CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

When the doctors finally arrived with Lionel looming over them, they worked diligently on keeping Lex alive and from succumbing to his wounds. Which wasn't an easy task even with Lex's special healing abilities.

Lex was strong but even a strong man could succumb to wounds like these even after bullets were extracted and wounds stitched up. The human body wasn't designed to take that kind of damage. Bullets were designed to explode inside the human body on impact and destroy and damage as many vital organs as possible. Bullets were killers. They were made for one thing and one purpose only- to take lives.

Tending to Lex's every need. Julian fussed over Lex ceaselessly. Helping the doctors in nursing his brother from the brink of death time and time again. Once more the center of Lex's universe, this was where he liked to be, he was at peace being the center of Lex's world. It was all he had ever craved.

It was simple for Julian to slip the whammy on his brother since he was for the time being the primary care provider and that was the way he liked it. Lionel was busy pacing the office floors and conducting business as usual while his eldest and dearest son fought for his life under his very roof.

Julian was Lex's whole world just as Lex had always been his. He couldn't ask for anything better, finally Lex was home and would be with Julian forever. This was all he had ever wanted. He didn't want Lex to die. He would never want that. Just a way to make Lex stay home and to stay with him. A way to make Lex be where he was needed and wanted the most, with Julian.

So this is dying, Lex thought.

His mind was blurred with images of his life. Everyone and everything was secondary to his feelings for Clark, however Lex had raised Julian. He had a huge soft spot, a blind spot for his baby brother. He'd changed Julian's diapers, bottle fed him and gave him love when Lionel could or would not. Bathing Julian in the love their Mother was not able to, dying as she had been, slowly and languishing and painfully.

Having raised Julian, Lex had wanted his brother to grow up different from him. Secure in his place in the world and knowing full well that he was loved above all else, even above business.

Lex was open to Julian in a way he was not open to Lucas or Lionel or anyone else, except Clark.

He loved and trusted Julian, totally, unconditionally. Like he did Clark, the only thing was that Lex had a need, a craving, and Clark was the only cure for it.

Lex moaned in his fevered thrashings. He murmured Clark's name. He begged Clark's forgiveness. His consciousness flowed in a dizzying manner flowing from one time period to the other. He would speak in other tongues he had learned in his travels. Sometimes he would jibber in the languages of the Far East like Arabic or scream out in the languages from the land of the Setting Sun, Chinese, Japanese and many other languages.

Julian shivered when that happened it sounded like Lex had been tortured or was begging someone else to stop hurting him. Other times he would talk in French or in Spanish or Latin, in words and languages that Julian could somewhat follow along and understand. Lex's mind would cast about going from one experience to another. Julian knew it was a side effect of the drugs as well as from the fevers that constantly ravished Lex. His brother's life seemed filled with much anguish and rarely any happiness at all.

Doctors visited them, coming and going in the following weeks since the gun shot and none of them able in the least to help cure Lex of this sudden and newest complication in his healing development.

He seemed to be suffering from a wasting ailment. Lex's vitals would plummet then steady out then plummet again. Fevers would rise and fall.

Lex was growing weaker with every passing day.

Lionel was growing fearful for his son's survival.

Julian believed he would succeed where his father had failed with Lex. He would have Lex at his side, the opiates would make sure of that, as would the mind flower he had found in the fields.

The flower was a deadly toxin if not used properly. It was also a powerful mind altering substance. With a few verbal suggestions like the ones he'd been whispering into his brother's ear for weeks now, he would bind Lex to his side forever. Lex would never abandon him again. Lex would be totally dependent on Julian. Lex would need a daily dosage or else perish. Lex would need him more then he would ever need Clark Kent.

Julian had learned well the teachings of his father. He wished full possession of his brother it was the only type of love he knew or understood. Maybe if Lex had stayed with him longer during his critical years, maybe Julian would have turned out different. It was too late now. He was what he was, what nature intended him to be and Julian couldn't care less. He never gave such things much thought, other then to curse fate that had separated him from Lex for long periods of time.

He stroked Lex's brow and murmured soft words, comforting words into his brother's ear.

"Lex, my brother, stay strong." He whispered. "Stay with me. You don't want to leave me. You want to stay with me and help me to run Luthor Corp."

Lex murmured softly. "Clark? Clark?"

"No Lex, it's me, Julian."

"Julian... Julian... it hurts. Julian, make it stop. Please Julian, make the pain stop." He whimpered, pitifully.

"Breathe in the flowers I brought you, Lex. Aren't they beautiful? They will ease your suffering my poor brother, they'll make you feel better, I promise." He purred. "They're like you Lex. Changed forever by the meteor rocks." They subvert a man's will. Much like yourself. You were so powerful Lex. How you shined! "Do you want another injection, my dearest brother?"

"Yes." Lex hissed. "I need it. Make the pain stop Julian, make it stop." Lex begged.

