Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

Lex turned around at the sound of a chair scraping across the floor, and his sudden fear was completely founded when he caught the tail-end of Lin's escape into the foyer.

"Colin!" he shouted, running into the hallway after him. "God damn it, get back here! Where're you going?!"

A loud rushing sound and a sudden gust of air, and Lin was abruptly standing right in front of Lex. He was breathing in and out quickly, his eyes narrowed and wild.

"Look what he did!" Lin shouted, and Lex was hard pressed not to recoil and flinch back at his sheer volume. "He– he fucking killed him!" Then Lin's voice dropped into something eerie and quiet, his eyes darting around the area and refusing to lock on Lex's, as he all but whispered, "He's dead. Chance is dead. He's really- and he actually-  he actually . . "

Lex tried to take a deep breath. He set his hand on Lin's shoulder, moving closer and attempting to calm him down. "Yeah," he said, bringing his other hand up to Colin's arm, "I know, but- " and here he hesitated, wondering whether even asking if Lin were going to run again might not be a self-fulfilling prophecy, "but you can't leave. Jesus, Lin, I can't- we can't do this again." Lex finally managed to snag Lin's eyes.

"Lin?" asked a small voice behind Lex, and he glanced back to see Julian and Lucas standing there. Lian looked sick, pale and sweaty, fidgety, and Lucas just. . . looked like that statue Lex remembered dragging through the Centre. No emotion was really visible on the kid's face, not that Lex could detect, and that unsettled him more than anything. Julian had a glass face. Everything he felt and thought was practically inscribed in his expression, always. But with Lucas, with Lin most times, too, it was never that easy.

 

And it was never a good sign when suddenly Lex found himself staring at a mannequin, for all intents and purposes. Not with Lin, not with Lucas. Not with Bruce. No emotion was always a bad sign.

 

"You're not going away again, are you?" Lian asked disappointedly. Lex almost turned around and hugged the kid when Lin flinched at the question. Good. Colin needed to see that running away from everything didn't really work. Only very rarely, and Lex didn't think this was one of those times. "Please don't go away," Lian pleaded, his voice shaking and sounding so exhausted.

 

"No," Lin rasped, clearing his throat with a cough and then trying again. "No, I won't-- I wasn't going anywhere. Just-- just upstairs, is all." And Lex couldn't tell by his expression whether or not Lin was lying. He had too good of a poker face, always had.

 

Lex remembered envying him that, the ability to lie without any ticks or tells. He didn't anymore.

 

"Good," Lex said, saying something just to fill the silence, but tightening his grip on Lin's shoulder, just in case. "I think. . . I mean, we should. . . " He stuttered, suddenly at a loss for what to say. Lex felt the reality of the situation crash down on him. Usually, right about now, he and Bruce would be working out a game plan, the two of them combining their strengths and hashing out in detail the best course of action. But Lex felt strangely reticent about going to Bruce this time.

 

"Should we. . . ?" Lin started, getting Lex's attention, before finishing his thought. "Do you think Jameson knows? Or Nick? Is it our job to-- to call them and tell them?"

 

Lex nodded, squeezing Lin's shoulder before letting his hand drop. He reached into his pocket and took out his cell, out of habit checking for any new messages before scrolling down to his contacts. He always did that when he opened his phone. It was habit, an unconscious task.

 

He didn't expect to actually find one this time.

 

Lex snapped his phone shut in reflex, a moment later realizing that would be a sign that something was wrong. It was too late, though, for Lin took one look at Lex's face, dropped his eyes to the cell, and had grabbed it up before Lex could react.

 

"Lin!" he exclaimed, trying to get it back before Lin could see--

 

There was a loud clattering sound as the phone fell from Lin's hand, and Lex closed his eyes, feeling like a failure.

 

"What?" Lian called out, pushing forward and making as if to pick up the cell phone. Both Lex and Lin reacted at the same time, though -- Lex pushing Lian back, standing in between him and the phone, while Lin grabbed up the offending piece of plastic, keeping it as far away from Julian as he could. "Lex," Lian complained, scowling up at him from under his hair. "Let me see!" he demanded.

 

"No," Lex refused. He made his voice firm and cold, completely irreversible. Lian would never be seeing that picture. "Lin," he called out, keeping his eyes on Lian's angry ones. "Erase that, okay?"

 

"No," came Lin's reply and Lex jerked his head around.

 

"What do you mean, 'No?'" Lex demanded. He let go of Lian and stalked over to Lin, sticking his hand out for the phone, but Lin just shook his head. "Lin, give it here. I'm destroying that shit and-- "

 

"And, what?" Lin sneered. He lifted up the phone and shook it with emphasis. "Lex, what are you thinking?! This is evidence. We can't delete it! This proves he's behind it. We should get Nick on the phone. Call Jameson, too. Maybe even Rachel Dawes. Everyone and anyone who's helped us. We have to warn them, Lex," Lin explained. "Tell them all what he did, what he just sent us." There was suddenly a gleam in Lin's eyes, almost a smile tugging at his lips. "This could be it," he said, as if that explained everything. The answer to the meaning of life, or something. The end-all, be-all of existence.

 

A digital picture of Chance screaming, his throat cut and pumping out blood in a fountain.

 

"It'll never end," denied a whispering voice. Lucas stood framed in the doorway of the kitchen, resting against it casually, almost serenely. His face was dead, though, and his eyes were closed. Lex didn't want to know what he was seeing, but he was sure it wasn't anything to do with Bruce's hallway. "You'll never connect him to anything. Nothing ever changes."

 

"You're wrong!" Lin hissed, his eyes flashing a startling orange. Lex took an unconscious step back, pushing Lian behind him, as well. But Lin must have seen the movement, the way his face drained of color and turned angry at the same time. "You're wrong," he repeated, eyes still blazing like fire. Lin's body tensed up and he moved closer to Lex and Lian. "He'll stop. I'll make him stop. I'll do it. I'll show him what happens when he hurts people."

 

Lex felt guilty even thinking it, but he was scared in that moment. Lin was. . . frightening, with his slow, deliberate movements, his pulsing anger, and his eyes burning like hellfire.

 

Lex was still holding a confused Lian back, while trying to unobtrusively put some more distance between them and Lin, when Lucas brushed past. He strode right over to Lin and said. . . something. Lex wasn't sure what, it was so quietly spoken.

 

Lucas murmured then stretched out his hand, palm up. "Take a deep breath. Come on," he said in a firmer tone when Lin just glared at him. "Stop feeding into it, or you're going to start a fire."

 

"I won't!" Lin argued, getting right in Lucas' face. His eyes darkened, turning red and seeming to swirl around inside his face. "I have never hurt anyone. Never," he repeated, and Lex thought he heard pleading in Lin's voice. It felt like some sort of bid for understanding on their part because Lin's face crumpled. He dropped his eyes down to the floor and Lucas brought his hands up to Lin's cheeks.

 

"Then stop talking like this," Lucas told him quietly. Soothingly. Lucas' voice was steady and smooth, almost deceptively calm because Lex found himself responding to it, too. Lian relaxed a little under his hands, and Lex saw Lin sag a bit. "You always do this, like it's some big surprise that you want revenge. Lin," Lucas said. "It's not wrong, or, at least, you're not alone in wanting. . . that. I wish for it, too. Sometimes," and Lucas' breath hitched, audible from even where Lex and Lian were standing, some few feet behind him. "Sometimes," Lucas persisted, "I think of all the ways I could do it. Of how he'd look screaming and writhing on the floor beneath me." He paused, then said, "I think of locking him up and doing everything to him that he did to us, watching him being injected with diseases and viruses, and chained like an animal.

 

"I think of what he did to you," Lucas whispered, and Lex realized that he'd unconsciously stepped closer to them in order to hear what was being said. Lian was still in his arms, and he had the thought that this wasn't what his little brother should be hearing. . . but Lex couldn't step back. He couldn't move, just stood there holding Julian and feeling like every breath was made of razors and sharp spikes as he inhaled and exhaled.

 

"I think of what he did," Lucas repeated, "and part of me wants nothing more than to torture him till he's nothing but a pile of ash and skin." Lin made a sobbing sound, nodding his head, but still keeping his eyes on the floor. "You're not a monster, Lin, and you never will be. He lies. He's evil. Lionel deserves to be put down," and Lin flinched at the name. Lex just flinched at the way Lucas said it, like he was savoring every syllable. "But you won't be the one to do it."

 

"I don't want to talk about this anymore," Lin whispered brokenly. He shared a long look with Lucas, then, the two of them barely breathing as they just stared at each other. Suddenly Lin's eyes flicked over to Lex and Lian, and he held his breath. But Lin's eyes were green again, and he wasn't wearing his Lionel-face anymore. His poker face was gone, and Lex. . . didn't know what to do.

 

They were still standing in the hall. Lin still had Lex's phone in his hand, which still had the picture Lionel had sent to him.

 

"Can we sit down?" came Julian's breathy voice, and Lex looked down to the boy's ashy face.

 

"Yeah," Lex responded, guiding Lian by the shoulders back into the kitchen. "Yeah, let's sit down and I'll-- " He stopped, waiting for Lin and Lucas to each take a seat before making for the doorway again. "I'm going to go get Bruce," he said. "Just stay here, and I'll be back in a minute."

 

Lex shared a look with Lucas on his way out, and knew by the way the kid nodded at him that Lin and Lian would still be here when he got back.

 

For he saw himself in Lucas' expression, and recognized all that emotion for what it was.

 

Devotion and penance. Guilty love, like you shouldn't be allowed to be around such people, and finally he and Lucas had something truly in common.

 

They would do anything for those they loved, and no one was more important than Colin or Julian.

 

 

***

 

 

"No, it's not necessary," Nick was saying into the phone. "I've got it on this end. You just stay out there and find out what the hell's going on." He paused, silent and listening to whatever Jameson was saying across the line. "Well, then file a goddamn restraining order!" Nick suddenly burst out, resuming his pacing around Bruce's office. "Tell them Aerson is stalking you and making threats and they'll-- " He stopped abruptly, both physically and mid-sentence, and Lex thought he could make out the sounds of Jameson shouting through the phone.

 

Nick sighed, catching Lex's eyes and then hastily turning away. He put his back to him and said quietly, "What else can you do? None of this gives him the right to harass your family, Rick." Another pause, and then, "Fine," Nick said tersely. "You do what you need to, but if he starts using that column of his to rant about how evil we all are one more time, I'm gonna fly out there and punch the son-of-a-bitch right in the teeth. Bothering your son, and cornering my family on the street is inexcusab-- " Another pause, this one only a few seconds before Nick jumped back in angrily with, "Well, then he's not a reporter! He's just a creep milking his brother's death and using it as an excuse to make us all look bad. Digging up stuff like this and printing it is one step away from-- "

 

Lex sighed and leaned his head on his hand, getting tired and dizzy from watching Nick argue with Jameson. He didn't think it was a good sign when lawyers working for the same client started yelling at each other over the phone. He wondered if they'd bill for this, for the roughly 45 minutes they'd been on the phone to each other. Then again, Burton Fallin, Nick's penitent father, was the one volunteering to foot the bill, so Lex supposed it really shouldn't make a difference.

 

Except when it involved Thom Aerson splashing all their family secrets across the so-called 'papers.' They all knew it was the man's way of getting back at Lex for involving Chance in the huge mess their lives had become, and inadvertently getting him killed, but no one wanted to actually contact the leech and call him on it. Well, except Bruce and Nick. Bruce said everything Aerson had written about him was actually to his benefit -- keeping Bruce Wayne as far away from Batman in the people's minds as possible. But Bruce was protective of those he considered his family, his friends. He wouldn't stand for anyone bad-mouthing them.

 

And Nick?

 

Well, he just seemed to be spoiling for a fight these days, so Lex guessed Thom Aerson was as good a target as any. Evidently, Nick and Burton were on the outs with each other -- Bruce had said it was a disagreement about something to do with the treatment of a relative's mental illness. Nick's cousin, or something, had been recently institutionalized and Burton was demanding Nick give up his guardianship of the boy. Lex wondered just how old Nick's cousin was, but knew it wasn't any of his business. Though the fact that Aerson had tried to 'interview' the kid probably did make it somewhat Lex's fault that Burton was insisting on having Jeremy Hetherington moved to a different facility. Nothing like a rude, unethical reporter breaking in to see your unstable, schizophrenic relative to make a guy paranoid and defensive.

 

Lex was laying odds on Nick winning, though. Guy was stubborn as all hell, as proved by the fact that he was still alive. And that he evidently had coaxed Jameson into filing a restraining order against Thom Aerson.

 

Lex looked back over at Nick, no longer pacing his way back and forth across Bruce's office, and saw a big, shit-eating grin plastered on his face.

 

"No, I know someone," he said into the phone, still smirking and looking pleased with himself. "I'll contact him and tell him you're interested in filing. Someone'll be by in the next couple of days, I would think." He paused a moment, then nodded and said, "Yeah, have Raisa do it then."

 

A few minutes later, and Nick was finally off the phone, looking much more serious than he had a moment ago. Lex raised an eyebrow at him, and Nick just grimaced.

