I'm With You

Forewarned

A/N: I don't own Smallville or any characters and places in the DC universe. Nor do I own the episodes that these chapters are based and contained from.

I also don't claim to be a writer. My inspiration is simply to get a creative outlet going.

I only own Tyla Nevin and what pertains to her character story.

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With the winter fast approaching, Tyla found herself being more than preoccupied trying to curb the disaster that Lionel Luthor made in his wake. The office park construction that was near the Kawatche caves bordered on sociological, environmental, and ethical boundaries. The entire Public Relations department was trying to put out the flames. The Marketing department was put on hold because of the protests. On top of that, Tyla was also trying to curb a paternity suit that Lex had found himself stuck with. A woman had come to Lex, claiming that he had a six-year-old son. Lex told Tyla that he never met her before, let alone had fathered a son. Tyla simply made a note to herself to never divulge anything relationship related to him since he was impulsive at best. She felt like a sheepdog, herding the unruliest sheep.

The phone on her desk rang and Tyla quickly answered it. "Tyla Nevin speaking." Her voice, a mere shell of what she was feeling.

"Enjoying the PR nightmare, Miss Nevin?"

"All due respect, both you and your father are PR nightmares," she huffed. "If you're calling about the test, it came back negative so you can forward any and all correspondence to legal." She could practically hear Lex smirk. She leaned back against her chair and waited. Lex was obviously going to ask her about something else. There always was something more with him. If he called merely to check-in on her progress, that only merited an email.

"Would it help if I took the project off of my father's hands?" Tyla almost dropped the phone. Was this kindness? No, this was an ulterior motive. Before she could answer, she heard someone yell on the other end of the phone. "I'm gonna call you back." Lex then hung up, leaving her speechless and trying to process where he was coming from.

About a couple of hours afterwards, her phone rang again. She had just finished emailing Lionel, or rather Martha Kent, the latest additions to his conference meeting about the park. "Tyla Nevin speaking," she answered, tiredly. Her eyes were glued to the screen of her computer.

"You sound terrible." It wasn't a quip. Lex noticed it through her voice. He probably would have caught it a mile away, judging the trailing tone.

"Mr. Luthor, I'm not in the mood for your business banter. What do you need?"

Lex tried not to be taken aback by the way she spoke to him. He took note of the way she went incredibly neutral when she was tired. It was drone-like professionalism. Instead of a harsh retort, he decided to oblige and went straight to the point. "I want to take the project from LuthorCorp."

Tyla sighed. The ulterior motive came back. "If this is a son-father battle, you're going to have to at least match him dollar for dollar. But from what I remember him telling me the other day, he wanted you as a partner. I had a whole action plan for a press release." She rested her head with a free hand while she held the phone with the other.

"He refused my offer, just like I did him," Lex replied. Of course, the bald millionaire took it as part of the game. Which is why he called Tyla. If no one was going to use her talents, he damn well would be the one to.

"Then why are you coming to me? Isn't this conflict of interest?"

"I'm not telling you to do anything for me. I am merely asking you how you would go about taking the project over." Lex almost chuckled as he heard Tyla groan in frustration. He was putting her on the spot. He knew that. They both did. She knew he was going through loopholes as per her mode of operations. Tyla was basically going to point him in the right direction towards defeating his father in this project. If this were his father talking, he would have threatened to fire her. With Lex, he was using the advice route.

"Fine, I'll bite," she said as she started to type. "You're going to need to talk to the city about the Historic Artifacts Amendment. That shouldn't be a problem considering a) this is unmarked land, b) sacred Indigenous land and c) artifacts have already been found. As Lexcorp, you could claim to preserve the entire area as a heritage site."

"Thank you, Miss Nevin. I hope the PR nightmare will lessen soon." As Lex hung up, Tyla knew that she helped make a different PR nightmare. It was going to be one in which the son outranked the father. It would be the first major press release for LexCorp which in a way, would not be bad publicity. Instantly, Tyla was relieved that she had not deleted the action plan.

A week later, Lex Luthor called her again. This time, it was almost entirely business-like. "So, am I to get the Daily Planet to cover your takeover with Nova Tech?" There was silence on the other line. "I know your line of work is excruciatingly boring but as CEO of LexCorp, you can't be falling asleep.... Mr. Luthor?"

"Miss Nevin, can I ask you to look into something personal?"

Tyla nearly fell off her chair. Another ulterior motive or.......? "I-uh-well.... maybe? I would have to ask why." She managed to say.

"I suspect that Helen is working for my father and frankly, I feel like you're the only person I can trust at the moment," Lex mulled the idea of asking her for help or advice on the matter. He wasn't an expert on familiarity. His best friend was a 15-year-old teenager which, frankly, felt like the kid had something looming over his head half the time. At least, Tyla was closer in age and although, she was being paid under his payroll, she hadn't deceived him while she did things for him. She was working for Lionel as well but Tyla had always kept it professional between either Luthor.

"Is this Helen Bryce we're talking about?" Tyla stuck out her tongue and bit it, softly. She always did it when she was concentrating. She felt the camaraderie between them, but she always chalked it up to the fact that she was more charismatic that she wanted to be. She wasn't going to deflect it either. She had only been in Metropolis for a few months now and the job that she had barely left her with room to become social. Regardless, Lex Luthor seemed like he needed more people in his corner. If the father/son dynamic indicated anything, it seemed like Lex didn't have many opportunities to trust in himself...or others in the bonds of friendship. "Dr. Anger Management?"

Lex chuckled. That comment made him relax a little. "The very one," he said. "I want you to run through the public records database and do a complete background check."

"Okay...." She said, hesitantly. "I am fairly sure this is a breach of privacy and well.... not good for your relationship. Why don't you just ask her?"

"I want all the evidence first. I want to know if there is even a relationship to have."

"How very pragmatic of you," she said, sarcastically as she typed out the name in the database.

"Love is blind even with the most pragmatic of hearts."

Tyla could have sworn that she heard his voice change through the receiver. It was cold, calculating, and callous. It wasn't the teasing tone that he seemed to adopt whenever she showed a sliver of resistance. She felt like she was talking to a different Lex; the business side of him that treated this more like a transaction instead of the matters of the heart. "Hate to burst your bubble but you asking me to do this isn't love," Tyla drummed her fingers against the edge of her desk as she cradled the phone between her head and the crook of her neck. "Mistrust and Love are not good bedfellows. But that's just my two cents." The screen started to load as it went through all the files that contained the name, Helen Bryce.

"I've been deceived by the opposite sex so many times that I've lost track. They seem like fairly good bedfellows to me."

"Well, as a person of the opposite sex, I apologize for all the temptresses in the female circle." Another chuckle reverberated through the phone. "I'm going to go call the Daily Planet. The computer is going through the database now. I will email you the results when it is done. Just letting you know, Mr. Luthor. I mean this well, but I hope she chews you out for this."