Title: Inheritance

Author: Athena

Fandom: Smallville

Pairing: Lex/Helen

Spoilers: Exodus

Rating: R

Summary: Clark finds four boys in Finland that look a lot like him.

Challenges Fullfilled: M-Preg Challenge #15 - Your, mine and ours Challenge. Non M-Preg Challenges #1 - One of your chosen pairing has a secret. What is it?, #4 - Include the words 'forever', 'always', and 'iced tea' in your fic. and #21 - A beanie baby must make an appearance - several if you can find a way to do it.

Inheritance
By Athena

Clark read over the international wire there was news of identical quads being found in a burning building that was part of a LuthorCorp subsidiary. The building was in a low populated area of Finland. Since the Finnish were known for cheese and not cheap labor costs, Lionel was hiding his illegal research under ice and snow. Clark looked the children in the photo surrounded by Beanie Babies and realized the boys looked just like he did at that age, meaning Lionel had been successful at cloning him.

"Mr. White, I need to take a few days off," said Clark. "Personal reasons."

"Personal reasons, my ass," said Perry. "I have a paper to put out."

Perry was still yelling while Clark supersped out of the Daily Planet city room. Superman flew to the hospital and asked where the babies were kept. If most people didn't realize Clark Kent was Superman, the hospital staff probably wouldn't notice these boys were his clones until they broke needles. As he was walking toward their room in the pediatric ward, Superman recognized Dr. Helen Bryce even though she had a Scandinavian name on her tag.

Superman could see Dr. Bryce being at a world-renown research facility in Helsinki, but a small country hospital in Lappi didn't make sense unless she was here because of the clones. "Dr. Bryce," Superman said, ignoring the nametag. "We need to talk."

Helen directed him to a small private office. "How may I help you, Superman?"

Superman didn't take the offered chair and crossed his arms over his chest. "Can I trust you to raise four children?"

"What children?" asked Helen. How dare she play ignorant! She was the one who took the blood from his arm years ago when he was sick. Now she was here in a small hospital inside the Artic Circle where the clones just happened to be. Superman believed in coincidence, but that was stretching it.

"The quads. They are going to need lots of love and supervision."

"Why me?" she asked.

"You took the blood from my arm."

"Superman, I never took blood from you," said Helen. "You must be mistaken."

"You wouldn't be here if you didn't know about the children's background. Don't play ignorant with me."

"I can't raise four children alone."

Superman walked toward the door and stopped. "I will get you help." Without waiting for Helen's response, Superman went to the ward to check on four identical five-year-old boys. They seemed content playing with the stuffed toys the nurses had gave them. The small stuffed animals appeared to be those Ty brand toys that Lois was so fond of, Beanie Babies. There must have been close to fifty of them in the room, in cribs, on the windowsill and on the night table.

"Are you here about the babies?" a nurse asked in Finnish.

"Yes. They were cloned illegally," explained Superman. "You will only have to care for them for a little longer. I know someone, who owns me a favor, with the resources to care for the children."

"Thank you, Superman," said the nurse.

---

Superman flew to Lex Luthor's office. "I need you to visit Dr. Bryce."

"I haven't talked to her in almost six years," said Lex. "Why now?"

"Because the clones were found in your father's lab and were moved to a hospital where you not-so-late wife works," said Superman. "Luthor, that is just too much coincidence for my blood. You know something about this."

Lex Luthor didn't like it when Clark acted all powerful just because he was dressed in that silly blue costume. However, Lex played the game and acted like he didn't know Superman was his old friend Clark. "I thought the blood was Martha Kent's. What would your blood be doing in Smallville of all places? So it was your blood I stole from Dr. Bryce's lab."

"What did your father offer you for the blood?" asked Superman.

"A one way trip into the Atlantic Ocean," said Lex. "Why are we discussing ancient history? I gave the blood back to Dr. Bryce. Superman, I don't know what happened after that."

"Luthor, why should I believe you?" asked Superman.

"My father never tells me his plans. Why should I help a woman who tried to kill me?"

"Because if you don't and those clones grow up amoral, the world will end. You have the money and resources to provide a proper upbringing for these children. You know about Emily. Why do we have to bring other people into it?"

"Where are you taking me so I know how to dress?" asked Lex.

"Lappi, Finland," said Superman. "I’ll fly you to your penthouse. You can get a parka and ski pants."

Superman flew Lex to his penthouse and watched as the man put on his winter clothes. Lex hated when Clark put his arms at his waist, stood like a statue and acted like he was above everything. Lex wasn’t a man to be intimidated. Lex pulled the hood of his parka over his head. "Let’s fly," said Lex.

Lex held onto Superman’s back as they flew from Kansas to Lappi. Although they were soaring above the clouds, Lex didn’t feel cold. Then he took any excuse to wrap his arms around his handsome alien. Clark was his, only he didn’t know it yet. Now that he would be caring for Clark’s clones. They would be spending more time together, hopefully, much more time together.

Superman landed at a small rural hospital. Still in his white parka, Lex walked inside. Helen looked the same as he remembered with in her lab coat her, long brown hair pinned up, looking every bit the efficient doctor. Helen’s mouth fell open as she stood there holding a patient’s chart.

"Lex," she finally said.

"Helen," Lex said.

"I’ll leave you two get reacquainted as I make arrangements for the children. Would Helsinki do until we can get their paperwork in order?" Superman asked.

"Helsinki is fine," said Helen.

