The two girls returned with the drinks for the group without further incident. A few minutes before the end of the game, Chloe excused herself to go down onto the field and check on her photographer.

"Hey Chip, get some good shots?"

"What?" The mousy teen quickly glanced up at her from behind his camera lens. "Oh yeah. I'll have them for you by tomorrow afternoon."

"Good." She nursed the remains of her large hot chocolate and looked around the field, scanning the players on and around the bench. It looked like Jason had decide to leave before the end of the game. Chloe silently thanked whatever God existed up there that she didn't have to deal with him asking her questions.

"So is it true?"

"What?"

"Is it true that you and Lana Lang are going out?" Chip asked while taking a few more shots.

"Oh that...yeah, it's, um, true." Chloe cringed at her poorly executed lie.

"So you've like kissed her and everything?"

"We've kissed." Chloe answered tactfully, "but I don't know about everything."

"Wow. That's really cool." He seemed to genuinely mean it, in a creepy sort of way.

"Cool? Please!" An annoyingly singsong voice butted it's way into their conversation. "The dike just couldn't get a real man."

"Lenore, Melissa, Britney." Chloe bit out towards the cheerleaders. "Drugged any real men of your own lately?"

"Listen dike. You better just watch out. Not everyone in this town is a bleeding heart liberal." Lenore threatened before she walked away, dragging her two cronies behind her.

"Don't listen to them. They're all jerks." Chip offered his support to her in his own clumsy way as he put away his equipment and the players returned to the field.

Smallville High had predictably enough won again.

Chloe watched as Lana worked her magic and rounded everyone in the SGBLC to go over to the Talon.

"You guys are going to the party afterwards aren't you?" Her `significant other' pleadingly asked the group.

Everyone there agreed to at least stop by for a cup of coffee and Lana seemed to take this as a victory. Chloe wandered how they were faring since officially coming out. She imagined that they had probably gotten a little name calling of their own and once again felt guilty for her and Lana's deception. However she figured it was too late to do anything but follow through with the insane plan, especially since it had taken on more importance than a little match making.

As if her thoughts had been precognitive, some of the football players and several cheerleaders confronted the group as they walked into the parking lot.

"So the rug-munchers and the fags think they can do whatever they like now?" Kevin Baker taunted.

"Just ignore them." Lana instructed the others as she glared daggers towards at the bigot.

"Oh just ignore us little deviants. You really think that'll work?" Melissa sneered at them.

"Get out of my way." Lana said in a low but forceful voice.

"Or you'll do what?" Lenore physically pushed Lana backwards.

Chloe quickly caught Lana as she stumbled back.

Clark appeared out of nowhere just like he always seemed to do when there was a situation.

"I wouldn't do that again if I were you." He warned as he situated himself between the two groups.

"You think you're going to stop all of us Kent?" One of the other players Chloe didn't recognize asked.

He must have been a transfer student. The others seemed to back off as they had a healthy respect for Clark's capabilities. It was something everyone in the small town seemed to know something of, but they never talk about it.

"If I have to." Clark simply replied

"You're one of them too aren't you." The guy got up in Clark's face. "Freak."

Melissa seemed to have gained a bit of courage from the guy Chloe didn`t know.

"Yeah Kent." She taunted. "We all know what you get up to with the bald guy up at that god-awful monstrosity he lives in."

Chloe couldn't see Clark's expression and she didn't want to. As Lana huffed and started to come out defending Clark, Chloe heard a deadly calm voice from behind.

"Tell me what exactly you think you know?" Lex walked up beside Clark in full Luthor mode. "I'd really like to hear it."

What Clark's presence alone wasn't enough to do, Clark and Lex together accomplished. The intimidated teens backed off almost immediately and retreated to their cars with mumbled threats and insults.

"You know, maybe we shouldn't go to the Talon after all." Jenny said, shaking.

"No." Lex responded to her immediately. "No. You can't let them intimidate you. If you don't go, they'll win."

"Lex is right." Lana spoke up, "we need to show them we're not afraid. If we show them we're not as weak as they think we are, they'll be more unlikely to try anything."

Chloe touched Clark lightly on his shoulder. He still hadn't turned around, even as the last of the taunters had left in their cars.

"You ok Clark?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"You should come to the Talon too." Chloe saw his reluctance in his posture and quickly added, "they might try something there."

Clark`s shoulders sagged.

"Yeah, I'll be there." He sighed and walked away.

By the time Clark mustered the nerve to give up the safety of his remote observation of the Talon from the roof of the building across the street, the coffee shop had been packed with teenagers and adults alike.

A great many more people had turned out for the small post football celebration than usual, considering most of the football team and the cheerleaders had elected to avoid it.

Clark suspect that the denizens of Smallville had heard about Lana and Chloe. They were probably hoping for some kind of vicarious thrill of watching the two girls interact together.

He dreaded stepping through the doors. The normalcy he had worked so hard for this year seemed to have evaporated when Jeff Hoskill spat the word "Freak" into his face.

Not that he even liked or respected the other boy before, but it was seeing the people he had tried so hard to emulate behind Jeff silently agreeing with every word the jerk said to him.

While Lex had never so much as touched him in an overtly sexual way, Clark couldn't help but flinch when they had lumped him in with the rest of what they called deviants. He didn't believe they were right, but their remarks had cut deeply into Clark anyway.

He had spent the last hour trying to figure out why.

Flashes of dreams about his friend Clark didn't ever dare admit to flittered across his thoughts.

Moments where Clark had felt almost uncontrollably compelled to physically reach out to the other man flashed through his mind and doubt surfaced within him.

Clark had spent so much time and energy pushing those things down and keeping them locked tightly away.

He had worked so hard to be normal.

Besides the various other emotions he felt when he discovered the room Lex had kept about him, Clark remembered feeling relieved that he finally had a valid reason to push the other man away. His relationship with Lex never had and never would fit in with normal.

But Lex just wouldn't stay gone and Clark's own desire to see him and have him in his life had caused him to break his resolve and tentatively renew their friendship. He resented his connection to Lex for so many reasons, but somehow during their estrangement, he became conscious of how much he missed and needed it.

The heat of the people crowded into the small caf hit Clark as soon as he opened the door. The clumps of bodies presented two choices for Clark to take: Lana, Chloe and their new friends or Mr. Sullivan, his mom and Lex.

He turned back towards the door to leave before anyone he knew spotted him.

"Clark" His mother called across the room.

Cursing under his breath, he wondered why he hadn't just used his abilities in his attempted getaway. Clark reluctantly turned back around to face the direction in which she was currently advancing.

"Lex told me about what happened after the game. Are you alright?"

"Yeah. I'm fine," he lied.

She seemed to look right through him. "Are you sure?"

He looked into her concerned eyes and ducked his head. "No. I...I think I`m just going to go home. But don't worry, I`ll keep an ear out in case anything happens."

"I think you should stay." She put her hand on his arm. "You know what you did was a brave thing? Standing up to those bullies was...well it was courageous in a way you're usually not." Clark shuffled his feet and swallowed. He couldn't quite bring himself to even look up, much less verbally respond.

"There are several people here who are rather grateful you did what you did. I think you need to see that right now."

"I probably wouldn't be very good company."

"Well running away to brood about this isn't going to improve your outlook on things and it isn't about you being good company. It's about you being around others and allowing yourself to connect with people and not just ideals."

"But I can't. Mom you know I can't ever really do that. You know why."

She sighed. "I think your father and I made a mistake."

Clark jerked his eyes up to look at her. Worries and regrets writ themselves across his mother's face.

"I think we went overboard trying to protect you. We were just so scared that someone would someday take you away from us that we completely isolated you, and ourselves. Before I took this job, I don`t think I even realized how much."

"You didn't have any choice." He argued.

"I really thought that we didn't, and I honestly don't know how we could have raised you any differently, but I've watched you Clark. I've seen you pull yourself away from people when they try to reach out to you only to grasp out desperately for that connection when you think you've found someone just like yourself. You did it with Alicia, you did it with Kara and to an extent you`ve done it with Ryan, Bart and even Lex."

"And you've seen how all those have turned out. Things with Alicia and Kara became huge messes, Ryan died, Bart ran away and Lex..." Clark just shrugged his shoulders.

"Lex what? Admittedly things have happened and he has flaws...huge ones, but he's still here. Despite everything that's happened between you two, he's still here and trying. Do you know he's been to every single football game you've ever played in? And I think you're forgetting some other people, like Chloe and Lana."

He started to protest, but she cut him off.

"I know things are weird between the three of you now, but both girls still seem to genuinely want to be your friend. And Clark, that counts for something."

"I know" He admitted.

"So you'll stay? And try?"

His mother looked at him imploringly and he caved.

"Yeah Mom, I'll stay."

Lana could practically feel Chloe vibrating with curiosity in the seat next to her.

"What do you think it is?" Chloe whispered in her ear.

"Don't know. I can't think of anything that would upset Lex, your father and the Kents so much."

"Lionel. I think it's something to do with Lionel."

Lana looked skeptical. "He's in prison for murder."

