FIC: Must Be Dreaming
Since you were so nice to nominate my little (enormous) WiP for an award, I'll give you an update. Here's hoping it's readable.
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, character death
Chapter One ♥ Chapter Two ♥ Chapter Three ♥ Chapter Four ♥ Chapter 5.1 ♥ Chapter 5.2 ♥ Chapter Six ♥ Chapter Seven ♥ Chapter Eight ♥ Chapter Nine ♥ Chapter Ten ♥ Chapter Eleven ♥ Chapter Twelve ♥ Chapter Thirteen ♥ Chapter Fourteen ♥ Chapter Fifteen ♥ Chapter Sixteen
Part Seventeen
Immediately and without ceremony, upon their return to the LuthorCorp tower, Mercy had Lionel's office converted into a bedroom, since Clark didn't have the heart to take Lex into a hospital when he had asked so plaintively not to have to go. A certain amount of claustrophobia was to be expected considering recent events. So they set up the bed by the large floor-to-wall windows and kept them cleared so that sunlight could get through.
However, they'd yet to tell Lex the reason for the sudden vacancy in his father's office. He'd likely assumed that Mercy had correctly guessed Lionel would be fired and perhaps prosecuted.
"I am tired of being in bed," Lex muttered, although he couldn’t stay too grumpy with the sunlight on his face. He'd unbuttoned his silk pajamas to let his belly have full exposure, and that made Clark smile, if nothing else. Lex's little girl had done some growing while he'd been gone.
"I know. Not too much longer, we hope."
Clark sat beside Lex, who had thrown his legs over the side of the large, soft bed that had been put into the office, and was leaning back on his elbows as he watched the city. Sneaky fingers snaked over Lex's belly, and Lex chuckled softly and leaned into Clark's shoulder.
"It was…It was all real, wasn't it, Clark?"
"The dungeon?" Clark asked, trying to gauge Lex's face.
"No. You. And me. In my dreams. When I saw you… not every time, of course, but often, that was really you, wasn't it?" Lex's eyes flickered up at Clark, and narrowed in curiosity
"It was. You helped us find you."
"Worth it then," Lex concluded. He looked back out over the city.
"Would you have…? I mean, if you'd been awake, would you, um…" Clark fumbled.
Lex patted his hand. "Let's not play this game, Clark. You know I was having problems accepting what's going on between us as real. You reached out to me, made an impossible leap, and found me where no one else could. I should have seen what you were trying to show me before."
"I meant it. Every word, about you, and the baby," Clark replied softly.
"I know."
"I don't… really have a ring…"
Lex just chuckled.
"But I do love you." Clark's fingers curled over the warm mound, rising softly like warm dough under his hand. "And her."
"Thank you."
Clark leaned his head over and laughed into Lex's neck. "Why are you thanking me for loving you?"
"I'm thanking you for accepting the both of us… but I suppose you do deserve a thank you for that as well."
"Hush."
"Mm. I'm tired."
"I know. Why don't you sleep a little?"
"You aren't going to push me back, steal my PDA, make me sleep?"
"Not right now. Right now, you do whatever you want," Clark promised.
A wry smile crossed Lex's lips. "I don't have the energy for what I want."
"Huh?" Clark nuzzled the side of the Lex's face. "Well, whatever it is, I can bring it to you. Or Mercy or Lena could get it? I know Lena would do anything she could to help."
"Oh, Clark," Lex murmured. He touched Clark's cheek with his hand and kissed his lips. "Lena can't help me with this."
"Huh? Oh…" Clark grinned, blushing slightly, and slipped his hand down to support Lex's weight as he laid him back on the bed. "I uh…"
"You really would marry me, hm? I asked her to marry me. Still… not something she could do."
Clark wrinkled his brow. "Lex. Ew. She's your sister!"
"I didn't know that at the time," Lex explained. "I just knew… I was alone."
"Never alone," Clark vowed. He kissed Lex again, very slowly as though he was tasting Lex, letting their breath mingle and linger. He let his hand run along Lex's side then down the back of Lex's leg. It bent upward slightly, and then his knee rested against Clark's shoulder.
When Clark pulled back to look into Lex's eyes, he pressed their foreheads together and smoothed his hand over Lex's belly carefully. "Let's never fight again."
"That's not very realistic. I'm growing ever larger and more hormonal, and to say you have stress is an understatement." Lex's expression was open, almost sweet as he looked up at Clark.
"I don't ever want to feel like that again. I don't ever want you to be in danger and thinking I don't love you," Clark replied, pushing his lower lip out a little.
With a grin, Lex tilted his chin upward and sucked Clark's lip into his mouth, earning himself a chuckle from Clark. He pressed another kiss to Clark's lips then took a breath. "Maybe we should promise instead, never to walk away from a fight unless both of us agree that we need air. Hm? That way I can give your ass a squeeze as you leave."
"I think there might be mutual squeezing. Gosh, I can't believe I'm here with you. I'm half afraid that I'm dreaming and I haven't gotten you back yet." Clark ducked his head and pressed it into the nook between Lex's neck and shoulder. Lex petted the back of Clark hair and down his neck over and over, with an occasional rub over his back.
"That feels good," Clark's muffled voice declared.
"I'm pretty sure we aren't dreaming now. If it weren't a dream, I wouldn't have to go to the bathroom at such an inopportune moment."
Clark laughed heartily at that and pulled back. "You've never had dreams like that? I've had dreams where I had to go, but I'm looking for a bathroom, and all the toilets are dirty or there are people around who won't go away so I can, you know, do what I have to in private."
"I think that's a dream of a man with budding OCD," Lex teased. "Help me up?"
Clark slipped his arm around Lex's back and pulled him to his feet. "God, it just makes me so angry, thinking about what those doctors did to you. They had to have known you needed sunlight."
"They did. They kept trying to give me extra vitamin D orally, but it wasn't enough."
"And then they stuck that band on your head. What the hell was that?" Clark opened the bathroom door and took Lex inside. "Uh… wow."
"Restraint has never been my father's strong suit," Lex commented, looking up at the high ceiling of the private bathroom in what had once been his father's office. It was beyond ridiculous in its lavishness. The vanity alone was done in antique marble with gold finish on the faucets and cabinet door handles. There was even an oval shower stall in the middle of the room, surrounded by peach-colored frosted glass with a delicate hand painted recreation of a Japanese art piece.
Clark reluctantly let go of Lex, and instead of leaving, waited for him in a plush armchair by the vanity. When Lex finished, he shuffled back towards Clark and dropped into his lap.
"Did you finish your summer classes?"
"You are the most impossible person to derail in the world. Do you know that? I can't believe that's even on your mind right now," Clark teased, slipping his arms around Lex and holding him close.
"That doesn't answer the question. Did what happened to me disrupt your schooling again?" Lex asked seriously.
"A little. But I passed all of my classes, mostly with Bs, and I'll be finishing the history class this semester during an independent study. My professor is determined to keep me from dropping out. It's… actually the only class I'm signed up for this semester."
"Just the one?" Lex tilted his head and frowned.
"I'm not going to leave you all the time for school when I know Milton Fine is still out there. Mercy and I agreed; one of us needs to be with you all the time. I know you're not gonna like that, Lex, but we have to keep the two of you safe now."
"After being in that dungeon for months… How long was it?"
"It was really only about a month and a half, but that's enough."
"Well, after that, I'm not too inclined to argue, even though I'm not sure how I'll react to being constantly coddled," Lex agreed in a dry tone.
"I don't know. I planned more on constant cuddling," Clark quipped back. As Lex began to give him a disparaging look for the pun, Clark shifted his arms around Lex and stood, carrying him like a bride. "C'mon, let me give you as much cuddling as you can stand."
