... Sorry for the delay, got captured by Thanksgiving. Hopefully 7 & 8 will be out next week on time.
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Reflections

Part 6

Clark stepped out of the elevator, and surveyed the newsroom. He could actually feel the vibrancy of room, and somehow felt immediately at home. As much as he derived satisfaction from his freelancing and superhero duties, he did miss working for a news organization. Writing had always been his passion, and since it looked like he was going to stick around Metropolis for a while, he hoped that he could impress Mr. White today. He spotted the editor's office and started to head for it.

He had just reached the bottom of the newsroom stairs, when a man burst though the stairway door. He looked to be in his late forties, and was dressed in rags with a watch cap on his head. He was carrying a parcel wrapped in plain, brown paper in both hands in front of him. He dashed into the newsroom shouting, "Lois Lane! Lois Lane! You have to help me. It's going to explode." He waved his package around wildly around in the air.

Fearing the man had a bomb, Clark peered over his glasses to examine the package. Peering through the wrapping, he saw that it only contained papers and relaxed. The man spotted Lois, and was about to run down the steps when a security guard snagged him from behind.

Clark was now curious what the man had to say for himself. He didn't look dangerous, and he was obviously trying to warn Miss... Ms. Lane about something. He made his way back up the stairs towards the man who was now thrashing in the grip of the security guard. Calmly he placed one hand on the shoulder of the security guard, and the other on the package the man was carrying, in an effort to stop both of their struggles.

Looking right at the security guard, he said, "Please wait, I don't think he's dangerous. I think he may just have something important to say."

The security guard blinked, and then reasserted his air of authority over the situation. "Listen, I don't know who you are, buddy, but this guy could have a bomb for all I know, and he's acting like a maniac. Now just let me do me job."

"Perhaps your job could be to escort him to Ms. Lane. He seems to have something newsworthy to say to her. By the way, that's no bomb he's carrying, it's just a bundle of paperwork."

"And just how would you know that?" the security guard demanded.

"Explosives give off a distinctive odor, which this package doesn't have, and I can feel the paper bundle through this wrapping. So, why don't you give him a chance to say his piece, as long as he promises to calm down? "

He turned his attention to the man with the package. "You can speak to Ms. Lane calmly, can't you?" Clark employed the same calming voice he had practiced for dealing with hysterical people while performing rescues. Both men paused and looked at Clark. The man nodded, staring appreciatively at Clark.

"Please, you must let me talk to Lois Lane. If not, the space program is doomed!" Even through the man's wild behavior, Clark could see that he genuinely believed what he said was true. There was something in his eyes that made Clark want to believe what the man was saying. He had to think that Ms. Lane would be interested in at least hearing the man out.

Thankfully, by this time, Lois had stepped up to the men, saving Clark the trouble of trying to convince her. She looked curiously both at the man with the package, and at Clark - to her, a stranger who had stepped in on the man's behalf. Perry had also come out of his office, looking on to see what was happening in his newsroom. She looked over at the security guard and said, "Eddie, why don’t you bring this guy to my desk so he can talk to me. You can stick around and watch him if you want."

"If that's what you want, Ms. Lane, OK." Turning his attention to the man, he said in a stern voice, "Come on, buddy. And no funny business or I'm personally going to toss you out on your ear." He led the man over to Lois's desk, leaving Clark standing alone with her. Clark saw her turn and look at him with a curious expression. He had been right this morning, without the rain parka on, she was indeed a beautiful woman. Not only that, she seemed to radiate this raw energy, just like... well, he wasn't going to think about that. What did cross his mind was that Lois was now one of the few people who had seen him up close in both of his guises in the same day. He hoped that a reporter as good as she was wouldn't notice the similarities of Clark Kent and his superhero guise.

A thought abruptly popped into his head... It was bad enough that he referred to himself in the third person when playing superhero, but he didn't even know what to call himself while in that guise. He really needed to work on finding a name for himself when he was wearing the 'suit'.

"I guess I should say thanks," he heard her say.

"It's no problem, Ms. Lane, just trying to help," he replied with a nonchalant shrug.

"Most people wouldn't bother to get involved."

"I don't know about that. He just seemed to have a story to tell. I thought it would be a shame to miss out on it."

"Yes, I agree." She studied him for a moment longer, then asked, "Have we met? I know that sounds so corny, but I could swear I've run into you before."

