Rip Redux part 3
7/5/06 12:20 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
roxyMy Two Dads Are Like, Totally Stupid
(a working title)
A post-mpreg fiction
Fandom: SV
Pairing: Clark/Lex
Rating:2
Help! I need a title for this thing!!!
And this is what went before.
“You didn’t even ask.” Lex’s voice carried clear on the line, and it was calm, soft—and empty of hope, Clark realized--but that didn’t move him. Not in the least.
“I didn’t have to. I know the part of you that’s capable of this, just as well as the part of you...” he stopped and took a shaky breath, “…the part that loves us. I just didn’t think you would do a…a thing like this. Not now.”
“I’m capable of anything if it’s to protect my family. My child.”
“Alexandra is *my* child, not yours--” The words tumbled out of his mouth and he knew how wrong they were, but they hung there in the air like malignant fog, hurting them both.
“Clark. Don’t. She is. She’s mine as much as yours—look at her.”
“Than she’s yours and Lana’s *and* Jordan’s—are you going to murder him too?” Clark had to stop talking, he couldn’t breathe—How could he claim to love Ripley and do what he did? Tears squeezed out from under tight closed eyelids. He couldn’t even tell anyone what he’d done…he’d rather for Lana to die with no justice than to destroy Lex’s life and make Ripley’s harder because of it. Clark tried not to make a sound; he shook with the force it took to cry silently. Because that was a lie he told himself. The truth was, he couldn’t give up Lex. He just couldn’t do it—and that made him as bad as Lex….
Lex’s voice cut through the fog in his head. It was icy, any hint of pain gone. “Jordan knows he nothing to fear from me—and that was a right decision. I do what’s right for the ones I love. And I don’t regret what I do. Ever. Remember that, Clark.”
Lex disconnected and Clark sat staring at the phone.
*****
In Clark’s mind, the move wasn’t permanent, it couldn’t be—he wasn’t capable of imagining a life without Lex. He just needed room to think. As long as he was in the same room with Lex, he couldn’t see things around him clearly. It was as if Lex had the power to cloud his mind.
Lex tried to make the move as smooth as possible and Clark nearly gave in a hundred times, it hurt so much to see Lex struggle to handle the situation with grace, treating it as a just a little bump in the road, and smiling, smiling, smiling to keep from upsetting Ripley.
He went back home, back to Smallville. Martha and Jonathan were pleased to have them, but worried. Clark refused to say much, just that he and Lex had come to have differences so great it was hard to live together. He swore to them, he was only home to find some space, to regain perspective. He hoped that it wouldn’t be long before they’d be back together. He said all the right things, with the right degree of regret and the right amount of smile, and took suitcases and baby inside, and didn’t wait for the limo to head back towards Metropolis.
His parents looked at each other. They heard Clark’s words, but his body language said something disastrous had happened. The fact that he was home instead of in Metropolis spoke volumes. Clark was transparent as glass, miserable and aching…but they didn’t give advice. They didn’t ask questions. They just made ready for Clark and their grandchild, and hoped for the best. Clark’s old room had a little cot shoved into it, and his old toys were brought in from the attic and life went on with a couple more plates at the table, a little more worry, and because of Lexie, a lot more joy.
******
“Look, Gramma, sheepses. An’ cows…an’ horsies…” Lexie examined her artwork critically, squinting at her color choices before deciding that they were passable. She looked at her grandmother with a blindingly beautiful grin. “ Cows eat grass.” She colored a wide scratchy swath of purple and declared it to be grass, and purple grass because purple was prettier than green.
Martha watched Clark’s little girl coloring pictures of horses and cows standing in and sometimes, on top of, a big red barn, their life here brand new and endlessly fascinating for her. She was so involved that Martha could observe her without being noticed. The long red curls bouncing around her shoulders reminded Martha of her own hair at that age, though her hair had never been so luminously red as Lexie’s. Lexie’s tongue poked out the corner of her mouth, her fingers were pale from the achingly careful grip she had on the crayon--careful not to snap the crayon she worked with, already so careful about so much, more so than Clark at the same age. She sighed.
Alexandra. Alexandra Kent-Luthor.
She wasn’t fooled, not one bit. Lexie had Lex’s last name, not Clark’s, not really. She was Lex’s possession, just like Clark was. She wondered just how long it would be before Lex would come to reclaim her. She couldn’t understand why Clark couldn’t see everything Lex was. Sure, he could be endearing when he chose, and he could be terribly charming, even seem almost innocently sweet. He’d sent all those scans of Lexie, like any doting father would, and without a word to their son. Clark wasn’t speaking to them at the time but he did it anyway and maybe that was guilt for having taken Clark from them…of course, he still sent tons of lovely photos of Lexie even now, without fail--videos of her and drawings she made.
