There was a man in the fountain.
And -- Lex looked again to double check. Yes, the water was pink.
Lex Luthor slid out of the supple leather seat of the Ferrari and stared at the stone fountain. Just beyond that, his eye was caught by a number of vans heading around the curve in the drive that led to the kitchen entrance.
He looked back at the fountain - and the man in the fountain.
Still pink.
Still there.
Lex rubbed his forehead and walked toward the house, a rare headache starting at his temples. He stopped at the fountain and gazed at the pink, nay, very pink, water. He looked up at the man, who was wearing rubber hip waders, standing in the stone fountain. The man shrugged, as if to say, 'Hey, it's Smallville'.
The man looked past Lex, a variety of expressions passing over his face, resigned apprehension being the most blatant. Lex turned to follow the rubber hip wader man's gaze. Nell was coming at them, her notebook at the ready. Idly noting the surreal nature of the scene, Lex remembered exactly how this whole thing started.
He opened an eye and looked over at the clock, a Mickey Mouse alarm clock that had caught his sense of whimsy in a weak moment. It was seven am. On Saturday. And his phone was ringing. Outside of Gabe calling to tell him the plant had exploded, there was only person who would call Lex Luthor at seven am on a Saturday. He lifted the handset, putting it to his ear.
"Hey, Dad."
"You're hosting Lana Lang's birthday party at the house in two weeks. Nell will be calling to start making the arrangements."
Lex flipped over and leaned back against his pillow, adjusting the comforter around his hips, his smooth, nude skin sliding against the Egyptian cotton sheets. "I'm the Martha Stewart of Smallville now?"
"Funny, Lex, funny. Just give Nell the credit cards and let her do what she wants to do."
"Fine. Anything else?"
Lionel was silent for a second, and Lex could hear the older Luthor's wheels turning. Another voice in the background. Dominic, telling Lionel they needed to leave for the meeting. "No." Lionel said, hanging up without further ado. No common courtesies for Lionel Luthor. He'd probably have Dominic call and say good bye later. Or Dominic would do it himself in an effort to suck up on both sides of the family tree.
Lex clicked the phone off and throwing it onto the other side of the bed, grabbed another pillow and pulled it over his head, curling back up.
Six hours later he was sitting at the table in Nell's kitchen. She gave him a wry smile. "Thank you for doing this, Lex. I'm sure Lionel didn't make it a request, but I'm glad you're letting us do it."
Lex had always liked Nell. She had always been the most practical of the women his father had had since Lex's mother had died five years ago. Nell knew exactly what place in Lionel's life she occupied, and had never tried, unlike Samantha, his father's other girlfriend, to be a mother to her lover's son. "Don't worry about it, Nell. Might be nice to light the mouldy old manor up for a night."
Smiling happily, Nell took out a notebook. Lex couldn't help it -- he tuned out as she began to talk about the virtues of purple and violet.
Now, two weeks later, he wondered if he should have paid a bit more attention. Though, in his own defense, pink water in the fountain hadn't really occurred to him. Nell joined Lex and rubber hip wader guy at the fountain, and Lex assured her that things were looking marvelous, and no, he didn't think the fountain would unpink in two days. He could hope, but he just didn't see his luck pushing that far. Standing there, listening to Nell and the rubber hip wader guy discussing the shade of the water, in completely serious tones, Lex momentarily considered the implications of drowning himself in the pink water. Deciding against it for the moment, Lex excused himself, retreating to his office.
After fifteen emails, three short conference calls, and breaking up one fight in the kitchen between the guy carving the cauliflower into Lana's likeness and the ice carver, Lex was taking a breather. He opened a bottle of water and took a long drink.
That was another one of Lionel's orders -- don't drink the water. And he hadn't - not really. After all, he had almost drowned in the water, but he hadn't actually drunk any of it.
He got up and looked out the window, then turned back to his desk. He didn't see Clark until he was standing in front of him, and once again Lex was struck by the way the boy could just suddenly appear and disappear. He looked delightfully frazzled, and Lex could scent teenaged angst and desperation in the air.
Even at twenty-one it was a familiar scent, one not soon forgotten.
"Clark?"
"Lex," Clark's eyes grew large as one of the ice sculptors walked by the open door with a chainsaw. "Did you know the water in the fountain is pink?" Lex rolled his eyes and nodded, crossing the room to close the door. "I need your help."
Help. So ironic, a truck, he apparently couldn't give away. But then again, help was a gift so diaphanous that it kept them coming back for more. "Of course, Clark. Name it and it's yours."
"I have no idea what to get Lana for her birthday."
Lex managed to stop himself from sighing, knowing Clark took this as a very serious problem. "What do you think she wants?"
Clark blew out, his hair lifting from his forehead in an entirely too attractive manner. Lex clenched his fist to stop himself from smoothing the strands.
"I think she wants Whitney, actually." Clark looked depressed, but there was resignation in his voice.
Lex smiled tightly. "Well, we could see if his tryout's been canceled."
Clark looked at him for a second, his eyes narrowing. "Lex…"
"He's got his wish, Clark. Even if it isn't his birthday."
Clark sighed. "I guess so."
"So," Lex began, "what do you think Lana wants for her birthday?"
"I don't know that she wants anything," Clark looked thoughtful, "at least from me."
"Well, what do you know about her?"
"What do you mean?"
Lex smiled, "What does she like, what are her dreams, wants, desires?"
"I'm not... completely sure." Clark looked perplexed for a moment. "She did say..."
Lex raised a faint eyebrow encouragingly.
"We were talking about the only time she was really happy. She was at a drive-in with her parents." Clark thought for a moment. "Too bad the old Hi-Way Palace shut down."
