FIC: Must Be Dreaming, Part Eighteen
The real question is, will I be able to finish this WiP and start the sequel by New Years?
...
Hmmm.
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 ♥ Chapter Seventeen
Part Eighteen
The office inside the castle's guesthouse was as quiet as a grave when Mercy slipped in. She remained out of sight and set her attention on Dr. Takana, who was reading through a file calmly and occasionally taking notes with a voice recorder.
"Can I help you with something?" Tanaka asked after a moment.
Mercy felt heat rising to her cheeks, but kept her walk firm and confident as she walked around to the woman's desk. She then leaned on it with one hand. "I was curious about Boss's condition."
"He's a resilient man. Improving by leaps and bounds. You could have asked him yourself," Tanaka replied with the implication that Mercy was wasting her time clear in her voice.
"I sometimes think that doctors will keep certain facts from their patients. For their own good, of course, but as his bodyguard and assistant, I need to know these things. I hope that's understandable," Mercy explained. She kept her breathing and heart rate even, just as she did when she was faking out a lie detector.
"Of course. It is rather important that you keep him from being abducted," Tanaka said. She looked up at Mercy finally with a bit of a twinkle in her eye. "Again."
"Of course," Mercy repeated. "Clark and I have been taking shifts to make sure that no one else tries to run off with him. I can't think of anyone else who might do it, other than that alien stalker of Lex's. But I figure that if he were anywhere near competent, he would have succeeded in getting Lex back by now."
"Is that your assumption?" Tanaka tilted her head to the side and pushed her glasses up on her nose. "Perhaps he is biding his time. I don't imagine that keeping a patient that requires large amounts of fresh air and Vitamin D in a UFO would be any wiser than keeping him under ground."
"That's true." Mercy smirked and shook her head. "Well, Tomiko, I'll leave you to your work."
Tanaka tilted her head sideways and eyed Mercy with annoyance. The smirking virago simply nodded and walked out of the room. She needed to check on Lex anyway.
***
"Back to the grind, hm?" Domovoi walked into the kitchen and leaned on the island counter as he watched the cook, Romie, making grilled cheese on the stove.
"Hardly a grind, what these kids ask me to make," Romie replied jovially. "I'm one of the few in the world lucky enough to enjoy her job. Food is love. If a grilled cheese sandwich will make that little girl happy, I'm more than willing."
"I didn't mean to imply you don't like it here." Domovoi watched Romie as she expertly flipped a sandwich. He had always found Romie to be one of the more pleasant members of the staff, and it was easier to coordinate with her than with some other house cooks he'd had experienced.
"No offense taken. I'm just saying, if Lex were having dozens of people over every weekend for fancy parties, it might be a hard job. As it is, I keep the kitchen stocked and if they ask for something, I make it."
"Might be changing, soon."
"You think there will be more parties?" Romie looked back at Domovoi with a smirk.
"Not that kind. But I do believe there will be more and more people around."
"I've been hearing whispers about that. Well, if it gets to be too much, I'll ask for an assistant." Romie set the sandwiches on a plate and cut them in half. "Is Lex planning on bringing some more kids in? To tell you the truth, I wouldn't mind more to do around here."
"I don't think he's decided yet, to tell you the truth. He has a lot on his mind."
Romie opened the refrigerator and pulled out some mustard. "Well, I'd say. First he's kidnapped, then he's sick.. then he's kidnapped."
She spread a little mustard on the tops of the sandwiches. "Not to mention he's pregnant, but what can you do?"
"Make him cookies?" Domovoi suggested flippantly.
Romie chuckled heartily and picked up the plate. "There's a start. Any idea what he's craving?"
"Sunlight, as far as I can tell," he joked. He slipped his hand in his pockets and shook his head. "In all seriousness, Vitamin D."
"Well, we'll give him as much of that as we possibly can!" Romie beamed and took out a bottle of chocolate milk. "I have to take this to Maddie first. It's about time for a study break, don't you think?"
"Her morning tutor left, so I'd wager so." Domovoi nodded. "She seems to like learning Japanese."
"She likes all of the tutors," Romie noted, walking towards the door. "And you are very good at keeping her calm, and she has Lena most of the time, and Lex part of the time. I'm happy she has this, Dom. It would be awful to see what the foster system would do to that kid."
"Sometimes kids do get happy ending." Domovoi smiled and gave Romie a wave before leaving the kitchen to go about his business.
A few minutes later, she approached Maddie's room. There was some enthusiastic giggling inside, and Romie smiled. She wasn't sure who was in there with her, but Maddie sounded happy.
Romie approached the door and knocked lightly. "I have lunch, sweetheart!"
There was sudden silence. Romie heard Maddie whispering urgently, and then running over to the door. She frowned as the little girl opened the door and looked up at her with apprehension.
"What's wrong?" Romie asked. She peered into the room to see if someone was bothering her, but the room looked empty.
"Nothing. Is that for me?" Maddie took the plate and went back into the room.
Romie entered and looked around again. She had been sure she'd heard voices in here.
But still, she saw nothing. "Hon, who were you talking to in here?"
"Um. No one. I was just doing my homework." Maddie sat at the desk and took a bite of her sandwich. She looked back at Romie innocently. "Thank you for lunch!"
With a shake of her head, Romie shrugged and turned around. "Enjoy, Maddie."
She closed the door and stood at the door for a moment listening to see if they started talking again. Eventually, she decided that Maddie must have been watching a video on her new laptop or working with her language program and went back to her business.
***
Clark stepped into the darkened kitchen of the farmhouse and looked around curiously, letting his fingertips graze over the counter and the containers for sugar and things that his mother kept up there.
"Mom?" he called, wondering if anyone would be home. He hadn't visited in a while. It was strange for him because he'd never spent more than a few days away from his parents, baring times when he was high on Red K or kidnapped by his biological father.
Clark drifted into the sitting room, again, dark and quiet, then went upstairs. It seemed like an age since he'd been in his own bedroom, which was neater than he usually kept it. Likely his mother had come in here and straightened things up. He should probably go through some more of his personal effects
He approached his dresser and began to look through his things. With a frown, he saw Lana's old necklace. He really ought to give that back to her. An old football. Some birthday cards. Chloe's dried corsage from the spring formal. Clark decided that he was quite the packrat. Oh…
As Clark picked up the lead box, St. Georges' box Lex had called it, Clark couldn't quite remember when he'd gotten it back, but he was glad he had. He sat down on his bed with it and ran his fingers over the sides with a smile. Then he lifted the lid slowly, since he used to keep Kryptonite in there.
No Kryptonite. He chuckled at himself. Instead, there was another gift inside he'd gotten a long time ago, a bracelet from a young woman who'd been so certain that they were destined to be together. Clark's lips bowed downward as he thought about Kyla. She shouldn't have had to die. He still remembered that night with her naked and bleeding in his arms all too clearly.
This bracelet was a reminder that he couldn't save everyone. No wonder he'd put it in the box that Lex had told him would keep his anxieties and fears safely locked away.
"Clark?"
Clark set the box down and turned. "Dad? Hey."
Jonathan walked over. "This is sure a good surprise. I hear they found Lex."
"We did. We went in and got him. It was his dad who kidnapped him," Clark explained. "I'll tell you guys all about it. I know I've kept you in the dark recently."
"You've been busy saving the day," Jonathan said, patting Clark's back. "Still, a phone call would've been nice. Your mom's really been worried."
"Mom… Yeah, we're gonna have to explain some things to her, too. About Lionel." Clark arched a brow, thinking how this was going to go over. "There's a lot to tell."
Jonathan patted Clark's arm. "Well, come on downstairs, and we'll try to keep up."
