Fic: Aliens 601, For Humans (teaser #2 for part 3.2, distributed early at Mangakoibito's request :)
Fic-so-far is posted here on AO3.
Teaser #1 was posted here on LJ.
~*~*~*~*~*~
"I don't want to go to a solarium," Chloe murmured as Lex directed her down the hallway, all-but-dragging her along. "Plants smell," she objected without force.
"Yes," Lex said patiently, "but these plants have a mild, clean scent. They won't make your nausea any worse."
"How do you know," she muttered, with a half-hearted glare his way.
"Because I used to fall ill on a disturbingly frequent basis, once-upon-a-time," Lex told her, "and they never made me feel any worse, breathing them in."
Chloe frowned at him. "Asthma, allergies."
Lex blinked. He really couldn't remember the asthma, though he'd heard since then that he'd used to have it. He didn't quite believe it, though he could almost recall having dropped something of marked, panicked importance -- probably his inhaler -- the day of the meteor shower, in those corn fields. But everything from when he was younger than than, younger than nine, was mostly just a dark blur. Only a few things stood out in those memories, and the garden this solarium was modeled after was one of them.
"Yes, I suppose," Lex restricted himself to saying neutrally, as he opened and guided her through the correct door, now that they'd reached it.
He managed to navigate her through the path of vegetation and get her down onto a fainting couch before she started to frown and protest again.
"Where's Clark?" she said, starting to get up. Lex held her down with a hand on her shoulder without much difficulty.
"He's coming," Lex informed her. "He's getting the food."
"I don't trust you," Chloe said, twisting away from his hand.
"And yet I still don't care," Lex told her breezily. "Imagine that."
Chloe continued glaring up at him from a slightly hunched over position where she sat, as he took a seat nearby, in a rather comfortably-cushioned chair, and stretched out.
"Why are you here," she said flatly. Lex had no doubt that it would have been underscored by anger if she wasn't still under the effects of the sedative.
"It's my mansion, and you're still on suicide watch," he informed her dryly, settling in and leaning back to watch her side-long. "Someone has to stay with you," he said blandly, with impeccible logic. At the look of distrust she shot his way, he added, "Don't worry. Lois and Clark are within screaming distance, and Clark will be here soon with food. You'll feel much better, once you've gotten something into your stomach," he informed her. "It will help you burn off the rest of the sedative, along with any lingering effects from the rest of the drugs you were injected with last night."
"I hate you," she said, still watching him from under lowered lids as she slouched against the couch.
"I know," Lex said. He rubbed at his eyes.
"What do you want, anyway," she muttered.
"To fall back asleep," Lex said with a tired sigh. "But I doubt I'm going to get to do that anytime soon."
"Why not?" he heard, and he twisted his head back to see Clark walking in with a breakfast tray loaded down with the 'sick foods' he'd specified earlier, Lois trailing behind. "You're not going in to work today, are you?" Clark set the tray down on the low table in front of Chloe, glaring at Lex slightly as he did so, as though working on a weekend was a crime.
"Probably," said Lex, tilting his head to the side and rubbing at the bridge of his nose with a finger. "There's a lot to get done." He hadn't gotten much done yesterday after his panic attack over Clark, after all. ...He hadn't gotten much done that morning, either.
"It's Saturday!" Clark exclaimed, straightening.
"Your mother's the one who woke me up," Lex pointed out, dropping his hand. "If you hadn't wanted me up, you shouldn't have sent her after me to--"
"--I didn't," Clark cut in, looking very frowny. He was watching Lex's face closely, for some reason.
Lex blinked up at him. What? He straightened slightly in his chair, feeling a little uncomfortable at the thought. "You didn't sic your mother on me?" Lex asked, looking for straight-out confirmation.
"No," said Clark.
Lex blinked again.
"Then why did she..." Lex shook his head, then grimaced slightly, rubbing at his right temple to try and forestall the tension headache this was beginning to give him. It didn't really make sense...
"No! I'm not eating this!"
Clark started, and both he and Lex turned to stare at Chloe, as Lane blew out a breath in irritation and fell down next to her on the couch.
"You should eat something, Chlo'!" Lane huffed out. "You didn't eat anything last night!"
"Well, whose fault is that!" Chloe bit out starting to work herself up into a state.
"You didn't have any dinner last night?" Lex asked, sitting up and frowning.
That got him a flat glare from Chloe, and not much else. Unhelpful.
"We were gonna eat after she showered," Lane said, which was slightly more helpful.
Lex sighed deeply. If Chloe had been 'treated' by the 'good doctor' Sydell on an empty stomach... Small wonder that the drugs hit her so hard. Hell, the man was probably lucky that she hadn't overdosed on whatever he'd given her -- and if he hadn't taken that into account in his choice of dosage strength, he likely hadn't considered the impact of the blood loss from her wounds on her system, either. Lex made a mental note to himself: he was going to have to have Brenda go over his patients' medications list with a fine-toothed comb. Goddamn know-it-all idiot quacks.
That, however, would not help solve the immediate circumstances that hd been caused by his actions -- negligent, malicious, or otherwise. Whch meant that it fell to Lex to fix what yet remained within his scope of influence, here and now.
Wonderful, he thought with a dry sarcasm, and a deep, tired mental sigh. ...Well, Gabe (by way of Clark) had signed him up for it, and it was the least he could do for the man, considering.
So Lex got up from his chair and walked over to the low coffee table by the fainting couch, then folded his legs, neatly sitting himself down upon the edge of it.
"Honestly, Chloe," Lex said as he picked up a slice of toast and pulled a chunk off of the corner of it. "Clark must have been standing right there watching as he waited for Cook to make this for you. If it had been poisoned, he'd have at least said something about it now, don't you think?" He popped the piece into his mouth and chewed, to show that he, at least, trusted the alien and Cook that had supervised the preparation of these vittles.
At the wide-eyed stares he got from both Lane and Sullivan, he swallowed what he'd finished chewing and set down the rest of the toast slice, and revised his earlier thought as he poured himself a cup of lukewarm beverage from the large carafe. Upon reflection, 'poisoned' might have been a bit harsh, after all, so he added just before he took a sip of tea, "...or drugged?"
Then he stifled a wince at the second set of reactions this garnered him, Chloe's even worse than before. Hm. Perhaps he should be more careful not to be putting thoughts into Chloe's still-somewhat-paranoid head--
Lex blinked, feeling a little off-balance, as Clark stared into his eyes, looking very concerned. ...Why had Clark taken ahold of his arm and dragged him upright, all of a sudden?
"Lex, are you all right?" Clark asked, looking a little on edge.
"...Yes?" Lex said with a slight frown, as he recentered his weight and then tilted his head at Clark. For some reason he felt a little amused. He glanced down at the teacup in his hand. At least he hadn't spilled it, being hauled to his feet like that. ...And when exactly had he begun getting used to Clark manhandling him about, anyway?
Lex downed the last of the liquid, just in case, and handed Clark the now-empty cup.
Clark took it absently, then stared down at it for a moment. He looked back up at Lex, peering at him carefully.
"Problem?" Lex asked.
"Are you sure you're all right?" Clark asked him, again, and that gave Lex pause. Did Clark think there was something wrong with him? That he'd caught whatever was wrong with Chloe somehow?
He reviewed what seemed to be Chloe's presentation of symptoms.
"...I don't believe I'm hallucinating, or paranoid," Lex told him slowly. At least, not any more paranoid than he ever was, for certain standard medical definitions of 'paranoia'... "Why?"
Then it occurred to Lex -- had there been something off with the tea, after all? Did Clark and Cook put something in it, thinking only Chloe would imbibe it?
Lex very carefully made it a point to hold gaze with Clark -- not to look down at the carafe containing the rest of the beverage -- and held himself with a well-practiced ease. He watched and waited, the better to carefully gauge Clark's response.
