Title: Unstoppable
Chapter 24
Beside him, Clark stirred and when Lex's attention shifted from Buffy to his other lover, there was a bottle of water being placed in Lex's hand. No words were exchanged, they simply looked at one another. There was calm maturity in Clark's steady gaze; the awkward teenager gone and what remained was the man he would become. Calm, quiet, incredibly intelligent and despite his origins, the most human person Lex had ever met.
Buffy's attention also shifted to Clark, and the difference in her expression was evident. Fierce, confident, relaxed... but still warm. Still loving and appreciative. They'd reassured her and roused the part of her that railed against destiny. For the first time all day, you could tell just from her eyes that Buffy was a fighter.
The Slayer and the woman, merged... and together, the two parts had a strength that all the demons in the world would be hard-pressed to break again. But when she smiled, it was the same smile as always. And when she reached out to touch them, her hands were still every bit as gentle.
"Thank you," she murmured. "I feel better now."
And all the idle musing about marrying her came down to this moment. This was a woman worth having. One who would never betray him. One that would not 'go gently into that good night' as his mother had.
The proposal was right on the tip of his tongue when his cell phone beeped. Annoyed by that small sound, Lex glanced down at the display and felt his blood turn to ice. Cadmus Labs. Dr. Hamilton to be exact and calling on his private line.
Which usually meant one thing. Trouble.
There were two choices here. Take the call and deal with the consequences. Or not take the call and have Hamilton show up on his doorstep. Lex only wished he'd had more time to explain this part of his life to Clark as he handed the bottle back to him, then answered the phone.
"Luthor here," simple, to the point without tipping his hand. Lex listened for a moment to the good doctor while Clark took a sip of the water and then handed the bottle to Buffy. She drank as well, both of them silent, not wanting to intrude on a call important enough for Lex to actually take it while they were there.
Another experiment gone awry with disastrous results. Hamilton's assistant had been injured badly enough to require medical attention and apparently that had drawn Lionel's attention. The earlier call that Damien had fielded made much more sense now. "Was anyone else hurt? No? Good... Look, I'll handle the spin on this. Clean up the mess, lock up the samples and... we'll talk in the morning."
Hamilton immediately launched into a further explanation and Lex could feel the headache starting. A scientist himself, he understood the dedication but sometimes the man just didn't get it. "We'll deal with it tomorrow... Doctor, I am in the middle of an important conference. Now is not the time for this, understood?" He rubbed at his eyes only to feel Clark's gentle fingertips at his temple.
Just another reminder of why Hamilton needed to be shut down. Unless the man could find a cure for why the meteor rocks hurt Clark, his only usefulness now was in finding a way to destroy every last one of them. He'd lay that out at Hamilton's feet in the morning... after he confessed his involvement to both Clark and Buffy.
"Good. Tomorrow, doctor." With that, Lex shut the phone off and resisted the urge to hurl it at the wall. He dropped it onto the floor and leaned back, dreading what was to come.
Buffy leaned close and wrapped her arms around Lex. Her hands made their way to his neck and shoulders, fingers beginning a firm massage of suddenly tense muscles. "Do you want to talk about whatever's got you tied up in knots, love?" Buffy asked gently after a few minutes of quiet.
She was tempted to move around behind Lex and give him a proper massage, but now didn't seem like the best time to move. It could be taken as moving away, and she didn't want that. So she stayed where she was, hands moving steadily, and waited.
"That depends. Do I want to be honest with both of you about everything? Yes." Eyes closed, Lex gave himself over to her skilled hands. So much to lose, there was so much to lose here.
"Do I want to lose both of you when I come clean? No." He could taste it in his mouth. Loss was a bitter, bitter thing. To have touched heaven and then be denied it for the rest of his existence. He should have said something earlier when Buffy and Clark made their own confessions.
"You won't lose us, Lex. The only way that can happen is if you don't tell us the truth." Clark set his plate down on the floor before taking a seat beside Lex. He pulled both of them into his arms and nuzzled Lex's temple.
"The truth... Clark, that was Dr. Hamilton." Lex felt Clark stiffen behind him and knew his world was about to crash down around his ears. Clark almost lost his father because of Hamilton's experiments and Pete Ross had nearly taken Lex's life. "The Nicodemus flower..."
