Last A/N:  Well, we've hit the epilogue.  When I decided to do one, I went through several scenarios that might have fit before finally letting this flow out of my fingers.  I've found of myself that I like bows, nice pretty bows (Not pink, though, heaven save me from the pink.  This bow is yellow.  Bright buttery yellow.) and further decided that Chloe and her family deserved the biggest one I could tie.  So here it is for all to read and say goodbye… sort of.  Because there is a surprise coming up.  A surprise that I've had hidden up my sleeve for weeks and weeks.  Want to know what it is?  Okay, lean closer… read those little pixels on the screen…

*whispers* There's a prequel in the works. Heh heh heh.  Keep your eyes out for it in the next week. 

KAZAAM!  And thus is all disclaimed.

Enjoy!

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Unexpected, The Epilogue

She just needed to get past the kitchen; if she could do that, she could sneak upstairs and no one would be wiser.  Peeking her blonde head around a corner, the young woman tiptoed in bare feet, her shoes grasped in her hand.  Little by little, she made her way to the main staircase.  Feeling a little relieved, not to mention smug, she crept up the stairs, knowing that all she had to do was get to her bedroom and it would all be done.  Her stomach shrank, however, when she heard the haughty voice behind her.

"I knew it!" 

Sighing, the girl turned and faced the woman at the bottom of the stairwell.  "Good morning, mom."

"Aurelia Lillian Luthor, what in the world are you doing sneaking into the house at six-thirty in the morning?"  Chloe put her hands on her hips and stared up at her daughter, indignation on her face. 

"Oh, come on, mom," Lia shuffled her feet a little, wincing when Chloe used her full name.  She only did that when she was really, really angry.  "I was just out with some friends."

"Some friends, huh?"  Chloe stomped up the stairs, soon towering over the other petite girl.  "What kind of friends were you out with that made you fund Clinique for the next year?"

Lia blushed under her heavy makeup, trying to wipe some away with her free hand.  She said nothing as Chloe went on. 

"My seventeen year old daughter disappearing for the entire night!  It's like seeing Lex Luthor growing up all over again!" Chloe sighed and shook her head. "What am I going to do with you?"

"Let me go upstairs and get some sleep?"  Lia asked hopefully.

"Nice try, Aurelia," Chloe scoffed, grabbing her daughter's hand and leading her back downstairs.  "I have to get breakfast together for your siblings and you're going to help me this time."

"What about Ann-Marie?"

"She's on vacation this week, now come on."  Chloe knew Lia was making a face behind her, but she didn't let up.  "I can't believe you, your father is going to have a fit when he hears about this."

"Cheer, more like," Lia said brightly.  "He'll be proud that I learned a new way to sneak out.  Oops."  She snapped her mouth shut when Chloe gave her a death look. 

Chloe only grumbled, throwing pans onto the stove, stomping all over the kitchen.  Lia threw her shoes and jacket to the side as she began to pull out the breakfast supplies from the fridge and then plates and utensils from the cupboard.  When she pulled out a particularly ancient bowl, she held it up and asked, "Hey, mom, why do we call this the trough?"

Chloe blushed but said, "Don't ask."

"All righty," Lia put it down and suddenly shrieked in happiness.  Bringing something out the cupboard, she said, "Is this what I think it is?"

"What do you mean?"  Chloe glanced over her shoulder and jumped in surprise.  "He didn't tell me we got a new shipment!"

Lia took a deep breath of the canister before her.  "Oh, mom, it's like heaven in a can."

Chloe chuckled to herself, but took a huge sniff as well.  "Your dad is just feeding the addiction in this house.  He should know better."

"Oh, he does," Lia excitedly turned on the coffee machine, scooping out huge mounds of coffee beans into a grinder, laughing happily when the machine whirred and crunched.  "But he also knows we'd go rabid without it."

Chloe filled the coffee maker with water and gave her daughter the filter, "Columbian grown-"

"Shipped fresh-"

"Aroma so strong-"

"Mountains and valleys of wonderful beans-"

"Little men in sombreros picking it out just for us-"

"A c-note a pound-"

"Oh, it smells good," Chloe groaned in appreciation.

Lia made a similar noise, "I wish I could just streamline the stuff."

"I've tried, doesn't work."

"Damn."

"Watch it."

"Darn."

"Better."

"Am I still in trouble?"

"Not even coffee would make me forget about being mad at you."

"Damn."

