Chapter One:
Clark Kent pushed the double doors open and entered the Metropolis Talon. He glanced over the large, early morning crowd, before making his way over to a table hidden away in a corner. Without saying a word, he pulled back a chair and took a seat, before focusing his attention on the man sitting opposite him.
His companion instantly looked around, trying to flag down one of the many waitresses.
"You took you're sweet time." The man said to Clark, as he finally got the attention of an employee walking past. "I've been waiting for half an hour."
"Sorry, Seeley." Clark said with a smile. "I know how precise you are...My alarm Clock didn't go off. Third time this month." He added as he placed a suitcase on the table.
Seeley remained quiet until the employee he flagged down a minute ago finally came to their table.
"Sorry about the wait, guys." The brunette women said, "Monday morning's are always busiest. I'm Lana Lang; I'm the co-owner, and Manager. So, what would you guys like to order?"
Seeley's lips curled into a smile, before replying. "I'd like a piece of your Apple Pie, and a Cappuccino, please."
The Manager nodded her head with a smile. "Good choice." She noted happily, before looking to Clark.
"Um, alright; I'll have a Cappuccino as well then." He said after a few seconds of thought.
Lana smiled, raising an eyebrow. "No pie?" She asked curiously. "I made it myself, this morning."
Clark sighed slightly, a smile slowly taking over his features. "In that case; who am I to refuse."
The petite women blushed, before nodding her head happily again. "Great; I'll be right back with your orders."
"Ok, thank you." Seeley said, butting back into the conversation.
Lana turned and left them to go and fix their order.
"Speaking of 'orders'...what are ours?" Seeley finally asked, glancing at the briefcase.
Clark glanced around, before clicking the locks open. "I'm not sure; I haven't had time to look. They dropped it off on my door step this morning."
Opening the case, he slowly extracted some files.
"Seeley Booth – Your new Alias is Liam Parker." Clark said with a slight smile, handing a blue file over the table to Seeley. "And I'm your five year younger brother, Nick." He added, glancing at his own blue file.
"Ok. I can live with that. But what are we doing here in Metropolis?" Seeley asked.
"I hate lying to the public." Clark said quietly, before looking up to Liam. "We've been brought in to Investigate one Alexander Luthor; just returned home here, from running the LuthorCorp fertilizer plant in Smallville.
"Accused of murdering his father, Lionel Luthor, he was arrested, but never stood trial. FBI also believe that he took his father's place as head of Inter-Gang." Clark said, finishing what little they had on him.
"It says here I'm unemployed..." Seeley said, trailing off, as he read his file again.
"I'm playing an eccentric billionaire...I guess you're supposed to be my muscle." Clark said with a grin at his partner.
Seeley remained silent, eyes still fixed on his file.
Not even a minute later, Lana returned with their orders. Placing them down in front of them, she stood up straight, watching them.
"I haven't see you two around here before. You new to the area?" She asked after a few seconds of observation.
Clark looked up with a raised eyebrow. "Um, no. I grew up in Smallville –"
"- we grew up in Smallville." Seeley said, after kicking Clark subtly in the shin. "The name's Liam Parker –" He added, offering her his hand. "This is my little brother, Nick."
"Well," Lana said, shaking both of their offered hands, "It's a pleasure to meet you both." She turned around to look over to the counter. "I'll be right back; the coffee machine's gone up the wall." She explained quickly, glancing back to them, before rushing off to help the waitresses crowding around it.
"Nice girl." Clark said admiringly, after watching her leave and returning his attention back to Seeley.
Seeley stared at him for a few seconds, with a smile on his face. "You like her." He stated simply. His smile faded, as he shook his head. "You know you can't do anything with her, if a proper relationship is what you're looking for."
Clark sighed, nodding in defeat. "I know." He then thought back to Seeley's circumstances. "How's Becca and Parker?" He asked, referring to Seeley's ex-girlfriend and seven year old son.
The man thought about it for a moment, "They're alright. Becca's started dating, Parker's busy with school."
Clark nodded in understanding. Seeley wasn't allowed to see his son anymore, because Becca fell out with him when he started dating back when he lived in Washington.
