Chapter 7

There were only a few things in this world that Clark Kent was sure of, and Chloe's sanity was one of them.

When she had first approached him with her plan, he couldn't comprehend why she would want to fake being insane, and Chloe offered no explanation.

He tried to question her, but Chloe had told him not to worry about it, and that all she wanted him to do was make sure Lex knew about the cell phone.

At the time, Clark had agreed, but it was only after talking to Lois that he decided that Chloe needed him to intervene on her behalf.

So, when he and Lois went to talk to Lex, at Chloe's request, he decided to change the plan. Instead of delivering the message Chloe wanted him to, Clark decided to convince Lex to get Chloe out of the asylum.

But, inexplicably, the man had refused, and Clark and Lois had been thrown out of his mansion.

It wasn't until days later that Clark realized that Chloe was counting on him to help her, and that for some reason, she wanted Lex to be involved.

He realized that he was going to have to bite the bullet, and face the man who was once his friend, and who was Chloe's lifeline.

And that was the reason why Clark was standing outside of Lex's Luthorcorp office, with one of Chloe's shirts folded up in his hands.

For some reason, Chloe wanted Lex to come to Fox River, and bring her one of her shirts. And it just so happened that her cell phone was sewn into the inside lining.

Chloe had been around enough crime scenes to know that what was happening in Fox River was not normal.

It was certainly not police procedure for only two uniformed police officers from the Metropolis Police Department to show up to a crime scene, and the officers would not just take the statements of the nurse who reported the death and the orderly who found the prisoner's body.

Police procedure mandated that a crime scene unit be called in to gather evidence, take pictures and dust for fingerprints, especially when a fatality was involved. Not to mention that the prison staff themselves would be conducting their own investigation, and sharing that information with the police.

Instead, the cops just walked into the prison, talked to the staff, and then left.

And the prison officials weren't any better. Br. Bellick had rushed into the room right after Miss Tancredi reported the death, and she only talked to the nurse and the orderly.

She didn't pull any of the patients aside to ask what they saw, but then again, most of the women in Ward B were delusional so who knew what answers she might have gotten.

But on the other hand, Dr. Bellick didn't talk to any of the other staff. She just took Miss Tancredi's and the orderly's words for what happened to the poor unfortunate soul who died that night.

Chloe knew that she shouldn't be surprised by what she happening in the prison, but she was stunned by how quickly the patient's death was covered up.

Dr. Bellick examined the dead woman, pronounced that it was an accidental overdose, and went back to her office. In short order, the prisoner's room was quickly cleaned, and all of their personal effects were either pitched into the trash or given to other inmates.

No one waited for the Metropolis Medical Examiner to make the death official or for an autopsy to be done to find out the actual cause of death.

The prison was just planning on sweeping the death under the rug, and they seemed to have the city of Metropolis' full cooperation.

But the investigator in Chloe couldn't be silent, because through it all, she wanted to yell out that they should be preserving evidence, and waiting for the crime scene unit to arrive, but from the looks of how quickly the orderlies were moving, this must have been standard practice.

She knew from all of her research that Dr. Bellick was a kind and compassionate person, but her covering up the mysterious deaths just didn't track.

There was obviously more going on at the prison then even Chloe could have guessed at.

She took a deep breath, and tried to swallow down the hysteria that was threatening to overwhelm her. She knew that all was not well at Fox River, but she never could have predicted the blatant lawlessness that was actually happening.

After about a full minute of deep breathing, Chloe could tell that her panic attack was subsiding, and her old reporter's instinct were kicking back in.

She glanced around and quickly assessed the situation.

Ordinarily, she wouldn't have been able to get as close to Ward B as she was now, but the chaos of the "accidental" death made the staff lax, and Chloe was able to stand in the hallway that separated Ward B.

In fact, she was able to see right into their common room.

Chloe had expected that the prison would have gone into a lockdown, but the day was proceeding like any other.

She needed to get a better look at the crime scene, so she made her way to where the body was being loaded onto a gurney. There were still quite a few prisoners from both Wards standing together in the hall, so Chloe tried to blend with them so she didn't look too suspicious.

She heard one of the nurses say that the dead woman's name was Ann Scott. Chloe didn't know who the person was, but she was hoping to figure out why the prisoners in Ward B were the ones being targeted.

She was so intent on craning her neck to try to get a better look, which she barely had time to react when she felt a hand grab her arm and yank her into an empty room.

Chloe opened up her mouth to scream when she recognized the person who had grabbed her. She quickly shut her mouth, but then opened it again to choke out one word.

"Mom?"

Sarah knew that she was taking a risk but she had to talk to Chloe while she had the chance.

When she saw her daughter standing outside of her ward, she knew that she wouldn't have an opportunity like this again. She grabbed her and hustled her into the first empty room that she could find, which just happened to be the supply room.

Sarah quickly locked the door, and then she turned to face her little girl.

She tried to speak, but she couldn't seem to get her voice past the lump that was suddenly lodged in her throat.

The two simply stared at each other for what seemed like a lifetime, but what was actually only a minute.

It was Chloe who took the initiative when she stepped towards the older woman, and reached out her hand, hesitantly asking, "Mom?"

At the sound of her daughter's voice, Sarah found that she could move, and she grasped her daughter's hand and pulled her into a tight hug, saying "Yes, Chloe-bug, it's me."

All Chloe needed to hear was her childhood nickname and she burst into tears, hugging her mom just as closely to her. Sarah murmured soothing words of comfort to her daughter, and Chloe sobbed for all she was worth.

Finally, she managed to pull herself together, and to stop crying long enough to exchange a watery smile with her mom.

Sarah glanced around the supply room, and handed Chloe a roll of paper towels to dry her face off and blow her nose.

While Chloe ripped off a sheet, Sarah looked at her daughter seriously and said, "Chloe, what are you doing here?"

Chloe answered just as seriously, "I'm here to get you out."

But before Chloe could elaborate, the door to the supply room opened, and there stood Miss Tancredi.

"Well, well, well, what have we here?"