"Clark, are you up there?"
At the sound of the voice calling up the stairs, Clark sat up on the old couch.
"Yeah, Lex. What's up?"
Still dressed for work, his friend appeared at the top of the loft stairs.
"Hi, Clark. How's it going?"
The younger man pointed to the stack of books on the old trunk he used as a coffee table. When his dad had built the new barn a few years ago, Clark had taken over the old one as his private space: part hangout, part study hall, and part refuge.
"English lit test. George Eliot though Charles Dickens."
"The greatest hits of the nineteenth century." Lex picked up a copy of Silas Marner and idly thumbed through it. "Not one of my personal favorites, although art does imitate life."
As he often did with Lex's more cryptic comments, Clark let that one go.
"Long time no see. I hear you're pretty busy out at the plant."
"We're cleaning out Level 3 so we can use the space. Since my father has refused to tell me what was going on down there we're not sure what exactly we might run into in terms of contamination. It's been taking a lot more time and effort than it otherwise would." Lex tossed the book back on the trunk. "But in business expansion's the name of the game."
"Rome wasn't built in a day, Lex," Clark counseled.
"No, but the Visigoths managed to destroy it almost that fast," his friend countered. He sat down in a ratty old chair opposite the couch. "There's a lesson in there, somewhere."
Clark raised his eyebrows.
"Never invite barbarians over for a house party?"
The lame comment got the reaction he was looking for-Lex laughed.
"Maybe. Listen, Clark, I actually didn't drop by to discuss world history or your English exam."
At his friend's serious expression Clark dropped the levity.
"Sure-what's up?"
Lex looked at him steadily. "I need some advice."
"You need advice? From me?"
Up until this point, Lex had always been the one giving the advice-about girls, about parents. About life. Lex had crammed a lot of living into his twenty-three years.
Clark shrugged.
"I can't promise I'll come up with anything brilliant, but I'll do my best."
"Clark, what would you do if your biological parents suddenly showed up? Not like the Rachel Dunlevy thing-your real parents. What would you say to them? What would you want to know?"
Taking a long breath, the younger man thought for a moment.
"It's kind of hard to say, Lex. I mean, I've thought about what I would do, and say, but until it actually happened.I guess I'd want to know who they were. What kind of people, I mean. And why they gave me up."
Lex nodded. "And if they weren't what you expected?"
For a moment Clark's heart nearly stopped. Of course his parents wouldn't be like other parents. They couldn't be. But he knew that wasn't what Lex meant.
"I guess I'd still want to know."
He watched as Lex stood and paced the length of the loft, and waited. He didn't have to wait long.
"I think I may have located Lucas," Lex said shortly.
"So he isn't dead?" Clark frowned.
"I never believed he was. That was just a diversionary tactic. Classic Lionel."
"Wow." If he lived to be a hundred Clark didn't think he'd ever understand the complicated dynamic of the Luthor father and son. He couldn't believe a parent would ever lie about something so important. He couldn't believe Lionel would have turned his back on his own son. But apparently he'd already done both.
Lex laughed at the expression on Clark's face.
"Don't let my father's behavior shock you, Clark. This lie is a little more epic in scale than most of them, but otherwise it's not out of character."
"I guess not. Have you met him? Your, uh, brother?"
"Yes. I'll be going into Metropolis tomorrow morning to get the results of the DNA tests. I'm having two independent labs run them, so the answer should be conclusive."
Lex kept picking up things and then setting them down again as he spoke. Clark couldn't remember ever seeing his friend so uncomfortable.
"You already sound certain," he suggested.
"I am." Lex examined some of the photos Clark had tacked to the wall. "For one thing all the facts line up. And he looks too much like my father for it to be a coincidence."
"So where has he been all this time? Does your father know you've found him?" Clark had a million questions, but those seemed like pretty good ones to start with.
"Apparently he has been living quite happily with an adoptive family in Central City. A family hand-picked by my father, might I add. It even seems the old man may have periodically dropped in on him to see how he was getting along."
Clark frowned. "That's pretty creepy."
