Love on the High Seas: Destinies (Multi X-over; Clex, Dawson/Faith; PG)
Title: Love on the High Seas: "Destinies"
Author: Pirate Turner
Rating: PG
Summary:
Warnings: Slash, Established Relationship, Crossover, AU
Word Count: 2,981
Date Written: 29 May, 2011
Challenge/Prompt: For the Clexmas LJ comm's 2011 Bingo
Timeline: During the 1st book, Love on the High Seas: Bright Promises of Tomorrow
Disclaimer: Clark, Jonathan, and Martha Kent; Lex and Lionel Luthor; Faith; Salem Saberhagen; The Black Pearl; Wesley Wyndham-Pryce; all other characters mentioned within except for Julian and Sarah; and Smallville are © & TM their respective owners, none of whom are the author; are used without permission; and may not be used without permission. Julian, Sarah, The Sea Witch, and the Love on the High Seas AU universe are © & TM Pirates Sparrow and Turner and may not be used without permission. The author makes absolutely no profit off of this work of fan fiction, and no copyright infringement is intended.
"You know," Lex remarked quietly, his deep, blue eyes gazing up at the twinkling stars that spread out for endless miles above their mere, mortal heads, "you're not the only one who didn't choose this life."
Faith shrugged. "Didn't choose it," she admitted with a muscular roll of her bared shoulders, "but it beats the Hell out of what I had."
Lex nodded thoughtfully. He studied his friend as they listened quietly to the waves slapping the sides of the ship. The Black Pearl glided as gracefully and silently as a ghost through the ocean waters, and the Sea Witch slid ever close by her. "I suppose that may be true," he spoke again after a moment, "in some cases, but not in mine."
Perhaps if he opened up to her, she would, in turn, come to open to him. He knew she needed a friend, though the brave and violent Piratess would never admit it, and Lex wanted to be that friend for her. She reminded him, in so many ways of himself, but she had no love to help her out of her darkness. Lex knew that darkness all too well. It had almost swallowed him and would have drowned him if his beloved Clark had not rescued him from its dark and inky depths. He refused to stand idly by and let such a darkness swallow any one he knew with a good heart, and Faith topped that list of good people, no matter how bad she claimed to be, who he was determined to rescue.
Since he and Clark had signed onto the Pearl, she had been a constant force in their lives, often bitter, sometimes cruel, but always pulling their bacon out of the fire somewhere in the chaos of battle. She had become the closest thing that Lex would ever know to a sister, and yet still he could not seem to pull her secrets free from her tightly clad lips. He knew, however, that those secrets would come spilling out one day, and he would be there to listen to her story, catch her when she fell, and help her to right again.
He would be there, he knew, and his love, Clark, would be right there by his side while they helped Faith to become her own woman again, free of all the darkness and shadows of her hideous past, no matter how afraid or nervous Faith made his Clark. All women made his sweet, shy Clark nervous to some degree or another, and out of all the men and women Clark had known in his time, with the sole exception of his love, Faith was the wildest, most dangerous, and most volatile person he had ever known. She was, however, also a friend who could always be relied upon, and, with the sole exception of his beloved Clark, there was no one Lex would rather have at his side in a fight. She was, Lex had to admit with a wry twist of his lips, a force to be reckoned with, and his sweetheart still wasn't quite sure what to make of women, let alone Faith.
Oh, he knew what he'd been told all his life, all right. They were supposed to protect the supposed weaker of the sexes, be there for them, and fall in love with them, but whereas the first two held true for their female family and friends, the third would never happen. Lex smiled into the night, his blue eyes twinkling with the memories of how they had each finally learned that fact of their lives to be true. They only had eyes for each other, and no matter what any one did or tried to do, nothing would ever change that. No force could ever stop their love or keep them apart for very long at all. No matter what else their lives as Pirates brought into their worlds, their love was the one thing that remained steady always, and Lex knew that it would be the one blessing that would last them for all eternity and infinitely beyond the veils of death.
