Martha and Jonathan were sitting chatting when there was a knock at the door. Martha went to answer.
"Hi, Mrs Kent. Is Lois in?" Chloe asked nervously, shifting on the spot.
"She isn't. She has gone away for a few days."
"Oh god, I have chased her out of town, haven't I?" Chloe turned to leave, upset by the mess she had caused.
"Why don't you come in?" Martha said, shooting Jonathan a familiar look.
He got up. "I am just going to fix that fence."
Chloe sat down. "I take it you know what has happened."
"Yeah Lois told us." Martha explained. "Do you want to talk about it?"
"I didn't mean for it to happen. I just love your son so much and I was desperate for him to notice me." Chloe replied honestly. "Things did not go as planned."
"Chloe, he does notice you - everyday. You are his best friend. He values your friendship more than anything and that will never change, but I don't think his feelings run as deeply for you as you were hoping."
"Is this to do with his powers because it does not matter to me?" Chloe asked desperately.
Martha sat back shocked. "How did you find out?"
"He didn't tell me if that is what you are thinking. In fact he does not know I have found out. I have seen him use his powers on several occasions. His meteor powers do not change anything."
"Chloe, it is not his powers which stop him from being with you. He is in love with someone else." Martha explained.
"Oh, you mean Lana."
"No honey, I mean...Lois."
Chloe shook her head. "But that was all an act."
"Maybe it was at first but they have fallen in love with each other. Lois has driven up to Wichita to see Clark and try and win him back."
Chloe could not believe what she was hearing. "But...but they hate each other."
"I don't think they ever have hated each other. I think they both have had so barriers up, stopping them admitting their feelings for each other. Now the barriers are down, everything has come out in the open."
"So I played matchmaker. I have to admit I did not see that one coming. I need to go now." Chloe got up and left suddenly.
"Chloe, are you ok?" Martha asked worriedly.
"I just need to process this." Chloe replied. "I will be fine."
Back in Wichita, Lois, Pete and Clark were tucking into a takeaway.
"So how did you find out about Clark?" Lois asked Pete.
"I found his spaceship and I was threatening to steal it. So he told me I couldn't take because he owned it."
Clark joined in. "Yeah, you thought I was trying to steal your glory by saying I had found it. Your face was a classic when you realised I had landed in it."
"Well, it was a bit of a shock. I thought Chloe would be the next to know. Lois has jumped the queue."
Clark smiled. "She already knows. She has seen me use my powers, but I am waiting for her to fess up before I tell her everything."
"Shows how much you can trust her." Lois replied. "At least I will have someone to talk to when I get back from Smallville. Mind you that is if she will ever talk to me again."
"Lois, it is not your fault that I don't love her. I have not chosen you over her. Even if there was no you and me, I would still not be going out with her. We will always be close but not in that way." Clark explained.
Eventually Clark and Lois headed to bed, and they left early the following morning. Clark decided they could not miss much more school or his parents would freak, but they had a brief detour to make.
"I can't believe you have to drive." Pete said to them as they were about to leave.
"Does it not kill you to travel so slowly?" Lois added.
"No, I find it very relaxing and my company on the trip back is not so bad." Clark smiled, only to be met with a punch on his right arm. "Pete, make sure you come and visit soon."
"I will. Good luck with breaking the news to Chloe."
The drive back only took two hours. "So Lois, are you ready to do this? Do you know what you are going to say?"
"I have a general plan." She smiled. "Trust me, this should work."
They went into the building and headed towards the burly looking security guard on reception. Lois smiled at him, only to be greeted with a serious non emotional face.
"We are here to see Jimmy." Lois smiled
"Jimmy who?" The man replied in as few syllables as possible.
"I don't know his second name. He works as a photographer."
"Which department?"
"I don't know." She admitted.
"Please leave and come back when you remember who you want to see."
Clark was just about to tell Lois to give up when he noticed a photo on the wall behind the desk.
"Can we see Mr White?" he asked.
"Which Mr White?" The man asked.
"Perry White, the Editor in Chief." Clark offered.
"I am not going to fall for that one." The man gave out a chuckle. "Do I look stupid?"
Clark put his hand out to stop Lois answering that question. "Could you ring up to him and tell him Clark Kent is here to see him. Tell him I was in town and I called in to see him."
The man looked at suspiciously but decided to go along with it. "Mr White, there is a Mr Clark Kent at reception who would like to see you."
Clark hoped that Perry would remember him from his visit to Smallville last year despite the haze of alcohol.