"You're incorrigible, Clark."
"You love it." Clark carried Lex back into the main room. "We really need to do some more of that Lamaze."
"I do have a few more months before that becomes immanent, but as I said before, I would prefer it to become habit and start early. If nothing else, I could use the relaxation, even if this isn't the room I designed for it."
"I was just thinking of how fun is was to have an excuse to grope on you."
Clark laid Lex gently back on the bed and smirked down at him. Twisting his lips to the side, Lex rested his head against the pillows.
"And you're accusing me of having a one track mind." He watched as Clark leaned down and pulled the pajama top up, exposing his rounded belly. He gave it a light kiss and rubbed the sides, looking up occasionally to see if Lex would protest. When he didn't, Clark moved his fingers over the curve and gave it another kiss.
Then a little ripple appeared on the surface of Lex's skin, and Clark startled.
"Terrifying, isn't it?" Lex joked. It was an effort not to laugh at the expression on Clark's face. "Like Jaws, in a way. Lying in wait, and then…"
"Stop! It's not like…" Clark's eyes glued to Lex's belly as he saw another ripple, then let his fingers touch again. "This is just over the top crazy."
"It's a miracle I haven't lost my mind. I don't mind, though. Having her bouncing around in there was quite a comfort while I was underground."
Clark's sad eyes flickered up toward Lex, before going back to where the baby was moving. He let his fingers chase the ripple, poked a little, and then began talking to it in hopes that she would hear him from inside. With a sigh, he rested his cheek against Lex's belly.
"I love your kid."
"I…" Lex touched the back of Clark's head and curled his fingers around Clark's hair. He wondered if all Kryptonians had such good hair, and he hoped that the baby did, too. "I'm glad."
"I really do. Her, and you. And Lena too, I guess, even if she is bossy and nosy."
"She's my big sister. She has years of bossiness to catch up on. Nice of someone to try to defend my honor, though."
"It was more that she was telling me to stop moping and come visit you. I was scared, though." Clark gave the belly one last kiss and crawled up beside Lex to put his arms around him. "I'm a little scared now, but being away from you is way worse than anything I can think of."
"You think I'm not a little scared?"
"If you're only a little scared, Lex, you're my hero." Clark kissed the back of Lex's neck. When Lex yawned, Clark pulled Lex up so that he was laying on Clark's body, and he rubbed his hands up and down Lex's sides and belly, just like he had in their one time Lamaze practice.
"Hm. I think you've been mine for years. And if you're sticking around, I know that you'll be hers."
"That thought is the best thought ever. A tiny Lex that idolizes me. She's going to be adorable, Lex. I've seen pictures of you as a kid, and most of my people are pretty, even if they are crazy. She'll be gorgeous."
"We'll have to make sure that she doesn't have too many stalkers."
"Oh, they'd better not stalk her. I'll teach her to set them on fire."
"Fire?" Lex turned his head back with a laugh.
"Oh, right. There are some details I still need to fill you in on."
"Whenever you're ready, I'm eager to know," Lex murmured. He opened his mouth and kissed Clark's upper lip. He licked along the inside of it, letting his tongue drag slowly.
"Mmm."
***
Perched on the black leather of her stool, Chloe sat up straight and pecked away at the keys, then looked up to the screen and touched an image. She was becoming less and less dependant on the keyboard, becoming more accustomed to getting the information she wanted herself. The computers listened to her. They had for most of her life. The team of specialists had yet to determine if it was an innate ability, one born of the meteors, or one enhanced by them. Regardless of where it had come from, Lex had figured it out before anyone else, before even she had.
Her hair was drawn back to the nape of her neck with stray pieces escaping and curling around her face. She hadn't gotten around to getting her hair cut in some time. She was also dressed in a sharp turquoise suit-professional but flattering, with that sense of eclectic style that Chloe favored when she had the time to breathe between her two lives.
She nearly jumped out of her skin when Mercy touched her shoulder.
"Ah! You! You scared me," Chloe accused, swiveling in her chair toward Mercy, and she leaned back on the desk as she looked up.
Mercy put her hands on her hips. "Wrapped up in your work, I see."
"Just a bit. It's not often I have this kind of hardware to play with. Not to mention the software."
"Nothing to good for LexCorp's latest It-girl," Mercy teased.
"I'm sure it has everything to do with me." Chloe turned back to the screen and brought up a series of images on the wall of screens in front of her workspace on the desk. "I've done everything I can to clear up the security videos, but this was disrupted by someone better with computers than I."
"You think-?"
"You said that the bodies you recovered all had the same kind of wounds." Chloe shrugged.
Mercy frowned. " I can usually make a guess as to his motive, but… If he knew where they were keeping Lex, then why did he wait so long to take these people out? It doesn't make sense."
"It does." Chloe touched her lips with her fingertips. "If he didn't know until we did."
Mercy's eyes widened, then narrowed seriously. "He's got an inside man."
"He could have us bugged us, but if he could find what he was looking for so easily, I'm pretty sure he would have gotten the information on Lionel before we did." Chloe bit her lip and touched the screen again.
"I'll have everyone tested again," Mercy assured her. She tensed her fingers and walked around to Chloe's other side. "But he's found a way to hide, hasn't he?"
"He can't hide forever," Chloe pointed out. "I think that he wants to keep surveillance on Lex, honestly. If he wanted to take him, he could have gotten to him before we did once we'd broken into the facility."
Mercy creased her brow deeply and looked up at the footage in front of them. "Surveillance. Monitoring him, like the doctors in Lionel's employ."
"That's my guess."
Wide, hazel eyes fixed on the images before them. Mercy's mind began working, sifting through information. Computer prowess was not her strong suit, neither was business or anything really requiring to her deal with people on a personal level. Tactics she knew. And this Milton Fine, artificial intelligence though he was, had made a tactical error. Tipped his hand.
"Right," Mercy said simply. For the moment it would be an inordinately bad idea to let anyone know what she was thinking, even Chloe.
"Have we found anyone else?" Chloe asked.
Mercy let her think that the topic was exhausted and nodded. "Yes, but just a few. We lost a lot of our own. Lowell. Jodi. Molly. Kestrel. And we've picked up some of Lionel's. Ones we wouldn't have worked with before. Too dangerous, plucked mostly from mental institutions and high security prisons. I've arranged for everyone you've flagged as stable to stay in the Luthor Mansion for now, mostly the kids."
"Did we ever find Ghost?" Chloe looked up with concern.
"No. But we didn't find his body either."
"Maybe he doesn't want to be found," Chloe suggested. "Being kept in a dungeon for a month wouldn't make me want to stick around and sing out my kumbaya-yas with my fellow mutants either."
Mercy shook her head. "I don't know."
"And the others? The dangerous ones?" Chloe prodded. "We can't just keep them locked behind bars."
"Like the authorities are going to treat them any differently. Most of them already were behind bars, and it's worse in Belle Reve than anywhere we'd keep them," Mercy replied. "That place shouldn't even be treated as a health care facility of any kind, let alone one that supposedly cares for the mental health of its patients."
Chloe shook her head. "There has to be something better than keeping them against their will. Meet with them, and make them understand that we want to help them?"
"Boss'll come up with something," Mercy said confidently.
Chloe set her hands in her lap. "I guess he convinced you."
"I've always been contrary like that. I think my grandmother would roll over in her grave to see me working for a man." Mercy smirked.
"I think your grandmother should have kept better track of her son, if that were the case," Chloe shot back.
Mercy had told Chloe quite a bit about her origins, something she'd only told Lex himself. For everyone else in the company, her past was a mystery. "Boys aren't really valued among the Bana-Mighdall. You have one; you throw it out with the bathwater."
"Seems cruel."
