Here's the next part. Thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far


Phase 2: Reinforcements
"Over here, Lucy!" Chloe called out as she shrugged out of her trench coat and casually tossed her hat to the table. The young woman, Lois's sister, turned to look in the direction in which she was being summoned and shot Chloe a smile. It quickly turned quizzical as she saw Chloe's discarded outfit, but she took a seat opposite her none the less.

"What's with the costume?"

"It's all part of the plan," Chloe answered seriously and pushed the articles of clothing under the booth as she noticed Martha Kent step into The Talon.

"The plan?"

"I'll explain in a second, Shelby couldn't make it—"

"As in the Kent's dog, that Shelby?"

"—and my other informant is finally here."

Lucy rolled her eyes and looked on in slight shock as Chloe started waving her arms widely to get the older woman's attention. Martha looked as if she were debating whether or not to flee, but she finally decided that she wanted to hear what Chloe had to say.

"I received your notes," Martha gingerly sat next to Lucy and took said notes from her purse. "Were ten notes placed strategically around my kitchen really necessary?"

"Yes. I had to be sure you would come."

"Don't informants usually volunteer?" Lucy asked with a smirk as she looked over the notes Martha had lain on the table. They were all basically the same: 'Meet at the Talon at 2:00 P.M.'

The word order was changed a bit, and some even looked to be in code. Lucy didn't even want to ask why Chloe had felt it necessary to write the note in numbers instead of words, but she couldn't help but wonder how Martha had cracked the code.

"It's the numbers of the alphabet: one is A, two is B, three—C," the older woman stated casually, but Lucy caught the annoyance lingering underneath. It had probably taken a while to figure out and Lucy figured that by the looks of it, it was probably the first one she had found.

"We've got to get Lois and Clark to realize and admit that they have feelings for each other or I'm going to become an alcoholic!" Chloe finally exclaimed after a moment of tense silence.

"Do you even drink?" Lucy asked furrowing her brow in contemplation and completely missing the point. Martha, God bless her soul, got straight to the matter at hand.

"I'm in."

What had been annoyance in her tone before was now replaced by intrigue and frustration of her own. Chloe decided that she wasn't the only one being driven crazy by the duo.

"Me too, I was just curious about your drinking habits," Lucy said with a shrug, not wanting to be left out.

Chloe decided that her little cousin hadn't been around Lois and Clark for more than ten minutes or she would be just as determined for O:PIMS to work.

"I've spent the last two weeks observing them and have developed a twitch in my eye that won't go away because of it! I've tried locking them in a storage closet at the Daily Planet, but nothing came out of it because Fred the Stupid Socking Boy forgot to take out the pencils, and they escaped!"

"Pencils?" Martha asked, leaning forward interested as to how the pencils were so crucial.

"A twitch in your eye?" Lucy asked at the same time and leaned forward to stare.

"Yes, and the left," Chloe informed them primly and sighed resignedly. She handed each of them a packet marked as "CONFIDENTIAL"—a bit obvious, but there was no talking to Chloe reasonably at the moment. When they both moved to open said confidential envelope, Chloe slapped a hand down onto the table, halting their movements.

"Not here! It's an outline of my observations and what I have tried — and failed — to accomplish thus far. I've highlighted what I want you two to begin working on. Lucy, you're pink, and Martha's yellow," she began, ignoring Lucy's happy smile at the color chosen for her. "Read over your instructions and I want you to come up with some ideas of your own and meet me here again at 8 p.m."

Lucy tentatively raised her hand, and Chloe narrowed her eyes before nodding slightly for her to go on. "Say, hypothetically, that a person has plans for tonight and can't make the meeting—hypothetically," she rushes to add again as Chloe's glare intensified and the twitch started up again.

"Cancel them. This is a matter of life and death here!"

"Life and death?" Martha asked teasingly as they put their information packets away.

"Yes! Either they finally get together or I kill them and then frequent many bars for the rest of my life!"

"Er... ok," Lucy mumbled. "I'll cancel my hypothetical plans." She was sure her cousin had finally snapped.

"Good."

They watched in dismay and amusement as Chloe suddenly held a menu up to cover her face.

"What are you doing?"

"Quick! Lois just walked through the door and she hasn't seen us yet!" Chloe whispered urgently in response and grinned when they both quickly complied with little more then a shrug. Chloe leaned a little bit over to the side to peer out at her cousin from the corner of her eye. Lois quickly ordered a coffee and then turned to scan the room indifferently before focusing on the door she had just entered from as if waiting for someone.

Chloe groaned slightly, because if Clark came through that door right now and they continued with their flirting and never following through, she was going to have to jam the closest sharp object into her leg in order to form a happy distraction.

She let her head drop to the table with a thud as she heard Lois call her name.

Maybe it wasn't too late to hide.

"Chloe! Chloe, I saw you, what the hell are you doing?" Lois said, a little irritated, and Chloe lowered the menu in defeat.

"Why are you acting so weird?" Lois continued with a shake of her head, proceeding to list all of her facts that proved Chloe was acting so. "First, the movies and then the Planet—not to mention the grocery store—and your trench coat! What an outfit, Chlo! What is going on with you?"