'I guess this is a good test as any to see if I'm recognized,' Clark thought to himself. "No ma'am, I don't believe that we've ever met." Then nodding in the direction of her desk, he said, "I guess you better go see what that guy wants to tell you. Eddie is starting to look nervous."

She looked over her shoulder and replied in a detached voice, "Yeah, I guess I better do that. Turning back, she studied Clark's face one more time, giving him a vaguely uncomfortable feeling. She blinked and seemed to refocus again, turning to go to her desk and interview the man with the package.

He watched her walk to her desk, unable to look away for some reason. As she walked away, she looked over her shoulder back at him, meeting his eyes. She immediately snapped her head back, and focused on reaching her desk to talk to the man.

"You must be Kent."

Clark turned around to face the voice that had spoken to him. He recognized Perry White, from his picture on the editorial page. "I am. Thank you for taking the time to see me, Mr. White." Clark extended his hand to the editor.

After a quick handshake, Perry said in a gruff voice, "Well come on, son, let's get this interview started. That was some show you put on there. It shows initiative, something I like to see in my reporters."

"Thank you, sir." That sounded positive to Clark. He was glad he'd made a good first impression on Mr. White by helping that man out, though it hadn't been his motivation for doing so. Still... it didn't hurt to impress the boss.

He followed Mr. White back to his office. Perry closed the door and sat down behind his desk, Clark taking the seat directly across from him.

"So, you studied under Dr. Carlton?"

"Yes, sir."

"Lord, I haven't seen him since we covered Reagan's first inauguration. He said to take a look at your work, so let's see what you’ve got. He said something about an article you did for the UP wire, exposing a plot by some renegade CIA agents to sell stolen arms in Jamaica for profit."

"Yes, sir, it's right here." Clark opened his portfolio and pulled out a copy of the story in question, and handed it to the editor.

Perry read it over without comment. After finishing, he set it down and looked at Clark. "That's some piece you did there, son. Sounded like that local pilot you mentioned in the article has you to thank for not getting that stuff pinned on him."

"I just exposed the truth, Mr. White."

"It is solid writing, Kent. How much experience do you have in the Metropolis area?"

"Not much, it's my first time in Metropolis. But I do have a piece I did for the Planet, if you're interested in it. It's a human interest story about the demolition of a local landmark." He pulled out his article on Beatrice and the Sarah Bernhardt Theater.

Perry took it and carefully read the article. When he had finished, he looked up at Clark, the article still in his hands. "You took it upon yourself to write...."

Suddenly the door of Perry's office burst open, and Lois came storming in. "Chief, there's a story here with this guy, I just know it. I'll need a...."

"Lois! Can't you see I'm in the middle of something?" Seeing Lois wouldn't budge, he sighed and nodded in Clark's direction. "Well, since you're here, you might as well meet the new reporter I'm going to hire." Clark rose to be formally introduced to Lois Lane. "Clark Kent, this is Lois Lane. Lois this is Clark..."

"Yeah, hi, we kind of met out there. So Perry, I'm going to need... Wait a minute, you said you couldn't afford to give me a raise. How can you afford to hire someone new?" She pointed an accusing finger directly at Clark. Realizing that she was pointing, Lois quickly dropped her hand and turned her head toward Clark. "No offense, Kent."

"None taken." Seeing that his offer for a handshake had been ignored, Clark just stuck his hands in his pockets, and watched the exchange between Lois and her editor with amusement. He was now in a very good mood, since Mr. White had basically said that he had gotten the job.

"Anyway, Chief, I'm going to need..." She was interrupted again by a young man in a sweater vest, tapping on the window and pointing to a phone in his hand. "Sorry, Chief, got to run. I'll be right back."

She then stormed back out his office. Clark could only smile at Lois's antics, as he looked at the befuddled editor. "She's a real fireball, isn't she?”

"You don't know the half of it, son," Perry said, still staring at the door Lois had just gone through.

"You’d be surprised," Clark muttered under his breath.

Perry turned to Clark, shaking his head. "I swear, if that girl wasn't the best investigative reporter I've ever had, she would have driven me to drink by now. Actually, she might do that anyway." He took a breath, and turned his attention back to the interview. "That's a great piece, Kent. Like I said, I value initiative as much as talent and experience. And you seem to have all three. Welcome to the Planet."

