Chapter 40: Bloody Mornings
Lex
was slowly coming around, and he hadn't even realized he'd fallen asleep.
The last thing he remembered was curling up beside Clark's warm body,
worry for his lover gnawing at him, and resting his cheek on Clark's shoulder.
As
he became more and more awake, he became aware that his hand was resting on a
very firm, but very soft... breast. Which,
he was pretty sure, didn't belong to Clark.
Opening his eyes revealed blonde hair against his cheek, and... Chloe.
Oh, yes. Chloe.
Lex found himself awake, snuggled back against Clark, who's arm was tight
around his waist. His own arms
looped around Chloe, chin resting on her shoulder as she was tucked loosely
against him as she curled around Whitney's back.
When
the fuck did they come upstairs? Stretching,
he smiled. No memory loss this
time, and he ran his fingertips lightly over Chloe's shoulder.
Her
long lashes lay on each cheek, dusted lightly with pretty brown freckles she
usually covered with makeup. But here, where she'd come to Lex's house with a
naked face, they stood out against her milky skin as she breathed softly.
Movement from beside her...and those eyes flickered open, her light sleep always
interrupted. She was used to it, and she blinked a few times… focusing on the
ceiling as someone touched her. Warmth...oh.
Her
lips spread and she showed Lex her pretty white teeth as he touched her, resting
against her shoulder. "Hi, stranger." Whisper.
"Stranger?"
Lex asked softly. "Not this
time." He pressed his lips
softly to her shoulder. "I'm
sorry I hurt your feelings earlier; I know it hurt you that we didn't remember,
but... I'm glad we have one now that we do."
Her
lashes fluttered sweetly, and she beamed at him, squirming in close to his lips
as one hand moved to touch his hand and pull it onto her belly. "I's akay.
It...before? It was good. I...you feel very, very nice inside." And she
giggled, eyes dancing. "I see why Whitney liked it."
Lex
let his fingertips dip into her bellybutton as he smiled down at her.
"I told you you'd get to see," he said softly, pressing his
mouth lightly to hers, giving her a sweet, soft, chaste kiss.
"I'm glad you liked it; I don't want you to regret anything that
happened."
Her
lips curved as he kissed her, and she kissed right back, soft and tender as her
free palm cupped the side of Lex's face. "It was so nice. Full and deep and
just so good. Did...did you like it?" She straightened and puffed
with pride. "Was I gooood?"
"You
were... okay," he teased, eyes lighting up as he grinned down, oddly
comfortable with her for reasons he didn't quite understand. "I liked it; I've always liked it, though most women
don't appreciate it at first. It's
a unique woman who can appreciate the experience."
"I’ve
gone above and beyond appreciating it, thank you." She said it proudly and
lightly tweaked a rosy nipple near her, giggling again as she pressed her mouth
to the corner of his lips. "You're not so bad yourself, Mr. Luthor. Clark
had you all but screaming."
Lex's
hand caught hers at his nipple and held it there.
"I do not scream, Chloe. I'm
merely... audibly appreciative."
"You
hollered like someone had lit your ass on fire and you were enjoying every
second." She giggled it and pinched again, gently stroking the hard nub as
her own nipples peaked. Something about those huge male fingers snagging her
wrist had put a stutter in her heart.
Lex
grimaced, and tugged her hand over to his other nipple, which allowed him to dip
his head to lick her shoulder, and then over the top swell of her breast.
"And I don't suppose I could... persuade you to forget that?"
he teased, nipping her bottom lip softly.
Her
breath caught and she focused on the ceiling a moment...free fingers cupping the
back of his head, running her fingertips over that downy, soft skin. "Nope.
Its called blackmail, Mr. Luthor." Which she wasn’t really thinking of
with his mouth on her, was she? She stroked the nipple he'd moved her hand to,
and did something she enjoyed on herself. Pinched it between her first two
fingers, and rubbed it with her thumb, quick strokes that always made her body
tingle.
"Blackmail
away, Ms. Sullivan," he whispered huskily in her ear, moaning softly as her
fingers tugged his nipple. He
caught one of her hands and slid it down his side, under the blankets and onto
his hip as he rolled over, partially on top of her as his other hand slid down
the side of her face before kissing her again.
She
groaned quietly at the sudden weight on her and out of instinct rose her hips
and pressed in tight. Her fingers clamped on his hip...streaked over the swell
of his ass and up to his strong back, feeling tiny and miniature under it as he
covered her. Then that mouth, talented and good, and she kissed back,
stroking his tongue lazily with hers as her breasts pressed into his chest.
"O-O...okay..." Swallowed gasp, fingernails streaking along his back.
"Good,"
Lex murmured into her mouth, not caring what she was agreeing to.
He left her mouth long enough to plump one of her breasts with his hand,
rolling the nipple before sucking it into his mouth and drawing on it gently as
his fingers kneaded the firm mound. "Beautiful,
Chloe."
She
barely kept the squeal in, barely, and let it come a whimper as his mouth
wrapped around her breast and sucked, and well. She clamped her fingers on his
spine and dragged her nails up until she could grasp his head, gasping softly as
her legs squirmed and moved until they were wrapped around his waist. It felt
safe, and okay, and very good and yeah, she wasn’t planning on stopping, ever.
"Mo-more beautiful." Low whimper. She let her fingers streak down his
cheek and down, where his mouth was over her breast, tracing her fingers where
his lips were around her and it was so erotic that she whimpered again,
shuddering.
Lex
shifted so that his unprotected cock slid along the lower curve of her body,
shaft rubbing along her outer lips as the head gently nudged the swell of her
ass. His mouth moved to her
neglected nipple, sucking hungrily at it as his strong fingers kneaded her firm,
smooth skin. Almost as smooth as
his own, but rough in areas, like her hands, and it was shiver-inducing as his
smooth skin rasped against her slightly rough skin.
Chloe
swallowed the moan, rubbing her clit against the base of his cock in steady,
firm strokes of her powerful little hips, muttering something as she cupped his
head close to her chest. She stroked the breast he'd just left, shuddering so
hard her legs locked and she arched, groaning softly as she grew slick and wet.
Wanted. She stroked her fingers down to his ass, squeezing it in her hands and
moaning harshly.