Chloe raised an eyebrow at her daughter, so Lia quickly turned and started to make toast.  She was in the middle of the third stack (and her second cup of coffee) when she heard a racket coming down the stairs.  "Here they come."

"God help us all," Chloe shot her daughter a grin, even her anger ebbing away when she saw those familiar blue eyes. 

Three younger children bounded into the room, a girl a couple years younger than Lia in the lead, her strawberry blonde curls in a frizzy mess around her head.  When she saw Lia still dressed in her skirt and shimmery top, she cackled.  "I knew you'd get caught.  Ooh, coffee."

"Oh, shut up Laurel," Lia snapped back, but with a smile.  She danced around a boy of about twelve who was trying to get to the toast.  "Geez, Landon, get back already. I'll be done in a second."

His mouth full of toast, Landon gave Chloe a messy kiss on the cheek, "Morning, mom."

"Morning, kiddo," Chloe's mood got sufficiently brighter as she tousled his hair and smiled when he yawned sleepily, his green eyes shining brightly despite barely waking up.  "I'll send you to get your dad in a moment."

"I like it when you make breakfast," Landon sniffed in appreciation.  "Ann-Marie always makes us eat weird stuff."

"Be nice," Chloe wagged a finger at him. 

"I'm just saying, you should do it more often," Landon sat on a stool and struggled a bit with Laurel over the cartoons before finally giving in and letting her have them.  "You won't have to leave again any time soon, will you?"

"My publisher said we won't have another book tour for at least three months," Chloe's attention got distracted by her youngest son, who was zooming around the room at top speed.  "Leo. Leo, stop it."

"But I'm Superman, mommy!"  The four year old stuck out his arms in front of him, a red towel tied around his neck and fluttering out behind him. 

"Unless I was transported to Krypton and gave birth to you there, I highly doubt it," Chloe knelt down and stopped him, giving him a stern look before melting at his childish smile.  Kissing him on the forehead, she let him go.  "Just sit down in a second for breakfast."

"I'll go get dad," Landon volunteered, jumping down from his stool and jetting out of the room. 

"So," Laurel put her comics to the side and looked at her sister, mischievous laughter in her eyes as she looked over her coffee cup.  "Who were you with?"

"Shut. Up." Lia muttered out from the corner of her mouth.

"No, I want to hear this, too," Chloe turned down the stove and placed her elbows on the kitchen counter and looked at her daughters.  "I have a right to know."

"Mooooom," Lia groaned.

"Was it Clark Ross?"  Chloe wiggled her eyebrows at her.  "If you don't tell me, I could just call up Pete and ask him myself."

"No, it wasn't," Lia sighed.  She stole a look at her younger sister.  "I wouldn't ever date someone more than a year younger than me.  Besides, everyone knows Laurel likes him."

Laurel's face turned bright red before she hid her face in her pajama sleeve.  "Thanks a lot, Lia."

"Really," Chloe's eyes brightened, her suspicions confirmed.  "I am really out of the loop here, aren't I?"

"Nah, that's pretty much it," Lia smirked at her younger sister, glad that the heat was off of her.  "Though I've been hearing about some people sneaking off to the Kent Farm in an effort for some alone time."

Chloe's eyes widened as Laurel's face got even redder.  "No!"

"Oh, we're just friends," Laurel whined.  "We're not doing anything bad."

"Hmm," Chloe murmured, not sure if she wanted to take care of the discipline this morning.  Maybe it was best left to Lex this time around.  "I seem to remember when I knew a guy named Clark that I claimed to be just friends with."

"Uncle Clark?"  Lia crumpled her nose.  "You liked Uncle Clark?  But he's so dorky."

"And yours is only one girl's opinion," Chloe said.  She sighed and waved her hands in the air.  "I don't want to hear anymore. But you will definitely be going in the direction of your father's office for a good talking to, you got it?"

"Got it." The two girls mumbled in unison, exchanging miserable looks.  Their efforts to get only the other in trouble had obviously backfired. 

They were interrupted a few minutes later when Landon walked back into the kitchen, his father just a few steps behind.   Chloe waved at him from across the kitchen and handed off plates to her daughters.  Lex exchanged pleasantries with each of his kids, picking up Leo lastly and throwing him into the air, making the small boy squeal in happiness. 

"You're Superman today, are you?"  Lex asked over the cries of 'Keep going, daddy!' 

"Uh-huh," Leo hugged his dad before being put down.

"What happened to wanting to be Warrior Angel?"

"Daddy," the four year old pouted.  "Everyone knows he isn't real."

