Superman For Sale, part 11 A
I had wanted to get this out before the new season preemed, so I'm really cutting it close. But it's big, so It's in two parts.
It's probably a miracle I got this posted.
LJ was a bear and it's longer than normal and then I also went to Dragon*Con too in there and it's only a little more than a month since my last update, so I hope everyone's looking forward to reading this...
Title: Superman for Sale
Author: D.M. Wyatt
Pairing: Clark/Lex
Rating: Mostly R, some chapters are NC-17
Warnings: Physical and Emotional TC, graphic descriptions of adult sexual content, BD/SM, future fic, post rift
Spoilers: None
Word Count this chapter: 6,612 - both parts (Story, thus far: 52,810)
Short summary of this chapter: Lex tries to find Clark after he again goes missing. (cover thanks to danceswithgary)
One | Two | Three | Four | Five | Six | Seven | Eight | Nine | Ten |
Part 11A of possibly 15...
~:::~
Mercy pretty much had made it clear that hovering behind her while she worked to find Clark, made calls, searched the web, wasn't welcome, so Lex had left her alone. He wandered into the living room and started to drink as he waited.
He drained his fourth drink and realized that he'd never eaten the dinner that Mrs. O'Hara had left for him. He'd have to apologize to her about that later, but he had no appetite. He left the empty glass on the bar and paced.
Lex was more nervous than he thought he'd ever been before about anything. When he became conscious of walking back and forth, he stopped and stood as he scowled and looked out the window.
Despite wanting to avoid pacing, he was too anxious and unable to stand still. With a heavy sigh, he pushed open the sliding glass door and stepped out onto the patio. He walked around the pool and walked over to the wall at the edge of roof. The waist high wall was the only thing between him and the vast cityscape that spread out in front of him.
The view was spectacular, not that Lex really noticed. He was too preoccupied to admire it, as he searched the sky for a particular shape, a blur of blue and red, but it wasn't like he had ever just enjoyed the view.
The high-rise penthouse took up the entire top floor and the extravagant multimillion dollar apartment was the show piece of Lex's personal wealth. The south-facing patio and the tall west-facing living room windows provided an expansive view of the Metropolis downtown that was the best in the entire city.
Lex had never looked out the window simply to enjoy the view and only very rarely had ever stepped out onto the patio. Also, despite the expense of installing and maintaining it, Lex had never used the small swimming pool. He had spent the money to simply show he could.
The terrific view, like the costly, hand-cut Italian marble tile the patio was lined with, was all for show. The pool, the patio and humongous picture window were the most visible part of an intentionally over-indulgent display of his riches. He used it only to impress others, either through an occasional high profile glossy magazine shoot or as the stage for an extravagant party.
Despite the beauty of the city's glittering skyline, the air crisp and clear, Lex was out there simply to kill time. Simply doing something to occupy himself as he waited for Mercy to find Clark, to discover where he'd gone, whether he was okay.
Lex frowned into the night and knew, somehow, that Clark wasn't okay. He didn't know how he knew, but he knew it. He knew that something was wrong.
Very, Very Wrong.
He looked up into the darkness and at the huge sky spread out above him, dark and seemingly endless.
Lex, possibly for the first time in his adult life, felt powerless, small and vulnerable.
He gritted his teeth against those feelings, clenched his hands tight into fists and fought them. He wanted Clark to come home safe so badly it hurt.
Unsure why now he was so upset, why he felt so impotent, Lex turned his thoughts more inward. He wondered, suddenly, why he felt the way he did. He examined the feelings and couldn't understand it.
Never in his adult life had he ever felt this helpless.
Lex frowned.
Was he afraid to lose Clark so soon after coming to terms with the true depths of his feelings for Superman? Was he that scared of losing him now that he was so close to having him in his life?
When Lex thought about it, when he stepped outside of himself for a moment and considered the feelings he was struggling against, even with all the long, tangled back-story that had made recent events nearly miraculous, he couldn't understand it. He simply couldn't comprehend why Clark going missing again would cause such an anxious mix of emotions.
Lex was usually cool under pressure, so resolved to tackle whatever problems he faced. He felt fear, every living creature does, but he hadn't ever let fear rule him like this. It was unexpected. He hadn't felt like this when Clark had originally been taken by the witch, after all.
That situation hadn't been any different, had it?
He considered that.
He realized, with a shock, that it had indeed been different.
