
So, recently I cracked the third act of the epic Smallville AU and to celebrate (and because I'm still worried about how jazzed fandom is about the prospect of Chloe/Davis, even if I promise it doesn't end with Jimmy getting murdered... well, especially if I promise it doesn't end with Jimmy getting murdered) I thought I'd post a little excerpt. You know, like a trailer, just without the cool music that you kinda recognize but it bugs you all day when you can't remember where it's from. So, without further adieu or more than two parenthetical asides (I have a problem, I know I do), here's an excerpt from What Comes Around (title pending).
*******
One of the doors has a keypad, like a tumor of the cancer invading his home, taking his father away. He knows the code is either Mom’s birthday or Julian’s, and it turns out to be Julian’s. Inside is a disappointment. There’s a cage and a baby. It’s odd, but his boyish mind had given him images of space aliens and mythological beasts, a slimy creature that has replaced or is controlling his real father. Something he can kill.
The toddler is crying. It, he, stops for a moment to notice Lex, his blue eyes like some rare mineral unearthed in this mine. Turquoise or sapphire. He’s jolted out of his attempt to reconcile his fantasies of intrigue with this mild creature when the toddler starts crying at the top of his lungs. Lex runs and doesn’t stop until he’s in his room, pulling back the dust cover on his bed as if he’ll hide under it. Like a child. Like a weak child.
He digs into his closet, tears burning his eyes as he shunts away his mother’s things, his precious hoard of memories, to get to the preschool toys. Bright colors, rounded edges. No wonder he outgrew them.
Lex gathers them up in a backpack, smuggles them down to the toddler. He wastes a good hour seeing how the thing responds to each toy. The toddler seems to figure them out quickly, boring of some and arranging the others in a shape that evolves from an S to an hourglass to an 8. The toddler’s joy is infectious too, his eyes so pure and unjudgmental. Lex tries to convince himself he’s not having fun playing Sesame Street games with a baby. He fails.
“And that’s Warrior Angel,” Lex says, turning the page for the toddler, then leaning forward until all he can see is those blue eyes. “I’m gonna be just like him when I grow up.”
“Is that so?” His father’s voice is warm, but Lex can guess that’s more for the toddler’s benefit than his. He knows with his father, warmth is just an absence of cold, something to dazzle the press. Something that died with Mom. “What are you doing down here, Lex?”