The Worst Case

Jonathan sat down on the couch with his latest issue of 'Tractors Quarterly', trying to relax. The situation with Clark was getting worse and he didn't know what to do. He knew how his son felt about Lex, but this was taking it a bit too far. His son was getting moodier and lazier with each passing day. And what was up with the sudden sugar intake?

He sighed heavily to himself, removing his reading glasses as he pinched the bridge of his nose. Martha came into the living room and sat down next to her husband. "Everything okay, Jonathan?" She asked, putting a hand on top of her husband's and taking his glasses from him, setting them down on the coffee table.

"I'm worried about Clark," he said, "He's been acting very strange this last week and he doesn't seem to be getting any better." Jonathan frowned in concern, "Do you think he might have been exposed to red meteor rocks again?"

Martha shook her head at that. "No. Remember last time?" No, Jonathan didn't want to remember that. He sighed and nodded. "They made him pig headed and almost evil," she continued. "No. It's more like..." She frowned, thinking. "I don't know. If it wasn't so incomprehensible, I'd say he was either on his period or pregnant."

Jonathan looked at her incredulously before breaking out laughing, loudly. Almost tilting himself over to the side, he resettled himself on the couch. "Martha, be serious," he chuckled. "Clark's male. That much we know about him."

"I don't know, Jonathan," she said, her voice wavered with leeriness. "It could be possible. I mean, he's not exactly human," she reminded him. No, Clark wasn't human and there was no denying he was male, but you never know.

"Martha," Jonathan began, trying to sound reasonable and not put down his wife's idea. "This is Clark we're talking about. Even if it was," he paused for a moment almost unbelieving that he was saying this. "Possible," he continued. "Wouldn't he have had sex to get pregnant? As far as I know, he and Lex haven't gotten past kissing. Clark's too shy."

Martha frowned at her husband, but didn't argue. Still a little curious about Jonathan's certainty that her son was too shy to go past kissing, she sighed, knowing he was probably right, but unable to squash the awful feeling that he might be wrong. She leaned forward and picked up her glass of lemonade, taking a sip, still thinking about this all. It *was* possible, however unlikely her husband thought it was.

@>*~

Martha watched as her son came plodding down the stairs and straight to the fridge. He opened the fridge and grabbed a bottle of milk, throwing a pointedly unamused look at his mother when he reached into the cupboard and grabbed a glass before pouring himself a drink. God, he hated throwing up. Today was good, though, he hadn't. He just hoped it had finally stopped.

Trudging over to the table, he pulled out a chair and sat down on it heavily. "Did you throw up?" Martha asked. He looked decidedly grumpy and she didn't want to upset him any more. She wanted to know; this was getting to be ridiculous just speculating on what could be wrong. She had to approach the subject sometime, and now was a good of a time as any.

Clark shook his head and stared at the table sleepily. At least he looked marginally better today than he had the previous days.

"No," she repeated softly to herself. She nodded, "That's good," waiting to see if he had anything else to say. It didn't look like it.

She decided to voice one suggestion for an explanation of why he was not able to hold much down, this had gone on long enough. "It could have been that your body is cleaning out any toxins that you might have been ingesting. They wouldn't be good for - " She caught herself. "You?" She was jumping to conclusions. He might not be pregnant.

At least he hadn't paid too much attention to what she was saying to catch her slip up. All she got was an unintelligible mumble from her son. Okay, so he wasn't up for talking much. "How are you feeling?" She asked, holding back reaching with the natural instinct of a mother to check his forehead for a fever.

Clark's expression changed and Martha felt a twinge of happiness at the change in his demeanor. He looked thoughtful for a moment, his head lifting slightly. "Hungry," he finally confessed. Ah, the binge eating begins. Martha just hoped it wasn't only sugar that her son wanted. Arguing with a pregnant alien would be worse than a pregnant woman, she'd wager.

He asked if pancakes for breakfast would be alright. She smiled and obliged, getting up from her seat to start on them, they weren't full of sugar, at least. Her face brightened some more when she heard his chair scrape lightly back against the floor. Turning to smile as he made his way towards her she hoped that this was the end of his moody behavior.

Clark gave a weak smile in return and stood beside her, opening a cupboard and pulling out a bowl for her. She smiled in thanks, but it was quickly crushed by what he grabbed next. She frowned helplessly as he carried the powdered sugar and syrup back to the table. Sugar. He wants sugar. After setting the bowl down, she turned to open the fridge, pulling out a bowl of raspberries. Oh, well, at least try to get something that was nutritious as well as sweet into him would be a start. She sighed and turned back to the bowl, pulling the ingredients out of the cupboards and began on their breakfast.

After cooking, Martha decided she couldn't keep this inside any longer. She had to say something. Knowing that Jonathan would hate the abrupt way she was about to bring it up, but also understanding what would happen if she spent the time to discuss it with him beforehand. It would be put off time and time again until it was too late. "Honey, we have to talk..." She said as she sat down at the table.

Eyeing Jonathan sternly when he moved to get up, he smiled sweetly and lifted his coffee up, gesturing it towards the kitchen. She raised an eyebrow at him and nodded. He wasn't leaving her to this alone. They were a family, no matter what they had to talk about. "About what?" Clark asked, pushing his plate aside and pulling a piece of pie up in front of him.

She didn't like the idea of pushing sweets into his mouth for him, but she was at least hoping to keep him there with them long enough to talk. "We think we know what's..." She didn't want to say 'wrong with him', because it wasn't wrong. It was just... different. "Making you moody lately."

