The Wedding of Martha's Son

Keeping his eyes closed, Lex brought his consciousness to bare slowly. He could feel sunlight on his face and shoulders where they rose above his comforter. Still half asleep, he lifted his arms to stretch into its early morning warmth.

"Christ!" he yelled as the languorous haze he'd been wallowing in broke apart into a multitude of sharp tiny splinters.

His body was a world of hurt.

Breathing hard through his nose, Lex lay as still as possible and waited for his world to pass from blinding black and whites back into Technicolor. It wasn't so bad when he wasn't moving. When the pain became tolerable, Lex carefully lifted his head from the pillow and scanned his bedroom. He was alone. No one had heard him scream like a girl. Good.

Suddenly feeling dizzy, Lex eased his head back down. "You should see the other guy," he informed the ceiling and then laughed aloud.

The 'other' guy in this case was not some money hungry kidnapper or some old friend out for dubious revenge but ironically the last person who would ever intentionally do him harm--his doe eyed, gentle hearted lover. Remaining motionless, save breathing and a few lingering snickers, Lex took careful stock of his poor afflicted body.

The long muscles of his upper legs ached. He had a friction burn at the base of his spine from the Humvee's leather seats and his ass throbbed like it had sprouted aortas. Licking swollen lips, Lex peered down his nose at his right shoulder and snorted. A hickey the size of Kansas adorned it. But that wasn't the worse.

Wincing, Lex slowly eased his left hand out from beneath the bed covers and held it up to the light streaming through his bedroom window.

"Shit," he announced when he saw the tightly wrapped appendage. Even discounting the brown elastic bandage it was enormous. He winced again but for a different reason.

Okay, so farm boy wasn't the only one responsible for his body's current state of disrepair.

While acting the jealous fool the previous night, he had rammed his left fist into the dashboard of his favorite winter vehicle. The big yellow car had survived the blow but his hand was an obvious write off. Lex wouldn't be penning letters anytime soon.

Fuck, he hurt. He needed drugs. Enrique must have something to make the pain, if not the embarrassment, go away. Doing his best imitation of a corpse, Lex thought lovingly of his party days when multi-coloured pills had always been on hand and prayed fervently for a flashback.

"Humvee one. Lex Luthor zero," a happy voice trumped out from the threshold of his bedroom interrupting his pharmaceutical dream.

"Clark." Lex peered carefully at his lover who was wearing the same red tee shirt and worn jeans he'd had on the evening before. His winter jacket was slung carelessly over the back of one of armchairs by the fireplace. Knowing it to be an affectation than anything else, the brown coat had probably been there since last night. Clark would not have bothered with it for his short jaunt to and from the farm.

Trying to appear cool, Lex lowered his swollen, twisted wreck of a paw down to his chest. "Chores...done? Your mom...okay?" he asked his cheery visitor with far too many breaths and pauses for his liking.

"Yes to both. Let me see." In a blur of blue and red, Clark was sitting at his beside. Lex tried to sit up. "Don't fidget," his boy lover scolded as he gently pushed him back down.

With a tenderness that would have brought tears to Lex's eyes if they weren't already there, Clark cradled his bandaged hand between his big meaty palms and squinted at it. To surmount the pain, Lex concentrated on the white gold band on Clark's left ring finger as he looked.

After a moment, Clark's head came up. "Still broke, Lex." He announced, smiling. No, not smiling. Jesus fucking Christ, he was grinning.

"No shit, you sadistic bastard," Lex snarled, tempted for a millisecond to yank his hand away before thinking screeching like a banshee wouldn't be considered very dignified. Holding on to his pride with the skin of the inside of his cheek, Lex kept still. "Enrique could have told me that with his eyes shut."

Clark smirked as he carefully put his hand down on a fluffy fold of comforter. "He did do a good job of wrapping your finger before you passed out last night. I like him."

After their frenzied make up sex in the back seat of the Humvee, Clark had quickly dressed them both and driven to the castle. Lex's stoic manservant, who could drink and swear with the best of them, had clucked like a mother hen over his self-inflicted injury and ushered him upstairs. Retrieving a first aid kit from a shelf under the bathroom sink Lex hadn't known was there, Enrique had braced his broken pinky and sent him to bed. That was all Lex remembered before waking up this morning on the far side of hell.

Feeling bitchy in the face of Clark's good humour, Lex gave him his best Luthor sneer. "Are you getting off on the frailties of my imperfect human body, alien boy?"

"Nah, Lex." Seemingly floating, Clark flowed like silk from the edge of his bed to the middle. He landed in a lazy sprawl on top of the covers along Lex's left side. The springs barely creaked. "I do like your body," Clark said as he kicked off his boots and sent them soaring to the other side of the room. "A lot," he said with the same shit eating grin. "But you know that's not I'm getting off on right now."

Lex bristled. "I wasn't jealous last night if that's what you're implying. I was merely...concerned."

Clark rolled his eyes and draped an arm over Lex's waist. "Oh, you are so lying, Lex."

Yeah, he was but that was irrelevant. Since the events of the previous evening, his young lover had obviously had time to process Lex's violent reaction to catching him with Chloe in his lap. Clark was preening, enjoying the fact that his older, more reasonable lover had made a complete ass of himself over him.

Shit, oh fuck.

Any other time Lex might have found Clark's adolescent display of pride mildly amusing. His alien lover rarely exhibited any of humanity's baser emotions--Clark was a good kid--this uncommon dip into vanity should have been a treat but in his current miserable state, Lex just found it annoying.

Getting laid in the back seat of the Humvee last night was a good memory but he didn't like being reminded of his adolescent display and had no time for Clark's juvenile behavior the morning after. Pain had seriously handicapped his ability to laugh at himself. He adored the boy but dammit. He just wasn't in the mood.

"It was my understanding that you regretted playing me in the Talon last night," Lex huffed. "I find your irreverent attitude this morning disappointing, Clark Kent."

"Oh god, Lex," Clark tugged at the blankets around Lex's waist and moaned. "Say my name like that again."

"Like what?" Lex asked confused.

Clark's dark lashes lowered. "You know, all huffy and prissy like," he whispered, his barrel sized chest heaving and his nostrils flaring wide. A hot, wet lick to the side of Lex's face helped give way to comprehension.

Huffy and prissy?

Ah, indignant. Clark meant indignant. Lex felt a big hand slide under the covers to count his ribs and caress the plain of his stomach. Oh, shit. Indignant. He'd forgotten what that did to the boy.

Lex didn't understand it but one sniff or snort from him made his young lover randy as bull in a field full of cows. Distantly horrified at the countrified analogy his civilized brain had conjured, Lex briefly considered that Clark's reaction may be an alien thing. A questing finger dipped suggestively into his belly button.

"Stop that!" Lex commanded slapping his good hand over the one mapping his torso under the blankets.

Instantly, his big, powerful alien lover obeyed. He knew Clark could force the issue if he wanted to as firmly as Lex believed he wouldn't. Lex trusted his strong words and comparatively weak touch were enough to stay Clark's hand.

Even after discovering what he was, Lex had never been afraid of the young man Martha and Jonathan Kent had raised. Lex knew with absolute certainty that Clark would not knowingly hurt him any more than he wanted. Fuck him into a hospital ward in the heat of passion maybe, but not with malicious intent. Like he was hardwired, Clark was incapable of harming those he loved. Lex could tell the boy 'no' without impunity or fear of retribution.

Considering how precious he was to a being that could call himself God on this frail planet if the whim took him, Lex got a little warm and misty but quickly pushed the muzzy feelings away in favour of his well deserved snit.

Undaunted by his virginal outcry, Clark kissed his cheek and nibbled softly at Lex's earlobe. "Please, oh...please...your skin's so soft. And you're so beautiful." Clark wiggled his fingers under Lex's tenuous hold. "Please, Lex. Let me touch you."

Lex sighed. Clark's warm, gentle coaxing was melting his resolve like snow under an April sun. Against his wishes, his body began to react. His balls were lifting ever so slightly from the flannel sheets and his previously disinterested cock was slowly filling with blood. Lex loved this boy more than was reasonable and as a result, was a whore to his attentions.

Lex fancifully imagined those first few years of force depravation had left him overly needy for Clark's touch. Before Martha had officially asked Lex to court her son, he'd had only fantasies. Having the real thing now in the form of wet, sloppy kisses along his neck and his exposed shoulder was difficult to deny. But surely not impossible. Lex was almost certain he'd done it before.

"You fucked my ass into a sling last night," he grumbled. "I am not getting naked with you until I can sit comfortably without leaning on my elbows."

Clark nipped his collarbone, the one without the state size hickey, and shifted closer on the bed. Lex easily felt the hard length of his erection through the layers of material separating their bodies. "But Lex, you already are naked." Clark teased.

"Clark..." Lex warned trying to sound irritated because he was, wasn't he?

Clark frowned, looking appropriately contrite. "Do you want to fuck me, then? I wouldn't mind. It's been weeks and I'm kinda, sort of aching for it."

Of all the times to ask. Lex was kind of, sort of aching for it too but was so sore heavy breathing hurt. He doubted if he could manage one good thrust inside Clark before passing out from the pain. Shit. What the hell was wrong with just cuddling in bed? Did they always have to fuck once they made horizontal? And did he really just ask that?

"I'm not in the mood, Clark..." Lex bit his lip. He'd been a breath away from foolishly adding Kent.

At his near gaff, Clark's face lit up. Damn alien ears heard everything.

"Would you feel better if I sucked you off?"

Lex almost heard the 'twang' as his erection popped up full throttle under the blankets.

Okay...so moods change. He'd been angry long enough to make his point, hadn't he? Lex looked at Clark and fell, gob smacked into his deep brown gaze. And what exactly was his point again?

"Perhaps..." Lex murmured as he casually on purpose lifted from the covers the hand that had been restraining Clark's. Looking to all the world he had an itch, Lex scratched the damp skin behind his neck. He made no attempt to hide the prominent lump in the covers two feet down.

"Good idea." Clark said, his freed hand emerging from the comforter and going straight to the button of his jeans. "Maybe you should raise both arms up while I do this."

Mildly disgusted with himself for his lack of self-control, Lex nodded as he raised his other arm and then immediately played dead. If Clark wanted sex, he could do the work. Besides a little squirming and the eventual screaming while coming, Lex would not add to his disgrace by actively participating.

He hadn't totally given up on his snit.

Unaware of the one-man drama going on inside Lex's head, Clark unzipped his jeans, spread the fly and tucked the elastic waistband of his boxer's under his balls. Watching his lover's preparation with a baleful but interested eye, Lex nearly choked on his tongue.

Oh, Christ. The boy was going to suck him off while remaining fully clothed. The scene smacked of eroticism.

Naked vulnerability made Lex's balls contract and a pre-come pulse from his too stiff cock. He felt exposed, laid bare and at the mercy of his young god. It was scary. It was hot. Fear and arousal. No one had ever made him feel the thrilling combination of the two. Lex had never allowed it.

Teasing tendrils of anticipation wove up and down his spine and Lex was shivering with need by the time Clark pushed the comforter down around his knees. The building hum drowned out the background noise of his aching legs and ass. His short term memory faltered and left him a moment away from begging to be fucked.

Clark shot him a look of concern. "Cold?"

"No. Just warming up." Lex answered through clenched teeth. "Keep going. Don't stop."

Smiling, Clark rose to his knees, bent his head and licked a long swath down Lex's belly to the pool of semen filing his navel. Lex sucked in his breath when Clark's mouth latched on and drank in the small creamy offering.

"You taste so good. I never used to think so. You remember, that first time last Labor Day but now...oh, geez..." Clark groaned low in his throat as he took hold of the jutting cock peaking out from his jeans.

Hovering over him with one hand bracing himself on the mattress beside Lex's head, Clark began to jerk himself off. With each down stroke the boy dipped the red glistening tip of his penis into Lex's naval wetting it again with pre-come. Lex hovered dangerously close to anaphylactic shock.

"And such perfect skin...so white and god...creamy. Before you were mine, I used to dream about your skin...so fucking beautiful. Oh god, can I say that?" Clark screwed his eyes shut and jacked himself harder. "Oh, yeah I can. Fucking, fucking, fucking beautiful. Damn, Lex," he moaned, "I want to come all over you."

Eroticism? Fuck no. This was good old fashion porn.

"Do it, Clark. Oh, Christ, come on me...oh, fuck...get me dirty...get me wet...come on me...come...oh, fuck, come on me..." Lex pleaded completely forgetting the aforementioned blow job while watching his beloved farm boy grunting and straining over his body. Seeing the pretty innocence of Clark's face contorted into raw desire was insanely riveting.

As a rule of thumb, Lex had always been more of a doer than a watcher but this...oh Christ. Observing the mild mannered Clark Kent while deep in the throws of passion was a privilege.

This kind of pure, unadorned love was rare and something by rights only angels were permitted to see. Lex counted himself fortunate ten times over that he was here, in this bed, a witness to it and more, knowing he was its object. Despite ball twisting arousal becoming another of his pains, Lex kept still and paid close attention. He didn't want to miss a single moment of this unwittingly ostentatious event. Clark had no idea how beautiful he was.

"Oh, god...Lex. I'm gonna come...I'm gonna...gonna..." Clark stuttered, his hips jerking forward and slamming so fast into the tight sleeve of his fisted fingers Lex's eyes had trouble keeping up. It was only when he saw pearly ropes of white lace his trembling lower stomach did he know Clark's climax had begun.

Hit by inspiration he wouldn't discount as divine, Lex shimmied up the bed as far as he could go. When Clark's hot come splashed over his erection, Lex threw back his head, clutched the sheets and screamed. As good as any blowjob, the hot, wet evidence of his lover's desire coating his dick ripped his orgasm brutally from his body. Freehanded, his own issue shot up to mix into Clark's sticky deposit on his belly.

As hips convulsed upwards, Lex barely noticed the damage his exertions were causing his injured hand. The small snap barely registered. Although it might only be the beat of his hips on the bed, Lex's world was rocking, veering off its axis and crashing into a place where everything felt good...great. His rebroken pinky was happy to make the trip.

"Oh, god...oh god...oh, god..." He heard Clark sobbing. Numb with euphoria, Lex lolled his head down for a look.

Staring at him with wild eyes, Clark was still pumping his cock over Lex's rapidly deflating but very happy genitals. The pace was slower, more human and thick globs of semen pulsed sluggishly from the swollen crest in short spurts to drop in wet plops on Lex's shriveling cock. Although wiped from his orgasm, Lex dredged up a smile and stringently held Clark's gaze until he finished masturbating. Eventually the seminal well spring dried up and his passionate farm boy collapsed with a strangled cry across his chest. Lex brought his arms down to catch him.

For a long while they laid in the sunlight spilling from the windows not speaking, not doing anything much but breathing. It was only when the crick in his neck became more than he could bear, did Lex try to rouse his exhausted lover.

"Clark? I need you to moved down a bit, okay?" Lex whispered into dark locks. For a change, the boy was allowing Lex to do the holding. Clark's arms were loosely slung around Lex's chest and his head was tucked firmly beneath Lex's chin.

"In a minute," Clark mumbled.

"No, now, farm boy. I'm jammed into the headboard and the spunk on your tee shirt is chafing my creamy, white skin."

Levering himself up on his hands, Clark looked down at his come-saturated shirt. "Ew, Lex," he commented before flopping down on his back beside him. Ignoring the less than romantic remark regarding their lovemaking, Lex took a moment to gawk before moving himself.

Clark's blushing pink penis lay limply to the side, the hooded end still oozing and staining the coin pocket of his jeans dark. One ambitious pearl had heroically made it over the waistband to drip on the tanned thread of hard stomach where Clark's red tee shirt had ridden up. Fascinated, Lex counted back from that bold little drop to calculate the spent cock seven, almost eight inches done.

Incredible.

Even depleted with come and desire, the boy was hung like a fucking stud horse. No wonder Lex's ass hurt like a bitch. He'd have to be more careful in the future. There was no way in hell he was going to let that massive torpedo sink him again. He was the top. Clark was going to have to get used to being his bottom.

Ogling done, Lex gingerly repositioned his lust battered body into a half assed comfortable position. Throbbing everywhere at once, but feeling better than he had when he woke up, Lex finally closed his eyes and sighed the sigh of the nearly dead.

"Sorry about the blowjob, Lex. I got carried away." Clark said, interrupting his willful descent into catatonia. "Next time I promise to go down on you for an hour."

"An hour?" With a blind hand Lex reached out to touch Clark's hip. The boy whimpered and turned towards him. A thick bicep settled over Lex's belly. The heavy weight hurt, but hurt good. "Don't embarrass me. When was the last time I lasted more the a few minutes with you?"

"Ah...never?"

"Exactly. So don't promise the impossible, farm boy."

"So...um...Lex. Did you like what I did instead? You know, the coming on you thing," Clark stammered. Lex could hear the blush in his voice.

"It was incredible, Clark. I think I saw God." Lex swallowed and took a moment to reflect. "No one's ever done that to me before," he said adamant in his assertion.

Besides the exception of all his exceptions, Clark Kent and in mixture of prudence and disgust, Lex had made a point of not having body fluids other his own touch his sensitive areas.

He'd been wearing a condom the first time he'd fucked a school mate at thirteen and had stopped swallowing at sixteen when he first heard AIDS wasn't just a dietary candy. Before, in between and after, no one had ever done in any form what he had just allowed, without thinking, Clark to do. Any junk went into the sheets, a willing hand or a condom and not traced in merry loops over his latex free cock.

Five minutes ago Lex had been clean. Sparkling. He had been pristine.

"Really?" Clark piped up from beside him. "Then I was your first?"

Hearing the hope in the question and feeling the warm breath in his ear, Lex made the gargantuan effort of turning his head and opening his eyes. "Yes, Sunshine," he said softly trying hard to project a kindness that came easier than expected. "You were my first. My virginity or what's left of it, is now completely and wholly yours."

With obvious love and pride shining in his large expressive eyes, Clark returned his smile with a wide squared tooth grin and said, "Cool."

Astounded by the simple joy of making this amazing young man happy, Lex laughed himself into near hysterics.

When he calmed down, he fell asleep feeling no pain.

"Alone finally!"

"Pete, we're in the Talon. We are not in any way alone. There are at least twenty other people here."

"Yeah, I know. But with school and everything, it's the first time it's been just you and me." Pete lowered his eyes and said quietly, "I thought you were mad at me. We haven't really talked since before the anniversary party last weekend, Clarkbar and I though maybe you kind of didn't want to."

Clark moaned and resisted the urge to smack his forehead. "Damn, I'm an idiot. Sorry, Pete but it's just that Lex and I have been busy trying to get organized for the wedding. We've only got two months and we have to redo most of the arrangements Lex planned before he proposed. He meant well but Mom thought they were a mess. She had a bird when she heard there was no commitment ceremony. And now that Lionel is on board, Lex has gone into party overdrive and invited a whole shit load of people from Metropolis." Clark shrugged his shoulders and looked empathically at his friend. "Business contacts, the press, that kind of thing. It's crazy. Lex says it will be the social event of the season."

"April 5th. I got my invitation to the big bash at the castle in the mail a couple of days ago. So I guess this means you've kissed and made up?"

"We've talked. I said I was wrong. Lex said he was wrong in not quite so many words and we both agreed not to mess up again."

"And then made out like rabid dogs, eh?"

Clark laughed.

Good old, sex on the brain, Pete. The guy would never change and Clark sincerely hoped he never would. It was refreshing. It grounded him. And lately, Clark needed both.

In the last week bearing the stigma of being Lex Luthor's gay lover had gone from the ridiculous into the sublime. Clark had attained a sort of quasi celebrity. After so many years of being part of the woodwork, it was weird.

His schoolmates, with really few exceptions, no longer treated him like a geek but as if Clark was the star quarterback of the football team who'd made the winning touchdown at Homecoming. It was funny because all he still did was fetch water and provide towels when the real players came out the showers.

Even the teachers curried his favour, as Lex called it. Clark was glad he'd already been accepted into the liberal arts program at Met-U this fall. He would not have wanted the remarkably good grades he'd been getting lately tainting his admission.

But of course not everyone was doing back flips for his attention.

Predictably Lana's attitude hadn't changed with the announcement of the wedding. She still hated him. But Chloe was sort of still Chloe and thank god, Pete was still Pete.

Clark took a sip of his thrice-sweetened coffee and grinned over the rim of the mug at his lecherous friend. "We did it in the back of the Humvee," he admitted with glee. A delicious shiver ran down his spine. Talking about sex with Lex was almost as thrilling as having it. It was hot. It was cool.

"Oh, shit, Clark!"

"Hush, Pete. Don't have a cow."

"Was it good? Oh, yeah. It had to be good."

"It was great. The indomitable Lex Luthor doesn't settle for anything less."

"Man, you're one lucky guy, Clark Kent."

"Tell me about it." Clark agreed thinking of the whole Luthor package while he suspected his friend was only talking about the sex. Pete didn't really understand his obsession with the rich, bald guy. "So, Pete. Who are you taking to the wedding?"

"Ah...actually, Clark. I was sort of hoping you could help me out with that."

"If I can...but how?"

"Ah...yeah. Do you think Lex could set me up with one of his friends from Metropolis? There isn't anyone here I want to take, so I thought maybe..."

Clark grinned. "You want Lex to find you a hot looking heiress with lots of money to take to my wedding?"

"Not really. Well, hot is good, but the money part? I suppose it wouldn't hurt but it's not a prereq, if you know what I mean."

Clark did. He'd never been attracted to Lex's fortune or fame. If anything it had been a mark against the older man. Life would be much easier if Lex was just another poor boy from the sticks.

Even easier if he was an orphan.

"Clark?"

"Oh, sorry." Clark stopped imagining what could have never been and gave his friend his full attention. "What exactly are you looking for, Pete?"

"Well, Clark my man, I was thinking about something more along the lines of what you have."

"But you said money...oh." Clark gaped at his companion. Pete was squirming on his side of the booth looking decidedly awkward. "You want Lex to find you, what...a guy?" Clark asked dumfounded. He kinda already knew but...didn't.

"I looked up 'repressed' in the dictionary after you applied it to me, Clark. I found my picture."

"Yeah, but...whoa." Clark stuttered to a stop, suddenly empathizing with his parents. "Are you sure, Pete? You're always talking about girls..."

"Talking being the operative word, Clarkbar. I've had opportunities, lots of them but I've never felt comfortable following through." Pete glanced quickly around the Talon and then leaned over the table towards Clark. "I'm a virgin," he whispered.

Clark frowned. "Not a good reason to switch sides."

Pete snorted and crossed his arms over his chest. "I've done the research, Clark."

"On the Internet?"

"Uh-huh." Pete unfolded his arms and placed his hands in his lap. "There's this site, HOTGUYS.com..."

"I know it." Clark said quickly, cutting him off.

Pete's eyes bulged. "No kidding? Really?"

"It's been book marked in my Favorites folder since I hit puberty."

"Then you should have been a pal and sent me the link ages ago."

"Yeah, right and next I would brought you up to the loft and told you how much I like sucking cock between football scores." Clark snorted. "Coming out to your friends isn't easy, Pete."

"I'm finding that out." Pete slumped back in his seat and glared at him. It was like a slap up side the head.

"Oh, geez, Pete, I'm being a idiot again, aren't I? Sorry."

His disgruntled friend shrugged his shoulders. "S'okay," Pete said easily before his face morphed into his familiar 'you're such a dolt, Clarkbar' expression. He might be gay but he was still good old Pete. Clark felt instantly forgiven. "But you could make it up to me." Pete added with a wiggle of his eyebrows.

"The date? I'll talk to Lex." Clark paused. "You don't mind him knowing?"

"The cost of operating, I suppose but I'm not ready to go public yet, if you get my drift."

"Just Lex and your future hunk to be. Got it."

Grinning ear to ear, Pete relaxed and sipped his coffee. Clark slipped into the mode and joined him.

It was Saturday afternoon and there was no place either of them had to be.

Hanging out, overdosing on too much caffeine and watching Main Street out the Talon's forty-foot window while not saying much about nothing at all, was something to be savored. Deep down they both knew there wouldn't be many more days like this. Being with Lex was bliss, but laying back with Pete was a different kind of wonderful.

"You sick, faggot bastard!"

The table shook and coffees spilled when Clark's knees banged the underside.

Reflecting in the window was a very angry looking Lana Lang. He'd been wanting to see her, talk to her but holy geez and everything, not like this.

Too scared to face the real thing, Clark stared agog the muted image mirrored in the windowpane. His face was a stone mask, frozen in fear. Clark's paralysis broke only when she flung something whitish on the table.

It was a gold engraved wedding invitation.

"How dare you!" Lana shrieked.

Finding his balls, Clark looked bravely from the cream coloured envelope and up into Lana's flaming red face. "But I didn't," he told her dumfounded.

"Liar." she hissed.

"I'm telling the truth, Lana. I wouldn't send you an invitation. That would be...cruel."

"Cruel? Oh, no. That's too kind a word for a dog like you, Clark Kent."

She was right, of course. He'd been terrible to her, the worst king of dog. In front of all of Smallville he had lead her on for years and made her believe he'd adored her. He did, only not in the fairy tale way she imagined. She hadn't been happy when she heard he preferred the prince to the princess.

Finding out about his sexual involvement with Lex through others had been a slap in her prim and proper face. Embarrassed and hurt by his betrayal, she had understandably stopped speaking to him. Clark had accepted her anger but hoped one day she'd forgive him enough to explain. He wouldn't jeopardize that wish by sending her an invitation to his wedding. If his track record with Pete was any indication, he hadn't been batting a thousand lately but he wasn't that much of an idiot.

"I'm sorry, Lana. Your name must have got on the guest list by mistake. I wouldn't dream of hurting you any more than I already have."

"Who made the list?" Lana snapped.

Lex had but Clark was reluctant to say so. He wanted Lana's friendship but not enough to rat out his lover. All loyalties aside, he didn't want her hating them both.

"Ah..."

"I thought so, you bastard," she snapped, logically taking his hesitation for guilt.

"Lana, no..." Clark began but it was pointless. Lana was already storming away. Feeling sad and defeated, he watched her disappear into the Talon's stockroom behind the coffee bar.

"Whoa, somebody has a jealous boyfriend."

Startled, Clark whipped his head around to look at Pete. He'd forgotten he was there. "What?"

"Lex sent her the invite as a way of marking his territory. It was classier than pissing on you."

Immediately Clark wanted to deny the vulgar accusation on his lover's behalf but stopped before the lie left his lips.

Lex was a jealous boyfriend.

In a fit of green-eyed anger, Lex had broken his hand over one kiss from Chloe. He wasn't above breaking the heart of the girl Clark had mooned over since grade school. Clark knew Lex was a loving, caring man but he could also be brutally ruthless when he felt his interests were threatened. However, the knowledge excused nothing.

Lex was aware of his desire to mend fences with Lana but had selfishly chosen to ignore it. Clark wouldn't. It was a transgression that needed to be dealt with and dealt with now. Clark grabbed his coat and rose from the booth to leave.

"Pete, I gotta go."

"Aw, Clark. He only did it because he's in love. You mess the guy up. Don't be mad at him."

"Too late."

With a final glance towards the vacant coffee bar, Clark left the Talon and super speeded to the castle.

"Jonathon! Are you home?"

"Living room, Martha!"

"What in heaven's name do you have all over my carpet?"

"Greenhouse plans. There's about a half dozen styles to choose from. Some have cement foundations that can't be poured until spring and some are free standing. If I choose one of those, I can start construction now. I spread them out on the floor so I could compare them."

"I see."

"You don't but that's okay. This here's my baby."

"Perhaps, but I would have rather sat here by the fire watching you baby-sit than going into work on a Saturday."

"Me too, love. How was work by the way? Lionel still acting strange?"

"If by strange you mean nice, then...yes. He makes me nervous, Jonathon. Every time I turn around, he's looking at me through those dark glasses and smiling."

"How's that possible? He's still blind as bat, isn't he?"

"Sometimes I wonder. He does have a new physician and they do spend an extraordinary amount of time together. She's been in the office everyday this past week. And if you can believe it, I think she's sweet on him."

"Hmm."

"Jonathan? Are you listening me?"

"What? Yeah, yeah. Lionel has a new girlfriend. What's for supper?"

"What ever you're making, Mr Vila."

"Oh."

On a cold but sunny Saturday afternoon in February, Lex Luthor sat at his computer listening to Chopin and plotting world domination.

Or at least his corner of it.

With more free time than he knew what to do with since he had prematurely given up the reins of the plant to Gabe Sullivan, Lex got a head start on his bid for the highest post in the country.

The Presidency of the United States.

If Lionel were here, he would laugh and remind Lex that a political career for a man with a teenage husband was doomed to failure. And the old boy would be right. Giving the devil its due, no matter how distasteful, this was one instance where Lionel Luthor would not be talking out the far side of his mouth.

Considering the current social climate, Lex knew the country wasn't ready for a gay commander in chief. However, Lex didn't plan on running for office today. He had patience. More than that, he had faith.

Time passes...opinions fluctuate....tastes change. Nothing is static.

There will come a time when the world will be ready Lex Luthor. It just wasn't today.

When tolerances lower and after, in no set order, his predecessors have been a woman and a black man, it will be his turn in the oval office. Until then, Lex would not be idle. He had a family to sire and a philanthropic reputation to build. Again, in no set order.

On his computer screen was a list of courses being offered at Metropolis University this fall. With unprecedented sense of freedom, Lex perused the calendar. Thanks to lawyers who were rewarded with obscenely large fees, he was no longer a prisoner of Smallville. For the first time in his life, he was free to do as he pleased.

With a substantial raise and an equal rise in responsibility, Gabe Sullivan now had control of LexCorp's main subsidiary, the Smallville fertilizer plant. Lex would still attend the occasional meeting but his involvement with the day to day operation was necessitated down to practically nil. The albatross had been annihilated. He could now move back to Metropolis and start the rest of his life.

Lex drifted through menus, wavering between classes in political science and child psychology. He was unsure of which he'd need first. It was just a matter of mouse clicking on the American flag icon or the baby, Lex would readily select the little infant winking at him. But much to his dismay, it wasn't.

Clark was proving annoyingly difficult to get pregnant.

If his incumbent spouse was a normal human woman it would be a done deal. He'd put a hole in the condom and voila, in nine months he'd be a father. But since his mate of choice wasn't a woman or even human, and prophylactics, damaged or otherwise were not used during their lovemaking, Lex had a problem.

Getting Clark pregnant the conventional way was not an option. Although he was confident it was possible, Lex had no idea how to advance the process along. After months of trying on his part, their first child refused to be created on demand. Sitting in his library staring wistfully at the chubby babies on the Met-U website, Lex was surprised to discover how important fatherhood was to him.

Lex had spent years avoiding the condition. Paternity suits were a common pitfall among the wealthy and Lex had been very careful to avoid being trapped. He had a strict policy that had included, but also had nothing do with, disease.

Sex without a condom meant no sex.

The thought of some money grubbing woman sticking a squalling baby in his face and announcing it was his, had effectively turned him off fatherhood. That he spent hours a day dreaming of it now, was off setting. His paradigm had shifted while he wasn't looking or more correctly, while he was falling in love.

Clark Kent was responsible for his current convoluted state. It was the fresh faced Kansas farm boy from another world that made him want to love someone other than himself. And when Clark loved him back...oh Christ. It had only made the condition worse. The soft hazel eyes that fronted an untainted soul had destroyed the cynical, promiscuous man that he once was. Lex had been transformed into the type of person that welcomed the commitment of marriage and eagerly awaited the joy of children. He was a society's bad boy no longer. Go figure. Even after six months affected, it still boggled his mind. Lex grinned. It also made him happier than he'd ever been these last twenty-three years of his life.

"Busy, son?"

And speaking of fathers...

"Dad." Curling his lower lip over his teeth and biting down, Lex closed and locked his screen with a password before addressing Lionel further. His plans for the future were no business of his father's. When he turned in his chair to face him, Lex saw he wasn't alone.

"What can I do for you?" Lex asked, his features passive, deliberately showing no hint of interest in the dark haired woman directing Lionel to the couch with a light touch on his elbow.

Lex's lips twitched at the back of his father's head as he sat away from him.

The seating on the other side of the room was premeditated reminder of dominance. If Lex wanted to carry on a face to face conversation with the old bastard, he would have to get up from behind his desk and go to him.

Telling himself not to sweat the small stuff, Lex stood but took the time to smooth out his clothing before strolling to stand casually by the fireplace. Finding the switch hidden in the fieldstones of the mantle, he turned on the gas insert and cooled his temper in the flames while waiting for his father to reveal the purpose of his visit.

"Lex, I'd like you to meet, Dr Helen Bryce."

Now given leave, Lex gave the woman sitting beside his father a long searching look. He didn't move to shake her hand and she did not offer it. "Dr Bryce," he said with crisp formality, while racking up her personal attributes in a way that could be considered nothing less than obscene.

Dr Bryce had flawless olive skin and dark lovely eyes that sparkled with intelligence and possibly smidgen of humour. She was decidedly attractive.

Shoulders squared and chin up, she held herself with a pride that appealed. Behind her small wire rimmed glasses, she failed to blink once when Lex's gaze boldly fell from her face to the long legs emanating from the hem of short black skirt she wore.

"You father has told me a lot about you, Lex," she said coolly, daring to use his first name without proper invitation.

"Unfortunately, I can't say the same about you, Doctor," Lex responded matching her icy tone if not her familiarity.

"Please. Call me Helen," she implored, her voice warming but not much. "And what would you like to know?"

"He wants to know why you're here, dear." Lionel interrupted. "Isn't that right, Lex?"

Mindful of his damaged left one, Lex shoved his hands in his pockets. The twice broken pinky was no longer wrapped but it still hurt if it was jarred. Hands set, Lex rounded his shoulders and shrugged not caring his blatant attempt at apathy did not reach his father's sightless orbs. It was the thought that counted. Adding marked disdain to his list of invisible objections, Lex curled his upper lip into a very satisfying sneer.

"Pouting, son?" his father remarked with amusement as if he indeed could see.

Studiously holding his pose, Lex chimed tonelessly back, "Waiting, Dad."

"Ah, the impatience of the young. You used to be better at this, Lex. Is your boy wonder rubbing off on you?"

"Every chance he gets." Lex said clearly as he moved away from the fireplace to stand directly in front of his father. Lording down on his graying head, Lex didn't spare the woman beside Lionel a glance. For this conversation she was naught. "Look, Dad, cut the crap and stop trying to make me feel like a fifteen year old boy because I stopped being that ages ago."

"No, now you only fuck them." Lionel drawled crudely, deftly catching Lex off guard as only the old man could.

Knocked off his game, Lex pulled his hands out his pockets and balled them into fists by his sides. His pinky twitched a warning. "Clark will be eighteen in July," he replied defensively and hating himself for doing so. He might as well paint a bull's eye over his heart.

"Ah, eighteen." Lionel slid his arms over the back of the couch and lazily crossed his legs. "My, my, my...almost a man. Forgive my error, son. Pederasty has yet to claim you."

"You said you wanted this." Lex reminded his father evenly, his back teeth grinding, aching with the effort of not rising to the bait.

Trading 'Clark' insults was useless and potentially dangerous. Lex could not risk Lionel bringing up the subject of 'green rocks' in the heat of anger.

"And I still do, son. We Luthors shall not be denied. You shall claim the Kent boy in our name. I am looking forward to your nuptials." Lionel placed a hand on the knee of the woman Lex had been attempting to drown out and squeezed. A warning signal tingled down Lex's back at the implication of the gesture. "But I also recall saying I wanted grandchildren." His father purred, introducing an equally distasteful topic into the conversation. Lionel's version of progeny wasn't much better than 'green rocks'.

It was then Helen's presence reentered his realm of consciousness and slammed back in like a jackhammer. With his mouth fine line, Lex glowered down at her.

