A/N: We´re reaching the last part of this fic. Here´s the penultimate instalment. Enjoy!

CHAPTER 10: Mysterious Ways

LOCH LOMOND- SCOTLAND

The display of the digital alarm clock read half past eleven when the door opened and Lex stepped into the room. Chloe had slipped under the covers about thirty minutes before and hadn´t been able to close an eye, even though she was emotionally exhausted. The storm which had been brewing was now in full swing and the rain could be heard falling steadily and occasionally beating against the window panes when a sudden gust of wind blew from the east.

Lex changed into a pair of light-blue pyjama bottoms and a white t-shirt and, finishing his ablutions, walked quietly to the cot they had set for him. Covering himself with the linen and the goose feather quilt, he fixed his eyes on the ceiling and concentrated on the reflection of the water dripping down the panes. The only sound that reached his ears was that of the steady rain, which should have been lulling enough to put him to sleep if Chloe hadn´t been in the same room and his mind hadn´t been busy with thoughts of his natural father and the decision that had to be made concerning the phone call Lex had got before coming to their room.

An hour and a half later Chloe was still awake and felt the sudden call of Mother Nature. Cursing her bladder privately, she got out of bed, put on her slippers and, stealing a glance at Lex, went to the bathroom. It was really stupid; she had a comfortable king-sized bed all to herself, of which she occupied just a quarter, and he was lying on a cot in an undignified position to accommodate his long limbs. The jerk would have a stiff neck in the morning, and she would have to suffer his stoic poker-face across the breakfast table knowing he was dying for a masseuse. Damn it! He deserved sleeping in that cot- they should have given him a nail mattress to pay for all her sleepless nights and all the tears she had shed because of him.

"Lex?" she called him as she reached her side of the bed. "I know you aren´t asleep. You can stop pretending with your damn breathing techniques," she said ironically, grabbing her bedclothes to get under the sheets once again. "There´s enough space in this bed to house four people."

"I don´t think that´d be a wise idea right now, Chloe," he answered tersely, trying to control the effect seeing her in nightclothes had had on his body.

"We´re adults, Lex. We can handle this," she told him with her head on the pillow as their eyes met across the room.

"Chloe, there´s no way I can sleep in that bed and not touch you. We´re walking on fragile ground, and I can´t bear the thought of losing you again- even as a friend, if that´s what you want- because of rushing things."

"You´ll blame me for your damn stiff neck in the morning, Luthor."

"But you won´t hate me across the breakfast table. I can survive some knotted muscles, Chloe."

"Why do you have to be such a martyr, Lex?"

"I thought you´d be relieved. Did you think for a minute I hadn´t noticed how tense you´ve been from the moment we got out of that car?"

"You aren´t Clark; of course I knew you´d noticed!" she exclaimed.

"Is the fact I´m not Clark a good or a bad thing?" he cocked an eyebrow.

"Now you´re being deliberately obtuse," she punched her pillow.

"I got a phone call after you left the lounge," he told her, changing his position to help the circulation of his right leg, which was getting numb." My people traced the assailant," he added calmly.

Although Chloe was surprised by the sudden veer in the conversation, she welcomed the fact he was being open with her.

"Have they caught him?" she asked sobered.

"It´s not a him but a her, and she´s confessed to the deed," he responded gravely as he pinched his nose.

"Do you know her? Was robbery the motive or...?"

"Yes, I know her and I believe you do, too. She came to Smallville once, kidnapped me and almost murdered me when my... when Lionel refused to give in to her demands. Rachel Dunleavy. The past always comes back to haunt you. I told him once he should never hurt what he couldn´t kill."

"Lucas´ mum? But wasn´t she institutionalised?" frowned Chloe.

"She had been transferred to a low-security asylum. Her psychiatrist had recommended the transfer on account of her improved psychological state. She broke out a week ago, must have been planning her revenge for years."

"Are you turning her in?"

"I should; she murdered someone in cold blood."

"But will you?"

"If only she had waited a couple of months. You know, I thought the bastard was playing with my feelings again when I went to see him that evening and he told me he had little time left. He wasn´t lying, the cancer had come again and wasn´t treatable. It had metastised and would have killed him within two months. Lucas would have come into the inheritance without her rushing things or burdening her soul with taking a life- even that of someone like Lionel Luthor."

"Does Lucas know?" she gulped.

"No, and there´s no need for him to know. It´s enough he was deprived of being with her when he was a child."

