Chapter 12

Clark hung up the phone. He had called Chloe to give her a heads up that she didn't have to worry about Brainiac and that it was someone else impersonating Professor Fines. Her sigh of relief made Clark glad he could still do things to protect her. When she asked who the person was, Clark had told her that she would have to ask Jack because he wasn't sure he understood it all. He told her Jack would be at the clock tower soon.

Clark shook off his feelings of weirdness over Jack's personal life. He had seen the anger in his eyes when he had heard that Brainiac had hurt Chloe. Clark was nearly invincible, but even he never wanted to be at the receiving end of Jack in that mood. If Jack felt that protective of Chloe, then Jack had just proved himself of how worthy a friend he was to Clark. Besides, Chloe genuinely liked the guy, and as much as Clark hated to admit it, Jack was fun to be around. Clark felt much better and asked Lois if she wanted lunch. She glanced up from her computer, looked at her watch, and agreed to eat.

Lunch had been a pleasant surprise for Lois. She and Clark ate lunch together often, but this time there had been more playful banter than usual. Clark had joked about Jack, but not in a mean spirited way. His comments were inclusive, adding Jack to his circle of friends. She was pleased to see her Kansas farm boy friend take such a liberal attitude. She had gently teased him about it and watched him blush. As they were walking down the stairs to the bullpen, they passed two women who were having a conversation on the landing. One of them was a very pretty black woman dressed in black slacks, a red shirt and a black jacket. Lois recognized the look in her eyes and her general posture. This woman was not only a combat veteran, but a leader of troops. The other woman was white and she could definitely use some orthodontic work. She was wearing jeans, a white blouse, and a black leather jacket that hung just slightly wrong. Lois had enough contacts on the police force to recognize an undercover jacket when she saw one. Most people did not know what to look for, but they were cut just slightly different to hide sidearms. Lois stopped and pretended to adjust the strap on her shoe, "Go ahead, Clark. I'll catch up in a moment," Lois said. Clark nodded.

"Sure thing, Lane," Clark replied letting her know he caught the use of his first name rather than the nickname she always used. Lois continued to fidget with the strap just inside earshot of the women.

"I really don't think he's here," the black woman said with an English accent.

"Probably not, but the last computer query on him came from here. Then again did you see that guy who walked past with the black hair? He was gorgeous. He might show up here after all. Either way we have to see what they know," the other woman said with a Welsh accent.

Lois stood up and straightened her skirt. She guessed that these were some of the people Jack had said would be coming. She walked up to the women and said, "I am sorry to interrupt but I heard you ladies talking. I was an Army Brat and grew up in Europe." Lois indicated to the Welsh woman. "You're from Wales, right? Cardiff maybe? My name is Lois Lane, I'm a reporter here." Lois stuck out her hand. She was trying to appear less intense than she normally was.

"My name Gwen Cooper and this is my friend Dr. Martha Jones-Smith. You have no idea how good it is to have someone here recognize me as not being bloody English, no offense Martha. You're really good with accents. I am from Cardiff," Gwen said.

"What brings you to the Daily Planet?" Lois asked sweetly.

"We're on holiday here in Metropolis and couldn't resist seeing the famous Daily Planet building. It really is quite beautiful," Martha said.

Lois' dropped her welcoming act. "Really, I didn't think Torchwood gave vacations." The other women looked shocked. Before they could recover, Lois pointed to the conference room. "Conference room...15 minutes...both of you," she ordered. Lois spun around and walked to her desk, not bothering to look behind. She knew she was in a power game right now and she was making sure these Brits who were looking for her friend knew their place.

Clark had heard the whole conversation by way of his super-hearing. He always knew Lois was a great reporter, but every time he got to watch her in full stride, it took his breath away. She was using her talents to keep those two off balance to give Lois and him time to formulate plan. He knew she would never do a story on Jack, but those women didn't. Lois walked up to his desk. "Those two ladies on the stairs are from Torchwood. I shook them up by calling them on it. We have 15 minutes to get a hold Chloe and warn Jack," Lois said. She took out her cell-phone and called Chloe. Clark could hear both sides of the conversation.

"Hi, Lois. What's up?" Chloe asked.

"Chloe, you have to warn Jack. Some people from Torchwood are here at the Planet looking for him," Lois said.

