The Memoirs

Lex frowned at his microscope slide. He slid it back under the magnifier, stared at it again, and then performed the test again, on another sample of Chloe's urine.

That couldn't be right.

"Hmmm."

He frowned again, looking from sample to sample, at the identical results.

Chloe had realized, ten seconds after getting on the ice cube of a table, why Clark always yelped whenever Lex made him sit on it. Or so Lex had snickered her way, a half a moment after she'd gotten on it and did the Clark yelping.

This bitch was COLD.

She was wearing a little hospital paper smock and not much else, her toesies bare and wriggling in cold as she squeaked and squirmed.

"Chloe?" Lex didn't look up from the scope. "I'm getting some... unexpected readings here. When's the last time you had sex?"

"Huh?" She looked up, distracted for a minute, squeaked again, but didn't dare sit up. Last time she'd tried that, her ass had been very angry. "With Clark, like, the day before yesterday. You know, Lex, this table is un-natural. Do you have it this cold on purpose?"

"No, no, before that." He waved a hand vaguely towards the thermostat. "Sorry about the temperature; I keep it cool in here for the specimens."

"My specimen is very angry at you at the moment." She muttered it and sat up, her panties doing NOTHING to protect her, and finally hopped down from the table and, holding her little paper gown closed with as much dignity as she could muster, peered over at the things Lex was doing. "Before that?" She thought, a moment. "Sex with me, or sex with someone else?"

"Sex with someone else," Lex pointed out, and moved aside, rubbing his eyes as they started in the eyepiece.

"Oh." She thought for a moment... decided asking if someone else was a dildo was a no-no, and thought back enough to… "Whitney."

Lex nodded. "That would make sense, since what I see here is perfectly normal." His pen tapped against the new white countertops, that had replaced the previous stainless steel ones.

"Is there something wrong?" She tipped her head, as she looked up at Lex with that pensive expression on his face. "Do we have an illness or something? What's wrong?"

"No, no, no illness." Lex sat back and rubbed the back of his neck. "I think this definitely falls into the category of... or something."

She rolled her eyes at him and snagged one of the medium sized towels off a little shelf, stomping back over to the table, spreading it out, and hopping back up onto the warm towel, crossing her legs and her arms and motioned a hand. "I can see you're not finished muttering like the scientist you are. Please, continue."

"Chloe, you're pregnant, if you must know. I was just searching for a less... obvious way to say it."

She opened her mouth to snap back...stopped.

Stared.

And promptly fainted, falling back off the side of the table.

"Chloe!!" Lex sprinted over and caught her before she hit her head, and he lifted her gently back up on the table. He tapped her cheek lightly, and then hunted around for a moment before snapping an ammonia tablet under her nose in lieu of smelling salts.

She gasped, eyes widening in her head. She'd completely drained of all blood, her eyes were huge and glassy, and her pulse was racing as she swallowed hard and whimpered.

"There we are, baby." He left his hand sitting on her head, stroking softly. "Sssh. It's okay. See, this is why I was beating around the bush." The fingertips of his right hand rested over her wrist, feeling her pulse.

She just...oh, God. She didn't know whether to laugh, or cry, and did both, bursting into tears as she laughed and cried at the same time. "I'm… I'm pr-pregnant? Me? Pregnant? Baby, me, Whitney's?"

"That's what it looks like; I'd have to have blood samples from both of you for a paternity test, but there is no alien elements than I can see, so I'm nearly sure that it's not Clark's."

The fact that they were wondering who's it was made her cry all the harder, rolling in on herself and just sobbing, crying for herself and for Lionel and Dominic, worst of all. "W-won't... be able to... their baby, is gonna die, Lex, Lex."

"It won't die, Chloe. It won't." Lex slid his arms around her shoulders. "Sssh. Don't cry. Even if it does, there are five more eggs. I can try again another time, they just have their hearts so set now." He stroked her back and her hair. "You and Whitney are going to make great parents."

She slid her arms around him too, squeezing him tightly, hard, hugging him tightly as she could as she cried all the more.

And Clark looked up, as he was made aware of what was going on. Lex had kept him quietly blocked, and he hadn't known why until now. He smiled, delighted, and the pain built in his heart for the suffering Lionel and Dominic were about to go through, that soon warred all the joy away and left him hollow, aching, and desperately, totally sad.

Lex hugged her tightly, letting Clark in on all the information, all the questions, the circumstances. "Come on, Chloe, don't cry. We're going to find a way to fix this. I'm going to be counting on you today because you don't have school. Can you stay with Dom today? Make sure he doesn't do anything stupid? I'll worry about taking care of Dad."

She nodded, still snuffling hard as she sat up, and rubbed her hands over her face. She was pregnant with Whitney's baby at seventeen.

Why was the thought not scaring her more than it was?

She rubbed her face, taking in a deep, shaky breath, and looked up at Lex with fear, agitation, excitement, worry, happiness, and brought her knees tightly to her chest, sniffling hard with it and rubbing her face with a shoulder. "I can't believe Im going to have a baby."

"You're going to have a baby. You're going to make Clark and I uncles." Lex rubbed her shoulder gently. "Please, for the love of all that's holy, teach the kid to call me Lex. Not Unca Baldy."

Another little sobby laugh that was all teeth and tears, eyes squinting at him in the harsh light of the lab as she reached out and hugged him. Okay, now that the initial horror, fear, terror was over... she was really happy. Really... really happy, and she laughed and sobbed at the same time as she hugged him, tightly.

Lex grinned, and squeezed her carefully. "There's going to be a whole lot of changes. You're going to go to the doctor first thing tomorrow, in fact, and get this verified. And if I'm right, which I'm 99% sure I am, there's going to be doctor visits, diet changes, vitamins, and it's going on my tab, all right? Because sssh... listen to me. I know your father is not going to be happy about it. You're my ashikana; let me take care of you this once."

"I understand." She said it, quietly, because she knew her father was going to lose his mind. She just squeezed Lex's hand tightly in hers, hugging him as she listened to him speak, and sniffled softly as she rubbed her nose with the back of her free hand. "I think my dad would have been less mad if it were Lionel Luthors baby."

Lex had to strangle a laugh there. "Well... between having your boyfriend's baby, the son of the Antichrist, I think Gabe would rather, in the long run, have it be his son in law."

She sniffled, hard, and rubbed her face softly as she looked up at Lex. "I'm really scared, Lex. Really scared. But... but I want this baby. I'm… I'm so glad, its with Whitney. He's gonna be such a great daddy."

"I know you're scared, Chloe. But you're not going to be alone. I promise you that. You won't be alone."

"I've got you guys, and Shay, and Pete." Another hard sniffle, and she slid from the table, plunking onto the cement. "I'm... two weeks?"

"That's what I'm thinking, yeah. Which would put you due about, November 1st." He sat down on the concrete beside her. "You've got Whitney, Clark and I, Pete and Shayla, and I bet that if you wanted to make Bruce Wayne an honorary godfather, he wouldn't mind a bit."

Another hard sniffle, and she rubbed her face softly again, then wrapped her arms around Lex's waist and squeezed. "I love you, Lex."

"I love you, Chloe." He tucked strands of hair behind her ear, and squeezed her back. "I love you, very much."

"I know. That's why I haven't slapped you yet for making me sit on a cold table." A hard, hard sniffle. "Can I put my clothes on? I have to go find Whitney."