"He's not still experimenting with them, is he?" The helplessness and terror he'd felt when his dad had gotten so sick was back. Losing his dad was the worst thing Clark could think of and if Lex hadn't come through with a cure, that's exactly what would have happened.
Pete and Lana had almost died too and he'd thrown Lex into the wall of his study to hide his abilities long enough to save Lex from a bullet. Probably one of the worst moments in their friendship when he had to act like he hated Lex. "Chloe said his lab was gone."
"No, Clark, the Nicodemus flowers have all been destroyed." Bitter like ash and sorrow, the words stuck in his throat. Lex half-turned so he could look Clark in the eye. Might as well meet the hangman dead on. "You're not the only one with secrets, Atticus. He's at Cadmus. Hamilton works for me. I hired him to find out what effects the meteors have on humans."
Buffy tilted her head slightly. "Aside from the fact that I have no idea what you guys are talking about, why would you hiring him be a bad thing? If it were me, I would want to know more about the effects of the meteors, too." It seemed reasonable enough, given the changes in Lex himself because of the meteors. And the mutants that had been mentioned earlier... if they were being changed by the meteors, someone ought to be looking into it.
Her hands continued to massage Lex's tense shoulders. He was obviously very worried, and she really had no idea why. All she could do was listen.
Lex appreciated Buffy's support but Clark had gone totally silent. And terribly still. The arm around him was a heavy weight rather than a comfort and when he twisted around to look at Clark, all of his fears were realized. Gone was the boy he knew and loved. What was left was a stranger.
A stranger with the same eyes and the same mouth and hair blacker than midnight. It was then that Lex knew it was over. This idyll, these precious hours were all he would ever have of Clark and it was all his own fault.
"He works for you," the stranger said, his voice devoid of the warmth that marked all of Lex's previous interaction with Clark. "Was this before or after he almost killed my dad?"
Ashes, his love and his life were nothing more than ashes in his mouth as Lex released Buffy and turned around even more. His world was done so why not tell the truth? Maybe they'd put that on his gravestone after Clark got done rending him limb from limb. "Before."
"Did..." Dark, alien eyes bored into his own before they blinked. The stranger with Clark's face spoke again. "Did you know what he was doing? Is that why you checked the book out and then lied to me about it?"
**Meet your death head-on, Lex. No whining, no sniveling. A Luthor never begs... Shut the fuck up, Dad!** Never dropping his gaze, Lex shook his head. "I didn't know what he was doing with the funds. Look, Clark, I knew the meteors were affecting people... the lake out there..." He pointed towards the closed curtains and the stranger tracked that movement. "It's been frozen over since November and Clark, in case you hadn't noticed, it's May."
There was a flash of incredible guilt and sadness in the depths of the other man's eyes and for a moment, Lex caught a glimpse of Clark. His... their Clark. "There's a guy in the middle of it. He's frozen solid too but you know... he's still got a heartbeat, you can hear it under the ice. That was clue number one... Actually you were clue number one and Jesus..."
Lex grabbed Clark's face with both hands and held on. "I didn't know, Clark. I honestly didn't know what Hamilton was doing until he told me. As soon as I found out about your dad, I did everything I could to fix it. I swear!"
Buffy slid silently off Lex's lap; she didn't go far, and wrapped her arms around him from her place beside him so he would know she wasn't bothered by what he was saying. But she felt that this was yet another situation that she should watch from the sidelines rather than from between them.
There was a lot she could say. An awful lot. But she kept quiet, because they needed to work this out for themselves. Lex wasn't asking for her help, and neither was Clark. And though she wouldn't hesitate to step in the middle of this if either of them wanted her to, she felt she was better off not getting too involved otherwise.
So her only comment, and a very soft one, was, "You can't control what other people do with the things you give them; whether its money or information or power of any kind. That you did everything you could once you found out says a lot."
For a few moments, neither Clark nor Lex said anything. They just stared at each other. It was Clark who finally broke, closing his eyes and when they opened again, he was fully there. There had been so many lies between them. His secrets and Lex's as well. Lex had been willing to look past those lies...
Not only that, but Lex had been willing to look past the fact that he was an alien and still opened his heart and now his life to Clark. Plus he really had done everything possible to save his dad. "I believe you, Lex. We've both lied to each other to protect our secrets." His hands rose to cup Lex's face and Clark could feel his lover relaxing into that gentle touch. "Just... no more, okay? No more secrets and no more lies."
