Riotous red curls in complete disarray clung to both the soft pillowcase and the sickly, pale face it framed. A slender soft feminine hand gently stroked the hair away from the miserable boy’s forehead. Silver-blue eyes glazed in fever opened at the gentle touch, and he tried to speak.

“…mo…mother…?” The hand stilled.

“Sshh…hush, baby. Just sleep.”

“…wh…why doesn’t…Father…love me…? Is it… because… I get sick so much?” Lillian Luthor’s heart broke at seeing the pure misery in her young son’s eyes, and she cursed her husband’s bastard attitude towards their child’s perceived weakness.

“Oh Lex… Your father does love you… He just doesn’t know how to show it…” Any reply that the young boy might have made was lost in the harsh hacking coughing that wracked the small form, and Lillian’s eyes filled with tears even as she soothingly rubbed the shaking shoulder. Once the fit had passed, she took the damp cloth that had been sitting in the basin on the nightstand and gently wiped her son’s face clean. She exchanged the cloth for the facemask, and gently placed it to her son’s face. With one hand, she flicked the switch on the small machine connected to it, and soothing vapors began to flow through the clear plastic tubes, easing the asthma that the coughing had triggered. “Just sleep now, darling… Let me sing you to sleep… Sleep, and dream…”

Exhausted by his illness, and miserable due to his asthma, young Lex obeyed his mother’s soft words. As his eyes fluttered closed, he murmured fitfully “I wish… I wish… I wish I had someone love me… even though…” 

He stirred, squeezing his eyes shut against the bright light. Blinking them open, he stared at the bright blue sky for a moment, before turning over. Moments later, he shot to a sitting position, and rubbed his eyes. Bright blue sky?! Lex looked around in disbelief. He was in a field of bright yellow and red flowers in a sea of green, waving grass. The sun shone brightly in the blue sky above, and birds soared and swooped high above.  He looked about wildly, before looking down at himself and noticing the paper taped to his purple (purple??) shirt. He pulled it off, and read the note written on it. 

‘Lex: Hey, sleepy head! Went for a walk; I’ll be at the tree with the picnic lunch we brought along when you wake up. Love you! ~C.’ 

Lex blinked in surprise, before clambering to his feet. The ground was a lot farther than it should have been; he patted at himself in amazement, noticing the grown-up quality of his body, before a shout caught his attention. 

“Lex! Over here!! C’mon!” He swung his head about, and saw the figure waving at him from beneath the shade of a tall oak tree in the near distance. He began to walk slowly towards the person, male by the voice, because he remained shadowed, when the next words caught his attention. “Lex, I love you and all, but I’m hungry! Hurry up!” 

And as Lex broke into a small jog, he couldn’t help the smile that broke out across his face. Someone loved him! 

Lillian stopped her soft singing, and removed the mask from her slumbering son’s head. She put everything neatly away, drawing the covers up and smoothing back his hair, before turning to leave the room. At the door, she turned one last time to look at her son, and her heart lifted at the sweet smile that had formed on his lips. 

“May all your sweet dreams come true, my dear Lex…”   

End Part

 A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes, Bette Midler (Disney)

A dream is a wish your heart makes
When you’re fast asleep
In dreams you will lose your heartache
Whatever you wish for you keep

Have faith in your dreams
And someday, your rainbow will come shining through
No matter how your heart is grieving
If you just keep believing
The dream that you wish will come true

A dream is a wish your heart makes
When you’re feeling small.
Alone in the night you whisper
Think no one can hear at all.
You wake with morning sunlight to find fortune that smile on you.
Don’t let your heart be filled with sorrow
For almost in tomorrow the dream you wish will come true.

The dream is a wish your heart makes
The dream is a wish your heart makes
You wake with the morning sunlight to find fortune that smile on you.
Don’t let your heart be filled with sorrow
For almost in tomorrow the dream you wish will come true.
No matter how your heart is grieving
If you just keep believing
The dream that you wish will come true  

I Knew I Loved You

Lex Luthor swore as he swerved, and stomped on the brakes, but he was going too fast. He saw the guardrails of the bridge coming closer at an incredible speed, and to his horror saw the teenager, no more than a boy, really, that was in the direct path of the out-of-control Porsche. His horrified silver-blue eyes locked onto hauntingly familiar stunned green-blue, and Lex suddenly lost himself. Time seemed to stop, as images flashed across his mind: 

Returning a gift, but staying anyway, to get to know him… 

Home…he was home with this impossibly perfect boy… 

Scenes from his life, yet to be lived, but at the same time so familiar, as if he had already lived them; and all throughout the presence of this beautiful boy that he had seen so often in his dreams; the only person that he ever felt comfortable, complete, around…  

