A siren wailed in the distance. Clark tilted his head toward the sound, expanding his super-hearing, his brow furrowing as the sound of more sirens joined the first. This was a job for the Blur. The only problem? One, Lois Lane.
As the sound of the first siren piqued Clark's interest, Lois had been trying to convince Clark that monster-trucks, in their own special way were better than sex – in her experience. At least, she argued, they were more exciting. It was so much fun for her as his face colored a deeper shade of with each passing second of the conversation. That was why she was annoyed when he stopped paying attention to her risqué comments to stare off into space. A part of her hoped that he was thinking about her – naked. But the sane part of her hoped he wasn't because her Smallville shouldn't be thinking those sorts of thoughts – unless he was willing to act on them. To her surprise his brow furrows and his expression grew grave. Now she knew he wasn't thinking about her naked or clothed, she hoped. Suddenly Clark stood up and told Lois,
"I forgot. I have a dentist appointment today. I have to go." He moved towards the door walking quickly, leaving Lois to her internal monologue.
Smallville going to the dentist? For some reason Lois didn't believe it. Yes he had a perfect smile, with a mouthful of white teeth but something about him sitting in a chair with all those tools hovering over him…
"Whoa there Smallville," Lois called as Clark was exiting through the door. He looked back at her, his eyes filled with anticipation.
"What is it Lois?" Clark asked, trying to keep the exasperation of his voice. "Can it wait?"
Taken aback by his tone, Lois assumed her most Lois Lane-ish stance and said, "No, it can't wait. Smallville you can't go to the dentist alone."
"I can't?" Clark asked, confusion spreading across his face.
"No. You're afraid of needles and any other sharp object or did you forget? I can't let you go without someone being there so you can hold her hand if you get scared."
"Are you volunteering for the job?" Clark asked with an impish smile.
She thought for a moment before replying, "Yes, I am. So let's go."
Clark hesitated. He had almost forgotten about his Blur duties thanks to Lois' kind gesture. Lois turned back to see Clark standing in the same place she left him, looking apprehensive. She marched back to him, grabbed his hand and pulled. Slowly Clark began to move toward the elevator, his eyes concentrating on their intertwined fingers. Shaking his head, Clark realized he had to get away from Lois.
"Uh Lois?"
"What Smallville?"
"I think I'm going to be sick."
Clark pulled his hand away from Lois and put his other over his mouth feigning nausea and dashed off toward the bathroom at normal speed, pushed open the door and entered before speeding off toward the sound of chaos he had heard.
Upon arriving at the scene, Clark notices a blockade of police cars surrounding an old building on the wharf. X-raying the decrepit building, Clark saw a man holding four other people hostage. Speeding in, he used his heat vision on the gun that was pointed towards a hostage's temple, snapped the bonds on the hostages and grabbed the man and rushed him into the back of a police car.
Clark was on his way back to The Planet when he realized that Lois was planning on going to the dentist with him. There was no way around that, not that he could think of. He needed a plan and he needed it quickly. Instead of heading back to The Planet bathroom where he supposed to be vomiting, Clark headed towards Watchtower.
Chloe was typing a complex sequence into the nearest computer when she felt the back of her hair blow in a gust of wind.
"Clark!" Chloe cried. "How nice of you to stop by."
"Well, I'm afraid it's a quick visit Chloe. I'm supposed to be sick in the bathroom of the Planet."
When Chloe opened her mouth to question why he was supposed to be vomiting, he simply replied, "Lois."
"Oh, so you had to escape for Blur duty. Nice save by the way."
"Thanks. But Chloe that's not why I'm here. It's why I had to excuse myself to the bathroom in the first place," Clark reeled off before sighing heavily. "I told her I had a dentist appointment."
"A dentist appointment? Really, Clark?" Chloe asked, between small bursts of laughter.
"It was the only thing I could think of at the time. And now she wants to go with me!"
"What? Lois wants to go to the dentist with you? Why?"
"Because I'm supposedly scared of needles – Chloe, this isn't funny! What am I going to do?"
"You're right Clark it's not funny – even though it is. But I think I have an idea, why don't you head back to The Planet and I'll send you the information for my evil plan."