Lex was staring at Helen so much that he barely knew Superman had left. Lex knew Helen wasn’t in the plane when he woke, but when he checked various medical associations he found no sign of her. He assumed she could be working under a different name but because he didn’t feel like hiring the PI to find her, he let the world believe he was a widower. Eventually, he bought into the lie and he thought of Helen as dead. Now that woman he had long accepted as his late wife was standing in front of him.

"Lex," Helen said his name, again. "Your father told me you were dead. When I called Smallville, Lucas answered the phone and told me you were dead and never to call, again."

"Never believe my brother," said Lex. "Why didn’t you check the Smallville obituaries?"

"I’m in Finland. Where would I find the Smallville Ledger?"

"On the Internet," said Lex. "I’ve never gone into hiding. You didn’t care to find me."

"Maybe, I didn’t. Breaking into my office was a pretty rotten thing to do."

"You did this whole spiel about locked doors when you had your own secrets." Lex took her hand and lead her to an empty lounge and locked the door. Not matter what Helen and Lex did at this point couldn’t stop fate. Cassandra had died holding his hand. No matter that old woman, Lex knew the gods were against them. "How could you give my father Clark’s blood? Alexandros caused the fall of Troy because of his love for Helen. My love for you will cause the end of civilized world. I should have never given you that blood back."

"Why did you?" she asked.

"I thought my love for you would make everything right. That I could turn over a new leaf." Lex turned away from Helen. After all these years, it still hurt. He didn’t want Helen to see him cry. "Let’s look in on our new charges."

---

After Lex and Helen were settled into a villa outside Helsinki with their four new charges, Superman came for a visit. Lex offered Superman iced tea, which he refused. The nurses had bathed the children and Helen was reading them a story. Lex didn’t know why he was here. Helen had sold the world out to his father. He was innocent of any wrongdoing. He would set up a foundation for the children and go home. Superman wasn’t going to force him to play nanny.

"How do you raise Superbabies?" asked Lex.

"With love and respect; your father never gave them names. The nurses named them Antti, Christian, Erik and Joni."

"And a last name?" Lex shuddered to ask.

"Luthor," said Superman. "They were found on Luthor property. Never use force with them. Smother them with praise and point out their differences."

Lex stood up and walked over to Superman. "They are identical."

"Even the most identical twins have differences if you look. Teach them to get along. They fight and life as we know it will be gone from this planet."

Lex sat back down and sipped his tea. He could stare down his business competitors, but that wouldn’t work with Superman. "Why don’t you kill them now?"

"Because they’re innocent children. They didn’t ask your father to be created. They have names and records. You and Helen are legally their parents."

"We were married only few hours," yelled Lex. "You can’t do this to me."

"You’ve been married six years," said Superman. "Neither you or Helen filed for divorce. Get reacquainted with your wife." Superman then left without saying good-bye.

He was Lex Luthor. Superman couldn’t treat him like a puppet on a string. Still Lex had to do right by these children; the cost of failure was too great, besides he wasn’t one to step down from a challenge. He went upstairs to see to Helen and the boys. They were five-year-old children. He had problem believing they deliberately burnt down the lab. Lex walked into the nursery to see the four children in separate beds sleeping with their beanie babies. Each had a teddy bear with a tee shirt. The tee shirts read Antti, Erik, Joni and Christian. The boys would learn their names soon enough, but would Lex be able to tell the difference without the labeled teddy bears?

The nanny was in her room and the children were asleep. Then where was Helen? He walked over to the bedroom. Helen, in a black lace nightgown, was reading. A book light attached to the headboard of the queen-sized bed was the only light in the room. Helen’s pale skin glowed in the soft light making her look like an angel. He walked into the room.

She walked over to him and unbuttoned the top button of his pink shirt. "You look like you came out of a boardroom."

"Superman visited." Lex sat down on the bed and allowed his wife’s hands to undress him.

"What did he say?" asked Helen.

"That the children are ours. Superman told me their names."

Helen said, "They’re very happy to have names. Your father called them the clones and one, two, three and four." She removed his shirt then slid his belt out of his slacks. "You need to relax."

"Why did you come back after I told you I stole the blood?" Lex didn’t want Helen to stop seducing him, but he needed answers. Her hands were now unzipping his pants. He pulled her hands off his pants and went to an empty chair to remove his shoes and socks.

"Your father bribed me into going through with the wedding," Helen explained.

"And what kind of bribe would make you marry someone who broke into your office and stole from you?"

"He said I could join him in the latest cutting edge research or he would see that I never worked as a doctor, again," said Helen. "I should never have given him the blood. The clones wandering free can mean only one thing."

"What, Helen?" Lex had an inkling where this conversation was going.

"They killed your father and whoever else were in the lab," said Helen. "Lex, I’m scared."

"Superman wouldn’t have given us the children if he didn’t think we could handle them." Lex put his dirty clothes in the hamper. He climbed into bed with Helen. She smelled the way he remembered from all those years ago. Superman wouldn’t be trying to kill him and Helen. Lex thought that way, not Superman, besides they were only children. Martha had handled Clark. Jonathan even fought with Clark and was still here. OK, there was only one Clark and there were four clones, but they had a nanny and could hire more.

"Even still." A tear slid down Helen’s face as she opened a lead-lined box. Helen turned off the book light and a small green light glowed from a brick, Lionel’s refined meteorite ore. "Kryptonite. It’s the only thing that hurts the boys."