When the witch had arranged for Clark's capture and ransom, Lex hadn't yet had the stone. More importantly, Superman hadn't yet gone through the witch's spell, he hadn't yet had his blood mingled with Lex's on the stone, on his skin, in his mouth.
Blood in his mouth.
Also, Clark hadn't yet swallowed that drop of blood that had made the witch turn so pale, which had also caused a ripple of magical energy so powerful that it had rattled the windows.
He took the stone out of his pocket and held it in his hand.
Lex looked at it, still stained with his and Clark's blood. It was warm in his hands, despite the chill of the breeze, and his skin tingled a bit where it touched the smooth stone.
Lex knew that the spell had changed Clark, given him into Lex's power. However, perhaps the magic, that drop of blood, the comingling of their blood on the stone and on Clark's forehead, had changed him too.
Maybe he was feeling what he was because of Clark. Maybe it was because it was what Clark was feeling...
Confused, his stomach clenched at the thought of it: the possibility that what he was feeling reflected what Clark's emotions were. He worried that Clark might be feeling scared and helpless and that he could do nothing to stop it. He could do nothing to help him. He didn't even know where he was.
Anxious, Lex looked to the west. Somehow he knew that Clark was west of Metropolis, and frowned. He wanted to see Clark to come home. He didn't want to wait another second, the anxiety twisted his gut too much for him to put up with this for very long, but he didn't have much of a choice.
He turned to look over his shoulder at the sliding glass door to the patio to the guest room, Clark's room. It was, of course, dark.
Lex pocketed the stone and walked over to the door and slid it open. The curtain billowed out into the nearly constant breeze that is always present this high up, at first obscuring Lex's view. He pushed aside the heavy drapes and stepped inside.
There was a faint line of light coming into the room from under the door to the hallway, but aside from that, no light was on in the bedroom. It was actually an extremely large room. Of course, Lex hadn't needed to remove the bed to get Clark's modest office furniture into the space, but he had anyway.
Part of him had regretted that since it had turned out to have not been the best idea, it had made Clark so angry, but he had enjoyed having Clark so physically close and sharing his bed. Despite the angst it'd caused Clark, Lex figured it had been worth it, especially if Clark's sudden disappearance meant he wasn't ever going to come back.
He walked over to the king sized bed that Mercy had arranged to have moved into the room. She'd gotten a dark-blue plaid (luckily not flannel) duvet for the down comforter, which had different shades of blue with hints of maroon and yellow ocher. The sheets were a solid dark blue, with matching and contrasting dark blue and maroon pillow cases.
The extremely expensive mattress was made of memory foam that was more than eighteen inches thick. The pillows were eider down and probably the most expensive ones that Mercy could find, but Lex didn't care. He wanted the best for Clark. If he wouldn't stay with Lex, he wanted the guest room to be the most comfortable room possible.
He definitely would have to give Mercy a raise. Despite the fact that the regrettable plaid and the combination of colors was something he never would have chosen, the way they worked together gave the room a homey, yet an elegant, feel that he hoped that Clark would appreciate. The primary colors would have been welcomed by his reluctant guest. Unfortunately, Lex wasn't sure Clark would even get to see it.
He sighed and regretted leaving his glass on the bar in the living room. Lex contemplated going to fill it again when he heard a sound behind him.
A surge of hope rushed through him as he turned around, he had expected to see Clark in the door, but was disappointed when he saw Mercy's shape silhouetted by the bright light behind her.
His hope was rekindled when she said, "I found him."
~:::~
Lex sat on the edge of a chair in the den as he watched the report on MSNBC and scowled. There had been another humongous tsunami in Southeast Asia. It had devastated the dozens of countries which ringed the Bay of Bengal, making millions homeless and possibly killing tens of thousands.
Superman had been reported to be helping survivors, helping to recover bodies, but there had been so many...
Lex understood, maybe really for the first time, what it was that Clark went through when he had emergencies to deal with.
He now knew for sure that what he'd been feeling ever since Clark had left was flavored by what the other man was going through. As he looked at the TV, hoping for some glimpse of Superman, some report of what he was doing, Lex was even more in awe of Clark than he had ever been.
To feel so small and powerless, yet still try and do whatever possible to help. A lesser man would have given up even trying after the first hours, but Lex knew Clark would be there for however long it took.
