****

When Lex finally emerged from the shower, Edward could tell that any reserves of strength the young man had called upon were now depleted, and he was running on sheer willpower. His skin glowed red from the shower's heat, making the bruises and welts less starkly revealing than against his normally pale color. He did not protest as Edward helped him dry off and wrapped a towel securely around his waist. Gently, but firmly, the old man pushed the younger one down onto the seat he had moved in front of the sink, positioned in such a fashion that Lex would not have to stare at himself in the mirror. Edward examined the wounds. Although raw and obviously painful, none were dangerous, caused no doubt by the flat edge of a leather strap, and someone's fists. Edward applied antibiotic salve where the skin was broken but could do little else. Time would heal the physical damage without so much as a scar. He was more concerned about young Lex's state of mind. He knew too well the Luthor mindset. When Luthors were wronged, Luthors sought justice, which all too often bordered on revenge. Despite his refusal to call the police, Edward knew Lex would not rest until he found the perpetrators.

As though reading his mind, Lex brushed aside his ministrations and stood up, swaying slightly, needed to grip the side of the vanity to steady himself.

"You should rest now," Edward advised softly. For a moment he thought Lex might capitulate as he reached for the clothes the butler had set out for him. Dropping the towel, Lex pulled on the boxers and sleep pants, then set aside the silk top as though the thought of anything touching his injured skin was completely abhorrent. But when he turned to face his old servant Lex's expression was grim.

"Thank you," He said laying one hand on the old man's shoulder. "You do understand that I truly appreciate your help."

Edward nodded solemnly. It was a rare moment when his employer expressed gratitude to a servant, albeit an old and trusted one. He was warmed by the small but genuine smile that graced Lex's handsome features. "If there is anything else you need, you know you can call on me."

"I've always known that, Edward. You were the one person my mother taught me to trust. If you would bring my laptop to the bedroom. I need to do a little research."

Edward nodded again, then watched as the younger Luthor slowly padded from the bathe and into the master bedroom, closing the door completely behind him.

****

Lionel stood calmly at the window overlooking the city below. Dominic paused just inside the door. He waited for the appropriate signal to approach his employer. Many years of service to LuthorCorp had taught him not to misjudge the apparent control the senior Luthor now displayed. Lionel was too much like his animal namesake, quietly stalking his prey, pouncing only when the time was exactly right. And like his namesake, he would just as likely turn on one of his minions should that unfortunate soul arrive bearing unpleasant news. Dominic knew his news would not be well taken.

Finally, after what seemed an hour, Lionel turned towards Dominic. His face was cold, as always, his eyes intense. Only years of observation allowed Dominic to focus on the obvious signs of stress. Lionel's thin mouth was a bit too tight, his posture too rigidly correct, his hands gripped too firmly behind his back.

"Yes," Lionel said. It was only one word. No questions were asked, but Dominic knew it was his signal to report.

"Apparently your son left his apartment here in the city shortly after yesterday's meeting ended. The doorman remembers him leaving with an overnight bag and assumed he was departing for Smallville, but he did not know if Lex was going elsewhere first. When he left, Lex was driving towards the center of Metropolis. My men searched there first as you had requested." Dominic chose his words carefully, knowing there was no way to temper what needed to be said, yet aware of Lionel's sometimes unpredictable reaction when the subject was Lex.

"Have you located my son?" The question was flat and emotionless.

"Yes," Dominic replied. "It appears he is at the mansion in Smallville."

"He arrived without incident?"

Dominic hesitated. "He arrived, sir. But not until approximately 4 AM, three hours later than he should have given his normal driving habits."

"And you are implying what, Dominic?"

Although Lionel had not raised is voice, Dominic sensed his impatience.

"That he may have been diverted." Dominic almost winced at the choice of words.

"And how did this 'diversion' happen?"

Dominic could almost feel the noose tightening around his neck with each toneless question. "We're investigating that now, sir. We have reason to suspect the diversion was not of his own design." Dominic looked at the manila envelope he held in his hand, aware that Lionel's gaze had also fixed on the innocuous brown envelope. "This arrived by courier a short time ago. It's clean, sir." Dominic could feel the pressure of the half truth eating at his reserve. Yes, the envelope itself was clean of contaminants, explosives or any of a dozen deadly items it could contain. But the contents themselves were another story. Only he had actually seen what was inside and he braced himself mentally as he handed the packet over to his employer.

Lionel's slender fingers ran under the metal clasp that held the flap closed, and slowly opened the envelope, extracting several black and white, eight by ten photographs. Dominic was not sure what kind of reaction he expected. Though he looked closely, the only expression he detected on Lionel's face was a slight narrowing of his eyes and further tightening of his lips.

