Restless Nights (Chapter Nine)

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PREVIOUS CHAPTER

In the room the women come and go…

Chapter Nine

They got the jobs. The celebration was dubious. 

Chloe congratulated herself by losing her breakfast in the ladies room and Clark rang it in by grumbling all the way back to headquarters. But she knew he’d take the job the minute she said yes, as much as he protested. In fact, she heard his abrupt “I’ll take it” between the opening and closing of Tess’s door as she rushed past him.

She found him pacing outside the ladies room by the time she washed up and popped several mints into her mouth.

“I don’t think this is a good idea,” he kept muttering.

Oliver seemed inclined to agree at first.

“Don’t get me wrong, Chloe,” Oliver sighed at dinner, “I’m not saying this can’t be a good thing. Enemies closer and all that, but…”

“Tess might be thinking the same thing,” Clark pointed out. “Working for Luthorcorp again…”

“Don’t forget Queen Industries,” Chloe had to add, much as Tess had. “Oliver’s in business with Tess already.”

Clark shook his head. “Which I still don’t think…”

“Hey, she’s not wrong,” Oliver pointed out. “It’s not a bad thing to have an inside track. Technically, I own the majority of Luthorcorp shares. So you two are actually working for me. What am I paying you, by the way?”

“I don’t even know yet,” Chloe said. This wasn’t the basement this time around. What did the ninth floor bullpen make?

“Well, I’ll call Tess, see if I can get you guys a sweet deal, though not tonight.” Oliver patted the suitcase at his side. 

Everyone but John was here tonight, though he’d be stopping by when he got off work. They’d had a small meeting, just to figure out the division of patrols with Oliver and Dinah taking west coast duty for a week. Chloe noticed they avoided talking about her situation, though Emil made a few mentions of everything progressing normally… for now. Still, they all seemed less on-edge. Hell, Chloe did, too. 

Apart from the nausea, she felt almost normal. Maybe it was the fact that people had stopped treating her like a bomb about to go off. Victor had even talked about acquainting her with the new system this week so she could take shifts on weekends. Maybe it was also that she’d be starting a nine-to-five tomorrow like any normal person. Even most unwed mothers had to work. 

She shook off the thought as, apart from the nausea and the fact that all her clothes had “room to grow” and the bladder issues, she didn’t feel particularly pregnant. Besides that, Clark was right. She didn’t have to figure out how to feel right now. At the moment, she had a new – or old – job to start and some nice new clothes to go with it. So she’d let herself focus on the good right now.

“Maybe tomorrow after I’ve settled in Star City,” Oliver went on. “Speaking of that, is that damned woman ready?”

“Is that my nickname now?” Dinah rolled up with her suitcase. “I’m not into it. Besides, it’s your jet. It’s not like we have to go through the lines.” 

“Fair enough,” Oliver grunted.

Dinah pulled up a chair. “So… Chloe at The Planet again. Really brings me back. Remember how we met?”

Chloe laughed. “When you lobbed several knives at me? How could I ever forget?”

Dinah put a hand to her heart. “Aw! You do remember.”

Chloe giggled.

Clark scowled at her. “Stop it.”

“What?”

“Being so… happy about this.”

She sat up straighter and schooled her face into blandness. She hadn’t realized she’d been coming off as happy. She wasn’t happy, per se. She was just… focused and… maybe just a little bit happy to have a press pass again. “A press credential’s a good resource,” Chloe said to Clark, getting back to the subject at hand. “And I intend to use it well.”

“How exactly?”

“I’m still thinking on that.” She shrugged. “Anyway, it’ll be nice to have a legitimate paycheck. Certainly makes tax time easier. Last year was a nightmare between Isis and you.” She turned to Oliver. 

Oliver scoffed loudly. “Hey, I let you use my accountant and she let you deduct coffee and an mp3 player that I’m positive was not work-rela…”

“Speaking of paychecks,” Clark broke in. “Chloe wants to get her own place.”

“Oh, yeah?” Oliver turned to her. “What neighborhood? If you’re thinking mid-town, I had a good rental agent a few years back.”

“I don’t think it’s a good idea,” Clark said pointedly.

“Why not?” Oliver shrugged. “Everyone needs their own space.” 

