A/N: Super Sorry for the delay in this one. But RL has been super busy and I haven't seen an episode of Smallville in…way too long. Sorries. I've also been bitten by another fandom. But don't worry, I will be getting to this one again.
Title: Here with Me
Chapter Completed: January 17, 2004
"No one," Lex repeated, his tone challenging her. His eyes appraising her.
Anna's heart caught in her chest, and she felt childish for it. She wasn't some teenager anymore, and shouldn't find herself reacting to Lex in that way. Not after everything. She noted how cold his air had grown. How much older he really was now, not that she hadn't aged. Nor grown cold. "Why are you here?" she crossed her arms over her chest.
He raised an eyebrow, realising the roles here now between them, "Well, I hear you were held hostage in one of my banks today," he began walking about the room as if he had every right to.
His former lover just stared at him, watching and waiting.
"And," he turned to her, to show he was serious, "I came to see how you were."
She snorted, "Why now?" Her frustrations were more than obvious as she tightened the knot of arms over her chest. Out of all the things between them she could never let go of that. Abandonment was always the last straw with her. An obsession really.
Sighing heavily he stared at her, his eyes locking in an intimacy with hers. It was a moment of silent communication between the two. Something only possible between two people who have been so close.
He began moving closer to her, drawn in by the warm blue of her eyes that he had found himself dreaming of.
The intense stare of his steel blue eyes disarmed Anna. It had a way of making her comfortably venerable, fully exposed and completely engulfed by them. Like slipping into a warm bath.
Her lips parted slowly, but the harsh whisper caught them both off guard, "My bath." She remembered just then the companion she had planed on spending her night with. Her small outburst broke the moment's spell. Her own neurotic behaviour bothered her, but she had no clue as to how she should be reacting to him. It wasn't Smallville anymore, and it certainly wasn't Edge City; so her reactionary system was in flux. She quickly excused herself to take care of the nearly overflowing bathtub.
Taking advantage of the safety of the small room she sighed, deep and heavy. She had left this man to save herself, but now, just seeing him made her feel lost. But not the bad kind of lost, it was the kind that everyone secretly hopes and longs for. The lost in someone else. And that was the only thing she could think of; the way she had been lost in him and wished to lose herself again. Those were the thoughts that had haunted her for the last nine years. That, and Lionel.
When her eyes cleared, back to the present, she found herself gripping the taps so hard that her knuckles had turned white and her hands were shaking. The tension in her body was becoming too much. Emotional, physical, sexual.
Another sigh racked through her, an attempt at levitating said tension, along with a quick shake of the head to clear it. She needed to regroup, desperately. Dipping her hand into the hot water she ran the liquid across the back of her neck. It was the quickest thing she could think of.
Anna opened the door, finding Lex hunched over the side table, examining something lying on its surface. The necklace. Broken but still ever present.
"You still have it," he didn't look up and it wasn't a question but she knew the questioning look that she would find in his eyes.
"You…you told me to keep it," her voice was small and cracked, fighting to sound light.
He still didn't look up, but instead picked up the object, "It's broken." He watched the chain hang loosely from his hand, the charm still cradled in his palm.
"The robbery," she squeaked, her hand reaching out to take the object back. Like he had no right to such a relic. As her hand moved to collect the chain from his palm, the fingers encased hers, trapping her.
"You were wearing it?" slowly his eyes pulled up from their intertwined hands to her eyes.
"Yes," she breathed out, unable to look away, "I've been wearing it."
He smiled at this, a smug smirk creeping onto his face. Like a man realising that he still owned what he thought was lost.
Lex moved his other hand up to her cheek, cradling the soft flesh as his thumb stroked her. Slow circular caresses. The sensation took over Anna. Her eyes slid shut and a soft sigh escaped her lips as she leaned into the touch. The touch that now was as real as it had been over the years alone. One she would close her eyes and relive cold night after night.
"Open your eyes," his hot breath came in her ear. They had become close, invading all sense of personal space. His hand falling from her cheek to trace along her neck. His fingers dipping under the collar of her robe, tentatively pulling loose the terry-cloth barrier and exposing her pale skin.
Anna shivered from the touch; hot electric jolts in direct contrast to the cold frost that had fallen over her. A flush crept up her chest and all breath left her lungs as his lips made contact where his fingers had just been. The soft wet flesh attacked her collarbone in slow, deliberate kisses.
