***
Dawn's sister was asleep in his arms by the time he got to Smallville. Clark hadn't even realized he was taking her home to his mom until they were practically there. He landed behind the barn with a muddy splash. X-ray vision showed that only Mom, Dad and Cara were anywhere nearby. Clark carried Buffy's limp, weightless form to the kitchen door and opened it.
"Clark!" His mom seemed surprised to see them, but she only took a second to take control of the situation. Clark and Buffy were ushered into the warm, dry house and provided with towels and soup. Buffy woke up confused, but the Kents reassured her quickly. She managed half a bowl of Martha's homemade vegetable soup before she fell asleep again, head on the table.
Martha made Clark carry the Slayer upstairs while she found her a clean nightgown; she woke Buffy up enough to not drown in the bathtub, then summoned Clark to help the washed, nightgown-clad girl into the bed in Clark's room. The whole operation -- soup, bath, clean clothing, and bed -- took about half an hour.
Only then did the interrogation begin. Clark told his parents everything. His dad said, "What did anyone expect getting involved with a Luthor?" and his mom whapped him with the soup ladle. Clark had changed back into his normal jeans and flannel while Mom had been giving Buffy her bath. He wondered if Lex and Dawn were done with the police yet, and whether Lionel Luthor would survive. He figured nothing could kill Lionel, actually, but then again, you know, vampires. Maybe it had been long enough that he could give Lex a call.
The familiar non-greeting: "Lex."
"Hi, Lex, it's me. I ended up taking Buffy home, you know, to my house, not California. We're fine."
Lex's breathing sounded relieved. "Good. That's good. I'll have to call you back later, but rest assured your actions to date have met with my highest approval."
Someone must be there with him, someone Lex didn't want to know anything. "That's great, Lex." Clark put on a false business-like voice. "You have no idea how much your confidence means to me." He laughed. "Talk to you later."
Clark silently wished Dawn and Lex luck, and then went to gather bedding to put out in the loft. He'd been sleeping inside the house this summer; it seemed nicer to be in close proximity to his family now that he'd had a whole school year without them.
***
Lex clicked shut his cell phone. Taking Buffy to Smallville had been an inspired move on Clark's part. If there were still trouble about her commitment, being three hours away would be a fine alibi for the attack on his father.
He'd never had such an unpromising conversation with the police turn out so well. Dawn was a masterful liar -- smooth and genuine and warm. The police fell all over themselves giving her the benefit of every single doubt. Lex and Dawn were given permission to go in record time. It wasn't even midnight yet when they headed over to Metropolis General.
The hospital was just as ugly on its second night in a row. Lionel was still in surgery when Lex arrived. Dawn refused to let him visit the hospital by himself; she was surprisingly forceful in her stubbornness. They'd been waiting in the regrettable purple high-traffic area provided for that purpose when Clark's phone call had come.
As soon as the other people waiting on their institutional green davenport had been called in to converse with a doctor, Lex leaned over and quietly said, "Clark took Buffy to his parents' house."
Dawn opened her eyes wide in an attempt to not look as if she'd been falling asleep. "How are they?"
"He said they're fine. I told him I'd call him back."
"So I heard." Dawn got up and stretched. She seemed to have gotten her second wind. "Want me to get you some coffee?" she offered.
Lex hated hospital coffee. "No thanks," he said.
"Well, I want some. I'll be back." Dawn bounced away.
Lex shook his head. Then he got up from the hard waiting room sofa and walked around the carpet for a few minutes. He was about to snag a hospital employee and ask for a status report on Lionel, when a stubby balding man in scrubs came in. The man looked around. "Mr. Luthor?" he said.
"I'm Lex Luthor. Is there any news about my father?"
Dawn came back down the hallway carrying a foam cup, in time to hear the update. "Mr. Luthor, I'm Dr. Tirion." The doctor seemed to want to shake hands, and Lex let him. "Your father is in serious but stable condition. Barring complications, and after an appropriate course of physical therapy, he should regain most of the use of the arm. The head wounds were superficial. His eyesight, however, is a different matter."
"His eyes were torn from their sockets," Lex quietly reminded the man.
