The Memoirs

Annakas was a slender Greek who had taken over the restaurant--named after her--when her father passed away, and she was accustomed to the clientele being a little... elite. That's why the restaurant was quiet, mostly dark, and always smelled like fine Greek cuisine. But at the commotion in the dining room, Annakas peeked out of the office, and nodded to herself as she saw Lionel Luthor standing there. "Mr. Luthor!" she called out sharply, her voice cutting through and quieting the din. "Welcome to my fine establishment! It's been quite a while since you've graced us." She was smiling as she wove her way through the tables, long hair fluttering behind her as it was caught in a loose braid. "Please, right this way. There's a table here in the corner that I think you'll like, and I'll send Gordon straight over to your table."

Dominic was hiding half behind Lionel, because for being the strong business man, he hated being the center of attention, and his fingers grasped Lionel's tightly as he tried not to look at the people staring and whispering at them. He bit his lip tightly and looked up at Lionel before following the young woman, right next to his lover as he walked. He'd only been in here once, the year before, and the food had been truly superb. He just didn't know if he could eat with everyone staring at them, and he whispered, softly, "How can you take being famous?"

"Quite easily, actually. I know I deserve it, I'm better than most of these people, and most of them would give a body part if they could be where you are--and not for the reasons you are with me. These people? Would give anything to have access to my business, my power, and my money. I ignore them all."

"Well, yeah. You're a rich, sexy bastard." He cracked a smile up at him this time, in pure adoration, and followed the cute little lady back to a lovely little booth that he knew would be perfect. Half away from prying eyes, and they could eat in peace. "This is really beautiful, madam. Your restaurant is quite lovely."

"Why, thank you, sir. My father started it, when I had just been born; hence the name. He was so proud of his little daughter, that he named the restaurant after me." She paused in front of the booth, and nodded. "I am glad you like it; perhaps you will both come back again? If you keep coming back, people will get used to seeing you here. There will be no more discomforting chatter that happened just now."

Dominic couldn't help chuckling, nodding at her. "Perhaps we shall. Thank you, again, madam." He slid his coat and scarf off before sliding into the booth in front of his lover, arranging himself until he was comfortable, rolling a shoulder softly and rubbing the thighs of his jeans softly.

"I hope you do." She turned, and pointed to one of the best waiters on her staff, a man named Gordon who'd worked for her father. "Gordon will take very good care of you, gentlemen." She gave them both a half-bow. "I will see you after dinner, to make sure all has gone well with you."

"Thank you, Annakas. This is wonderful." Lionel settled into the booth across from his lover, and stretched in his side. "You see? I kept your rules in mind, and nothing here is raw, and nothing still has it's eyes unless you order it that way."

He couldn't help snickering, though it was with amusement, as he reached forward for his lovers hands, to squeeze them. He gazed at him, so softly and tenderly, and brought one of his palms up to kiss before letting them go.

Gordon was seventy two years old, and even he knew a good love story when he saw it. He'd been working for Annakas' for the last three decades, and with Annakas' father, Matino, for twenty years before that. This place was his home, as much as anything else, and what they sold here was quality, to the richest and most influential people in Metropolis.

What he never expected was for Lionel Luthor and Dominic Senatori to walk in through the front doors.

They were on everyone's lips, on the TV, in magazines, in news papers, and on every fashion and pop culture TV show there was on television. Their love story had gotten out, everything from Lionel Luthors accident to their love affair, which was just about sweeping the nation. Lionel had already been a celebrity, but the last few weeks had proven him to be the subject of everyone's conversations. Whether you loved the gay lifestyle or hated it, these two had opened doors for so many people, simply by caring for each other. Sure there was bullshit going around, but Gordon didn't believe a word of it.

And he stopped at their table, pad and pen in hand, apron around his hips, and smiled. "Hello, welcome to Annakas. What would you both like to drink tonight?"

"Hello, Gordon. It's nice to see you still moving about. How's your shoulder?" He studied the wine list for a moment. "We'd like a bottle of Chateau de Orlean, a pint of Guinness for my friend, and a snifter of Auvignon for myself. No ouzo." He smiled at the elderly waiter. "And we'd like a small platter of the lemon broiled calamari, for an appetizer."

"Coming right up." He wrote it all down, then smiled and moved his shoulder a bit in showing. "Healed up right fine. Shows me to play baseball with my teenage nephew, you know." A chuckle at him, as he smiled at the nervous blond man beside him, lifting a brow. "Mr. Senatori? Don't worry yourself too much about these people. They are... very jealous, and in awe. You are both very much in the news these days." A motion. "Would you both like a glass of iced water, as well?"

Dominic's throat bobbed as he looked up at him. "Please.:"

"Yes, please. Lemon in mine, if you don't mind. I'm glad to see that you're doing better; next time? Tell the boys to play nice with their uncle." Then Lionel looked at Dominic, and took his hand over the table. "Gordon's right, Dominic. They're just jealous of you."

The man smiled and bowed out, to go get their drinks.

And Dominic let out a long breath between pursed his lips, letting it exhale as he brought the other hand to his face. "How are we all over the TV? The LuthorCorp move, sure, but what the hell are they showing that we're missing?"

Lionel just sighed. "I'm sorry. I've been trying to keep it out of your notice. But... ever since my accident, someone's leaked out the information that we're together. The whole story--accident on up to the wedding--has been all over the world news. Local, too, which is why Diane Sawyer's clamoring to get her talons into us, because none of what's going around has been first hand."

His mouth dropped. Just dropped, and he stared at his lover. "What? Huh? Fuck. I've been wondering why the hell the television in our room won't flip to any news channels! You sneaky bastard." But there was love in his voice, even as he glared. "You mean to tell me everyone knows about us? Seriously?"

"Oh, it'll flip to them, it's just on an hour's lag. I stream it through one of the LuthorCorp satellite affiliates, and they screen it out before feeding it to the mansion." A small shrug. "Everyone knows. Worldwide, I'm sure."

Dominic looked down at their linked fingers, as he absorbed that bit of information. He'd had a feeling, when people who weren't normally nice to him began to be, and he'd begun to realize something was amiss. But with the move, the baby coming, and Lionel's dick, there hadn't been much time of any sort since the accident for TV watching. In fact, the only thing he'd watched was the movie room and the videos of his Da', and Lord of the Rings. He hadn't even had time for American Idol, though Shayla, bless her pink little heart, was taping every single one for him so they could have a weekend of American Idol whenever the pace he was at ended.

He'd thought maybe the surrounding community had known. But the world?

Why was the thought so wonderful?

"So you mean... I can do things like.." He reached forward and pressed his lips to Lionel's. "That, and its alright?"

"Mmm." Lionel deepened the press, as much as he could in a public place, nodding as he did so. "It's all right." He indicated their clasped hands as they sat on the table. "So's that. Us walking down the street? Also allowable."

"And business hasn't suffered... the numbers haven't looked that good since last spring when you bought out Ben Hempheel. So... you're telling me, in all and all, that doing these types of things are now allowable?" he tipped his head. "Why did you keep it from me, lover?"

"The doing? I didn't. The information? Because I thought you'd be happier if you didn't know. Thought you'd be happier if you weren't conscious of being scrutinized every time you stepped foot out of the estate door."

"Definetely, that. Though you know, I'm going to adopt your I don't give a bloody shit if you think I'm dead sexy or not attitude. It seems to work wonders for you... think it will work for me?" But he was smiling, as he squeezed his lovers fingers. "I believe its my fault. I wasn't quiet, the day you asked me to get you out of the hospital. Quite vocal, as I seemed to recall, wanting to get you back home to Smallville."

"Sirs." Gordon returned, gently interrupting their conversation as he set down the twin glasses of cold water, a chilled bucket with the rich wine in ice on the far side of the table, twin wine glasses set beside it for their meal. The snifter was set before Lionel, the tall glass of Guinness set before Dominic, and Gordon set the steaming plate of lemon calamari and rich, thick buttered bread to go with it, in a lovely woven basket that was an heirloom of the family he worked for, and Annaka had insisted on. "There, we are." He set their two menus to the side, as well. "Would you both like to know the special places of the day?"

"Yes, please. We'd love to hear the specials." Lionel smiled at his lover, and took a sip of his brandy.

"We have Stifatho, the veal stew with onions. Hirines brizoles, grilled pork chops with a hint of lemon and a special vinaigrette wine sauce over the top. Kottopoula chilopittes… a roast chicken stuffed with noodles basted in butter, and broiled to a soft tender brown. If you would like roast stuffed chicken instead, it is kotopoylo yemisto. The roast is smoked for six hours, and has a light pepper and oregano flavor." Gordon said, clasping his hands and smiling at them.

Mmm. Lionel's brain nearly went into convulsions as he thought about the rich, wonderfully prepared food. "The Kottopoula chilopittes sounds beautiful. I think that's what I'll have tonight, if you don't mind, with a small Greek salad on the side with oil and vinegar dressing."

Gordon smiled at him and nodded, taking the information down. "Would you like it in a creamy sauce, a vinegar sauce, or none at all, sir?"

"Creamy sauce, please. If I recall correctly, the last cream sauce I had here was quite ambrosia-like."

"Indeed, sir." Gordon smiled again and turned to the blond man. "And for you, sir?"

Dominic's brow was curved in thought. "I think... the grilled pork chops, that you spoke of. They sound lovely. And as with Lionel, a salad on the side... balsito please, but leave out the almonds."

"Yes, sir." He took it quickly down. "Would either of you like potato's, or a vegetable, on the side?"

"I'd like one of the grilled vegetable kebobs, marinated with that excellent sweet vinaigrette you have."

Dominic shook his head to the offer, though smiled up at the man. "We'll probably share everything, so theirs not much need in getting two."

At that, Gordon's eyes softened, incredibly, and he chuckled as he nodded and swept up their menu's. "After your meal, I will bring a menu with our pastries and coffees for you to look at. Your meal will be ready in fifteen minutes, sirs."

"Thank you. That's excellent." He turned back to Dominic, and squeezed his lover's fingers. "You see? I'm respecting your food rules. Be proud of me. There's a sushi bar one block over that we nearly went to instead."

"And we would have really been on the evening news." Dominic couldn't get the idiot smile off his face, as he squeezed his own husbands fingers, gently stroking the back of his left hand with his thumb. "Can you imagine? Little Blond Man Collapses, When Asked Why, Screams of Raw Fish."