 

"So he's going to?" Lex asked.

 

"Yeah," Nick answered, walking closer and taking a seat in the chair next to him. "I really think this is the best thing to do, Lex. This guy, he's not just working a story. He's out there harassing anyone even remotely connected to all of us -- our families, our business colleagues and coworkers. Yesterday," he said, looking at Lex head-on. "One of Aerson's goons stopped Lulu on the street and kept asking her how she felt to have the child of a murderer in her arms." At Lex's face, Nick clarified. "She had our daughter with her, Lex. He was calling me a murderer and shoving a tape recorder in her face, right on the street!"

 

Lex shook his head and sighed. "Why is he doing this?" he asked rhetorically. "Going after me -- after Lin and Lian and me. . . that, I can kind of understand." Nick scoffed, but Lex just raised a hand, forestalling any argument the man was about to make. "But why bring you guys into it? That whole thing with Jameson's son and his ex-wife? Doesn't that just make Aerson look bad? That's not hunting down the truth. That's just destroying people's lives!"

 

"Which is why," Nick jumped in, and Lex groaned as he heard the beginning of another argument, "you should file a restraining order, too. For all of you," he amended. "Lex, he's not going to stop. This is just the tip of the iceberg. Think of what he could print about you, about Colin and Julian, if he wanted." Lex paled, his mind jumping to all the things they hadn't seen yet in the man's column. "And none of it would even have to be true!" Nick said. "By the time you filed for libel, it'd already be out there," and he waved his arm around. "In the public's mind, and now suddenly you're being thought of as the bad guy and Thom Aerson and his disciples are just devoted news hounds, trying to bring the truth to light, and yada, yada, yada."

 

"Is he trying to make us look bad just for Chance's sake?" Lex asked, an idea suddenly taking shape in his mind. "Or is it-- you don't think he's. . . working for Lionel, do you?" It didn't seem truly plausible, but at this point Lex was considering every angle, no matter how far-fetched or incredulous.

 

Nick started shaking his head halfway through, and when Lex was done, said, "No. No, I think he's just an asshole looking for a crusade. And instead of channeling all that rage and want for revenge towards the guilty party, the moron's actually making it harder for us." Nick leveled his gaze on Lex and said, "People aren't clamoring for Lionel's blood anymore, Lex. They're being distracted by all this crap Aerson's spewing, and they're. . . "

 

"They're, what?" Lex prompted Nick's hesitation.

 

"They're starting to turn against you," he finished apologetically.

 

"Me?" Lex asked incredulously. He got to his feet and started pacing across the floor. "But I haven't done anything! Lionel's a fucking pedophile, and people are saying I'm the bad guy?!"

 

"I didn't say it was rational," Nick replied. "Just that that's what's going on. What Aerson's trying to do. He thinks you got his brother killed, and now he's trying to bring you down. That's all there is to it."

 

"File the fucking restraining order, then," Lex growled. "For all the good it'll do us." He felt like hitting something, hard, and wondered where Bruce kept his punching bags. Maybe he could find a picture of Thom Aerson's face and tape it to a bag. Maybe pummeling the guy in his mind, till his knuckles were raw and bloody, would kill the urge Lex felt to track down the guy and beat him for real.

 

Taking a deep breath, he now knew how Bruce and Nick felt when they went on about calling Aerson out in the public forum.

 

Lex was trying to do the right thing, had done, to a certain extent, and now he was being punished for it? And not just him, either. Jameson, Nick, Bruce, even Lin and Lian were being targeted and written about. Suddenly, from being seen as sympathetic, now they were viewed as having gotten what they deserved, though how anyone could think of Lin or Lian as, in any way, shape, or form, guilty, Lex would never know. Julian was two weeks shy of being just nine years old, and Lin. . .

 

Well, no matter who you were, no child ever deserved what had happened to Lin. Nothing a kid could do would ever merit that kind of treatment by a 'guardian.'

 

It was hard to see any light at the end of this tunnel. Without destroying Thom Aerson's reputation in return, there was no way out of this situation. Even then, there would still most likely be some lingering resentment and suspicion towards them. That doubt would still be there in the back of everyone's minds. What if it had been true? they'd all think. What if he'd been telling the truth, and the Luthors had just shut him up like their father was known to do?

 

 

***

 

 

Lex actually read the paper the next day, went through and saw every negative mention of them and their case. He felt a justifiable rage, reading that garbage and the way Aerson made everyone look repulsive and selfish.

 

But he also couldn't shake the feeling that, if their positions were reversed, if something Thom Aerson had done -- deliberately, or not -- had caused one of his brothers' deaths, Lex would have done the exact same thing.

 

Would, and might, if the man's crusade led to Julian or Lucas being hurt, let alone killed.

 

And if anything happened to Lin, Lex would murder the bastard in cold blood, with a smile on his face.

 

So he understood Aerson, to a certain degree, but that didn't mean he wouldn't fight back. No, he'd promised to look out for his family, and if that meant stopping Chance's brother from hurting them any more, then that's just what he would have to do.

 

Sorry, Chance, Lex thought later. He took a drink of his scotch, saying thank you one last time, before finally accepting that this would get nasty before the end.

 

And so, even after he'd bought a new phone and changed his number, it came as no surprise when he woke up one morning to a new voice-mail.

 

Fucker didn't even bother hiding his number or identity, like Lex wouldn't know who it was, even if he had.

 

It was a text, and Lex could easily picture his father's superior grin as he typed it.

 

 

"A wise man knows when he has lost, son."

 

 

Lex thought for a moment, then hit 'Reply' and typed his own message back.

 

 

"Then, 'Cry 'Havoc,' and let slip the dogs of war, that this foul deed shall smell above the earth with carrion men, groaning for burial.'

 

Because you had already lost the moment you laid hands on him."

 

 

Then he pushed 'Send' and snapped the phone shut.

 

 

***

 

 

Afterward, Lex went in search of his brothers. And Bruce.

 

Eventually, he stumbled upon the four of them in Bruce's gym-cum-meditation room. All four were dressed in sweats, but only Julian and Bruce were on the mat.

 

"Hold your hands like this," Bruce was saying, reaching forward to adjust the shape of Lian's fists. "And loosen up your arms. Not so tense."

 

"What's going on?" Lex asked, sidling up to Lin and Lucas. Their eyes were focused on the other two circling around, but Lin shot Lex a quick glance out of the corner of his eye.

 

"Bruce is giving Lian some pointers," Lin said cryptically.

 

"You mean teaching him to fight."

 

"Yep," he replied, not even hesitating or looking Lex's way.

 

Lex took a deep breath, then asked, "How long?"

 

Lin's lips quirked up in a humorless smile. "Started just a few minutes ago." He looked over at Lex. "Lian's idea."

 

Lex grunted, crossing his arms across his chest. "Doesn't surprise me. He's been talking about it for awhile now."

 

Colin nodded, turning back to watch a now-circling Bruce and Lian. "That he has," he quietly agreed.

 

During one turn, Bruce looked up and met Lex's eyes across the floor. His face was blank, though, and Lex didn't feel angry at him at all, anyway. He knew damn well Bruce hadn't been the one to suggest this, no matter how much he might have wanted to.

 

No, all Lex could feel at the moment was resigned. And worried. He hoped to God Lian would never have to use what he was being shown today.

 

But it was always better to be prepared for the worst.

 

 

***

 

 

" . . .and make sure your thumb isn't inside your fist, or you'll break it when you have to strike."

 

Lian was nodding as he walked beside Bruce off the mat. Both of them were sweating, though for completely different reasons. Lian wasn't used to moving like that, and Bruce. . . well, he was still recovering from the wound in his side.

 

Lex waited for them to come closer, as Lin and Lucas moved to take their place.

 

"Hey, Lex," Lian said hesitantly, looking up at him with wary eyes.

 

"Hey, Kiddo. You learn anything?" he asked.

 

And like a shot, Lian was off. He grinned and started explaining to Lex every single move Bruce had taught him. It was surreal, and a bit uncomfortable, but Lex smiled and played along. Bruce stared at him the whole time, disbelieving, and he took some satisfaction in the fact that he could still surprise the man.

 

In the middle of Lian describing how well Bruce said he'd done on his kicks, Lex glanced up at the mat and literally gasped aloud. Lian and Bruce then followed his gaze, and Lex was glad he wasn't the only one shocked into silence.

 

Lin and Lucas were. . . sparring, he supposed was the word. If that's what you'd call two fast-moving blurs whirling and dashing around each other. Every once in awhile, one or both would stop abruptly, often laughing or smiling before speeding up again.

 

 

"Is that. . . safe?" Lex asked. Lucas apparently had Colin's arms locked behind his back now, but that didn't seem to be stopping Lin from kicking him.

 

"Well, they don't appear to really be hurting each other, so. . ." Bruce said, trailing off uncertainly.

 

"Good Lord," Lex muttered. Lin had just executed a back flip, managing to disable Lucas' grip on his arms and turn the hold around, so that now Lucas was the one confined. And all of that faster than anything Lex had ever seen, almost faster than he'd been able to see.

 

And, looking at Bruce and Lian quickly before inevitably turning back, Lex came to the conclusion that none of them had known this was possible. Lucas was strong and fast and. . . tough. He was nearly Lin's equal, and standing here, watching them grapple and throw each other around like dolls, before picking themselves up and laughing about it all, Lex realized this was Lin's way of telling them. Of showing them what Lionel's years' worth of experimentations had accomplished.

 

Lex idly wondered if Lucas had any reaction to the meteor rock. . .

 

. . . then promptly felt disgusted and angry at himself for even thinking like that.

 

"I didn't know he could do that," Lian whispered. Lex took in the boy's hunched-in stance and wide eyes, and moved closer to him with barely a thought. He wrapped his arm around Lian's shoulders and squeezed him gently.

 

When Lian finally looked up at him, Lex said, "Just think, now Lin has someone who can really keep up with him. Literally."

 

It was a weak attempt, but Lian nodded and managed to scrape up a smile for him.

 

"Let's just hope they don't damage the foundation of the house," Bruce said in typical Bruce-style.

 

Lex shot him a look, which the man returned blankly, then called out, "Having fun, guys?"

 

At which point, the blurs stopped again, and both turned to look at Lex.

 

Lucas was standing with one foot firmly on the floor, and the other in the middle of Lin's back. Lin was face down on the mat, but had managed to hook an arm behind Lucas' knee without him noticing. When they stopped their whirlwind fight, Lin recovered more quickly, taking advantage of the situation and pulling Lucas' leg forward, causing his knee to buckle and him to fall forward over Lin.

 

Lex winced when Lucas' face made direct contact with the mat, the muffled cry bringing back painful memories of his own defeats over the years.

 

Lin slid out from under Lucas' legs, promptly hopping to his feet and offering a hand down. And with a groan, Lucas grabbed the hand and let himself be pulled up.

 

"That was sneaky," Lucas said approvingly as they walked together.

 

"We agreed not to hold back," Lin argued, becoming defensive even though Lex knew Lucas hadn't meant any recrimination by the remark. "You could have got me back if you'd wanted."

 

The two of them were standing in front of Lex, Lian, and Bruce now, so that close proximity was probably why Lex was able to catch it. Lucas turned to Lin, and his expression went from exhaustedly happy to sad and back in the blink of an eye. Lin must have caught it too because his expression became upset and he jerked away from Lucas like he'd burned him.

 

"Lin. . ." Lucas started. "There's no shame in it. We were just having fun. I don't care tha-- "

 

"Shut up," Lin commanded him, his face going pale and shocky.

 

Lucas, meanwhile, was starting to realize he'd made a mistake, and took a few steps away from Lin with his hands up in plain view. "I just don't know why you're upset about it," he was saying.

 

"Lin," Lex interrupted. He waited until Lin looked over before asking, "What's wrong?"

 

"Nothing," was the terse response he got, and Lin turned around and, without further ado, quickly strode out of the room.

 

 

***

 

 

"How long are you home for?" Colin asked him excitedly. He had one of Lex's bags and was struggling valiantly to get it up the stairs. He ended up dragging it, and Lex was glad he'd given him the one full of laundry. . . and not his comic books.

 

"Three weeks," Lex answered. He looked around the house, and then asked Lin, "Has Dad left yet?"

 

"Yeah," he said shortly, dropping his head down and really tugging at the bag in his hands.

 

"Oh, come on!" Lex teased him. "It's not that heavy. You're usually bouncing off the walls, anyway." He stopped Lin and put a hand to the kid's forehead, checking to see if he were sick. "You do feel a little warm, Linny. Sure you're feelin' all right?"

 

"Yeah, I'm fine," Lin told him seriously. Then, with a weak smile, he went back to struggling with Lex's dirty laundry.

 

Lex floundered around for a few seconds, trying to think of something to say before inspiration struck. "How's Julian?" he asked. And with that, Lin was off like a shot, telling him about all the cute little things Lian could do and say.

 

" . . .and when he saw that picture of you on my bookshelf, guess what he said!"

 

Lex shook his head and raised his eyebrows, pushing open the door to his room and stepping back so Lin could finish his trek with his burden.

