Cherry Wine {lex luthor}

chapter twelve

Sometime during the time I was asleep, a fire was lit in the grate. I awoke to the warmth of it fanning over my face. I sat up and smiled, bringing my feet up underneath me. We had had a fire place in my home out in the suburbs, and on cold days in the fall and winter my dad would light a fire. The three of us would sit with hot chocolate or tea, all snuggled under one blanket. It was one of my happiest places, sitting hidden away from the weather in our little house.

The memories made my eyes well up, and I dashed the tears away before they could spill over. The quick movement caught Lex's eye, and he looked up from his laptop.

"You're awake." He said simply. "You were shivering in your sleep, so I lit the fire."

I raised my eyebrows at the image of Lex lighting the fire. It seemed incongruous with his image, such a funny juxtaposition that I snorted slightly.

"You know how to light fires?" I asked. Lex nodded, without stopping his typing.

"I learned when I was nine or ten. I used to have to light the fire in here every day before my dad came in to work."

I sobered at the mention of his father. Lex Jr. did not talk about Lex Sr. very often, and when he did, it was with an edge of anger. I knew he hadn't been treated well as a child, and that he resented the lie that Lexcorp was named for him, not his father, but that was all.

A ringtone broke the silence. Lex jumped, and patted his pockets, before pulling out a sleek iPhone.

"Luthor." Was all he said, turning in his chair so his back was to me. "It was successful?"

There was silence as the person on the other end of the line relayed whatever they had called to say. I watched as Lex sat up straight in his chair, and turned to face me with a grin.

"Well, that's fantastic. It all went to plan. I'm sure it will go to hearings very soon."

He dropped the phone on his desk, and stood, hands on his hips.

"Is there any better feeling than knowing something you have planned went off just right?" He asked. "That's what I live for. Everything falling right into place."

I stared at him in confusion. Just hours ago he was scolding me about how dangerous it was for me to know about his work, and now he was waxing poetic about it?

Lex poured himself a glass of dark amber liquid from the table on the edge of the room, looking pensively into it. He tapped his fingers on the cut crystal, deep in thought.

I didn't want to interrupt his thinking, so I sat still and watched him, his mouthing moving silently. It reminded me just how smart he actually was. He had to be well above a genius level IQ, judging by how successful his company was and how much he had accomplished at such a young age.

"Hmm." He pulled himself out of his reverie and focussed his gaze on me. It was hot and intense, and I shrank back a little.

"I would do anything for you, you know that, right darling? Anything." He came to stand in front of the roaring fire, his back to me.

"I know, Lex." I said quietly. "You've told me."

"This was my fathers' room." He continued, seeming not to have heard me. "I used to sit right where you are now. He would try to teach me just how hard life had been for him when he was young."

I wanted to reach up and take his hand, but something inside me warned me to stay put.

"I learned fast. There was no one to save me, no god came down from the sky to intervene. So I took matters into my own hands. I don't regret it, Ruth, not for an instant. And seeing you here reminds me of how terrible it is to have all this power and do nothing to save people."