It was quiet for a moment, and Jonathan sat back down and resumed eating. Martha just sat and looked concerned. Clark frowned, and prompted, "What?" his mouth full of pie.

Martha frowned right back at him for his lack of manners and looked to Jonathan. Seeing no help coming from her husband, she took a breath and then let it come right out. "Could it be possible that you're pregnant?" Bluntly was the way to go if it was going to be this hard to even say things straight out until now.

There was a metallic clatter against the wood surface of the kitchen table when Clark's hand went lax and he dropped the spoon he was holding. "See, Martha?" Jonathan piped up, sounding almost overly confident in himself. "He's just as shocked by the prospect, thinking it's ridiculous." Clark just smiled nervously.

"Gotta have sexual relations to get pregnant, even if you're an alien, right, son?" Jonathan chuckled, hoping to make light of the mess his wife had gotten them into. He sounded a bit smug, but once again, his wife saw through it. Martha could see the doubt in his body language as he crossed his arms over his chest and nodded, sure of himself. They knew that Clark and Lex were a bit more than just friends, but they didn't think they'd been having sex yet.

Crap. Clark was unable to remain looking at his parents with his mouth open, shocked. He decided looking away from them and shuffling nervously in his seat was a better option. He cleared his throat and tried to look at his parents again, but he felt like his head was weighted down. He squeezed his eyes shut, feeling the little blush trying to sneak up and warm his face.

Martha opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. She closed it and thought for a moment as she turned to look at her husband. He looked about read to blow his top. She turned back to her son, and asked her question, hoping she wouldn't have to break up a fight between her husband and son. "Clark, have you and Lex been... intimate?"

Clark nodded and forced himself to look up, feeling rather sheepish. Crap, crap, crap. His parents not finding out how serious he and Lex had been until Clark had already accidentally gotten knocked up. Oh, this was good, Clark scoffed mentally to himself.

Jonathan had known they were dating, and hadn't been too pleased with it from the start. Even finding out that they have had sex before didn't make him that angry, but when he realized that Lex Luthor had had sex with his son and gotten him pregnant, he couldn't hold it in any longer.

The argument didn't go as horribly as Clark or Martha had thought it would. After his father had expressed all his thoughts on the issues, he'd calmed down and was able to talk more rationally. He found that his parents were very upset with not just Lex, but him as well. He felt as if he would be on the receiving end of disappointed heads shaking at him for a very long time.

There was also the allowance to understanding it was an accident, and that even Clark didn't know, much less Lex, that he could become with child. He sighed. He was still in school, even if he was smart enough not to be. How could he take care of a baby?

@>*~

The morning's earlier conversation was not something he liked to remember, but unfortunately his mother had a point. He hated disappointing them at all. He wasn't even sure he really was pregnant, but he was sure his mom was right. She'd know the different signs and symptoms of it. Wouldn't she?

Deciding that his idea of having a nap was shot, he sighed and sat up in his bed. He wasn't going to be able to sleep if he didn't find some way of confirming his mother's suspicions. He couldn't very well take a pregnancy test. Heck, he was sure if he was pregnant, his hormones wouldn't even register on something made for human females. The only other way he could think of to check, was to x-ray himself. His skin may have been invulnerable, but it wasn't made out of lead.

Taking a deep breath to calm himself, Clark looked down at his abdominal area and concentrated his focus. He looked on as his eyes penetrated the different layers of skin his body was made up of, stopping right before he got to his bones. He didn't see anything really strange or out of place at first. Surprisingly, his innards looked almost exactly like that of a human male.

Scanning around his lower torso, he caught sight of something a bit weird looking. There was a sac-like organ situated right above what he remembered from biology to be his bladder with a long tubular looking thing coming from it and connecting to his rectum. He concentrated even harder to see if there was anything in the sac. Upon further inspection, he could just barely make out a little pinkish looking blob, moving around inside of the sac. Wondering if the movement was from breathing, he held his breath and continued to watch the blob in the sac. It kept moving and squirming inside of the sac.

His head jerked back quickly enough to make his eyes hurt from being suddenly switched back to normal vision. Martha was downstairs, almost finished drying off one of the plates from breakfast when she heard her son's desperate yell for her coming from upstairs. Startling her enough that her hands became slack, she dropped the plate onto the floor. A broken plate was nothing to her compared to what her baby might be screaming for. Forgetting her previous task, she ran through the kitchen and up the stairs to her son's room. Dashing through the doorway she almost slid across the floor to get to her sobbing child. Pulling him into a comforting hug, she asked, "Clark, honey, what's wrong?"

Clark held on tight to his mother, shoving his head into the curve of her neck, crying onto her shoulder. He was barely able to get the words out, almost hoping if he didn't say them, it wouldn't be true. "Mom, I'm pregnant."

Martha sighed and rocked her baby back and forth in her arms. She already had an idea that he was, he must have checked to confirm it for himself. She sighed softly and brought a hand up to run through his hair, trying to calm him. Things were going to change in the Kent household and she wasn't sure if it'd be for the best or worst.

@>*~

Lex sighed and let his head fall back against the seat. He'd just sat through a two hour meeting, alone, listening to a drone ramble on about safety and operating procedures to the rest of his staff. Mostly he was just there to make sure it went well, to supervise, he had no real input to the discussion. No wonder Lionel had sent him to the meeting alone; his father didn't want to sit through a boring meeting any more than he did. He had almost drifted off to sleep when the car stopped and his door was opened. Blinking to clear his head, he got out and made his way up to his room.