"Tell me about it. I'm not sure if the adoptive parents knew who A.J.- that's what they named him-really was. And, no, I haven't yet had the pleasure of telling my father about it. I wanted to have the test results in hand first." Lex smiled grimly. "He thinks he hid him pretty well, but obviously not well enough."
Clark held up a hand. "Wait a minute, Lex. Is this about your brother, or your father?"
Lex's smiled faded. "Sorry. Guess I was gloating there for a minute. But it's A.J.'s feelings I'm concerned about, not my father's."
"About how to tell him? I guess just be direct. You're good at that."
"I can tell him we're brothers." Lex sat back down. "As you know I kind of like the idea of having a brother. And he seems like a pretty cool kid."
Grinning, Clark recalled how pleased Lex had been when he'd thought the two of them might be siblings. "I remember."
"But I don't like the idea of dragging him into the Luthor family, not when my father has refused to even acknowledge his existence. And I don't even know where to begin explaining who is mother is, or the circumstances surrounding his birth."
Clark shook his head. "He might not even want to know all that-not yet, anyway. He'll have enough to deal with as it is. I know I would, if I were in his shoes. I'm sure, when the time comes, you'll think of something to say." He smiled. "And maybe your dad will change his mind about Lucas and be happy you've met him."
"Maybe." Lex's expression belied the optimistic word. "Clark, Lionel's done everything he could to keep my brother a secret, and I'm not even sure why. My mother's dead, Rachel Dunlevy's institutionalized. But he still won't admit he knows anything about what happened to Lucas. It's a pretty sordid story to have to tell." He shook his head. "I don't have your eloquence when it come to dealing with people, Clark. And my father sure as hell doesn't."
"Hey, you found Lucas on your own. It's good news, remember?"
Clark leaned back on his sofa with a grin. Lex Luthor as big bother. That should be really interesting. ************************************
Catherine tossed aside the copy of the Daily Planet she'd been trying to read all day and glanced at the clock. She hadn't yet gotten used to having a full day off in the middle of the week. As a medical student she had adapted to working long hours, but the down time.
Glancing around the apartment it was obvious she should devote some of that time to cleaning: the sink was full of dishes and the laundry hamper was overflowing. But she couldn't focus long enough to read a newspaper, and she wasn't in a mood to even attempt housekeeping.
Thank god A.J. was at school. That would keep his mind off things, for a little while, anyway. The last two days he'd been edgy and out of sorts, but when she'd tried to get him to talk about it he'd just shrugged her off. But she knew he kept wondering what the results of the DNA test would show.
She had warned her brother that searching for his birth family might prove futile. After all, she had searched for her birth father on and off for years, with no success. It hadn't occurred to her to warn him about turning up unpleasant secrets that might be better off left alone. But the very fact that it was Lex, and not Lionel, Luthor who had approached her told her a great deal about where the two members of Luthor family stood on the issue.
Her parents had brought A.J. home when he was only a toddler. Like all siblings they had their differences, but Cate would do anything to protect him. So far she felt she'd done a pretty good job, right down to letting him move in when he'd been accepted to Metropolis' elite Dallek School. But she had to admit she now felt completely at sea.
When she had first told him about Lex Luthor's visit to the hospital, and his suggestion that A.J. might be his half-brother, A.J. had seemed to understand the possible implications.
"After all," he had told her, "happily married couples don't usually give their kids up for adoption."
Sadly, A.J. was right-for the Lionel Luthors of the world, the regular rules of morality and fidelity didn't apply. Growing up on the fringes of that world, Catherine had seen the consequences of such behavior first hand in bitter divorces and ugly paternity battles. Fortunately, her mother and Henry had been the rare exception. Amber's second marriage had been blissful as her first had been disastrous, and Henry had been a devoted husband and father. Even now, six years later, Cate could still feel the hole his death in a car accident had left in their family. She had tried to stand in his place, and give the advice she felt he would have, but at moments like this she realized how little her presence could compensate for his absence.
Seeing Lex Luthor and her brother side by side had been an extremely disorienting experience. There was no strong resemblance, accept in eye color, and that could be pure coincidence. But it had been strange to think this other person might be connected to her brother in a way she, for all their years growing up together, was not.
And ever stranger to think A.J.'s birth father might have been right there in the shadows, and at times even in their house, all along.