"Yes. There was extensive damage," the doctor agreed.
"When can we see him?" Dawn piped in.
"I can let you have a few moments now, but not long."
Dawn set her coffee down on a little table, and accompanied Lex in to see his father. None of the hospital personnel challenged her right to be there.
Lionel was in a private room. The walls were eggplant-colored. His head and upper face were wrapped in white bandages, and the cast/bandage assembly on his right arm was huge. He was moving a little bit, restlessly in his bed.
"Dad?" Lex asked quietly, not sure if his father was supposed to be conscious or not.
The old man stilled. "Lex?" he wondered. "Is that you, son?"
Lex sighed resignedly and sat in the straight-backed chair next to the bed. "It's me. Is there anything you need me to do for you, Dad?"
"No. They...." Lionel took a sharp breath and hissed it back out again. "I was wrong. I was wrong about your girl. I never should...."
Lex was pretty sure that was the drugs talking, but it was still pleasant to hear. "I know, Dad. She knows, too."
A nurse rapped once softly on the door and came in without waiting for an answer. "Mr. Luthor? Miss? Time to go."
"It's Lex," Lex automatically corrected the nurse, as he rose from the chair. He turned back to his father and touched the man's unwounded left hand, lying still against the hospital sheets. "Good luck, Dad. Get better, okay?"
Dawn chirped, "Good-bye, Mr. Luthor. I'll tell my sister 'hi' for you."
'That was malicious,' Lex thought as they followed the nurse out of his father's hospital room. But he had enjoyed the insolent comment, too.
***
There was no doubt as to whether Lex was driving her to Smallville or not. The only question was whether she was going to let him get a couple of hours of sleep first. Fortunately the whole argument was made moot by the fact that Lex didn't seem to *want* to sleep.
As soon as they left Lionel's hospital room, Lex was on the cell to somebody, telling them to bring the car around. By the time they were on the ground floor, Lex had his black leather driving gloves on. He'd worn his long coat the whole time they'd been there, waiting -- Dawn guessed he didn't want anyone from the hospital to see how much better his arm already was.
One of the Luthors' servants was just getting out of the Porsche parked in the loading zone when Dawn and Lex walked out of the hospital's main door. Lex thanked the man briefly and said something that sounded like, "Have him watched." Papers of some sort changed hands. Then Lex turned to Dawn. "I don't suppose there's any way you're letting me go without you?"
"As if," she scoffed.
Lex smiled and walked around to the passenger side. He opened the door and ushered her in with his hand on her elbow. Goof. Then he went back to his side and got in. "Fasten your seatbelt," he told her. He took his cell phone out of his pocket and handed it to her. "Call Clark at home; tell him we're on our way."
Neither of them talked until the pre-dawn streets of Metropolis were left far behind. Finally Dawn looked out her window, full of nothing but black sky, stars, and tall ghostly corn, and said, "Man. You sure have a whole lot of nothing out here in Kansas."
Lex quirked his mouth. "Thank you," he deadpanned.
There was a lot of stuff Dawn wanted to tell Lex, about how Buffy had been hurt again and again, and he'd better treat her right if he knew what was good for him. It seemed like it would take a long time, so she decided to content herself with a warning.
"Lex?" she said.
"Yes?"
"Buffy's had bad luck with men. Nothing but bad luck with men, actually. If you're the one to finally break her, they'll be finding your body for weeks."
Lex snickered a little, but stopped when he took a sidelong look at her and saw the expression on her face.
"I'm serious," she growled. "This isn't one of those toothless beat-you-to-death-with-a-shovel threats. This is the real deal. I know what I'm saying, and I know just how to do it."
Lex shot her another glance. He was driving too fast to look at her for long. Dawn saw him swallow. "I won't hurt her," he promised, "if I can help it."
Dawn sighed. She was suddenly very tired. "That'll have to be good enough," she said.
