"Hah! I'm faster than you." Jess bragged as she reached Lena before Hope did.
"I'm still getting used to legs." Hope frowned.
"What did you want?" Lena glanced up at them.
"Your daughter is here. But so is Cassandra." Jess informed her.
"Any idea why?" Lena asked, closing her laptop.
"They said they needed to talk to you about something." Jess shrugged.
"Thank you Jess, and thank you too Hope." Lena thanked them, "Hope, send my daughter in. Jess, I am trusting you to take this down to the lab for analysis." Lena handed Jess a small vile.
"Yes Mrs Luthor." Jess and Hope jinxed, pushing and shoving as they left the room.
"Mom." Lori smiled.
"Lori, what brings you here? You should be at school." Lena pointed out.
"Well, you see, its careers week and the school and-"
Lena already knew where the sentence was going, "You both want a job at L-Corp for the week." Lena looked between them.
"Yes but-"
"Lori, what did I tell you?" Lena raised and eyebrow.
"I know, I know, but hear me out."
"You have exactly two minutes to convince me. As if it's a pitch idea." Lena stood up from her desk and leaned on it, gripping the edge of the desk with both hands.
"Okay. Mom, I-"
"Mrs Luthor." Lena corrected her.
"Yes, sorry, Mrs Luthor. As you know, once you die I have to inherit this company-"
"If my brother dies first." Lena cut her off.
Lori started to panic.
"Mrs Luthor, if I may speak for Miss Danvers. What I believe she's trying to say is, shouldn't you allow her to train under you so she knows what she may possibly in for? Granted you may die before your brother, but it's still a possibility that Lorelei will inherit L-Corp." Cassandra started speaking, "I also raise you this. Between every other candidate that walks through these doors, who is better suited to the job? Someone who has spent most of their days watching from a distance, or someone who knows nothing about being a woman in business. You will have man after man walk through the door asking for a job. In the hopes that they will one day take over. How could you deny a strong, independent, female the chance to show all the misogynists that she can run L-Corp once her mother passes?"
Lena was both shocked and impressed with Cass, "And what of you?"
"I just want to train under Hope and Jess. They have an interesting dynamic and, both of them, are amazing at their job. I believe adding another to the mix, may make both of them work harder." Cass stood a lot more formally than Lori, which caused Lena to wonder if she should send Lori to the receptionist area and train Cass instead. But she didn't.
"How do I put this lightly so it's not awkward later?" Lena sighed and continued to speak, "Lorelei, if you cannot handle being out under pressure, if you cannot find away to clarify or work around someone's concerns or negative points - then you won't make it in the business world."
Lori caught on to what Lena was trying to do. It was a tactic she had seen ever since she was a kid, "I'm used to all your business tricks." Lori looked at her, "In the business world you have to be unforgiving, confident, nothing's personal. You're most used tactic is making it sound personal. You flip the script on people, make them screw up so that you have a reason not to invest in a project you think is a terrible idea. And yet, you will never say the words it's a bad idea." Lorelei chuckled to herself, "You used to say that it was a Luthor thing. But I've grown up watching you, Uncle Lex and my grandmother. While Uncle Lex and Lillian use manipulation, you make things personal - without making it seem like that." Lorelei walked closer to her mother, "I have spent my whole life trying to prove myself worthy of things you say I'm not worthy enough to have. When I was kid, you would look forward to showing me the ropes, so what changed?"
Lena looked towards Cass, "Go tell Jess that you will be working with her for the week." Lena then turned to Lori, "As for you, you can go beg Lillian for a position in whatever scheme she's planning."
Cass tried to step in, "Mrs Luth-"
"If Miss Danvers does not understand that you should never get personal when pitching an idea, then Miss Danvers can learn from people who do exactly that." Lena made eye contact with Lori.
Lori shook her head, "And you wonder why I turned out to be a delinquent." Lori walked out, immediately doing as Lena said. She called her grandmother.
"Lorelei, this isn't a good-"
Lorelei cut Lillian off, "I need to go to your place and cry for a bit. Is anyone home?"
"Lorelei, what-"
"I feel like I have no one else to turn to. Aunt Alex, Aunt Kelly, Uncle Brainy and Uncle Mike are at the DEO. Aunt Nia is at work. My mother's at work. Nana is on vacation. Please Lillian, let me come over."
"What happened?"
"I think Mom just gave me my villain origin story." Lorelei clutched her fist.
"Oh my sweet girl, You're not a villain. And you will never be. You're too much like your mothers for that. I'll be home in five minutes. I'll meet you at the mansion."
"Okay." Lorelei nodded, refusing to let her tears fall. Cass ran out to her, but Lori had taken off into the sky before Cass could get to her.
~Two hours (and a lot of tears) later~
"What's this about you not letting Lorelei learn about L-Corp?" Lillian asked as she stood in the doorway.
"Huh, so she did go to you." Lena shook her head.
"You told her to. She listens to you, Lena."
"No she doesn't. She wouldn't have gone to prison if she listened to me." Lena poured herself a glass of whiskey. But Lillian ended up grabbing it and tipping it out of the window.
"I may have been a bad mother, but I know a thing or two about teen rebellion. I pressured to to do things that you don't want to do. And you've been doing the same thing with Lori. Making her go on the Waverider, making her wear the suit, making her work at Catco. She wants to be a Luthor. She wants to be more than a Kryptonian." Lillian explained, "And she's trying to prove that she's a Luthor. In all the wrong ways. Because you've always told her that she should be a Danvers."
"She is a Danvers-"
"She's also a Luthor. She's young and conflicted. As far as she believes, she shouldn't be alive." Lillian shook her head, "And I don't know why I'm here. But I'm here. And I'm pretty sure it's because I don't want my granddaughter to have a bad relationship with her mother."
"Oh so now you're a good mother all of a sudden?" Lena scoffed.
"Say what you want, but I've spent the last two hours listening to your daughter fall apart because she's not good enough to be your daughter." Lillian handed Lena the empty glass, "You're her hero, Lena. Think about that next time you pour yourself a glass."
"I-"
"Don't be like me, Lena." Lillian looked at her, "And don't let her turn out like you." Lillian glanced at the empty bottles of whiskey on Lena's desk.