Sliding his pass card into the slot, he pushed the door open when it was unlocked and walked into the room, shutting the door a bit too hard behind him. Lionel was sitting on one of the couches with his electronic reader and a report in his lap, most likely the same report Lex had read earlier. His father must have been in his room while he was gone, because he had left it on his bed on top of his brief case. "Lex?" Lionel called, setting his reader down.

Walking into the room, Lex shucked his jacket off and tossed it onto the cushion beside his father, making Lionel jerk his head towards the offending garment. Lex smirked at the scene. Dear old dad looking like a timid little rabbit having been startled in the grass. "Lex," it wasn't so much of a questioning call this time, but more of an annoyed recognition.

"Hey, Dad," Lex acknowledged his own presence to his father and leaned down to pick up the decanter his father had moved from the bar to the side table to his left. Carrying it back to the bar, he picked up a glass and poured himself a drink. Lionel groped his surroundings, searching for his cane before standing from the couch and stretching his legs. Lex turned to watch his father make his way towards him as he lifted the glass to his mouth and took a generous gulp of its contents.

"How was the meeting?" Lionel asked, gesturing the report in the air as he spoke. Lex looked into his glass, wishing it would have a never ending source of alcohol so that he could drown himself in it and at least hallucinate that he was back home with Clark, not stuck here with his father.

Taking another drink, Lex let the alcohol sit in his mouth for a moment, permeating his sense of taste before he answered. "Tiresomely long and tedious," he replied after swallowing. He frowned, curious of what his father was doing; either following the liquor or he was going to touch him.

Lionel proceeded towards him, switching his cane to the other hand to bring his right up to his son. Lex stilled, watching and waiting until his father's hand was about to settle around his neck, to almost cradling the base of his head. Lex sighed and moved his arm from between them, setting his glass back down on the table behind him. "You must be doing a good job, then," Lionel said slowly, sensing the tense exterior his son had adopted, and began to feel unsure.

"Dad, I'm not in the mood for this," feeling Lionel's fingers drift slightly upwards, tentatively touching where there was no hair, just soft smooth sensitive skin. Lex felt a coldness settle over his body as he stared into his father's unseeing eyes with contempt. Lionel felt his features shift, changing into almost a look of sadness, but underlined with content. Now that he couldn't see his son's lack of hair, it didn't seem to matter.

His father had never touched his scalp where hair should have been in his entire life, and Lex felt almost angry for it to be now that he did. Stepping to the side, and backing away from his father's touch, he let out a breath he hadn't known he was holding. "You can call your assistant if you need anything."

Turning away from his father, Lex crossed the open doorway into his room, and made his way towards the bathroom. Opening the door and shutting it behind him, he leaned back against it, sighing heavily as he did so before bringing his hands up to his face. God, he hated to leave him out there.

"Ahghh," he groaned into his palms. Why the hell did he have to be here? As much as he loathed their relationship, he didn't want Lionel to hurt himself trying to do something because he couldn't see what in god's name he was doing. Lex dropped his hands and slammed a fist against the door behind him before stalking towards the shower.

@>*~

Clark was glad that the puking every other day had finally stopped. He never really felt ill or anything, he just hated the acidic tangy taste that was left over in his mouth afterwards and the sympathetic looks his mother kept giving him every time it had happened. His father would glare at him every once in a while over the whole sleeping with Lex debacle. He felt ashamed that his father was so disappointed in him. That and the fact that he wasn't 'legal' were the main reasons why he never told the two of them in the first place.

Of course, the vomiting had been nothing compared to the binges he'd gone into. His parents had been at their wits end trying to keep up with his eating habits. His mother had to be sure there was plenty of food at the dinner table or no one but Clark would eat that night. Plus, he had still craved massive quantities of sugar. None of them knew exactly why he did. As long as Clark got his sugar regularly, he had been happy and not as moody as he had been weeks before.

Lately though, Clark had curbed his food intake greatly, which had helped his parents' spending greatly. Going grocery shopping three times a week instead of their normal once every two weeks had put a great strain on what money they had. They hadn't wanted to stifle Clark and the baby's health, but they were more then happy to not be greeted regularly at 'Smallville Harvest'. The looks they'd received made Jonathan want to hop the next flight to London and gun Lex down.

Now, Clark was currently in the kitchen, in the middle of the night, rummaging around in the fridge. Still half asleep, Clark had gotten out of bed, walked out of his room and made his way down the stairs. The only noise that could be heard was the soft slapping of socked feet as he had walked into the kitchen. Once he got to the fridge, he had opened it up, in search of something thirst quenching. Grabbing the bottle of milk, he unscrewed the lid and drank right out of it. He didn't stop swallowing until the bottle was completely empty of its contents.

He grunted in frustration and put the now empty bottle back into the fridge, scanning the shelves for something else to drink. Half an hour later, he had gone through their entire water supply, three two liter bottles of coke, a carton of orange juice and the half full jug of iced tea his mother had made earlier that day.

Thirst quenched, he closed the door and headed back up the stairs to his room where he laid down on the bed and quickly feel back asleep.

@>*~

Martha hummed to herself as she prepared breakfast for her men. There was toast, eggs, pancakes and a bowl of powdered sugar all waiting on the table. She would have had milk and orange juice laid out too, but someone had drank it all and left the empty containers in the fridge. She sighed and realized she'd have to go to the store to buy more for tomorrow's breakfast.

Jonathan made his way down the stairs and headed towards the kitchen and its wonderful smells. Seeing Martha already hard at work with breakfast, he snuck up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist, planting a kiss on top of her red hair. "Morning, sweetheart. Mmm, it smells great in here."

Martha turned her head and placed a kiss onto her husband's cheek as she continued stirring what was in the bowl in her hands. "Thank you. Is Clark up yet?"