An hour later, Clark was sitting around the kitchen table with his mother and father, drinking coffee. They'd listened carefully and clung to one another when they'd heard the bit on Lionel.
"I'm glad Lex is all right now," Martha said, cupping her face in her hand. "He is all right, isn't he?"
"He's recovering," Clark said vaguely. "And I have to get back there soon. I just…"
"You wanna make sure no one comes after him again," Jonathan concluded. "It's a reasonable feeling; you just got him back."
"I was wondering if you guys would be okay if he came over here. Maybe for dinner on Sunday or something?" Clark asked tentatively.
"Well, if he's feeling up to it," Martha replied, looking to Jonathan briefly. "And of course if he wants to. Have you asked him? The last time I saw him, he wasn't too keen on us, you know."
"Lex's temper is like a brushfire. Comes up like a flash but goes out pretty quick if there's nothing to fuel it. He knows you mostly believed Lionel because he manipulated you," Clark said, wrapping his fingers around his coffee cup.
Martha shook her head. "I'd certainly like to blame Lionel, Clark, but we can't let ourselves take such an easy out. Maybe he manipulated me. Maybe it made it harder to say no to him or to believe bad things about Lex and Lena, but I let him do it, in the end. Didn't Lex fight him for years? It can be done."
"Lena says you have to have "some pretty powerful psychic cajones" to tell Lionel no." Clark let out a soft laugh. "She would know. When they went head to head, he couldn't put a dent in her."
"I'd say not!" Martha agreed.
"Wait," Jonathan interjected. "If Lex can fight him, wouldn't he have to have some psychic…"
Clark crooked his mouth to the side. "He does. It's… understated, I guess, but it's there."
"What is it, then? He can't read minds. I know that for sure… Can he?"
"No, he can't, and he can't read or manipulate emotions like Lena or his father. He sees the future." Clark paused. "In his dreams. Lena thinks he could learn to meditate and bring a vision on… I guess he thinks that it's not the best ability out there, but I think it's pretty cool. It helped us find him and get him home."
Clark took a deep breath and went to pour himself another cup of coffee. "And when he and I are asleep together, he can reach out to me. And we can share dreams. It sounds crazy, but we did."
"Can he reach out to Lena, too?" Martha asked.
"No. They can feel each other, but they can't share dreams. Not yet, anyway. " Clark turned and leaned on the counter, then took a sip of his coffee. "He had a dream or two last year and the year before about aliens coming. Not many, but he knew things were going to happen. He just couldn't admit to himself that he believed he dreams were real. I wish we'd told each other about our abilities a lot sooner."
"And he could… see things? Even back then?" Jonathan shook his head. "He never seemed like he could do anything that."
"I think they got stronger after he met with Cassandra. Did I tell you he went to see her? He did. I think contact with another psychic made it more powerful, or contact with the Kryptonite did. I'm not sure." Clark set his mug down and looked at his parents. "Are you guys gonna be okay with me and Lex now? I feel like we've been in a tug of war for the past five years about him."
His parents looked at one another. Jonathan spoke first. "We've had a lot of time to think while you were gone, and you're a man now. A young man, but a man. And Martha thinks, and I agree, that I've been pushing you too hard in the direction I want you to go."
"Dad?"
"You're not me, and while it was okay to give you orders when you were a kid, it's not okay for me-"
"For either of us," Martha interjected.
"Right. It's not right for either of us to tell you how to live your life," Jonathan admitted. "From now on, if you want advice and support, we're here for you, always, but the decisions are up to you."
"Wow." Clark touched the table and frowned thoughtfully. "Well, in that case, I have one more thing to tell you. About me and Lex."
Martha covered a smile with her left hand. Jonathan looked between them and then up at Clark with a frown. "What about you and Lex?"
"We're together. As in… together. We were talking about it before he got abducted, and now that he's back, we decided to stop screwing around and just go for it." Like a sledgehammer. Clark pinched his lips together and waited for his parents to speak.
"I don't think you should be "going for it" if Lex is still trying to heal, Clark," Martha scolded, causing Clark's face to turn beet red.
That seemed to snap his father out of his stunned silence. "You're having sex Lex Luthor??"
"We're not having sex!" Clark cringed. "I think you two need to ask yourselves why your mind goes right to sex! We're… just together, and we'll see how things go." He paused, took a breath, and then continued with all the courage he had, "Sex will probably be on the agenda at some point. I don't know when that'll be, but for right now, working on us as a couple and as a team is where we're at."
"Oh." Martha frowned thoughtfully. "Well, that's probably a sensible way to go about it."
"Isn't he a little… old for you?" Jonathan asked. At Martha's scolding look, he sighed and raised his hands. "I'm just saying."
"He's not that much older than me, really. It's not as big a deal as it would be if we'd started a relationship when we were younger," Clark reasoned. "I know Lex was interested, and if I'd ever untangled my feelings about him enough to realize how much I love him, things could have gotten complicated."
"I know," Martha agreed. "That's why I was always asking you to cool things down with him."
"Maybe you should have explained that a little more, because unlike you two perverts, I had no idea what you meant by that."
"Clark!" Martha protested. Clark just laughed. Martha stood and walked around the table to give Clark a hug. "You love him."
"Well, yeah." Clark touched the back of his neck.
"You've told him that?"
"Yeah, I said it first. And he… he eventually did too."
"He said he loved you," Martha repeated at a bare whisper. She pressed her lips together and blinked quickly, then gave Clark a kiss on the cheek.
Jonathan let out a long sigh. "Have any other big surprises for us?"
"Hush. Our baby's in love," Martha said, covering her mouth again happily.
"I do kind of have one more big surprise, but I wanted you guys to be okay with this before I sprung it. And Lex needs to be here." Clark grinned. "So I guess you'll have to wait for Sunday."
"Let us know what Lex says, and I'll make sure my schedule is clear. If he's coming over for a Kent family dinner, I want to have the time to cook," Martha told him.
"Better than having me cook. Last time he ate my cooking, I think he lost some internal organs," Jonathan joked. "Better leave me to the fried chicken."
"That wasn't your fault, Dad. He was just sick." Clark rubbed his mother's back. "I'll talk to him about it though."
"Well, if he's gonna be serious about this, then we all need to start trying to get along as a family," Jonathan said, rubbing the back of his head. He set down his coffee and walked over to pat Clark's shoulder.
Clark looked down at his shoes for a second before meeting his father's eye. "I couldn’t agree more."
***
Leg curled up against her body, eyes fixed on their twins in the reflection of a silver plated vanity that Lex had installed in her room, Lena focused on that image in front of her, mimicking all of her movements. She hadn't thought about it much. Hadn't allowed herself to think about it.
Lena couldn't see anything of Lionel's face in her face. Her cheekbones were her mother's. Her chin her grandmother's. Lionel's face was long, longer than hers, and not as squared. His eyes more hazel than the honey brown Lena shared with her aunt.
Raking slender fingers through her dark brown hair, the hair with just a tint of red, she frowned, thinking that that red couldn’t have come from Lionel. His hair had been dark brown, and Lex had gotten his red hair from his mother. Or had the grandparents been ginger? It was possible, since they were straight from Scotland. Scots could be redheads, couldn’t they? Lena admitted that she'd never spent much time trying to distinguish between the physical characteristics of that area. It had never seemed to relate to her.
Then she looked at her hands and gave a slight nod. It was the hands. There had to be a physical trace, and this must be it. Lionel Luthor had the long fingers of a pianist. Lex had those hands, even if he only occasionally played. Her hands were his, if not her face.
"Lenie?"