 

"He said, 'Rex!'" And then Lin started laughing hysterically, dropping the bag in the middle of the floor and grinning up at Lex.

 

"Like a dog?" Lex asked innocently, at which Lin's smile just grew bigger.

 

"No, like a king!" he insisted, as Lex set the bags he was carrying down on his bed. He turned around and smiled, and Lin came up to him and wrapped his arms around his waist.

 

"Can he say your name yet?"

 

Lin brought his head up and looked right into Lex's eyes. "He calls me 'Linny,' thanks to you."

 

Lex grinned and chuckled at the exasperated look on Lin's little face. "Well, that is your name."

 

"No, it's not! I hate that nickname," he grumbled, but Lex saw his mouth twitch and knew he was lying.

 

"Mmmhmm. Sure you do, Champ." Lin punched him in the arm, and Lex danced back, laughing. "Tiger?" he suggested, as Lin followed him across the room and back out into the hallway. "Chief?"

 

"No, Lex! My name is LIN!" he cried out with a grin, dashing forward quickly. And it was all Lex could do to stay just out of his reach until they made it downstairs to the kitchen.

 

"Aren't you hungry?" Lex asked later at dinner, in between moments of apparently distracting Lian away from his food.

 

Lin just shrugged in response, and went back to pushing his food around on the plate.

 

"We could ask Cook to make you something different, if you like," he said. "Maybe some soup, or something?"

 

"I'm not sick!" Lin shouted from out of nowhere, shocking Lex speechless and causing little, three-year-old Lian to drop his spoon on the floor.

 

"Lin?" Lex asked gently, waiting until the boy's eyes came up. "What's wrong?"

 

"Nothing," he said abruptly. Then Lin pushed his chair back with a screech and stalked out of the dining room.

 

Lex was still stunned at Colin's first. . . tantrum ever, that he forgot about Lian until the boy asked in a quavery little voice, "Linny's mad?"

 

Lex turned his head and took in the wetness of Lian's blue eyes. "Lin's just sick," he said, and Lian's expression cleared. He picked up his fork, and tried to finish eating his pudding with it, since his spoon was currently lying on the floor.

 

Smart Kid.

 

"Lian, does Lin get sick a lot?" he asked, going with the idea that'd just formed.

 

Little Julian, with pudding all over his face and hands, turned to look at Lex, and very seriously said, "Daddy makes him sick."

 

 

***

 

 

When Lin didn't turn up for dinner that night, Lex volunteered to go looking for him. He patted Julian on the head, and grabbed a jacket before heading out into the snow. His first guess was where he'd found him last time, only this time he'd be alone, as Lucas was still inside eating.

 

True to form, when Lex got to the end of the stable and pushed open the big doors to the paddock, he spotted Lin leaning over the fence.

 

"What now?" Lin called out angrily, as Lex tromped closer.

 

"We're having dinner now," he said, "if you're interested."

 

Lin shook his head and his mouth twisted in disgust. "I'm not hungry."

 

"Well, then, do you mind if I join you?" Lin turned to glare at him. "It's a nice night," Lex went on cheerfully, "a tad brisk, but refreshing, nonetheless."

 

"What do you want?" Lin whined.

 

Lex angled his body so that he was facing Lin, and stared at his face, gauging his expression.

 

"I want to know what's going on inside that head of yours," he said bluntly. And while Lin blinked, surprised, Lex added, "and what made you angry this afternoon, after you were so happy."

 

"I wasn't happy," he grumbled.

 

Lex rolled his eyes. "Oh, excuse me for confusing laughing and smiling with happiness. I shall never make that mistake again." He jostled Lin's shoulder with his own. "Come on, Linny, what the hell happened back there?"

 

Lin jerked his head to the side, eyes wide as he stared at Lex in confusion and shock.

 

"What'd you say?" he whispered.

 

"That I'd never confuse your smiling with happi-- ?"

 

"No," Lin interrupted impatiently, "you called me Linny."

 

Running back over what he'd said, Lex realized he had. "Yeah," he agreed. "So I did." Raising his eyebrows in question, Lex then waited for Lin to explain why that was so important and startling.

 

"You haven't called me that in years," Lin told him. "Not since I was little."

 

"So?" At Lin's frustrated expression, Lex sighed and said, "Look, I don't see why me using an old nickname is so shocking. Or what this has to do with why you were so. . . weird earlier."

 

Lin turned his head away and took to looking out at the vastly sprawling Wayne property.

 

"It's not-- just forget it, Lex," he finally said in a quiet voice. "It's not even a big deal."

 

"Bullshit," Lex said frankly. Lin's frown deepened, but Lex ploughed through. "If it weren't a big deal, you'd be inside eating, instead of out here. . . brooding."

 

"I'm not broodin-- !"

 

"Oh, yes you are!" Lex said, cutting him off.

 

Lin shifted and ended up facing Lex directly, his face as angry and upset as it had been this afternoon in the gym.

 

"So?" he said in a mocking voice, throwing Lex's response earlier back into his face. "Why does that necessarily make it any of your business? Can't a guy brood in peace around here?" Lin's face turned smug and nasty, and he said, "I bet you don't force Bruce to talk about his feelings."

 

"What I do and do not force Bruce to do is beside the point," Lex said, and Lin sneered at him. "What I ask of you is that you're honest with me, and saying nothing is wrong, or shrugging off my concern is not being honest, Linny."

 

Colin's eyes widened briefly before his shoulders sagged and he lowered his head.

 

They were both silent for a moment, then Lex bit the bullet.

 

"So, what the hell did Lucas say that made you so mad? And if you say 'nothing,' I swear to God I'm gonna sick Julian on you."

 

The corner of Lin's mouth twitched, but he kept his eyes down and his face blank. Just as Lex was about to give up and just walk back inside, Lin spoke.

 

"Are you ever afraid of-- of turning into. . . him?"

 

Lex took a deep breath, shifting again so he, too, was looking out at the grounds and not focused so intently on Lin.

 

"Yes," he replied truthfully, and felt Lin hunch into himself even more. "Every other minute of every damn day, I think about that."

 

Lin's head started nodding frantically, and he made a choking noise. Lex turned at once and grabbed him by the shoulders.

 

"You're so fucking stupid sometimes," Lex said, which earned a startled bark of laughter from Lin. Lex went over what Lucas and Lin had said to each other after the match, and guessed aloud, "Because he called you sneaky?"

 

Lin blinked a couple of times, trying to keep the tears from falling, and Lex felt like smacking him upside the head.

 

"You're not Dad," Lex told him loudly, even shaking him a little to get the point across. "Sure, you're clever and your last name is Luthor, but, Lin, that's where the similarity ends." Colin met his eyes for a second before jerking them away again, but Lex knew he'd heard him. "You're nothing like him, and just the fact that you're freaking out worrying about turning into him proves that."

 

"It's hard to turn it off," Lin whispered, and Lex blinked a few more times than strictly necessary himself.

 

"I know," he said, catching Lin's eyes and forcing them to stay on him through sheer force of will. "But you're a good man, and he's not even human."

 

Lin laughed bitterly, a tearing, painful sound. "Neither am I!" he said.

 

But Lex just grabbed that face and told him the truth.

 

"You're so fucking stupid sometimes, Lin," he repeated. "See, I love you," Lex said, watching Lin's eyes go wide. "And I don't love him. And that's the difference.

 

"Because you're a good human being, and he's nothing but a fucking snake."

 

 

***

 

 

It was amazing how. . . utterly quiet this house was at night. Lex could wander down random hallways, for hours, and neither hear nor see another living soul.

 

Well, unless he happened by the second floor bedrooms.

 

With Bruce out, and the constant worry that the man was going to get hurt again gnawing at him, Lex couldn't sleep. So he took to walking around the manor in the middle of the night. His favorite spot was the sunroom, oddly enough. But, at night, instead of beams of sunlight, there was the glow of the moon. Instead of a blue sky overhead, thousands of stars shone through the glass ceiling. Lin spent endless amounts of time in here, and outside on the grounds, during the day, but this place had become Lex's sanctuary once the sun set.

 

And he had much to think about: Bruce "going back to work," Lucas' abilities and intelligence, the therapy sessions they'd resumed once again, and the way Lian was gradually becoming quieter and quieter, more withdrawn.

 

On his way back upstairs each night, Lex necessarily had to pass the second floor. It was just a quick few steps from the main staircase to the private one that went up to the upper levels of the house, but it was enough most nights. Lian was a quiet sleeper, always had been. He didn't snore or talk in his sleep.

 

Lin, on the other hand, was anything but quiet. Screaming, sometimes, calling out and shouting, others, Lin could be heard down on the first floor when he woke from a nightmare. Or night terrors, as Daniel insisted they call them. Lex for once didn't care what the hell they were. He just wanted Lin to stop having them. Having the memories was too much already. Why did he have to relive them in his sleep, too?

 

He never knew what to do when they started, though. Standing in the hall and praying to a god he didn't believe in seemed to be the routine he was fast setting, but there had to be a better way. He hadn't even been aware that Lucas and Lin slept in the same bed till a week ago. During one of his midnight sojourns, Lex had heard Lin screaming and had rushed up to find. . . Lucas, under the covers, trying to restrain Lin from hurting himself.

 

Colin, it seemed, could inflict physical damage to himself. He could scratch his skin bloody with his own nails, pull out his hair, and bruise himself. . . all while unconscious. At least, Lex hoped it was only when he was sleeping.

 

But after that first night of hearing him call out, and seeing Lucas there to comfort and protect him, Lex never went into their room again. When Lin started screaming and moaning, he'd go up there of course. Lex made it a point to always stick close to the main stairwell for the first few hours after Lin went to bed. That's when he'd have the night terrors, and even if he couldn't do anything to stop them, he wanted to be there.

 

For Colin. He owed it to him to see. Enough looking away. If Lin had to go through them, then Lex would have to watch them.

 

 

***

 

 

"You're looking chipper this morning," Lex said, brushing past Bruce on his way to the coffee.

 

Bruce just shrugged and took a sip from his own mug. "Had a. . . productive night."

 

"I'll bet." Lex glanced at the headline of the Gotham Globe, the paper lying on the kitchen island and obviously having been read once already.

 

"So what'd you do last night?" Bruce asked, settling back against one of the counters and giving Lex that pleasantly interested expression of his.

 

"Oh, same old, same old." He set the coffee carafe back down and perched on one of the stools nearby. Cracking his neck and then taking a swallow of hot, black coffee, Lex felt better immediately. He glanced at Bruce, and lifted an eyebrow. "What?" he asked, in response to the muted look of worry covering Bruce's face.

 

"Maybe you should ask Tucker for something," Bruce said, dropping his eyes and taking another drink of his coffee.

 

"Daniel?" Lex repeated in confusion. "What the-- why would I do that?"

 

"You're not sleeping," he answered. Then with a wave of his hand, Bruce said, "You just wander around the place looking tired and worn out." Lex made a face at him -- Bruce and his spying, obsessive, controlling ways -- and Bruce sighed loudly in apparent frustration. "He's your therapist, Lex. If you can't sleep, he's supposed to help you figure out why and treat you. That's his job."

 

"He's not my therapist," Lex argued. "Daniel is Lin's, and Julian's. I just go for them. And I don't appreciate being under surveillance. If you want to know something, ask, Bruce. But don't go around taping me and then confronting me with whatever it is you think I'm doing wrong."

 

Bruce just shook his head and brought the mug back up to his mouth. Lex was about to call him out again, but the kitchen door flung open and Lex was face to face with his insomnia.

 

"Hey," Lin said, shuffling in and dropping down onto one of the chairs at the table.

 

"Hey, yourself," Lex replied. "You and Alfred going today?"

 

Lin nodded. "Yeah, he said Nick called him last night." He shrugged, and said, "Guess Jameson knows someone who found the records. He faxed them over to Nick yesterday, and. . . that's that, I guess."

 

"Your birth certificate?" Bruce guessed.

 

"Yeah. To get my license," he explained. "I need that or an Adoption Order." Lin shrugged again, and dropped his eyes down to where his hands were fiddling on the table top.

 

"What's the date on the certificate?" Lex asked. He felt tense and uneasy, and had no idea why. It just felt like. . . bad news was coming.

 

Lin raised his head, and Lex didn't like the look on his face one bit.

 

"October 20th," he replied, "1986."

 

When both Bruce and Lin's face turned worried, Lex realized he'd been laughing.

 

"Nice touch, nice touch," Lex muttered to himself. He met Lin's eyes and said, "So you're 15, eh? Who'd he put down as your parents?"

 

Lin frowned. "I didn't know them. Neither of the names were familiar."

 

"Probably just made them up," Lex guessed. "Wouldn't surprise me. He made everything else up."

 

"Kind of risky, though," Bruce said. "To put your birthday down as the same day of the meteor shower. Almost like he was. . . saying something with it."

 

"To whom?" Lex asked, bewildered. "More likely, he thought it fitting and appropriate. And funny as hell." He looked back at Lin. "To put down the almost absolute truth, and know no one would ever get it."

 

"Yeah, well, I'm just glad Jameson got a hold of it," Lin said. "Kinda hard to ever do anything, if there's no record of me even existing."

