Okay, I said I had a sequal to 'Commitment' and here it is.
Caught
"Come on, Chloe, pick up the phone." Clark Kent muttered into the offending object. Finally, after five rings, the voice he wanted to hear answered.
"Clark, what do you want?" At his best friends tone, Clark looked at his watch. Two a.m. He had lost all sense of time working next to Lois.
"Sorry about the time, Chlo, but can I come over. I know you were sleeping, but I really need to talk to you."
He held his breath as Chloe deliberated, and before her positive answer was out completely, Clark was knocking at her door. She answered and he walked right on in and started. "God, Chloe, I slipped up. I didn't mean to do it, but it just sort of happened. I know she noticed something, and tried to ignore it, but I just couldn't. And then I had to compound the thing by doing it again. She may have ignored the first time, or tried to explain it away, but after the second time, there's no way I can explain it away. But I don't want to tell her. So, what do I do?"
Chloe watched him for a moment, and then tried to make sense of what he said. "Okay, first you can explain the situation to me. Who is 'she'? And how did you 'slip'? And could you please not babble like Lois? I mean, the more you to are together, the more you act like each other."
Clark started to deny the charge of babbling, but as he paused and went over his actions since walking in Chloe's door, he had to reconsider. "Okay, but that's not the point. Lois and I were working late at the Planet, she on her article, me on that research for Judd." He ignored Chloe's muttered 'knew it' and continued. "I was reading through some of the more technical aspects, I was reading a little faster than I should, but it was just the two of us, and Lois was absorbed in her own world, and I needed to-"
This time when Chloe interrupted, it was louder and he had to listen. "Clark, please tell me you did not wake me up in the middle of the night to tell me you were 'super-reading' in front of Lois? Which, by the way, is something you did in front of me thousands of times before I knew?"
Clark shook his head and continued. "No, of course not. I used my 'super-hearing' in front of her." And before Chloe could rip into him for that, he quickly added, "And responded to what I heard."
With that, Chloe's mouth dropped. "What exactly happened Clark?"
"I heard something I shouldn't have been able to hear, and responded to her." Chloe raised her eyebrows and waved her hand. "She was… tapping her pencil against her teeth. And it was ear-splitting. So, I asked her to stop. Nicely, something I normally wouldn't do, because I didn't want to mess up the fragile peace we had at work." Chloe nodded at that, because she remembered that time she went to the Planet to invite her best friend and cousin to lunch. Clark chuckled at the memory, and resumed his story. "She had no clue what I was talking about. So I told her about the tapping. That was when I realized I was using my 'super-hearing'. Lois said she could barely hear it, much less anyone else, especially someone sitting four feet away."
Clark watched as first, understanding, and then apprehension made its way across Chloe's face. "Okay, that's not too bad. We can deal with this. You've some things in front of Lois before. She'll just… put it under the weirdness that is Clark Kent." She paused and looked up to Clark with wide eyes. Lois in possession of Clark's secret. Chloe had no idea how her favorite cousin would react to it.
Clark hated to, but he had to dash his best friend's hope. "Maybe, but I… sorta did it…again. In a much less subtle way." He didn't think it was possible, but Chloe's eyes widened even farther and he heard her breathless 'oh God'. He nodded. "I told her I had to go, and left. My next slip up was when she muttered to herself. I heard it and responded. But I was in the elevator and there was no way anyone could have heard her. And she has proof. Lois wanted to know how to spell something and I texted her the correct spelling."
Clark watched as Chloe walked to her table and picked up a magazine and as she walked back, she rolled it up. Chloe then proceeded to hit Clark with the rolled up magazine. Clark let her hit him; he just made sure she didn't hurt her wrist by resisting slightly. After a few minutes, Chloe gave up on hitting her friend. "God, Clark, could you have been anymore obvious?! Didn't fly out of the window in front of her, did you?" She hit him one more time, for good measure, even if it didn't hurt him.
All of a sudden, there was a knock at Chloe's door. Clark looked through and mouthed 'Lois'. "Great", and a little louder, "Who is it?" for pretence sakes. Then she ushered Clark into her room. A muffled 'Lois' came through door. Chloe went to answer the door and her cousin came rushing through the opening.
Just like Clark a few minutes before, Lois started. "Chloe, I know he's your best friend, but that man is just plain weird. Now, normally when he shows up in just the right place at just the right time, I ignore the questions that run though my head, because nine times out of ten, he had just saved me, you, or both of us. Or some stranger he doesn't even know. But this, this was different! I was working! No danger what-so-ever! And he had to distract me just when I was on a roll! Why?! Because I was tapping my pencil against my teeth! I mean, I could barely hear it; I could feel it, but not hear it!" She pauses for a second to take a breath, and then picks up speed again. "But that was one thing. I maybe could have ignored even that. But he runs away, something akin to fear on his face, and then does something even more impossible! He texts me with the spelling of 'commitment'. What's so wrong with that, you may ask? Well, nothing except that he was already in a closed elevator when I mumbled my complaint!" With that, Lois throws her hands up and collapses on the couch, seemingly tired from pacing the floor and only taking one breath through her entire rant. She closes her eyes and continues at a slightly slower pace. "I mumbled Chloe! How on earth did that… that… even hear me? Huh, Chlo?" Lois opens her eyes and sees Chloe looking up to the ceiling, and then sigh. "You okay, cuz? I know it's late, but I really needed to talk. God, I just don't get him. You know, I would never admit it to him, but…" Lois stops talking at Chloe's signal of waving her arms and cutting her hand across her neck.
"Thank you Lois. While I would love to hear the end to that sentence, the BDA," Chloe emphasizes the nickname, "you don't want to admit to can hear you. He's in the bedroom."
Lois looks confused for a second, but then Clark, correctly taking Chloe's hint, walks into to the living room, a sheepish look on his face. "He's here? Of course he's here!" Lois stands up and starts laughing. "Where else would he be? Thank you for telling me Chloe, before I got around to really spilling my guts." She turns to face Clark. "Now you are going to answer some questions. First off, how the heck did you hear me from a CLOSED elevator?" Clark starts to say something, but Lois continues. "How do you ALWAYS manage to get there whenever Chloe or I need a little help getting out of a situation?" The other two snort at Lois's understatement, but after Lois glares at them, they stop. "God, I put up with a lot, but I've had enough. I want answers." Lois pauses for a second, and then says one more thing. "And what on earth does BDA mean?"
Chloe and Clark exchange looks. Clark raises his eyebrows, Chloe shrugs her shoulders, Clark bites his lip and runs his hand through his hair and Chloe raises her eyebrows and waves her hand.
Lois gets impatient and prods, "Well? Answers people. And, Chloe, when did you get so well-versed in the Kent family non-verbal?"
Clark sighs. "Well, Lois, please sit down."
A/N: This is the second one-shot of three, well, Commitment wasn't exactly a ONE-shot, but still. Part three will be up soon.