Title: Falling Away With You, Part Five
Author: a.lakewood
Category: Angst, Drama
Spoilers For: None
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Clark/Lex
Summary: Conclusion of the series.
December fifth started out just like any other Monday. Lex woke up at 5:30, went for his morning run, returned to the penthouse for a shower and a quick breakfast, reviewed his notes for the weekly board meeting that afternoon, and was headed to work by 7:45. When he got to work, his secretary gave him a brief overview of the messages she took while he was stuck in traffic. Business as usual until lunch rolled around.
Lex had heard about a new Mongolian restaurant that opened a few blocks west of the LuthorCorp building, so he was headed in that direction. A couple of blocks into the walk over, unsure as to why he didn't just take one of his cars, he bundled his coat tighter around himself as he stepped up onto the snow-covered patio of the outdoor portion of a small bistro. With the sign of the Mongolian restaurant in sight, he stopped in his tracks. And, for a reason he didn't know, sat in the chair of one of the peripheral tables. Moments later, a young woman in a maroon apron approached him, arms wrapped around herself. "Mr. Luthor?" she questioned timidly. "Wouldn't you like to come inside?"
Lex held up a gloved hand and shook his head. "I'm not staying."
The waitress nodded slowly. "All right." She gave him a last long look before turning and heading back inside.
Lex resumed staring at the chair across from him, trying to place his odd sense of déjà vu. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a swirl of black. He didn't have to see the whole figure to know it was his father. "Dad," Lex greeted before Lionel was even in his line of sight. A tabloid was tossed into the snow on the table in front of him.
"Lex. Interesting article and photo spread on six and seven." Lionel stood across from where Lex sat, hands gripping the back of the chair he leaned against.
Lex watched his father as he picked up the magazine, then turned his eyes to the pages before him. Leafing through a ways, he saw pictures of himself and the young man from the club – and the coffee shop.
"I thought your fraternizing with the Kent boy had ended, Lex."
Lex was completely confused. "Kent boy?"
"Don't feign naivete with me, son. You told me, at the beginning of the summer, that your friendship – or whatever it was you had – with Clark was over."
"Clark?"
Lionel's sigh sounded like it should've been accompanied by an eye roll. "Lex."
He just shook his head. "Dad. Honestly. I don't know."
Lionel circled the table and jabbed a leather-clad finger at the young man pressed flush against Lex's back in the first picture. "Clark. Kent. From Smallville. Your...'best friend.'" He looked at his son and took in the searching expression. Then it dawned on him. "Ah. Does this have something to do with that side-project of yours? What was it called?" He paused, in thought. "Lacuna, yes?"
Lex closed his eyes and tried to remember. "Lacuna, Inc."
"Yes. Is that what this is about?"
"I- I don't know, Dad. Maybe?" He suddenly felt as hopeless as he had during one of his father's interrogations about some historic Roman battle when he was nine.
"Of course." Lionel stared down at Lex for another moment, their eyes locked, before offering, "I'll see you at the board meeting."
Lex watched as Lionel walked away and disappeared into a car parked at the curb. Only when the car drove off did he return his attention to the tabloid pictures. "Clark Kent," he said, testing the name on his tongue. He peered at one of the higher-quality images that was a waist-up shot of the two of them leaving the club that previous Friday. "Clark." Lex could easily recall the first time he'd seen this Kent kid in the coffee house around the corner from his penthouse. But his father had said they'd been best friends in Smallville. He would've remembered that, wouldn't he have?
This must have had something to do with the Lacuna project. But what? Lex tried to think of all the possibilities as he scanned the rest of the pictures and turned the page.
Oh.
Another picture of him and...Clark Kent. But this one was taken during warmer weather judging by Clark's simple t-shirt and jeans. He glanced around himself. The picture was taken here, at this very place. He could see Clark across from him saying, "I don't care if they know about us."
Then there was a sudden, blinding pain behind his eyes. Pressure. Intense. He gripped his head as another memory came to him.
"Will you wait for me?""Forever."
"Oh, God," he gasped as the pain ebbed away, each receding wave uncovering something new, and pressed the heels of his gloved palms into his eyes. He stood, taking a moment to steady himself, the abruptness of movement making him lightheaded. Lunch forgotten, he headed back toward the office, pulling his cell phone out of his inner jacket pocket. He called his secretary. "Sheryl, reschedule all of my meetings this afternoon – something's come up."
