CHAPTER THREE

Feeling cramped and irritated, Lex decided he hated trains with a passion, and he most of all hated the contraption he was trapped in. Corsets should be burned on a bonfire, he thought savagely, and heels too!

He already wanted his time as Betty-Sue done and over with. He wanted to be a guy again to be able to wear regular pants and shirts again rather then this damned pinching, breath stealing torture device of fashion. He pined for his regular manly boots and cursed the toe-pinching, bothersome, lace up feminine shoe he was forced by circumstances to wear.

He wished he had a manservant to do the buttoning up on the damned shoes as well. The buttons and loops had to be slipped into place by some crochet thingy, and those blasted pain in the butt shoes were cutting off his circulation in his ankles, and everything about the shoes was a total pain. Lex was in a mood to skin every creator of women's things alive, with a spoon.

How did women do it?

How were they able to wear these things and not die from it all?

By the time the Conductor screeched through every compartment. Hailing,

"SMALLVILLE,

"ALL DEPART,

"WHO'S GOING TO SMALLVILLE?

"ALL DEPART PLEASE.

"AND WE THANK YOU FOR YOUR PATRONAGE!

"GOOD DAY YE'ALL."

Lex was more then ready to depart the train whether it was stopped or moving. The Conductor and a bag boy helped him down from the steps once his foot hit the platform Betty-Sue surfaced.

They set her luggage in a cart on the platform beside her. Then each tilted their cap respectfully to her then they left her alone to wait for the stagecoach that would carry her the rest of the way into Smallville Town and into the arms of her new relatives. The stagecoach was actually on time for a change and it was only a half hour more by travel then she/he would arrive at her destination.

Betty was choked by dust and the smell of her fellow travelers, Lex stayed beneath the surface grumbling while she put up with the newest and shortest of her trials. They would be very happy to arrive at their destination and be well rid of the stagecoach and its occupants, especially the one guy that couldn't seem to keep his sweaty hands off of their modestly covered knee.

Finally done with the coach ride Betty gracefully took her leave of the coach, she was helped down from the caddy by the driver, a nice grandfatherly type, he escorted them to the waiting platform. "Good luck Miss." He said, concern in his clear grey eyes. "I hope ye're kin arrives soon. The street's no good place fer a lady like ye."

"Thank you sir," replied Betty politely and sincerely. "That's very kind of you to say. I'm sure they'll be here shortly."

"Then I'll take me leave of ye Miss." He stated kindly with a twinkle in his eyes. "Since I aim to keep me stage coach on time."

"Good luck to you too sir and thank you for the ride."

The old timer smiled then strode quickly and confidently over to his coach and mounted it with a strength and grace that belied his elderly years. As the Stagecoach began to pull away the old timer took off his hat then waved it in a gesture of farewell to her. Betty was charmed. Lex was resigned. They were obviously doing very well in their disguise. Too well for Lex's liking but he told himself it would be only for a little bit, just a month at most, or so he hoped.

After an hour of waiting Lex surfaced, he grew impatient and decided it was time for him to make his way to the hotel or boarding house or somewhere since it was obvious the Kents were not going to make it to meet her until much later.

Farmers!

He had trouble walking in his borrowed shoes and carrying his bags, or rather Betty-Sue's bags. He kept tripping over his skirts, bumbling over his bags that were bumping into his shins.

He was bruised and tired. He smelled from little to no hygiene up keep. He wanted a hotel room with a bath of steaming water to soak in and something hearty to eat. Betty was on the same page as he. She yearned for a bath as well.

Jonathan cursed as he and his son helped Chloe and Pete with the wagon's wheel. It wasn't often that wheels came loose. Pete hammered as the Kent men held the wheel steady.

"We're going to be late." Said Martha worried, checking her watch pin.

"Settle down Martha you know the trains are never on time." Reassured her husband as his shoulders began to shake from the stress of the wheel. Clark could have easily held the wheel in place alone but it would have looked strange. Jonathan didn't mind the hard work. He had a duty to his neighbors and he liked to help out when he could.

Clark bit on his lip. "Do you think Betty's there already?"

"I don't know son." Jonathan replied.

Chloe eyed the wagon wheel then looked to her husband. "Pete, it looks good. I think it's in right. It'll hold."

"Let me hammer it just one or two more times Chloe. I want to make sure it sticks and we don't have a fatal accident on our hands." Pete replied earnestly.

"The wedding is going to be late." Martha announced anxiously.

"Better late then letting our neighbors get injured Martha. I know your anxious to get the wedding done with but ... "

"I want everything to be perfect Jonathan. We're finally going to have a daughter in law. That's very important to me."

Jonathan sighed it was all the words he needed to let his wife know that he knew how important it was. Then at Pete's nod the Kent men let go of the wheel, they tested it a few times before being satisfied with its' sturdiness. Martha nervously checked her watch.

"Go on get out of here Clark, go get your bride." Said Chloe smiling delightedly at her friend.

"See you there guys." Said Clark smiling brightly and giving them a wave as they parted company.

With his mind on these matters he wasn't exactly in the best of moods nor in the sharpest of mind sets when he ran headlong into his father-in-law to be and landed on his derriere in the smelly mud of the small town streets. Betty-Sue was upset by it as well, though she was ready to weep, her beautiful gown now soiled and mud encrusted, she bewailed her predicament, asking what were the Kents going to think of her now?

Lex shoved Betty as far from his mind as possible. Enraged he got back up and began to do what any other irritated, exhausted, annoyed and bruised ego, young man would have done in his place, he let fly a right hook that was barely avoided by Jonathan Kent but intercepted by young Clark Kent in his father's stead. A glancing blow that still should have floored young Kent but barely fazed him.

"Betty-Sue, is that you?" he asked with concern and innocent blinks of his eyes, gripping Lex's wrist in a gentle but firm clasp. Betty-Sue flooded his senses again. She was horrified by Lex's display of pique. It was unladylike behavior and worst of all uncivilized. What were the Kents going to think of her? She demanded of him. She was so ashamed by his- her behavior.

Lex was stunned. On a pendulum of emotion, teetering between awe and anger and Betty's own feelings of rapture. Clark in person blew the photo out the window. He was tall, taller then they first thought, yet gentle and magnificent.

Hearing the laughter from the older Kent, Lex became steamed again. He wanted someone to pay for his misery. He was trembling, trying to suppress his need for violence. While Jonathan Kent laughed heartily at his daughter-in- law's predicament.

Martha Kent swatted her husband for her daughter-in-law but it still didn't ease Lex's need for violence. He'd always been told his temper was a vile one. He managed just barely to suppress it so he wouldn't alienate his relatives. He needed them if his safety was going to be secured.

"Jonathan Kent!" She chastised. "How dare you laugh at this poor girl! Just look at what you did to her. And it doesn't help matters that we were the ones running late in the first place."

Jonathan blinked in surprise at his wife's behavior. She didn't usually scold him like this. Especially when it had been an accident and he hadn't been the one at fault for it.

