Chapter 20: Buffy's Love Life

*****The Next Day*****

Buffy could not believe that the mayor had convinced her to stay overnight in the hospital, citing public perception and how she was a national treasure and basically a war hero. If something were to happen, he would never recover politically, and the city would be blamed. He was very good at the guilt, so she reluctantly agreed. Now that the sun was up, she was determined to escape. She was just getting dressed after her shower when a nurse brought in a large bouquet of flowers. As her room already looked like a damn florist shop, she wasn't too excited.

"Another one?" she groaned.

"This one is the largest yet," the nurse said with a grin.

"There's no way I can take all these with me," Buffy said.

"Why don't you take one or two, and I'll disperse the rest to the patients that don't get many visitors," she suggested.

"Oh, that's a great idea," Buffy said. The nurse took two small bouquets with her as she left.

Buffy looked at the new arrival. It was lovely. It had a few roses, but it also had some lilies, orchids, and a few friendly daisies in the arrangement. Curious, she grabbed the card. You are my hero. Fondly, Lex.

Buffy grinned. Should she pick up her phone and call him? It was very early. He was a businessman, so she decided to send a text in case he was still a sleep or in the shower or in a business breakfast or something.

I got your flowers. They're beautiful. Thanks so much. I'm very well. Media exaggerates!

She put on her shoes and sent off a text to Bruce and Faith together. Who is coming to pick me up? I am so ready to leave!

Predictably, Bruce replied that he would send a car. It would be there in an hour. Buffy sighed but supposed she could wait. The sneaky bastard was probably wanting to make sure the doctor gave permission for her to leave. However, she wasn't waiting until the doctor decided to stroll in.

Her phone beeped again. I am glad you liked the flowers. If you feel like dinner tonight, I'd love to see you.

Buffy smiled, enjoying the warm feeling his words invoked. I don't really want to be in the circus that Gotham has become. How about I come to you in Metropolis? Send me an address. I'll be there by 7.

Why don't I send my plane? Be at the airport at four.

A thrill went through Buffy at the thought, and she quickly typed her reply. Works for me. I have to be in NY tomorrow.

Then I have you for the night….

Buffy grinned but didn't reply. A knock at her door made her look up. "Clark!" she exclaimed, hopping off the bed to greet him with a hug.

"I'm so sorry that I couldn't get here to see you sooner," Clark said. He was holding a small teddy bear.

"That's okay," Buffy said, flashing him a warm smile. "I'm glad you could get here now. I'm leaving here in a bit."

"How are you? I saw the news footage," he said. "That looked pretty painful."

"Yes, iron bars to the stomach aren't my preferred pastime," she said, laughing. "Have a seat."

When she sat back down on the bed, he sat in the chair by the bed. "I'm glad I decided to not go with the flowers," he said, looking at the massive number of flowers she had in the room. He handed her the little bear with a heart on it. "I saw this in the gift shop."

"Oh, I love it!" Buffy gushed. "I had this stuff pig named Mr. Gordo, but he died in the earthquake as my sister forgot to grab him when she packed." Buffy was still a bit upset at Dawn for that.

"Well, then I'm glad I made the right choice," Clark said, relieved. He wasn't sure which way to go as she wasn't his girlfriend, but they had become very good friends. However, he didn't know her the way he knew Chloe, nor did he think of her exactly the way he thought of Chloe. Afterall, he wasn't blind to Buffy's obvious appeal.

"Most definitely," she said, looking at the bear. "I think I'll call this bear Tom. He looks like a Tom."

Clark laughed. "I'll concede to your experience in naming stuffed animals," he said. "Tom the Bear sounds perfect." Buffy gave him a beaming smile and sat him on the nightstand.

"I saw the news last night and saw Superman managed to kill his monster dayvamp," she said with a wink.

Clark got up and shut the door to her room. "Yes, it was disturbing to see a vampire infused with the meteor rock," he said.

"I thought we were calling it Kryptonite since it comes from Superman's home planet?" she said pointedly.

"Habit," Clark said, smiling.

"Did you kill yours like Cordy does with your fire vision?" she asked.

"Well, I first used my freeze breathe to immobilize it," he shared.

"Oh, that's a good idea! I haven't seen Cordy use hers yet," she said.

"Is it okay to call it that or did you come up with a new name for that too?" he asked, giving her a look of amusement.

"I think freeze breathe is perfect for that one," she said regally.

