Cherry Wine {lex luthor}

chapter twenty five

I sat on the couch in the study, my hands wrapped around a steaming mug. I hadn't left the room since finding the photographs-I was waiting for Lex to come home, to make sure they didn't disappear. I was sure that if he found out I had seen them, they would be whisked away by some member of his staff, never to be seen again.

I was shaking with cold by the time I heard the front door slam closed, the picture in my hand wrinkling as I clenched my fingers against the chill. It was the only one that showed my face clearly. The timestamp on it said 9:18-only minutes before the accident. My mother had her head turned to me, and I was laughing. My father had his coffee cup to his mouth, his eyes rolled skywards. I remembered that coffee cup with such clarity-the gold paint chipping off the side, the way the lid was dented slightly from when I had dropped it on the driveway years before. I could remember the coffee cup-but not what my mother had been saying to me. It was a cruel tease.

Lex's steps came past the study, pausing outside the half-open door. His shadow stretched into the dim room.

"I'm in here." I called out, and the door swung inwards. Lex raised his eyebrows at me, and stepped inside. He was in his usual work uniform, the jacket halfway down one arm.

"Why are you in here?" He asked, and then blinked when he saw the picture in my hand. "What is that, Ruth?"

I set the picture down on my lap and smoothed it out with shaking hands, letting my fingers linger on my smiling face.

"I was going to ask you the same thing." I said. "I saw it on your desk."

Lex sat down next to me, and took the picture. He sighed, and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Why were you at my desk?" He stood up again, returning the picture to its folder.

"I was using the phone. I wasn't snooping. Can you just answer the question?" I clenched my hands together to stop the shaking.

"I needed definitive proof that you were there. Not for me-for the courts. I have a lot of powerful enemies who would try to disprove your story." Lex opened a cabinet, and slid the folder in. He took a key from his pocket, and locked it in. I set my jaw.

"My leg isn't proof enough?" I snapped. Lex shut his eyes tightly.

"Ruth, don't pull this out of proportion. It's not like I had childhood pictures of you. They were from a security camera, that's all."

"Don't keep secrets about me from me." I said coolly . Lex's eyes flew open, and in a split second he was standing above me.

"You're one to talk about keeping secrets. Don't think I've forgotten that you're withholding something from me."

I swallowed hard.

"That doesn't have anything to do with you." I said, my voice shaking.

"Of course it does. I'm the one who holds you while you cry in your sleep. I'm the one who watches you tear yourself apart trying to keep it a secret. It has everything to do with me." Lex snapped. He seemed to grow, his presence overwhelming me. "I have dug through files and records and charts, trying to find out what this secret is. I have found nothing, which means there's nothing I can do to help you."

My heart skipped a beat, and I clutched my chest. It hadn't bothered me in weeks, but the tension in the room made my vision swim. Nevertheless, I tilted my chin up, meeting Lex's eyes.

"You went through my life? Find anything interesting?" My voice was sharp-edged and sarcastic. I knew he hadn't found anything. I had had a normal life.

"You're an only child. You got perfect grades, up until last year. Seven years ago you began to have heart issues, but no one knew why. You were a normal teenager, by all accounts. So I can't figure out why you have these nightmares, Ruth. I can't figure out why you attack yourself in your sleep. Even your psychologist reports you as a disgustingly sane person." He began pacing halfway through his little speech. I winced as my heart stuttered again, but ignored it, shoving it to the side.