Laura Kent was, according to her birth certificate, three weeks old when she came home for the first time. Nine people knew she was closer to half that. Four were doctors. Two of those doctors were postnatal specialists and had been well paid to monitor an empty ICU for just over a week until a premature newborn girl was secretly flown in from Smallville and placed in the unit. That pair had no idea who the girl's parents actually were (they did know who they weren't - this infant was not the child of Jonathan and Martha Kent despite what was written on her chart) and, in all truth, they didn't want to know. Not with the Luthors involved.

Two bio-researchers employed by LexCorp knew the exact date and time of Laura Kent's birth. They, after all, had performed the Ceasarian section themselves. While Johansen stitched Lex Luthor back together, Vogel got on a helicopter and brought the infant immediately to Metropolis General in the very small hours of a Thursday morning. The Kents received notification that everything was on schedule as soon as Johansen relented to give her patient a cell phone.

Lionel Luthor also had a fair, though somewhat less exact, idea of when Laura Kent was born. He had gotten a rather cryptic voicemail from his son telling him that 'Laura is now the Kent's concern and I'll be back at work on Tuesday.' That had been on Friday. By Sunday, Lex Luthor had broken his self-imposed exile and had been spotted in the Talon. When asked whether the boy looked in any way unusual, Lionel's spies had looked confused by the question and told him the young Luthor was bald.

Martha was not happy with Lex for returning to his normal shape so quickly. Clark reported that Lex had almost not received an invitation to Laura's homecoming party for that sin. Lex figured that Johansen and Vogel were even less happy with him for doing his return to normal in the privacy of his mansion, but only smiled self-depricatingly and told Clark that he was glad that she forgave him for being a freak. That earned him a Look.

At the party, Lex watched Laura and Cara as Jonathan and Martha carried them around introducing them to all the guests, proud parental smiles on their faces. Almost everyone there had met Cara before, but the twins together were a new experience. Laura was a lot smaller, but with her hair as red as Cara's, nobody questioned that they were related.

It wasn't until the happy parents made their way over to where Lex was sitting with Clark, Chloe, and Lana that he got his first close look at the child he had borne. Martha let Chloe hold Cara, and Jonathan moved to give Laura to Lex. Suddenly nervous, Lex backed away, hand held out wardingly in front of him, "Oh, no, Mr. Kent, let Lana hold her."

"No, go ahead, Lex," Lana encouraged, smiling at him, "I can wait."

"Hold her, Lex," Martha instructed, though she said it in such a way that other people might think it was just a reassurance rather than the order it was. She fussed over how he was supposed to hold his arms, then Jonathan lowered the infant into them.

The baby gurgled and drooled a little. She was heavier than she looked, though that wasn't really saying much. She didn't look much like her father/grandfather, which was a relief. She looked like a baby. Then she opened her eyes and reached for his chin. She had his eyes. Lex smiled at her.

"Ooh," Lana commented from the peanut gallery, "Lex just got his heart stolen."

Lex gave her a half-hearted glare and handed the baby back to Jonathan, "Here you go, sweetie, back to Daddy before Aunt Lana gets me arrested."

FIN

(Yes, fin. The kid's born and out of Lex's custody. A sequel is a possibility, however, so keep an eye out for it.)