CHAPTER FIFTEEN

MUTANT

The Mutant was again unhappy.

He had failed to kill Lex Luthor in the Kents' fields.

He hadn't expected to stumble across Alexander so swiftly once he'd taken his usual cow shape. But the scent had been right. The money on the air, the perfume of wealth wafted from the boy's skin even dressed as a woman and doing an honest day's bit of work.

Alexander was not someone you forgot easily. His face had always had the soft shape of a woman's even bald and manly, the youth had always been rather more graceful than most and more seductive then most to.

Another gift bestowed on Luthor by God and the Meteors.

How unfair! Raged the mutant.

Clark Kent was inhumanly strong. He hadn't had the chance to finish up Alexander, let alone get a horn skewered into her backside. Kent was fast too, so swift and strong.

A coincidence?

The mutant doubted it. He was so frustrated with his failure. How was he going to bring down the Luthors if the Kents were going to interfere?

"Well, I'll just have to think of something else." He muttered and continued to chew on his alfalfa and hay. Glaring mulishly through the gates in the barnyard. Watching Young Kent and Pervert Luthor climb into the wagon and pull away with their friends driving into town for the day.

"Patience, soon Luthor, soon your time will come." He chuckled darkly.

Julian went the expected route of lawyers, contracts, bank loans, and buy-outs. He was not aware that Lionel had already gone this route and been prevented by Betty-Sue in his endeavors to take over the Kent farm.

Bills suddenly became due. Foreclosures occurred more and more frequently. Julian's prey was still illusive. He hoped that there would be something in the paperwork stored in the Wells Fargo Bank of Kansas that could get him the Kent farm. Leans or overdue loan payments, credit limit's owed, whatever.

Julian licked his lips. He could almost taste victory. However sweeter still was the fact that Lucas had failed. It was like a juicy tantalizing apple on his tongue. The fact that Lucas had failed it left Julian that much closer to his goal. Lucas' lips were locked tighter than a Luthor Bank Vault on the subject as to why he had failed. If asked Lucas would get a wild look in his eye and come over all twitchy. Lionel wasn't letting him leave Smallville just yet. Lionel liked having his sons close by.

Julian speculated that it had something to do with Lex, because the only person other than Lionel able to get Lucas to shut his trap that tightly was their older brother.

Julian smirked.

Excitement sparked within him at the possibility that Lex could be in town. That his older brother was still alive made him glad. He'd been fretting for Lex's safety for a while now. Julian was aware of the game going on under his nose where his brother was concerned. He didn't want Lex dead.

He just wanted his brother incapacitated.

He knew if you wanted a job done right you had to do it yourself. Whoever it was that was behind the plot to kill Lex was obviously a new comer to the game of conspiracy.

The new comer was going to lose. Julian would make sure of it personally. No one hurt Lex, no one. Julian's love for his brother was as twisted as his father's and just as consuming.

Bored out of his skull waiting in the line for his turn to enter the loans offices, he glanced outside and spotted his brother gallivanting in yellow skirts, giggling along side a gaggle of girls treating them as equals to him, was simply, morbidly fascinating yet ultimately horrifying. Even decked out in a sunny yellow dress, Lex was very recognizable to Julian at least.

Julian instantly recognized his brother. His mouth dropped comically open in his shock. How it was that Lex managed to fool so many people into thinking he was a girl was simply astonishing. However, more perturbing still, was that Lex even hid in a gown at all.

But even more horrifying still, as Julian watched his big brother leaned into the man at his side, a man Julian readily identified as Clark Kent, and watched the two share a tantalizing kiss.

Obviously Lex was sicker than even he or Lionel had reckoned. His poor big brother had gone off his rocker. Lex had finally given over his life to the strange female person in his head.

Still Julian had to admire the ingenuity of Lex's plan, the pure cunning of hiding himself in the midst of his enemies in the guise of a dainty unthreatening female. It was again, he had to admit, pure genius. Was this how Lex would achieve getting the Kent Farm? Seduction? As sick as it was, it looked to actually be working.

Shortly after the awe came pity.

Lex had been brought to this point by spiteful, murderous wives and hounded by merciless assassins. Lex was a tragic figure of the man he once had been. It pained Julian to see his brother like this.

Traipsing around acting like any female. Too long hidden in his guise of a woman, Lex obviously thought of himself as a woman. He even had female feelings for the enemy that stood by his side, his arms wrapped possessively around Lex's waist.

His poor brother,

His poor demented,

Troubled,

Brother.

He had to fight the sudden knot of tears in his chest. He was also pained by the fact that Lex so closely resembled their long time deceased Mother.

Julian had never seen her alive but had her portrait. The one Lex had made for him when they were little boys. Lex had always been more talented than he when it came to the finer arts and in many things else.

Lex was glowing with the feelings he had for the dark haired Clark Kent. Julian had never thought to see his beloved brother truly besotted. He never thought he would be a witness to the love shining in Lex's eyes for all and the whole world to see a love that was totally directed at someone else.

His brother's laughter filled the streets outside and Clark's arms were firmly wrapped around his waist and Julian could clearly read in each of their eyes the same questions of awe and wonder.

