Pairing: Lex/Clark
Rating: Slash, R for content
Spoilers for: Shimmer, up to Asylum
Disclaimer: Lex and Clark are not mine, but I treat them better than WB, so maybe they won't go back.

Summary: She might be crazy, but she knows what he needs.

Notes: First published in "Better Part of Me"
Dedicated to VampyrAlex, who sowed the seed. It’s all yours, hon.

A big "Thank you" to my beta readers as always.

Feedback: Please!

"Let us leave, my Death, let us look for another place to talk about madness, for there is no place for us in this round anymore." Louis Aragon

Destiny is Madness

Her head against the window, she watches cornfields fly by, as the bus takes her closer and closer to her destination. Not her home. Because she’s Metropolis-born and for the last five years she’s been living in Metropolis, too. In a place called Belle Vue.

“That’s French for ‘beautiful view’,” a soft voice whispers in her ear.

She smiles. She can always hear his voice, his beloved voice, even when he’s nowhere near. He doesn’t leave her; he’s a part of her. As she is his. They belong together. They are destined to be.

The bus stops. She gets off and collects her bag. She’s back in Smallville. Here, where it ended, and yet only just began.

She wonders if people will remember her. She’s still a teenager, she hasn’t changed that much. But then again, nobody’d ever really noticed her. Just a kid running around, the daughter of servants, writing secrets in her diary about her crush on the Luthor heir.

She rolls her eyes in silent mockery as memories rise in her head. ‘It wasn’t a crush,’ she tells herself. ‘Lex and I are destined to be. We belong.’

She knows that now, even more clearly than before. The therapy has brought it all into perspective.

She had been stupid to believe he would fall for a fourteen-year-old girl. But that didn’t change the fact that she loved him. Nor that he liked her. She had seen it in his eyes, his smile. Heard it in his voice every time he spoke her name.

And he had proven it in the years between. He had paid for her stay in Belle Vue, had made sure that she was well cared for, when the doctors had decided that therapy alone wouldn’t be enough, that she had to be under constant observation for a while.

She knew it had been him, not his father, and certainly not her parents, for they wouldn’t have had the money to pay even for a meal in that sanitarium, much less a room.

Looking around, she almost misses her room, with its bright colors, and the big windows that overlook the park just behind the building.

The apartment he had helped her find is nice, but it doesn’t feel like home yet. Still, he’s made sure that she’s comfortable. Even though she’d stolen his watch. Even though her brother had tried to kill him.

She growls at that. She knows Jeff only did it for her, but how could he dare to hurt her love? How could he? He didn’t understand anything at all.

‘Idiot!’ she thinks, then anger becomes fond exasperation. Yes, her brother is an idiot, but a useful idiot. One who has told her how to become truly invisible. The major ingredient for her plan.

She shoulders her bag and starts walking. The mansion is a long way out of town, but she is used to long walks. The house will be deserted, for her beloved lives in Metropolis now, but that won’t stop her getting in. She’s thought of everything.

It’s sunny and warm, and every step she takes is one step closer to her destiny. There is no reason to be afraid. No reason why she should fail. She does this for love, for Lex - and love will conquer all.

Madness is Truth

He’s in pain, in Kryptonite induced pain. Which doesn’t come as a surprise, really, since that’s the only thing that seems to be able to hurt him - physically at any rate. Emotionally, now that’s a different matter entirely.

What does surprise him is that he blacked out. He can’t remember ever having done that before. He didn’t know he could. But now there’s a big hole in his memory.

He remembers the car by the side of the road with its hood up, and the girl standing there, her thumb in the air. He had stopped, like the good neighbor he was. He had left the truck and asked what was wrong; and then he had realized he knew her, the name teetering on the edge of his tongue just when the pain hit.

The Kryptonite pain. She had a green meteorite rock in her hands, and just as he tried to crawl away, someone had come up from behind the car and hit him with something. It isn’t the last thing he remembers, but it comes close, and everything afterwards happens in a haze.