Lena looked up to see Lex coming in and smiled, feeling warmth bloom from the both of them. It was so good to have him home that any remaining grief she felt from the loss of her baby was soon chased away. That pang of sadness would be there with her, perhaps always, but it was diminished right now, and for that she was very grateful.
Lex lowered himself onto the bench with her slowly, and she took his hand as he did so to help him balance.
"Thanks." He looked at their reflection together. "What are you thinking about?"
"Identity. Hybridity. Hypocrisy. Did your grandparents have red hair?" Lena asked. She looked up at Lex's face, then to their reflection, trying to see a resemblance there.
"Eliza Luthor, my grandmother did. I believe Lachlan had brown hair." Lex drew his fingers through the hair on the side of Lena's head. "I'm sorry."
"You don't have to keep apologizing for being related to me." Lena rolled her eyes. "We don't look alike, you know."
Lex shrugged. "Well. No. I favor my mother. As you do yours."
"It's my powers that are the most like him," Lena whispered after a moment. "I don't think anyone has seen that yet."
Lex narrowed his eyes. "How so?"
"It's the same base ability, Lex. Powers just develop differently from person to person. Feeling what people feel? Manipulating what people feel? It's all rooted in emotion. He just developed in a completely different way because all he ever wanted to do was make people do what he wants."
Lex's strong but elegant hand rubbed over the back of her shoulders. "That bothers you. Lena, don't let him diminish your faith in your powers. You've always used them for good-"
"Have I? I can't manipulate people the way Lionel did because a long time ago, I tried to make sure that I didn't use what I knew to hurt people, but I… I do get nosy, Lex. I do run around sometimes like I know everything and everyone has to listen to me. You weren't there, but... When I was younger… I used to make a big ol' mess. "
"Did you, huh? I think I want to hear about that someday. I think you did okay here." Lex leaned over and kissed her cheek, hugging her to him.
"Well, some of these people needed it," Lena muttered.
"Just because our father warped your gift into something that is basically the perpetual, mental rape of everyone around him doesn't mean that the ability itself is evil. It means that he is evil," Lex said flatly. "…Was evil. And it was his choices that made it so."
"That's cold comfort when I have the blood of that man in my veins."
Lex nodded softly and looked up at the mirror again. "I think I know how you feel."
"These days, don't you always?" Lena joked weakly. She sucked in her lower lip and wiped a tear from her cheek. "I feel like I'm carrying all the hateful things he's done around inside me."
Lex took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I remember you telling me, when we'd first met- Well, the second time we'd met, actually, that I shouldn’t feel the guilt for what he's done. He's only who he can be, and we can wish for our parents to be better, but that's not who he is," Lex reminded her. "And you know that who he is, is not who we are."
"That's for you, baby. Because you grew up with him, and you love him, and that makes what he tried to teach you harder to push away," Lena replied.
"Yes, but you didn't grow up with those lessons. They're not yours. You grew up with your mother, and Nana Nan, and all those other people whose lessons and stories you value." Lex squeezed her shoulder. "Isn't it your choice whether you want to accept him as your father at all?"
"It's complicated, Lexie." Lena reached up and patted Lex's cheek. She took his hand and turned away from the mirror. "I think I need to go back home. Go talk to my family. I've been away too long."
She felt the twinge in Lex's chest, but he leaned over to embrace her.
"Not forever, Lexie. I'll come back. I just want to go out and see them." Lena laughed softly. "You're my family too. I always wanted siblings, you know."
"Hm. You got the one. A pity you never met Lucas. He was… something else."
Lena pulled back and gave Lex a kiss on the forehead. "Let's just be happy for who we have in our lives now, yes? I have something I've been meaning to ask you."
"Anything," Lex promised. He looked down as Lena put her hands on either side of his belly, caressing it lovingly.
"I want to adopt Maddie. She needs a mother, and she trusts me. She trusts you, too. I don't think she's going to extend that gift to anyone else. She was abused, Lex. She can't say it, but I can feel how she gets around other women. Women older than her. They make her nervous. It'll be good for her to stay here, if they'll let it go through. I mean, I'm single, and I only have my business-"
"Well, your bastard father just died. His will specifies that his estate is to be divided among any heirs he may have. That's me and you. Granted, it's not as much as it used to be since I took over, but the man had a way of accruing wealth. I think it should be obvious to any social worker that you certainly have the means now to take care of a child."
Lena tilted her head back. "Huh. Funny how that works out."
"You can have all of it. I have enough for my daughter, Clark, and myself. And I know whom to call to make sure the paperwork doesn't get in your way."
"No." Lena shook her head. "I don’t want all that. I don't need all that money."
"Then… Perhaps you can tell me to which charity we should donate the rest of it." Lex tightened his lips. "In my father's loving memory of course. Charity was one of his most loathed vices."
Lena covered her mouth as she burst into laughter. Then, Lex began to laugh softly as well.
***
Wearing black sunglasses a black dress suit, Chloe entered the posh apartment building. Her heels clicked against the expensively tiled floors, and she removed her sunglasses as she met the doorman at his desk.
"May I help you, m'am?"
"You might. I'm Agent Woodward, and I need to have a word with Lana Lang." She pulled a badge out of her suit jacket and opened it for him.
"Don't your kind usually come with a partner?" he asked, scanning the badge.
"Actually, I do have a partner. Agent Bernstein is currently following another lead in Smallville." Chloe put the fake badge away. "Ms. Lang?"
"Ms. Lang is out."
"Then I'd like to see her apartment. Do you know when she'll be back?"
"I can't let you up without a warrant," he said, crossing his skinny arms.
"Good thing I have one then, hm? What's your name?"
The man frowned as he looked at the paper. "Joseph."
"Very 80s, not having a last name, Joseph. Do you know when she'll be back?" Chloe pressed.
"No, I don't."
"How long has she been gone?"
"I'm not certain. Over a week, at least. She has a maid who comes in to clean.
"I'd like her name as well, if you don't mind." Chloe put her hand on her hip. "Your cooperation with this investigation would be greatly appreciated. I know Ms. Lang personally, and her disappearance doesn't particularly bode well for her. The sooner she's found, the better."
"Oh?" Joseph frowned and took out a card. "This is the name of the cleaning service. I think her name is Darla, but I could be wrong about that. We've only talked a couple of times, and I'm embarrassed to admit there's another woman in the service who looks similar and I get them confused."
"It happens. I have a relative who tells a lot of people apart by their hairstyles. If someone wore glasses one day, she'd be completely confused."
Joseph chuckled as he got the key for her. "I have to stay here to watch the door."
"No problem. I won't be long. As you said, it's better to work with the partner. I'll want her set of eyes on this." Chloe took the key and turned to the elevator. Once inside, she took a relieved breath and decided that she really did prefer to work with a partner, be it Clark or Mercy.
A few minutes later she was letting herself into Lana's expansive apartment.
"God, my eyeballs are going to bleed," Chloe muttered. She closed the door behind her and ventured in further. Lana had clearly spared no expense in decorating this place, although Chloe thought she might have spared taste by exercising some self-control. Apparently restraint was no longer in Lana's vocabulary.
She moved through the apartment almost automatically, as though drawn, and found herself to a large sitting room of different shades of red and pink.
On the mantle, despite the garish coloring of the rest of the room, two colorful cards managed to catch Chloe's eye. They stood together upright, and as she drew closer, they only seemed more vibrant. Chloe'd never had much interest in fortune-telling or tarot cards, but these were quite alluring. The first had a woman dressed entirely in white. She held an orb aloft as she walked through the night, moon high in the sky above her and swans at her feet. The second featured a girl surrounded by fire and leaning on a long scepter. Along the top, the names of the cards were written in script-The High Priestess and The Queen of Wands.
