Ch 9 – Infiltration
After school, Clark made his way to The Talon. When he entered he noticed Lois sitting at the counter talking to his mother.
"Hi, Mom," he called, as he walked toward them.
"Oh, hi honey." Martha glanced at her watch. "If you are here, the after school crowd is not far behind you. I'd better get ready." Smiling, Martha turned to leave.
"Um, Mom," Clark said, causing her to face him again. "I thought I'd go to The Foundation this afternoon…"
Martha's visage darkened but she nodded. "Okay, but be careful. And call us when you get there."
Clark nodded as his mother left.
"The Foundation," Lois said. "Sounds intriguing. Think I can come along for the ride?"
"No…"
"Oh come on! Have some compassion. It's Friday night in Small Town USA and your mother cut off my coffee supply." She spoke up as Clark's mother walked by where they were sitting. "What ever happened to the customer always being right?"
Martha laughed and shook her head. "Sorry Lois, three triple-espresso's while you're still on medication is all I'm letting you have."
Lois turned back to Clark with her hands raised in surrender. "See what I mean? You're going to leave me at the farm... with the cows?"
Clark drooped his backpack and sat on the stool next to her. Leaning closer, he shook his head. "No, it's just that… it's in Manhattan."
"Manhattan?" Lois asked, her brow furrowed in confusion. "Manhattan, Kansas? We can drive there…" She faltered when he shook his head again and gave her a meaningful look. "Oh. You mean the island? As in New York?"
Clark gave a slight nod.
"Holy…!" Lois exclaimed, drawing the attention of a few of the people closest to them.
"Lois!" Clark whispered.
"Wow… I was going to say 'Holy Wow.'" She finished, in a quieter tone. She tilted her head and studied his face. "Seriously? You can do that?"
"Hi Clark. Lois," Lana called as she entered the shop and walked to them.
Clark stood, stumbling a little when his foot hit his backpack. "Lana… Hi!"
Lois arched an eyebrow at him and responded to Lana's greeting with a wave. "Hey."
Turning to face her, Lois smiled. "Lana, thanks for the card. That was nice of you."
Lana shrugged and returned the smile. "You weren't awake when I brought it by. I'm glad you're feeling better. I've had my share of stays at Smallville Medical. The Jell-O could use some work," she finished with a laugh. "So, Chloe tells me you're staying with the Kent's. How's it going?"
"It's really good. I have my own room… tons of acreage," Lois teased. "The only problem is that Kent here is worse than a girl with the time he spends in the bathroom."
Clark glared at her. "Well, Lane, that hasn't seem to stop you from coming in anyway!" He turned to face Lana. "We're still working with Lois on boundaries. She gets into everything…"
"Hey," Lois replied.
Clark mocked pain at the playful swat she sent his way.
"I only looked at your telescope… didn't touch it." She winked and started laughing.
Clark caught the innuendo she was hinting at and began to blush. "Lois," he groaned through his teeth. He shook his head but couldn't help but to laugh as well.
Lana frowned, sensing that she was on the outside of yet another joke. "You know what, I better go. My shift is going to start pretty soon. I'll see you guys later." She smiled at their laughter and turned.
"Bye… Lana," Clark said, watching her walk away.
Lois rolled her eyes and pushed Clark back onto the stool. "Oh man, Smallville. You are so lucky I'm here."
"I don't know what you're talking about."
Lois shot a glance in Lana's direction. "Sure you don't. But I'm going to save you."
"Hey beautiful," a voice from behind them said.
Lois spun around on the stool to see who the speaker was. She was surprised when she recognized the young man standing in front of her. His light brown eyes seemed to bore into her with intensity.
"Oh… Hi." Her face showed her confusion at his presence.
He grinned and stuck a hand out in Clark's direction. "Hey. My name's Manton Black, but people call me Tony." The more he spoke, the more apparent a European accent became.
As Clark reached to return the handshake, Lois blinked.
"Uh, yeah. Tony, this is Clark Kent. He's my… roommate. Tony was my tour guide on campus today," she told Clark. Turning back to the visitor, she asked, "What are you doing here?"
Tony moved to lean against the counter, inserting himself between Clark and Lois. A muscle in Clark's jaw twitched as he moved back to create space.
"I heard about this place and thought I'd come and check it out."