"Why do you love me?"

"I know why I love you, it's a secret, unexplainable. It just is." And the acceptance of that statement that was never spoken out loud a communion of souls. This was true love in all of its blazing glory.

Julian was awed, humbled nearly brought down to his knees by it. But he was a Luthor and it would take a lot more than this for him to be bowed.

Julian had to wonder and had to doubt that Kent even realized that the woman he was in love with wasn't even a woman. Kent was also oblivious to the fact that it was a Luthor he held in his arms, not a gentle lamb but a wolf in sheep's clothing.

What a great joke.

He almost laughed but held himself still and quiet not wanting to bring any undue attention to his presence. He almost laughed again when a sudden disturbing thought came to his mind about Lionel.

His father had been furious at losing the Kent farm to this woman. And Lionel had been as fooled as the rest of them. How would Lionel now feel about it, if he had known that it was Lex who had taken it from him instead?

He was amazed by it all. Stunned. Lex had gone too far now. It wouldn't be very surprising if their father had Lex committed to the sanitarium for life this time around.

The cozy little group was about to enter the bank, unaware that their nemesis was present within. Julian grinned an imitation of Lionel's and Lex's own smirks. Lex's sharp eyes spotted him before the others' could. Lex's eyes widened in unfeigned shock, he knew that Julian knew and Julian's smile widened even further, more predator-like an almost duplicate smile of their father's. Lex stopped dead in his tracks then promptly fainted.

Clark Kent caught his falling wife. Shock on his young face. Gut churning worry reflected in his bright blue eyes. He was scared that something truly horrible was wrong with his young wife.

"B-betty-S-sue?" he whimpered.

The two girls, their companions, Lana and Chloe shared a look as well but not of worry. Rather it was the glee that all women felt when one of their own was expecting. They believed Betty-Sue was pregnant.

"Oh Betty!" they cried as one in joy for their friend.

Clark was confused by the women's reactions. Chloe elbowed him while her husband slapped him on the back.

"Good going Clark, my man." Crowed Pete.

Clark still gave them all the look of a guy that was trying to connect the dots but not succeeding in drawing the lines. Lana whispered in his ear and Clark's eyes got as big as saucers then they radiated with pure joy.

"Oh, Betty-Sue." He said in a hushed tone of voice. Choked by the pride a man feels when they realize they are about to become fathers.

But then caution reared its ugly head. They'd been trying for so long, as wonderful as it would be for his Betty-Sue to be expecting a baby he had to make sure that it wasn't something else, something more serious.

In his concern a new ability made itself present to him. He could see through flesh and bone and what he saw shocked him. He scanned the other women to make sure and the men next to make sure that what he was seeing was truly correct.

Betty-Sue wasn't female.

She wasn't expecting a baby.

Nor would she ever, for she was a He!

How could this be so? How could this have happened? When had Betty-Sue been traded for a man? Was this even his Betty-Sue? The Betty-Sue he had made love to early this morning?

Memories flashed into his head. It was true he had never seen a naked woman before. Women were shaped different from men and he had known that. He'd seen Betty's muscled chest and just assumed that hard work on the farm or her previous jobs in the city had turned her tiny womanly curves into muscles. Now he knew his conception had been wrong.

Still in shock he let this imposter whisper in his ear his need to go home.

Clark laboriously helped "Betty-Sue" up off the floor letting him lean on him for support to their carriage. He was glad people mistook his true shock for the shock of a man under shock of a different nature.

Meanwhile their friends were calling out congratulations at them for a baby that wasn't ever going to be. Clark was partly freaked out by the sudden development of this new gift but mostly he was freaked out because he'd been having sex with a man. He'd been living a lie, living in sin, loving another that was not a woman but a man.

His heart was breaking with the horror of it. The dilemma this put him and Betty-Sue in, soul wise as well as physical wise.

Julian spotted the change and wondered at it. He wondered if maybe Clark might have just figured out the truth about his Betty-Sue. - Though, how the fool had found out, was an interesting question, he'd have to ponder for later.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

On their drive back to the house Lex knew something was off. It wasn't like Clark to be this quiet. He replayed the look in Clark's eyes the pride dashed by something else. He'd seen the change come over Clark's face even as the mask fell back into place over his usually very expressive countenance. How Clark's eyes had dilated at odd moments as he swept his worried gaze up and down Betty-Sue and the others.

Lex's mind was also in a dither at seeing his little brother. Now Julian knew he was here. Knew that Lex was portraying a female and that it wouldn't be long before their father knew the truth as well. He was frightened and he knew in no uncertain terms that it was definitely time to leave the Kents for good.

His time was up.

"I'm sorry." He whispered. "I'm not pregnant, Clark."

Clark didn't look at him. His eyes were steadily on the horses and the dirt road before them. His thoughts were else where Lex realized. Lex thought that Clark maybe thought he was in denial of his "Her" "condition".

But again Lex's memory played the look in Clark's eyes, the expression that said Clark had shut down and Clark knew. He knew something was not right about Betty-Sue.

