Kent Farm

Clark took care of the farm and his wife for a few weeks. Mama Kent came over three times a day to cook and clean for her injured daughter-in-law. Mama Kent was very kind. Like her son, Martha would not let Lex out of bed except for personal and intimate needs. Lex of course protested the treatment but as usual was vetoed by both Martha and Clark.

He felt horribly guilty for this newest deception. But out of painful experience he knew better then to confess he was healed. No one healed as fast as Lex did.

~Flashback~

"Freak!" She cried, "My God. You're the very devil. No one but a demon can heal that fast." She'd hissed.

She had been one of his closest friends. Lionel had even thought to make arrangements between their two families for a marriage in the future between the two of them. But now it was all ashes. Their friendship demolished because she couldn't accept him or his abilities. He was just grateful she knew the meaning of discretion, though he was no longer invited to any of her family's parties, and that made people wonder about the drift between them.

He had been open with another friend later in boarding school in Switzerland, that experience hadn't been any better then the one with little Monique VanBuren, in fact it had been worse. This time his "friend" beat the tar out of him and left him in the ditch. His supposed "friend" also waged a campaign against him in the school trying to get him kicked out. It had been a total nightmare, and a good lesson to him.

"Never reveal your True Nature", was the lesson he learned, it only invited hurt and ostracism. It was a lesson he never forgot after that day.

~ End of Flashback ~

Sighing, Lex acquainted himself with the needlework and embroidery, which Martha had gifted to him. He found he was beginning to enjoy the feminine past time of embroidery.

Mama Kent fussed over him and he felt so loved but at the same time he felt so guilty. Because he wasn't as injured as they believed him to be.

Also it shouldn't have been him sitting in this bed with these pillows fluffed and bunched up around him supporting his "injured" frame, nor be the one receiving the love of both Kents shining down on him. He felt so unworthy.

The true Betty-Sue should have been here, not Lex. Not that Betty-Sue deserved to get burned or even that Betty-Sue would have been inept enough to get burned, a woman was trained for housework that was all apart of her education and schooling.

Betty-Sue should have been the one to marry Clark. She would not have been injured in a kitchen mishap or have scared the Kents as Lex had.

Betty-Sue should have been here basking in the love of her husband and Mother-In-Law, not Lex. He felt like a thief and he felt miserable for it.

The nights were filled as usual with night terrors for Lex. The first time one of these half remembered nightmares occurred Clark almost didn't wake but the kick to the middle of his back wasn't something he could ignore.

Betty-Sue was turning and tossing and struggling in her sleep. She was crying out hoarsely in a different language broken with English words intermixed. She was weeping and fighting for her life. Clark was profoundly disturbed by this revelation. He gently woke her enough to break the dream but not enough to cause her to come fully to consciousness.

"Betty? It's all right Betty." He soothed, gathering her up into a loose embrace. Betty-Sue snuggled close and sighed into gentler dreams. The shadows under her eyes fled, her taught pale skin relaxed and color slowly came back into them. She was so delicate looking.

Clark's heart ached.

His mind was ill at ease and troubled a sleepless sentinel, Clark watched through the night guarding Betty-Sue from any more night terrors. Sleep had become less important and of less need to him over the years. He suspected it was another ability of his freakish nature. It wasn't enough he was indestructible, invulnerable or able to burn things with his eyes or make strong winds with his breath, nor was it enough to be able to hear things to the farthest corners of the earth or be able to run that far either, now he didn't need sleep. He should be grateful for such an ability since it would keep Betty-Sue comforted through the night, but he was also worried, because he didn't want Betty-Sue to find out the truth of his nature or rather the un-naturalness of him.

Some time passed. Some two weeks since their wedding and since the fire incident. They had an established routine. Clark took care of the Farm and scolded Lex/Betty-Sue anytime they got out of bed for any reason other then personal needs. Lex stayed in bed bored out of his mind, learning knitting and needlecraft.

Clark's friends came by to visit on occasion as well. Lex's first sight of a brooding Clark was the first sign that someone not entirely liked was coming over.

He ignored his own brooding and aches from the needle pricks in his fingers, he asked, "Clark? What is it?" Betty-Sue in maternal mode came elbowing her way back in to life.

"It's nothing, Betty. Well, not entirely nothing," he sighed, mumbling. "It's Lana and Whitney. They're coming over for a visit."

Betty took a moment to recall the couple from her wedding day. She remembered them. Lex had to wrack his near perfect memory to gather the information needed to respond to such an announcement. The names were familiar to him but blurred. He couldn't quite grasp the picture of them. Then it came to him in a sudden mind numbing rush.

Lana Lang, the ex-beloved and Whitney, the school jock and heir to the town general store, husband to the unobtainable Lana and the sweet girl he'd met at his wedding who had helped him dress for it.

"Oh." She replied in a strangely small voice.

Clark fidgeted guiltily.

"Betty, how do you feel about that?"

"They're your friends Clark." Lex/Betty replied as neutrally as possible. "I don't have a say in the matter. I'm just your... wife." She said stumbling over the words, still not entirely used to being married. Lex was uncomfortable with being another man's wife.

Clark frowned. "Betty-Sue, how can you say that? Of course you have a say! What idiot put that thought in your head?" he cried scandalized protest and indignant all at the same time. Some of Betty-Sue's night terrors came to mind. Was this revelation part of what haunted Betty's dreams? Did she believe so little in herself? Did she believe she didn't matter, that she had no say?

Clark wasn't as nave or as clueless as many people thought he was. He was very aware that there were definite social isSues with equality for women, and especially for married women.

Women were less people and more like property to many men. But Clark wasn't of that mindset, any one raised by Jonathan and Martha Kent could never believe that kind of dogma. Not after being around two people in love and who shared everything equally.

Betty/Lex shrugged. "It's what many a man would tell their wives. They don't see us as having brains or thoughts or feelings. We're just objects, pretty decorations. Even knowing your beliefs through our correspondence with each other, still you are a man, and courting and being married are two different things.

"Men say what they need to say to get the woman they want and after they have her they simply no longer care to keep what promises they may have made before the wedding vows." Lex concluded cynically.

"That's horrible!" cried Clark.

"But it does happen." Insisted Lex/Betty. "You are the rare exception Clark, and I thank God every day that you are so exceptional. I don't deserve you Clark. You're too good to me." He admitted in a rare pique of candor and truth.

"Betty." Clark gasped in horror. "Oh Betty, how terrible your life must have been, that you think these things. I'm who my parents raised me to be. What man would not honor his wife? Would not believe her of a mind and soul and heart? Obviously the man who thinks these things isn't a man at all but a disrespectful lout."

Lex smiled amused, then he laughed. He couldn't help it. Clark just did that to him all the time. Making him feel giddy and happy, despairing and guilty in turns. Bringing out the laughter and the ridiculousness. Lex knew his life was brighter for knowing Clark. Betty simply basked in Clark's words.

"What?" asked Clark, both puzzled and affronted yet happy to have brought that expression to Betty-Sue's face and the laughter to.

"It's...Nothing...Clark." He wheezed when he could at last get his laughter under control. "You're just so good and honorable and quite the forward thinker."

"Well, of course I am. You've met my parents and my friends, it's easily understandable." Clark replied sagely. "They're the ones that set me in my ways, you know."

