Title: Tabula Rasa (Blank Slate)

Author: Uris

Notes: The two essays assigned to Clark are the same ones I did in my freshman writing class

Warning: Multiple warnings--read at your own risk

Fandom: Smallville

Pairing: Lex/Clark

Rating NC 17

Summary: Lionel Luthor steals something very valuable to Clark Kent causing stress in Clark Kent's and Lex Luthor's relationship

Disclaimer: Belong to The WB and DC comics

Tabula Rasa (Blank Slate)
by Uris

Chapter 1

Clark answered the door. He wasn't going to get to his paper. Hopefully, it was just Chloe and Pete and he would tell her or him that he was studying. "Mr. Luthor, what an unexpected pleasure." He hoped the sarcasm wasn't too obvious.

"My boy, what are you doing here?" Lionel asked.

"I live here," Clark stated. Clark had moved in with Lex during the summer after graduation. Soon after Lex had returned from the Caribbean without his bride, Lex said that he couldn't live in the castle after the near drowning and brought himself a two-bedroom house.

"You're wasting your time at that university." Lionel took a seat on the sofa like he owned the house.

"Mr. Luthor." Clark didn't like that he visited while Lex was still in Metropolis. Lionel knew he was alone. If Lionel was carrying kryptonite, it was in a lead lined container. He hated that Lionel had learned all his secrets from the cave walls, having used a kryptonite key. "Would you like some iced tea or lemonade?"

"I'll take some lemonade."

Clark poured himself and Mr. Luthor each a glass of lemonade. Clark handed him a glass before seating across from him. "I have a paper to write."

"You can do that in a few minutes," Mr. Luthor said. "You know more than those teachers. What do you think they can teach you?"

"I believe an education will benefit me," Clark stated.

"Is a BA going to matter when you walk into the White House or the UN and demand they hand their weapons to you?" Lionel sipped his drink.

"No, but I need a plan before I walk into the White House and bring the leader of the free world to his knees." Clark didn't like that Lionel knew the program that Jorel written.

"I'm sure my son has plans." Lionel looked at Clark.

"He'd like to be in a position of power by legitimate means before I take over the world." Clark drank some of his lemonade.

"When are you going to tire of using my son?" Lionel drank some more lemonade.

"Why are you here? I have a paper to write." Clark could have written his paper in his quiet dorm room, but he liked Lex's word processing program. The dorm was awful quiet on weekends. He also got a job as copy editor for one of the three school papers. His only 'original' work was listing the school and local radio stations. Then, he was a freshman and it was only the first issue.

"I just wanted to see how you were getting along. Did you like the housewarming present I sent you?" Lionel asked.

"I sent you a thank you." A few pots and pans didn't require a personal visit. Clark knew that Lionel was up to something or he would have visited when his son was home.

Clark sat down at the computer and started his first writing assignment for Intermediate Comp. As he was writing his introductory paragraph, he felt a sting in his arm. He woke up on the floor. The doors were obviously locked and screaming wasn't going to help. "Mr. Luthor, what are you after?" Clark was still groggy from whatever Mr. Luthor had put in that shot.

"A sample."

"You have my blood. A DNA sample could be taken from my glass. You made your point. I'm not to turn my back on you," Clark stated. Clark felt sticky and smelled semen. Clark's pants were back on, but the evidence was there.

Lionel looked him lying on the ground unable to move. Lionel closed the specimen bottle and tossed the plastic cup into the trash. "I already got what I came for." Lionel stepped away a moment. "The drug should wear off in an hour." Lionel walked up the stairs. Clark heard the door open and close.

Clark returned to working on his paper. Unable to complete the first paragraph, he called his mother. "Mom, Mr. Luthor raped me."

"He what?" Martha asked.

"He injected me with some drug mixed with kryptonite. He thought by cleaning me up and putting my pants back on that I wouldn't know." Clark walked up the stairs with the portable phone.

"Do you want me to come over?" Martha asked.

"That isn't necessary," Clark said.

"I'll be there in a few minutes. Don't ever let him in your house again?"

"Trust me. I won't."

---

While Lex was getting ready for bed, he said, "Clark, I'm so sorry."

"I shouldn't have let him in the house," said Clark.

"You couldn't have known." Lex didn't know if Clark wanted to be touched. His own father had violated his lover. Lex sat on the bed and gave Clark a look of concern.. "If you don't want me touching you, I understand."

"Lex, I could use your arms around me. He took a semen sample. I have to get it back." Clark undressed to his briefs. "If he comes back into this house, I swear I'll kill him."

"You have my permission." Lex kissed Clark's chest.

"No one would ever find the remains." Clark held Lex against him.

"That would keep probate stalled. You need to make it look like an accident." Lex kissed Clark's neck.

"I could have it look like he fell or was hit by an oncoming vehicle. I need to get my paper done by Tuesday. I'm not telling my English professor that I couldn't turn in my paper because your father raped me."

"It's better than your dog ate it. So what do you have to write about?"

"The Prince," Clark said, "by Niccolo Machiavelli."

"Easy. Think of the lessons that my dad has taught me," Lex said.

"Today's lesson was rape. He taught me to never let my guard down." Clark stroked Lex's head.

"Stupid on his part, he can't always have kryptonite on him and he knows what you're capable of."

"He also knows that I'm not a cold-blooded killer."

"Don't ever let him in this house."

Clark kissed Lex's ear. "With all my powers, he was able to take this from me."

Lex moved his hands over Clark's body. Lex blew on Clark's belly button. "Can I suck on it?"

"Yes." Clark removed his briefs.

Lex put his hand on Clark's cock as he started to lick the head. Lex's hand moved to Clark's balls and he started to squeeze them lightly as he took more of Clark's member in his mouth. With the other hand, he fondled Clark's asshole, pushing his thumb slowly in and out.

"Oh, oh, yes." Clark screamed.

Lex lubricated two fingers and put them into Clark's ass feeling them grip his fingers like a vise as he sucked harder moving more into his mouth. Lex steadied himself preventing himself from gagging on the large organ pressing against the roof of his mouth. Clark tried his best to stay still while Lex gave him head; he was still afraid that if he jerked suddenly that he would break Lex's jaw.

Clark moaned and quivered like he was being blown by a master. "Lex," Clark screamed several times before firing into Lex's mouth. "That was incredible."

"I love doing it," Lex said.

"I could return the favor." Clark touched Lex's hard-on.

"That isn't necessary." Lex kissed him.

---

Clark supersped to the castle and searched the office first for the sample. He hoped that Mr. Luthor wouldn't have hid the sample yet or brought it to his private lab. Clark examined the office with his x-ray vision and superspeed -- nothing. He checked the library. He found a specimen jar in a locked drawer. He x-rayed the neighboring drawers nothing. He didn't want to break the desk so he looked around the castle for keys. Mr. Luthor must have forgotten about Clark's x-ray vision when he hid the keys out of plain sight. Clark found a lead lined planter in the parlor and it being the only thing lead-lined, the keys had to be there.

The fifth key he tried opened the drawer with the sample. He took it back his house and incinerated the sample with his heat vision. Now, Mr. Luthor couldn't impregnate anyone with his sperm; the problem was taken care of -- at least, for the moment.

---

While Clark finished his essay on "The Prince", he sat in another part of the office. A chair was broken and the carpet had damage. The used cup was still in the small garbage can in the room. He told Lex not to clean up the mess; it was evidence. His essay's topic was is the lessons taught in "The Prince" applicable to today's politicians. He hoped his angry came out in a positive way. He wanted to believe that people were basically good; where Machiavelli assumed people were basically evil and needed to be put in their place. Lionel Luthor operated on the Machiavellian principle: The ends justify the means.

Lex came into the office wearing a blonde wig in two braids, a football jersey and faded student cut jeans. He looked over Clark's shoulder. "Almost done?"

"I need to get it down to five pages," Clark said.

"This easy. You change the font and the print," Lex teased.

"The professor said 12 points, proportional font. One-inch margins. She knows that we're going to try to squeeze more words in." Clark needed to remove a paragraph.

"So after you finish, do you want go to the park and play a little catch?"

"Sure. I should be done in fifteen minutes." Clark looked at Lex, again. He was wearing a blonde wig in two braids and he definitely had mounds under the football jersey. Clark didn't know that Lex crossdressed. He decided to stay calm and go with the flow. It must have been a way that Lex handled stress. It was better than breaking things and throwing books.

"I'll make up a picnic basket."

"Your father said I was wasting my time going to college."

"My father is an ass. Come on. We'll invite Pete and Chloe and toss around a pigskin," Lex said.

"You're going out like that." Clark told himself again if crossdressing helped Lex let off steam then he should ignore it. It was a safer way to let off steam than breaking things and throwing books around. Besides, now that Lex had moved out of the castle into a small house, he didn't have a full time maid to clean up the mess. Lex looked rather cute in a wig wearing only a touch of makeup. The small round fake breasts jiggled in a way that looked natural. The falsies were Hollywood quality, not that typical ones that mastectomy patients wore.

Clark knew that Lex was hurting and wasn't going to argue with him about his way of dealing with stress, especially when it didn't consist of breaking expensive electronic equipment and ducking to avoid getting hit by flying books. It wasn't that it hurt Clark to be hit by books, but rather that it was a matter of pride to avoid being hit during one of Lex's many tantrums.

"The wig won't come off. It's taped on." Lex kissed Clark's neck. "Admit it. You think I look cute."

Clark looked up from the computer. "Adorable." Clark removed a few words to make the essay more concise. He checked it for grammar errors then hit the print button. Clark put the paper in his folder to take to school on Monday before walking up the stairs to the kitchen.

Lex was making sandwiches still dressed like a teenage girl then entered the living room with the basket. "Are you ready to go? I called Pete. Chloe and he will meet us at the park."

"Chloe is going to Yale," Clark said.

"They start a week later than MU. It would be good to see her the day before she takes off for Connecticut," Lex said.

"People at the plant could see you," Clark said.

"They would have to recognize me." Lex picked the basket. "Lex is a bald guy that rarely smiles, not a silly blonde girl in pigtails."

"Everybody knows that I live with you."

"You hang out with Chloe and Lana and half the girls in your freshman class."

"I do not." Clark made a face at Lex. Lex was right; he hung out with at least a dozen different girls. No one would know who Lex was unless they recognized Lex's voice or Clark stuck his foot in his mouth. "If you were wearing a dress and heavy makeup, I wouldn't be as angry, but you look like a girl in boys' clothes."

"So?" Lex smiled at Clark, raising his hand to his face. The pitch of his voice was slightly higher and he added a feminine lilt.

"Have you done this before?" Clark asked.

"Done what?" Lex turned his head slightly.

"You want to play two-on-two football with Chloe and Pete dressed like that?" Clark asked.

"There is nothing wrong with the way I'm dressed. Would you rather I ruined a hundred dollar pair of pants getting grass stains on them?" Lex asked.

"You look like a girl and you're wearing less makeup than Chloe normally wears," Clark said.

"And your point," Lex said.

"Lex, I can't believe you've been keeping this from me."

"I've been keeping it from myself. Let's go to the park and try to forget what my father did to you." Lex picked up the basket. His hips swung in a feminine way without exaggerating like a bad female impersonator.

---

Lana was at the park; she walked over to Clark. "You're looking good. Introduce me to your friend."

"Alex, this is Lana." Clark tried not to laugh, but couldn't help himself. Lex was right; he was a lousy liar.

"I won't tell anyone what Lex was wearing," Lana said.

"A football jersey and jeans?" Lex looked at Lana cross-eyed. "Would you like some fruit or a sandwich? I packed plenty." His higher pitched voice was natural sounding.

Lana took Clark by the arm and walked him over to the other side of the play equipment. "How could he embarrass you like that?"

"Lex looks adorable. He needs to maintain a certain image at the plant. I see nothing wrong with him letting his hair down."

"He has no hair," Lana said.

"You didn't recognize him. Give him a break."

"He could lose his position in this community with a stunt like that. I hear that he has plans to run for mayor."

"He hasn't told me," Clark said. Mayor was a part-time job and wouldn't interfere with running LexCorp. Probably other people in town wanted Lex to run for mayor and he didn't tell them an answer. Clark looked across at Chloe and Lex talking. He couldn't hear their words, but Lex seemed relaxed with his hands moving as he spoke. "Several small towns have crossdressing mayors. If that is the dirtiest secret you can find, you're in trouble."

Lana said, "Just tell him if he wants to dress like that, he should go to Metropolis or some place where they don't know him."

"I don't want to clip his wings." Clark looked at the children playing.

"If you didn't laugh, I probably wouldn't have known until he spoke," Lana said. "He makes a very pretty girl."

"I'll tell him that wearing a pigtails in a small town might ruin his political aspirations," Clark whispered. If Clark didn't laugh, Lana wouldn't have known at all. Clark wondered if Lex knew how good he looked. Of course, he did or he wouldn't have gone out with a wig and falsies.

Clark whispered to Lana as he joined her on the bench, "Lex must hate that he fights his own nature every time that he talks to business associates and his own father." Lex seemed so relaxed talking to Chloe wearing that wig and falsies under his jersey. Clark didn't recall Lex crossdressing before or even mentioning that he had. All Clark knew was that it was like pulling teeth to get Lex to wear comfortable clothes and relax.

"I'm sure he does. I would never suggest that he doesn't wear a wig; he just shouldn't do it in Smallville."

"See you around," Clark said.

"Sure," Lana said. "I have an afternoon shift at the Talon."

Clark watched Chloe and Lex toss a football back and forth. Pete was sitting by the fountain watching the water and looking at the people going by. Clark sat on a bench and closed his eyes. Clark awoke to Lex's hand on his shoulder. "Huh."

"Emotional exhaustion can be just as bad as physical exhaustion." Lex grabbed the empty basket. Pete and Chloe must have eaten the last of the food.

"Are you going to run for mayor?" Clark asked when they were alone.

"I 'm too young to consider politics."

"Not really. I've heard of a seventeen year old mayor," Clark said. "He was sixteen when he ran so he couldn't vote for himself."

