The Memoirs

The sky was clear and bright, the sun was shining, the rain from yesterday was gone, and Dominic was happy.

The shower had cooled him off tremendously, the birds were singing, he and Lionel were fine, and he was happy. Just... happy! His daughter was going to be implanted today, and there was no way he could not be happy, even if they were going to go through hell with Diane Sawyer.

He beamed all through lazy morning sex, whistled through the warm shower, sang during his first cup of coffee of the day, and it was barely seven o'clock and he was awake, alive, and ready to go.

Today? Was going to rock. And he said it, to everyone, including his poor, impressionable niece.

Lionel was watching with unfettered joy as his lover was welcoming the world this morning. His own thoughts were much along the same line, but he wasn't as outwardly ebullient as his lover.

He was, quite currently, sitting with newspaper and the second cup of coffee, a Danish currently being consumed by his sleepy eyed nephew in his lap. His little silver glasses were on his face, he was whistling quietly, and Shaney was eating the Danish like it were the best treat ever. CNN was on for the first time in months, and it had amused him to see how much he and his lover were on the news. He peered over the newspaper at him, motioned towards the fruit he expected Lionel to eat, rose a brow, and continued to read the financial section.

Oh yeah. Sticky? SHANE? oh yeah. The furry babies were sitting on his unca's shoe, but Shaney didn't care, cause he had THE SWEET! It was so... gushy and nummy and ohhhhhhh. Heeeaaavveen!

Samson nosed the sticky treat that Shane had in his hand. "BAWR!" He wanted some!!! He stuck his head over Shaney's knee and sniffed, trying to lick.

Artie? Was smart. Just waiting for the Big Thing to drop it. Sooner or later, he would. And Artie was happy to wait.

Lionel sat down across from his lover, and looked at the fruit plate. "Good morning, little cricket."

"Good morning, husband! Isn't it a beautiful day? Its muggy, sticky, and hot. I love it." A big beam. He'd even worn a suit. And tie. The jacket was currently hanging over the chair beside him, and Cleo was sitting on one socked foot cozily. "Did you sleep well?"

"I think we're going to have to have a baby every day, if that's what has you in this good mood." He poured himself a cup of coffee, and picked up the front page of the Smallville Ledger. "Did you see? We managed to make the front page. And not with our opening."

"I know. You look quite smashing. Does it look like we've both got woodies, though? I think I did at that time." he tipped his head to look. "Diane Sawyer, that nosy assed bitch. Today, ten thirty, and then she's out of our fucking hair. Damp trampy bint."

Lionel sighed, and folded the paper up, throwing it across the table. "Have you seen Clark or Lex about yet? Clark has school, I know, but I'd like him to be in on this discussion."

"I think they're both still asleep, or just getting up, as it is..." A look to his watch. "Just now hitting seven." He smiled at him and shifted Shaney in his lap as the little baby reached for Lionel, and he offered the tyke to his husband with a smile.

"Iynol! Meek!" DUH. Shaney held up his cup, and stared at his uncle. Come on. Say something about the cool new sippy cup with Finding Nemo on it, unca iynol.

"You have a new cup, don't you, young man." He held out his hands as Shane "uh'd" loudly for him, and he cuddled the toddler on his lap. "And who would this orange fellow be? Would this be Nemo?"

"Eeeeeemo!!!" Elmo?!!?!??! WHERE?! Shaney gaped at his uncle and turned to stare at the floor, looking for Elmo. Didn't. Find. It. Such a TEASE. He glared at his uncle, and showed him his cup again. "Ishy!"

Lionel caught on quick. "Fishy! Yes, I see! And a beautiful fishy he is too, isn't he?"

"ISSHYY!" YES! Shane just positively beamed at him. He'd recently discovered that yes, the sounds the big people make actually mean something. Sure, he had no idea what the heck they were saying half the time, but he did know... chicken. Juice. Milk. Pamper. Fishy. Cup. Iynol. Daddy. Toeny. Butt. And "Fuck!"

Dominic jumped, sloshed his coffee on the table, and stared at his nephew.

Lionel nearly dropped the boy when he belted that one out. "Shane Senatori, I do NOT expect to hear you use that tone again!" He took Shane's hand in his and lightly tapped his wrist.

He just... stared at his unca. Had he... just... popped his hand?! Oh my GOD! He burst into tears, letting out a loud wail, and squirmed away. No WAY was his unca gonna pop him, and oh my God, what had he said that was SO BAD?!

Lionel picked Shane up, as he was squirming away, and cuddled him close. "Hush now, my little gentleman. We merely do not use that word, at all, in front of anyone, do you understand me?" He rubbed the little boy's back with a large hand as he cradled him close.

"Fuuugggcckk?" He asked it on a sob, letting out another big cry even as he grasped his bestest friend and hugged him hard.

Dominic was carefully trying not to crack up. Not really succeeding, but damned if he wasn't trying.

Lionel popped Shane's wrist again, even as he held him close. "Shane, no more of that word, now."

Another hard, LOUD sob, coupled with more squirming. What had he SAID??? Holy CRAP! Enough with the popping, you big butthead!!!

Lionel cradled Shane close to his shoulder, rubbing him as he cried. "Shane, my darling little man, please don't cry. I am sorry, but that's simply a word I can't let you use."

Oh man. Oh. Man. His bestest friend hated him, it was official. Oh man. Oh, man, and he cried. So MUCH! He just sobbed against his bestest unca's shoulder, wailing on top on his lungs.

Dominic just sat there, staring at them a moment as he smoothed his tie and rolled his eyes, taking another drink of his coffee that he hid his smile behind. "He's quite angry at you, and ashamed. Look, see the way he won't let go?" A soft chuckle.

Lionel was completely devastated. "Shane, my little gentleman, please. None of that now. None of that; you are a handsome man, and you are my still my favorite little man. You simply cannot talk that way." He rubbed Shane's back, cradled his head with one large hand, rubbed his cheek against Shane's.

The sobs died down, and he gave big, melodramatic snuffles. Yeah. you better feel bad, Bestest Unca Friend, because you are SO going to be paying for this one for EVER! He wanted new toys! And... something else! YES!

Dominic chortled behind his coffee, finishing it and holding the newspaper, as he tipped his head towards his lover and linked his fingers together over it as he leaned over. "Playing. You. For. A. Sucker." His little Jiminy Cricket cuff links twinkled in the morning sun, his smile easy and big, and his eyes rolled as he climbed to his feet, pushing the beautiful chair back as he grasped his coat. "Lets go find Lex and get going, ducks. We've a long day ahead of us."

Lionel pushed up to his feet as well, keeping Shane tucked against his shoulder. No way he was going to surrender the little boy now. "All right; they should be awake, if we are lucky, and coming downstairs any moment now."

Another chuckle and Dominic grasped his arm gently, reaching up to give one hairy cheek a kiss, rubbed Shaney's head, and motioned for Lionel to lead the way.

Lionel hefted Shane against his shoulder, stepped over little puppies carefully as they tried to bite his shoes, and he started for the staircase. "Lex? Clark? Are either of you awake?" he called out as he climbed.

Deep. Deep. Groan. A mussed bed head rose from a burrow of pillows... a bare foot peaked out from beneath thick, cozy blankets. Groan. Dammit. Already time for fucking school? Gummy eyes cracked open to peer blearily about... red clock said 7:02. ..The fuck?

"'ex. ....'ex." Clark prodded at the lump beside him, another groan coming from his lips as he sat up. They had had a very... long night, and he stretched his back and grunted deeply as he blinked and rubbed his face.

A pair of bare Lex feet kicked out at whatever was prodding him, and his head didn't stir from under the blankets.

Lionel rolled his eyes as he heard the grunts. "I don't believe they're awake yet."

So Clark did the next best thing, he plopped over his boyfriend back to Lex's back, and stayed there.

Arriving at the bedroom door, Lionel pounded on it with a fist. "Alexander!!! Clark!!! Do be so kind enough as to grace us with your presence!" he bellowed.

The crown of a bald head poked out. Exhausted, cranky, and missing Bruce already, Lex snarled. "Fuck off and die, Dad!"

If Clark hadn't been so tired, he would have cracked up. Instead he climbed from the bed with a grunt and tugged on a pair of pajama bottoms in common decency, and pulled his fingers through his hair as he gave a huge yawn. "Comin'." he muttered, and opened the bedroom door, glaring at Lionel with the venom of an exhausted man. "...Stop."

