Chapter 9: I Hope That Something Better Comes Along

As the group continued to drive on, Lois couldn't help starring at Clark.

"Wow, Clark." Lois said, a little nervous. "You were really brave and courageous."

"Gee." Clark said, equally nervous. "I-I don't know what to say."

"Say I was magnificent." John said, slightly resentful over Lois' praise to Clark. "I did the driving."

"Well Clark was the one who caught Tommy." Chloe pointed out.

"Yeah!" Tommy agreed. "I owe you, man."

"So, where do you come from?" Lois asked as she couldn't stop staring at Clark.

"Smallville." Clark said as he blushed badly.

"Oh brother." John groaned.

"Um..." Lois said as she looked around. "Why don't we stop somewhere for the night and have a quiet little dinner?"

"Terrific!" Tommy said enthusiastically. "I know this great place in Munich!"

"Uh... I mean along the way." Lois pointed out.

"Oh." Tommy said, his eagerness deflating slightly. "My bad."

"Well, that might be nice." Clark agreed.

()()()()()

Stopping at the first restaurant they saw, the group split up to give each of them some room to breathe after spending several days stuck in the car. As such, Clark and Lois had a table all their own outside on a porch in sight of a crescent moon.

"Oh wow." Clark said as Lois returned from the ladies room, dressed in a simple blue dress. "Hey Lois. You look lovely tonight."

"Thank you." Lois said with a smile as she sat down next to Clark. "I'm so sorry if I kept you waiting."

"It was worth it." Clark said with a nervous chuckle.

"How charming of you." Lois said with a smile.

"I uh... Took the liberty of ordering us some wine." Clark said, half afraid he'd been too forward, relieved when Lois seemed more impressed. "Oh waiter?"

The waiter, a slim man with graying hair came up.

"Yes?" The waiter asked impatiently. He seemed to have either had a rough night or was just unpleasant by nature. "May I help you?"

"Uh..." Clark said, caught off-guard by his rudeness. "The wine, please?"

The waiter looked at the basket the wine was in and pulled it out and showed it to Lois.

"Ooh, you mad impetuous fink, it's champagne." Lois said with a smile as Clark knew she was joking when she said that.

"Not exactly." The waiter said plainly. "Sparkling Marceltell. One of the finest wines of Idaho."

"Uh, you may serve us now, please." Clark said, unsure of how restaurants like this worked.

"Oh, may I?" The waiter asked sarcastically.

He then quickly undid the wrapping.

"Look how he does that." Lois said, apparently just as impressed with Scott over how he undid the wrapping around the nozzle since neither had ever really had champagne before.

"Yeah, very suave." Clark agreed.

The waiter then tossed the wrapping away and undid the top with a bottle opener. He then held the cap to Clark.

"Don't you want to smell the bottle cap?" The waiter asked.

"Oh." Clark exclaimed as he sniffed the cap. "Smells alright."

"Would you like to taste it first?" The waiter asked.

"Uh..." Clark said as he didn't have the money to afford another bottle as Lois turned to him.

"I think he's supposed to." Lois whispered in his ear.

"Oh." Clark said with relief. "Uh, would you taste it for us, please?"

The waiter rolled his eyes and took a sip from a spare glass and quickly spit it out.

"Excellent choice." The waiter said robotically.

"It oughta be for ninety-five cents." Clark told Lois, which impressed her to no end.

The waiter then poured out two glasses with the wine.

"Oh, may we have straws please?" Clark asked.

"Yes." The waiter said. "I expected that."

The waiter then unwrapped a pair of straws and placed one in each glass.

"Thank you." Clark said sincerely. "That'll be all for now."

"Oh, thank you!" The waiter said dramatically as he bowed down. "Thank you very much! Thank you."

He then left, leaving the two alone.

"Here's to you, Lois." Clark said as he lifted his glass, Lois lifted hers, and they clinked the glasses together. "Drink up."

The two drank the wine as it tasted like a generic, carbonated juice as the two sat there nervously.

"This stuff's making me a bit giggly." Lois said with a nervous smile.

"The wine?" Clark asked.

"Everything." Lois said as she and Clark looked at each other intently. Clark's mind quickly became a blank as he'd never felt this way about anyone before.

"I-it's a beautiful evening, isn't it?" Clark asked as he began sweating.

"Yeah." Lois said in a way that told Clark she was just as nervous as he was.

"The moon is just lovely." Clark said, unaware what he was really talking about at this point.

"Yeah." Lois agreed again.