"Ssssh,"
he whispered softly, moving back to nuzzle her throat.
His hand slid down and captured her clit between his fingers, arching
against her as her nails sunk into his ass.
He squeezed her clit gently, carefully, feeling his cock slipping in the
wetness. "Touch me there, if
you want to."
She
rustled against the sheets, writhing against them as she arched her hips
rhythmically into Lex's fingers, shocks of pure, white pleasure zinging through
her brain and making her tremble. She heard his words...felt him sliding across
the moisture her arousal had made, and slickened her palm before reaching down
to stroke. Cupped her fingers into a tight fist and stroked them over him,
moaning as her free hand pressed his face close to her skin.
Lex's
mouth slid over her throat and her neck, cock sliding in her slick fist as his
fingers rhythmically rolled her clit and teased inside her slit, spreading the
wetness over his fingers before drawing them backwards. His fingers teased her back opening, slipping in barely past
his fingernail before going back to tease her clit again.
She
gently stroked over the tip, rubbing her palm against it before down again,
starting him on slow, easy, sexy pace and this was Lex Luthor, her friend
Lex, who grinned and let her borrow his underwear and he was so masculine and
huge. Muscles and hairless and thick, heavier then he looked, and it only made
her ache worse as she stroked up into his hands.
Then
he had to go and slide his fingers to where he'd been only a few hours ago, and
she gasped, arched her back, pressed her breasts to his chest as her eyes
slammed shut and her hips squirmed.
As
she squirmed, Lex moved again, sucking her nipple back into his mouth as his
finger teased her ass again, sliding in just past the first knuckle and out
again, then scratching delicately over the rim of the hole before returning to
her clit. "Tell me, Chloe...
do you like when I touch your ass like that?
Make you feel hungry?" His
voice vibrated through her nipple as he sucked it.
"Oh,
God, yes," she gasped, pressing down when he slid inside her and she
squeezed with all her might down on that slim digit...then felt it slide away
and back to her clit. "Hungry, in my tummy, feels so good."
"Let
go of me, Chloe." Lex licked
her nipple, and waited until she released her grip on his cock before sliding
under the blankets. He tangled his
legs in Clark's, sliding one of Chloe's legs over his shoulder as his tongue
wrapped around her clit and sucked hard. Lex's
finger dipped into her slit to get slick, and then slid gently into her ass as
he licked.
Her
mouth clamped shut but the cry still reverberated in her throat and chest, eyes
slamming shut as she arched. Hot, wet mouth between her thighs and she arched,
squirming as that tight fullness slid in behind...deep, so deep, and she ached
for more. She cupped her breasts and scraped her nipples with her nails,
struggling to get him in deeper as she tried not to let harsh cries leave her.
Clarks
eyes flickered. Someone...very light movement, and soft sighs. How did....He
blinked. Chloe. Hands on her breasts...masturbating. No. Lex between her
thighs, and he moaned softly as he woke, hair hanging in his eyes.
Lex
smiled into her wetness as he felt Clark moving, and slid his fingers out of her
ass, switching hands. Two fingers
of his right hand slipped inside her as he reached out in the darkness, wrapping
his hand around Clark's cock and stroking.
She
pushed down into the hard fingers driving into her...then groaned when Clark
leaned right over her and wrapped his wide, soft lips around her breast.
Different then Lex, fleshier, and he had the mouth of a God as he teased and
twirled his tongue.
Guh.
Clark
pressed into Lex's hand.... want for orgasm from before that he hadn’t gotten
to have, and he pushed into the tight fist and out, free hand covering Chloe's
abdomen and the breast not in his mouth, sucking as his hair tickled her skin.
Lex's
fingers thrust faster in Chloe's ass, and his mouth moved from her slit to
Clark's cock, sucking it deep into his throat and massaging it with his tongue
before wrapping his fist around it, pumping quickly as he returned his mouth to
Chloe's slit.
Whitney,
of course, was the last one to wake, and part of him smiled. He was so proud of his girl; she was so beautiful and nobody
could keep their hands off of her. But
she was his and he took the only thing that nobody else had, and it was
her mouth. His tongue thrust into
her mouth. "Morning,
baby," he whispered against her cheek as he broke for a moment.
Lex
slid a third finger in Chloe's ass as he moved his mouth back to Clark's cock,
deepthroating him and using the hand no longer needed on Clark's cock to thrust
into Chloe's slit, rubbing her walls and her clit with his fingers.
Whitney’s
tongue stabbing into her, coupled with the three fingers in her ass, Lex's other
fingers inside of her, and Clark at her breasts, and she exploded. She screamed
into his mouth, shaking and shuddering and coming hard, all over Lex's
fingers as she wailed and clamped on him, sucking Whitney’s tongue and coming
again, squealing on top of her lungs as she grasped her lovers hair and held him
tight.
He
moaned as well, darkly, possessively as his fingers clamped on Lex's head and
thrust into the willing mouth... gasping... groaning... and he came, pounding
his hot liquid down his lovers throat.
Lex
lapped at Clark's cock hungrily, sucking the hot come down greedily.
His throat tightened around Clark with every swallow, lips lightly
brushing his balls as he took Clark in to the base, sucking him empty and
licking him clean. The feel of
Clark's hands on his head was very hot, and Lex rubbed himself against the
sheets as he slipped his fingers out of Chloe, licking up her belly.
As his head emerged from under the bed sheets, he turned his face towards
Clark, asking silently for a kiss.
Whitney
brought Lex's wet hand over, pressing it to his mouth and licking it clean
before kissing Chloe again, trapping Lex's wet fingers between their busy
mouths.
Except
tears were running down Clark's
face in hot, slick little streams, his chest heaving with quiet sobs and he
looked away before Whitney or Chloe could see, climbing to his feet and walking
to the bathroom.
She
groaned softly, licking Lex's fingertips... sucking at his thumb, and she
silently pleaded with him to let her and her lover get him off, sliding down to
cup his face and tug him a little. "Come up here, sweetie."
Lex
shook his head softly and slid out of bed, padding softly behind his lover.
"Clark?" he called out quietly, heart aching and belly twisting
at the thought he'd hurt his love. "Clark."
