Chapter 9

Clark was standing in his kitchen looking out the window towards his barn. He thought about his trip to the Fortress the night before and realized that he had gone from thinking of Jack as a creepy interloper to a friend. "OK, an over-sexed guy who hasn't aged in over a hundred years who would probably flirt with my tractor of I left it in gear, but a friend none the less," Clark chuckled to himself.

After the memory sharing (and the hilarious confession about the hangover), Jor-El had gone on to explain to him that Jack's assignment had been to contact the Kawache tribe due to their proximity to an unidentified energy source. That energy source had been the Kryptonian equipment in the caves. Before the men had become three boosters to the solar wind, Jack had been up front with Jor-El and told him that Jack's masters had given him standing orders: find aliens, kill same, and steal their technology so that the British Empire could use it to "protect" the world. Jor-El had asked Jack where he was from and Jack had just smiled and refused to answer. Jack went on to explain that he usually took assignments were he knew that humans had either been put in danger or killed. If the alien turned out to be hostile, he took care of the situation. If it turned out to be a misunderstanding (which Jack said actually happened quite often) he tried to mediate and send the alien on their way. He would then lie to his superiors and say he had dispatched the threat. In both cases he would weed through the left over technology and pick out what he thought the humans could handle without causing too much of a problem. The rest, he destroyed. Jack had told an amusing story of an alien version of a permanent marker he had found in an alien cargo hold that he had convinced his handler at the time was a make-up applicator. Clark decided not to do anything to make Jack really pissed off at him.

Clark looked over at the clock and saw it was close to 9AM. He decided it was late enough to call over to Lois and Chloe's and ask Lois to come over and help him research Jack. Just because Jack worked for someplace called the Torchwood Institute over a hundred years chasing aliens, didn't mean that's what his last job was. "I still have to come up with a way to bring up Torchwood without outing either Jack or me as not exactly normal," Clark muttered to himself as he picked up the phone. He froze as he realized what he had just said. He looked over at his dog Shelby, "You know what I mean." He dialed the phone.

The phone rang several times and he was about to hang up when Lois answered, "Hello."

"Hi, Lois. I expected Chloe to answer, but I was going to have her wake you up so this works as well. You want to come over and we can work on researching Jack? I hear that new restaurant on 5th and Main is great, not to mention expensive. I've wanted to try it out for a while," Clark said.

"Smallville, as great as working on a Sunday sounds, doesn't that sound like what we do for a living as reporters? I don't plan on budging from between these sheets all day so you'll have to come up with something more to get me out of bed," Lois complained. Last night Lois had already decided that she was going to catch up with Clark sometime that day and do just what he was proposing, but he didn't need to know that she thought to herself. Her comment about between the sheets caused a fantasy image to form in her mind of her and Clark sleeping in together after sharing a night that would call for lots of rest the next day. She smiled even more and then shook her head, "Smallville, nah,"

"I'm cooking brunch," Clark said simply. He smiled. He knew that Lois was a lousy cook and she came over to the farm at least 3 to 4 times a week to share in his cooking. "At least that's what she keeps telling me…unless…Nah. Wishful thinking won't get you anywhere, Clark. No matter how badly you want her, someone of Lois' caliber is way out of your league," he thought to himself. Clark shook his head to clear the thoughts away. Lois' next words brought a smile to his face, like they always did.

"I'll be over in an hour, Smallville. You know how I like my eggs!" Lois demanded as she hung up the phone. She got up with an extra spring in her step. She took off the flannel shirt she had slept in and tossed it on the bed. It was one of a group that she had "liberated" from Clark. She used to have frequent nightmares before she had moved into the Kent farm the first time. The welcome and love that she received from that family had driven the nightmares away. When she had moved out, the nightmares had come back. For some reason she found that sleeping in Clark's flannel shirts kept the nightmares at bay. A reason she was scared to admit to herself.

Lois got dressed and walked out into the apartment. "Chloe?" she called. She heard no response and she peeked over to where Chloe's bed was afraid of what she might see. She was relieved that it was empty. "I don't think I could take seeing Jack and Chloe in the act this early in the morning," Lois said to herself. Being a protective cousin, she took out her cell-phone and called Chloe's. She spoke to Chloe who sounded a little strange; thoughtful, yet still up-beat. Not how Lois thought Chloe would sound after a night with the dashing Captain. "Hyper or out of breath yes, but not thoughtful," Lois mused. When Lois told her that she was going over to the farm to meet with Clark so they could research Jack, Lois heard a snort, followed by a giggle on the other end.

"Yeah, good luck with that," Chloe said half sarcastically half encouragingly. "Hold on, Jack is motioning to me…What? OK. He said he wants me to give you a hint. He says to talk with the Sheriff. Hey! That tickles…I got to go Lois, I'll talk to you later." With that Chloe hung up. Lois grabbed her keys and made her way to the Kent farm.

