"Clark I didn't bring anything to wear to the party though. I brought some clubbing outfits but nothing to wear to a ball." Lois told him.
"Not a problem, we'll go pick something up." Clark got up and Lois followed him back through the kitchen
"Alfred, Lois is coming with us tonight," Clark's cheeks reddened a little; "we are going to go pick her up a dress."
"Very good Master Clark, Ms. Lang's things should be dry by now as I'm sure she doesn't want to go out in sweats." Alfred knowingly responded.
Lois headed up to the bathroom to change and Clark went to the garage and pulled his favorite car around to the front, a 2005 Dodge Viper convertible. He was putting the top down when Lois came out front dressed again in her halter and jeans.
"WOW, nice car!" Lois said as she got into the passenger seat.
"Yeah Bruce really likes cars and has quite the collection. He told me I could use whichever one I wanted. I've tried the Mercedes and Lamborghini and a few others. But this one is my favorite so far."
Clark put the rumbling V-10 engine into gear and drove them down the long driveway. Clark picked up speed as he pulled through the massive gates and made his way towards the freeway. He kept glancing at Lois who had fixed her hair back with a clip and had put on some sun glasses. She was clearly enjoying the warm breeze that the convertible provided. They made their way to downtown Gotham and Clark pulled up in front of an expensive looking boutique with tuxes and gowns in the window.
"Clark I can't afford this place." Lois started to say.
"It's ok Lois." Clark told her opening her door as the valet came to take the car.
They were met at the door by the store manager, "Mr. Kent, its good to see you again. Alfred called and told me that you needed a dress for tonight."
"Thank you Jane, good to see you too."
Jane walked them back to the back of the store to a large private dressing room. There was another small room to change in, sofas and a coffee table with waters and several large mirrors around a short pedestal. Jane pulled a tape measure out and began to take Lois' measurements. Clark sat down on one of the couches and grabbed a water bottle, watching and listing to the two girls talk about colors, fabrics and styles. Lois went in to the small dressing room and changed into the first of the dresses. It was a nice white gown that Clark thought looked pretty good, but the girls found several flaws in how it looked on Lois. Lois returned to the dressing room and emerged in a light blue dress, again the girls found something wrong with it and she returned to the dressing room.
Jane found a third dress and Lois came out in a long red gown that was held up by thin spaghetti straps. The front dipped down showing ample cleavage while still being somewhat modest. The back was low and had the straps crossing nicely across her back.
Clark's eyes almost popped out, she looked gorgeous.
"Well Smallville, it looks like you have never seen a girl in a dress."
"Umm… Lois you look amazing! You look really good in red!" Clark finally got out.
Lois blushed slightly, "Thanks Clark."
Jane picked up a few more boxes and brought them over
"Ms. Lane, here are some shoes and here are a few necklaces' that might go with the gown" The girls went through the same procedure with the shoes and jewelry as they had done with the dress. Finally deciding on what looked best, Lois and Jane turned to Clark and smiled his approval and then spoke to Jane.
"Jane is my tux ready?"
"Yes Mr. Kent." Pulling the tux from the rack and handing him a box of shoes.
Clark stood and walked to the dressing room and changed into the tux. It was nice shopping here, they took care of you. Like having the socks picked out to go with the shoes and a small bottle of cologne in his jacket pocket. Finishing dressing and giving himself a couple squirts of cologne, he emerged from the dressing room.
"Looking good Kent." Lois said coming over
"Does it meet your satisfaction Mr. Kent?" Jane asked.
"It's great Jane. Just as you promised." Clark said offering his arm to Lois as they moved to the front of the store.
"I will put it on your tab Mr. Kent. Thanks for coming in today, it was a pleasure serving both of you." Jane said as she shook his hand, handing him a bag with their street clothes.
The valet brought the car around and they made their way further downtown.
"Smallville this is amazing, thank you so much for the dress." Lois sad
Clark smiled back at her, "Your welcome Lois, although I can't take all the credit. Bruce had told me that if I found a date for the ball he wouldn't mind paying for her dress." Clark told her.
Clark pulled up to a beauty salon and told the valet to hold his car as he was coming back out. After introducing her to the ladies inside and telling them to give Lois whatever she wanted he turned to Lois, "You're on your own here; this is no place for a guy. I've got an errand to run for Bruce, I'll be back later."
Lois was quickly surrounded by the ladies all wanting to do her hair for the ball. Clark just laughed and shook his head and made his way back to the Viper. He took off down the road and reaching for his phone as it rang.
