Lois mechanically went through the motions of eating supper. She couldn't even say what she'd eaten. She kept staring angrily at Clark. Clark, however, was doing a great job of ignoring her and was having a friendly chat with one of the other maids.

After they were done eating and most of the servants were heading back to their rooms, Lois pulled Clark into a deserted hallway. It wasn't very hard to find a deserted place in such a large house.

"What do you think you are doing?"

"Well, I was walking to my room before you pulled me away."

"Don't be cute. Chloe ratted on me and you with your hero complex had to come running to my rescue. "

"She worries about you and with good cause. Look, I'm not insisting you drop it and dragging you out of the house. You can keep investigating. I'm just going to be your backup in case you need it."

"Which, I won't. If I could tell on you without telling on myself, I'd do it in a heartbeat."

"You probably would," he said with a smile.

She pointed a finger at him. "Don't push my buttons, Kent."

"Flint."

"Whatever. I mean it. Stay out of my way."

"You won't even know I'm here."

"Yeah, right," she muttered as she walked away.

Her room was very small but well-furnished. Every servant had their own room which was a testament to just how big the house was. She had a dresser and an old-fashioned iron bed. The walls were painted in a bold yellow. She also had a small bathroom with all the necessary toiletries. Mrs. Rodgers had left a nightgown on her bed. There was a dress code even at night, but she supposed the primary purpose was that they didn't want her to wrinkle up the maid's uniform by sleeping in it.

She changed into her nightgown, but she didn't go to bed. She was waiting for the others in the house to fall asleep, so she could do some snooping. She waited for about 2 hours and everything seemed quiet, but then sound probably didn't carry very well in a mansion.

Just as she was getting up, there was a knock on the door and her heart leaped into her throat. Had they found out her plan? They wouldn't be so polite as to knock before they killed her, Lois assured herself. Maybe it was Mrs. Rodgers checking up on her.

"Come in," she called. It was Clark. She rolled her eyes. "Get out, Smallville."

"It's Chuck."

"Fine. Get out, Chuck!"

"You're getting ready to search the house. You need my help, Miss Cane."

"I am not searching the house."

"You didn't come here to be a maid and you haven't gone to bed yet. You're searching the house and I'm coming with you."

She didn't answer but left the room. Clark took it that she was okaying it. She would have said something otherwise, so he followed her. He knew it was making her mad that he could predict what she was going to do, but it wasn't like she didn't know him just as well.

Lois looked back. Yep, he was right behind her. He was just like a lost, little puppy trying to follow her home, not sweet imagery in her mind as she was allergic to dogs.

"Where are you going?" Clark whispered.

"I let you come along. The least you can do is keep your mouth shut and not worry about where I'm going."

"Okay," Clark said. "But where are you going?"

"If you must know, I'm going to his bedroom."

"Isn't he in there?"

"Probably."

"You worry me, you know that?"

"I suppose there are other rooms to search, at least until we find out if he's a heavy sleeper or not. I'm not even sure which room is his. I just know it's somewhere in the left wing. That part is reserved for him and his guests. The right wing is the servants' quarters. I was just going to check all the rooms until I found it. Do you know where his office is?"

"Not really but I would guess downstairs."

Lois stubbed her toe on a table in the hall. Clark grabbed her and covered her mouth. She pushed him away and grabbed her toe.

"What'd you do that for?" she whispered angrily.

"You were about to let out a string of very loud swear words, weren't you?"

"I hate you."

"Are you alright?"

"No, I'm not alright. I just stubbed my toe on the freaking table."

"You want me to take a look at it?"

"I'm fine. It's not broken or anything."

"Maybe you'd better let me go first."

"Are you kidding me? I've got eyes like a hawk."

"That may be, but you clearly don't have eyes like a night owl."

"I'll have you know—"

She was cut off by the beam of a flashlight coming down the next hall and voices. Somebody was about to turn the corner and catch them.