Seeley quickly changed topics, as he didn't like discussing his situation. "When's our first contact?"
Clark picked up a brown file and scanned it. "A charity event." He then smiled. "It looks like Bruce is helping the FBI with this one. He's the host for the evening. He wouldn't host an event here in Metropolis unless he's been asked to."
Seeley smiled slightly in agreement, before starting on his pie.
Clark took a sip of his cappuccino before flipping the page. "Two invitations; both + 1 guest." Clark said, thinking for a second, before glancing up and over to the coffee machine.
"Not a good idea, Clark." Seeley said, instantly knowing what the other was thinking. "I'm not saying you can't...Just...be careful. You know how it's going to turn out in the end; it's inevitable."
Clark remained silent, still watching Lana from across the room, as she finally got the machine working.
"What if this time's different?" He finally asked.
Seeley smiled ruefully, chuckling slightly. "You could say that every time you meet a women...in the end; it wouldn't make the slightest bit of difference. We're undercover, Clark. She can't know what we really do. It would jeopardise the assignment. You know what people like Luthor can, and will do, to get information.
"And anyway; what makes you think Lana's not already taken?" Seeley asked with a raised eyebrow.
"No ring; or more specifically, no jewellery what so ever. What man doesn't buy his girlfriend jewellery?" Clark asked rhetorically, looking the woman in question over once again. "She has light make-up on; even though she's a natural beauty, which means she wants to make herself look even more beautiful just in case Mr. Right walks through the door; without looking desperate. Which, if I may say, she doesn't need to be. She could have her pick of guys." He finished, picking up his drink and swallowing a mouthful.
"You really thought that through, didn't you?" Seeley asked with a laugh.
"Well, if I was planning on asking her out; I'd need to know that, wouldn't I?"
Seeley bobbed his head in agreement, before finishing off his pie. "You've only just met her. What makes you want to ask her out on a date?"
Clark shrugged slightly. "I don't know. My instincts are great," He said with a grin, "So; I'm going to follow them on this."
His partner rolled his eyes, before taking a small sip of his drink. "Anyway, back to business. When is this Charity Event?" He asked, placing his cappuccino back down.
Clark glanced down at the file. "Thursday night. Four days to prepare for First Contact. Get everything we need, sort out our background story –"
"- and get our mannerisms down to perfection. I know, Clark. I've been doing this for eight years."
"I know, Clark. I've been doing this for eight years..." Clark muttered under his breath in his best imitation for Seeley, before shrugging. "So? Five years is a long time, too. And I think I'd know how long you've been doing this for; I was keeping tabs on you after you left the Rangers.
Sarge, I forgot my Side arm!" Clark imitated one of their old squad mates when they were back in their squad of seven.
"I don't care about your side arm, Watson, where on earth is your Rifle?" Seeley chuckled, quickly finishing off his drink, nodding his head at the memory of when they're plane jump went wrong and they lost some of their equipment when they landed on foreign soil. He then looked up to him.
"I better go and beg Cullen for our funds. We'll need a fair bit if you're supposed to be a billionaire; and he knows what you're like with other people's money." He said, as he chucked the Styrofoam cup into the rubbish bin.
He stood up and pushed in his chair, before reaching into his back pocket and chucking a leather wallet at him. "Keep it safe in that little briefcase of yours. If I don't get it back at the end of this assignment; you'll have hell to pay."
Clark smiled, and gave off an informal kind of salute, saying, "Sir, yes, sir."
Seeley rolled his eyes once again before walking off and out of the Talon.
Left alone, Clark drummed his fingers against the table, continuing reading the files given to him.
"Can I get you anything else?" a voice said, coming out of seemingly no-where.
Clark looked up, startled, automatically lowering the top of the briefcase over the files.
"Lana, hi." He said, grinning slightly.
"Hi," Lana said, her nose scrunching up cutely as she returned his grin.
"I'm alright at the moment, thanks." He said without thinking.
Lana looked slightly disappointed, but gave a nod, and an "Ok," before turning to leave.
