Fic: Infamous Chapter 10

Chapter 10: Lex Has A New Diet Which Changes The Situation

Summary: Clark has run into more trouble with his heritage and Jor-El/the AI have decided to confront Clark about it. (Mpreg.)

Disclaimer: They're not mine

Category: Slash, drama

Rating: R, mild mentions of sex but nothing too racy, sorry :o)

Spoilers: Nor sure really, Clark's a Kryptonian and Lex's knows, not much reference to the show or actual episodes otherwise.

Author's Notes: Please read notes for first chapter.

Please excuse any errors as I don't have a Beta.

Yes, I'M ALIVE and so, so sorry for the long, long wait, I've had this chapter done for a couple months and am having trouble with where to go from here to get to the end I want (it's planned in my head but don't know how to get there) I'm not 100% happy with it and have tipped over from slight cheese to full-on cheesiness, but I can't seem to stop myself! Argh!

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Lex Has A New Diet Which Changes The Situation

Clark seemed to be taking everything a day at a time and Lex was surprised at his suddenly complacent attitude.

Lex had an idea that this was a biological symptom( although he couldn't prove it) – he wouldn't put it past the Kryptonians to figure out how to make their people docile when pregnant – and that frightened Lex more than anything – he loved Clark and didn't want him changed by an alien biological imperative.

What if he didn't revert back after the baby was born? But most of all, he felt such guilt because it was all Lex's fault for wanting to have a child with Clark. He silently vowed to himself that he was never allowing Clark to do this again.

So when Lex found himself picking up strange things and eating them, he attributed it to his stress over Clark's condition.

He had eaten about 10 pencils before he realized it, and had surprised Laura by rushing out to his assistant's desk, handing over the rest of the pencils from his desk and telling her from now on he wanted only mechanical pencils at his desk (hopefully he wouldn't eat those).

He was down in the labs once and unknowingly (at the time) ate all the chalk sitting beside the chalkboard there, but thankfully the lab had been empty so no-one else had yet witnessed his strangeness.

Lex researched and found a disorder called "pica" where non-food items were consumed and it seemed to fit his symptoms to a certain degree but had so far not been harmful to him; so he decided to just continue to monitor himself before going to a doctor about it, his main concern right now had to be Clark and their baby (and at least he wasn't eating dirt, yet).

Raw eggs in the shell, raw coffee grinds or raw flour straight from the package, and lots of salt and hot sauce on everything else he ate was the extent of it so far. And so far, Lex had been able to keep this from Clark in an effort to save him the stress, which he didn't need with the pregnancy.

But it all came to a head one day in the labs when a lab assistant came in to check on a project (it was a weekend and the lab was supposed to be empty) and stopped Lex just before he drank a beaker full of hydrochloric acid he'd poured for himself.

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Tyler Davies was quiet and kind of shy, so he quite enjoyed coming in on the weekends to check on his projects in the LexCorp labs.

He had heard that Lex Luthor himself, and even Clark Kent sometimes visited the labs and worried about that quite a bit initially, but after a couple of months of not running into them he found himself able to relax a bit.

Lex Luthor definitely intimidated him and Tyler didn't actually want to meet either him or his super-powered boyfriend.

So when he walked into the labs one Saturday morning and saw Lex Luthor he was so surprised that it took him a moment to assess the situation.

Lex Luthor was trying to kill himself in a most painful manner! Upon this realization, he didn't stop to think he just reacted and yelled at the boss, "MR. LUTHOR, STOP!"

Lex turned his head towards the person shouting just as his lips would have touched the rim of the beaker he'd been holding.

"Yes, Mr. ?..." he inquired calmly.

"Davies, sir, it's Tyler Davies, I work here in the labs," Tyler babbled slightly.

"Well, Mr. Davies, what can I do for you?" Lex continued calmly.

Tyler looked shocked at that but answered shakily, "I'd really like you to put down the container of Hydrochloric Acid you're holding in your hand and about to drink from."

Lex looked down at the beaker in his hand and jumped slightly, but not enough to slosh the contents up over the rim. He carefully placed the beaker on a lab table in front of him and stepped back. He turned and met Tyler's still shocked eyes, only this time Lex's eyes were just as shocked.

"I think I have a problem here" Lex said blandly, and Tyler blanched (no doubt imagining that Tyler was the problem Lex needed solved – his father's ruthless reputation still followed Lex around).