Lex put an arm around Helen. He understood her fear and kissed her tear-wet face. Tonight they needed to hold each other. Helen was his wife, not matter how much he tried to deny it.

---

A police officer came to door the next day. "Alexander Luthor, we need you identify your father's remains."

"Shit," Lex said.

"I understand there is hard for you. The sooner we get this done, the sooner you can leave the country," the officer said in perfect English. "I'll drive you to the morgue."

"Let me grab my coat."

"Of course."

The body was charred. Lex covered his mouth as he looked at the body. His father was rapidly healing the burns when he died. He hoped he caught under something during the fire and unable to escape, not the children had deliberately let heal then burned him again. It was gruesome. "Yes," Lex said. "That's my father."

"Do you want us to ship him to the States?"

"Yes." Lex wrote a name and address for the officer. "You can call my brother and make arrangements."

"We'll take care of this right away, sir."

Lex felt ill. During their last conversation, Lex had said that his father better watch his back if there was any truth to his stories about cloning Clark. His father usually didn't make up wild stories, but this time Lex had hoped he did. His father laughed when Lex told him the first thing the clones would do if that got out of their cages was kill Lionel. How Lex wished he were wrong.

---

Lex and Helen stayed on at the villa. The boys played well together and were starting to learn their alphabets and numbers. Lex couldn't tell them apart physically, but Antti was the most talkative, Joni was shy and tended to hide under Helen or the nanny's leg, Erik was the most active (always running ahead when they went on walks) and Christian laughed the most.

Helen said, "I have some news to tell you. You aren't going to want to hear this when we already have four." The boys were playing on the villa’s large playset.

"You're pregnant. I thought you were on birth control."

"It failed," said Helen.

"Most failures are human error." Lex didn't need this. They had enough children. He and Helen had been so busy with the children that they forgot to hate each other. Lex didn't think he loved Helen, but she was tolerable company.

"Are you trying to imply that I wanted to get pregnant?"

"Superman saddles us with four children and you want another."

"Clark," yelled Helen. "His name is Clark. You know how much that pisses me off."

"I call him Clark at home; I could slip and call him Clark in public, beside 'Fuck off, Superman' sounds much cooler than 'Fuck off, Kent.'"

"Why do you need to say ‘Fuck off, Superman?’" asked Helen as they watched the children play in the fenced in yard. It was Finland in winter, but the boys didn’t seem to mind. Lex was in his parka and ski pants while Helen was bundled under her winter clothes included two scarves. She was rubbing her hands together and shifting her legs.

"He thinks everything that goes wrong in Metropolis is my fault." Lex smiled. He had a hat on under his hood because people lose a lot of heat through their heads. Now his head was warm but his nose was cold. He wouldn’t look good without a nose. "I wish I had that kind of power. I think he has a crush on me."

"I seem to recall you had a crush on him. You called him your obsession."

"How can these children play for all hours in this weather?" said Lex.

"You’re changing the subject."

"I seem to recall the subject was you being pregnant."

"Do you want me to get an abortion?"

"Only if you want to. It would be nice to have a child in this villa that didn’t look like Clark."

"What about your crush on Clark?"

Lex put a gloved hand on his numb nose. He was buying one of those ski masks the Finnish boys wore. Clark would probably accuse him of being a masked criminal. Lex admitted to himself and only to himself that everything LexCorp did wasn’t completely legal, but he wasn’t the criminal mastermind Superman made him out to be. "Seeing four little Clarks rampage all over the villa has eliminated any crush I might have had on the man."

"You say that now."

"I have to go back to Metropolis for a few weeks. I need to keep an eye on Lucas. After my father’s will is settled, I’ll be back for an extended holiday." He thought about kissing Helen but that could wait until they were back inside. He gave her a hug. "I’ll be thinking about you the whole time I’m gone."

---

Lex had to switch planes in Gotham. He could have waited an extra day and took a LuthorCorp jet, but he wanted to get back to Metropolis before Lucas convinced the lawyers to give him all their dad’s assets and leave Lex with nothing, not that he thought Lucas was that manipulative, but why risk the extra day? Sitting First Class the first leg of the trip, Lex needed to use an airsick bag.

When he asked the flight attendant for bottled water, he wondered if he was getting old since he never got sick on planes before. That couldn’t be it. He wasn’t even thirty, yet. His fast metabolism that healed all his concussions and other injuries could be wearing him out before his time. He was also feeling tired lately, but that was more easily explained by chasing the quads. He only managed to down a few drops of water. His stomach was never like this.

He ate a dry muffin at the Gotham airport and drank some water. Then he waited for his connection. An older woman with a single carry-on bag sat beside him. "Are you feeling OK?" she asked.

Lex put a hand on his stomach. "Airsick," he admitted. "It never happened before. I’m going home to handle my father’s will."

"I’m sorry."

"I had to leave the wife with the children. I miss them already."

"I’m going to Metropolis to see my grandkids," said the woman. "How many children do you have?"

"Four and a fifth one on the way." Lex felt like he was going to vomit, again, which was odd since wasn’t on a plane. He didn’t really want to talk to anyone. He had forgotten what it was like to get sick because he hadn’t been ill since he was a small child, but it was all coming back to him. He needed to run off and find the airport bathroom or he would lose it in front of the old woman and he was still Lex Luthor.