Chloe gestured to Oliver. “Thank you. That’s what I said.”

“It’s probably for the best,” Oliver said, staring hard at Clark. “Or do you want to keep her locked away here?”

Clark stared back. “This isn’t about locking anyone away.”

“Why don’t we just chain the poor girl up in storage?” Oliver said, smiling tightly. “Hey, I like this place enough, but Chloe doesn’t need to spend every waking minute here. Agreed?”

Clark shook his head. “And what if there’s a problem?”

“You know, I did make it through my entire life up till now not living in a secretive headquarters,” Chloe said, staring between them. It was almost like there was a whole other conversation happening underneath.

Oliver laughed and the tension eased slightly. “Of course! Years stuck in Smallville. If that isn’t pure isolation, then I don’t know what…”

“Things are different now,” Clark cut in. “Chloe, you have a little something extra going on.” He glanced at her stomach. “What if there’s a medical emergency. You can’t just go to any hospital with…”

“Then I have my own personal ambulatory squad. I can call you or Bart to take me to Emil.” She gestured to the door as Jones walked in. “John, even. Hi, John.”

“John’s here?” Bart rushed away from Emil and Victor and parked himself next to Dinah. “Alright, Tweety! The jig is up.” He pulled her over to Jones. “You gotta give me a read on her. I know she’s cheating and…”

“This again? I am not,” Dinah gasped.

“There’s no way you have a grenade launcher on level four. That kind of weaponry isn’t available until level six.” He gestured to John. “You cheated and I’m about to get proof.”

“About to get proof I didn’t! I unlocked it by rescuing the family on three, which you never bother to do because you’re too busy exploding zombie heads!”

Chloe leaned in to Clark. “Video game?”

“What else?” he sighed. 

Oliver stood. “Guys, the man just got off work. Give him a minute before you force parlor tricks on him.”

“Maybe more than a minute,” Jones said, taking a seat, shaking his head. 

Oliver clapped him on the shoulder. “Tough day on the force?

“Not particularly,” Jones said, rubbing between his eyebrows. “Just a sudden headache.”

Chloe reached across the table to take his hand. “Is it the machinery again?”

“What about the machinery?” Clark asked, staring at Jones.

“John said it was emitting some kind of frequency that was bothering him a few weeks ago.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?” Oliver wanted to know.

“Because it wasn’t that bad. More distracting than anything else.”

Oliver frowned. “Well, that’s all the way up on the third floor. We’re not near any machinery now. Not unless you count a dishwasher. Is the microwave…”

“No. Microwaves never bother me,” Jones cut in. “I’d have a hard time feeding myself on my schedule if they did. I’m fine, really.”

“You guys are forgetting,” Bart hissed. “We’ve got a pretty sophisticated bit of technology right here.” He gestured to Victor, who was still talking to Emil at a corner table, with their ongoing quest to make improvements on his parts. “Hey Victor!”

Victor turned with an annoyed look.

“Stop emitting frequencies, okay?”

“What?”

“Dude, you’re giving the Martian a headache.”

“By doing what?”

Bart threw up his hands. “I don’t know. But quit it.” 

“Leave Victor alone. He’s busy you and we don’t know it’s him.” Oliver shrugged and pulled at John’s arm. “Come on. I’ll see if there’s anything in the medical bay that’s Martian-safe, then we can check out the control room, see if we can pinpoint the source.”

“You guys better not touch my game. I didn’t save,” Bart yelled after them.

“Not my problem,” Oliver called back on a laugh. “John, have you ever experienced the zombie apocalypse?”

“Son of a…” And Bart was gone.

Dinah rolled her eyes and followed. “Oliver, weren’t you the one just whining that we have to go?”

Chloe shrugged and stood. “Guess that’s it for dinner. I’ve got homework, anyway.” She reached for her plate.

But Clark collected it first, along with his. “What kind of homework?”

She shrugged and took their glasses. “I’d better read up on what The Planet’s been up to all summer.”

“Oh, yeah. That’s probably good.”

“Maybe the housing ads, too, while I…”

“I just don’t think it’s a good idea,” he burst out, following her into the kitchen.

She turned on him. “Out with it. Why not?”

“Well… You’ll be all alone.”