"They would, of course, grill it or fry it over an open flame, should you ask for it."

He wrinkled his nose, and let go enough to pick up his napkin and spread it on his thigh, picking up a fork and... staring at the plate in front of them. It didn't have eyes, sure, but it... very nearly did, and he rose a brow at his lover.

"Try it. It's the same thing you ordered the other night, only it's not fried. It's broiled under a brick oven's flame, seared lightly with lemon and garlic. It's excellent." Lionel speared a piece and held it out to his lover. "It's not poison."

"Its black." He muttered, but leaned forward and took it off his lovers fork, the slimy whatever slithering over his tongue as he slid off of his lovers fork and held it in his mouth for a moment before chewing.

The flavor was distinctly normal, like he ate it everyday, with lemon and garlic on it, and it tasted… normal. Alright. if he could get past the icky appearance, he was certain he'd be able to eat it. "Its...good." He muttered, chewing and swallowing before instead taking a thick, lovely strawberry from the side of the plate, meant to give flavor to the appetizer, and bit into it instead, chewing happily with a grin around the edges. "Sorry. Its a weak spot."

"Quite all right." Lionel speared another piece of squid and chewed carefully. "Now this, this is what calamari is supposed to taste like, Dominic. Not the fried concoction that you tried to feed me the other night. Same excellent taste, less fat to clog your arteries with, and much better for you in the long run." He kept his napkin close, dabbing at his mouth and his fingers as they got messy. "You see? I haven't led you wrong yet on your culinary expeditions, nor shall I."

"You tried to feed me dead bloody cow. I will never, ever forgive you for that. Just for it, I'm going to have Clark take you to see their little cows, and you'll know what you're eating." But he was fighting the chuckles, as he offered the rest of the half bitten strawberry to his lover. "He and Lex have something to show us, by the way, Lex alluded it before he left this afternoon." He lifted the Guinness, and took a drink of it experimentally. Not as good as Sally Mays, just the normal tap kind, built too quickly and without the proper amount of love it took to build one that was truly delicious. But it was good regardless, and he took another sip before setting it down.

"I have seen the calves that veal comes from, Dominic. When I was in Rome, I went to a gentleman's palazzo where we were allowed to choose our calf for the slaughter. I have also been to the many slaughterhouses and meat packing plants that LuthorCorp works in partnerships with, and I am well aware of the process from live animal to Porterhouse steak."

Dominic kicked him under the table for killing poor, defenseless baby bovines, and still offered the rest of the strawberry.

Lionel flinched even as he leaned forward and sucked the rest of the fruit out of his lover's fingertips, tongue coming out to briefly lick at the pads before tucking the rest of the berry into his mouth and chewing, giving his lover a deep, smoldering look as he finished the sweet fruit.

Yeah, he'd planned that, and he caught his lower lip as he blushed and things stirred in his belly as he reached up, to lick his fingertip where Lionel just had. "We have lots more at home, you know. I cut them and cleaned them earlier this afternoon."

"mmm. Yes, I remember. I picked them out, remember? And, I remember you cutting them, and trying to talk to me as I was attempting to steer a race car."

"And you got like, what, five hundred thousand points? Heh. If you'd stopped turning back to check out my ass you would have won." His lips curved as he took another sip of bread and picked up a piece of bred, tearing a little piece off over the small appetizer plate Gordon had brought them, and took a bite of it as his eyes twinkled.

"I can't resist your ass. It's too attractive. Firm... just the right size to lift you up by... just the right feel to knead and squeeze when you're on top of me... yeah. It's very much... an irresistible object."

Yes, well. His very young body shivered, his belly flopped, and the pit of his stomach tightened into a fist as he swallowed and looked at his lover with round emerald green eyes. "Oh."

"Oh," Lionel echoed, picking up a strip of squid with his fingers and holding it out in offering to his lover.

Dominic stared at his lover for a moment before reaching forward and catching the squid with his tongue, pulling it, and the tips of his lovers fingertips, into his mouth. He gave them a sharp little nip before pulling back to chew, licking the corners of his lips as he did it. Okay. Black squirmy things were no longer gross. Just... extremely erotic, as he didn't take his eyes off of Lionel's.

Lionel dropped his hand to the plate and picked up the last piece, and slid just the end of it into his mouth, pursing his lips slightly as he sucked it in, then licked his lips as he watched his lover watch him, wiping his fingers unobtrusively on the napkin in his lap.

 

"Holy shit." Dominic hissed softly, looking away and taking a nice, long drink from his Guinness. He found himself mortifyingly aroused, just by watching his lover suck the squid in like he sucked Dominic's cock in and oh. Fuck. He throat bobbed as he finally set the Guinness down, taking a deep breath and letting it out as he shook his head. "You're going to kill me, Luthor."

"Not before I have you in my bed, Luthor."

And it gave him a chill to say that to his husband, to call him by his name.

It did him too, and his eyes heated as he bit his lip tightly and reached across the table, to slide his fingertip from Lionel's wrist, all the way lightly down the back of his hand, until he reached the middle finger. Slid up and down on top of that middle finger twice... three times, four, before sliding away. "Who says we'll make it to bed?"

"I do. Because I say so, and that is enough to cause it to be so. Or, as was once said in a movie, So let it be written, so let it be done."

His heart was thumping in his chest like a rabbit, thumping against his rib cage, and he exhaled softly as he fought to control himself. Gordon was approaching with their food, and he had to be calm when the man got here, so he took a soft breath, another, and let them out quietly. "I want you in my sheets. I want that smell to stay, the smell of you." He turned, to smile wickedly at him, eyebrow coming up. "I want your come on my sheets."

"You'll have it, then," was all Lionel said. He waited until Gordon was only a step or two away from their table. "Your wish is my command, Dominic."

"Here we are, sirs." Gordon set down the plates in front of both men, steaming and lovely, as well as their salads. A plate of vegetables he'd thrown in, covered with a thick, creamy sauce to go with the bread they still had left over, as well as the corn opener. He took the bottle of wine and opened it quickly, his shoulder whining at him as he did so, and opened the chilled bottle. Two glasses poured in a jiffy, as well as another two napkins incase they should need it, and he smiled. "Do you both need anything else?"

Lionel inhaled gently, and his mouth watered. "Oh, no. This is divine, thank you, Gordon. And thank Annakas for us too; this has been a wonderful visit." He inhaled again. "Mmmmm."

"Indeed. Should you need anything, just call me, sir." he smiled at the both of them and left.

Dominic peeked down at his pork chops, smothered in sauce and God knew what else, and it smelled... lovely. Extremely so, and he lifted his wine in toast. "To us. And the fact that we have yet to kill one another."

Lionel gently tapped his glass against Dominic's, and the fine crystal chimed softly. "To us, and the fact that despite everything else, we still manage to make it all in one piece."

"I do love you, Lionel." Dominic took a sip of his wine, hmming in the pleasure of it sliding down his throat, and picked up knife and fork as he dug in. "What movie should we watch first when we get home?"

"Spartacus, of course."

A roll of his eyes towards heaven as he bit in his pork chop. "Do you think he'll mind the sex noises coming from us?"

"No, I think he'll survive it. It might give him something pleasant to think about while he's being crucified."

"Poor bastard." Dominic's foot came up to gently stroke the side of Lionel's leg, up and down, rubbing his toes against the back of Lionel's calf. He leaned forward and speared a piece Lionel had already cut with his knife, and took it, putting it in his mouth... and sighing, very softly. "Oh. That's good. Here." He speared his own fork as he continued to chew with a piece of the pork and offered it.

"I told you it was heavenly." Lionel paused in his chewing and took the piece that Dominic was offering him. "Mmm. I do think mine's better, though--the chicken is much juicier and the sauce isn't quite as peppery."

Dominic's lips twitched, as he chewed. "I like mine better. If you don't like pepper, never let my mother cook for you."

"Oh, I have nothing against pepper--and, just for the record? I would never allow your mother to cook for me, at least not without a food taster present at all times. I just like for my pepper to be a bit more... subtle in it's flavoring. You'll see tonight, when you try the pepper roast. You'll see what I mean about the subtlety." He took several more bites of his chicken as he spoke, cutting bits of vegetable off the kebob and consuming them quickly.

Dominic ate much slower, as the knots in his belly weren't allowing for much. His lover was on a mood swing roll, and it would be the first thing he asked Elaine in the morning as he watched him, smiling softly. "My mother makes food that makes grown men cry. In Vancouver she worked for the Ritz hotel, as one of the lead chefs. She's made pot roast for the president, and a lasagna who's recipe has been in my family for six generations for the ambassador of Russia." Pride, in his voice. "She's fabulous. I'll have her cook something for you sometime. One of the reasons she wanted to move to Smallville was its severe lack of restaurants, and she wants to open her own. Been a dream of hers, for a long while."

"I'll finance it. Here in Metropolis. I'll buy her an apartment, set her up with the finest chefs, and refuse to order pesticides or rat poison for her."

He chuckled, softly, as he bit into a bit of his salad, eating it quietly as he looked down at the meal they were sharing...and then, back up. And hadn't been this happy, this full of joy, in a long, long time, and he reached out to gently take his lovers hand in his own, squeezing it softly. "Thank you, Lionel."

Lionel squeezed back gently. "Whatever it's for, you don't have to thank me, Dominic. But... you are welcome."

"For loving me. As you do. For sharing this with me...for keeping the fact that people in china are more than likely following my sex life. For giving me a second chance. Thank you, Lionel." His fingers squeezed again, tightly, and wrapped so they brought Lionel's palm to his lips to kiss. "I love you, with all my heart."

"You're welcome." Lionel's hands shifted so that they clasped Dominic's and his thumb could stroke their wedding band on his lover's finger. "You don't know what it means to me, that you never took this off."

His lips curved softly. "Why would I? You're my husband. I won't take it off, ever again."

"I was afraid," Lionel admitted. "That since we'd fought... you'd take them back. Like you did before my accident. I was afraid to look, because I didn't know that I could stand seeing your hand bare. But it never was--it was always there."

His brows fell and his eyes did too, down into the plate, with shame. "I won't take it off. You never have to worry of it again. It will always be where it is...and I hope mine will be on yours?"

Lionel held his hand up. "I'll die before I let anyone take it."

