Notes: In order for this to work I need everyone to know that Edgar Cole when he go out of jail didn’t hand over the stone to Dr. Swann's assistant Bridgette Crosby but kept and gave it to Lex since he got him out of jail. Things will take place after the episode Blank. Please let me know what you think of this so I can see if I should go on with it. I won’t be updating for a while but I will come back if you like it. To those that were reading it Lex & Chloe is complete so take a look.
Title: Through Another Man's Eyes
Author: Letia84
Rating: PG-13/R For adult language, some sexual content, and some violence
Disclaimer: I do not own these characters. Own by DC and Warner Brothers
Summary: Lex is in possession of the kryptonian crystal Lionel used to switch bodies with Clark. Lex uses the crystal to switch bodies with Clark to understand how his father was suddenly cured of liver cancer. In Clark’s body Lex sees the world through another man’s eyes.
Chapter 1 The Exchange
“Have a seat Mr. Cole.” Lex motioned for Edgar Cole to have a seat in one of the plush leather sofas in his study. When he looked into Edgar Cole at Clark’s request to set him free Lex found something very interesting.
He pulled a few strings to get the some what crazed but brilliant mathematician out of jail. Edgar Cole appeared to be the only person that could transcribe the symbols on the cave walls. He was also in possession of and artifact that could be very beneficial to Lex’s search for the truth.
“Thank…thank…you Mr. Luthor.” Edgar took a few nervous steps into the room and took a seat. He stammered and stuttered over his words the entire length of their talk.
“Can I get you anything?” Lex asked him picking up his own drink taking a sip of scotch.
“No...no… makes me jittery.” Edgar placed down the tin box he was carrying and look rather uncomfortable.
Lex had Edgar working full time on the caves. He offered him his own lab in one of his Luthor Corp research buildings with unlimited resources for personal projects if he made his main priority decipher every symbol in the cave. It was a small price to pay to a man that gave him more answers about the symbols in the past few weeks then anyone in past three years.
Now he was going to hand over something Lex thought could be the key to the truth about everything he was searching going on four years.
“Is this the artifact?” Lex moved to take the tin box from Edgar's side of the coffee table and he flinched. If taking a drink would make him jittery Lex wonder how he was feeling right now.
“Why do you it? I mean…your father wanted out of jail but… why do you want it?” Edgar seemed more uneasy then ever and hunched over in his chair watching Lex closely as he opened the box.
Lex didn’t know what happened to his father but whatever happened it started and ended with what was inside the tiny tin container. He took out the black stone with a symbol from the cave wall on it that now knew was the symbol for water.
“I want so many things Mr. Cole.” Lex started to answer him and sat back in the leather arm chair eyeing the piece carefully. He studied every curve, ever angle, and the way the symbol was craved into the rock.
How this piece of rock placed Lionel into Clark’s body was beyond Lex’s ability to understand but after living an unexplained life for so many years he didn’t have to understand it because he believed in it. He believed that this rock had some sort of power to transfer one’s essence into another vessel and Lex had very particular vessel in mind.
“Yes…yes…we all want things Mr. Luthor but you…you have everything any man could ever…wa… want. Why would you want to use this to be…some… someone other then who you are?”
Lex looked at Edgar Cole and he was sweating slightly. His clothes were horribly wrinkled. Beads of sweat were pooling on his bald head and slowly falling down the side of his face. He wasn’t sure why but he was having an affect on this man.
Lex had come custom to be people taking a back in his presence and often being afraid of him. At some point in his life he became a man to be feared and it was idea he grew to enjoy. The more people that feared him the easier it was to keep them away.
Edgar's question wasn't and easy one to answer. Why wouldn’t Lex Luthor want to be someone else? Switching bodies with one man could answer so many of the unanswered questions in his life. On the outside his life may appear perfect but Lex knew better. There were things still slipping through his fingers that he wanted to grab a hold of before they got to far away.
Believing that he truly made a life here in Smallville was a naive thought. The only thing that changed was putting his father in jail to which he overturned the charges before he even served a year.
