Lucinda's lips thinned. She could have sworn Lex said he would show her around Smallville—and technically, he did. It was just that Smallville was, in every meaningful sense, bite-sized. A village sampler. A town you could tour accidentally by taking a slightly enthusiastic stroll.
It took them less than an hour to see everything: the downtown strip (three stores and a mailbox), the Talon from afar (still "under renovation"), and the scenic view of someone's cow staring at them like they owed it rent.
Nothing stood out except the air. It was fresher near the cornfield where Lex parked, as if the breeze had decided Smallville was too small for pollution.
Lex exhaled slowly, resting his arm over the steering wheel before turning to his right. His tone softened.
"This place is actually very memorable to me."
Lucinda blinked and followed his gaze to the cornfield. It waved back innocently.
"Tragic, that is," Lex added. "I was here when the meteors hit Smallville. I was exposed to the meteorite toxin, and"—he motioned at his head—"I've been bald ever since."
Lucinda stared at him, doing Olympic-level emotional gymnastics to keep pity from showing on her face.
"Meteorites must be… really toxic to people," she managed.
Lex shrugged with that elegant, aristocratic acceptance of a man who had simply embraced his glow-in-the-dark destiny.
"Perhaps. I just wonder if those meteorites still exist in your time." He offered a small smile. "Technology must have evolved. They must already have isolated the components by now."
Lucinda shrugged back. Of course she didn't know. Kryptonite isn't even real.
Lex suddenly leaned closer. Too close. Close enough for her heart to forget rhythm and go freestyle. "And I was meaning to ask you—how was I like in the future?"
Lucinda raised both hands in surrender. "Oh, but I told you already—I can't go around altering the timeline, Mr. Lex Luthor, sir. I don't want to break reality twice," she cleared her throat. "I-It's not like I know a lot about you though."
His lips tightened faintly. Not displeased, but intent. He held her gaze until she sighed in defeat.
"Fine," that was all it took for Lex to lean even closer, eyes bright, hungry for answers.
"Let's just say…" She swallowed.
"You… uhm… you became a successful person. I've seen you in TV. That's how I know you."
Which was true. Very true. Also, Lucinda had read on online forums that Lex eventually became President of the United States. Very successful! Very powerful! Very bald—oh.
Lex's lips twitched, and a smile bloomed—small but genuinely pleased, "that's all I wanted to know."
By noon, they were back at the mansion, and Lucinda was immediately swept into kitchen duty to help Molly and Jess prepare Lex's lunch—mostly so she could eat, too, before her soul vacated her body from hunger.
The moment she pushed the swinging kitchen door open, Molly was already grinning like a woman who knew all the gossip. Jess, meanwhile, was in her usual state: staring vaguely at a bowl of peas as if they were prophesying her future.
"Stop it, Molly," Lucinda groaned. "I've seen so many shiny things today, I might as well go blind."
Molly only hummed, her grin widening as she handed Lucinda a pink leather apron—because of course Molly had chosen pink for her. Molly stood at one counter, while Jess worked behind her, still quietly communing with vegetables.
"Is Jess okay?" Lucinda asked, reaching for a cutting board and knife. "She looks… far away."
"Jess is always living in a different world in her head," Molly said breezily. "Best not to ask questions unless you value your life," she passed Lucinda a handful of freshly washed carrots, then leaned forward with a too-bright gleam in her eyes. "YOU—how are you?"
Lucinda narrowed her eyes, suspicious.
"I heard from Mr. Luthor that you saved his friend's mom," Molly's grin somehow grew larger—Lucinda genuinely feared it would detach from her face and start floating. "You're really making quite an impression, Lucy. I've worked for the Luthors my whole life, and not once have I ever ridden in his car."
Lucinda blinked. "Really?"
Molly stabbed a finger at her. "Not. Once."
Jess, without looking up from the peas, added in the same monotone she used for everything in life, "He doesn't even look at us unless we're carrying a tray."
Lucinda and Molly both turned to Jess, surprised she's actually aware they're there with her. Jess then went back inside her head.
Molly grimaced, blinking then pivoted back toward Lucinda so fast her apron strings fluttered.
"Anyway," Molly declared, loudly bulldozing past Jess's rare moment of social existence. "You know, the only time I see Mr. Luthor's aura go soft is when he's with Clark— or when he's beating Mr. Lionel in a mind game— or when something catches his interest."