Lois and Clark sat across from each other at the dining room table, eating brunch. In between bites, Lois had filled in Clark on her conversation with Chloe. He listened thoughtfully and laughed when she told him about the tickling part. "I guess Smallville is loosening up. I can't decide which I like more, his laugh or those cute blushes he gets." Lois thought. She looked at his blue eyes and decided she would just work at getting more of both from her friend. "I just wish the boy-scout could love something as worthless as me, be something more than friends, but that will never happen. I still can't believe I have him as a friend." Lois contemplated.

"Lois, you in there? I said can you hand me that dish," Clark said looking at his friend in concern.

"I heard you the first time," Lois lied. "I'm just trying to digest all that food you forced on me." She helped him take care of the dishes. "Where do you want to start? I thought we could head over to the Sheriff's office later this afternoon. Until then?" Clark shrugged his shoulders, giving Lois the reins. He had learned that when working on a story, they did their best with her taking lead and him acting as support.

"Well, we don't have Chloe's magical touch to fall back on, but I guess we should see what he can find on the internet. Crap, I forgot my laptop at the apartment," Lois said.

"No problem. We can share mine. It's not like we are on a tight deadline. It's set up in the living room, come on," Clark said.

Lois and Clark plopped down next to each other on the couch. By necessity they were shoulder to shoulder. Lois noticed how Clark smelled. "You know, Smallville doesn't really need any of what Jack was wearing. He smells …right. Jack smells sexy, Smallville smells like strength and safety," Lois thought. "Focus, Lois!" "I think we should start that 'T' symbol on his SUV. He said he had problems with the SUV on his last job. I've never seen that symbol as a vehicle manufacturer emblem before. I'm guessing it has to be the emblem of his company."

Clark looked at her and smiled, "Lois, I knew there was I reason I always let you take charge. You're brilliant. I totally overlooked the emblem."

Lois looked away from Clark, embarrassed by the compliment, "Don't forget it Smallville." She typed the search criteria into the search engine. Instantly the computer came back with a result. "It says that this is the symbol for something called 'Torchwood'. Now all we have to do is figure out what that is and we have a free dinner in the bag, Smallville. From the way Chloe and Jack made it sound I thought this would be difficult," Lois snorted.

"Torchwood…I got to say this for Jack, he sure can hold down a job. I wonder what kind of recognition you get for being at the same organization for over a hundred years?" Clark wondered.

Two hours later Clark sat up straight and stretched. "Lois, we need to take a break. We aren't getting anywhere. Whoever or whatever this Torchwood is has set up more twists, turns, and fake paths than the maze at the Luthor castle."

Lois straightened up, arched her back, and rolled her shoulders back, stretching as well. Clark was thankful Lois had her eyes closed as she was doing this, because there was no way he could not stare in appreciation. If Lois had caught him ogling her, he would never hear the end of it. Lois noticed that things had become awfully quiet and she opened her eyes and looked over at Clark, who stood suddenly, "Shelby needs to be let out."

"She's in the barn isn't she?" Lois asked. She noticed Clark was blushing slightly. She knew full well what he had been staring at.

"Yeah, but I don't want her making a mess in the loft. I'll be back in a few. When I get back, want a soda?" Clark asked as he walked out the door.

"Take your time, Smallville," Lois chuckled to Clark's retreating back. Lois closed out of the internet browser and was about to shut the laptop when a folder caught her eye. "Poetry? Smallville likes poetry?" Lois thought to herself. She couldn't help herself. She opened the folder, and started scrolling through the documents and realized these were written by Clark. She looked over to the door and made sure Clark wasn't coming in yet. She saw a sub-folder labeled "Love" and a wicked smile came over her face. She opened it up and saw there were files from dating from his freshman year to the present. She read one of the first ones and wasn't surprised it was about Lana. Lois rolled her eyes. The verse was horrid and it didn't scan at all. She looked for something more recent. She opened up a file and started to read it. This poem was very, different from the first. The poem was passionate and heartfelt. She was so shocked at how much better it was from the first that she almost missed her name in the poem. She froze. She read the poem again. The poem was about her. She read another recent poem and saw it was also about her. The third poem she read involved her and Clark. She blushed at the intensity. "Can Smallville really think this way about me?" Lois felt butterflies in her stomach. She closed the folders right before Clark came into the kitchen. He grabbed two sodas and sat down next to her. Lois accepted the soda and punched him in the arm while wearing a warm smile. "Thanks, Smallville," Lois said. Clark noticed her voice was softer than usual.

"Do you want to go see the Sheriff?" Clark asked?

"No, I want to make out on the couch," Lois thought. "Sure, you get to drive."