"No more." Lex closed his eyes for a moment, resting his forehead against Clark's before he released his grip. "I'm sorry, Clark. I was so afraid of losing you if I told you the truth... There's more."
Even as Lex said that, he covered Buffy's hands with his own. He was silently grateful for her support and unswerving loyalty to both of them. Despite the fact that it was Clark that she loved first, she'd been very level-headed and fair throughout this incredibly tense discussion.
Buffy tightened her arms briefly around Lex in response. She knew he needed the support; it was no easy thing admitting to someone you loved that you'd been lying to them. She'd experienced it several times: when Angel came back from Hell and she took care of him, when she kept secrets from Riley about her past and Angel and, most recently, letting her friends believe they'd rescued her from Hell instead of stolen her from Heaven.
Admitting the truth was never easy, especially when you knew the other person wouldn't like what you'd done. But Lex seemed to genuinely want to share... and that would help. So she'd be here... silent, supportive. She'd done so much, been through so much, that she would still love him anyway. The past was past... what counted now, with her, was the present and future.
But for Clark... their past was relevant to the two of them. He might have a harder time with it. This could still end, and badly... but she hoped to God that it wouldn't.
"More?... Like Roger Nixon more?" Quiet voice and quiet words but oh-so-clear in their intent. The stuttering feeling in Lex's chest had to have been his heart as he looked down at Clark. This was another time that Clark was completely unreadable.
**Can break every bone in your body, Lex. Don't ever forget that.** Lex swallowed heavily and nodded. That movement earned him a cryptic look from Clark who pulled him down. **This is it, Lex. He's going to squeeze and your skull's going to fracture. I can hear it already...** Closing his eyes, Lex abandoned himself to his fate. **Well, there are worse ways to die that at the hands of someone you love.**
To his surprise, instead of the grinding on bone on bone, he felt a warm mouth pressed against his own. Lex opened his mouth to protest only to have it filled with the wonder of Clark Kent. Talented tongue and little bites along his lower lip and Christ he was making that noise again. That little needy sound that would send his dad into fits and his grandfather spinning in his grave.
Now this was a twist. Lex was obviously expecting a seriously negative reaction to that revelation, and instead he was being kissed breathless again. By Clark, of course. Obviously meant to be reassuring, too. Clark was okay with that much, at least, it would seem. And that was a good thing. A very good thing.
Buffy smiled and leaned lightly against Lex's back so that he was surrounded by them. By people who loved him. And she knew that being in the middle like that was a wonderful feeling, even when there was nothing overtly sexual in it.
Finally released from that kiss, Lex could do nothing but pant and shake for a few minutes. Clark took advantage of his distraction to release his hold on Lex and pull Buffy down for a similar kiss. When Lex's eyes were able to focus again, he was greeted by the sight of Clark cradling the back of Buffy's head while he stole her breath away.
Long, slow, incredibly carnal kiss. Lex felt his own body stir at the sight even though he really should have been down for the count... for probably the next week. And pulsing against his stomach was Clark's own reaction, hidden under the robe but definitely hard and getting harder by the second. Lex slid his hand inside that robe and smiled against the side of Clark's neck as the boy beneath him jerked and then surged up into his hand, painting a slick line across his palm.
Jesus... he should have told Clark sooner about Rog if this was the reaction he'd have gotten to the news.
Buffy whimpered softly into the kiss. Clark took her breath away and refused to let her have it back... he set her body on edge when she should have been too worn out to respond. But the thought of protesting never even entered her mind, and while the kiss lasted she didn't have enough coherence to even consider pulling away. God, the things he could do to her. To them, probably, because Lex seemed to react similarly.
When Clark released her, she settled back onto the couch and tried to catch her breath. After seven - or was it eight? - orgasms over the course of the day, she was just worn out. Add to that the fact that she really hadn't eaten much, and she really wasn't sure she was up to this. Even though she wished she were, because she could tell that Clark was up to it. Really up to it.
Caught with his hand under Clark's robe, Lex looked up and found his lover smiling at him. Another kiss was in the offing and by the time it finished, Lex was straddling Clark with both of their robes open and reaching behind to guide him into place. To hell with stretching, to hell with anything else other than feeling that cock buried deep inside.