 

 

***

 

 

Later, after Lin and Alfred left for the DMV, Lex decided to spend some time with Lian. He went up to the library and, after knocking on the door, stepped inside. Both Liza and Lian looked up at him, and Lex smiled.

 

"I was wondering if I could borrow Lian for an hour or two," he said, looking at Liza.

 

She turned to Lian and said, without looking at Lex, "I think that's a good idea. We were just about to break anyway. Julian, why don't you let me look over your essay for you, while you and your brother go and get some air?"

 

Lian just pushed his notebook towards her without a word, then got up and walked over to Lex. His face was blank and yet vaguely angry, it seemed, and Lex had the sinking feeling this talk was long overdue.

 

He stepped back and let Lian pass through the doorway first. With one last smile at Liza, Lex then followed the boy out into the hall. They started down the hall and then Lex steered them to the staircase.

 

"I thought we'd go riding, if that's okay?" he asked, taking the first step down. Julian didn't follow him, though, so Lex turned around to face him. "Lian?"

 

The kid was biting his lip and wouldn't meet Lex's eyes.

 

"I don't want to go riding," he said oh-so-quietly. "Can we-- can we go to the gym, instead? Please?"

 

That was fear on his face, Lex realized. Reality snapped back into place, and he moved closer to Lian, putting his hands around the boy's shoulders and bending down to his eye-level.

 

"Of course we can, Kiddo." Not knowing what else to do, Lex wrapped him up in a hug and squeezed tightly. Lian was so tiny, so small and. . . fragile. "All you have to do is ask," Lex whispered into his ear.

 

Suddenly, Lian was squeezing him back and shaking. Lex took a deep breath then simply picked him up, taking him over to one of the small sofas that lined the upstairs hallway like wallpaper.

 

He set him down and then dropped next to him, putting his arm back around the kid's shoulders.

 

"Hey, what's the matter?" he asked, wiping the tears from Lian's face and making sure he couldn't turn away. "What's wrong?"

 

" 'm such a baby," Lian muttered, his cheeks going red in embarrassment.

 

"No, you're not," Lex said, his voice colder than he'd meant it to be. "You're allowed to cry. There's no shame in it, okay?"

 

Julian met his eyes and Lex recognized that stubborn set to his jaw, that spark in his eyes. It was strange watching Lian grow up, catching bits of their mother. . .  and father. . . in his face, and yet somehow seeing him only as himself. Julian Rei Luthor. Wonderful Kid.

 

"You never do," Lian accused him, jerking Lex back to the conversation. He frowned and Julian said, "You never ever cry. I've never seen you do it."

 

"Habit, I guess," he flung out there, but Julian wasn't biting. Lex sighed and tried again. "It is okay to cry. I just-- I was never told that, and it's. . . hard for me. To cry."

 

Lex felt like a fool. He turned his head and looked out over the vast foyer. They were sitting just off to the side of the huge main staircase, and the view of the entryway from here was amazing. They sat like that for awhile, until Lex heard a quiet rustling and felt a hand slide into his. He looked over at Lian, and the kid tried to smile at him.

 

"It's okay to cry, Lex," Julian said, and damned if Lex's eyes didn't prickle. "Mom would've told you that, if she could have. She probably just thought you'd figure it out yourself."

 

Lex felt his mouth hanging open, and shut it, his eyes still glued to Lian in sheer wonder. Where the hell had this come from?

 

"But you're kinda stupid sometimes," Lian was saying. Then, he added hastily, "I mean, you get sidetracked and-- and you have, um, blind spots?" He grabbed Lex's other hand and said, "You tell us stuff all the time, but you don't feel it. Not really." Lian dropped his head, fumbling around for what to say, but then it snapped up again. "Like Bruce," he said.

 

"What?" Lex said blankly.

 

"You think it's different for you," Lian told him. "Like Bruce does, but that's not true. He could cry, too. Lin does. He cries and he doesn't even get embarrassed about it."

 

"Yeah, well, Lin's a hell of a lot smarter than I am," Lex said, smiling slightly at the memory of their conversation the other night -- where Lex had told him he was stupid sometimes. "What can I say? Sometimes it is different."

 

"Not this time," Lian argued. "You cry next time you feel like it, and no one will say anything. You'll see."

 

"I know that. It's just. . . "

 

"Lionel told you not to."

 

Lex closed his eyes at the hatred in Julian's voice.

 

"He told me not to, too," Lian went on. "But. . . "

 

"But, what?"

 

"I think he was wrong about a lot of stuff. I don't think-- I don't care what he said anymore."

 

His hands were still held by Lian, and Lex shifted so he could catch the kid's eyes again.

 

"Then you're just as smart as Lin," Lex told him, and Julian smiled.

 

 

***

 

 

Lex and Lian were still in the gym when Lin came bursting in. Lex stopped Lian's Muay Thai-style kick with a wave of his arm, and turned to face the door.

 

"So?" he asked, as Lin started coming closer. "How'd it go?"

 

Lin's expression stayed blank, until he stepped on the mat, and then he smiled. Lex smiled in reaction, too, and Julian literally squealed before jumping forward and plastering himself up against Lin.

 

"I knew you'd do it!" Lian crowed, and Lex just laughed at the two of them. Lin smiled down at his brother, then started turning them around, spinning so fast Julian's legs swirled out and he cried out in delight. "Lin! Lin!" Lian laughed, and Colin laughed, too.

 

Lex smiled at them, at the picture they made.

 

Just two kids, having fun and celebrating a Learner's Permit.

 

 

***

 

 

"Congratulations, Lin," Lex said, as they all walked together. Lex had proposed asking Alfred for a celebratory dinner, and Lin told him the man had already beaten him to the punch.

 

"We should help!" Lian exclaimed, almost bouncing up and down in his excitement. "I'm good at helping!"

 

"I'll bet you are," Lex said, and Lian stuck his tongue out at him. "Come on, you. Show me how to help. I don't think I've ever done that. . ."

 

"Not with cooking! You can't even make toast!"

 

"Oh, really?" Lex asked. "You think so, huh?" And Lian nodded with a grin. "Well, I'll have you know I make a mean piece of toast. You haven't lived until you've had a piece of my toast!"

 

Lian's nose wrinkled, but it was Lin's loud bark of laughter that made Lex smile in accomplishment. He looked over and Lin's face was a mixture of hilarity, disbelief, and. . .

 

Love.

 

"Where's Lucky?" Lin suddenly asked, turning his head away and breaking the tension between them. "He wasn't in his room. . ."

 

"I don't know," Lex said. "Earlier, he told me was going to read in the sunroom. He wasn't there?"

 

Lin shook his head with a frown.

 

"Maybe outside then?" Lex suggested.

 

Lin made a sound in his throat before shaking his head again.

 

"What?" Lex asked, moving his hand up to Julian's head and ruffling the boy's curls until he got a swat from him. "Lin."

 

"It's nothing," Lin said, but Lex just looked at him in disbelief. "Fine!" he exclaimed, but with a slight smile, so Lex knew he wasn't bothered or annoyed by the pestering. They were nearing the kitchen, and Lin stopped in the hallway, waiting for Lex and Lian to, as well. He sighed, and then  met Lex's eyes, saying, "He doesn't like going outside, gets pretty, uh, freaked out when I ask him lately. I think. . ." He paused, and rubbed at the back of his neck with his hand. "I think he's maybe agoraphobic."

 

"Well," Lex said, at a loss as to what to say. "So he'll be somewhere around here then."

 

"Yeah," Lin agreed. "But he's not on the main floor. I've checked."

 

"So, uh, why don't you and I look for him, and, Lian?" Lex looked down, and Lian started nodding before he even started.

 

"I'll help Alfred," he said. "Then you can come and see how it's done when you've found Lucky."

 

"'Lucky,' huh?" Lex asked, amused.

 

Lian shrugged. "He asked me to. Cos I told him everyone called me Lian."

 

Lex smiled, not missing the quick flash of happiness on Lin's face.

 

"Off with you then!" he said, reaching out to mess up Julian's hair again. But the kid was a quick learner. He ducked out of Lex's reach and backpedaled away from them, grinning in triumph.

 

"Missed me!" he taunted, then darted into the kitchen.

 

Lex smiled again before turning to Lin. "So, upper levels, or lower?"

 

"Upper, I think," Lin replied. "He wouldn't want to bother Bruce. . . downstairs."

 

"Do you. . . want to 'look?'" Lex asked, pointing to his eye. "Or, do you need my help going room by room?"

 

"Room by room," Lin said. "I have something to ask you, and--" He nodded his head towards the door, and when Lex looked, he could indeed see it was ajar. They had an eavesdropper.

 

"Okay, then," Lex said, and started moving back towards the stairs. When they'd reached the second floor, he asked, "So, what's up?"

 

"Oh, um, it's about Lian's birthday."

 

"It sure is getting closer," he agreed. Then, thinking about it, "God, it's less than a week away!"

 

"Yeah. So I. . . got his gift today, and I-- well, I wanted to ask you." Lin stopped him, turning Lex to face him with a hand on his arm. "Do you think-- would Lian like the circus?"

 

"You're asking me?"

 

Lin blushed, nodding his head. "It seemed like a good idea, but Alfred said the circus wasn't for everyone. I thought I'd better get your opinion before giving him the tickets. Just to be sure."

 

Lex smiled. "I think Lian would love the circus. It'll be good for him, a little distraction and fantasy. Just what the doctor ordered."

 

Lin breathed out a sigh of relief, his shoulders sagging from the release of tension. "Good," he said. "Great! I bought plenty, enough so we could all go."

 

They started moving again, one or the other opening a door and peering inside before resuming the walk.

 

"I can't wait to see Bruce's expression," Lex said, chuckling.

 

"He'll go, right?" Lin asked. "I mean, for Lian's birthday, he'll go."

 

Lex nodded, opening a door to his right and scanning inside before closing it again. "Yeah, he'll go, but I have no idea what his reaction will be." A thought occurred to him, and Lex started laughing again. "You know," he said. "Once we leave the house, it'll be Brucie tagging along. . ." He grinned over at Lin. "Not Bruce, per se."

 

Lin smiled, too. "Why do you think I got so many tickets?"

 

 

***

 

 

Interrupt

 

 

The Tumbler needed some repairs, so, after cleaning up, he stayed in the cave and worked. Alfred came down with coffee and toast sometime later, and then again with soup and a sandwich after that. He set the tray next to the other one, and Bruce pretended not to see his frown.

 

Finally, when he'd completed the repairs as best he could without taking it in to Lucius, Bruce looked down at his watch and saw it was past time he got started for the evening. He put on the suit and cowl again, then started the Tumbler, almost smiling at how much better it sounded. Once secured, he accelerated, bursting out through the water and into the night.

 

Someone had been planting bombs around the city, and Batman was going to find the culprit tonight.

 

For night lasted longer in Gotham, whole days, sometimes.

 

And in a few cases, it was something without end.

 

 

***

 

 

" . . .mmm, hey," Lex murmured sleepily. He rolled over, closer to Bruce's touch, smiling briefly before reaching a hand up. "Come here," he said a moment later, his voice clearer and awake at last. Lex's touch on his cheek was more startling than Bruce thought it should have been. Next thing he knew, he was lying on his side with warm, heavy arms wrapped around and around him.

 

"You haven't slept in days, Bruce," Lex whispered in his ear. Ten breaths later, he asked, "Did you do what you needed to?"

 

For now, he thought. Instead, Bruce nodded a yes and closed his eyes for longer than a second for the first time in three days. Lex sighed, and the breath of it warmed a small place in Bruce's chest. For now.

 

There were always more bombs to find and deactivate, more people to stop and restrain. But Lex was soft and hard, careful and everywhere. His presence made sense of life, more than anything else.

 

Except the night.

 

 

***

 

 

Julian smiled at him the next morning. He was nine years old today, and Bruce smiled back, knowing this boy's life wasn't set in stone yet. Not like the rest of them.

 

When Alfred abruptly shoved a plate in front of him, he looked up to see real anger in the man's eyes for the first time in years. Again, he smiled, watching Alfred's brow wrinkle even more before he turned away.

 

Liza was gone for the weekend. Again. He suspected there was something wrong with that, but had promised himself he wouldn't look into it until tomorrow. Today, all his thoughts were for Julian and his brothers. It would be insulting to lie to the boy like that, pretend on a day meant only for celebration and happiness. Brucie could do the one, but he knew he'd have to fake the second. One lie was okay, he thought.

 

 

***

 

 

The day was full of smiling. Julian laughed. He danced. He hugged them all, several times over, and opened his presents with unbridled glee. Wrapping paper, ribbon, boxes, all were scattered around the sunroom like confetti. It made Bruce's teeth hurt, but he smiled through it.

 

Night eventually came, but Bruce instead donned his costume this time out. Lex slapped him on the ass when he saw him in jeans, making a comment about how they even looked pressed. Bruce glanced down at his watch and saw they had enough time for him to make Lex moan, before leaving for the circus. His jeans didn't look pressed after that.

 

Colin and Lucas held hands once outside in the night. Lucas was pale and sweating, but nodded and responded easily enough. Bruce turned his eyes away and focused on Gotham passing outside the car window.