He cried out "But, but..." in protest, "We were just helping our neighbors. We didn't mean to be late." however Martha was not in the mood to listen. She steam rolled right on over him and he was helpless to stop it. Martha was a strong-minded woman. "Chloe and Pete had a wagon wheel break loose. We needed to help them."

"I know dear and it was the right thing to do." Said Martha. "And now lets get going. This wedding isn't going to happen with us just standing around like a bunch of wet fish."

Betty-Sue was in awe of her Mother-in-Law. Betty-Sue would never dream of overruling her husband. She was a genteel accommodating young woman. All the women of her class and social circles all said that overruling your husband was never done, not only was it improper but it could also guarantee in the future a bad marriage for both the man and the woman.

Lex scowled at Betty's upbringing. "Grow a backbone. It's obvious the Kents want a strong woman for their son. Not some wilting flower debutante."

"I'm not a wilting flower." She growled. "Without me, you never would have survived Lionel's rearing!"

Clark looked at her with worry in his eyes. "Betty, are you all right?" he asked.

"Oh, uh I uh, ye-es, I'm fine." She assured him, still a little scatter-brained and conversing with Lex in her head.

"Clark, she's had a rough time of it. Journeying from one train to a coach and to a train again over a course of three to six weeks is bound to take a lot out of a girl." Chastised Martha. Though, in her eyes was also a grain of worry warring with her sympathy towards her daughter-in-law. Then she returned her attentions to her husband, chastising him even further for his ungentlemanly conduct towards their daughter.

Lex and Betty were still in awe of them. He envied the Kents. They were a warm and loving family. Martha and Jonathan Kent were that rare couple, who had married for love. And they were still in love with one another. They also loved their son and by extension, their soon-to-be daughter-in-law.

"It's good to meet you at last." Clark smiled brightly, dazzlingly.

The tin photo had not revealed to him the true compassion or beauty of Clark's eyes. Clark meanwhile held Lex's violet-eyed gaze with his own beautiful blue ones. Lex and Betty both found they were actually speechless.

So they nodded.

Clark held out a bouquet of wild flowers for Lex to accept both as a gift and as a reminder that they were about to be going to the chapel and get hitched.

"Th-thank you. They're very lovely, Clark." Said Betty in a gentle whisper as anyone as awestruck as they would have. "I, I please," She said turning to face Jonathan, playing a demure female to the hilt, deeply mortified by her un-lady-like behavior. She asked "Accept my apologies Mr. Kent, I have little excuse for my behavior."

"Nonsense." Said Martha, with a wave of her hand. "It's obvious you've been through a lot on your trip and then my big galute of a husband knocked you down. You have every right to be upset. Here let the boys take that heavy luggage of yours. Come with me dear, we'll get you all prettied up and bathed for the services. We'll simply have a sunset wedding in candlelight. No worries. John grab her bags, you too Clark. Come along dear. I have some girls, friends of Clark's that you must simply meet. They're going to help you get ready for tonight's celebration and wedding."

"I, uh, thank you, Mama Kent." Betty murmured, as was custom to address one's mother-in-law when one was about to become in a very short time a part of one's family. It was an honorary title but one both Lex and Betty had never felt more natural in giving to another person in their life. They were overpowered by Martha Kent. Her letters had been a preview of the real thing. This woman was grace and strength and love personified.

With that the Matriarch of the Kent family led the way to one of her friend's homes.

"You're so dear. Lana, Chloe I'd like to introduce you to this lovely lady. This is Betty-Sue." Said Martha with no little pride. The two young married women smiled and greeted her like a long lost sister. Lex was stunned and further amazed by these people of Smallville, Kansas. He'd never met so many good hearted so welcoming a group of people before, unless he was at a hotel or somewhere that cost him money for such hospitality.

He was glad that Martha and the girls were sensitive to Betty-Sue's shyness otherwise Lex would not have been able to avoid his soon to be Mother-in-Law's help and the help of his Husband to be's old girl friends in the guest room. Lex was easily able to keep her and the rest at bay and out of the room and bathroom for the time he needed to get cleaned and relaxed and dressed in his under things.

When Lex felt they were sufficiently scrubbed and dressed properly in girly frilly under things, as inner Betty had directed of him. He then asked in the ladies for their help on the final bits of his hair and wedding dress. There were too many buttons and too many flowers for a girl alone to dress herself, not to mention that the dress weighed a ton.

The women gaped at her loose hair, murmuring about how long and lustrous and beautiful it was. They also fell all over themselves when they saw the dress and the amount of wealth on display. Lex on the inside smirked while Betty shyly basked in the glow of their admiration.

Betty-Sue was coming to this marriage more then able to care for her own financial needs. She was determined that she would not be a burden to the Kents or Clark in particular. That was something that both she and Lex agreed adamantly on. Though how she would access the real Betty-Sue's funds was going to be impossible and nearly impossible for him to access his own account without causing suspicions or even more problems. How was he going to contribute to the farm without his money?

Lex could see the envy in a few of the women's eyes and he warned Betty of it. He judged only amazement in Martha's. There was no greed, nor envy, nor an evil look in Martha's eyes, kindness and wonder lay bare there within.

Lex was glad his mother-in-law was a truly sweet woman. She embraced them with tears in her eyes. "Oh Betty." She whispered. "You're the most beautiful bride I have ever seen."

Lana said so too, as did Chloe, though Chloe was a little more reluctant then the others to compliment the new woman in Clark's life.

Chloe was suspicious of Betty-Sue it wasn't the usual way that a rich lady settled for a farmer, such things only happened in faerie tales. Not in real life. But she kept her tongue in check and smiled encouragingly. She was willing to quell her inquisitive nature for the time being. She made it known though if Betty hurt Clark she would make it personal mission in life to see Betty pay - big time.

"I have never been more proud in all my life then right now, well excepting my own marriage to Clark's father of course. I am so glad to have you come to us and be a part of our family." Martha rambled on damply, brushing away tears of joy on her face.

Lex had to choke back on sudden clogging tears. What was coming over him? He hugged Martha fiercely. She was too kind and too wonderful to believe yet there was nothing of dishonesty about her.

The gown was a very elegant and very expensive piece, he recognized it as a new fashion from Paris, France. Lex was a little disturbed that the simple Tennessee Betty-Sue had been able to afford such a gown, let alone the import and shipping expenses!

The gown was made up of white lace and cream-yellow with frilly hand beaded flower patterns dancing up the insides of his bodice and skirt and scrolling around the arms and low neck of the gown, lace at his throat keeping the gown modest. A bunch of yellow roses, all of them silk and hand crafted were interwoven into his wig, cascading down the side of his hair and behind his ear. Chandelier pearls hung from his ears, the candlelight glinted off of them alluringly. More than a few years worth of love and labor had gone into this wedding ensemble.

Betty-Sue whined. "Stop trying to ruin my big day, with all you're thinking and pondering!"

"You're not an accountant! You're not Lex Luthor right now. We're Betty-Sue and we're getting married to a great guy. And who cares how much money everything cost. You never used to care before about how much money things cost."

