Various Updates
Jan. 6th, 2004 08:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
serafina201. My knee seems to be fine, my elbow is a little sore, and I am definitely going to try to get my feet aclimated to my sisters blades instead of mine. Yes, it was going full speed over a patch of rough concrete that tripped me (thus making it not ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
garryowen's fault), but my blades were acting weird anyway.
2. I was unable to secure a sub job tomorrow, making me very unhappy. I still may get a call in the early morning, but I won't know until then and that just sucks.
3. I got COTW 42 beta's back from 2 betas and am waiting for #3. Hopefully it will be posted this week.
4. I think I'm going to make a LJ entry linking to all the COTW's so when someone asks for a link to them all, I can give them it. It's too confusing the way it is now
And now, more Reporter!Lex
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Smallville was a quaint as the name suggested. Despite the growth it had experienced in the years after the meteor shower and the jobs brought in by the fertilizer plant, it retained the innocent quality of a small town. Old fashion buildings lined the street, cars were at a minimum in town, and there was a centralized quality to everything, as if the hub and life of the town were right here, on Main Street, giving a place for the community to gather.
Part of this, Clark explained, was due to the business savvy of Lana Lantry, formerly Lang. With money she'd inherited from her real father, she'd bought the closed and run-down theater and turned it into a coffee house/book store/art movie house.
"Her aunt owned the property and decided to sell it our senior year," Clark had explained as he and Lex approached the building. "Lana started doing all this research to find a way to save it, and stumbled across this article about how small towns were reviving their social centers by reviving old buildings and turning them into meetings places of some kind."
"Why did she care so much?" Lex had asked.
Clark's smiled had been priceless. "It's where her parents met, and she was enthralled by the idea of preserving their memory ... even though, as it turned out, her parents had had marital problems and her father wasn't even the man she thought it was." Clark had shrugged. "In some ways, I think it was just an excuse to start her own business, and it worked. She raised someone of the money herself, got the rest from her biological father and, irony of all irony, actually met her husband here."
A husband who, it turns out, was from the next town over, but had since moved to Smallville after he's married and become the manager of the fertilizer plant.
Derek Lantry, five nine, brown hair, brown eyes, open, honest face, and a love of mystery and intrigue. Within five minutes of meeting him, Lex knew that, if he were every invited into the Lantry house, he would find a bookshelf full of mystery and action/suspense novels, and movies like "Clear and Present Danger" and "The Maltese Falcon."
Clark, Derek, and Lex had taken a seat in the back corner of the Talon so they could talk in relative privacy. It wasn't very crowded in the coffee house yet, since school was still in session and most people were working, but Lex was cautious, and wanted to be out of the way without being so hidden as to start rumors.
"Outsiders have always been a way of life at the plant," Derek was telling them in hushed tones. More hushed than necessary, but he seemed to be getting into the role of the informer, and, having watched too many movies, was playing the part up. "Scientists and stuff, I mean. They're always coming and going, rotating in and out. They have their own place to work at the plant, and I'm not allowed to know what goes on there."
Lex raised an eyebrow. "Where do they work?"
"On the lower level, east wing. There's a whole corridor of labs there. Equipment that gets delivered all the time, and I can't even pronounce half the stuff, much less tell you what it does."
"You've never been down there?" Lex asked.
"Well, I've been there. I've met the people, once ate lunch with the guy in charge. A couple of times a fire has broken out, nothing big, but enough so I had to go down there. What I mean is I don't what they do, you know? They don't tell me, and I've stopped asking."
"So their activity is separate from the rest of the plant."
Derek nodded. "Yeah. They do their thing, I do my thing. We even send separate reports to Lane Enterprises, and when we get inspected, it's usually on different days by different people."
"What about the EPA?" Clark asked. "Do they inspect you separately?"
"No. It's one inspection, but the labs are always fine, I guess. We've never had no complaints or violations before. I can give you the reports, if you like."
"I'd like that. I was wondering, is the plant still run the same? I mean, have their been any drastic changes in the past few years?"
"Nothing at all. One time, my high school class came down for a tour? I could give the exact same way, right down to the corny jokes that were made about beans and such," he replied with a smile. "Oh, yeah, there have been advancements and some new ways to deal with things, but the advancements have made things safer and more productive. But, really, it just crap in there."
"No chemicals at all?" Lex asked skeptically. He didn't know much about fertilizer or fertilizer plants, but he did know that it was rare they didn't at least treat the animal waste, if they used it at all. The wave of the future was chemical fertilizer, especially the new product coming out that was supposedly environment friendly.
