The Memoirs

Kent Farm was old. Within its hallowed fields of corn, sunflowers, cows and sheep lay a vast treasure trove of memories and heritage that money couldn't buy. There was family in those fields, back breaking work and a reward that, at the end of the day, the people that sowed the land and reaped from it its plentiful bounty held a pride and joy in their hearts for what they had.

That tradition wasn't lost on Clark, as much as his father claimed it to be, and he took a moment as he stared across the fields he himself had helped plant the year before. Pride swelled his heart almost full, the warm kisses and hot tears still on his cheeks and lips. He was something of an enigma among the people he loved, he knew, and there was only one person in the world who knew what was to be done about it. Someone he loved so, so very much, someone he'd only known such a short time but that person, the echo of the person that once was, was strong in Clarks own voice, his own actions. The man who had given him life, and Clarks heart swelled even more, deeper, with joy as he waited for his aushna' at the mouth of the storm cellar.

Lex was only a few steps behind Clark, having only taken the time to lock and alarm his car. Not that he believed the Kents or their animals would do anything more than piss on his tires--though at times, he did wonder if it would be Jonathan or the other animals who did that--but old habits died hard, and he walked slowly across the field.

He had questions for Jor-El himself, and he was taking his time in formulating them. But Clark's needs came first; that's why they were here, after all. He stopped at the top of the stairs, hand resting lightly on Clark's back. "You ready?"

"Of course not." Clark replied easily, glancing at his lover as storm clouds out to the far east poured their wrath on Metropolis. He looked up, sniffling softly at the gray sky. "Its going to rain in a few hours. After we're done with my dad, would you mind if I stayed behind and helped my dad get the animals locked up?"

"Not at all." Lex smiled softly. "If I thought I could be of help I'd stay, but I have a feeling I'd most likely get stampeded." Soft stroke to Clark's back again. "There's nothing to be afraid of."

"I know." A very gentle, very tender kiss to soft, full lips. "I know. Come on."

Long muscles served him well for once, and Clark leaned down to lift the heavy shelter doors, letting it fall open with a dull creak and burr of water warped wood, as he took the first step down, waiting for his lover. "Careful, on the stoop. Its low."

Lex accepted the kiss quietly, gave one in return, and caught Clark's hand in his own. "I can handle steps," he teased with a soft grin. "Maybe this can be your next project, rebuilding the cellar staircase."

"Thought about it, but it would mean taking the stairs out for a day or so. And in Kansas? You can't afford a day or so, when it means your life." Clark said, softly, as they descended together. The smell of fruits waiting to be pickled, of sawdust, mold, and earth filled his nose, but not in an unpleasant way. These were the scents he'd grown up with, the scents of home, and the key and tablet lay heavy in his wallet as he grasped the large blue tarp that covered the space ship away.

Lex couldn't help running his hand over the sleek lines of the alien spacecraft. Compared to the huge size that Clark had grown into, it was almost impossible to believe that his lover had ever fit into the small pod that had brought him here. "Do you want to move this to the mansion, Clark?"

"Yes. But my father will tell us when is the time." He leaned down and got on his knees, sitting on his feet and arranging himself accordingly. The warm leather of his wallet surprised him, just by how cool the key and the disk were, and as soon as he slipped them out of their compartments they folded up, opening up and closing off any of the seams they had so they were solid pieces of metal.

He slipped the key into its ignition, watching as it powered up, emitting its faint golden light. It cracked open, thwumping and whooshing open as each piece of metal slid closed, and he leaned in to look.

The blanket, tiny stuffed animal, and small emblem were hidden away in the mansion, away from prying eyes, where he could go to touch it, hold it, take inspiration and courage from it. He hadn't let anyone, even Lex, see them again, and he supposed it was wholly selfish, but he wanted them for himself.

He slid the long metal disk into its slot, and leaned back, watching.

A click, and a whir, and Jor-El appeared. "Aaah, Kal-El. It is wonderful to see you again, son. You seem..." Jor-El raised his hand and made a sweeping motion, a downward push of his hand that pulled back up to chest level. "Troubled, I believe is the word."

"Hello, father." Clark smiled at him as his father flickered in front of him, and his throat bobbed tightly as he smiled at him. "We came to see you, father."

"So I see. And you brought your aushna' with you. Lex Luthor... hello again."

"Hello, Jor-El."

"You could call me Ameedol, you realize," Jor-El answered, with a grin. "For I am your father now, as well as Kal's."

Another grin, only this one was slightly bitter. "I don't even call my own father Father. But thank you."

"As you would have it, Kenep." Jor-El turned to his son. "Kal? What has brought you here to see me?"

Clark's fingers, gone slightly cold in his lovers, squeezed, tightly. "I'm having a problem. Kind of a substantial one, if the truths told." He was positive he was flaming eight shades of pink, four of purple, and two or three of maroon.

"And you're turning all shades of the rainbow, my son. Please... sit down, and speak of your problem to me."

Lex choked on the snicker.

Clark glared at his lover, though there wasn't any fire behind it, and he plunked down on the gravel in front of his father, sighing and rubbing a hand over his short curls. "About a week ago, Kenep and I made up. I... took him, in my mind, to Krypton. We… we made love, in what would have been our home. It was very beautiful, but since then... every time we attempt to be... intimate, I end up stuck on the ceiling."

Jor-El laughed. Loud hearty laughter, a deep baritone that sounded much like his son's in happier times. After a moment, he regained his composure. "Kal? That is all? You are having such worries over this? It's all in your mind, my son. Literally, in this case. Think... think of yourself as a feather on the wind. By wishing to go higher, your brain instructs your body to do so. By wishing to go lower, you will do so. Landings, however, you must practice."

Clark was beyond mortified. He was pretty sure he had finally reached hell, as his face flamed and he burst out, "But I am worrying! Because than my sha'nauch end up on the ceiling! Kenep and I were stuck for almost two hours the other day!!!"

"Then you must close your mind to them. Do not sever the link that keeps you close to them, but close off your thoughts and your feelings. Do not share with them your abilities, and they will not fly."

"But I can't, when I'm...." Horror. "You know!"

"Yes, you can." Jor-El folded himself down to sit on the ground across from his son. "I too know the temptation to share your pleasure and happiness with your sha'nauch. That is why they are there. But if you share with them the thing that makes you fly, does it not then follow that not sharing with them will keep them firmly grounded?"

"He's got a point, Clark." Lex was sitting as close to Clark as possible. "If you don't share, they don't float."

"I know, but… but… I can't control the not flying." he was in pure misery, as he looked at his father with clouded, shined over eyes. "I don't know how. Usually I can figure out my powers in a few days, but I can't with this. I think down and I hit my head on the ceiling as I slam up. I can't get...down. And it sucks."

A small, sympathetic smile played across Jor-El's mouth. "Then have you tried thinking up to get down?"

"Yes." Clark dropped his head in his hands... then his head on his fathers lap, cheek smushed against his leg as he whimpered. "If I'm intimate with my lover outside, I'll float away into space. I'll end up on the moon, hanging out, breathing with my dorsal lung, watching the Martians go by."

Jor-El stroked his hands over Clark's hair. "You will not float away into space, Kal. We will simply figure out how to help you fly." Jor-El was quiet for a moment, as the information in the ship's memory banks clicked and whirred. "Your body draws it's energy from Sol, this planet's sun. Your flight should have nothing to do with the physical aspect of sex; instead it has to do with a loss of control." More clicks and whirrs. "The simple answer that is provided is to harness your will and simply decide that you are going to fly, rise, fall, or land."

"How, father?" Muffled from his leg, as the easy, gentle touches of this man, who had given him birth, who had loved him and given him the gift of life. "How am I ever going to--"

"Clark? Clark, honey, you down here?"

Martha stepped down the long steps, careful of rocks and stones. Four months along and already she had a belly, warm and round underneath her blue sweater and long maternity jeans. She'd stopped fitting into her jeans, which had just about given her a conniption, but Rosalyn and Hilde had taken her into Metropolis for proper maternity clothes, and she was basking in God's finest creation, elastic.

What she didn't expect, as she went down the steps to the cellar, was for the spaceship to be purring, Clark leaned over into the arms of an older man, and Lex, watching on.

Lex got to his feet as soon as he heard Martha coming down the steps. "Martha!! What are you doing down here, you shouldn't be climbing these ramshackle steps alone! He sprinted over to the steps, offering his arm for balance."

Jor-El merely turned his head to the source of the disturbance, eyes flickering as the optic sensors of the ship scanned and catalogued this person in the glut of memories from his son. "You must be Martha. Pardon me for not rising; I am Jor-El of Krypton."

She glared Lex into submission, thwapping at his hand like a cat to leave her alone, and pressed a palm to the back of her spine, as she stopped at the bottom of the stairs. Clark was looking at her with wide, glassed over eyes, and the man...

"I see where he gets his looks from."

Jor-El smiled. "I am flattered, madam. Please, sit." He turned to look at the ship, and he flickered once, then twice as it went through a small series of transformations, and ended up as a futuristic chair, with the pointy end of the ship pointing towards the sky and the open pod acting as the chair seat. "You seem to be indisposed."

"Ow!" Lex ducked at the swats, but didn't move his hand from her elbow as he steadied her, hand sliding down to rub the small of her back as he stood beside her.

