Title: The Worst Case

Author: Christine and Carrie

Contact: QsMistress23@hotmail.com and CarrieDeMarchi@hotmail.com

Fandom: Smallville

Pairing: Clark/Lex

Rating: NC17

Spoilers: Eveything from both seasons one and two.

Archive: CLFF

Disclaimer: The boys aren't ours, we're not making any money off of this. We have nothing of value; so don't sue us, and we promise to give them back relatively clean. Although, I'd consider it worth it to run from the law for the rest of my life if I was with these two sexilicious boys. - Carrie.

Feedback: Is always welcome, so hand it over! =)

Notes: In response to the CLFF challenge: Challenge 6) Gruesome Level: Write a 50,000 (approx. 100 pages) word story in two months, featuring Clark/Lex action in any way you see fit. Any rating is okay. Starting date is: December 1, 2002 Ending date is February 1, 2003

Acknowledgments: Many hugs and smooches to Terra for betaing this monster for us, it was much appreciated.

Warnings: Mpreg, AU(sort of)

Summary: Lengthy separations are a bitch, especially when you're a pregnant, male alien.

'The Worst Case'

Having been sitting in the loft for almost an hour now, they still had not gotten too much work accomplished during that time. Succumbing to absentmindedly attempting to get anything written, Clark sat and listened to Pete talk about his latest girlfriend. The two of them had chosen each other as partners to work on a creative writing assignment on a nonfiction and/or science fiction piece of their choice. Sex was a strange thing to talk about between them, now that Pete knew his secret. His friend had all sorts of ideas in his head, of him getting girls pregnant, producing squirmy alien babies with tentacles and purplish in color. So, what else would they have come up with for their project? In the end, they had chosen an alien reproductive structure. As strange as it may seem as a subject to anyone else, it was right up their alley.

They had gotten off topic long ago and were now basically just hanging out, rather than working on their school work. Pete, surprisingly, still had a book open in his lap about human reproduction. Although he seemed more focused on reading gross descriptions about female innards than on their alien woman they were planning to create, Clark at least hoped he was retaining some of the information. At least they were still trying to get some work done on it. Clark sat on the couch, laughing at the picture Pete's words were creating in his mind. Folding the last side of his paper airplane up, Clark lifted it and looked at it appraisingly. He had torn a page of old notes from his school book to make the plane out of; you could still see his writing, although disjointed, on the folded paper. Hearing the low mechanical hum of an engine growing louder as it came nearer to the barn, Pete shut the book in his lap and sat up from his slouched position. "Ooh, sounds like your boyfriend's here!"

Clark laughed at the look on Pete's face, listening to the engine having been cut off, and the sound of a distant car door slamming shut carried through the barn. He threw the plane at Pete, still smiling, and hoping to keep the mood light while his two friends were in the room together. Pete was not exactly comfortable on the issue of Clark being involved with Lex as more than just a friend, but he had understood what Clark had told him about their relationship. It had made Pete feel better to know that, he wasn't sure he wanted to know Clark had been checking him out in the showers at school in gym class. He was not shallow, though, and he was not going to end his friendship with his best alien bud just because of said alien's sexual orientation.

Apparently, Clark had found that Lex was the only human male specimen on Earth that he found sexually appealing, and that also failed to make Pete feel comfortable about the situation. He didn't trust Luthors, and wouldn't want his friend to put trust in someone like Lex just to have it used and abused, then thrown away. Although still wary of Luthors, the more time he spent around Lex, and Lex and Clark together, he could see how much they liked and cared about each other.

"Clark?" He didn't want to tell him. In the four months that they had been together, there was never a single fight or disagreement ... or lengthy separation between them. Lex sighed as he made his way through the barn. He knew what he was going to ask, too; if he could come with him. 'No, Clark, you're still in school. You can't come.' That was all he had to say to him, but he doubted it would end at that. Clark would protest and say his grades were good enough. Lex really did not want to do this.

"Up here, Lex," Clark called back. Lex started up the stairs, steeling himself for the upcoming conversation. Holding back a sigh and putting a false smile on his face when he saw Pete sitting across from Clark. He knew it was going to be hard to break the news to Clark on this in the first place. Not to mention if he had to have Pete there as well, witnessing the sudden dive from a cliff that Clark's heart was about to endure.

"Hey, Pete," he said, smiling at the younger boy, and moving to take a seat beside Clark.

"Lex," Pete replied in a strained tone. It may not have come out as pleasantly as he knew Clark would have liked it, but at least he was trying.

Clark ignored the tension hanging between the two of them, and smiled at his boyfriend. "I thought we were meeting at your place later today? Not that I'm complaining about you being here, but what's up?" He asked, scooting a little closer to Lex to sneak in a little peck on his cheek. He tried not to show too much affection around Pete, he was just glad he hadn't lost his friend over everything already.

"I have something important I need to tell you," Lex began, turning to look at Pete for a moment. "In private," he finished.

Pete rolled his eyes, but got up from his seat on the hay covered floor. "I'll be outside, communicating with the cows," he said as he made his way to the stairs, walked down them and headed outside.

Clark let out a laugh at his friend before turning to Lex. "So, what did you need to tell me that's important?"

Lex turned slightly so he was facing Clark and took hold of his hand. "Clark, you know that I love you, right?" Clark didn't say anything, he just nodded. "Well, I found out a little while ago that my father is having some problems with one of his companies in London. Normally, he'd just have one of his flunkies go and take care of it for him, but this is a major problem. I can't go into much detail about it, but anyway," he paused, taking a deep breath at what he was about to say to his lover. "He needs to go over there personally and take care of it. The only thing is he doesn't feel secure enough to go by himself, so he asked me to go with him."

Clark frowned thoughtfully at Lex for a moment, wondering what was bad about that. "Well, that isn't so bad. I mean, I knew before we started our relationship that there would be times you'd have to go away on business for a while." He stopped talking as he took in the upset look on Lex's face, "What's wrong?"

"Clark, I'm going to be gone for at least five months," Lex replied, squeezing his lover's hand tightly, bracing himself for what he knew was coming.

Clark blinked his eyes a few times to clear away the sudden tears that threatened to spill forth. "Um, okay, I understand, I guess. When do you leave?"

"Monday morning."

Clark swallowed the lump that suddenly formed in his throat. "Lex, that's only two days away."

"I know, Clark. Believe me, if I had known sooner I would have tried to get someone to go in my place. It seems, how ever strange, that my father only trusts me to go with him on this last minute trip," Lex replied, clearing his throat. Did his father really think that little of his son's business ventures that Lex could just drop them at will to scuttle off to his father's side?

Clark let go of Lex's hand and stood up from his seat on the couch. "Let me go with you. This way..." he began, but found himself interrupted by Lex shaking his head gently.

"You can't, Clark." As much as it hurt to say no to him, it was what he had to do. "You're still in school, and you know your parents would never allow it. They've already been great to even allow us to be in a relationship. I doubt they'd approve of this."

"Lex," Clark said, tears finally spilling out his eyes, leaving streaks down his cheeks. "I...how..." He trailed off, unable to form any words coherently. The suddenness of the situation he found himself thrust into was taking its toll out on the younger man.

Lex moved closer to Clark and wrapped his arms around his lover. "Clark, I know. If it was up to me, I wouldn't hesitate to stay here with you, but my father needs me. Yes, he's been a royal pain in my ass since he moved in, but he's still my father and I have to help him." Lex sighed as he felt his young lover sob uncontrollably into his shoulder. "Love, we'll still be able to keep in contact with each other." Almost unsure of what he should do to reassure the other man, he rubbed tentative hands over Clark's back, "There's the phone and emailing each other and even the postal system."

Clark pulled away and brought a hand up to wipe it across his tear stained face. Nodding, he said, "I know, Lex. But we'll only have two days together before you leave and knowing your dad, he'll probably be trying to take up all your time."

Lex sighed and held his boyfriend closer to him. There wasn't really anything either of them could do about it now.

@>*~

Clark woke up earlier than usual and sped around his room to pick out the clothes he wanted to wear before getting into them. He had a bunch of chores he had to do today before he could meet Lex at the hotel a few blocks from the Talon. They had agreed to spend as much time as possible together before Lex had to leave for his extended business trip. His parents thought that the two of them were just dating and most of Smallville just thought they were really close friends. Only Pete and they knew there were more elements to their relationship then a few discreet dates here and there.

After Lex had left last night, he told Pete what had happened and how he felt. Pete tried to be there for Clark emotionally as best as he could, but their relationship still made him a bit uncomfortable so Clark couldn't really go into detail about everything. Pete had left an hour after Lex and Clark had gone back to his house to tell his parents what had happened. His father was still irked about the whole dating thing, but still trying his damnedest to be there for his son while his mother smiled sympathetically and hugged him.

Finished dressing, Clark sped down the stairs and out of the house, making it look as if there had been a gust of wind twirling through the house. Clark had to feed the cows, mend the fence surrounding the perimeter of the farm and fix the tractor. Of course, he sometimes wished they'd have taken the money Lex had offered them so they could simply buy a new tractor and never have to fix it again.

Using his speed the entire time, Clark finished with his chores in less then thirty minutes when usually it would have taken his father two days to do everything. It was a good thing he loved his parents so much or he would have run away a long time ago. There was just too much work for a seventeen year old to do. Running back into the house, Clark sped back up the stairs to his room, undressed and headed to the shower. He had twenty minutes to meet Lex and he didn't want to be late.

Coming down the stairs, he paused to say bye to his parents. His mother was in the middle of pouring coffee into a cup for his father. "Have fun, Clark, but remember to be home by midnight, okay?"

"Alright, Mom. Thank you for letting me spend these last couple of days with Lex. I'm sure he appreciates it just as much as I do. Lionel has been in a really foul mood since last night according to Lex," Clark said as he kissed his mom on the cheek and waved good-bye to his father before bolting out the door.

"I hope you know what you're doing, Martha," Jonathan said as he took the offered cup from her.

Martha took a seat next to Jonathan at the kitchen table. "I do. They're only dating, Jonathan, and Lex won't even be in the same country for the next five months. I think them spending a little time with each other until Lex leaves won't hurt anyone." Jonathan just grumbled into his coffee cup and took a sip.

@>*~

When Clark had gotten into the hotel, he made his way up to the floor where their assigned room was to be located. Alternately looking at the number on his key, to the numbers on the doors, he stopped at 204 and tested the door knob; he found it locked. He was almost afraid to think that Lex wouldn't be there, or wouldn't show up at all. He squashed those thoughts down and slid the key into the lock, and opened the door.

Stepping into the room, he smiled when he saw Lex was already there waiting for him. He shut and locked the door behind him as he tossed the key over to the dresser at the side of the room. He felt a rush of happiness and at the same time, doubt, at seeing his friend. He didn't want Lex to leave. "Hey," Lex said, getting up from his seat and meeting Clark half way. Lex pulled Clark into a quick but warm hug, before giving him a soft kiss.

Pulling back and taking Clark's hand, Lex led them over to the bed and sat on the edge of it. The next few moments passed almost in complete silence as they sat in each other's arms, looking almost sad. "Are you sure I can't come with you?" Clark asked, with a vague pleading tone to his voice. He didn't want to be without Lex for that long.

"Clark," Lex said, looking up into Clark's eyes, "I don't want you to compromise your academic marks for me." He took hold of Clark's hand, looking at him seriously. He hated to leave, too, but again it was what he had to do. Leaving his father alone at the castle was one thing, but alone across the Atlantic was another, especially now that Lionel was blind and even more untrusting of people than he was before.

Clark sighed, looking back at Lex and trying not to break out the puppy dog eyes. "All right," he said, reluctantly. "I'm going to miss you so much, though," he ducked his head and looked at his shoes, absently shuffling them back and forth against each other. "We've never been apart before."

"I know," Lex gently settled his hand on Clark's cheek, turning the younger man's head back towards him. "It'll be fine." He held Clark's eyes for a moment, making sure that he believed those words before saying anything more. "I promise, Clark," he said as he guided Clark's face towards his, pressing his lips softly against the teen's.

Clark sighed into Lex's mouth as he returned the kiss, letting his hands run up and down his lover's back. Lex pushed against Clark until he was lying on top of the younger man, barely having broken the kiss. Breaking apart only for much needed air, Lex sat up to remove his shirt, while Clark scooted further back on the bed, until the top of his head was just near the headboard.

Lex slowly lowered himself back on top of Clark, knowing his weight wouldn't hurt him in the slightest, but he didn't want any of this to be rough. Picking up where they had stopped kissing before, Clark raised his torso up off the bed to help Lex with the process of removing his own shirt. Tossing it to the side somewhere, Lex continued, alternating between his lover's lips and peppering kisses along Clark's jaw and neck.

Bringing his hands up, and back down Lex's back, he wiggled one of them in between their bodies, moving towards the fastenings. Lex moaned lightly into Clark's neck when he felt his zipper being drawn down before a warm hand slipped inside his pants. Lex moved his lips back to Clark's and gave a soft lingering kiss to them as he sat back on his knees. He reached for Clark's own button and zipper, becoming quite intent on having his lover's pants tossed aside as well.

Clark lifted his hips slightly, lifting Lex along with them, as Lex smoothed his hands over Clark's hips, drawing the younger man's jeans down to his thighs. Clark moaned softly when Lex's hand wrapped around his erection and stroked once firmly before letting go. Lex grinned down at him and stood on his knees to push his own pants down his own thighs. Lex rolled off Clark to lie beside him, pushing his pants the rest of the way off with his feet before shoving them off the side of the bed.

Clark sat up quickly and pulled his jeans off, letting them pile onto the floor in a heap before turning back to his boyfriend. Lex was lying on his side with his head propped up on his hand, smiling at him. Clark leaned over, lying himself back down as he started into another warm open mouthed kiss, letting Lex's tongue into his mouth as the older man pushed him onto his back again, climbing onto him.

Clark slowly spread his legs, moving them from underneath Lex, and letting the older man settle between them, gasping lightly as Lex's hard erection came into contact with his own. Clark lifted his legs enough to wrap them around his lover's lower back, hooking them there by crossing his ankles. Lex let up from kissing long enough to reach over to the side and grab the tube of lubricant from the top of the night stand. Clark pulled his legs forward, spreading his knees to the side and trying not to pull Lex down too far. Lex came back, tube in hand, and continued kissing Clark with as much passion as he could.

Lex broke the kiss once again, bracing himself on his elbows on either side of Clark's head as he flipped open the tube and squeezed a small amount onto his fingers. Pushing himself up, he reached his hand down between their bodies, seeking out Clark's opening, and pressing a finger inside once he came into contact with it. Gasping, Clark tossed his head back, pushing it into the bed at the feel of Lex's finger slowly pushing into him, finding his pleasure spot. Lex withdrew his finger, and rubbed slow circles around Clark's opening before replacing the one finger with two, scissoring them as fast as he could without denying his lover the pleasure he deserved.

Leaning down to resume their kissing, Lex removed his fingers from within Clark before sitting back on his heels. Clark unclasped his ankles and Lex gently lifted Clark's legs toward the younger man's chest. Clark grabbed hold of his legs behind his knees, opening himself wider as he watched through his parted legs to see Lex slick his cock with his lubed hand. Lex leaned down over Clark, lining his cock up to Clark's wet hole, and looking down into Clark's eyes before slowly pressing himself inside. At the slow insertion, Clark let out a soft moan, which Lex could vaguely make out the words 'love you,' as he pushed forward until he was all the way inside.

Planting a tender kiss onto Clark's lips, Lex wrapped his arms underneath Clark's shoulders and began to thrust, slowly at first, just little teasing thrusts that had Clark babbling incoherent nothings. Lex continued his slow, loving thrusts as he buried his face into Clark's neck, nibbling gently on the tanned flesh right below his ear. Clark let go of his legs, wrapping them around Lex's lower back, pushing every once in a while on Lex to make him go deeper, all the while mumbling his desire for the older man.

They continued making love until neither one of them could hold out much longer, the passion driving them higher until finally giving into it, Lex’s thrusting grew faster and faster into his lover. Clark moved his hands from around Lex's neck and brought them above himself, wanting to keep his strength away from Lex as the pounding strokes hit his prostate repeatedly. Hearing the sound of wood cracking breaking into the quiet sounds of their coupling, they laughed softly, and Clark flicked his tongue out of his mouth, sliding along Lex's chin.

Bending his head to latch onto the tongue, Lex drew it into his mouth and it developed into a deeper kiss before it broke, leaving them panting for breath. Lex rose up onto his hands as his strokes into Clark's body became harder and harder. Lex leaned to his left, noting Clark's occupied state with the headboard, and put his full weight onto his arm. He brought his right hand into contact with Clark's weeping erection and squeezed gently.

Clark's fingers gripped the wood tighter, providing a creak to accompany with his groan at the feel of Lex stroking his cock. He frowned slightly and grimaced as he felt his forehead become sprinkled with little splinters of wood. Lex kept his thrusting up, feeling the slow tingle in his balls as his orgasm made its way through his body. A twist of his wrist on Clark's cock, and the teen cried out in time with the headboard caving in on itself as his orgasm ripped itself from his body.

Lex lifted the cum soaked fingers of his right hand up to his lips, licking once, twice, before putting his hand back on the bed, leveling himself out again. He managed a couple more thrusts, becoming jerkier as he went on before giving in to the quivering and gripping muscles of Clark's body as they milked Lex's own orgasm from him. Collapsing onto Clark's chest, Lex lay there for a couple of minutes, focusing on regaining his breath, panting as if he just finished running in a marathon. He lifted his head weakly to see Clark covered in what looked like saw dust and a happy sated smile on his lips. Lex laughed unabashedly as he slowly pulled out of the warm depths of Clark's body and rolled over onto his side.

Clark sat up when Lex rolled off him and shook the wood shavings from off his head as best he could before lying back down and snuggling up to Lex's side. "It's a good thing I love you so much, Clark, or I'd have made you pay for a new headboard," Lex teased before letting out a yawn.

Clark quirked his upper lip in an amused expression. "I love you too, Lex. But it's your own fault." Lex playfully swatted at him before making himself comfortable, hoping that the next day would be as good as they could possibly make it before he had to leave.

@>*~

Sunday had gone very well, with minor whining and puppy dog eyes from Clark pleading to let him go with Lex. Lex was hoping he wouldn't break, and give in to Clark's wishes, knowing that Jonathan would come after him with his shot gun if he dragged his son off across the world. There had been a few tense times throughout the day, but all in all it had been wonderful. No interruptions, and time alone with each other; it was good. Even if the hotel wasn't their first choice of where to spend said time, it was better than nothing.

Meeting Lex early on Monday morning, Clark had almost made his lover late for the plane by delaying the departure from the hotel. After they left, Lex drove them to the castle to pick up a few things he wanted to carry with him personally. He had never been too keen on having his personal things carted to the plane along with the rest of his luggage. Clark had latched onto his hand the entire way, pouting whenever Lex had to let go to shift gears.

When six o'clock rolled around, Lex couldn't persuade Clark to go home; the younger man insisted he was going to spend as much time as he could before Lex was in the air. He only wished he could fly across the ocean with him, ensuring a safe trip. He couldn't bear to lose Lex now that he'd found him, and apparently latched on for good.

Pulling out the school and age factors of the situation again, Lex finally agreed for Clark to accompany him to the airport before having his chauffeur drive him to school. Clark had reluctantly accepted the ride to school, but part of him was just feeling lucky to have the lingering smell of Lex on the seat of the car. Good-byes and lingering kisses, along with promises of love were the last things they had together before being left equally alone for the next five months.

Clark sighed as he walked into Smallville High, noting Chloe's curious look moved from the car he'd gotten out of, and back to him before she sidled up beside him, walking into the school. "What's with the escort?" She asked, quirking an eyebrow and looking at him suspiciously. Sometimes she really could be annoying, but he shouldn't take it out on her.

"I was at the airport with Lex," knowing that she'd wonder why he was with the billionaire that early, even if it was just a friendly thing. "He left for Europe this morning." Yeah, males get up at five in the morning, superspeed through their chores and meet their equally male friend at the airport at six in the morning, saying good-bye to him. Hoping that she wouldn't think it was that odd, considering they were in Smallville. Darn, though. He didn't want her thinking he was a mutant who had become obsessed with Lex, or something.

"Huh," was her eloquent response. Letting out a sigh of relief, glad that she wasn't going to push it for at least right now, saying he'd see her later quickly before splitting away from her and trudging down the hall to his locker.

He groaned upon reaching his locker, opening it and shoving his homework that he'd finished up on Friday night into it. He sighed, moving to grab the book for his next class. Letting his head smack into the wall above his little storage place in the school before he frowned upon realizing how stupid what he just did had been. "Hey, Clark," he heard Pete call from the immediate vicinity behind him. "What's going on?"

Pete's locker wasn't too far away from Clark's when he saw the taller boy's attitude. Then after Clark's head hitting the wall seemingly on purpose, Pete grabbed his books and quickly made his way over to his friend. Clark felt a bit better that his friend was there, but not by much. He at least pulled his head away from the wall and surreptitiously eyeing it to make sure he hadn't pressed a Clark Kent's forehead shaped indent into it.

Hearing his friend's knowing chuckle at the action, Clark turned to face him, leaning against his locker and sighed, looking heart broken. "Hey," he said despondently, looking at Pete and trying for a weak, half-assed smile at best, but all that came out was a pathetic grimace.

"You don't look so good," Pete said, raising his eyebrow questioningly and hoping Clark could shed some light on what was bothering him, since he obviously didn't mean he looked physically ill. He knew Clark wasn't the most open person for sharing his problems, but he could at least attempt to draw something out of him. He knew there were only a few things that could make Clark's mood take this sort of nose dive; a fight with his parents, or a fight with Lex.

He scoffed half under his breath and tried to cover it with a cough, not wanting to upset Clark by his opinion of whom his friend chose for a boyfriend. Even when he was open to trying to get to know Lex, the times that the older man had made a bad impression were still outnumbering the good times. He just hoped it was nothing serious, and that Clark hadn't gotten hurt or anything.

Clark looked at him and sighed again, pushing away from the side of the hallway and starting towards his first class, maybe school would help him take his mind off Lex. Pete shook his head at his friend and followed, catching up to Clark. "So, what happened between you guys on Friday?" Not that he really wanted details, but if it was bothering Clark, then he wanted to help.

Clark shrugged and continued simply looking dejected and sad. "Nothing," Clark said, easily forgetting the great time he'd had with Lex over the weekend, and only focusing on the fact that they would never have a good time like that until Lex was back. That was a long time in Clark's book. "He left for five months starting this morning," he finished, turning into the classroom.

Pete sat down in his desk, which was opposite from Clark's in the aisles, "Man, that sucks." He could imagine that it would suck, if his girlfriend was going to be away for that long. Pete had no problem with it being Lex who was away; Clark would have more time for him, but he wasn't going to be selfish about this. He wanted to cheer Clark up, and not make a rift between the two of them. "But you can call and stuff, right?"

"Yeah," Clark replied, settling into his desk. Today was going to be a long day. He wasn't really in the mood for trying to concentrate on boring school work, or having to socially interact with anyone other than Pete and maybe Chloe today. Lana would be too self-obsessed to be able to sympathize for him, and he didn't want her to know about him and Lex. Chloe, well, she'd just pry into his life, wanting to know all the dirty details or something. Yeah, he'd just stick with Pete for the next few days, hoping he cheered up and was able to return to even his normal life; just without Lex.

Pete turned to his own books, sensing that Clark wasn't really up for anything more than sitting there bored and untalkative for the rest of the day. The bell rang, and Clark sighed as students began to enter the room. Today was going to be a long day.

@>*~

After having gotten off the plane, they had roughly twenty minutes before they reached the LuthorCorp's London headquarters complex. During the ride to the complex, Lex had been presented with new things to consider in the full briefing that he'd undergone during the ride to the complex. The problem was that several of those things he hadn't even been aware his father was involved. Surprised was not his response, more like... a feeling of having been kept in the dark on some town gossip. Nothing important that he should have known what with not being a chief executive for the company, but still feeling left out all the same, for some reason.

The problem his father had vaguely told him about had been bothering him ever since they left; a non-fatal injury was hardly something that Lionel needed to personally oversee. The real situation was much larger than what his father had presented to him on the previous Friday, an accidental injury to an engineer who was working some military bound equipment that the British Navy had commissioned them to build. Lex understood now why it was important for his father to make the trip overseas. Lionel didn't want to let any government officials into the small glitch they'd run into, so the problem would have to be resolved quickly. Lionel was unwilling to fall behind schedule. To remain on their set schedule, LuthorCorp must begin construction on a new ship.

Only hoping the damage to the company's operations could be repaired quickly, Lex was surprised that his father had given him control of the meeting. He was expecting to spend the trip bored out of his skull while having to tag along with his father. Even though Lex had barely been thoroughly versed in the situation, Lionel had simply sat back to listen. Ah, a test. It was the invitation for his son to join him as a partner in LuthorCorp coming back to the fore. A test to see if Lex would cut his father's throat and try to sweep LuthorCorp out from under Lionel if they were equals in the company.

Lex, knowing his father, wouldn't think for a moment that he could do that right away. Not while his father was watching him like a hawk because he was so emotionally charged by the idea. Lionel would assume Lex would want to take control immediately if he had a chance. The idea was one thing, but Lex knew he wasn't ready to have it all under his control, despite how much appeal that control held for him.

Ten models of the new design of the British's naval observational and alternately submersible ships were being constructed; very technologically advanced. It would be a good thing on LuthorCorp's records, and to draw other countries to try to bargain for them to divulge the blue prints. Another possible scenario, was for doing such a good job with the Britain's equipment, that other's wanted LuthorCorp's experienced technicians to handle the new machines' creation or conception.

"Since the British government has done the much appreciated act of granting us certain powers, and the authority to carry out this particular task, it is of the extreme importance to the company that we not let them down by falling behind schedule." Lex stood almost in place, knowing his father would sense his irritability if he began pacing incessantly back and forth in front of the conference table. Limiting himself to gestures as he spoke, "Punctuality, and all that, you know." He finished, smirking, and earning himself a few chuckles from the assorted businessmen in the room.

Keeping the tone of the meeting as light as he could, Lex continued throughout his explanation of the entire situation, making sure everyone knew what was taking place. "The bad news about this is ... there is no room to work on two machines simultaneously in Britain," Lex said, actually drawing a look of confusion from two men present. That made him glad that he was being thorough, and he only wished his father could have seen this. Perhaps not, though, since he was still rather fidgety.

He hadn't conducted business in Europe for Lionel before, much less himself, so he was tentative about cultural differences in speech and whatnot. Sure, he spent enough time in these countries to know all about those sorts of things, but this was business. "We've decided to push things aside in another location, and moving the materials for this project there, assuring that we won't fall behind schedule."

LuthorCorp would be stupid enough to have fallen behind on such an important contract. The British government was a good establishment to befriend at this point, and would be beneficial for Lex if he wanted to go international with LexCorp, using his father's and his own ties to them.

"Consequentially, LuthorCorp's main euro bases, particularly here in London, have been under stress with our London & Divisional Factories; they've slowed their production dramatically, threatening to drive profits down. And that, I don't believe, is productive to any of our futures."