He stuck out his hand, and shook Clark's in congratulations. Clark almost forgot himself in the excitement of the moment, and had to stop from squeezing Mr. White's hand too hard.

"All right then, you go report to human resources on the second floor, and tell them I sent you. This piece on the theater will be your first official assignment. We'll put it on the editorial page for tomorrow's issue. After you finish your paperwork downstairs, report back up here. See Jimmy, that young kid in the sweater, and he'll set you up with a desk. Oh, and let me keep this Jamaica article a bit, I'd like to make a copy."

"Sure, Mr. White. And thanks again." Clark made his way out of the office. As he closed the door, he grimaced as his hearing picked up Mr. White muttering, "Damn, that boy's got a grip."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Perry was checking over his editorial again, when Lois knocked on the door and let herself in. "Chief, I've got a good lead here, I think that this guy is for real. I'm going to need a task force on this. We need to track down some of the people who used to work with this guy. I need an expert in rockets, and..."

"You can have Kent."

"What?"

"You - can - have - Kent."

"That new guy? Who, by the way, I haven't forgiven you for hiring yet."

"Yes, Kent. He's a good man. He's got experience investigating, and I like his writing style."

"So where is this Kent from?"

"Well, let me see..." He picked up a piece of paper from his desk. "His resume says he lives in Smallville, Kansas. Degree in journalism from the University of Kansas. Was the editor of the Smallville Post, then he..."

"You want to saddle some guy from Hicksville on me, for what could be the most important story of the year?" 'Great,' Lois thought, 'first good prospect to walk by in a while, and he's a hayseed from the boonies.'

"Now listen here, Lois, Kent has --"

"Perry, I need an experienced task force, people who have worked in big city investigations. Myerson can scout out the former co-workers for me and Bently can..."

Clearly fed up with her attitude, and not wanting to have to explain himself further, he interrupted her. "It's Kent, or nobody."

Lois crossed her arms in defiance. Seeing that Perry was not going to relent, she replied in a disgusted voice, "Fine, but he better not drag down *my* investigation." She whirled and left the office, closing the door firmly behind her.

Perry just stared after her chuckling to himself. "Sorry, Kent." He sighed, and went back to reviewing his editorial.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Clark arrived back at the newsroom after finishing his application and filling out his benefits forms. Since it was a warm day, he had taken off his sports jacket and had rolled up his sleeves. As he walked down the steps, Lois Lane hurried past, taking a second to glare at him as she walked past. He stopped to watch her go by, perplexed by her attitude. Not knowing what was wrong, he shrugged, and turned to look for Jimmy Olsen. He took his first step, and found his way block by a statuesque redhead, in her mid-thirties, who was... creatively dressed. Clark blinked, then got out, "Um, sorry, I didn't see you."

"That's something I don't hear very often." She offered her hand to him, and said, "Catherine Grant - Cat's Corner."

"Nice to meet you, Miss Grant." He looked at her hand, uncertain what to do. She was holding it up to him like she expected him to kiss it. He settled on taking her hand, and giving her a gentle, short handshake.

"Cat."

"Huh? Oh, right. Cat. Well, nice to meet you." He started to move to get on his way again, but Cat placed a hand on his chest, stopping him.

"Listen, I know how it is to be new in town. I'll be happy to show you around."

"Thanks anyway, but I've been in town for a while already, so..." Clark's voice drifted off as his hearing picked up a sound that usually meant trouble - the scream of a woman. He zeroed in on the source, and determined the general direction and distance. He turned his attention back on Cat for a second. "You know, I just remembered something I have to do..." At a loss what further to say he simply said, "Well, nice meeting you, Miss Grant," and then dashed for the stairway.

Cat just watched him leave, dumbfounded. She managed to get out in a quiet voice, "You can call me Cat..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cat was still staring at the stairwell, when Lois walked by her. She stopped and looked in the same direction Cat was staring, trying to figure out what had her mesmerized. Unable to discern what held her attention, she cleared her throat to get Cat's attention.

"Cat, are you OK?"

"Huh?" Coming out of her reverie, she looked over at Lois, a perplexed look on her face. "He just left." Cat waved in the general direction of the stairwell. "I don't think he even gave me a second look." She looked down at her outfit, checking for... something. What she was looking for, Lois couldn't even begin to guess.