"What will you do, then? If your people managed to find out the truth, won´t the police come to the same conclusion?"

"Lionel made many enemies in the MPD. I don´t think there´s a member in the force who´d move a finger to find his murderer. I´m afraid it´ll stay a cold case indefinitely. Rachel Dunleavy´s an unstable woman who took desperate measures out of love. I can´t blame her for loving her child, Chloe. It´s Lionel I blame for destroying so many lives. Lucas´ mum doesn´t belong in a prison. I´ll have her transferred to a centre where they can give her the supervision and treatment she needs. "

"Has Lucas ever met her?"

"He knows she´s alive. He´s never visited her, but I hope he´ll change his mind before it´s too late."

"I can sympathise with him. It took me a long time to pluck up the courage to visit my mother when I found out she hadn´t walked out on dad and me," she said with a catch in her voice.

"You were lucky, Chloe. Gabe was a fantastic dad and your mum loves you a lot," he responded emotionally.

"I wished I had had her in my life while growing up."

"She´s had the chance to see who you´ve become and you´ve given her reason to be proud," he told Chloe, boring his eyes into her and wishing he could say the same about Lillian. "For a long time it was hard to remember the sound of her voice or what her hair smelled like," he added, speaking out his thoughts about his own mother.

"And now you do?" she murmured.

"I feel closer to her than I´ve done in years," he confessed." It´s late, Chloe. You should catch some sleep. It´s going to be a long day."

"Are you sure you´re all right there?" she asked him again when she saw him turn on his back.

"I´ll survive. Goodnight, Chloe," he responded warmly.

"Goodnight, Lex."

It was nine o´clock when Chloe woke up to find Lex gone. Unlike her, he´d always been a morning person despite his keeping late hours: it was another thing to begrudge him. Chloe could barely function without her eight hours of sleep and a double dose of caffeine before starting her day.

By the time she arrived at the dining-room to grab some breakfast Lex had finished his and was working on his laptop.

"Have you started your research without me?" she frowned, sitting across from him and taking a scone he´d left on his plate.

"Oh, ye´ll tak´ the high road, and I´ll tak´

The low road.

And I´ll be in Scotland afore ye

But me and my true love will never meet

Again

On the bonnie, bonnie banks o´ Loch Lomond," he responded with a far distant look.

"Another poem?" she cocked an eyebrow.

"An early nineteenth century folk song- The Bonnie Banks of Loch Lomond. It was one of the first pieces my mum taught me to play on the piano."

"All your memories lead back to this place."

"There´s no trace of him in the church records at Balloch. There are hundreds of Griersons and other septs belonging to the clan, but no Iain Seosamh."

"How did you learn this?"

"I´ve been to the village. You were sound asleep; I thought it´d be a pity to rouse you so early."

"You should have woken me up," she chided him. "What are your plans for today?"

"We can drive to Balmaha, enjoy the scenery and take the ferry to Inchcailloh. The MacGregor´s burial ground is on that island. It´d be a good idea to search some records there as well."

The boat trip to the Isle of the Old Woman, immortalised by Sir Scott in Lillian´s favourite poem, was one of the highlights of their stay. They saw white deer at close range and visited Rob Roy´s tomb before heading to the local parish to dig into their baptism and death records- they found Iain´s name amongst the babies christened in 1954.

Although the minister in charge of the archives was very nice and communicative, he had been transferred to the area ten years ago and had never met Lex´s natural father. Still, he provided them with an interesting piece of knowledge which Chloe knew had touched Lex in a special way- Seosamh was Gaelic for Joseph, Alexander´s own middle name.

"He cannot have vanished off the face of the earth," Chloe shook her head, sitting in one of the loungers of the cottage´s garden now that the air was warmer.

"Maybe the family moved," he responded with his back to her as he watched the swans and the ducks swam by.

"He isn´t an old man. There must be somebody in the village who has met him or, at least, heard of him," she continued, disappointed by the fact that they hadn´t been able to discover much when- with their combined expertise and resources- drawing a family tree or digging up information on a person´s past shouldn´t have been so hard.

"I´ve got to take this," Lex interrupted her musings after reading the caller ID on his mobile phone. "Yes, talk to me," he said as he strolled away.

Chloe sighed and picked up the old poetry volume he´d left on the garden table. "Give us another hint, Lillian. I´ve got to leave your son soon and I´d like to know he´s found what he´s come here looking for," she murmured before she almost jumped out of her skin when her own mobile rang.