"Good. Then I used the—" he paused and smiled and said, "fire eyes to sever its head."

"Ha!" Buffy said with a laugh. "You will be using all my crazy words before long!"

There was a knock at the door, and it was pushed open. It was her doctor. Clark stood. "Do I need to leave?" he asked.

"No, I was just going to check our special lady here, and give her permission to leave," the doctor said. "I heard she would probably not stick around and wait for me."

Buffy looked a bit sheepish but shook her head. "No, I have a car on its way," she said. "Then I've got plans to go to Metropolis today."

"Well, hold up your shirt, so I can check your wound," the doctor said.

"Oh, I took off the bandage when I took a shower," Buffy said as she lifted her shirt to show her stomach. "The wound is healed."

The doctor looked at her unblemished stomach in amazement. "That's incredible," he said. He moved to see her back and couldn't even tell where the exit wound had been. "If I hadn't been here yesterday when you came in, I might not believe you were injured. Of course, I also saw the news footage."

Buffy groaned. "It's so insane the way they make out like I'm some kind of super freak—I'm not Superman or Superwoman," she said, giving Clark a smug look.

"That's why they love you even more, you know," the doctor said as he tested her blood pressure.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Well, Superman is wonderful—he's like a god," the doctor said. "Because he's an alien, people don't see him really as someone they can relate to or aspire to be like. They see him as special—their own miracle and hero—don't get me wrong. But he doesn't inspire the same level of devotion simply because he's not human. You are. I can draw your blood—you bleed and feel pain. No one has ever seen Superman do either of those things. That means people will worship him to a certain degree, but they won't feel the same level of connection. You, they know, are entirely human, which I can confirm since I've seen your blood panel. You're just special; some believe you are blessed by God. They love you like they will never quite love him."

Buffy felt her cheeks turn red at the doctor's words, and she felt bad for Clark. She knew he felt pain—not like she did, of course, but still.

"That makes sense," Clark said easily. He had already thought similar things and was not hurt by the doctor's insightful observation.

"Sometimes, I think it would be really nice not to feel any pain," Buffy said with a sigh. She was relieved Clark didn't seem upset at the doctor's words. Could he be more wonderful?

"Without pain, can you truly know true joy?" the doctor asked. "Physical pain reminds us that we are alive, and our body is a demanding mistress that we must keep satisfied if we want to live a long and happy life."

Buffy laughed. "I like that. So is my body free to go?" she asked.

"You are free to go," he said, smiling. "The nurse said we are liberating some of these flowers for you?"

"Yes," she said.

"Can I take one for my wife? I never have time to stop and get her some," he asked, looking a bit embarrassed.

"Of course," Buffy said. "Just not the biggest one. I'm going to take that one with me. Also, the balloons that Faith brought me. Oh, and I better grab those flowers since Bruce gave me those." She pointed to the beautiful orange tulips.

When the doctor left, Clark couldn't help pointing to the largest bouquet and asking, "Who gave you those?"

"Those are from Lex," Buffy said. She couldn't help but look for some sign that Clark might not like another man sending her flowers, but he simply nodded.

"That's nice of him," he said. He thought about what she said about going to Metropolis and wanted to ask if she was seeing him. Then he realized it wasn't his business, and he had no right to pry into her private life.

"He's sending his plane, so I can have dinner with him tonight," she added. Now that got a stronger reaction.

"Really?" Clark asked, frowning. "That seems a bit over the top, don't you think? I didn't think you were the kind of girl who would be impressed with a guy's money or what he can do with it."

"No, I can't say I ever have before," she said with a shrug. "But I've never dated anyone that had much money. Watching Faith with Bruce has made me a tiny bit envious—I gotta admit."

Now Clark was looking very disappointed. "Oh, you want to get your own billionaire—I see," he said. "Well, have fun. I'll get out of your way." He turned to go, and Buffy grabbed his arm, turning him back around to face her.

"Excuse me," she said, glaring. "What the hell is your problem?"

"I don't have any problem," he said. "I just thought you were different is all. I've seen other girls fall for Lex before, and it never ends well."

"Okay, for one, I'm not your ex, Laney," Buffy said.

"Lana," he corrected.

"Whatever," Buffy said, waving a hand dismissively. "Second of all, I'm not looking to bag my own billionaire. I meant that I wanted what Faith and Bruce have—you should see them together. He adores her, and she's crazy about him. I've never seen her this happy. Do you know when the last time I got asked out to dinner by a guy genuinely interested in getting to know me, Clark?"