"I am glad for it," Lex chuckled again. "I loved meeting them at the wedding. I'm sure I will love meeting them again in the day light and this time less harried."

Which were both a true and a false statement. Lex didn't care for Pete's attitude towards Luthors, though from what Clark's letters to Betty-Sue had told him, the ex-slave did have more reason then most to hate the Luthors. They had owned and split up his family. Lex felt remorse and shame for that but he couldn't be blamed for the misfortunes of the Rosses and other slaves. He hadn't been the one to own them or the one to buy them.

Personally Lex was an abolitionist he didn't believe in slavery. He knew it for the wrong that it was. However, the Luthors had just been doing what everyone else in their social circles had. It was the way the plantations were operated. It was the way life was. Lex admired Pete for becoming free, for getting educated and finding a place where he was loved and accepted.

He admired Pete's resolve to start up a business and run it with his wife. They had a true partnership in all things. It was amazing to see. Also the love between the two was blinding. Betty-Sue loved Chloe and Pete. She thought they were a delightful couple.

As for Whitney, he was not a pleasant winner. Lex believed he was over compensating, because he knew that if Clark had truly applied himself Clark would today have been wedded to Lana rather then Whitney. It was there in Lana's eyes for anyone with eyes to see. Whitney had those eyes. He was obnoxious and smug. He was also deeply insecure and very observant for a general store keep.

Lex immediately on meeting Whitney put the boy at the top of his dislike list. The fool obviously didn't realize he was getting on the wrong side of a Luthor. Lex was pretty sure that the kid still wouldn't have cared, even if he had known.

In Lex's opinion, Whitney was a true insufferable fool. More brawn than brain with some shrewd intelligence to compensate for the muscle, however it was too bad that Whitney didn't know the dangers one was in when they put themselves on the wrong side of a Luthor's goodwill.

Lex was coolly polite to Whitney and even to Lana. Though Clark's puppy eyed look of appeal did melt some of the iciness in Lex's demeanor to the two, still it could not quell it completely.

"Best behavior Lex." She told herself. "Best behavior."

Putting on a hostess smile, Lex exclaimed. "Welcome. I am so happy to have you here. I'm finally allowed a little out of bedtime." She/he chuckled artfully, explaining. "My dear Clark worries terribly for me. He treats me like a delicate flower. Terrified I'll wilt, I'm sure." His smile changed to a deprecating one, while Clark blushed.

Lana returned the smile with a gentle one of her own; this one though was a genuine expression and unlike Lex's own practiced one.

"He's sweet that way, my Whit is like that to sometimes. Show me your den Betty-Sue dear, or do you prefer Betty? This is such a lovely home and if we go into the den we can leave the men to gossip on their own."

"Either name is fine with me." Lex replied politely. "Yes the den is this way, please follow me. Clark, have fun." Lex then walked over to Clark and brushed a quick kiss on the jaw then led Lana into the den where they could speak in private about girl stuff.

Betty's confidence in her place in Clark's life was a rocky one. She believed that if she allowed it, Lana would steal Clark away from her without much trouble. That is if Lana had wanted to, which she didn't. Lana was deeply in love with her own husband. Which Betty was glad about but still, she wasn't a partial Luthor for nothing. Paranoia was her middle name and Lex's too. Even Lex looked on Lana with some paranoia.

As time went by Lex was more often then not, left alone with the two girls, the ex-loves of Clark's life. Chloe was Clark's best friend since grade school. Clark had protested any of Lex's innuendos on the true relationship between the two.

Chloe explained it for Betty and was truly very honest and open putting it out there on the table for Lex/Betty to come to terms with. Chloe had wanted something more from her friend but Clark had only eyes for Lana back then.

Lex sized both girls up and figured he was safe being their friend. They wouldn't be taking Clark away from Betty or him any time soon, if ever.

Clark would blush and stammer and get upset. It was so cute, he would protest until he was blue in the face that he and Chloe were just friends, best friends. Which Lex accepted gracefully enough but didn't believe for a minute. As for Lana, Clark didn't protest the truth.

He had been in love with Lana once long ago but had lost her to Whitney and he had accepted it and become friends with the two of them. Lex had to fight the unexpected sudden emotion that welled up inside of him. It was jealousy of such an intense nature that Lex had almost fallen out of his pillow encrusted bed with the reaction of it.

He'd been set on not liking either girl, however Chloe was such a sharp mind and an exceptional intellect, she won him over almost instantly. She also possessed a bright personality, and like a moth to flame Lex found he was caught in her fire. Her impetuousness often caught Betty up in it as well.

Lana was quiet, tranquil like the stream on the edge of the Kent property near the Luthor manner's border. It was a place he had gone to in his childhood to watch the little newts turn into frogs.

She was a beauty, dark and luminous. He understood why Clark would have fancied her. She was of a brave heart and gentle nature. Betty-Sue was very reluctantly won over as a friend.

It took a long time for Lex to warm up to her on his own, but with both Chloe and Clark working on him and Mama Kent too, Lex had no choice but to eventually look past his own jealousies, perceived inadequacies and pain and accept her for a friend as well.

Lana's serenity offset Chloe's dynamite energies, calming all three women. Lana was so graceful, Betty was almost jealous. How was she supposed to compete with that for Clark's affections?

Lana reminded him of the old stories his Nan from Ireland once spoke of, sidhe, "The shay," she would pronounce it. "Regal beings." She stated, and described them. "Long in life and of unspeakable beauty. To gaze on a sidhe is to lose your heart forever."

Lex disputed the concept, he told Betty-Sue the same. He didn't fall in love with Lana. She wasn't his type at all, though he could see how Clark would have. Though she did manage to endear herself to him with her kindness and gentle manner. Lex liked fierce independent women, intelligent women he could respond to and converse with, even argue with. Chloe was more his type than Lana was. It was just too bad the firecracker was already taken.

"And so are you," Betty reminded him sharply. "To Clark!"

Lex blushed, properly chastised by his other personality, at his own thoughts of infidelity. Yet he couldn't help raising a small protest in his defense.

"I'm a man. Men can't marry men."

Betty-Sue snorted. "Look at your cultural studies Lex, even look to our own forefathers, the Celts, in some pagan rights and rituals of brotherhood and warrior-hood, some men did marry each other. It made them fierce and strong in battle, and no children or women but for their mothers and sisters to mourn them." Lectured Betty pointedly.

Lex again ceded the conversation and the point to her.

Though tempted to fall in love with her/his girl pals, Lex couldn't find the desire in himself to actually allow even a little feeling of lust into his heart where it concerned his girl pals. He was amazingly content, even very happy being married to Clark.

He was falling hard and fast for the young farmer. He held out hope that his feelings were just reflective of Betty's but as the time continued to pass, he grew less and less sure of that certainty, as more and more often he detected the deep emotions in his own heart for Clark that mirrored Betty's own, he had to wonder, musing, did that then make Clark his sidhe?

Maybe.

It certainly seemed possible enough. Not to mention the suspicious fact that Clark was very capable of handling a farm, house chores, and saving a life from the fire single handedly in less time then it would take an ordinary man, left no doubts in Lex's mind that Clark was something entirely magical and different from mankind.

Any time Clark spent a way from him Lex found he disliked it a great deal. He didn't like it when Clark wasn't in his sight or by his side. Betty shared the same feeling. They especially began to resent the girls' husbands and their influence over Clark.