"Oh, really," Lex raised an eyebrow at Chloe, but she only shrugged.  "Well, I guess Superman is as good as anything you'd want to be.  Lia, you're awfully dressed up for breakfast."

"Oh, she barely got home.  Mom caught her sneaking in from a date," Laurel piped up, aiming to have Lia get the brunt of anger. 

"Clark Ross is Laurel's make-out buddy," Lia shot back with an angry glare. 

Lex's forehead scrunched together.  "Good morning to you, too, girls."

Landon only laughed and pointed in delight from beside them. Chloe sighed, picking up Leo and sitting him on his chair before taking a seat for herself.  She gave Lex a look that obviously said that he would be taking care of any punishments.  "She gets it from you, you know.  I swear, Lex, I never did stuff like that when I was her age."

"No, you only snuck out of your house to investigate stories for the Torch and got yourself almost killed no less than eight times," Lex said calmly.  When the girls began to giggle, he gave them a hard look that stopped them cold.  He wasn't about to let their misdeeds go off without at least a warning. 

"Excuse me, Mr. No-Less-Than-Ten-Concussions, I think that was a little different," Chloe stuck out her tongue at him, but immediately regretted it because Leo took it as a diving board and start blowing raspberries.  "Don't do that, honey."

"Besides," she looked up at Lex.  "It's Lia this time.  Who knows what she's doing out there.  For all I know, she might be pulling a Luthor and trying to relive your teenage years."

"I just had two drinks," Lia protested without thinking.  Her eyes widened when she realized what she had admitted.

"We'll talk about it later," Lex gave her a grave look before starting to eat.  He didn't say anything as Laurel and Landon began to laugh hysterically. 

"Hey, dad," Landon spoke up after calming a little, eggs visible through his open chewing.  "Can I still go with you today to Metropolis?"

"Sure.  I'll call up Clark and see if he can still take you to the Daily Planet for a tour," Lex said as he drank his dark coffee.  "Then you can help us out at the office, it's getting a little crazy with the election coming up in a couple months."

"Great," Landon smiled happily as he began to dig in again. 

"See what I mean?"  Chloe directed the question at Lia. "You need to think about what you're doing. You know the press will go nuts over you breaking the law, especially since your dad is running for office."

"Hey, it didn't hurt George W.," Laurel offered. 

"Don't start," Chloe warned.

"Dad, can I go to Metropolis, too?"  Lia looked at him hopefully.  "I heard Superman's been out a lot these days."

"What is with the sudden abundant interest in Superman lately?"

"He's cool!" Leo yelled, waving his spoon over his head.

"He's just so cute," Lia sighed. 

"I don't think so," Lex rolled his eyes.  "You're grounded until further notice over last night, anyway.  Both of you."

Lia's muttered curse wasn't heard over Laurel saying, "I can still go to work, right?  I'm opening up this morning at the Talon."

"Of course, honey, but you have to come straight over afterwards," Chloe answered.  Looking a little despondent, Laurel nodded silently. 

Chloe was the first to stand up, clearing up the empty plates and taking them over to the sink.  She gestured to Lia and Landon, saying, "It's your turn to do the dishes."

"Don't have maids for this?" Landon grumbled.

"I'm not going to have brats for kids so do it," Chloe replied as she began to walk past Lex, but he stuck out a hand and caught her around the waist.  "Lex, come on, I need to go work on a chapter."

Lex made a falsely upset face before learning and kissing her quickly on the lips.  "So much time for writing, so little time for your husband."

"I highly doubt that," Chloe said conspiratorially before leaning in again and kissing him again.

"How did we end up with four hell-raisers instead of only one?"  Lex asked idly as Leo jumped down from his chair and began running around the kitchen and the others bickered over using the dishwasher.

"I say it's your fault," Chloe nuzzled his neck as their three older children exchanged disgusted looks.  Neither of them seemed to notice the exchange as they began to kiss a little more deeply, completely forgetting their young audience. 

"They're at it again," Lia said with annoyance.

"Ugh, I'm glad I already ate," Landon remarked.  "I'm sure I wouldn't have been able to hold anything down after that."

"Shh," Laurel grinned and picked up her youngest brother.  "Leo, you shouldn't be seeing stuff like this yet."

With that, all four kids scampered out of the kitchen, leaving their completely oblivious parents behind.  When they were gone, Chloe leaned back and gave Lex an evil grin that he matched. 

"Works every time."

The End