It was late. It seemed it was always late, that this just kept happening. All alone in the Talon, way too late at night, with a cup of coffee that, ironically, had long since gone cold. The numbers were swimming, and all Lana really wanted to do was slam the ledger shut, go home, eat, and go to bed.
But then there was a knock, and then there was Lex.
"Burning the midnight oil, I see," he said, shutting the office door behind him.
"You didn't have to come here this late," Lana told him with a tired smile. "I'm almost done."
"'I am too fools, I know,'" he quoted, and for a half second his face was almost sad. Lana knew she'd heard that line before, but she couldn't place where."But I brought you these." He handed her an unassuming white paper bag. She opened it.
Doughnuts. Not flowers or candy or bejeweled treasures from random ancient queens. Doughnuts. It was so incongruous- the millionaire businessman come in the middle of the night with baked goods for a high school girl.
And what he couldn't have known was the half glimpse of a memory that was coming back to her- early Sunday mornings with her dad, him lifting her up to point at the sticky treats, sitting in the car getting glaze all over everything, and her dad just laughing. Lana felt warm all of a sudden.
A rebellious tear escaped down her face. She wiped it away, hoping he hadn't noticed. But of course, he had. And he didn't understand, but he put an arm around her anyway.
It didn't make any sense, but it was absolutely perfect. And in that moment, she was his, lock, stock, and barrel.
A/N: The title and the quote come from "The Triple Fool" by John Donne. And yes, it is significant. Many apologies if I played hell with canon at any point; I'm a bit rusty. Also, this was written on a challenge wherein some personal detail or details must be included, so that's where the doughnuts came from, if you were wondering.