Clark shrugged. "I'm sure a beautiful woman like you gets asked out all the time," he said.

"You would be wrong," she said. "Ben, he was the last guy to ask me out on a real date before Lex," Buffy said. "He was the human host of Glory, the hellgod who wanted to sacrifice Dawn back when I was twenty." She gave a humorless laugh. "Yes, that's how god awful my luck is in the romance department! And that's over three years ago, Clark—three years. I didn't sleep with Ben. We had coffee once. After him, there was Spike, but Spike and I didn't go out on dates since he was just my shameful little secret. He and I just had sex a lot when we weren't fighting—I hit him a lot. Because I was so numb after being brought back, I let him hit me a lot, too. It was not a healthy relationship."

Clark felt his face flush at the mention of her sex life, and he tried to recover from the awkwardness. "Well, I'm sorry," he mumbled.

"You should be," Buffy said, a bit hurt. "You've made some assumptions. I slay monsters. I have responsibilities, and I haven't had a chance to even meet a nice guy until I met you. You, though, don't seem interested in asking me out. I know you're still mourning Lois, and I would never want to intrude on your grief. But Lex seems like a nice guy—you said he was okay. Bruce said he was. I don't hold a guy's past against him, especially when it wasn't really him but his original person who did those things. I'm not going to hold what the Lex you knew did against this Lex anymore than I'd hold what Angelus did against Angel."

Clark nodded. "I can understand that," he said. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you. I just think you're amazing, and I don't want you to get hurt."

"I appreciate that. Unfortunately, I've been hurt before, and I can handle it just fine," she said. "I'm going to dinner. I might sleep with him—I might not. We might just end up friends. Who knows? But I want something in my life besides slaying and being the hero for the world—you know?"

"I get it," he said. "Have fun."

Buffy's phone beeped, and she looked at the message. "My car's here. Can you help me take this stuff down?" she asked.

Clark nodded and reached for Lex's flower and Bruce's. "No problem," he said, glad they weren't fighting anymore. Her friendship had become important to him the past year. He listened to her chatter happily as they walked away before the nurse could bring her a wheelchair. The thought of her dating Lex still didn't sit right with him, but he didn't know if it was because of his history with Lex or something else.

Did he care that she was dating? He wasn't sure he was ready to face the answer to that question.

*****Metropolis*****

Lex Luthor was seething. How did it happen? Six months ago, before Buffy Summers had revealed her identity or Superman had shared everything he knew about the supernatural with the world, he had been approached by a man named Ethan Rayne. The man had given him just enough information to pique his interest. When he had produced a monster that he called a Turok-Han, a type of demon, Lex was not sure if that was true or if it was a new alien life. The creature had one weakness—it could not handle the sunlight, which Lex found fascinating. He saw the potential in harnessing the creature's power to aid America and was hoping to have something to show the military if he could overcome the creature's daylight sensitivity. Nothing seemed to work that he tried, and Rayne had said it was impossible to cure. However, his journals had told him of the meteor rock and various experiments his father had done. He knew that when the shower happened, he had lost his hair has a boy. Weird things happened in Smallville as Chloe Lane had chronicled in her high school paper.

When Rayne had shown Lex his monster and where he could find more, Lex had not let him in on his plans to experiment with the creatures. The meteorite, though, had allowed the creatures to walk in the daylight, which was an exciting development. When Superman had come out and shared about demons and vampires, Lex realized that Rayne hadn't told him everything about the creatures. Disturbed by the implication that he might be working with something that was innately evil and thus morally reprehensible, he paused his project, hoping to figure out the best course of action. He put all his people on researching the hellmouth, waiting to learn more about the supernatural.

Then General Lane had approached him with a proposal to find a few regular vampires and see if Walsh's behavior modification plans were doable. Fascinated with the idea, Lex had completely put his Turok-Han plans on ice. The Turok-Hans were much stronger and more dangerous. There was no way to control them, so any behavior modification would have to start with the weaker type of vampires anyway.

How did Rayne gain access to them? He had checked the cameras at the facility where they were housed, and the footage was no good. The guards had not been killed, but their memories had been wiped. It had to have been Rayne. How did he do it? It was beyond foolish of Lex to work with someone he didn't know much about. It was time for him to do what he should've done to begin with. He went to his computer and began to do a deep background search on Ethan Rayne.