The rock shoved into his shirt. Someone heaving him into the car. An engine starting. A female voice saying, “He’s waiting for you. He’ll be so grateful. You’re just the perfect gift.” Then darkness.

And now he’s here, in what seems to be a vacated factory building, probably on the outskirts of Metropolis. Lying bound on cold ground. Green glowing rocks just too close for comfort. He aches all over, and he’s too weak to move, but he doesn’t feel like he’s going to die. It’s a small mercy.

He’s been dumped in a dark corner, but Amy stands in the light, talking to someone who just now moves into Clark’s line of sight. He swallows. That’s not the person who helped Amy kidnap him, he knows that. Even semi-conscious, he would have recognized that person touching him.

But that Lex is here means that he’s the one she was talking about. The one who was waiting for Clark. And somehow that doesn’t come as a surprise to Clark at all. He knows that Lex was obsessed with him.

And maybe it has been a mutual thing. For even now, hurting and scared, Clark can’t stop himself from feasting his eyes on Lex. He categorizes his movements, the self-assured walk, the don’t-mess-with-me pose of his shoulders. The arms that seem to hang casually at his side, but Clark can see the tension in them, the readiness to defend himself from a sudden blow.

Lex is like a caged panther nowadays. His movements sparse, never more than the possible steps towards one side of the cage. No lingering before turning back, no looking outside. He’s more beautiful than ever, his brilliance highlighted by the golden bars of his life.

And Clark aches for him. Just like he aches for himself. For the loss. For the knowledge that all of that beauty had been his for the taking. That there’d been a time that Lex had not only been beautiful but also free like an eagle. And that nothing could compare to Lex unbounded. Lex on the verge of flying.

Tears well up and blur his sight, and just like that his enhanced hearing kicks in, despite the pain and the weakness.

“Amy, why did you ask me to come here? As much as I like our chats, I am a busy man.” Lex’s unhurried voice belies his words.

“I brought you a gift, Lex.” Amy sounds proud – Clark wonders if she bounces on the balls of her feet as she speaks.

“A gift.” Lex’s tone indicates limitless patience. “You know you’re not supposed to give me anything.”

“But it’s a good thing. It’s not something to make you love me.” She speaks fast, as if she knows that she has to convince him, or otherwise he’ll just walk away without looking at her present. “It’s something that proves that I don’t expect you to love me at all. A gift like that can’t be wrong, can it? The doctor said that I have to accept that we’re not supposed to be… a couple. And I have accepted that. I really have. I swear.”

“Okay, Amy. I believe you. I know we talked about it. You know I like you, and I think you’ve become a beautiful woman, but I’m not in love with you, and never will be.” His words as well as his tone indicate familiarity, and a wave of jealousy runs through Clark.

It has been years since Lex and he have been that close, and he misses their conversations like he misses the belief that his parents will always know what the right thing to do is. He has long lost that security, even longer ago than he lost Lex.

“So, what is this intriguing gift?” There’s a smile in that question, and that is just so wrong in Clark’s opinion, though he can’t say why.

Or maybe it is the fact that you shouldn’t be amused by the whimsies of a girl who is clearly as mentally unbalanced right now as she was five years ago, if not even more so.

“It’s here.”

And light floods the corner where Clark is lying. It blinds him just for a second, but still long enough to miss Lex’s reaction to his presence. When his eyes adjust, Lex isn’t even looking at him, but at Amy.

“That… is a surprise, Amy.” There’s a catch in Lex’s voice, but Clark doesn’t know what it means. Three years ago, he would have known. Three years ago, Lex would have rushed to his side, tearing off the ropes.

He remembers Belle Reve. He remembers Lex shouting at Ian and Eric to let Clark go, that Clark was his friend. But back then, Clark had been Lex’s friend. Had saved his life on a regular basis, had tried to protect him at every turn. And had lied to him. Again and again.

The lies… they had been the downfall of their friendship. Not because Lex couldn’t forgive Clark. Not because Lex involuntarily had hurt Clark or risked his life.

No, but because Lex had believed Clark, and because of that had believed what Lionel said. And since Clark had never mustered up the courage to speak the truth, Lex had one day just deemed their relationship to be over.