"Doesn't matter, it's Lionel Luthor."

"Whatever it is we'll find out later. Clark doesn`t look too good over there."

"Where?" Chloe jerked her attention away from Gabe and Lex.

"Over by the door talking to Martha."

"Yikes." Chloe frowned. "He didn't seem to handle what happened too well."

"I'm sure not happy about it." Lana seethed. All her life, up until her freshman year, Lana had been a part of the popular crowd. She knew how to play their game and play it well. She could cause just as much trouble for them as they did for her when they decided to insult her and mess with her plans and friends.

"What are you two lovebirds whispering about over there?" Ali drew them out of their conversation.

"I hope you're not dwelling on what happened with those assholes. They're just small minded tools who think high school is everything." Fitz said with a wink. "And this is coming from a former tool."

"Right with you on that." Lana commiserated and raised her cappuccino, which Fitz taped with his soda.

"Chloe, is that your Dad over there talking to Mr. Luthor?" Dan asked. "I think I recognize him from that field trip from hell."

Chloe blushed, sunk down in her seat and answered with a barely audible "Uh huh".

"It was cool the way Clark stood up for us and Mr. Luthor made all those guys scatter like cockroaches tonight." Jenny smiled.

"Probably afraid he'd fire their mommies and daddies." Joan, Chad's girlfriend, snarked.

"More likely they were afraid he wouldn't hire them when they finally get booted from high school and have to work for a living." Chad responded.

Lana laughed with the rest of them and watched out of the corner of her eye as Martha broke off from Clark and he started to tentatively approach their table.

"Hey Clark." Chloe welcomed him. "Sit with us?"

"Yeah thanks." He mumbled and pulled up a chair to their little group.

"You know you're my hero now." Chad batted his heavily lined eyes at Clark.

Clark instantaneously blushed a violent red and everyone giggled.

"Well I try." He managed to respond.

"Seriously" Joan offered. "He doesn't fight well. My little sister's kicked his ass before."

More laughter erupted as Chad and Joan started to throw pieces of napkins and straw wrappers at each other.

"Clark does the hero part well." Lana smiled at him.

Clark gave her a modest smile back and nodded his head.

Martha felt relieved to see Clark join his classmates and to hear their laughter over the crowd. She didn't think Jonathan really understood her increasing anxiety about Clark's isolation since he wasn't exactly a social butterfly himself, but she had begun to have real doubts about the way they had raised their son.

The events of the past year sure didn't help: Jonathan's health problems, Jor-El, Kara, the caves, Lionel and Lex's not so private war, and Lex keeping that room. Martha could logically excuse the last one away and she suspected more lay behind Lex's interest than met the eye, but a big part of her had a very adverse emotional reaction whenever she thought of it. It was the same part of her that wanted desperately to hide Clark away from the rest of the world forever.

"Well I think I better head home for the night," Gabe excused himself as he yawned. "Don't want to be dead on my feet tomorrow."

"Well it was fun." Lex shook his hand. "Thank you for inviting me out today."

Martha sighed. Gabe Sullivan obviously thought he had gotten Lex to come out of his shell a little this evening, but she knew darn well that Lex went to every game anyway.

The coach had pulled her to the side one night to make sure she knew.

Maybe Lex meant afterwards at the Talon, but she somehow doubted it.

"Goodbye Gabe" Martha offered him a smile and a hug.

"Bye Martha. See you around."

As soon as Gabe left out the front door, Lex started to gather his things in an attempt to bolt.

The little success she had had with Clark gave Martha the courage to stop Lex and try to clear the air with him.

"Lex, before you go I wanted to talk to you about something."

"Sure. Is it the Talon?"

"No. It's not business. I...um...," she cleared her throat, "I know about the room."

Lex visibly blanched and started to stammer out an apology, but Martha prevented him.

"I don't want an apology Lex. I want to know why. I think I already know, but I want to hear it from you."

He nodded his head. "Alright. I guess I had just became a little too obsessed with the unusual events that tend to occur in Smallville. I put the room together to explore them more."

That had sounded rehearsed.

"I'll buy that as part of your reasoning, but not as all of it."

Lex looked increasingly uncomfortable. "I'm not sure what you mean."

"Curiosity doesn't explain the rather large portraits you had of my son in that room."

"He told you about them?"

"I saw them for myself. After Clark disappeared and you ended up in the hospital, I broke into the castle and found the room on my own." She admitted with no shame.

Lex rubbed his face with his hands. "God I really need to get better security."

Martha just looked at him expectantly.

"I don't know what to say."

Lex couldn't seem to muster up the nerve to tell her himself, so Martha did it for him.

"You have feelings for my son." It was a statement of fact rather than a question.

Lex looked away from her and down at his hands. "I care for Clark."

"You're in love with Clark," she clarified.

He seemed to stop breathing. "I...I've never...I wouldn't...he's still kid. I know that."

"I know you've never truly acted on it. But as far as him still being a kid, he seems to be growing up whether his father and I want him to or not."

He breathed out and seemed to relax some as Martha let him off the hook just a little.

"I'm not giving you a free pass to do whatever you want as far as Clark's concerned. I just wanted you..." she sighed. "I wanted to know for sure that you sincerely cared for his welfare. I know Clark thinks that you don't."

"He thinks I don't care about him?" Lex seemed shocked at the thought.

"He believes you've been using him." Martha tilted her head and gave him a small smile. "I've heard the term `science project' from his mouth more than once since he saw that room."

"Science Project? I wasn't studying him. I just wanted to get past the lies. I wanted..." He rubbed his eyes. "I wanted to feel closer to him. He keeps me at a distance. I try to keep myself at a distance too, but it's just hard."

"I think I understand."

"I don't know how to fix this." Lex admitted.

"Time. You're just going to have to give him time." Martha offered. "And you're going to have to understand that...there are some things about Clark he's not ready to talk to anyone about. He doesn`t want to have to lie to you."

He seemed to accept her words. "I guess I'll just have to learn to accept things and not push."

"That sounds like a good idea." Martha agreed.

Lex collected his coat once again and she could see him raising what emotional and psychological shields she`d managed to bring down with their candid discussion.

"If that's all you wish to discuss, I really should head back to the castle."

"Goodnight Lex." Martha rose from her seat as he did and offered him a hug.

"Goodnight..." he hugged her back, "and thank you."

"If you hear anything more about where Lionel is..."

"I'll notify you." He replied, then turned and walked out of the Talon.

"So what happened?" Chloe asked her father almost as soon as she bounded through the front door.

Lana walked up behind her and set her purse and keys on the TV cabinet.

"Lionel Luthor was released from prison a few weeks ago." Gabe announced in a tired and grim voice.

"A few weeks ago?" Chloe asked incredulously.

"How come this isn't all over the news?" Lana inquired.

"It happened very quickly. Somehow the legal papers about his release got sealed and Lex hasn't yet been able to figure out how Lionel did it or where he's disappeared to. He's been keeping it quite hoping that Lionel would get cocky and show his hand." He explained.

"You mean he can come after us anytime he wants now?" Chloe shook and started to tear up.

"Oh honey," Gabe pulled his daughter into a hug. "Lionel was released legally, so he probably won't want to get sent back to prison."

"It doesn't matter. Apparently he can get away with murder any time he likes." Chloe said bitterly.

Her father tried to use reason on her. "If something fishy happens to anybody who helped send him to prison, Lionel will be the first suspect. He won't want that kind of scrutiny after everything that`s happened."

"Lex still could have told us." Lana complained. "He just left us without warning?"

"He's had security on everyone involved since this happened." Gabe loosened his grip on his daughter and looked at Lana with a calm, comforting smile. "They're better than the usual Luthor security too, they've been watching the house since Lex found out and none of us even noticed."

"You mean the blue car sitting at the end of the cul-de-sac?" Chloe asked.

"You noticed?"

"Yeah, they've just been sitting at various places along the street for a while. I ran their license plates, but couldn't trace the source."

"You didn't tell me?" Gabe asked.

Chloe gave him a small smile, "I wanted to figure it out myself."

Gabe sighed and wiped her tear reddened face. "You two should probably get cleaned up and ready for bed. It's late for a school night."

For two days, Chloe immersed herself in schoolwork and the Torch. By lunchtime on Wednesday, the entire next week's edition had been laid out, all of her articles were finished and every school project due for the next month had been completed. She was restless.

Figuring that if Lana could find some escape from her problems in her insane matchmaking scheme, maybe it would work for her too. Chloe started brainstorming for ways of her own to get Clark and Lex together. Since just locking them in the same room until they started making out wouldn't work for obvious reasons, Chloe's list was mournfully short.

1. Anonymous love letters - entirely too Jr. High and would undoubtedly result in The Plan being exposed.
2. Group Dating??? - they could get a group of couples together to go to the movies and invite Clark and Lex along as the only singles. But would it work with Lex being the only real adult?
3. Make Clark Jealous - too easy and volatile, but maybe further down the line if he's being especially difficult.

Her e-mail pinged and Chloe jumped at the chance for a distraction and opened it up hoping it wasn't just junk mail.

