AN: Thanks for all of the reviews! Ok here comes some more action for you all!
The next day was very warm. Lois and Clark were woken up far too early and immediately put to work together. Later in the morning they were separated after an argument about which way a floor-board should be laid down.
"Lengthwise!"
"Crosswise!"
"Lengthwise!"
"Crosswise!"
"Crosswise!"
"Cros... HEY!" Clark just smiled. Lois punched his shoulder. "OW! What the hell do they feed you on this farm?" While Clark got some ice for Lois' hand, Jonathan found a new job for her to do, sans Clark.
Elsewhere Chloe had just entered the Talon.
"Hey Mrs. Kent!"
"Oh hi Chloe. How are you?"
"Great, how's the rebuilding going?"
"Oh its okay. I thought I'd just get back in the swing of things and get back to work here. Clark and Jonathan don't need my help, they've got Lois." Chloe laughed at this.
"So Mr. Kent's really putting her to work huh?"
"Well he's not one to turn down an offer of help. She probably should have thought that through before she offered." Martha joked.
"Well I'm just here to check in on Lana." Chloe held up a marker. "I wanted to be the first to sign her cast."
"Oh that's nice. To be honest I haven't seen her yet today." The bell on the door rang and Lex entered. Chloe saw him and tried to think of some excuse to get away. Lex saw her and strode up as fast as he could.
"Chloe. I've been looking for you. I just want to say I'm sorry for how I acted in the cave. Clark said I scared you. I didn't mean to." Chloe was shocked to get an apology out of a Luthor so quickly and without any asking for it. She decided to just accept it as she felt it was probably a rare thing.
"Ok Lex, well I'm on my way up to see Lana so you can come and apologize to her too."
"That was my plan." They walked up the stairs to Lana's apartment and knocked. They got no response and heard no noises from within. After knocking and shouting at the door for about two minutes Lex had enough and opened the door.
"Well I am the owner." he said as he caught a look from Chloe. Then they looked in shock at the apartment. It was trashed and Lana was nowhere to be seen.
"Lana is in some sort of trouble. I'm gonna go alert the police!" Chloe said and took off. She did plan on telling the police but she also was going to make a beeline for Clark. Lex took a longer look around the apartment. Then Lex thought to check the fireplace. When he had been here after Genevieve's death he saw that a brick was loose. Lana and Jason had been using it to hide stuff. He removed the brick and found a note. He opened it and read with increasing anger what it said.
Mr. Kent: I assume you will be the one to find this, AND we both know why don't we. The time for games is over. I have kidnapped your friend Ms. Lang as I know how much she means to you and I assure you, she will come to harm if you show anybody else this note or do anything rash at all. If you wish to ensure her safety you will come to my office at the top of the Luthorcorp building at midnight this evening. We have MUCH to discuss.
-L.L.
"What have you done dad?" Lex said aloud in a very angry voice. He pulled out his cell phone. "Yeah, I want you to have the helicopter ready to go as soon as I get back. Yeah, have the blades spinning. I'm on my way." Lex took one more dark look around the room and slammed the door.
Chloe and Martha sped towards the farm. After Chloe told the police about Lana's apartment Martha decided to close the Talon for the day so that they could investigate without being hassled.
"Wow" said Chloe as she saw how much progress the men and Lois had made on the house. The entire first floor was built and the framing for the entire house was in place.
"They uh, work very fast." Martha said quickly. "Ya know, lots of farm experience." she added. Chloe just smiled. She wondered how they were keeping this from Lois. She didn't have to wonder long. She laughed as she saw her cousin stagger out of a field with an armful of logs. They got out of the car and Chloe just looked at Lois with a questioning face.
"What? Mr. Kent said we needed firewood for the campfire."
"Right." said Chloe.
"and alsothe fact that Clark and I don't work well together."
"Its not my fault I don't know which way is north-south Lois." Clark said as he walked up. Lois just shot him a dirty look, which Clark responded to by giving her a wink. Lois smiled. Chloe watched this interaction with great interest.
'Are they flirting? Nevermind. Not right now Chloe' "Clark, Lana is missing from her apartment and it looked like somebody broke in." she burst.
"What?" Clark was clearly concerned. "I should go take a look at her apartment. Lets go Chloe!" Clark said as he ran towards Chloe's car.
"Don't mind me, I'll be here picking up your slack farmboy!" Lois shouted after them.
"Lois! Come help me lift this framing piece up!" came Jonathan's shout. Lois just sighed. Helping the Kent's could be a real bitch sometimes.
Clark and Chloe arrived at the Talon. It appeared that the police had finished with the apartment and had left. Clark unlocked the door which Chloe admired.
"This is gonna make snooping around with you so much more interesting!" Clark just shot her a look. They entered the apartment. "So what are you gonna do, sniff out interesting clues?"
"Something like that Chloe." Clark slowly turned his head, x-raying the entire room. To his disappointment he found nothing, except for a brick missing in the back of the fireplace which covered a small chamber. "Hey check this out." Chloe examined the slot with curiosity.
"This brick wasn't missing when I was here with Lex this morning."she stated.
"Then I'm willing to bet Lex might know something. Thanks for telling me Chloe, I'm gonna go talk to Lex. Do you think you could go back to the farm and let my dad know whats going on?"
"What are friends for?" Chloe smiled.