Julian continued to soothe and stroke Lex's brow with a cool washcloth. He dipped the cloth in melting ice, and ringed the cloth out and stroked it along Lex's face. Carefully Julian rolled up one of Lex's night shirt's sleeves, making it tight, then a few sharp slaps against the skin to make the veins stand out.

"There it is." He murmured. "Soon you'll feel so much better. I promise Lex. You'll feel so good." Then he inserted the needle's tip and pressed the plunger draining the syringe and pushing the morphine into his brother's blood. He rolled the sleeve back down and watched Lex's body strain for a moment more then relax as tension drained from him.

Lex's lips grew pink and wet, opened a little in a soft sigh of pleasure and contentment. His eyes were half lidded in rapture.

"Thank you, Julian.... Thank you...." He sighed falling deep under the drug's spell.

Lionel wasn't blind to what was happening in his house under his nose. Lex dreamed almost constantly. He slept much too often. His eldest son was wasting away before his eyes. Lex was growing weaker with every passing day.

Lionel knew the wound was partly to blame for his son's condition, however he suspected that other methods were at the heart of the complications in Lex's condition. He suspected Julian of some kind of treachery.

The newest batch of doctors gave him more things to worry about over his eldest son. That distracted him for the most part from pondering Julian's doings.

"His lungs are filling with fluid." Said one doctor. "His body is rejecting the anti-bodies and teas I've prescribed for him."

A second doctor also agreed saying, "His wound doesn't seem to be healing or getting any better. I don't see any other answer but to operate."

The first doctor acknowledged the truth of it stating simply. "You do it Freddy, your hands are far more steady then my own."

"Right, I need to open his chest and drain the fluid before he drowns."

Lionel was alarmed by this doctors' announcement, demanding, "There must be another way. Will my son even survive such a drastic operation?"

"It's risky and I have an obligation to you to warn you that this is indeed a very risky undertaking. His condition is alarmingly critical. Fatality will most definitely occur if we don't do the procedure, however even during the operation fatality can occur but his chances of survival are higher if we do the operation then if we don't." Freddy replied.

"We have no choice." Dr. Nigel insisted. "He dies for certain if we don't, and he may die even if we do, but at least it's a chance at survival. It's a two edged sword, Mr. Luthor and to tell you the truth I really don't want to do this procedure not with his body so weak. But we haven't a choice. It has to happen; otherwise, He. Will. Die." He stated emphatically.

Lionel didn't need it spelled out to him in capital letters he wasn't a four year old child. He had eyes that could see for themselves that his son needed help but he was hoping the doctors would suggest something less risky. Yet he understood from what they were telling him that this was all that they could do and it could go either way no matter what they did but if they did nothing Lex would most certainly die. This he had needed to know even though he hadn't wanted to know it. His son's life was dwindling rapidly. This was it. This was life or death. The risk had to be taken.

"All right Doctors." Lionel caved. "Do what needs to be done but do I have to remind you of who I am or of who my son is? Will I have a need to point out to you what can and will happen to you and your practice should you fail to save my son?"

There was complete silence for a moment then both doctors exceptionally pale shook their heads replying. "No Sir."

Then Freddy further stated. "I know who you are Sir. I know what I can expect if I fail to save your son."

"Good. Should you succeed in saving my son's life you will be handsomely rewarded."

Unspoken but well understood were the words...and if you don't, save his life, you forfeit your own.

CHAPTER TWENTY- TWO

As per the teachings of modern medicine Lex was bled, his lungs were emptied his wound reopened and scrubbed clean with soap and water then splashed with iodine and alcohol then his wound was patched up by the doctor taking a hot knife and sealing the wound completely like a brand.

Lex screamed sounding like a tortured soul, which he was of course.

In the hallway outside of Lex's room the family waited anxiously to hear of a good word on Lex's progress. On hearing his son in pain Lionel actually showed a lapse in his emotional walls, a few tears and the tiniest of whimpers actually escaped his clenched jaws. He looked like a father who actually felt pain for his suffering child.

Julian watched his father in awe. He had always known Lionel loved them. He had often told Lex as much, but Lex had never believed him.

The doctor walked out of Lex's room his clothes splattered with blood. He looked more like a butcher than a doctor. Lionel was quick to leave the same space as the doctor, leaving Julian to receive the man's new orders.

Julian was pale but he managed not to faint. He also managed to take notes of the doctor's instructions for himself and the household staff as well as for his father.

"Give him this tea every hour. Bathe him twice daily. Feed him soups and broths. No solid foods for a while. If he complains of discomfort give him this opiate in tea form or give him a dosage with the syringe.

"I'd like for him to stay on an immune system booster, give him garlic, two cloves with every meal, and this tincture of concord root, golden seal, and Echinacea. This tincture is to be dosed in his tea, warm not hot. Boil the water, allow the tea to set then pour in the tincture.

"No more then twenty drops per cup. Otherwise he may greatly upset his stomach." Said the doctor finishing his list of instructions.

