I will not be attempting to borrow dialogue straight from episodes. I hope that doesn't bother anyone, but since it's been over a decade since this season was on the air, I figured it would not be a big deal.
Anon: Please don't use my story to post your crazy in a review. Start a blog.
General Note: This will not be a love triangle with Buffy/Clark/Lex since I have made Buffy six years older and a mentor. That's just icky to me. This is a Buffy/Lex story with Clark. In my heart, no one is better than Lois for Clark. I will insert Buffy into Smallville events as well as add a few new bits from the BTVS world. I hope you enjoy the update! Thanks for reading.
Chapter 2: New Friends
*****A Week Later*****
Lex Luthor tried once again to read the report in front of him. He managed a few minutes before images of his near death and his two saviors intruded. The Kent boy, though, wasn't the one who occupied most of his time. He'd sent the young savior a gift to show his thanks. However, the woman who brought him back to life didn't live in Smallville. She intrigued him like no woman ever had. He saw both sorrow and strength in her gaze. It haunted him.
"Lex!" a voice called out. He looked up and saw Clark Kent.
"Clark. Good to see you!" Lex said, standing to greet him.
"This is some place you got here, Lex," Clark said, looking around in awe.
"Yes, it's more of a museum than a home," Lex said.
"Some home," Clark said with a grin.
Lex couldn't help but respond to the teen's genuine enthusiasm and warm mile. "What brings you by? Did you get the gift I sent you?" he asked.
Clark looked uncomfortable as he held up the key chain. "I came to return the truck. Thanks, but I can't keep it," Clark said.
"Do you not like it? I can get you something else. It's the least I can do for the guy who helped save my life," Lex said.
"No, I love it. It's great. My dad won't let me keep it, though," Clark said, looking embarrassed.
Lex pushed down the flare of anger. Jonathan Kent was not a man who would accept charity. Lex shouldn't take offense. "I'm sorry to hear that. I just wanted to thank you," Lex said, accepting the keys.
"Well, maybe a nice dinner sometime," Clark said with a grin.
"Any time," Lex said.
"Did you buy Buffy one, too?" Clark asked.
"I would've if I knew where she lived," Lex said.
"With your contacts, you couldn't find out?" Clark asked in surprise.
"I thought about it. I gathered Miss Summers is a student in Metropolis, but there's more than one school," Lex said.
"She is going to Metropolis University. She's a psychology major," Clark said. "She's going to be moving to Smallville with her younger sister by next semester. She's starting a mentoring program at the high school. That's how I met her."
Lex realized that Clark was full of useful information. "Well, that's good to know. I'd like to thank her. Do you think she'd be upset if I tracked her down? Some women get freaked out if a man finds out where they live. I don't want her to think I'm some creep or stalker," Lex said with a rueful smile.
"She seemed pretty strong and independent. I would think she'd be flattered someone like you would go through all the effort," Clark said. "Maybe don't go to her house. Find her on campus. In public will take away the creep factor."
"Good idea," Lex said. "Thanks for the advice, Clark. I appreciate it."
"Thanks for the truck. I'm sorry that I can't keep it," Clark said regretfully.
"Thanks for saving my life, Clark. I won't ever forget that," Lex said sincerely.
After Clark left, he picked up the phone. The young teen had a point. It was time he found his beautiful savior.
*****The Next Day*****
Buffy was coming out of her last class and found a familiar bald head sitting on a bench outside her classroom building. Curious, Buffy walked toward him.
"Mr. Luthor? What are you doing here?" she asked him.
Lex smiled up at her. "Hello. I was hoping to see you again," he said.
"Is that why you're staking out my classroom building?" Buffy said both flattered and concerned.
"Well, I wanted to thank you in person for saving my life. Clark mentioned you were a psychology major here, so I decided to wait here and see if I could spot you coming out of the main building for psychology majors," he said with a sheepish smile.
"I'm flattered you went through the effort," Buffy said, caught off guard. She was rarely thanked by the people she saved. No one had ever bothered to find her to say thanks in person.
Lex smiled. "Are you done with classes? I'd like to take you to dinner to show my thanks," he said.
"That's not necessary," Buffy said, waving off his gratitude.
"You know Clark gave back the truck I bought him and now you don't want me to take you to a measly dinner. What's a guy got to do to show his gratitude?" Lex asked with a rueful smile.
"You bought Clark a car?" Buffy asked. "How much money do you have?"
"You don't know? That's usually the only thing people know about me and whatever bull the gossip rags print," Lex said, genuinely surprised.
"I don't keep up with celebrity gossip or most news," Buffy admitted. "Unless the world's ending, I don't really want to know. I'm busy with school."
Lex found her very refreshing and was more interested by the minute. "Do you have time for dinner?" he asked.