Jonathan let go of Martha and moved to the coffee maker. "Yeah, I saw him stumble his way into the bathroom before I came down here. I'm just glad he's not sleeping his life away anymore."

"Well, he does still need to take it easy. We have no idea if this is even common for his people. I mean, what type of species needs to be able to procreate so easily? If we knew where the key to Clark's ship disappeared to, we could see if maybe it had the answers to our questions," Martha sighed as she flipped over the pancakes before they burned.

"I don't know if we'll ever find it again. It's been over a year since we lost it and I haven't a clue where it could be. For all we know someone's using it as a paper weight on their desk."

Martha was about to respond when she caught sight of Clark coming down the stairs. "Morning, Clark. How was your night?"

Clark yawned and took a seat at the table, picking at his food. "It was alright. Why?"

"Well, someone decided to raid the fridge and drink us out of house and home," Martha replied, smiling at her son. She wasn't angry with him, just amused at his weird nightly habits.

"Oh, sorry. I was just really thirsty this morning," Clark smiled apologetically at his mother. He wasn't as tired as he had been last month, but he still got the occasional bouts of tiredness once in a while.

Jonathan took a sip of his coffee and turned to address his son. "Have you heard anything from Lex lately?"

Clark looked up, frowning at his father. "He emails me almost everyday, but he says he's been real busy and hasn't had much time to call. Which is alright, I guess. Since it doesn't take a whole lot of time to write."

Martha sat down at the table once she finished preparing breakfast. "I'm sure you'll get another phone call soon. I know he misses you an awful lot. By the way, have you told him about his pending fatherhood yet?"

Clark looked down at his plate, moving food around on it, not wanting to look his parents in the eye. "Not yet. I mean, how would I even begin to tell him, Mom? I'm still getting used to the idea. I have no idea how Lex will even take the news."

"Well, you're going to have to tell him eventually, Clark," Jonathan cut in. "As much as it pains me to say this, he is the baby's father."

Clark just continued to look down at his plate. He didn't have a clue how to tell Lex about his pregnancy. Being a bisexual alien was one thing, being a pregnant bisexual alien was another. He was too young to have to think about so much. Sighing, Clark scooped a little bit of scrambled eggs into his mouth. His life just kept on getting more complicated as each day went on.

@>*~

Martha made her way through the barn and up the stairs, bringing the boys some cookies. Pete had come over earlier and Clark hadn't been in to eat for a while, so she thought she'd bring him something to snack on while they worked. Reaching the top of the stairs she smiled when the boys looked her way.

"Man, you sure are making a lot of cookies lately, Mrs. Kent," Pete said, taking the plate she handed to him. If she'd given it straight to Clark, Pete might not have gotten any. "I"m surprised Clark isn't bouncing around on a sugar rush!" Pete laughed and took a bite of his cookie, but was sobered by the look he'd gotten from Clark's mother.

"Oh," Martha said nervously. Apparently Pete didn't know about this little development, yet. "Well, I'm sure the sugar is being deposited somewhere other than Clark's own blood stream."

Martha sighed and looked to her son. She wasn't going to start another one of these conversations. They needed to talk. People knowing about each other's secrets and then being left in the dark on certain things wasn't good. They had the potential to say something to someone that they shouldn't have, just because they didnt know.

Pete was confused, looking back and forth from Martha to Clark. She nudged Clark over, and he moved, making room for her to sit down. He grabbed for the cookies and Pete handed it over immediately, still wondering what was going on. "As you know, Pete," Martha addressed him, and he focused on her, hoping he wasn't going to hear something horrible, "Clark and Lex have... a relationship."

She didn't want to go any further than that. Mentioning Lex hadn't been going over well with her son; he missed him too much to even hear his name. "We've run into a bit of an unexpected side effect from their intimacy," she continued, shifting her gaze from Pete to her son, who didn't look too well.

"Like what?" Pete asked, his voice returning. If that Luthor had done anything to his friend, he didn't know how he would take it. He frowned slightly, and tried to think of what his friend's mother could be talking about.

"Like..." Like what? She didn't know how to say this other than straight out. "Clark's pregnant," she said, sneaking her hand into Clark's that wasn't occupied with a cookie. Her son seemed to be drawn closer to her, and she felt like he needed reassurance. She looked at Pete carefully, watching him take the revelation in.

He wasn't angry. It wasn't Lex's fault, after all. Who would have known that Clark could get knocked up? He chuckled, a bit tense, but it still came out. "Wow," he said, "That's weird, we picked alien pregnancy for our report."

Wow. That was all he could really think of the situation at the moment. It was... different. But then again, so was Clark. "How long do you think until it... you know, comes out?" He asked, wanting to kick himself for imagining how it would even get out of Clark's body. Hell, he didn't even want to imagine how it got in there; it just wasn't his thing.

Clark shrugged and looked helplessly at his mother and then back to his friend. "I have no idea," he said, his voice low and melancholy. "It could be over tomorrow, or it could be three years from now, for all we know."

Pete nodded, this was a lot, but he would stick by his friend, no matter what happened. "So, how's Lex taking it?" He knew that Lex was gone, and remembered all the times that Clark had been in a rotten mood at school. Definitely being away from the father of your child, even if you didn't know it at the time, would be stressful on a person.

Clark shrugged again, looking down and leaning in towards his mother more. He sniffed, and Martha put an arm around him and tried to look into his lowered face. He felt horrible. He missed Lex and he wouldn't be back for a long time still, he was pregnant and moody and, god was he going to start crying now? He wanted to collapse into himself so he didn't have to deal with all of this. He sniffed again and pressed closer into his mother's arm, in response she put her other arm around him and tried to comfort him.