"The move to Edinburgh, Scotland," he realized he'd never actually mentioned where they were moving a part of this project to. "Will be accompanied by Lionel Luthor, we've made this trip personally to handle the situation, sorting out the malfunctions in operations procedures that made this situation come about from the start. Also, cutting out any unnecessary expenses to bring production back up to its former levels, or even exceeding expectations. It would be duly noted in our books and the men responsible for it would not go unnoticed."

"We will not fail with this," Lionel said, standing up from his seat. "It must be flawless in the eyes of the public and government organizations from inception to finale." He reached into his pocket and pulled out his sunglasses. After settling them on his features, he faced the rest of the conference, "Make it work, we'll be counting on you."

The meeting concluded effectively with that final provided incentive from the boss of the multi-national corporation himself. Their discussions, and the reception of the records for them to go over personally themselves had all went over well and Lionel was pleased. Lex nodded courteously to the other men in the room before turning to his father's waiting form. Lex held out his arm for his father, "Dad?"

Lionel let a smile crease his face as he grasped onto his son's arm, being guided out of the room. Father and son quietly discussed the day's events concentrating mainly on the meeting, making their way downstairs. As they entered the public eye, their conversations drew to a halt, unwilling to have others listening in. After getting into their waiting car, they settled in for the drive back to the hotel.

@>*~

Once again guiding his father through the halls, they made it back to their room. Unlocking the door, he guided Lionel through, locking it behind himself. Still guiding his father through the room they made their way around the apartment, which was already becoming very familar.  The first time he had seen it, he had thought it so small compared to the castle but gradually he became use to it until the two bedroom apartment became that second home away from home. Not that anything would replace the castle but while here in London it would have to do. Really it wasn't that bad. It had a small kitchen area, the living room area was nice and big enough to also suffice for a temporay office when matters such as this required attention away from the rush of the corporate office.  Several couches lined it making it a comfy place for relaxing or for entertaining, not that he and his father had done much of that so far. His father's grip on his arm tightened as they neared his room where it lay on the otherside of the living area. Opening the door he left his father there knowing the old man could find his way now.

Some decorative modern furniture speckled the apartment, and no hotel room for Luthors would be complete without a bar, located along the other wall, near the door to Lex's assigned bedroom. He made his way purposefully towards it, leaving his father to blindly search his way to the couch. No pun intended.

"You know," he began conversationally, allowing himself a lengthy pause as he made a drink for his father, carrying it over to the older man, who'd apparently found a seat for himself. Lex settled into one of the chairs before continuing, "Scotland isn't fully self-governing, nor is it a sovereign nation yet. We'd better not have a fuck up there, or else we'd have even more serious problems with possible conspiracy ideas from the Brits, or breech of trust agreement law suits."

He sipped his drink, letting it coat his taste buds, and making a calculating expression grace his face before swallowing, seemingly approving. "Oh, Lex," he passed off the threat of what Lex had pointed out to him, "Don't worry. I'm ... proud of your efforts today in handling the situation." It sounded almost strained, but the fact that he had said it, and even more so that it seemed strained, was all the more reason to lean towards believing it.

"Although, now we should accompany the metals to Edinburgh. I think it would be best if we stayed in London, but made short trips over to make sure it's being set up correctly. We have no room for error on this project any longer." He was already irritated at this minor setback. He would be utterly angry if this fell through his fingers.

"Thanks, Dad," Lex replied, almost taken aback by his father's praise. He'd sought it for most of his life, but he had been hearing his father's approval more than he'd ever had in his life during the past year or two. At least it seemed to be a step in the right direction for their relationship.

Silence descended on them, before Lex decided to make a move. "You alright out here?" He asked his father, before continuing, "I'm tired and distraught and in need of rest. I'm sure you can fend for yourself while I have a nap."

"Oh, yes. Yes." He said, his voice riddled with irritation at being looked after, as he swatted the air in Lex's general direction. "Go ahead," he continued more gently, not so much dismissing his son as acknowledging his departure from his company, "I'll be fine." Lionel wasn't secure with his loss of vision yet, but he was getting better, especially around Lex.

Lex was the only person he trusted not to stab him in the back, even considering the ups and downs of their relationship thus far. Well, that wasn't exactly true. He knew Lex could be ruthless in business at times, but to over throw his own father, or have the company given to him; which would he choose? It would be a better option for them both if they kept the Luthor tradition of handing down the company. If Lex ever had any doubts about not being the heir to the billion dollar fortune of Lionel's, he need not worry.

Lex rolled his eyes at his father before excusing himself fully, going into his own room and locking the door. Now that his father was blind, he wasn't exactly going to worry about Lionel walking in on him, and seeing him nude in the slightest. Not like he would have cared before either way, but, you know.

He sighed, lying back on his bed. He'd been there all day, plus the time difference making it seem like he'd been there for a week, and he felt tired. To add to it, he hadn't even called Clark. He groaned. Not because he didn't want to talk to his boyfriend, but because he wouldn't want to get off the phone. Even if he was a multi-millionaire, he didn't want to rack up a huge phone bill for calling back to the United States.

He scoffed lightly, thinking that when he became president, he'd make sure he got free phone calls. Just so he could call Clark whenever he wanted to, from wherever he was. He sighed again, just imagining that Clark was sitting at home, glaring at the phone, daring it not to ring.

He would bet that his younger lover would sit up all night waiting for his call, but since he'd promised he'd call, he would. Wouldn't want Clark to glare so hard that he set the phone on fire by accident, would he? He was sure Jonathan wouldn't like that shock to his house's electrical system. Oh, Lex would pay for its repair, not as if Clark's father would take the offer.

Considering how the farmer was starting to warm up to him, it was a possibility that the older man would accept. Not that he wanted to have Clark set a fire on purpose just so he could use his money to spruce up the ol' Kent Farm house. He simply meant that he *would*, if it came to it.

Lex continued his musing on his relations with his boyfriend's father as he dialed the number to the Kents. Clark answered immediately, not even half a ring later with, "Lex?" Lex laughed into the phone still able to become amused at the teen, even in his physically drained state.

"What's so funny?" Clark asked defensively, a slightly confused pout crossing his features. Not like it would do him any good when his boyfriend was on the other side of the world, but he could still try.

Lex rearranged his body on the bed and snuggled down into his pillow as much as he could and still manage to speak coherently. "Nothing, Clark." He dismissed it, having been silly and unimportant. "How are you doing?"

Clark sighed into the phone before switching it to his other ear. "I'm doing okay," the pout sufficiently carried through with his voice, "I mean, it still sucks that you had to go, but I know why."

Lex frowned up at the ceiling as he listened to Clark's voice. "Clark, I told you this before," Lex never thought he'd reassure his lover enough with the rate they were going with this. "I'd have stayed with you instead of coming here if I had a choice, but unfortunately, I didn't."

"I know that, Lex," Clark replied, almost able to keep the whine out of his voice. He was trying; he was. It was hard with being away from him, though. "Let's not talk about it anymore. Anyway," he quickly changed the subject, letting his brain forget that they were a million miles away from each other. "How was your day? Jetlag caught up with you yet?"

"Like you wouldn't believe. I lost seven hours somewhere over the Atlantic. I feel like I've already been here for a week," he paused to let out a sigh, "And I'm beginning to rethink my career as a businessman after spending about two hours in a meeting."

Clark laughed. "Sounds fun." Even despite their separation, Lex managed to cheer him up and he was glad for it. He just hoped that he wouldn't slip back to his previous depressed state tomorrow.

"Oh, yeah. Oodles," Lex agreed sarcastically. "I'll make sure to take pictures to show you later."

Clark laughed again; Lex had said 'oodles.' "What time is it over there anyway?"

"Well, I'm about seven hours ahead, so it's about eleven here." Lex rolled over onto his side and glanced at the clock. Yep, it's eleven fourteen.

"Darn," he said before glancing down at his watch, "It's only four here. So, has your father been behaving himself?"

"Amazingly, yes," Lex replied, noting another quick subject change. "But it won't last long. I think the jetlag has gotten to him too. Tomorrow he'll be bitching and moaning about life in general again, I'm sure. How was school?"

"Same as it always is. Boring, homework up the wazoo and Chloe giving me the evil eye." Clark shrugged, and much like his pout, it wasn't carried through, leaving the motion pointless, but at least he knew he did it.

"Why'd she do that?" Lex asked, curious. He knew that Chloe had poked into Clark's life before, and it wouldn't be a wise decision to do it again, for her sake.

"Cause I was chauffeured to school," Clark said incredulously. 'Why else,' he thought, shaking his head. "She wasn't impressed, anyway. Plus, when she asked me about it, I told her I was seeing you off. I got the eye all day for it," Clark laughed, amused.

"Just be careful," Lex warned, and, yes, knowing that Clark didn't want to hear it, but it wouldn't hurt to say it again. "You don't want everyone knowing about us yet. Technically, you're still jail bait, so I could get into a lot of trouble. Even though your parents know we're dating."

"Lex, we only really dated for a week," he reminded his boyfriend. "Plus, we're..." He paused, swallowing. He tried to say it sometimes, but it just wouldn't come out of his mouth. "*Doing things*, now."

Lex chuckled quietly to himself. Trust Clark to make sex sound cute and adorable. "Yes, Clark, we are. But besides us and Pete, no one knows." It was just as well that no one *should* know. They both valued privacy and it would be terrible if it were to be invaded.

"I know that, Lex." The pout was back, and Clark really wanted to *do things* with Lex right now.

"Well, Love, I really wish I could spend all night on the phone with you, but we have an early meeting tomorrow and I'm very tired. I'll call you again as soon as I can, alright?"

"Aww, Lex," Clark whined, unable to squash his disappointment down, but giving in, because he knew he had to go. "Okay," he relented. "When?"

"I don't know, Love, within a few days hopefully." He hoped it wasn't too long. Days passing without some contact with Clark would majorly blow. "I love you."

"I love you too, Lex. Don't forget me now," he added, almost sounding worried.

"Never, Love," Lex said tenderly, making sure it wasn't taken lightly. "Talk to you later."

"Night, Lex."

"Good-night, Clark." He listened for the soft click that signaled the disconnection of the call before hanging up the receiver. After having undressed, he laid down in the bed, wrapping the covers around him, letting sleep claim his weary body.

@>*~

Clark woke up and stretched, groaning grumpily as he levered himself to a sitting position on his bed. He hadn't talked to Lex yesterday and it was horrible. School had been better, at least, but not by much. He grimaced at himself in the mirror above his dresser before trudging out of his room to the hallway. Martha, downstairs was glad that she didn't have to pull her son out of bed today. She knew he was having a hard time, though, but work had to be done. Glancing up at the ceiling above her when she he heard Clark's heavy footsteps around his room, she smiled and turned her attention back to her task.

The hallway being as far as he got and Clark stood leaning against the wall, bracing himself using his head. He didn't want to do anything but stay in bed today. He hiccupped softly when he pulled away from the wall before starting on his way downstairs. He didn't care about appearances this morning; he just wanted to eat and do his chores and possibly get a small nap in before school if he hurried.

Martha raised an eyebrow in passive attention to her son, hearing the steady paced footsteps stop in the hall. She frowned outright when she heard frantic stumbling back down the hall and seemingly into the bathroom. Well, when you gotta go, you gotta go.

Clark threw the seat of the toilet up only seconds before what little he'd eaten the previous day came rushing up through his throat. When he finished, he let his head drop with an echoing thud onto the porcelain. Moaning as he felt his stomach acids churning around inside him and slowly burning their way back down his body.

He looked thoroughly more miserable when he actually made it downstairs than he had when he first got out of bed. He slumped down into his chair at the table, and looked at his mother, who had trained a concerned eye onto him and his hair that was sticking up at odd angles.

It wasn't that he felt ill because of throwing up, just that he had felt miserable already and the vomiting hadn't helped. Martha brought over the plate she'd dished Clark's breakfast up on, and set it in front of him before pulling out a chair beside him. Sitting down, she watched as he slowly pulled the plate towards him and ate at just the same pace, and all the while looking like crap.

It was too quick of a trip for Clark in the bathroom, and the only other deduction she could come up with was suspecting that he had thrown up. He hadn't mentioned anything about it, though, so maybe she was wrong? He just hoped he could get over it. Not wanting to alarm his parents, Clark didn't mention to his mother that he had just puked his guts out.

Never think you can slip something past your mother, Clark. Martha was paying attention; it was her job. He had become more moody in the last few days then he ever had before, even for a teenager and their typical mood swings. He'd never really been *this* type of moody before. Maybe he was just upset because Lex was away?

They had never been apart for this long before, at least not without more frequent phone calls. What they had in public was as close to dating as they could get in a place like Smallville, knowing that they couldn't be openly affectionate without causing problems with the law.

Jonathan reached the top of the stairs leading up to the porch in front of their house. Pulling the door open, he walked cheerfully into the kitchen, smiling at his wife. He had gotten an early morning start on the normal everyday chores that had to be done before he had even eaten breakfast. Glad that he'd done it; now he'd have time for more relaxing things. "Morning, Clark. Sleep well?"

Clark finished chewing the food he'd shoved carelessly into his mouth before replying, "Eh, it was okay." Martha added talking with a full mouth to the list of unusual behaviors her son had shown in the short time he had been awake.

His parents waited for more from him, but all Clark did was scoop more food into his mouth, almost simply complacent to ignore them for the rest of the morning. Jonathan eyed his son for a moment, frowning at the disheveled appearance he presented.. "You know, sweetheart," Martha cut in when she saw that Jonathan was about to say something about their son's condition. "Lex will call again. I'm sure he's just been very busy."

Clark looked up at his parents to respond this time. His eyes looked tired and he seemed to be waking up a bit now that he'd gotten some food into him. "I know, Mom. It's only been two days since he last called," he tried not to let the hopefulness of another phone call from Lex show, but he failed. "I've just been a bit tired. I think I'm still getting used to him not being here, though." He sighed, finished with his breakfast, excused himself rather quickly and went outside to take care of his morning chores.

Jonathan followed Clark with his eyes until his son was out of the house and down the steps of the porch. Turning to his wife, he pursed his lips and let his forehead crease slightly before speaking. "Is it just me, or is something not quite right with him today?"

"I think he's just upset," she supplied her only explanation for the moment. She moved to clean up Clark's plate, taking it back to the kitchen and setting it on the counter beside the sink. "He'll get over it soon," she continued, pouring herself a cup of coffee and sitting down at the table across from her husband. "I hope," she added, taking a sip out of her cup.

@>*~

"Hey, Clark, wait up!"

Clark slowed his walk down the school hallway, which surprisingly wasn't too cluttered with bodies, and looked over his shoulder to see Pete a little further down the hall. "Hey, Pete," he said, sounding rather morose, but otherwise glad to see his friend. "What's up?" Perhaps there was some interesting news or gossip floating about that would improve his mood.

"You all right, man?" Pete looked at his friend, concern clearly written on his features. "You look like you haven't slept for days," he said, falling into step beside Clark.

"I'm fine," he replied. He had been saying that a lot lately, but it was a lie. Oh, well. Just another one to add to the web he was already weaving. "Just been a bit tired lately. You seen Chloe around?"

"Yeah, she's still in the Torch office going over next week's spread. Why?" Pete asked as he let Clark pass through the doorway before him, and following him into the class room.

"Just wondering," Clark shrugged before settling himself into his seat. "She said she wanted to talk to me. I don't know what about, but hopefully it's not about me and you know who."

"Yeah," Pete laughed. "She'd start asking you to set her up with interviews." Pete teased him about his relationship with the billionaire until the teacher entered the room and the class began. At least it drew a smile out of him, though.

@>*~

Clark walked down the hall towards the Torch office with a twinkie in hand. Since he had been feeling a bit nauseous earlier that morning, he hadn't been able to eat much at breakfast. It seemed his appetite was returning, now, and he was hungry. He'd caught sight of the vending machine from the corner of his eye, and was drawn towards it with a sudden craving for twinkies. After practically ransacking the machine of its content of all of the twinkies he could afford with his pocket change, he filled his pockets with what he couldn't hold in his hands. He turned and carried on towards the Torch to meet up with his friend.

After stuffing the rest of the confection made of nothing but sugar into his mouth, he crossed through the doorway and stopped right next to Chloe. She looked up from her computer monitor and smiled brightly at her friend. "Hey," she greeted him, swatting him playfully on the arm. "I'm surprised you actually stopped by; you've been avoiding me all week."

Clark fought the urge to look down at the floor as he scuffed his shoes against it. "Yeah, I'm sorry about that. I've just been busy with things at home and kind of got side tracked." She didn't look as if she bought it, but it was good enough for now. "So, what'd you want?"

"Well," she said, dismissing Clark and his never quite good enough answers, "I was wondering if you would hang out with me at the Talon for a bit. I need some coffee and a break from this stubborn article."

Clark set his bag down on the table in front of him and proceeded to rummage around inside for another twinkie. "Yeah, sure. Now?" He asked, unwrapping the small cake.

"Actually, I have to hand this other article I've completed in to Principal Reynolds before he leaves for the day. So, how 'bout I meet you there in, say, fifteen minutes?"

"All right, I'll see you there," Clark said as he tossed the wrapper into the waste basket and stuffed the twinkie into his mouth. After a small wave back to Chloe, he headed out the door.

Chloe watched him leave and shook her head in amusement when he was out of sight, turning back to her work. "I'm surprised he isn't as big as a house with all the junk food he eats," she muttered to herself as she walked out of the office and headed to the principal's office.

@>*~

Clark looked around, desperately trying to find an empty table once he'd gotten inside the Talon. It looked like the advertising for the two for one pricing had finally worked out for Lana. The Talon was unusually crowded for this time of day, especially since that whole mouse situation had run them all out of there a week ago.

Spying an empty table far back in the corner of the coffee shop, Clark readjusted his hold of the strap holding his back pack up on his shoulder. He made his way towards the table like a man on a mission. Just as he sat down in the booth and placed his bag on the ground next to his feet, he looked up to see Lana standing right beside him. He was slightly startled by the immediate attention he'd drawn. "Hey, Clark," Lana greeted him cheerfully. "What can I get you?"

He watched her stand there, waiting for his order with her pencil poised to write down his selection. "Um," he stopped to think for a moment. He hadn't been having a good time with doing that lately, and Lana wasn't helping. "Hot chocolate with triple whipped cream, please," he said, grabbing a napkin from the dispenser and fiddling with it. Chloe didn't help either, though.

Lana quirked an eyebrow at her friend and smiled. "Okay. One hot chocolate, triple whipped cream coming up," she said, smiling at him before turning around and heading back towards the counter to fill out his order.

Clark sat back in his seat, and let out a heavy sigh as he waited impatiently for Chloe to show. He didn't really want to stay at the Talon in case Lex called him tonight. He'd be *very* upset if he missed his boyfriend's call. It must have been almost ten minutes that he'd waited for his friend. It felt like it, at least. Just as he was about to give up and go home to sit by his phone, Chloe walked into the coffee shop.

He watched her look around for him and almost wanted to melt into the seat so she wouldn't see him. Darn, she saw him. Walking towards his table she plopped down into the seat opposite Clark and smiled at him.

"I almost thought you ditched me," Chloe said as she waved a hand towards the front counter, insistent that she draw Lana's attention.

Clark sighed quietly to himself and looked out the window to his side, rolling his eyes slightly. He really didn't want to be here right now. "Yeah, well. I said I would come and I did. What did you want anyway?"

"Like I said before," Chloe said, leaning forward onto the table between them. "I haven't seen you for a while and I wanted to spend a little time with my friend." Clark smiled tightly at Chloe before taking a sip from his mug of hot chocolate Lana had just set down in front of him. Chloe turned her attention from Clark to Lana. "I'll have a cappuccino, please."

Lana smiled down at Chloe before heading back to the front counter. Clark licked at a bit of whipped cream that had ended up on his upper lip. "So..." Clark began, raising an eyebrow at his friend and waiting for her to get to what she really wanted.

"So," she repeated, not particularly liking the defensiveness Clark was taking with her wanting to spend some time with him. Not caring whether Clark wanted to talk about what she did or not, she continued, "I want to know what's up with you and our resident billionaire."

Chloe frowned, concerned at the slight spray of hot chocolate that ended up across the top of the table between them. Clark coughed twice as he grabbed another napkin to wipe at his nose. "Chloe," he started firmly, "There is *nothing* going on between me and Lex. I don't know why you keep pushing this, or what you think you see, but we're just friends."

She didn't believe that for one moment, Clark realized, as she leaned back and folded her arms across her chest. "Uh huh. So, why'd you see him off to wherever he went if you two are 'just friends'?"

Clark sighed, feeling roughly between talking to a skeptical child, and simply wanting to scream. "Chloe, I'd have done the same for you or Pete if I wasn't going to see you for a long time," he said, taking another sip of his hot chocolate. Of course, he wouldn't have done it if they had left so early in the morning, but she didn't need to know that.

Well, she did actually believe what Clark had just said. She wasn't entirely buying his front, though. It was too defensive. "Right." Terse, but she didn't know what to say now. Clark remained seated with her in tense silence until he finished his drink. He said good-bye and waved to Lana courteously before he left the Talon. He had some phone watching to do, waiting for Lex to call.

@>*~

Lex sighed as he relaxed into one of the sofas that adorned the room. His father decided he'd have dinner without his son, so Lex was now free to work in peace. Lionel was with an assistant, so he'd be fine. The older man didn't want to spend the time joined at the hip as much as Lex did, so that was good. If it kept going like this, with Lionel not even with him, why was he even there? He'd be damned if he was going to spend the trip *actually* tagging along with no real purpose when he could be at home with Clark.

Setting his computer down on his lap, he started it up and signed into the wireless network. All of his computers were still wired into the LuthorCorp network. Maybe he should change it over to LexCorp? Though his father still owned and operated a lot of things in his life, if he didn't have to pay for internet service, he wasn't going to. It was no threat to him being on the same network as his father at the moment, so no worries.

Online, Lex logged into the LuthorCorp mainframe computer that served so many connected terminals simultaneously in the large complex organization that was LuthorCorp. He entered his user name and password, completing his access to the super user level, and opened the technical report on what went wrong with construction. Lex settled in to read, and he was just getting comfortably into it. Well, as much as you could comfortably get into this sort of thing, when he was interrupted by a little bloop signaling that he had received a new email.

Curious, since he barely ever got email that he wasn't expecting, he put his reading on hold and went to check the message. It was from Clark. He smiled and opened it.

'Dear Lex,

I really hate you right now. Leaving me here while you're off doing business and I'm stuck here alone and bored. Before you remind me about my age and school stuff, I just wanted to tell you I know all this already. I'm still mad at you, though. :o(  Nothing much is really happening except I'm lonely without you here. You know this really sucks, right? Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that I still miss you and I'm here counting down the days until you come back. I love you lots!

Love,

Clark.'

Lex grinned at the message on his screen. Clark always managed to cheer him up, from his silly innocent smiles, to his dorky emoticons in his emails. He pressed the reply button and began his return message to his boyfriend. The two previous nights were good with the phone call to his boyfriend right before he went to sleep. He had been wondering when Clark would realize he could send email after email to him at any time.

@>*~

Clark exhaled the deep breath he'd taken as he leaned down against the fence post. He was trying, at least. His normal chores had gone okay, along with only minor complaining. Now he just couldn't concentrate. Jonathan had been looking at his son out the corner of his eye, wondering what was up with him. Just when he decided he'd ask what was bothering Clark, his son turned to him. "I'm gonna go to the house. I gotta pee," Clark said, almost desperate for an excuse to leave. His father nodded and he briskly made his way towards the house.

Clark watched until his dad wasn't looking before he changed course and zipped into the barn, and up to his loft. They were almost done with the work anyway, so Jonathan just shook his head when his son hadn't returned yet; knowing that Clark had been moody and lazy lately. He let it go even though that sort of attitude didn't belong on a farm with work to be done.

Lying on his couch in the loft, Clark balanced a plate of cookies on his chest. His mother had brought them up, attempting to lure him into conversation with them. He wasn't falling for it, though. He'd accepted the sugary goodness and shooed his mother back to the house. Martha had just frowned and tsked at him before reluctantly leaving. She had wanted to talk, but apparently he didn't.

Unaware of how late it had became, his quiet time was interrupted by footsteps coming up the stairs to his loft. Had he drifted off to sleep? Seeing Pete walking towards him when he opened his eyes, he wiggled himself back to sit up more.

Pete began to laugh, "Look at you!" He said, gesturing to his friend. Clark had the plate, now empty, and cookie crumbs scattered around his chest. He looked down at himself and absently brushed at them.

"What?" He asked, sounding almost angry to Pete. His friend shrugged and sat himself down on the chair at Clark's desk. Clark frowned at his friend when he didn't receive an answer, but he was drawn back to the plate in front of him. Martha had noticed he was craving more sugary things, and even if they weren't healthy for a normal person, that much sugar certainly wouldn't hurt Clark. If there was anything she could do to make her son happy, it was give him sugar.

Clark lifted the plate, checking to see if any cookies had migrated under it. He sighed forlornly when he realized he'd really eaten them all. He set the empty plate down on the floor and sat up. Looking to Pete, who was watching him incredulously, he asked, "Will you get me some more cookies?" He almost let the puppy dog eyes loose, but remembered this was Pete he was talking to.

Again, Pete laughed, drawing a slightly upset frown out of Clark. "What's with you?" Pete asked, leaning over to punch Clark in the shoulder playfully. Clark felt like he was sulking but he didn't care. He crossed his arms over his chest; Pete was laughing at him.

Okay, confusion had dawned. Pete cocked his head and looked at his friend. Clark had been acting weird at school ever since Lex had left, and it was beginning to be a little extreme. Being a moody teenager was one thing, but this was bad.

"You all right, man?" Pete asked, more concerned this time, he just hoped there were no meteor rocks around, maybe purple ones, that were making Clark act differently.

"I'm fine, Pete!" Clark snapped, "Now go away." Pete's eyebrows climbed high as he witnessed a moody and frustrated Clark flop himself back down on the couch.

"Alright, dude. See you at school," he wasn't going to argue with a moody Clark, or hold it against him. As he made his way down the steps, he just hoped this would pass and he'd have his normal friend back. At least as normal as Clark ever got when he wasn't acting like this.

Clark sighed into the pillow at the end of the couch and shut his eyes. Okay, so he'd basically told Pete to fuck off. That wasn't good, but he didn't really care right now. All he wanted to do was lay on his couch and eat more cookies.

@>*~

Jonathan sat down on the couch with his latest issue of 'Tractors Quarterly', trying to relax. The situation with Clark was getting worse and he didn't know what to do. He knew how his son felt about Lex, but this was taking it a bit too far. His son was getting moodier and lazier with each passing day. And what was up with the sudden sugar intake?

He sighed heavily to himself, removing his reading glasses as he pinched the bridge of his nose. Martha came into the living room and sat down next to her husband. "Everything okay, Jonathan?" She asked, putting a hand on top of her husband's and taking his glasses from him, setting them down on the coffee table.

"I'm worried about Clark," he said, "He's been acting very strange this last week and he doesn't seem to be getting any better." Jonathan frowned in concern, "Do you think he might have been exposed to red meteor rocks again?"

Martha shook her head at that. "No. Remember last time?" No, Jonathan didn't want to remember that. He sighed and nodded. "They made him pig headed and almost evil," she continued. "No. It's more like..." She frowned, thinking. "I don't know. If it wasn't so incomprehensible, I'd say he was either on his period or pregnant."

