fic post:Mariposa

[roxy]

Title:Mariposa
Fandom: SV
Pairing: Clark/Jake…suuuuurre….
Rating: 2
Summary: Alternate Universe. Repeat after me….

Previous Parts are here, considering if life is really a cabaret, old chum, why aren’t they getting it more?



Oh Jim

Eric invited him to spend Christmas with him, and Jake invited him to spend Christmas with him—Mrs. Smith and Frank and Rennie invited…he had so many invites but there was only one place he wanted to spend Christmas.


“Eric. Can I use the phone at your place? I’ll pay you…” He stood at the backdoor to the shop, and passed Eric a crate from the morning’s delivery. His face was red from cold, and red from embarrassment—he really hated to ask fro favors but….

“Don’t be a doof, Clark. I’ll just deduct if from your check.” He took the crate of lettuce from Clark and set it down by the refrigerator. He turned to grab another crate, asked him, “Why don’t you call from your boyfriend’s place?” Clark looked up quickly, but Eric’s face was smooth and serene—or as serene as Eric ever got.

“He told me I could but—I don’t know. He’s been gone from home a long time. He never talks to his parents.” Clark bit his lip. “He’s not like you, he doesn’t really understand how important it is to have family, you know?”


Eric brought him home—made dinner and pointedly left Clark alone to call.

The phone rang rang…rang…rang…the answering machine answered.

“You’ve reached the Kent residence, Jonathan, Martha and Clark. Please leave a message and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can.”

Clark hung up and walked into the kitchen. “I got the machine.”

Eric looked up with a smile, winced a little when he saw Clark’s face. He took his glasses off polished them on his t-shirt. “Tell you what, let’s eat and you can try again. In fact, if you want, spend the night, and you keep calling.” He let out a little breath, and smiled.

Clark nodded, eyes watery. “If you’re sure you don’t mind… and did just that. All night, and into the morning he got the machine.

******

Two days before Christmas, and he was sitting at his little table, Mrs. Smith on one side, he on the other. Entertaining.

They had tea and cookies, and she admired the Christmas tree. She cooed and fussed over it, and Clark beamed. It might only be a few inches tall, and be made of plastic, but it was a tree and it was his. It sat in a tinfoil covered coffee can, and it had string of battery operated lights. It took up most of the little table, and the present Mrs. Smith brought him was on the bed.

He inched the plate of packaged chocolate chip cookies closer to Mrs. Smith, and said, “I’m worried, Mrs. Smith.”

“About what, sweetheart?”

Clark took a deep breath and said, “I tried calling my parents a few days ago, I left messages and I didn’t get an answer at all…. and I don’t know what could be going on and it’s been worrying me.” He worried that what really happened was that they’d sat listening, waiting for him to stop.

“Your mother was pregnant when you left home, love. I don’t want to add to your worry, but—could something have happened?”

Clark gaped at her—April—he quickly counted of on his fingers—and looked at her stunned. “Oh, my--she would be due in December…how could I find out? I—I can’t call right now.”

“Well now, how about the library? Does Smallville have a paper? Perhaps there is an on line issue—“

“Sure, there is--and I can check the birth announcements.” He smiled at Mrs. Smith and her cheeks turned pink

“Glad I could help Clark.” She reached for a cookie, and lifted her eyebrows. “Clark. These are really very good. Aren’t you going to help me eat them?”

“Oh, of course!” Clark blushed and quickly grabbed a cookie. “They’re not bad for not being homemade, don’t you think?”

“They’re my favorite brand, dear.”

******

Christmas morning he spent with Eric. Eric had made the room up again for Clark, but on the bed this time was a bright red and yellow and blue comforter. He’d had one of his customers make it for Clark, for Christmas. Clark loved it; he threw down his pack, and immediately wrapped it around himself and stayed wrapped in it the rest of the night. He asked Eric if he thought that his parents would let him come home—if he just kind of showed up on their porch.

“Kid, your parents will never turn you away. A kid like you? I can tell from the way you act—they’re good people.”

Clark smiled. Yeah, his parents were good people. They opened their arms to Whit without a second thought just because he told them he loved Whit, and they treated him like he was their own son…he teared up—and he knew now, having a baby wouldn’t have changed their love for him. His baby sister. Because he knew the baby was a girl, he was sure of it.

Eric watched Clark thinking, heading toward the right decision, he took a little breath, let it out. Clark was going to go home—finally. And then, he opened his mouth, and ruined it all unknowing.

“Hell, they’ll never know what happened, and you don’t have to tell them anything you don’t want to.”