Clark opened his mouth -- to object? -- but then paused, seemed to have second thoughts, tried to revise what he was going to say, and finally settled on just grimacing slightly.
Lex's eyebrows slowly went up.
"--The tea's fine," Clark said in a rush, looking uncomfortable.
That wasn't a lie, but... "I didn't think it likely it wasn't," Lex said in reply, watching Clark carefully.
Clark was holding something back.
Lex felt a spike of impatience, rather than uneasiness.
"Is there something I should know?" Lex asked him slowly.
Clark nearly said something, and then his jaw set.
"It doesn't matter," said Clark.
What, like my having found out your secret, and then not telling me again afterwards after I'd been forced to forget it after my incarceration at Belle Reeve? That kind of 'not matter'ing? Lex was unamused.
"Where is your phone?" Lex asked him thinly, pushing back on a burst of anger and... shame? He tried to throw off the latter -- Clark might trust him less because of his reactions the day prior, but between the two of them Clark was also far better at forgiveness. And the fact of the matter was that Lex couldn't do this all himself, repairing everything between them -- Clark had to meet him halfway.
"Wh-- My phone?" Clark said, thrown by the change in topic.
"Yes," Lex said, as he smoothly pulled his arm out of Clark's grasp. "Where is it? You needed to borrow Lane's at the hospital. Did you not have it with you, or was the battery dead?" he not quite grated out.
"...Why?" Clark said as he set down Lex's empty teacup, and Lex knew from his tone that it was more of a suspicious why do you want to know, rather than a flippant why do you care?
Lex's eyes narrowed.
"How did you hear about Chloe?" he asked instead. "Did Lois call you?"
Clark shifted from foot to foot, like he was trying to find balance for a more physical fight. "I got a phone call from the hospital. I'm on Chloe's contact list for medical stuff, and they had the mansion phone number for contacting me because of..." he trailed off, and Lex realized that Clark was referring to the power of attorney for Lex's own medical affairs. Clark must have updated their file in a mild fit of responsibility. Not reaching Clark at the farm, whoever was running their phone bank must have searched in the other records for an alternate number and gotten it from there.
Lex found it mildly interesting that Chloe had Clark on her contact list, but had not given him any power over her treatment options in the case of incapacitation, given that Gabe was no longer working or living in town nearby. Was that an accidental oversight, or did she have some substantive reason not to trust Clark that far?
Well, no matter. He was himself, and Chloe was... well, she was Chloe. As far as he was concerned, she hadn't grown up much at all in the intervening years from the teenaged girl she was when she'd allied herself with Lionel -- knowing what she was walking into -- and gotten in way over her head. If he was going to have second thoughts about Clark, he'd do it for his own reasons, not hers. Whatever they might be.
As if he particularly cared what they might be, other than a mild passing interest.
It was a good point for a timely lesson, though. Clark's inactions had consequences just as much as his actions did.
"And what do you think might have happened if you hadn't been in the mansion when they called?" Lex queried of the young alien, who was as able to be in Kansas one minute as the east or west coast the next, if not as likely. "How would they have gotten in contact with you?" He took a step closer, getting right up in Clark's face. "How long would it have been before you'd even known that she'd been admitted to the hospital, or that anything had happened at all?"
Clark reared back as if slapped. "I--"
"Do you even know where your cellphone is?" Lex asked with eyes narrowed.
"...Yes," Clark gritted out, hands clenching at his sides.
Lex responded by merely slipping his own hands into his pants pockets and replying with a cool, "Well, then, why don't you go off and retrieve it?" After Clark had turned away, unable to help himself, Lex called after him, "It would be nice to be able to contact you once in awhile, in case something important comes up and you're not within screaming distance, don't you think?"
Clark twisted his head to give Lex a look back over his shoulder as he retreated, tromping down the outlined pavestoned 'path' and out of the solarium. The door swung shut with a very audible 'bang!'
There was silence for a beat.
"...What the hell was that?" said Lane.
Lex turned to Lane, and met her frowning gaze. "I can appreciate why you might not want Clark to be in a position where he can interfere in what you consider to be your personal, private family affairs," he began, "but I need to be able to contact him at times."
"Why?" Lane said, which was passing odd, because he'd have expected that sort of frustrated accusation from Chloe, not her cousin.
Lex considered her for a long moment, then opted for the truth, just this once. "Because Clark disappeared on me yesterday, after helping me thwart a takeover plan of my father's devising. I tried calling him to make sure he was okay." ...just not quite for that reason, Lex admitted to himself, at least. "I couldn't raise him. For all I knew, he could have been lying in a ditch somewhere, having been accosted by the very same criminals who'd been harrying the Akrada group, apparently at my father's direction."
And it had occurred to Lex later that previous afternoon that Lionel could have actually hurt him -- he knew about the meteor rock, being the one to tell Lana about it. Lionel also knew Clark was an alien -- of that, Lex was dead-certain at this point, having gone over the facts in his mind multiple times yesterday after the events of that morning and afternoon. Chief among them was Lionel's marked increased interest in Clark and having a... 'fatherly'... relationship with him following the second meteor shower, entirely separate from his chasing after Martha Kent. Clark might think that Lionel didn't know, but all that really meant was that Lionel hadn't come out and told him, openly admitted that he knew it. Chloe was a prime example of Clark's blindness in that regard -- hell, so was Lex himself! -- given what had occurred in the caves during the meteor shower, with Chloe accosting him like that, and Clark only later seeming to treat her differently than he had prior to her helpful interference and vanishing act to odd points up north. Clark obviously assumed that a body didn't know he was an alien until they declared as much to him, and then explicitly demonstrated their knowledge.
Lex had quietly panicked for some time over the thought of Lionel attacking Clark in retribution for his interference that morning, which had prompted a spate of increasingly frantic calls and hangups to Clark's cellphone for about an hour or so after he'd had that horrifying revelation, before Lex had calmed down enough to realize he had other options. Instead of sitting by the phone, worrying about Clark, without actually accomplishing anything, he set his staff upon collaborating with the police to attempt to track down the criminals that had been paid off to terrorize and otherwise murder the Akrada group members, attacking the problem from the other end. After all, if the thugs that had been harassing Akrada were taken off the streets, then Lionel's borrowed enforcement and retribution arm was effectively cut off at the wrist, leaving Clark safe... for the moment.
Progress on dismantling the Apex group's American holdings had been disturbingly slow-going, however. It had left Lex a lot of time to think, and he'd eventually managed to convince himself that, given Lionel's reactions that morning, it was unlikely his father would go that route just yet -- unleashing the dogs of war on Clark himself. Lionel had patterns.
Lionel almost always played the reasonable businessman at first, to try and get what he wanted. If that didn't work, he moved on to friendly coercion; if necessary, vague implication might follow, and then threats. Only when these avenues were exhausted... or he became impatient with the game... did he move on to blackmail, shows of force, and the other less-than-legal tactics of preferred choice.
And, given that Lionel had not yet attempted to overpower Clark and take him in hand, for whatever reason, he was clearly following the normal progression of escalation of matters that he usually took. Thus, he'd likely move on to coercion and threats next, before attempting anything worse. Lionel also didn't know Clark like Lex did -- with such a dangerous opponent to woo to his side, Lionel would want to be sure that whatever coersive techniques and eventual threats he made would actually have the impact he expected, and wanted.
Also, due to the 'game' he was still obviously not done playing with Lex over the upcoming alien war and their relative positions within it, he was far more likely to continue trying to influence Clark with words and favors at the moment, not accost and subdue Clark directly through an outright physical attack.
When it came right down to it, Lionel wasn't stupid. Trying to take Clark out of play would prompt a very negative response from Lex at present, if only because of the guest status he'd given the surviving Kents, and the offer of refuge within his home, and Lionel would know that. Lex currently had the full power of LuthorCorp behind him, while Lionel had just been dealt a strong blow to those business relations he'd most cultivated, those with the Apex group. It would take time for Lionel to build himself back up to a position of strength where he could take a full-on attack from Lex and survive it. Attacking Clark while Lex was watching over him would also leave Lex in a position to inform his mother of just such a thing, and allow Lex to both sweep Martha up into his ranks and bar Lionel from any further development of a positive relationship with her. No, Lionel would not be attacking Clark anytime soon.