In front of the cards, a letter was folded neatly.
"A letter. How Lana-like. I guess we're lucky we didn't get a video." Chloe picked up the pink-tinged paper and skimmed over the words:
I write this letter to inform whoever found me first how deeply sorry I am for having to leave. Everything I've done has been for the best, but I can't stay here if you don't trust me-
"Bullshit. You stole my computer!" Chloe argued to the empty air of the vacated apartment. She sighed and continued.
-if you don't trust me, and Clark's talk with me makes be believe that neither he nor you really do. After years of friendship, I expected more from you both-
Chloe tucked the letter into her pocket. She couldn't read any more at the moment. It made her too angry. Lana cut and ran because she was connected to Lionel's projects with the metahumans, and Chloe knew this. She'd find her eventually. She'd just wanted to have the chance to talk to Lana about what had happened between them.
Again, she felt her eyes drifting to the cards, so she curiously reached out to pick up The High Priestess. It seemed the most interesting one.
Suddenly a pink light flashed around her fingers, then seemed to wash over her arm and down the rest of her body, culminating in a little squeak at the pinch deep inside her. She shivered, staring at the card almost in rapt fixation as her eyes glowed pink for just a moment before returning to their natural green.
Chloe then looked around the apartment. She dropped the card, forgetting it immediately, and walked calmly out of the apartment, to the elevator, and past the doorman who tried to catch her attention. Once she was outside she frowned, looking up and down the street.
"Where…?" Chloe let out a noise of frustration and tried to look for the street signs. "You'd think a year working in this town and I wouldn't get lost all the time."
Shaking her head at herself, she waved her arm to hail a taxi. She needed to get back to work… Well, at one of her jobs, even if she couldn't recall which one she needed to be doing at this exact moment.
***
The last licks of the afternoon sun bathed Lex as he finished up checking his email. Running the empire from behind the scenes wasn't too difficult, as long as he sent out a video every now and then to assure the masses he still lived. He hoped he could keep this up because returning to work full time might not be an option any time soon.
He tugged the white t-shirt he was wearing down a little and wiggled in his chair. The girls were concerned about the placement of the metahumans they'd saved from Lionel's dungeon, but Lex knew this was a small detail that he could handle. He didn't have to be physically present to be imposing. He'd learned that in dealing with metahumans who had abilities that would affect him when they were in proximity.
The first step was containment; the next, negotiation. He had a two-way video screen set up in his office, and he would speak to them one by one, until he'd talked to them all. The more he could convince to sign on for rehabilitation the better. The rest would go back into the system to face their charges. He couldn't force protection on people, and the government did have ways of dealing with metahumans.
The benefit to these negotiations, of course, would be that many of the metahumans who Lionel gathered on his own had already been to those places and they'd been to Lionel's dungeon. Either they'd shut down or they'd be ready to talk.
"You're adorable in my t-shirt." Clark kissed Lex on the top of the head and knelt beside Lex.
"Adorable? Me?" Lex's lower lip flattened slightly, and he leaned over to give Clark a soft kiss. "I'm stretching it out for you."
"Yes, you. I don't think I've ever seen you wearing a t-shirt before."
"I've never been as wide as I am tall before."
"You are not as wide as you are tall." Clark ran his fingers over Lex's exposed collarbone. "Yet."
Lex shook his head and laughed as he closed the laptop. Then he set it aside out of the way. "How did the trip home go?"
"Pretty good. I caught my parents up on several key developments. They seem a lot saner now." Clark grimaced.
"They needed the time alone, I suppose, to bang out their differences."
Clark closed his eyes and sighed. "Tell me that wasn't a double entendre. Or tell me it was, because if it wasn't then I'm starting to think like my parents."
"How is that?" Lex smiled and bent his legs at the knee.
"Sex on the brain."
"Oh… I see. How… nice for them."
"I told them about us." Clark scooted closer and rested his hand on Lex's leg.
Lex arched a brow and looked at Clark cautiously. "You did. How'd they take it?"
"Not as bad as I thought. Mom's going to cook on Sunday, if you don't mind coming over for a Kent family dinner."
"Really? That easy?" Lex frowned skeptically.
Both of Clark brows went up, and he shrugged. "Apparently my parents had already done some soul searching while I was gone about how to deal with their alien nineteen year old." He squeezed Lex's thigh. "Mom's really sorry, by the way."
"Your father came by not long after that all exploded and told me she was. Time and chance make for good distance between arguments." Lex put his hand on Clark's shoulder and caressed it gently. "We can visit them on Sunday."
"I figured, if you don't mind, we could tell them about, um…" Clark looked pointedly at Lex's belly.
Lex smirked. "I'm sure I don't know to what you're referring. My sartorial choices of the day?"
"I love you," Clark said with a laugh. "Um. I also did a little packing of things while I was there."
"You're welcome to move whatever you need over to the castle, at least until we move to Metropolis. At the moment it's nice to be protected by a castle, but I don't want our daughter growing up around so much Kryptonite. That can't be good for her."
"It might have helped me develop a tolerance, but I can't disagree that it would be safer for both of you away from Smallville." Clark reached behind him. "So, I wanted to give you something. I don't have a ring."
He brought St. George's box in front of his chest and looked up into Lex's eyes tenderly. "I have this."
"I'd wondered what you did with that. I never saw it around your room." Lex reached out and touched the side of the box. "But that was my gift to you, Clark. I'm not going to take it back."
"I know. I keep the box. Your gift is inside." He opened the lid.
Lex was quiet a moment before reaching into the box to pull out the bracelet inside. He stared at the clunky bracelet. It was made of a silver-like metal with designs imprinted along the sides, and in the middle a hunk of turquoise was cut into a diamond.
"What is this?" he asked in a neutral tone.
"It's Kyla's bracelet. You remember the girl my sophomore year who could turn into a wolf?" The way Lex's mouth pinched told Clark that Lex didn't like being given an ex-girlfriend's jewelry, so Clark quickly explained, "That bracelet has been in her family for centuries. It's on the cave walls, too. It was supposed to be the bracelet of the 'woman' Naman loved. The one he was destined to be with. Kyla's grandfather gave it to me after she died and told me to give it to my… true one. The person I'm supposed to be with."
"You are…" Lex shook his head. "A little too sweet, Clark."
"Nah." Clark grinned. "I know it's not your style. You don't have to wear it. I just wanted you to have it."
Lex shrugged. "At least it won't get stuck if my fingers start to swell."
He took the bracelet and moved to put it on, but Clark stopped him.
"No, if you're going to wear it, I have to put it on you."
"Why is that?"
"I'm on bended knee here, and everything. Just…"
Clark took the bracelet in his hand, and when Lex held out his left wrist, Clark slipped it on with care and moved to give the hand a kiss.
That was when the bracelet began to glow, white light emanating around the turquoise stone, which seemed to evaporate in the light. The metal of the bracelet unlocked and reformed almost fluidly until the light diminished.
They both stared at the bracelet a moment. In place of the stone, the House of El's crest shone in the fading sunlight. The remainder of the bracelet wrapped sleekly around Lex's wrist, with only lightly engraved Kryptonian symbols running along the edge.
"You are my destiny," Clark whispered lifting his hand to twine his fingers through Lex's.
Lex looked again at the bracelet and the way it seemed to both absorb and reflect the sunlight. He suspected that an examination would reveal that like the octagonal disk, it would contain metals like nothing on this planet. He didn’t know about destiny; it was something he'd been fighting his entire life, but some things simply couldn't be denied.
