AN—the time line for Lionel and his family's lifetimes is confused on . I'm going with Lionel being born in 1944, and attempting to kill his parents at 17 in 1961.

- A lifetime is only one day in heaven...or in hell.—

The Luthors, 1961, Suicide Slums, Metropolis

Chloe kept her head up as she walked through Metropolis. The city was different, younger, smaller, less cosmopolitan. It was 1961, in Suicide Slums, the air was filled with smoke from nearby factories, clean air acts not yet law. Fewer cars filled the street, but each one looked gigantic to Chloe, who was used to compact vehicles. Chloe got some hard looks as she walked and quickly figured out that 1961 was right at the beginning of the nationwide civil rights movement, and a blonde white girl walking through a black neighborhood was not helping her blend in.

The neighborhood was still slums, only in 1961 the neighborhood was clearly divided with African American families on to the south of Home Avenue and poor Irish and other Caucasian poor to the north.

It didn't take Chloe long to locate Lachlan and Eliza Luthor. She had their apartment building address from the insurance claim Lionel had filed to get his "inheritance." Lionel even looked right at her as he passed the bus bench she'd taken position on. Chloe looked away, careful to not draw undue attention to herself. As the sun set she knew she needed to take shelter. Quickly finding a pawn shop to trade in some of her gold and buy a gun, she chooses a hotel in a nearby neighborhood, ignoring the looks that she gets for being a single woman traveling alone. She barely resisted rolling her eyes and putting the hotel clerk in a sleeper hold for insinuating that he'd be happy to send some business her way if she'd share the profits.

Placing a straight back chair under her doorknob and placing with her newly bought gun under her pillow, she looked through her printouts. Tomorrow she had to find a friendly police officer and offer him a tip on a crime she knew would occur later that day. She figured after a few tips they'd be willing to take a chance on her when she told them that Lionel was about to commit arson with his good pal Morgan Edge.

First thing in the morning she needed to get some fake ID, the police would undoubtedly look into her past but given the absence of computers and databases in 1961, Chloe was pretty sure just a driver's license in an assumed name would get her by.

Chloe found her officers in the most stereotypical place possible. The doughnut shop. She'd been drawn in by the smell of strong black coffee and within five minutes of taking a seat, two uniformed officers entered.

Chloe observed how the waitress acted towards the officers, knowing that her normal assertiveness would likely be perceived as brash and unfeminine in the current timeframe. Chloe wouldn't care less if it didn't mean she would have a harder time gaining their trust.

Chloe waited for the officers to show signs that they were leaving then times it so she arrived at the swinging glass door just as they do. As expected the younger officer rushed to open the door for her and she tried to look as young, startled, and innocent as possible, managing to nearly stutter her thanks, then looking back at the officers on the sidewalk her face full of fearful indecision. She looked at them, tugged at her hair, turned to walk hesitantly towards them, before stopping in place and biting her lip. She managed to hold back her smile as her helpless female ruse works and the officers approached her. "Is there a problem miss? We'd be happy to help."

The next morning the same two officers arrived at the doughnut shop full of smiles. Their Capitan was happy that the tip Chloe had given them had resulted in a drug bust. Drugs were a new threat to the city, and any drug bust drummed up tons of praise and publicity. Officers Drew Brown and Mike Wheeler had kept their word and kept Chloe's name out of it, happy to accept the praise.

As the officers saw Chloe sitting at the counter alone they approach and took each of the chairs next to her. "Morning, ma'am. That information you gave us sure paid off. How'd a sweet little thing like you happen to know something like that anyway?"

Chloe smiled, making her eyes as wide and naive looking as possible. "I just moved here and I got lost. I stopped for directions at a gas station a few blocks over and just happened to overhear some men talking."

"A few blocks from here? You should be careful miss, that's Suicide Slums and no place for a lady like you."

"I'm still looking for work, and I can't afford much. I'm not sure a nice neighborhood like this is within my budget," Chloe said stoically.

The officers buy her act and helpfully offer her advice on which neighborhoods to look for work in and which to avoid. That afternoon she rushes into their prescient and asks for the two officers. When they arrive at the front counter Chloe reels off her newest tip, carefully selected from her list from one of the neighborhoods that they'd recommended she look for work in. This time Chloe claimed to have witnessed a hold up at a grocery store, and offered a very detailed description of the assailant.