"Yeah, you can. There's no sense putting you through the rest of the tests. Before you find Whitney, though, call the hospital, and tell them you're Mr. Luthor's personal secretary, and you need the home phone number for Dr. Toni Braxton. Dad and Dominic have it, but I don't want to go through Dad's things right now. Just call Toni and have her come over and check over Dom."

She furrowed her brows, deeply at that, mid reach for her shirt laying folded neatly on the table, and her eyes filled with tears. "He was crying. Your dad, he was watching through the window.... the room, with the crib? He was sitting in a rocking chair, watching him cry outside. It... it was so sad, Lex, so sad, almost as sad as when.." She stopped and swallowed, looking down.

"As when Mar died." He nodded. "I know. I'm trying not to think about it, but I know it."

"I'll call. Do you have a phone? I can do it from here." She pulled the paper thin gown up, rubbing a hand over breasts that were freezing, and tugged her shirt on immediately, before shimmying into her shorts.

Lex leaned forward, shaking his head clear of bad memories as he raised her shirt back up, cupping her breasts in warm hands to get them warm, thumbs rubbing over hard nipples that were sharp enough to cut glass in the cold. "There's one against the wall," he said softly, before letting her go.

She gasped, hard when Lex's fingers slid across her breasts, and she looked up at him as his fingers massaged and rubbed her chest. Then he let her go, like the truest tease in the world, and she cleared her throat carefully as a roil of heat went right up and down her center. A soft, quiet sigh as she reached up to kiss him, tenderly, deeply, and hug him once more before letting go and heading towards the phone.

Lex returned the kiss, just as deeply and softly as she'd given it, and rubbed her behind as it flashed in front of him, a bit of a smile on his face. This beautiful lady was his, and was going to be his to take care of, and he smiled, sliding off the table and walking over behind her, sliding his arms around her waist and pulling her back against him. "Mmmm. I'll keep you warm, don't worry."

A smile crossed Chloe's face, her green eyes rolled, and she looked over her shoulder to snicker at him as she rose the phone and carefully dialed. She wasn't... aroused. A little aroused, but more, she was just... she was giddy, ecstatic. She didn't think she would be, carrying Whitney's child, but now that she was, now that she knew a teeny tiny life was growing inside her that was theirs... she was so happy, and so sad, at the same time. So happy, because she was going to have a family, when she hadn't thought she'd want one. But so very, very sad, because for her happiness, Lionel and Dominic would have to suffer.

Lex kept his arms around her waist, and his fingertips rested lightly on her belly. He kissed her ear, then whispered into it. "I won't let anything bad happen to you, or to your baby," he said softly. "I promise."

Which only intensified the joy, and the sadness, turning her head to cuddle next to his face as she dialed the hospital, and set the phone to her ear. "You three men are the best thing that ever happened to me." She whispered, softly. "And Shayla. And Pete. So, really, the five of you. You're my family, Lex."

Lex was quiet as the phone rang in Chloe's ear, and he could hear it.

"I can hear it through your head; if I shined a light through, would I see the other side?" he teased.

She snorted, and looked up at him. "It could be the particles and atoms that we share through our collective psyche in the reservoirs of Clark's mind which, as I've come to think and study about it, resembles a circling wind that is able to share information, thoughts, feelings, and emotions. What you're hearing is more likely my hearing than your own." Twinkling smile, and she lifted her head. "Yes, hi, my name is Bonnie Lennox, I'm Lex Luthors personal secretary. He asked me to call and get the number of a Dr. Toni Braxton, who works in the ER."

"Brat," Lex teased. "You've had too much time on your hands."

The switchboard operator gulped. Hard. "Ms. Lennox! Ju--just one second!" There was a standing order to give the Luthors anything they desired, and she flipped quickly through the hospital directory with a shaking hand. "h--here. 555-1690."

"Thank you so much, madam, good day." Chloe hung up and plucked Lex's pen from his front pocket, where he'd stuck it earlier like the true geek, and scrawled the number on the back of Lex's hand quickly before raising a brow and smiling. "Actually? I can now read a novel in fifteen seconds." She tipped her head. "Something you, me, Whitney and Clark are going to have to sit down and talk about, sweetie."

Lex looked down, offended at the writing on the back of his hand, but he gave her a smile anyway. "Come on. You need to call Toni and I need--aaagh!"

Lex clapped his hands to the sides of his head as a shrill mental scream ripped through his head at the same time a loud physical cry echoed in the empty hallways. "Clark!"

- = - = -

Whitney cursed when he heard the phone beside the bed ringing. And it wasn't even Lex's house phone, no, it was the new cell phone he'd gotten a few weeks before. He stuck his head out from under the blankets, and felt for the phone on the dresser. "Hello?"

pause

"Yes, this is Whitney Fordman."

pause

"Yeah, I'm awake, it's fine."

pause

"An accident? What--what's--no, I haven't had the TV on this morning."

pause

"Yes, Lorraine Fordman."

long pause

"No. It can't be. She--she was on her way home last night. We had--she was going to make breakfast."

pause

"Oh. Oh my God."

Whitney sobbed it, barely managed to turn the phone off before it hit the floor, and his arms wrapped around his midsection as he rocked himself. "No. No. No."

=-=-=

Chloe jumped a half a mile as a masculine scream echoed through the halls, and she realized, a moment later, it was Clark. She grasped Lex's hand tightly and raced from the lab, and her mind was running in fifteen different directions, all leading back to that horrible, fateful day in the middle of winter when her life had changed. She raced up the steps, bare toes thumping on concrete...then hardwood floor, and she grasped the banister and swung around before starting up the steps.

No, no, no, no, no. No, NO! It was all Clark could think of, on this day of pain, on this day of sadness, as he grasped Whitney as tightly as he could and rocked his ashimel as tightly as he could. No, no, no. No, not to this man, not to this man, no, no, no. No, God, please, no. He rocked him, his tears falling in Whitney's hair as his ashimel screamed into his skin, and he sobbed with him, holding him as tightly as he could as they rocked together.

Lex was following Chloe blindly, the crippling stab in his head making it all but impossible for him to form coherent thoughts. He just ran behind her, keeping his fingers tightly wound through hers so he didn't lose his guide.

Whitney was clinging to Clark, arms tightly linked around his waist, squeezing as hard as he could, sobbing and screaming into Clark's shoulder. He couldn't feel the tears in his hair, couldn't feel anything but arms like steel bands around him, and a hard, burning, choking lump that seemed to be smothering him.

And that's what Chloe saw when she stumbled into the bedroom she'd shared with Whitney. Him, her rock, the man who had never been broken, screaming and clawing at Clark's shoulders, falling apart, and she froze like it was the middle of the Antarctic... staring.

"Ashimel, ashimel, I'm here, I'm here, stop, don't cry, ashimel, baby, baby, I'm here." Clark was whispering to the sobbing boy, holding him close to his body as he cried, and his filmy green eyes rose to Lex, begging him for help. Whitney was crying so hard, and his heart was broken and it was all Clark could do to hold him together, to keep him from dying, as wave after wave of grief rushed him like a tidal wave.

"Stay... stay here," Lex said, untangling his hand from Chloe's. "Let me find out what's happening." He limped over to the bed, and as soon as his hand touched Whitney's shoulder, he jerked it back as though he'd been burned.