***
Buffy woke up in an unfamiliar bed. It was less than an hour until sunrise. The sheets were a faded blue; so were the open curtains and the long sleeveless nightgown she was wearing. They looked like they'd all been made from the same material. The small bedroom held a sturdy bed and a dresser with "Sky and Telescope" and "National Geographic" magazines piled on top. The open closet door revealed a couple of dress shirts, a few plaid flannel shirts, and one good suit hanging up. There were maps of the world and star charts on the walls. She realized she was in Clark Kent's room, in Kansas. The sky outside the window was finally clear, and lightening in the east with the coming dawn. It would probably be a hot day.
There was the smell of coffee and something baking, and voices coming from downstairs. Buffy got up and went to find out what was going on. The hem of the nightgown swirled around her feet; Clark's mom must be taller than her. She instinctively kept to the edges of the steps as she walked silently down the stairs, the old wood silky against her bare feet. She stopped short when she could see into the big kitchen full of people. 'A Country Kitchen,' she thought.
Buffy watched in silence as Mrs. Kent set a platter of muffins on a big kitchen table. Clark's dad was eating eggs and helping a little girl, about two or three years old, with her glass of milk. Clark brought some jam from the refrigerator to the table. He was laughing at something Lex said. Dawn was there, too, drinking coffee and sitting down with Clark's family as if she belonged there.
Dawn was the first to see her. "Buffy!" she called. She jumped up from the table and was hugging her sister in no time.
Buffy let herself lean into the hug and close her eyes for a moment. It was at times like this that she was glad her sister had grown so tall. Even though Dawn was the younger sister, and the one Buffy had to protect above all others, her hugs could sometimes make it feel like Buffy was being held and protected. Buffy allowed herself one little sniffle, and then she put on a smile and gave Dawn a big hug back. "Dawn!" she said, letting go and stepping back. "I'm so glad to see you!"
"I'm glad to see you, too! You have no idea! When Lex said his dad had you kidnapped and Willow told me that you'd been committed, I was so worried!"
"Dawn," Mrs. Kent's strong sensible voice cut through Dawn's babbling. "Let your sister sit down and have some breakfast."
Dawn pulled Buffy to the table and sat her down, but she didn't stop talking. "Mr. and Mrs. Kent, this is my sister Buffy. Buffy, that's Cara, Clark's baby sister."
"I'm not a baby," Cara declared.
"Of course not. You're my big girl," Clark's dad said, as he wiped Cara's sticky hands and face with his cloth napkin. He slugged down the last of his coffee and said, "Pleased to meet you, Buffy. I'm glad you're okay after your little brush with the Luth -- with Lionel Luthor." Buffy saw Clark beam at his dad, and Lex duck his head to hide a pleased little smile. Mr. Kent smiled, too. "I gotta go; those cows won't milk themselves. Clark, I'll see you out in the sweet corn as soon as you've got your friends stowed away. We've got a lot of orders to fill."
"Yes, dad," Clark said. Mr. Kent left the kitchen.
Buffy slowly ate eggs and a muffin. She drank Kent Organic milk and two cups of coffee. By the time she was done, Dawn had gone upstairs to take a nap in Clark's bed, and Lex had been sent off to the living room to mind Cara so Mrs. Kent could fill orders for muffins and jam.
Buffy took her dishes to the sink and washed them. "Thank you, Mrs. Kent, for the food and shelter and clothes. I know it's really an imposition, and I don't know how to thank you..."
Clark's mom interrupted her. "Call me Martha, Buffy. It's no imposition. We're glad to have you here. From what Clark and Dawn have said, it appears that we owe you our lives a few times over, anyhow. It's the least we can do." Martha left her bowl of muffin batter for a moment and gave the younger woman a one-armed hug. Buffy blinked hard and had to bite her lip to keep from bawling. She suddenly missed her mom so much it hurt.
"Um. I have to call home, or, call Xander, and see what things are like at home," she said. "Can I, May I use your phone?"
Martha saw that Buffy was getting emotional, and kindly turned back to her work. "Of course," she said. "It's two hours earlier in California, though, isn't it? Maybe you should wait a little while. Why don't you go into the living room and help Lex with Cara?"
"Okay. Thanks." Buffy fled.
In the living room Cara was building something with a set of big wooden blocks, and Lex was asleep in the corner of the couch. Buffy sat down on the floor with the little girl. "What are you building?" she asked.