Derek frowned. "Well, yeah, some. We put out five different types of fertilizer, and each type takes a different mixture of chemicals. Let me see the reports again. I know what we use by heart."
Lex nodded, and Clark slid the reports across the table to him.
Derek studied them carefully before shaking his head. "No. This isn't us. Not these chemicals." He looked up. "I can give you a list of all the chemicals the fertilizer plant uses, as well as our disposal methods." He hesitated before adding, "I can try to find out about the scientists ..."
"No," Clark said quickly. "No, it's fine." He smiled. "Wouldn't want to arouse any suspicion. You can't afford it, especially with the baby coming."
Derek frowned and glanced behind him. Lana was at the counter, talking to a customer. Her hand was resting on her swollen belly, and she glowed with health and happiness.
"Do you really think it's dangerous?" he asked, turning back.
Lex shrugged. "It's hard to say, Derek. It might not be. Clark and I might be completely wrong in our suspicions. But, if we are right, then yes, there could be repercussions. There's no reason to get you involved more deeply than you have to be. It's Clark and my job to get in the middle of things like this. It's your job to process crap and take care of your family."
That was the right thing to say, because Derek immediately relaxed. "Are you going to print my name if you are right?"
"Not if you don't want us to."
He nodded contemplatively. "I'll think about it."
Clark pushed his glasses up his nose and leaned forward. "Derek, have you ever heard of Level Three?"
"Of course," he replied with a laugh. "It's what we all call the scientists. Few years back, there was this whole mess with this guy accusing Luthor Corp of making him sick with some sort of thing. Said it was on Level, three, don't you remember Clark? You were the one who was in the middle of it all, I've just heart the story."
"Yeah, I remember," Clark said a little woodenly. His smile was thin.
Derek nodded. "Anyway, someone brought it up one day as a joke. They'd been near the corridor and thought they'd seen a little girl. One of the scientists told him he was seeing things, and it reminded him how everyone'd been saying that guy was making things up or seeing things. 'There is no little girl' they told him, just like 'there is no Level Three.' So we've been calling it Level Three ever since. I don't think they call themselves that."
Clark and Lex exchanged glances. Interesting.
"Do the scientists live in town?" Clark asked.
"Yeah, most of them do. But they never stay. A scientist will stay for about six months before rotating out."
"Do they use a different waste disposal method than you?"
Derek looked around carefully before leaning in close, "Yeah, they do. They hired some company. The same company offered to give me a discount on the plant, but I'm happy with what we do. I'm not sure exactly how or what they're disposing."
"Can you get us a name?"
"Course."
Lex glanced at Clark with a raised brow. Another lead. Fantastic.
"One last question, Derek," Clark said. "Have you seen any of the scientists with meteor rocks?"
"Are you kidding?" Lana asked, coming up besides her husband. "About six months ago, Lane Enterprises started a massive project to find and harvest all the meteors in town."
Lex frowned; he didn't remember hearing that. "Are you sure it was Lane Enterprises?"
"The company had a different name. They were some geological something or other, but Lane Enterprises financed the operation. Henry Small did some background checking and found out. He's trying to gather enough evidence to mount a case against them."
"Why six months ago?" Lex muttered. Why not before?
"Because six months ago, a tornado hit and damaged that castle your father brought out here," Derek answered, putting his arm around Lana's waist. "The rumor is a safe was recovered when they were clearing the debris, and the safe, like the house, was the property of Lane Enterprises."
"And in the safe was all the information and research Lionel Luthor ever did on the meteors," Lana added. Her eyes moved to Clark and she bit her lip. "Or at least, that's what the rumor is."
Clark leaned forward, looking intently up at her. "Does anyone have a copy of what was in the safe?"
"Um," Lex said, clearing his throat. "I don't know if he does, but I know who might."
* * *
Lex's mood had dampened by the time he and Clark left the Talon. All the good feelings from that morning with Martha, and just the feel of the town as it worked it's way under his skin had faded in the light of new information.
He no longer knew what story he and Clark were working on. On the one hand, there was the chemical waste story they'd come to uncover, and seemed to be well on their way. Lex had a feeling that from here, it was all a paper trail, and even if they couldn't nail Lane Enterprises Lois would claim plausible deniability and that she just contracted the guys, not approved their disposal technique. And then she'd put a PR spin to make it seem as if she was the victim.
