TITLE: Double, Double, Love & Trouble? – Chapter 11
WRITTEN BY: Heather Ferguson (fergus80)
RATING: PG-13 (NC-17 where applicable will be separate)
SUMMARY: Rewrite from the end of the episode 'Unsafe.'
SPOILERS: Everything!
DISCLAIMER: All Smallville character belong to their respective whatever, the WB, etc. etc.
FEEDBACK: Always makes me smile:)
DEDICATION: To all the fellow Nuns, writers, reviewers, and readers at NWP, and of course Jensen!
RANT: Okay, this and the next few chapters will be a lot like the show, but with added internal dialogue and a few added things here and there. Would you believe I'm still setting up the story? Seriously, I am. LOL
There was his answer. Staring back at him from the computer screen. He took a deep breath and slowly let it out. Now the only question was what to do with the information.
He quickly shut down the screen. Cleared the history files. Effectively erasing his search through the LutherCorp computers. He got up from the desk and headed out of the building and into the dark night.
Jason sat in his car in the parking lot, his hands gripping and un-gripping the steering wheel, as he tried to decide what to do. The hum of the engine told him to start driving, but he wasn't sure where he should go.
Should he go to Lana's and tell her what he found out? Or should he go home, pack, and find it himself? If the stone was even there. The thing that worried him wasn't if it would be there or not. What worried him is what else would be there waiting for him. Waiting for Lana.
That thought made his decision for him and he drove off in the direction of his apartment.
She just couldn't seem to get the smile off her face as she walked into her apartment and sat down her book bag. Everyone had noticed her chipper mood, and she denied anything until Chloe had cornered her in the Torch's office.
She laughed as she made her way into her bedroom. As she kicked off her shoes, she remembered the look on her friends face when she told her what happened. How she had gotten to her next class without divulging all of her and Jason's personal information was a miracle. That girl certainly was a reporter.
The ringing of her phone brought her out of her thoughts and she ran into the kitchen to answer it. "Hello?"
"Hey, it's Jason."
The corners of her lips curled higher, "Jason who?"
"Very funny," came the flat reply.
Her smile grew bigger, but her ears picked up the sound of a crowd in the background. "Well, it doesn't sound like Kansas. Where are you?"
Jason looked around him in the dark. Massive amounts of people moving around behind him. "Uh, Metropolis." He lied into his cell phone. "I have to stay here for a few days, oversee some things for Lex." He hated this, but he had to do it.
Her brow wrinkled, "I didn't realize that your job required any overseeing."
"Yeah. Listen," He changed subjects, not wanting to get into it. "I can't really talk right now. I just stepped out of a meeting. But I, uh, I wanted to call 'cause I didn't get a change to before I left." Well, he had the chance. He just didn't want too. Because he knew that if he had seen her, or talked to her, he would have told her the truth.
"Is Lex with you?"
"No, I'm solo."
She smiled and teased, "Well, you better stay that way. I know what happens to people when they run off to Metropolis."
He almost smiled at her comment until a Chinese man standing behind him yelled something to one of his customers. He tried to quickly cover his phone so she wouldn't hear it. But it was too late.
"What was that?"
"Nothing." He said hastily. "Um, listen, I gotta go. I'll call you tomorrow, okay? Good night." He said and hung up his phone and then cussed at himself for realizing what he had said, and what he had failed to say.
Lana put down her phone, looking at it confused, "Night?" She shook her head, and went over to grab her books from her bag. "Meetings must be getting to him."
He walked down the dark, crowded street. His body slightly jumped when his cell phone rang. He quickly dug it out of his leather jacket and answered, "Hello?"
"If I didn't know better, I'd think you skipped town on me."
Jason rubbed his forehead, "Lex. Yeah, I was going to call you. Something came up. I had to leave work early."
"To what, catch the next flight to Shanghai?"
The look of shock could not escape his face, "What?"
"Why don't you turn around?"
Jason swallowed hard and turned to see Lex standing right down the street from him with his own cell phone to his ear. Lex hung his up and started walking towards him, clearly annoyed.
Once within hearing distance Lex started in again, "You didn't really think I'd hire you, bring you into my life, and not follow every step you take, did you?"
"Lex…"
"I know my father gave you a map, Jason. And I know you figured out that it leads to a temple just outside the city, but if you think you're gonna find that stone without me, you're mistaken." The two men stared at each other for a moment. There was no reason for Jason to deny anything. They knew exactly what each other was doing. "Let's go."