He got on his plane and made it to Metropolis. The penthouse seemed so empty with just him and the servants. He wanted to sleep, but he had to see the lawyers and Lucas. A shower, clean clothes and some coffee should help. The nausea was gone but the fatigue remained. This wasn’t airsickness. Whatever was causing him to be not quite right would wait until he handled his father’s estate.

The meeting with the probate lawyers made him more ill. Daddy had screwed him in death. Lionel’s holdings in LuthorCorp were to be divided equally between Lex and Lucas. All Lex could think was "Cry havoc, and let slip the dogs of war." Father wanted the best son to win. More likely like the Calico Cat and the Gingham Dog, they tear into each other until all that was left was a few scraps of fabric. After signing what felt like his hundredth document, Lex ran to the executive men’s bathroom and threw up.

"Brother, what is wrong?" smirked Lucas.

Lex washed his face. Being physically ill didn’t make him mentally weak. "Nothing. Airline food."

"See you in the boardroom," Lucas said.

"Father is in Hell laughing at us," said Lex. "He wants us to fight for the crumbs he gives us. We shall act like civilized business men and not stoop to his level."

"I’m not the one stooping, Brother." Lucas walked out of the bathroom with a swagger in his step.

---

Lex called Helen that night. "How are you doing?"

"Good. The boys and I miss you."

"When I married you, I told you always and forever."

"We can have that."

"I want a daughter, a little girl as pretty as you."

"Lex, you said it was my choice." Helen's voice cracked like she was crying.

"Please, say you didn't."

"I took RU-486. We have the four boys. We don't need another child right now. Are things going well there?"

"Dad screwed us over. He wants us to spend every day fighting in the boardroom."

"You came back to Finland and hire a proxy. The proxy won't have your emotional investment. It will only be a job to him. A proxy with a law degree and several business degrees with wipe the floor with your card shark brother. You'll own everything within a year."

"I knew I married you for a reason. When I get home, I need to talk to the boys about what happened to my father."

"You don't think they killed him on purpose?" Helen said with concern in her voice.

"I don't know. Either they killed him or saw him die. We need to know the truth." Lex drank some water. "Helen, I miss holding you. This penthouse is so empty with you."

"Lex, I don't think I've actually been to your penthouse."

"A couple more days, and I'm heading home." Lex talked to Helen for few more minutes before one of the nannies needed her. The cook made Lex chicken soup, which he played with more than ate. Then Lex went to sleep. In the morning, Lex didn't feel much better, but he ate some dry toast and drank a cup of black coffee before facing the lawyers one last time.

Afterwards, he drove his Porsche to Smallville, Lex could use the fresh air and a talk with Martha about raising Superboys. He stopped at Fertilizer Plant 1. Not matter how many plants LexCorp acquired; this would always be Plant Number 1. He talked to Gabe a moment, watched the lines and checked some paperwork. Although Lana had bought him out after she turned eighteen, the Talon was also special to him. He would have to ask Helen about bringing the boys to America.

After getting coffee from the Talon and saying hello to Lana, Lex drove to the Kent Farm. His stomach still didn't feel right, but Martha's pie helped. Martha said the same things about love and respect Clark did. Somehow it sounded more sincere coming from Martha. He ended up staying for dinner and spending the night in Clark's old room.

"Lex, what's wrong?" Martha asked while giving Lex his third pancake.

"My stomach has been unsettled the last few days. I thought it was the airsickness. I don't normally get ill. I was thinking I should have Helen check me when I get home, but if I'm contiguous, I shouldn't get on a plane. All that recycled air."

Martha felt his forehead. "You aren't warm. I never had to do this for Clark."

"Thanks for the pancakes and maple syrup." Lex liked when Martha got motherly with him, but Jonathan was giving him a long focused stare. Jonathan's nasty comments were better than a stare. "Out with it."

"Why would Clark give you the quads to raise out of all the people in the world?" Jonathan said.

"Because I'm one of the few people not afraid of Superman," Lex said. "I wish I could stay longer, but I have to get back to them."

---

Lex ended up taking a company plane back. While the boys were playing a four-player computer game, Lex asked Helen to give him exam because his stomach had been bothering him the last few days.

"No fever, no swollen glands or any sign of infection," said Helen. "It's your nerves. Dealing with your brother couldn't have been easy."

"I'm not imagining it," said Lex.

"I'm sure your stomach is upset. I suggest a massage."

"Given by my personal physician."

She kissed his neck. "Exactly."

"I never had a nervous stomach before." Lex enjoyed the kissing, but what was really bothering was how did his father end up being burned slow enough to heal then burn, again. "Helen, we have to ask the children what happened."

Helen continued to kiss and lick him. "Later."

Lex walked away from Helen and toward the nursery. "Boys, turn off your Play Station. We need to talk."

"But Dad," said one of them, Erik, Lex guessed. Erik and Christian had perfected their whine. Lex never heard Joni talk, although Helen and the nannies said he did. And Antti never whined.

"We talk a few minutes and I’ll have the cook make you cookies," said Lex. "Okay?"

Antti, the leader, turned off the game. "What do you want to talk about?"

"Do any of you boys know how Mr. Luthor was killed?" Lex asked.

"You’re Mr. Luthor and you’re alive," said Antti.

"My father," explained Lex. "The Mr. Luthor that cared for you before you came here to live with your mom and me."

"He fell under a support beam," explained the boy who had whined earlier.

"And how the beam fall on him?" asked Lex.

"Joni held him still while Antti pushed the bean on him," said the same boy.

