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Ah ok
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Okay, I know I said Clark was irresistable, but that little sneak - what he did to Lois was just plain cruel. I hope whatever Mrs. Jenkins has to say is the breakthrough Lois needs to get one over on Clark.
Also, I'm just dying to know what he found out on the video tape. Must be pretty juicy for him to stop by Chloe and Ollie's place. Can't wait to find out what happens.
PPMS!
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Then again, remember that Lois has a lead that he doesn't, even though she doesn't really know what she has yet. I will go into more detail about that in the next chapter.Okay, I know I said Clark was irresistable, but that little sneak - what he did to Lois was just plain cruel. I hope whatever Mrs. Jenkins has to say is the breakthrough Lois needs to get one over on Clark.
Also, I'm just dying to know what he found out on the video tape. Must be pretty juicy for him to stop by Chloe and Ollie's place. Can't wait to find out what happens.
PPMS!
All I'll say is the video contains a vital clue.Comment
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Great chapter.Comment
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Love Clark Luthor fics. Wish there were more with bad boy Clark. Can't wait for the Lane and Luthor investigative duo to team up. I'll be surprised if the bull pen doesn't burn right down.Comment
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Thank you.
I don't know what it is, but I can't really write a total bad boy Clark, even as a Luthor, but I do like writing a more confident Clark. As for them teaming up, sparks are definitely going to fly.
Is that a hint for an update? I'm currently working on updates for some others but I will be working on this one soon. Promise.
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Ooh I'm loving this Clack Luthor, sexy but not a total mongrel.Comment
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wow more now plz waitingComment
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Chapter Four
Clark glanced at the GPS, looking again for the location of the house, sighing. Things were so much easier when he was flying, but it wasn’t always possible, or the best thing to do under the circumstances. Still, it didn’t help when the streets tended to be a maze of one-way streets and the GPS wasn’t always that accurate.
Chloe often laughed at him for his reliance on the GPS when he was out driving. She teased him that men were supposed to be good at reading maps. It wasn’t his fault that most of the time he was either running or flying. Everything looked different from that perspective.
He grinned at the memory of his friends bantering the night before. Chloe looked about ready to pop and she was constantly complaining about her aching limbs and the baby keeping her awake at all hours. Oliver had told his wife to get used to it, since babies never kept to a regular schedule, which had prompted a mock argument between them. Oliver had been adamant he wasn’t changing diapers, to which Chloe had responded that he better or he’d be sleeping on the couch for the next eighteen years because there was no way she was going to let him anywhere near her until the kid was in college.
Oliver had just given Clark a look and told him it was hormones. His friend tried to look put-upon but Clark knew they were both excited about the birth of their first child, even if Chloe was freaking out a little about the labour.
Clark had managed to get the tape from Mr Thomas that afternoon. The man had been a little annoyed that Lois hadn’t shown up, but he had handed the copy over with few comments. Clark had known the prank he’d played on Lois was a little cruel, but then again, she clearly had a lead that he didn’t after she’d come across the two boys.
He had to admit he enjoyed the little bit of rivalry he had going with Lane. Perry had told him that he once had the same kind of rivalry going with another reporter. Of course, Perry had gone on to win a Pulitzer for his story while his rival had been left eating his dust, so to speak. The older man had warmed up considerably to Clark in the past couple of weeks, ever since he’d begun chasing the story.
“So you’re not just a snot-nosed spoiled rich kid,” Perry had said, reminding Clark of what he’d first overheard when Perry had been yelling down the phone over the column. It might have sounded harsh, but he’d said it in a way that Clark knew he was teasing, as if he knew Clark had overheard him.
They’d come to a detente, of sorts. Clark had managed to at least prove that he was willing to work and work hard and that his blunder with his column had been a one-off. Perry had surmised that it was the competition with the other paper which had spurred him on more than anything and Clark supposed the man did have a point.
A car horn blaring behind him startled him out of his thoughts and he looked up, realising the light had changed. He drove on, continuing to look down the street, finally finding the right address a couple of blocks away. He parked the car and got out, walking up the path to the porch, knocking on the door.
