Not All Superheros Wear Capes

By Melanie Walker

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was the question that had floored him Lex Luthor decided. And in retrospect the question had actually been no different in tone or context than any other question that Clark Kent had asked him.

 

And normally he would have answered in a glib, seen-it-all before, slightly bored voice whatever response was deemed appropriate.

 

In hindsight he decided maybe it had not been in his best interests to question the validity or strength of Clark’s continued attachment to Lana Lang. But he just couldn’t understand the strength of Clark’s continued commitment to a woman that rarely looked at him as anything more than a good friend.

 

Lex should have known that an attack on Clark’s feelings for Lana would require a counterattack on the young mans part.

 

He was after all defending what he believed was his right to love the wrong woman.

 

Something that Lex knew a great deal about.

 

The counterattack was a method that Clark had used before, but it was the question itself that had left Lex floored. He’d stared in shock at his young friend before mumbling some noncommittal reply and then bolted to a meeting he was already late for but had been hoping to avoid.

 

In a choice between facing his past and avoiding a meeting with men he hated… well he’d choose the meeting with the men he hated.

 

Burying himself in his work helped him to shove away the sense of loss he felt, helped him to drown out sad green eyes and skin scented of vanilla.

 

He had so buried himself in his work that it was nearly four days before Clark had managed another ambush.

 

Sneaking up on him while he was trapped on the phone in his office, settling himself in one of the luxuriously cushioned office chairs. Making it quite apparent that he was there for the long haul and not going anywhere until his questions were answered.

 

With that in mind Lex had used the phone call to rebuild his stony façade… and prayed that Clark wouldn’t knock it down in one fell swoop as was his wont.

 

“Clark,” Lex nodded at his best friend as he replaced the phone in its cradle, shuffling papers on his desk all to avoid the all-knowing eyes of that young man.

 

It was scary how well Clark seemed to know him.

 

“You know maybe if you talk about her she won’t have power over you anymore,” Clark said softly, his voice earnest and innocent.

 

“I’m not quite sure who you’re referring to Clark… Victoria has been a thing of the past for quite some time and you know it.”

 

“You know I’m not talking about Victoria,” Clark said stubbornly, rising to his feet he walked the short distance until only the desk separated the two men. “I’m talking about the girl who’s got you so wound up that you’ve been avoiding me for days.”

 

“I haven’t been avoiding you, I’ve been busy… running this multi-billion dollar company may look easy but its not you know.”

 

“It’s never stopped you from talking to me before,” Clark retorted.

 

“Look Clark it’s nothing… just let it go.”

 

“No… who is she? Do I know her?” Clark asked desperately trying to conceal the eagerness in his voice.

 

Lex Luthor, for as much as they were best friends, had always been a mystery to him. Sometimes Clark thought he was made of stone; he didn’t seem to care about anything or anyone besides himself and sometimes Clark. The fact that he had loved and obviously lost someone that had been important to him had shown that Lex was totally incapable of caring about someone.

 

He stared at his best friend, the older man remaining silent and for a moment he didn’t think Lex was going to answer him. For a brief second Clark worried that he had pushed it to far, that Lex was going to ask him to leave and never return.

 

Instead Lex continued to remain silent, his eyes cold and distant, pinning Clark where he stood. Then when Clark was close to squirming and apology and a retraction Lex closed his eyes.

 

Drawing a deep breath he tapped his long fingers against his desk and then with a semi-audible sigh he sat back in his chair eyes opening again.

 

“What do you want to know Clark?” he asked in a world weary voice.

 

“Well everything… I mean its obvious you didn’t marry her, or stay with her so something must have happened…”

 

“Yeah… I scared her, I pushed her to hard, to fast and she bolted,” Lex’s eyes rose to meet his friends and Clark was shocked to see tears that were quickly blinked away glinting in them. He didn’t think he’d ever seen Lex this emotion before.

 

“Was she beautiful? I mean, I know she had to be you don’t date ugly women, not that you wouldn’t…” Clark flushed and trailed off, realizing he was dangerously close to implying that Lex was shallow. Bowing his head to hide his flaming face he was shocked to hear Lex laugh.

