’re the one putting us in danger, you selfish twit. Can you not hear the windows? Calm down so she can calm down.”

“You just want to take her away and study her,” Lana accused breathily. Clark looked at Lex and frowned, wondering if that could be why Lex had been so interested in bonding with her.

“I swear, I don’t even know why I bother with you people.” Lex grabbed Maddie’s hand and shot out the door. Clark followed him.

“Lex, wait.”

“If that’s what you think of me, Clark, you can go fuck yourself,” Lex snapped and walked more quickly.

“Wait!”

“Lex!” Maddie looked up at the both of them.

“She hurt Lana!” Clark protested.

“I didn’t do it on purpose!” Maddie pleaded.

“I’m getting her away from them. She can’t control it if the people around her can’t control themselves,” Lex stated, pressing the auto lock. “Get in, Maddie. You can spend the night at the castle, then we’ll find a home for you, I promise.”

He shot Clark an infuriated look before he sped off. Clark stood there confused and upset. He headed back inside to straighten things out before he went to the castle to talk things out with Lex. Maddie would probably be safer with Lex anyway, and he needed some time to cool off.

“Where did he go?” Lana asked.

”He’s taking Maddie to the castle. It’s probably a good idea. There isn’t anything that she can break there that he can’t afford to replace.”

“Except for Lex,” Lois pointed out abrasively. “He could get seriously hurt, the dumb ass!”

“She trusts him, and she feels safe with him-” Clark said.

“She must have no instinct whatsoever,” Lana muttered, sulking over her hand.

“Which means she won’t be out of control around him. Give me some credit guys, and if you won’t give it to me, give it to Lex. He knows what he’s doing.”

“Yeah, taking her to his lab to find out how her powers work,” Lana shot back.

“That’s completely baseless, Lana!”

“It wasn’t so baseless when you said it,” she pointed out.

“I was infected with a meteor rock at the time. I was paranoid.”

“Well, those fears came from somewhere.”

“I also thought that random black trucks were following me around, my parents were selling me to Lionel Luthor, and you were conspiring with Lex about an alien spaceship. Oh wait. You were.”

“Um, aren’t we getting off track…” Lois asked.

“We aren’t getting anywhere standing around accusing each other,” Jonathan boomed, stepping into the middle of the circle.

Clark looked down. Really he was just feeling guilty for the kneejerk reaction he’d had to the suggestion of Lex experimenting on people. He might cross the line sometimes, but Lex had never hurt anyone who hadn’t moved against him first, as far as Clark knew, and he’d never done experimental treatments unless he was trying to help, misguided or not. Most of all, Clark was just smarting because he’d forgotten momentarily exactly how Lex had bonded with Maddie. That was the truth. Lex hardly ever gave that much of himself, not for a plan, or a scheme. He’d done it for her, probably because she was small and scared, as he had been, with no one to help or to talk to.

“I’ve got to go to the castle and talk to him. Lana, Lois, maybe you guys should go home. If you’re right, Lex is in danger. If Lex is right, they’re both in danger.”

Lois nodded. “C’mon, let’s get out of the way. Sorry I wasn’t more help.”

Lana huffed a little before she left.

“Damn, that girl was in a snit tonight,” Jonathan picked up the phone. “I’m gonna call your mother, leave her a message about what’s going on. Go check up on Lex. The boy wasn’t looking so well, and I dunno if he should be driving.”

“I’ll catch up with him.”

“On foot? Or you taking the truck?”

“Foot would be better, but what would I say when I got there?” Clark went to get the keys. “Be careful, Dad.”

“You too, son.”

Clark bounded out to the truck and headed towards the Luthor mansion, speeding more than a little. He almost missed seeing Lex’s car on the side of the road and had to hang a U-turn and head back. Pulling the truck up beside Lex’s black Lamborghini and jumping out, his heart jumped seeing the windows shattered out of the car, and he ran around the side looking for Lex and Maddie.

There he was, laying face down on the ground with shards of glass sticking out of his back. He was bleeding. A lot. Clark ran to his side and noticed that Lex had his gun drawn.

”Lex! Lex?” Clark knelt beside him and listened for his heartbeat. Still there, but slow, and that other sound was there as well, the one he couldn’t place. Whooshing away. Almost like… Clark sighed, decided to put that on the backburner for the moment, and called for an ambulance.

”Maddie…” Lex groaned softly.

“I know, she… I’m sorry, Lex.” Clark was a little floored to think she would have hurt him. She seemed to have clung to him so quickly.

“He has her… shot him…”

Clark stiffened. “What? Someone took her?”

Lex lifted his lids just a bit.

“Did she do this to stop him? Oh! This is the guy!”

Lex moved his lips a little bit. Blood trickled down his lips. “Save her…”

“I’ll try, Lex. Just hang on.” Clark trailed his fingers down Lex’s lax face. His eyes were growing wide and wet. “Does it hurt?”

