Title: The Confrontation
Series: Finding Home. Third in series.
Author: Christie
Email: tinamishi@yahoo.com
Archive: http://number14.org/precious
Genre: Smallville (Lex/Lana); established relationship, drama, angst
Rating: R (sexual situations, strong language)
Spoilers: General S1 & S2 (nothing overt)
Summary: Is Smallville ready for Lex and Lana? Are Lex and Lana ready
for each other?  Series sequel to Close Quarters.   
Disclaimer: Smallville was created by Millar & Gough.  This story is
non-profit.
Distribution: If you've got Close Quarters, by all means take this.

*

She was eating a bag of chips.  And not a small bag either, but a
full-sized bag of Ruffles.  Sour cream and onion flavor.  Breath didn't
matter anymore, Lana thought, since no one was talking to her anyway.

She pulled her cell phone out of her bag with the hand that wasn't
covered in greasy chive goodness.  Call me if you need me, Lex had
said, just before signing her extra credit biology assignments and
kissing her on the forehead.  But did she really *need* Lex?  She was
sitting alone in the quad eating chips.  Want Lex, yeah.  Need Lex, she
guessed not.

Lana thumbed through the call log on her cell.  NELL (HM) glared out at
her from the keypad and she stopped, finger hovering over the send
button.  She had to call Nell, soon, but wasn't too sure lunch period
was the time to do it.  She still had to sit through Social Studies and
Math, and she really wasn't up to doing that with red, puffy eyes.

Not that it was fair to assume Nell would make her cry, but she was
pretty sure that her aunt's reaction to Lana dating Lex Luthor wouldn't
consist of squeals of delight and offers to help pick out china
patterns.

Lana switched her phone off and slipped it into her backpack.  No, she
wouldn't call Lex or Nell just yet.  She'd sit and eat her chips and
feel sorry for herself until the bell rang.  

Except that Chloe screwed up that plan.

Lana saw the boots first, and knew only one person that could make
boots that sensible look stylish.  Her heart hammering in her chest,
Lana looked up and attempted a welcoming smile.

Chloe plopped down on the grass next to Lana and pulled a sandwich out
of her bag.  Lana wanted to think this was normal; after all, wasn't
this where they usually met for lunch on nice days?  Just because Clark
was probably hiding out in the cafeteria or the Torch office and had
corralled Pete with him didn't mean Chloe couldn't join her friend for
lunch in the quad, right?  Except Chloe hadn't said two words to Lana
since the coat incident yesterday morning, and of course there was
Clark to consider.

Lana was sure Clark had said something.  How could he be that upset and
not say something to one of his best friends?  Still, with Clark, it
was always so hard to tell.

Chloe was half-way done with her sandwich and had helped herself to
some of Lana's chips before she finally cocked her head and gave Lana
the Investigative Reporter Look.

"So, are you and Lex sleeping together?"

Lana choked and spit out the sip of Coke she'd just taken.  Clark had
better *hope* he hadn't told Chloe, or Pete, or anyone *that*.

"No!" she sputtered, only half aware that she'd spit soda on her jeans.
 When Chloe laughed and handed her a napkin, Lana cursed.

Chloe almost spit out her own sip of soda.  "Miss Lang!" she scolded. 
"The language!  I'd say Lex Luthor has you all a-fluster."

Lana looked up from her jeans and raised her eyebrows a fraction of an
inch.  "A-fluster?  That's not even a word."

Okay, her pants were stained but it wasn't too noticeable, and Chloe
didn't seem so much angry as amused.  Lana dared to let a sliver of
relief soak into her bones.

"I'm not sleeping with him," she said more calmly, stuffing the wet
napkins into a brown paper bag.  "I assume you talked to Clark."

Chloe resumed eating her sandwich.  She nodded as she chewed, and Lana
noted her eyes looked big and earnest, like she was about to report
Clark was never speaking to her or Lex again, or was going to jump off
a bridge or something.

"Not that I couldn't have figured it out on my own," Chloe noted
firmly, washing her bite down with another sip of soda.  Lana nodded
dutifully.  She'd conceded that point weeks ago.  She wanted to hear
about Clark.