 

“Beautiful women are my way of life,” Lex grinned. “But Anne… now she was glorious…”

 

“Glorious huh?” Clark smiled as Lex’s eyes became distant and the younger male knew that his friend was picturing the girl as she had been.

 

“Yes glorious… she had the most amazing eyes. I could never tell what color they were supposed to be. Sometimes they were this hazel, then others, when she was happy the looked like the finest of emeralds.”

 

“She was so tiny, smaller I think then even your Ms. Lang. She worked as a waitress…”

 

“A waitress? You mean she wasn’t…” Clark cut-off flushing again. He was treading in dangerous waters again.

 

“She probably had less money then even the poorest denizens of Smallville… she never said but I’m fairly certain that she was a runaway… she was the first woman I ever said those three little words to and she threw them back in my face she was so scared,” Lex sighed running a hand over his face.

 

“But… she must have loved you… I mean…”

 

“I was a kid Clark. I may have been 18 legally but I was still a kid in every other way.”

 

“But…”

 

“It didn’t matter regardless… I stepped back to give her space, to give her time to come to grips with whatever had happened to her. When I sought her out again she was gone. Another girl living in her apartment, with her name, with her job… the new Anne told me that she had gone home.”

 

“That’s good right? If she was a runaway like you thought and she went home…”

 

“That’s just it though isn’t it… Did she return to wherever she came from because she wanted to… or because I drove her to it?”

 

“So what happened? I mean you went after her…”

 

“I would have… if I’d had any clue where to begin searching. The new Anne clammed up, wouldn’t tell me anything although I got the impression that she knew a great deal more than she let on. I hired private detectives but they didn’t find a trace of her… it was like she vanished into thin air.”

 

“She couldn’t have just vanished; I mean people just don’t disappear…”

 

“Well this girl did…” Lex drew a hand over his head, that had been another thing about his Anne.

 

She hadn’t been turned off by his lack of hair. In fact she had seemed entranced by it. Forever stroking the sensitive skin with her fingers, dragging her warm lips over his smooth scalp.

 

He had never before felt as loved, as cherished as he had been wrapped up with her in her bed.

 

He’d hated her for that. For months after she’d left he’d felt the phantom glide of her fingers, of her mouth. He’d hated that she’d made him care about her and then had run from him.

 

“Are you still looking for her?” Clark’s voice broke through his hazy reflections of the past.

 

“No… what would be the point?” Lex asked softly his voice and eyes brooking no argument from his younger counterpart. Half of him was afraid he’d still be angry with her… the other half worried that he’d find her dead or worse… with another man.

 

“You could find her.”

 

“She obviously doesn’t want to be found… besides it’s not like I’m still in love with her… I’ve had years to get over her and let her go and so has she.”

 

 

******************************************************************************

 

 

Clark sighed as he watched Chloe from the doorway. He had debated with himself the entire way over here, knowing that Chloe would still be at the school, if he was doing the right thing.

 

Lex was his best friend… and regardless of the words he spoke he was obviously still in love with his mystery girl.

 

Clark had first hand knowledge of what unrequited love looked like and Lex was the perfect picture of it.

 

But how did the girl feel about Lex? Was Clark just setting his friend up for a huge fall? Or had there been something else behind Anne’s running from Lex? Something that even Lex was privy to.

 

Either way Clark knew that the only way Lex was going to be able to move on with his life was if he was able to put the girl that got away behind him finally.

 

“Hey Clark,” Chloe smiled warmly at him, she could tell just by looking at him that his mind had been far, far away from where his corporeal body stood. “What’s up?”

 

“I need you to find out some information for me,” Clark said decisively.

 

Lex could hate him all he wanted but Clark knew that he needed this… needed that girl desperately.

 

And if he could find her, if he could succeed where Lex’s overpriced detectives had failed Clark was going to make sure that Lex either got the girl…or got his answers.

 

 

******************************************************************************

 

 

Buffy Summers heaved a huge sigh as she hazarded yet another look around her motel room.

 

As rooms went it wasn’t bad per se…. just… colorful… in an extremely gaudy and vaguely nauseating way.

 

Sitting heavily on the side of the bed she contemplated her next move.