"I'm not pregnant because I`m a guy. A guy, and I wish I could tell you the truth but it's too late. I'm in danger again. It's time I left." He whispered hoping that Clark didn't hear him but also hoping that he would. So that this lie could be dissolved between them.

"That's okay Betty-Sue." Said Clark in an absent manner. Clark's thoughts were clearly not in the now. Maybe Clark hadn't heard his Betty-Sue or possibly he had and was still reeling from the shock.

Lex sighed.

Clark was trying hard to think things through. It was difficult not to be angry and not to be hurt. Yet something in him still loved and resonated with the stranger sitting next to him. His being wasn't of earth and maybe there was something in him that once a commitment was made couldn't break it, despite the sin of the being with the one gender he shouldn't be with.

Why this charade? Who was Betty-Sue, really?

He'd loved her with all of his heart. He'd wanted to be able to make a baby with her and live their lives together until death separated them. Now, now he didn't know what to do.

Was it all a lie? Or, was it all truth? Or what?

Can men truly love one another?

He could still hear the preacher in his head telling him that man should love his brothers but not bed with them. Everything he'd been taught in this life said otherwise. Such things were perversions and not of God.

Clark's heart was breaking. How could this be, when it had felt so right and so good? His heart was telling him he was in love with this man.

He was crying now. Betty-Sue, or whoever she- he was, squirmed uncomfortably for a moment then wrapped her- his arms around Clark's shoulders.

"I'm sorry Clark. I wish it were true. I wish I had been pregnant. I wish I could give you a child. You deserve a child... a beautiful little boy, made in your image. Dark hair, beautiful smile, curiosity shining in his eyes." Murmured Betty-Sue. Still playing her role to the hilt.

Were these lies this man was whispering to him? Wondered Clark. Yet, she sounded so sincere.

So....

Truthful.

It was Clark's own fault for not piecing the clues together, for choosing to be blind.

He'd seen all of the little pieces in the puzzle for months and chosen to ignore them. All the late night wanderings, the man clothes in the bottom of Betty-Sue's hope chest. All the lies, she - he had told Clark. He had known deep down that something wasn't right but he had never had the courage to come straight out and ask.

It had been unfathomable for him. Who had ever heard of such a thing? Of men dressing themselves up and passing themselves off as women.

He made the mistake of looking up into Betty's eyes. They spoke volumes to him. They were sorrowful, truly sorrowful and full of love for him. Or what he thought he read as love. It had to be love. That look was the exact look his mother gave to his father everyday when something went wrong.

Cascading visions of other looks he'd seen coming from Betty-Sue were all in the same category as those his own mother had used in displaying her affections for his father. But Betty-Sue's facial expression differed a little. They were her- his own version of that same love reserved only for Clark.

"Betty-Sue, I love you." He choked out. Sobbing in his fake woman's arms. Holding her fast and hard to his chest burying his nose in her hair. Taking her in...all of her. "God forgive me how much I love you. Don't torture me any more." He begged. "Please Betty-Sue don't torture me any more."

It was a cry from the very depths of his soul. Both for God's ears and for his wife's- husband's- whatever his Betty-Sue was, ears as well.

"I don't want you to lie to me anymore. Come clean with me. Tell me the truth." He begged. Then his eyes asked the silent questions, "Do you love me? Can you love me? Tell me you love me."

Lex could read the anguish there and he heard Clark's questions very clearly. But he didn't have any answers to give Clark, none that would keep either one of them safe.

Though he cried in his heart and in his soul for these questions to be answered he doubted that they ever would be. Nor did he have the guts to verbalize them out loud. Especially when his mind demanded the one question: Why aren't you a woman? He just couldn't say it out loud.

"I'm sorry." Lex kept apologizing. "I'm sorry." I'm sorry you can't love me. I'm sorry I'm hurting you. I'm sorry I have to leave you. I love you and I'm sorry that I do.

A Luthor's love is nothing but pain. I know this from personal experience Clark. But I promise you, love, I'll make this up to you some day, I swear it. He vowed silently.

They sat in the middle of the road Clark's head bowed, tears streaming down both their cheeks, or rather down Betty-Sue's cheeks, not Lex's. Each one's heart was breaking as the sun slowly made its' descent into the horizon.

It was insane this love each felt for the other. They loved one another so completely, so blindingly. Lex was truly stunned by the depths of his own emotions. Even after evaluating Betty-Sue's influences over his body he knew his love for Clark was all. His love for Clark and Betty's love for Clark left him without a single doubt in his head. He loved Clark, totally, all encompassing.

Clark was an honest man and knew his heart very well. He was not surprised at the love he felt for this person he'd married. He was just amazed that it still felt the same even after realizing his wife was male.

The love he felt held strong and true regardless of the nature of the one who held him. This helpmate's breast felt good against his cheek, his hands petting Clark's hair and patting his back in circles of all compassing comfort, gave him peace in his heart and soothed his soul. Clark couldn't doubt that the emotion between them was real and true.

It was just, how were they going to live now?

How were Clark's parents going to react when they found out? They couldn't live this lie any more. The truth had to come out some time.

Lex continued to apologize to the man he held in his arms making all the vows he could and would keep in his heart, while also making up his mind that it was past time he headed out. The gig was up. Julian knew and soon Lionel would too.