Lex looked at him thoughtfully. "LuthorCorp bought that property three months ago." Lex crossed to his computer, opening files for the acquisitions departments. "Yeah. Huh." He raised a faint eyebrow and gave Clark a small smile. "We have a working projector. It's old, though." Lex read some more, then looked up at Clark. "Looks like we have a few old cartoons that will run with it, and..." Lex blinked. "Milo and Otis." He clicked a few times. "The moving story of a dog and a cat and a magical journey," he read aloud.
"Really?" Clark asked. "Is the screen still up?"
Lex clicked a few more times. "No, it had to be removed after the tornado a few months ago. The county ruled it a safety hazard."
"Damn."
Lex raised an eyebrow at Clark, who blushed like he had been swearing like a sailor.
A knock on the door was the only warning before Nell swept in, the party planner Lex had hired to help her following in her wake. She was already asking questions, pen poised over a sheet in her notebook. Lex nodded and just kept repeating 'yes', and a minute later they left.
"Do you even know what they wanted?" Clark asked.
"Don't know, don't care."
"Bet you won't say that if the water in the fountain stays pink."
Lex gave him a look. "So I take it you don't want the projector and the movies, then?" he asked, a faint hint of menace in his voice, but Clark just smiled at him.
"I think I have an idea, if you're still willing to let me use them."
"Of course, you can. I'll just call over to acquisitions and tell them to set you up with what you need."
Clark's beaming smile telegraphed his thanks, and Lex started dialing the holding company.
On the Saturday of the party, Lex had managed to avoid the final party preparations by working, or more correctly, hiding, in his office until mid-afternoon. Emerging, he was immediately caught by Nell and her lackey. He assured Nell that everything looked wonderful. On his way back to his office, he found the birthday girl on the balcony that overlooked the library. She was staring pensively at whole… thing.
Lex had known from the minute Nell had started with the balloons and ice sculptures that this wasn't quite what her niece would have chosen. He had spent years watching his mother throw parties she hated for people she really didn't care for. And he had seen that lost look in Lana's eyes a hundred times, reflected in his own in the mirror in the Metropolis estate coatroom.
He understood those feelings and Lex was unsettled to find a bit of sympathy growing for her. But when her eyes narrowed and she gave him that disbelieving stare about the quarterback, he felt a twinge of annoyance. It seemed to him to be rather ungrateful. He had given her Clark, after all. It wasn't often Lex Luthor gave someone else something he himself... had an interest in. Of course the only reason he had done so was because there was something so - futile - in Clark's mooning over the girl. With one last encouraging endorsement of Clark, Lex left her to her thoughts. It wasn't like he had had the quarterback killed. And the other guy, well, he would have a nice year in Oregon or where ever he chose, a fat anonymous check taking care of any of his needs. So everyone was happy. Except, Lex admitted, the birthday girl.
~s~S~s~
The party had ended depressingly early, Lex decided Sunday morning as he jogged his three miles on the treadmill. Maybe that was just another difference between Smallville and Metropolis. His own, official (read parent-sanctioned) seventeenth birthday party had ended about one am, with Lex and Victoria dancing a slow dance in the middle of the ballroom of the Luthor's Metropolis mansion. The unofficial party, at Club Zero a week later, had ended about four pm -- two days after it had begun. Just an hour later and the birthday boy would have found himself in the drunk tank with most of the rest of his guests.
"Hey."
Lex looked up to see Clark Kent loitering in the doorway. "Hey, Clark," Lex said, pulling the emergency shutoff cord and pulling a towel off the handrail, drying off his head and neck. "We missed you last night," he gave Clark a searching look.
"Yeah. Jody Melville and Pete," Clark paused for a second, "had an accident. I had to take them to the hospital. By the time I got back and got over here, everything was quiet."
Lex smiled, despite his intentions to remain annoyed. "I guess we should have known you'd have to save someone on your way over here."
Clark snorted, but didn't deny it.
"Too bad you didn't get to give Lana her birthday gift."
Clark smiled, and the room got about fifty watts brighter. "Actually, I went over to her house after I left here. We did it then, it was still dark."
"You did it?" Lex blinked at him, knowing his jaw was probably hanging open.
"Not that it," Clark gave into the blush this time, his face turning that precise rosy shade that made Lex want to twitch. "The movies, Lex. We watched the movies."
"Oh." Lex tried to tamp down the relief he felt knowing that Clark and Lana hadn't done... it.
"We're just friends, Lex. Jeez. But it was great, she was really happy."
"That's great, Clark."
"Yeah, at least I could... do something for her. She had a good time, even," Clark looked slightly forlorn as he added, "without Whitney there, anyway."
There was nothing Lex could say to that one.
Jackson knocked softly on the door and glided in. "Breakfast is ready, Mr. Lex."
Lex looked at Clark. "Would you like to stay for breakfast? Since you missed all the party food last night?"
Clark laughed, shuffling his feet against the Persian rug. "Sure, why not?"
They were halfway down the hall to the breakfast room when Clark turned to Lex. "Hey, Lex, I still have the tarp up. Would you like to come to the movies tonight? We have some cartoons, and Milo and Otis..." he tempted.
Lex thought for all of six seconds before nodding. "I'd like that, Clark."
"Great," Clark replied, and the smile that brightened the hall was at least one hundred watts. "I'll even make fresh popcorn."
Lex gave him a leer, trying as hard as he could to make it at least a somewhat joking one. "Fresh popcorn on the first date?"
The look he got in return made his heart slam down into his five hundred-dollar sports shoes. But then it was gone. As they went in to breakfast, Lex just knew he couldn't wait for tonight.
© EAS, January, 2002
Disclaimer: All canon based Smallville characters belong to WB and/or DC Comics.
I am making no money, just enjoying playing in the sandbox.
Home | CLexicon Fic | CLexicon | Cerebral Mutation | Email