"I did not," said Antti. "Erik did."

"Why didn’t the sprinklers work?" asked Lex.

"Dad, are we in trouble?" asked the boy. Since Antti said Erik pushed the beam onto Lionel the boy talking couldn’t be Erik. He would never tell the boys apart. Normal twins have imperfections that make them different. These children had no imperfections. They were perfect copies.

"No, I just need to know what happened," said Lex.

"We didn’t mean to kill him, sir," said Erik. The correct Erik since Christian was the boy talking before. "We just wanted him to stop hurting us."

Lex put an arm around Erik and Christian. "You don’t need to call me Sir. I’m Dad."

"We know its wrong to hurt people," said Antti.

"Are we people?" asked Erik.

"Yes, you are people." Lex knew he was crying as he cuddled three of the boys. "My father split the egg he put your parent’s DNA into and made four embryos. It doesn’t matter that you were born in a lab. You’re still people." He wondered about the fact that the donor egg was human meant that these children had human mitochondria. They were super strong and immune to infection, but they wouldn’t have Clark’s speed.

"The nurses gave us names at the hospital," said Antti, the only one not being cuddled. He did sit on the floor near Lex and the others. "No one called us anything before but the clones."

"Mommy and I will never let anyone put you in cages," Lex said. Did his father realize they were imperfect copies of Superman because they converted food to energy on a cellular level the same rate as everyone else? They wouldn't have Emily's speed because the accelerant used Kryptonite. "What did Mommy and the others call you?"

"Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and Delta," said Antti.

"We thought they were names at the time," said Erik. "Now we know they are A, B, C, D. We called Mommy Dr. Helen before we came here."

"Did you see her often?" Lex asked.

The boys looked at him and each other.

"Every time you went to sleep and then awoke up," Lex asked. Above the artic circle the days and nights were six months long.

"Not that often." Antti spoke for the group. "We waited for Mommy’s car to leave the car park before we broke down the walls. We only wanted to leave. The fire was an accident. Christian threw a monitor and sparks went everywhere."

"You can go back to your game." Lex got up from the floor. "I will get the cookies I promised." He would never get the full story of how his father died. They were scared children, trying to flee the only home they knew. Emotions were running high and they couldn’t be sure of what they saw, too much noise and confusion. The fact they held his father down as he was pinned by a support beam meant the children were capable of violence, possibly against him.

---

Lex went to board meetings over the Internet through video and audio link-up. He preferred that to hiring a proxy because Lex was a hands-on type of person. Since the staff did most of the shopping, Lex only left the villa when he took the boys for their daily constitutional He wondered what the neighbors thought of a bald man taking four identical boys for a walk around the small Scandinavian town. He tried to be polite and take his hat off in the shops, expect when he had his parka on then the hood stayed up. He would occasionally get the boys sweets. Helen and the boys laughed at Lex's poor Finnish. And he thought Smallville was the middle of nowhere.

Clark visited once a week. Lex still got nauseous in the morning, but it got better as the day went on and he had lived with worse. One morning when he was up before the boys, Lex looked at himself in the full sized mirror on the bedroom closet door. His chest was rounded a bit; not woman's breasts, but he was getting some fat over his pecs. He also had some fat on his hips. It must be all cheese and other fattening Northern European food. He would have to have Helen check the estrogen level in his blood.

Helen went behind him and put her arms around him. "You admiring yourself?"

"I’ve gained a little weight," Lex said.

Helen put her hands on his waist and felt for love handles. "You are far from fat." Her hand went lower touching a hard spot above his pelvis. "Oh my God. I should never have put the Kryptonite in our bedroom."

"Did the Kryptonite make me sick?" Lex asked.

"No, honey, you aren't sick." Helen wrapped her hands around him a bit higher up. "I'm a doctor, so I know what I felt."

"Which is?" Lex needed to know what was wrong with him. Was a tumor making his estrogen levels go up? A tumor could be removed. Did he have cancer?

"Lex, sit down and get some clothes on," said Helen. "We need to talk."

Lex put his underwear back on then sat on the bed. "Helen, what is so bad that I need to get dressed for you to tell me?"

Helen sat on the bed and looked at him.

"It's not a sickness. That leaves a condition." Lex put an arm around her shoulders. "What did the Kryptonite do to me?"

"I felt your womb. You're pregnant."

"Oh," said Lex. "If I abort now, will my hips and breasts stop getting bigger?"

"I'm not an expert on Kryptonite." Helen put a hand on his leg. "I should never put the Kryptonite in the room. It wasn't like I wasn't in town when Tina was pretending to be Whitney. I'm so sorry."

"The boys frightened you. You didn't know how my father died. You were being cautious."

"I harmed you." Helen's eyes were looking at her lap. Lex wanted to lift up her head to kiss her. She couldn't have known. He didn't know if Helen loved him or was just feeling guilty about breaking the Hippocratic oath: *I will apply dietetic measures for the benefit of the sick according to my ability and judgment; I will keep them from harm and injustice.*

Lex stood up, walked over to the dresser and looked at mirror, seeing himself in his tee shirt and boxers. "You aren't going to take the damn thing out of me." He wanted to throw something at the glass and shatter it.

"I'm your wife. I couldn't do surgery on you, but I don't recommend anyone else does it."

"I don't even have a hole to get the fucker out," said Lex.

"You shouldn't curse," said Helen. "The children will hear you."