"Shouldn't he stay home from school, or something?" He really wasn't sure how to handle this. He had been a bit stressed out with the whole alien thing, now he was almost sure he'd slip. Or at least in an effort to protect his friend, make up something, but have it not even remotely believable. There were only so many excuses for the way Clark acted and he wasn't sure if he was approached that he could really handle it.

"Maybe," Martha considered it, looking at Clark. He didnt seem to want to go lately, and they didn't want to push him. Maybe he just needed a day at home to relax? "I think that's a good idea, at least for tomorrow, Pete."

"Cool," he stood up, taking in the scene of mother and son. They needed some time, so he should give it to them. "Well, I *do* still need to go. No maternity leave for me." He smiled at his friend, got a weak smile in return before saying good-bye.

Martha turned to her son, looking at him sadly. "You haven't told Lex, have you?" She asked, trying hard not to be disappointed in her boy, but sometimes it was hard. No mother wanted to be harsh or punish their children, or even tell them what they did was wrong.

Clark sighed, shifting his weight slightly before answering, "No." He sounded so sad and small. She hugged him a little tighter.

"Why not?" Martha asked. He hadn't done anything wrong, exactly. Just that he was not as safe in his actions as he should have been and Lex too. They would need to have a talk when he returned.

"I don't know," he said, his voice breaking. "I just... I'm scared, Mom." He turned his head, looking up into her eyes, pleading silently with his own for her to make it better. "I'm not trying to hide it from him, really. What if he doesn't accept it? I don't know how he'll react!"

Martha nodded, understanding his fear. It couldn't stay that way, though. Her son's lover had taken the confession of Clark's ancestry well, so why would he react any different towards this? Clark couldn't avoid this forever, and fear of acceptance was not a good reason to keep things like this quiet.

It was quiet in the loft for a moment, just the light wind that was out that night could be heard outside, rustling through the trees. Martha held her son, watching him, thinking of how this would all work. Clark knew that Lex might not have been ready for this type of commitment, having a child. He was scared to think that Lex would stop wanting to be with him, stop loving him, because of it.

He squeezed his eyes tight, and let his head fall back softly against the back of the couch. He didn't want to think about it, so he wouldn't. Lex loved him and wouldn't do something like that to him. He let out his breath in a sigh, along with a noise that wasn't quite a whine, but not quite a groan either. "What is it?" Martha asked, concerned. Oh, god, if the baby was coming now...

Clark lifted his head and looked at his mother with rough slightly red rimmed eyes. Smiling softly, he answered her, "I have to pee." Martha looked at him almost incredulously, and extremely glad that the baby didn't want to pop out of her son right in the middle of the hay strewn barn. She let out a slight laugh, smiling, before they both let out their laughter, hoping everything would be alright.

@>*~

Leaving London, on the way to Scotland, Lex felt almost unnerved that his father had tried to keep up a conversation with him throughout the entire time. Mostly he'd just acknowledged the older man and made a polite excuse to get him to stop talking. Once they'd gotten to the meeting, it wasn't any better. Lionel was being nice. Which was strange considering the people surrounding him were the ones responsible for the problem with his company in the first place.

Stepping out of the office, the meeting over, Lex turned to his father. Lionel, still smiling, stopped and faced his son. "I don't like the way he presented this. Dad, I want to check it out." Lex knew he was almost taking advantage of his father's good mood, but he wanted to know what the hell was going on.

Turning around, Lex made his way back to the door and reopened it. The two businessmen that were left in the room stopped what they were doing and looked up at Lex.

@>*~

Lex looked down over the railing to the mechanics and technicians that were working below him. He felt a bit uneasy about being on the metal bridge work that was strung across the compound. He was still a bit angry at his father for not telling him about Level Three, and the bridge was reminding him of that little incident. He wanted to know why, but of course he already knew why. Plausible deniability.

Fuck, he could have died, and his father had simply locked him inside the entire factory, along with a bunch of innocent kids. Just ready and willing to let it blow, with his son inside, and Clark. Granted Lex knew that it was Clark that had saved him, and everyone else. That Clark wouldn't have gotten hurt anyway. But, his father had still done it, and the research that brought it all about to begin with.

"How are they doing, Lex?" Lionel asked, reaching a hand to his son's arm. Lex shifted his gaze from the construction workers and looked at his father, catching the sight of metal sparks flying in the corner of his eye. He turned back to the sounds of grinding metal and the sight of sparks flying, leaving his thoughts for another time; he had business to do.

"Good. Looks to be going properly this time."

"Good. Excellent. We don't need to be in the middle of this noise any longer then." Lionel turned and motioned for Lex to lead the way. Once they were back inside the office area, Lex moved to leave his father's side, to finish things up with the other businessmen in charge of this operation. Lionel almost wanted to stick his cane in front of Lex to keep him there, but decided a hand would be better. Reaching as he felt Lex move, he caught his son's arm, "Lex." Lex turned to look at his father, a rather irritated expression etched into his features. "You can finish this on Monday. Come on."

Lex frowned at his father. This sure wasn't how he expected his father to be behaving on this trip. Maybe he'd finally lost it...

He sighed as he let Lionel tell him what he wanted to have done. Lex was to arrange for a car to be sent around for them. Obliging his father, he did. Once in the car, Lionel began to give directions. Lex drove out of the city and was beginning to wonder just where they were supposed to be going. What was supposed to be way the hell out here?