Clark froze, he dropped a million miles into that black wave that reached up razor sharp arms and pulled him under. did you think I was gone? I’m here I’ll always be here you’ll never be far from me He was…not the kind of son they raised, not the person he was taught to be. It wasn’t their fault. It was his. And he’d almost forgotten…


The day after Christmas, He took the bus to the public library, a huge marble and mahogany tribute to another era. The computers for public use were in room that formerly housed the card catalogues. Sunlight poured in through huge steel mullioned windows, the light so bright in them they were white but the corners of the room were still dark. Clark stood in the huge double doorway, and shuddered. The windows scared him—he inched into the room, darting looks right and left, but the only occupants were two little girls and an elderly man. He let out a breath, and headed to a terminal.

Deep breath, deep breath…

He pulled up the Smallville Ledger, and clicked through to the local interest page—under announcements, he found births and there under a few one line announcements he read: Dec 23, Corinne Kala, daughter to Martha and Jonathan Kent.

He sat back, mouth open, eyes wide…he had a sister…it was real. She was real. He wondered if she had red hair, if she cried a lot…if his mom and dad had thought about him an all in the last few days…weeks.

Clark sighed, deeply and stood. Well, that explained why. Now, he’d let them get on with their business, and he’d get on with his.

******


Lex was having a nightmare in which the Galletti twins featured prominently. He woke, rearing up from the bed with a shout, his heart beating painfully fast. He vibrated like a wire for a long moment, before dropping back to the bed, gasping for breath.

He’d managed to forget, somehow managed to squeeze those memories into the same box he’d forced the shock treatment nightmares--along with most of his adolescence….

The sight of Bobbie and that little girl had brought it all flooding back.

His dad had been in debt to Van Galletti. Lionel had been rich but Van was a word rich didn’t begin to describe…he’d taken money from Galletti and in exchange, for one year, he’d lived in the Galletti mansion, like some son of minor medieval royalty, fostered out to the Lord…or a sacrifice.

The Gallettis.

He’d thought they loved him. Jesus.

Lex dragged himself out of bed, fighting the comforter, yanking free of his sheets and dropping them to the carpet. He staggered to the bath room, fell to his knees and threw up violently—again and again until he was heaving nothing but memories.


Lucas wandered in later that afternoon, looking distracted. “Hey Lex-Lex—wow, you look like shit.”

“Don’t call me that, and thanks a lot. You’re back again…” he waved his hand when Lucas went for his pocket. “Keep the keys—it’s ridiculous to think you might actually do as I wish.”

Lucas’ face softened. “I’m sorry. Is it really that awful to have me here?” He began to back towards the door, a smile on his face that did nothing to mask the bleakness in his eyes and Lex thought that in the whole damned world, he might be the only thing Lucas loved. And Lucas might be the only one whose love he was worthy of.

“Oh come back and spare me the guilty look—as if you’ve ever actually felt one moment of real guilt…” Lex sighed. “So, what do you want this time?”

Lucas held up a bag. “Lunch with you. And Daddy stuff…”


Over take out sandwiches and soup that Lucas brought in with him, Lex’s world was shattered. All the hard work he’d put into reconstructing himself….Lucas unwittingly destroyed, bit by bit, page by page, so eager to share what he’d learned with Lex, eager to show him that he was capable and Lucas had no idea what he was ruining….

Shoving everything aside, Lucas spread the information he’s gotten across the table. “Once you get past the ick factor, it gets kind of interesting. The research Dad’s been doing—most of the applications are military, some pharmaceutical, we know all that. Now this section here—well, this is where it gets really weird.” He laid out a few photographs of mostly young people, mostly average looking teens, most looking without interest into the camera. Lucas was animated, fascinated as he explained.

Lex licked paper-dry lips, eyes Lucas uneasily. “You seem to have gotten over your disgust pretty quickly.”

Lucas laughed lightly. “Lex-Lex, you’ve got to adapt. This is something we—I’m—stuck with so I might as well find out all I can. It’s only good sense to do so.” Lex grunted, and Lucas patted his shoulder.

“Of course I am. Now, this girl--” The photo showed an attractive girl with large green eyes and chin length auburn hair—“can change her appearance to resemble any human being. And this girl—can teleport, I swear. They have her so drugged up she can’t move-but I saw tapes. Wild. I don’t have to tell you how useful both of them can be. Have been. This kid sucks heat from anything. Weird, but they actually have been able to come up with a use for him…this guy here? Can change his body so he can slip through any solid. With a little help. Cool.”

Lex stared at the photos, swallowed until he could finally speak. “How is…it possible…?”