His earlier question had been answered with a shout. He knew why the beautiful dark haired woman was here and by the absolute resolution of her return, it was clear that she knew as well. Bile rose in Lex's throat. He swallowed it quickly while reaching desperately for a suitable answer. However, any response Lex would have made, had he had one, was cut off by the slamming open of the library door.

All eyes, dead and otherwise, looked to the sound.

"Damn you, Lex Luthor...oh." Clark sputtered, stopping in mid stride just past the threshold.

As the boy's gaze flashed over the occupants of the room, Lex plainly saw his large form changing gears and powering down. Appearing to shrink a few inches, Clark lowered his lashes submissively and hooked his thumbs into the belt loops of his jeans. Whatever the cause of his angry entrance, it was meekly put aside.

More efficiently than green meteorites, the acerbic barbs of the senior Luthor had the power to breach Clark's invulnerable alien skin and pierce his tender heart. Clark didn't have the doubtful defense of Lex's years of abuse nor his mother, Martha's practiced sophistication as protection. The tall, beautiful teenager had no acquired immunity against evil in its basest of human form and was stripped raw in its presence.

Like nothing else, crazed mutants and Kansas tornados included, Lionel intimidated Clark. It wasn't fair. It wasn't right and it was one more reason Lex loathed his father.

"Hey, Sunshine," Lex said breaking his present triad to walk over to the one. Conscious of his actions, he wound a protective arm around Clark's sturdy waist and gave the boy a lingering kiss on the cheek. "I thought you were spending the afternoon with Pete." Lex said softly while rubbing small concentric circles into the small of the trembling boy's back.

"I was but something came up." Clark answered as if by rote. His voice was low and breathy. His dark lashes were blinking furiously. This was more than shy reserve. Clark was scared. For some reason his reaction to Lionel was over exaggerated. Lex had never seen him this frightened since...oh, shit. The twinkling band on Clark's finger caught his eye.

Meeting the groom's parents was never easy. Having Lionel Luthor as your new father-in-law must be hard as bricks even if this wasn't exactly the first time they'd met. But the status quo had been different then.

Clark and Lionel had not been in the same room since Lex had proposed...no, longer. The last time Clark had seen Lionel was shortly after the older man's accident almost a year ago. Clark had been Lex's friend then, not his lover. A marked distinction in the mind of an adolescent boy who still blushed fire engine red when he cursed in front of his parents.

Lex needed to get him out of here.

"To our boon." Lionel said from his throne on the couch. "Come, boy. It's been awhile. Let's get a good look at you."

Clark shot Lex a startled glance.

"He can't see you. He's joking," Lex whispered quickly in Clark's ear hoping to assuage his fear. "Just say hi and then grab something to eat in the kitchen, okay? I'll join you as soon as I can."

Given an eventual exit, Clark smiled bravely and then bumped foreheads with him like an affectionate kitten. Lex's breath caught painfully in his throat as he fell in love again. Oh, Christ. Would it ever stop?

"Okay, Lex." Clark said.

"Actually, Lionel, we should go. I still have to check in at the hospital and you need to get back to Metropolis for a conference call."

Lex glanced back over his shoulder at Helen. She was looking at Clark with palpable concern. Despite her dubious and possibly nefarious motivations for accompanying Lionel to the castle today, she was still obviously a caring medical practitioner. She'd seen Clark's distress and was seeking to relieve it. Lex gave her points for that. In his lexicon, the dark haired woman had just earned reasonable doubt.

"We haven't finished our conversation." Lionel protested as Helen gently helped him up from the couch. Surprisingly, Lex could see kindness and perhaps, affection in her touch.

"We've done enough for today." With the old man positioned at her side, Helen turned to Lex. "It was a pleasure meeting you, Lex. And Clark..." Helen smiled warmly and extended a courtesy she had not offered Lex--her hand. "I hope sometime to get a chance to know you better. I'll be working at the Smallville Medical Centre, perhaps we could meet for coffee after one of my shifts?"

A credit to his upbringing, Clark smiled politely and shook her hand. "Okay..."

"Helen. My name is Helen."

"Okay, Helen."

After nodding briefly at Clark, she ushered the suspiciously complacent Lionel out of the library. Lex didn't take an easy breath until they were gone.

"Who was she?" Clark asked after he'd flopped down on the couch with a sigh.

"My date for the wedding."

Before the questions could come, Lex explained to his lover the Luthor bent on immortality.

"She's supposed to have your baby?"

"I believe that's my father's idea." Lex retorted from over at the bar. He was pouring his second scotch. The first he'd inhaled during the first part of their increasingly rocky discussion. "I'm expected to quell the peasant uprising and at the same time give him grandchildren of our royal blood."

"Well, it's so not going to happen, Lex." Sitting on the couch, Clark ignored Lex's signature dramatics and planted his feet firmly on the floor. It was all he could do to keep from stomping them. "You are not going to have sex with that woman."

"There are other ways to conceive, Clark," Lex snarked into his glass before taking a drink. Clark didn't take it personally. Experience told him Lex's anger was displaced. It was like him to lash out at the closest breathing object when he was pissed. "I don't have to fuck the bitch to knock her up."

"I don't care. Nothing of yours is going in her." Clark pronounced, folding his arms over his chest to show he would brook no argument.

Lex Luthor was his mate. He was Clark's to touch, to fill, and excuse the vulgarity of the word, fuck. Nobody, not even the terrifying older Luther, had a say in it otherwise. It just was.

And it was something he'd dare use all his powers to fight for.

Lex sending Lana a wedding invitation paled in comparison to what Clark was willing to do to mark his territory. Being an indestructible alien had its advantages. If he wanted to, he could do battle with the whole world and Lionel Luthor without breaking a sweat. He knew he could.

Over seas, across oceans, he could gather Lex in his arms and whisk him away to the far reaches of nowhere...the Amazon might work. Given cause enough, Clark was fairly sure he could fly now. And with his inhuman strength, he could defeat any force that tried to beat through the jungle and rescue Lex. Whole armies could come and Clark would triumph. Naked and alone, they would spend the rest of forever in the wilds building a home, making love and...

"All right, Clark."

Screech, bam, boom. Clark's heroic fantasy came to a sudden halt.

Dressed fashionably a hand tailored white shirt and black wool trousers that would itch terribly in the rainforest, Lex sat primly on the couch next to him. His drink was full and sitting on the low table in front of them. Caught up in his over active imagination, Clark had missed his sleek lover's move from the bar.

"All right? That's it? That's all?" Clark asked in astonishment. He was primed for more fight than this. He was ready to be a superman, to fight the evil Lionel Luthor, only Lex wasn't letting him.

Lex rolled his slim shoulders and looked blandly at Clark. "Yes, that's it. That's all. No babies with Helen Bryce."

Not ready to let go of the fire he'd fanned in his belly, Clark tempted fate and asked, "You're ready to give up on children? Don't you want them, Lex?"

Lex broke his ambivalent prose to smile softly. "Very much but with you, farm boy not some highly educated breeder my father has selected."

"She was pretty too." Clark pointed out, unable to turn off the 'good guy' portion of his brain even when it worked against him. Sometimes it sucked to be him. He gave 'fair play' a bad name.

One corner of Lex's mouth twitched and twisted the small smile he was sporting. Clark didn't like the look. "I noticed, Clark. Believe me, I noticed. Dark hair. Dark eyes. And smart. Exactly my type. My father, God blast his soul, doesn't miss a beat."

"I don't know if I can." Clark said when he realized what was being asked of him had nothing to do with his ability to cross large bodies of water or defeat armed commandos single handedly. What Lex was requesting required much more strength than that. Possibly more than he had or was willing to give.

"You can, Clark," Lex said smoothly while patting his knee. "All species procreate."

"Yeah, but I'm not you're average 'species', Lex."

"True but I can't believe you'd be sent to a world where you couldn't produce offspring. Someone went to a lot trouble to get you here, Clark. It makes sense that they would want you to flourish."

Really wishing they could talk about something else, Clark slumped back in his seat and snorted. "Should I even mention the guy thing or have you got that figured out too?"

His cool slate eyes sparking bright with excitement, Lex nodded enthusiastically. "Both physically and emotionally, you respond to me, Clark. The way the fluctuating muscles in your anus draws my seed into your body and your sexual preference lead me to conclude you were designed to mate with a human male."

"You?"

"Me. Yes, me. Who else?"

"And I'd be the one getting knocked up?"

"I don't have the genomes or the equipment, Clark. Your adaptable alien body most likely does." Smiling sweetly like he had when he'd told Clark he'd given him his virginity--good night by the way, really, really good night--Lex reached down and palmed Clark's tummy. "My semen warms you inside, remember? There's power there."

"So why hasn't it happened yet?" Clark flinched back from Lex's knowing touch and sunk deeper into the leather couch. "We've done it enough times."

"I don't know." Lex brows furrowed. "Perhaps the timing hasn't been right for fertilization. Have you noticed any signs that you're entering a receptive period?"

Clark squeaked. "God, Lex. Please tell me you're not asking if I'm in heat."

Unperturbed by his outcry, Lex looked seriously at him, his perfect nose scrunching up and the sides his eyes crinkling up with determination. It was kinda cute and Clark tried real hard not to notice.

"The females of both humans and animals go through some variation of estrus, Clark. And since we've determined that you'll be the one carrying the child..." Lex trailed off with a lift to one pale eyebrow matching the one on the right side of his mouth.

"What signs?" Clark choked out still not believing they were actually talking about this. With his father they talked about breeding season all the time. Farmers...cattle...livestock. Yeah. That was everyday stuff. Normal stuff. It was freaking Clark out that Lex was approaching his possible pregnancy along a similar line of thought.

"It's impossible to say with any precision. With women it's difficult to tell by appearance alone but in the animal kingdom the female may under go more outward signs like colour and turgidity changes of the genitals,"

"My dick is going to turn blue?" Clark felt faint. He was glad he was sitting down. "Oh, god."

Lex winked. "Purple would be my colour of choice but since you're not a gibbon, Clark, you may respond with extreme affection like a lioness."

"Tough one, Lex. I already want you all the time," Clark said immediately liking the second analogy over the first. If he had to be compared to a girl, better something fierce and scary like a lion. It made him forget the cow thing and despite the dread seriousness of the topic, Clark emitted a small laugh. Gibbons? He'd never think about the term hot monkey sex the same way again. He didn't know he was smiling until he saw Lex smirking at him. Clark frowned and rolled his eyes at his delighted lover to no effect.

"Or become excessively territorial like an antelope, chasing off all contenders in favour of your chosen buck until you conceive." Lex said while gracefully lifting his long lean body from the sofa like the aforementioned animal and turning to straddle Clark. A not so surprising erection was pressed hot against Clark's stomach. "I like that one."

"You want me to fight for you?" Clark asked the horny man in his lap. Oh, geez. This was getting frighteningly familiar and he wasn't talking about the hot, horny part.

"Oh, yes," Lex said in a low breathy whisper. "And isolate me from others that might want my precious...oh, god..." Moaning, Lex wrapped his arms around Clark's neck and rolled his hips forward. "...seed."

Would the Amazon be isolation enough? Would that be far enough away?

Excuse the language but...shit. Shit. Shit.

"So anything, my beautiful farm boy?" a very excited Lex Luthor whispered in his ear.

Pregnancy.

Having a baby.

Damn.

Sooo not a cow.

Damn.

Didn't his alien body do enough weird stuff? And even it were possible--Clark did not have the same faith Lex had in his reproductive capabilities--he wasn't sure he could handle one more step into the twilight zone without going stark raving mad. Having a baby right now, getting big and calving was scarier than being in the same room as Lionel Luthor.

"You've given this a lot of thought, haven't you?" Clark asked, avoiding the subject and the clear sign that Lex's writhing body was obviously anxious for mating season to begin.

Blushing, Lex stopped his dry humping and responded quietly through shy, ginger lashes. "Some...yes."

"Uh-huh." Damn, he was pretty. "And what if I don't want to get pregnant?" Clark spat, not only that annoyed that his wants and wishes had seemingly been left out of the whole 'Let's get Clark Pregnant' plan but he was being turned on by his lover's sultry glance.

"Don't ever say that!" Lex shouted, rearing back and startling Clark. The distraught man opened his mouth as if to say something else and then, closed it with a shake of his baldhead. After a few deep breaths and the near severing of his bottom lip by his perfect white teeth, Lex spoke again with the same determination but without screeching. "You will eventually give me children, Clark Kent. It's very important to me that you do."

"Fine," Clark sighed. "I get it. You want kids. But what about me? I'm seventeen, Lex. I haven't been to university. I haven't held a job outside bussing tables at the Talon." Clark pounded the leather cushions on either side of Lex's thighs with his fists in fear and frustration. "I can't get pregnant! I haven't done anything!"

"You'll be eighteen soon." Lex ran a very obvious hand over Clark's thankfully still flat belly. "With strategic dressing you can still go to school should you conceive and we can hire a nanny or I could stay at home to look after our child. Clark, in a few months you're going to be a Luthor." Lex said, eyes shining with obvious pride. "You can have it all. You can have anything."

The idea of Lex being a househusband and raising their children flitted pleasantly through his brain with surprising ease before Clark remembered what it would require to get there. Moo, moo and all that.

Clamping down on his resolve, Clark frowned at Lex. "You're missing the point."

"I know, Sunshine." Lex said softly. The older man's steel gray eyes were bright, shiny like pools of rainwater on asphalt. "In case you haven't noticed, I'm doing my best to make an issue of doing so."

"I'm sorry." Clark said, reaching out to stroke his lover's face softly. It killed him to say no to Lex. "But I'm too young to have a baby."

"You're not too young." Lex replied to his assertion. He turned his face to kiss Clark's palm. "You're perfect, Clark Kent."

"Later though, okay?" Clark continued, glossing over Lex's flattering but obstinate response. He took back his hand from Lex's mouth, smiled and cocked his head playfully. "Maybe in a few years? After we're married awhile and need something to kick us out of a rut?"

The joke fell flat.

Lex didn't laugh as Clark hoped at his attempt at humour but stared dully at him at few moments before nodding somberly. "Whenever you want, Clark. I'll always be ready."

Having no answer to the sad reply, Clark pulled Lex forward and kissed him with all the tenderness he could muster. Clark didn't know about his own body, it was a mystery to him but Lex's overheated form was ripe for this. Riled up on thoughts of impregnating him, the older man was too far gone to fight the end of discussion.

Slipping his hands around, Clark palmed Lex's ass, pulling him forward and deeper into the kiss. Veering off from his norm of slow seduction, Lex responded quickly and violently, shocking Clark by taking the kiss from tender to savage without the usual preamble.

Shucking up his tee, Lex's hands roamed at a furious pace up and down Clark's chest, stopping at short intervals to twist and rub his nipples. When Clark cried out and bucked up under the ferocious touch, Lex kept him close by gnawing hungrily at his neck, nipping and sucking and almost sending Clark straight into orgasm.

God, he loved it when Lex broke early and lost control. It happened so rarely and never like this.

Dislodging Clark's hands from his ass, Lex yanked Clark's tee up and over his head. And before Clark had time to put them back, the older man was latched back on to his neck like a viper with its prey. His head spinning with the abrupt shock of high arousal, Clark recklessly ripped at his lover's shirt, leaving only tattered cuffs and bruises on the fine white skin he loved so much. To remove the pants and gain access to the precious cargo within he would be more careful.

Using his recently acquired gift of levitation, Clark raised them both off the sofa still entwined to the thick Persian rug in front of the fireplace. Clark couldn't say if Lex noticed their unusual mode of transport. The older man was still sucking on his neck and pitching his nipples in wild, very un-Luthor like abandon.

"Oh, Christ, Clark, let me fuck you." Lex cried, head down and taking a harsh swallowing breath along Clark's collarbone as soon as they hit ground. His elegant fingers, graceful by nature but made clumsy by desire moved lower to fumble with the button of Clark's jeans. "I need to fuck you. Take these off, please."

At the plaintive whine in Lex's voice, Clark looked down at his lover.

In his fight with Clark's pants, the white cuffs of Lex's ruined shirt had ridden up on his neatly toned lower arms reminding Clark of a Chippendales website he once surfed. Fueled by the image of Lex in a bowtie and nothing else, Clark tapped into his alien powers and in a whoosh, kicked off his work boots, the socks caught inside and quickly shucked out his jeans. Freed, his weeping erection burst forth, caught on his flying clothing and slapped hard on his stomach with a thwack.

"Faster than a speeding bullet," Lex laughed as his fumbling hands changed direction and went for his own, more delicate fly. Clark beat him to it only tearing the seams of the expensive wool pants only a little. He was still trying to be careful. Lex's shoes and socks however, would take a mutant bloodhound to find.

Nude, happy and horny, Clark fell back on the rug, raised his knees to his chest and hauled Lex between them. Lube was unnecessary. He was prepared as he needed to be. With the sweat from Lex's heaving body dripping down into vee of his legs, Clark's hole was near wet enough. A little spit on Lex's cock and they would be good to go. Clark licked his palm.

"Turn over, Clark."

"What?" Clark asked blinking between Lex and his open hand, wet and glistening with saliva. "Ah...now?"

"Yes, now." Lex rasped before giving him a hard kiss and then sitting up on his haunches. "I want to mount you from behind."

Whoa kiddies, hold the phone. Did the man just say mount?

"Ah...mount me, Lex? Isn't that a little weird?"

Visions of their stud bull in rut flashed in Clark's head before being immediately replaced by a mewling newborn calf. Clark's ardor cooled. He wiped his wet palm on the rug as his penis softened.

Lex gently pressed Clark's knees together and pushed them to the side away from the fire trying to incite a roll. "Please, Sunshine, now, on your hands and knees before I come on your belly."

Letting his hips twist under his lover's insistent machinations but keeping his shoulders flush to the rug, Clark offered numbly, "Ah, you could if you wanted."

"I don't," Lex answered shortly, his frustration hissing from between perfect teeth that looked somehow whiter in the glow of the fire. "I have to come inside you, Clark. Turn over now." Lex ordered as he began pushing in earnest at Clark's hips, his prodding no longer gentle, his patience obviously at an end. Fear made Clark concrete. He didn't budge.

Finally the older man's fog of primal need lifted enough to notice Clark was actively resisting the rather furtive foreplay. His face losing its harsh rigor and gentling into a soft mask of concern, Lex abruptly stopped his manhandling. Letting Clark's legs once again fall naturally open, Lex leaned down between the vee and peered into Clark's face, his gray eyes wide and searching. "Do I need to get a condom, Clark?" There was a whole world of hope in that question.

"No!" Clark cried without thinking.

Making love to Lex and not being able to feel his seed burning in his bowels after, would cheapen the encounter. The preceding orgasm was nice, very but the warm afterglow, deeper than any human could experience or begin to comprehend, gave Clark rapture. The risk that he might conceive was not enough for him to give up something so precious. Clark had to trust that if his mind was not ready for a child, his body would not be either.

Thinking of Lex coming inside him finally got Clark moving. Flipping over, he rested his head in his folded arms, eagerly raised his ass to the air and waited. His cock, full and thick again, hung heavily between his legs. After what seemed like an eternity, a warm hand ghosted over his trembling buttocks and lightly traced the seam.

"Christ, Clark. I can't believe I've never asked you to do this before. You look fucking gorgeous this way. So open...so beautiful...so utterly mine," Lex purred, stroking something deep inside Clark and making him shudder.

His older, more sophisticated lover's compliments always roused his passion. They were confirmation. Even with an engagement ring of sparking green and white on his left hand, Clark wasn't totally convinced how someone like Lex could go for someone like him.

Farm boy. Billionaire. Rugged. Refined. The cold damp earth. The hot twinkling stars. Black holes and super novas. Nothing and everything. Clark could go on. It shouldn't add up. But it did every time and Clark never got it once.

Twisting his neck, Clark looked back over his shoulder to where his dazed boyfriend kneeled hands on his thighs admiring the view. "Mount me, Lex." Clark demanded hoarsely, shaken by the twinning of worlds he saw Lex's eyes. The loving stare made Clark believe that sometimes one plus two could equal one. "Take what's yours," he begged.

Maxing out Clark's struggling ego further, Lex fell forward over his back with a strangled cry and resumed the neck munching he'd begun earlier. When a hand was presented to his face, Clark happily wet the palm with sloppy kiss. Not soon after he felt the slick tip of Lex's cock nudging at his now quivering entrance.

With only spit and sweat, the admission of Lex's cock into his ass was a tight squeeze. That Lex had not prepared him with a finger or two, made penetration harder. It also didn't help that Lex was making a grand show of his caring after his earlier callous attempt at fucking by taking him slow. The snail's pace was destroying the older man, Clark could feel him shaking and whimpering but Lex persevered.

Love made one do strange things.

Even Luthors were not immune.

Appreciating the sentiment but not having the time for it, Clark straightened his arms, pushed back and impaled himself in one long go on his lover's steel velvet rod. It felt so good, they both screamed.

Yelling obscenities between oaths of fealty and love, Lex wound his arms around Clark's chest and humped him like a madman. The force of Lex's thrusts shook the large muscles of Clark's legs and ass.

The fucking was rough, wicked and deafening. It was the way Clark's alien butt liked it. This was love. Lex bit into his shoulder when its walls started to whip and tremble under the force of the knowing. Except for their short-winded breaths, the slapping of flesh against flesh and the boom of their hearts in their ears, the room became silent. As his orgasm bubbled hot in the pit of his belly, Clark supposed it was still rather loud.

"God, love your freaky alien ass...god...oh, Christ...love you, Clark...love you..." Lex moaned in Clark's ear breaking the spell of silence. Clark was surprised it had taken his vocal lover so long. Clark was the silent one in bed. Lex babbled while fucking and shook the rafters with his screams when he came.

"Fill me up, Lex." Clark panted back over his shoulder hoping to incite further riot. His cock was starting to spill over the rug, he was hitting his mark and wanted Lex there beside him. "Come for me. Now!"

"Fuck, Clark! Now!" Lex screamed as he sat on his heels and pulled Clark flush into his lap to straddle him, fucking him harder. Clark gasped as Lex's sweat oiled cock slid deeper into his centre with piercing thrusts. "Doing it...filling you...oh, fuck, doing it...Jesus... coming....oh fuck...oh fuck, Clark...oh...oh, fuck...oh, fuck!"

Spreading his legs as wide as they could go, Clark dropped his weight down and came in an long arc as Lex convulsed upwards one last time and shot his hot seed deep within his bowels. Motionless, muscles strained to limit, they locked together in staggering bliss. When he died, this was the way he wanted to go, impaled and feeling Lex's come bathing his insides in a hot wash.

"Oh, shit...oh, Jesus...love...oh, love..." Lex mumbled and swayed as his body lost its orgasmic rigor. Before they fell in an undignified heap, Clark canted his pelvis, disengaged his swooning lover's softening penis and laid them down gently on the rug before the fire.

With Lex's head on his chest, Clark fell into a light doze as the semen in his bowels radiated a wave of soft, calming warmth, the reward after the prize. Barely awake and drifting in a muzzle of good feelings, Clark felt Lex's hand steal over his belly just below his navel and go limp after a short squeeze.

It was nice. Perfect.

Cows never had it this good.

Clark covered Lex's hand with his own and went to sleep.

"Clark?"

"Mmmm."

"Clark!"

"What?"

"You fell asleep."

"So? You did too, Lex."

"Yes, but that's normal for me after sex. You, however, are usually awake bugging the hell of out me with questions while I try."

"I was tired. Big day, what with Lionel and Dr Bryce."

"Is that all?"

"Is that, what...oh, wait. No, Lex, no baby. Mounting me doesn't do it any faster than any other way."

"Oh?"

"You thought it might though, didn't you? Dammit, Lex. After listening to me tell you didn't want to get pregnant, you tried anyway."

"I offered to wear a condom, Clark."

"Get real, Lex. You knew I'd say no."

"Maybe."

"No maybes. You knew."

"Perhaps."

"Lex, answer me."

"Don't treat me like a hostile witness, Clark."

"I'm not. I'm only asking for consistency."

"I am being consistent. You've known who I am for years, Clark. I haven't changed."

"Yeah, but a guy can hope."

"A guy still in love?"

"With his snarky best friend, yeah."

"I believe you meant sneaky. I'm never snarky, farm boy."

"Boom. You just were."

"Do you want to fight or talk about the creation of our firstborn?"

"Any other options?"

"Not at this time."

"Fine, Alex. I'll take babies for a thousand."

"Funny, Clark."

"Glad you think so."

"I don't but here goes. I want a child and you don't, correct?"

"Correct."

"Who's it up to?"

"Up to? Well, nobody, I guess since we can't figure out how to make it happen on cue."

"Exactly, so why should we fight about it?"

"We shouldn't."

"Good farm boy. You win the thousand dollars and the Luthor fortune."

"Great. Can I go back to sleep now?"

"One more thing, Clark. How did we get from the couch to the rug?"

"Later. Night, Lex."

"But Clark..."

"Go to sleep, Lex."

"Fine. Later, then. Night, Clark."

"Good rich boy."

It was Valentines Day so Clark wore red plaid.

Lex also went with tradition, his, and wore purple silk.

The full moon had risen and was shining brightly through the half door in the loft. In the back ground the space heaters droned and laboured to keep back the chill from the open window. February was a cold month in Kansas.

Clark looked from the night sky to his lover nestled beside him on the couch. With his head snuggled on his shoulder, Lex dozed, sleeping off the second piece of peach pie he'd had after dinner. Adorable. Clark kissed the top of Lex's head softly as not to wake him and turned back to the serenity of the stars.

In favor of a fancy restaurant in Metropolis, they had eaten a simple meal with his parents on this, the most romantic holiday of the year.

The quiet night at home had been Lex's idea and when his mom and dad had no objections to sharing their evening, Clark had seconded it. They celebrated their love everyday, a special occasion was unwarranted. And with the wedding coming in less than two months, they had flowers and chocolates enough in their life.

"I got you a present, farm boy."

"Huh?" Clark looked down. His sleeping beauty had awoken. "I thought we weren't going to exchange gifts, Lex. You said so."

"I changed my mind and besides, it isn't a gift if it isn't really mine."

"The truck. You know future husband or not, my dad's still gonna freak."

"That's why I gave to the keys to your mother before dinner. You can drive it when your Dad isn't using it for the farm."

"Smart man."

"I like to think so."

"I didn't get you anything."

"Because I made you promise not to. And once given, the dependable and loyal Kents never break a promise."

"Geez, Lex. You make me sound like Lassie."

"Lassie was female, Clark, and you're definitely not female. Although I have developed an affinity for fucking you like one."

"Nice mouth, Luthor."

"I like to think so."

"Well, thanks for the truck."

"A poor exchange for everything you've given me but you're welcome my love of loves, my heart of hearts, the lord over my kingdom."

"Ah...feeling a little sentimental tonight, Lex?"

"It is Valentines Day, Clark. Screw off. Being a sap is allowed."

"Lex, you can be sappy any day of the year and I wouldn't mind. It would make for a nice change. I love it when you smile. I mark the goofier ones on my bedpost, you know."

"Well fuck me for trying."

"Ah...now there's the man I know and love."

"And fuck you, Clark Kent."

"Even better. Wanna go at me, Luthor?"

"I could do that."

"Happy Valentine's, Lex.'

"Yes, Clark. For the first time, I think it is."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Jesus fucking Christ, Miss Sullivan!"

"Ah...hey, Lex. Busy?"

Standing with nothing but a fluffy while towel draped low on his hips and still dripping from his shower, Lex stared with horror at his plant manager's only daughter. "How the hell did you get in here?"

"The tall, Lurch type guy..."

"Enrique." Lex said shortly.

"Ah, yeah him. He let me in."

"Into my bedroom?" Lex choked.

"Well, no, the library actually. He said you'd be down soon but I got tired of waiting."

Only one of Clark's friends would so boldly invade his personal space. The fear of dismemberment at the sharp end of an epee or the simpler threat of financial ruin was sufficient to keep most of the other rabble at bay.

But alas, Smallville high school students went where the heads of corporate America feared to tread.

There was also his loyal staff. The young woman with the flippy blonde hair couldn't have gotten into his private rooms unless someone allowed it. The tall, Lurch type guy came instantly to Lex's mind.

"What step have I missed now?" he grumbled, biting his bottom lip and creasing his brow. When he heard a throat clearing Lex broke off his self indulgent musings and remembered he was standing half naked in front of a seventeen year old girl who read slash in her free time. Fuck.

"I take it you're not here to see my bare ass, Miss Sullivan," Lex began smoothly, refusing to show embarrassment. He'd already squealed like a vestal in her presence. He had some major face to save.

"No, that wasn't the main reason for my visit. However, I am the kind of chick that knows how to take advantage of an opportunity when it comes along. And by the way," she paused and craned her neck. "I can't see your bare ass, Lex."

Oh, she was good. With her head cocked to the side, Chloe hadn't blinked once during her short speech. Despite the fact she was the closest thing he had to competition for Clark's affections, Lex found himself liking her.

Reacting to the challenge in her voice and deciding to have a bit of fun at his rival's expense, Lex raised his pale brows and said, "Oh?"

Consciously making his limbs flow like liquid silk, Lex then turned and walked over to the bed where his velvet robe lay folded neatly on the comforter. With his back to her, he shimmied his hips and let the white towel fall to his feet. He smirked when he heard her gasp.

"My god, Clark was right. You are sleek. Wow, Lex. You're some kind of hot naked."

Hyper aware of his audience, Lex took his time and picked up his ankle length wrap of purple so deep it was almost black.

With his all or nothing bared, Lex painstaking shook out the finely woven plush and inspected it at arms length before sliding himself into the warm sleeves and draping the flowing garment loosely around his shoulders. For added measure, Lex smoothed out the folds along the back of his flanks with fingers splayed, taking care to cast the reflective weave under peaks of his ass into a attractive sheen before cinching the silk sash at his waist. When he heard Chloe's breath catch a second time, Lex ended his one man show and swung around to face her.

"Thank you, Miss Sullivan." Lex said, tactfully socking away his smile along with the rest of his attributes. "Your appreciation for my form is duly noted."

Chloe inched up to him, her nose up as if following a scent. "Oh, you're welcome. Damn. What a time to forget my camera."

"I think I've indulged you enough without allowing pictures or I might add, not having you killed for kissing my lover," he said halting her unconscious creep towards him. The last part Lex added just for spite. Although he had the resources, he wasn't sincere. The dead serious sounding statement was redemption for damages incurred.

Besides, Clark would never allow it.

"Ah...yeah...about that. The kiss is sort of why I'm here," she stammered showing the first signs of discomfort. The death threat hadn't fazed her. Shit, now Lex was beginning to respect her as well as like her.

"You came to apologize?" Lex asked surprised, fumbling at the sash at his waist.

"No, not originally." Bright eyes, completely bereft of guile flashed at him. "Unless that's what you need to put things back to rights."

"What I need?"

"Or Clark needs." Chloe sped on. "He's been awkward around me since that night in the Talon. I think he's afraid of upsetting you."

"So you came here today to make your peace with me so you could renew your friendship with Clark."

"Yes. The wedding's in a month and a half. I want to have fun."

"To be in the bridal party, you'd offer me an insincere apology? You're not sorry you kissed him?"

"Honestly, Lex? Not one bit. Would you be in my place?"

"That's hardly a fair question."

"Because you'd never be in my position. Clark's gay. You're what whips his mashed potatoes stiff. Not me. The blonde girl defies popular conception and gets it."

"I'm sorry," Lex said surprising himself. He had toyed with having a hit put out this girl a moment ago and now he was doing what by rights she should.

"Don't be. The world still spins and with her teeth and nails, Chloe Sullivan still holds on." Chloe let loose a deep put upon sigh. "I will get over him."

"It was not my intention to..." Lex stumbled. He was at loss at what to say next. It was difficult to find high ground around someone who wasn't actively battling you for it.

"To win?" Chloe finished for him. "I know. No hard feelings, okay?"

Impressed with her use of honesty--it was real but exploited well to maximum effect--Lex nodded shortly and asked with more sincerity than he felt in a long while, "What can I do for you today?"

"It's simple, Lex. Let me do something for you. Something that lets Clark know you have faith in me and don't hold a grudge."

In that instant, the blonde haired spit of a girl became a part of his future cabinet.

Fuck the wedding party. She'd be standing next to Clark at his inauguration.

At the tender age of seventeen Chloe Sullivan understood the importance of perceived impressions. She could roll with the punches, a must in political life where mud slinging happened more often than in preschool and was savvy enough to cut through the bullshit to get what she needed.

Lex really liked this girl.

"Give me a moment," he said while contemplating her proposal. When he remembered her extra curricular activities, it came to him. Lex motioned her to take a seat on the couch in the lounge area of his bedroom before speaking.

"I need two people investigated," he said crisply, business mode engaged. "One I'm aware of and one I'm not. My father has a spy in LexCorp. I'd like to know who it is."

Chloe waited for him to sit down beside her before answering. "I could do that. Just write up what you already know and I'll take it from there." She squinted her eyes. "By legal means only, of course."

"Of course. Clark would have my balls on a pitchfork if I got you trouble with the law."

"Clark would also have your balls if he knew you did a strip tease in front of me." Chloe batted her lashes innocently at him. "Not that I would say anything."

She had just been promoted to vee pee. Blackmail was a delicate art and Chloe Sullivan had talent.

Lex really, really liked this girl. In the future she could kiss Clark on the cheek anytime she cared to.

"I thank you for your discretion, Miss Sullivan," Lex said smoothly barely holding back his amusement.

"And I thank you for the show, Mr Luthor. Now all I need to see is Clark's butt to make things even." Lex frowned at her. "Okay, okay, so I'll use my imagination. Shame though. I'll bet he has a nice ass."

"Not nice, Miss Sullivan." Lex grinned evilly. "Out of this world spectacular."

"That's it, Martha. You're quitting!"

"Jonathon, calm down. It was only a brush."

"Of your breast! Good God, woman. The man plain as day assaulted you."

"He's blind. It might have been an accident."

"Like hell it was. The bastard sees more than he lets on."

"Maybe, but quitting, Jonathon? Can we afford that? What with the new greenhouse, we're somewhat cash poor at the moment."

"Nope. Doesn't matter."

"If I can't feed my son and husband it certainly does matter, Jonathon Kent."

"Dammit, Martha. Lex bought me the greenhouse."

"What? When?"

"He came to me the day after the anniversary party at the Talon. You know, the night they got back together?"

"My memory's fine. Go on."

"He called it a doweling."

"A dowry."

"Yeah, that's it. I didn't want to mess things up with the marriage, so I accepted."

"Jonathon, don't lie to me."

"Fine. I said yes because I thought the boy was about to cry. You know what that does to me, Martha. I spent most of my life hating his family..."

"And it makes you feel guilty when Lex shows you his love."

"Lord Martha, you could have just said gratitude."

"He's our family now, Jonathon."

"Yeah, but that bastard of a father's not. Quit without notice. We don't need the money but if you need to work, talk to our future son-in-law. I'm sure Lex could find you something."

"You are my pretty horse, Jonathon Kent. I love you."

"More than corn, I love you too, woman but you know in twenty years I've never gotten that horse thing, don't you?"

"You're not supposed to. It's a secret passed from mothers to sons."

"Clark knows?"

"Yes, Jonathon. Before I told him."

"Good evening, Clark."

Clark looked up from his hot chocolate with extra marshmallows.

It wasn't Chloe who he was meeting to ask, no beg for help with the commitment ceremony five Saturdays away. It wasn't Lana who in the off chance gotten a personality change and decided it was okay to speak to a fag. It wasn't Pete and Lex was out with his dad.

"Ah...hello, Dr Bryce."

The dark hair woman eyed the empty seat across from him. She was still dressed in her hospital whites. A stethoscope was slung casually around her neck. "I'm on my dinner break. Do you mind if I join you?"