 

She’d been chasing the Berental demon for going on three weeks now. Every time she thought she had it within her sights and was shortly to be on her way back to her Hellmouth it would up and vanish on her once again.

 

If she didn’t know better she’d think that she and the demon were playing some elaborate game of hide and seek that she did not yet know the rules to.

 

Thankfully Willow had put together a transportable locator map and she was usually able to pick up its location within hours of losing it.

 

It was just the fact that she was tired, she was slightly worried about her family and friends… and then there was the new town she had just landed in.

 

And actually to be honest it wasn’t even the town… it was the name of a man who was quite active in the business community.

 

Hopefully, gods willing and all, she would never have to come face to face with Lex Luthor.

 

She didn’t know if she could handle it if she did.

 

With another sigh she picked up the phone, carefully dialing the numbers on the calling card Giles had given her before she left.

 

“Buffy?” her Watchers familiar, anxious voice rang clearly through the receiver sending an accompanying pang of homesickness rocketing through her.

 

“Hey Giles,” she purposefully kept her tone light, hoping for humor… although she would settle for not sounding like she was losing her mind.

 

Damn Lex Luthor and her memories anyway. She’d thought that time of her life dead and buried.

 

“I take it we’ve been unsuccessful thus far?”

 

“We? What’s this we all of a sudden,” Buffy grumbled sarcastically. “So far I’m the only one that I see on the road trip from hell.”

 

“Now Buffy…”

 

“Don’t try to placate me Giles. I’m not a child.”

 

“I never said you were… and you know if we could be there we would be but…”

 

“But you all have lives,” she sighed dragging a hand through her hair. Maybe she was PMS’ing? Her temper was flaring; mood swings from hell… and hearing the Luthor name bandied about had done nothing to alleviate any of that.

 

“You know I have a life too,” she muttered. “What did you tell Principal Wood?... and please tell me that I still have a job to come home too.”

 

“Principal Wood believes you to be in New York dealing with some problems at yours mothers gallery.”

 

“Uh Giles… mom’s gallery is in Sunnydale,” Buffy reminded him frowning slightly. What age did senility start setting in again?

 

“Yes and she co-owns a gallery in New York… or at least that’s what I’ve led your Principal Wood to believe…”

 

“Okaaay,” Buffy drawled out the word slowly, shaking her head. “Probably should remember that huh?”

 

“That would be most beneficial… if you don’t…” Giles of course didn’t finish the sentence. He didn’t have to. The Watchers Council had been fighting him on paying a salary to Buffy, trying to get through to them that the Slayer holding down a job hindered her ability to keep her identity a secret.

 

Besides the fact that Buffy was the longest living Slayer in history… he was slowly wearing them down but until then Buffy still had bills to pay, a little sister to support… the usual things a young woman her age had to deal with.

 

“So what do you want me to do Giles? Should I hang out here and hope it shows its slimy face or…”

 

“If that is its last known location…”

 

“Well I’m gonna need money then, I’m almost out.”

 

“Money? I thought you were going to stay at the cheapest motels…”

 

“I am… I mean you should see the dive I’m staying in right now. You told me to take buses or trains… and let me tell you I should have flown, it might have been cheaper.”

 

She could hear her Watchers heavy sigh on the other end and imagined that he was probably slowly removing his glasses once more, rubbing at the nearly worn lenses with a cloth that he kept in his pocket for just such an event.

 

“Where are you? I’ll Western Union money to you tomorrow,” he sighed.

 

“Thanks Giles,” Buffy grinned. “The town is a little one called Smallville…”

 

 

******************************************************************************

 

 

Lex slowly pushed the sunglasses on his face stepping from his low slung Porsche. This impromptu trip into Smallville had come at his fathers behest.

 

Glancing both ways he crossed the street, maybe he’d even stop into the diner and see Clark. And he knew Clark would be there, bright sunny day not withstanding it was also a Saturday… and Lana would be working.

 

He caught her strictly from the corner of his eye and his heart nearly stopped.

 

His feet though kept moving… down the street, around the corner his heart beating frantically.