‘My fault,’ Clark thinks and looks up at the man he has loved for most of his teenage years.

“I knew you wanted him. I knew there were reasons why you couldn’t have him. I just didn’t know what they were.” Amy is eager to tell her story; there’s no question that she believes that Lex will approve of her actions.

“I went to Smallville. I made myself invisible. My brother taught me how. And I went to the Kent farm. They never saw me, never realized I was there, and they were talking. About Clark. About him being an alien. He’s an alien!” She smiles, and it makes her look actually pretty. “And he is super strong, he can lift a whole tractor without breaking a sweat. And I realized that’s why you never went for him.”

And Clark realizes that the maddening feeling of being watched hadn’t been paranoia at all. He wants to kick himself for not using his x-ray vision.

“But then I found out that the meteorites weaken him. So I knew I could bring him here. He’s yours now. And here’s everything I found out about him.” She pulls a disc from her jacket and hands it to Lex.

He takes it with a nod. “How did you get him here? He’s pretty heavy.”

“Jeff helped me.”

“Your brother’s here?” There’s alarm in Lex’s voice and his free hand moves to the waistband at the small of his back, where - as Clark’s x-ray vision shows fuzzily – he wears a gun.

“No!” Amy shakes her head. “I would never let him near you again. I’m so sorry he hurt you. No, he just helped me to get Clark in the car. Then I sent him on his way again, he doesn’t even know what this is all about. He’s stupid, but useful.” She shrugs. “I just drove the car in here and pulled Clark out. That’s all.”

“You thought this through.” Lex’s expression shows respect for a job well done.

Which makes Clark’s stomach lurch. Lex isn’t supposed to respect a crazy girl; he should be wondering about securing her.

Memories rise, reminding him that Lex is none too stable, either. That the drugs he’d been slipped wouldn’t explain everything. ‘Lex is not crazy!’ he shouts at the memories. ‘He never was!’

‘But maybe he isn’t quite normal, either.’ The thoughts are there and won’t vanish.

Lex has always been different, in a good way for an estranged teenage alien, but who knows what the shock therapy really did to his brain? How much is the old Lex and how much is a new one? A dangerous one. A crazy one.

“I want you to have what you want. I want you to be happy.” Amy stands tall, glowing devotion on her face as she looks at Lex. Whatever went on during her therapy, it definitely didn’t cure her of her obsession.

“And I appreciate that.” Lex smiles. Fondly. “What do you plan to do next?”

Her excitement dims slightly. “I don’t know, I hoped….” She doesn’t finish, but it’s obvious that she hoped to become a part of Lex’s life. Maybe not as a lover, but as someone significant.

There is a moment of profound silence, then the offer of a future.

“Would you like to become my bodyguard, Amy?” It should sound ridiculous, that small girl becoming Lex Luthor’s personal protector, but there’s no question that Lex means it and Amy wants it. She nods. Her eyes blaze.

“You’d have to go through an intensive training period. You’d be away for a long time. You do realize that, don’t you?” For a moment, Clark almost expects her to salute. But she just nods again.

“Good.” Lex points outside. “Talk to my driver. Tell him to call Nottingham for you; he’ll know what that means. Then go home and wait. I’ll call you soon.”

Amy smiles and just turns and walks away, a carefree bounce in her step, as if everything just fell into place for her. There’s a part of Clark that envies her for that. The part that is not terrified of what will happen once she’s outside the building. And then the door falls shut behind her, and Clark’s eyes meet Lex’s for the first time.

Truth is Love

Lex isn’t quite sure how to wrap his mind around reality. Around the fact that the beautiful boy he has loved ever since their first meeting is lying at his feet.

Clark’s wearing jeans and a flannel shirt, a sure sign that he’s been home for summer vacation, reverting back to Clark, the farm boy, leaving Clark, the college student behind in Metropolis.

Lex has never stopped observing Clark. He knows Clark’s schedule at the university, has checked out all of Clark’s new friends. And he has a strong suspicion who Metropolis’ new hero is.