Clark shrugged. "Sure."

In the last couple of weeks, she'd been joining him a lot whenever he stopped into the Talon for a coffee or in tonight's case, a hot chocolate.

It had been unnerving at first but since their short visits with him seemed to keep her away from Lex, Clark didn't mind playing block and tackle.

"How's school?" she asked amiably, cradling the coffee in her hands. "Mid-terms are coming up, aren't they?"

"Yeah, in a week, just after March break. Final exams are at the end of May." Clark answered dully. Helen often asked about school or other minor details of his life. Never the big stuff and never thankfully about his mate, Lex Luthor. He didn't know why Helen was being so nice but Chloe, upon his lover's request, was looking into it.

"Ah...Fort Lauderdale and March break. Girls gone wild."

"Excuse me?"

"Sorry, Clark. Just reminiscing."

"About wild girls in Florida?"

"Something I used to do when I was your age." Helen took a careful sip of her hot coffee and then looked sideways at him. "Do you ever think about girls, Clark?"

"Wild ones, like Amazons? No, not often. But sometimes when Lex quotes some dead Greek guy that fought them while we play pool I do. He thinks reciting the teasing litany of ancient parables helps to improve his shot. It doesn't."

"I wasn't speaking historically, Clark."

"Well, lately I've been interested in jungles."

"I wasn't speaking topographically either."

"I know, Dr Bryce." Clark stopped playing and looked hard at her. "You're talking about sex. You'd do better off asking me about history or rainforests."

Looking deeply affronted, Helen sat back in her seat. "I meant no offense, Clark. I was only trying to get to know you better."

"Why?"

"I'd like to be your friend."

"You'd like to screw my boyfriend."

"That's not true. I have no romantic interest in Lex whatsoever."

"I know about the deal, Doctor. You want to have his baby."

"You know nothing." Helen pushed back her coffee and rose from the booth. "Good night, Clark," she said crisply.

Dizzyingly pleased by her departure and more so by his bad assed contribution to it, Clark watched as Helen weaved her way through the tables towards the exit. At the door, she passed Chloe coming in. They didn't exchange a glance let alone a hello. Clark waited on his real friend to join him while she ordered a low-fat, no-foam latte from the bar.

"Saw the good doctor coming in." Chloe said sliding into the booth and setting the much prized palm pilot Lex had given her last Christmas on the table with her mug. Like a gun in a holster, she kept the safety off and always at ready. "She didn't look too happy."

"I kind of shot my mouth off about the baby thing. I hope that doesn't wreck what ever you're doing for Lex." Clark said not feeling one wit of remorse about Helen or at letting something slip. Except for the green rocks and the alien thing, Chloe had been completely briefed on the 'Lionel' situation, pictures and all. Without him, Lex and Chloe spent hours behind closed doors discussing it.

"Nah, it actually works to our benefit." Chloe said while shrugging off her winter jacket and letting it fall around her waist. "You acting the jealous boyfriend is normal. We don't want her thinking anything abnormal is going on just yet."

Clark scrunched up his face and peered at her. "And what is going on?" he asked hearing the bite in his tone while not immune to the shame.

He liked the fact that Lex and Chloe had formed a friendship outside him. Really, he did....mostly. It meant he didn't have to be careful about talking about one in front of the other anymore and that was great but sometimes, when Lex and Chloe went into 'Get Lionel' mode, it wasn't. Clark felt left out. It was childish but he'd been Chloe's friend first and when he thought about it, Lex's too.

"Just a background check, Clark. I'm looking into her schooling, her childhood friends, family...that kind of thing for Lex. Don't worry. Nothing bad." Chloe blew the foam from her latte and flipped opened her PDA. "Okay, ready. I'm here. What do you need?"

Clark saw Chloe's eagerness to help him and shrugged off the crap. "Well, most of it my mom and Lex are looking after."

"Uh-huh, just an innocent bystander. Got it." Chloe typed something into her pilot and looked up at him. "What colours have they chosen for the decorations and flowers?"

"Lex had selected red and yellow roses..."

"Ew, Clark. His hometown loyalty is admiral but Clark? Ew."

"Yeah, I know. Mom talked him into white and purple."

"Nice. Sophisticated. Classy." Chloe stabbed another note Clark didn't see into her little electronic hold all and then harrumphed before looking up. "As long as my dress doesn't make me look like a grape, I'm all for it, Clark."

"Right, your dress," Clark said, remembering. "I'm supposed to tell you Lex has this designer, somebody Wang I think, coming from New York on Saturday afternoon to take yours and Mom's measurements."

"Vera Wang? Oooh, very bling, bling. So what did you get to choose, Clark?" She lifted her mug for a sip.

"The band. Lex wanted me to go with Aerosmith..."

Chloe choked, blowing cinnamon capped foam into a pretty mosaic. "The real Aerosmith?" She wiped and her nose and blurted, "God, Clark."

Not seeing the fuss--the guy had a sexy mouth, big deal, Lex's was better--Clark answered with a smooth roll to his shoulders, "Yeah, they played at his sixteenth birthday party and they still keep in touch."

"Wow." With napkin, Chloe wiped her lips, clearing away the white spiced foam. "So am I going to meet Steven Tyler?"

"Maybe. I told Lex he could come to the wedding but it would be the Metropolis string quartet playing that night. Lex gave it up when I told him my reasoning." When he saw Chloe's brows disappear into her blonde fringe in silent question, Clark explained, trying and failing not to blush. "He took me to the symphony on our first date in the city."

Chloe smiled sweetly, tucked her hands under her chin and batted her lashes. "Ah, romance is not dead in modern America." She dropped her pose and tapped her palm pilot. "So what do you need me for?"

"You promise you won't laugh?" Clark asked already feeling his blush deepen to epic proportions.

"No, but tell me anyway."

Clark took a deep breath. "My hair," he said in a whoosh. "Yours always looks so nice, Chloe, so I though maybe you could make mine look nice too. For obvious reasons I can't ask Lex for help and my mom just spits in her hand and pats it down."

"Oh, Clark." In an instant, she was on his side of the booth hugging him. "I'd love to help you get ready for your wedding."

"Ah...thanks, Chloe." Clark said automatically squeezing her because she was on his side of the booth squeezing him. He was bewildered as to why his personal grooming habits should evoke such an emotional response. However that said, the squeezing part was kind of nice. Clark kept his arms where they were and didn't let her go until she was done. He didn't kiss her but he could of. The shaggy top of her head was looking like as good spot as any. Would that be okay?

"None needed. That's what the maid of honour does." Chloe brought her head up from Clark's chest, preempting the thought about, maybe kiss and looked at him with moist eyes. "I promise to make you look so handsome, straight men will want to marry you."

"Just Lex is good enough."

"Yes, of course." She gave him a small teary smile. "Just Lex."

"You know I'll have to have kill him now, don't you?"

"Kill Lionel? Ain't that a bit harsh, boy?"

"Fuck, no. He touched our Martha, Jon. Killing's too good for him."

"Well, can't say I don't disagree with you on that."

"And he scares the hell out of my Sunshine.'

"Who?"

"My love, my everything...your son."

"You call him Sunshine? That's awful lame, Lex. I called one of Daisy's calves that last season."

"Ah...but you haven't run your tongue along his skin or swallowed his very essence. Fuck, Jon, he's tastes as sweet as the day is bright."

"Look here, boy. I'm gonna have to slug you if you keep talking like that."

"For the bad poetry or for the shit about Clark?"

"Both, I guess. Wanna another beer?"

"Fuck, yeah. And another tequila?"

"You buying?"

"Yep."

"Then if your wallet can stand it, so can I."

"God, Jon, have I got a friend for you."

"I'm not into that funny stuff, boy. I got Martha, remember? Drink your shot."

"Arrg...now that's harsh."

"Good for the pipes though."

"Enrique isn't gay."

"Lower your voice, boy. Some folks in this here bar aren't as tolerant as I am. And the out of towners, not one wit."

"Only if you stop calling me boy. You make feel like an extra in a civil war film. Next you'll be calling me Bubba or god forbid, Bo."

"Bo's a right respectable name."

"So is Alexander."

"Damn, you're a fussy twit."

"Yeah, but I'm your fussy twit, you big lug."

"That's the drink talking so I ain't gonna hit you."

"Funny, I though it was me."

"You're drunk, Alexander."

"Duh-uh, Jonathon. What was your first fucking clue?"

"You lost your tie."

"What? Oh, shit! Where is it?"

"In the urinal. You tore it off when you kept pissing on it."

"Oh...okay."

"So, Lex, was there a reason you wanted to come to a redneck bar with me wearing a fancy suit or do you like getting beat up in dimly lit parking lots?"

"I can hold my own in a fight, Jon. I box."

"Ah-huh. Hold your own, my ass. Right now the wicker barstool has you hands down, no contest. You can't even sit straight. Why are we here, Lex?"

"I'd like you to stand up for me at my wedding."

"Me? Don't you have a best friend you can ask?"

"Yeah, but I'm marrying him. Pass the peanuts."

"Do I have to throw you a bachelor party, cause I don't think I could stomach your crowd."

"What, fuck no. Me neither. Oh, god these are good. Are they imported?"

"Yeah, from Georgia. They go with the beer."

"Where's that from?"

"Milwaukee."

"Never heard of it. So, Jon, will ya?"

"I'd be honoured, I suppose."

"Great! Barkeep! A round for the house! Tequila, Jon?"

"Maybe we should make it coffee, Lex."

"Coffee? Good idea. Clark's at the Talon, Jon. Let's hop in the limo and go get him."

"No, son, I think we should just get you home to bed."

"With Clark, yeah. I want to go to bed with Clark. I want to kiss him, lick him, suck him..."

"You know, I just might have to hit you after all."

"Hmm?"

"Lex? Lex? Out like a light. Oh, crap."

"Jonathon? Is that you?"

"Yeah, just gonna take a quick shower before coming to bed."

"Come here a moment and tell me how it went with Lex. Did he ask you to be his best man?"

"Uh-huh. Right before he fell off his barstool and passed out."

"Oh my, Jonathon. Is he all right?"

"Yeah, I got him home safe but he's going to be spending an awful lot of time looking for the Mack truck that hit him in the morning. Lord Martha, the boy was smashed."

"You got him drunk? How could you?"

"It was just a few beers and a bottle of tequila. I thought he could hold it. Didn't he used to be a real hell raiser back in Metropolis?"

"Three years ago. He's matured, Jonathon. I doubt he's done much hard drinking since."

"Yeah, he's a good kid. Loves Clark to the point of embarrassment. Did you know he calls our son Sunshine?"

"Really? That's adorable."

"If you say so, Martha. Oh, I told him about you and Lionel. Not sure if he'll remember though."

"Let's hope not. He doesn't need the aggravation before his wedding. It supposed to be a happy day for him."

"No worries there, Martha. The boy's got 'happy' to spare. Clark coming home tonight?"

"No. He's going to the castle after the Talon."

"That should be interesting."

"Hmm. Now get in the shower, Jonathon. You smell like a brewery."

"Yes, ma'am."

Boy gone wild.

Stripping off his clothing as he went, Clark approached the bed where he could hear Lex quietly snoring. The rank odour of the Wild Coyote Bar and Grill increased with each footstep and billowed up in a cloud of stale cigarette smoke and alcohol when he pulled back the comforter. Clark had to concentrate on Lex's natural smell to stand getting in. In his sleep, Lex rolled and spooned up to his back.

More than anything Clark was here instead of own fresh smelling bed because he couldn't imagine any other place he wanted to be. That Lex was passed out drunk made little difference. Clark didn't expect to get laid tonight. Enrique had told him on his way up that Lex hadn't handled his booze with his usual aplomb and probably would sleep like a baby until morning. No, he just wanted to be next to the man he loved. Marriage was about for better or for worse and if he didn't breathe too deeply, the worse wasn't so bad.

Clark was drifting off when he felt something hard nudge his backside. Sleep went out the window when a familiar hand cupped his balls.

"Lex?" Clark asked over his shoulder. "You awake?"

No verbal reply came but the hand on his balls moved upward to his lax penis. The stiff length between his butt cheeks slicked his crease with pre-come giving its own answer. Clark shivered as his skin flushed and went tight in reaction to the teasing touches. His mind spun.

Could a person fuck in their sleep? And did he want to be fucked by that person? His hips jerked yes when his semi conscious lover squeezed his blossoming cock.

Suddenly bursting with need, Clark asked no more questions. He raised his leg and placed the hand on his erection behind his bent knee. He could take care of his own arousal. Lex was a thoughtful lover but Clark doubted he was thinking much right now.

Grabbing the lube from the night side table, Clark squished a generous amount over his fingers and reached under his balls to his anus. Not sure how long Lex would remain in his horny fugue, he quickly stuck two slippery digits inside himself and scissored them. The anticipatory pleasure elicited a moan from his lips as he pumped and stretched. When he was satisfied he was sufficiently prepared, he wanted no resistance that might end the spell, Clark reached back and coated Lex's impatient dick with the leftover lube. His hand was barely back to his own erection before Lex stabbed forward and with preternatural aim, popped inside.

"Yesss," Clark hissed as the older man penetrated him to the balls in one well-greased thrust. When Lex pulled out and shoved in again, the ever-present fire in Clark's belly that smoldered pleasantly whenever his mate was around, sparked and crackled to life. It didn't matter that Lex wasn't along for the ride. The heat burned just as hot and Clark jerked himself off to fan the flames.

In long smooth strokes, Lex fucked and fucked his ass. It was tremendous. The trembling of his anal walls came and went and Lex was still stroking. Clark was biting his pillow and spilling over his hand and still Lex was sliding in and out his butt at a steady pace. His semen had cooled on his fingers and Lex was...still, with nothing to stroke. Surprised by the abrupt halt, Clark peered over his shoulder. The older man hadn't finished. He hadn't come but surely as anything he was done.

The long, regal penis that had screwed him over the edge a moment ago, was limp and Lex was snoring again thus proving the theory that yes, one could fuck in their sleep but they had to be awake to get off.

Snickering softly to himself, Clark eased out of bed and padded off to the bathroom to clean up. He had just closed the door and turned on the light when an unfolding heat flooded his insides. Shocked, Clark locked his elbows and braced himself against the closed door to keep from collapsing.

"What's happening?" Clark choked as he pushed away from the door to the tub. He hugged the fire in his belly as he thunked down on the edge.

Lex had not come. He was sure of it. There was no semen in his bowels. There should be no answering warmth. Frightened and confused, Clark closed his eyes and tried not to scream. When the hysteria passed and nothing exploded, he tried just to feel.

It didn't hurt, in fact it was the same delicious heat he usually felt after Lex had shot his sticky completion into him. What did that mean? Clark's mind whirred again. That it wasn't his lover's come that triggered the drop into peaceful ecstasy? That spreading warmth Clark felt in his bowels wasn't just a signal heralding in the end a good session of love making but the beginning of, of...oh, god no.

No!

"I think I found your sign, Lex." Clark moaned as he slipped from the edge of the tub to the cold tiled floor in despair. In a flash of rare focus he wasn't likely to experience again, Clark understood. Nothing again would be this crystal clear. Somehow he knew this.

The fluctuating anal muscles that calmed before orgasm and the following sensation of comfort was his body's gentle way of preparing a cradle for life. It was the final level, the heat was precursor. If Lex was able to hold off ejaculation until after all the steps had been completed, Clark would conceive. Clark wasn't certain of the science or precisely how long Lex would have to delay, but he knew instinctively he was right. If Lex could last longer, if their desire for one another wasn't so strong they climaxed only minutes after joining, Clark was certain he could get pregnant. He could have the baby Lex so desperately wanted.

What he didn't know was what to do about it.

As if someone had punched him in the gut with a glove laced with green meteorites, Clark moaned again and doubled over.

If he told Lex, the twenty-three year old man would be popping Viagra with his evening scotch. But if he didn't, Clark risked the tension and evitable fights they used to have when Lex didn't know of his alien heritage. That secret had almost ruined their friendship. Clark didn't not want to chance destroying their up coming marriage with another but then again, he also did not want a child. Well, not yet anyway. He wanted to wait.

In the dimness of his despair, a light went off and Clark sat up.

Perhaps waiting was the answer here too. He would tell Lex but not when he was tired, scared and generally, except for the undeniably pleasant glow in his belly, feeling like a wet dishrag. Tomorrow or the next day would be good enough.

Yeah, that was the ticket.

Tomorrow.

Clark felt better already.

"There will be six white candles, Alexander." Enrique said, reading from the three ringed binder opened before him on the marbled top of the kitchen island. A half glass of sparkling white wine sat to the left as he followed the lines of script with a finger. "According to Mrs <<Mrs.>>Kent's outline, you'll each light one pillar and then the ceremony will be over. The reception will begin immediately after."

Lex flipped desperately through his own notebook looking for the right page. The techno brat that he was didn't do well with paper. "Does it say when I get to kiss him?"

"Page twenty eight." Martha offered between sips of champagne. "See the tab marked 'Commitment Ceremony'?"

Frustrated, Lex picked up book up by the spine, shook it hard enough to kill it and let the pages fall close. Twisting his head sideways he read the coloured tabs looking for the right one. "Flowers, RSVP's, Rehearsal Party...ah!" Lex stuck a finger between the pages, laid the binder flat and started to read.

"More of the forbidden grape, Mrs. Kent?"

"Yes, thank you, Mr. Montoya."

"Please, ma'am. It's Enrique."

"Only if my name's Martha."

"Ah, such a sweet name. I'm honoured. Martha, it is."

Looking up from his study, Lex smiled to see his manservant completely charmed and embarrassingly besotted by the redhead smiling and holding out her glass. After a sweeping bow of impeccable elegance, Enrique moved smoothly from the island to fetch the Moet et Chandon from the silver bucket on the side counter. There were two more bottles waiting to be popped in the glass front refrigerator.

With the wedding a month away, the review night Martha had suggested had more advantages than was initially obvious. Losing his place in his notebook once again, Lex propped up his elbow and cradled his chin in his palm to watch. There was no mirror readily available, so Lex was unaware of the silly grin he sported.

The House of Luthor was coming together with the House of Kent.

Lex was delighted beyond measure to see the respective heads of both families bonding. In a relationship where very little made sense, this easy camaraderie between the mother of his future husband and the man who should have been his father had the Fates given a fuck, filled Lex with calm certainty. Surer than any signs from the gods, he knew now more than ever he was destined to be with Clark.

The stuff of legends...

"Did you find it, Lex?"

"Huh?" His hand slipping from his chin, Lex sputtered and blushed. Devoid of grace in both vernacular and form, he responded like a schoolboy caught daydreaming in class.

Only she could do that to him.

Martha's green eyes sparkled and for the millionth time, Lex numbered Jonathon Kent among the favoured few.

This woman, who for a man, had bravely left the financially fortunate life of Metropolis for the barely getting by of Smallville, was supreme in her earthen beauty. Lex was shell shocked and leveled every time he looked at her. "The kiss, Lex." Martha said again. "Did you find my notes on the kiss?"

Blaming the expensive champagne on his fluster, Lex looked back down at his book and dog-eared the page it was opened to. "After we light the candles?" he guessed.

"If you like. But since there will be no official to declare your union, you'll have the opportunity to say a few words to Clark and he to you after myself, Jonathon, Chloe and Pete step back."

"Like vows."

"Yes, Lex. You'll exchange rings and then the room will be yours."

And the world will be watching, Lex finished in his head.

While declaring openly his commitment to his six foot four angel disguised in alien clothing appealed to his flair for the dramatic and fell well in line with his political agenda, Lex did not hesitate to dismiss a public oratory. Even if he could verbalize his devotion without breaking down, what he truly wanted to say to Clark on the eve of their union was private. The fact that he was willing to declare this man his life mate and partner in the headlines of both local and international papers by way of an elaborate party was pronouncement enough. The sweet words of love he would save for later when he was deep inside his beautiful husband consummating the event for which all had gathered. Christ, he was oh so gone.

"No, Martha. A kiss will be sufficient but there is one altercation I'd like to make to the proceedings." Lex looked to the tall man expertly refilling his crystal flute without creating a hint of bitter head. "I'd like Enrique to light a candle."

Enrique set the bottle he'd been holding down with a clatter on the kitchen island. French glass scraped Italian marble with a squeal. "Sir?"

Oh, now it was sir.

Enrique hadn't used the formal address since he'd handed Lex's balls back to him over a bottle of scotch and told him with few colourful words to confront Lionel. It seemed Lex wasn't the only one who had troubling dealing with public displays of sentimentality.

"If I can't have my mother, I'd like you to stand with me." Lex said knowing full well the effect his words would have. For sometime now he suspected Enrique had been in love with the woman that had married his father.

"Lillian..."

"Would expect you to be there for her son." Lex said quickly not giving Enrique an opportunity for escape.

"Yes, she would." Enrique said while looking softly at Martha. Lex followed his gaze and understood more than one man's obsession with the absorbing Mrs. Kent.

"Then you will?"

"Of course." With what looked like regret, Enrique gave up Martha's visage and turned back to Lex. "Lillian would not have wanted you to be alone on the most important day of your life, Alexander."

Smiling at the return of his first name, Lex responded by reaching over and squeezing Enrique's hand. "Thank you," he said and then, took a healthy swig of his champagne.

Rampant sentimentality made one adverse to it thirsty.

"Lovely," Martha said clapping her hands.

Yes, Lex thought, draining his glass.

She was.

"Lex? Are you drunk?"

"No, just luxuriating." Lex looked away from the fire burning in the man sized hearth in the library and smiled at him. His pink coral lips barely made a curve and there wasn't a tension line anywhere on his finely chiseled face. Lex's forehead was smooth plain. "I spent the evening with your mother not your father."

"Ah, then no bar shots of tequila."

"No, Clark, just a few bottles, three<<,>> of outrageously expensive champagne. Fitting and apt, I'd say." Leaning his head back on the couch, Lex toed off his loafers and put his feet up on the low table. "How was your study group?" he asked with his eyes closed.

"Boring." Clark dropped his backpack along with his coat on the floor by the couch. "But I think I'll pass the exam tomorrow." Following Lex's example Clark kicked off his boots, flopped down and put his feet up. "Did I miss any important wedding updates?"

"It's in your mother's book. There's nothing pressing. You can come over tomorrow and read it after your exam."

"Lex?"

"Yes, Clark?" Lex answered, his words diffused. He sounded and looked half-asleep.

"If I come over tomorrow, do you think I could stay?"

"If you'd like. Cook is always prepared for your sleep overs and I wouldn't kick you out of bed for eating crackers."

"No. I mean, can I stay?"

Lex lifted his head from the cushions and peeked an eye at him. "Move in?"

"Yeah." Clark affirmed and both of Lex's eyes opened--wide.

"Have you discussed this with your mother?"

"Mom? No, but if you're worried about chores, I can do them from here as easily as I can there. Besides, I'm rarely at the farm these days anyway."

Lex frowned. "Were not married yet, Clark."

"Yeah, so?"

"Clark, you're still a high school student. Your mother might not approve of us living together before the wedding. I know your father definitely will not."

"I love you and want to be with you. I don't care what they think."

"Clark, they're your parents."

"Yeah, I know, Lex, but I'm almost eighteen years old and I want to live full time with the man I'm going to marry. What's the problem? Don't you want me here?"

"Only if your mother says it's okay."

"No, this isn't about my mom. It's you, Lex. You think it's inappropriate. You'll try to get me pregnant before marriage but you won't live with me? What's up with that?"

Lex's steel gray eyes narrowed down into hard points. "One I have control over and one I don't."

Determined, Clark snuggled down and took stake on the couch. "I'm moving in."

"Clark..."

"Nope. From now on the castle, not the farm is my home. I've made up my mind. I've hung up my coat."

Lex's studious gaze broke to briefly flicker past him. "Your coat's on the floor, Clark."

"Still moving in, Lex."

"If your mother has any objections..."

"She won't," Clark said cutting him off. Oh, god. He so didn't want this to be about his mother. "She knows how much I want to be with you. She'll understand, Lex."

"Fine." Lex closed his eyes and effortlessly slipped back into his luxuriating. "I'll make room in the closet for your things."

"You mean it?" Clark sat up and loomed over his scarily complacent lover. "It's okay? You're serious?"

"Clark, look at me." Eyes remaining closed, Lex splayed his arms, palms up. "I'm a fucking clothes horse. I never joke about closet space."

Clark blinked.

Hot damn. He was saying yes.

Clark blinked again.

Holy fucking, hot, hot damn! He was saying yes.

"Oh, god, Lex. I love you."

Lex pulled his arms back and lazily folded one over the other on his midriff. "Words I thought I'd never hear but thank the gods above I have," he murmured as if half asleep.

"Does that mean you love me back?"

Not moving anything that didn't have to--the man was a freakin Buddha--Lex responded under his breath, "Yes, Clark. I love you back in spades."

"Could have just said so."

A small smile cracked Lex's serene facade. "No poetry in that, Sunshine."

"Right." Clark huffed as he changed position and laid his head in the well of Lex's soft comfortable lap.

From here he had a good view of his obstinate lover's pale throat where it emerged from the collar of his jet-black sweater. The contrast was breath taking. Clark ran a finger along the smooth whiteness of a jaw that never needed shaving and felt Lex shiver. It was the only movement the older man made.

"Up to something, farm boy?" Lex drawled.

Clark added a couple more fingers and expanded his explorations to include the fine shell of Lex's left ear. Damn, but this man was exquisite, so blatantly male but also finely made. Lex was strung steel, tensile wire stretched over silken breadths of smooth, cool resilience. Lex was art, a beauty of delicate strength and Peter Ross was a blind idiot with no taste.

"No, just admiring the view," Clark answered, his words low in his throat and wishing he could better voice the searing vision in his head.

"Ah, voyeurism. Kinky, Clark."

"No, kinky would be if I came in my pants while stroking your neck." Clark said boldly feeling deliciously, wonderfully wicked. Long fingers came down to card slowly through his hair as if rewarding his saucy comment.

"A chance of that, is there?" Lex asked, his breathing a little thinner than before. The soft pillow beneath Clark's head was becoming enticingly firm.

"It's a definite possibility. You're a mighty fine looking man, Lex Luthor."

"The angel flatters the devil. I think I hear the gods weeping." In a decisive movement rich in sloth, Lex leaned over and gave Clark's lips a bruising kiss. "I like that," Lex whispered, breaking the ragged touch briefly before reclaiming Clark's mouth in a way that spoke louder than a few soft spoken words.

As they continued to kiss with increasing rapacity, nipping teeth and searching tongues finding forefront, it occurred to Clark that he was playing with fire. Lex had been drinking and while he was moving a little slower, he was not comatose.

The Farm Boy's Guide to Sex, or the Internet as the masses called it, said that alcohol numbed the nerve endings of male genitals which meant that after few too many drinks some guys couldn't get it up and others couldn't get it down. Lex had shown Clark not long ago he was clearly on the way to being from the latter group and thus, the danger.

Tonight, Lex was desensitized by alcohol but he was not incapacitated. He had his wits. He was not some spaced out zombie with a reactive hard on. Clark guessed that Lex could fuck all night or at least long enough for Clark's body to create the cradle and this time he would finish. Although he didn't know it, Lex was stoked and primed for baby making.

"I think it's time for bed, Clark." Lex growled into his mouth, rubbing Clark's semi-hard cock in teasing circles through his jeans with the heel of his hand. "It's time for me to fuck you."

No, not incapacitated at all.

"Now?" Clark blurted hoping Lex couldn't hear the tinge of panic in his voice.

"Yes, now, bed. I'm not fond of rug burns."

"Speaking of the rug," Clark began, stalling for time. "Don't you want to know how we got there that day we met Dr Bryce?"

"We flew," Lex said, the hungry lips nibbling Clark's jaw not quivering once at what should have been a shocking revelation. "I figured it out one night when I woke up freezing and saw you and the bedcovers floating three feet above the mattress."

Clark sat up quickly, almost knocking noses with his lover and blinking. "Why didn't you say something?"

Unaffected by Clark's sudden recoil, Lex compensated, found a space he liked and lazed into it. They were sitting side by side on the couch with Lex tucked neatly beneath his chin, the whole of his slim body curled in Clark's lap. Warning beacons of old reminded Clark that this was not a place Lex liked to be. The older man hated to be held so fully. Something was up. Lex didn't fawn unless he had to.

"I didn't want to steal your thunder, Clark. Don't be mad. I knew you'd tell me when you were ready. You love me. I know that." Snuggling deeper into his lap, Lex kissed underside of Clark's jaw. "You can't keep secrets from me for very long."

Don't bet on it, Clark's mind shot back without volition. He reddened with guilt as if Lex had heard him. "You still should have said something," Clark grumbled aloud, pulling his head back so he could look at Lex's face.

"Clark?" With worry suddenly creasing his formerly smooth brow, Lex reached up and pressed his fingers to Clark's lips. "Next time I will, okay? I'm sorry. Oh, Christ. It was not my intention to upset you. I want you. I need you. Don't ever want to hurt you."

Clark kissed the fingers on his mouth softly and then placed them into his hand, twining the slim fingers into his own. "Is that poetry too, Lex?"

A smile slowly spread across Lex's face. "Not poetry. Truth."

"Can we go to bed, now to...you know, just sleep?"

If Lex was shocked by his request, he didn't show it. "Anything you want, Clark," the older man murmured as he hugged his chest. "Anything."

Clark wished he could promise the same.

"Okay, not fucking pleased." Lex whipped the PDA across the room. It bounced off the back of the fireplace's blackened hearth and landed on the Persian rug in two big pieces and a lot of little ones.

"Not. Fucking. Pleased!" he repeated, screaming this go around.

"Alexander?" As if he'd been waiting out in the hall for such eruption, Enrique glided into the room. "What is it?"

Shoulders shaking, Lex pointed an accusing finger at the ruined palm pilot in pieces on the fieldstones. He'd have to buy Chloe another one. "She wants Clark. Not me. Clark."

Enrique followed his finger but not his line of thought. "Who does?"

Lex glared at him for not immediately catching on. "Helen 'the bitch in heat' Bryce," he spat.

"Ah...your father's doctor friend." Enrique declared without losing an ounce of his famous composure. Lex noticed but was too pissed off to be impressed. "May I surmise by your less than flattering nickname for her, that she wants Clark for breeding purposes?"

"You may." Lex raked his fingers up his face and over his scalp. If he had hair, he'd be tearing it out. "Fuck. I should have seen this coming. My father hasn't lost one bit of interest in obtaining Clark's abilities, he just deferred it into different form."

"Hoping they'll pass on to his child."

"Yes, well if I'm not allowed to have a baby with him, she certainly isn't."

"Calm down, Alexander and come here." Enrique rested against the front of Lex's desk, on the lip of its glass edge and gestured with only a nod for Lex to join him. Lex fell prey to the offered comfort and perched next to him. When he was close enough, Enrique slung an arm around his trembling shoulders. "Perhaps," the older man began when Lex stopped shivering, "You should consider your father's avarice a blessing as you cannot physically conceive your own child with Master Clark."

"The hell I can't!" Lex roared and then, quickly snapped his mouth shut when he realized what he had let slip. Fuck. Pointedly not looking at him, Lex held his breath and waited for Enrique to say something.

Continuing to hold Lex close to his side, the older man remained quiet for a few, very long moments before replying softly, "Ah...he's that special then. I thought so but never really quite imagined."

"Enrique..." Lex began, daring to look out the corner of his eye at his impromptu confessor.

"No worries, Alexander." Enrique rumbled. There were depths of power in that voice, leagues of experience that Lex was still too young to understand or manage on his own. Playing it smart, he sat still, listened and learned.

"Master Clark, whatever his nature, is family," Enrique said. "His secrets are our secrets. They will not be revealed."

"Thank you." Lex said with a sigh, all but admitting Clark's alieness with that small breathy whoosh. He trusted the tall man beside him. It felt right that Enrique was now, in some measure, part of the inner circle. There were details but he would leave them for his young lover to tell. Lex winced. Oh, Christ. Clark was going to eviscerate him for giving up his secret so easily. He didn't even want to contemplate what Jon would do.

"How much does your father know? Is he aware that your young man can...procreate?"

"No, not that," Lex said shaking his head to disperse the notion that his father knew the real truth while confirming to Enrique the validity of it. "But he does know enough to be dangerous. Clark has a weakness that my father at the moment is only guessing at. If he should discover he's right..."

"Ah, that's the reason you fear him."

"Yes and I'll be afraid until the day he dies."

"An interesting thought."

"No, Enrique." Lex said firmly. "Patricide isn't the smart answer and Clark..."

"Would never allow it." Enrique smiled ruefully. "Shame."

"He's a good boy."

"Yes, Alexander, he most certainly is. That's why you love him so much."

Lex sighed in agreement and experienced a brief moment of peace. He fell into Enrique and rested his head on his shoulder. Leaning on someone other than Clark should have felt strange, but it didn't. Lex had a vague feeling that if Martha was here, he'd be feeling near about the same thing. He was becoming disgustingly touchy-feely in his old age. Oh, crap as Jon would say and suddenly there was another safe shoulder he didn't want to get sappy over.

"What am I going to do?" Lex wailed in frustration, throwing back the blanket of muzzy wonderful he'd been wallowing in a moment before. "Even I if bent to my father's will, I don't think Clark could manage to impregnate Helen. He's too...different." Lex said being purposely vague out of habit although it was probably a wasted effort. Enrique had proved he was not an imbecile.

"And if you impregnated her first?"

It was a possibility. Lex, when he put his mind to it, could seduce rain out of a clear blue sky. Getting Helen Bryce into bed shouldn't be any trouble. However, creating another child only traded one problem for another.

"Special or not, Lionel would take the baby away. According to Chloe's report, he's holding to past practice and fucking Helen. I'm sure he's offered her marriage in exchange for her services. Oh, he won't keep her. After he adopts the child, he'll most likely divorce the bitch."

"You could fight the adoption and sue for custody."

"And who would win? The young man with the teenage husband or the rich successful one married to the mother?"

"I see your point. It would be a risk."

"So you can see why I'm not fucking pleased."

"Let me think on it. I'll find a solution, Alexander."

"One that doesn't involve assassinating my father, I trust?"

"No promises but I do promise should Lionel meet an untimely death, you will not be connected."

Lex shifted in the older man's arms and looked hard at him. "Find a another way, Enrique. Believe me, good boy or not, you do not want Clark Kent as an enemy."

"I'll remember that, Alexander. Now onto more pleasant matters. Your suit has arrived."

"Where?" Lex squeaked, anxiety hitting him more squarely in the chest than it had not moments before. Odd. "Not in the closet? Shit. Clark's moving in today, I'd prefer if he didn't see it until the day of the wedding."

"I have it stored in my room, along with the boots. Impressive, those are."

"Good. Thank you, Enrique."

"I live to serve, Alexander," the tall man said. After dropping a light kiss to the top of his head, Enrique stood and left the library.

I live to serve.

Lex shuddered at the implication.

Cashmere, linen and silks, oh my.

Standing in a closet that could stable a mare and her foal comfortably, Clark hung his cotton polyester blends, flannels and denims. His socks and underwear were already stashed in the armoire in the bedroom proper and his shoes were a short line in the front hall. Clark was hanging the last of his shirts when two strong arms encircled his waist.

"Getting settled?"

"Yeah." Clark finished his task and reached behind him for his lover. Ironically in a room full of clothes, Lex was bare. "You're naked," he said, his questing fingers finding a very fine ass. It was nice and perky and fit perfectly in the palms of his hands. Clark shifted back into his clutch bringing Lex closer to his jean clad butt.

"Easier to fuck you, my pretty." Lex bit at his neck and then, whispered, "Lean against the wall and assume the position, Clark."