Lucas dropped a piece of dull green stone on the table—it looked like unpolished emerald. “This stuff—it’s like a genii in a bottle, you know those stories where you’re granted the thing you want the most, and it turns around and eats you? Okay, don’t laugh but this—same thing, in a way.” He turned back to the photographs. “Poor bastards,” he laughed.

Lex stood and walked away, his skin crawling…he didn’t want to hear this...his mind had already begun to make connections.

“Except…there’s this one kid, and damn he’s hot--he’s not like the others.” He hesitated before passing the photo to Lex. “He seems to have been born like this—or maybe the mutation happened at some time in the past. There’s another difference—he’s from some eastern European country. As far as the pet scientists know, the meteorites came down once, there were minor falls worldwide, but the concentration was North America …hold on, it’s right here,” he pulled out a map. “East coast--” he traced his finger to the middle of the country, “--here and here…but the biggest strike was Kansas, in fact--Smallville, in 1986.”

Lucas stopped, and put his hand on Lex’s shoulder. “The year you were visiting with Dad, right? What did you want, Lex? Never to be sick again? Never to be made fun of—all that clownish hair must have been hard for a weird little kid like you to deal with. Did you wish no one could hurt you anymore?”

Lex snarled, “Shut up. You don’t know anything about that. You have no idea….”

Lucas laughed. “Maybe not, but Dad left me with a crazy woman, how much better do you think it was for me? Anyway, that’s what’s going on. You might want to take a look and fucking help me with this. I need someone with an actual working moral sense to figure out our next move.” He grinned.

Lex refused to smile back—Lucas was always at his most dangerous when he was being his most endearing.

“Oh, by the way, I found out what it was Dad and the Gallettis had in common.” Lex paled, felt his stomach flip, but Lucas went on. “He borrowed a lot of money from them, but never paid it back.” Lex closed his eyes. “He gave them something instead.”

“Oh, I know,” Lex said. “I know.”

Lucas looked puzzled. “Than you know about your blood? The whole point of the shock treatments was to wipe that out…”

“What? What?””

“Your blood…it’s like a--a panacea.”

“Panacea?” Lex asked, and Lucas flushed a little and scowled. “Wow…nice word…”

“Shut up. Anyway, sort of. It won’t cure diseases, but it’ll help accelerate healing from injury, like broken bones, cuts, stuff like that…whoa!” He grabbed Lex, and sat him, wiped his pale sweating face.

“God. It’s all about me. It all comes back to me…these people…it’s all my fault.”

“Fuck--see? There you go again, with your fucked up sense of morals and your “me me me.” Shit. It’s always about you. My guilt, my pain, my this and my that. Jesus. You’re a fucking law unto yourself, can’t you get that?”

“No, Lucas—you are. I’m…not like that. Not now. But...what about this—this blood thing? What the hell do I do about that?”

"Nothing, I’m on it. I’ll do what has to be done to protect you. I’ll do what I have to do. I can disappear anyone who knows,” he said with a low laugh. “You’re the only thing in the world worth a fuck to me. No one else gets that.”

Lex stared into the past, barely aware of Lucas, what he was saying. “Oh my god, no wonder he made me come home, no wonder he kept me so close…he flipped my whole life to keep me next to him, just producing like a—an aphid.” He shuddered.

“Ew, must be nasty. You can explain that to me later, after you’ve shown me how grateful you can be…” When Lex didn’t react, or smile, or yell, Lucas straddled his legs and grabbed his face hard, yanked it around until they were eye to eye inches apart. “Hey. No one will know. Trust me to fix this. Trust me?”

Lex hesitated, for a long moment he stared back into Lucas’ eyes…he nodded. “Okay. Yes.”

“Good,” Lucas said, and kissed him, a lingering gentle kiss, right above his eyebrows and Lex heard the ghost of a sigh when he pulled away. Lucas held into his eyes for a moment before stepping away, all softness gone again. “Okay. Step one—erase everything. Step two…figure out everything else.”

“Find out,” Lex rasped. “Find out if Van knows—no—find out if Bobbi knows. If they do…”

Lucas grinned like a kid on Christmas morning. “They’ll find out something about us. No one is safe from us. We’re Luthors, damn it.”




And more. So much more

Comments

[dm-wyatt.livejournal.com]

Aw....

*sniff*

So sad, Clark wanted to talk to his parents and couldn't...

*pets him*

I hope he gets home soon to see his new baby sister.

[frelling-tralk.livejournal.com]

Great update! I love Lucas *g*

[norwich36.livejournal.com]

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Poor Clark, SO close to going back home. When you're being cruel, you're really cruel.

And these snippets of Lex's childhood aren't any fun either.

[theclexfactor.livejournal.com]

WHY? Why weren't the Kents answering?!