Faith cleared her throat, shifted her stance, and cast a glance at Lex. "Not gonna answer me, huh?" She shrugged carelessly and turned her gaze back to the water. Petting the black cat she held in her arms, she stated, "Ya were the one who brought it up."
"I'm sorry," Lex apologized, blinking as he returned his mind back to the conversation at hand. "What was the question?"
"Nothing," Faith remarked, but Lex knew very well when nothing was indeed something.
He placed his hands on the ship's railing, where she could see them plainly in the light of the full moon. "I'm sorry," he said. "I must have drifted." Watching the dark expressions flickering over Faith's face, Lex attempted to answer the question he thought she might have asked. "I was remembering how we were corralled that day."
He knew he had her interest when she quirked a brow. "Pirates came to Small Isle, looking for a treasure that had been buried. For some reason, the idiots thought that one of the villagers would know where it laid, and so when their directions turned out to be false and they learned the treasure was not where they had been told it was, they brought us all together and demanded the answers of us." Lex shook his head at the memory. "The people there were, for the most part, poor. You would think that that would have been enough to tell those imbeciles that they had no clue where any treasure was, but unfortunately, we Pirates have never been known for our brains."
He watched the way her lips twisted at the irony of his words. "Ain't that the truth," Faith muttered. "Wes is the only smart one out o' us all, an' he ain't a real Pirate."
Lex smiled at her comment. "Indeed. The Scientist can scarcely hold a sword. Sometimes I wonder why on Earth the Captains keep him around."
She shrugged. "They feel sorry for him. But we don't need brains, an' we've got all the brawn we need."
"True," Lex replied, "but sometimes, it is such thinking that can really cause chaos."
"You say that like it's a bad thing."
"It was that day." He stared off into the distance, remembering what it had felt like to be poked and prodded by their swords as they rounded them up like cattle. He had suspected they had come after him, and that thought had been the only thing that had kept him silent as they had shoved him into the stables. He had risen to his feet; knocked the dirt, muck, and other unmentionable things from his clothes; and slipped into the back of the stable, putting the villagers between himself and the Pirates, and hoping not to be noticed again.
He had stayed there, too, until the Kent family had been shoved into the doors. Only then had he failed to remain silent and burst forward, blocking the blow that one of the Pirates had intended for his love. He had not known then just how strong his beloved Clark truly was, and even if he had, it would not have kept him from interfering. No one could harm the man he loved without Lex Luthor paying them back in full and vicious retribution.
His stance against that one Pirate had angered the others, and they had quickly began to talk of killing those who would not give them the answers they sought, heedless and uncaring of the fact that the poor, quivering, and frightened villagers had no idea of the whereabouts of the treasure for which they searched. Lex had sat, huddled with the Kent family, when they had made the announcement that they would each be asked and every one of them would be killed if they did not give them the answer they sought until they called upon one with enough intelligence to tell them what they wanted to know.
Lex's mind had already been whirling while he had been trying to scheme up a way to cut them all loose. One major factor in the problem had been that none of the people who had been rounded up were really fighters. Jonathan Kent could have taken out a few, Clark perhaps a few more, but they had been the only ones outside of Lex himself who would have been able to do any real damage to the crew. Even taking out the few Pirates that the Kent men could have defeated from the equation, Lex had known he would still be utterly outnumbered, and a failed revolution would have angered the crew even more.
He had waited, with dread coiling icy fingers in the pit of his stomach, while they had discussed amongst themselves who they would call first, and the decision had been quickly made. Lex had known the entire time who they would call, and the moment they had started forward for Clark, he had stepped between them. "Stop," he had commanded.
The leader of the Pirates, who had mutinied against their real Captain and thus was having trouble locating the treasure he had buried, had held up a hand to still his crew. "What is it, boi?" he had snarled. "Do ye know where th' treasure is?"
"No," Lex had admitted, knowing that they would know instantly if he had lied, "but I can offer you a better treasure. I can offer you a King's random in gold and jewels, riches beyond your wildest imaginings, if you let these people go. They do not know where your treasure is. Look at them. Every one of them is poorer than the last." He had heard a few whisperings behind him at that comment and had wished fervently that the villagers would realize what he was trying to do for them and shut up before the Pirates thought that he was lying after all.