With that Lex turned and started to walk away, a moment later Jason started to follow.
"Still no answer. Right to voice mail!" She was getting upset. Or worried. Or both. She couldn't reach him. "That's it. I will just go and have Lex find him, since he's the one responsible for me not being able to reach him." And with her keys and purse she was out the door and on her way to the mansion.
Barging her way into Lex's study she stopped abruptly in the middle of the room once she noticed that Lionel was there.
"Miss Lang. Please, don't be shy." He said as he continued to cut up an orange. "You were looking for your elusive boyfriend, I assume."
She hesitated. How did he know so much? "Uh, yeah. I was hoping that Lex could get in touch with him for me. He sent him to go catch up on this project and I can't seem to reach him on his cell."
"Well, I would imagine reception would be rather shoddy in China. Lex is in Shanghai. If I had to guess, I would say that your boyfriend is there with him."
Lana couldn't believe her ears. China? Shanghai?
Lionel looked at her, seeing the shock. "I'm sorry. I-I thought Jason wouldn've told you what's happening, considering you were the one born right into the middle of all this. You should know, Miss Lang, how thoroughly Jason and Lex have been studying Isobel Theroux, your rebellious ancestor."
Yes, she did know that. But he didn't know, she did. "Looks like they aren't the only ones."
He walked over to the bookshelf and picked up a wooden box. He went back over to the desk and sat down in the chair as he continued. "Isobel's archrival was a duchess, Gertrude who was obsessed with finding three mythical stones. She sent ships to the far ends of the known earth, but all her agents could discover was this map somewhere in China." He opened the box, and pulled out the same map he had given Jason, showing it to her.
"What does this treasure map have to do with Isobel?"
"The map never made it into the hands of the duchess. Isobel stole the document and hid it. Gertrude had the exquisite young sorceress executed."
Fear was evident in her eyes, "Isobel's looking for them too."
He nodded, "And she's working through you, using you as a vessel. I gave a copy of the map to Jason as well. I'm not surprised he didn't tell you about it."
She almost smiled at how wrong he was.
He got back up, closed the box, and returned it to the bookshelf. "Your kinship with Isobel may not be a secret, but are you aware that Jason is a direct descendent of the duchess, Gertrude?"
She tried to show shock, wondering what else she could get out of this man if she continued to fake her ignorance.
She hadn't gotten a lot of answers from him, but she did get some help. And right then, she was a lot more mad at the two men in the other country then she was for not getting more answers. She wanted to be able to call and scream at him for lying to her. She wanted to demand to know why he didn't tell her. She already knew what his response would be. "Protect me, my ass." She mumbled as she threw some more clothes into her suitcase.
Turning around she almost jumped at seeing Clark there. "Going somewhere?"
Lana paused for a moment and then went to her dresser taking some more things to pack. "China."
He blinked, trying to take that in. "China? Are you serious?"
She nodded, "And freaked out and mad and just about everything else you can possibly imagine." She rambled out letting her emotions get the better of her.
Clark looked confused, "Lana, what's going on?"
She turned to him, "Which part? The immaculate tattoo, the fact that I seem to be harboring a 16th century witch, or that Jason and Lex took off with a map to uncover it all behind my back?" My boyfriend took off with out me she wanted to scream.
"Why would they do that?"
"I don't know, but Jason said that we were gonna figure this out together." She almost choked on the words. "But it turns out he has a rather limited definition of 'we'."
Clark swallowed, "Well, maybe he has a good reason why he's not being open with you. Don't you think you owe him a chance to explain?"
She eyed him, "Clark, you know I don't give up on someone that easily." He lowered his eyes as she continued, "But I'm not gonna just let him lie to me, even if it was for a good reason."
"So you're gonna take off and fly halfway around the world just like that?"
She nodded, "Lionel Luthor made all the arrangements and I'm taking the LuthorCorp jet." From his look, she continued. "And I know, Clark, that I can't trust him. But he gave me the name of this professor that might be able to help."
"Well, then I'm going with you."
Lana was stunned for a second, then shook her head, "I'm not gonna drag you into this."
"I'm not letting you go alone."
She was about to object, and then she relented. It would be better to not be alone. Besides, if she wasn't alone then she couldn't kill him when she found him.
To Be Continued
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