"Cat, what are you talking about?"

"That new guy. I offered to take him out and 'show him the sights', and he just ignored me. Do I look OK?"

"You look your usual. Like you're ready to pose in a magazine... for a lingerie ad."

Lois's sarcastic tone was totally lost on Cat. "Really? Thanks. I wonder why he ignored me then? Is he married, or does he have a girlfriend already?"

"I don't know for sure, but I don't think so. But he kind of just 'fell off the turnip truck' from Kansas, so he may not be used to women with your... fashion sense."

"Oh." Cat contemplated that for a moment, then she gave Lois a devious smile. "Maybe I'll just try the 'down home' look on him next time. What do you think, Lolo?"

"I think that if you call me that in the newsroom again, you'll probably end up with a kick in the shin. It's bad enough you use that nickname when we're by ourselves. And as for Kent, don't pounce on him just yet. I need him to help me with a story later and it’s going to take some time to show him the ropes. So I don't need you distracting him."

Cat pouted at Lois's comment. "You take away all my fun."

Lois snorted. "Yeah, right. Don't you have any other prey you can stalk for tonight? I need that rookie's head clear for the next few days."

"All right, Lol... Lois. But next week he's mine!"

Cat whirled, and made her way up the stairs toward the elevators. Not surprisingly to Lois, most of the male content of the newsroom turned their heads to follow Cat's progress. Lois had to shake her own head in disgust. 'Men are so predictable, and Kent will probably be as bad as the rest of them. Speaking of which, where did he take off to?'

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The patrolmen pulled his vehicle up to the alley where the 911 dispatcher had directed him. He got out of his car, and proceeded down the alley with his gun drawn. As he rounded the corner he was greeted by the strangest sight he had ever seen in his fourteen years on patrol. In the alley, a man was hanging upside down by his legs from a fire escape, secured there by what looked like a belt. But even stranger, there was the man sitting in mid air, four feet off the ground, in a lotus position. He was dressed in a bright blue spandex outfit, with red boots, and a red cape flowing behind him. He was talking to a young blonde woman who was holding a cell phone. She was acting as if it was the most natural thing in the world for her to be speaking to a man who could float in mid air. The floating man took notice of the officer, and stepped down from... down from... he stepped down and stood up, greeting the officer with a smile and a wave.

The police officer returned his gun to his holster slowly, never taking his eyes off the blue-clad man. The woman walked up to the officer, and explained what had happened. She told him how the man hanging on the fire escape had tried to mug her, and how the man in blue had shown up, swooping in from the air, and captured the mugger in the blink of an eye.

The man in blue, who was probably that superhero guy the officer had read about in the papers, told him to wait a moment. Suddenly he blurred into motion and returned to the same spot with the mugger in hand, all in less then two seconds. He handed the mugger over to the police officer and then rose slowly into the air, saluting the officer as he left.

All three watched the superhero rise into the sky, and then disappear in a blur of motion. The mugger promptly fainted, the police officer letting him fall to the ground without taking his eyes off the sky.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He shouldn't have done that of course, but he hadn't been able to resist when he saw that mugger attacking that woman. Clark indulged in a guilty smile as he remembered the look on the mugger's face when he handed him to the police officer at super speed. He promptly chastised himself, half-heartedly, for having fun at another's expense, no matter what that person had done.

He glided lazily through the air, enjoying the feel of the late afternoon sun on his face. No matter how crazy his life would get, he could never complain, knowing he could sometimes find the time to soar like this. He knew he'd better get back to the Planet, but he just wanted a few more moments of freedom. Finally, sighing with resignation, he pointed himself in the direction of the newspaper and sped back to the roof of the building.

A minute later, he was exiting the stairway door in the newsroom, straightening his tie. He scanned the room for Jimmy, the boy who was supposed to help him find a desk. He made it to the coffee table, and continued to scan the room for him.

Suddenly, he felt a smack on his upper arm and heard, "Come on, Kent, let's hit it." It was Lois Lane, and she looked like she was on her way to the elevator. Clark just stood there, bewildered at what she wanted.

"I'm sorry, am I supposed to go somewhere with you?"

