A/N: My dear readers, a new chapter. Enjoy!

Thanks to my betas Smile Life Away and tubazrcool :)

7.

The next day, Clark sat at his desk at the Daily Planet, lost in his thoughts.

He was typing some words about his investigation of the museum robbery in the computer keyboard that didn't make sense at all. The whole day he hadn't been able to form a straight thought. All because of Celeste McPherson.

Celeste McPherson, he thought. What a great name for a very special person.

He had done it again. Like so many times that day. His only thoughts were circling around the Australian woman he had only met a few days ago, and who was seriously out of his league as she had a very real boyfriend.

Clark rubbed his face with his hands. He was tired and he needed a cup of coffee. Preferably very strong. The night and the following morning had been very busy for him with a number of saves around the world after he had dropped off Celeste at her hotel.

When he was just about to get up to get a cup of the stimulating beverage, he was surprised to see Lois walking towards him with a coffee cup in her hand.

She placed it next to his computer and sat down on the top of the desk. "I figured you needed one. You look extremely worn out today," she explained with a smile on her lips.

Clark was stunned. Since Lois and Richard had been married, his relationship with his partner was light-years better than before. She really cared about him as Clark and he knew one of the reasons was the fact that he got on so well with Jason.

"You are my life saver," he said while he sipped on the hot beverage.

"Anytime. I met Perry on my way over here. He wants to see you and Jimmy – a new assignment."

Clark stood up and smiled at her. "Well then, I should try to find our fearless photographer."

When the two men were finally standing in front of their editor-in-chief, it didn't take the older man long to yell at them.

"When I say I want to see you 'now,' that means now. Not ten minutes later and certainly not twenty minutes later. Got that?"

The two younger men just nodded and looked at him. This made Perry a little calmer. While he searched for some papers amidst the chaos on his desk, he continued to talk.

"I want you to go to the Metropolis Dance Theatre this evening. There will be a new ballet performance. A scandal from what I've heard. The show is from Australia and you both have the honour to interview and photograph the two main cast members during one of their rehearsals."

Clark was surprised. What was this with Australia recently in his life? But he was not sympathetic with the idea. "Boss? Don't we have a special team for this?" he asked, annoyed.

The glance from Perry's eyes let Clark freeze in his thoughts. "Do you have a problem with my decisions, Kent?"

The younger man adjusted his glasses. "No, sir."

"Good," Perry replied, pleased. "You have an appointment with the two leads at 8pm sharp."

Clark looked on his wristwatch and noticed that they only had two hours left until they had to be at the venue. "Jimmy, I have to go to my apartment to organise some things. Can we meet up ten minutes to eight in front of the Dance Theatre?" he asked his friend.

The photographer nodded. "That's cool. I have to get my other camera gear anyway."

Thirty minutes later Clark stepped into the hallway of the old villa where his unit was situated. He could already hear sobbing before he even had walked up the three staircases to his apartment. Concerned, he increased the speed and took three steps at a time. When he arrived at the top floor, he finally realised who was sitting in front of the door.

"Jason! What happened?"

"Please, make it stop," the boy begged his father.

Clark lifted his hand and swept it over the boy's dark brown hair. "What, Jason?"

His son looked at him and Clark could see the frustration in his eyes. "The terrible noises," he said, covering his ears.

Whoa! Clark was shocked to say the least. He lifted the boy up in his arms and opened the door to the apartment. There he sat him on a chair and took a seat just in front of the boy.

Concerned, he looked at Jason who still had his ears covered. "What do you hear?" He asked while he placed a hand on his shoulder.

Jason looked up. "Everything. The traffic noises are so loud, and I can hear a dog bark and I know he is far away from us... Please make it stop!"

Clark put a hand under the boy's chin and forced him to look at his him. "Jason, I can't make it stop. But I can help you to handle it, to switch it off to only the relevant noises. But I need your help and we also have to talk to your mother and Richard about this."

The boy nodded. He was happy with everything his father suggested as long as it stopped.

Clark focused his hearing till he heard something he knew Jason would be interested in. It was an experiment as the noise was very far away, but he wanted to know how good Jason could really hear.

"Okay," Clark said while he took the boy's hands into his. "I want you to concentrate." Jason nodded. "Try to block out all the useless noises. For example, the traffic noise, or the two women chatting in front of the house." Clark put a hand on Jason's shoulder to reassure him. "You can close your eyes if it makes it easier for you."