“That’s kind of the point, Clark. Living here, with everyone coming in and out…”

“Okay, fine,” he sighed. “But what about the farm?”

“What about it?”

“It’s a big house and pretty much no one’s in and out and I won’t make you do any chores and my mother’s room’s empty,” he said in rush, putting his dishes and hers in the sink and turning the water on. “I mean, if you want space, that’s where you get it. I wouldn’t even have to be in your room… space at all,” he said, scrubbing away. “We can even…”

“It’s a two-hour drive from the city, Clark!”

“So? I can give you a lift into town any time you need it.”

“That’ll help my morning sickness,” she said with a laugh. “Clark, if I’m going to work in the city, I should live in the city.”

“All the sudden? You lived in Smallville for three years while you were still working at The Planet and Isis! Was it so bad?”

“Yes! The constant rushing back and forth and… I don’t know. I’ve always been a city girl at heart. I barely know why I kept up residence in Smallville when most of my life and work was here. Maybe because the rent was cheaper or maybe…” She set the glasses in the sink, then quickly drew her hand with a yelp.

“What? Did you cut yourself?” Clark grabbed her hand.

“No. But I’m not sure about burns. That water’s boiling hot.”

“Should have warned you.” He groaned and inspected her hand, turning it over. “That’s kind of how I do dishes. It’s faster.”

“And deadlier.” 

He turned on the cold and put her hand under. “That’s why I can do the dishes when you move in.”

“I just told you…”

“Chloe, if Smallville was so hard, then why didn’t you leave before?” he demanded, but gently.

“Because it was too hard to do,” she said without thinking, closing her eyes as the cold water numbed her skin. “I couldn’t be another person that…” She stopped herself, pulling her hand out of both his hand and the water. “You know, it really doesn’t hurt that much.”

“Another person that what?” He turned off the water and leaned on the sink, waiting.

She took a deep breath. “Clark, it’s long past the time anything was keeping me in Smallville. My father moved away when I went to college and staying with Lois at The Talon was supposed to be temporary and then… I just couldn’t leave. Lois would talk about us getting a bigger place in the city and I always talked up the cheap rent and how it offset the price of gas, but that really wasn’t it.” She met his eyes. “The only thing keeping me there was you.” 

“Me?” Clark stared at her.

“Well… working with you and… You know, it just made things…”

“But it’s not like I couldn’t be anywhere else in seconds if you…”

“Yes, but how could I hunt you down when you holed up in your loft, moping on that ratty, red couch so easily?” she said quickly.

“Yeah.” He nodded. “That makes sense,” he mumbled, staring down, finger sliding back and forth along the sink between them. “I’m trying not to do that anymore,” he finally said. “I mean, it doesn’t accomplish much.”

“Saints be praised,” she said with a smile. “How are you getting your kicks now?”

“Well, all these months without you to talk me out of it…” He shrugged. “Kind of takes the fun out of the whole thing.”

She dropped her smile. “I’m sorry. God, Clark…” She tilted her head to catch his eyes. “Maybe that’s another reason I couldn’t leave Smallville. I didn’t want to be another person that left you. Pete, your parents, Lana…”

“But you did leave me,” he said softly. 

“Only because I thought it was the only way to keep you safe,” she said quickly. “Clark, if I knew how things would…”

“Let’s not do that,” he broke in. “Like I said before, we both took a few wrong turns this year. We don’t need to rehash or relive it.”

“Well, you said that before…” She trailed off, a hand moving to her stomach. “Once your little radio silence kicked in, I figured you might want a few mea culpas out of me.”

“No, I don’t.” He shook his head and glanced down at her stomach as well. “That shouldn’t have changed anything. And what you did… I mean, you’re free to do what you want with who… I mean, it’s your business if… God!” He ran a hand roughly through his hair and stepped back before stepping toward her again. “I’m just saying – really badly – that you don’t owe me anything. That’s all. I’m sorry I brought it up. Nothing’s changed and…”

“Clark, everything’s changed,” she said tiredly.

“Well, not us,” he said firmly. “Not if I can help it. You’re my best friend."

She met his eyes, gave him a small smile. "And you're mine."

He sighed. "And I'm so sorry I haven’t been acting like it, but…”

“Now who’s rehashing?” She rolled her eyes.