Reluctantly letting go of his twin prizes, Clark leaned his forearms against the back wall of the walk-in closet. Immediately his fly was undone and his pants were pushed roughly over his forming erection and down around his knees. When Clark moved to kick off his boots, so his jeans could be shucked, a cruel fist in hair yanked his head back.

"Leave them be." Lex ordered.

"Oh...okay." Clark stuttered feeling a little bit scared and surprisingly, a lot turned on.

"You're fucking hot, farm boy, do you know that?" Lex dragged his nails down Clark's back to his butt.

Clark hissed as the scraping trails transmuted into hot filaments, not really hurting but flaring up into burning tendrils of 'oh, yeah' up under his balls and down along his inner thighs. Forgetting about the pants hobbling his knees and Lex's surprisingly aggressive behavior, Clark let go of his fears. It was easy.

"The sweetest piece of ass on both sides of the social register. By census, my greatest accomplishment yet so far." Lex laughed softly while kneading Clark's butt roughly with his hands. "And born on the fourth July. You're politically correct enough to be shagged senseless by the country's future president." Lex said punctuating his statement by pushing a cool dry finger into him.

Gasping prevented Clark from pointing out they didn't know exactly when he was born. July 4th was just the date his human parents had selected. He didn't even know his true age. In a blinding flash Clark realized seventeen wasn't much more than a number. He could be older. He could be younger. But even if he cared to enlighten Lex of his recent brain wave, he had no left over breath for rebuttal. The man pressing him to the wall with one hand between his shoulder blades, had added a second finger, also not lubed and was pumping him dumb.

If Clark had a prostate gland he'd might have screamed in ecstasy. It did, however still feel damn good. Clark pressed his forehead against the wall and was able to manage a shuttering moan of approval as his lover finger fucked his ass raw.

"You like that don't you, you fucking alien whore." Lex growled, his voice low and threatening.

Whoa, where did that come from?

Now truly shocked, Clark knocked his nose on the wall as his head shot up. The happy fingers in his butt stopped their merry dance and left.

"It's called role play, Clark," Lex wheezed into his ear obviously aroused. "Oh Christ, I'm not going to hurt you. I just have the need to get a little dirty tonight." Lex was pressed flat against Clark's broad back so closely he could feel the older man's heartbeat fluttering rapidly through his skin like a bird's. "This gets me off. It's a little twisted, a little fucked up maybe but please, go with it. Let your hair down. Get nasty with me, Clark."

"Is this kink, Lex?"

"Yeah, not quite hardcore but getting there."

"Are you going to tie me up?"

"Not at this time."

Clark breathed wall and considered.

Okay.

Right.

Lex didn't want him helpless. That was not what this was about. Weakness, in all forms was offensive to the older man. Tenderness was however, a different matter. During sex, Lex always approached him with infinite care.

Lex was a by nature a ferocious lover. He had heard the stories. But with Clark, Lex monitored his desire and frequently brought his baser impulses to heel. Lex was making love, not fucking. And while still mostly a virgin in the ways of the sexual world, Clark knew his mate well enough to understand that was how Lex defined the difference between the two.

When making love, Lex would begin slowly with precision, trying to rein in his primal urges, attempting to stringently control his responses until he could faulted not to. As a rule, Lex never initiated sex without careful thought and a measured pace. When he didn't, it was spontaneous, a whirlwind and beyond his capacity of conscious thought or blame. But this time, right now was different. It was planned.

Did Lex need an excuse to take him, claim him, to just dive in and fuck him?

By using role-play, Lex was looking for permission to start out wild and uncontrolled. The laboured breathing on the back of his neck told Clark Lex hungered to fuck him, to strip his senses and tear into his soul. Lex was raging hot with the desire to ravish but even so, had found a way to gently ask please.

So, okay.

Lex wanted to role-play.

Clark considered that.

Clark also considered that his dick was still hard and weeping buckets.

Falling easily into his decision, Clark placed his palms flat against the wall, shook out his hair and arched his back hoping to look half way sexy. "Fuck me, Mr. President," he demanded and then added softly, "Please."

Lex whimpered and yanked down on the offered tresses, wrenching Clark's neck until it would bend no further. His free hand shoved two conveniently slick fingers up Clark's ass. Lex knew he was going to say yes. He'd had lube waiting somewhere. "Christ, Clark, you're amazing, so easy, so trusting, so fucking, fucking desirable. Talk to me."

Immersed in his character and loving what it was doing to his lover, Clark sang out, "Stick your dick inside me, President Luthor. Fuck my secrets out of me. Make me scream out my plans to conquer the world with your cock as I come."

"Oh, god, Clark...oh, god...oh, god..."

In an instant the fingers were removed from his butt and hair to curl in claws around his hips. A hard, unforgiving dick breached him. Soon after Clark's face was rudely slammed against the wall and he was being brutally, wonderfully fucked by his screaming lover.

Gentle sex was for pussies.

Clark's anal passage had barely trembled and settled down before he was coming blindingly hard and beating the wall uncontrollably with his fists. Unless they wanted an impromptu entrance into the hall, the closet would need serious attention from a contractor after this.

"Jesus!" Lex shouted as he jerked forward and promptly emptied his load inside Clark. There was no chance for a baby tonight. Once again, their passion had run too hot. The cradle wasn't half way to forming.

Wet, sticky and dusted in drywall, they collapsed to the floor of the walk in closet on their knees. Clark breathed deep of the sweet musky air, filling his lungs with their scent and sat back in Lex's lap to prevent the older man's penis from slipping out. He wasn't ready to give up this new side of his lover just yet. It had nothing to do with feeling like mush.

Lex snaked his arms around Clark's waist and whispered, "You liked that. I got weird and you liked it."

"Uh-huh," was all Clark could manage. Mush. He was mush.

One of Lex's hands went lower. Long, slender fingers that should have made him a virtuoso on the piano instead of a computer keyboard had his bastard of a father thought it financially prosperous, played Clark's torso like a sonata. Light notes tickled his belly just below his navel. Robbed of speech, Clark hummed into the gentle touch. "Is it burning now, Clark? Can you feel me here, alive inside you?"

Clark swallowed hard to get his throat working. "Yes, Lex," he replied once he had the spit.

"Tell me, Clark. Is it good?"

"Oh, yeah, the best, Lex. If a baby had happened, I'm sure I would have exploded with happiness." Clark replied, surprised to know that right at that very moment he truly meant it.

Who knew how he would feel tomorrow?

"Oh, Christ, Sunshine, you destroy me. I love you. Love you. Love you." Lex mouthed against his neck and when he felt wet tears mix in with kisses, Clark broke apart. Mush? He was glass.

Using words of flowery prose or calculated speeches designed purposefully to tear at others, Lex often hid the depths of his own closely guarded emotions, careening them in and keeping them safe from critical eyes. Lex was a consummate actor. Even with Clark, it was rare for the shy but extroverted man to cry openly with so little fanfare for protection. This bare nothingness now, touched Clark or as Pete would say, totally messed him up.

"I love you too, Lex," Clark rasped, hugging the older man tighter to his body as sympathetic tears streamed down his own face. "Forever and ever, I do."

"Thank you," Lex said. Clark felt a smile tickle his nape. "Now I'm so happy, I could burst."

Wrapped up in each other in more ways than one, Clark gathered his tattered wits and flew them to bed. At their flight, Lex made no comment.

There was nothing more to say.

They would sleep in a crumpled, gritty, sticky mess until morning.

Money didn't impress Clark but fast cars...well, that was a horse of a different colour.

In what had to be a universal truth, the sensual power of an expensive sports car turned all teenage boys on. Clark was not immune. Whatever planet he was from, his dick got hard just like anyone else's.

Sometimes late at night when Lex was asleep, he snuck out to the castle's garage and just drooled over his fuel-injected beauties. Considering what had happened once in the backseat, even the big yellow boxy Humvee was kind of sexy. So when he'd found Enrique waiting for him in the school parking lot with the keys of Lex's jet black Ferrari dangling from his fingers, he'd almost stroked out from excitement. Because Pete had been with him, Clark had offered to drive his equally aroused friend home. He was starting to regret his kindness.

"Don't be a fucking wuss, Clark. You're the self proclaimed expert. Tell me how to do it right."

"Oh, come on, Pete." Taking his eyes off the recently plowed and sanded road for just a second, Clark shot his friend a sour look. "You're not going to have a chance to suck him off. The whole family will be at the restaurant. And Lex said he's only gonna stop by the table to say hi."

"To check me out, yeah I know. But it will be Saturday night. He might hang around if he likes what he sees."

"Lex set it up, he'll like anything."

"Oh, that's nice, Clark. What is he, a hooker?"

Attempting maturity, Clark played the nearly married adult and ignored the snide comment coming from his single and apparently very horny friend. "No, he used to be in a circus or something but now he's a student at Gotham-U. He's two years ahead of us."

"And he's gay? You're sure about that?"

"Lex says so. He's a friend of a friend."

"A former lover? Not the friend but the friend, I mean."

"Lex said no." Clark replied recalling the smug look on Lex's face when he'd broached the subject. The older man had been disgustingly amused by Clark's poorly hidden jealously.

"Did you piss on him while you asked, Clarkbar?"

"What?" Clark risked another peek at his friend to see the same smarmy grin Lex had given him the other night. "Eat me, Peter Ross," he snarled, eschewing maturity and ramming the svelte car into higher gear.

"I would if I knew how to. Would if I could," Pete sang from the passenger seat. "But faggot rookie here, remember?"

Clark squirmed uncomfortably in his bucket seat.

Now that he'd admitted to himself he could be gay, Pete took guy talk to a new extreme and often drilled Clark for intimate details of his relationship with Lex. Unlike Clark who had agonized over his sexual preference for years before accepting it, Pete treated the subject of his sexuality lightly and often embarrassed Clark with his questions. Other than his parents, Pete hadn't come out the closet to the rest of Smallville yet but with his carefree attitude, Clark had a feeling it wouldn't be long.

"Pete, the reason for being at the restaurant will be to discuss my wedding as a group not to get you laid." Clark said shortly. "We have the rehearsal party to talk about, the candle lighting ceremony..."

"Yeah, I know don't remind me." Pete snorted. "In three weeks you'll be fucking legally and tomorrow night I'm going to meet my date for the big event. Excuse me for wanting to be prepared in my own way."

"I'm not going to give you lessons on how to suck cock, Pete. I learned by doing, so will you."

'<<">>What? No pointers?"

To shut him up, Clark threw his buddy a bone. "Just one. Swallow. They like that."

"Yuck, really?" Clark heard leather squeak and knew without looking Pete was recoiling in his seat. A few blocks sped past in silence before his friend said anything else. "Do you like that, Clark? Tasting his...stuff?"

Hearing the shudder of disgust in his cocky friend's voice made Clark smile. "Not at first but it got better. It's pretty sweet now." Clark said trying to match the mocking tone of Pete's previous banter. "Better than a triple, triple coffee at the Talon. I could drink Lex Luthor all day," he rang out really finding his groove.

"We're talking come here, right? The white sticky shit that squirts out the end of a dick and not table cream."

"Yep, Pete, the white shit. I eat Lex's come and like it," Clark said enjoying himself at his friend's expense. He was back to having a good ride. With a delicate twist of his wrist, driving this car was an art, Clark gently shifted the Ferrari down to cruising.

"Whoa, too rude, Clark."

"You asked." Clark took his hand from where it rested happily on the stick shift and punched Pete lightly on the shoulder. "Don't be a fucking wuss, Pete."

"Ow." Pete shouted but Clark knew it was only for dramatic effect. He'd been careful just like his mother taught him. "Does he eat yours?" Pete asked.

"Uh-huh, the first time it happened was last Labor Day. It was so great I wanted to fall to my knees and offer my throat to him."

Actually, Clark thought thinking back, what he had really wanted to do was tell Lex he loved him. Clark had waited until Lex had fucked him before he dared.

"But you didn't." Pete said and Clark could clearly hear the dork warning his voice. "Please, tell me you didn't."

"Nah, Lex would have freaked and I would have felt stupid. You've got to be careful around a Luthor when it comes to expressing really big emotions. It's tricky. Timing is everything."

"He's complicated, isn't he?"

"Pete, he's a twisted knot with three ends. I'll spend the rest of my life figuring him out."

"Then it's a good thing you think he's sexy."

Down shifting, Clark pulled carefully into the drive of Pete's neat two-story home and turned off the ignition. The Ferrari powered down with a slow purr. "You don't?" he asked, twisting in his seat to look straight on at his friend. Clark didn't understand how anybody could resist his lover.

Lex was sex.

"He's got cool cars, yeah. And dresses real sharp but he's bald, Clarkbar." Pete said frankly without pulling any punches. Good friends could do that.

"Yeah, he's smooth and silky..."

"And shiny." Pete said and then leered at him. "Is he like that everywhere?"

"You'll have to ask him that yourself, Pete." Clark answered with cool Luthor like charm while thinking warmly of the fine copper mist that lovingly surrounded his lover's finely crafted cock. If Pete saw that, he'd have to insane not to admit Lex was sexy. Unfortunately, since he didn't intend for another living soul outside a qualified physician on a need to see basis view Lex's pretty parts, Clark would have to impress his opinion another way.

"Pass. I think I can suffer the mystery." Pete said before Clark could expound properly on his lover's virtues. Pete snagged his knapsack from the floor of the Ferrari and swung open the door. "Go home and screw your sexy boyfriend, Clark," the dark boy said with a smirk. "I'll see ya tomorrow at dinner, okay?"

"'Kay, Pete. Later." Clark said as Pete closed the passenger door and then headed down the walk waving back over his head. Out of habit, Clark waited until he was safely inside before waking up the big bad Ferrari and squealing out the driveway.

A hot car and a hotter boyfriend.

Yeah, it was great being a teenage boy.

All revved up with someplace to go, Clark grinned like a fool all the way home.

"Automated sprinklers, can you imagine that? No more getting tangled up in the hose."

"Fascinating, Jonathon. Now put the pretty brochure down and put your suit jacket on."

"I'm not wearing a tie."

"For heaven's sake, you sound like Clark when he was ten years old."

"Martha..."

"Fine, don't wear one. Just finish getting dressed. The chopper will be here soon to take us into the city."

"Chopper? We've got that new truck you swindled me into accepting, couldn't we drive?"

"Too late for that. Don't worry, dear. Helicopters are perfectly safe. I used to take one everyday when I worked for Lionel, remember and I'm still here."

"Speaking of Lionel and remembering, I don't think what I told Lex about that sunk in. We've been alone once or twice since then and he hasn't mentioned it."

"No, Jonathon, I don't think he does either but I'm thinking maybe he should. I'd hate for him to hear Lionel's version of what happened first. I'll speak to Lex tomorrow when the boys come home for Sunday dinner."

"And you'll ask him for a job?"

"Are you sure you want me to? You said we didn't need the money."

"We don't but sweetheart, you aren't cut out just being a farmer's wife."

"That's not true. I love being a farmer's wife."

"Martha, you love the farmer not the farm. There's a difference. I'm not too dumb to see that you're too damn smart to be satisfied with just doing chores. You need something more stimulating to fill your time. Lex can give you that."

"Jonathon Kent, I find you very stimulating."

"Martha..."

"Not to mention interesting. And if common sense and goodness were the earmarks for intelligence, you'd be the smartest man on the planet. You're already the most handsome."

"Keeping talking that way, woman and we'll never make dinner."

"We have to go, Jonathon. Our son's the bride."

"Oh, crap. Don't start that again."

"Just trying to get you focused, dear. Now get moving. The faster we get there, the faster we can come back and finish this conversation properly."

"Moving, Martha, moving."

The main room of the Orchid was jumping with people, just as Lex had expected it to be.

Forgoing the offered private suite, he had requested a large table in the heart of the five star Metropolis restaurant.

He was here to be seen.

Lex wanted people, the press, and his so-called friends to observe him interacting with his newly chosen family. He was forging a path, setting a pace and starting the trend of his future. This was how it was going to be, who he was going to be and the voting public needed to come to terms with that early in his campaign. Lex had given the matter a capricious amount of thought.

If he put it all out there now, hard and bold without a hint of embarrassment or shame, after a while his sexuality and who he applied it to wouldn't matter. People would see the depth of his love for this farm boy who came out of nowhere, take a moment to romanticize it and then...forget.

The desensitizing might take years but after awhile Clark at his side would become common place. And after awhile, the six foot four alien he intended to marry would become too boring to investigate, blas, gauche and outmoded. Clark would become old news, nothing sensational, simply just there because he'd always been and a waste of print space. With any luck they would only think about what a pretty husband he had when he made his eventual run at the Presidency.

Deliver us from temptation by making it boring.

But back to the restaurant.

The establishment itself was elegantly beautiful and dripping with affluence and taste. But other than being the best, the meticulously selected venue had a classic history that Lex wanted to expound upon. Life wasn't only about politics or making your gay alien lover invisible.

A young Martha Clark had once had her coming out party here.

The new legacy was fitting and pleased him in a way only Enrique would fully understand. During the seating, he had caught the tall man's approval through a discreet tip of his head.

Gleaning the menu from the establishment's website, Lex had pre-ordered the meal with great care. There would be courses of soup, a variety of his favorite appetizers, two main entrees and dessert trays laden with sweet decadence. It was a feast, Luthor style and as Lex had planned, would take hours to consume. They would have plenty of time to discuss the happy subject of his and Clark's upcoming nuptials.

Clark.

Lex put down his soupspoon and soaked in the natural splendor of the man at the far end of the table with his eyes. Without permission but not surprise, a deep need twisted in his gut. His beautiful boy was flanked by Enrique and Gabe Sullivan to which Clark was listening attentively. Enrique was oblivious to the discussion. Lex had arranged for Martha Kent to sit beside him.

Unaware that his smoldering scrutiny was the cause, Lex watched with fascination as a creep of blush pinked out the vee of Clark's blue shirt to spread in a fan across his already normally ruddy cheeks. When Gabe turned to his left to include the Ross boy in their conversation, Clark slowly returned Lex's narrowed gaze, greeting him with a shy smile that gilded the big farm boy delicately in a deeper hue of rose.

Fucking gorgeous.

Lex's breath hitched and he let out a carefully controlled hiss. They were in mixed company. Moaning would have been unseemly.

"So what's his name going to be?'

"Whose name, Miss Sullivan?" Lex asked while sipping his wine for distraction as much as wetting his parched throat. On his other side, Jon had drifted into a playful banter with Judge Ross. Despite the dour distance her profession demanded, she was a jubilant woman and quite witty. The amusing jurist had a chance of matching his future father in law's level of humour if she wasn't first charmed speechless.

"Unless you're willing to be known as Alexander Kent, I'm talking about Clark."

He put down his glass and gaped at her. "You'd dare ask me to give up my last name?" Lex huffed but it was for show only. Chloe had slipped past his personal boundaries long ago...hell, she'd slipped past his bedroom door. He allowed her more than most. "The Luthor name carries weight. It has a history," he told her explaining the world as he saw it.

"Maybe Lex but come on, Clark Luthor?" His tablemate wrinkled her pug nose. "Yuck. It sticks in the throat and gets caught on the tongue. No ring, you know?"

Lionel wouldn't think so, Lex thought and didn't that sour the mood.

Now truly annoyed, Lex twisted his napkin under the table into a vicious knot. His face, however remained a judiciously placid mask. Chloe wasn't to blame for his sudden shift in humour.

"What Clark calls himself after we're married is of little consequence. The truth is, I haven't really thought about it," he answered with a smooth cadence designed not only to cause minimal offence but also to allow Lex to recapture the unaffected prose he was well known for and thus saving the life of the poor abused napkin in his lap.

"Liar." Chloe said seeing right through him and causing Lex to wonder when he'd become so fucking transparent. "I'm guessing you think about it all the time. I'll bet you already have fancy purple bath towels made up with his new initials embroidered in white. 'CL & LL'," she laughed.

"You know, I have at my fingers tips a hundred different ways of having you killed, Miss Sullivan." Lex remarked a little irked that this quirky little schoolgirl had hit the mark right twice over.

As usual, death threats had no effect on the atypical blonde. She unfortunately continued to ramble on. Like her annoying insight, Chloe's insolence didn't surprise Lex. He expected nothing less from his future vee pee.

"You could just let him keep his name," Chloe said.

"Clark Kent?"

"It's a nice name." Chloe finished her drink, grabbed by the neck one of the many wine bottles populating the table and refilled both their glasses, Lex's first. The drinking age in Kansas was twenty-one but tonight in the Orchid it was whatever Lex said it was. "A good one," she insisted after taking a generous sip of wine.

"It's not mine." Lex remarked shortly. Her opinion was valued but it had its limits.

Chloe tossed her over moussed locks. "You have him every other way, Lex. The guy loves you to pieces. Do you need this last final part?"

Yes.

Lex glanced briefly to the other end of the table. Clark was still blushing fiercely but he was no longer looking Lex's way. Suspiciously, it almost appeared to be an effort.

Lex turned back to Chloe, measuring her carefully with his eyes. "Did Clark ask you to talk to me about this?"

"Naw, but he will," she flipped back so easily Lex believed her. "I'm just being proactive."

"I don't like it. If he's going to be my husband, he should take my last name." Lex said clearly, partly for Chloe but primarily for the benefit of nosy alien ears.

Chloe laughed and toasted her glass to him before taking a small sip. "Spoken like a true Master of the Universe."

Lex gave her a blank stare, played Buddha and folded his hands over his belly. "I've nothing to say to that, Miss Sullivan."

"Not surprised. Crazed despots can rarely explain the motivations behind their actions."

Lex leaned into her airspace and grinned. "One of these days I am going to have you killed."

"Oh, come Lex," Chloe tittered through her nose and pushed at his shoulder playfully. "If you do that who's going to make Clark look pretty on your wedding day?"

"Clark looks pretty all the time." Lex retorted, sitting back and recalling fondly the coy smile he'd received from the other end of the table moments ago.

Pretty? Oh fuck, yes. Clark was pretty. Very.

"Go with me here, Lex. Let the boy stay a Kent. It's only a public name. In private he's all yours. You can call him a Luthor in bed."

"What about children?" he asked, too deep in his Clark fugue to be prudent. This was a private subject. He was talking out of turn. Sitting at a table filled with family and friends, it was too easy to speak his heart.

"Kids? I hadn't thought about that. You plan on having them?"

"Yes." Lex nodded primly, his passion bursting from his heart but his face was stone, his countenance firmly controlled. "Many."

If he could discover a way of getting Clark pregnant, Lex intended to keep him that way as often as possible. Many? One? Whatever he could get.

"Whoa-kay, then it will be up to the courts what last name they take. Considering your power and stature in the community, I'm guessing your adopted children will be Luthors. Happy?"

"And the natural ones?" Lex remarked under his breath while once again sneaking a peek at the other end of the table and confirming that yes, Clark had indeed been keeping up with his reckless discussion. Across a plain of empty soup bowls, his blushing boy was staring daggers at him.

Or was it laser beams?

"What?" Chloe choked.

"Nothing, Miss Sullivan." Lex replied not deigning to look at her. Positive or not, he was powerless to give up the passion in Clark's withering glare. The pleats of his pants expanded to make room for his sky rocketing arousal. "Drink your wine," he mumbled, glad his linen napkin was large enough to cover his increasingly painful condition. While not normally shy about his body's needs, getting a hard on in five star restaurant was not the image Lex wanted to present to the media or his intended's best friend.

Much to his relief, Chloe did as she was bid and leaned to her right to ask Mr. Ross, a noted defense attorney, his opinion on capital punishment. She became so embroiled in the turbulent topic, she didn't hear Lex hastily excused himself from the table.

Lex wasn't in the restroom thirty seconds before Clark followed him in. After checking that the stalls were free of occupants, Clark turned the deadbolt on the door and rounded on him.

"What the hell do you think you're doing talking to Chloe about babies?" Clark demanded, his gaze dark, murderous even and so incredibly thrilling, Lex felt giddy and weak under its delicious onslaught. Heavy-lidded and feeling near drunk with desire, Lex willingly drowned himself in Clark.

"Would you believe foreplay?" Lex purred, reaching out to touch the blush that had been driving him crazy all through the first course. Clark snarled and batted his hand away before Lex could feel the heat of the redden flesh under his starving fingers.

"What?" Clark fumed, big hands falling to his hips, nostrils flaring wide and in Lex's opinion, looking very cute in an 'I want to nail your ass to the nearest wall' kind of way. "Are you nuts, Luthor?"

Luthor. Clark had taken to calling him that when angry. He'd be appalled to know Lex liked it.

"Now would not be a good time to ask, Clark." Lex prowled forward and Clark retreated until the backs of his thighs were flush to the marble counter of the sink. "I want you," he said, his voice rumbling low in his throat.

"Here?" Clark choked. "In the bathroom of a fancy restaurant while my parents are out there eating dinner? Tacky, Lex."

Lex nodded. "And terribly clich," he added not very upset. He'd fucked in worst places and with much less need. "You locked the door, farm boy," he reminded, "Not me."

"So I could yell at you for being a big mouthed jerk in peace, Lex."

"You can still scream. We both can. Please, Clark. Help me. I'm seconds away from coming in my pants." Lex pleaded, pressing his hips forward and letting Clark feel the truth of his words.

Admitting the direness of his condition seemed to take the wind out of enraged lover's sails.

"Really?" Clark asked softly, his dark eyes no longer simmering with anger but something else just as lethal. Lex shuddered as a thrill shot through his body. Oh Christ, this boy should be illegal. He had the power to kill with a single wide-eyed look.

"What did you think those come hither looks across the table were going do to me?" Lex whined trying to sound helpless or at the very least, put upon.

Clark's eyes flew open. "I wasn't...I didn't mean to..."

"I know, Clark." Lex said quietly using his voice to soothe instead of his hands. Seduction was an art. Touching could wait. He didn't want to spook his boy. "That's what makes it all the more arousing. You don't mean to be sexy. You just are. You can make me want you with just a glance. You're so fucking pretty, Sunshine, you flutter those long dark lashes in my direction and I get hard."

"Pretty? Me? Oh god, Lex." Clark scrabbled for purchase on the counter behind him as his head fell back in open invitation and his hips rocked forward. The monster dick his boy lover carried around in his pants rubbed full and hot against Lex's less substantial one.

Tangling his fingers in dark locks for leverage, Lex leaned forward to suckle Clark's warm neck, at last tasting his sweet blush. Clark cried out and brought his hands up to clutch the back of Lex's head, encouraging Lex to lap upwards. The boy's lush lips met his halfway with a desperation that made Lex moan deep in his diaphragm.

There were few things in life better than Clark Kent's raw, open mouth kisses. The boy was a savant. Lex willingly laid himself bare to the luxury, folding his body into his young lover's, and letting himself be eaten alive. The thick fingers on his skull gripped almost to the point of pain, but the hot tongue in his mouth washed away all discomfort.

"What if someone needs to go?" Clark rasped, his wet mouth still nibbling Lex's as he yanked Lex's dress shirt from his pants. Lex heard a tinkle and knew it was his belt buckle hitting the tiled floor.

"Good point." Lex took a deep breath to stop the room from spinning and then stepped back from Clark. "Get in a stall," he ordered. "I'll be right there."

Glad they were not in a cheap diner with a soft soap dispenser and rough paper towels, Lex selected hand cream from the collection of glass bottles on the counter and tucked a soft terry cloth into his pocket. He unlocked the restroom door before joining Clark in the further most stall away from the urinals. Once inside he placed the paraphernalia on the toilet tank and turned to his panting lover. Lex noticed Clark's fly was down and the buttons of his blue chambray shirt were completely undone, some were missing. God, he was blessed.

"You're going to have to gag me." Lex said loosening his tie and rolling the ends up over the knot to form a ball.

Clark grinned. "Is this kink again, Lex?"

"No, necessity. I don't want anyone running in here to save me when they hear me scream."

"Too bad. I like it when you're kinky." Clark quipped and Lex shot him a look.

Masturbating over his lover, role playing in closets and now having sex in a public place, oh, Christ. There were no bounds to this farm boy's inhibitions once he got rolling. Clark was fearless. He was Lex's late night fantasies come to life. Lionel was right. The boy was a wonder.

"Take down your trousers, lean over the tank and face the back wall, Clark." Lex instructed more than ready to get started. The coming in his pants thing was very near to becoming more than a threat.

"No, you." Clark growled.

Growled?

"What did you say?"

His own personal porn star leaned down and kissed his temple. "I want to fuck you, Lex." Clark whispered against the side of Lex's face, licking his favorite spot.

Lex froze and tried to think.

Clark wanted to fuck him, Christ.

Not long ago he had secretly vowed he wouldn't open his legs up for this boy again and hadn't. Pain was a great mood breaker. Although he had not had the heart to say so aloud, Clark was simply too large and too strong to top him. Hoping something benign would emerge, Lex opened his mouth to gently decline.

"God, Lex. I want to ram my cock into you and see if I can hear your screams through silk."

The refusal died a quick death in Lex's throat.

There were a thousand valid arguments that came to mind, one of them being Lex still had three courses to sit through on a very hard chair, but when nasty words like 'ram' and 'cock' filtered out of that cherry sweet mouth, Lex found he couldn't verbalize one of them. His vow was dissolved by desire and backed up with devotion.

What Clark wanted, Clark got. Personal pain be damned. Lex couldn't say no.

"Yes. You inside me," Lex answered, giving Clark a wide-spreading smile worthy of being marked on a bedpost.

Whizzing his ruined belt from the waistband of his pants with one pull and letting it drop to the floor, Lex undid his fly and leaned anxiously over the toilet. Clark took over from there, roughly yanking his Helmut Lang's down over his hips to his knees and lifting the makeshift gag to Lex's mouth.

"Bite." Clark ordered and with his inner legs vibrating with excitement, Lex did. His body was reaching a fevered pitch, the thrill building slowly. Lex was scared to death and hot all over.

Using his alien abilities, Clark snatched the bottle of expensive lotion from the toilet tank and prepared Lex's ass for entry in the space of swallow. Being opened so quickly was an odd rush but the wind swept feeling was quickly forgotten when a dick the size of his favorite state was shoved promptly up his ass. Lex sucked in his tie and nearly choked. Thankfully, the quick intrusion didn't hurt but...damn, it felt thick, and full. Clark rolled his hips. And...oh...oh, Christ. So very, very good.

"Breathe, Lex." Clark said, now pressed tight against his back. His big hands ran lovingly along Lex's ribs under his shirt and down his quivering flanks, gentling him like a nervous colt. "I can't do this unless you breathe."

Imagining Jon's face as his son tried to explain why his fiance had passed out in the bathroom stall gagged, his shirt rucked up and his pants in a crumpled mess around his knees, Lex dutifully forced air through his nose. When he caught a healthy rhythm, Clark wasted no time to begin his.

When Lex did the fucking it always began slow, deep and ended with incredible power. With Clark, those few rare times when Lex succumbed, it started out almost brutal, raw but throughout was tempered with an overwhelming love.

Lex was very conscious of his tongue and it's placement along his teeth as his farm boy relentlessly shoved his heartfelt devotion up into the centre of his body. No longer afraid of Clark's desire once he was in it, Lex rolled back on his heels to catch.

"I'm gonna be fast because we've got to get back before people start to wonder, okay?" Clark warned softly between wet kisses and shuddering sighs to the back of Lex's neck as he pumped in long full strokes. Always the quiet one, Clark never raised his voice when they fucked. That was Lex's part to play.

With the gag barring any sarcastic rejoinder on what else was new, Lex gestured his acceptance of Clark's warning with a nod, his fevered cheeks enjoying the cool rub of the stall's tiled back wall. Lex felt full and loved. Quick? He would take the cherished feeling for as long as his farm boy was able to give it. Coming would be a bonus.

"God, Lex. You're so hot," Clark groaned as if reading Lex's core like thermometer with his dick.

Clark wrapped his arms around Lex's chest and sped up the throw of his hips. The new angle provided maximum prostate coverage and Lex screamed harmlessly into his gag as his orgasm started. Hearing his silk muffled cries, the boy fucked him harder. No complaints. Although there would be later, there was no pain now. Suddenly, Clark could not be big enough...strong enough.

"I'm so lucky...loving you...oh, god, oh god...marrying you..." Clark babbled, his voice raising in pitch and ironically taking to being noisy in a situation when it was best not to be. Clark paused his tirade to bite a line into the length of his neck and then yelled, "Fucking lucky!"

Gagged with expensive silk and unable to shut him up with a word, Lex reached back and covered Clark's rambling mouth with his fingers. The taps were running. Hands were being washed. They were no longer alone.

"Someone's here." Clark whispered against his fingers catching the clue and for one brief horrifying moment Lex thought the boy would pull out. Lex was mid-come and not ready for this to be over but to his utter joy, Clark bit down on the shoulder pad of his jacket and continued to hump him to blissful completion.

Even with Clark muzzled, any rational adult with half a brain would realize was happing in the last stall but as his cock was fisted in a tight farm boy grip, Lex didn't give much of a fuck. And as Clark emptied his load into him with a few last jagged bucks, Lex only dimly hoped whoever it was didn't have a camera.

Panting into their respective gags, they both remained still and listened as their unwanted guest opened the restroom door and left.

"Do you think he knew we were here?" Clark asked finally, breathing hot across the back of Lex's neck and drying his sweat.

Lex spit out his gag and ran his tongue over his tender lips before answering. "Maybe not who but odds are he heard two faggots fucking their brains out."

"He'll know who when we leave." Clark pointed out, gently letting go of Lex's spent cock to idly caress his bare hip, smearing it with come and affection.

"I hate to tell you this Clark but even if doesn't see us exit the bathroom, he could still pick us out of crowd. We stink and our clothing is a mess. I think you bit right through the shoulder of my jacket."

"Sorry, Lex." Still socketed tight behind him, dick in ass, Clark brushed his hands down the front of Lex's ruined visage taking stock. Lex had a still had a fly with steel teeth intact but no belt and his dress shirt was only stained at the hem. "I could rush home and get us something different to wear?" the boy offered.

Boneless as he felt in his young lover's embrace, Lex found the strength to stiffen. "No alien stunts in public, Clark. Never. It's too dangerous. We'll clean up best we can in the sink and go out and face the music like just any other couple too stupid to wait until they get home to fuck."

Clark shuddered, finally showing some semblance of fear. "My mother's out there."

"Worse. So is your father."

"Oh, geez, Lex."

"Yeah, Clark." Lex twisted his neck, kissed his partner in crime softly and smiled. "Oh, geez."

"Oh, you are so busted, Clarkbar."

"Shut up Pete and eat."

"You weren't having a lovers' tiff in the can. Everyone at the table knows it."

Daring to look up from his creamed chicken something with green bits, Clark looked sheepishly around the table. While he and Lex were making out in the restroom, the seating dynamic had shifted dramatically.

His mother had changed chairs with Pete's mom and was now sitting beside his father who had remained next to Lex at the head of the table and was speaking to him quietly. Clark didn't attempt to listen in.

Judge Ross was now in Chloe's place sitting quietly next to her husband on Lex's other side and Chloe had stolen his mother's vacant chair. Enrique hadn't moved but Gabe Sullivan had. Chatting with Enrique, Chloe's dad was in Clark's seat at the far end of the table, opposite to Lex who was in his shirtsleeves after tossing his tie in the trash and casually asking the waiter to hang up his one shouldered jacket in the cloakroom. Mourning the loss of a dinner companion, Pete had shifted down one leaving Clark between him and the one empty seat at the big table.

"Geez, Pete. What did you guys do? Play musical chairs while we were gone?"

"Well after you two didn't come back after a few minutes and we didn't hear any fighting..."

"Lower your voice." Clark hissed as his eyes roamed the table looking for spectators. Thankfully, no one paid the two boys mind. Despite the rearrangement of the seating, it seemed to be dinner as usual. Clark turned back to his friend and asked, "Who checked?"

