---- Chapter 5: Attacks

Walking into the house, Lois made her way into the kitchen and put the baby carrier down on the kitchen table. She shrugged her jacket off and tossed it on the back of one of the chairs before returning her attention to Jacob. She unwrapped him from his jacket, taking it over to the front door and hanging it up. For some reason she found herself trying to be much more organized with her son's things. As long as hers were in the house, it was all right, but she liked his stuff where she knew she could find it quickly.

Shaking her head, she made her way back to the kitchen and pulled Jacob out of his baby carrier, setting the object on the floor and out of the way before sitting at the breakfast bar and smiling at Jacob. "I'm sorry Mommy has been so tense lately, Jacob. She's waiting for good news from some people, and not being able to help somebody that doesn't want to be helped is frustrating."

Jacob waved his arms at her wildly and she returned the favor with her hands, eliciting a small laugh. Almost against her will, the small laugh brought a smile to her lips. She wasn't against smiling, per se, but everything recently had felt like it was dragging her down towards the kind of mood Chloe had been in.

Until recently, that is.

After the night Chloe had walked out of the bar on her and Lucy, it had been like Chloe had found something that made her smile again. While Lois wanted to be happy for her, Chloe still barely left the house. Almost every night she would come home right after work, be more cheery than she had been in recent weeks then retreat to bed for the night. It was starting to weird her out.

Of course, Lois couldn't seem to find it in herself to just go and talk to her cousin in a meaningful way. Her anger still simmered over her cousin barely living. Working all day then just sitting home at night was no way to live. She had been living proof of that, before Clark had come back from his training. Her social life had been the envy of about six recluses. All the others thought that she should get out more, Chloe included, since she'd been nearly as bad about not ensconcing herself in work then just heading home to sleep the day off.

She wanted to get beyond these feelings, but she'd be damned if she wasn't being unduly stubborn as was her trademark. This was one of those times she wished she'd have gotten better about it at one time or another.

When Clark walked into the room, Lois threw a small smile his way as he pulled some stuff out of the fridge. He smiled at her as he unwrapped the steaks he'd been thawing. "You want me to watch him while you change clothes?"

Lois shook her head. "I'm okay, Smallville."

"No, you're not. You're about four miles from okay, Lo. I wish you'd talk to Chloe. With her living here, it's not like you're want for opportunity."

"I know, I know. I just... I want to be less angry before I try to discuss things with her again. Otherwise I'll just start being belligerent and that's the last thing my relationship with Chloe needs."

Clark got all the meat on a plate and looked about to say something when the front door opened up. Clark smiled at her. "Look, an opportunity. I'm going to make myself scarce."

Clark walked off before Lois could get a word in edgewise and she scowled after him for a second before looked back at Jacob and seeing Chloe come into the kitchen.

"What's for dinner?"

Lois frowned, but didn't look up when she spoke. "Steak."

She watched her cousin walk over to the fridge and grab a bottle of water. Hoping to offset some of the tension Jacob might pick up on, Lois smiled at him for a second before Chloe spoke. "It's been two weeks, Lois. You can't still be mad at me for telling you that you aren't right about my stuff and then leaving."

Lois about tossed a shoe at Chloe. Did she her cousin really think her so petty? "Give me some credit, Chloe. I'm not mad that you don't think I'm right, because goodness knows we've had our disagreements in the past where we both thought we were right. I'm mad that you won't even try, though. You're withdrawn from the world, only leaving the house when you go to work." Another speech like that and she would definitely be classified as belligerent.

Chloe stood still for a moment, getting a look Lois recognized as one of internal debate. The look disappeared and Chloe walked over and put her bottle of water down on the bar before grabbing Jacob. Lois didn't have time to voice so much as a why or where as Chloe walked off towards the front door. A minute later she spotted the blonde headed out the backdoor, then walking back in a moment later sans baby. She sat down on the chair next to her and pulled her bottle of water over, taking a quick sip before getting started.