Not smart. What he was doing was not smart but Lex didn't care. There was something clawing inside his head, inside his body and he had to have Clark now. The only thing that was stopping him were two inhumanely strong hands on his hips. They were joined by two other hands, smaller but just as strong and Lex's struggles stopped. Clark was shaking his head and saying something and yeah... he really should listen but God he was so empty...
"Lex... Lex, stop. It's okay... it's okay." No more kisses, just hands on his hips and a soothing voice and Lex was trembling. Trembling like a green kid interrupted in the middle of his very first fuck. There was the soft brush of hair against his shoulder and he turned to find himself looking into Buffy's eyes while Clark continued to talk. "Lex... calm down. It's okay..."
Buffy gathered Lex into her arms and rocked him gently back and forth. Murmured softly into his ear while her mind raced, trying to figure out what had just happened. Relief that Clark didn't hate him surely had a part in it. But... something had happened, and she wasn't entirely aware of what. Damn, she wished her research team was here. At the very least, she could bounce ideas off of them about this. Try to come up with a theory.
But the reasons didn't matter, at the moment. Getting Lex calmed down did; this feverish trembling couldn't be good for him. But she knew how to be careful, how to use her body for comfort without making anything sexual out of it. Between Willow and Dawn, Buffy had learned that much.
"Empty, Clark... I feel empty." Hollow words, almost as hollow as his body. Truly caught between them Lex couldn't move even though every part of him, every single cell was screaming that he do so. That he take Clark in, that he let his mate have possession of his body without concern for how much it might hurt. It hurt worse not having him there. "What the hell is happening to me?"
The larger hands on his hips slid around his waist and pulled Lex up and into an embrace until he was lying on top of Clark. "I don't know," was the honest reply, followed by an electric nuzzle underneath one ear. Clark was breathing a little harder and there were little needy pushes happening against Lex's thighs but when he tried to rock back, Buffy's grip held Lex in place.
Warm body holding Lex both front and back, surrounding him with support and love. Clark's kisses stopped and the need faded with them. After a few moments of heavy breathing, Lex lifted his head from Clark's shoulder and they stared at one another. "Clark... don't kiss me again. Not for awhile. Let me... calm down."
The kisses... could it be related to the kisses? Was it pheromones? Or... the way her mind got so hazy when he kissed her... could Clark actually be touching her mind?
Buffy decided she'd have to think about it later. Right now, it wasn't that critical. She continued to murmur softly to Lex, held him gently. "Just try to relax... we'll sort it out later. Until you can calm down, it doesn't matter what happened or why. We can worry about it later," she soothed. She'd voice her ideas later.
Hands roamed up and down his back, soothing as they went. As long as Clark's mouth didn't touch his skin, Lex could breathe so he could only go on the assumption that the craving was tied to kisses. Five minutes went past while he and Clark stared at each other before Lex leaned in for a kiss and that craving slammed into him once more.
Definitely the kisses.
Backing off, Lex managed to crawl out of Clark's lap and pull his robe closed. He had to look away from Clark who remained sprawled on the divan. Robe spilling across the rich fabric, honey-bronze skin glowing and cock so hard that even a glimpse of it reminded Lex of the soul-wrenching emptiness. "Kent... I think..." Lex coughed to cover up to inevitable break in his voice because he'd glanced at Clark when he spoke and every ounce of his self-preservation went out the window.
"This has got to be some sort of... mating thing. Pheromones, maybe... or Jesus, Clark... please cover up before... fuck, where's the lube?" Up on his feet, Lex cast about the room for the small tube and spotted it over by the chair. He snagged it, poured a measure out over his fingers before straddling Clark again.
"Lex," Buffy said as she caught his hands in hers. "Stop for just a second. What's going on? This is just... strange." She wasn't entirely sure how well reason would work, but she tried. If he pushed too hard, he could hurt Clark. Not physically, but emotionally. And that was bad, too. "Are you really aware of what's going on? Is this what you want? Is it what Clark wants?" And that might reach him better than anything else...
That brought Lex up short, the suggestion that this might not be what Clark wanted. He looked from his lube coated fingers to Clark's face and felt his skin crawl. Looking back at him was not his friend. It was that dark-eyed stranger who'd confronted him about Hamilton and instead of being angry, it was watching him and his hand with great interest.