"Thank you Doctor." Julian assured him. "I will make sure to carry out your instructions to the letter."

"Good. I want your brother to be as comfortable as possible. This operation was a difficult one, and he could turn for the worse at any time during the night, understand? Hopefully these teas and the tinctures will insure that does not happen." The doctor sighed heavily, exhausted from his hours working on Lex.

"I wish I could make a full guarantee but I cannot. You're brother is in a serious state of ill health. We will have to pray and hope his indomitable spirit stays so. Now it is up to him. His will against God's. The next twenty-four hours will be critical in determining whether your brother lives or dies."

"Thank you Doctor." Said Julian courteously, grateful for the man's truthfulness and his hopefulness. It made Julian tentatively hope as well that his brother might make it through the night.

"As a precaution I would also call in a priest in case he does take a turn. His body ails at an alarming rate and is leaching the will out of him. I just hope he hangs on a little longer."

"As do we all, Doctor." Insisted Julian fervently.

Lionel drank himself into a stupor in the privacy of his office that night after the doctors left their home. Leaving everything in Julian's capable hands to take care of.

Lex did not die or rather he did die several times during the night but like the phoenix he would resurrect, resuscitate, his heart would kick-start and his breathing would return as labored as before, but he would live.

His wounds were healed but he was still wracked with fevers and an odd, relentless malady that continued to thrive even through to the morning. Which was highly unusual, for Lex's mutation usually healed him from anything and everything.

It was very worrying for them all.

CHAPTER TWENTY- THREE

Lex's dreams were nightmares. His cries were desperate and filled with pain and terror.

"JULIAN! JULIAN!" Lex screamed in horror. "No! NO! Please Daddy, I promise, I promise." He whimpered.

Lex thrashed around in his sweat soaked sheets, flailing arms and clawing fingers. Tears streaming from blank violet eyes. Eyes cast into the far distance of their past.

Remembering a looming father, glowering down at his cowering son. Twisting words like knives into his weak offspring's heart. Threatening him with a revisit to the asylum if he wasn't careful with his brother.

He tossed and struggled with his covers. He fought against binding hands in his memories as well as in present time. His temperature reached deadly levels. Julian's hands were the only ones he seemed able to distinguish and allow on his person.

He whimpered pitiably and called for Clark in a raspy voice. Mouth feeling as dry as the deserts of Israel and Arabia, dryer then even the wild lands of Africa. Still Lex cried out for his husband, lover, best friend, as well as for Julian, his little brother.

He was terrified that something terrible was going to happen to Julian and he would be punished for it by their Father for failing to save or take care of his baby brother.

Sometimes there was peace. Hours of blessed silence which many thanked the Lord for, but usually Lex was restless and agitated and lived in fear.

Sometimes Lex would only murmur undecipherable incoherent things into the soft fold of his pillow.

He would speak of things that were too horrible to hear.

Secrets that should never be spoken out loud and never heard about by others' ears of his family or of his travels. Those secrets were costly ones, horrifying ones.

Other times he would fall into a dreamy, peaceful state, one of laughter and giggles. He would be unusually affectionate and very needy.

He would hug Julian or try to hug any person unlucky enough to be in the room at the same time as when these unusual bouts of need would occur.

Mostly, though, Lex was a survivor and he wanted Clark. He could still see in his mind's eye the fear shining out from Clark's eyes. He could still feel the strength of Clark's desperate hands comforting him while trying to pressurize the wound and keep Lex from bleeding out.

His desperate whispers, pleas for Lex's life, "don't you dare die on me," echoed in his mind's eye and would make Lex feel truly loved.

Clark had cared, had still cared for him even after the truth had come out. Which made him happy and yet very, very, sad, because Clark was nowhere to be found. Clark had not visited him even once since that day.

Maybe Lex had just imagined the whole thing, or maybe time hadn't passed as much as he thought it had. It had happened like that in Belle Reve to, time would go so fast but be so slow.

In Belle Reve sometimes it had felt like years had crept past rather then weeks or months; and other times it would feel as if only it had only been yesterday he'd been locked up by his father for almost killing his little brother.

Locking him away in Belle Reve for what felt like an eternity in damnation and hell.

Oh how ashamed he felt!

But he couldn't remember ever trying to hurt Julian.

He would never hurt Julian and though he had protested and begged his father to believe him, his father had only looked at him with such pity and horror and tossed away the key.

Lex wept out of sheer sadness. In his lucidity he would wonder how long it had been since he had last seen Clark. He wondered if Clark wondered and worried if Lex was dead or alive. He missed Clark desperately.

Julian would sit by the side of his brother's bed, read out of books to his ailing older sibling or just hold Lex's hand. Kissing Lex's cheek or hand on occasion. Sometimes a flower would be held out to him to sniff, then Lex would feel strange again. Feel like he was burning alive.

"Stay with me Lex. I need you. Julian needs you Lex and you need Julian." He murmured. Stroking his brother's face. "I love you Lex. Only me."

