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Wrong Place, Wrong Time, Wrong Clark TOC can be found Here

Where we left off in Part 41 …

“What are we doing here, Lo… Lola?” Clark asked between kisses.

“Making love,” Lois said, and he heard no doubt in her voice.

A fleeting thought of ‘Here? Now?’ crossed his mind, but instead of saying it, he deepened the kiss. “I thought you’d never ask.”

“And I thought you’d never ask,” she returned. Suddenly, she placed her hands on his shoulders, and pushed him back slightly. “Protection?”

“I’m all the protection you’ll ever need,” Clark said, moving back to kiss again.

Lois giggled. “Not that kind of protection, Chuck.”

He flushed. “Uh… no, I don’t.” He hadn’t expected to move this quickly, this far, this soon.

“I’ve got some in my purse,” she murmured, as he returned his lips to hers. As her moan switched to a groan, she flicked her hand towards the door. “Way out there.”

“Right,” he said, stepping back, and pulling his hand out from under her dress. “Raincheck?” his voice hopeful.

“Definitely,” Lois said, running her finger down his chest. “Your place, after work.”

His place was closer. “Sounds good to me.” First things first, he needed to get Lois out of there as her cover had been blown. “Go grab your stuff and bolt. I’ll get out of here as soon as I can and meet you.”

She stopped and faced him, her hands on her hips. “Why?”

“Luthor.” Had she forgotten already?

A sneaky smile crossed her lips. “Trust me. He’s not going to say anything.” Her fingers came up and caressed his lips. “Lipstick,” she explained.

“What do you mean?” His brow furrowed as he ran his hand through his hair in a desperate attempt to straighten it.

“It’s not in his best interest,” Lois said, licking her lips. “I’ll explain later.”

He leaned forward to kiss those damp lips again, when he heard something on the other side of the door. Clark pushed her back up against the wall once more. “Lola,” he moaned between kisses.

“Chuck,” she said, her fingers clawing his back. It was only at the last second before the door swung open, revealing Toni and Lou, her right hand man, with very cross expressions on their faces, did Clark realize that Lois had started to pull his shirt out of his pants.

Part 42

The boss of the Metro Gang raised an eyebrow at the two of them. “Run out of olives, Charlie?” Toni asked skeptically. “Because you’re not going to find them there.”

That seemed like a good excuse to him, and Clark wished he had thought of it instead of kissing Lois again, which made it difficult for him to think straight. “Yes, Lola kindly showed me this room,” he said, glancing around only to notice there wasn’t any food in this closet. “We got distracted.”

Lois shot him a scowl. He didn’t know what she was so upset about. It wasn’t like they could deny it now, anyway.

Toni grabbed Lois’s sore arm and jerked her towards Lou. “No fraternization between employees.”

“Hey!” Lois protested, Clark was sure, out of pain more than the rough treatment.

Toni ignored her. “Take her to get cleaned up,” she told Lou, who nodded. “And get her a new rose.”

Clark glanced down and noticed the deep red rose that Luthor had tossed to Lois trampled to death on the floor.

“Come with me, doll-face,” Lou said to Lois as he escorted her down the hall to her dressing room.

“Later,” she mouthed, more than whispered, to Clark. She pulled out of Lou’s grip. “What’s the matter? Am I late for my next act or something?”

Toni stepped closer to Clark, blocking his view of Lois’s departing backside. She shook her head and tsk-tsk’d. “Charlie, I’ll let you off with a warning this time because you’re new here, but there’s no touching the merchandise.”

“Excuse me?” Clark said, tucking in his shirt. She couldn’t have meant that literally.

“The girls. There’s no consorting with the ladies on staff, especially the singers. Look all you want, but don’t touch. They are the bread-and-butter of this club. Do you think we get the business we do because of the drinks, ambiance, and some musical numbers?” Toni asked with a chuckle.

Actually, he had, backed by some of their other shady racketeering activities. What was she saying? “No?”

Toni smiled, and patted his cheek like a child. “Trust me, Lola isn’t the same girl you once knew.”

How come every time a woman told him to trust her, he got a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach?

Toni looked him over slow enough to make him feel like a piece of meat. “Keep your eyes open, your mouth shut, and your hands to yourself, and you just might get what you want sooner than you think,” she said.

All he wanted was the Toasters to be caught, and Lois out of harm’s way, but somehow he doubted that was what Toni meant.

“Now, Charlie, I’ve got some garbage for you to take care of.”