He gave her a smile, that sheepish sort of half-smile that almost always meant the end of all possible arguments. “So how do you hunt me down now? When I mope and all that?”

She chuckled. “I thought you were trying not to mope.”

“Well, it might come upon me all suddenly.”

She laughed harder. “So you’ll just have to start answering your phone. I mean, now that you’re suddenly so concerned.”

“I’m not just suddenly…”

“No. It’s great. It’s really going to come in handy.” She grinned widely. “In fact, think of the vague and cryptic voice mails and texts I can dream up.”

“I always…”

“And you’ll just have to show up, no choice,” she went on, poking him in the chest. “Save me, she texts. And you won’t know if it’s from Bart’s monologues or Tess Mercer locking me in a…” 

He grasped her hand. “Don’t even joke about that. I still don’t trust her.”

“Neither do I,” she said, sobering. 

“We don’t know what she’s after.”

“Because we don’t know enough about her. I think it’s time we changed that.” She stared at his hand, still gripping hers. 

He didn’t let go, just stared at her. “Is that why you took the job? To investigate Tess?”

“It’s part of it.”

“That won’t be easy, considering she’ll be watching us.”

“I think we can find ways around that. I’m still in the planning stages, but I have a few ideas.”

“God help us all,” he sighed, rubbing lightly at the back of her hand. “Chloe, why now?”

“Well, it’s about time,” she said blearily, sort of hypnotized by the way his hand sort of swallowed hers up. “Um… We were always too busy countering her to really look into…”

“Why move here now?”

“It’s about time for that, too,” she said, snapping out of it and tugging her hand away 

“But it could be so much easier. Hell, we can turn my dining room into four walls of weird if you want. And, if you think Bart can cook, well… Yeah. He can. He’s pretty good at it. But I helped my mom all the time and I picked up a few…”

“Clark!” She leaned up and kissed his cheek, thinking that might shut him up. It did. It also left him looking completely dumbstruck. “Thank you for the offer, but I’ve made my decision. I’m too tired to argue anymore and we both have a big day tomorrow.” She skirted him and moved to the door, then stilled. Did she seriously just kiss Clark? She shook her head. It was only on the cheek. “Goodnight,” she called out, a hand on the swinging door.

“Uh-huh.” 

She waited. She wasn’t sure for what, maybe some concession to their argument, maybe just an answering “good night.” But that seemed to be all she was getting out of him. When she glanced back, he was just staring at the cabinets.

She didn’t sleep. She tossed and turned – at least as much as she could, considering Emil had ruled out her sleeping on her stomach for the next five to six months.

Had it been too weird? It had to have been too weird. Hugging was one thing. Hugs… she could hardly count them. Kissing wasn’t, generally speaking, something they did. By her count, the last time her lips had been on any part of Clark was over three years ago. And that wasn’t on the cheek. That also wasn’t something she’d done since, not even when the end of the world was at hand. By that point, it seemed sad and desperate to keep laying some kind of annual kiss on him. 

Not that she wanted to. She didn’t want to now. She was just… maybe she was hormonal, she decided as she stopped herself from turning onto her stomach again. Then again, it was just a stupid kiss on the cheek…

“For God’s sake,” she groaned, tossing off the covers and quickly making her way to the tiny bathroom. Her bladder was giving her less and less warning this week. The idea of holding it in would soon be something of bygone days. And that was exactly why she couldn’t keep obsessing over a kiss on the cheek.

She was pregnant and about to start a new old job. These things were obviously more important than some ridiculous, tiny little kiss on the cheek… that was probably Clark’s fault with all the touching and grabbing he’d been doing. It made things confusing. She’d explain it away tomorrow and…

No. She wouldn’t explain it or even acknowledge it. She washed her hands and rushed back to bed. Wasn’t she too tired? She had work tomorrow, after all. The thought of that barely settled her down. It had been so long since she had a bona fide job with clocking in and out. But how long would she even have it? How long before she had no choice but to disclose the fact that she was pregnant, come to Tess asking for maternity leave? And, considering the possible complications, could she even call it a leave? What if circumstances made it so she never came back from…

She couldn’t, wouldn’t, think about that. It was enough, right now, that she was doing something. 
And she’d do all she could. Whatever time she had, she would use it well. It couldn’t be like last time. There was no time to get sloppy. 