"How?" the self-appointed Captain had questioned, his fingers coiling in a sign for his crew to lower their weapons.
Lex had turned, leveled his icy blue gaze straight into the Captain's dark and menacing eyes, and announced, "I know where the son of Captain Lionel Luthor is. Take him, and all you wish for will be yours." He had heard Clark's terrified gasp behind him; had seen, out of the corner of his eyes, Clark's father grab the lad and hold him still; had witnessed the tears welling in both Clark's and Martha's eyes; and had hoped fervently that they would both be sensible enough to let him save their lives.
Faith smirked as Salem's tail twitched. "So ya gave yaself up to protect Clark." She shook her head. "Don't surprise me any more. Ya boys stick together like two peas in a pod. Gabrielle likes to tell that story about soul mates. If ever there's been any two who really are soul mates, it's definitely you two."
Lex smiled warmly. "Thank you," he said. "I believe, with all my heart, that we are. I would do anything to protect Clark -- "
"I know ya would," Faith said, leaning a little closer.
" -- but he would not allow me to that day. When I revealed myself after they had agreed to turn the others loose and had actually started to do so, Clark flew in to them. That was the first time I realized how strong he is."
"Boy's got the strength of a mountain, all right."
"Indeed he does," Lex agreed with an appreciative smile and inclining nod, "but he also has a heart big enough to save the whole world. I was surprised by how many people came forward that day to try to help us, but it all proved for naught for they stilled our rebellion when they held a gun to Clark's mother's head."
"If it had been my Mother," Faith remarked, "I would've let 'em have her bitchy ass, but I know Clark didn't."
Lex shook his head. "None of us would. Martha Kent is a fine woman, a lady if ever there was one, and seeing her about to be killed brought us all to an immediate stop. We threw the weapons we had managed to gleam to the ground and stood down. I let them take me. They also took Clark. I would have still fought them to save him if they had not held his mother captive until we were sailing away from the shore. I remember Clark's scream when they shoved Martha off of the plank, but it seemed that almost every man left in the port dove into the water. I knew she would be saved, but," Lex said, hanging his head sadly, "Clark was not quite as convinced. I remember holding him as he cried and beginning to plot our revenge from that second until the moment it was exacted."
"So ya overthrew the Pirates?"
"We did, but it took us several tries and many months until we were successful. During one of our attempts, they shot a cannonball into Clark's chest, and I feared my love was dead. By some miracle, he managed to survive."
"Clark'll still be livin' an' fightin' the good fight when the rest o' us are in Davy Jones' locker."
"I would like to believe that," Lex acknowledged, "but my love has told me that when I go, so he goes."
"True love," Salem spoke up with a purr from his comforting cradle in Faith's strong arms and surprisingly gently hands, "is like that, and you two boys have certainly found it with each other. Neither of you can survive without the other."
"So we have learned," Lex agreed, "but what we have also learned is that being Pirates is now a part of us, just as much as the air we breathe or the blood that flows in our veins. We tried to return to Small Isle, but we were restless. Clark's father had despised me until I saved them, and even he welcomed me, though he did not know just how much his son means to me." Lex did not mention that Jonathan was still blissfully unaware of that fact. "That's why we ended up coming back to sea and eventually signing on here."
"Have ya ever wondered," Faith asked quietly, "if ya made the right decision?"
"I have not," Lex answered truthfully, "but Clark . . . " He heard his name called and turned to watch his love flying to them. He felt the familiar catch of his breath in his throat as he watched Clark's beautiful form flying so gracefully. "There is not a day that goes by that my love does not wonder or question our lives as Pirates, and I know he misses his family every moment of every day."
Faith snorted. "Must be a Helluva thing leavin' behind a family that actually loves ya, or that ya think loves ya."
Lex glanced at her. "They do love him," he told her, "with all their hearts."