She gazed at him warily, but smiled back anyway, because that was her way. She had no idea how this was, but she slid into the seat easily, fighting the groan as her aching feet gave a thump in her Keds, and sighed softly. "You must be Clark's father. I'm Martha Kent, his... well, his earthly mother."

"And pregnant. She's going to have a baby, father." Clark said softly, smiling at his mother as he squeezed his dads hand tightly. "The key, and the disk you gave me, mom. It fits into the ship... this is my birth father."

The ship supported her easily. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Martha Kent of Earth." He smiled at her. "I am not truly Jor-El; what you see is all that remains of him; a hologram, all of the knowledge of his world, his thoughts and feelings. All those things were put into this ship, along with his son, so that Kal would never be alone."

Her father had often asked her how you measured the worth of a man, and in that moment, just as she had only once before, she understood that the true extent of a man, the truest measure of him, was the size of his heart.

And because of it, she offered her hand to him. Sure, she was having a minor heart attack because she was sitting in a ship talking to her sons father, but she offered her hand regardless, as she spoke. "You must have been a very giving man, Jor-El of Krypton."

"No more so than I believe you to be, you who took in a stranger's child and raised him as your own. You have the heart of our people, Martha Kent, for all that you were born on this planet." He reached over Clark, and his hand materialized briefly, enough to clasp hers in return.

He had a good, strong, warm hand. Whatever he was. Her heart and mind were open to him, and to the good he was doing her son, even as she freaked out. "Well, look at that face of his. Looked at me once and i was through. He's a good, sweet boy, with a kind heart and the soul of a warrior. We raised him and nurtured those qualities in him, qualities that come from you."

Jor-El nodded, even as he dropped his hand back to his lap, where Clark's head was still resting. "He is as much your son as he is mine. I am sorry that I didn't meet him earlier in his life, but I cannot complain. He is a good man, despite the pain and the heartache that he has gone through, and you have stood well by him. I thank you for that."

Her own heart ached for that. "It wasn't me, or my husband." She turned to look at Lex, a mothers love in her heart and soul for this young man. "It was Lex. He's a very strong young man, you know."

Clarks eyes danced at that, reaching for his fingers as he stayed comfortable, half sprawled on his father where he could almost feel a heartbeat. The simple joy in that had him closing his eyes as he reached for Lex's hand, enjoying this more than words could have ever expressed.

Lex reached out in answer, his hand meeting Clark's and their fingers linking together naturally.

Jor-El looked at Lex, and then at Martha. "You love Kenep as though he were your own, just as you do my son."

He is my own. "Yes, I do." Martha said it, gently, as she rubbed a palm over her belly. Could only guess she meant Lex, as she spoke softly. "He is a good person. A person who loves Clark, and there isn't anything I wouldn't do to nurture that and give that to them."

Jor-El looked again, from his son to his son's aushna', and then to Martha. "You have done well by them both, Martha Kent. You should take pride in that."

"I do, Jor-El." She tipped her head at him, and the curiosity, one Clark had gotten from her, got the best of her. "How are you here, if I may be so inclined as to ask?"

"Ah, an inquisitive mind." He nodded. "The ship, that you are now sitting in. It allows me to be displayed; there are optical crystals through which my image passes to be projected into this size, using minute particles of matter both from the crystals and in the air around me, I am given solidity. Through my link to Kal's ship, I have access to all of the knowledge of Krypton, and it is only the matter of seconds to access it."

"That's… astounding." She said it, softly, as she rubbed her aching belly softly. "And you can stay, for an immeasurable amount of time? Is that how you were able to bring Clark to earth?"

"The power source inside the ship is eternal, yes. It will never run out; it is self-renewing."

Lex interrupted with a whistle. "I'd love to get my hands on that."

Jor-El turned to Lex. "Finish your education first, Kenep. I have seen your knowledge; you are not yet at the level to understand the fission crystal matrix. Learn all that you can, and then you will understand and produce." Then he turned his attention back to Martha. "Yes, it is. The power source in the ship powers everything; what you would call, guidance systems, the computer, the crystalline projector that allows me to exist, and the artificial intelligence interface that allows me to function."

"That's astounding." She said softly, as she slid up, carefully, from the ship, climbing back to her feet with a slight oomph this time, and looked down at the beautiful ship with a shake of her head. "Its astounding, Jor-El. Utterly astounding. Its almost wrong, that I feel so blasé about this, but I do. I'm... I never thought I'd meet any of Clarks parents, because I know wherever he's from has to be so far away."

Jor-El nodded. "That's understandable; when Lara and I put our son in his ship, I had hoped to meet at least one of the people who had taken our child in. I knew there were risks; that he might be found by scientists on your world, but we believed that any life he could have would have been better for him than dying with our world and our people. At least our knowledge would have lived on." He kept stroking Clark's hair gently, soothingly. "That he has found a real family, friends, a place to belong, that has exceeded our every expectation and our every hope for him."

And for some strange reason, the fact that he said it just like that gave her hope for her son, and what he was, what he was going to be, and the good person he was on the inside. It brought tears to her eyes, and she decided, even after her momentary wariness, that she liked this man. She smiled at him, nodded, and spoke gently. "We love Clark with everything in us. He has been our son for the last fifteen years, and he will continue to be until Jonathan and myself depart this world for the next." She gently smiled at them both, and looked at Lex. "Help me up the stairs, sweetheart?" And back, to Jor-El, her eyes deep with understanding. "I hope to see you again, Jor-El of Krypton."

"You will see me again, Martha Kent." He gave her a deep smile, and looked over at Lex.

Lex had already gotten to his feet as soon as Martha had called out to him. "Of course. I'll be back once I've gotten Martha settled in." He took her elbow and smiled at her. "I bet you've got a lot of questions," Lex said quietly.

"You bet your ass." She muttered right back, smiling back at the two men, the older with the younger still lying with his head on his lap, and she squeezed Lex's hands tightly with strength that came right from the farm, as they slowly climbed the steps. She'd stopped being able to see her feet about three weeks ago, and it got a little dangerous when she was up and down the stairs all the time, so Martha took Lex's hand tightly as they walked up the steps. "And you're going to answer every single one, young man."

Lex kept his hand steady as she gripped it, guiding her with easy touches and sure feet up the steps. "Of course I will, but we've got to get you settled in the house first."

"Bullshit, and I'm calling you on it." She glared , and hissed under her breath. "I am not an invalid." She closed the cellar doors behind her with a dull thump, and started across the field, cows spread and grazing as her husband tended the far left field. No chance of him seeing her and Lex as they walked towards the kitchen, and the less questions from her beloved husband the better. "Ever since Clark told us about..." She winced, deeply. Her tears had soaked her pillow every night for weeks now, since her son had showed them the dark scar that spanned his beautiful back, and told them why it did. Her beautiful little boy and all the heartache he'd gone through, and tears filled her eyes as she walked with no nonsense towards the house.

"I know, Martha." Lex rubbed her back comfortingly. "I know. Believe me, I know what you're thinking and what you're feeling, perhaps better than you do."

"Why… didn't you both tell us? About… about the baby, about this?" She turned and demanded it, as soon as they stepped into the kitchen, and she went immediately to fix them both a cool glass of iced tea. "Why didn't you tell Jonathan and I? Were you scared he'd flip out like he's wont to do and we both would get mad at you? We could have helped. Why did you feel you couldn't come to us for help, for guidance?"

"Because it was Clark's choice," Lex said calmly. "Too many people already knew about it; Dominic and my father, Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson, Chloe and Whitney. It was our child; our son. Clark knew that if Jonathan knew, Jonathan would try and take Clark away from me; neither one of us could have lived with that. The day we came to your house, and you fed us lasagna? I had Clark's powers that day; that's why he didn't want to eat anything. He wasn't hungry; he was still so sad and torn up over what had happened, and he couldn't face you or Jonathan."

She let out a rasping, sharp sob and covered her mouth with her hand, eyes red and tearing as they fell, and she buried her face in her hands. Her baby, her son, her child hadn't wanted to tell them, and she doubted Lex would ever understand the horror of what that was to a parent. That he was afraid of them, that he didn't want to talk to them, that he'd rather tell Lionel Luthor only made it worse, and her heart constricted into a tight knot as she let go of her face to grasp the countertop, the tea pitcher and glasses in front of her. Composure. She could do composure.

She breathed, deeply, softly, rubbing her face dry with a paper towel as she poured the tea, busying herself with mixing the soft powder.

Lex went over to her side, wrapped her arms awkwardly around her shoulders. "He's all right, Martha. Don't worry. He's all right."

"How can you say he's alright, Lex?" She shot it at him, and for the first time, felt a burning anger. An anger she didn't know where it came from, but it was hot, deep under her breast. "You have a responsibility for him. You promised me the day he went to live with you that you were going to take care of him. This... was out of your control, but the very least you could have done was to come and tell me something was wrong with my son. You have alienated him from our lives, Lex, you are taking him away from us. I raised that little boy, I sacrificed everything, almost my marriage, for that little boy, and I'll be damned if he's going to think he can't come back to us, and talk to us. If not to Jonathan, then to me. I am his mother, and I love him. Do you understand what it does to me, to know my child went through an ordeal like this and he couldn't even come home to me, to tell me and let me help him through it?" She was not going to cry in front of this young man, but she was damn close.

"I have a responsibility to Clark, first and foremost, before anything else," Lex said firmly. Martha's censure of him cut deeply, and he buried it, swallowing hard and closing that part of himself off as he kept talking. "It was Clark's wish that it be kept private as possible. He was worried for you, for your health, for the health of the baby that you're carrying. He would not let anyone tell you, because he wouldn't risk your life or your child's life."