"I don't want you to think... I don't want it, Lionel." He said softly, as his eyes gazed up at his lover now. "I've done things when I've been with you that I'm not proud of. But you're still with me, you still love me… you still...take care of me, and let me take care of you." His throat bobbed, the smallest bit. "I've got so much love to give to you, but I...I am too proud for my own good sometimes. No longer, I swear to you."

He squeezed Dominic's hand. "We're both too proud for our own good. But don't worry. We'll both get through it. We're both prideful sons of bitches."

He swallowed again, hard, and squeezed Lionel's hand back, as he brought it to his lips to kiss. "I know we will. We've got too much to share with each other for it to end too early. I just don't want it to ever be like yesterday, when everything fell apart."

"It won't be." Lionel sighed. "Do you realize how long we've been working? We're on edge, Dominic, both of us. You said it yourself, we need down time. It's been months since we've been able to take it, and you've been under far more stress with my illnesses and all the other responsibilities I've dumped in your lap."

"I'm very... very tired." Dominic answered softly, as his fingertips gently stroked over the back of Lionel's hand. "Just... very tired. I don't mind the responsibilities you've given me... I'm proud of them, in fact. I'm just… tired, Lionel, and I'm positive you're even more tired than I am. You look tired, my beloved. The move, our relationship, the blizzard... we need a vacation, away from Smallville, away from LuthorCorp and Lex and Charlie and work." He brought Lionel's fingers gently to his face. "We need to lounge around in our underwear without being worried about being found, and make love in the grass, and watch the sun come up. We need that."

Lionel gave a small grin. "I've been tired since Roger blew up our plant." He sighed. "Lex pushed the plant opening back a month, so that LuthorCorp will be up and operational before the plant opens. Which means, they'll not be running until March, now, when they should have been opening this week." He sighed. "Remind me to extend their worker's benefits to cover the delay."

Dominic just pinched the bridge of his nose, gazing up at him with a little smile as he did it. "No talk of work. We're on vacation from life." He set their hands gently on the table, still holding firmly, as he began to eat again. "I was just thinking about that yesterday. The scar on my shoulder is ugly. Next time we're showering, look at it. It looks quite jagged along the front, and I'm sure even worse along the back. I was thinking about how during that entire ordeal how dear you were to me, how you took care of me. It was still so new, you and me, but you didn't hesitate to do what I wanted, and took care of me when I was healing, even when I was stubborn and didn't want it." His fingers gently, so gently, stroked Lionel's. thumb stroking along the back of his lovers hand. "It made me smile. I was going to ask you about getting it removed...but every time I think about it, I smile. So I think it'll keep, as a souvenir."

"I didn't mean to get off on work. I'm sorry." He gave Dominic's hand a kiss in apology. "I like your scar. Yes, it is ugly, but it's also a reminder of how willing you were. You were willing to give your life for me, my son, for our company. For everything that we've spent our lives building, you were willing to give your life for. I won't let you have it removed."

"I wasn't going to let that little prick ruin everything." Dominic glared it, as he remembered. "Fucking bastard. Slammed me about like he were anything but a two foot tall midget with an oversized phallus in his hand." He looked up. "If what he had on Lex had gotten out, we wouldn't be sitting here today. You'd be in ruins. It was more than the things Lex did as a boy… it was all the drug charges, the DWIs, the thing from Club Zero." His voice was soft, just for them. "He had a file thick as my head sitting, waiting to be told to the press. Though, to this day, I have no clue how the hell he got it out of your office."

"Anderson," was Lionel's quiet answer. "You'll never be able to convince me otherwise. He was one of the few people who had access to my office through the board room, and while he knew better than to enter it alone, I'm sure that while I was out of the country, he had ample opportunity."

"Fucking bastard. May he rot in jail for a good sized period of time, and be fucked up the ass without lube." A stout nod.

Lionel chuckled at that. "I agree."

"You know...tomorrow's Saturday. How long do you think we'll be working? If we can get out tomorrow night a bit early... perhaps we can come to Metropolis and shop for Aurora. Start looking for the proper bedroom set."

"Something that has a child's bed as part of the set, as well, that we can put away until she's ready for it."

Lionel laughed again. "You say that as if she's going to be sleeping anywhere but at the foot of our bed for the first year of her life."

His lips twitched. "Well duh. I meant, later. A young lady needs her own place to spread out, you know. The room beside our bedroom, as we decided, and its going to be like walking in on a fairy tale. We'll make it quite beautiful for her."

"Yes, she will need her place to spread out. Knowing how she'll be spoiled, she'll probably need several rooms to spread out in, between your family and her brother."

He grinned. Broadly. "Of course. Megan is going to go absolutely crazy, you know. She's not going to know the word "no". She's just waiting for word that Aurora has been planted in our surrogate mother and she's going to go nuts." He squeezed his lovers hand, tightly. "Do you think we made the right choice with her? Melissa Rogers. She was so nice when we met her a few weeks ago."

Lionel nodded. "I do. I think we made the right choice. She's been given the clean bill of health by the doctor, and she's signed the consent form, and the privacy statement."

"I like her, a lot. She was very kind to us." He squeezed Lionel's hand tightly. "And by Monday, she'll be pregnant. I can't... tell you, how excited I am. Alright, yes I can." He was grinning like an idiot. "I'm so excited. I can't wait. I want to buy Ms. Rogers a big bouquet of flowers in thank you. And something else… I don't know yet, but I'll find it."

"Diamonds are always appreciated by the fairer half of the species."

"Yes! I never remember that." He smiled at his lover. "All the sparkly things. My sisters all hate jewelry, so I don't buy it... hardly ever. In fact, the first time I ever did was when I bought the ring." He brought Lionel's fingers to his ring on the word. "You pick it out, you're good at that. I'll do flowers and maybe some divine little crystal thing women are crazy over, and you do sparkly."

"I think Tiffany's will have an appropriate little bauble. Perhaps a necklace, as I've heard women's fingers swell during pregnancy and make ring-wearing uncomfortable."

Dominic took a sip of the cool wine again, the taste so, so lovely in his mouth, and swallowed it down, took another sip, and set the flute down. "I think so as well. Perhaps little matching ear bobs, as well." He smiled at him, as he carefully pushed his plate away. "And I... am done." He'd hardly eaten anything, but didn't much care, because he wasn't particularly hungry for anything that wasn't his lover at the moment. He rubbed his fingers gently against Lionel's, his foot still rubbing softly at Lionel's leg, so gently. "Coffee, I should think."

Lionel, on the other hand, had nearly cleaned his plate. "You should eat more, Dominic. Keep your strength up, because you'll certainly need it tonight."

He chuckled, softly, his body heating at the words. "I feel like junk food. We can get a pizza while we play pool."

Lionel used his fork to push a slice of the deliciously-baked bread around his plate, collecting the last of the cream sauce that had covered his meal. "Mmm. You can get a pizza; I'll be busy kicking your ass."

He cracked the hell up. "You wish. You've yet to play pool against Dominic Luthor, thank you ever so much. I am going to wipe the floor with you, and damned if you won't like every minute of it."

Lionel finished the bread, and looked up at his lover, washing the bread down with drink from his wine glass. "Who do you think taught Lex?"

"Pfft. I've been playing pool since I was seven years old. Graham would play with me, all the time, at the local bar. Oh and did we have fun, and oh, did he wish he'd never taught me. I paid for my first year of college by winning pool all over Dublin."

Lionel poured another glass full of the wine. "But you've never played against me."

"No, I sincerely have not." He drank from his own, biting his lip in amusement as he set the glass down. "I believe you're... daring me?"

I suppose... you could call it that." A smirk graced his lips as he drank again from his glass.

"Alright, Luthor. We play for stakes." His brow came up, mimicking a shrewd business man face. "Well… for twenty bucks, because that's all the change I've on me. Deal?"

"We play for a hundred dollars a ball. And if I sink the whole rack before you shoot, then you have to allow me to deposit the WayneCorp stocks into our joint account."

"You are one sneaky son of a bitch." He glared, but his lips were twitching. "So you want it that high power, hmm?"

"Of course I do. But, I'll understand completely if you don't want to play that... high staked."

Dominic loved challenges like he loved oxygen, and he snickered, as he took another drink of his wine. "Please. I'm ready whenever you are. But just so you know? You're buying the beer."

"Of course I am. Then again, you'll be the only one drinking it, but I'm buying it."

"Have you ever even had a beer?"

Lionel thought. And thought. And thought again. "Actually... no. Nor do I intend to start at this late date in my existence."

He chuckled, wickedly. "There's liquor. And then theirs beer. Beer drinkers have as varied a palette as you do yourself, my husband, and their are some truly delicious brews out there. Guinness, for example, is a very, very good beer. I bet you'll love it. Beer, I meant, not Guinness."

Lionel snorted, and waved Gordon over for the dessert and coffee selections. "I sincerely doubt that I will like beer. I will stick to my liquor, thank you very much."

Gordon nodded and smiled, finished setting the glasses he'd been tapping on his tray, and handed it to one of the younger waiters before coming around to their private little table. "Mr. Luthor, Mr. Senatori. How was your meal?"

"Superb." Dominic answered before Lionel could, smiling at the man. "Could you please us your imported beer selections?"

"Of course, sir. Affligem Pater's Vat has just come into season, and the taste this year is quite superb. We have Corsendonk Brown Ale, Hoegarden White Ale, and Rebel Bohemian Pilsner, as well as Samuel Smith Taddy Porter and Hacker-Pschorr Weisse on tap. Our bitters include the Erdinger Vat collection from Munich Germany, as well as the Belhaven's from Scotland, sir."

Dominic gave Lionel a smirking grin, before looking up at their waiter. "I'd like a Hacker Weisse, please. Oh… and something with strawberry. Doesn't really matter what."

"Right away, sir. We have a strawberry chilled ice cream over cake I'm sure you'll enjoy." He looked to Lionel. "Is there any after dinner drink or pastry you would like, sir?"

"I'd like the Irish Coffee, please, with extra foam, and the amaretto truffle cheesecake. No beer, thank you."

Gordon smiled and bowed out, off to go get them their after dinner delights.

And Dominic was still smirking at his lover.

"I didn't disagree with you, Dominic. I merely pointed out that it didn't agree with my palate."