She could admit it now. She hadn’t thought it through before, using The Planet’s servers for searches best left to outside sources, using her Planet computer for other activities and then balking when – surprise! – Lex spied on her every move. She’d been silly and idealistic then. Not now. She knew what she was walking into. And she’d be prepared.

******************

“Just something more secure,” she explained as they moved out of the commissary, “for the kind of things I don’t want showing up on The Planet’s servers.”

“So a blocker?” Victor grunted.

“Nothing that obvious. Maybe more of a mask than a block. I just want a way to bypass or trick whatever spyware she’s got installed when I need to.”

“Well, I can set you up with laptops for now, then see if we can work on coding to…” A buzzer went off and Victor froze, turning to the front door at the end of the hall.

Chloe followed his gaze. “Are you expecting anyone?”

“Of course not. Probably just a delivery man. You know, let me take care of this and I’ll meet you upstairs,” he said quickly, ushering her to the elevator. 

“But…”

“Don ’t worry about it. I’ll get you all set up before work.” He herded her in and pressed three before she could blink.

She found herself staring at the keyhole where the four should be just above it, then shot a hand out to stop the door. She was getting a little tired of the gang’s whispers and significant looks. It felt like every single one of them was always shooing her away or telling her not to worry or having loaded conversations right in front of her.

She pressed a hand to the opened door and peeked around. It wasn’t a delivery man. It was a woman, a slight, blonde woman with round glasses and closely cropped hair. They were headed for the elevator. She stepped back as their voices came closer.

“… a little early, but I emailed last night to tell you I couldn’t do it this afternoon, so I thought…”

“I didn’t get it,” Victor cut in. “I was busy with Emil. But it’s fine. We just need to be more on top of it. I just don’t want to have to explain to her, if she saw you…”

The woman sighed. “I personally think she should be seeing me. But fine. How’s he today?”

“I don’t know. Bart usually takes care of…” He stopped abruptly as they stepped into the elevator, a rather horrified look on his face at Chloe still standing near the panel.

Chloe brazened it out, smiling widely. “I figured I’d hold the elevator. It’s only polite.” Unlike keeping secrets from her while she’s living in the middle of them! She held out a hand to the woman. “Hi, I’m Chloe.”

The woman smiled and shook her hand. “Hi. Sarah. I’ve heard so many good things about you.”

“Wish I could say the same. I didn’t know we had… visitors here,” Chloe finished awkwardly, looking her over. Young, pretty, professional looking clothes, but with splatters of paint at the edges of her sleeves and on the messenger bag on her shoulder.

“Well, I’m not so much a visitor as a…” She looked to Victor, who looked like a deer in the headlights. “A consultant,” she finished.

“Oh? On what?”

“Well, I work at the youth center and sometimes…”

“Hey, Chloe, I was thinking cell phones,” Victor said quickly, pressing the three. “You know, with a hot spot. I can hook them up to a satellite network and…”

“That sounds great,” she cut in. “We’ll work on it.” She turned back to Sarah, pasting on a wide smile. “So you work at the youth center? And how do you know Victor?” And why doesn’t he want me to see you? She didn’t say that, though. She’d much rather keep it light.

“Well, it’s a funny story…”

“It’s a long story," Victor cut in. "Chloe’s got work to get ready for and…”

“Vic, come on.” Sarah laughed. “I can give her the short version. See, I was in the park on outing with some of my kids. I work with special-needs children, mostly with physical handicaps and we stumbled into Victor when one of my boys hit him in the head with a baseball. At the time, his prosthetics were… Well, they were undergoing repairs and some of my kids are no stranger to prosthetics. They got a real kick out of him. They’d probably get an even bigger kick if they knew the rest of it.” She beamed at Victor.

Chloe looked at Victor, drumming his fingers on the console and looking anywhere but at Sarah. Cute. But it still didn’t explain anything. “So what do you consult on here?”

“Well…”

“That’s your floor,” Victor announced loudly as the doors opened with a ding. “Let me just get Sarah settled in and I’ll be right with you.”

