Lex Luthor had never been in a dangerous situation in his life. He had tried to stay away from conflict in general, much less danger. That was the foundation of the Luthor psyche, the Luthor world, and Lex wanted nothing to do with it. He was less of a Luthor in his own mind than he was in his father's, and that was saying something. He had ever been considered the "good" son, mostly because, in truth, he was the good son, not the plotting, scheming, backstabbing, mirror image of his father that Lionel had wished he was.

So why had he agreed to Redd's little dare? He himself wasn't even sure. It certainly had nothing to do with the rivalry of the two families--he could care less. But his personal integrity had been compromised by low- key, stand-off-ish personality more times than he could count by those who actually respected the Luthors, and for those who didn't, the fact that Lex actually had some sense of humanity wasn't enough to gain friendship in their eyes, either. In short, he was the perfect definition of a loner. But

he still had some self respect, and Redd had just pushed him too far.

.Right over a bridge.

He looked down, floating over Smallville, and realized that it was the end. Never again would he have to take Redd's mockings, his father's tauntings, his brother's ego. Now, he would be at peace. He hadn't realized how nice of a place Smallville was until he saw it from a birds eye view, and just as he was noting the beautiful farm land and the wide open spaces that were no where to be found in Metropolis, he saw the bright light, and thought to himself, ~This is it. I'm dead.~

Lex caughed and weezed as water flew from his lungs and out of his mouth. He opened his eyes and found his lips inches away from another pair, this one lucious and belonging to the face of the most gorgious girl he had ever laid eyes on. He stared into

her eyes for a moment, and a wave of emotion overcame him.

She had brought him back to his hell on Earth. But he smiled anyway.

"I could have sworn I hit you," he said.

The blonde pulled away and stared at him, eyes wide, emphasising their vibrant blue color. She studdered for a moment as she tried to come up with an excuse. She couldn't tell him the truth about her. Her parents would kill her.

"No...No. You didn't hit me," she said. "You almost did...but, uh..." She bit down on her bottom lip. "Karate!" she blurted out. "I, uh...took karate as a kid. One of the techniques was learning how to jump far and high. I...jumped out of your way." When she heard her own words, she felt like a moron. She hoped the curly-haired, young man she had just saved believed her.

She looked around. "Wasn't there another person here? Someone on a motorcycle?"

Redd then decided to make an appearance. "There sure was...That is, until my precious bike went over the edge."

"You should be lucky you're alive," the blonde said.

Redd just shrugged. "Life is the *ultimate* adventure and death's the prize that awaits us all." She paused and looked down at Lex. "Wooks wike Wittle Wex didn't get that prizey-wizey after all," she sneered.

The blonde looked at the redhead. It had been only thirty seconds and already she didn't like her.

Lex hated confrontation with Redd about as much as he hated confrontation with his father. Nonetheless, she had gone too far this time. Not even the insecure Lex Luthor could allow this horror to continue without defending himself. At least, as much as he was able. Lex tried not to talk to much- he had seen words get too many people in trouble over the years.

"You almost got me killed," said Lex. "If it hadn't been for this girl, I'd be dead."

It hurt like hell, but Lex stood up and started walking away. He wasn't sure how he would drag himself back to the mansion, but he had to make a statement, and most statements were best made with actions and not words. Lex wanted Redd to know that

he could continue even after her constant humilations of him. And if that meant crawling and hitchiking back home, so be it.

"Leave me alone," he said to Redd, looking behind him. Then, he slowly started to walk up the hill next to the bridge.

"Whoo-hoo..." Redd said sarcastically. "Look at the curly-fry stand up for himself. Y'know, Lex...You've always been a wuss and looks like *nothin'* in this whole-friggin'-universe can change that!"

Seeing that she wasn't going to get any reaction, Redd turned and went the opposite direction, mumbling and cursing the entire time after she had realized that her cell phone had taken the big swim with her bike.

The blonde looked up at Redd. ~That girl is just plain evil,~ she thought. ~How can anyone be so mean?~

She went to go catch up with the man with curly red hair. "Hey!" she said as she reached him. "It's a long way back into town. My house isn't that far away. I could take you there and my dad could give you a lift back to wherever you're headed."

She smiled and held out her hand. "My name's Kara Kent."

"Lex Luthor," he said, barely looking up at her. "Kara, that's an intersting name. I guess I'm not the only one here not from Smallville." He tried a smile but it came out fake, and he nervously looked around.