"Good morning, Clark. May we come in?" Lionel's smile was polite, but his foot was tapping on the floor.

"NO!" Lex yelled from the bed.

"Uhn." Clark let the door hang open, pushed a used condom under the bed, and climbed back under the blankets and sheets, letting his eyes close.

Lionel took that as a yes to come in, and he carefully picked his way into the bedroom, and sat down in one of the chairs in the corner, still cradling Shaney. "Diane Sawyer is going to out the two of you this afternoon."

Lex sat straight up in bed at that. "What?"

In Lex's fast thump upwards he hit Clarks nose, and he grunted and pinched his hip as he curled back into his pillow.

"Ow." Lex didn't even cater to his lover's injured face. "What did you say, Dad?"

Lionel rubbed Shane's head gently. "Now that I have your attention... Ms. Sawyer's been talking to Clark's father. Apparently, she's interested in Clark, and I'm quite sure I don't need to tell you what kind of uproar this could cause."

"No, you don't." Lex swore softly. "Fucking hell-bitch."

"Maybe we can cut her into tiny pieces and put her in my space ship and send her to the moon." Clark paused, as he looked up at Dominic's raised brow. "That was possibly too Charles Manson."

"Just a tad." Dominic smirked it, before turning his attention on Lex. "Its going to be up to the both of you to decide what to do, love."

"I'll vote for Clark's solution," Lex said with more than half a growl. He threw his blankets aside and strode to the closet, jerking out a pair of black slacks and a pale purple shirt, uncaring that he was stark ass naked. "We can't flat out deny it; it's too well known that Clark and I are together. Fucking whore. Two seconds of looking at us will give away the fact that we sleep together. Did I call her a whore yet? I don't want Clark dragged through the mud and into the spotlight on this."

"Lookit me, I had an idea and a rant about me. Its good, for seven in the morning." Muffled into a pillow.

Dominic could have lived the rest of his life without seeing his step son buck ass naked. ...Again. "You could just reply with the "no comment"...or let her believe whatever she wants, without giving her a straight answer."

"It's very good. Clark, call your mother and tell her I'm going to be coming over in about an hour and a half to talk to her, after your father's started working for the day. Dominic, you and I both know that no comment just makes people want to dig further to find out what you're not commenting about. And if she's going to dig about Clark, that could be dangerous. Fucking bitch."

Dominic stopped speaking, in that moment. Didn't hear anything after Lex spoke his name, because his attention was... uh. Riveted. To the large silver space ship sitting like a hulking, yet sleek, piece of machinery that took up a corner of his step sons room.

He blinked at it, uncomprehending for a long moment. Huh. Couldn't quite wrap his mind around the fact that a space ship, even a small one such as this, was sitting on expensive carpet, with the suns light glinting off the metal like a shiny new toy. He... wow. Just stared.

For the first time, Clarks true alien-ness came apparent, but it didn't cause fear to stir in his heart. No, it was more like wonder. And, you know, couldn't stop the words from escaping his lips as he gazed at the miniature pod. "Awee! You were so little!"

Lex just blinked. "Dom?"

Lionel had noticed the ship about the same time Dominic had, and he gave his lover a smile. "Amazing, isn't it?"

"Christ, yes." He kept staring at it, though didn't dare go near and touch it, for fear or Clark, or Lex, getting offended. "Its... wow. Alright. I feel like I'm just about nine, staring at the sky above my house. I swear, out there in the backwaters of Ireland you see the strangest thing, but Meggie and I were always UFO buffs. The fact that one's going to be my son in law someday is just..." A dorky grin covered his face before he could tug it away, and he blinked, coughing and clearing his throat. "Anyway."

Alright, Clark wasn't sleepy enough for that, and he grinned, chuckling softly at his aushna's parents. "Its okay, you can see it. Its made of a material that's impenetrable by anything, not even my own hands. My father, a computerized hologram anyway, resides inside the data banks."

"Your... father?" Lionel perked up, and handed Shane to Dominic. "How does he? What... Clark, do you realize how incredible that is?" Didn't realize how much he sounded like his son. "There's so many things we could learn from this man, and not just about you. But about everything. I'd like to meet him."

"Dad... Christ. focus? Please?"

Dominic easily settled the little baby on his hip, and managed to look truly natural in it, cradling him with one arm, as he crouched and ran his fingers over the metal. Silky, like polished glass, and grainy at the same time... strange. And warm. That's what shocked him most, that the ship was warm, and he could hear the faint rumblings of machinery inside as he stared. Oh boy. WOO! He looked up at his lover and took his hand, setting their intertwined fingers on the lip of one of the eaves of the ship.

Clark smiled at his lover, nuzzled his face, and let his feet drop off the side of the bed as he watched both men and the little boy. "If you'd like to, sir, you can. Give Lex and I a moment to clean up and make ourselves presentable."

"Oh, yes, Clark. I would like to, very much." Lionel stroked over the curved prow of the ship, the rounded top of the hull. "And don't call me sir." His attention was wholly diverted on the ship. "This is... extraordinary."

"Kid. Christmas. Christ, look, here, at these carvings. Like a language, look. Christ its beautiful. This entire... thing. Christ. I've said Christ too many times."

"You did. Give us a minute, drool to your hearts content." Clark reached out and plunked Shane from Dominic's arm, cuddling the infant to his own chest despite the stickiness all over the little baby, and motioned for Lex to follow him into the bathroom. Important things to discuss, while Lionel and Dominic were drooling over his little baby space pod.

"That is a language, I'd imagine. Probably Clark's." Didn't even notice that Clark and Lex had left the room.

Lex followed Clark into the bathroom, clothes over his arm, and he reached out, taking the baby from Clark. "Here, let me have him."

Clark carefully handed over the sticky little tyke, and plopped down on the closed toilet seat, looking at his lover with seriousness clouded in his eyes. "Lex, you don't like this. I don't like it either, baby, but what else can we tell Sawyer? No, we're not having blasphemous man sex? She'll se through us in just about ten seconds."

Lex cradled the boy against him as he looked at Clark, setting Shane on the sink and wetting a washcloth. "I hate it, Clark. But... let me talk to your mother. There... may be something I can do, but I don't want to say anything until I talk to her."

He nodded, sighing quietly as he rubbed a hand over his face as he leaned an elbow on one thigh. Crap. things were going from bad to worse in an extreme manner. "Go talk to her. Today. I've got school in an hour, but promise me you'll call me during lunch hour. I'll bring that cell phone you bought me."

"I'll call you. I give you my word on that." Lex started scrubbing the sticky baby face clean. "I don't know if what I have in mind will work, Clark. We need a backup plan."

Shaney cheerfully ate the towel, happily chewing on it with his brand new teefies and squealing as he clapped his hands.

"Tell me, and I'm there, aushna'." he said it, quietly, as he climbed up to his feet and easily stripped, before climbing into the shower. He turned the water faucet on and ducked under the spray, still speaking to his aushna' as he did. "What do you have in mind?"

Lex carefully extracted the terrycloth from Shane's mouth. "My father's not going to like this." He started wiping, listening to the shower. "I'm going to step down from LexCorp and LuthorCorp. Pull myself completely out of the public eye."

"WHAT?!" The proclamation thundered out from the shower, followed be coughs and sputtering, and he threw open the door and glared. "NO!"

"Well, a screamed "no" is quite the deviance." Dominic replied mildly to his lover.

"Mmmm," Lionel said absently.

Lex cuddled Shane, who had been startled by Clark's yell. "Sssh... it's okay." He went to work scrubbing the sticky hands next, and looked up at Clark in the mirror. "Yes, Clark. It's the only way. If I put that information out, then it'll overshadow any other news, at least for about a week or so, which will give me enough time to figure out what the hell else I'm going to do."

"Lex, no." Clark's heart began to flutter in his heart. "No. You can't… no."

"I can, Clark. And I will, if that's what it takes to protect you." He stopped cleaning Shane for a minute, and turned around to look at his lover. "Don't you understand? Nothing matters to me like you. I'll give up anything I have to as long as it means I can protect you."

"I don't...want you to give up what you love because of me!" He was horrified to find his words catching, breathy with panic. "You can't change your life for me. You... can't do that, Lex. What you do is who you are, you can't."

"I can change my life for you, Clark. I can. And I will." He gave Clark a soft smile. "What I do isn't who I am anymore. Who I am is just... Lex. Oakenep-El, who belongs to Kal."

His heart pattered lightly in his chest in horror and fear, because no one had ever given their lives so entirely. "B... but. What will you do?"