"My child isn't born." She said it, almost ferociously, as she threw her gaze at him. "My responsibility is to my daughter, but also to my son. He is the first child who gave to me what it was to be a mother." She turned to look at him now. "I trust you, Lex. If I didn't, Clark wouldn't be anywhere near you. I believe in what you both have, I understand you've found something in each other But he is my baby too, and I don't… don't want to be out of his life. I want to be an active part in who he is and what he does, Lex. I don't want the child I raised to think he can't...come to me. How would you feel? If a child you'd sweat and bled for couldn't come to you when such a traumatic thing in his life had happened?"

"That's right," Lex said angrily, and he turned to glare at Martha. "Your child isn't born yet! Ours was! Ours died, Martha! DIED. While I was HOLDING him! And that's something you don't know about! Clark loves you, and he didn't want you losing your child like we lost ours, don't you understand that?"

"Its not something I don't know about?" She shot back, her eyes on fire as she snarled at him. "Don't talk to me about losing children, Lex Luthor, I've lost four. Don't come in here and presume I don't know what I'm talking about and I'm some ignorant farmers wife."

"I don't think you're an ignorant farmer's wife, I think you're too worried about your son to think how this affects other people!" He blew up and didn't mean to. "You're too wrapped up in the fact that Clark didn't come to you to realize that he did it to protect you! He did it so that he could stay with me, and not be taken away from the father of his child, the only person that he felt shared his pain! You're too wrapped up in the fact that Clark didn't come to you to think why he didn't!!"

"And I have a right to be! You do not understand what I'm feeling, you can't wrap around it in your mind. What, did you think I could just nod and smile and be genteel and calm over my son giving birth to a child and not once, not once coming to me for love and support? How do you think that made me feel, made Jonathan feel? I understand just fine why he did it, but it doesn't mean it was the right choice. We are his parents Lex, and don't you argue with me and tell me its not my place to wish he'd come to us." She was point five seconds from throwing Lex out onto his ass, but she didn't want to ruin the relationship she had with both of them, alienate them further so they didn't come over ever again.

"It was the right choice, Martha. It was the right choice for Clark. Whether you like it or not, it was the decision that he made, and as his aushna', I stand by it, and him, no matter what. My first responsibility is to my aushna', and then to our sha'nauch. Then to our jur-naie."

She was deeply, deeply upset, and she turned away from him, filling the two glasses before she abruptly set the pitcher down and left the room. Up the steps, to her bedroom and bathroom, because she needed to lay down and calm herself down before returning to do her chores around the farm. Their was nothing left to tell Lex, not when he was completely against what she was saying, not when he didn't understand, and she was too tired to explain it to him further.

Lex stormed out of the house, slamming the front door behind him as heavy footfalls carried him back down the cellar steps. "I'm sorry about that Clark, Jor-El. Didn't mean to be gone so long, but Martha had a few questions."

Clark looked up at his aushna' and reached for his hand. He'd heard everything his mom had said, and everything Lex had said back, and he understood and was so proud of his aushna' for standing up for them. His heart ached for his mother, and he would speak to her soon enough, but right now he looked to his father quietly, as he sat before them. "Father, we want to bring you home with us."

Lex sat on the floor as close as he could to his aushna', and wrapped their fingers tightly together. She hurts me, aushna'. I do not like it when she is angry with me.

Jor-El looked from Clark to Lex and then back to his son. "You would, for the time, have to bring the entire ship, because that is how I am able to exist and access, through the circuitry in the ship's makeup."

"We know. We've been wanting to have you with us, in the place where we live, for a long time. We would bring the whole ship with us, until we knew how to make it so you could be with us all the time, father." I know, Kenep. I don't think she's angry with you at all... I think she's angry with herself. And angry, unfortunately, with me.

"If you left the ship open and accessed, then I would be available all the time, however I would be confined to a single room."

Lex wasn't so calm. She is your mother; she is like a mother to me. She is disappointed in both of us; angry with both of us.

Clark needed to talk to his aushna, so he gazed at his father and reached out, squeezing his hand. "I have to go, father. When again you will be with us, you'll be in our rooms and our home. I love you, father."

Jor-El nodded. "Daphstemlin'aq, a'werthalen." He looked to Lex. "Your aushna' is in need of your soothing. I will wait, Kal; I will see you soon."

"Thank you, father." Clark smiled at him, very gently, and agile, long fingers slid to the ship, removing the disk. The computer consol closed and the ship tightened shut with metallic little clicks and bangs, and when it was all done he took out the key and set both on the ground to look at his lover. "This is not your fault, Lex. I didn't want her to know because I knew she'd flip out, and I knew she wouldn't understand why I couldn't tell her. She would just freak out, cause that's what she does best, and make herself sick over it. That's why, Kenep."

Jor-El smiled as he flickered out, and the ship resumed it's usual shape, closing itself off and settling on the ground.

Lex looked up at Clark. "It is my fault, Clark. I should have told her; I shouldn't have let you keep it a secret from them, but I was afraid to lose you. I respected your decision because you are my aushna', but I was scared that Jonathan would take you from me."

"You didn't tell her because I asked you not to, and I love you so much for it." Clark whispered, and leaned over to press soothing, tender kisses on his lovers face. The gravel ate into his butt and legs on the ground, and he knew it was doing it to Lex, so he pulled his aushna' into his lap and wrapped his arms around his waist and chest gently. "She worries, for the both of us, Lex. That's all."

Lex leaned his head back against Clark's shoulder. "It hurts. It hurts, Clark. Like she were my own mother. I don't think it could hurt more if it were Lillian instead of Martha."

"She is your own mother, in a lot of ways. She loves you, and wants the best for you." Was his murmured reply, body rocking his lover gently as he felt the patter of a nervous heart and the anger, confusion, sadness. "She wants the best for you, aushna', and the best for me. Sometimes though, I just don't think she knows what the best is, for either of us."

"I don't know what the best is either, Clark." He closed his eyes as he rested against Clark. "I'm just doing the best I can by you."

"I'm just as clueless." Clark whispered, but he was smiling as he stroked his palm over his lovers head, gently thumbing the knob in the back. "Come on, lets go talk to her before her pregnancy hormones get too much out of whack."

"She went upstairs, to her bedroom." Lex purred softly in reassured comfort. "I don't know if she'd want me up there or if I'd belong."

"Lex? You were the father of her grandchild. I think she'd be just fine with it." Was Clarks murmur, as he let go of Lex enough to tuck his things back away into the hollows of his pocket, and glanced up t frame his fingers around Lex's face. "I love you."

"I love you, Clark." Lex leaned into the touch, rubbing his cheek against Clark's fingertips. "I love you so much."

"I love you, baby." Clarks murmur was lost in the collar of Lex's long coat as he kissed it, tenderly. Again, to the edge of his throat, then up, to his cheek, and finally his lips, kissing him very, very softly. His skin was as soft as a rose petal, warm and tender, and he gently stroked it with his thumbs for a long moment as he gazed into deep gray eyes. "Lets go talk to my mom."

"She's just not very happy with us." Lex blinked as he smiled up at Clark, mouth still tasting like his lover's kiss. "Did your father tell you anything about helping out with your flight after I left?"

"Yes, he did." the smile lit his face before he could help it, brightening his cheeks softly as they climbed up to their feet, a long pale palm wrapped in a thicker tan one. "Yes, he really did. It got me to thinking about before, when you weren't in my life in the way you are now. He said... think back on simpler times, uncomplicated my life, and think of freedom. I told him about the dream I had about flying over Smallville, and told me to remember it when I want to go up. So... I'll try that. Sometime." His lips quirked. "I never thought, seeing you, knowing you, would ever become this beautiful thing we have, Lex."

"I didn't ever think it either, Clark." Lex squeezed Clark's palm in his own. "I didn't think it. I dreamed it; wanted it. But I didn't have any idea what we would become to each other. I never imagined a life without you, but... I never realized how deep in my life you'd be."

"Then will it freak you out if my taking you to Krypton was a ritual of ceremonies, where we bonded our love with that of the Kryptonian people, and we are now heralded as almost like royalty?"

A very, very long blink. "Almost royalty?"

"Well yeah. We live on earth. can't be royalty on earth, babe." But he was grinning as he glanced across at him. "My father said that only a handful of people in what was Kryptonian history had bonded the way we did. And we were the first, since the change from Exploration to The Isolation."

"The... Isolation?" Lex blinked. "But, be honest, Clark. Are you really surprised that we're special? I'm not. We're already special here; I'm not at all surprised that we're special with your people, too."

"The Isolation." He answered quietly, as they went up the gravel steps. The third from the top was lose as he pushed open the cellar doors, and stepped up into the encroaching evening. The sun was already beginning its assent into night, and the owls were already hooting as the field mice scampered to be safe in their homes and live another day. it smelled like grass, animals, sky, earth, manure, life, and he inhaled softly as he reached back and helped Lex up out of the cellar. "The Isolation was when the Kryptonians stopped going out into space. My father didn't explain to me why, but they abandoned space flight and isolated themselves completely."

"That sounds very... catastrophic," Lex said as Clark pulled him up. "I could spend... years talking to your father and learning and not know half of what he could teach me."

"He's a really interesting man." Clark answered quietly, as he led Lex across the field and around cow pies.