"I think this might suit my tastes after all."
...
Hmmm.
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 ♥ Chapter Seventeen
Part Eighteen
The office inside the castle's guesthouse was as quiet as a grave when Mercy slipped in. She remained out of sight and set her attention on Dr. Takana, who was reading through a file calmly and occasionally taking notes with a voice recorder.
"Can I help you with something?" Tanaka asked after a moment.
Mercy felt heat rising to her cheeks, but kept her walk firm and confident as she walked around to the woman's desk. She then leaned on it with one hand. "I was curious about Boss's condition."
"He's a resilient man. Improving by leaps and bounds. You could have asked him yourself," Tanaka replied with the implication that Mercy was wasting her time clear in her voice.
"I sometimes think that doctors will keep certain facts from their patients. For their own good, of course, but as his bodyguard and assistant, I need to know these things. I hope that's understandable," Mercy explained. She kept her breathing and heart rate even, just as she did when she was faking out a lie detector.
"Of course. It is rather important that you keep him from being abducted," Tanaka said. She looked up at Mercy finally with a bit of a twinkle in her eye. "Again."
"Of course," Mercy repeated. "Clark and I have been taking shifts to make sure that no one else tries to run off with him. I can't think of anyone else who might do it, other than that alien stalker of Lex's. But I figure that if he were anywhere near competent, he would have succeeded in getting Lex back by now."
"Is that your assumption?" Tanaka tilted her head to the side and pushed her glasses up on her nose. "Perhaps he is biding his time. I don't imagine that keeping a patient that requires large amounts of fresh air and Vitamin D in a UFO would be any wiser than keeping him under ground."
"That's true." Mercy smirked and shook her head. "Well, Tomiko, I'll leave you to your work."
Tanaka tilted her head sideways and eyed Mercy with annoyance. The smirking virago simply nodded and walked out of the room. She needed to check on Lex anyway.
***
"Back to the grind, hm?" Domovoi walked into the kitchen and leaned on the island counter as he watched the cook, Romie, making grilled cheese on the stove.
"Hardly a grind, what these kids ask me to make," Romie replied jovially. "I'm one of the few in the world lucky enough to enjoy her job. Food is love. If a grilled cheese sandwich will make that little girl happy, I'm more than willing."
"I didn't mean to imply you don't like it here." Domovoi watched Romie as she expertly flipped a sandwich. He had always found Romie to be one of the more pleasant members of the staff, and it was easier to coordinate with her than with some other house cooks he'd had experienced.
"No offense taken. I'm just saying, if Lex were having dozens of people over every weekend for fancy parties, it might be a hard job. As it is, I keep the kitchen stocked and if they ask for something, I make it."
"Might be changing, soon."
"You think there will be more parties?" Romie looked back at Domovoi with a smirk.
"Not that kind. But I do believe there will be more and more people around."
"I've been hearing whispers about that. Well, if it gets to be too much, I'll ask for an assistant." Romie set the sandwiches on a plate and cut them in half. "Is Lex planning on bringing some more kids in? To tell you the truth, I wouldn't mind more to do around here."
"I don't think he's decided yet, to tell you the truth. He has a lot on his mind."
Romie opened the refrigerator and pulled out some mustard. "Well, I'd say. First he's kidnapped, then he's sick.. then he's kidnapped."
She spread a little mustard on the tops of the sandwiches. "Not to mention he's pregnant, but what can you do?"
"Make him cookies?" Domovoi suggested flippantly.
Romie chuckled heartily and picked up the plate. "There's a start. Any idea what he's craving?"
"Sunlight, as far as I can tell," he joked. He slipped his hand in his pockets and shook his head. "In all seriousness, Vitamin D."
"Well, we'll give him as much of that as we possibly can!" Romie beamed and took out a bottle of chocolate milk. "I have to take this to Maddie first. It's about time for a study break, don't you think?"
"Her morning tutor left, so I'd wager so." Domovoi nodded. "She seems to like learning Japanese."
"She likes all of the tutors," Romie noted, walking towards the door. "And you are very good at keeping her calm, and she has Lena most of the time, and Lex part of the time. I'm happy she has this, Dom. It would be awful to see what the foster system would do to that kid."
"Sometimes kids do get happy ending." Domovoi smiled and gave Romie a wave before leaving the kitchen to go about his business.
A few minutes later, she approached Maddie's room. There was some enthusiastic giggling inside, and Romie smiled. She wasn't sure who was in there with her, but Maddie sounded happy.
Romie approached the door and knocked lightly. "I have lunch, sweetheart!"
There was sudden silence. Romie heard Maddie whispering urgently, and then running over to the door. She frowned as the little girl opened the door and looked up at her with apprehension.
"What's wrong?" Romie asked. She peered into the room to see if someone was bothering her, but the room looked empty.
"Nothing. Is that for me?" Maddie took the plate and went back into the room.
Romie entered and looked around again. She had been sure she'd heard voices in here.
But still, she saw nothing. "Hon, who were you talking to in here?"
"Um. No one. I was just doing my homework." Maddie sat at the desk and took a bite of her sandwich. She looked back at Romie innocently. "Thank you for lunch!"
With a shake of her head, Romie shrugged and turned around. "Enjoy, Maddie."
She closed the door and stood at the door for a moment listening to see if they started talking again. Eventually, she decided that Maddie must have been watching a video on her new laptop or working with her language program and went back to her business.
***
Clark stepped into the darkened kitchen of the farmhouse and looked around curiously, letting his fingertips graze over the counter and the containers for sugar and things that his mother kept up there.
"Mom?" he called, wondering if anyone would be home. He hadn't visited in a while. It was strange for him because he'd never spent more than a few days away from his parents, baring times when he was high on Red K or kidnapped by his biological father.
Clark drifted into the sitting room, again, dark and quiet, then went upstairs. It seemed like an age since he'd been in his own bedroom, which was neater than he usually kept it. Likely his mother had come in here and straightened things up. He should probably go through some more of his personal effects
He approached his dresser and began to look through his things. With a frown, he saw Lana's old necklace. He really ought to give that back to her. An old football. Some birthday cards. Chloe's dried corsage from the spring formal. Clark decided that he was quite the packrat. Oh…
As Clark picked up the lead box, St. Georges' box Lex had called it, Clark couldn't quite remember when he'd gotten it back, but he was glad he had. He sat down on his bed with it and ran his fingers over the sides with a smile. Then he lifted the lid slowly, since he used to keep Kryptonite in there.
No Kryptonite. He chuckled at himself. Instead, there was another gift inside he'd gotten a long time ago, a bracelet from a young woman who'd been so certain that they were destined to be together. Clark's lips bowed downward as he thought about Kyla. She shouldn't have had to die. He still remembered that night with her naked and bleeding in his arms all too clearly.
This bracelet was a reminder that he couldn't save everyone. No wonder he'd put it in the box that Lex had told him would keep his anxieties and fears safely locked away.
"Clark?"
Clark set the box down and turned. "Dad? Hey."
Jonathan walked over. "This is sure a good surprise. I hear they found Lex."
"We did. We went in and got him. It was his dad who kidnapped him," Clark explained. "I'll tell you guys all about it. I know I've kept you in the dark recently."
"You've been busy saving the day," Jonathan said, patting Clark's back. "Still, a phone call would've been nice. Your mom's really been worried."
"Mom… Yeah, we're gonna have to explain some things to her, too. About Lionel." Clark arched a brow, thinking how this was going to go over. "There's a lot to tell."
Jonathan patted Clark's arm. "Well, come on downstairs, and we'll try to keep up."