 

He’d caught himself thinking of his Anne frequently in the last few days and every time her face flashed in front of his eyes he cursed Clark Kent and his insufferable curiosity.

 

He had done so well in the past few years. Only allowing himself his memories of her on holidays and special occasions.

 

If his father had ever learned of his brief liaison with Anne he would surely have used it against him.

 

Or used her against him.

 

And Lex had not wanted to see his beautiful girl used like that.

 

So when he rounded the corner and once more caught sight of the tiny blonde entering the Western Union office he firmly reprimanded himself.

 

After all of the time and money that he’d spent searching for her… he didn’t think she’d be as easy to find as walking down the street of this crazy little town.

 

But when a second glance showed a woman with such an uncanny likeness to his Anne that she either had to be her… or be a twin Lex decided that following her was a necessity. He would never forgive himself if she was here and he voluntarily let her slip through his fingers because he thought he was going insane.

 

Besides he wouldn’t know for sure until he saw her full face, thus far he’d only seen her profile. From the front this woman might look nothing like his Anne.

 

He waited a few minutes before entering the Western Union office behind her, then busied himself behind a packaging counter as he eyed her slow movements towards the desk.

 

When he heard her voice he nearly jumped from his skin. That same voice had haunted his dreams for years.

 

“I’m expecting money to be in today,” she stated slowly. Lex could envision the smile that she must have graced the clerk with if the young mans flush was any indication.

 

“Yes ma’am,” the young clerk stammered. “Name please?”

 

“Buffy Summers.”

 

“Name and location of sender?”

 

“Rupert Giles… Sunnydale California.”

 

“Here it is ma’am,” the young man mumbled pulling an envelope out from under the counter and shoving it towards her.

 

“Thanks,” Buffy murmured, waggling her fingers absently as she turned on her heel to leave. Intent on a slip of paper that she had pulled from the envelope she failed to notice Lex as she walked past him.

 

As the door closed quietly behind her Lex moved from behind the rather tiny display that he had been hiding behind and stared after her.

 

Every instinct within him clamored for him to follow her, to track her back to wherever she was staying and finally force the conversation that they’d needed to have for years.

 

But another part of him knew that if he attempted to follow her to garner her location that she would know, she had an uncanny ability of knowing when someone was following her.

 

Besides he was actually kind of nervous about finally having the conversation.

 

Most of his wildest dreams had been of finally tracking her down, of having her admit that she loved him and bringing her home with him. Then there were his nightmares where he finally found her and she was married.

 

He didn’t think he could take finding out that his nightmares had been true.

 

But there was another way to determine the information that he wanted he decided as he turned to the young clerk who was paling visibly at the sight of him.

 

“Mr… Mr… Luthor…” he cleared his throat.

 

“The young woman that was just in here…”

 

“Yes sir?”

 

“I want to know everything that you know about her.”

 

 

******************************************************************************

 

 

August 1998

 

The shock of something wet on the back of his neck startled him awake, his entire body stiffening as he fought through the hazy remains of sleep.

 

He could feel her behind him her slighter form spooning him as she pressed open mouthed kisses to the back of his neck. One of her hands was treading towards dangerous territory as it lazily stroked his hip, every so often dipping down and caressing his hardening cock.

 

With a sleepy grin he captured the wandering hand in his own, giving it a slight squeeze before he imprisoned it within his own on his hip.

 

“What are you doing?” he asked in a sleep roughened voice.

 

Against the back of his neck he could feel her lips curve into a smile. He loved times like this, just the two of them… where she wasn’t haunted by her past and he wasn’t haunted by his father.

 

“Nothing,” she murmured in her most innocent voice, her breath tickling the skin on the beck of his neck even as her tongue darted out to taste that skin.

 

“Anne…” he said warningly.

 

“Hmm…” her lips started pressing soft kisses to the nape of his neck again as she tried to snuggle even further into his body.

 

Throwing one leg over his hip he could feel her enticing moisture seep onto the curve of his buttocks.

 

“We can’t baby,” he muttered even as one hand moved slowly behind him to hold her against him.

 

“Why not?” she asked as he turned within her embrace. Winding his arms around her he pulled her atop him, settling her between his legs, his hardness pressed against her belly. Fighting for composure as her tongue darted out to trace his jaw line.