After a prolonged silence Lionel spoke, his voice unperturbed. "Has anyone else seen these?"

"Only myself."

"Find who did this." The words were spoken with chilling stillness.

****

It was nearly one in the afternoon when Edward approached the door to the master bedroom. He hesitated a moment before rapping lightly on the door. It had been very quiet for the past hour. Earlier, Edward had been able to detect the occasional beeping of one of Lex's computers, or the murmur of his voice as he spoke on the phone. After waiting an appropriate interval of time, Edward eased open the door, and sighed softly with relief. Lex lay sprawled across the bed, the laptop and three cell phones by his outstretched hand. He had apparently fallen into an exhausted sleep. Edward carefully removed the phones, and placed the laptop on a nearby desk. As he started toward the door he was startled by Lex's half strangled cry. Edward turned only to see his young employer caught in a nightmare, that twisted his face into a grimace, and his hands into rigid fists. "No..." Lex half cried out again. "No..." His voice faded to a soft whimper and Edward thought his own heart would break.

Edward silently moved back to the side of the bed, instinctively placing one wizened hand on the young man's smooth head, as he took the outstretched hand in his own. "Shh," he hushed soothingly, though he knew Lex could not hear. He gently patted Lex's head, the skin warm and soft to the touch. Lex subsided into restless slumber, his eyelids moved rapidly in a another dream and his outstretched hand twitched and jumped. After a few moments he relaxed again, drifting back into dreamless sleep. Edward released his grip and stepped back from the bed. Crossing the room he slowly eased himself into one of the wingbacked chairs at the far side. As he had done so often in the past, when Lionel's presence was needed but absent, Edward stayed. He did not believe Lex knew of these silent vigils, though Edward would remain regardless of how Lex might feel about his presence. It was his unspoken duty to guard against the never-ending nightmares.

****

Dominic once again found himself standing just inside the door to Lionel's inner office. For the second time that day he found he was the bearer of less than desirable news. This time he did not wait for Lionel to grant him permission to speak. He quickly passed on the information his team had been able to track down.

"It appears," he said in conclusion, "that someone was one step ahead of us. They anonymously dropped enough information into the State Police Internal Affairs Office to initiate some serious questions. The IA has focused on one officer who was on duty along the stretch of highway where we think Lex was detoured. Apparently, the officer couldn't stand the pressure because he started talking. He's confessed to taking money to divert one car from the interstate last night. Apparently it's not the first time he's augmented his income by accepting a bribe. IA is still trying to track down the source of the bribe."

"And the source of the information to IA?"

"We're pretty sure it was Lex, sir. He must have caught the man's badge number. Lex would remember that."

Lionel nodded again. "I want to know who paid the bribe."

Our methods were more fruitful than Internal Affairs, Dominic said, handing Lionel a small piece of paper. The paper contained a single word - Meridian.

****

When the phone rang at the Luthor mansion in Smallville, it was answered by the downstairs maid who brought it to Edward's room. The girl was new. She looked at Edward with undisguised curiosity as she handed him the telephone. He dismissed her with a nod, and she turned away, obviously disappointed not to be privy to the purpose behind such an unusual call.

"Edward?"

"Yes, Sir." Edward now understood the girl's curious stare. To the other servants it was unthinkable that Lionel Luthor himself would telephone to speak to one of them.

"My son?" Lionel asked.

"He's asleep, sir."

"How is he?" The voice cracked imperceptibly.

"He was not severely injured, sir. But he needs to know why this happened. He needs to understand who did this to him and why if he is going to deal with the humiliation. I can see it eating away at him. He needs you to tell him these things."

There was silence on the other end of the line.

"Sir?"

"Take care of him, Edward." Lionel's voice was barely a whisper. "I will try to tell him in the only way I can."

****

The clock in the foyer was slowly tolling midnight. It had been a long exhausting day, and Edward's old body ached. He wanted nothing more than a hot bath and his comfortable bed for a few hours before he needed to rise for another day. As he passed Lex's office he noticed light coming from under the closed door. He hesitated, then rapped softly at the door.

Come in.

Edward stepped inside.

Don't you ever sleep, Edward?

Actually sleep was my intention, sir, but I saw the light, and thought--

--you'd check on me.

Edward nodded. I used to think sleeplessness was an affliction of the old.

Just an affliction of the damned, Lex said. He had continued to watch the computer screen in front of him while he spoke. Has he called?