Jonathan looked at her incredulously before breaking out laughing, loudly. Almost tilting himself over to the side, he resettled himself on the couch. "Martha, be serious," he chuckled. "Clark's male. That much we know about him."

"I don't know, Jonathan," she said, her voice wavered with leeriness. "It could be possible. I mean, he's not exactly human," she reminded him. No, Clark wasn't human and there was no denying he was male, but you never know.

"Martha," Jonathan began, trying to sound reasonable and not put down his wife's idea. "This is Clark we're talking about. Even if it was," he paused for a moment almost unbelieving that he was saying this. "Possible," he continued. "Wouldn't he have had sex to get pregnant? As far as I know, he and Lex haven't gotten past kissing. Clark's too shy."

Martha frowned at her husband, but didn't argue. Still a little curious about Jonathan's certainty that her son was too shy to go past kissing, she sighed, knowing he was probably right, but unable to squash the awful feeling that he might be wrong. She leaned forward and picked up her glass of lemonade, taking a sip, still thinking about this all. It *was* possible, however unlikely her husband thought it was.

@>*~

Martha watched as her son came plodding down the stairs and straight to the fridge. He opened the fridge and grabbed a bottle of milk, throwing a pointedly unamused look at his mother when he reached into the cupboard and grabbed a glass before pouring himself a drink. God, he hated throwing up. Today was good, though, he hadn't. He just hoped it had finally stopped.

Trudging over to the table, he pulled out a chair and sat down on it heavily. "Did you throw up?" Martha asked. He looked decidedly grumpy and she didn't want to upset him any more. She wanted to know; this was getting to be ridiculous just speculating on what could be wrong. She had to approach the subject sometime, and now was a good of a time as any.

Clark shook his head and stared at the table sleepily. At least he looked marginally better today than he had the previous days.

"No," she repeated softly to herself. She nodded, "That's good," waiting to see if he had anything else to say. It didn't look like it.

She decided to voice one suggestion for an explanation of why he was not able to hold much down, this had gone on long enough. "It could have been that your body is cleaning out any toxins that you might have been ingesting. They wouldn't be good for - " She caught herself. "You?" She was jumping to conclusions. He might not be pregnant.

At least he hadn't paid too much attention to what she was saying to catch her slip up. All she got was an unintelligible mumble from her son. Okay, so he wasn't up for talking much. "How are you feeling?" She asked, holding back reaching with the natural instinct of a mother to check his forehead for a fever.

Clark's expression changed and Martha felt a twinge of happiness at the change in his demeanor. He looked thoughtful for a moment, his head lifting slightly. "Hungry," he finally confessed. Ah, the binge eating begins. Martha just hoped it wasn't only sugar that her son wanted. Arguing with a pregnant alien would be worse than a pregnant woman, she'd wager.

He asked if pancakes for breakfast would be alright. She smiled and obliged, getting up from her seat to start on them, they weren't full of sugar, at least. Her face brightened some more when she heard his chair scrape lightly back against the floor. Turning to smile as he made his way towards her she hoped that this was the end of his moody behavior.

Clark gave a weak smile in return and stood beside her, opening a cupboard and pulling out a bowl for her. She smiled in thanks, but it was quickly crushed by what he grabbed next. She frowned helplessly as he carried the powdered sugar and syrup back to the table. Sugar. He wants sugar. After setting the bowl down, she turned to open the fridge, pulling out a bowl of raspberries. Oh, well, at least try to get something that was nutritious as well as sweet into him would be a start. She sighed and turned back to the bowl, pulling the ingredients out of the cupboards and began on their breakfast.

After cooking, Martha decided she couldn't keep this inside any longer. She had to say something. Knowing that Jonathan would hate the abrupt way she was about to bring it up, but also understanding what would happen if she spent the time to discuss it with him beforehand. It would be put off time and time again until it was too late. "Honey, we have to talk..." She said as she sat down at the table.

Eyeing Jonathan sternly when he moved to get up, he smiled sweetly and lifted his coffee up, gesturing it towards the kitchen. She raised an eyebrow at him and nodded. He wasn't leaving her to this alone. They were a family, no matter what they had to talk about. "About what?" Clark asked, pushing his plate aside and pulling a piece of pie up in front of him.

She didn't like the idea of pushing sweets into his mouth for him, but she was at least hoping to keep him there with them long enough to talk. "We think we know what's..." She didn't want to say 'wrong with him', because it wasn't wrong. It was just... different. "Making you moody lately."

It was quiet for a moment, and Jonathan sat back down and resumed eating. Martha just sat and looked concerned. Clark frowned, and prompted, "What?" his mouth full of pie.

Martha frowned right back at him for his lack of manners and looked to Jonathan. Seeing no help coming from her husband, she took a breath and then let it come right out. "Could it be possible that you're pregnant?" Bluntly was the way to go if it was going to be this hard to even say things straight out until now.

There was a metallic clatter against the wood surface of the kitchen table when Clark's hand went lax and he dropped the spoon he was holding. "See, Martha?" Jonathan piped up, sounding almost overly confident in himself. "He's just as shocked by the prospect, thinking it's ridiculous." Clark just smiled nervously.

"Gotta have sexual relations to get pregnant, even if you're an alien, right, son?" Jonathan chuckled, hoping to make light of the mess his wife had gotten them into. He sounded a bit smug, but once again, his wife saw through it. Martha could see the doubt in his body language as he crossed his arms over his chest and nodded, sure of himself. They knew that Clark and Lex were a bit more than just friends, but they didn't think they'd been having sex yet.

Crap. Clark was unable to remain looking at his parents with his mouth open, shocked. He decided looking away from them and shuffling nervously in his seat was a better option. He cleared his throat and tried to look at his parents again, but he felt like his head was weighted down. He squeezed his eyes shut, feeling the little blush trying to sneak up and warm his face.

Martha opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. She closed it and thought for a moment as she turned to look at her husband. He looked about read to blow his top. She turned back to her son, and asked her question, hoping she wouldn't have to break up a fight between her husband and son. "Clark, have you and Lex been... intimate?"

Clark nodded and forced himself to look up, feeling rather sheepish. Crap, crap, crap. His parents not finding out how serious he and Lex had been until Clark had already accidentally gotten knocked up. Oh, this was good, Clark scoffed mentally to himself.

Jonathan had known they were dating, and hadn't been too pleased with it from the start. Even finding out that they have had sex before didn't make him that angry, but when he realized that Lex Luthor had had sex with his son and gotten him pregnant, he couldn't hold it in any longer.

The argument didn't go as horribly as Clark or Martha had thought it would. After his father had expressed all his thoughts on the issues, he'd calmed down and was able to talk more rationally. He found that his parents were very upset with not just Lex, but him as well. He felt as if he would be on the receiving end of disappointed heads shaking at him for a very long time.

There was also the allowance to understanding it was an accident, and that even Clark didn't know, much less Lex, that he could become with child. He sighed. He was still in school, even if he was smart enough not to be. How could he take care of a baby?

@>*~

The morning's earlier conversation was not something he liked to remember, but unfortunately his mother had a point. He hated disappointing them at all. He wasn't even sure he really was pregnant, but he was sure his mom was right. She'd know the different signs and symptoms of it. Wouldn't she?

Deciding that his idea of having a nap was shot, he sighed and sat up in his bed. He wasn't going to be able to sleep if he didn't find some way of confirming his mother's suspicions. He couldn't very well take a pregnancy test. Heck, he was sure if he was pregnant, his hormones wouldn't even register on something made for human females. The only other way he could think of to check, was to x-ray himself. His skin may have been invulnerable, but it wasn't made out of lead.

Taking a deep breath to calm himself, Clark looked down at his abdominal area and concentrated his focus. He looked on as his eyes penetrated the different layers of skin his body was made up of, stopping right before he got to his bones. He didn't see anything really strange or out of place at first. Surprisingly, his innards looked almost exactly like that of a human male.

Scanning around his lower torso, he caught sight of something a bit weird looking. There was a sac-like organ situated right above what he remembered from biology to be his bladder with a long tubular looking thing coming from it and connecting to his rectum. He concentrated even harder to see if there was anything in the sac. Upon further inspection, he could just barely make out a little pinkish looking blob, moving around inside of the sac. Wondering if the movement was from breathing, he held his breath and continued to watch the blob in the sac. It kept moving and squirming inside of the sac.

His head jerked back quickly enough to make his eyes hurt from being suddenly switched back to normal vision. Martha was downstairs, almost finished drying off one of the plates from breakfast when she heard her son's desperate yell for her coming from upstairs. Startling her enough that her hands became slack, she dropped the plate onto the floor. A broken plate was nothing to her compared to what her baby might be screaming for. Forgetting her previous task, she ran through the kitchen and up the stairs to her son's room. Dashing through the doorway she almost slid across the floor to get to her sobbing child. Pulling him into a comforting hug, she asked, "Clark, honey, what's wrong?"

Clark held on tight to his mother, shoving his head into the curve of her neck, crying onto her shoulder. He was barely able to get the words out, almost hoping if he didn't say them, it wouldn't be true. "Mom, I'm pregnant."

Martha sighed and rocked her baby back and forth in her arms. She already had an idea that he was, he must have checked to confirm it for himself. She sighed softly and brought a hand up to run through his hair, trying to calm him. Things were going to change in the Kent household and she wasn't sure if it'd be for the best or worst.

@>*~

Lex sighed and let his head fall back against the seat. He'd just sat through a two hour meeting, alone, listening to a drone ramble on about safety and operating procedures to the rest of his staff. Mostly he was just there to make sure it went well, to supervise, he had no real input to the discussion. No wonder Lionel had sent him to the meeting alone; his father didn't want to sit through a boring meeting any more than he did. He had almost drifted off to sleep when the car stopped and his door was opened. Blinking to clear his head, he got out and made his way up to his room.

Sliding his pass card into the slot, he pushed the door open when it was unlocked and walked into the room, shutting the door a bit too hard behind him. Lionel was sitting on one of the couches with his electronic reader and a report in his lap, most likely the same report Lex had read earlier. His father must have been in his room while he was gone, because he had left it on his bed on top of his brief case. "Lex?" Lionel called, setting his reader down.

Walking into the room, Lex shucked his jacket off and tossed it onto the cushion beside his father, making Lionel jerk his head towards the offending garment. Lex smirked at the scene. Dear old dad looking like a timid little rabbit having been startled in the grass. "Lex," it wasn't so much of a questioning call this time, but more of an annoyed recognition.

"Hey, Dad," Lex acknowledged his own presence to his father and leaned down to pick up the decanter his father had moved from the bar to the side table to his left. Carrying it back to the bar, he picked up a glass and poured himself a drink. Lionel groped his surroundings, searching for his cane before standing from the couch and stretching his legs. Lex turned to watch his father make his way towards him as he lifted the glass to his mouth and took a generous gulp of its contents.

"How was the meeting?" Lionel asked, gesturing the report in the air as he spoke. Lex looked into his glass, wishing it would have a never ending source of alcohol so that he could drown himself in it and at least hallucinate that he was back home with Clark, not stuck here with his father.

Taking another drink, Lex let the alcohol sit in his mouth for a moment, permeating his sense of taste before he answered. "Tiresomely long and tedious," he replied after swallowing. He frowned, curious of what his father was doing; either following the liquor or he was going to touch him.

Lionel proceeded towards him, switching his cane to the other hand to bring his right up to his son. Lex stilled, watching and waiting until his father's hand was about to settle around his neck, to almost cradling the base of his head. Lex sighed and moved his arm from between them, setting his glass back down on the table behind him. "You must be doing a good job, then," Lionel said slowly, sensing the tense exterior his son had adopted, and began to feel unsure.

"Dad, I'm not in the mood for this," feeling Lionel's fingers drift slightly upwards, tentatively touching where there was no hair, just soft smooth sensitive skin. Lex felt a coldness settle over his body as he stared into his father's unseeing eyes with contempt. Lionel felt his features shift, changing into almost a look of sadness, but underlined with content. Now that he couldn't see his son's lack of hair, it didn't seem to matter.

His father had never touched his scalp where hair should have been in his entire life, and Lex felt almost angry for it to be now that he did. Stepping to the side, and backing away from his father's touch, he let out a breath he hadn't known he was holding. "You can call your assistant if you need anything."

Turning away from his father, Lex crossed the open doorway into his room, and made his way towards the bathroom. Opening the door and shutting it behind him, he leaned back against it, sighing heavily as he did so before bringing his hands up to his face. God, he hated to leave him out there.

"Ahghh," he groaned into his palms. Why the hell did he have to be here? As much as he loathed their relationship, he didn't want Lionel to hurt himself trying to do something because he couldn't see what in god's name he was doing. Lex dropped his hands and slammed a fist against the door behind him before stalking towards the shower.

@>*~

Clark was glad that the puking every other day had finally stopped. He never really felt ill or anything, he just hated the acidic tangy taste that was left over in his mouth afterwards and the sympathetic looks his mother kept giving him every time it had happened. His father would glare at him every once in a while over the whole sleeping with Lex debacle. He felt ashamed that his father was so disappointed in him. That and the fact that he wasn't 'legal' were the main reasons why he never told the two of them in the first place.

Of course, the vomiting had been nothing compared to the binges he'd gone into. His parents had been at their wits end trying to keep up with his eating habits. His mother had to be sure there was plenty of food at the dinner table or no one but Clark would eat that night. Plus, he had still craved massive quantities of sugar. None of them knew exactly why he did. As long as Clark got his sugar regularly, he had been happy and not as moody as he had been weeks before.

Lately though, Clark had curbed his food intake greatly, which had helped his parents' spending greatly. Going grocery shopping three times a week instead of their normal once every two weeks had put a great strain on what money they had. They hadn't wanted to stifle Clark and the baby's health, but they were more then happy to not be greeted regularly at 'Smallville Harvest'. The looks they'd received made Jonathan want to hop the next flight to London and gun Lex down.

Now, Clark was currently in the kitchen, in the middle of the night, rummaging around in the fridge. Still half asleep, Clark had gotten out of bed, walked out of his room and made his way down the stairs. The only noise that could be heard was the soft slapping of socked feet as he had walked into the kitchen. Once he got to the fridge, he had opened it up, in search of something thirst quenching. Grabbing the bottle of milk, he unscrewed the lid and drank right out of it. He didn't stop swallowing until the bottle was completely empty of its contents.

He grunted in frustration and put the now empty bottle back into the fridge, scanning the shelves for something else to drink. Half an hour later, he had gone through their entire water supply, three two liter bottles of coke, a carton of orange juice and the half full jug of iced tea his mother had made earlier that day.

Thirst quenched, he closed the door and headed back up the stairs to his room where he laid down on the bed and quickly feel back asleep.

@>*~

Martha hummed to herself as she prepared breakfast for her men. There was toast, eggs, pancakes and a bowl of powdered sugar all waiting on the table. She would have had milk and orange juice laid out too, but someone had drank it all and left the empty containers in the fridge. She sighed and realized she'd have to go to the store to buy more for tomorrow's breakfast.

Jonathan made his way down the stairs and headed towards the kitchen and its wonderful smells. Seeing Martha already hard at work with breakfast, he snuck up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist, planting a kiss on top of her red hair. "Morning, sweetheart. Mmm, it smells great in here."

Martha turned her head and placed a kiss onto her husband's cheek as she continued stirring what was in the bowl in her hands. "Thank you. Is Clark up yet?"

Jonathan let go of Martha and moved to the coffee maker. "Yeah, I saw him stumble his way into the bathroom before I came down here. I'm just glad he's not sleeping his life away anymore."

"Well, he does still need to take it easy. We have no idea if this is even common for his people. I mean, what type of species needs to be able to procreate so easily? If we knew where the key to Clark's ship disappeared to, we could see if maybe it had the answers to our questions," Martha sighed as she flipped over the pancakes before they burned.

"I don't know if we'll ever find it again. It's been over a year since we lost it and I haven't a clue where it could be. For all we know someone's using it as a paper weight on their desk."

Martha was about to respond when she caught sight of Clark coming down the stairs. "Morning, Clark. How was your night?"

Clark yawned and took a seat at the table, picking at his food. "It was alright. Why?"

"Well, someone decided to raid the fridge and drink us out of house and home," Martha replied, smiling at her son. She wasn't angry with him, just amused at his weird nightly habits.

"Oh, sorry. I was just really thirsty this morning," Clark smiled apologetically at his mother. He wasn't as tired as he had been last month, but he still got the occasional bouts of tiredness once in a while.

Jonathan took a sip of his coffee and turned to address his son. "Have you heard anything from Lex lately?"

Clark looked up, frowning at his father. "He emails me almost everyday, but he says he's been real busy and hasn't had much time to call. Which is alright, I guess. Since it doesn't take a whole lot of time to write."

Martha sat down at the table once she finished preparing breakfast. "I'm sure you'll get another phone call soon. I know he misses you an awful lot. By the way, have you told him about his pending fatherhood yet?"

Clark looked down at his plate, moving food around on it, not wanting to look his parents in the eye. "Not yet. I mean, how would I even begin to tell him, Mom? I'm still getting used to the idea. I have no idea how Lex will even take the news."

"Well, you're going to have to tell him eventually, Clark," Jonathan cut in. "As much as it pains me to say this, he is the baby's father."

Clark just continued to look down at his plate. He didn't have a clue how to tell Lex about his pregnancy. Being a bisexual alien was one thing, being a pregnant bisexual alien was another. He was too young to have to think about so much. Sighing, Clark scooped a little bit of scrambled eggs into his mouth. His life just kept on getting more complicated as each day went on.

@>*~

Martha made her way through the barn and up the stairs, bringing the boys some cookies. Pete had come over earlier and Clark hadn't been in to eat for a while, so she thought she'd bring him something to snack on while they worked. Reaching the top of the stairs she smiled when the boys looked her way.

"Man, you sure are making a lot of cookies lately, Mrs. Kent," Pete said, taking the plate she handed to him. If she'd given it straight to Clark, Pete might not have gotten any. "I"m surprised Clark isn't bouncing around on a sugar rush!" Pete laughed and took a bite of his cookie, but was sobered by the look he'd gotten from Clark's mother.

"Oh," Martha said nervously. Apparently Pete didn't know about this little development, yet. "Well, I'm sure the sugar is being deposited somewhere other than Clark's own blood stream."

Martha sighed and looked to her son. She wasn't going to start another one of these conversations. They needed to talk. People knowing about each other's secrets and then being left in the dark on certain things wasn't good. They had the potential to say something to someone that they shouldn't have, just because they didnt know.

Pete was confused, looking back and forth from Martha to Clark. She nudged Clark over, and he moved, making room for her to sit down. He grabbed for the cookies and Pete handed it over immediately, still wondering what was going on. "As you know, Pete," Martha addressed him, and he focused on her, hoping he wasn't going to hear something horrible, "Clark and Lex have... a relationship."

She didn't want to go any further than that. Mentioning Lex hadn't been going over well with her son; he missed him too much to even hear his name. "We've run into a bit of an unexpected side effect from their intimacy," she continued, shifting her gaze from Pete to her son, who didn't look too well.

"Like what?" Pete asked, his voice returning. If that Luthor had done anything to his friend, he didn't know how he would take it. He frowned slightly, and tried to think of what his friend's mother could be talking about.

"Like..." Like what? She didn't know how to say this other than straight out. "Clark's pregnant," she said, sneaking her hand into Clark's that wasn't occupied with a cookie. Her son seemed to be drawn closer to her, and she felt like he needed reassurance. She looked at Pete carefully, watching him take the revelation in.

He wasn't angry. It wasn't Lex's fault, after all. Who would have known that Clark could get knocked up? He chuckled, a bit tense, but it still came out. "Wow," he said, "That's weird, we picked alien pregnancy for our report."

Wow. That was all he could really think of the situation at the moment. It was... different. But then again, so was Clark. "How long do you think until it... you know, comes out?" He asked, wanting to kick himself for imagining how it would even get out of Clark's body. Hell, he didn't even want to imagine how it got in there; it just wasn't his thing.

Clark shrugged and looked helplessly at his mother and then back to his friend. "I have no idea," he said, his voice low and melancholy. "It could be over tomorrow, or it could be three years from now, for all we know."

Pete nodded, this was a lot, but he would stick by his friend, no matter what happened. "So, how's Lex taking it?" He knew that Lex was gone, and remembered all the times that Clark had been in a rotten mood at school. Definitely being away from the father of your child, even if you didn't know it at the time, would be stressful on a person.

Clark shrugged again, looking down and leaning in towards his mother more. He sniffed, and Martha put an arm around him and tried to look into his lowered face. He felt horrible. He missed Lex and he wouldn't be back for a long time still, he was pregnant and moody and, god was he going to start crying now? He wanted to collapse into himself so he didn't have to deal with all of this. He sniffed again and pressed closer into his mother's arm, in response she put her other arm around him and tried to comfort him.

"Shouldn't he stay home from school, or something?" He really wasn't sure how to handle this. He had been a bit stressed out with the whole alien thing, now he was almost sure he'd slip. Or at least in an effort to protect his friend, make up something, but have it not even remotely believable. There were only so many excuses for the way Clark acted and he wasn't sure if he was approached that he could really handle it.

"Maybe," Martha considered it, looking at Clark. He didnt seem to want to go lately, and they didn't want to push him. Maybe he just needed a day at home to relax? "I think that's a good idea, at least for tomorrow, Pete."

"Cool," he stood up, taking in the scene of mother and son. They needed some time, so he should give it to them. "Well, I *do* still need to go. No maternity leave for me." He smiled at his friend, got a weak smile in return before saying good-bye.

Martha turned to her son, looking at him sadly. "You haven't told Lex, have you?" She asked, trying hard not to be disappointed in her boy, but sometimes it was hard. No mother wanted to be harsh or punish their children, or even tell them what they did was wrong.

Clark sighed, shifting his weight slightly before answering, "No." He sounded so sad and small. She hugged him a little tighter.

"Why not?" Martha asked. He hadn't done anything wrong, exactly. Just that he was not as safe in his actions as he should have been and Lex too. They would need to have a talk when he returned.

"I don't know," he said, his voice breaking. "I just... I'm scared, Mom." He turned his head, looking up into her eyes, pleading silently with his own for her to make it better. "I'm not trying to hide it from him, really. What if he doesn't accept it? I don't know how he'll react!"

Martha nodded, understanding his fear. It couldn't stay that way, though. Her son's lover had taken the confession of Clark's ancestry well, so why would he react any different towards this? Clark couldn't avoid this forever, and fear of acceptance was not a good reason to keep things like this quiet.

It was quiet in the loft for a moment, just the light wind that was out that night could be heard outside, rustling through the trees. Martha held her son, watching him, thinking of how this would all work. Clark knew that Lex might not have been ready for this type of commitment, having a child. He was scared to think that Lex would stop wanting to be with him, stop loving him, because of it.

He squeezed his eyes tight, and let his head fall back softly against the back of the couch. He didn't want to think about it, so he wouldn't. Lex loved him and wouldn't do something like that to him. He let out his breath in a sigh, along with a noise that wasn't quite a whine, but not quite a groan either. "What is it?" Martha asked, concerned. Oh, god, if the baby was coming now...

Clark lifted his head and looked at his mother with rough slightly red rimmed eyes. Smiling softly, he answered her, "I have to pee." Martha looked at him almost incredulously, and extremely glad that the baby didn't want to pop out of her son right in the middle of the hay strewn barn. She let out a slight laugh, smiling, before they both let out their laughter, hoping everything would be alright.

@>*~

Leaving London, on the way to Scotland, Lex felt almost unnerved that his father had tried to keep up a conversation with him throughout the entire time. Mostly he'd just acknowledged the older man and made a polite excuse to get him to stop talking. Once they'd gotten to the meeting, it wasn't any better. Lionel was being nice. Which was strange considering the people surrounding him were the ones responsible for the problem with his company in the first place.

Stepping out of the office, the meeting over, Lex turned to his father. Lionel, still smiling, stopped and faced his son. "I don't like the way he presented this. Dad, I want to check it out." Lex knew he was almost taking advantage of his father's good mood, but he wanted to know what the hell was going on.

Turning around, Lex made his way back to the door and reopened it. The two businessmen that were left in the room stopped what they were doing and looked up at Lex.

@>*~

Lex looked down over the railing to the mechanics and technicians that were working below him. He felt a bit uneasy about being on the metal bridge work that was strung across the compound. He was still a bit angry at his father for not telling him about Level Three, and the bridge was reminding him of that little incident. He wanted to know why, but of course he already knew why. Plausible deniability.

Fuck, he could have died, and his father had simply locked him inside the entire factory, along with a bunch of innocent kids. Just ready and willing to let it blow, with his son inside, and Clark. Granted Lex knew that it was Clark that had saved him, and everyone else. That Clark wouldn't have gotten hurt anyway. But, his father had still done it, and the research that brought it all about to begin with.

"How are they doing, Lex?" Lionel asked, reaching a hand to his son's arm. Lex shifted his gaze from the construction workers and looked at his father, catching the sight of metal sparks flying in the corner of his eye. He turned back to the sounds of grinding metal and the sight of sparks flying, leaving his thoughts for another time; he had business to do.

"Good. Looks to be going properly this time."

"Good. Excellent. We don't need to be in the middle of this noise any longer then." Lionel turned and motioned for Lex to lead the way. Once they were back inside the office area, Lex moved to leave his father's side, to finish things up with the other businessmen in charge of this operation. Lionel almost wanted to stick his cane in front of Lex to keep him there, but decided a hand would be better. Reaching as he felt Lex move, he caught his son's arm, "Lex." Lex turned to look at his father, a rather irritated expression etched into his features. "You can finish this on Monday. Come on."

Lex frowned at his father. This sure wasn't how he expected his father to be behaving on this trip. Maybe he'd finally lost it...

He sighed as he let Lionel tell him what he wanted to have done. Lex was to arrange for a car to be sent around for them. Obliging his father, he did. Once in the car, Lionel began to give directions. Lex drove out of the city and was beginning to wonder just where they were supposed to be going. What was supposed to be way the hell out here?

After almost an hour of driving, Lionel asked where they were. For a blind man, Lex was wondering if this was really where he'd wanted to be taken, considering his new apparent senility. "Dad, there's nothing out there except grass and tree's and rocks."

"Yes. There is." Lex rolled his eyes at his father's crypticness. Lionel gestured, sure that Lex was watching him, to drive out father on the road. Lex sighed and frowned as he turned down a gravel road. The gravel turning to dirt and soon they were driving simply along a worn path out in the green land. Humoring his father, Lex continued, vaguely wondering if they were violating anything by driving there.

Lex had been fine with getting a car and driving; he missed his own cars. He asked what his father wanted to do, but he wouldn't tell. Lex had just sighed, said 'whatever,' hoping his father would at least keep his mouth shut while he drove.

"Describe the landscape, son," Lionel requested, a smile almost coming to his face. Lex looked out the window and glared at the scenery.

He saw rocks scattered in a vague pattern, dirt that had been displaced not more than ten years ago it looked. Moldy green grass type growth was thick around the stones that were piled one on top of the other still. Was this the castle site?

"Ah, yes." Lionel sounded more definite, confident this time. Apparently this was where he wanted to be. Lex was surprised that his father had known the way to get here, not thinking Lionel cared about anything more than moving the huge structure because he could.