 

Eyes closing momentarily he allowed himself to relax under her ministrations.

 

Smiling up at her, his eyes slowly opening as he pulled her face to his he pressed his lips against hers.

 

A chaste kiss.

 

He only drew away when he felt her shift on him, the tip of his cock entering her just slightly. He moaned softly as her warmth drew him closer and he fought to keep from thrusting into her. In the back of his mind alarm bells clamored for his attention and he ignored them.

 

He’d never been inside her without the protective barrier of a condom between them.

 

Part of him wondered if this was the answer… if this was the way to bind her to him forever. He wanted to marry her, to have her with him always.

 

He didn’t even care that his father would most likely hate her on sight and cut him totally off.

 

If he had Anne he wouldn’t care.

 

He loved her like he hadn’t loved anyone since his mother. And he could feel her slipping further and further away from him.

 

He hated that.

 

Hated knowing that she still kept secrets from him even though he’d told her everything about himself. About his family.

 

He groaned aloud as he slipped inside even further, lifting his head he drew her lips to his once more, tongues twining together he captured her moan in his mouth as he slid to the hilt within her.

 

“Oh god,” she gasped wrenching her lips from his as their hips churned slowly together. Lifting her head she gazed at him, her hair spilling down onto his face, as she gazed into his eyes. “Lex.” His name was torn from her lips almost silently, and even though she’d never said the words to him he could see what he hoped was love shining within her eyes.

 

“Anne,” her name was more a plea then anything else. His hands flying to her hips as he thrust fully up into her.

 

Her head lowered to his neck, nibbling on his ear, small bites to his neck and shoulder.

 

“Love you,” he gasped as he felt her begin tightening around him, his balls tightening as they continued slowly moving.

 

She spasmed around him, a cry wrenched from her lips as she climaxed. The muscles rippling around him almost brutally drawing his own climax. Without a care to pregnancy or parental disapproval he held her tightly against him as he shuddered.

 

Collapsing together he drew slow circles on her back, bodies still joined.

 

He was half asleep when he heard the words. A quiet declaration that she would never say to him when he was awake, and the words gave him hope even as her tone broke his heart.

 

“I love you.”

 

 

******************************************************************************

 

 

Clark frowned as he walked the necessary steps to bring him alongside a silent, stoic Lex Luthor.

 

Following his best friends line of sight his frown deepened as he realized that Lex was staring at a fairly rundown, decrepit motel.

 

Not his usual place of habitation.

 

“Lex?” he queried softly, fighting to keep the worry from his voice.

 

The man in question glanced over at him, his face still blank only a momentary flash of shock at Clark’s presence crossed it before it was quickly covered.

 

“Clark… what are you doing here?”

 

“I stopped by the house, your dad told me you’d come into town so…” Clark shrugged as Lex nodded, seemingly accepting his answer as his attention was once more recaptured by the motel. “So what are we looking at?” he asked brightly.

 

“What?”

 

“What’s so fascinating about the Sleep-n-Go Motel? Are you planning on buying it or something?”

 

“No… why do you ask?”

“Because you’re staring at it as if it holds the secrets of eternal life or something… if you’re not planning on buying it…”

 

“I’m not.”

 

“Then why…?”

 

Lex sighed, running a hand over his head his attention never wavered from the door his Anne, Buffy… Buffy Summers, had disappeared behind.

 

“Did you ever have one of those days when you just figured it would be as monotonous as all the rest? But then something so monumentally life altering occurred flooring you and leaving you with absolutely no idea what to do next?”

 

“Uh… no…” Clark watched him quizzically. “What… uh… what happened?”

 

“Anne is here…” Lex glanced over at his best male friend in as many years as he could remember and almost chuckled at the impressive impression of a gaping goldfish that Clark had managed.

 

“What?.... But that’s great… right?” Clark stared at Lex, his own expression of happiness for his friend fading when it appeared that Lex didn’t agree with that fact. He didn’t appear to be as happy as Clark would have thought at the reappearance of the love of his life. “That is good right?”