“God, Clark… if he hurts her, after… after this…”

“We’ll get him. I promise, just hang on.” Clark looked at the glass in his back and bit his lip. It was all he could do to keep from pulling it out himself. He took Lex’s right hand in his own and squeezed it as he waited for the ambulance to come.

A Rant and Some Theories

Fri, 16 Nov 2007 20:28:21 GMT

In response to the notion that TPTB want to continuously assassinate Lex's character by making him passive, making him FAIL, making everyone and their brother and sister and meteor infected cat tell us he's evil, inserting mental instability into his past, retconning his backstory: It will never work. The writers, while they continue with the main thrust of their story, will never get people to stop liking Lex and start supporting Clark without actually building Clark up by his own merits. Pissing on Lex just won't cut it.

Maybe this is in part MR's playing of the character. There always seems to be another layer to what he's doing, and we so seldom get to seem him be badass and cruel on screen, that it's almost impossible to buy that he's EVOL. Not to mention, this is never going to work while Clark is playing with his balls in the barn. Lex wants to save the world. Clark wants to play house.

There is no comparison.

And while Lex might be wrong about an upcoming alien invasion, he is not wrong in thinking that aliens are dangerous. Because the aliens are dangerous!!! Nam-Ek and Aethyr, Brainiac, Zod, Barn (sp??), Batista, Plant Lady, Titan, Bizarro, and now Zor-El have all been very very dangerous. Brainiac, Zod, and Zor-El have all threatened the human race in total. There doesn't need to be more than one Kryptonian to wipe out life on this planet.

What's worse is that Clark knows this, he knows that Jor-El has said that the planet needs saving... and he's still playing with his balls on the farm. Come on! Under these conditions, I throw in with Lex. He's the guy sacrificing everything that he wants for himself (the family image with Lana, the relationship with his father) to further his goals. He chooses to be alone (Action) because anything else is a distraction from his important work. Remember the ultimatum in Fallout? Lana or saving the world? He chose to save the world. They're having Clark choose Lana. Mistake.

Lex is crossing the line because he feels that it's necessary (so he's further than LL: MoS, who only suspects that Superman might do something crazy) and has seen at least four crazy Kryptonians (if you don't count Clark or Brainy) causing massive damage. Lex is pretty damn miserable for a villain. He's not happy and wouldn't be fussed if he died. The world is in danger and he's the only one there who a) knows and b) is doing anything about it. The proto-JLA is running around blowing up his labs (and releasing Kryptonite into the water supply, thanks guys), and Clark takes down a MF here and there but is mostly doing nothing to protect the Earth from these multiple threats. Why does Clark end up crossing the line? Because he's angry about Lana marrying Lex. Because he hates Lex. Sigh.

I think all of Lex's redemption talk is the result of accepting that he must be the one to save this world because he knows of no one else. The White Hats have never included him and they behave like THUGS, so he has no idea that these self-involved people could do something to help. And he's trying to find better methods of getting his important work done. Will it last? Who knows, but unlike the White Hats, he's trying to IMPROVE himself. Which Clark has failed to do for the past three seasons.

Wonder why some of the audience members aren't supporting Clark? Hmmmm... maybe it's because their Superman is a Superdick.

I don't want to hate on Clark so much, but the narrative isn't making him look good at all. In fact, it makes him look like he's turning into a monster while Lex is swerving on and off the road to herohood. At this point, do people really believe Clark can come around, stop being such a dumbass, and become a hero? Can Lex throw away his motivation, stop caring about humanity, and become a villain?

I really don't believe it, without serious retcon. Lana dying tragically won't change who Clark is fundamentally. Something drastic would have to happen to destroy Lex's faith that the world deserves saving.

Tearing Lex down will never build Clark up. Just as tearing CHLOE down will never build up Lois or Lana. These characters have to build themselves up organically before the viewers can be expected to support them. Clark fans and Clana fans? You've got those people already. However, if you want to target Lex fans, you're going to have to consider your audience better. Half-assed storytelling only makes me dig my heels in deeper, and go out to buy purple shirts to wear proudly as a Lex minion.

Starting with my current favorite theory, here are some speculations (utter speculation. I know nothing from beyond Blue.) about the Grant-is-Julian debacle. I will be calling him New Julian or Not Julian, aka Nulian.

1) The Emily Dinsmore Experiments were part of Lionel's attempts to recreate his dead son, as much as Mr. Dinsmore's efforts were to create Emily. Lucas proved to be a failure as a backup, so when Lex "died" on his honeymoon, Lionel put this into effect and created a new Julian. However, after Memoria, Lionel decided that he did not need the project and ordered it to be terminated. From there, the lab workers could have accelerated Nulian's aging (either that or Lionel had him accelerated already so that he could claim him as his lost son and not have to share him with a woman with a cover story) before he was turned out in the cold. Problematically, Nulian had no idea who he was, what he was, or what was going on.