He
was sitting on the closed toilet seat. Head in his hands, harsh, dark sobs
escaping him, the kind a man could give that could rip the heart from a
woman’s chest. Wrenching sounds of sorrow as he rubbed at his eyes and looked
away, wiping at his face in the darkened bathroom. Only light was a tiny white
one in the plug on the sink, which gave off a rich, soft lavender scent.
Lex
walked into the bathroom, getting on his knees in front of Clark and laying his
hands on Clark's knees. "Clark?
Baby? Please... talk to
me." One of his hands pulled a
small swatch of toilet paper from the roll, and used it to dry off his beloved's
face. "Clark."
His heart was breaking.
He
frowned softly at him... twisted his cheek away, and looked into the far corner.
"I’m tired, and I’m hot." And he frowned again, deeper, glaring at
him. "Its your fault. He told
me, he told me it would be your fault but I never listen, nope, I don’t ever
listen and I should have." Matter of factly, shrugging his large shoulders
and sighing.
"My
fault? I don't understand."
He let his hands fall back to Clark's knee.
"Who's he, your father? Clark...
I don't understand." Lex's
heart broke because Clark wouldn't even look at him, and he'd begun to wonder if
it'd been a mistake to initiate the foursome again, a mistake to kiss Chloe this
morning. "Clark, please."
"I
don’t know but I don’t want you near me, get away from me, fucker, get the
hell away from me." Suddenly furious and he shoved him away hard,
bone connecting with marble and he stepped over his lover, stalking out of the
bedroom, past Chloe and Whitney making out, and out the bedroom door.
Lex's
head cracked against the marble floor with a sickening thud, and then...
blackness.
If
the thud of a body falling in the bathroom hadn't gotten Whitney's attention,
Clark stalking out did. "Clark?"
He looked at Chloe. "I
don't like the sound of that thump; go check on Lex."
"Go
get Clark." She nodded at him, squirming from his arms and padded quietly
into the bathroom, flicking the light on...then letting out a sharp cry.
"Whitney! Call an ambulance!" She let out another cry and sank down
beside Lex, gasping and wincing as she looked into his closed eyes... and blood.
"Lex? Lex!" She gently shook him... wincing and instead got quickly to
her feet, grabbing the robe from behind the door and laying it gently over him.
"Lex!"
Lex
didn't hear her; he was still out cold.
"Clark!"
Whitney reached him at the bedroom door and grabbed his shoulder.
"What did you do?"
"What
did I do?" He blinked at Whitney... peered at him a little. "Whit? Are
you okay?" A light frown and he shrugged a shoulder... noting, quite
suddenly, the fact that they were naked, and shrugged once more. "I don’t
know, but… uh...lets get some clothes, huh?"
"Whitney!
Call an ambulance!" She cried it, pulling Lex up just a little but
terrified of moving him.
"What
the hell do you mean? Lex is in
there, Chloe's calling for a fucking ambulance!"
Whitney grabbed the phone by the bed and sprinted to the bathroom,
dialing 9-1-1 as fast as he could. "Holy
Shit, Chloe... what happened?"
"I
don’t know baby, he's bleeding pretty bad, get some clothes on, get me a
blanket for him and get the ambulance here." She said it calmly to her
lover because he was freaking out and now was no time to be freaking, instead
looking at Clark behind him and glowering. "What the hell did you do to
him?"
"I...I
didn’t..." His eyes were confused, wide as he pushed past Whitney to his
fallen lover... and sudden horrid pictures filled his mind.
Lex,
kneeling in front of him. Lex, with worried eyes. Lex... falling back.
"911
Emergency. Please state the nature
of your emergency."
Whitney
was struggling with his clothes as he talked into the phone.
"My name is Whitney Fordman, I'm a friend of Lex Luthor's.
We heard a thump in the bathroom, and when my girlfriend and I got to
him, he's laying on the floor of the bathroom.
There's... um, blood. A lot
of it."
"All
right, young man, just stay calm and don't lose your cool. Is the victim still breathing?"
"How
the hell should I know?"
"Is
there a mirror or a compact nearby? In
your girlfriend's purse, maybe? Hold
it over his mouth and his nose; if the mirror fogs over, then he's still
breathing. We're dispatching an
ambulance now; we need you to stay on the line."
"Um...
okay." Whitney grabbed Chloe's
things, pocketbook included, and carried them into the bathroom.
"She says get a mirror, they need to know if he's breathing.
Hold it over his mouth."
She
reached for her bag, looking inside of it...and grabbed her compact. She opened
it, put it over his mouth....then sighed as it fogged, and nodded to Whitney.
"He's breathing....h...he's so still." She swallowed as she quickly
stood and got into her clothes, thumping back to her knees a moment later and
touching his face. "Lex, come on, can you hear me sweetheart? Come on, open
your eyes."
He
was there a moment later, a blanket in hand, and he sort of… handed it to
Whitney, before tears filled his eyes again and he turned. grabbed a pair of
pants....a t-shirt from the closet. And he was gone.
"Oo--okay.
Yeah, he's still breathing. But
he's not moving. He's not
awake."
"Okay.
I want you to get a blanket, sir, and cover him up.
And stay calm, because that's the best thing you can do for him right
now."
"We
got the blanket," he said, handing it to Chloe as he finished getting
dressed.
"Good.
Now don't move him; if he wakes up, don't let him move.
The ambulance should be there in the next five or ten minutes, I'm going
to stay on the line with you until they get there.
Now, Whitney... you said your name was Whitney, right?
Does he have any medical allergies or conditions that the doctors need to
know about?"
Whitney
stuttered. "God, I don't know.
Here... um... here, here's Chloe, she's sitting with him, I'll ask
someone else."
"Whitney,
stay calm. Don't leave the room,
because you won't know if anything's happened," instructed the dispatcher.
"We'll contact his family from the hospital.
Is he wearing any kind of medical jewelry, diabetes bracelet,
anything?"
"No.
I know that much, no. He,
uh, he says he never gets sick, either."
The ambulance sirens wailed in the distance.
"Okay. Okay, they're
here."
"When
the paramedics come in the room, you tell them what you told me, okay?
How it happened, everything. They'll
have it, but they'll have more questions for you."
Whitney
hung up the phone. "Chloe,
they're here. Come on, baby, get
dressed, let me sit in here with him."
