FIC: Must Be Dreaming, part seven
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 and smoochies to my spectacular sexful sparklie beta herohunter
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter 5.1
Chapter 5.2
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Clark sat anxiously beside his father at Smallville Medical, only looking up when he heard Lois walking up to them.
“Well, this sucks. I just came by to see if there’s anything I can do for you guys? Pick up anything?”
“No, thanks, Lois.”
“No prob. Man. Big mistake letting Lex take the kid, huh?” Lois put her hands on her hips and shook her head.
Clark sighed. “There’s nothing else he could have done. He leapt out of the car to protect her from the glass, and he shot the guy who took her. I should’ve never left them alone, though.”
”Who's kidding who, Smallville? If you had been there, you would have been shredded beef. Then Lex really would have shot that guy.” She sat beside them. “Clark, she's gonna be fine. They put out an AMBER Alert. Every cop in the state is looking for Maddie.”
“I hope it’s enough.” Clark looked up when a doctor came over.
“Are you here with Mr. Luthor?”
“Yeah, we are,” Jonathan answered. “He gonna be okay?”
“I won’t lie. He’s lost a lot of blood. We’re lucky he keeps extra on hand here because there is no one who can donate to him. He’s a one of a kind blood type.”
“Lucky,” Jonathan repeated, nodding his head.
“Came out of surgery okay, though. All of the glass came out easily, and none of it caused damage to his internal organs. He’s a little dehydrated, and we’re going to have to insist that for once, he stays put to let his stitches heal, but otherwise, he seems like he’s going to be all right. His personal doctor just came in to do an additional exam… She’s a bit creepy.”
Clark laughed in relief. “Tanaka? Yeah, she is.”
The doctor shrugged. “She seems to be qualified, and she must be if Lex trusts her.”
“Is he awake yet?”
“Not yet,” she shook her head. “You can go in, though, if you’d like.”
Lois waved her cell. “Let me know if you guys need anything.”
Clark entered the hospital room. They had Lex laid out on his stomach, and bandages were tightly bound around his shoulders and back. Clark sat next to him and sighed. He checked his messages again for Chloe, but he knew that calling her every five minutes would just slow her down.
“I should be looking for this guy,” Clark muttered.
“And where are you gonna look?” Jonathan asked pointedly.
“I have no idea. I need Chloe to point me in the right direction. Or for Lex to wake up.” Clark sat by the bed then took Lex’s limp hand and warmed it in his own. This scene was becoming too familiar for his liking.
Jonathan rubbed his shoulder and waited with him.
***
Someone’s going to betray someone else. Big time.
Lana stomped up the steps of her dorm, furious. Enraged. Livid. She’d never been this angry in her life! What a horrible day this had been! It was bad enough to have to watch the two of them dancing around outside the mansion like they were a… couple or something, and Clark spent so much time with Lex these days, but he’d always said it was because Lex was his friend, and he was sick…
And now she had seen them kissing. It made her want to throw up. Then to not be invited into the Kent’s home like she wasn’t part of the family or something, and to be dismissed like that after that bratty little girl had deliberately attacked her? It was too much. Just too much. And she’d gotten a speeding ticket on the way home that she hadn’t been able to talk her way out of and the gas station had declined her credit card!
When she reached her room, she slammed the door shut and looked around frantically. Chloe wasn’t there. Where was she?
“FAGGOTS!!” she screamed, bursting into tears. Her arm swept over her dresser, knocking everything off. She pulled the bedspread off her bed and threw it across the room, did the same for the books on the bookshelf, and then whatever she could get her hands on. She started tearing down all of their posters and ripping the Wall of Weird down. Chloe’s coffee pot ended up shattered against the other wall as she continued to shriek angrily, “How dare they! How dare he?? Ugly, bald, hideous freak…. Faggot! What did you do to Clark! What did you say to him! How?? Sick, sick! Fucking Lex!”
Lana dropped down on Chloe’s bed and began looking through the papers.
The Five of Cups here is telling me that your life is going to be in flux soon, and someone is going to be acting on hidden emotion.
“Oh, Lex, you sick, disgusting man. I should have known, the way you’ve always looked at Clark… and I thought you were interested in me. Pervert. Pedophile,” she spat angrily. She looked over a file of a man with sandy blond hair and a distended abdomen and tilted her head curiously. What the hell was this? Sifting through a few more, she noticed that there were a bunch of pictures of men like that. Must be some story Chloe was working on. Lana sighed heavily then got up looking around for Chloe’s car keys. When they were nowhere to be found, Lana concluded that she was probably at the library or something.
Someone’s feeling restless in a relationship that was once shiny and new, and looking elsewhere.
“How could you do this to me, Clark…” she whispered, tears welling up in her eyes once again. “After all this time… I waited for you to grow up. You just kept lying to me and lying to me.” She bowed over herself and sobbed hard until she could barely breathe. “Is this what you were hiding? Was that all I was to you? A cover for Lex?”
Listen to her and follow her lead. She may be keeping her knowledge hidden, but you really need her guidance, or… or your life is going to become a disorganized mess in a hurry.
“Respect his privacy. Bitch. I bet Chloe knew. She knew, and she wasn’t going to tell me.” Lana ran her hand through her hair. Everyone kept things from her. No one ever trusted her, ever. They always lied. Everyone lied. Everyone abandoned her. No one ever really cared about her or gave her the love she deserved.
Then she spotted Chloe’s laptop.
***
Clark laid his head on the hospital bed and watched Tanaka’s assistant preparing Lex’s IV drip. It was a little amazing to him at first. She looked too young, Clark thought, too young to have that kind of medical knowledge, no matter where you came from. He narrowed his eyes and sighed. His father had gone home to check on things at the farm and promised to bring back some food. Clark himself didn’t want to leave Lex’s side.
“You’re a modern day Dougina Howser, aren’t you?” Clark asked, trying to sound casual. It had occurred to him that this little girl might be Milton Fine in disguise, and he did want to alert her if that was the case.
Rujuko smiled up at him, her oddly cut hair sticking out at weird angles from where she had pulled some of it into buns on either side of her head. “I’m a what? My name is Rujuko,” she explained in a slow patient voice.
“I mean, it’s a bit weird for a girl your age to be able to help with this kind of medical stuff.”
She giggled. “Probably.”
“How long have you been doing it?” Clark pushed, sitting up and letting his hand gently touch the back of Lex’s neck. He often wanted to touch Lex when he was awake, but Lex could be so prickly.
“I’ve been working with my dad forever with his projects. He’s kind of a geneticist/obstetrician. Er… was. He was.” She set the bag up on the stand and checked Lex’s arm. “He taught me most of this.”
“Did he retire?”
“No, he died,” Rujuko replied shortly. She walked over to a stool, hopped up on it, and started making notes.
“Oh. I’m sorry. I recently lost my dad. I know that it can really be hard.”
Rujuko looked up suspiciously. “I thought that was your dad who was in here before. Do you have two dads?”
“No! I mean, well, I thought he was dead, and we buried him, but then he turned out to be alive.”
Rujuko quirked her brows and turned her head slightly. “That’s really weird.”
“Uh… yeah, it was.”
Rujuko went silent again.
Clark sighed and asked half-heartedly, “So, are you in medical school yet?”
“I just started,” she said in a casual tone.
Clark’s eyes bulged. He didn’t know if that was a pro-Fine sign or not. “Uh, so are you an intern for Dr. Tanaka?”
“Yes. I’m going over at Met U most of the time, but working for Tanaka is filling in credit for another class, which is one less that I have to take. Plus she’s the big name in genetics right now, so this will look good on my resume.”
“You’re pretty lucky to get this spot, then,” Clark remarked.
“Not really. She’s my mother.”
Clark’s mouth dropped open. That woman did not treat this kid like her child. “So she goes easier on you off the clock?”
“There is no off the clock. When my dad died, I came here to live with her, and she set this up for me.” Rujuko set the chart aside and started shuffling her papers. “I’m fine doing med school now, but my dad would have never had it. He wanted me to spend more time relaxing and being a kid, even if that meant going for another undergraduate degree before I went to medical school. It really doesn’t give you much time for a life, and I miss my boyfriend in Japan.”
“Oh, so you’re Japanese.” Clark nodded in understanding. “That makes sense, with your name. You speak English really well.”
The girl frowned at him as though he was being obtuse. “We’re from Vancouver.”
“Oh.” Clark ducked his head in the other direction and began gently petting Lex’s shoulder.
Her annoyance seemed to burn out quickly. “And anyway my name is made up. My dad watched a performance based on the Genji Motogari, and he knew my mom was Japanese, so he gave me a Japanese name to go with our family name Redbloom. Except the character’s name was actually Rokujo, this lady who could send her spirit out to hurt people, and he got some of the romanized letters mixed up. He swore he wasn’t dyslexic, but I don’t believe him. He was colorblind, too.”
“Oh. Got it.” Clark sighed and let himself look down on Lex’s pale face. He just seemed too breakable these days. It hurt and scared Clark, and though the doctors promised that Lex would wake soon, Clark wouldn’t be able to breathe properly until Lex finally did. It didn’t matter if he was angry at Clark or forgiving. He just wanted him to wake up.
Rujuko pulled her bag together and headed for the door. Then she paused and stared at Clark remaining steadfast by Lex’s side. “He’s gonna be okay, you know. His… condition. It isn’t fatal.”
Clark turned his head to look at her. “What is it? What’s wrong with him?”
“Confidentiality. But between you and me, Clark, he’s fragile right now. You’ve gotta be a good friend and make sure that stuff like this doesn’t happen to him. ‘Cause his condition won’t kill him, but getting hurt like this means an increased possibility of complications, which means he really could die. He can’t be losing blood like this.”
Clark nodded seriously. “I can try.” He looked down and licked his lips. “So, it’s not cancer or anything?”