But he hasn’t talked face to face with Clark since his high school graduation.

There had been a few phone calls, then some emails over the first year, but then nothing. Not even a card last Christmas.

Their relationship finally terminated.

But now Clark is here, looking as beautiful and young as ever. Not like a fifteen-year-old child, he has never looked that young to Lex, but like an angel fallen from the sky. Pure, innocent and yet powerful beyond mortal means. An alien being.

Lex smiles at that. His own Warrior Angel with hair.

Clark is looking at him with his sea-green eyes, silently questioning, his mouth slightly open, the tip of his tongue peeking out, drawing Lex’s gaze to the sheen of sweat on Clark’s skin.

Only then does it register with him that Clark is in pain, that he’s held down by the softly glowing meteorite pieces lying next to him.

With a sound close to a sob, Lex drops to his knees beside his friend, his hand touching one wet cheek.

“I’m sorry,” he whispers, then grabs the first of the meteor rocks and throws it as far away as he’s able. He quickly does the same with the other two pieces.

Then he pulls frantically at the ropes, trying to get them loose, while his hands shake like leaves in the wind.

Finally Clark is free, but Lex seems unable to stop touching him. His hands roam over Clark’s chest, almost as if checking for injuries. His eyes though are locked on Clark’s face, seeking awareness, approval, seeking… something. Lex doesn’t know what he’s looking for, but he knows he can’t stand the silence.

“I’m sorry, Clark. I didn’t know she’d do that.” The only reaction he gets is the blinking of alien eyes, almost as if Clark’s waking from a trance. At least Lex hopes it’s something like that, because the thought that the meteorites did some permanent damage to Clark flashes through his mind and scares him shitless.

“Are you all right? Clark, talk to me.” He’s begging now, even though his voice is strong and controlled.

Then Clark sits up, his expression one of relief and wonder.

“I’m all right, Lex. It’s okay.” And he smiles. The hey-I’m-your-best-friend smile that Lex would kill for.

He knows that he’s smiling, too. He’s also still touching Clark. Not his chest anymore, but holding on to his arms in an imitation of support, when it’s Lex who needs steadying.

He thought he could go through life without Clark, told himself that it was just an eccentric habit that would have him think of Clark and what he would say or do in his place. A mind game, nothing more. He doesn’t pretend to have a love life, but neither does he admit that all of his erotic dreams are centered on his best friend. And he’s still calling him that. There’s no other, will never be another.

The moment stretches and then Clark grabs his arms, as if he realizes that Lex is ready to fall, or maybe it is the farm boy version of a brothers-in-arms grip, but Lex knows he has to get away now or he might admit to things better left unsaid.

“Lex, are you all right?”

And just like that the small window of escape has closed. But somehow Lex doesn’t care.

“Of course.” He nods and wonders if the fact that he’s kneeling on the ground isn’t making him out to be a liar. Luthors don’t kneel in the dirt. Unless someone’s holding a gun to their head. Or they’re in a rebellious teenager phase, drugged, drunk, and probably beaten by someone who didn’t appreciate their finely honed sarcasm.

Lex shakes free of the memory. He’s still touching Clark and Clark’s still touching him. This is a good place to be. Cold, dirty, hard ground not withstanding. Or maybe it’s good because all of that makes it more real.

“I had no idea she would go after you. I hope you believe me.” He has to say it again, as he needs Clark’s belief in him.

“I know, I do.” Clark nods sympathetically. “But you’ve been talking to her.” The irritation is strong in the not quite question.

“Yes.” Lex has to get to his feet now, face his next words standing or he might fall apart. He rises and pulls Clark with him.

Now that they are standing, the height difference becomes more obvious. Lex is tall, but Clark is even taller. Lex knows that for a fact, but somehow he always forgets about it until he has to look up at him.

“How come?” Clark’s still waiting for an explanation. “I didn’t think it would be… good for her to see you, I mean, she was kinda… obsessed.”

“Was?” Lex quips and raises an eyebrow.

Clark grins in response. The years of silence evaporate in seconds.