Lex smiled softly. "I've got three doctorates to finish, Clark, and a lifetime of research to keep me occupied. I think I could find something to do."

"But… won't… won't you starve?" He was near tears, as he stood there in the shower, gulping hard as the showers water ran down in rivulets from his drying skin.

Lex put Shane down on the floor, and went over to his lover. He wrapped bare arms around Clark's waist and tugged him out of the shower. "Clark, my father is a multi-billionaire. I am a multi-millionaire. I could live off the dividends from LuthorCorp stock for the next fifty years of my existence and not lose my lifestyle."

"But... but we're going to live for the forever kind. We-we'll starve, and end up living at Grand Central Station, and we'll smell like STREET people! And you won't have hair, so people will know!"

"Clark!" Lex thundered it. "We are not going to starve. When my father passes away, in the next thirty years, whether I want it or not, LuthorCorp will be passing to me and my sister. We will also be splitting close to fifty billion dollars in real estate and assets. We will not starve."

He jumped, his short locks bouncing lightly on his head, and his chin trembled even as he gulped back to hard sobs that wanted to erupt from him. "Sorry. I... I don't want us or our kids to die of starvation."

"They won't. I promise you, Clark. I won't let anything happen to you or our family."

He was still twitchy, though, but as the fierce human instincts died down....an even more fierce, beautiful sensation he knew as pride and love enveloped him, as he slid his arms around his lover and held him close. "You're willing to... give up everything, for me."

"Yes, I am." Lex tightened his grip on Clark's waist. "I'm willing to give up anything I have to for you."

"I. Love. You." Clark said it, fiercely, as he brought their lips together, kissing him hard and bruising as Shaney squealed and clapped from the floor. It shocked him, and he looked down at his soon to be little cousin, and laughed at him as the baby beamed at them.

Kisses rocked. Kisses with the big bald Not-Best-Friend and the hairy guy rocked. Kisses between Toeny and his daddy rocked even more. Where were they, anyway? No matter, cause he wanted to go see his bestest friend again, and he made a loud "UH!"

Lex returned the kiss just as hard and just as fervently, his hands gripping Clark's shoulders tightly. "You have to be with me on this, because Dad's going to hate it," he said quietly, and he picked up Shane from the floor, answering the UH! with the required chauffeur service. "And, we need to get dressed."

"You stink. Shower, I'll get Shane." Clark pressed his lips softly to his lover's face, throat, lips, and whispered, "I hated your line of work." Before he snatched the squealing little tyke and set him on the floor, so he could tug on the jeans Lex had grabbed for him.

Lex laughed softly. "I know you do, Clark." Then he paused, right inside the shower. "Clark? If I talk to your mother, and find out my first plan works... would you rather I still gave up my line of work?"

"No." he shook his head. "I hate it, but no. No, baby. You hate my job, I hate yours, we have each other. I wouldn't ever want you to give that joy up, baby."

Lex just nodded. "Go ahead and tell Dad that we've got a plan of action and I'll fill him in when I get out of the shower. And let him meet your father." He stuck his head back in the shower, with quite a lot on his mind.

Lionel's fingers were stroking almost worshipfully over the ship as he couldn't pull his eyes away from it. "Unbelievable."

Clark nodded, quietly, fingers stroking the glass softly, and after a moment, Shaney on his hip, he wrote in the fog of the hot water, on the glass shower, backwards to himself but correct to his lover, I love you, aushna'. A smile, a kiss on the fog too, and he took Shaney and opened the bathroom door.

And barely, barely kept from cracking up as he heard Lionel's words. "Unbelievable is right. Who knew I ever fit in that tiny thing?"

Dominic had died and gone right on to geeky heaven. He was staring at the ship like it was the missing episode of Buffy from the third season that he'd never seen because he missed the summer showing, just worshipping it with his fingers and just barely keeping back the very masculine squeals of delight.

Lionel looked back over his shoulder at Clark. "It's amazing, Clark. This ship, this mechanism... it's unbelievable. The metallic composition, the shape, the feel of it, even this." Lionel pushed his sleeve back, and the hairs on his arm were standing on end. "This comes from just touching it, from the energy that's being held in there. This... Clark, there are four or five lifetimes' worth of information in here."

"Of course there is." He said it with a smile, as he set Shaney down on the floor and went to the nightstand. His new leather wallet, the old carefully tucked into it, sat beside his new watch, and he took the disk and key from the new leather carefully. They opened in his hands, careful of his fingers as they snapped and sealed closed, and he walked back towards the two men, settling back on the floor. "This is the ships key." He handed it to his aushna's father, and trusted him with his entire heart. "this is its heart, the brain to this body." The tablet, shiny, indestructible, solid in his hand. "They fold down to the size of quarters, and can open just by my will."

"Amazing." Lionel held the key up to the light. "I knew Lex had this, but I had no idea what it is. I had considered taking it, but now, I am glad I didn't." He rotated it in his long fingers, examining the inscriptions on the disc that matched the ones on the ship. "Dominic, look. Here, here, and there. The engravings match, down to the detail and the depths."

"It says Kal-El, which is my real name, and Jor-El, which is the name of my birth parent, and my father." Clark explained quietly, as he set the disk into the hole, and watched the ship begin to whir to life. it looked enormous, shiny in the light of the bedroom he shared with Lex, and he stared at it with a new joy and happiness as it began to float, and open. "And before you ask, yes, I can read it. Its called Kryptonian."

The blood had drained from Dominic's face, his eyes enormous in his head. "Beam me up, Scotty."

Lionel's mouth had fallen open, and he shielded his eyes from the bright light as the pod started to open. He could feel the rush of wind, of air displacement as the metal slid back out to open the cockpit, and he looked under his elbow as the ship was alive and shifting. "Magnificent."

"Ughumphgh." Dominic muttered it, grasping Lionel's arm tightly as he kept his tie back...and peered into the ship itself. The soft, tiny bed, with the indents of a child, was made with gelatin like goo, and he stared at it for a long moment before looking up at Clark. "Oh, wow."

"Pretty much. Watch out, guys." He waited until they'd moved back enough for him to press the computer in, and he settled back, always sitting on his butt, always a little lower than his father to show the proper respect. Shaney, who was chewing on a sock, had crawled into his lap, and he held the little baby close.

As soon as the computer was slipped into the proper spot, Jor-El materialized there in front of them. He was standing, and he turned for a moment to take in his new surroundings. "You said that you would be moving me, Kal. I didn't expect to be moved into your bedroom." A blink, and he saw Clark holding a child. "My son, you were made to be a father." Another incremental turn, and he sat down in front of his son. "You have decided to introduce Kenep's parents to his father in law?"

Dear God. Fully interactive hologram that could see, move, and react with the intelligence of a human being. Lionel had no words. He was frozen in place, shocked, awed, amazed. He couldn't formulate words, only computations that flew through his brain in seconds, realizing in moments that Clark's people must have been far more advanced than he'd ever dreamed.

This. Is so. COOL. Dominic barely kept from shrieking. Barely. Wasn't even sure if he'd spoken, as his mouth dropped.

Clark let out a hardy laugh. "Sorry, father. We'll be moving you into Kenep's private study, connecting to our bedroom, soon enough, where you'll have access to all the books in his library on human evolution and growth. Much has changed in twenty years, father." But he was smiling. "This is my cousin, Shane. And this is Andes-El and Tukon-El." He pointed to Dominic and Lionel. "Tukon is Kenep's real father, Andes is by marriage."

Shaney gave the cool guy with the funny Bestest Friend hair face a big, huge, charming, toothless beam.

Jor-El gave the child a smile in return. "Hello, Shane, the cousin of Kal-El. You will grow into a fine man if you will only heed his words." Then Jor-El turned his attention to the other men in the room, and he rose to his feet. He went to Lionel first, hand raised to his heart, and then lowered diagonally to rest, palm up, as though supporting an invisible tray. "Greetings to you, Lionel Luthor." He turned to Dominic. "And to you, Dominic Luthor." He gave a small smile to the shocked men in front of him. "The translation works both ways, you realize." Intelligence met intelligence on equal ground, and Jor-El turned back to Lionel. "You have raised a strong son, Tukon-El."

Shock. Absolute shock, and he mimicked the greeting out of habit, politeness long ingrained in him. "He is stronger than I've guessed," is all that Lionel was able to formulate. "He is my son."