"I have never gone out with coworkers for drinks."

Lois looked over at her, eyebrow raised. "Where the hell have you been two nights a week, then?"

"I've been with Blake."

Well that was interesting. "Why?"

Taking another sip of water, she swallowed and breathed deeply. "When it started, I just needed a couple nights a week where I could be in a stress free environment and relax. We sat together and enjoyed having no stress for a few hours. A couple weeks ago, after I left the bar, I called him and went to the office, one thing led to another and... well, you wanted me to get back in the game, right?"

Lois worked her jaw a couple times before closing her mouth and looking away. Chloe and Blake? Chloe and her boss? Lois didn't know if she should be happy that Chloe was trying to live again or concerned that her cousin was picking a relatively perilous situation to live in. Plus, wasn't the guy young? Not that she had a problem with it, but it seemed the opposite of what Chloe generally went for. "Your boss? Isn't he six or seven years younger than you are?"

"Not that it should matter, but it turns out he's turning thirty a week from tomorrow."

"No way."

"Yup. Had no idea until he told me he was that old. Negligible age difference, really."

Lois turned her head away again, trying to figure out what the hell to say in the situation. Chloe was having sex with her boss, after having made up all those nights out with coworkers just to spend time away from her and in a stress free environment. While insulting, she did realize that she had made her cousin's life anything but stress free.

That fact that Chloe at least had something in her life that she was enjoying, though... well, that was what was for the best, Lois figured. When she looked up, she found Chloe had gotten up and was standing nearby instead of sitting. Lois gave Chloe a small smile. "Thank you for telling me."

"Of course I'm telling you, Lois. We're still us, and I still like talking to you. I just waited until now because I needed something that was just mine, something just I knew about in this mess I've made of my life. You know all my secrets and I live in your house, so I just needed something that was my own for a little while. And before you say anything, I know that I'm sleeping with my boss, which probably won't end well, but it's happening and that talk can wait."

Lois smiled at her. "I understand." She got up and walked around the breakfast bar, pulling Chloe into a hug. "I love you, cuz."

"Love you too, Lo."

"Has waiting for information ever killed anybody, Smallville?"

Clark looked over at Lois, who was sitting back in her chair and scratching at her head. He thought about for a second, but ended up shaking his head. "Not that I know of. Waiting for things has certainly led to the demise of people, but I don't know that waiting to hear from a couple scientists has ever really caused somebody to die."

"Well, if it kills me, make sure Jacob knows I love him. Seriously, waiting to hear from Hewlett is annoying the hell out of me, but not being able to get a word in with Marianne Stone is driving me up the freaking wall."

Clark had suppress a guffaw. "Yeah, I've noticed that."

"Has it been very noticeable?"

Clark looked at her over the tops of his glasses and Lois sighed. "Sorry, Smallville."

"It's all right, Lo. I know that you've got a lot invested in the story, because I feel almost the same way. Truth is, though, the only day that you've relaxed since you talked to Hewlett was Jacob's birthday ten days ago. It was great seeing you just be able to enjoy again, because t's been a rare sight of late."

Clark smiled as he heard her mutter something about not believing she had a one year old son before she straightened out her posture. "I don't think I would be so bad if I could get in to see Marianne Stone. The woman has more security around her than three presidents. Seriously, what does she need it all for?"

Clark shrugged. "Keeping you away from her?"

"Very funny, Smallville. What do you think it really is?"

"If I had to venture a guess... well, she probably knows the shelf life of scientists that at one time worked for Lex, so I bet she's trying to keep herself as protected as she can from anybody he might have come after her if he suspects something."

"Yeah," Lois grumbled, "that would be my guess as well."

Clark went back to typing up the article that they'd been researching earlier in the day, which was quite newsworthy but not so near and dear to their hearts as getting Chloe exonerated. He looked around the room for a second before letting his fingers go into super speed and typed out the rest of the article in a few seconds. He turned off his monitor as the words started scrolling across the page as quickly as the computer could put them up and leaned back in his chair.