The love he felt for Clark blossomed and grew. He wasn't sure it would have been possible to love him more, but knowing he worked so hard, so selflessly, to help others further entrenched the Kryptonian into his heart.
He watched intently, hungry to hear what Superman was doing to help or maybe get a glimpse of Clark, see how he was. The most the news showed were the same brief flashes of red and blue as Clark streaked across the cloudy skies over the hundreds of poor villages drowned by the tsunami.
As he and Mercy watched a live report, a reporter was in a Red Crescent refugee center where they'd had reports of Superman bringing people in from the devastation. In the midst of an interview with an aid worker, Superman came in with another person he'd rescued.
Clark lowered a muddy, trembling little girl about ten years old into the waiting arms of the Red Crescent volunteer as the cameras taped the scene. The reporter asked, "Superman, it's wonderful you saved her, but there are so many... What else are you going to do to help?
His face contorted and he was breathless, but it wasn't due to pain or physical exertion. His voice thick with emotion, Clark simply said, "I'm going to make sure they all get to go home."
It broke Lex's heart.
And a surge of love for Clark overwhelmed him.
Superman looked at the camera sadly for a moment.
At that moment as he looked into Clark's eyes, his sad eyes, Lex was convinced that Clark somehow knew he was watching.
He looked about to say something, but, suddenly and with a silent shake of his head, Clark was gone.
Superman's unexpectedly abrupt departure left the reporter confused and stammering as he tried to finish reporting to close out the rest of his live segment. Before he tossed back to the anchor safe and dry in New York, Clark was only visible as a distant red and blue streak in the sky.
As he watched more of the news, with images of the hurt and dead, Lex felt something he'd never really felt before. He felt inconsequential and helpless. For the first time, Lex had an inkling of why Clark did what he did.
Clark's empathy and selflessness, powered by his nearly unlimited strength, gave him the ability to help and protect people in trouble even when no one else in the world could, or would. Helping innocents, saving them, giving them dignity in death even when he couldn't save their lives and taking them back to their families was more important to Clark than almost anything.
Lex hadn't really understood before why Clark had always lectured him on responsible use of power. He had thought Clark had been talking about wealth or political might. He had been wrong. Lex felt shamed by that misunderstanding now.
No, Clark hadn't been talking about anything material. He had been talking about people.
Clark took it personally when people he watched over were hurt, not because he was territorial (which was what Lex had always suspected), but because he cared, really cared, about them. He cared about their well-being.
It was an epiphany, an insight about Clark, Lex hadn't expected...
He could feel Clark's torment at his helplessness in the face of the overwhelming tragedy and it moved him more than he would have ever thought it would have. Tears stung his eyes as he saw the despair of the victims.
When Mercy shifted slightly as she stood next to his chair, he looked up at her.
She watched Lex, not the TV, and seemed unsure what to make of her unusually emotional boss. When he looked at her, she looked back in expectation. Her graceful eyebrows raised, her mouth slightly open, as if waiting for an order, a command to go into action for him, ever loyal and faithful.
Her voice, when she spoke, was unusually tender. "Is there anything I can do for you, Mr. Luthor?"
Lex thought for a minute. He stared at the video of the suffering of untold thousands half a world away and looked back at her. He gestured toward the TV.
"Help me to help him."
~:::~
Even though Lex had previously helped people in need, he'd never before felt the urgency like he did now. Before, it had only been because it made for good PR or helped him deduct any charitable gifts at tax time. However, now he and Mercy worked through the night, sending the relief agencies food, water, and supplies from his distribution warehouses, arranging for ships and planes to get the relief to the most affected areas.
His heart ached and he felt weary like he had never before. He fought to stand upright sometimes, but he didn't sleep or rest and Clark didn't come home. Not for days.
Clark looked exhausted in every single video Lex had seen him in and yet he still didn't come home.
Though tired, clearly at the limits of even his seemingly endless physical capabilities, Superman kept on working. He kept on trudging through the mud and mounds of rubble that was all that was left of most villages, trying to recover every body he could, as he tried to keep his promise to get everyone home. Yet there were some that would never go home, that had been lost to the sea.
It warmed his heart that Clark worked so hard, even to the point where he was pushing himself to the limits of his considerable gifts. Still, he wished he would come home to him.
Lex ached for the victims of the disaster, but he ached to hold Clark more. He missed him, even as infuriating, insufferable, exasperating and frustrating as he is. But Clark was also noble, earnest, faithful, and true.