"Buffy!" a voice called out.
Lex watched her face transform. The brilliance of her smile struck him mute. Unfortunately, he wasn't the recipient of the smile. A man was walking toward Buffy. As he got closer, Lex was startled by the man's appearance. He had dark hair in need of a cut and a black eye patched that matched his black leather jacket. A teenage girl was next to him.
Buffy moved to embrace the girl. "I didn't know you guys were coming!" she exclaimed.
"The Dawnster missed the Buffster, so I decided to bring her to see you since I missed you, too," the man said. Buffy gave him a long hug. Lex watched their interaction carefully. Was he her lover? When she didn't kiss him, he doubted it.
"Who's your friend?" Dawn asked, eying the guy curiously.
"Oh!" Buffy said, having forgotten Lex in her excitement. "I'm sorry, Lex Luthor. Xander, Dawn, this is Lex. Lex, this is my sister and best friend, Xander. My sister's been living overseas and recently moved back to the states. They came in from Ohio."
Lex held out his hand, smiling. "It's nice to meet you. Is Xander short for Alexander?" he asked Xander.
Xander nodded. "Yep. Alexander Lavelle Harris at your service," Xander said, giving a short bow.
"I thought so," Lex said. "That's my full name, too. Except for Lavelle, of course."
"It's a good name," Buffy said, smiling.
"Are you a student here?" Dawn asked in her usual frank manner.
"No, I live in Smallville," he said.
"He came to thank me," Buffy said.
"She saved my life a week ago. Pulled me out of a car in the river," Lex said.
"Buffy's good at the savage," Xander said with a grin.
"You came all the way here to thank her? Wow, that's so cool!" Dawn exclaimed, impressed.
"He wanted to buy me dinner. Can you believe that?" Buffy said, smiling warmly at Lex.
"That's so sweet!" Dawn gushed.
Lex preened under the girls' looks of admiration. He wasn't used to admiration for himself and not his last name.
Xander rolled his eye. "Buying dinner isn't that big of deal. I buy dinner for you all the time!" Xander said.
Buffy giggled. "Very true," she acknowledged. She turned to Lex. "Maybe we can take a raincheck on dinner?"
Dawn, ever the matchmaker, said, "If you live in Smallville, maybe tomorrow you can give us a tour? Then you can feed us lunch!"
Lex smiled. "It'd be my pleasure," he said. He handed Buffy his card. "Call me when you decide on a time."
They said goodbye and watched him leave.
"He seemed nice," Dawn said with a grin.
"Yeah," Buffy agreed. She looked down at the card. Xander snatched it from her. "Hey!"
"Luthorcorp. I knew his name sounded familiar," Xander said, frowning. "His dad is pretty notorious in development circles."
"Well, he can't help who his dad is," Dawn said.
"Don't I know it," Xander said. "I'm just saying you should keep in mind who he learned his business practices from if he's working for his dad."
"I'll keep that in mind," Buffy said.
"So tell us about this save?" Dawn asked.
"I will after Xander feeds me!" Buffy said with a grin. She threw her arm around Xander's waist. She missed him a lot.
*****The Next Day*****
Clark was at the Farmer's Market with his parents when he spotted a familiar face. It was Lex. He grinned when he saw Buffy with Lex. "He must've took my advice," Clark said.
"What's that, son?" Jonathan asked.
"I see Lex over there with Buffy," Clark said, pointing. Lex spotted him and began to direct Buffy his way.
"Good to see you, Lex," Clark said, smiling. "You, too, Buffy."
Buffy grinned up at him. "This is fantastic! All this food! Makes me hungry!" she exclaimed.
"After that giant breakfast you had, I can't believe you could possibly be hungry," Lex said, laughing. He'd been very happy to have Buffy call him late the night before to make plans this morning. They'd had breakfast at the Talon, where they'd met. Dawn had been very excited that there was a small theatre in the town even if it didn't play new releases.
"I have a very high metabolism," Buffy said. "How are you, Clark? Mr. Kent?"
"We're great," Clark said. "This is my mom, Martha Kent."
Buffy held out her hand. "Buffy Summers. You have quite a brave son. You must be proud," Buffy said.
"I am," Marth said, smiling at her son.
Dawn gave her sister a pointed look. She wanted the very hot guy to know who she was.
"Oh, Clark, this is my sister, Dawn. She will be a student at your school next semester. Dawn, Clark," Buffy introduced.
Clark gave her a warm smile and Dawn melted. He was so gorgeous! "What grade will you be in?" he asked.
"Junior. You?" she asked.
"Sophomore," he said.
"Clark, maybe you can join us in a few hours for lunch? I'm going to take them around a few spots," Lex said.