"Lex," his name left her lips in a heated whisper.
He muttered against her skin, his hands now pawing at the soft terry, dropping her hand and the broken chain. Now that he had her again in a touchable distance, he wouldn't release her. His hands found the knot, making quick work of the last boundary keeping her from him.
Anna was unable to move, transfixed by the spell this man had over her as he pushed the robe from her shoulders. It still clung to her desperately by hanging on the angle of her arms.
"Bed," he spoke into her ear, not a question by a direction. His mouth captured hers again, instead of begging for entrance his tongue took it. Pushing past her lips to dance with the other. Her pleased gasp giving his the access
The millionaire took several steps back, forcing their embrace backward to the bed, which stood ominously in the centre of the room.
The push back finally jolting the once handmaid into motion. Her hands, trembling, moved to push the coat from his broad shoulders and onto the floor. The buttons of his shirt were the next task, only abandoned when her knees hit the mattress.
Their decent was less than graceful and more animal. He crawled over her as if she were prey, his now naked prey. She was laid out on the plane, the robe pooled around her. She had no time to feel exposed, as his body covered hers. It wasn't magic, it wasn't romance, it was raw. The raw need of having what you've craved.
"Lex..." her voice was strained against the attack of his mouth, "Lex…stop." Patting his shoulder to gain attention.
HE looked up from the spot between her breasts where he had settled, his gaze hazy and his breathing heavy.
"We need…to stop…" she panted, obviously fighting her desires.
His face clouded, but his eyes still the deep blue of lust.
"Birth control?" Anna started to pull herself up into a sitting position, struggling against his weight.
Lex simply shook his head, lowering his mouth to continue toward his goal.
"Stop," she pushed him away now, getting an angry glare as she pulled the rumbled robe back around herself. She thought he would understand her need, the old Lex would, "I will not risk being in this position again. I will not get pregnant again to risk losing…"
Lex pushed himself off the bed, raging, "I lost the baby to!" He dropped onto the edge, heavily and he sat with his head in his hands. A torrent of emotions was released, "then you, weeks later." He dragged his hand over his head and down his neck.
"I couldn't stay…" she spoke softly, slowly crawling over to him, "And I couldn't come back."
"Couldn't or wouldn't?" he spat.
That hurt, the pure hate that seemed to radiate off him, "Couldn't…" she spoke in a hushed voice, "it was against the agreement."
"Agreement?" he turned to look at her.
"I promised…" she looked down at her hands folded in her lap.
"Promised…?"
"I promised Lionel," her voice cracked.
"You made a deal with my father!" he was on his feet now, pacing like a monster caged, his voice roaring, "A deal with the devil!" He leaned over her, "Just how did you sell your soul?"
"He paid me to stay away, to wait for you. So that you could take your place in LuthorCorp," as he snorted at her, she raised herself onto her knees refusing to be subordinate to him here and now, "How else is a girl with no one end up as a lawyer in Edge City? To be honest, I saw it as an opportunity, hell maybe an answer." Still raging she dragged herself across the bed to stand on the floor I front of him, forcing him to back up. Allowing either in their personal space was being too close. "He said he wouldn't interrfer if you came to find me, when you came. And as stupid as I was I believed that. That you would come back to me, for me. But you never did," her eyes darted away from his. A sadness seeped into her voice and threatened to reveal everything, "Why didn't you?"
He was quiet for a moment, growing defensive, "You said you needed the time to come back."
"Then why are you here now?!" she snapped, hitting an emotional break.
"FINE!" he bellowed, the sharp, hot breath hitting her face. Storming around the room he grabbed his shirt, pulling it over himself and snatching his coat from the floor. With one last look back at her, he threw open the hotel-door and slammed it shut behind himself.
Anna ran at the door, tears now blinding her rage as she beat her fists against the hard oak. The pain didn't register in her mind. Only the pain in her chest was noticed.
"Lex," she sobbed, falling down to the floor in front of the false idol.
The passionate display was not lost on the assistant waiting in the hall. In fact Mercy was surprised by the raw emotions clearly displayed by her employer.
"Sir?" she followed after him, almost timidly but surely with caution.
"NOTHING!" he barked at her without slowing. His open shirt catching on the breeze that his speed created, his coat held tightly in his hand like an animal by the neck. His heart aching for what lay beyond the door.