To: Chloe Sullivan
From: The Mack Daddy
Subject: What's up?

Hey guess what? I'm bored out of my mind and Dad says I can visit sometime soon, so I was wondering if you would be so kind as to put me up ;) since you guys have the extra room and all now.

I know. I know. My homesickness is insane. I'll probably be attacked by mutant clowns or something while I'm visiting, but I'd almost welcome the familiarity. It could be just like old times. One of us will get kidnapped (I hence forth volunteer) and the others (led by good old Clark) will come to the rescue.

Or we could go to the movies and eat lots of popcorn.

Write back soon.

Pete

Chloe grinned. Leave it to Pete to distract and cheer her up when she least expected it. She promptly wrote back.

To: The Mack Daddy
From: Chloe Sullivan
Subject: Come on over baby!

I didn't tell you! I can't believe I didn't tell you! The pink princess moved back in - only she wears more black now since her return from gay ol'Paris. And I'm not kidding about the gay part (you'll find out when you get here).

Nevertheless I offer you the use of my humble, yet extremely comfortable couch for the duration of one weekend.

I also accept your offer of movies and popcorn, though you're going to have to go it on your own with the mutant clown thing. I've been enjoying the drought of meteor freak sightings of late.

But I also have to warn you that things are far from dull in ye old town.

Like the other thing, you'll find out when you get here.

See you soon,

Chloe

PS. This weekend, right? - I'll tell my dad.

Chloe quickly sent the e-mail, then minimized her browser.

"What are you so happy about in here?" Lana asked, suddenly appearing out of nowhere.

"Pete's coming to visit, hopefully this weekend. He wants to do movies and popcorn." Chloe swiveled her chair around to face Lana. "And I've got a tentative addition to add to The Plan."

"Oh really?" Lana raised her eyebrows teasingly. "What may that be?"

"A group date where Clark and Lex are the only singles. Of course we don't tell them that it's a date." Chloe scrunched up her face thoughtfully. "But I keep coming up with the problem of how to get Lex there."

"He won't want to hang out with a bunch of highschoolers." Lana agreed.

"He probably wouldn't do it even if it were a group of people his own age."

"Unless of course there was another, official reason for him to go. Like someone's birthday party or a Luthor Corp. event."

"A birthday party would have too many people there and Luthor Corp event would be even worse. There'd be press and society people all over, watching his every move."

"Too bad we can't get him to chaperone something...

"...like with our new friends..." Chloe continued Lana's thought.

"...an official school group outing, since the school charter states that we have to have at least one responsible adult at all school sponsored activities. Maybe movies and popcorn?"

"Perfect."

Lana smiled widely, "Thank you."

"You got the group official then?"

"This morning." Lana nodded her head. "Principle Reynolds thought he could put me off and not have to deal with me, but he gravely underestimated my tenacity."

"How did you do it?" Chloe wondered aloud.

"I got Chad's girlfriend to help me break into his office before he got to school today and then waited for him with enough filled out paperwork, ACLU information and precedence that he caved within ten minutes."

Chloe shook her head. "I don't envy him. The community backlash is going to be something horrible."

"Maybe, but the point is that community recognition is being given to alternative lifestyles for the first time ever in Smallville." Lana smiled a little too evilly and put her hands together ala Montgomery Burns. "And my Plan is coming along quite nicely."

Lex's headache couldn't get any worse. None of his investigations into the judges or other officials with the power to overturn his father's conviction had yet to yield any results.

Gabe Sullivan was also still alternating between spacing off at odd moments, looking at Lex with concern and readily blushing with no apparent cause.

And the conversation that let him know that Martha Kent officially knew he was in love with Clark kept replaying itself in his head, getting worse the more he dwelled on it.

He was waiting for a corporate takeover or some kind of other disaster to hit at any moment when his phone beeped.

"Yes?" Lex asked.

"Sir, this is Anthony at the front gate. A Miss Lana Lang is here to see you," the voice on the other end announced.

"Oh hell." Lex cursed aloud to the empty room, then hit the intercom button again, "Send her up."

A few minutes and a quick drink later, she waltzed through the doors to his office.

"Lana," he put on his best smile. "How are you?"

"Well sort of depends on what you're going to say when I ask you for a favor." She replied

`A favor - surprise, surprise' Lex thought to himself. "Well that depends on what is it?"

"I need you to chaperone a school outing."

Lex did a double take. "What?"

"It's for the new school group I've put together. We need an adult and no one else will do it." She explained.

"But I'm not a parent or a teacher."

"That doesn't matter. You're well above age and a responsible pillar of the community."

"What about Gabe Sullivan?" He worked for him. Lex would make the other man do it if necessary.

"He would, but he's Chloe's dad."

"So that would logically make him the perfect choice." Lex pointed out.

"Lex, it's going to be a social event and Chloe and I will be together..." Lana broke out her award winning sad princess face. "...socially."

"So you think it'd be uncomfortable." Lex stated.

"You wouldn't want your Dad chaperoning you with one of your lovers." Lana actually batted her eyes at him.

`He'd probably sleep with them or it'd be apart of a scheme to try to murder me before the night was out,' Lex thought to himself.

He looked into those sad puppy dog eyes, knew that there was no other solution the girl was going to except and sighed resignedly. "When would this be?"

As soon as Clark had really gotten into the book Lana lent him, he realized she had suggested it because it took the subtext of Dorian Grey and made it text.

Though he did wonder why if she was going to give him such a blatant hint, it hadn't been a book about two lesbians.

The narrative also had some especially descriptive passages. Clark found himself both clandestinely enjoying it and hiding it very well from anyone else who might catch him reading it.

The book was kind of like porn.

"Hello Clark"

Clark yelped and jumped so far up into the air, he thought he might have floated a bit. Not really thinking, he quickly threw the book into the corner of the couch like it was on fire and tossed a small pillow over it.

Belatedly trying to correct his mistake, he bent down and acted as though he were merely straightening the couch and fluffing up the pillows.

Gradually, Clark turned around to a very amused guest. "Hey Lex."

"I'm sorry if I'm interrupting anything," Lex's eyes darted down to the pillow and hidden book. "I called up, but I don't think you heard me."

"No," he admitted. "I was distracted...um..."

"Reading?" Lex supplied the answer for him.

"Yep. I was reading." Clark winced at his own words. "What are you doing here?"

"I just wanted to check on you. I know we haven't talked about it, but you seemed shaken up after the events of last Sunday."

"I'm fine. Those guys were just loud mouthed idiots."

It did shake Clark up a little bit, but he was over it by now.

"Good. I wouldn't want to think that those rumors really offended you."

Clark blinked a bit in confusion. For some reason, Lex's statement had just sounded odd.

"They didn't" He assured the other man who was currently looking at him with a penetrating gaze which made him involuntary shiver.

"Cold?" Lex had noticed his reaction.

"It's a bit chilly up here." He grabbed the jacket flung over his desk chair and put it on.

Clark turned back around to find that Lex had moved across the room to stand close to him.

"There was something else I was kind of hoping you could help me with."

Clark's gaze involuntary wondered to the scar on Lex's top lip, then promptly snapped back up to look him in the eye.

"Sure, what is it?" Clark asked, wondering why his mouth had gone dry all of a sudden.

"Lana."

The girl's name hit Clark like a bucket of cold water.

"Lang?" He asked.

"The one and only." Lex smiled. "I think she's up to something."

Clark wrinkled his forehead. "Something to do with you?"

"Yes. She came to see me earlier tonight," Lex told him. "She wanted a favor."

"What kind of favor?"

"She wants me to chaperone her new school group's first official outing this weekend." He looked a little amused by it. "I've just got a feeling something's happening that I don't know about."

"Did you say yes?" Clark grinned back at him, already knowing the answer.

Lex shook his head and smiled. "She started to get that look in her eyes like I'd be stomping on her puppy if I didn't do it."

Clark snickered. "You're really so easy sometimes."

"Only for the right person." Lex shot back.

Looking into each other's eyes, Clark felt the pull to draw closer and touch him like he hadn`t felt for months.

"I've missed this." Lex spoke so softly he almost whispered.

"Me too." He admitted.

Lex kept looking at him in a way that made his stomach flip.

"I don't know," Clark broke the spell.

"What?"

"I don't know what Lana's up to." He explained.

That seemed to snap Lex out of his daze.

"Oh well, I guess whatever it is can't be all that bad." Lex moved away from Clark and towards the stairs. "It's a school night and getting late so I should probably go."

"Be careful driving home."

"Thanks, I will. Goodnight Clark." Lex said as he walked down the stairs.

"Goodnight," he lent over the balcony and called down.

"I know. I'm sorry. I'm late." Clark said as a way of greeting, walking in to the Torch Thursday morning.

Chloe held out her hand for his article and raised her eyebrows at the suspicious lack of contrite expression on his face.

"What's your excuse this time?"

"I, ah, had a bit of writer's block?" He answered with a statement turned question.

"Writer's block? And it just miraculously clear up last night?"

Clark smiled and ducked his head. "Some inspiration came to me."