Rujuko’s lips curved. “No. No cancer. It… he might be uncomfortable sometimes… and frustrated, and he might cry for no reason or get mad or dizzy or hungry suddenly. But it won’t last forever, and then he’ll be fine. I know it’s hard to watch someone you love be sick, but I promise, he can make it through this…” She trailed off and looked at the door. “Um… my dad… um. He had the same condition.”
Clark creased his brow. “Then what ki-“
“He was murdered. They never caught the guy,” she said sharply. Her eyes widened as she turned her head and messed with some of the hair falling out of the bun on the side of her head. “I gotta go. Take care of him, Clark.”
She left swiftly, leaving Clark to his thoughts and the silence of the room. Well… not silence. The sounds of Lex’s body working and the monitor were still there. He could hear Rujuko’s shaky breathing as she hurried out of the hospital. Leaning back over Lex, he sighed and just listened to his heart, occasionally kissing the soft skin on Lex’s head.
***
Lex woke to pain and fear. And the sound of Mercy threatening someone with both.
“-up your own ass!”
“Mercy,” he groaned. The room grew quiet. He opened his eyes more fully, looked at the tubes coming out of his hand, then at the people in his room. Mercy came to his side and stood with her hands behind her back and her feet at shoulders’ width.
“I ran the blood of the man you shot. I’ve also given his name and picture to the police, and they’re looking for them both.”
Lex nodded. She handed him a glass of water. “Additionally, this guy matches up with a man they locked up in Belle Reve twelve years ago. One Tyler McKnight.”
“Do we know what his powers were?”
“Looks like glass-o-mancy, or something like it, but it was pretty much before your time. His powers could have been augmented by the radiation instead of created. In fact, I’d guess that, since he worked in a glass factory.”
“Did he escape?” Clark asked.
“Nope. He got out by shining on the shrinks.” She didn’t even look at Clark, but took a seat next to Lex.
“Second generation?” Lex asked before taking a long sip of the water.
“Maybe so.”
Lex nodded again. He looked over at Clark who seemed confused and worried.
“I’m glad you’re awake,” Clark said softly. Lex would have shrugged, but his back hurt too much. He would have said something, but he didn’t know what to say. He was waiting for Tanaka to come back in and tell him that he’d sacrificed one child for another. And if that was the case, Maddie would soon be changing her last name.
He struggled to sit up.
“No, Lex.” Mercy’s strong hand pressed against his arm. “Stay here. We need you healthy and conscious if we’re going to find her.”
“You sound like you’re doing pretty well on your own,” Lex remarked. Clark was on his cell phone. “Are you calling Chloe?”
“Yeah, I’ll give her the name and description of the guy if you want. I bet she can find the connection to Maddie.”
Lex leaned on his forearms and tried not to think about the baby or Maddie.
“It’ll be like when we were hunting Ghost. We’ll find her before anyone else does, I swear it,” Mercy insisted.
Jonathan frowned. “You two hunted ghosts?”
“No.” Mercy’s round eyes widened, and she raised a brow.
Lex answered in a soft, hollow voice. “Ghost was a nine-year-old meta-human who we were tracking down last fall. The kid’s father was using him to pull off some pretty big heists. Kids with power… they’re just ripe to be used.”
“You think this guy is her father?” Jonathan asked.
“Yeah, I do. Powers, especially mental powers, are often passed from parent to child. Depending on genetics, of course.”
“See there’s one thing, which I haven’t said, that you aren’t going to like.” Mercy sat on the edge of the windowsill. “You may have put this together already, though.”
Lex sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Maddie.”
“Yeah,” she said.
“What is it?” Clark asked, walking back over.
“Daddy was put away twelve years ago. He’s been locked up the whole time. And Maddie’s mother was killed by shattered glass when she was three. Unless he escaped at some point-” Lex said a bit hopefully.
“Which he didn’t. I checked, Lex. I’m sorry,” Mercy confirmed.
“Maddie may have really killed her mother.” Lex sighed. “We can’t tell her. Not yet.”
“Nevaeh managed, and she was a lot older and did a lot worse. If we keep Maddie with the other kids, they can help her cope. She was just a toddler at the time. No way she remembers or had any control over it,” Mercy said reasonably. “Must have been really upset, to do so much damage at that age.”
“Where do you keep these kids?” Clark asked. Mercy looked to Lex.
Lex bit back a breath and shot a venomous glace Clark’s way. “Why don’t you come to your own conclusions about that, Clark? It’s what you’re good at.” He turned his head back to Mercy. “ Mercy, is Nev ready to talk to other people? I think she and Ghost could help Maddie.”
“Nev is the most well-adjusted, upbeat, and utterly bent person I’ve ever seen. But the fact that her dad was an asshole who abused her probably helps her cope with what happened. He deserved punishment from someone. I think knowing that there are others out there like her might help.”
Lex thinned his lips. “It was… when I told her about me.”
Clark’s cell rang. “Yeah?”
“McKnight worked at a glass factory during the first meteor shower. We’re talking regular panes of glass here. Now, okay, stay with me. They never found the diamonds that he stole before they put him away,” Chloe answered.
“You think he might have hidden them somewhere in the glass?” Clark asked.
“It would make sense,” she agreed. “He has glass powers; he could put the diamonds anywhere. And get this, Maddie’s mom was dating Tyler the year before he got locked up. So…”
”Dad is taking the girl and killing anyone in the way,” Clark concluded. “And you think he’s going to fetch the diamonds. That’s a dumb plan.”
“Fuck yeah, it is. People register diamonds.” Mercy hooked her thumbs on her belt loops and looked at Lex. “All we have to do is wait for him to sell them.”
“Not if he goes to the black market. Then we’d have to blanket Suicide Slums. I don’t think he’d get much farther than that.” Lex shook his head. “We can’t wait. We can’t leave her in his hands for that long.”
“You guys got that?” Chloe asked. “I can tell you’re chattering about something. Want me to head to Smallville?”
Clark turned his face towards Lex. “Um, Lex, do we want Chloe here or in Metropolis?”
Lex pressed his lips together. “Hm. I don’t know, actually. Just keep in contact with her.”
“Did you hear?” Clark asked.
“I’ll head in to the Planet and stay on call. Let me know if you have any other questions.”
“Thanks, Chloe.”
“Good luck finding her… is Lex okay? I mean, is everything… safe?”
“You know Lex. He’ll be as good as new in a couple of days. Weird alien illness or no.”
“Great!”
Clark could practically hear her smile. Mercy frowned as Clark got off the phone. “So we have to track down diamonds that the police couldn’t find twelve years ago.”
“I have more faith in you than the local police. You’ll find her,” Lex informed them.
Clark’s phone rang again. “Yep?”
“Sorry, Clark,” Chloe said. “I just found something else. McKnight was living with his mom at the time this all went down. You might want to check in with her. Want the address?”
“Yeah!” Clark looked around for a pen and paper. “Chloe has a lead for us.”
Tanaka opened the door and looked over them all with a severe frown. Lex looked over his shoulder. “Good or bad news?”
“Good news,” she said, sucking in her cheeks slightly. She didn’t look at all happy. “Though the circumstances are less than what one would desire.”
“Indeed.” He tried not to show how incredibly relieved he was, but he did take a few shaky breaths while refusing to meet anyone’s eye. Lex felt like screaming out in joy or flinging his arms around Clark. His poor little fetus had made it through so much already. His or her life was going to be as disaster prone as his own. Lex rested his chin on his hands. “Well, if I can’t go with you, get to it. Find her.”
***
Mercy’s heels hit the pavement resonantly as she headed to her car. Clark followed a step behind. “If we split up, we could-“
“Hush.” Mercy reached her black car and pressed the button on her keys to open the doors. “We’ll go talk to the mother first. I don’t want to let on about Maddie’s existence until we know the woman is trustworthy. Family members can be the worst to let in on a secret like that, sometimes. Get in.”
Clark obeyed. She slid into the driver’s seat, started the car, and put on a pair of dark sunglasses.
“I have an FBI ID, so we’ll question her about her son as a suspect for the murder of Maddie’s foster mother. If you can’t keep up, be quiet and look threatening,” she ordered.
Clark pinched his mouth into a grimace and looked out the window. Lex hired such strange people.
Once at Mrs. McKnight’s house, Clark let Mercy do the talking. He was slightly impressed when she switched from her light inner city accent to a staccato deadpan that made the old woman assume she was an authority.
“Look at this, Mercy,” Clark whispered when the woman was showing them around her house. He poked to a stained glass window. “This looks like a window that’s in The Talon.”
Mercy lifted a brow and spoke just as softly. “What’s that?”
“The local coffee shop. It used to be a movie theatre before it was remodeled.”
She nodded in understanding and turned to Mrs. McKnight. “M’am, could you tell me about this window? My partner has ID’d it as the twin to a window in The Talon.”
”Isn't it beautiful? He made it right before he was arrested. I don't have the finished piece. I had to sell it after my husband passed away,” Mrs. McKnight confirmed, running her fingers over the delicate glasswork. Mercy crouched down and looked at the detailing of the glass critically.
“The one in The Talon have stones here?” She asked Clark. He nodded. She turned abruptly and headed to the car.
Clark grimaced after her and looked at Mrs. McKnight apologetically. “Um, thanks for talking to us. We’ll get back to you about your son.”
“Do be careful, young man,” she pleaded. “Your partner looks tough, but my son could really hurt you.”
“I’ll do my best,” Clark said with a tense smile.
***
The worst part was waiting. Laying there mutely on his belly, wishing he could feel his little baby move, wishing he could see Maddie to be sure she was alright. Lex spent so much time trying to keep people at a distance… but somehow they ended up getting in anyway.
“Mr. Luthor.” Dr. Tanaka closed the door and pulled down the blinds. Normally when he saw the woman, she was in her white lab coat, examining specimens of his blood or feeling his belly or more sensitive areas with a clinical look on her face. Today she was in jeans and her hair was drawn up into loose knots that let the hair fall down past her waist. He wondered if she’d let Rujuko do her hair.