An hour later, Clark was sitting around the kitchen table with his mother and father, drinking coffee. They'd listened carefully and clung to one another when they'd heard the bit on Lionel.
"I'm glad Lex is all right now," Martha said, cupping her face in her hand. "He is all right, isn't he?"
"He's recovering," Clark said vaguely. "And I have to get back there soon. I just…"
"You wanna make sure no one comes after him again," Jonathan concluded. "It's a reasonable feeling; you just got him back."
"I was wondering if you guys would be okay if he came over here. Maybe for dinner on Sunday or something?" Clark asked tentatively.
"Well, if he's feeling up to it," Martha replied, looking to Jonathan briefly. "And of course if he wants to. Have you asked him? The last time I saw him, he wasn't too keen on us, you know."
"Lex's temper is like a brushfire. Comes up like a flash but goes out pretty quick if there's nothing to fuel it. He knows you mostly believed Lionel because he manipulated you," Clark said, wrapping his fingers around his coffee cup.
Martha shook her head. "I'd certainly like to blame Lionel, Clark, but we can't let ourselves take such an easy out. Maybe he manipulated me. Maybe it made it harder to say no to him or to believe bad things about Lex and Lena, but I let him do it, in the end. Didn't Lex fight him for years? It can be done."
"Lena says you have to have "some pretty powerful psychic cajones" to tell Lionel no." Clark let out a soft laugh. "She would know. When they went head to head, he couldn't put a dent in her."
"I'd say not!" Martha agreed.
"Wait," Jonathan interjected. "If Lex can fight him, wouldn't he have to have some psychic…"
Clark crooked his mouth to the side. "He does. It's… understated, I guess, but it's there."
"What is it, then? He can't read minds. I know that for sure… Can he?"
"No, he can't, and he can't read or manipulate emotions like Lena or his father. He sees the future." Clark paused. "In his dreams. Lena thinks he could learn to meditate and bring a vision on… I guess he thinks that it's not the best ability out there, but I think it's pretty cool. It helped us find him and get him home."
Clark took a deep breath and went to pour himself another cup of coffee. "And when he and I are asleep together, he can reach out to me. And we can share dreams. It sounds crazy, but we did."
"Can he reach out to Lena, too?" Martha asked.
"No. They can feel each other, but they can't share dreams. Not yet, anyway. " Clark turned and leaned on the counter, then took a sip of his coffee. "He had a dream or two last year and the year before about aliens coming. Not many, but he knew things were going to happen. He just couldn't admit to himself that he believed he dreams were real. I wish we'd told each other about our abilities a lot sooner."
"And he could… see things? Even back then?" Jonathan shook his head. "He never seemed like he could do anything that."
"I think they got stronger after he met with Cassandra. Did I tell you he went to see her? He did. I think contact with another psychic made it more powerful, or contact with the Kryptonite did. I'm not sure." Clark set his mug down and looked at his parents. "Are you guys gonna be okay with me and Lex now? I feel like we've been in a tug of war for the past five years about him."
His parents looked at one another. Jonathan spoke first. "We've had a lot of time to think while you were gone, and you're a man now. A young man, but a man. And Martha thinks, and I agree, that I've been pushing you too hard in the direction I want you to go."
"Dad?"
"You're not me, and while it was okay to give you orders when you were a kid, it's not okay for me-"
"For either of us," Martha interjected.
"Right. It's not right for either of us to tell you how to live your life," Jonathan admitted. "From now on, if you want advice and support, we're here for you, always, but the decisions are up to you."
"Wow." Clark touched the table and frowned thoughtfully. "Well, in that case, I have one more thing to tell you. About me and Lex."
Martha covered a smile with her left hand. Jonathan looked between them and then up at Clark with a frown. "What about you and Lex?"
"We're together. As in… together. We were talking about it before he got abducted, and now that he's back, we decided to stop screwing around and just go for it." Like a sledgehammer. Clark pinched his lips together and waited for his parents to speak.
"I don't think you should be "going for it" if Lex is still trying to heal, Clark," Martha scolded, causing Clark's face to turn beet red.
That seemed to snap his father out of his stunned silence. "You're having sex Lex Luthor??"
"We're not having sex!" Clark cringed. "I think you two need to ask yourselves why your mind goes right to sex! We're… just together, and we'll see how things go." He paused, took a breath, and then continued with all the courage he had, "Sex will probably be on the agenda at some point. I don't know when that'll be, but for right now, working on us as a couple and as a team is where we're at."
"Oh." Martha frowned thoughtfully. "Well, that's probably a sensible way to go about it."
"Isn't he a little… old for you?" Jonathan asked. At Martha's scolding look, he sighed and raised his hands. "I'm just saying."
"He's not that much older than me, really. It's not as big a deal as it would be if we'd started a relationship when we were younger," Clark reasoned. "I know Lex was interested, and if I'd ever untangled my feelings about him enough to realize how much I love him, things could have gotten complicated."
"I know," Martha agreed. "That's why I was always asking you to cool things down with him."
"Maybe you should have explained that a little more, because unlike you two perverts, I had no idea what you meant by that."
"Clark!" Martha protested. Clark just laughed. Martha stood and walked around the table to give Clark a hug. "You love him."
"Well, yeah." Clark touched the back of his neck.
"You've told him that?"
"Yeah, I said it first. And he… he eventually did too."
"He said he loved you," Martha repeated at a bare whisper. She pressed her lips together and blinked quickly, then gave Clark a kiss on the cheek.
Jonathan let out a long sigh. "Have any other big surprises for us?"
"Hush. Our baby's in love," Martha said, covering her mouth again happily.
"I do kind of have one more big surprise, but I wanted you guys to be okay with this before I sprung it. And Lex needs to be here." Clark grinned. "So I guess you'll have to wait for Sunday."
"Let us know what Lex says, and I'll make sure my schedule is clear. If he's coming over for a Kent family dinner, I want to have the time to cook," Martha told him.
"Better than having me cook. Last time he ate my cooking, I think he lost some internal organs," Jonathan joked. "Better leave me to the fried chicken."
"That wasn't your fault, Dad. He was just sick." Clark rubbed his mother's back. "I'll talk to him about it though."
"Well, if he's gonna be serious about this, then we all need to start trying to get along as a family," Jonathan said, rubbing the back of his head. He set down his coffee and walked over to pat Clark's shoulder.
Clark looked down at his shoes for a second before meeting his father's eye. "I couldn’t agree more."
***
Leg curled up against her body, eyes fixed on their twins in the reflection of a silver plated vanity that Lex had installed in her room, Lena focused on that image in front of her, mimicking all of her movements. She hadn't thought about it much. Hadn't allowed herself to think about it.
Lena couldn't see anything of Lionel's face in her face. Her cheekbones were her mother's. Her chin her grandmother's. Lionel's face was long, longer than hers, and not as squared. His eyes more hazel than the honey brown Lena shared with her aunt.
Raking slender fingers through her dark brown hair, the hair with just a tint of red, she frowned, thinking that that red couldn’t have come from Lionel. His hair had been dark brown, and Lex had gotten his red hair from his mother. Or had the grandparents been ginger? It was possible, since they were straight from Scotland. Scots could be redheads, couldn’t they? Lena admitted that she'd never spent much time trying to distinguish between the physical characteristics of that area. It had never seemed to relate to her.
Then she looked at her hands and gave a slight nod. It was the hands. There had to be a physical trace, and this must be it. Lionel Luthor had the long fingers of a pianist. Lex had those hands, even if he only occasionally played. Her hands were his, if not her face.
"Lenie?"