"Pyramids. Is your name really Buffy?"
"Uh huh. Is yours really Cara?"
"Nope. It's Caroline Jennifer Kent. Will you read me a book? Lex was, but he's sleeping."
"Okay."
Cara brought the book, and Buffy read it to her. When she finished, Cara made her read it again. It was about bunnies and mice doing things in alphabetical order.
When she finished it the second time, Buffy looked up and saw Lex's blue-gray eyes staring at her. She blinked. "Hi, Lex," she said.
Lex sat up. He still looked tired. "Hi." Now that he'd caught her eye, he didn't seem to know where to look. It wasn't even nine o'clock yet, but the day was heating up. Buffy in Martha's lightweight nightgown was more appropriately dressed for it than Lex in his business suit. He shrugged out of his coat, still not really looking at her. "I must apologize for my father's behavior. I don't know how to make it up to you; perhaps a cash settlement in lieu of a lawsuit for false imprisonment would be...."
"Lex," Buffy said.
He stopped talking and looked at her.
"It's not your fault your dad kidnapped me. His choices, not yours." She looked down. Cara was building pyramids again. "I'm sorry I didn't call you. It's just, it always gets so doomed, you know?"
"I know," he murmured. "Believe me, I know."
Buffy looked back up at him. "And what we had? It was nice. Couple of dates, couple of big monster battles -- good times. Why spoil it with the inevitable crashing doom?"
Lex smiled at her. He even let out a little laugh. "So this is what it's like to be on the other side of one of those heart-walls."
Buffy thought she knew what he meant. "A wall around your heart isn't a *bad* thing. I mean, once you've got a wall around something, maybe a roof, that's a house, right? Keeps the rain and the vampires out."
Lex was still smiling at her. He had a really nice smile.
"A person should maybe, probably, have a door," Buffy conceded.
Lex came over and kneeled down next to her on the floor. Cara looked up from her blocks, but apparently the grown-ups weren't that interesting, so she went back to the pyramids. "A few windows would also be desirable," Lex whispered in Buffy's ear, and then he kissed her.
Dawn's sister was asleep in his arms by the time he got to Smallville. Clark hadn't even realized he was taking her home to his mom until they were practically there. He landed behind the barn with a muddy splash. X-ray vision showed that only Mom, Dad and Cara were anywhere nearby. Clark carried Buffy's limp, weightless form to the kitchen door and opened it.
"Clark!" His mom seemed surprised to see them, but she only took a second to take control of the situation. Clark and Buffy were ushered into the warm, dry house and provided with towels and soup. Buffy woke up confused, but the Kents reassured her quickly. She managed half a bowl of Martha's homemade vegetable soup before she fell asleep again, head on the table.
Martha made Clark carry the Slayer upstairs while she found her a clean nightgown; she woke Buffy up enough to not drown in the bathtub, then summoned Clark to help the washed, nightgown-clad girl into the bed in Clark's room. The whole operation -- soup, bath, clean clothing, and bed -- took about half an hour.
Only then did the interrogation begin. Clark told his parents everything. His dad said, "What did anyone expect getting involved with a Luthor?" and his mom whapped him with the soup ladle. Clark had changed back into his normal jeans and flannel while Mom had been giving Buffy her bath. He wondered if Lex and Dawn were done with the police yet, and whether Lionel Luthor would survive. He figured nothing could kill Lionel, actually, but then again, you know, vampires. Maybe it had been long enough that he could give Lex a call.
The familiar non-greeting: "Lex."
"Hi, Lex, it's me. I ended up taking Buffy home, you know, to my house, not California. We're fine."
Lex's breathing sounded relieved. "Good. That's good. I'll have to call you back later, but rest assured your actions to date have met with my highest approval."
Someone must be there with him, someone Lex didn't want to know anything. "That's great, Lex." Clark put on a false business-like voice. "You have no idea how much your confidence means to me." He laughed. "Talk to you later."
Clark silently wished Dawn and Lex luck, and then went to gather bedding to put out in the loft. He'd been sleeping inside the house this summer; it seemed nicer to be in close proximity to his family now that he'd had a whole school year without them.