"But you know, Lois, the moon isn't as lovely as you." Clark said, finally getting enough nerve to say what he'd been thinking since he saw her.

With that, the two were just about to kiss when the waiter called out.

"Lois Lane?" The waiter called out in general. "Lois Lane?!"

The waiter walked out to their table.

"You Lois Lane?" The waiter asked.

"Yes." Lois asked confusedly.

"Telephone." The waiter said as he walked off.

"Oh." Lois said as she got up. "Clark, I placed a call to my agent. It'll just take one teeny-tiny moment."

"What the hey." Clark groaned over his luck.

()()()()()

Half an hour after Lois left, Clark was still waiting at the table, unsure of what to do as he heard piano music from almost nowhere as he followed it to find a slim man with very short black hair playing the piano.

"Evening." The slim man said. "The name's Davis Bloome. Sit yourself down."

"Thanks." Clark said as he sat down in a chair. "I'm Clark. Clark Kent."

"Pleased to meet ya." Davis said, not missing a beat on the piano. "I'm no Mozart, but I get by."

"It was very nice." Clark said sincerely, though his mind was still on Jean.

"Broken heart, right?" Davis asked as he glanced over at Clark.

"Does it show?" Clark asked, surprised at Davis knowing what was wrong almost at once.

"Listen pal, when you've been around the block as many times as I have, you've seen it all, and you've done it all yourself too." Davis said plainly. "A broken heart for every drop of rain, and a shattered dream for every falling star."

"Exactly." Clark agreed. "She just walked out on me."

"Yeah, typical." Davis sighed. "That's why I live alone."

"You do, huh?" Clark asked.

"You bet." Davis answered. "I finish work. I go home. I read a book, have a couple of beers and take a walk for a breather. Then I go to bed."

"Nice and simple." Clark said plainly. He was beginning to regret leaving his old home back in Smallville.

"Stay away from women." Davis concluded. "That's my motto."

"But I can't." Clark pointed out.

"Me either." Davis confessed. "That's my problem."

You can't live with 'em, you can't live without 'em.

There's somethin' irresistabullish about 'em.

We grin and bear it 'cause the nights are long.

I hope that somethin' better comes along.

"I see what you mean." Clark said as he listened to the song and decided to join in.

It's no good complainin', and pointless to holler.

If she's a beauty she'll get under your collar.

She made a monkey out of old King Kong,

I hope that somethin' better comes along.

As the two were singing, Clark began to feel better already and also began seeing the bright side of having someone special in his life.

Still, it's fun when they're fetchin'

And agree to see an etchin'

That you keep at your little pad.

There is no solution, it's part of evolution,

You'll soon hear the souls,

The little feet of tadpoles!

"What?" Clark asked.

"Metaphor." Davis explained.

There's no limitation to mixin' and matchin'

Some get an itchin' for a critter they've been scratchin'

A skunk was badgered the results were strong.

I hope that somethin' better,

I hope that somethin' better,

I hope that somethin' better comes along.

"Phone call for Clark Kent!" The waiter called out as he walked over to the duo. "You Clark Kent?"

"Yeah." Clark admitted.

"Telephone." The waiter said as Clark walked over and took it.

"Not often you see a green horn have the blues so bad." Davis said to himself as he went for his dinner break.

As Clark grabbed the phone, he heard noise from the street and wondered who could be calling as everybody was in the restaurant.

"Hello?" Clark asked.

"Clark, hang up!" Lois' voice called out from the phone. "Hurry! Hur-"

"Lois, is that you?!" Clark called out in alarm as his eyes widened, and he quickly realized he was set up and wasn't at all surprised to hear Merlyn on the other end of the phone just as Lois was cut off.

"Yes, that's her." Merlyn said calmly. "And this is Malcolm Merlyn. Now you listen, Kent and listen well. Step outside the restaurant, right now. My guys will meet you there.

"Well what if I don't?" Clark asked, trying to sound braver than he felt.

"Then your girlfriend will be singing with the angels." Merlyn said as Clark heard Lois continue to struggle.

"Clark, don't do it!" Lois said. "Forget about me, get out of here! Don't-"

The line went dead as Clark distinctly heard Merlyn hang up, fuming over the gloating laughter he was sure Merlyn was doing right now.

With no other option, Clark walked out of the back of the restaurant as Lionel ordered. Just as he closed the door, several men pointed guns at him.

"So, you the guys I'm supposed to meet?" Clark asked coolly.

And thus, the plot thickens... When we're already two thirds through it.