***

Lou led Lois back to her dressing room, and stood with his back against the door and his arms crossed as she went to fix her face. Was he planning on standing guard as she changed for the next number? Undercover job or not, she wasn’t going to tolerate that.

She ran a comb through her hair as she watched Lou in the mirror. Lois knew she shouldn’t have made out with Clark while undercover, but there was something about him that once he started kissing her, she didn’t want him to stop.

Lois couldn’t believe she had told Clark she had wanted to make love with him. Here, of all places! What had gotten into her? They had been one condom away from being caught in a most compromising position. She could just see the headlines in the National Whisper. Or, worse, Perry’s expression when he found out they lost story because of it.

It was better to get caught kissing in a closet though than to have Clark tell Toni she was the Metro Club’s leak. Her brow furrowed. Why would she think that? Clark would never do that to her, would he? No, not if he wanted her to show up at his apartment later for their date. Would he out her as a reporter just to get her kicked out of the Club to protect her? Was he doing that right now? No, but still that idea had a wave of familiarity to it.

Lois finished erasing any evidence of her and Clark’s indiscretion. “Look, Lou, I appreciate the attention and all, but I’m not changing for my next number with you standing there, watching,” she said, setting down her lipstick.

“There is no next number for you, doll-face. I’m here to escort you someplace. Someone wants to meet you,” he replied.

Lois didn’t like the sound of that.

“What the Boss wants, the Boss gets,” Lou continued.

She really didn’t like the sound of that, because what Toni Taylor wanted was Clark Kent. Lois had recognized that look in her eyes when Toni had opened the door and found them in an intimate embrace. Who knew what Toni might do to get rid of the competition? Clark wouldn’t let anything happen to her, but what if Toni had taken him somewhere else, somewhere where he couldn’t see Lois. Or what if Lou here took her somewhere else?

Lois took a deep breath and exhaled. She was just a waitress / singer. Chuck was a just a bartender. Toni wanted to go ‘boardroom’, whatever that meant, but Lois figured it had something to do with going legit, so Toni wasn’t going to kill Lois for kissing the sexiest man in Metropolis, right?

Either way, Lois thought as she stood up, I’m keeping ‘octopus’ on the tip of my tongue.

Then she realized Superman might not be keeping an extra close watch on her for several reasons: a) she was currently under Clark’s supposed protection, b) Superman had broken off their non-relationship, and c) Superman knew she had moved on to Clark after that super heated make-out session in the supply room. Maybe Superman wasn’t even in Metropolis at the moment, because he didn’t want to hear Lois making love to another man. She still cared for Superman, but she wasn’t going to waste her life pining after a man who didn’t want her.

Lou handed her another rose, just like the one Lex had tossed to her. That was weird. She hadn’t heard of any bodies being found with a rose, and exhaled. She was letting her over-active imagination get away from her.

They went through the same curtain that she had pulled Clark through the day before, and across the club. The band was playing soft jazz; loud enough to muffle conversations at other tables, but not so loud as to drown out the people at your table.

“Lola Dane,” Lou said, stopping at Lex’s table.

“Hello. Lou said you wished to meet me,” Lois said, holding out her hand. She didn’t want to touch him, but one did many things while undercover that one didn’t want to do.

Lex didn’t stand or shake her hand, instead he indicated the seat that Toni had recently vacated. Lois sat down.

“That will be all,” Lex said. “Bring a soda for the lady.”

Lois glanced at Lou whose eyes narrowed at being ordered about.

“I’ll send over your waitress,” the gangster responded, then he went to stand against the wall and stare at them.

She refocused on Lex, hissing, “What are you doing here?”

Lex brought the remnants of his champagne to his lips, murmuring, “Later. The big question is what are you doing here?”

Lois raised a brow and resisted the urge to fold her arms. “It should be obvious. Singing.”

He nodded. “Of course. You were magnificent.”

“It’s just an act.” She felt like blushing under his praise and was embarrassed at how quickly he was charming his way past her natural inclination to dislike him.

“No. I prefer to think of it as the real you. Passionate. Sultry. Seductive,” he said, then leaned towards her. “Act a little more happy to see me, darling. Your bodyguard wouldn’t like it if you were disappointing a customer.”

Lex had a point, and Lois threw a smile on her face; she wondered if it looked as plastic as it felt. She glanced over at the bar, and was surprised to see that Clark still hadn’t returned. What could have happened to him? “Thanks for not blowing my cover.”

“That’s what friends are for,” he replied.

She scoffed at that remark. “What do you want, Lex?”