"I'm just saying nothing is adding up." Said the miffed Lex.

The dress was very expensive but most expensive of all was the veil. Hand sewn, with flowers and pearls and trailing into a long train that was even longer then the gown's own, Lex carefully gathered up the veil and threw it over the elegant and large lady's brimmed hat, he then took a strand of ivy, yellow roses and pearls and tied the veil in place, making sure that a good bit of it hung down over his face down past his waist in the front, then past his bustle and lightly overlaid the gown's train in back.

He also wore a swath of pearls around his throat, locked in place by the broach in the front and the silver clasp at the back. The broach was obviously holding the six strands in perfect symmetry and it was of carved ivory and shaped as a rose with a nice sized pearl in the middle of the blooming bud.

Beautiful, brilliant pearls, strands and strands of gleaming pearls, each one worth a small fortune! Again he had to wonder where Betty-Sue had gotten such an expensive bit of jewelry?

Had she visited the Orient? Pearls were less expensive and less rare and less precious there. Even given as gifts sometimes on many occasions. But the craftsmanship of the jewelry, it was a Master's creation. And the Master would have charged a bundle to make them.

Heirlooms?

Possible.

However it was also very doubtful.

Was Betty-Sue truly middle-class or was she something, someone, else?

The gown cried out that she was something, someone of importance. Where had she gotten the money? Where could she have gotten the gown and veil? They were both one of a kinds and he recognized the designer's mark on the inside. This was no farmer-girl's dress. This was a lady of birth, station, and wealth's gown.

Oh well, what did it matter now? It was too late to solve this particular mystery, and it wasn't as if Lex could turn back the sands of time and change plans. Lex was taking her place and she would be fine with the two hundred dollars he'd slipped her.

He hoped.

More doubts crept into his heart though. Insecurity was eating at his stomach. He felt guilty. He'd hijacked a helpless lady. He had been totally unchivalrous to her.

Looking in the mirror he thought he looked like some out of one of the poems he'd had to read in prep school back in England. And if it had not been himself in the mirror he would have commented on how pretty this particular girl looked. She wasn't stop in your tracks pretty but there was definitely something about her that caught the eye.

She had a modest bosom, curvy hips, a gentle face with no need for fashionable cosmetics, smoldering violet eyes, large and seemingly innocent, hiding depths upon depths from the world. Also within those depths was just a touch of pain in her eyes that could speak to the world of something terrible from her past. Some horrible experience which continued to scar and haunt her to the present - something worse than grief for her dead husband.

Lex hoped Clark wouldn't see it, that touch of pain. That wasn't Betty-Sue's pain. It was Lex's own. A pain that never seemed to heal or go a way; it was always there, always in the back of his mind, poisoning his heart, ruining all of the good things he'd experienced in his life as an adventurer.

He hoped his in-laws wouldn't see it either, otherwise they would know her for something other then the innocent once married young woman they'd propositioned for their son's betrothal. They'd know this Betty for the fraude she was.

Martha smiled at her nervous daughter-to-be. "You look enchanting, my dear. My Clark is a lucky, lucky, man to have you."

Betty blushed, and Lex was humbled. "Oh no, Mama Kent, it is I that is the lucky one." They murmured.

Lex wretchedly. You don't know me, Mrs. Kent. You don't know how bad I am. What I've done in the past. The things I would have continued to do if it wasn't for those damned jackals after my tail.

I'm not good enough for your Clark or any one. I'm a Luthor, we're pure evil.

Betty-Sue tried to comfort him, tried to deny that just because he was a Luthor he wasn't as evil as his father. But she had seen some of the tactics Lex had used in his business practices, even in some of his gunfights.

Sure he would try to be all honorable and fair but when it came to survival Lex was as ruthless as any Luthor. She'd seen him fight for his life and used any means necessary to enable his success.

Wasn't he after all doing that same thing right now? Using any means necessary to win?

To live?

Why can't you see how evil I am? My own father could.

Betty sighed. "We do have bad in us, but we also have great potential for good. The fact that we can love, says much for us."

"Can we really?" Lex asked.

"Yes we can. We love Julian. We love our Father, though evil incarnate that he is. We - I love, Clark." She insisted.

As he argued within, he didn't want Martha to see how messed up he was and yet at the same time he did want her to see it. See how conflicted he was, see how evil he was, how undeserving he was of her love or Clark's. He wanted her to discover the imposter that he was.

But this was his one chance for sanctuary, for peace, for survival a time to martial his strength and to stage a coup of his own on Luthor Corp. He couldn't risk her seeing him, seeing the truth. Lex gave in to Betty and let his own personality sink under the surface.

Nell Potter, Martha's friend and Aunt to Lana Lang, came in, a smile brightly in place on her pretty face.

"Oh Martha, she is a beauty." Nell exclaimed happily.

CHAPTER FOUR top

Lex could tell Nell's delight was as false as the smile on her face and he wasn't particularly sure why that was.

Why didn't Nell like Betty-Sue?

The Kents were a powerful family in the community, upright and prosperous, with a once eligible son. Perhaps it was for this reason Nell was unhappy. Her niece had lost out. Lana was married to a clerk's son, Whitney. By all accounts the Store Owner's family was prosperous but didn't have the background the Kents had.

Whitney's family was new to Kansas and newer still to Smallville, only having arrived less then ten years ago. Which by community and social standards left them "unsuitable" for a proper lady's engagement into their family or vice-versa.

All of this was explained to him in tones of and in the manner of "hush-hush" by Martha, just before they entered Nell's house. She wanted Betty-Sue to be aware of the pit falls that were coming her way.

Nell was a dear friend but also a social climber as well as a bit of a snob. Lex sighed, the politics of a small community was a headache to understand but understand it he did. It was no different then any other big city's politics among its elite families, known as the ton. Social class was just another word for back-stabber in Lex's opinion.

"Thank you Mrs. Potter, you are very kind to think so." Betty replied humbly. Humble was something of which Lex had never or rarely ever been in his life.

Luthor's didn't appease the people or play to the people's views, unless it was for publicity and in the order of making money. Luthors didn't know the meaning of humble or meekness or kindness. Luthors were arrogant, ruthless, money grubbing greedy souls without conscience. Yet, Lex felt his conscience sting with his duplicity.

"Too many years raised under Lillian's influence, you're too much of her son." Sneered the rarely heard inner Lionel Luthor. "She made you weak."

Betty-Sue frowned. "We're good. We should have a conscience. That doesn't make us weak. It makes us stronger." She insisted.

Lex tried to shut both voices out.

He tried to appease his conscience with words of "my life was at stake. I needed this more then she did.

"Surely she wouldn't begrudge a desperate man? Especially having been compensated with two hundred dollars for her troubles?"

But still his conscience stung and it got worse with every moment he spent in Martha's company. It would get worse, he knew, if he spent time with Clark. He wasn't looking forward to living in angst and guilt while hiding from his Father and the assassins.