His response sparked Chloe's natural curiosity, but she decided to let it go.

"So. Are we ok now?" She asked as she popped in his floppy and copied his article to her hard drive.

"Yeah." He smiled. "We're ok."

"I wasn't upset over you and Lana because you're both girls." He continued. "I know you probably thought that, at least a little and I want you to know it`s not true. I've thought about it and I think it was more because you're one of the best friends I've ever had and she's the girl I was always suppose to grow up to love and marry."

Chloe just stayed silent and listened to what he had to say.

Clark sat down on the edge of one of the desks and kept going. "Having you date her was harder than when she came back with Jason because I guess I couldn't just dismiss you like I did him. And it sort of caused me to realize that what I thought was going to happen with Lana never will."

"You're not jealous about Lana then?"

"No." Clark acknowledged for the first time to both Chloe and himself. "I'm not."

"You know, since we're ok now, I was wondering if you would maybe want to go out to the movies this Saturday. Pete's coming back for the weekend and Lana's got a trip all planned out to go to Metropolis so we can see something on a decently sized screen."

Clark grinned, "The trip she roped Lex into chaperoning?"

"She just asked him yesterday and he told you about it already?"

"Uh huh. He thinks she's up to something." Clark narrowed his eyes at her suspiciously. "You wouldn't by any chance know what it is, would you?"

"Really? He thinks that?" Chloe put on her most angelic face. "I wonder why?"

Unfortunately she didn't seem to be able to fool Clark. "You know what it is, don't you?"

"Why do you think I would know what it is if there were anything to know about in the first place?"

"Quit answering my questions with a question."

Chloe just shrugged and looked up at him innocently.

"Fine." He gave up. "I see that nothing short of torture is going to get you to rat out your girlfriend. But just know, I'm watching you two."

Chloe smiled and changed the subject. "Are you going to go with us Saturday?"

Clark smiled. "Why not."

A knock and the opening of the Torch door caught Chloe's attention and caused her to turn around.

She jumped up from her computer and hugged her formerly MIA friend. "Pete! You're early."

"Yeah well, we had a half day with teacher conferences and I thought I'd check out what's going around here."

"Around Smallville High? Um, not much." She shrugged her shoulders.

"Chloe, you should know that you suck at lying." Pete smirked at her.

"Well can we at least wait till we get back to my house for me to tell you the truth?" She asked.

He looked at her apprehensively "Ok. Where`s Clark?"

"Actually, he should be getting out of class, but I don`t know if he`s going straight home or not."

"I've got practice this afternoon, but I figured I'd stop off here first since I heard a rumor you were back." Clark appeared right behind Pete.

"Clark, my man." Pete grabbed Clark's hand and pulled him into a hug. "Are you getting taller?"

"No, it's just been a while since you had to crane your neck up to look at him." Chloe said sarcastically.

"Ah the griping of the vertically impaired, I've missed having it in stereo." Clark snarked back. Pete made himself comfortable sitting on one of the desks, with his feet in the seat of a hard plastic chair. "So give me the scoop. What's been going on? Who's dating who? Etcetera, etcetera."

Clark just looked at Chloe, refusing to answer Pete's question.

"When we get back to my place Pete." Chloe put him off.

"The school gossip requires the privacy of your house? And why do you two keep making faces at each other?" His suspicious look returned.

"Um..." Chloe attempted to come up with an answer to his questions, only to be cut off by Lana rushing into the room with Jenny and her sister trailing behind her.

"Chloe open your e-mail."

Quickly taking the diversion Lana gave her, Chloe promptly opened her e-mail to find an anonymous message with the subject "Smallville Football Bloopers".

"You want me to click on this link?"

Lana nodded her head.

Everyone crowded around Chloe's computer, except for the two girls who came in with Lana. They seemed to pointedly not want to see it.

Upon opening the media file, the only thing Chloe could think to say was "Oh my god."

"Holy..." Pete exclaimed. "Is that what I think it is?"

"Yep." Lana seemed creepily cheerful. "It's Lenore Spencer, Kevin Baker, Melissa Jones and Chris Thompson all in a very compromising position."

"I did not want to see this." Clark mumbled from behind Chloe.

"Where did this come from? Who sent it? Oh my god!" Chloe felt almost as nauseous as Clark looked.

"My brothers pay money to see this kind of stuff all the time." Pete added.

"Lana, did you do this?" Chloe asked.

"What?"

"Did you have something to do with this?" She repeated her question.

Lana didn`t look a bit guilty, "not all that much."

"What did you do?" Clark asked while Pete continued to watch the video file without blinking.

"I might have sent the e-mail." She confessed, chin defiantly held high, flashing a grin.

They all looked at her silently.

Her grin faded. "It's not like I made them all have sex with each other, filmed it or put it on the internet. I just found out about it and sent the e-mail."

Pete tore his gaze away from the computer screen. "Why?"

"There was a bit of an incident last Sunday." Chloe explained. "Look, it's not that I'm sorry for them at all Lana, but it might have been a bit much. Does anyone else know you did it?"

"Just you guys and Jenny and Mandy."

"It's not going to be traced," Jenny volunteered.

Chloe's attention shifted off of Lana and onto Jenny.

"You helped?" Chloe asked.

"I set up the anonymous e-mail for her to do it with and broke through the encryptions keeping it from being copied." She elaborated.

"I don't want to know anymore." Clark broke away and headed for the door. "I'm going to go to practice and pretend I don't know any of this."

Chloe waited until the door shut after him. "Did you send it to all of Smallville high?"

"Students and teachers."

She just gaped and closed out the media player.

"Must have been one heck of an incident." Pete commented. "What did they do to deserve this?"

"They were hostile, bigoted jerks." Lana defended herself. "They wouldn't have left us alone unless we hit back at them, and people don`t have to know that one of us did it. They just have to suspect it."

Chloe looked at her critically. "Next time I go overboard on something, you don't get to say a word."

"Anyway, that's not the only reason I'm here. Mandy come here." Lana reached out to the shy sophomore standing next to Jenny and steered her over to stand by Pete. "Pete Ross, this is Mandy Mason. Mandy Mason, meet Pete Ross. He's your date this weekend."

"Date?" Pete asked.

"Chloe hasn't told you yet? We're going to Metropolis tomorrow. It's a group thing, and you need a date." Lana enlightened him.

Chloe watched as the poor girl Lana had by the hand seemed to shrink back even more with the added attention and confusion.

Luckily Pete seemed to pick up on Mandy's distress and quickly smoothed out the situation. "Wow, I come back for the weekend and you've got me a date with a girl prettier than any in Wichita. Thanks Lana."

Mandy smiled brightly and blushed a very pretty shade of pink.

"Your welcome Pete. Now I hate to just take off, but I`ve got to run some errands this afternoon and I`m going to drop Jenny and Mandy off at their house, so I`ll see you guys later tonight." Lana gave Chloe a quick kiss on the lips and rushed out of the room with the other two girls following.

Pete let his mouth hang open for a while. Chloe didn't answer his unspoken questions.

"Lana just kissed you." He stated the obvious.

"Uh huh"

"But..." Suddenly his eyes lit up like a light bulb just went off in his brain. "Gay!"

"Yes." Chloe answered and quickly added, "but it's not what you think."

"Gay. Chloe you're telling me now. Not when we get back to your house, cause I just can`t wait that long."

"Ok, ok!" Chloe got up and locked the office door. "Pete, you've got to swear to me you won't tell anyone else, especially not Clark."

"Why not Clark?"

"Pete swear it or I won't tell you. You might want to tell Clark, but you can't. Now swear to me you'll keep it a secret."

Pete looked at Chloe with wide eyes. "You're human, right?"

"What?" Chloe could only imagine that came from whatever knowledge Pete had on Clark that she didn't, mentally filing away the `not human' bit of information. "Come on Pete, promise me."

"Fine, fine." He held up his right hand. "I swear that I won't tell anyone, including Clark, what you're about to tell me."

"Good." Chloe took a long breathe and steeled herself. "Lana and I are pretending to be lesbians and dating, but we're not really together."

He raised his eyebrows. "Are you gonna tell me why? Or is it some weird vengeance thing for him stringing you both along for years?"

"No, it's not revenge." Chloe lent back against her desk, opposite to the one Pete was currently sitting on. "We're trying to set him up with someone."

"By pretending to be lesbians?" Pete looked lost.

"Yes."

"I'm sorry Chloe, but huh?"

Chloe tried to remember how Lana had first explained it to her, but now that she had to repeat it to someone else, she couldn`t quite find the words to explain their reasoning. "We're trying to encourage him to come out of the closet by setting an example and doing other things."

Pete gave her a strange and weary look. "What other things?"

"Things like this group outing tomorrow."

"Wait a second. Out of the closet? You think Clark's gay?"

Chloe nodded. "Lana actually thought it first. But after a little investigating, I think his interests could run outside of the regular, conventional relationship...and with someone in particular."

"Wait, I think I've got it. You and Lana think Clark's gay, so you're pretending to be lesbians while secretly setting him up with another guy." Pete burst out laughing.