 

It was loud, crowded, hot in the main tent. They had seats directly in front of the ring, so close he could see the makeup on the performers' faces. Famous people sat near and next to them. Some, Bruce knew, others, he only recognized. Thomas Elliot shook his hand, then introduced himself to Lex when Bruce refused to do so.

 

The acts were interesting enough, but when the high wires and trapeze began, Bruce started feeling uneasy. The crowd loved it, though. Even Lex and Colin, who he knew for a fact were both petrified of heights, smiled and gasped at the stunts.

 

When the three Graysons swung out, the whole tent broke into applause. The family was the main attraction, top-billed, in fact. It wasn't hard to see why. All three moved like birds in flight through the air, the boy no exception. He couldn't have been much older than Julian, but his body moved in an amazing, beautiful grotesquery. The three performers twisted and twined around each other in a dance. At one point, the man gripped the trapeze with the backs of his knees, then caught the woman's wrists in his hands. While the audience gasped, the boy then launched himself from the opposite trapeze, falling in an arc until his hand closed around the woman's ankle. There, he held himself, one-handed as the crowd thundered and cheered.

 

There was one last stunt after that, the finale, a series of tumbles on the high wire with the man and woman the sole performers. Bruce watched, that feeling of unease not lessening at all. He could see the boy on the opposite platform, watching with narrowed eyes as his parents slowly and artfully came closer to him.

 

Then there was a sound, snapping and reverberating throughout the tent. Suddenly, people screamed. The woman to Bruce's right grabbed and clung to his arm in her shock. Lex tried to get Julian to look away.

 

But all Bruce really saw was that boy on the platform, that look on his face as his parents fell and died before his eyes.

 

Someone was shaking him, and when he looked, Lex's face was above him. It was quiet now.

 

"Bruce?" he asked, but Bruce couldn't tell what was wrong with his voice. Lex looked pained, so Bruce smiled to try and make him feel better.

 

"Don't be afraid," he told Lex, then went back to staring at the now-empty platform.

 

 

***

 

 

Lex closed the door behind himself, then started off slowly down the hall. Lian was waiting at the banister of the stairs, a stark lack of expression on his face Lex found terrifyingly familiar.

 

"How is he?" Lian asked, quietly.

 

Lex came up to him, put an arm around him and pulled his little brother close. After a minute, he even dropped to his knees, and turned the half-embrace into a whole body hug. Lian was shaking a little, not so much that you'd notice just by looking at him, but this close, Lex felt it. Or was that him?

 

"Hard to tell," Lex said. "He's quiet, but then. . . how is that not usual?" He paused. "Usual," he repeated. After all, tonight had been anything but 'usual.' At least, Lex hoped this sort of thing wouldn't become the norm of their lives. There were hardships, yeah. Every single day was practically full of disasters and pain, but no one usually. . . died. Until tonight.

 

"How are you?" Lex asked, whispering. He drew away just enough to meet Lian's eyes. "Can I do anything?"

 

Lian quirked his lips in an almost-smile, then shook his head. "They're downstairs," he said. At Lex's frown, Julian added, "In the kitchen. Lucas made Lin sit down, and I came up here after he stopped crying."

 

Lex closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Well, at least one of them was actually dealing with what had happened. Maybe two, since Lucas was down there with Lin. Lex had always found it hard to keep from crying when someone else close to him was. Perhaps Lucas was the same. And with how close those two had become, maybe Lucas would be forced to confront his feelings, too. It wasn't every day you saw two people die right in front of you. There was bound to be some grief and shock as a result.

 

Lex caught himself glancing back at the door behind them, and quickly turned away. He'd come back up later, probably go down with Lian now and ask Alfred if he wanted to. . . switch places for awhile.

 

He got to his feet, keeping a hand on Lian's back as he guided them to the stairs and down the steps. When they reached the kitchen, Lex pushed the door open first before ushering Lian inside.

 

"Hey," Lex greeted Alfred quietly. The older man had been leaning over Lin at the table, but straightened as Lex and Julian came into the room.

 

"Oh, thank God," Alfred breathed in relief, stepping away from the table. Lian took his place, immediately shrugging off Lex's hand and wandering over to embrace Lin. When Alfred came closer, Lex could see the worry in the wrinkles around his eyes and mouth, in the frown he wore like an old friend. The man moved right up next to Lex, shifting his body so they could both see the table easily while talking. "Master Wayne?" Alfred asked lowly.

 

Lex met his eyes. "Staring out the window in the bedroom," he answered. "He took a shower, but I had to pull him out after about 45 minutes. That's what took so long." Lex glanced quickly over to the kitchen table before resuming the eye contact. "I'll stay here with them, but-- "

 

Alfred nodded as Lex trailed off uncertainly. "I'll just go up and see, then," he told him. His voice was infinitely calmer than it'd been just a few seconds prior, and so Lex guessed that something in what he'd said had been good news. He watched Alfred quietly leave the room before turning and walking over to his brothers.

 

"Hey," Lex said, crouching beside Lin's chair and setting a hand on his arm in an effort to see his eyes.

 

It wasn't good. There were tear tracks on his face, but Lin's eyes weren't red or washed out like Lex had expected. In fact, his expression was the epitome of blankness, which made Lex sigh in frustration. There was no telling what was going on in that head of his with no facial indicators. Lin was only transparent when he allowed himself to be. Otherwise, he was one of the most inscrutable people Lex had ever known.

 

"How are you feeling?" he asked gently, rubbing Lin's arm and still trying to pierce that armor of his.

 

"Good luck," came Lucas' voice from across the table. When Lex jerked his head over, Lucas just stared right back at him and folded his arms across his chest.

 

"What?" Lex asked him.

 

"He's unresponsive -- has been since he sat down." Lucas gestured with one hand towards Lin's face, before crossing his arms again. "And he won't come back till he feels differently, so it's no use talking to him."

 

Lex looked back to Lin's face. He was right. Now that he knew what to look for, Lex recognized the signs. Lin's eyes were wide and glassy, moving around the room aimlessly. And here he'd just thought Lin was avoiding his gaze. But it was the hands that clinched it, still and lifeless like they never were. Lin always fidgeted, tugging at his clothes or making those small movements with his fingers that Lex suspected was him thinking of drawing. But he wasn't moving now, wasn't fidgeting, and if it weren't for the steady rise and fall of his chest, Lex would have felt for a pulse.

 

"Great," he muttered, and with a sigh dropped down to sit on the floor. He brought his hands up to his face and felt like screaming.

 

There was a screeching sound of chair legs being dragged across the floor, and then Lian asked, "Did Bruce say anything?"

 

Lex sighed again, tilting his head to each side and cracking his neck loudly. He stretched out his legs and braced himself by putting his hands flat on the floor behind himself and locking his arms. "He didn't say one single word," Lex finally answered, his eyes on Colin.

 

"Nothing?" Lian repeated incredulously. "But he was so-- so. . . weird on the ride home. I figured he'd-- "

 

"Where are his parents?"

 

Lex turned his head at Lucas' question. "Bruce's?" he asked tiredly.

 

Lucas nodded.

 

"They're dead," he told him. "Were shot in an alley when Bruce was eight."

 

Lucas looked away for a moment, before meeting Lex's eyes again dead-on. "Was he there?"

 

"Yes," Lex breathed, understanding now.

 

They were all silent until Lian quietly said, "I didn't know that."

 

Lex looked at him, surprised. "I'm-- I'm sorry," he apologized uneasily. "I thought. . . everyone did."

 

Lian just shrugged, a smile flickering briefly on his face before vanishing. "It's okay," he said. "No one ever tells me anything. Just means I have to work harder to find out stuff." He smiled again.

 

Lex suddenly smiled too. "Like a real spy," he teased.

 

"What's going to happen to that boy?" Lucas asked suddenly. His voice sounded unsteady, worried. Lex thought it was probably the most feeling he'd ever witnessed in the kid.

 

"Unless a family member or someone from the circus gets custody, I imagine he'll be put into foster care," Lex answered. He shook his head, turning back to stare at Lin's profile above him. "Hell of a life to have to leave behind."

 

And then he felt it, like the air had solidified somehow and become impossible to breathe. Lin turned his head and looked right into Lex's eyes.

 

"He won't forget," he said, his face becoming sad and wistful. "You never forget the ones who love you."

 

Lex supposed that was true. And if anyone knew, it would be Lin.

 

 

***

 

 

Interrupt

 

 

He sent flowers in their name.

 

 

'Our sincerest condolences for your loss.

 

Chance will be greatly missed.

 

--Alexander, Colin, and Julian Luthor, and Lucas Dunleavy.'

 

 

He imagined Chance's brother, Thom, wouldn't hesitate to hurl the lilies at the nearest wall, but that didn't matter in the end. He'd acknowledged the fact that they were somehow connected to Chance, that they had known him. The gesture would certainly anger Thom Aerson, but he maintained a small hope that, to Chance's parents, it might serve as some sort of explanation for his murder. 'He helped us,' Lin wanted to write. 'He saved us, and you will never know how sorry I am that I couldn't save him.'

 

The card itself had been tricky. He'd spent hours trying to figure out the right words, only to become frustrated when he went to sign the damn thing. Did he use their nicknames? It might sound too informal, maybe even insulting, but, then, those were what they most often responded to. Chance had called him Lin, not Colin. He'd said Lex, not Alexander. He signed everything important Colin, though, and their full names looked more mature and respectful, all lined up and symmetrical. Except Lucas'.

 

In the end, he told the truth, and called it a day. He didn't tell all the truth by any means, but then, he doubted they'd even read it. The more he thought about it, the more pointless it all seemed. He'd sent flowers to the family of the man his father'd had murdered. Probably an insensitive and egotistical thing to do.

 

Lin wondered if Lionel had sent flowers. He wouldn't put it past him.

 

The two of them often thought alike.

 

 

***

 

 

When he woke up, it was still dark outside. Lin glanced at the little digital clock on his side of the bed. 2:43, it glowed. With a sigh, he pushed the covers back and got out of bed. Lucas was still asleep, so Lin made sure to move quietly.

 

He gently shut the door again on his way out, then walked over to the stairwell and started down.

 

Lin was halfway between thinking of Chance, and contemplating why he couldn't get the colors right in that cityscape painting, when suddenly he looked up and there was Lex right in front of him.

 

"Jesus!" Lin exclaimed.

 

Lex just raised a brow, his eyes somewhat glassy and half-lidded.

 

"Did I startle you?" he asked redundantly.

 

"What are you doing up?" Lin asked instead, moving closer and gesturing for Lex to come with him. "I was gonna get something to eat, if you want to join me?"

 

Lex nodded, but stayed silent. He followed behind Lin like a docile little puppy, and it was freaking him out.

 

When they got to the kitchen door, Lin pushed it in with his arm but scrunched back against the frame to let Lex pass through first. Sure enough, when he glanced down at Lex's hands, he saw the left one clenched into a fist at his side.

 

"Grab a seat," Lin said as he strode over to the freezer. "Which do you prefer, chocolate or. . . some kind of cherry-thing?"

 

"Is there any coffee on?"

 

Lin ducked back out from behind the freezer door and met Lex's eyes across the room. No way in hell was he going to let that man drink any more caffeine tonight. Or tomorrow. In fact, Lin was pretty sure Lex had consumed more than the recommended monthly amount of caffeine over the past few days. The dark circles under his eyes had dark circles.

 

"What's wrong?" Lin demanded, pushing the door shut with a whoompf. He slowly closed the space between them until he was standing right in front of Lex, then crossed his arms over his chest and tried to look intimidating.

 

"Nothing," Lex replied in a dead voice, but his eyes widened ever so slightly when Lin glared at him. "Just haven't been sleeping well."

 

"And coffee's going to help, is it?" At least he got a sheepish look at that, but Lex was still closed-off and stubborn. Lin sighed and dropped into the chair next to him, rubbing his hands over his face and pushing his hair back.

 

It was times like this when he missed his hair. There were few things more satisfying than just reaching back in frustration, grabbing a handful of hair, and yanking.

 

"What are you doing, Lex?" Lin finally dared. He said it quietly and kept his eyes on the table before them, but every once in awhile he'd sneak a quick glance at Lex's hands. After about a minute of silence, the left one slowly uncurled and Lex took in a deep breath.

 

He let it out in a gust, setting his elbows on the table and resting his face in his hands. Lex's voice was muffled when he said, "I have no fucking clue."

 

Lin couldn't help it. He snorted in amusement at Lex saying 'fuck' and when he met those eyes across the way, glaring at him in confusion and suspicion, the snort became a chortle. He felt eight years old again, laughing with Lex as they made up new words to curse and swear with.

 

The laughter eventually died in his throat, and Lin had to blink a couple of times when he was done to make sure the expression on Lex's face was. . . real.

 

They were both quiet for a moment, quiet but peaceful maybe. At least Lin was. And Lex looked it.

 

"So," Lex said, breaking the silence. "Let's try some of that cherry stuff, huh?" Lin smiled at him a little, and Lex kept going. "Where do you think Alfred keeps the sprinkles and nuts?"