"Don't tell me not to curse. I'm doing my damnest not to break everything in this room."

"What we need to do is use the ultrasound to see what is going on in your body."

"I don't want you to date the damn thing."

"We need to see if you have any soft or hard tissue changes other than the obvious womb. Honey, get your clothes on. You don't want the staff seeing you in your underwear."

"Do I need to drink lots of water?"

"A couple cups would be fine." Helen dressed in jeans and a blouse.

---

After Helen set up the equipment, she ran the ultrasound over his lower abdomen. She turned the monitor so Lex could look. "This is your womb." She moved transducer slowly. "You can see the four chambers of the heart. Good heartbeat. Do you want to know the baby's sex?"

"Not right now," said Lex. "Can I abort it?"

"Let's look at the surrounding tissues." Helen moved the transducer over his hipbone. "You have more cartilage than a man your age should have, but that might be normal for you. Let me check your humerus. That shouldn't be affected by what is happening down here." She put the conductive lotion on his arm then run the transducer over it. "You have the bones of a five or six year old. No one ever noticed this before."

"I never broke a bone," said Lex.

" Your bones are flexible like a growing child's. We still don't know if the baby is doing this or if you have always had soft bones. If it's the baby and I take it out, your bones may never calcify. I can't risk it."

"I'm stuck with this baby growing inside me." Lex sat up.

"You're healthy. The baby is healthy."

Lex put his clothing back on. "I’m a man."

"Honey, was Tina a woman when she was getting a boner over beating up Mrs. Fordman?" asked Helen in a calm voice.

Lex looked at his socking feet. "This is me we’re talking about."

"You’ve always been very androgynous looking. It’s part of what makes you so incredibly handsome." She put a hand on his face.

"I thought it was my bald head," said Lex.

Helen kissed his head. "God only made so many perfect heads the rest he put hair on."

"Helen, I can’t hide my pregnancy. People will know," said Lex. "Worse Lucas will know. He’ll do anything to make me look bad in front of the stockholders. He only needs to buy a few shares to get a majority."

"You’ve been talking on the Internet for months. You keep the camera on your face and no one will see your expanding belly. Your hiding in a villa in Finland will make Lex Luthor mysterious and a bit dangerous."

Lex put on his shoes. His bones were like Tina's. They weren't like Tina's before or Clark would have told him. He needed to go somewhere where he could scream or break things and not set a bad example for the kids. He wanted to curl up somewhere and die. After grabbing his coat and his wallet, Lex walked toward town with no destination in mind.

He took out his cell phone and called Clark's desk at The Daily Planet. A woman picked up. "Hello, Daily Planet. Lois Lane speaking."

"Hello, I'm Lex Luthor. I need to speak with Clark Kent."

"He stepped out for a moment. Would you like me to have him call you back?" From the sound of her voice, it sounded like he was always stepping out for a moment.

"Sure, he has my cell phone number. Thank you." Lex sat on a bench in a park and watched the first birds of spring peck through the thawing snow. Lex thought about going to a bakery to get some bread to feed the birds, but he didn't feel like moving right now.

An elderly man with a loaf of bread sat down beside Lex and said, "Hyvää huomenta." Good morning.

Lex said good morning back. He knew enough Finnish to say hello and how are you. The man went about feeding the birds as Lex watched more birds gather for the crumbs. A couple hours passed before Lex’s phone rang. "Superman," Lex said in case the old man knew English and overheard. "You’ve seen my bones before do they look like Tina’s?"

"In that way?" asked Clark.

"Are they soft? Mostly cartilage?" whispered Lex.

"No, they appeared normal to me. Is something wrong?"

"Helen did an ultrasound. I’ve been sick the last couple months and she examined me."

"Are you able to change your form?" asked Clark.

"No, I was exposed to green rocks my first night at the villa. My body has been changing ever since." Lex didn’t think it would make that much difference if he said green rocks or Kryptonite, but sitting on a public bench, he wasn’t taking any chances.

"Do you want me to fly over?"

"That’s not necessary. I’ve moved past the breaking things stage into the numb stage and quickly moving into the drowning my sorrows in vodka stage." Vodka wouldn’t be good for the baby. The thought cheered him up though.

"Lex, what are you changing into?" Clark didn’t have to be so blunt.

"You should fly here. I can’t say over a phone."

"I’ll be at the villa in about an hour." Clark hung up the phone.

Lex put his phone in his pocket, waved good-bye to the old man and headed back to the villa. He went to the nursery and read a few stories to Christian and Joni. Antti and Erik were playing computer games. When Clark entered the room, the four boys yelled, "Superman."

"Lex, do you want me to check your bones?" asked Clark.

"Will the radiation from your eyes harm the baby?" asked Lex.

Clark took a chair and sat in an unSuperman like manner. "You’re pregnant?"

"Not quite three months," said Lex.

Superman walked over to Lex and hugged him. "No vodka. A glass of wine is okay, but no hard liquor. You’re a strong man. You can handle this."

Helen walked in. "Clark, stay for dinner. You can change your clothes in the guest room. Seeing you in your costume makes me feel like I’m being accused of being the head of Intergang."

Clark spun around and when he stopped spinning he was in his Daily Planet costume including glasses and tie.

"How do you do that?" asked Helen.

"My secret," said Clark.

"Cool," said two boys at the computer.

"Boys, you aren't to tell anyone that I'm Superman," explained Clark. "This is to be our secret."

