So, I hope I'm posting this in thr right place, I wasn't really sure if my fic counted more as a Holiday fic or an Episode re-write fic but I'm hoping it won't matter. Kit Merlot suggested I post this story here as well as at Fanfiction.net, so here's chapter 1, and I hope you all like it
Title : What Is And What Should Never Be
Rating : PG-13
Summary : AU Lexmas. After being shot on Christmas Eve, Lex finds himself in some kind of dreamworld where he is not-so-happily married to Lana, and seeking solace in the arms of a certain local blonde beauty. Chlex.
Disclaimer : All recognisable characters belong to Millar Gough Ink and/or DC Comics - unfortunately, I own none of these wonderful characters! Title taken from the title of a song by Led Zeppelin.
Chapter 1
Lex didn’t understand at all when he woke up and found himself in a strange bed. Someone was lying beside him, a warm female form was pressed up close to his body and he turned to see who was there, absently letting names run through his head - Chloe, Lana... the second was true, he found, and yet he couldn’t quite understand where they were or how he’d got here.
Before he had time to think too much about it, there was a loud cry of ‘Breakfast!’ as a small boy came hurtling towards the bed, throwing himself between Lex and Lana and bouncing around like a crazy person.
“Whoa! Who are you?” he checked, backing up against the headboard as Lana woke and looked between her husband and son.
“Please, Lex” she whispered, as her son jumped all over the room, “Don’t take our fight out on him. You did promise him” she reminded him.
“Fight? Promised him?” Lex echoed her words, not understanding them at all.
“Come on!” the boy yelled again, further agitating the man who couldn’t recall anything Lana was telling him
“Pancakes” she said then, as she got out of bed and pulled on a silky robe, not looking happy at all, “You promised Alex pancakes, and then you were going to go shopping for a tree” she snapped at Lex who still lie there in the bed, dumb-struck by this turn of events.“Come on, Dad!” Alex urged Lex, pulling at his arm and wanting him to get up to fulfil his promises of a special breakfast and then a trip to the Christmas Tree lot.
“But I...” he began, only for Lana to hold up a hand to silence him, “No, don't. Don't complain to me. You’re the one who always waits ‘til Christmas Eve to get the tree” she reminded him, before taking Alex’s hand and leading him back to his room to get him dressed.
Alone in the room, Lex looked around at a bedroom he didn’t recognise, in a house that was a mystery to him. The last memory he had was being in an alley, two muggers coming at him with guns and then... and then nothing, just pain and then a flash of light and suddenly he was here. Lifting his shirt, Lex found two scars, one from a surgery and next to it, one from a bullet.
“What happened? Where am I?” he asked himself as he got out of bed and moved through to the bathroom.
Washing his face made him feel a little better, but looking up into the mirror above the sink made things worse.
“Mom?” Lex gasped at the sight of her in the mirror behind him, “But, you’re... Am I dead?” he asked her, thinking this was a strange kind of heaven or even hell.
Married to Lana with a child of their own, it was a strange thought and not one he’d really considered. He had considered he might love her, but marriage and children, his thoughts had never moved that far, and it didn’t exactly seem that they were happy this way.
“No, Lex” Lillian smiled, “You’re not dead, you’re still very much alive” she promised him, “And it’s not a dream” she added, pre-empting the question that was next on his mind, “It is real, Lex. As real as you want it to be. This can be your life, all of it, if you make the right choices”
“All of it?” he echoed, looking around himself, “What do you mean? What are you talking...?” his question hung in mid-air, incomplete, as he turned and found his mother gone.
How he’d come to be here, Lex hadn’t a clue, and how long this delusion, dream, whatever it was might last, he had no way to tell. All he could do was what any Luthor would, work out what was going on here, what power he had, and how best he might use it to his advantage.
* * * * *
Lex was somewhat overwhelmed by the situation he found himself in, not something he was used to as a Luthor. He usually felt so in control, and he liked it that way. Here in this alternate world, he was at a loss. From what Lana had said whilst she’d been snapping at him, he’d given up his billionaire lifestyle seven years ago when she herself gave him an ultimatum - his money or her. She couldn’t live the life he’d had before, and he’d thought himself in love, apparently. He’d given up everything to be with her, they’d got married, had a child, everything ought to be rosy by now, but it wasn’t.
From what Lex understood, he and his so-called wife fought a lot lately. Lana was eager to get him out of the house and not have to talk to him, though she put on a good show in front of little Alex. Lex couldn’t imagine how he and Lana had come to a stage where they had such apparent dislike for each other, or why they stayed married when they felt this way, though he suspected they were both just too proud to give up on themselves like that.
All this he had figured out on the drive to the lot, and now, whilst standing with his son in front of the tallest Christmas tree in the place, he wished that if he were going to dream or just see a future for himself that it had been different to this. Alex was talking to him now, and he barely heard a word. Nothing could hold his attention as the cogs in his brain whirred at lightening speed in an attempt to process what the hell was happening here. The voice to eventually pull him from his deep thought was female and unmistakable as she called his name, and he turned to see her there before him, with a more than familiar man at her side.
If Lex had been stunned enough to discover he had a wife and child in this apparently crazy delusion, now he was doubly shocked as he realised Clark and Chloe seemed to be a couple, and it seemed it was him rather than her that worked at the Daily Planet now. Life really hadn’t turned out like any of his plans, and his confusion grew by the second, as his old best friend with whom he’d become somewhat estranged in the real world now picked up Alex and ‘flew’ him all around the Christmas tree lot.
“I’ve got some pretty big news” Chloe said with a grin as she stood before him.
“Okay” Lex said, fighting the nervous edge to his voice, after all he may be a
loving husband and father, and good friend to many here, but he was still a Luthor, and emotions had to be held back to a certain degree.