Clark looked at his mom, who gave him an encouraging smile. "Okay," he said. "Thanks."
"The more the merrier," Buffy said. She looked at the produce with interest. "We will be eating so much better when we live here!"
Martha smiled. "I hope to see you when you do settle into town," she said.
"Thanks!" Buffy said. They said goodbye.
"She seemed nice," Martha said.
"Buffy? Yes, she is," Clark said.
"Actually, I was referring to her sister," Martha said, smiling. "She was quite lovely."
"Yes, she was," Clark said. He had noticed. The girl might even have been prettier than Lana. "She's a lot taller than Buffy. They don't look much alike."
"That's how it works with siblings. Sometimes siblings look identical. Sometimes not," Martha said. "I'm impressed that someone has tiny as Buffy was so quick to save Lex."
"She's stronger than she looks," Clark said. She was also pretty fast since she had come out of nowhere and saved him from Lex's car. Clark had a feeling that life around this woman would never been boring.
*****Early Afternoon*****
They were eating lunch, sharing a few basic stories—nothing too personal. Mostly, Xander was telling stories of his summer in Africa. Finally, though, Dawn couldn't refrain from asking Lex a very personal question.
"So, Lex, can I ask you something?" Dawn asked. She was sitting next to her sister, across from Lex and Clark while Xander sat at the end.
"No, Dawn, you can't," Buffy said, giving her a pointed glare.
Since Lex was an only child, he didn't know any better and smiled. "Sure," he said.
"Don't say that I didn't warn you," Buffy said in resignation.
"Most guys your age—at least most white guys—don't go for the bald look. Ever thought of growing your hair out?" Dawn asked.
Clark's eyes widened in surprise. He threw Lex an embarrassed look that Xander and Buffy caught, but Dawn, as usual, was oblivious to.
"Dawn!" Buffy exclaimed, mortified.
Lex's smile didn't waver. "It's all right. I'm not upset," he said. "Actually, Dawn, I'd love to grow hair if I could. However, I was in Smallville when the meteors hit eleven years ago. I almost died and all my hair was gone. Since then, my hair hasn't grown a bit, nor have I been sick a day."
"Really?" Dawn asked, fascinated.
"I spent a lot of years being ridiculed and picked on over it. But I've learned to accept it," Lex said.
"I bet Willow could fix you," Dawn said.
Buffy elbowed her. "Shut it!" she said, through clenched teeth. She leaned over and whispered in Dawn's ear.
"We just met these people. We can't start telling them about witches and magic," Buffy said in a low whispered.
Clark's eyes widened as he could hear Buffy's words. What? Magic? Witches? Were they for real?
"Who's Willow?" Lex asked.
"She's just a very gifted friend. Xander and I went to high school with her. She's our best friend and extremely intelligent. She's been known to do the impossible," Buffy said.
Lex looked at Xander. "What about you?" he asked. "What happened to your eye?"
Xander looked at Buffy before replying. "I pissed off a serial killer who was trying to kill Buffy. He put his thumb through it," he said bluntly.
Both Clark and Lex were noticeably shocked at his frank admission.
"You're joking," Lex said, unable to believe the tale.
Buffy gave Xander a fond look. "He's always been my White Knight," she said. "Unfortunately, he doesn't jest. Caleb was a real misogynist. He's dead now, so justice was served."
"That's awful! I'm sorry you had to go through something like that," Clark said with sympathy.
"You know what they say, 'What doesn't kill you makes you stronger.' I've discovered there's not much I can't survive. Even death," Buffy said, adding a smile, so the guys weren't sure how serious she was.
"How do you survive death?" Lex asked, finding her more and more fascinating.
"Xander lost his eye less than a year ago, but when he was sixteen, he saved my life for the first time," Buffy shared. "I mentioned that I drowned. I was legally dead for a few minutes until Xander performed CPR on me."
Lex gave Xander a look of admiration. "A white knight indeed," he said.
Xander looked embarrassed and brushed it off. "I did what any guy would do," he said dismissively.
Lex put his hand on Clark's shoulder. "Sounds like you and Clark have a lot in common," Lex said.
"So where to next?" Dawn asked, hoping to change the direction of the conversation. She didn't like thinking about Caleb or any of Buffy's deaths.
"The Talon's playing a showing of Casablancas at two," Clark suggested.
Buffy smiled. "I love that movie. We used to watch it with our mother," Buffy said.
"She would totally go if she was here," Dawn said, sharing a bittersweet smile with Buffy.
"Maybe when she comes for a visit, we can have Lana play it again," Lex suggested.
"Our mom's dead," Dawn said in that blunt manner teenagers often have.
"Brain aneurysm after a tumor removal a few years ago," Buffy explained.