"Clark's upset," Chloe said matter of factly.  "I'm not sure what else
to tell you."

To Lana, that sounded foreboding.  A weight settled into the pit of her
stomach and suddenly there didn't seem to be enough room for that and
her soda and chips.  She swallowed hard.

"But you're not mad?"

Narrow shard of hope, Lana had to make sure she had at least *one*
friend after this…not that it'd matter if she had to make a whole new
group of friends in Metropolis.  Absently, Lana wondered how many
people would actually even know, much less care that she was dating Lex
Luthor if she went to Metropolis High.  She was willing to bet not
many.

"Why would I be mad?" Chloe said in a way that made it hard for Lana
not to see the logic.  Then she made a face.  "Except for the lying, of
course."

The weight in Lana's stomach grew heavier.  "I'm so sorry, Chloe," she
said, in the same tone she imagined she'd use on Clark.  It was
genuine, but Lana had to continue believing she'd done the right thing
by keeping it from them for so long.  She was glad she and Lex had had
six weeks on which to build a relationship, because after what she was
starting to call the Smallville Factor, she wasn't sure there'd be much
left to salvage.

"I didn't tell anyone for so long because I wasn't sure I knew what I
was doing," Lana continued.

This was true.  Chloe seemed to consider it, then nodded.  "I get that.
 I mean, Lex Luthor.  That's huge."

She paused to finish off her sandwich, and Lana wasn't sure whether to
fill in the silence or just let it sit.  

She let it sit until the bell rang.  As they gathered their bags, Chloe
slapped her hand to her forehead.

"I just can't believe I didn't figure it out sooner," she said, and
Lana was amused at how genuinely dismayed she sounded.  "If I'd have
guessed before, you'd have told me, right?"

"Yeah," Lana said, not really pausing to consider whether or not it was
true.  She supposed it was, but one could always suppose an outcome to
something that could now never happen.  "I *wanted* to tell you," Lana
continued.

True.

"I almost did so many times."

Also true.

Chloe seemed pleased with this.  She skipped a little as they neared
the main building and shook her head.  "Lana Lang and Lex Luthor," she
said under her breath as they pulled open the doors and joined the
throng of students making their way to class.  

Lana was sure she'd said it out loud simply to make it easier to
believe.

***

Lex wasn't exactly the type to welcome interruptions at work, but he'd
found himself wishing his phone would ring at least three separate
times during the day.  It hadn't.  Lex had taken over a dozen calls
through his secretary at the plant, and two on his cell (accountant and
dear old Dad), but not once was it Lana.

By 6:30, he had the stereo nearly as loud as his car would allow as he
drove the back roads around Smallville to the mansion.

For the past six weeks there had been someone at the mansion when he
got there; someone who wanted to know how his day was.  And for once,
there was someone in existence who he cared about and wanted to see
happy.

This morning when he'd signed off on Lana's extra credit assignments,
he'd told her there was nothing to worry about.  He'd kissed her on the
forehead and told her to call him if she needed him, but genuinely
believed that she was expecting a fall out that just wasn't going to
come.  He thought he still believed that, but as the day wore on, he'd
found his mind wandering to Lana at school, wondering how she was doing
and what, exactly, Clark had decided to do with his new found knowledge
of their relationship.

From day one, Lex had honestly not cared who knew and how they reacted.
 It wasn't out of an elevated maturity or ability to handle the world,
it was simply experience.  Lex had learned many lessons in life that
pointed him to one simple and unadulterated truth: you could please
some of the people some of the time but never all of the people all of
the time.

The human animal was not as complicated as everyone liked to think. 
Lex did what he had to do to be successful, and let the world fall
where it may.  People with ideologies, people like Lana, might frown on
that philosophy, but so far in Lex's life, it was the only one that
worked.

As Lex turned onto the property, he lowered the volume on his stereo. 
Lana's car wasn't in the service drive, but Clark's truck was, and he
was leaning against his bumper looking more composed but (if it was
possible) more angry than he had the night before.

Nothing like a full 24-hours to let something fester, Lex thought
grimly.  He pulled his car around to the main drive and when he got
out, Clark was already waiting at the front entrance.