"Damn it, Lois!" she cursed through her teeth; it was her sixth call that day and Chloe knew not picking it up would only make things worse. "Sullivan, speaking," she said, answering the call.

"What the hell´s going on, Chloe?" boomed Lois´ voice and Chloe removed the apparatus from her ear.

"Good morning to you, too, Lo´," she laughed.

"Where are you? It´s bedlam here. Your face is in every major paper and news show. Kahn´s driving me nuts demanding to know where you are, who you are with and what you´re doing. She´s royally pissed, says you were sitting on the biggest story since Watergate and, what´s worse, that you were part of the story. I don´t give a damn about our editor, but how dared you lie to your own flesh and blood, cuz´?"

"Are you done?"

"The old bastard´s made you his heiress, for God´s sake! I have Smallville breathing down my neck, accusing me of knowing all the while where you are and having me clean my bank accounts to pay his bail."

"Bail? Clark´s been arrested?"

"For destroying LuthorCorp property and resisting arrest. He barged into Lex´s office, shouted at his assistant demanding to see Luthor and, when she told him her boss wasn´t in town, he went ballistic."

"He should learn not to play boy scout when nobody´s asked him to," responded Chloe grimly.

"I can´t blame him. I´m as worried about you as he is. Are those ducks?" frowned Lois when she heard a distinctive quack.

"Lois, I´ll be back tomorrow. There are a few things that need to be done before we... " she responded, closing her eyes when the wrong pronoun slipped through her lips.

"You aren´t on the beach. There are no ducks in the sea," Lois cut her off." And you said `we´... Don´t tell me he´s there, too. Chloe Elizabeth Sullivan, what the hell´s cue ball doing with you and the ducks?"

"Lois, I´m fine. I´m here of my own accord but, for God´s sake don´t open your big mouth in front of Clark. And keep Kahn off my back for one more day."

"Easy for you to say. What´s going on between you and Lex? You´ve been acting weird since he came to The Talon two months ago. Has this got anything to do with his gift- the one you turned down? Why have you become the Luthors´ depositary of the family heirlooms all of a sudden?"

"I can´t figure out why Lionel would make me an heiress."

"Ah! Does that mean you do know why Uncle Fester´s started showering you with the Crown Jewels, though?"

"Lo´, my battery´s low. I´ll talk to you when I come back. Bye!"

"No, no, no! Don´t you dare hang u… ! » shouted General Lane´s daughter as Chloe disconnected the call and turned off the mobile.

The blonde reporter lay back and closed her eyes in an attempt to regain the peacefulness she had found in the relaxing surroundings.

"May I?" said a feminine voice with a marked Scottish accent.

"Sure," smiled Chloe when she opened her eyes and recognised the middle-aged owner.

"Oh, I see you like Scottish poetry!" exclaimed the lady, picking up the leather-bound volume as she sat on the lounger next to Chloe´s.

"Well, to tell you the truth... I´m more into non-fiction but being here helps understand what moved people like Scott to write poems."

"This is a very old edition," responded the woman, inhaling the odour of the yellowish pages.

"It belonged to Lex´s mum. It was a gift."

"´S RIOGHAL MO DHREAM. `Royal is my Race´- the MacGregor´s motto," said the older woman, reading the bookplate.

Chloe looked at the woman and smiled on hearing the words; there couldn´t be a more appropriate motto for Lillian´s son.

"Is this Mr Luthor´s mother?" asked the Scottish lady, showing Chloe a photograph that Lex must have slipped between the pages of the book.

"Yes, that was his mum," assented Gabe´s daughter.

"Was?" echoed the woman with a touch of sadness in her voice.

"Yes, she passed away when he was twelve," answered Chloe with a puzzled look on her face.

"I didn´t know," murmured the inn´s owner."I couldn´t help but overhear you this morning. You´ve come to Loch Lomond to look into Mr Luthor´s past, haven´t you? " she asked Chloe, getting up from the lounger. "There are many ghosts and secrets on these lands, Miss Sullivan. And God works in mysterious ways. Tell your friend I´ve got something to show him. There´s no need to look any further, child," she finished, squeezing one of Chloe´s hands gently.

tbc

Author´s note:"The Bonnie Banks of Loch Lomond" is the real title of the folk song that Lex played on the piano in "Quest". SV´s screenwriters named it "Birks of St. Kilda" .