Chloe walked up the steps to her condo, it had been a long day indeed. It was one thing to be the Ace reporter for the Daily Planet, quite another to do it all by yourself. One Pulitzer led to a string of them. It started with a clincher on white collar crime. The very recent was the 'no child left behind rule'. The government in Metropolis had aimed that at able bodied children. It was the ones with a physical of psychological disadvantages that were left to fend for themselves. Chloe, the champion to the little guy was saving Metropolis one printed story at a time. She had exciting friends, her bestest one strutted around town in blue spandex, red underwear outside his suit, and a red flapping cape.

She chuckled to her self every time she thought of him. She always calls him Captain Underpants in private, he really does prefer Superman.

Her cousin, the one who had started her career at that sleaze magazine, was a top reporter, of the travel variety. She never got the hang of staying in place long enough compliments of her being an army brat. It was a good thing since her fiancée could zoom across the globe, heck he could circle the globe three times in 10 min. They were the most awkward, match made in heaven. Lois was brash, blunt and tough as nails, but Clark, for what ever reason fell in love with her charm. She fell in love with well everything; chest, abs, tush, eyes and his capacity to care for every living thing. He had a job as a freelance reporter so he could hero where ever he was needed.

Chloe opened her door while flipping through her mail; catalog, catalog, bill, bill, bill, bill, bill, ads. "Good grief!" she spoke out loud. She entered, closed her door, locked it and sighed. 'So good to be home.' She toed off her heels and dumped her mail on the stand next to the door. All she wanted to do was take a hot bubble bath, drink a glass or two of wine, and maybe order in a pizza. Bath was definitely first. She took off her blazer and set in on the arm of her couch. She took a moment to look over her condo. 'When did this get so plain?' she sighed.

She used to have flashy colors and eclectic furnishings, but as her fame grew her time to shop shrank. She had a decorator that tell her that white was the new black, what ever that meant. She was about to head to the kitchen when there was a knock at her door. She made her way over to it and peaked into her peep hole. It was the UPS guy, and if she remembered correctly he was Mr. January of the Mail Male calendar. She chuckled. She opened up the door he had a couple of boxes for her. She never called him by name it was always, "Hey January, how you doin?" he would laugh. She signed for the boxes and toed them into her condo. She then thanked him and again shut and locked her door. She stared down at them and decided that wine and a bath took precedence over opening them. She looked at the label, they were from Lois and Clark anyway. "They can wait…me first." She sighed and went to the kitchen poured a glass of wine and then went into the master bath for a good soak…..

It was a couple hours later when she finally got around to the boxes. She had ordered in, had another glass of wine, and got distracted by the notes of her next story on the strange goings on at Luthor Corp. The building had been abandoned for years. Lex had cracked after his dad died and disappeared one day without a trace. There had been several small fires and homeless people had been reported missing around the area. A lot of activity for an abandoned building, Chloe's gut told her there was a story there.

She scooted the boxes next to the couch and opened the larger of the two. The first was a fertility statue. Chloe shook her head, only Lois would send her something like that. The card inside said, "All work and no play makes Chloe a dull woman." When she opened the smaller of the two she scrunched her face at what was inside. It had a strange looking bottle in it. Almost like a giant perfume bottle with a weird type cap to it. It was pretty; green and black, with tiny arrow shadowed on the glass. The note in that box read, "Found this in a bazaar. Your place is too plain, try a splash of color. I will be back in town in 3weeks." Chloe picked it up out of the box and held it up to the light, The glass was opaque. She turned it around to examine the detail on the glass, it was kind of dusty, almost smudgy. She stood and went and placed it on her mantle over her fire place. 'Smudgy or not, cleaning is a Saturday thing' She had one more day of work for the week and it was well past her bed time….

Friday was pure unadulterated torture. Odd robberies were occurring around town, people were disappearing and the mayor was seen at a local hotel with a less than savory reputation. Chloe was done in. By the time she got home, she was absolutely fried. She kicked off her shoes and went into the kitchen and poured a glass of wine. It was Friday at last and she was going to enjoy this weekend. She made her way to the couch and plopped down on it and turned on her TV. She sighed as she looked at her mantle and the bottle was on its side. She shook her head and stood and straightened it out, then went into her bed room to change. Sweat pants, oversize shirt and fuzzy slippers. She made her way back into her living room and stretched out on the couch…..

He was kissing her, the hottest kiss of her life. His hands were everywhere and she was reveling in the touch. She looked up to see the brownest eyes she had ever seen. His skin was slicked with sweat. She got a glimpse of his chest and abs and thought she was looking at sin itself. He kissed her forehead and cheeks and chin, "Help me…" he whispered.

"What?"

"Hellllppp meee."

She sat bolt upright. She wasn't sure how long she had been asleep, she hadn't even realized she fell asleep. Now she was sure she needed to take a cold shower. She hadn't had a dream like that well, ever. She looked around her condo and saw that the bottle was on its side again. She yawned, stretched, stood up, and went to the bottle.

It was intriguing. The light played with the glass and she thought she saw words dance across the glass. She picked it up and took it to the lamp to see it in better light. There was an inscription but it was covered with a smudge and it was hard to read. She took the hem of her shirt and rubbed at the smudge. It wouldn't come off so she set it on her coffee table to go and get some cleaner from her bathroom. She made it into the bathroom when she heard a thud. She slowly made her way back to the living room where she saw the lamp on its side, the lid was off and green smoke was pouring out of the top. She stopped and watched in complete shock.

The green haze got very, very thick and then as quickly as it appeared it started to thin and what was left made her jaw drop. There was a very tall blond man with his back to her, and what a back side indeed. His muscles had muscles. He was wearing loose shorts and was bare foot. She dropped her cleaning bottle and when he turned, she gasped.

"Where am I?" he asked. He took a step toward her and she was frozen in place. He was…wow. Muscles and tan; sex on a stick. He had tattoos around both biceps. "Please, I've been in that bottle a long time with no one to talk to, a conversation would be nice, you can speak can't you?"

"Who-who-who are you?" she spoke backing away from him.

"She speaks." He smiled. "I take it I'm not in Cairo any more?" he spoke and turned to survey his surroundings. Chloe couldn't move.

"I'm sorry did you say you were in the bottle?"

"Yes, I did." He spoke turning to face her again. "So you're my master now huh?" he asked giving her a once over.

Chloe laughed, "Uh no" she shook her head and walked past him. "I'm nobody's master."

"I hate to inform you of the obvious but uh, you rubbed the lamp right?" he asked with a cat eat canary grin.

"Well yeah. So?"

"And I'm here in front of you, I'm positive I'm not imagining you."

"Ok. I'm not sure who you are but you are definitely crazy. Men don't live in bottles,"

"Technically it's a lamp." He smiled as he watched her start to pace in her living room.

"Well that makes this so much less crazy. Cause if that's a lamp that would make you…." She stopped. "You would be..a…a,"

"a…" he tried to encourage her to say it.

"Wow I must be totally hypoglycemic, I missed dinner. This isn't real."

He smiled and snapped his fingers and a lobster dinner on an elegant table was before her. The smells waifted to her nose and she started to salivate. "That real enough for you?" She took a step toward the table.

"So.. you … you're …I mean a real….."

"Say it with me master, genie."

"Genie? That's ridiculous." She laughed and took a step and then fainted dead away