As Clark cried huddled in his arms head ducked under his chin, Lex took the reins in hand and guided the horses onward towards their little white and red brick house. As he drove, Lex couldn't help but reflect, he felt lucky, truly blessed to have gotten to know the Kents and to be married to Clark. It had been a wonderful dream. The house, the farm, the barn and the animals, the sheer experience of it all, left him feeling good.

There was nothing as beautiful as this place or these people. This was his home and now he had to leave it. He felt almost desolate. There was no one like Clark, or like the Kents, out there in all of the world, and there was no place like Smallville either. There was nowhere that felt anything like this. This was his home and now he had to leave it.

Lex wished he could cry too but Clark was doing fine for the both of them.

That night they slept stiffly side by side, neither man venturing to touch the other. Clark worn out from his tears slept the sleep of the truly exhausted.

In the middle of the night Lex again snuck out of the house, taking with him his bundle of clothes leaving behind the trunk and the telling black and white brownish framed tin picture of them on their wedding day, taken just before the full sun down.

Clark had looked so handsome and so proud and so stunned by the woman at his side. On the woman's face was a secretive yet content smile, but in her eyes, her love was showing in the way that she never once looked away from him.

It was a very telling picture of love and devotion at first sight. Lex's heart ached as he left that picture behind along with the man his heart had attached itself to.

Dressed once again as a man he stole out to the barn and took one of the shaggy horses. A Clydesdale, this horse would take him to where he needed to be by morning, the long strides of the stud's stilt like legs would make sure of that. He had a stagecoach to pretend to catch and then another long ride into Smallville and out to the Luthor estates.

Another charade to play out in his hope of keeping his secrets secret. And still he was no closer to finding his conspirators, or his father's plans. If indeed it was Lionel behind the attempts on Lex's life in the first place.

If it wasn't Lionel then who could it be?

A sucker's bet says that Lionel knows something.

Lionel always knows something. Nothing goes down without Lionel's approval or his money touching someone or something.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Clark woke the next morning. The first thing he noticed was how empty his bed felt. It was cold. No other body indent was there in the bed next to his. Just his single lonely indent, just one indent, his. Betty was gone.

Still in a state of shock he took care of the farm on autopilot. When time came for breakfast his stomach rumbling it's state of starvation at him he entered the little home that had been his and Betty-Sue's. He thought in the back of his mind that she would still be there, somehow she would appear and tell him it had all been a misunderstanding, a big joke, April Fools or what-not. Then they would laugh and make love and eat breakfast and make more passionate love. But as he entered the darkened house, he knew this wasn't a joke this was all real. His Betty-Sue had left him.

His home was now just a house: feeling lifeless, empty, cavernous, and cold. Well the cold sensation was because he hadn't the energy to make a fire and heat it up. But even with a fire going he suspected his home would still feel barren and icy. The heart ripped out of it by the absence of the one special person who made it a home.

There was no fire to heat his home, no stove warm and bubbling with activity. No Betty-Sue there, struggling to make an edible, if somewhat weird and unrecognizable, morning meal. It felt gutted.

Emptied.

It felt dead.

Depressed, his knees gave out on him, his weary body collapsed into the nearest chair available at the end of his small kitchen table. She used to sit there across from him. She'd be so proud, smiling happily at him, watching him dig into her newest kitchen creation with trepidation. She'd watch him as if memorizing everything about him. Then she would dig into her own helping and eat with gusto. Maybe even make a comment, sharp and snarky.

She had made him feel so... Alive... Whole. Like he was the center of her universe and she the center of his.

Nothing was ever as it should taste, things were raw or burnt or on that rare and special occasion the food would actually look and taste like food. They would laugh find something to converse about, whether it was world politics or newspapers or cattle thievery, or different views on philosophy and religion.

Spectacular arguments would lead to dazzling make-up sex, or scrumptious make-up-make-out desserts. Heavenly.

Life had been good with Betty-Sue and now she- HE was gone and Clark's heart was shattering yet again.

Clark never thought it was possible to feel this alone or this lonely, not since that last disagreement that had found him sleeping on the kitchen floor over a month ago. It had been unbearable just those few hours away from her-HIS side had felt like an eternity of torture. Now what was he suppose to do? How was he going to make up with Betty-Sue with no Betty-Sue about to make his apologies to?

She-He couldn't have left him? Not like this, not without a note or a word or something!

Could Betty-Sue be that cowardly?

This was such an impossible situation. Hopeless and stupid!

How had he gotten himself into this mess?

Who the Hell was Betty-Sue?

And after that thought, Clark decided he really had to stop calling the guy he'd married Betty-Sue, since obviously the woman was a man in woman's clothing. But Clark didn't know by what other name he could call Betty-Sue. It gave him a headache just to think about it all.

Desperate he searched his house again and was confronted yet again by the strangeness of Betty-Sue's closet, filled to the brim with dresses and hats and shoes, but no Betty anywhere to wear them.

The trunk at the end of their bed was empty though. Obviously there had been something very important inside of it, otherwise why take the stuff and go? The only thing left inside of the chest was his sewing and needle kits, the crochet yarn and needles. He had also left their three photos behind, as if he couldn't stand to even have a reminder that he'd ever been married to Clark Kent.

