Isolate

Rating: PG-13/T

Genre: Romance/Drama/Angst

Summary: Fill for lover100, prompt "Lost". Spoilers for Season 11, "Guardian". Slight AU. It's a reminder of what she doesn't have anymore, and will probably never have again.

Author's Note: …This pairing makes me huuuuurt. :(

Disclaimer: I don't own Smallville. It belongs to Alfred Gough, Miles Millar and the CW.

()()

The closest Tess can get to Emil is when Lex visits S.T.A.R Labs.

Tess tries not to pay any particular attention to him, because if Lex starts to get the sense that Emil was anything more than a possible acquaintance when she was alive, he might try to use him. He might threaten Emil- or, to be fair, anyone else- to get Tess to shut up every now and then. He'll make her pay for mouthing off and startling him so much.

Emil is indignant about having his lab shanghaied, and the fact that Lex is the one doing it seems to just twist the thorn deeper into his side. Tess isn't certain she's ever seen him quite so agitated.

"You don't have clearance to be in here." With the tone, what that seems to translate to in Emil-speak is "Get the fuck out of here". Tess gets a little thrill watching him tell Lex off, but her brother has never been one to listen. He plays the bull-crap caring-card with Mrs. Henshaw, pouring on all of the honey and sugar in the world and spouting out his idea with the drone.

"If we could-"

"Absolutely not."

"Dr. Hamilton-"

"There are so many different ways to approach this, and that is too extreme."

"The man can't speak or move and is suffering from third degree burns over most of his body, and you don't think it's time for something extreme?"

"Dr. Hamilton," Both Lex and Emil quiet when Mrs. Henshaw speaks up, and Tess is saddened to see that she looks hopeful. "I want to hear more about it."

Emil leaves the room after that, but not before throwing Lex a very ugly look that is, most likely, not the result solely of Lex's intrusion. Tess wants to follow him, but has found that she can only stray so far from Lex at any given time. All she can do is watch him leave, and offer Lex a similarly hateful look (Even though she's the one that didn't read the label, not him. It would have been less trouble to kill him).

Tess disappears somewhere amidst Lex's manipulation session with Mrs. Henshaw, and reappears behind him in a bathroom in S.T.A.R at least a day later (He's wearing a new suit). "Commander Henshaw's upload should almost be complete. We'll know soon if I can get rid of you or not." He says it like he's ribbing her, and not like he's the same man who stabbed her in the gut and watched her die.

"I can't believe Emil let you go through with this." Tess growls, and she belatedly recognizes her slip: "Emil", not "Dr. Hamilton". And of course, Lex catches it.

"So you knew Dr. Hamilton?" Lex remarks, and her stomach flips at how interested he sounds. No, no, no, no, no, this is exactly what she meant to avoid.

"Yes." She responds shortly.

But Lex smirks. "Maybe in more ways than one?"

The implication has all the uniqueness of a fourth grader implying their fellow has a crush on someone, but it touches one of the rawer parts of Tess's heart: She thought maybe she and Emil would have something, because even after their mortifying start on the night of the bachelor/bachelorette party he stuck around and started to make some subtle, Emil-styled passes, and Tess had been more than happy to reciprocate-

The reminder of what she had and lost is too much.

Tess snaps. She slaps Lex hard across the face, knocking his head to the side. "Go to hell."

Thankfully, Lex seems to be a bit too concerned with the unsettling fact that Tess is evidently capable of hurting him to fully process how violent her reaction was. She turns to face the sink, looking into the mirror. She can see her reflection; how is that still possible?

Get it together. Don't tip your hand any further- He's already seen too much of it. She pushes a piece of hair behind her ear and forces herself to stay cool.

"If it's of any comfort," Lex remarks, and she's satisfied to see him rubbing his cheek. "It took quite a bit of arm-twisting and financing to get your white-coated knight to let my men within ten feet of Henshaw."

Tess reasons that the only incentive Emil would have had to let them near him at all would be Mrs. Henshaw. He isn't offering any hope, Lex is, and as what Tess assumes is Henshaw's medical proxy, she gets the final say in the medical decisions. And aside from "Lex Luthor is an asshole", what kind of excuse would Emil have had to dissuade her? This is a desperate situation after all.

"I hope he gave you hell."

Lex just kind of smirks at that, and Tess knows that he's not going to forget this. She will hear about her connection to Emil again. She knows that Lex is plotting ways to do exactly what she's afraid he'll do.

She hopes the drone project works, just so she can stop him before he tries.

-End