I'm With You

Mistrust

A/N: I don't own Smallville or any characters and places in the DC universe. Nor do I own the episodes that these chapters are based and contained from.

I also don't claim to be a writer. My inspiration is simply to get a creative outlet going.

I only own Tyla Nevin and what pertains to her character story.

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"I need you to look someone up. Paul Hayden." Lex said, in his usual fashion of asking Tyla for help. "Complete background check." He went to visit Helen at the hospital before meeting with Tyla at LexCorp and forgone lunch altogether. Meeting her had put him in a sour mood what with her ex being in the picture. He was naturally resorting to unhealthy habits. The mistrust grew within him that he decide to summon Tyla with the premise that she would meet him to sign the newly updated contract. He figured that he would ask her but the look that she gave him made him regret the request. Her brown eyes bore suspicion and Lex swore he saw a hint of disapproval.

"Oh?" was all she said however as she turned her attention back to signing the second copy. They sat across from each other, the desk being the only thing that separated them. She handed her copy to Lex and started to sign the other.

"He's an old medical school friend of Helen's," he replied, taking the contract to sign. He lowered his gaze to pen his signature then watched his friend scribble her own.

Tyla laughed in disbelief. "You didn't learn the first time? Jealousy is such an unbecoming trait, Mr. Luthor," she said. She pushed the contract away from her and turned to her bag. To Lex's curious gaze, he glanced Tyla take out a brown bag, something reminiscent of a packed lunch. It took incredible force to keep his stomach from growling as his nostrils caught a whiff of hot tomato and cheese. Tyla hesitated to take it out but when Lex motioned her to continue, she relaxed a bit and continued to unveil a couple of sandwiches from the bag.

"I never said that I was jealous. That would be beneath me," Lex murmured, eyeing the sandwich as she took a quick bite. He didn't realize how hungry he was up until this moment. Sure, he hadn't eaten since he had that dinner date with Helen the night before but it wasn't the first time that he skipped meals.

Tyla caught his gaze. If she didn't feel sorry for his look of hunger, she would have made a joke. No, she gathered being a CEO of this business with a father like Lionel Luthor warranted certain unhealthy habits. The blond-haired woman sighed. She split the second sandwich in half and handed it to Lex who looked like he was having a battle between demonstrating surprise, shame, or apologetics. "So is arrogance, you know. I think you can trust Helen to not try to ruin what she has with you."

"It's not that I don't trust Helen. I don't trust him. I want to know what circle he frequents." Lex turned his chair around and got up, making his way over toward the window. He spied a handful of workers taking their break out on the outdoor patio connected to the cafeteria of his building. "My father taught me that who you choose to be around lets you and others know the type of person that you are."

"Says the guy with the checkbook," she mumbled as she took another bite of her sandwich. Although there wasn't anything wrong with not trusting this Paul Hayden, there was in how he was going about it. At least Lex trusted his significant other this time.

"Tyla, it comes in handy. Look at all of those people over there," Lex nodded towards the group. Tyla inclined her head over to entertain him but she quickly turned back towards her own lunch "Do they know what their colleagues truly are like? They would trust them only to be surprised when they get side swept for something better."

"I don't think that's accurate."

"Isn't it? You make choices and you don't look back. If you are held back because of your circle, you are tortured with the consequences for the rest of your life. Simple." He looked back at her to see her studying him.

Tyla wasn't sure if these were Lex's accurate thoughts or his father's teachings were the source of his musings. A part of her wondered if he thought that their own friendship was based on such turbulence. Did he think that he would be discarded if Tyla found something else to her advantage? Or would she be discarded if she didn't provide the miracle that he so desperately wanted? "That's terribly cynical," she finally said as she leaned back and crossed her arms. "As for Helen, considering this is another favor, no. I'm not going to open that disaster for you." Lex scowled at her and opened his mouth to protest. "There's a reason that the saying "let sleeping dogs lie" exists. Do you really think Helen will be so forgiving like last time? Just ask her. Don't trust him but don't give her a reason to not trust you."