 

“Sure… its great…”

 

“Good… So why don’t you sound more pleased? I mean if it was Lana… and I hadn’t seen her in seven years…”

 

“I’m sure it would please me a great deal more if…”

 

“If what? What happened Lex? Did you talk to her? Is she married? Did she not remember you?” Clark asked his voice a mixture of annoyance and frustration.

 

“No I haven’t spoken to her yet.”

 

“That what?! Why aren’t you doing cartwheels? Or… I mean whatever staid activity you Luthor’s do to announce your joy and happiness.”

 

“I’m sure I’d be more pleased if it didn’t appear that she had lied about everything that she was.”

 

“What are you talking about?” Clark asked a feeling of dread pooling in his stomach.

 

“Anne isn’t Anne… her name appears to be Buffy Summers… I spotted her walking down the street, just walking down the street of the town I’ve lived in for over a year. She was just there…”

 

“Maybe…”

 

“She went to the Western Union office,” Lex glanced at Clark. “Who even sends money by Western Union anymore? That’s like using the Pony Express to deliver mail,” he shook his head as he turned back to the innocuous door that housed the only woman he’d ever loved. “She picked up money that had been sent to her by a man named Rupert Giles… a man who could be anything to her.”

 

“I think you’re overreacting on that. I mean Rupert? It sounds like the name of a Librarian to me,” Clark scoffed, attempting to bolster his friends spirits. “I don’t think you have anything to worry about.”

 

 

******************************************************************************

 

 

Buffy flopped down on the bed as she waited for someone, anyone to pick up the other end of the phone that was currently ringing in her ear.

 

Glancing down at the wristwatch that Giles had forced onto her wrist before she left she scowled.

 

Dawn should still be in school, Willow would still be at UC Sunnydale, Xander would still be at work, Anya would be at the Magic Box, Spike would be studying one of the books in his massive collection… but Giles should be at the house at least.

 

It’s not like he had anything better to do beside wait by the phone for her call.

 

As she waited she once more studied the water stains on her ceiling. They reminded her of that Rorschach Ink Blot test, and wouldn’t Will’s be just excited as hell that she’d remember something from their Psych101 Class.

 

“Buffy?!”

 

“Hey Giles,” Buffy grinned at the tone of her Watcher’s voice.

 

“Thank god,” she could hear the heavy sigh of relief in his voice and her grin widened.

 

Giles would be one of two people that would always be happy to hear from her.

 

“Geez Giles, it’s been less than 12 hours… were you worried about me?” she smirked, unmindful of the fact that he couldn’t see it, but knowing that he would be able to hear it in her voice.

 

He knew her well enough to know that.

 

“You know I worry when you go off on these hunts by yourself… I really wish that you would have considered taking Spike with you.”

 

“I’m a big girl Giles…” she scowled. “I don’t need a babysitter.”

 

“He’s your Watcher now,” Giles reminded her in that haughty tone that she’d come to classify as his ‘father knows best’ tone.

 

“I know that… he’s also an ex-vampire, ex-lover...”

 

“Don’t…” Giles said sharply, and Buffy could envision that he was now in the process of rapidly rubbing his forehead. “I do not need a vision of you and Spike in my head right now.”

 

“You’re no fun…” she pouted, frowning as she heard three sharp taps at her door. “Can you hold on a second Giles? There’s someone at the door…”

 

Without waiting for a response Buffy swung to her feet dropping the phone on the bed.

 

Cursing lightly as she peeked out the window and saw only an arm, she consoled herself with the fact that it was day out and hence her uninvited visitor couldn’t be a vampire… normally wouldn’t be a demon either since they didn’t like moving around in broad daylight.

 

She cursed again when she realized that following Giles’ instructions and picking the cheapest motel had left her with no peephole in her door.

 

She had one of two options she supposed.

 

She could pretend she wasn’t in.

 

Or she could assume a demon wouldn’t knock and her uninvited guest was a human that she could easily overpower.

 

Wrenching the door open she abruptly went to close it again as her eyes widened slowly in shock. Only quick reflexes on his part kept it from slamming shut in his face.

 

Reflexively backing up, her face was panic-filled as she stared at him. Watching as he slowly entered her cheap motel room, closing the door softly behind him to keep prying eyes out.