An attractive woman with chocolate-coloured skin came out.
“Yes?” she said.
“I’m Clark Luthor. From the Daily Planet? I was wondering if ...”
“I’m really sorry but I don’t have time to talk right now,” she said, her eyes darting nervously. “I have to get ready for work. Could you meet me at my office tonight? Around nine?”
Clark frowned. It seemed an odd time to be setting up a meeting. From what he knew about Belinda Jenkins, she was a secretary. Why would she be working that late, especially when she had a young son to take care of as well? Still, it wasn’t his place to say anything, so he agreed to the meeting, taking the slip of paper the woman handed him and putting it in his pocket.
As he left the house, his phone beeped telling him he had a text. He glanced at the screen.
Meet at Watchtower.
Clark sent a message back, telling Oliver he would be there in about thirty minutes. Oliver sent a text back.
What? No super speed?
Driving, nimrod, he texted back. It wasn’t like he could just leave the car, since it was from the Daily Planet’s pool of vehicles. He had to at least act the part of a mere mortal if he didn’t want anyone to discover he was Superman.
Thirty minutes later he opened the double doors of Watchtower. Oliver turned and looked at him.
“Nimrod?” he said, raising an eyebrow.
“Your point?” Clark returned.
Chloe waddled past, her hand on her swollen belly.
“I swear this kid’s sitting on my goddamn bladder,” she said. “That’s the third time in the past half hour.”
“Uh, too much information, Chlo,” Clark said.
She sent him a withering look, but continued on, sitting at the desk, typing on the keyboard. An image appeared on the huge screen.
“I’m afraid it’s not the greatest but I did the best I could,” Chloe sighed.
Clark huffed. The image was lousy, even if she had re-rendered it. All he saw was what appeared to be a man in overalls working on the coupling of the carriage where he had seen the debris from the explosive. He glanced at the timestamp.
“If this was after seven, what was a maintenance worker doing in between the carriages? The normal maintenance was scheduled about two hours before the train left the station and nobody reported any fault.”
“Then I guess that proves your theory that someone deliberately sabotaged the train,” Oliver said.
“It isn’t a theory. I saw the bomb fragments.”
“Yet didn’t you say that the train company is denying all knowledge of it?” Chloe asked.
“Actually, I overheard Lois talking to the company director.”
“Um, speaking of Lois, what is up with you and her?” his friend asked. “She called last night, by the way. I had to put her off.”
“Uh yeah, didn’t you make plans with her for today?” Oliver reminded her.
Chloe frowned, glancing at the clock. “Crap. I almost forgot. Can I trust you two boys to behave yourselves?”
“Who? Us? We’re angels,” her husband replied.
“Yeah, right,” she said, wrinkling her nose at him, trying to push herself off the chair she was sitting on. “Um ... Ollie, help me up.”
“Huh?”
“You got me this way, Queen, now help me up or I swear to God ...”
He pulled her up. “Sorry honey,” he said sheepishly.
Clark watched as Chloe grabbed her purse and started waddling out the door. She paused and glared at him.
“Don’t you even think it, Luthor!”
“Think what?”
“I know my behind looks like the back of a bus.”
He held up his hands. “I wasn’t thinking that at all,” he said in protest. He had been thinking that she looked a little pale and exhausted, which was understandable under the circumstances.
She snorted. “Right! I’ll believe that when pigs start flying.”
Clark looked at his friend as Chloe left.
“Better you than me, my friend.”
Oliver snorted. “Gee, thanks. I just hope she has the kid soon ‘cause she’s driving me nuts!”
Clark laughed and clapped his friend on the shoulder.
“I would say Chloe would be thinking you have that backwards.”
Oliver cocked an eyebrow at him.
“Me drive her nuts? I swear Clark, it’s like one minute she’s all sunshine and roses and the next she’s chewing me out over god knows what. It’s like living with Attila the Hun and Mary Poppins all in the one body.”
Clark sniggered. “Mary Poppins?”
Oliver grimaced. “Don’t ask!” He looked Clark over. “So, um, Chloe said Lois sounded pissed when she called last night. What did you do to her anyway?”