Lex wanted to see him safe, even if it meant he wouldn't ever come back to him.
~:::~
Lex slept little the rest of the week. He couldn't, not with Clark gone.
However, he had finally slept for a few hours after some encouragement from Mercy (who had escorted him to bed with a stern look and a hand on her gun). He woke early in the morning well before the sun rose and before Mrs. O'Hara would arrive.
He took a quick shower and went in search of Mercy. He found her in his office and she told him that there was still no sign of Superman.
It had been six days since he'd left and there hadn't been a reported sighting of Clark in almost a day. Lex was worried.
The penthouse was unusually quiet. He managed to stagger into the shower and then made some coffee to try and wake himself up. He sipped the toxic brew, too strong and not nearly as good as Mrs. O'Hara's, as he checked the news channels and online news sites.
There was nothing new on Superman's whereabouts.
Anxious, Lex walked out onto the patio so he could get a good look west. He stood and watched for untold minutes, but somehow looking west didn't seem right.
For no apparent reason, Lex felt drawn to look around, to look to the east instead. He turned and looked toward the other side of the patio. The sliding glass door to the guest room, Clark's room, was open.
He tilted his head as he looked intently at the door.
There was no reason for the door to be open. No one should have gone into the room. The penthouse apartment was the sole residence on the top floor of the building and there was no way anyone who couldn't fly would be able to get into the apartment without Lex knowing about it.
Even so, he walked toward the open door cautiously and yet dared to hope.
Lex quietly peered in the open door, but he didn't see Clark at first. However, he felt that he was there. He wanted to see the proof for himself, but the heavy drapes obscured most of the room. Lex had to hold a hand out and push aside the thick fabric.
It took Lex's eyes a minute to adjust to the dark of the room compared to the brightening day outside, but then he could see that Clark lay in the bed asleep, his muddy uniform left where it lay on the floor just inside the bathroom. A wet towel lay on top of it. The exhausted man had apparently taken a shower and managed to pull on his pajamas before collapsing into bed.
A warm feeling of love and.... something else... completeness made Lex feel better than he'd felt since Clark had left. He smiled, satisfied that Clark had accepted the penthouse as his home, glad that he came home without being forced.
Lex turned to leave, but he stopped when he heard a soft sound.
~:::~
Part 11b here...
It's probably a miracle I got this posted.
LJ was a bear and it's longer than normal and then I also went to Dragon*Con too in there and it's only a little more than a month since my last update, so I hope everyone's looking forward to reading this...
Title: Superman for Sale
Author: D.M. Wyatt
Pairing: Clark/Lex
Rating: Mostly R, some chapters are NC-17
Warnings: Physical and Emotional TC, graphic descriptions of adult sexual content, BD/SM, future fic, post rift
Spoilers: None
Word Count this chapter: 6,612 - both parts (Story, thus far: 52,810)
Short summary of this chapter: Lex tries to find Clark after he again goes missing. (cover thanks to danceswithgary)
One | Two | Three | Four | Five | Six | Seven | Eight | Nine | Ten |
Part 11A of possibly 15...
~:::~
Mercy pretty much had made it clear that hovering behind her while she worked to find Clark, made calls, searched the web, wasn't welcome, so Lex had left her alone. He wandered into the living room and started to drink as he waited.
He drained his fourth drink and realized that he'd never eaten the dinner that Mrs. O'Hara had left for him. He'd have to apologize to her about that later, but he had no appetite. He left the empty glass on the bar and paced.
Lex was more nervous than he thought he'd ever been before about anything. When he became conscious of walking back and forth, he stopped and stood as he scowled and looked out the window.
Despite wanting to avoid pacing, he was too anxious and unable to stand still. With a heavy sigh, he pushed open the sliding glass door and stepped out onto the patio. He walked around the pool and walked over to the wall at the edge of roof. The waist high wall was the only thing between him and the vast cityscape that spread out in front of him.
The view was spectacular, not that Lex really noticed. He was too preoccupied to admire it, as he searched the sky for a particular shape, a blur of blue and red, but it wasn't like he had ever just enjoyed the view.
The high-rise penthouse took up the entire top floor and the extravagant multimillion dollar apartment was the show piece of Lex's personal wealth. The south-facing patio and the tall west-facing living room windows provided an expansive view of the Metropolis downtown that was the best in the entire city.