There was that story. And then, somehow, Lex suspected he'd stumbled across the first conclusive link to between Lois and his father's murder in years. He had no proof, not yet, but his instincts were seldom wrong.
He sighed and pulled out a cigarette. Then he noticed Clark looking at him.
"What? Is the town non-smoking or something?" he snapped.
Clark made an open hand gesture that translated roughly to, "It's your life."
Lex sniffed and lit up. He was in such a fucking bad mood. And that was wrong. This was supposed to be, well, not a vacation, but close to. And, despite the work, it had been working. There was already a noticeable difference in Clark, so much so that he seemed like completely different person. The Clark back in Metropolis was a bad dresser, he hunched his shoulders, and was smaller somehow. Purposefully so, and Lex saw right through it, but just off.
Here, though, you could really tell he was home. His head was held high and tilted to the sun. His features were relaxed, shoulders down. He was ten times more comfortable in the flannel and jeans than anything Lex had ever seen him in. His arms swung loosely, instead of being held in as if Clark were afraid to take up too much space.
He took up space, that was the difference. Here, he knew how to move and act and what to say. He didn't have to pretend because this is where he'd grown up and no one was paying any attention to him anyway.
Clark was home.
Lex sighed and took another drag on his cigarette. For the first time since they'd met, Lex really felt at a disadvantage. Yes, Clark had seen him at his most embarrassing when he'd been freaking out over meeting Superman, and he'd seen Lex, well, almost dead, and drugged, unable to recognize his surroundings, but that was different. Because all those times, Lex had the smallest, tiniest suspicion that deep down, Clark was depending on him. First to show him the ropes at the plant, and then to make him feel important.
No. That was not only unfair, it was also completely incorrect. It wasn't that taking care of Lex made Clark feel important, it was that it fulfilled a need inside of him, whether it was to care for another human being or just to be able to care for Lex. Clark had needed Lex during those moments just as badly as Lex had needed him.
But now. This was a world in which Lex had never existed. Streets he'd never walked down and people he'd never met. And felt as if everything they'd meant to each other in the city had faded away, and another, younger, happier version of Clark was emerging.
This sucked.
"She still loves you, you know," Lex finally said. He had no idea where they were walking, or why. When they'd left the Talon, they'd turned away from their car, and were now walking down a dirt road, covered with dead leaves from the gorgeous trees that lined the road.
Clark glanced at him. "What?"
"Lana. She still loves you. And misses you. She was wondering if she'd settled when she married Derek, even though she loves him. Wonders if maybe she trapped herself in something."
"You can't know that," Clark said, shaking his head. He seemed extremely amused, which pissed Lex off even more.
"I wish you'd stop saying that to me. I *do* know. I'm good at this."
"Lex ..."
"She didn't take her eyes off you the entire time we were in there. She had this dreamy look on her face until Derek would say something. Then she kept fiddling with her wedding ring and frowning, looking at Derek with an expression of sadness. And she kept touching her stomach."
"Maybe the baby was kicking."
"Clark ..."
"Lex." Clark stepped in front of Lex and placed his hands on his shoulders. Gazing down at him, he said, "Lana wants a lot of things she can't have. She always has, that's her biggest problem. Before she and I dated, her boyfriend was the captain of the football team, completely in love with her, totally devoted. But she wanted more. Something else. It was the same when she and I dated. It was fine at first, but I couldn't give her what she wanted. She asked too much of me. So, if she had regrets now, that doesn't mean anything except Lana is still Lana." He tentatively put his hand on Lex's back. "Besides. You know I'm crazy about you. And gay."
Lex pulled away and smoked furiously on his cigarette.
"I never slept with her," Clark offered.
"I didn't say you did."
"Then I don't know why you're so upset. No, stop." Clark grabbed Lex by the arm and pulled him to a halt. "Lex, why are you so upset about this? I mean, give me a break! An old girlfriend who is married and pregnant shows some modicum of interest in me, and you get pissy? I'm not interested in her. She's not a threat. Not like Lois Lane is."
He snorted. "Lois isn't ..."
"Please. Look at me and tell me that if either I or Superman wasn't in the picture, the two of you wouldn't have fucked at some point in the past few months."
"If you or Superman wasn't in my life, a, there'd be no reason for Lois to be so intrusive right now and b, I'd be dead. So, yeah Clark, I can look at you honestly and say that Lois and I wouldn't have fucked."