Pete, Whitney, and Clark would spend hours in each other's companies discussing God knew what, farms, stores, business opportunities? Lex wondered, possibly wives and who got the top of the line model out of the three of them? Betty-Sue frowned at the trail of thought Lex was brooding over.

For the first time in a long time Lex found himself using pouting as a tactic to keep someone's company for himself.

Clark was putty while caught in Lex's wiles. Yet, even this technique didn't always work. Lex suspected Clark was on to him. Another technique in his arsenal used once too often becoming a liability rather then an asset to winning. Of course, pouting came more naturally through Betty-Sue rather then through Lex. Both personalities were not averse to using it to their advantage, not if it meant getting Clark to do their bidding.

Enemy With A Mission
Part Two

Lois again glared down at her men, this time from behind her oversized oaken desk. She had been busily writing letters to her Congressman and to Parliament informing them of their narrow mindedness as well as getting her first column drafted for the Daily Planet.

"I'm not happy Karl. I've paid you good money to do me a service and I find your heads still stuck in the sand. The two of you are incompetents! It's been how many weeks? How many weeks, since Luthor gave you the slip, huh, two? Three? NO, it's been four, FOUR weeks!" she raged, throwing her ink well at them.

The two agilely ducked the flying objects headed their way.

"Fools!"

"Morons!"

"Idiots"

"Find Him! Find Luthor!" She bellowed enraged. "Use what little brains God above gave you. Search Smallville. Like Salmon spawning in the spring racing upstream, I bet you anything he's hiding there. Hiding from dear old Dad and you two numb skulls." She seethed.

Karl trembled. "Come on Stewy, Smallville's await'n."

"We'll give you our report as soon as we get there, Ma'am." Said Stewy politely and as calm as if he'd been out on a summer stroll rather then dodging thrown objects in his employer's home. He wasn't as shaken as his partner. Stewy liked Lois, and he was a veteran he'd suffered through worst things then a woman in a rage.

Lois sniffed. "You do that. And don't fail me again boys. Otherwise I'll have my lawyers on your asses." She hissed, unlady-like.

"Yes Ma'am." Said Karl and Stewy as one.

Once outside the Lois Lane house, Karl elbowed his partner. "I can't believe ye like that wild cat. She'd skin us alive if she could."

Stewy shrugged.

"She don't bother me none. Reminds me of me Mum she does, may mum rest in peace." Said Stewy then signed the cross over his torso and forehead.

Karl just shook his head and sighed. "I'll never be able ta understand ye Stewy."

"Come on mate we've a train ta catch."

The Kents

Finally, about another week down the line, Lex was allowed out of bed. He was glad to finally get to do something other then embroider, play injured and play hostess to the frequent visits by their friends. Being coddled and treated like fine china had been down right irritating though Betty had quite enjoyed it all.

On the first day of recovery, Betty-Sue again took the lead leaving Lex to submerge into the darker parts of their mind. Betty acquainting herself with every part of the house, upstairs, downstairs, the attic, pantry and storm cellar as Lex had that first day.

She found a broom and bucket along with some rags and scrub brushes, he then decided to get down and dirty. The wood floors were filthy. Feet had tracked in mud and dirt and grass and other substances of which Betty didn't wish to think of or name, but it was all smelly and atrocious.

Dusting came next then the windows and the kitchen. She ached once again in places she'd never known existed before. She was exhausted but she still had a sink full of dishes that needed scrubbing as well as counters full of stuff that needed to be put back in the pantry and storage cellar. She sighed. Was a woman's work never done? She wailed to the heavens, petulantly.

She also had a lunch she needed to make for a guy who could eat a whole horse and still be starving. What Clark did with the food he ate was beyond Lex/Betty's imagination. Clark was like a bottomless pit, a void, in which food was scarfed down and was never heard back from again.

As Betty began to rummage through the cupboards for dried bowls she realized her ears were being assaulted for some time by the horrible sounds of mooing cows. It was then that she realized she'd forgotten a very important chore.

It was the first ones Clark had ever told them about. While Clark was out in the fields it was Lex/Betty's job to get the cows milked and fed, as well as the chickens fed and the eggs harvested.

"Oh dear God!" She cried, dismayed.

At the same time there in the doorway was their mother-in-law with a frown of disapproval on her usually friendly countenance.

The cows were making a ruckus out in the barn.

"When Clark told me that you might need some help, I at first did not believe him. As you know, I knew your family and secondly, I knew from your letters that you were indeed familiar with farming life. So I did not think I would have to remind you that the cows suffer severely when they are not milked on schedule. Also, I should not have to remind you that on a farm the care of the animals comes first before the needs of the humans."

"I'm sorry Martha." Betty/Lex apologized, stung by her hard demeanor. "I don't know where my head has been lately."

"I know Honey," she replied softening a little. "With the long trip and the marriage and the fire and all, I can understand where you might not be in total preparation for a big day on the farm. However, you've got to work past this. This farm is yours and Clark's livelihood; it is also Jonathan's and my livelihood as well.

We rely on those animals and those crops, the same as you. If this farm fails to produce then we would be in quite the nasty state of affairs, young woman. Do you understand?"

"Yes, ma'am." Betty whispered, tears uncharacteristically alighting in her eyes.

"Honey, I was a city gal too once, a long time ago. I know how difficult all of this can be. But you can do this. Clark and I have faith in you. You've got family now. Just speak up when you need help and we'll do our best by you. You've got friends here too and neighbors that will look out for you as well. If you need help don't be afraid or too proud to ask for it. We're here for you if you need us. All right?"

Betty could only nod as the tears began to actually flow down her cheeks. This was totally unexpected. No one had ever offered to help them before. No one had ever cared about them like this either. Except Julian but even Julian had nothing on the Kents. Probably because, like Lex, Julian was a Luthor and kindness was a rare Luthor flaw.

"Good." Said Martha, rather crisply then she enfolded her daughter-in-law in a comforting hug. "Now let's go get them blasted chickens fleeced for eggs and those poor dear milk cows relieved of their suffer'n."

Betty followed meekly behind his honorary mother. With Martha's help and the occasional advice from either Lana or Chloe Betty/Lex learned how to cook and survive on the farm.

They learned how to make stews that would simmer and cook through the day as well as hardy breads. Lex's carving skills still needed honing, it was a skill he had learned among the natives some time ago and his skills had grown rusty over time.

He wasn't doing too badly over all in the homemaker department.

The house was spotless and soon decorated by embroidered curtains of Lex/Betty's own making. Pillows with his stitch work decorated their chairs and couches too, throughout the parlor and family rooms, and most importantly in the bedroom as well. Tapestry and rugs and blankets were next on Lex/Betty's "to learn list" as well as how to sew a proper set of clothes for Clark as well as for himself. The man's clothes just seemed to have a mind to fall to pieces at any given moment of the day and soon Clark would need a new set of clothes patched up.

Lex/Betty were content to live in this role as wife and homemaker, and most strange of all, for the first time ever in their entire life, since Julian's birth, Lex felt the most at peace. Even with the new split in his psyche, it had happened before, he had no doubt it would happen again, in his lifetime and like the two times before in his life, he knew the psyche would heal and Betty would leave him and he would be fine again as if nothing had happened at all.