Lena looked up to see Lex coming in and smiled, feeling warmth bloom from the both of them. It was so good to have him home that any remaining grief she felt from the loss of her baby was soon chased away. That pang of sadness would be there with her, perhaps always, but it was diminished right now, and for that she was very grateful.
Lex lowered himself onto the bench with her slowly, and she took his hand as he did so to help him balance.
"Thanks." He looked at their reflection together. "What are you thinking about?"
"Identity. Hybridity. Hypocrisy. Did your grandparents have red hair?" Lena asked. She looked up at Lex's face, then to their reflection, trying to see a resemblance there.
"Eliza Luthor, my grandmother did. I believe Lachlan had brown hair." Lex drew his fingers through the hair on the side of Lena's head. "I'm sorry."
"You don't have to keep apologizing for being related to me." Lena rolled her eyes. "We don't look alike, you know."
Lex shrugged. "Well. No. I favor my mother. As you do yours."
"It's my powers that are the most like him," Lena whispered after a moment. "I don't think anyone has seen that yet."
Lex narrowed his eyes. "How so?"
"It's the same base ability, Lex. Powers just develop differently from person to person. Feeling what people feel? Manipulating what people feel? It's all rooted in emotion. He just developed in a completely different way because all he ever wanted to do was make people do what he wants."
Lex's strong but elegant hand rubbed over the back of her shoulders. "That bothers you. Lena, don't let him diminish your faith in your powers. You've always used them for good-"
"Have I? I can't manipulate people the way Lionel did because a long time ago, I tried to make sure that I didn't use what I knew to hurt people, but I… I do get nosy, Lex. I do run around sometimes like I know everything and everyone has to listen to me. You weren't there, but... When I was younger… I used to make a big ol' mess. "
"Did you, huh? I think I want to hear about that someday. I think you did okay here." Lex leaned over and kissed her cheek, hugging her to him.
"Well, some of these people needed it," Lena muttered.
"Just because our father warped your gift into something that is basically the perpetual, mental rape of everyone around him doesn't mean that the ability itself is evil. It means that he is evil," Lex said flatly. "…Was evil. And it was his choices that made it so."
"That's cold comfort when I have the blood of that man in my veins."
Lex nodded softly and looked up at the mirror again. "I think I know how you feel."
"These days, don't you always?" Lena joked weakly. She sucked in her lower lip and wiped a tear from her cheek. "I feel like I'm carrying all the hateful things he's done around inside me."
Lex took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I remember you telling me, when we'd first met- Well, the second time we'd met, actually, that I shouldn’t feel the guilt for what he's done. He's only who he can be, and we can wish for our parents to be better, but that's not who he is," Lex reminded her. "And you know that who he is, is not who we are."
"That's for you, baby. Because you grew up with him, and you love him, and that makes what he tried to teach you harder to push away," Lena replied.
"Yes, but you didn't grow up with those lessons. They're not yours. You grew up with your mother, and Nana Nan, and all those other people whose lessons and stories you value." Lex squeezed her shoulder. "Isn't it your choice whether you want to accept him as your father at all?"
"It's complicated, Lexie." Lena reached up and patted Lex's cheek. She took his hand and turned away from the mirror. "I think I need to go back home. Go talk to my family. I've been away too long."
She felt the twinge in Lex's chest, but he leaned over to embrace her.
"Not forever, Lexie. I'll come back. I just want to go out and see them." Lena laughed softly. "You're my family too. I always wanted siblings, you know."
"Hm. You got the one. A pity you never met Lucas. He was… something else."
Lena pulled back and gave Lex a kiss on the forehead. "Let's just be happy for who we have in our lives now, yes? I have something I've been meaning to ask you."
"Anything," Lex promised. He looked down as Lena put her hands on either side of his belly, caressing it lovingly.
"I want to adopt Maddie. She needs a mother, and she trusts me. She trusts you, too. I don't think she's going to extend that gift to anyone else. She was abused, Lex. She can't say it, but I can feel how she gets around other women. Women older than her. They make her nervous. It'll be good for her to stay here, if they'll let it go through. I mean, I'm single, and I only have my business-"
"Well, your bastard father just died. His will specifies that his estate is to be divided among any heirs he may have. That's me and you. Granted, it's not as much as it used to be since I took over, but the man had a way of accruing wealth. I think it should be obvious to any social worker that you certainly have the means now to take care of a child."
Lena tilted her head back. "Huh. Funny how that works out."
"You can have all of it. I have enough for my daughter, Clark, and myself. And I know whom to call to make sure the paperwork doesn't get in your way."
"No." Lena shook her head. "I don’t want all that. I don't need all that money."
"Then… Perhaps you can tell me to which charity we should donate the rest of it." Lex tightened his lips. "In my father's loving memory of course. Charity was one of his most loathed vices."
Lena covered her mouth as she burst into laughter. Then, Lex began to laugh softly as well.
***
Wearing black sunglasses a black dress suit, Chloe entered the posh apartment building. Her heels clicked against the expensively tiled floors, and she removed her sunglasses as she met the doorman at his desk.
"May I help you, m'am?"
"You might. I'm Agent Woodward, and I need to have a word with Lana Lang." She pulled a badge out of her suit jacket and opened it for him.
"Don't your kind usually come with a partner?" he asked, scanning the badge.
"Actually, I do have a partner. Agent Bernstein is currently following another lead in Smallville." Chloe put the fake badge away. "Ms. Lang?"
"Ms. Lang is out."
"Then I'd like to see her apartment. Do you know when she'll be back?"
"I can't let you up without a warrant," he said, crossing his skinny arms.
"Good thing I have one then, hm? What's your name?"
The man frowned as he looked at the paper. "Joseph."
"Very 80s, not having a last name, Joseph. Do you know when she'll be back?" Chloe pressed.
"No, I don't."
"How long has she been gone?"
"I'm not certain. Over a week, at least. She has a maid who comes in to clean.
"I'd like her name as well, if you don't mind." Chloe put her hand on her hip. "Your cooperation with this investigation would be greatly appreciated. I know Ms. Lang personally, and her disappearance doesn't particularly bode well for her. The sooner she's found, the better."
"Oh?" Joseph frowned and took out a card. "This is the name of the cleaning service. I think her name is Darla, but I could be wrong about that. We've only talked a couple of times, and I'm embarrassed to admit there's another woman in the service who looks similar and I get them confused."
"It happens. I have a relative who tells a lot of people apart by their hairstyles. If someone wore glasses one day, she'd be completely confused."
Joseph chuckled as he got the key for her. "I have to stay here to watch the door."
"No problem. I won't be long. As you said, it's better to work with the partner. I'll want her set of eyes on this." Chloe took the key and turned to the elevator. Once inside, she took a relieved breath and decided that she really did prefer to work with a partner, be it Clark or Mercy.
A few minutes later she was letting herself into Lana's expansive apartment.
"God, my eyeballs are going to bleed," Chloe muttered. She closed the door behind her and ventured in further. Lana had clearly spared no expense in decorating this place, although Chloe thought she might have spared taste by exercising some self-control. Apparently restraint was no longer in Lana's vocabulary.
She moved through the apartment almost automatically, as though drawn, and found herself to a large sitting room of different shades of red and pink.
On the mantle, despite the garish coloring of the rest of the room, two colorful cards managed to catch Chloe's eye. They stood together upright, and as she drew closer, they only seemed more vibrant. Chloe'd never had much interest in fortune-telling or tarot cards, but these were quite alluring. The first had a woman dressed entirely in white. She held an orb aloft as she walked through the night, moon high in the sky above her and swans at her feet. The second featured a girl surrounded by fire and leaning on a long scepter. Along the top, the names of the cards were written in script-The High Priestess and The Queen of Wands.