On a bright note, Clark does have people that care about him *hopes anyway*

Oh, and Lex is pulling a Clark with the guilty conscience. And once again, it's misplaced *sigh* Oh boys.

I can't wait till they meet now.

[capnzebbie.livejournal.com]

Oh, god, I can't believe I'm saying this, but I really want to see Lucas cut loose on all the people who hurt Lex.

You're killing me with the Clark angsty stuff!

Hey, is Lucas going to find Clark in those records?

[myownghost.livejournal.com]

i love the comforter eric got for clark and how clark put it on and wore it. yeah!

it looks like lucas's devotion to lex is both a blessing and a curse.

[miss-saigon.livejournal.com]

Aw, poor sad Clark. He was so close to going home and now he feels worthless again. He needs to find poor sad Lex and they can have lots of healing comforting sex.

[rosy5000.livejournal.com]

Poor Clark! Finally wanting to try and go home, but something always screws it up. :(

And poor Lex! May not be the best thing, but he does have Lucas on his side and to help protect him... in his own screwed up way.

[danceswithgary]

I really hate it when LJ loses your post.

Interesting role reversal, Lex feeling like it's all his fault instead of Clark.

Poor Clark, he almost made it back. :-(

Lucas getting interested in the mutants is almost as frightening as Lionel!

You're really rolling these out - fabulous!

[talitha78.livejournal.com]

Maximum density in one little chapter. Whew, a lot happened here--I'm still processing.

[tabaqui]

*flails around incoherently*

I knew it couldn't last!!
Clark, you big idiot.
*flails more*

Poor Lex! And those 'test subjects'...
*shudder shudder shudder*
Yuck.
Miss Roooooooooxy, fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiix eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet!!!

[ladydey.livejournal.com]

Okay, okay - finally caught up... I Really Really Really want to hug Lucas! No one but Lucas - since Clark is not in the picture yet - loves Lex enough to maim for him. Yay Lucas!

Again, I guess we can't dig Lionel up and kill him all over again - because really he hurt Lex so badly that, *imagines Lionel run over, repeatedly by a car or eaten by a bear*


Ohhhh, poor Clark he finally works up the nerve to call and all of his fears about being replaced and no longer part of the family are confirmed with Corinne Kala birth. *hugs*

[petit-rhino.livejournal.com]

Actually, the way I see it, Lionel woke up in his grave (he's resistant that way) and then had to crawl out of his grave. He then somehow stumbled across a road in a forest (I don't know how that forest got here, but it's needed for the bear). At the same moment, a car was rushing on the road and the driver was looking through his glove box for his ringing phone... or maybe a Snickers, who knows. Poor Lionel got hit, broke a few limbs and ribs. The driver didn't stop though (he was too busy staring at a forgotten print-out of some slash manip *cough*).

Lionel, a little confused from the being-dead-and-then-hit-by-a-car thing, lost balance and fell from the side of the hill, rolling down, right onto a bear. Angry bears do not make good friends. He was not eaten though (because bears have good taste), just mawled and chewed a little. After the bear left, Lionel just lay there feeling a little down, but still plotting world domination: there's no point in wallowing in self-pity. Alas, after a few hours he felt some stinging on his legs and pretty much everywhere else. A colony of warrior ants (those are the carnivorous ones, right?) happened to be passing by. The Bastard finally met his end (slowly).

*feeling better now*

[roxymissrose.livejournal.com]

Haaaaaahahahahhaaaaaa!!! I *love* this! yes, yes, this is exactly what happened! *still laughing* I can see this like a movie in my head, Lionel all beat up and woozy and evilly staggering about....

[petit-rhino.livejournal.com]

>>Lionel all beat up and woozy and evilly staggering about.<<
Yeah, that movie entertained me all afternoon :)

[herohunter.livejournal.com]

Oh. I have no words. Clark. Lex. And Lucas, very devoted. Lucas is not going to like Clark.

*sigh*

[miche-connor.livejournal.com]

Jake! You're such a... you didn't mean it .that. way and yet... I wonder if you did, just to keep Clark right by your side, sort of like Lucas needing Lex to be right there too. Oh! the parallels!

I am glad Clark left messages, and had the guts to find out about his sister, but it feels so final -- he doesn't need to contact them now, does he? Poor parents. I can't imagine how hard that must be to go through, and yet I know parents go through it everyday. At least *we* know Clark's reasonably okay.

Lucas! You so crazy and yay, you protect Lex, do it with every fiber of your being.

I want to cheer for him :)

[roxymissrose.livejournal.com]

It's terrrible how much I love Lucas. *g* I love writing him, as much as I love writing Whit. Reading these little bits over, I remember how hard it was to write huge parts of this story.