Lex had felt peace while raising Julian, but it was nothing like the peace he felt on this farm. He had dear friends here, and as Martha had said, family too.

Unfortunately, though Lex/Betty was doing very well on the inside of the house they were not doing so well on the outside. Their skills as a farmer were terrible.

They killed plants by accident. They made enemies of the cows and chickens and it was a war zone outside of the safe walls of Clark's and his/her little house.

Lex/Betty was in desperate straights but pride would not allow them to give up and they refused to make Clark ashamed of them, or allow any more of the man's patience and compassion compel Clark to help his incompetent wife any further with the farm chores that were rightfully Betty-Sue's to do.

Taking care of the farm, participating in social gatherings and family obligations left little time for Lex to snoop around Smallville and make careful contact with Luthor Employees loyal to him and able to help him scoop out the evil plot against him.

What few secretive messages he'd been able to pass on and receive over the few weeks since living at the Kents from loyal spies were few and far between and none of them spoke of a single plot on his father's part against him. None of his spies had been able to ferret out a single bit of juicy information. In fact his spies speculated that just possibly Lionel was innocent of any wrong doings in this case against his eldest son.

Lex was perplexed and disappointed. He moved an imaginary chess piece on his imaginary chessboard. King was still in the safety net of his pawns.

If Lionel was indeed a participant in the assassination attempts against him Lionel was being far craftier then usual. He was leaving nothing to chance, not a single string untied. There were none of his usual markers either to indicate his hand. No sudden disappearances, no exchange of funds from one hand to the next, no smell of new fear or blackmail in the air. No unexplainable deaths either.

If Lionel was involved at all at least one the above criteria would have happened. Lex's lips thinned and his eyes narrowed he was not happy. The plot thickened and he was still clueless as to who it was that was trying to kill him.

Gazing out from his dense vegetation completely covered by grass and shadows from the thin lanky trees around him, Lex watched the Luthor estates hoping for some sign for some clue to come his way.

Clark stumbled across Lex's hiding place as he was out searching for the shifty bull that kept disappearing on their lands.

"Betty-Sue wh- what on earth are you doing all hidden like that for?" asked Clark stunned, stammering and confused by his wife's oddness of character.

"Doing?" Lex asked pasting on his most innocent expression left in his arsenal of gambler's masks.

Clark didn't seem to be buying it. Blue eyes twitched a little, fighting back exasperation. Why did Betty have to hide things from him? Why couldn't she just be open and honest with him?

"Betty," he explained, "Those are the Luthors. You do not want to be sticking your nose into their business. We leave them alone and they leave us alone. It's a truce, a pact of sorts agreed upon by my dad and old man Luthor. It was rare they ever agreed on anything but about thirteen years or so ago, Dad and Lionel did a bargain as long as neither man strays from the bargain then there's peace if one or the other strays it's back to the old skirmishes again."

Lex pursed his lips and thought. Hmmn, thirteen years ago, about the time of the meteors, isn't that interesting. What could the two men have found to keep them bound to this pact? Knowing Dad, I'd say it'd have to be something truly amazing.

"Luthors don't keep their contracts Clark, it's common knowledge the Luthors are pure evil. They haven't a shred of integrity or honor about them."

"Maybe so, but this is a pact that cannot be broken, at least not on our part." Clark insisted.

Seeing his wife's skeptical face, Clark sighed. "Will you trust me on this? It can never be broken. Not ever. Otherwise certain things might come to light and Lionel would not much care for that. We expect Lionel may try something some day, we're not complete nave idiots, however it is best that we don't bring unnecessary aggravation down upon our heads by making a nuisance of ourselves thereby creating an opportunity for the Luthors to try and break that contract between Jonathan Kent and Lionel Luthor."

Lex looked again on the Luthor territory and wondered. What was possibly keeping Lionel in line? Lionel didn't keep his word to anyone. No matter how much he may try to pretend to be a gentleman of his word, in truth and at heart, Lionel was a total blackguard and didn't know how to keep true about anything.

"Come on Betty the cow is still missing and the day light is quickly fading. Lets get back in the house all right?"

The cow and the Luthors were forgotten for the mean time as Lex reluctantly allowed Clark to escort him back to the house and inside to the comfort of their cozy little davenport by the fireplace in the family room where they settled in for an evening of gentle laughter and acquainting themselves further with one another

Clark was well aware of Betty's dilemma with the farm and her place in his life. She was not at all the confident woman she had seemed in all of her letters to him. He was at a loss to help her.

She wouldn't allow him to help her any more and the one time he had tried she had taken the broom to him and for the first time ever unleashed her violent temper on him. Clark had easily withstood the assault and backed down from assisting her.

Then he did what any hapless young man would have done in his place he turned to his mother for advice.

Martha watched Clark sigh and rub his face exasperated and bewildered by his Betty-Sue's behavior. He was weary from too many nights awake soothing the terrified girl in her sleep and taking care of the farm on his own using his powers constantly.

Clark believed his powers were like a muscle the more he used them the more powerful they would become but also like a muscle never used before the effort was exhausting until tolerance was gained.

Martha set a cup of chamomile tea on the table for him to drink. Clark sighed again and took a sip. Martha smiled.

"Married life, son, you can't beat it. It's like nothing of any experience ever felt before. You two will find your way, like your Father and I did. Just continue to treat her well Clark. Accept her prickly side as well as her sweet side and life will eventually settle down."

"I don't know what to do Ma. There are nights when Betty-Sue turns and tosses terribly and cries out in such fear. I just don't know what to do."

Martha's eyes narrowed and she frowned sharply at her son. "Have you forced her?"

"No." cried Clark vehemently. "We haven't done anything intimate Mom, Lordy, why did you ask such a thing? You know me Mom, I'm your son."

"Yes I know you. You are my good son, my kind and gentle son. But you are also a man and some men get impatient when it comes to the really good things in life son, and it would explain to a degree her nightmares and walled-up nature. A tighter lipped woman I have never met.

"She's like nothing her letters described her as. But she matches her picture to perfection, well all except for that little scar on her lip, which could very well be a recent healed injury, but I highly doubt it. It's fairly old and yet it's not in the picture she sent us, is it my son?

"She must be Betty-Sue. And yet I can't help but doubt that she is. Something's not adding up here son. Betty-Sue didn't have a twin, I knew her family very well and I knew her from the day of her birth. Her mother is a dear friend of mine from finishing school. Yet, Clark she is so clearly not Betty-Sue but who else could she be? She has to be Betty-Sue."

"I know Mom. She's not very adept on the farm and she won't let me help her any more. She actually took the broom to me. If I wasn't who I am I'd probably be hurting right now. As it is it felt like a tickle attack of dad's from when I was young. Her night terrors make her quite the bucking bronco and her feet have never erred in finding a mark in my tender spots, though those are growing fewer every day too. I don't know how to help her Mom. What can I do?"

Martha sighed and took a sip from her own cup of tea. "Well Clark, all I can say is be patient and eventually she may spill her secrets. Or she may not. All we can do is pray that she does so. It will be a weight off of her shoulders and it would ease her mind and heart I'm sure." She paused to think a little before explaining further. "I've seen abused souls before and all we can do is wait for her to decide when it's right for her to talk about it. She's a proud woman. Maybe her previous marriage wasn't as good as she led us to believe. Maybe she feels shame for it or maybe she was so well abused that all she knows how to do is accept the abuse and believes she is deserving of it. The games some men play are cruel and cut deep for many many years into their women's minds and hearts and souls.