So far all attempts they had made to get to Marianne Stone had barely been enough to call them unsuccessful. It was like trying to get through a brick wall with kryptonite chained to his chest, really, and about as much fun as getting shot with a kryptonite bullet. Hurt less, though.

"Can we have Superman drop in on her, Smallville?"

Clark let his eyes refocus and looked over at his wife. "What?"

"Superman. Can we ask him to drop in on Marianne Stone for us and ask the questions, or would that be asking too much of him?"

"Lois..."

She held up a finger and he let her speak. "Look, I know it wouldn't be the most honest use of our connections with him, but don't you tink he'd want to help an innocent person clear her name? The Superman I know wouldn't let an injustice like this go by without helping if he could."

Clark sighed and frowned a bit. "So what would you have him do, Lois? Just drop in on her with a tape recorder and ask questions about he nature of her work with Lex Luthor?"

"Of course not. All Superman would have to do is get me to her. I would have the tape recorder and ask the questions."

"Yes, because that couldn't be construed as an abuse of Superman's powers at all." Lois crossed her arms and huffed, her lower lip jutting out prominently after a second. Clark's eyes widened a bit. "Are you... are you pouting?"

"Yes. I wanted to try something that I never use to make you want to get Superman's help."

"I didn't even know you COULD pout!"

"Just because I don't do something doesn't mean I'm not able to do it." She looked over at him and raised an eyebrow. "So, is it working?"

Clark rolled his eyes and smiled at her. "No, but I do find it oddly sexy. That can be said for almost everything you do, though, so don't read anything into it."

"C'mon, Smallville!"

"Look, Lois, I'm not comfortable asking Superman to do something like that. What's that going to say about him? Are people going to ask if he's willing to do whatever Lois Lane asks of him because she's has information on something? As unfortunate as it is, how the public perceives Superman is extremely important, so he can't do things like that. And you have to know that there are going to be cameras all around her office to record something like that happening. We're just going to have to figure out a way to do this without anything Super involved."

"I'm going to have to do something crazy, aren't I, Smallville?"

Clark sighed. "Probably."

"Well, at least we know now." Lois stood up and walked around next to him. He watched as she looked into Jacob's carrier and nodded, seemingly satisfied that he was still sleeping.

"Nothing too crazy, all right? Jacob needs you."

Lois frowned at him. "I'll never intentionally do anything that will make my son motherless, Smallville. You know that."

Clark sighed. "It's what you don't intend that worries me, Lo."

Lois smiled as Jacob made his presence known with happy squeals as Clark tickled him behind her. She went to unlock the front door but found that it was already open. Shrugging, she walked inside and saw a blonde head of hair sitting on the couch. She looked back at Clark. "You should take him upstairs." He nodded and did so as she finished wiping some snow off her shoulder and started getting it out of her hair. "Chloe? You never beat us home." Lois took off her coat and set it aside before spotting the scotch near Chloe and nodding at it. "What's with the drink?"

"Special occasion: The guy I've been sleeping with sold his company to Lex. The only condition of the sale was that I get fired. As such, I am once again without work."

"What?" Lois walked over and sat down next to her, gaping. "Are you kidding me?"

"Couldn't make this up if I tried. I was always much better with truth than fiction."

"Are you..." Lois stopped herself from asking if Chloe was okay, because that would be idiotic. "Well, that would be a stupid question. How are you doing?"

Chloe took a sip of her drink, eyes wide as she nodded slowly. "I've felt worse. This is right up there with everything else that's happened, though, because I got screwed by a guy I thought wouldn't do that to me. Another nice one bites the dust, I guess. Damn shame you, Lucy and Lana got the only good ones left in the state of Kansas."

Something like this was happening again? How? How could this keep happening to Chloe? "Oh hon," Lois said as she pulled Chloe into a sideways hug. "I'm so sorry."