"Well, not literally. They at least try to give the child to a relative outside of the city." Mercy shrugged. "If they hadn't, they'd be breaking the rules of their society that they've upheld for thousands of years and risking some serious smiting from the powers that be. If they hadn't, I wouldn't be here. I'd never have met Lex, and I'd never have the chance to be involved in the projects I am. This job just keeps getting bigger and bigger, Chloe. It's important."
"I know. Believe me, I understand. It's all really new to me, but I believe in what we're trying to do, too." Chloe nodded and slipped off the stool. "I need to get to my other job."
"Need to change? I think I have an extra mask in my office."
"So funny, Amazon princess."
"I am nothing of the kind. Bana don't have princesses. You're thinking of those prissy Themyscirians."
Chloe paused at the door. "I appreciate my new 'office,' but the location-"
"It's important for your location to be concealed, especially if I need you monitoring the situation," Mercy said quickly in a businesslike tone.
Chloe crossed her arms. "You think if I'm not in here answering the phones, I'm gonna get hurt."
"You're hardly just answering the phones," Mercy replied. She regarded Chloe with a stern expression.
Chloe took in a deep breath and nodded, then turned away.
"Chloe. Chloe." Mercy watched as the small woman headed for the door. "Hope."
"If you're going to all the trouble to hide me away from the world, it's probably better that you don't refer to me by my call sign."
"Kitten?"
Chloe stopped and shook her head. She looked up at Mercy. "I know you don't think I can handle myself, but I'm willing to work on that. We can't all be super strong aliens and Amazons."
"That isn't why I couldn't let you come on the mission," Mercy said, frowning deeply. She strode over to Chloe and grabbed her shoulders. "You make me weak. I can't do my job if I'm worried about some psychofuck with a hard on for his son trying to get his hands on you for experimentation."
"Lionel Luthor didn't even know about… whatever it is I do with computers."
"He targeted you before," Mercy pointed out.
Chloe blinked slowly. "Because I was Clark's friend. Not because I was on the Most Wanted Meteor Freaks list."
"How can you be sure?" Mercy touched Chloe's cheek and looked into her green eyes.
"I guess I can't. But I can't live my life wrapped up in a blanket, either."
"It really is important to keep our locations secret," Mercy replied automatically. "Look what happened with 33.1."
"I know." Chloe reached up to give Mercy a soft kiss. It wasn't easy being caught between like this, but it seemed that for now Chloe preferred to be here to anywhere else in the world.
***
There was something strange about knocking on the outside of an office larger than Lex's bedroom. Lena thought that Lex could really just move in here for a while and save himself the commute. Granted, people would probably notice his burgeoning midsection more in Metropolis, but it was unlikely that his employees would say anything.
"Come in!" Clark's voice called.
Before she entered, Lena reached out tentatively to feel for Lex, who seemed fairly mellow at the moment. She'd had a discussion with Clark earlier about the best way to talk to Lex about what had happened to his father, and he'd agreed that she should be there for the actual talk, since she was more apt at reading Lex's moods than anyone.
The two of them were in the exercise area that had been set up the day before. With the easy accesses to sunlight, Lex was improving quickly. Right now he was on his recumbent bike with Clark holding his hand and looking into his eyes. The scene was darling, and Lena was glad that Lex felt well enough to argue with his doctor over exercising.
She waited for Clark to help Lex off the bike before approaching them to give her little brother a tight hug.
"I think you're getting some color back," she said in a pleased tone. Love radiated off of the two of them so strongly that she couldn't help but smile.
"I think so, too." Lex squeezed her in return as Clark rubbed his back. "How are you and Maddie doing?"
"She's much more at ease now that you're back. She worries about you."
"Well, you should bring her to see us. Is she studying with her tutors right now?"
Lena nodded and looked up at Lex, a dimple appearing in her left cheek. She pressed her palm to Lex's chest.
"What happened to your wrist?" Lex frowned and touched her forearm where bandages were tightly wrapped.
Lena shook her head and pulled her hand back. "It's nothing, sweetheart. Clark and I have something to talk to you about."
"Oh?" Lex raised a brow and looked back at Clark, who kissed Lex's cheek.
"It's about your father," he said seriously.
Closing her eyes for a moment, Lena felt warmth and anxiety prickling over Lex's skin at the mention of the man. He was still angry with his father for his most recent crimes, with good reason. Lena ran her hands up and down his sides and then leaned forward to give him another hug.
"He's dead, Lexie. I'm sorry."
"He's… what?" Lex went stiff in her arms. His heart was fluttering so fast.
"We think he was killed before we even got down there," Clark told Lex. He moved his hands over Clark's shoulders. Nervousness and concern jumped around in Clark's heart together.
"I'm sorry," Lena whispered again. She touched Lex's frozen face.
After a long pause, Lex looked between Clark and Lena. "I'm not sorry, Lena."
"Lex," she chided.
"You know better than anyone what a predator he is. Was. He tried to rape you, for goodness sakes!" Lex snapped.
Lena stepped back. Anger was leaping up off Lex like flames. He turned from them and got a towel to wipe away the sweat on his head and neck. "He's been doing experiments on metahumans for years. He killed Lucas. He almost killed us." He turned again and put his hand on the towel. "Why should I be sorry he died?"
Normally so calm, Lex became more animated when he was angry, drew his vowels out more, opened his mouth more widely. Underneath the curls and licks of anger, deep sadness hid. Lena tilted her head and watched Lex carefully.
"Well, I'm not, but I wasn't going to tell you how to feel," Clark said bluntly. "I guess I kind of expected you to be a little sad. He was your dad, after all."
Lex looked down and sighed irritably. "How did he die?"
"Chloe thinks it was the same man who attacked me," Lena explained. "She said the wounds matched-"
"Milton Fine," Lex ground out.
Lena stepped closer again, but made sure to keep a safe distance. Lex had moved away from them for a reason. She looked up and studied his eyes.
"Why is he doing this? Why attack my father?" Lex muttered.
"For messing with his experiment?" Clark guessed. He rolled his shoulders discontentedly and looked down at Lena for a clue as to what to do.
"We're sorry for not telling you right away," Lena said.
"Don't be. I was…" Lex paused, pursing his lips. "Weak at the time. You had to wait. I understand."
There was a long silence, and Clark crossed his arms, watching Lex standing there touching the towel with curled fingers and a deep frown on his face. Then Lena walked over to the bar, took out a bottle of water, poured it into a glass, and added a spoonful of sugar. Then she approached Lex to press the water into his hands.
"Drink," she ordered. She reached up to caress the back of Lex's head, which prompted the uncertain Clark to come to his side again as well. When Lex lifted the bottle to his lips, she spoke again. "There's no right or wrong way to react to this, Lex. Just give yourself the time to feel it."
Lex continued to scowl, but nodded as he drank the water. His head bobbed a little as Clark rubbed his back, then his sides. He moved behind Lex and kissed his neck softly.
***
Lana had always wanted to travel the world. When she was sixteen, she'd discovered that although she'd been trapped in Smallville, her mother had felt the same way. Since then she'd been torn between Smallville and the world. It felt as though she couldn't have both.
These days she hardly felt a conflict. Clark had been the one to break up with her in the end. Although she felt angry about it (after all, she'd wanted to break up with him weeks before, but had felt too guilty about his father dying to do it first, and it was bitterly amusing that she'd been in that position with a guy more than once), in a way it was freeing. Clark had a particular image of her in his mind, and when it came down to it, she supposed that he was right. He didn't know her.
That was ultimately an advantage to her. Lana sat beside the mantle in one of her large sitting rooms and slowly crafted a letter. She liked letters. You could put whatever you wanted in them, then send them off into the world to do your work for you. Once she was finished, she folded the lavender paper neatly, wrote a name on the front, and set it on the mantle in front of two large, ornate tarot cards.