Taking over Luthor Corp was rewarding but it was no were near filling his life with all the things he wanted. His friendships with people almost six years younger then him were more complicated then with any one his own age.
Clark was constantly lying to him. No matter how Lex treated him or what he did to keep a friendship he treasured going, Clark still lied to him. It bothered him more then he liked that someone supposedly so honest and pure had everything Lex could never have.
Parents that loved and support him, friends that confined in him and people trusted him even looked to him for help. They believed him when Lex thought that everyone could see Clark was a liar and didn’t deserve the perfect life that he was given. He was grateful for all the times Clark saved his life but after all they had been through Clark never trusted him like he said he would by constantly hiding things from him.
Clark didn’t disserve a lot of things, especial the love of a certain woman that was another addition to the Lex Luthor of list of things he wanted but could never have.
“Mr. Cole lets just say that there are things that can only be understood by looking through another man’s eyes.”
Edgar grinned at him twitching a bit in his chair then nodding several times. “It not my business what you do…but I will tell you like I told...your…your father… it’s not forever. Soon you will revert back…back into your body. The only way it can be permanent is to..kil..kill..kill your own body so you don’t have a place to go back to.”
“Who said I was going to use this on myself?” Lex lied to him and didn’t need anyone in on his plans. He had a select staff that he trusted and no one outside of that knew his plans. He had to have a back up to take care of his body while he was away from it.
He had to know what happen to his father when Clark was inside of him. He was out of jail and was acting as if he was a changed man. His liver cancer was gone as if it never existed. Lionel said he didn't remember but Lex would ensure he did once he switched back.
Whatever secret Clark was hiding this could be his way to find them out. Just looking through Clark Kent's eyes could answer everything he was never able to. There was also the chance to have everything Lex wanted but could never, even if it was for a limited time.
“If that’s all I would like to go…back to work. I have been making some progress…progress and want to give you the data in a few weeks..” Edgar got up from his seat and Lex stopped him with one last question.
“That’s good to hear but one more question. Other then reverting back without the stone can one reverse back with the stone at anytime?”
“Yes…yes!” Edgar replied louder then he should have. “Just touch the hand of the person you want and… then you…are them and they… are you and you can... can go back at anytime but you will revert back with or without…the…the stone.”
“Thank you Mr. Cole. You have made a fine addition to my staff.” Lex stood placing the stone back into the tin box. He shook Mr. Cole’s hand letting him leave at last.
Alone in his study Lex already had a plan. If he was going to do this then things would have to work smoothly. Clark would instantly know he was in his body and he would have to hide it.
Lex was prepared to do something’s that wasn’t exactly the right thing. If he wanted to find the truth then he would have to do this because Clark would never tell him. He would lie and cover things and the lies were taking there toll on Lex. How Clark showed up at the right time and always managed to save the day without ever explaining himself was driving him to do this. Lex was done waiting for Clark to believe he was worthy enough to know the truth.
As Clark Lex could move freely around the people that loved him the most. His attempts to get the truth from Lana could be easily persuaded if he was in Clark’s body. Martha and Jonathan would welcome him into their home and they might slip in letting the secret go.
His last hope if he had to do it was to get what he need from Chloe. Chloe could have all the answers that he’s been searching for. At one time he could have simply ask her for the truth and she would have given it but not now.
Not after the way Lex treated her.
Not after he kissed her then forgot about her all this time.
A kiss he never fully recovered from and one he tried to cover up with another woman. The week before she went missing and was later found by Clark before the trial Lex did something he shouldn't have but maybe he was wrong. In Clark’s body he could learn everything he wanted to know about Chloe Sullivan.
Lex picked up his glass of scotch and prepared him self for Clark’s arrival. He called him earlier that morning requesting he stop by after school today. That night Lex would exchange lives for one day with Clark Kent.
~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~
By the time Clark arrived Lex was well behind ready for the exchange. It was around eight when the farm boy showed up in his study unannounced as all ways.
“Lex?” Clark’s loud voice rang out through the room and Lex was sitting right at his desk and there was no need for him to shout.
He was holding the stone in his pocket and a glass of scotch plus something special mixed in to the drink. If he timed things just right he would be drinking from his glass and before Clark could realize what happen the drugs in his glass would have knocked him out.