 

Even if they were only Clarks… he’d been unable to get his young friend to leave. Clark had wanted to stay and offer moral support.

 

“Lex,” she breathed, her huge eyes locked on his.

 

She’d known that he was here, in Smallville… but she’d never prepared herself for the eventuality of a face to face meeting.

 

She’d hoped to be long gone before he ever had a hint of the fact that she’d been there… because he wouldn’t understand.

 

“Anne…” he jerked his head in a sharp nod, his face an implacable mask. Someone meeting him for the first time would never realize how angry he was at that exact moment… but Buffy’d had months to learn the idiosyncrasies of this man.

 

“Or is it Buffy? Which is the real you I wonder?”

 

 

******************************************************************************

 

 

Buffy gaped at him, her thoughts muddled and incoherent as she tried to think of some way out of this.

 

The last time she’d seen the man standing before her Lex had been begging her to marry him, begging her to share her secrets and her life with him. She’d been so close to telling him yes, telling him everything, but it had become painfully honest just a few short hours later that she knew she couldn’t.

 

That was when the life she had tried to leave had collided headfirst with the life she was hiding in.

 

That was when Lily had recognized her… what had happened with Lily, battling Ken… it had just driven home the point that no matter how much she might want it she could never have a normal life.

 

And that meant that as much as she wanted him she couldn’t have Lex. Because there was no way that she could drag Lex into the nightmare that was her life.

 

“Lex,” she breathed again, her battered heart trying to look past the anger and hostility so she could see the love that she just knew had to be there.

 

“I’m sorry,” his tone was grim, and it was very evident from it that he wasn’t sorry in the least, “did I take you away from a phone call?”

 

“Uh…” Buffy glanced down at the phone and back to Lex’s face as he moved closer to her. Touching her cheek with a gentleness that totally contradicted the anger that she could see she focused on his eyes.

 

“Get rid of him,” he whispered his eyes, with their barely checked rage, boring into hers.

 

With a nod, in her shock forgetting that she could take Lex if she wanted to, she instead swallowed heavily and turned away. His hand falling from her face as she picked the phone up from where she’d tossed it.

 

“Giles?” she murmured, unable to keep the faint quiver from her voice as she stared with unseeing eyes at the bed. She could feel Lex behind her, right behind her in fact as she could feel the heat emanating from his body.

 

“Is everything okay?” the man she considered more a father than her actual father asked, worry evident in his tone.

 

“Fine,” she forced a smile even though Giles couldn’t see it and tried not to concentrate on the fact that Lex was standing behind her blatantly listening to her conversation.

 

“I still don’t like you doing this by yourself,” he fretted and the smile that flitted across her face was genuine that time.

 

“Big girl Giles,” she reminded him softly.

 

“Right… I forget sometimes,” Giles sighed and Buffy knew that he was running a hand through his hair in agitation. “So how do you plan to handle…?”

 

“I’ll take care of it Giles,” she cut him off, mindful of Lex’s presence in the room and the fact that he had no idea who he was dealing with.

 

“Buffy…”

 

“I’ll be home in a few days, tell Dawn to be good and tell Spike and Xander not to empty the fridge this time.”

 

She hung up on him with him still voicing his objections, resting her hand on the phone momentarily she closed her eyes.

 

“Dawn?” she heard Lex from behind her.

 

“My sister…” she said tiredly.

 

“Xander and Spike?”

 

“Friends…” Drawing a deep breath she steeled herself, crossing her arms over her chest she turned to face him. This man was the only one that had ever competed with Angel for her heart.

 

Not that either of the men knew that.

 

Angel believed that she had been totally faithful to his memory while he had been in hell. And by the time he had returned Lex’s scent had long since faded from her body if not her memory.

 

She’d never told Lex about the other man in her heart, though she knew that he knew someone had been there before him.

 

“How did you find me?” she asked quietly.

 

“Well it was the strangest thing,” he smiled thinly at her. “Here I spent all this money searching for you, spent time looking for you, worrying over whether you were alive, dead… and it seemed that all I had to do was walk down the street of this hell I’ve been consigned to.”