Lex did not invite him inside.

"Clark, I'm surprised to see you here."

Gauging Clark's mood was usually possible by his expression, but Lex
noted this time it was not.  Still, he reminded himself this was a
sixteen-year-old kid and, on principle, refused to be intimidated.  He
slipped his hands into the pockets of his coat and waited.  Lex could
be an extremely patient man when the situation required.

"I want to talk to you about Lana," Clark said.  

Of course he did.  

"What about her?"

Lex hardened his voice to match Clark's, unwilling to be the one to
fold.  Lex could always count on the man with more weaknesses to do
that, and in this case, undoubtedly, it was Clark.

"This…what you're doing…"

Lex gazed at Clark for a moment, knowing his expression was still hard
despite the softness that Clark had allowed into his.  Finally, Lex
turned and started up the steps toward the castle.

"It's really none of your business, Clark."

He felt the boy's pause.  Felt his indecision, and could practically
sense his desperation.  For a moment, Lex allowed himself to feel
minutely guilty, but pushed it away with practiced ease.

"You knew how I felt about her!" Clark shouted, still standing at the
bottom of the steps.

Lex turned and found Clark exactly as he'd expected to.  Hands balled
into fists at the sides of his quilted flannel coat, eyes pleading
'please tell me this is all just an awful joke and things can go back
to the way they were!'  Only things changed, and Lex had always been
told that the sooner a person realized and came to terms with this, the
better off they would be.

He softened his voice fractionally and took his hands out of his
pockets.  "Clark, I know.  And I'm sorry, but things changed."

Now Clark took several steps toward Lex, his expression flitting
between desperate, hysterical and slipping back into angry in a matter
of seconds.  "Things changed?  Or you changed them?"

Lex felt his lips crook into a wry smile.  "Look Clark, I didn't force
Lana into anything.  And I didn't decide I wanted her because you did. 
It just happened."

Clark's fists clenched and unclenched at his sides.  He'd stopped at
the very bottom of the steps and his head cocked to one side.  "It just
happened."  His shoulders had drooped and Lex was reminded of the
weight of the world.

It wouldn't be on your shoulders if you didn't choose to carry it, he
thought.  "Clark, where are you going with this?"

There was a pause so long, Lex wondered at what point you can stop
considering it a mere pause.  He let the silence settle between them,
even though it wasn't calming in any sense.  He slipped his hands back
into his pockets, because the sun had set and a chill had settled in
for the night.

When Clark finally spoke, his voice was low, and Lex wondered had the
night not been so silent, if he would have heard at all.

"Stop seeing her."

Lex didn't let another stillness envelope the night.  He shook his head
almost immediately.  "Sorry Clark, that's not going to happen."

He turned and continued up the steps toward his front door.  

"You're just going to hurt her!"

Clark had spiraled back to desperate, as if every time Lex made a move
to leave the conversation Clark needed a way to call him back, to keep
him talking until he got what he wanted.  Lex only turned half-way and
spoke over his shoulder.
"Don't do this."

Another beat, and Lex heard Clark's sharp intake of breath as Lex
turned and put his hand on the heavy doorknob.

"You don't love her, Lex."

That shook Lex from the top of his head to the bottoms of his feet.  He
closed his eyes and felt his grip tighten around the bronze handle.  He
imagined his knuckles going white inside his driving glove and counted
to ten before speaking again.  He didn't bother turning around.

"Go home."

And Lex took his own advice, pulling open his door and stepping inside.
 It took every ounce of his willpower not to slam it behind him.  He
walked straight to his study, eyes forward, unable to process anything
except putting one foot in front of the other.  He slipped his coat off
and draped it over the chair at his desk, but did not bother to thumb
through the message slips left there, or the file marked 'confidential'
that was lying on top.  He walked over to the bar instead and poured
himself a drink.

The cell phone in his coat pocket rang at least three times before the
clock chimed seven.  Lex let it ring.  He finished his drink and poured
another.  

***

The chime above the Talon door tinkled as it opened, but Lana had long
since stopped looking up and hoping it was Lex.  He hadn't answered his
cell all evening, and her good news was less and less exciting as the
hours dragged on.

