Chapter Five
The red pickup truck pulled to a stop in front of the elementary school and was put in park as Clark turned to face the very nervous little girl, "When school lets out I will be right here waiting for you." She nods her head quietly which causes him to look at her with his usual concerned father face, "Nervous about the first day?"
She just nods in response before voicing her concern, "What if they don't like me? The kids in Metropolis seem so different than the ones in Smallville."
He just grabs her hand and smiles, "When I first came to this city I felt out of place but eventually I grew to love this city almost as much as I love Smallville, you just have to give them a chance to get to know you."
Maggie looked out the passenger side window at all the kids talking to each other having fun while Clark just leaned over and said, "Just because you're scared doesn't mean that you aren't still the bravest little girl that I know" he nudges her a little as she opens the door and jumps out with her backpack and lunchbox in hand, "I'll meet you by the flagpole when school lets out and you can tell me all about how your first day went over some ice cream."
A huge smile appears on her face but before she could say anything the bell rang and she just waved to her father quickly before running off.
Clark stayed a few minutes to make sure she made it through the school doors safely until the door closed behind her allowing him to put the truck back into drive and headed towards the Daily Planet praying that Maggie had a good day.
Lois was already fast at work on finishing up her recent article about recent accusations against district attorney Ray Sacks that included taking bribes from local mobster Morgan Edge and falsifying evidence to get an easy conviction.
"Olsen!" she called out to the bow-tied reporter who came racing to her side, "I need you to finish up those prints from Maxwell's." he nodded and rushed off with Lois calling out again, "And make sure you can actually see something this time instead of a blurry image." She shakes her head while going right back to work unaware that Clark had been watching her since he got off the elevator.
"Are you always that bossy with the people you work with?" he inquires walking over towards his desk which was a few desks across from hers and looked as empty as a when someone got fired.
"You should see me at the Christmas party." She jokes and looks up to see him taking off his coat and began rolling up his sleeves which seemed to make his biceps bulge more against the white fabric, "How did the littlest Kent's first day go?"
He looked up from his bag and adjusted his glasses, "Maggie was a little nervous at first but I convinced her that everything would be okay and I may have promised to get her some ice cream afterwards." He goes back to digging around in his bag where he pulled out one of those picture frames made out of Popsicle sticks with a picture of Maggie, Clark, his parents and Shelby with the words Family written in black marker at the bottom of the frame.
While he went about arranging his desk and starting up his computer, Lois would occasionally look up from hers to watch him amble around the place like he had never left.
"Snap out of it Lane!" her subconscious exclaims, "Focus on work and less on him." She shakes off the feelings of butterflies and continues working right until mid afternoon when Clark answers his phone and immediately begins racing out of the bullpen, "Is everything okay?" she asked clearly concerned despite her personal feelings.
Clark just adjusted the collar of his coat, "It was Maggie's school." Was all he said before rushing out leaving Lois very confused and curious as to what had happened?
"You sure do know how to chase them out of the bullpen Lane." The squeaky voice of Cat Grant caused Lois to cringe and turn her chair around to face the bubbly blonde, "Although I have to give your credit. The guy only lasted a week and now the new guy's gone in a day."
"For your information Cat, Clark had a family emergency and not because of something I did. If anything I'm surprised half the people who eat your cookies don't end up at Metro Gen getting their stomachs pumped."
Cat looked at her rival clearly impressed by the attitude and challenge behind the intrepid reporter's hazel eyes, "Feisty today aren't we Lane." She goes to sit on an empty desk causing Lois to roll her eyes in annoyance, "You're usually not this defensive about fresh meat unless of course you have some type of history with him." She scanned Lois's face and immediately smiled when she got what she wanted to which she let out a harsh laugh, "I never would've guessed that Lois Mad Dog Lane would go for the farm bred geek type not to mention the fact that he has a kid."
Lois immediately jumped from her seat and walked away fighting off the urge to rip the gossip queen a new one but quickly took a deep breath and burst through the small I.T. office in the far off corner of the bullpen where she immediately asked, "Do you have a minute to talk" the blonde computer whiz looked up from the numerous monitors and took off her headset providing full attention to her cousin.
Meanwhile…
Clark raced down the hallway almost missing the principal's office but quickly skidded to a stop and entered the busy office to see his daughter sitting in one of the smaller chairs near the principal's office.
"Margaret Kent" he exclaims like all parents did whenever their child got into trouble but the feeling disappeared when he spotted a slightly older boy exit the office and sat down beside Maggie who jumped up when the principal called them into the office.
"I appreciate you coming down here so soon Mr. Kent." The older woman shakes hands with him before they all sat down, "We understand how hard it is to start school in a new city but we have a strict zero tolerance for violence." Clark immediately turned to look at Maggie surprised, "During recess it appears that some of the local boys from the middle school were teasing one of the younger students and your daughter stepped in to protect him."
"I've always taught my daughter to stand up for what was right." He interjected explaining the possible reasoning for the child's behavior.
The principal leaned forward casting a quick look at Maggie before looking back towards Clark, "You have to understand that times have changed and it's the school's responsibility to protect the children from any kind of harm even if it's from one of their classmates. But since it's her first day here we're going to give her a warning not to indulge in this type of behavior again."
"What about the boy that started all of this?"
"He has been dealt with accordingly by his principal." The older man rises up from his seat where he and Clark exchanged a brief handshake, "Hopefully next time we see each other it will be under different conditions."
Father and daughter walked out of the office out towards the hall where he was quick to kneel down in front of her, "What you did was very dangerous even if it was for the right reasons." He tries to get her to look at him but she just stares down at her feet, "Next time you see someone being bullied like that I want you to go to a teacher." She nods in response.
Clark looks down at his watch, "You've got a few minutes until school ends." He rises up and goes back into the office to get an early dismissal slip from the desk clerk before the two headed off towards her classroom, "Give the note to your teacher and get your things." She just nods and heads inside her class.
He reached out to stop the elevator doors from closing with a brown paper bag in his hand as Maggie stepped out sipping on a milkshake from Johnny Rocket's.
Lois immediately looked up when she heard his voice and was surprised to see the little one following close behind, "I take it that everything worked out alright." She looks from Maggie to Clark as the little one went to sit in the empty desk right next to her father's and dug into the paper bag when he set it on the table.
"Aside from the awkward first meeting with the principal everything went as well as could be expected." He replied after signing back into his computer when he spotted a file sitting on his desk.
"Since we haven't officially started working as partners yet, Perry found a story for you to do. It's been sitting on his desk for months."
Clark opens the files quickly scanning over the documents by speed reading, "Police reported that the alarm system was deactivated at the time of the robbery and reactivated afterwards. No trace evidence was found at the scene except for a package that was delivered at the house a week after the robbery but there's nothing written about what was inside."
"Welcome to the world of journalism."
TBC
What do you think?