Lex nodded silently. She sat next to him and hovered her hand over his bandages. “I know you are a tough man, but circumstances really require you to make some sacrifices.”
“I don’t deliberately put myself into dangerous situations. They seem to find me,” Lex protested.
She pushed her lower lip upward. “Toby is fine for stitching wounds together and short exams, but you need a healthcare professional available fulltime, and I don’t particularly trust the man. He smokes marijuana outside the castle.”
“I’d hate to disrupt your experiments.”
She flailed her hands awkwardly. “I’d hate for you and your baby to die. I’m worried.”
Lex laid his head sideways on his hands so he could look Tanaka in the eye. She ran her hands over her cheeks and sighed.
“I’m asking to move the lab to the castle. Either that or you need to move to the penthouse in Metropolis, and I want to be the doctor assisting in your care. You can threaten Ruji if you need security to believe I’ll be trustworthy.”
Lex laughed. “Your lab assistant?”
“We’re close,” she replied shortly.
“Close enough that you’d put her in my hands?”
“I have no plans of betraying you. It’s a safe bet.”
Lex twitched the side of his mouth. “You don’t need to offer up your minions to me. You don’t want your research to be tainted at this point in the game, so you won’t be telling anyone.”
“Or you could rely on that.” Tanaka bit her cheek.
“My guesthouse is currently free.”
Tanaka’s eyes creased into half moons. It was the closest Lex had ever come to seeing her smile.
***
“I hid these here for you, Maddie. For us. These are the start of our new life. Take them. Go on, take-” Tyler McKnight flailed backward as a high heeled boot caught him in the neck.
Mercy punched him in the face as he was going down, pulled her gun, and pressed it to his temple. “Move a muscle and y’dead. Think about using your power? Dead and your kid is dead.”
Maddie stumbled backwards and shrieked in terror. Clark shielded her with his arms and watched Mercy carefully.
Tyler swallowed deeply then coughed. Mercy’s finger twitched.
“Please don’t kill me,” he whispered.
“Just play it smart. You’ll live.” Mercy rolled her eyes disgustedly and stepped back slowly. “Stand up. Give him the cuffs, Clark.”
“Don’t you hurt Maddie,” Clark warned, putting himself between her and the girl. Mercy ignored him and kept her eye on McKnight.
“Cuffs. Now.”
“Stay out of the way, Maddie,” Clark whispered. He came over to the two of them. McKnight was wheezing painfully, and Clark took his hands gently and cuffed them behind his back. Mercy motioned with her gun for him to walk in front of her. McKnight did as he was told.
“Where are you taking me?” he asked.
“Depends on you. You can go to Belle Reve or a maximum security prison,” she replied. Clark put his arm around Maddie protectively as they headed to the car. Mercy pulled a syringe out of her pocket, stepped closer to him, and then injected him.
“What did you do?” Maddie cried as her father slumped to the floor.
“It’s just a sedative. I can’t have him busting the windows out of the car when we transport him,” she said flatly. When she spoke again, her accent switched to one that sounded more natural for this area. “You gonna be okay to ride with me, or do I need to leave you with Clark? I have to take your father in and make sure the police get him in custody and start the investigation for your foster mother’s murder.”
Maddie blinked and a few more tears rolled down her face. She stepped forward slowly and opened her hand to reveal seven tiny diamonds. “He gave me these. He stole them, I think.”
Mercy half smiled. “Yeah, he did. You want to show that to the police? They’ll probably want your testimony.”
She nodded.
“Are you going to be scared of me in the car? You don’t have to believe that I wasn’t really going to hurt you. I work for Lex, and I think he’d have my ass if anything happened to you.”
“I believe you,” she said slowly. Mercy nodded curtly, sheathed her gun, and picked McKnight up, tossing him over her shoulder easily. Maddie blinked in astonishment. “You’re really strong.”
“Lex only hires the best.” Her full lips twisted into a wicked grin.
“Too bad you weren’t with him when my dad attacked him the first time.”
“Tell me about it. Stubborn man. Thinks he’s invincible or something.” She walked to the car quickly. Clark stared at her in disbelief. She was toting a man who was easily her size, perhaps a bit bigger, as though he weighted nothing. He would have to ask Lex what was up with that.
***
Clark held Maddie’s hand as he led her back to the hospital room where Lex was staying. He could hear Lex arguing with a nurse about getting out of there sooner. Clark smiled. Classic Lex.
“Clark, did you ever meet your real dad?” Maddie asked suddenly.
“Um, sort of,” Clark replied.
“Is he bad like mine?”
“Maybe worse. You should meet Lex’s dad. He’s a horrible man.” Clark frowned. “He even tried to kill Lex once.”
“Lex’s parents were awful!” Maddie said fretfully.
“Yeah, they were.” Clark swallowed. “But just because my dad gave me life doesn't mean I'm anything like him. The same thing with Lex’s dad. See, the thing is, Maddie, anyone can be a father but it takes someone very special to be a dad. I consider the dad you met to be my real dad.”
“Does Lex have someone like that?”
“No, I guess not.”
Maddie was quiet on the way to the room. When they entered, Lex lifted his head from the bed where he was now laying on his side. Maddie ran up to him and draped her arms around him gently. “I’m sorry my dad hurt you.”
“You don’t have to apologize, Maddie. You didn’t do it,” Lex assured her. “Thank you for coming to see me, though.”
Clark entered the room and leaned against the table. “You feeling okay, Lex?”
“Better and better. I hear your confrontation was a bit anticlimactic.”
“Mercy is kinda scary,” Maddie said.
Lex nodded. “She is. I’m fond of her though. She’s very capable.” Maddie took a deep breath through her nose and frowned worriedly. Lex grabbed her hand and squeezed it. “What’s wrong?”
“You look sick.”
“I lost a lot of blood. My doctors say I’m going to be fine. No worries there.” He gave her a gentle smile and touched her face lightly. “What else?”
“Where’s Mercy now?”
“She’s making sure the police don’t let your father escape.”
“Then she’ll be back to protect you?”
Lex smiled weakly. “Yeah, I guess she’ll be hanging around when she can to see that I’m safe.”
“Good. She should be around you all the time.” Maddie smiled and leaned over to give him a kiss on the side of his head. Clark watched the two of them begin to chat and bond again, and he got a strange feeling in his stomach. Strange, but pleasant, and a little proud. He loved to see Lex smile so much.
***
Lionel looked up from his desk with a frown. When he’d been told that he had a visitor, the notion had been intriguing, at least, but all in all, he didn’t think that any meeting with this one would be any more than just that. But she wanted to meet with him…. That was something out of the ordinary, and it could prove to be fruitful…
She came in with her hair pulled back tightly, dangly earring swinging as she approached his desk. Her heels clicked against the floor of his office, and her mouth was pressed into a thin line as her nostrils flared widely. She forced a smile, and he had to think, in amusement, that she looked a bit like a displeased snake. At any moment, her tongue might flick out at him with a cruel hiss.
It was the most attractive he’d ever seen her, to his remembrance.
“Miss Lang. It’s certainly both a pleasure and a surprise to hear that you wanted to meet with me.” He stood and walked around his desk, looking at her up and down. She was wearing a striking halter-top black dress with black ruffles cascading down from hip to knee. “Especially when it looks as though you’re on your way out for the evening.”
“Hm.” She thinned her lips and shifted the bag she had under her arm. “I came because I think that we’re both worried… about Lex. Of course you know, he’s in the hospital again.”
“I appreciate your concern. I assure you, he wouldn’t want me there, but I am keeping an eye on the situation,” Lionel said smoothly.
Lana sucked in her cheeks and lifted her chin. “So you know exactly what’s wrong with him these days? What an unflappable father you are. I suppose I should be impressed. I’d have though you’d be a bit more… displeased,” she hissed, smiling stiffly.
“Miss Lang, if you know the nature of my son’s ailment, I suggest that you inform his doctors.”
“You and I both know that they know. They just aren’t telling you. They aren’t telling anyone.” She paused and circled around him. “It must be frustrating for you. These people know what’s going on with Lex… and you’re… stumped.”
Lionel’s amenable expression dropped. “I’m in no mood to play games with a little girl. I don’t believe you know anything at all, and it wouldn’t behoove you to waste my time.”
“I know that your son has started a relationship with one Clark Kent,” she shot back, her cold eyes meeting his. “I don’t mean their inexplicable ‘friendship’ either.”
Lionel was momentarily taken aback, although he should have known. Should have known that this could one day happen. On Lex’s part, of course, he’d known that his son had an unnatural fondness for Clark, likely stemming from his desire for a brother figure, but that the young man would actually return the affection… Their relationship had always seemed to be quite one-sided. He regained his composure almost immediately. “And what do you plan to do with that information?”
“Nothing,” Lana said innocently. She set her bag on his desk. “Clark’s his own man. He can do whatever…. Or whomever he likes. What I want is to know what is wrong with Lex.” She unzipped the bag and looked up at Lionel. “Concerned friend.”
“You two have never been friends,” Lionel informed her sharply. “You want to know so that you can use it to your advantage.”
“Unfounded accusations aren’t going to get you far, Mr. Luthor.”
Lionel leaned against the desk and looked down on her. “I have to say, this is a side I’ve never seen of you.”
“A lot of people fail to look too far below the surface, the idealized image. It isn’t my fault if the world is shallow.”
Lionel’s lips curved. “Isn’t it? Why don’t you tell me what you’ve got in there?”
“It’s a deal.” She slid Chloe’s laptop out of the bag. “I give this to you, and you will tell me whatever you find about Clark and Lex.”
“Why would I want an ugly yellow laptop?” Lionel asked. “I could buy a thousand, if I decided I had a preference for pineapple colored electronics.”
“It’s Chloe’s, and she’s been researching Lex. She knows what is wrong with him, and I’m sure the answer is in here.”