Once Lex took over the company, he found many of his father's old experiments, and traces of ones shut down. Eventually, he found the scientists involved and began looking for Nulian. Once he found him, Lex gave him a new identity. Together, they have a plan in the works, and Nulian is at the head of The Daily Planet to make sure that none of it leaks to the public before they are ready.

2) He's still a clone, and Lex made him, and Nulian thinks he's the real thing. Lex has lied to him about his origins. He does this because he's coo coo for cocoa puffs and loved his brother so much, poor woobie.

3) A servant revived Julian and smuggled him away from the Manor after that night to keep him from these crazy crazy people. Lex is either lying about Lionel's invovlement or is assuming since Lionel has lied, betrayed, and hurt him at every turn, despite his claim that things would be "different" if he'd known that Lex didn't kill his baby brother.

4) Lillian found a baby who looked similar to Julian, then had a servant smuggle her baby away from the manor. She then smothered that baby and let Lionel think his son was dead. They might do an autopsy, but the chances of doing a paternity test are very very slim.

5) Nulian is either another bastard of Lionel's or another baby that was born either directly before or shortly after Lex was born. Lionel faked that baby's death and sent him out to be raised by foster parents, but somehow he lost track of Nulian. Lex was too young at the time to have known about this. The second Julian was named after the first, and knowning that her first baby died put additional stress on Lillian's already fragile mental state.

6) Nulian is a clone that Lionel recently made and aged and planted for Lex to find so that Lex, who loved his brother crazily, would find him and spill his secrets. Or, Nulian is just a dude who Lionel hired to do the same thing.

That's all I got for now.

SV: Blue

Fri, 16 Nov 2007 02:51:16 GMT

Thanks, SV for giving us canon evidence that Lois got hired on merit. THANK YOU FINALLY.

Also, happy that Lois and Chloe confronted one another honestly, without passive aggression. Also also, that Lois gets the same treatment as other reporters (too slow, no article).

In other news, am I the ONLY fan of this show who thinks that bringing back Julian isn't the worst plot twist EVER? That it's not going to destroy Lex's character utterly? I don't see how this diminishes anything that Lex did, since he didn't know that the baby was taken away. It just makes Lionel more of a bastard. All of the events of Memoria could still have taken place, and it all depends on what they do with it. Lionel could have taken the baby away later. A servant could have done it. I assume we'll find out in the Lexepisode later on in the season. It's a lot more interesting to me than the soap opera of doom from last season.

Besides, if any character needs someone to talk to in order to reveal motivations, it's Lex. If Julian stays loyal and doesn't turn on Lex (I can dream, can't I?), then I really like this idea... though it hinges on them not screwing up the plot.

The worst thing about it is that it makes me a LUTHORCEST person! Ack!

What, there were Kryptonians in this episode? I must have tuned that part out.

SV: Wrath

Fri, 09 Nov 2007 04:33:08 GMT

Since Lana isn't getting any, she settles for some horse riding smiles. Clark feels guilty for the distance between them, although he doesn't know what's causing it, and gives her champagne and chocolate truffles and horsie riding. Lana complains at the good treatment. Then they have a flashback to season one and Lana becomes Eric Summers.

Creepy Adams' Family music plays as Clark and Lana get down, causing massive destruction via earthquakes. Surely, this is symbolic.

Chloe is wary, but she's just the sidekick, so why listen to her? Anyway, Lex finds out that his ~~rapist~~ old buddy Milton Fine's ship is gaining consciousness. They are using the Kryptonite and glass to thwart Brainiac, who has the ability to neutralize or create Kryptonite. Lex locks up the information in his house. Lana discretely zips over there and rips the door of the safe off then walks out instead of superspeeding.

Lionel tells Clark that Lana is evol. Chloe hints that Lana is evol. Lex sneaks up on the man with super hearing in his own house and hints that Lana is evol. They make out a little, but then Clark has to go investigate.

Lana breaks in on Editor McAssholio, who is currently in bed with Lex, so he won't write a story on her stupid harddrive that she stole... and you know, didn't go to the police or the government with. She delivers a blow that should have killed Lois.

After that, she goes after Lex, tortures information out of him, and he takes her to the lab. They argue over who really deserves to be fucking Clark, and Lex continues to talk about saving the world, because for some reason he hasn't given up on humanity. Lana decides randomly that Lex has an ulterior motive, like she randomly decided that Lex had faked her pregnancy. She decides to give our ex-Belle Reve victim a little more ECT with a wire she ripped out of the wall. Fearing that the voltage will cause him to miscarry, Lex distracts her with a kiss and she drops the wire. Then tosses him across the room.