"You should be proud of him." Jor-El turned to Dominic, and made the same motion of greeting. A blink, and he flickered out for a moment, before turning back to Clark. "There is great sorrow in this one, my son, but great joy. Listen to him; he will be a valuable guide to you as you grow older. His wisdom will surprise you."

Dominic's green eyes were the size of saucers, and he swallowed, hard, as he looked at the man. "I... there is no wisdom in me, sir. It is Lionel who is wise, and a good father. Lex... eh… Kenep, as you said, is an extremely good person. A good boy. You... never have anything to worry about, from him, with your son." Holy crap.

Clarks eyes danced as he nodded at his father, staying seated right where he was. "I think they're taking a little while to absorb this, father." He rose to his feet, the little babe on his hip, as he reached out the other hand and squeezed. "Sit. Talk with us, father. I have to go soon, to go to school, but I'll talk with you for as long as I can."

Shaney? In. Love. He squealed and reached out to the man, whining when Clark wouldn't let go of him, and reached out to him. Much investigating here to do. The hair on the face, the whole bestest friend/daddy aura. Oh yeah.

Jor-El just nodded at Dominic, and raised a forefinger. Without a word, he drew a little oval on the other man's forehead, and then a straight line through it. "You have no faith in yourself, Andes. You will learn. You have more wisdom to impart to my son than you know." He turned from the other men as Clark's hand touched his. "School." A pause as he flickered and accessed knowledge banks. "Ah, yes. Perhaps they'll allow you to be late with a note from your father?" A mild joke. He noticed the boy reaching out for him, and drew in enough material from the air to solidify his hands and touch the little hands reaching out for him.

Dominic had been shocked when he'd felt a fingertip, as real as Lionel's were on his skin, touch him. The symbol, as it heated his skin, was, he knew at the base of his heart, his name in Clarks language from... wherever they were from, and he was speechless, silent, and in shock.

Shane squealed, giggled, and happily let the bigger Not-Bestest-Friend-But-Kinda-Like-Him touch his hands, clapping in joy as he wriggled in the Big Hairy's arms.

"My earth father would have a fit." Clark grinned it, though, and touched his fathers hand, as well. "Father? Will you tell Tukon and Andes of our home?"

"Yes, please. Mr--"

"Please. Call me Jor." Jor-El smiled as he clapped in return, matching the patterns of Shane's hands with his own as he turned his attention to Lionel. "Which do you prefer, Tukon or Lionel?"

Lionel blinked, and backed into the closest chair. "Lionel, please. And yes, I echo Clark's plea to tell us of your world."

Jor-El nodded. "I can do so. What would you like to know?"

"They have been curious for a very long time, father." Clark spoke, quietly. "Sate their curiosities. they are good men."

Shane? So in love. So much so that he crawled out of Clarks lap... and into the big hairy man's.

Jor-El quickly made the rest of himself solid, which was a rather large drain on the ship's power source, but negligible in the long run. He cradled the little boy close to him as he spoke. "You, Lionel, would be most venerated in our world. You would, likely, be on the Council, as the head or ruling head of your family. Your intelligence is known to me through Kal and Kenep; you would be honored above many others. And you, Andes--or do you prefer Dominic?--you too, would be honored, for the wisdom you carry inside. You would be la'tiach, honored teacher."

His throat bobbed. Couldn't say much of anything except for... yeah, the hard swallow. "I... thank you. Sir."

"Yes, father." Clark nodded it, envisioning it in his head as he stroked Shane's head gently as he cuddled in his fathers lap, and gazed at Lionel and Dominic quietly. "They both would be very revered, for their intelligence and strength, their kindness and compassion. Here, they are... they are not held in the same capacity. Earth is a beautiful place, but deeply flawed."

"I am sorry, Kal. I knew the world we sent you to was flawed, but I didn't realize how deeply. But that is why you are here; you will make a difference in their world when you are ready; your future is a blank page, my son. It is up to you to write your destiny on it." He turned to the other men as the baby was cradled in his lap. "Andes, you do not thank honesty for merely speaking what is the truth."

Lionel swallowed hard. "You... Jor, how do you know these things about us?"

"Because when the ship was first opened, and I first saw Kal-El, my circuitry was programmed to do a mental sweep of him and to accumulate his knowledge into my memory banks. I have done so. I could do the same to you all, but I have chosen to respect your privacy. Kenep is the only other I know, as his mind is directly linked to Kal's. Their knowledge is now mine, and through them, I know you."

"Cool." Dominic whispered, even as his fingers viced on Lionel's. Okay. He was a smidgen more comfortable with the guy coming from the ship here, and he relaxed just... a little. "Are you... really Clark... Kel... Kal... Clark's father? How are you in his ship? Where do you come from? Why did you send Clark away?"

"I am Kal-El's biological father. I am also his birth father." His face grew serious. "As I know you realize, the males of my world are just as capable of giving birth as our females are. I gave birth to Kal, and to his twin brother, Kon. Kon died of the same causes Mar did; I mourned in much the same way as Kal has; the image you see of me now is not how I looked before; my hair was much longer, and my facial hair much more developed." A slight pause. "I am the knowledge, the feelings, and the experiences of Jor-El, programmed into the artificial intelligence matrix of this ship. We come from a planet called Krypton. It is a very distant planet that was destroyed by seismic upheaval nearly twenty of your years ago. Lara--my spouse--and I built this ship with our own hands and resources, because we knew of Krypton's oncoming destruction. But the Council would not believe us; the fear that caused the Isolation also caused the scientific community to be almost universally doubted on our world. Lara and I could not leave, for fear of causing an insurrection which would have only hastened our world's destruction. Rather than to see our child die, we sent him away, knowing that we would never see him again, nor know how he survived. As the ship departed, however, the functional telemetry showed Krypton beginning to collapse even as Kal was taken to safety. He is the last survivor of our world. Jor-El placed himself in the matrix with Kal, so that his son might never be alone."

Dominic had tears shining in his eyes. He listened, silently, the anguish and pain of having to send your infant son away, and he squeezed Lionel's hand tightly as his throat bobbed. "You must have loved him very much, Jor." the name rolled strangely off his tongue, coupled with his accent, making the o and r sound deeper than they were said in normal English. "I'm so sorry for the pain you've gone through. How sad you must have been." He knew, just by looking at the man--the hologram--that he felt, he hurt, he overjoyed. "I'm so sorry for your losses."

Jor-El put his hand on Clark's arm, even as he cradled Shane. "I am the one who should be apologizing to all the denizens of your town. I had no idea that the remnants of my planet's destruction would cause so much destruction and anguish here, in the hoped-for safe sanctuary I had sent my son." He turned to Clark. "My apologies to you as well, Kal. That is guilt that you should not have had to bear."

"The meteorites!" Lionel suddenly exclaimed, breaking his silence. "The meteorites! The meteorites are what's left of your planet!!"

"The meteorites." Clark affirmed, quietly. "Kryptonite. It has dangerous properties, which can hurt, and even kill, me. So far, Lex and I have found two kinds. The green, which saps me of my strength, and the red, which turns me into a sex crazed nut job, begging pardon for my language."

"There will be many different kinds, Kal. Stay away from any that is colored gold. That will sap you of your powers, forever. Your path through the galaxy was charted by the ship, and you--along with the debris of Krypton--passed through many different radioactive gas clouds. It is the properties of the clouds that changed the properties of the Kryptonite."

Lionel's head shot up. "You can calculate the trajectory? You have the coordinates for Krypton's location?"

Jor-El nodded. "Of course."

"Do you realize what this means? This could revolutionize astronomy. If we could track the meteorites back to their source, prove there was a planet there--"

"Lionel, calm yourself," Jor-El said quietly. "The sun that supported Krypton has long since burnt out. There is nothing left to show for the existence of our civilization, save for my son."

"And you, father." Clark murmured it, quietly. "Though I should say, I'm way more handsome." At that a little grin lifted hips lips and curved them, eyebrows wriggling. "Lionel, theirs nothing left but me, some glowing green rocks, and my ship." He had not even come close to grips with that, and the loneliness crashed into his heart like always, slipping his smile away.

"Clark, you say that as if its a tragedy. You are the sole surviving member of a species, darling, you will pass on what your people were. There's a great honor in that, a great responsibility."

Lex came out of the bathroom in time to hear that, fully dressed, and he sat on the floor beside Clark, picking his way carefully over Jor-El. "Good morning, Jor-El." He settled beside his aushna', feeling the loneliness. "You are not alone, Clark, as long as you have me."

"And me, my son."

