(NB: Some scenes taken from canon)

"Nell?"

"Right here," she called back.

Clark came out of the office, a couple of ties in his hands. He frowned at them.

"Which one looks better?" he said.

Nell studied the ties. One was black with white diagonal pinstripes and the other was a mid-blue.

"Is that the shirt you're wearing?" she asked, indicating the white shirt patterned with grey pin-stripes.

"Uh, yeah," he said. "Is it wrong?"

"No, honey, it looks great. Wear the blue. It brings out your eyes."

He bit his lip.

"Are you sure you're okay with this?" he said.

Nell hugged him and smiled.

"Baby, I'm more than okay with this. Like I've said before. You're not cut out to be a florist. Don't get me wrong. You've been a wonderful help to me the past couple of years but you'd be doing yourself a disservice if you didn't take this opportunity."

"I'm still not sure about this. I mean, Lex …"

"Honey, I know you're worried about Lex, but don't. From what I hear about Perry White, he won't let someone like Lex influence his decisions. If he offered you this internship, then it's because he thinks you have potential. Which I always knew."

She took the blue tie and knotted it for him, making sure his collar was straight.

"There. You look so handsome, Clark. I'm so proud of you, baby. I know your parents would have been so proud of you too."

He missed them. It had been nearly fourteen years since they'd died, but he still missed them every day.

The bell above the door rang and Clark looked up, smiling at Mrs Kinsey, who had come in looking for irises, as usual.

"Hello Clark, my dear," she said. "Don't you look handsome."

"I start my new job today," he told her.

She nodded. "I'm so happy for you" she told him. "You've always been so kind to me. I know you will be the best reporter at that newspaper in no time."

Clark glanced at Nell, who grinned and shrugged. It looked like Nell had been telling practically everyone in the neighbourhood. Not that he minded too much.

The door bell rang again and he glanced toward it.

"Smallville, you coming?"

Clark heard Nell snickering, even as she helped Mrs Kinsey pick out some flowers. He'd spent an afternoon working with Lois, getting the layout of the Daily Planet and seeing how she worked. She'd very quickly begun using the nickname.

He grabbed his sport coat and joined his new co-worker in the car she'd clearly borrowed from the newspaper pool.

"Uh, so what exactly are we doing?" he asked.

"I have an interview with Simon Westcott."

Clark frowned. "Who is Simon Westcott?"

"He's a client of Safetex Security."

His frown deepened. What did that have to do with the story she was working on about the robbery of Lex's charity function?

"Look, all the people who have been hit have been clients of Safetex Security, which, FYI, is a subsidiary of Luthorcorp."

"And?"

"And Mr Westcott is one of the few clients who haven't been hit yet. I've already interviewed all the others who were hit and they all shut up like clams. Wouldn't even confirm or deny they were hit, yet my source tells me not only were they robbed, they also gave sizable donations to charity shortly after."

"So, how is interviewing Simon Westcott going to help you track down the robber?"

"Well, it's not. Not exactly. I really just want to get a look inside his house."

"Why?"

"Look, all the things taken in the robberies so far turned out to be valuable items stolen from various museums and private collections. From what I heard, they were sold on the black market. Last time I checked, Smallville, buying stolen property, knowing it was stolen, is still a crime."

"Yeah, but that's difficult to prove," he pointed out.

"Still, it's worth a shot. Anyway, the only thing I'm interested in is tracking down this hooded guy."

Clark frowned at her.

"Why? What's so newsworthy about him?"

Lois bit her lip. "I think he might be behind all these robberies."

"Then you should stay away from it. He sounds dangerous."

"Smallville, I'm not about to stop investigating just because something might be dangerous."

"I don't know, Lois," he said dubiously. "I mean, what if this guy comes after you?"

"Look, if you're all that worried, then maybe you should go to the office and hide in your little cubicle."

Clark sighed and sat quietly in the car as she drove the rest of the way. It wasn't so much that he thought she couldn't handle herself. Lois Lane struck him as the kind of person who feared little. From what he'd seen of her articles, she didn't shy away from tough situations. She'd covered a few stories where she could have been seriously hurt.

He decided that if she was going to pursue this, then the best he could do would be to make sure that he kept her from getting hurt, even if it ended up making him look like an idiot.

A maid let them in to the study at the mansion a few minutes later and left them waiting while she went to find Westcott. Clark looked around, quickly noticing Lois was doing the same thing, peering into every little nook and cranny. The difference between them, of course, was that he could use his x-ray vision.