Lex frowned, mussed and woozy, everything was so hazy his brain wasn't working right. He felt the sting of a needle and then a stronger feeling of floating. He felt so good.

Julian was giving him the medicine that made everything fade away. He liked these meds. He didn't like that he wasn't in control but it felt so good. He felt so warm and so good that he almost didn't mind the floating sensation or the lapse of time. However the control freak in him kept yammering in the back of his mind.

"Wake up ye fool!" It screamed at him. "Don't just let this happen again. Wake up!"

Though Lex tried to do what the voice ordered him to do, he was too weak. He was never allowed to think clearly for very long. Julian's voice told him he needed Julian that Julian would make things better and he couldn't deny Julian's voice.

At least the pain was gone and that was all he wanted. The pain to go away for keeps. He wanted to stay with Julian and Clark forever.

Julian was telling him something but Lex was having a hard time concentrating on his brother's words. His brother was telling him something strange, something wrong.

"Wait" he protested weakly, stuttering, "Cl-Clar-kk... l-love me... he love me t-too." Insisted Lex stubbornly.

Julian wasn't happy with his brother's resistance. He had to wonder what hold Clark had on Lex. It was time for another tactic. Julian couldn't have Lex clinging to a Kent. Something had to give. He had to make Lex realize that his place was at Luthor Estates and Luthor Corp., and by Julian's side.

"Lex you shouldn't mention the Kents. What if Dad finds out?" he asked pausing dramatically. "Do you want Father to put you away in the institution again?" He said almost shrilly and greatly insistent, "Because Lex, you know he will. He will lock you up and throw away the key. Father will have you put in the Asylum again."

His voice hissed fearfully, almost hysterically. Knowing that Lex would have no choice but to react to that as well as try to comfort his little brother. Lex visibly struggled to control the growing fear at the mention of the asylum, yet he reached out blindly for Julian's hand and gave it a gentle squeeze of comfort.

"Shh, shh, Julian it will be all right. I won't go away again. You know that." Soothed Lex.

"He'll put you in a straight jacket and lock you away from the sun and the freedom you crave so. You know he will." Julian insisted urgently, ignoring Lex's words, even as he did draw comfort from them.

Clinging to Lex's hand, he even managed to bring tears to his eyes. "You have to forget Clark. You only need me, Lex. You only need your Julian. You have a duty and an obligation to Julian." He hissed, bringing the flower forward from the windowsill, drawing it ever closer to Lex's nose so he could get a whiff of the hypnotic essence within. "Julian needs you. You need to take care of Julian. He's your responsibility." He murmured.

Lex crumbled as Julian knew he would. Lex tried to soothe his brother even as he tried to quell his own rising panic. The peace Lex had felt was now shattered and replaced by fear and growing agitation.

The good feelings were gone. The pain was back. He could no longer bring himself to comfort Julian he was struggling full force with his memories and the pain that was now overwhelming him from his wounds as much as from his memories.

"No." Whimpered Lex, begging. "No, no, nonono."

He clutched at Julian's hands desperately. His eyes were beseeching of his brother. Pleading violet eyes filled with terror. "Not Belle Reve. I was good. He promised. He promised." Lex cried hoarsely, growing ever more hysterical.

Now it was Julian's turn to ease and soothe Lex's fears, and his pain, stroking the soft cheek of the pale face under the drug induced flush.

"Don't worry Lex, I would never tell on you. I'm your brother I love you." Julian Insisted with the right amount of love in his tone and assurance in his eyes. "Forget about the farm boy. You don't need him. You only need me." He kept stroking Lex's cheek possessively and gave him his most angelic smile.

Lex whispered. "I won't hurt Julian. I love Julian I want to do good by Julian."

"Yes, Lex, that's right. Just think about Julian. Just think on me and stay with me." Said Julian.

"No Belle Reve Daddy." Begged Lex. "No Belle Reve."

"You have to forget about Clark. You hurt your brother every time you think about Clark. If you hurt your brother you'll go back to Belle Reve." Said Julian imitating their Father's tone and voice perfectly.

Lex panicked again as Julian knew he would. It was hours before Lex was calmed again. Exhausted Lex fell asleep, Julian wrapped in his arms in a hug that spoke of protection as well as brotherly love and Luthor Possession.

Julian had thought it would take less drugs and less time to bring Lex back over to his side but he was finding out there was a lot of steel and will under that soft exterior his brother had always shown him. Julian sighed. He hated doing this to Lex. He hated to imitate their cruel and truly magnificent bastard of a father but Lex had left him with no choice.

Who knew just how stubborn Lex could be? Their father had known, obviously. And there was no doubt in Julian's mind either that Lex was a true Luthor. Who else could be that iron willed?

He hated terrorizing Lex. It really was distressful for him. Testing Lex's resolve and loyalty was more of a Lionel thing than his own. Reluctantly he had to admit he had learned from the best. He knew what buttons to push how far he could bend Lex to his will and just that little bit further over that limit to make Lex break totally. He would do it because he loved Lex.