Martha smiled at Lexie when she looked at her grandmother again with that million-watt grin. She had no doubt Lex thought he loved her, that he loved her son, it was just--she wasn’t sure Lex really *knew* what love meant. He wasn’t the type of man to let anything he cared for out of his grasp easily. He wasn’t afraid to use whatever means he decided was necessary, and she doubted whatever he decided was necessary would keep him awake at night. She knew that he never intended to *not* possess her son; that eventually he would have come to collect him—it was fate that intervened and sent Clark to him instead. A chill ran down her spine and she wondered…what would he *do* to bring those two back to him?
What had he done to make Clark, who was so blindly in love with him, leave him?
****
Jonathan begged off the game of kickball with Lexie and Clark, huffing for breath. Lexie was nearly as strong and fast as Clark had been at this age, and he wasn’t getting any younger. He grinned and gingerly lowered himself to the porch stair. It was great, having the two here with them. What a difference it made to hear a child’s laughter around the farm again, the pitter-patter of little feet—okay, more like the stomp-zoom of superhuman tiny feet. It was wonderful; all of it--except for the hours when Clark had to be gone, back to Metropolis and work. Lexie worried then, she worried about her Daddy, she worried about her Poppa, and when he was coming to see her, and would Daddy come home for real, real? It broke his heart that she worried so at such a young age, and Jonathan wondered right along with her, wondered when her Poppa was going to come. He hoped it would be soon.
He didn’t discuss his feelings with Martha anymore. They didn’t exactly see eye to eye on the subject. Where Lex’s actions seemed to cause Martha’s suspicions about Lex to grow, they had the opposite effect on him. Slowly but surely, these last four years opened his eyes to Lex Luthor. Lex had proved to him that he understood a man’s family was the most important thing in life. Lex understood it like he did, in just the same way. He wondered what Lex would have been like, raised in a family like theirs. He had such an enormous capacity to love, and an incredible sense of loyalty, what would he be like now, if that had been fostered instead of used, and twisted, almost out of all shape? Clark had needed Lex’s help, but Lex needed Clark as well.
He sighed and stretched a bit—it got colder sooner these days, he thought, and groaned a bit. Both Kent-Luthors’ heads shot towards him at the noise, with identical expressions of concern and he grinned and waved.
He knew Clark would move heaven and earth for Lex; after all, he’d left his family out of love and trust for Lex. He knew that Clark’s love was bone deep and returned in kind. It was obvious that for Lex and Clark, there was no one else. So he had to wonder, what the hell had Lex done to make Clark run. He watched his son and his grand-daughter playing in the yard and he could only imagine….
He grunted. Well, he had a pretty good imagination--whatever or whoever had been unbelievably foolish enough to interfere with Lexie, or Clark, had to have paid the ultimate price.
more to come!
(a working title)
A post-mpreg fiction
Fandom: SV
Pairing: Clark/Lex
Rating:2
Help! I need a title for this thing!!!
And this is what went before.
“You didn’t even ask.” Lex’s voice carried clear on the line, and it was calm, soft—and empty of hope, Clark realized--but that didn’t move him. Not in the least.
“I didn’t have to. I know the part of you that’s capable of this, just as well as the part of you...” he stopped and took a shaky breath, “…the part that loves us. I just didn’t think you would do a…a thing like this. Not now.”
“I’m capable of anything if it’s to protect my family. My child.”
“Alexandra is *my* child, not yours--” The words tumbled out of his mouth and he knew how wrong they were, but they hung there in the air like malignant fog, hurting them both.
“Clark. Don’t. She is. She’s mine as much as yours—look at her.”
“Than she’s yours and Lana’s *and* Jordan’s—are you going to murder him too?” Clark had to stop talking, he couldn’t breathe—How could he claim to love Ripley and do what he did? Tears squeezed out from under tight closed eyelids. He couldn’t even tell anyone what he’d done…he’d rather for Lana to die with no justice than to destroy Lex’s life and make Ripley’s harder because of it. Clark tried not to make a sound; he shook with the force it took to cry silently. Because that was a lie he told himself. The truth was, he couldn’t give up Lex. He just couldn’t do it—and that made him as bad as Lex….
Lex’s voice cut through the fog in his head. It was icy, any hint of pain gone. “Jordan knows he nothing to fear from me—and that was a right decision. I do what’s right for the ones I love. And I don’t regret what I do. Ever. Remember that, Clark.”
Lex disconnected and Clark sat staring at the phone.
*****
In Clark’s mind, the move wasn’t permanent, it couldn’t be—he wasn’t capable of imagining a life without Lex. He just needed room to think. As long as he was in the same room with Lex, he couldn’t see things around him clearly. It was as if Lex had the power to cloud his mind.
Lex tried to make the move as smooth as possible and Clark nearly gave in a hundred times, it hurt so much to see Lex struggle to handle the situation with grace, treating it as a just a little bump in the road, and smiling, smiling, smiling to keep from upsetting Ripley.
He went back home, back to Smallville. Martha and Jonathan were pleased to have them, but worried. Clark refused to say much, just that he and Lex had come to have differences so great it was hard to live together. He swore to them, he was only home to find some space, to regain perspective. He hoped that it wouldn’t be long before they’d be back together. He said all the right things, with the right degree of regret and the right amount of smile, and took suitcases and baby inside, and didn’t wait for the limo to head back towards Metropolis.