He was having dinner with Buffy, and he wanted to have some information before he saw her. He didn't think she would be quite so understanding if she found out he was indirectly responsible for the monsters that had killed some of her people.

*****New York*****

Buffy looked at the window of the plane as she flew from Metropolis back home. It'd been a few weeks since she had been back home as she'd been traveling a lot. Her mind was full of the events of the past twenty-four hours. Two things were vying for attention: her interaction with Clark and her date with Lex. Lex had met her personally at the airport—a move that had surprised her as she had expected only a car to take him to his location.

Because no one knew she was in town, she had the anonymity that she had been seeking. He actually drove her to Smallville and took her to his giant McMansion there after giving her a tour of Smallville and the Talon. She never told him, of course, that she'd been to the town before with Superman aka Clark. He told her about the journals that said how he'd bought the Talon from Lana to help her keep running it as she was in high school and loved the place. At first, he had done it because Clark had a crush on her, and he wanted to build a connection to Clark. He had also admired the girl's work ethic, and she had been a good partner. Eventually, though, his clone (Lex referred to the original Lex as his clone) had fallen in love with her.

Buffy had asked him how weird was it to read about things he had no memory of. He admitted that it was very weird, but it also helped when he came across things his clone did that were morally questionable or right down reprehensible.

At one point, he asked Buffy, "Do you think I have a different soul than my clone?"

Buffy thought the question quite interesting and wasn't sure how to answer at first. "That seems like a Giles question," she said in bemusement. "I leave the deep thinking to my Watcher or Willow."

"Now I know you're not just a pretty face," Lex said with a smile.

"Well, if a human body can't have two demons occupy the same space without major conflict, and a body can't live without a demon or a soul giving it life—these are things I've seen firsthand—I would think that a clone would have to have his or her own soul," she said as she worked it out in her mind. "You may be his genetic match almost the way a twin is. They share the same egg until it split. They clearly have different souls, so yes, I do think you have your own soul. You are responsible for own sins only."

Lex smiled. "That's good to hear," he said. "Of course, I'm not perfect."

"None of us are," she said.

He had a wonderful dinner prepared by his chef at his home, so there was absolute privacy. When it came time for the night to be over, they were in his living room area. A fire was going in the fireplace—it was very cozy. Conversation between them had flowed easily, and Buffy had been really enjoying herself. Lex was brilliant in the way that Willow was brilliant except he focused that big brain on her—it was intoxicating. He gave her his complete attention, and she loved it.

When he leaned in to kiss her, her arms had gone around his neck, and she welcomed the kiss. There was definite sparkage between them, so she let it go on for several minutes. Then she pulled back and gave him a considering look. If she slept with him, she and Clark could never be. Clark had already done that once before with his ex, and he still felt the sting of whatever had happened. It didn't matter that this Lex wasn't the same Lex because for Clark it would be déjà vu.

But Lex wanted her, and Clark didn't seem to. However, the times Buffy had just gone with her physical attraction and not thought things through, Angelus had happened, and then Spike's obsession had occurred.

The flight attendant announced the plane was approaching the airport, so Buffy tried to clear her mind of her musings. However, she was still struggling. In the end, she hadn't slept with Lex, telling him she wasn't one for casual sex. Her response seemed to please him, and he hadn't pressured her. Instead, he offered her a very lovely room to stay alone for the night. He had fed her breakfast and driven her to the airport.

When she got out of the car, he stepped out behind her to see her off. For one foolish moment, Buffy had forgotten about her newfound fame and had publicly kissed him goodbye before grabbing her suitcase. Then she noticed the half dozen people standing in various state of delighted surprise at seeing her. All had their phones out. She had groaned and looked back at Lex, who was laughing.

"So close," he said, waving. "That was entirely your fault, by the way."

She had glared before flouncing off, his laughter ringing in her ears.

Now all she could think about was what Clark would think when he saw the picture of Lex driving her to the airport and kissing her goodbye.

Would he assume they slept together? Would he even care?

Those questions kept going around in a loop as she got off the plane. When she stepped out of the airport, the flash of cameras greeted her.

Her fan club was waiting.

Damn it!

*****Chapter End*****

I decided to focus on Buffy's love life more than action in this update. I hope it didn't disappoint. Reviews keep me inspired, so take a minute and leave me one if you will.