Torrential floods of sadness, despair, loneliness and grief were surging through Whitney, and he climbed onto the bed anyway, touching Clark instead and receiving the same thing, only muted through his aushna', and he added his own strength, his own serenity, to the horrifying churn of emotions.

Clark looped his arm around Lex and brought him close, horrified beyond imagining as his ashimel shook in his lap, and in that moment, Clark would have ripped his heart from his chest and set it on a stake if it would only make things better. "His mom, Lex." He choked out, and grasped his lover even tighter as he cradled Whitney in his lap, the long legs of his ashimel still half under his blankets from where Clark had come to him.

And Chloe fled.

She ran like her life depended on it, terror lighting each step as she raced down the steps, letting a terrified cry escape her as she pushed out the front doors and gasped in the cold air, panting it deeply as she sank down onto the front steps.

Whitney was choking, sobbing with every breath as he tried to breathe. When his father had died, he had been calm, he had been steady, and he had mourned quietly because that is what his mother had needed. But now that she was gone too, it ripped out of him. He couldn't hold it in, and though Clark was there, Lex was there, he was hunting for the calm, soothing presence of his girlfriend, and she was nowhere to be found. It only made him sob the harder for it, because despite the presence of bondmates that protected him, he was alone in this sea of misery.

Clark felt it, and no matter what he did to drag Chloe back in, she was prone, in shock, and he couldn't snag onto her. She was slippery, like an eel, and he held his ashimel tighter to his body, rocking softly as his ashimel caved in with his sobs. His beautiful ashimel, torn apart, and Clark wept for him, for his sadness, holding him to his body as he cried. "You are not alone, you are not alone, my ashimel, you are never alone, you will never be alone again, never, never, baby, ashimel, my Whitney, Whitney."

Whitney just clung tighter to Clark, sobbing harder, screaming until his throat was hoarse. He gulped down hard breaths, swallowing roughly and fighting to breathe, blinded by the tears in his eyes.

Lex's arms wrapped around Whitney's other side, offering what he could. He didn't try to say anything, because he knew from his own experiences that Whitney wouldn't be listening to a damn word that was said. He just stroked broad shoulders, squeezed them tightly, rubbing his hand over a strong neck.

Chloe was shaking, shaking so hard her teeth were chattering, and harsh, quaking sounds were sliding from her lips as she grasped her knees and rocked. Whitney, Whitney, her rock, the father of the baby growing inside of her, he was destroyed, destroyed, destroyed. She could feel Clark trying to snag her and she just... couldn't think, couldn't move, couldn't speak right now but for what the hell she was seeing, doing, and she sobbed.

Lex looked up, gritting his teeth. "Where the fuck is she?" he growled. His awareness of anything but the overwhelming grief coming from Whitney had been blocked out and overrun, and he was rubbing Whitney's shoulders gently.

"Scared." Clark whispered, and had absolutely no pity for her, as he held his ashimel quietly and listened to his heart break, rocking him carefully in his arms with his ashimels face tucked into his neck, rocking him softly and closing his eyes.

"Man, what the--"

Pete stopped in the doorway, and his throat bobbed, tightly. Some serious shit was going down here, and he'd just barely tugged his pants on after the screams started. Shayla was beside him, wearing nothing but a sheet from their bed, and his throat bobbed, hard, as he looked at the three men on the bed and wished he hadn't walked in on this. "Shit." He whispered.

"Whoa." Shayla skidded to a halt right after him, sheet tucked under her arms and she was blinking. "What the hell?" she asked, finishing Pete's sentence. She blinked again, cause Clark and Lex were dressed, Whitney wasn't, and there was a lot of noise happening. "Where's C'lo?"

"Bring her ass in here," Lex ordered softly. "Tell her Whitney needs her, badly." He didn't take his hand off the back of Whitney's neck, and he was fighting to think straight through everything churning off the other boy. He looked down at his hand. "Pete, call the doctor at home--it's Dr. Braxton, the number's on my hand, and tell her to get over here, now, because if he doesn't calm down we're going to have to sedate him and find out what's going on ourselves."

"Yeah, man." Didn't ask the when's, why's, how's, just stepping over a t-shirt and snagging Lex's hand, peering at it for a moment, ignoring the shock of electricity he got from the touch, and strode into the study without another word said.

"Ashimel, ashimel," Clark was whispering, quietly, peppering his face gently with kisses, holding him to his body and whispering. "Ashimel. Whitney, baby, we're here, we're all here, we're here." Clark could barely think, could barely make sense of anything, and when he looked up at Shayla it was as if her words were in slow motion. He just... squeezed his eyes shut, opened them again, and held Whitney tighter to him, stroking the short blond locks from his face tenderly.

"Okay. Chloe hunt, on the double." She looked around the room, saw Chloe's t-shirt tossed to the side, wormed into it, and into a pair of jeans that were also Chloe's, and dropped the sheet as she padded out in bare feet, looking for her best friend. "CHLOE!!" she yelled.

Whitney knotted his fists in Clark's shirt, holding tightly to him, choking out more sobs than he'd thought he'd ever had inside him. He tried to look up at Clark and couldn't see him through the blur of tears that gummed his eyes shut, and he just... held on for dear life.

The scream put her to motion. Her friend was screaming for her, Whitney needed her, and she'd gathered herself together, finally, finally, climbing to her feet and stumbling back into the house. All she wanted to do was run, run, just when she'd finally began to be... happy, and she sobbed loudly as she entered the house. She knew, she knew already, she could feel it through the bond, she knew what had happened and she grasped her hair tightly, wanting to tear it out as she fought her way up the steps. No, no more sadness, no more sadness, no more sadness.

Her lover needed her. She had to stop, had to stop, and she kept crying as she stumbled up the steps, sobbing hysterically.

"Chloe!!" Shayla nearly banged into her as she was crawling up the steps, and she tugged her up. "Come on... come, let's go. Whitney needs you, come on, let's go. Hurry." She started pulling Chloe behind her.

Lex kept his hands on Whitney, trying to calm and soothe, and then moved them to Clark. He stroked over Clark, who was feeling it just as much as Whitney was, and he put his arms around his lover's shoulders. "Are you all right?"

"No." Clark whispered it, as he cradled Whitney tenderly in his arms, holding him as he wept for the mother he'd lost, and he felt it like he'd lost his own mom.

Chloe grabbed onto Shayla tightly as they walked up the steps, down the hall, and she entered the bedroom after a moment, letting out a deep sob and covering her lips as she saw her lover again. Curled up, crying for his mom, and now, now she could come forward, now her heart exploded with anger, horror, pain, sympathy, fear, sadness, as she climbed up beside Lex and offered her arms to her lover, stroking his shoulders, his arms, and sobbing his name,

"Chloe!!" Whitney cried it out as he felt her touching him, and he both flinched and grasped onto her, one hand locking tightly on her wrist and jerking her forward to cling to.

Lex reached up and tugged on Clark's shoulder. "Sssh. Come on. Just for a minute, take a break. Clark, please. Come on." Couldn't deal with everything, Lex had to pull himself away from Whitney. Too much grief remembered, fresh grief in front of him, his father's child dying, and too much to deal with. He had to break away, and he pulled Clark with him. "Come on. You need to breathe."

Clark nodded, tightly, and he let Whitney go so that Chloe could curl him into her arms... and left them, on the bed, to grieve. He swallowed, hard, climbing to his feet, and snagged Shayla's arm gently, tugging her with them to the door. He was shell shocked, he had to be in school in fifteen minutes, and he just... Christ, fucking Jesus. He rubbed his fingers through his short hair and let his throat bob, carefully, swallowing tightly and looking from Lex to Shayla as he closed the door to Whitney's room quietly behind them. "Fuck."