Lex had never looked out the window simply to enjoy the view and only very rarely had ever stepped out onto the patio. Also, despite the expense of installing and maintaining it, Lex had never used the small swimming pool. He had spent the money to simply show he could.
The terrific view, like the costly, hand-cut Italian marble tile the patio was lined with, was all for show. The pool, the patio and humongous picture window were the most visible part of an intentionally over-indulgent display of his riches. He used it only to impress others, either through an occasional high profile glossy magazine shoot or as the stage for an extravagant party.
Despite the beauty of the city's glittering skyline, the air crisp and clear, Lex was out there simply to kill time. Simply doing something to occupy himself as he waited for Mercy to find Clark, to discover where he'd gone, whether he was okay.
Lex frowned into the night and knew, somehow, that Clark wasn't okay. He didn't know how he knew, but he knew it. He knew that something was wrong.
Very, Very Wrong.
He looked up into the darkness and at the huge sky spread out above him, dark and seemingly endless.
Lex, possibly for the first time in his adult life, felt powerless, small and vulnerable.
He gritted his teeth against those feelings, clenched his hands tight into fists and fought them. He wanted Clark to come home safe so badly it hurt.
Unsure why now he was so upset, why he felt so impotent, Lex turned his thoughts more inward. He wondered, suddenly, why he felt the way he did. He examined the feelings and couldn't understand it.
Never in his adult life had he ever felt this helpless.
Lex frowned.
Was he afraid to lose Clark so soon after coming to terms with the true depths of his feelings for Superman? Was he that scared of losing him now that he was so close to having him in his life?
When Lex thought about it, when he stepped outside of himself for a moment and considered the feelings he was struggling against, even with all the long, tangled back-story that had made recent events nearly miraculous, he couldn't understand it. He simply couldn't comprehend why Clark going missing again would cause such an anxious mix of emotions.
Lex was usually cool under pressure, so resolved to tackle whatever problems he faced. He felt fear, every living creature does, but he hadn't ever let fear rule him like this. It was unexpected. He hadn't felt like this when Clark had originally been taken by the witch, after all.
That situation hadn't been any different, had it?
He considered that.
He realized, with a shock, that it had indeed been different.
When the witch had arranged for Clark's capture and ransom, Lex hadn't yet had the stone. More importantly, Superman hadn't yet gone through the witch's spell, he hadn't yet had his blood mingled with Lex's on the stone, on his skin, in his mouth.
Blood in his mouth.
Also, Clark hadn't yet swallowed that drop of blood that had made the witch turn so pale, which had also caused a ripple of magical energy so powerful that it had rattled the windows.
He took the stone out of his pocket and held it in his hand.
Lex looked at it, still stained with his and Clark's blood. It was warm in his hands, despite the chill of the breeze, and his skin tingled a bit where it touched the smooth stone.
Lex knew that the spell had changed Clark, given him into Lex's power. However, perhaps the magic, that drop of blood, the comingling of their blood on the stone and on Clark's forehead, had changed him too.
Maybe he was feeling what he was because of Clark. Maybe it was because it was what Clark was feeling...
Confused, his stomach clenched at the thought of it: the possibility that what he was feeling reflected what Clark's emotions were. He worried that Clark might be feeling scared and helpless and that he could do nothing to stop it. He could do nothing to help him. He didn't even know where he was.
Anxious, Lex looked to the west. Somehow he knew that Clark was west of Metropolis, and frowned. He wanted to see Clark to come home. He didn't want to wait another second, the anxiety twisted his gut too much for him to put up with this for very long, but he didn't have much of a choice.
He turned to look over his shoulder at the sliding glass door to the patio to the guest room, Clark's room. It was, of course, dark.
Lex pocketed the stone and walked over to the door and slid it open. The curtain billowed out into the nearly constant breeze that is always present this high up, at first obscuring Lex's view. He pushed aside the heavy drapes and stepped inside.
There was a faint line of light coming into the room from under the door to the hallway, but aside from that, no light was on in the bedroom. It was actually an extremely large room. Of course, Lex hadn't needed to remove the bed to get Clark's modest office furniture into the space, but he had anyway.
Part of him had regretted that since it had turned out to have not been the best idea, it had made Clark so angry, but he had enjoyed having Clark so physically close and sharing his bed. Despite the angst it'd caused Clark, Lex figured it had been worth it, especially if Clark's sudden disappearance meant he wasn't ever going to come back.