Whitney crouched down beside Lex, mirror on the floor beside them making
sure he still breathed.
"Whitney,
t-there’s blood, y..you gotta be careful, he..." She was shaking, and she
quickly climbed back to her feet, finishing getting dressed. Buttoned her cord
pants, hooked her bra under her shirt, smoothed it down, and dragged her
fingertips through her hair. She winced again, softly, running into the other
room because she thought of these things. She threw the blankets over the unmade
bed, pushed any condom wrapped underneath it, straightened things so it
didn’t...didn’t look like they'd just had sex in there. Last thing they
needed. And she rushed back, falling back to her knees beside her lover, and
took Lex's hand. "Whitney, did....Clark, did he...?"
"I
don't know. He...he gave me the
blanket, and then just... I turned around and he was gone." He wrapped his fingers around hers and held her.
"He's gonna be okay."
About
two seconds after the paramedics pulled into the front circle, Shayla burst into
the bedroom. "AJ!
Where's AJ? What
happened!?"
Whitney
looked at the wild-eyed child with pink hair.
"Get the fuck out of here and let them get him out!" he yelled,
glaring at her.
"Fuck
you, I live here, what's your excuse?"
She shoved past him and crawled over the bed. "Holy shit, AJ! What
did you do to him, asshole?"
"Excuse
me... we need to get in here, please."
The paramedic's voice was clipped with impatience.
"Could everyone clear outta here?
We need to be able to assess the situation and we can't do that with all
of you in here. Please... wait out
in the hallway."
"He
didn’t do anything, chick, get the hell out of the way, the paramedics are
coming!" Said, of course, while twin tears slipped from her eyes and fell
down her cheeks, her fingers warming the limp hand under hers as she tried to
keep him decent in front of the medics, keeping everything that should be
covered, covered. And then...the medic. She climbed to her feet and quickly
grabbed Whitney, tugging him out and past the medic...though she hovered in the
hall.
His
partner, a short wild red headed thing, nodded briskly and set the emergency kit
down beside the fallen young man, starting to get things out and ready.
Shayla
followed. "What the hell
happened here? What happened to AJ?"
Whitney
held tightly to Chloe's hand. "Don't
cry, baby... he's going to be okay. This
is Lex. How many hits to the head
has he had here? He's going to be
okay."
Carefully
the medic probed the back of Lex's head. "Call
ahead to the hospital, have them ready for X-Ray and CT scan, stat."
He lifted Lex's eye and flashed it.
"Pupillary reaction sluggish but normal."
"I-I’m
not crying." She swallowed hard.
"Will
do. Swelling along the back of his neck...he fell pretty hard. Can one of you
tell us what happened here?" She glanced up under the red hair before
getting up and moving back into the bedroom, fetching the back board and moving
it quickly into the bathroom with them.
"Neck
immobilizer," he said, holding his hand out for the neck brace.
"Um...
I don't know, really. Me and Chloe,
we were sitting out here in the other room, waiting for him and Clark to come
out--they were in there talking, about something, we were gonna go out for
dinner," Whitney babbled, desperate. "Then
we heard a thump, Clark stalked out, and then we found Lex."
"NO
FUCKING WAY CK DID THIS!" Shayla's
voice was shrill. "YOU TAKE
THAT BACK, YOU BLOND-HAIRED SON OF A BITCH!"
The
female medic handed it over, leaning over the young mans body and grasping his
shoulders, waiting for the signal to lift him so they could snap the brace on in
back. She ignored the tiny pink haired girls outburst, just nodding to the other
young man and nodding. "Were they in an argument?"
"We
don’t really know, but he's hurt and you have to help him now."
Chloe babbled right back, then threw her eyes at the pink haired girl and
screamed right back, "Don’t you talk to my man like that you little
skanky ass bitch! I will knock your head off your damn SHOULDERS!"
A
blink, and the woman merely let go of Mr. Luthors shoulders, instead pushing a
little button on the shoulder walkie talkie she wore, calling in a report for an
APB on Clark Kent--she didn’t have to ask, she knew what Clark and what Lex.
They were only the talk of the town.
And
in the police station, Ethan heaved a sigh.
"Fuck
you and your man, honey, that's AJ in there, and I don't give a fuck about
anything else!!" Shayla shoved
past Chloe and into the room with the medics.
"Is he going to be okay?"
"I'm
sorry, ma'am, we don't know yet." He
looked at his partner. "On
three." He moved his hands to
Lex's shoulders, and surrendered the brace to his partner.
"One... two... three."
Whitney
put his hands on Chloe's shoulders. "Let
it go, let it go. They're helping
Lex, that's what matters." He
looked down at her. "That's
all that matters."
She
slipped it under easily, clasping the brace under Lex's neck and quickly
strapping it, and it was safe now to get him on the backboard. She grabbed the
blanket from their kit, unrolling the gray wool and quickly pulling the maroon
quilt off. The poor man...he'd been about to shower. She quickly covered him
with the blanket and wrapped it around him, tight, entwining his feet so he
wouldn’t catch something in the bitterly cold wind outside. "Get the
shoulders, I’ve got the feet."
She
snarled at Pinky, growling darkly and yeah, she was about to pounce and smack
that ass all the way back to where she'd come from. One more time, and they'd be
hauling her to jail.
"Got
it." He moved into position,
standing and grasping Lex's shoulders. "Okay.
One... and... up."
Shayla
leaned over. "You're gonna be
okay, AJ... I'm gonna find Morgan, and he'll make sure of it."
She slipped her hand in and squeezed his limp one before tearing out of
the room like a bat out of hell.
Whitney
wrapped his arms around Chloe and held her tight, resting his cheek on top of
her hair. "Look... if they'll
let you, you go on to the hospital with him, and... and I'll follow.
Give me your keys."
Shayla
ran down the hall and skidded to a stop in front of the bedroom that her brother
shared with Lionel. Digging through
the books and newspapers on the table, she found the extension buried at the
bottom and dialed Lionel's hospital room in Metropolis.
She
lifted slim legs easily, muscles bunching as she helped her partner get the man
on the stretcher, and quickly moved the kids away as she strapped him in and
started out the door. "Come on, we'll get the IV's set up in the
ambulance."
Chloe
followed right behind, yanking Whitney along with her, and trembled.
