<Cracks knuckles over keyboard>
Okay Morgana, here come a WHOLE BUNCH of FDK... I know I know I've been busy I told you I'd give you my input so here it is....
(Note: If you're thinking of posting a new story / chapter you might want to wait till Sunday. I have 26 other chapters to get through
)
With those words the fight seemed to ebb from Lois’ small frame, she looked over at her partner, shrugged and said, “Deal. I get to ask the first question.”
Relieved they seem to be getting along, Clark grumbled good-naturedly, “Typical.”
<snork> I see a hint of a backbone here... I like it.
“Wow! We should get one of these for the Planet!” Clark commented.
Lois shook her head, “Nyahh, I like our cranky old elevator better, it’s has personality!”
Aww she's spending too much time alone. Now she's starting to bond with inanimate objects...
Simultaneously, bubbles of laughter escaped from their lips and the final vestiges of distrust, resentment, and anger vanished from them both.
Ah, the magic with the elevator. He power is strong with this one....
“I’m the one asking the question.” Lois responded in a sweet tone. She was determined to get her subject to answer, no way was this going to be a puff piece.
<snicker> Ah, the game of give and take...Is she a match for Arianna Luthor though?
"Being a psychiatrist was something important to me, but my husband needed me by his side. It was a simple decision really. Someday, if you are lucky, the same choice might come your way.”
Um, that was kind of harsh.... If you are lucky... Okay....
Clark, sensing the interview was getting out of control before it began, interrupted Lois before she could reply
Probably a good idea not to let Lois respond to that one.
“Happily, we did not suffer the inconvenience many travelers had to endure that day.” Arianna smiled as if asking forgiveness for not being troubled.
<Inconvenience!> Lois thought angrily. <Inconveniences like no food, heat and sanitary conditions that were frightening. It was more than a day!> But her professional side won out and she managed to keep silent.
I totally would have said something.... Iconvenience huh? Okay Mrs. Luthor let's drop you in the Sahara with no water or food and see how well you fare.
Clark.
Why did his name unexpectedly pop into her head? A memory of him wearing gray pants and shirt flashed in her mind’s eye. Was he at the airport? No. The snow had effectively shut off all access to and from the airport. By the end of those cold, miserable days, she knew the faces of most of her fellow stranded travelers. Clark’s handsome visage – even two and a half years later - would have stood out. Something else came into her mind, but just as quickly it vanished.
Uh-oh....
“Mr. Kent, your method of interviewing is a breath of fresh air, the world of print journalism is the richer for having such a thoughtful member. After enduring newspaper hacks like Linda King, it is refreshing to have a conversation with a gentleman.” She turned to Lois and said in the sweetest manner possible, “Miss Lane, you could learn a great deal from your colleague. Lex and I would have gladly granted an interview together long ago, but he appreciates subtlety, which your writing sadly lacks. Perhaps someday we shall, as long as Mr. Kent is your partner. May you both have a pleasant day, Nigel will show you out.” With those words, Arianna exited the room.
Lois’ jaw dropped in shock, than closed with an audible click.
Oh boy....
“Imagine the nerve of that … that woman, telling me how to write an article!”
Clark had listened to her rail from the time they stepped onto the elevator until they entered the lobby. He was about to tell her to simmer down when her babble abruptly ceased and she grabbed his arm and pulled him over to a magazine kiosk.
She hissed, “It’s Gregory Daae! What’s he doing here? Especially since Lex is out of the building. I can’t envision someone like him talking to an underling.”
Her partner shrugged, “Probably visiting LNN, after all, this is LexCorp headquarters.”
“Shows how much you know, Clark. LNN is ten blocks away.” Her voice fell silent as they both watched him enter the Penthouse express elevator without checking in at the security desk.
“Well look at that, trouble in Paradise?” Lois said with a smirk.
“How does anyone jump from visiting, to Daae having an affair with Arianna?” He asked in a whisper.
“Easy. He’s having an affair with Arianna.” His partner answered him with authority.
“That is the trouble with you; a highly suspicious nature.” Clark said playfully shaking his head.
hehe I love how you show Lois' temper flaring here and then cut short by a new lead.
“Yeah, well, that ‘suspicious nature’ has netted me …”
“… two Kerth awards.” He finished her oft repeated quote with an exaggerated sigh.
“No, buster! Three! Now don’t you forget it!” Lois fired back, sensing the humor in Clark’s words.
hahaha.... (Love this!)
She examined her notes, looked over at her partner and noticed his desk was empty. <Perfect. Lana must have swooped in and bagged him for lunch … again.>
Jealous much?
Looking back, she vividly remembered that Claude employed flattery and thinly veiled backdoor tactics to get what he wanted. In this case and with life in general Clark did neither. Sadly, Lois at the time did not permit a little thing like facts to get in the way of her anger. Her behavior towards him had been shallow and unkind. She admitted begrudgingly that it had been fun interviewing Arianna together. Kansas’ gentle Midwestern charm had put the reserved British woman at ease long enough for both of them to ask the tough questions without upsetting her. Well, at least Clark didn’t upset her. Who knows, maybe there might be something to this partnership after all … on a limited basis.[/quotes]
The edges are starting to buffer down...
[quote=Morgana]“Jack! What’s going on? What’s that alphabet soup crawling on the monitors?” Lois shouted as she ran down the ramp. “My story had better not be gone!”
Jack looked up, with a harassed expression on his young face. “The slang term is ‘hex characters’ whenever they appear on a monitor screen that’s not good. No, I managed to save all the work from this morning. But please tell me all your story files were saved on a floppy disk!” Jack said without looking at her.