At first he didn't see anything that might fit the profile, until he saw a room off the study which seemed to be heavily secured. He saw several small mechanisms installed in panels just below the ceiling which he guessed contained some kind of laser, since the beams were actually invisible to the naked eye.

Inside the room was a statue which appeared to be Egyptian in origin, with a necklace around the neck. It was gold, with a large amulet adorned with the picture of a scarab.

"Miss Lane?"

Pulling back on his vision, Clark turned and looked at the millionaire. Simon Westcott was in his late sixties, slightly overweight with thin white hair and wire-rimmed spectacles.

"Mr Westcott. Thank you for seeing us. This is my partner, Clark Kent."

"What is the purpose of your visit today, Miss Lane?"

"Well, I wanted to ask you about the congressional hearing," she said.

The man's expression changed from one of polite curiosity to downright hostility.

"I'm afraid, Miss Lane, that you have wasted your time. I have no comment on those hearings."

"Not even on the supposed accidental spill from one of your oil tankers, Mr Westcott?"

The millionaire turned away from her as if the discussion was final. Clark stared at her, then followed reluctantly as Lois walked out.

"What was that?" he asked. "I thought you were going to talk to him about the robberies?"

"That was just a smokescreen, Smallville. He had a secret room off the study, didn't you see that?"

He looked at her, biting his lip. If he said yes, then he was just adding fuel to the fire. If he said no, then he was going to look stupid. Lois huffed.

"Whatever."

"So, what? This was some kind of fishing expedition?"

"I'm betting that within a week we'll hear about some big donation he's made to some charity."

She drove back to the office at a speed which had Clark hanging on to his door handle. Since he was invulnerable, he knew he wouldn't get hurt in a crash, but it was still worrying. There were moments when he wondered if she even knew how to drive with the way she kept dodging in and out of traffic like she was on a racetrack.

He knew if he said anything, she might not appreciate it, so he kept his mouth shut.

Since he was an intern, he was assigned to the bullpen in the basement, whereas Lois had her own office. She had told him she had been promoted from the bullpen about six months earlier, and it had taken over two years of hard slog to earn it.

Lois left him in the bullpen to start digging into the matter of the robberies while she went upstairs to talk to some of her sources. Clark found a desk to work at and became thoroughly absorbed in the task until a glance at his watch told him his shift was up and he needed to get to his first class.

He took his print-outs upstairs to her office intending to just leave them there. He saw a tall blond in her office, sitting on her chair and frowned at the visitor. The man looked up and smiled.

"Hey," he said. "Lois is just in the ladies' room."

"Oh. Well, I was only dropping this off," he said, holding up the folder.

He studied the other man curiously. He was certainly good-looking. From the looks of his clothes, he was fairly wealthy. Not that Clark paid much attention to fashion, but even he could tell the clothes were expensive.

The other man seemed to be sizing him up as well.

"So, um, how do you know Lois?" he asked, clearing his throat.

"Oh, we met the other night. At the charity ball." The man stuck out his hand. "Oliver Queen."

Clark's eyes widened. He might not have much of a social life, or know much about the world of high finance, but he knew the name. Oliver Queen was the CEO of Queen Industries which was listed on the Fortune 500.

"Clark Kent," he said. "I … uh, I'm an intern," he added, thinking just how lame that sounded.

"Well, I just came to ask Lois out to lunch."

Clark instantly felt a little jealous. Lois hadn't shown any romantic interest in him, so he knew it was irrational, but she'd also said she didn't have time for romantic entanglements. So why did it bother him so much?

"Clark?"

He whirled at her voice.

"Uh, I, uh, I was just dropping my research off," he stammered, feeling completely embarrassed. "Um, I have to get going. I have a class in about thirty minutes."

Lois took the folder with a smile.

"Sure. Thanks. So, I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Bright and early," he promised, turning and walking away before he could embarrass himself any further.

XXXXX

Lois stared after him, wondering why it bothered her that he seemed so anxious to leave. She turned back to Oliver.

"Uh, so where were you thinking of going for lunch?" she asked.

"I know this great little Moroccan place. You like Moroccan?"

She smiled at him. "Actually, I've never tried it, but I'll try anything once."

He laughed and placed a hand on her arm. Unlike Lex's gestures, his didn't seem so proprietary.

Still, she had to wonder why he'd decided to drop by her office. After the exchange she'd heard between him and Lex the other night, she thought perhaps he was asking her out only because he knew Lex wouldn't like it. As handsome as she thought he was, she didn't like the idea of being caught in the middle.

There was one advantage though. Oliver might be able to help her find out what had happened to her father.