For one day Clark would be sound asleep in his body and Lex would switch them back before he woke up. His researcher perfected the drug in his glass over the last year and Lex wouldn't take it if hadn’t been heavily tested. Once he drank from the glass he had three minutes until he drifted off in to a deep sleep.
“Clark come in.” Lex got up from his chair the stone resting in his pocket and he quickly downed the remaining scotch in his glass. He glanced at his watch and the time started as soon as he swallowed.
“What did you want to see me about?” Clark was dressed in his signature flannel and jeans. He was so unsure of him self when ever he came to see Lex and he could read it so well. After Clark found his room detailing all the unexplained events in his life Clark never came by without a worried look in the corner of his eye.
“Clark I just want to ask you a few questions about what happened with you and my father while he was you and you were him.” Lex glanced at his watch again and he was a minute in.
Clark glanced away and that worried look shifted in to a bit of panic. “Clark I just want to know if you remember anything now that sometime has passed since the event.” Lex moved in on him getting closer to him trying to reassure him that this wasn’t and integration even though it was.
He hunched his shoulders and moved back from Lex slightly. “I told you everything I knew when it happened. That’s been months ago don’t you believe me?”
‘No I don’t believe you lying son of a bitch’ Lex silenced his true feelings in his mind before he answer glancing at his watch again two minutes in.
“I believe you I just want to know if you may have recalled anything. My father said the same thing but he’s also displayed some usual behavior and I think you influenced the change.”
“We talked about this already Lex. Maybe your father has changed since he was in jail. People do that don’t they?” Clark relaxed a bit and Lex could see him easing into his lies and better yet getting the attention off him completely.
“I guess people can change but I have my doubts when it comes to my father.” Lex rested his hand in his pocket and locked the stone around his fingers.
“Lex is that all you wanted?” Clark eyes squinted and he seemed to be unsure as to why he was there but soon it would all be revealed.
Lex inched back closing the distance Clark put between them. They had to be well with in the final seconds and Lex was starting to feel the effects of the drugs. “I just hope you and I have changed Clark. That you trust me more these days.”
“Sure Lex.” Clark gave him that all American boy grin and Lex did value his friendship but Clark would never truly let him because he didn’t trust him.
Tonight he would give him a reason not to.
“Let’s shake on it then…to our second chance.” Lex held his hand out to him and it was a little shaky. The drugs were starting to work and he had to do this now.
Clark's smile grew ear to ear and he extended his hand towards Lex. Lex took his large hand into his own and moved in to embrace him. While his attention was away from his hand Lex pulled the stone from his pocket and it was resting in the palm of his hand.
“I hope one day you will trust me enough to tell me the truth Clark but I guess today is not that day.” Lex spoke close to his ear and his hand on the stone was close to Clark's hand gripping his. He had the chance to stop this before he did something he could never take back and may never be forgive for but he pushed it down and did what he had to do.
“I’ll just find out for myself.” Lex spoke to him pulling away placing the stone on to Clark’s hand still locked with his. Both of Lex’s hands closed around Clark and there was nothing Clark could do to stop the transference.
Lights flashed around them and Lex was about to pass out from the drugs and closed his eyes. When he opened them again he wasn’t were he was standing moments ago.
He didn’t feel his expensive shoes on his feet, he didn’t feel the warm fabric of his dark purple shirt he put on that morning and he didn’t feel the cool air in the room rushing over his bald head. When he reached for his smooth scalp he ran his fingers through a full head of hair.
Lex breathed out several times and looked down at the ground in front of him. He was looking at him self collapsed on the ground. “Clark?” Lex questioned quietly and didn’t hear his low husky voice but the voice of Clark Kent.
He breathed out a few more times feeling like everything he did was in slow motion. He looked at his hands, his arms covered in flannel, and he reached for his face touching the curves of Clark’s cheeks. Somehow it worked and now he was seeing everything as Clark would.
Lex was in Clark’s body and now he had his chance to find out the truth he disparately needed to hear.
TBC
Chapter 2 Not Myself
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