By rights Betty-Sue should have been here, gushing at her Mother-In-Law and family to be. She should be here excited and joyously planning her future. Dreaming about what it was going to be like spending the rest of her life with Clark. Instead Lex was here taking up her place and using the Kents for his own means.

"Maybe you are." Said Betty. "But I'm not. I'm going to make Clark a fine wife. I love him I can see our future together. And it's beautiful." She insisted. "He's our destiny."

Lex grumbled and scowled at her. His inner Betty was definitely going to outdo the original Betty it made him queasy.

He promised himself he would do his best for Clark. That he would not let down the Kents or poor derailed Betty-Sue. He would make sure their farm stayed running and make sure that they were suitably compensated for his duplicity.

"Money doesn't solve everything." Betty piped in alongside of his annoying conscience.

"Stop sounding like Mr. Kent."

Money, farm animals, tools, whatever it was going to take to make them forgive him, he would do it.

"Forgiveness isn't bought, like trust, it's earned." Chastised Betty.

"Save the platitudes for your kids and Julian, Betty-Sue." Growled Lex irritated.

Clark was nervous.

Betty-Sue was even more beautiful in person.

Maybe not as lovely as Lana, but in Clark's eyes no one was as lovely or as perfect as Lana was. It couldn't be helped. He'd been in love with Lana since the first time he'd seen her.

Lana, however, was with Whitney, and had always been Whitney's girl; there had never been any hope for his crush to be returned by the girl of his dreams. Clark couldn't bring himself to break Whitney and Lana apart. He had always assumed that the two would part ways eventually and then he would swoop in and make Lana his wife.

His dreams were dashed though when Lana wedded Whitney six months ago.

Nell was still in denial of it and would have had the marriage absolved immediately but Lana wouldn't have it and neither would Whitney's parents. It wasn't a bad marriage. Fordmans had more money than anyone in the community, as well as serious power being that they were the only general store in the county. They loved Lana like a daughter and were glad to see their son wed to her. They had the more power in this situation to see that the marriage would not be undone by any Judge or on the part of Nell Lang.

Nell was still bitter over the whole affair and Clark hoped she wouldn't take it out on kindly Betty-Sue.

Clark wasn't exactly excited to be getting married. He'd voiced his true feelings in his letters to her over the months since the engagement announcement. He'd been taught by his parents, and in his experiences, that honesty was expected above all else including honor. Yet Betty-Sue had been very understanding and very encouraging. She understood that a marriage between them may or may not include love but it would be a partnership and a friendship. He offered her more then any man she had come across before. She had accepted his parents' generous offer and would do her best by Clark.

Clark was wondering if this was the right thing to do. His parents though had been adamant that this year was the year Clark was to be wed, they would not and could not wait any longer for him to make up his mind. After Lana left the picture, they took matters in to their own hands. They had waited four years over the age of marriage in deference to Clark's feelings but they would not be put off any longer. They wanted grand kids and they wanted to see the farm prosper.

The Kents had sent out an ad in the Kansas City Gazette and a few other far reaching papers and got several nice replies to their ad for a mail-order-bride, however it wasn't until Martha had recognized Betty-Sue's name that she made Jonathan sit Clark down and write to the woman. Martha had said she felt the hand of God in this match and knew Betty-Sue would be right for her son.

Clark felt ashamed that he did not want the same things as his parents. He couldn't voice his true feelings on the matter though. He wanted to go to University. He wanted to do something other then farming with his life.

He wanted to build a town paper and run it with his friends Pete and Chloe Ross-Sullivan. Forward thinkers newly settled and from the City. Pete and Chloe had to be careful though, since Pete was colored and Chloe not.

People in Smallville didn't take any notice of them at first, since many were abolitionists besides Smallville had more to fear than the color of a man's skin. Since the meteor showers thirteen years ago Smallville had become central station for Weird. The town had more to fear from the mutants than they did with ex-slaves.

Life wasn't a simple and harmonious thing. People and mutants alike could be good or evil and make mischief harmless or otherwise. Trouble occurred occasionally. Whether it was fueled by racism or by sudden bursts of mutant abilities newly revealed. Smallville could at least be said to be quite a busy and exciting town for a place so far removed from the burgeoning cities like Edge and Metropolis.

And Pete and Chloe confronted all things together. Their relationship was a strong one and powerful. They would never be divided. They had every intention of seeing their vows fulfilled to the ends of their days.

In many ways Clark envied his dear friends this bond they shared.

He just hoped that he and Betty-Sue would do well together.

Night fell quickly and candles were lit. The wedding party walked with all decorum and solemnity that such a union brings. With quiet joy in their hearts and doubts locked securely behind thick oak doors in their minds for this one perfect moment, the Kents and Lex walked down the aisle.

Candles danced over Betty-Sue making her breathtaking and for the first time in his life Clark Kent was nearly brought to his knees by the beauty of a girl rather then by the harmful effects of the green rock that swung from around Lana Lang's neck.

Betty-Sue was dressed all in yellow and white with hand crafted roses all about her in her hair on her dress. Strands of Pearl decorated her neck and gown and hair to. Silver added the final touch. She gleamed and she glowed, a faerie princess made of gold. She was showing him her true wealth and beauty, and suddenly Clark felt unworthy of her. He was humbled.

Clark caught her eyes and felt his heart nearly stop. Time seemed to stand still for them. Huge violet eyes stared fixed into his cornflower blue eyes. Shaking, Clark reached towards her and took her dainty hand into his own clumsy paw, gold ring poised to slip onto her finger. Words came uneasily to his lips, repeating after the Priest, "With this Ring I thee Wed. I take Thee in all your faults and in all of your glory as my helpmate. I worship thee with my body and take thee in sickness and in health, for richer or poorer, to stay loyal to you until death do us part."

It was a prayer, a vow, a holy thing he was doing, and with the sudden realization of this, as the vows were spoken, the truth that he was willingly taking Betty-Sue into his heart, into his body, into his soul and that he would never let her go, came to him like a flash of lightning.

It was profound those feelings which welled up within him. Did everyone feel the same way when the rings were exchanged and slipped on? Or was it just he, his alien nature, his freakishness, coming out?

They were both trembling with the force of their emotions. Betty-Sue's voice shook as she repeated her own version of vows, then their rings were exchanged and for the first time ever... they kissed.

Lex believed in his mind that he should have at least struggled a little bit with this, after all he was kissing another man, however it had felt very simply like the most natural thing to do. No hesitation would be allowed. It was expected that the bride and groom kiss and his life was riding on making this charade work. Besides, Betty really wanted to kiss Clark.

What was not expected however that during that kiss Lex's knees would nearly give way and he would feel Clark's own knees turn to jelly right after. Betty-Sue was confusing his senses he told himself firmly. He was a man. He didn't enjoy kissing another man, he didn't, he protested. Betty pouted. It had felt really good to her, perfectly natural.

It was just a kiss. A simple kiss, a brush of lips, nothing more.