Betty-Sue even left behind their certificate of wedding vows. Clark took down the marriage license a crumpled bit of parchment with some colors of peach and yellow bleeding throughout, carnations twining down the sides along with ivy in the lower corner and birds in the upper corner.

It was a beautiful and expensive marriage certificate. The six proud swirling signatures, each hand writing distinctive from the others, Pete Ross as one witness and Best man, Chloe and Lana second and third witnesses, cousin Jessica as the Maid of honor, Martha and Jonathan Kent proud parents of the wedded couple, then Betty-Sue's own signature.

Clark had to blink through his tears as he cradled the framed parchment paper as he read that bold flourish cursive hand- writing. He blinked even more rapidly as he was able to make out the full name written within.

This license had been hanging in their hallway for anyone to see for months and no one, not Clark, not his parents, not his friends, nor it would seem had Betty-Sue himself read his own handwriting on the paper. For if anyone had they would have known that Betty-Sue was not female but male and the name of the man Clark had married was none other then, Alexander Joseph Luthor, who in his inebriation and haste had actually signed the legal document with his full true name.

Clark was stunned. Horrified anew and stunned again. Gaping like a fish out of water. Eyes wide and fully glued to the certificate. He'd been married to a Luthor, to a Luthor for close to five months. To Lex Luthor, the strange one out of the bunch, the eccentric one, the cold-eyed and arrogant Luthor, the one that traveled all of the time, all over the world.

He who could not stay stationary for more then a few weeks at a time; he who, it seemed, could never put down any roots anywhere? The one Luthor who was on everybody's mind because he'd gone and disappeared without a trace, several months back.

This was the man he had inadvertently married? Clark was floored. If he'd been able to he owuld have fallen out of his chair.

Rumor even had it said that Alexander J. Luthor had died, breathed his last breath in a train station leaving New Orleans over six months ago. A coincidence that at about the same time Betty-Sue had come to town on the train and they had wedded.

Coincidence? Clark didn't think so. He'd known Betty-Sue had been running away from something, had been hiding from something, afraid of something which she'd-he'd never spoken of to Clark about.

Betty-Sue, no Lex, must have started the rumor mill to safe guard his life in Smallville. It must be so. His brilliant Betty-Sue was Lex Luthor.

"Lex, God, Lex can it be you? Are you really who I married?" he asked still drowning deep in his shock.

There were no pictures of the Luthor heir. So Clark couldn't say for certain, but the mere fact that the name was even there on the certificate must mean it's true.

Clark had married Lex Luthor.

His family's enemy.

Four generations of enemy.

And Clark had married him.

This time Clark fell out of his chair. He staid seated on the floor in his misery and rocked.

This was a nightmare.

This couldn't be real.

This was a nightmare.

He couldn't seem to wake up from it.

It had to be a dream.

A bad,

Morbid,

Twisted,

Dream.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

The Kents had suspected for a few days that something bad had happened at their son's farm. Something so terrible that it scared off their son's wife and left in her wake a wreck of the man they had raised. Martha and Jonathan Kent were worried.

Clark was sad all of the time.

Despondent.

Clark worked the farm but minimally. In his arms he hugged his wedding picture next to his heart and the framed wedding license too. He was always on the verge of tears. It was upsetting for the Kents as well as for their friends to see Clark in this mood.

"It was all a lie... but I know, I know she-HE loved me! And I, I, I, I... loved her... I loved him. How can I love him?" He sobbed miserably. "He's the son of that Devil! It can't be true! It can't be possible that I was deceived so? But I saw, I saw with my eyes and my gift that Betty-Sue was not...n-not what she appeared to be. She was a He!" he blubbered and babbled on in his insane grief, rocking in the darkest smallest corner of his house. Locking himself away from the world and his family and friends.

He couldn't deal with this pain. Nor that he had been lied to. He knew he would have to come to terms soon with everything that had come to pass in the months he's spent with the Not-Betty-Sue. His mother and father's scared faces haunted him along with images of Betty-Sue bathed in love, the passion she had called to in his body, heart, and soul, then the shattering truth consuming that warm place within him where his wife was supposed to stay forever.

"Why do you torture me Betty-LEX!" Grrr. "Lex! WHY? WHY?" he screamed.

The Kents were distraught by their son's ramblings. The murmurs that didn't make any sense and further confused and alarmed them. They realized that Betty-Sue had left Clark, probably for good. Which had induced a grief stricken madness in their son. Clark wasn't taking his wife's abandonment of him very well. It was clear to them that without Betty-Sue Clark would not, could not function... could not live his life.

Martha feared that this unusual reaction was perhaps a natural one for those of her son's descent. Perhaps for Angels mating could be no less than for life and without one's mate there was no reason to go on, not when god was not speaking to you. She had believed her son a Fallen Angel (there could be no other explanation, for men did not, could not, fall from the sky. Only an Angel cast out from heaven could. )

The Holy Father's sadness and rage causing the devastation of their fields and town on that day, so many years ago. But, also, giving her and Jonathan a gift. That gift they treasured and thanked Him for every day. Martha believed her son's beauty spoke plainly of where he had come from but few seemed to realize the truth (which she was glad for). She had done her best for Clark through the dozen or so years she had raised him, it was all she was allowed to do.