"Ok, so it's a little silly, but I think it's kind of working."

Pete laid his head on his folded arms and shook with laughter.

"You're not going to tell him, are you? You promised," she reminded him.

Pete took a moment to catch his breath to reply. "And ruin this great plan of yours? Not a chance. I'm just glad you got me front row seats for when this all blows up this weekend."

"It's not going to blow up" Chloe said indignantly.

Pete just looked at her with mirth in his eyes, still trying to get himself under control.

"It's not!" She half yelled.

Clark finished his Saturday chores with the help of a little extra speed and arrived to meet Lana, Chloe and the others at the Talon precisely at noon for their daytrip. Far from his parents being cautious about a trip to Metropolis without their supervision, his mother was practically ecstatic when he let her know about it and his father just told him to have fun. Of course, he wisely hadn't mentioned Lex was their responsible chaperone.

"Clark, you ready for this?" Pete asked as he approached the clump of people in the middle of the coffee shop.

"Sure, I guess. It's just a movie, right?"

"Sure. Yeah. Right."

Clark thought Pete seemed pretty amused with something. "You know, don't you?"

"What?"

"Whatever Lana's planning. I know it's got something to do with Lex." Clark answered.

"Lex! Lex Luthor, that's who they mmrpf..."

Chloe came up to them and covered Pete's mouth in the nick of time. "Hey Clark, how you doing?"

Clark frowned. "I'd be better if you'd let Pete speak."

"Now if I did that, then Pete might end up breaking certain promises made to one of his best friends about a secret. I know you wouldn't want to be responsible for Pete's inability to keep quiet now would you." Chloe said as she gave Pete a very stern look and gradually eased her hand off of his mouth.

"You and me are going to have a little talk later." Pete promised her before looking at Clark, shaking his head and moving off to the counter to buy something.

Clark narrowed his eyes. "I'm watching you guys."

"Watch all you like Clark." Chloe smiled and then looked past Clark. "Hey Lex."

Clark half turned to find Lex standing behind him.

"Lana's marshalling the troops as we speak, so if you want to get something before we leave, you should do it now."

"Ok." Clark replied.

"If either of you guys are going to get something, could you make sure it's got a cover on it? I don't want a repeat of last year's milk chocolate incident in my car." Chloe looked pointedly at Clark.

He blushed. "I said I was sorry and cleaned it up."

"It went in my hair, Clark. My hair!"

"It could have been worse. I could have gotten sick."

Chloe looked like she was going to be sick herself. "Ok, it's official. You don't get to eat or drink anything before we go or during the drive."

"Lana didn't mention she planned on all four of us riding in your car." Lex interrupted.

"Oh, she must have forgot. My car gets the better mileage, so we usually take it."

"I have a car." He gestured to the Porche parked in front.

Chloe scrunched her nose up. "Not one you can take on a nice anonymous trip with a bunch of teenagers. All your cars stand out too much."

Lex frowned. "There are other high end cars in Metropolis."

"Yes, but they don't all have Lex written in some form on their license plates." Chloe pointed out. "Anyway, it's no big deal. I'll have you know I have one of the safest driving records in the entire county. You'll survive."

Chloe wandered off to get her own last minute things as Clark watched Lex's anxiety over what kind of car he would be riding in with amusement.

"Clark, what kind of car does Chloe drive now?"

Clark smiled. "A Toyota. A very small Toyota."

Lex whitened. "Toyota?"

"Yep. It's kind of a weird bluish green color, but the way the paint's chipped it has a neat white and rust pattern to it."

The other man looked appalled. "How long has she had it?"

Clark grinned gleefully. "Only a month or so. It's used."

Clark hadn't ever ridden in the back of this car before, but the way Lana threw her purse in the front passenger seat clearly indicated that he was going to have to.

Hunching down, Clark tried his best to balance as he got into the back seat but instead wound up half falling on Lex. He finally managed to move himself off and into a sitting position.

Conscious of just where exactly his hand fell when he tried to regain his equilibrium, Clark blushed and stammered out a "Sorry".

"That's alright Clark. It's a bit small back here." Lex brushed himself off.

"Sorry about that you guys, we'll scoot the front seats up as far as they can go." Chloe apologized.

Clark could see Lana silently laughing in the front seat before she moved her seat up only a few inches.

"Better?" She asked.

"Sure." Clark lied.

Clark and Lex were both squeezed in so tightly they couldn`t help but have their knees touching or their arms so close to each other that they constantly bumped each other every time they moved.

Chloe started up the ignition and pulled out onto the road and Lex tensed up even more next to Clark, leaning more to the right and seeking comfort almost instinctively.

Clark's entire body tingled from the heat of Lex's presence.

"Are we all meeting up at the multiplex?" Chloe asked Lana.

"No." She took a sip of her coffee. "We're going to meet up at the Denny's across the street before the movie. It doesn't start till five o'clock."

"Denny's? What's that?" Lex asked.

"A restaurant." Lana giggled at his confusion.

Clark felt Lex shrug.

"I've never heard of it."

Clark nudged Lex with his shoulder and grinned as the girls laughed. "I guess tonight will be one of firsts then."

By the time the piece of tin disguised as a car finally arrived at it's destination, three hours of teen age gossip, in-depth analysis of a television program called the O.C. and the musical stylings of Avril Lavigne had left Lex thinking longingly of his last run in with Lana. It's wasn't as if he enjoyed the bloodied hands, but the music had definitely been better.

The only comfort he had was the steady presence of Clark practically cuddled up next to him.

Of course, the sight of Clark bent over, trying to get out of the backseat did cheer him up. It wasn't as if Lex had made an effort to ogle his friend's ass, but he wasn't about to pass up the opportunity when it was just right there.

"Lex." Chloe called him out of his stupor, holding the door open.

"Oh. Sorry."

He managed to get out with a modicum of grace to find her smirking at him as he rose.

"Nice view?" She asked before walking away to follow Lana and Clark into a shabby looking building.

Swallowing down whatever paltry excuses and denials came into his head, he quickly closed the door and caught up to the small group.

"Hey Lex? You know those two burly guys in the black Sedan that followed us all the way from Smallville?" The young reporter asked.

"Security detail." He simply stated.

Chloe just nodded her head. Lana and Clark, however, both looked around obviously trying to figure out who they were talking about.

His security had definitely improved recently. Chloe Sullivan noticing that someone's following her was fairly inevitable. On the other hand, it would have been inexcusable if either Lana or Clark had noticed.

The two young women he had assigned to watch over the Kent Farm from a distance had impressed Lex the most. So far, he hadn't had to endure one irate phone call or visit from either Jonathan or Clark about their presence.

"Can I help you?" A woman, whose name tag indicated that she would be their hostess, greeted them.

"Yes. We need some seats over by those people." Lana pointed to the unlikely party of two men unmistakably built like football players and a couple of Goths.

"Follow me."

As they all followed her to their table, Lex took in the well worn red carpet, plaid valences hanging over the windows and smell of greasy food. `Clark must feel right at home here' he thought.

The three teenagers said their hellos to the others and sat down next to him at the table they had been shown.

"How long have you guys been here?" Chloe asked them.

"About ten minutes." The Goth boy answered. Lana had said his name was Chad when she introduced them back at the Talon. "We would've been here longer, but Joan made me drive the speed limit."

"He didn't drive the speed limit." Joan pronounced.

"It was closer than usual. Anyway, what movie are we seeing again?" He asked.

"The Life Aquatic since you guys refused to see any chick flicks or the Leonardo DiCaprio movie." Chloe replied sourly.

Dan snorted. "Hey! I remember you two making it clear you didn't want to see any of the new horror films out. It was only fair."

"We get enough of super powered psychos and aliens at home, thank you very much." Chloe snarked.

Lana screwed up her face. "We haven't had any aliens yet."

Lex choked on his water and Chloe started to reply but began laughing instead. The humor became infectious. Looking at Clark's expression, Lex couldn`t help but laugh along with her.

"Hey guys. What's so funny?" Pete came up with his group to sit at another adjacent table.

"Pete, we haven't had aliens ye, have we?" Lana asked.

He got a distinctly deer-in-headlights look on his face and managed to stammer with a straight face "Aliens? I don't see any aliens."

This only served to cause Lex and Chloe to laugh harder.

"In Smallville," Lana clarified, as if Pete were mentally deficient. "We haven't had any alien things happen in Smallville yet? I mean I thought it was all mutant stuff."

"I...um...I don't think so." He replied and quickly sat down.

Lex tried to get himself under control, but every time he managed Chloe would start giggling again or he would look up to see Clark glaring at them.

"Mutants?" Ali asked.

"Haven't you ever seen someone back home do something totally bizarre?" Dan asked her.

"Yeah like stretch funny or be in two places at once?" Fitz jumped into the conversation. "And then there was that one time Chloe made everyone tell the truth whether they wanted to or not."

"I was only like that for a little bit." Chloe managed to respond between chuckles.

"A temporary mutant?" Joan asked.

"To be fair, she got better." Lex commented.

More laughter erupted.

"You guys are crazy." Ali declared and opened a menu. "Mutants? Like I'm gonna fall for that."