Lois let Chloe rest her head on her, and saw her wipe away a tear with her thumb. "Better I know now rather than sometime in the future when he found a girl he liked better than me. At least this time I only lose out to money. Apparently twice the amount of what a company is worth down the line is how much it takes to not care about me."

"Hey," Lois said, "no amount of money is worth losing you, Chloe. Blake is just a greedy asshole that doesn't know how good he had it, being with you. I promise you, all this is going to end soon with you being happy again and it will be a bad memory you can just forget about."

"I am going to kill him, Smallville! Kill. Him. I don't care what it takes, he is going down!"

Clark looked away from Jacob and over at Lois, who was visibly fuming as she stood in the doorway. "What happened? Who are you going to kill?"

"Who do you think? Lex!"

"All right," Clark said as he picked Jacob up. "What happened to provoke this outburst?"

Lois unbuttoned her shirt and pulled it off before walking into the closet and grabbing another one. She slipped it on over her head before starting. "So, Chloe's at work today, just another day. Blake calls her into his office, and she thins it's for some extra curricular stuff, ya know? But she goes in there, and he tells her that he's sold the company. To Lex. The only requirement for sale? Chloe gets fired."

Clark worked his jaw a couple times and tried to find something to say, at least something beyond single syllables, but found himself lacking. "What?"

"Yeah! He bought the dang company from Stanton and Chloe got fired by the man she's been sleeping with. I mean, it's always doubtful that sleeping with the boss is going to end well, as I once so successfully showed, but this? He knew what Lex had done to Chloe, but his pupils turned into cartoon dollar signs when Lex made an offer!"

Clark frowned, not knowing what to do to quell Lois's anger. He looked down at Jacob, who was looking up at him, and smiled. "Hey, you wanna go see your mommy?"

Jacob reached up and started playing with his chin, which Clark figured was a sure, why not. He walked over to Lois and nudged her a little, making her take her eyes off the wall where it looked like she was trying to duplicate his heat vision. She looked over and he quickly placed Jacob in her arms before she could say no, because knowing her she wouldn't want to calm down.

As soon as she was holding Jacob, though, she visibly relaxed. She glared up at him a moment from under her eyebrows. "You could have let me rage on a little longer, Smallville."

"I could, but I don't like seeing you so upset."

"I'm sure our son will appreciate being used to calm me down one day."

Clark smiled and shrugged. "If he marries somebody like you one day, I'm very sure he'll understand. Probably do the same thing, too."

Lois ran a hand back through her hair, smiling at a sleeping Jacob lying on her bed a moment before looking back at her laptop. She breathed out slowly and stretched, rolling her shoulders as she felt her muscles loosen a little bit. She stared at he computer a second before sighing and getting up. She gently picked up Jacob and took him to his room, laying him in his crib and giving him a quick peck on the forehead before heading back to her room.

Stopping, she instead headed downstairs and into the kitchen, grabbing a bowl of grapes out of the refrigerator and plopping herself down in the livingroom. Having done research for hours on end, with her only small break to lull Jacob into sleep, she needed a short break so her brain could recharge.

She was about to flip on the television when the was a gust of air and Clark appeared in front of her in his Superman tights, and not looking like he brought good news. He slouched down on the couch as she popped a grape into her mouth. "Marianne Stone is dead."

Lois spit the grape out so she could talk. "WHAT?"

Clark nodded. "House fire."

"Was is arson?"

"I don't know. I put out the fire with relative ease but found her body in the kitchen. The fire officials are going to determine what caused it in the next day or two."

Lois cursed as she sat forward and let her elbows rest on her knees. "Do you think Lex might have had anything to do with this?"

"I don't know, Lois. It really may have been an accident."

"Chloe's luck can't possibly be that bad, Smallville. Nobody has luck so bad that one of the people that can get her name cleared and prove Lex is guilty just happens to die in a house fire. It's too much coincidence for me to believe that we try to get in contact with her and she dies before we can."