"I've seen the like before they can turn into abusers themselves some times. It concerns me that she hit you with her broom. Were you exceptionally persistent in trying to help her? Were you exceedingly annoying? But even then there's no excuse for hitting you with her broom. Still, give her time and she will heal, eventually. Just be patient son." Insisted Martha compassionately and patting her son's hand comfortingly.

Clark sighed. "I will Mom. But it's so hard. She has these really moody broody spells and some mornings she's up before dawn and practicing some kind of heathen dance thing. I've seen her take a thin piece of long wood and play with it like it was a sword."

"She practices skills that I would swear no woman could possibly know and yet, my Betty knows these manly ways and I don't know where or even why she learned them."

Martha frowned in thought. "Time changes people Clark. There was obvious need for her to learn how to defend her self. I just recalled something- her last husband was a missionary they traveled all over the world. Maybe her nightmares are not from her husband but manifestations of things that happened to her on their journeys? That would make better sense. Plus it would explain the manly things she knows and does."

Clark's mind at ease he finished his tea then went out to work on the fields alongside of his father.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Lionel Luthor looked out from his Castle through the painted glass windows in his office. The vast lands of Kansas would one day belong solely to the Luthors. He had big plans for his family. He wanted an empire with his name at the head of it. He'd raised his children ruthlessly for that same goal. He frowned as his sharp eyes spotted the one blemish to his lands, the fence that was the acreage of the Kent farms.

The Kents had been a thorn in his backside from the days of his youth. Jonathan Kent had managed more respect and power in this community then ever Lionel had. Lionel wanted to see the proud Jonathan Kent bowed and bankrupt before him, the Kents' lands in his power under his ownership.

He wanted to see Martha Kent a widow and his for the plundering as well. Martha had been a very beautiful woman in a powerful family and Lionel's first love. He had lost her to the proud and lowly, Jonathan Kent. Money had failed him then, looks had failed him too, Jonathan Kent had been strong of body and will, handsome as a blonde Galahad. It had taken Lionel many years to assuage the heartbreak Martha's decision had caused him.

Then he had met Lillian, his final love, his last love, she had been the only woman who had been able to keep him human. Lillian gave birth to baby Alexander and his heart had swelled with such love and contentment and overflowed with pride. Lillian had been a subtle woman. Fair of face, timid of nature sometimes she had to be put in her place but not often, she was the perfect wife to him.

Then she gave birth to Julian and her health had rapidly deteriorated. The doctors had never explained it satisfactorily enough for Lionel. How does a perfectly balanced woman go from perfectly sane to perfectly insane in a matter of weeks after giving birth to a child?

Lionel would never understand it. She'd always been frail of form, her health a delicate balance but she had always been a loving sane person. Someone incapable of harm and then ... Lionel grimaced and took a quick gulp of his brandy, his memories paining him.

Lex had never understood how much Lionel had protected the boy from seeing her in her full state of illness. Every day she had suffered so much pain in her body and of mind. The illness consumed her and sometimes Lionel had to use strong-arm tactics to keep her from doing something terrible and damaging to the children.

He still felt, years later, guilt riddled about using those tactics on his beloved. He had never liked striking his wife, but sometimes that had been the only way to stop her from her hysterics or to keep her from trying to kill her own children. He had tried to keep it under wraps and out of Alexander's witnessing eyes.

Those eyes that could shoot daggers as easily as convey such deep and terrible pain to his father, as well as such accusation. Lex would never forgive him his perceived mistreatment of his dear sainted mother. God forgive him because Alexander could not.

That rift still pained Lionel deeply. In Lex's eyes Lionel was no different from the lowliest of scum. He was his mother's murderer. He loved his son, but how he hated his son as well, because Lex was so like Lillian, so unstable and yet stronger than she ever had been.

He had done what he could to save her and to save Lex and baby Julian from the horrors of the situation but in the end he'd had to stoop to drugging his wife and sending her in her sleep into the after life.

Lionel feared for Lex the same fate. He'd seen some of her weaknesses in their son. Seen the way Lex had wrapped his life around Julian and lived in a world of travel and glamour.

Lionel despaired for Alexander's sanity. He'd had to put his son in a sanitarium once already which was why Lex chose to stay as far a way from his father and family as possible.

Well, except for Julian.

Lex was always sending Julian packages and letters, communications by telegram. Gifts from his travels bought with either his gambler's money or his inheritance from his mother's family. Julian was of frail constitution and Lex loved to spoil him.

Lionel sighed.

He had been unlucky in the health of his two eldest children but his third child was robust, though dimwitted, which was the only disappointment about the whole scandalous affair between him and that nurse.

He loved Lucas for his sheer ruthlessness and he never had to be afraid that this particular son would succumb to an illness. Lucas was strong like an ox unfortunately he was also as stupid as one, no class and no finesse.

Lionel sighed again. His two remaining children sat quietly waiting for him to speak. Lucas squirmed in his overly stuffed chair while Julian was reading a book, calmly poised and patiently waiting for his father to speak his words of wisdom and plans.

Lionel studied them, one blonde one red haired, one calm one impatient. Where had Lionel gone wrong?

He sighed yet again.

He had two children bright of mind. Lex's burning intelligence and serpentine mind was almost perfect. However, that mind was also one that swung like a pendulum between sanity and insanity. Quicksilver emotion, strong passions that even Lionel could not compete with, left Lionel still in awe of his eldest child. He knew if he lost Lex his life would be less bright, less challenging with his son absent forever from it.

Though a wild card, and somewhat rebellious, Lex was still loyal to his father. Lex had been his golden boy, faithful, loyal, brilliant in business and the sciences, willful, yes, a powerful youth that could still be reigned in and controlled on occasion. It was this strength that had made Lionel adore Lex the more out of all three of his sons. Lex would always be a challenge he would never let Lionel down.

Julian's mind burned with a fantastic will. His mind was a corridor of twists and turns but he like Lex had a weakness and it was their love for one another. Though Lionel suspected Julian was more Luthor then Lex because Julian had no qualms about using that emotion to his own means and ends.

Out of his three children Julian was the more manipulative of them. And Lionel loved the little brat dearly for it. He also knew that if Lex had looked anywhere for betrayal he should have looked to his full-blooded younger brother. Julian was crafty and patient. Lex should have seen what Julian was capable of. But Lex had always been blind when it came to the truths about his beloved younger brother.

Julian would make an excellent Luthor heir if Lex didn't show up soon. But the worry of his son's health made him pause in that decision. What if Julian died and couldn't run the business after all? What if Julian ended up unable to father children? Then no more Luthor Empire. However Lucas was strong of body, but short sighted, his mind was too up front, too in the now, and easily bent to his wife's will.

Lionel took a sip from his glass of brandy. The heat traveled up from his belly and gave him a false sense of peace and comfort.

Three months was a long time for Lex to have disappeared without word. Even Julian hadn't heard from his adored older brother. Lionel was well aware of the conspiracy and the plot against Lex's life.