It wouldn't be long now. A couple more days at most, Julian estimated before his brother would solely belong to him again. Love was total possession and Lex was all that he loved and he would be all that Lex loved.

Lex was his brother. Lex was his and his alone. Lex didn't belong to Lionel in the way that Lex belonged to him. Lionel loved his sons and there was no question that his sons belonged to him, but they also belonged to each other. A brother's bond was so much more then the bond between a father and his sons.

Julian stroked Lex's warm troubled brow, keeping his vigil as the day turned towards evening.

CHAPTER TWENTY- FOUR

Some time passed.

Lex still recalled perfectly, how tiny and absolutely perfect Julian had been as a baby. Those purple eyes turning more towards blue then finally to dark green, as the weeks went by.

Their Mother had eyes that were haunted and caving in now. Her skin was ashen. She looked so frail and sickly now, Lex was so afraid for her.

Long dark auburn curls trailed down in a messy cascade over her shoulders. In the nine and a half years of being her son, Lex had never seen his mother look so unkempt or so untidy. She had always been elegant, graceful and extremely pretty, breathtakingly pretty. She was an angel walking the earth at the side of a man that didn't deserve even to kiss her toes.

She'd been everything beautiful, everything graceful, and joyful in their lives. Now she was sickly. She was always so sad.

"I love you, my son, but I can't watch you grow up to be a man like your father." She whispered and slowly her hand encompassed Julian's face, covering mouth and nose.

Lex had come charging in from his hiding place behind the door, crying, "No Mama, no!"

He managed to save Julian's life but only because his mother was so weak and frail. She relented reluctantly to her son's stronger will.

"All right Lex, all right." Her eyes glinted with tears of sadness and madness. "But it will have to be done eventually." She murmured in a voice that was subdued and seemed to be coming from a far off place deep inside her. It was a hollowed voice, empty of emotion or strength.

Lex had taken on all the responsibilities for his mother and for his little brother after that. He never let Lillian near Julian without himself or his father being present. Lionel surprisingly hadn't at this time realized what was truly going on under his nose.

Not to say that Lionel was blind to the under currents between his wife and his eldest son. He noticed the gaze his son used to gage Lillian's health, noticed the dogged weariness in those strange violet eyes of Alexander's.

Lionel had felt the estrangement building between them all and like any human being he had been powerless to stop it.

Lionel didn't have anyone to speak to who could tell him how to possibly resolve the situation he sensed in his house. He figured it was Alexander's jealousy rising to the front. Like any eldest child displaced by a baby, there was bound to be some tension, some insecurities.

Lionel would find to his later horror and shame, how wrong he had been.

Lex had managed to stop three more of his Mother's attempts to murder his baby brother. One of which was cleaning solution in the bottle of milk she had prepared for her son. The cleaning supplies had been out in plain sight. She hadn't even been bothering to cover her tracks. She was insane. Lex had come awake from his nap in the rocker just before his mother could put the milk to his brother's lips and slapped the bottle out of his mother's hand fending her off once more.

Lex couldn't understand why his mother was doing this and it was frightening to him. It didn't make any sense.

"Please Mama," he begged. "Don't do this anymore, please." He wept. "Julian's a good baby. I love him. Please don't try to kill him any more. Please."

The third incident came in the form of the tightening of the collar of one of baby Julian's gowns. Which had slowly been choking the air from Julian's lungs. Lex had cut the gown open, and made a promise to keep a closer vigil on his baby brother.

Lex refused to sleep after that. He made sure that he dressed Julian and fed Julian and held Julian, he wouldn't let Lillian anywhere near his baby brother after the last attempt, not even with his father present.

He was terrified of what she would do next. He was horrified by her actions and his heart was breaking. This woman who had replaced his mother was a stranger to him. She was sick and she needed a doctor's help but Father wasn't seeing it.

Father was trying to get Lillian to bond with her newborn child and seeing Lex interfering with that bond was making the older man furious with his son.

Lionel should have pieced the puzzle together much better then he actually did. But a man who loves his wife, and a man who has the twisted ideals that he does, only sees what he wants to see and can't see the truth.

Lillian grew despondent and eventually succumbed to her ailment. Lex was disturbingly maternal. Which both disgusted Lionel, pleased him, and infuriated him all at once.

Lex was amazingly strong for a ten-year old child. He held his tears in check and was strong for the baby in his arms. He was a shoulder to lean on. Too young for the responsibilities that had landed newly into his lap, he was both older sibling and mother to his baby brother and now he was to be the thing Lionel relied on most at home. Lex would run the household, take care of his grieving father and brother and some small part of him accepted that and even craved that responsibility, but he was a ten year old little boy who also liked being a kid and now he wouldn't be able to be a kid any more.