...at least for the moment. Once Lex allied with Clark openly, and vice-versa, and Lionel realized that his window of opportunity for persuading Clark had irrevocably closed, the gloves would likely come off, though. Yesterday could easily be explained away as a time when Lex's and Clark's disparate agendas had momentarily converged; Lex was more sensitive than anyone to the distinction between that, and what he really wanted his relationship with Clark to become. Lex's offer of his home to Martha and Clark could also be seen as a power play to attempt to regain some ground lost in the field of politics to anyone who didn't know that Lex had maneuvered Martha into being the one asked to pick up the reins as the state senator. And anyone who did know that Lex had been behind those maneuverings would also know that he wanted her to be in that seat, and would see his actions in a similar light -- a bid for control, only more indirectly than taking the seat for himself. (And so long as Lex did not voice his own thoughts on the matter, no-one would think that he had anything other than purely selfish motives for wanting her to take the seat, other than to put himself at best advantage.)
Lionel could take these events in any number of ways, and act upon them accordingly. Who knew -- he might even suss out Lex's actual reasoning ratehr than his supposed 'ultimate purpose' somehow. But even if Lionel did, that didn't mean that he'd use that information. He might make plans for doing so, but act upon the knowledge directly? Not right away.
Because with Lionel and his games, there was what one 'knew', and what one knew. There was the unspoken truth, and what was admitted outright. And what happened after Lex made Lionel admit something outright was markedly different than how Lionel acted when there was something that he and Lex both knew, but neither had openly acknowledged knowing. And Lex had learned his lessons well -- with Lionel, it went both ways.
However, Clark did not know how to play the game, and Lex wasn't sure whether that ignorance awarded Clark some form of protection, or whether it made Clark achingly vulnerable.
--Jonathan was dead, and Lionel was one step closer to the Kents than he had ever been before. That ought to answer that question nicely. For various nonstandard definitions of 'nice'.
"...You're worried about Clark," Lane said slowly.
"It's not an uncommon occurrence," Lex said, pulling himself out of his thoughts enough to shoot her a look.
Lane looked about to protest, then hesitated, likely remembering the incident at the coffee shop two days prior.
"Seriously, though -- what was that?" Lane asked him again, frowning after him as he retrieved the piece of toast he'd munched upon earlier, stood, and walked back over to his original seat.
He eyed her as he gracefully not-quite-collapsed back in his chosen, cushioned, comfortable monstrosity of a piece of furniture, and stifled a sigh. He lost himself for a moment in the plushy give, remembering the not-quite-a-fight he'd had with his staff over keeping it. (He'd wanted it removed, it not matching the decor at all. ...Actually, that was unfair: to be frank, the thing looked absolutely hideous. They'd protested, insisting that he at least try sitting in it, first. ...Shortly thereafter, he'd been glad he'd listened to them, and grateful that they'd not let him make such an uninformed decision in ignorance. It would have been a grave mistake.)
He squirmed slightly, settling in and getting downright comfortable. ...Then he remembered he had an audience. Sigh.
'What was that?' he reflected upon. Had that really been too hard for Lane to follow? He straightened marginally in his seat and eyed Lane again. "What was what?" he asked, pulling another bite-sized chunk from his 'stolen' piece of toast. "Clark and I fight sometimes. That's not an uncommon occurrence, either." He popped the piece of toast in his mouth, chewed, and swallowed.
Lois frowned at him, like he suddenly didn't quite fit.
Lex's eyebrows went up, because... Well. That didn't happen very often. Usually people just believed what they'd heard about him, and their biased first impressions, and that was that.
"...Have you ever made muffins for the Talon?" Lane asked him finally, though highly-dubiously.
Lex smirked.
Lane's eyes narrowed.
Lex smirked some more.
Lane started to look uncertain, then recovered and said, "Having your cook bake them for you doesn't count."
Lex's smirk got a little more smug.
Lane started to frown slightly.
Lex's smirk widened fractionally.
Lane sat back on the sofa and crossed her arms huffily. "--You're messing with me!" she scoffed.
"I'd tell you the secret ingredient to the Kents' triple-chocolate muffin recipe," Lex told her kindly, "but then Martha would have to kill you. Hopefully before Lana's aunt Nell heard about it." He popped another piece of toast in his mouth, chewed, and swallowed.
Lois' expression dropped into a blank stare.
Lex smiled.
While Lois started making noises of protest and denial and disbelief, Lex went back to a neutral stare and mentally snickered to himself. He'd never realized that teasing girls could be fun! Or maybe it was just Lane. --Either way, now he had another reason to put up with her presence: Clark-mood-neutralizer, and fun to tease. So she was good for something, after all.
"You're still not eating anything," Lex noted as he finished off the last of his piece of toast, glancing over at Chloe.
"She'll eat when she's hungry -- quit trying to change the subject!" Lane all-but-snapped at him.
"What subject? My baking skills?" he asked her, stifling a groan of protest as he pushed himself up out of the chair again -- he needed something to drink, and he should have gotten it when he'd retrieved the toast. Poor planning on his part.
"You and Clark!" she exclaimed as he poured himself a new cup of tea. "I mean, I thought you were kidding about the 'brothers' thing at the Talon," she said, and Lex had to stifle a wince as he turned away. "But you fight like--" She frowned. Lex took the momentary pause to proceed to settle himself back into his very comfortable chair. "And that thing about... you were joking about Mrs. Kent's muffins--!" Lois spluttered. "And..."
Lex blinked at her. Lane looked kind of nonplussed.
"You aren't actually brothers, are you?" she asked, and Lex nearly choked on his tea.
"Ah, no. No, we are not," he told her, slowly bringing the cup back down to his lap.
"Are you sure?" she asked, and Lex felt a rising amusement, tinged with embarrassment, of all things.
"Actually, yes," he said, propping his head up on a fist, against the arm of his chair. "There was an... incident, a few years ago, with someone claiming to be Clark's biological mother. Clark had to take a DNA test."
"And they claimed Lionel was the father?" Lane asked, far too quick on the uptake. Lex frowned, but nodded an affirmative.
"He wasn't, though. Neither of them were a match," Lex elaborated.
"But Lionel's trying to get cozy with him. And Mrs. Kent."
Lex felt too uncomfortable to fully suppress the disgust he felt at the thought. "Yes," he told her, not quite a warning, as he leaned back in his chair. He used both hands to lift the teacup to his lips again, and took another sip of the warm beverage.
Lane stole a glance over at her cousin, who had draped herself along the reclining side of the fainting couch, her head pillowed in her arms, half-asleep.
"You don't actually think that Lionel might've had something to do with...?" she asked him lowly, glancing between him and Chloe, now sounding worried of all things.
Lex blinked at her, then belatedly remembered that, while Clark had been the one to tell him about the Apex group and their interference with Akrada in Suicide Slums, Chloe had been the one to actually write and publish the article in the Daily Planet and collaborate with the police.
He felt a little taken aback that such a thought had occurred to Lane, but had not once crossed his own mind.
He lowered his cup again as, even worse, he realized that the idea might even have some merit. After all, his father had once tried to kill Chloe and her father in an explosion, and Lex via poison in his scotch. It seemed a little backwards, though -- Lionel had only tried poisoning Lex after trying to have him committed and electroshocked into becoming the 'perfect' Stepford son had failed.
...which had been instigated by drugs in his scotch and attempts by Lionel to make him and others think he was having hallcuinatory episodes, if Clark was to be believed.