Slow, sensual roll of those hips and the emptiness was back, stronger than before. Lex bit down on his lower lip to keep from whimpering. He bit down so hard that he tasted blood and the stranger's eyes tracked the progress of the trickle that escaped down his chin and then his throat. The room was hot, Lex could feel the sweat pouring down his back and there was another roll of hips that was almost his undoing before Lex was finally able to speak. "Clark? Is this what you want?"
Something changed in those eyes as a second trickle of blood stained Lex's skin. A hand reached up to wipe it away and thankfully Lex found Clark looking at the rusty stain on his own thumb. "Lex... you're bleeding."
Buffy sighed and let go of Lex's hands. She, too, had noticed the different look in Clark's eyes on a couple of occasions and wondered what it signified. She wished she could ask, but she doubted Clark knew, either.
She moved stuff around on the coffee table and sat down, facing them both. She probably looked ridiculous, wearing a robe many sizes too large for her and in a color she would normally consider too dark, her hair disheveled and a serious expression on her face. But how she looked didn't really matter... figuring out what was happening did. **What are you doing to us, Clark?** crossed her mind, but she didn't want to say it like that.
"I think I understand how you're feeling, Lex, but I'm not entirely sure it's your desires driving your reactions. It's just... it's strange," she finally said, her voice barely audible.
In complete agreement with her assessment, Lex nodded. Clark reached up again, wiping away more blood and there was a hint of fear in his gaze now. **Have to agree with you there, Kent. I'm pretty scared myself.** Rather than voicing those thoughts, Lex licked at his lower lip and murmured, "Clark, it's okay. There's something going on here... Buffy, what did you feel when you kissed him?"
"Hazy... fuzzy, sort of. I couldn't really think straight, and it made me breathless and a little needy." Her eyes widened as her description confirmed her earlier thoughts. She took another moment to analyze her memories of the experience... and realized that they were incomplete. "It's weird... I can't remember the entirety of all of them. How much do you want to bet that this is a power that no one knew you had, Clark?"
Buffy shook her head and went on. "It's like... like with that particular connection, mouth on mouth and breathing together, you can affect my mind. I stop being able to think, I can only react. Can only feel. And something, whether it's your mind or something about pheromones, intensifies the physical effects of it..."
"I guess it could be. It's not like I've kissed that many people." Blood on his fingers, blood spilling from the holes in Lex's hip and the absolute cold underneath him as he sat on his ship and stared at the body. "I was thinking about the ship and what happened during the storm. Maybe that's got something to do with it?"
Clark could hear his own voice breaking as the panic washed over him again. Not just the panic from his dream but from when he got back to the farm and found his mom almost catatonic in the storm cellar. She was lying beside the ship which was glowing.
He barely noticed the ship in his rush to get to his mother and while Clark held onto her, image after image after image came cascading through his head. Words and names and a whole language came flooding into him, diving in deep only to be remembered in bits and pieces... most of which had come to light today.
His dad had come staggering in a few minutes later and found them both on the floor. One minute Clark had been holding his mother and the next, his dad was shaking him awake and asking if they were both okay. Everything else he'd forgotten until his first orgasm inside another body and each successive climax had drawn even more of the memories out.
"Clark..." Lex captured Clark's attention with the slow drawl of his name. Drawing his eyes up from his fingers to Lex's face. There was no disapproval to be found in Lex's steady gaze, only infinite curiosity. "Why don't you tell us what happened?"
Buffy was curious, as well. Her mind was formulating all kinds of possibilities, ranging from strange to magical. "Please... tell us? Maybe we can help..." Buffy leaned forward, her expression open and curious, but there was no judgement to be found in her eyes either.
Clark nodded as he looked at his fingers again only to have Lex wipe the blood away so he could focus on answering the question. "Lex... the piece of metal you had on your desk before the storm..." His gaze met Lex's and his friend nodded rather than answering. "It was part of the ship. Of my ship and Nixon got a hold of it somehow."
"I know. He stole it from my office. I was looking for it when Dad came roaring in." Lex wiped the rest of the blood off his lip. He and his father had one hell of a fight that day and it damn near cost his father his life.
"That's not all he did. You heard about the truck blowing up, right?" Clark reached out for Buffy and took her hand in his. She was too far away in his opinion. Mainly because if the way Lex had reacted before to Buffy getting hurt was any indication, their lover was about to go ballistic.
"Yeah, I did. Something about a leaky fuel line and some fertilizer? You're lucky no one in your family was near..." Lex's voice trailed off and the grey of his eyes hardened to absolute steel. His deceptively even tone cut through the room. "Clark... what are you trying to tell me?"