Settled in where? But he herded her out so quickly, she could barely say goodbye. “Nice meeting… you,” she finished lamely as the door closed. Maybe she was being nosy. Whatever business the woman had here, it might be Victor’s alone. But she heard her. I personally think she should be seeing me. That had to mean her. Well, now she had seen her, which Victor seemed none too happy about. Why was Victor so keen to hide her?

She wasn’t sure, but she had seen Victor take some keys from his pocket as the door closed. She narrowed her eyes and moved to the control room, already alive with the sound of the dead. Bart must be on an early morning zombie destruction mission. To her surprise, he wasn’t alone. 

She stepped up behind them. “John?”

“Good morning. Can’t talk. Very busy,” Jones said dully.

“We’re on a murderous spree,” Bart said with relish. 

Chloe had to laugh. “With a man of the law?”

“I think the good detective’s kill count might one day match my own.”

“The day might be today if I can just get that flame thrower.”

Chloe shook her head. “I thought the machinery up here bothered you too much.”

“Doesn’t seem to now,” Jones grunted.

Chloe kind of wished they’d give it a rest for a second. She had questions and they had answers. Then again, maybe she’d be more likely to get them if they were distracted. She cleared her throat. “So Sarah’s here,” she said casually.

Bart snorted as he kept playing. “Victor’s girlfriend? Must be Tuesday.”

“So Victor’s seeing her?”

“No, but I just bet he wants to. And not professionally.”

Interesting, but not exactly what she needed to know. Still, he was talking. “Victor Stone with a crush. How would that go down?”

Bart chuckled. “Probably on the couch. He’ll spill his guts and she’ll take her little notes and it’ll be all love, therapy style.”

“So she’s a therapist?”

“Eh, not quite yet. But she’s on her…”

“Careful,” she heard John say lowly. “You’re heading for a trap. Lots of dead in there,” he finished more loudly.

She couldn’t help thinking he was talking about more than the game as Bart abruptly paused and swiveled his chair to her. “Hey, what are you doing hanging around here? Big day today! Don’t you have to get to work?”

“Not just yet,” she said through clenched teeth, glaring at the back of John’s head. It was damned impossible to be sneaky with a mind-reader in the room. She pasted on a smile as John rose and turned to her. “Your powers seem to be working just fine now.”

“Well, Oliver and I weren’t able to track down the source of interference. Honestly, I’m not concerned. It could be something as small as the signal from a cell tower.”

Chloe tilted her head, momentarily forgetting her annoyance. “Has that ever happened before?”

“Well… no.” Jones frowned. “Hard thing about being the last of my kind. Not a lot of case studies to go by, as I’m sure Clark can attest. We’ll figure it out.”

“I still think it’s Victor,” Bart said. “Sneaky little toaster.”

“You know, I happen to be in here,” she heard Victor call from the back of the room. She turned to him.

As did Bart. “Yeah? Didn’t hear you come in.”

“Because, unlike you, I work quietly,” Victor muttered, going through a cabinet. “Chloe, I’m going to set you and Clark up with laptops and cells. You can use them as a hotspot for internet until I find a way to bypass Tess’ spyware.”

“Sounds fine,” she said, trying not to sound impatient. “But where’s our visitor?”

Victor stilled. “She’s just… needs to… You know, she…”

“She’s probably preparing her notes,” John broke in calmly. “Since no one else will tell you, I suppose I will.” He smiled. “Sarah Simms is a youth counselor and a therapist in training, studying at Metropolis University. Victor happened upon her by chance and it turned out we needed someone like her.”

“So… she’s the group’s therapist?” She looked at each of them.

“Doctor Hamilton’s one thing,” Jones said easily, “but a team like this has more than medical needs.”

“Yes,” Bart said, almost too eagerly. “She’s really helping me work through my rage issues and all that.”

“You don’t have rage issues,” Chloe scoffed.

“Exactly!” Bart nodded. “Thank you, Doctor Sarah!” 

Chloe threw up her hands. “I don’t get it. Why wouldn’t you guys just tell me? Why all the secrecy?”

Bart sighed loudly. “I just didn’t want you to think less of me, Dollbaby.”

“If you’re worried Sarah Simms can’t be trusted, don’t be. She checks out.” Jones tapped his head. “But you can run a background check if you don’t trust my judgment.”