The restaurant was dim inside. The interior was decorated in a mix of red and what Lois assumed was a cinnamon colour, full of warm tones. As they were led to a table in the centre of the room, she noticed the lamps in the middle of each table. Each lamp was a different shape made in a pewter frame. The shades were each decorated in what looked geometric patterns until she saw their one up close. The sides of each shade included a violet teardrop.

"This is nice," she said, putting her bag down on the floor and hooking the strap over her chair. Conscious of the stories of items being stolen from under customers' noses, she made sure the bag was placed where she could feel it against her foot.

The waitress put a carafe of water on the table and Oliver poured some into glasses for them both.

"So, tell me about yourself, Lois," he said.

"There's not much to tell," she told him. "I grew up an army brat, decided to become a muckraker."

He grinned.

"Muckraker, huh?"

"Well, that's what the general calls it. I love my job though. There's a certain satisfaction in knowing I help put bad guys away."

"Still, it's dangerous work," he said.

She frowned. He was the second person today to comment about the dangers in her job. It felt like she had to justify herself somehow. Her father had been over-protective to the point where he would grill her boyfriends and ask for background checks on them.

Funny though. She didn't mind it so much coming from Clark. She might have teased him about hiding in his cubicle, but she had to admit she liked the thought of him worrying about her. With Oliver, however, it was annoying. After all, she barely knew the man.

Lex might be just as aggravating with the way he acted like he owned her, but at least he knew better than to tell her how to do her job.

"I can take care of myself," she said.

"Oh, I'm sure you can," he replied, sipping his water. "You wouldn't have got this far in your career without taking a few risks."

The waitress returned to take their orders. Oliver ordered a dish they were obviously meant to share and sat back.

"So, you and Lex," he began.

"What about us?"

"He implied you were dating."

"Is that what he said?"

"Not in so many words. Hence the term 'implied'."

"We're just friends," she said, sipping her water.

"I got the impression it was more than that. On his side at least."

"I don't have time for relationships Mr Queen."

"Oliver, please."

"Fine. Oliver."

He looked her over, his brown eyes serious.

"Your intern seems rather smitten."

She frowned at him, but couldn't help the way her heart rate jumped slightly at the thought that Clark might return her attraction. Not that she would ever admit it, she thought. She'd been honest when she told him she wasn't interested in a relationship. Not right now. All she could think about now was her father.

The subject came up once they'd finished eating. Lois had lived on a few army bases, but she had never been to Africa, so she found the food to be very different from what she was used to. Still, like Chloe, she liked to think she was adventurous.

Oliver seemed very interested in her father's disappearance.

"So the military brass aren't coming up with the goods?" he asked.

She shook her head.

"They keep saying it's classified. I mean, what's classified about a tour of inspection?"

"If you don't mind, I can try a few of my contacts. See what I can find out."

She nodded. "Thank you. Lex said he'd see what he could find out, but the more the merrier."

Oliver's expression darkened at the mention of Lex's name. She was curious to find out what exactly had gone on between the two men to engender such hostility, but she didn't ask. She figured that was something she could either research or ask about later.

When she returned to the office, she looked through the notes Clark had made on his research. He had been thorough. There had been reports of the mysterious hooded figure in both Star City and Central City for the past few years but nothing to say where he had come from.

Since he'd been in Metropolis, there had been at least three robberies with a similar M.O. Each time, the robber had entered from the roof, bypassing all security systems. His equipment must be very sophisticated, she thought, since those he burgled or robbed had the latest Safetex Security had to offer.

The company director, Milo Janis, had sent out a message to all their clients assuring them that they were investigating the thefts and they would find the hooded man. Lois had a contact who had been fired from Luthorcorp about five years ago who had told her that Safetex had offered a reward of twenty thousand dollars for information on the man. There were plenty of people who would sell out their own mother for that kind of money.

She had a feeling Simon Westcott would be joining the victims soon enough, but she wasn't going to wait around to find out after the fact. She wanted to know who the mystery man was and she was determined to unmask him.

Lois had already decided what she was going to do. She was going to stakeout the Westcott mansion. Perry would object, of course, since he didn't like her doing these things alone, but what he didn't know wouldn't hurt him.

She did think of calling Chloe and asking her to come along, but she remembered that Chloe was going out on a date.

Armed with a thermos of coffee and sugary snacks to help her keep awake, plus a video camera to record any activity, Lois parked her car half a block away from the mansion and settled in for a long night.

XXXXX

Clark enjoyed his first class, even if it was an introductory class to college. When he'd first talked to the dean at Met U, he'd been told he would need to take a couple of introductory courses, as it had been a few years since he'd graduated high school.