"I could see Pete doing that," Lex said. Pete had just turned eighteen so if he ran, he would be old enough to vote for himself.

"Pete says that he wants to be the power behind the man."

"I want to go into politics, but I'm not sure I'm ready to get involved. It's a lot of work."

"You should consider it." Clark started the car.

Lex got in the passenger seat. "You're in school full-time and if I get politics, I'll never get to see you. As it is, I'm working out of Smallville and Metropolis at the same time. I can't afford to use helicopters so I drive six hours each day I have to go to Metropolis."

"I can superspeed you," Clark said, as he started the car.

"I rather not become dependent on your speed."

"So tell them that you feel you're too young to run for office." Clark pulled out of his parking space.

Chapter 2

Lex called his father and recorded the conversation. "Dad, you're never to visit here again. If you touch Clark again, I'll have you thrown in jail."

"I only threatened it."

"That's not what he said and that is not what doctor found when I had him examined by a private physician. If I took this evidence to court, you would spend a long time in jail." Lex hadn't saw physical signs of rape, but he could easily have a doctor lie on Clark's behalf. He doubted that would be necessary. The cup was still in the small trashcan in the office and the damage of dragging a large man was there for anyone to see.

Lionel said, "I would like to see you tomorrow."

"I'll meet you in front of the Talon," Lex said. "One o'clock. I'll have the sheriff with me."

"Are you going to wear ponytails?" Lionel asked.

"See you, tomorrow. Bye, Dad." Lex hung up. Did his father have his spies following him? If his father wanted to waste his money having someone follow him and Clark around that was his choice, Lex had nothing to hide. He called Sheriff Adams and explained that his father was following him and threatened Clark. He asked her to supervise a visit tomorrow.

"I'll be over," Sheriff Adams said.

"The sheriff is coming over," Lex said.

"Take off the wig and wash off the makeup," Clark said.

Lex came back to the room in few minutes. "So are you going to tell her that you were raped?"

"There is no evidence."

"You're a large person and you were dragged across a room. There has to be evidence."

"He washed me afterwards," Clark said.

Sheriff Adams arrived with one forensics person with a camera and evidence bags. "Mr. Luthor, what happened that you feel you need police protection?"

"My roommate was raped by my father while I was at work. He implied that he had been watching the house and knew that he was alone," Lex said.

"Where did it happen?" the sheriff asked.

"Downstairs in the office," Clark said.

"Has anyone been down there since the crime occurred?" she asked.

"Yes, but we walked around the area where it happened," Lex said. "We haven't clean up anything."

They walked down the stairs. "Clark, what happened?"

"I was working at Lex's desk. I thought that Mr. Luthor let himself out and I felt a pinch on my arm. I woke up on the floor with Mr. Luthor standing over me. I felt wet between my legs and knew I just had ejaculated," Clark explained.

"If you were dragged there would be marks," the sheriff said. She went to the chair and had the forensic person take pictures of the dents on the chair seemingly made from someone's head. There were abrasions on the carpet where someone appeared to be dragged. "Check the carpet for semen stains."

The forensic person put the cup with the semen into the bag then put some discolored carpet fibers into an evidence bag.

"There was a large person dragged in this room. If that's your father's semen on the carpet, he'll be looking forward to spending a long time in jail," the sheriff said. "You should have reported this when it happened."

"He's Lex's father. I didn't think anyone would believe me," Clark said.

"Did anyone else hear your father threaten to rape Clark?" asked the sheriff.
.
"My maid might have." Lex said. "Thank you for coming out."

"It's my job," the sheriff said. "Clark, I'm sorry."

"Thanks, ma'am," Clark said.

After the sheriff and the forensics person left, Lex put his arm around Clark, "Let's make dinner."

"I don't want this going to court," Clark said.

"You're the victim. You have no reason to be ashamed."

"What if it comes out that I'm an alien?" Clark went to the kitchen.

"That won't happen."

"He'll threaten to tell."

"No one will believe him."

Chapter 3

Clark called Lex at 9 o'clock as he sat outside the cafeteria. "I'm seeing my psychology teacher before lunch. He left me a note to see him."

"Be careful. My father could find you in a private area of the college."

"He couldn't drag me during the day; the campus is too crowded."

"Just be careful and trust no one," Lex said. "I'm going to be in Metropolis tomorrow for a luncheon. I'll meet you afterwards."

"Ponytails?" Clark smiled although Lex couldn't obviously see him on the phone.

"Sure. What time are you free?"

"I have a 12:15 and two night classes. I'll meet you at one-thirty at the art museum near campus."

"I should be there around two."

"See you, then. Goldilocks." Clark felt odd making a date to see his roommate, but they both had busy schedules. He needed to find time to work at the MU paper on Tuesday. Oh well, the student center was open to midnight and his last class let out at ten. He would make it a late night.

---

Clark felt uncomfortable waiting for the professor where he scheduled the meeting, keeping a watchful eye for anyone that didn't look like they belonged. The campus was usually crowded but this hallway had mostly offices and it was between classes so there was no one in the hallway. Finally, the professor arrived. "Mr. Kent, please come in."

"Dr. Erikson," Clark said.

"I thought you might have a few things you would like to discuss. I have a practice when I'm not teaching my night classes," he said.

"Not really." Clark looked at the professor waiting for him to say something. He wondered if he really had something to ask him or was Mr. Luthor paying him to spy on Clark. "The cafeteria closes in fifteen minutes. I need to hurry."

Clark supersped to the cafeteria. He wondered since after his afternoon class he was free until twelve fifteen tomorrow and didn't have any papers to write if he should go home until then. He would need to take the paper with him or print up another copy before class. He would work at the school paper from the time he got out of his last class until the student lounge closed on Tuesday. The paper was printed Wednesday morning and he should edit before dinner Tuesday, but seeing his husband at this time was more important.

---

As Clark noticed that his psychology professor was watching him, he wondered if it was normally busybodyness or did Lionel Luthor pay him to watch him. Finally, Professor Erikson walked up to him. "Is Mr. Luthor meeting you here?" How did his professor know that he was meeting Lex here?

Lex was wearing the same blonde wig he wore on Saturday and wearing a sweater and jeans, looking like one of the many female college students.

"Business meeting," Clark explained. He didn't feel denying that he knew Lex Luthor. If the professor was paid by Lex's father than he knew that they were sharing a house.

"I'm sorry. I know you were looking forward to seeing him," the professor said. The man wanted Clark to know that he was being spied on. Lionel was probably angry that the sperm sample that he stole from Clark was missing.

Clark said, "This is Alex. We have western civil together. Alex, this is my psychology professor, Dr. Erikson."

"It's nice meeting you," Dr. Erikson said. "Enjoy the museum. There is a new modern art display on the first floor."

"Thank you," Lex said in a voice slightly higher in pitch before he quickened his pace to get out of the nosy professor's view.

Clark made sure that the nosy professor was long gone. "Do you think your father hired him to spy on me?" Clark looked at Lex as he walked looking like a college coed. Lex wouldn't go in public dressed as a girl if he wasn't confident that he passed.

"It's possible. My father wouldn't have time to hire new spies, but he's too busy to let go the ones he has." Lex cracked his gum then smiled at Clark looking very much like a valley girl. "If he was one of my father's flunkies, he would have recognized me."

"He couldn't have pretended not to know who you are," Clark said.

"I can read enough body language to know that he didn't recognize me. To him, I'm just a coed." Lex tossed his head back slightly.

"Stop acting like a seventeen year old girl," Clark said. "You're no better than Chloe."

"I should be licking lollypop like I'm giving it blow job," Lex said. "Let's enjoy the afternoon. I have good news. The DA feels there is enough evidence for a warrant. I gave the police your hair sample to match with the hair found at the scene. All I need is to find a brush with my father's hair and that shouldn't be too hard. A man his age sheds worse than a sheepdog."

"All warrant issued are listed in the newspaper. Your father is long gone. His cronies could be anywhere."

"He has Emily and her sisters to deal with. He talks about cloning you. We'll never know if he has any."

"Unless one escapes," Clark said.

"I told my dad that the first thing the clones would do is kill him," Lex said. "Let's go your room and talk."

"I don't know how to act when you're dressed like this," Clark said.

"Pretend I'm Chloe," Lex tossed his head back and giggled.

Clark enjoyed hang out with Chloe occasionally, but he didn't want to live with her. He wanted the cold, calculating Lex back. He hated this giggling, spontaneous, chatting girl with insights of brilliance. He knew the girl that fidgeted and chewed gum was Lex, but at the same time, it wasn't Lex.

---

In Clark's dorm room, Lex looked at the list of suggested readings for Clark's history class. "You know all this."

"But I get to hear the professor's wonderful tangents. Since I have to take more history class for my major, I'll look for his name."

"It's an easy A."

"All my classes are easy A's. We have 27 assignment to finish in composition and only one is a term paper and you know that I can write a 2 to 3 page paper in twenty minutes."

"Your typing speed kills keyboards. So are we going to tell your roommate who I am?" Lex lay on the same bed beside Clark.

"I don't think that would be a good idea." Clark walked over to his book of readings for his English class and started brainstorming for ideas.

"You have to decide fast. He could come through the door any second. Do you really want to superspeed to my office and get my clothes?" Lex kicked off his sandals.

"You changed in your office. Are you crazy?"

"It's my building. I know where the cameras are and where they aren't. I didn't get near a camera until I was close to the door. If anyone saw me, they thought I was an intern that changed out of her business suit before she got business suit rash. If any of the men in the office noticed me, they weren't looking at my face." Lex sat up on the bed.

"Alex, your tight little ass is mine."

"And don't I know it. You have to Friday to get that paper done. What is it about?"

"I have to write about an essay on Nietzche?"

"You were reading Nietzche when you were a freshman in high school."

"And you were probably ten the first time that you read his essays."

"Eleven. If we keep talking about this stuff Richard won't have to ask who I am, he'll know."

Richard was fiddling with his keys outside the door.

"Door is open," Clark yelled.

Richard came in. "I thought you were spending the afternoon with Lex."

"I brought him back here," Clark said. "Richard Smith, this is Alexander Luthor."

"Nice to meet you." Lex offered him his right hand. "Do you have any opinions on Neitzche's essay about Apollonianism and Dionysianism?"

"What did he just say?" Richard sat on his bed and opened his calculus book.

"Clark and I both read Neitzche as pre-teens; I forget other people's educations are lacking," Lex said.

"I'm math student and I stay as far away from literature as possible," the boy said.

"A rationalist. My father would like me to be a rationalist, but I'm more of a romantic," Lex said.

"Lex, do you always dress like this?" Richard asked.

"Only when I'm not working." Lex took out a piece of gum out of his pocket. "Want a piece?"

The boy shook his head.

"When we met, Lex only wore business suits?" Clark said as he climbed in the bed beside Lex.

"I didn't wear business suits," Lex huffed.

"A thousand dollar coat, dress shirts, expensive dress pants and Italian leather shoes." Clark enjoyed Lex's expression as he made the list.

Lex cracked the gum. "You have me."

"He wore a coat in ninety degrees. Sweat was pouring down his back. It was embarrassing." Clark turned toward his dorm roommate.

"You're definitely married," the boy said.

"I insisted on our second date that he buy himself a pair of sneakers," Clark said.

"I have a harder time to get Mr. Flannel Shirt to dress up," Lex said.

"We compromise," Clark said.

"I wasn't talking about the jeans," the boy said, trying not to sound nonplussed.

"It's all part and parcel. The reason I didn't wear jeans is because I look like this." Lex put his head on Clark's chest.

Clark kissed Lex's forehead, he stroked the back of Lex's neck. He saw no point in fondling the wig.

Lex tossed the gum in the trashcan and gave Clark a proper kiss. "Clark and I were talking about me doing a Victor/Victoria when you came in. I'm glad that I didn't."

"It would mess up your hair," the boy said.

"I take it that you don't get the Inquisitor. They ran a double page spread on gold digging doctor marrying bald billionaire," Lex played with one of the ponytails; the wig wasn't braided this time.

"I must have missed that issue," the boy said.

"Helen didn't," Lex said.

"I take it that she didn't marry you," he said.

"Where have you been?" Clark asked.

"I'm a math student; if it has nothing to do with differential equations, I don't know about it," the boy said. "So what happened to Mrs. Luthor?"

"She drugged me. The plane was sabotaged and I nearly died. I think she and my father were having a rendezvous. It won't surprised me; he slept with my first girlfriend."

"It was his plane that went down." Clark never thought of that possibility. He always saw Helen and Mr. Luthor in a lab making little Clarks in his mind. He never imagined they would be making little Luthors the old-fashioned way.

"Neither you or Clark are getting any work done. So why don't I take you both out to eat before Clark's six o'clock class," Lex said.

"No thanks. It's bad enough that I have to share a room with a faggot. I'm not letting a drag queen treat me to dinner," Richard said.

"It's only dinner," Lex said as he got out of the bed. He brushed the wig looking in the large mirror over one of the small dorm dressers.

"Any excuse not to eat the cafeteria cooking," Richard said as he grabbed his keys.

"I fondly remember those days," Lex said, putting the brush back in the demin handbag. "Is my makeup okay?"

"It couldn't be that long ago," said Richard.

After Clark checked his pocket for the keys, he closed the door.

"I graduated Oxford when I was twenty. I enrolled when I was sixteen," Lex explained.

"The food at Oxford was that bad?" the boy asked.

Lex waved his hand. "Worse."

The boy headed to the campus cafeteria in the dormitory basement as Lex and Clark left the building.

"Alex, where are you parked?" Clark asked.

"A few blocks from campus near the art museum," Lex admitted.

"There is a Chinese restaurant six blocks from campus. We'll walk there."

A young man walked over to Lex. "Sweetheart, can I have your room number?" he asked.

Lex batted his eyelashes. "Sorry, I'm married."

"I can't believe you go out in public dressed this way," Clark whispered as the boy left their immediate sight. "You're wearing a pink sweater."

"Oh my God, a pink sweater. I'm turning into Lana. Shoot me now."

Clark giggled.

Chapter 4

Lex met Clark at the student center Friday afternoon after Clark's writing class. "Dear, you worn that wig three days this week."