He shouldn't have felt this profound and he shouldn't have felt this welling of emotion within his breast or the overwhelming urge to do more with his newly appointed husband. It was Betty. She was behind it. He was confusing her impulses, her feelings, for his own. When in fact, they were two separate things. She was in love with Clark while Lex simply admired Clark. He needed to work harder at keeping Betty's feelings from twisting and confusing his own platonic ones.

Lex was disgusted with Betty for feeling this way, disgusted with himself for deceiving Clark in this fashion, for even kissing another man, but the way that kiss had made him feel, Betty, the way it had made Betty feel, he quickly amended, was amazing. They felt amazing. Betty-Sue was all a tingle from it. She was sinking fast. She was in love.

He'd never experienced such a beautiful kiss before nor the depths of feelings sparked within him, all from a simple brush of perfect lips against his own un-perfect ones.

Clark's eyes locked with his own, devotion kindled within their blue depths and amazingly within Lex's own heart as well or rather in Betty's, in both their hearts.

When they had spoken those vows they had felt it to their core.

But this was all such a lie.

A big misunderstanding.

The hugest mistake of his life.

He knew he was being stupid letting emotion sway him. Emotion kindled by stupid hand-written letters and a few seconds worth of words between them.

Yet he and Betty had felt it down to their bones. They had pledged themselves eternally to Clark and it felt thrilling and amazing.

This was all Betty.

It had to be and yet even Lex couldn't deny that he had felt something. Something intense. Something unbreakable.

Destiny.

His father had always condemned him for how quickly and easily he was given to allow his irrational, uncontrollable, passionate emotions to affect and take over him. Often he had been called weak for caring about others and allowing them a sway over him because of this perceived weakness.

Clark didn't know Lex Luthor or this Betty. Clark only knew the real Betty-Sue through her letters, and Lex was no Betty-Sue, though at that very moment he had wished he were her with all of his heart so that he could be the reason for the emotion in Clark's beautiful eyes.

All night long they never stopped gazing into each other's eyes even as they ate from the banquet table and danced through the night, enjoying the music that filled the air. Witnesses and bride and groom drunk on wine and in celebration signed the marriage certificate. Being drunk no one never once realized or noticed that instead of a woman's name in the bride's column it was a man's, and that man's name was one that the Kents were enemies of.

The Kent wedding was a spectacle of the like of which Smallville had never seen before and many suspected they would never see again.

The night was magic.

Betty was content. She felt like she was living in a dream. Everything was so surreal. Even when the crowd broke out into song several forms of square dancing along with some Appalachian Mountain dancing. Neither Betty-Sue nor Lex Luthor had ever kicked up their heels so high before, not even when Lex had danced in one of the Irish festivals.

Lex managed not to kill himself in his high-heeled girl shoes. He also managed not to trip over his long heavy skirts or step on Clark's toes. Betty made sure of that.

Clark was amazingly graceful for the height at which he stood. And his arms around them never wavered or lessened in strength. They were strong, protective arms that held them firm yet gently to Clark's side.

It looked like Clark wasn't going to let go of them not even for a moment. Their bodies molded easily to each other. They made a perfect whole.

The look in Clark's eyes made Lex/Betty shiver with anticipation. The night was ended near dawn and the married couple ushered into their newly built home, less then a year old. Clark had lifted him with not so much as a grimace at their weight and carried them over the threshold.

Both Lex and Betty felt like a feather in Clark's arms, weightless and flying. They were also pretty drunk on beer and wine and Betty hoped that Clark would not be a gentleman towards them and would take advantage of them in their liquored stupor.

Although the more rational side, the Lex side screamed. "Bloody Idiot! You better hope he doesn't fuck you this night, or even get you naked! The jig as they say would be up then! How would you explain yourself to him, huh? He'd kill you!"

"No he wouldn't." Betty protested, pouting. "Clark's a good guy."

"Sure he is, I mean he seems nice enough." Said Lex, "But the truth remains, we're not really female. He's going to find out and then he's going to..."

"What, kill us? No he won't. He's not going to kill us for a little dress up." Argued Betty. "Besides we're married now, anyway you look at it, what would be the point of killing the bride and ruining the Kent name?"

Lex paused "It would be very scandalous, and if there's one thing Jonathan Kent can't stand, it's scandal. Or so I've heard. But this is mere conjecture. "

"I think you're getting Jonathan mixed up with Lionel. Pay attention Lex." Said Betty.

"You're right, he won't kill us. He'll be angry sure, upset, shocked, appalled, horrified, sure, and maybe he would exile me, sure. But kill me? No way. Clark's not the kind of guy who could kill another man. He's too good." Agreed Lex.

"You are drunk!" cried their inner Lionel voice, scathingly. Raining on their parade as usual.

"Oh shut up." They growled back, this time out loud.

Clark gave his dance partner a wide-eyed look of shock. That was not a girl's voice he'd heard come from his wife's throat.

"Betty-Sue?" he inquired in concern. Eyes beseeching his wife's own, searchingly.

"Uh, not you Clark. I was talking to my inner nag." Betty replied drunkenly, falsetto back in place.

Clark decided it had to have been his imagination that he hadn't heard what he thought he had heard. It was ridiculous, preposterous, besides why would a man dress in woman's clothes and pretend to be female?

It just didn't make any sense to him.

This was Betty-Sue, a female and his wife, the woman he was beginning to definitely fall in love with.

Carefully Clark loosened Betty-Sue's dress and skirts, careful not to remove all of her clothes, mindful of her dignity. Gently he unthreaded the roses from her lustrous blonde locks. Letting Betty-Sue's long tresses fall loosely cascading down the front and back of her. She looked like a Goddess. Breathtaking.

Clark's heart actually ached. He actually felt like his lungs couldn't get enough air, and fire blazed in his belly and down even further. He gulped and closed his eyes. He had to get control over himself before the fire burst form his eyes, just one more freakish thing about his nature that he had to hide from his bride and most of the populace of Smallville in general.

Clark's fingers itched to stroke those long locks and cuddle his nose into her hair just to smell the alluring fragrance of rose oil. But he didn't. He wouldn't take advantage of his wife in her stupor. He had too much honor and too much respect for Betty-Sue to do that to her without her consent.

He was less concerned with his own clothes so he stripped fully naked and slipped under the covers to cuddle with his drunk and unconscious wife, who in her sleep cuddled back, tucked under his chin.

She was dainty, from her toes to the tips of her fingers. She barely, with shoes on, came up to his shoulder. Without her imposing heels she was shorter then expected and fit perfectly in his arms.

How such a fine creature as she would fit in at a farm and help him raise crops and children to boot, was a frightening prospect and was beyond Clark's imagination. He felt strangely afraid for her. Her letters had always assured him she knew what to do on a farm and that she was strong and capable. But now seeing her in person Clark had his doubts.

She seemed too dainty, too tiny, and too delicate for the farm. He couldn't imagine how she was going to fit in or keep the farm running. Not that it was necessary, since he was strong and fast enough for five or a dozen people and if need be he really could just work the farm by himself. But appearances were going to be hell. People would find out he was a freak of nature, something other then human, something other then a meteor mutant, something unfathomable, something just other. Then Smallville will turn into a mob and they would tie him to a stake and burn him alive. That's what frightened villagers did to monsters.