“My book’s being published in January” Chloe told him proudly, with one of those smiles that managed to light up not jut her entire face but the whole area around her for a mile, Lex shouldn’t wonder.
It wasn’t often in the real world that he’d been granted the pleasure of seeing her so happy, especially not lately, since they’d been far from the best of friends. Still, he was seeing it now and it pleased him as he stammered out an awkward congratulations.
“Wow, that’s... that’s great” he told her, wondering when he’d got hypnotised by her dancing eyes and bright smile enough that he forgot where he was.
“Yeah, they loved the idea of a Luthorcorp expose, complete with an anonymous tell-all source” she said, giddily, as she suddenly threw her arms around him in a tight hug.
Lex was taken aback by the sudden affection, not least because the last time he and Chloe had real talked he’d probably scared the life out of her by yelling crazily about Clark and his secrets. He knew he wouldn’ve scared any normal girl, but Chloe wasn’t your average young woman. She would never truly be afraid of him. Even his father hadn’t managed to break her, he was sure he never could, nor would ever really want to. She’d been an ally more than an enemy over the years, he realised as he hugged her back.
“Thank you so much, I couldn’t have done it without you, Lex” she whispered in his ear, quickly adding, “I’ll thank you properly later” she told him, as they sharply pulled apart and the look in the young woman’s eyes then took him aback.
Lex was unaccustomed to such a look from Chloe. Her facial expression shifted usually between only two looks with him, either polite smiles because she had to, or anger at something awful she would accuse him of.
This was new, and almost frightening as Lex realised there was a want in her eyes for him, a hunger that didn’t really belong in the face of one so young, but then here she was not so very young. None of them were as young, or apparently as innocent as they’d once been, back in that other reality that Lex had slipped from, into this odd dream that was proving to be even crazier than he originally thought.
“Alright Miss Did-I-mention-that-my-book-is-about-to-be-published” Clark grinned as he appeared beside them, putting Alex back onto his feet beside his father, “Let’s get your tree and get out of here” he said, putting an arm around Chloe’s shoulders to lead her away, “Bye, Alex” he said to the little boy who crazily waved to his Uncle Clark as he walked away.
Chloe waved back to the little boy, before turning her eyes on Lex, a look of almost regret that she had to walk away from him. She said goodbye as Clark called cheerily that they’d see him tonight, and Lex summoned a smile and a wave as he too said his goodbyes.
Lex was almost unaware of Alex bouncing beside him, or the other people milling around him amongst the Christmas trees. His eyes were stuck on the retreating figures of two people he used to call friends, whom apparently he still could use that word for, and yet where Chloe was concerned, he got the distinct feeling there was something more between them.
Surely, if he had Lana now, a wife to love him and a child too, Lex couldn’t imagine why he would ever be messing around with Chloe, especially when she seemed so close to Clark. It was crazy, but then, there was very little in this odd world he found himself in that Lex wouldn’t have called crazy right now.
* * * * *
As Lex pulled the car up onto the driveway, Lana came out of the front door. Though her smile for Alex was genuine enough, Lex had seen the look that crossed her face before that, whether she’d tried to hide it or not. It seemed somewhere along the line his relationship with this woman had turned sour, she seemed bitter about something, perhaps all that she’d lost by choosing to be with him, though so far Lex could make a longer list of his own losses.
“Mommy! Come see!” Alex yelled excitedly as Lex brought his brain back to reality, or whatever the hell this place was, and focused on his wife and child.
“It’s certainly big” Lana said as she looked daggers at Lex, “For once I thought we might actually stick to a budget, but it looks like your Dad got over zealous... again” she said pointedly to her husband, though of course Alex paid little or no attention.
The boy was soon sent inside, as Lex started to unfasten the tree from the roof rack.
“Lana, come on, I just...” he began to explain, but the look on her face told his she didn’t really want to know.
There was a cold hardness there in her eyes that he never thought he’d see on her sweet face. Whatever had gone wrong between them it seemed it was likely to be his fault somehow for her to look at him so severely over something so simple as an over-sized Christmas tree.
“Every year, the same thing happens” she shook her head, a sad smile crossing her lips, “Not even just Christmas, it’s everything, Lex. You know the budget we’re on, you’ve known for seven years now, since your Dad cut you off for choosing to be with me” she reminded him, “Why is it so hard for you to listen to me and do what I ask?” she asked with a tired sigh.
“Lana, I think you’re over-reacting” Lex smiled, reaching out to her, but she backed away, “It’s just a tree”
“It’s not about the tree, Lex” she shook her head, “It’s about money going from our account without explanation. It’s about your lies and avoidance of answering questions. It’s about your disappearing without a word or an explanation, Lex, and it’s about you letting down Alex”
Lex’s anger had grown alongside hers as she began to yell at him. He wouldn’t take this from a woman, especially not from Lana. All he appeared to have done for her, given up for her, and she had the nerve to stand here and say he was a liar, a cheat, and a useless father. She was equating him to his own parent, to Lionel Luthor, and that he would not take. He shot back the nearest insult to hand, be it true or not.
“Are you sure the problem is all that complicated, Lana?” he asked her, eyes flashing cold as steel, “Or are you just sore that I’m not Clark Kent?”
Her hand making contact with his face was somewhat of a surprise, though it probably shouldn’t have been. The storming into the house was less shocking and Lex watched her go, wondering what this place he’d landed in really was all about. As he stood there contemplating where he went from here, a beeping sound started up from his pocket and he pulled out a cell phone from inside his jacket.
The screen displayed words that told him he’d just received a text message from Chloe and with a frown forming on his features he pressed the button to open said message.
‘The old apartment. Fifteen minutes. Time to unwrap your Christmas present. C x’
To Be Continued...
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