"I guess we'll see, Lo."

"Yeah, we will." Lois looked over at Clark. "Will you go check on Aaron Davis? You don't have to let him know you're there, just make sure that he's alive, will ya? I could use the peace of mind."

Clark smiled and kissed her on the cheek before disappearing from sight. Lois pulled her hair out of her eyes and started eating the grapes that she'd set on the coffee table in front of her. It was more of an unconscious action than anything. Her leg bounced with impatience as she waited for Clark to return from checking.

Half an hour later Lois was about to book a flight to Oregon when Clark sped into the room. "Where the hell have you been, Smallville? I thought..." Lois trailed off as she noticed the troubled look on his face. "Oh God, what happened?"

"I found his body outside his cabin. It looked like somebody had dragged him out there and executed, Lois. There were two gunshot wounds to his heart and one to his head. I alerted local authorities before coming back."

Lois just stood there, stunned. "W-When?"

"It looked recently. I assume that in such a remote place wild animals are prominent, and would have gotten to his body if it had been too long. It was probably this afternoon or evening."

Lois sat down heavily in a chair. "What are we going to do if they got to Hewlett, Smallville? There's no doubt in my mind that Marianne Stone was killed by arson, now. That means two potential sources for making things right for Chloe are gone. All we have left is Hewlett."

"I know. I wish I had more to say, but I know."

Lois sighed and looked up at Clark. "It has to be Lex. It's too much coincidence for Chloe to lose her job as she did and have two of the people that can make her story true all in the same day."

Clark disappeared for a second and reappeared in jeans and a t-shirt, and picked Lois up, sitting in the chair and setting her down in his lap. He wrapped his arms around her, and as much as Lois wanted to say something about it, she really didn't mind the holding at the moment. All the strength she'd had seemed to have melted out of her with the nights news.

"What are we going to do, Smallville?"

"We're going to find Hewlett, protect him and make sure that we can see justice done not only for Chloe, but Marianne Stone and Aaron Douglas as well. They all deserve it."

"Mama. Mama. Mama."

Lois smiled and got some food on the tiny spoon in her hands. "I hear ya, Jacob. And here comes some fooooood!" She ended the word as the spoon went into Jacob's mouth, though some of it quickly dribbled down onto his chin. She saw Chloe walk into the kitchen out of the corner of her eye. Jacob bounced a little in his high chair before Lois spooned another bite into his mouth and wiped some food off his chin. She looked over at Chloe and smiled.

"Morning, Chlo."

"Hey. I thought you guys would have taken off to the office by now."

Lois shook her head and gave Jacob another bite of food. "Clark already headed to the office. I'm covering a news conference this afternoon and told Perry that I was going to take the morning off to spend with Jacob and you before leaving yesterday." She probably could have told Chloe that it was the news conference about Lex's acquisition of Stanton Tech, but she doubted that making Chloe bristle with rage this early in the day was a good thing.

"Oh. Are you taking Jacob with you?"

"Actually, I thought I'd leave him here with you."

"Ok then. Did you have anything specific in mind for this morning? I hadn't planned on anything more than sitting around in the basement all day."

"Nope. Sitting around and talking with my cousin sounds like a good morning to me."

Lois made a face at Jacob before giving him another bite, smiling as he made a little noise. He looked over at Chloe for a second as she came and sat down at the table before he looked back over and took another bite. Lois didn't look away from him when she spoke. "So, tell me, how have you been feeling?"

Lois expected Chloe to say fine, as was her inclination the last couple days, but instead got a real answer. "You know how you describe your love for Jacob? The total, complete love I probably don't comprehend very well?"

Lois nodded and smiled at Jacob. "I vaguely recall that, don't I little guy?"

"Well, think of that, but replace the love for Jacob with anger at life, and Lex in particular."

Lois looked over at her. "What?"

