Nexus continuity

[hero_farmboy]

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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[hero_farmboy]

Clark, it must be said, is not a master of deception, as it's the loft in his barn that he takes Lana to. Of course, it's also entirely possible he wants to be easily found.

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."

[downsidedarling]

Anna's not sure whether the fire-move's warped sight is a blessing or a curse.

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.

[hero_farmboy]

"Lex!" Lana all but runs down the many steps to her fiancé and into his arms.

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."

[downsidedarling]

Anna and Lex react similarly to this so-called revelation: anger, but no surprise.

"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?"

[hero_farmboy]

Clark continues down the steps and barely looks at Anna. "We don't need to do anything." Lex gets more of his attention. "What's going to happen? Exactly what you're afraid of."

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."

[downsidedarling]

Anna sees Lex about to pull his gun, and shoots him a mostly-unreadable glance, which he ignores.

"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.

[hero_farmboy]

"Let go of me," Lana all but spits at Anna, flailing helplessly against the taller woman.

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!"

[downsidedarling]

"Fucking hell, woman, do you have a death wish?" Anna gives the shorter girl a hard shove in the direction of away. "Safety tip: don't get in between the two-hundred-pound farmboy on PCP and the pissed-off jealous rich kid with the gun. Neither one of 'em is going to have the greatest control over who they end up maiming."

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.

[hero_farmboy]

Clark, predictably, falls to the ground, convulsing in pain. The look he gives Anna is mostly one of surprise.

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."

[downsidedarling]

"Sorry, cheri," says Anna regretfully, shutting the lid most of the way and keeping an eye on Clark. "Trust me, it's better than the alternative."

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.

[hero_farmboy]

Clark groans and rolls over onto his back, blinking up blearily.

"Anna?"

[downsidedarling]

"Yeah."

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.

[hero_farmboy]

What she gets is confusion, which by this point, she should be familiar with when he starts snapping out of a Red K induced change.

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?"

[downsidedarling]

"Right."

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."

[hero_farmboy]

He nods, both in answer to her offer and in acknowledgment that Lex will be okay.

"Yeah, I... really don't want to be here when my mom gets home."