SUMMARY:  Smallville, Clark/Lex, Martha Kent.  AU, angst,
future-fic.  Lex visits Clark's mother in the hospital.

NOTE:  Blame my Lex-muse.  I was listening to music and he threw
this at me.  While Clark and Lex's idea of morality may drive them
apart later on in life, I think maybe Clark's mother understands
Lex better than Clark does.

ARCHIVE:  Please.  As often as possible, and wherever you like.


Cosmic Justice, by Mercutio (mercutio@europa.com)


The elderly woman lying in the hospital bed looked near death, and
at that, she looked better than when Superman had brought her in
twenty four hours before.

Tubes ran out of her arms, over the machines connected to both the
bed and the woman, and the majority of her bruises were only now
beginning to turn purple.  She had been moved to a private room a
few hours after her arrival, and a personal physician and nurse were
even now waiting outside the room.

The impeccably dressed figure at her bedside looked up as soon as
she woke.  "Mrs. Kent."

She examined him with her good eye, the other swollen shut. 
"Hello, Lex.  Or should I say, Mr. President?"

"Lex will do, Mrs. Kent."

"So, what are you doing here, Lex?  It's been a few years since I
last saw you, and this isn't exactly the right place to make a
social call."

"Yes.  I know.  I just wanted to tell you... the man who assaulted
you..."

She closed her eye, then opened again.  "Yes?"

The kidnapping of a smalltown Kansas widow had not excited much
media attention until Superman had become involved.  Only a very
few people knew why such a person might be important, after all. 
The brutality of the attack had, however, made national news once
a celebrity of Superman's stature had rescued the victim.

"I regret that I didn't find out about the attack until it was too
late."

She didn't say anything.

He crushed the leather gloves in his hands.  "I just thought you
should know -- he's dead now.  He was killed in prison this
morning."

"Ah."  Her gaze was knowing.

He met it steadily.  "I didn't think Clark would tell you; he'd
probably think he was protecting you."

"For all that he was raised on the farm, Clark was never very good
when it came time to slaughter the livestock," she said.  "Thank
you, Lex."

He stood, and went to stand next to her, brushing her unmarked
cheek very lightly with his fingertips.  "If there's anything I can
do, Mrs. Kent, anything at all, please let me know."

"I will."

He turned to leave, slipping on his gloves.  As he got to the door,
she said quietly, "I'm sorry, Lex.  That he never loved you the way
you do him."

"Not as sorry as I am," he said, and left the room.


-the end-