Lois stopped to turn and face him, crossing her arms in obvious impatience. "What? Didn't anybody tell you that you're my new 'task force'?" Clark could actually see the sarcasm dripping off the words 'task force' as they left her mouth. Clark smiled, amused at her attitude, and replied, "No, sorry, I was getting settled in. So did Mr. White assign me to work with you?"

"You were assigned to work *for* me. I'm the senior partner, so I call the shots. This is an important story, so you better just follow my lead and keep up. I don't need some rookie from the boonies slowing me down. Comprende?"

Clark scowled at her, taken back by her hostile attitude. "Did I do something to offend you, Ms. Lane? Because I don't really think we know each other enough for you to be upset at me yet. We should at least get to know each first, before you start getting mad at me."

Without further comment, he bounded up the stairs and headed toward the elevator.

***
Lois was frozen to the spot, trying to think of something to say back to him. She then snapped out of her daze, and turned to catch up with Clark, who had already pushed the button for the elevator. When she reached him, he saw out of the corner of his eye that she attempted to say something to him, but couldn't seem to articulate exactly what she wanted to say. Clark turned and merely looked at her with his eyebrows raised in a quizzical look.

Lois, at last, was able to get out, "I suppose I should get you up to speed on my story." Clark noted that it was 'my story', not 'the story'. He could already see that she was going to be high maintenance. On the other hand, she was one of the best investigative reporters in the city, so it wouldn't hurt to hang around her for a while to pick up some pointers. The elevator opened and they got on, Lois pushing the button for the bottom floor. The doors closed and Lois stood there, unmoving, staring directly ahead.

Lois continued to stare at the elevator doors, not sure what to say next. She had enough honesty with herself to admit that she had been a little hard on Kent, and probably had made a bad first impression. Of course, she wasn’t about to let him know that in this lifetime. She was beginning to realize that sometimes, on rare occasions, she maybe expressed herself a little on the strong side. Sometimes. But Kent was a big boy, he could take it.

She caught a quick peek at him as they rode down in the elevator. 'Actually he's a very big boy,' she thought appreciatively. 'Too bad he's from the sticks. His idea of a good time is probably corn husking... or whatever they do out in Kansas. Definitely a 'C' lister. Maybe a 'B' lister if trained properly.'

*******
He probably could have handled that better, but he wasn't very good at handling forceful women anymore. He really didn't need the headache, or the heartache, again. The best tact was to act as professional as possible, and focus on the job at hand.

"So, you were going to get me up to speed?"

She snapped her head around quickly, like she was surprised that he was still standing next to her. "Um, right, sorry. I was thinking of where to go first, to the local NASA office, or to see Dr. Platt."

"I assume Dr. Platt was the man with the package."

The elevator reached the lobby and opened its doors just as Clark finished his statement. As they walked out together, Lois switched to her 'all business' mode, telling Clark the story that Dr. Platt had relayed to her.

"I didn't know if I should take him seriously or not, but his paperwork all looked authentic, and he seemed to know what he was talking about. I spent the afternoon on the phone with some of my contacts, and I found out that Dr. Platt was fired from NASA under some very suspicious circumstances. Apparently, there had been some concern over some irregularities on the Prometheus program, and Dr. Platt had tried to bring it to the attention of someone in NASA management. One source told me that an engineer at NASA saw Dr. Platt's findings and agreed with him. But after submitting his report, Dr. Platt suddenly fell on a string of bad luck. The other engineer decided to keep quiet, afraid something might happen to him too. A few days after he filed that report, which seems to have mysteriously disappeared from NASA, he was found guilty of stealing equipment from NASA. His coworkers reported that that would be totally out of character for him."

"So you suspect some kind of cover up?"

"At the very least." Lois stopped at the corner, put her thumb and finger in her mouth, and gave out the loudest whistle that Clark had heard in some time. With a screech, a taxi came to halt directly in front of them. After they got into the taxi, Lois gave the driver an address, which Clark was certain was not for NASA headquarters.

"I take it we're going to see Dr. Platt first."

"Right. I want to talk to him about what he gave me this morning and see if it's a copy of this report that he supposedly submitted to his superiors. I'll... we'll need to get an expert to decipher it for me... us."

"I just have to guess that you usually work alone."

Lois shot him an annoyed look. "I happen to work best alone. Other people just slow me down, plus I hate wasting time getting past the 'what's a nice girl like you doing in a business like this?' attitude which seems to prevail among some of my male peers." Her expression dared him to voice such an opinion to her.