Lana couldn't have predicted the unfolding of events, but she did sense power when she was near it. Unfortunately for Lionel Luthor, he didn't believe in magic.
Her birthright.
Something that she would have, roughly a year ago, been horrified by, she now realized was the key to everything she'd ever wanted. Lionel had tried to bribe her with money, and that was fine. But the man had overstepped his bounds and gotten himself killed, and now soon enough the checks would start bouncing on this place without his money to back them and sooner or later Chloe would be knocking on her door, having connected Lana to Lionel through some miraculous feat in computer hacking.
Lana would not be so garish as her ancestor Isobelle had been. Flashiness and self-important monologues got you caught. She picked up her tickets and went to her room to move her luggage to the doorway.
She had a plane to catch.
***
"I want to go home," Lex grumbled to no one in particular. Mercy was leaning against the wall, waiting for Tanaka to finish her check up.
"In a few days, you should be able to travel back to Smallville," Tanaka replied. She was preoccupied with examining Lex's insides, however, and not paying much attention to her squirming patient's outsides. "Be still."
"Fine." Lex rolled his eyes up to the ceiling and tried to distance himself from the examination. He didn't like them before being abducted, and he liked them even less now. Tanaka's cold fingers seemed to trigger a body memory of being underground, pawed by Lionel's nosy doctors, and sometimes of being somewhere else, on a table with Brainiac touching him ever so disinterestedly with his inhuman hands.
Mercy came over and took one of Lex's hands. He looked up at her, and she gave him a serious nod before looking away and feigning boredom. Her hand remained firmly around his own, however. At the moment he was glad of her pact with Clark not to leave him alone.
Before Tanaka had finished, Clark entered. He frowned as he approached them and went immediately to Lex's side.
"Couldn't this have waited until I got back?" Clark asked shortly.
"I'm very nearly done," Tanaka replied in a tone that was not particularly friendly.
Mercy leaned on the frame of the bed and looked down at Clark, who took Lex's other hand. It seemed as though he were constantly surrounded by people these days. At the moment, he couldn't think of that as a bad thing.
"How are you feeling?" Clark whispered.
"I'll be better when she leaves," Lex whispered back.
Tanaka rolled her eyes. She sat up and pulled off her latex gloves. "She's about to," she said as she stood. "Your blood pressure has improved. I think you were right about the exercise bike. For now, anyway."
"I told you exercise would help, and if I have to use a machine instead of going out, I prefer the bike to a treadmill," Lex replied.
"I imagine you don't have to worry about falling from the bike," Tanaka said with a nod. She began to pack up her materials. "I'll get you the results of your blood work by tomorrow."
Lex gave her a wave as she left the room and looked up at his two hand holders. "I appreciate the wall of support."
"I don't like doctors, and I don't think you're that fond of them either. Besides, made a promise to this one," Mercy said, jerking her head towards Clark. She stood and stretched, then slipped her hands in the back pockets of her jeans. "I have some work to get to. You think you'll be coming back to work?"
"I will be, but not full time, I'm afraid."
"I didn't think so. It's just that the employees could really do with actually seeing you. Morale isn't exactly great right now. You know, Lionel's dead, and you've been missing for weeks," Mercy pointed out.
"I think I could manage something. Likely a recording that all the employees can watch. Have we given an official statement regarding why I was gone?"
"The official statement is that you were never gone to begin with. You were working with scientists abroad."
"Hm. I'll come up with something then." Lex smiled softly. "Given your cover, it shouldn't be too hard to appease them."
"Knew you would, Boss." Mercy patted his shoulder.
After she left, Clark climbed in the bed with Lex, and with a deep breath, Lex felt himself reenter his body. That kind of disassociation probably wasn't healthy, but he didn't have much choice. His daughter's health came before his own personal neuroses.
"You don't look happy," Clark complained. He leaned over to kiss Lex's neck, hoping to rectify the situation.
"I have a lot on my mind," Lex replied moodily.
"You hungry?"
"Not quite yet." Lex let the back of his head rest on Clark's shoulder, and he looked out over the city.
"Tell me what's on your mind."
"I don't like people besides you and Lena touching me." Lex reminded himself not to be annoyed at Clark's soft laugh and sighed heavily.
"It really bothers you, doesn't it?"
"There's nothing I can do about it. Well, not until November. Then I can do my best to make sure I'm never in this position again."
"That's too bad. Don't you think she'd want some brothers and sisters?" Clark teased gently.
"Don't get me wrong, Clark. I'd like to have more than one child, but…"
"Maybe we should just get you another doctor," Clark suggested. "Tanaka isn't very personable."
"No, she isn't." Lex closed his eyes. "At least she wasn't a creepy woman who should have died on the Titanic."
"She… what?"
"Never mind. Later." Lex shook his head. "I'm sorry to be so glum."
"Lex, you're hormonal, your father just died, and you just had an exam that probably reminds you of not fun things that have happened recently. Don't apologize for that. I'm just glad you're talking to me about it."
Lex smiled slightly as he felt the kiss pressed against his crown. "I think to myself sometimes that I need to know who this child's father is. Biological father, I mean. I wonder if my father ever had him captive, and how he got his blood. I wonder if he's in another facility, underground and needing sunlight."
"How would you know who he was? Why would you think your father had him? I thought you just… Well, the day after we came back, you had a test, right?"
"I did, but later on I had some other tests done-with my team on level 33.1, not Tanaka-and we discovered that the baby shares a blood composition with the blood my father was using in his experiments to keep Adam Knight alive. That's fairly specific," Lex explained. He felt Clark tense behind him, so he looked up at Clark to see the young man's eyes bulging almost comically. "I suppose that is a bit morbid, to test like that. I only thought of it because you brought it up, and I felt at the time that I had to know as much about the baby as possible for the both of us to survive."
Clark swallowed slowly. He looked petrified. "Lex, are you sure? I mean, absolutely sure that there's a match to the blood from back then?"
"Yes, Clark, I am. I found samples once I'd taken over LuthorCorp and had them preserved along with the result of many of my father's experiments. I ran the tests several times to be certain. It's how I knew Fine used alien DNA to create the baby. Why?"
Clark pulled Lex close to him and practically lit up from the inside out. "Because there was only one alien running around when that happened. I mean, as far as I know."
"Only one," Lex repeated. He tilted his head to the side and regarded Clark curiously.
Clark's hand covered Lex's cheek, and he moved his face closer to Lex's before he summoned the wherewithal to answer: "Me."
"Oh," Lex said after a moment. "Wait-"
"The short explanation is that Helen sold my blood sample to your Dad."
Lex rolled his eyes. "This is why I'm glad there's no woman involved in this pregnancy. That right there."
"There's at least one involved!" Clark scoffed, cupping his hand over Lex's belly again to indicate their daughter. He just couldn't seem to leave Lex's abdomen alone.
Lex blinked and looked down, suddenly realizing what this meant.
"I'm gonna be a daddy," Clark said with a giddy noise and a nuzzle to the back of Lex's neck.
"Don't be silly, Clark. You were already going to be a daddy." Lex looked back at him and managed a smile.
Clark grinned brightly and kissed Lex's lips. "Just one less thing to wonder and worry about."
"I'll… I'll take that much," Lex replied gratefully.
Author's Note: Since it's been so long since this was posted in part five:
http://ladydreamer.livejournal.com/269889.html
Clark’s mention of the ‘mutant’ who had contributed to the rise of Adam had stuck somewhere in Lex’s brain. Today’s test was really a simple affirmation that he hadn’t done the previous ones incorrectly. He knew how they would turn out, although he hoped for the opposite result. The ‘mutant’ in Adam’s case had a blood composition unlike anything on this planet. Except, apparently, for the fetus Lex now carried in within him.