Now her baby boy was in pain and she didn't know what to do. Jonathan was in the land of denial thinking that Clark would eventually get over the woman he'd married and move on to greener, more fertile pastures, which had Martha steamed.

She knew she had married a practical man and John was stubborn. He could sometimes seem callous but mostly he was a man with a good heart and deep feelings. A pig headed man whose behavior of late seamed inconceivable yet it was happening. She knew she needed to get the topic that lay heavy on her mind off her chest and confront her husband with his irrational behavior and fix it.

"I am truly afraid for him Jonathan." She said as they were preparing for bed. Curlers clipped into place, nightgown tucked demurely under the covers. Her pillow fluffed for her comfort.

"I know Martha. I'm not blind I see it. I... I'm at a loss here, Honey." He sighed, punching his own pillow into submission for his comfort. "I don't know what to do for our son and it's breaking my heart. I didn't expect him to fall so deep or so helplessly in love with this woman. Not even when he told me of his passion for her." He struggled silently with the flashbacks to that day his son blushing and earnest. The sun's rays pouring down it's weak heat on them as Clark stumbled and blurted out his heart's truths. "I couldn't believe him. I just wish I knew what had scared the dratted doxy away."

"Jonathan!" Martha cried scandalized. "That's our daughter-in-law you're besmirching." She reprimanded. "She has some set backs, yes. She's not perfect but her heart was a good one and she, I know she loved our son."

"How do you know she loved him?"

"It was in everything she did Jonathan. Every meal she over cooked. In every floor she washed and in every blanket she sewed. Every pillow she made, every bit of embroidery she did. In the socks she stitched. Her eyes followed him everywhere and she blushed a great deal in pleasure. She practically vibrated with the love she felt for him. Though in the beginning she did take pains to hide it. I was glad to see them at the county social gathering being so open with one another and in front of everyone. I, like you Jonathan, just wish I knew what had scared her off."

"Maybe she finally put two and two together and realized our son wasn't like normal men. That he is gifted with powers beyond our understanding. Clark's able to run fast, able to lift heavy things without breaking a sweat, without any effort at all and Martha it doesn't stop there. He says he can see through walls and skin and bones now. He can also shoot fire from his eyes, blow hurricanes through his mouth. It is very disturbing and frightening for him, as well as for all of us." Sighed Jonathan as he punched his pillow again into a comfortable lump to lay his head down on. "And now our son may have lost his mind all because the woman he loved couldn't handle his gifts or his true nature!" Jonathan ached for his son while at the same time was totally disgusted with the weak character of the woman they had chosen for their son's mate.

"God gives us all a cross to bear Jonathan, maybe this cross was too heavy for her and maybe it's too heavy for our son to bear as well. I have to have faith that there's something more to this... something, which we can't see is happening here, sweetheart. I wish I could help Clark in some way and help Betty-Sue too." Martha said helplessly.

"I know Martha. I think tomorrow a short trip into town to the store might cheer him up a little. Maybe we can look around a little see where the girl could have gone off to."

Martha rolled over on to her other side and snuggled up against her husband's back supporting his idea, saying. "That's a good idea Jonathan. Get Clark out and about doing things get his mind off of this problem for now, make him feel like he's doing something useful to get her back."

"Yes Dear." Continuing to mutter into the depths of his pillow, "If I can get him to bathe and if I can talk him into leaving that dark, drafty, house. He hasn't left that dank, cold, kitchen floor since the day that jezebel left him." Glad he had discussed the situation with his wife, and gotten things straightened out between the two of them. Hopefully keep the truce long enough to get their son situated and life back on track. Though now he had to give up the belief that there might even be the smallest possibility of his son moving on to another different Betty-Sue.

Shutting his eyes Jonathan nodded off, falling fast asleep.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Clark managed to find some kind of peace during the night so that when his father insisted that he come along with him into town he didn't feel quite as insane as he had over the month and a half.

Being separate from Lex was hell no matter that Clark now knew a great deal of the truth about the woman- man he'd fallen in love with and now understood to some degree why Betty-Sue had seemed so strange, so secretive and mysterious and afraid all of the time.

The town was bustling with unusual energy. It was enough to spike some of Clark's reporter's instincts. Chloe and Pete were at the forefront of the crowd notepad and camera ready for the coach's arrival.

"What's going on?" Clark asked his friends.

Chloe smiled, as did Pete. "It's good to see you, Kent. Finally up and out of the house."

Pete's grin widened. "Yep! I am sooo glad you're here. Now I can just do the photo thing."

"You guys." He growled, eyes narrowing. Why did they have to be in such fine spirits when it was taking all of his will power alone to keep from falling apart all over again?

Images cascaded through his mind, his heart hurt as he remembered the times that he and Bet-Lex had walked the board walks and made plans for the future, buying string for Lex's creations and alfalfa and oats for the horses.

