Rating: G
My sincere appreciation goes to Lilguppee for doing the beta even though she doesn't know anything about Smallville.
A special round of thanks goes to Lanning for creating the above icon for my LJ. I wanted something that would show my mothering side and asked her if she'd make a gosling icon for me. She did. This snippet was my thank you payment.
Rimilod
"Lex, are you okay?"
Lex raised his head off his crossed arms and blinked in confusion. "Mrs. Kent? What... what are you doing here?"
Martha moved around the desk and gently put her hand on the young man's shoulder as he struggled to focus on the conversation at hand. "I came to pick up a few things for your father."
"You're still working for my father?" Lex asked incredulously. He blushed slightly, raising his hands to indicate that she had no obligation to answer his question.
"I don't know," she admitted quietly. "We haven't really discussed it... given the circumstances."
Lex straightened in his chair, then rose and walked woodenly toward the credenza. "Forgive my impetuousness, Mrs. Kent, but I would find myself remiss if I didn't give you this bit of unsolicited advice." He turned away from her and poured some scotch into a crystal glass. "You would be well advised to stay as far away from my family as you possibly can. If I thought for a moment you'd take me up on it, I'd give you the money to relocate, to take Clark and Mr. Kent and leave Smallville before the Luthors can harm you in any further way."
"Lex..."
He raised his left hand to stall her comment, even as he took a quick sip of the throat burning liquid. "You are, of course, welcomed to take anything you think my father will need."
Martha nodded and moved toward the double doors, then stopped in her tracks and turned back to face him. "While your father does have a certain... reputation, shall we say, you are not your father. People depend on you and you've always come through for them. You've done good things here in Smallville."
Lex shrugged. "Your husband would disagree."
"Jonathan is a... cautious man."
Lex's smile had nothing to do with amusement. He took another swig of liquor. "Your son would disagree as well."
"Clark?"
The glass thunked noisily on the credenza. Lex picked the bottle up again and poured himself a double.
"What did Clark do?"
Putting the elegant glass stopper back in the crystal decanter, Lex raised an eyebrow. "Clark didn't do anything. He just reminded me that my past is far from pure. In a sense, reinforced the thought that I am my father's son."
It's not like I haven't seen you shoot someone before.
The words echoed in Lex's head and he closed his eyes against their truth.
"Lex, Clark is..."
"Just a boy," Lex whispered. He moved back to his desk, set his glass on an elegant coaster and sat back in his chair. "I know."
Martha frowned, then closed the distance between them. "Has it ever occurred to you that you are also 'just a boy'?"
Lex returned her frown, but before he could speak, she reached out and gently cupped his chin. "You're twenty-three years old, Lex. Most boys your age are just graduating from college, not running multimillion dollar companies, not fighting hostile corporate takeovers. They're trying to figure out what to do with their lives."
It took every ounce of self-control he possessed for Lex not to lean into the comforting warmth of Martha's hand. "While my lot in life has been different..."
Martha gently shushed him. "You're still young enough to have your feelings hurt by a careless remark by your best friend; boy or not."
Lex blinked once, unsure what to say. A part of him railed against such sentimental nonsense, while another part of him quivered at suddenly finding itself thrust into the bright light of introspection. "Don't..." he whispered.
Martha dropped her hand to her side. "Don't what?"
"Don't try to save me," he croaked.
"Lex-"
"No!" he shouted, pushing the chair back a couple of feet. "Your husband is correct, Mrs. Kent. The seed doesn't fall very far from the tree. I am Lionel Luthor's son. We taint everything we touch. It's okay to let me go. I've accepted my fate."
"I can't."
"Can't or won't," Lex all but sneered.
"Both. Neither," she said with a quiet sigh of exasperation. "You haven't accepted your fate anymore than I've decided to ditch my family and become an exotic dancer in Las Vegas."
Lex quirked an eyebrow at her and fought hard not to smile, but Martha saw the amusement in his eyes and chuckled. She sobered quickly though. "Why do you personally stop by the farm to talk to Clark, when you could use your cell phone? Why do you place orders in person instead of having one of your assistants do it?"
Lex opened his mouth to speak, but she cut him off with a wave of her hand.
"Because you like our family."
Lex's face hardened. "I don't like your family, Mrs. Kent. I envy it, which is one of the seven deadly sins, isn't it? Just another step down the path? Don't you realize by now that what a Luthor can't have, he'll just destroy in order to keep anyone else from having it."
"Is that why you killed Nixion?"
Lex felt his face go slack with disbelief.
Martha put both hands on the arms of Lex's chair and leaned forward. "We both know my family has secrets. Some of them are tied in with your family's, some are not. We both know that Nixion was going to expose our secrets, secrets you wanted to know. And yet, you gave up your chance of learning them in order to protect my husband and my son."
"Your son..."
Martha stood and paced to the built in bookcase. "Clark's father was in jail for a crime he didn't commit. He was terrified and grasping at straws. While Clark is mature in many ways, he won't be capable of running multimillion dollar company when he's twenty-three, and he's certainly not above being a teenager in moments of stress."
"But-"
She turned and held his gaze with her own. "You're his best friend, Lex. And like you, he struggles with his own burdens. But he won't... we won't ever turn our backs on you."
"You should. I'll only bring you pain in the end." Lex dropped his gaze. "I've seen my future... it's not..."
"So change it."
"Would that I could."
"Have you tried?"
Lex chuckled. "What do you think the last two years have been about?"
"About succeeding, about controlling your destiny."
Sorrow welled up within Lex's chest. "For every step forward I seem to make, I get dragged back three. My father is winning, Mrs. Kent. The only reason he hasn't won so far is because..."
"Is because you can't bear to see the look of disappointment on Clark's face," Martha said knowingly.
Lex placed his elbows on the desk, then leaned forward and ran both hands over his bald scalp. "He saved me when I thought I was unsalvageable. He gave me a second chance and asked nothing in return. He opened his world to me for nothing more than the joy of sharing it." Lex didn't look at Martha as he spoke. "And yet, despite all your family's kindnesses I find myself making the same mistakes as my father, as if my destiny had already been forged in unbending steel."
Martha once again closed the distance between them. "The Kents have a special affinity with steel. We're not turning our backs on you, Lex."
Lex opened his mouth to speak, but Martha gently placed a finger over his lips. "We're not giving up on you, Lex."
"Promise?"
With that softly spoken plea escaping his lips, Martha wrapped her arms around the boy who was only a few years older than her son, a boy who was desperate for his father's love, who had faced constant rejection at the hands of her own husband, just for a glimpse of what could have been. How could she turn her back on him. "I promise," she vowed.
He stayed rigid and unbending in his chair for nearly a full minute, but Martha never loosened her grip on him. She felt the exact moment his defenses melted. A second later, his arms wrapped around her waist and held on to her as if he were drowning. In some ways, she supposed he was.
She knew the possible consequences of making such a promise, but her heart couldn't watch this stoic boy fight his battle by himself any longer. She had kept one boy fifteen years ago, and even though there was another child on the way, she made the decision to keep this one as well.
She knew Jonathan would balk, but she also knew she'd eventually win. She always did. No one came between a mama goose and her goslings, even if they weren't from her own nest.
~ End ~