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, character death
Chapter One ♥ Chapter Two ♥ Chapter Three ♥ Chapter Four ♥ Chapter 5.1 ♥ Chapter 5.2 ♥ Chapter Six ♥ Chapter Seven ♥ Chapter Eight ♥ Chapter Nine ♥ Chapter Ten ♥ Chapter Eleven ♥ Chapter Twelve ♥ Chapter Thirteen ♥ Chapter Fourteen ♥ Chapter Fifteen ♥ Chapter Sixteen
Part Seventeen
Immediately and without ceremony, upon their return to the LuthorCorp tower, Mercy had Lionel's office converted into a bedroom, since Clark didn't have the heart to take Lex into a hospital when he had asked so plaintively not to have to go. A certain amount of claustrophobia was to be expected considering recent events. So they set up the bed by the large floor-to-wall windows and kept them cleared so that sunlight could get through.
However, they'd yet to tell Lex the reason for the sudden vacancy in his father's office. He'd likely assumed that Mercy had correctly guessed Lionel would be fired and perhaps prosecuted.
"I am tired of being in bed," Lex muttered, although he couldn’t stay too grumpy with the sunlight on his face. He'd unbuttoned his silk pajamas to let his belly have full exposure, and that made Clark smile, if nothing else. Lex's little girl had done some growing while he'd been gone.
"I know. Not too much longer, we hope."
Clark sat beside Lex, who had thrown his legs over the side of the large, soft bed that had been put into the office, and was leaning back on his elbows as he watched the city. Sneaky fingers snaked over Lex's belly, and Lex chuckled softly and leaned into Clark's shoulder.
"It was…It was all real, wasn't it, Clark?"
"The dungeon?" Clark asked, trying to gauge Lex's face.
"No. You. And me. In my dreams. When I saw you… not every time, of course, but often, that was really you, wasn't it?" Lex's eyes flickered up at Clark, and narrowed in curiosity
"It was. You helped us find you."
"Worth it then," Lex concluded. He looked back out over the city.
"Would you have…? I mean, if you'd been awake, would you, um…" Clark fumbled.
Lex patted his hand. "Let's not play this game, Clark. You know I was having problems accepting what's going on between us as real. You reached out to me, made an impossible leap, and found me where no one else could. I should have seen what you were trying to show me before."
"I meant it. Every word, about you, and the baby," Clark replied softly.
"I know."
"I don't… really have a ring…"
Lex just chuckled.
"But I do love you." Clark's fingers curled over the warm mound, rising softly like warm dough under his hand. "And her."
"Thank you."
Clark leaned his head over and laughed into Lex's neck. "Why are you thanking me for loving you?"
"I'm thanking you for accepting the both of us… but I suppose you do deserve a thank you for that as well."
"Hush."
"Mm. I'm tired."
"I know. Why don't you sleep a little?"
"You aren't going to push me back, steal my PDA, make me sleep?"
"Not right now. Right now, you do whatever you want," Clark promised.
A wry smile crossed Lex's lips. "I don't have the energy for what I want."
"Huh?" Clark nuzzled the side of the Lex's face. "Well, whatever it is, I can bring it to you. Or Mercy or Lena could get it? I know Lena would do anything she could to help."
"Oh, Clark," Lex murmured. He touched Clark's cheek with his hand and kissed his lips. "Lena can't help me with this."
"Huh? Oh…" Clark grinned, blushing slightly, and slipped his hand down to support Lex's weight as he laid him back on the bed. "I uh…"
"You really would marry me, hm? I asked her to marry me. Still… not something she could do."
Clark wrinkled his brow. "Lex. Ew. She's your sister!"
"I didn't know that at the time," Lex explained. "I just knew… I was alone."
"Never alone," Clark vowed. He kissed Lex again, very slowly as though he was tasting Lex, letting their breath mingle and linger. He let his hand run along Lex's side then down the back of Lex's leg. It bent upward slightly, and then his knee rested against Clark's shoulder.
When Clark pulled back to look into Lex's eyes, he pressed their foreheads together and smoothed his hand over Lex's belly carefully. "Let's never fight again."
"That's not very realistic. I'm growing ever larger and more hormonal, and to say you have stress is an understatement." Lex's expression was open, almost sweet as he looked up at Clark.
"I don't ever want to feel like that again. I don't ever want you to be in danger and thinking I don't love you," Clark replied, pushing his lower lip out a little.
With a grin, Lex tilted his chin upward and sucked Clark's lip into his mouth, earning himself a chuckle from Clark. He pressed another kiss to Clark's lips then took a breath. "Maybe we should promise instead, never to walk away from a fight unless both of us agree that we need air. Hm? That way I can give your ass a squeeze as you leave."
"I think there might be mutual squeezing. Gosh, I can't believe I'm here with you. I'm half afraid that I'm dreaming and I haven't gotten you back yet." Clark ducked his head and pressed it into the nook between Lex's neck and shoulder. Lex petted the back of Clark hair and down his neck over and over, with an occasional rub over his back.
"That feels good," Clark's muffled voice declared.
"I'm pretty sure we aren't dreaming now. If it weren't a dream, I wouldn't have to go to the bathroom at such an inopportune moment."
Clark laughed heartily at that and pulled back. "You've never had dreams like that? I've had dreams where I had to go, but I'm looking for a bathroom, and all the toilets are dirty or there are people around who won't go away so I can, you know, do what I have to in private."
"I think that's a dream of a man with budding OCD," Lex teased. "Help me up?"
Clark slipped his arm around Lex's back and pulled him to his feet. "God, it just makes me so angry, thinking about what those doctors did to you. They had to have known you needed sunlight."
"They did. They kept trying to give me extra vitamin D orally, but it wasn't enough."
"And then they stuck that band on your head. What the hell was that?" Clark opened the bathroom door and took Lex inside. "Uh… wow."
"Restraint has never been my father's strong suit," Lex commented, looking up at the high ceiling of the private bathroom in what had once been his father's office. It was beyond ridiculous in its lavishness. The vanity alone was done in antique marble with gold finish on the faucets and cabinet door handles. There was even an oval shower stall in the middle of the room, surrounded by peach-colored frosted glass with a delicate hand painted recreation of a Japanese art piece.
Clark reluctantly let go of Lex, and instead of leaving, waited for him in a plush armchair by the vanity. When Lex finished, he shuffled back towards Clark and dropped into his lap.
"Did you finish your summer classes?"
"You are the most impossible person to derail in the world. Do you know that? I can't believe that's even on your mind right now," Clark teased, slipping his arms around Lex and holding him close.
"That doesn't answer the question. Did what happened to me disrupt your schooling again?" Lex asked seriously.
"A little. But I passed all of my classes, mostly with Bs, and I'll be finishing the history class this semester during an independent study. My professor is determined to keep me from dropping out. It's… actually the only class I'm signed up for this semester."
"Just the one?" Lex tilted his head and frowned.
"I'm not going to leave you all the time for school when I know Milton Fine is still out there. Mercy and I agreed; one of us needs to be with you all the time. I know you're not gonna like that, Lex, but we have to keep the two of you safe now."
"After being in that dungeon for months… How long was it?"
"It was really only about a month and a half, but that's enough."
"Well, after that, I'm not too inclined to argue, even though I'm not sure how I'll react to being constantly coddled," Lex agreed in a dry tone.
"I don't know. I planned more on constant cuddling," Clark quipped back. As Lex began to give him a disparaging look for the pun, Clark shifted his arms around Lex and stood, carrying him like a bride. "C'mon, let me give you as much cuddling as you can stand."
"You're incorrigible, Clark."
"You love it." Clark carried Lex back into the main room. "We really need to do some more of that Lamaze."
