TITLE: Back To You
RATING: PG-13 (for very mild language)
DISCLAIMER: I own nothing (dammit)
SPOILERS: None really.
STATUS: Complete (could be a sequel coming)
SUMMARY: Lana sees Lex for the first time in 10 years. Future fic.
PAIRINGS: Lex & Lana of course!
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Lana handed her keys to the valet and stepped out of the car onto the pavement. The day was sunny, and Lana shielded her eyes to look up at Luthorcorp Tower. Little had changed over time. It was still the tallest building in Metropolis, though many newer and more impressive buildings were now sprinkled around the city.

It still felt the same though, and Lana drew in a deep breath before traveling up the steps to the door. It opened automatically, as most did these days, and as she stepped into the building Lana felt fear. It had been ten years since she had set foot here, and doing so again was not proving to be easy.

The call had come a week prior from Brynna, Lex's current secretary. It wasn't unusual to hear from Lex, or rather, to hear of Lex from various Luthorcorp employees, but this time was different. Lex was asking to see her. Ever since she left Lex for good, Lana had not seen him in person. What could he want now?

Brynna had given no hint, simply telling Lana that Mr. Luthor would like for her to come and see him at 2pm on Tuesday.

"Thank you," she told the woman, and hung up the phone.

She spent all week agonizing over the purpose of the visit. So much so, that she almost called him to say, "Lex, what the hell?" And she was angry. How dare he just summon her like a servant! She was no servant! She was . . . Well, she sort of was.

Mrs. Luthor.

Her and Lex had never properly divorced. He never filed papers on her, and she never filed papers on him because it was better not to even think of him. She had gone her own way, and taken back her original last name. She stayed busy while working in the lightening paced fashion industry, and avoided talk of Lex. She didn't go to places that he might go, and she kept her nose out of the tabloids. Her friends knew better than to speak of him.

She made her own money, and worked hard to get where she was without the use of his connections. Lana was an independent woman who needed no one to take care of her. She smiled often, and laughed a lot and was overjoyed by how free she felt. The perfect life, she told everyone.

At night though, she took pills to push the memories away. It was too painful to remember, and better to just fall into dreamless sleep where nothing could hurt her. On most nights she could drift happily into oblivion. On others though, well, she wore her wedding ring to bed.

Over the years, she had taken lovers, but nothing serious ever came of it. She didn't want that kind of commitment, and told them so upfront. She wanted to have fun, and that was it. She did not let herself wonder if Lex did the same.

The first several weeks after their breakup had been difficult. Every time she felt as though she would finally be able to leave Lex behind, he would show up, or call her and she would have to start over again. It was easy being angry with him as long as he stayed away. Easy to forget and move on.

Finally he did, out of sympathy to her pain, or frustration, or a dozen other reasons, he left her life for good. She would get calls occasionally from his secretaries, to tell her this or that- sign these tax papers, and that kind of thing. But he never called, or stopped by for a visit. Not once in ten years.

Why now? Did he finally want a divorce? Her mind buzzed with the possibilities, and she hated herself for feeling frightened. Not so much of what Lex had to say, but of how it would feel to be near him again. To have to look into those eyes, and listen to his voice. And heaven help her if his smell wafts over to her nose.

Dressing for the event was a ridiculous affair. She must have tried on and discarded nearly everything she owned before finally deciding to buy something new. She wanted him to see how fabulous she was without him, and hoped she didn't look as pathetic as that thought made her feel. She wore a smart, white suit with strappy shoes and added just the right amount of perfume between her breasts. As she was doing her hair, she recalled that he liked it down, so she pined it up high and smiled at herself in the mirror.

She paused to look at her reflection and caught the sadness in her eyes. You're so full of shit, they said. She agreed, but shrugged that thought away and prepared to leave.

And now, here she was crossing the lobby. People milled around and chatted with each other, and no one really stopped to look at her. Why would they? It's not like they would remember her or anything. It irritated her that that fact bothered her. Eleven years earlier, they would all have been falling over themselves to help her with anything.

Lana shared an elevator with two classy looking women and an older businessman wearing a tired old suit that had seen better days. The women chatted, but the man stayed silent, checking his watch after every floor. At 7, the women departed, leaving Lana and the man alone. He looked over at her, and she smiled at him, catching a sadness in his eyes that she identified with. He left at 23, and Lana rode the rest of the way alone.

The wait was excruciating. Each level that she climbed seemed to last forever, and all Lana could think about was Lex. She tried not to, but her mind simply would not cooperate, and she felt it drift backwards over time. She was a girl when they met, and still a girl when they married. Being with him wasn't easy, it was always hard, and often she dreamed of what it would be like away from him.

But she had loved him in such a deeply disturbing way that none of that seemed to matter. Mornings had been the best. He was an early riser, so before the sunlight filtered through the window, Lana would scoot over and drape her arms over him. She loved how he would hold her back, and kiss her forehead gently. Lex was really only sweet in the morning. In the hour before the sun came up, all of their problems seemed to disappear. At least until breakfast.

How was she going to do this? How could she see him now without falling apart? What would she do if he gave her that lazy grin and called her "baby?" (Something that she NEVER let men do now.) Would she fall apart? Would he see right through her, into her soul and know? Know that she had never really left him? Know that she had only been hiding?

The elevator dinged, and Lana stepped out, following the familiar path to his office. Brynna, a bouncy blonde in her early twenties, greeted her and buzzed Lex's office to announce her arrival. He said something that Lana couldn't hear, and she waited until Brynna opened the door to show her in.

Her feet felt like cement blocks. Her heart thumped in her chest.

His back was to her as he stood looking out of his window, holding a glass of brandy in his hand. She stopped, and stared and said nothing. He looked exactly the same from this angle, in that to say, he still had the same old arrogant stance. That made her smile. She was still smiling when he turned around.

"Hello Lana," he said.