"But, Mr. Luthor-"
"And get me the number for Harold Mierzwiak."
"Yes, sir." There was a brief pause before Sheryl read off the phone number she pulled up on her computer.
"Thank you," Lex said, then promptly hung up. He quickly dialed Mierzwiak's number.
"Lacuna, Inc. This is Claire, how can I help you?" a woman answered.
"Lex Luthor. I'd like to speak with Dr. Mierzwiak."
"Oh! Just a moment, sir."
The phone was set down and Lex could hear the receptionist calling for the doctor. A minute later, "Hello?"
"Harold, I remember everything," Lex said. "How could that be?"
Lex pulled his recently acquired Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren into the driveway in front of the Kent's farmhouse. It had been five days since his memories of his relationship with Clark resurfaced.
He'd tried stopping by Clark's dorm room, calling his room phone and his cell phone, but he never got through. So this was his last resort.
After taking a few minutes to gather his thoughts, Lex got out of his car. He headed through the gate and climbed the porch stairs, hesitating before knocking on the door.
Martha answered, dishtowel in hand, looking at him with utter confusion. "Lex- Mr. Luthor," she amended with feigned surprise. She glanced over her shoulder, then closed the door behind herself, forcing Lex to take a couple of steps backwards.
Lex smiled softly. "Martha, I'm looking for Clark."
"Lex." Genuine surprise. "What are you doing here?"
"I've been trying to get a hold of Clark all week. Something...happened."
Martha was quiet for awhile, then gestured towards the porch swing. "I know. Clark told us about your...encounter."
"I can't believe...When the memories came back- At first I couldn't believe he'd jeopardize what I was trying to do for him. Then I realized I probably would've done the same thing."
Martha shook her head, worrying her hands in the dishtowel in her lap. "I'm so sorry, Lex."
"I don't understand." What was going on? He really didn't like that look of pity on Martha Kent's face. "Martha?"
"Lex..." She reached for his hand. "Clark met with Dr. Mierzwiak on Tuesday."
"He...? And it worked?"
Martha shrugged. "They're finishing up right now."
Lex had never felt so frustrated and pathetic and powerless. "What happens now?"
Martha squeezed his hand. "We don't even know if this will work on him."
"And if it does?"
Martha shook her head again, auburn hair falling about her face. "I don't know...You both have been through so much pain and, somehow, it always manages to get worse. I know that you were only trying to protect Clark from Lionel, but...I'm beginning to think the cost was too high."
Lex leaned forward, elbows on his knees as he ran his hands over his scalp. "I think you're right."
Martha rubbed his back soothingly with one hand, starting when the door opened and Jonathan spoke, "Clark's waking – Lex!" He lowered his voice, "What are you doing here?"
To Lex, astonishingly, Jonathan sounded more worried than angry. "I was hoping to explain everything to Clark. I guess I was too late."
"We don't know that, yet," Martha was quick to add.
Jonathan shook his head. "The doctor's pretty sure it took."
Lex stood. "Well, I...I think I'm going to go." He slowly started for the stairs.
"Lex," Martha sighed, voice sounding as sad as she looked, grasping his hand and pulling him into a hug – a comforting, motherly-type hug Lex hadn't experienced since he could remember. "I'm so sorry," she said into his neck, clinging to him almost desperately.
When she pulled away and Lex saw the tears in her eyes, he thought for sure he'd start, too. He swallowed the scratchy, burning lump at the back of his throat. "No, Martha. It's okay. It's– It's probably best, right?" Martha sniffled and nodded and Lex tried to give her his most reassuring smile.
Jonathan offered his hand to Lex. "We've all come a long way – it's hard to see it end like this."
Lex nodded his head in agreement, dropping Jonathan's hand. "I'm-" He was interrupted when the screen door slammed open.
"Mr. Luthor?" Clark questioned, surprised and confused.
Martha and Jonathan's eyes darted to Lex, who seemed just as surprised and confused as Clark. But Lex thrived in awkward situations and recovered quickly. "You must be Clark," he said, sticking out a hand.
Clark eyed him carefully, then shook the offered hand. "Yeah."
"I was just stopping by to...let your father know that he's fully paid his debt to me. That our business is done." Lex nodded at Jonathan, who smiled back gratefully in return. "Happy holidays."
The Kent's watched Lex walk across the yard and through the gate, back to his car. Once the car started back down the driveway, Clark turned to his parents. "Was that weird or what? He had to drive all the way out here to tell you that?" he said, shaking his head, before he went back inside.