No one volunteered to explain any further about Smallville's lurking oddness and the laughter settled down enough for the waitress to brave her way over and take their orders. Lex sipped his coffee while the other teenagers chatted idly. Everyone except for Clark, whose glare had turned into a full fledged pout.

Lana slipped out of her seat to go to the restroom and Pete quickly sat down in her place. "So do any of you guys actually know Mandy?"

"I know Jenny and that she's her sister. That's about it." Chloe gave him a sympathetic look. "Is everything going alright over there?"

"I don't know. She hasn't said more than five words to me since we met, and that includes `Hello'. Do you know what she likes or anything?" He asked pitifully.

Chloe shook her head `no`.

Clark cleared his throat and spoke up. "She's on the computer club, writes fiction and plays video games."

"How do you know that?" Chloe asked him.

He shrugged. "I saw her name on the roster somewhere. I remember she had a story published in a magazine sometime back and I overheard Jenny saying that she couldn't hardly drag her away from her computer games sometimes."

Pete brightened. "Thanks man. I owe you one."

He clapped Clark on the shoulder and got up to return to his date.

"You know, sometimes your abilities really come in handy." Chloe remarked. Clark's glare picked back up in full force and he didn't reply.

Chloe leaned over the table. "Hypothetically," Chloe glanced around until she saw that Lana had decided to pull up a chair to Chad's table on her return, "if there were an alien in Smallville, I'm sure he...or she... would be a very nice person who was well respected and loved by his friends despite their teasing."

`Aha`, Lex thought. Chloe either knew or suspected. He figured she would have amassed as much evidence as he had, if not more, on the mysteries surrounding Clark. And apparently, she had come to the same conclusion he had. Moreover, she must have presumed Lex knew from either Clark or her own observations.

It felt good to have someone not treat him like he should be blind, deaf and dumb.

Clark, on the other hand, had shrunk back into his chair. Lex was absolutely positive that if he hadn't been in public surrounded by people who knew him, the young man would have bolted faster than he could blink.

"And hypothetically," Lex spoke up, "this alien's friends would completely understand the need for secrecy. They would most likely be very sorry if they ever in any way endangered his secret, even if they were only laughing."

Clark just looked over at him with a blank face. Sometimes Lex just couldn't read him.

"That's all either one of us are going to say tonight Clark," Lex assured him, "so lighten up and have fun."

"Have you guys finished everything?" Lana interrupted them.

Chloe frowned. "We're not going already, are we? We`ll be an hour early."

"It'll take us ten minutes to get the cars and drive them around to and in front of the theater. We've also got to get twelve decent seats and some of the guys want to get popcorn."

"Popcorn sounds good." Clark observed.

Lex stared. He knew from experience that the boy could consume vast quantities of food, but it never ceased to amaze him.

"You just ate a Grand Slam with extra pancakes in record time." Chloe looked apprehensively at him, probably thinking of the safety of her car and hair.

Clark smirked. "What do you expect? You wouldn`t let me eat before."

The movie passed with little to no incident until upon exiting the theater, Chloe ran smack into Fitz's back.

"Was it suppose to rain?" Jenny asked.

"Nah, it was all suppose to go north." Chad responded.

"We are north." Joan pointed out.

"Oh yeah. I forgot."

Chloe edged her way around Fitz to see out the front doors. It wasn't just raining, it was a torrential downpour.

"What's going on?" Lex pushed his way up front.

"Um, I can't drive in this." Jenny looked fearfully from the weather outside to Lex.

"None of you can drive in this." Lex stated and then popped his cell phone out of his jacket and moved away to talk to someone.

After a brief conversation, he walked back up to them. "I've called some cars to come pick us up and take us to my penthouse until the rain lets up. If it doesn't, you may have to spend the night so I suggest you use this time to call your parents."

"Why can't your drivers just take us back to Smallville?" Pete asked.

Lex looked at him exasperatedly. "Because driving slowly around Metropolis a short distance in this weather is completely different from attempting a long drive on the highway."

Pete sulked while the rest of them used the next fifteen minutes passing around cell phones and talking their parents into possibly letting them stay the night away from home.

Clark had spent the majority of the movie quietly brooding over how incredibly exposed he had felt tonight, until he took the time to stop thinking about everything that could go wrong and feel how much weight had been removed from his shoulders.

Lex and Chloe knew.

He had already suspected that they had seen so much, they would think he was a meteor mutant or something, but he hadn't really considered that their conclusions would be so accurate.

In the lobby of Luthor Corp Towers the others chatted excitedly about the possibility of getting to spend a Saturday night in Lex Luthor's penthouse, even if they would only be sleeping.

Clark trailed to the back of the group. The penthouse always made him think of red kryptonite, running away with Lex and loosing control.

Something must have shown on his face because Chloe fell behind and put an arm around him as they walked to the elevators. "Have you been here before?"

"No. Lex's talked about me coming up here for the weekend, but we never got around to it."

She looked at him with concern.

"I...I just thought it would be under different circumstances, like for graduation or when I started MetU." He confessed.

"Like when you would move away from Smallville and really start your life?" She asked.

"Yeah." He sighed and continued voicing his thoughts. "You know when I ran away a few summers ago?"

She nodded.

"I was just...I know it's stupid, but I was angry with him for not being here."

"Everyone thought he was dead."

"I know. I went to the funeral." Clark confessed. "I hated that he was gone. I didn't even get a chance to save him, he just left and I couldn't reach him."

Chloe squeezed his arm. "Well he's here now, in perfect reaching distance."

After a quick tour around the penthouse, which reminded Clark strongly of Lex's office, the rest of his classmates congregated in the media room.

Lex had pretty much fled from the group into the isolation of his office at the earliest possibility.

Clark found himself wondering into the living room. He stood at the balcony window and stared out into the rain for what felt like an eternity.

"Why are you in here in the dark?" Lex approached him, not bothering to turn on any lights.

"I'm just looking outside."

He stopped right next to Clark to look out. "It's not much of a view right now."

"Yeah. And it doesn't look like it's going to stop anytime soon." Clark agreed. "So, you finally decided to venture out of the safety of your office?"

Lex smirked. "I did have to check my messages. Anyway, I figured the comedy channel's keeping them pretty busy right now."

"Sure." Clark grinned as he watched Lex's reflection in the glass.

"It is peaceful in here." Lex commented and settled into watching the rain.

Clark broke the silence which had quickly filled the room, "I'm glad you know." He turned to face his friend with a new outlook on life. "I've been afraid of so many things for so long. Losing Lana. You and Chloe figuring it all out. You turning away or being afraid of me. And now it seems like I had nothing to fear all along."

Turning from the window and towards Clark, Lex looked him in the eyes. Clark could feel their connection thrum to life.

"I'm not afraid and I wouldn't ever turn away from you."

"I know that now."

Clark took a deep breath and closed what little distance remained between them. Touching the side of Lex's face with the back of his knuckles in a strangely familiar gesture, he leaned in to press their lips together. It was a quick, chaste kiss and Clark soon pulled away, looking for a reaction.

Lex wasn't breathing.

"I'm...," He started to withdraw and apologize, but Lex pulled him back and covered Clark`s mouth with his.

Clark closed his eyes and wrapped his arms around Lex as the other man proceeded to claim his mouth. Clark whimpered as Lex did nothing short of taste him. He felt dizzy. Breathless. Like he had jumped off of a building again and was falling through the sky.

Eventually their kiss subsided and broke off, leaving them holding each other. Clark buried his face into the crook of Lex's neck, embracing him as tight as he could without causing damage and relaxing into the repetitive motion of the hand caressing his back.

"Clark, I hope you know that I'm not going to let go after this." Lex whispered into his ear. "I don't think I could even if I wanted to."

"Good." Clark whispered back.

Clark thought about his other fears: diamond earrings, payoff trucks, Lex disappearing in another flight. He hoped he could learn to let go of those too.

Clark held Lex for several minutes, reveling in the sensation of having him close. Finally pulling back, he initiated one last kiss when the living room lights suddenly turned on.

"Oh my God!" Pete stood stiffly in shock at the other end of the living room.

Clark yelped, practically jumping out of Lex's arms. "Pete!"

"You...and you...and him...Oh My God!" His friend bolted out of the room and down the hall.

Clark quickly ran after him, catching up easily and halting Pete's flight by grabbing him by the arm. Looking around to see if anyone could be listening, Clark pulled him into an empty spare bedroom for good measure.

"We need to talk about this Pete!"

He shook his head wildly, still in shock. "No! No we don't man. We really, really don't."

"You can't tell anyone." In his state of panic, Clark tried not to just grab and shake him until he agreed. "You have to promise me you won't tell anyone."

"What are you nuts!" Pete started to regain a little of his composure. "Chloe and Lana..."

"I don't care about Chloe and Lana." Clark cut him off. "You can keep their secrets for them! What can't you keep this one for me?"

"Are you actually accusing me of not keeping your secrets?" Pete looked really angry. His nose was even doing that weird flaring thing.