Clark sighed and rolled his eyes. "Okay, fine. But my point is that Lois is ten time more a threat than Lana simply because, despite everything, you find her attractive. I *don't* find Lana attractive. And don't get me started on Superman. No one can compete against him and win." He ran his hands through his hair and tugged.
Lex stared at him a moment, shaken. Finally, he said the only thing that came to mind, which was, "You could."
It took a moment before it sunk in. Clark had actually started to turn away, when he froze. He turned slowly and looked at Lex for a long moment, hardly breathing.
"What did you say?" he finally asked.
Oh, God, fuck, damn it, shit.
"I said," Lex repeated putting as much annoyance in his voice as possible "that you could." Then, as Clark started reaching for him, Lex turned tail and fled down the road.
Well. Walked as quickly as he could without losing his dignity.
He had no idea where he was heading, where Clark had been leading him, but that was all right. He couldn't get lost in Smallville. And, if he did, Clark would find him,
Or maybe Superman. And, at this point, Lex didn't know if he wanted either one. They were too different, too much the same, and too confusing. Each pulled him in a different direction, each made him want different things, and Lex wasn't sure if any of it could ever be reconciled into one package.
Lex was terrified. Because he'd been divided against himself before, had felt tugged in two different directions as he struggled to decide if he was a Luthor of if he was Lex.
Clark had the look. The look of a man who was at war with himself, and Lex was beginning to get a clue he couldn't ignore.
The road crested suddenly and Lex was greeted to a breathtaking view of late afternoon sunlight streaming over a ramshackle castle. It sat at the bottom of the hill, dark and grim, like all good haunted castles should. The gate around it was knocked down, as was half of one of the wings.
A shiver ran through Lex as he gazed on it, and he hugged himself tightly.
"I thought you might like to see it," Clark said softly, almost shyly, as he came to a stop besides Lex.
Lex shook his head. "Why ever would I?"
"Isn't this your ancestral home? Isn't that why Lionel brought it over from Scotland? I remember reading that ...."
"You obviously didn't read the right papers, Clark," Lex interrupted. Then, he said, "My dad was going to send me to Smallville, you know."
"Oh?"
He nodded. "About, oh, eleven or so years ago? Maybe more, I don't remember. I was twenty-one, and screwing up in grad school. Dad wanted to send me here to be manager of the plant. I begged him not to and, about a week after he first made the suggestion, approached him with the idea to take over Lane Enterprises. He liked my proposal, and so we went with it." Lex laughed bitterly, unable to take his eyes off the ruined building.
"I didn't know that," Clark said quietly.
"No. It ... it didn't exactly go into any of the articles I wrote. I already felt as if I was guilty enough, I didn't need to add that sin." He snorted. "Just think. We could have met years ago."
"I think we met when we were supposed to. When we were ready."
Lex sighed and closed his eyes. "I don't feel ready."
Clark touched his back softly. "Lex, we're never given more than we can handle. Dad taught me that. We don't always know our own inner strength, but life isn't out to get us. Just challenge us."
Tears rose behind Lex's eyes, but he squashed them mercilessly. Oh, God, this kid. This boy. This ... being next to Lex, was so wonderful and frightening, and Lex had no idea what he was supposed to do with him.
He cleared his throat and took a few deep breaths before saying softly, "While I was, uh, doing research for the story, I came across some information about my father. Stuff I never knew, like where he'd come from, and who his parents were. What happened to them," he added in a dead voice, trying not to shudder. "Who Dad's closest and most intimate friend was. Amazing the information you find when you look." He opened his eyes again and looked at the castle. "That castle is someone else's heritage. Dad made everything up and brought it over to make up a past for us. It's nothing but a pipe dream. And I am really tired to dreams." He turned, met Clark's eyes for one heart stopping moment.
For a second Clark looked as if he were going to say something, but, right now, Lex couldn't hear it. He stopped the words with his mouth, and then quickly walked away.
TBC ...
garryowen's fault), but my blades were acting weird anyway.2. I was unable to secure a sub job tomorrow, making me very unhappy. I still may get a call in the early morning, but I won't know until then and that just sucks.
3. I got COTW 42 beta's back from 2 betas and am waiting for #3. Hopefully it will be posted this week.
4. I think I'm going to make a LJ entry linking to all the COTW's so when someone asks for a link to them all, I can give them it. It's too confusing the way it is now
And now, more Reporter!Lex
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Smallville was a quaint as the name suggested. Despite the growth it had experienced in the years after the meteor shower and the jobs brought in by the fertilizer plant, it retained the innocent quality of a small town. Old fashion buildings lined the street, cars were at a minimum in town, and there was a centralized quality to everything, as if the hub and life of the town were right here, on Main Street, giving a place for the community to gather.