His parents looked at each other. They heard Clark’s words, but his body language said something disastrous had happened. The fact that he was home instead of in Metropolis spoke volumes. Clark was transparent as glass, miserable and aching…but they didn’t give advice. They didn’t ask questions. They just made ready for Clark and their grandchild, and hoped for the best. Clark’s old room had a little cot shoved into it, and his old toys were brought in from the attic and life went on with a couple more plates at the table, a little more worry, and because of Lexie, a lot more joy.
******
“Look, Gramma, sheepses. An’ cows…an’ horsies…” Lexie examined her artwork critically, squinting at her color choices before deciding that they were passable. She looked at her grandmother with a blindingly beautiful grin. “ Cows eat grass.” She colored a wide scratchy swath of purple and declared it to be grass, and purple grass because purple was prettier than green.
Martha watched Clark’s little girl coloring pictures of horses and cows standing in and sometimes, on top of, a big red barn, their life here brand new and endlessly fascinating for her. She was so involved that Martha could observe her without being noticed. The long red curls bouncing around her shoulders reminded Martha of her own hair at that age, though her hair had never been so luminously red as Lexie’s. Lexie’s tongue poked out the corner of her mouth, her fingers were pale from the achingly careful grip she had on the crayon--careful not to snap the crayon she worked with, already so careful about so much, more so than Clark at the same age. She sighed.
Alexandra. Alexandra Kent-Luthor.
She wasn’t fooled, not one bit. Lexie had Lex’s last name, not Clark’s, not really. She was Lex’s possession, just like Clark was. She wondered just how long it would be before Lex would come to reclaim her. She couldn’t understand why Clark couldn’t see everything Lex was. Sure, he could be endearing when he chose, and he could be terribly charming, even seem almost innocently sweet. He’d sent all those scans of Lexie, like any doting father would, and without a word to their son. Clark wasn’t speaking to them at the time but he did it anyway and maybe that was guilt for having taken Clark from them…of course, he still sent tons of lovely photos of Lexie even now, without fail--videos of her and drawings she made.
Martha smiled at Lexie when she looked at her grandmother again with that million-watt grin. She had no doubt Lex thought he loved her, that he loved her son, it was just--she wasn’t sure Lex really *knew* what love meant. He wasn’t the type of man to let anything he cared for out of his grasp easily. He wasn’t afraid to use whatever means he decided was necessary, and she doubted whatever he decided was necessary would keep him awake at night. She knew that he never intended to *not* possess her son; that eventually he would have come to collect him—it was fate that intervened and sent Clark to him instead. A chill ran down her spine and she wondered…what would he *do* to bring those two back to him?
What had he done to make Clark, who was so blindly in love with him, leave him?
****
Jonathan begged off the game of kickball with Lexie and Clark, huffing for breath. Lexie was nearly as strong and fast as Clark had been at this age, and he wasn’t getting any younger. He grinned and gingerly lowered himself to the porch stair. It was great, having the two here with them. What a difference it made to hear a child’s laughter around the farm again, the pitter-patter of little feet—okay, more like the stomp-zoom of superhuman tiny feet. It was wonderful; all of it--except for the hours when Clark had to be gone, back to Metropolis and work. Lexie worried then, she worried about her Daddy, she worried about her Poppa, and when he was coming to see her, and would Daddy come home for real, real? It broke his heart that she worried so at such a young age, and Jonathan wondered right along with her, wondered when her Poppa was going to come. He hoped it would be soon.
He didn’t discuss his feelings with Martha anymore. They didn’t exactly see eye to eye on the subject. Where Lex’s actions seemed to cause Martha’s suspicions about Lex to grow, they had the opposite effect on him. Slowly but surely, these last four years opened his eyes to Lex Luthor. Lex had proved to him that he understood a man’s family was the most important thing in life. Lex understood it like he did, in just the same way. He wondered what Lex would have been like, raised in a family like theirs. He had such an enormous capacity to love, and an incredible sense of loyalty, what would he be like now, if that had been fostered instead of used, and twisted, almost out of all shape? Clark had needed Lex’s help, but Lex needed Clark as well.
He sighed and stretched a bit—it got colder sooner these days, he thought, and groaned a bit. Both Kent-Luthors’ heads shot towards him at the noise, with identical expressions of concern and he grinned and waved.
He knew Clark would move heaven and earth for Lex; after all, he’d left his family out of love and trust for Lex. He knew that Clark’s love was bone deep and returned in kind. It was obvious that for Lex and Clark, there was no one else. So he had to wonder, what the hell had Lex done to make Clark run. He watched his son and his grand-daughter playing in the yard and he could only imagine….
He grunted. Well, he had a pretty good imagination--whatever or whoever had been unbelievably foolish enough to interfere with Lexie, or Clark, had to have paid the ultimate price.
more to come!
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7/5/06 05:10 am (UTC)