Lionel began to turn against him. Too many nights awake guarding his brother from his mad mother made Lex careless one time only and it was one time too many in Lionel's view. Lex had fallen asleep while bathing the one-year old Julian and woke to his Father's furious backhand across the face and insane accusations that Lex had tried to kill his brother.

"No Papa, no. I would never." Gasped Lex.

Another furious swipe of his father's hand and blood poured from his nose and split lip. His father had never hit him before, not like this, not ever like this.

For the first time ever Lex felt terrified of his father. The world that had gone tilting during his mother's ailment went head over heels in the face of his father's elemental fury.

Lex finally realized that though instinctively he'd known Lionel could be a danger he never believed, actually believed, Lionel would turn on his own son and heir. Mother was always in danger from the business tycoon, if Lionel had ever suspected Lillian of trying to murder his child he'd have turned on her like a wolf on a lamb for the slaughter.

The Other was born in Lex that day. She was very careful after that, though it still didn't keep the inevitable from happening three years later, shortly after Lex's thirteenth birthday and the meteor showers, Julian was just turning four, it was during the unusual brotherly rough housing that an accident occurred and Julian fell down the stairs, miraculously unhurt except for a bruise or two.

Usually Lex and the Other was so careful with Julian, he loved being Julian's mom, he adored his little brother, but he couldn't be an adult all of the time. He was only a child himself. He shouldn't have had the responsibilities that he did, being the mother and wife in-absentia that he was. Lionel should also have realized the stress he was putting on his eldest son. As usual though, Lionel never noticed a thing.

Lionel came unglued on Lex and nearly beat him within an inch of his life. "You murdering little - How could you Lex? He's your brother!" roared Lionel, dragging Lex by his ear since he didn't have the thick locks of red curls to use for leverage on his son any more.

Julian was sobbing upset by the voices raised in deafening sound.

Lex screaming, "It was an accident!" begging their daddy to, "Please, please stop." Lionel accusing Lex of "attempting to kill your brother. Unforgivable! Contemptible! Insane."

Julian cried because he had never seen his brother upset or beaten before. Julian cried because Lex's comforting arms were no longer around him, surrounding him, keeping him safe and making the pain of the stairs go away. Julian was scared too that Lex was going to die like their mommy had.

"Lex." Julian sobbed. "Lex!" He screamed. "Want Lex." He tried to pound on the door to Lex's room. A door that had never been closed to him before which was now shut and locked, and kept him out.

He could hear strange noises coming from within. He thought he heard Lex crying which was strange because Lex had never cried in as far back as Julian's memory could recall. He could hear Lex's desperate pleas and he could hear skin smacking skin, a small body hitting the floor or a piece of furniture. It was a long time before there was quiet and his father's cold removed voice saying cruel things, cutting things to Lex.

"I am very disappointed in you Alexander. You're going away now, so you can never hurt or endanger your brother or me ever again, you will never ever lie to me again."

Lionel walked out of Lex's room calmly, coldly, composed. He bestowed on Julian a compassionate face, a loving father sad to see both sons come to this state of distress. "I'm sorry son, that it had to come to this, Lex is sick, he needs help."

"Ornge juice will make Lex feel better. I give him ornge juice, he be better quick." Julian insisted with childish innocence.

Lionel simply shook his head with a sad expression on his face. "Orange juice will not cure him of this son. He's sick, but not in the normal way. He's very, very, ill right now, and it would not be wise for you to see him at this time."

Julian was still young enough not to understand such polite terminology. Besides that, Julian loved Lex and would have given Lex soup and hugs and kisses if Lionel had allowed, as Lex had done for him every time he'd come down with a cold or illness.

Julian looked behind his father into the small crack of space that left the door open to curious eyes. Lex was bleeding and curled up on the floor. He looked cold and so... so lonely and Lex was crying, weeping. Julian was not sure he trusted his father's words it was totally foreign to Julian that Lex would be ill.

Julian wanted to comfort Lex but was kept away from his brother. And what few times after the incident he did get to see Lex. He saw a bruised face, a pale figure, terrified of even touching his little brother.

Lex was never sick. Not ever, not since the miracle. And Lex would never hurt him. Lex loved Julian more than anything. Lex said so every night when he was tucking Julian in. Lex would say, "I love you more than the stars, more than father. I love you more than the world and all the people and animals in it."

Father was being untruthful and it didn't make sense to him since he knew Father would never tell him a lie, but here it was. Julian was so confused by this. Lex, he knew, knew, would never ever hurt him, but Daddy was saying Lex had and would hurt him again.

Two people who loved him and he loved desperately in turn, someone was wrong, but who?

Lex was crumpled and hurt on the floor, shivering and Julian wanted to help his brother.

Lionel turned him away from Lex's door and shut it firmly behind him and turned a key in the lock.

Lex was soon pounding on the door screaming his innocence, begging them not to send him away.

Julian tried to run back to his brother but Lionel picked him up and suggested they go out for a buggy ride, enjoy the perfect weather outside and count the pretty long horns and lady cows on the ranch.