Part of this, Clark explained, was due to the business savvy of Lana Lantry, formerly Lang. With money she'd inherited from her real father, she'd bought the closed and run-down theater and turned it into a coffee house/book store/art movie house.
"Her aunt owned the property and decided to sell it our senior year," Clark had explained as he and Lex approached the building. "Lana started doing all this research to find a way to save it, and stumbled across this article about how small towns were reviving their social centers by reviving old buildings and turning them into meetings places of some kind."
"Why did she care so much?" Lex had asked.
Clark's smiled had been priceless. "It's where her parents met, and she was enthralled by the idea of preserving their memory ... even though, as it turned out, her parents had had marital problems and her father wasn't even the man she thought it was." Clark had shrugged. "In some ways, I think it was just an excuse to start her own business, and it worked. She raised someone of the money herself, got the rest from her biological father and, irony of all irony, actually met her husband here."
A husband who, it turns out, was from the next town over, but had since moved to Smallville after he's married and become the manager of the fertilizer plant.
Derek Lantry, five nine, brown hair, brown eyes, open, honest face, and a love of mystery and intrigue. Within five minutes of meeting him, Lex knew that, if he were every invited into the Lantry house, he would find a bookshelf full of mystery and action/suspense novels, and movies like "Clear and Present Danger" and "The Maltese Falcon."
Clark, Derek, and Lex had taken a seat in the back corner of the Talon so they could talk in relative privacy. It wasn't very crowded in the coffee house yet, since school was still in session and most people were working, but Lex was cautious, and wanted to be out of the way without being so hidden as to start rumors.
"Outsiders have always been a way of life at the plant," Derek was telling them in hushed tones. More hushed than necessary, but he seemed to be getting into the role of the informer, and, having watched too many movies, was playing the part up. "Scientists and stuff, I mean. They're always coming and going, rotating in and out. They have their own place to work at the plant, and I'm not allowed to know what goes on there."
Lex raised an eyebrow. "Where do they work?"
"On the lower level, east wing. There's a whole corridor of labs there. Equipment that gets delivered all the time, and I can't even pronounce half the stuff, much less tell you what it does."
"You've never been down there?" Lex asked.
"Well, I've been there. I've met the people, once ate lunch with the guy in charge. A couple of times a fire has broken out, nothing big, but enough so I had to go down there. What I mean is I don't what they do, you know? They don't tell me, and I've stopped asking."
"So their activity is separate from the rest of the plant."
Derek nodded. "Yeah. They do their thing, I do my thing. We even send separate reports to Lane Enterprises, and when we get inspected, it's usually on different days by different people."
"What about the EPA?" Clark asked. "Do they inspect you separately?"
"No. It's one inspection, but the labs are always fine, I guess. We've never had no complaints or violations before. I can give you the reports, if you like."
"I'd like that. I was wondering, is the plant still run the same? I mean, have their been any drastic changes in the past few years?"
"Nothing at all. One time, my high school class came down for a tour? I could give the exact same way, right down to the corny jokes that were made about beans and such," he replied with a smile. "Oh, yeah, there have been advancements and some new ways to deal with things, but the advancements have made things safer and more productive. But, really, it just crap in there."
"No chemicals at all?" Lex asked skeptically. He didn't know much about fertilizer or fertilizer plants, but he did know that it was rare they didn't at least treat the animal waste, if they used it at all. The wave of the future was chemical fertilizer, especially the new product coming out that was supposedly environment friendly.
Derek frowned. "Well, yeah, some. We put out five different types of fertilizer, and each type takes a different mixture of chemicals. Let me see the reports again. I know what we use by heart."
Lex nodded, and Clark slid the reports across the table to him.
Derek studied them carefully before shaking his head. "No. This isn't us. Not these chemicals." He looked up. "I can give you a list of all the chemicals the fertilizer plant uses, as well as our disposal methods." He hesitated before adding, "I can try to find out about the scientists ..."
"No," Clark said quickly. "No, it's fine." He smiled. "Wouldn't want to arouse any suspicion. You can't afford it, especially with the baby coming."
Derek frowned and glanced behind him. Lana was at the counter, talking to a customer. Her hand was resting on her swollen belly, and she glowed with health and happiness.
"Do you really think it's dangerous?" he asked, turning back.