“Just sent her on a wild goose chase.”
“Why would you do something as boneheaded as that?”
“So I could get the tape first,” he replied.
“Damn, Clark, I never knew you were so competitive. You know Lois isn’t the type to let these things go.”
He grinned. “I know, but that’s half the fun.”
“It’s a good thing you’re invulnerable, Luthor. I mean I’d hate to be in your position when she finally does decide to get her revenge.”
“What can I say? I just love messing with her.”
Oliver smirked at him. “You’ve got it bad, my friend.”
“What are you talking about?”
His friend held up his hands. “You,” he said, indicating his right hand. “Lois,” he indicated with his left, before pressing the two together.
“You’re dreaming. She’s not even my type.”
“You don’t even have a type!”
Clark shook his head but Oliver kept grinning.
“Denial, my friend, is not just a river in Egypt.”
“Whatever!”
Clark walked over to the computer and began typing in some commands, only for the computer to tell him Access Denied.
“Is there any way to access the cameras at the station for the night of the train crash?”
“Stop avoiding the subject,” Oliver told him, while nudging him out of the way and typing on the keyboard. Several black and white images came up on the big screen.
“I’m not avoiding the subject,” Clark said as he moved to study the images.
“Yeah, you keep telling yourself that. I’ve never seen you act this way with a girl before. Not even Lang made you this nuts.”
“Who are you calling nuts?” he asked, glowering at his friend.
“Whoa! Don’t shoot! I’m just calling it like I see it.”
“You’re full of it. I don’t have feelings for Lane. She’s bossy. She’s stuck-up. I can’t stand her.”
“Denial,” Oliver replied in a singsong voice.
“Jerk!” Clark turned back to the screen. “Can we fast forward this?”
“What are you looking for anyway?”
“Hopefully a better image of the guy who sabotaged the train,” he said, his gaze on the flickering screens. “Wait. Back up.”
Oliver pressed a key and the action paused before rewinding slightly. Clark saw a man wearing a ballcap walking on the platform holding what looked like a toolbox. He seemed to be trying to hide his face from the camera. As they kept watching, the man stepped down off the platform onto the tracks, wedging himself between the carriages. To anyone watching, it looked like he was just a maintenance worker.
“Back it up again. Let’s see if we can get an image of his face.”
“The software’s top-of-the-line, Clark, but even we can’t get a picture of his face from nothing.”
Frowning, Clark focused his micro-vision, looking desperately for something that might give them a better image. Clearly the man was being extra careful not to be seen. Moving back to the computer, he tried rewinding the images, following the man’s progress back along the platform. He squinted, then pointed.
“There. See that?”
“I can’t see nothing,” Oliver said with a mock accent.
“How do you zoom in?”
“Look out. Let the pro handle it.”
Clark ignored that remark, watching as Oliver zoomed in on the spot.
“Well, will you look at that? Guess he forgot about his reflection in the door.”
Clark watched as Oliver cleaned up the image and used the software to access facial recognition.
“I’m sure we’ll find this guy in no time,” he said.
***
Lois waited at the counter as Chloe waddled over to a booth and threw her purse on the seat. She took the two coffees from the cashier and took them over to the table.
“You know, you’re walking like a duck,” she said.
Chloe rolled her eyes. “That’s cute, cuz. I don’t even let my husband get away with saying stuff like that.”
“Well, you know, if he’s making fun of you, you can always send him to me.”
“I’d want him back in one piece, Lois, not pieces. So, what’s happening with you and Clark?”
“Oh, nice segue cuz. Nothing’s happening with me and Clark.”
“Right,” the blonde snorted. “So I’m just imagining this intense rivalry going on between the two of you?”
“How are you even friends with the jerk, anyway?”
“He’s not a jerk,” Chloe said in protest. “I mean, okay, he can be an ass sometimes, but if you’d been raised by Lionel Luthor, you’d be the same. Even Tess said she was lucky she got out when she did.”
“Tess?”
“She’s Lex’s half-sister. She was disowned by Lionel when she decided she wanted to pursue a career in biology. She got a job working for a lab in Sydney.”