Edward was not surprised by the outward calm in Lex's voice. The value of emotionless response had been drilled into him from his earliest years. Edward had listened to the constant admonitions from Lex's father. Luthors do not cry, fear, hate.' The list was endless. It was also a list Lex had defied on many occasions.

Has he called? Lex repeated.

My father.

Edward wanted to reply truthfully, but Lex continued to talk as though he did not expect an answer to his own question.

I've been watching the overseas markets. The dip in the value of Meridian stocks has been noteworthy. If this trend continues, they will take a major nose-dive when Wall Street opens in a few hours and leave themselves wide open for a hostile takeover. I recognize my father's hand in this. Meridian was behind the attack on me. Lex was not asking, he was stating a fact.

I must confess that even after all these years, I don't understand your father's business tactics, Edward said truthfully.

You're better off not understanding.

Edward hated the anger he heard in the young man's voice. He understood more than young Lex would ever know. He understood Lionel's true motives. For years he had prayed the two Luthors would reconcile their differences, but knew in his heart the wall between them was practically insurmountable. He often felt he had failed in his promises to Lex's mother and worried about who would look after Lex once he was gone.

****

Light was from the full moon streamed through story high windows casting a cold shimmer over the photos spread across Lionel Luthor's desk. The photographic technique was sloppy but the subject was painfully recognizable. "I tried to prevent this." Lionel said to the young man in the photos, his voice a whisper in the empty and darkened office. "Tried to show them how little you meant to me. Wanted them to know that nothing they did to you would ever influence my business decisions. I tried to warn you, Lex. To push you away. I guess I failed miserably. Failed us both."

Lionel's hand went to the phone for the third time in less than an hour, but again he paused before picking up the receiver. He had spent too many years building the chasm that separated himself from his son. He had even convinced himself the chasm didn't matter and it did not hurt. But staring at the photos spread across his marble desktop reminded him of just how much it did matter, and that the hurt was unimaginable. All the years spent trying to convince himself and his business rivals that Lex was not a tool to be used against him, and still he had not succeeded.

Nineteen years had passed since the fateful day when Lionel realized he could not afford the luxury of loving his son. For forty-eight panic stricken hours he and his wife had hovered on the brink of despair until their young son was finally returned to them. It had cost him close to a million dollars, and invariably, cost his wife her health. He vowed it would never happen again. He made sure the press never learned of the successful kidnapping and ransom, the police were never contacted, the world had never known. He swore he would do everything in his power to make sure his family was never endangered again. Security alone would never be enough. He had to make the world believe that neither his son nor his wife could be used against him. With the same methodical persistence that turned his business ventures into successes, he began to build the image of the father who did not care. By the time Lex was a teen, he had added his own convincing evidence of the son who was not loved.

For most of the last nineteen years the tactics, along with massive expenditures on security, had succeeded in protecting his only son. When Lionel had received this most recent threat from an unknown competitor, he had treated it as he had countless others, turning the matter over to his most trusted security people. And making doubly sure to verbally chastise his son in front of as many witnesses as possible so the public would know exactly how little he loved Lex. Only this time, he had failed. Lex had not responded predictably as he had in the past with angry carousing at his favorite bars. No, this time he had calmly left Metropolis, unwittingly eluding Lionel's security force, and driven right into a trap. Dominic and his men had uncovered the perpetrator behind the attack on Lex. Meridian Enterprises, an upstart corporation that had been making brash moves against LuthorCorp for over a year, attempting to push the giant conglomerate out of several fields Meridian's CEO thought he was better equipped to handle. Lionel had rebuffed repeated efforts to be pushed from those fields, and instead had formulated several plans to expand operations. They thought they could browbeat Lionel Luthor into cooperating by threatening to harm his only son, if Lionel did not cancel several expansion projects at LuthorCorp facilities.

Well, Lionel thought, Meridian had been foolish enough to act on their threat. The trap had been set and sprung, but Lex had survived and was now safe. Lionel had no reason to concede to his competitor's demands and every reason to retaliate. The harm had been done. It was Lionel's turn to harm back. He had already taken steps to ensure that Meridian Corporation would cease to exist and would never again menace his son. His only regret, one that left a bitter taste in his mouth and a dull ache in his heart, was that his son might never understand why last night's events took place, or how much his father hurt for him. He probably suspected by now that it was a business deal gone bad'. Lex understood these things. What he did not understand was how Lionel truly felt. Lionel dare not express his feelings overtly, but he knew how he could make a small gesture. Even though it was not on Meridian's list of operations, the first plant he would expand would be the Smallville facility. The newspapers would announce his decision tomorrow. Lionel reached for the phone

****

(end)