"Well, I wouldn't waste your time by asking such a silly question. I have read your work, by the way. I thought your investigation of that car theft ring was a brilliant piece of work."

"It was, wasn't it?" Lois replied, with a self-satisfied expression.

"So when is the follow-up?"

She quickly looked confused. "What follow-up?"

“I just thought that you would follow up with the personal stories of your investigation. I read that there were a lot of homeless boys recruited to steal cars for the ring. It would be fascinating to get some of their stories. How did they get recruited? Why do they feel they have to steal cars to survive? You know, the human side of the story."

Lois snorted in reply. "Hey, listen, they were car thieves... they were caught, thanks to me, of course. End of story. Time to move on. Human interest stories never make it to the front page anyway."

"I see." Clark was a little disappointed at her attitude. He'd always thought that the human side of the story was the most interesting part. He guessed that Lois was interested mostly in the expose. But he always felt that exposing the human condition was just as important. He didn't say anything further, and simply looked out his window for the rest of the taxi ride.

***
Lois watched Kent turn away from her and look out the window. She was about to say something else, but thought better of it. He was obviously judging her in some way. How dare he! He'd been on the job for one day, and he was already making comments about her work. Or rather what her work lacked. She didn't need to do those touchy-feely stories. Those were for reporters who couldn't hack the strain of investigative reporting. She had exposed enough criminals in the past three years to be justifiably proud of her work. Besides, if Perry wanted follow-up articles he would tell her so. Wouldn't he?

She looked out her own window, and a stray thought crept into her conscience. She really hadn't thought about those young boys the car theft ring had recruited. She had been disguised as one of them, and worked alongside them for a week, and hadn't even thought about getting their side of the story. She was so focused on exposing the car ring that she hadn't even thought of the boys themselves.

'And why think of it now? Why do I suddenly feel like I need to explain myself to Kent? It's not like he said I should have written it, he just expressed interest in their story. He was just curious about them, asked questions... about them...' The implications suddenly hit her, and his silence was more of a conviction than any words he could have spoken. 'Questions I should have thought to ask,' she reflected sheepishly. She looked at Clark again, thinking of some way to explain herself. He hadn't asked for any explanation, but his questions had made her consider what she had missed. Lois felt the need to explain to him, to say something to him, but was at a loss as to what, exactly, to say.

Lois watched Clark as the taxi drove on, his face faintly reflected in the window, as the scenes of life on the city streets blurred by. As she studied his reflection, she felt her preconceptions slowly slip away from her. She realized that, once again, she had leapt before looking, this time jumping to a conclusion on the type of person Clark Kent really was. Somehow, the soft image she saw in the taxi's window reflected a depth she rarely glimpsed in a city where shallowness was fashion, and who you were was more important that what you did.

She'd always prided herself on the ability to read others' faces, and now that she had taken a moment to really look at Clark Kent's face, she saw more than a naive, Kansas farmboy. In fact, she had to admit that he had a handsome face. His older style glasses gave him a studious look, but behind them she could see strong features, ones that were not only attractive, but showed character. 'I bet he has a beautiful smile too, ' she thought wistfully. She shook herself out of her daydreaming, chastising herself for letting her thoughts drift into 'that area'.

'Maybe I should say something to Clark, and let him know he had a point. I'm a big enough person to admit when I make a small, minuscule error in judgment. OK, it wasn't really so small, but...' She stopped when a stray thought surprised her.

'When did he become Clark to me?' she asked herself. The honest side of her replied, 'When you saw him as something more than a hick who might get in your way. So maybe you should let him know that he brought up a good point.'

But before she could act on that thought, the taxi turned the corner and screeched to an abrupt halt. The sun suddenly streamed through the taxi's window, and Clark's reflection disappeared in a blaze of sunlight. They were now in front of a run-down apartment building, whose address matched the one Dr. Platt had given her that morning. Lois paid the driver quickly, and got out with Clark. She still wanted to say something to him about what he had said, but that would have to wait until later. Now she needed to concentrate on talking to Dr. Platt. But, later, she hoped that they got a chance to talk. Maybe she would be able to make up for that 'not so good' (OK, lousy) first impression he must have gotten of her in the newsroom.

-- End Part 6 --