"Family isn't all bad, Faith," Salem commented, curling his long, furry tail around her slender elbow. "It can be good, and the best of families is not necessarily of the blood but rather of the heart. Go to your man, Lex. Faith and I will be fine."
Lex smiled down at Salem. For the first time, he held no doubt that Faith would be exactly that. Between himself, Salem, and all the others who cared for her, they would keep Faith safe and eventually save her from the Demons of her past as his beloved Clark has rescued him from his.
"The kids are ready to go to sleep," Clark told his love as he reached him. Lex took his outstretched hand, and his glowing, warm smile of love and happiness filled his handsome face as Clark lifted him into his loving arms that were not only his safe haven but also his destiny. There was no place he'd rather be, Lex thought, laying his head against Clark's chest and hearing his heart beat beneath his ear, than right here with the man he loved. It might not have been their decision to become Pirates, but yet they had never made a better decision save for when they fell in love with each other. Lex nestled into his beloved Clark's arms and whispered, "I love you."
"I love you, too, Lex," Clark told him, the incredible love that he felt for this man alone over flooding his heart and soul. "But you're wrong."
"I am?" Lex questioned, turning his head to gaze up into Clark's smiling, adoring face. "About what?"
"About me. I don't still question our lives together. This is exactly where we're meant to be. I might still miss my parents and home. I'll always miss them, but there's nowhere else on Earth than I'd rather be than right here with our new family and you in my arms! I love you!" He closed his vow with a passionate kiss that heated Lex all the way from the top of his bald head through the very tips of his curling toes.
He sighed against his sweet lips and kissed his soul mate back with all the passion and love he'd always feel for him alone, showing him, rather than just telling him, how infinitely much he did and would always love him alone for all eternity and beyond. When Clark finished telling their new found children his version of how they had come to be together and be Pirates, as well, and took him to the side, Clark's final words rang in Lex's ears. "And so we found our destinies right here in each other." They had indeed found their destinies, Lex reflected, kissing his love long into the night, and there was nowhere else in all of existence they'd rather be than right here in each other's arms where they belonged forever after.
The End
Author: Pirate Turner
Rating: PG
Summary:
Warnings: Slash, Established Relationship, Crossover, AU
Word Count: 2,981
Date Written: 29 May, 2011
Challenge/Prompt: For the Clexmas LJ comm's 2011 Bingo
Timeline: During the 1st book, Love on the High Seas: Bright Promises of Tomorrow
Disclaimer: Clark, Jonathan, and Martha Kent; Lex and Lionel Luthor; Faith; Salem Saberhagen; The Black Pearl; Wesley Wyndham-Pryce; all other characters mentioned within except for Julian and Sarah; and Smallville are © & TM their respective owners, none of whom are the author; are used without permission; and may not be used without permission. Julian, Sarah, The Sea Witch, and the Love on the High Seas AU universe are © & TM Pirates Sparrow and Turner and may not be used without permission. The author makes absolutely no profit off of this work of fan fiction, and no copyright infringement is intended.
"You know," Lex remarked quietly, his deep, blue eyes gazing up at the twinkling stars that spread out for endless miles above their mere, mortal heads, "you're not the only one who didn't choose this life."
Faith shrugged. "Didn't choose it," she admitted with a muscular roll of her bared shoulders, "but it beats the Hell out of what I had."
Lex nodded thoughtfully. He studied his friend as they listened quietly to the waves slapping the sides of the ship. The Black Pearl glided as gracefully and silently as a ghost through the ocean waters, and the Sea Witch slid ever close by her. "I suppose that may be true," he spoke again after a moment, "in some cases, but not in mine."
Perhaps if he opened up to her, she would, in turn, come to open to him. He knew she needed a friend, though the brave and violent Piratess would never admit it, and Lex wanted to be that friend for her. She reminded him, in so many ways of himself, but she had no love to help her out of her darkness. Lex knew that darkness all too well. It had almost swallowed him and would have drowned him if his beloved Clark had not rescued him from its dark and inky depths. He refused to stand idly by and let such a darkness swallow any one he knew with a good heart, and Faith topped that list of good people, no matter how bad she claimed to be, who he was determined to rescue.