He walked over to the king sized bed that Mercy had arranged to have moved into the room. She'd gotten a dark-blue plaid (luckily not flannel) duvet for the down comforter, which had different shades of blue with hints of maroon and yellow ocher. The sheets were a solid dark blue, with matching and contrasting dark blue and maroon pillow cases.
The extremely expensive mattress was made of memory foam that was more than eighteen inches thick. The pillows were eider down and probably the most expensive ones that Mercy could find, but Lex didn't care. He wanted the best for Clark. If he wouldn't stay with Lex, he wanted the guest room to be the most comfortable room possible.
He definitely would have to give Mercy a raise. Despite the fact that the regrettable plaid and the combination of colors was something he never would have chosen, the way they worked together gave the room a homey, yet an elegant, feel that he hoped that Clark would appreciate. The primary colors would have been welcomed by his reluctant guest. Unfortunately, Lex wasn't sure Clark would even get to see it.
He sighed and regretted leaving his glass on the bar in the living room. Lex contemplated going to fill it again when he heard a sound behind him.
A surge of hope rushed through him as he turned around, he had expected to see Clark in the door, but was disappointed when he saw Mercy's shape silhouetted by the bright light behind her.
His hope was rekindled when she said, "I found him."
~:::~
Lex sat on the edge of a chair in the den as he watched the report on MSNBC and scowled. There had been another humongous tsunami in Southeast Asia. It had devastated the dozens of countries which ringed the Bay of Bengal, making millions homeless and possibly killing tens of thousands.
Superman had been reported to be helping survivors, helping to recover bodies, but there had been so many...
Lex understood, maybe really for the first time, what it was that Clark went through when he had emergencies to deal with.
He now knew for sure that what he'd been feeling ever since Clark had left was flavored by what the other man was going through. As he looked at the TV, hoping for some glimpse of Superman, some report of what he was doing, Lex was even more in awe of Clark than he had ever been.
To feel so small and powerless, yet still try and do whatever possible to help. A lesser man would have given up even trying after the first hours, but Lex knew Clark would be there for however long it took.
The love he felt for Clark blossomed and grew. He wasn't sure it would have been possible to love him more, but knowing he worked so hard, so selflessly, to help others further entrenched the Kryptonian into his heart.
He watched intently, hungry to hear what Superman was doing to help or maybe get a glimpse of Clark, see how he was. The most the news showed were the same brief flashes of red and blue as Clark streaked across the cloudy skies over the hundreds of poor villages drowned by the tsunami.
As he and Mercy watched a live report, a reporter was in a Red Crescent refugee center where they'd had reports of Superman bringing people in from the devastation. In the midst of an interview with an aid worker, Superman came in with another person he'd rescued.
Clark lowered a muddy, trembling little girl about ten years old into the waiting arms of the Red Crescent volunteer as the cameras taped the scene. The reporter asked, "Superman, it's wonderful you saved her, but there are so many... What else are you going to do to help?
His face contorted and he was breathless, but it wasn't due to pain or physical exertion. His voice thick with emotion, Clark simply said, "I'm going to make sure they all get to go home."
It broke Lex's heart.
And a surge of love for Clark overwhelmed him.
Superman looked at the camera sadly for a moment.
At that moment as he looked into Clark's eyes, his sad eyes, Lex was convinced that Clark somehow knew he was watching.
He looked about to say something, but, suddenly and with a silent shake of his head, Clark was gone.
Superman's unexpectedly abrupt departure left the reporter confused and stammering as he tried to finish reporting to close out the rest of his live segment. Before he tossed back to the anchor safe and dry in New York, Clark was only visible as a distant red and blue streak in the sky.
As he watched more of the news, with images of the hurt and dead, Lex felt something he'd never really felt before. He felt inconsequential and helpless. For the first time, Lex had an inkling of why Clark did what he did.
Clark's empathy and selflessness, powered by his nearly unlimited strength, gave him the ability to help and protect people in trouble even when no one else in the world could, or would. Helping innocents, saving them, giving them dignity in death even when he couldn't save their lives and taking them back to their families was more important to Clark than almost anything.
Lex hadn't really understood before why Clark had always lectured him on responsible use of power. He had thought Clark had been talking about wealth or political might. He had been wrong. Lex felt shamed by that misunderstanding now.
No, Clark hadn't been talking about anything material. He had been talking about people.