Her hips were too tiny her bones too fragile seeming. He was terrified that if he ever managed to get her with child she'd end up dying in the birth bed. He shivered and swore to himself he wouldn't do that to her.

Clark doubted her capabilities of helping on the farm. There wasn't a single callus on her hands to prove to him that she had ever done a day's labor in her life. Everything about her spoke to him of the city. How was Betty-Sue going to survive a rough life of farming?

Pieces in this puzzle were not adding up right. Clark was worried and he slept fitfully even with the comforting weight of his drunken wife burrowing her cold nose into his armpit, snuggling into his side, sighing contentedly and dropping off deep and fast into sleep land.

ENEMY WITH A MISSION

The two Henchmen hung their heads in shame and anxiety while their boss strutted before them in her long skirts, pacing a displeased path into her red ornamental rug.

"Your failure is unacceptable!" she seethed. Glaring hazel eyes blazed into their brown ones and blue ones.

"How could you have lost that bald freak?"

The men muttered and stammered trying to come up with the story of what happened but all they could do was ring their hands and close their eyes in misery and shake their heads.

"He's smart." Said Karl.

"So?" demanded Lois Lane.

"Well, he outsmarted us, is all." Replied Karl, cringing.

"And that's your excuse?" asked Lois, head caulked to the side. Trying to understand what her lowly Henchmen were trying to get at. "He's just a man. And you two should have already taken him out of the picture." She hissed.

"Don't give me excuses. Give me results. That's all that I want. That's all that I'm paying you for. I want that bastard dead! Not get out of my sight!" she roared.

Her men scurried out of her study and ran from her house as if the very dogs of hell were at their heels.

Cassandra looked on her grand niece sadly. Though blind she knew where Lois was by the resonating energy that bounced through the air like ripples in a pond after a stone has landed within its watery depths.

Lois was a mass of energy and high-strung nerves.

"My niece, are you sure you want this? Luthor would make a powerful husband for you in the future. You could put into effect the Women's Suffrage if you wished it. He'd be president inside of a decade."

"But..."said Lois.

"Yes, but for the fact that he would be the end of the world. Armageddon itself. He would herald in the war between the heavens and the pits of hell. A holocaust of bloodshed and death and destruction like none other I have foreseen. With great potential and power comes greatness for evil.

It is true Niece, though you would compliment each other greatly. If he were to take up this destiny with you at his side there is nothing but death. But with the one who is true. That is the one who will change the course of the Luthor's destiny."

"We can't take that chance Cassandra. He must be stopped. The world is much too important to wager on such a gamble as whether or not Luthor ever finds the True One. Humanity's Savior." Insisted Lois.

"I think you have little faith my Child. But do as you see fit. Perhaps this old woman is wrong and perhaps, perhaps his new path has already begun." Said the old woman with a strange twist of a smile. It was almost whimsical. Sightless eyes gazing ever more into the future and seeing something there that almost amused her.

ANOTHER ENEMY IN THE WOODWORK

The Mutant was not a happy man. He'd planned to kill the Luthors starting with the one Lionel treasured above all the others. Only Alexander Luthor had always been so hard to find. There had been moments when the kid had been a boy when he'd had his chance and almost, almost succeeded. But there was something different about Alexander and not just the fact that Daddy Lionel had a strange and twisted fascination with his eldest son.

The mutant now suspected that it wasn't guardian angels that through the years that had kept Alexander alive but rather the same thing that had cursed him to this half-life of his. The meteors had changed him and they had changed many others in Smallville too. He suspected that the meteors had done more for Alexander then just taking his hair.

Alexander was Immortal.

And what a gift to have bestowed on one!

The luck and the power of it!

It made him seethe with rage and jealousy.

His mutation was nothing special. Not really, just morphing capabilities, which allowed him to take on the form of any farm beast or ranch animal he could touch. Alexander could have a broken bone and it would heal within hours even days of it's breaking.

Those Luthors!

It wasn't enough that they owned so much and had so much money. No they had to steel and swindle from the town people of Smallville and Old Lionel had to pay for that. As did those vipers he'd raised to take on after he was passed down into the depths of hell.

Alexander, Lucas and Julian would all get their ends soon and none of it was going to be pleasant. No sirree bob! Those devil's spawn were going to suffer, suffer like all the people their family had made suffer through the years.

Vengeance was his.

At last justice was going to come to them all.

"Yes." He chuckled mirthlessly. "I know where ye've gone little Luthor boy. I know where snakes go to spawn."

The mutant boarded the next train headed Kansas way. His ticket stamped Smallville in big purple ink letters.

CAIRO, EGYPT - the digs

Bruce Wayne mopped his forehead again with his sweat soaked rag. Glasses filmy and afflicted by dust he sighed and for the one-hundredth time cleaned them on his semi clean shirt. Bruce Wayne could not explain what it had been that had drawn him to Egypt, he hadn't particularly cared to part with Lex back in Ireland after their trip to the Orient but something had called to him, perhaps it had been the more romantic side of his nature, or that his brain had caught fire with imagination. He couldn't say for sure why he was there.

Was it to prove a half-baked theory of a connection of all life? Or was it for personal reasons?

Squinting his eyes he studied the hieroglyphs on the walls, certain that this time this was the temple he'd been looking for. Memories came at an odd moment, catching him off guard. He hadn't spared a thought to the past in several months. His heart ached and his eyes stung a little with tears. What was his purpose for leaving Lex like he had?

Would their plans come to fruition? Or had he abandoned Lex to fulfilling some dark destiny Lionel had planned for his son from the beginning of his birth?

~ Memories ~

Bruce Wayne had, like so many others of their class, not really seen Alexander Joseph Luthor as a human being- not at first. The Luthors were well known in the community as a shady family. Their dealings were never entirely on the right side of the law. When tragedy had befallen them Wayne had felt justified like so many, that they at last knew suffering like those they had wronged. A common mistake, Greek almost, making the son suffer for the father's crimes. But on meeting Lex in person and getting to know Lex Bruce's opinion had quickly changed.

Alexander was charismatic yet unfortunate in his appearance, he had been such a scrawny frightened pale thing and it was perhaps mostly due to his baldness that they all thought such things as fragile or unfortunate. To Bruce though this was only a partial perception, he was able to see more in Lex than any of the others.

Lex was more of a wild-eyed refugee than a rich man's son. Bruce Wayne was no stranger to tragedy, he'd lost both parents when he'd been young and was raised solely by Alfred, his family's butler as well as a family friend. He never thought he would ever come across such a tragic figure, or such a wreck of a human being, as Alexander had been in that first year. How Lex had gotten that way was never fully disclosed to him by his friend.

Bruce just knew that Lionel Luthor had a heavy hand in it. While the older Luthor had gone whoring it up all over town, Lex had been at home keeping the household running smooth as clockwork. Lex had been the one to raise his little brother Julian. Not just at whim but with his father's consent. Lex seemed to relish the role as mother figure and older brother. Bruce had not been able to understand that part of his friend.