"All right Kent, moody, moody. We received word that Lex Luthor was going to be arriving in Smallville today. That the reports of his death were sadly mistaken and blown out of proportion."

Clark snorted. "I could have told you that much. Luthors are a hard lot to kill." He growled angrily.

Chloe and Pete shared a look aimed at their friend, one of worry. It was a statement oozing with condemnation and judgment. The kind of statement Clark would not usually make, it was more of a Jonathan Kent thing. Clark preferred to learn things for himself.

Clark usually didn't hold with the whole blood feud thing that his father and the Luthors all seemed eager to hold on to.

"Uh, Clark, are you sure you're okay?" asked Pete, concern narrowing his eyes. "Not that I don't mind the new attitude when it comes to the Luthors but...."

"I'm a little bitter," muttered Clark shame burning his cheeks. His mood spiraled rapidly down hill. "Don't you think I have a reason to be?"

Chloe bit her lower lip then took her friend's hand in a comforting squeeze. "Oh Clark, I know this is hard for you. I... It's hard for all of us. I for one really liked Betty-Sue and she, I thought she was in love with you as much as you were in love with her. That she ran out on you, taking her child with her is inexcusable and I can't understand it. What kind of woman runs out on her husband?"

Clark wanted to defend Bet-Lex but he couldn't. What could he say to his friends? Hey, Betty-Sue's actually Lex and by the way there's no baby and you know I had sex with a man, not once but dozens of times over the several weeks we've been intimate!

And why was it so hard to refer to his wife as Lex because Betty was Lex?

He was hurt and so frustrated by it all. It was humiliating and horrifying all at the same time. Besides that, how would his friends react to those facts? The belief system they all lived by said such relations was evil in the eyes of the Lord their God. Would they burn him and Lex at the stake, like the so-called witches from fifty years prior?

Would his friends turn their backs on him? Would his family? No, he could never tell them, not anyone, what had actually happened. What he had actually found out about his beloved wife-Husband-MATE - Whatever!

"Chloe." Pete reminded. "The coach is here, journalist time."

"Yes, yes. Kent we'll talk about this later, all right?" insisted Chloe.

Clark sighed and nodded unhappily. "Sure." Then he turned away from the platform and decided to go help his Father load the wagon with the new feed for the cows.

"Mr. Luthor, Mr. Luthor! Can we have a few moments of your time?" called out Chloe.

Pete was quickly snapping off a photo from his new camera.

Lex flinched from the explosive flash of it, trying hard to ignore his old friends and the stir of conflicting emotions in his heart. He tried for a charming smile and replied. "I'm afraid not, Mrs. Sullivan-Ross. No comment."

Lex walked proud and sure, cutting through the crowd with swift long strides, making his way to the buggy that awaited him.

It was a surprise for Chloe to realize that Lex knew her name. How could the man possibly know her, unless he was acquainted with her tiny paper? Which seemed highly unusual to her. Why would a rich guy like that, from a prominent family, read a ragtag, newly formed, paper like hers?

Especially when he had not even been in the county, let alone in the country, for some time.

Unless...

Unless Lex had been hiding out somewhere in Smallville, all of this time?

Maybe Lex was even the reason behind the cattle rustling?

Wild theories accosted her and she couldn't help but look long and searchingly at the pale well-dressed man whose back was to her.

There was also something vaguely familiar about the man's face and walk, something that left an odd note with her intuition.

No one, least of all Lex, was expecting the sudden gunfire that reigned down on him. An assassin on the rooftops had taken aim and had shot him.

Clark heard the resounding thunder of the first shot fired. He turned in time to watch Lex stumble in his tracks and fall.

Clark's bag of grain fell from suddenly numb hands.

He ran to Lex's side shielding his mate from any further harm. Lex was struggling to breathe.

The mutant on the rooftop smiled. He felt victorious. This time Luthor was going to die. This time justice was his.

Lex's hand went directly to his gun hidden in his coat under his arm. His eyes focused on the rooftops above. He spotted his would be murderer and fired his own gun.

The mutant didn't expect Luthor to have the ability to withstand his pain or the fatal wounding. He hadn't expected that return fire would occur. He'd been stupid and he paid for it. Caught off guard like he was he grunted as something hit him squarely in the chest.

His aim as always perfect his shot executed flawlessly, his assailant fell to his death. If the bullet hadn't have killed him then the fall most certainly would have. Lex's hand trembled, his own gun falling heavy to the ground by his head. He was struggling to breathe.

"Damn." He growled. Gasping in pain as the kick back from his return fire set off his injuries. "I knew it was too soon." He whispered. Blood gurgling into his throat, choking his words, each one a battle to push out between his teeth. "But I had to... had to come out... come back." His throat was working to swallow the blood and make room for air. He gasped. "I thought... it was... safe. I told... Lucas... no... more. Perhaps...I was... wrong."

"Wrong about what?" Clark asked gently, fiercely working to staunch the bleeding and keep Lex from dying.

"Lucas... isn't the... one behind... it... all." Gasped Lex. Eyes fluttering closed. He couldn't stay awake any more. The pain was too much. Clark's eyes were seeing too much of him.