"Clark, could you please come here when you have a moment?" Lex said calmly.

Tyler was still watching him warily and now looking at him even more strangely for talking to thin air (although the world knew Clark Kent was Kal-El/Superman, they often didn't know the full extent of his abilities).

Clark appeared in front of them both suddenly and Tyler jumped back in fright.

"What's wrong Lex? What happened? Your heartbeat was fine until a few seconds ago when it sped up abruptly and then you 'oh so calmly' call me to come see you if I have a moment?" he turned to Tyler then. "Who's he? Did he do something to you Lex? Are you okay? Tell me what's going on?" Clark said insistently.

"It's fine Clark, calm down. I'm fine and I'll tell you about it when you let me get a word in edgewise."

Clark grinned sheepishly in response. "Okay, go ahead; I'll keep my lips zipped."

If this situation hadn't arisen from his own life being in danger, Lex would have been enjoying this. It was so nice to see Clark's recent complacency and lethargy (that the pregnancy had induced in him) gone and see some of the fire back in his eyes.

"Clark, I'll tell you what happened but first I need to know if you've been experiencing any unusual cravings lately?"

Clark blushed and tried to prevaricate, "Um, well, maybe but this is a bit personal don't you think Lex? Who is this guy and why is he here?"

"This guy, Clark, is a lab technician named Tyler Davies and he just saved me from drinking a beaker full of hydrochloric acid."

Clark gaped at Lex's blasé recitation of events. Then suddenly Lex was being held very tightly against Clark's chest.

"Oh Lex, I'm so sorry, this must have something to do with me, I just know it. I'm so sorry." He said as he cradled Lex's head against his shoulder and rubbed his other hand gently up and down Lex's back.

Lex didn't even need to look at Clark's face to know the guilt he would see there. "Clark, don't worry, Tyler here saved my life and we'll figure this out together so that nothing happens to me. Don't go off on a guilt-trip now, it's not going to do either of us any good."

Clark's shoulders straightened and he released Lex and leaned back a bit so they could look at each other. "You're right Lex; we need to be practical about this. We need to look at this logically and we can fix it."

They were able to put Tyler Davies off with the idea that Lex had been suffering a reaction to the Kryptonian bonding that he and Clark had undergone and got him to sign an extremely thorough confidentiality agreement. Tyler was happy to sign it, he certainly didn't want to talk to anyone about it, he just wanted to go back to his quiet life and his job which he enjoyed. He didn't, however, turn down the large bonus that came his way in his next paycheque.

Clark and Lex went back to see Jor-El and after extensive testing of both Lex and Clark it was decided (but could not really be proven conclusively, it was all guesswork really) that Clark's body must be craving elements and chemicals that would have occurred naturally on Krypton but that he was not getting in enough quantities on earth. A mineral and chemical cocktail (that would have been lethal to humans, so Lex stayed far away from it) was devised by the AI to compensate for the lack in Clark's diet.

This incident further reinforced to Lex, however, that the AI just didn't have all the answers about what the effects of growing up on earth would have on a Kryptonian's physiology. They needed to learn more but Clark seemed to have an aversion to talking about it. It was as though he was embarrassed about not being human somehow, which Lex could not really understand, why worry about something so fundamental and unchangeable.

Nevertheless, he observed Clark's attitude (and past actions) that showed his ambivalence to his heritage and Lex devised a plan to get others working to study the issue. He just had to get Clark's agreement, the AI would not release information about Kryptonian physiology to human doctors unless Clark authorized it, of that Lex was sure.

Lex broached the touchy subject with Clark one morning a few days later at Clark's favourite meal time – breakfast.

Clark had a huge plate piled high with waffles, pancakes, scrambled eggs and bacon; and it was disappearing at an alarming rate. Thankfully Clark hadn't gained any weight and wouldn't for quite a while yet – still his body seemed to need quite a lot of food. Who knew how much fuel his body required to effect the changes it needed to for the pregnancy?

This was Lex's point in broaching the subject with Clark; instead of letting Clark hide his head in the sand because it was an issue he didn't like to think about. Lex's point was that no-one really knew enough about Kryptonian physiology to be able to help them, even the A.I. was mostly useless (it only knew about Kryptonians who had grown up on Krypton) and it was time for that to change.

Clark had been silent while he wolfed down his food so Lex took it as the opening he needed to bring up the subject.

"Clark, I need to talk to you about something important for a minute, please."