Dominic’s
eyebrow rose, stopping mid motion. He was mid way through helping the nurse give
his sleeping lover a sponge bath, and he winced and picked up the phone with
slightly soapy fingers. "'lo?"
"Morgan?
It's me. Look... there's
something going on here, something happened to AJ.
They're taking him out of here on a stretcher.
Neck brace and everything... and... and he's not moving."
Her voice choked up. "Those
two blond bitches say that CK did it but I know he wouldn't, you know he
wouldn't, CK wouldn't hurt AJ!"
Whitney
followed his lover closely, listening to the medics.
Touching
the walkie on his shoulder, he called down to the third guy in the truck.
"Hang a bag of saline solution, and have the ER pull Luthor's
medical records and have a unit of it ready to hang when we get him there.
There's a lot of it on the bathroom floor.
Possible skull fracture, possible spinal cord damage."
"What?"
His eyes widened and he stood, dragging his fingers through his hair a moment
too late after realizing they were still soapy. "Shayla, speak slower baby,
I cant understand you. What happened? Are your sisters alright? What about
Lex?"
The
female medic pushed out of the house, past two frightened women and an elderly
lady, tugging the stretcher out and down the long ramp beside the steps.
"Lex?
Oh, God, Lindy, what happened to Lex?" Megan’s eyes twisted into ovals,
and she grasped Ms Birds hand tightly. "What the hell?"
"It's
Lex, dammit! They're taking Lex to
the hospital!" She was all but
sobbing into the phone. "Those
blond... assholes told them that Clark did something to hurt him, but they're
taking him to the hospital! He
didn't wake up, Morg! He didn't
wake up, not the whole time they were putting him on the stretcher, he didn't
wake up!"
"I
don't know," Ms. Bird said, twisting her hand around Megan's.
"But does not look goot."
Lindy's
hand caught Chloe. "Excuse
me... Chloe, is it?" She
barely remembered meeting the girl several weeks ago, during Lionel's trip to
Hong Kong. "Could you please
tell me what's going on with Lex? Please...
we're family, almost."
"Oh,
sweet Jesus. Alright, baby, hang up the phone and go to mama, alright? I'll be
there soon as I can, don’t worry, sweetheart. I'll be there soon, just hang up
and go get mama and Graham. Get them to call the Kents, okay?"
"I...
I’m sorry, yes, I-I’m Chloe." She was about to have a damn heart
attack. "He… he fell. Hit his head, they’re taking him to the hospital.
W-We're going… if you want to come, y-you can."
"But
Graham's still in Metropolis with you!" she wailed. "I'll get Mama. And
Martha. They'll know what to
do." She slammed the phone
down. "MAMA!!! MAMA!!!!!!"
Whitney
wrapped his arms around her. "Hey,
um, you guys have that van, right? Um...
Chloe’s gonna go in the ambulance with Lex... I'm taking her car, and you guys
can follow me in the van, right?"
Rosalyn
came bustling out of the library. "Good
heavens, child! Don't scream the
house down!" She saw the
ambulance lights and paled. "What's
going on? Shayla Marie!
Calm down!"
"AJ's
hurt and they think Clark did it and I called Morgan and he's on his way and he
told me to get you and Martha Kent and I don't know where she is and Clark would
NEVER hurt AJ!"
Megan
just nodded, snagging the keys from the small hallway table. "Come on, I'll
get it started. Lindy, stay here with the kids, I'll be back soon." She
grabbed Whitney’s arm and Chloe’s hand and led them to the door, where the
ambulance was getting all packed.
Chloe rushed to the ambulance doors, quickly getting in, eyes wide in her face as she sat down beside the medics and tried so, so hard not to cry but it was getting so hard and this was Lex, Lex who'd been a mountain of strength only an hour ago and now he was bleeding and oh, God, Clark couldn’t have done this. Oh, dear God.
"Just
calm down, young lady, calm down." Rosalyn
put her hand on Shayla's shoulder. "Where are your sisters?"
"Outside,
with AJ and those two assholes."
"All
right. Go and get my bag, and give
me my address book. Martha's phone
number is in it. Then go outside
and wait with Lindy, and we'll go and see what this is all about, okay?"
Shayla
nodded and tore off again, running through the house at a breakneck speed until
she grabbed her mother's purse, and dug through it for the address book.
She scribbled Martha's number on her own hand, just in case, and then ran
again, shoving it back in her mother's hands.
"Here!"
Rosalyn
went back to the library and picked up the phone, listening to the ringing and
hoping for an answer. She got the
answering machine. "Martha,
it's Rosalyn. Something's happened
to Lex, and they think that Clark's hurt him.
We know that's not the case, but they're taking him to the hospital here
in Smallville now. As soon as you
get this message, come over. Shayla
will be waiting for you at the emergency room entrance and she'll know where to
find us."
Lindy
nodded. "You got it."
Whitney juggled the keys that Chloe had slipped to him, and nearly dropped them. "Okay. This fucking sucks. I'm not gonna be able to do this," he swore softly. "But I gotta. I can do this for Chloe."
He
was so pale. It was all Chloe could do to think of it. So pale. And the medics
were getting him all IVed, and it still broke her heart as she took his hand.
"Lex? Lex?"
No
response. Lex was still out cold.
He didn't even feel the needles penetrating his skin.
"Miss?
I'm going to have to ask you to stay back out of the way until we've
gotten him prepped," he said quietly.
"Come
on, Mama...Shayla, sweetie." She took her trembling sisters hand and
soothed her as she always did, Megan style. She wrapped one willowy arm around
her, comforted her and rubbed her arm as they walked down the steps to the van.
"Its okay, hunny. Lex'll be alright, the doctors here were okay when Marie
had her baby, right? And she was even okay to drive back home to Metropolis with
Riley. Don’t worry, okay?"
"Okay."
Chloe's voice was choked, and she let go of Lex's hand, sitting back and
shifting about.
"They
think Clark hurt AJ. They're wrong,
Meg. They're totally wrong.
There's no way that Clark'd ever hurt Lex.
Never." She was nearly crushing her more slender sister.
"Promise they'll take good care of him?"