"Clark... don't worry. I'll find a way."

"I know." He paused a moment in speaking, as he glanced at his lover. "If I forget to tell you later, Chloe offered me the Torch."

"She did what?"

"Offered me the Torch." A little embarrassed, a little quiet. "To take care of, while she's...indisposed."

"Wow. That shows you just how much faith she has in you, Clark. I don't think Chloe would have offered the Torch to anyone she didn't think could properly take care of it."

"I know. Believe me. Is it wrong of me that I already have ideas for it?" He let the question hang as he opened the porch door and stepped inside, looking around the kitchen. Two glasses of tea who's ice had already condensed on the glass itself, and motioned towards the steps as he ran his fingers through his very short curls and came up the steps. "Mom?"

"No, it's not wrong. She asked you to take care of it; she trusts you." Lex looked around. "She left the kitchen not long ago."

A big shoulder motioned for Lex to join him, and he carefully went up the steps. The lights were out in the slightly stuffy house, and he heard his mother sniffling softly in her bedroom as he carefully opened the door.

She was on the bed she shared with his father, tissue to her face as she cried.

Crap.

"Mom?"

Martha snuffled very softly and sat up, turning her face away so he wouldn't see her cry.

"Martha, it's Clark and I. Can we come in?" Lex pushed the door open further, so that he and Clark could both stand in the doorway, and he rested his hand on the wall. "Please?"

She wasn't like her husband. She couldn't keep her anger, and she was already crying it out as she nodded, looking up and offering her arms to her son.

Clark immediately reached forward and slid into them, bringing his mother in tightly to his chest and hugging her, gently, for fear of the baby getting smushed by his somewhat stone-like abs, and kissed her cheek softly as he held her close. "Im sorry, mom."

"Don't be, baby." Martha's red eyes came up… latched onto Lex's, and she offered her arm to him as well.

Lex just hovered near the door, watching Clark and Martha hugging on the bed. When she looked up at him he gave a small smile, shook his head a little, and faded into the shadow of the threshold, not wanting to intrude on Clark's family any more than he already had.

Dammit and she let go of Clark, tissues still crumpled in her hand, and reached out to him. She took his arm tightly and brought him in close to her, wrapping her arms around his tensed, skinny shoulders and squeezed tightly. "You're my family, too, Lex." She whispered quietly into his ear, as she kissed his cheek gently. "You're part of this family. I'm so sorry I yelled at you, sweetheart. I'm just so upset and so sad."

Lex hugged Martha back carefully, not wanting to hurt her or the baby. "I just didn't want to hurt you, that's all," Lex said softly. "We were just trying to protect you." He turned his cheek for just a minute so that it rested against her shoulder, and her hair brushed against her cheek, just like his mother's had when he was a little boy.

"I know, baby. I was just angry, and I let it out on you when I should have been chewing Clark out." She gently soothed his cheek softly, and pulled back enough to take his arm and lead him into her room. "Come on, the both of you, sit down."

Lex followed Martha into the room, and wrapped his arms around Clark's waist, perching on the side of the bed as though he didn't know what to expect from her.

"Talk to me." She asked it, softly of these two boys, as she sat down and carefully brought her leg up under her. "Please."

Lex tightened his grip on Clark's waist. "What do you want to know?"

His head tipped, tightly, as he wound his arm around Lex's waist and gazed at his mother. "Just ask, mom."

"First of all, why you hacked your hair off. How... you got pregnant. How you had this child. What happened to it, after. Why you didn't come tell us. Just...about in that order." Martha answered back, as she settled into the chair across from them, after having dragged it from its corner slightly, and slid into it with a lit oomph.

"Therapy, sex, ripped through my back, buried him, you're pregnant, and I didn't want to hurt you."

Martha glared. Deeply.

Clark couldn't help smiling softly. "I live to tick you off."

Lex tightened his grip on Clark. "Let me see if I can't clarify some of these things." Lex brought his hand up to rub over Clark's short, short hair. "He cut his hair off as a sort of... therapy. And it's working. For the first time in a while... I see my Clark." A squeeze to his waist. "I won't go into details in how it happened; it was a shock to both of us. It happened so quickly... over the span of two, maybe three days. It's kind of fuzzy, the timeline." Another, tighter squeeze. "Afterwards... the baby--our son, Richard Mar-El Kent-Luthor, is his name--died while I was holding him. We buried him, near the mansion. I'm not telling you where, I'm sorry. We didn't tell you because of your baby; we didn't want you to lose your child like we'd lost ours."

Long fingered hands reached out and grasped his beautiful mothers, as Clark's eyes filled with the hot tears of a parent who'd lost a child. And in his mothers, he saw that same pain, that same struggle to go on, that same hope. The funniest thing was, it comforted him on a very deep level he never thought he would have felt before.

"Mar was a beautiful baby, mom." He said it, quietly.

A flash behind his eyes, as the ecliptic memory flashed over his eye sockets, of blood and death, of gore and pain.

And the recurring dream, of a little blond headed child, with deep chocolate eyes, that kept flickering in and out of focus with each encroaching hour, each oncoming day.

"He was beautiful. He was mine. Lex and I were his fathers, and he came out of me, fought for life, from my back. The bone in my spine cut through my skin, and he f-fought to be born." His throat choked and he croaked softly as he swallowed. "He fought to be born, to come into this world, even if he wouldn't live. He was a fighter, like Lex and me, mom."

There wasn't anything Martha could think, or say, to that. Nothing in the world, except the little comfort she could give them, the little parts of herself that would let them know they weren't alone. Her eyes flickered, from Irish green to sea gray, and reached, for both their hands. "I lost my first child in 1984. Then again in 1988. 94. And then again in 98."

Lex's eyes silvered over as he listened to Clark tell about the birth of their son. "He was beautiful. He was so, so beautiful. He knew who I was and everything. He knew that I was his father. He knew that he wasn't going to live." He swallowed hard, and rubbed his eyes on Clark's shoulder for a moment. "But he did fight. He fought for as long as he was in this world." He gave Martha's hand a squeeze, and didn't let go. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be." When she answered, her voice was tight and gruff. "Don't be, Lex. I have learned more from my children than I have from anything else in the world, and that includes the both of you. But I just want you to know... I understand. And I would have loved… loved to be a grandmother." She squeezed their hands again, tightly, and brought them both in to hug and press gentle kisses to each of their cheeks. "Babies always know the strangest things about you. They look into your soul and yank and pull and see something beautiful. There's nothing in this world more beautiful than a child."

"You'll be a grandmother," Lex promised her. "I promise."

"You both had better." She said softly, and squeezed their hands tightly, and joined them together. "But when the time comes...I want to be there. Promise me, both of you."

Lex looked at his lover. "That's Clark's choice, Martha, and you know that I won't go against what he chooses."

And said young man had been very quiet as his mother had spoken. Control was hard won but he grasped it, tightly, felt his throat stop squeezing sporadically, felt his heart stop racing. "I want you there, mom. Next time, you and dad will both be there." He leaned foreword and let go of his mothers hand... setting it instead on the roundness of her belly, and watched his hand on the mound where his baby brother or sister sl...

"You know its a girl?"

Martha looked up, eyes wide, almost panicked before she controlled it. "Of course not."

"AH! You so do!!! You found out?!" Clarks eyes widened in his face. "Ooohhh you're in trouuubbllee. Dad's going to kill you!"

"Shhh!" Chastised shrilly, batting at him as she glanced towards the door, then glared at the two boys in front of her. "Not a word. I found out by accident, so shh."

Lex elevated an eyebrow. "By accident, mm?"

"Of course." She blew a strand of red hair from her forehead and met his incredulous gaze. "Oh, what? You think I had them do an ultrasound while I was in the hospital and kind of said yes to their question if I wanted to know?"

Clark just... burst out laughing.

Lex just smiled. "Actually, that's pretty much what I figured happened." He pulled his lips between his teeth to keep the smile from swallowing his entire face. "You're going to be a great mother, Martha. You've had this guy here to practice on." He squeezed his lover tightly.

Martha bat at her boisterous son's laughter again, glaring at him as she looked towards the door again. "Shhh! If your father knows, he'll be heart broken. Of course he wanted a daughter, but I can't tell him that." But she gave them a mischievous, sneaky little grin. "I wanted to know what colors to crochet. Think he'll find out if he sees me sewing a pink and white blanket?"

"Probably." Big smile. "Mom, before I forget to tell you, Lex and I are going to take the ship to the mansion. Before you bellow and say no, it'll be in a safe location. My father is going to teach Lex how to wire the matrix through the house, so he can be with us all the time if he so chooses to be."

We need him there," Lex said frankly. "There's a lot of knowledge he has, about Clark, about his physiology, about his abilities, that we need to have total access to, at our fingertips. If we move the ship there, Jor-El and I can figure out how to make him an interactive member of the household, and not just a projection from the ship." Didn't mention he intensely wanted the man there, for his lover's sake.

"Alright." Didn't even have to think about it. "Jonathan..." He needed to know. About Jor-El, about the ship, but she wasn't so sure showing him was quite the proper course of action. "I'll talk to him. We're going to have to make up a little white lie, though, until I can sit him down and explain, alright?" She just...rubbed her cheek, and her forehead. "Good lord. He and I are going to go eat out tonight, around 6. You can come get it then, alright?"