"I do have a few more months before that becomes immanent, but as I said before, I would prefer it to become habit and start early. If nothing else, I could use the relaxation, even if this isn't the room I designed for it."
"I was just thinking of how fun is was to have an excuse to grope on you."
Clark laid Lex gently back on the bed and smirked down at him. Twisting his lips to the side, Lex rested his head against the pillows.
"And you're accusing me of having a one track mind." He watched as Clark leaned down and pulled the pajama top up, exposing his rounded belly. He gave it a light kiss and rubbed the sides, looking up occasionally to see if Lex would protest. When he didn't, Clark moved his fingers over the curve and gave it another kiss.
Then a little ripple appeared on the surface of Lex's skin, and Clark startled.
"Terrifying, isn't it?" Lex joked. It was an effort not to laugh at the expression on Clark's face. "Like Jaws, in a way. Lying in wait, and then…"
"Stop! It's not like…" Clark's eyes glued to Lex's belly as he saw another ripple, then let his fingers touch again. "This is just over the top crazy."
"It's a miracle I haven't lost my mind. I don't mind, though. Having her bouncing around in there was quite a comfort while I was underground."
Clark's sad eyes flickered up toward Lex, before going back to where the baby was moving. He let his fingers chase the ripple, poked a little, and then began talking to it in hopes that she would hear him from inside. With a sigh, he rested his cheek against Lex's belly.
"I love your kid."
"I…" Lex touched the back of Clark's head and curled his fingers around Clark's hair. He wondered if all Kryptonians had such good hair, and he hoped that the baby did, too. "I'm glad."
"I really do. Her, and you. And Lena too, I guess, even if she is bossy and nosy."
"She's my big sister. She has years of bossiness to catch up on. Nice of someone to try to defend my honor, though."
"It was more that she was telling me to stop moping and come visit you. I was scared, though." Clark gave the belly one last kiss and crawled up beside Lex to put his arms around him. "I'm a little scared now, but being away from you is way worse than anything I can think of."
"You think I'm not a little scared?"
"If you're only a little scared, Lex, you're my hero." Clark kissed the back of Lex's neck. When Lex yawned, Clark pulled Lex up so that he was laying on Clark's body, and he rubbed his hands up and down Lex's sides and belly, just like he had in their one time Lamaze practice.
"Hm. I think you've been mine for years. And if you're sticking around, I know that you'll be hers."
"That thought is the best thought ever. A tiny Lex that idolizes me. She's going to be adorable, Lex. I've seen pictures of you as a kid, and most of my people are pretty, even if they are crazy. She'll be gorgeous."
"We'll have to make sure that she doesn't have too many stalkers."
"Oh, they'd better not stalk her. I'll teach her to set them on fire."
"Fire?" Lex turned his head back with a laugh.
"Oh, right. There are some details I still need to fill you in on."
"Whenever you're ready, I'm eager to know," Lex murmured. He opened his mouth and kissed Clark's upper lip. He licked along the inside of it, letting his tongue drag slowly.
"Mmm."
***
Perched on the black leather of her stool, Chloe sat up straight and pecked away at the keys, then looked up to the screen and touched an image. She was becoming less and less dependant on the keyboard, becoming more accustomed to getting the information she wanted herself. The computers listened to her. They had for most of her life. The team of specialists had yet to determine if it was an innate ability, one born of the meteors, or one enhanced by them. Regardless of where it had come from, Lex had figured it out before anyone else, before even she had.
Her hair was drawn back to the nape of her neck with stray pieces escaping and curling around her face. She hadn't gotten around to getting her hair cut in some time. She was also dressed in a sharp turquoise suit-professional but flattering, with that sense of eclectic style that Chloe favored when she had the time to breathe between her two lives.
She nearly jumped out of her skin when Mercy touched her shoulder.
"Ah! You! You scared me," Chloe accused, swiveling in her chair toward Mercy, and she leaned back on the desk as she looked up.
Mercy put her hands on her hips. "Wrapped up in your work, I see."
"Just a bit. It's not often I have this kind of hardware to play with. Not to mention the software."
"Nothing to good for LexCorp's latest It-girl," Mercy teased.
"I'm sure it has everything to do with me." Chloe turned back to the screen and brought up a series of images on the wall of screens in front of her workspace on the desk. "I've done everything I can to clear up the security videos, but this was disrupted by someone better with computers than I."
"You think-?"
"You said that the bodies you recovered all had the same kind of wounds." Chloe shrugged.
Mercy frowned. " I can usually make a guess as to his motive, but… If he knew where they were keeping Lex, then why did he wait so long to take these people out? It doesn't make sense."
"It does." Chloe touched her lips with her fingertips. "If he didn't know until we did."
Mercy's eyes widened, then narrowed seriously. "He's got an inside man."
"He could have us bugged us, but if he could find what he was looking for so easily, I'm pretty sure he would have gotten the information on Lionel before we did." Chloe bit her lip and touched the screen again.
"I'll have everyone tested again," Mercy assured her. She tensed her fingers and walked around to Chloe's other side. "But he's found a way to hide, hasn't he?"
"He can't hide forever," Chloe pointed out. "I think that he wants to keep surveillance on Lex, honestly. If he wanted to take him, he could have gotten to him before we did once we'd broken into the facility."
Mercy creased her brow deeply and looked up at the footage in front of them. "Surveillance. Monitoring him, like the doctors in Lionel's employ."
"That's my guess."
Wide, hazel eyes fixed on the images before them. Mercy's mind began working, sifting through information. Computer prowess was not her strong suit, neither was business or anything really requiring to her deal with people on a personal level. Tactics she knew. And this Milton Fine, artificial intelligence though he was, had made a tactical error. Tipped his hand.
"Right," Mercy said simply. For the moment it would be an inordinately bad idea to let anyone know what she was thinking, even Chloe.
"Have we found anyone else?" Chloe asked.
Mercy let her think that the topic was exhausted and nodded. "Yes, but just a few. We lost a lot of our own. Lowell. Jodi. Molly. Kestrel. And we've picked up some of Lionel's. Ones we wouldn't have worked with before. Too dangerous, plucked mostly from mental institutions and high security prisons. I've arranged for everyone you've flagged as stable to stay in the Luthor Mansion for now, mostly the kids."
"Did we ever find Ghost?" Chloe looked up with concern.
"No. But we didn't find his body either."
"Maybe he doesn't want to be found," Chloe suggested. "Being kept in a dungeon for a month wouldn't make me want to stick around and sing out my kumbaya-yas with my fellow mutants either."
Mercy shook her head. "I don't know."
"And the others? The dangerous ones?" Chloe prodded. "We can't just keep them locked behind bars."
"Like the authorities are going to treat them any differently. Most of them already were behind bars, and it's worse in Belle Reve than anywhere we'd keep them," Mercy replied. "That place shouldn't even be treated as a health care facility of any kind, let alone one that supposedly cares for the mental health of its patients."
Chloe shook her head. "There has to be something better than keeping them against their will. Meet with them, and make them understand that we want to help them?"
"Boss'll come up with something," Mercy said confidently.
Chloe set her hands in her lap. "I guess he convinced you."
"I've always been contrary like that. I think my grandmother would roll over in her grave to see me working for a man." Mercy smirked.
"I think your grandmother should have kept better track of her son, if that were the case," Chloe shot back.
Mercy had told Chloe quite a bit about her origins, something she'd only told Lex himself. For everyone else in the company, her past was a mystery. "Boys aren't really valued among the Bana-Mighdall. You have one; you throw it out with the bathwater."
"Seems cruel."