"Scouts
honor. Come on, get in the van." She reached it and slid the side door
open, packing her sister in and wishing she'd grabbed a coat. She ran back up
the steps to the two older women standing in the foyer, as the ambulance pulled
out. Megan snagged Whitney’s arm, nodded at him, and looked to her mother and
Ms Bird. "Are you guys coming?"
Chloe
did the only thing she could. She gently squeezed Lex's leg, right above his
knee, very tenderly as the paramedics did their job.
"Pupils
are responsive... doesn’t appear to be any fractured ribs, but theirs some
bruising around his left hip...probably hit the wall on the way down. How's
sinus rhythm?"
"Of
course we are." Rosalyn
wrapped Ms. Bird's hand through her elbow.
"We're on our way now." She
looked over at the other older woman. "Watch
your step, dearie, it's a bit slick."
“Rhythm
is normal; blood pressure is steady. Airway
sounds clear and unobstructed.”
"Good."
She smiled a little at the other medic, and glanced at Chloe. "He's gonna
be alright, miss. Just a nasty bump to the noggin, from what it looks like. You
said he had a fight with Mr. Kent?"
"W-we
don’t really..." She grasped Lex's hand in hers, tight. "We were
waiting for them… we were going to go out and eat. An-and he...they were
talking, and they got into an a-argument I guess and... and then he fell."
Her eyes filled again, swallowing hard. "H-He's going to be okay?"
"Looks
like he's going to be fine, once he wakes up.
The sooner he does, the more chance that there's not a fracture.
If there is a fracture, there's the possibility of damage to his spinal
cord because vertebrae could have shattered.
Has he sustained injuries like this before?"
"Tons
of times." And twin tears fell as her chin dimpled hard in an effort to
keep the sobs in.
The
medic scribbled something on the chart. "If
he's had injuries like this before and he's been all right, then I wouldn't
worry. This one will probably turn
out like all the others." He
tried to reassure her, and then moved from his side.
"Here you go. Just be
careful, and don't knock any of the IVs out." He stuck his head in the driver's cabin.
"Any word on the Kent kid yet?"
"Oh...good."
She swallowed at the lump, gently squeezing Lex's fingers as she looked down at
his closed eyes and pale cheeks. "He...he was in a car accident last
year...fell in the river, died and a-all." She swallowed hard again.
"Bashed i-in the head by some burglars, n-nearly burnt alive. He… he gets
around."
The
medic gave a quiet laugh. "Sounds
like it. Hospital's probably got a
file on him a foot thick." He
caught the tired look around her eyes. "How
long have the two of you been together?"
"Gyuh?
Oh! We're not....noooo." She shook her head many times. "We're just
very good friends. He's...he's, uh, dating someone else." Chloe nodded,
swallowing around the ball in her throat.
The
medic nodded. "You just seemed
so concerned... I thought the two of you were together. I'm sorry. He's
lucky to have a friend who cares so much about him."
A
soft groan from the stretcher. "Clark?"
"He's a good g....Lex! Oh! See???" She nodded at the medics, then down at Lex. "Hey, Lex, its me. Hey...you okay in there sweetie?"
Lex
didn't reply for a very long moment. Then,
"Can I get back to you on that?"
Chloe's
smile was priceless, shining as her wet eyes gazed down at him, and she gave his
hand an affectionate squeeze. "You do realize that every thunk takes years
off your life, don’t you?"
The
female paramedic chuckled as they drove through main street.
"Chloe."
Lex sighed. "Not the
time... for jokes." He tried
to sit up, but was restrained to the backboard by straps.
"Didn't know... you were into bondage."
"Oh,
yeah, I’m all about being tied up." She choked it, shaking her head as
she pressed him back down. "Lex, you're in an ambulance, sweetie. You
really knocked your head bad… there was a lot of blood. We're on the way to
the hospital."
Lex
closed his eyes. "That would
explain the noise." He cracked
them open just long enough to look around.
"Where's... where's Clark?"
"W...we
don’t know. They’re looking for him, though! So don’t worry, kay?"
She nodded it, gently rubbing his hand.
"He's...
he left?" The pounding,
throbbing ache in his skull prevented him from thinking anything too complex.
"He... didn't mean to, Chloe."
"Yeah...
don’t worry though, okay sweetie? These nice doctors are gonna get you all
taken care of."
"Have
to worry... he's not himself." Lex
tried again to get up, but the straps held him down. "Can someone... take these fucking things off?"
"I'm
sorry, Mr. Luthor, but we can't remove those until we get you to the emergency
room."
"Just
stay still, okay?" She nodded this, swallowing a ball of tension in her
throat.
"I
loathe being patronized."
A
worried chuckle from the medic. "Does
he always sound like that?"
She
beamed, nodded, beamed. "He's okay. If he woke up singing show tunes, that
would have been a problem." Then, to Lex. "Looks like you've got
yourself a purty concussion, baldy. Just stay put."
"I
do not get concussions, Chloe. I
stick an ice pack on the back of my head for a few days and I'm fine."
"Yeah,
and that’s why you still cant remember where the charger for your laptop
is." She rolled her eyes at him as Smallville general came into view.
"Be good, will you?"
"That's
absurd, Chloe. The charger is
exactly where I left it. Unfortunately,
I have no idea where that is."
"Exactly.
After your second concussion. So just… oomph." They parked, and the
medics started to move past her.
"Excuse
me, Miss." The medic jumped
out of the ambulance and lifted the bottom of Lex's stretcher, watching the
rollers flick out into position as he and his partner wheeled him in.
Chloe
squeezed out after them, little mules hitting the cement, and followed right
after.
She
helped her partner get Lex down, pulling the IV's and various machines they'd
hooked him up to on his legs, and rolled him through the ER doors.
Lex
closed his eyes against the dizzying flight into the ER, and tried to breathe
deeply. But it hurt his head.
Clark... where the hell are you? Lex
tried to reach out with his thoughts, but he could barely find the small silver
thread that linked him to his lover. Clark...
Lex trembled. He couldn't hear Clark, could barely feel him or anything, and he was... frightened. He needed Clark; wanted him there. "Clark... please. I need you," Lex whispered softly, eyes still closed on the stretcher, pain blossoming in the back of his head as he felt himself wheeled to a stop.
Lex felt two hot tears
sliding down his cheeks when he didn't feel Clark with him any longer.