Since he and Clark had signed onto the Pearl, she had been a constant force in their lives, often bitter, sometimes cruel, but always pulling their bacon out of the fire somewhere in the chaos of battle. She had become the closest thing that Lex would ever know to a sister, and yet still he could not seem to pull her secrets free from her tightly clad lips. He knew, however, that those secrets would come spilling out one day, and he would be there to listen to her story, catch her when she fell, and help her to right again.
He would be there, he knew, and his love, Clark, would be right there by his side while they helped Faith to become her own woman again, free of all the darkness and shadows of her hideous past, no matter how afraid or nervous Faith made his Clark. All women made his sweet, shy Clark nervous to some degree or another, and out of all the men and women Clark had known in his time, with the sole exception of his love, Faith was the wildest, most dangerous, and most volatile person he had ever known. She was, however, also a friend who could always be relied upon, and, with the sole exception of his beloved Clark, there was no one Lex would rather have at his side in a fight. She was, Lex had to admit with a wry twist of his lips, a force to be reckoned with, and his sweetheart still wasn't quite sure what to make of women, let alone Faith.
Oh, he knew what he'd been told all his life, all right. They were supposed to protect the supposed weaker of the sexes, be there for them, and fall in love with them, but whereas the first two held true for their female family and friends, the third would never happen. Lex smiled into the night, his blue eyes twinkling with the memories of how they had each finally learned that fact of their lives to be true. They only had eyes for each other, and no matter what any one did or tried to do, nothing would ever change that. No force could ever stop their love or keep them apart for very long at all. No matter what else their lives as Pirates brought into their worlds, their love was the one thing that remained steady always, and Lex knew that it would be the one blessing that would last them for all eternity and infinitely beyond the veils of death.
Faith cleared her throat, shifted her stance, and cast a glance at Lex. "Not gonna answer me, huh?" She shrugged carelessly and turned her gaze back to the water. Petting the black cat she held in her arms, she stated, "Ya were the one who brought it up."
"I'm sorry," Lex apologized, blinking as he returned his mind back to the conversation at hand. "What was the question?"
"Nothing," Faith remarked, but Lex knew very well when nothing was indeed something.
He placed his hands on the ship's railing, where she could see them plainly in the light of the full moon. "I'm sorry," he said. "I must have drifted." Watching the dark expressions flickering over Faith's face, Lex attempted to answer the question he thought she might have asked. "I was remembering how we were corralled that day."
He knew he had her interest when she quirked a brow. "Pirates came to Small Isle, looking for a treasure that had been buried. For some reason, the idiots thought that one of the villagers would know where it laid, and so when their directions turned out to be false and they learned the treasure was not where they had been told it was, they brought us all together and demanded the answers of us." Lex shook his head at the memory. "The people there were, for the most part, poor. You would think that that would have been enough to tell those imbeciles that they had no clue where any treasure was, but unfortunately, we Pirates have never been known for our brains."
He watched the way her lips twisted at the irony of his words. "Ain't that the truth," Faith muttered. "Wes is the only smart one out o' us all, an' he ain't a real Pirate."
Lex smiled at her comment. "Indeed. The Scientist can scarcely hold a sword. Sometimes I wonder why on Earth the Captains keep him around."
She shrugged. "They feel sorry for him. But we don't need brains, an' we've got all the brawn we need."
"True," Lex replied, "but sometimes, it is such thinking that can really cause chaos."
"You say that like it's a bad thing."
"It was that day." He stared off into the distance, remembering what it had felt like to be poked and prodded by their swords as they rounded them up like cattle. He had suspected they had come after him, and that thought had been the only thing that had kept him silent as they had shoved him into the stables. He had risen to his feet; knocked the dirt, muck, and other unmentionable things from his clothes; and slipped into the back of the stable, putting the villagers between himself and the Pirates, and hoping not to be noticed again.