***
Lex clicked shut his cell phone. Taking Buffy to Smallville had been an inspired move on Clark's part. If there were still trouble about her commitment, being three hours away would be a fine alibi for the attack on his father.
He'd never had such an unpromising conversation with the police turn out so well. Dawn was a masterful liar -- smooth and genuine and warm. The police fell all over themselves giving her the benefit of every single doubt. Lex and Dawn were given permission to go in record time. It wasn't even midnight yet when they headed over to Metropolis General.
The hospital was just as ugly on its second night in a row. Lionel was still in surgery when Lex arrived. Dawn refused to let him visit the hospital by himself; she was surprisingly forceful in her stubbornness. They'd been waiting in the regrettable purple high-traffic area provided for that purpose when Clark's phone call had come.
As soon as the other people waiting on their institutional green davenport had been called in to converse with a doctor, Lex leaned over and quietly said, "Clark took Buffy to his parents' house."
Dawn opened her eyes wide in an attempt to not look as if she'd been falling asleep. "How are they?"
"He said they're fine. I told him I'd call him back."
"So I heard." Dawn got up and stretched. She seemed to have gotten her second wind. "Want me to get you some coffee?" she offered.
Lex hated hospital coffee. "No thanks," he said.
"Well, I want some. I'll be back." Dawn bounced away.
Lex shook his head. Then he got up from the hard waiting room sofa and walked around the carpet for a few minutes. He was about to snag a hospital employee and ask for a status report on Lionel, when a stubby balding man in scrubs came in. The man looked around. "Mr. Luthor?" he said.
"I'm Lex Luthor. Is there any news about my father?"
Dawn came back down the hallway carrying a foam cup, in time to hear the update. "Mr. Luthor, I'm Dr. Tirion." The doctor seemed to want to shake hands, and Lex let him. "Your father is in serious but stable condition. Barring complications, and after an appropriate course of physical therapy, he should regain most of the use of the arm. The head wounds were superficial. His eyesight, however, is a different matter."
"His eyes were torn from their sockets," Lex quietly reminded the man.
"Yes. There was extensive damage," the doctor agreed.
"When can we see him?" Dawn piped in.
"I can let you have a few moments now, but not long."
Dawn set her coffee down on a little table, and accompanied Lex in to see his father. None of the hospital personnel challenged her right to be there.
Lionel was in a private room. The walls were eggplant-colored. His head and upper face were wrapped in white bandages, and the cast/bandage assembly on his right arm was huge. He was moving a little bit, restlessly in his bed.
"Dad?" Lex asked quietly, not sure if his father was supposed to be conscious or not.
The old man stilled. "Lex?" he wondered. "Is that you, son?"
Lex sighed resignedly and sat in the straight-backed chair next to the bed. "It's me. Is there anything you need me to do for you, Dad?"
"No. They...." Lionel took a sharp breath and hissed it back out again. "I was wrong. I was wrong about your girl. I never should...."
Lex was pretty sure that was the drugs talking, but it was still pleasant to hear. "I know, Dad. She knows, too."
A nurse rapped once softly on the door and came in without waiting for an answer. "Mr. Luthor? Miss? Time to go."
"It's Lex," Lex automatically corrected the nurse, as he rose from the chair. He turned back to his father and touched the man's unwounded left hand, lying still against the hospital sheets. "Good luck, Dad. Get better, okay?"
Dawn chirped, "Good-bye, Mr. Luthor. I'll tell my sister 'hi' for you."
'That was malicious,' Lex thought as they followed the nurse out of his father's hospital room. But he had enjoyed the insolent comment, too.
***
There was no doubt as to whether Lex was driving her to Smallville or not. The only question was whether she was going to let him get a couple of hours of sleep first. Fortunately the whole argument was made moot by the fact that Lex didn't seem to *want* to sleep.
As soon as they left Lionel's hospital room, Lex was on the cell to somebody, telling them to bring the car around. By the time they were on the ground floor, Lex had his black leather driving gloves on. He'd worn his long coat the whole time they'd been there, waiting -- Dawn guessed he didn't want anyone from the hospital to see how much better his arm already was.