 

“You… you looked for me?” Buffy asked with mild surprise. She’d never suspected that he might do that. The thought that he might try and find her had never even entered her mind once she’d been discovered by Lily and decided to go home.

 

For a moment she allowed a brief smile to cross her face at the thought of Lex in Sunnydale. Of Lex and Angel fighting over her. Then reality set in… if Lex had shown up in Sunnydale Angel would have destroyed him. Or Lex would have destroyed Angel.

 

Of course Angel had left her to have a normal life so maybe he wouldn’t have cared either way she thought bitterly. Lex was human, that had been what Angel had wanted for her.

 

Someone human that could take her into the sun, give her kids, make love to her.

 

When Angel had spouted all that off to her in the sewer when he had broken her heart she had been so close to admitting that she’d had that. That she’d left that because the reality of her world had crashed over her.

 

She wasn’t normal; she would never be normal… and now the one person who had accepted her abnormal as she was had decided to leave so she could have what she’d already given up.

 

She’d thought she’d been having a nightmare, one that she couldn’t seem to wake from…she’d thought of finding Lex. She’d seen his exploits in the papers, seen the beautiful women that he continually surrounded himself with; they were hard to miss and the catalyst to her decision to not contact him.

 

He would most assuredly have moved on with one of those beautiful women and would barely remember a tiny, scrawny girl that he’d spent less then three months with.

 

She was nothing compared to those he’d been seen with since her.

 

The fact that he had in fact been looking for her the entire time boggled her mind.

 

“Yes…” he raised a hand to caress her cheek softly. “Of course I might have had better luck finding you if I’d known your real name… do you know how many Anne’s there are in the United States?”

 

“A lot…”

 

“A lot,” he laughed bitterly. “Then there was your friend, that should have been the first clue that I didn’t have the first idea who you really were. She had your name, was living in your apartment, working at the same restaurant… I was such an idiot back then; you must have had a great laugh at my expense.”

 

“Lex that wasn’t…”

 

“Why are you here? Money?”

 

“I don’t want your money,” Buffy narrowed her eyes at him. “I never wanted your money.”

 

“Then why are you here? Everybody seems to want something from me lately what do you want?”

 

“Nothing! I’m not here for you, I didn’t know you were here until I was already in town and I hoped I’d be long gone before you even got wind of me.”

 

“You weren’t even going to try and see me?” Lex scowled and Buffy was thrown by the complete 180 he’d just done. Going from the angry man certain she was there to extort money from him to the hurt little boy that only wanted to be loved for who he was in mere seconds.

 

“No,” she muttered. “It’s been a long time Lex I didn’t think…”

 

“You didn’t think I’d want to know that you were okay? That you were alive… do you know how worried I was when…” in agitation Lex rubbed his hands over his face. The fear that he’d felt back then washing over him in the now.

 

He’d been terrified that something had happened to her back then. The neighborhood in which she’d worked and lived had been one of the worst. Numerous times he’d tried to convince her to move, he’d rent an apartment that they could stay in together when he wasn’t at school…to which she’d vehemently objected. Insisting that she wasn’t going to be ‘kept’ like some mistress. That she liked her tiny little apartment, her crappy job.

 

“There were things,” Buffy glanced away, twisting her hands together as she stared at her feet, before her eyes rose defiantly to his. She was the Slayer for crying out loud… if it came down to a fight between her and Lex… she would so win it wouldn’t be funny. She wasn’t going to let this man cow her after all the time she’d spent building up her self-esteem after Spike. “There’s stuff you don’t know about me…”

 

“Then I’ll find it all out tomorrow night.”

 

“What?” she looked up at him, shock etched on her features.

 

“Tomorrow night you’ll come to the castle for dinner and before you’ll leave I’ll know everything there is to know about Buffy Summers and you…” he said confidently stepping closer to her, “will remember what it’s like to be in a relationship with Lex Luthor.”

 

“We’re not in a relationship Lex… and were you always this tyrannical?” she frowned at him.

 

“As far as I’m concerned our relationship never ended, we didn’t break up you just vanished. And as you’ll come to find out I’m not the man you remember…”

 

“But will I like the one you’ve become?”

 

 

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