Clark's head came up form his plate and he met Lex's eyes. "Okay, Lex."

"Clark, I would like you to think seriously about the kind of person you'd want for a doctor. I'm planning on hiring at least one doctor, maybe two or maybe even a team, if I can find the right people and get them to agree to my terms.

I'd like the team to monitor your health over the entire pregnancy. But I'm also going to give them complete access to everything we can get from the A.I. about Kryptonian physiology."

The minute Lex has said the word "doctor" Clark had started to frown and shift uncomfortably in his chair, slouching down low like he could hide from unpleasant topics.

"Come on, Clark, help me out a little here. I don't want you to hate the person I hire, but I will be hiring someone, so please help me pick someone."

"Fine, I want my doctor to be a guy, no women at all, and I want him to be old, really, really old, ancient almost. And he has to be ugly, and fat, really, really fat, like 500 lbs maybe…"

Lex cut him off before he got any worse.

"Clark, I know you're embarrassed and worried by the changes you may go through, but you're always going to be beautiful to me."

Clark just grimaced at this, so that didn't seem to go over so well with Clark and even Lex had to wince at his clichéd cheesiness, nevertheless he pressed on,

"But Clark, it really comes down to how much you love and care for our child. If we can come to a better understanding of Kryptonian physiology we can make our child's life better, easier. What if our child has to go through the same thing one day? I'm not going to let your embarrassment threaten the health of our child. We need to do this Clark! And imagine how much more we'll know about your biology, imagine if you had known what to expect growing up Kryptonian on earth? Would you deny that to our child? Not to mention we don't really want to have any more close calls with me about to drink acid, do we?"

"Fine, I'll help you pick a doctor, and I'll get Jor-El to cooperate with them" Clark sighed, "but really Lex, bringing out both the parental guilt this early was a bit low don't you think?" he pouted.

"Hey Clark, whatever works" Lex replied. Then he pushed a stack of 30 file folders across the table to land beside Clark's plate.

"There you go, knock yourself out. These are the top candidates in the world, Clark, I've already weeded out any undesirables. Out of these 30 files I expect you to come up with 5 final names and then we'll interview them together. Alright Clark?"

"Alright, I'll do it right now, might as well get it over with" Clark said, as though resigned to his fate and pouted at Lex, but there was a gleam of interest in his eyes as he reached for the files.

"You pout so prettily" Lex conceded gently "but I still expect your final list of candidates by the end of the day."

Clark pouted even more and batted his eyelashes up at Lex. "Aww Lex, are you trying to placate me with your poetic purple prose?"

"No Clark, I believe that's your purview, I'll leave the wordsmithing to you, I'm more a number guy myself. Numbers and science."

"Oh untrue, untrue!" Clark objected. "I may be okay with the written word but when it comes to public speaking I suck royally. But you – I've seen you mesmerize audiences at the most boring press conferences with your words, tone and body language until you had them eating out of your hand.

And I know for a fact that most of the press corps has to go back to the office to look up a lot of the words you use, but you never patronize. People love listening to you Lex, and I'm glad because so do I."

Suddenly Clark's eyes took on a pleading look, "In fact, I was wanting to ask you if I could tape you reading some kids stories, so I can play it to the baby every night. I want the baby to know your voice the minute it comes out and I figure it will relax me too – 'cause you know I always love listening to you" Clark said dreamily.

"Whatever you'd like Clark, of course I'll do it, but there's no need to tape me, I'll be there to read to you and the baby every night."

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Out of the 30 candidates Clark actually chose 6 doctors to be interviewed. Lex didn't want to give any of the doctors (or the media) any inkling of what he was up to, so he had an outside agency set up all the interviews. They were all scheduled at hotels in the candidate's city of residence, 4 of the 6 lived in the U.S. with one other living in Japan and another in France.

At the appropriate time Clark flew them to each interview and they let themselves in via the balcony of the suites Lex had arranged the interviews to be held in (to outsmart the media trying to follow them).

Needless to say the prospective candidates were all very surprised when Lex and Clark arrived to interview them, but being doctors and therefore used to stressful circumstances (like hospital ERs and surgery etc.) most of them recovered quickly. Most, not all, because a timid a timid American man who had forsaken practicing medicine for doing research remained very unnerved by them both.

Clark strained to ascertain if it was a xenophobic or homophobic prejudicial attitude that was making the young doctor uncomfortable, he listened to the man's increased heart-rate and rapid breathing but couldn't come to a conclusion solely based on the man's autonomic reactions.