Shayla cleared her throat. "Not gonna ask what happened, cause... okay, bad. We're all gonna be tardy as hell, but nobody cares. At least, Mama doesn't, as long as I don't skip school or flunk out. So, that leaves me to do like, clean up or whatever. So what's up?"

Clark just... shook his head, because he had to sit down. The pain coming from his ashimel was unreal, only lesser than the pain of losing his baby son, and Clark just... ran his fingers through his hair again, and cleared his throat, a he rubbed his face dry. "We gotta be on time. I'm late, I skip, I gotta repeat." He'd rather rip his eyeballs out than leave Whitney and Chloe, but he had to. "Christ, God. Lex," He turned to look at him. "Baby, you... you're gonna have t..."

"You gotta be on time, Elroy. Not me. I've got about ten tardies to blow, and I ain't afraid to lose 'em."

Lex nodded. "Yeah. I know. I can handle it. I may need a vacation once it's done, but I can handle it. Fuck, what I wouldn't give for Bruce to have waited a week to leave." He rubbed his hands over his face.

Clark leaned down and pressed his lips to his lovers once, twice, three times, gently caressing his cheeks, neck, and throat tenderly as he closed his eyes and set their foreheads together for a long moment.

Lex sighed, rubbing his forehead against Clark's in an unconscious gesture. "Can I just say, it sucks to be an adult all the time?" He rubbed Clark's neck in return, massaging gently. "You need to get ready."

"I know." He didn't move for a long moment, letting his lover soak all the courage he had in, and kissed his face, his cheeks, and squeezed his shoulders. "It's not that great being a kid, either, so I think we got kinda fucked."

"Yeah. I think we did too. I think we got seriously shafted." He sighed. "Go. I can hold the fort down. Just... Christ, I wish it were Friday."

"Buck up, AJ. We got a teacher workday happening tomorrow." She petted his shoulder gently. "I'm going to get changed into my own clothes, and then I'm gonna come back and see what the fuck happened and what I can do, okay?"

"Shay..." Clark looked up, and the pain was alive in his heart, his jaw grinding as he fought for words. "Shayla, Whitney's mom died in a car accident in Metropolis. He just became an orphan."

Pete caught the end of it, and his throat bobbed, tightly, burning with the pain of it as he clenched his own jaw for a moment, and shook his head, tightly. It was happening again, another grief, another pain, and he didn't know what to do with himself, as he spoke quietly a little ways down the hall. "Called the lady up. Said she'd be here in ten minutes. She's upstairs, with Graham...said the screams woke her up."

Her jaw dropped. "Holy... shit. Christ, no wonder. Okay. Lex, no fuckin' way you can handle this all by yourself today. Not with both of 'em. Pete!!" She had a little germ of an idea. "Can you hang with Clark today? If I stay here and help Lex hold down the fort?"

Lex sighed. "Shay... there's something else here going on that you don't... don't know about." He glanced up at Clark.

"If either of you say a word, I won't be liable for what will happen to you." Clark answered, softly. "Lionel and Dominic are losing their baby, because their surrogate mother ran out on them. Chloe volunteered… except she can't."

A string of curses erupted from Pete's lips that would make a sailor blush, and he just let them roll. FUCK! He knew exactly why she couldn't and god DAMN.

Shayla wasn't as quick on the uptake as Pete was, because she was more than a little shocked. "What? You mean... they're not going to have their baby? Why the fuck not? I'll do it!!"

"Shayla, Chloe's three weeks pregnant with Whitney's baby." Clark answered, softly, and his voice quivered so that he had to bite his lip, tightly, swallowing hard as he looked at her. "Chloe's going to have a baby, Shayla."

Shayla plunked down on the floor. "Okay. Whoa. There's a... whole lotta stuff. Okay. My brother's gonna lose his baby, but Chloe's havin' one?" She sucked in a deep breath. "Okay. Shit. Morgan's gotta be... losin' his damn mind. Okay. Lex? Seriously? Me?"

"Go talk to your brother; it's not my call."

"Its gotta be the year of the baby." Clark muttered, quietly, and he had had just enough baby talk to last him for the next decade or two. As it was, he kissed his lover quietly on the lips, again, again. "I love you, aushna'."

"I love you, Clark." Lex nudged him with a knee. "You. Have. To go. Now. Or you're going to be in serious trouble."

"Watch your mouth, young man."

A single dark brown brow was raised up high on a cocoa face, sending a young man to blushes and stammers, and she gave him another glare as she plunked past him. Ms. Bird was beside her, the dear, leading them down the hall, and this place felt like someone had seriously died. She didn't say anything about that, though, crutching along with her Goofy and Pluto cane and her little bag of things. "Can you tell me why I wish Id never met you people?" She demanded, and glared again at the young man, who promptly snagged the petite little blond thing and dashed off.

"Dr. Braxton, thank you. I'd called you to check on Dominic, but we've got someone else here who needs your attention first." He sighed, and looked meaningfully at Clark. School, he mouthed.

Going. Clark mouthed back, smiled at Toni, and dashed off. He had three minutes to make it to class, and he'd be damned if he wouldn't do it.

A light snort at the disappearing young people and now she could breath, as she nodded and smiled at Ms. Bird and thumped to the young man, nodding at him once before she heard the sobs coming from the bedroom.

Maybe someone had died.

"What's going on, that's so important as to tear me from my beauty sleep?"

"Where would you like to start? Last night, Dominic and my father found out that their surrogate mother ran off, and their baby will die. My father nearly--well, it's Dominic I'm worried about, Dad got himself taken care of last night. On top of that? Whitney found out this morning that his mother was killed in a car accident. He's hysterical, nearly, and I'm worried about him."

"Jesus." She let out a low whistle between her teeth, and tucked her hair behind her ears, sweeping the short locks off her forehead and handing him her bag. "Lets take care of the young man, first, alright? What's his name, sugar?" She tried the bedroom door and carefully opened it, looking inside at the pair on the bed. "You give me more info in a minute, sugar." Louder. "Hello?"

Chloe looked up, over Whitney's shoulder, where he was weeping against her, and she was so worried, so worried, because his hitching sobs were barely giving him a breath edge wise. "Hello?"

"His name's Whitney." Lex followed her into the room, carrying the bag over his shoulder. "Whitney? Chloe? This is Doctor Braxton. She's a friend."

Whitney was getting more and more restless, more and more upset the farther away he felt Clark getting, and he was holding Chloe even tighter, and he was fighting to breathe through the upset.

"Heya, honey." Toni murmured, as she entered the room. The morning sun was shining through the windows, and she could see the paleness of the young mans face, the horror on his features, and she gently, carefully, and tenderly sat down on the edge of the bed as the young lady sat up. She looked down at the young man, gently touching his forehead, and found it cold, clammy. "Hi, there, Whitney. I'm Ms. Braxton, but I think you can call me Toni." She looked up and quietly spoke. "Get me a wash cloth, warm, and some clothes for this boy, Lex."

"Of course." Lex picked up the bag of Whitney's clothes and tossed it to Chloe. "Here. get out the clean clothes." He disappeared into the bathroom, wetting the cloth in warm water just as Toni'd asked of him, and wrung it out carefully before bringing it back into the bedroom, and sitting on the edge of the bed.