Then Lex sobers, takes a deep breath to steel himself. “I wasn’t at first. In contact with her, I mean. It was only after Belle Reve…“ He looks away now, reshapes his sentence. “I don’t really remember much of my stay there, but for a while I had nightmares. Nightmares about being in something more like a prison than a sanitarium. And I investigated and found my nightmares had understated the truth.”

Lex laughs, a small self-depreciating laugh. “My father’s standards weren’t quite as luxurious as I expected.” He doesn’t dare to look at Clark now, not sure what he fears, but sure he doesn’t want to see whatever his friend has to offer. “After that, I had to make sure that Amy wasn’t in something similar. I didn’t think she deserved that.”

“Neither did you.” Clark’s words are barely above a whisper.

Now Lex looks at him, and the guilt he sees is unexpected. But he doesn’t question it, just shrugs. “Maybe not. Anyway, that’s when I contacted her doctor, and he thought it would be a good thing if I actually visited her. Some kind of test, I imagine. So I stopped by. Once in a while. And we talked.”

He cocks his head slightly. “I guess being in therapy has honed her skills at reading people. I wasn’t aware I’d given so much away.” He musters a wry grin. “Though her imagination is pretty wild. I’m absolutely sure I never even thought of having you lying, tied up at my feet.” ‘At least not in her proximity.’ He’s quite aware that this actually is one of his fantasies; one that he finds both arousing and disturbing.

“She thought you wanted me.” Clark colors lightly as he says that, but goes on anyway. “Was she wrong?”

Lex swallows. He’s not sure what the right answer is and he’s afraid to give the wrong one. Clark must have known that Lex was attracted to him, but had never indicated that he was interested, too. There’d always been a strain on their relationship because of it, at least that’s how Lex had interpreted it. If he says that he is over Clark now, would that mean a fresh chance for their friendship? Or is Clark just curious, and by now, mature enough not to let it bother him either way?

The seconds tick by as Lex ponders his response.

“Lex?” Clark’s hand is on his arm again. Strong, warm, supporting. There is no way he can rebuild their friendship on a lie.

“I miss you,” Lex says, his voice steady, and he has used the present tense for a reason. For he doesn’t take anything for granted anymore. Not money, not freedom, not Clark. Everything can be taken away in a heartbeat; he has learned that lesson well.

“I missed you, too.” Clark’s expression is a strange amalgam of sadness and hope. “More than you know.”

It’s a new beginning; Lex realizes that, even as he is drawn into a hug. His memory shows him other embraces, but as he closes his eyes, and takes in the warmth and the scent of his best friend, Lex is certain that this time they’ll get it right, because this embrace was initiated by Clark. It’s a small, but significant change.

The world stills as they stand like this. Lex doesn’t want to let go; he’s happy in a place outside time.

Clark is the one to break the silence. “I’m sorry,” he says, his face buried in Lex’s shoulder.

Lex is about to say, ‘I know,’ when he realizes he doesn’t. But he can say, “It’s all right,” for it is. Having his best friend back makes everything all right.

“I didn’t want to lie to you.” Clark’s tone speaks of unshed tears.

“Why did you?” Lex is really curious about that. Not judging, not really angry. He’s a liar, too. And often enough for no other reason than that he’s used to lying. But Clark, Clark seems to come from an honest background; he had to have reasons. Reasons a Luthor didn’t need.

Clark has left their embrace now. The guilt is back in his gaze.

“I was afraid,” he begins. “What you’d do at first, how you’d react later.” He swallows. “Then, that you couldn’t forgive me.”

Lex blinks at that. The whole idea seems ridiculous to him. “I would forgive you anything, Clark.” How can Clark not know that?

“You don’t know what you’re forgiving, Lex. There’s more than not telling you about… me being an alien.”

He can see that Clark expects questions, or more precisely an interrogation. But Lex is not willing to go down that road. He has Clark back. He won’t risk that. For once his inquiring persona has to take the backseat.

When Lex stays quiet, Clark points at the pocket where Lex has put the disc.