Lionel opened his door and got out of the car, feeling his way around the front. Lex shook his head and got out, too, waiting for his father. Lionel patted around the front of the car until he got to his son, feeling for him. Lex took his father's arm, and obviously Lionel wanted to go over to the site, closer to it. Why would he want to do that? He can't see it anyway, Lex thought.

"Why did you bring me here, dad?" It was quiet between them, and Lex stared at the land. The castle had simply been ripped out of the ground, desecrating the historical value of the building by transplanting it in Smallville. Luthor's had lived there, here, for generations, and now the wonder that once was a great Scottish castle was ruined. There was no place in Kansas for an old castle. It didn't belong there.

Lionel took a deep breath, taking in the smells of the earthy, clean air. "To show you."

"Show me what?" Lex snapped, almost interrupting his father by speaking only a second after Lionel was done. Lionel gestured to the land.

Lex looked. All he saw was an old site. Nothing. His heritage ripped apart by his own father. Lex wondered if he regretted it. Maybe he was trying to say he was sorry for it, that he regrets how he treated the land, and not only that, how he treated Lex. You can never get something like that back. He was almost afraid his father would bring up his mother. They both missed her, and what she brought to their lives. They had been closer then. Lex wondered if he'd ever have something like that again; a family.

Lionel couldn't bring himself to go to his wife's grave. He missed the things that could have been. What he'd lost when he was too busy going in another direction. He'd moved the castle because he could, yes, but also as trying to restore the loss he'd endured to his family life. He'd lost his wife, and now he was in danger of letting the last bit of Lex slip through his fingers. He wasn't sure what to do. He sniffed, drawing Lex's attention back to him.

"Come on, dad," Lex said, gripping his father's hand. "Let's go." Lionel squeezed his hand over his son's gently before turning to return to the car. The drive back was spent in companionable silence, and neither of them spoke until they split to go to their separate rooms.

"Good night, Alexander," Lionel said softly before letting go of his son's arm. Lex didn't say anything. He was almost embarrassed that he'd shuffled his feet when addressed in the soft tone and his full name. Lionel turned and pushed through the door, and Lex turned and made his way down the hall, hearing the door to his father's room shut just as he reached his room.

After getting into his room, Lex went straight to the shower. He felt as if the earthy smell of the air at the site had seeped into his skin. He didn't want to wash it away, just wanted to warm it up. The emotions that flowed between father and son were so cold, and he had taken to a light shiver from them, as well as the cool air. He only hoped they'd start to warm. He sighed as he slipped on some boxers and padded out to the couch.

He shut his eyes and laid there; he missed home. He missed Clark. Sighing again, he leaned over and picked up the phone to call his lover.

"Hello?"

"Hey, you."

"Lex!"

"How are you, Love?" Lex asked, rubbing a weary hand over his tired eyes. He strained to hear what Clark was doing when his boyfriend didn't respond right away. It sounded like Clark was brushing the mouth piece of the phone around on his shirt. "Clark?"

"Yeah. Sorry, Lex," Clark said, pulling his shirt back over his stomach. He had noticed a strange type of brown mark encircling his belly button and he had been examining it when the phone rang.

Lex raised an eyebrow. Of course Clark couldn't see him doing it, so it was more for his own benefit then for his boyfriend's. "What were you doing?" Stop it, Lex. You trust him, he reminded himself.

Crap.  "Nothing, just had a piece of straw stuck on my shirt and I was picking it off," Clark replied, absently rubbing his slowly expanding belly, and scratching at the mark. He hoped it wasn't a rash of some kind. With it being alien, they would have no idea how to treat it if it was not a good thing.

"Huh," Lex said with a frown. Wondering why it sounded like it took a great deal of rustling to get a few wisps of straw off one's clothing. "So, what's been going on?"

Clark fidgeted, making his bed creak softly from the movement. "Not much really. Um, me and Pete finally finished our writing assignment. Ah, Mom won the bake-off we had here a few days ago. Nothing new really happening," he said, running a nervous hand through his hair. He wanted to tell Lex about his pregnancy, but he just couldn't. He was too afraid of what Lex might say.

"So, uh, what have you been doing?" Clark cringed, wrinkling his face slightly at the obvious subject change that was.

Lex sighed, "Oh, not a hell of a lot." The hand he still had laid across his face moved down to grip the bridge of his nose. "Just boring old business stuff, the usual." Important issues weren't to be dealt with over a phone. It was too easy for a person to run away from it upon bad news. Of course, he didn't want to wait, but for Clark he would. Clark would tell him if anything was wrong.

"Cool." Clark didn't know what else to say. He was sure that Lex would notice the tension in his voice, but he couldn't help it. This wasn't something you told your significant other, who just happens to be overseas, that you're pregnant, over the phone.

"Well, Love, I have another long meeting tomorrow morning. I'll talk to you again soon, okay? By the way, just so you know, I love getting lots of email from you," Lex said, trying to hint to Clark to write him more often. He knew his boyfriend would be busy with school during most of the week, but he'd still like to see more emails.

Clark smiled into the phone. "I know, Lex. I'll make sure to spam you constantly," he said with a laugh. "Bye, Lex. Talk to you later. I love you."

"Love you too, Clark. Bye," Lex said before hanging the phone up. He hated cutting their talks so short, but work was killing him and as much as he wanted to chat for hours and hours with Clark, he had much to do before they left.

@>*~

Clark glared angrily at his jeans. They were bunched up on the floor, mocking him. He had tried on every pair of jeans he owned and this one had been the only one that came within an inch of fitting him. He'd pulled them on with no hassles, but once he tried to pull up the zipper, it'd get stuck on his protruding stomach.

When glaring at his jeans hadn't done anything but set a small fire, he had quickly put it out and walked out of his bedroom in only his boxer shorts. Even his shirts were beginning to feel a bit too snug around his belly. He growled at his father as he passed him down the hall towards the bathroom when Jonathan had wished him a good morning.

Clark didn't hear the response his father let out as he walked into the bathroom and shut the door behind him. Clark stood in front of the bathroom mirror and frowned at his belly. It wasn't sticking too far out, but it still made him look like he had swallowed a basketball. He sighed heavily as he saw that the brown mark around his belly button had gotten bigger. It looked like someone had dipped a sponge into brown paint and then plastered it against his belly to leave the mark. Not only that, but it itched too. He wasn't sure really if it was the mark itself that was itchy or his stomach expanding.

Turning to look at his stomach's profile, he frowned as he saw the side of his belly begin to ripple with movement. It had felt freaky the first time he had felt the baby within him moving around. He had been sprawled out on the couch, watching television when he felt what could only be described as 'butterflies' flickering around in there. When he had lifted up his shirt, he watched avidly as his stomach rippled and shimmied. Suffice it to say, he had not been amused when he had told his mother and she had spent nearly an hour with her hand on his belly, smiling in delight as she felt her grandbaby moving around.

Sighing in defeat, he turned and lifted the toilet seat to take care of business. He then opened the bathroom door and walked down the hall until he was right at the top of the stairs. "Mom!"

Martha came over to the bottom of the stairs and looked up to see Clark in his underwear. "Clark, why aren't you ready for school yet?"

Clark refrained from rolling his eyes at his mother in frustration. "Nothing I have fits anymore. I can't go to school if I have nothing to wear."

Martha smiled in amusement at her son. "One second, hon." She walked away from the stairs and made her way to the laundry room. Inside, she grabbed a pair of pants and a shirt. With items in hand, she walked back to the stairs. "Here, dear," she said as she tossed the items up to Clark. "I figured you wouldn't ask for bigger clothes, so I went to the Big and Tall store and got you a few things. They should last you until you, um, give birth."

Clark looked down at the clothes in his hands and sighed. "You couldn't tell me this sooner?" Mumbling about mean moms, he went back into his bedroom and finished getting dressed in the bigger clothes. Once he was dressed he looked down at himself and frowned. Cursing Lex out under his breath for getting him into this situation, he went downstairs for a quick bite to eat.

"Mo-om! I can't go to school in these clothes," he all but whined. "They make me look like The Notorious B.I.G."

Jonathan snorted from his seat at the kitchen table while Martha smiled at him. "They do not. Have a seat and I'll get you breakfast," Martha said as she did just that.

Clark sat down and dropped his head onto the table's surface. He was so gonna kill Lex when he saw him again.

@>*~

Chloe hurried down the hall once she caught sight of Clark at his locker. Coming to a halt next to him, she smiled a toothy grin up at him. "Hey, Clark!" She stepped back a bit to get a better look at his 'new' clothes, and frowned thoughtfully. "Did you know you look like Biggie Small?"

Clark held back a groan, he did *not* want to do this right now. He let his head fall back to bang against his locker with a thud. "No, I didn't," he sighed. "What's up?"

"I forgot to tell you on Friday that I'll be printing up the Torch this afternoon, so I need you to finish your article by lunchtime," she said as she quickened her pace to catch up with Clark when he had finished with his locker and headed down the hall.

"Alright, I should have it done by then," Clark said before stopping at the boys' bathroom. "I'll be right back," he said, excusing himself as he hurried inside the bathroom.

While he was doing his thing, Pete came up behind Chloe. "Hey, why are you hanging out by the boys' bathroom?" He asked, eyeing his friend curiously, almost not wanting to hear, knowing Chloe.

"Clark just went in there. You know," she said, almost making it sound like it was a very important piece of gossip, "This is like the sixth time he's been in there since school started today. Do you think something's wrong with him?" Chloe asked, a frown crossing over her face at the thought of something bad happening to her best friend.

Pete blinked his eyes at his friend, almost startled. He wasn't really sure what to say, so he laughed. "Nah, I just think he's been drinking alot of water lately. It is almost summer."

"Yeah, I guess so." She frowned again and leaned back against the wall.

Before Chloe could say anything else, the door to the bathroom opened and Clark walked out. "What?" He asked defensively upon seeing the looks on their faces, before nonchalantly checking his fly when the two of them stared at him.

"Nothing," Chloe said abruptly, and turned to head down the hall. "I've got to get to class. I'll see you later, Clark," she called behind her as she made her way to her next class.

Clark frowned at Chloe's retreating back before turning to Pete. "What's up with her?"

"She's noticed you've been going to the bathroom alot. I know it's hard to do so since you're...you know, but try not to go too much around her. You know how she is," Pete said, shrugging, to Clark as the two of them walked down the opposite end of the hallway to their own class. Once they got to the door, Clark stepped aside to let his friend go in first. As Pete walked by him, he stopped a moment and eyed Clark's clothes. "For some reason, I suddenly have the urge to sing 'Big Poppa'," he said before making his way to his seat. Clark sighed heavily and shook his head before going to his own seat.

@>*~

"Hey, Chloe," Clark said as he walked into the Torch office. "Here's the article." He handed her the papers he held in his hand when he stopped next to her.

Chloe looked up briefly to take the article from Clark. "Thanks, Clark. Just in time too."

Clark smiled at her and turned to walk out when Chloe piped up, "How are you doing, Clark?" She asked, and her tone softened a little bit before continuing, "Is everything okay?"

Clark stopped before getting to the doorway and turned around slowly to frown at his friend. "Um, yeah," he almost left the question out of his voice; he raised an eyebrow. Of course everything was okay. "Why do you ask?"

Chloe leaned forward and looked her friend over from head to toe. "Well, you've been going to the bathroom a lot lately and from the looks of things, your diet hasn't been very good recently. I mean, you've gained a pot belly," she said, frowning at her friend and gesturing to his abdominal region.

Clark sighed and drooped his shoulders. This would be horrible if she found out. "I'm fine, Chloe. I've just been drinking alot of water recently. You know, sometimes you just get thirsty. As for my stomach, it's just the clothes making me look big." God help him if she wanted to flatten the shirt against him to make sure. "You know I always wear baggy clothes," he tried to remind her.

Chloe raised an eyebrow at her friend, clearly not believing a word of what he said, but letting it go. "Uh huh. Well, I'll see you later at the Talon?"

"I can't today, Chloe. I have chores I have to help my dad with today," he replied. Well, it wasn't a total lie, he did have chores to do, but mainly it was helping his father get the guest room ready for his baby and then going with his mother later to Metropolis for a few baby items.

"Oh, okay." Clark thought she sounded rather rejected. "Maybe later then?"

"Yeah, maybe. See ya, Chloe," Clark said as he turned back around and walked out.

He wasn't half way down the hall when he bumped into Pete. "Whoa there, Clark. You okay?" He asked when he felt himself bump into his friend's belly, concerned he may have hurt his friend.

"Yeah, I'm fine. It's just Chloe again. I mean, I love her as a friend and I don't want to lose that friendship, but she's been driving me nuts lately. Always asking me to hang with her or giving me the third degree like she's my mom or something," he sighed and ran a frustrated hand through his hair.

Pete patted his friend on the back. "Don't worry, man, I'll have a talk with her, okay?"

"Thanks, Pete," Clark said and smiled a small smile at his friend before he continued walking down the hall.

"No problem," he replied before turning towards the Torch office and walking through the doorway. "Hey, Chloe."

"Pete!" Chloe smiled brightly at her friend. "Do you know what's up with Clark?" She asked suddenly and direct to the point. She was tired of the run around she'd been getting from her friends.

"Wh-what do you mean?" Pete asked nervously. God, did she find out about Clark's alienness? Shit, he hoped not. He had no way in hell of trying to cover that up.

Chloe frowned as she watched her friend fidget nervously. Ah ha! There was something going on, and she was going to wrestle it out of Pete if she had to tie him up and torture him with cafeteria food. "I knew it! There *is* something up..."

"Chloe, there isn't anything 'up'," Pete interrupted her before she could ask anything more. He shifted on his feet and tried to keep looking her in the eyes.

Chloe leaned back in her seat and crossed her arms across her chest. "Pete, you're lying. Come on, tell me what's up."

Pete sighed heavily to himself. Well, she didn't say anything about Clark being an alien or pregnant, so she didn't know much at all. "Okay, fine. Clark and Lex are dating. There. Happy now?"

Chloe blinked her eyes at the news. She had thought it was that, but thinking it and knowing it were two different animals. "I can't believe he lied to me about that!" She stood up from her seat, beginning to collect a few things from her desk, "I asked him a few weeks ago and he was all 'no, Chloe, we're nothing but friends'. And you were in on it!" She accused him, getting angrier by the minute.

Pete felt sick. He didn't know how Chloe would take it, but he didn't think she'd be pissed about it. "Chloe, come on," he pleaded. "Clark is still a minor and if he had told everyone Lex would have gotten into trouble."

Well, that was true, but she thought she was Clark's friend. Couldn't he trust her with this? "But you knew, Pete," Chloe said, sniffing back tears of anger. "Do his parents know?"

"Yeah, they do," he said quietly. Pete sighed, hoping this wasn't a bad idea to say anything.

"I see," with another sniff she brushed past him, calling behind her, "Don't let the door hit you on the ass on your way out." Chloe dismissed him, hurt by all the lies that her two supposed friends told her.

Pete opened his mouth to respond, but closed it when he realized Chloe wouldn't listen anyway. He turned and walked out of the office, scuffing his feet along the floor. Clark was so going to kill him for this.

@>*~

This past week had been terrible. Any time he was around Chloe everything was tense and awkward. Pete knew it wasn't a good idea, but it was better than nothing. At least he had saved Clark the agony of trying to tell her about it, or continuing to lie about it. Out of all the secrets Pete knew, Clark was glad that was the one he had let out. It was the least of his worries for Chloe to know about his and Lex's relationship right now.

He'd suffered through his breaks at school today, with Chloe in the Torch, working on his article for this week's paper. They barely spoke and she had kept alternately glaring and looking sympathetic at him. Now Clark was almost afraid of the confrontation when he saw Chloe making her way purposely towards him. "Uh oh," he heard Pete say from his side. They were talking about the day and getting ready to part ways and go home when Chloe came out of the school and spied them.

Clark turned back to his friend and sighed. It was better now than never, he supposed. "I'll see you tomorrow," Clark said and Pete gave a small smile before patting his friend on the shoulder and turned towards the student parking lot.

"Hey," Chloe said, her determination almost melting out of her when she actually got within five feet of Clark. She felt bad for the way she'd acted, or over reacted as it were. Knowing her anger towards Clark for not telling her was partly because it wasn't her that he was in a relationship with.

"Hi," Clark said, shuffling his bag back up onto his shoulder after it threatened to slip off when his posture weakened. He knew she was upset about finding out, but what was he supposed to do? Lex could really get in trouble for it, and even though Chloe was his friend, she also had a big mouth.

It wasn't that he didn't trust her, but sometimes he just never knew. She sighed, and looked up to his face, intent on going through with this. He was her friend and she wanted it to stay that way. "Look, I'm sorry for the way I acted." She had finally come to her senses and realized that it was wrong of her to behave how she did. Understanding how and why Clark could lie to her about it, she was just glad she knew now.

And it wasn't a very good act to conduct if you wanted to be someone's friend, to judge them on who they chose to have a relationship with. "It's okay," Clark said, glad that this wasn't going to be too bad of a conversation, "I understand why you thought the way you did about it. I could have told you, but..." He sighed, "It's just a personal situation, you know? It's not just my decision to tell who I want."

"Yeah," Chloe nodded. "Pete tried to explain that to me but I didn't really listen, I guess." She smiled. "He also told me that he caught you two kissing in the loft."

Clark almost blushed. That had been a very, very awkward night for the three of them. "Yeah," a small chuckle escaped him. He smiled back at her, glad they were alright now.

"It's just going to take a bit to get the hang of it," she said, "But I'm here for you if you need anything, okay?"

"Okay," Clark agreed, smiling at her again. He leaned down to her, reaching his arms around her body, "Thanks, Chloe."

She smiled, her chin over his shoulder, "No problem." Good. This was good. Now she had her friend back, but there was still one more thing.

They both straightened up and smiled, both glad of how things were starting to right themselves around now. "Clark," she started, and he looked at her expectantly, waiting for her to continue. "I'm going to be spending the summer in Metropolis, but seriously, if you ever need anything, just call or email."

"Really?" He didn't really want his friends to be gone, but it looked like he wasn't going to have much time this summer for anything other than his own personal well being. She nodded. "That's cool. I hope you have fun, and I'll definitely keep in touch."

"Awesome," she smiled. Then looking down at her watch, she swore under her breath, "Crap. I have to get home. I'll see you tomorrow, Clark."

"Bye," she said, smiling and waving as she turned and started on her way home.

"Bye, Chloe." He waved and watched her leave the grounds before starting on his own way home, noticing he'd missed the bus. He frowned, wondering if super speed would hurt the baby. Probably not, he'd been doing it before he even knew he was pregnant.

@>*~

It was the middle of July and school was out for the summer. He still had chores to do around the farm, but his parents made sure he didn't over exert himself so as not to cause harm to him or the baby. He still hadn't told Lex about his pregnancy because he was still too nervous and scared about what his lover might say. He hated that whenever Lex asked him how his day was or how he was. Clark would only give a vague answer. He just hoped when Lex returned he wouldn't be too mad.

Clark was in the shower, washing himself of that morning's dirt and grime when he ran his soapy hands along the front of his body. Looking down, he paused, seeing his large belly. He no longer looked like he had swallowed a basketball. Now it looked like he'd swallowed a beach ball. He rolled his eyes at himself. Yeah. He was *so* going to kill Lex when he came home. Resuming his washing he let out a low gasp when his wet hand came into contact with his cock.

Just now realizing that he hadn't had sex in over three months and that he was horny. Yes, he'd masturbate on occasion, but he never really felt like doing it much the last few months. His body had been going through all the changes and he had been depressed about Lex leaving. Now, though, he was suddenly very horny and touching his cock, even if he had been just washing it, he needed release.

Lathering up his hand with more soap, he reached back down and started stroking himself off slowly. It was a bit awkward with the bulge of his child in the way, but he managed. Lifting his right leg up onto the lip of the bathtub, he moved his free hand back behind himself, sticking a finger into his hole, feeling around for his prostate. At first, he didn't notice anything strange as he continued with his dual stimulation until he added another finger.

He frowned, stopping the movement of his hand on his cock as he felt around his hole with his other hand. Odd, he thought, he shouldn't have been able to fit those fingers into his hole so easily. Especially since it had been a while since he had had sex or stuck anything up there. Crinkling his eyebrows in concentration, he slowly added another finger and then another until he was able to place his entire hand up to his wrist inside himself without any type of discomfort.

He blinked, confused and shook his head slightly, mouth dropping open as the situation dawned on him. Something was not right with him back there. He quickly removed his hand and washed the rest of the soap from his body, hoping he was just imagining it since he was still tired. After a moment the thought wouldn't leave him alone and he felt himself again; his hole had stayed open. Glad he had gotten the soap off of his body before he started his self pleasuring. He quickly ended the shower and called out for his mother, frantic with concern.

Martha heard her son's call and ran up the stairs to see what was wrong this time. The sight that greeted her when she ran into the bathroom made her glad Jonathan had gone out earlier to the feed store. Grabbing a towel from where it hung, she rushed over and handed it to her son. "Clark, what's wrong?"

"Mom, there's," he paused when he took the towel from her. "Some... Something wrong with me," he said, panicking. He didn't even realize he had been completely naked when his mother had shown up, and he wrapped the towel around himself.

Martha frowned in concern. "What is it, Clark?"

Clark opened his mouth to blurt out what he found when a fiery blush spread out along his chest and face. He couldn't tell his mother he had been in the middle of masturbating. "Um, well, when I was cleaning myself, I uh, found that my..." He paused, feeling weak with embarrassment, but he had to tell someone, and he was glad it was his mother since he didn't have Lex there to share his findings with. "I noticed that my uh...backside was bigger then it should be."

Martha blinked her eyes and almost bit her lip to keep herself from laughing. This was not a good time to do so. "Well, Clark, you have been putting on a bit of weight recently..."

Clark had a look on his face that screamed, 'huh?' When he realized what she meant, he blushed some more. "No, Mom, not my butt. My, uhm, hole," he finished, wishing the floor would open up for him and swallow him whole.

"Oh," Martha said, blushing herself. She definitely hadn't expected that. "Well, what happened to your, ahem, backside?"

Clark went over to the wall and slumped against it. He had no idea what to really say. He was really starting to hate life. "Well," he began after clearing his throat. "When I had my hand back there to, uh, clean myself, I noticed that it didn't feel right. So, I did some, uhm, exploring and then I noticed it was loose and open."

Martha sat down on the lid of the toilet seat and looked up at Clark. "And this isn't normal for you?" They'd never talked about Clark's private parts, but from when he was young and she was teaching him the basics everything had looked normal.

"Uhm, no. Usually it's just like everyone else's. God, Mom. I don't want it to stay open," Clark said, panicking again.

Martha got up from her seat and moved towards her son, enveloping him in a hug. "Maybe it's part of the pregnancy. None of us are sure how you'll give birth. This may be your body's way of preparing for the upcoming time. Go into your room and check yourself again, if it hasn't gone back to it's normal, uhm, size, then let me know and we'll try to find some way of working this out," she said, backing away from her son and moving towards the door of the bathroom.

"Mom, do you really think it has something to do with my pregnancy?" Clark asked, not quite believing.

Martha smiled sympathetically at her son. "I don't know for sure, but it could be. Just go check and let me know if everything's okay or not."

"Alright, thanks, Mom," Clark said as his mother smiled one last time at him before going back downstairs.

Once his mother was out of sight, Clark finished drying himself off and headed out to his room. When he got there, he took the towel off and once again reached behind himself to check. He exhaled the breath he'd been holding in relief when he found that it had shrunk back down to normal. Moving to sit on his bed, he put his head in his hands and wished he knew more about his species so this type of stuff wouldn't freak him out so badly when it popped up.

@>*~

Back in London and having gotten situated back in their hotel, they went for dinner. The past month had been more like things normally went between the two of them, but that day at the castle's original site had stuck in Lex's brain the entire time. Now that they were back in England, Lionel was actually acting like himself again.

After dinner, Lex picked up the phone from his room and began dialing the numbers internationally to connect the call to the Kent's house. He walked out of his room to the bar for a bottle of water. He bent down and rummaged through the mini fridge. Lionel had heard the touch tone beeps of the phone and frowned. When he heard the clinking of bottles in the mini fridge, he asked, "Who is it that you call so frequently?"

Lex tensed and almost let the bottle slip between his fingers. "It's business, Dad. Just go do whatever you're doing." Lionel had the smarts to wait until after Lex had dialed, so that his son would hate to hang up on whoever he had called. He smirked to himself as he got up from his seat and followed Lex back into his room. Lex was getting progressively angry with every step towards his room that his father took.

Lex sighed and wanted to slam the door in his father's face when Jonathan answered the phone. Damn. Now he had to ask for Clark and Jonathan wouldn't play along with him like Martha would, so Lex was shit out of luck. To Jonathan's questioning greeting, he responded, "It's Lex." Glancing back with a glare to his father, Lex groaned inwardly, knowing he wasn't going to get rid of him so easily.

"Oh, hello, Lex," Jonathan said, a sudden rush of angry paternal instincts kicking in, making him want to sit the man on the other end of the phone down and have a chat with him about responsibility. Clamping down on that urge, he continued, "How are you?"

"I'm alright. Is, uh," another glance back at Lionel. "Is Clark home?"

Jonathan frowned at the irritation in Lex's voice, but let it alone, "Yeah, just a minute." Lex heard a soft thud as the phone was set down and Jonathan walked away to call his son.

Lionel stared unseeingly at his son, his eyebrows pulled together, thinking about why the hell Lex would be calling Clark while he was on a business trip in Europe. Surely the boy wasn't that important to keep up conversation while being overseas; he could wait, couldn't he? Bringing the boy's image to mind, Lionel grinned sadly. Ah, yes. He was a pretty young thing, and that was it. Lex was dating the Kent boy, and the teenager had found a niche in his son's life, calling himself a 'friend'.

When Clark picked up the phone, Lex sighed, sitting down on his bed. God, he didn't want to have the impending conversation with his father. "Lex?" Clark said, happy to have a call from his boyfriend. He'd missed talking to him and was definitely getting tired of the distance between them.

"Can I set the phone down for a second?" Lex asked, unable to really continue talking while his father was glowering over him, wanting to listen in. He didn't wait for an answer, just lowered the phone and placed a hand over it, turning to his father.

Lex glared up at him, "Dad, can you go away for a few minutes? We can discuss this later." His tone was hard as steel and Lionel stood for a minute, pursing his lips before answering.

"Fine." He turned and banged his cane between the doorway, knowing that Lex would start to get a headache from the confrontation and the noise of it. Lex waited until he heard the sound of his father's door shutting before he uncovered the mouth piece of the phone and brought it back up to his ear.

Lex sighed, "Alright," Instantly cheering up at least a bit at just the prospect of simply talking to his lover.

"What was that all about?" Clark asked, frowning into the distance.

"My father," Lex said. "He had some things he wanted me to do, but I told him I was on the phone at the moment." He brought his free hand up to his temple, rubbing small circles into his skin. Oh the conversation with his father was going to be just so fun. Not.

"Oh," Clark sounded dejected. "Well, if you need to do business, I'll understand..." As much as he missed talking to Lex, hearing his voice, if his boyfriend had work to do, he wouldn't keep him.