Bruce never thought that a son of the Luthor family would touch his heart as Alexander did. Beyond the rumors, beyond social settings, Lex was a frightened child trying to assimilate into adult society. School may be for children but the culture of it was no less daunting than an adult's world of social climbers, backstabbers, and manipulators. Life was brutal and school was the culling grounds that would shape, mold, and prepare you or exile you from it.

Alexander was sorely at a disadvantage. He'd never had friends of his own age. His father had purposely isolated him from the rest of his social peers and age group. Perhaps it was to protect his son from such harsh things as the names some of his classmates called him "Gargoyle", "Freak", "Mutation", laughing at his misfortune. Though these things hurt the sensitive youth they also did much to make him stronger and more resilient than perhaps Lionel realized.

Why was it that Lex seemed to attract such troubles? Was it his family? Was it his looks? Was it the fact that his was not a blue blood but from a family of entrepreneurs who had come from nothing made their money from nothing and quickly outstripped the older, heavy bloodline families, of wealth and standing?

Luthor had barreled his way through the social scenes and broke through on his own creating an empire any man would be envious of and perhaps it was this more than anything else or any other reason out there, that the classes felt such insult and felt that they needed to purge themselves of the only Luthor in their reach - Lex.

Bruce had felt every time he looked at the pale figure like he was watching a small fragile animal suffering under further abuses.

Bruce's righteous heart could not stand to let the cruelty continue. An unlikely friendship grew between them. The quiet shy vulnerable Luthor struck a chord in Bruce Wayne that was hard to explain. Perhaps it was more out of pity than anything else that drove Bruce to try and befriend and save Lex Luthor. Striking up a friendship with Lex Luthor was not easy. They had plenty of setbacks.

Lex was a brilliant young man. His mind was sharp and so bright, so bright as to leave even Bruce Wayne in the dark. He'd heard that in his youth Lex had been institutionalized rumors varied saying it was his birth defects, others stated Lex was so affected by the loss of his mother that he had also lost his mind. Other rumors, the really nasty ones, stipulated and speculated that Lex had tried to kill his baby brother and had blamed the child for his own mother's madness and eventual death. The truth though was a lot more complicated and Lex didn't like to speak of it at all to Bruce or to anyone. When the subject ever came up or was pushed on Lex he would quickly deteriorate into a hysterical nervous wreck. Lex's words would turn venomous he would snap back bitingly acidic comments that would in turn harm his curious peers.

There were two- no three subjects never to be broached with Lex at any time, whether in private conversation or in public. These subjects were to never be discussed ever.

His Mother was a Saint. Period.

Julian is his precious baby brother and his love for Julian is pure and boundless. Period

Asylum, what asylum? Who's crazy? Who`s a victim? It never happened. Period.

Bruce was careful after the first conflict with Lex. He understood the rules after that. He was to never bring up those subjects again, or if he did, he would never push Lex for answers or else their friendship would be through. Bruce championed Lex at every opportunity, cementing their bonds and dispelling any left over distrust between them.

What Lex could dream was both breathtaking and horrifying. Dreams of power, yet dreams of beauty, dreams of sciences not yet dreamed up by older alchemists or doctors. Lex wanted to cure the world. He was an idealist who kept getting lost along the thorn path of life. His roads kept splitting endlessly leading him to darker and darker avenues in spite of Bruce's friendship with him.

Bruce knew that if Lex wanted to be free and be in the light he would need to cut ties with his family for good. But Lex was not yet ready for that kind of separation. No matter how much Bruce pestered him or tried to direct him in other opposite fields from Lionel Luthor's path. All Bruce wanted was for his friend to be free of Lionel's influences and the evil of the Luthor name.

Lionel had Lex under his thumb no matter where he was or how far away he was from Lionel's influences. Lex's mind kept him in a cage, kept him chained to Lionel. Lex had many kinds of excuses for not cutting ties and running from his family. Julian needed him was reason foremost at the top of Lex's list.

Bruce dreaded parent visits. Lionel and his sick games of domination and control could reduce Lex to tears in mere moments. Bruce had never been more infuriated or more helpless when those occasions arose. Julian was a lovely caring child but Bruce watched Julian grow up under Lionel and watched at every visit the change that was coming over the youth, though Lex couldn't seem to see it. Lionel was creating a duplicate of himself in his sons but it was more obvious in Julian than it was in Lex. Because Lex was fighting it, trying to be someone, someone different from Lionel but Lex was losing his battle. And with every passing year Bruce watched helpless to stop Lex's growing darkness.

Bruce watched Lex get further and further out of reach of the light and away from Bruce's influences. As a last ditch effort Bruce worked very hard at manipulating Lex into going with him on a two-year journey of the world.

"Lex we're both just killing time in this cold granite institution we call a college. If we tried we could finish up all of our credits by the end of this semester. Don't you want to go do something rather then mold and rot in this place until graduation- two long years away? Wouldn't you rather be living - doing something else, learning life by experiencing it instead of reading about it in some dusty old book?

"We're both rich and geniuses. Don't you think our time would be better put to use doing something else?"

Lex put down his book eyes wide and mouth opened in the slightest bit, lips rounded to shape the word "oh".

It took a little more convincing but in less then the semester's time allowed the two put their noses to the grindstone and did indeed pass their requirements. Taking their documents with them out of the dean's office. Bags packed they headed for the port and the ocean.

Bruce had known it was asking too much of Lex to cut ties with his younger sibling. Lex was more mother than brother to the kid. Bruce had felt it was a disaster waiting to happen. Julian was spoilt and loved his brother too much, obsessively so. Julian had always resented Bruce's influence on his big brother. The first time they met. Julian had been polite but cool towards him, only turning on the warmth when Lex was around. But once Lex's back was turned the kid kept shooting Bruce glare after glare, sparring with words and barbs. Lex had been oblivious to it all of course.

Lex was a scientist and his attentions when they weren't on Julian or Bruce, were always on his experiments or on his books.

Lex took to the journey like a hawk to flight. Though the ties were never severed completely to his family. Lex could never abandon Julian to his father's world. Bruce watched the shadows disappear from his friend. He watched Lex become his own man; watched as Lex grew more confident and self assured on their journey.

Bruce couldn't have been happier when Lex of his own accord extended their journey then went on his own to explore other places.

~ End of memories ~

Each of them had a goal and that goal was to see that Lionel's machinations were put a stop to. Lex had wanted freedom not only for himself but for Julian as well.

Bruce just hoped things were going according to plan.

Just then the workers drew his attentions to an inner sanctum. Bruce Wayne made his rubbings of the glyphs on the wall then headed their way. Excitement thrilling his blood making his every step a happy bouncing one, this was it.

This had to be it.

CHAPTER FIVE

When Lex woke it was still dark outside and Clark was gently trying to wake him.

"Betty-Sue" Clark murmured in a whisper.

