Author's Note...

Over the past week, I've been struggling to make this chapter work, and it just doesn't want to obey.
I guess I've just been having all-around issues with this story, but y'all don't want to really hear me rant. So...

I dare you to read it.

Lex stood in front of the window, looking at the sleeping patient inside. It was hard to imagine someone in a mental institution looking this peaceful. Her body rose and fell to her steady breathing, and strands of her brown hair fell in front of her face. So this was Kaitlyn Grant.

The orderly standing next to him spoke. "I'll go wake her."

Lex nodded and watched the woman gently shake the patient awake, telling her something he couldn't hear. Kaitlyn seemed confused as she looked towards the window. The orderly appeared back at the door. "You can come in now, Mr. Luthor."

It was fascinating to see the girl's countenance change in that second. Now awake, alert, and very afraid, she bolted to a corner. From her perch, Kaitlyn's distrustful eyes darted everywhere, and Lex could understand why she was in the sanitarium.

He noticed the look of surprise cross her face when he walked in. He smiled politely, and she glared back. "Hello, Kaitlyn." Lex took a step forward.

She backed farther into her corner, hissing, "Go away."

"Is that any way to treat a guest?" Lex asked, feigning insult.

"I didn't invite you."

"Touché," he admitted, settling against the wall.

"What do you want?" the wary girl asked.

He shrugged casually. "I just want to talk."

"Yeah right."

"Why else would I be here?" Lex received nothing but a glare. "I swear on my honor, as a Luthor, that I just want to talk."

"That's not worth much," she spat. "Luthors don't have any honor."

"Well, that isn't very nice," Lex responded, raising an eyebrow. "Now why would you say that?"

"Just go away!"

Her outburst brought the nurse back into the room. "Mr. Luthor, maybe you should leave." Kaitlyn nodded fervently in agreement.

"I need just a few minutes to talk with her."

The woman hesitated. "Alright."

"In private, please," Lex added.

"What?!" Kaitlyn asked in horror as her caretaker left. She turned frightened eyes upon him. "Go away."

He walked casually to the middle of the room, watching Kaitlyn try to back into her corner a bit more with every step he took. "How was your day, Ms. Grant?"

She looked taken aback by the polite question. "What?"

"What did you do today?"

Her eyes grew bigger still, if that were possible. "No—nothing di—different, I guess."

"Nothing different? What's normal?"

She kept her eyes down. "I ate, talked to Hailey, ate again..." Every word was hesitant, as if she was afraid that she was giving away too much.

"And then what?" Lex coaxed.

"Nothing. I took a nap."

Lex titled his head to one side. "You're a horrible liar, Ms. Grant. It really doesn't suit you."

She muttered something angrily under her breath. "I went to Summerholt," she admitted.

Summerholt? Had his efforts failed? Chloe would be very disappointed, and he dreaded facing her. "What did you do there?" Lex asked, keeping a smooth face.

"Nothing. I wasn't supposed to be there yet."

Lex relaxed a bit. "And that's all?"

"No. You came," was the bitter reply.

"I'm sorry to ruin your day, then."

"You should be."

He decided to ask the next question: something he already knew, but necessary all the same. "Now I don't know who Hailey is. Would you tell me?"

She kept her eyes averted from his gaze. "My therapist," came the mumbled reply, as if Kaitlyn were ashamed of the fact.

He nodded. "When do you usually see Hailey? Every other day, afternoons, or once a week?"

"Mornings. I was gonna see her this afternoon, too, but… Wait, why do you care?" she asked, eying him with suspicion once again.

Lex shrugged. "I'm curious as to what goes on in Belle Reve." An easy lie. "Why didn't you see Hailey this afternoon?" Of course, he knew the answer, but he was going somewhere with this.

"Shelly told me she left."

Lex glanced over his shoulder and gave an "Oh really?" look to the worker on the other side of the glass. "She didn't mention anything else?"

Kailtlyn seemed to change her mind about something. "Why should I tell you anything?"

Lex hadn't expected that talking to her would be so difficult. "Because, Ms. Grant, I'm trying to help you." Well, if by help, he meant taking down his father. "But I can only help you if you answer my questions."

"Liar! You're a Luthor, and they only ruin lives!"

Lex was almost amused by this. "Then I suppose you've only met my father," he said with a crooked smile, watching her face darken. "Do you want to know what happened to Ms. Simmons?"

"Why should I care what you have to say? You'll only lie."

"Lying to you would be like lying to a cat—pointless."

Kaitlyn bit her lip, thinking about that for a moment. "What…what happened to Hailey?" she asked hesitantly.

He tried to show sympathy on his face. "Ms. Simmons was found dead in her office this morning."

The girl blinked for a second, not understanding. Then she was shouting profanities, among which Lex caught the words, "My fault," repeated consistently. Her voice rose in hysteria, and her caretaker entered as she began to cry.