Kara smiled a little nervously. "Yeah...My parents adopted me. They said I didn't speak a word of English, but I kept calling myself 'Kara.' It just sort of...stuck."

She paused. "So what brings you to Smallville?"

This was the most pleasent conversation Lex had had with anyone in a long time. He was almost surprised he was still talking with Kara, but he couldn't help it. He felt connected to her somehow.

"Apparently I'm not quite the businessman my brother is," said Lex, bitterly. "My father exhiled me here so he wouldn't have to put up with the lesser son. I'm running the Luthorcorp fertilizer plant here."

Lex looked at her for a moment and hesitated as his curiosity sunk in. He shouldn't have survived that accident, but he had, and thinking back, he could see Kara's figure slam against his car as it careened over the edge. "Kara... you're sure I didn't hit you?

Kara froze. She looked at him, trying to hide her nervousness. She hated lying, but according to her parents, she hadn't a choice if she didn't want to spend the rest of her life under a microscope.

She smiled and forced a laugh. "If you had hit me, then I doubt either one of us would be alive," she said.

She decided to change the topic. "LuthorCorp, hm? Don't tell my father that...He has this thing against all Luthors. They--or I guess that would be your dad--came to him once and asked if they could use his farm to test fertilizer on. I don't know all the

details, but whatever happened, he didn't like the contract and decided to go with CarreCorp, which only wanted a fraction of the farm, and instead of owning it, they're renting it."

"Dad isn't exactly a people person," said Lex. "Believe me, I'd keep my heritage to myself if I could, but I'm marked for life as the son of Lionel Luthor. From what I can tell, that already puts me on most of Smallville's hit list. So I pretty much keep to myself, do my job, leave everyone else alone."

Lex wished he could keep talking to Kara, but he was afraid to let anyone know much about him. As long as he stayed away from people and kept them from trusting him, he would never want to manipulate them like his father. It was better to try to help people from a distance.

"Can you give me a ride back to the mansion? I'll leave you alone after that."

"Yeah. We're almost to my place," Kara said, wondering why Lex had suddenly become so quiet. The rest of the journaey was made in silence.

In a few short minutes, they had reached Kara's home. She walked up the steps and entered the house with Lex tailing shortly behind her.

"Mom! Dad!" she called.

Her mother came out of the kitchen, wearing an apron she was cleaning flour off of her hands with. "Hi honey." She looked at the curly-haired young man that was with her. "Who's your friend?"

"This is Lex. He...sorta crashed his car over the bridge. He needs a ride back to his place," Kara explained, excluding the major details. If she told her mom that she had saved him from drowing, the "Questions" would ensue after Lex left. The "Did you use your powers?" and the "Did he see you use your powers?" and let's not forget the lecture that would follow-- "You know it's important that no one sees you using your powers...Yadda, yadda, yadda..."

Kara wished the only thing freakish about her was her unusually tall height.

"Oh...Alright," her mother said, a little concerned. She held out her hand and then pulled it back after a few moments when she realized she hadn't gotten all the flour off of it. "My name's Martha. Would you care to sit down and have some lemonade while Kra

goes and gets her father? You must feel awful..." She smiled sweetly.

Lex hesitated but then focused on Martha's sincere smile. It didn't remind him that he was a Luthor, didn't tell him to go back to Metropolis with his manipulative bastard of a father where he belonged, didn't tell him, as his father had with every action, that he was completely hopeless.

Lex smiled and nodded in appreciation. "Thanks, I am a little thirsty," he said. "Mrs. Kent, you have a very nice home. Have you and your husband always been farmers?"

Martha brought in some lemonade and some cinnamon cookies. "Jonathan's great-grandfather was farmer. He was in the first group to come to the area. I'm from Metropolis." She smiled sincerely.

Kara had gone out to get her father. Once she was out of Lex' eyeshot, she ran at nigh-lightspeed. It was another one of her "gifts."

She found her dad riding around in the tractor. She stopped where he could see her.

The burly man turned off the tractor. "Hey, sweetie," he said. "Ready to get to work?"

Kara approached the tractor upon which her father was perched upon. "Actually...I was wondering if you could do someone a favor."

"It depends on what the favor is," he replied.

"This guy crashed his car on the bridge. He needs a ride home," she said, again excluding the impotant parts like 'he crashed into me at 120 miles an hour, knocked both of us into the river, I ripped the hood of his car off to save him.' If Lex didn't see her use her powers, then why get her parents all up into a hissy-fit?

