"That's right, Chloe--$25,000. No, only half of it's mine. LuthorCorp
is putting up the other half." Lex glanced up from his phone call to see
Clark Kent standing in the doorway to his study. He waved the younger man
in.
"You can mention my name or not, Chloe. I leave that at your discretion. Just call if you have any more questions. Goodbye."
Lex hung up the phone and grinned at his friend.
"That was Chloe. She's not letting any grass grow under her feet with this 'lost baby' story. She's shooting for tomorrow evening's edition. Very ambitious."
Clark grabbed a chair and sat down. "We convinced her it was a good career move. Did I hear right, though? Twenty-five grand is a lot of money, even for you."
Lex put his feet up on his desk. "Not really. This is a good cause."
Clark looked at him skeptically. "And you got your dad to pony up half?"
"Let's say I convinced him of the PR value. How're things at home?"
"Oh, we're getting back into the swing of things. Harvest's back on track, and Pete's managing fine with Rose."
Lex tipped his head to one side.
"I have to say, Ross is surprising me. I wouldn't have pegged him as the 'Mr. Mom' type."
"He isn't, usually. But finding her the way we did, I think that really got to Pete."
"And to you."
Clark ducked his head slightly. "Yeah, me, too, I guess."
"It was kind of Sheriff Adams to let you hang on to her a little longer."
"Not really. My folks still have the foster parent papers on file with the county from when Ryan stayed with us. And apparently Social Services has got more kids than they can place as it is."
Lex stood up. "Don't sell yourself short, Clark. No child could ask for a better home than with your family. And you wait and see-once Chloe's article appears people from all over the state will be trying to adopt her."
"I sure hope so." Clark was quiet for a moment as he stared out the leaded-glass windows at the Luthor gardens. "Although ideally I'd like to give her back to her parents."
"It was probably her parents who dumped her in the first place."
"No, I don't think so, Lex."
"Clark, not all parents are as loving as yours. There are some out there who would make my father look like parent-of-the-year."
Lex could see Clark struggling with what he'd said. On the one hand, Lex knew Clark had been adopted, and knew little of where he came from or why he'd been abandoned. He couldn't help but wonder if this whole experience was hitting his friend too close to home. On the other, Lex also knew that it took a lot more than biology to make a good parent. Some, unfortunately, let their ulterior motives take precedence over the best interests of the child. Look at how his father had left his half- brother Lucas to languish in foster care for most of his life.
Lionel had said Lucas was a sociopath. Lex wasn't entirely convinced that was true, but certainly Lucas had more than his share of personality quirks. But if Lucas had had people like the Kents' to turn to, who was to say he wouldn't have turned out more like Clark?
"You don't suppose there's any chance your parents or the Ross' might choose to keep Rose, do you?" Lex finally settled on asking.
"Uh, I doubt it. The Ross' have raised five kids of their own-they're already grandparents a couple of times over. And my folks."
Lex didn't bother filling in the words for Clark. Lex had never told his friend that he had known about the much-desired but now-lost Kent baby. Dishonest, perhaps, but Lex saw no way to bring it up now without Clark asking awkward questions.
"Well, we'll have to wait and see what Sheriff Adams and Chloe's story turn up," Clark shrugged.
"Of course. In the meantime, if there's any help you need, or anything for the baby, just let me know."
"Will do."
Clark walked over to the library door, but paused again before turning the knob.
"And I do think you're wrong, Lex. A lot of things could have happened in that family. I think whoever left Rose by the river didn't have any choice."
Lex raised his eyebrows slightly, remembering the blood-smeared jacket allegedly found (and then lost) at the scene. But out of deference to his friend he kept silent.
"Pete, if that kid spits up on my computer so help me."
Chloe was peering over the monitor of her green Alienware desktop. Pete, who had Rose tucked into one arm, rolled his eyes at her, but went ahead and passed the baby to Clark just in case.
The Torch office was unusually quiet without students filling the halls outside. But with only a few days of Fall Break left all three staffers had decided to meet and compare notes on the "case," as Chloe called it.
The "case" herself, meanwhile, blew spit bubbles while Clark carefully balanced her in his arms. He was getting better-Pete had complained that Clark handled Rose like the little girl was a football, so he was trying to be more gentle with her.
Chloe watched his struggles with an amused expression.
"You know, there is that high school for teen mothers over in Lowell. If one of you guys ends up keeping her I'm sure they could make room."
"Very funny, Chloe," Pete scowled. "So what did you turn up from the county registrar?"
The blond girl hastily punched up the right file.
"OK, there have been one hundred and ninety eight live births in Lowell County in the last three months; one hundred and two of those were female."
Pete whistled. "That many?"
"I guess all that fresh air is good for more than corn," Chloe smirked. "Anyway, I cross-checked both the parents' and the children's names with recent warrants, missing persons, what have you, and nothing turned up."
"But we figured she came from somewhere outside the county anyway," Clark reminded his friends. "What about Metropolis, Pete?"