Lex shrugged. "It's hard to say, Derek. It might not be. Clark and I might be completely wrong in our suspicions. But, if we are right, then yes, there could be repercussions. There's no reason to get you involved more deeply than you have to be. It's Clark and my job to get in the middle of things like this. It's your job to process crap and take care of your family."
That was the right thing to say, because Derek immediately relaxed. "Are you going to print my name if you are right?"
"Not if you don't want us to."
He nodded contemplatively. "I'll think about it."
Clark pushed his glasses up his nose and leaned forward. "Derek, have you ever heard of Level Three?"
"Of course," he replied with a laugh. "It's what we all call the scientists. Few years back, there was this whole mess with this guy accusing Luthor Corp of making him sick with some sort of thing. Said it was on Level, three, don't you remember Clark? You were the one who was in the middle of it all, I've just heart the story."
"Yeah, I remember," Clark said a little woodenly. His smile was thin.
Derek nodded. "Anyway, someone brought it up one day as a joke. They'd been near the corridor and thought they'd seen a little girl. One of the scientists told him he was seeing things, and it reminded him how everyone'd been saying that guy was making things up or seeing things. 'There is no little girl' they told him, just like 'there is no Level Three.' So we've been calling it Level Three ever since. I don't think they call themselves that."
Clark and Lex exchanged glances. Interesting.
"Do the scientists live in town?" Clark asked.
"Yeah, most of them do. But they never stay. A scientist will stay for about six months before rotating out."
"Do they use a different waste disposal method than you?"
Derek looked around carefully before leaning in close, "Yeah, they do. They hired some company. The same company offered to give me a discount on the plant, but I'm happy with what we do. I'm not sure exactly how or what they're disposing."
"Can you get us a name?"
"Course."
Lex glanced at Clark with a raised brow. Another lead. Fantastic.
"One last question, Derek," Clark said. "Have you seen any of the scientists with meteor rocks?"
"Are you kidding?" Lana asked, coming up besides her husband. "About six months ago, Lane Enterprises started a massive project to find and harvest all the meteors in town."
Lex frowned; he didn't remember hearing that. "Are you sure it was Lane Enterprises?"
"The company had a different name. They were some geological something or other, but Lane Enterprises financed the operation. Henry Small did some background checking and found out. He's trying to gather enough evidence to mount a case against them."
"Why six months ago?" Lex muttered. Why not before?
"Because six months ago, a tornado hit and damaged that castle your father brought out here," Derek answered, putting his arm around Lana's waist. "The rumor is a safe was recovered when they were clearing the debris, and the safe, like the house, was the property of Lane Enterprises."
"And in the safe was all the information and research Lionel Luthor ever did on the meteors," Lana added. Her eyes moved to Clark and she bit her lip. "Or at least, that's what the rumor is."
Clark leaned forward, looking intently up at her. "Does anyone have a copy of what was in the safe?"
"Um," Lex said, clearing his throat. "I don't know if he does, but I know who might."
* * *
Lex's mood had dampened by the time he and Clark left the Talon. All the good feelings from that morning with Martha, and just the feel of the town as it worked it's way under his skin had faded in the light of new information.
He no longer knew what story he and Clark were working on. On the one hand, there was the chemical waste story they'd come to uncover, and seemed to be well on their way. Lex had a feeling that from here, it was all a paper trail, and even if they couldn't nail Lane Enterprises Lois would claim plausible deniability and that she just contracted the guys, not approved their disposal technique. And then she'd put a PR spin to make it seem as if she was the victim.
There was that story. And then, somehow, Lex suspected he'd stumbled across the first conclusive link to between Lois and his father's murder in years. He had no proof, not yet, but his instincts were seldom wrong.
He sighed and pulled out a cigarette. Then he noticed Clark looking at him.
"What? Is the town non-smoking or something?" he snapped.
Clark made an open hand gesture that translated roughly to, "It's your life."
Lex sniffed and lit up. He was in such a fucking bad mood. And that was wrong. This was supposed to be, well, not a vacation, but close to. And, despite the work, it had been working. There was already a noticeable difference in Clark, so much so that he seemed like completely different person. The Clark back in Metropolis was a bad dresser, he hunched his shoulders, and was smaller somehow. Purposefully so, and Lex saw right through it, but just off.
Here, though, you could really tell he was home. His head was held high and tilted to the sun. His features were relaxed, shoulders down. He was ten times more comfortable in the flannel and jeans than anything Lex had ever seen him in. His arms swung loosely, instead of being held in as if Clark were afraid to take up too much space.