Yeah right. Dominic wasn't an idiot, and he's caught his lovers face as the waiter had named them off, just humming and crossing his legs, as he rearranged himself in the booth cozily. "Don't let us forget to go get the crib, beloved. And don't let me get too drunk, alright?"

"Marrakech won't close until after midnight; the man does private showings after public business hours. He'll tend to us when we get there, don't worry. And no, I won't let you get too tipsy."

"Where is it from over here?"

"Two blocks down, and one over."

"Oh, good." He wanted to take his lover somewhere, anywhere, and rub against him, because he had been teased entirely too much tonight, and he was just about ready to lose his mind. Didn't dare voice it, just coughing softly and shifting.

"Where's this pool hall you're taking me to?"

"Across the street. Not many people know of it, but those who do go with frequency. A friend of mine brought me about three years ago, and its usually where I went on Saturday nights with the mates."

"Mmmm. Sounds like a plan to me."

"You're quiet." He stopped and looked up as Gordon set their pastries and things in front of him, and he sighed softly as he took a sip of the short glass of dark beer. Bitter, thick, and lovely, and he sipped again before picking up his fork and looking at the strawberry whatever with quiet appreciation.

"I'm just thinking, Dominic. Of all the things we've yet to do together, how close it was that we wouldn't be doing them together at all, of all the work we have to do--not with LuthorCorp, I mean to get our lives in order."

"What do you mean?" He slid the fork into the buttery, lovely strawberry pastry and slid it into his mouth, murmuring his approval around the lovely, sweet strawberryness of it. He was such a creature of earthly pleasures, and sweets... was one of them. It was a Taurus' job to be, after all, and he licked his fork before continuing on with it.

"Getting your father's house in order, making it habitable, bringing our daughter into our lives and we're not even stabilized ourselves!"

The feeling behind the words made him nod, softly. "My fathers house is without any furniture. When we all left to go start our lives, my mother threw it all away. Didn't want to be reminded of the pain she'd gone through with losing my father, and so the house is quite empty, I'm afraid. As for being stabilized, I think we are more than you'd think." He took another bite of strawberry loveliness and nodded at him.

"I don't mind it being empty; re-furnishing it is no problem. I'm going to give you a free hand to choose anything you want for the house, so don't worry there." He took a bite of the cheesecake, expecting to be overwhelmed by the amaretto sweet liqueur, and was surprised when it was subtle melding of the creamy cheesecake and the dark liqueur. "Perhaps we are more stable than I think, it just simply... doesn't feel like it."

Dominic shrugged a shoulder absently. "All I know? Yesterday night we were quite ready to kill ourselves and one another. Tonight? We're eating sin in a little Greek restaurant and getting ready to go play pool and buy our baby girls crib." He reached a hand out, and slid it gently over Lionel's fisted one. "We're overdramatic, we're theatric, we're hard headed, we're stubborn, and we're quite a set of dumb asses if I ever saw it. But we are married. We love each other, for better or worse, for sick or for poor, and this is how its going to remain. Because I do, love you, quite a lot, and I'm certain you love me in the same capacity. I'm not going to leave, I'm afraid, so if you're worried, even subconsciously over it, get it out of your head. I'm not going anywhere, unless you send me away, and since if you do do that I'll have you killed, there we have it."

Lionel just stared at his lover for a long moment. "I know, Dominic. And yes. I do love you, just as deeply." His hand stroked over his lover's. "I won't worry any longer. I won't worry about it, then. We'll be together. We'll always be together."

"But you do worry, because I know you. I don't want you to, anymore. You've nothing to worry about, not in the you and I sense. We need a vacation in the worst way, because we're friends, we spend all the time together, and I believe there are times when we want to rip one another's throats out. We just need to get away, beloved." He looked up. "As for our child, don't. Don't begin the adventure its going to be with her fretting so. We'll do what we want to do for her in love, Lionel. We're both very capable of it, of raising her, of having her. Its going to be wonderful." His lips curved up, teasing as he leaned up to kiss his lovers nose. "Worry wart."

Lionel gave a small smile. "And you should know; you're the one who taught me all I need to know of worrying so." He sighed. "I know you're right. And yes, I will worry. But, I'll stop actively worrying. There's too many other things that need my attention."

"Of course. Like my dick."

"And your ass. And your nipples, and your little crescent moon scar on your thigh, and that little dent at your hipbone."

He shivered, very softly. "There isn't a dent, and I'm vain enough to know it."

"Yes, there is." Lionel held his hand out in the air. "Right there, where your waist slims down into your hips, there's a very narrow, very little dent where your muscles ripple."

His breath came out on a long sigh. "How is it that just by saying those things you put me in quite an inappropriate state, Lionel?" his throat bobbed, and he bit his bottom lip softly. "That's like the freckles on your back. Licking each one, down onto your ass. Though how many nude beaches you had to lie on to get freckles on your ass, I'll never know, but my God its delicious. I love playing connect the dots."

"I don't bother with nude beaches or tanning machines. I am naturally tanned, and those freckles, I am not sure how they exist on me."

"I'm sure you are. Whatever the case may be, they're gorgeous." He tipped his head at his lover. "Have you ever been to the beach, Lionel?"

"Only for our wedding. Otherwise, no. I usually don't take the time for such trifles or wastes of time."

"Maybe, Lionel? That's why you're so on edge. Because you don't take time for trifles and wastes of time." He gently reached out to slide his hand over a stubbly cheek.

"Mmm. Perhaps that's true. Though I've never noticed it affecting me quite like this before." He finished the cheesecake in several bites, and cupped his hands around his coffee, sipping carefully and making sure his beard and mustache stayed clean of foam and cinnamon.

Dominic had been watching him do that for the last 15 years, and for some reason, tonight it was inherently endearing, and he grinned at him softly and tenderly as Lionel sipped. "You're so cute."

Lionel almost choked in his glass at that, and inhaled a little of the foam as he coughed. He put the cup down and picked up his napkin, mopping at his face as he glared. "I am not cute."

His grin widened, even more, eyes twinkling. "Oh, yes. Yes, you are. You're the cutest thing I've ever seen in my life."

"I may possibly have to have you castrated for that."

Almost cracked up. Almost. But damned if he couldn't help the idiot grin. "You're just... you're just so cute. I want to pinch your cheeks and give you great big kisses sometimes just when you quirk your brow a certain way, or rub the soap over your chest, or do what you just did with your coffee."

Lionel finished mopping his face clean and just glared at his lover. "I was merely drinking."

"You were trying not to get foam on your beard." He wanted to hug himself. "You're... God, dammit. I'm the luckiest man in the world." He grinned broadly and leaned over to kiss his glare away. "I adore you. I adore you beyond all else. And I'm paying, so don't you dare try to stop me. You're going to be paying for beer and the, what? twelve hundred dollars you're sure to lose."

"I'm going to be winning every bit of your money, Dominic. Let me pay the bill, and you save your money for the pool hall."

Snort. He raised a hand for Gordon to come over to them. "Hello, could we have the check, please?"

Gordon nodded, quickly, and went into his apron pocket, where he'd slid the bill in. "Here you go, sir."

"Thank you. Do you accept checks?"

"Yes, sir, we do."

"Fabulous. My husbands finishing his coffee, I'll pay for this while." He rose to his feet before Lionel could snatch at him, sticking his tongue out at him before falling Gordon towards the front desk.

Annakas was waiting by the register with a smile on her face. "Mr. Senatori, how was your dinner tonight?"

"Quite wonderful, indeed." He smiled at her and slid his pocketbook out of his coat pocket, his Jiminy Cricket pen holding place for the next check he had to write. He filled it out quickly, scrawling his signature along the bottom, and handed it over, for three hundred and fifty six dollars. "it was quite delicious in fact, and thank you." He pulled his wallet out of his back pocket should she need it, for his drivers license, pulling it out and handing it over a moment later.

"No, no, no." Annakas held the check back out to him. "It is, how you say, on the house? You honor our establishment by coming here, Mr. Senatori, you and Mr. Luthor both. You being here will bring in enough customers to pay this five time over."

His lips spread, but he shook his head. "Madam, that is quite generous of you, but I'm positive Lionel and myself would not feel comfortable without paying you for the delicious meal you have served us this evening. We haven't eaten this good in quite some time, in fact."

"My husband is quite right, Madame," Lionel said, coming up behind Dominic just in time to overhear. "It's quite impossible for us to allow you to do this for us, but we appreciate the gesture."

Dominic looked up at his lover, smiled at him, and then back down at the woman expectantly.

Annakas sighed. "You are not easy men to say no to. All right, but you must allow us to do something to honor your presence here and your recent wedding. You must at least let me give you the wine."

He smiled at her, and his cheeks blushed very softly. "You are entirely too kind for your own good, Madam."

Lionel nodded his agreement. "Yes ma'am, you are. But this we'll gratefully accept, and thank you for your kindness."

Annakas waved it off. "It's an honor to have you here." She marked the $110 dollar bottle of wine off their bill, and gave Dominic back his change from the check he'd written. "There you go. And I hope you come back to see us soon. We will always keep things private for you."

"Thank you, madam." Dominic offered his hand to her, shaking it firmly, before grinning up at his lover and sliding his fingers through his. The entire restaurant was watching them, he knew, because he felt their eyes on the back of his neck, but he cheerfully ignored it as they walked out the door. "That was quite a lovely meal, you know."

Lionel merely straightened his jacket, flipping his hair over the collar as he walked out behind his lover. "Yes, it was. Annakas' is a secret vice of mine; the food here as you saw, is excellent, and the atmosphere is quiet and private, which suits me, as you know."

"Its very good, indeed." Dominic tightened his fingers gently around his lovers, as they started across the street. The pool hall was up the way a little bit, and he was oddly quiet, silent, as they walked. He'd been thinking, ever since Elaine had talked to them, about something, and the quiet, cool night, and the atmosphere of the simple fun they were having made him think of it again. "Lionel? You've lived longer than I have. And I know sometimes, I am ignorant, simply because I have not gone through what you have gone through, and perhaps you know this better than I. But do you believe that...there is a time in a persons life, a time when they're with the person they love, that... its that single moment that will be cherished and loved beyond anything else?"

"I didn't used to believe it, no," Lionel said quietly as they walked. "But after Lillian died... I came to believe it. Because I could--and did, for a long time--remember times or situations in my life with her where I felt nothing but the purest happiness and love. I have done that with Lex, wondered which moments were those moments for him. To answer you, yes. I believe that."