…and time began again, and tires screeched on the road, and the angelic boy was still in the path of the hurtling car, meaning certain death.... Lex closed his eyes, breaking the strange connection, bracing for the impact, preparing himself for what was inevitably to come, all the while hoping, praying… 

‘Please… someone, something, anything! Save him… He’s so perfect…and so familiar. He doesn’t deserve to die… It’s not fair, I wish I knew my dream boy’s name…   

End Part

I Knew I Loved You, by Savage Garden

Maybe it’s intuition
But some things you just don’t question
Like in your eyes
I see my future in an instant
And there it goes
I think I’ve found my best friend
I know that it might sound more than
A little crazy but I believe

I knew I loved you before I met you
I think I dreamed you into life
I knew I loved you before I met you
I have been waiting all my life

There’s just no rhyme or reason
Only this sense of completion
And in your eyes
I see the missing pieces
I’m searching for
I think I found my way home
I know that it might sound more than
A little crazy but I believe

A thousand angels dance around you
I am complete now that I found you
 

You’ll Be In My Heart

“He’s my friend, Dad! It’s my secret to tell, and I owe him the truth after everything that’s happened around here! He put most of it together himself anyway; he thinks I’m just another mutant!” 

“I forbid you from doing anything of the sort! He’s a Luthor! They’re dangerous; If you tell him, he’s only going to use you, abuse you powers, and worse come to worse dissect you! I told you he was a no-good, son of a bastard! Like father, like son!” 

“Lex is NOT his FATHER, Dad!! He’s just Lex, and he is my friend! I would have thought that was obvious after all he’s done to help people around here! Even standing up to Lionel, or didn’t you notice the scene in town today? I’m telling Lex the truth and there’s nothing you can do to stop me!” 

The door to the house slammed, and an angry teenager stomped out of the house. Without warning, he blurred into a run, and moments later found himself outside the mansion where his friend lived, He let himself in, and stomped to the office where he knew Lex would be. Sure enough, the pale form was curled up on the couch, and his heart broke at the misery he could clearly see in the defeated posture, and hear in the shuddering breaths. 

“Lex…” The young man’s head turned sharply, startled.

“Cl-clark!” Lex shook his head, and visibly straightened, erecting the mental walls he used to keep the world at bay. 

“Oh, Lex…” Clark found himself on the couch next to Lex, and hesitatingly wrapped his arms around his friend. Lex’ posture was stiff, and unyielding, until Clark whispered “It’s okay, Lex…let it out. Please, let me help you.” Then he slumped, hands coming up involuntarily to clutch at Clark’s shirt. Clark could feel the hot moisture from Lex’ tears seeping into his shirt, and just hugged his friend closer. He was normally so strong and self-confident, but at the moment Lex Luthor was just a hurting young man, and he seemed so small in Clark’s arms. And as Clark rocked him back and forth, he realized something about Lex Luthor. 

He, Clark J. Kent, was in love with his best friend, one Alexander J. Luthor. Never mind that almost the entire population of Smallville was like his dad, and only saw the Luthor in Lex, he knew better. Lex wasn’t a Luthor; he was nothing like Lionel. He was Lex, just Lex. But despite his best efforts, and all the evidence to the contrary, people persisted in seeing Lex for his name, not for who he was. They continued to bear suspicions, and age-old grudges, and in some cases displayed even open hostility towards the young man. 

In some ways, they were not so different after all, Clark mused. Sure, he was tall and tanned, with dark hair, and a total dweeb, while Lex was shorter, but still tall, and pale, bald, and suave, but inside, they were the same: Outcasts in their own lives. Pete and Chloe were his friends, yeah, but they didn’t really know him. And by Lex’ own admittance, he’d never had real friends before Clark. People saw, and accepted, only the façade that was put forward by each of them in the beginning: Clark his goofy-oblivious-naïve personality, and Lex the cold-corporate-bastard illusion. Never mind that they’d both changed drastically since then. 

“I’m sorry, Clark.” Lex muttered as he pulled away. Clark let him draw back, but grasped both of Lex’ hands with his own so he couldn’t escape. “I… I don’t know what came over me. And you shouldn’t be here…” 

“Don’t worry, Lex. I’m here because I want to be here. I need to be here.” Clark said. Startled silver-blue eyes, slightly reddened from the unaccustomed crying, rose to meet his. It was time. “You’re my friend, right Lex? You trust me?” Lex gave a rather watery chuckle. 

“Of course, to both questions…I don’t cry on just anybody, you know.” He said, self-deprecatingly. Clark squeezed his hands gently, then continued with a deep breath. 

“Good. You remember when you said, once, that together, we’d be the stuff of legends?” At his nod, Clark added “And you also said, that whatever secrets I have, you hoped that some day I’d trust you enough to tell them to you?”

“Clark…you don’t have to…” Lex began, but Clark interrupted. 