Oh hell, no wonder Clark and Chloe reacted so badly to what I said, Lex realized. He might not have told anyone about the blood poisoning that that Crystal of Fire had healed him from before he'd had it stolen from him mid-flight, but they'd known about his stint in Belle Reeve and what had caused it -- drugs in his drink. He'd probably reminded them both of what had happened to him, and the parallels to this situation were...
...possibly a coincidence. Lionel had likely attempted to bring Lex back into the fold in such a way because he was his son. He had no reason to attempt to cultivate Chloe any further than he'd already attempted to do.
...though Lionel did have every reason to remove her presence and influence from Clark. Isolating a person was the first step to being able to effectively control them. Having Chloe committed for insanity would be one way to do that, without anyone the wiser.
Unfortunately, Lex couldn't think of any way Lionel might have made Chloe think she was hallucinating without anyone else noticing -- not without drugging her at least, and if that was the case, then shouldn't Lane have been showing symptoms, as well? They lived in the same apartment, eating the same food, drinking the same water, breathing the same air. Besides, Chloe's bloodwork at the hospital should have shown any drugs in her system, which would have immediately raised some red flags there.
...Then again, if Dr. Sydell was in Lionel's pocket, maybe he hadn't done the tests, or had faked the results.
"Luthor?"
Lex shook himself from his disturbing thoughts and runaway musings and massaged his right temple, a new headache beginning to form.
"Apologies, I think that perhaps remnants of the sedatives are still in my system," he told her. He took in a deeper breath and let it out. "Generally I only self-medicate with alcohol," he said ruefully.
"Great," Lane said sarcastically. "Nice to know you're in your right mind, too."
Lex ignored the snark and accompanying eyeroll. For the most part. "There's no need to be rude."
"Oh, really? 'Cause if your father's done something to my cousin--"
"--Lane, if there's one thing I've learned over the years, it's that I have absolutely no control over what my father does and does not do," Lex said, feeling even more tired than before. "If he did have something to do with your cousin's condition, then I will gladly do all I can to help bring him to justice." However much help that may be...
"What, but not help her?"
"I'm already doing what I can to reverse any effects of a possible drugging, merely by giving her time," Lex explained patiently. "If the cause of her hallucinatory episodes is something in her system, then her body will purge anything mundane on its own. I'd be perfectly willing to have a blood sample drawn and my people do a full lab workup on it, though, to identify or rule out anything else." Lex sighed. "Though, frankly, by the time the sedatives are out of her system, whatever she might have been exposed to that could have caused this ought to have cleared as well, including anything Dr. Sydell gave her." He paused. "Anything the doctor would have disclosed using on her, at any rate." He knew full well what drugs were listed as available for initial intake for involuntary commital at the Smallville Medical Center, and none of them should have a lasting effect longer than twelve hours in duration.
Lane looked a little defensive. "She did need help. --Still does." She glanced at her cousin, lightly dozing by her side.
"Maybe. We won't know for sure how bad it is until she comes off of the medications Sydell gave her." And if her 'madness' was a persistent condition... well, he would deal with it, then.
He raised his cup and finished off his tea.
"Luthor, you didn't see her in that bathroom," Lane said quietly. "I did." She swallowed, then continued. "She was sprawled in the corner of the room, glass everywhere, forearms cut up and bleeding, and she was begging me for help."
"The glass was from the mirror?" he asked.
"Yes, but--" She looked irritated. "Something like that doesn't just go away -- she hurt herself!"
"Do you know that for sure?" Lex asked her curiously. "Did you see her do it?"
"Well, no, but..." Lane shook her head, looking frustrated and angry, both with herself, and with the world at-large. "What else could it be?"
"I don't know," he told her simply. "It could be some sort of mundane insanity. It could be a 'Wall of Weird' sort of event. It could even be my father's interference."
"Wall of-- Seriously? You're into that meteor rock stuff, too?" Lane said with no small disgust.
"The effects of the meteor rocks are very well-documented," Lex said quietly, looking her in the eye. "If not always completely understood." He held her gaze for a long time.
Lane grimaced and looked away first.
"I don't think it's a good idea for you to be the one making decisions about my cousin when you're not exactly thinking clearly right now, either," she put out there derisively.
"I'm only on the tail end of the effects of mild sedatives and operating on reduced sleep; that's hardly enough to degrade my judgment to so compromised a state as you're implying," Lex stated cooly. "And you're forgetting that her 72-hour suicide watch was cleared by the hospital staff," Lex reminded her. "She's being watched by the three of us -- you, me, and Clark -- not just me. So long as she doesn't try to cause herself self-injury in the imterim, she gets a free pass."
"So, what, if she hallucinates again, nothing I say about her matters?" Lane sneered. "If you claim that she needs to be drugged within an inch of her life, your friend on the Board of Directors won't listen to you?"
Lex frowned. "Brenda is a business associate," he corrected Lane. "And yes, of course they would listen, but they wouldn't give what either of us said any more weight than they would give any other concerned responsible adult who might feel that Chloe needs to be brought in for observation. There are intake procedures for that sort of thing, Lane, and the staff at Belle Reeve knows how to follow them properly." I've made sure of that.
Lane looked about to protest again, and Lex waved a hand and cut her off. "Look, what do you think would have happened if she'd stayed at that hospital, under Dr. Sydell's care? At best, she would have been under the same suicide watch, only there she would have remained strapped to a bed, unable to move -- other than to strain her wounds against those improperly-fastened straps," he said with a touch of anger, "and she would have been lucky if the staff nurses checked in on her once every hour or two to make sure that she hadn't tried to bite off her tongue and bleed out that way."
Lane looked a little ill.
"At worst," Lex continued, "Sydell would have continued to pump drugs into her until she stopped talking, or started parroting back whatever he told her to say. --You might have noticed that he only stopped trying to work on her when she was barely conscious and unable to react -- not respond -- in any meaningful way," Lex noted, because he knew how these things worked. "And--"
Lex was cut off by the sound of approaching footsteps. He stifled a sigh and pushed himself forward in his seat to stand, but a large hand came down on his shoulder and shoved him back. An unstoppable force.
Lex didn't try to struggle and resist it, no fool he.
Instead, he craned his head up to look at Clark, and his expression was...
"Get some sleep," Lex was told as Clark stole his empty teacup.
Lex blinked.
"...Right here?" Because Clark's hand was still on his shoulder, keeping him there.
Clark stood there for a moment, then nodded.
...Well, Clark probably had a reason for saying that, right?
Lex settled back in his comfortable chair again, and decided it was not an unreasonable request. Both he and Chloe were currently medicated, possibly over-medicated, and Clark was pulling over a lawn chair to settle down in himself.
Lex had also fallen asleep in this chair several times before, on other occasions. Those instances had been on less busy weekends than this, though.
"Did you find your cellphone?" Lex asked him, as he snagged a footrest with his heel and put up his feet. He folded his hands in his lap and let his eyes fall shut as he waited for a response.
There was a pause.
"Yeah," said Clark. "It was in my room."
"Do you have it on you now?"
"The battery was dead. I plugged it in to charge."
Clark's voice was neutral, and low. Lex couldn't really get a read from it, and he was too tired to reopen his eyes. More tired than he'd originally thought.
It was probably a good thing that the battery had run out. Given that Clark would have his hands full watching Chloe and watching over Lex and keeping Lois from doing something stupid in the meantime, that meant Lex would likely be able to get to the phone first later, before Clark retrieved it from his room. Clark really didn't need to hear those messages that Lex had left. He'd be able to explain much better in-person to him, without a whole bunch of useless frantic, desperate, pleading for a response getting in the way of the real discussion they needed to have, and maybe even an apology.
Lex wanted one in return, though, for all the completely unnecessary stress and worry that Clark had subjected him to with his forgetfulness. That was almost worse than if he'd done so on purpose. ...No, actually, scratch that -- it absolutely was worse.