 

Lin got up, slowly retracing his steps back to the freezer.

 

"I don't know, Lex. You might just have to make do with only sprinkles."

 

They looked at each other for a few seconds, then like clockwork burst out laughing at the familiar in-joke. Lin made up two bowls, scrounging and surveying the various cupboards until he came up with both chopped peanuts and chocolate sprinkles. Bringing everything to the table was like juggling eggs, and the whole time Lex was looking at him with a small smile on his face.

 

Lin had just stuck another spoonful of ice cream in his mouth when Lex asked, "Does Lian put anything on his?"

 

Swallowing that mouthful felt oddly uncomfortable, like breaking some taboo, and meeting Lex's eyes was hard.

 

"What?" Lin coughed out, the ice cream sticking in his throat and nothing else. Shaking his head, he put his spoon gently in his bowl. "Um, yeah. He. . . likes chocolate syrup, actually," he confided, looking at his and Lex's preferred toppings, then raising his eyebrows significantly.

 

Lex swallowed hard and looked down at his bowl for a moment, then scooped up some more ice cream.

 

And that was when it hit him: Lex hadn't known. He hadn't known what Lian liked on his ice cream, hadn't realized that sometimes the little habits their brother had were the exact same ones their mother'd had also. Like putting chocolate syrup on practically everything, or refusing to eat asparagus or onions, or rubbing their hands together quickly when they got excited about something. Lex had missed all that with Julian.

 

Lin tried sometimes to really be like them. For a month, two years ago, he'd tried to write like she had, make his letters all long and looping and graceful. Later, he'd tried brushing his hair for a while the way he remembered her doing it. The look on Lionel's face when he'd seen was more than enough reason to stop, though.

 

It was always the little things that tripped him up, that made him stand out. Sometimes he got this. . . feeling, like he wasn't doing something. Like he'd forgotten. It was worse now than it had been ba-- back in Metropolis.

 

But when they'd rescued Lucky, when he'd helped Tim Drake. . . everything fell into place. He felt like a liar now though. The Graysons had died, and he was still amazed when yet another second passed with no one pointing out the fact that he could have easily saved them.

 

He wanted to do good. He wanted to make things right and help. He felt it, in his bones, in his. . . soul, if such a thing existed. If he had one. And he did try so hard.

 

He'd make it better. Things had happened, and he didn't think he'd had any control over how events had played out, but. . .

 

People had died because of him, Before, and now it was starting to happen again.

 

He felt things. He cried and laughed and loved. He did try, all the time, to be good and not evil.

 

He wasn't a monster.

 

He wasn't.

 

 

***

 

 

Bruce wasn't in tonight, so he felt okay guiding Lex to bed. It would have been too awkward if he were there in the bed, staring back at Lin as he pushed Lex under the covers and told him to just get some sleep already.

 

Bruce saw too much, but you could never really see into him. He wore too many masks, hung up too many mirrors in himself. Lin wondered what Bruce thought about him, wondered, when things someday got out of hand, if Bruce would be the one to stop him. Bruce or Lucky.

 

"Now close your eyes and lie there till eight," he told Lex, pulling the sheet, blanket and comforter up over his shoulders. "You look like a zombie."

 

"Such sweet things you say," Lex murmured, his eyes already shut. He turned on his side and drew his legs up, and Lin took a careful breath before leaving the room. Most people, he'd read, look younger when they're asleep. Lucky did, as well as Julian. Lex just then had looked about 12.

 

Bruce was the only person Lin knew who actually looked years older when he slept.

 

He went into the entertainment room and turned on the radio. Leaving it low, Lin messed with the dial until he came to a station playing classical.

 

Mozart, at first, but soon Beethoven came on.

 

Lione-- he'd. . . Lionel always played Beethoven when he was in a mood. Angry, satisfied, depressed, horny, Beethoven worked for all and sundry emotions. Lin used to hate that music, no matter how beautiful it was. A few months back, in September, he'd cut his arms all up to hell on their bed while blasting Beethoven's Symphony No. Seven in A Major. He'd made it through the Poco sostenuto. Vivace just fine, but once it moved into the Allegretto he'd started to feel dizzy.

 

One of the maids had stumbled in with fresh lilies just as the Second Movement ended, and Lin remembered passing out to the sight of her aghast face. She'd dropped the lilies on the floor, but there had been a lot of blood.

 

The symphony playing wasn't the 'Seventh' -- it was the 'Fifth' maybe, the one in C minor, anyway -- but there was a piano just down the hall. Everyone was upstairs, or out, in Bruce's case.

 

He could still play; Lillian had taught him. She'd taught Lex, too, but he never played anymore, at least that Lin knew about.

 

The hallway was deserted and spotless, like a museum that's just about to open to the public. There weren't very many pictures or paintings on the walls, and he wondered if that were Bruce's doing or Alfred's. Or Thomas and Martha Wayne's.

 

He opened the door quietly and just as quietly shut it behind himself. There was a lock on the door, and he thought about turning it, so as not to get interrupted should someone hear and come investigating, but decided that would just be asking for trouble.

 

The piano hadn't been played in a long time, he could tell. It was perfectly in tune of course, but it just. . . lacked something the old piano in Metropolis had had. There was no history on its bench or its keys, no sticky pedals or worn spots. It was a beautiful piece of art, pristine, lovely. Untouchable. Lonely.

 

It was the perfect piano for Beethoven.

 

Playing was easy if one knew the notes. Once they were a part of a person, so much so that everything was tinged in polished black and white, then the emotion came through all on its own.

 

He just had to remember how it felt to be totally alone, and then doing justice to Beethoven was easier than breathing.

 

 

***

 

 

When he woke up, Bruce wasn't there. Lex just sighed and stumbled out of the bed, going through the motions of getting ready for another day, all the while wondering if an intervention were necessary. Like it would even work. The man would just stare at them all until they finished talking, then go back to tinkering away in his cave.

 

It was only a little after six, so Lex fully expected the kitchen to be empty. . . well, nearly so. He had no clue when Alfred actually got up, but he'd bet anything it was too damn early for most people. Sure enough, when he pushed the door in, Alfred was standing over the stove, stirring and mixing something. There was coffee, though, so Lex's attention was quickly diverted.

 

"Sleep well, Master Lex?" Alfred asked, obviously amused. He smiled a little, but Lex could see it for what it was -- distraction.

 

"Yes, I did in fact. Once I laid down, that is."

 

"Hmmm," Alfred agreed, nodding as he turned back to his cooking.

 

They were both silent for awhile after that. Lex watched as Alfred turned the heat down on whatever sauce it was he was making, and when the older man started laying out place settings at the table he went over to help.

 

There were only four spots, though, and damned if that weren't confusing.

 

He looked up, catching Alfred's eyes. "Only four?"

 

Alfred nodded. "Master Wayne has already eaten," he said, his tone making it obvious his opinion on that.

 

"And Liza?" Lex asked.

 

Alfred's grimace turned into a frown, as he turned and went to a cabinet to fetch glasses and mugs.

 

"I'm sure it's not my place," he replied cryptically. Alfred's back was to him, but that didn't stop Lex from seeing the tension in the man's stance and his jerky motions.

 

"What's wrong with Liza?" Lex asked point-blank. He walked over to the island counter, placing him only about a foot away from the older man. With one hand bracing himself on a stool, and the other in his pocket, Lex worked on schooling his facial expression. Not too eager, not too demanding, but something in between usually worked best. In his head, he always called it his 'listening face.'

 

Alfred sighed heavily, then looked back at Lex over his shoulder. He narrowed his eyes for a moment, then rolled them before turning back to pick up the assorted cups. Lex dashed over to help him, earning a twitch of the mouth, and while they put the juice glasses, and the milk glasses, and the coffee mugs all in their proper spots, Alfred spoke quietly.

 

"Miss Liza's been away for over a week now," he said, eyes solely on making sure Lian's unnecessary coffee mug was absolutely centered. "So last night, Master Wayne phoned the number she'd left, so as to make sure nothing was amiss." He looked up, meeting Lex's eyes.

 

Lex nodded. "And? What did she say? What's going on?" The last sounded whinier than he'd intended, but it had the effect of keeping Alfred talking, at least.

 

"She wasn't there," the older man said bluntly. "And the. . . good people. . . who were did not know her, or anyone matching her description." Alfred's mouth twisted down on 'good people,' which Lex gathered was a polite way of referring to some of Gotham's seedier citizens.

 

"So she. . . lied?" Lex asked disbelievingly. "About where she was, and what she was doing?"

 

Alfred nodded grimly. "It would appear so."

 

"What's Bruce think?"

 

Alfred moved his hands to the back of Lian's chair and, from the way his knuckles turned white, proceeded to squeeze the hell out of it.

 

"As I said before, Master Lex," Alfred told him, locking eyes on him that were angry, but not at him. "I'm sure it's not my place." And with that, he turned and went back to the stove, his stirring vigorous and erratic.

 

Oh, yeah, Alfred was angry all right, but Lex wasn't sure if it were at Liza or Bruce. Probably both, with a side of the world in general. Lex knew exactly how he felt, although he'd add a few more names to that list just to be sure.

 

 

***

 

 

By the time the others stumbled in, Lex had already made four phone calls and received word back from a "friend" at the Gotham Globe that they were pretty much done reprinting Thom Aerson's articles. Seemed he wasn't the only one tired of the man's hate-mongering.

 

Plus, there was bigger news in town. A new criminal had cropped up in the last few weeks since Batman's debut. Evidently, there were eyewitness accounts of the Bat fighting a person on top of the Gotham City Museum of Antiquities. According to the paper, shots were fired, but not one of the witnesses was quite sure who'd been shooting.

 

But Lex was sure. Bruce hated guns, abhorred them even. Joe Chill had murdered Thomas and Martha Wayne right before their son's eyes, and he'd used a gun. Bruce wasn't the kind of person to ever forget that.

 

And it was nice of him to tell Lex that there was a new problem going on right underneath their noses. This morning's edition was the first mention Lex had heard of the newly-coined 'Hush,' a man determined to bring Batman down apparently, and it seemed he was practically the last person in the city to know.

 

Oh, he knew why Bruce hadn't said anything. It was another example of the man's determination to do good, to do right by his parents. If he had help or comfort along the way, Lex was sure Bruce would think it cheating. He'd feel like he'd failed if it weren't just him. . . giving up everything of himself in order to save a rotted city from swallowing itself whole.

 

Bruce was stubborn, and he thought differently. His mind made connections where Lex saw none. He read into things ideas and information so obscure and irrelevant-seeming that Lex sometimes thought him absolutely crazy. But he wasn't. Bruce was. . . different. It were as though he'd been turned to the left as a child, and was now trying his damnedest to walk sideways. It didn't have to be necessary, so long as Bruce knew it to be right.

 

The scary thing was, Bruce's focus on helping eradicate criminals hadn't distracted him from other things. He still talked to the DA in Metropolis, and DCFS both there and in Gotham. Bruce was on the phone with either Nick or Jameson at least once a day, it seemed, and sometimes he'd say a quick "Gotta go" before quickly hanging up when Lex came into the office unexpectedly.

 

Then there was the sex. Bruce wasn't really around enough for it to be anything but stolen moments in the afternoon, or a quick grope and kiss in the corridor. And it wasn't distracted, either. At least, no more than it had ever been. There would always be a part of Bruce that just. . . wasn't there, but Lex knew well enough that it wasn't the man's fault. It wasn't deliberate, and it didn't mean he wasn't important to Bruce.

 

It was just the way things were. Lex had no hair, and never would, Lin and Lucas had been tortured for years by his father, Julian would be lucky if he didn't turn out completely screwed up, and Bruce was so traumatized by the death of his parents that sometimes. . . he just got a little lost in his head. Happened to everyone, only with others it was called daydreaming, not waking nightmares. Lex was pretty sure most of the time Bruce didn't even know it happened. The mind was a funny thing.

 

But things were the way they were, and a person could either go along with that. . .

 

Or change it all to the way it should be.

 

 

***

 

 

"Is she working with Lionel?"

 

Bruce didn't move a muscle, didn't even blink, but Lex could tell what the answer was anyway.

 

He sighed heavily, then moved over to Bruce and rested his hands on the man's shoulders. Bruce swung his swivel chair around, his knees bumping Lex's, and brought his own hands up to Lex's waist.

 

"How?" Lex asked finally. "Why?"

 

"That's what I'm working on," Bruce replied. His eyes slipped shut and one of the hands squeezed Lex's side uncomfortably hard. "She betrayed me."

 

Bruce opened his eyes and, with the low light and glare from the computer monitors, his irises seemed to have bled across his whole face. In that moment, everything about him was an ice-cold blue.

 

"She betrayed you," Bruce went on in a deep voice, and Lex had the urge to step away. He had the unnerving feeling it wasn't just the two of them anymore. The longer he looked, the more certain he was it was Batman he was seeing. Talking to.

 

Bruce had left the building.