"Me." Pete responded softy at much lower level of embarrassing. "I put my ear to the door and listened. It was locked. Dead give away there, Clarkbar."

"We unlocked it after a minute."

"Yeah, I know. Stupid, Clarkbar."

"Oh, god. Who was it that came in?"

"You heard me? Didn't think you would. You seemed kind of preoccupied."

"That was you?"

"No one else except Chloe wanted to go after I came back the first time. Shit, Clark, I'd never heard anything like that before. You were moaning stuff about getting lucky and Lex sounded like you were choking him or something."

"Lex wasn't choking. He was gagged." It was said before thinking.

"Oh, shit." Pete said, his whole face expanding, exploding outward from his eyes. "Man, that's freaky."

"We were trying to be quiet, Pete. Lex screams a lot during sex. I had to shut him up." Clark said not understanding his need to explain. His babbling wasn't making things better. Pete's eyes had grown wider.

"Still freaky, Clarkbar."

"Yeah?" Clark said by way of acknowledgement not agreement. He didn't think what had transpired in the can was weird at all. "Then why didn't you leave right away? We heard you too. Geez, Pete. You went so far as to take a piss and wash your hands."

Pete grinned and waggled his brows. "Research. Might have a hot date tonight, remember?"

"So what then? You came back and reported your findings?"

"No, not exactly. Chloe asked if you were doing it in the can as soon as I sat down. I might have shrugged. I might have nodded yes...don't remember but when Lex came back looking like he'd been mauled by Godzilla a few minutes later, it didn't much matter. Everyone stopped looking at me to gawk at him. God, Clark. You really worked him over."

"I did?" Clark asked surprised and then snuck at shy peek at his lover.

Marring the delicate whiteness of his skin were faint finger sized bruises mottling Lex's neck up over his crisp collar and under the perfect shells of his ears. When he looked harder, he saw some were bites. Lex's pretty coral mouth was swollen and kissed raw. What couldn't be seen were the marks from Clark's hips as he'd belted into him or the ones in a band around Lex's chest as Clark held him at the right the right angle for fucking. Clark gulped. And oh god, the invisibles didn't stop there. The way Lex was sitting, carefully not moving too fast and on the edge of his seat suggested the pounding his ass had received but only, Clark hoped, if you knew the signs.

Oh, geez.

Lex did look like he'd been attacked by a monster but even in shirtsleeves, he was still the most handsome and best dressed man in the restaurant.

Smiling and flushed from laughing from some joke his father had told him, the older man glowed. The gray eyes that changed like a tempest on the wind, sparkled bright in the dim lighting of the restaurant with brilliance and fire. Lex might look mauled but he was in Clark's opinion, the better for it.

A freshly loved Lex Luthor was a wonderful sight to behold.

Mine.

Clark propped his elbow on the table and rested his chin his hand. "I'm the luckiest guy in the world, Pete," he sighed.

"Now where have I heard that before?" Pete snorted. "Oh, yeah, in the can while you were doing the dirty."

Clark twisted his head in his palm and smiled at his friend. Pete rolled his eyes in return and went back to eating his meal.

Clark went back to watching Lex.

He didn't need food.

He was full.

"Sorry, sir." Lex offered as his opening gambit. It was weak, he knew but with Jonathon Kent, that was exactly the image he wanted to project. He was bowing to the alpha male, rolling over and exposing his tender underbelly.

Relinquishing power was new for Lex. Submission in the bedroom or boardroom had never been his thing but this strong, understated man beside him deserved the token like no other save for the other two individuals that shared the same last name. It was about respect and curiously Lex felt none the less for his surrender.

His lips a fine line, Jonathon examined his injuries with eyes that bore both worry and exasperation. Lex could almost feel them crawling over his body and cringed. The older man had seen Clark's passion on him before but never so recently inflicted. Lex knew he looked a mess. He could feel it. His hyped up mutant metabolism had not had time to do its work.

"In my day it was backseats and cornfields," Jonathon said slowly. "I suppose the times have changed."

Surprised by the lack of reprimand, Lex stuttered out the wrong answer. "Ah...not really."

Jonathon's jaw dropped and Lex steadied himself for the blow.

"Oh, crap, Lex." Jonathon cursed under his breath. "We're in a fancy restaurant. Can't you leave the boy alone for two seconds?"

"I managed for two years to do so but I think I over extended myself." Lex said offering a wan smile. "My tolerance is shot."

"Is that supposed to be funny?"

"No, sir," Lex said, sobering and snapping to. "Not in my opinion."

Jonathan opened his mouth and then abruptly shut it when Martha's hand came to rest lightly on his arm. The older man lowered his blond head and after a few moments of silent communication with his wife, looked up appearing measurably calmer.

"Well, it is sort of funny." Jonathon responded easily.

"Excuse me?" Lex croaked wondering what exactly Martha had said without saying anything at all.

His future father in law let loose the sigh Lex knew he'd been holding. "Lord boy, you look a sight. Does he have to do that to you every time?" Jonathon shook his head and chuckled. "All those years of thinking of ways to bring the Luthors down and all I had to do is throw my son at them."

"Clark does make for an excellent secret weapon." Lex ventured lightly, hoping he was reading the older man's sudden levity correctly. "He blows me away on a regular basis."

Jonathon cricked a warning eyebrow at him. "No pun intended, I hope."

"No sir, not in this auspicious company." Lex said quickly more for comic timing than out of fear. "I'm whipped, not suicidal."

Jonathon didn't smile at his attempt at humour. So, okay. He wasn't funny.

"He's my son and I love him but if you ever need help..." Jonathon said, his clear blue eyes wincing as if in pain.

"I don't." Lex said quickly trying to reassure. "I'm fine. It's fine."

"Fine? It doesn't look near fine."

"It is. Perfectly," Lex asserted softly, resisting the impulse to touch the other man's arm as Martha had done.

A very long moment passed. Waiting for his father in law<<father-in-law>> to say something, Lex ground his teeth so hard he thought his jaws might snap.

"All right then." Jonathon grinned and slapped Lex's back with his sturdy farmer's hand. The impact jarred the tender areas below where his belt used to be. "Now, do you think you can keep your hands to yourself for the rest of the meal, Lex?"

"I'll try, Jon." Lex said smiling while biting the inside of his cheek. A lopsided grin was preferable to broadcasting who had done who in the bathroom. Although he'd come to terms with his son's gender preference, Jonathon didn't need to know that.

"Well, I suppose a man can't ask more than that."

Lex laughed.

Not much of a choice.

"What do you think it means, Clarkbar?"

"A phone number? Oh, geez, Pete. That's a tough one. I'm only guessing here mind you, but I think it means he wants you to call him, you dolt."

"I know that. What I want to know is if I should ask him out before the wedding."

Clark shrugged. "If you want."

During coffee and dessert a young man dressed in a black leather jacket with sandy coloured hair had approached Lex. Clark had been two inches out of seat before realizing the guy wasn't some riff raff hitting on his mate but was the Gotham-U student Lex had arranged to be Pete's date for the wedding. Hoping no one had noticed his near lunge, Clark had casually eased back down in his chair to watch their interaction with a guarded eye. There was nothing saying the kid wouldn't still come on to his rich and very attractive boyfriend.

After exchanging a few words, Lex had stood up and courteously introduced Richard Grayson to the table. Pete had beamed and Clark had glowered but had remembered his manners and had politely offered his hand when Lex's mouth had twisted in wry amusement. He was relieved however when the young man declined Lex's invitation to join them saying something about having to work the nightshift. Richard or 'Dick' as he preferred to be called had handed Pete a slip of paper before leaving with an earnest smile plastered across his handsome face.

Now outside the restaurant, Clark and Pete stood alone under the street lamps waiting. With the exception of Lex who was generously paying the bill, the rest of the Smallville crew were taking a last minute bathroom break before the chopper ride home.

"The leather jacket was cool," Pete remarked.

"Yeah, Pete. He's a rebel, whoo-hoo, born to be wild." Clark sniped, shoving his fists into the pockets of the brown winter jacket his mother had bought on sale from K-Mart last year.

"Tough not being the bell of the ball, isn't it?"

Clark peered through the dimness at his friend. "What did you say?"

Pete scowled and leaned against the wall of the establishment, next to the door. "You're being a jealous prick, Clark. He didn't even look twice at Lex."

"I am not." Clark hotly denied but then relented under his friend's unbelieving stare. "Okay, fine. I am. But give me a break. It was the first time I've seen Lex with a gay man that isn't me. And no, Pete<<,>> you don't count," he said quickly when Pete snorted. "You're my friend and I trust you. But Lex is a very hot property and I don't know Dick from Adam..."

"And he was way too good looking. Yeah, I noticed." Pete pushed off the wall and gripped Clark's shoulder with one hand. "Look, in the name of friendship I'll promise to keep him away from Lex, okay? Even I have to throw myself at him, god forbid."

"Oh, thanks, Pete. You're a real pal."

"And you're a dolt. Better, Clarkbar?"

Pete smirked and Clark smirked back.

"Better, Pete."

"Good. Now a little help here. About that blow job thing..."

"Is it ever going to get easier, Martha?"

"What's that, Jonathon? Our son marrying a man?"

"No, being one. And before you make the crack about him being the bride, I'm talking about Clark growing up, falling in love and having...ah..."

"Adult desires?"

"To put it mildly. Lord, Martha, did you see what he did to Lex tonight? He ravished the poor boy and that wasn't a first. He handles Lex like that all the time, rough like."

"Most fathers would be proud of their son's sexual prowess."

"Yeah, well, I think I'm more surprised."

"And a little afraid?"

"I know Lex says it's nothing. We discussed Clark's enthusiasm before Christmas last year but what if one night it gets out of hand and Clark does real damage?"

"The bruises frighten me too, Jonathon. Perhaps you spoke to the wrong person."

"Right. Tomorrow night, then. You speak to Lex about a job and I'll talk to our son about toning it down. The boy's gotta learn to play nice."

"You're a good father to them both, Jonathon."

"Both? Oh, hell, Martha. Being Daddy to a Luthor? Now that's one thing I know I'll never get used to."

"Funny, seeing how you take to it so well. Besides being handsome and smart, I think you're kind, loving man, Jonathon Kent. Get used to that. "

"Damn, woman. Turn the light out and come to bed. I believe we have a conversation to finish."

"Yes, sir!"

"Wonderful meal, Martha. You cook like a classically trained chef from the West Bank. If Jon wouldn't starve, I'd hire you in a <<an>>instant and whisk you away with Clark when I move to Metropolis in the fall."

Martha smiled thinly, placed a mug of coffee before him and then, sat down at the table with her own. Their men were out in the barn.

"Something's wrong." Lex asked immediately when she didn't grace him her usual brightness.

"I need a job," she said quietly, her red lashes tinted with just enough black and demurely lowered. Lovely...oh, so...a job?

No. Christ, no.

The homemade dinner in his stomach suddenly felt like a hard, heavy ball.

Christ, no!

With a clatter his chair went flying out behind him as he shot up from the table. A cold fury of mythical proportions had exploded in his heart. Lex needed to stand to fight the frigid numbness that threatened to overcome his body--his very soul.

"What the fuck did he do?" he screamed at Martha who had gone ghost white.

"Lex, calm down. Have a seat..."

"He touched you, didn't he?" Lex's head was spinning and his hands were spasming, itching for something--anything to throw.

Damn you, Lionel! Damn you! Damn you!

"Lex, please..."

Lex pounded his hollow fists on the kitchen table. The weak bone in his little pinky snapped. "Answer me, goddammit!" he roared at her, aching everywhere at once.

"Yes!" she yelled at back at him. "Now. Sit. Down!"

The force of Martha's anger shattered Lex's mad tirade. He had never heard this gentlewoman raise her voice. Stunned sane, he didn't make the chair. Lex collapsed to floor on his knees, his bruised hands cradled carefully in his lap. "Did Lionel...did he...oh, Christ..." Lex closed his eyes and moaned. He couldn't finish the question. He didn't want to hear the answer.

"Oh, sweetheart, no."

Gentle arms came around him and despite the pain in his hands, Lex clutched back desperately.

"No, Lex. Lionel didn't..."

"Rape?" Lex sobbed into her shoulder. Martha rocked him, whispering 'no' over and over again until his chest stopped heaving. Until he believed it.

"Lex, honey. Look at me. Come on, baby. It's all right."

With her hand guiding his chin, Lex gazed up into Martha's face. "I'm so sorry," he whispered not sure if he was apologizing for falling apart or the evil that had sired him. When she smiled, it didn't matter.

"Don't be. It was only an inappropriate brush of fingers. I quit the next day. Nothing serious happened." She wiped the wetness off his cheeks tenderly with the sleeve of her sweater. "Understand, honey? It's okay."

Sniffing back his tears, Lex nodded tiredly. He was greatly relieved Lionel hadn't touched her but the fear had taken its toll. Lethargy had settled over his body with a heavy hand. It wasn't everyday he had a crying jag.

"Lovely. Now let's get up off this floor and finish our coffee." Martha unfolded herself and stood smiling softly, holding her hand out to Lex. He took it gratefully.

As Lex went to retrieve his chair, Martha ran him a cold cloth for his hot cheeks at the sink. Reading him as only as mother could and deeming him a big boy, she let him wash his own salt stained face.

"I need a personal assistant," Lex said gruffly once they were back in front of their coffees. "Someone I can trust my private life to." Covertly wrapping the wet facecloth around his broken hand, Lex gave her a small depreciative smile. "There really isn't anyone else who could fill that job better than you."

"Will I have to call you, Mr. Luthor?"

Lex beamed at her. "No, honey or sweetheart will do nicely."

Martha laughed. The pretty sound tinkled merrily through Lex's heart making him strong again. "Then I accept."

Lex was happy.

Once again, he had a mother.

Now all he had to do was get rid of his father.

"Dad?"

"Yes, son?"

"I need to talk to you about something."

The chores were done. Now that the Kents were slowly selling off their livestock in favour of focusing on organic produce, it hadn't taken as long. By the end of summer it would be a one-man job. His father sat down on a bale of straw and waited for Clark to join him.

"I picked out a ring for Lex at Fordham's. They had to order it special." Clark tucked his hands under his legs and looked sideways at his dad. "It's expensive. Well, not Luthor wise maybe but Kent wise."

"You want me to sign over your college fund for Lex's wedding band," his father said after a two-second squint, catching Clark's drift immediately. If Pete wanted freaky, that was freaky. His dad had always seemed to be able to read his mind.

Clark fidgeted under his father's knowing stare. "It's important that I pay for it myself and since Lex has already covered my school books and tuition, I thought, yeah."

Immediately, his dad's head bowed. "It's not a lot, Clark. We've had to dip into it during the bad times," he explained quietly.

"I know, it's okay." Clark said hoping to reassure him. Jonathon Kent was a proud man. It hurt Clark to see him ashamed, especially when it wasn't warranted. The money had not been squandered foolishly. "But with what I've got in my personal account from odd jobs, it will be enough."

Forgetting his shame at not being able to do well by his son, his father's head shot up. "You checked before you went shopping. How? You don't have access to the balance, Clark."

"Chloe thought it would be a good idea if I knew my spending limit. She has sources at the bank and ah..."

"Clever girl." His dad clapped a hand on his shoulder and grinned. "Don't lose her, Clark."

"Never." Clark smiled back. "So will you?"

"Well, since I did the same thing for your mother's ring, it would be a little hard for me to say no. Had to drop out in my second year to buy it."

"That's why you came back to the farm and didn't get your degree in Agriculture."

His dad shrugged. "No loss. Always meant to, son. Besides, I wasn't learning anything in school I didn't all ready know. I was already thinking about leaving. And when your mother said yes, it made the decision easier. She finished her schooling and I came back to Smallville to make a home for her when she was done."

Some people realized their parents were mortal the first time they let their children down and made a mistake. For Clark the epiphany came when he saw his father as a man, a loving care man that had once fallen in love. He wasn't disillusioned but felt a strong kinship of respect and understanding. A transition had been made and he it hoped went both ways.

"Geez, there's been a love story going on right under my nose and I didn't know it."

"I'll make the trip into town tomorrow, son. Soon enough?"

"Uh-huh. The ring came from Metropolis on Friday but it still needs to be engraved. Thanks, Dad."

Clark moved to return to the house but his father's firm hand on his shoulder sat him back down on the bale.

"Hold up a minute, son. I've got something I need to talk to you about."

"Sure, Dad. What's up?"

"Don't quite know how to approach it. We've always been straight with each other, Clark but this...it's delicate."

Delicate? Ah...oh, right.

Clark leaned back against the wooden slat wall of the stall behind him and crossed an ankle over his knee. He then gave his dad a very frank look that he hoped said 'shoot, we're all men here'.

"I know about sex, Dad," Clark announced feeling big and very grown up. "You don't need to give me The Talk."

"Yes, son," his father said with a wry twist to his lips as he stood up and looked down at Clark. "You made that quite plain during dinner last night. Poor Lex looked like he'd been caught in a combine."

Feeling ten years old again and being caught at playing rough with the kittens, Clark abandoned his pose and sat up. He shoved his clasped hands between his legs, locking them in place with his knees. Jonathon Kent may have recognized Clark as a man tonight but he was still his father.

"Lex wasn't hurt, not really," Clark said quietly. "I'm careful with him, Dad."

"Are you?" His father nailed him with a glare. "The other night Lex was bruised, son and although he tried to hide it, I saw the trouble the boy was having with his chair. Now I don't pretend to understand that kind of thing. Some folks like their lovin' a little on the rough side and that's okay if that's what it takes to turn their crank. But you're different, Clark. It's too dangerous for you do that S & M stuff."

"God, Dad. We're not that kinky. Lex and I are not into pain. I don't hurt him more than he wants. And never more than he can take." Clark explained knowing it was useless. Nobody understood this. Nobody but he and Lex.

"So it's not abuse. For now, on Lex's word, I'll accept that." His dad said making clear that he did not necessarily believe that it wasn't no matter Clark's assurances.

The older man dropped down beside Clark on the bale and threw an arm around him, drawing him close into his chest in one rough sweep. Clark gave up all pretences of maturity and leaned back into the safe embrace. "You like the bruises, don't you, son?" he said tentatively while stroking Clark's hair. "You like marking him up."

"I...ah..."

"It makes him yours. Yeah." In the cold stillness of the barn, his dad started to gently rock them both into a warm bubble. Feeling a little raw around the edges and needing the respite, Clark fell into his father's soothing groove. "I understand that, son."

"Dad, Lex could have anybody," Clark said, speaking his insecurity for the first time aloud.

A soft, comforting chuckle. "Lex doesn't want anybody, Clark. He wants only you and he's willing to put his name to it. That's something for a Luthor. There's no need to brand your logo across his skin. No need at all. You don't have to hurt him."

But he did...sort of...in a way.

Although Clark was insanely possessive of his mate, marking or branding Lex as his was not something Clark did solely as a ward against potential rivals. And as he'd told his father, it wasn't about the pain. Never about the pain. Not about hurting. Clark would never knowingly harm his future husband. And Lex had never complained.

The pretty markings were also not a cross between aggression and love. Clark didn't have the stomach or taste to rule Lex. His rapacious spirit was what made Clark love him. He just liked the way Lex looked after rough sex. Hard fucking transformed the tall, sleek and aloof man into attainable art. The resulting hickeys and bruises were merely colourful reminders of what they'd shared. Proof that Lex had been touched. There wasn't any deeper meaning other than this was one instance where Clark could see his love and...it was beautiful. Why couldn't anybody else see that?

"I like they way make him look," he murmured against the collar of his father's winter coat. "It does stuff to me, Dad, twisty in the gut kind of stuff."

Around him, Clark felt the body of his father stiffen.

"Oh...okay," Jonathon stammered.

Clark pulled back a little to look up at him. "Did I just weird you out? Damn. I did, didn't I? Dad? Dad?"

It was a few long moments where Clark briefly imagined his father hobbling and locking him up with the rest of the animals before the tension was broken with a long-winded sigh.

"A little, son. A little." His dad relaxed and pulled Clark tighter to him, tucking his head under his chin. To the little boy Clark guessed he still was, it was heaven. Better. It was home. "Clark? Would it be too much for me to ask you to find a nice pretty girl right about now?"

Clark snuggled and chuffed. "A little, Dad. A little."

"Right. Then you promise to be careful and I'll promise never to ask about your sex life again." Jonathon took Clark by the shoulders and pulled him back to stare hard into his face. "Do we have a deal?"

Yes, Clark could be careful. He could be careful not to let this happen again. He could be careful not to let his fetish show. Beginning to feel like a man again, Clark looked his father straight in the eye and smiled.

"Yeah, Dad. A deal."

Hands sliding down to each other's biceps, they stood from the bale in tandem as father and son with a strong hint of man to man.

"Great." Jonathon said after good squeeze. "Now let's go see what the women folk are up to, shall we?"

Clark winced dramatically ala Lex. "Dad, he may be elegant and fine but Lex isn't nothing near a woman. He's six feet tall of hard, very manly man."

"Know that, son. Don't need to know that but...know that." Jonathon Kent ruffled the hair at the back of his son's head and then winked. "But if your mother can have her fun, so can I."

"What did you do?"

"Overreacted."

"Ya, think? Damn, Lex. It's never gonna heal straight if you keep breaking it."

"Lionel touched your mother. I'm going to have him killed."

"Yeah, they told me and no, you're not."

"Please, Clark."

"No, Lex."

"Roughed up?"

"No."

"Ruined financially?"

"Fine. Now give me your hand."

"I love your family, Clark. I love your mother."

"Me too."

"I love you, too."

"Me again, Lex."

"Say it, Sunshine. Tell me."

"I love you, Lex Luthor."

"I love you, Clark Kent. Fuck it and dammit, I do."

"You said that already."

"Bears repeating."

"Yeah, I guess it does."

"Fucking right it does, honey."

"Honey? Pain killers kicking in, Lex?"

"Good and hard. Wanna fuck, farm boy?"

"You're not in mood, Lex. Believe me."

"Sure I am."

"Then I'm not. You're hurt and I've decided to be careful."

"Okay. Clark?"

"Yes, Lex?"

"Love me?"

"Yeah."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

How do you cut someone out of your life?

After twenty-three years of manipulation and brow beating, Lex wanted Lionel gone. Unfortunately, the old man was using extortion to keep himself in.

A familiar feeling of urgency gripped Lex.

Since it was common wisdom that a blackmailer's demands escalated over time, the wait and see plan they'd adopted needed revising. His father already wanted his first born. What would he ask for next?

Martha Kent as his personal bed slave?

No. Not on his watch.

To stop Lionel, a way had to be found that would not offend his lover's righteous sense of morality. Lex gave little thought that it was now also his own.

Despairing murder and mayhem, there was the less violent option of turning the tables and blackmailing Lionel. But that would only work if Lex had something of greater value to hang over his head. Lex didn't. There was nothing greater than Clark's life.

So what did that leave him?

Tell Enrique that Martha had been sexually assaulted by Lionel? No, that would only guarantee violence. The tall, somber man with fatally psychotic sense of family would happily castrate his father if knew<<if he knew>>. There was only one option left.

Seducing the accomplice.

"Lex? Is that you? What are you doing in the ER?"

Lex rose from his plastic chair. Shaking out his bones with a light shrug, he reset his centre of gravity low on his hips and strolled, his limbs lank and loose towards the startled woman.

"Dr Bryce. Helen. Good evening." Lex said, meticulously aware of his voice's timber and purposely playing the range and pitch to full effect. His tone was tauntingly low and pleasantly smoldering.

With hidden satisfaction, Lex watched as Helen responded to his vocal caress. Without thinking, the good doctor bent towards him and ran her eyes up over length of his form. Her view at chest height, Lex dipped his head, snagged her dark orbs with his own and smiled demurely, showing just the right amount of amusement, some invitation and absolutely no reproach. Caught, Helen blushed and lowered her lashes. Eventually she spied his bandaged hand and gasped.

"Lex! You've been injured."

"Ah, yes." Lex raised his damaged paw slowly like it was weighted down with sandbags. "And thus the answer to your earlier question." He leaned close and whispered in her ear. "I'm here for you, Helen."

She jumped and he smiled. "Me?"

Lex stood back to give her breathing room. He didn't want her to bolt. "For your excellent care, of course," he said with a lazy grin of practiced innocence. Martha would be proud.

"Of course." Helen returned briskly, jerking back and jamming her hands into the pockets of her white coat. She looked the length of the hallway, at the nurse's station and then back at Lex. "I'll need to remove the wrappings to better assess the damage. This way."

Following her into an examination room, Lex slid off his long overcoat, draped it neatly over a chair and hopped up on the vacant bed. As he watched her gather the tools of her trade and turn on what he guessed was a portable x-ray machine, Lex had time to consider what the hell he was doing.

Having Helen's confidence would not solve his present problem with his father, but it would give him an edge. Lionel had his spy, Lex would have his. But how far was he willing to go in this seduction for that advantage?

Clark was unaware of his intentions or that he was here, at the hospital tonight. He could fuck Helen right now, in this room and his beautiful farm boy would be none the wiser should Lex elect not to tell him, which he, of course would not. And why was that? Because Clark was not as bent as Lex was and wouldn't see this infidelity as a necessary sacrifice. The boy was too wrapped up in romantic love and Forever and Evers. He would not understand. Clark would be hurt and maybe...Clark would leave.

Lex's question was neatly answered.

"Let's have a look."

"Actually, Helen. It's fine. No worries. I should go." Lex jumped down from the bed but when he made a move for the chair where he'd left his coat, he was halted by a small hand on his chest.

Helen tilted her head and smiled. "Now, Lex? You haven't even kissed me yet?"

Lex backed up as far he could go which amounted to no where. He was pinned between Helen's hand and the bed. "Excuse me?"

"That was your plan, wasn't it?" Helen fluttered her long lashes at Lex and he froze. She was attractive in an evil spawn sort of way. She snarled and pressed his chest harder. "To seduce and screw your father's secrets from me?"

Beautiful and clever.

Oh yes, his father did know how to pick them.

Lex looked down at Helen. Her hand was still splayed possessively on his chest and was now writing a lazy line under the double arc of his abs through his sweater with the tips of her fingers. When Clark did that, Lex's whole body flared hot but Helen's touch left him cold.

Cold?

Oh, fuck.

Cold.

As in dead, lifeless.

Lex threw back his head and laughed. For the first time since entering the hospital, his body had done something right.

He'd been foiled before he'd ever begun. Lex could talk the talk but doubted if he could have walked the walk. He glanced down briefly. Yep. More than his heart wasn't up for the task.

Dropping her hand, Helen stumbled back to glare at him. "What's so funny?"

"I'm sorry, Helen." Lex scraped a hand over his mouth to wipe the smile off. "You're right. I was going to try to seduce you but I've reconsidered. You'll only have to sleep with one Luthor tonight."

"You don't think I would have let slip anything valuable in the throws of passion?" Helen asked, not denying her relationship with his father, Lex noted but only wanting to know where she messed up.

"Nothing precious enough for what it would have cost me. As they say, the price was too high."

"Clark Kent." Looking confused, she cocked her head at him. "You really do love him."

"With everything that I am, yes."

There was no point in lying. From day one, Lex had never lied to his father about his feelings for Clark. It was only the interpretation that had been called into question. Helen couldn't report back anything the old man didn't already know.

"Your father doesn't understand. He thinks you're after him for something else."

"Yeah, no shit. He calls Clark wonder boy. And he is, but not for the reasons my father's demented mind supposes."

"It's not dementia. Clark is an anomaly. He's a genetic mutant, Lex," Helen whispered as if letting him in on a secret.

"So is half the population of Smallville, Helen, myself included." Lex unwrapped his hand and held up his swollen pinky for her inspection. "See this? I've broken it three times in the last month," Lex said stretching the truth a week or so. "And in a few days, it will be strong enough to break again should I be stupid enough."

Helen gaped at his twisted pinky and watched slack jawed as Lex flexed it straight. "That's impossible," she said shaking her head. "It would have taken that long for it to set properly once."

"Not in Smallville." Lex pointed out while laying his hand gently on the bed beside him. The damn thing was healing and nearly whole again, but it still hurt like a son of a bitch when he pushed it. "Look, Helen, Clark's special, yes. I'm sure my father has told you he can do things others can't, but as you see...so can I."

Helen stared at his afflicted hand, appearing to study and catalogue it's bent before looking up into his face. "Are you offering yourself up in his stead?"

"No! I'm just saying if you want a genetically enhanced child you have a wide rage of freaks to choose from. Leave Clark Kent alone."

"I'll consider it if you tell me why is Lionel so focused on Clark?"

"Because he's Martha's son, Helen. Lionel is in love with her." Lex said, not sure where the words came from but as soon as they were out, he knew them to be true.

Lionel was obsessed with Martha not Clark.

Holy fuck.

Clarity came at the oddest of times.

After months of knee bending and fighting Lionel for the right to court his raven haired beauty, Lex finally understood it had never been about obtaining secrets or protecting the sanctity of the Luthor genes. Power and progeny were not the issue. They never were. The lovely Martha Kent was and always had been. Lex wondered how long the old man had been tormented by her refusal of his charms. They had known each other for years.

"No, Lex. You're wrong. Lionel loves me."

Lex watched as she wrapped her arms tight around her middle, her anguish visual. "Helen..."

"No, no, no. As soon as I'm pregnant with Clark's child, we'll marry." She ranted, repeating almost for word what Lex had once told Enrique. He congratulated himself. At least that part of his thinking had been correct.

"Tell me something, Helen." Lex asked idly as he picked up the stretch bandage where it had been discarded on the bed. He began rewrapping his aching hand, giving her time to sweat. He didn't speak again until the job was done. "If I had gone through with the seduction, were you supposed to let me?"

"To turn the situation around, of course." Helen sneered and tipped up her chin defiantly. Lex recoiled. Bitterness was never an attractive look. "Lionel knew you'd try this."

"But I didn't because no matter what shit my father plans on putting me through, I couldn't risk losing Clark by fucking you." Lex looked into her flat eyes trying to find a spark of empathy or at least understanding at what being really in love meant. He saw nothing and grieved for her. "I couldn't," he said knowing now it was useless but needing to say it if only for himself. His next words were a hush. "Even to save him."

Helen lifted her hand and yawned. "How very noble."

With his bottom lip between his teeth, Lex emitted a small sound through his nose that was more of a snort than a laugh. "Helen, I haven't seen noble in a very long time. Don't think we've even met." He gave her a twisted smile that remained while he spoke. "The truth is I don't think I could have gotten it up. Fucking, sex and making love, it's all the same to me now and Clark is the only one I what to share any of it with."

"And that's what? Devotion?"

"Yeah, laced with a small amount of fear." Lex admitted, doing the snorty laugh thing again before sobering with a sharp sniff. "Helen, what my Dad is doing to you is more like prostitution. He's using you to get at the one he does love or at least his warped version of the soft emotion."

"You're saying he's playing me for a fool."

"I'm sorry." Lex said sincerely. He understood her disbelief. "I've been where you're standing and I know it's hard. I'm his son and he doesn't see me as much more than a tool. Follow my lead and write him off before he destroys you."

"I can't."

"You can, Helen. If you want to survive. You have to."

With eyes luminous with unshed tears, Helen stared helplessly at him. "I love him."

"Then I truly am sorry. But know this, Dr Bryce. Whatever empathy I have for you will not keep me from protecting my husband. You won't need Lionel. I will destroy you if your actions in any way harm Clark." Lex stepped up to the teary eyed woman, invading her space and using his voice and body for an all together seduction than he'd originally planned. "Lionel Luthor is my father." Lex growled, curling his lip and showing just the right bit of fang. "I learned mean and ruthless before I could walk. So be warned and take heed because just like him, I will show no mercy and give no quarter should you thwart me, Helen Bryce."

"Oh, is that a threat?" Helen asked, her bottom lip quivering but her shoulders were still straight and sure.

Jesus fucking Christ.

Give it up already.

He might despise her but Lex couldn't knock this woman for her bravery. It was a shame she'd picked the wrong Luthor to back. He couldn't help smiling as he answered. Lex was unaware it was the same wicked grimace that kept his enemies awake at night.

"A threat? Yes, Dr Bryce," he said lightly but with an underlying menace. "It is."

Not waiting for a response because none was needed, Lex grabbed his coat and rushed home to where he was supposed to be.

Standing nude at the door of the bathroom, looking out into the dimness of his bedroom, Lex wondered when the needs of another superceded his own and the approval of a loved one mattered so much. And narrowing his gaze to focus on the young man on the bed sleeping on his back with one arm thrown carelessly over his head, how he'd survived all these years without it.

Turning out the light with a sigh, Lex padded across the carpet, lifted the comforter and slid into the warmth created by the furnace he called a lover.

"Clark?"

"Hmm?"

"Wake up and make love with me."

"Huh? Now?"

"Yes, now. Right this minute."

"Did you just get in? What time is it, Lex?"

"Late."

"Oh. I waited up awhile but I have school in the morning. Where were you?"

"Getting dirty. I need you to clean me up."

"Lex? What did you do?"

"Nothing wrong, I promise, Clark but it was distasteful. I'll explain in the morning."

"Are you okay?"

"Kiss me, Clark and I'll be fine."

"And make love?"

"Yes. Please. Yes."

"Come here, Lex."

"Thank you."

Lionel Luthor was ruining his life.

"Chloe?"

"What is it, Clark?" the blonde answered not looking up from her book.

They were sprawled on the Persian rug in front of the fire in the castle library doing homework. Or at least Chloe was. Clark was sitting on the leather couch chewing the end of his yellow highlighter to mulch and fretting. Lex wasn't home. He was visiting the farm doing Clark's chores and most likely driving his father crazy. Despite his best intentions, Lex was more of nuisance than a farm hand.

"You're smart," Clark said to his friend, stating the obvious. "What's the maximum for murder in Kansas?"

"Well, it depends on the degree you're charged with and then there's the motive to consider," Chloe rattled off easily as if Clark had asked the time. "Why?"

"No reason."

Taking interest in something other than her texts, Chloe propped herself up on her elbows. "Clark were studying algebra and while I'll admit it is murder, it isn't cause to think of it." She quirked an eyebrow. "Planning on offing someone?"

"My future father in law."

"Hmm. Not a bad choice. But there's a problem."

"And that would be?" Clark asked.

Chloe pushed her books away and sat up crossed legged on the rug.

"You shoo flies out the window and corral spiders out the door. You're just not the killing type Clark Kent." With an accompanying shrug to her shoulders, she gave him a lopsided grin. "Sorry."

"But Chloe I've got to do something. You know what he wants me to do. It's indecent and it's tearing Lex apart."

"You could just say no. Frankly, I don't understand why you don't," she scowled, clearly more irritated than confused. Chloe enjoyed solving puzzles. It pissed her off when she couldn't.

"Lex hasn't told you everything."

Her eyes lit up. "I knew it. Lionel knows a deep, dark secret about Lex that he'll threaten to reveal if you don't knock up Dr<<Dr.>> Bryce and hand over the baby," she said offering her own explanation as to why he and Lex didn't tell the older Luthor to go to hell. She was wrong but oh, how he wished she wasn't.

His shoulders hunching forward in defeat, Clark dropped his much-abused highlighter on the coffee table and watched it roll across the flat surface with more attention than it deserved.

"Chloe," he began in a whisper, still focusing on the mangled pen. "I'm the one with the secret."

The was a short silence before Chloe admitted quietly, "I know, Clark."

Clark's head shot up in surprise. She was looking at him, smiling softly. "You do?" he asked.

"Look, in these last few months I've learned more about Lex Luthor than the man himself knows and while some of it is nasty--the guy was pretty wild in his youth--he hasn't denied one thing I've brought to him during my investigation." Chloe got up off the floor to sit beside him on the couch. Clark followed her movement with unbelieving eyes. "Clark, he's been bad...a lot. Mostly to himself but he owns up to it. Lex isn't hiding anything so that leaves you."