"Lex..." he thought he might have heard Clark say quietly, but he was halfway on his way to sleep by that point, and if Clark really had called his name, or said anything after that, Lex didn't hear it.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Teaser #1 was posted here on LJ.
~*~*~*~*~*~
"I don't want to go to a solarium," Chloe murmured as Lex directed her down the hallway, all-but-dragging her along. "Plants smell," she objected without force.
"Yes," Lex said patiently, "but these plants have a mild, clean scent. They won't make your nausea any worse."
"How do you know," she muttered, with a half-hearted glare his way.
"Because I used to fall ill on a disturbingly frequent basis, once-upon-a-time," Lex told her, "and they never made me feel any worse, breathing them in."
Chloe frowned at him. "Asthma, allergies."
Lex blinked. He really couldn't remember the asthma, though he'd heard since then that he'd used to have it. He didn't quite believe it, though he could almost recall having dropped something of marked, panicked importance -- probably his inhaler -- the day of the meteor shower, in those corn fields. But everything from when he was younger than than, younger than nine, was mostly just a dark blur. Only a few things stood out in those memories, and the garden this solarium was modeled after was one of them.
"Yes, I suppose," Lex restricted himself to saying neutrally, as he opened and guided her through the correct door, now that they'd reached it.
He managed to navigate her through the path of vegetation and get her down onto a fainting couch before she started to frown and protest again.
"Where's Clark?" she said, starting to get up. Lex held her down with a hand on her shoulder without much difficulty.
"He's coming," Lex informed her. "He's getting the food."
"I don't trust you," Chloe said, twisting away from his hand.
"And yet I still don't care," Lex told her breezily. "Imagine that."
Chloe continued glaring up at him from a slightly hunched over position where she sat, as he took a seat nearby, in a rather comfortably-cushioned chair, and stretched out.
"Why are you here," she said flatly. Lex had no doubt that it would have been underscored by anger if she wasn't still under the effects of the sedative.
"It's my mansion, and you're still on suicide watch," he informed her dryly, settling in and leaning back to watch her side-long. "Someone has to stay with you," he said blandly, with impeccible logic. At the look of distrust she shot his way, he added, "Don't worry. Lois and Clark are within screaming distance, and Clark will be here soon with food. You'll feel much better, once you've gotten something into your stomach," he informed her. "It will help you burn off the rest of the sedative, along with any lingering effects from the rest of the drugs you were injected with last night."
"I hate you," she said, still watching him from under lowered lids as she slouched against the couch.
"I know," Lex said. He rubbed at his eyes.
"What do you want, anyway," she muttered.
"To fall back asleep," Lex said with a tired sigh. "But I doubt I'm going to get to do that anytime soon."
"Why not?" he heard, and he twisted his head back to see Clark walking in with a breakfast tray loaded down with the 'sick foods' he'd specified earlier, Lois trailing behind. "You're not going in to work today, are you?" Clark set the tray down on the low table in front of Chloe, glaring at Lex slightly as he did so, as though working on a weekend was a crime.
"Probably," said Lex, tilting his head to the side and rubbing at the bridge of his nose with a finger. "There's a lot to get done." He hadn't gotten much done yesterday after his panic attack over Clark, after all. ...He hadn't gotten much done that morning, either.
"It's Saturday!" Clark exclaimed, straightening.
"Your mother's the one who woke me up," Lex pointed out, dropping his hand. "If you hadn't wanted me up, you shouldn't have sent her after me to--"
"--I didn't," Clark cut in, looking very frowny. He was watching Lex's face closely, for some reason.
Lex blinked up at him. What? He straightened slightly in his chair, feeling a little uncomfortable at the thought. "You didn't sic your mother on me?" Lex asked, looking for straight-out confirmation.
"No," said Clark.
Lex blinked again.
"Then why did she..." Lex shook his head, then grimaced slightly, rubbing at his right temple to try and forestall the tension headache this was beginning to give him. It didn't really make sense...
"No! I'm not eating this!"
Clark started, and both he and Lex turned to stare at Chloe, as Lane blew out a breath in irritation and fell down next to her on the couch.
"You should eat something, Chlo'!" Lane huffed out. "You didn't eat anything last night!"
"Well, whose fault is that!" Chloe bit out starting to work herself up into a state.
"You didn't have any dinner last night?" Lex asked, sitting up and frowning.
That got him a flat glare from Chloe, and not much else. Unhelpful.
"We were gonna eat after she showered," Lane said, which was slightly more helpful.
Lex sighed deeply. If Chloe had been 'treated' by the 'good doctor' Sydell on an empty stomach... Small wonder that the drugs hit her so hard. Hell, the man was probably lucky that she hadn't overdosed on whatever he'd given her -- and if he hadn't taken that into account in his choice of dosage strength, he likely hadn't considered the impact of the blood loss from her wounds on her system, either. Lex made a mental note to himself: he was going to have to have Brenda go over his patients' medications list with a fine-toothed comb. Goddamn know-it-all idiot quacks.
That, however, would not help solve the immediate circumstances that hd been caused by his actions -- negligent, malicious, or otherwise. Whch meant that it fell to Lex to fix what yet remained within his scope of influence, here and now.
Wonderful, he thought with a dry sarcasm, and a deep, tired mental sigh. ...Well, Gabe (by way of Clark) had signed him up for it, and it was the least he could do for the man, considering.
So Lex got up from his chair and walked over to the low coffee table by the fainting couch, then folded his legs, neatly sitting himself down upon the edge of it.
"Honestly, Chloe," Lex said as he picked up a slice of toast and pulled a chunk off of the corner of it. "Clark must have been standing right there watching as he waited for Cook to make this for you. If it had been poisoned, he'd have at least said something about it now, don't you think?" He popped the piece into his mouth and chewed, to show that he, at least, trusted the alien and Cook that had supervised the preparation of these vittles.
At the wide-eyed stares he got from both Lane and Sullivan, he swallowed what he'd finished chewing and set down the rest of the toast slice, and revised his earlier thought as he poured himself a cup of lukewarm beverage from the large carafe. Upon reflection, 'poisoned' might have been a bit harsh, after all, so he added just before he took a sip of tea, "...or drugged?"
Then he stifled a wince at the second set of reactions this garnered him, Chloe's even worse than before. Hm. Perhaps he should be more careful not to be putting thoughts into Chloe's still-somewhat-paranoid head--
Lex blinked, feeling a little off-balance, as Clark stared into his eyes, looking very concerned. ...Why had Clark taken ahold of his arm and dragged him upright, all of a sudden?
"Lex, are you all right?" Clark asked, looking a little on edge.
"...Yes?" Lex said with a slight frown, as he recentered his weight and then tilted his head at Clark. For some reason he felt a little amused. He glanced down at the teacup in his hand. At least he hadn't spilled it, being hauled to his feet like that. ...And when exactly had he begun getting used to Clark manhandling him about, anyway?
Lex downed the last of the liquid, just in case, and handed Clark the now-empty cup.
Clark took it absently, then stared down at it for a moment. He looked back up at Lex, peering at him carefully.
"Problem?" Lex asked.
"Are you sure you're all right?" Clark asked him, again, and that gave Lex pause. Did Clark think there was something wrong with him? That he'd caught whatever was wrong with Chloe somehow?
He reviewed what seemed to be Chloe's presentation of symptoms.
"...I don't believe I'm hallucinating, or paranoid," Lex told him slowly. At least, not any more paranoid than he ever was, for certain standard medical definitions of 'paranoia'... "Why?"
Then it occurred to Lex -- had there been something off with the tea, after all? Did Clark and Cook put something in it, thinking only Chloe would imbibe it?
Lex very carefully made it a point to hold gaze with Clark -- not to look down at the carafe containing the rest of the beverage -- and held himself with a well-practiced ease. He watched and waited, the better to carefully gauge Clark's response.
Clark opened his mouth -- to object? -- but then paused, seemed to have second thoughts, tried to revise what he was going to say, and finally settled on just grimacing slightly.