"No!" Lex said quickly. "I mean, believe me, Love. It can wait." Lex reassured his boyfriend, and only hoped that it would wait a long time.

Clark blinked a few times, trying to clear his eyes of the slight dampness that had sprung to them. "Oh, okay," he said, taking a deep breath. "So, how's stuff going over there?"

"Same shit, different day," Lex sighed, obviously bored with his work there. "But less then a month left before I come home," he sounded more cheerful with that; he really wanted to be home.

"I know. I miss you so much, it's not even funny," Clark said, sniffing back sudden tears of both happiness that it'd all be over soon and sadness at needing to tell Lex that he was going to be a father, but unsure how.

Lex frowned, aware of the change of tone in Clark's voice. "I miss you too, Love. Ask your parents if we can spend a weekend together when I get back. Just the two of us," he looked up to the ceiling absently, thinking. "Maybe dinner, a movie maybe... and then some alone time."

Clark wiped at his tears as they ran down his cheeks. "I'd love that, Lex. I'll be sure to ask them." He felt bad. He just couldn't tell Lex now, especially after planning dinner and what he was sure would be a wonderful night together.

"You alright, Love?" Lex asked, the sniffing definitely made him want to know what was wrong. He hoped the distance between them wasn't getting to Clark.

"Yeah, I'm alright," Clark said, taking another breath to try and steady his voice. "Just got something in my eye."

Lex sighed. He didn't want to upset either of them by pushing it, so he let it go. He only hoped Clark wasn't regretting anything about their relationship. "Just keep thinking that I'll be home soon. I know I am," Lex said, hopefully.

"Oh, I am," Clark agreed, before pausing. It sounded like he'd put a hand over the receiver. Lex heard a muffled, 'one second, Mom!' from Clark's end, before the younger man spoke into the phone again. "I'm sorry, Lex. Mom told me to hurry. We've got some shopping we need to do today. I think their having a sale of some kind and she needed my help. I'll talk to you later?"

"Yeah, Clark, I'll definitely talk to you later. Say hi to your parents for me. I love you."

Clark smiled, wishing he could see his boyfriend, "I will and I love you too, Lex. Always."

"Bye, Love."

"Bye, Lex," Clark said as he hung up the phone.

Lex hung up his end and ran a hand over his scalp. It sucked when he couldn't talk to Clark every single day or for hours on end, but at least Clark had begun emailing him more. Mainly little things about nothing in particular, but those were the best emails he could ever get.

@>*~

It was past midnight when Lionel ventured out of his room again, and Lex watched with his peripheral vision as his father made his way to the couch and sat down. He sighed to himself and waited to see what the old bastard would do now, knowing for all the world that his father wouldn't have dropped the subject of his sexual relations. Turning back to his work, he tried to at least finish the page he was on before having to go deal with Lionel.

Lionel sat himself down on the couch, propping his cane up against the end of it and felt around the coffee table's surface. Searching for the remote to the stereo that he knew was there, he found it and began to play around with them. Eventually he ended up turning some music on, finding the volume and turning it up. Lex sighed and sat up from the table, leaving the work that he was doing now, for later.

"Dad," Lex called over the music, letting his father know he had his son's attention. He sat down in the chair diagonally across from Lionel and waited for the arrogant smirk to fade from his father's face just as the music came down.

Lex knew he wasn't going to be able to concentrate on his work after this, so he might as well get it over with and go to bed, maybe a shower first. He leaned forward in his chair, bracing his elbows on his thighs. He tilted his head slightly to regard his father, clasping his hands together and waited for the older man to speak.

Lionel pursed his lips again and it looked like he was almost trying to hold back a sneer. "So," he began conversationally. "How do they grow 'em down on the farm, Lex?" The question made Lex's jaw clench. His father always did have a problem with his sexual orientation, but he'd never outwardly said anything about it. The elder Luthor was most likely more concerned with another heir after Lex's rule of the empire that was LuthorCorp, in Lex's opinion.

Lionel wasn't angry about Lex's preference for sleeping with the same gender of the species, but he did have a small pebble in his shoe about it being someone of such a lower class than themselves. Someone of that type would more often then not be after the money and power rather than genuinely liking his son for who he was. Lex was by no means unlikable, but it had to be the right kind of person for the job. Someone equally as smart and talented, someone high up in the business world that would understand how Lex worked on a general level. He didn't think his son would have anything in common with a farm boy like that Clark.

Lex knew he didn't have any response that would be good enough for his father, so he remained quiet, letting the silence age between them, waiting for his father's next comment. "I don't want you throwing your future in this corporation away because of a mistake you encounter while seeking out pleasure." Lionel was serious, and it sounded like he actually cared what happened to his son, rather than his company. Oh, the company was important, but it was definitely higher on the list than Lex was.

"Dad..." Lex began, his voice cold as he spoke. "I will not make a mistake. I can do what I think is right, and my love life won't change because you've got a stick up your ass." He kept his eyes locked on his father, almost hoping that if his glare was heated enough, it would stare right through him and leave him a smoldering hole through the head.

Lionel pushed his fists down on either side of him, into the cushions of the couch, and lifted himself up. Shifting over a seat on the sofa, closer to Lex, he reached out towards the chair where his son's voice was emanating from. Lex watched, almost in disgust as his father found his clasped hands and rested his own over top of them. "You are my son, Alexander," he said firmly, with a small pressure cupping Lex's hands, "And I don't want anything to ruin your future."

"The only thing that could ruin my future is you," Lex spat out. He hated to admit it, and he felt his teeth baring down on the inside of his cheek after he spoke, nearing hard enough to draw blood from the soft tissue. His father controlled how soon his reign would be hailed. His father could disown him, or bump up his succession to the head of the company at will. It was his decision when he would stand aside and let his son take over, if ever.

Lionel knew he was taking some sick pleasure in keeping his son on a leash with threats to disown him, to sire another heir, and not to let Lex achieve that standing in the business world without his help. He would give it to him in due time, but his son still had lessons to be learned. He heard Lex sigh and the hands under his pulled away tersely as his son stood up. The tense silence between them lessening with each step Lex took away from his father as he made his way to his room and shut the door behind him. Lionel sighed and reached for his cane.

@>*~

"Are you sure you'll be okay here by yourself?"

Clark looked up from the couch to smile at his parents. "Yeah, I'll be fine," he said, waving them off.

Martha didn't look convinced, but nodded. "Alright then. We'll see you in a few hours," she said as she took hold of her husband's offered arm and the two of them walked back to the kitchen. They still had a few things to get before the arrival of their grandchild. Mostly odds and ends, but they wanted to be sure they had everything.

Clark turned back to watching television, hearing the door shut when his parents left the house. He was only a few months along, but the size of his belly made him look like he was actually about nine months along if he had been a human female. He had been having weird spasms all day long, they felt like normal muscle spasms, but they hadn't hurt so he didn't deem it important to tell his parents about them.

He jumped when he heard a knock on the front door. Quickly grabbing the blanket from off of the back of the couch to cover his belly, he called out, "It's open!"

Pete opened the door and walked into the house at his friend's call. Looking around the kitchen, Pete heard the television's sound coming from the living room. He made his way in there and spotted his friend sprawled along the length of the couch. "Hey, man. How's it going?"

"Pete!" Clark said in shocked happiness. He was relieved that it was Pete, someone who he didn't have to hide from. "How are you? It's been over a month since I saw you last. What's been going on?"

Pete took a seat in the chair across from Clark. "Nothing much, been helping my mother out at the court house as a summer job." Pete leaned forward and lifted the blanket as he looked at the bulge underneath it. "Whoa, you've gotten bigger. You having twins or something?" He asked with a grin.

Clark's eyes went wide. "Oh, god. Don't even joke about that, Pete. I'm just hoping this is normal for my people. I'm not even sure about having one baby let alone two," he said, shuddering at the thought of popping out a litter of babies like he was some kind of dog or something.

"Sorry," Pete said, but he was still smiling. "So, how have you been?"

It took a few minutes of heavy pushing, but Clark finally got himself upright on the couch. "I've been doing pretty well, considering," he said, making a vague gesture at his belly. "I'm half looking forward to finally getting this baby out of me and scared to death of having to take care of it. I know I won't be alone, my parents already said they'd help out."

"Have you told Lex about this yet?" Pete asked as he leaned back in his seat.

Clark sighed and looked down at his belly, picking non-exsistant fluff and lint from the blanket. "No..." He slowly looked back up to his friend, a sad expression on his face. "I don't know how to bring it up. Every time I've emailed him or he's called me, I'd get myself motivated, but then I'd freak at the end and wind up not telling him."

"I don't know what to tell you, man. I..." Pete stopped, looking at his friend in concern when Clark suddenly gasped, gripping the back of the couch. "Clark, what's wrong?"

Clark's other hand had flattened on his belly and he was holding it tight against himself. Panting, he said, "I... I think the baby's coming." He gripped the couch tighter and sliding himself back to lay down on the couch again, crying out as a sudden wave of pain burst out along his lower back.

"*What*!? Now?" Pete shot up from his seat and started on his way to the kitchen, only to turn back and walk back to his friend's side. He began a frantic pace, back and forth, in front of Clark. "Oh, man," he blew out a heavy breath, "I *so* can't believe this. Where are your parents? I can't do this," Pete rambled on, clenching and unclenching his fists as he paced.

"Uh?"

Pete stopped and turned to his friend, raising his eyebrows in horror. "'Uh', what?"

Clark looked up sheepishly, a worried expression plastered on his face as his hair became damp and beads of sweat began to form on his forehead. "I think my water broke," he said, grimacing at the squishy feel of his pants and underwear sticking to his backside.

"Oh, man," Pete groaned, sinking back into the chair and putting his face into his hands. "What are we going to do?"

Clark tried to hold back another cry by biting his lip. Unable to accomplish that, his head jerked back as another wave of pain hit him. "I don't know," he panted, "about you, but..." He unclenched his hand from the back of the couch, bringing it over him to toss the blanket off of him. "I'm about to give birth."

"Here?" Pete squeaked, eyeing his friend in horror.

Clark moaned as another pain hit him. "Not if I can help it," he ground out as he stretched his arm out to Pete. "I need you to help me up. It's bad enough I, uhm, leaked onto my mother's couch. But I don't think she'd appreciate having to get a new one."

Pete moved quickly over to Clark's side and grabbed his hand and arm, lifting his friend up into a sitting position before bracing himself to heave the bigger man from the couch. Pete wrapped an arm around Clark's waist and Clark lifted an arm and settled it around Pete's neck before they made their way slowly away from the couch. "Where to?" Pete asked.

"My room," Clark said, breathless from the pain shooting through him. Before they even made it to the first step, Clark cried out again and his knees buckled. Pete followed Clark down to the floor, pulled by Clark's strength and weight. "Aaahgh!"

"Clark!" Pete cried, shuffling himself out from half under his friend to kneel beside him. "Come on, man, you can't have the baby on the floor," Pete said frantically, trying to get Clark back to his feet.

"I can't..." Clark broke off into breathless pants before he cried out again before it wound back down to helpless panting. "Pete, I can feel it coming. I've gotta get my pants and boxers off fast."

Pete nodded and squashed the fear out of himself to help his friend. He pushed the bottom of Clark's shirt up over his back to expose the elasticized band of the sweat pants. Slipping his fingers underneath it, he slid them down, along with Clark's boxers, to his friend's knees. Clark caught his breath and held it as he lifted one knee, then the other, for Pete to slip his clothes the rest of the way from his legs.

"Uh, towels?" Pete asked, getting up and running back to the kitchen, opening random drawers and cupboards in search of something soft to lay the baby on. Clark kicked his pants and boxers away from his feet and spread his legs a bit at the knees, bracing himself on the second step of the stairs.

He groaned when another shock of pain ran through his system and heard his friend's question. "Second drawer from the left," he ground out. "Beside the dish washer." Pete dodged over to the drawer and pulled it open, grabbing three small towels from it, and then grabbing the scissors from the counter where he'd put them after finding them in another drawer. There was a cord he had to cut or something, right?

Pete cringed at the angry grunt that Clark spat out when he returned to the floor behind his friend, placing the towels between Clark's legs. There was a stringy clear fluid, tinged slightly pink, dangling from Clark's stretched hole and Pete made a face before stepping past Clark's body and running up the stairs to the bathroom. When he came back, Clark tilted his head up to look at him. God, Clark looked like he was in so much pain.

Pete smiled sympathetically and jumped over his friend's head and arms, landing on the floor and kneeling back down beside his friend. He tore off a few squares of tissue and began to wipe away the strand of fluid. He almost gasped when his bare hand came into contact with his friend's hole, when Clark suddenly thrust his body down, putting him in more of a squatted position.

The next sound that came out of Clark was almost near a scream, and Pete winced at the sharp tone. He sat and waited expectantly. He wasn't sure how this was going to work, or how to handle a baby just out of it's mother's womb. Father's womb? Pete shook his head and blinked before his eyes widened. He dared to actually look into Clark's disgustingly wide anus, and what he saw almost startled him. Of course, what other hole was the baby going to come out?

He felt his pulse speed up and the blood rush past his ears, making him nervous as he watched the pale dome of the baby's head still deep inside of his friend's body. Pete stared in awe as it was pushed farther out, in accordance to Clark's groaning pushes.

Clark thought he was going to tear himself in half from the way it felt as the baby shifted through his body. He was sweating and breathing hard, and he shook his head, unable to dislodge the stands of hair that had stuck to his forehead. Blinking his eyes as salty sweat ran into them, he grunted and pushed, trying to hurry the process up and get it over with. He was glad he wasn't trying to do this alone. What would he have done if Pete hadn't stopped by?

Pete was such a good friend. Clark would never forget this. He tried to turn his head around to look at his friend. Pete caught the movement and looked up worriedly into his friend's eyes peering at him over a shoulder. "You're doing great, Pete," Clark bit out, turning his head back and groaning, his body stiffening as another surge of pain wracked his body.

"Me?" Pete let out a breathy laugh, "You're the one who's shitting out a kid, here." Clark coughed, instead of laughed, but they both knew this wasn't the time for jokes or crude humor. Pete raised his eyebrows as the pale head came closer to the outer rim of Clark's hole. Shit. He had to handle the baby, because there was no way Clark could do it himself. Pete was scared; he didn't want to hurt it.

Oh, shit! The head was starting to peek out at him, and as gross as it was, he reached his hands up, making sure he was definitely ready to catch the baby. Clark would never forgive him if he dropped the kid, even if there was the softest surface available for the child to land on underneath. His ears were starting to ring with the blood in his body and the groans coming from his friend. He had tuned most of the noise out, only listening for coherent words from his friend and his own monologue to help him stay as calm as he could. It surprised him when the head came out more, and Pete began to see a little face. His mouth dropped open and his arms felt so heavy, but he cradled the small head in his hands as it made its way out of the slick hole.

Clark sighed loudly when his child's head was out of him, but he knew it wasn't over. He grit his teeth together and hung his head down, unable to hold up its suddenly heavy weight. He couldn't maintain a continuous push, tensing his body to expel the little body inside of him. And the almost sickening squish sound was really getting to him when he stopped to pant and gasp for breath and his hole would want to keep the baby there by tightening itself back around the little person. Alien? He felt like throwing up, like his insides were being pulled out of him along with the baby.

"Keep it up, Clark, it's almost out," Pete said, trying to encourage his friend to keep pushing. He almost panicked when he felt his hands sliding along the baby's head. Keeping one hand underneath, he picked up one of the extra towels off to the side and placed it onto the hand still holding the baby. He continued to watch in awe as little shoulders began to appear.

Clark inhaled a deep breath through his teeth and pushed as hard as he could, trying to free his child from his body. It felt like it was taking forever and he was afraid he'd collapse before he had even finished. Clark groaned louder as he felt his hole stretched impossibly wider as he pushed again. In the back of his mind, he wished it had been his mother to help him with this. Even though he was very glad to have Pete helping him, he wasn't sure if he'd be able to look his friend in the eyes anymore after being exposed so intimately.

Pete tentatively hooked a finger into a little arm pit, pulling as gently as he could to help speed things along. He shifted somewhat to get a better grip on the baby as the little arm came free. Pete continued to pull as Clark pushed, smiling when the other arm came free of its confinement. Two more hard pushes and the baby finally slid out, Pete sighing heavily in relief that it was over.

Clark grimaced as he felt the slippery feel of his child slide out. He leaned his head forward to rest it on the step he had been gripping, making a face as he felt the cord dangling out of him still. His head shot up as he felt his body contract one last time before he felt a big blob come falling unceremoniously out of him. As his breathing returned to normal, he felt the air temperature change around him and a cool feeling wash over him. He slumped down, feeling so much lighter, he breathed deeply before calling to his friend. "Pete?"

Pete made sure to brace the baby's fragile body as much as he could as it freed itself from Clark's body. He lowered it gently onto the towels on the floor and reached for the scissors he'd brought. He wanted to squeeze his eyes shut as he opened the blades and held them on either side of the umbilical cord, but he couldn't bear to think if he closed his eyes and cut the wrong place and hurt either the baby or Clark. He winced when it cut through the flesh, and then shuffled himself back slightly when he saw a big goopy substance push out of Clark's body. It fell to the floor, just narrowly missing the baby's leg. He sighed and then heard a worried voice calling to him.

"I cut the cord," Pete said, and Clark lowered himself to sit on the floor, twisting himself onto his side and looking to his baby lying on his mother's towels on the floor. He let out a stunned breath as he watched Pete wiping the slimy goo from the child's body. He looked to his friend and Pete looked up and gave a small smile before turning his attention back to the squirming little body between them. He reached out tentatively and stroked a gentle hand over the small head, feeling the soft dark hair. "It's a girl," he heard Pete say quietly, but he was captivated by the small eyes that were squeezed shut, and he began to stroke her body the same as his friend to clear the goo from it.

He watched as the tiny mouth opened slightly and Clark frowned when he saw there was more of the slime inside the cavity. He took his index finger and gently wiggled it into the opening and made a scooping motion to clean out the baby's mouth. There was a small cough and Clark and Pete looked up at each other simultaneously and grinned before being startled into looking back down when a loud cry sounded from the baby girl's mouth.

"She's got a set of lungs on her, doesn't she?" Pete asked, smiling back up at his friend.

Clark smiled back. "We need to clean her off some more and then put a diaper and some clothes on her so she doesn't get cold. I don't know if she's like me, like Lex or a combination of both," he said as he gently picked the child up in his arms, and slowly got to his feet. He may be impenetrable against the cold, but Lex wasn't, and he had no idea whether the baby would be or not. "Can you watch her for a moment while I go upstairs and get dressed?"

Pete took the offered child into his arms when he stood up beside Clark. "Of course," he said, smiling down at the baby. "I'll be waiting for you down here."

Clark smiled his thanks and slowly walked up the stairs. Pete sat down on a kitchen chair and cradled the snuffling baby to his chest. Clark returned a few minutes later, coming down the stairs clean and redressed. Pete raised a quizzical eyebrow at him. "I took a quick shower," Clark supplied. Pete nodded and handed the baby back to his friend.

Clark cradled his baby girl in his arms as they made their way into the kitchen and stopped in front of the sink. Clark put the stopper in the drain and waited while the sink filled up with warm water. He'd brought a wash cloth with him from the upstairs bathroom and gently began washing his daughter after removing the soiled towel. He set her down in the water, the back of her head and neck resting against his wrist while her back laid against his palm, holding her up. Pete went over to the closet near the stairs and pulled out the baby's things that he knew were stored there.

Clark placed a kiss onto his daughter's forehead while drying her off when they were finished with bathing her. They got her dressed and left the kitchen and returned to the living room. Pete looked at his friend and frowned. "How you feeling?"

Clark sat down gingerly, hoping his quick healing would kick in soon and smiled up at his friend.  "Like I just had a baby," he laughed. Pete joined in and sat down in the chair across from the couch again.

"Want me to get some towels to lay on the couch so you don't get dirty again?" Pete asked, getting up from his chair. Clark nodded and Pete made his way quickly up the stairs, retrieving a couple of towels from the linen closet. A few moments later, he came down the stairs and saw his friend beginning to nod off. "Clark?"

"Hmmm?"

"Here's the towels," Pete said as he unfolded them and placed them along the length of the couch.

Clark smiled tiredly at his friend before looking back down at his daughter. The sun's rays were at an angle to shine into their house, and one was warming most of Clark's body and it brushed brightly across the top of the baby's head. Clark nuzzled his daughter's cheek softly. "She has red hair," he announced, smiling at his friend.

"Yup. Lex definitely won't be able to deny she's his. She looks a lot like him," Pete said, moving to take the baby from out of Clark's arms. "Let me hold her while you get some rest. I'll stay until your parents get back."

Clark had smiled widely when Pete mentioned she looked like Lex, and reluctantly gave up his daughter to Pete. He was really tired and felt his eye lids starting to come down. Settling himself out along the length of the couch, he pillowed his head on his arms and fell asleep in mere seconds.

@>*~

"Looks like Pete stopped by to visit," Martha said as she got out of the truck and made her way towards the rear of the truck.

Jonathan got out of the driver's seat, and met his wife around the back of the truck. "That's good. I don't think Clark would mind the company."

The two of them grabbed the few bags in the bed of the truck and carried their burden with them to the house. Jonathan grabbed hold of the door's handle and held it open for his wife. Martha smiled at him and walked through the doorway, setting the bags onto the floor. She looked around her kitchen with wide eyes at the mess left behind. There was dirty water still in the sink, drawers were left open and a bloody towel on the counter next to the sink.

"Jonathan?" Martha questioned, not sure of what happened while they were out, but definitely worried. Jonathan maneuvered himself in front of his wife as they spread out across the kitchen. Martha gasped at the sight that greeted her. "What happened in here, Jonathan?"

"I don't know," he drawled, shaking his head. "I'll go check upstairs, you search down here." He made his way to the stair case and carefully stepped around the bloody towels and over the broken step. Martha came closer to the bottom step, eyeing the marks on it. They looked almost like finger prints, but why would Clark be holding on there. Her gaze shifted to the mess in front of the stairs, and the towels. It had to be blood, and that strange goop? She had a bad feeling about this...

Martha slowly walked away from the stairs, making her way towards the living room. She sighed in relief when she found both Pete and Clark there. Seeing Clark asleep on the couch, she walked behind the chair that Pete was sitting in. "Pete?" she whispered, startling the teen.

"Mrs. Kent!" He turned around in the chair, his head snapping up to look at her incredulously. "Oh, thank god you're here," Pete whispered, standing up from his seat on the chair. "You would not believe the day we had."

Noticing the bundle in Pete's arms, she raised an eyebrow and looked back at Clark. Martha noted the absence of the familiar bulge that should have been under the blanket. "Pete? Is that...?"

Pete smiled softly at her and looked down to the baby. He gently shifted his arms, and settled the baby in Martha's. "Yeah," Pete nodded, "She was born about an hour ago." He took a moment to stretch his arms out, and remembered the earlier events he'd taken part in. "Sorry about the mess in the kitchen and hallway, but Clark was tired and I had to..."

"Shh, shh," Martha interrupted, cradling the baby in her arms and rocking slowly back and forth so as not to wake the child. "It's not important. What's important is that the three of you are okay." She chanced to take one arm away from the baby to give Pete's shoulder a small squeeze of thanks.

Just then, they heard Jonathan stomp back down the stairs. "He's not up there and there are no signs of anything happening. I..." he stopped abruptly and stared at the scene in front of him. Pete and his wife looked up at him and stared. He stared back and asked, "What's going on?"

"Clark had his baby," Martha said, sniffing delicately and blinking as sudden tears of happiness rolled down her cheeks. She moved swiftly but surely over to her husband to show him her prize. "Say 'hi' to grandpa," she cooed down to the baby as Jonathan reached a large hand up to the child's head, brushing the soft dark red hair that the tiny head was dusted with.

He sidled his arm up to his wife's that was underneath the child and the baby was once again shifted from arm to arm. Jonathan looked up from the bundle in his arms. "Boy or girl?" He asked, looking to Pete and back to his wife.

"Girl," Clark replied sleepily, sitting up a lot easier than before on the couch.

Martha pushed past Pete and over to her son, crouching down to his level. She bent forward and pulled him into a hug. "Clark," she breathed out worriedly. "Are you okay?" She pushed back from him and looked into his eyes, smiling when she made sure he was really okay.

Clark smiled at his mother as she shifted over and sat down beside him on the couch, ignoring the slightly damp towels underneath her. "I'm better now," Clark said, stretching his shoulders a bit and leaning back against the couch. "I don't feel like I gave birth anymore, so I think my body healed itself," he said, leaning himself over and resting his heavy head down onto her shoulder. He had felt so lost without his mother there to help.

Martha watched as Clark's hair fell back onto his forehead, almost tickling his eyelids. She reached a hand up and ran it through his sleep tussled hair, brushing it out of his face before placing a kiss onto his head. "I'm glad you're alright," she said with a small squeeze to his body, truly glad he was alright. "How'd you do it on your own?"

"Pete helped," he said, snuggling a little more into her soft curves.

"Thank you, Pete," Martha smiled brightly up at the young teen, who shifted his feet and looked embarrassed. It was gross and he hoped he could forget the image of his friend, his male friend, naked and giving birth. But all in all he was definitely glad he was here to help and experience the miracle that was birthing a child.

"Clark's my friend, Mrs. Kent, I had to help," he replied, smiling back. Looking at his watch, he cleared his throat. "I need to be getting back soon. Told my mom I'd be over here and back in an hour." He rolled his eyes. It had been more than an hour, "I think I'm late."

"I don't think she'll care once I let her know. Just ask her to give me a call when you get home and I'll explain what happened," Martha said, pulling away from her son, and hearing a slight whine as his pillow was taken away. She stood from the couch, moved to Pete and gave him a big hug. "Thanks again, Pete." Pete hugged her back, smiled one last time and said his good-byes before he left the house.

Jonathan looked up from the baby, he had noted the features the girl had inherited from Lex and he had to admit she was a beautiful little thing. He smiled as he walked over to the couch with his granddaughter resting in his arms and sat down next to his son. He shifted the baby back to Clark when the younger man's hands came up to instinctively cradle her into her father's arms. Jonathan smiled at the picture the two of them presented and lifted an arm and settled it around Clark's shoulders. "You did a fine job, Clark."

Clark looked up at his father's words to see the older man smiling at him. "Thanks, but it was hard to do. I know one thing," he said, looking up at his mother before glancing back at his father, "I definitely don't want anymore any time soon."

Jonathan was about to comment on that, something to do with his lingering distaste for the baby's other father's last name, when said baby woke up and started to cry. Clark looked down at his daughter and began rocking her gently. She calmed down a bit, but she continued to snuffle and whine. Martha had smiled at her son after his comment and quietly left the room to start some coffee brewing. When she came back she went straight to the fussing baby girl to help Clark understand what it was she wanted.

"Looks like she's hungry," Martha said, bringing a hand up to the child's head and brushing a finger through the soft dark hair. She looked up to her son and Clark stared back down at his little girl before shifting his gaze to his mother.

"So, what do we do?" Clark asked. He wanted to make sure his baby got the very best care, but he was at a loss for how to do it. He wasn't a baby when he came to Earth, so his mother didn't have any experience with raising a possibly alien baby from new born to three years old. Martha smiled knowingly and went to the kitchen to warm some milk.