"It's a kick," Lex stretched out a sectional in the lounge. He twirled a piece of hair between his fingers. "I like having hair for a change."

"You like that you can be totally irresponsible and silly," Clark said, sitting down beside Lex.

"Did you turn in your paper?" Lex asked.

"Of course. I suspect the teacher will want to talk to me privately after she reads it."

"You can supersped me home. I can leave the car parked in the lot over the weekend."

"It's a Porsche."

"I thought you were in a hurry." Lex walked to the ladies' room and fixed his makeup. He buttoned the white blouse to the first button. He had it open to two to show his fake cleavage. The silicon breasts that he wore looked real from a distance. Someone would have to look inside his cleavage to see otherwise and Lex let no one but Clark that close. He looked at the blue miniskirt. He didn't bother with stocking showing off his skinny legs. He hoped it wasn't too late in the season for off-white sandals.

Clark waited outside the ladies' room. "Change," Clark shouted through the bathroom door.

"And ruin my fun," Lex said as he left the bathroom.

"I don't want the whole campus knowing that you crossdress. It could get in the school paper. You don't want the Inquisitor running a spread of you in a miniskirt," Clark whispered.

"I can't change in the woman's bathroom."

"In my dorm room." Clark walked out of the student union.

---

Richard looked at Lex. "Are you taking a class?" Richard asked.

"He thought it was funny. I'm not laughing," Clark said. "Lex, help Richard with his calculus homework or talk to him about quantum mechanics. If your clothes aren't in the Porsche, I'm going to Brook Brothers and getting you suitable clothing."

"I need my pants taken in."

"You'll wear a belt," Clark declared.

"Be easy on him," Richard said. "There're warrant out for his father's arrest. This is his way of dealing with it."

"There is nothing wrong with me wanting to feel pretty," Lex said.

"Alex, you're very pretty," Clark said. "You work very hard to make people first impression of you to be terror. You don't want them laughing." Clark put his hand on Lex's hand. "Are your clothes in the car?"

"I'll get them," Lex said.

"You stay here and talk about math or physics with my roommate," Clark said. "We don't need a college student with a camera getting an easy buck."

"Terror?" Richard said after Clark left. Richard must have wondered how a small effeminate man struck terror in his associates.

"I act very deliberate and don't let anyone touch me. At first, I didn't shake hands with people because I'm left-handed and my father told me never to show weakness. I learned that making very deliberate movements, giving very little eye contact and keeping more than a social distance strikes terror in my employees," Lex explained.

"You're quite a man," the boy said.

"I must look like a fool to you."

"How old are you?" Richard leaned forward to give him eye contact.

"Twenty-five."

"Alex, you must feel like you have to act grown up all the time."

"I was crazy in college. I drank, used drugs, picked up too many men."

"Did you have fun doing it?"

"Not really. I did it mostly to get back at my father. Clark is the first person to love me with all my foibles. I once told Clark that two women loved me: one died and other left. I didn't tell him that they were my mom and nanny."

"I know you're hurting right now. I can't imagine what you're going through."

"Clark was right that I was foolish wearing these clothes on campus?" Lex continued.

"It's a way of escape. I understand that."

As they were discussing quantum mechanics, Clark arrived with the clothes. "Richard, could you excuse us?"

"I have the same parts as he does," Lex pulled off the wig, took a wipe from his purse and washed off the makeup. Lex unbuttoned the blouse showing a lace bra. He removed the high quality falsies and then unhooked the bra.

"I think we better leave," Clark said. "He doesn't need both of us looking at him."

Lex undressed the rest of the way and put on his briefs. Clark didn't want him to dress up in Smallville since it would ruin his political aspirations and he couldn't dress up around campus because someone might take a picture. Clark had encouraged him to dress up, but he didn't want him to do it. He liked the girl in the mirror; he wanted to see her again. She could be innocent and flirtatious. Lex put on his tee shirt and his lavender dress shirt, then the rest of his business attire.

Lex walked down the hall with Clark and down the stairs. Clark laughed when they were in the hallway. "You have lipstick on."

Lex smiled, took a tissue from his pocket and wiped his mouth.

"Lex, I overreacted. In that miniskirt, you looked like a slut," Clark whispered.

"Do you want to go for a walk around campus?"

"I'll get my things."

"And my clothes."

"I'm burning that skirt." Clark held his hand.

---

Clark climbed into bed beside Lex. "Honey, what does your father have to do with you crossdressing? I want a straight answer. Perhaps, that isn't the right word."

Lex pulled Clark next to him and said nothing.

"Did you put your mother's clothes on after she died to feel close to her and he beat you?" Clark asked.

Lex whispered, "No," clutching his pillow.

"He raped you. That is why you flinch when he tries to touch you." Clark wouldn't have thought that until this week. He would never think that a man could do that to his child. Clark put his hand over lightly over Lex's back. "Baby, he can't hurt you anymore. I won't let him near you."

"You can't protect me from him." Lex turned over and squeezed Clark against him. "He knows your weakness."

"You aren't that thirteen year old boy anymore." Clark said.

"It was more than once." Lex started to cry.

"When was the last time?"

"Sixteen. I came home from school. I fought him. I kicked him, bite him and punch him. He learned that I wasn't going to cooperate. He didn't do it again." Lex put his head into Clark's chest.

"He's an expert manipulator. He manipulated me into turning my back on him. It's over." Clark planted kisses on Lex's face.

Lex kissed Clark passionately. "I never told anyone."

"Incest isn't polite dinner conversation." Clark licked Lex's belly then his penis. "I'm going to make you feel so good."

"I need you."

"I need you, too." Clark took Lex's penis in his mouth and made it good and wet. Clark put a hand on Lex's hip and let Lex fuck his mouth. Clark kissed Lex afterwards since Lex claimed he liked tasting himself in Clark's mouth. Clark kissed him all over. He was still hesitant about having intercourse with him.

"Could we have sex?" Lex asked.

Clark touched Lex's hard-on. "The last person in me was your dad."

"I wish I could tell you that it gets better." Lex lubricated himself and Clark. "Whenever you're ready."

"I love you." Clark pulled Lex next to him.

---

Lex had dressed as a girl in the morning. Clark smiled at him as he joined him for breakfast. "You put on that miniskirt again," Clark said. "I'm just going to have to take it off you."

"Later, I'm eating breakfast."

As Clark was cleaning the dishes, the doorbell rang. "Whoever it is send them away?" Clark shouted.

"I can't answer the door like this," Lex said.

"You should have thought about that before you decided to put that stuff on," Clark said. He put down the dishes and supersped to door. He hugged his mother. "Mom, come in. Did you have breakfast?"

"I ate. How is school?"

"Boring. My composition teacher says I write better than many of her grad students. The other classes put me to sleep. I need only two semesters of math with my major so after I finished my second Calculus class, I won't have anything that challenges me." Clark walked over to the sofa.

"Honey, are you meeting people there?" his mother asked.

"I feel like a freak. I'm trying so hard to fit in and Lex does this." Clark turned his eyes to Lex.

"Maybe it isn't about you," his mother said. "Lex, honey, what is troubling you?" she continued in a soothing voice.

Clark went into the kitchen and finished cleaning the breakfast dishes. He didn't want to hear the reasons that Lex crossdressed. He would let his mother play psychologist alone.

---

"Does dressing like a girl give you comfort?" Martha asked.

"Mrs. Kent, it's hard to explain," Lex said as he continued to pick up newspapers on the coffee table and put them in a pile to be recycled.

Martha sat beside Lex on the sofa and lightly touched his arm. "I'm listening."

"The rape reminded me of when I was thirteen," Lex said.

"When your mother died?" Martha said in a soft voice. "You feel like the world is out-of-control again."

"My father raped me," Lex said. "I dressed in my mother's clothes. It was silly. I thought if I wore her clothes I'd be close to her. Dad said it was like his Lillian was alive, again."

"In incest, it isn't uncommon to blame the child," Martha said. "You did nothing wrong and to think I thought about leaving my husband for him."

"Martha, you had no idea," Lex said.

"Does crossdressing take the pain away?" Martha asked.

Lex put the last newspaper into the pile to be recycled.

Martha repeated, "Does dressing like a girl take the pain away?"

"As strange as it sounds it does." Lex thought about the confusion in his mind when it came to his father. His father called him pretty and was aroused when he made himself up, but at other times, his father called him too pretty to be a boy and said he needed to learn to act like a man. His father would tell him to never show emotion because it made him look weak and yet he played Lex's emotions all the time.

"Lex, he can't hurt you. If he comes back to his town, he'll be arrested," Martha said.

"Can I still dress like a girl?" Lex asked Martha although he was just teasing her. He didn't want an answer.

"If it gives you comfort. I wouldn't recommend you doing it in public. Someone could recognize you and take out a spread in the Inquisitor," Martha teased.

The Inquisitor would never put out spread unless he looked embarrassing or he was position of power like mayor or congressman. "That would be funny if Clark didn't mention it earlier."

"Put on some pants and we'll go out somewhere," Martha said.

"Mrs. Kent, can I call you Mom?"

"I would like that a lot," Martha hugged Lex.

Lex looked in the mirror before he took a pair of ladies' jeans from the closet. Was he still pretty? He knew that men looked him over when he when to the college to visit Clark. He put on the jeans and looked in the mirror again. Was the mirror lying to him or was that pretty girl he?

---

Martha called Jonathan and told him to join them at the carnival at Grandville. Clark drove the Ferrari. Lex had told her that it was Clark's car and he didn't drive it. Lex sat beside Martha in the backseat. "I dumped a lot on you this morning."

"You don't have to explain anything to me," Martha said. "Is this a long term thing or you just doing this to work out your feelings for your father?"

"I don't know," Lex said in a small voice. "How do I look?"

Martha didn't know what Lex wanted to hear. Lex looked very pretty and his manner was feminine. She didn't know if the only experience he had cross-dressing was part of a ritual for his father or did he do it more often at one time. She didn't want to say anything that could hurt him. "You look fine. Is there something you like to be called?"

"Alex is fine. Do you think your husband can handle this?"

"I'll hit him with a frying pan if he can't," Martha teased.

"I'd be worried if I wasn't sure that Jonathan would heal less than a week," Lex said.

Clark yelled toward the backseat. "No insulting my dad and his mutant leg."

"His mutant leg is how I met Helen," Lex said. "Helen and I talked for hours about your father's leg healing so fast. I didn't want her knowing that everyone in town healed like that."

"It didn't help," Martha said. "She ran off and according to your story is cloning little Clarks."

"The worst thought hit me when I was thinking about this mess," Lex said. "She's sleeping with my father. Why does he have to ruin everything in my life?"

"He can't have me," Clark said.

"That is why he took you," Lex said.

"It was one act and I was unconscious during it," Clark said. "I forgave your father. You have to go on." Clark had told his mother that he destroyed the sperm sample so it was over for him. Clark learned an important lesson to never let his guard down.

"I can't forgive him for that," Lex said.

"You have to forgive," Martha said. "It eats at your soul. If he said the things you claim he did, he doesn't feel guilty for it. To him, it was like screwing a machine."

"That is just disgusting," her son said.

"Many couples use vibrators," Martha said. Jonathan and she had used one on occasion, but that wasn't her son's business.

"We can talk about toys privately," Lex said, suggestively.

"I don't think so," Clark said, blushing.

"Anyway." Martha decided not to talk about vibrators in front of her naïve child. "Alex, you need to forgive your father for everything that he has done to you. Your anger only hurts you."

"I'm doing the best that I can," Lex said.

"If the wrong person sees you, your reputation is ruined. Alex, I know that it feels good or you wouldn't do it, but people will know who you are by association," Martha said.

"I could use another name so people wouldn't figure out who I am," Lex said.

"I have three Alexes in my math class and they're all women," Clark said. "Alex, as long as we don't talk about private matters loudly no one will suspect. You don't act like yourself."

"If I acted like myself, why would I bother?" Lex asked. "The point is that I can be someone else."

"Who is this someone else?" Martha asked. She didn't want to be his therapist, but she finally felt like she was getting to the heart of the matter.

"Me. All the feelings that I repress. I always have to be in such control. Like Machiavelli's Prince, I can't show any weakness in my business dealings. Every moment has to be deliberate and planned; I can't let the other players know what holding in my hand."

"You do most of your work over the Internet where they can't see your face," Martha said.

"Not all of it," Lex said.

"What if you're dressed like this and someone comes to the house," Martha said. "You were in a bit of a panic this morning."

"Only because Clark argued about answering the door," Lex said.

"It's a stupid game. You're going to get caught," Martha said.

"The game wouldn't be any fun if there was no risk," Lex said.

"Talk to your husband," Martha said.

"Mom, it's his choice," Clark said.

---

Clark found his father's truck already parked. Jonathan was sitting on a bench drinking a bottle of water. "Dad, I don't know what you want me to say."

"Why is Lex dressed like that?" his father asked.

"You recognized him," Clark said, surprised.

"He's getting out of your car and the wigs matches his eyebrows," his father said. Sometimes, his father had insights of brilliance. "Well, we better join them."

His father figured it out without him having to paint a picture. Clark started to walk toward his mother and Lex. "If I could trade places with him, I would. His father hurt him more than he hurt me. I wish I knew what to do to help him. Sometimes, I wonder if my whole life isn't one of Jorel's tests."

"But we don't have the pod," Jonathan teased as they joined the others.

"What do we need the pod for?" Martha asked.

"Never mind," Clark said.

"The pod had to have rematerialize somewhere else since it's still sending you messages and most likely it isn't far," said Martha.

Clark said, "Mom, Alex, I have to look for the pod. Dad, don't kill Alex." Clark supersped around listening for the pod. He didn't know what he was listening for but assumed he would know once he heard it. Finally after circling the area in and around Smallville for over an hour, Clark heard a humming in a cornfield. He walked toward the humming.

He dug in the dirt a meter or more before hitting a golden globe about the size of a basketball. He yelled at the pod. "I can't continue this way."

"Kal-el, you make take your place as leader of the humans."