In front of the cards, a letter was folded neatly.
"A letter. How Lana-like. I guess we're lucky we didn't get a video." Chloe picked up the pink-tinged paper and skimmed over the words:
I write this letter to inform whoever found me first how deeply sorry I am for having to leave. Everything I've done has been for the best, but I can't stay here if you don't trust me-
"Bullshit. You stole my computer!" Chloe argued to the empty air of the vacated apartment. She sighed and continued.
-if you don't trust me, and Clark's talk with me makes be believe that neither he nor you really do. After years of friendship, I expected more from you both-
Chloe tucked the letter into her pocket. She couldn't read any more at the moment. It made her too angry. Lana cut and ran because she was connected to Lionel's projects with the metahumans, and Chloe knew this. She'd find her eventually. She'd just wanted to have the chance to talk to Lana about what had happened between them.
Again, she felt her eyes drifting to the cards, so she curiously reached out to pick up The High Priestess. It seemed the most interesting one.
Suddenly a pink light flashed around her fingers, then seemed to wash over her arm and down the rest of her body, culminating in a little squeak at the pinch deep inside her. She shivered, staring at the card almost in rapt fixation as her eyes glowed pink for just a moment before returning to their natural green.
Chloe then looked around the apartment. She dropped the card, forgetting it immediately, and walked calmly out of the apartment, to the elevator, and past the doorman who tried to catch her attention. Once she was outside she frowned, looking up and down the street.
"Where…?" Chloe let out a noise of frustration and tried to look for the street signs. "You'd think a year working in this town and I wouldn't get lost all the time."
Shaking her head at herself, she waved her arm to hail a taxi. She needed to get back to work… Well, at one of her jobs, even if she couldn't recall which one she needed to be doing at this exact moment.
***
The last licks of the afternoon sun bathed Lex as he finished up checking his email. Running the empire from behind the scenes wasn't too difficult, as long as he sent out a video every now and then to assure the masses he still lived. He hoped he could keep this up because returning to work full time might not be an option any time soon.
He tugged the white t-shirt he was wearing down a little and wiggled in his chair. The girls were concerned about the placement of the metahumans they'd saved from Lionel's dungeon, but Lex knew this was a small detail that he could handle. He didn't have to be physically present to be imposing. He'd learned that in dealing with metahumans who had abilities that would affect him when they were in proximity.
The first step was containment; the next, negotiation. He had a two-way video screen set up in his office, and he would speak to them one by one, until he'd talked to them all. The more he could convince to sign on for rehabilitation the better. The rest would go back into the system to face their charges. He couldn't force protection on people, and the government did have ways of dealing with metahumans.
The benefit to these negotiations, of course, would be that many of the metahumans who Lionel gathered on his own had already been to those places and they'd been to Lionel's dungeon. Either they'd shut down or they'd be ready to talk.
"You're adorable in my t-shirt." Clark kissed Lex on the top of the head and knelt beside Lex.
"Adorable? Me?" Lex's lower lip flattened slightly, and he leaned over to give Clark a soft kiss. "I'm stretching it out for you."
"Yes, you. I don't think I've ever seen you wearing a t-shirt before."
"I've never been as wide as I am tall before."
"You are not as wide as you are tall." Clark ran his fingers over Lex's exposed collarbone. "Yet."
Lex shook his head and laughed as he closed the laptop. Then he set it aside out of the way. "How did the trip home go?"
"Pretty good. I caught my parents up on several key developments. They seem a lot saner now." Clark grimaced.
"They needed the time alone, I suppose, to bang out their differences."
Clark closed his eyes and sighed. "Tell me that wasn't a double entendre. Or tell me it was, because if it wasn't then I'm starting to think like my parents."
"How is that?" Lex smiled and bent his legs at the knee.
"Sex on the brain."
"Oh… I see. How… nice for them."
"I told them about us." Clark scooted closer and rested his hand on Lex's leg.
Lex arched a brow and looked at Clark cautiously. "You did. How'd they take it?"
"Not as bad as I thought. Mom's going to cook on Sunday, if you don't mind coming over for a Kent family dinner."
"Really? That easy?" Lex frowned skeptically.
Both of Clark brows went up, and he shrugged. "Apparently my parents had already done some soul searching while I was gone about how to deal with their alien nineteen year old." He squeezed Lex's thigh. "Mom's really sorry, by the way."
"Your father came by not long after that all exploded and told me she was. Time and chance make for good distance between arguments." Lex put his hand on Clark's shoulder and caressed it gently. "We can visit them on Sunday."
"I figured, if you don't mind, we could tell them about, um…" Clark looked pointedly at Lex's belly.
Lex smirked. "I'm sure I don't know to what you're referring. My sartorial choices of the day?"
"I love you," Clark said with a laugh. "Um. I also did a little packing of things while I was there."
"You're welcome to move whatever you need over to the castle, at least until we move to Metropolis. At the moment it's nice to be protected by a castle, but I don't want our daughter growing up around so much Kryptonite. That can't be good for her."
"It might have helped me develop a tolerance, but I can't disagree that it would be safer for both of you away from Smallville." Clark reached behind him. "So, I wanted to give you something. I don't have a ring."
He brought St. George's box in front of his chest and looked up into Lex's eyes tenderly. "I have this."
"I'd wondered what you did with that. I never saw it around your room." Lex reached out and touched the side of the box. "But that was my gift to you, Clark. I'm not going to take it back."
"I know. I keep the box. Your gift is inside." He opened the lid.
Lex was quiet a moment before reaching into the box to pull out the bracelet inside. He stared at the clunky bracelet. It was made of a silver-like metal with designs imprinted along the sides, and in the middle a hunk of turquoise was cut into a diamond.
"What is this?" he asked in a neutral tone.
"It's Kyla's bracelet. You remember the girl my sophomore year who could turn into a wolf?" The way Lex's mouth pinched told Clark that Lex didn't like being given an ex-girlfriend's jewelry, so Clark quickly explained, "That bracelet has been in her family for centuries. It's on the cave walls, too. It was supposed to be the bracelet of the 'woman' Naman loved. The one he was destined to be with. Kyla's grandfather gave it to me after she died and told me to give it to my… true one. The person I'm supposed to be with."
"You are…" Lex shook his head. "A little too sweet, Clark."
"Nah." Clark grinned. "I know it's not your style. You don't have to wear it. I just wanted you to have it."
Lex shrugged. "At least it won't get stuck if my fingers start to swell."
He took the bracelet and moved to put it on, but Clark stopped him.
"No, if you're going to wear it, I have to put it on you."
"Why is that?"
"I'm on bended knee here, and everything. Just…"
Clark took the bracelet in his hand, and when Lex held out his left wrist, Clark slipped it on with care and moved to give the hand a kiss.
That was when the bracelet began to glow, white light emanating around the turquoise stone, which seemed to evaporate in the light. The metal of the bracelet unlocked and reformed almost fluidly until the light diminished.
They both stared at the bracelet a moment. In place of the stone, the House of El's crest shone in the fading sunlight. The remainder of the bracelet wrapped sleekly around Lex's wrist, with only lightly engraved Kryptonian symbols running along the edge.
"You are my destiny," Clark whispered lifting his hand to twine his fingers through Lex's.
Lex looked again at the bracelet and the way it seemed to both absorb and reflect the sunlight. He suspected that an examination would reveal that like the octagonal disk, it would contain metals like nothing on this planet. He didn’t know about destiny; it was something he'd been fighting his entire life, but some things simply couldn't be denied.
"I think this might suit my tastes after all."