"What are you going to name her?" Jonathan asked when Martha left the room to busy herself in the kitchen. It still bothered him that the baby was part Luthor, even if it was Lex Luthor, but he was getting used to the idea. This child had a clean slate and he was starting to see how a last name and family didn't necessarily mean everyone in the clan was a bad person.

Clark looked down at his squirming daughter. "I'm not sure yet. I have an idea though," he said, looking up when his mother came back into the living room and handed him a bottle.

"Here you go. Hold her at an angle so she won't swallow as much air when she drinks," Martha said as she took a seat in the chair across from her son. "The milk doesn't contain enough vitamins and minerals for her to live off of, but it should hold her over until we can go to the store later and pick up some formula."

Clark took the offered bottle from his mother and did as he was told. He placed the nipple at his daughter's mouth and watched as she opened up and began to suck and drink greedily, her little hands crossed over her chest. He watched amazed as a contented little expression formed and he looked up to his parents with a huge grin on his face.

@>*~

Lex prodded the salad in front of him with his fork, he wasn't even that hungry. It was good for the LuthorCorp image to be here, though, so he sat and enjoyed his meal the best he could. And here, of all places, was a debutante ball for London's finest daughters. Lionel was, so far, behaving himself and not acting strange like he had been on their trip to Scotland, and he was glad for it. Maybe he could just sit back and relax and politely mingle with the people there, spread some good words out for LexCorp while he was at it.

As he stared down at his plate, he saw a slight shadow fall across the table from over his shoulder. He frowned and sighed mentally as he looked up and shifted in his seat to look behind himself. He raised his eyebrows at the petite young girl wearing a shimmering black dress, smiling brightly at him. He turned his head back to the table and looked around at the other guests there; surely she was smiling at one of them instead. He looked back to the girl when he felt her run a hand up his arm. "Hello," she began in what Lex assumed was the sexiest voice she thought she knew how to produce. "I'm Melissa Thorton. Care to dance with me?" she asked, batting her eyes in a blatant attempt to flirt with the young billionaire.

Lex's expression changed and a smooth, polite film slipped over his features as he addressed the girl. She wasn't that tall, so he didn't have to stand or crane his neck to speak up to her. "No, thank you," he said, grasping her offered hand and giving a polite shake. "I'm not up for dancing right now." He hoped his dismissal was enough to get her to go away as he turned back to his dinner and looked to his father out the corner of his eye; he had been listening in, from the look on his face.

"Aw," she pouted prettily, Lex assumed she thought he was trying to play hard to get. "This is a ball," she gestured to the room at large and a piece of long dark hair slipped over her shoulder. "Everyone wants to dance," she said, a pathetic attempt at a seductive gaze, tugging on his arm to get him to go with her.

Before Lex could say anything else to the young woman, Lionel sat up straight in his chair and interrupted. "Excuse me, Miss Thorton. I do believe my son said he didn't want to dance. So, if I were you, I'd take my obnoxious self away and go back to my daddy," Lionel all but growled at the girl, letting a sneer creep up onto his lips in the girl's direction.

Melissa glared heatedly at Lionel, her spoiled rich baby becoming offended, before taking off in a huff. Lex turned an indignant look at his father. "Dad, I'm a big boy. I think I could have taken care of the situation on my own without your help," Lex observed his father and went back to his dinner. He shook his head to himself. Well, apparently Lionel wasn't back to his old self yet. Lionel didn't say anything, just reached blindly for his glass of wine with a decidedly irritated look on his face.

Almost less than a minute later, Melissa returned to their table with a beefy looking older man following behind her. "Excuse me, Mr. Luthor," the man said as he reached their table.

"Yes?" Both Luthors said at the same time. Lex threw a quick and amused smirk at his father. In the castle was one thing, but generally in the business world *Mr. Luthor* means Lionel, unless he's not in the room. Lex turned back to the man and watched his father wait for the voice to speak again, in order to discern its location.

The man turned a raised brow to his daughter after seeing the look on the two men's faces and she leaned in and whispered something to him. "I meant you, sir," the man said, looking at Lionel.

Lionel sighed as he pulled back from the table slightly. "If you haven't noticed, mister...?"

"Thorton, George Thorton." Lex held back an outright superior smirk at the man. He wasn't all he thought he was. Mostly just running under other more independent businessmen and being passed off as someone of importance by his arrogant nature. Sure, he'd made it far doing what he does, but it doesn't mean he could handle a major business problem. Lex looked to his father and left a calculating look on his face. Perhaps he should look into Mr. Thorton's projects.

"Mr. Thorton, I'm blind," he said rather bluntly. "I have no idea to whom you were directly addressing. Now," he sat back in his chair and threaded his fingers together over his stomach, "Exactly what can I do for you?" Lionel asked as he stared unseeingly in the direction of Mr. Thorton's voice.

"Well, sir," Mr. Thorton began, nervously looking at Lionel. The elder Luthor's eerie eyes stared, through the dark shades covering them, towards him. "My daughter here tells me that you insulted her..."

"Ah, yes," Lionel interrupted, smirking towards the sound of the other man's voice. "Indeed I did. You see, Mr. Thorton, your daughter was harassing my son and continued to do so even after he told her he was not interested."

George cleared his throat tentatively before continuing on. "I understand that, Mr. Luthor, but there was no reason to insult anyone here." He had heard about Lionel Luthor and he definitely didn't want to get involved in something horrible for business with the man.

"Alright, alright," Lionel held up a hand and waved it dismissively at George. "My apologies." Lionel lifted his other hand to join the first and gave a friendly gesture. Lex quirked an eyebrow at his father, amused. He didn't buy it for a minute, but at least his father was defending, or standing up for him, in some way.

"It's quite alright." Lex saw the girl glare at her father for not making a big deal out of the insult that had been directed at her. Prissy little bitch. "Thank you and I'm sorry for disturbing your evening," George continued and turned to Lex. Lex returned the polite nod and Mr. Thorton left their table with an angry daughter nagging him all the way until they were out of sight.

Lex sighed as he turned back to the table, facing his father. "Dad..." Lex shook his head. Lionel had a rather condescending look on his face and Lex sighed again, knowing it would be pointless to argue with him about it, before excusing himself. He actually did have to use the facilities and he made his way directly there, without too much mingling and absent gossip being forced upon him.

He lingered in the crowd a bit more on his way back to the table to eye his father and make sure Lionel was behaving himself. When his father's seat was in range, he swore under his breath and made his way there hurriedly, hoping it was a mistake on his part and it was the wrong table. He clenched his jaw and felt a headache coming on as he groaned inwardly and tried to nonchalantly grab a drink from a waiter and mill around in an attempt to find his father.

Lex cringed when he felt a hand press against him and slide around his body. He turned to find Melissa looking a cross between down right pissed off, and still determined to get him into her panties. With a lame excuse for having to make his way to the bathroom, smiling through her pleading and telling her he'd changed his mind; sure, he'd dance. He wished he'd never come to this damn ball to begin with now as he made his way through the crowd and away from the girl. He should have just told her to bugger off, but he didn't want her to do something stupid, like run and cry on someone's shoulder that Lex was mean to her. That wouldn't be good for the image

Lex stopped and watched from where she couldn't see him, and saw her go straight to her father. Apparently, from the looks on their faces, she had seen through his ploy and was whining to daddy again. Lex started to hear his father's raised voice filtering through to him, and he rushed over to the center of the room. He set his drink down quickly on the table, and splashed a bit onto his hand. He turned to Mr. Thorton again. You stupid idiot, Lionel, couldn't you have let it go?

Lionel had deliberately waited until Lex was out of the room and unable to see him, or stop him, to get up and seek out the other man. Lex knew that and that his father more not than usually could barely stop himself from doing something selfish and feeling him and his company were invulnerable. Lex shook his head at his father and George saw the obvious way that Lex was going to go about this.

"I'm sorry," Lex said, as he tried to surreptitiously grab his father by the arm, by his elbow and led him out of the room. Lionel squawked indignantly for a few feet before Lex tightened his fingers, pinching into a pressure point and feeling satisfied at the wince his father made.

After they'd actually exited the entire building, the cool night air hit Lex in the face and he breathed in, wanting to just freeze up and blow away like snow to nothing so he didn't have to deal with Lionel.

"What the hell were you thinking?" Lionel snapped when he had tapped out his surroundings, noting the stairs to his far left as to not fall down them and make an ass of himself.

"Me?" Lex shouted back, "You were the one who was making a scene!" Lionel had pursed his lips and crossed his arms, looking almost like a pouty spoiled brat who didn't get to play with his favorite toy in lieu of his bed time. Lex was about to continue and make his father see the major mistake he was making by ruining the Luthor name more than it already was, when he heard crunching footsteps on the dry fall leaves coming up to them.

Lex swirled around and looked straight into the valet's eyes. The young man felt like he should run away, like he was intruding and the menacing look that the bald one was giving him almost made his hands shake. Lex's expression was tamed when he realized the frightened look on the man's face and took on a more amiable stance. He tilted his head slightly, obviously expecting a question from the attendant.

"W-would you like your car to be brought around?" He asked shyly, almost hunching in on himself. Lex shot a look back to his father and then down at their jackets he'd roughly snatched from the coat room, and asked for the car. He couldn't go back into that room right now, not even if he did stand on his own two feet; after all these years he was still embarrassed by his father.

@>*~

They arrived back at the hotel and Lex glanced at the digital clock that was glowing at him behind the glass plated door of the entertainment center. Lex groaned; it was past midnight again. He wanted all the sleep he could get while he was here. He threw his things aside, the briefcase he had left in the car clattered and skidded to a stop against the wall. There was nothing important in it, so what did it matter? Lionel felt behind him and shut the door, locking it as he listened to his son. At least there's only the rest of the month before he can go home, to Clark. Why the fuck did he have to come here anyway? He flung his jacket aggressively down onto the coffee table, making the buttons click rather loudly as he connected with the glass. "Lex!"

"Fuck off, Dad. I am not in the mood for your shit right now."

Lionel raised quizzical eyebrows at his son's muffled and retreating voice, and he began his way to the couch since he wasn't that tired right now. His sensitized ears were assailed by the sharp and abrupt slam of Lex's bedroom door as his son stalked through its threshold and flung it shut behind himself. The older man shook his head and sat himself down on the soft leather material covering the plush cushions and felt for the remote control.

Lex pulled the light sweater he had worn to the ball over his head and threw it onto the bed as he made his way to the bathroom. He stopped in front of the sink and looked at his scowling features. He let them slowly relax as he calmed his breathing and he turned the water on, testing it with a finger. He leaned down over the sink and cupped his hands under the stream of liquid before lifting his hands to splash the cool water on his face. After several more douses, Lex picked up the towel sitting to the side of the sink and pressed it against his face. The soft fluff of it was nice against his cool, damp skin and he still wanted to scream into the material. He threw it against the mirror and it fell down to the cavity in the porcelain. God, he wanted to sleep; it was the quickest way to make the time pass while he was here, but he couldn't leave his father for some reason. He had to finish this.

Lionel brought a hand to his ear and pressed down slightly just before the opening to try and stop the faint ringing. He found the buttons he'd mostly memorized the other day and pressed the correct ones to begin the music. It was only half way through the first song that played when Lex's door swung open and a cool breeze from his open window ran into the room. Lex always did like the cool air for sleeping. Lionel sighed and leaned back against the couch more; sinking into it as he paused the music. Lex had every intention of stomping out and confronting his father, but when his eyes laid upon the scene before him, he faltered and was overcome by a sense of... regret?

Lex walked to the couch a bit sluggishly and sat down heavily, making the seat between the two of them puff up. "Why did you go and find Thorton after I left?" He asked, his tone surprisingly even, knowing how emotionally charged that he had been the past little while. Lex shifted himself on the couch and made himself comfortable. He tilted his body to one side, into the corner of the couch to look at his father more clearly.

"His slut of a daughter was harassing you," Lionel barked quietly to his son while absently playing with the remote control for the stereo.

"I wouldn't classify that as harrassment, Dad," Lex replied snidely. "And I can take care of myself, as well."

Okay, this wasn't starting off well; for either of them. Lex was strangely starting to like the caring presence of this man who'd kidnapped his father, Lionel Luthor. Even if it only flashed up once in a while, it was alright when it lasted if it wasn't at such inappropriate times that it decided to show its ugly face. It was quiet for a moment between them. The only sound Lex heard was his own saliva being shifted around inside his mouth with his tongue, and the pads of Lionel's fingers tapping on the sides of the remote he held in his hands.

"I know why you won't move back to Metropolis, Lex," was what Lionel broke the silence with. He felt he had to say something to win his son's respect and possibly some sort of affection. He didn't know what he wanted, but he wanted Lex to survive.

Lex bristled at the subject and glared a useless glare at his father. "You're happy there. And I want that for you," Lionel continued. Lex's glare took on another dimension, morphing into a frown. Maybe he should let Lionel speak, and get this out of his system, if it wasn't permanent, or only in private.

"I know you well enough to understand you won't settle down with a woman." Lex was about to interrupt, but quickly remembered his previous thoughts. "You'd be searching for someone to equal your mother." Lionel's words became softer as he trailed off at the mention of his late wife, and Lex took a moment to actually listen and think about his father's words. He had spent his whole life trying to shut his father's words out. Not wanting to hear about hostile takeovers, or 'Lex, you'll fail if you don't do this, or that,' or ways to run a business. Lex's switch to some of the more ethical practices for the plant had upset his father, but Lionel had soon dropped it when Lex *honestly* had no time to deal with him.

He felt strangely aware that Lionel was proud of him, for his ability to have blown him off with a valid excuse. Lex almost scoffed; they were never a good enough reason before, but maybe something had changed. "I don't know how serious you are... but I want you to have at least some sort of family after I'm gone." Lionel said, breathing in deeply through his nose.  Ah, after he's gone. Lex had almost been fooled. Lionel may or may not want him to have a family, but he wants Lex to have an heir to continue the legacy of the Luthors even after Lex is dead and gone.

But if his father wanted to take his relationship with Clark serious, then so be it; Lex wasn't going to argue. He just wanted to go to sleep and forget his father was ever having a mental break down and being sentimental. "Good night, Dad," Lex said softly, sitting up and patting his father's leg. He stood up from the couch and made his way quietly back to his room. Upon approaching the door, a small crack had caught his attention. He sighed softly to himself and ran a finger down the split in the wood. Nothing like Clark's strength, but he would have to control himself. He plopped himself down onto his bed and dragged the blanket up over him, not caring that his pants were still on. God, he wanted to see Clark; everything would be better then. He really missed his lover.

@>*~

Clark stretched his legs out, tangling the covers even more around his limbs. He moaned happily as he made to roll over onto his stomach, feeling a sense of relief that the baby was out of his body. Instead of feeling the absolute comfort that his bed provided, well, as much as it could without Lex there, he winced as his chest rubbed against the sheets underneath him.

He rolled out of bed, thinking vaguely that he shouldn't have felt the irritating pain that he had, and made his way grumpily towards the bathroom. Clark stumbled almost blindly as he wiped the sleep out from his eyes on the way, almost running into his door frame.

After releasing the built up pressure to his bladder he moved to wash his hands and face, he let out a yawn and looked into the mirror above the sink in the bathroom. He looked... tired still. He ran his hands absently down his body, feeling the once again firm abs and frowning a bit when he felt some excess flab at his sides, nothing that some good farm labor wouldn't clear up. He brushed at an itch on his chest as he turned to leave, and it felt rather sensitive, almost raw. He turned back to the mirror and glanced at the slightly reddened flesh around his nipples.

"Oh, great. I'm growing..."  Clark shoved his head into his hands and groaned as he walked back to his room, hoping he could find something to smack his head against. The teen patted down his hair and pulled a t-shirt over his head, and slipping on some sweat pants over his boxers, before going downstairs. As he walked down the stairs, the up and down motion that his shirt made over his chest made it feel even more raw, and almost swollen as his arms swung as he walked down the steps of the stairs to the kitchen.

He frowned as he caught his reflection in the glass of a framed painting at the turn in the stairs. He didn't want to turn into a woman now. But how else would his baby be fed? They didn't even know if it would survive on human foods in the beginning of its life. Lex would hate him if he grew breasts. Fuck, he had to tell Lex about the baby. There were only a couple more weeks before his boyfriend would return.

Clark sighed and let the worry settle over him as he made his way over to the fridge. His mother turned at the sound of his movements and smiled at him, before a slightly concerned look settled over her features. Clark almost stopped dead at the look; did he look that bad? "Clark, your shirt," she pointed vaguely.

He tilted his head down so his chin was resting against his chest and looked over the slightly tight, light grey t-shirt. There was a wet spot there, alright. "It's wet," Martha identified, feeling like she was stating the obvious. She reached out to brush at it after she'd closed the distance between her and her son. When her finger ran over the wet spot, she felt a small bump underneath and Clark gasped, snatching his hand up to cover his right breast.

In turn, Martha jerked her own hand back to her personal space at the abrupt response from Clark. She looked at him, concern clearly written on her face as she let a hopeful look come to her face. Clark still looked and felt worried about what was happening to him, but he obligingly lifted his shirt, knowing what she wanted to check.

She gave a slight surprised gasp of happiness, and Clark wanted to die. He looked absolutely depressed and didn't think he could ever bring himself to be happy about being able to squirt milk out of his male chest. Unless he was going to have a naturally occurring sex change that would be a very bad new 'ability.' He closed his eyes and prayed to God that didn't happen.

"It's milk!" She said, almost startled, looking up to Clark. He gave a weak smile and belatedly wondered where his daughter was. He hadn't heard any crying the night before, but he had been pretty tired.

After a completely embarrassing conversation with his mother, he grudgingly took the offered bottle from his mother and made his way back upstairs to the bathroom. He stood in front of the sink again, and set the bottle down before taking his shirt off. He looked down at his nipples and slowly brought a hand up to one of them. He pressed gently around the edge and it felt squishy. He pressed a bit harder and it hurt. He frowned and brought his other hand to join its partner and used his fore finger and thumb from each hand and tilted his nipple up so he could see where the milk was supposed to come out.

He didn't see any hole, so he squeezed experimentally and was rewarded with a squirt of milk to the face. He was startled at first, but he managed to laugh despite the stupid situation he was in. He angled himself downwards and tested out this squirting business before uncapping the bottle and attempting to fill it at least half way.

Clark got just a bit under half when he stopped squeezing himself, and held up the bottle, gauging how well he did. He felt embarrassed about this enough, and hadn't wanted the baby to suck from his nipples. He screwed the cap onto the bottle again and went back downstairs.

When he reached the kitchen, his mother was already sitting at the table with his daughter in her arms, cooing to her softly. Clark smiled at the picture and pulled out a chair beside his mother. He set the bottle down and Martha smiled at him and he almost wanted to pull his head in like a turtle and hide. She handed him his baby girl and he settled her in his arms before grabbing the bottle from the table. He mimicked what he had done the day before with the bottle when his parents got home, and she opened her mouth to allow the plastic nipple inside.

Martha sat close to her son and grandchild, and she talked quietly to Clark, knowing that he was undoubtedly stressed out about this whole thing and a lot more than he was showing. She surmised that her opinion was that he wouldn't lactate for more than the first week or so, just to provide the baby with its immunizations for its first days of life, and then it would stop. His mother patted his shoulder and gave a reassuring squeeze before kissing him on the cheek and returning to her work.

He gave a small self depreciating chuckle; he was insecure about his masculinity. He *really* just wanted to smack his head repeatedly against something very very hard right now. He almost wanted to cry because it was slowly dawning on him that the baby was basically going to encroach on his teenage years, and of course the fact that he's apparently lactating now.

Clark knew his parents would help with everything, but he knew they would also be letting him do most of the work. Since it was still summer, he had the time to fully take care of his baby, but when Clark went back to school, his parents would have to watch the girl a bit more regularly. He would definitely need his sleep for the next day at school, and he knew it was almost their way of teaching him a lesson; that he should have been more careful.

Over the next weeks, the lactation did indeed trail off, and his baby was happy and healthy as far as they could tell. He had fears about her legality and how it would be presented to the law and hospitals, but he decided to let Lex help them out with that. His father disapproved of letting a Luthor have that much control over something, but he couldn't really talk since he'd done it himself and knew there was almost no way around it. Clark was dreading telling Lex and almost wanted his boyfriend to stay away so that things would stay the same. He knew that was a selfish thing to do, since he knew Lex was having a tough time in Europe with Lionel and definitely wanted to come home.

Clark sighed as he rushed to his daughter's bed and looked over her in her crib. This was the third time she had woken up, and Clark was almost sleepwalking instead of being awake. He was getting used to doing the milking himself thing, but it was still embarrassing every time, even if he was in the bathroom and no one was watching; they always knew exactly what had gone on, though.

"Mommy is very tired!" God, what had he just said? He lifted his daughter into his arms and tried to soothe her back to sleep. What the hell had he gotten himself into? He loved his daughter, but now he wasn't sure if he wanted this all the time. Having a baby was fine with him, but it would cut into his time. He saw how the single mothers around Smallville were; they had no time to themselves and half the time looked really burnt out. He sighed and continued stroking Lillian's head, hoping she'd go back to sleep soon so that he could get some rest himself.

@>*~

Clark walked into the farm house and set his bookbag into a chair before walking through the kitchen, to the living room, and plopping himself down onto the couch. School had started a week ago and with that and his daughter, he had been worn out from everything. He had asked his parents if he could just stop going to school and get his GED instead, but his father told him that he was to finish and get his diploma, child or no child. His father had thrown a platitude at him, as usual; 'you've made your bed, now sleep in it.' Clark was not happy.

He was startled out of his thoughts when the phone rang, and he reached over to the side table to grab the cordless that had been left there. "Hello?"

"Hey, Love."

"Lex!" Clark exclaimed, his day brightening and a new gloom settling over it all at once; he still had to tell Lex about the baby. "How's it going? When are you coming back?" Clark asked, getting up and walking to the kitchen to grab a bottle. He had fallen into a habit of making his daughter a bottle of formula at the same time after school everyday. His parents watched her during the day while he was at school, but once he was home it was his turn to take care of her, of course, with exceptions for when he had homework to do.

Lex took a calming breath to hide his excitement. "Well, right now I'm at the airport," he paused for a moment, "Waiting to be picked up for the ride back to Smallville." He exhaled and then frowned when he heard a loud clatter, as if Clark had dropped something. "Clark?" He asked, concerned.

"You're here, *now*?" Clark asked, his breathing picking up as he became steadily anxious. His nervousness had been wearing down as he got used to the idea about a baby, and with all his energy focused on taking care of her, he had all but forgotten about telling Lex. Now all the panic in the world rushed back into Clark's chest.

"Yes, Love," Lex chuckled, but still wondered what the reason for Clark's startled response was. He would find out, though, in due time. "I got back about ten minutes ago," Lex replied, watching his father walk towards him. "Are you going to come meet me at the castle?"

Clark swallowed. "Yeah of course," he'd have to clear it with his mother first, "When should I be there?"

Lex pushed his shirt sleeve back to expose his wristwatch, looking at the time. "Meet me there in, say, an hour? We're taking the helicopter back to the castle."

"Okay, I'll be there. See you then," Clark said, gripping the bottle nervously in his hand.

"I'll be waiting. Love you."

"Love you too, Lex," Clark said as he hung up the phone. Taking a deep breath, he called rather loudly for his mother. He leaned back against the counter and unscrewed the lid from the bottle, waiting for his mother.

Martha came down the stairs with her granddaughter in her arms. "Clark, I'm here," she started, "You don't have to yell." She stopped in front of Clark, raising an eyebrow at him. She had heard him talking, and he usually didn't talk to himself, and Jonathan wasn't here right now. "Who was that on the phone?"

"It was Lex, Mom!" Clark sounded a bit too upset for it to have been a nice call from his boyfriend. "He's getting on the helicopter on his way to the castle. I told him I'd meet him there in an hour. I know I'm supposed to take Lillian, but I need to talk to him alone first," he all but pleaded. "Could you and Dad watch her while I'm over there?" he asked, fidgeting with pent up energy and anxiety.

Martha sighed and took the offered bottle from his hand. "Just this one time, Clark. But you're going to have to tell him very soon about Lillian."

Clark hugged his mother awkwardly since she still held his daughter in her arms and then bent down to kiss Lillian's forehead. "I know. I will. I'm just not sure how yet," he said, looking down.

"Go ahead and go. Don't keep him waiting." Clark smiled at her and went to walk out the door when he turned around at his name. "Make sure to use protection this time, okay, Clark?"

Clark felt his face heat instantly with a blush and he mumbled his acknowledgement before superspeeding out of there, before his mother could embarrass him any further.

@>*~

Clark slowed his running down to a normal pace as he got closer to the castle. Lex knew about his abilities, but everyone else didn't. He was about fifty-five minutes early, so he squeezed his way between the bars surrounding the perimeter of the castle and walked towards the gardens. The extra time he had let him think of how to tell Lex about his unexpected fatherhood.

He had lost track of the time when he heard the telltale sounds of the helicopter getting closer to the castle's grounds. Standing up from his seat on one of the garden's benches, he slowly made his way over to where the helicopter was fast approaching the landing pad. He bounced on the balls of his feet as he watched the helicopter land, waiting for his boyfriend to emerge from within.

Lex sighed in relief to finally be home. He snorted to himself; since when did he consider Smallville to be his home? He looked out through the front windshield to see his boyfriend waiting expectantly for him. Ah, that was it; Clark was the reason he thought of Smallville as his home. The thought and seeing Clark made him smile, before covering up his smile with his usual blank facade. He didn't need to be scaring the help.

Grabbing his personal luggage, Lex opened the door and stepped out of the helicopter. He turned back to the open doorway, waiting for his father. When Lionel was ready to step down, Lex extended his arm and led his father out of the helicopter, telling him to watch his head so he wouldn't smack it against the frame or get chopped by the whirling blades. As much as he'd love that, it just wouldn't be good.

Clark waited impatiently as he watched the two men make their way out of the helicopter. Once the two of them were safely away from the aircraft, Clark made his way closer to his boyfriend. He stopped a few feet away when he saw Lex hold up his hand a moment and turn back to his assistant and his father. He couldn't hear them, but he assumed they were telling the assistant to take Lionel back to the castle.

Lex waited until his father was a ways away from him before walking the rest of the distance to his boyfriend. Clark wasn't sure what to do since they had been apart for so long. He knew Lex, and he knew what he looked and felt like, but with him having been gone so long, it had felt a bit strange to be with him once again. Shaking the nervousness from himself, he closed the gap between them and hugged his boyfriend a little harder than was necessary. He loosened his grip when he heard a grunt of pain come out of Lex. "Sorry. God, I've missed you," Clark said, dropping his head into the hollow of Lex's neck.

"I've missed you too. How long can you stay tonight?" Lex asked hopefully as he took Clark by the hand and led him towards the castle. Clark pointedly looked down at their clasped hands and nodded towards where he saw Lionel walk off to. Lex smiled reassuringly at his boyfriend. "It's okay, Clark. My father knows."

Clark stopped, his hand clenching reflexively onto Lex's. He turned wide eyes onto his boyfriend, "He does?" Clark asked, before letting his eyes resume their usual state, and then shifting into almost a glare at Lex. "What'd he say?"