“What are you going to do with that?” The wavering voice tells of deep-rooted fear, even if Clark’s expression is unreadable.

“What I always do with that particular kind of information.” Lex takes the disc out and offers it to Clark. “Store it in the back of my mind and forget about it otherwise.”

He remembers his room in the mansion, full of evidence that Clark is something special. That room is gone now. It was necessary when he was still trying to get behind the mystery; it was his shrine to his savior as well as his laboratory. He hasn’t rebuilt it in Metropolis; the mystery is gone, and his collection of photos featuring Clark can hardly be called a shrine.

“What if I don’t want you to forget?” Clark pushes the disc away.

“You can still destroy this disc.” Lex grins. “It might contain earth-shattering news for the general public, but I’ve been quite aware of most of it for almost four years. I don’t need it.”

The relief on Clark’s face is palpable. “And you don’t mind?”

“Mind?” Lex is truly amused. “Mind that my best friend is an alien?” The fanboy in him is cheering proudly. This is the side of him that will never allow the scientist in him to get the upper hand. The part that’s content with private knowledge and discreet protection of an estranged friend.

“I meant that I lied to you.” Clark’s eyes are trying to look into his very soul, so even if he wanted to lie to spare his friend some pain, he realizes he can’t.

“Your lack of trust hurt, Clark. I can’t deny it. But I understand your reluctance to part with your secret. It’s a big one.” A thought flashes through his mind and he smiles slyly. “And I guess, I prefer being a kind of mysterious benefactor in the background to being a useless sidekick left behind when the action starts.”

Astonishment. Followed by laughter. “You could never be useless, Lex. Never.” Clark grabs the disc and holds it up. “You’d be the mastermind behind heroic stunts, while I…” He crushes the disc “...just supply the muscle.”

Lex smiles. He reads an offer into this and he wants to take it up. “Not just the muscle and the other abilities.” He touches Clark’s chest. “The heart. Your heart is that of a hero.” It takes strength to not linger, but he is stronger than he thought. “What you need is someone helping you to establish a secret identity, to maintain your privacy, and to keep you and your family safe. Someone more equipped in strategy and concealment.”

“Do you want the job?” Clark’s eyes sparkle with mischief.

“Does Warrior Angel fly?” Lex feels as if a heavy weight is being lifted from his shoulders. He hasn’t felt this young in years.

When Clark steps forward and grabs his hips, he doesn’t know what to expect, but then his feet aren’t touching the ground anymore. His arms go around Clark’s neck, holding on for dear life, although he hasn’t been afraid of heights for a long time.

“Do you believe a man can fly, Clark?” Why he’s thinking out loud, he can’t tell, but obviously his friend shares the memory, for there is no hesitation as Clark answers.

“You can, Lex.”

“Guess we should leave.” They are back on the ground and Lex has just realized how much time has passed since Amy left. Any moment now, his bodyguard or his driver will come in to make sure that their boss is all right.

He doesn’t really want to leave, but then he and Clark are friends again, even more than friends now, fellow conspirators, and there’s no reason why they shouldn’t relocate to more comfortable surroundings.

He turns to the door, expecting Clark to follow, but there are no footsteps following his own. Irritated, he looks back.

The playful friend is gone; the guilt-ridden alien is back.

“You didn’t ask about the other lies,” Clark reminds him. He doesn’t move from his position.

“No, I didn’t.”

“Don’t you want to know?”

He wishes Clark would let it rest. “The point is, I don’t need to know.”

If twenty-year-olds weren’t supposed to be above that, Lex would say Clark scuffs his toe in the dirt.

“There’s one thing you should know.”

Lex sighs, then nods. If it’s so important to Clark then he can listen. And he can forgive.

“We were more than friends, Lex. We weren’t lovers, but we would’ve been if not for… Belle Reve. I’ve loved you for years. I still do.”

Lex didn’t know that you could die standing up. But he must have died, for it feels as if he’s outside his body. He looks down at himself, doesn’t he? At himself and at Clark, the liar, the destroyer.