"Mr. Luthor, you need to leave now," Shelly said firmly.

He took another glance at the girl in the corner; he wasn't going to get another intelligent word out of her. "Of course. I'm sorry, Ms. Grant." She was too lost in her agony to notice that he had said anything. Everything else he has planned on asking would have to wait for a second visit. He hadn't acquired any new information from her, and apparently, it would take a while for him to do so.

--

The younger Luthor's visit left Kaitlyn in a mess. Lionel had found out about her confession to Hailey, but how? And more importantly, why was Lex visiting her now? She had no idea, but she didn't trust him any more than his father.

And then there was Hailey. Holy crap, she was dead. While she thought Lex was a liar, Kaitlyn had no reason not to believe the Luthor. He was right, lying to an insane person really didn't matter much, so why would he bother, especially about something like that? Considering her confession and Lionel's threat, it even made sense.

It's my fault… Brooke was right, I do ruin everyone's lives! She moaned and pounded on the wall of her cell while Shelly tried to pull her to her feet. "Why?!" she asked the caretaker.

"Kaitlyn, don't let what that man said upset you."

"But…is it true?" Kaitlyn asked, tears blurring her vision.

Shelly was silent for a moment. "Yes, it is. But Kaitlyn, it wasn't your fault."

"It was! I'm such an idiot; how could I not have seen this coming?"

"Kaitlyn, I need you to calm down. We can talk about this, but I can't have you crying."

"I don't wanna talk about it," she sniffed, wiping the tears off her cheeks before standing. "Just leave me alone."

Shelly sighed. "Okay. I'll be back to take you to dinner in an hour, though." She walked out, and Kaitlyn was left to mentally beat herself up over and over again.

She wallowed in self-loathing for that whole hour. Shelly came back and found her completely covered with a blanket with her head buried under the pillow. "Kaitlyn?" The only response was a groan. "It's time for dinner."

"I'm not hungry," Kaitlyn mumbled.

"You have to eat if you want to stay healthy," Shelly coaxed.

"Exactly."

"No, Kaitlyn. Come along." She had to drag the patient out of bed.

"I look like crap…"

"No one will notice, Kaitlyn," the caretaker assured her.

Kaitlyn stared at her reflection discontentedly and clawed at her hair, attempting to untangle it. "I'm still not hungry."

"You don't have to eat much," Shelly promised. "Now come on before the food is gone." Kaitlyn followed her down the hallway to the cafeteria. It was as loud and chaotic as usual with people everywhere: sitting at tables, hiding in corners, even a few chasing each other around the room. She took her food, not questioning its edibility, and sat down across from Susy-- or Rachelle--whoever she was today.

"You look like crap," the redhead said in greeting. Straightforward and not too nice, this was Rachelle.

"Feel like it, too," Kaitlyn muttered. She dug her fork into the food and chewed without tasting it.

"Don't eat that," Rachelle advised.

"Why not?" she asked, swallowing.

"Because I have no clue what it is."

"Thanks, I'll take my chances."

"It's your life," Rachelle shrugged. "Anyhow, the food here didn't always taste like crap. It was pretty good a few years ago."

"Right…" Kaitlyn said, not really believing. "Ugh, I can't eat this anymore."

"I told you not to eat it."

"No, I'm just not hungry."

"Good. You shouldn't be; you're looking fat."

Kaitlyn sat up a bit taller, offended. Just what I need to hear, she thought sarcastically."I am not fat; I'm not even showing yet!"

"Showing? What are you talking about? Anyhow, try for one-twenty. That's what I am right now."

"One-twenty? Yeah, right! You're five inches taller than me!"

"Well, I guess we can't all be built like models. Don't worry; some guys like curvy."

Kaitlyn rolled her eyes. "You know what? I don't have to listen to this." She shoved her tray across the table and stood, looking for Shelly among the other orderlies against the wall. She found her and said, "I want to leave now."

"Alright," Shelly said, leading her out of the room. "How are you feeling now?"

"Like an idiot," Kaitlyn grumbled. "I'll be stuck in here forever."

"Don't say that; it's not true. You'll get the help you need and be out of here before you know it." Shelly opened the door to her room.

"How can you be sure? I might be here for ten years!"

"Don't worry about that right now, Kaitlyn. How about getting some sleep? You'll feel better in the morning."

Kaitlyn did as she was told, doubting that anything would be better in the morning. Probably worse. She remembered Lex with his crooked smile and shiny head. If he knows anything, then it will definitely be worse.

--

Lex couldn't get the girl off of his mind. She was so frustrating, trying to hide what she knew while he was trying to blackmail his father. How was he supposed to ruin his dad if he didn't have solid proof of anything? Maybe Lex could convince her to talk by doing a favor that would guilt her into it.