When she'd agreed to cover for Sandy, Lana thought the work would be
good -- take her mind off of Clark and give her yet another excuse to
procrastinate on calling Nell.  But she'd ended up with three rude
customers, a depressing lack of tips and a phone call from her aunt
anyway.

Lana was surprised when Chloe walked up to the counter.

"I know you're about to close," she said, glancing at the clock on the
wall, "but I wanted to give you a heads up."

Lana put the till back into the register and closed it.  Suddenly, her
'Nell's not making me move to Metropolis!' announcement seemed
inappropriate.

"What is it?"

"Clark confronted Lex," Chloe said, raising her eyebrows as if to
punctuate the statement.  Or to echo Lana's thoughts in the absurdity
of it all.  Whichever worked.  

"I dunno exactly what was said but Clark's pretty pissed off so I would
imagine Lex is too," Chloe continued.  She tilted her head to one side
and pursed her lips.  "Life is tough when you've got two hot guys
fighting over you, isn't it?"

Chloe sounded flip, but Lana knew there was a hidden barb in those
words.  She tried to smile, but ended up sucking her bottom lip into
her mouth and chewing on it.  She was more worried about other things
now; much as she hated to see Chloe's ego wounded.  Mostly, deep in her
gut, Lana was beginning to wonder if she and Lex had lost Clark
forever.

Chloe was suddenly looking at her with such sympathy, Lana's stomach
lurched.  "Clark hates us, doesn't he?" Lana asked, unsure if she
really wanted the answer.

"I think right now he feels betrayed," Chloe said.

Lana winced at the word.  That, it seemed, was exactly what she and Lex
had done to Clark.  It would be easy to be outraged, to convince
herself she had every right to date who she wanted and didn't have to
answer to anyone, least of all Clark Kent.

Except that she knew why Clark was hurt and confused.  After Whitney
left, things should have progressed with herself and Clark.  But other
things got in the way.  Chloe, for one.  Focuses shifted.  Clark,
however, would never have expected Lana's focus to shift to Lex Luthor.

Lana was unsure of how long Chloe's hand had been on her arm.  She
looked down and it was there.  Looked up, and Chloe's eyes were filled
with warmth.  "Clark will come around, Lana," she said, and once again
Lana found it really hard not to believe her.

***

Lex heard Lana talking to Julie in the kitchen and knew it must be
close to ten.  The Talon closed at nine, and Lana had mastered the
closing process in under 45 minutes, barring any of what she would call
"funky till balances".  He put the tumbler of scotch down on the bar
and pushed himself out of his chair.

He was pretty sure he wasn't drunk, just pleasantly numb, and wondered
if Julie was ratting him out.  Mr. Luthor refused dinner, Mr. Luthor
finished off a bottle of scotch, Mr. Luthor is being a big old grouch,
he mimicked in his head.  God damn servants and Lana's friendly rapport
with them.

He was standing by the window, hands in his pockets when she entered
the study.  When he was warm with alcohol and hours in front of the
fire, Lex appreciated the draftiness of the castle.  Stand by a window
and you could always count on a wisp of air from outside, no matter how
tightly shut the pane was.

"Hey, Lex."

She sounded overly nonchalant and he knew Julie had told.  Good help
was so hard to come by these days, he thought ruefully.  He took in a
breath and turned to face her.

"Hey."

No matter what was going on, Lex always paused to appreciate her
beauty.  Even with coffee stains dotting her pants and her oxford shirt
wrinkled where the apron had crushed it, she was still radiant.  The
cold outside had flushed her cheeks and her eyes were lit bright by the
glow of the fire.  Her hair was upswept into a messy ponytail, one that
had surely been neat with all stray hairs tucked away at the start of
her shift.

He wanted to forget talking all together; suddenly it didn't matter how
her day was.  He wanted to press himself against her and divest her of
the wrinkled shirt.  He wanted to touch her in all the ways he had, and
new ways he'd invent, just for the occasion.  He wanted his brain fuzzy
with Lana-ness, not scotch, and certainly not Clark's accusations.  He
turned his face back to the window and breathed in, then out against
the glass.