He took up space, that was the difference. Here, he knew how to move and act and what to say. He didn't have to pretend because this is where he'd grown up and no one was paying any attention to him anyway.
Clark was home.
Lex sighed and took another drag on his cigarette. For the first time since they'd met, Lex really felt at a disadvantage. Yes, Clark had seen him at his most embarrassing when he'd been freaking out over meeting Superman, and he'd seen Lex, well, almost dead, and drugged, unable to recognize his surroundings, but that was different. Because all those times, Lex had the smallest, tiniest suspicion that deep down, Clark was depending on him. First to show him the ropes at the plant, and then to make him feel important.
No. That was not only unfair, it was also completely incorrect. It wasn't that taking care of Lex made Clark feel important, it was that it fulfilled a need inside of him, whether it was to care for another human being or just to be able to care for Lex. Clark had needed Lex during those moments just as badly as Lex had needed him.
But now. This was a world in which Lex had never existed. Streets he'd never walked down and people he'd never met. And felt as if everything they'd meant to each other in the city had faded away, and another, younger, happier version of Clark was emerging.
This sucked.
"She still loves you, you know," Lex finally said. He had no idea where they were walking, or why. When they'd left the Talon, they'd turned away from their car, and were now walking down a dirt road, covered with dead leaves from the gorgeous trees that lined the road.
Clark glanced at him. "What?"
"Lana. She still loves you. And misses you. She was wondering if she'd settled when she married Derek, even though she loves him. Wonders if maybe she trapped herself in something."
"You can't know that," Clark said, shaking his head. He seemed extremely amused, which pissed Lex off even more.
"I wish you'd stop saying that to me. I *do* know. I'm good at this."
"Lex ..."
"She didn't take her eyes off you the entire time we were in there. She had this dreamy look on her face until Derek would say something. Then she kept fiddling with her wedding ring and frowning, looking at Derek with an expression of sadness. And she kept touching her stomach."
"Maybe the baby was kicking."
"Clark ..."
"Lex." Clark stepped in front of Lex and placed his hands on his shoulders. Gazing down at him, he said, "Lana wants a lot of things she can't have. She always has, that's her biggest problem. Before she and I dated, her boyfriend was the captain of the football team, completely in love with her, totally devoted. But she wanted more. Something else. It was the same when she and I dated. It was fine at first, but I couldn't give her what she wanted. She asked too much of me. So, if she had regrets now, that doesn't mean anything except Lana is still Lana." He tentatively put his hand on Lex's back. "Besides. You know I'm crazy about you. And gay."
Lex pulled away and smoked furiously on his cigarette.
"I never slept with her," Clark offered.
"I didn't say you did."
"Then I don't know why you're so upset. No, stop." Clark grabbed Lex by the arm and pulled him to a halt. "Lex, why are you so upset about this? I mean, give me a break! An old girlfriend who is married and pregnant shows some modicum of interest in me, and you get pissy? I'm not interested in her. She's not a threat. Not like Lois Lane is."
He snorted. "Lois isn't ..."
"Please. Look at me and tell me that if either I or Superman wasn't in the picture, the two of you wouldn't have fucked at some point in the past few months."
"If you or Superman wasn't in my life, a, there'd be no reason for Lois to be so intrusive right now and b, I'd be dead. So, yeah Clark, I can look at you honestly and say that Lois and I wouldn't have fucked."
Clark sighed and rolled his eyes. "Okay, fine. But my point is that Lois is ten time more a threat than Lana simply because, despite everything, you find her attractive. I *don't* find Lana attractive. And don't get me started on Superman. No one can compete against him and win." He ran his hands through his hair and tugged.
Lex stared at him a moment, shaken. Finally, he said the only thing that came to mind, which was, "You could."
It took a moment before it sunk in. Clark had actually started to turn away, when he froze. He turned slowly and looked at Lex for a long moment, hardly breathing.
"What did you say?" he finally asked.
Oh, God, fuck, damn it, shit.
"I said," Lex repeated putting as much annoyance in his voice as possible "that you could." Then, as Clark started reaching for him, Lex turned tail and fled down the road.
Well. Walked as quickly as he could without losing his dignity.
He had no idea where he was heading, where Clark had been leading him, but that was all right. He couldn't get lost in Smallville. And, if he did, Clark would find him,
Or maybe Superman. And, at this point, Lex didn't know if he wanted either one. They were too different, too much the same, and too confusing. Each pulled him in a different direction, each made him want different things, and Lex wasn't sure if any of it could ever be reconciled into one package.