After almost an hour of driving, Lionel asked where they were. For a blind man, Lex was wondering if this was really where he'd wanted to be taken, considering his new apparent senility. "Dad, there's nothing out there except grass and trees and rocks."

"Yes. There is." Lex rolled his eyes at his father's crypticness. Lionel gestured, sure that Lex was watching him, to drive out father on the road. Lex sighed and frowned as he turned down a gravel road. The gravel turning to dirt and soon they were driving simply along a worn path out in the green land. Humoring his father, Lex continued, vaguely wondering if they were violating anything by driving there.

Lex had been fine with getting a car and driving; he missed his own cars. He asked what his father wanted to do, but he wouldn't tell. Lex had just sighed, said 'whatever,' hoping his father would at least keep his mouth shut while he drove.

"Describe the landscape, son," Lionel requested, a smile almost coming to his face. Lex looked out the window and glared at the scenery.

He saw rocks scattered in a vague pattern, dirt that had been displaced not more than ten years ago it looked. Moldy green grass type growth was thick around the stones that were piled one on top of the other still. Was this the castle site?

"Ah, yes." Lionel sounded more definite, confident this time. Apparently this was where he wanted to be. Lex was surprised that his father had known the way to get here, not thinking Lionel cared about anything more than moving the huge structure because he could.

Lionel opened his door and got out of the car, feeling his way around the front. Lex shook his head and got out, too, waiting for his father. Lionel patted around the front of the car until he got to his son, feeling for him. Lex took his father's arm, and obviously Lionel wanted to go over to the site, closer to it. Why would he want to do that? He can't see it anyway, Lex thought.

"Why did you bring me here, dad?" It was quiet between them, and Lex stared at the land. The castle had simply been ripped out of the ground, desecrating the historical value of the building by transplanting it in Smallville. Luthor's had lived there, here, for generations, and now the wonder that once was a great Scottish castle was ruined. There was no place in Kansas for an old castle. It didn't belong there.

Lionel took a deep breath, taking in the smells of the earthy, clean air. "To show you."

"Show me what?" Lex snapped, almost interrupting his father by speaking only a second after Lionel was done. Lionel gestured to the land.

Lex looked. All he saw was an old site. Nothing. His heritage ripped apart by his own father. Lex wondered if he regretted it. Maybe he was trying to say he was sorry for it, that he regrets how he treated the land, and not only that, how he treated Lex. You can never get something like that back. He was almost afraid his father would bring up his mother. They both missed her, and what she brought to their lives. They had been closer then. Lex wondered if he'd ever have something like that again; a family.

Lionel couldn't bring himself to go to his wife's grave. He missed the things that could have been. What he'd lost when he was too busy going in another direction. He'd moved the castle because he could, yes, but also as trying to restore the loss he'd endured to his family life. He'd lost his wife, and now he was in danger of letting the last bit of Lex slip through his fingers. He wasn't sure what to do. He sniffed, drawing Lex's attention back to him.

"Come on, dad," Lex said, gripping his father's hand. "Let's go." Lionel squeezed his hand over his son's gently before turning to return to the car. The drive back was spent in companionable silence, and neither of them spoke until they split to go to their separate rooms.

"Good night, Alexander," Lionel said softly before letting go of his son's arm. Lex didn't say anything. He was almost embarrassed that he'd shuffled his feet when addressed in the soft tone and his full name. Lionel turned and pushed through the door, and Lex turned and made his way down the hall, hearing the door to his father's room shut just as he reached his room.

After getting into his room, Lex went straight to the shower. He felt as if the earthy smell of the air at the site had seeped into his skin. He didn't want to wash it away, just wanted to warm it up. The emotions that flowed between father and son were so cold, and he had taken to a light shiver from them, as well as the cool air. He only hoped they'd start to warm. He sighed as he slipped on some boxers and padded out to the couch.

He shut his eyes and laid there; he missed home. He missed Clark. Sighing again, he leaned over and picked up the phone to call his lover.

"Hello?"

"Hey, you."

"Lex!"

"How are you, Love?" Lex asked, rubbing a weary hand over his tired eyes. He strained to hear what Clark was doing when his boyfriend didn't respond right away. It sounded like Clark was brushing the mouth piece of the phone around on his shirt. "Clark?"

"Yeah. Sorry, Lex," Clark said, pulling his shirt back over his stomach. He had noticed a strange type of brown mark encircling his belly button and he had been examining it when the phone rang.

Lex raised an eyebrow. Of course Clark couldn't see him doing it, so it was more for his own benefit then for his boyfriend's. "What were you doing?" Stop it, Lex. You trust him, he reminded himself.

Crap. "Nothing, just had a piece of straw stuck on my shirt and I was picking it off," Clark replied, absently rubbing his slowly expanding belly, and scratching at the mark. He hoped it wasn't a rash of some kind. With it being alien, they would have no idea how to treat it if it was not a good thing.

"Huh," Lex said with a frown. Wondering why it sounded like it took a great deal of rustling to get a few wisps of straw off one's clothing. "So, what's been going on?"

Clark fidgeted, making his bed creak softly from the movement. "Not much really. Um, me and Pete finally finished our writing assignment. Ah, Mom won the bake-off we had here a few days ago. Nothing new really happening," he said, running a nervous hand through his hair. He wanted to tell Lex about his pregnancy, but he just couldn't. He was too afraid of what Lex might say.

"So, uh, what have you been doing?" Clark cringed, wrinkling his face slightly at the obvious subject change that was.