"Oh, God... Clark, were you in the truck when it blew up?" Buffy asked in a voice soft with shock. The expression on his face only confirmed what she thought, and she was torn between shock and fury. Even though it obviously hadn't hurt him, what if it had been someone else in that truck? And what if it had been able to hurt him??
All he could see was a sea of red. It was no secret in Smallville that Lex Luthor looked out for the Kents' welfare. The instant the explosion was reported to the police, Lex knew about it. He knew about it and knew no one had gotten hurt but that didn't lessen the shock. Clark had been in that truck. His lover had been in that hulk of slag currently residing in his garage next to his demolished Porsche.
"God! Where the hell's my phone?" Lex pushed off of Clark, scrabbling for the phone which had ended up tucked into the divan's cushions. His fingers still slick with lube proved useless in trying to get a grip on the phone. Lex wiped his hand off on his robe, flipped the phone open only to have Clark take it away from him. "Kent, don't try and stop me. I'm going to make him disappear."
Buffy let Clark keep the phone out of Lex's reach while she settled behind him and caught him in an arm-lock. "Lex. Stop." Her voice was hard, just as angry but much more in control. Unlike Clark, she had no qualms about using her superior strength to her advantage, and she managed to immobilize Lex. "Just stop it! Calm down." This wasn't the way to do things.
She certainly understood the rage, the desire to kill anyone who even tried to hurt someone she loved. The difference was that this guy was human, and that made it wrong. The laws and morals didn't apply to demon-kind. But they did to people, and this Nixon guy was obviously human. Which meant that anything Lex did to him outside of a courtroom was illegal. And she couldn't let him start down that road...
Especially when no true damage had been done.
No point in struggling against Buffy, the girl was incredibly strong. Not Clark strong but definitely enough to keep him immobile. Lex panted, pushing the rage away and finding his way to the cold place his father had instilled in him. Lashing out emotionally would only cause more damage. He'd wait until they left to call in a contract on Rog.
Lex had the contacts, he knew who and where to call.
Clark watched Lex ice over. His reaction to the encroaching cold was to lean forward and kiss his lover, swallowing down his gasp as Clark concentrated on the image of his ship and the out-pouring of love that he felt for Lex. That he felt for both of them...
Electrical shock straight to the central cortex of his brain and his murderous rage went as quickly as it came. Lex clung to that kiss, opening his mouth to Clark and relaxing as he felt the sure and steady stroke of a tongue over and around his own. Clark's kiss was better at calming him down than any drug he'd ever taken.
"Lex..." Somewhere someone was talking but Lex couldn't figure out who because there were warm fingers on his jaw that trailed down his throat. Clark wasn't kissing him any more but that was okay too. Everything was fine. "Lex, you don't need to worry about it. Dad thinks the storm got him."
Buffy shook her head as she released Lex carefully. He seemed dazed, hazy. "Clark, baby, I don't think he can hear you. I think your kiss dazed him. I'd say we have a definite confirmation of you being able to affect our minds." She shook her head slightly. "I have a few theories, but I'll save them for later when we can all discuss them. Okay? For now, I think we'd better let Lex come back to himself normally..."
As long as they had no idea of how Clark was affecting them, they'd better play it safe and not complicate things too much. Besides, she'd seen his eyes flash dark again just before he kissed Lex. Something in that look, in his expression, struck her as belonging to someone not entirely Clark. Part of him, certainly... but not precisely him. And it was something she was really very familiar with...
Nodding, Clark licked his lips and waited for the other-worldly expression to leave Lex's face. When the familiar sharpness came back into focus, he released his hold on Lex and watched as Lex shook his head. It was time to repeat what he said earlier. "Lex, you don't need to worry about Nixon. Dad thinks the storm got him. He chased the guy up out of the cellar."
Not only had his dad chased the reporter out of the cellar but he'd managed to grab Nixon's camera before the storm forced them both to the ground. When Jonathan crawled out from under the debris, Nixon was gone. His dad destroyed both the camera and the film before making his way back to the storm cellar and his wife.
"Well, that explains why I haven't been able to find Rog. I think your dad's right." Lex ran one hand down Clark's body, checking him for damage even though he knew there was none to find. The thought of Roger being cold-blooded enough to set a bomb to prove a theory made Lex callous about the reporter's actual death. "If he had any evidence and was still alive, your name and picture would've been on the front page of every tabloid in the country."