He hoped Lex would survive and be stronger after the trials of this experience. Like the experience of the fallen star, Lex had survived a meteor's crash and risen like the phoenix out of the ashes of it's fire, becoming stronger for it's forging flames. This one incident had secured Lex's station as Lionel's heir.

It also had made Lionel's love for Lex all the stronger.

He was torn between that hope and his fear that his eldest son, his golden boy, would not survive the assassination attempts on his life. With each passing day his hopes dwindled. With no reports as to his son's whereabouts, Lionel began to truly fear that his son was indeed dead. Four months was a long time to wait to hear for a word of a missing son.

"Now," he muttered. "I must decide. Either Julian or Lucas. Who will it be? Who will be my heir?"

Lionel knew he needed to make a decision and soon as to who would now inherit The Luthor Empire since Lex was most likely dead. As devious as Lex was, a chip off of the old block, and as strong as he was, he knew Lex's frail emotions were usually his son's undoing. And if Julian was, as Lionel fearfully believed, behind Lex's disappearance then he knew Lex was dead and had never seen it coming.

Maybe he shouldn't give up on Lex just yet, maybe Julian wasn't behind the plot, still it never hurt to give the boys something to do, something to expend their energies on rather than plots against each other or their father.

How he'd raised such vipers for sons was a question he had no answer for.

How after he had pounded loyalty into their heads that they could have grown up with disloyal thoughts, spiteful, deceitful, backstabbing ways was again beyond his comprehension to understand. Where had he gone wrong?

"I should never have let Lex go on those stupid journeys with that moron Bruce Wayne, for starters. " He muttered darkly. "Bruce Wayne was the first to turn my Lex against me. That Bastard!" He cursed and took another gulp of brandy. "All I did, all I ever did, I did to protect my son, to protect both my sons, my Lex and my Julian. Where did I go wrong?"

Frowning down on the farmlands bordering his own property, cut off by evil barbed wire to keep his cattle from roaming freely over both lands.

He scowled in true displeasure, not even another sip of his brandy could get rid of the acid taste of failure in his mouth. He'd been trying for years to either buy or break those damned Kent lands and now after so many years of near success his plans had blown up in his face.

Lionel was furious that Clark Kent had been fortuitous enough to marry a woman that was as brilliant in business as Lionel was. The chit had no place to be dealing with money and business affairs but there she had been.

Breaking his lawyers balls, outmaneuvering Lionel as if it had been nothing more then a bit of a chess game. He was furious to be denied victory all due to the pint sized female with his eldest son's cold eyes staring him down.

The Kent household mortgage had been rigged. Lionel had finally managed to get the bank to listen to him, a few greased palms as it were and a meeting was set up between Lionel and the bank and the Kents.

Lionel had celebrated too soon. He had known better. The Kents had the devils own luck. He had no one to blame but himself for this foul up.

Lionel hadn't expected the newest member of the Kent family to be in on the meeting but then again he hadn't expected her to know a thing or two about business, unlike the Kents who didn't know business very well and they probably couldn't read either, this little chit in her secretarial like garb, glasses riding low on her nose, eyes cold like frost glazed perennials of lavender. He tried to charm her but she was cold. She gave off waves of hostility and hate not unlike his son's own whenever they were in a room together Lex was always flaring up cold rage at him. This girl was so much like his son but more like his Lillian in her youth. She made him hurt.

He had not been prepared for her presence or even her rapier whit.

She pinpointed every loophole there was in the newest contracts and deftly threatened and persuaded in turns like a man of business. She turned the bank officials on their ears and turned Lionel into an impotent annoyance. Lionel knew when he was out maneuvered. He tried bribery next but that only made her laugh at him.

He tried flirting with her next only to have her face twist in disgust. Lionel had rarely seen that effect on women when it came to his charms most women swooned at his feet and succumbed to his influences. He was powerful, rich and he was fairly good looking still. There was no reason she should have had that expression of twisted hate and disgust on her face.

She had disturbed him greatly on many levels.

If her hair had been a darker blonde, dark honey color, with red highlights she would have been his Lillian reborn. Lionel figured it was this more than any other reason that had lost him the Kents' farmlands. He'd lost because of his invoked memories of Lillian.

His glass of Brandy cracked as his grip turned savage. Damn that Betty-Sue and damn that Clark Kent!

As a thought came into his mind that would make his decision all the more simpler on who would be his new heir, an evil smirk lit up his face as he turned his attentions back onto his waiting boys.

Lucas's eyes widened at the sight of his father's infamous shark-like grin, his expression turned to worry. Julian's lips formed a barely there smile. Julian knew what this expression meant and he knew the game was about to begin. Trepidation mixed with excitement and expectation entered the youth's pale eyes.

Yes, thought Lionel proudly, Julian was a true Luthor. Julian like he and his brother before him thrived on games like this.

"Boys," he announced calmly, arrogantly, "The one of you who can get me the Kent Lands will be my heir." Unsaid but understood were the words "acquire it anyway you can, lawfully or unlawfully, just don't get caught or you're cut off."

Lucas smiled widely he loved games where the rules didn't exist, where dirty play was accepted and even encouraged. Lucas was definitely cut out more for the life of crime then for the life of business.

"Sure thing, Pa." Lucas crowed.

Lionel sighed. Julian was quiet as he closed his book carefully, gracefully raising his eyes to look his father in the face, subtle, cold, deadly determination there in those arctic green eyes.

Julian murmured. "I will have the Kent farm for you, Father, before the end of the year."

Lionel's smile widened. "Very good children. My business with you is done for the day."

He dismissed them then turned back looking out his expensive windows. Envisioning his empire's growth. He kept smiling, chuckling, all of Kansas, all of America would one day be his, or else his family's. He'd made sure of that.

The boys walked quietly purposely out of Lionel's office, each verging off in their own directions. Each with different plans to take-over the Kent lands and the Luthor Corporation and banks.

Travels with Lex and Bruce Wayne

At the end of another long day in a series of long days with another disappointing end to it in still yet a series of failed attempts to find the elusive key he was searching for, Bruce lay in his tent trying to recover in the heat and humidity that was rapidly cooling down with the onset of the evening. Bruce fanned himself with one of his souvenirs and favorite useful reminders of his and Lex's unfortunate trip to Japan almost a year and a half before.

On their travels they visited many places everywhere they went Lex was smiling. He once said. "This is like a dream Bruce I've never felt so free. I mean I'm not very happy that I'm spending your money."

Before Lex could say another word, Bruce waved him quiet and said, "Then write up an IOU, make a journal, a ledger, do some bookkeeping then pay me back when you get your own fortune some day. It's just money Lex. I don't care. My employees make money and I make money and I've got more than enough money to spend on myself and another two or three people besides if I wanted to. All I want is for you to be happy. That's all I want. Even if you bankrupt me, that is all that I want, for you to be happy."

They didn't discuss money again after that. Lex bought his little brother gifts from every country they visited. Ivory elephants, delicate dolls from the orient, rugs from the Muslim world, baskets from South America, carved statues made from a variety of rich bronze and of gold and silver, even hand carved wood jaguars. Lex shopped and bargained, gambled and learned languages from all over the world. He was in his element studying everything and curiosity leading him everywhere he went. He submerged himself into every culture they came across. He was in his own version of heaven. Bruce was content to stand back and watch his friend grow into a man.