"Clark," he whispered quietly, lost in the pushing back of
curtains around his cubicle.
~*~*~
"No,
no, no, no." Clarks moans filled the air as he shook his head side to side,
grasping it and trembling. His face was peaked, flushed with fever, eyes damp as
he wept and his lips cracked. Blood seeped from them, down his chin, and he set
his gaunt face on his upraised knees, crying softly. "No, no, no, no,
no."
He'd severed the link on purpose. Not because he wanted to... the voices in his head had told him to. Just like they'd told him to hide, to wait, not to move for a long time. Not for a long time. So he stayed in his spot, the bedroom that had once been Lillian’s, in a tiny corner. Curled up, in a ball, unable to move, just rock and hold his knees close to his chest. And he sang, very quietly. "Can’t catch mee... Can’t keep me heereee...gotta be allooonnneee..."
~*~*~
"Lionel?
Lionel, baby?" Dominic murmured it, gently stroking the soft, stubbled face
before him.
Slowly,
Lionel turned his eyes towards Dominic, seeing his body outlined against the
light. "Yes?
I'm here."
"Baby..."
It was almost in him to lie, but Dominic wasn’t a good liar around his lover,
so he just told the truth. "Love, it seems Lex has been hurt in Smallville.
Badly, as my sister called. Can I go to him, love? Will you be alright here for
a few hours by yourself?"
"My
son? Hurt?"
Lionel struggled to pull himself up into a sitting position.
"We're both going; get me a wheelchair, get me out of this bed this
instant. Call Toni.
She'll have it happen. Hurry,
Dominic."
"No!
Baby, no, you have to stay here, my love." Gently, soothingly, as was the
Senatori way, Dominic gently pressed him back down. "Baby, you're not well
enough, you've got to stay here."
"I
don't care, Dominic. I am going to
be there for my son when he needs me. And
if you won't take care of it, then I shall myself."
His hand reached out blindly for the phone and he cursed his blindness.
"Lionel,
dammit." Should have just left. DAMN. "You had an accident four days
ago. Stop being pig headed and lie back down this instant."
Lionel
gave up looking for the phone and threw the first thing that his hand came in
contact with, the remote for the television.
"Goddammit, Dominic! This
is my son!" he thundered.
Dominic
jumped...paled, and the nurse rose a brow at the both of them as she finished
and left. "Fine, Lionel. You want a chance that you'll get infection again
and fucking die on the way to Smallville, fine. I'll go get Toni." He got
up and left.
Lionel
growled softly to himself. No
matter what the cost... he was going to be there for his son.
"Damn
fucking stubborn as hell man, shit." Dominic muttered it darkly, and
planted himself in front of the nurses station, where Toni was going for another
patients chart. "Dr. Braxton, have you a moment?"
Toni
closed her clipboard. "For
you, Dominic? I always have a
moment. But just, because I'm due
to start rounds in about half an hour."
"Yes,
well. It seems Lionel’s son, Lex, was in an accident in Smallville. He called
a bit ago, and Lionel's demanding, quite crabbily might I add, that he go to
him. And since I haven’t got the heart to deny him, would you please discharge
him so we might go back home?" All said, of course, very calmly.
"You've
got to be joking, Dominic. If I let
him out of here, the state boards would yank my license so fast my head would
spin! Criminal negligence would be
the least of what they'd charge me with!"
Toni adjusted the stethoscope around her neck.
"No, you're not joking. You're
serious. That damned
old--fool," she said. "He's
not going anywhere, Dominic."
His
eyes narrowed. Okay, wait. See, first he'd been irritated with Lionel for being
a complete jack ass and not doing what he should. But now... "I’m quite
serious, in fact. He's a fool, but he's my fool, and quite unfortunately, what
he wants is usually what he gets. Who can I go to to make this happen?"
Toni
considered for a few minutes. "God,
maybe. Because nobody else in this
hospital is going to discharge him in this condition." She looked at him kindly.
"Dominic... I know what a stubborn goat he is, and I know how
stubborn you are. And quite
frankly, you'll not get me overruled this time.
I'm sorry, but short of the Chief of Staff and the CEO of the Board
countermanding my orders, he's not going anywhere."
"The
hell he's not." Because what Dominic wanted, HE always got. No
matter what. He turned on his heel and whipped his cell phone out, stalking to
the elevators and immediately commandeering the 'I’m important, get the hell
out of my way' stature that he was known for. Three rings in his
ear..."Carolyn, its me. Get Ruddy on the phone.... I don’t give a fuck if
he's in the middle of an election brunch, tell him its damn important. ...YES
now!! But before that, get me numbers for the head of the medical board here in
Metropolis." He paused, listening as the pert woman on the line rattled off
numbers, and reminded himself to get her a new years bonus. "Thank you,
dear, I'll call back in a bit." He pushed "25" on the elevator
panel as he and a woman with four children got in the elevator. He dialed
again...and got a man on the telephone. "Hello, Mr. Larkin? Yes, this is
Dominic Senatori, Lionel Luthor’s assistant?"
Toni
sighed as Dominic stalked off. Damned
if they weren't the perfect pair. Lionel
had moved heaven and earth to fulfill Dominic's wishes, and Dominic was moving
it back to fulfill Lionel's. And
damned if they weren't both going to give her a fucking headache.
Larkin
sat up straight in his chair, brushing off the secretary who was serving him
coffee. "Yes, Mr. Senatori,
what can I do for you?"
"Its
been a while, how's your wife?" He was business casual as the elevator
pinged to let more people on.
"She's
doing just fine, thanks for asking." Larkin
straightened his tie, even though he couldn't be seen through the phone.
"What can I do for you, Mr. Senatori?"
Unspoken was the rest of the sentence... any fucking thing that Lionel
Luthor wanted.
"Well,
you see, Mr. Luthor was in an accident a few days ago." Gone was his
accent, tone muted as he spoke easily through the cell phone. "Car
accident. He's fine, and we'd like to keep it out of the press, if you don’t
mind." He let the threat hang for a moment before continuing on. "Lex
was injured in Smallville earlier today, and Mr. Luthor would like to go to him,
but the hospital isn’t giving him the clearance he needs to leave. Do you
suppose theirs anything you can do for us, sir? It would be greatly
appreciated."