Or maybe Kaitlyn just didn't trust him because she was crazy. In that case, the only thing that could help her was a psychologist. Well, she wasn't going to make any progress while Ms. Simmons was dead. Lex wondered if Belle Reve already had someone ready to take her place. He wasn't going to wait forever while Lionel got away with whatever he was doing this time.

It might even help Lex accomplish his purpose if the psychologist reported Kaitlyn's discussions and progress to him. If his father had anything to do with why the girl was in Belle Reve, Lex could find out that much sooner. Besides, he had the feeling that Kaitlyn would rather to talk to anyone than him.

Lex pressed the intercom. "Find out who will be replacing Ms. Simmons at Belle Reve, and get her on the line." It was time for a bit of bribery.

--

Kaitlyn woke up on Saturday morning wishing that she could just sleep forever. Her stomach, however, had different ideas. Both hungry and very upset at the same time, it gurgled and growled. She muttered a complaint before calling for her caretaker. Good thing these walls are bugged.

The thought drew her up short; even her stomach stopped complaining for a second. Bugged? She clapped her hand over her face. That's why! I'm such an idiot; I never should have said anything yesterday.

After Shelly given her breakfast, she announced a change in schedule. "This morning, you're going down to the common room and do some painting." Kaitlyn barely cared, she was still wondering how she had forgotten that the walls were bugged. She absently followed the orderly to the commons. Art easels were set up all around the big white room, and some patients were already painting.

Kaitlyn sat down at one of them and looked at the tray of watercolors. It was a typical set of twelve made for elementary school children. She wondered how painting was supposed to be therapy when she was terrible at it. There was always too much water on her brush, and the muddied colors always ran down the paper in a polluted river.

She shrugged off the thought and started painting random, drippy lines all over the paper. Kaitlyn hated that the color looked like red in her tray but pink on the paper. "What's wrong with this?" she asked to no one in particular.

A patient slinked over to stand behind her and examine the paper. "Hm…We think you should try less water."

Kaitlyn turned around to face the woman. "But it's called watercolor."

"Yeah, but not puddle-color." She reached for Kaitlyn's brush. " Here, can we show—"

"No!" Kaitlyn said, protecting her brush from the predator's grasp. "I can figure it out myself!"

"But…but you asked," the woman said, looking wounded. She slinked away, shoulders hunched.

"I didn't ask for the psycho's help, though," Kaitlyn muttered to herself. She scribbled a few more lines on the damp paper before throwing down the brush in frustration. "I give up." She stormed out of the room, not even bothering to look for Shelly. She just wanted to wander the halls.

Unfortunately, she ran into a nurse who returned her to the common room. "You shouldn't be out here without someone else," she chided before leaving.

Kaitlyn gave up and sat down at the easel, staring at it until Shelly came back. "Are you done?"

"Yes. Can I take a nap?"

Shelly nodded. "Of course. You're being moved today, so I'll take you to your new room." Kaitlyn followed her though an unfamiliar set of hallways and down the elevator to the next floor. She soon found herself standing in front of a new door, which opened when Shelly slid her card into the lock.

Kaitlyn walked into the room, which wasn't padded, didn't have a mirror window, and had its own toilet and sink. "It's all concrete?"

"Your bed isn't," Shelly reminded her.

"It looks uncomfortable,' she complained.

"Don't worry; you'll be out of here in no time." Shelly left, closing the door behind her.

Kaitlyn felt as if she were caged up for no reason. At least when there was a window, she was an animal on display. Now she was just an animal with no use, cruelly imprisoned. She stretched out on the bed and stared at the gray ceiling until she fell asleep.

Shelly woke her up for lunch, and after eating, took her to meet her new therapist. It was the same room as before, but instead of Hailey, a woman in her forties with graying hair sat across from her on the couch.

"Hello, Kaitlyn, my name is Elise."

Kaitlyn didn't make eye contact, but stared at the ceiling. "Hi." Something in the corner caught her eye, the security camera. "Wow, I never noticed that before. How blind can someone get?" she asked, feeling stupid.

"The camera? Don't worry; it's only to make sure that none of the patients become too violent."

"Or you could just be spying on us," Kaitlyn said to the camera, certain that Lionel was on the other end, watching.

"I'm not spying on you," Elise assured.

"Not you," Kaitlyn said. She lowered her voice, but wasn't sure if she was being quiet enough. "Him."

Elise smiled and shook her head, "There's no one watching, Kaitlyn."

"I don't believe it. I'm not saying anything until that camera comes down."

Elise tried to reason with her for five minutes before giving up. The words she wrote on her notepad said, "Paranoid. She thinks you're watching."

Yeah. OOCness? Ugh, I don't know what I'm doing next. But an idea will come...maybe. Reviews would be very nice, suggestions for moving this story towards an end would be nice, too.

Time for Heroes!! Yatta!