He turned his head as he took in the atmosphere. "It's nice. So, Lois, I'm throwing a little party tonight. You know, just a way to celebrate the end of the term. Get ready for vacation. Can you make it?"
When Lois glanced at Clark, Tony spoke again. "Your friend can come to, although we might be out past his curfew."
Clark narrowed his eyes in response.
Lois smiled and winked at Clark, seeing that he was bothered by Tony's joke. "No, actually he has other plans, but I think a party sounds great."
Clark wasn't sure he liked the way this Tony character was eyeing Lois. "Lois…" he began as Tony helped her from the stool.
"It's okay Kent, I'll take good care of her." Turning to Lois, he grinned. "How 'bout I give you some directions?"
As they walked toward a table, Clark reached down to pick up his bag. Before exiting, he took a final look at the two of them. He frowned as Lois laughed at something Tony said, and turned to leave.
"Wow. It's looks like to me you got the better end of this deal," Chloe said as she looked around Lois' room.
"Yeah," Lois replied, pulling a shirt from a suitcase. "At least my dad is thorough. He sent some of his boys to pack up my stuff and bring it here. Good thing I hadn't gotten around to making my dorm room homey yet."
Chloe smiled and ducked as another shirt flew over her head and landed next to her on the bed.
"So, where is this party we're going to tonight?"
"I don't know the name of it. Tony rented out some club out by LCC. I wrote it down… somewhere." Lois bit her lip trying to remember, then gave up and started pulling clothes out of her suitcase again.
"He rented out an entire club? Sounds like a pretty high roller…"
"Hmm. Yeah, I guess so. I think he's kind of full of himself, but at least we have something to do tonight!"
Chloe mumbled an agreement, and then pulled a shirt from the pile. "Here, wear this one."
Lois turned around and caught it as Chloe tossed it to her. "I didn't even see this! Good pick. Now find yourself one. You are not wearing that striped no-shoulder thing."
Chloe glanced down at her shirt and pouted. "But I like this shirt."
Lois rolled her eyes. "I know you do, hon. But we might find your Prince Charming tonight, and the last thing you want to do is make him dizzy with your shirt pattern."
Chloe scoffed. "I doubt Prince Charming will be hanging out at a club dancing to horrible renditions of 'She Bangs,'" she muttered under her breath.
Lois heard her and moved to the bed. Shoving the pile of clothes to the side, she sat next to her cousin and wrapped an arm around her shoulders.
"Chlo-Bear, we need to talk about your hang-up on a certain farm boy."
Chloe looked at the ceiling, smiling in amusement. "No, we don't."
Lois just continued to look at her.
"Seriously Lo! I'm over it. I'm really embarrassed by it, but I'm over it. You can't help who you crush on, and I did some pretty crazy things…"
"You almost died."
"Yeah. Good thing Lionel Luthor is behind bars."
Lois' eyes narrowed briefly. Being behind bars hadn't stopped him from sending a psycho killer after Chloe to finish what he'd begun. She wasn't ready to declare Chloe to be safe from harm just yet.
Chloe mistook Lois' look for disbelief in her claims about Clark. "No really. I realized that I wasn't being fair to myself. I was starting to get hurt over the smallest things. Looks, words… Can you believe that I thought I saw something between you and Clark?"
Chloe saw the shock on Lois' face and laughed. Lois had to force herself to laugh, trying to ignore memories of the crazy kiss she and Clark had shared.
"It was stupid, really. You can't make somebody love you if they don't. I think Clark and me make better friends anyway."
Lois smiled and wrapped her other arm around Chloe to complete the embrace. "Well, I'm glad to hear it, because he has some serious 'Girl Next Door' issues. There is somebody great out there for you. But before you even get to him, you're going to break a lot of hearts." Lois released her and leaned back. "And, you're right…"
Chloe warily faced Lois, her eyebrows raised in a question.
Lois grinned and stood up. "Prince Charming wouldn't be doing any 'she-banging' tonight, but I think I know a song he'd like…"
Chloe's eyes widened as Lois began an off-key version of "She Will Be Loved."
"Oh no, please stop. Please," she whimpered.
Lois laughed and sang louder as a pillow flew in her direction. Pulling her cousin from the bed to dance with her, Lois continued, "And she will, and she will…"
In the kitchen, Jonathan Kent grimaced and glanced at the ceiling. Shaking his head, he decided that there was no time like the present to tinker on the tractor's engine.
tbc