As he walked home, armed with study materials, he recalled the meeting with Oliver Queen that afternoon. He'd felt like such an idiot next to the billionaire. Maybe he wasn't ready to date anyone, but still, how would Lois ever take him seriously next to someone like Oliver? He was rich and famous, whereas Clark was just a nobody from a small town.

Still, Lois hadn't exactly treated him like a nobody.

He smiled to himself as he remembered when Perry had sent them off to work together.

"Let's get one thing straight," she'd told him. "I didn't work my buns off to become an investigative reporter just to babysit a wet-behind-the-ears …"

"I'm twenty-three," he told her. "I'm hardly wet-behind-the-ears."

"Don't interrupt, Smallville."

"Smallville?"

She punched him in the arm. "Yeah, Smallville."

He shrugged. He could live with it, he supposed. He had a feeling that Lois was the type of person to keep her feelings close to her chest, so to speak and giving someone a nickname was about as close as she got to showing any kind of affection.

"How about this," she said. "I'll show you the ropes, share the benefit of my experience and maybe let you work with me on this story. After that, you're on your own."

He nodded, grinning at her. Something told him that working with Lois was never going to be boring.

Clark made a light dinner and ate it in front of the television before changing into his 'Guardian' outfit. He left the apartment, intending to just walk around the city, not planning on doing any major rescues.

He found himself about a block away from the Westcott mansion a couple of hours later, not sure what had led him to this point. Hearing the scraping of what sounded like leather on concrete, he looked up and saw a man in leather on the roof of the building opposite the mansion.

As he watched, the man fired an arrow across the street, which lodged in the wall somewhere near the top floor of the building. He then used the zip line to move across and disappeared on the mansion's roof.

Clark knew he had no choice but to try and stop the man. No matter how the amulet came into the older man's possession, it was still wrong. He used his super-speed to get up to the mansion's roof, then followed the hooded man, watching as the other man used an arrow with a diamond head to divert the lasers. Clearly the man had a few resources at his disposal if he could afford such sophisticated equipment.

As the man in the hood bent to take the amulet, Clark moved, blocking the entry. He had no idea if there was another exit but he figured he was fast enough to stop the man before he could get away.

"I can't let you do that," he said.

The man looked up in surprise.

"Well, I've heard of neighbourhood watch," he quipped, "but this is ridiculous."

Clark frowned. The man's voice seemed distorted. He was clearly using a modifier of some kind. He supposed that made some sense, if only to hide the thief's identification.

"Put the amulet back," he demanded.

The hooded man hesitated, clearly looking him over, then started to walk past him. Clark grabbed the man's arm, taking the opportunity to study his face. Dark glasses hid his eyes but he couldn't hide the chiselled jaw or the dimple in the chin.

The other man tried to shove him, but Clark shoved back, sending the man flying. His opponent groaned and got up, aiming an arrow at him.

Clark saw the small projectile coming and grabbed it, much to the alarm of the other man, who stared at him in shock.

"What the …"

Clark quickly examined the arrow. The head was small. It appeared to have a small electrical charge and he guessed it was just meant to stun, not injure a person. It seemed the man in the hood did have at least some conscience.

He was distracted by a man coming in behind him. The man yelled and Clark whirled. By the time he turned back, the hooded man was gone. Along with the amulet. Not wanting to get caught himself, Clark sped away.

XXXXX

Lois dumped her bag on the table, grumbling. Of all the worse luck, she thought. She'd gone and fallen asleep in the car while on the stakeout, while apparently something had gone down, but she'd missed the whole thing.

Still grumbling, she went to the fridge and took out a bottle of juice, opening it and downing some of the contents, before thrusting it back in. Stomping back to the table, she took the memory card out of the camera and inserted it in her laptop, uploading whatever footage she'd taken.

She fast forwarded through the couple of hours where she'd actually been awake to watch what was going on, then slowed it down to normal speed. Leaning her chin on her hand, her elbow on the table, she sighed and began going through the footage.

Just when she was about to give up the whole thing as a bad idea, she spotted movement on the roof. Pausing and reversing, she carefully watched the screen. She realised she was watching the hooded thief zip-lining over to the roof of the mansion. Seconds later, something blurred past the camera.

"What the hell was that?" she asked herself, reversing and slowing down the action to about four times as slow. She watched, fidgeting in impatience as the thief zip-lined again, then the thing moved past the camera. It was still moving too quickly for her to see more than a blur, but she did see enough to realise it was a man in black, his form barely lit by the street lamp above.

"Holy crap!"

Were there two thieves or had she just captured the Guardian on camera?