“Sydney, Australia?” Lois asked. “Well, that’s about as far away as you can get from the Luthors. Unless you count New Zealand. Or Antarctica.”
“Yeah, she actually worked in Antarctica for about six months. We keep in contact by email.”
“Poor little rich girl,” Lois snorted. “I wish I had her problems.”
“Trust me, you really don’t want to go there. Lionel wasn’t called the Magnificent Bastard for nothing. Rumour has it Lex is bucking for the same title.”
“He seemed nice enough when I danced with him the other night.”
“Yeah, Ollie told me. Lois, I’m telling you. Stay away from Lex. You really don’t want to tangle with him.”
“Is the same true for Clark?”
“Clark is a pussy cat compared to Lex.”
“So you say,” Lois told her. “He’s been nothing but arrogant and obnoxious.”
“Well, maybe you rattled him,” her cousin grinned. Then she grimaced in pain and rubbed her belly. “Ugh! Sooner I have this kid the better.”
“You okay?” Lois asked, concerned. “That looked like it hurt.”
“It’s just Braxton Hicks. I’ll be fine. Doc says it’s perfectly normal.”
Lois looked at her cousin in sympathy. “I’m glad I’m not taking that route.”
“You don’t want kids?” Chloe asked, still rubbing her belly.
She shrugged. “I guess. Maybe with the right guy. Of course, I don’t see Mr Right knocking down my door any time soon.”
“I don’t know. Maybe Mr Right is closer than you think,” Chloe answered with a grin.
“Oh, you better not be talking about Clark Luthor. I can’t stand the man.”
“Methinks the lady doth protest too much.” She groaned again, so loud this time that everyone in the coffee shop turned to look at them. One of the staff came over.
“Uh, is your friend okay?” she asked Lois.
She was about to tell the girl that Chloe was fine when her cousin groaned again.
“Lo, could you help me,” she said, struggling to move. “Really shouldn’t have picked a booth,” she grumbled. Not that they’d had much choice, Lois thought, since the coffee shop was fairly full.
Lois got up and helped her cousin stand. The blonde grabbed her purse and started to waddle off to the bathroom.
“Do you need me to come with?” she asked.
“No, I’ll be fine.”
Lois chewed on her lip. Chloe looked pale, as if she was in a lot of pain. She debated whether to call Oliver and get him to come and pick Chloe up.
Suddenly someone came running out of the women’s bathroom.
“Uh, you guys better call an ambulance. There’s a pregnant woman in there who I think has gone into labour.”
Crap! Lois dug in her purse for her phone and dialled the number.
“Hello?”
“Oliver?”
“No, this is Clark. Oliver just had to step out for a minute.”
Lois groaned inwardly. “Well, you better get him because I think Chloe’s gone into labour.”
She heard some odd noises in the background, then Oliver’s voice could be heard, sounding panicked. He took the phone.
“Lois, are you sure?”
There was a scream from the bathroom. Lois ran to the door and looked in. Chloe was practically on all fours, panting, surrounded by a puddle.
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure.”
“Look, I’m going to get there as fast as I can. In the meantime, I have a friend I can send. He should be there in a couple minutes.”
“Wait, how do you even know where ...” she began, but the phone was cut off.
Two minutes was an awfully long time when you were watching your cousin and best friend in pain. Lois did her best to support Chloe while the staff hung around looking helpless.
“Breathe Chloe,” she said. “Deep breaths.”
She knew nothing about childbirth except what she’d seen on afterschool specials and some reality tv and as far as she was concerned, none of that measured up to what was happening here.
She was stunned when the bathroom door opened and a man in a skin-tight blue suit walked in. Lois stared up at him.
“Superman?”
“I heard the commotion,” he said, clearly fudging it for the benefit of the coffee shop staff. Lois nodded in thanks. The last thing Chloe and Oliver needed was for people to put two and two together and connect Green Arrow to the Queens.
He gently lifted Chloe into his arms and carried her out. Lois followed, holding her cousin’s belongings, watching as Superman rose slowly into the air.
“You’ll be all right, ma’am,” he told Chloe.