He had hoped to stay away and hidden from the man he loved but in the end he hadn't had the choice. Maybe Betty-Sue had known he wouldn't be able to stay away from Clark after all. She made him hesitate too long in front of the crowd of reporters and gawkers so he could get shot, so Clark could save him.

He shouldn't have said a word to Chloe. He should have just pushed his way rudely on through and given her the cold, wordless, brush off. But Chloe was his friend - no Chloe was Betty's friend. Well she was both of their friends. He hadn't wanted to do that to her, be rude to her, be his old Luthor self to her.

Plus there had been Clark. Lex had smelled Clark on the air. Felt Clark's presence like a punch to the gut. He ached for Clark. He missed Clark terribly.

The man in the Buggy ran to his employer's side, splitting Clark and Lex apart with urgent actions. "I will see to Young Master Luthor. The Senior Luthor will be quite irate over this. The master will have the best care possible. Now please you must let him go. You must allow me to take him home."

Clark nodded stiffly. Trying to brush off the emotions that were quickly overflowing from behind his walls.

Smelling Lex had set off all the sensory memories he had of Betty-Sue, leaving no doubts left in his heart or mind that Lex Luthor was indeed the one he'd married. The one person he had ever made love to, countless times.

The cruelty in fate was over powering. He had to fight to keep from crying again.

As far as people knew the Kents and Luthors were enemies. They probably didn't think he should be feeling this shock or even be remotely saddened or touched by the condition Lex was suddenly in because of an assassin's bullet.

But to Clark Lex was Betty-Sue, his wife. The one person he truly loved. Of course he was in shock and in a state of horror at the prospect of losing Lex forever. Clark's heart swelled with concern and true fear. The thought of losing his soul mate for all of his naturally long life was horrifying as well as a terrifying one. As long as his wife still lived, her separation from him was somewhat bearable. But if she/he were to die, Clark felt he would die alongside of her/him.

Lex's blood was soaked into his shirt and soaking into his skin. His fists open close open close, spasms, digging the drying blood further into his palms. Unheeded tears fell from his eyes. He was helpless to stop Lex from leaving him yet again.

He stood helplessly by and watched the buggy disappear from his sight, still as a statue, unable to tear his wet eyes off of the speeding carriage's progress, taking his precious lover, his wife, his life, with it.

CHAPTER TWENTY

When Standish carried the wounded Lex Luthor into the manner Julian fell into a state of shock. Standing at his side was the Patron Luthor. Lionel looked as shocked as his second son and genuinely as horrified.

Standish informed them that he had dispatched urgent messages to the doctors in Metropolis and that it would be a few more hours before true help could arrive and until then they had to care for Lex to the best of their abilities.

"A few more hours?" Growled Lionel, protesting, "Outrageous! Unacceptable! How did this happen?"

Julian gravitated to Lex's side. Sickly fascinated by his brother's condition. This wasn't supposed to happen. This hadn't been in the plans at all. Thought Julian dazed and distraught over his brother.

Lucas smirked in the background. Not the least unhappy about his older brother's condition. Lionel glared and backhanded his wayward crook of a son.

"He's your brother." Lionel hissed. Then pausing to let it sink in just a little bit more, Lionel loved being dramatic. "He's blood."

His voice was deadly soft as he continued. "And Lucas, if I find out you had something to do with this... were somehow responsible for your brother's current condition." Another pause filled with a dangerous current of meaning. "Do I have to spell it out to you son?"

"It's treachery.... A betrayal.... Not just against Lex, your brother, but against me, and the rest of your family. Blood is thicker then water son... and money. Loyalty to your family comes first, even before business. Understand, Son?"

Lucas paled. He'd known better then to openly take delight in his brother's wounded state. He had known Lionel was crazy. That Lionel had a twisted sense of loyalty, honor, love, and family there was no doubt. Lionel was a shark and had tried to raise a family full of business sharks, just like him.

Lucas knew the unspoken rules as much as any Luthor did. He'd made a mistake and now he feared for his life. Luthors didn't forgive betrayal lightly, if ever at all. Mistakes were seldom allowed.

Lucas hadn't paid the assassin but he had known of the agent and hadn't tried to put a stop to it.

Lucas was well aware that all it would take is one miss-step and Lionel would get rid of him.

Lucas was only a half Luthor. Lionel had only showed him kindness because he was his son regardless that Lionel hadn't married his fool mother. Blood was all that Lionel cared about. Though marriage was of another matter altogether.

Enjoying your rival's downfall - your brother's downfall was one thing, and secretly applauded. However, trying to kill him was something entirely different. Lionel wouldn't tolerate it. Even Lucas had known that.

"No sir, I mean yes sir. I mean; I understand sir and I didn't have anything to do with this. I swear it." Stated Lucas.

Lionel looked long and hard into his third son's soul before he was satisfied with what he saw there, within.

"I believe you Lucas." Lionel said gently. Reaching out a cold hand to touch his son's face in a manner that would have bespoken love if it had been any other man giving the gesture; however, this was Lionel and the man didn't know the meaning of the word. No, this was possession. Lionel possessed his sons, possessed his business, possessed things, he didn't love.

tbc
svBride 7