 

Lex took a deep breath, still painfully aware of the hand gripping his side tightly. He looked at the monitors, really focused on them this time, and realized what Bruce had been studying, that what he'd been painstakingly combing through wasn't just footage from security cameras. It was video from Lionel's security cameras. All of them, the ones in the house, the grounds, the offices at Luthorcorp, The Centre, and some from what appeared to be a yacht of some sort. . . all playing out on Bruce's screens below Wayne manor.

 

"Jesus, where did you get all this?" Lex breathed out. He'd focused in on the top left, where his father sat signing numerous papers at his desk. It was the one in his office at Luthorcorp. Lex would recognize that huge wall of windows anywhere, with its vague, city-wide view just barely visible over the man's shoulder.

 

Bruce tilted his head up more, trying to snag his eyes, no doubt, but Lex refused. After weeks and weeks, here finally was the monster responsible, calmly sitting in his chair atop the highest building in the city. Lex wondered what exactly it was the old man was signing -- orders to terminate employment, paycheck bonuses, the torture and murder of someone else who'd helped his sons?

 

Lex thought of walking right up to that monitor and putting his fist through it, could actually visualize it perfectly, but of course didn't move. Bruce's hand loosened on his waist, as though he'd read his thoughts somehow, and Lex eventually released the breath he'd been unconsciously holding.

 

"I know certain people," Bruce began quietly. "Anything for the right price." He glanced over his shoulder at the screen Lex was focusing on, then said, "Some things are just more important than others."

 

Lex finally looked down and met that hard gaze, dead-on. He slid his hands up to that face and rested his thumbs along those cheekbones. And he took those words for the gift they were as he leaned down, as he pressed his mouth to Bruce's.

 

Bruce was giving up everything to be here, was ignoring everything to help them. Lex felt something shift between them when Bruce's arms came up around his back. It was subtle, and not the end of the world, but. . .

 

It was different. It changed things. Soon Bruce wouldn't he his anymore. This was probably the last time he'd ever be the man's sole focus. After this was done, after justice had been brought down on his father's head, it really wouldn't be just the two of them anymore.

 

Bruce belonged to him and only him in that moment, but soon the world would come calling.

 

And Batman would answer.

 

 

***

 

 

After they returned from another session with Daniel, Lucas broke away and went upstairs. Lex had barely said anything the whole two hours and neither had Lucas, but something was gnawing at the kid. Of course, they'd all kind of accepted the fact that he was agoraphobic, so maybe it was nerves from being outside so long.

 

Or it could be any number of things having to do with "growing up" in a lab, essentially. It wasn't Lex's place to ask, though. That's how it felt. He didn't know Lucas, and Lucas didn't know him. It felt strange to reach out to him.

 

He was better off with Lin, anyway. Lin could make anybody feel better. And worse, although that was an unintentional side-effect. By comparison, anyone looked selfish next to Colin.

 

It was just a bad day all around. Last night, there'd been another text from Lionel waiting for him, and this morning Julian had refused to eat anything. Everything was deteriorating, it seemed. The fragile balance they'd all been trying to maintain had somehow become lopsided, and now it was a struggle to remain calm. Lex felt on the brink of shouting for no reason all the time lately. Or, he found himself dozing off at strange times of the day. Little cat naps, Lin called them, attempting once to reach over and scratch beneath Lex's chin. He'd smiled at him, but swatted the hand away. But it was good to see Lin teasing.

 

Even if the whole thing kind of freaked him out. He'd wake up disoriented and it usually took him awhile to remember what the hell was going on. It was stress, and he knew it, but that realization didn't help any. It just made him feel like a melodramatic idiot for not even being able to sleep right.

 

Daniel had offered to prescribe some sleep aids. "Very low-dose," he'd said, out of earshot -- well, one assumed, anyway -- of the others. Lex had of course refused, saying it couldn't last forever.

 

Daniel'd just eyed him, then nodded. "It's up to you, Lex. I'll not force anything on you unless it's strictly necessary. It's up to you."

 

It was up to him.

 

Lucas had papers now. Bruce had scrounged up someone to get him a Social Security number, and they'd forged a Birth Certificate. That was just as much as Lin had, and Lucas was the one who'd been born here.

 

It was impossibly sad to think of what Lucas' mother had done. Granted, none of them knew the circumstances surrounding the woman's decision, or lack of one perhaps, but there were only so many reasons as to why she'd have given Lucas up.

 

They had a last name, though. It was a start. Wherever she was, whoever she'd been and had now become. . . Lucas could find her, someday. One of them possibly had a mother out there somewhere, alive and breathing and wondering, maybe, about the son she'd given up.

 

Or had had taken from her.

 

 

***

 

 

He jerked awake from a dream about glass shattering to the sound of shouting. Climbing to his feet, Lex grabbed the door open and stepped into the hallway.

 

Just as a streak of grey blurred past him towards the foyer and out the door.

 

"What the-- !"

 

But Lian was already running for the open front door, his face red and wet. Lex spared a brief glance to where Lucas was standing, a phone in hand, before chasing after the boy.

 

"You're stupid!" Lian was shouting, when Lex caught up to him outside. Standing on the wide front steps of Wayne manor, in December, without a coat, Julian screamed insults to the air.

 

To where Lin had vanished.

 

"You're a stupid asshole! You're an idiot, Lin! You're-- you're. . ." and then he was hiccupping and crying, still staring out like he'd see Lin if he just kept looking.

 

"What happened?" Lex asked him, coming up from behind and pulling Lian into his side. He let the kid keep his eyes on the horizon. Seemed wrong to take that small hope away from him.

 

"I told him not to go," Lian whispered. "I said it was a trick. I said, 'You go and he'll-- he'll try. . . you go and he'll kill you, Lin!'" Now he started sobbing, and at that point Lex did kneel down and turn him around. He put a hand on Lian's face, but the kid's eyes were squeezed shut. "I told him. . . "

 

Lex thought, at that point, that he should have asked whom it was who'd called.

 

But he didn't need to.

 

"You goddamn fool," he said, turning his head and looking at the main gate to the property.

 

There were boot steps coming close and Lex looked over to see Lucas striding purposefully towards them. He had his black wool coat on, the one Lin had bought him, but he looked pale and sweaty. He always did when outside.

 

They just looked at each other for a moment, until Lex swallowed away some of the anger and grief and managed to speak.

 

"What'd he say? What the fuck is going on?"

 

Lucas just blinked, then moved some papers from his hands to under his arm so he could button up his coat. Then he smiled.

 

Lex stood up. He let go of Lian and walked right up to the grinning idiot. "What is going on?" he repeated slowly, resisting the urge to smack that smile off the kid's face.

 

But Lucas just took a deep breath and grabbed the papers up again. He smoothed them out, and Lex glanced down. Maps. It was a map, printed off a computer and in a hurry too, if the ink smeared at the bottom were any indication.

 

"Lucas?" Lex asked, worried now, no matter how good it had felt to be unreasonably angry. "What are you doing?"

 

"Is this the right way?" He pointed down at the map, his finger sliding along the route marked in bold. Gotham to Metropolis. This estate. . . to 1436 North Spruce Street, Metropolis, Kansas.

 

"God, what are you doing?!" he whispered in horror.

 

Lucas nodded to himself, then took a deep breath. Looking up, he stopped smiling, but there was still the glint of something in his eyes. Lucas stepped closer to him and, before he could even react, pressed his mouth to Lex's.

 

It was quick and chaste, and so completely awkward Lex felt his eyes couldn't possibly get any wider. He sputtered and stumbled back, but Lucas just smiled wickedly at him. He blurred, then. Rushed right back into Lex's personal space and breathed in his ear, "From Lin." There was another breeze, and Lex barely had time to make out Lucas giving Lian a hug before. . .

 

It was just the two of them again.

 

"Goddamn fools," he muttered. Lian reached out his hand, and Lex took it gratefully.

 

 

***

 

 

"Well, what the hell else are we going to do?" he shouted, raising his voice because Bruce had chosen that moment to put the cowl on.

 

"Nothing," Bruce said lowly. "You are going to stay here, Julian is staying here, and that's all there is to it." He tugged at his gauntlets, his whole being seemingly absorbed in the task, but Lex saw through it. He stepped up and gripped those hands.

 

"If you leave me here," he said, eyes still on Bruce's armored and gloved hands. "I will never forgive you." Finally, he looked up and stared into Bruce's black-smudged eyes. "We're done, if you do this, regardless of how it turns out."

 

Bruce stared back at him.

 

Then he nodded, dropping his eyes and shaking Lex's hands off. He went back to fiddling with his gauntlets, slowly turning and making his way over to some large cabinets nearby. Lex didn't know whether to laugh or shout at how easily Bruce had brushed him off.

 

Just as he was turning around, ready to make for the lift and go punch something upstairs, Bruce called out.

 

"If you're going, it's not going to be wearing that!"

 

Lex turned around. Bruce was holding up some kind of black armor, and even with the cowl hiding half his face and the distance between them, the man's smile was easy to make out.

 

 

***

 

 

As the jet touched down, Bruce climbed right behind the wheel of the Tumbler, and signaled at Lex to do the same. Then, once landed, the back hatch opened and Bruce launched them out into Metropolis.

 

"I knew that was gonna bite us in the ass," Lex said, trying to keep his eyes off the road rushing past them. Bruce had said earlier that he imitated him when driving the Tumbler, like reckless driving would somehow intimidate criminals even more than the giant man dressed as a bat or the way he fought with absolute precision. No, driving fast was what was going to make them surrender.

 

Hell, maybe Bruce was right. After less than 15 minutes of sitting shotgun, Lex felt like he might puke when they stopped. Of course, the reason they would stop would be because they'd arrived at the Centre, and puking before going into that place again might not be such a bad idea.

 

"What do you mean?" Bruce asked. His voice was so quiet and low it was hard to make it out over the roaring of the Tumbler's engine.

 

"Not going after Liza's trail," he clarified. "We should've done it as soon as we knew she wasn't where she said she'd be."

 

"It was planned, Lex," Bruce said. Lex looked over, but Bruce barely spared him a glance as he went on passing vehicles right, left, and center. "Everything about this was planned, I imagine, right down to the time of day and what color socks he's wearing."

 

"You're saying. . . wait, what are you saying exactly? That it's not her fault? That it's all-- "

 

"I'm saying we don't know what's going on," Bruce interrupted.  "And that, too, is part of Lionel's sadistic little plan. We're coming in almost completely blind, with just what we can pull out of our asses on the fly, and that's what he wants."

 

"For us to go off half-cocked," Lex added, seeing Bruce nod from the corner of his eye.

 

"Lin rushed out of there without consulting any of us," Bruce agreed. Just then, he exited the freeway and began tearing across the city streets up towards Spruce Street. It was slower going by far than the freeway, mainly because most of the streets up this way weren't more than two lanes, if that. This was an older section of the city, and the roads were a helluva lot narrower. Lex found himself biting his lip and quit.

 

"Well, of course he did," Lex retorted. "The man knows just how to play him, just how to push his buttons. And he should. He's the one who fucking installed them!"

 

"You get any angrier and you won't be thinking clearly," Bruce warned, but Lex cut him off.

 

"I'm already not thinking clearly. None of us are." He sneered. "All part of Pop's plan."

 

"Well, then shut up," Bruce said calmly. "You're not helping either of us by ranting."

 

Lex started to open his mouth in a comeback, but something up ahead caught his eye. Against the dark sky were orange and red shadows. Black smoke blocked the stars, and when Bruce finally steered the car up the north part of Spruce, it became clear what was happening.

 

"Jesus Christ," Lex gasped, unhooking himself from the harness he was strapped in.

 

Fire.

 

Through the second floor windows, Lex saw fire blazing. It'd climbed its way up the side of the building, and about half of the third floor's visible windows showed fire inside there, too. The place was going to come down.

 

Who knew if anyone were even still inside.

 

Bruce stopped on the opposite side of the street, pulling onto the sidewalk. It took Lex a moment to figure out why, but the reason became apparent when the whining of sirens registered in the distance.

 

"Oh, this'll be fun," Lex cracked. He moved up beside Bruce, tugging at the mask a little. He could feel the heat of the fire even from here.

 

"You should stay here," Bruce told him seriously.

 

"And you should've minded your own business all those years ago," he replied. "But we all do stupid shit every once in awhile, don't we?"

 

And with that, he took off across the street, not waiting for, but soon hearing, the thud of heavy-booted feet behind him.

 

 

***

 

 

"You can't come," Lex told him. Julian turned his head away, trying not to hear, but Lex physically forced him to meet his eyes. If looks could kill. . .

 

"I know I can't!" Lian snapped. "I don't even want to! You're all stupid for going."

 

Lex felt like smiling, if only because Lian was so goddamned right. This was the most reckless, ill-advised, dumbass idea any of them had ever had. Ever.

 

"I love you, Julian," he said instead.

 

"Well, I hate you!" Lian seethed. "You're going to go off and get yourself killed, and I'll never-- " He broke off, tears falling down his face continuously like a waterfall. "I'll never see you again," he pushed on, his voice barely wobbling at all.

 

Brave Kid.

 

Lex hugged him so hard, he felt the kid's breath push out of him. He squeezed him, and dug his hands into that ridiculous mop of curly hair Lian refused to cut.