Clark took it personally when people he watched over were hurt, not because he was territorial (which was what Lex had always suspected), but because he cared, really cared, about them. He cared about their well-being.
It was an epiphany, an insight about Clark, Lex hadn't expected...
He could feel Clark's torment at his helplessness in the face of the overwhelming tragedy and it moved him more than he would have ever thought it would have. Tears stung his eyes as he saw the despair of the victims.
When Mercy shifted slightly as she stood next to his chair, he looked up at her.
She watched Lex, not the TV, and seemed unsure what to make of her unusually emotional boss. When he looked at her, she looked back in expectation. Her graceful eyebrows raised, her mouth slightly open, as if waiting for an order, a command to go into action for him, ever loyal and faithful.
Her voice, when she spoke, was unusually tender. "Is there anything I can do for you, Mr. Luthor?"
Lex thought for a minute. He stared at the video of the suffering of untold thousands half a world away and looked back at her. He gestured toward the TV.
"Help me to help him."
~:::~
Even though Lex had previously helped people in need, he'd never before felt the urgency like he did now. Before, it had only been because it made for good PR or helped him deduct any charitable gifts at tax time. However, now he and Mercy worked through the night, sending the relief agencies food, water, and supplies from his distribution warehouses, arranging for ships and planes to get the relief to the most affected areas.
His heart ached and he felt weary like he had never before. He fought to stand upright sometimes, but he didn't sleep or rest and Clark didn't come home. Not for days.
Clark looked exhausted in every single video Lex had seen him in and yet he still didn't come home.
Though tired, clearly at the limits of even his seemingly endless physical capabilities, Superman kept on working. He kept on trudging through the mud and mounds of rubble that was all that was left of most villages, trying to recover every body he could, as he tried to keep his promise to get everyone home. Yet there were some that would never go home, that had been lost to the sea.
It warmed his heart that Clark worked so hard, even to the point where he was pushing himself to the limits of his considerable gifts. Still, he wished he would come home to him.
Lex ached for the victims of the disaster, but he ached to hold Clark more. He missed him, even as infuriating, insufferable, exasperating and frustrating as he is. But Clark was also noble, earnest, faithful, and true.
Lex wanted to see him safe, even if it meant he wouldn't ever come back to him.
~:::~
Lex slept little the rest of the week. He couldn't, not with Clark gone.
However, he had finally slept for a few hours after some encouragement from Mercy (who had escorted him to bed with a stern look and a hand on her gun). He woke early in the morning well before the sun rose and before Mrs. O'Hara would arrive.
He took a quick shower and went in search of Mercy. He found her in his office and she told him that there was still no sign of Superman.
It had been six days since he'd left and there hadn't been a reported sighting of Clark in almost a day. Lex was worried.
The penthouse was unusually quiet. He managed to stagger into the shower and then made some coffee to try and wake himself up. He sipped the toxic brew, too strong and not nearly as good as Mrs. O'Hara's, as he checked the news channels and online news sites.
There was nothing new on Superman's whereabouts.
Anxious, Lex walked out onto the patio so he could get a good look west. He stood and watched for untold minutes, but somehow looking west didn't seem right.
For no apparent reason, Lex felt drawn to look around, to look to the east instead. He turned and looked toward the other side of the patio. The sliding glass door to the guest room, Clark's room, was open.
He tilted his head as he looked intently at the door.
There was no reason for the door to be open. No one should have gone into the room. The penthouse apartment was the sole residence on the top floor of the building and there was no way anyone who couldn't fly would be able to get into the apartment without Lex knowing about it.
Even so, he walked toward the open door cautiously and yet dared to hope.
Lex quietly peered in the open door, but he didn't see Clark at first. However, he felt that he was there. He wanted to see the proof for himself, but the heavy drapes obscured most of the room. Lex had to hold a hand out and push aside the thick fabric.
It took Lex's eyes a minute to adjust to the dark of the room compared to the brightening day outside, but then he could see that Clark lay in the bed asleep, his muddy uniform left where it lay on the floor just inside the bathroom. A wet towel lay on top of it. The exhausted man had apparently taken a shower and managed to pull on his pajamas before collapsing into bed.
A warm feeling of love and.... something else... completeness made Lex feel better than he'd felt since Clark had left. He smiled, satisfied that Clark had accepted the penthouse as his home, glad that he came home without being forced.
Lex turned to leave, but he stopped when he heard a soft sound.
~:::~
Part 11b here...