Clark comes in and tells her to lay off his babymomma, and Lana channels Isobelle to whup his ass. Somehow they manage to drop the glass thingie holding Milton Fine, which affects Lana while she berates him for being a loser who hangs out on the farm instead of using his powers for something more. Like revenge. Revenge is hot and awesome.

Worried that the Kryptonite will hurt Lex's baby, Clark breaks the glass thingie, releasing Milton Fine and shocking the bejeezus out of Lana. He sits there for a moment, surprised that she's alive. He speeds to Smallville Medical, dropping her off before going back to make sure that Lex gets to one of his doctors. He waits by Lex's side, holding his hand and watching the baby with his xray until Lex wakes up. He does, shaking and worried. Lex demands to know if the baby is alright, and Clark assures him that the baby is just fine, and gives him a gentle kiss on the head. He apologizes to Lex for letting all of this get out of hand and not realizing that Lana was going to come after him.

Chloe cuts off Lana's spy room and tells Lana that she's a manipualtive biotch and that she's not gonna let her destroy Clark. Lana flares her nostrils.

Grant gives Lois a kiss to distract her from his evol doings for Lex. Lois decides that she doesn't give a flying damn about appropriate office behavior or credibility as a reporter and kisses him back. Really, this guy is gonna have to be castrated for doing this to Lois Lane, but he lives for another day.

Clark goes to visit Lex in his study later to find out what he's going to do about Lana. They bicker like bitter exes, and Lex gloats that Lana still has feelings for him. Though it is clear that he doesn't really care about her any longer, it makes Clark jealous and that makes Lex happy. He hits Clark where it hurts with a few lines, then Clark takes away his scotch, since he shouldn't be drinking while pregnant, and carries Lex grumbling to bed where he gives him a footrub and makes him drink some warm milk.

Later, Clark finds Lana inexplicably hanging around in the barn, where she tries to make excuses for her behavior and the Room of Lex Luthor. They go over their issues and Clark tries to blame himself for what happened to her, but she tells him not to do that and to hold her accountable for her own actions. She asks Clark if he still loves her.

Clark pauses for what seems like forever.

Then he superspeeds to get some rope, ties her up, and calls Lex, telling him to press charges against her and have her locked up. Lex laughs in malicious glee. Laughter is good for the baby, after all.

FIC: Like a Fish Needs a Bicycle

Thu, 08 Nov 2007 05:08:32 GMT

Title: Like a Fish Needs a Bicycle
Pairing: Clana, Clex
Rating: PG
Spoilers: Through S5 Reckoning
Summary: Clark needs Lana like…
Author’s Note: I hate you, AlMiles. According to Lana’s canon attitudes, this is how she would REALLY react.
Bunny by tobywolf13

Clark stood in his loft facing the window and looking out on the horizon, where he could see the castle of his former best friend. Who in the whole world could say something like that? A castle in a small farming town seemed as mismatched as a fish riding a bicycle. As an alien and the town princess. He played with a lump of coal in his hand and was so nervous that he could barely think straight as he rehearsed the words over and over in his mind. He wanted it all to be perfect.

He heard Lana coming long before she entered the barn, but from practice he waited until she hit the stairs to turn around. Lana came up to the loft, dressed warmly. He sighed and swallowed. Her warm hazel eyes were so beautiful in the cold February morning, like shining amber jewels contrasted against this mundane rural setting.

“I brought gloves and a scarf like you said,” she announced, coming towards him.

Clark stood to face her. His heart sped up. “I was afraid you weren’t gonna come.”

Lana tensed her lips haughtily and said in her breathy, displeased voice, “Well, to be honest, I don’t think that a mystery date’s exactly what our relationship needs right now.”

Clark felt as though her resentment was stabbing him through the heart. He put his hands on her arms gently and sighed again. “That’s why I called.”

“Are you okay?” she asked with a little frown. She placed her hand on his chest. “Oh my God, your heart’s racing.”

“That’s… because I’m terrified.”

“What’s going on?” she asked in confusion, and if Clark wasn’t mistaken, a little bit of concern.

“Lana, the way you've been... I can tell by the way you look at me that I'm losing you.”

She dipped her head. “Clark-“

“And it’s not your fault!” he assured her. He paused as Lana looked back up at him. “There’s something I should have shown you a long time ago.”

Clark took her to the Kawatche Caves, trying to keep from looking over at her face too often. She was curious, and worried, and a little annoyed. Well, maybe more than a little. He was afraid she’d storm off any minute. When they finally reached the caves,

Clark led her to the altar with the Kryptonian symbols on it.

Lana approached the altar with interest. “I don’t remember this place ever being here… how’d you find it?”

Clark took a deep breath. Truth time. “It was left here for me.”

Lana spun around, startled and staring him down. “For you?”