Lex was terrified. Because he'd been divided against himself before, had felt tugged in two different directions as he struggled to decide if he was a Luthor of if he was Lex.
Clark had the look. The look of a man who was at war with himself, and Lex was beginning to get a clue he couldn't ignore.
The road crested suddenly and Lex was greeted to a breathtaking view of late afternoon sunlight streaming over a ramshackle castle. It sat at the bottom of the hill, dark and grim, like all good haunted castles should. The gate around it was knocked down, as was half of one of the wings.
A shiver ran through Lex as he gazed on it, and he hugged himself tightly.
"I thought you might like to see it," Clark said softly, almost shyly, as he came to a stop besides Lex.
Lex shook his head. "Why ever would I?"
"Isn't this your ancestral home? Isn't that why Lionel brought it over from Scotland? I remember reading that ...."
"You obviously didn't read the right papers, Clark," Lex interrupted. Then, he said, "My dad was going to send me to Smallville, you know."
"Oh?"
He nodded. "About, oh, eleven or so years ago? Maybe more, I don't remember. I was twenty-one, and screwing up in grad school. Dad wanted to send me here to be manager of the plant. I begged him not to and, about a week after he first made the suggestion, approached him with the idea to take over Lane Enterprises. He liked my proposal, and so we went with it." Lex laughed bitterly, unable to take his eyes off the ruined building.
"I didn't know that," Clark said quietly.
"No. It ... it didn't exactly go into any of the articles I wrote. I already felt as if I was guilty enough, I didn't need to add that sin." He snorted. "Just think. We could have met years ago."
"I think we met when we were supposed to. When we were ready."
Lex sighed and closed his eyes. "I don't feel ready."
Clark touched his back softly. "Lex, we're never given more than we can handle. Dad taught me that. We don't always know our own inner strength, but life isn't out to get us. Just challenge us."
Tears rose behind Lex's eyes, but he squashed them mercilessly. Oh, God, this kid. This boy. This ... being next to Lex, was so wonderful and frightening, and Lex had no idea what he was supposed to do with him.
He cleared his throat and took a few deep breaths before saying softly, "While I was, uh, doing research for the story, I came across some information about my father. Stuff I never knew, like where he'd come from, and who his parents were. What happened to them," he added in a dead voice, trying not to shudder. "Who Dad's closest and most intimate friend was. Amazing the information you find when you look." He opened his eyes again and looked at the castle. "That castle is someone else's heritage. Dad made everything up and brought it over to make up a past for us. It's nothing but a pipe dream. And I am really tired to dreams." He turned, met Clark's eyes for one heart stopping moment.
For a second Clark looked as if he were going to say something, but, right now, Lex couldn't hear it. He stopped the words with his mouth, and then quickly walked away.
TBC ...
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Date: 2004-01-06 08:57 pm (UTC)*hugs them both*
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Date: 2004-01-07 08:30 am (UTC)Yup. Because Lex always sees the man beneath the cape. Now it's just a matter of convincing Clark, I think.
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Date: 2004-01-06 09:02 pm (UTC)Also, a COTW index linked from your memories or user info page would be awesome.
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Date: 2004-01-07 08:31 am (UTC)Not only does it thicken, but I think I know where it's going to go! Finally. :P
Wow!
Date: 2004-01-06 09:23 pm (UTC)Re: Wow!
Date: 2004-01-07 08:32 am (UTC)Yay! I'm really glad you are. I'll try to post the next part soon. :P
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Date: 2004-01-06 10:38 pm (UTC)I love that Lex is lovable in all of his various incarnations. :)
Keep up the good work!
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Date: 2004-01-07 08:33 am (UTC)It just sort of hit me one day to wonder what it'd be like. I'd really hoped soemone else had already written it so I could be lazy and just read, but this is more fun. ;P
I love that Lex is lovable in all of his various incarnations. :)
Of course! He's Lex! We wubs Lex.
Keep up the good work!
I'll try!
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Date: 2004-01-06 10:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-01-07 08:41 am (UTC)Haven't had a chance to read Reporter-Lex yet, but it's definitely on my to-do list!
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Date: 2004-01-07 11:29 am (UTC)I adore this so much!
And I can’t wait to see what will happen next.
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Date: 2004-01-11 10:48 pm (UTC)