"Clark, how's the shopping?" Bruce asked
"Going good Bruce, Lois picked out a knock dress." Clark said turning down Broadway.
"Probably the most expensive one in the store…"
Clark laughed, "Bruce was that a joke?" Clark teased. "I'm on my way to restock the supply room at the office while Lois gets her hair done."
"Good. I'm on my way to pick my date up. We'll meet you in the garage and then pick up Lois."
Clark took the box up to the secret room at the top of the Wayne building. He restocked the smoke balls and grappling guns before making his way back down to the garage. He pulled a few things from the Viper and He climbed in the waiting limo.
Bruce introduced his date, "Clark I would like you to meet my date, Selena Kyle. Selena, this is Clark Kent."
Selena looked stunning in a black strapless dress. With her dark hair pulled up into some type of twist.
"Nice to meet you Selena."
"Clark, good to finally meet you; Bruce was just telling me that you were really enjoying your job at Wayne Enterprises."
"Yeah I am finding I like research and the projects that Bruce comes up with are very challenging."
Alfred pulled up to the salon and Clark jumped out and went in to get Lois. The girl doing her hair was just putting the finishing touches on Lois' hair as he walked up.
"Lois your hair looks great." Clark told her, admiring the little curly strands that fell from the tight twist on her head.
Lois gave him a teasing curtsy, "Thank you Mr. Kent." Clark laughed as they made their way back to the limo.
Bruce introduced Selena to Lois and the two ladies found a seat together and began to get acquainted. Bruce and Clark found another seat and quietly began to talk.
"We are going to need a few more Batarangs up in the store room."
"I'll let Alfred know."
"Any word on the Roman?"
"No, but I think we are in the quiet before the storm. I have a feeling that things are going to heat up again soon. He has to start moving again, he'll have to find another truck to get his goods in and out of Gotham."
Before the guys could continue their conversation, Alfred pulled over and announced that they had arrived at the restaurant. It was a small Italian place tastefully decorated with a nice view of downtown Gotham.
"Mr. Wayne your table is over here." The manager met them and showed them to the table.
The dinner was wonderful; Selena and Lois had begun to really hit it off, their conversation during the meal ranged from clothes to food to best shopping places. Bruce and Clark added a few of their own teasing comments to the discussion but were mostly quiet through the meal. It was after 8 when the couples got up to make their way to the Ball. Alfred drove them to the Gotham Ritz a few blocks away. As they got out of the car, the reporters started taking pictures and throwing questions at Bruce and even a few at Clark.
They walked up the red carpet ignoring the questions and made their way to the roof of the hotel. The doors opened to a beautiful garden area, the area was lighted with lots of little white lights. They were instantly surrounded by several people eager to shake Bruce's hands. Clark was introduced and became very thankful for his great memory; there were a lot of new names and faces to remember. He and Lois excused themselves and found the drink table.
"Wow Smallville, you are Mr. Popular tonight." She said after another couple introduced themselves to Clark.
"Yeah, all these people seem to know who I am, I know I haven't seen half of these people before."
"Well you are living with Bruce Wayne. That's big news. Kissing your ass is a good way to kiss Bruce's."
Lois caught sight of a few more couples moving towards them.
"Smallville, lets dance."
Catching the direction of her glance, he grabbed her hand. "My hero!"
And led her to the dance floor. They began to dance, after getting over the initial hesitation, stepping on each others feet and the all the reporter's cameras flashing they began to enjoy the slow dance. They moved around the floor and found that Bruce and Selena had joined them.
"I see you have found the secret of avoiding ass kissers." Bruce joked and smiled at the younger couple.
Clark was about to respond when he heard gun fire coming from the elevator. He turned and saw that there were thugs dressed like clowns running from the elevator and began to surround Gotham's wealthiest. Clark noticed that Bruce had disappeared and decided to stay with the girls. It was then that Clark heard an evil laugh come from the direction of the elevator. Clark saw a man emerge from the elevator in a purple suit, with a big flower in the jacket lapel. The man face was chalk white with a huge grin on his face, he had bright green hair.
"If you will kindly deposit your valuables in my men's bags, maybe only a few of you will end up like this guy." He grabbed one of the guests and shoved the mans face into his lapel flower, sending a cloud of gas into the guest's face. The guest began to chuckle, then broke into a laugh and he soon was laughing so hard he was curled up into a ball on the ground. All of the sudden the laughter stopped and Clark knew the man was dead.
The Clown started laughing again. "Thank you, thank you. I'm not going to be here all night so empty your valuables now or you can become the Joker's next joke."