Several days had passed before Davis finally called Chloe back. He had listened to her message at least a dozen times, but the return of the blackouts had really freaked him out. Thankfully though he hadn't had any repeats of that frightening alley wake up. Finally he decided to check in and see how her venture running the foundation for the meteor infected was going. He had been really touched that his comments had helped sway her to restart Isis.

"Hello?"

"Hi Chloe, it's Davis Bloome."

"Davis! How are you? Did you get my message? I decided you were right. I'm restarting Isis."

"Yeah I did. Sorry it took me a while to respond. I've just been a bit...tied up." That part was truer than she would ever know. He'd started tying himself to the bed at night.

"Ah ok. You know I'm really glad you called. I could use some feedback from you."

"Oh yeah? On what?'

"Well I've been going through my friend's notes and stuff. She had a number of facilities listed that she wanted to follow up with about treating the meteor infected. But she never was able to do that. I remember you said the hospital sent out updates on different treatment facilities. Could I pick your brain on some of them?"

"Yeah, sure. I'd be glad to help." And he found he was. He had wanted to see her again every day since they had met. To do that and help people get the treatment they need? That was just a double win.

"Would you be free one day this week? We could meet at Isis or...no. Why don't we do coffee instead? You are doing me a favor, and I've been in this office too much."

He smiled.

"How about tomorrow? I'm off and there is a really nice cafe across from my apartment building. We could meet there," he said.

"Sounds good. Text me a time and address and I'll be there!"

The next afternoon, Davis sat at one of the tables inside the cafe. He was contemplating beer or coffee.

He decided on beer just as Chloe appeared in the doorway carrying a laptop case slung over her shoulder.

She was wearing a pretty pink skirt and white top with a little pink jacket. Davis thought she looked adorable.

She saw him instantly and flashed her lovely smile as she moved to his table and sat down.

"Hey Davis. Thanks so much for agreeing to meet up with me."

"No problem."

"What are you getting? I'm buying."

"No way, I'll buy."

"I insist, it means a lot to me that you are willing to help me with this."

"Ok. A beer please."

"Afternoon drinker, eh?" She lifted a brow.

"Yeah, well, it is my day off." He flashed her a lopsided smile of his own and his eyes sparkled at her mild teasing.

She waved a waitress over, and ordered a coffee thing with lots of syllables and his beer.

She reached down to her laptop case and pulled the slick machine out and opened it on the table.

She typed away for a few seconds and brought up a number of webpages of different treatment facilities around Metropolis.

Wow, she was fast. He would still have been opening the browser.

"Ok, shall we get started then?" She smiled broadly at him as she turned the machine around to face him.

I think we have already begun, he thought and smiled back.

Two beers and six coffee somethings later, Chloe leaned back from the computer.

"Whew. That is all of them." She interlocked her fingers and lifted her arms over her head in a stretch.

His mouth went dry as her white top pulled tight across her chest. She had draped the little jacket on her chair back several hours ago.

Releasing her stretch, she turned to gaze at Davis. He swallowed quickly and dropped his gaze to his bottle again. He returned to peeling the label from his beer bottle.

Her hand reached out and covered one of his on the bottle.

Surprised he looked up into her warm eyes.

"I know I said it before, but I do appreciate your help."

He smiled back at her lopsidedly. "Yeah well, it was selfish of me actually."

She removed her hand and settled back in her chair.

He missed that hand.

She arced a brow at him. "Oh? And how is that?"

"Well if you are able to help these people control their powers better, there might not be so much need for a paramedic."

She grinned widely as she leaned forward again and crossed her arms on the table. "But I would think you wouldn't want that. You know, right now there is job security."

His face became more serious and he paused in the act of peeling the label again. "I'd be ok with there being less people needing help. But I don't think I'll ever lose job security. Too many bad people hurting others out there."

Her face also grew more serious.

He felt their time together today should be drawing to a close, but he sensed that she wanted to linger. He certainly wanted her to.

He waved a hand to indicate the cafe around him. "Have you been to this part of the city before? You never mentioned where you live."

She smiled again and looked around the cute cafe and tree-lined street. "No, though it is a really nice area. I think you said you live here, right? I have quite a commute actually. I live over in Smallville. In a little apartment above a coffee shop called The Talon."

He blinked. "Wow that is a commute! Why so far?" Then realizing that might seem nosy, he softened the subject. "That is my apartment building over there," he said pointing at a brick building across the way. "The third window on the top floor."

She turned to look where he was pointing and then back at him.

"Well to your question, I mostly grew up in Smallville. My dad and I moved there right before eighth grade. I took over the apartment because it was really cheap. Though it is small and shared with my cousin, Lois."

"Yeah, rents in the city can be pretty high. I got a great deal on my apartment because I helped save the owner's life."

She blinked at him in surprise for a second before responding, "Oh, was he one of your patients?"

"Yeah. When I got to their apartment he was having a massive heart attack. I was able to stabilize him long enough to get him to the hospital. He went into surgery as soon as we arrived. Poor guy - his name is Frank - was in there for weeks. I would stop in and visit with him once in a while. Nice guy, great family. I was talking to him one day and mentioned looking for an apartment. He insisted on me taking the open one in the building at a much lower than normal rate." He smiled in his lopsided way again. "I think he and his wife feel better knowing that there is a paramedic living a few floors above them if anything else were ever to happen."

Chloe smiled back again. "Yeah, I can see that." She laughed. "Didn't I say something like that myself?"

He lifted the bottle to his lips again, still smiling. "Oh so you plan on using my medical skills on top of everything I ever knew about treatment centers?"

She laughed again, "Hope not." She winked at him. "But good to know you anyway."

Davis agreed. He very much liked knowing Chloe.

I thought the jump from the end of Plastique to the heroes calling in Davis to risk his job and save Oliver was really abrupt. I thought we needed more of a friendship here before Chloe would think to call him. And Davis' desire to help people and concern at Isis just made this a natural Offscreensville scene.