Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Lois & Clark Fanfic The Lord of the Ficus or The Theft of the Ficus - (1/3)

Hi FoLCs,

As you can see, this is not a MLTV. It's story written especially for our FoLC friend Meredith.

It is about her 'precious' ficus. For those of you who doesn't know what a ficus is. Let me first introduce you to it.



I'd like to thank my BRs JulieS and Sara (Farneighgirl) for helping me out with this one.

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The Lord of the Ficus or The Theft of the Ficus.
By Erica Dias.


There were only two days left for Christmas and the world seemed to be finally in peace. Lois and Clark were talking by Lois's desk, planning what they were going to do for Christmas. Clark's plan was to go to Smallville and visit his parents. Lois refused to spend the holidays with her own family. Thus, she decided she would invite a few friends to come over for dinner.

They were both laughing when Lois, to convince Clark to stay in Metropolis, made clear to him what her perceptions of Christmas on a small town would look like. But their laughter wouldn't last long.

"Lois. Clark. In my office!" The loud grouchy voice of Perry White echoed around the newsroom while the once opened door of his office was closed again in a matter of seconds.

Lois rose from her chair, immediately followed by Clark who gave her a puzzled look. Obviously Perry was aggravated and they couldn't help thinking what they had done wrong this time.

Clark slightly knocked on the window, sneaking his head once he opened the door. "You called, Chief?"

"Get in and sit down, you two."

"What is it, Perry?"

"I need you to work on a story about theft." He tossed a file on his desk and came back to his seat. "It's very important that the object is found intact. It belongs to a collector and he made himself very clear, assuring me that the Planet can have the story as long as the object is found in one piece."

Lois was almost jumping in excitement, and slapped Clark on the shoulder while he read the file Perry had left on top of his desk. "Oooo... this is great, Perry. What is it? Jewellery? Money? Internet transactions or a..."

"...ficus," Clark interrupted, still reading.

"Ficus?!? What the heck is a ficus?" She grabbed the file from his hand, without even caring about his silent protest on her move.

"It's a..."

"A plant? You want us to investigate the theft of a plant? Honestly, Perry, this newspaper is not on its last breath yet. News have been slow lately, but I don't think we've sunk so low as to investigate why the heck someone stole a plant."

"It's not a common plant, Lois," Perry tried to explain.

Clark raised an eyebrow at Perry. "I'm sorry, Chief, but it is. You see many of those in people's houses. I have one at home" Mere, a friend of mine from the flower shop, gave to me. They aren't expensive at all. So why are we investigating this. I have to agree with my partner in [on] this one."

"Read the file, Clark. Check to whom it belongs."

Both reporters started examining the file again and reached their answer at the same time. "Mr. Stern's."

Perry just nodded. "It seems that it was a gardening contest winner thing. Don't ask me why they do these competitions. I could never tell. Anyway, apparently it's a very expensive well bred type of ficus and he wants it back for the big contest at the end of the year. And I told him I was going to make sure my best reporters would be looking after his...” Perry didn’t know how to properly call the ficus. “…interests. We owe this to him anyway. Let's not forget he was the one who helped us when we needed him. He left us to do our job and never really questioned any of our moves around here. Now he needs us to find his... precious."

The word 'precious' almost made Lois and Clark laugh. For someone as rich as Mr. Stern this concept of what should be called worth was questionable.

"Right, Chief. Maybe you should call him and tell him we will have to interview him about the robbery.

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"No publicity whatsoever until we find it." Mr. Stern kept repeating it to both reporters, making sure they understood him. "We are talking about a very serious subject here and it involves lots of impotant people’s reputations from inside and outside Metropolis. I want discretion."

"But will you recount the event for us, Sir?" Clark suggested.

"Well, yesterday around this time, I was entertaining a few of my closest friends. You know... Christmas gatherings," he explained.

"And one of them stole it," Lois assumed.

"I would my mouth if I were you Miss Lane. For a reporter you jump fast into conclusions before having proof," he warned her.

Lois caught a reprimanding look from Clark's eyes and decided it would be best if he carried on with the questions.