There was a pause while Clark could barely make out Chloe and Jack talking. "Lois, Jack wants to know what they look like," Chloe said.

"I can do better than that. Their names are Gwen Cooper and Dr. Martha Jones-Smith," Lois said.

There was another pause as Chloe relayed that information to Jack and Jack discussed things with Chloe. Clark didn't need super-hearing to hear Chloe through the phone as she yelled at Jack. "What? You didn't even bother to call them to let them know you were back. You'll be lucky if they don't decide to kill you, at separate times." Chloe's voice went back to a normal. "Sorry, Lois. I didn't mean to burst your eardrums there. Captain forgetful didn't bother to call his two best friends, on this planet, when he got back. He deserves whatever they come up with. Yes, I did say you deserve it, now leave me alone. I'm mad at you, Jack. Lois, tell them we'll meet them at the Talon tonight. Jack says they can be trusted. Stop that! That tickles...Lois, I have to go. I'll see you tonight." Lois hung up her cell-phone. Clark remembered to look at her expectantly.

"Jack says they're friends. Chloe and Jack want to meet them tonight at the Talon. Chloe expects Jack to be in the doghouse with them. Apparently he didn't check in whenever he got back from wherever he was," Lois said. She smiled, "Since we know that they're not hostiles, let's go pump them for information. I feel like making Jack pay through the nose for our night out considering all the work we've been doing." She got up and led Clark to the conference room.

Gwen and Martha had been discussing things in nervous tones. Whoever this Lois Lane person was good at getting information. If she was tracking Jack, he might be in trouble. If the wrong people got their hands on hands on him, he would spend a lot of painful time in a laboratory. Martha thought about the year that never was and all of the torture Jack had been put to at the hands of the Master. She vowed to protect her friend, right after she kicked his ass for not letting her know that he was back. The woman looked up when Lois Lane and the man they had been admiring walked in. The man was well over 6 feet tall and built like a Greek god.

"This is my partner, Clark Kent. I take it you're here looking for Captain Harkness?" Lois asked. Gwen nodded. Gwen was impressed at how this woman took control of the situation. "Before we go any further, I want you two to know that this is off the record. We're here as friends of Jack's, not reporters. With that said, there are some questions we would like answered before we tell you anything about his whereabouts," Lois said. Martha smiled. Gwen nodded her head in agreement. "Good, first question is what the hell is Torchwood?"

Gwen's jaw dropped. Martha clapped her hands once, and rocked back in her chair, laughing. "Brilliant! You were bluffing from the beginning. Good job, Miss Lane."

Gwen was less amused, "If you don't already know, I don't see why I should tell you."

Clark gave the visiting women his trademark, boyish smile. "Well it would help us win a bet. Jack bet us a night out on the town if we could figure out what he did in his last job. We already figured out it had something to do with Torchwood based on the emblem off of his SUV. We could sure use your help," Clark implored.

Martha and Gwen looked at each other for a moment and then burst out laughing. Gwen said in her Welsh accent, "Oh yes, that is definitely our Jack. Only he would do something like that. All right, I'll tell you. We hunt aliens." Gwen used her police training and watched their reactions. Lois snickered, but Clark's reaction was different. His jaw had tightened slightly and his eyes had narrowed by just the smallest of amounts. His wasn't the reaction of someone who didn't believe her, it was one of someone who didn't approve. "I'm serious, Lois. Torchwood was set up to chase aliens and make sure they aren't a threat to humanity. Up until about a year and a half ago, Jack was in charge. He left after some devastating personal losses. We lost track of him a year ago. Martha and I really are Jack's friends and we just want to make sure he is all right. When he left...we weren't sure he was going to make it." Gwen had started to tear up. She dabbed her eyes with a tissue from a box on the table. "Sorry, look at me. All teary. If you tell him, I'll hurt you," she said with a gentle smile through her tears.

"We would like to see him," Martha said plainly.

"There is a town South of here called Smallville. On Main Street there is a coffee house called the Talon. Meet us there at around 7," Lois said.