"I'm sorry. I lost my mother years ago," Lex said with sympathy. "Life just isn't the same without our mothers." Another layer peeled away, and it seemed they had more in common with each layer.
"I'm adopted, so I never met my real parents. But Mom and Dad are great," Clark said.
"Adopted?" Dawn asked with interest. "I've never met anyone that was adopted. What's that like?"
"How about you stop with the personal and invasive questions?" Buffy said with a glare. She saw the waiter. "Check!"
Buffy managed to get her hand on the check before Lex. "This is on me. You sprung for breakfast," Buffy said.
Lex couldn't have been more surprised. No one had ever bought his lunch besides his father. "Well, thanks," he said, wanting to protest. However, he felt that this woman was very strong and independent. She wouldn't appreciate his protest.
As they walked down the sidewalk, Clark fell into step with Dawn. "So, Clark, do you have a girlfriend?" Dawn boldly asked. He might be a year younger than her, but he was so gorgeous and nice.
"No," he said.
"Really?" Dawn asked surprised. "How does a guy as nice and good-looking as you stay single?"
Clark blushed. "Well, the only girl I have liked never noticed me that way. I guess I never met anyone else that interests me," he admitted. He was surprised that he felt so comfortable with this girl. She was quite beautiful herself. However, Clark didn't feel a real attraction for her.
"Clark?" a voice said.
"Hello, Miss Sullivan," Lex said.
"Hey, Miss Summers. Mr. Luthor," Chloe said, frowning. What was Buffy doing with Clark? Why was Clark with her dad's boss?
"Hi, Chloe," Clark said, knowing the question on her mind. "This is Buffy's sister Dawn. The one that will be in our school next year."
Chloe gave the strikingly beautiful girl a warm smile. "Nice to meet you. I'm Chloe Sullivan. The guys here will flip when they see you," she said.
"Cause I'm so weird looking?" Dawn asked, grinning.
"No, because you're so beautiful. Probably even prettier than Lana Lang," Chloe said, looking at the taller girl with interest. She looked at her much shorter sister. "You, too, don't look much alike."
Dawn snickered. "You actually look more like her than I do!" Dawn observed, looking between Chloe and Buffy.
Clark and Lex both looked at the two girls. "You may have a point," Lex said.
Xander grinned. "That would explain a lot!" he exclaimed, totally amused by the idea.
"Both blonde and shorter. Both have greenish colored eyes and a pert nose," Clark said. "Yep."
"Dawn, I forgot to tell you," Buffy said, touching her arm and looking very serious. "You were switched at birth."
Because Dawn's origins were so mystical and insane, the humor behind Buffy's claim struck her strongly, and she burst out laughing. "I wish!" she exclaimed. Then looked guilty for saying the W word. "Do you want to join us? We're going to the movies."
"Sure," Chloe said, falling into step next to Dawn.
"Oh, the scary eye patch guy is Xander," Dawn said with a grin. When Xander tried to glower at her, she giggled.
Chloe could tell that the man with one eye wasn't very menacing.
Buffy smiled to see Dawn already making friends and resumed her walk between Lex and Xander. Lex was a very nice man, who hadn't bored her all day. She spent so little time around men who weren't involved in the supernatural. It was nice to just have a normal day and be seen as normal. In her classes at school, she was able to pretend. Rarely, though, could she be with Dawn or Xander without the supernatural involved somehow.
"This is nice," Buffy said.
"It really is," Xander said, enjoying the down time. They didn't get enough of this. For Buffy's sake, he was glad that she'd taken time to create a life for herself. If anyone had earned it, it was her. Sometimes, he wished that for himself. However, she had so fundamentally altered him at his core. He could never be satisfied with just a nine to five job, a wife and kid. He may have all three one day, but he'd be doing his part to save the world one soul at a time whenever he could.
"I'm glad you like it," Lex said. "It's growing on me." He smiled at Buffy, one of the two that he felt the beginning of a friendship with. Making friends was never easy with him. Men especially saw him as a threat. Normally, he'd see Xander as a rival for Buffy's affection. However, he'd watched the two of them closely. There was no sexual tension between them. They acted like siblings or close friends. Xander's willingness to risk his own life for Buffy filled Lex with admiration. There were so few men alive today that Lex felt he could genuinely admire and respect.
He hoped that this would mark the beginning of real friendship with both of them. With Buffy, he'd hope for more. However, he sensed that she wasn't like other girls. He couldn't impress her with his money or flashy cars. This would take some time.
Since she was moving soon to Smallville, he'd have all the time he needed.
******Chapter End******
Yes, I know that the Talon was probably not open yet in this timeline or serving full meals, but I am using it anyway. Reviews are the best part of my day, so take a minute and share one!