"Give me time. I'm still young. The people of this world take many years to learn these things. The president of this country must be thirty-five paths around Sol." Clark knew the program understand what an Earth year was. He was being pedantic. "I've only seen sixteen obits."

The program hesitated but read Clark's thoughts. Most world leaders were over forty if not over fifty. "I'll grant you a total of forty orbits."

"From now or when I landed?"

"Landed. If you don't continue to make progress toward becoming a world leader, I'll punish you."

"I agree."

"Get your education on how the world works. Don't fail me."

"I won't." Clark hoped that by the age of forty-three he could establish himself as a world leader by legitimate means and wouldn't need to resort to terrorism. He got a running start and, instead of running super fast, he flew. He was above Smallville, flying toward Grandville. He should see the Grandville carnival by air. His only problem was landing. He didn't want to be seen. It felt great to be flying above the trees, not that there were many trees in Kansas.

He wasn't afraid of falling. The air pressure on all sides was like a blanket. It was power, grace and beauty. After bringing his feet down by force of will to land a mile outside the carnival, he walked the remaining distance at normal speed. He would keep his flying a secret for now. He carried the globe back to the Ferrari and put it in the trunk.

Clark hugged his mom. "I negotiated with the former pod,"

"That sounds scary," Lex said. "You didn't offer it our first born."

Clark laughed.

"What did you offer the pod in return?" Jonathan asked.

"I explained to it that I was too young to be a world leader and told it that I would work toward that goal but I needed more time. I told the globe that I didn't mind gaining a position of authority through legitimate means but I wasn't conquering the world through terror. It read my thoughts on the political structure of the world and seemed to agree with me that terror wasn't the answer," Clark said.

"If you fail," his father said.

"I'll probably kill me, but at least no children will be sacrificed," Clark said, remembering that Martha lost the baby when he failed the pod before.

"I'm ruining your plans to become world dictator," Lex said.

"No." Clark kissed Lex's forehead. "Alex, I want to go home and love you. My feelings for you haven't changed."

Chapter 5

Lex watched Clark undress in anticipation. Lex changed into red lingerie. He didn't know how long he would want to crossdress but for now it felt good. He suspected that Stan or Gabe would accept seeing him in women's clothes, but he didn't expect other people that he had meetings at the house with to be as understanding. Lex moved his hands over Clark's nearly steel body. His hard muscles excited him to no end. Lex didn't want to hurry, but enjoy the contours of Clark's hard body.

"Fuck me. I need to feel you inside me," Clark said.

"Clark, we need to talk about what my father did to you. His semen was found on our carpet," Lex said.

"He needed sperm. It would have been easier to use ice or heat to get a physical response from me. He wouldn't need to use his own penis for that," Clark explained.

"Unless he enjoyed it," Lex said.

"I want you to fuck me. I don't want to think about your father touching me. I was unconscious when it happened so I don't know if he raped me with more than a finger," Clark said. "It just proves what a sick man he is if he got off on raping someone unconscious. Lex, I want you inside me. I want to feel you all the way to my tonsils."

"My pleasure." Lex kissed Clark's back as his fingers prepared Clark's hole. Lex's finger moved toward Clark's balls and caressed them a moment. Lex kissed the small of Clark's back. "I love you."

"Alex, I love you so much," Clark whispered. "I want to feel you inside me, now."

"You have it." Lex kissed Clark's butt cheek. He then worked his tongue on Clark's ass. The lubricant was tasteless so it didn't matter that he applied some first.

Clark moaned from being rimmed. "I need more than your tongue. Hurry."

"It's too nice a job to rush." Lex opened Clark open with his fingers. Lex pushed a finger in deep. He felt the ridge of Clark's prostate.

Lex finally pushed in after lubricating himelf enough. Clark was tight and warm around him like a human male. "You feel so good."

"You feel great. Move."

Lex thrusted hard into Clark enjoying the hard body beneath him. "Oh, my god," Lex screamed before ejaculating.

"That was incredible," Clark turned over and kissed Lex.

"I'm glad you enjoyed it," Lex said.

Clark put on his jeans and tee shirt.

"Go study. I'll make dinner," Lex said.

---

Lex looked at himself in the mirror as he put on his wig and did his makeup. It felt good to dress as a young woman. He didn't see himself stopping this behavior. He felt more comfortable with himself than he had in a long time. He doubted that he couldn't keep this behavior secret for long. Gabe called as Lex started to make dinner. He said there was an incident at the factory and he wanted Lex to go over some paperwork before he made a decision. "Gabe, I'm sure it's nothing you can't handle," Lex said.

"I rather if you looked it over. Lex, I hate disturbing you on a weekend. I can't bring myself to approving such large expenditures without your consent."

"I trust your judgment."

"I'll be over in fifteen," Gabe said before hanging up.

Lex looked for Clark. There was no sign of him. He probably went to the library to study; he liked solitude when he was upset about something and confronting the pod couldn't have been easy for him. Lex changed into his usual attire and washed his face. Gabe said fifteen but he'd probably be there sooner. The plant was only five minutes away and even Gabe stopped for gas on the way it wouldn't take him much longer. After checking his face for any traces of makeup, he went downstairs. If Gabe came to house unannounced, he probably wouldn't have bothered changing.

Gabe arrived in about seven minutes after the call. "This is a bad time," Gabe said.

"Join me for dinner. Clark is spending the evening at the library," Lex said. Gabe must have been lonely; his only child just went off to Connecticut.

"You don't mind," Gabe said.

"I always cook enough for an army." Lex put the fish in a serving tray and brought it to the dining room table. "I'll put up another place setting." Lex noticed that Mr. Sullivan wasn't carrying any paperwork. Lex poured the soup into a tureen and put a ladle in it. "Mr. Sullivan, what brought you here? You have no paperwork for me to look over." Lex put the tureen on the dining room table.

"Chloe said you weren't yourself, last Saturday," Gabe said.

"I'm sure you heard that my father is being charged with sexual assault. I made the call to the police after I came home from the park," Lex said.

"I was wondering why they didn't run a story."

"The paper didn't want my father to run. I suspect they'll run a story in tomorrow's paper." Lex finished setting the table.

"It's not often I'm offered a homecooked meal," he said.

"Serve yourself," Lex said. "Don't be shy. Mr. Sullivan, would you like some wine with dinner?"

"Lex, it's Gabe. Water is fine," Gabe said.

Lex got a chilled bottle of wine and poured himself a glass. Gabe looked at the bottle. "Cheap California wine. I don't have my father's expense account," Lex said. "As you see, I do my own cooking."

Gabe poured himself a glass of inexpensive wine. "According to Chloe, Mr. Luthor went into a lady's house, drugged her, dragged her across the floor and raped her. I'm sorry, but that doesn't sound like your father."

"He did exactly that." It wasn't a lady, but the rest of it was accurate. Lex served himself some soup.

"What was he brainwashed by some mutant?" Gabe asked.

"According to the victim, he was quite aware of what he was doing," Lex said before eating more soup.

"You spoke to the victim," Gabe said.

"I hate asking you to keep this from your daughter, but I can't have a leak to the press," Lex teased. Chloe was now in Connecticut, but she was in town when the rape took place.

"You have my word," Gabe said.

"He came into my house while I was at work. Clark had returned to his paper without escorting my father to the door. He says that he felt a prick in his arm and then he woke to my father standing over him. He had cleaned him and zipped up his pants already."

"What was he thinking Clark wasn't going to tell anyone?"

"We weren't planning to tell anyone. I just wanted a police escort so my father wouldn't hurt anyone else," Lex said. "Clark isn't small even someone as strong as my dad would cause a lot of damage trying to drag him."

"He should see a rape counselor."

Lex ate his soup; it was still lukewarm.

"Lex, can I be frank?" Gabe asked.

"I always want you to speak honestly." Lex didn't like to talk and eat at the same time.

"I know you're aware of it or you wouldn't wear the purple shirts. That being said your manner is more effeminate than usual."

"I'll try to be more careful about it."

"Our distributors might look down on you for it."

"I feel like saying fuck it and letting them think I'm flaming." Lex was tired of being someone he wasn't most of his waking hours. Lex returned to eat his food. The vegetables and fish were in covered dishes so they still were warm. It was Saturday evening. It was a slap in the face to have Clark leave less than a half an hour after they made love, but Clark needed time alone and Lex understood that.

Gabe had finished eating. Lex didn't have much of an appetite, put the food in storage containers and did the dishes. "I know how hard you work to present the right image at the plant."

"I have called my dad Satan, but I didn't think he was capable of rape." Lex continued to do his dishes. "I had this under control for years. I thought I could be a perfect copy of my father."

"Lex, no one wants you to be someone that you aren't."

"I'll be my terrifying self in a week or two." Lex put the leftovers in the refrigerator.

"People respect you; you don't have to put on an act." Gabe poured himself more wine.

"They respect me more when I threaten to hobble them at the knees."

"I can handle the plant the next few days."

"Mr. Sullivan." Lex used the last name deliberately. "You shouldn't be in my house eating food that I cooked, listening to me talking my emotional problems." Lex put the last dish in the dishwasher.

"I hoped you considered me a friend," Gabe said.

"I usually keep my private affairs private."

"I enjoyed having dinner with you and seeing a side of you that I don't normally see. Thanks for having me."

Lex took out the vacuum cleaner and cleaned up the last of the mess. Lex walked upstairs. Lex felt like all the walls that he built around himself had crumbled. He felt naked and exposed. However, he would be the same arrogant businessman at his next meeting; his father had taught him well.

Chapter 6

Early Sunday morning, Clark hadn't returned. Lex checked the smaller bedroom closet. It was empty and two large suitcases were gone. The Ferrari was at the side of the house under a tarp. Clark obviously supersped to the school carrying the two suitcases.

Lex ate the leftover soup for breakfast. He was still in a woman's bathrobe. He put on a wig and makeup without thinking about it. Then, again if he was going to dress this way full time, he needed more than one miniskirt, two pairs of jeans, and a handful of blouses and sweaters. A knock on door broke the silence. Lex hugged Martha upon seeing her.

"Where is Clark?"

"He left soon after we got home from the fair. His clothes are gone; he must be at the university," Lex said.

Martha sat at the table. "I was hoping to talk to Clark. Hearing his father's voice and negotiating with that program had to be emotional exhausting."

Lex joined her at the table. "He likes time to himself to sort things out."

"He spent a lot of time in that barn growing up. He's still my little boy."

"Gabe visited last night. He heard about the warrant for my father's arrest."

"He wanted make sure that you were alright."

"I didn't break any dishes, trash the furniture, and most importantly, all books are still on the bookshelves."

"Break something if it'll make you feel better." Martha smiled.

"The only thing that would make me feel better is killing my father and I don't know where he is. I haven't called Lucas to ask him if our father talked to him since Sunday, but he'd lie to me anyway."

"I'm surprised Lucas hasn't come over."

"Lucas has won. He has control of our father's business in his absence. What would Lucas want with my coffee shop and two factories?"

"I know it's hard to forgive your father and go on, but you have to do it for your own sanity."

"How?"

"Ask God for help," said Martha. "I know you don't believe, but putting faith in a Higher Power helps."

Lex put a hand on his waist. "I don't need a twelve-step program."

"That's a nice wig." Martha must have wanted to lighten the conversation.

"Real human hair. It's long enough that I can style it," Lex said.

"How do you keep it on?"

"Adhesive."

"Sounds painful."

"It hurts when I pull it off, but the red marks heal rather fast. With the adhesive, I could wear it in the rain and it won't slip."

"Do you like having hair?" Martha leaned toward Lex, making good eye contact.

"I like putting my fingers thought it. I could shampoo it on my head if I so desired. Martha, you aren't that interested in my hair."

Martha put a teakettle on the range. "Want some tea?"

"I should be offering you."

Martha smiled. "It's your tea bags."

"I must be hard for you and Jonathan not to have Clark helping out on the farm."

"We're managing. I'm working part-time at Fordman's. Now, that you're not speaking, he'll probably be home at night and on weekends."

"Backbreaking chores seem to cheer him up." Lex gave Martha two mugs and teabags.

"They say a watch pot never boils," Martha said.

The bell rang. Lex felt lonely that morning, but now he had more company than he knew what to do with. "Gabe, we talked last night."

"Did you get your clothes from my daughter's closet?" Gabe asked.

"I think Lana's closet is more my style. I'm a pink and lavender type girl," Lex said.

"Join us for a cup of tea," Martha suggested.

"I can't stay long." Gabe took a walk around the downstairs.

"Looking for thrown books or broken furniture?" Martha asked.

Gabe stopped looking around. Lex had carpet repaired and the chair replaced. "I didn't expect to find any."

"What would throwing a tantrum prove?" Lex asked.

"He rather sulk then throw a tantrum," Martha said. "I should drag you to Metropolis and force you and Clark to sit down for marriage counseling."

"I'll go. This is not my business," Gabe said.

"Thanks for coming by," Lex said.

Gabe left the house.

"If I'm going to see Clark, I need to change. He hates seeing me dressed like this," Lex said. "Why should I entice him?"

Martha said, following Lex up the stairs. "You don't divorce after your first fight."

"We didn't have a fight. I suggested that he should study. I thought he was reading in my office and while I was making dinner, I noticed that he left. I checked the bedroom in the morning and he took his clothes." Lex knew Clark was planning to stay on campus for a while.

"The pod wants him to conquer the world. He probably doesn't feel he has time for a relationship," Martha said.

"Martha, I have to change."

"If it's glue on, I rather not see you pull it off. The very idea makes me wince." Martha left the bedroom.

Lex did wince when pulled it off. He felt a little blood on his head as he cleaning the glue off his head. There was a little cut; he put a Band-Aid on it, let people think he shaves. He took the falsies and bra off and put on thermal tee shirt. He decided not to change his pants or underwear. Clark would notice, but no one else would and that was the point.

Martha took the little Band-Aid off his head. "You'll heal before we get there. I don't drive as fast as you do." Martha looked him over. "Ladies' jeans."

"If anyone notices, she'll think I got lucky last night and put on my girlfriend's jeans by accident," Lex said.

