Title: Perfectly Normal
Fandom: Smallville / Pairing: CLex (Clark/Lex)
Word Count: 835 / Rating: PG
Challenge:

clexmas - True Love Fest, Prompt: Heart
Warnings: Starts as a Deathfic (doesn't end that way)
Summary: It was a perfectly normal heart...

Type: AU, drama, angst
Spoilers: general first season
Disclaimer: Only mine in my dreams. ;-) This story was written for free entertainment purposes only and may not be reproduced for profit or altered without permission.
Notes: Um, yeah... ^^;;; The original post/commentfic is at Clexmas (last story down)

Perfectly Normal

As with all things alien, it was a perfectly normal heart.

Lex had no idea how evolution could come up with two completely identical species and yet be so different. Physically, Clark was human. His shape, his looks, his beautiful malachite eyes... and the perfectly normal heart that Lex could see inside the bloody chest. Normal except for its stillness.

The heart wasn't beating. Nothing about the body that Lex held was moving, except in that awful way dead limbs swayed limply. Lex focused on the chest, on that great gaping wound and the torn ribs and the heart he could see under the layers of muscle that were supposed to protect it. It was better than looking at the eyes.

People tried to get at them and Lex was never so grateful for his security team as they kept everybody away. Awkwardly, still holding his bundle despite its weight, he climbed into the helicopter. They tried to take it from him, but Lex wouldn't let go. He couldn't let go.

"Arizona, to the Li." Lex gave the directions mechanically, still looking at torn flesh. The blood had stopped flowing and was starting to change colors as it was exposed to air. A contained system that should never get out. Yet, it was. Lex spared a brief thought for the cause.

"Is Earth Shatter destroyed?"

"Yes, Mr. Luthor. We have people collecting the parts and keeping them monitored and contained."

"The government?"

"Tried to get them, but we told them no."

"Good." Lex couldn't spare too much thought for anything. There was something in his arms that shouldn't ever be there, and he didn't know how human an alien could be. He hoped the alien part would win out; for no human could ever survive this.

... ... ...

Bright sun, intense heat. Clark closed his eyes but the afterimage remained, and so did the heat. He breathed in, feeling the desert air go through his lungs and welcoming it. He was so cold. His chest hurt. *He* hurt.

"Water?"

Clark didn't recognize the voice immediately, his head wrapped in cotton and his mind just as fuzzy. But he trusted it instinctively, reached for it. He didn't open his eyes again but he made a sound. It wasn't much of a sound, which worried him in the part of his brain that was processing. Thinking was too much trouble, though.

Hands helped steady him as he felt the bed raise him to a sitting position. Comfortable hands, familiar hands, strong hands. Clark relaxed, even as he sipped through the straw that had been placed in his mouth, and he faded back into darkness, knowing there was light around him.

...

The pattern repeated several more times before Clark woke for real, his mind sharply aware. He sat up, his hand on his chest, his body heaving with the memory of the fight. Glancing down, he saw only smooth flesh where he remembered a fist shattering through. He breathed in, this time with awareness of what a miracle it was that the rich warm air expanded his lungs.

Clark looked over to the side, at the slim figure in the chair next to him. Had been there the entire time. Clark remembered his mother being there too, but she came and went. Lex was always there.

Lex put the book down and stood up, crossing to Clark's side and looking at him with that perfectly controlled expression of his. Clark hated that look. Hated Lex being so closed off to him. Hated what Lex did in his search for world power. And yet.

Picking up a glass of water with a straw, Lex held it out to him. Clark drank, his eyes never leaving Lex. Lex stared back, impassive.

When Clark was done, Lex put the glass down and turned to leave. "I'll send your mother in."

Clark shot out his hand and grabbed Lex's arm. Not much strength in that grip, however, he held on.

Lex held himself rigid for a moment, then reluctantly turned back.

For just a moment, Clark caught a glimpse of emotions behind Lex's eyes, sorrow dark and heavy. "Lex..." Clark couldn't think of what to say.

"Earth Shatter is destroyed. You don’t have to worry about it."

Good. Clark shuddered, remembering the fight, remembering the lives lost. Remembering a fist breaking through his chest.

Clark also remembered some of the aftermath, the bright lights, the warmth, the caring hands steady upon his healing flesh. The room he was in drew in sunlight and focused it, desert heat all around him, plants filling every crevice on the sides where they were shaded. Water burbling around the edges. Everything Clark needed to heal, including those he loved. His mother was in the other room, and Lex was here.

The look on Lex's face was starting to open more, something rather like hope breaking through the sorrow.

"Lex..." With as little strength as he had, Clark drew Lex back to him. "Thank you."

End.