Jonathan's smile sunk into a slight frown. "You brought home some stranger to the house?"

Kara glanced sideways, trying to avoid eye contact with her father. "Well...yeah..."

"And you didn't think he'd be some sort of serial killer?"

"He seemed alright..." she said. "And besides, it not like he could do anything to me."

Jonathan sighed. "True...But I still don't like you bringing people home, especially people you know nothing about." He started up the tractor. "Come on," he motioned.

Kara climbed onto the tractor as they drove it back to the barn.

A few minutes later, the daddy-daughter tag-team entered their home. Martha and Lex were still chatting it up. J onathan grabbed his keys from off the kitchen counter. He walked into the living room and stopped abruptly. "Luthor..."

Lex' heart jumped into his throat. Jonathan's tone sounded like someone about to throw a noose around his neck.

"M-Mr. Kent," Lex said. "I'm sorry all of this happened... but your daughter was nice enough to bring me to your home. I'll... I'll just be going now, the castle isn't too far... sorry for bothering you."

Lex stumbled trying to reach the door. He opened it and began to walk out, angry at himself for his utter lack of a backbone. Why should he let people like Jonathan Kent intimidate him? Jonathan hated his father for what he had done to the citizens of Smallville--Lex had nothing to do with it. And if he could just build the self esteem, he

could have told Kent that. Instead, he just made an ass of himself. Again.

Kara spun around to face her dad as Lex walked out. She narrowed his eyes at him. "He just wanted a ride back home! His car crashed and he's already walked this far from the bridge!"

"He's a Luthor!" Jonathan Kent said.

"That's your best comeback? 'He's a Luthor'? So, what? Next we won't be able to give Pete a ride because he's black? Or Chloe because she's a goth? Or Whitney becuase he's a Fodman? Listen to yourself, dad! That's the most ridiculous reason I've ever heard!"

Martha stood by and watched. She knew better than to interfere when her husband and daughter were having a fight. She remembered all the fightes she had when she was Kara's age with her own father. She always hated it when her mother tried to be the mediator, so she wasn't going to be one to her daughter, either.

"You don't understand Kara--he's not like us."

Kara rolled her eyes. "He's more like you than I am!"

Martha tried to stifle a smile. Kara always played her "I'm Different, I'm An Alien" card whenever she wanted something. It rarely worked on Martha, but for some reason it always got to Jonathan.

The patriarch paused for a moment.

"Besides," Kara said, a little calmer now, "That was his dad that tried to screw you over--"

"Kara!" Martha said. She didn't like such language coming from her only daughter's mouth.

"--do you really think that young man back there has the capabilities to do what his father did? I don't thik he does...He's really nice, not at all what you'd expect."

Jonathan sat and paused for a moment, still reeling from what his daughter had said just a few moments earlier. He'd give anything to give his beautiful Kara a normal life where she didn't have secrets to hide or gifts to constantly be in control of.

"It's just one ride, Daddy," Kara said with pleading eyes.

The older man sighed. "Fine."

Kara broke into a smile and kissed her father on the cheek. "Thanks, Daddy! You go get the car started, I'll catch up to him."

"Alright," Jonathan said. "But don't run too fast!"

Kara ran as fast as she was allowed to. "Hey, Lex!" she called when she got close enough. Within just a few moments, she caught all the way up with him. "I talked my dad into giving you that ride afterall." She flashed a big, bright smile at him as she tucked away some blonde hair behind her ears.

Lex looked at her and then turned back in embarrassment. "This is the story of my life," he said. "Complication. You may have talked him into it, but he doesn't want to."

He started to walk off again, and could feel Kara's stare. "Look," he said, raising his voice only slightly. "I don't know why you're being so nice to me, but it's making me uncomfortable. I'm not used to people trying to be my friend. There are too many who want to be my enemy--I choose to ignore them. So basically, I ignore everyone. I appreciate what you're trying to do, but..." He looked into her eyes now. She was beautiful; he tried to forget that fact. She was the first person to sincerely be interested in his wellbeing, much less the first beautiful girl to. "I'm sure I know what your father said-it's what they all say. The stereotype that precedes all stereotypes. I'm a Luthor. He's right. And you're playing with fire."

He started walking away again, and tears began to fall from his face as he did so.