Chloe's friendly officers go to find the detectives assigned to the case and Chloe plays up her fear with just an edge of excitement to her tone. No one questions her being in the exact wrong place two days in a row.

-Acceptance of one's life has nothing to do with resignation; it does not mean running away from the struggle. On the contrary, it means accepting it as it comes, with all the handicaps of heredity, of suffering, of psychological complexes and injustices. Paul Tournier-

Chloe decided not to push her luck too far and waited another day before laying the groundwork for tipping off the police to what Lionel and Morgan Edge were planning. She had done some more reconnaissance on the Luthor's apartment and had come to the conclusion that Lionel's parents were not the innocent victims that she had imagined them. Somehow 'grandparent' always brought up images of sweet old people, sipping tea, reading the paper and puttering about with sweet dispositions. That was not the reality of Lex's grandparents. Lachlan seemed to be involved with the local mob, acting as some sort of enforcer and Eliza was the neighborhood drunk. Neither seemed to care much for their son, who at 17 years old came and went at all hours of the day and night.

Chloe wondered about heredity, and how bad traits may pass from fathers to sons, from Lachlan to Lionel to Lex, despite the best intentions of the sons to avoid the fate of their fathers. Regardless that the victims were not so innocent, Lionel was still planning to kill them, and he would take the money from the insurance policy they'd bought and use it to start LuthorCorp. And with LuthorCorp came power. Power that Lionel would use to destroy thousands of lives.

Chloe managed to get an interview at one of the offices that handled the paperwork for ships coming and going from the docks, giving her a reasonable excuse to have new information for the police. The docks weren't the safest place to be in 2010, but in 1961, the docks were downright scary.

The next morning Chloe stands hidden in a crowd that has come out to watch as the fire department put out a fire on the 5th story of an eight story walk up in Suicide Slums. The officers had questioned Chloe in more depth than the previous two times, advising her to steer clear of the docks and any Luthor she came across, but she'd thought she'd convinced them. Obviously not.

The firemen bring out two bodies and Chloe feels bitter tears slip down her cheeks. She'd failed. Lionel had killed his parents and he would get away with it, again. She'd have to find another point in time where he was vulnerable. Chloe turns to walk away, eager to get back to her time and formulate a new plan when she sees Lionel and Morgan Edge both in handcuffs being led from the building.

"That's cold kid, killing your own parents," the officer comments.

"My parents are dead, this is a travesty of justice! I'm innocent, but you fools don't care about the real murderer you just want the easy collar," Lionel complained, putting all his acting skills to work.

"Funny thing Luthor, we had the place staked out last night. Officers saw everything. You're going to jail."

Morgan Edge's cold eyes move from Lionel to the few officers standing about outside the building.

Chloe smiled brightly, feeling like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. Lionel was being arrested. He wouldn't get away with it. Chloe turned away quickly, wanting to collect her belongings and get home as soon as possible.

-Life consists not simply in what heredity and environment do to us but in what we make out of what they do to us. Harry Emerson Fosdick-

Returning to her time on the roof of the El Cortez, Chloe hesitated before turning to look at the skyline where LuthorCorp's headquarters had always dominated the city during her lifetime. Chloe's heart sank as she saw the familiar skyscraper is still present, still lit up with LuthorCorp's logo.

Pushing down her disappointment, she turned on her phone to find 16 missed calls, a few from Oliver and Lois, but most from Clark. Chloe feels a bit of dread as she knows she's going to have to have to get Clark to back off and hopefully keep her new power a secret.

Rushing back to Watchtower, Chloe checks her text messages to see that Oliver is due in that night. Listening to her voicemail but deleting each increasingly concerned message from Clark, Chloe felt her stomach tighten with tension. She and Oliver had been getting closer and closer, but neither had voiced any clear intent to deviate from their "no strings" policy.

Before he had left on his trip Oliver had asked her if she was happy with how things were. He hadn't said anything outright, but Chloe had read his look. Oliver had been ignoring the rules for awhile now. He called her most nights he was out of town, spending most of the nights he was in town with her. He sent her text messages and flowers, even left notes for her stuck to her computer screens in Watchtower just to remind her to eat or that he was thinking about her.

Chloe knew things had changed, she knew that her emotions had quickly out stripped the friends with benefits label she clung too. She loved Oliver. She thought he felt something more than friendship for her too. What she didn't know was how to make a real relationship work.

-AN I'm going fast here, so I know there are lots of little errors in the story. Sorry for that.