Whitney didn't realize he was choking on the sobs until he felt Chloe pull away, knew Clark wasn't there, and he couldn't stop swallowing, gasping for breath as he clung to Chloe's arm.

Toni looked on him with the heartbreak of a woman, because she knew this young man, this friend of Clark and Lex, was a strong, vibrant young man. To see him so locked in pain had her throat closing for a moment, as she gently lay the cloth over his forehead, and brought the blankets up. "Whitney? Look at me, sugar. Can you hear me?" Unresponsiveness meant shock. "Whitney, sugar, lookit me." She snapped her fingers along both ears, and peered at him.

Somewhere, in the back of his mind, he heard the snaps, but it sounded muffled, through cotton, and he barely turned his head to acknowledge it. His grip tightened on Chloe, and he started wheezing again, sobbing because he felt Clark going further still, only to school but it felt a million miles away.

"I'm here, baby, I'm here," Chloe whispered, over and over, even as she dug for clothes with one hand, staying as close as she could to her lover as he...he broke down, and she looked up at the woman with a hard sob. "Is he okay?"

"Alright, dammit." She was muttering as she put her cane to the side and brought the blankets up his body, and opened her bag up. She snagged a yellow rubber band and went through her medications until she came up with a tiny vile, and she looked up at the young woman a moment, as well as Lex. "Is he allergic to any medicine, that you know of?"

"No, nothing that we know of." Lex moved closer. "Whitney? Whitney, I need to know something. Are you allergic to anything?"

No verbal response, but Whitney's eyes flickered towards Lex, feeling the draw to him. Small shake of his head.

"No, no allergies."

She saw the reaction he had to Lex, and took it to heart. "Can you hear me, honey? I'm going to give you some medication, so you can calm down, alright? I know it won't help, but it'll let you sleep a while, sugar. You're shaking like a leaf." She quickly pulled on the rubber gloves and ripped a small package of alcohol swabs open. She cleaned a small area on his shoulder, making sure it was completely clean before she opened the needle and filled it with morphine. Enough to let him rest, let him sleep, for a few hours, which by his sweaty, pale skin, he needed.

She plunged the needle quietly and quickly into his arm, expelling the medication and pulling the needle out. A new alcohol swab cleaned up the tiny area, and she opened a band aid, with Batman on it, and peeled it over the small puncture. "Alright, there. Here, girl." Toni took the t-shirt Chloe had been holding and quickly and efficiently pulled it over the young mans head, tugging it down over his arms, and slid it down his chest just enough. Her fingers brushed the elastic of boxers and it would have to do, because he was just too big to move. "Sleep, honey. Sleep a while."

Whitney cried out softly as the needle pierced his skin, but he calmed as the fast-acting drug slid into his bloodstream. The rigidity went out of his body, and the claw-like grip he'd had on his girlfriend slowly relaxed as his hand fell to the bed beside him. He tried to move his head, but it suddenly felt too heavy and leaden to move, so he just closed eyes that were too heavy to keep open any more.

Lex moved forward and helped Toni pull and tug, supporting Whitney's fairly massive weight while she put the t-shirt on him, and then carefully laid him back in the bed. "There you are, Whitney. Just rest." He looked back at the doctor, then over at Chloe. "How long will this last?"

She was watching him, sadly, and tenderly stroked the blond hair from his face a little bit, readjusting the small towel as she tugged the blanket over his shoulders gently. "Sleep, honey. There we go. Just rest yourself, your girlfriend is right here."

Toni's eyes came up as Lex spoke and she rose, leaving the young blond woman to curl up beside her young patient once more, and unsnapped the gloves as she snagged the cane. "Come on out into the hall, Lex. Can you get my bag, sugar?"

"Of course." Lex leaned over and kissed Chloe's cheek. "Don't worry; I won't be far." Then he picked up the doctor's bag, sweeping the trash into the wastebasket by the bed, and followed her out into the hallway, closing the door after she'd hobbled out entirely. "How worried should I be about Whitney, Dr. Braxton?"

"Not too worried, sugar." She murmured it, as she leaned against the wall and rubbed a hand over her face. "You know, the thing about you kids is, your drama is for real. I wish all of you could just be teenagers for once, but damned if this stupid little town will ever let you." Another heavy sigh, and she shook her head. "He'll be alright, sugar, he's just mourning. Its natural. I gave him a sedative to allow his body to rest, his mind to rest, so his muscles wouldn't cramp and he wouldn't get a migraine. He'll sleep for a few hours... two or three. Let him mourn, and just... take care of him." Another soft shake of her head, because she had taken care of Jack Fordman only a year ago, and she sighed, deeply. "That boy has been through more than any kid his age should ever have to."

He nodded. "I'll agree with you there," he said softly. Then he shook his own maudlin memories off, and cleared his throat. "I'll have Ms. Bird leave a pitcher of water by the bed for when he wakes up." And then a deep sigh. "And now, the reason I called you over in the first place--Dominic."

"Don't let him eat for a while after he wakes up... not that he'll want to, but anyway. He's so cramped up he'll just throw up what he eats. Give him a lot of liquids, sugar." Than her expressive eyes rolled all over her head and she motioned for him to lead the way, muttering as she did. "That man is going to kill me."

"Lots of liquid; Ms. Bird makes a chicken broth that's to die for; I'm sure she'll make it for him." Lex couldn't quite bring himself to snort. "No, don't kill him. And be gentle; he's been through a lot right now, and I'm worried about him."

"Tell me what happened with their baby. I thought that woman, that Melissa woman was going to do it? Lionel asked me to look over her myself, and she was just fine. Did she not work out or somethin'?" And the been through a lot made her nostrils flare. "Lionel. The other thorn in my side. If Dominic doesn't kill me, he will."

"She was going to do it, but then, she ran. Apparently, the media scrutiny got to be too much for her, and she deserted them." He ran a hand over his head. "Dad was criminally stupid last night; he was drinking, and he didn't stop to think that Valium wouldn't mix well with Dom's Irish whiskey."

The curses escalated, that would have made Pete blush earlier. "That damn man. That goddamn stupid man. Sometimes I think there's got to be a screw missing out of his noggin." But Toni, for all her hard words, was a mushy woman at the middle, and she glanced at Lex quietly for a moment. "Is he alright? Did you take him to the hospital?"

"You're joking, right? They'd have him in a straightjacket. No. Toby came; my--personal physician." Lex thought fast. "He pumped Dad's stomach and got everything out, and Dad should be asleep upstairs."

Toni nodded at him slowly, letting a long breath escape him as she motioned a hand. "Lead the way."

Lex climbed up the stairs, but something caught his eye. He paused, turned around, and sighed deeply. "Fuck, he's sleeping in the study. Why the--fuck. Bedroom probably isn't cleaned up yet. Christ. Okay. This way."

"Alright." Toni glared at her leg and followed with each thumping footstep, the big blue cast nothing but an impediment and she swung it like a fucking log after her. She was in a fine fettle now, with all the problems around her, and not because they existed--but because she couldn't fix them. She couldn't take away the young Fordman boy's misery, she couldn't produce a suitable mama for Lionel and Dominic... she couldn't even fix her own problems.

What a fucking goddamn mess.

And yet... she would never wish to be away from them. The Luthors and Senatoris, respectively, had become more her family than she'd ever had.