Almost a week later, on a Friday night, Clark was packing some of his things away to return home for winter break. "So, you and Dad are going to be here at noon tomorrow, right?" he asked into the phone clenched uncomfortably between his shoulder and ear as he looked for a text book on his shelf. A leather-bound book he couldn't remember buying fell from behind the other books onto the floor.
"No, just me," Martha said, sitting at the kitchen table with a mug of coffee.
"Okay," he said, slightly distracted as he bent to pick up the book. "You remember how to get here, right?"
"Of course, Clark. I lived in Metropolis once, remember?"
"Yeah. Yeah, sorry." He turned the book over in his hands, noting the edge of a photo sticking out the top of the pages. He opened to the picture. "Mom?"
"Clark? What is it?" Martha gripped her mug a little tighter at the tone in his voice.
Clark removed the photograph of himself and Lex Luthor, both smiling with his arm over Lex's shoulders, at Clark's graduation, from between the pages. "I...I don't understand." The book fell to the floor again.
"Sweetheart?"
"Why was Lex Luthor at my graduation?"
"Honey, are you starting to remember?" Martha questioned quietly, eyes darting about the kitchen looking for her husband.
"Remember? Remember what, Mom?" His voice was raised with panic. "Mom? What's going on?"
"Clark, calm down. I-"
"I don't underst-" Clark dropped the phone as something exploded behind his eyes. The same feeling he got when he heard one of the artifacts, but without sound. He fell to his knees, clutching his head in pain.
"Clark!" Martha gripped the receiver to her ear, listening to Clark's agonizing groans. "Clark!"
It took a moment for the pressure and throbbing to subside, then another for Clark to remember that he'd been talking with his mother. He quickly picked up the phone from the floor. "Mom-"
"Clark, honey, are you okay? What happened?" Her heart thundered in her chest.
He collapsed back against his bed, weary. "Why didn't it work?" He sighed, a heart-heavy sound.
"Clark..."
"I'm tired, Mom. I'll see you tomorrow?"
"All right. Goodnight, sweetheart. I love you."
"I love you, too, Mom...Bye."
Clark was finishing the packing he'd abandoned the night before when there was a knock on the door. "Come on in, Mom," he said, glancing at the alarm clock beside his bed which told him that it was only 11:30. "You're early." He turned towards the door.
"Your mother called me this morning," Lex said quietly, hands shoved in his pockets, eyes darting about the room avoiding Clark's.
A long, uncomfortable silence ensued. Clark was the first to break it. "A picture," he said ruefully. "That's all it took for me to remember you. But you. We even. And you still didn't. And it hurt. And. I just. I can't do this anymore, Lex." He sank down to his bed and drew in a deep, shuddering breath. "Please. Just go."
Lex took a step forward. "Clark."
"Don't."
"I'm not walking away from you – from us – again."
"What's stopping you this time?"
Lex crossed to where Clark sat on the bed, and dropped to his knees before him. "I was stupid. I shouldn't've tried to do everything myself. But I couldn't risk my father finding out about you. Losing you. You have to understand." He tried to get Clark to look at him. He placed a hand on Clark's cheek and gently turned Clark's face towards him. "You said you'd wait for me."
"I tried. I couldn't."
"Seems like, no matter what, we're destined to be together." He eased himself up onto the bed beside Clark. "I know now that we're stronger together. That trying to avoid obstacles before they even arise is a mistake. What we have between us is only because of everything we've faced together." He took one of Clark's hands between his own. "I love you." Squeezed the hand he held gently, hopefully, after a minute or two. When Clark failed to respond or even look at him, Lex dropped the hand and slowly stood, the constriction in his chest winding itself tighter. He stroked Clark's cheek with the back of his knuckles. "Okay," he whispered, then turned away and headed for the door.
Clark gripped the edge of the mattress, fear seizing his heart. "Lex, wait!" He was up and across the room before Lex could even give pause. He clutched Lex's hands in his own. "We do this, we do this together."
"Together," Lex repeated, heart speeding with hope.
"I love you so much," Clark said, pulling Lex to his chest, running a hand over Lex's smooth scalp, pressing a kiss to his neck. "God, I missed you." He pulled back and kissed Lex. Kissed him again. And again. Again. "I'm never going to let you forget me."
"I never want to." He grinned and kissed Clark once more, not able to get enough.
"Good. 'Cause this is forever."
finitas