"Since I got fired on Monday, I haven't felt anything but angry. I wake up and I feel angry. I sit and watch TV and I'm angry. If I could get everything that has happened out of my head, I might feel better, but I'm stuck with my knowledge. The only reason you haven't really seen me blow a fuse or something is because I keep it in check while I'm with you guys. I have some pillows downstairs that have taken a beating, though."

After being quiet for a moment, Chloe went on as she frowned. "I have been overwhelmingly angry for days and it's starting to scare me a little because I'm getting used to it, and it's starting to be normal instead of strange."

"You're getting used to being angry all the time? How?"

Chloe pointed at Jacob. "How did you get used to loving Jacob?"

Lois spread her hands out and shrugged. "I got used to it because that's just the way things were after he was born. It just... was."

"That's exactly how I feel about being angry. It's just the way things are now. I know it's only been three days but it's been so mind consuming that I would drown in it if I didn't do something to adapt to it."

Lois tried to imagine what it would be like, to be so angry that it became as overwhelming as her love for Jacob. Her love for Jacob was so huge that she didn't even know if overwhelming did it justice. It was an all consuming force that had hit her as soon as he'd been placed on her stomach by the doctor when he was born. It was just total and unrelenting.

But to be like that with anger instead of love... Lois tried to imagine what the would be like to be so angry that all she could do was adapt to it instead of finding a way to vent it. She remembered how she'd felt the other night when Clark had told her about Marianne Stone and Aaron Douglas, and how angry she'd been beneath the shock. There had been, and still was a lot of anger, but she had so many things to offset it. What did Chloe have?

Jesus, she'd been so badgering to her cousin that she'd made it so Chloe couldn't even vent her anger to her. She'd take one of the few things Chloe still had and made it useless. How could she have been so stupid? Why couldn't she have just lent a sympathetic ear instead of tried to force things to happen?

"If you are trying to think things through, I'm sorry to interrupt but we're starting to get worried. As much as he likes me, I think Jacob still likes you a little better."

Lois blinked and looked up, looking over at Chloe and Jacob after a second.

"Hey, there ya are cuz. Have a good think?"

"Uh, yeah. How long did I space out?"

"A few minutes. Jacob was still hungry, though, so I took up the mantle of spoon user. What happened?"

Lois stood up and paced a little before answering. "I was trying to imagine how you feel. I was trying to figure out what it would be like to have the same strength of feeling that I have about Jacob, except have it be anger. I couldn't do it, though. I couldn't imagine being that angry."

Chloe smiled at her sadly. "Good. I wouldn't want anybody I care about to have to feel like this. I want you and everybody else happy and not able to even imagine what I feel like."

"I want to understand how you feel, Chloe."

Chloe spooned another bite into Jacob's mouth, not looking at Lois. "I don't want you to understand how I feel. I don't want anyone to have to understand how I feel."

Lois sighed. She was sure that Chloe meant it as a noble gesture, but it scared her that her cousin was at such a place.

Lois pushed her way through the small crowd of journalists that had assembled for Lex's announcement until she got to a spot she liked. She didn't have to wait long for the news conference to start as a lady stepped up to the podium. Unfortunately, there was no sign of Lex, which meant she wouldn't get to pose her questions to him directly.

"Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Tracy Thompson, head of public relations for LexCorp. This conference is to officially announce the acquisition of Stanton Technologies into the holdings of LexCorp. I have a short statement that Mr. Luthor would like me to read before we get to questions."

"'Stanton Technologies is a promising young company that I've had my eye on for some time now. With proper guidance and financing I feel strongly that its innovations will only add positively to the LexCorp family and bring about change in the world.'"

The spokesperson put the paper down and pulled off her glasses, indicating the question part of the session. She pointed at Lois, whose hand had gone up quickly.