"Well,
of course it won't be in the press. We
guarantee our patients' privacy; it's our second concern, after their
welfare." He listened to the
rest of Dominic's speech. "Certainly
I could arrange for his release, but you needn't come through me.
His physician should be able to sign a release order right and proper.
If I arranged it, we'd require Dr. Berlitz's signature, and I'm not sure
he's back from the Berlin conference."
He
grit his teeth as he got off at the top floor. "Yes...a Dr Braxton has been
seeing him. A fine capable woman, but unfortunately, she's not permitted to sign
off on patients who aren’t quite ready to leave. Is their some way you can get
his release through the board?"
Larkin
translated the speech right away. "I
see. Dr. Braxton is unwilling to
sign out for Mr. Luthor's release. Well,
of course, I can expedite the paperwork right away, considering the great
contributions Mr. Luthor has made to our facility here, but... let me ask you a
question, Mr. Senatori. Would you
be willing to accept responsibility for his welfare? Seeing as how there is no other family available at the
moment, we would need the next of kin to sign for official responsibility."
I
AM NEXT OF KIN YOU BLOODY MORONIC LITTLE TWERPY BASTARD. "Yes." He grit his teeth hard, clenching his jaw as irritation
all but did the limbo in his belly. "And I thank you, Mr. Larkin, it would
be greatly appreciated...and Mr. Luthor doesn’t let kindly acts go
unnoticed." You little slime ball. "I’d like it done straight
away, if you could."
"Of
course, of course, no problem. I'll
get started on right away. Where
are you now? My office is on 25, at
the end of the purple hallway. If
you'd like to come by in about half an hour, I should have the paperwork ready.
I'll fax it to Dr. Berlitz, and we'll get his signature quick as a flash
and Mr. Luthor will be ready to go." Larkin
was sweating as he loosened his tie.
He
passed up the door the little troll was speaking of, walking actually to the
second hall, where there were personal services for the more...stately people
who came in and out of the hospital, taking care of such things as media and
transportation of the patients. "Have it ready, Mr. Larkin." He hung
up with those last malicious words and swung the door open to the small room,
smiling ever so brilliantly at the woman behind the desk. An ex, actually.
Felicia. Sweet woman, helped him see he was gay back in his twenties.
"Hello, dear."
The
woman beside Felicia at the desk rose a brow, smirked, and went into the back
rooms.
"Blah,
blah, you're looking delightful, blah. I’ve got a bit of a problem."
"Well,
I never thought I'd see the day. Hello,
Dominic." She rose from behind
the desk to give him a kiss on the cheek. "What's
the problem, and how much can you spend to solve it?"
He
kissed her back, a tight, short hug, and shook his head. "Mr. Luthor, I’m
afraid, is the problem, and I’ve got a ton. He was in an accident a few days
ago… he’s keeping a low profile, to keep it out of the media. His son was
hurt in Smallville, and he wants to go to Smallville to be with him.
I’m getting the paperwork finalized...think you can get us a copter and media
black out?"
"For
you? No problem.
As far as anyone knows, the helicopter is empty, and is going to
Smallville to pick up a patient. If
anything leaks out, that's what it'll be. The
media won't know the difference, and I'll send a blackout to the radio and TV
stations and ask the airport to notify us of any other choppers in the
area." She sat down at the
keyboard, and started clicking in commands.
"Still working for the old man?
I'm kinda surprised, I figured you for top of the world by now."
The printer in the corner surged to life and started spitting out papers. The fax machine also started to whistle and transmit
electronic information to her sources.
He
couldn’t help it...he was in such a bad mood, but seeing her after all this
time made him feel even a little better. "I am at the top of the
world." Then seriousness again, and he nodded. "I'll be back in
fifteen minutes." He turned on his heel and walked straight to Larkin’s
office--not bothering to knock, walking in and nodding. "I gave you 25
minutes, instead. Everything ready?"
"Hope
he makes you happy, sweetie. Lord
knows you deserve it," she said softly, watching him leave.
Boy had all but broken her heart, but she adored him to this day.
Whistling while she worked, Felicia set up the very quiet, very hushed
transfer of Mr. Luthor to Smallville.
Larkin
jumped nearly out of his seat. "Mr.
Senatori! You startled me.
It's almost finished; I've had a bit of trouble getting in contact with
Dr. Berlitz, but his signature should be coming through at any moment!
As soon as it does, all I have to do is co-sign the form, and Mr. Luthor
is ready to go! Please, have a
seat. Really, the fax should be
through any moment."
"I
wont be having a seat, I’m afraid. Actually, you're going to hurry to get this
form, because at the moment I’m quite agitated, and I hate to have to go to my
priest later with what exactly is in my mind to be doing." All said calm
and sweetly, nodding a little bit and crossing his arms… looking really scary,
as he was good at doing.
Larkin tapped his pen on his desk in an erratic rhythm. "I truly can't hurry things along anymore than I already have, Mr. Senatori. We all must--" Whatever he was going to say was cut off by the incoming whine of the fax machine. "Oh, thank God. Here's your fax, Mr. Senatori. It's coming through now."
He smiled, ever so chipper, and tapped his cell phone on his arm. "That’s very good for you, Mr. Larkin."
Larkin nearly ripped the paper out of the fax machine, barely waiting for the ink to dry before he was scribbling his signature across the back page of the fax, and offering it to Dominic. "There you go, sir. You're all prepared and ready to go. And if there's anything else that I can do, please, don't be afraid to call on me."
"I won’t, don’t worry." Another smile and Dominic snagged the paper, turning and all but flying through the door to the office across the hall. "Felicia, darling, I’m going to go have Dr. Braxton get Mr. Luthor ready, where the devil do we go?"
"Have them... have them bring him upstairs, here. There's roof access out the back of my office; it's where I go to smoke. The chopper can land on the roof pad and pick him up from there." She beamed brightly. "And all it's going to cost you is a dozen roses and some nice chocolate."
He did more then that. He snagged her up, planted a kiss right on her mouth as was the Irish way, and hugged her hard. "Keep next Saturday free. Lionel and I will take you out someplace fancy." He set her down, and he was gone.
Felicia laughed softly as he left. Breezing in and out, just like always, but damned if she hadn't been glad to see him.
-fin-