"I read a book. Don't laugh at me. About a woman, who had gone to watch an inn on the east shore for a friend of hers, a bed and breakfast. And a man, who was at the peak of his life... an accomplished surgeon, who had lost his own family to everything. And he was the only guest, at the bed and breakfast, looking for his life, and for the son he thought he'd lost. They shared a single five days together, the man, and the woman, and he left, for Ecuador, to be with his son in a field hospital. They wrote to each other, she from Colorado, he from Ecuador, sharing phone calls and letters when they could. A year, they'd promised one another, a year and they would once again be together. And it was an eve of that year that he was killed, in a motor accident, with his son, who survived. And throughout the ending of the book, the woman speaks of how it was a moment during those days they had together, that changed the course of their life. And it got me to thinking about that very thing, though I won't know what it was until years down the road." A slight shrug, as they walked. "It was a beautiful novel. I'm rambling, though."

Lionel thought quietly for a while. "I think that there can be more than one of those moments in a person's life; I have had several of those moments, for the better and for the worse. But the most important one for me, outside of the births of my children, was one night in the penthouse with you. I claimed you for my own before I even knew what I was doing--my heart knew before my head, I suppose, but you let me mark you and make you my own, and that changed it for me."

He looked up at his lover. "That was one of the most beautiful moments of my life." His fingers squeezed, tightly. "For me… my moment, the defining moment when it was justified for me to be alive, was when you came to me, hugged me and wrapped a sheet around me while we stood in the rain. I don't think I had ever loved you as deeply as I did in that moment. It made everything justified, it gave my life a purpose it hadn't had before." He looked up at him. "Its one of the things I will remember, when I'm old and gray and a horrifyingly fun grandfather."

Grandfather. It brought a small pang to his heart as he remembered his son's pain, remembered seeing the tiny body of his grandson lying wrapped in a blanket in Lex's lab. "Do you know, I don't think I've thought of being a grandfather since... that day?"

He looked up, then, at his lover. "You would have been an amazing grandfather. Given him all his cavities, and spoiled him rotten." He squeezed Lionel's hand, tightly. "Its not over for Clark and Lex. I'm very, very certain they will both produce you grandchildren, when they're ready, and more than one I'd wager." He stopped speaking, for a long moment. "He was the most beautiful little boy I've ever seen."

"Yes, he was." Lionel allowed himself a small smile. "I don't think I'd quite have spoiled him so much as raised his consciousness and brought him--oh, who am I trying to kid? I would have hidden toffee in my desk for him and spoiled him incredibly."

He laughed, out loud, eyes dancing even as they hid dark, pained tears, shaking his head and rolling his eyes about. "Of course you would have. Bought him anything he so desired, built him a playground to rival Disney World in the backyard." His fingers squeezed, again. "It'll happen. Clark isn't ready to stop. That young man wants kids more than I think even you and I do, and that's saying something. He and Lex will have children, beautiful little kids, when they're ready. Now that Lex knows, and Clark does, as well, it won't be like it was with Richard."

"I do hope you're right; I don't know if I can bear Lex going through that again. Lex or Clark either one."

"Do you like that idea?" He looked up, at his lover. "Being a grandfather. By marriage, it would make me one too, and no, that isn't just slightly creepy."

"Yes. I do rather like the idea of being a grandfather. I can sit across from my grandchild, teach him or her to play chess, impart my wisdom over cups of imaginary tea from little pink cups."

Dominic just... because he could imagine it, so well, his eyes danced, even as his palm gentled on his lovers cheek, cupping it softly so he'd look at him. "You know, sometimes I think you were meant to have gone through all you have, to reach this point in your life, Lionel."

"It brought me you," Lionel said in response. "And I can't argue with that."

"It brought you more than just me. It brought your son, and Clark, and a family. It brought the smile to your face you never sported for so long, and it brought you happiness, and satisfaction. You smile all the time like you've got a big secret, like you couldn't be more pleased with yourself. As you should be. What an empire you've created, what a home you've built." He reached up, to kiss his cheek.

Lionel turned so that the kiss landed on his mouth. "What a family I've gained. A lover, a son, a son in law, a daughter. Brothers and sisters in law, nieces and nephews by the boatload."

His eyes brightened considerably, dancing softly as he pressed a kiss to his lovers lips again. "And you're right about that, and we adore you to pieces. Shayla's crazy over you, Lindy loves you, Megan adores you. Graham has his gruff respect for you, Marie can't stop talking about you. The children love you like you were the gem of the safari or something." He beamed at him, because yes. He was proud. So very, very proud. "And Lex, as well as Clark, love you as their father. How much better could you get like that, I'll never know." A wicked pause, as they stopped at the top to a flight of steps that led down to the pool hall. "I am going to kick. Your. Ass."

Lionel just smiled. "Of course you are," he said with a small, patronizing grin.

He didn't take it as such, just snorting and running his fingers down across his lovers ass before they started down the steps. The top 40 were coming from the speakers, the lovely and talented Jennifer Lopez singing about even if he were broke, her love don't cost a thing. The bouncer smiled at them and led them in with a greeting, and the room... was crowded. Not as it cold have been, as Saturday nights barely had a body able to breath, but tonight their were still two pool tables open, and Dominic nudged his lover to them as he motioned, speaking under the din into his lovers ear. "I'm going to buy the table for us... two hours enough? And get our beer and... scotch? Vodka? What do you feel like, lover?"

"Scotch, please."

"Scotch it is." A short smile at him as he walked past him and signaled the bartender over. Five minutes later he rejoined his lover, peeling his coat and scarf off, setting his hat on it in a small chair beside the table. A normal green table, two scratched cues, and the set of eight balls. A long lamp illuminated the table overhead, and Dominic set the set of balls on the table out of the simply white cloth bag, collecting them with the triangular ball collector. And tossed one of the cues over to his lover, eyebrow lifting at him. "Hundred dollars per ball." Dominic turned and nodded at the slender, very tiny waitress, who brought them one of the many pizza's they were always making, setting it on the small table beside the chair that were against the wall, facing the table.

"Thank you." Lionel smiled as he picked out the cue ball, and positioned it on the table, ready to shoot. "I'll flip you for the first shot," Lionel offered.

"You go ahead." Raised brow as he got a slice of pizza and took a sip of beer, biting into it as he watched.

"If you insist." Lionel moved the plastic rack off the table, then lined up his cue against the cue ball. Taking a few steps back from the edge of the table, Lionel leaned over, extending his arm as his eye calculated angles and impacts, and then he shot.

The racked balls broke, and scattered over the table. Two balls went immediately into the pockets, and Lionel straightened, smiling. "Mmmm... look for 2 ball in the left middle pocket," Lionel announced, lined up his shot with the cue ball, and sunk the 2 ball.

He smiled, setting his hip on the side of the table and eating cheerfully as he watched, because yes. Maybe he'd had a hidden agenda, because looking at Lionel's ass flex in those jeans in those jeans was... an entirely too fun pastime. He set his beer on the side of the table as well, chewing thoughtfully with the cue caught between his legs, leaning against his flank as he watched. "You're good. I'm better." Happily said as he chewed.

"Mmmhmm. 4 Ball, corner pocket." Lionel was only half-listening to Dominic's bragging as he smiled and sunk his next ball.

He watched his lover shift his weight and hissed softly, ignoring the table as he watched those hips move, shivering all over and having to take a gulp of his beer.

When Lionel straightened and moved to the other side of the table for his next shot, he noticed Dominic staring at him. "You all right, Dominic?"

"Definitely more than okay." He shifted his weight, and the way his jeans lay against him. "Definitely." He took another bite of his pizza, chewing with a raised brow.

"Uh huh." Lionel put his cue on the floor. "I should let you have a shot anyway."

He took a glance around him...bat his lashes, and pointed to himself. "Do you mean me, stranger?"

"Yes, I mean you. Handsome, blond, and Irish."

"Hhmph." He set his pizza on the box again, took a drink of his beer, wiped his fingers on his ass, and got his cue, walking around the table as he finished swallowing. The table was easily set up, the balls in no particular painful pattern, other than the 3, and he peered at them carefully as he leaned in, set his cue up... "Three. Right corner pocket." And shot.

Three. Gone.

He smirked and looked at the five sitting between the eight ball and the one, and that's the one he wanted. He measured, angled, analyzing what he was seeing before smiling. "Five. Left corner, right there." He shot, let the ball hit the left wall, then the north one, before cracking into the pocket.

Lionel cocked a hip on the table and grinned. "Not too bad, sailor. You come here often?"

He smirked. "Sometimes. Play a little pool. Look at a little ass. Yourself?"

"This is my first time, I have to admit." He smirked lightly, and reached for the shot of scotch.

And nearly choked on it. "This... is interesting. Not... not at all what I'm used to."

"Made with the best Columbian lighter fluid." His eyes twinkled up at his lover, green sharpening in the dark light as he arranged his next shot. The eleven was sitting carefully in enemy territory, and he leaned down, gazing at it for a long moment as he hummed softly. "This one I won't make." He was a little too distracted with Lionel's crotch so close to him, and bit his lip as he aimed and cracked the ball. It hit the left wall, as well, and got within a foot of falling in.

"Shame on you, getting distracted like that." Lionel leaned over the table, moving back and forth in a soft sway as he set up his shot. "Eleven in the side pocket." The tip of his cue moved back and forth between his fingers, and then with a single clean motion, cracked into the cue ball, and sent the 11 ball careening into the pocket.

"I'm a grown man, not dead." He chuckled softly and leaned back against the table as he got his pizza again. they were blissfully ignored, just two guys coming in to shoot the shit and play some pool, and he gathered that privacy, even in this crowded place, close to him.

"Mmmm. Grown, you say?" Lionel's eyes caressed Dominic's cock. "I'd say so."

He let out a soft breath, but he also wasn't gullible enough to fall for that, and raised a brow. "You just want to win, bastard. I could mention about how I'm thinking about pushing you over this table and having my way with you in those jeans I've kept my hands off of and been a good boy about. " Pointed look towards Lionel's own crotch, smiling wickedly as he took another bite of his pizza.

"You can mention it all you want. It's not going to break my concentration." He shifted. "Nine ball. Corner." He grinned up. "It certainly doesn't bother me to think... for example, that my cock is going to be stroking into you tonight, the same way I'm moving the cue right now, getting ready to take my shot."