Lex's eyebrows slowly went up.
"--The tea's fine," Clark said in a rush, looking uncomfortable.
That wasn't a lie, but... "I didn't think it likely it wasn't," Lex said in reply, watching Clark carefully.
Clark was holding something back.
Lex felt a spike of impatience, rather than uneasiness.
"Is there something I should know?" Lex asked him slowly.
Clark nearly said something, and then his jaw set.
"It doesn't matter," said Clark.
What, like my having found out your secret, and then not telling me again afterwards after I'd been forced to forget it after my incarceration at Belle Reeve? That kind of 'not matter'ing? Lex was unamused.
"Where is your phone?" Lex asked him thinly, pushing back on a burst of anger and... shame? He tried to throw off the latter -- Clark might trust him less because of his reactions the day prior, but between the two of them Clark was also far better at forgiveness. And the fact of the matter was that Lex couldn't do this all himself, repairing everything between them -- Clark had to meet him halfway.
"Wh-- My phone?" Clark said, thrown by the change in topic.
"Yes," Lex said, as he smoothly pulled his arm out of Clark's grasp. "Where is it? You needed to borrow Lane's at the hospital. Did you not have it with you, or was the battery dead?" he not quite grated out.
"...Why?" Clark said as he set down Lex's empty teacup, and Lex knew from his tone that it was more of a suspicious why do you want to know, rather than a flippant why do you care?
Lex's eyes narrowed.
"How did you hear about Chloe?" he asked instead. "Did Lois call you?"
Clark shifted from foot to foot, like he was trying to find balance for a more physical fight. "I got a phone call from the hospital. I'm on Chloe's contact list for medical stuff, and they had the mansion phone number for contacting me because of..." he trailed off, and Lex realized that Clark was referring to the power of attorney for Lex's own medical affairs. Clark must have updated their file in a mild fit of responsibility. Not reaching Clark at the farm, whoever was running their phone bank must have searched in the other records for an alternate number and gotten it from there.
Lex found it mildly interesting that Chloe had Clark on her contact list, but had not given him any power over her treatment options in the case of incapacitation, given that Gabe was no longer working or living in town nearby. Was that an accidental oversight, or did she have some substantive reason not to trust Clark that far?
Well, no matter. He was himself, and Chloe was... well, she was Chloe. As far as he was concerned, she hadn't grown up much at all in the intervening years from the teenaged girl she was when she'd allied herself with Lionel -- knowing what she was walking into -- and gotten in way over her head. If he was going to have second thoughts about Clark, he'd do it for his own reasons, not hers. Whatever they might be.
As if he particularly cared what they might be, other than a mild passing interest.
It was a good point for a timely lesson, though. Clark's inactions had consequences just as much as his actions did.
"And what do you think might have happened if you hadn't been in the mansion when they called?" Lex queried of the young alien, who was as able to be in Kansas one minute as the east or west coast the next, if not as likely. "How would they have gotten in contact with you?" He took a step closer, getting right up in Clark's face. "How long would it have been before you'd even known that she'd been admitted to the hospital, or that anything had happened at all?"
Clark reared back as if slapped. "I--"
"Do you even know where your cellphone is?" Lex asked with eyes narrowed.
"...Yes," Clark gritted out, hands clenching at his sides.
Lex responded by merely slipping his own hands into his pants pockets and replying with a cool, "Well, then, why don't you go off and retrieve it?" After Clark had turned away, unable to help himself, Lex called after him, "It would be nice to be able to contact you once in awhile, in case something important comes up and you're not within screaming distance, don't you think?"
Clark twisted his head to give Lex a look back over his shoulder as he retreated, tromping down the outlined pavestoned 'path' and out of the solarium. The door swung shut with a very audible 'bang!'
There was silence for a beat.
"...What the hell was that?" said Lane.
Lex turned to Lane, and met her frowning gaze. "I can appreciate why you might not want Clark to be in a position where he can interfere in what you consider to be your personal, private family affairs," he began, "but I need to be able to contact him at times."
"Why?" Lane said, which was passing odd, because he'd have expected that sort of frustrated accusation from Chloe, not her cousin.
Lex considered her for a long moment, then opted for the truth, just this once. "Because Clark disappeared on me yesterday, after helping me thwart a takeover plan of my father's devising. I tried calling him to make sure he was okay." ...just not quite for that reason, Lex admitted to himself, at least. "I couldn't raise him. For all I knew, he could have been lying in a ditch somewhere, having been accosted by the very same criminals who'd been harrying the Akrada group, apparently at my father's direction."
And it had occurred to Lex later that previous afternoon that Lionel could have actually hurt him -- he knew about the meteor rock, being the one to tell Lana about it. Lionel also knew Clark was an alien -- of that, Lex was dead-certain at this point, having gone over the facts in his mind multiple times yesterday after the events of that morning and afternoon. Chief among them was Lionel's marked increased interest in Clark and having a... 'fatherly'... relationship with him following the second meteor shower, entirely separate from his chasing after Martha Kent. Clark might think that Lionel didn't know, but all that really meant was that Lionel hadn't come out and told him, openly admitted that he knew it. Chloe was a prime example of Clark's blindness in that regard -- hell, so was Lex himself! -- given what had occurred in the caves during the meteor shower, with Chloe accosting him like that, and Clark only later seeming to treat her differently than he had prior to her helpful interference and vanishing act to odd points up north. Clark obviously assumed that a body didn't know he was an alien until they declared as much to him, and then explicitly demonstrated their knowledge.
Lex had quietly panicked for some time over the thought of Lionel attacking Clark in retribution for his interference that morning, which had prompted a spate of increasingly frantic calls and hangups to Clark's cellphone for about an hour or so after he'd had that horrifying revelation, before Lex had calmed down enough to realize he had other options. Instead of sitting by the phone, worrying about Clark, without actually accomplishing anything, he set his staff upon collaborating with the police to attempt to track down the criminals that had been paid off to terrorize and otherwise murder the Akrada group members, attacking the problem from the other end. After all, if the thugs that had been harassing Akrada were taken off the streets, then Lionel's borrowed enforcement and retribution arm was effectively cut off at the wrist, leaving Clark safe... for the moment.
Progress on dismantling the Apex group's American holdings had been disturbingly slow-going, however. It had left Lex a lot of time to think, and he'd eventually managed to convince himself that, given Lionel's reactions that morning, it was unlikely his father would go that route just yet -- unleashing the dogs of war on Clark himself. Lionel had patterns.
Lionel almost always played the reasonable businessman at first, to try and get what he wanted. If that didn't work, he moved on to friendly coercion; if necessary, vague implication might follow, and then threats. Only when these avenues were exhausted... or he became impatient with the game... did he move on to blackmail, shows of force, and the other less-than-legal tactics of preferred choice.
And, given that Lionel had not yet attempted to overpower Clark and take him in hand, for whatever reason, he was clearly following the normal progression of escalation of matters that he usually took. Thus, he'd likely move on to coercion and threats next, before attempting anything worse. Lionel also didn't know Clark like Lex did -- with such a dangerous opponent to woo to his side, Lionel would want to be sure that whatever coersive techniques and eventual threats he made would actually have the impact he expected, and wanted.
Also, due to the 'game' he was still obviously not done playing with Lex over the upcoming alien war and their relative positions within it, he was far more likely to continue trying to influence Clark with words and favors at the moment, not accost and subdue Clark directly through an outright physical attack.
When it came right down to it, Lionel wasn't stupid. Trying to take Clark out of play would prompt a very negative response from Lex at present, if only because of the guest status he'd given the surviving Kents, and the offer of refuge within his home, and Lionel would know that. Lex currently had the full power of LuthorCorp behind him, while Lionel had just been dealt a strong blow to those business relations he'd most cultivated, those with the Apex group. It would take time for Lionel to build himself back up to a position of strength where he could take a full-on attack from Lex and survive it. Attacking Clark while Lex was watching over him would also leave Lex in a position to inform his mother of just such a thing, and allow Lex to both sweep Martha up into his ranks and bar Lionel from any further development of a positive relationship with her. No, Lionel would not be attacking Clark anytime soon.