He had stayed there, too, until the Kent family had been shoved into the doors. Only then had he failed to remain silent and burst forward, blocking the blow that one of the Pirates had intended for his love. He had not known then just how strong his beloved Clark truly was, and even if he had, it would not have kept him from interfering. No one could harm the man he loved without Lex Luthor paying them back in full and vicious retribution.
His stance against that one Pirate had angered the others, and they had quickly began to talk of killing those who would not give them the answers they sought, heedless and uncaring of the fact that the poor, quivering, and frightened villagers had no idea of the whereabouts of the treasure for which they searched. Lex had sat, huddled with the Kent family, when they had made the announcement that they would each be asked and every one of them would be killed if they did not give them the answer they sought until they called upon one with enough intelligence to tell them what they wanted to know.
Lex's mind had already been whirling while he had been trying to scheme up a way to cut them all loose. One major factor in the problem had been that none of the people who had been rounded up were really fighters. Jonathan Kent could have taken out a few, Clark perhaps a few more, but they had been the only ones outside of Lex himself who would have been able to do any real damage to the crew. Even taking out the few Pirates that the Kent men could have defeated from the equation, Lex had known he would still be utterly outnumbered, and a failed revolution would have angered the crew even more.
He had waited, with dread coiling icy fingers in the pit of his stomach, while they had discussed amongst themselves who they would call first, and the decision had been quickly made. Lex had known the entire time who they would call, and the moment they had started forward for Clark, he had stepped between them. "Stop," he had commanded.
The leader of the Pirates, who had mutinied against their real Captain and thus was having trouble locating the treasure he had buried, had held up a hand to still his crew. "What is it, boi?" he had snarled. "Do ye know where th' treasure is?"
"No," Lex had admitted, knowing that they would know instantly if he had lied, "but I can offer you a better treasure. I can offer you a King's random in gold and jewels, riches beyond your wildest imaginings, if you let these people go. They do not know where your treasure is. Look at them. Every one of them is poorer than the last." He had heard a few whisperings behind him at that comment and had wished fervently that the villagers would realize what he was trying to do for them and shut up before the Pirates thought that he was lying after all.
"How?" the self-appointed Captain had questioned, his fingers coiling in a sign for his crew to lower their weapons.
Lex had turned, leveled his icy blue gaze straight into the Captain's dark and menacing eyes, and announced, "I know where the son of Captain Lionel Luthor is. Take him, and all you wish for will be yours." He had heard Clark's terrified gasp behind him; had seen, out of the corner of his eyes, Clark's father grab the lad and hold him still; had witnessed the tears welling in both Clark's and Martha's eyes; and had hoped fervently that they would both be sensible enough to let him save their lives.
Faith smirked as Salem's tail twitched. "So ya gave yaself up to protect Clark." She shook her head. "Don't surprise me any more. Ya boys stick together like two peas in a pod. Gabrielle likes to tell that story about soul mates. If ever there's been any two who really are soul mates, it's definitely you two."
Lex smiled warmly. "Thank you," he said. "I believe, with all my heart, that we are. I would do anything to protect Clark -- "
"I know ya would," Faith said, leaning a little closer.
" -- but he would not allow me to that day. When I revealed myself after they had agreed to turn the others loose and had actually started to do so, Clark flew in to them. That was the first time I realized how strong he is."
"Boy's got the strength of a mountain, all right."
"Indeed he does," Lex agreed with an appreciative smile and inclining nod, "but he also has a heart big enough to save the whole world. I was surprised by how many people came forward that day to try to help us, but it all proved for naught for they stilled our rebellion when they held a gun to Clark's mother's head."
"If it had been my Mother," Faith remarked, "I would've let 'em have her bitchy ass, but I know Clark didn't."