The cue cracked against the cue ball, and the Nine ball rolled into the pocket.

His chest heaved, once, as the ball cracked, and he hissed softly. Okay. So...pizza eating, done now. He set it down again, wiping his fingers clean on a napkin and taking a very... long drink of beer, his throat bobbing as he set it to the side as well. "You're such an evil individual."

"They don't call me a magnificent bastard for no reason." Quick look. "Ten Ball."

Two could play at that game. His fingers came around the cue and stroked up... down... up... down. Didn't stop as he set it against the table and moved his fingers, rubbing the tip every time he came up, using the blue chalk on top to stroke down over the pole. Over, and over, and over, biting his lip as he concentrated on it, then let soft, aroused eyes at his lover, looking at him from his shoes all the way to where the nipple ring was making a mark in his turtleneck.

His tongue came out to lick his bottom lip.

Lionel lined up his shot, and looked at his lover, stroking the cue through his fingertips. "Ten ball. High side pocket." He didn't take his eyes off Dominic as he made the shot, and the ball bounced off two bumpers before slowly rolling into the pocket.

Dominic gazed at him imploringly as his fingers slid across the wooden table side, sliding his first two fingers, in exactly the same way he slid them into his lover, into the corner pocket, before walking around the table for a better view of what was going on.

Lionel straightened as Dominic walked around him, and he sighed. "Trying to distract me? Won't work." He leaned a hip against the table again, watching Dominic move, and stayed carefully away from the lighter fluid masquerading as Scotch.

He shrugged, but he was smiling, cheerfully, and leaned against the table as he watched his lover, cue caught by his left arm as he crossed his arms.

He turned and kept walking, around so he was behind his lover, and with the cover of his own body, stroked his fingertips very lightly down the bite mark he knew was hiding right behind denim and cotton, stroking over the shape of it as he made to grab the blue chalk, and walked right back over to his side, leaning against it.

The gentle stroke across his ass made his last shot go wild, and the cue ball sank into the pocket instead. "You little so and so."

Dominic didn't dare laugh. Just pulled the cue ball from the pocket and lift it up, peering at it, before at his lover. Tossed it to him. "Set it anywhere you like. If I sink a ball wherever you put it, you're tasting my beer."

Lionel caught the cue ball with impeccable reflexes. "And if you don't sink it?" Lionel tossed it up in the air once before laying it on the table, right in the middle.

"Then you can do whatever you want with me. And I do… mean… everything." He watched his lover set the ball in the middle, and began to look. Hard shot, if he could sink the 7, and he looked cheerfully at his lover with a brow raised. "Including eating raw cow and sitting in on one of those horrid lectures you enjoy ever so much."

"Now that's something I can't resist." Lionel set the ball in the precise middle of the table. "There you go. You can pick any ball on the table to sink."

"It seems I don't know whether to sink or miss." He smirked at his lover, raising a brow. "Any particular pocket?"

"It's up to you. Anything you can make."

A snort up at him, a roll of his eyes. Just for that... He lined up the twelve, changed angles at the last minute, and shot. The twelve snapped against the far left side, hit the five, then the six, and the five and six fell into a middle pocket, the twelve teetering for a moment… before falling into the far right pocket. He straightened, blew off the top of his cue, and looked imploringly at his lover as he lifted his glass and offered it.

Lionel just sighed as he took the glass.

And recoiled from the scent. "This smells like rancid bear piss."

Big smile, shrugged shoulders innocently, and his hand slid down his lovers belly, over his crotch lightly, and left a blue smear from the pool chalk that had to be just about the sexiest thing ever. "Sorry. Had some… on my hand. From before." All big green bat eyes.

"Of course you did. Come here, and dust me off." Lionel didn't take his eyes off Dominic as he tilted the glass back and chugged it down without really tasting anything.

"Your wish is my command." His fingernails scratched down his lovers belly, all the way to the hem, which he lifted to bat off some of the dust, fingers sliding over hot skin as he did it, and then ran his fingers over his crotch, looking up at him imploringly. "Like this?"

"Just like that." Lionel sat down the empty glass, and pushed his lover back against the pool table, rubbing lightly against him.

Dominic ducked out under his arm, shaking his head and tsking as he leaned a hip back against the table as he ate another slice of pizza. "Your turn, frisky."

Lionel looked around, and there were only two balls left, the three and the four. "Three ball, going down to the bottom corner." He bent over the table to line his shot up, swaying his hips forward gently as he thrust the cue.

Three ball went in like a dream, and he took a bead on four. "Four ball, same place."

Yeah. He couldn't take this. But he'd be a good boy, because Lionel was being a good boy, and bit his lip tightly as he said, "We're going to be on the morning news tomorrow, you know."

"For what?" Lionel's hips rocked again as he was thrusting forward, sliding the cue in and out of his fingertips as he took aim.

"This." He leaned down and took his lovers lips, kissing him hotly, passionately, sliding the cue from his fingers so he could wrap his arms around his lovers shoulders... then waist, sliding his fingers up his lovers spine. His fingernails scratched across his shoulder blades as he tipped his head and went in again, even deeper.

Lionel moaned softly into the kiss, and pressed Dominic back against the pool table, arching his back into the gentle teases.

His lips spread as he heard his lover, his lover, who never made such noises, and let go enough to bite his lip, eyes dancing as they gazed into deep, beautiful deep green, with yellow and brown around the irises, and kissed again, deeply, sharing with him his passion, his joy, his pleasure, his pizza. "I owe you eight hundred dollars. Lets go home and make love already. Oh!" He gave his lovers shoulders a shake. "We can't! We have to go buy the baby's crib. Damn you, for being so sexy." He gave him a big grin.

Lionel just smirked. "Is it my fault that you can't control your impulses?" He wrapped his arms around Dominic's waist and lifted him to sit on the edge of the pool table. "Not my fault, by a long stretch. All I did... was play pool."

He started when Lionel effortlessly lifted him up, startling and grasping his shoulders tightly, with wide eyes. No idea what his lover was doing but his eyes were very, very wide, and his throat bobbed as the very... very strong strengthyness in Lionel came very, very sharply apparent, and his throat bobbed as his pulse raced with excitement. But he lifted his chin anyway, glaring as much as was possible, and snorted. "Play pool my blond ass."

"Your ass is blond?" Lionel blinked. "I didn't realize that." He leaned forward and nuzzled Dominic's neck. "Come on, then. Show me where to pay for the drinks and we'll go."

"News. Tomorrow." He said softly, as one leg wound tightly around Lionel's thigh and dragged him a little closer, leaning in to kiss him again, deeply, nipping at his tongue... then his lower lip, and yeah, he was not going to let go, but... tomorrow. Good Morning America, making out on a pool table in a pool hall dive. Eeee! And God it was liberating, as he rubbed his fingers through Lionel's hair and grinned at him. "Bar. You're so outrageously sexy. I am addicted to you like toast is to butter."

Lionel returned the deep kiss, thankful for once that the bar was a little dim and smoky so their actions were somewhat obscured, and he licked Dominic's lips softly as he looked down. "I'm not an addiction, Dominic... consider me a life-long project."

His lips spread, dimples winking in each cheek. "Done. Now go pay." Another nip, his tight grasp at the back of his lovers hair loosening and smoothing free, gently rubbing his palm against a stubbled cheek as he rubbed his lips to Lionel's once more.

Lionel licked each dimple before he pulled away. "Grab my jacket and meet me at the door; I'll pay at the bar." Lionel swept the balls back into the white sack that Dominic had brought them to the table in.

It was so damn arousing and he shivered softly as he slid off the pool table and tugged his own on, scarf around his neck and hat on his head, grabbing Lionel's and walking out the door and up the steps, to meet him there. The night was so cool after the heat of the pool hall, and he breathed it in even as he buttoned everything up and waited for his lover. He hadn't had this much fun in ages, and the playful teasing, the amusement, the bets...he was having a ball, and smiled to himself as he waited.

Lionel plunked the bag of pool balls on the table, and gave the man behind the bar a fifty.

"Ain't got the money to break this, mister," grunted the thick-necked bartender.

"Fine. Don't break it. Keep the change, call it a tip to keep quiet about who was here tonight."

The bartender shrugged. "People come in here all the time, mister. Ain't my business."

"Good man." Lionel nodded to him as he disappeared out the door, and started climbing the steps to get to his lover.

He shivered, stamping his feet, and turned to watch his lover climb up the steps. Hips sway with each step, eyes come up to meet his, and his own all but burned as he watched from the shade of his hat, shivering softly. "Here, baby. its cold, come on."

"Do you want to go back to the parking lot and get the car?" Lionel asked concernedly, wrapping his arms around Dominic and bringing him in close to his warm body.

"No, its my blood, darling. Its just having a hard time deciding where to settle, and I'm a bit chilled." He smiled up at him and wrapped his arms around his lovers waist. "Will your antique man deliver?"

"Yes, he will. To anywhere we tell him to." Lionel rubbed his lover's arms with his own hands.

"Good. I can't wait." He slid the coat from his arms where he'd held it and helped his lover into it, tucking the collar about his turtleneck to keep him warm. "Can I confess something to you, Lionel?" He asked it as he looked up at him, winding his arm around his lovers waist and snuggling in close.

"Of course you can, but only if you want to." Lionel shrugged into the jacket, and then snuggled close to his lover.

"I'm jealous of you. You have a control that few people do." His eyes twinkled as he looked up at him. "Come on. The cue trick? Would have had any other man flat on his back." He flickered his gaze down, shyly. "I like how you can pick me up. That's… really sexy."

Lionel just crooked his eyebrow. "Dominic... you've known me for nearly twenty years. For the better part of the last four decades I have made it a point to be in control of my emotions and my physical reactions." A soft clucking noise. "Just a piece of advice? Never play poker with a Luthor."

"Yes, but Lionel, its me. And its you. I know you find me as irresistible as I find you. You're just damned good at keeping your emotions hidden." Melodramatic sigh. "Too bad your pants do all the talking. You're still hard, aren't you?"

"Yes, yes, I do find you as irresistible as you find me. I am, however, better at resisting the impulses. I've had years to practice it, and on occasion... it can do me very... very well." Soft, throaty growl. "Yes, I am. And will be until I get you home."