One of the Luthors' servants was just getting out of the Porsche parked in the loading zone when Dawn and Lex walked out of the hospital's main door. Lex thanked the man briefly and said something that sounded like, "Have him watched." Papers of some sort changed hands. Then Lex turned to Dawn. "I don't suppose there's any way you're letting me go without you?"
"As if," she scoffed.
Lex smiled and walked around to the passenger side. He opened the door and ushered her in with his hand on her elbow. Goof. Then he went back to his side and got in. "Fasten your seatbelt," he told her. He took his cell phone out of his pocket and handed it to her. "Call Clark at home; tell him we're on our way."
Neither of them talked until the pre-dawn streets of Metropolis were left far behind. Finally Dawn looked out her window, full of nothing but black sky, stars, and tall ghostly corn, and said, "Man. You sure have a whole lot of nothing out here in Kansas."
Lex quirked his mouth. "Thank you," he deadpanned.
There was a lot of stuff Dawn wanted to tell Lex, about how Buffy had been hurt again and again, and he'd better treat her right if he knew what was good for him. It seemed like it would take a long time, so she decided to content herself with a warning.
"Lex?" she said.
"Yes?"
"Buffy's had bad luck with men. Nothing but bad luck with men, actually. If you're the one to finally break her, they'll be finding your body for weeks."
Lex snickered a little, but stopped when he took a sidelong look at her and saw the expression on her face.
"I'm serious," she growled. "This isn't one of those toothless beat-you-to-death-with-a-shovel threats. This is the real deal. I know what I'm saying, and I know just how to do it."
Lex shot her another glance. He was driving too fast to look at her for long. Dawn saw him swallow. "I won't hurt her," he promised, "if I can help it."
Dawn sighed. She was suddenly very tired. "That'll have to be good enough," she said.
***
Buffy woke up in an unfamiliar bed. It was less than an hour until sunrise. The sheets were a faded blue; so were the open curtains and the long sleeveless nightgown she was wearing. They looked like they'd all been made from the same material. The small bedroom held a sturdy bed and a dresser with "Sky and Telescope" and "National Geographic" magazines piled on top. The open closet door revealed a couple of dress shirts, a few plaid flannel shirts, and one good suit hanging up. There were maps of the world and star charts on the walls. She realized she was in Clark Kent's room, in Kansas. The sky outside the window was finally clear, and lightening in the east with the coming dawn. It would probably be a hot day.
There was the smell of coffee and something baking, and voices coming from downstairs. Buffy got up and went to find out what was going on. The hem of the nightgown swirled around her feet; Clark's mom must be taller than her. She instinctively kept to the edges of the steps as she walked silently down the stairs, the old wood silky against her bare feet. She stopped short when she could see into the big kitchen full of people. 'A Country Kitchen,' she thought.
Buffy watched in silence as Mrs. Kent set a platter of muffins on a big kitchen table. Clark's dad was eating eggs and helping a little girl, about two or three years old, with her glass of milk. Clark brought some jam from the refrigerator to the table. He was laughing at something Lex said. Dawn was there, too, drinking coffee and sitting down with Clark's family as if she belonged there.
Dawn was the first to see her. "Buffy!" she called. She jumped up from the table and was hugging her sister in no time.
Buffy let herself lean into the hug and close her eyes for a moment. It was at times like this that she was glad her sister had grown so tall. Even though Dawn was the younger sister, and the one Buffy had to protect above all others, her hugs could sometimes make it feel like Buffy was being held and protected. Buffy allowed herself one little sniffle, and then she put on a smile and gave Dawn a big hug back. "Dawn!" she said, letting go and stepping back. "I'm so glad to see you!"
"I'm glad to see you, too! You have no idea! When Lex said his dad had you kidnapped and Willow told me that you'd been committed, I was so worried!"
"Dawn," Mrs. Kent's strong sensible voice cut through Dawn's babbling. "Let your sister sit down and have some breakfast."
Dawn pulled Buffy to the table and sat her down, but she didn't stop talking. "Mr. and Mrs. Kent, this is my sister Buffy. Buffy, that's Cara, Clark's baby sister."