---

Life continued. Lex’s breasts and belly grew. He hid it on by keeping the camera on his face. When he needed to check on Lucas or LexCorp, he put on a blonde wig, dressed in lady’s business attire and spoke with a Finnish accent. Playing his own proxy was a great way of finding out how people ready felt about him. Lucas thought Alexis Smith was sexy and playing hard to get. Lex couldn’t tell the man he was flirting with his brother.

Now that the fetus was getting big, he was having trouble sleeping then there was also peeing all the time. Lex woke up in the middle of the night. He felt wet between his legs. Dicks and pregnancy didn’t go together. He had thought about wearing a diaper to bed, but Helen wasn’t the type of woman to find a man in a diaper sexy. She was kinky, but not that kinky. So he was getting hot and bothered thinking Helen removing an adult diaper from between his legs, he noticed the sensation was wrong. He put his hand over the baby then down between his legs.

"It's gone," he screamed.

"What's gone?" Helen yawned.

"My dick, my balls, everything," explained Lex.

"You need a hole to get the baby out." Helen put a lazy hand around Lex.

"I rather have a C-section. I like my dick. I haven't been able to see it the last few weeks, but I liked knowing it was there. I want it back."

"We'll get through this together."

"None of your body parts are missing." Lex put Helen's hand on his new organs.

"Crying isn't going to help and it will wake the boys," Helen said.

Lex lowered his voice. "What will help?" Lex kissed Helen briefly.

Helen pulled him/her into a deep kiss. "Why don't I show good your body can feel?"

Lex pulled off Helen's lingerie, kissed her breasts and moved his hands down her body. "Am I still sexy?"

"The way you carry yourself is sexy and that hasn't changed," Helen said. "Let me love you."

"What can a woman do for another woman?" Lex asked.

"There is kissing, licking, touching and not to mention toys," Helen said. "I'm going to put my tongue into places that you didn't know you had."

"That wouldn't be hard." Lex kissed her belly and started to finger her pussy. "Helen, we talked about this, but now that it has happened I'm no longer afraid of it."

"What do you feel?"

"Anger. I've always been in control and my whole body feels beyond my control. I feel angry and helpless."

"Lex, you have never been helpless." Helen kissed Lex on the lips. She slid her fingers down Lex's slender back. "You are so beautiful." Helen kissed Lex's neck. "I love you so much."

---

Lex, now Lexi, had the baby at home with a midwife present. She gave birth to Lily, a beautiful baby girl with a head full of dark brown hair like Helen’s. "The next time you have my baby," Lexi said to Helen as they both looked at the baby lying in Lexi’s arms. The children had ten toes and ten fingers and appeared normal in every way.

"Fair enough. I love you." Helen kissed Lexi’s baldhead.

"I love you, too." Lexi, tired from childbirth, wanted to sleep.

The midwife helped Lexi put her wig back on.

Lexi didn’t like being treated like a Barbie doll. "I’ve been bald since I was nine."

"You don’t wear your wig and make-up and people will think you are letting yourself go," the older woman said in heavy accented English. "You’re the CEO of a big corporation. Appearance is important."

Lexi laughed. Lucas and the others saw a man when they talked over the Internet. A blonde with a slight Scandinavian accent, Alexis Smith, proxied when she needed to attend meetings. Lexi wished she knew more about the effects of Kryptonite. Mr. Luthor couldn’t stay on extended holiday forever. All she cared about right now was her beautiful baby and her lovely wife that stood by her for the last nine months.

While the baby was being washed, weighed and measured, Helen run the ultrasound over Lexi’s hips. "Still mostly cartilage, your body is still changing."

"I could return to being male tomorrow," said Lexi.

"You could," said Helen. "We don’t know. Honey, you could let Clark look at your bones. You aren’t pregnant anymore."

"I’m Lex Luthor, CEO of LexCorp and major stockholder of LuthorCorp. I won’t be treated as a lab rat." Lexi sat up in bed, shifted her legs over the side, and then made the long walk to the bathroom. Her mutant bottom ached.

Helen put an arm around her and helped her into the bathtub. "A long bath might help with the hemorrhoids. How about I turn on the jets and join you? I have a feeling this will be our last moments alone for a long time."

---

While Lexi was nursing Lily, a housekeeper ran into the bedroom. "I tried to stop him and I couldn’t. Katja and Olga are trying to keep him in the parlor until the police get here," said the woman.

"Who?" said Lexi.

"Your brother Lucas," said the housekeeper.

"Tell Katja and Olga to let him see me," said Lexi.

"Will do," said the housekeeper. "What about the police?"

"Send them away," said Lexi. "Where are the boys?"

"Helen and Mari took them outside. Will there be anything else?"

"Take Lily and give her to Katja. Then send Lucas in." Lexi handed the baby to the housekeeper because she didn’t want to talk to her brother with the baby in the room. After the housekeeper left, Lexi took off her wig and removed her make-up with a baby wipe making her look like the person Lucas had been talking to over the Internet all these months. Lexi locked the door, took off her housedress and put on a white dress shirt and black dress pants. She fastened her belt and looked in the mirror, expect for the bosom she looked like Lex Luthor. If she had more time, the bosom could be tied down. Oh, well.

Lucas knocked on the door. "Lex, I'm going to see you now or I’m contacting the press."

Lex opened the door. "Brother, as you can see I wasn't kidnapped by aliens."

