The alarm clock rang and Chloe jumped out of bed with a start. Leigh was already sitting at the foot of the bed all dressed and ready to go.

"Come on mommy, he'll be hear any minute and your late." Leigh squealed as she tried to pull her mother out of bed.

"I'm coming. I'm coming, geez. I'll be down in 5 min. go wait for Lex at the door."

It's been two weeks since Lex showed up for their impromptu Breakfast, yet somehow it has turned into a daily outing. Know one else in town has yet to meet Leigh surprisingly enough. The patrons at their morning dinner haven't dared speak a word about there new daily guests, but Chloe had a suspicion that it had something to do with Lex forgetting his pen behind and subsequently having to spend five minutes in the dinner searching for it by himself. What ever the reason behind it, Chloe didn't care. She wasn't quite ready for the whole town to know her whole story and Leigh was happy with the way things were. She wasn't board and asking to meet her other friends.

"Mr. Baldies here!" came a screech from downstairs. Chloe hopped to the window as she tried to slip her foot inside her boot. Looks out and sees Lex just stepping from his car. Black trench coat billowing out behind him as a gust of wind picks up throws the fall leaves about him. She finishes with her boot and runs down the stairs to catch Leigh as she runs out the door straight to Lex.

"Hey kid. How are you this morning?" Lex asks as he bends down to straighten her hat.

"Good." was all she replied as she ran and jumped into Lex's porche.

"Hello Lex." Greeted Chloe as she locked the door behind her.

"Chloe, so how has your morning been?"

"Fine thank you," Chloe paused mid sentence to look at Lex, something wasn't right. "Why" she asked slowly, not fully wishing for the answer.

"nothing, just"

"just, just what?"

"Just"

"okay, spit it out Luther." yet before he had the chance a little head poked out from the car screaming "mom why are you wearing a sock on your shoulder."

"What," Chloe looked down and smirked, "well now that could have been a whole lot worse."

"That true." Replied Lex with a smirk. He reached over and grabbed Chloe's hand and pulled her towards the car as Chloe relieved the sock from its static home on her shoulder. As she finally came to a stop on her side of the car and settles in, she falls into the comfortable silence they all seemed to obtain when together. Lex Pulls out of the drive way of the Luther corps. Homes and turns down the road, after a couple minutes Chloe looks out the window and notice's they are now know where near the dinner and they are currently heading in the wrong direction.

"So what's up here. Ware are we going?" Chloe asks as she looks around. Leigh jumps up out of her seat to see where they were. Lex looks over towards Chloe as she reaches back to place Leigh back into the seat and tells her to do her seat belt back up. He shakes his head and for the twelfth time that morning he asks himself why he didn't just call and cancel. As Chloe settles back down into her seat she looks back over to Lex and waits for his reply.

"Well now, I have got a business meeting I need to be at for 12:00 today, and if I took the time to go to the dinner with you I would blatantly missed it, so instead I am taking you to breakfast in Metropolis with me."

"And while your at your meeting we will be doing what?" Chloe asked a little unsure of what to expect. Truthfully Lex didn't know what they were going to do while he was in his meeting. All he knew was that he didn't want to miss there breakfast this morning, even for a bloody meeting. But looking over the Chloe and she surprisingly waited patiently for him to answer.

"We'll I thought that I might drop you two off at that giant toy store. It's just around the corner from the office building and you to can hang out a play while I'm gone. And the Kid can choose what ever toy she want."

"Oh god Lex, you so don't need to do that. If we where that much of an inconvenience"

"No! no, Chloe, you and Leigh are no inconvenience to me what so ever. I just kind of got use to actually eating breakfast every morning." was Lex's quick reply.

"you know that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. You should never miss it." came a little voice from the back of the car. Lex looked into the rear-view mirror to see a pair of startling green eyes staring back at him matter-of-factly, And Lex chuckled at the startling resemblance to her mother. That girl was going to be a force to be reckoned with when she's older.

A few hours latter and Lex pulled up to the front door of the Luther Corp office building. Once inside he strode purposefully to the elevators and went to the top floor of the office building. As the elevator slowly made it's way between floors Lex couldn't help but think about the look on Leigh's face as she saw the outside of the Smiths Toy Company. Chloe laughing as she was trying to hold back her daughter from running inside and loosing her for the next couple of hours. The elevator finally came to a stop and the doors slid open to reveal the long hallway leading down to the pretty secretary and to the doors, with who on the other side waited the people with whom he was to meet. The newest company he wished to buy out and solidify Luther corp. as his company once and for all. After the take over was complete there would be no way his father could take claim of the company. Yet for some reason Lex couldn't seem to make his feet walk forward. He stood there for how long, he really didn't know but when he finally found himself with the ability of motion, it wasn't to bring him forward but back down to the lobby and out the front door. Lex sat down into his car and started wondering what exactly it is that he was doing. He just left a multibillion dollar deal to what, hang out with a seventeen year old girl and her six year old daughter. What the hell was he doing. This really shouldn't be happening, he should turn around and go back to work. He should be signing the papers enabling him to take control and start dismantling that company for his won profit, but instead of that he was now pulling up to the Smith toy company and shutting off the engine. Collecting his thoughts Lex steadied himself and cleared his thoughts as he stepped out of the car and entered the toy store.