"Wow, Chloe. You are smart."

Chloe smiled and then lounged back on the couch, throwing her feet up on the coffee table. "Yeah well Clark, a woman isn't hair colour alone, you know."

On pins and needles, Clark sat on the edge of his leather cushion waiting for more. When Chloe didn't immediately launch into the Smallville version of the Spanish Inquisition, Clark broke and turned in his seat to squint at her. "Aren't you going to ask me my secret?"

Chloe squinted back. "Will it make my wall of weird?"

"Headline it."

"Then even though I'm wetting my panties wanting, Clark, I'm not sure it's a good idea that I know. It might be better if I didn't." She sighed like it hurt. It probably did. The reporter in Chloe hated to be denied. "People expect me to know things. If the shit hits the fan, I'll be the first one they ask. I don't want to run the risk of betraying you, Clark. If I don't know, I can't tell."

"What? Under the threat of torture?" Clark rolled his eyes and settled back beside Chloe on the couch in a boneless flop. The yellow highlighter went flying when his boots thwacked the coffee table a little to hard while trying to mimic her casual pose. "Yeah, that happens a lot in Kansas."

"You're nave, Clark."

Shrugging his shoulders, Clark gave her a toothy grin. "Not really but it's worked for me so far."

"Oh, hell," Chloe huffed. "You want to tell me, don't you?"

Losing the stupid smile, it was wasted on his sharp minded friend, Clark said with all the sincerity he could muster, "I need to talk about it, Chloe, or I'll go nuts. Please, I can keep you safe. I promise."

She looked at him then, right straight inside. Her look didn't steal his soul like his mate's did but with one piercing glare, Clark felt the years of denial and lame excuses being stripped from him. She saw, finally saw. "Does...does Lex know?" she asked, her voice cracking and sounding unnaturally thin to Clark's alien ears.

Yes, she saw but she didn't particularly want to. His plain farm boy visage had been grounding. Growing up in a town where everything was strange and nothing ever added up, Clark knew he'd been Chloe's one constant, her rock, her last hold on normal. He was messing with that now, destroying it and she was having a little trouble.

"Yeah, I told him after the first time we...ah, did it," he said, pressing on. He wanted her to see.

Chloe threw her hands up. "Then leave me out of it and talk to him."

"He doesn't know all of it and it's the parts he doesn't, I need you for."

"Shit, Clark."

In resignation, Chloe slumped deeper into the couch and Clark raised his arm to catch her so she'd be mostly resting on him. He needed her close for the next part. Cautiously, he curled his arm around her small shoulders. Chloe stiffened. Not good. Oh, hell. It may never be. Just do it.

"I'm an alien from outer space," he said without preamble. It was only after it was out he thought about how ridiculous it sounded. Lex would have done better, fancied it up with big words. Clark held his breath and waited for her to run screaming from the room.

"Clark!" Chloe slapped his chest and then cursed under her breath, "Shit, shit, shit."

Surprised that she was still here, Clark peered down where she was quietly muttering.

"That's it? Aren't you going to freak?"

Her nose scrunching up, Chloe grimaced. "I thought that was what I was doing."

"You're swearing, Chloe, and not even very loudly."

A little confused, Clark examined his friend. Chloe was nestled close under his shoulder, calm and totally too complacent given the nature of his announcement. Where was the screaming? She was much to cool and...oh.

Oh.

"You already knew I was different, didn't you?" he asked, resisting the urge to slap an "L" into his forehead.

"Sort of." Chloe said tossing her blonde locks in around between yes and no. "Not entirely but only Batman shows up at the scene of the crime more often than you do, Clark."

"You think Batman's an ET?" he chimed out being silly but feeling good, oh so good that she was doing okay with this. He couldn't help it. She was still in the room. The reaction was natural, no acting involved.

"Clark, the big and dumb bit is getting old," Chloe corrected, playfully thwacking the side of head and unconsciously setting him to rights. The light touch sobered him up, a little.

"Right, so okay, you knew," Clark admitted, still thrumming, a happy smile splitting his face. "Go ahead, ask me anything," he offered, totally giving himself up to his friend.

"Algebra is tit's up, isn't it?" Chloe grinned wickedly and Clark groaned at the hold up. Tease. The girl had been spending way too much time with Lex.

"Ask me, Chloe," Clark said repeating his question, aching to confess.

"Fine," she snapped professionally, like a regular Katie Couric. "What planet are you from?"

Clark blinked. "I don't know."

"Then what species are you?"

"Species? Lex and I have talked about that..."

"And..."

"I don't know."

"Damn, Clark. Are you sure you're an alien or just a teenage boy discovering with some alienation the wonders of your ever changing body?"

Yeah, Clark thought, but no. It was time for the kicker. Clark took a deep breath and let it all go.

"Well, I can undress faster than a speeding bullet," he began dramatically, remembering Lex's words and blushing briefly at the reason for their delivery. "I can light candles with my eyes, jump a city street when I'm scared to death and lately I've taken to flying my lover into bed." Clark paused, nibbled his lip and then continued. "And oh, yeah. I can lift a tractor over my head, pound fence posts into the ground with my fists and I'm fireproof. That last part is hard on the clothes, though. K-Mart doesn't do indestructible."

"God..."

"Chloe? You okay?"

The girl had snaked out his embrace to press back against the far side of the couch. She had pulled her hands up as if warding him off. Clark was crushed.

"Yeah, shit. Damn, Clark. Indestructible? No, no, no. I'm fine. K-Mart? Oh, shit."

Shrinking into himself, Clark brought his knees up and folded his shoulders forward trying to appear harmless. With his gaze lowered, he said, "I'm not here to hurt you, Chloe. You were right. I'm not capable of harm."

"You...you think I'm afraid?" came a shocked reply, complete with breathy whispers and hitching gasps. Fear. Oh, geez, what else could it be? If the unflappable and sometimes brash Chloe Sullivan was having trouble speaking, it had to be. Not even Lionel Luthor did this to her. Clark had seen her on numerous occasions stand up to the menace that would be his father in law. He took no pride at being the one to bring her down.

Clark didn't dare to look up but shielded his shame-reddened face in his knees. "Well, I am kind of scary," he said from under a bent arm. "Pete talked about Godzilla the other night. I'm pretty sure I could take him, fiery breath and all."

"A monster? Oh god, no." Chloe scrambled back across the couch almost throwing herself into his arms. Alien quick, Clark opened his embrace just in time to let her in. "You're not a monster, Clark," she assured hugging him tight. "You're a Kent and part of the most loving family in the county. I'm not afraid of you. I refuse to be."

Clark hugged Chloe back, loving the brave honest feel of her. It felt so good. "You sure?" he asked, dipping his head down to see her expression.

Chloe's eyes glittered, her smile bright and serene. "You were my first kiss and my last. I'm sure, Clark." She brushed her fingers lightly across his lips to trail into an affectionate pet behind his ear. "It's girl thing, if that makes you feel better."

The weight of ten thousand worlds lifted from Clark's shoulders. He was suddenly just Clark to Chloe and not an alien monstrosity. He leaned into her touch and almost purred. "Don't do real well with girls, Chloe," he said with a twist of a smile, his resurgence to good humour turning sardonic. Clark blamed the company he'd been keeping. "I'm kind of into the guy thing, remember?"

Snug in his lap, Chloe socked his jaw softly. "Stop being a shit, Clark. Hell, if all aliens are like you, planet Earth is in real danger of being annoyed to death."

The Luthor like sneer framing Clark's lips turned big, wide and very Kentian. "Sorry, couldn't help it."

"Never mind. Okay, now you've told me." Chloe paused to let out a long cleansing breath and then nearly choked. "Oh, damn. What is it Lex doesn't know if he knows all that?" She cocked a brow. "He does know, right?"

Clark nodded. "Yeah, he does but there is something I've been holding back."

"Like what?"

"I can have babies, Chloe," he replied slowly hoping not to spook her again. God knew it spooked him.

"You? Oh, god. Babies?" Chloe grabbed the collar of his tee shirt and yanked his face close. "As in children?"

"Yeah, Lex's."

"No, wait," Releasing him abruptly, Chloe sat back from Clark's lap, not too far away but enough to give her thinking space. After a moment's contemplation, she said calmly, "But he does know, Clark. Yes, I'm certain he does. Lex said something over dinner the other night. I thought I'd heard him wrong. I was drinking a lot of wine and..."

"Chloe, Lex doesn't know for sure. He hopes." Clark winced. "Actually, he hopes a lot but that's all."

"But you know for sure, don't you, Clark?'" Leaning forward, she held caught his gaze and held him without abusing his clothing. "Lex can get you pregnant, can't he?"

Clark nodded his head and swallowed hard. "There's this process, like steps and if they're followed correctly, my body will create a cradle that will hold life. I found out by accident a while back."

"Why haven't you told him. You said he...oh. Oh," Chloe gasped. She'd had boyfriends before and jumped into the right conclusion. It was a strange thing to have in common with his best female buddy.

Clark laughed bitterly under his breath. "Yeah, oh."

"Then you don't want..."

"No," Clark snapped cutting her off.

"Okay, got it. No." Chloe snapped back before offering sarcastically, "You could practice birth control, you know."

"How?" Clark snorted trying not to laugh again. It really wasn't funny. "I didn't come with a handbook. I know next to nothing about my origins or my body. I mostly just go with the flow. I'd probably dissolve a condom if I allowed Lex to wear one."

"Dissolve? Just how different..." Chloe bite back the rest of her question at his scowl. "Okay, not important. Curious however..."

"Chloe." Clark warned, snapping up her conversation. Slash Girl knew better not to go there.

"Fine, no hot sweaty sex questions," she whined with obvious disappointment. After a disgruntled look she said evenly, her 'Katie' hat back on. "You said there were these...ah..."

"Steps," Clark supplied.

"Right steps," she said crispy. "What have you been doing up to now to prevent their completion? And I'm assuming you have been. You're not pregnant now, are you Clark?"

"No!"

"So you've been doing something resembling birth control. Does Lex need to be involved? Is that why you haven't told him?"

Clark blushed. Would he ever stop doing that? This was why he didn't like the 'hot sweaty sex' questions. "He needs to, you know...delay."

"Delay?" Chloe shrugged in confusion. "Delay what?"

"Ejaculation," Clark answered awkwardly. The word felt large and clumsy in his mouth but it was better than the alternative.

"Oh," his friend responded having the good taste to match his blush. "And he doesn't now? How long does it take for the cradle to form? Hours?"

"About eight minutes, maybe less."

"You're kidding? That's it? The great and sexy Lex Luthor comes in under ten minutes." Chloe smirked and Clark could see the laugh hiding beneath her lips. "Damn, Clark, it takes me fifteen just to warm up."

Clark frowned. "The sex is intense, Chloe. I don't do much better and I have balls of steel. It's fast but really, really good."

"Yeah, but minutes?"

"Alien minutes, Chloe, big...no, huge difference. Lex says it's the best sex he's ever had and he's been doing it for years."

Chloe fell back and pretended to faint into the couch. "Minutes...oh, shit. Save me."

"Yeah, minutes," Clark growled indignantly as he folded his arms over his chest. "Could we move past that part? I'm suffering teenage angst here."

"Sorry, right. Sorry." Chloe sobered and went professional again. "So the problem is, Lex wants you pregnant and you don't want to be which was okay when neither of you knew how to make it happen until suddenly...you did."

"Did I mention you were smart?" Clark admitted feeling the requisite poke to his ribs not long after.

"And now you feel like you're lying to him."

No, he knew was but didn't say so. Comfort and not his ethics was the reason he had revealed himself to his friend.

"What am I going to do?" Clark cried in frustration. "I'm seventeen, Chloe. I don't know what that is in alien years but I still feel too young to bear a child." With his father he wanted to be a grown up but god, right now he wished he were ten.

"Tell him, Clark," Chloe said, placing a light, testing hand over his lower abdomen. Clark hissed. It was too personal of a place for even his best friend to touch. "He's going to be your husband. You can't have secrets if you want your marriage to work. Especially big ones like this."

Hoping his revulsion didn't show, Clark carefully palmed her hand up off his sensitive belly to release it in her lap. "But if I do, he will get me pregnant, Chloe."

"Even if you say no?"

"Yes. The only way to stop him would be not to make love at all. Lex won't touch me without permission. He always asks please but once I say yes, all bets are off. He'll do everything in his power to conceive despite what I say. Lex wants a child so badly, he can't hear me say no."

"He asks please? Every time?"

"Uh, yeah?" Clark answered hesitantly not really understanding Chloe's puzzled look.

"Wow," Chloe giggled. "The bad boy's a gentleman. My Lex-o-meter just went back up."

"Oh, that's helpful."

"Shut up, Clark. Give me a moment to think. Hey, does Lionel know you're an alien?"

"Off topic, Chloe."

She gave him a baleful glare. "Humour me."

"No, he doesn't know but Lex says his guesses are too close for comfort. I'm not totally indestructible..."

"The green meteorites."

Clark was shocked by her insight but only for a moment. This was Chloe. She may be presently reverberating back and forth from schoolgirl giddiness to cool acceptance but she was still smart as a whip and missed absolutely nothing.

"Yeah, he suspects they make me sick. He doesn't know for sure but he sent one to Lex as a Christmas gift last year. It shook him up bad."

So bad that Lex had ended their relationship to protect Clark. It had been the roughest month of his life. Clark had been over the moon when the older man had regained his senses and asked to come back.

"And that's why you're jumping through hoops and contemplating murder." Chloe stopped to take a dry spit at her toes. "Bastard."

"You should hear what Lex calls him."

"I'd like to," Chloe snorted. Her blond lashes dropped and flickered slowly. Thinking again, Clark guessed. Chloe was always thinking. "Oh, of course," she exclaimed coming out of her short fugue. "Helen wants to have a super baby. Lionel asked her to, didn't he?"

"Yeah, he did but not for that reason alone. Lionel is obsessed with my mom."

"Your alien mother?"

"No, my real one. Martha Kent. He loves her and thinks he can get a bit of her through me."

"But you're adopted, Clark."

"Ah yeah, I know, Chloe. And so does Lionel. Doesn't matter though."

"His mind is warped." Her busy wheels turned again. "He'll pretend it's their child, won't he?"

"We think but the only problem is I can't mate with a human female so Lionel's twisted dreams will be left unfulfilled." Clark slumped back exhausted on the couch. Revealing one's secret identity was tiring. "There's more but you'll have to talk to Lex. He explains it better and I expect he'll tell you more about his meeting with Helen last night than he did me."

Chloe's hand fluttered to her throat. "He didn't...oh, Clark, he didn't."

"No, he didn't but I'm sure he thought about it," Clark admitted, risking a fall on Chloe's Lex-o-meter. "Now back to my other problem."

"I think you still have to tell him. What other choice do you have?"

Clark groaned. "It's looking like none."

"Make him hear you, Clark. Even if it means denying him sex. That should make him stand up and pay attention."

"I can't do that, Chloe."

"You can."

"Okay, lets put it a different way." Clark said and wondered if there was a Clark-o-meter. "I don't want to. I need Lex and I can't stop needing him."

"Is it an alien thing?" Chloe prodded.

"No, a horny teenage boy thing. If he asks me to do it with him, I'll fold. I usually do."

"God, Clark."

"Yeah, I know. I'm pathetic."

"Duh-uh. Well, I suppose you'll just have to take your chances."

"And be pregnant before I start school in the fall. Fuck."

"Or don't fuck and not be." Chloe shrugged. "Your choice, Clark."

"Thanks for the advice, Auntie Chloe," Clark snarked smoothly having learned from the best.

"Auntie Chloe!" She sat up on her heels and clapped her hands. "Oh my!"

"Scared mother to be here. Could you be a little less enthusiastic?"

"Ah...no?"

"No, Chloe?"

"No, Clark. I'm an only child. Never thought I'd be an aunt. That would be so cool."

"Then fine."

"Fine? Is it? Is it, really?"

"No...yes...maybe...I don't know but it's better than acting any more like a girl than I already am by squealing oh my."

"Really? You leaning that way?"

Was he? He'd thought he wasn't but after two conversations with people he loved about the possibility of getting pregnant, Clark was having doubts. He didn't want to hurt anybody. But geez.

Neither Lex nor Chloe shared his fears. Both were too delighted with the idea to see the consequences. Two positives to his negative. Well, maybe three. Lex had told his mom last Christmas but since Clark had avoided discussing it with her, he didn't know where she stood on the whole baby issue. His mother was a wild card. He didn't know if his refusal would hurt her too.

Clark looked at Chloe. She was bouncing on her heels, bubbling with joy and still waiting for answer.

"We'll see," Clark answered, not really giving her one.

"It's not legal, is it?"

Lying on the couch with his head in Lex's lap, Clark held the certificate up to the light. Lex was heartbroken by the sadness he saw on his normally ebullient face. The expression hadn't changed much since they had left the Ross home. This was oh so wrong.

To say the signing had been a somber affair would be generous. As each of them had stepped forward to witness the document, the air of gloom in Judge Ross' den had thickened until it was too dense to speak comfortably. There had been no superfluous conversation. All had felt as Clark did now. When it was done, Lex had quietly thanked the attendees for their participation, entrusted the upper portion of the paper with the judge for filing and left with a colourless Clark in tow.

Lex brushed Clark's bangs out his eyes. "No, but that doesn't mean it's not real," he said softly.

Clark lowered his arms and hugged the parchment to his chest. "What if it had been issued from Vermont?" the boy asked, his hazel eyes gazing up at Lex like two big wishes. "Mom said that was the original plan. Would we really be married then?"

"Clark, we cannot legally marry anywhere in the United States -- so far. What Vermont issues is a certificate of civil union which confers the state benefits and protections of marriage, but not the federal ones. And only while in residence. The contract becomes null and void when we leave the state."

Clark examined the paper again. "This is a marriage license, Lex, not a civil contract."

"Issued from our home state of Kansas, yes. I decided that if we were going to register formally, it would be where we lived and in the proper form. As a favour to me and I'm sure with the thought of his own son's future in mind, Judge Ross will submit our application in the morning."

"Only to be rejected." Clark responded bitterly. "It doesn't matter how many strings you pull or how many people you employ, the county clerk won't accept it."

"True but our intention to marry will be a matter of public record even it's a refusal, Clark," Lex pointed out hoping to turn Clark's dark mood around. The boy had been broody a lot lately. Today's visit to the Ross home had been his attempt to cheer him. "We'll be on the books, albeit through the back door. If anyone cared to look they'd discover that Alexander Joseph Luthor paid fifty dollars in an attempt to make Clark Jerome Kent his husband in March of 2003."

Clark smiled then and Lex's heart bounced back. That was the reaction he'd been aiming for, the reason he'd approached Judge Ross in the first place.

Legalities aside--his lawyers had already secured Clark's marital rights, he didn't need the protection of a civil contract--Lex had wanted to please the young man he loved beyond reason. Knowing his predilection, Lex had wanted to give Clark something normal in a relationship where very little was. The romantic notion had almost backfired.

"Cool." Clark reached up and pulled Lex down by the back of the neck for a kiss. The angle was the only thing that was awkward. "Thank you," he whispered sideways into Lex's lips. "I get it now."

"You're welcome, my beautiful farm boy. You know, if I could make it legal, I would."

Clark let him go and picked up the certificate again, caressing the edges gently with his thumbs. "Yeah, maybe when you're President, you can change the law."

"You know about that?" Lex asked startled.

While he incessantly plotted his rise to power in his head, he was careful not to make mention of his plans to his small town boy with the earth shattering secret or his parents. It was too early. Like the public, Lex had wanted Clark to gradually become used to the attention of being a Luthor, complete with baggage first. He had no desire to scare Clark off. Over time<<,>> and as Clark saw that he was in no danger of being discovered, Lex would drop hints about his political aspirations.

Giving Lex's bottom lip one last teasing bite, Clark folded his long limbs into a sitting position beside Lex on the couch. With loving care he placed the mock marriage certificate on the low table before settling back under Lex's shoulder. Considering his young lover's larger form, the slumped position brought them eye to eye.

"Come on, Lex. I know it's more than a game for you." Clark said burrowing deeper under his armpit to try to fit and gazing up at him with the biggest of puppy dog eyes. There was the slightest hint of a blush across his cheeks.

To accommodate him, Lex stretched his arm back further along the top of the couch and tried not to look too deeply down into those deep green pools for fear of drowning and loosing himself too completely to finish what needed to be said. He was already half hard having Clark tucked down and nestled so close to his chest, it was so rare for his larger lover to let him do the holding. More often than not, Clark did the wrapping and enfolded him. Size was an epic battle between them even though it was Lex that did most of the fighting. Clark's ego wasn't large enough to care.

"Lex, I know you brush your teeth for exactly five minutes three times a day, that the smell of a new car gets you hard and you get choked up when Obi-wan Kenobi dies in the first Star Wars movie." Clark stopped to kiss the underside of his chin to his throat while lowering his arms from Lex's waist to pull him butt first from the couch into his wide lap. Not that his big affectionate lover had the glimmer of a clue, but so much for dominance.

"I know what makes you tick." Clark continued as he positioned Lex in his arms like a bride waiting to be carried over the threshold. "I know what makes you happy and what makes you sad. What makes you think I'd miss something as important as your dreams?"

Lex quickly got in touch with his humility, accepted the arm under his knees and dutifully wound his own around Clark's neck. "Just fooling myself would seem to be the appropriate answer," he drawled.

Clark beamed at him. "I'm not scared, Lex."

"You're not?" Lex said, melting in the warmth of Clark's shining smile. "You should be. I'm a diabolical bastard once I get going."

"Okay, yeah you are but I trust you." Clark squeezed him gently and then innocently brushed a cherry red cheek against his alabaster one in a kitten kiss. "If you think I'm safe, then I am. You love me way too much to put me in danger."

"I don't..." Lex fumbled. Without trying, Clark was turning him to mush with unfettered loyalty. Lex's heart liquefied. "I don't have to be President, Clark. Oh fuck. For you, I'd be a waiter at the Talon, if that's what you wanted."

Amazingly while Lex was happily throwing his future in the dustbin, Clark chuckled softly and ran a big soothing hand down the length of his rubberized spine. "Yeah, Lex, you do have to be President. Some kids wanted to be a policeman or fireman when they grew up but I'm guessing your goals were a little higher. I don't want to stand in the way of your greatness, Lex but I will stand beside you while you achieve it." Clark hugged Lex gently to his chest like a cherished teddy bear. "I love you."

Nearly witless, Lex pulled back and was grateful to find his young lover staring at him with a rock steady gaze. Good. The boy wasn't just spewing meaningless--albeit effective--platitudes. He was focused. Clark clearly understood what he was promising.

"There are risks, Clark." Lex warned, making sure. "The media, the government, my father..."

"You'll deal with them." Clark said, cutting him off. "I have faith. And besides, every day I get out of our bed is a risk."

"You're too young to be so complacent, so...fatalistic."

"Is that what I am? I don't know anymore." Clark's calm cool stare wavered a fraction. "Lex? How old do you have to be to accept your destiny?"

"Older than seventeen. I'll be twenty four in July and I still haven't."

"Sure you have, Lex. You chose it. That's why you want to be President. I remember playing in the closet."

"That meant nothing, Clark."

"Liar. You wanted to be all powerful and you were."

"I want only to be your husband, Clark and...the father of your children. That's all. The rest is flotsam I can do without if need be."

"No. Uh-uh." Clark shook his head, his long raven locks falling around his face in a beautiful mess. The boy was long past a haircut, not that Lex would tell him. "And be a shadow of yourself? You wouldn't be happy and neither would I."

"Don't underestimate the power of your smile, Clark." Lex clucked softly as he brushed Clark's bangs behind his ears so he could see the full of his face and oh, such a pretty face. "I'd live on a deserted island if that's what it took to keep you."

"How about the deep, dark jungles of the Amazon?" Clark asked, his voice a deep baritone and rumbling low in his throat and Lex's gut.

The tone of the conversation was changing. The breadth was expanding from the comforting into the sensual. Clark's chest was hitching, puffing tufts of warm air into Lex's ear, his big hands squeezing possessively and roaming wide.

Lex didn't need super powers to know his young lover wanted him. Ensconced securely in his lap he could feel Clark's erection nudging his backside trying to end their conversation but Lex wasn't done talking.

It had slipped by earlier without comment but now it needed to be addressed. Even if it would eventually prove to be impossible, no discussion of their future would be complete without it. Although he had promised, Lex could no longer hold his tongue.

"Can we have babies in the jungle, Clark?" Lex asked gently, still playing to their fantasy. Keeping it light might prevent Clark from chucking him across the room. "I want babies. Lots and lots of them. And soon." Lex cooed, speaking his heart.

Clark stopped kissing his neck to stare wide-eyed at him. "Soon?" he squeaked obviously startled but thankfully not enough to throw Lex from his lap. "You're certain?" he asked, now startling Lex.

The question was redundant, Clark was well aware that Lex wanted children yesterday, so no surprises there. What was surprising was that he'd asked at all. Clark seemed to be checking, making sure, as if giving him final chance to back out.

"More certain than the Presidency," Lex responded firmly, keeping his building suspicions to himself while watching his young lover closely. His pretty face was drawn forward, red mouth pursed and dark eyebrows scrunched in a line. Impossibly, Clark appeared to be deciding on something they had previously agreed could not be.

"What does my mother think?" Clark asked, taking a break from his deliberation.

"Your mother?"

"Yeah, when you told her at Christmas."

Lex remembered. Telling Martha her son could possibly conceive had been his gift to her. The presentation had not gone as planned. The ever practical Martha Kent had not wept joyously at the news as Lex had hoped.

"She was speculative, Clark," Lex answered candidly, his love for his future husband getting the better of him. Christ, the boy was making an honest man of him and they were not yet married. "I'm not sure she believed it could happen but I think she was happy."

"Three against one then." Clark murmured cryptically before setting his mouth and going back to his internal debate.

Lex yearned to know what his beautiful boy was thinking but didn't dare ask in fear of upsetting him. Clark had spoken mystically about odds and Lex did not want them turned against him by an ill timed <<ill-timed>>question. He waited patiently, distracting himself with his own thoughts on fatherhood. He prayed Clark's were as pleasant.

"Maybe, Lex," Clark announced finally.

Oh, Christ.

Maybe.

Lex was ecstatic with maybe.

"What about room service? No room service in the jungle." his farm boy said quickly changing the subject before Lex could launch a major inquiry into the meaning of 'maybe'.

Not wanting push, Lex let him. Something delicate had just transpired. Lex had an idea what, but it was still too fragile to be pursued. He barely dared to think about it.

"I'll have to get back to you on that one." Lex laughed feeling all of a sudden giddy.

"Okay, President Luthor." Clark pronounced and then kissed him soundly.

Lips soft and full pulled at his, first the lower then the upper before something hot and wet gently pushed its way through to trace his teeth and gums. Lex gasped allowing the invasion to go deeper until Clark was greedily lapping away at his palate, shoving his tongue down his throat and making love to his mouth. Lex arched up into bliss.

Long ago, early in their courtship, before they were completely intimate, Clark used to make him come this way. It was embarrassing but without penetration, or even manual stimulation, Lex ruined many a fine pair of trousers under the gale of his farm boy's talented mouth. Cuddled close to Clark's body, Lex was fast on that path again.

On the brink of orgasm he tried to push Clark back. These days he didn't come unless he was deep inside his lover's ass striving for the wish of conception. You never knew when one shot might hit gold. And Clark had said maybe.

Fucking maybe.

The one word was like getting some goddamn cosmic permission.

After months of searching the Internet, scanning all the books in his rather extensive personal library and watching the Discovery Channel until his eyes bled, was that all it took to get Clark pregnant? His consent? His say so? Was it that simple? And why the fuck hadn't the boy told him if it were? Lex thought they were done with secrets.

"Christ, Clark." Lex exclaimed tearing his lips away. "I love you but I don't understand you at all."

"Yeah, you do." Clark breathed heavily, his big hands sweeping the length of Lex's body from the nape of his neck to the underside of his knees and back again. The boy was hot, overheating, getting dangerous. "You always have, Lex. More than anyone." Clark moaned sending a thrill to Lex's groin. "God, I want you inside me."

Walking a fine line himself, Lex pulled his head back trying to catch Clark's eye but the young man took it as an invitation to suckle his neck. "You want me to come inside you?" Make a baby inside you? Is that what's happening here, Clark?

"Yeah, that okay?" Clark said<<,>> answering the one question Lex had the guts to say aloud.

Frustrated, Lex gave into curiosity. He tempted the fates, bucked the odds, fell to form and pushed. "Tell me why, Clark."

Suddenly Clark tossed his head back and roared at the ceiling. If the boy hadn't been clutching him so tight, Lex would have jumped out of his seat. He was glad of his restraints when Clark looked back down at him with eyes so intense with desire Lex felt like melting and sliding to the rug in a puddle of expensive goo.

"Damn it, Lex." Clark fumed. "Shut up and fuck me. We need to go to bed now."

Two cuss words in a row. Clark was nearing the breaking point, the place where his alien strength overwhelmed Lex's human physiology. Not that Lex had any complaints. Clark's passion was like a tornado and Lex was willing to risk a little battering while being sucked into its fury. However, the less bruising the better as Jonathon would say. The boy needed tempering.

Forgetting the current biological conundrum for the moment, Lex locked his fingers behind Clark's neck. Some needs were more important than others.

"You have me in your arms, Sunshine." He cocked his head in the direction of the door. "Take me there."

As he'd planned, the wildfire in Clark's eyes dimmed. Given an outlet, the boy's ardour cooled, the desperate pawing stopped.

"Fly us upstairs?" Clark asked with a different sparkle in his eyes.

Lex jerked. He'd been thinking along more conventional lines of transport. Stairs, walking, climbing--that sort of thing. "Can you?" he asked, his tone deceptively steady. No fear, no fear.

"I think so."

Lex wished vainly for a Valium and bravely said, "Go."

"Okay."

Biting his bottom lip, Clark extended the arm that had been curled around Lex's back and reached up for the ceiling. By natural reflux or was it morbid curiosity, Lex's eyes followed the straight line from bulging bicep to the tip of Clark's finger. The other strong appendage was secured firmly under his knees.

"The ceiling's looming closer," Lex remarked as his vision flipped and focus floundered.

"Close your eyes, Lex," Clark said a voice that suddenly sounded so much older but that might be because Lex felt suddenly so much younger. Obtusely, like the spoil brat he knew he was, Lex ignored the wise suggestion and looked down.

"We're not on the couch anymore," Lex eeped, feeling like he'd been spun upside down and turned inside out. He hadn't been completely lucid the last few times this had happened and did not miss the deliciously horrid ride. Lust had always been a mind killer for him. He wished fervently to be brain dead now.

"No, Lex. Not on the couch." Like a cloud, Clark floated them over the rug towards the library doors. "How does it feel?"

"Odd. I keep looking for the wires." Lex said and then hugged Clark tight when a second wave of vertigo hit him. "I need our bed, Clark."

"It's okay, honey. Don't worry, you're safe in my arms. I'll get you there."

A led to Z and one plus one was going to equal three if he let it.

And that's what he was doing, wasn't it?

Letting it.

Giving into his own particular brand of peer pressure, Clark had decided to allow Lex to impregnate him sooner than later although not quite this soon. The acceptance had floored him, flooding him with a desire that was almost goading into mating.

He felt hot, needy and wanting. But as instinctual as the drive was now that he'd given it rein, he protested. He was not an animal in heat. Clark reminded himself he did not have to become pregnant right this moment if he chose not to. Soon wasn't now and he was not a salmon with a death wish or lion or an antelope and certainly not some goddamn monkey. He was human or at least looked it and human women used birth control all the time. So, Clark figured, could he. Why not? The desire flared up him again and he groaned, arching up into his chosen mate.

Damn, the man smelled wonderful. The scent of Lex's arousal was almost visual.

"Fuck me, Lex," Clark moaned, swearing effortlessly in a way he'd not been able only months before. "I need you to fuck me."

They were naked on the bed with Lex writhing on top. Clark had disposed of their clothing quickly once he'd flown them upstairs.

"Open your legs, Clark and I will."

"Get a condom first."

"What? Why? Oh, Christ, Clark. Tell me why."

"It doesn't matter...just get one."

"From where, farm boy? I haven't sent Enrique to the pharmacy for months." Lex snarled, his dick leaking a wet trail along Clark's thigh. "Prepare to take me bare and accept the consequences of our union."

"Then if that's the case, prepare to come on my stomach." Clark replied in kind to Lex's over dramatic declaration, his knees aching to part but remaining steadfastly together.

"You lying little prick. I knew you were ready."

"Being nasty to me isn't going to get you laid, Luthor. And I am not ready." Clark vehemently denied, with emphasis on the 'not' part.

"You're in some kind of alien heat. Maybe doesn't mean shit. You need me to fuck you, don't you? Like some imperative you have no control over."

"Oh, please, Lex. I'm not an Arthur C Clark novel. That would be dumb, not to mention bad fiction. He writes better than our love life."

Lex leaned down to kiss his neck. "I adore you, Clark. I worship you like no other."

"Stop it, Lex," he spat. "I'm not a Jane Austin novel either."

Clark was vaguely aware that before Lex, he did not think in literary terms and oh yeah, he didn't swear much either. But at any one time Lex had no less than five works of fiction and non on the go. Books from every genre littered the rooms of the castle. Lex derived such unlimited joy from them, it was impossible not to be infected.

"I love you more than money." Lex said, continuing to nibble his throat. "I love you more than the power that comes with it. If being a pauper was the price to be with you, I'd gladly be poor."

"And a orphan? Damn, maybe I am Jane Austin."

Lex paused from his kissing. "What?"

"Never mind, just shut up and fuck me."

Clark opened his legs and Lex was there, right there.

"If I do, no apologies, Clark. I will not regret the outcome."

"Fine, fine, just push. Like that but way harder."

"Jesus, Clark. Oh, Christ."

And with one long thrust, Lex shot himself home. Only pre-come and sweat eased the way. In moments, they were swaying together in a world of their own making, miles away from the lube in the nightstand drawer and the condoms Clark belatedly remembered he had stashed in a duffel bag in the back of the walk in closet. There were times when Atlantic seemed like a hop, jump and skip to Clark. It was funny how quickly a dip to the left and a trip across the room had suddenly become uncrossable chasms.

With Lex between his legs rocking the cradle into being, Clark gained a whole new perspective on the relativity of distance.

Lex Luthor was fast fucking him into a new dimension. Fast, fast...oh god...too fast. The walls of his ass were beginning to tremble. The rippling would make Lex come. The hotly denied animal inside Clark panicked.

Breaking Lex's thrusts in a bruising leg lock around his slim white hips, Clark reached down between their bodies to grasp the base of Lex's cock hoping to stave off orgasm. "Don't come," he rasped while the 'Clark' in him desperately wanted his long sleek lover to do just that.

"Are you fucking nuts?" Lex howled, the hard muscles in his lower stomach twitched as fought the bind. "Let go, Clark, and let me fuck you!"

Clark ignored his lover's virulent protest to fall back on to the bed in a light doze. He closed his eyes and let his breathing even out. "Wait...give it time..." he whispered. "It's happening."

Clark could sense it building. He could feel the heat trickling down his spine, spreading to bloom hot at its base. The cradle was forming, warming him from the inside out and getting ready to receive Lex's issue. In another few seconds he was going to catch like a bitch in heat. He wanted to stop, scream and rally against it but did nothing to prevent the cascade. Nothing, but let Lex go. It wasn't eight minutes and he would forget to tell Chloe that later.

Out of his iron grasp, Lex bucked hard into him.

"Jesus fucking Christ, Clark! I'm coming! Holy fuck, I'm coming!" Lex proclaimed loud and proud.