Catherine left her mug of cold coffee by the sink and went down the short hallway to her room. She had had to move to a bigger apartment so A.J. could have his own room, but at least her trust fund kept her from being a slave to Metropolis' astronomical rents.
Digging around in the closet she found what she was looking for-her childhood photo album and a shoebox full of unorganized prints. She had optimistically brought the prints with her when she'd moved from Central City, thinking she would find the time to put them all into an album. The reality of working as a first-year resident at a public hospital had soon knocked that idea out of her head.
Now, however, she carried the album and overstuffed box back into the living room. Curling up on the red sofa she began paging through the album, studying the pictures. She paid careful attention to the photographs taken at parties, or on vacations. As she had told Lex, Catherine could vaguely remember meeting Lionel Luthor a few times, but she hadn't paid him any more attention than any of her stepfather's other business associates. Henry had preferred the informality of conducting business out of his office at home instead of at the main offices of the Bank of Central City downtown. A southerner born and bred, Amber was a famous hostess, and it hadn't been at all unusual for Henry's friends and associates to stay with them in their big and tastefully decorated home.
But since the album contained mostly photos she'd taken herself, it wasn't very enlightening. She had to laugh at the evolution of her photographic abilities-many of the older shots were out of focus or had cut the heads off their subjects.
Catherine thought briefly about asking Annie, who was still looking after the house in Central City, to mail her the rest of the family albums, but quickly abandoned the idea. Annie and her husband, Greer, had been part of A.J.'s life from the beginning as well, and there was no way Cate make her request without alarming them and having to do some very awkward explaining.
Instead she set the one album she had aside and dumped out the shoebox. Pictures and negatives fluttered all around her, since she hadn't bothered to put them in any particular order. Shots of her graduating high school were right next to baby pictures of A.J. She examined them all carefully anyway. Sorting them into chronological piles as best she could, she was halfway though the stack before she found what she was looking for.
A group of photos appeared to be from one of her mother's summer garden parties, because everyone was in casual dress and drinking what looked like iced tea. She obviously hadn't taken the photos, because she was in several of them, looking extremely uncomfortable in a white sundress. Henry was shaking hands with the mayor and his wife. Other shots showed her parents, and their other guests, and the elaborate buffet tables set up on what appeared to be their back lawn.
And one shot showed A.J., aged about five, next to a smiling man with long brown hair and a pointed chin.
Lionel Luthor.
She heard keys in the lock, and without thinking she hastily stuffed the photo under a sofa cushion.
A.J. came in, tossing his backpack on the floor, and immediately kicked off his shoes. She didn't bother to scold him, and instead cleared her throat.
"Hey, I didn't realize it was so late. How was school?"
A.J. shrugged. "O.k., I guess." He leaned on the back of the sofa and glanced over her shoulder.
"What are you doing?"
Cate shrugged. "Just.looking, I guess. Maybe I was feeling a little nostalgic. Under the circumstances."
Instead of getting angry at the oblique reference, A.J. smiled sadly. "Yeah, I guess I've been feeling kinda the same way. I've been trying to remember anything I can about my early childhood. It seems weird that I could have had this whole other life and not remember any of it."
His sister looked at him closely. "And?"
A.J. sat down next to her and propped his long legs on the coffee table.
"And my first memories are the same as always: Dad carrying me piggyback; you playing with me in the yard. I can't think of anything that suggests I might have been this kid, Lucas." He frowned. "Lucas. Ugh. I don't even like that name."
"Even if you are-were-him, you would have been too young to remember anything," his sister consoled. She thought guiltily of the hidden picture. It was the kind of thing she'd been looking for, and yet strangely she felt no urge to reveal it. In fact, she wished with all her heart she hadn't found it.
Her brother pushed his hair out of his eyes. She'd been bugging him about getting a haircut, but he hadn't done it yet. He'd had the prettiest blond hair as a baby, almost as fair as her own, but it had rapidly darkened to brown. Brown like the man in the photograph. She shifted uncomfortably.
"I wish we could get a hold of Mom," A.J. continued. "She might know something we don't."
Relieved at the change of subject, Catherine shook her head.