"And I, am very young and let my cock lead me." But it pleased him, because he chuckled. "Can you imagine me when I was at my sexual peek, Lionel? I was a very randy little kid." but he smiled up at him. "I'm going to learn your techniques. And you see, you're my husband, so of course I know when you're stone, so hard, and wanting to push me against the wall and fuck me, hard. I clench up every time I think about it." A soft, purring little sigh.

Lionel answered that with another soft growl of his own. "There's quite a few walls to be pushed up against here, Dominic, and very few people on the street to see it." He leaned down and licked up his lover's cheek.

Dominic chuckled and pretended to pull away from the wet lick, even if his nipples peaked under his coat. "Naughty. Think of Good Morning America. Twenty-Twenty. The Pulse. We'd be all over the television in all of our humping glory."

"I have enough money to sue every one of those publications bankrupt for breaking the restraining order and I could tie up that footage faster than they could air it."

"What was this, that you were saying about..." He twirled a finger in the air. "Patience?" Furred brows, teasing smile on his lips. "Something about your restraint, and the impulses you do restrain?"

Lionel leaned in so that their noses were touching. "I am restraining. You're not naked and flat on your back."

Oh, YES! and his eyes just danced, heat and joy in them, as he rubbed his nose softly against Lionel's, teasingly, smugly, even as he fought not to let the laughs explode. "You're very right, I'm not. Is it bad that I wish I were?"

"No, it's not bad at all. Not good for your ability for higher thought, but, no, definitely not bad. I like the idea of you ready for me." He straightened his shoulders, and picked up their pace just a little as they headed for the store. "Come on, let's get to the store."

Lionel was on edge. Dominic? Couldn't have been happier. His feet crunched on the lose gravel as they walked, the little antique shop coming in view up the way, and the night was full of laughter and couples, dancing and clubs thumping their beat. Bar hopping teenagers and college students, couples out for a late meal and a movie, and Dominic squeezed his lovers hand in pleasure as they walked. "If I see something I like, I'm going to have to buy it, you realize."

"You can buy anything in the bloody store you like, but you have to see the cradle first."

Serious, now. "How long have you wanted it, Lionel?"

"You?"

Dominic burst out laughing. He laughed until his sides ached, nearly pitching over into the street as he grasped his lover around the waist and walked backwards, still cracking up as he looked at him, in complete, utter, total, adoration. "I meant the crib, but we can talk about wanting me if you'd like."

"Oh, I was just wondering, seeing as how we had a completely abrupt subject change from sex to baby beds." Lionel smirked. "For about three or four months now, actually. Ever since I'd seen it during a brief trip to the city for business."

"You were the only one talking about sex. I just so mentioned that you were hard as stone, and look, there sex was." He smiled up at him, shifting so he was walking beside him again, and pushed the top of his hat up so he could see him. "You knew we were going to have a baby, even then, Lionel?"

"I never had any doubt that we would," Lionel said softly.

"I didn't, either." Big beam. "I knew we'd have kids. We're too mushy not to have them, after all." Dominic squeezed his lovers waist tenderly, as he looked up again. "Elaine told me you admitted to her, a year ago, that you loved me. Why did you wait so long to make it known to me, beloved?"

"Harpy of a woman," Lionel muttered. "I honestly don't know why I did, Dominic. I... don't know that I ever would have told you, had it not been so... overwhelmingly necessary to have you, with me, forever. I think... I think I was afraid, for a long time, that if I told you what you meant to me, that you would leave, because you would be afraid of me."

Dominic grinned at the harpy comment, but squeezed his waist again, gently stroking his side. "Nah. I knew you had more than the hots for me when you got jealous as hell over the thing with Sir Harry calling you up and asking me to come work with him. Now, looking back, I'm wondering if they were asking to share the ass, though I don't think anyone knew then what you and i were doing behind closed doors. Now, of course, you might as well put damn lawn chairs and eat popcorn beside our bed, but thats despite the point."

Lionel swallowed hard. "Lawrence... went to work for Sir Harry after he was fired at LuthorCorp."

A pause... before he looked up at his lover. "Did Lawrence ever... for you?"

"No, he didn't. But... knowing now what he did to you?"

"Yes?" He rubbed Lionel's hip tenderly.

"He might well have been calling for that. Depending on what... what Lawrence may or may not have told him."

His throat bobbed, softly. "Do you think... it will leak into the press, Lionel, since Sir Harry does hate us quite a bit? And now... with the whole thing coming out about us?"

"If it does? We will deny everything. Lawrence? Is dead. His proof destroyed, your records, safely sealed. He'll look like nothing but a bitter old man. But I don't think you'll have anything to worry about. He's still trying to recover from the heart attack hearing about Victoria's death gave him."

"Dear God, I hadn't known." He looked up, throat bobbing with a soft wince. "The poor man, Lionel, dearest Jesus. I feel quite bad speaking of him like this now. How is he?"

"If I'm lucky, he's still rotting in a London hospital."

A shake of his head, but his lips quirked at him. "Evil." He rubbed his fingers down over his lovers ass, sliding them into his back pocket like before, and gently stroked his thumb over the stitching at the center of the jeans as they walked towards the store, crossing the street like the two lovesick lovers they were.

"The man didn't send me a single well-wishing either time I was in the hospital, Dominic. I will not be cordial to him unless he is cordial to me; I have the upper hand in our business relationship at the moment, and I will not relinquish it to weakness." He pounded on the fiberglass door of the store, and when that didn't bring the owner, he leaned on the buzzer.

Tiny, shaky, and extremely, extremely British, Andrew Loighton had been told he looked like the mirror image of Hugh Grant ever since the actor had made himself a name by staring with Andy McDowell in Four Weddings and A Funeral. Sure, maybe he was a little obsessed with the man, and had all his DVDs in chronological order from oldest to newest, but…

Anyway.

He answered the door buzzing and scampered down the hall to get it. He'd owned his shop in Little Nantucket for six months, and loved it dearly. He was making good money by selling his antiques, especially to one Mr. Lionel Luthor. The crib he'd had on hold for him was over two hundred years old and as sturdy as the oak it was made from, and Andy had made certain of it when Lionel Luthor had begun looking at it. He threw open the glass door, pushed open the metal barred screen door, and beamed. "Hello, Mr. Luthor! Please, please, come in, come in."

"Hello, Andrew. Thank you for holding it open for us so late. I'm sorry I didn't drop by yesterday but I was... unavoidably detained." Lionel actually liked the little fellow, for all of his bubbly and yet annoying enthusiasm, and he pulled Dominic in behind him. "I'd like you to meet Dominic, my husband. We're here to see the cradle you've been holding for me."

HUSBAND?!

HELLOO nurse. The little blond trinket was much to orgasmically delicious, but no, Andrew was not having those thoughts, even when the dimples winked, nooooonoonnononono. He offered his hand, squeezed it, fluttered a hand to his belly and smiled as he led them into his store. "Yes! Indeed, have been holding it, had it especially cleaned last week, the designs are superb." He fluttered his hand over to the back room, where a soft, pale white sheet was covering it from dust.

Lionel looked back at Dominic. "Andrew is a little... light in the loafers," he said, very quietly, so as not to offend the other man. "But he has exquisite taste."

He walked over to the crib and pulled the sheet off of it, and showed it to his lover. "See, Dominic? Do you see, why I say we have to have this for our little girl?"

The supports on the crib came up just past Lionel's waist. Inverted V's on either side, the cradle was anchored securely to the apex of each tip with cast iron hinges. The cradle itself was nearly as broad as Lionel's shoulders, and as deep as his arm. It curved, like the hull of a ship, and as he stood there, Lionel's fingers traced the carved roses on the supports. It swung noiselessly, the iron oiled fastidiously to keep it silent, and the carvings themselves gleamed from the fierce polishing.

There were fairies in a moonlit wood on one panel, frolicking animals on another, on still yet a third, a cat in large black pirate boots and a patch over one eye. The headboard was a single, large carving, of a castle turret and a princess in the highest window, and the footboard was a knight on a rearing stallion, come to save his lady.

And Andrew watched, completely, totally touched, when the little blond's eyes teared and fell. He touched his chest, sighing in the pride and pleasure of finding the perfect piece for the perfect people too real to ignore. He sighed, fluttered his hand over his face, and smiled at the both of them as he nodded. " Victorian, about 1795, it had the bumpers and sheets still in it, but they were beyond repair. We added a few touches, including the bottom of the bed, with air filters, here, and here," He pointed to the holes in the bottom of the basinet, that had been carefully drilled to keep the exquisite wood work in tact. "So the little lamb won't suffocate. We also added small hooks, should you want to hang any musical toys, or a canopy over the bed." He smiled. "Its quite lovely."

Dominic could barely look at it, without his heart swelling full. His fingers very lightly, very tenderly, stroked over the woodwork, looking at it from all sides...bending down to look through the wooden bars, and could almost see their angel baby sleeping there on her soft lace and satin blankets and sheets, with the softest downy blankets, and cozy toys everywhere. "Its the most beautiful thing I've ever seen."

"Isn't it perfect?" Lionel asked softly, his fingers meeting Dominic's on the railings.

"God, yes." It was all he could say, as he gently stroked over the fairies dancing at the front of the bed, looking inside at the lovely little bed their angel would sleep in. "Christ, this is the one I want. Oh, God."

Andrew's eyes brightened because finally they'd take it home, and he swished a hip, beaming happily. "Is that a, I'm finally going to take it home?" Teasing smile but he laughed and shook his head.

"Yes, yes, it is." Lionel pulled out his wallet, and quickly wrote down an address on the back of his business card. "This is our address in Smallville. I want it delivered there first thing in the morning; if I'm not there to sign for it, Lex will--that's my son."

"Gotcha." He smiled at him and waved a hand. "Come to the register." He covered the crib back up, carefully so it wouldn't get marred in any way, and motioned them through his cluttered, but very lovely, little store, as he slid behind the desk and took out his little book for putting prices to antiques. He couldn't remember right off his head how much the little crib had cost, and how much he was willing to have them pay him.

Lionel followed Andrew and his lover to the cash register, and had his wallet waiting in his hand to be quoted the final price.

Dominic. Glared. And mouthed, our joint account at him as he sidled up next to him, his eyes flickering over all the treasures he wanted to peek at, that he couldn't help wondering over and wanting to pick through and look at.