“I want to. Lex, there’s no one on this planet that I’d trust more with my secret than you…and I hope, no, I know, that after I tell you my secret, you’ll still be worthy of that trust. I know you, Lex Luthor, and even if everyone else in this town is still blinded by the actions and attitude of your father, I know you. I hope that after I’m done, no matter what, we’ll still be the stuff of legends. I believe that destiny led you here, to Smallville, for a reason, and we met the way we did for that same reason. That is why I am so sure that you will understand, and accept, what I have to tell you.” Clark said, seriously. ‘And no matter what your reaction is, know that we will always have a bond that cannot be broken, for I cannot erase you from my heart, Lex Luthor.’ He added privately in his mind. “I know that you believe me to be a mutant, another meteor-affected Smallville native. All of the evidence in your ‘secret’ room points that way.” Clark ignored Lex’ tugging, and was purposely deaf to his stammered explanations. 

“I’m not a meteor mutant, Lex. I’m an alien; I came down to Earth with the rocks.” 

And seeing the confusion and panic fade away, the dawning clarity as pieces and clues fitted together, the joyous sparkle and awed expression on Lex’ face and in his eyes, Clark knew that his confidence in Lex was not unfounded. And his heart gave a happy jump as Lex pulled his hands free, and threw his arms around Clark in a delirious ecstasy. 

‘Yes…we’ll be the stuff of legends. As long as we have each other, there is nothing that we can't do or overcome – together.’   

End Part  

You’ll Be In My Heart, by Phil Collins
 
Come stop your crying
It will be all right
Just take my hand Hold it tight
 
I will protect you
from all around you
I will be here
Don't you cry
 
For one so small,
you seem so strong
My arms will hold you,
keep you safe and warm
This bond between us
Can't be broken
I will be here
Don't you cry
 
'Cause you'll be in my heart
Yes, you'll be in my heart
From this day on
Now and forever more
 
You'll be in my heart
No matter what they say
You'll be here in my heart, always
 
Why can't they understand
the way we feel
They just don't trust
what they can't explain
I know we're different but,
deep inside us
We're not that different at all
 
And you'll be in my heart
Yes, you'll be in my heart
From this day on
Now and forever more
 
Don't listen to them
'Cause what do they know
We need each other,
to have, to hold
They'll see in time
I know
 
When destiny calls you
You must be strong
I may not be with you
But you've got to hold on
They'll see in time
I know
We'll show them together
 
'Cause you'll be in my heart
Yes, you'll be in my heart
From this day on,
Now and forever more
 
Oh, you'll be in my heart
No matter what they say
You'll be in my heart, always
Always  

Save The Last Dance For Me

There was most likely a party going on right now back on Earth. Celebrating the defeat of the latest intergalactic evil at by the forces of the Justice League, no doubt. At least Batman, Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkgirl, and Wonder Woman should have arrived back home and relayed the joyous news by now, while Superman and the Martian Manhunter had remained behind for final cleanup duty. Not by choice, mind, but because they were either 1) not injured (Batman, Flash, Hawkgirl), 2) not completely exhausted (Flash, Green Lantern), or 3) needed for transport (Wonder Woman and her jet). 

Superman, no, Clark knew that as Senator, and one of the city’s foremost leaders, Lex would no doubt be in the thick of things in Metropolis. He was no doubt dancing with appreciative women, chatting with businessmen on the ballroom balcony at LexCorp’s main office building, giving short interviews to the attending reporters in regards to his own involvement in staving off the ground invaders that had been sent to prepare Earth for invasion… Clark couldn’t work fast enough to disable everything. He wanted to be home now. Wanted to make sure Lex was all right, seeing as he’d been preparing to go to the front lines personally when Clark had visited before flying off with the rest of the League. Take him home, and curl up with Lex in his arms, so he could finally tell Lex what he’d been meaning to all these years. He was in love with his best friend. 

The music would be playing, a soft five-piece orchestra, or perhaps a small jazz band. Something elegant, and light-hearted after the horrors of the past week’s battles. The fine wine and sparkling champagne (scotch for Lex) would be freely flowing in celebration. There was bound to be much laughter and singing and celebrating that they’d survived; that Earth’s inhabitants had once again prevailed. But, damn it, Lex Luthor had better not fall in love with some floozy again while Clark was stuck here in who-knew-where turning the alien battleship into scrap metal. Lex was his! He snarled to himself, imagining the face of some nameless twit with a bust size larger than her IQ draping herself all over his Lex on the nearest bulkhead. Superman happily proceeded to punch said bulkhead full of holes with his fists. It was a good thing he could hold his breath for an indeterminable length of time… And as he zipped off to the next sector to disable, Clark’s mind happily conjured up an image of himself in Lex’ arms, and he was cheerful again.