"Alright, mom." Clarks beam glowed out like a hundred watt light bulb, and he hugged his mother fiercely as he climbed to his feet. "Thanks, mom, seriously."

"If you need Clark and I to talk to him, don't hesitate to give us a call. I don't mind telling Jonathan that Clark is my priority, and he needs the ship, and everything in it, with him. Since we're living together now, this is what he needs."

Martha stopped to look at him for a long moment, and her lips curved just the slightest bit, even as she tried to look stern. These two were going to be the death of her, and she hobbled out of her chair and shooed them off. "Go, and be careful on the way home. You need to bring the truck to come get it, and we'll leave at around six fifteen or thereabouts." She looked towards her watch, where it already said five thirty. "Be careful!"

"We will be, don't worry." Lex moved to help her out of the chair, and then stood beside Clark, arm around his waist, and fingers wrapped through his lover's. "We'll be careful. Jonathan won't even know it's gone until the next time he goes into the cellar."

"You're both going to give me white hair and wrinkles." Was all she muttered, as she shooed them out of her room and smoothed her hair, walking down the steps behind them with a hand on her lower back and the other on the railing. "Beat it. I'll call you tomorrow morning."

Clark nodded, his lips quirking, and he grasped Lex's hand tightly, as they left the house. Gravel crunching underfoot, he led his lover not to the barn door where they usually went, but to the side of the large barn, to a dark brown latter that had been built into the side of the building itself. He didn't say a word, just motioning for Lex to follow him, and started up the ladder easily, grasping each rung and pulling himself up.

Lex didn't ask. He knew better. Instead, he winced at the ladder, thinking of all the splinters he was going to be peeling out of his hands later, had a thought. He pulled out his driving gloves, felt a flash of pride that he'd been able to improvise, and started pulling himself up the ladder behind Clark. "You sure this will hold both our weights?" Lex asked, unsure of the security of the rickety wood.

"My dad and I used to climb up here to fix the shingles all the time, Lex." Clark grinned down at him. "And you weigh half of what he does. It'll hold." He kept going, up the long side of the barn, and didn't look down as he crawled up into the weather drain. Stepped over the slightly mucky catch and up the side of the barn easily by a pair of little stairs his father had built into the shingles themselves, until he stood on top of the barn, gazing out at the sky. Stars, already peaking through the soft, deepening blue of night, the sun finally setting over the horizon, with a thousand colors and textures thrown across the western sky. "You okay, Lex?"

"I weigh a bit more than half of what your father does, thank you." Lex kept pulling himself up the ladder, following Clark up the unsteady-looking stairs, until he was sitting on the roof beside his standing lover. "Just fine." He swallowed hard. "I ever tell you I have a problem with heights?"

Deep green eyes came down and chuckled, softly, at his lover, and he leaned down to pull Lex up beside him. Arms firmly around his waist, holding him gently, and he chuckled softly as he pressed a kiss to his lovers temple. "You're telling me that you flew with me in my arms, you were stuck on the ceiling with me, and you've got a problem with heights?"

"I've had a problem with heights ever since I was a young boy," Lex clarified. "It doesn't usually bother me when I know I can't fall. Being on a building roof, however? Entirely. Different. Story."

"Will you pee your pants?" Asked with complete honesty, as Clarks arms tightened around him and held firmly, warmly, a kiss pressed to the long length of smooth jaw as the suns lights began to fade into the darkness of night. Behind them the sky was already darkening, stars winking on, and the orange, gold, purple, pink and red streaks shot through the sky like fire.

Lex rolled his eyes. "I didn't lose control of my bladder when I was nine. I don't intend to start at this late date. I merely had panic attacks and refused to open my eyes in helicopters or airplanes, which infuriated my father like you wouldn't comprehend. I have, since that time, overcome the fear of opening my eyes, as some of the overhead views are quite lovely." He was holding tightly to Clark's arms as they held him safely, however, and he closed his eyes as he leaned his head back on Clark's shoulder.

Clark all but heard Lionel in his head, and carefully kept a straight face as his lover spoke. At this late date, indeed. He bit his lip, listening intently, and when his lover was done, carefully turned so they were chest to chest, and he wrapped his arms around his lovers chest, lifted him a foot off the barn floor, and took off running.

He hit the edge of the barn and sailed off of it into the open dark sky.

And he didn't fall.

Lex snuggled into Clark's broad chest, tightening his grip on Clark's waist and situating his head in the soft hollow of Clark's shoulder. A soft kiss to warm skin, and then he was shocked to find himself lifted in the air as he felt Clark running. Didn't say a word, just wrapped his legs around Clark's waist and looped his arms under his lover's arms, and squeezed. Dear Gods in Heaven, he swore to himself, and then was pleased--thrilled--to find Clark flying.

He cracked an eye open and peered up at Clark. "I told you so."

"Shh." Clark hissed, eyes squeezed tight. Concentrating. He had found, as his dad had said, his weightless thing... a blue balloon his dad had bought him at the Farmers Market when he was eight. He'd loved that balloon, and had cried for four days when it popped, not understanding that there could be more balloons. That had been the best thing ever, that blue balloon, and he was channeling the blue balloon as he held his lover, tightly. Lex was there to make sure he wouldn't hit the ground, and he floated, carefully, the breeze moving him just a little as he swallowed. Hard.

Had to get down. As in, right now. Except... fuck.

He hit the ground like a sack of potatoes, protecting Lex tightly against his body and extending his strength and protection around his lover as they hit and rolled. Thud, and the rocks and pebbles ate into his back and legs as he thumped and fell to a stop with a small dust cloud, lying underneath his lover and staring.

"Your flight? Is beautiful. Your landing? Needs work." Lex just blinked, peering down at his lover. "Are you okay?"

"Sure. I'm good." Squeak from under all that pale, hairless flesh. "Real good. Uh huh."

"Real good, as in you're lying there under me and are feeling no pain, or real good as in you're not injured?" Lex crooked an eyebrow as he rubbed away a smudge on Clark's cheek, then kissed it

"Real good as in," He lifted his hips, and giggled evilly, mimicking a caveman. "I am seventeen year old boy, hear me roar!" He lifted Lex up into his arms again, hooking Lex's legs around his hips, and took off running like a bullet. Hit the fence that surrounded Kent farm, lifted up and jumped off of it, and took off in the air again. Instead of jumping, however, he jumped and stayed up, racing through the sky like a bullet.

He actually stayed up, thinking upupupupupup, THINKING UP.

And went down, in a corn field, falling like a rock and thudding against the ground.

Lex wiggled against Clark's body, settling his hips and legs tighter around Clark's body and adjusting the grip of his arms around Clark's neck. "You're getting the hang of up. It's down you need a little help with."

Yeah right. Pfft. He blew out a pfft of dust, groaning for a moment and resting. His heart was racing, he was going to pee his pants, and since doing such a thing meant a small nuclear explosion, he kept bodily functions and emotions bottled up, climbed back to his feet and grasped Lex's hand as he took off. Racing, faster, faster, his body nothing but a blur of movement, and used another fence, a picket fence, to jump off of. Back in the sky, BACK IN THE SKY, and he let out a whoop of triumph as he sailed through the night breeze.

Freedom. Like he'd never in his life felt. Freedom. And it was a beautiful thing.

"We're flying! LEX!" He cried, his voice deepening as his adrenal's took over and his body increased to fit the contours. "WE'RE FLYING!"

Clark might have been flying. Lex was having himself an old-fashioned heart attack. He could see the headlines now, youngest heart attack victim in the history of LuthorCorp. His father would make some sort of heroic medical breakthrough that would save his life.

He just wasn't thinking about the fact that his feet weren't touching the ground. Because if he thought about that? The Luthor Heir to the world was going to start screaming like a little girl.

Clark was listening to every word, and he infused his lover with the feeling, of weightlessness, of flight, and let go of him. Only their fingers were clasped, but they were sailing through the air together like he was fucking Peter Pan, and he laughed softly even as he didn't dare look at him. Don't be scared, Kenep, you are safe! I will never hurt you. Don't look down… look up.

Lex looked down. Hardwired human response. "Don't ever tell someone not to look down!" Lex screamed over the wind. "Don't you know that's the first thing someone does when you tell them NOT to do it!!" He turned his head to look at Clark, was shocked to see his body filled out and bulky, muscles bulging and their fingers clasped together in a grip of iron. "I AM NOT TINKERBELL!" he roared to Clark's Peter Pan analogy as it skated through his head.

No, you're just TinkerLexie, and have I mentioned you have the ass of a god? Clarks grin was almost wolf-like, the pure freedom of doing this exciting him beyond every imagining as Lex screamed at him. His fingers were clamped around Lex's, and even if he did fall, which was unlikely, Clark would be there to catch his terrified lover. For now he enjoyed this, beyond anything, and yeah, pissing his pants still likely, but not at the moment. We're almost home. Come to me, aushna', so we can crash to the ground. Huge amount of amusement, and his eyes twinkled.

"Yes, I know I have a nice ass!!" He looked at his lover sideways. "Don't think crash! Think... landing. Try not to crash. I'll wait right here for you."

"Bullshit!" he bellowed, and pulled Lex into his bulgy arms with a single tug as he started for the ground. Tried, tried to keep his feet on the ground, but he found himself hurtling towards the ground and he couldn't. Stop. He let out a cry and tucked Lex deep into the circle of his arms as they hit the ground on the hill Mar was buried, and rolled all. The way. Down.

"You and me, Clark. We're going to figure out the whole landing process."