Because it's for the greater good—you'll be happily in love and I won't be driven to drink, she wanted to admit and only wished it was that easy.

"Chlo?" Lois asked again when she hadn't gotten a response after a little while. Chloe just blinked up at her as she was forced from her pleasant daydream of a world free of Lois and Clark's sexual tension. She grumbled slightly as Lois plopped down in the seat next to her. Martha and Lucy realized at the same moment that they were still holding up the menus for cover and lowered them sheepishly causing Lois to gape at them.

"Is your weirdness contagious?" Lois finally managed to accuse sarcastically, narrowing her eyes when all three of them nodded their heads seriously.

"Have you guys seen Smallville?" she asked to change the subject, no longer wanting to know what was going on with them. She then watched her cousin's eyes in fascination. "Hey Chloe, you sure you're ok? Your eye is kind of... well, twitching."

"Yeah I'm fine," Chloe bit out and let her head once again hit table as a familiar figure walked into The Talon.

"Clark!" Lois called out as she zeroed in on him almost instantaneously. He sent them all a curious smile and headed over to their booth.

"What's everyone doing?" He squeezed himself onto the seat beside Lois, squishing Chloe into the wall.

"Plotting," Lucy answered truthfully as she looked sympathetically over at Chloe. She hadn't realized how bad her cousin had it. He raised a brow and looked to Lois for clarification, but she raised her hands non committal. "I have done no plotting what-so-ever, but I might start if these three keep acting so strange—Look at Chloe's left eye!" She ordered, and Clark leaned over her to take a peek.

"Was that a twitch?"

"Yes!"

"'Twitching eyes happen, guys... it's not that big of a deal," Lucy pointed out.

Lois didn't reply but decided to drop the topic for the moment. There were more important things to consider.

"So what are you guys plotting?" She asked instead—intrigued—and leaned her elbows on the table to rest her chin onto her palms.

Your marriage, Chloe thought but remained silent. That would just destroy all of the work and the effort she had done so far. If she mentioned anything to them about "feelings", they (mainly Lois) would run in the opposite direction and avoid each other for weeks just to prove her wrong. That would have to serve as a back up plan if O:PIMS failed. They would be miserable and not admit it, but at least they wouldn't be flirting in her vicinity.

It had to work.

She eyed her fork warily, and just as she was contemplating how sharp the edges were, Lois snatched it up and began to attack the salad Clark brought with him. He made no move to stop her. Lucy and Martha watched on as she pushed the olives over to his side and he made sure she was closer to the tomatoes. Not that Clark didn't like the tomatoes, Martha observed, but he knew that she loved them.

And Lois and Clark were oblivious to all.

"So did you bring them?"

"Does it look like I brought anything, Lois?" Clark retorted and grunted slightly when she elbowed him.

"It looks like you brought salad," she said smartly. "So where's dessert?"

Clark grinned and kept silent causing Lois to glare.

"If you want brownies, you'll have to make them yourself," he finally explained.

Did Clark have a death wish?

"You're joking, right?" Lucy asked skeptically, knowing first hand that if she wanted a meal, she shouldn't count on her older sister to provide an edible one... unless it was peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. That one might even be a little risky.

"If I would have known you were going to be dumb, I would have gotten the already-made box," Lois explained with a frown and a steel glint in her eye as she pushed him out of the booth so she could leave.

"I'll help you," Clark reassured, but all four women didn't look even slightly at ease. "We'll go make the brownies right now," he stated, trying to appease Lois. Surprisingly, it worked, and Lois took his arm to lead him out the front doors. Chloe figured her cousin had already thought of a way out of actually doing the cooking. She wouldn't have given in as easily if she hadn't.

Chloe decided she'd have to see how that goes.

But by the time she talked Lucy and Martha out of coming with her, it was too late. By the time she arrived at the farm, she saw Lois leaving in a hurry.

"What's up Lo?" she called out when she realized that her ever-observant cousin didn't even notice her pull up. As she got out she watched as Lois's brisk stride halted, and she glanced over her shoulder surprised.

"What?" she asked and nervously crossed her arms.

"Are you ok?" Chloe asked, actually concerned.

"Why wouldn't I be ok? I just realized that I need to go because... well because I have someplace to be," Lois forced out quickly and looked slightly bewildered and frustrated with herself or someone else, Chloe wasn't sure.

What the heck happened in fifteen minutes?

"Right. The place. I guess you better hurry up Lo," Chloe said dryly, giving her a break. Lois didn't even notice and nodded before quickly fleeing the scene.

"Lois?" Clark called out from the doorway and frowned as she peeled out, leaving Chloe behind grumbling in a cloud of dirt.

"Where'd she go?" he asked quickly.

"She had to be someplace," Chloe answered quickly, coughing to clear the dust from her lungs.

"Oh."

"What the heck happened, Clark?"

"I'm not all that sure," he answered honestly and allowed his shoulders to slump slightly before he visibly straightened and set his chin. "I'll talk to you later."

And then he was gone.

And Chloe was once again left in a dust cloud coughing, more confused than ever.

Damn.


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Ps A big thanks to Liz for helping me out