Once they entered the store, Leigh took off at a fast pace down one of the many aisles. It took all of Chloe's speed to keep up with her daughter as she ran from shelf to shelf, looking at different toys and picking things up and placing them back. She couldn't believe that she could choose anything she wanted. This place was wonderful and amazing, she really didn't know what to think, For miles all she could see were toys of different shapes and sizes. The were board games and model trains and teddy bears and dolls, make-up sets and wood burning kits. To miniature cars that she could ride in to stuffed animals that would need their own car. Leigh was in heaven as she searched the shelves of toys. Chloe finally caught up to her daughter when she was finally stopped dead in her tracks. Following her gaze she found her self looking at was almost seemed to be a library in the middle of a toy store. Leigh slowly walk over the tombs of volumes as if she were in a trance. One of the most noticeable qualities that both

Chloe and Leigh shared were the love of books. Every night Chloe would sit down and read a chapter of the newest book they purchased. This time they were in the middle to kill a mocking bird. Leigh was enraptured with the story and intrigued about who was placing things into the tree. But now she was moving towards the most beautifully decorated book she has ever seen.

"Mommy" Leigh whispered in slight awe. "Isn't it the most pretty thing you have ever seen."

"Yes baby," and it was, a first edition of The Velveteen Rabbit, bound in leather with a blue satin ribbon tying it closed. Leigh waked up to the glass case that housed the book and slowly read,

"The Ve-l-the vle-vet velvet-teen, the Velveteen Rabbit. Is that right mommy."

"that is absolutely right," Chloe replied as she knelt down beside her to get a closer look at the book. "You know baby, that was mommy's absolutely favourite book when she was little. She use to beg your grandpa every night to read it to me."

"really," Leigh's eyes grew even wider at that story, not only was this the most pretty book that she had ever seen, it was also her mommy's favourite. "can I get it?" was her first question. Chloe looked a little closer at the book, the price was set at eight hundred dollars. Chloe turned to Leigh and stood up.

"Mabey we can find a different copy."

"but why?"

"Cause baby, it's a little out of mommy's price range."

"but mister Lex said that I could get a toy."

"yes, but not one that cost eight hundred dollars."

"Oh, is it really that much?" Leigh asked with her head down and her voice small. Chloe hated seeing the disappointment in her daughters face, but she defiantly could not afford to bye the book for her and there was know way that she was going to ask Lex for it.

And that was something he knew for a fact. Lex stood just out of sight as he watch Chloe and Leigh walk away from the books and down another isle. He slowly walked over to where they were standing to take a better look at this amazing book that was Chloe's favourite and that Leigh fell in love with it.

'Eight hundred dollars, no wonder Chloe told her no." Lex walked to the front desk, talked to the clerk and then left the store and waited for Chloe and Leigh to finish in the store. An Hour latter the two of them came walking out, Leigh holding a teddy bear to her chest, her face still a little crestfallen. Chloe and Leigh walked to the car and opened the door, and the two of them climbed in and sat down. Chloe looked behind her to check on Leigh's seatbelt when she noticed the book sitting between her and Lex.

"Where did that come from?" Chloe whispered

"What that, I asked the desk clerk up front for it."

"Why, You don't really seem the type of person to read the velveteen rabbit."

"Actually, It was my favourite book as a kid."

"really?"

"Really."

"okay then, more power to you." and Chloe sat back and stared out the window as if that was the end of the conversation. Lex started straight ahead as he steered the car down the street. In the back seat however Leigh was a jumble of nerves bouncing in her seat, having a really hard time controlling herself, biting down on her bottom lip as her legs jumped in place, she was sitting up as tall as she could with her eye brown drawn together, all in anxious excitement, till finally she could no longer take it.

"Mommy, he was in the story when we were looking at the book, I saw him, he was spying on us."

Chloe turned to Lex, an eyebrow raised and a slight smirk on her face.

"Spying on us now were you Mr. Luther. Now why would you be doing that when you were suppose to be at a meeting."

"You saw me there?"

"Me, no, Leigh saw you there, Your one of her favourite people, she would spot you anywhere."

"I guess I will just have to remember that from now on." Lex replied with a smile as he picked up the book from between them and tossed it Chloe. "So you can read it to her every night."

"You really shouldn't have done this Lex, it's to much."

"Hey, I wasn't lying when I said that it was one of my favourites. Every child should be read that story by a parent." Lex responded as he pulled the Porsche onto the highway back to Smallville. Chloe looks down and traces the outline of the book. The soft supple brown leather binding, The Ice blue satin ribbon, that rapped around the cover to tie the story closed, to keep every precious syllable of the Velveteen Rabbit safe in the confines of the leather coverings. Chloe peeks into the rear-view mirror and softly smiles as Leigh sleeps soundly on the soft plush upholstery of the car.

"Thanks Lex," It was barley above a whisper but he caught it with no problem. No reply came from him, and Lex new no reply was expected, so he just sat back and enjoyed the ride back home, He would worry about the consequences of his actions at a latter date, right now he was content to just drive.