Lionel blinked. "Clark, you will never be alone. We are your family now; we will care for you. Jor-El... this is unbelievable. It's such a shock to meet you. I didn't think--didn't know."

"And how hard it must be for you to admit that, Lionel Luthor. That there is something you did not know and could not fathom."

Clark's smile was bitterly sad and completely happy at the same time, as his arm came around Lex's waist and held him close. "I'm glad you're here with us, father. I'm so glad you could meet Kenep's family. Only the four of us... five," He motioned at Shane, snoring in his father's lap with a handful of shirt in one chubby hand. "Will know you're with us."

Jor-El smiled. "And it is almost time for you to go to school, is it not?" He smiled. "I was glad to meet you, Lionel Luthor and Dominic Luthor." He turned his gaze to Dominic. "Remember what I have said to you this day. I do not know when we will meet again."

Lex curled around Clark's side and rested his cheek on his shoulder. "I love you, Clark," he said softly, hand resting on his aushna's heart.

Dominic's throat bobbed hard, and he nodded at the man tightly... before offering his hand. "It was an honor to meet you, sir."

"I love you, Lex." Clark murmured it, gently, kissing his cheek as he rose to his feet. "Class starts in ten minutes. Bye, father." He embraced his father tightly, and kissed his cheek, then to the other men, "I'll be home around 5 tonight. Don't kill each other."

Jor-El embraced his son tightly, and then shook Dominic's hand as it was outstretched to him. "Goodbye, Kal-El. I will be here when you return; wake me up as you need me." He turned then to Dominic. "The honor was mine, Andes-El."

Clark reached down past his father and carefully slid the computer memory free, the little disk folding itself up in a tiny square, and the key a moment later, as the ship closed in on itself. He could almost feel the stare between his shoulder blades coming from his aushna's parents, and he turned to look at them with an innocent expression.

Jor-El's hologram blinked out of existence.

Lionel was staring. "How did you do that? How does it work? Can the hologram be transplanted independent of the ship? There was solidity there. How did he create the solidity?"

Lex reached forward and took Shane from Jor-El as he disappeared.

"I put the keys in, no idea how it works, can't be transplanted that I know of, yes there was, and air particles." Clark responded easily, and kissed two flushed cheeks, one bearded and the other smooth, then turned, gave his lover a kiss, a grin, and he was gone.

A long, long moment of silence as Clark whizzed off. Dominic stared at the ship... stared at his own hand. "That was, by far, the coolest thing ever."

Lionel's questioning gaze turned to Lex instead. "Lex?"

"Jor-El's systems allow him to take substance from the oxygen particles around him, as well as from minute particles in the ship. They give him form, substance, so that he can touch and hold. I don't know the answers to anything else, though I can tell you I'm working on trying to figure out a way to transplant him." He stroked Shaney's head softly, cradling him against his shoulder. "But, forgetting about Jor-El... I need to talk to Martha Kent first, but if what I'm thinking doesn't pan out, Clark and I made a decision--together--about what we're going to do."

Dominic just... stared. Looked at the ship once... oh yeah. Diane Sawyer. Life ruining interview. Slipped his mind completely, for the first time in days, and he wound his fingers through Lionel's and just... coughed, straightened, took another glance at the ship, and cleared his throat. "What is it you're going to do?"

"Neither of you will like it." Lex was quiet for a minute. "I'm going to step down--"

"What?" Lionel's voice wasn't raised--it was deadly calm.

"I'm going to step down from LuthorCorp and LexCorp. Disengage myself totally from the business, so that neither Clark or I are in the spotlight any longer."

"Absolutely not, Lex. I forbid it." Lionel got his feet and stalked towards his seated son. "I have worked my entire life to prepare you for this legacy, and I'll not see you throw it away."

"I'm not throwing it away, Dad." Lex rested his cheek gently on Shane's soft hair. "I'm giving it up. For the good of the company, but more specifically, for the good of Clark and I. He hates my line of work, and if I have to stay out of the public eye to protect him, I'm going to do it."

Dominic carefully took his hand back, and knew better than to speak. This was... an extremely dicey subject, he and Lionel weren't on the good right now anyway, and he looked down at his lap once before back up. Christ, this sucked. Diane had ruined not just his and Lionel's lives, but Lex's as well, simply in the echo of her rampage through his family. It filled him with a very deep, very quiet fury, and he climbed to his feet as well, slipping out of the room.

He had more than a few things to take care of.

Lionel barely noticed Dominic leaving. "Lex, I won't allow it, do you understand me. I have sacrificed everything, in my life, including my relationship with you, to see this future for you come to fruition, and I will not let you walk away from it."

"It's not your decision, Dad, it's mine." He held the little boy tightly in his arms, and closed his eyes, just for a moment pretending it was his own son he held. "It's my decision, and I'm making it. For myself, for Clark, and for the family we're going to have. I'm simply not going to let anyone or anything hurt him, and that's the bottom line."

"I can't believe you're being so absurd as to let this scare you away! This is nothing but--"

"A very dangerous line of investigation," Lex interrupted. "If Clark is with me, in the public eye, then people are going to start digging about him, especially if they find out how old he is. And I'm not going to put Clark, or his secret, at risk, just because you won't open your eyes and see that he is my future."

"Your future is in this family, Lex!"

"Clark is my family, Dad!! Clark is my future! And I'm not going to jeopardize it for you!"

Uht oh. Shaney stared at them and blinked, twice, before whimpering and reaching for his bestest bestest bestest friend.

Dominic heard the last roar from Lex's mouth and he flinched, visibly, closing his eyes tightly as he did it. Unraveling, unraveling, everything was coming undone like a tapestry made of paper. Rainy days came and it began to soak, wither, sag, and the horrible mental image of Lex and Lionel, completely torn apart, had him stopping, and returning to the bedroom. "Stop. Now. Please."

Lionel reached out for Shane as soon as he heard the whimpers. "Clark may be your family, Lex, but so am I! LuthorCorp and LexCorp is what you've been trained all your life for, and throwing away because of this is monumentally incomprehensible!"

Lex surrendered the infant carefully, then shot to his feet and started pacing in agitation. "Clark comes first! I'm going to protect him, Dad. I swore it, to his father, to his mother, to him. I'm going to protect Clark, whatever it takes, and I don't care what you think!" He barely stopped pacing enough to Dominic to come in the door.

"There is another way." He was being completely ignored, as his family unraveled before his eyes, and stared at them quietly for a few, long moments. "I won't let you both do this. You need to stop." His voice was very quiet, as he watched them pace like caged animals. "There has to be another way, there's always another way. Just stop, please."

"There is another way, but I don't know if Martha will agree, and I'm not going to do it without talking to her first."

"Then talk to her. Don't... make these decisions right now, not... not now." The day our baby girl is going to begin to grow. "Please, don't let our family get broken up like this."

Lex's eyes flashed brightly. "Clark is my family, Dominic, just as much as you and Dad are. I'm not going to make any decisions that aren't the best for him. I'm merely telling you both, that if Martha doesn't agree, this is what I've decided to do."

"Martha will agree," Lionel said, stalking towards the bedroom door. "I'll see to it personally."

Dominic held a hand up to his lover and said a hundred things in his single look.

Lionel halted, and glared at Dominic. "Don't stop me from insuring my son's future. You've never been able to before."

"I'm not stopping you." He said it, so softly. "Give him a chance to talk to her, his way, Lionel. Please. Don't let it come between you again, please."

"Fine," Lionel ground out.

"Listen to me. Please, for once in your life, listen to me." Dominic said it quietly, as well, and looked at Lex once before back up at his lover. "Come with me, to work, Lionel."

Lex was standing in the middle of the bedroom, in front of the ship, arms crossed across his chest. He didn't say a word, just glared at his father.

"This is not over, Lex. You and I will talk about this."

Dominic turned away and went back into the hall, waiting for Lionel a moment before he started down the steps once more.

Lionel followed his lover out of the bedroom, caught up with him at the top of the stairs, and followed him down, Shane cradled gently in his arms. "I am not going to let him do this."

"I know you're not." Dominic replied softly, and didn't dare touch him. "But... let him make his choices, Lionel. He's a strong young man, and life's path will take him where its supposed to."

"No, Dominic. I will not let him choose to throw his life away because of this. This, this will fade, but I will not let him make a choice that will completely change his future because of this. Because of Clark. No matter how much he loves that boy, and I do not doubt that he does, I will NOT let him sacrifice who he is to satisfy him!"