Lex pulled on Clark to get them walking again. "He didn't like it at first, but I got the oddest feeling that he let it slide since he wants to see me happy." Lex sighed, "There are times I just can not figure that man out," he said as the two of them walked up the steps leading to the entrance of the castle.

Clark smiled happily at his friend and they continued up the steps. After Lex checked in with his staff, and the cook, they made their way through the huge house to Lex's office. He dropped off his laptop and checked a few papers lying there. Clark waited for him, and Lex turned, smiling lazily at him and began walking towards the younger man. "I have massive jetlag," he said as he slipped his arms around Clark's pliant and willing waist, leaning his head into his lover's neck and giving a small kiss there.

Clark just settled into the embrace and brought his arms up to Lex's hips, nuzzling the side of his head against his boyfriend's. Lex turned them one hundred and eighty degrees and then slowly pulled his arms out from around Clark, gently pulling the teen towards him as he took a few steps backwards. Clark followed with a smile and Lex led them up the stairs, heading to his bedroom.

He wanted to lay down on the bed with Clark cuddled up beside him. Lex had missed him so much while he was gone, and was supremely glad that the long business trip was over. Lex had kicked his shoes off in the office and was now shucking his clothes off on the other side of the bed. Clark's back was facing him, the dark haired head was tilted down as he unlaced his sneakers.

Clark stood up for a moment to take the rest of his clothes off, turning around to face Lex across the bed between them, but he kept his boxers on. Lex did likewise and pulled back the covers for the two of them to get into bed. Clark lay on his side, facing the door as Lex snuggled up behind him.

Clark sighed and snuggled closer to his boyfriend, turning his head slightly so he could give him a 'welcome home' kiss. Lex pulled back from the kiss and buried his face in the back of Clark's neck, enjoying the feel and smell of his boyfriend. He tried to fall asleep, really he did, but he had been celibate for so long and he had missed the feel of Clark pressed up against him that he just couldn't sleep. Leaning back, he opened the drawer of his nightstand and rummaged around until he found the bottle of lube, bringing it back with him as he snuggled back into Clark.

Clark was slowly falling asleep as the tension of the past five months and Lex returning ebbed out of his weary body. He hadn't even noticed Lex moving around until he felt a hand at the waistband of his boxers. He turned his head slightly to look at Lex. "What are you doing?" he asked sleepily amused.

Lex had slipped his hand underneath the waistband of Clark's boxers and was running it up and down the taught cheeks. Lex leaned forward to whisper in his boyfriend's ear, "I want you." A small lick to Clark's ear lobe accompanied the finger that ran down between his cheeks.

Clark paused a moment, feeling a little uncomfortable, yet not able to stop himself from pressing back against the finger. It wasn't that he didn't want it, or want Lex, it had just been so long that he was a bit apprehensive. Seeing the need on Lex's face, he nodded and lifted his hips up to allow Lex to completely remove his underwear. Lex did that and then shuffled out of his own, and groped for the bottle he had placed between them. He squeezed some of the gel out onto his fingers and slowly brought it down to the crease of Clark's ass.

Clark moved his leg towards him a bit to give Lex easier access, propping it up slightly on his other knee. Lex rubbed a finger lightly over the hole, eliciting a soft moan from Clark. Taking that as encouragement to continue, he slowly worked a finger into his boyfriend, absently noting a slight looseness to the muscle but paying it no mind. For all he knew, Clark had masturbated constantly while he had been gone.

Removing his finger, he quickly added a second, scissoring them. Satisfied with his preparations, Lex squeezed a little more onto his hand and brought it down to his erection, coating it quickly before lining himself up to the ready hole. Clark pushed his ass back towards Lex as he felt him slowly entering his body. Lex began to thrust slowly at first, but picking up speed as the tight, wet heat engulfed his straining erection.

Clark moaned at every thrust, enjoying the feel of his boyfriend's hard cock rubbing against his prostate. Clark closed his eyes as he felt his body teeter on the edge of orgasm. Clark suddenly opened his eyes wide when he felt Lex's hand slip around to fondle his balls slightly, as much as he could reach from between his legs. He also remembered what his mother had said to him, and not wanting to be in a position that he couldn't get out of easily without pulling harshly on Lex's limbs to push him away. He heard Lex groan in frustration when he quickly pulled away, and pulling Lex's cock out of his ass. Lex blinked his eyes, feeling hurt. "What's wrong? Why'd you pull away?" Lex asked, frowning at Clark.

Clark shifted his body so that he was lying on his back, and leaned up to place a quick kiss to Lex's lips. His boyfriend didn't respond, and he continued, "I want you on top of me," Clark said as he spread his legs in invitation, watching Lex expectantly.

Lex sighed quietly to himself before smiling at his boyfriend. He moved to settle himself between Clark's wide spread legs and angled his cock to Clark's still wet hole. He thrust in quickly, earning an eager gasp from Clark. Clark pulled Lex's head down towards his own and claimed his lips in a fierce kiss. Lex moaned, happily joined in to the kiss this time as he continued to thrust into his boyfriend. Clark wasn't sure what he was going to do if he got pregnant again before even telling Lex about his previous pregnancy since they weren't using a condom. Clark opened his eyes and moved his mouth towards Lex's ear. "I want you to pull out right before you finish and come on my belly," he whispered, crying out as Lex jerked hard against him.

Lex felt the warm breath against his ear and felt his cock jerk, followed by an unconscious hard thrust into Clark's body at the request. Clark's cry served to further him along to his orgasm, and he felt the slow warmth as it approached. He forced himself to stop and hold still, positioning his face in front of Clark's and hearing a small whine escape the full lips before he leaned down to capture them in a firm kiss. "God, that turns me on," Lex said when he pulled back and pulled out slowly from inside of Clark, only to shove himself back in roughly.

Clark cried out again, a low deep moan reverberating in his chest as Lex pumped into him. "Mmm," he hummed as Lex leaned farther down to his neck, biting into the flesh above his collar bone, and then sucking a dark bruise over top of it. Lex definitely liked the idea, and his thrusts and grinds against Clark's body surely showed him in favor of coming on his lover's stomach.

Clark was trying to enjoy the sensations, but he couldn't completely let go and feel everything. He was restrained, and his hands rubbed absently over Lex's back or neck, depending on whether Lex was leaning down, pressing against him, or propping himself up with his arms. Lex noticed the distracted look that kept crossing Clark's face, even if the younger man had his eyes closed, Lex could still read his face as well as his eyes. Closing his eyes was fine, whatever it took for him to concentrate on what he was experiencing, but it was still almost unnerving.

Lex leaned down onto his elbows on either side of Clark's head and slowed his thrusting down as he kissed the corner of his lover's lips. The soft kisses drew his eyes open and he looked up at Lex and smiled. A sigh crossed with a moan came out of him as Lex nibbled down his jaw, and then came up to look back down to him. Lex now saw his boyfriend's eyes, and he decided to ask. As much as he didn't want to bring this particular subject up while they were having sex, he had to know if he was to make it better. "What's bothering you? Is it my father?"

Clark listened to the soft question that was asked, Lex's voice hushed, almost like if he said it as quietly as he could it wouldn't have such an impact on the mood between them. "No," Clark replied. The father that's bothering me is you, he thought. That thought had been popping up in his head all day, and it seemed not even sex could stop it. He was still feeling a bit shy about being with Lex, but he did want it. He missed this.

"Then what's up?" Lex asked, speeding his pace up a bit now that it apparently wasn't such a big problem. If Clark was preoccupied, that was fine. And if Clark didn't want to be doing this, he would have said so, wouldn't he? He just hoped Clark was enjoying it; he hated to feel like he was using his friend just to get off right now.

"Nothing." Clark shook his head gently and lifted his hands to pull Lex into another kiss, "I just missed you. I'm getting used to this again. Us." Clark smiled up at him, feeling a bit better now that he'd got at least one worry out of him. Lex smiled back and kissed him again before leaning up and angling himself better so that he could hit Clark's prostate.

Lex was spurred on by Clark's moans of pleasure, squashing his doubt about the issue of Clark not having a good time. He sped up the pace of his thrusts again, feeling himself getting closer every time Clark tightened his muscles around his cock. Lex moaned loudly and Clark looked up to him with a look on his face that was completely edible, so Lex leaned down and licked his tongue over Clark's parted lips to twine with its counterpart.

Lex's body jerked forwards involuntarily as his orgasm grew closer. He moaned into Clark's mouth, giving it one more quick kiss as he pulled away and thrust hard into the body under him before pulling out quickly and bringing a hand to his leaking cock. He stroked hard and fast; Clark's attention was rapt as he watched Lex's cock thrust in an out of the pale hand. The dark flushed color of Lex's cock combined with the pale complexion of the hand wrapped around it made a blur of pinks as Lex pumped himself hard. He moaned as he leaned over Clark's stomach, a hand bracing himself up beside the dark hair on the pillows as he let his cum spurt out in milky jets to land on Clark's abdomen and almost covering the engorged cock lying flat against them.

Clark watched Lex's strokes slow and a weak thrust of his hips before Lex took a deep breath and settled onto his knees between Clark's legs. Lex was glad that he seemed to have Clark's attention now as he looked down into his lover's eyes and swooped down for a kiss, keeping his body from squishing into his cum that had pooled over Clark's stomach. Clark almost whined when Lex's lips left his own, but then he gasped sharply as teeth grazed over a nipple, and then the other. Lex kissed the abused nubs before moving down, kissing across the non-semen-splattered parts of Clark's front before he came to the teen's cock.

Pressing a soft kiss to the underside of the head, Lex used a hand to drag his cum across Clark's body and down to the heavy cock that twitched in anticipation when Clark realized what Lex was doing. He gasped as Lex's cum slick palm wrapped around him and began with firm, slow strokes. He had only masturbated a few times in the past few months, and he realized just how horny he was and how much he'd missed Lex's hands and mouth on him. He bucked up suddenly when Lex's tongue slipped out to lick the slit and then run down his shaft before coming back up and settling his mouth over Clark's cock.

Lex continued stroking as he sucked on the head of Clark's cock, his sticky semen warming up again, and he took his hand away and pushed his head down over Clark's erection, taking as much into his mouth as he could. Clark moaned out his lover's name as a warm mouth surrounded his swollen cock, and hands drifted up his sides, stroking them softly. Lex noticed the give that Clark's flesh had when he let his hands rub over his boyfriend's body, but he didn't say anything. He had never known Clark to gain any weight to make him even slightly flabby, but there's a time for everything in one's life. Again, for all he knew, Clark could have been depressed and eating twice as much, as much as he knew that would terrify his parents.

He stopped his mouth's actions and pulled away, grabbing Clark's cock with his hand again, and shifting onto his side. His other hand stayed at Clark's side and Lex leaned his head down to lap and suck and caress Clark's balls with his tongue and lips. Clark moaned and twitched his cock as Lex licked at the sensitive skin. Lex squeezed softly over Clark's erection and came back up to lick around the head some more. Clark began to rock his lips into Lex's velvety warm tongue, and Lex obliged by lowering his mouth back over his lover's cock. The suction Lex applied then was enough to bring Clark to his climax and he thrust eagerly up into Lex's mouth, and Lex briefly allowed Clark's cock to press farther back to touch his throat muscles. Lex convulsed them rapidly for a moment, earning wanton moans from Clark before he had to pull back to breath and swallow the built up spit, and of course so as not to throw up. Stupid gag reflexes.

Lex lapped at the glans in front of him and resumed his firm strokes over Clark's cock, seeing the usual response he got when his lover was about to come. He readied himself and kept his mouth open as he jerked, waiting for Clark to come. Hot wet splashes assaulted Lex's tongue and the top of his mouth as Clark came with a moan, and biting his lip to quiet himself some so as not to actually scream out Lex's name. Whether Lionel knew or not, he didn't want the older man to hear them having sex. Lex's strokes trailed off slowly as Clark's peak dissipated, and he licked the cum from between his lip and teeth, holding the semen in his mouth.

He looked to Clark and grinned. Clark blinked and took a breath to help begin steadying his heart beat, and smiled back, knowing that Lex had a mouthful of his cum. Plus what he'd gotten of his own in his mouth from the length of his cock where he'd slicked it. Lex stepped on his knees to the edge of the bed, and grabbed Clark's hand when he got his feet on the floor. Clark shuffled himself off the bed and followed Lex to the private bathroom that adjoined his bedroom, to clean up.

@>*~

When they got to the bathroom, they decided to jump in and have a quick shower to clean up instead of just wiping themselves off. Finished with their shower, Lex led Clark to his bed and sat down next to him. Lex gave his lover a chaste kiss on the corner of his mouth, then reached over and picked up his cell phone. Handing it to his lover, he said, "Call home and ask your parents if you can spend the night."

Clark smiled, though he was wary about the idea. He took the offered phone from Lex and dialed the number. After the fourth ring, his mother answered it. "Hello?"

"Hi, Mom," Clark said, trying to keep his tone even, "Lex wanted to know if I could stay the night here," he said, smiling at his lover more honestly this time. He did want to stay with Lex, and it would be a welcome night away from tending to a baby and studying.

Martha sighed and Clark could faintly hear his daughter fussing over the line. "Have you told Lex yet?" She knew they wanted time together, and that her son needed it before he could tell Lex what had happened.

"No, I haven't." He said simply, waiting for her to tell him that he really should do it. He knew that, but it was hard. He'd tell Lex tomorrow, and then he got an idea.

"Clark," she sighed tiredly. "You really need to tell him soon. He has a right to know."

"I know, Mom. I will, I promise. How 'bout I invite him over for breakfast tomorrow?" Clark asked, bringing a hand nervously up to his still damp hair, tousling it around.

"Fine." She said, and Clark knew he was pushing it. The weekends were when his parents got to spend the time not having to take care of their granddaughter, but one night wasn't going to kill them. "But be here no later then seven, understand?" Martha said, before softly shushing Lillian.

Clark smiled sadly at the phone as he heard his mother talking away from the phone at his baby. "I understand. Thanks, Mom."

"Don't thank me yet. I'll see you tomorrow morning."

"Okay, Mom. Love you. Bye."

"Love you too. Bye," she said as she hung up the phone.

Lex raised an eyebrow at his lover. "Well?"

"I can stay, but we have to be there by seven tomorrow morning for breakfast," Clark said, letting himself fall backwards on the bed with a sigh. This would be good. Maybe he'd finally get a good night's sleep so he could face the day tomorrow.

Lex blinked, surprised, he would have thought at least Jonathan would protest, but it seemed that he wasn't even consulted. "Alright," he said, smiling at Clark. "Let's get some sleep. Now, I really am tired."

"Okay," Clark agreed and sat up for Lex to pull the covers that were bunched up underneath of him.

Lex scooted back onto the bed and lifted the sheet up, waiting for Clark to do likewise. Clark rearranged himself until he was under the sheet and snuggled up to his boyfriend, sighing worriedly at what would happen the next morning.

@>*~

Lex shifted gears once again on the way to Clark's house before looking over to his friend. Clark was looking out of his window, watching the cornfields fly by as he tried desperately to slow down his heart. Today was the day that Lex would find out about their daughter and Clark was more afraid of this than taking down the occasional meteor mutant.

Lex pulled up on the driveway leading to the Kent's farmhouse, cutting off the engine when he stopped the Porsche. Clark smiled nervously at Lex when he leaned in to place a light kiss onto his lips. "You alright, Clark? You seem a bit tense," Lex said, frowning in concern at his boyfriend.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine. Let's, uhm, go in huh?" Clark said and turned away from Lex, even though he knew his boyfriend was already suspicous, as he unfastened his seatbelt and opened the passenger side door. Lex eyed his lover before doing the same. Lex came around the car and walked beside Clark as they made their way towards the house.

After walking the short distance from where they'd parked, they reached the screen door on the kitchen of the farmhouse. Clark opened it and held it open for Lex, and the older man obligingly walked through it and stopped just inside, waiting for Clark. He came inside after Lex had cleared and let the door close behind them, "Mom! Dad! I'm home!" He called out, letting his parents know they were back.

Or at least his mother, since Jonathan would more than likely be outside doing some work. Lex had moved to lean stiffly against the island in the kitchen. He felt strangely nervous and like a bomb was about to drop onto him; something bad was about to happen, he just knew it. Clark turned and smiled nervously at Lex before they heard a thud from upstairs and footsteps coming towards the stairs.

Martha was startled by the shout from downstairs, and she dropped the book she had in her lap, making Lillian fuss in her arms. She shushed the child and lifted her up into her arms before making her way out of the room and down the stairs towards the kitchen. If she didn't take Lillian with her now, she knew Clark would avoid it until the baby started crying and drew attention to its self.

Lex became curious as Martha came down the stairs, holding a bundle of blankets in her arms. His eyes widened as he took in the tired look on her face and the small leg kicking out of the blanket. There was definitely a baby there, and he knew that his lover's mother couldn't have children. He caught the pointed look that the mother threw to her son, and Clark ducked his head slightly and looked towards Lex with worried eyes, and eyebrows drawn slightly together.

"Lex - "

"Clark," Lex interrupted him, holding up a hand that commanded silence as Martha pulled a chair out from the table gently and sat down in it, settling the baby in her arms in the new position.

Clark wiped at the sudden tears that fell down his cheeks; he didn't want to lose Lex. Before Clark could explain, Martha piped up. "Lex, meet Lillian Martha. Your daughter." Lex blinked and let his mouth fall open, trying to form words, but failing, and turned to glare at Clark. Clark fidgeted nervously under the angry glare thrown his way. Martha saw the exchange and tried to help. "Lex," she began, getting the older man's attention. "Clark didn't know he could have children..."

"Mrs. Kent..."

"I think under the circumstances, you should call me Martha."

"Martha," Lex corrected himself before going on. "I understand that. What I don't understand is why it took until *now* for you guys to tell me," he said, stalking to the table and startling Clark when he pulled out a chair beside the teen and sat down heavily on it.

Martha shifted her gaze from Lex to her son, smiling sympathetically at him. Clark sniffed loudly and said, "I was scared, Lex. I mean, I had no idea I could get pregnant and then when I found out..." He paused, wiping at his eyes. "I wasn't sure how to tell you. Lex," he said, crumbling into himself under the hurt filled gaze on him. "I was scared you wouldn't want me anymore if you knew."

Lex sighed under the hand he'd brought to his head. God, he hated headaches. He slid his fingers to the bridge of his nose and pinched down on it. His boyfriend could be so, so young sometimes, but he could understand. "Clark, I would never leave you," he reassured, pulling Clark's hand out from between Clark's legs where he'd shoved them. "You told me about your origins and I stayed. You told me how you felt and I stayed. What made you think I'd leave you over something like this?"

"I don't know," Clark whispered, more tears threatening to spill.

Lex squeezed Clark's hand, making the younger man look up at him with wet eyes and a still worried expression. Then Lex got up from his seat and walked towards the door. He turned around and spoke, "I need some time to think about things." Lex held up a hand and continued before Clark could respond. "I'm not leaving you," he stated firmly, hoping to make sure Clark would believe him. "I just need time to think." He walked out the door and headed for the Porsche. What he needed was some hundred year old scotch and aspirin, lots of it.

Clark turned wide, tear filled eyes to his mother. "Mom-"

"Let him go, Clark. He'll be back," Martha said, rocking her granddaughter absently.

Clark sat down in the seat Lex had vacated, dropped his head down onto the table and sobbed. Martha sighed and kept on rocking the baby, knowing when Clark was done crying, she would convince him that Lex was coming back. He better or he'd have one angry Martha Kent after his ass for hurting her baby boy.

@>*~

Two hours later, Lex drove up the Kent's driveway once again. He had driven around town, contemplating life in general and Clark in specific. He had been surprised to find out he was now a father, and he was glad. His first thought on the subject was that they were lying to him for some reason, but then he realized the Kents, and especially Clark, wouldn't do such a thing. Yes, Clark had lied about his origins, but who could blame him? Second, he wasn't sure if he'd be able to help raise a child since his childhood hadn't been the best with Lionel as a father. He was afraid he'd do the same to his child what his father had done to him.

Lex sighed as he walked up the porch steps, knocking softly on the door. He waited a moment until Martha opened the door and smiled softly at him. "I'm glad you're here, Lex," she said, hugging him awkwardly since she was still holding the baby. It was going to take a bit for him to get used to calling her his daughter, but he could do it. He had the Kents and Clark to help raise her; she wouldn't turn out bad.

Lex followed Martha inside and Clark sat at the table, absently picking pieces from a muffin sitting in front of him and bringing them to his mouth. He looked up when he heard his mother greet Lex and he felt relieved that Lex had come back. His mother had assured him that he would, but he was still paranoid about it. Lex hated surprises, and this was definitely a surprise. Martha reached a hand to stop Lex when he was about to make his way back to his seat at the table, and he turned around to look at her.

He was not prepared to have a child in his arms, much less his own. Being the way he'd been in his life with relationships, Lex had never thought he'd have any children of his own except on purpose and solely for an heir, unless he got lucky and found a woman he loved. But he was even luckier than he could ever have imagined. He was in love and had a beautiful baby girl. He tensed when Martha pressed the bundle against his chest and he instinctively lifted his arms to cradle little Lillian Martha in his arms. It took him a moment to relax and several times telling himself 'it's not going to bite,' he carried the child back to the table and sat down again.

He smiled down at her cute little face, noting the soft dark red hair. The happy smile from a moment ago turned rueful for a second, recalling the loss of his own fiery locks, but he was happy that the gene was prevalent in his daughter. His and Clark's daughter. This was more of a family than he ever could have asked for, and he let out a sudden laugh, startling Clark, who was still sitting next to him, bewildered. Lex looked up, his vision slightly blurred from unshed tears, but he quickly blinked them back. He grinned at his lover and then at Martha, and then back down at the baby. "Oh, my god," he said. "She's so beautiful."

"She looks a lot like you," Clark said quietly. He was still tentative about Lex and his -- their -- baby, but things were starting to look up, and he was happy. Clark smiled and Martha got up to get a cup of coffee, asking Lex if he wanted some as well.

Lex nodded and turned his attention back down to gaze at his daughter. She cooed up at him before sticking her hand in her mouth and sucking noisily. Clark leaned over a bit to watch and ran a finger down her cheek. "She's hungry," he said as he got up from his seat at the table and went to the fridge to grab a pre-prepared bottle from within, taking it to the microwave to warm it up.

Martha set the cup of coffee down in front of Lex, smiling at Lillian as she leaned over to look at her, "She eats quite a bit. I'm surprised she still fits into her clothes."

"Well, I just hope she doesn't go through terrible growth spurts like I did," Clark said as he waited for the beep, and then took the bottle from the microwave and walked up behind Lex, looking at his baby in his boyfriend's arms. Lex looked over his shoulder at the bottle near his head. Leaning his head back, he frowned at his boyfriend, insecurity flooding back to him about how to care for a child this young. "You want me to feed her instead?" Clark asked, unsure of Lex's reaction to feeding a baby.

"No, I'll do it," Lex said, rather valiantly. "I have to get used to this anyway." As he took the bottle from Clark, the teen moved and sat beside Lex, ready to coach him if needed. It wasn't as if he had too much experience with this himself except for the past weeks, but he was better than Lex was, no doubt. Lex took the bottle from Clark and brought it slowly to his daughter's little mouth. She removed her hand and opened her mouth wide for her food, drinking contently from the bottle. Lex smiled down at her, mesmerized by the happy noises she was making.

"Has she really grown that fast?" Lex asked after a moment, when he could tear his eyes away from the baby. Lillian had shut her eyes and gripped the edges of the bottle with her little hands and was sucking happily.

"Well, it's normal for a baby this age," Martha began, moving to sit down in her chair again. "But, then, we're not all too sure about her body, being as one of her parents has an alien heritage, and the other has been affected by the meteors." She hadn't wanted to say it so bluntly, but it was true and they needed to deal with this. Oh, and something had just hit her. How were they going to make her legal? What they had gone through with Lionel for Clark wasn't something that would be readily repeated.

Lex held back the wince at the reminder of that day in Riley Field and gently eased the bottle away from Lillian's mouth. The baby had fallen asleep and she looked so soft and fragile. Lex smiled and shuffled her to make her more comfortable in his arms and set the bottle back on the table. "You're right, Martha," Lex said seriously. "I'll take care of things just let me make a call to a friend in Metropolis."

"Lex..." Clark began, unsure of how this was going to work. He'd heard the stories about Lionel and he knew Lex was a lot different than his father, and also one of the fathers, but he was still wary about going through any legal hassles. He put his trust in Lex, though, and he knew everything would be alright.

"Clark, it's okay. I have a responsibility here to help raise her, and that includes everything from pacifiers to forged birth certificates and whatever else she may need." Clark nodded and Lex moved slightly in a gesture to move the baby from his arms to Clark's, and he stood up.

Clark took Lillian in his arms and stood up gently himself, making his way towards the stairs. She didn't need to be around them right now and she was already sleeping, so she could go lay in her crib. Lex got up and stretched his arms before reaching into his inside coat pocket to grab his cell phone, and flipped it open. He creased his forehead for a moment, trying to recall the number, before it came to him and he began dialing.

Clark heard the shuffling as Lex got up, and he set Lillian down into her bed, pulling a light blanket up over her body and brushing over the soft hairs on her head. He smiled before going back downstairs. Lex had an arm crossed over his chest, holding onto the opposite elbow, and was speaking into his cell phone. "That's good to hear, John, but this isn't a social call." He chuckled for a moment, "I didn't think you did," he continued, "I need some blank papers for some confidential work.

Clark settled into his chair opposite his mother, and looked to her. She looked impressed at how Lex was handling things, and it was true. Lex had accepted the fact rather easily, and having known already that Clark was an alien had surely made it less of a surprise. They shared a smile and then turned their attention back to Lex. "Wonderful. So, one thirty?"

"Great, I'll see you then." He disconnected the call and placed the phone back into his pocket before responding to the awed looks in front of him. He fought the urge to ask a defensive 'what?', and instead he grinned. "We need to be in Metropolis at one thirty this afternoon to pick up the papers for Lillian.

Clark smiled and as Lex was moving to sit down into his chair Clark reached up a hand and pulled him down faster into the seat, giving him an awkward sideways hug and a kiss on the cheek. Martha smiled at them, and got up from her seat to refill her cup with coffee.

Lex leaned back in his chair, a thoughtful expression landing on his face, before he spoke. "Huh," he said, "So, that's why you asked me to come on your belly." Clark immediately felt his face heat and he smacked Lex's arm with almost enough force to bruise, looking at him incredulously.

Lex laughed at what he had just said, obviously out loud, and mock pouted. "Ow," he said, smiling and obviously not meaning it, "Sorry." Thankfully Martha had her back to the two of them at the time, and she smothered a laugh of amusement. At least Clark had taken her seriously about being careful. She turned back when she had her amusement under control and looked at the two bashful looking boys in front of her. She smiled and sat down at the table again, faithfully ignoring the previous comment, and changing the subject.

@>*~

After Lex offered to make sure Lillian was sleeping, and she was, Clark finished up his chores quickly and they left for Metropolis. Jonathan had stayed outside while he knew Lex was going to be there, so as to make sure he avoided the whole potentially ugly scene. Clark informed him that it went well and that it was all clear to go in to eat and get caught up on everything.