Jason did what his father had told him and was surprised that it was really easier to focus on the specific sounds.

"Okay, now the tricky part. Try to find the animal I'm hearing at the moment. One clue: it is very big and lives in the ocean."

Jason frowned. He could hear so many noises. Nothing made sense to him.

"I can't, Daddy. It's too hard."

"Try it just one more time." Clark tried to convince his son.

The boy glued his eyes together very tight. So tight that it hurt him, but he didn't want to disappoint his father. He tried it. He tried it very hard. And it worked!

All the funny noises disappeared except for the singing of the whales far far away from Metropolis.

"I can hear them! Daddy, this is so beautiful!" he screamed, jumping into Clark's lap. There, he started to cry.

"It's okay, Jason. I'm here. You did a fantastic job. Just try to remember this exercise. Especially if I'm not available to help you right away."

The boy nodded and put a kiss on Clark's cheek. "Thanks, Daddy. I love you!"

"I love you, too," Clark replied; he buried his head in Jason's shoulder as he didn't want the boy to see the tears falling down his cheeks.


That evening, Clark was really pissed at Perry. It was ridiculous to send him and Jimmy to such an irrelevant interview when Lois and Richard were assigned to the big stories.

Speaking of Lois - she had been pretty worked up about Jason running away from home and showing up at Uncle Clark's place. Clark rubbed his eyes. The most awkward part had been the meeting afterwards with Superman, Richard, Lois and the boy. He shrugged at the thought of it.

But this was something they all had to get used to. It was just the way it was, and with Jason developing more of the super abilities there was a long way they had to go. Fortunately, for all of them, they got on very well, which helped a lot - especially Jason.

"Hey CK, you're late; it's already eight." Jimmy catapulted him out of his thoughts.

"I know, sorry, Jimmy." Clark excused himself. "I had some things to take care of."

"Never mind. Let's see where we can find the chorus girl and boy."

They walked around the dance theatre and found an entrance in the back. A couple of dancers where standing in front of the door, smoking their cigarettes.

"Hi." Jimmy introduced himself. "Do you know where we can find the lead dancers?"

"Are you the reporters they are waiting for?" One of the girls asked, blowing out a big cloud of smoke, directly into Clark's face. He coughed and nodded. The girl just waved her hand, showing them the direction where some piano music came from.

The two men entered the room where approximately twenty dancers where standing around and talking to each other. In the middle of the room was the choreographer, who was shouting into cupped hands.

"Okay guys. One more time and you are dismissed for today." They all cheered and walked to their starting points. When the choreographer spotted the newcomers, he went straight to the two reporters. "Hi. I assume you are the journalists from the Daily Planet?"

Clark nodded and shook the man's hand. "Clark Kent. This is my photographer Jimmy Olsen. I'm pleased to meet you."

"Likewise," the man responded. "My name is Jason Green. My two leads will show up in a minute. You are allowed to take photos during the last rehearsal of the day."

The reporters thanked the Australian choreographer, and Jimmy prepared his gear in order to take photos.

Jason Green went with the two men to the side of the room, where they could watch the performance the best. "Music!" he commanded.

A couple of minutes later the music started to play, and the pianist of the Hilltop Hoods tinkled into the ivories on the MP3-player connected to a huge sound system.

The Hip-Hop song "Chase That Feeling" was obviously not something the journalists had expected from a Romeo and Juliet production.

Five men dressed in black showed up on the floor in front of the huge mirrors located on the left side of the rehearsal room. They danced in a circle around someone rolled up on the floor. The ballet dancer on the floor was covered with black chiffon. Alexander picked the dancer up from the floor and the viewers were now able to notice that the dancer was a woman. She was sitting on his left shoulder, only dancing with her hands, her whole body still covered with the chiffon.

Jimmy was absolutely thrilled. The figure both dancers just showed looked amazing. He switched his Nikon to the sports setting and took some pictures. When the four dancers around the man and woman in the middle of the dance floor took the fabric away, Jimmy jogged Clark's elbow as he finally realised who the dancer on Alexander's shoulder was.

Alexander put his dancing partner down on the floor, and Celeste got on pointe. She danced around the five men in very beautiful dance moves, suiting perfectly to the Hip-Hop track.

Clark watched the Australian dancer with his eyes wide open.