"Amber has always encouraged you to look for your birth parents some day. Just like she did with me and my father. If she had a bombshell like this she wouldn't have kept it a secret." Cate grinned. "But if it would make you feel better you can grill her again the next time she calls from Rangoon or Bangkok or wherever she's trying to 'find herself' at the moment."
"Yeah, I guess you're right," A.J. sighed. "I'm going to have to wait awhile for my answers, huh?"
"Maybe." Then and there she made a quick vow not to show A.J. the photograph until they knew for sure. Until he-and she-knew what they were up against.
She forced a smile. "But look at it this way--at least Lex Luthor has given you a shot at getting those answers."
Catherine could only hope that those answers didn't end up breaking her brother's heart. Or worse. **************************************
Lex stopped his Porsche at the curb and glanced up at the brick building where A.J. and his sister lived. It was a far cry from his penthouse, but pots of flowers on the front steps made it look cheerful. The quiet, tree- lined neighborhood of houses and apartment buildings struck him as the sort of place that would be big on lawn care. PTA meetings. That sort of thing.
He grabbed an envelope off the passenger seat and got out of the car. Double-checking the address the hospital had given him, he entered the building and went up the stairs to the second floor. He wondered idly why Catherine Carter hadn't chosen a more glamorous address. She was heir to a considerable fortune, both through the Carter family and from her birth father's family, and A.J. had a substantial trust fund of his own. Lionel had made certain that Lucas would never hurt for money.
At his knock the door swung open, and Catherine's face appeared.
"Oh, Mr. Luthor, hello."
He smiled. "It's Lex, please. I would have called, but, well." He held up the envelope.
She instantly recognized what he meant.
"Of course. Come in."
The apartment was spacious. It had been decorated with a mix of old and new furniture, photographs, and pieces of art. The effect should have been cluttered, but he found it rather charming. Of course, every place he'd ever lived had been carefully coordinated by expensive decorators. But he'd learned living in Smallville that real homes seldom looked like the pictures in magazines.
In the tiny dinning alcove, A.J. looked up from the piles of towels he was folding and frowned.
"Saturday's laundry day around here," Cate explained with a wry smile. "A.J., leave that for a moment, and come here, ok?"
Brother and sister stood together by the sofa, and Catherine nodded for Lex to proceed.
"A.J., I have the test results here." Lex offered the boy the envelope.
"You got them on a Saturday?" Catherine raised her eyebrows. "Money really does talk, I guess." Then she glanced at Lex's expression, and winced. "Sorry-that was uncalled for."
"It's all right."
The younger Carter shifted uncomfortably, eying the envelope as if it contained a live snake.
"Do you know what it says?"
"No. I thought we should find out at the same time."
The boy brushed his hair out of his face. "That's fair, I guess." He took the envelope and broke the seal, removing a single folded sheet of paper.
Lex and Catherine watched while he read it over. A.J.'s expression didn't change, except for a slight tightening of the skin around his eyes.
"What does it say?" His sister demanded.
The boy cleared his throat, and then neatly folded the paper back up.
"Congratulations-it's a boy."
Lex hadn't realized he'd been holding his breath until that moment. He did his best to smile as he processed the information.
"Well, now we know, don't we?"
A.J. looked at his shoes. "Yeah, we do."
It was the moment Lex had hoped for, but now that it had arrived.What should he say to A.J.? His only experience with having a sibling had been his baby brother, Julian. But Julian had been only three months old when he'd died, not really a person in the true sense of the word. A.J. was already a teenager, a teenager with his own family, his own friends, his own mind. Where would they even start?
Catherine seemed to read his mind, because she smiled gently.
"You know, I think that other load of laundry should be done about now- I'd better get down to the basement before someone swipes it."
A.J. looked at her rather desperately, but she grabbed the laundry basket and her keys and closed the front door firmly behind her.
"She's subtle, isn't she?" Lex asked.
The broke the ice a little-A.J. smiled.
"Look, A.J., I don't really know what do here," Lex admitted.
"I don't either," the younger man smiled sheepishly. "So, um, do you want some coffee? It's the one thing I know how to make."
Lex smiled. "Coffee would be fine."