On the way to the city, Lex explained that he knew his friend was secure and about a lady friend of his that he trusted to put on the birth certificate, with him as the father, since Lillian looked most like Lex. But, they'd have to get Lillian's blood tested so they could mark down her blood type and everything else. Clark had fussed to begin with, but Lex had reassured him that he could do it himself in the lab with completely sterile needles.

There was still the issue about making sure she's healthy, but that would have to come after the proper certificates and documents were finalized and legal. They pulled into a small medical center in a small core of an outer suburban area of Metropolis and got out. Going inside, Lex asked for John Holmes and they sat down to wait after the nurse said it would be a moment.

"Mr. Luthor," John addressed him when he came out of a door marked employees only and held out his freshly washed hand to Lex.

"Please, call me Lex," Lex said as he shook his friend's hand. And gestured for Clark to get up and follow along. "John, this is a good friend of mine, Clark Kent."

"Mr. Kent, pleased to meet you," John said, smiling and shaking Clark's hand as well. Lex could see that Clark was nervous, but it was alright. He had a right to be and this wouldn't take long here. John guided them through the door marked employees only, and they walked down a blank hallway to another door. It was an office, John's presumably, and they went in and John sat down at the desk.

He rummaged through papers and Lex gestured for Clark to sit down. Clark did so and then so did Lex, and they waited patiently while John looked for whatever he was looking for. "Ah," he said, pulling a paper out from a drawer he was digging through. "Here we are," he righted the paper and looked at it for a moment before handing it across the desk to Lex.

Clark leaned over to get a look at it as well, and it was just a blank birth certificate. "Alright," Lex said after agreeing with the form. "Let's go print it up, shall we?"

John nodded and they stood up, and followed the good doctor out of the room and back up the hall to the secretary's office. He excused himself after Lex and Clark were in the room and went to the front desk, telling the secretary that the main papers office was going to be closed for a moment and not to worry. When he came back he took out a blank piece of paper from the shelf and took a pen from his pocket. Poised and ready to write, John asked, "So, what's the baby's name?"

"First name Lillian, second name Martha," Lex paused and glanced at Clark surreptitiously, and Clark shrugged just the same, unsure of what they should put as a last name. "Last name Luthor," Lex finished at John's prompting look. John wrote it down and handed the paper to Lex to see if all spellings were correct. Lex handed it back after inspection and they proceeded.

"Date of birth?"

"August 8th, 2004," Lex answered, looking to Clark for his agreement, since he wasn't entirely sure. Clark gave a slight nod, unsure of whether John was supposed to know that it was Clark's baby, or just Lex's and some girl's.

"Metropolis General?"

Lex nodded, and John went ahead and wrote that down. "Alright, that's all we need." John moved over to the printer and placed the blank sheet into it, and entered the information into the computer, Lex standing behind to make sure it went in correctly.

The computer printed out the certificate with the correct name, date of birth, hospital and whatever other numbers that the government needed when a person was born. "All done," John said a moment later when the printer was finished and shot out the paper.

"Great," Lex said and took it from him, inspecting it once again for errors. "Looks good, John. Thank you." Lex reached into his pocket and felt for what he wanted, and then held out an ornate money clip to the doctor. John grinned at Lex and took the offered money with a snap of the clip when the bills were pulled out of it.

"Nice doing business with you, Lex," John grinned again and nodded back at them as he left and unlocked the door, leaving it open, and made his way down the hall. When Lex turned back to Clark, the teen was looking thoroughly impressed, much like he had earlier when Lex had made the arrangements over the phone.

After they pulled out of the parking lot at the medical center, they began driving. Clark frowned as the buildings got bigger, from housing to businesses, to complexes. "I thought we were going back now?" Clark asked, still watching the scenery. If they were going this way, he was going to look; it's not like he could make Lex turn around.

"Okay," Lex basically ignored the actual question and asked one of his own, "So, what does she need?" Lex glanced over to Clark, who was looking at him almost surprised.

"Well, she'll need some more toys soon, and of course, clothes," Clark said. "Mom didn't want to spend too much money on things because, well," Clark paused for a moment and then continued sheepishly, "She knew that you'd be buying things, too."

Lex laughed at that, "That's exactly right, Clark. She's my baby too and I intend to care for her just as well. I have money to spend and she'll receive whatever she may need."

"Alright," Clark said, smiling happily at his boyfriend. He was glad Lex was taking this so well and enthusiastically taking part in the raising of their daughter, and of course spending money on her. "We're almost out of diapers, so we can pick some more of them up," he said, then realized the car wasn't one of Lex's bigger ones. "And that's about it for today. If you want you could pick up some toys from her daddy," Clark grinned over at Lex and Lex just smiled.

@>*~

When they returned to Smallville, they made their way to the Kent Farm, to bring what they had bought for baby goods to the house. Martha was astonished at the supply of diapers that were lugged by the boys into the house. She directed them to the closet they were kept in, and then waited for them to close up the car and grab whatever else they had before she said anything more than hello.

Martha had just checked on the baby and she was still sleeping, so they talked for a bit, and the revelation was that Lex really had to do some work. He still wanted to spend time with Lillian and Clark, so he asked if they wanted to go to the castle for a while. "Oh, but Lionel will be there," Martha said, not quite sure if that would be a good idea or not.

"So? We'll just avoid him, or I'll make up some story," Lex said, shrugging. It wouldn't be hard to bypass Lionel for a while at the castle. "It has my name on the birth certificate, too, and he'd believe it judging from my, uh, more promiscuous years."

Martha nodded and didn't press the issue. She was sure they would get it all worked out, and it wasn't really their -- her and Jonathan's -- place to tell the boys what to do; they were both adults, and Clark would be eighteen this October.

So after dropping off the diapers, Lex went out to his car and got a few things from it. He brought in a blank photo album for a baby girl, saying that they'd pick up a camera when they had more time. They could take a picture of her at least once or twice a month, and on special occasions, to make a very good documentary of her life for future reference.

Also, a nice, soft, pink blanket with a picture of a kitten embroidered on one side, and patchwork on the other with kittens in various states on each square. And, of course, some various Fisher Price learning centers. Clark had said she was too young for them, but Lex had insisted, saying it's never too young to learn, and that they'd still be there when she was 'old enough', according to Clark.

Martha inquired about the legal things and the birth certificate that they obtained earlier in the day. "For the last name," Lex said, "We put 'Luthor' on it." It was the best way to do things, since less could be done about it and he could deter people from investigating because he had the more capable means to do so.

"So," Clark began, "All we need to do is get the health things sorted out and she's good to go?" He wasn't sure about what all had to be done with a child, and he hardly remembered his own young days, and definitely not what his parents went through with Lex's father.

"Yes," Lex confirmed, before continuing with more things, just to clarify what he and Clark had discussed on the drive. "We won't talk about school until she's older. We'll get used to it and have everything perfectly legal before we do that."

"And then we'll decide whether to go with private schools, or just into public Smallville High."

They talked for a while more before Lex caught sight of the time and said he really should get to work, or else he'd be too tired by later, since he had been up at an ungodly hour this morning, and then the stress at finding out he was a father. Work would be a welcome distraction, even with Clark and Lillian there; especially with them there, because he wouldn't have to worry about them.

Going to get Lillian from her nap, they found her already awake, which was good. Clark grabbed a bottle of milk from the fridge and shoved a couple of diapers into a bag along with the milk, and followed Lex out of the house after they said good-bye to Martha. On the porch they ran into Jonathan, who was just coming up to the house. "Hey, boys," he said, nodding at Lex.

"How'd work go today, Dad? Sorry I wasn't around to help, but we kind of had to," he trailed off a bit, gesturing generally at himself, Lex and the baby. Jonathan got the picture.

"It went good, son. And I'm glad you got yourself sorted out. Lex," Jonathan said, "You take care of that baby girl, you hear?"

"Absolutely, Mr. Kent," Lex said proudly, "I fully intended to give her the best life has to offer," and before Jonathan could point out that another Luthor would raise a spoiled, selfish, uppity child of the next generation, he continued, "And with growing up in a small town and having you and your wife as grandparents, she is sure to have the best experience and sense of compassion and love that a parent could ever wish for."

Jonathan smiled. "Good," he patted Lex a bit too hard on the back and moved between them and into the house. Clark grinned as they walked farther out to the car. He knew they couldn't expect a big heartfelt speech from Jonathan, but what they just went through was definitely good. Sure, there would be disagreements down the line, but for now, everything really was good.

@>*~

After they reached the castle, they went up to Lex's room, apparently because Lex had wanted to grab something. He did; a key. He then moved to a door at the far side of his room and unlocked it, walking in. Clark frowned and resteadied his grip on Lillian before following through the doorway to a room that looked like it hadn't been used at all since the castle was shipped over. "Lex?" Clark asked, confused.

"What do you think?" Lex asked after he turned around. "Would it be a good nursery?" He picked a drop sheet from up off of a chair and looked at it appraisingly before turning back to Clark, who was just standing there stunned. "I'll have it all done up; painted, refurnished, decorated - "

"Whoa, whoa," Clark interrupted, "She can't move in here! I have to take care of her and you don't know how to do it all. Plus, I'm *lactating* for Christ's sake!"

Lex laughed outright at Clark's exclamation and made a note to ask about the lactation later, wanting to see how it was done. He snickered a bit under his breath at that, and the look on Clark's face. "Calm down, Clark. I didn't mean now," he clarified. "But I'm sure your parents don't want her, or you, for that matter, under their roof forever."

Clark looked a bit stricken at that, like the thought had never occurred to him. And why should it? He had lived there all his life, felt safe there, had an awesome loft to hang out in and his parents were there. It was his *home*. "I mean, you've got to move on with things," Lex said, almost afraid he would be hurting Clark's feelings by bringing any of this up. "And what good is a castle if I can't have my boyfriend and daughter living with me?"

Clark's mouth was open from his failed attempts to say something, but nothing would come out, or even come to mind of what to actually say. He shook his head, almost not quite understanding, but then it clicked, and he smiled. Lex smiled back and nodded as he walked back past Clark and back into his own room. The adjoining position of the rooms would make it good for easy access to a crying baby.

"You're right, Lex," Clark said when they got back into Lex's bedroom. "It's a good idea, and I like the room."

Lex turned and smiled at Clark as the younger man caught up with him at the doorway. Lex leaned in to give Clark a kiss half on the lips before saying they were going down to his office so he could start into his work.

@>*~

"Alright," Lex said, interrupting Clark from his quiet musings where he was sitting on the couch with Lillian. "So, let's get the story straight so we don't have misunderstandings, or different versions when asked why we're with the baby, or each other."

Clark just waited for Lex to continue, seeing that his lover was in business mode and would want to speak clearly. "Of course, there's going to be people that take it the wrong way, no matter what we give for a reason, or excuse, whether they're valid or not, but this will suffice the general populus."

Clark nodded his agreement and Lex continued. "I knocked up a girl in Metropolis; that more or less stops people from asking so many questions about us in a relationship, because I'd have been sexually active with someone else. The mother came to Smallville looking for me, because I said I wanted to see the baby, which she had current custody over. We had a few disagreements and she was coming down to give me custody of the child, which I accepted.

"Unfortunately, I wasn't at home when she arrived. Knowing that I had mentioned you, Clark, she asked directions and made her way to your parents' farm, giving the baby to you for safe keeping, since she knew I had named you the guardian."

Clark stayed quiet and listened, nodding his acknowledgment when it was needed, and simply sat and smiled at his boyfriend in amusement at the story he was creating, and the fact that he was taking this so seriously. They had a family together now, and it was wonderful.

"So, by you being the guardian, and you and I being best friends, that would allow us to have more of a reason than just friendship to spend time together. Now, we'd be spending time with Lillian, because we both have a part in her life."

"That way the baby is still technically mine," Lex said, but that was as far as he got.

Lionel was in the hallway outside of the office. He had heard Lex upstairs when he was in the library and had decided to seek his son out, who had been absent for most of the day, and Lionel was curious. Basically eavesdropping, Lionel frowned when he heard the last thing Lex had said, and came storming into the room, tapping his cane angrily along the way. "Lex! You knocked up some slut in Metropolis?!"

Lex groaned. Great, just great. He was about to open his mouth when his father continued, "What about that Kent boy? I see you still can't take a relationship serious. How are you ever going to make a legitimate family if you can't - "

"Dad!" Lex shouted, wincing at the loud tone and then looked to Clark, hoping he hadn't upset Lillian. "Shut up, okay? If you didn't know, Clark is sitting to your left on the sofa."

Lionel looked a bit confronted at the new knowledge and he turned to his left, setting his hands on top of his cane and facing in the direction of the couch. He heard Clark shuffle his feet and Lionel frowned. "So, Clark isn't running out of here angry at you, and you weren't arguing together when I came in. What, he's just sticking around, even with your infidelity, to be your boy toy?" Lionel asked harshly, provoking his son.

"No," Lex said firmly, anger boiling up inside of him. "I have not been unfaithful to him."

"Ah, but you've gotten a woman pregnant," Lionel pointed out, unaware of what else had gone on, and about Clark. "Despite being happy for another heir after you, son, I'm still upset about this woman," he said, like 'this woman' left a bad taste in his mouth.

"I did not sleep with any woman!" Lex said, his voice raising again. He knew his father was lapsing into another one of his unexplained caring in his own special way moods, but he didn't have the patience to deal with it right now. The conversation degenerated into a shouting match, and Clark looked down warily at Lillian, who had started to fuss.

He looked back up to the two, staring at Lex and pleading with his eyes for the both of them to be quiet. Lex saw the look and wanted to kick himself for waking the baby, and kick his father for being such a bastard. But Lionel kept on spouting off, and Lex was almost about to physically shut his father up, when Lillian finally gave out and cried.

"Stop it!" Clark said, standing up with his daughter crying in his arms. "The baby is mine," Clark said, which proved to silence the room for a moment.

Lionel stopped, thinking about that for a moment, before scoffing indignantly. "Stop trying to protect my son, Clark, it won't work. I can see through his folly."

Then another silent moment, the only sounds were Clark trying to calm Lillian, soothing her and running a hand over her head, which she had seemed to take a liking to as a comforting gesture. Lionel frowned and begun taking steps towards him when Lex moved to intercept him, holding an arm up to block his way.

Clark looked up at the movements and looked at Lex's expression. He stared into his lover's eyes for a moment before finally nodding, seeing it was the best option at the moment for the situation. So, they would tell him. He is my father after all, Lex thought, sighing and telling his father to sit down.

Lionel had protested and decided to stay standing right where he was. Lex pressed a hand to his face, agreeing, and pressed down over his forehead as he tried to squash the headache that he just knew was about to start there. "No, Dad," he started again, "The baby is *ours*, as in *both* of us are the parents."

That stopped Lionel in his thoughts and speech for a moment, and he looked a bit confused, before shaking his head and continuing. "That's nonsense, Lex! Clearly you've been hit one too many times over the head during your stay here," Lionel explained, "And Clark is just a...strange...boy to begin with," he drawled the last few words out and it finally clicked in. The bullets, Dr. Hamilton's 'postmodern coffee table', and anything else that Clark had ever inexplicably done.

Lex sighed and looked to his boyfriend and daughter in Clark's arms. Clark nodded with a sad, reserved look. And then they proceeded to tell Lionel about Clark's real parents. At first the older man was skeptical, but he soon gave in to the obvious and swore, under Lex's scrutinizing oaths and promised legal hassles, and ultimately, homicide, that he wouldn't tell a soul about this.

@>*~

Lionel had been a little shell shocked, but he eventually relaxed, sitting down to hear most of the events of the past few years, being filled in on the real reasons and solvings of the mutants and other things that happened so frequently in Smallville. He was a bit surprised to find out the baby was named after both Lex and Clark's mothers, and after his late wife. The elder Luthor had become uncomfortable discussing those particular facts, standing up and declaring that he had to go.

Before he could make it out of the room, a servant from the kitchen knocked lightly on the door. Lex looked expectantly at the man and he continued with his reason for being there. "Mr. Luthor, are you going to be eating here?"

"Yes, I believe so. Three of us, plus a newborn, if you have anything for her." The servant nodded at the instructions and left, going back to the kitchen. Lex remembered the milk in Clark's bag, but just wondered what his staff would do when faced with that option at a meal.

"Yes, well," Lionel said, feeling a bit exposed for some reason. "I've got to carry on with my work. I'll see you at dinner."

Lex shook his head and headed back to the couch from his desk, sitting down with his daughter when he took her from Clark. "So, why did you pick Lillian Martha for her name?" Lex asked, curious and smiling at Clark. He loved the name, but it was odd of Clark to pick them both. Well, if he thought about it, it wasn't. But with how hard it was for some parents to name their children, Clark had seemed to settle for this one quite easily.

"Well, I was still mulling over the last name, but I remembered you saying your mom's name was Lillian. And I wanted a piece of both of our mothers in her, since they were so obviously the great influences in our lives." Clark finished explaining, and hoped he didn't sound stupid. Lex looked at him with a calculating look then smiled, leaning over against Clark. Clark felt warm and safe here, and so did Lex. The castle was beginning to warm up to them.

@>*~

The almost echoing sound of their feet as they walked down the stone steps to a large metal door was sort of creepy, in Clark's opinion. Lex punched in a few numbers to the security lock to the side, and a moment later the door unlocked itself from its air tight closure and let them inside. The lab was all stainless steel and sterile, with various cupboards and tables, and things still sitting out from whatever Lex had been doing previously.

Clark eyed the laboratory with some trepidation. He trusted Lex with his life, but the horror stories his parents had told him since he could remember still haunted his opinion on labs in general. Cuddling his daughter closer to his chest, Clark walked further inside, watching as Lex began grabbing various items from out of drawers.

"Place Lillian onto that table there and I'll join you in a second," Lex said as he continued rifling through one of the drawers in the cabinet. Clark moved to the indicated table, and looked around the room. There were only a few jars sitting out on a table a ways away from them, and he had no clue what would be in them. Maybe he didn't even want to know, but maybe he'd ask later.

Clark gently placed his daughter onto the specified table, smiling softly as she cooed up at him and stuffed a tiny fist into her mouth. "Lex, are you sure we have to do this? I mean, I do want to make sure she's healthy and all, but do we have to take blood from her?" Clark asked, keeping an eye on his daughter so she wouldn't fall off the table.

Lex finished gathering what he needed from out of the drawers and made his way over to his small family. "Clark, I'm not going to hurt my own daughter," he said with his voice full of conviction, and a stern look at his boyfriend. "This might not even work. She's half alien, so her skin might be invulnerable like yours," he said, placing the items onto the table at his daughter's feet.

Lex looked down at her. She looked so happy and fragile, even if she may be exceptionally strong. Clark sighed, he didn't know what their daughter would be able to do. That was the main reason they were there, besides needing to check to make sure she was okay.

Lex looked up at Clark and smiled reassuringly. "It'll be okay, don't worry," he said, giving Clark a light kiss onto his cheek. "Now," he began, turning his attention back to Lillian, who was watching them curiously from the table. "I'm going to need you to gently hold her left leg out straight and keep it from moving as I attempt to extract her blood."

Clark looked at him in horror, noting the change in his attitude; scientist mode. He didn't want to hold his daughter immobile, though. He frowned, "I thought you had to get blood from out of the arm?"

Lex didn't look up from his preparations to his daughter. "Normally, yes. But she's too small for me to be able to take blood from out of her arm. So, I have to take it from the vein in her ankle."

Clark nodded as he swallowed the lump that insisted on forming in his throat. He gently placed a hand on Lillian's leg, holding it down as Lex got the tiny syringe ready. Lex leaned over a moment to look his daughter in the eye. "Hey there, sweetheart. Daddy has to take some blood, but it'll only hurt for a little bit." Looking up, he caught sight of Clark's expression. "Alright, I'm going to do it now. If I'm able to penetrate her skin, she's going to be very mad and she may sound like she's being tortured, but it'll only last a few minutes. You with me, Clark?" he asked as he watched Clark's eyes widen in horror.

Clark took a deep breath and nodded. "Yeah."

"Okay. Here it goes," Lex said as he attempted to insert the needle into Lillian's ankle. He exhaled the worried breath he'd been holding and sighed quietly to himself when the needle slid under her skin and into the vein; she wasn't impenetrable... yet. He fought hard to ignore the screams and cries his daughter was emitting at the prick of the needle into her little body.

Clark gently but firmly kept her leg from moving as Lex continued his ministrations. He blinked his tears away as he moved his free hand to cuddle his daughter's head, whispering reassurances to her. If she had known how to, she would have glared evilly at her daddies for hurting her.

When Lex was finished drawing blood, he had a small vial filled with it, and he removed the needle, wiping gently at the dot of blood pooling slowly at the insertion spot. He set the needle down and grabbed a small circular Band-Aid, unwrapping it and then placing it on his daughter. He pulled the vial of blood free from the actual needle, and placed it in a small container. Lillian continued to cry, little face red from the effort and Clark picked her up, cuddling her to his chest again. After a few minutes, she calmed down to light hiccups as she enjoyed the rocking her daddy was doing.

Clark had made a trip back upstairs to heat up a bottle for Lillian while Lex spent the next two hours testing and looking over the results of Lillian's blood. He found that, indeed, she had human DNA, as well as foreign strands, which were obviously from Clark's genetic makeup. He sighed out a heavy breath as the results finally came out about her health. She was as healthy as a baby should be, and they didn't even know if she had inherited any 'abilities' from her fathers.

Finished with testing, he got up from his seat and walked over to Clark, who was sitting in a chair, feeding Lillian. "Well?" Clark asked, looking up at his lover.

"Everything's fine as far as I can tell. It'd be easier if she were fully human, but from what I could make out, she's as healthy as a horse," Lex said with a smile, making Clark laugh at the analogy.

Clark looked back down at his daughter. "Did you hear that, sweetheart? You're going to be fine. Yes, you are," he said, leaning down to nuzzle softly at her neck. She smiled around the nipple in her mouth before turning her attention back to more important things; like eating.

"Let's go back upstairs, dinner should be ready in a little bit," Lex said as he gestured to take his still feeding daughter from Clark.

Clark gently shifted her from his arms to Lex's when he got up from his chair. "Alright," he agreed, and placed an arm around Lex's waist as they made their way out of the lab.

@>*~

Lex had been getting used to caring for his daughter in the past few weeks. He had her for a few days throughout the week while Clark was at school and so Martha could do her work. Of course, she was still around the castle when she was doing a few errands for Lionel and she checked up on her granddaughter often. The baby's room was coming along nicely, too, but they had decided not to rush with anything and to just take their time. They didn't know where Clark would be after he was finished with highschool, so they didn't make any plans that wouldn't be adaptable.

Lionel was also getting used to a few things; the revelation about Clark's ancestry and of the baby's origin, and of course the abilities that may be inherent in her, because of Clark's own. He was happy for Lex, though, and he would keep his mouth shut about it all. He didn't want to jeopardize Lex's future any more than he had in their lives. He wanted his immortality, and he couldn't do that without Lex. As much as they had their disagreements, he couldn't have asked for a better heir, and he was proud of Lex.

It had not been a very good scene when Lionel and Jonathan had gotten together. They were all thankful that Lillian was with Lex for the day, until Clark got back from school. And just then, when Clark got home, he was surprised to see Lionel's car, and chauffeur sitting inside, parked on their driveway. He frowned and continued on inside to find his father and Lionel yelling at each other.

Martha had long since sat to the side, unable to break them apart, and left them to try and settle it between themselves. When Clark came inside she looked tired, and his frown deepened as he stepped physically between the two of them. He asked what the problem was, and they had listed off several petty little issues, and Clark sighed. He stated that everything was fine, and that all they had to worry about was his and Lillian's safety because of their illegitimate papers.

Between Lex and Lionel's power, if they had complete cooperation, everything would be just fine. Both men were silent for a moment before grudgingly agreeing and they shook hands briefly with grumbled apologies to each other. Martha had simply smiled at her peacemaker son and had brought out the pie. Clark grinned and asked if he could have his, and some for Lex, wrapped up so he could take it over to the castle.

Martha was great about the entire situation, and they both appreciated it, and her continued support. She was wary about Clark being able to handle this all, with him only being eighteen, and still very young to be raising a baby, and just starting into his adult life. Even if Lex wasn't too far ahead of him, she still worried about them both. It would be disastrous if they didn't make it. She pushed that thought out of her head and then she promptly got another idea.

She invited Lionel and Lex over for dinner. After cooking up a storm, making everything fresh and delicious, they all sat down as a family and began their meal. Lionel had been, in his own way, civil, throughout the night. And Jonathan was surprisingly happy with things as well. Between the two of them, it was a definite step in the right direction for them, and everyone else. No arguments ensued, and for that they were all silently thankful.

After dinner, Martha had cornered Lionel in the kitchen and quietly complimented him on his manner that night. He simply dismissed her comment and rattled off something or other about business procedure, and she just smiled and patted him on the shoulder before returning to the table.

She would have to invite him and Lex over for dinner more often. Though she almost felt sorry for Lionel never having any positive family influence in his own life, which in turn, Lex received the same treatment, because his father didn't know how to give him what he needed. Martha was determined to give them some good wholesome family experience, and hoped that they could benefit from it. They were a family now, and that's what families did. As strange a pairing as Luthors and Kents, it would work out. There was enough love between their sons to meld even those two stubborn men together in the best way they could.

After the dishes were cleared, Lillian had fussed minorly and then was laid down for a nap, but quickly changed her mind. They left her with Martha, and Lionel was surprisingly interested in getting to know his granddaughter a bit, so Lex had reluctantly agreed to leave their daughter with his father. He and Clark had escaped to the barn for some time to themselves. They hadn't gotten to do that much lately, because of school and work and Lillian, and they had missed it a lot.

They relaxed into the cool night air that permeated the barn, and took a seat on the couch, cuddling close to each other for warmth, and falling into a companionable silence together. Lex had his head leaning almost fully on Clark's shoulder, and he stared off into the distance at the far wall of the loft. He had been thinking about the whole family thing lately, and he liked it. He would never be alone as long as he had his baby girl and Clark around.

Clark tightened his arm around Lex in a comforting embrace, and Lex got a strong reminder of a question that had been burning in his mind for quite some time now as Clark's arm pressed the small box into his side, against his ribs. It didn't hurt, but it was uncomfortable. He waited a moment, wondering if he was doing the right thing.

Clark would probably move in with him when he was finished with school, and he would ask, not assume, about that development at a later date. Lex didn't really want to leave Smallville, and it was still Clark's home. It was his, too, now, and he was glad for it. If he had never stayed here to begin with and tried to make the best of it, he wouldn't have met Clark, and he definitely wouldn't have this family.

What his father had said in the past few months had really stuck in his head, and he was beginning to think that Lionel was right. He needed a family, and it would be good for him, and ultimately Lionel, that selfish bastard. Lionel would get his heir, and so would Lex. He wondered if he could put Lillian in charge of LexCorp and LuthorCorp after he was gone. Or if they'd have another child, try for a boy. He wouldn't want his daughter to grow up in that world; the ruthless cold business empire. He had grown up there and look how he turned out; he wanted something better for her, and he'd give it to her no matter what.

But that was the future, what was he supposed to do now? He had Clark, he had Lillian, he had his father, as strange as the older man may have been acting. And he had Martha and Jonathan, a nice home, and a good company on the rise. What else did he need now? Security. He needed sec