Lex lead the way to the study, and then knocked on the door. "Dom?" he asked, poking his head around the corner. "Dom? I hate to wake you up, but Toni's here."

A quiet, low groan in his throat. He had finally, finally settled his aching body on the cushions, after being restless for over an hour, and sat up a little, than all the way, and rubbed his face. Christ. "Yeah. I'm 'wake, let her on in."

"He sounds like shit." Toni whispered softly to Lex, shaking her head softly as she took her bag from him.

"Now you see why I'm worried," Lex replied softly, as he held the door open. "Dom? I'm going back downstairs; you'll call me if you need me, right?"

Toni shooed him out of the room. "Go on, I can handle the man m'self. I'm used to dealin' with the Senatori men."

"Mm." Dominic muttered, and lay his head back on the cushions for a moment before straightening, and climbing to aching feet. "Hello, Ms. Toni. Have a seat, darlin'. You're here to see Lionel?"

"Actually, sugar, I'm here to see you." Toni swallowed hard at the pain and exhaustion that was so deeply etched into Dominic's face. "Heard you might need a bit of checkin' out." She fussed with her stethoscope, pulling it out and getting it around her neck. "Sit back down."

"I'm fine, ducks." His voice sounded even hollow to himself, but he did as he was told, and settled down onto the cushions. The room was swathed in darkness, as he'd drawn the drapes as soon as he'd entered, and shed the sweater over onto the side couch, which he wished he hadn't done because it was chilly in the drafty castle. "Lex worries, and I adore him for it, but I'm fine."

"You're fine, and I'm Hillary Clinton." Toni plunked her bag on the floor beside her, and hobbled over. "You look like hell, I can smell the booze from here, and I'm guessin' your blood pressure is about to erupt through your skull. You're not fine, sugar."

His lips curved, just a little, at that. "Thank you for painting such a lovely portrait, Ms. Toni. Because that's all I needed, but a mental image of myself with alcohol comin' out of my pores and blood out of me ears."

"Well, it's true." But when he didn't move, she hobbled the rest of the way over to him, and sat down on the couch beside him. Sure enough, his heart was pounding out a cha-cha beat under his skin. "Honey, I don't even wanna think what your blood pressure is right now. I've already sedated the Fordman boy this morning, I don't wanna have to give you a dose too." She frowned as she kept listening.

He looked across at her, then. "I haven't stopped going for a month straight, Toni. I don't quite think 'exhausted' covers what I am. This all is the icing on the cake, the cherry on the ice cream, you see." A short little laugh that slipped away the next moment, as he closed his eyes and lay his head back on the couch cushions. "The true fun wouldn't have been complete with a baby but no mother, and my husband nearly killing himself last night."

She just sighed. "Lex told me about that, sugar, but I don't think Lionel would do anythin' on purpose." She dug through her bag for another pair of rubber gloves. "Just ain't like him. He's too much a stubborn-assed old goat." Once the gloves were snapped into place, she put her hand on his cheek. He felt surprisingly normal, not cold and clammy like Whitney had. "You want me to give you somethin' so you can sleep?"

"No. I don't want Lionel to be alone today. Any other day but today, I should think." Dominic shook his head softly, but he cupped her small hand on his face and almost burst into sobs, again, at the gentle touch. "Did something happen, to Whitney?"

"His mother died," she said softly. "I don't... know the details, just what Lex told me on the way up to see him." Deep sigh. "Nothin' I can do for you?"

"God, dammit." Was all Dominic said, and his throat locked as his jaw tightened. He didn't want to lose it in front of anyone, but this woman, just by being herself, was doing it. She'd been inside of him, in a way almost more intimate than any of Lionel's caresses. She had touched his heart, had fixed him when he was nearly dead, and he didn't know what to say to her, didn't know what to think of himself.

"Come on, Dominic. Don't go all Senatori lockdown on me, I get enough of that from your lunkhead of a brother." She put her arm around his shoulders, and hugged him gently.

"My brother is a seven foot tall ape man from the east, lost to the ages and for some inexplicable reason, my mother bought him from a traveling show of gypsies for two pence, and should have sold him to some pygmies but she's got too much a heart of gold." Dominic muttered, as her petite arms hugged him, and he almost felt like he could break her as he hugged her back, as softly as he could. "I'm just sad, Toni. Very sad."

Toni had to laugh at that. "Now that sounds like the Dominic Senatori I know. But come on, Sugar. I've never known you to lose hope, not about anythin'. Not when it didn't look good for Lionel Old-Goat Luthor, not when it didn't look good for you. You can't lose your hope. Sometimes it's all that'll get you through."

"I know about hope, Toni." Dominic said quietly, as he let her go, but kept her hand in his, as he leaned back against the couch again. "I've had hope for a long time. But this...I don't know what to do about it. I've got my husband mourning, my husband who nearly killed himself. I've got a child but no one to put her in. I refuse for it to be Chloe, or Shayla, as Lex suggested. There's no way. There's just... there's no way to get about this, darling. My daughter is going to die, and it may be months, or even years, before we find another suitable woman. And its not... its not about the wait, its about Lionel losing all hope and turning back into the man he was before."

Toni sighed, and squared her shoulders. "Y'all can use me; least you got a fightin' chance. I've miscarried before, I won't lie to you, but at least you got a chance. Wasn't usually until about the fifth or sixth month, an' I'm a doctor. I can tell if something's wrong with me that needs fixin'."

Blink.

Dominic turned his head to stare at her, for a very, very long moment.

Just stared.

"Toni... I can't... can't ask you to do that. I can't ask you to... my brother, he'll... Toni." His chest began to heave as he searched her eyes, and he gasped softly for breath as he leaned over and lay his head on her lap, closing his eyes for a long moment as he grasped her hand, tightly in his, and brought it to his lips.

"Your brother will, to borrow a phrase, bloody well get over it and himself." She kept her shoulders set. "Man hasn't decided what he wants to do with me or not, and I'm not gonna just wait around for him to decide. Meantime... you need me. Finally? You ain't askin', sugar. I'm tellin'. Now, you gonna tell me I can't?" She stroked his head as it lay in her lap, squeezing his fingers tightly.

"I'm going to tell you I thank you, and I love you, and my brother is a fucking idiot for not seeing the woman you are and getting his head out of his arse." He just swallowed and breathed deeply, so he wouldn't lose the it he had fought for the last two hours to grasp again, his fingers stroking her hand tenderly in his as he let his mind rest. Finally. "Toni... this is such a huge, huge thing. Are you certain? Please, you have to tell me."

She nodded. "I'm certain, Dominic. Certain I'm not gonna let two people I care about have their dreams broke like that; certain I want to do somethin' to help somebody right now."

"Lionel's going to lose it." But he said it on a sobbing laugh, as he rose now and kissed her, right smack on the mouth, and brought her into his arms to hug her tightly. "He's going to lose everything in the best of ways."

Toni oofed softly as he hugged her, and she hugged him right back. "Well, come on then, let's go and get this taken care of." But she was smiling, and her eyes were shining. "We'll show that old goat."

"Darling, Christ. Jesus." He rubbed his face, tried to dry it, keep himself composed, but his heart was beating a mile a minute at this beautiful thing that Toni was doing for them, this beautiful thing she was going to do because she loved them. "Toni, I don't know if there are proper ways to thank you."

"How about startin' by not havin' a heart attack," she said softly, grinning at him.

