Disclaimer: I own an unhealthy obsession, nothing else.

Chapter 21: Looking Back.

Chloe was searching through the papers on her desk.

"C'mon you stupid thing, you're in here somewhere."  She muttered.  She walked over to the filing cabinet and started searching that; she reached a file marked 'extracurricular'.  She pulled out the file and shoved it in her bag; she grabbed her keys and ran out of the office without even locking the door.

She jumped into her car and raced off as fast as she could to the mansion.  She skidded to a halt, and gravel went flying.  She headed straight into the house; using the key Lex had given her, and immediately started looking for him.

"Lex, Lex.  Where the fuck are you Luthor?"  She yelled.

"Here, just keep the noise down huh."  Lex said appearing at the top of the stairs.

"God, you look like shit."  Chloe told.

"Good to see you too."  He said.  "It's called a 'hangover', so, much as I love you, this had better be important."  He wandered back toward his room.

Chloe dashed up the stairs and found him slumped on the bed.

"Lex, remember you asked me to investigate Cat?"

"Yeah."  He said dragging himself back under the covers.

"Well, when I did it I made a file, and there's some stuff in it that I probably should have shown you earlier."  She stood a little way off biting her lip.

Lex perked up, "what exactly?" 

"Erm, this."  She threw the folder at him and headed for the door.

"Stop."  Lex commanded.

Chloe stopped, and headed back to him.  "Sorry." 

"What is this?" 

"Read it and you'll see."  She said, again trying to leave.

"Chloe, I can barely focus, just tell me."

"Alright.  This was some of the initial research I did, I meant to tell you, but you did your strip tease and I was distracted."  She grinned at him.  "Bad Chloe."  She said to herself smacking the back of her hand.  "I found out some things about her that are … well … less than … great."

"Chloe, get to the point."  Lex snapped, a hangover and a 17 year-old talking in riddles didn't work well together.

"Well, she has, in the past, used methods that were less than ethical to help the company secure business deals."  Chloe said, not really able to make herself say exactly what she meant.

"Chloe, I don't really have the brain power to work this out.  Are you saying she's been insider trading?"  Lex really wasn't on the ball right now.

"No," Chloe looked visibly uncomfortable, "do I really have to spell it out?"

"Today?  Yes."

"She slept with people to ensure the company got what it needed.  From what I can gather she took over when her mother lost her looks."  Chloe looked disgusted, while Lex looked shocked.  "And there's more."

"What do you mean, more?"

"She fed us a load of crap about her school years."

"What, she wasn't a tearaway?"

"Well, she was in trouble from time to time, but nothing as bad as she implied.  The Ritalin comment was a bare faced lie, and she wasn't expelled from St. Mary's, she was removed.  Apparently, Lionel and her mother were unhappy with the religious nature of the school, they'd told her she'd burn in hell and Catherine had cried herself to sleep.  Lionel withdrew funding and they made up a story about her being violent.  From then on she had a bad reputation and was thrown out the moment she lived up to it.  At fourteen her mother got her a home tutor to give her a fair chance, Catherine just threw herself into work, cutting herself off from those around her."

"And you just forgot about this?"  Lex was getting angry.

"Well, yeah.  I mean I found out, you stripped, then I met her and she seemed so nice and Lionel was so mean to her, and then she went and I had other things to think about."  Chloe looked like she was going to cry.

Lex got up and put his arms around her.  "I'm sorry, it's not your fault."

Chloe looked at him.  "So what are you going to do?"

"I don't know."  Lex became thoughtful fro a moment.  "But there's something else, my father said something last night."

"Your Dad was at the bachelor party?!"

"Yes, and he said something about when Cat can divorce Bruce he'll be as happy as she will."

"That doesn't sound right.  I mean Cat loves him, why would she want to divorce him before they're even married?"

"I don't know, last night I just assumed he was a rambling drunk, but after what you've just told me…" He let the sentence hang in the air.