"Thanks Chloe, you're a lifesaver."
"That's my job," Chloe said with a smile.
Clark blurred out of the Watchtower leaving Chloe shaking her head in amusement. Clark really needed to work on his lying skills. Back at The Planet, Lois paced outside of the men's room waiting for Clark to emerge. She hadn't heard him throw up but she could tell he was nervous. She probably never should have brought up his fear of needles. She'd give him another minute to collect himself and then she was going in. Thirty seconds before her self-imposed deadline, Clark emerged wiping his head face with a paper towel.
"Feeling better?"
"A little bit. Your pep talk helped a lot. Although your rambling about the inner intricacies of the human gastrointestinal track was a bit disturbing."
"Well I figured if you were already sick, then there was no way I could make it worse."
"Lois you are truly amazing," Clark said, with a wicked grin. Lois fought the deep urge to blush and was upset when a little color made its way to her cheeks. Turning away, Lois marched back towards the elevator, with Clark in tow their hands once again intertwined.
"Come on Smallville, we don't want to be late. Where is this dentist of yours again?"
At that moment, Clark felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. Taking it out, he looked at the message from Chloe:
Clark. Appt. is all set. Address is 25th and Baker. Have fun!
Pretending that he was looking at the calendar on his phone Clark told her, "25th and Baker."
"Good, that's not too far. Let's walk."
"Sounds good."
When they reached the ground floor, they made their way toward the exit their hands still clasped. It wasn't until they had reached the doors that Lois noticed she only had one free hand. She looked down in shock and saw Clark's strong hand in her own, it felt like it was a part of her own arm, like it was impossible to tell where she ended and he began. Glancing around to see if anyone else had noticed, Lois swore silently under her breath as a few of her colleagues stared at the two cub reporters. Quickly, Lois dropped Clark's hand, causing him to look over at her in surprise. He hadn't noticed that they were still holding hands either. It felt odd not holding her hand, but if she wasn't comfortable with it, there was no way he could force her.
They left The Planet and turned left. Walking in a comfortable silence, Lois and Clark neared their destination. 25th and Baker was a small 4 story, brownstone style building. On a gold placard outside of the building was the name: "Dr. Greg Ford, D.D.S."
Confused, Clark rang the bell outside the building and waited. Slowly, the door opened and a short portly man appeared on the other side, smiling a crooked grin.
"Clark Kent?" the man asked. When Clark nodded, he stepped aside and ushered them in. "Right on time. And who's your friend?"
"This is my partner from work, Lois Lane."
"Lois Lane, eh? I've read your articles miss, you're a thumping good reporter."
"Uh, thank you. It's always nice to hear from readers," Lois said to the man.
"No problem, miss. Right this way, the doctor will see you shortly."
Los and Clark sat in the small waiting room that was covered with magazines about health and hygiene and had that sterile smell that all offices of that nature had. Lois never liked that smell, the same way she didn't like hospitals. But this was different. No one was sick, Smallville was just getting his teeth cleaned. Nothing bad would happen, not with Clark there anyway. She always felt safer around him, like nothing could hurt her. It was the best feeling in the world, but she would never admit that to him.
As Lois sat in her own thoughts, she didn't notice Clark's eyebrows jump up in surprise when the doctor came in. It was Emil Hamilton, Oliver's on call doctor for their band of superheroes. Leave it to Chloe to get Emil to pose as a dentist for the sake of Lois. It could be worse; he could actually be at the office of real dentist who wouldn't understand his alien physiology. Come to think of it, Clark wasn't even sure if his teeth were any different than human teeth. He'd never thought about it.
"Mr. Kent. Ms. Lane. I'm ready for you now."
Lois jumped up and held her hand out to Clark, he readily placed his in hers and they followed the doctor to the exam room.
"Now Mr. Kent, you're here for a cleaning correct?"
"Yes Dr. Ford. A cleaning."
"And Ms. Lane?"
"I'm here for moral support," she replied, with a tiny smile playing across her lips.
"Well, then let's get to it. Mr. Kent, if you could take a seat here then we'll begin with a brief history of your past dentist visits."
