A.N: What the heck! Because tonight was so awesome! And we got to see the iconic Lane/Kent/Olsen team up! Which this story does in fact have.... ;-D

Chapter 7

Lois sat at her desk researching on her computer for anything that could make a person completely change themselves. So far she'd come across mid life crisis, drugs, trauma, and more weird and bizarre explanations.

Clark Kent was nowhere near mid life.

Clark Kent would have to be on drugs to be on drugs. He had his issues, but none of them would make him turn to that.

And how much trauma could a guy take before he had a mental breakdown.

Safe to say, her research turned up empty.

It didn't help that Chloe was being tight lipped on what she knew. Lois knew well enough when she was being lied to, and Chloe and Oliver were flat out lying to her. She knew they all had their secrets, and she usually stood back when it came to unlocking the mysteries of Clark Kent. But now that he needed them, was not the time to be so hushed about what they knew.

"Lois!"

"Yeah, chief", she sighed closing her internet explorer quickly. No sense in letting the Chief know something was wrong.

"Have you seen Kent?"

"I haven't-"

"Right here, Chief", he came in smiling.

"Son, you're late."

"Sorry, Perry", he smiled confidently; "I had some car trouble."

"I thought your car was on the farm", Lois said cocking an eyebrow.

"Exactly", he nodded, "I called the Locksmith this morning to head over there and get my keys for me."

"That's a lot of faith in your locksmith, son."

"He's been the locksmith for years", he shrugged, "Small town."

Lois watched the two men talk and figured she needed an excuse to get away.

"I have to meet a source", she said abruptly, "I'll see you two later."

"Lunch later, Lois", he asked her cheekily.

"I'll get back to you", she smiled and walked out of the bullpen.

"That girl is always on the move", Perry said shaking his head, "Anyways, Kent, my office, pronto."

"Sure thing, Chief."

He followed Perry into his office smiling.

~*~

Lois sighed.

She was in Metropolis General following up with a nurse friend.

"So, your friend, he suffering from mental psychosis", Evelyn asked.

"I'm not sure, it's almost like he's a completely different person", Lois said following the nurse as she made the rounds on her floor.

"Split-personality maybe?"

"If you knew this guy, you'd think that was as ridiculous as I do", Lois smiled, "It's something else."

"I don't know then, Lois", Evelyn laughed, "I mean what else is there… an evil twin…"

Evelyn shook her head and continued down the hall leaving Lois dumbfounded.

"Stranger things have happened", she said looking around her.

~*~

He was bored out of his mind.

How Clark Kent could put up with this irritating man was beyond him.

"Do you understand me son?"

"Yes sir, loud and clear."

"Good."

He started to stand.

"Wait, so what's going on between you and Lois?"

"Nothing, sir."

"Nothing? That's not nothing", Perry laughed, "I know you've been a little hot for her, son."

The phantom cringed at the idea of having this conversation.

"Sir, I don't think this is appropriate…"

"Nonsense", Perry smiled, "So tell me, have you asked her out yet?"

He smirked.

"She turned me down."

"She did, did she", Perry laughed, "Girls like Lois need to be wined and dined."

"I'll say", he muttered.

"Well…"

"Well, what", he asked.

"Well", Perry said looking at him, "How are you planning on sweeping her off her feet?"

"I'm not sure", he smiled, "Got any ideas?"

Perry smiled. "Now we're talking. Take her to Antonio's. It's an Italian place close by. She'll love it. And don't go cheap. Get a sports jacket. Get a bottle of wine. The good stuff, then you could take her dancing."

He smirked.

"I'll take that into consideration."

"You do that, son."

He stood up and walked to the door.

"Oh and Clark", when the young man turned around, "Don't blow it."

~*~

She sat down at a table in the hospital cafeteria. She wasn't in the mood to go back to the planet just yet. Something Evelyn had said struck a chord with her. Would it really be farfetched if Clark had an evil twin brother somewhere?

Or he could be a clone.

She knew something was definitely wrong with the way Shelby reacted to him. Shelby didn't react like that to anyone, much less Clark. Unless the dog knew there was trouble. She didn't buy the whole excuse about changing the dog's meal either.

"There you are!"

She looked up and smiled seeing Jimmy walk into the cafeteria and sit in front of her.

"You found me", she said sitting back in the hard chair.

"You look like you're hiding…"

"I am", she sighed.

"What's up?"

"Last night, I went looking for Clark. I found him on the farm."

"So… that's not weird."

"Yeah, except", she said placing her arms on the table and leaning in, "When I found him Shelby reacted… well… different."

"How different?"

"Like angry", she said, "Like he knew that Clark wasn't Clark."

"Lois, are you listening to yourself?"

"I know how this sounds, Jimmy, but what if Clark's a clone?"

"A clone", Jimmy laughed, "Come on, Lois…"

"I know how I sound…"

"Yeah", Jimmy said softly, "crazy…."

"Jimmy, I know", Lois said looking around, "I have this gut feeling that the guy sitting down in Clark Kent's desk at the Daily Planet right now, isn't Clark Kent… I just don't know how to begin to prove it."

"Well, I'm in", he shrugged and smiled softly.

"You're in?"

"I'm in", he nodded, "I'm in on this mission you've started to defraud Clark Kent."

"Thanks Jimmy…"

"So where do we begin?"

"We find out when he was switched?"

"How do we do that?"

She smiled and pulled out a sheet of paper from her purse. "I did a timeline."

"Of course you did", he muttered.

She glared at him.

"The last time I saw Clark Kent and he was acting like himself was the night of Chlo-"

"Chloe's birthday, I'm assuming", he finished for her nodding.

"I'm sorry."

"I didn't expect to be on that guest list, don't worry about it."

She nodded sadly.

"Well, yeah, then when I got to my apartment, he was waiting for me, but he was already not acting like himself…"

"How can you tell?"

"He kissed me."

Jimmy smirked.

"Maybe that's something he'd wanted to do…"

"Even if it were", Lois glared at him, "Clark Kent would never have had the guts."

"Agreed."

Lois smiled at him.

"Thank you", she said triumphantly.

"So you're saying the other day the guy at the Planet wasn't Clark?"

"Far from it", she nodded.

"That explains why he looked like he had no idea who I was."

"You see", she said, "Clark wouldn't forget you…"

"Okay, so who do you think cloned him", Jimmy asked, "Lex Luthor is out. He's dead."

"Is he?"

"Lois…"

"They never found a body!"

"They found remains… what did you expect to find after an explosion?"

"What if that was a clone too?"

"Lois…"

"No, hear me out… if you wanted to be under the radar doing your less than ethical experiments, wouldn't you fake your own death?"

"I guess so…"

"And doesn't Lex have the means to do so…?"

"Yeah, maybe."

"And hasn't he been tied to cloning? Remember he cloned Lana three years ago… it was how she faked her death. Maybe he stole her idea…"

"This is crazy", Jimmy said rubbing her eyes.

"We've got to find the lab."

"Lab?"

"Come on Jimmy, this has front page written all over it", she smiled, "I'll even let you take the pictures…"

"Oh goody", he groaned, "Let's hope I'm alive long enough to publish them…"