He didn't answer that. He just quietly nodded, rubbing his face a little as they went down the steps, and didn't bother to answer that the fact that Lex would even consider throwing it all away meant he truly loved Lex, and would give up his life for him. As much as Dominic loved his lover, he knew Lionel would never do that, not even for him. And the fact that Lionel's progeny would gave him hope for Lex and his soul, and for what he had with Clark.

 

- = -

Lex waited until his father and Dominic were out of the room. Then he sprinted to the phone, dropping down heavily on the side of the bed as he dialed the Kent farm from memory, despite the fact he hadn't called in months. He drummed his fingers restlessly against the table, tucking in the lube and the toys that peeked out of the top drawer, and he was fully ready to slam the phone down if Jonathan answered.

Martha was up to her eyeballs in pies.

She had six cooking, four cooling on the sill in the lovely spring morning breeze, another eight being made, crusts browning, fillings being whipped up and she couldnt have been more in heaven. She had the easy rock station on, Jonathan was out tending to the pigs, and she couldn't have been happier.

Her belly, round and warm, had pained her a bit upon waking today, and she'd made an appointment with her doctor after the pain had persisted. Stress, more than likely, and when the phone rang she thought it a blissful distraction.

She cleaned her flour covered hands on a small towel, then on her apron, palm sliding to the small of her back as she lifted the cordless phone and dropped the temperature on her pies at the same time. "Kent residence, this is Martha."

"Martha, it's Lex. Is Jonathan about?" His fingers were still tapping on the bedside table, a rapid tattoo of his impatience.

"Lex, hello dear." Her tawny brow came up as she set the phone in the crook of her shoulder, fingers going back to mixing pie filling. "No... out tending the farm. Is everything alright?"

"No, it's not. Don't call him; I'm on my way over. I'll be there in about ten minutes. We need to talk about Clark, and I need your help." Lex shot to his feet and picked up his keys, shoving them in his pocket as he started down the steps.

"I--" She blinked at the dead tone in her ear, and sighed, softly. Dear lord. She set the phone back down and began to add vanilla, putting the heat under her pies once more.

Lex brushed past his father and Dominic in the garage, barely missing their rear fender as he slid the silver Ferrari out of the garage and onto the driveway. His high-performance tires left wide black rubber marks on the cement as he peeled out, foot heavy on the gas pedal.

Not ten minutes later, he pulled into the Kent driveway in a cloud of rural dust.

Martha heard the screech, and almost couldn't help a smile. Everything in a twenty two year olds life was life and death, and she chuckled softly as she finished making a vanilla Pepsi float. Hated root beer, and it was barely eight, but some things called for a vanilla Pepsi float. She set them both on the table, minus the ice cream waiting, and set the six pies she'd pulled out of the oven on the window sill, the four that had been sitting there already sitting in the crate waiting to go to the Talon.

Lex slammed the door shut and took the steps two at a time as he knocked on the door. He didn't wait for his welcome, instead pushing it open and nodding at her. "Martha, thank you. I need to talk to you."

"Hello, sweetie." A warm smile at him, as she filled six of the eight pans waiting on her long counter top with pie filling. Two with fresh strawberries in a sweet syrup, buttered pecan in two more, and apples in the last two. She set her bowls aside and began to cover them with the dough waiting, as she motioned. "Have a Pepsi. Would you like some pie?"

"No, thank you." He came right out with it. "Diane Sawyer intends to out Clark and I this afternoon during the interview with my father. Jonathan told my father that she seemed very interested in him, and especially the fact that he was an underage boy not living with his parents."

"Yes, I know. Jonathan told me last night." She said it, calmly. Truth be told, she'd been expecting the visit, and she carefully slid the covered, beautiful pies into the oven, oomphing softly as her belly gave another pulse.

"I don't intend for Clark to be dragged through the mud in this, Martha. I have an idea. But I can't--won't--do it without your help."

Her brow came up as she straightened, rubbing her tummy softly as she shooed him to a stool. Something about his tone...oh boy. "What is it, dear?"

"Clark being underage is the biggest problem that faces us. Anything else we can deal with." Lex went over to the stool, but paced in front of it instead. "You told me once, during Clark's last molting, that he wasn't actually sixteen going on seventeen. He was actually... nineteen, is it?" He paused in front of her. "Let me have Dad alter Clark's birth records to show that."

The question had the levity sliding from her eyes, and she gazed downwards, her fingers clenching softly in her dish rag. "Oh, dear."

"If you don't want to do that, Clark and I decided the next step is for me to remove myself from LuthorCorp and LexCorp entirely. Pull myself completely out of the public eye, and if I do that, then that will overshadow the announcement of my involvement with Clark, at least until I can figure out another step."

"No, Lex. You can't do that, sweetie." her throat bobbed, tightly. Crap. "I... I think Jonathan needs to know about this, and the reasons why it has to be done, Lex."

"I can, if I have to. And I will, to protect Clark." He paused. "No. I don't want Jonathan to be involved. Not unless you can promise me that he won't try and separate Clark and I. I trust you, Martha."

"He won't. He'll understand, sweetie, he himself saw that bitch woman yesterday and how sneaky she was." She climbed from the stool and leaned out the window, where her pies and their lovely aroma was filling her house. "Jonathan!!!"

Jonathan heard his wife calling, and came up from the south side of the farm, and cut through the barn. "Comin', honey!" He frowned when he saw the expensive car sitting in the driveway, and he paused at the well, rinsing his boots off before pulling them off and setting them by the door. "Lex," he said calmly, reaching for the towel and tossing it over his shoulder as he wiped his hands before coming in the house.

Martha, like the good wife she was, already had a clean shirt waiting for her husband, as well as his warm slippers from being out in the cool, yet balmy, weather. She was already pouring him a cup of tea honey waiting for him on the tabletop, and she filled the liquid with warm sugar and honey before handing it to him. "Sit down, sweetie."

Jonathan put on the clean shirt as he came in, sitting down at the table and picking up the cup, inwardly smiling at the cows and cowboys that ringed the base. "What's going on, Martha?"

"We've got a problem, honey, with that Sawyer woman." She made Lex a cup of tea as well, out of habit for Clark, and handed it to him, her own n front of her as she settled into a chair at the table. "She's threatening to out Clark and Lex to the world, sweetie."

Jonathan blinked. "What?"

Lex answered. "You know how she was pressing you for information about Clark. My father's heard the same information, and he told Clark and I about it this morning. Clark's at school, don't worry; he and I decided on a course of action and I promised to call him at lunchtime to let him know what I found out from Mrs. Kent."

"Either we let them change Clarks birth certificate to his proper age, Jonathan, or Lex is going to step out of LexCorp and LuthorCorp both, for Clark." She said it, gently, as her fingers covered her husbands gently, looking at him imploringly. Her husband, for his faults, was a beautiful, good man, and she loved him dearly. She knew at the end he'd make the right choice, and she begged it of him with her eyes as she looked at him.

Jonathan blinked. "You want us to tell the truth about Clark just so you don't have to stop playing Big Money Businessman?"

"Jonathan." Martha wasn't a cursing woman, but inside her head right now, a three tone band with a cursing sailor was dancing.

"No, Mrs. Kent. It's quite all right. I told you he wouldn't understand, and it's a sacrifice I'm willing to make." He got up from the chair he had finally perched in, leaving the tea Martha had made for him untouched.

"Now hold on just a second, Lex." Jonathan stopped him with a hand to the shoulder. "Just hold on here."

Through the timbering band, she heard her husbands voice, and hoped for him that he'd make the right choice, as she wrung her hands tightly. Oh, please do the right thing. Do the right thing. Please, Jonathan, do the right thing by our son.

Lex looked coldly at the hand on his shoulder. "Please take your hand off me, Mr. Kent."

"Lex, shut up and sit down."

Lex blinked. Jonathan had never spoken to him like that before, and it stunned him into silence.

"Thank you, son. Now. Would you let me talk for a second? Changin' Clark's birth date to what it really is is gonna impact a lot more people'n just you and Clark. There's gonna be a lotta problems, includin' with Clark's school and everything else."

Lex shook his head. "Let my father handle it. If it shows up as an error in the adoption paperwork, then there won't be anything suspicious except the timing, and that can be taken into account by backdating the memo and say it was lost in the shuffle of the move."