At the sound of the voice calling up the stairs, Clark sat up on the old couch.
"Yeah, Lex. What's up?"
Still dressed for work, his friend appeared at the top of the loft stairs.
"Hi, Clark. How's it going?"
The younger man pointed to the stack of books on the old trunk he used as a coffee table. When his dad had built the new barn a few years ago, Clark had taken over the old one as his private space: part hangout, part study hall, and part refuge.
"English lit test. George Eliot though Charles Dickens."
"The greatest hits of the nineteenth century." Lex picked up a copy of Silas Marner and idly thumbed through it. "Not one of my personal favorites, although art does imitate life."
As he often did with Lex's more cryptic comments, Clark let that one go.
"Long time no see. I hear you're pretty busy out at the plant."
"We're cleaning out Level 3 so we can use the space. Since my father has refused to tell me what was going on down there we're not sure what exactly we might run into in terms of contamination. It's been taking a lot more time and effort than it otherwise would." Lex tossed the book back on the trunk. "But in business expansion's the name of the game."
"Rome wasn't built in a day, Lex," Clark counseled.
"No, but the Visigoths managed to destroy it almost that fast," his friend countered. He sat down in a ratty old chair opposite the couch. "There's a lesson in there, somewhere."
Clark raised his eyebrows.
"Never invite barbarians over for a house party?"
The lame comment got the reaction he was looking for-Lex laughed.
"Maybe. Listen, Clark, I actually didn't drop by to discuss world history or your English exam."
At his friend's serious expression Clark dropped the levity.
"Sure-what's up?"
Lex looked at him steadily. "I need some advice."
"You need advice? From me?"
Up until this point, Lex had always been the one giving the advice-about girls, about parents. About life. Lex had crammed a lot of living into his twenty-three years.
Clark shrugged.
"I can't promise I'll come up with anything brilliant, but I'll do my best."
"Clark, what would you do if your biological parents suddenly showed up? Not like the Rachel Dunlevy thing-your real parents. What would you say to them? What would you want to know?"
Taking a long breath, the younger man thought for a moment.
"It's kind of hard to say, Lex. I mean, I've thought about what I would do, and say, but until it actually happened.I guess I'd want to know who they were. What kind of people, I mean. And why they gave me up."
Lex nodded. "And if they weren't what you expected?"
For a moment Clark's heart nearly stopped. Of course his parents wouldn't be like other parents. They couldn't be. But he knew that wasn't what Lex meant.
"I guess I'd still want to know."
He watched as Lex stood and paced the length of the loft, and waited. He didn't have to wait long.
"I think I may have located Lucas," Lex said shortly.
"So he isn't dead?" Clark frowned.
"I never believed he was. That was just a diversionary tactic. Classic Lionel."
"Wow." If he lived to be a hundred Clark didn't think he'd ever understand the complicated dynamic of the Luthor father and son. He couldn't believe a parent would ever lie about something so important. He couldn't believe Lionel would have turned his back on his own son. But apparently he'd already done both.
Lex laughed at the expression on Clark's face.
"Don't let my father's behavior shock you, Clark. This lie is a little more epic in scale than most of them, but otherwise it's not out of character."
"I guess not. Have you met him? Your, uh, brother?"
"Yes. I'll be going into Metropolis tomorrow morning to get the results of the DNA tests. I'm having two independent labs run them, so the answer should be conclusive."
Lex kept picking up things and then setting them down again as he spoke. Clark couldn't remember ever seeing his friend so uncomfortable.
"You already sound certain," he suggested.
"I am." Lex examined some of the photos Clark had tacked to the wall. "For one thing all the facts line up. And he looks too much like my father for it to be a coincidence."
"So where has he been all this time? Does your father know you've found him?" Clark had a million questions, but those seemed like pretty good ones to start with.
"Apparently he has been living quite happily with an adoptive family in Central City. A family hand-picked by my father, might I add. It even seems the old man may have periodically dropped in on him to see how he was getting along."
Clark frowned. "That's pretty creepy."