Julian was sufficiently distracted. When they returned, the house was eerily silent.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Lex awakened from the memory feeling the phantom pain of his Father's fists, from that day twelve-years prior. He woke believing he was back there in that day again, about to be sent away from his home and his child.

Lionel was there in his room, looking at him through eyes that looked half loving but Lex knew better. He knew it for the fake affection that it was. But he was still afraid. His father was going to send him away.

"Please." He whispered hoarse and desperate. "Julian needs me. I didn't hurt him." He gasped, pleading. "I would never hurt him. I love Julian. Please Father don't send me to Belle Reve."

Lionel was slightly taken back by this unexpected flashback to the past. He sighed sadly and shook his head. "Oh son, it had to be done. It was for your own good. But you're home now. You're safe now. I'm sorry son. I am truly, truly, sorry for what you suffered there." Gentle yet cutting were his words, as a cold bony hand stroked his cheek and forehead.

"Perhaps if you had given me another choice things could have turned out differently. But you have always been so stubborn Lex, so irrational."

The cold chill of Lionel's hand actually felt good against the burning under his skin. Lionel turned to the bed stand and took out the chill wash cloth from the basin filled with precious ice, and cool creek water, and swabbed his son's face with it.

As Lex relived memories of Belle Reve so in turn did Lionel of the time after Belle Reve. Those doctors were supposed to help his son. Cure his son of his madness not break him. They were not supposed to mistreat him, not make him more insane. It was one thing for a Luthor to punish a misbehaving son, but for some stranger, some low life scum to touch his son, well that was a matter of another sort entirely.

The boy he'd sent a way over a year ago and visited rarely in his time there in Belle Reve was a wreck of what he'd once been. Not to say that there wasn't still the old Alexander lurking beneath the surface but Lex was changed completely. He was a ruin. A shadow of what he'd once been.

Spirit and soul broken in ways Lionel didn't want to think about. They'd tortured his son day and night. That was not something he'd intended to happen towards his heir. The staff had gone too far. They had taken his money and from it destroyed his Alexander, his special boy who had a destiny that those peons couldn't have begun to realize and they had come dangerously close to destroying that destiny with their incompetence.

If there was one thing in this life that Lionel despised more then betrayal and was worse then treachery, it was incompetence. He crushed Belle Reve and had the doctors taken care of, permanently. The building still stood but was now manned by Luthor corp. employees. Such places had uses after all. Want not waste not and all that.

No one dared to harm a Luthor. No one!

No one dared to ruin Lex's destiny. He wouldn't allow it. No one would destroy what he had shaped and molded. His Lex was very special. He had to be steered very carefully, guided to his path of greatness. Lex was his legacy. His to make or break, Lex was his to do with as he pleased.

Lex was his son and no one else's.

Lionel stroked the washcloth across Lex's protruding cheekbone. Lex was so fragile, so thin now. It was very worrisome. But the strength was there. The iron of his son's will - of a Luthor's will was there beneath the illness and the drugs that were swimming through Lex's blood stream.

Lionel's sharp, cool, eyes noted the needle tracks and was disturbed by them. He couldn't say why but there was something about those little trails of points and dried blood that sent off alarm bells in his mind. He knew instinctively that something wasn't right here. Just as he had known twelve years ago that there had been something wrong with Lillian and with Alexander.

Just as he had known that Belle Reve was playing games with a wealthy and powerful entrepreneur, of who they had chosen to take lightly when they should have taken his warnings very seriously.

Lionel knew something was wrong. Knew Julian was playing a very dangerous game. Though he could not prove it as yet. He only had his suspicions. He didn't believe in punishing his sons unless they failed to keep their plans from being discovered.

Suspicion wasn't proof and so according to the rules Lionel had set for himself as well as for his children he couldn't punish Julian just yet, or even let Julian know that he knew something was up. He had taught them to cover their tracks and Julian's little game was very interesting so far, almost worthy of one of Lionel's own. The boy had great potential. He was almost impressed.

Lionel meandered back into his thoughts of Bell Reve and the time after. Lex had not immediately come back to his rightful self after Lionel had chosen to take him back into the fold. Lionel hadn't liked the change that had been wrought in his son. If anything it seemed that instead of curing his son the asylum only served the purpose of driving Lex more over the edge. They had broken his son.

Lex had acquired new mannerisms. He'd become little more then a wraith. Lex was pitiful, pathetic, jumping at every noise, frightened of everything even misreading some mannerisms, wrongly perceiving threats from his father or from others on the household staff. He would cower and try to melt into the shadows against the wall. It had all been so frustrating and so difficult to cure him of his broken spirits.

Lex believed they would treat him with violence or perceived that they hated him or wanted to hurt him, like the staff of Bell Reve. He was very paranoid and very frightened of people, and most especially of getting on the bad side of his father. Which was something Lionel encouraged. It was handy to have at last something to keep Lex in line and under his thumb with.

