Rating: R
Synopsis: Interludes in Sins of the Daughter, Lionel’s role in the whole mess.
Spoilers: Sins of the Daughter, All seasons of Buffy to an extent, heavily AU.
Content: Buffy/Lex implied, Buffy/Angel implied, BtVS/Smallville crossover.
Disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated with Mutant Enemy Productions, Warner Brothers company, Tollin/Robbins Productions or any of the other creative minds behind Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, and Smallville. All songs contained within are property of the artists listed. Which means, duh, that I’m just an unpaid fan.
Distribution: Your Eyes, Fanfiction.net, Land of Denial, and anyone else who is archiving my stories. If you’d like to have this story, just e-mail me the URL so I can link to you.
Feedback: Send all comments to eleni9724@juno.com
Note: I don’t even know why I’m doing this, I should be working on a thousand other things, but so many people requested a sequel and I don’t like writing those all that much, so I’m indulging in a small interludes series. They won’t be POV pieces like many interludes I’ve seen, and there will be at least two or three of them, depending on how many situations I find to explain.
Note 2: I didn’t mean to sound so crabby in my last story about the way that Smallville is set up. It is true that in some tiny parts of Kansas that we grow corn, but the fact still remains that our soil is far too dry and acidic, and our weather is far too unpredictable to grow many other different kinds of crops. Mostly is just wheat, barley, sorghum, and other grains. On another note, having two major universities, respectively Kansas State University and Kansas University can be rather confusing, it is one of the reasons for the acronyms that we use (e.g.: K-State and KU, just like Wichita State University is WSU and so on). It also irks me that people think that we’re not very advanced in technology, and even more those who still think that we all farm and travel around by horse and buggy. I’m not kidding either, you should hear some of the things that people say when they’re on the phone and they’ve never been here. (TELEMARKETER: We were wondering if you’d consider trying AOL…do you have a computer? MY USUAL REPLY: No, but my cow came standard with one of them new fangled modems, does that work?). I’m very serious, though it doesn’t happen often, it really does once in a while. I’m going to shut up now. Hope you enjoy the short interlude, more of The Summers Project should be out by the end of the week
Note 3: I apologize if I just offended anyone. I’m just a little pissy about my Algebra class, I’m so not having fun. : (
Note 4: Lyrics are ‘Secrets’ by Eternal.

Metropolis, KS 1997

"And you’re sure?" Lionel Luthor asked, staring down the small, weasel-like man in front of him. Joshua Sparks was a reporter who aspired to be a private detective, and often lent himself out to people willing to pay the price of his film and a good referral to his brother’s firm. For days he’d suspected that Lex’s little trips to Los Angeles on ‘business’ were more than just such. He had been informed of the Summers girl’s move to the City of Angels, and had no doubt that the little hussy was enticing her wayward husband there for obviously devious reasons.

"Yes sir, Mr. Luthor, sir," Sparks replied. Lionel mused that if he’d been any more obedient that he probably would have saluted him. A folder was pushed across the obscenely expensive cherry oak desk. "As you’ll see for yourself, Ms. Summers and your son have been… intimate on several occasions in Los Angeles. Always at uneven intervals and almost always at another place of residence than hers."

//I wanna know about all of your secrets
And all that, that you've been keeping
Oh, tell me your secrets

Tell me some of your secrets, your innermost thoughts
Don't hold it back, let it all out
I wanna hear every single part
I wanna know all about you, don't hide
Tell me your secrets//

Lionel flipped open the folder to reveal several illicit photographs of his son and Elizabeth Summers. It appeared to be a rather low rent apartment or a shabby hotel. One of those ones that let customers pay by the hour and didn’t ask questions. He had known that his son was somewhat of a wild child, always out of control and getting into trouble with the law. It was one of many reasons that he was considering sending Lex out of Metropolis, perhaps he would do better in a smaller town, maybe managing Luthor Corp.’s interests in Smallville.

//I wanna know about all of your secrets
And all that, that you've been keeping
Oh, tell me your secrets

Tell me one of your secrets
Leave nothing out
Try and tell me in detail that'll remove every single doubt
I wanna know all about it, don't make it up
Tell me your secret//

"Interesting," he murmured, flipping through the dozens of pictures. Sparks had obviously enjoyed this assignment far too much. Looking at the naked body of his daughter-in-law, he couldn’t blame the man. She was like a ball of steel wrapped in silky flesh with all of the prettiest trimmings.

"What are you going to do about it, sir?" Sparks asked.

"Nothing at the moment," Lionel answered, closing the file and slipping into the back of one of his private drawers. He locked the drawer with a silver key from a chain around his neck and was done with it. This would be perfect for when the two wanted to rid themselves of each other. Sparks stood there expectantly. "You may go now."

"Of course, sir," the reporter answered, beginning to back out the door, he knew that his money would be in the account that he’d set up, and that he would be required to take many more pictures of this young woman’s life. "Call my office if you need anything, sir, and I’ll get right on it."

And then he was gone, leaving Lionel alone with his thoughts.

//I wanna know about all of your secrets
And all that, that you've been keeping
Oh, tell me your secrets

Tell me all about all of your secrets
And all that, that you've been keeping
Oh, tell me your secret//

Smallville, KS 2002

"What the hell are you doing here?" Lex asked, his voice void of any and all emotion. He’d come into his private office to find his father sitting behind his desk, holding a folding file in his hands. Lionel slid it across the desk, and Lex walked forward to pick it up.

"Just covering all bases," the older man said cryptically.

//Sing it to me//

Lex opened the folder to find nearly a hundred different pictures, many of them of his wife. Several of them depicted her with him in a more intimate fashion during two or three trips that he’d made to Los Angeles a few summers ago. Some of the last ones, more recent photographs were of her, grown and on the arm of a tall young man with dark brown hair and chocolate eyes.

"You’ve been spying on her?" he demanded, enraged that his father would sink so low as to intrude on Buffy’s privacy like that. "What the hell gives you that right?"

"She’s the wife of my son, the daughter of a very important business man, and my keeping tabs on her is probably the only thing that has kept all of her scandalous behavior from becoming public knowledge," Lionel answered, his voice grating over clenched teeth. He could not believe that his son could be so blinded that he didn’t see what a bother the blonde Ms. Summers really was. "If she was going to trollop around with this young man, I’d expect that she would have shown more discretion." Lex watched as his father slapped down another photograph of Buffy and the brown haired man, this time they were in bed.

//I wanna remove all doubt my baby
Take a look inside
I need to see your heart, your feelings
I wanna make it right

I wanna remove all doubt, my baby
Take a look inside
I need to see your heart, my baby
I wanna make it right//

"It’s not like she’s cheating, father," Lex replied, folding his arms over his chest. "We went our separate ways years ago, we haven’t even been in contact. I’ve had dozens of lovers since then, and you haven’t worried about them. What’s changed?"

"I don’t want to loose the Summers deal," Lionel spat. "They’ve become a major player in Luthor Corp. and if they no longer see a need for loyalty, they can leave and take a great many of our clients with them."

"Is that all this ever was? A business deal?" Lex demanded, blood boiling furiously in his veins. "Something that you could sweep into the company, no matter what it did to me?"

"Yes," Lionel Luthor replied smugly. Without a word, his son spun on heel and walked back out of his office, leaving his father alone with the ringing echo of the door slamming shut behind him.

//I wanna know about all of your secrets
And all that, that you've been keeping//

Go to the next story Interlude II: Summer in Hell

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