"Tell me about it. I'm not sure if the adoptive parents knew who A.J.- that's what they named him-really was. And, no, I haven't yet had the pleasure of telling my father about it. I wanted to have the test results in hand first." Lex smiled grimly. "He thinks he hid him pretty well, but obviously not well enough."
Clark held up a hand. "Wait a minute, Lex. Is this about your brother, or your father?"
Lex's smiled faded. "Sorry. Guess I was gloating there for a minute. But it's A.J.'s feelings I'm concerned about, not my father's."
"About how to tell him? I guess just be direct. You're good at that."
"I can tell him we're brothers." Lex sat back down. "As you know I kind of like the idea of having a brother. And he seems like a pretty cool kid."
Grinning, Clark recalled how pleased Lex had been when he'd thought the two of them might be siblings. "I remember."
"But I don't like the idea of dragging him into the Luthor family, not when my father has refused to even acknowledge his existence. And I don't even know where to begin explaining who is mother is, or the circumstances surrounding his birth."
Clark shook his head. "He might not even want to know all that-not yet, anyway. He'll have enough to deal with as it is. I know I would, if I were in his shoes. I'm sure, when the time comes, you'll think of something to say." He smiled. "And maybe your dad will change his mind about Lucas and be happy you've met him."
"Maybe." Lex's expression belied the optimistic word. "Clark, Lionel's done everything he could to keep my brother a secret, and I'm not even sure why. My mother's dead, Rachel Dunlevy's institutionalized. But he still won't admit he knows anything about what happened to Lucas. It's a pretty sordid story to have to tell." He shook his head. "I don't have your eloquence when it come to dealing with people, Clark. And my father sure as hell doesn't."
"Hey, you found Lucas on your own. It's good news, remember?"
Clark leaned back on his sofa with a grin. Lex Luthor as big bother. That should be really interesting. ************************************
Catherine tossed aside the copy of the Daily Planet she'd been trying to read all day and glanced at the clock. She hadn't yet gotten used to having a full day off in the middle of the week. As a medical student she had adapted to working long hours, but the down time.
Glancing around the apartment it was obvious she should devote some of that time to cleaning: the sink was full of dishes and the laundry hamper was overflowing. But she couldn't focus long enough to read a newspaper, and she wasn't in a mood to even attempt housekeeping.
Thank god A.J. was at school. That would keep his mind off things, for a little while, anyway. The last two days he'd been edgy and out of sorts, but when she'd tried to get him to talk about it he'd just shrugged her off. But she knew he kept wondering what the results of the DNA test would show.
She had warned her brother that searching for his birth family might prove futile. After all, she had searched for her birth father on and off for years, with no success. It hadn't occurred to her to warn him about turning up unpleasant secrets that might be better off left alone. But the very fact that it was Lex, and not Lionel, Luthor who had approached her told her a great deal about where the two members of Luthor family stood on the issue.
Her parents had brought A.J. home when he was only a toddler. Like all siblings they had their differences, but Cate would do anything to protect him. So far she felt she'd done a pretty good job, right down to letting him move in when he'd been accepted to Metropolis' elite Dallek School. But she had to admit she now felt completely at sea.
When she had first told him about Lex Luthor's visit to the hospital, and his suggestion that A.J. might be his half-brother, A.J. had seemed to understand the possible implications.
"After all," he had told her, "happily married couples don't usually give their kids up for adoption."
Sadly, A.J. was right-for the Lionel Luthors of the world, the regular rules of morality and fidelity didn't apply. Growing up on the fringes of that world, Catherine had seen the consequences of such behavior first hand in bitter divorces and ugly paternity battles. Fortunately, her mother and Henry had been the rare exception. Amber's second marriage had been blissful as her first had been disastrous, and Henry had been a devoted husband and father. Even now, six years later, Cate could still feel the hole his death in a car accident had left in their family. She had tried to stand in his place, and give the advice she felt he would have, but at moments like this she realized how little her presence could compensate for his absence.
Seeing Lex Luthor and her brother side by side had been an extremely disorienting experience. There was no strong resemblance, accept in eye color, and that could be pure coincidence. But it had been strange to think this other person might be connected to her brother in a way she, for all their years growing up together, was not.
And ever stranger to think A.J.'s birth father might have been right there in the shadows, and at times even in their house, all along.