She paused for dramatic effect, then wiggled her brows so aggressively Lucinda wondered if eyebrow seizures were a thing.
"I think he's interested in you."
Lucinda made a face as if she had bitten a lemon whole. "I've only been here for a few days, Molly. You must be hallucinating. Maybe the onion fumes finally got to you."
She quickly washed her hands and resumed cutting the carrots—into shapes that could only be described as what the fuck in capslock.
"D-Dear, that's… not how you—" Molly tried, then gave up as Lucinda kept talking.
"You said it yourself. Mr. Luthor is kind deep inside. He's just being kind because I saved Mrs. Kent," Lucinda went on, fully aware of what that particular brand of 'interest' really meant.
Of course Lex was interested in her—just not in the way Molly meant. Lucinda wasn't dense. She'd told him she was from the future, and Lex Luthor wasn't the sort of man who heard "I time-traveled" and said, Oh lovely, let's have tea.
No. He heard "I time-traveled" and thought:
Excellent. A puzzle. Let me keep her close before someone else dissects her first.
Lucinda could practically hear the gears in his bald head whirring with scientific ambition.
He wasn't flirting. He was investigating.
And she had the sinking suspicion she was exactly two carrot chops away from becoming a full-blown case study in whatever secret laboratory Lex undoubtedly built under the mansion.
Lucinda opened her mouth to continue, but the kitchen door swung open with the dramatic flair of a soap opera entrance. All three women—including Jess who is still in daze—turned toward the doorway.
Lex stepped inside as if the kitchen is his natural habitat. He's now wearing a new suit and tie… and a pink dress shirt bold enough to stun a fairy.
"Lucy," he said smoothly, adjusting his sleeve button as though the kitchen were his natural habitat. "I'm heading to Metropolis. Get dressed. You're coming with me. We'll be quick."
Lucinda blinked. Blinked again, making sure she heard things right.
For the love of—! She screamed internally.
Behind her, Molly whispered—loudly enough for the entire ancestral line of Luthors to hear—"He has never entered this kitchen, not once," then, with malicious delight: "So much for just being kind, ah?"
Jess, still staring at her peas, simply muttered, "statistically suspicious."
With no argument—because Lucinda very wisely understood she had zero authority in this household—she tugged off the apron and stuffed it into Molly's waiting hands.
She even shot Molly a pleading look, wide-eyed and desperate, the universal expression for help me, I am about to be abducted by a billionaire with too much brain cells.
Molly only grinned. She even had the audacity to wiggle her brows. Lucinda exhaled in defeat and followed Lex out of the kitchen.
Trailing behind him, she muttered under her breath, "Mr. Luthor, sir… if you keep dragging me around like this, we might actually ruin the future."
Lex stopped so abruptly that Lucinda nearly collided with the very expensive fabric covering his spine. He pivoted toward her with the kind of sharp, efficient movement that suggested he had spent years practicing intimidation in front of full-body mirrors.
"You're right," he said calmly. "If that's so… why did you save Mrs. Kent?"
"I— because she wasn't supposed to die—"
The words escaped before her brain even had the chance to choke them back.
"Now, I wonder how you know that?" Lex's smirk unfurled slowly—dangerously—like he had just solved a particularly fun riddle.
He took a deliberate step closer. Then another. He didn't touch her, but he certainly didn't need to; the man weaponized personal space with presidential efficiency.
"You're not just from the future… are you?"
Lucinda blinked, the corners of her lips twitching before she plastered on a polite smile. "Don't be ridiculous, Mr. Luthor," she said, waving her hand lightly. "You ran a background check on me. That should've settled it."
Lex's reply was quiet, crisp, and far too smooth to be comforting. "Then how will you explain the Smallville print on your socks?"
Her throat clicked.
Lex took a step closer, his voice went softer, it immediately gave her chills. "Clearly mismatched but they both have the town logo… and the animated faces of Clark and me."
Lucinda almost ascended on the spot.
Oh no. Oh NO.
Her internal scream practically rattled her bones. She remembered those socks—loud, mismatched, and embarrassingly on-brand. She thought she lost it the other day! Lex must have stolen them for research purposes.