A/N: This is a sequel, of sorts, to The Key To Home, The Key To Me, The Key To A Daughter, and The Key To Anger
The Key To Personnel
He sat at his desk enjoying a moment of relative silence. The bottle with it's amber elixir sat in front of him, tempting him, teasing him, offering release from the stress of his last meeting. Replaying it in his mind, he let a rueful smile grow on his weathered face.
--
"Olsen!" He yelled toward his open door, "Get in here!"
"Yes, Chief?" Jimmy Olsen responded, poking his head into the office.
"Get me Lane!"
"Yes, Chief." He replied with a smile plastered across his young face.
"And don't call me Chief!"
"Yes, Chief!" Was his response, with a bob of his head.
Barely thirty seconds had passed before he heard the rapid clacking his ace reporter's heels, on the tile of the newsroom, and Lois Lane strode into his office - right up to his desk. Her breath was rapid, and he guessed that Olsen had caught her as she was leaving on another story; poor boy.
"This needs to be quick; I've got a meeting uptown with an informant in twenty minutes."
"Lois, I've decided to assign you a partner…"
"I work alone!" She almost snarled.
"Lois, you do more than any other reporter I've ever worked with, but you need help."
"No I don't…"
Interrupting, his face took on the hard quality of the season veteran that had been there and done that, and went back for more. "Did it look like I was making a suggestion? I wasn't making a suggestion. I am the Editor-In-Chief of this paper, and I am assigning you a partner."
"I don't need a partner!" She was adamant in her abilities and independence.
"Lois, I want you to take him under your wing and…"
"I'm not a baby-sitter!" The vehemence in her voice was unmistakable.
"You won't be baby-sitting. This young man is dependable and resourceful. He is also the bravest SOB I've ever met!"
"I'm a reporter, not a teacher. Anyway, I don't have time to teach him how to be a reporter."
"You don't need to; he's an excellent writer, a tireless researcher, and the fastest typist I've ever seen."
With a sigh, she partially relented. "When did you meet this 'Wunderkind'?"
"I met him several years ago, when he was a teenager, in Smallville, Kansas."
"What were you doing with a teenage boy?"
Ignoring her insolence and innuendo, he answered. "He saved my worthless ass twice; three times if you count inspiring me to get off the sauce."
He saw her eyes narrow as she sorted out the personal information she had received. "When you say 'saved you life', you're being metaphorical, right?"
"No, Lois. I mean I would be dead if not for him."
"You mean…?"
"Bug-on-a-windshield, burnt toast, six feet under; dead!"
"OK. When do I meet this, super-teen?" She asked with disdain.
"Turn around."
When she turned to look at the previously unnoticed man, he saw her lean her head back so she could see the face of her new partner. For a moment there was silence as the two locked eyes for the first time.
The silence grew until she broke the stare and strode past him without a backward glance.
"Keep up, Smallville!" She yelled.
Clark smiled at him before rushing out of his office; over turning a chair in the process.
--
The smile stayed on his face as he returned the unopened bottle to the back of his desk's file drawer.
Taking another bottle from it's permanent place on his desk, he shook out three aspirin and downed them before taking a swig of his cold coffee,
He answered his intercom with his customary gruffness. "What is it?"
"Personnel is on line two."
Picking up the receiver, he punched the lit button. "White, here."
"Mr. White. This is Miss Pyle in Personnel. You wanted to know when Mr. Kent's paperwork had been processed."
"Yes, is everything in order?"
"Yes sir it is. There is one point you might want to know about, to avoid possible future complications. There maybe possible employee conduct..."
"Go ahead."
"He and Miss Lane have the same address."
"As in they live in the same building?"
"No sir. As in they live in the same apartment."
"Thank you, Miss Pyle." He gruffed as he put the receiver back in it's cradle.
Sitting up, he interlocked his fingers behind his head and leaned back. A far away look came to his eyes as he sat there processing the new information.
Sitting up, he shook his head and smiled to himself. "Mr. Kent," he said aloud to no one. "For someone who wants to go unnoticed, you sure do some interesting things."
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The End