He'd thought about this. Oh. Oh, good. Martha swallowed, softly. "My one concern is how Clark will take being 19. Its a huge passage of right for him, being 18, and we all sitting here know that as sweet as Clark is, he's still a kid in his mind. My fear will be that he doesn't know what it is to be an almost 20 year old man." She wrung her hands tightly. "Other than that, Lex, I think our white lie can finally air itself."

"Clark... doesn't have to know that it's the truth." Lex said it carefully. "We can tell him that the change applies just to the paperwork, and not to him. Because he'll never believe that he's nineteen. His body says it, but he isn't. If nothing else, we can say it's temporary, until this has blown over, and then change the date back once this situation has settled. It's up to you; I will do what you think is best for Clark."

Crap. The second crap in five minutes. She looked at her husband for what he thought, eyes searching his as she squeezed his work warn hand tenderly in her own, carefully lifting it so that his much bigger fingers linked through her own. "What do you think, Jonathan?"

"I think what I always think, honey. Nobody needs to know about Clark. And if tellin' this is gonna protect the rest of it, then that's what we gotta do."

Oh. Oh, good. He made the right choice. Oh. She squeezed his fingers, tightly in her own, and turned her fierce gaze up at Lex. "No one can know about Clark, Lex, other than those that already do. Hide it, don't let anyone find it. His papers are already falsified... falsify them some more."

"Dad and I will take care of it." Lex pulled out his cell phone, and dialed not his father, but Dominic.

The silence in the car was disconcerting, but the loud sing song chirp of Habanera coming from his cell phone both shocked and dismayed Dominic. He shifted and slid his fingers into the jacket of his suit, sliding the palm pilot out...cursing quietly in a language that wasn't exactly English, and going back in for his cell phone. A glance at the LCD screen set step-son hell-spawn, and he answered it with a flip of it open. "Hello?"

"Dom, it's me. Look, I'm at the Kent farm right now; before you and Dad get to work, call for a helicopter. You and Dad need to chopper into Metropolis and open the UC offices. We need to alter Clark's birth records."

A long, slow breath. "I'm glad, Lex. Very, very glad." Even if they were about to commit a felony, he'd much rather alter a birth certificate than kill the bond Lex and Lionel had begun to share over the past few months. "We'll be right on it, and be back in time for the interview. We're going to be conducting it in Lionel's office. Make sure all the cleaning teams are gone, Ethan Allen has finished the board room, and tell Alfonz Gutereaz," Dominic mangled the Hispanic name pathetically. "To get the handicapped parking signs up, and we'll be finished and ready for the interview."

"The board room is done, but the office isn't. The drop cloths are on the floor, and they'll have to be pulled up. The spackle on the ceiling will still need to dry, but I think you'll be okay to work in there. I'll call Gutierrez as soon as we get off the phone. I'm going to let you talk to Jonathan, and he'll give you the information and the dates."

"FUCK!"

Martha heard the exclamation through Lex's phone, and tried like hell not to laugh, biting her lower lip tightly. "I... pies." Got up, excused herself.

Lex jerked the phone back a half a foot from his ear, and extended it to Jonathan.

"Hell. No. Not talkin' to that sumbitch."

Dominic heard it, and hissed like a cat. "Its son of a bitch, you idiotic backwater hick!"

Lex cleared his throat, and thanked Christ that years of dealing with his father had given him iron self control. "Jonathan?"

"Ain't talkin' to the bastard."

Lex put the phone back to his ear. "Dominic?"

"YOU MOTHER FUCKING ASSWIPE EXCUSE FOR A HUMAN BEING! If you ever call me a bastard again I'll wipe the floor with you for the THIRD time, you little pussy whipped excuse for a man!" Dominic bellowed it, completely immune to his lover sitting right beside him.

"DOMINIC!" Lex thundered. "JONATHAN! Both of you! Shut the fuck up and listen to me for a change! You are GOING to talk to each other in a civilized fashion, because Clark's life is at stake here, and if EITHER of you fuck it up because of your machismo bullshit, then you are NOT going to like the hell you face! Is that understood!!" Shouted, both into the phone and in person.

"I am listening to you. Quite well. I am not talking to that cow fucker sitting, more than likely, right beside you. I am a civilized, genteel man, but do not put me on the phone with him, Lex Luthor, or I swear to all that is holy you will hate me from this day on."

"Dominic. You listen to me, and you listen to me very well. You will talk to Jonathan. And you will do this. Because if you don't? I will make your life a complete, living and breathing hell on this very earth."

"I fucking hate you."

"I'm sure you do, and the feeling is quickly becoming mutual." He shoved the phone towards Jonathan. "You. Talk to him. Behave. Or so help me--"

Jonathan took the phone and held it between two fingers. "What?"

CRAP. He carefully pulled out a pen and paper, and spoke like the calm, rational man he was. "Clark's information. Please." And didn't dare look at his husband, who he knew must have been staring at him like he'd grown a fourth head.

Lionel was actually snickering into his sleeve as he drove.

"Don't remember the policy number," Jonathan gritted out. "Social Security number was 236-88-5763. The date on there's 1987. Should be, 1984. Same day and month. What else you need?"

He wrote it all quickly down, pen cutting a bit too deep into the paper, and if he'd been holding a pencil, it would have snapped. Twice. "Full name, please."

"His is Clark Jerome Kent. I'm Jonathan Hiram Kent, and Martha's Martha Elizabeth Clark."

"Good. Your social securities and birth years were all correctly put on the paperwork, I'd presume." His teeth ground audibly, when he wanted to each through his cell phone and rip his eyeballs out.

"Yeah, they were."

"Anything else I should... know?" Counting in Gaelic, Latin, and Greek.

"Not that I can think of, no. We had to make up a blood type for him, and fake a birth certificate too. That should be all ya need to fix things."

"Destroy the birth certificate you have for him. We'll bring you one in an hour and a half."

"Yessir. Anythin' else we need to do?"

Lionel couldn't stop the snort at that question, and he pulled the phone out of Dominic's hand before he could comment. "Don't ask him that, Jonathan, he'll tell you to drop dead."

"DROP DEAD COW FUCKER!" He bellowed at the phone Lionel snatched from him, and just barely stopped the cry of rage. Instead, crossed his arms across his chest, hunkered down, and glowered.

"Potato-suckin' bastard!" Jonathan yelled back in return, and hung up the phone. "Stupid fucker."

"I HATE THAT MAN!" Dominic cried it, snatching back his phone and bellowing at it, even as it was hung up. "I HATE YOU HICK BOY! GRAAAHHHH!" He ripped the paper he'd written the information on, rolled down the window, and hurled the pad of paper out of it as hard as he could.

No reason. Just pissed.

"And take your fucking pen too!" Not his jiminy pen but an old one, and he chunked it out the window too.

"Dominic, you just threw Clark's information out the window."

"No, I fucking well didn't." he shoved the piece of paper he'd ripped off of the pad into the empty cup holder, and snarled as he crossed his arms. "I hate. That fucking. Man."

"I'm well aware of that." Lionel was trying very, very hard not to laugh at his little pouty cricket.

"YOU! Stop your laughing! Because ten minutes ago you were wallowing in self pity and anger, and you're going to LET ME WALLOW IN MINE!" A grumpy shout, a glare, and the pout just about stuck all the way out from his face.

"But you're entirely amusing me out of it." Lionel turned off the phone, folded it up, and passed it back to his lover. "You're so adorably cute when you're tripping over your lower lip."

"Bite me." Hissed in the direction of his lover, as he jammed his phone back into his coat. "I hate that man and I will damn well tell the world."

"Where would you like the bite?" He sighed. "Dominic, I wish you wouldn't hate Jonathan so. Besides the fact you have me, have my heart and my soul... the man is Clark's father and will be family."

"DO. NOT. TELL. ME! THAT!" Dominic screamed it at him, and smacked his arm, gave it another smack, and a punch. "DO NOT! We will NOT be family, excuse me very much! THAT MAN WILL NEVER BE MY FAMILY! I will fucking bury him under our house and use his eyeballs as potting soil before I EVER consider him family, so do NOT GO THERE!"

"You will, in fact, be his brother-in-law by marriage, once removed."

"No. I don't buy it. NO." He shook his head, and crossed his arms tightly as Lionel turned the car and began to lead them towards the helicopter pad. "And I do believe, NO!"

"His son will be marrying your stepson."

"NO HE WILL NOT! Clark... is... not by... BLOOD... his son! Or... something! LIONEL!" Dominic looked at him desperately. "I've already gone through one family upheaval for the day, please don't make me divorce you so he's not family, please!"