"Actually..." Clark said, reconsidering.
She turned back to look at him with a raised eyebrow.
"Um. I have a + 1 guest invitation to Bruce Wayne's Charity Event on Thursday night...I know we've only just met, and we know absolutely nothing about each other; but, I was wondering if you'd like to attend it with me."
Lana tried to speak, her mouth opening and closing, until she shut it resolutely. "Why me?" She finally asked, "I mean, surely you could have any girl you wanted hanging off your arm if you invited them to an Event like that..."
"Because you're not like other girls -...I should say, women." Clark replied, before shrugging, and taking another sip of his cappuccino. "If you don't want to go, then, that's fine, I mean; you're right. I could have my pick of anyone."
"No, no!" Lana said hurriedly, before pausing and collecting herself. "I mean; yes. I'd love to go with you."
Clark smiled and nodded. "Ok, then. I'll have a limousine come and pick you up at seven, on Thursday. I may, or may not, be inside. What's your address?" He asked.
Lana nodded. "Here, actually. I live in the apartment up there." She said, indicating up the spiralling staircase built over on the other side of the room.
Clark laughed slightly, "of course. Handy for the Manager."
Lana smiled, and sat in the now vacant seat. "So; what do you do for a living, Nick?" She asked, cocking her head to the side slightly.
"I owned a small farming business back in Smallville." Clark said, making it up on the fly. "We lent out farm hands, machinery, things like that. The business did really well, so when I had enough money, I chose to expand the company, and we set up in Granville, Coffeyville, Wichita and Topeka. All these places did really well, too, so we went on to do other stuff. Me and my brother set up Parker Inc. and we got an R&D Division going; and then followed the trend. We were lucky enough to get help, and advice from Bruce Wayne in a legal, and official capacity.
"We now deal in Technology, Biotech, Foods, Shipping, Chemicals, Industries and Entertainment. Our estimated turn-over last year was $29.3 billion, while we still run the Smallville farming business."
Lana's mouth was open in shock again. "So; you're a millionaire?" She asked.
Clark smiled. "Billionaire." He corrected her.
"How come I've never heard of Parker Inc.?" She asked, "I've heard of the likes of Wayne Enterprises, LuthorCorp and Queen Industries."
"Because we don't do much with Public Relations." Clark said with a shrug. "We don't need it. We only deal with the people we need to deal with. Too much stress for such a little thing."
Lana remained silent for a few seconds, before saying, "Wow, I'm talking to a Billionaire."
Clark laughed, and gave her a sad smiled. "Yeah. I usually get a reaction like that." He said, as he looked down at his now empty Styrofoam cup.
Lana gasped slightly. "I'm sorry, I know, I mean, I don't know, but I can understand...never knowing who you can trust because of the money and everything –"
"- Lana; relax." Clark finally said with a happier smile.
"Sorry." She said with a grin.
"No problem."
Lana glanced over her shoulder, before returning her attention back to Clark. "I...need to get back to work." She said hesitantly.
"Ok, don't worry about it. I have things to do soon anyway." He lied, making a show of glancing at his watch.
Lana nodded with a smile. "Of course you do; you don't become a Billionaire by sitting around drinking cups of cappuccino's all day." She said, standing up. "Um, tomorrow; my lunch break. Do you think we could grab a coffee or something? By the looks of things I'm not going to be getting a lunch break today."
Clark nodded his head enthusiastically. "Sure. Can I have your number, so I can ring you?" He asked.
"You already have it." She replied, cocking her head to the side again, before skipping off.
Clark laughed slightly at her behaviour, and with a frown, looked at the most obvious place. Written quickly in blue ink on the napkin she'd given him with his order were her digits.
He smiled to himself, and grabbed Seeley's spare wallet, before chucking it into his briefcase, which was now laying fully open. He then reached into his own back pocket and chucked in his own, too.
They lay there, both open, almost identical.
'DEPARTMENT of INVESTIGATION
'DEPARTMENT of INVESTIGATION
FBI FBI
SPECIAL AGENT Clark Kent' SPECIAL
AGENT Seeley Booth'