When they came near the end of their first venture into the world, Bruce knew his feelings for Lex were not of the brotherly variety or rather they were but could if given a chance grow into something more. It was true he loved Lex and he loved being able to give Lex every bit of happiness Lex would allow him to, yet there was something else he felt when he looked at his friend as he watched his friend grow ever more confident and self assured.

Bruce felt the awakenings of lust. He was not entirely comfortable with the sensation. After all in their culture in their society such love, such carnal ruminations on one's male friend was not only frowned upon but also a mortal sin. A sin that could land him in prison or depending on the judge earn him a slow painful death by stoning.

But what really kept him in check was that he did not want to take advantage of his friend not after teaching him about trust. Not after all that they had been through together. He did not want to lose Lex or betray his friend in any way possible. He knew that their time together was growing to a close though. With every day that passed in Lex's company Bruce was drawn more and more closely to his friend. His body was seeking the warm heat of his friend's body. When sitting across from Lex at a dinner table and watching Lex eat, Bruce was compelled to feel like a starving man condemned to watch and never partake in the feast, every time Lex licked a finger or took a bite into a particularly succulent bit of their meal, Bruce couldn't tear his eyes away nor make his lower regions listen to reason. He never left the dinner table now unless he had a napkin over his lap or was able to wrap himself in a long coat to hide the embarrassing evidence of Lex's affects on him.

He felt like a dirty old man. He was betraying Lex every time he was fevered in dreams by thoughts of his friend. He was betraying Lex every time he thought of kissing or licking his friend's lips and flesh. Lex was the most precious thing in his life and Bruce knew he was going to do something stupid to ruin their lives if he acted on his inner impulses some day soon. The impulses were growing stronger every day. Yet he couldn't bear to separate from Lex, and he didn't want to hurt Lex by putting his selfish desires first, or by separating from his friend. Because he knew Lex would be hurt if they parted. But they both knew the time was coming. Lex was no longer so dependent on him and now had his own money from his mother's family. He could live very well without Bruce's help. It had been the greatest five years of his life and he didn't want to give it up or give up his friend.

He was coming yet again convulsing in orgasm gasping out Lex's name, his fist wrapped tightly around his cock working it, milking it of all its juices. Taking erotic pleasure in the sensations these actions caused him. Imagining Lex's skin in his hands, Lex's hand stroking him. He sighed and wiped himself off coming back to the present.

Tomorrow they would be docking in Japan and from there they would visit Kyoto and from their travel deeper into the orient. He knew Lex was going to love it, the theater, the art, and the culture.

- The tea house -

It was not a sunny day; it was overcast and hardly cheerful weather for sight seeing. Bruce worried. Every instinct he had had been telling him it had been a mistake to come to Japan. He'd heard the rumors at port and on the ship; sailors were concerned about the affairs of Japan. Stories spoke of massive bloodshed and a new rebellion on the rise. Not everyone liked the idea of trade with the new world or opening his or her eyes to new technologies. These technologies were viewed by the ignorant as demonic and by the educated as necessities to stay up with their brother countries. Japan was on the cusp of change and not everyone liked it. Separatists wanted to keep Japan for Japan block their borders to trade and keep the gaijin out.

Maybe it was wrong of him to want to keep Lex in the dark and safe. He should have discouraged this trip to Japan but Lex had wanted so badly to see the orient and Bruce had wanted to show him it. Lex with his brilliant mind knew something wasn't right in Japan.

"Don't worry so, Lex, everything will be all right." Bruce assured his dear friend.

"Then why do you seem so worried? I have eyes Bruce and I understand some of the language I'm hearing. I watched those soldiers brutalize that woman and the crowd did nothing other then cower. I know something is going on Bruce. Even our host and hotel managers are afraid. It's something about civil unrest or something. Have we come to Kyoto in time to watch a blood bath or are we the ones who are going to die?"

"You're more observant than I gave you credit for Lex. I wont let anything happen to you." Bruce promised solemnly.

"Bruce I'm hardly a woman and hardly in need of salvation. I have skills with a sword as much as you do maybe even more than you do. I had sword masters and marksman, gunslingers too, teaching me about weapons since I could crawl. I am more than capable of defending myself if I have to." Argued Lex.

Their geisha hostess poured them tea. She was a beautiful lady with long dark hair decorated with flowers and ribbon. Her dress was dyed lavender and decorated with patterns of birds and flowers with a checkered wrap at her waist, which Lex thought strange since checkers seemed to clash with the pattern of the kimono.

Bitter and sweet the tea warmed them thoroughly.

"We'll have time to see the theatre if we hurry and if the authorities don't decide to kill us." Said Bruce bluntly.

Lex sipped carefully at his tea nothing in his expression gave his thoughts away. Lex had become quite the poker player in the last year or so. He could bluff now with the best of them and what little time he'd spent in Japan and the Orient in general had taught Lex even more about grace and survival and keeping his face blank of any expression what so ever than any other experience before.

"I think it would be bad idea Bruce. We can't risk it. We need to leave Japan before we become the next gaijin to meet the edge of an official blade at our necks."

"We're not criminals I refuse to cower."

"Pride is a lovely thing Bruce but not a good survival technique and it won't serve us here. We have to look out for our necks. I love the Orient Bruce I love Japan and I would love to see the theatre and see that many art styles Japan hosts in the way of architecture and paint and water color and actors. I bought a comb for my brother and a wakisashi for myself from the master blade maker. I don't want to tempt luck's hand or fate's displeasure Bruce. I have seen as much as we're going to see, I've come to accept that. Its too dangerous to stay here any longer."

"I thought you were a scientist Lex." Chuckled Bruce. "When did you start believing in luck and fate?"

Lex scowled. "Don't play around with me Bruce."

Bruce put up his hands in surrender trying to placate his friend. "We've barely been here a week, we go tonight to see the Kabuki and the performance of the Geisha and then I promise we will go home. These are to be the best and last performances of the year. I don't want either one of us to miss this. We leave in the morning. I promise you. Besides the Captain is getting antsy. The authorities have given him warning. All Gaijin must depart within the week or face persecution."

"That was kind of them." Lex commented managing just barely to keep his cynicism under control and not snort with contempt or make his words a sneer, but Bruce could tell Lex wasn't happy.

"Very honorable, I agree." Said Bruce sarcasm well noted and appreciated by Lex who then smirked. "So what do you say Lex? Please, we've waited so long to see this performance, and you know you're dying to see it as well."

Lex sighed took another fortifying sip of his tea then, "Yes, but I don't want it to be literally." Pause to look around in the teahouse a last time, noting the paintings on the screen walls and hearing the rain outside. "Oh hell, sure, let's do it. Today's a miserable day, let's end it on a happy note."

Happy turned to exciting and thrilling then to terrifying as the Authorities reneged on their warnings and hunted down unsuspecting visitors. Blood ran in the streets men, women, and children were killed callously and cruelly. Lex and Bruce managed to avoid the same fate as some of their less fortunate travelers and acquaintances.

Lex was rarely a witness to humanity's better natures but that day the players and their Geisha host, at great danger to themselves, out of the purest nobility of heart Lex had ever seen, showed them great kindness and helped them to escape. Why they did this was unclear to Lex and maybe even unclear to Bruce as well at the time.