Her voice dropped to a whisper, “Of course, I save everything! After the fiasco with Claude all of my files are backed up daily.”
He spared her a quick glance, “Good, ‘cause this particular virus is really nasty.”
Hmmm....virus at the Daily Planet? Me thinketh this virus might be looking for something?
“That would necessitate taking the server off of the network to prevent further contamination and for clean up.”
Frowning, Perry said. “We have an evening edition to get out as well as the morning edition.”
“I am sorry Mr. White, but there’s more bad news. It would also require the techs to deal with each contaminated PC. As well as call into question the integrity of the files on the devices which is prompting the query about floppy backup.”
Perry threw his arms up and said, “Hell of a way to run a railroad. Ok, Mr. Janney, tell me what you need and I’ll make sure you get it.”
“Good, ‘cause this is going to take the rest of the day to fix. Even Mr. Olsen is helping, which only makes sense, since he designed the system.”
Someone is after someone's story....
His expression was one confusion, and then he said, “Oh, I had a craving for a mocha latte with a double shot of espresso and as I was coming back a traffic accident took place only a block away. Some guy got the passengers out of the vehicle before it exploded. I’m writing up the account for the evening edition right now.”
“That’s good. But compared to what we are working on it’s bread and butter stuff. Come on Kansas, after all the preparation to get this interview we might as well work on it and give it a little style! Since the IT department is trying to fix the servers, we can work with less distractions on the computer at my place, are you game?”
Clark swallowed and nodded, “Sure Lois, whatever you say.”
“Okay! Soon as you finish writing up that article, pack up your notes!” She turned back to him and said, “Kent, if you keep drinking lattes with all that sugar and fat, those gorgeous new suits are going to look really bad.”
He smiled, hearing the banter under the bark, “Life is short partner, gotta live it up!”
<That word! That word!> she thought.
Just can't help himself can he? Let's see. Clark helping out and writes a story about some 'guy' that helped. Lois needs less distractions, huh? Sure that's a good idea?
Haha she doesn't like the word 'partner' very much does she?
As they walked out of the bullpen and began climbing the ramp she asked him. “Don’t you have to contact Lana or something? She always likes to know where you are.”
Clark shoved his hands into his pockets and sighed heavily, “Honestly Lois, she’s not like that. We are both pursuing our respective careers, which mean spending time with work colleagues.” For the sake of the newfound peace between them, he decided not to pursue that particular line of conversation.
haha I love how Lois reminds him to call his girlfriend haha
Nice! Everyone notices how controlling Lana is... WAKE UP!
Once the front door was closed and securely locked behind them, she became acutely aware of Clark’s gentle, but extremely masculine presence. Suddenly, her spacious one bedroom apartment shrunk to the size of a small studio. <Oh stop!> A tiny voice yelled in her mind, <Its just Kansas, we are here to work.>
Uh-huh... We know what SHE'S thinking.... Oh, boy...
“We don’t know why Daae was there! It’s a fact that can’t be included in this article”
“Why not? He was in the lobby and we both saw him enter the private penthouse elevator without checking in with the guards.”
“Come on Lois that would be irresponsible speculation! When did we start writing like reporters for The Metropolis Star?”
She fought the smile which threatened to spread across her lips. “Aha! Arianna got to you.”
“No. She didn’t get to me, and just because they are public figures does not mean we speak about their friendship as if they have something to hide. Everyone, even those two, deserves privacy. If they are having an affair it’ll surface soon enough. Leave the gossip stuff to Peggy Becker. Besides, Catherine would never ‘speculate’, that leads to lawsuits. We need to stick with the subject and nothing more.”
Lois cocked her eyebrow and was about to speak, then thought better of it. Apparently, the rookie had toughness after all. “Yeah, you’re right, I’m not Linda King. ”
Love the banter here. It's nice to see Clark holding his own with Lois. I also liked the whole dig about the STAR and Linda. Nice.
“All the time we’ve worked together you never mentioned having a cat. There aren’t even pictures of her on your desk.”
Lois walked in from the kitchen and in each hand was a plate holding the most magnificent tuna sandwiches he had ever seen. “Well, I don’t have a boyfriend who sticks a large picture of himself on my desk.”
Clark ducked his head and took another sip of tea, “Point taken.”
And the point goes to Lois on that one. haha
“Eat fast Kansas, we’ve got work to do.”
'Kansas' I like this nickname. Kinda has a 'Farmboy' feel to it
As he walked down the hallway he couldn’t help but notice there was something in Lois’ tone, something like regret, but he refused to concern himself with that now.
Awwww...
Gregory Daae.
Lana couldn’t get him out of her mind.
Yeah, I'll bet....I want to call her a name but I don't think it's board appropriate. Let's just say it starts with T and rhymes with stamp.
“Cheri, it should not take too long. I suspect writing swiftly is only one of your many talents.”
He's pouring it on thick, isn't he?
Lana watched the limo move into the morning traffic and thought to herself that after two such exquisite meals, how was she ever going to go back to life at the Metropolis museum, eating lackluster ham sandwiches for lunch? Poor Clark, nothing he could do quite compared to spending time with Daae. Oh, he could certainly fly her to Paris, but after they got there, with their meager salaries it was a sure bet they would be pinching their pennies the whole time.
On the other hand, money - and the little luxuries it could purchase - was never an issue with Gregory.
Woww....So it's money that matters, huh? O-kay, well you don't deserve Clark anyway.... STAMP