"No." Clark quickly tried to calm down and do some damage control. "All I'm saying is that I don't want anyone to know about it right now and if our friendship ever meant anything to you, you'll forget what you just saw. Please!"

Pete seemed to think about what he said for a minute while Clark looked at his friend with all the desperation he felt.

"Fine Clark." He agreed.

Clark didn't think his expression was as agreeable as his words.

"I'll keep everyone's secrets." He bit out. "I'll try my damnedest to repress what I just saw. And you can all hang yourselves on your own damn ropes."

Pete stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

Lex's brain, which had more or less shorted out as soon as Clark kissed him, repaired itself and snapped back to attention after the two boys fled from the living room in such haste.

He had kissed Clark. Ok, so Clark had kissed him first, but he was the adult. Clark was an impressionable teenager still in high school.

It was official. Lex was going to hell and Martha, upon hearing about it, was probably going to send him there. She had been clear on "not giving him a free pass to do whatever he wanted as far as Clark's concerned."

Lex had translated that as, "You better take care of him and for god's sake, wait till he's an adult."

Martha had also told him not to push about Clark's secrets, and not only had he tread a thin line earlier where that was concerned, he had given Clark a whole new set of secrets to keep. He loved Clark and this relationship between them couldn't possibly be good for him. Lex had to let him go...except he meant what said earlier. He couldn't even if he wanted to.

Headache coming back full force, Lex walked down the hall towards his office where he knew he had Tylenol and a bottle of liquor, only to be confronted with a very pissed off Pete Ross storming out of one of the guest rooms and slamming the door.

"He's all yours man and I won't tell a soul. I hope you're finally happy!" Pete sneered at him before moving off towards the media room.

Having no real response to that, Lex resumed walking down the hall and into his office. He rummaged around in his desk drawers, found the red and white bottle, popped open the lid and downed the maximum dosage.

A small knock bounced off the oak of his office door.

Silently, he begged for it not to be Clark. He just wasn't ready to deal with it right then. "Come in."

One of Lana and Chloe's new friends gently opened the door and came into the room. Her name was Joannie...no that was the Goth girl. This was Jamie or Janie...Jenny.

"Jenny." He said tentatively. "How are you?"

"I'm ok." She shyly came forward. "I just wanted to thank you for everything you've done for us in the past couple of weeks."

"No need. It's been my pleasure." He lied.

"No really. You've were great with everything that happened last weekend and today you took time out of your schedule just so a bunch of kids could go have some fun. You`ve practically given up your whole weekend and I really wanted to thank you for that." Jenny was absolutely sincere. It reminded him that he was a bad, bad man.

"Well, you're welcome." He managed to get out. Lex hadn't done anything for them, not really. He stepped in last weekend because Clark, Chloe and Lana were involved and those football players just really pissed him off.

And the only reason he had taken this little trip with them was because Lana Lang was a little manipulative pink pit bull when she wanted something and he couldn't say no. `Someday she would make a great society wife.' He thought. `Any charity lucky enough to get her on it's side would have all the funds that it ever needed.'

"You know you remind me of my father." Jenny commented, still standing in Lex`s office. "Not that you're that old or anything, it's just that you're really understanding, courageous and kind of modest about all the nice stuff you do."

He was a bad, bad man. "I'm not all that..."

"But you are." She interrupted him. "It takes a lot of courage for a person in your position to stand up for us. I mean you can tell by the last election that people like us aren't exactly politically correct anymore. Even the people who don't care who we fall in love with or not don't want to get involved. And I'm not stupid. I know you're a business man and your image has to stay somewhat conservative, but it's like you value us as people more than you do what everyone else thinks."

Lex tried to ignore all of the girl's misplaced compliments. "You shouldn't have to be thankful someone values you as a person."

"I know, but I am...and I just wanted to say so."

"Is Lex in there?" Lana asked Jenny as she came out of a door at the end of the hall.

"Yeah. I was just thanking him for today." She replied.

"Yep. He's great. I just have to talk to him about some stuff."

"Oh, ok. I'm going to go back in with the others."

"That's probably a good idea. They're talking about ordering pizza, so you should go tell them what you want." Lana told her as she opened the door to Lex's office and went inside.

"Lana." Lex greeted her, setting down the glass of scotch he just poured. "What do you need?"

"I just wanted to talk to you about the sleeping arrangements." She launched into her idea to turn this little overnighter into an opportunity. "I've got it arranged between the three bedrooms and couches so that everyone will be sleeping with someone appropriately platonic, but I can't seem to figure out where to place Clark."

He took a drink and nodded for her to continue.

"We can fit three people into each of the King sized beds in two of the guest rooms, two people in the smaller bedroom and a person each on the couches in the living room and TV room, but that leaves us one short and logically I thought that Clark could just sleep with you."

He choked on his drink, but quickly recovered. "Absolutely not."

"Why not?" She willed herself to look innocently confused.

"I'm suppose to be the chaperone." He answered her. "It wouldn't be appropriate for one of you to sleep in the same bedroom as me."

"But everyone knows that you and Clark are just good friends."

He paled just a little and Lana thought for a moment she might have overplayed her hand.

"It doesn't matter what everyone knows. Certain appearances have to be maintained." Lex stated.

"Well what do you suggest?" She asked him.

"There's another empty bedroom behind the kitchen for the staff." He punched a whole in her strategy. "You can use it."

Admitting defeat for this round, Lana started to head back out the door. "Thanks Lex, that'll work."

Before she could shut the door behind her, Lex called out to her. "Oh and Lana"

"Yes."

"Have everyone up by 8 am. I want to leave Metropolis by 9 at the latest."

"Sure." She pasted on a smile and silently cursed at the missed opportunity.

Chloe woke up before anyone else, found the coffee and settled herself down for a cup while she mentally replayed the odd behavior of her friends from the previous evening.

Pete was fuming about something and not speaking to anyone. Clark went back to sulking, while alternating randomly between anxious, depressed and angry. Lana obviously didn't get her way with something and henceforth pouted for the rest of the night. And Lex...well, he probably did the smart thing by locking himself in his office, avoiding them all and then going to bed early. She envied him.

As if speaking of the devil, Lex came walking through the kitchen door and headed straight for the coffee. "Is everyone up?"

"I think so." She reverently nursed her caffeinated bliss. "You know, I'm thinking that we shouldn't have teased Clark like we did at the restaurant."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. I think something happened to set him off again. His bad mood made a reappearance last night after you went to bed."

He stiffened like he knew something about it.

"Did you guys get in a fight last night?" She asked.

"No." He didn't look up at her. "We barely spoke."

It was entirely too early in the morning, but her instincts were screaming at her to wake up and figure out what happened. However Lex was a tougher cookie to crack than Clark, so she opted to change subjects.

"So when are we heading back?"

"The drivers should be ready at 8:45 to take you guys back to your own cars. I'm going to drive one of the cars I have up here back to Smallville myself." He explained, taking the sting out of his comment by smiling. "And I think I'm going to buy you a new car. That thing can't be safe."

She snickered. "Your fear of my car is really starting to worry me."

Lex scoffed. "You're delusion that that piece of metal is actually a car is starting to worry me."

In the middle of their resulting laughter Clark walked in. Chloe took one look at his demeanor and registered that Clark had indeed shifted out of brooding mode and into angrily determined mode.

"What's so funny?" He asked them.

"Oh Lex is just threatening to buy me a new car. His phobia of my baby`s going to cause him to drive back all alone." Chloe mocked.

Clark got a wicked look in his eyes. "Oh Lex won't be alone. I can ride back with him."

"That's alright Clark. I'll be alright." Lex countered.

"But I'll miss you." Clark smirked as Lex nearly burnt himself on his coffee. "And besides, Chloe's car is really too small for me."

"You could sit up front." Lex stated.

"And come between two people so obviously meant to be together? Even for a moment...I wouldn't think of it." Clark replied.

Ok, something had definitely happened. Chloe was sure Lex and Clark were carrying on a whole different conversation from the one that they were having and that she just couldn't translate it yet.

"Fine Clark. You want to come with me? Well I think it's time we had a little talk." Lex challenged.

"So do I." He agreed.

"Fine!"

"Fine!" Lex quickly walked out of the kitchen, having gotten the last word in.

"That was interesting." She commented.

Clark seethed and didn't bother to acknowledge her.

"You want to tell me what that was all about?" She asked him.

"No." He snapped at her.

Chloe decided to ignore whatever fit he was having and resume drinking her coffee.

Clark and Lex drove in silence for a whole hour before either one of them spoke.

"You avoided me last night." Clark accused him.

"Yes." Lex admitted.

"And? What you're just going to pretend nothing happened?" He felt hurt and couldn't understand what happened between them since the kiss.

"No. It just that...I don't know how this is suppose to work."

"You said you weren't letting go. You promised."

Lex sighed. "I know and I'm not. I'm just..."

"Freaking out." Clark answered for him.

"A little." Lex agreed. "You're still in high school Clark."

"So this is about you being older than me?"

"Yes. No. It's about me being an adult and you still being a adolescent."

"I'm not a child." He stated defensively.