The man put the phone down. "You can both go up. Go in the elevator and hit floor 23."
Lois looked at Clark in disbelief. "How the hell did you swing that one?"
"Contacts!" Clark smiled back.
There was a smartly dressed secretary sitting outside the office. She got up. "Mr Kent, is it? Can I get either of you a cup of coffee." She showed them into the office.
Perry hung up the phone and got up, walking over to Clark and hugging him. "Clark, I was wondering if you would ever pop by."
Clark stood back. "Perry, I would like you to meet my girlfriend, Lois Lane."
Lois smiled and shook his hand. "Hello, Mr White." She loved hearing Clark calling her his girlfriend.
"Perry, please." He hugged her too.
"So how did you land this gig?" Clark asked.
Perry laughed at him. "Are you surprised because less than a year ago, I was in Smallville, smashed out of my head and hallucinating? I even thought you had thrown a tractor a mile through the air."
Lois laughed along and gave Clark a look.
"Anyhow I have been sober since I left that day and I managed to use my contacts to land this jobs. Prior to the battle with my demons I was quite an accomplished reporter. So Clark, when do you want to start?" Perry asked.
"I don't want a job. In fact I am still at school. I came by to see someone but the security guard would not let us in."
"So you used my name to get your way into the building." Perry laughed. "So who do you want to see?"
"Jimmy, he is a photographer. We don't know his second name." Clark explained.
"It will be Jimmy Olsen. He works in the basement."
"Are you sure you don't want a job? We are always on the look-out for young talented journalists."
"Maybe one day but not at the moment, although I do know someone who may be interested. Remember Chloe Sullivan from the high school newspaper."
"Oh, is she the blond one?"
"Yeah that's her." Clark smiled.
"Okay, here is my card. Tell her I can see her on Friday night at 6pm if she wants to come by." Perry gave Clark the card.
"That's great. Why don't you pop by the farm sometime? I am sure mom and dad would be pleased to see you again."
"I will...next time I get a weekend off." Perry smiled.
"Jimmy may be in if you want to pop down."
Lois looked at Clark. "Actually I think we will give it a miss. I don't think it is important anymore."
Clark realised that they were better off letting Chloe make her own mind up.
Clark and Lois managed to make it to school that afternoon, although Chloe was nowhere to be seen. His mom had told them that she had left in a rush.
Clark had an idea where Chloe would be, so he headed off to the Talon. Lois remained behind at school to catch up on some work, realising it would be better to let Clark have some time alone to discuss things with her cousin.
He found her on some of the seats hidden away in the corner of the cafe.
"Hi Chloe."
Chloe looked up at him. "Clark, I did not expect to see you here."
"I needed to talk to you. I hear you were upset yesterday and I think it is only fair to set things straight. I value your friendship." He took a seat next to her.
"I am sorry for setting you up with Lois."
"Chloe, it is the best thing that could have happened, otherwise it could have been years before we got around to getting together. I know this will upset you as you hoped that we could get together."
"Don't worry Clark. Your mom let me down gently yesterday so there is no need to explain yourself."
"I do need to explain myself. The last thing I want to do is hurt you, but I do not have those types of feelings for you. I am sorry."
"Why apologise? It is not your fault. I just need some time to get used to the idea." Chloe explained. "Meanwhile I think it is time I told you that I know you have meteor powers."
"I don't have meteor powers." Clark smiled.
"Yes, you do. I have seen you speed in and out of buildings rescuing people."
"Chloe, I don't have meteor powers. I do have superpowers and I know you have seen me use them. That is another long story and before I tell you, there is something I want to give you."
"What?" Chloe asked interested.
"As you will probably know, Perry White has just taken over at the Planet."
"I know, I am going to write to him and ask him if he has any openings on the intern program."
"He does Chloe and if you are interested he will see you on Friday night at 6pm. Here is his card."
Chloe leant over and hugged him. "That's fantastic. Thank you so much. Now tell me where you get your powers from?"
"Have you ever seen Close Encounters of the Third Kind?" Clark started. They spent the next two hours discussing everything from his origins to the future for their relationship.
Lois joined them later that evening expecting to meet a disappointed and angry cousin but she was confronted by was an excited Chloe.
"Just think we can gossip now that we are both in the loop, if you know what I mean." Lois gave her cousin an over exaggerated wink.
Clark sat back and looked at the two women in full gossip flow and wondered what he had gotten himself into...
THE END