He ran his fingers over her armband and down her arm. “How are you feeling?”

“I’ve felt better.” She stiffened at his touch, and he removed his hand.

“I’ve been trying to reach you,” Lex said, sitting back in his chair and gifting her with another one of his charming smiles. “Lola Dane, why haven’t you returned my phone calls?”

She couldn’t help the chuckle that crossed her lips. “I figured you were still trying to get my signature on that release of guilt form your lawyer sent over. I was never friends with you for your money, Lex.”

Lex’s smile deepened, and Lois wondered if it were a real one. “I’ll have a talk with Bender. I’m sorry, my dear, he shouldn’t have done that.”

A waitress, Sophie, came by and slid a soda in front of Lois, before replacing Lex’s champagne with a fresh one. Lex ignored her, but Lois smiled her thanks.

Once Sophie had moved on, Lex leaned forward again, taking a sip of his drink and saying softly, “I have some information for you.”

“About?”

“This isn’t really the place. Come out to my limo, and I’ll explain everything in private,” he murmured.

“I’m busy. It’s not like I can walk out on my shift,” Lois reminded him, taking a sip of her cola with a grimace. She preferred cream soda.

“I’m sure an arrangement can be reached,” Lex said, standing up.

Lois rose to her feet as well, and went to return the rose to the vase, but Lex put his hand over hers.

“Keep it,” he insisted. “You’ve earned it. You sing superbly.”

They started toward the ‘Private Clientele’ back entrance. The bouncer shook his head and reminded Lex to pay his tab first.

“Wait here, darling,” Lex said, kissing her cheek. It was all she could do to stop herself from shivering in disgust. As soon as they got to the limo she would tell him never to call her ‘darling’.

The bouncer opened another door marked Private, which appeared to be some sort of office. She hadn’t noticed it before, and decided it was worth checking out when she returned from Lex’s limo. She scanned the room once more, and saw that Clark was once more behind the bar. The other bartender was handing him a bag of trash. She guessed that they each had received their own form of punishment for breaking the rules.

He glanced up and caught her gaze, and she mouthed that she was going outside to talk to Lex. Clark’s brow furrowed as if he didn’t like that option, and he shook his head. She glanced down at his bag of trash and whispered that she’d be okay.

Lex exited the secret office and caught her staring at Clark. The billionaire wrapped his arm around Lois’s waist and kissed her cheek before escorting her out of the private exit.

*****************
Night to Remember
*****************

“That was unnecessary,” Lois said, stepping into the limo and hoping that Lex didn’t sit down next to her.

“What was?” Lex asked, sitting across from her as Nigel shut the door to the limo.

“The kiss. Don’t do it again,” she said, crossing her arms. “And stop calling me ‘darling’.”

“All part of the game,” Lex replied. “All for show, I guarantee you, my dear.”

Lois rolled her eyes. Men just didn’t listen. “Nobody is looking now, Lex. Tell me what you were doing at the club.”

“I was meeting with the new leader of the Metro Gang,” he informed her.

No denials. No subterfuge. Just the honest truth. That was a nice change.

He nodded at her surprised expression. “She called me. According to her, we have similar interests in the West River District.”

“Well, I find that hard to believe,” Lois replied. Lex Luthor, billionaire, having similar interests to the leader of an organized crime gang? She thought not.

“So do I, but she talks a good line: slum clearance, uplifting the neighborhood, micromanagement, growth and prosperity.”

“Do you believe her?” she asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Not for a minute.” He smiled knowingly at Lois. “In fact, I think the whole thing was designed to get me to slow down my own plans for the reviving the area.” Lex moved closer to her. Now, he was sitting hardly a foot away from her. “She even suggested a… partnership of sorts.”

Lois laughed nervously. Was Lex trying to make her jealous? Well, it wouldn’t work. She wasn’t interested in him. She had her sights set on a handsome pair of brown eyes from Kansas. She scooted away from Lex and towards the far window as she felt the limo start to move. “Lex, what’s going on here?”

“I wanted to warn you. I think Toni’s hiding something.”

That wasn’t what she meant. “What?”

“I wish I knew. I only know that if I were a smart reporter looking for answers, searching for the source of all the problems in West River, I wouldn’t look any farther than Toni Taylor,” he said.