"But you're not an adult either. You're not ready for this yet."

"I'm ready. I'm going to be eighteen in a couple of months." Clark protested.

"The fact that you think that will solve everything only proves my point Clark."

"I don't understand."

"I know."

"Well can you explain it to me?"

Lex took a deep breath. "You behave and react to things too immaturely to have a serious relationship."

"I act immaturely." Clark said in disbelief.

Lex kept his eyes on the road and didn't respond.

"When do I act immaturely?"

"You jump to conclusions, don't discuss things, take your anger out on people who don`t deserve it, react impulsively, judge others by a moral standard you don't apply to yourself and react harshly when others don`t live up to your standards. You lie so much it's like second nature to you, you take others for granted and you don't take responsibility for your actions." Lex vented his frustrations.

"If you think that, why do you even want me around?"

"Because I care about you."

"How can you care about me when you think I'm so awful?"

"You're not awful. You're a teenage boy and most of those traits simply come with the territory, for the rest of it I make allowances." Lex shrugged. "You're also compassionate, sometimes generous to a fault, protective of the people you care about, brave and self sacrificing. You're just not an adult yet."

"When have I done those things?"

"You stole my car to bail Pete Ross out of a bad situation and lied about Bart West stealing something that belonged to me."

"I'm sorry I lied to you about the car, that was wrong." Clark conceded. "But I was just trying to protect my friends and do what was best both times. And the manuscript is a map that's apart of where I came from. It didn't really belong to you in the first place."

"Funny, I remember paying for it."

"Just because you pay for something doesn't mean it belongs to you."

Lex didn't respond, but instead pulled off the main road onto a smaller one, stopping at the end when they got to an old abandoned scenic turnout. He unbuckled his seat belt and got out of the car.

Clark did the same. "What are you doing?"

"I'm not having this conversation trapped in a car with you while driving." Lex said walking up to one of the fences to lean against it and look out at the view.

Clark waited for him to start speaking.

"You went to my father to keep me from remembering a part of my life that's still lost to me and then lied about what you knew, putting your secret ahead of my welfare and making a decision for me that you had no right to make. I don`t even want to get into your accusations, telling me I was becoming as bad as my father one moment and then asking why he hated me so much the next, like I deserve his treatment."

Clark closed his eyes, remembering how he lashed out at him in fear and anger. "I shouldn't have said some of those things. I was scared. I told you before that I was only trying to protect you and I just didn`t know what to do."

"But you didn't. You protected yourself and my father."

He could hear the anger and bitterness in Lex's voice.

"Those experimental treatments you were doing were dangerous. Garner almost killed me and he would have hurt you if you continued to go to him."

"Clark. Do you even know how you ended up in that tank?"

"Lionel told me that he was going to have you put back into Belle Reve again and when I confronted Garner put me in the tank."

"My father and Garner were working together to get you there. He was in on it and he manipulated you."

"You never told me that." He felt stupid for never guessing it.

"You blamed me and wouldn't listen to a word I said. If you weren`t lying to me in the first place, you could have warned me about it and we could`ve discussed it like adults, but you didn`t."

"I was trying to protect you. I made a mistake."

There was another brief period of silence between them in which Lex turned around to study Clark.

"You and Chloe's cousin almost got Chloe killed last summer, you know that? You're little hunt for her, which included digging up the grave in broad daylight, searching the internet on a computer my father had monitored and Lois Lane's little visit to my father's jail cell are what tipped him off that she was alive. And you had the nerve to act like I did something wrong by hiding her in the first place."

"I wouldn't have helped Lois if you had told me she was still alive and what was going on," he protested.

"When Clark?" Lex yelled. "When should I have told you? You ran away again, to god knows where because I sure as hell couldn't find you, after declaring that you wanted nothing to do with me. Then you suddenly show up out of the blue and begin your little quest. By that point, I was already too busy trying to fix what you had done to worry about letting you in on everything."

"I didn't run away." Clark said angrily. "It wasn't my choice."

"Really? You had no choice in your disappearance? Considering it coincided with our fight, the evaporation into thin air of the FBI agent investigating you, Pete moving to Wichita and Lana leaving town, I find that hard to believe."

"I didn't want to leave." He insisted. Clark thought about how easily he fell for Jor-El and Kara`s trap. "I just trusted the wrong person."

Lex nodded in acceptance. "I'd believe that."

"And while we're bring up the past," Clark said bitterly. "Why don't we discuss some of your mistakes and lies, since we're being all adult about this."

"By all means."

"The Nicodemus flower." Clark simply stated.

Lex winced. "That was three years ago and we found a cure."

"Followed by the truth serum you had in development and the nightmare inducing virus you had produced." He pointed out.

"Those were all accidents. Hamilton wasn't suppose to be working on that project. Chloe was only exposed because she broke onto private property and neither the truth serum nor the virus were my projects to begin with. I was just cleaning up Dad's messes."

"You expect me to believe you had no interest in the effects of the meteorites? That you weren't the least bit responsible for what happened with those experiments when you allowed them to continue the way they did?"

"In hind sight, I should have stopped them no matter what the cost." He admitted.

"I know you care about people and wouldn't want to hurt anyone, but it's like you just don't think anything can go wrong if your involved. You want to believe you can be in control of things that are uncontrollable and it`s dangerous."

Lex remained silent.

"Things in my life are uncontrollable all the time. It's one chaotic mess after another and most of the time I can't tell the truth without endangering someone. I don't just do it for myself."

The other man nodded.

"But that's not what scares me most when it comes to you." Clark said shakily. "You have this way of not always seeing people as people."

Lex`s head immediately snapped up to look Clark straight in the eye. "When have I done this?"

"Shannon Bell, Eve Andrews and every other person you've used for sex."

He gave a strangled sort of laugh. "Clark, I know I apologized to you about that, but you know what? I did it to keep our friendship, not because I was the bad guy in that situation."

"You don't think you did anything wrong?"

Lex scoffed. "No, I don't. Not everyone agrees with your small town morals. I'm an adult and I've had a sex life. I shouldn't have to apologize for that. I didn't cheat on anyone and I never led any of those women on. They were all consenting adults and they used me as much as I used them. I didn't deserve to have one try to frame me or kill me for it. And I didn't deserve to have my best friend berate me for something that was none of his business when I was the victim."

"You were one of the victims Lex. The may have used you, but it doesn't cancel out the fact that you used them."

"I think if this happened to Lana, you wouldn't react this way."

"Lana wouldn't sleep around." Clark regretted his words right away.

"So I had it coming?"

"No. That's not what I meant." He replied. "In case you don't remember, I did everything I could to clear you."

Lex looked away from Clark. "Well don't stop there. Tell me who else I've used and not treated like a person."

"Me." It hurt Clark to say it out loud to Lex. "You investigated and studied me for three years."

Lex's attention snapped back to Clark and he sighed. "I know you think it...but I've never thought of you as a science project. That room wasn't about figuring out your secret. I already pretty much knew it. It was about being close to you."

"It wasn't just the room." Clark admitted. "Before your father had you committed, you saw me get hit by another car and not get hurt. You stared at me like some kind of freak show and said that `I wasn't even human'. Like I was something less. You looked at me the exact same way I always feared you would when you found out.."

"I don't remember."

"I know. I wasn`t just protecting my secret by lying to you. I didn`t want to see you ever look at me that way again."

"I'm sorry I did that. I don't think of you as less than human...I just wasn`t myself."

Clark thought about all the times he said that to other people when he had been on red kryptonite and saw how remorsefully Lex was looking at him. "I believe you."

Lex let out a breath he had been holding in and rubbed his eyes with his hand. "I really didn't mean to get into all of this. I wasn't going to just unload on you the way I did."

"I think we needed to clear the air." Clark said, feeling much lighter despite the harsh things they had said to one another. "The point is...actually I don't remember my point."

Lex laughed and Clark smiled.

"You're too young for this relationship."

"So what do you want to do? See other people until you think I'm ready or just give up on it altogether?"

"Neither." Lex looked a little defeated. "We're going to have to take this slowly and be really careful about it."

His stomach leapt and he crossed the distance between them. "Can I kiss you again?"

Lex smiled and nodded. Clark leaned in to kiss him.

"So?" Clark asked after they returned to the car. "How did you figure out that I'm an alien?"

"Let's see...I hit you with my car and you bounced off of it, I've got countless security recordings I've had to erase showing you moving so fast you're a blur, and you've demonstrated exceptional strength on more than one occasion. The Kents just happened to find you on the day of the meteor shower with which other people had reported seeing a UFO. There were the octagonal disc made of extraterrestrial minerals, the strange spores and parasites which didn't come from this planet, but seemed connected directly to you somehow. You get sick around the meteorites faster than anyone else does. And your blood, of course."

Clark groaned, thinking of how obvious it sounded when Lex listed all his evidence out loud.

"You definitely over identify with the story of Numan, which is about a super strong alien arriving with a meteor shower and who can shoot fire from his eyes." Lex paused. "Can you really shoot fire from your eyes?"

Clark blushed. "Only if I think dirty thoughts."