Clark jumped slightly at the sound of her voice, and the guilty expression on his face almost made her scream. “I don’t know why he ran, exactly. All I did was tell him that I was your partner.” At her skeptical look, he scuffed the toe of his shoe into the carpet. “I may have also told him about the abandoned mine shaft just off my parent’s property that no one really seems to remember anymore.” He paused, met her eyes briefly, and then began to study the patterns he was making on the ground, looking like a boy who had just been caught next to a broken window and a baseball. “And… maybe… I also told him about how I spent some time with a man in Indonesia who could kill a man twenty different ways with his pinky alone. I don’t know why he got so scared, though. It’s not like I actually learned anything from the guy.”

Lois just stared at her hack from Nowheresville for a moment. “You really are a strange one, Kent.” There was no venom in her voice, no condescending tone, just mild awe. Her inner nineties woman wanted to thwart him, telling him that she could very well take care of herself, thank-you-very-much.

But another part thought he looked so adorable, looking guilty at what he’d done instead of smug, and the guy had actually defended her when she hadn’t been the nicest person in the world.

Hopefully, the chief had made the pot this morning and it had the strength to stir itself and could substitute a tank of jet fuel.

Having his kinda-sorta partner being talked about in such a demeaning fashion sent a bolt of aggravation and cave-man protectiveness surging up and down his spine as Clark made a slight detour to where the two were talking.

Acting distracted, his shoulder knocked squarely into the offending gentleman’s, causing him to lose his balance and fall in a graceless heap on the floor.

[...]ex-bastard-of-a-poor-excuse-for-a-lover[...]

“I may have also told him about the abandoned mine shaft just off my parent’s property that no one really seems to remember anymore.” He paused, met her eyes briefly, and then began to study the patterns he was making on the ground, looking like a boy who had just been caught next to a broken window and a baseball. “And… maybe… I also told him about how I spent some time with a man in Indonesia who could kill a man twenty different ways with his pinky alone. I don’t know why he got so scared, though. It’s not like I actually learned anything from the guy.”

But another part thought he looked so adorable, looking guilty at what he’d done instead of smug, and the guy had actually defended her when she hadn’t been the nicest person in the world.