Please read!! AUTHOR'S NOTE: I should have known the last line in the previous chapter would imply the wrong thing.  BAD ME, BAD ME!!! There is no Jonathon/Lex confrontation planned.  Not for this story, anyway.  I'm sorry.  Believe me, I want to get to it too, but I can't just yet.  He's not coming back until Monday.  I like it that everyone wants to see the confrontation though.  Lol!

Chapter Six: God, Sometimes

His mother frowned, walking towards the living room.  "Since when does Lex call you 'Mr. Kent'?"

"He never- he doesn't."

"Well, I'd certainly hope not,"  she muttered sarcastically, crossing through the kitchen and living room towards the front door.  He followed and reached the spot beside her just as she opened it.  A portly old man, shorter than even Martha's 5'4, stood with a kind and patient smile.  "Mrs. Kent," he nodded.  "Ah, and the youngest Mr. Kent, I presume."

Clark nodded.

~Irish accent.  This is... bizarre.~

"I'm your driver, Michael O'Brian."

Clark looked out the door and found the limo parked in their driveway.  His stomach twisted and he frowned, getting a bad vibe.  Lex wasn't rude and wouldn't wait in the car.  So what the hell?

~Calm down.~

"Where's Lex?" he asked, maintaining his cool.

"Mister Luthor wishes to express his most deep and humbling apologies-"

~Apologies for what?~

"-to the both of you for not being able to pick up Mr. Kent himself, but-"

~Oh, no.~

Clark felt his stomach drop.  This was not good.  So much for the romantic and passionate ride.  Okay, well, thoughts of his mother would have probably killed any sexual desire either had at the moment.  He knew he'd have to tell Lex about his stupid inability to remember a lie-

~Damn Biology.  I'll never be able to look at Mr. Todsul the same way again.~

-but they still could have been together, talking, touching, looking…  Anything, even arguing, would have been better than no Lex for a three hour drive.

"Lex isn't going?" asked Martha.

Why would Lex send him to Metropolis and not go?  What was the surprise that Lex would send Clark alone to the city for?  Whatever it was, it wasn't worth not being with Lex.  If Lex had to stay in Smallville and be miserable with his father's presence then, damnit, Clark would find some way to be miserable with him.  He wasn't going to the city alone.

"Mister Luthor is already in the city."

He sighed in relief and saw his mother turn to look at him.  "What happened?"

"His father called early this morning and informed him that his presence was required immediately."

Clark tensed and he felt his headache returning, this time the queasiness was replaced by a dull, angry throb.  "His dad called?"

The Irishman nodded.

"How early?"  Martha asked.

"Around two."

"His father."  Clark said, letting the bitterness seep through.  Lionel treated his son like a god-damn slave.  All of the work that spiteful man tossed at Lex was destined to give the young man some sort of tension disorder.  Clark had learned plenty about those thanks to bad years on the farm.  Poor weather, faulty products, disturbed soilbeds sprouting inedible mutations, etc.  Jonathon had been diagnosed twice before just outright refusing to put himself through any more tests when he already knew what the outcome would be.  Tension was tension to Jonathon, a man of the land.  Any real farmer would handle it in stride.

But Lex...  His father and his inability to stand up to the man were wearing him thin.  He felt responsible for the work and his plant and even Smallville.  Lionel was just playing up on that responsibility, calling on Lex like some tag-a-long minon.

And now he paid no mind to working hours verses private hours.

"Bastard." he muttered.  Again he got the look from his mother, and, was that a smile from Mr. O'Brian?

~Lionel.  Stupid bastard shithead geezer.~

He didn't have to wonder why the vocabulary of his thoughts always centered around expletives when the elder Luthor came to mind.  And now, as if he really needed to add on to the man's pile of dung for accomplishments, Lionel was the reason that his Lex couldn't go with him on the trip to the city.  His Lex.  Not Lionel's.  He'd have to find some way to make that distinction subtly clear.

He sighed.  Three hours that could have been theirs, that could have been fun and intense, then loving and relaxing.