It was around 6:30 in the evening when Gwen and Martha arrived at the Talon in their rental car. They took a table where they could see the front door. They didn't see Lois walk down the stairs and come up to their table. "Making sure the exits are covered?" Lois asked politely. Gwen flinched and muttered something under her breath in what Lois assumed was Welsh. Martha simply turned to face her and smile. Lois revised her earlier impression of the women. The woman Martha was definitely a combat veteran, but for Gwen to only flinch rather that jump out of her chair when startled; that showed she had seen her share of action as well.

"Lois, have you ever thought about a job in the field? We could always use someone of your talents. Either UNIT or Torchwood." Martha inquired.

"No thanks. I'm happy where I'm at. I love being a reporter," Lois said. "There is something else you should know. Jack is in a relationship now. He is seeing..." Lois said but was interrupted by Gwen.

"He's seeing that Greek god you were with earlier today isn't he? Jack always did have good taste, well except for John. But that man you were with, who wouldn't want to shag his brains out. I bet Jack had him in bed the first night," Gwen blurted out.

Lois had to bite her tongue to keep from laughing. "Oh god, this is priceless. Clark is going to be here any second. We planned on being here for at least 15 minutes before Jack and Chloe get here. This is going to be so much fun, and I'll get to tease him about it for months," Lois thought. "Listen, I can't say whether Clark is or isn't with Jack. It's not my place. But I do know that if Clark were with Jack, it would be the first time he was with a man, and might be a little uncomfortable with it still," Lois said. "I didn't lie. I just didn't tell them the truth." Clark had the unfortunate timing to walk into the Talon at that moment. He saw Lois, Martha, and Gwen sitting at a table. He was too concerned for his friend to notice that of three smiles the women were wearing; Lois had the one that always spelled embarrassment for him.

"Here, Clark, sit next to me," Gwen said as she patted the chair next to her. Clark sat down next to her, his famous Kent smile flashing. "I'm glad we have a chance to talk before Jack gets here. You know we've been friends with Jack for quite a while and know all about him?" Gwen asked.

"Well, with you working together as a team I figured as much," Clark replied.

"Good, good. There is something we need to talk about. You see Lois told us your secret, but we already kinda knew," Gwen said in a reassuring voice. The color drained out of Clark's face.

"Oh this is better than I thought. He totally has that deer in a headlight expression. He must realize they think he's gay," Lois thought. She had to cover her mouth to hide her grin.

Clark's blood turned to ice water. "Oh god, how did Lois find out my secret? Was I careless using my powers at the farm and she saw me? Did I forget to use the voice changer when I called her as the Blur? Why did she tell strangers my secret?" Clark thought in a panic.

Martha joined in, "It's nothing to be ashamed about, Clark. You were just born different."

"Lois knows everything. She even knows I'm an alien. Did Chloe tell her?" Clark thought. His palms began to sweat; he looked to Lois who gave him an innocent smile.

"With how the world is today, we understand why you wouldn't want the world to know, but we've known Jack for years and we want you to feel that you can be yourself around us. Trust me, Jack has made us pretty shock proof," Martha said.

"What do I say? This is not how I imagined this conversation to go with Lois. I can't believe she shared my secret!" Clark bemoaned to himself.

Clark was saved from having to come up with a reply by Jack and Chloe coming into the talon, hand in hand. "Who is that with Jack?" Martha asked.

"That is Chloe, my cousin. The person Jack is in a relationship with," Lois said with a smirk.

"But…but…Clark…Lois, you led us to believe that Clark was his boyfriend," Gwen complained. Clark let out a huge sigh of relief.

"No, you just assumed he was Jack's boyfriend. I never said he was. I just never said he wasn't. He is totally straight by the way. Besides, it is just too much fun to yank Smallville's chain," Lois admitted. She absent mindedly placed a possessive hand over Clark's. She noticed it and yanked her hand away.

Clark looked accusingly at Lois, "You set me up!"

"And knocked you down, Smallville," Lois said with smug satisfaction.

Martha leaned over to Gwen, "Girlfriend, huh? You know, we should have seen this one coming. We knew he was an omni-sexual and he hasn't been with a woman in quite a while." Martha became quiet as the man who helped her and the Doctor erase the year the never was saunter up to their table. "One thing I'll give him, that man sure knows how to walk," she thought.

Jack smiled his most charming smile, causing even Gwen and Martha to become a little flushed. "Miss me, Ladies?" he asked.