Title:  Valentine Cable
Author:  twinsarein
Email:  twinsarein@gmail.com

Rating:  PG (maybe)

Challenge:  For CLFF Wave #30 – the Valentine special.  Prompt #17:  “I never wanted to see you again, but you pulled me back with a two-inch cable.”  - Lady of the Tropics – 1939

Summary:  Lex apologizes.

A/N:  Standard disclaimer:  They aren’t mine in RL, they really, really aren’t…but in my dreams…

A/N:  Betaed by the awesome danceswithgary, any remaining mistakes are mine.

I fly over the Canadian wilderness, faster than any human eye can follow.  Using my x-ray vision, I pinpoint the location I am heading for so I can drop out of the sky at the appropriate time.  I land on the doorstep and, in a swirl of motion that kicks up the surrounding snow, I change into street clothes reminiscent of Smallville, not Metropolis.

With a piece of paper clutched in my left hand, I raise my right to knock on the door.  A few months ago, I would have walked right in, but I wasn’t sure yet that I wanted that privilege back.

The response from the other side is quiet, but it could have been whispered in the softest voice and I would still hear it.  “Come in, Clark.”

When I do, my eyes widen at the sight before me.  Lex, dressed like me, in jeans and flannel with sneakers on his feet.  My heart leaps with the hope that maybe he finally gets it.

“I’m glad you came, Clark.”  He sounds so calm, but I can hear his heart beating faster than normal.

“I never wanted to see you again, but you pulled me back with a two-inch cable.”  I hold out the paper in my hand.

“I was hoping that it would make a difference this time.”  Lex looks so different when he's dressed like me.  He looks younger and more vulnerable.  He takes the cablegram I still hold out to him.

“Read it to me, Lex.”

He looks at me, eyes soft, then down at the paper in his hand and does as I request.

  VERY SORRY                                     STOP

   I LOVE YOU                                       STOP

  LEARNED MY LESSON                 STOP

  IF CAN FORGIVE ME     STOP

  COME TO USUAL PLACE               STOP

 I MISS YOU                                          STOP

He stops reading and looks up at me, and I can't hold back my questions any longer.  “Did you mean it Lex?  Did you learn?  Are you sorry?”

“God, yes!  I am so sorry, Clark.  I’ll never try to turn you into someone you aren’t again.  I only wanted you to have the best and to get everything out of life you deserve.”  He looks at me with sincere contrition in his eyes, and I don’t have it in me to be mad at him anymore.

My stance softens and his eyes light up.  A little smile graces his lips.

“Lex, as soon as we committed ourselves to each other on Valentine’s Day three years ago, I had all of that.  With you by my side, I had everything I could ever hope to deserve and the very best this world, any world, has to offer.  I never needed more than you.  I love you.  I always have and I always will.  I just couldn’t live like that anymore.  I can't live like that, Lex, no matter how much I love you.” 

Lex is blinking rapidly as I finish what I needed to say, and his voice is a little hoarse with emotion.  “You won’t have to, Clark.  Never again, I swear.”

I can’t tolerate the distance between us anymore, not after that declaration.  Between one blink and the next, I have Lex plastered up against me, holding him so closely that a breeze would have trouble finding any gap to blow through.

I lean down slightly at the same time he stretches up and our lips met in a tender kiss that begins to mend the holes in our souls.  Our breaths mingle as we both moan at the first taste we’ve had of each other in six months, tongues twining together as the kiss deepens.

We break apart slowly, retreating only far enough to rest our foreheads together, our noses almost touching.

“Happy Valentine’s Day, Lex.”

“Happy anniversary, Clark.”