Lex needed to be loved.  He needed to relax.  He was always so miserable and, more recent than not, exhausted.  Clark was determined to change that, though.  He was going to make sure that on this trip his lover was happy and at peace.  Completely.

Even if he had to strangle his lover's father to achieve that goal.

"Lex is still going to follow his previous plans then?" his mother inquired.

"Hmm?  Oh, yes, ma'am.  Most definitely.  And these-" he bent down and briefly out of Clark's view, then came back up with a large vase of multicolored day lilies, Martha's favorite.  "Are for you.  Mister Luthor's courtesy of course."

Surprised, she took the vase, a gorgeous, rich ocean blue that purposely fit the interior of both the living room and the kitchen.  Martha had never been too tired or peeved in her life to appreciate a genuine gesture, and she smiled.  Clark saw in her eyes that the flowers meant more now that his relationship with the older boy was out in the open.  It seemed different, like a deeper and more simple gesture.  Something from the heart and gut instead of the practiced mannerisms of the rich or polite.

"Thank you.  I'll be right back, Mr. O'Brian."  She turned to her son.  "Clark, I'll get your bag."

He started to follow her.  "Thanks, but I'll-"

"Mr. Kent?"  O'Brian's voice caught his attention and he turned to face the little man.  He'd felt large before but without his mother between them as a buffer, a stepping stool of sorts, he felt like a giant faced with a well dressed gnome.  Or, with that accent, maybe a well dressed leprechaun.

"It's 'Clark'," he said smiling, an image of the driver in green clothes and strange shoes entering his mind.  Singing about a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

O'Brian would be driving Clark to his own pot of gold.

~Yeesh, Lex, I miss you.~

O'Brian smiled back and gave a small nod. "Mister Luthor said that you would insist.  He also said not to make you uncomfortable, so, 'Clark' it is.  This is for you."  He held out a small envelope and his tone became a heavily confidential whisper.  "He only had about thirty seconds to jot it down, sir, and it was right before he climbed into the helicopter.  He was very adamant on you receiving it, lad."

Clark took the envelope and pulled out a card.  He swallowed, heated at just the site of Lex's handwriting.  It looked sloppy compared to the rest of the samples Clark had seen, but that just made Clark's heart leap.

~He'd been in a hurry and he still took time to write me.~

He swallowed and focused on the words.

He closed his eyes and held himself up with a hand on the doorframe.

--And I love you, too, Clark.--

He'd barely read the line following.  He knew the moment Lex said those words, it would be special, meaningful, but this…

--I love you, too, Clark.--

He hadn't expected it to be written and still have the bottom of his stomach drop out.

--I love you, too.--

He felt so... warm.

"Clark?"  His mother was beside him holding his bag.

He opened his eyes, turning to ask O'Brian if he could give them a moment but the driver was already walking along the porch whistling, staring out at their fields.

~Odd little man.~

He turned back to his mother and took a deep breath.  "I don't know how long Lex has had feelings for me, Mom, but I know they're strong.  Like mine for him."

She nodded.  "I know, but-"

"And if he knew I showed you this, then he'd probably kill me."

Her lip quirked up and her eyebrow down in an expression unique to her.  "Then maybe you shouldn't show me."

"I trust you."  His voice was deep and something in it alerted her to the severity of the moment.  He had to show her how much he and Lex meant to each other, had to have her understand before he took off to the city that, no matter how much of it they ending up doing while away, this relationship wasn't just about the sex.  He wanted moments like yesterday, before Lex took off to avoid exposing them both.  He wanted that contentment in Lex's eyes, the love and devotion.

He just wanted Lex.  And that was all that was in this note.  Just Lex.

"I'm glad to hear it," she said, handing over his bag.

He held out the card and she took it, still looking at him.  After a moment she glanced down and read.

"Oh, honey."  She looked up and he was surprised to see a smile and her eyes glistening.