"Unfortunately their registrar's security is a lot tighter than the county's," Pete sighed. "They wouldn't give me the time of day by phone unless I could fax them something to prove it was official business. But I did get the Metropolis P.D. to be straight with me, and they haven't had any reports of missing babies, either."
"So it must have been the parents who tried to get rid of her," Chloe reasoned. "Anyone else would have reported it."
"You sound like Lex," Clark scolded.
"I'm going to forget you said that. Anyway, the article comes out tomorrow night, and, Pete, that picture you took is going to run front page. In the meantime I thought I'd post some stuff on the website."
Pete frowned. "I don't want Rosie on your Wall of Weird, Chloe, even the one in cyberspace."
"Not the Wall, dummy-that's strictly for meteor-related news. But what you guys said about the missing jacket."
"The missing bloody jacket," Clark corrected.
"Fine, the missing, bloody jacket makes me think there's a lot more going on here than meets the eye. Assault, maybe, or even murder. I thought I'd run it up the conspiracy theory flagpole and see if anyone salutes."
"What're you thinking of as a scenario?"
Chloe leaned back in her task chair. "Well, that stretch of woods is pretty inaccessible except on foot. I think she must have come down the river, at least a little ways, which means she could have been dumped anywhere from the Loeb Bridge to the LuthorCorp plant."
"That jacket was pretty puffy and the water was low-I guess it could have worked like that," Pete said a little skeptically. "But what's really weird is someone taking her out of my house and then leaving her in Lex Luthor's Porsche."
"I haven't really figured that part of it out," Chloe admitted.
"Lex's car was parked in front of my house-if whoever did it wasn't from around here he or she wouldn't have known that was Lex's car, and not ours." Clark frowned. "They might have thought they were returning her to me."
"But why you and not me? They didn't want to return to the scene of the crime?" Pete asked him.
"I don't know." In Clark's arms the baby made a hiccoughing noise and started to cry. "Uh, Pete?"
Pete glanced at his watch. "Oh, yeah, it's feeding time. Sorry, Rosie- almost forgot." He produced a bottle of formula from his backpack, deftly unscrewed the lid, and popped it in the microwave.
Chloe looked at him with mild disgust. "Boy, are you two ever whipped."
"Hey, if you'd rather let her yell."
"No, no, by all means feed her," Chloe waved a hand absently.
Clark tested the milk for heat (normally he used his heat vision, but of course he couldn't with Chloe present) and then gave the bottle to Rose.
As the infant sucked greedily Clark glanced over at his editor.
"You wait and see, Chloe-some day when you have kids Pete and I are coming over to laugh at how you take care of them. See how you like it."
"Me with kids." Chloe laughed. "That'll be the day, Clark Kent. That'll be the day."
"You can mention my name or not, Chloe. I leave that at your discretion. Just call if you have any more questions. Goodbye."
Lex hung up the phone and grinned at his friend.
"That was Chloe. She's not letting any grass grow under her feet with this 'lost baby' story. She's shooting for tomorrow evening's edition. Very ambitious."
Clark grabbed a chair and sat down. "We convinced her it was a good career move. Did I hear right, though? Twenty-five grand is a lot of money, even for you."
Lex put his feet up on his desk. "Not really. This is a good cause."
Clark looked at him skeptically. "And you got your dad to pony up half?"
"Let's say I convinced him of the PR value. How're things at home?"
"Oh, we're getting back into the swing of things. Harvest's back on track, and Pete's managing fine with Rose."
Lex tipped his head to one side.
"I have to say, Ross is surprising me. I wouldn't have pegged him as the 'Mr. Mom' type."
"He isn't, usually. But finding her the way we did, I think that really got to Pete."
"And to you."
Clark ducked his head slightly. "Yeah, me, too, I guess."
"It was kind of Sheriff Adams to let you hang on to her a little longer."
"Not really. My folks still have the foster parent papers on file with the county from when Ryan stayed with us. And apparently Social Services has got more kids than they can place as it is."
Lex stood up. "Don't sell yourself short, Clark. No child could ask for a better home than with your family. And you wait and see-once Chloe's article appears people from all over the state will be trying to adopt her."
"I sure hope so." Clark was quiet for a moment as he stared out the leaded-glass windows at the Luthor gardens. "Although ideally I'd like to give her back to her parents."
"It was probably her parents who dumped her in the first place."
"No, I don't think so, Lex."
"Clark, not all parents are as loving as yours. There are some out there who would make my father look like parent-of-the-year."
Lex could see Clark struggling with what he'd said. On the one hand, Lex knew Clark had been adopted, and knew little of where he came from or why he'd been abandoned. He couldn't help but wonder if this whole experience was hitting his friend too close to home. On the other, Lex also knew that it took a lot more than biology to make a good parent. Some, unfortunately, let their ulterior motives take precedence over the best interests of the child. Look at how his father had left his half- brother Lucas to languish in foster care for most of his life.
Lionel had said Lucas was a sociopath. Lex wasn't entirely convinced that was true, but certainly Lucas had more than his share of personality quirks. But if Lucas had had people like the Kents' to turn to, who was to say he wouldn't have turned out more like Clark?