"Lois Lane, Daily Planet. I'm curious as to why this deal happened. The company is a good year away from being worth half this much money according to numerous business insiders. What prompted Lex to pay at least twice, if not more than that, what he could have with no competing offers in the mix?"

The lady at the podium shuffled papers a second before answering. "Mr. Luthor feels strongly that this could be a great company in the near future, and wanted no doubt left in Mr. Stanton's mind that he meant that. He wanted to act swiftly and decisively to bring the company into the LexCorp family."

The lady quickly turned to another reporter and took another question. Lois raised her hand again a couple times for more questions and wasn't called on again. Shocking. The day she went away from a LexCorp press conference feeling as though she had answers to what she'd asked was the day she took up the mantle of Superman for Clark.

Lois winced as Jacob fell over as he ran, hitting his head on the floor. The reaction almost instantaneous, he let out a plaintive wail and got up again, walking over to her and wrapping his arms around her legs as he sobbed. Lifting him up into her lap, she sighed and murmured some comforting words to him, which slowly but surely calmed him down. She placed a gentle kiss on the spot where he'd hit his head before running a hand over his back.

"Lois Lane?"

Lois looked up and found herself staring at a delivery man holding an envelope. She smiled, signing quickly before taking the envelope and opening it. She dumped the contents on her desk, finding it to be nothing but a piece of paper. Confused, she picked it up and read it.

Starbucks on the corner. 4:30. Alone.

Lois flipped the page over, not seeing any other text. She looked up to see if the messenger was still there, but he'd gone. Checking her watch, she found that it was still an hour until the meeting. Clark certainly wouldn't like her going alone, especially not for an anonymous message. Who the hell could it be?

The time seemed to pass quickly, and Clark finally got back from Superman duties just as she was getting up. "Hey, where are you going?"

"Going to go get some good coffee at Starbucks. You want anything?"

Clark shook his head and took Jacob from her. "No, I think we're all right."

Lois smiled at them and gave each a quick peck before hurrying to the elevator. The ride down seemed to take forever, but soon enough she was on the ground floor and walking through the annoying cold to the Starbucks. When she got there, she went inside and ordered, getting her coffee quickly and sitting down at a table. She waited there a few minutes and was looking around when a man sat down in front of her.

"I appreciate you following instructions, Miss Lane. I hate it when I have to skip a meeting with somebody that can't."

Lois looked at him a moment, unable to recognize him. "Who the hell are you?"

"Well, that's fair. I believe you didn't expect to hear from me until the end of the year."

Her eyes went wide and she put down her coffee instead of taking a sip. "Dr. Hewlett?"

He nodded. "I'm taking extra precautions these days after what happened to Aaron and Marianne. Damn shame, though it is what prompted me to help sooner rather than later."

"I didn't know if you'd heard about them or not."

"I did. Had I not been traveling, I'm quite certain that I'd be dead right along with them." He released a heavy sigh, then tossed a disc up on the table. "That's a digital recording I was able to salvage from Marianne's house. It should be enough hard evidence to do the trick."

"Wait, wait wait," Lois said, grabbing the recording. "Why the hell would she have this? More to the point, why are you giving this to me?"

"Marianne was such a believer in our work on second generation meteor infected people that she brought in the recorder to work one day. It was small, and nobody even knew that she had it until she told me about it once. She wanted proof of the work we were doing so that she could one day show it to her grandchildren and say that she helped the human race become what it was."

"So Lex has no idea this exists?"

Hewlett shrugged. "Not unless he's psychic. Like I said, her recorder was never noticed and she said that I was the only one I told."

"So how did you get it?"

"I was already in the area when her house burned down, so went to see if there was anything left. The fire workers pulled out a fire proof box, I stole it and that was in it. It's now yours."

"Did you watch it?" He nodded. "What's on it?"

"Mostly people we worked on. She got Aaron's face on there, but that can't come back to haunt him now. My voice is there, but not my face. I'm turning myself in anyway, so that doesn't really matter. Marianne isn't on there physically, but she basically narrates a tour of the facility and talks about Lex. The only way it would be more incriminating is if she had seen Lex there."

