Nexus continuity
It's the day before Valentine's Day. To Clark, however, it's just another day. In fact, chances are it hasn't even occurred to him that it's nearing on any sort of special occasion. As far as he's concerned, he and Anna are just meeting Chloe and Jimmy for a cup of coffee and small talk at the Talon. Nothing special
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"Chloe. I can't say that I'm surprised that you're celebrating here. After all, once Lana's off the market, all those years of unrequited pining may actually pay off." He crouches down right beside Chloe here and leans in very close to her, lowering his voice to a husky whisper. "I can't say I haven't thought about it." Chloe, much like Anna, says nothing, but it's obvious she's thinking very much the same thing around her obvious shock.
"And you," he continues, turning toward Lana and standing resume his slow walk around the table. "You know, I've got to hand it to you. If you were going to rebound, why not choose the one person that I hated the most? But, I mean, come on, Lana. The joke's over by now, isn't it?"
Lex, trying very hard to maintain his composure, stands his ground at the head of the table. "Clark, I think you've done enough damage. Why don't you leave?"
"I'm not done yet!" Clark shouts, his anger getting the better of him for just a moment before he seems to calm down again to his smug default. "Besides, Lex, I haven't given you my gift yet. Congratulations on sealing the deal." He takes a glass of champagne from the table and then tosses a silver baby rattle at Lex, who catches it despite his surprise. "To baby Luthor," Clark finishes, holding up his glass in a mock toast. "The real reason that Lana's marrying you."
Lex, it seems, has had enough and rushes at Clark, who dodges easily and then throws Lex into a display of wine glasses.
"Lex!" Lana rushes to his side, glaring up at Clark. "How dare you?"
"Come on, Lana, if no one else in this room is going to save you from Lex, then I will," he grabs her arm as he says this and heads for the door. Surprisingly, it's Lois who tries to stop him first.
"I don't think so. Lana is your past. I'm your future."
Clark snorts. "And this is the present." Then he brushes past Lois easily and forcibly drags Lana out of the room.
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"I'll live," he groans, accepting her offer of a hand up.
"Come on." She looks around, frowning at the shocked guests. "Let's get you someplace I can have a look at that. I know a thing or two about injuries."
Lex is still himself enough to smirk and murmur, "I'll bet," as she helps him out of the room. There's a sitting room nearby, and Anna guides him to a couch, frowning again and touching a hand to a bruise visible on his arm where his sleeve has ridden up slightly.
A series of thoughts occurs to her in rapid succession.
"Lex," she says slowly, "let me guess. You're going to want to go after them."
She gets a you're kidding me look for her trouble. "Of course I am. Give me a minute and I'll be down to the garage to get my Porsche. I can only assume you have a similar goal in mind - would you like a ride?"
Anna grins. It's not a terribly nice grin. On drugs or not, Clark is pissing her off.
"I've got a better idea," she announces. "I'll give you one. I'm a fuckton quicker than that murderous hunk of metal, and your back's going to hurt like a bitch in half a day if something doesn't see to those bruises."
Lex returns the grin, with added ruthlessness. "Just let me get something before we leave."
By 'something' he means 'a gun', of course, and Anna reads this easily in his posture. It only takes a moment's hesitation before she agrees. After all, it's not as though he could hurt Clark with it, and as previously mentioned, the latter fellow has her sufficiently enraged that she doesn't entirely oppose herself to the idea of his being shot at.
With a raised eyebrow - he's not sure whether to think she missed it; Anna really doesn't seem the type to ferry a jealous fiancé to her boyfriend, infidelitous or no, and not say boo about his packing heat for the trip - Lex rises to his feet and walks purposefully in the direction of his office, Anna following close behind.
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Lana, finally, wrenching free from his grip, turns at him with all the indignation of an annoyed kitten. "You humiliated me in front of my friends."
Clark scoffs. "Come on, Lana. You hardly knew anyone at that party."
"Clark, what do you want from me?"
"What I've always wanted," he answers, voice softening. "For you to be happy."
Lana smiles thinly. "I would love to know how that feels, but it seems like every time I get close, you rip it all away from me."
"Lana, stop kidding yourself. You're never going to be satisfied with Lex. You can't marry him," Clark says, very seriously, stepping closer to her.
She shakes her head. "I've already made up my mind."
"Even though you're still in love with me?"
"What makes you so sure?" Lana challenges back.
Clark grabs her around the waist and pulls her close to him. "Because I'm still in love with you." He doesn't give her a chance to reply and leans down to kiss her. Lana resists for a brief moment, but in the end, she's kissing him back just as much. "Don't marry Lex. Marry me."