Catherine left her mug of cold coffee by the sink and went down the short hallway to her room. She had had to move to a bigger apartment so A.J. could have his own room, but at least her trust fund kept her from being a slave to Metropolis' astronomical rents.
Digging around in the closet she found what she was looking for-her childhood photo album and a shoebox full of unorganized prints. She had optimistically brought the prints with her when she'd moved from Central City, thinking she would find the time to put them all into an album. The reality of working as a first-year resident at a public hospital had soon knocked that idea out of her head.
Now, however, she carried the album and overstuffed box back into the living room. Curling up on the red sofa she began paging through the album, studying the pictures. She paid careful attention to the photographs taken at parties, or on vacations. As she had told Lex, Catherine could vaguely remember meeting Lionel Luthor a few times, but she hadn't paid him any more attention than any of her stepfather's other business associates. Henry had preferred the informality of conducting business out of his office at home instead of at the main offices of the Bank of Central City downtown. A southerner born and bred, Amber was a famous hostess, and it hadn't been at all unusual for Henry's friends and associates to stay with them in their big and tastefully decorated home.
But since the album contained mostly photos she'd taken herself, it wasn't very enlightening. She had to laugh at the evolution of her photographic abilities-many of the older shots were out of focus or had cut the heads off their subjects.
Catherine thought briefly about asking Annie, who was still looking after the house in Central City, to mail her the rest of the family albums, but quickly abandoned the idea. Annie and her husband, Greer, had been part of A.J.'s life from the beginning as well, and there was no way Cate make her request without alarming them and having to do some very awkward explaining.
Instead she set the one album she had aside and dumped out the shoebox. Pictures and negatives fluttered all around her, since she hadn't bothered to put them in any particular order. Shots of her graduating high school were right next to baby pictures of A.J. She examined them all carefully anyway. Sorting them into chronological piles as best she could, she was halfway though the stack before she found what she was looking for.
A group of photos appeared to be from one of her mother's summer garden parties, because everyone was in casual dress and drinking what looked like iced tea. She obviously hadn't taken the photos, because she was in several of them, looking extremely uncomfortable in a white sundress. Henry was shaking hands with the mayor and his wife. Other shots showed her parents, and their other guests, and the elaborate buffet tables set up on what appeared to be their back lawn.
And one shot showed A.J., aged about five, next to a smiling man with long brown hair and a pointed chin.
Lionel Luthor.
She heard keys in the lock, and without thinking she hastily stuffed the photo under a sofa cushion.
A.J. came in, tossing his backpack on the floor, and immediately kicked off his shoes. She didn't bother to scold him, and instead cleared her throat.
"Hey, I didn't realize it was so late. How was school?"
A.J. shrugged. "O.k., I guess." He leaned on the back of the sofa and glanced over her shoulder.
"What are you doing?"
Cate shrugged. "Just.looking, I guess. Maybe I was feeling a little nostalgic. Under the circumstances."
Instead of getting angry at the oblique reference, A.J. smiled sadly. "Yeah, I guess I've been feeling kinda the same way. I've been trying to remember anything I can about my early childhood. It seems weird that I could have had this whole other life and not remember any of it."
His sister looked at him closely. "And?"
A.J. sat down next to her and propped his long legs on the coffee table.
"And my first memories are the same as always: Dad carrying me piggyback; you playing with me in the yard. I can't think of anything that suggests I might have been this kid, Lucas." He frowned. "Lucas. Ugh. I don't even like that name."
"Even if you are-were-him, you would have been too young to remember anything," his sister consoled. She thought guiltily of the hidden picture. It was the kind of thing she'd been looking for, and yet strangely she felt no urge to reveal it. In fact, she wished with all her heart she hadn't found it.
Her brother pushed his hair out of his eyes. She'd been bugging him about getting a haircut, but he hadn't done it yet. He'd had the prettiest blond hair as a baby, almost as fair as her own, but it had rapidly darkened to brown. Brown like the man in the photograph. She shifted uncomfortably.
"I wish we could get a hold of Mom," A.J. continued. "She might know something we don't."
Relieved at the change of subject, Catherine shook her head.