Clark moved to stand beside her. His eyes scanned her face, and his nervousness bubbled up into laughter.

“I've rehearsed this like a thousand times.” He felt giddy, and he was grinning like a schoolboy. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the octagonal key that had once belonged to the ship that had brought him to this planet. It felt strange showing it to anyone, as though he were already revealing part of himself. “Lana, what I'm about to show you... may change the way you feel about me.”

“Clark, whatever it is, it's okay,” she said softly.

Clark met her eyes for a moment, then he reached down to put the key into the slot in the altar. Light flooded out of it, filling the chamber with a golden aura. He smiled down at Lana, the girl he had loved since he was seven years old. She looked around with wide, disbelieving eyes.

“It’s okay.” He offered her his hand. “Do you trust me?”

Lana hesitated. Then she took his hand and the two of them stepped toward the altar. The light turned blue and enveloped them.

All at once they were standing inside the Fortress. Lana’s breathing caught, and she looked around, dumbfounded by the spectacularly beautiful sight before her. Snow. Ice. Crystals glimmering all around them.

“Oh my god.” She turned back to Clark.

For a moment, Clark was speechless as well. “Wh… when you asked me if I believed in life on other planets you had no idea how ironic that question was.”

Lana looked back at him, confused, overwhelmed.

“I'm from a planet called Krypton.”

Her eyes lit up with terror as she began to back away. “No. No, Clark. You aren’t from another planet.”

Clark stepped towards her, and she stumbled backward quickly.

“You’re just like everyone else!”

“No, Lana, wait!”

In her haste to get away from him, Lana slipped and fell on her ass.

“Lana, please. I’m an alien, but I still love you,” Clark pleaded, holding up his hands to show her that he meant her no harm.

“I’ve seen what those things do. Are you one of them?” Lana asked coldly.

Clark blinked in disbelief. He’d known that Lana was afraid of aliens. He’d know that she hated the Disciples of Zod who had come during the second meteor shower. Still, he’d somehow expected that their love for one another would allow her to make an exception. But her frightened eyes, her wide and gaping mouth, lip curled back… she was obviously terrified and disgusted by him.

“There were so many days I wanted to tell you,” Clark whispered, moving away from her and straightening his back. He felt horrible and awkward, a big terrible thing.

“What makes today any different?” she asked, inching her way back to her feet.

“I-I just wanted you to know who I really am.”

“Those aliens… they came with the second meteor shower.” She sucked in her cheeks as she slowly began to rise to her feet. “Did you come with the first?”

Clark felt his eyes stinging. “Yes.”

“What are you going to do with me?” she asked, as though she was feeling defiant to the hostile alien that had taken her captive.

“I… I just brought you here to show you. I can take you home if-“

“Then take me home!” Lana demanded. She crossed her arms in a very standoffish stance and looked at him expectantly.

Clark knew he’d never be able to get that look of utter hatred on her face out of his mind.

***

Of course, Clark mentioned nothing to his parents. They never reacted well when he told someone. No wonder he had issues divulging his secret. At worst, both his parents and the person he told would hate him for it. Things had never been the same with Pete. Lana had been disgusted and scared, obviously. Sure, some people had thought it was cool… but they had powers too.

Clark didn’t know what to do, or think. It was so hard to believe that Lana was really out of his life. He kept expecting her to come through the door. When his cell phone rang, he expected it to be her. The election party had begun an hour ago. He’d hoped she’d be there. No Lana. Even Chloe hadn’t seen her all day.

So he sat moodily waiting for the news to announce the election results. It was kinda funny, how far ahead they were in the polls. Clark hadn’t thought that they could have gotten that many votes. Their campaign had been pretty small, comparatively, and Lex was better known in general. But still the numbers kept rising.

“We could win this thing, Clarky,” Lois said. “Cheer up. What’s your problem?”

“Um. Nothing.”

Lois bumped his hip and frowned at him. “Then stop moping. Have some cham-pag-en.”

“It’s champagne.”

“I’m kidding, you tard.” She rolled her eyes and shook her head. “What is it? Don’t make me rough you up to get it out of you.”

“I quake in terror. It’s nothing. Lana and I broke up.”

Lois blinked. “Again? Well, wait a week. Your relationship is a boomerang. No matter how hard you try to throw it away, it comes back.”

”I think this afternoon it snapped in half.”

Lois crossed her arms, then took a sip of her drink and patted Clark’s back. “Hang in there, Smallville. Look, in the long run, I don’t think Lana was the girl for you. She’s kinda bipolar. I don’t she could make up her mind to save her life. And she’s been sniffing around Luthor.”

Clark’s eyes went round.

“Yeah, I know, right? He’s bald and ugly. If I were inclined to date boneheads, I’d totally pick you over him.” Lois picked up her glass. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll get you some hooch, and you can forget all about her.”