"Have you done that?" Martha grabbed her bag.

"I thought the Band-Aid was a nice touch. It makes me look a college kid that nicked himself."

After they got on the road, she asked, "So did you ever accidentally wear your girlfriend's jeans?"

"Victoria didn't wear jeans," Lex said.

"I've heard the skinny dipping story. Apparently, she wasn't into clothes."

"She was into getting them off as fast as possible."

"I don't believe she was the only girl that you dated in college."

"She was." Lex dated boys in college, but he wasn't going to tell Martha that. Martha knew that he considered a safe date because Jude trusted him with Amanda. Considering Lex's reputation to party, it could only mean one thing.

"Oh," Martha said.

"Gabe said if I went to the office acting way I have the last few days, I'd lose the respect of my employees."

"There are many very successful gay businessmen," Martha said.

"I agree, but I've been stoic all these years and suddenly my defenses are gone," Lex said. "If I don't continue to act like an arrogant prick, no one is going to respect me."

Martha chuckled. "You can act like an arrogant prick in the office, but you don't have to bring it home."

"I don't have a meeting until Tuesday. Perhaps, by then, I'll have my act together."

"I'm sure you will. So what are you doing Tuesday?"

"Racking a new hire over the coals. I'm the CEO if he passes my interview he's hired."

"Obviously it's not for a low level position."

"A software engineer. He is asking for a one hundred twenty k. If he knows his stuff, maybe I can talk him down. It's an employer's market; he may take considerably less than his asking price."

"So you're serious about the arrogant prick remark."

"I only get involved with hiring when my managers need me to be an ass." It was side benefit of being CEO. "With two plants, I can't be on the spot all the time." It would either be a quick fifteen minutes or a leisurely afternoon. "I'd hate to have you drive back alone, but I need to get my car."

"I understand. I'll play loud music on the way home," Martha said.

"I'd like you to call me when you get home."

"You're the one that drives 90 miles an hour."

---

Clark looked over Lex at the MU library. "I don't want to speak to you."

"You don't walk out on someone like that." Lex sat down by Clark

"I don't know what you want."

"I love you. I want your happiness. Your walking off is only making us both miserable."

"You'll just pick up a human boy." Clark sighed.

"Clark, I want you. When I said that our friendship would be stuff of legend, I meant it."

"You shot me just before you said that."

"I'm sorry. Clark, please, come home. Can you at least agree to have some counseling? I'm not giving you up without a fight."

"Nice pants," Clark teased.

"Why don't you join your mother and I for dinner?" Lex asked. "It would be better than eating cafeteria food."

"I like junk food. I'm designed to prefer foods high in sugar and fat," Clark said.

"You aren't a computer," Lex said.

"I was designed to look like people on this world. I'm not stupid; I know I was designed to pass for someone from earth."

"I feel like a freak right now."

"Someone will think you put on your girlfriend's pants this morning."

"I like how it feels. I feel good about myself when I dress up." Lex had to tell Clark that he wasn't going to give up the crossdressing for him. If Clark would agree to marriage counseling, it wouldn't be an issue they could compromise on. "We need to talk somewhere more private than a school library."

"We have nothing to talk about."

"Are you an automaton like my father said? Is there no Clark to Clark?" Lex put a hand on Clark's face.

Clark took the hand off his face. "I'm just programmable construction. Find yourself a human being."

"You're more than that."

"Martha drove me up here. If it quacks like a duck, it's a duck," Lex said.

"Or a good facsimile. Lex, you deserve someone that can love you in return." Clark picked up his book bag.

"Is this it?" Lex asked.

Clark was gone.

Lex walked over to Martha. "He's not making any sense."

"What did he say?"

"That he was an android sent here to conquer the Earth."

"Doctor Swann said he was the last of his kind," Martha said.

"He could still be a construct. He's probably right about being a synthetic person, but that doesn't make what he is feeling less real. Clark just told me that I had been programmed by Rickman. Does that make me an artificial construct?"

"Clark may be an artificial construct. That doesn't make him not my son or make me not love him," Martha said.

"If two of us wait at his dorm room, he'll feel he's under assault."

---

Martha sat on the bed in the dorm room. When Richard arrived around ten o'clock, Martha straightened her back and tried to act like she wasn't falling asleep. "Hello, I'm Martha Kent, Clark's mother. Clark had a fight with his best friend. I figured he needed to talk to someone."

"They were having some problems last week," said Richard. "Apparently, Alexander started crossdressing and Clark hates it. He mumbled something about loving a cold, calculating businessman and now he was living with a silly coed and if he wanted one of those, there were hundred on campus to choose from."

"I see," said Martha. Lex made it very clear that he enjoyed crossdressing and he wasn't going to give it up. "You don't mind if I wait for Clark."

"Go ahead." Richard yawned. "I might not follow the news, but Mr. Luthor owns the sharks so anything he does is big news around Metropolis."

"Lex isn't handling it well," Martha agreed. Lex normally broke things and thrashed his house when he was angry, but Richard had no way of knowing that.

"If my father was accused of something that hideous, I would be drinking too much and talking to myself," Richard said. "Can you do it with the light off? I'm tired."

"I'm not here because Clark had a spat with his boyfriend. Clark said some things that have his father and I worried."

"It's really none of my business," Richard said.

"I didn't want you thinking that I was an overprotective parent." Clark couldn't go around thinking that he was some kind of robot and his feelings weren't real; this had to be addressed immediately. Martha fell asleep in Clark's bed. She woke when Clark almost sat on her. "What are you doing here?" whispered Clark.

"Why did you leave your husband?" Martha whispered back. "Don't you love him anymore?"

"I can't love him. I'm a machine."

"Then you don't love your dad and me. The last sixteen years are a lie. I refuse to believe that."

"The globe reprogrammed me. Lex isn't part of the program."

"Rickman programmed your father and Lex. Are they artificial constructs, too?"

"No, they're human beings. I'm not."

"That's given. Clark, I don't care where you come from. I still love you. Lex loves you, too."

"Mom, you don't understand."

"Don't understand what? Why you ran out on your best friend?"

"I'm a disappointment."

Martha put her arms around her son. "You aren't a disappointment. Don't you ever think that. Lex didn't have me drive him up here because you're a disappointment. He loves you. He couldn't love a construct. Your emotions are the same as mine."

Clark smiled in the dim light.

"That's a real smile, not a facsimile. Get some sleep. You must be tired."

"Mom, where are you going to sleep?"

"I can sleep in Lex's office. Remember 'A Measure of a Man' when Picard argued that Data had self-determination. It doesn't matter if you're an artificial construct or not. 'I think, therefore, I am.' Descartes." Martha messed up her child's hair. "See your mother isn't so dumb. You and Lex aren't the only ones that can quote philosophers."

"Mom, you're the only one who can mix Descartes and Star Trek."

"Well, it's late. Could you drive me or walk me to Lex's office?"

"I can do one better. How would you like to fly home? I'll drive your car home tomorrow evening."

---

Since he was in Metropolis for a meeting, Lex dialed Clark dorm. "I'd like to speak to Clark Kent," Lex told the girl on the phone.

"I'll get him," the girl said.

"Hello," Clark said.

"Honey, I'm in town. Would you like to meet somewhere? We can talk," Lex said.

"I have nothing left to say to you. Lex, it is over." Clark hung up the phone.

Lex started to cry. He walked back to his car and drove to the mall. He needed clothes and shopping might cheer him up. Besides, it was better than throwing things. As he tried on clothes in the junior section, he thought about his temper. He needed to learn a less destructive way to vent anger. He asked the saleslady if she had the lavender sweater in a size 8.

"Not on the clearance rack," the woman teased.

"Thanks." Lex managed to pick out a few more sweaters and blouses. He grabbed a few pairs of designer jeans. He remembered to try the jeans on, not all designer cut sizes the same. Men's clothes were more reliable. In women's clothes, one 4 could be the same size as another manufacturer's 12. Lex looked at a few dresses on the rack, but nothing struck his fancy; he was a jeans and sweater type girl.

Chapter 7

Several weeks went by. Clark claimed not to have any feelings for Lex saying only a few words each time that Lex called. Martha and Jonathan arrived Christmas morning with presents. "Where is Clark?" Lex asked.

"He still doesn't want to see you," Martha said. "I made you a sweater."

"I brought you both gifts. No, it isn't a gift certificate for a John Deere. I'm saving up for your wedding anniversary," Lex teased.

"You didn't have to get us anything," Martha said.

"Here." Lex handed her a fairly large box.

Martha opened the book carefully. "Crystal." She put it down and hugged Lex.

Lex handed Jonathan a smaller box.

"Open it."

It was leather work boots. "How did you know my size?" Jonathan asked.

"I asked your wife." Lex knew Jonathan knew the answer, but Christmas was a time for small talk.

"Try on your sweater," Martha said.

Lex pulled the red sweater over his head. "How do I look?"

"Very pretty," Martha said.

Lex said. "Did Clark tell you why he wouldn't see me?"

"He doesn't say much about it. He's dating a girl on campus," Martha said. "I'm sorry. Did Clark take the globe to the school with him?"

"I believe he left it here. He could have carried two large suitcases, but walking into campus with a large globe would have look rather odd," Lex said.

"Have you looked for it?" Martha asked.

"I've been busy," Lex said. That was true for the most part. His new chemical plant required a good portion of his time. When he was in Metropolis for any reason, he took his new software engineer out for lunch. There was no point in being lonely because Clark left him. The software engineer was probably straight, but he never turned down the opportunity to have a long lunch with the CEO. Lex wondered if he bored the man to tears and he only accompanied him out of respect or did he look forward to the lunches as much as Lex did. Looking for the globe would remind him of Clark and he would get upset, again.

Jonathan said, "He probably wanted put it behind him like a bad dream."

"I don't blame Clark. I just hoped that he would visited and we could stay friends."

"Are you dating again?" Jonathan asked.

"No. After two marriages, I think I need a break," Lex said. "Do you think I should look for the globe?"

"I'd like to know where it is. It could be dangerous in the wrong hands," Martha said.

"Like the cave wall." Lex wondered if the cave wall damaged his father's sanity. The rape never made any sense. Now, he has to live in hiding. He knew his father was living in a palace somewhere so he didn't feel sorry for him. Hopefully, all he was doing for the clones was educating and caring for the ones that he had. He hoped that they all were very happy together.

"Did your father use the key in the cave wall?" Jonathan asked.

"Yes. If he had his wits about him, he would have never said those things. My maid swore to the police that he was nuts," Lex said. "Clark taught me the language."

"Why haven't you looked for it before?" Martha asked.

"What if it fries my brain? I don't need this shit," Lex said. After what happened to Walden and his father, he was going to stay far away from anything to do with Krypton.

"It has protected me for years. I'll help you locate it. Where could Clark hide it in your house?"

"I have a storage room in the basement and the attic." Lex thought about the basement storage. He kept it locked but that wouldn't keep an extraterrestrial globe from acting on a curious plant manager. "The attic." Lex stated.

Martha followed Lex up the stairs. Lex pulled the rope to take the stairs down for the attic. Lex listened for humming as he looking under blankets and inside boxes for the globe.

Martha found it. "I'll return the quilt."

"I understand your hesitation to touch it. " Lex didn't want to touch it; he has no intention of his brains turning into applesauce. Lex had a high level of curiosity, but he wasn't that stupid. His father believed in his mental facilities were so much greater than Walden's that he could handle it. Lex's ego wasn't that big.

Martha brought the covered globe to her truck. Lex didn't want to take his eye off it until it was off his property. "Jonathan, Lex and I are going out for a walk. Take the globe back to the farm."

"I'll visit the loft later to give Clark his presents," Lex said.

Martha put on her coat while Lex put on his long coat and a hat. "I've stayed away from the cave for so long," Lex said.

"The conservatorship is yours again."

"I've handed the documents into the local government expressing that I felt it was beyond my abilities to make it safe for public viewing," Lex said. "Someway, when you write this stuff for the government, you manage to fill twenty pages. I was glad to get rid of the headache."

"When he give it back to you?"

"Over a year ago. I haven't been there since Walden was hospitalized."

"It would be good therapy to go," Martha said.

"I'm not touching any panels." They walked to the Porsche.

---

Lex put on his best dress and a good wig, not the one he wore on the regular basis. However, the one he wore everyday looked too much like real hair down to split ends. He could trim several more times before he has to throw it out. The new wig was strawberry blonde while the other one was a sandy blonde. His brother was going to laugh hard at him. He was living in a small single family home, ran two plants and a coffee shop and worse of all, he dressed like a woman. He wondered Lucas would appreciate the color since he used to be a redhead.

Lex put on his pantyhose and patent-leather shoes. He glanced in the mirror. Perhaps, the dress was a little too proper with the high collar and the lace did get it a schoolteacher look.

The butler asked him at the door, "Who's calling?"

"Tell Lucas that his sister is here." Lex kept his head up high. He wasn't going to be ashamed of who he was.

Lucas yelled at the butler loud enough for Lex for overhear. "Tell her to get lost and I don't care what her claim is. She isn't getting 10% of the Luthor estate."

Lex walked over to Lucas.

"I'll take your coat, ma'am," butler said.

Lex unbuttoned his coat and handed the butler the coat. "Thank you."

"No problem, ma'am," the butler said.

"Who the Hell are you?" Lucas said. If he saw a family resembles, he would deny it.

"Alex," Lex said.

"What are you doing here?" Lucas asked.

"I wanted us to make peace; we're family," Lex said.

"Amber and I have some good news. We'll talk in the library," Lucas said. "What's up with Clark?"

"He won't speak me," Lex said.

Lucas had a look on his face like Lex was an easy mark. "What is with the dress?" Lucas asked. "Not that you look bad in it."

"Thanks," Lex said, knowing that was the closest he was going to get to a compliment. "Do you like the wig?"

"It's nice. You look like you just came out of the beauty shop," Lucas said. "Lex, why are you here?"

"Just to visit. I don't want anything to do with dad's money."

"Wait here. I'll get Amber."

Lex sat on the sofa.

Amber hugged Lex upon seeing him. "How have you been? Maybe us ladies could go clothes shopping together."