“I’ll, uh, meet you at Met Gen Chloe,” Lois called as Superman took off.
Wow! she thought as Superman disappeared, clearly flying at not even half his usual speed. She had seen him a few times, of course, but this was the closest she’d ever seen him in daylight. She suspected he’d rescued her a couple of times but he’d never stuck around long enough for her to thank him.
“Wow!” Lois looked around at the teenage girl who had been serving. “He’s amazing, isn’t he?”
She just nodded, not wanting to gush. The manager came out, holding a cellphone.
“You left this on the table, ma’am.”
“Oh, thanks. Um, I should help clean up the mess.”
The man shook his head. “Don’t worry about it. Your cousin’s more important. Hope she and the baby are okay.”
Lois dug a twenty out of her purse. “Thank you,” she said. “You’ve been very kind.” She turned away before the man could object, whistling for a taxi.
Oliver had clearly just arrived at the hospital himself as he was running up the steps to the entrance. Clark was with him. Lois paid the taxi driver and got out, waving to her friend.
“Lois,” he said.
“Superman ...” she began to say but he shot her a look.
“I know. That’s why I called him. Let’s get in there.”
The three of them made their way to the emergency reception. Oliver spoke to the nurse while Lois glared at Clark.
“What are you doing here?”
“For your information, I’m actually worried about my friends. Is that a crime?”
“No,” she said shortly, glaring at him with eyes narrowed. “But FYI? Next time you send me on a wild goose chase, you better sleep with your eyes open, Luthor!”
He smirked at her, but didn’t comment. Oliver shot them both a look which clearly suggested they better not be thinking of getting into anything now. He appeared worried, which was understandable. He ran a hand through his spiky blonde locks.
“She’s not supposed to be having the baby for another three weeks,” he said, his forehead creased in a worried frown.
“Doctors have been known to get their dates wrong,” Clark said.
Lois nodded. “That’s true. Besides, three weeks is nothing. I’m sure everything’s fine.”
A nurse approached, giving Oliver the number of Chloe’s room. They’d clearly taken her in very quickly after Superman had brought her in.
Another nurse was helping Chloe get settled in the bed as they came in. Chloe was still looking pale but a little better.
“Hey,” she said with a smile. “I hope you didn’t break any speed laws to get here,” she gently scolded her husband.
“You’re worth a couple of tickets,” he said, sitting on the bed and taking her hand. “How are you doing, sweetheart?”
“I’m fine. Well, as fine as I could be considering I’m in labour. They’re gonna give me an epidural.”
“That’s good. Did the doc ...”
“He says everything seems to be fine. Guess the kid’s just in a real hurry to meet his mommy and daddy.”
Lois snorted. “Typical boy,” she said. “Always so impatient.”
“Speak for yourself, Lane,” Clark said, earning a glower from her.
“You implying something, Luthor?” she growled back.
“Oh my God!” Chloe complained. “Could you two just get a room and get it over with? Seriously.”
“Chloe!” Clark stared at her, wide-eyed.
“I mean, really, it’s like you’re Tracy and Hepburn. You get the fight, the banter, but really you just wish they’d jump each other and get it over with. You agree with me, don’t you Ollie?”
“I’m not going there, honey.”
Chloe suddenly screwed up her face, groaning in pain. Oliver’s own face contorted as she squeezed his hand. The room was filled with a combination of Chloe’s groans and Oliver’s own moans.
“Ow, geez!” he said when she finally relaxed again. He shook his hand. “I thought they were kidding about that.”
Chloe looked sheepish. “I’m sorry, baby. I guess I don’t know my own strength.”
Lois chewed on her lip. Yeah, there was no way in hell she was going to go through that any time soon. She glanced at Clark but he was pointedly looking away from her.
The nurse came in pushing a monitor and shooed them out so she could get Chloe hooked up. Lois sat down in one of the chairs in the waiting room while Clark stood leaning against the wall with his arms folded.
Lois saw a doctor and another nurse enter the room an hour or so later, then Oliver came out, looking a little less worried.
“Everything okay?” she asked, at the same time as Clark. She scowled at him but turned back to her friend.