“I’m not saying I don’t…”

“Morning.” She turned to find Clark in the doorway, holding two coffee cups and looking rather sheepish. “Uh… I was thinking we should maybe go in together.” He held out one cup. “I brought tea.”

************

“Clark, give it back. It’s only six blocks to work and it’s not that heavy.”

“Yes, it is.”

“How could you tell?”

“Well, two laptops. I’ve heard you grouse about carting one around.”

“That was back when they weighed a ton,” she said, falling into step beside him. “I’ll feel stupid walking in with you having two bags and me having nothing. It’s like those guys in high school that always followed girls around, carrying their books. They’ll think you’re my… gopher,” she finished awkwardly. That wasn’t what she’d started to say, but it sounded safer. 

“Okay,” he sighed, stopping. “You can take mine.” He handed her a rather beat-up briefcase that weighed almost nothing… and rattled.

“What’s in here?”

“Pencils, a notebook. I figured I should bring something. It’s probably stupid.”

“No. I’m impressed. You’re even wearing a suit.”

He smiled and shrugged. “Well, I wasn’t very prepared on my first first day. I brought my backpack and wore a flannel. Lois made me feel like such a rube. I figured I had to be even more prepared for you, with the way you always bossed me around at The Torch.”

She gasped. “I barely…”

“You did and you know it,” he chuckled. “Even after The Torch.”

“Pfft! I’ve only ever gently nudged you toward realizing your full potential and...”

He laughed loudly, then. “In the bossiest way possible.”

“That’s not…”

“I’ve even got a few red pens in there since that was always your favorite way to decorate my work.” He started down Fourth again. “Anyway, you can handle that…”

“Oh, can I?”

“And I’ll take the hardware from now on,” he went on, ignoring her. “Feel better?”

She moved with him, sipping at her tea. “I’d feel better if this was coffee.”

He stopped again and held out his cup. “Okay. You can have a couple sips of my coffee, too.”

“You’re just so giving today.”

He pulled it back. “Fine. If you don’t…”

“I didn’t say that.” She snatched his cup quickly and took a gulp, then choked on it.

“What?” He dropped the bag. “Is it too hot? Damn it, I didn’t even…”

“No,” she croaked. “It’s too sweet. It’s almost half sugar.” She handed it back. “You can’t even taste the coffee.”

He shrugged. “It’s better that way.”

She shook her head. “How are we even friends?” she managed around the coughing.

“Beats me,” he said on a chuckle, rubbing her back. “You okay?”

“I’m fine.” She wiped her eyes, then took her tea back, taking a long sip, then another, frowning. She wasn’t a fan of tea to start, but it tasted awfully bitter after the sugar rush. But that wasn’t what had her frowning. It was Clark’s hand. It was still rubbing. 

She was torn between telling him to rub between her rather tense shoulders and telling him to quit touching her so much, that this was exactly the kind of thing that had her planting awkward kisses on him. But then she’d have to bring up the kiss… which she wouldn’t. It was a silly peck on the cheek and she would not give it another second of attention. 

She stepped away instead. “All better,” she said brightly. “We should hurry up. Don’t want to be late.”

“It’s only ten to eight,” she heard him say behind her.

“I know. And we’re not even halfway there.”

“You just said it was only six blocks,” he muttered.

“I know. Isn’t it great?” She walked faster. “I’m thinking I might look for a place in this neighborhood. It’s not as nice as midtown, but it has to be cheaper and…”

“This again?”

“Yes, this again,” she groaned. “As soon as I feel settled with work, I’m going to start looking for something.”

“Maybe you’ll be too busy,” he said, sounding rather hopeful.

She stopped and turned to him. “Clark, it’s really sweet that you worry and all, but I need my own space.”

“I get that.” But he didn’t. He stepped closer, as if denying her even personal space. “But I still think the farm…”

“Can we table this? We have a big day to get through and we need to focus.”

“You’re the boss,” he mumbled.

“Would you quit that?” she huffed.

He smirked. “Sure, Boss.”

She rolled her eyes and walked on. “You’re hilarious.”

“Gee! Thanks, Boss.”

“Stop calling me boss.” She stopped as she turned the corner and saw The Planet ahead. She turned to Clark and gestured him in. “So here’s how today’s gonna go…”

CHAPTER TEN