Walking back into the bullpen, Lois took off her coat and grinned as Clark stood up to greet her. She jumped into his arms and hugged him for all she was worth for a moment.

"That must have been some amazing coffee."

Lois laughed and handed the disc to Clark. "That is Chloe's ticket back into a good life. Put it in your computer."

Clark looked skeptical, but he did as told and soon they were watching exactly what Dr. Hewlett had said they would be watching. Lois told Clark what had happened and after a quick frown on his part, she made him see that the information was worth it. Taking the disc, they went to Perry's office. Lois walked in without knocking, per usual, and placed the disc on Perry's desk.

"The hell is that, Lane?"

"Proof."

"Of?"

"Of the fact Chloe was telling the truth, Perry. We've been investigating, and have turned up evidence that will make Chloe's article truthful once more, though technically it always has been. It's basically a guided tour of the facility she wrote about, time stamped to February 17th of this year."

Perry popped the disc into his computer and watched what came up. He grinned and stopped it a moment later. "Unbelievable, Lane. You give me an article to go with that and we'll print it in tomorrow's morning edition."

An hour later Lois handed a had copy to Perry, grinning like crazy. She couldn't have stopped herself had she tried.

Getting out of the car, Clark tossed Lois his keys as she walked up the sidewalk to the front door. She'd apparently forgotten hers that morning, which was odd but not unheard of. He noticed that her car wasn't in the driveway, but figured that she must have parked in the garage the previous night.

"Chloe! Hey, Chloe, we have amazing news!"

Clark smiled as he watched Lois run into the house, looking for the blonde. He carried a excited Jacob inside as he pushed the door closed with his foot. He let the boy down and he took off after his mother, running as best his legs could carry him. Lois picked him up when she came back into view and nodded at the door to the basement. "You check down there, Smallville. I think Jacob needs a change."

He nodded and headed down into the basement. "Chloe? We have some good news, thought if I tell you I think Lois may throttle me."

Looking around, he found that the only light on was in her bedroom. He made his way over there, but found that it too was empty. The light was coming from her closet, so he went towards it. It was devoid of Chloe. Turning around, Clark looked back into Chloe's room and saw a box sitting on her bed. He walked over to it and found a cigarette pack inside it.

Then he caught a familiar whiff.

Grabbing the pack, he flipped it open and found no cigarettes. Instead, he found what he recognized to be a one hitter. Sighing, he let his head drop. Chloe was smoking pot. It had been her that he'd smelled it on. Lois had been so adamant that she'd talked him out of it being Chloe, even when he'd smelled it on her a few more times.

Looking at the box again, Clark spotted something else inside it. He reached down and picked up a bullet. Eyes wide for a second, Clark super sped up into the house and found Lois. She frowned at him. "You didn't find her either? Dang, where could she be?"

"I don't know," he said, "but I found these on a box on her bed."

Clark held up the one hitter and bullet an Lois gawked at each. "What the hell? She was smoking weed? And what the hell does she need a bullet for?"

"Smoking pot aside, I assume the bullet is for a gun."

Lois looked up at him. "Does she have a gun?"

"I don't know, but apparently she's very good at hiding things that aren't my secret because neither of us knew she smoked pot."

She sighed and rubbed at her temples. "You knew she was smoking weed, Smallville, and I wouldn't listen. Dammit, where the hell could she have gone? And why the hell would she have a gun? I mean, if you found a bullet in that box then she had to have taken any gun she has with her, right?"

"I would assume so, Lo. I don't think she would ever use it though, do you?"

"I don't know, Clark. We were talking last month, and she said that she is angry all the time. The way she described it, I wouldn't be surprised if that anger had festered to a point where she could use it."

Clark sighed and rubbed his face a couple times, sighing. "Then the big question is, where has Chloe gone and what's she doing?"