"I'm going to be an invalid before I'm forty, are you kidding?" but he kissed her hand, once, twice, three times, and rose to his aching feet, spine grunting with him as he moved, and he winced softly as he straightened. "Let's go find my husband, shall we?"

Toni pulled herself up, balancing on the Goofy cane until she got her feet back under her. "Okay, sugar. And remind him what I said about not havin' a heart attack, hey? That's not how I wanna start this thing out."

"No heart attacks. Though he, and I, might cry. Are you prepared for two men grown weeping like children?" Dominic asked it, as he took her bag for her, holding it close as he took her other hand, tightly in his.

She tried to laugh, but it came out as more of a nervous sob. "Of course I am, if you don't mind that I cry when you do." She squeezed him just as tightly as he squeezed her, hobbling down towards the laboratory together.

"Don't be frightened, Toni." Because Dominic's own voice wavered when hers did. "Don't be frightened. If you don't want to, please tell me. Tell us, darling." He said it, quietly, as they walked across the bottom floor together.

Another nervous laugh. "I want to, Dominic. Seriously, I do. I'm just nervous, that's all. This is a huge, huge thing for you two, and it's just... I'm a part of it. I never expected this to happen, when I got the phone call from Pete."

"You're the most important part." Dominic answered it, quietly, and he looked down at her as they walked. "May I ask you something?"

"Sure can, sugar."

"Why are you so nice to Lionel and I? I mean, really? Lionel's a sourpuss, I'm a worry wart. Why us? Why my brother?" He made a face.

That earned a genuine laugh. "You're both a couple of worrywarts and sourpusses where the other one is concerned, and you two... you just love each other so much, so deeply, and there's not enough of that in the world anymore. Besides, once you get past the grouchies, you're a great guy, and Lionel's a marshmallow. Your brother? Whole nother story."

"He's a peep, actually." Dominic answered, but he was smiling, a little, his face haggard, his heart ripped, but Toni's words a quiet balm. "He loves you, Toni, though he's a bonehead about it. Its not my call, but if... I think you should talk to him. About this. Graham..." A soft shake of his head. "Missy died of child birth complications a month or so after my little nephew was born. He's as horrified by pregnancy and children as he is about death itself."

"Ain't his call either, Dominic." She patted his hand gently. "I love that mountain man with everything I got, but I'm not gonna stop livin' my life and doin' the things I need to do waitin' for him, or wonderin' if he'll like it or not. I'm gonna do this, whether he likes it or not, and he'll either accept it... or he won't. Can't waste my life wonderin'."

Dominic nodded, quietly, and because he knew his brother, he knew this woman, this woman, was the woman he'd been waiting for all of his life. "Don't think I'm a big nerd for saying this, Ms. Toni, but you, my darling, are my hero." Dominic turned a smile at her, and squeezed her hand tightly as he opened the lab door and headed down the steps.

Lex was crouched behind the cryogenics tank, recalibrating the controls and jacking the temperature up, hoping to buy a few more hours by freezing it harder, a few more hours to find some kind of solution.

Lionel was crouched on the floor beside his son, re-routing the liquid nitrogen tanks to run through a second refrigeration cycle, to make it even more cold when it cycled through the tank.

Hidden by the machinery, the lab looked deserted.

"I don't think you're a big nerd at all, sugar." Toni squeezed his hand and followed him down, whistling. "Honey, the hospital would kill to get their hands on this place. Y'all have got so much stuff in here."

"Lex is a medical, mathematical, and scientific genius." And there wasn't just a little pride in his voice, but an enormous amount. "A good boy, he is, and sharp as a tack, like his papa." He looked around... saw a shoe off behind a hulking bit of machinery, and pointed. "Lex?"

The shoe in question wiggled, and a shaggy head rose. "Not quite." He reached down and tapped his son on the shoulder, to get his attention. "Lex, company."

Lex swore in three languages as the back of his head slammed into the control panel, but he emerged a few moments later, tie gone, shirt sleeves rolled up, and wiping his hands off. "Dr. Braxton, Dominic."

Toni's lips quirked for a moment as she saw twin butts wriggle out from behind the big hulking machine, and let the smile slide away as she gave Lionel a glare that should have stopped his blood cold. "You're one stupid lump of a man, Lionel Luthor, and shame, shame on you."

Lionel inclined his head as much as the headache in his temples would currently allow. "Hello to you too, Dr. Braxton. And yes, for the moment, I will accept the label of stupid."

"Good." Self satisfied smirk as she felt Dominic shaking with a little giggle, and she squeezed his hand once before letting go, limping to the wide slab of metal to sit her bag on top of it. "That's good, because I've got plenty more going through my brain at the moment. I mean, really. Valium? Was that absolutely necessary?"

"At the time? It seemed absolutely necessary." Lionel took the towel from Lex and started to wipe his own hands clean.

Lex looked up at the doctor and Dominic. "How is he, Doctor? Did he let you have a look?"

"Of course not." She turned to glance at Dominic, who had seated himself on the edge of the table. "His pulse is racing, his blood pressure--"

"Is going to make blood squirt out of my ears, apparently." Dominic heaved a soft sigh, and looked from Toni, to Lionel, to Toni again.

Yeah, she caught the hint, and she chuckled a she cocked a hip against the table top, and crossed her arms. She was terrified, nervous, pretty much as scared as she'd ever been, but damned if she wasn't going to do this, and do well. "Necessary my ass. You coulda just called me."

"I didn't even think of calling you--or anyone else," Lionel said candidly. "To be honest, I wasn't thinking at all. Admittedly, out of character, and not likely to happen again, I assure you."

Lex sighed. "Dom, if you don't let her take a look, you're going to have a stroke before we find a solution. I don't think my dad is exactly cut out for single parenting."

"Oh, I found the medication perfect to bring his blood pressure down, Lex." Toni answered, as she tugged her white coat off, tucking the top part into her bag, as well as her stethoscope. "I gotta tell you, I look really bad in maternity clothes."

Lex blinked.

Lionel blinked.

"Maternity--" Lex started.

"--clothes?" Lionel finished.

"Synchronized shock. Now I know you're family." Toni snickered, but the snicker was laced with the joy of helping, of doing something for someone that terrified her, tested her strength and courage, and helped the people she loved.

Dominic was smiling like an idiot. Just... he still looked like shit, he was still feeling unbearably shitty, scared, upset and sad, but..yeah. Just...yeah.

"Okay, somebody's going to have to translate for me, because I could have sworn I just heard Toni say maternity clothes." Lex flipped his gaze from Toni to Dominic.

"If its alright with Lionel, with Dominic, and with you, Lex... and if there's enough time, still, and we're not too late, I'll be ya'lls surrogate mother. But I'm telling you, you're gonna be buying me some Christian Dior maternity clothes, cause you know what? Damn." She was still smiling, eyebrow raised.

Lionel didn't say anything for a long moment, and then his breath caught in his throat. Lex had told him about Chloe's unavailability, and they'd started working on the cryogenics to occupy themselves. Then, this news now, the choked breath came out in a strangled sob and he grabbed onto the nearest console to hold himself up. "I'll buy you the entire line, anything you want, dear God, I will do it."

Alright. Yeah. She laughed out loud and took a limping step forward before he toppled over, motioning for Lex to help her as she motioned to the table. "Come on, sit down 'fore we have to peel your big ass off the floor. If you hadn't noticed, my legs broken and I don't want to be bending down for you for nothing." She wrapped an arm around his waist and carefully began to lead him to the table.