"You move here because your wife, who you haven't seen in six years, can't go back to the US because of passport issues. You stop coming to the US or seeing anyone in person. What am I to think?"

"Think whatever you want, Lucas." Lex stood with her arms to her side. "I don't have to explain myself to you."

"If you were going to hide somewhere, couldn't find somewhere that isn't under snow five months out of the year?" Lucas sat on the one chair in the room.

"My wife was doing research in Helsinki and didn't want to move. We have heaters, fireplaces and sweaters. I can handle my corporation from anywhere with an Internet link-up. I'll travel to the US more often in the future. I've been busy with family. Would you like to see your niece?" Lex knew if you couldn't startle them with brilliance, you baffle them with bullshit and she was loading it on thick. Lex opened the bedroom door and walked toward the nursery.

"You walk like a girl," said Lucas.

"I walk the same way I always have," said Lex. "I don't have your macho swagger, but you don't have to insult me."

Katja was changing Lily's nappy. Katja called them nappies in her accented English. Lex thought of them as nappies, too. Since Lex’s Finnish was limited everyone in the household spoke English for her benefit. When the baby was older, Lex would see about moving her household to a warmer location. Tropical wouldn’t be necessary, but somewhere with less snow.

"Katja's our nanny," said Lex. "Lucas, would you like to hold Lily?"

"No, I have business to discuss with you," Lucas said. "Who is this Alexis person and how come she knows so much about you?"

"She isn’t important." Lex sat on a rocking chair and cuddled the baby against her chest. "I let her go. I'll be attending meetings from now on." Since her womb had vanished a few days after Lily’s birth, she was pretty certain her penis and balls would be making a reappearance. "I’ve been handling LexCorp without your advice for years."

Lucas’s eyes weren’t on the baby. "Brother, do you know you have tits?"

"I was recently exposed to green meteorites. They aren’t very large. When I first noticed them, I was worried I had a tumor pushing against my pituitary gland. After Helen assured me that I wasn’t going to die, I’ve accepted them as part of the package." Lex explained. Part of the package that was a dumb thing to say. It implied that there was more wrong with Lex than two milk filled lumps on her chest, but she couldn’t take those words back now.

"I would have preferred cancer over green rocks," said Lucas. "Can’t you have them reduced?"

"Helen thinks they will go away on their own."

Lucas laughed. "You’ve been in hiding because of your growths." A few more chuckles escaped. "Not that I blame you."

"I decided to spend time with my family. I take the children for daily walks. I’m hiding from no one. Should I tell the cook you are staying for dinner?"

Lucas's eyes were now on the sleeping baby. "Brother, you seem happy with your chosen life. I shouldn't have came here unannounced, but with your track record, you can understand me being worried."

"About your half of LuthorCorp. You can save the false concern for someone who gives a shit." Lex put the sleeping baby in the crib. "I'll give you the tour of the house. Katja, tell the cook there will be one more for dinner."

---

After the dinner, their two nannies marched the boys off to bed. The cook then bought out desserts and coffee for the adults. Helen excused the cook and poured the coffee. Helen said, "The housekeeper made up the guest room. You are staying the night."

"We don’t get many guests." Lex didn’t care much for her brother, a scorpion ready to strike Dad called him. She especially didn’t like the way Lucas was looking at her chest. She felt like Victoria Grant in Victor/Victoria. She was sure Lucas could see a woman inside the men’s clothes.

Lucas said, "Helen cheated on you. Those boys are Clark’s."

"Yes, I realize that," said Lex.

‘Why are you raising Clark’s children?" asked Lucas. "She is playing you for a fool."

"Because Helen stole Clark’s blood and gave it to Dad," Lex said. "The boys were our father’s pride and joy. He didn’t tell you about them. Their nuclear DNA is Clark’s but their mitochondria DNA is Helen’s, so they have part of Helen in them." Lex liked that the boys converted food into energy at a human rate. Since they weren’t able to absorb the accelerant, they couldn’t supersped or get the escape velocity needed to fly. They were strong like Tina and other Kryptonite-enhanced mutants, but their human mitochondria meant should they do anything to harm Earth, Superman could stop them, a comforting thought at night.

"Nuclear DNA and mitochondria." Lucas stared at Lex. "I don’t have a college degree, but I take it the quads weren’t conceived in the normal fashion."

"Daddy cloned them. Clark didn’t even know about their existence until he saw their pictures on the wire. If he didn’t work for a major newspaper, he might have never found out. The boys are part of the LuthorCorp estate. Since we’re supposed to share, you can have two." Lex knew Lucas wasn’t going to take two, besides the boys would get quite irate if they were split up.

"No, thank you," Lucas got up from the table. "What I don’t understand is why did Father clone Clark."

"Why did our father clone Emily?" Lex asked rhetorically. "There are some things about our father we will never fully understand."

---

The baby fell asleep on Lex’s breast. When the baby woke for her two o’clock feeding, Lex felt a familiar sensation between her, now his, legs. Lex was male, again. He still had breasts, but they would probably go away when the baby stopped nursing. After putting Lily in her crib, Lex walked past the guest room where Lucas was sleeping. Finally Lex climbed back into bed and said, "Helen, I have something to show you."

"What, dear?" Helen didn’t open her eyes.

Lex put her hand on his dick. "Let’s take it for a test run."

"What about Lucas?" asked Helen.

"Let him hear us scream," said Lex. "If he didn’t tell you I was dead, it wouldn’t have taken us six years to get together."

END