...at least for the moment. Once Lex allied with Clark openly, and vice-versa, and Lionel realized that his window of opportunity for persuading Clark had irrevocably closed, the gloves would likely come off, though. Yesterday could easily be explained away as a time when Lex's and Clark's disparate agendas had momentarily converged; Lex was more sensitive than anyone to the distinction between that, and what he really wanted his relationship with Clark to become. Lex's offer of his home to Martha and Clark could also be seen as a power play to attempt to regain some ground lost in the field of politics to anyone who didn't know that Lex had maneuvered Martha into being the one asked to pick up the reins as the state senator. And anyone who did know that Lex had been behind those maneuverings would also know that he wanted her to be in that seat, and would see his actions in a similar light -- a bid for control, only more indirectly than taking the seat for himself. (And so long as Lex did not voice his own thoughts on the matter, no-one would think that he had anything other than purely selfish motives for wanting her to take the seat, other than to put himself at best advantage.)
Lionel could take these events in any number of ways, and act upon them accordingly. Who knew -- he might even suss out Lex's actual reasoning ratehr than his supposed 'ultimate purpose' somehow. But even if Lionel did, that didn't mean that he'd use that information. He might make plans for doing so, but act upon the knowledge directly? Not right away.
Because with Lionel and his games, there was what one 'knew', and what one knew. There was the unspoken truth, and what was admitted outright. And what happened after Lex made Lionel admit something outright was markedly different than how Lionel acted when there was something that he and Lex both knew, but neither had openly acknowledged knowing. And Lex had learned his lessons well -- with Lionel, it went both ways.
However, Clark did not know how to play the game, and Lex wasn't sure whether that ignorance awarded Clark some form of protection, or whether it made Clark achingly vulnerable.
--Jonathan was dead, and Lionel was one step closer to the Kents than he had ever been before. That ought to answer that question nicely. For various nonstandard definitions of 'nice'.
"...You're worried about Clark," Lane said slowly.
"It's not an uncommon occurrence," Lex said, pulling himself out of his thoughts enough to shoot her a look.
Lane looked about to protest, then hesitated, likely remembering the incident at the coffee shop two days prior.
"Seriously, though -- what was that?" Lane asked him again, frowning after him as he retrieved the piece of toast he'd munched upon earlier, stood, and walked back over to his original seat.
He eyed her as he gracefully not-quite-collapsed back in his chosen, cushioned, comfortable monstrosity of a piece of furniture, and stifled a sigh. He lost himself for a moment in the plushy give, remembering the not-quite-a-fight he'd had with his staff over keeping it. (He'd wanted it removed, it not matching the decor at all. ...Actually, that was unfair: to be frank, the thing looked absolutely hideous. They'd protested, insisting that he at least try sitting in it, first. ...Shortly thereafter, he'd been glad he'd listened to them, and grateful that they'd not let him make such an uninformed decision in ignorance. It would have been a grave mistake.)
He squirmed slightly, settling in and getting downright comfortable. ...Then he remembered he had an audience. Sigh.
'What was that?' he reflected upon. Had that really been too hard for Lane to follow? He straightened marginally in his seat and eyed Lane again. "What was what?" he asked, pulling another bite-sized chunk from his 'stolen' piece of toast. "Clark and I fight sometimes. That's not an uncommon occurrence, either." He popped the piece of toast in his mouth, chewed, and swallowed.
Lois frowned at him, like he suddenly didn't quite fit.
Lex's eyebrows went up, because... Well. That didn't happen very often. Usually people just believed what they'd heard about him, and their biased first impressions, and that was that.
"...Have you ever made muffins for the Talon?" Lane asked him finally, though highly-dubiously.
Lex smirked.
Lane's eyes narrowed.
Lex smirked some more.
Lane started to look uncertain, then recovered and said, "Having your cook bake them for you doesn't count."
Lex's smirk got a little more smug.
Lane started to frown slightly.
Lex's smirk widened fractionally.
Lane sat back on the sofa and crossed her arms huffily. "--You're messing with me!" she scoffed.
"I'd tell you the secret ingredient to the Kents' triple-chocolate muffin recipe," Lex told her kindly, "but then Martha would have to kill you. Hopefully before Lana's aunt Nell heard about it." He popped another piece of toast in his mouth, chewed, and swallowed.
Lois' expression dropped into a blank stare.
Lex smiled.
While Lois started making noises of protest and denial and disbelief, Lex went back to a neutral stare and mentally snickered to himself. He'd never realized that teasing girls could be fun! Or maybe it was just Lane. --Either way, now he had another reason to put up with her presence: Clark-mood-neutralizer, and fun to tease. So she was good for something, after all.
"You're still not eating anything," Lex noted as he finished off the last of his piece of toast, glancing over at Chloe.
"She'll eat when she's hungry -- quit trying to change the subject!" Lane all-but-snapped at him.
"What subject? My baking skills?" he asked her, stifling a groan of protest as he pushed himself up out of the chair again -- he needed something to drink, and he should have gotten it when he'd retrieved the toast. Poor planning on his part.
"You and Clark!" she exclaimed as he poured himself a new cup of tea. "I mean, I thought you were kidding about the 'brothers' thing at the Talon," she said, and Lex had to stifle a wince as he turned away. "But you fight like--" She frowned. Lex took the momentary pause to proceed to settle himself back into his very comfortable chair. "And that thing about... you were joking about Mrs. Kent's muffins--!" Lois spluttered. "And..."
Lex blinked at her. Lane looked kind of nonplussed.
"You aren't actually brothers, are you?" she asked, and Lex nearly choked on his tea.
"Ah, no. No, we are not," he told her, slowly bringing the cup back down to his lap.
"Are you sure?" she asked, and Lex felt a rising amusement, tinged with embarrassment, of all things.
"Actually, yes," he said, propping his head up on a fist, against the arm of his chair. "There was an... incident, a few years ago, with someone claiming to be Clark's biological mother. Clark had to take a DNA test."
"And they claimed Lionel was the father?" Lane asked, far too quick on the uptake. Lex frowned, but nodded an affirmative.
"He wasn't, though. Neither of them were a match," Lex elaborated.
"But Lionel's trying to get cozy with him. And Mrs. Kent."
Lex felt too uncomfortable to fully suppress the disgust he felt at the thought. "Yes," he told her, not quite a warning, as he leaned back in his chair. He used both hands to lift the teacup to his lips again, and took another sip of the warm beverage.
Lane stole a glance over at her cousin, who had draped herself along the reclining side of the fainting couch, her head pillowed in her arms, half-asleep.
"You don't actually think that Lionel might've had something to do with...?" she asked him lowly, glancing between him and Chloe, now sounding worried of all things.
Lex blinked at her, then belatedly remembered that, while Clark had been the one to tell him about the Apex group and their interference with Akrada in Suicide Slums, Chloe had been the one to actually write and publish the article in the Daily Planet and collaborate with the police.
He felt a little taken aback that such a thought had occurred to Lane, but had not once crossed his own mind.
He lowered his cup again as, even worse, he realized that the idea might even have some merit. After all, his father had once tried to kill Chloe and her father in an explosion, and Lex via poison in his scotch. It seemed a little backwards, though -- Lionel had only tried poisoning Lex after trying to have him committed and electroshocked into becoming the 'perfect' Stepford son had failed.
...which had been instigated by drugs in his scotch and attempts by Lionel to make him and others think he was having hallcuinatory episodes, if Clark was to be believed.
Oh hell, no wonder Clark and Chloe reacted so badly to what I said, Lex realized. He might not have told anyone about the blood poisoning that that Crystal of Fire had healed him from before he'd had it stolen from him mid-flight, but they'd known about his stint in Belle Reeve and what had caused it -- drugs in his drink. He'd probably reminded them both of what had happened to him, and the parallels to this situation were...