Perhaps the players thought Lex was a priest of some kind due to his head being completely bald, maybe they felt he was a minor Buda who had shown them favor or maybe it was just that they didn't want to see any more bloodshed. They would never know for certain.

Lex was able to hide under the makeup of a geisha and Bruce in the Yukata, eyes hidden by dark glasses, cane well in hand, disguise of blind man and Geisha companion they made their way slowly across town. Lex clutching tightly to Bruce's arm, he didn't have to play act at being terrified. Lex's voice registered high and he spoke what little bits of the language he'd learned flawlessly, but left most of the speaking to Bruce as was a woman's proper place to defer to her man.

The authorities didn't trouble them much. Every now and then an officer would comment on Bruce's good fortune. His Geisha was particularly lovely and flawlessly meek. On the inside Lex was both terrified and yet angry at the treatment. He wasn't just some piece of meat on the market, he was red-blooded, volatile, emotional human being and he deserved to be treated as such and with some respect!

Their lives hanging in the balance they managed to play their parts for the evening and the next morning in time to escape on a freighter setting out for Ireland. Most of their baggage gone consumed in the flames of their hotel. Wakisashi and comb clutched tightly in Lex's hand. He'd had to wear the kimono for well into their six-week journey and Bruce too in his Yukata. The only thing keeping the sailors in check around them was Bruce's money.

Bruce and Lex managed to take the jokes and even turn a few jokes around and back onto the sailors making friends and thereby making what could have been an unpleasant boat ride into a somewhat pleasant ride instead. In spite of the gown like clothes they had to wear until reaching port in Ireland where they were at last able to purchase regular trousers and tops.

~ ~ ~ End of memory ~ ~ ~

Bruce sighed. He opened his trunk at the end of his bed and took out a small haiku and painting. There was even a brownish tin photo which he carefully handled with utmost gentleness. It was the picture taken of him and Lex at the port of Ireland bedraggled yet looking remarkably graceful in their oriental clothing. It seemed almost as if in the photo they looked aloof yet chagrined, but most of all they were joyful to be alive and in Ireland. Bruce's thumb stroked over the surface next to Lex's face. He missed Lex and worried about him.

Was Lex okay? Would their plans work? A year was an awful long time to make a deadline for.

Would it work? Would Lex be free of Lionel? If Bruce's lawyers had anything to say about it and his money too, then Lex would soon be free of his father's clutches and evil machinations.

Where was Lex now? Still exploring the wilds of America? Would they ever meet up with each other as planned? Gazing into the picture he couldn't help but recall their last time together.

IRELAND

- Take Over Luthor-Corp? -

It was good to finally be in normal clothing again. Lex and he were both decked out in vests cummerbunds and three-piece suits. Ireland had a lot of taverns and a lot of unhappy people. Together Lex and he explored the old Luthor grounds and some of Bruce's mother's relatives' lands. Getting drunk together every night and sleeping in their relatives' guest rooms they felt pretty good and relaxed.

One night they went out gambling. A few ladies on Lex's arm and a lady on his own they flirted outrageously with the women and played a friendly game of cards which quickly turned down an awkward road to a conversation that probably never should have been discussed at the time.

"Lex, I think we should take over your father's company." Bruce said boldly and quite drunkenly.

Lex's violet eyes grew wide then his lips thinned then opened wide into a startled laugh. "That's hilarious Bruce. I think you've had too much to drink." Suggested Lex with just a hint of frost in his eyes.

This was not a subject he wished to be talking about. In fact Lex didn't like discussing his father at all.

"How can you just accept...." Started Bruce then he paused, thinking very hard to get his thoughts organized and out in something resembling cohesion.

"As long as he lives we can't keep running from him. You know that. He has his hands in your money. He has total control of your future. I think you should strike, now that I've come into my full inheritance and into full control over my companies, I just think... I'd like to fund you, make a business alliance with you Lex. I want us to be partners. I don't want Lionel Luthor to control you anymore."

"I thought that was the whole reason why we took a trip around the world, Bruce, so I can get away from my father. What you're suggesting is unthinkable."

"No its not, I'm thinking it right now and you know in your deepest heart of hearts you think it to." Insisted Bruce stubbornly.

"What if I did?" ventured Lex guardedly. "What then?"

"I say act on it!"

"How? I'm in no position Bruce."

"Aren't you? You have resources and you have allies Lex. Allies in your father's company, my own considerable backing."

"Bruce I trust you and love you like a brother, but this is sounding more and more like a Luthor gambit then a Wayne one."

"Have confidence Lex, together we can do this. We can change the financial world and how people do business if there are two powerful companies like ours advocating fair business practices and fair treatment of our workers don't you think others would follow? Wouldn't you like to see the world change for the better? Wouldn't you like to be free of Lionel Luthor's hold over your money? Your life?"

"How would you suggest we go about doing this Bruce? Where is this optimism and idealist coming from? Enlighten me."

"Don't laugh at me Lex, I'm serious. I think we can do it. It'll take time of course, but we're young enough and have money enough to take that time and do it right. We need to back him in a corner and make it so Lionel Luthor can't slip out of our check-mate."

Lex's eyes darkened in thought, his brain was making the equations, figuring out what would be needed, who he could turn to and rely on. He didn't trust anyone at Luthor Corp except Gabe Sullivan head of the Smallville division. The others he could eventually buy off or find blackmail on. Though his mother's family could help a little. But for the most part it would be all on Bruce's shoulders since Bruce had the more connections and finances to spend.

"It's going to take a lot of money Bruce and I don't think you'll find it financially worth it."

"Not everything has to be about finances Lex and gain of that sort." Insisted Bruce.

Lex sighed. "For you maybe not, you are by far the most noble man I have ever met Bruce, but financial gain is everything for Luthors."

"Does that mean you're not going to do it?"

"No. I didn't say that. I see the potential in it Bruce. But we need to hatch a plan and make sure it has many contingencies. My Father's a tricky controlling bastard. This isn't going to be easy. But then again what adventure that promises such fortune would be? For me it would be worth it, yes most definitely, to be free of him to have my own money, not just an allowance but the whole thing, yes that would be a good thing and being able to take care of Julian properly, to spend time with my brother again would be an excellent incentive for me"

"Good then its agreed. Let's do it."

As the hour grew late and the alcohol began wearing off they hatched plan after plan until they found one they could both make into a reality.

"This one I can live with." Agreed Lex, Bruce could tell that his friend was feeling satisfied.

"Good then it's a done deal."

"We'll part ways in the morning and meet up on the appointed day or leave a clue or message for the other telling us of another meeting place and date to meet at." Said Bruce feeling very happy as well.

It was a good parting of the ways but also one of hope and sadness.

"We'll see each other again Bruce. Aren't you always the one telling me to have some faith? Cheer up old man. I'll see you in a year and if not, then I'll leave you a clue."

They slapped each other on the back gave each other another hug then parted company. Bruce went back to New York and Gotham and then on a mysterious quest to Egypt after receiving a strange note form his friend a year later, asking him to put a hold on the Lionel toppling for a little bit longer.

~ ~ ~ End of memory ~ ~ ~

Bruce wished Lex had not been so cryptic or quite so set on this mission. Bruce couldn't help but feel strange about the whole thing. When would he hear from Lex again? When could they topple Lionel and free Lex from the old bastard's claws?

He felt like he was waiting in limbo.

tbc
svBride5