“Are you so certain?” Lionel leaned over here and watched her eyes narrow, as though she were trying to intimidate him, then widen slightly. He could almost smell how terrified she was… it was like blood in the water. It made him all the more aroused. “You had better not be playing games, Miss Lang.”
“I’m not. This is Chloe Sullivan we’re talking about. She got damning evidence on the father. Why wouldn’t she be able to get it on the son?” Her words were carefully chosen to make it sound as though Lionel were the greater of the two.
Lionel laughed and walked over to his bar. He saw through her little traceries easily. “Oh, Miss Lang. I think you’re selling what you have short. I will take your offer, and I’ll tell you whatever I find out about our poor dear Lex.” He turned, scotch in hand. “I’ll also pay off those debts you’ve racked up, and make certain that your failing grades at Metropolis University are turned into something appropriate. Let me see… a C in Astronomy Lab, a B in Chinese history until 1600, and A’s in everything else? I think that’s fair.”
Lana opened her mouth slightly. “That isn’t necessary, Mr. Luthor. I-“
“Think nothing of it. You see, whatever you’ve heard about me, I do care very deeply about my son. Details regarding his condition could be crucial to saving his life.” Lionel took a second glass and handed it to her. She took it, looking at the amber liquid dubiously. He smiled. “You’re doing me a big favor. It was very clever of you to figure out what was going on between Clark and Lex, not to mention your resourcefulness in finding this laptop so that we can help Lex, together. You deserve to be rewarded.”
Lionel could practically see the girl beaming as he puffed up her ego. She must be thinking that she indeed deserved this. Lionel knew, however, that the more he gave her, the more she would be implicated by her involvement, and the less likely she would be able to pull away.
“I’ll get someone on this immediately. Don’t you worry about Lex. I’ll see that he’s taken care of.” He put a hand lightly on her shoulder. She looked up at him darkly, but he did not move it. “Now, you look lovely this evening. If you don’t have plans, I could take you out to discuss your future…”
“I don’t need your help,” she said haughtily, pulling away and setting the glass down.
Lionel laughed again. “Of course you don’t need it. A woman such as yourself? You’ve lived on your own for practically three years, gone to Paris, and navigated your way through the secrets of this community with ease. But would you like it? You have so much potential…”
Her face relaxed a little, considering his offer.
Lionel widened his grin. She was his.
***
“Lex!” Maddie jumped up from the table where she was eating the pancakes that Martha had made for her. Lex leaned over a little stiffly for a hug. Martha smiled at Lex.
“Honey, you worry me lately,” Martha admitted with a strange frown. Clark looked up at him hesitantly. Lex turned his head away.
“I’ve not been very lucky,” Lex agreed. He looked down at Maddie, who was smiling up at him brightly. “I was wondering if you wanted to take me up on that offer for the night at the castle?”
“Really?” Maddie asked incredulously.
Martha raised her eyebrows in alarm and looked over to Clark, who shrugged and took another large bite of pancake.
“I talked to CPS, and they said you could stay at my place,” Lex told Maddie with a smile.
“Are you sure, Lex?” Martha asked. “You’ve been so sick lately. Can you take care of her?”
“I can try. Besides, Romie will cook, and Mercy will be around a lot more for security. Just like I promised, Maddie. Not to mention I might be bringing in some additional help. I’m sure my friend Lena would love to help me watch after you.” Lex shrugged. “I think I can make it work. It depends on Maddie, though.”
“Of course I want to!” She gave him another hug around the waist.
“You can still come visit here, too,” Clark said softly.
Maddie smiled at him, still holding onto Lex. “I can’t believe this. I’m so lucky!”
Martha smiled tightly. “Why don’t you finish your pancakes, then we can talk about moving your things to Lex’s place?”
She motioned with her head to Lex, and he followed her out of the room.
“I can’t believe that you did this,” she admonished.
Surprised at her sudden change in demeanor, Lex tilted his head a cocked a brow. “She’s a very special girl, Mrs. Kent. We can’t ask just any relative to take care of her. Remember what happened to Ryan? He would have been better off in the care of someone who understood his situation.”
“We did what we thought we had to do,” she snapped back at him.
Lex couldn’t believe Martha was reacting like this. He’d rarely, if ever seen her angry, although Clark had told him she could go off without warning sometimes. “If you wanted to adopt Maddie yourselves-“
“Do you really think that your lifestyle is going to be the best thing for a child?” she interrupted, crossing her arms.
“My lifestyle these days consists of working, resting, and the occasional trip to the ice cream store. I don’t think it’s going to be too overwhelming,” he replied sarcastically.
“You and I both know what I’m talking about,” she said hotly. “I hope you can live with yourself, Lex Luthor.”
Lex blinked as she breezed into the other room and asked Maddie cheerfully if she wanted any more juice or milk.
What the fuck was that about? Lex wondered. He walked back into the kitchen and gave Maddie a gentle shoulder rub. His hands were starting to shake. “W-we can go whenever you’re ready. In fact, if you wanted to stay… a few days-“
“No, I want to see your place,” she replied eagerly.
Lex took a breath and slowly lowered himself into the seat beside Maddie. “It’s huge. I could give you your own wing.”
“Are the windows expensive?” she asked anxiously.
Lex shook his head. “Don’t worry about it. I hired you a tutor. I think he can probably teach you some exercises to get control over that.”
Maddie grinned and took another bite of her pancakes. Martha brought over the milk.
“Would you like some breakfast, Lex?” she asked amiably.
“I uh… My stomach is still a little touchy. Romie will make sure I eat later in the day,” he said, trying not to let his uneasiness show as he feigned interest in the conversation that had started between Maddie and Clark. Lex had to admit that he enjoyed watching Clark and Maddie together. He was adorably big brotherly around her.
After breakfast, Maddie ran upstairs to get her things, and Lex waited outside by the rails trying to make sense of Martha’s sudden outburst, Clark’s behavior, and what he would ultimately do with Maddie under his care. All he knew was that he had to make certain that she was cared for.
Those Kents. Those fucking Kents.
“Lex?”
He turned to the sound of Clark’s voice. “Hey.”
“How are you feeling? Really?”
“Not too bad, all things considered. You don’t have to ask me all the time.” Lex pointed over to his car, where Mercy was grooving to Korean hip-hop music behind the wheel. They alternated torturing each other with their musical selections. His last pick had been Gregorian chants.
“You have a driver now?” Clark asked incredulously. He narrowed his eyes and apparently noticed Mercy behind the wheel because he took a step back.
“I just can’t trust my blood pressure these days. Not to mention, I want to make sure I have a trained bodyguard around in case something happens.”
“Oh.” Clark grew quiet. He put his hands on Lex’s shoulders, but was immediately brushed off. Lex felt his whole body shiver. This was a little too much for him to deal with right now.
“I can’t, Clark. Come on.”
“Wh- uh. Why not? You look stressed.”
“This isn’t about stress. This is about you Kents always going hot and cold on me,” Lex snapped. He willed himself not to cry. He couldn’t let himself cry. Not now, dammit.
“What are you talking about?” Clark gripped Lex’s shoulder and forced Lex to face him.
Lex struggled to get out of his grasp. “Stop it! Look, my life is so incredibly lacking in sense right now. How can you not know? I’m talking about you calling me your best friend, you kissing me, and then turning around and agreeing with Lana that I’m a monster! Am I dangerous? Am I a liar? I don’t know! You don’t even know.” Clark finally let him go, and Lex stepped backward rapidly. “I can’t do this. I really can’t.”
Clark’s eyes glued onto Lex, watching his legs going backward. ”Lex-“
“You said we’d try and we tried, okay? We tried. But I can’t do this with you if you’re going to change all the time,” Lex complained, not liking the tone in his own voice. Somehow he couldn’t stop the words from spilling out of his mouth. “I need stability in my life right now. I can’t explain, but I just need it, and when you’re around nothing is stable! I can’t do this!”
“Just calm down, okay? We’ll work this out,” Clark pleaded. Lex stepped back even further.
“We’ll work it out. Then something will happen, and you’ll suddenly not trust me again. Or you’ll get on whatever it is that makes you high, and you’ll toss me a hundred feet!” Lex wiped his eyes with one hand, thinking that the next time… his child might not make it. “And I can’t take it right now. I just can’t. Not now. I need… I need you….”
Clark stepped forward and gripped Lex’s shoulders hard. “I know I screwed up, Lex, but give me another chance! It was a mistake. A dumb mistake! And I can do better!”
“I… no…” Lex tried to twist away from him, but it was impossible. Clark was too strong.
“Hey!” Mercy yelled. She stood near them, holding her gun on Clark. “Let him go.”
Clark dropped his hands, and the Kents and Maddie ran outside.
“What the hell?” Jonathan asked, running down the stairs. Maddie clutched her backpack to her chest and looked around in wild confusion.
“Gun down, Mercy.” Lex turned his head to the girl. “Maddie, it’s fine. Clark got excited, and Mercy overreacted. That’s all.”
She nodded and started down the steps. Martha followed her and reached for the girl’s shoulder. ”Honey, you don’t have to go with him.”
Maddie frowned back up at her and said nothing. She just bolted to Lex’s side and stood between him and Clark.
“Maddie…” Clark took a deep breath. “Please, Lex, just give this some time? I don’t want to lose you because I wasn’t thinking.”
Lex closed his eyes and ran a hand over Maddie’s hair. “I… don’t know.”
“A couple of days, maybe? Please?”
Maddie looked up at Clark, clearly upset.
“Call me in a few days, then. Maybe.” Lex turned and headed for the car. He could hear the Kents descend upon Clark, asking him questions, but Lex couldn’t absorb any of it. He slid into the backseat and let Maddie curl up next to him.
“Did Clark hurt you?” Maddie asked worriedly, looking back out the window at Clark.
“Not physically,” Lex said quietly. “Don’t be angry with him. He likes you a lot. You can come visit.”
