Disclaimer: So not mine it ain't funny.

Author's Note: I would like to thank Becky for her point concerning Catherine's qualifications.  I changed it to a BA, she did her secondary qualifications in two not four years, which is possible if you work hard and have a tutor, and her parents could afford this.  That would send her to uni at sixteen, and since most degrees last three years and she took a year off, it makes her twenty, probably more like twenty and a half.  I admit I wasn't really thinking when I wrote that bit.  I like that you pointed that out, it's the sort of thing I do.  I wanted her to have graduated, but also to be a little younger than Lex.   If anyone else notices anything, please point it out, I don't get my stuff beta'd, I just use spell check and grammar check, and hope it doesn't go pear-shaped. 

Chapter 10: Out to Lunch.

The BMW pulled up first, followed closely by the DB-7.  The occupant of the first car had alighted, handed the car to the valet and was heading to the restaurant before the others had got out of their vehicle.

"Hey, slow down."  Called Chloe.

"Sorry." 

"So who is your boyfriend?"

"You'll see in about twenty seconds, God how impatient are you?"

Lex gave up, he'd been asking Chloe incessantly throughout the trip, and she had kept telling him that it wasn't her place to say.

"Hey Kitty, you took your time." 

Oh God not him, anyone but him.  Thought Lex, he knew she wouldn't be dating him, but he was enough of a pain in the ass to make lunch excrutiating.

"Hey there Dick, I didn't know you were coming."  Catherine said with a tone Lex could easily read as 'Christ will you go crawl under some rock and die.'

"Cat!"  Came another voice Lex knew equally well, and was much happier to hear.

"Alright, sexy!"  Came the reply.

"So you said you brought guests."

"Yes," She said, then slightly lower, "I was raised to believe you should always give fair warning for a surprise."

"Hi Bruce," Lex said in a happy tone, then in a slightly less sincere one, "Dick, always a pleasure."

"Lex, good to see you."  Said Bruce, "So I understand you brought a friend."

"Bruce Wayne, meet Chloe Sullivan."

"Wow, it's an honour Mr. Wayne."

"Likewise, and please call me Bruce."

"Sure."  Chloe replied beaming happily.

"And this is Dick Grayson."  Lex said pointing to a slightly pervy-looking boy about Chloe's age.

"Hi."  Chloe said cheerfully.

"Hello, my dear, you look exquisite."  Said Dick before adding quietly.  "You know, a man reaches his sexual peak at around 18, Luthor's well past it by now."

"Yeah, and you're nowhere near the peak of anything Dick, show some manners."  Catherine said, in a tone that surprised everyone except Bruce.

"I'm sorry."  Dick said.

"Don't apologise unless you mean it, go sit at the table before I tell them about that incident last week."  Dick turned bright red and scurried away.

"What incident?"  Asked Bruce.

"God knows," replied Catherine, "but there's usually something."

Lex and Bruce headed to the table, while Catherine hung back for a word with Chloe.

"Look, one day Dick will be a great guy, honest.  He just has to get past this hormonal arsehole thing he's going through don't let him get to you."

"He gives me the creeps."

"Yeah, it's the same with most women.  I keep trying to get Bruce to leave him somewhere away from polite society until he matures, but he's having none of it.  Something to do with human rights violations, and actually liking him."

"Really, Bruce likes him?"

"His number one phrase at the moment is 'give Dick a break, he's only young.'"  They laughed.  "C'mon let's go eat, I'm famished."

Over lunch, Chloe spent a lot of time talking to Catherine about her dreams of becoming a reporter; Catherine even offered her an interview.  Lex and Bruce discussed business until Catherine gave them an ultimatum involving designer clothes shops, champagne, caviar and them paying.  Dick sat in a corner trying to look like he was following the conversation, Chloe discovered he was 14 and under Bruce's charge after his parent's deaths.

She found Catherine easy to talk to, and in many ways she was quite like Lex.  Only while Lex didn't give away that he was having a good time, Catherine was a lot more animated.  She told numerous anecdotes about her misspent youth, and even more about her well spent youth. 

Lex didn't say much, instead he watched Catherine and listened for any indication she may have been lying.  He came to the conclusion that she was either telling the truth or the best liar he had ever met.

After lunch they went to see a movie, Chloe had decided to blow off the entire day.  The movie had been Dick's choice as he'd been left out at lunch; he'd chosen some really awful, clichéd thriller.  Usually, Chloe and Lex and Bruce and Catherine would have just made out, but they had more fun by sitting a few rows away from Dick, as requested, and scripting the movie themselves.  Bruce gave the least input, while Chloe tried hard but couldn't keep up with Lex and Catherine who just rattled off dialogue like it was second nature.  Chloe decided at that point that there was no way they weren't brother and sister.

When it came time to say 'goodbye' Chloe was rather loath to go, Catherine would be staying with Bruce in Metropolis now and Chloe couldn't skip another day to find out the results with Lex.  If Catherine weren't Lex's sister, Chloe would possibly never see her again.

"Lex?"  She asked on the way home.

"Yeah, Chlo."

"I hope she is your sister, do you?"

"Yeah, Chlo." 

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Please don't complain about my characterisation of Dick, I just thought young Bruce, young Dick.  Oh, the irony of living up to his name.

Well done Lrnd, you win; well nothing actually.  Well done anyway.

Flip.