Falling
A Weird Domestic Clexis Fic (Sequel to "Whoops") By LastScorpion

(Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters, and I'm pretty sure they'd never do this.)

"So, hurricane season is officially over, and we're heading on home."

Lex swiveled his chair around to look out at his city. It was a splendid view, and it would be even better once they were back. "When will you get here?" he asked his wife.

"Well, I'm on MidwestAir #475 getting in tonight at 8:50. I can get a taxi."

Lex sat up straight, suddenly no longer relaxed. "You're on a commercial flight? Why aren't you coming home with him?"

"Calm down, genius. I have to have a reasonable way of getting around, you know. You don't think Perry will wonder how I suddenly got from Florida to Kansas without a plane ticket?"

"Tell him I sent the jet for you."

"Oh, that would go over well. Not to mention, these are inquisitive people, Lex. You know all about that, don't you?"

Lex swallowed hard. Lois interrupted his train of thought before he could make himself too upset.

"Relax, Lex." Her voice was completely different when she was trying to make someone feel better. Nobody ever heard her like that except Lex, Clark, and the children. "It'll be fine. I do research things, you know. MidwestAir has the best safety record in the country. I'm in first class; I'll have room to put my feet up; I promise to move around the cabin to prevent blood clots; the seat belts still fit perfectly well; the doctor said it was okay to fly -- you heard him."

"If you crash," Lex whispered. There were only two people on Earth to whom he'd ever voice such a fear, even quietly.

Lois whispered back, "We both know that nobody's gonna let that happen."

"I love you," he muttered. "Be careful. And don't bother with a taxi; the limo will be waiting at the airport."

Lois laughed. "I'm always careful! Okay, not really. But I love you, too. Say hi to Clark for me. He was going to do 'just one or two more things' and then head on back, so look for him in...."

"About an hour? I'll keep an eye out."

"See ya, sweetie." Lois hung up.

When they'd found out that Lois was pregnant again, Lex had felt secretly relieved that his campaign for Mayor and his responsibilities at LuthorCorp would probably combine to keep him mostly out of the house. She'd been dead set against having another baby, and he expected she'd be angry. An angry Lois was a Lois best avoided. No one had anticipated how happy she'd be, not even her. Lex privately suspected the half-alien fetus was chemically improving her mood to enhance its own chances of survival.

They were coming home! As Lex's concern about Lois on an airplane ebbed, he could feel the joy bubbling up, that his wife and lover were coming home.

It had been another impressive hurricane season in Florida. Lois had been covering it for the Planetary Press (the newsservice arm of The Daily Planet; she'd had to leave the Metropolis city beat when Lex had declared his mayoral candidacy.) Clark had been rescuing people and fixing things, as unobtrusively as possible. He would have left it to the duly constituted authorities of the state of Florida if he'd had to, but then Lex would have had to put up with that worried, guilty look on his face all the time.

Hiring Carrie and Sherry Ross to au pair in the city had been the best summer hiring decision Lex had ever made. It enabled Clark to work off the No-Longer-Superman guilt a little; it let Lois get enough sleep; the babies loved the girls. Best of all, it meant Lois and Clark had been available for plenty of sex. Yep, best summer hire ever.

His work was almost all tidied away. Lex kept his eyes out the window while he recorded a last few instructions for Charity to carry out in the morning. He expected he'd be in late, or maybe not at all. Pete could manage the campaign without him for a day easily, and Charity could handle the company. He'd call Pete later.

Maybe Clark and Pete and he could have pizza or something before Lois got home. It was weird, that they were all friends, like people. The bizarre alien-pheromone-induced breeding trio arrangement struck him as less unlikely than the way that he and Pete and Clark had somehow picked up this long-time chums thing.

The clouds outside were getting thicker and darker. Lights were coming on in the buildings of the city, though the sun wouldn't be down for a couple of hours. There would be a thunderstorm by nightfall. Clark's probably wearing blue jeans and plaid, Lex thought. He'll be pretty well camouflaged against the clouds unless the plaid has red in it.

He'll get soaked if he doesn't hurry.

Finally, in the distance, there was a little flash of dull red against the towering gray clouds. There he was! Lex closed his laptop and stood. Even after a year and a half, it still felt like such a thrill and a privilege to watch Clark fly. Lex knew Clark only chose to risk flying over the city in daylight like this to show off, for him.

The rain started coming down, and there were two blazes of lightning, one right after the other. When Lex's eyes cleared from the bright dazzle and he checked back on Clark's location, Clark was gone.

Lex put his hands against the cool high glass and searched desperately. There! Doubled over, falling and then seeming to catch himself and then falling again, Clark was crashing erratically to the ground.

The lightning must have hit him. The Electro-Ray had been one of Lex's most promising anti-Superman weapons. Maybe there was even kryptonite still around, out to the south of the city -- Dad might have had a cache there Lex had never found. Lex knew now that electricity in combination with kryptonite could rob Clark of his powers for a time. Clark could be dying.

Lex was already in the elevator before Clark could possibly have hit the ground. He drove like a maniac through the thick downpour, saved from certain death a dozen times only by the Mercedes' superior steering and brakes. Even the thought of what Lois would feel if she got back tonight to find both of them dead couldn't slow him down.

The geography of Metropolis was etched into Lex's brain. He'd driven every mile of its roads blind drunk, high as a kite, madder than hell, and always at an unsafe rate of speed. He knew exactly where Clark would have hit, and exactly how to get there, despite the near-zero visibility and streaming pavement.

Lex crashed the gate barring the access road to the Metropolis Municipal Water Treatment Facility at 50 mph. He didn't care about denting the Mercedes, or setting off any security alarms. He'd manufacture a plausible cover story later -- it wasn't like he'd never broken into the city water supply before, and this time he wasn't even planning to poison it or drug the city's populace for his own nefarious purposes.

The watershed lands surrounding the facility were heavily wooded. He left the gravel road when he saw the first broken trees, then had to leave the car when the crashed branches became too thick to drive through. Clark must have hit at a hell of a clip, to take out so much timber. Lex didn't want to think about it.

"Clark!" he yelled, forcing his way through the fallen trees. Oh, God, he hadn't exploded had he? That shouldn't be possible. Just keep looking. "Clark!" Lex cried again. There was no answer.

Finally, Lex came to the end of the tumbled lumber and stood at the edge of a muddy crater, ten or fifteen feet across and about five feet deep. Clark was curled over himself at the bottom. He looked up at Lex's approach. The pouring rain washed runnels through the blood on his face and chest. He'd taken his bloody, muddy, rain-soaked shirt off and wrapped it around a tiny baby he was sheltering in his lap.

Lex stopped dead. "Jeeze, Clark, again?"

Clark nodded and struggled to get to his feet. Lex splashed down into the pit and helped him. "His name is Jon, if that's okay," Clark whispered hoarsely.

"Of course, of course. Don't talk. Let's get you home and dry." Clark looked exhausted. As Lex got his boyfriend and his latest half-alien baby into the car he swore silently, "I am never letting him swallow again."