Oh, he just wanted to give her a tip. Lois smiled, so Lex wouldn’t know how disappointed she felt. Of course, Lex really didn’t have information for her. What had she been thinking? “Thanks for the tip. Guess we’re even,” she said facetiously. They’d never be truly even until she got to aim a gun at him. “So, tell me why the car’s moving. We were only supposed to talk for a few minutes, and then I was going to return,” she reminded him. “I won’t get the goods on Toni Taylor if I leave the club.”

“Nigel’s just driving around the block. A big car like this tends to garner unwanted attention,” Lex explained.

That made perfect sense. “Maybe you should invest in something smaller.”

“Champagne?” he asked, opening a cabinet with an uncorked bottle sitting on ice.

“I’m on duty,” Lois replied. “I should return before Clark starts to worry.”

“Ah, Clark,” Lex said, wistfully. “What do you know about Clark Kent?”

Lois’s brow furrowed. What was Lex talking about? She knew that Clark was always there for her, that Superman trusted him, and that she couldn’t wait to continue where they had left off in the supply closet, none of which she planned on telling Lex Luthor. Was there more she needed to know? Clark was the most genuine man she knew with the exception of those times when he felt off, but that probably had more to with her semi-psychic sense on the fritz. “What do you mean?”

“After you turned me down to have dinner with your partner, I have to admit I was a bit thrown through a loop and, frankly, jealous,” Lex said abashedly.

Lois never expected him to admit to a flaw like that, particularly in regards to her.

“And I did something I’m not proud of,” he said before pausing.

She waited as if standing on thin ice, already feeling a chill come over her.

“I looked into Clark, his background, his history,” Lex went on. He slid open a cabinet which revealed a keypad locked safe. He quickly typed in a seven digit code, which Lois didn’t catch, and opened the safe. She saw several very large bundles of cash and some manila folders. He pulled one of them out and held it out to her. “This is what I found.”

Lois pursed her lips. Lex had investigated Clark? That was beyond acceptable, diving head-first into prying, and venturing waist deep into creepy. “I trust Clark,” she told him. He had been there for her when nobody else had.

Lex nodded. “I understand,” he said, moving to return the folder to his safe, only to drop it on the floor. “Ooops. Sorry about that.”

That’s weird, Lois thought. Nothing fell out of the folder.

She watched as Lex reached down to pick it up and return it to the safe. Curiosity won out. “Wait!” she demanded, causing him to hesitate. Tentatively, she reached for the file. It was really light. That was a good sign, right? Clark didn’t have a record. She wouldn’t open it. That would be an invasion of Clark’s privacy. If he had any secrets, he would’ve told them to her, right?

Then Clark’s words from the pasta night floated through her memory. I’ve been keeping things from you.

Was there something she needed to know before she slept with Clark? Did he have an ex-wife? A wife? Children? VD? Had he killed someone? Was he a terrorist? Was he a sexual predator?

Lois took a deep breath and closed her eyes, opening the folder, already knowing none of her worst suspicions could be true. She heard Lex shut and lock his safe. She placed her hand on the open folder, but felt nothing. Cracking open her eyes, she saw it was empty. She opened them fully and turned the folder over.

“Lex, you’ve given me the wrong file. There isn’t anything here,” she said.

“Precisely,” Lex replied, taking a sip of champagne she hadn’t seen or heard him pour.

“What do you mean?” she asked, feeling like an elephant had stepped on her back and knocked the wind out of her. She knew what that meant.

“The more I looked, the less I found,” he explained. “Your friend and partner, Clark Kent doesn’t exist.”

Of course he existed. He had his body pressed quite intimately against her a half-hour earlier. He definitely wasn’t a figment of her imagination. He was one hundred percent real. Unfortunately, he was also a liar.

She remembered that night after Superman had smashed her heart to smithereens, the first time, she had gone to Clark’s apartment to confront him, and instead left feeling like there was something wrong about Clark. She had even gone to Perry and asked for permission to investigate Clark, because she thought he was lying to her. Perry had asked what about, and she had said ‘everything!’ Why hadn’t she gone with her gut intuition? Why hadn’t she investigated Clark?

Lois sighed. Because Superman had asked Clark to watch out for her. Because Superman trusted him. Because Clark was the only person she could talk to about her non-love affair with the Man of Steel. Because, at some point, she had stopped looking at Clark with her head, and started seeing him with her heart.

“You’re wrong,” Lois finally said. She knew Clark. She knew what a good, honest, genuinely caring man he was.

Lex lifted up his hands in mock self-defense. “If you say so.”

“This isn’t his file,” she went on.

“No, it isn’t,” Lex admitted. “But the results are the same, either way.”