When she turned to look back at him, he was gone. “Uh… wait. Where the hell did you go?!”

***

Clark navigated Lex’s security easily and found himself in the study. Lex was by sitting on his sofa by the fire sipping scotch, and although he didn’t turn his head, his voice came tersely up to greet Clark: “Why aren’t you at the celebration party for your… father?”

“I wanted to come see you. I… uh.” Clark realized that he should have come up with something to say before speeding over here.

“You… uh… whaaat?”

Clark tensed his lips and raised a brow. The way Lex enunciated his words told him that he was drunk. Funny. He’d never noticed Lex drunk before, though he had noticed him drinking. “I was uh… wondering if you’d seen Lana.”

Lex laughed loudly. “Have I seen Lana?”

He pushed himself off the sofa and almost fell. Clark lurched forward to catch him, but Lex held up a hand.

“Have I seen…. Lana?” he repeated, looking up at the ceiling, as though he were thinking about it. “Yeah, I think your little girlfriend may have come over this afternoon. Oh… ex-girlfriend, right? My bad.”

“Lex, she… I don’t know what she told you, but-“

“But you’re going to lie to me about it? Say that she was mistaken? I know that the caves send you to somewhere in the Arctic. How else would Chloe end up there? I know a lot of things about you, Clark.” He slammed his glass down on the table. “I know what she told me was true. What I don’t know is why you would tell that two-faced bitch before you told me!”

Clark’s eyes widened. “Lex-“

“She came running in here to tell on you the same fucking day! And you told her before you told me?” Lex threw one hand wide. Clark stepped backward. Lex seemed so angry. He shook his head and laughed again. “Because Luthors aren’t trustworthy.”

”That isn’t it, Lex! You’ve got it all wrong!”

“Then what is it? Huh? Huh???”

“Don’t pretend like you’re this innocent party, Lex!” Clark yelled. “You sent mutants after my parents!”

Lex’s eyes seemed to bulge out of his head. “You are paranoid and CRAZY!! Get out of my house!”

“Are you telling me that you didn’t do that?”

“I told you that when you came here to beat me up, you pathetic bullying redneck.” Lex turned to go get more scotch.

Clark paused. They didn’t have much proof of that… now Clark was starting to doubt himself. “Then why were you watching the security video of me and Chloe when I came to your office?”

“You think that’s my evil plan?” Lex took another sip of his scotch and stumbled onto the arm of the sofa. “Set up a test with no controlling factors, using mental patients booted from my program, let you get inside my facility, and fail to get any information. whatsoever Then wait for days to watch the security footage just as you’re walking in?”

Clark crossed his arms.

“You and Chloe tripped a silent alarm. Nice job, Scoobies. The outside guards didn’t come after you because it was you. They were on standing orders at the time not to arrest either of you, since you don’t seem to be able to keep off my property.”

Lex took another long drink, then frowned at his empty glass. “Imagine my joy at seeing the two of you try to steal from me.”

“That wasn’t what we were doing,” Clark tried to explain. “The meteor freaks that came to the farm-“

“Shocker and the Twins, I know. I know now.” He sniffed and set his glass down. Then let his body fall back onto the sofa. “I can’t believe you told her.”

Clark slipped his hands into his back pockets, suddenly nervous again. “Do you think she’s told anyone else?”

“She hasn’t.”

“How do you know? Is she here?”

“I doubt it.” Lex threw an arm over his eyes. “She hasn’t told anyone else because I told her that she’d be arrested for murder within a hour of telling anyone.”

Clark eyes bulged, then he moved towards Lex slowly. “You don’t have to go making up stories to keep her in line, Lex.”

“No? I could have her killed.”

“No! Hey, what is up with that! No killing!” Clark protested.

“Or I could have her locked up in Belle Reve.”

“A no to that, too!” Clark sat beside Lex on the sofa.

Lex moved his arm a little and looked back at Clark. “It was good enough to keep me quiet.”

Clark felt a stab of guilt. “You’ve known a long time, haven’t you?”

“I suspected the day we met. You threw me off a couple of times. However, at Summerholdt, I remembered what you did with Morgan Edge’s car. If I ever doubted my sanity regarding that, I saw you shove a grand piano across the room on Chloe’s birthday and pull me up into your lap as easily as if I were a child.”

“Oh… yeah.”

“You have to be more careful, Clark.” Lex stared at him with a sudden heat. “When your little friends came with the second meteor shower, it wasn’t hard to put together.”

“They are not my friends,” Clark objected strongly. “They’re crazy disciples of this dead warlord or something.”

“Why are you here, Clark?” Lex asked.

“I was scared that if you heard it from someone else, you’d hate me,” Clark admitted. “I never know how someone’s going to react. Pete freaked out, and Chloe, God, she got crazily overprotective of me. Alicia, like, claimed me as her very own, Phelan tried to use me, and Nixon wanted to make a story out of me.”