Lex sighed, "Oh, not a hell of a lot." The hand he still had laid across his face moved down to grip the bridge of his nose. "Just boring old business stuff, the usual." Important issues weren't to be dealt with over a phone. It was too easy for a person to run away from it upon bad news. Of course, he didn't want to wait, but for Clark he would. Clark would tell him if anything was wrong.

"Cool." Clark didn't know what else to say. He was sure that Lex would notice the tension in his voice, but he couldn't help it. This wasn't something you told your significant other, who just happens to be overseas, that you're pregnant, over the phone.

"Well, Love, I have another long meeting tomorrow morning. I'll talk to you again soon, okay? By the way, just so you know, I love getting lots of email from you," Lex said, trying to hint to Clark to write him more often. He knew his boyfriend would be busy with school during most of the week, but he'd still like to see more emails.

Clark smiled into the phone. "I know, Lex. I'll make sure to spam you constantly," he said with a laugh. "Bye, Lex. Talk to you later. I love you."

"Love you too, Clark. Bye," Lex said before hanging the phone up. He hated cutting their talks so short, but work was killing him and as much as he wanted to chat for hours and hours with Clark, he had much to do before they left.

@>*~

Clark glared angrily at his jeans. They were bunched up on the floor, mocking him. He had tried on every pair of jeans he owned and this one had been the only one that came within an inch of fitting him. He'd pulled them on with no hassles, but once he tried to pull up the zipper, it'd get stuck on his protruding stomach.

When glaring at his jeans hadn't done anything but set a small fire, he had quickly put it out and walked out of his bedroom in only his boxer shorts. Even his shirts were beginning to feel a bit too snug around his belly. He growled at his father as he passed him down the hall towards the bathroom when Jonathan had wished him a good morning.

Clark didn't hear the response his father let out as he walked into the bathroom and shut the door behind him. Clark stood in front of the bathroom mirror and frowned at his belly. It wasn't sticking too far out, but it still made him look like he had swallowed a basketball. He sighed heavily as he saw that the brown mark around his belly button had gotten bigger. It looked like someone had dipped a sponge into brown paint and then plastered it against his belly to leave the mark. Not only that, but it itched too. He wasn't sure really if it was the mark itself that was itchy or his stomach expanding.

Turning to look at his stomach's profile, he frowned as he saw the side of his belly begin to ripple with movement. It had felt freaky the first time he had felt the baby within him moving around. He had been sprawled out on the couch, watching television when he felt what could only be described as 'butterflies' flickering around in there. When he had lifted up his shirt, he watched avidly as his stomach rippled and shimmied. Suffice it to say, he had not been amused when he had told his mother and she had spent nearly an hour with her hand on his belly, smiling in delight as she felt her grandbaby moving around.

Sighing in defeat, he turned and lifted the toilet seat to take care of business. He then opened the bathroom door and walked down the hall until he was right at the top of the stairs. "Mom!"

Martha came over to the bottom of the stairs and looked up to see Clark in his underwear. "Clark, why aren't you ready for school yet?"

Clark refrained from rolling his eyes at his mother in frustration. "Nothing I have fits anymore. I can't go to school if I have nothing to wear."

Martha smiled in amusement at her son. "One second, hon." She walked away from the stairs and made her way to the laundry room. Inside, she grabbed a pair of pants and a shirt. With items in hand, she walked back to the stairs. "Here, dear," she said as she tossed the items up to Clark. "I figured you wouldn't ask for bigger clothes, so I went to the Big and Tall store and got you a few things. They should last you until you, um, give birth."

Clark looked down at the clothes in his hands and sighed. "You couldn't tell me this sooner?" Mumbling about mean moms, he went back into his bedroom and finished getting dressed in the bigger clothes. Once he was dressed he looked down at himself and frowned. Cursing Lex out under his breath for getting him into this situation, he went downstairs for a quick bite to eat.

"Mo-om! I can't go to school in these clothes," he all but whined. "They make me look like The Notorious B.I.G."

Jonathan snorted from his seat at the kitchen table while Martha smiled at him. "They do not. Have a seat and I'll get you breakfast," Martha said as she did just that.

Clark sat down and dropped his head onto the table's surface. He was so gonna kill Lex when he saw him again.

@>*~

Chloe hurried down the hall once she caught sight of Clark at his locker. Coming to a halt next to him, she smiled a toothy grin up at him. "Hey, Clark!" She stepped back a bit to get a better look at his 'new' clothes, and frowned thoughtfully. "Did you know you look like Biggie Small?"

Clark held back a groan, he did *not* want to do this right now. He let his head fall back to bang against his locker with a thud. "No, I didn't," he sighed. "What's up?"

"I forgot to tell you on Friday that I'll be printing up the Torch this afternoon, so I need you to finish your article by lunchtime," she said as she quickened her pace to catch up with Clark when he had finished with his locker and headed down the hall.

"Alright, I should have it done by then," Clark said before stopping at the boys' bathroom. "I'll be right back," he said, excusing himself as he hurried inside the bathroom.

While he was doing his thing, Pete came up behind Chloe. "Hey, why are you hanging out by the boys' bathroom?" He asked, eyeing his friend curiously, almost not wanting to hear, knowing Chloe.

"Clark just went in there. You know," she said, almost making it sound like it was a very important piece of gossip, "This is like the sixth time he's been in there since school started today. Do you think something's wrong with him?" Chloe asked, a frown crossing over her face at the thought of something bad happening to her best friend.

Pete blinked his eyes at his friend, almost startled. He wasn't really sure what to say, so he laughed. "Nah, I just think he's been drinking alot of water lately. It is almost summer."

"Yeah, I guess so." She frowned again and leaned back against the wall.