"I'd like that," Lex said.

"We have some good news." Amber sat beside Lex on the sofa. "I'm expecting a baby."

"That's great," Lex said.

"Lex, what's with the dress?" Lucas asked.

"It's Alex. Lex was my father's name for me." Lex crossed his legs and put his hands on his lap.

"Answer the fucking question," Lucas stated.

"What answer do you want?" Lex said. "I'm not going to let you belittle me."

"Did you dress for our behalf or do you normally dress this way?" Lucas asked.

"I dressed up for your behalf. The wig is new, but I thought it would look nice if you wanted to take pictures"

"It would crush our father to see you dressed like this."

"He's seen me in a dress and red wig before. Why don't you ask our father about it sometime? You don't know how lucky you are being the one sent away."

"Stop badgering your sister." Amber put her hand on Lex's shoulder. "Tomorrow, we'll hit the after Christmas sales. I saw a green dress that would great with that wig."

"I just brought out Marshall Fields." Lex brought more designer jeans and sweaters. He didn't see much point in buying business clothes; he couldn't see himself going to the office in women's clothes although it was getting harder and harder to maintain the façade of the cold calculating businessman. He did his business in the house dressed in women's attire and the guys from the plant pretended not to notice. He suspected that he could go to LexCorp Plant One in casual women's attire and no one would bat an eyelash. Lana teased him about his fetish for pink sweaters when he came to the Talon, but she seemed to be handling it adequately. Smallville seemed quite capable of handling that Lex Luthor, prince of the city, was now a princess.

"I hate to tell you this, but that dress needs help."

Lex's hands were moving. "I admit that it's a bit schoolmarm but I didn't want to look like a slut in front of my brother. It was either this or a red sweater with a green skirt."

"You need to buy clothes."

"I don't have any occasion to dress up. I wear jeans and a sweater most of the time."

"You aren't dating."

"I have no time."

"There's a world full of men," Amber said.

"I have my businesses," Lex said. He didn't want to think about dating yet. The new software engineer was cute and they did have lunch together a few times, but he knew better than dating his employees. Yet, he wanted to share more than an occasion lunch with the dark haired, brown skinned man.

"Your corporation won't keep you warm at night."

"It doesn't try to kill you or leave without a word. Clark and I were having this mind-blowing sex. I went to make dinner and I told him to study. Hours later, I realized his bags were packed and he was long gone. Every time that I call him at the college, he says he has nothing to say to me."

"I know it hurts." Amber put a hand on Lex's arm. "I'll tell the butler to grab our coats. We'll go shopping. It always makes me feel better."

Amber gave Lucas a quick peck; she was taller than Lucas in her heels. "I'm taking Alex out. Don't expect me home for dinner."

"He's not a woman," Lucas said.

"For such a smart man, sometimes you're really stupid." Amber muffed his hair.

---

Lex laughed as Amber pulled out the credit card at Lord and Taylor's insisting that she pay for everything. "I'm not broke."

"It's my Christmas present to you and you'll accept it graciously," said Amber.

"Go right ahead. I enjoy seeing you spend Lucas's money," Lex said.

"Why have a rich husband if you can't spend his money?" Amber asked.

"I'm sorry that we got off on the wrong foot," Lex said.

"And they say women hold grudges," Amber said. "I know it was hard for you to walk into the castle today."

"It's a bit daunting."

"You don't have to live there."

"I did. You have my sympathies. You do realize Lionel has the place bugged." Lex disowned the man. He wasn't going to call him dad away from Lucas.

"I found a few, but I didn't want to upset Lucas by mentioning it. If your father wants to be bored silly listen to our inane conversation that is his problem."

"I love your attitude." Lex said. "Let put this stuff in the car and go to Saks Fifth Avenue."

"I’m with you, sister," said Amber.

Chapter 8

Lex drove over the barn the next week. He had put the packages in the car Christmas night. He just didn’t have the courage to see Clark. He wondered if Clark would appreciate the new wig and decided against it. For once, he decided to wear men’s clothes outside of the office. Okay, the only he wore men's clothes was in the Metropolis’ office. He went to the shit factory in his causal clothes and as he suspected, no one in the plant said a word about it. He was their boss after all and if he had a thing for cashmere sweaters, it wasn't their concern. "Clark, we need to talk."

"Alex, I have nothing to say to you."

"I don’t expect us to get back together, but I miss our friendship."

"Sure. We’ll go to the Talon sometime and have a cup of coffee. I don’t need the presents."

Lex walked up to the loft with two bags of presents. "I was expecting to be opening them with you in front of the tree."

Clark kissed Lex’s bald head. "You’re so beautiful. I love the sound of your voice."

"Come home."

"I can’t. The feelings are gone. You aren't the man that I fell in love with. I'm drugged by your father and you turn into this total stranger."

"This is the who I am. The cold, arrogant son of bitch was a façade. This is the boy that nearly got kicked out of school at fourteen and drank his way through college." Lex opened the next box. Lex was angry; if Clark couldn't love the real Lex Luthor, what was the point.

Clark looked at Lex and touched his hand.

Lex asked. "So Clark, what is real? I spend so many years loving you. I create illusions all the time; both at business and at home."

"Why do you bother?"

"Maybe I have too much of my father in me and I enjoy the game." Lex and Clark opened the rest of the boxes. "Visit me." Lex kissed Clark briefly before leaving.

---

Two weeks later, Lex drove to the Kent farm and walking into the Clark's loft, not feeling the need to knock on a barn.. Lex, wearing his new wig and a pink dress thigh length dress with a matching sweater, was glad that he didn't wear heels when he walked up the stairs to Clark's loft. "Clark, we need to talk."

"The pod is influencing you. Don't you understand?" Clark said. "You're dressing like Lana. Lex, I thought you had better taste than that."

Lex pulled off the clip-on earrings. "Her ears are actually pierced. Do you like the dress? Amber helped me pick it out."

"It's a little pink," Clark said.

"Why is it so hard for you to believe that a change in my behavior has nothing to do with you or the pod?" Lex asked. "I like the way I look in women's clothes; I always have. It is that simple."

"When was the last time that you dressed like a man?"

"I dress as I always have when I go to Metropolis." Lex felt good about himself. Why did Clark want to take that away from him? "I just came over to say hello and ask you to give our relationship another chance."

"I can't."

Lex batted his eyes at Clark.

Clark looked at Lex but didn't say anything.

"I love you, but I'm tired of begging. I've been having lunch with this man and he's interested in sharing more than lunch." Lex hoped that Clark would act jealous. He wanted to do more than lunch with his new employee, but he was terrified to cross that line. If the man quit or he had to fire him, his whole corporation could be in jeopardy. He rather at the moment just lie in bed and think about those dark brown eyes and thick, almost black hair and imagine those strong hands knowing just how to touch him.

"Why are you telling me this?" Clark finally joined Lex on the sofa.

"I won't wait for you forever," Lex said. Jealousy wasn't going to work. He knew it was wrong to make a move his employee; there was too much to risk, but Lex did fantasize about the man.

"I'm dating Adele," Clark said. "Richard moved out. I was placed in a room with two other freshman boys. They see me as just another geeky freshman. They have no idea that I run over a hundred miles home every night. I tell them that I spend the night in my girl friend's room and they believe me."

"And you have nothing to talk to them about," Lex said.

"Nothing. One is a jock and the other thinks being on the cheerleader squad is a good way to pick up girls," Clark said.

"Average college boys," Lex said. "The pod didn't tamper with me."

"The globe was in your house for many weeks. It's possible that it has mess with your mind."

"It hasn't. I've always been a transvestite. I would like us to be friends. That is all I ask." Lex wanted to cry. He made himself pretty for Clark and Clark insulted him for it. Lex knew he crossdressed to please himself, but it would have been nice if Clark had noticed the effort that he took to try to look nice. As Lex walked back to the Porsche, he could feel a strange sensation and heard a weird humming. Perhaps, the pod was affecting him, but he was never going tell Clark that; Lex still had his pride.

As Lex drove home, he wondered was the pod tampering his mind. He seemed to have fewer neuroses. He couldn't recall his last tantrum and his temperament was more even. He felt truly happy for the first time since his mother died -- excluding the part when Desiree had him under control by her pheromones. His behavior wasn't artificial and he didn't care as much about what other people thought about him. He could act in a spontaneous fashion and not feel guilty about it. He was really enjoying the little things in life like good food, walks in the park and chatting with friends over coffee. If the pod did tamper with his mind, it was to cure him of his mental illness, not to cause him to behave as a woman. He behaved as a woman because the other neuroses weren't there to stop him. He felt sane for the first time in his life.

---

Lex called Amber after his Friday afternoon meeting. "I'm still in Metropolis. We could meet at indoor mall downtown," Lex said.

"How about the Chinese restaurant on Third and Chestnut?" Amber asked. "I've been in the city all day and I'm starving."

"I'm at sixth. I'll be there fifteen minutes. Caio," Lex said.

"Your plant is at seventy-two," Amber said.

"I've had my hair done."

"You wear a wig."

"It's my hair. I brought it. I'm learning that I need to pamper myself. No one is going to do it for me. Why have all this money if I can't use it to feel good about myself?"

"So are you a blonde or a redhead today?"

"I'll surprise you."

Lex hugged Amber upon seeing her. Even three months pregnant, she was a skinny girl. Her large breasts felt strange pressing against his silicon ones. The hug seemed nearly sensual and he needed to break away. "What do you think?"

"You don't conduct business this way," Amber said.

"I should go to the office in my cashmere sweater and ankle length jeans and show them that the great Lionel Luthor's son is a drag queen," said Lex. "Let's get a table."

Amber looked at Lex's hand on his menu. "They say the hands and feet give a female impersonator away. You have beautiful hands."

"The nails are also synthetic," Lex said. "This is all a wonderful illusion. I had them done while they were washing my wig."

"It must be strange sitting in a beauty shop without your wig."

"I'm usually the youngest woman there. Sometimes, I'm asked how I lost my hair. Most women with alopecia have thin hair. I didn't want to talk to some old lady about being exposed to radiation as a child so I had my nails done instead."

"It sounds like a lot more fun."

"I feel shallow talking to you about this stuff," Lex admitted.

"I never had a sister before. It's kind of nice." Amber smiled at Lex. "Why do you dress up?"

"Don't you think I'm pretty this way?" Lex asked.

"That is shallow."

"I agree, but I have the right to feel good about myself. I had to grow up and get past the pity and pain. I needed to take control of my life and not feel sorry for myself."

"Why spend forty dollars on your nails when you have to remove them before your next meeting?"

"Why eat a hundred dollar a plate meal?"

"Because the pleasure of eating it."

"I need to spoil myself some times. I deserve to be self-indulgent occasionally. I hated myself for too long. I'm tired feeling fucking sorry for myself."

"You have some reasons."

"So I haven't had much success with women," Lex said. Two wives trying to kill him was a bit more than being unsuccessful with women.

"You crossdressed before."

"As teenager, to piss off my dad."

"But you're good at it. I've come across a number of transsexuals that don't look as good as you."

"If I looked like Bozo the Clown, I wouldn't have pissed off my dad."

Amber laughed.

"The reason you know that they are transsexual is because they don't pass. I have very little body hair and narrow hands and feet. As for features, a little makeup and I look very feminine. If my manner weren't feminine, I wouldn't have the urge to do this. This is the real me; the person that goes to board meetings is the act," Lex explained. Very little body hair, the eyebrows and eyelashes were implanted to protect his eyes from dust.

The waitress came to the table and took their order. The waitress didn't seem to understand much English. Lex pointed at the appetizers that he wanted and ordered a vegetarian entrée. Amber got orange chicken.

"An awful lot of work to piss off your father."

"It was a kick to see someone else in the mirror; with makeup and wig, I looked like my mother. It was a strange comfort to know that she lived inside me and I wasn't going to let that part of her die."

"This isn't about your dad."

"Fucking no. He's a sick bastard that upset my roommate so much that he moved out and won't speak to me."

"You shouldn't have started crossdressing after he was raped."

"It was defense mechanism. I was reacting to my dad again. I wasn't thinking about how it made Clark feel. I didn't mean to rub it in his face."

"You started doing it on a regular basis; that is rubbing it in his face," Amber said.

"It was better breaking the furniture, throwing books everywhere and punching holes in the paintings."

"But Clark would have expected that."

"True, but this feels so much better than having a temper tantrum. I feel like I can finally be whom I am inside. I hated that I pretended to be this arrogant businessman to please my father when all my father did was destroy everything that I loved. I couldn't pretend anymore." Lex felt strangely comfortable babbling about his emotional secrets to Amber.

"Next time, you feel that way I'll give the damn golf club."

Lex made the headlines for breaking the headlights of the meter maid's car. "I don't feel that way anymore. The anger is gone. I can be spontaneous now: I chew gum. I fidget. I'm no longer trying to be a carbon copy of my dad. I can be me." Lex saw the software engineer, Vijanyendra, enter the restaurant alone. "I have to introduce you to one of my friends."

Lex said the name with a proper accent. "Vijanyendra, we have to talk about the project we're working on. I know this is difficult for you to understand, but I want it now, not perfect." Lex smiled as his hands moved as he talked.

"Alex?" the man said.

"I spent too much time getting the hair done. You have to trust that it's me," Lex said. "This is my sister-in-law, Amber."

The man said, "I haven't ordered yet. Can I join you ladies?"

"Of course. We just put in our order," Amber said.

"Vijay," the man said.

"I'm his brother's wife," Amber said.

"I thought you had a little brother. He's married?"

"He's not that young," said Amber.

Lex said, showing off his nails, "He acquired my father's company and he feels that having a wife and a child on the way makes him appear more mature."

"They outlawed child marriage in India," Vijay said.

"Not so in Kansas," said Lex.

The waitress arrived and took Vijay's order.

"Twelve for girls; fourteen for boys," Amber said.

"You were older than twelve when you got married Alex's brother," Vijay asked.

"Not much," Amber smiled.

"I'm not getting married until I'm thirty-five or forty. Too many women, too little time."