Celeste had on a black dress, her tights looked very worn out, so did her ballet shoes, which had certainly seen better days. He especially liked her blond corkscrew curls, restrained in a ponytail. Some of her locks had escaped the hairdo and where now glued to her cheeks with the sweat on her face.

When Celeste got to Alexander, she went on her right foot and bent over into a split. He held her and lifted her where she went into another split midair. Gently, he put her down and Celeste caressed his cheek. Two men walked up to her and pulled her away from her partner by holding on to her arms. Alexander tried to get to her, but he was held back by the two other men. Celeste tried to get free, but the two ballet dancers holding her, lifted her into a pirouette. Finally Alexander got free and danced to Celeste. There he jumped up, imitating fighting the dancers holding her back. When they released Celeste, she ran into the arms of her dancing partner. Alexander put Celeste on his arms and spun around with her.

The odd thing was that even though for the viewers around her, the dancer did an extraordinary job, Celeste was everything but present. At least with her thoughts.

She was utterly confused about the connection she obviously had to the American reporter. What confused her even more, was the fact, that this man touched her insight like nobody else before. That was a very strange feeling for her.

Meanwhile, the four dancers were now at the floor, trying to reach for the couple. Celeste was that deep in her thoughts that she still hadn't realised that Clark Kent was in the same room, watching her.

Alexander put her back on her feet and she went up to her tiptoes, dancing around him in pirouettes. Then he stopped her and lifted her up. She rolled over his back, landing on the floor. There she stumbled for a second, feeling dizzy. When she realised that she hadn't eaten for the whole day, a black curtain closed over her eyes, and she fainted in front of all the people attending the rehearsal.


Her head hurt terribly. Celeste finally managed to open her eyes, and was surprised to look in very familiar cerulean. She tried to get up.

"Gosh, please don't tell me you came to the rescue again?" She said curling up her face in pain.

"I can't help myself. You seem always to get in trouble when I'm around." He replied, helping her to sit upright.

"Go figure! I have no idea where this comes from."

"I'm just irresistible," Clark pointed out, with a wide grin on his face.

She laughed and stood up with the help of the reporter, who had an arm safely around her waist. She was still feeling a bit dizzy. All of her dancing colleagues had gathered around her and asked her, concerned, if everything was all right.

"Pretty convenient timing to faint in front of two reporters of the world's biggest newspaper," one of the girls said.

"Shut up, bitch!" Celeste snapped very silently under her breath.

"Miss McPherson. Are you always that delightful?" Clark asked her. Apparently he had heard her.

Celeste bit her lip and he smiled. "She's just jealous," she explained. "You can let go, I feel okay."

Quickly he let her stand by herself, but watched her with his head tilted to the side.

She looked into his eyes and smiled. "Don't tell me you're the reporter assigned to interview Alexander and me?" She asked.

"Well, I have to admit I wasn't thrilled, but this assignment has certainly become very interesting," he teased her.

The ballet dancer looked around and bit her lower lip. All of her colleagues looked at her. So did Jimmy and Jason Green, her boss. "Why don't we go to a more private place to conduct the interview?" She asked the two reporters pleadingly.

Alexander walked up to them. "Are you okay?" He asked, obviously a bit concerned.

"I'm fine. I just need something to eat. What about the bar we went to yesterday?" Celeste asked Clark.

Now Jimmy was really intrigued. He looked up to the tall reporter standing next to him. "A bar, huh?"

Clark adjusted his glasses and smiled insecurely. "That may be not a bad idea. But tonight is club night."

Jimmy's mouth dropped open. Here he was with his colleague, the geeky reporter. He would have never thought that Clark Kent knew a thing about club nights.

Celeste walked up to the man and looked into his deep icy-blue eyes. "Do they have something to eat there?"

He shifted from one to the other foot as he felt her glance burning through and through. "I would think so," he replied.

"Then the bar it is. I have to change into my street clothes. What about us meeting up there in about half an hour? Alexander, are you coming with us?"

The male ballet dancer nodded. A club night was just what he needed at the moment. Meanwhile, Jimmy and Clark thanked the Australian choreographer and left the rehearsal room.

While they were waiting for a cab, Jimmy glanced at Clark.

"You had a date with this incredibly hot lady?"

His opponent adjusted his glasses. A wide grin curled on his face. "Well, I wouldn't say it was a date. We accidentally bumped into each other yesterday and made the decision to have a drink. What's wrong with that?"

"Nothing," Jimmy replied, while he was jumping into the taxi, which had just stopped in front of them.