Lionel wrapped both arms around Toni and hugged her as hard as he could, squeezing her around the waist and dropping his head to rest on her shoulder. "Lex... Lex, hurry. There's no time to spare."

Lex nodded. "Of course. Dominic, can you help her up on the table? Toni, there's some personal information I'm going to need from you. Dad, pick up the house phone there and call Chloe, and tell her that I'm going to be down here longer than I expected, and to call me when Whitney wakes up." he rubbed his hands together. "This just might work."

Toni hugged him right on back, squeezing his waist tightly, and kissed his cheek when he lay his head on her. Oh. Justification was such a beautiful thing. "There we go, guys. See? I'm not gonna cry if you don't cry." She squeezed Lionel once more, before looking over at his son. "Lex, sugar, gotta tell you a few things first, now."

Dominic hopped down from the table and reached up, to kiss Lionel's face, before squeezing around them and going to go call Chloe himself.

- = - = -

Clark was in misery.

Mr. Allen was droning on. And on. And on. The man barely taught, but when he did, he didn't shut up.

So he was passing notes with Shay. Super-speed came in handy sometimes.

He had the ripped out piece of notebook paper under his assignment, pen tapping at the blank, meaningless worksheet in front of him, book cracked open, and he took the opportunity to scribble on the sheet. I don't know why Chloe ran, Shay. She just looked at us in like... I don't even know, and took off. I couldn't leave Whitney like that.

Shay caught it, and tapped her pen against her teeth. I don't know either, but when I found her on the stairs, it was like... wow, crazy-Chloe. Didn't even know what the hell was going on. Like she was out of it, or something.

She tossed it back to Clark.

Clark slid it under his book when Mr. Allen turned to look at the class, and pretended to be paying attention for a moment, before scrawling back, I've never seen him like that. I never thought that was inside of him, Shay. He was completely hysterical. I can't believe my ashimel is an orphan. He carefully passed it back, ignoring one of Lana's old friends giving them the rolled eyes, and made a lewd expression at her just to gross her out.

I can't believe it either. I feel so bad about leaving him there; I can't imagine how you felt. At least tomorrow is a workday; we can all be there for him then. She skipped a line. Clark... you realize that you and Pete are the only ones of us with both their parents? My dad's gone, both of Whitney's, Chloe's mom, Lex's mom. She skipped another line. I'm worried about Big Daddy and Morgan. I don't know what's going to happen to them if they don't get their baby.

He accepted the note back carefully, ignoring the blathering teacher for a moment, as he wrote in his scrawled chicken scratch. It broke me in ways you'll never understand to leave him alone today. I hate school, I hate the very fact that I have to be here when it means nothing. I have read all the texts, I have done all the work. Eight hours of sheer boredom, Shayla. But he thought a moment, as he wrote again. In actuality, only Pete. My parents aren't really my birth parents, so I don't think they count. Though I don't think I could have asked for a better substitute. As for Lionel and Dominic, my heart aches.

Look at it this way, she wrote back. At least you're here, now which means you won't be repeating this next year. He knows you didn't want to leave him; Chloe and Lex are with him, and I think they'll get him through until you get home. A skipped line, and then some on the back of the sheet. They do count, because they are your parents. The ones who raised you, I mean, and took you in and adopted you, so yeah, they count. But I know what you mean. Life fucking sucks sometimes. I'm going to call Morg at lunchtime, and see what's going on. Come with, and you can see if Whit can come to the phone too.

I can find out easier than that, Shayla.

But Clark suddenly got the warm wash of feelings from his lover, and his eyes rose, looking at Shayla with bright eyes that took some of the pain shadowed in his own out. "Shay," He whispered it, and mouthed, They found a mother. He looked back down at the paper, and scribbled as fast as he could without drawing attention to himself. They found a mother! Toni, Graham's girlfriend. She's going to have the baby for them.

She couldn't help the squeak that came out, and the teacher turned around and looked at her disapprovingly. "Leg cramp!" she said softly, blushing, and Mr. Allen just shook his head and turned back to the blackboard.

What the fuck??? She underlined it twice. You mean, Toni Braxton, right? Holy shit. Clark... that's great!!!!!!! But... she can't! She can't! The miscarriages! She told Graham about them and Graham told Lindy and I overheard!! You gotta tell AJ!!!

He knows. They're taking the chance,

Scribbled back, as fast as he could. Turns out she's only got a small problem with her womb. Lex is getting ready to fix it as we speak. Clark had to bite his fingers into his jeans, or he was going to tear the desk apart in his excitement. Oh, God, he was so thankful, and he bit his lip tightly as he tossed the letter back.

Shayla squeaked again, and she bounced in her seat. I'm going to be an aunt and you are going to be an uncle!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! More underlining and a lot of exclamation points. Now all we have to do is help Whitney... and I don't know how in the hell we're going to do it.

Just Whitney. One problem down, one to go.

But Clark knew it wasn't a problem at all, but a travesty that was going to take a long to heal. He sighed, softly, sadly, and wrote down again, I love him so much, and there's nothing on this earth that I can do.

Shayla read, and thought for a moment. Sure there is. You can keep loving him and be there for him. I wasn't very old when my Da died, but I'm guessing... all you have to do is be there for him. I mean, he needs support right now, and nobody can support him like you.

I hurt because he hurts.

Clark wrote it back, quietly, because the sadness, after the initial joy of his lover whispering in his thoughts about Toni, he was quickly sinking back again because of his poor ashimel. He hurts so much. He's half blind with it, half dead. You have no idea the misery he's in, Shayla, and when I left this morning he was looking for me for almost an hour after. He looked for me, and wept because I wasn't there.

You'll be there for him soon, Clark. Just a few more hours. I know you love him; you'll be with him soon. He can feel you, right? Let him know you're there.

I have. Toni put him to sleep for a whil--

Clark looked up, shocked, when Mr. Allen ripped the paper from his hands. Oh, shit. His throat bobbed, tightly. He'd been careless... evidence of his heritage was on that paper. So Clark did the only thing he could do.

Lit it on fire.

One bolt from his eyes, a concentrated vision of Lex naked, and the paper began to flame before him. "Mr. Allen!!! Why did you light my paper on fire??" Acting put to use, he wailed softly, edging away from the burning paper as the other students gasped and climbed to their feet, already moving towards the doors. "Fire! Fire!"

Shit!! Shayla thought it as soon as she saw the paper ripped from Clark's hands, and as soon as some started rising, she added her voice to the ones already yelling fire. Somebody out in the hallway had hit the fire alarm, and it was ringing throughout the halls of the school. "Shit! He's a fuckin' pyromaniac!!! He burnt Clark's class notes!!"

Mr. Allen just blinked. Once... twice. Held the burning paper... blinked, as his students ran off.

Well damn.

Clark snagged his notebook with his novel written in its pages and skedaddled out the door beside Shayla, a wicked, wicked smile crossing his features as he evacuated the building with his friend in tow. "I don't know if Lex is a bad influence or a good one."

"On you? Bad. On me? Very, very good." She smirked at him as she kept up at a run, bookbag slung over her shoulder and following behind Clark. "Burning notes in class? The man's a psycho." She gave Clark a little wink.

"Psycho I say!" Clark cried, acting in full gear as he dragged Shayla outside.

 

-fin-

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