She sat by his side silently through the drive back home.
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 and smoochies to my spectacular sexful sparklie beta herohunter
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter 5.1
Chapter 5.2
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Clark sat anxiously beside his father at Smallville Medical, only looking up when he heard Lois walking up to them.
“Well, this sucks. I just came by to see if there’s anything I can do for you guys? Pick up anything?”
“No, thanks, Lois.”
“No prob. Man. Big mistake letting Lex take the kid, huh?” Lois put her hands on her hips and shook her head.
Clark sighed. “There’s nothing else he could have done. He leapt out of the car to protect her from the glass, and he shot the guy who took her. I should’ve never left them alone, though.”
”Who's kidding who, Smallville? If you had been there, you would have been shredded beef. Then Lex really would have shot that guy.” She sat beside them. “Clark, she's gonna be fine. They put out an AMBER Alert. Every cop in the state is looking for Maddie.”
“I hope it’s enough.” Clark looked up when a doctor came over.
“Are you here with Mr. Luthor?”
“Yeah, we are,” Jonathan answered. “He gonna be okay?”
“I won’t lie. He’s lost a lot of blood. We’re lucky he keeps extra on hand here because there is no one who can donate to him. He’s a one of a kind blood type.”
“Lucky,” Jonathan repeated, nodding his head.
“Came out of surgery okay, though. All of the glass came out easily, and none of it caused damage to his internal organs. He’s a little dehydrated, and we’re going to have to insist that for once, he stays put to let his stitches heal, but otherwise, he seems like he’s going to be all right. His personal doctor just came in to do an additional exam… She’s a bit creepy.”
Clark laughed in relief. “Tanaka? Yeah, she is.”
The doctor shrugged. “She seems to be qualified, and she must be if Lex trusts her.”
“Is he awake yet?”
“Not yet,” she shook her head. “You can go in, though, if you’d like.”
Lois waved her cell. “Let me know if you guys need anything.”
Clark entered the hospital room. They had Lex laid out on his stomach, and bandages were tightly bound around his shoulders and back. Clark sat next to him and sighed. He checked his messages again for Chloe, but he knew that calling her every five minutes would just slow her down.
“I should be looking for this guy,” Clark muttered.
“And where are you gonna look?” Jonathan asked pointedly.
“I have no idea. I need Chloe to point me in the right direction. Or for Lex to wake up.” Clark sat by the bed then took Lex’s limp hand and warmed it in his own. This scene was becoming too familiar for his liking.
Jonathan rubbed his shoulder and waited with him.
***
Someone’s going to betray someone else. Big time.
Lana stomped up the steps of her dorm, furious. Enraged. Livid. She’d never been this angry in her life! What a horrible day this had been! It was bad enough to have to watch the two of them dancing around outside the mansion like they were a… couple or something, and Clark spent so much time with Lex these days, but he’d always said it was because Lex was his friend, and he was sick…
And now she had seen them kissing. It made her want to throw up. Then to not be invited into the Kent’s home like she wasn’t part of the family or something, and to be dismissed like that after that bratty little girl had deliberately attacked her? It was too much. Just too much. And she’d gotten a speeding ticket on the way home that she hadn’t been able to talk her way out of and the gas station had declined her credit card!
When she reached her room, she slammed the door shut and looked around frantically. Chloe wasn’t there. Where was she?
“FAGGOTS!!” she screamed, bursting into tears. Her arm swept over her dresser, knocking everything off. She pulled the bedspread off her bed and threw it across the room, did the same for the books on the bookshelf, and then whatever she could get her hands on. She started tearing down all of their posters and ripping the Wall of Weird down. Chloe’s coffee pot ended up shattered against the other wall as she continued to shriek angrily, “How dare they! How dare he?? Ugly, bald, hideous freak…. Faggot! What did you do to Clark! What did you say to him! How?? Sick, sick! Fucking Lex!”
Lana dropped down on Chloe’s bed and began looking through the papers.
The Five of Cups here is telling me that your life is going to be in flux soon, and someone is going to be acting on hidden emotion.
“Oh, Lex, you sick, disgusting man. I should have known, the way you’ve always looked at Clark… and I thought you were interested in me. Pervert. Pedophile,” she spat angrily. She looked over a file of a man with sandy blond hair and a distended abdomen and tilted her head curiously. What the hell was this? Sifting through a few more, she noticed that there were a bunch of pictures of men like that. Must be some story Chloe was working on. Lana sighed heavily then got up looking around for Chloe’s car keys. When they were nowhere to be found, Lana concluded that she was probably at the library or something.
Someone’s feeling restless in a relationship that was once shiny and new, and looking elsewhere.
“How could you do this to me, Clark…” she whispered, tears welling up in her eyes once again. “After all this time… I waited for you to grow up. You just kept lying to me and lying to me.” She bowed over herself and sobbed hard until she could barely breathe. “Is this what you were hiding? Was that all I was to you? A cover for Lex?”
Listen to her and follow her lead. She may be keeping her knowledge hidden, but you really need her guidance, or… or your life is going to become a disorganized mess in a hurry.
“Respect his privacy. Bitch. I bet Chloe knew. She knew, and she wasn’t going to tell me.” Lana ran her hand through her hair. Everyone kept things from her. No one ever trusted her, ever. They always lied. Everyone lied. Everyone abandoned her. No one ever really cared about her or gave her the love she deserved.
Then she spotted Chloe’s laptop.
***
Clark laid his head on the hospital bed and watched Tanaka’s assistant preparing Lex’s IV drip. It was a little amazing to him at first. She looked too young, Clark thought, too young to have that kind of medical knowledge, no matter where you came from. He narrowed his eyes and sighed. His father had gone home to check on things at the farm and promised to bring back some food. Clark himself didn’t want to leave Lex’s side.
“You’re a modern day Dougina Howser, aren’t you?” Clark asked, trying to sound casual. It had occurred to him that this little girl might be Milton Fine in disguise, and he did want to alert her if that was the case.
Rujuko smiled up at him, her oddly cut hair sticking out at weird angles from where she had pulled some of it into buns on either side of her head. “I’m a what? My name is Rujuko,” she explained in a slow patient voice.
“I mean, it’s a bit weird for a girl your age to be able to help with this kind of medical stuff.”
She giggled. “Probably.”
“How long have you been doing it?” Clark pushed, sitting up and letting his hand gently touch the back of Lex’s neck. He often wanted to touch Lex when he was awake, but Lex could be so prickly.
“I’ve been working with my dad forever with his projects. He’s kind of a geneticist/obstetrician. Er… was. He was.” She set the bag up on the stand and checked Lex’s arm. “He taught me most of this.”
“Did he retire?”
“No, he died,” Rujuko replied shortly. She walked over to a stool, hopped up on it, and started making notes.
“Oh. I’m sorry. I recently lost my dad. I know that it can really be hard.”
Rujuko looked up suspiciously. “I thought that was your dad who was in here before. Do you have two dads?”
“No! I mean, well, I thought he was dead, and we buried him, but then he turned out to be alive.”
Rujuko quirked her brows and turned her head slightly. “That’s really weird.”
“Uh… yeah, it was.”
Rujuko went silent again.
Clark sighed and asked half-heartedly, “So, are you in medical school yet?”
“I just started,” she said in a casual tone.
Clark’s eyes bulged. He didn’t know if that was a pro-Fine sign or not. “Uh, so are you an intern for Dr. Tanaka?”
“Yes. I’m going over at Met U most of the time, but working for Tanaka is filling in credit for another class, which is one less that I have to take. Plus she’s the big name in genetics right now, so this will look good on my resume.”
“You’re pretty lucky to get this spot, then,” Clark remarked.
“Not really. She’s my mother.”
Clark’s mouth dropped open. That woman did not treat this kid like her child. “So she goes easier on you off the clock?”
“There is no off the clock. When my dad died, I came here to live with her, and she set this up for me.” Rujuko set the chart aside and started shuffling her papers. “I’m fine doing med school now, but my dad would have never had it. He wanted me to spend more time relaxing and being a kid, even if that meant going for another undergraduate degree before I went to medical school. It really doesn’t give you much time for a life, and I miss my boyfriend in Japan.”
“Oh, so you’re Japanese.” Clark nodded in understanding. “That makes sense, with your name. You speak English really well.”
The girl frowned at him as though he was being obtuse. “We’re from Vancouver.”
“Oh.” Clark ducked his head in the other direction and began gently petting Lex’s shoulder.
Her annoyance seemed to burn out quickly. “And anyway my name is made up. My dad watched a performance based on the Genji Motogari, and he knew my mom was Japanese, so he gave me a Japanese name to go with our family name Redbloom. Except the character’s name was actually Rokujo, this lady who could send her spirit out to hurt people, and he got some of the romanized letters mixed up. He swore he wasn’t dyslexic, but I don’t believe him. He was colorblind, too.”
“Oh. Got it.” Clark sighed and let himself look down on Lex’s pale face. He just seemed too breakable these days. It hurt and scared Clark, and though the doctors promised that Lex would wake soon, Clark wouldn’t be able to breathe properly until Lex finally did. It didn’t matter if he was angry at Clark or forgiving. He just wanted him to wake up.
Rujuko pulled her bag together and headed for the door. Then she paused and stared at Clark remaining steadfast by Lex’s side. “He’s gonna be okay, you know. His… condition. It isn’t fatal.”
Clark turned his head to look at her. “What is it? What’s wrong with him?”
“Confidentiality. But between you and me, Clark, he’s fragile right now. You’ve gotta be a good friend and make sure that stuff like this doesn’t happen to him. ‘Cause his condition won’t kill him, but getting hurt like this means an increased possibility of complications, which means he really could die. He can’t be losing blood like this.”
Clark nodded seriously. “I can try.” He looked down and licked his lips. “So, it’s not cancer or anything?”