This bothered Clark so much that he couldn't focus and Lex had barely started into his questions when Clark interrupted to ask Lex if he could have a moment with him privately. Lex quirked an eyebrow inquisitively at him but acquiesced and they went into one of the bedrooms adjoining the sitting room they were in.

"What's up Clark? Something wrong?" Lex asked.

"Yeah, at least I think so. This guy seems more nervous and upset than the situation warrants, even factoring in the surprise of who we both are. And now his nervousness is making me uncomfortable, and I need to know what's causing it. His heart-rate and blood pressure are through the roof."

"Hmmmm" Lex said distractedly. "I might have an idea as to what the cause is, but it's just a guess really."

"Yeah well, your educated guess is usually better than most people's facts, so let's hear it. I can't fathom how you could possibly know but then you've always been more of a student of human nature than I have."

"Maybe that's because you're not human Clark?"

"Ha ha, very funny" he replied.

"And also, did you just quote Star Trek IV to me?"

"Huh?" Clark looked surprised.

"Very articulate response Clark. You remember the scene when Scotty explains that Kirk thinks Spock's educated guess is better than most people's certainties?"

"Uh huh Lex, whatever you say," Clark replied slyly, then turned aside and coughed "GEEK" loudly into his hand.

Lex merely looked at him exasperatedly. "Enough tangents, back to the matter at hand Clark."

The teasing light left Clark's eyes as he got serious again. "Right Lex, I'm not the one taking us off on tangents and meanwhile 'twitchy guy' is back there (he jerked his thum behind him towards the sitting room they'd just exited) waiting for us. So tell me O Wise One, what do you think is making him so twitchy?"

"Let's just say Clark that your gaydar is for Crap! He seems a little repressed so he's probably been hiding safely in his closet – only to come out once in a while and fantasize, maybe even get off thinking about an unattainable man. And Superman is so unattainable that he can fantasize without risk of being pulled out of his cozy closet and then WHAM, here you are – larger than life – and of course, he's a little flustered."

Clark just gaped at Lex with his mouth wide open. "Real attractive Clark" Lex teased.

Clark was still at a loss for words. "I don't even know what to say to that. I mean I can't… I mean… you got all that from just looking at him?" He squinted his eyes at Lex, "You're sure you didn't have someone investigate him and you already knew this stuff?"

Lex smirked back at him. "I'm sure, do you really think I'd have kept this from you if I knew. I'd have told you if only just to tease you about it. And also, that's not the kind of thing an investigator finds out – I mean I know I hire the best and all that, but so far I've never managed to find an investigator who could read minds to discover who people fantasize about. And that would be just so useful too – although I think I'd probably be disturbed to know how many people actually fantasize about you Clark."

Clark blushed cutely.

"So, shall we go ask him if I'm right?" Lex asked.

Clark gaped at Lex a second time. "You're actually going to ask him that?"

"Of course, we need to get this out of the way before we decide whether to hire him or not."

"You'd still hire him even if he admits it?" Clark asked surprised.

"Sure Clark, you can't always help who you fantasize about or where your mind takes you but as long as he knows it's hopeless, that he has no chance with you and that you're mine, then I don't see why we can't get past it."

"I'm not sure if I can get past it" Clark admitted shyly. "I'm embarrassed for him and for me, can't we just take him out of the running for the job? I'd be really uncomfortable having him as my doctor if you're right."

"Well Clark, we're branded as each others, I'm yours and you're mine. Nothing else matters beyond that. If he's really as good as I think he is, your health and our child's health is too important to me, and I hope to you, to let a little embarrassment stop us from hiring him. But of course if you're sure you wouldn't be comfortable with him, I'd never force it on you. So you tell me, can you handle it? Because, let's face it, you're gorgeous, and if I didn't hire anyone who had ever fantasized about you, I'd never work with anyone but your parents. I mean, even Laura's probably entertained the thought a time or two."

"Ewwww Lex. That's just mean, now I won't be able to talk to Laura or look her in the eyes for weeks."

"Sorry Clark, just trying to put things in perspective. So let's just go back in there and see if HE can get past if before we deliberate any further."

And so they went back in to confront the poor doctor over whether he fantasized about Clark or not – Lex personally couldn't wait to tell Chloe and Martha about this one!

TBC.

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