~Maybe she understands how much those words mean coming from Lex.~

She pulled him in for a hug and he felt better than he had since the foundation had dropped from his feet in the kitchen mere minutes ago.  "I remember what it was like when your father did the same thing.  Sophomore year in college."  She laughed against him.  "He wasn't too keen on sharing his emotions either."  She pulled away, her eyes now clear.  "He wrote it on my hand on a rainy Thursday afternoon.  Right after our last class together.  I about melted when I looked down at the words.  I couldn't believe he'd actually told me what I'd been seeing his eyes for about six months."

He grinned at her.  She did understand.

She frowned and his grin quickly disappeared.  "I'm still mad at you for lying," she said sternly, and he recoiled a bit at the instant change in tone.

"I know, Mom."

She rubbed his arm and smiled.  "But I want you to have a good time, okay?"

~What the-?~

Now she was sweet?  Lana Lang, sweet? Was the woman hiding a bipolar disease?

"I know Lex really cares, and that certainly makes it easier on me as your mother, but...  Just be careful.  With everything."

He nodded.  He didn't feel as queasily mortified as in the kitchen, but that didn't make him ready nor willing to go over this conversation again.  Once was twelve times too many.

She shooed him out the door.  "Call me like we talked about."

"I know," he started as he walked down the steps of his porch.  O'Brian followed a moment later and headed for the limousine.  "When I get there, and then again to tonight, tomorrow night and right before we leave to head back."

She nodded.  "And thank Lex for the lilies!"

"Okay."  Clark felt flustered, jumbled and inchoate.  An odd mixture of emotions were running around inside of him.  Relief at his mother's reaction to him and Lex, giddiness at some serious downtime with Lex being in his very near future, worry for both his love's health and his own once his father was brought up to date with their friendship and it's overreaching boundaries, fatigue from the emotionally draining elements of his conversation with his mother, energy at the idea of Lex and him doing nothing but nothing all day tomorrow- oh, how he could hope- anger at Lex's fucking father...

He shook his head, trying to clear things out, to calm things down.  Letting everything up there just roam free was like mixing Code Red and Pepsi in a two-soda suicide:  disorienting and, quite possibly, fatal.

He'd be seeing Lex soon, and Lex's face and hands and arms and mouth would take away the confusion for awhile.  Clark couldn't just come out about Martha's discovery and that gave them a little time together first.  He would have to wait until the right moment, until his love was more relaxed, calm, and ready for some heavy information.

~Maybe after spending hours and hours in bed.  Hmmm...~

Lex was not going to want Jonathon to know.  Not that Clark did either, it was just that they had no choice in the matter.  If there was anything he had learned in his fourteen, almost fifteen years of life with his parents, it was one simple fact of life: when Martha Kent wanted something, she stuck to her guns until she got it or died trying.  And she was still very much alive.

He climbed into the back of the limo and reached to shut the door but O'Brian was already covering that task.

He sat back, closing his eyes and rubbing his forehead.  Too much had just happened in the last, what twelve?  No, fifteen minutes.  But, like his mother said, she wanted him to be happy.  So he would think about the impending doom later.  His execution-by-pissed-off-dad would hold no weight when he was around Lex.

This weekend was going to be about him, completely.  Nothing but Lex.  And if all the older boy wanted to do was stay in some hotel suite, ordering room service, and making love on every horizontal, vertical and abstract surface...  Well, then Clark would just have to cope.

~Who am I kidding?  That's what I want.~

Clark was sure it wouldn't be too hard to convince Lex to go along with his plans.  He could hardly wait to see Lex, to hold him, touch him, lick him and not have to worry about meetings, or parents in the next room.  He couldn't believe it, but they were about to have more than forty-eight hours total at their disposal.

He could feel his lap stiffen and he laughed.  So he'd spend the next three hours horny, contemplating different positions and the like.  It'd be a nice surprise for when he next saw Lex.  He could have some very interesting fantasies to live out by the time he got to Metropolis.
 
 
 
 
 
 

To be continued...
 

Hope this was good :)  I'm writing pretty fast for my norm [I've also got other written works on my hands right now, mostly Smallville stuff], and trying to get so much done.  I hope to put out the Epilogue tomorrow, but it might take two days instead.