Lex had stuttered more then he used to in the past or he would not speak at all, in fact for the first four months of Lex's return he didn't speak a word to anyone or to anything. He stayed unnaturally still and unmoving for hours at a time. His violet eyes were blank and unseeing. Lex had retreated from the world, had gone deep inside his own mind and his own world.

When he felt somewhat safe he would peek out from time to time but mostly Lex was lost to them all, even to Julian.

Though Julian's persistence and love had paid off in the end, Lex came around little by little but at first only if Julian needed him. Then later as progress and healing took root Lex came out of the stillness more and more often. He was also extremely clingy to Julian.

What little bit of trust Lex ever had was now gone for his father and for anyone else, except Julian. Lex continued to treat Julian like a treasure or a fragile bit of glass. If Julian remotely stumbled or tripped Lex would cower and sob.

It disgusted Lionel how broken his son was. Yet it also pleased him because now he had a way of controlling Lex. All he had to do to keep Lex in line was to threaten him with a return trip to Belle Reve and Lex would submit to anything Lionel wanted him to.

"Stop babying your brother."

"Are you a man or are you a woman?"

"Do you want me to send you away? Do you really want to go back to Belle Reve?" He would threaten though he really had no intention of sending Lex back to that blackened place.

"Then pull yourself together. Be a man. Raise your brother to be a man."

"I know you can talk Alexander. Look at me Alexander. I'm warning you. Defy me again and it's back to Belle Reve with you."

Lionel had savored every threat every reminder of the leverage and control he had over his very emotional and very irrational son.

"Start acting like a Luthor." He'd hiss. "Stop being so emotional. You're acting like a child. I'm sure Belle Reve would love another chance at straightening you out."

The threats had been good even today they still held well. Lex had been a brilliant youth, who had breezed through collegiate and schools all over the world. And when in times of great stress and great rebellion all Lionel had to do was whisper those words. "Belle Reve." And Lex would come to heel.

He was careful though, he wanted to build his son back up into the strong youth he'd once been and in time, three years and more of TLC finally paid off and when Lex was strong enough Lex started rebelling. Which had never more pleased and yet infuriated Lionel to the limits of his emotional spectrum.

Reluctantly he let Lex leave them. Though he blamed Bruce Wayne for influencing his son to such a degree. If the two youths hadn't met in college Lionel was pretty sure that Lex wouldn't have found such wanderlust in his own veins. Bruce Wayne had been a powerful ally of Lex's and a bad influence on the boy. Daring Lex to leave Kansas to explore the world, to actually act upon his inquisitive nature in the sciences and archeology and spur him on to such places as Cairo and Nepal and Africa, making Lex forget his duties to Luthor Industries and the Luthor family.

If Bruce Wayne hadn't been such a powerful man and wealthy in his own rights Lionel would have done all in his power to discourage the strong friendship between his son and Wayne. He would have found a way to tear his son away from that terrible influence. But Wayne was a strong rival and had money and more power then even a Luthor such as Lionel had.

Julian was torn emotionally by his brother's leaving. Lex had coddled and cosseted and spoilt Julian to no end and to Lionel's frustration.

Lex's leaving was a profound betrayal for Julian. One that could not rest solely on Lionel's shoulders this time. Lionel had used that betrayal to his most advantageous and had forged Julian anew in his own image, as a Father should do with his son.

Though no matter how twisted Julian had become the boy still remained steadfastly loyal to Lex. Looking forward to every gift every letter in the post sent from Lex to him. The brothers' love for each other was genuine despite the undercurrents of something else. Lionel suspected that Julian had a dangerous obsessive attachment to Lex, like some boys had to their mothers, the kind that could turn perverted or very dangerous.

Lionel had tried to discourage such feelings in his son for his older brother but Julian could be just as stubborn and tenacious as Lex and just as irrational and emotional too. The boy to his father's sorrow still kept his unhealthy attachment to Lex going.

"Lex, son, you've behaved well. I won't put you back in Belle Reve. You know that." Pause. "That is as long as you continue to behave and are not a danger to your brother." Another long pause for his words to sink in to the stupefied state of mind his son was in.

"Tell me Lex, how has Julian been treating you?" Lionel's voice was a gentle purr, an oily caress that spoke of warning bells to Lex's ear. Lionel sat still as a statue waiting, listening carefully to every word uttered and not spoken. Reading the defensive body language and the confusion in the foggy violet eyes.

Relief and fear warred in Lex's eyes. "Everything's all right, Father." Lex insisted, though his speech slurred a little.

Lionel doubted that, he doubted it very much. But he patted Lex's hand and left the cool cloth on his forehead with a quaint smile he took his leave of his ill son.

"Get better soon son. I need your expertise in the Office." Then almost out the door the father of lies spoke again. "I love you."

Bloodless and his strength fading fast, Lex slumped into unconsciousness on his pillows.

tbc
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