 

But it was too much, and without another word Lex pushed him away and climbed to his feet. He took off down the hall towards the music room and the cave's entrance.

 

He'd just opened the door when Lian shouted at him.

 

"I love you, too, Lex!"

 

He looked over his shoulder and smiled back at Lian. Kid had followed him, but stood at the end of the hallway. The sun was shining through the windows, glinting off last night's snow and nearly blinding him.

 

Lex turned away before Julian could see him cry. He turned away because he was selfish, and because he wanted his brother's last memory of him to be good.

 

He wanted to be brave too.

 

 

***

 

 

He'd never been in a fire, didn't quite know what to expect. Sure, Lex knew it'd be hot and smoky and hard to see, but none of that prepared him really. It wasn't hot; it was boiling. He could barely see a foot in front of him, the clouds of smoke and flame were so high. He couldn't breathe.

 

Bruce grabbed his shoulder, kept a hand on him at all times, and Lex was glad he wasn't alone. They dashed across the lobby of the Centre over to the stairwell. Lex pushed past Bruce as they climbed up to the second floor, then the third. He'd only been up here once, maybe twice in his whole life, but when he slammed the stairwell door open and stepped out. . .

 

He could smell the smoke from down below, but the fire hadn't caught up here yet. He didn't know which way to go, didn't know what was the likeliest place they'd be. The display cases down the right hall? Or the library straight ahead?

 

But there was a shout and a sudden crash to the left, and before he knew it, Lex was running full out towards his father's office. As he and Bruce tore off down the hall, the shouts resolved into Lucas' hoarse voice. And once around the corner, it was easy to see that both doors were flung wide open and several were people inside the room.

 

"Stop it!" Lucas was shouting. "You're killing him!"

 

Just as he was about to race inside, Bruce grabbed him from behind and pulled him back. They banged into the wall on the right and Lex was about to yell at him to get off, when his mouth was covered.

 

"We've got to assess before we go in," Bruce whispered. The people inside were all still too focused on each other to have noticed Lex and Bruce's arrival. "Stay here," and then the hand was gone and Bruce almost slithered farther down the hall.

 

"You can't do this!" came Lucas' pleading voice. "Just-- just think of all that work, Lionel! All of it's gone, if he dies!"

 

"No, Lex-- " Bruce started to say, reaching out to try and stop him.

 

If he dies. . . If he dies. . . If he dies. . .

 

The first guard's back was to the door. He was pointing a gun down at someone curled on the floor. Lex didn't even take the time to see who it was, but there were only a few people it could be. He quietly moved close to the man, balling his hand into a fist. His right hand slid up to cup the side of the man's head, while he sent the bottom edge of his left slamming into the guy's temple, knocking him out before he even knew Lex was there.

 

There was silence for a heartbeat, then guard number two over by the windows turned his gun on Lex, and away from Colin. Lex pulled the mask off, looking down at Lin's still form.

 

"Alexander! What do you think you're doi-- !"

 

Lex ignored Lionel, crouching down next to Lin just as a large dark shadow detached itself from the wall near the windows. He heard Bruce disarming the other guard, and felt air as Lucas moved past him, but his eyes were all for Lin.

 

He looked. . . not good. At first, Lex's heart had almost stopped in fear. Lin was grey, not pale. There were veins and blood vessels straining against what was visible of his skin, green and black, and. . . hard. But, as Lex reached out a hand to touch him, the worst was the look on his face. His mouth wide in a scream, and his eyes open and. . . blue, a pale, pale blue Lex had never seen before except in pictures of Huskies, Lin was in agony. He was curled up in a fetal position, his chest barely moving.

 

Lex began searching. He ran his hands up and down and still found nothing, no trace whatsoever of any green meteorite. But that's what it had to be. That was the only thing that would be able to keep Lin down. It had to be there somewhere.

 

"Jesus Christ!" Lionel shouted, and Lex glanced up. Bruce had finished with the guard and was now stalking towards Lionel. They were behind the desk, Bruce moving closer and closer. Lionel had a gun, but Bruce didn't seem too worried about that. Lucas, meanwhile, had dropped to the floor near a sofa, behind which a pair of high-heeled feet stuck out.

 

Lin was cold. Lex slapped him, but he didn't even blink.

 

They were late. They were too late.

 

If he dies. . . If he dies. . .

 

A rush of air blew against him, pushing Lex back and causing him to fall flat on his ass. It was Lucas, holding a huge syringe full of--

 

"Is that blood?!" Lex demanded. He grabbed Lucas' hand, stilling it until the kid looked at him.

 

"It's our blood," he said. "It's his." He shook Lex's hand off almost effortlessly, then took a deep breath and slammed the needle into Lin's chest. Into his heart.

 

He pushed the plunger down, then pulled the syringe out. Nothing happened. Lex watched Lin's face for signs of. . . anything resembling a change, but it didn't come. He stared at Lucas, but the kid looked as scared and confused as Lex felt.

 

"No! No, you can't do this to me! Get your hands off me this instant, you freak!"

 

He'd always wondered if seeing red were just a turn of phrase, or if rage could actually make it happen to someone. But when Lex looked over at his father again, now being held up high against the window by Batman. . .

 

He saw red. In his mind's eye, he saw Lionel's blood all over his hands, saw himself bathing in it and, for a split second, wanted that more than anything else in the world. He got to his feet, stepped over Lin's dead body, and walked over.

 

"Lex!" his father cried out, seeing him. "Don't let him do this! He's going to murder me, son!"

 

Lex stopped right at the edge of the desk, with its expensive but tasteless furnishings. Gold pens, gold lamps, gold paper weights. Jeweled this and jeweled that. Dirty money.

 

"I used to love you," Lex heard himself say. He looked up and met his father's eyes, the whites showing around the irises. "I respected you," he told him. "You were a great man. . . I thought."

 

He stepped closer, then even closer. Lionel kept struggling against Bruce's grip, kept making small, determined, injured noises.

 

"Lex-- " he gasped.

 

"You're weak and disgusting," Lex told him. "You'll never amount to anything." He waited until he saw recognition in the man's eyes, then said, "I can't stand the sight of you. You make me ashamed to even be in the same room."

 

There was a roaring from down the hallway, then suddenly the sprinklers went on just as flames started licking at the doors to the hallway. The fire had reached them. Red and blue lights flashed through the window from the emergency vehicles outside, and water was everywhere.

 

Lex was about to take a step back and tell Bruce they needed to find a way out of here, when Lionel abruptly stopped struggling. He was looking past Lex, and his face was. . . terrified.

 

"Hail Mary, full of Grace, the Lord is-- "

 

Lex turned his head around, saw Bruce doing the same from the corner of his eye. Lionel kept up the Ave Maria, and with his voice in the background praying, and the sight before him, Lex felt the power of God for the first time in his life.

 

If it weren't a miracle, then what the hell was it?

 

Lin was up and walking, trying to push Lucas away from him as the kid attempted to drag him back. And Lex knew it wasn't the fire outside or the red light reflecting from the emergency vehicles that made Lin's eyes that color.

 

"We have to get out of here," Lex said. "The fire's out of control, and the sprinklers won't get it. Lin!" And those fiery eyes finally turned to him. "We don't have time for this. We have to get out now!"

 

"He killed her," Lin said, gaze again focused only on Lionel's face. "When she refused to call us, he tortured her. Then he called us anyway, made her scream so we could hear."

 

"No, Lin-- " Lucas tried again, yanking Lin's arm. But Colin just flung him away. Lucas flew back so hard, he hit the wall behind and went right into the flames that'd begun crawling into the room. "Shit!" Lucas yelled, scrambling out of the fire and ripping his smoldering coat off. "What the fuck are you doing, Lin?!" he screamed at Colin's back.

 

But Lin just steadily moved closer. Bruce was biting his lip as he stared at Lionel, and Lex had the feeling time had run out.

 

"He murdered Liza, and he had them shoot Dr. Izer."

 

Lex then realized three things in rapid succession. One, the air was running out. Two, the body behind the sofa was dead, not unconscious like he'd previously thought. And three, it'd belonged to Dr. Izer, the woman who'd escorted him around the Centre weeks ago. She was the one who'd shown him Lucas, who'd made the place seem so. . . benign.

 

When Lex looked back at Lionel, he saw the man choking. Bruce had moved his hands from the man's shoulder and neck, to just his neck, and was now proceeding to strangle the life out of him.

 

"No!" Lex shouted, darting over and shoving Bruce away with everything he had. All three of them hit the floor in a heap, Lionel's rasps for breath almost as loud as the fire in the room. Bruce pushed himself up, trying to get at Lionel again, but Lex punched him in the face. "We don't have time for this!" he yelled over the flames. "We have to get out!"

 

There was cracking along the far walls, and framed photos were melting. Soon the floor would collapse, and while Lucas and Lin would undoubtedly survive, Lex, Bruce, and Lionel most likely would not.

 

Hands abruptly grabbed Lex from behind, jerked him up. He turned around in the circle of Lin's arms.

 

"Lin-- " he started, but Colin just shook his head and looked back at Lucas.

 

"You got them?" he asked.

 

"Go, go!" Lucas shouted, nodding and grabbing at Bruce as he spoke.

 

"Here we go," Lin whispered into Lex's ear. "Close your eyes."

 

They went out the window, Lin's body curled around Lex like a giant, impenetrable blanket. The glass shattered, but never touched him. And Lex kept expecting the downward descent. It would be brief. They were only three stories up, after all.

 

But it never came. Instead, they actually went. . . higher and, if anything, faster.

 

"Lin. . . ?"

 

"It's okay, Lex," he shouted over the wind. "Just keep your eyes shut.

 

"We'll be home in no time."

 

 

***

 

 

It took a little over three hours to fly by plane from Metropolis to Gotham City, and vice versa.

 

Lin and Lex made it in a matter of minutes, with Bruce calling soon after to tell them he and Lucas were driving the Tumbler back to the jet, then taking off themselves.

 

They didn't mention Lionel, or security tapes.

 

But then, they didn't need to. Family is its own language.

 

 

***

 

 

Epilogue

 

 

He didn't mind flying so much anymore. It was getting to be routine.

 

Bruce had offered to give him lessons flying a plane. Lucas had volunteered to take him up again, himself, his way.

 

It took 197 minutes, by jet, to get back. It took a quarter of that for strangers to get done talking about Lionel.

 

He chose to remain with Bruce and Alfred, rather than sit up front with Lex, Lin, and Lian.

 

There was no body to bury, just like with Liza. But Lucas didn't put anything in Lionel's empty casket, like he had hers.

 

Nobody cried. Lucas caught a few people grinning, though.

 

There was a reception afterward, and a lot of people came into the house. He and Lian hid out in the atttic, going through old photo albums.

 

Lin never came to bed that night. When Lucas went downstairs in the morning, he found him sleeping in the atrium, right in a sunbeam.

 

 

***

 

 

It was kind of funny. He knew what cows were, of course, but he couldn't remember ever seeing one before. They were a lot bigger than he would have thought. And smellier.

 

Lian loved the town, and the fields. He hated the castle, though, and Lin held the little boy's hand for almost an hour once they went inside.

 

Lucas thought it was hilarious when they met the lady who'd be cooking for them. Lex and Lin both stared at her like she was the Virgin Mary, but then, they did that to pretty much every woman who had red hair.

 

Lex got most everything of Lionel's. Lin got some too, though, and the rest was put in trust for Julian.

 

Lian once asked him if he were hurt or angry that he hadn't been willed anything at all. He'd said, "Not really."

 

Truth was, he'd gotten the best gift of all. He'd been able to keep the promise he'd made himself eight years ago.

 

Bruce had watched him do it and hadn't ever said anything about any of it to anyone. "We all have secrets," he'd told Lucas on the way back to Gotham after the fire.

 

Lex met with people day and night, and the four of them stayed in Lionel's Smallville castle for over a month. There was another tutor for Lian, but Lucas and Lin didn't study. At night, they went flying, and it took less time to master that than it had any of the other powers.

 

They had a party of sorts the third week in town. Lex and Lian wore suits and ties, while Lin did just the suit. But no one said anything when Lucas showed up in jeans and a Beatles t-shirt. The lady's husband even talked to him, asking him what songs he liked and what he knew of the band's history.

 

 

***

 

 

He was pretty sure Lex knew, even if he never said anything. Lin had known what Lucas would do when he'd left with only Lex in his arms. There was never any pretending between them.

 

"I swear," he'd said. "I swear you'll pay."

 

Lionel had laughed, had patted his cheek.

 

"I promise," he'd screamed. "I'll kill you someday! I'll rip your head off and set it on fire!"

 

Lucas liked it in Smallville. The cities were too loud. People were rude there. Out here. . .

 

Out here, people stared, but they hardly ever shouted. They were nosey, and they had no clue who he was or why he was living in Lionel's castle, and that was just the way he liked it.

 

The lady who cooked for him also kept him company sometimes. She told stories about working on a farm, and when Lucas asked her if she had cows, she invited him over to see for himself.

 

Cars were okay, but he liked running and flying more. He'd been in Smallville for a year, when one day the lady's husband stopped by and asked him if he'd be interested in a motorcycle.

 

***

 

The End. 

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