"I'm not a baby," Cara declared.
"Of course not. You're my big girl," Clark's dad said, as he wiped Cara's sticky hands and face with his cloth napkin. He slugged down the last of his coffee and said, "Pleased to meet you, Buffy. I'm glad you're okay after your little brush with the Luth -- with Lionel Luthor." Buffy saw Clark beam at his dad, and Lex duck his head to hide a pleased little smile. Mr. Kent smiled, too. "I gotta go; those cows won't milk themselves. Clark, I'll see you out in the sweet corn as soon as you've got your friends stowed away. We've got a lot of orders to fill."
"Yes, dad," Clark said. Mr. Kent left the kitchen.
Buffy slowly ate eggs and a muffin. She drank Kent Organic milk and two cups of coffee. By the time she was done, Dawn had gone upstairs to take a nap in Clark's bed, and Lex had been sent off to the living room to mind Cara so Mrs. Kent could fill orders for muffins and jam.
Buffy took her dishes to the sink and washed them. "Thank you, Mrs. Kent, for the food and shelter and clothes. I know it's really an imposition, and I don't know how to thank you..."
Clark's mom interrupted her. "Call me Martha, Buffy. It's no imposition. We're glad to have you here. From what Clark and Dawn have said, it appears that we owe you our lives a few times over, anyhow. It's the least we can do." Martha left her bowl of muffin batter for a moment and gave the younger woman a one-armed hug. Buffy blinked hard and had to bite her lip to keep from bawling. She suddenly missed her mom so much it hurt.
"Um. I have to call home, or, call Xander, and see what things are like at home," she said. "Can I, May I use your phone?"
Martha saw that Buffy was getting emotional, and kindly turned back to her work. "Of course," she said. "It's two hours earlier in California, though, isn't it? Maybe you should wait a little while. Why don't you go into the living room and help Lex with Cara?"
"Okay. Thanks." Buffy fled.
In the living room Cara was building something with a set of big wooden blocks, and Lex was asleep in the corner of the couch. Buffy sat down on the floor with the little girl. "What are you building?" she asked.
"Pyramids. Is your name really Buffy?"
"Uh huh. Is yours really Cara?"
"Nope. It's Caroline Jennifer Kent. Will you read me a book? Lex was, but he's sleeping."
"Okay."
Cara brought the book, and Buffy read it to her. When she finished, Cara made her read it again. It was about bunnies and mice doing things in alphabetical order.
When she finished it the second time, Buffy looked up and saw Lex's blue-gray eyes staring at her. She blinked. "Hi, Lex," she said.
Lex sat up. He still looked tired. "Hi." Now that he'd caught her eye, he didn't seem to know where to look. It wasn't even nine o'clock yet, but the day was heating up. Buffy in Martha's lightweight nightgown was more appropriately dressed for it than Lex in his business suit. He shrugged out of his coat, still not really looking at her. "I must apologize for my father's behavior. I don't know how to make it up to you; perhaps a cash settlement in lieu of a lawsuit for false imprisonment would be...."
"Lex," Buffy said.
He stopped talking and looked at her.
"It's not your fault your dad kidnapped me. His choices, not yours." She looked down. Cara was building pyramids again. "I'm sorry I didn't call you. It's just, it always gets so doomed, you know?"
"I know," he murmured. "Believe me, I know."
Buffy looked back up at him. "And what we had? It was nice. Couple of dates, couple of big monster battles -- good times. Why spoil it with the inevitable crashing doom?"
Lex smiled at her. He even let out a little laugh. "So this is what it's like to be on the other side of one of those heart-walls."
Buffy thought she knew what he meant. "A wall around your heart isn't a *bad* thing. I mean, once you've got a wall around something, maybe a roof, that's a house, right? Keeps the rain and the vampires out."
Lex was still smiling at her. He had a really nice smile.
"A person should maybe, probably, have a door," Buffy conceded.
Lex came over and kneeled down next to her on the floor. Cara looked up from her blocks, but apparently the grown-ups weren't that interesting, so she went back to the pyramids. "A few windows would also be desirable," Lex whispered in Buffy's ear, and then he kissed her.