Before Chloe could say anything else, the door to the bathroom opened and Clark walked out. "What?" He asked defensively upon seeing the looks on their faces, before nonchalantly checking his fly when the two of them stared at him.

"Nothing," Chloe said abruptly, and turned to head down the hall. "I've got to get to class. I'll see you later, Clark," she called behind her as she made her way to her next class.

Clark frowned at Chloe's retreating back before turning to Pete. "What's up with her?"

"She's noticed you've been going to the bathroom alot. I know it's hard to do so since you're...you know, but try not to go too much around her. You know how she is," Pete said, shrugging, to Clark as the two of them walked down the opposite end of the hallway to their own class. Once they got to the door, Clark stepped aside to let his friend go in first. As Pete walked by him, he stopped a moment and eyed Clark's clothes. "For some reason, I suddenly have the urge to sing 'Big Poppa'," he said before making his way to his seat. Clark sighed heavily and shook his head before going to his own seat.

@>*~

"Hey, Chloe," Clark said as he walked into the Torch office. "Here's the article." He handed her the papers he held in his hand when he stopped next to her.

Chloe looked up briefly to take the article from Clark. "Thanks, Clark. Just in time too."

Clark smiled at her and turned to walk out when Chloe piped up, "How are you doing, Clark?" She asked, and her tone softened a little bit before continuing, "Is everything okay?"

Clark stopped before getting to the doorway and turned around slowly to frown at his friend. "Um, yeah," he almost left the question out of his voice; he raised an eyebrow. Of course everything was okay. "Why do you ask?"

Chloe leaned forward and looked her friend over from head to toe. "Well, you've been going to the bathroom a lot lately and from the looks of things, your diet hasn't been very good recently. I mean, you've gained a pot belly," she said, frowning at her friend and gesturing to his abdominal region.

Clark sighed and drooped his shoulders. This would be horrible if she found out. "I'm fine, Chloe. I've just been drinking alot of water recently. You know, sometimes you just get thirsty. As for my stomach, it's just the clothes making me look big." God help him if she wanted to flatten the shirt against him to make sure. "You know I always wear baggy clothes," he tried to remind her.

Chloe raised an eyebrow at her friend, clearly not believing a word of what he said, but letting it go. "Uh huh. Well, I'll see you later at the Talon?"

"I can't today, Chloe. I have chores I have to help my dad with today," he replied. Well, it wasn't a total lie, he did have chores to do, but mainly it was helping his father get the guest room ready for his baby and then going with his mother later to Metropolis for a few baby items.

"Oh, okay." Clark thought she sounded rather rejected. "Maybe later then?"

"Yeah, maybe. See ya, Chloe," Clark said as he turned back around and walked out.

He wasn't half way down the hall when he bumped into Pete. "Whoa there, Clark. You okay?" He asked when he felt himself bump into his friend's belly, concerned he may have hurt his friend.

"Yeah, I'm fine. It's just Chloe again. I mean, I love her as a friend and I don't want to lose that friendship, but she's been driving me nuts lately. Always asking me to hang with her or giving me the third degree like she's my mom or something," he sighed and ran a frustrated hand through his hair.

Pete patted his friend on the back. "Don't worry, man, I'll have a talk with her, okay?"

"Thanks, Pete," Clark said and smiled a small smile at his friend before he continued walking down the hall.

"No problem," he replied before turning towards the Torch office and walking through the doorway. "Hey, Chloe."

"Pete!" Chloe smiled brightly at her friend. "Do you know what's up with Clark?" She asked suddenly and direct to the point. She was tired of the run around she'd been getting from her friends.

"Wh-what do you mean?" Pete asked nervously. God, did she find out about Clark's alienness? Shit, he hoped not. He had no way in hell of trying to cover that up.

Chloe frowned as she watched her friend fidget nervously. Ah ha! There was something going on, and she was going to wrestle it out of Pete if she had to tie him up and torture him with cafeteria food. "I knew it! There *is* something up..."

"Chloe, there isn't anything 'up'," Pete interrupted her before she could ask anything more. He shifted on his feet and tried to keep looking her in the eyes.

Chloe leaned back in her seat and crossed her arms across her chest. "Pete, you're lying. Come on, tell me what's up."

Pete sighed heavily to himself. Well, she didn't say anything about Clark being an alien or pregnant, so she didn't know much at all. "Okay, fine. Clark and Lex are dating. There. Happy now?"

Chloe blinked her eyes at the news. She had thought it was that, but thinking it and knowing it were two different animals. "I can't believe he lied to me about that!" She stood up from her seat, beginning to collect a few things from her desk, "I asked him a few weeks ago and he was all 'no, Chloe, we're nothing but friends'. And you were in on it!" She accused him, getting angrier by the minute.

Pete felt sick. He didn't know how Chloe would take it, but he didn't think she'd be pissed about it. "Chloe, come on," he pleaded. "Clark is still a minor and if he had told everyone Lex would have gotten into trouble."

Well, that was true, but she thought she was Clark's friend. Couldn't he trust her with this? "But you knew, Pete," Chloe said, sniffing back tears of anger. "Do his parents know?"

"Yeah, they do," he said quietly. Pete sighed, hoping this wasn't a bad idea to say anything.

"I see," with another sniff she brushed past him, calling behind her, "Don't let the door hit you on the ass on your way out." Chloe dismissed him, hurt by all the lies that her two supposed friends told her.

Pete opened his mouth to respond, but closed it when he realized Chloe wouldn't listen anyway. He turned and walked out of the office, scuffing his feet along the floor. Clark was so going to kill him for this.

@>*~