Rujuko’s lips curved. “No. No cancer. It… he might be uncomfortable sometimes… and frustrated, and he might cry for no reason or get mad or dizzy or hungry suddenly. But it won’t last forever, and then he’ll be fine. I know it’s hard to watch someone you love be sick, but I promise, he can make it through this…” She trailed off and looked at the door. “Um… my dad… um. He had the same condition.”
Clark creased his brow. “Then what ki-“
“He was murdered. They never caught the guy,” she said sharply. Her eyes widened as she turned her head and messed with some of the hair falling out of the bun on the side of her head. “I gotta go. Take care of him, Clark.”
She left swiftly, leaving Clark to his thoughts and the silence of the room. Well… not silence. The sounds of Lex’s body working and the monitor were still there. He could hear Rujuko’s shaky breathing as she hurried out of the hospital. Leaning back over Lex, he sighed and just listened to his heart, occasionally kissing the soft skin on Lex’s head.
***
Lex woke to pain and fear. And the sound of Mercy threatening someone with both.
“-up your own ass!”
“Mercy,” he groaned. The room grew quiet. He opened his eyes more fully, looked at the tubes coming out of his hand, then at the people in his room. Mercy came to his side and stood with her hands behind her back and her feet at shoulders’ width.
“I ran the blood of the man you shot. I’ve also given his name and picture to the police, and they’re looking for them both.”
Lex nodded. She handed him a glass of water. “Additionally, this guy matches up with a man they locked up in Belle Reve twelve years ago. One Tyler McKnight.”
“Do we know what his powers were?”
“Looks like glass-o-mancy, or something like it, but it was pretty much before your time. His powers could have been augmented by the radiation instead of created. In fact, I’d guess that, since he worked in a glass factory.”
“Did he escape?” Clark asked.
“Nope. He got out by shining on the shrinks.” She didn’t even look at Clark, but took a seat next to Lex.
“Second generation?” Lex asked before taking a long sip of the water.
“Maybe so.”
Lex nodded again. He looked over at Clark who seemed confused and worried.
“I’m glad you’re awake,” Clark said softly. Lex would have shrugged, but his back hurt too much. He would have said something, but he didn’t know what to say. He was waiting for Tanaka to come back in and tell him that he’d sacrificed one child for another. And if that was the case, Maddie would soon be changing her last name.
He struggled to sit up.
“No, Lex.” Mercy’s strong hand pressed against his arm. “Stay here. We need you healthy and conscious if we’re going to find her.”
“You sound like you’re doing pretty well on your own,” Lex remarked. Clark was on his cell phone. “Are you calling Chloe?”
“Yeah, I’ll give her the name and description of the guy if you want. I bet she can find the connection to Maddie.”
Lex leaned on his forearms and tried not to think about the baby or Maddie.
“It’ll be like when we were hunting Ghost. We’ll find her before anyone else does, I swear it,” Mercy insisted.
Jonathan frowned. “You two hunted ghosts?”
“No.” Mercy’s round eyes widened, and she raised a brow.
Lex answered in a soft, hollow voice. “Ghost was a nine-year-old meta-human who we were tracking down last fall. The kid’s father was using him to pull off some pretty big heists. Kids with power… they’re just ripe to be used.”
“You think this guy is her father?” Jonathan asked.
“Yeah, I do. Powers, especially mental powers, are often passed from parent to child. Depending on genetics, of course.”
“See there’s one thing, which I haven’t said, that you aren’t going to like.” Mercy sat on the edge of the windowsill. “You may have put this together already, though.”
Lex sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Maddie.”
“Yeah,” she said.
“What is it?” Clark asked, walking back over.
“Daddy was put away twelve years ago. He’s been locked up the whole time. And Maddie’s mother was killed by shattered glass when she was three. Unless he escaped at some point-” Lex said a bit hopefully.
“Which he didn’t. I checked, Lex. I’m sorry,” Mercy confirmed.
“Maddie may have really killed her mother.” Lex sighed. “We can’t tell her. Not yet.”
“Nevaeh managed, and she was a lot older and did a lot worse. If we keep Maddie with the other kids, they can help her cope. She was just a toddler at the time. No way she remembers or had any control over it,” Mercy said reasonably. “Must have been really upset, to do so much damage at that age.”
“Where do you keep these kids?” Clark asked. Mercy looked to Lex.
Lex bit back a breath and shot a venomous glace Clark’s way. “Why don’t you come to your own conclusions about that, Clark? It’s what you’re good at.” He turned his head back to Mercy. “ Mercy, is Nev ready to talk to other people? I think she and Ghost could help Maddie.”
“Nev is the most well-adjusted, upbeat, and utterly bent person I’ve ever seen. But the fact that her dad was an asshole who abused her probably helps her cope with what happened. He deserved punishment from someone. I think knowing that there are others out there like her might help.”
Lex thinned his lips. “It was… when I told her about me.”
Clark’s cell rang. “Yeah?”
“McKnight worked at a glass factory during the first meteor shower. We’re talking regular panes of glass here. Now, okay, stay with me. They never found the diamonds that he stole before they put him away,” Chloe answered.
“You think he might have hidden them somewhere in the glass?” Clark asked.
“It would make sense,” she agreed. “He has glass powers; he could put the diamonds anywhere. And get this, Maddie’s mom was dating Tyler the year before he got locked up. So…”
”Dad is taking the girl and killing anyone in the way,” Clark concluded. “And you think he’s going to fetch the diamonds. That’s a dumb plan.”
“Fuck yeah, it is. People register diamonds.” Mercy hooked her thumbs on her belt loops and looked at Lex. “All we have to do is wait for him to sell them.”
“Not if he goes to the black market. Then we’d have to blanket Suicide Slums. I don’t think he’d get much farther than that.” Lex shook his head. “We can’t wait. We can’t leave her in his hands for that long.”
“You guys got that?” Chloe asked. “I can tell you’re chattering about something. Want me to head to Smallville?”
Clark turned his face towards Lex. “Um, Lex, do we want Chloe here or in Metropolis?”
Lex pressed his lips together. “Hm. I don’t know, actually. Just keep in contact with her.”
“Did you hear?” Clark asked.
“I’ll head in to the Planet and stay on call. Let me know if you have any other questions.”
“Thanks, Chloe.”
“Good luck finding her… is Lex okay? I mean, is everything… safe?”
“You know Lex. He’ll be as good as new in a couple of days. Weird alien illness or no.”
“Great!”
Clark could practically hear her smile. Mercy frowned as Clark got off the phone. “So we have to track down diamonds that the police couldn’t find twelve years ago.”
“I have more faith in you than the local police. You’ll find her,” Lex informed them.
Clark’s phone rang again. “Yep?”
“Sorry, Clark,” Chloe said. “I just found something else. McKnight was living with his mom at the time this all went down. You might want to check in with her. Want the address?”
“Yeah!” Clark looked around for a pen and paper. “Chloe has a lead for us.”
Tanaka opened the door and looked over them all with a severe frown. Lex looked over his shoulder. “Good or bad news?”
“Good news,” she said, sucking in her cheeks slightly. She didn’t look at all happy. “Though the circumstances are less than what one would desire.”
“Indeed.” He tried not to show how incredibly relieved he was, but he did take a few shaky breaths while refusing to meet anyone’s eye. Lex felt like screaming out in joy or flinging his arms around Clark. His poor little fetus had made it through so much already. His or her life was going to be as disaster prone as his own. Lex rested his chin on his hands. “Well, if I can’t go with you, get to it. Find her.”
***
Mercy’s heels hit the pavement resonantly as she headed to her car. Clark followed a step behind. “If we split up, we could-“
“Hush.” Mercy reached her black car and pressed the button on her keys to open the doors. “We’ll go talk to the mother first. I don’t want to let on about Maddie’s existence until we know the woman is trustworthy. Family members can be the worst to let in on a secret like that, sometimes. Get in.”
Clark obeyed. She slid into the driver’s seat, started the car, and put on a pair of dark sunglasses.
“I have an FBI ID, so we’ll question her about her son as a suspect for the murder of Maddie’s foster mother. If you can’t keep up, be quiet and look threatening,” she ordered.
Clark pinched his mouth into a grimace and looked out the window. Lex hired such strange people.
Once at Mrs. McKnight’s house, Clark let Mercy do the talking. He was slightly impressed when she switched from her light inner city accent to a staccato deadpan that made the old woman assume she was an authority.
“Look at this, Mercy,” Clark whispered when the woman was showing them around her house. He poked to a stained glass window. “This looks like a window that’s in The Talon.”
Mercy lifted a brow and spoke just as softly. “What’s that?”
“The local coffee shop. It used to be a movie theatre before it was remodeled.”
She nodded in understanding and turned to Mrs. McKnight. “M’am, could you tell me about this window? My partner has ID’d it as the twin to a window in The Talon.”
”Isn't it beautiful? He made it right before he was arrested. I don't have the finished piece. I had to sell it after my husband passed away,” Mrs. McKnight confirmed, running her fingers over the delicate glasswork. Mercy crouched down and looked at the detailing of the glass critically.
“The one in The Talon have stones here?” She asked Clark. He nodded. She turned abruptly and headed to the car.
Clark grimaced after her and looked at Mrs. McKnight apologetically. “Um, thanks for talking to us. We’ll get back to you about your son.”
“Do be careful, young man,” she pleaded. “Your partner looks tough, but my son could really hurt you.”
“I’ll do my best,” Clark said with a tense smile.
***
The worst part was waiting. Laying there mutely on his belly, wishing he could feel his little baby move, wishing he could see Maddie to be sure she was alright. Lex spent so much time trying to keep people at a distance… but somehow they ended up getting in anyway.
“Mr. Luthor.” Dr. Tanaka closed the door and pulled down the blinds. Normally when he saw the woman, she was in her white lab coat, examining specimens of his blood or feeling his belly or more sensitive areas with a clinical look on her face. Today she was in jeans and her hair was drawn up into loose knots that let the hair fall down past her waist. He wondered if she’d let Rujuko do her hair.