“Yeah. The doc says she’s only dilated a couple of centimetres so it looks like we might be here for a while. You guys don’t have to wait.”
“She’s my cousin. Of course I’ll wait,” Lois said.
“I mean it, guys. This could be an all-nighter. I can call you as soon as anything starts happening, okay? I don’t want you guys losing sleep, or your jobs for that matter. The doctor says she’s fine, and you know Chloe.”
“Yeah, no worries, Oliver,” Clark said. “I have some things I need to do.”
Lois bit her lip. She was torn between staying with her cousin and the appointment at nine. It was already after five and she had to report back to her boss. Considering how much of an ass he was, she doubted he would look too favourably on her if she dropped the ball on the story just because her cousin was having a baby.
“You know, you’re right,” she said. “I’m just gonna go in and say goodbye to Chloe.” She nodded stiffly at Clark. “Luthor!” she added, trying not to sound snide.
Chloe was laying on her side watching the monitor in fascination. She glanced up when Lois went in.
“You know this thing lets you know when you’re about to have a contraction? It’s amazing!”
Lois frowned at her. Chloe had always had a fascination with technology and she had a way around them which on anyone else would be kind of geeky. Not that Chloe was a geek by any means. Now Luthor, on the other hand, with those stupid glasses he wore ... Lois thought he would be totally hot if he would just remove the glasses, but then again she’d always had a thing for nerds, and ...
What am I saying? she thought. I do not have the hots for that obnoxious so-and-so. Chloe frowned at her.
“Okay, you look like your thoughts just went from zero to sixty in about two seconds. What’s going on?”
“Nothing. I ... I was just ... you know what, never mind. Um, Ollie says you’re going to be a while.”
“And you have a job to do. Hey, don’t worry, okay. He’ll call you as soon as anything happens. There’s no point in you hanging around getting bored. Besides, knowing your boss, he’d see it as an opportunity to fire you or something. It’s not like he hasn’t tried it before.”
Lois nodded. She had been hurt working on another story and been hospitalised for two days, which resulted in her losing the lead and he’d threatened to fire her. He knew damn well he couldn’t do so but she had countered by threatening to report him for sexual harassment if he tried. He’d once come on to her and she had shot him down, which had been a massive blow to his ego.
“Okay,” she said, leaning over to kiss her cousin’s cheek. “You get some rest. I’m guessing you’re gonna need it.”
“Sure. Love you.”
“Love you too.”
She went out, catching a cab back to the office. Her boss wasn’t in, thankfully, so she spent her time compiling her notes and trying to make some sense of the events so far. She sat back, chewing on her pencil as she began thinking about her few brief encounters with Lionel’s youngest son.
What she wouldn’t give to show him that she wasn’t just a rival reporter. She was sure that was all he thought. At least he didn’t think about her as some empty-headed bimbo. If there was one thing she could say about him it was that he wasn’t a misogynist like Lionel seemed to be. A few years ago she’d been at a press conference Lionel had been giving and had put a hand up to ask a question but the billionaire had completely ignored her in favour of Steve Lombard, who had, at that time, also been a reporter with the Star. He was now working at the Daily Planet.
Yep, at least Clark seemed to have a modicum of respect for women. He seemed to treat her the same as he would any other rival. She would just love to get the opportunity to show him that beneath the conservative blazers beat the heart of a hot-blooded, passionate woman. She’d push him up against the wall, mash her lips against his and ...
Her chair tipped over and Lois fell on her butt on the floor, realising that she had spent the last half hour fantasising about Clark. It was the wake-up call she needed.
C’mon, Lane, forget about Luthor. He is so not your type.
She ordered some take-out so she could eat while she finished writing up all her notes. By the time she was done, she had about twenty minutes to get across town to Belinda Jenkins’ office.
The building was about as dilapidated as she recalled from her research. Frowning, she looked toward the guard station in the lobby, but the station was empty. The lift door was closing and she ran to catch it before it closed completely, thrusting a hand in between the doors.
As they opened to admit her, she stared at the other sole occupant.
“Oh no!”Comment
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