Clark's warm breath tickled a delicate coral earlobe. It was a sensual assault to Lex's system. His ears were one of his most sensitive and most erotic zones on his entire body. Of course if ever asked he would rather die then admit to such a weakness as his ears being the key to his pleasure, with his neck coming in a quick second.

"Betty, ya gotta get up now. Daylight's a wasting. There's breakfast that needs cooking, eggs that need to get rustled from the hens, and there are cows that need milking, and all of the animals need feeding."

Lex shivered and tried to nestle into the warmth of the person above him.

Fuzzily and still half asleep, Lex muttered. "Room Service. Call room service."

Then he tried to bury his face back into his pillow continuing to mutter. "Sleep."

Clark sighed then frowned worried for his bride's mental state as well as once again wondering about for her abilities as a farmer.

"Um, Betty-Sue, we're on a farm, there's no room service here."

Lex murmured something more into the pillow he was currently burrowed into. Hair askew on his head in a mess of tangles and curls but miraculously still attached and keeping his secrets in tact.

Clark puzzled over her words for a minute or two and decided that he didn't want to know what his wife had muttered after all. He wasn't sure about what he thought he'd heard muffled by the pillow but he was pretty sure it was something in the area of curse words.

It was very profound to realize that indeed women knew such profanities. It was an eye opener for the nave young man. Or maybe he was mistaken, however he was pretty sure he heard, or thought he heard Betty-Sue growl out something and a question about her own identity.

"You're Betty-Sue, silly. Now you best get up. It's time to wake up." Clark insisted gently, holding on to his usual good humor.

Clark then grabbed the covers and would have yanked them off but amazingly, Betty-Sue's grip was a strong one and he could not easily wrestle the covers from her. Which helped to allay one of his worries.

She was strong and she would be able to work on the farm after all.

Things looked, briefly, like they were actually going to work out. Now Betty-Sue was wide-eyed and awake. She looked somewhat furious with him to. She was breathtaking. Violet eyes blinked and narrowed. Clark thought he would never get enough of that look, or of the beauty that sat in his bed, covers hugged tightly to her small bosom.

Small bosom?

Clark blinked a few times, captivated by this strange sight. He could have sworn that last night his wife had had plenty of curve-age and cleavage. He was a little disappointed by the truth shown to him by day's early light, however he had always been told that there was more to a woman than just her breast size and in the end it was the heart of the woman and not the body of the woman that a man should be interested in, because it is this woman that he will end the rest of his days with.

Unless of course a divorce happens, which in the Kent household was anathema. And besides, Clark knew Betty-Sue on the inside and he liked her heart and her mind. Still, his wife's breasts had shrunk and it was alarming.

Breasts were definitely nice and something a man could cuddle his face into, however, the body faded in time and it was the heart of a woman that stayed longer, and the mind which a man can engage with, even verbally spar with, was something he looked forward to. He could accept this about Betty-Sue and try not to in the mean time embarrass her by bringing her attention to the fact that he now knew she was a flat-chest.

Though to tell the truth Clark was a little disappointed he had hoped to indulge in her breasts later on when they were farther along in their marriage and stages of getting to know one another.

"Excuse me." She growled. Bringing his eyes back to her blurry angry ones. "You were not about to rip me out of this bed, were you?" She demanded, quite coldly and furiously.

Clark gulped nervously. Betty-Sue was breathtaking. She made him speechless and made him ache in places he'd never felt before, places that had never flared so hotly or so hard before. He had to grit his teeth and lock his jaw to keep a gasp from escaping. Well she was a little scary too. He conceded. Getting his body back under control enough to scamper away and out of the reach of his furious wife.

Clutching the covers fiercely to his breast, Lex realized the stuffing in his chemise/bodice was missing. Even as fear seized him that he was now discovered, he tried to go on with his charade. Hoping he could keep Clark hopping.

The Betty-Sue personality seemed to still be sleeping.

"I'm not decent." He hissed.

Now blushing, cursing his fair skin and noticing that Clark was not much better off, half dressed, and looking at Lex as if he was a morning buffet. Heat danced in those sparkling blue eyes, making Lex feel even more uncomfortable. At least now he knew he was not discovered. Since a man would not look at another man in that manner. Well, a heterosexual man, anyway, Lex amended.

A lady's modesty was something not to trifle with. Clark had learned that from his mom. Clark was slightly taken back by this unusual display of morning temperament. He took a few seconds to mourn the death of the Honeymoon. It was too bad it was gone before it ever had the chance to begin.

Clark felt a little guilty for expecting more from his wife. Betty-Sue was having trouble acclimating herself to the new turn her life had taken her.

"I'm sorry Betty-Sue, it's just we've already overslept and this is a farm." He explained gently. "Our first care has to be about the animals not our comforts." Then defensively, Clark stated. "I thought you already knew that. Being a farmer's niece and all."

Lex scowled and tried for womanly dignity and meekness. His attempts were not very successful. Excessive drink had never agreed with Lex, nor had lack of sleep.

"Yes, of course, Clark dear."

He tried to reason with himself that it wasn't Clark's fault that morning had to be so blasted early or that Lex had over indulged the night before during the wedding celebration. But damn, it really was very early and Lex had never been much of a morning person before.

It was too blasted dark outside. How could it possibly be morning?

Trying to kick-start his brain into high gear was difficult, and besides, his brain's faculties were hardly agile on first waking. He wracked his brain for a long agonizing moment for something like a believable excuse for his lapse in manners and farmer-like behavior. Then it came to him in a flash, and it wasn't exactly a lie either.

"I'm not myself. It's my nerves and the drink last night. My head isn't clearing very well. I am so sorry for my rudeness dear." He put enough distress and true remorse in his tone as he could and hoped Clark would accept him at his words. Accomplished liar that he was.

Clark's worry for the moment cleared and he let out a tentative smile and a sigh.

"Oh, that's okay, sweet heart, I understand." then he paused as his stomach growled embarrassingly loudly. "Um, Betty-Sue do you feel up to cooking?" Unspoken was the feared question lingering in the cold morning air, "You can cook, right?"

Lex floundered for a response, however Clark continued on in a swift monologue, "I'll take care of the chores this time around but tomorrow I expect you to do your part, all right?"

This time Clark was expecting a reply. Lex nodded emphatically, grateful that he would have another day before having to do some actual farming.

Labor of which, he had no experience or training of. Clark looked him over one more time and with an uncanny expression in his face turned to leave their bedroom, the rest of his clothes in his large strong hands.

As he descended the stairs, Clark turned his head back over his shoulder announcing. "If you ever need to tell me anything --- you know I'll listen, don't you? No judgments. I will listen. I promise you."

Lex had been stunned by that statement as well as the total compassion sent his way in Clark's drowning, expressive, blue eyes. Lex felt odd, he felt like this was Clark's way of letting him know gently ---with a sledgehammer--- that he knew not all was Kosher with his Betty-Sue, and Clark was seeing right through him. Lex was humbled and terrified all at the same time.

Had there ever been anyone like Clark before in his life? Someone, clumsily honest and caring like this young man? Lex doubted it.

tbc
svBride3