“Where did you look? Maybe you missed something,” she told him.

“I could tell you where I had my investigators search, but it’s still hearsay. Their word, my word, against your gut… and I figured your reporter’s gut would want you to poke around independently to see what it could find,” Lex explained. “I’ll show you my file if you want me to...” He shrugged, and his voice faded off as if he had more to add, such as ‘but I know you don’t want me to’ and he would be right. This was something she needed to do hands on.

Clark Kent, her best friend, her partner, the man who she had been more than ready to become intimate with, had been lying to her, deceiving her, and she had to find out why.

Lois felt the limo go over a bump and then the outside lights disappeared. The limo had driven into a parking garage. She looked Lex in the eye. “Where are we?”

Lex took one last sip of his champagne and set it down next to the bottle in the secret compartment. “My apartment building.”

She raised a brow. “Just driving around the corner, eh? Toni isn’t going to like that you took her new star singer away from the club.”

He leaned forward. “She won’t miss you, Lois. I paid for an entire night.”

“Excuse me?” she stammered. He didn’t just say what she thought he had, did he?

“Best fifteen hundred dollars I ever spent,” he said with a slimy grin.

“You made me into a whore?” she gasped, her eyes widening.

“No,” Lex corrected. “You made yourself into a personal escort by agreeing to work as a singer at the Metro Club, and by accepting my rose. Did you think that the crowds came to the club because of the entertainment?” He chuckled at her naivety. “I saved you from becoming a whore by getting you out of there, Lois. I was being a friend. Kent never warned you what you were getting into?”

“Is that why you brought me back to your place? Is that why you fed me a boatload of crap about Clark?” And she, like a fool had swallowed it, and asked for more.

“Everything I told you tonight is the truth,” Lex replied.

Somehow, Lois didn’t believe him. “I’m not going up to your apartment, Lex. Take me to the Daily Planet,” she said, leaning back against her seat and crossing her arms.

“I had Nigel bring you here in case you wanted to see my file on Mr. Kent, or whatever his true name is,” he explained. “Nothing more.”

“I’m in the middle of an investigation. You had no right to ‘get me out of there’ without my permission, and if I had inadvertently signed up by sell my body, you – as my friend – should have told me so, back at the club where I could have cleared the air with Toni Taylor,” Lois said.

“A nightcap perhaps? You seem a bit tense, Lois. I’ve given you more than enough disturbing news tonight. You could use a drink,” he said.

The door of the limo was opened on the outside by Nigel.

Lois gazed at Lex in stunned amazement. She could use a drink? Who in the hell did he think she was? She leaned forward and looked Lex’s right-hand-man. “Nigel, take me to the Daily Planet, please,” she said, before plopping back against the seat, her arms still crossed.

“Do as she says, Nigel,” Lex commanded with a hint of regret and sat back down. As soon as the door was shut, he continued, “I know you’re upset right now, and feel the need to shoot the messenger. I hope someday, you’ll see that I only had your best interests at heart.”

And I hope that you know that because you’ve paid someone for the privilege of having sex with me, we will never be intimate, Lex. Lois didn’t say the words out loud, being that at the moment she was actually too furious to speak.

***

After his shift at the Metro Club ended, Clark had gone back to his apartment alone. He could have easily flown somewhere else, and punched his fist into something, but there was the slightest chance that Lois was waiting for him, so he went home. She wasn’t there, he discovered with a sinking stomach. Where was she?

Lois had left several hours earlier with Lex Luthor, and never returned. Clark later learned from eavesdropping that the only way that Lex could have left the club with one of its singers, was if he laid down a sizeable chunk of change for her. Lex Luthor had turned Clark’s partner, his girlfriend, into a paid escort, into a prostitute. Did the man have a death wish?

Clark didn’t know which came first: Luthor requesting Lola’s services, or the Metro Club considering their temporary singer for that position. Luthor throwing the rose from his table to Lola signaled to the Metro Club bouncers that he wanted an ‘interview’ with said singer. If the terms were acceptable by both, the man would ‘pay his tab’ in the form of a sizable cash ‘donation’ in management’s private office, and he and the singer would leave via the back ‘Private Clientele’ door. The man was free to give a tip to the singer after the services were rendered, but either way, if all went well, she earned one third of the money laid down by the man, which would be paid to her after forty-eight hours, to make sure no complaints were issued against her. If Luthor had never thrown the rose to Lola, it was possible that nobody else would have, and Lois would have left her shift, thinking that her position at the Club was that of merely a waitress / singer. It was also possible that the Metro Club would have sold Lola’s services to another interested party.