Deep groan from under Lex's body, and Clark stretched out on the spongy, soft grass, just as it began to rain. Light misty sprinkles, the rain from the east finally having traveled in, and Clark grinned as he looked up. Just light sprinkling mists that frizzed his hair and set a soft, wet sheen of water on Lex's head and face, and Clark leaned up to gently kiss him as they lay there, sprawled on the grass. "That was so fun."

"Fun. I've had bad Ecstasy trips that were less fun than that." But he returned the soft kisses, stroking Clark's rippling arms and shoulders. "Never ever going to get used to that!!" He didn't move from his sprawl on top of Clark, resting his elbows carefully on Clark's chest.

A loud, wicked snicker, and Clark lifted his lover up with ease, standing him up and climbing to his feet as well. "Come on, TinkerLexie. Lets get the truck, get the ship, and come home. I've got eight or a billion plans for you tonight."

"I can't believe that I have a truck and an SUV in my garage," Lex lamented. "You're a horrible influence on me. Hans laughs at me when he comes to check the imports." He sniffed. "What plans?"

"I know it must be such a hardship, for an automobile snob such as yourself." Clark snickered back, wrapping an arm around him as if flying around Smallville was no big deal at all, and walked towards the garage. "Juuust plans." Innocent hum.

"Mmm. Why does that carefully feigned innocence frighten me more than anything else?" He pressed himself closer to Clark as they walked. "I don't believe it."

"That Hans has the audacity to laugh at you?"

"No. That you think innocent is going to work with me."

His eyes glinted with mischief. "I've had, and been taken by, all my sha'nauch today. Except for the most important one of all. But... I'm in the mood to... enlighten you, Alexander Luthor, and you're just going to have to see what I mean by that tonight."

"Uh huh." Lex was a shrewd individual, and he had a very... general idea of what Clark had in mind. "You know, Clark, we're going to have to move one of my cars down to the lower garage, and move your car up. Dad and Dom have already possessed the west garage for their own."

"More like your dad. Dominic has his little jag, and he's set. Your dad? Has mood colors for cars. The black 68 thunder bird, his light blue sedan, the viper red Aston."

"Not to mention the silver Corniche, and the navy Bentley."

"I'm telling you. Mood colors." But Clark was smiling, as they entered the garage. "Our car, Lex. I can't take that thing out all the time."

"Your car, Clark. You've got five inches of height, about eighty pounds and four inches of width on me. I'm not built to fit in the driver's seat."

He couldn't drive that thing around. Lex knew it, but he didn't further say anything else as they entered the house and went down the hall towards the garage. The cherry red truck sitting cozily in its corner, and he stared at it, for a very long moment. It wasn't his car either, by a long shot, but he could dream about the day when he'd be able to afford something like that. Instead, he nodded at his lover and plucked the truck keys off the rack of them, and tossed them at his lover as he rounded the car and waited for Lex to unlock it. "Of course you have the general idea, you're Lex." Was all he said, humming in innocence.

"Yes, I know you think you can't. I think you can. But I know you won't." He sighed, and looked at the truck. "It's not mine." He unlocked truck, and then tossed the keys back to Clark. "You think I'm driving this? It's yours."

Dammit. "No, its not." Was all he said, as he went back around and unlocked the doors to the truck. Rather than argue, he slid into the front seat and pulled the engine on, listening to it grunt and purr under him.

"Yes, it is." Lex slid into the passenger side, and then put his hand on Clark's arm. "The car might have been a bit much. I'll admit that. But the truck? No. You saved my life, Clark. I don't care why you did it; you deserve this."

He looked up, sharply, and anger flamed hot in his face as he glared at him, darkly. "There is not a price tag set on your life. You're not some dog, whose owner is to be rewarded for caring for it. You are my aushna', and there will be no price tag. Are we clear?" Demanded, as his entire body quaked with anger. How dare he, think that Clark needed to be rewarded for doing what he knew was to be done?

"Bruce said the same thing to me once, and I didn't believe it then and I don't believe it now. You didn't know me then; you'd never even seen me before that instant. I love you, Clark, I know we were meant to be together, but you have to let me do this."

"I had seen you. Every night I had seen you, I dreamt about you, and I will not take something for loving you. So... shut UP."

Lex crossed his arms over his chest. "You're not taking anything for loving me, Clark. I'm giving you something in gratitude."

"No, you're not. You're mine, you think I don't know you?" Clark glared, deeply at the side of the cab, in hurt and anger. "I love you, you are my fiancé, my aushna', my lover. You are mine. And I would never take a gift from you because I loved you and wanted to take care of you. Do you understand?"

"I understand, Clark, and I know you." He moved closer to his lover, scooting over the wide seat. "But you won't let me do anything for you. Everybody knows that you love me, Clark. I wear it on my sleeve, something, because everybody knows. Nobody knows that I love you in return. If you won't let me give you proof, people will pity you for loving me and I don't want that. I don't want to be pitied."

"People do know. Everyone knows. I can't drive around a car, Lex, because then people will think what is between us is cheep, and worth only that of a truck and pretty trinkets." He looked across at him and reached his arm out as he wrapped his arm around his lovers back and tugged him close to his chest and side. "We are worth more than any living thing. We don't have to drive something around to signify it."

Lex wrapped his arms around Clark's chest and hugged him tightly. "I know that we are. But I don't know how else to show you."

"You do it, when you hold me, touch me... kiss me. You show it when you take me places, and show me new things, and make love with me. You show me when you're happy, when you're sad, when you come save me from various ashimel ceilings. You don't have to try...you do it, every day."

Lex just held on, stroking Clark's shoulder and chest gently. "I want to show the world, Clark, not just you. And I don't know how."

"They'll find out. Your dad didn't have to do anything for Dominic, and they found out." His lips curved, as he pressed a kiss to the crown of Lex's head, the remote controlled garage door closing behind them as he let the truck up the long road towards the main one.

Lex didn't say anything else, just left his head leaning against Clark's shoulder. "Your dad's going to notice my car just sitting there in the drive."

"Mom'll make some excuse. She's good at them." His lips quirked. "She's also something of a trip. She's horrible, but I love her." He looked down at him, and kissed his head again. "I'm sorry. I love you."

"You don't have anything to be sorry for," Lex replied softly.

"I hurt your feelings, because I'm a brash pig." he answered quietly, as he squeezed his waist. "I don't want you to think I'm some kind of ungrateful slob. I am, so grateful for you to be letting me live with you, and care and love for me the way you do. But Lex… I have to do stuff my way, as much as I can. I didn't save anything this month cause or Mar, but next month I'll be making almost four hundred dollars. I have got to save to buy my own car, make my own way." It pained him to tell Lex these things, because he loved Clark so much, and he just… winced. "Don't be angry."

"I'm not angry, Clark. You didn't hurt my feelings. We're just... coming from two different places, I suppose. It's nothing to me, to make sure you have a nice car, or a great car, or even a custom machine. It's nothing to me, to give you a truck for saving my life, because that's what I've always done. It's just as easy for me to pay for your entire college education, but you won't let me do that, either. You're taking care of me, Clark, but you won't let me do the same for you."

The words, for all their truth, hurt. "I need to make my own way. I need to do things the way I know I have to learn to do. I can't...let you pay for those things because I need to pay them, and learn from my experiences. I have to do it, Lex, and I know how it hurts you, but I have to do it."

"I know you do, Clark. And in a way, I don't resent it. I wouldn't be where I am today if I hadn't had my own experiences and learned from them and paved the road to where I am. I respect it. But I don't like it."

"You don't have to like it. You just have to love me, and understand me. And you do, both of those things, and I love you so much for it."

"I love you. I don't always understand you, Clark. But I accept that I don't."

"You understand more than you let on." Clark said with a small smirk, eyes dancing as he reached down to give Lex's ear a bite. "You just feign ignorance."

Lex shook his head, but couldn't help smiling at the bite. "I actually understand a lot less than you realize. I'm just very good at pretending I know what the hell is going on with you."

"You really don't know?" And the thought sent a sliver of panic through him. "What do you want to understand, Lex? Ask me, and I'll tell you."

"I'd like to understand how you know how to fly and not land. I'd like to understand how you say you knew me before we'd ever met. I'd like to understand where you come from--and I don't mean your planet, I mean your life. I'd like to understand how you lived so long with a secret and haven't lost your sanity yet."

"I'm an idiot, I dreamt about you every night for years, I'm a farmers kid, I have lost my mind and you just don't know it yet." But he said it with a small smile, even as he pulled out onto main street.

"I understand now why your mother would like to smack you," Lex said, matching word to action and popping Clark across the back of the head. "How do you know you dreamed about me? I mean... all right. Did you know it was me? Or was it just... someone?"

He snickered at him as Lex smacked him, grinning as he set one hand on the wheel to talk to him. "I dreamt about you. But my dreams are strange, and from what I've gathered over the years, not like a human being's. I dream with feelings, not physically seen things. I knew your soul before I ever knew you. I could feel you, knew the pain you were in, sometimes the joy and pleasure, but always that nagging pain in the pit of your heart."

"I don't understand how you could know me. That's the thing. As far as I know, I'd never even known you existed until I plowed into you."