"Amber has always encouraged you to look for your birth parents some day. Just like she did with me and my father. If she had a bombshell like this she wouldn't have kept it a secret." Cate grinned. "But if it would make you feel better you can grill her again the next time she calls from Rangoon or Bangkok or wherever she's trying to 'find herself' at the moment."
"Yeah, I guess you're right," A.J. sighed. "I'm going to have to wait awhile for my answers, huh?"
"Maybe." Then and there she made a quick vow not to show A.J. the photograph until they knew for sure. Until he-and she-knew what they were up against.
She forced a smile. "But look at it this way--at least Lex Luthor has given you a shot at getting those answers."
Catherine could only hope that those answers didn't end up breaking her brother's heart. Or worse. **************************************
Lex stopped his Porsche at the curb and glanced up at the brick building where A.J. and his sister lived. It was a far cry from his penthouse, but pots of flowers on the front steps made it look cheerful. The quiet, tree- lined neighborhood of houses and apartment buildings struck him as the sort of place that would be big on lawn care. PTA meetings. That sort of thing.
He grabbed an envelope off the passenger seat and got out of the car. Double-checking the address the hospital had given him, he entered the building and went up the stairs to the second floor. He wondered idly why Catherine Carter hadn't chosen a more glamorous address. She was heir to a considerable fortune, both through the Carter family and from her birth father's family, and A.J. had a substantial trust fund of his own. Lionel had made certain that Lucas would never hurt for money.
At his knock the door swung open, and Catherine's face appeared.
"Oh, Mr. Luthor, hello."
He smiled. "It's Lex, please. I would have called, but, well." He held up the envelope.
She instantly recognized what he meant.
"Of course. Come in."
The apartment was spacious. It had been decorated with a mix of old and new furniture, photographs, and pieces of art. The effect should have been cluttered, but he found it rather charming. Of course, every place he'd ever lived had been carefully coordinated by expensive decorators. But he'd learned living in Smallville that real homes seldom looked like the pictures in magazines.
In the tiny dinning alcove, A.J. looked up from the piles of towels he was folding and frowned.
"Saturday's laundry day around here," Cate explained with a wry smile. "A.J., leave that for a moment, and come here, ok?"
Brother and sister stood together by the sofa, and Catherine nodded for Lex to proceed.
"A.J., I have the test results here." Lex offered the boy the envelope.
"You got them on a Saturday?" Catherine raised her eyebrows. "Money really does talk, I guess." Then she glanced at Lex's expression, and winced. "Sorry-that was uncalled for."
"It's all right."
The younger Carter shifted uncomfortably, eying the envelope as if it contained a live snake.
"Do you know what it says?"
"No. I thought we should find out at the same time."
The boy brushed his hair out of his face. "That's fair, I guess." He took the envelope and broke the seal, removing a single folded sheet of paper.
Lex and Catherine watched while he read it over. A.J.'s expression didn't change, except for a slight tightening of the skin around his eyes.
"What does it say?" His sister demanded.
The boy cleared his throat, and then neatly folded the paper back up.
"Congratulations-it's a boy."
Lex hadn't realized he'd been holding his breath until that moment. He did his best to smile as he processed the information.
"Well, now we know, don't we?"
A.J. looked at his shoes. "Yeah, we do."
It was the moment Lex had hoped for, but now that it had arrived.What should he say to A.J.? His only experience with having a sibling had been his baby brother, Julian. But Julian had been only three months old when he'd died, not really a person in the true sense of the word. A.J. was already a teenager, a teenager with his own family, his own friends, his own mind. Where would they even start?
Catherine seemed to read his mind, because she smiled gently.
"You know, I think that other load of laundry should be done about now- I'd better get down to the basement before someone swipes it."
A.J. looked at her rather desperately, but she grabbed the laundry basket and her keys and closed the front door firmly behind her.
"She's subtle, isn't she?" Lex asked.
The broke the ice a little-A.J. smiled.
"Look, A.J., I don't really know what do here," Lex admitted.
"I don't either," the younger man smiled sheepishly. "So, um, do you want some coffee? It's the one thing I know how to make."
Lex smiled. "Coffee would be fine."