Grabbing Lex's hand from where it clutched his shoulder, Clark twisted his blunt fingers into Lex's long graceful ones and wrapped them around his dick. From there, Lex took over, jacking Clark brutally in time with his thrusts to ensure they came together. Clark let go a silent scream as his ejaculate spilled over their twined hands and his lover expelled in a raucous riot a comparable amount of hot liquid deep inside him.

The spark of life was immediate. Clark felt it like firecrackers going off in his belly. The bursts exploded and plumed like the big ones at Disney World.

"Oh, damn." Clark mumbled into Lex's neck as the older man collapsed, spent and sweaty on top of him.

After a few deep breaths, Lex pulled out with a pop and snuggled under the crook of Clark's outstretched arm. "Oh, damn, what?" Lex asked once he was comfortably nestled away in sweaty warmth.

"You did it, Lex," Clark replied evenly. There was no joy in his voice, only quiet resignation. "I'm pregnant. Bang. You got me."

"You're sure?" In an attempt to hover over him, Lex floundered and fell as he caught his shoulder in Clark's armpit. Clark sighed and wrapped an arm around his long slippery lover to keep him down, tucked close to his heart. Clark liked him there. After a short struggle, Lex gave up whatever battle he was fighting and relaxed.

"Use your x-ray vision and look, Clark." Lex demanded his voice hoarse and winded from his struggles and oh, yeah...the procreation thing moments before.

"I don't have to. I can feel him. He's there."

"Him? I have a son?" Lex draped a leg over Clark's thigh and hugged him with his whole body.

"Yeah, congratulations, Alex. You've won the thousand dollars."

"Jesus, Clark, this is special. Don't joke."

"It's either that or toss my cookies, Lex. I'm feeling kind of sick to my stomach."

"You don't want to be pregnant."

"No, but big surprise...I am."

"I love you, Clark. I know I don't say it often but I do love you...desperately."

"You say it as often as your temperament allows, Lex." Clark sighed. "And it's more than enough. I know how you feel and I'm in love with you too."

"Then together we can do this."

"But we're not doing it together. I'm doing it."

"Because of me. I did this with you. This child is also mine. Christ, Clark. You're having my baby. Please be happy about it."

"I'm too scared to be happy, Lex."

"Okay, a little fear is allowed, expected even. Having a child is a huge responsibility for any couple but once we get used to the idea, things will become easier, Clark."

"Easy for you to say. You don't have to carry or...geez, Lex, deliver him. Oh, my god. Where is he going to come out?"

"The way he came in?"

"And you know that how? Chapter three in your 'I Married an Alien' handbook?"

"We'll find you a doctor, Clark."

"I'm not letting that hack friend of yours, what's his name? Toby? Near me."

"Maybe we don't need a doctor. I'm one term away from being a bio-chemist."

"Okay, pregnant guy shaking in his boots here. Ever hear the one about the lawyer defending himself?"

"I was at the top of my class at Princeton and almost had my PHD before my father shipped me off to Smallville."

"A Doctor of Philosophy? How reassuring. You can recite parables at me while I bleed to death."

"You're invulnerable, Clark. You won't die during delivery."

"But our son will be half human, Lex. What about him?"

"Then I will find you a doctor, a reputable one. I promise."

"I'm really scared, Lex. Not just about the birth--everything."

"I know. Me too."

"You're lying."

"A little. The everything part kind of has me excited. I want this baby, Clark. I wanted him long before he happened."

"Terrific. Then you tell my dad he's going to be a grandfather."

"Wait a minute. Let's think this through. Shouldn't we both be there to break the happy news?"

"Uh-uh. Just you. Call it penance for not being able to keep your dick out of my ass."

"But you told me to fuck you. If you remember, I did say something about regrets at the time."

"I forgot."

"Clark, that was ten minutes ago."

"Then I don't care. I'm still pregnant and it's still your fault."

"Oh yeah, like I had the genomes to create a life."

"Don't nitpick. You still had a part in it."

"Yes, I'm the father. And there's no way in hell you can make me feel bad about that."

"No? Not ever?"

"Not ever."

"Did I say I was scared, Lex?"

"Yes, Sunshine, you did."

"Okay, just so you know."

"I know, Clark. I know."

With another large hug from that long, beautifully lean body and a soft kiss to the underside of his chin, Lex said once more how much he loved him before falling asleep with his head on Clark's chest.

In silent repose, and with the quicksilver brain turned off in slumber, Lex looked almost mortal. The bigger than life aura that surrounded him while he was awake, toned down a few notches when he slept. It was only now, with the curtain down and the show over, could Clark take a moment to truly study Lex without distraction.

This emotional powerhouse was the father of his baby. This was his love, his reason for living a life he didn't know was so precious. This man terrified him. But this man also made him feel safe. Lex angered him often and then, with a twist of his scarred mouth, made him forget why. And then there were things he could do to Clark with his hands, his lips, his body...

"I never had a chance, did I?" Clark said to his sleeping husband to be. "You had me before you hit me. You saved me more that day on the bridge than I saved you. I was fifteen years old and looking for a hero when you stepped up. It was a really bad day for me, Lex. Not one I wanted to see the end of but when you looked up at me from near death, somehow I knew that if you could survive, I could too. I didn't plan on loving you. Worshipping you, yeah maybe, and I did do that for a while but falling in love? Whoa, not ever."

Lex shifted in his sleep and Clark held his tongue until he settled again. When Lex went still, Clark continued talking about things he couldn't say when his lover was awake.

"I love you and I want your baby, only just not right now. I'm still trying to get a handle on one Luthor male. And your father makes two too many. What am I going to do with three of you?"

Receiving no answer from the dormant man on his chest other than a contented sigh, Clark closed his eyes and tried to sleep.

The sun would rise before he fell.

"I had an interesting caller today while you were out at the lumber mill."

"Really? What's the name of the chef again at the Orchid, Martha?"

"Stefano and aren't you going to ask who?"

"Yeah, just let me finish with Stefano's order. He's asking for more tomatoes. Just wanna check if we have enough canned down in the cellar."

"We do, Jonathon and put down that infernal machine before I place it somewhere you'll find it hard to retrieve."

"Lex calls it a PDA, a personal data assistant and...oh. Did you say something about a visitor?"

"Dr Bryce came to see me."

"Lionel's girlfriend?"

"Well, I'm not certain she's that, but yes. She asked me something very strange."

"Hell woman, strange is dating that blind bastard. What could she say that could top that?"

"She asked me if I'd ever fallen in love. No preamble, no hello or how are you today but just that one question."

"You said yes."

"I said yes, only once and with the man I married."

"Damn tooting."

"Then she asked me if I was devoted to you. And when I said I do anything to make you happy she smiled sadly and left."

"No good bye?"

"No good bye, just let the screen door slam close, hopped into her car and left."

"You didn't say anything about that pretty horse business to confuse her?"

"That's a secret, Jonathon. I told you."

"Right, yeah. Just trying to figure it out."

"Anything?"

"Don't know. The only time I had questions about love was when I was falling. Fell pretty hard as I remember. It stuck. Never did it again. Had no need for questions after that."

"Do you have any idea how charming you are, Jonathon Kent? No, of course you don't. That's part and parcel."

"Well, talking of parcels, I do have a package that needs unwrapping. Kinda bursting at the seams, it is."

"Need help?"

"Yes, ma'am. If you're willing?"

"Always."

"Always?"

"Yes. As I told the woman at the door...I'm in love."

"Nice day ain't it, Mister Luthor. Don't expect it'll snow again."

Leaning against the Porsche with his hands stuffed in the pockets of his black duster, Lex was startled out of his reverie. He looked up from the sidewalk. While building his nerve to enter the Talon and hadn't noticed the elderly man's approach.

Easily calling up a polite smile, Lex nodded and agreed with the old timer. He'd read his copy of the Farmer's Almanac cover to cover a week after Jonathon had given it to him last Christmas. It was memorized. He knew spring was coming early this year. The first of April would usher in warmer temperatures.

"Good weather for a wedding, eh?" the old boy remarked with a wink.

Lex nodded again and wondered if perhaps this ancient resident of Smallville had been invited to his nuptials less than a week away. Enrique, who had a soft spot for the locals--the majority of his staff were from around here--had been in charge of the invitations, so it was possible.

"Yes, sir," Lex said with respect, kicking off the car to stand up straight. "Very good for a wedding."

After adding a gap tooth smile to his wink, the man toddled away. Trying to delay the inevitable, Lex watched him go until he rounded the block out of sight. With his distraction gone, Lex turned back to the double doors of the old theatre and with a purposeful stride, entered.

Early Tuesday evening in the Talon was quiet time. Except for the odd regular who didn't have a family to share dinner with, the place was the tomb it had been modeled after. Most seats were empty and only one waitress was employed. Lex took his favorite booth at the back and waited for service. It wasn't long before Lana approached him.

"The usual, Lex?" she asked, her tone crisp. She wasn't any happier to see him than he was her. The little bitch still wasn't speaking to Clark and if Lex wasn't desperate for her co-operation, he would have been more than willing to save them both this unpleasantness.

"Have a seat." Lex drawled, hiding the annoyance he could not afford.

The former homecoming queen looked furtively over her shoulder. "I have customers..."

"Barely." Lex mocked and then, showing no patience or sympathy for her plight, commanded, "Sit down, Miss Lang. We need to talk."

A hint of something hard and indefinable flashed in her opine eyes before she sat down across from Lex, her order pad clutched tightly in her hands.

"If this business, we can talk later with both our lawyers in attendance."

"Later if you like, Miss Lang but not now. Legalities will have a part to play should you accept my proposal but in this early stage, lawyers are unnecessary. We must first determine whether you would entertain my offer at all."

In a clatter, the order pad fell to the table. Lana gaped at him as her hands flew to her throat. "You want to buy me out, take the Talon away from me just like you did Clark," she accused.

With every molecule of his being Lex wanted to refute the charge, to stand up and wail that he could not take from her what she had the inability to own. Clark was his. But such a rebuttal, besides being an exercise in futility, would also be detrimental to his cause. Lex reined in his proprietial instinct to gaze at her calmly. His face showed nothing of the rage he wanted to unleash.

"Clark is a homosexual, Lana," Lex said gently using her first name to take the edge off the conversation. "He is not sexually attracted to women. He desires men."

"Because of you," she spat. "It all your fault! You corrupted him!"

Suddenly feeling sorry for her, Lex shook his head at Lana's sterile opinion. It wasn't conceit or anger at not being the one chosen. The girl simply had absolutely no idea what it meant to feel sensual--for Clark to feel sensual. Bereft of lust and desire, Miss Lang was a cardboard cut out fed by an outdated backwater mentality.

Lana held true to the twin bed fallacies that were fashionable norms forty years ago. For lack of true understanding, she soaked them up.

Men fucking men didn't happen in that Donna Reed realm where she came from. She took comfort from wifey greeting her man at the door with his drink and slippers and had included Clark in that outmoded dream because that's all she had.

One day her opinion might differ if she met someone that could spark the hidden fire within her, but at present they were the only ones that made sense to her limited interpretation of sex.

Lex knew there was no way she'd see the boy as a sexual being let alone accept that Clark preferred cock to pussie but had no alternative but to try. He desperately needed her on his side.

"I didn't make him gay, Lana," Lex assured. "I just happened to be the first one to find him."

"Lucky for you."

"Lucky? Lucky would have been falling for a Metropolis socialite. Being with Clark is not easy. Marrying a man would not have been my first choice."

"The why are you?"

"I fell in love and my options were brutally stripped from me."

"In love?" Lana frowned in consternation. All encompassing love was something her fairy tale mind could get a handle on. Screw Donna Reed. In an alternate reality, Lex would have bet she would have volunteered to die and be Juliet.

"I fought it for a very long time, pretended he was nothing but a friend," Lex said, cleverly falling into the role of the long-suffering Romeo. It was mildly disconcerting how much of it wasn't an act. "But in the end, when I found myself thinking of him every waking second, I had to admit the truth. I hurt for a very long time before I did."

Lana edged forward in her seat and whispered, "What did you do?"

"Nothing. Despite my pain, I was prepared to love him from afar. Clark is a good boy. I had no intention of tainting him with my...unconventional love."

"Unconventional? You think how you feel is wrong?'

"No, Lana. It's wonderful. I've never felt more right."

"But you didn't say anything so how did...how did you and Clark...how?"

"One dark night, under a veil full of twinkling stars, my love kissed me." Which was pretty much how it happened minus the meeting with Martha. Lana didn't need to know Clark's mother had already contracted him out.

Stricken, Lana sat back in her seat. "Oh, god. Clark made the first move? He kissed you?"

"Yes, much to my surprise. I was lost after that. The fight left me. And when, after a time, Clark told me he loved me too, I went against my father's most vehement wishes and proposed."

"Lionel opposes the wedding? How dare he? It's your life."

"He wants grandchildren, prodigy to carry on the Luthor name."

"Oh. Well, of course he does. That's normal. Don't you want children, Lex?"

"Very much, in fact I've gone so far as to contract a surrogate mother to carry my child," Lex said, his tale veering for the first time into fiction. "But there's a problem. The woman is of low birth and detrimental to my name. She lacks meaning or status."

"What does that matter if she can give you a child?"

"Someday Lana, I intend to run for public office and the mother of my children will come under scrutiny. She can't be a nobody. For my campaign to be successful, she would have to be a person of some importance to either myself or Clark. Family values are always a contentious issue. My marriage to a man will be controversial enough, I don't need another mark against me if it can possibly be avoided."

Lana sat back then and under hooded eyes, studied him. Her thinking may be conventional but by the fluttering of her lashes, Lex knew it wasn't limited. By taking pause and digesting his words, she showed she wasn't completely handicapped by her small town misconceptions. His dip into the romantic may not have been just an indulgent look backwards.

"You need a mother's name for the birth certificate," Lana said. "You need my name."

Lex perked up at her reemergence to the conversation. "You would be handsomely compensated. I'm willing to sign over full ownership of the Talon to you with a sizeable investment in capital. You would be set for life, Lana."

"All just for my name on a bit of paper. But if I agree, I'm not sure whom I'd be cheating. You or me?"

"Easy answer--Clark. It would be his child too. Would you deny him this chance at fatherhood? I know of nobody that would make a better parent than he."

"Am I your first? Have you asked anyone else?"

"You're his high school sweetheart. There is no one else."

She gave him a hard, calculating look. "I'm not so sure Chloe would think so."

Holy fucking shit. Now she was afraid of hurt feelings. And no, he hadn't asked Clark's best friend because her, Lex wanted to keep around.

Lana, as his child's faux surrogate mother, would be delegated to fade into the woodwork where she belonged. In the realm of public consciousness, Lex and Clark would be considered the sole parents of whatever children they chose to raise. Fabricated or not, a third wheel was not needed or desired. Lana Lang would be shelved away where Chloe Sullivan would be raised to the forefront. Lex liked the brass-balled blonde. Someday she was going to be his much-needed right hand.

And besides, Chloe didn't have the right colouring.

"You've always been our first choice," Lex said spelling another half truth. Clark had no idea he was here asking. The boy was at the farm doing chores, oblivious to Lex's machinations.

"You'd want me to officially sign off all maternal rights as a condition?"

"So Clark could adopt the child as his, yes. I would be loath to deprive him of that honour."

"Yes, I suppose he deserves it."

Lex gave her a winning smile. "How gracious of you to say so. There would also have to be term were you went into seclusion. I have a villa in Greece that would do nicely for the length of your interment."

"Would I still get to graduate? I don't want to leave before then."

"By my math, the child will be due in December. You won't have to leave Smallville until July when your pregnancy would naturally be showing. That's time enough to complete final exams and gain your high school diploma."

"Who will run the Talon when I'm gone?"

"No worries. I'll take care of staffing. All you have to worry about is having fun and getting a tan on your holiday."

"And I'll be home for Christmas?"

"With one hell of a present waiting for you when you get back. Do this for us, Lana. Do this for yourself."

"Can I talk to Clark before I decide?"

"No," Lex expounded shortly without further explanation. "But you can think about this overnight. Considering the time schedule, I can't give you much more than that. My child has already been conceived," Lex said, his patronizing smile turning euphoric. Some things couldn't be lied about.

Falling again into contemplation or her light simmering version of it, Lana's lashes flickered. Lex checked his watch while she decided. Clark would be home soon. They were supposed to discuss their honeymoon plans tonight. He didn't want to be late.

"I'll do it on one condition."

"Anything," Lex offered with all his heart, or what was left of it. The frail organ had just about burst. Lana Lang had solved the biggest problem in his life. One day, with Clark, he'd let go all together.

"I want to be there for the birth. I want to see the baby I'm supposed to be a mother to be born."

"Yes, of course. Yes." They were back to lying, but what the fuck. To secure her commitment, Lex had offered her anything and that included lies. "I'll send the papers over to the house first thing in the morning. You can return them to Judge Ross and he'll seal them."

"I'll sign them before school." Lana picked up her order pad from the table. "Did you want a coffee?"

"I'm fine." Lex shook his head. "I'm fine." He repeated as he slid out of the booth. "I'm really fine."

His long coat billowing out behind him as he walked, Lex left the Talon.

He was fine.

Really.

"What about Disneyworld?"

Lex looked up from the travel brochures he was sorting by country on the coffee table. They were, as usual in the library. The majority of his life lately was decided within these book lined walls. He would miss this room when they moved to the penthouse in Metropolis.

"Only if you plan on going alone. As pussy whipped as I am, I'm still a Luthor, farm boy. I will not have it announced in the society pages that I spent my honeymoon in the Magic Kingdom. The press is already having a field day reporting I'm a pervert by marrying a high school boy. Not that I give a flying fuck but I will not perpetuate that run of malicious nonsense by taking you to venue where only children go."

Grinning, Clark edged closer to Lex on the couch. "You'll love it, Lex."

"No, Clark. I won't. But if you must pay homage to Mickey Mouse, you can see him in Paris after we visit the Musee de'Orsay. There reside stone masterpieces from centuries past that have the audacity to rival even your exquisite beauty."

"Oh geez, Lex. Pleeease," Clark whined while his meaty hand slid up Lex's trousers to gently squeeze his balls.

"Stop it, Clark. Feeling me up won't work. We are not going to Florida on our honeymoon."

"Then how's about we just stay home," Clark snapped, falling back on the leather couch with his arms folded over his chest, his pretty mouth curling in a pout. That was new. Clark had been bitchy these last few days but he hadn't resorted to petulance. Practicing his parenting skills early, Lex ignored it.

"It's two weeks in the summer. You'll be out of school. I'm not working. We'll have the time."

"I'll also be four months pregnant. I'm not sure if I should travel overseas." Clark kicked the low table, scattering the travel brochures and shooting Lex's filing system all to hell. "I'm not sure I should go anywhere."

Lex winced. They had gone two whole days without mentioning how pissed Clark was at being with child. He hadn't actually said he was ticked at Lex but...wait, he had.

"Fine," Lex sighed. He loved the boy but nine months of snits would be a trial. "We'll stay home and redo the penthouse. Fifteen rooms. That should take a couple of weeks."

"Lex, the place is a palace. It's fine as it is."

"It doesn't have a nursery."

Clark shot him a dark look and Lex wished suddenly for fireproof underwear.

"Gentlemen, you have a visitor."

With a final withering glare, Clark sprang off the couch and passed Enrique to greet Peter Ross.

"Wow, Clarkbar, big room. You could play football in here."

"Or marry Lex Luthor."

Clark gazed around the castle ballroom. Ready for a party, empty tables lined the walls and a small stage had been set up at one end. In four days the hall would be filled with people celebrating his union with Lex. Clark let a little of the funk he'd been feeling burn off at the thought. Despite the uncertainty of the everything else, that was a sure bet. No matter what, he'd have the man who loved him forever and ever.

Well, that was if he didn't screw it up first. Clark knew he'd been a pain to be around lately.

Worrying about the child growing low in his belly, Clark had snapped continuously at Lex, been rude to his mother--he really did like the centerpieces she'd chosen--and had grumped at cook about the amount of fruit she kept sneaking in his knapsack. Because he was scared, he'd been a bear to those he loved, making them all miserable. No one deserved it, especially not the man that had been catching the brunt and he needed the most. It had to stop. Clark had been raised better.

Their footfalls echoing off the high ceiling, Clark directed his friend over to a low platform where the string quartet would be playing Saturday. They sat quietly on the raised edge a few minutes, each lost in their own thoughts before Pete broke the silence.

"Had a date tonight."

"With Dick? How'd it go?" Clark said trying to sound upbeat. Pete would be the first beneficiary of his new reform.

Pete shrugged. "Okay, I guess. He took me for a ride on his motorcycle and then we stopped at a roadside stand for a bite."

Puzzled by his friend's lack of enthusiasm, Clark asked, "You didn't have fun?"

"No, no, I did. It's just that...I don't know. Being out with a guy is different than a girl."

Clark rolled his eyes and knocked shoulders with his friend. "Duh-uh."

"Screw off, Clark. I don't mean that. It's just there was this one point while we eating, I was cracking jokes and making him laugh and I thought, oh, fuck this guy's got the sexiest mouth I'd ever seen. I wanted to lean over the picnic table and touch him, not kiss him, just touch his lips with my fingers to see if they were as soft as they looked."

"And I take it you didn't."

"Nah, that's the kind of move you make on a girl, right? I was afraid he'd punch me."

"Don't know, I'm a guy and I like it when Lex touches my lips with his fingers. He does it really soft and romantic like using only the tips. I swear, Pete, it gets me hard every time."

"Really? So you think I should have?"

"Uh-huh. It would have gotten you one hell of a kiss good night."

"Well, I got that right after I sucked him off in the bushes beside my house."

"You did what?"

"Gave him a blowjob, Clarkbar. Shit, you didn't tell how hot it was to hear them moan your name when they come. As soon as Dick said Pete, I exploded in my pants."

"I can't believe you sucked cock on the first date. You're a slut, Peter Ross."

"Yeah, great though ain't it?"

"Yeah." What else could he say? Lex had given Clark head in the woods on their first date and it had been better than great. "Wanna play some pool?"

"Nope, gotta get home and wait for my boyfriend to call. Dick said he would once he got back to Gotham."

"Whipped."

"And loving it. See ya, Clarkbar."

Pete hopped up and fairly bounced out of the ballroom. He passed Lex lurking in the doorway on his way out.

"Hey," the older man said, looking downcast and trodden. Clark knew his earlier bad temper was responsible for the dimness of this bright star and felt horribly guilty. It was time to make amends.

Still sitting on the stage, Clark opened his knees invitingly and called softy, "Hey, Lex." When he was close, Clark took hold of Lex's hips to centre him firmly between his thighs. His most precious mate looked down at him and thank heaven...smiled.

"Feeling better?" Lex asked, reaching out to brush the hair from his forehead. It was getting long but Clark had refrained from cutting it to give his maid of honour, Chloe, plenty to work with on his wedding day.

First giving Lex a wicked sneer, Clark answered by leaning forward and nuzzling his nose in the pleats of Lex's trousers. He smelled so good here...strong, potent and enticingly dangerous. Lex was the hot Young Turk on the rise, a future political icon. And to Clark, the sexiest man on the face the planet. It was all here in his power centre. Scenting him, Clark took a deep breath and let it out in a long shuddering sigh.

"Jesus, Clark. What the hell are you doing to me?" Lex moaned above him, swaying a little and clutching Clark's shoulders for support.

Not looking up but keeping his eye on the prize, Clark said, "I want your cock, Lex. Pull it out for me."

"Okay...okay," Lex rasped, his hand quickly going to his fly. After a few shaky attempts, Lex opened his pants and presented himself to Clark.

The dripping member was hard and sleek like the rest of his lover's beautiful body. Steadying the long shaft with a hand, Clark lovingly kissed the dark purple tip, tonguing the slit and lapping up the collecting moisture. His taste buds exploded with sweetness.

Did Lex always taste this good? Clark didn't think so but only considered the question for a moment as more of the sticky issue graced his tongue. Reminded of candyfloss, he pursed his lips around the head and sucked hoping to draw out more of the sugary goodness. Lex gasped and jerked forward.

"Christ, Clark, don't toy with me. You know what I like. Please...take it all...oh, fuck...let me do it, please."

Flattening his tongue along his lover's length, Clark did as he was asked and slid forward. Whimpering, Lex met him halfway, thrusting forward hard enough to bruise the back of his throat had he been human. Thankfully he wasn't or he'd never be able to lift Lex by the hips and pull him over him.

Flat on his back with heavy balls caressing his chin, Clark relaxed his throat and began to piston Lex's cock past his tightly drawn lips. Yeah, he knew what Lex liked. He liked to fuck.

His lover adjusted to the new position quickly, levering himself up on his hands with his knees on either side of Clark's head. Clark's grip was only for contact now as Lex took over, shot forward his hips fast, sank in and pulled slowly back, repeating the movement a half dozen times as if finding his stride before beginning to pump in earnest.

Clark didn't have to anything but lie still and take it. Again, it was good to be an alien. Any other lover would have suffocated having Lex Luthor's dick rammed repeatedly down their throat without pause for breath. Along with the fact he'd mastered his very human gag reflex--he wasn't going to choke when Lex came deep--it made Clark kinda proud.

The sound of his head banging the stage reverberated off the high ceiling of the ballroom as did his lover's sobbing cries.

"Holy fuck...holy fuck...oh, Christ...oh, Clark...oh...oh...Clark!"

Hearing his name, Clark's hand flew to the brass button of his jeans. Ripping the zipper, he twisted his cock cruelly once and came hard when Lex called for him again, his shout strangled as he shot thick honeyed semen down Clark's throat.

Pete was right. It was hot. The 'o' of Clarks' mouth reverted to a smile when Lex slipped out and fell to the stage on his back with a thud.

"Christ, it's been far too long since we've done that." Lex said from two feet above him.

Truer words.

Sweetly simple acts like giving head and hand jobs had been abandoned at the first mention of babies. You didn't become pregnant from swallowing or sliming your fingers. But now that Clark was squarely knocked up, maybe Lex would be more inclined in experiencing the less invasive side of their love making again. Clark hoped so. He missed being able to make Lex come with just his lips and hands. There was something empowering about making this paragon of control lose it from touch alone.

Brimming with happiness, Clark brought his feet up on the stage and pushed with his heels until he was level with his sated lover. Lex watched his ascent with sleepy eyes.

"I like swallowing your come, Lex," he said once they were head to head.

Lex let loose a long rumbling laugh. It had been far too long since that too. "And I like your taste, farm boy."

Clark frowned with his mouth but not his eyes. "I think that was my line, Luthor."

Lex laughed again. "You do know I'm not going to being able to get through the candle lighting ceremony now without thinking about fucking your pretty mouth, don't you?"

Oh, that's right. They were lying on their backs with soggy dicks hanging out round about where the table would be set up to hold the candelabra.

"You gonna have a hard on?" Clark asked, his balls twitching at the thought.

"In front of three hundred guests, most likely." Lex snorted as he played idly with his not so flaccid penis. Clark was riveted by the long beauty as it filled slowly under the gentle caress. "It'll make for interesting wedding photos. The Planet might not run them but the Inquisitor surely will."

Watching his lover's lazy masturbation, Clark licked his teeth. He could still taste the new sweetness of Lex's come. "Maybe we can get you a bouquet to hide the bulge?"

"Good thinking, Clark, just as long as it matches my veil." Lex punched him softly in the arm. "Idiot."

"Hey, just trying to be helpful."

"You are." Lex stopped playing with himself, rolled and draped himself across Clark's chest. His renewed erection pressed invitingly into Clark's hip. "And to show my gratitude I'm willing to go to Disneyworld for our honeymoon if that's what you want, Sunshine."

"What about the bad press?"

"Upon consideration--fuck it." Lex growled pushing his hardening cock into Clark's stomach. "Luthors don't care what others think. We do want we want, when we want. Even if it means making an utter ass of ourselves in the Magic Kingdom."

Clark reached down between their bodies to stroke his lover, his fingers becoming coated with spent seed. Lex shifted his weight to the side to give him room. "And the masterpieces in Paris?" Clark asked his voice tight with building arousal. "What about them?"

Clark was getting off on the tacky mess in his left hand. The transfer of come stirred up Lex's powerful smell. The older man breathed deeply, his lids drooping, seemingly content to lie still and let Clark play. He'd seen this before. Lex was luxuriating.

"No loss. I have beauty enough in my life." Lex whispered, tracing Clark's mouth softly with his fingers.

Harking back his earlier words to Pete, Clark shivered, his desire rising higher, coaxed closer to the surface more by his lover's gentle touch to his lips than the pulsing rod sliding rude and hard through his wet fist. He would have to concentrate to respond. Sighing and moaning under his lover's long graceful fingers, Clark was fast forgetting how to talk.

Similar to when he'd laid himself bare for conception, the higher functions of his brain were becoming Lex infected. The on rush of desire was overpowering. This was nothing like he'd described to Chloe. This was more than the lust of a teenage boy. Clark tightened his hold on the beautiful cock in his hand and nipped at the delicate fingers at his mouth. Lex whimpered and Clark liked it.

This was alien driven, Clark knew but was not too terribly alarmed. Like the sweetness of Lex's come, his heady scent and the creamy smooth goodness of his skin, this insistent push to reconnect with his mate was just another stimulus. It afforded a pleasant buzz but he'd be convinced without it.

"So, Disneyland, Clark?"

"Actually I'm thinking maybe I prefer the third option."

Lex broke his feline sprawl and jumped. His ginger cat brows arched in surprise. "Staying home?"

Clark smiled softly at his husband to be. Geez, he was cute when he was bowled over. Lex looked young, vulnerable--human.

Clark's senses cleared in light of his lover's mortality. Taking advantage, he got a handle on his inner beast and tamed it with ease. The strange bond was still there but it hummed comfortably. In preparation for talk not sex, Clark carefully released his lover's cock to thumb gently the silky soft juncture between hip and thigh. Lex purred and Clark almost relented.

"Yeah, and building a nursery," he said. "We are going to need someplace to put our son once he's born."

And quicker that you could say 'Mickey Mouse' Lex's lips were on Clark's, kissing him with a tenderness that made his alien heart forget to beat.

God, how he loved it when Lex stepped out of what Chloe repeatedly called his master of the universe persona to show him genuine affection. At the grass roots level, Lex was a pretty sappy guy--not that Clark ever would tell him that. Being called romantic offended the older man somehow.

Lex pulled back, gulping for air. "Stay home...excellent idea...perfect," Lex dipped in for another long sensual kiss. The roots of Clark's over long hair tingled. "Catalogs," the older man rasped, breaking away again. "We can start with those. I have a few but I'll ask Enrique for more in the morning."

Learning that Lex had already started researching, Clark didn't bat an eye. The rabid father to be had probably been devouring baby mags since Christmas and of course he'd rely on his trusted manservant to...wait.

"Hold up. Enrique knows about the baby?"

"Of course not." Lex put on a Bambi face. It didn't fit very well. "I wouldn't dare tell anyone our happy news without you by my side...but he may not be completely taken unawares."

Clark shot up on his elbows, nearly launching Lex from his chest. "You told Enrique I'm a alien?"

Lex studied Clark's chin. "Didn't I mention that a few weeks back? Meant to, Clark. Really. Must have slipped my mind what with the wedding and all."

Along the planes of his stomach, Clark could feel the lines of Lex's body tense, waiting for him to blow. The older man wasn't frightened, nothing scared a Luthor. But he was bracing himself, staying put and getting ready to weather what ever Clark was about to throw at him.

His brave devotion was admirable but for Clark, it wasn't much better than fear. He didn't want his lover to guard against his outbursts. He loved fighting with Lex. The man was sexy as hell when he was angry. Ask anyone. All his enemies wanted to fuck him.

"It's okay," Clark said softly, running a comforting hand down Lex's spine before making his own confession. This was as good a time as any, maybe better. "Chloe knows too."

"What?" Lex roared. "You told a reporter? Are you out of your fucking mind, farm boy?"

And yes! This was the prickly Lex Luthor he knew, loved and was going to marry this weekend.

Delighted to have him back but not fool enough to show it, Clark hid his grin. "I told my best friend what I was, Lex. Just like you did and no, I haven't mentioned to her I'm pregnant. No one knows about the baby but us."

Lex's gaze wavered and fell a moment before coming back up, hard and determined. "Then we're even, one for one."

"Well...I should tell Pete."

Lex suddenly gripped the front of Clark's tee shirt. "No!" As if shocked by his own outburst, the older man's eyes grew wider and then in a move Clark had seen a hundred times before, Lex quickly shutdown and projected the cool he was known for. "Or not yet," he appended, his voice free from inflection. "I know you've been friends since first grade, Clark, but the boy can't keep a secret to save his life. Look at his recent change in sexual preference. His parents knew he was queer before he had a chance to hide it from them. And that just isn't right. Every gay man should spend some time in the closet."

"Yeah, Judge and Mr. Ross were pretty cool about that but maybe that's why he told them right off the bat. The only reason I didn't tell my parents I liked guys was because I'd thought they'd freak."

"Your mother already knew, Clark, but admittedly that doesn't mean shit." Lex paused and the funny half grin that appeared every time he talked about his mom formed on his lips. Of all Lex's smiles, the man had a versatile mouth, Clark had no inkling where it came from. "The woman's clairvoyant. Martha also knew I loved you the day she asked me to marry you."

"The bargain." Clark reflected sadly. He didn't think of it often but it still offended his sense of romance that his marriage had been arranged. The weird bond he was developing with Lex since his conception didn't help. It was base level, instinctual and also had nothing to do with love.

"It was permission, Clark, not a contract. No papers were signed, only promises made. I vowed to love and protect you and your mother vowed to let me." Lex paused to stroke his cheek. "I hadn't planned to but for you, I will repeat that same vow to a larger audience this coming Saturday."

Reminded of his wedding, Clark looked down at his left hand. The white gold band was crusted with his mate's drying come, but the gems still shone brightly. Two diamonds and an emerald, this was Lex's mother, Lillian's ring reworked just for him. It was a legacy and Luthors never messed with anything attached to their name. It was their kind of romantic. Lex kissed his cheek and Clark blinked.

"What were we talking about again?" Clark asked.

"Us. Our baby. And protection. You can tell Peter Ross you're an alien after we're secure. Let the fuss from our wedding die down. I want the press looking the other way before he knows."

Right, that made sense. Pete did tend to run off at the mouth and blab before he thought. The guy was honest to a fault and that's why he was Clark's friend. Good old Pete, a real straight shooter which meant he was a significant threat if you had something to hide. Clark didn't like it but he had to agree with Lex on this one.

"Okay. Later for Pete."

"That's a good farm boy." Lex said and then nipped Clark's chin playfully with his lips. Affection seemed to be in abundance tonight. It made him yearn for something more.

"Lex? Can we go to bed now?"

"It's barely nine o'clock, Clark."

"So?" Letting the new bond build resonance, Clark slipped his hand into Lex's open pants and ran his blunt nails through the sparse red hair that delicately gilded the base of his handsome cock. "That a problem?"

Lex pressed into his touch and hissed, "Christ, no."

Readying him for flight, Clark collected his mate up in his arms. Lex closed his eyes and huddled close, making his own preparations. The older man hated flying around the castle but Clark was too impatient to care. It was quicker than walking upstairs and speed was important.

The bond wanted Lex Luthor now.

And more importantly...so did Clark.

"What do you hope to find, Miss Sullivan?"

"Clues to your spy in LexCorp. Whoever it is, they've been elusive. So far I haven't found hide nor hair."

Chloe scoped out Lex's office from her position behind his desk. Seated in his high backed, ergonomically correct chair, she watched with one eye as Lex collected his personal belongings into a cardboard box. She'd met him at the plant right after school.