Clark looked over at him and shrugged, sighing softly. "I never knew who you were either. I mean, yeah, Lionel Luthor's kid, but I didn't know you. Never even seen a picture of you." A single nod. "And I wasn't joking about the insane thing. Sometimes I'm pretty sure I've lost my mind. Its hard being different, and even though my parents were always like, "ignore what they say to you, you're not different", I was. And it was hard to make friends. I think that's why Pete and I got along so well, because he's different too, and the only black kid from a black family in our school when we were young. That's why we got so close."

"I mean... how did you find me, out of all the millions of other people in the world?" He left his head on Clark's shoulder. "You're not insane, Clark. Nothing near it. I'd be willing to bet I've got more screws loose than you do." Squeeze to his lover's thigh. "Pete's very protective of you, you know."

"I didn't find you." Clark pointed out carefully, and his brows wriggled, expressive now that they weren't impeded by long, shaggy curls. "You seemed to have found me, and though I don't give you high marks on the explosive way you did it, you were a ten across the board for dramatic entry and heart wrenching beauty."

"Sometimes I think it was a mistake," Lex said softly. "Not because I don't love you, but because I can't imagine anything this good and beautiful being meant for me. Sometimes I think maybe I was meant to die, and you were meant to meet someone else in the aftermath." He tightened his grip. "Not complaining, though. I'm so... happy doesn't even cover it."

"I dreamt about you." Clark said it, firmly, as he turned to gaze at him. "You. Not someone else... but you. Your soul, the way your eyes looked into mine after I breathed life into you." Back to the road, as he brought his palm down to cover Lex's on his leg, and squeezed Lex's hand tenderly. "It was you. It was the moment I'd been sent on earth to have. I love you, Lex. No one could be aushna' with me but you, and that's a certainty."

"I love you." It was all he could say. "You... you are the best thing, in this world, that's ever happened to me."

"Of course I am. Have you seen me? I'm shorn like a sheep, and I still manage to promote bad, statutory rape-like thoughts." Amused grin at him that all but had the devil in it.

Lex raised his hand and ran his fingertips over Clark's shortly-shorn curls. "I miss these," he lamented. "And, I couldn't care less about Kansas state statues. You are mine; nobody is going to keep me from touching you."

"Promise?"

"I promise, Clark."

"Good." He tugged Lex's hand from his thigh to his crotch.

Lex gently rubbed as he felt where his hand were being directed to, and he turned his hand so that his fingers worked the metal zipper and slid his hand inside, pushing underwear and everything aside and gripping a hardening cock. "Mmmm. You feel... tense, Clark. Very... tense."

"Of course I do. Knowing you're mine makes me h-hot." He cleared his throat, shifting a little closer to Lex's wandering hand as he held the steering wheel. "I try really hard not to be tense. Bad for the muscles, you know."

"But... in this case... tense is good. There's... a nice rubdown that I can give you. Relieves... stiffness."

"Is it good for my skin? can't.." Cleared throat. "Let Super Skin like mine deteriorate. It must always be baby butt soft, L-Lex." He brought his hand down and wrapped around Lex's on his cock, and the tease was just… delicious. "Humphgh."

"Oh, yes. It's very good for your skin. It's a steady stroking, that works all the skin equally, keeping it soft... velvety smooth... and... uh... so hot." Lex's grip tightened around Clark's cock, stroking firmly as his lover's hand wrapped around his own, and he shuddered at the touch. "Mmmm."

"I'm also sure its going to kill the both of us." Clark grunted as he kept the car on the road with force, traveling down the long stretch towards Kent Farm, his body quivering with lust as he arched up, then rubbed his spine along the curve of the leather seat as he bowed his back and purred, like a big jungle cat.

"You'll save me." Lex slid his lower body down the seat, then angled his head carefully in Clark's lap, back of his skull just rubbing the steering wheel as he swallowed his lover's cock. Flick of his tongue over the head on the way down then deepthroating the entire length, Lex moaned softly as he took Clark down, swallowing around the hard shaft and keeping his throat tight and his mouth wet as he started to slide off.

"Ughrungh!!!" Exclaimed with zero English, Kryptonian, German or Japanese, just pure, unidentifiable, deep male pleasure. He could barely keep driving, foot coming up off the power as he moaned, loudly, throwing his head back and groaning as he fought to keep steady. A glance down… Lex, the little knob, his COCK, gone, and oh. My. God. "Lex, Lex, gonna crash, Lex, oh God, Lex please, please!" Incoherent babbles.

Stop the truck, then. Lex didn't stop, just stilled his mouth's motions on Clark, swallowing and licking the head as he paused in sucking, waiting for the truck to stop.

"Someone… gonna... see!" Clark shrilled, throwing his head back against the seat as he slammed on the breaks, pulling over on the tarmac and cutting the engine as he panted. His Kenep had much too many skills with his lovely, talented mouth, and the way he licked… the way he sucked and moved, ugghnn. Clark slid his fingers over the warm, smooth skin, moaning harshly as he panted and arched up. "Lex, Lex... Lex, Lex!"

Soft, wordless mutters as Lex started moving his mouth again, sliding his lips up the wide shaft to nip the head, then easing back down, sucking hard the whole slide down. His hand slipped back inside Clark's underwear, gently fondling hot, heavy balls and cupping them in his palm as his mouth slid faster, skimming his lips over the hard shaft, sucking the skin and laving the base with his tongue.

The noises coming from Clarks throat were of positive bliss. He could barely breath, panting harshly as he gasped, gagged on his gasps, and humped upwards. Fast, quick, orgasm coming up close, close, before falling away again, teasing him with release. "Pl-please, please! LEX PLEASE!" He fucked upwards, harder, his fingers squeezing Lex's shirt tightly.

Each of Clark's upward thrusts freed his balls, and Lex finally worked them out, and moved his mouth off Clark's wet cock completely, jacking it in his fist as he lavished his lover's balls with his tongue. He sucked each hard globe into his mouth, nipping the loose skin at the bottom of the pouch, rubbing them against his cheek and his chin before moving his mouth back to Clark's cock.

"Please! LEX! Please, Lex, PLEASE!"

And he gasped, looking up when a shining white light beamed in through the window.

He blinked... stared as he pushed the button to roll the window down.

And Ethan sure's hell wished Jon Kents boy hadn't done that.

He...tried really hard not to hear the noises, blinked and cleared his throat deeply as he glared, and watched all of the blood race out of Clark's face as they eyed one another; Clark with horror, Ethan with...well, yeah, equaled horror. "Scuse me, young fella's. I was thinking maybe you were in need of some assistance, but… uh."

Lex pulled his mouth off Clark's cock with a loud, wet pop. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand as he straightened up, and used that same hand to shield his eyes from Ethan's spotlight. "No problem, Sheriff. We appreciate your vigilance. We're quite all right, as you can see, just taking a momentary... break."

"I see that. Don't have to take you boys in for indecent exposure, right?"

"Nooo! Nooo, Mr. Sheriff Goodall, sir, no." Clark coughed, cleared his throat, and all the blood that had rushed out came rushing right back on in. "Uh. No. We're...on our way."

Ethan hiked both eyebrows up. "And you both won't be doing anything like that again, right?"

Lex almost pointed out that nothing was exposed, between the fact they were both still closed and Lex had swallowed Clark's cock to the root.

Then, common sense pointed out the Sheriff really didn't want to know about Clark's dick or Lex's ability to deep throat it.

"Of course not, Sheriff." We'll just pull further off the road next time.

Clark choked, violently, on the laugh, hacking into his hand as his face flushed even hotter. He could just see Sheriff Ethan's face, and he fought not to burst into hysterical giggles, clearing his throat deeply.

"Good. Get on with you both." He shooed them towards the road and walked back to his cruiser, shaking his head and pinching the bridge of his nose.

Lex raised his hand and waved at the sheriff, then scooted back down, putting his mouth back on Clark's cock. "Drive," he muttered around the thick shaft.

"C-can't, c.." He shook all over, shuddering hard as Lex did that thing with his foreskin that drove him half mad, moaning hysterically as he fought the keys, his body shuddering as he moaned deeply and brought the hand searching for the keys to Lex's head, pressing him down onto his crotch. "Please."

Lex worked one hand deeper under Clark's thrusting hips, rubbing his fingertips along the crack of Clark's ass, thumb rubbing the thin wall of tissue right behind Clark's balls as he sucked hard, teeth scraping along the foreskin, tongue working against the slit in the head. Soft hum, sent to vibrate through Clark's entire shaft, and he pulled back just enough to tug the head with his lips, a trick that never failed to get his lover off.

He exploded. Like fire, his balls emptied and he gasped, eyes wide as he looked down… then clenched, tightly, as he came. He thrust up and let out a long, hollow cry of pleasure as he climaxed, his entire body shuddering with pleasure as he squeezed, tightly, ass muscles contracting around nothing as he moaned hollowly, pushing up as his muscles worked, and grunted, deeply, sliding on the back of the truck and letting his head lay back against the headrest.

Lex swallowed quickly, licking up what spilled down his lover's cock, licking the corners of his lips as he kept swallowing down, every drop. He murmured with pleasure, mouth sealing around the head as his fist wrapped around Clark's cock, jerking him off and squeezing him tightly, working every bit of come out.

Eyes rolling around in his head, body quaking, and Clark couldn't have been happier, whimpering as he rubbed his ass and back into the leather, shivering in pleasure as he pressed warm, tender kisses to the back of Lex's head… then jumped, when the sheriff honked behind him. Shit.

He started the car and looked in his mirrors shakily, quickly pulling out onto the road and starting again for his parents farm as he moaned. "Ughnuhphm."