Luthor must have known what he was doing when he did it; he must’ve known the only way to guarantee Lois’s protection was to buy her escape. Because Luthor would have to be an idiot if he thought buying Lois as an escort would get him anything but her freedom, and Luthor wasn’t an idiot.

If Clark had known that the Metro Club was a front for an all-night escort business, he would never have let Lois work there. He would’ve let the flames from the Toasters’ guns raze the place to the ground, instead of blowing them out. They would have found another way to track the Toasters. There was always another way.

Clark knew deep down in his soul that Lois would never sleep with a man who shot her, especially after learning Luthor had paid for the honor of doing so. Did she know what Luthor had done? Still… Clark hated that he had to trust that Luthor respected Lois enough to keep her safe.

It bothered Clark that Lois hadn’t answered the phone at her apartment when he had called the instant he had returned home, nor were there any messages from her on his machine. He was torn. Should he spin into his Super suit and go search for her, or should he wait, in hopes that she wouldn’t stand him up? Had she changed her mind about their date, now that the bloom was off the rose?

He scowled. Rose. He’d never be able to look at the flower the same way again.

There was a knock on his door and he exhaled in relief. Thank God! He jogged up to his door, only to find Toni Taylor, holding a grocery sack, on the other side.

“This is a surprise,” Clark said honestly, pulling his fists behind him.

“I still haven’t thanked you properly for saving my life last night,” Toni purred.

“You gave me a job, and you didn’t fire me when I messed up,” he said, not wanting to let her in, but feeling like he didn’t have much of a choice in the matter. Charlie would let the boss in. He stepped away from the door. After Toni came inside, he took one quick glance around for Lois. She wouldn’t like seeing Toni at his place, especially since he had a date with Lois.

“I thought I’d pay you back with a home cooked meal. How does lasagna sound?” Toni said, heading towards his kitchen.

“Delicious,” Clark responded, not knowing how he could get out from eating this woman’s food. Pasta meant something special to him, and he wouldn’t let her ruin that.

Toni set the bag of groceries down on the counter. “I hope you’re hungry.”

No, not particularly, he thought, but he didn’t say that out loud. He didn’t want to give her an excuse to find fault with Charlie. Why was she here? Did she suspect him of being the leak? No, that happened before he was hired on. Was she testing him? Was she lonely? Oh, God! He hoped she didn’t want companionship, because there was only so far he’d go undercover, and that wasn’t included.

Clark put his hands in his pockets. “You know, you don’t have to do this,” he said, trying to persuade her otherwise.

“I want to,” she told him, unpacking the groceries.

“Do you always get what you want?” he asked, hoping she wouldn’t this time.

“Not always. How about you?”

Clark had no idea what he would do if Lois showed up with Toni here, but he knew for certain he wouldn’t get what he wanted. “Hardly ever, but things are looking up.” With any luck.

She looked over at him, and changed the subject. “Nice little fixer-upper you’ve got here.”

Fixer-upper? He had already fixed it up. It didn’t look as nice as his place back in his old dimension had, but instead of a years of memories, he only had four months worth here. “It belongs to a friend of mine. He lets me stay here whenever I visit Metropolis,” Clark replied.

“This is only temporary?” Toni asked, joining Clark in the living room. “Should you need to move, tell me. I’m sure we can arrange something a little more...” She set her hands on his shoulders and slid them down his arms. “– permanent.”

Before he could find the words to correct her behavior and remain in character, the front door blew open. There wasn’t anyone on the other side.

Clark jogged up to the door to shut it. He was sure he had latched it when Toni came in. He took another look and listen around outside. Hearing the click clack of high heels, he tipped down his glasses and groaned.

Lois, still dressed in that dress from her number at the club, was hurrying down the stairs. That was just great.

“Something wrong?” Toni asked.

“No,” he lied, knowing he couldn’t chance chasing after Lois to explain. Lola was supposed to be entertaining Luthor all night, or her cover would be blown. “I mustn’t have closed it all the way.” Clark wanted to hit his head against the door. This night wasn’t turning out at all how he had hoped. He cleared his throat. “You said something about lasagna.”

***End of Part 42***

Part 43

In case you're all wondering, it'll be much later than the 10 p.m. canon Clark says when Toni left. Not to say that she leaves any later here than she did in canon, only that nightclub wise, 10 p.m. makes no sense whatsoever. It's sometime past midnight at this point. Comments ?