Lionel parked the car at the base of the steps leading up to where the helicopter waited. "Lex is not by blood your son, Dominic... does that make him any less your son?" He slid out of the driver's side of the Bentley, and waited for his lover to meet him at the staircase.

Dominic slid out too, tugging his briefcase with him, as well as his long coat and Lionel's over his arm. "Don't make him my in law, Lionel. Don't. If you want a good day, without your husband flipping out? Don't."

"I see. So, drop dead, cow fucker, is something we say when we're completely normal and sane, yes?" As soon as Dominic met him, Lionel took his own coat and briefcase, and started up the steps. "I don't want you to... flip out, as you say, but it is something you should acquaint yourself with."

"NO. I will not acquaint myself with any such thing, so shut your damn mouth." He glared at him, smacked a kiss from said mouth, and walked ahead of him. The chopper blades were whirling, and he opened the door, holding it open for his lover so he couldn't kosh his brains out on the spinning disks above.

Lionel ducked easily into the chopper, smirking to himself, and belting the safety harness over his shoulder and his lap as he waited for Dominic to join him.

Dominic slid in right beside him, closing the door with a dull thumb, and set his briefcase and coat on the seat across from him, as he began to strap himself in. "I can hear you smirking, Lionel."

"Of course you can," Lionel agreed, not even bothering to hide it. "I'm sure Jonathan's just as unhappy about the prospect as you are."

"God, SHUT UP." Bellowed conveniently over the chopper blades. "SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP! We... are in NO way going to be family! I will not be related to a cow fucker!"

"As I am sure he is less than thrilled about being related to a... what did he call it? Potato sucking bastard? I find you both amusing more than offensive, however."

Oh man, and Dominic just got pissed off all over again, cursing violently and colorfully in Gaelic as he finished strapping on his seat belts and popped a pill for motion sickness, snarling at his lover even as he lay his head back and closed his eyes.

Lionel just smirked, and slid his hand into Dominic's lap as he watched his lover's eyes close, the cup of his hand stroking over the soft mound of cock hidden beneath trousers and underpants.

Oh God.

Dominic's head came up, his eyes blinkblinkblinked open, and he turned to stare at his lover...then down at the hand on his crotch, than back up again, in wonderment...arousal, of course, the slow, easy beginnings of it.

Lionel merely crooked an eyebrow in questioning at his lover as he stroked, the jacket and briefcase on his lap spilling over into Dominic's lap to camouflage his actions from the pilot.

A long, soft breath, and he let his head fall back as the helicopter rose. Not... really paying any attention at all to them coming up in the sunny lit morning sky, the dew on the helicopter from the cool night streaking down the windows, and his Adams apple bobbed quietly as he stared at the ceiling. Lionel... knew how to touch right where it was so good, even when he was tucked away and out of sight, to stroke in the places where it felt... entirely too good, and his body tingled.

Lionel kept his hand cupped carefully over his lover's cock, stroking and massaging the pressure points he knew made his lover gasp and twitch, and his thumb slipped down under the seam to rub against Dominic's balls, tucked tightly against his body.

"Oh, God." Whispered admonition as his head fell back, and his entire body gave a rushing tingle that had his head swimming. His throat bobbed again as his fingers came down to sit on his thigh... and carefully stroke over the mark concealed under his clothing, as Lionel so innocently stroked his cock. Hardening in his pants, the careful tuck that he didn't even think about anymore coming undone, cock hardening and tenting his pants lewdly as goosebumps raced over his skin.

Lionel leaned over and dared a quick lap to his lover's exposed throat as his fingers tightened around the hard shaft that rose up. Quick tug of his fingers eased a zipper down, and quick motions had underwear pushed aside as his cock lay open to the air, hidden still under the flaps of Lionel's coat. He leaned over, looking for all the world as though they were just having a quick discussion, and his fist closed around the shaft, thumb rubbing the head as he pumped.

Dominic's nails dug into his lovers thigh, surging even harder as the cool air caressed his cock like a hand... then a hand did, enclosing it warmly and firmly, and his throat bobbed as enormous, shocked green eyes took his lover in. Lionel was a spontaneous fellow, but he hadn't been spontaneous in some time with the move and their stress, and Dominic swallowed, hard, and didn't know what to do with himself as his husbands hand began to squeeze and pump around him.

Lionel leaned in closer, as though speaking over the chopper blades. Instead, his teeth caught Dominic's ear, tugged the lobe gently before sucking it into his mouth, and rubbing his thumb over the slit. He met shocked eyes with sparkling brown ones of his own, stroking firmly and quickly.

Oh mother of Jesus and God Himself. Dominic couldn't help it, when his fingers came up to cup the side of his lovers head softly, shuddering all over when his ear was bitten, and he had an intense soft spot for his ear, and especially the lobe. His body shuddered all over, his nipples peaked, and his throat bobbed quietly as he closed his eyes and just felt.

Lionel's mouth moved back to his lover's ear, sucking the lobe and nibbling it gently, lapping behind the shell with tender care as the curtain of his hair shielded his exact movements from the pilot.

The strokes to his lover's cock grew faster, and he growled softly into his lover's ear, biting a little harder on the lobe, enough to be felt, and then sucked it soothingly.

Dominic's fingers viced tightly in his lovers thigh, holding on tight as he arched his hips the smallest bit and came. Came silently, jaw clenched as Lionel sucked and bit at his earlobe, and he fought to maintain composure even when he wanted to scream. He looked down, watching with erotic wonder as his come came out of him in jets of soft white, all over his lovers hand and a little on the crotch of his pants. His throat bobbed tightly, eyes closing hard as he fought to keep composure, fought as his entire body tingled, and he finally gave a quiet, soft moan of ecstasy.

Lionel brought the crisply folded handkerchief out of his pocket, and carefully wiped up the drops that had fallen on his lover's pants, and then tucked Dominic away, wiping his hand clean as he sat back up and smiled.

Ughumpgh. His word of choice when he was beyond words, and he just… leaned over and lay his head on his lovers shoulder, not giving a shit if the pilot could see but knowing Lionel did, but right now...yeah. He rested softly, throat bobbing as he closed his eyes, and purred very quietly, and very deeply, in his throat.

Lionel turned and kissed Dominic softly on the temple, and lay his cheek there instead. "Actually," he said softly, as though reading Dominic's mind. "I don't care if they see this. Seeing me jack you off, however, is an entirely different story."

He shuddered. All. Over. His poor cock. Poor, poor, highly pleasured cock. It lay damp against the curls surrounding it, twitching once in a while as it settled down, and his arm came around his lovers, holding it close as he closed his eyes softly. "Than'you." he muttered softly, as they settled in cozily with one another.

"You're quite welcome, Jiminy." A quiet pause. "Do you feel better now?"

"What was wrong with me?" Asked sleepily, slurred slightly with pleasure as he peered up at him.

"You were... slightly cranky, little cricket." He kissed his lover again softly. "But you seem to be feeling better now. I'm glad."

"Ohhh yeah." A blurry little smile, as he kissed back and lay his head back on his shoulder, keeping his eyes closed. "I feel better. Much better. I was worried. And now I'm tired."

"Then sleep, little cricket. We've got another fifteen minutes before we hit Metropolis."

"Only fifteen? Damn." He muttered it, as he pressed his lips to his lovers shoulder… then up, to his jaw, cuddling him closely gently as he lay back down.

"Only fifteen." Lionel let himself be cuddled close, and spread his jacket over his lover's shoulders. "There, my cricket. Sleep. I'll wake you when we get there." He kissed Dominic's cheek again, and stayed still, letting Dominic settle against him.

"How is it that you barely ever get sleepy?" Asked softly, as his fingers found his lovers and wound them tightly together.

"Because I am older and have more experience." He paused. "I also didn't come. And before you rouse yourself, don't. Don't worry."

"Oh." he looked up, a flash of guilt crossing his features before his lover told him not to worry. "Are you sure, beloved? No way did you get hard for my little spectacle. ..Did you?"

"Yes, I did, because I love to watch you," Lionel explained quietly. "But I have also learned the value of waiting for the right time, and now isn't it." He stroked Dominic's hair gently out of his face.

A slow breath out. "I'll make it up to you. I promise. When you least suspect it."

"I'll be waiting eagerly for it." Lionel tugged his coat up back over Dominic's shoulders. "Rest."

"Okey." He let his eyes close, fingers tight on his lovers, and let himself fall into a quiet doze, not quite asleep and not quite awake, where the peace was delicious.

 

-fin-

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