"You don't suppose there's any chance your parents or the Ross' might choose to keep Rose, do you?" Lex finally settled on asking.
"Uh, I doubt it. The Ross' have raised five kids of their own-they're already grandparents a couple of times over. And my folks."
Lex didn't bother filling in the words for Clark. Lex had never told his friend that he had known about the much-desired but now-lost Kent baby. Dishonest, perhaps, but Lex saw no way to bring it up now without Clark asking awkward questions.
"Well, we'll have to wait and see what Sheriff Adams and Chloe's story turn up," Clark shrugged.
"Of course. In the meantime, if there's any help you need, or anything for the baby, just let me know."
"Will do."
Clark walked over to the library door, but paused again before turning the knob.
"And I do think you're wrong, Lex. A lot of things could have happened in that family. I think whoever left Rose by the river didn't have any choice."
Lex raised his eyebrows slightly, remembering the blood-smeared jacket allegedly found (and then lost) at the scene. But out of deference to his friend he kept silent.
"Pete, if that kid spits up on my computer so help me."
Chloe was peering over the monitor of her green Alienware desktop. Pete, who had Rose tucked into one arm, rolled his eyes at her, but went ahead and passed the baby to Clark just in case.
The Torch office was unusually quiet without students filling the halls outside. But with only a few days of Fall Break left all three staffers had decided to meet and compare notes on the "case," as Chloe called it.
The "case" herself, meanwhile, blew spit bubbles while Clark carefully balanced her in his arms. He was getting better-Pete had complained that Clark handled Rose like the little girl was a football, so he was trying to be more gentle with her.
Chloe watched his struggles with an amused expression.
"You know, there is that high school for teen mothers over in Lowell. If one of you guys ends up keeping her I'm sure they could make room."
"Very funny, Chloe," Pete scowled. "So what did you turn up from the county registrar?"
The blond girl hastily punched up the right file.
"OK, there have been one hundred and ninety eight live births in Lowell County in the last three months; one hundred and two of those were female."
Pete whistled. "That many?"
"I guess all that fresh air is good for more than corn," Chloe smirked. "Anyway, I cross-checked both the parents' and the children's names with recent warrants, missing persons, what have you, and nothing turned up."
"But we figured she came from somewhere outside the county anyway," Clark reminded his friends. "What about Metropolis, Pete?"
"Unfortunately their registrar's security is a lot tighter than the county's," Pete sighed. "They wouldn't give me the time of day by phone unless I could fax them something to prove it was official business. But I did get the Metropolis P.D. to be straight with me, and they haven't had any reports of missing babies, either."
"So it must have been the parents who tried to get rid of her," Chloe reasoned. "Anyone else would have reported it."
"You sound like Lex," Clark scolded.
"I'm going to forget you said that. Anyway, the article comes out tomorrow night, and, Pete, that picture you took is going to run front page. In the meantime I thought I'd post some stuff on the website."
Pete frowned. "I don't want Rosie on your Wall of Weird, Chloe, even the one in cyberspace."
"Not the Wall, dummy-that's strictly for meteor-related news. But what you guys said about the missing jacket."
"The missing bloody jacket," Clark corrected.
"Fine, the missing, bloody jacket makes me think there's a lot more going on here than meets the eye. Assault, maybe, or even murder. I thought I'd run it up the conspiracy theory flagpole and see if anyone salutes."
"What're you thinking of as a scenario?"
Chloe leaned back in her task chair. "Well, that stretch of woods is pretty inaccessible except on foot. I think she must have come down the river, at least a little ways, which means she could have been dumped anywhere from the Loeb Bridge to the LuthorCorp plant."
"That jacket was pretty puffy and the water was low-I guess it could have worked like that," Pete said a little skeptically. "But what's really weird is someone taking her out of my house and then leaving her in Lex Luthor's Porsche."
"I haven't really figured that part of it out," Chloe admitted.
"Lex's car was parked in front of my house-if whoever did it wasn't from around here he or she wouldn't have known that was Lex's car, and not ours." Clark frowned. "They might have thought they were returning her to me."
"But why you and not me? They didn't want to return to the scene of the crime?" Pete asked him.
"I don't know." In Clark's arms the baby made a hiccoughing noise and started to cry. "Uh, Pete?"
Pete glanced at his watch. "Oh, yeah, it's feeding time. Sorry, Rosie- almost forgot." He produced a bottle of formula from his backpack, deftly unscrewed the lid, and popped it in the microwave.
Chloe looked at him with mild disgust. "Boy, are you two ever whipped."
"Hey, if you'd rather let her yell."
"No, no, by all means feed her," Chloe waved a hand absently.
Clark tested the milk for heat (normally he used his heat vision, but of course he couldn't with Chloe present) and then gave the bottle to Rose.
As the infant sucked greedily Clark glanced over at his editor.
"You wait and see, Chloe-some day when you have kids Pete and I are coming over to laugh at how you take care of them. See how you like it."
"Me with kids." Chloe laughed. "That'll be the day, Clark Kent. That'll be the day."