"But this was a couple of weeks ago, you said?" Buffy asked, concerned. A news story of any kind would be seriously bad news and tabloids were God-awful things in and of themselves. "If he'd done something like that, everyone would know by now. Or, you'd think, anyway. The Kents' place would have been mobbed shortly thereafter."
The only reason Buffy had gotten away with telling a large number of people even a little about what she did was because of the Ascension. And a lot of her graduating class must've already had their suspicions, given that she'd been named Class Protector at Prom.
And there was a truly happy memory from high school. Never, in all the years she'd been fighting by that point, would she have ever guessed that her classmates would link her in-the-nick-of-time rescues to the lowered death count of the class of 1999. That award was currently among her treasured possessions in her bedroom at the apartment.
"Yes, it was two weeks ago. Part of the reason why I'm using the upper study. The storm did a lot of damage to parts of the house." Lex's distraction continued, partially because he was thinking about Nixon and his probable demise. The other reason was Clark who was tracing a line down the center of his chest, obviously fascinated by that expanse of skin. "Clark, I owe you an apology. I'm the reason why Nixon was after you."
Confirmation of his own suspicions was not something Clark had expected from Lex but it was nice to know that Lex was upholding his part of the honesty bargain. It made his decision to trust Lex with his secrets easier. "Lex, I figured that out already. You said you had the crash investigated so who would be better than a reporter?" He watched his lover nod in relief before continuing. "But, Lex...? Dumb move. Reporters never give up. Take a look at Chloe."
Buffy decided that she would really like to get to know Chloe, if only because Clark and Lex talked about her a lot. It kinda sucked, not knowing anything about most of the people her lovers discussed. Granted that she'd only been in town for a week and a half, but still.
"If this Nixon was the type of reporter who could be bought to begin with," Buffy reasoned out, "then he'd probably have no qualms about breaking an order to stop investigating."
In deference to Clark's comment about Chloe, she added, "On the other hand, Chloe might never give up but what little I know of her doesn't make me think she's the type of reporter who could be bought. She really seems to believe that her investigating is for the greater good, though my guess would be that she also hasn't learned when to quit before she hurts someone she cares about."
Clark nodded in agreement even as Lex rose to his feet. The robe got tied tighter around Lex's waist and the smile he gave to both of them was cynical and purely Luthor. It could have adorned his father's face quite easily. He said nothing, simply turned away and walked over to the curtains. Lex flung them wide open as well as the doors behind them. He was illuminated briefly by the last rays of the sun before he stepped out onto the balcony, closing the doors as he went.
*****
Go back to the Smallville page.
Authors: Lex's Lady & Mistress Ace
E-mail: winter@sapphire-dragon.net & rosewood@inreach.com
Feedback: It's the icing on the cake. We write because the story demands to be told. Feedback lets us know if we struck a chord with you.
Distribution: Our website, of course, www.fandomwriters.com. The list archives are welcome to it also. Anyone else, please ask first. We'd like to know where our fic is going.
Rating: NC-17 (eventually – or maybe quickly depending on the whim of the muses)
Category: Crossover, Romance, Angst
Spoilers: All of season 1 of Smallville and season 6 of Buffy: The Vampire Slayer
Pairings: Buffy/Clark/Lex, m/f, m/m
Disclaimer: We don't own the characters at all (however much we might wish we did). Buffy and all references to BTVS are property of the great god Joss Whedon, et al. Clark, Lex and the Smallville storyline belong to Miller-Gough et al. We're just borrowing them for a while. We promise to put them back unharmed and perhaps a little happier.
Notes: ** denotes internal thought, * = italics.
Summary: What if the Summers girls moved to Smallville? What if Buffy discovered that Clark had a secret and thought he could use a confidant?
Dedications: From Em: To Ace, for her never-ending support and her willingness to work on this with me. She writes both Clark and Lex in a way I could never hope to achieve, and I couldn't possibly have done this on my own.
From Ace: To Em for reminding me why I love Buffy. To Beth for being my Smallville watching partner even when the scripts were awful. To the whole Clark/Lex list for opening my eyes to the potential here. And finally to Christina for her great story; Runaway Trains at 3 A.M. which was part of our inspiration. You can find it at: this site.