“What were you afraid that I’d do?”

“Hate me. Want to study me, or destroy me.”

Lex turned and leaned on his arm. “Why? Why would you think that?”

“Because I’ve done bad things to you, Lex. Because I didn’t trust you.” Clark bit his lip and looked down at Lex, who smiled.

“Not trusting me doesn’t warrant destruction, believe me.”

“When you saw what happened right before they took you away… you looked so scared,” Clark whispered. “I don’t want you to be afraid of me.”

“Then stop picking me up by the neck and tossing me around.”

“I didn’t mean that! It was the silver meteor rock you created!”

Lex made a small huffing noise and sat up completely, putting some distance between them. “I didn’t create that, Clark.”

“Then who- never mind. I know who did it.” Clark sighed. Of course. Milton Fine. “I’m sorry.”

“I meant, when I asked you why you were here, why did you come to this planet?” Lex’s penetrating eyes searched his face.

Clark could tell this was genuinely worrying him. He already knew about the Disciples of Zod and so he was probably worried about what the aliens wanted from Earth. “Oh. Um… I’m not really sure. Our planet blew up, and I think it was a last ditch effort to save me. My father had been here before. There’s so much technology lying around on this planet I wonder why they were here to start with. They couldn’t have been at war still during ancient times here, right? “

“Maybe your people found this place interesting, but a bit out of the way for conquest at the time,” Lex suggested.

“Well, we won’t be conquesting anything these days. There are only a handful of us left, as far as I can tell.”

“I think a handful would be enough, considering the powers you have,” Lex said in a stern tone.

Clark shrugged. “If there’s going to be an invasion, I haven’t gotten the memo.”

Lex smiled then, softly. “Don’t worry about your secret, Clark. As long as you’re still on our side, there’s no need. The problem is, Clark, that you don’t know for certain what’s out there. There is something coming, and I have to prepare for it.”

“How do you know that?”

“I’ve been looking to the skies as long as you have, I suppose,” Lex replied vaguely. “Don’t worry about Lana, either.”

“Lex, you can’t blackmail her with false charges,” Clark scolded. Really, Lex was just like a wayward child. He had no conception of right and wrong sometimes.

“I’m not. I have evidence on her murder of Chloe’s lead sorority vampire as well as her murder of Genevieve Teague. Granted, during the latter she was possessed by Isobel, but there is still damning evidence.” Lex paused and reached for the scotch on the coffee table again. “I can see from the look on your face she never told you about that.”

Clark leaned over and caught Lex’s wrist. “No more, Lex. You’ll pickle yourself. No, she didn’t tell me.”

Lex scowled, a bit petulantly from being denied his scotch, but leaned back nonetheless and looked at Clark. “She won’t risk herself. Not when she has no proof and no one to back her up, but you should be careful, regardless. She might get it into her head to strike back at you.”

“She might get it into her head to strike at you. You’re the one blackmail her.”

“You caused the meteor shower that pancaked her parents.”

“That is horrible, Lex!”

Lex shrugged and hugged his arms.

Clark patted his shoulder gently. “Come with me to the party.”

“Yes, sounds like a brilliant idea. Go join the people who hate me.”

“They do not hate you, Lex.”

“They hate me.” Lex stood and walked away from Clark. “I’ve succeeded in pushing everyone away from me in this race and for what? So your camp could smear my name and take money from my father?”

Clark got up and walked over to Lex, his heart pounding. He took a breath, wishing he had something rehearsed. “If you really didn’t set up that test, then you’re completely welcome. I can’t speak for anyone else, but I don’t hate you. And if something’s coming, then you aren’t alone in pushing it back. I don’t like what my people seem to want to do with this planet. There aren’t that many of them left. We can take ‘em.”

Lex turned and scanned Clark’s face. He didn’t seem to believe him at first, then he nodded and walked over to get his coat. “I’d offer to drive but that might not be a good idea.”

“Do you trust me?” Clark walked over to him and held his shoulders back anxiously. “I learned something new today.”

Lex looked intrigued. “Oh?”

“Yeah.” Clark motioned with his head, and Lex followed. Through the hallway, Lex put a hand on Clark’s shoulder to steady himself, so Clark walked more slowly. “You should drink less.”

Lex groaned. “I try. It never works.”

They stepped out into the light, and Clark looked around to see if anyone was looking. “I sort of did this as a vertical thing earlier today, but it wasn’t very good.”

Lex moved back a little when Clark reached out to put his arms around him, then after a tense moment of looking into each other’s eyes, he stepped forward, letting Clark embrace him tightly.

“Don’t let go, Lex.”

“I won’t. Promise.” Lex’s arms went around Clark as well.

They rose high into the air, floating miraculously above the castle. Clark drew in a sharp breath as he looked down.