Wasn’t that the reason Lex left Smallville, because he ran from the pain of unrequited lust?

For Lex, the final proof that Clark felt nothing more than brotherly love for him, was the fact that Lionel had never called Clark his boytoy.

He had believed in Clark’s devotion to the fairer sex, enough that he had accepted his memories of smoldering looks and fleeting touches as simple wishful thinking, or dreams.

He’s back in his body it seems, for he’s running towards Clark now. Not stopping until he feels the solid, invulnerable chest under his fists.

“You bastard,” he says with every hit. “You bastard.” It’s a whisper at first, but soon it turns into an accusing shout. “You bastard!”

“Lex. Lex!”

His hands are held in bigger, stronger ones. “You’re hurting yourself.”

He tries to break free, but the alien won’t let him go.

Clark’s “I’m sorry” is overlaying his own words. And where’s the point in having a breakdown when someone else is crying?

Lex looks up into a tear-streaked face.

The green in his beloved’s eyes is even more brilliant now. Magnificent, shining.

“Let me go, Clark,” he says calmly. He speaks of his hands, but can see that Clark gives it a deeper meaning.

His hands are free, and Clark stands before him, eyes downcast, shoulders slumped, as if the weight that Lex isn’t carrying any longer is now on his shoulders, dragging him down.

It’s a good thing. It benefits Lex’s plan.

“I’m sorry,” Clark repeats once more.

Lex nods. “I know.” And he believes it. He really doesn’t have another option, does he? Not if he wants his dreams to finally come true, right?

He reaches up and caresses Clark’s cheeks, whispering “Bastard” and “Stupid alien maniac.” Giving Clark just enough time to start to realize what’s going on before he kisses him.

There is no question that this time Clark spoke the truth, for he melts into the kiss, just as he seems to absorb Lex into his very being.

Just like that Lex has all his answers, the universe is his. He could die happily now.

Still, he doesn’t want to die, and the sound of a door opening and closing again brings him back to reality. His bodyguard no doubt, who’ll now hopefully stay outside for as long as this takes.

“I love you, Clark,” he says. It seems like an apropos, but he deems it important anyway.

“And you forgive me?” Clark looks flushed after the kiss, and breathtakingly beautiful.

It should be hard to think, but Lex’s mind seems sharper than ever.

“Will you come home with me? Stay with me?”

Clark nods.

“Forever?”

Clark swallows, but he says, “Yes.”

“Then I forgive you.”

The kiss is a bargain sealed, and a cage opened.

Love is Destiny

The minutes tick by as she listens for sounds inside the penthouse. A clock in the living room, the humming of the security cameras, the even breathing of the man on the bed.

She smiles at the camera, knowing it won’t be seen. She’s invisible after all. Silently, she moves to the bed where her victim lies unsuspecting. And no one will suspect foul play after she’s gone. They’ll just see an old man who died in his sleep.

She doesn’t feel remorse. This man has become too real a threat to her master. Being a rival in business doesn’t matter, but he’s close to revealing Superman’s secrets. And that is unacceptable.

Not that she cares much for the alien, but Lex does, and she cares for Lex.

She knows that Lex won’t order the kill, for Clark could not accept it. But she doesn’t need orders; she knows when to rely on her own judgment. After all, taking the initiative has made her who she is. Lex Luthor’s protector. The one who stands guard when Superman returns from his rounds to become Clark Kent once more.

She smiles as she remembers him looking at her. He’s wary of her, doesn’t really trust her to not think of Lex as her lover again. It amuses her. She knows she’s over that. But it doesn’t hurt that he’s afraid of her. It keeps him on his toes and sensitive towards Lex. That’s all she wants. As long as her master is happy, she’s happy. She has molded herself into the perfect bodyguard; changed her face, her name. And it suits her.

She has found her place. Her destiny. She looks down at the sleeping man. The thought crosses her mind that he has played a major part in bringing her and Lex together. Had he not hurt her beloved so much she might even feel gratitude. But all she feels is a sense of completion.

Death has come for Lionel Luthor tonight.

THE END

© 7. March 2004