"Well, not literally. They at least try to give the child to a relative outside of the city." Mercy shrugged. "If they hadn't, they'd be breaking the rules of their society that they've upheld for thousands of years and risking some serious smiting from the powers that be. If they hadn't, I wouldn't be here. I'd never have met Lex, and I'd never have the chance to be involved in the projects I am. This job just keeps getting bigger and bigger, Chloe. It's important."
"I know. Believe me, I understand. It's all really new to me, but I believe in what we're trying to do, too." Chloe nodded and slipped off the stool. "I need to get to my other job."
"Need to change? I think I have an extra mask in my office."
"So funny, Amazon princess."
"I am nothing of the kind. Bana don't have princesses. You're thinking of those prissy Themyscirians."
Chloe paused at the door. "I appreciate my new 'office,' but the location-"
"It's important for your location to be concealed, especially if I need you monitoring the situation," Mercy said quickly in a businesslike tone.
Chloe crossed her arms. "You think if I'm not in here answering the phones, I'm gonna get hurt."
"You're hardly just answering the phones," Mercy replied. She regarded Chloe with a stern expression.
Chloe took in a deep breath and nodded, then turned away.
"Chloe. Chloe." Mercy watched as the small woman headed for the door. "Hope."
"If you're going to all the trouble to hide me away from the world, it's probably better that you don't refer to me by my call sign."
"Kitten?"
Chloe stopped and shook her head. She looked up at Mercy. "I know you don't think I can handle myself, but I'm willing to work on that. We can't all be super strong aliens and Amazons."
"That isn't why I couldn't let you come on the mission," Mercy said, frowning deeply. She strode over to Chloe and grabbed her shoulders. "You make me weak. I can't do my job if I'm worried about some psychofuck with a hard on for his son trying to get his hands on you for experimentation."
"Lionel Luthor didn't even know about… whatever it is I do with computers."
"He targeted you before," Mercy pointed out.
Chloe blinked slowly. "Because I was Clark's friend. Not because I was on the Most Wanted Meteor Freaks list."
"How can you be sure?" Mercy touched Chloe's cheek and looked into her green eyes.
"I guess I can't. But I can't live my life wrapped up in a blanket, either."
"It really is important to keep our locations secret," Mercy replied automatically. "Look what happened with 33.1."
"I know." Chloe reached up to give Mercy a soft kiss. It wasn't easy being caught between like this, but it seemed that for now Chloe preferred to be here to anywhere else in the world.
***
There was something strange about knocking on the outside of an office larger than Lex's bedroom. Lena thought that Lex could really just move in here for a while and save himself the commute. Granted, people would probably notice his burgeoning midsection more in Metropolis, but it was unlikely that his employees would say anything.
"Come in!" Clark's voice called.
Before she entered, Lena reached out tentatively to feel for Lex, who seemed fairly mellow at the moment. She'd had a discussion with Clark earlier about the best way to talk to Lex about what had happened to his father, and he'd agreed that she should be there for the actual talk, since she was more apt at reading Lex's moods than anyone.
The two of them were in the exercise area that had been set up the day before. With the easy accesses to sunlight, Lex was improving quickly. Right now he was on his recumbent bike with Clark holding his hand and looking into his eyes. The scene was darling, and Lena was glad that Lex felt well enough to argue with his doctor over exercising.
She waited for Clark to help Lex off the bike before approaching them to give her little brother a tight hug.
"I think you're getting some color back," she said in a pleased tone. Love radiated off of the two of them so strongly that she couldn't help but smile.
"I think so, too." Lex squeezed her in return as Clark rubbed his back. "How are you and Maddie doing?"
"She's much more at ease now that you're back. She worries about you."
"Well, you should bring her to see us. Is she studying with her tutors right now?"
Lena nodded and looked up at Lex, a dimple appearing in her left cheek. She pressed her palm to Lex's chest.
"What happened to your wrist?" Lex frowned and touched her forearm where bandages were tightly wrapped.
Lena shook her head and pulled her hand back. "It's nothing, sweetheart. Clark and I have something to talk to you about."
"Oh?" Lex raised a brow and looked back at Clark, who kissed Lex's cheek.
"It's about your father," he said seriously.
Closing her eyes for a moment, Lena felt warmth and anxiety prickling over Lex's skin at the mention of the man. He was still angry with his father for his most recent crimes, with good reason. Lena ran her hands up and down his sides and then leaned forward to give him another hug.
"He's dead, Lexie. I'm sorry."
"He's… what?" Lex went stiff in her arms. His heart was fluttering so fast.
"We think he was killed before we even got down there," Clark told Lex. He moved his hands over Clark's shoulders. Nervousness and concern jumped around in Clark's heart together.
"I'm sorry," Lena whispered again. She touched Lex's frozen face.
After a long pause, Lex looked between Clark and Lena. "I'm not sorry, Lena."
"Lex," she chided.
"You know better than anyone what a predator he is. Was. He tried to rape you, for goodness sakes!" Lex snapped.
Lena stepped back. Anger was leaping up off Lex like flames. He turned from them and got a towel to wipe away the sweat on his head and neck. "He's been doing experiments on metahumans for years. He killed Lucas. He almost killed us." He turned again and put his hand on the towel. "Why should I be sorry he died?"
Normally so calm, Lex became more animated when he was angry, drew his vowels out more, opened his mouth more widely. Underneath the curls and licks of anger, deep sadness hid. Lena tilted her head and watched Lex carefully.
"Well, I'm not, but I wasn't going to tell you how to feel," Clark said bluntly. "I guess I kind of expected you to be a little sad. He was your dad, after all."
Lex looked down and sighed irritably. "How did he die?"
"Chloe thinks it was the same man who attacked me," Lena explained. "She said the wounds matched-"
"Milton Fine," Lex ground out.
Lena stepped closer again, but made sure to keep a safe distance. Lex had moved away from them for a reason. She looked up and studied his eyes.
"Why is he doing this? Why attack my father?" Lex muttered.
"For messing with his experiment?" Clark guessed. He rolled his shoulders discontentedly and looked down at Lena for a clue as to what to do.
"We're sorry for not telling you right away," Lena said.
"Don't be. I was…" Lex paused, pursing his lips. "Weak at the time. You had to wait. I understand."
There was a long silence, and Clark crossed his arms, watching Lex standing there touching the towel with curled fingers and a deep frown on his face. Then Lena walked over to the bar, took out a bottle of water, poured it into a glass, and added a spoonful of sugar. Then she approached Lex to press the water into his hands.
"Drink," she ordered. She reached up to caress the back of Lex's head, which prompted the uncertain Clark to come to his side again as well. When Lex lifted the bottle to his lips, she spoke again. "There's no right or wrong way to react to this, Lex. Just give yourself the time to feel it."
Lex continued to scowl, but nodded as he drank the water. His head bobbed a little as Clark rubbed his back, then his sides. He moved behind Lex and kissed his neck softly.
***
Lana had always wanted to travel the world. When she was sixteen, she'd discovered that although she'd been trapped in Smallville, her mother had felt the same way. Since then she'd been torn between Smallville and the world. It felt as though she couldn't have both.
These days she hardly felt a conflict. Clark had been the one to break up with her in the end. Although she felt angry about it (after all, she'd wanted to break up with him weeks before, but had felt too guilty about his father dying to do it first, and it was bitterly amusing that she'd been in that position with a guy more than once), in a way it was freeing. Clark had a particular image of her in his mind, and when it came down to it, she supposed that he was right. He didn't know her.
That was ultimately an advantage to her. Lana sat beside the mantle in one of her large sitting rooms and slowly crafted a letter. She liked letters. You could put whatever you wanted in them, then send them off into the world to do your work for you. Once she was finished, she folded the lavender paper neatly, wrote a name on the front, and set it on the mantle in front of two large, ornate tarot cards.