Lex nodded silently. She sat next to him and hovered her hand over his bandages. “I know you are a tough man, but circumstances really require you to make some sacrifices.”
“I don’t deliberately put myself into dangerous situations. They seem to find me,” Lex protested.
She pushed her lower lip upward. “Toby is fine for stitching wounds together and short exams, but you need a healthcare professional available fulltime, and I don’t particularly trust the man. He smokes marijuana outside the castle.”
“I’d hate to disrupt your experiments.”
She flailed her hands awkwardly. “I’d hate for you and your baby to die. I’m worried.”
Lex laid his head sideways on his hands so he could look Tanaka in the eye. She ran her hands over her cheeks and sighed.
“I’m asking to move the lab to the castle. Either that or you need to move to the penthouse in Metropolis, and I want to be the doctor assisting in your care. You can threaten Ruji if you need security to believe I’ll be trustworthy.”
Lex laughed. “Your lab assistant?”
“We’re close,” she replied shortly.
“Close enough that you’d put her in my hands?”
“I have no plans of betraying you. It’s a safe bet.”
Lex twitched the side of his mouth. “You don’t need to offer up your minions to me. You don’t want your research to be tainted at this point in the game, so you won’t be telling anyone.”
“Or you could rely on that.” Tanaka bit her cheek.
“My guesthouse is currently free.”
Tanaka’s eyes creased into half moons. It was the closest Lex had ever come to seeing her smile.
***
“I hid these here for you, Maddie. For us. These are the start of our new life. Take them. Go on, take-” Tyler McKnight flailed backward as a high heeled boot caught him in the neck.
Mercy punched him in the face as he was going down, pulled her gun, and pressed it to his temple. “Move a muscle and y’dead. Think about using your power? Dead and your kid is dead.”
Maddie stumbled backwards and shrieked in terror. Clark shielded her with his arms and watched Mercy carefully.
Tyler swallowed deeply then coughed. Mercy’s finger twitched.
“Please don’t kill me,” he whispered.
“Just play it smart. You’ll live.” Mercy rolled her eyes disgustedly and stepped back slowly. “Stand up. Give him the cuffs, Clark.”
“Don’t you hurt Maddie,” Clark warned, putting himself between her and the girl. Mercy ignored him and kept her eye on McKnight.
“Cuffs. Now.”
“Stay out of the way, Maddie,” Clark whispered. He came over to the two of them. McKnight was wheezing painfully, and Clark took his hands gently and cuffed them behind his back. Mercy motioned with her gun for him to walk in front of her. McKnight did as he was told.
“Where are you taking me?” he asked.
“Depends on you. You can go to Belle Reve or a maximum security prison,” she replied. Clark put his arm around Maddie protectively as they headed to the car. Mercy pulled a syringe out of her pocket, stepped closer to him, and then injected him.
“What did you do?” Maddie cried as her father slumped to the floor.
“It’s just a sedative. I can’t have him busting the windows out of the car when we transport him,” she said flatly. When she spoke again, her accent switched to one that sounded more natural for this area. “You gonna be okay to ride with me, or do I need to leave you with Clark? I have to take your father in and make sure the police get him in custody and start the investigation for your foster mother’s murder.”
Maddie blinked and a few more tears rolled down her face. She stepped forward slowly and opened her hand to reveal seven tiny diamonds. “He gave me these. He stole them, I think.”
Mercy half smiled. “Yeah, he did. You want to show that to the police? They’ll probably want your testimony.”
She nodded.
“Are you going to be scared of me in the car? You don’t have to believe that I wasn’t really going to hurt you. I work for Lex, and I think he’d have my ass if anything happened to you.”
“I believe you,” she said slowly. Mercy nodded curtly, sheathed her gun, and picked McKnight up, tossing him over her shoulder easily. Maddie blinked in astonishment. “You’re really strong.”
“Lex only hires the best.” Her full lips twisted into a wicked grin.
“Too bad you weren’t with him when my dad attacked him the first time.”
“Tell me about it. Stubborn man. Thinks he’s invincible or something.” She walked to the car quickly. Clark stared at her in disbelief. She was toting a man who was easily her size, perhaps a bit bigger, as though he weighted nothing. He would have to ask Lex what was up with that.
***
Clark held Maddie’s hand as he led her back to the hospital room where Lex was staying. He could hear Lex arguing with a nurse about getting out of there sooner. Clark smiled. Classic Lex.
“Clark, did you ever meet your real dad?” Maddie asked suddenly.
“Um, sort of,” Clark replied.
“Is he bad like mine?”
“Maybe worse. You should meet Lex’s dad. He’s a horrible man.” Clark frowned. “He even tried to kill Lex once.”
“Lex’s parents were awful!” Maddie said fretfully.
“Yeah, they were.” Clark swallowed. “But just because my dad gave me life doesn't mean I'm anything like him. The same thing with Lex’s dad. See, the thing is, Maddie, anyone can be a father but it takes someone very special to be a dad. I consider the dad you met to be my real dad.”
“Does Lex have someone like that?”
“No, I guess not.”
Maddie was quiet on the way to the room. When they entered, Lex lifted his head from the bed where he was now laying on his side. Maddie ran up to him and draped her arms around him gently. “I’m sorry my dad hurt you.”
“You don’t have to apologize, Maddie. You didn’t do it,” Lex assured her. “Thank you for coming to see me, though.”
Clark entered the room and leaned against the table. “You feeling okay, Lex?”
“Better and better. I hear your confrontation was a bit anticlimactic.”
“Mercy is kinda scary,” Maddie said.
Lex nodded. “She is. I’m fond of her though. She’s very capable.” Maddie took a deep breath through her nose and frowned worriedly. Lex grabbed her hand and squeezed it. “What’s wrong?”
“You look sick.”
“I lost a lot of blood. My doctors say I’m going to be fine. No worries there.” He gave her a gentle smile and touched her face lightly. “What else?”
“Where’s Mercy now?”
“She’s making sure the police don’t let your father escape.”
“Then she’ll be back to protect you?”
Lex smiled weakly. “Yeah, I guess she’ll be hanging around when she can to see that I’m safe.”
“Good. She should be around you all the time.” Maddie smiled and leaned over to give him a kiss on the side of his head. Clark watched the two of them begin to chat and bond again, and he got a strange feeling in his stomach. Strange, but pleasant, and a little proud. He loved to see Lex smile so much.
***
Lionel looked up from his desk with a frown. When he’d been told that he had a visitor, the notion had been intriguing, at least, but all in all, he didn’t think that any meeting with this one would be any more than just that. But she wanted to meet with him…. That was something out of the ordinary, and it could prove to be fruitful…
She came in with her hair pulled back tightly, dangly earring swinging as she approached his desk. Her heels clicked against the floor of his office, and her mouth was pressed into a thin line as her nostrils flared widely. She forced a smile, and he had to think, in amusement, that she looked a bit like a displeased snake. At any moment, her tongue might flick out at him with a cruel hiss.
It was the most attractive he’d ever seen her, to his remembrance.
“Miss Lang. It’s certainly both a pleasure and a surprise to hear that you wanted to meet with me.” He stood and walked around his desk, looking at her up and down. She was wearing a striking halter-top black dress with black ruffles cascading down from hip to knee. “Especially when it looks as though you’re on your way out for the evening.”
“Hm.” She thinned her lips and shifted the bag she had under her arm. “I came because I think that we’re both worried… about Lex. Of course you know, he’s in the hospital again.”
“I appreciate your concern. I assure you, he wouldn’t want me there, but I am keeping an eye on the situation,” Lionel said smoothly.
Lana sucked in her cheeks and lifted her chin. “So you know exactly what’s wrong with him these days? What an unflappable father you are. I suppose I should be impressed. I’d have though you’d be a bit more… displeased,” she hissed, smiling stiffly.
“Miss Lang, if you know the nature of my son’s ailment, I suggest that you inform his doctors.”
“You and I both know that they know. They just aren’t telling you. They aren’t telling anyone.” She paused and circled around him. “It must be frustrating for you. These people know what’s going on with Lex… and you’re… stumped.”
Lionel’s amenable expression dropped. “I’m in no mood to play games with a little girl. I don’t believe you know anything at all, and it wouldn’t behoove you to waste my time.”
“I know that your son has started a relationship with one Clark Kent,” she shot back, her cold eyes meeting his. “I don’t mean their inexplicable ‘friendship’ either.”
Lionel was momentarily taken aback, although he should have known. Should have known that this could one day happen. On Lex’s part, of course, he’d known that his son had an unnatural fondness for Clark, likely stemming from his desire for a brother figure, but that the young man would actually return the affection… Their relationship had always seemed to be quite one-sided. He regained his composure almost immediately. “And what do you plan to do with that information?”
“Nothing,” Lana said innocently. She set her bag on his desk. “Clark’s his own man. He can do whatever…. Or whomever he likes. What I want is to know what is wrong with Lex.” She unzipped the bag and looked up at Lionel. “Concerned friend.”
“You two have never been friends,” Lionel informed her sharply. “You want to know so that you can use it to your advantage.”
“Unfounded accusations aren’t going to get you far, Mr. Luthor.”
Lionel leaned against the desk and looked down on her. “I have to say, this is a side I’ve never seen of you.”
“A lot of people fail to look too far below the surface, the idealized image. It isn’t my fault if the world is shallow.”
Lionel’s lips curved. “Isn’t it? Why don’t you tell me what you’ve got in there?”
“It’s a deal.” She slid Chloe’s laptop out of the bag. “I give this to you, and you will tell me whatever you find about Clark and Lex.”
“Why would I want an ugly yellow laptop?” Lionel asked. “I could buy a thousand, if I decided I had a preference for pineapple colored electronics.”
“It’s Chloe’s, and she’s been researching Lex. She knows what is wrong with him, and I’m sure the answer is in here.”