She pushes away from him and barely keeps her voice even, starting to cry as she speaks. "I have given you every chance. I have stood in this spot so many times, just waiting for you to say something, and you decide to do it now?" Lana shakes her head in disbelief. "You don't love me, Clark. You just can't stand the idea that I love someone else."
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She sees all of this. She's pretty sure Lex does, too, though she knows he's going to be distracted by the intensity of fire-moving. She can't hear any, though, until she gets close enough.
Which is just in time to hear her boyfriend passionately declare his love for another woman.
She was going to set Lex down gently out of sight, really she was. Not anymore. The two of them materialize in the barn's doorway and stalk up to the loft very nearly in unison.
"Lana!" Lex calls. "Lana?"
Anna just growls, ignoring Lana completely. She needs to have Words with Clark, and she'd prefer to have them out of earshot of Lex Luthor if at all possible.
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Clark walks slowly down the stairs, stopping on one of the landings and leaning against the railing. "Go ahead, Lana, tell him," he gives Anna a cursory glance, "that you'd rather be with me."
"Don't listen to him. He's on something." Lana likely is saying this as much to Anna as she is to Lex.
Clark laughs. "Oh? Well, it didn't seem to bother you two minutes ago when you were kissing me."
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"Clark." Anna speaks first. "We need to talk. Somewhere that's not here."
Lex shoots her a glance, querying. She responds with a raised eyebrow; did he really think she was going to let him shoot her boyfriend if a more palatable option presented itself? He concedes the point with a tiny shrug. The whole exchange lasts perhaps three seconds, and then he moves to take Lana aside, though not before tossing off a one-liner.
"What do you really expect is going to happen now, Clark?"
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Lana, still clinging to Lex, glares at Clark. "I'm not a competition." She does, however, allow her gaze to shift briefly to Anna, just in case Anna isn't aware who the centre of attention here really is.
"You are to Lex. He didn't tell you? He's always wanted everything I've ever had. And you were at the top of that list. You're just a trophy to him." Clark sneers at Lex. "And he's nothing but your consolation prize. Now," his attention focuses back on Lana, "tell me you don't love me. Lana. Tell me you don't."
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"Stay away from her," he says, pointing the gun at Clark.
"Fuck," mutters Anna, regretting this already - she can see very clearly a few possible outcomes of this situation and none of them are any good. Clark is ignoring her, so the only thing she can do that'll affect him is fire-move, which she's already ruled out except for absolute emergencies.
Her course of action is pretty clear at this point. She grabs Lana and manhandles her out of the way, putting herself as much between the fragile living woman and the testosterone-filled showdown as possible.
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Clark eyes Lex and the gun with nothing short of outright amusement. "You don't want to do that. You can't win. You don't even know the rules of the game."
When Lex doesn't back down, Clark sidesteps the gun and shoves Lex hard through a glass plate and up against a barn wall, hand wrapped around Lex's throat. "If I'd have known who you were going to turn out to be, I never would have saved you on that bridge."
Lana continues to struggle against Anna. "Clark stop it! You're killing him!"
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This doesn't stop her, of course, from turning towards the scuffle herself. Lex, madly scrabbling for a weapon, picks something up - Anna can't quite see what - and stabs Clark in the side with it.
Fortunately for Clark's secret, if not for his health, this action exactly coincides with Anna spotting a familiar lead box on a nearby shelf, picking it up, and flipping open the lid. She holds the whole contrivance in one hand on the opposite side of her from Lana, effortlessly adjusting her body language so it looks as though she intends to use it as a simple bludgeon.
"Clark," she says, her tone warning but sympathetic.
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Lana runs to Lex and helps him up, although it probably isn't missed by Anna that she sees something on the ground that shocks her before she starts helping Lex toward the door. "Come on, Lex, it's over. Let's go home."
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Lex, for his part, is just glad to get out of here with his neck intact. He follows Lana out, already concocting a lie to explain his lack of a vehicle.
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"Anna?"
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She closes the box fully and sets it down, kneeling by Clark and kissing his forehead gently.
"I'm here. They ain't. Got something to say to me?"
At this point, she's not sure what to expect from him. Anything from thanking her for keeping him from murdering Lex to berating her for interrupting his makeout session with Lana seems likely.
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He remembers what happened, of course, but as usual, it's hard for him to reconcile his actions with what he currently knows is the right way to have behaved.
"I don't..." He blinks some more and then attempts to sit up and groans again. "Oh, god, Lana. Lex. Is he all right?"
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Nod.
"Glad to have you back, cheri. Yeah, he'll be fine - just a little knocked around is all." She speaks this with all the certainty of someone who knows this stuff, because she does.
"Look, we really should talk. You want to come back home with me?" Tiny smile. "Free ride on the Anna Express," she says, holding out a hand. "The fire-move'll make you feel less icky."
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