...possibly a coincidence. Lionel had likely attempted to bring Lex back into the fold in such a way because he was his son. He had no reason to attempt to cultivate Chloe any further than he'd already attempted to do.
...though Lionel did have every reason to remove her presence and influence from Clark. Isolating a person was the first step to being able to effectively control them. Having Chloe committed for insanity would be one way to do that, without anyone the wiser.
Unfortunately, Lex couldn't think of any way Lionel might have made Chloe think she was hallucinating without anyone else noticing -- not without drugging her at least, and if that was the case, then shouldn't Lane have been showing symptoms, as well? They lived in the same apartment, eating the same food, drinking the same water, breathing the same air. Besides, Chloe's bloodwork at the hospital should have shown any drugs in her system, which would have immediately raised some red flags there.
...Then again, if Dr. Sydell was in Lionel's pocket, maybe he hadn't done the tests, or had faked the results.
"Luthor?"
Lex shook himself from his disturbing thoughts and runaway musings and massaged his right temple, a new headache beginning to form.
"Apologies, I think that perhaps remnants of the sedatives are still in my system," he told her. He took in a deeper breath and let it out. "Generally I only self-medicate with alcohol," he said ruefully.
"Great," Lane said sarcastically. "Nice to know you're in your right mind, too."
Lex ignored the snark and accompanying eyeroll. For the most part. "There's no need to be rude."
"Oh, really? 'Cause if your father's done something to my cousin--"
"--Lane, if there's one thing I've learned over the years, it's that I have absolutely no control over what my father does and does not do," Lex said, feeling even more tired than before. "If he did have something to do with your cousin's condition, then I will gladly do all I can to help bring him to justice." However much help that may be...
"What, but not help her?"
"I'm already doing what I can to reverse any effects of a possible drugging, merely by giving her time," Lex explained patiently. "If the cause of her hallucinatory episodes is something in her system, then her body will purge anything mundane on its own. I'd be perfectly willing to have a blood sample drawn and my people do a full lab workup on it, though, to identify or rule out anything else." Lex sighed. "Though, frankly, by the time the sedatives are out of her system, whatever she might have been exposed to that could have caused this ought to have cleared as well, including anything Dr. Sydell gave her." He paused. "Anything the doctor would have disclosed using on her, at any rate." He knew full well what drugs were listed as available for initial intake for involuntary commital at the Smallville Medical Center, and none of them should have a lasting effect longer than twelve hours in duration.
Lane looked a little defensive. "She did need help. --Still does." She glanced at her cousin, lightly dozing by her side.
"Maybe. We won't know for sure how bad it is until she comes off of the medications Sydell gave her." And if her 'madness' was a persistent condition... well, he would deal with it, then.
He raised his cup and finished off his tea.
"Luthor, you didn't see her in that bathroom," Lane said quietly. "I did." She swallowed, then continued. "She was sprawled in the corner of the room, glass everywhere, forearms cut up and bleeding, and she was begging me for help."
"The glass was from the mirror?" he asked.
"Yes, but--" She looked irritated. "Something like that doesn't just go away -- she hurt herself!"
"Do you know that for sure?" Lex asked her curiously. "Did you see her do it?"
"Well, no, but..." Lane shook her head, looking frustrated and angry, both with herself, and with the world at-large. "What else could it be?"
"I don't know," he told her simply. "It could be some sort of mundane insanity. It could be a 'Wall of Weird' sort of event. It could even be my father's interference."
"Wall of-- Seriously? You're into that meteor rock stuff, too?" Lane said with no small disgust.
"The effects of the meteor rocks are very well-documented," Lex said quietly, looking her in the eye. "If not always completely understood." He held her gaze for a long time.
Lane grimaced and looked away first.
"I don't think it's a good idea for you to be the one making decisions about my cousin when you're not exactly thinking clearly right now, either," she put out there derisively.
"I'm only on the tail end of the effects of mild sedatives and operating on reduced sleep; that's hardly enough to degrade my judgment to so compromised a state as you're implying," Lex stated cooly. "And you're forgetting that her 72-hour suicide watch was cleared by the hospital staff," Lex reminded her. "She's being watched by the three of us -- you, me, and Clark -- not just me. So long as she doesn't try to cause herself self-injury in the imterim, she gets a free pass."
"So, what, if she hallucinates again, nothing I say about her matters?" Lane sneered. "If you claim that she needs to be drugged within an inch of her life, your friend on the Board of Directors won't listen to you?"
Lex frowned. "Brenda is a business associate," he corrected Lane. "And yes, of course they would listen, but they wouldn't give what either of us said any more weight than they would give any other concerned responsible adult who might feel that Chloe needs to be brought in for observation. There are intake procedures for that sort of thing, Lane, and the staff at Belle Reeve knows how to follow them properly." I've made sure of that.
Lane looked about to protest again, and Lex waved a hand and cut her off. "Look, what do you think would have happened if she'd stayed at that hospital, under Dr. Sydell's care? At best, she would have been under the same suicide watch, only there she would have remained strapped to a bed, unable to move -- other than to strain her wounds against those improperly-fastened straps," he said with a touch of anger, "and she would have been lucky if the staff nurses checked in on her once every hour or two to make sure that she hadn't tried to bite off her tongue and bleed out that way."
Lane looked a little ill.
"At worst," Lex continued, "Sydell would have continued to pump drugs into her until she stopped talking, or started parroting back whatever he told her to say. --You might have noticed that he only stopped trying to work on her when she was barely conscious and unable to react -- not respond -- in any meaningful way," Lex noted, because he knew how these things worked. "And--"
Lex was cut off by the sound of approaching footsteps. He stifled a sigh and pushed himself forward in his seat to stand, but a large hand came down on his shoulder and shoved him back. An unstoppable force.
Lex didn't try to struggle and resist it, no fool he.
Instead, he craned his head up to look at Clark, and his expression was...
"Get some sleep," Lex was told as Clark stole his empty teacup.
Lex blinked.
"...Right here?" Because Clark's hand was still on his shoulder, keeping him there.
Clark stood there for a moment, then nodded.
...Well, Clark probably had a reason for saying that, right?
Lex settled back in his comfortable chair again, and decided it was not an unreasonable request. Both he and Chloe were currently medicated, possibly over-medicated, and Clark was pulling over a lawn chair to settle down in himself.
Lex had also fallen asleep in this chair several times before, on other occasions. Those instances had been on less busy weekends than this, though.
"Did you find your cellphone?" Lex asked him, as he snagged a footrest with his heel and put up his feet. He folded his hands in his lap and let his eyes fall shut as he waited for a response.
There was a pause.
"Yeah," said Clark. "It was in my room."
"Do you have it on you now?"
"The battery was dead. I plugged it in to charge."
Clark's voice was neutral, and low. Lex couldn't really get a read from it, and he was too tired to reopen his eyes. More tired than he'd originally thought.
It was probably a good thing that the battery had run out. Given that Clark would have his hands full watching Chloe and watching over Lex and keeping Lois from doing something stupid in the meantime, that meant Lex would likely be able to get to the phone first later, before Clark retrieved it from his room. Clark really didn't need to hear those messages that Lex had left. He'd be able to explain much better in-person to him, without a whole bunch of useless frantic, desperate, pleading for a response getting in the way of the real discussion they needed to have, and maybe even an apology.
Lex wanted one in return, though, for all the completely unnecessary stress and worry that Clark had subjected him to with his forgetfulness. That was almost worse than if he'd done so on purpose. ...No, actually, scratch that -- it absolutely was worse.
"Lex..." he thought he might have heard Clark say quietly, but he was halfway on his way to sleep by that point, and if Clark really had called his name, or said anything after that, Lex didn't hear it.
~*~*~*~*~*~