She had decided that maybe she wasn’t such a bad cook after all.
Or maybe not.
She looked with dismay at the mess that had once been her clean kitchen countertop and range. All she had to show for her efforts were boiled over liquids and the burned crisps of something that had once been edible. Her entire apartment had the horrid burnt stench of dinner gone terribly, terribly wrong.
Her kitchen may have been a wreck, but she looked great
Then she doesn't need to have any qualms about inviting a man inside, even if it won't be for dinner, eh?
He let out a low whistle. “I really like the haircut. I didn’t think anything could make your eyes more lovely. I was wrong.”
Dan "Tank" Scardino?
“Now, I know I promised I wouldn’t bring flowers, but...” One arm came out from behind his back and he handed her a package of imported Swiss chocolates. “...I never promised not to bring chocolate.”
Lois was appalled. He *did* think this was a date!
“Dan...”
“So, tell me, Lois, whatever happened to ‘Mr. Smoldering Eyes’? You never did tell me on the phone yesterday.”
I know this guy is a FBI agent (or something), but hey, does he have to start giving Lois the third degree right after he has handed over the flowers?
“Well, are you two still dating or not?” he brazenly asked her.
She sighed heavily. “At the moment... not.”
“Great. Then I don’t have to worry about ‘Dad’ dropping by to spy on us, now do I?”
She fidgeted awkwardly. “I think you’re getting the wrong impression about tonight, Dan.”
And he's telling her right away that he expects this to be a kiss-fest, eh?
“Then I just can’t imagine how you could possibly think I’m getting the wrong impression.” He smiled lopsidedly at her.
She blushed again – and then chastised herself for letting him see her blush.
What was wrong with her?
What's wrong with her? Good question. Because I really do think that something is honestly wrong with her. I don't think Dan would normally make her blush, ceertainly not by smiling at her and hinting that he was looking forward to some hanky-panky.
Well it couldn’t be that, because her best friend, partner, and superhero to the world had just rejected her, she was feeling a little neglected and needy and so was responding to this attention more fervently than it really deserved.
Could it?
God, that was it, wasn’t it? She actually felt like she needed the attention of a man to validate herself. Since when did Lois Lane ever need anything from a man?
Since she had fallen in love with Clark Kent.
Well, this reminds me of what I hate most about the entire LNC TV series, the fact that Lois felt needy enough to accept Lex's proposal. Don't tell me her neediness is going to make her accept Dan this time.
Hey, get a grip, girl! Where's your pride?
He sighed. He had to make up his mind. Lois wasn’t going to allow him to teeter back and forth. They were either together or they weren’t. And if they weren’t, he was going to have to let her go.
Yeah, that's right! Get that into your thick head, lunkhead!
And that wasn’t something he was prepared to do, not now.
Oh? So now you want her back, do you?
“A little heavy on the Cajun blackening,” he told her, grinning widely.
She had forgotten how his smile could make her feel. It was infectious.
Was she really ever that affected by Dan?
But not as intoxicating as Clark’s smile. His smile made her weak like no other man ever had before.
She frowned. But Clark wasn’t here tonight and apparently he didn’t plan on ever being here again – not like this.
Don't give up on Clark just yet, Lois. Give him one more chance. Please?
“It’s okay, Dan, really. Don’t give yourself food poisoning just to impress me. If you want to eat here, I can always call out for some Chinese to be delivered.”
“How about that place I told you about that has the really good rumaki – the one that wasn’t as good as yours... remember?”
Well, Dan is good at flattery, at least.
While Dan busied himself with calling in their order, Lois turned her attention to cleaning up the kitchen. If they were going to eat here, they at least needed a clean place to sit – and one that smelled a little less like a science experiment gone wrong.
She was in the process of picking up various pots and pans and dishes. He reached out to take a stack of the dirty items from her and their hands brushed briefly.
Much to her surprise, it sent a little jolt through her. By the look on his face, it had done the same to him.
DJ, I can't really believe this. Surely Lois isn't
that affected by Dan?
“How serious did it get with you and Kent?”
That's none of your business, Dan! What a rude question!
As Dr. Klein approached the door and reached out to open it, the glass from the doors behind Clark shattered violently – jagged pieces of it shooting out in all directions.
Jeepers!!! I sure wasn't expecting that!!
“This is why I wanted to meet you after work. I think we have a mole somewhere here at STAR Labs.”
“A mole?” Clark asked, surprised.
Gaaah. That's bad.
“Shhh,” Dr. Klein shushed him, gesturing with his hand for him to lower his voice. “I know I probably come off seeming a little scatterbrained from time to time...”
Clark hid a smile.
“...but when it comes to things like formulas, my memory is impeccable. I can remember formulas like some people remember... oh, I don’t know... telephone numbers...”
“Uh, Dr. Klein,” Clark prompted him, wondering if there was a point to this.
“Huh? Oh, yes. Well, I’m personally the one who has been experimenting with the Project Nirvana drug over the past several weeks. It’s one of several projects that I’ve been working on. It has a very interesting chemical makeup. There are some synthetic ingredients in it that are so intricate...”
Delightful! So Dr. Klein!
“I had worked with it enough that I had committed its formula to memory. So when the research notes and samples were stolen, it wasn’t a total disaster because I had everything up here.” He pointed to his head.
Aha.
“I had been working on a reformulation of it all day long the day you were here. Uh, that was the reason I had to run out on you and Ms. Lane – forgot I had left a batch of it unattended. I finally got the formula perfected yesterday. But here’s the weird thing, when I came in this morning, all my new notes and samples were gone – stolen again.”
Oh? So
that's why someone wants to kill Dr. Klein! Becasue as long as he is alive, the good guys still know the formula! So the villains have to kill Dr. Klein to make sure that only they themselves know it. That's horrible!
“I know you told us before that it was some form of mind control drug. How so? What does the drug do, exactly?”
“Just about anything you want it to.
Oh, horror!!!
Project Nirvana also affects cognitive brain function. It inhibits the conscious, decision-making capabilities of the brain, much like as if you had drank a little too much. It makes you highly susceptible to suggestion. And the stronger the dosage, the more control you have over someone.”
Guess what, DJ? I'm thinking that
Lois has been exposed to this drug. And when Dan is giving her all kinds of suggestions that she is in love with him, she believes it, and even her body responds to him!
According to their research, if you tried to plant a more stringent suggestion in someone’s mind, say something that would normally go against their basic moral code, or something contrary to the normal functioning of the brain, the mind would fight it. Higher doses of the drug had to be administered in those cases and also a “trigger word” had to be set up, like one would use in hypnosis. The trigger word would activate the programming, the subject would carry out their assignment and then they would wake up, oblivious to what had happened – at least while they were under the effects of the drug. There hadn’t been any long term experiments conducted yet.”
Eh - know what, DJ? This is beginning to sound just a teeny, weeny bit to horrifically scaringly A-plotty for me.
And Dan and Lois is having their dinner date, and Lois is feeling those butterflies in her stomach again. I really don't think she is being herself here, DJ.
Ugh! Let's see how scary this will turn out. I'm looking forward to having Clark burst in on Lois and Dan, but I'm honestly not looking forward to see too many mind-controlled people doing horrible things to others.
Ann