“Are you so certain?” Lionel leaned over here and watched her eyes narrow, as though she were trying to intimidate him, then widen slightly. He could almost smell how terrified she was… it was like blood in the water. It made him all the more aroused. “You had better not be playing games, Miss Lang.”
“I’m not. This is Chloe Sullivan we’re talking about. She got damning evidence on the father. Why wouldn’t she be able to get it on the son?” Her words were carefully chosen to make it sound as though Lionel were the greater of the two.
Lionel laughed and walked over to his bar. He saw through her little traceries easily. “Oh, Miss Lang. I think you’re selling what you have short. I will take your offer, and I’ll tell you whatever I find out about our poor dear Lex.” He turned, scotch in hand. “I’ll also pay off those debts you’ve racked up, and make certain that your failing grades at Metropolis University are turned into something appropriate. Let me see… a C in Astronomy Lab, a B in Chinese history until 1600, and A’s in everything else? I think that’s fair.”
Lana opened her mouth slightly. “That isn’t necessary, Mr. Luthor. I-“
“Think nothing of it. You see, whatever you’ve heard about me, I do care very deeply about my son. Details regarding his condition could be crucial to saving his life.” Lionel took a second glass and handed it to her. She took it, looking at the amber liquid dubiously. He smiled. “You’re doing me a big favor. It was very clever of you to figure out what was going on between Clark and Lex, not to mention your resourcefulness in finding this laptop so that we can help Lex, together. You deserve to be rewarded.”
Lionel could practically see the girl beaming as he puffed up her ego. She must be thinking that she indeed deserved this. Lionel knew, however, that the more he gave her, the more she would be implicated by her involvement, and the less likely she would be able to pull away.
“I’ll get someone on this immediately. Don’t you worry about Lex. I’ll see that he’s taken care of.” He put a hand lightly on her shoulder. She looked up at him darkly, but he did not move it. “Now, you look lovely this evening. If you don’t have plans, I could take you out to discuss your future…”
“I don’t need your help,” she said haughtily, pulling away and setting the glass down.
Lionel laughed again. “Of course you don’t need it. A woman such as yourself? You’ve lived on your own for practically three years, gone to Paris, and navigated your way through the secrets of this community with ease. But would you like it? You have so much potential…”
Her face relaxed a little, considering his offer.
Lionel widened his grin. She was his.
***
“Lex!” Maddie jumped up from the table where she was eating the pancakes that Martha had made for her. Lex leaned over a little stiffly for a hug. Martha smiled at Lex.
“Honey, you worry me lately,” Martha admitted with a strange frown. Clark looked up at him hesitantly. Lex turned his head away.
“I’ve not been very lucky,” Lex agreed. He looked down at Maddie, who was smiling up at him brightly. “I was wondering if you wanted to take me up on that offer for the night at the castle?”
“Really?” Maddie asked incredulously.
Martha raised her eyebrows in alarm and looked over to Clark, who shrugged and took another large bite of pancake.
“I talked to CPS, and they said you could stay at my place,” Lex told Maddie with a smile.
“Are you sure, Lex?” Martha asked. “You’ve been so sick lately. Can you take care of her?”
“I can try. Besides, Romie will cook, and Mercy will be around a lot more for security. Just like I promised, Maddie. Not to mention I might be bringing in some additional help. I’m sure my friend Lena would love to help me watch after you.” Lex shrugged. “I think I can make it work. It depends on Maddie, though.”
“Of course I want to!” She gave him another hug around the waist.
“You can still come visit here, too,” Clark said softly.
Maddie smiled at him, still holding onto Lex. “I can’t believe this. I’m so lucky!”
Martha smiled tightly. “Why don’t you finish your pancakes, then we can talk about moving your things to Lex’s place?”
She motioned with her head to Lex, and he followed her out of the room.
“I can’t believe that you did this,” she admonished.
Surprised at her sudden change in demeanor, Lex tilted his head a cocked a brow. “She’s a very special girl, Mrs. Kent. We can’t ask just any relative to take care of her. Remember what happened to Ryan? He would have been better off in the care of someone who understood his situation.”
“We did what we thought we had to do,” she snapped back at him.
Lex couldn’t believe Martha was reacting like this. He’d rarely, if ever seen her angry, although Clark had told him she could go off without warning sometimes. “If you wanted to adopt Maddie yourselves-“
“Do you really think that your lifestyle is going to be the best thing for a child?” she interrupted, crossing her arms.
“My lifestyle these days consists of working, resting, and the occasional trip to the ice cream store. I don’t think it’s going to be too overwhelming,” he replied sarcastically.
“You and I both know what I’m talking about,” she said hotly. “I hope you can live with yourself, Lex Luthor.”
Lex blinked as she breezed into the other room and asked Maddie cheerfully if she wanted any more juice or milk.
What the fuck was that about? Lex wondered. He walked back into the kitchen and gave Maddie a gentle shoulder rub. His hands were starting to shake. “W-we can go whenever you’re ready. In fact, if you wanted to stay… a few days-“
“No, I want to see your place,” she replied eagerly.
Lex took a breath and slowly lowered himself into the seat beside Maddie. “It’s huge. I could give you your own wing.”
“Are the windows expensive?” she asked anxiously.
Lex shook his head. “Don’t worry about it. I hired you a tutor. I think he can probably teach you some exercises to get control over that.”
Maddie grinned and took another bite of her pancakes. Martha brought over the milk.
“Would you like some breakfast, Lex?” she asked amiably.
“I uh… My stomach is still a little touchy. Romie will make sure I eat later in the day,” he said, trying not to let his uneasiness show as he feigned interest in the conversation that had started between Maddie and Clark. Lex had to admit that he enjoyed watching Clark and Maddie together. He was adorably big brotherly around her.
After breakfast, Maddie ran upstairs to get her things, and Lex waited outside by the rails trying to make sense of Martha’s sudden outburst, Clark’s behavior, and what he would ultimately do with Maddie under his care. All he knew was that he had to make certain that she was cared for.
Those Kents. Those fucking Kents.
“Lex?”
He turned to the sound of Clark’s voice. “Hey.”
“How are you feeling? Really?”
“Not too bad, all things considered. You don’t have to ask me all the time.” Lex pointed over to his car, where Mercy was grooving to Korean hip-hop music behind the wheel. They alternated torturing each other with their musical selections. His last pick had been Gregorian chants.
“You have a driver now?” Clark asked incredulously. He narrowed his eyes and apparently noticed Mercy behind the wheel because he took a step back.
“I just can’t trust my blood pressure these days. Not to mention, I want to make sure I have a trained bodyguard around in case something happens.”
“Oh.” Clark grew quiet. He put his hands on Lex’s shoulders, but was immediately brushed off. Lex felt his whole body shiver. This was a little too much for him to deal with right now.
“I can’t, Clark. Come on.”
“Wh- uh. Why not? You look stressed.”
“This isn’t about stress. This is about you Kents always going hot and cold on me,” Lex snapped. He willed himself not to cry. He couldn’t let himself cry. Not now, dammit.
“What are you talking about?” Clark gripped Lex’s shoulder and forced Lex to face him.
Lex struggled to get out of his grasp. “Stop it! Look, my life is so incredibly lacking in sense right now. How can you not know? I’m talking about you calling me your best friend, you kissing me, and then turning around and agreeing with Lana that I’m a monster! Am I dangerous? Am I a liar? I don’t know! You don’t even know.” Clark finally let him go, and Lex stepped backward rapidly. “I can’t do this. I really can’t.”
Clark’s eyes glued onto Lex, watching his legs going backward. ”Lex-“
“You said we’d try and we tried, okay? We tried. But I can’t do this with you if you’re going to change all the time,” Lex complained, not liking the tone in his own voice. Somehow he couldn’t stop the words from spilling out of his mouth. “I need stability in my life right now. I can’t explain, but I just need it, and when you’re around nothing is stable! I can’t do this!”
“Just calm down, okay? We’ll work this out,” Clark pleaded. Lex stepped back even further.
“We’ll work it out. Then something will happen, and you’ll suddenly not trust me again. Or you’ll get on whatever it is that makes you high, and you’ll toss me a hundred feet!” Lex wiped his eyes with one hand, thinking that the next time… his child might not make it. “And I can’t take it right now. I just can’t. Not now. I need… I need you….”
Clark stepped forward and gripped Lex’s shoulders hard. “I know I screwed up, Lex, but give me another chance! It was a mistake. A dumb mistake! And I can do better!”
“I… no…” Lex tried to twist away from him, but it was impossible. Clark was too strong.
“Hey!” Mercy yelled. She stood near them, holding her gun on Clark. “Let him go.”
Clark dropped his hands, and the Kents and Maddie ran outside.
“What the hell?” Jonathan asked, running down the stairs. Maddie clutched her backpack to her chest and looked around in wild confusion.
“Gun down, Mercy.” Lex turned his head to the girl. “Maddie, it’s fine. Clark got excited, and Mercy overreacted. That’s all.”
She nodded and started down the steps. Martha followed her and reached for the girl’s shoulder. ”Honey, you don’t have to go with him.”
Maddie frowned back up at her and said nothing. She just bolted to Lex’s side and stood between him and Clark.
“Maddie…” Clark took a deep breath. “Please, Lex, just give this some time? I don’t want to lose you because I wasn’t thinking.”
Lex closed his eyes and ran a hand over Maddie’s hair. “I… don’t know.”
“A couple of days, maybe? Please?”
Maddie looked up at Clark, clearly upset.
“Call me in a few days, then. Maybe.” Lex turned and headed for the car. He could hear the Kents descend upon Clark, asking him questions, but Lex couldn’t absorb any of it. He slid into the backseat and let Maddie curl up next to him.
“Did Clark hurt you?” Maddie asked worriedly, looking back out the window at Clark.
“Not physically,” Lex said quietly. “Don’t be angry with him. He likes you a lot. You can come visit.”
She sat by his side silently through the drive back home.