"That why you're eating alone," Lex said.

"You are beautiful," Vijay said. "So much prettier than the woman that jilted me."

"I don't want the guys at work to know how I dress when I'm not in the office," Lex said

"Part of you wants to get caught," Vijay said.

"There wouldn't be any point if there wasn't any element of danger," Lex said.

---

Amber left as soon as she finished eating. She had tried her best not to look bored they were discussing deadlines, guis and rushing genius.

"I have tickets to a show and my date cancelled," Vijay said.

"I'll go to my car and change," Lex said.

"Alex, you're very pretty. Let me enjoy the illusion, too," Vijay said.

"Let me change." Lex stood up. Vijay had always claimed to be straight. "You'll forget this is an illusion."

Vijay took Lex's hand. "Alex, allow me the company of a beautiful woman tonight."

"I'm a man."

"Why are you doing this if you don't want the attention?"

"I like guys looking. You're not supposed to touch." Lex knew he did more than pass. He knew that he was more attractive as a woman than he was a man. He wondered if he asked the average man on the street if he or Amber were the transvestite would they get it right more than fifty percent of the time.

"I promise not to touch. Accompany me. I won't do more than hold your hand."

"I’m afraid that if I go with you that you won't respect me the next time I yell at you about product interface."

"I won't lose my respect for you. It'll be our little secret."

"You just became part of the team. I don't date my employees; it's bad form." If Lex had to let Vijanyendra go, his company could go bankrupt. He had invested time and money into making Vijanyendra part of the team and he couldn't afford to hire another high-level software engineer even in this employers' market. "I’ll put on my work clothes and you won’t forget that I’m your boss."

Lex returned to the restaurant in twenty minutes in his business suit. He didn’t bother removing the fake nails. "We can go now."

Vijay put his hand on Lex’s hand. "Can I hold your hand?"

Lex had the Beatles’s song going through his head. Helen had made holding his hand almost as difficult as getting a kiss. "I’m not gay."

"You just wear women’s clothes."

"Many straight men wear women’s clothes."

Vijay made eye contact with Lex. "I didn’t get where I am by being a stupid man."

Lex returned the eye contact having trouble breathing. He knew he broke the first rule of business; never date an employee. "Let's go." Lex wanted to stand there and look into the man’s eyes longer but he felt like he was going to pass out.

Vijay took Lex’s hand in the auditorium and whispered when they sat down, "You’re beautiful no matter how you dress."

"Vijanyendra, I don't want us to cross that line," Lex whispered.

Vijay put his hand on Lex's face. "I think we crossed that line a long time ago."

"You're putting me in a quandary. I don't date employees and if I let you go, I could go bankrupt. "

"They say rules are meant to be broken." The man's cologne was intoxicating and Lex wanted to stroke that short black hair, but he resisted the temptation. Vijay put his arm over Lex's shoulder.

"You were following me."

"There are two Chinese restaurant in Metropolis serve decent vegetarian food," Vijay said.

"That explains why you were there. I'm paranoid. My father has put bugs in my house and had his spies follow me," Lex said.

"We've been going out to lunch for months."

"I only go to Metropolis once or twice week."

"Just admit you want more than a business relationship."

"I learned at a very early age that what I want and what I can have are two very different things."

After the inane musical, Vijay kissed Lex briefly. "Can we do this again?"

"If we don't see a show that I've seen five times before," Lex teased. He only saw it twice before, but it felt like five times.

"They were very good for an off-Broadway production," Vijay said.

"You've been to Broadway?" Lex asked.

"Once. I'll walk you back to your car. I had a great time."

"We can get together Sunday and talk about freedom of scientific information. I'll email you directions to my house in Smallville. I can cook you a home cooked meal." If Lex didn't date Vijay, he would never be comfortable talking to him again. At least, if he dated him, he would be fucked in a pleasant way.

Chapter 9

Lex noticed that an office building was on sale on the Internet in Metropolis and he wondered if he should purchase it. He learned early that you couldn't make money unless you spend it. If he ran an office complex in Metropolis, he would need to live there. However, most of his work and friends were in Metropolis and the move would be good for him. He put a bid on the office complex and if he got it, he would put the house up for sale.

Lex drove to the Talon. Lana needed to know that he was moving and it wasn't a personal insult. Lana felt like everyone that she cared about left her. Lex checked his makeup and wig before leaving the vehicle.

"Alex, would you like a cappuccino?" Lana asked.

"Sure. We have business to discuss," Lex said.

"I thought you were the silent partner," Lana teased.

"I need to move to Metropolis. It has nothing to do with you. So I'm going to be more silent in the future," Lex said.

Lana returned with his beverage. "How soon?"

"As soon as I can sell my house. I spend twelve or more hours on the road each week," Lex said.

"That sucks," Lana said.

"I wanted to tell you before I put the house on the market. I'll probably be leaving before the house is sold."

"You don't sound happy."

"Smallville is the first place that felt like home to me," Lex said. "It's a shame that we never got to go shopping." Lex smiled slightly. "Considering that we have similar taste in clothes." Lex hoped Lana would find that comment amusing. He had heard about Tina trying to be Lana and this was nothing like that. Clark had teased him about him acting like Chloe and dressing like Lana at one point.

"I buy most of my clothes at Fordmans," Lana said.

"I'll take you to Bloomies."

"Like you need another drive to Metropolis."

"We could meet there when you're visiting your aunt."

"I'm going to see her next weekend."

"It's a date."

---

Lex started cooking from his Indian cookbook Sunday morning singing along with the pop song on the radio. As he finished the potato pockets, the doorbell rang. He put on his wig before answering the door. "Vijay, you made great time."

"You plan to drive both ways three times next week," Vijay said.

"I'm planning to sell the house. Perhaps, I should rent a suite at a business hotel until I can find a house in Metropolis," Lex said.

"You look incredible," Vijay said.

Lex was wearing jeans and a sweater. "I do the best with what God gave me. Have a seat. Would you like some tea?"

"What kind?"

"I have several kinds of black, green tea and a number of boxes of herbal." Lex led Vijay into the kitchen. Lex put the water on the burner. "I made some hors d' oeuvres."

"I hate to cook so I spend all my money on restaurants," Vijay said. He pointed out the tea he preferred.

"I just started cooking when I brought this house. I grew up surrounded by servants. I love cooking. I wish I didn't have to go to Metropolis so often so I could do it more often." Lex brought the plate of finger foods to the living room. "Be careful they're hot."

Vijay bit into the fried pocket. His face showed that it was a little too hot to eat. "There is surgery for people like you," Vijay said, putting his arm around Lex.

"I was circumcised at two days old. That is the first and last time a scalpel is getting near my dick." Surgery wasn't an option since Lex would heal any cut to his body, but Vijay didn't need to know that.

"Those jeans are rather tight."

"A good girdle can hide a multitude of sins." Lex wasn't going to mention that it helped that he wasn't large.

Vijay put his hand on Lex's hand. "You have such soft skin."

"I keep the hand lotion manufacturers in business."

"You have beautiful hands."

"My father would call them pianist hands, but I only took a year of piano lessons. I hated it and never practiced." Lex put his hand against Vijay's face feeling the light stubble on his cheek.

"You were sound like you were a difficult child."

"I was a spoiled rich kid. My father expected me to be a genius so my intelligent was taken for granted."

"I understand." Vijay moved closer to Lex. "This room is so dark."

"My roommate is into rustic colors. If I had the whole house in pastels, he would have probably moved out sooner," Lex said.

"It doesn't sound like you two had much in common," Vijay said.

"We both share a love of history and we could spend days arguing a point in philosophy. We had more in common than I had with my two wives. You know you shouldn't be here."

Vijay moved his hand to Lex's face then kissed him.

Lex felt pinched in his underwear and jeans as he kissed Vijay moving one hand to Vijay's back and the other to his butt. Vijay had one hand in Lex's wig and the other on his back pulling him closer.

"You feel as soft as a woman." Vijay said.

"Thank you." Lex's skin had been damaged when he was nine. It was very sensitive to the sun and he needed to use tons of moisturizer to keep it soft. It had a child-like texture and although Lex loved long baths, his skin wasn't very forgiving unless he used massive quantities of bath oil.

Vijay moved his hand to Lex's sweater. "We're both grown and it comes time when making out on the sofa is bit ridiculous." Lex allowed himself to be groped. The sweater came off realizing a blouse of a similar color. Lex couldn't help it if he got cold easily. Vijay knew he was a man so there wouldn't be any surprises as he open the top two buttons. "You feel so good in my arms."

"I'll make you some dinner before you head back on the road." Lex pulled out of Vijay's arms. He wasn't ready for the falsies to come out on the sofa.

"I hope you move to Metropolis soon."

"I could come over to your place and cook for you." Lex didn't want to date him two days ago and now he was offering to come to his place and cook him dinner.

Vijay kissed Lex again long and hard. "Let's go to your bedroom."

Lex walked up the stairs; Vijay followed. "It might make you uncomfortable to see me undress." Lex opened the bedroom door.

"I know what is under your clothes." Vijay touched Lex's hand.

Lex turned away slightly embarrassed that Vijay wanted to see him undressed. "I don't dress this way as a turn on. I won't deny that I like pastels, lace, and perfume, but it's much deeper than that." Vijay needed to know what he was getting into. Although Vijay was a few years older than him, Lex suspected that he was a little naïve.

"You complain like a woman."

"I hope I don't sound this way at work." Lex hadn't been as careful as he liked about sounding like a prick at work. He didn't always keep as his gestures deliberate and robot-like.

"Not when you're at a meeting, but when we're talking at lunch. I like that you have always let me see your softer side."

"Would you rather have me take off my wig?" Lex wanted to know if Vijay wanted to have sex with Lex wearing the wig or would he prefer him without it.

"It's coming off."

Lex knew that if he didn't want it pulled off, he would need to take it off himself. Lex opened the door to his bedroom. He pulled off the wig and put it neatly on the stand.

Vijay looked around the room; it was painted a light blue and the furniture was off-white. The paintings were of landscapes done by local artists. Lex had his makeup and wig on the vanity counter outside the bathroom. He had perfume, hand lotion and other skin cream in the bathroom. "Nice."

Lex looked at the man and inch or two shorter than him. "Can you handle this?"

"Are you on hormones?" Vijay said with a sober voice.

"No. I'm just as slender, nearly hairless man that likes buying his clothes in the junior's department." Lex didn't want to undress in front of Vijay. He had this urge to lock himself in the bathroom and come out undress so Vijay wouldn't have to see the bald woman before him turn into a man in front of his eyes. "I used to be afraid to take off my wig at the hair salon."

"What happened?"

"The hair dresser had this look of pity on her face when she saw my naked scalp the first time. I started to cry and she said that most kids that got radiation as children their hair grew back and she was sorry that mine didn't. I tried to smile at the bald woman looking back at me. She fitted me for a new wig while someone else trimmed the one that I brought in. If anyone at the beauty salon questioned my sex, I didn't know. I heard the ladies there whisper about other transvestites trying to pass as women." Lex would laugh to himself when he saw ones that couldn't pass. He wanted to tell them what they were doing wrong, but at the same time, he was blessed with narrow bones, no body hair, soft skin and a very pretty face.

Vijay put his hand on Lex's face. "I want to make you feel loved. Why all your marriages failed is because you were looking for a wife when you needed a husband."

"I don't want to ruin the illusion for you." Lex kissed Vijay briefly.

Vijay unbuttoned Lex's blouse. "You are so beautiful."

Lex ran into the bathroom and started to cry. He washed the makeup off his face.

Vijay knocked on the locked door. "Honey, there is no hurry."

"I don't know who I am anymore."

"You don't have to take your clothes off. Alex, come out here."

Lex had on a woman's robe. "I'm a nervous wreck."

"How long have you been crossdressing?"

"Not long. I started about a week before I hired you." Lex sat on the bed. "My father made me so angry. It was a childish joke. I used to dress up as a kid to make him angry. I did it because I needed a way to get back at him."

"Dressing up at twenty-five was a way to get back at your father." Vijay's voice showed his disbelief.

"I knew he had his spies watching me. A few moments of anger and I'm flushing my career down the toilet."

Vijay touched Lex's face. "You're buying an office complex. You have two factories and half a coffee shop. I'd say at twenty-five that is quite an accomplishment."

"When I was first sent to Smallville, my whole life was this act. I keep it all inside. I was a best intimation of my father that I could. I even dated the kind of girls my father would like."

Vijay moved his hand over Lex's scalp. "You're beautiful without the wig, falsies or makeup. I want to love you, not any illusion."

Lex moved his hand to Vijay's face. "I don't know who that is. I find that I want to live as a woman a hundred percent of the time and it frightens the shit out of me."

"Just do it."

"Vijay, I'm sorry that I panicked. Clark left me only a week after I started crossdressing; he couldn't handle it." Clark accused Lex of acting like Chloe and dressing like Lana.

"Alex, what do you want me to do?"

"Hold me." Lex wrapped his arms around Vijay and kissed him deeply. Vijay removed his clothes before joining Lex in the bed. Lex slipped off the robe. "Let me know I'm the same person without the wig and the falsies."

Vijay moved his hand over Lex's smooth hairless body. "I only want to love you."

Chapter 10

After seeing the realtor about putting the house on the market, Lex stopped over the Kent farm to hand Martha the limited power of attorney so she could help him with the sale of his house. "Martha, I need a favor," Lex said.

"What do you need?" Martha asked.

"I'm buying an office complex in Metropolis and I hate to impose but could you sell my house for me. I'd pay you for the inconvenience." Lex handed her a folder with the notarized power of attorney.

"I see you as a son," Martha said. "Do you think the pod is responsible the feminization of your behavior? It was in your attic for months."

"No. I've always been the way I am," Lex said. It was indirectly, but he didn't want Martha to blame herself for not collecting the pod sooner. He had his annual physical with Toby on Wednesday at his Metropolis office and he didn't know how he was going to explain this. This wasn't crossdressing because he liked the feel of silk panties; Lex intended to spend the rest of his life living as a woman. "How's Clark?"

