Title: The Best Rose
Author: Kat Lee
Fandom: Smallville
Characters/Pairing: Clex (Clark/Lex)
Rating: PG/K+
Challenge/Prompt: #73: Telephone
Word Count: 1,485
Summary:
Disclaimer: All characters belong to their rightful owners, not the author.


He has tried to ignore the brewing battle all morning. After all, in his life, every day is a fight in an ongoing war, and if one is to conduct any sort of business, one simply must grow to be able to ignore it and carry on with one's life. But as the building shakes again, and his heart jumps once more, Lex looks up and finally announces, "This meeting is adjourned."

It is the youngest man to hold a title in his firm who dares to speak up as others scurry quickly for the double doors at the end of the large room. "You're going to let them stop us?"

Lex's gaze is a piercing shot of blue steel. The dangerous smile already curving his lips grows when he notes the way the younger man's Adam's apple bobs quickly up and down. "Go home to your family, Junior, while you still have one."

"Y-Yes, sir!" the man pipes up, mentally kicking himself for being foolish enough to bring the Luthor rage upon him. He wonders how he managed to keep from getting fired as he grabs his belongings and heads after the older officers.

"And, Junior?" Lex calls just as the boy reaches the door.

"Y-Yes, sir?"

"Ever question my orders again, and you will be permanently removed."

"Y-Yes, sir!" He doesn't wait to find out if that removal would come from his place in the most powerful company in the world or from life itself. He also doesn't forget the facts that his wife has told him not to lose this job and that one of LuthorCorp's many acquisitions holds the mortgage to their home. He's gone within a second, running from the building as tremor after tremor hits it. No wonder his boss called the meeting to an end. No other man would have kept his business going during a time like this, but even Lex Luthor doesn't want to die when the building crumples to the ground because of the superfreaks fighting above the city.

Left alone in his global headquarters, a place in which Lex feels more comfortable alone even than his home, the businessman pours himself a drink and finally turns on his television. He sips his wine as he listens to the reporter prattling on about how the fight has turned and the people fear for their hero and smiles smugly as the camera pans back to the battle. Superman can take this creep. He can take all the meteor freaks and every other threat that tries to hit Earth.

The building shakes again. Lex places a hand on the table behind him to keep from being driven to his knees. He sips his wine again as the electricity flickers and the television comes in and out, but the screen settles just as the villain hits the hero. Lex's grip on his glass tightens as two meaty fists pound Superman again and again. His teeth grind together. His heart barely dares to beat. He waits for Superman to regain the upper hand. He waits until he can wait no longer and at last pulls out his special cellular phone. This, like many of his phones, has a line that can not be traced, but this one is used for only one individual. He waits, scarcely breathing, for him to answer as the building shakes again and again.

~*~*~*~

The pain is incredible as the thing he's fighting swats him like he's no more powerful than a fly. Superman wracks his brain, trying to remember both when last he felt like this and how he can pull ahead in this battle. He has to find a way to stop the monster: for the people of Earth, for the planet itself, for his family. He has to find a way . . .

The being's on top of him again, moving so fast that even he can barely keep track of it. His fists feel like two small mountains as they strike him. The world spins. He hits a building hard, and for a moment lays there, unable to think, move, or breathe until a shrill ringing pierces his bleeding ears.

It takes him a moment longer to realize where the ringing is coming from, and then he wonders who on Earth would be calling him at a time like this. He told Lex it was silly for him to carry a phone into battle, but his boyfriend had insisted. Clark had always had trouble telling him "no", and so he had ended up allowing him to sew a special band into his shorts and tuck a cell just inside.

The monster roars. Superman tries to zip away, but the monster grabs his cape and pulls him back to him. At the same time as he is snagged, the phone clicks into his voice mail, and the voice of the man he loves more than life itself comes over the speaker. "Darling," he calls, and Clark can hear Lex's voice breaking.

He realizes, as he whips away from the beast and sees his reflection in the surrounding windows, both where he is and that he does look a complete mess, a soldier beaten and weary about to breathe his last. Until his phone rang, he'd felt just like that, too, but now his valiant heart is beginning to flutter again. He's just outside LuthorCorp; his X-ray vision spies Lex near one of his windows.

His cracked and bleeding lips pull up slowly and tiredly into a smile. Only his man wouldn't leave his company in a time like this, but there's another reason for his presence there, too, Clark realizes. He is as close to him as he can be without giving away his presence or putting himself in the line of fire, a place he wouldn't mind being except that Clark has pleaded with him time and again to stay out of his fights.

Lex has been talking to him all this time, reminding him how great and powerful he is, how he's beaten other enemies who seemed unstoppable and impossible odds, but the phone clicks out just as Lex screams, "DUCK!" Clark heard him, though, and flies swiftly downward, pulling out from underneath his enemy just in time to keep from being hit again.

He flies a circle around him, hovers in the air, spits out blood, and studies his enemy. He's darting just out of his reach again and still trying to decide where best to hit him next when his phone rings again and Lex's voice comes back over the line. "I know you can do this, sweetheart. So do you. Do not let this cretin beat you! He's nothing but a pathetic pit of slime that crawled here from some Neanderthal planet. The victory is already yours, Superman; you only have to claim it."

"Go ahead, baby. End the fight. Stop letting this thing beat you, and come home to me. I'll have your favorite dinner waiting along with nine hundred and ninety nine roses."

Why nine hundred and ninety nine? Clark wonders, avoiding another blow, this time more easily than the other alien's last several attempts. He turns back just as the punch lands cold and hits him. He can hear Lex's smile in his triumphant voice over the cell. "Well done, Clark! Now don't let him sneak up on you again!"

He's not going to, Clark vows silently. He's going to find a way to stop this beast for the innocent people of Earth and most especially for his world, his family, his Lex. The monster comes at him again; his backhand sends him spiraling several miles through the air and crashing into another building. Clark wonders, idly, why people persist in building buildings higher than they should. Don't they realize yet that the taller they are, the more likely they are to be damaged in the fight to keep their planet safe and keep them free?

"And, Clark, in case you're wondering and I know you are, I've ordered nine hundred and ninety nine rose, because you, my love, are my brightest, sweetest, and ultimately best rose. You are the thousandth rose. You are the greatest thing that's ever happened not just to this planet but to me. Now beat that villain into submission and come home to me."

Lex hangs up with a smile just as Superman circles around the villain and comes in for one final hit. Even Luthor grimaces, however, when Superman dives into the monster's eye. The beast howls and starts dropping from the sky. Lex turns away. The battle is won; his love is safe again. He heads immediately for home, knowing there's much to do: roses to scatter, a fine meal to cook, and most importantly of all, a hero to greet, and a shower to take as soon as his beloved Clark comes home to him again.

The End