“Focus on me, Clark. You can do this, okay?” Lex seemed completely calm, for someone who was hovering high above his home midair with an alien. “Breathe and let yourself get used to it.”

Clark looked back to Lex, who was smiling and looking on him with amazement. No fear. No disgust. He seemed a little proud.

“I can fly, Lex,” Clark whispered in astonishment.

Lex laughed. “I knew you could. I always knew you could. Remember what I asked you in the castle, the day you returned the car?”

“I guess… a man can fly.” Clark made sure that he was holding Lex tightly enough and moved them forward a little. They lost a bit of altitude, and Clark squeezed Lex tighter as he caught them.

“Though maybe a man needs a bit of practice.” Lex grinned. “Can you move your head forward a bit?”

“I… um. Let’s see?” Clark leaned forward a little, but he was afraid that Lex would fall.

“Hold on a sec.” Lex wrapped one leg around Clark’s, then the other. “Okay. Hang on to me with one arm and use the other one to help you guide yourself. Hold it out in front of you.”

“What? Why?”

Lex shrugged. “That’s how they always fly in the comics.”

“Crazy.” But Clark did as Lex suggested, pulling his right arm away slowly, and when Lex didn’t drop, Clark tried to concentrate on going forward. They floated along for a moment, and then suddenly, he was soaring over Smallville with Lex beneath him. He let out a whoop of excitement, barely able to believe that he was doing this. He’d always been so afraid of heights. For a moment he looked down at Lex, who was watching the passing town with boyish glee.

Too soon they were over the Talon, then past, and Clark had to figure out how to turn midair with someone on him. It only took a moment with some support from Lex, however, and then Clark lowered them down slowly into the alleyway.

“That was so cool.” Lex laughed, still hugging Clark once they were down with both feet on the ground.

Clark leaned back and rubbed Lex’s shivering arms. “I can’t believe you’re okay with this.”

“Do I seem so xenophobic?” Lex turned slightly to look at the back door of the Talon.

“Well, no, but…”

“Tell me, Clark.” Lex met his eyes. “Are you okay with this?”

“With you knowing? Well, since you aren’t too mad.”

“No. I mean, are you okay with who you are? All of it. I know from experience that coming to accept an identity that isn’t… quite human can be very difficult.” He sighed. “And very lonely. I wanted you to be a mutant so badly.”

“Why?”

Lex shook his head. “Because then maybe I’d be in good company. Maybe you and I would have that in common; we could share it and watch each other’s backs.”

“You know, Lex, earlier I was thinking that I wished I could do today over. I woke up hoping it would be the happiest day of my life, but then Lana… gosh, she hates me for what I am, and it seemed like the worst day ever.”

Lex tilted his head and smiled a little. “And now, your assessment would be?”

“I’m glad everything blew up in my face. Having you at my back is a lot better than what I had planned… what’s funny about that?”

Lex shook his head and fought a grin. “C’mon. Let’s go crash the party.”

“It’s not crashing. I’m invited, and I’m the son. I get to bring whoever I want.”

Clark could feel every eye turning to stare at them. For a moment he felt his face reverting to a frightened, embarrassed expression. Then something inside him seemed to growl and fight back. He put his arm around Lex’s shoulders and steered him toward his parents. Perhaps they didn’t seem to fit together, but Clark had once been so sure that they had. Maybe it wasn’t destiny. Maybe they would have to work at it. But if Lex could forgive him, and if Clark was willing to forgive Lex, then they maybe they could end up the stuff of legends after all.

SV: Lara

Fri, 02 Nov 2007 01:19:50 GMT

Another eh episode, although through the first half of the ep, Chloe, Kara, and Lex were rocking it. Kara was spoutin some home truth to Clark about his behavior. Chloe goes to MF Anon and tells Lana she's a liar. Is it took much to hope that Chloe's gonna find out what Lana is up to? Lex faces down Agent Badpants.

Lex stood his ground with Clark and then told Lionel some HOME TRUTH. Take that MB. You aren't a bright and shining light, and neither is Lana. I think the Luthor scene was one of the best.

I'm less than impressed with the clone Lara plot. Is this another bad parallel for Lex? Jor and Zor were assholes who fought over this angelic, stunning woman? Blah.
And Clark is okay with cloning people against their will? At least we know Clark has an explaination for how Lana knew.

Chloe is clearly hurt that Kara is going for lunch with Jimmy instead of her. Stop trying to steal Chloe's girlfriend Jimbo!! :(
(Dear TPTB, I will ship them even if you refuse to give me hoyay. Girls CAN do things without men or being in competition, y'know.

So I guess this ep was about Two and a Half Shovels to Lionel's Face.

Next week: Clark is pompous, and Lana is crazy. SV as per usual. Hang in there, Lex.