"He superspeds home to do his chores every night and leaves every morning." Martha walked to the kitchen.

"I know that he flies," Lex said.

"Same difference."

"I love the house. I hate the idea of buying a new one. I'm going to stay at a hotel until I find a place to live in Metropolis. The commute is killing me. I hate leaving Smallville. It has been the first place that I felt was my home since my mother died."

"You'll find a new house that you love just as much."

"Can you help me pick up curtains?" Lex teased.

"Sure. Are you seeing anyone?" Martha asked as she put up a pot for tea.

"A software engineer. I'm going over to his house tomorrow night to make him dinner. I have to hit an India market first."

"He likes ethnic food."

"We gone to lunch every time that I spend the day in Metropolis and now I'm suddenly as nervous as a schoolgirl. He's old country and vegetarian and I never cooked that kind of food before."

"It's a big step going to a man's house and cooking him dinner," Martha said.

"It's hard to move forward."

"Clark doesn't hate you. If you would like, I can come over this evening and we can look through recipes together."

"I'd appreciate it."

---

Lex walked out to the field where Clark was working. "Don't you have class?"

"I can fly there in ten minutes," Clark said. "I trust you to keep my secret safe."

"You have my word," Lex said. "I'm sorry. I'm selling the house in Smallville. Mr. Sullivan can handle LexCorp Plant One without me so I probably won't visit often."

"Alex, I'm sorry for moving out like I did. I need to use my gifts for the benefit of man," Clark said.

"How?"

"I don't know yet. I hate that I hurt you, but you turned into someone I didn't know. I know I should have handled it better. I love the repressed businessman, not the silly, irresponsible girl that you turned into."

"I loved you." Lex put his arms out to Clark. It hurt so much that Clark loved the façade that he created to please his father, not the person under it.

Clark hugged him. "I got your dress dirty."

Lex hugged him back. "I have a washing machine. Clark, I wish things worked out differently."

"Is there a man in Metropolis?"

Lex nodded. He didn't see the point in lying. "Vijanyendra. He's a good man. You would like him."

"I hope to meet him one day. You deserved to be loved."

Lex looked into Clark's eyes. "Thanks, Clark. I wish you the best."

"You, too."

Clark took Lex's hand and walked him to the globe that in the loft. "Touch it. It can read your thoughts and give you what you desire."

"I'm not touching it." Lex tried his best not to look at the gold glowing object, but he couldn't keep his eyes off it.

"Ask it something."

"Do I need to say it outloud?"

"It reads my thoughts."

Lex wanted to know if the globe broke his defenses. A voice in his head, not his own, said, "Kal-el needs a wife." Lex ran back to his car that wasn't the answer that he wanted. Clark didn't want him in his life; he had made that perfectly clear. The globe couldn't change him into someone Clark wanted. He didn't need Clark in his life. He was moving to Metropolis and had a new man in his life, a man that was honest, good and didn't need to lie about who he was.

---

After changing into clean clothes, Lex headed over to LexCorp Plant One. He found Gabe on the floor and watched him observe their employees. Lex put his around Gabe's shoulder. "I'm moving to Metropolis. I trust you to keep an eye on my plant."

"I'm part owner," Gabe said. "Good luck."

"I'm buying an office complex in Metropolis. I doubt I'll have much time to visit this plant. I trust you to keep it turning a profit without me hovering over you," Lex said.

"Stan, you have the floor," Gabe shouted. "Lex, we'll talk in the office," Gabe said in a quiet voice. "Have you heard from your father?" he asked after they stepped into the office.

"A few times. He still has his spies watching me."

"Good luck in Metropolis. Come visit."

"I forgive my father. He only wants the best for me. Gabe, I'll try to visit the plant once a month."

"I'll hold you to that." Gabe hugged Lex. "Seriously, if you need to talk, you have my number." Gabe wanted Lex to know that if he needed fatherly advice to talk to him. Chloe had started Yale this year and if it wasn't for Lana still living there, he would be suffering from empty nest syndrome.

"I feel like I'm leaving home again," Lex said. "I hated saying goodbye to Mrs. Kent and now, you."

---

Lex headed to the Indian grocery store and told the couple working there that he was dating a Hindu man and wanted to know what to cook to win his heart. The woman helped him pick out spices and suggested a number of her husband's favor dishes. As Lex was reading the Indian cookbook and experimenting with a few dishes, he thought about the globe and the direction his life was leading.

Late that evening, Martha arrived. "Alex, I was busy helping Mrs. Fordman. I'm sorry that I'm late."

"Clark wanted me to touch the globe, but I ran." Lex served Martha some dal and two entrees.

"This is great," Martha said.

Lex tasted it. "I put a little too much garlic in this dish."

"I like the curry and the dal," Martha said. "You don't have to serve him a five course meal."

"I want to impress him."

"He just wants your company. Did the globe say something to you?"

"Not exactly. I felt something. It wanted me to marry Clark and to have his children. I won't let Clark use me again. I'm not going to waste my life loving him when he can't give me anything in return."

"Clark cares for you."

"That is why he pushed me out of his life. I'm not stupid enough to go back." Lex ate a little of the dal and sipped his tea.

"Did the globe make you into the woman that I see before me?" Martha sipped her tea.

"No. It just nudge me in this direction." Lex sipped more tea.

"Does knowing change anything?"

"Not at all. I like who I am and I have no desire to change it." All the globe did was make harder for him to rebuild his defenses after his father shattered them. He was crossdressing before the globe was found. He wasn't a blank slate that could be drawn upon. "I think it tried to heal me like it healed you. Emotional wounds aren't as easy to heal as physical wounds."

"Do you resent it?"

"I would prefer that alien artifacts didn't tamper with my mind. However, since it did, I haven't had an emotional outburst and I like myself. I've forgiven my father for abusing me and know better than trying to gain his approval." Lex touched his empty teacup. "Martha, I'll get us more tea."

Chapter 11

Lex was wearing a white long sleeve peasant blouse and matching skirt that reached his ankles as he checking into a Sheraton in Antalya, Turkey. Vijay was getting Turkish coffee and talking to a few of the local people. "Dad, what a nice surprise," Lex said cheerfully and hugged his father briefly.

"I'm told that you're calling yourself Miss Luthor, now," Lionel said.

"My life isn't your concern," Lex said. "Obviously, you have been spying on me or you wouldn't know I was in Turkey on business."

"What bring you to Turkey?" Lionel asked.

"A carpet importer wants to open an office in my building and I'm meeting him. Dad, I didn't think you were interested in small import businesses."

"It's a nice wig. So are you meeting him this minute or do you have time to share a drink with your father?"

"We can talk in my suite. The porter needs to bring up my bags. So Dad, how have you been?"

"Cut the charade," Lionel said.

Lex opened his room with the key card and gave the porter a tip for carrying up the bags. "Would you prefer to talk in my room or we could eat at one of the restaurants in the hotel?" Lex unpacked his clothes into the dresser provided by the hotel.

"I'm not going to watch my son unpack his bras and panties," Lionel said.

"Do you think I should wear the off-white or light blue suit tomorrow?" Lex asked. He kicked off his sandals before hanging his Ralph Lauren fashions in the closet. The dresses that he brought to wear India were supposed to have wrinkles in them so they didn't need to be hung up. He looked at the eggplant colored loose fitting dress that he bought for the trip. Vijay insisted in ordering Lex a number of suits (kameez and matching shalwar) for their trip.

As Lex hung up the latest Indian fashions in the closet, Lionel shook his head. Lex took the dress shoes out of the suitcase. Vijay said that everyone went barefoot in his village but if he preferred he could wear sandals. Life was too short to spend it arguing with his father. "Dad, how's business?"

"Fine. I'm working out of my office in Amsterdam," Lionel said.

Lex didn't care what office his father was working out of. He suspected that Clark had dropped the charges on his father a long time ago, but he wasn't going to tell his father that. "You tracked me down for a reason."

"I just want see how you were doing."

"I'm great." Lex wasn't going to tell his father his latest business ventures; his father would figure out a way to use that information against him. Besides, his father paid his spies good money to learn his business secrets.

"Would you put on a pair of pants?" Lionel asked.

"Dad, I'm not a child anymore. Could you give me some privacy?"

"I'll stay in the smaller room." Lionel left the bedroom.

Lex took down one of the suits that he brought for India. He took off the wig and looked in the mirror a moment and decided that removing the small amount of makeup he was wearing wasn't going to change his appearance that much. Lex put on the women's suit. "Dad, I'm in a suit."

Lionel returned to the room. "You look like the woman in Star Trek: The Motion Picture."

Persis Khambatta was a very beautiful woman. His father gave him backhanded compliment. Lex put his wig back on. "What did you expect?"

"How am I suppose to have a serious conversation with you when you look like this?" Lionel stared at Lex moving within a foot of his son.

"I don't need you to tell me that I'm pretty," Lex said. "I know you'll never say that." His father couldn’t hurt him anymore. He had no power over him. Vijay would be joining him at the room in less than an hour.

"Lex, you aren't the boy that I raised."

Lex turned toward the large hotel mirror. "You can't stand that I have my act together."

"Wearing ladies' panties isn't the behavior of a man with his act together. Are you on hormones?"

"What do your spies tell you?" Lex wasn't going to be intimidated by his father. Lex sat down on the sofa in the smaller room of the suite and crossed his legs at the ankle.

"How long are we going to continue this tête-à-tête?" Lionel asked.

"You tracked me down. You could have called like you’ve done for years," Lex said.

"I had to see you for myself."

"So what do you think? Am I as beautiful as my mother?"

"I'm not getting any younger. Son, don't you think it's time we called a truce?"

Lex smiled. "Dad, that it is up to you."

Vijay arrived carrying a small carry-on. Lex got up from the sofa and gave him a peck on the lip. "Darling, this is my father. Dad, this is Vijanyendra Sajan."

"Hello, sir," Vijay said. "Would you carry to join us for tea?"

"Lead on," Lionel said.

Lex twirled a few strands of his wig in his fingers. "Daddy, how long are you staying in Turkey? Are you going to accompany us on the tour of the carpet factory tomorrow?"

"I'll pass," Lionel said.

"I think I'll wear this suit when we go to the factory tomorrow. Let them think I'm a proper Middle Eastern wife instead of an arrogant, American businesswoman," Lex said.

"It wouldn't work. He spoke to you on the phone too many times," Vijay said.

"His underlings haven't," Lex said, taking Vijay's hand.

"They'll know it's an act." Vijay walked beside him to elevator.

"I do defer to you." Lex pushed the button for the elevator.

"Except in matters of business," Vijay said.

"It's my business. Daddy, do you want to try to local cuisine or eat American style food at the hotel?" Lex asked.

Lionel garbled Vijay's full first name. "What would you prefer?"

"Local cuisine," Vijay said. "You can call me Vijay."

"You had these dreams of ruling the world by the time you were thirty," Lionel said.

"Dreams change," Lex said as they walked across the lobby of the hotel. "Women in Vijanyendra's village are expected to be silent and obey their husbands in everything."

"What do you see in my son other than his money?" Lionel asked.

"Calling her 'him' degrades her," Vijay said. "No one at the plant refer to her as anything other than Ms. Luthor. Respect my wife."

"Son, did you walk in one day and just announce that you were now Ms. Luthor?" Lionel said, saying Ms. like he was spitting fire.

"Nothing so vulgar. I started to wear women's causal clothes at the plants. Eventually, I had the courage to go to a meeting in a wig and women's suit. I was addressed as Ms. Luthor without asking to be address as thus," Lex explained to his father although his father knew how business worked in such delicate matters. "If they whisper, it's where I can't hear them."

"How did you meet?" Mr. Luthor asked.

"I interviewed him for a job. After I hired him, I started taking him to lunch every time that I was in the city. I didn't want him to think my interest was more than business," Lex said. "He followed me to this restaurant and made a lame excuse that he was jilted."

"I didn't follow you. I didn't lie; there are only two Chinese restaurants that you frequent in Metropolis. If you weren't at one, I would have tried the other. We had eaten lunch together twice a week for several months and I knew your taste in food," Vijay explained. "I'm lucky that she introduced me to her sister-in-law or I doubt I would have recognized her."

"You could have told me that you were interested in more than lunch," Lex said. They had told the story before, but Lex felt that rehashing an old story was better than hearing his father's insulting remarks.

"You were my boss and it was an employers' market," Vijay said. "I needed a lame excuse to take you out."

"I'm very glad you did," Lex said as they started to walk along the street. "So Dad pick a restaurant."

"Vijay?" Lionel asked.

"Sir, I'm not that familiar with Turkish cuisine," Vijay said.

---

After an early dinner, Lex suggested that they take a walk in the park. Vijay made some lame excuse about needing to check something out. "Dad, we should try to be friends. You have the son that you want. Lucas has turned out to be quite the businessman and has given you two grandchildren."

"I've always had such high hopes for you." Lionel walked beside Lex along the quiet street toward the park.

"I need to live my life for me," Lex said.

"For a man with a PhD, Vijay isn't very smart," Lionel said. "He can't tell a boy from a girl."

"I assure you that he knows the difference," Lex stated.

"What do you see in him?"

"Would you believe that I love him?"

"Love is an useless emotion."

"You didn't think that way about my mother."

"You're so much like her. Then, again, Lucas is like his mother."

"All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does. That's his." Lex remembered the Oscar Wilde quote. He didn't feel the need to recite it to his father. His father had the photographic memory and would surely remember it. "Vijay and I are going to India to meet his family after we negotiate with the carpet importer. He hasn't seen his sisters or mother since he was sixteen. Dad, please, could we try to be friends?"

"You might see yourself as a woman, but you and I both know that you're just an impotent man wearing a skirt," Lionel said.

"True enough." Lex wouldn't argue with his father. He was on testosterone blockers; his doctor suggested that he take them to prevent heart disease causing his balls to shrink down to the size of prunes, but he had all his parts. He didn't want Vijay's mother or sisters to know he was a man under his clothes, but he figured Vijay would find a polite way to hide it. Lex walked back to the hotel and met Vijay at the hotel bar. He wondered how many years would pass before he saw his father again.

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