"You may be wasting your time. Now that I'm leaving, there won't be anything to report. Perhaps whoever it is will be cut loose by my father, if they have not been already. The mole may have been nothing more than a short hire."

"A short hire?"

"Yes, a one shot. To my knowledge, nothing else has been leaked. It's possible the only job they performed for my father was to take pictures of Clark and myself at the company Christmas party."

"I like the pictures." Chloe pointed to the frame Lex was currently loading into the box. She'd seen the others. They were in his file. "Especially that one."

Lex liked that one too. It was of Clark and he kissing at the symphony, their first date in the city. He'd had the keepsake professionally mounted for display on his desk. Every time he looked at the black and white photo Lex was reminded what a catch he'd made in landing the remarkable boy. Dressed in Armani and carrying it effortlessly, his teenage lover had charmed more than the elite of Metropolis that night.

"It was meant to be a threat," he mumbled, thumbing the titanium frame.

"From your father, yeah. Not the smartest of moves as far as deterrents go. I would have proposed to both of you after seeing that lip lock captured in sepia."

"I did, Miss Sullivan."

After receiving the first of what would be trio of photos, he had fucked Clark over his desk in the library. And while still basking in the post coital glow, they'd fought about commitment during which Lex had spontaneously proposed.

Angry and buck naked, covered in his sweat and Clark's come, not the most of esoterically romantic scenarios but it had worked. Clark had said yes.

"Wow, I bet that's a story."

"X rated and not to be shared." With love, Lex carefully placed the picture into the cardboard crate. "If there's nothing else to be gleaned from my office, may we go? I'm anxious to put this part of my life behind me."

"Sure. The aura in here sucks. All the good stuff's leaving."

And with a glance to the box on his desk, Lex had to agree.

"I can't wrap that."

"Hmm, a lot of odd angles, isn't it? Maybe just a bow?"

"Not what I was talking about, woman. I meant, I can't give that as wedding present."

"Why not? It's a family heirloom, Jonathon. It should be passed on."

"It's too...what's the word...presumptuous? That's it presumptuous! We're putting the cart before the horse here, Martha."

"Our son doesn't have a cart. He has a ship."

"A hunk of metal that hasn't done much lately but take up space in the cellar--which only advances my point. Why give him something he isn't human enough to use?

"But Jonathon, it might be because he isn't, he can."

"No, come on. What? Ah...no...no way. That's impossible."

"Jonathon, can you name a time when your son hasn't amazed you? How many times has Clark done the impossible?"

"This ain't the same, Martha. Not by any stretch of the imagination."

"Why? Because he's male?"

"Damn straight. No matter how much you joke about it, Clark is not the bride."

"No, but he might be similar. Not quite what we're used to but something beyond. Something quite special."

"Special?"

"And remarkable, Jonathon. A blessing."

"Oh, crap. That might take some time getting use to."

"You may have it. Blessings aren't always timely."

"Can't argue with you there. We waited along <<a long>>time before finding ours in that blasted field fifteen years ago."

"So you're okay with this, Jonathon? It's important to me that you are."

"Yeah, woman, I'm getting there."

"Really?"

"Really. So...you want a blue bow or a pink one?"

"You see a spot yet?"

Chloe rolled down the window and hung her head out the passenger side of the F-250 pickup like an over moussed golden retriever. "Not yet. Wait...no. Damn. That limo's taking up two parking spaces." She pulled back in with a sigh. "Go around the block again, Clark."

The sleepy little community of Smallville had literally turned into a bustling hotspot of activity overnight. This morning, wedding guests from near and far had converged on the town spiking up its population and as a welcomed side effect, its economy. Bed and Breakfasts, rooming houses, motel rooms and parking spots were at a premium.

"Maybe we could just park at the school and walk to Fordham's?" Clark suggested, already signaling and making a left towards the high school.

"You know Clark, instead of trying to navigate this circus, you could've had the ring delivered to the castle. You're the star of the show. They'd have done it for free."

"It's Lex's wedding band, Chloe. I want to pick it up myself." Clark pulled into the lot for the second time that day. It wasn't as empty as it should be this time on a Wednesday. The school was closed and it wasn't parent/teacher night.

After finding a vacant spot, he and Chloe made the short walk to the only department store in town. Chloe indulged in one of her favorite pastimes and people watched while Clark hid under the baseball cap Enrique had prudently insisted he'd wear on his way out the castle. They made it to Fordham's without being recognized.

"Holy shit, you'd think it was Christmas!" Chloe remarked once they were through the revolving doors. "Or maybe the annual Boxing day sale. We're going to have to fight to make it to the jewelry department before closing."

Head and shoulders above most of the store's patrons, Clark scanned the crowd looking for the path of least resistance. He didn't find it. Clark bit his bottom lip and fingered the wad of bills in his coat pocket. Maybe he should have had the ring delivered.

"This way! Quick!"

Tugging his hand, Chloe abruptly pulled him into the throng. Weaving in and out of bodies like a mouse in a maze, the spitfire blonde got them to the desired counter with Clark apologizing to the grumbling people in their wake. She had the sales clerk retrieving the white gold ring from the back before Clark had time to find his bearing.

"Classy, Clark. Simple, elegant. Lex will love it." Chloe said after plucking the ring from its purple velvet box. "What does it say inside?"

"The stuff of legends." Clark supplied as he paid the clerk.

Chloe went from squinting at the band to him. "I don't get it."

"Private joke."

"Oh." Chloe shrugged, tucked the ring away and handed Clark the box. She didn't say anything more until after they'd run the human gauntlet once again and were standing, breathing duel sighs of relief outside on the sidewalk in front of the store. "Do you want to stop for a coffee before we head home?"

"At the Talon? It'll be packed. We probably won't get a seat." Clark said making excuses. He was in a good mood and saw no reason to spoil it.

"You're schlepping one of the owners, Clark. That should count for at least a spot at the bar."

Due to the wealth of pedestrian traffic, Clark guided them into the shadow of the nearest phone booth. "Chloe, I'm getting married in three days," he said once they were out of danger of being run over. "I've got a lot of stuff to do at home."

"Like what Mr. Innocent Bystander? Your mom has the entire event scripted and under control. You have time for a coffee."

"Lana still isn't speaking to me," Clark said finally giving it up.

"Join the group," Chloe flipped back. "I live with her and she rarely says good morning to me."

"Because you're my maid of honour, right?" Clark asked using the bridal moniker because it seemed to make Chloe smile a little brighter each time he did.

"Or maybe she's having the longest bad hair day in history. Don't know. Don't care, Clark. And before you go all broody on me, it isn't entirely you. We've always been at odds, your relationship with Lex was just the final straw."

"I'm still sorry."

"Yeah, me too but what the hey. I'll be leaving for my internship at The Planet in the summer, and then staying on in Metropolis for university. Lana and I would have probably lost touch after that anyway." Chloe placed a light hand on his forearm. "Some people you grow out of, Clark. It happens. Understand?"

"So one day Lana will be nothing more than a fond memory, yeah. It's sad, Chloe but I get it."

"Excellent! So, coffee?"

"Sure but lets make it to go, okay?"

Chloe nodded thoughtfully and then grinned. "Buyer's prerogative."

Content in the knowledge that this was one friend he would never grow out of, Clark took Chloe's hand and braved the crush.

"I take it, it's not another missive wishing me well on my wedding day?"

"No, Alexander. I recognized the courier. He was one of your father's men."

"Fuck! I thought he was done playing candid fucking camera."

Testing the slim package between his fingers, Enrique said, "I don't think it's a photograph. Too stiff. A card, perhaps?"

"With the picture tucked inside." Alexander scowled, an infrequent occurrence these past few days. "Give it here. Might as well get it over with."

Enrique slid the manila envelope across the kitchen island and waited. The young billionaire stared at it a few moments before retrieving a gold filigree pocketknife from his vest coat and slitting cleanly through the paper seal. Only a cream coloured card fell out. As he had surmised, there was no picture.

When his most precious charge made no move to open the card, Enrique did the honours.

"It's an RSVP to your wedding but the handwriting is not your father's."

"Helen's then. She's the only other person who would have access to Lionel's resources. What does she say? Are they coming?"

Enrique nodded. "Did you doubt that they would?"

"Never, not once."

"There's more. She added a postscript. It seems to be a bastardize version of a quote."

"Yes?"

"A rose is a rose is a rose. What's in a name? By any other name would smell as sweet--and only the devoted gardener knows for sure."

Enrique was surprised to hear Alexander laughing.

The hot water pummeled his shoulders, beating his pale skin pink in pounding waves. Curving his neck, Lex bowed his head as the water sluiced over him and washed the day's cares down the drain. As the tension left him, Lex allowed himself a smile.

Helen's note, while an exercise in blasphemy to anyone with literary sense was also the most delightful few sentences he'd read in a while. Although cryptic to Enrique, whose puzzled expression had made him laugh harder, Lex had caught the meaning immediately.

In some unspecified manner Helen was going to become pregnant and pass the child off as Clark's--a rose was a rose was a rose, what's in a name and all that bullshit. The note was a heads up, a prosaically written surrender. But although she had heeded his warning regarding seducing his young lover out his genes, Lex didn't fool himself into believing she'd given up.

Helen had listened to his angry threats, weighed her options and then reworked the situation to her advantage. Lionel would get the child of his obsession and Helen, her own equally perverse obsession--Lionel.

If she was clever, and she was, Helen would get the old man to marry her before the baby was born and a paternity test could be performed. It was only incidental that for a time the pregnancy would keep Lionel occupied and off Lex's back. All hell would break lose at the damning results but Dr <<Dr.>>Helen Bryce was a devious bitch. Lex was confident she'd land on her feet. The only thing he questioned was who would donate the sperm, not that he truly cared as long as it wasn't himself or his boy wonder.

The liquid heat on his back stopped but before Lex could turn to check the taps, it was replaced by a much more solid source of warmth.

"Clark."

A strong arm came around to circle his waist and a wet hand, his cock.

"Expecting someone else, rich boy?"

"No," Lex breathed as Clark deftly stroked the flaccid member between his legs to life. "Enrique's busy sorting through a mountain of wedding gifts."

Clark spun Lex and pulled him close. "You want, I could get him?" his mischievous boy asked while rolling his hips and sliding his water slicked erection along side Lex's.

"No, you'll do." Lex replied with a matching smirk and then squirted bath gel into his palm.

Clark wiggled in pleasure as Lex lathered both their bodies, taking more time with his partner's than his own--there was simply more of it. Eventually he reached down to grasp both their soapy cocks, stroking slowly, then picking up speed as their hips ground together. Clark rested his forehead on Lex's shoulder, groaning loudly, his breathing coming in sharp gasps in Lex's ear.

Feeling himself nearing the point of release, Lex suddenly pulled back to press his lips to Clark's. "Wanna fuck you, farm boy."

His doe eyes dazed with lust, Clark slipped past him to lean against the back of the stall, his arms outstretched and feet set apart. Lex poured more gel into his hand and dipped two urgent fingers between his young lover's butt cheeks. Preparation would have to be perfunctory. Watching the long muscles of Clark's broad back contract as he was penetrated, was playing havoc with Lex's control.

"Now, Lex," Clark moaned over his shoulder. "Come on, honey, do it. Own me...bond with me. Take what's yours. I'm not alive unless you're in me."

Honey?

Filing the surprisingly new endearment away for later scrutiny, Lex soaped his erection again and positioned himself with his hand to slide into his lover through the pinch of his fingers in one long stroke. Oh, Christ it was good. Lex reached around for the fucking fence post the boy used for a penis and commenced a balanced rhythm that would sheath them both in undiluted pleasure.

Honey?

No, not now.

Bond. Take. Mine.

That's better.

Ignoring the word play still going on in his head, Lex began to thrust faster, deeper, pushing Clark against the wall as his restraint slipped. Clark keened softly as each thrust pulled his monster cock through Lex's tight fist, making it swell impossibly larger with need. The tiny whimpers wrecked him.

Flinging his head back, Lex growled lustily as his orgasm approached in a rush. Clark's little noises, no matter how small never failed to spur him on. A jagged slip of breath was as good as a yell. He slammed into him harder and Clark responded with a wild shudder and the rippling of his inner muscles along the shaft of Lex's most favorite appendage.

Pregnancy had not dulled Clark's alien responses. Its purpose achieved, the steps of the cradle yet cycled but in an ironically redundant loop. The boy's ass still shivered and shook during penetration. Lex's lovemaking continued to set Clark's being to flame and flood his lower regions with post coital warmth.

The power remained, the circle of life giving passion was undiminished by conception. And by god, how Lex was grateful. He thanked the mystical deities he often discounted but continually paid homage he still turned his boy on. Clark liked to be fucked by Lex. Honey? He might even love it.

When the slippery heat of the boy's ejaculate glazed his fingers, Lex went nuclear and exploded. Ripped apart and put together by the red hot fusion of lust and love, he shot his load deep. In the midst of his orgasm, his soul was reworked.

Experience scorning knowledge, he had not known this kind of sex existed. Lex came with the prerequisite window-shattering scream and then gave Clark another first, another part of his virginity he was not aware he retained. Mind and body strung taught, Lex snapped and did the previously unimaginable.

He went blank not numb, muddled or fuzzyheaded. Eyes rolling up in his head, Lex stopped thinking completely for the first time in his life and then did something he had done once before in a hayloft. He promptly blacked out.

When he regained consciousness Lex was in Clark's arms, dry in bed under the warmth of the comforter. How long he was out was difficult to say. With his young alien lover's preternatural speed, he could have been tucked in bed within seconds. With effort, Lex lifted his love-soused head from the pillow of Clark's breast to inquire.

"Not long, Lex. Just a few seconds," Clark answered before he asked. "It was a pretty cool move though. Whoosh, bath to bed, in one go. Too bad you missed it."

Lex lowered his head back on to a wide chest that felt baby soft against his inflamed cheek. Baby. He had a one-track mind lately.

"Forgive me for being overwhelmed by passion, Clark," he said, rubbing his face into his shower fresh farm boy while peering up through heavy lids so he could see the angelic face he worshipped even when he wasn't looking. "I will not promise to do it again."

Clark's brow furrowed a moment before he broke out with wide toothed grin. "Deal."

"Good. Now is it too early to call it a night? I'm bushed."

"A little, Lex. It's just past seven but you could take a short nap. I'll hold you while you sleep a bit, okay?"

Lex yawned. "Deal."

Placing a protective hand over Clark's lower belly, Lex snuggled in and slept.

"Luke...I am your father."

"Stop it, Lex." Clark tugged Lex's face away from his belly and gently tossed him back on the pillows of the bed. "We are not calling our son Luke."

After Lex's short nap, they'd gotten up, ordered pizza and watched The Empire Strikes Back on the big screen. Now back where they started, Lex was showing the effects of the scotch he'd imbibed during the movie. It wasn't enough to make him drunk, just a little silly. The man was adorable when he acted his age.

"Why not, Clark? Luke Luthor. It has ring, as Miss Sullivan would say."

"Too close to Lucas."

"Good point. Luke's a write off. Jonathon?"

"After my dad?"

"Well, mine's out."

"I don't know, I was thinking I'd like something that was just our own."

"Just ours. I like that. Any ideas?"

"Not yet. But definitely nothing that starts with an L."

"If you insist."

"Big time, LL. Big time."

"AL My full name's Alexander, Clark. It's not hard. Why do I have keep telling you people this?"

"Whatever, rich boy."

"What? Fine, we'll think on it. We don't have to name our son tonight."

"Nope, naming takes up too much fooling around time."

"Fooling around? You wanna fuck, farm boy?"

"I could be persuaded."

And with that, Lex pounced.

Oh, yeah, may the force by with you.

Darth Vader, look out.

"You know, I should have thrown you a bridal shower, Clark. God knows who would have come but hell. That's what the maid of honour does, right? It's like a duty or something."

It was the night before his wedding and all traditions, homespun and otherwise, were in full effect. His mother had made sure of it.

After the informal rehearsal dinner around the marble island in the kitchen, he and Chloe had been swiftly sequestered to a large guestroom on the second floor of the castle. With the paparazzi in mind, the rest of the immediate wedding party had been escorted home under close guard. They would be returned tomorrow the same way.

Pushing tradition or perhaps just making his own, Lex had remained home and granted the full run of the first level. He would be chaperoned by Enrique when he climbed the stairs to turn in. Clark and Chloe were presently eating popcorn and drinking sodas in tees and boxers on one the two king sized beds in their room.

It wasn't bedtime yet but Clark missed Lex terribly. He hadn't slept without him for months. The alien called out constantly for his mate. Without Lex, it felt like he had had ants crawling over his skin. The inside of his cheek had become hamburger an hour ago.

"Geez, Chloe. If you had thrown me a bridal shower, my father would have had a fit. Besides it's too late now and I don't really need any more gifts."

"Except mine. Hold on." Chloe clamored off the bed to retrieve something from her duffel bag. When she returned, she shoved an envelope in his face. "Open it, Clark."

Clark took his present and thumbed open the flap. He looked up, puzzled.

"It's empty."

"Yeah, my love wouldn't fit."

"Chloe?"

"Don't worry, Clark, it's about friendship, not a come on."

"Oh...ah, knew that." He'd thought so, hoped so. Having to explain why he wanted Lex over her would be torture when the object of his lust was off limits for the night. He had no desire to spell it out for him or her.

"Yeah, right. Had you shaking in your jammies for a second there, didn't I?"

Shaking? If she only knew.

"Chloe, this is the eve of my wedding." Clark ground out trying to shelve his craving for his mate. Not easy. Chloe smelled of something good. As usual, she'd sat beside Lex during dinner. "Not needing the extra stress right about now."

"Shit, you have no sense of humour. I don't know what Lex sees in you."

"Yeah, you do, Slash Girl and that's what made me jump to the wrong conclusion."

"Full of yourself, aren't you?"

"Chloe, you've told I'm hot. Not saying I believe it cause when I think of hot, I think of Lex." Clark shuddered. Faced with a long night without him, he did not need to be reminded how sexy the older man was. "I'm just going by your say so."

"Okay, so you're hot. Shit. You're really screwing with the symbolism here, Clark. What I was trying to get across is that how I feel is so big it can't possibly be contained and I want to gift you with all I am. Support, understanding and space when you need it."

"Wow, Chloe. That's..." Clark wasn't sure what he was going to say, he was too busy thinking bad, bad thoughts.

Chloe's next statement saved him the trouble of coming up with something coherent. It had the added benefit of making him feel like a heel for not being with her while they were in the same room. Banishing Lex's long sleek body from his mind, he corrected his disservice and paid her the attention she was due.

"Love. You're my best friend, Clark. I hope you know that."

"Yeah. Didn't need a empty envelope to tell me, though."

"Symbolism, Clark, symbolism. God, I hope you never go into journalism. You wouldn't get past writing the want ads and obits."

"Funny, Chloe. See me? I'm laughing in my jammies."

"Oh, now he gets it."

Feeling better in light of her platonic troth, Clark said easily, "I love you too, Chloe. And you've always been my best friend."

"Stop it. You're going to make me cry."

"Wanna hug?"

"Yeah."

Scooting back on the bed to lean on the headboard, Clark opened his arms to his friend. The pint sized girl fit nicely. Lex fit perfectly but Chloe was just that--nice. The heat he'd once felt for her had vaporized in a fit of his future husband's jealousy. Clark remembered a cold winter night in the Humvee fondly and with a smidgen of pride.

"Did Lex tell you about Helen's note?"

"What?" Clark tore his thoughts away from the first time Lex had broken his pinky. The older man had been afraid Clark wanted Chloe over him. Adorable but very, very stupid. Lex's occasional lapses of vulnerability never failed to rock his world. "Yeah," Clark said smiling more about the past than the present. "I guess I'm off the hook."

"I'm not so sure. I mean, why would Lionel think the baby was yours? There's no evidence to support the assumption. A few coffees together at the Talon does not a scandalous affair make."

"Lex doesn't seem worried."

"Because he's too close, Clark. Lex is so relieved she isn't coming after you, he's failed to take into consideration the 'where there's smoke there's fire' factor. And there's no smoke between you and Helen. Not even a wisp."

"So you're saying we need to set a fire."

"Hmm, maybe you do get the symbolism thing, Clark but yes, we need to create an incident that gets Lionel thinking you and Helen are more than friends."

"What though? We can't kiss in front of him, Chloe. He can't see."

"True, but he can hear."

"Stop staring at the ceiling, Alexander. You're not the one with the x-ray vision."

Pissed at being caught, Lex looked down and concentrated harder than usual at the iridescent chessboard. He suddenly regretted telling the older man about the breadth of Clark's alien abilities. As previously planned, he should have left the details up to the boy. Clark was an expert at being vague. He was a living, walking blur.

Shining up into the glass pieces, the lighted playing field extolled the strategic game further into art but tonight Lex failed to see the intrinsic beauty. His focus was off and one story up.

Clark was alone with a beautiful woman.

Clark was in a bedroom, alone with a beautiful woman.

Clark was in a bedroom, alone with a beautiful woman he loved.

Clark was with Chloe.

Lex liked Chloe, a lot.

Rationally, he knew nothing untoward would happen. Unlike him, Clark was gay, supremely gay, a one way ticket. No doubts. No gray areas. Women didn't get Clark's blood pumping or the head of his dick wet.

The boy had once admitted to him it was the smell of boy's locker room that got him hard and not the girl's but all that didn't mean shit. Neither did the fact that for once Lex had a relationship that was operating full the black instead of the red. He was still skittish. True love or happy endings had never been his forte. Lex's love life was a paperback novel and not a very good one.

Lex trusted Clark and he trusted Chloe. Who he didn't trust were the Fates.

When it came to love, he'd been screwed over by the bitches before. He was not their favoured son.

It would be just like the goddesses who held realm over destiny to grant his heart's desire and then yank it away at the last minute out of spite. This was the eve before his wedding. You couldn't get any more last minute than that and Lex was consciously prepared for disaster.

Being burned so often before in the realm of matrimony, Lex couldn't help it. And this time he would not recover. There was so much more to lose. He'd fallen in love the stupid way, with no apparent profit in sight. The only return Clark offered was happiness. A big deal? Yes. It was the biggest fucking deal of his life.

His mind not on the game, Lex moved his white crystal bishop into first empty black square his limited vision saw.

"Pay attention, Alexander. You're placing yourself in check."

"He's pregnant, Enrique."

That was not what he meant to say. The admission had not been even remotely on his mind. Martha didn't know yet. No one knew about Clark's baby. He wasn't allowed to tell. Lex didn't know where it came from.

Aborting his next move, Enrique eased back in his wing chair to stare at him thoughtfully. "Ah, I thought as much."

"You did?" Lex panicked and pulled forward in his matching chair as his collected companion drew away. "It's only been days. Does Clark look pregnant to you?"

"No, Alexander." Enrique smiled slowly. "You do."

"I...I don't understand."

"It's your demeanor. It's changed. You treat Master Clark with obvious reverence to his condition. Whereas once your touches were confined to his face while in the presence of others, they've lowered to brush his chest and trail fondly down his belly. Of course being in the know and on alert, I find these subtle nuances glaring. I don't suppose anyone else has--even yourself. There's no cause for alarm. I have no doubt your secret is safe and I will ensure that it remains as such."

Feeling free to say so, Lex finally embraced the whole of his joy and announced in something close between a sob and growl, "It's a boy, Enrique. Jesus fucking Christ, my beautiful farm boy is going to give me a son."

"Congratulations. You've done your mother proud, Alexander."

Lex sniffed back the tears that threatened. With the heel of his hand, he smudged his face dry. "But, Clark," he sobbed. "We'll need to find him a doctor. A good one."

"I believe we already have." Enrique said, crossing a leg over his knee and rubbing his chin in a reflective pose. "Although at the moment she might not be compliant, but given time and the right amount of incentive, I'm sure we can turn her around and secure her trust."

"Not Helen Bryce. Money's not going to work, Enrique, and my charms are unavailable for sale. The woman hates me. She's a viper waiting to strike."

Nonplussed, Enrique's cultured voice continued to speak in a gentle rhythm. "She's a woman looking for her place in life and when she learns it's not at your father's side, she may be open to other options." The older man paused to quirk a passive eyebrow to life. "Based on Master Clark's predisposition to gallantry, I did promise you I'd look for alternatives that did not involve bloodshed."

"I remember. But Helen? If you can't produce my father, what can you offer in exchange for her cooperation?"

"A different piece of the same pie."

"No. Not me. Clark won't go for it. He's made his position clear. He won't give any part of me, including my DNA, over."

"As well he shouldn't." In obvious disgust, Enrique frowned. The disgruntled twist of his lips guaranteed a similar return. As happy as he was at being able to discuss his unborn son with someone who actually seemed pleased at his creation, Lex pulled his features down and mimicked the dour visage of the older man.

"He holds your soul beneath his heart," Enrique went on to say. "You belong to him alone."

"Then who?"

"Another Luthor. There is one more in the offing."

"No, Enrique."

"I'm afraid so. My contacts tell me he's aware of your wedding. And if he knows, he'll come. We might as well use his break from exile to our advantage," Enrique stated simply as if it would be that easy.

Lex nearly laughed aloud.

Considering her actions, Helen Bryce's wavering loyalties were predictably soft, her self serving motives firm. Lex knew how far to trust her. Her threat garnered no real worry. Under Lionel's tutelage, he'd suffered worse. Coping with duress had become second nature. A common evil, Helen was easy, safe enough and pliable. Lex couldn't say the same about this man. He was a Luthor. Inherently, there was nothing common about him.

Like Helen, he presented well as the enemy. Granted, fine and so much said but unlike her, Lex didn't know how to diffuse him. Although younger, they were cut from the same overpriced cloth and Lex understood himself far too well to know it would be foolish to second guess his metaphoric twin.

Fierce, potentially dangerous and just as unpredictable. Lex had tamed him once, gained a marginal peace but was not presumptuous enough to expect to do so again. His luck was tied up in other projects.

His nerves on a short tether, Lex stood up and dared to whisper the name of the potential monkey wrench in his works.

"Lucas," he hissed.

Ever resourceful, the Fates had still managed find a way to kick him in gut.

Lex was not surprised.

"Jonathon?"

"Yes, love?"

"Tell me I did the right thing."

"Never known you to do the wrong one, Martha."

"Even when I chose Lex for Clark?"

"Damn woman. Only the groom's supposed to get cold feet. What brought this on?"

"Nothing...everything. My baby boy is getting married tomorrow."

"Yep, I know and I've got the monkey suit to prove it."

"So, it's okay? You weren't happy when I suggested him six months ago."

"Didn't really know the boy then. Do now and I'm thinking he's got potential."

"Lex loves Clark. I mean really truly loves him."

"As much as I do you and that's saying a lot."

"It is, isn't it. And Clark loves Lex as much as I do you."

"Then the boy's a right lucky man. This wedding was meant to be, Martha. There's roadblocks, I can't help seeing them, but we had our troubles too when we first started out and we survived. They might have a bumpy ride but in the long run, it is going to be okay. Lex and Clark will be just as happy together as we are."

"I made the right choice."

"Yep. I'm living proof."

"Oh, you."

"Yeah, me. Now come here and let me make good on that."

"Coming, Jonathon."

"Not yet, woman but for the love of corn, you will."

"Promise?"

"I do."

"Nervous, son?"

"No." Lex lied.

"You should be. The boy's more his mother than me."

Lex gaped at his best man.

Wearing a vintage Bill Blass tuxedo, Jonathon Kent sat beside him, deftly pulling an Enrique.

They were sitting alone on an exquisitely carved preacher's bench in a hidden apse just outside the main ballroom. Four hundred guests and Clark were waiting for them on the other side of two heavy oak doors. The older man seemed unaffected by the impatient rumblings seeping out from under the threshold. Not surprising, neither was Lex.

Public speaking or performing before crowds hadn't bothered him since he learned how to read a bank statement. And Jon? Not much affected the older man if it didn't involve his family's welfare. The grumbling wedding guests were white noise. But hell. Jonathon should be battling his own demons and not cracking jokes in the face of the full mana of distress Lex was obviously unsuccessful in concealing.

The father of his beloved should be ruffled in some measure by the ritual that was about to be performed. Holy fucking shit. Jon was giving away his most precious son to a hated, filthy Luthor. They'd come to terms, become friendly but surely the man should have some negative response other than Yoda like concern. Lex was freaked. Jonathan Kent should be threatening the hell out him right about now.

The big, blond haired man threw an arm over his shoulder and Lex suppressed the urge to scream. Hysteria wouldn't go well with his meticulously selected attire. He looked good and was dressed much better than a fool.

"Son? Can the worrying. He's going to say yes."

Lex looked sideways at the enigma sharing the bench with him. "No one's going to ask, Jon. It's a commitment ceremony. There is no officiate."

"But you're still afraid he's going to bolt."

"Clark loves me, Jon." Lex said with certainty. It wasn't doubt that was fraying his edges.

"Yeah, and Martha me but on my wedding day, that didn't make one bit of difference. I was sure she was going to come to her senses and realize what a huge mistake she was making. Thought she'd take hoof halfway down the aisle."

"That's not the case here. I know Clark wants this union as much as I do. He won't leave."

"True enough but fear isn't something you can rationalized<<rationalize>>, Lex. You're still thinking he's gonna renege. Martha says you've never felt good enough for him but you are. You're the best he could have hoped for."

"I am, Jon. Fuck the Fates. In the best of all worst case scenarios, I know that. I have the love and the will to make him happy. Clark's joy is the ambrosia that feeds my loyalty. I'm addicted shamelessly to his smiles but that could be harm in itself. My vow of protection is notorious and breeds it own need. Your son didn't fall in love with a nice man, Jonathon. I have enemies."

There it was finally out, the danger, the warning and the truth of who he was. He wouldn't have done it six months ago. Lex wouldn't have said anything that would have given Jonathon an excuse to keep Clark from him but then again six months ago this man wasn't his friend. Not that revealing what a bastard he was would stop today's event, Lex was still going marry to Clark come hell or high morals, but somehow letting Jonathon know Lex knew he was a bastard felt right. In the least of all things, he owed the older man this honesty. Lionel would be appalled but Clark would be proud. It explained much.

"Enemies that Clark adopts if he marries you? Is that what's got your silk panties in a twist? Lord boy, you are a piece of work." Jonathon laughed loudly and slapped Lex's back. "Wake up. The game's the same from up here in the cheap seats. Everyone has enemies."

"Not like mine." Lex growled, and then leaned forward to press his point. The man needed to understand. He shouldn't be smiling. "I'm a Luthor, Jon and after we get up off our asses and walk through those doors, Clark will be one too. People will want to hurt him based on his last name alone. It's fucked. Jesus, he's the hero. He's not supposed to fall in love with his nemesis."

"Yeah, the boy never did listen." Jon said through an apparently unflappable grin. "But his mother will be pleased as punch. Martha wants this. Selecting you for his bridegroom was her idea. Never had anyone else in mind. She focused on you and that was it. You were Clark's pretty pony."

Lex blinked, momentarily derailed. "Pretty pony? Clark's said something about that. Any idea what it means?"

"No. I don't think us lowly men folk were meant to know. If they mention it, just smile and nod. You get to share the same bed that night if you do."

"I'm going to take him. You know that, don't you?" Lex said, giving one last warning "In a minute, I'm going to walk into that ballroom and marry your son. I'm going to steal him away from you and Martha and make him mine."

"Ah...Lex?"

"What!" Lex screamed in frustration. The man was just not getting it.

"Would it make you feel better if I threatened to kick that skinny rich butt of yours across the state line if you ever hurt my boy? Because that's a given. Didn't think it needed to be said."

Lex stared at man next to him on the bench. Jonathon had finally stopped grinning but his blue eyes were twinkling with mirth. Oh, Christ he was an idiot. His previous declaration had been unnecessary. This unassuming farmer knew exactly who Lex was and apparently what he needed to hear. Not all wise men had PhD's.

"Oh, shit. I'm making an ass of myself, aren't I?"

The smile was sneaking back. "Pretty much."

"Sorry, I'm not myself. Didn't get much sleep. I was up all night worrying about Clark's safety."

"Then I suppose you're excused. Now, come on." With a big hand under his arm, Jonathon hauled Lex to his feet. "It's time to get you hitched."

After brushing out the wrinkles in his suit, Lex walked with his friend to the entrance of the ballroom. Lex paused before opening the door and turned to his father in law to be.

"God, Jon. There's so much I haven't said to you."

"Send an email to my PDA. I'll read it later."

"You've still got that?"

"Shut up and turn the handle, Lex."

"Right."

Feeling sure, cocky and incredibly loved, Lex opened the door to his future.

"Wow, Clark. ET's here."

"He is?" Standing at the top of the ballroom by the stage, Clark scanned the crowd for Mr. Spielberg's short, squat friend. The sci-fi geek that he was, he wouldn't put it past Lex to invite a movie prop to their wedding, especially this one. His absent groom had a wicked sense of irony.

"Not a 'he', but more like a them." Chloe corrected and then began to sing a short verse of ta's and da's. "You know, Entertainment Tonight."

"Oh, yeah. Mary Hart."

As pretty as she looked in her long violet sheath, Clark tuned her out as Chloe went on to name more dignitaries. He gave his mother, who was similarity attired in light purple, a tight smile and then went back to watching the room's double doors. Any minute now...

"He'll be along soon," his mother whispered. "Remember, he only had your father to help him dress."

"Lucky guy," Clark returned under his breath. He was still feeling the effects of his own harried preparations.

It was supposed to be only his maid of honour, Chloe helping but when he emerged from the shower in a robe, both his mother and Pete had been sitting on the bed waiting to get him ready. Madness had soon followed.

While Pete had harped incessantly on about him wearing his old suit--the Armani had cost Lex four thousand dollars, Clark had countered, he was going to get more than one night out of it--the women had fought like harpies over the part in his hair. The chaos escalated when Enrique arrived bearing gifts.

Diamond and pearl necklaces for his mom and Chloe and a Rolex for Pete, had sent the three squealing with delight. Even now Clark's sensitive alien ears ached. He was glad for the relative quiet of the ballroom and thrum of its four hundred heartbeats. The soothing notes of the string quartet behind him also acted like a balm across his frazzled hearing. More than ever, he was very glad Lex's choice, Aerosmith, wasn't playing his wedding.

"I do like the centerpieces, Mom." Clark blurted, suddenly aware of the amount of planning that had gone on to make this day perfect for him and Lex. Fiddling with the jeweled cufflinks that had come with the suit, Clark looked sheepishly at his mother. "The roses are pretty. I didn't mean what I said before. Sorry."

"You're mind was elsewhere, Clark. I was aware of that. Apologies are unnecessary."

"Yeah, but still."

"Hush, honey. He's here."

And holy cow, was he ever.

Dressed entirely in shocking white except for the purple rose on his lapel, his chosen mate was striding purposely towards him across the wide aisle that would later be used as a dance floor. In a black tux, his father trailed behind like a shadow.

The sharp clacks of his heels were incredibly loud in the suddenly quiet ballroom. All had gone still to look upon Lex's ivory splendor. Even the band had stopped playing.

"Nice boots," Clark said, when Lex reached him.

Grinning mischievously, Lex rocked back on the heels of the white and silver monstrosities. Clark would later learn the leather was albino rattlesnake and the shiny caps on the toes and heels, titanium. "Thanks, farm boy. You're looking pretty nice yourself. Love the suit."

"Armani. Yours?"

"Luthor."

"Ah...good choice. The man's one of my top ten favorites."

"Mine too." The dapper groom hovered close and whispered into Clark's lips, "Busy?"

"Nope. What did you have in mind, Lex?"

"Well, Clark, I was thinking about marrying you, if that's okay?"

"Could do."

"Lovely. But first..."

"What?"

"This."

Then in front of both their families, friends and yes, enemies, Smallville, the press, God and Mary Hart, Lex Luthor kissed him.

The end...for now.

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