A look of sheer panic appeared on Clark's face. A history of past visits? He'd never been to the dentist before, surely Emil knew that. When he saw Emil give him a quick glance, he relaxed. Emil was a professional; he knew what he was doing. This was for show on the part of Lois so she wouldn't become suspicious. He had to remember to thank the doctor for that later if this crazy plan worked out.
"How often do you go to the dentist?"
With a quick glance at Lois, Clark replied, "Once a year usually. I don't really like to come because I'm not too fond of sharp objects. But I take really great care of my teeth."
"So, I take it you brush regularly?"
Clark nodded his head.
"Okay, well why don't we get started. Just relax and this will all be over soon. Clark leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes, he could feel Lois' thumb running over his knuckles in a soothing pattern. He began to nod off. When he came to, Lois was sitting next to him smiling, her hand still in his.
"Clark, I'm so proud of you. You were so brave. I thought you were going to faint when he came at you with the drill, but you made it."
Clark looked around and found Emil's eyes. A swift shake of the head told Clark to go along with what Lois was saying.
"Oh, me too. Thanks for being here with me. I don't think I could have done it without you."
Clark got up to leave, Lois trailing behind him. He turned to face her, there was something slightly off about her expression.
"Hey Lois?"
"Yeah Clark?"
"Could I talk to the doctor for a minute? Alone?"
"Sure, I'll be right here."
"Thanks."
Clark led her to the door and then closed it. Twirling around he looked at Emil.
"What the hell is going on?"
"I'm afraid you'll have to ask the blonde wondergirl. She just told me to show up here as fast as possible and to pretend I was your dentist. I'm sure nothing harmful has happened to Ms. Lane. I seriously doubt that Chloe would do anything to harm her cousin."
"Yeah, you're right. I'll ask Chloe later. Thanks for your help Emil."
"Anytime Clark."
Clark exited the door and found Lois standing a little down the hallway staring at a portrait of a grand meadow with beautiful colors dancing upon the canvas. It was mesmerizing. She wasn't sure why she was so interested in the painting but there was sense of familiarity about it that she couldn't explain. Maybe it was like a place she had visited in her dreams, with her and Clark walking side by side, talking about insignificant things and then kissing in the long blades of grass. Yes, that had to be it.
"Lois?"
"Ready to go?"
"Yeah, thanks again for coming with me."
"No problem Clark. I've got your back."
"I know Lois, I know."
"So the day's pretty much over now, what do you want to do?"
"I have a story to file back at The Planet. But how about I go take care of that and we can get something to eat. I'll meet you at Gino's. Does that sound okay?"
"It sounds great. See you at Gino's," Lois smiled. Had Clark Kent just asked her on a date? She was pretty sure he had and she was excited, because he was finally taking some initiative. That's what she liked about him. Even though it took him long enough, she knew he would do it eventually.
Clark sped to back to The Planet, filed his story and then went back to Watchtower. Chloe Sullivan had some answering to do.
"What happened?"
"Clark, two visits in one day? How thrilling?"
"Chloe," Clark said in an even tone. "What did you do to Lois to make her think I'd gotten a dental exam?"
"I didn't do anything to Lois."
"Then why does she think I got my teeth cleaned and that I 'almost fainted when he came at me with the drill'?"
"Like I said, I didn't do anything to Lois. I did something to you."
"What?" Clark asked, taken aback. "You did something to me? What?"
"I figured out a way to create an anesthetic that would work on Kryptonians. It causes you to become unconscious but for some reason you still seem alert to everything around you. In other words you don't remember what happened."
"Chloe! That's ridiculous. Besides, why would you make an anesthetic for Kryptonian?"
"Clark you never know when we might need it. Don't give me that look. It's top secret and I'm the only person who knows anything about it, expect of course you now. But if you're that worried I'll destroy it, just give me the sign."
"No, that's okay. You're right you never know when we might need it. But never use it on me again without my permission."
"Sure thing."
"Great. Thanks again Chlo, you helped me out of a tight jam."
"That's my other job," she told him with a smile.
Clark sped away and made his way toward Gino's. The pizza there may be the best but that wasn't what attracted him to the little pizzeria. It was the prospect of a date with Lois Lane. The best person in the entire world. And the woman who his world revolved around.