"Could you tell us anything about the plant's specifications, Mr. Stern?"

"Very well. The Weeping Fig, which is more commonly known as ficus, is one of the most popular houseplants. A bushy tree that might that grows to fifty feet in its native Malaysia, ficus can easily be kept to a height of six feet or allowed to grow to ceiling height. There is one special kind called Rubber Plant, whose large, dark green, leathery, shiny leaves make the plant look artificial. Mine was one of them. It was kept next to my desk here in my office." He pointed out where it once was. "It was a very rare kind, equally but naturally shaped from all its sides, symmetrically perfect. It cost me more than a few to find and keep this preciousness."

Again that word 'precious' - Lois and Clark could only laugh at it, albeit mentally. But they were there to get their job done and seriously had to stop making fun of it.

"Can you give us a complete list of who was in the gathering yesterday?"

"Sure. My assistant can give it to you right away."

"When did you first miss the..." Lois wanted to say precious and keep the laugh despite anything else, but eventually she controlled herself. "... ficus?"

"Late last night when everybody was already gone. My guests arrived at five and left around nine. It was ten thirty when I came to my office, and it was gone."

"So you think one of them was responsible for that?" Clark asked.

"I hope not, but it seems so."

Lois looked at Clark and rolled her eyes. *Why when she had asked the same question but with different words, she was warned to keep her comments to herself and now that Clark asked the same thing he was getting a genuine answer?* she thought.

"So this is where the..." *Crime doesn't seem to fit it here.* "...ficus was?"

"Yes."

"Would you mind if we take a look around, Sir?"

"Not at all, Mr. Kent. I made sure no one entered the location of the crime before you could come."

*Okay. He's taking it seriously. Perhaps location of the crime wasn't too much after all. Lois kept the conversation in her head very active.

"I will try to find with my assistant the list you asked for. There weren't many guests yesterday. Just around six or less," the old man said, leaving both of them to do their job, investigating the place.

"Thank you, Sir."

For a couple of minutes while they were left alone, Lois and Clark tried looking around, thumbing here and there in between the books when Clark found something under the desk.

"What's that?" He approached the desk.

"That what?" Lois couldn't see anything where Clark was looking and pointing to.

"This." He showed her a diamond earring.

"How could you see that from so far?"

"I... uh... It was the reflection of the light on the diamond, Lois. It shone brightly from where I could see it."

"Ahhhh. And what's that?"

"That what?"

"Oh, come on, Clark. You could see this little tiny diamond earring but you couldn't see this?" She showed him a little cigarette lighter that was placed on top of Mr. Stern's seat. It was silver made and bore the initials 'P H'.

"It seems that we have a clue," she grinned.

"Two actually," He agreed.

They smiled at each other while Mr. Stern returned to the room. "Here's the list you asked me for." He handed them the paper.

After examining it, Lois and Clark thanked him and retreated almost immediately. But before doing that, they asked a few more questions.

"Mr. Stern, would you please let us know if your wife has lost a earring any night recently?

"Why are you asking this?"

"Because we found this." Lois showed him the diamond piece of jewellery as he took it in his fingers, examining it, and finally handing it back to her.

"It's not my wife's," he answered.

'How can you be so sure, Sir?"

"Simply because in forty years of marriage, she never came to my office."

"Very well, Sir. We'll keep you informed of any new evidence we find."

"No publicity! And no police, please. I just want my poor ficus back."

"Understood, Sir." Clark assured him while they both left the man heart broken there in his office.

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Back to the Daily Planet, the two reporters closed themselves into the conference room, trying to check the names on the list of guests Mr. Stern had handed them.

"Let's see. We have seven guests on this list. Their names are Mr. Louis Kerr, Mr. Ruslan Nicoliev, Mr. Carl Riggs, Mr. Stephan Hughes, Señor Luiz Pepito, Countess Lynn Ryann, hmm... Mr. Paul Harrison..." Lois' voice trailed off.

"Paul Harrison?" The name caught Clark's attention.

"P. H. The main suspect. Don't you think?"

"Quickly promoted to be the one," He agreed.

"I think we should pay him a visit."

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TBC...