"Thought you weren't working today," he finally said, facing her again.

She smiled and stepped closer to him, but still remained on the other
side of the desk.  She was wary, and Lex didn't like it.

"I covered for Sandy.  I called…"

Lex nodded abruptly.  His cell still remained in the pocket of his
coat, which remained draped across the chair.

"Are you okay?" he suddenly asked.

Lana looked surprised at the question, but Lex was willing to bet she
wasn't as surprised as he was to hear himself ask it.  He had no idea
where it came from or why he'd voice it, except now he felt guilty for
letting her hang on the phone all evening while he sat by the fire
drinking and alternately contemplating how wrong Clark was or if he
might be right.

"I'm fine," Lana answered, now rounding the desk to stand closer to
him.  She looked worried but took his hand anyway and smiled.  "I
talked to Nell, and she's definitely not happy but she said I can
stay."

Lana was smiling and Lex knew he should smile in return.  This was good
news, and was it really any fucking surprise that no one thought he was
good enough for Lana Lang?

He should have been ready for this, right?  All the time Lana was
freaking out about telling the world, he'd been a rock.  The rock of
God damned Gibralter.  Nothing can stand in our way -- tell everyone! 
To hell with popular opinion.

Except that 'popular opinion' hadn't been shouted in his face by his
only friend until tonight.  

Was an entire population wrong, or was Lex just kidding himself?  What
exactly was he doing with a sixteen-year-old who was, for all intents
and purposes, the town of Smallville's Girl Next Door?

When he looked at her, the smile fading because she was realizing that
he wasn't smiling back, and that things weren't nearly as okay as she'd
hoped they were, he desperately tried to answer his own question.  They
should be there; the reasons tenfold as to why he needed Lana and
wanted Lana and would be with Lana.

Maybe it was because she made him want to be a better man.  Maybe it
was because she believed in him, even when there were a thousand
reasons why she shouldn't.  Maybe it was because when she looked at
him, he saw love there; the unconditional kind that he hadn't seen from
anyone except his mother.

Maybe it was one or all of those reasons; maybe it wasn't any of them. 
He wanted to go back to the way it was before…when he didn't care and
fuck the world because they didn't matter.

How the hell had Clark Kent managed to get under his skin?

Lana had tipped her face up and was looking at him with concern.  Her
fingers trailed down his cheek and she blinked at him in a way that
made him want to weep with how beautiful she was.  And how he didn't
deserve her.  And how pissed off that made him.

"Lana," he said, surprised to hear his voice surface at all, even if it
did sound like the croak of someone near tears.  His head was swimming
with alcohol and he only wanted to forget everything that had happened
in the last six hours.  Did he say he wasn't drunk?  Because he lied.

"Lex," she said back, moving her fingertips from his face and replacing
them with the palm of her warm hand.  "Please don't let Clark get to
you.  I'll talk to him…"

Lex should have been more surprised that she knew about Clark.  But
suddenly nothing was surprising him and he didn't care about anything
except losing himself in her.  Before she could finish, he leaned down
and covered her lips with his.

She accepted the kiss but he felt her hands move down to his chest and
push slightly.  He pulled back only after long moments, and sighed as
he noted that her eyes were not heavy-lidded and her face was not
flushed and this was not going to be as easy as he wanted it to.

"Lex," she said again, blinking earnestly at him.  "You're drunk."

He shook his head in protest, but she ignored him, walking them both
from behind the desk and toward the stairs that led to his bedroom.  

"Get some rest tonight," she said softly once they entered the room. 
She unfastened the buttons of his shirt and gently slid the material
off of his shoulders, guiding him to sit down as she moved to take off
his shoes.

Lex let her do it all, feeling boneless and tired; wishing the entire
world would just disappear for one night.  

"Tomorrow we'll go riding," she said as she pulled the covers over him.
 Her palm was cool against his forehead and Lex closed his eyes.  He
only nodded as she pressed her lips against his, and just dimly heard
the click of his door shut before darkness descended all around.

-end-
18 Dec 2002
Continued in Finding Home IV: The Ride.


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