Lana couldn't have predicted the unfolding of events, but she did sense power when she was near it. Unfortunately for Lionel Luthor, he didn't believe in magic.
Her birthright.
Something that she would have, roughly a year ago, been horrified by, she now realized was the key to everything she'd ever wanted. Lionel had tried to bribe her with money, and that was fine. But the man had overstepped his bounds and gotten himself killed, and now soon enough the checks would start bouncing on this place without his money to back them and sooner or later Chloe would be knocking on her door, having connected Lana to Lionel through some miraculous feat in computer hacking.
Lana would not be so garish as her ancestor Isobelle had been. Flashiness and self-important monologues got you caught. She picked up her tickets and went to her room to move her luggage to the doorway.
She had a plane to catch.
***
"I want to go home," Lex grumbled to no one in particular. Mercy was leaning against the wall, waiting for Tanaka to finish her check up.
"In a few days, you should be able to travel back to Smallville," Tanaka replied. She was preoccupied with examining Lex's insides, however, and not paying much attention to her squirming patient's outsides. "Be still."
"Fine." Lex rolled his eyes up to the ceiling and tried to distance himself from the examination. He didn't like them before being abducted, and he liked them even less now. Tanaka's cold fingers seemed to trigger a body memory of being underground, pawed by Lionel's nosy doctors, and sometimes of being somewhere else, on a table with Brainiac touching him ever so disinterestedly with his inhuman hands.
Mercy came over and took one of Lex's hands. He looked up at her, and she gave him a serious nod before looking away and feigning boredom. Her hand remained firmly around his own, however. At the moment he was glad of her pact with Clark not to leave him alone.
Before Tanaka had finished, Clark entered. He frowned as he approached them and went immediately to Lex's side.
"Couldn't this have waited until I got back?" Clark asked shortly.
"I'm very nearly done," Tanaka replied in a tone that was not particularly friendly.
Mercy leaned on the frame of the bed and looked down at Clark, who took Lex's other hand. It seemed as though he were constantly surrounded by people these days. At the moment, he couldn't think of that as a bad thing.
"How are you feeling?" Clark whispered.
"I'll be better when she leaves," Lex whispered back.
Tanaka rolled her eyes. She sat up and pulled off her latex gloves. "She's about to," she said as she stood. "Your blood pressure has improved. I think you were right about the exercise bike. For now, anyway."
"I told you exercise would help, and if I have to use a machine instead of going out, I prefer the bike to a treadmill," Lex replied.
"I imagine you don't have to worry about falling from the bike," Tanaka said with a nod. She began to pack up her materials. "I'll get you the results of your blood work by tomorrow."
Lex gave her a wave as she left the room and looked up at his two hand holders. "I appreciate the wall of support."
"I don't like doctors, and I don't think you're that fond of them either. Besides, made a promise to this one," Mercy said, jerking her head towards Clark. She stood and stretched, then slipped her hands in the back pockets of her jeans. "I have some work to get to. You think you'll be coming back to work?"
"I will be, but not full time, I'm afraid."
"I didn't think so. It's just that the employees could really do with actually seeing you. Morale isn't exactly great right now. You know, Lionel's dead, and you've been missing for weeks," Mercy pointed out.
"I think I could manage something. Likely a recording that all the employees can watch. Have we given an official statement regarding why I was gone?"
"The official statement is that you were never gone to begin with. You were working with scientists abroad."
"Hm. I'll come up with something then." Lex smiled softly. "Given your cover, it shouldn't be too hard to appease them."
"Knew you would, Boss." Mercy patted his shoulder.
After she left, Clark climbed in the bed with Lex, and with a deep breath, Lex felt himself reenter his body. That kind of disassociation probably wasn't healthy, but he didn't have much choice. His daughter's health came before his own personal neuroses.
"You don't look happy," Clark complained. He leaned over to kiss Lex's neck, hoping to rectify the situation.
"I have a lot on my mind," Lex replied moodily.
"You hungry?"
"Not quite yet." Lex let the back of his head rest on Clark's shoulder, and he looked out over the city.
"Tell me what's on your mind."
"I don't like people besides you and Lena touching me." Lex reminded himself not to be annoyed at Clark's soft laugh and sighed heavily.
"It really bothers you, doesn't it?"
"There's nothing I can do about it. Well, not until November. Then I can do my best to make sure I'm never in this position again."
"That's too bad. Don't you think she'd want some brothers and sisters?" Clark teased gently.
"Don't get me wrong, Clark. I'd like to have more than one child, but…"
"Maybe we should just get you another doctor," Clark suggested. "Tanaka isn't very personable."
"No, she isn't." Lex closed his eyes. "At least she wasn't a creepy woman who should have died on the Titanic."
"She… what?"
"Never mind. Later." Lex shook his head. "I'm sorry to be so glum."
"Lex, you're hormonal, your father just died, and you just had an exam that probably reminds you of not fun things that have happened recently. Don't apologize for that. I'm just glad you're talking to me about it."
Lex smiled slightly as he felt the kiss pressed against his crown. "I think to myself sometimes that I need to know who this child's father is. Biological father, I mean. I wonder if my father ever had him captive, and how he got his blood. I wonder if he's in another facility, underground and needing sunlight."
"How would you know who he was? Why would you think your father had him? I thought you just… Well, the day after we came back, you had a test, right?"
"I did, but later on I had some other tests done-with my team on level 33.1, not Tanaka-and we discovered that the baby shares a blood composition with the blood my father was using in his experiments to keep Adam Knight alive. That's fairly specific," Lex explained. He felt Clark tense behind him, so he looked up at Clark to see the young man's eyes bulging almost comically. "I suppose that is a bit morbid, to test like that. I only thought of it because you brought it up, and I felt at the time that I had to know as much about the baby as possible for the both of us to survive."
Clark swallowed slowly. He looked petrified. "Lex, are you sure? I mean, absolutely sure that there's a match to the blood from back then?"
"Yes, Clark, I am. I found samples once I'd taken over LuthorCorp and had them preserved along with the result of many of my father's experiments. I ran the tests several times to be certain. It's how I knew Fine used alien DNA to create the baby. Why?"
Clark pulled Lex close to him and practically lit up from the inside out. "Because there was only one alien running around when that happened. I mean, as far as I know."
"Only one," Lex repeated. He tilted his head to the side and regarded Clark curiously.
Clark's hand covered Lex's cheek, and he moved his face closer to Lex's before he summoned the wherewithal to answer: "Me."
"Oh," Lex said after a moment. "Wait-"
"The short explanation is that Helen sold my blood sample to your Dad."
Lex rolled his eyes. "This is why I'm glad there's no woman involved in this pregnancy. That right there."
"There's at least one involved!" Clark scoffed, cupping his hand over Lex's belly again to indicate their daughter. He just couldn't seem to leave Lex's abdomen alone.
Lex blinked and looked down, suddenly realizing what this meant.
"I'm gonna be a daddy," Clark said with a giddy noise and a nuzzle to the back of Lex's neck.
"Don't be silly, Clark. You were already going to be a daddy." Lex looked back at him and managed a smile.
Clark grinned brightly and kissed Lex's lips. "Just one less thing to wonder and worry about."
"I'll… I'll take that much," Lex replied gratefully.
Author's Note: Since it's been so long since this was posted in part five:
http://ladydreamer.livejournal.com/269889.html
Clark’s mention of the ‘mutant’ who had contributed to the rise of Adam had stuck somewhere in Lex’s brain. Today’s test was really a simple affirmation that he hadn’t done the previous ones incorrectly. He knew how they would turn out, although he hoped for the opposite result. The ‘mutant’ in Adam’s case had a blood composition unlike anything on this planet. Except, apparently, for the fetus Lex now carried in within him.