Lex shook his head. "None of us would. Martha Kent is a fine woman, a lady if ever there was one, and seeing her about to be killed brought us all to an immediate stop. We threw the weapons we had managed to gleam to the ground and stood down. I let them take me. They also took Clark. I would have still fought them to save him if they had not held his mother captive until we were sailing away from the shore. I remember Clark's scream when they shoved Martha off of the plank, but it seemed that almost every man left in the port dove into the water. I knew she would be saved, but," Lex said, hanging his head sadly, "Clark was not quite as convinced. I remember holding him as he cried and beginning to plot our revenge from that second until the moment it was exacted."
"So ya overthrew the Pirates?"
"We did, but it took us several tries and many months until we were successful. During one of our attempts, they shot a cannonball into Clark's chest, and I feared my love was dead. By some miracle, he managed to survive."
"Clark'll still be livin' an' fightin' the good fight when the rest o' us are in Davy Jones' locker."
"I would like to believe that," Lex acknowledged, "but my love has told me that when I go, so he goes."
"True love," Salem spoke up with a purr from his comforting cradle in Faith's strong arms and surprisingly gently hands, "is like that, and you two boys have certainly found it with each other. Neither of you can survive without the other."
"So we have learned," Lex agreed, "but what we have also learned is that being Pirates is now a part of us, just as much as the air we breathe or the blood that flows in our veins. We tried to return to Small Isle, but we were restless. Clark's father had despised me until I saved them, and even he welcomed me, though he did not know just how much his son means to me." Lex did not mention that Jonathan was still blissfully unaware of that fact. "That's why we ended up coming back to sea and eventually signing on here."
"Have ya ever wondered," Faith asked quietly, "if ya made the right decision?"
"I have not," Lex answered truthfully, "but Clark . . . " He heard his name called and turned to watch his love flying to them. He felt the familiar catch of his breath in his throat as he watched Clark's beautiful form flying so gracefully. "There is not a day that goes by that my love does not wonder or question our lives as Pirates, and I know he misses his family every moment of every day."
Faith snorted. "Must be a Helluva thing leavin' behind a family that actually loves ya, or that ya think loves ya."
Lex glanced at her. "They do love him," he told her, "with all their hearts."
"Family isn't all bad, Faith," Salem commented, curling his long, furry tail around her slender elbow. "It can be good, and the best of families is not necessarily of the blood but rather of the heart. Go to your man, Lex. Faith and I will be fine."
Lex smiled down at Salem. For the first time, he held no doubt that Faith would be exactly that. Between himself, Salem, and all the others who cared for her, they would keep Faith safe and eventually save her from the Demons of her past as his beloved Clark has rescued him from his.
"The kids are ready to go to sleep," Clark told his love as he reached him. Lex took his outstretched hand, and his glowing, warm smile of love and happiness filled his handsome face as Clark lifted him into his loving arms that were not only his safe haven but also his destiny. There was no place he'd rather be, Lex thought, laying his head against Clark's chest and hearing his heart beat beneath his ear, than right here with the man he loved. It might not have been their decision to become Pirates, but yet they had never made a better decision save for when they fell in love with each other. Lex nestled into his beloved Clark's arms and whispered, "I love you."
"I love you, too, Lex," Clark told him, the incredible love that he felt for this man alone over flooding his heart and soul. "But you're wrong."
"I am?" Lex questioned, turning his head to gaze up into Clark's smiling, adoring face. "About what?"
"About me. I don't still question our lives together. This is exactly where we're meant to be. I might still miss my parents and home. I'll always miss them, but there's nowhere else on Earth than I'd rather be than right here with our new family and you in my arms! I love you!" He closed his vow with a passionate kiss that heated Lex all the way from the top of his bald head through the very tips of his curling toes.
He sighed against his sweet lips and kissed his soul mate back with all the passion and love he'd always feel for him alone, showing him, rather than just telling him, how infinitely much he did and would always love him alone for all eternity and beyond. When Clark finished telling their new found children his version of how they had come to be together and be Pirates, as well, and took him to the side, Clark's final words rang in Lex's ears. "And so we found our destinies right here in each other." They had indeed found their destinies, Lex reflected, kissing his love long into the night, and there was nowhere else in all of existence they'd rather be than right here in each other's arms where they belonged forever after.
The End