Corner of the World: Post-Reckoning III
Jitters

"No!" Lex panted, shooting bolt upright. His heart pounded, sweat slicked every inch of his skin, and his muscles quaked.

Someone sighed softly next to him. "Lex?" It was Lana. "Lex, what's wrong?" She sat up and put her hand on his arm.

He yanked it away. "What are you doing here?" he demanded, pulling the blankets up to his chest.

"Lex," she said, a look of fear crossing her face.

But then he remembered. "Oh. Oh, right. God, Lana..." His chest was tight, but he was long past needing an inhaler. He just breathed deeply a few time, and then took her hand. "Sorry. Sorry."

"It's all right. Are you all right?" She had that look on her face, that one that told him tat he was in a world of pain if he didn't answer the question the way she wanted it answered.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He squeezed her had, then dropped it so he could scrub his face with both of his. "I was just having nightmares. Horrible ones."

"Oh." She kicked the covers off her, then pulled her legs to her body. "Want to tell me about them? We still have plenty of time before we should start getting ready," she added with a glance at the clock.

He nodded. There was a glass of water on the nightstand; Lex gulped it down, trying to calm his heart rate. "I dreamed.... I dreamed that Jonathan died. That I was killed and somehow, Clark managed to get a do-over on the day so he could save me. And he did save me, only when he did, Jonathan died."

"That doesn't make sense, Lex. Why would Jonathan have to die?"

"Because it was a nightmare, Lana!" he snapped, feeling hysterical. "Because.... Because, I don't know, okay?"

"Okay," she snapped back, rolling her eyes. "Sorry I asked."

"Oh, don't take that tone with me. Another part of the dream? Lionel was somehow Clark's father. His birth father. And, no, I don't know how. And, in another one, Lana, in another one *we* were married."

She snorted, then covered her mouth. But then, the giggles escaped. "Oh, poor Lex," Lana said, smile on her face and amusement sparkling in her eyes.

"Shut up, Lana," he groused. "It was bad. We were married and you were pregnant and we already had a kid and it was Christmas. And everything was perfect except, you know, I was married to you..."

"Hey!"

"You know what I mean. But then you died giving birth to our child. And my mom came and told me that I could go back and make a choice. That I could have the perfect life for a short time, or I could change everything and see what would happen. So, I chose to try everything a different way."

"So you don't really love me."

"Lana, I'm serious," Lex said. "It was a frightening. These dreams really bothered me. I mean." He swallowed hard. "What if I'm making the wrong choice."

Lana shook her head. "Oh no. Oh no, Lex, you are not doing this." She got out of bed, hair swinging as she continued to shake.

"Lana..."

"Nine years! Nine years I've had to put up with your and Clark's unending drama and love and lust and whining. And I put up with it best I could because I knew that, one day, there would be a payoff. One day, it would come and everything would be worth it and you, Alexander Joseph Luthor, will walk down that aisle today and marry Clark even if God himself comes down from the heavens and tells you not to. Because I have a dress, I got my nails done, I painted you a *mural* to decorate that room that you built specifically to have your wedding reception, and my girlfriend will *kill me* if I fail in the one task I have been given for this day: get Lex down the aisle. So you will marry him, Lex, and nothing short of the world actually coming to an end will stop you do you understand?"

Lex cringed in front of this five four, dark eyed warrior-goddess standing in front of him in shorts and a camisole, hands on her hips.

"Yes, ma'am," he said, heart thrilling as the horror of the nightmares faded and excitement took its place. "I will marry Clark today. And I won't let anything stop me."



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