"Lessee… hmm…" He flipped through the book until he found the picture of the crib, and "Ah hah."'d. "Lets see...the total price comes out to thirty five hundred." He smiled at them. "I'm willing to make a deal, if you'd like?"

Lionel shook his head. "There's no need; I'm not going to haggle you down for this. Thirty-five hundred is fine; how much to deliver?"

Dominic had caught the thirty five hundred part and didn't even have to think about it. That was the bed his newborn was going to sleep in, and that was that. But Christ, he liked that vase, and the small writing desk over there, and oooooo he all but drooled over the lovely antique floor lamp that was calling his name like it was in his brain.

Andrew wasn't a stupid man, and his lips curved as he looked at Lionel. "Free delivery. You might want to wait a moment, and take a peek around the store? Your husband seems to be liking what he sees?"

Husband. "Huh? What? What're we talking about? I'm listening now, sorry."

Lionel just shook his head. "I'll give you a hundred thousand dollars for the cradle and whatever else it is Dominic is looking at, and you deliver all of it to the Smallville address." He looked at Dominic. "Are you happy with that, little cricket?"

His mouth dropped, and he gave Lionel's shin a kick. "You most certainly will not, a hundred thousand dollars, indeed. We're working from our joint account, so don't go about throwing all this money around." Glare, but it was highly amused, as he looked around the room. "I like everything. But you know me, I love antiques. But... alright. He pointed. The crib had won his heart, but the floor lamp was driving him insane like a hot, aching lover. "I want that. That lamp. It'll look so good in the new office, Lionel. And that's it. I swear. Antique shopping for later, when we're both not... sleepy." Little hint extra on the sleepy part.

"The cradle, the lamp, the vase, and the rollover writing desk. I believe that's what Dominic was looking at." He looked back over at Andrew. "What's the price tag for all four things together?"

Dominic stomped on his lovers foot.

If Lionel Luthor hadn't already been married... "Uh...hold on a second, sir." he flipped quickly through the book, writing numbers down, and it took him about a minute to... "Roughly eleven thousand dollars, including tax."

Dominic glared at his lover, all the more.

Lionel glared right back at Dominic. "Ten thousand even."

"Deal." He smiled, broadly, at the both of them. "They'll be there first thing tomorrow morning. If they're not there by ten, call me and I'll deliver them myself." He'd just made ten thousand dollars. EEEEEEEEEEEEE! "You have the number for my little place still, Mr. Luthor?"

"Of course I do." Lionel counted out a tall stack of crisp, $100 bills, then tucked his wallet back in his pocket as though carrying around that kind of money was of no consequence to him. "There you are. That should be the entire amount."

Andrew was going to go into cardiac arrest. "Th... thank you, Mr. Luthor! Thank you, so much, for doing business with me." Big smile at him.

Dominic was too busy gazing at the little desk, for Ellie. Done in a soft rose color, with metal bars in the shapes of roses down the sides, and he gazed adoringly as he gently touched it, crouching low to pull the little chair free from it so he could look at it better.

"It's no problem, Andrew. You stock the quality merchandise, and I will continue coming to you so that I may purchase the quality merchandise." He looked at his husband. "Can you tear yourself away, little cricket, or are we spending more money in Andrew's little shop today?"

He looked up, chuckling at him. "This is what you just bought, idiot." He gently pushed the chair back under, smiled and waved at Andrew who looked ready to go into conniptions, and took his lovers hand softly as he slid up next to him. "You are using money from our account, I can be sure of?"

"No, we're not," Lionel said softly. "I am buying these for you, as my wedding present to you."

Shock. "What?"

"I never bought you anything to celebrate. This is my present to you."

Dominic stopped, in the doorway of the little shop, and wrapped his arms tightly around his lover, bringing him down a little for a tight embrace and soft, pecking kisses against his lips and face. "You didn't have to buy me anything. You married me. It was all the gift I needed in the world."

Andrew squeaked, loudly, fanned himself, and flounced into the back rooms before he had himself a heart attack in the cuteness of it all.

Lionel smiled softly, and stroked his fingers over Dominic's cheeks. "I know I didn't have to, Dominic. But I wanted to. I want to buy you things, spoil you as much as you'll let me, simply because I can. I want to show you how much I'm willing to give you, and please, don't argue."

"I know it. You're a lush, I've known that for a long time." He pressed his lips to his lovers again. "Thank you, Lionel, they're... that crib, its... its the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. My beloved, thank you, because nothing in this world would have been more perfect, or more better suited, for our briar rose. " Another tender, gentle kiss. "You don't have to buy me things to show me. I'll let you, though, if it pleases you, and I'll just let you buy me things for me to give to other people. Like that little desk? For Eleanor. And the lamp, for your office. And the vase? The board room."

Lionel frowned. "You have to pick out something for yourself, Dominic."

"I don't need anything. The greatest gift is standing right here in my arms." He reached up and kissed his lover again, softly. "I very rarely spend for myself. You'll realize that, as you live with me." But Dominic cocked a crooked grin. "I cherish the things you give me. My cuff links, and my pen. They're with me, wherever I go, no matter what."

"If you say so, Jiminy." Lionel rubbed his thumbs over Dominic's cheeks. "You are the best thing that has ever happened to me. You brought me back from the brink of... wherever I was before, and you saved me from myself."

"You want to know the one thing I splurge on?" asked softly, as he pushed through the door to the shop and back out onto the street. He was freezing, and this time he couldn't stop the shiver, as he rubbed his arms tightly and set his hat back on his head.

"What, Jiminy? What do you splurge on?" He wrapped his arms around his lover tightly, and pooled their body heat. "Do you want to wait in the store and me bring the car around for you?"

He shook his head, just wrapping around him and shivering. "No, lets get walking, I'll warm up. Its just from being sick, beloved." He squeezed his waist, tightly, and grinned up at him. "I love to eat. I do. Eating is good. Tonight, at the restaurant? I was the happiest I've been in some time. Damn that was good food."

Lionel laughed loudly on the nearly empty street. "Yes, I could tell by the fact you left nearly everything on your plate."

He beamed up at him. "I can't eat when my dicks hard as rock, beloved." But he wrinkled his nose at him, snuggling close to him and setting his cheek on his lovers shoulder. "But I've never been happier. I just… like... to eat. A lot. I can't help it. "

More laughter as Lionel led them along the mostly deserted streets. "Come on, let's go home. You can devour the beef roast."

"Oh, my god, I forgot." He groaned in pleasure of it, even as he brought his lovers arm around him tighter. Now that he was walking his blood was warming up, and the first chill wasn't as cold as it could have been. "It seems its going to be cool a bit longer, doesn't it? I'm almost wishing for the summer again."

"Dominic, it's the middle of February. It's supposed to be cold." But as he walked, he murmured softly to himself, then spoke up. "But did you notice Lex's dressing this morning? Lightweight slacks and a thin dress shirt? Almost... as though he were dressing for balmy, not cold."

"That's what I meant. Wasn't that odd? I'm fucking freezing, and he's dressing like its spring and theirs flowers about everywhere. bastard. And pulls it off quite well, wouldn't you know."

"But there are flowers in Smallville," Lionel said softly. "Remember? The white crocuses along the gardens in the new plaza were beginning to bud already."

Dominic blinked, and looked up at Lionel. "You...are quite correct. And… I... wore my polo shirt, the green one, yesterday, and had to get my coat on the way up here, because it was cold."

"Yes, that's right. That's... quite odd, if you think about it."

He blinked again. Twice. "Extremely odd. You don't think.."

"I don't think what, Jiminy?"

"Clark."

Lionel shook his head. "I don't think so; how could he? We've seen no evidence of it."

A shrug of his shoulders. "Perhaps its just that Smallville is an odd little duck in a pond of swans. Perhaps something to do with the meteor fragments, you know."

"Perhaps. I'll... mention it to Lex tomorrow, and we'll find out what's behind it. Though it won't be a priority."

"No. Us getting home, getting a shower, and getting warm is quite the priority of the moment." He smiled up at him as they turned, a street over from his apartment building, his fingers squeezing his lovers hip. "I love you, Lionel Luthor."

"I love you, Dominic Senatori-Luthor." Lionel's hand slipped down to his waist, and caught his lover's fingers against his warm skin. "Let's get you inside and get you... warmed up."

His lips spread. Broadly. "I love winter. Have I mentioned? looove it love it." A wicked giggle on the end of it, as his fingers tightened around Lionel's on his hip, sliding up so he could gently rake his fingernails down a long, warm flank, and his eyes just danced. "Much warming to be done. Its possible I'm getting frostbite."

"Mmmm. Now, we can't have that." He snuggled Dominic closer against his side. "When we get you inside, we're going to have to give you a.... very thorough check." He leaned over and nibbled a kiss from Dominic's ear lobe. "Inch... by... inch," he breathed.

"Oookay, and this is the part where my jeans aren't fitting comfortably again." He had to shift a little, but didn't dare give his lover the satisfaction, just glaring at him as he turned to look at him. "You've got it all wrong, you see. Because there is a tub of cut, sugared strawberries and whipped cream waiting for us. And I plan on making every part of you understand what it is to be the spongy, soft, delicious middle of a strawberry cake."

"Does that mean... you get to be the frostbitten frosting on my strawberry cake?" He nibbled on Dominic's earlobe again as he steered them towards the building.

"No, that means you're going to wrap me in blankets so I stop shivering, because I am very, very cold." And he was. He was shivering like a Popsicle, and he stepped up to his door, fingers diving into his pockets for his keys, which he pulled out, slid in, and opened the front door of the building. It was blissfully warm in the lobby, and he sighed deeply as he stepped past the security guard and slid into the elevator with his love.

Lionel held the elevator door open with his palm, setting off the sensor so it wouldn't close. "Are you sure you wouldn't rather take the stairs?"

Oh. He blinked, looking at the little box, then at his lover... and shook his head, straightening. "No, I would not."

"All right." Lionel pulled his hand back, and let the elevator doors close as he pushed the button for Dominic's floor. "Just hold onto me."

"Okay. Holding on." He wrapped his arms around his lover, tightly.

The elevator rose. Dinged three floors, before opening on the third, to Dominics apartment.

And Dominic had his eyes squeezed shut, waiting for the panic to flood him.

It never did.

-fin-

go on to the next part