Lex sat up in the seat beside Clark, grinning like a self-satisfied cat as he licked his lips again. "Mmm. You taste good."

Clark turned his eyes to stare at him with the shock of a little puppy, grunting softly as he swallowed, hand sliding down to his wet, softening cock to stroke over it, and bring the taste of Lex and his own come to his lips, licking it up and groaning softly.

"I told you so," Lex pointed out, leaning over to kiss his lover and then lick Clark's fingers to suck off the taste.

Clark kissed back, quickly, biting his lower lip as he cleared his throat gruffly, and swallowed. "You're gonna be the death of me."

Lex just laughed softly. "Actually, no. You're going to be the death of me, if I don't die of blood circulation problems."

"Two minutes. Barn. Inside." Clark muttered, and sped up, just a little, as he pulled down Kent Road and headed towards the barn. He squealed to a stop, the red truck his parents drove gone and the lights dark, and he screamed the truck to a halt, pulling the keys out and laughing in joy. "Come on, slow poke."

Lex shook his head. "It's... to be savored, Clark. The fine edge of being so hard you can't think... can't feel... can't be aware of anything except the blood pulsing in your cock in time with your heartbeat."

He stared, half out of the truck, and his eyes widened. "You don't... want to?"

"Not until we get back to the house, back to our room, arranged the way we like it, no." Lex almost purred it. "Not until you can lay down on our bed and I can fuck you until you scream while big blue is crammed so far up my ass I can feel it in my throat."

Clark's entire body shuddered. Visibly. "Ughnumph?"

Lex stroked over Clark's chest, from throat to navel. "We have work to do."

"Evil bastard tease." Clark whimpered, and nodded. "Work. Uh huh. Yay. Work."

"Me? A tease?" Lex blinked, and slid his hand down to stroke Clark's cock. "No... you're not the one who's rock hard and feeling it, Clark. I'm not teasing you... just telling you what I have in mind for later."

"Tease." Clark whispered, and leaned over the long seat to tug his lover into a long, delicious kiss, nipping at the full lower lip and caressing the top as he lapped, nibbled… and pulled away. "Shex. ...Ship." Cough.

Lex wrapped himself like a leech around his lover, back pressed uncomfortably into the steering wheel, one thigh hooked over Clark's, his hard cock rubbing against Clark's belly as he kissed his lover back. Deep, hard thrusts of his tongue, hands anchoring on either side of Clark's head.

"Please, L--" Words cut off by the onslaught of teeth, tongue, lips, and he kissed back just as hard as he grasped and brought Lex tighter into his lap, fingers flying down to undo thin slacks and grasp a long, hard, thick cock, squeezing and jacking it off as they kissed. The horn went off with each thrust of Clark's hips, his cock coming back into action with pleasure as he kissed his lover hard.

Lex rode the thrusts of Clark's hips with happy abandon, his hands sliding down to brace hard on Clark's shoulders as he threw his head back, humping his cock into Clark's hands. "Not too much," he panted out. "Want... to last... till later," he grunted out. "Wanna hold it."

"No, no, want you... come, inside, inside me, Lex," Clark whimpered, begging him with huge eyes as he stroked faster, squeezing as he raked his nails down the sides and grasped his balls, rolling them in his fingers as he went crazy, sucking and licking at his neck and throat in pleasure, joy, ache.

Lex rolled his hips. "Move. Move then... over, passenger side, knees on the seat, back to me. Hurry." He climbed off Clark, unzipping his slacks and letting them fall, then his heel kicked open the glove compartment and pulled out the little white squeeze bottle. "Keep... keep them in all... all my cars now," he panted.

Clark could barely laugh, but what came out was a wheezing, erotic, excited giggle as he pulled his already undone jeans down and leaned over the seat as he was instructed. He spread his thighs, backside on display, and he knew he probably wasn't that nice looking from that end but he did not care. He squeezed his cock tightly and thanked God for the cloak of night as he arched his back, begging to be fucked as he whimpered.

"You don't know how great your ass is," Lex said, plastering himself to Clark's back and sliding slick fingers into his lover's opening. First one, then two, twisting and spreading the cold gel as deep as he could, then positioned his cock at Clark's opening and thrust in.

He groaned, hard, sinking into his lover's ass and feeling Clark's muscles squeezing him and sucking him in.

His entire body broke out into shivers, goosebumps racing across his skin as he let his head fall forward, groaning. Heat pooled in his crotch, tingling all over his crotch and down his balls and thighs as his ass pooled with heavy heat and the stretch and tingle and fullness. He groaned in deep pleasure as his elbows shook, keeping up as best he could as he bucked back into the cock he was filled with. "You, you you."

Couldn't believe the heat he was sinking into, and Lex pulled Clark back against him, didn't care about being crushed for a moment, just pressed his face into the back of his lover's neck. The urge to stay buried was already growing in the back of his mind, and he refused, instead stroking deeply, hips rolling and thrusting his cock as he reached around, sliding his hands up under Clark's shirt to tease hard nipples with his nails as he pounded fiercely into Clark's body.

"GUH!" Scream that was wrenched from his lips as he bucked back, groaning hard as he pushed back into him, meeting the pounding hips easily as he spread his legs more and fucked back into him. He was moaning, hysterically, eyes long ago rolled closed as he moved with him. The slap of their skin echoed in the dark cabin like a gunshot but he did not CARE. All he knew was the rhythm, the sweet friction, the touches against his prostate that sent him to shuddering uncontrollably, and he whimpered, falling forward onto his hands and knees as his mind was filled with ropes, blindfolds, whips and chains.

Lex moved right behind his lover, hand sliding' down to Clark's cock and squeezing it as he thrust. His thrusts pushed Clark's cock through his fist, and he squeezed the base every time, thrusting faster. "Clark... fuck... I love you."

Couldn't answer right now, when he felt Lex's cock pounding into his rib cage, and he grit his teeth as his mind whispered his I love you's as much as he could. His entire body shook with the power of his lovers thrusts, and his muscles contracted with each feeling, each fantasy, rolling through his mind. Lex's hand on his cock drove him insane, and he squeezed his muscles tightly around the pounding cock in agonized pleasure.

Lex heard the words rolling in his head and he pressed his lips to the back of Clark's neck. His free hand dug into Clark's hip, pulling him back, fist tightening on Clark's cock as he started to jack him off in earnest, feeling himself close to the mark and he was not coming without his lover. Was not. "Want... you to come... with me," he whispered into Clark's ear before nibbling it.

"Ready, ready, READY!" He screamed it, as he squeezed Lex tightly, kept him locked inside of him, and humped back and forth, over and over against his prostate, the part of it that had this little spot that he didn't find all the time, but when he did... he went nuts.

He lost his arm hold and fell forward onto his elbows, head dropping as he rubbed, faster and faster, begging his lover just for a moment more of this as he babbled half in English and half in Kryptonian, eyes rolling in his head as his cock surged even harder, balls drawn and tight.

Lex indulged his lover, giving him the minute and more, two minutes and then three minutes before shifting his cock, pounding against Clark's prostate. He let go of his lover's hip, pressed down on the small of Clark's back, fingertips caressing the scar that marred his aushna's skin even as the heel of his hand rubbed the bump at the base of his spine, the very thing that had given Clark the scar.

Clark craved punishment, and he felt it, deeply. He wanted punishment for taking his pleasure, he wanted pain and smacks and whips and he WAS GOING TO COME. "LEX!" he cried it, as he pushed back into him, head rolling as his cheeks flushed with encroaching orgasm, mouth shuddering open and his eyes clenching shut. "LEX!"

"Clark!" was the answering bellow. The hand pressing on Clark's bump moved down and landed a hard slap on his ass, and then he rubbed it. "Need that to come, baby? Huh? Need that?" Another loud slap, and Lex thrust in deeply, coming hard. His cock shuddered inside Clark's sheath as he came hard. His hand slapped Clark's ass again as his other fist worked his lover's cock.

He came, hard, orgasm and climax winding together, only a moment apart as he let out a hard, gasping cry of agonized pleasure, pushing into Lex's hand as he yelled into his arm, biting it tightly to keep from letting out the scream he wanted to let out as he felt Lex's come fill him, and oh God how he moaned.

Lex shuddered, letting himself stay buried inside his lover for a long moment as he panted, licking Clark's shoulder and temple, sucking kisses as he soothed his lover. "Sssh... baby, I love you... ssssh... it's okay." His arms wound around Clark's chest, and he rubbed his cheek against the sweaty shoulder. "I love you." He gave another little thrust inside. "How long... is it safe?"

He couldn't think, just slumping forward on the chair as he panted. Buried to the hilt inside of him, Clarks body spread wide for him and he moaned in agonized pleasure as he shivered all over, his heart slamming in his chest. "Long as its not more 'n hour." He muttered, shivering as he squeezed him, tightly.

"Good." Lex closed his eyes and leaned forward, letting his weight rest on Clark's back as he thrust in, just little, rolling thrusts that kept him seated inside his lover. "Don't wanna move," he complained softly, with little kisses to Clark's cheek and face.

"Don't want you to." he moaned, deeply, squeezing him tightly as he hugged the chair, Lex's pants, pillowing it in his half sprawl as he rubbed his hand over Lex's beside him. He pulled him down over him so he was laying across him, and snuggled in deep, leg sprawled on the window of the opposite door.

 

-fin-

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