Quid Pro Quo
Chapter Five
Clark strode through the doors of The Daily Planet and headed straight for the lift. Things had changed a great deal for him in the last month. He moved straight passed his very own corner office towards Tess’ and was unsurprised to be greeted with a smile.
“You are looking very pleased with yourself”, he greeted her, not adding that, as always, she was stunning.
“And why shouldn’t I be? My brother has returned from the an ice cave - thanks to a very kind, anonymous stranger”, she gave him a knowing look. “The circulation of The Daily Planet is up considerably since we hired you as the head of the crime section plus our new fiction section”.
Clark blushed. It had been a very kind stroke of genius on Tess’ part to create a new crime section for him to ‘edit’. He could come and go as he pleased and everyone believed that he was going through the thousands of freelance articles they received on crime in the city.
“I heard something about that on the radio. Latest reports stated that an extra four million people are buying this newspaper outside the state of Kansas just for the novel”, he had been so proud when he had heard that. “Chloe loves getting back to writing by the way. Thanks for giving her the chance”.
“It was just good business”, Tess shrugged the praise off.
He had learned a lot about his boss over the last month. The first of which was that she wasn’t used to receiving praise and couldn’t quite digest it yet.
“No, it was more than that”, he walked over to her and held out his hand to her. She took it and he rubbed his thumb across the backs of her knuckles. “You have a real gift, you know that?”
She stared up at him, not understanding.
“You can look into someone’s heart, into their head, and understand what makes them tick”, he said in a low voice.
“It’s in the Luthor genes”, she brushed it off.
“Yes”, he agreed, “but you use it to help them. To give them a chance”, he broke off, this was getting too mushy, “and Chloe really loves writing, like I said”.
“I didn’t have much choice when I saw how much she cared about Lex, even when we thought that he was going to be paralysed she cared for him. She was the one who convinced him to give both you and me a chance”, the list of things that Chloe had done for them was too long to itemise.
“Yeah, Chloe and Lex came as a bit of a shock to me”, he agreed, dropping her hand as he thought about it.
“True, but you also didn’t know that Lois and Oliver had got back together. Or Kara and Davis. Or Jimmy and Cat”, he teased him.
“Yeah, that last one still scares me slightly”, he shuddered.
“Just be happy that it had made her so much nicer”, Tess reminded him.
“Believe me, I am”, he remembered what she had been like before he had discovered Jimmy kissing the stuffing out of her in the copy room, “but she isn’t the only one with a wagging tongue”.
Tess raised an eyebrow at him.
“Even with Lois protecting me, there are rumours”, he informed her gravely.
“Rumours?” The Blur couldn’t be spooked by little things like rumours, could he?
“Yes. I come into your office a lot. Sometimes for a few minutes, sometimes for a few hours ...” He would really rather not go into any further detail with her, he was already blushing. He didn’t seem to be able to get within ten feet of her without turning scarlet.
“Well, in that case they are either under or over estimating your abilities tremendously”, she smirked at him.
“Oh, I wouldn’t say that”, he said, almost suavely, responding instantly to her tone. He wondered if there was red K in her hair. Maybe that was why it was so shiny.
“Really that fast?” She feigned a look of shock.
“Tess, that was unkind”, he tisked as he pressed himself against her.
“Well, we aren’t all good little farm boys are we?” She pushed back.
“Speaking for myself I’m very happy that you aren’t a boy”, he assured her, his hands going to run down her back.
“Noted”, she stroked her hands over his chest, “But don’t you think that I would look good in flannel?”
The image of her, dressed only in his flannel shirt flashed through his head. “Yes”, he admitted.
She smirked at him knowingly.
They moved so there lips were only inches apart ...
~*~
“It happened again”, Tess sighed over her glass of red wine.
“Again?” Two female voices chorused.
“How on earth is that possible?” Chloe asked, staring at her new friend over the table.
“That’s crazy”, Lois backed up her cousin, “you’re hot”. Upon seeing the odd looks that she was getting Lois defended herself, “What? I still love Ollie but she is”.
“It happened again”, Tess brought them back to the topic. We were this close to kissing”, she held up her thumb and forefinger barely an inch apart to illustrate her point, “and then ... He hears a cry for help and has to go!”
“Ohhhhhh, but that does happen when you are dating a hero”, Lois put in. She had adapted to the news that Clark and The Blur were one and the same very well.
“That’s why I opted for an evil super-villain”, Chloe shrugged and sipped her wine.
“Hey”, Lex protested from the couch. He was almost fully recovered but Chloe was still insisted that he lay down for an hour in the afternoon as his doctor had ordered. And monitored him to make sure that he did. That was how they happened to all be in the Luthor Penthouse.
“You never have to leave mid smooch to save someone”, Chloe reminded him.
“Of course not”, Lex wrinkled his forehead at the idea.
“Occasionally to fulfil an evil prophecy and get suck in a block of ice for months sending Chloe into a depression”, Lois pointed out, still not having quite forgiven him now that she had found out what he had done to her cousin.
“Hey, I’ve cut right back”, Lex complained, feeling genuinely bad for everything he had put Chloe through.
“I know you have baby”, Chloe blew him a kiss. Then she turned back to Tess, “He does have to save people a lot and he does have super-hearing”.
“I know, but every single time?” She stressed every single word.
“Yeah, that’s not normal”, Lois agreed.
“No kidding”, Tess and Chloe rolled their eyes in unison.
“Come on Lex, we need a man’s opinion and Ollie and Jimmy are working as productive members of society rather than lounging around”, Lois nettled her future cousin-in-law.
Lex shot her a scathing look. They had been going at each other like this since he had returned. Just Lois’ way of keeping him in line, even more than Chloe already was.
“I’m not giving my little sister advice on how to seduce my best friend. It’s just plain creepy”, he informed them. It was bad enough that Chloe wouldn’t let him have any alcohol.
“Fine, we will try my way”, Lois announced. “Whipped cream, all over your tits”.
“I don’t need to hear this”, Lex got up.
“You are supposed to be lying down”, Chloe reminded him.
“I can do that in our bedroom baby, believe it will be more restful”, he explained.
“Fine, but no cheating”, Chloe replied.
“I won’t”, he rolled his eyes.
“I’m serious Luthor if I find you on your laptop again, I’ll ...”
“I said I won’t”, he snapped, then sighed and went and kissed her on the head. “I’ll be good. For now”, he added with a wink.
“Great”, something that I didn’t need to hear”, Tess groaned.
They waited for Lex to leave and then Chloe sneaked after him quietly, just to check.
“I told you ... For God’s sake woman!” Came Lex’s voice from the bedroom before she was even halfway down the corridor.
“Honestly, you use up the last of your meteor freak abilities saving a guy. You would think that he would let you check on him”, Chloe grumbled as she returned to the table.
Lois and Tess traded knowing looks. Chloe and Lex seemed to be able to fight almost continuously like an old married couple but still loved each other.
“So, what do you think of my whipped cream idea?” Lois asked.
“No”, Chloe shook her head, “Clark is strangely particular about his dairy products. He would probably want it hand whipped etc and none of have any culinary skills and we can hardly ask Martha for help with this”.
“I don’t know, she likes Tess”, Lois considered the matter, “and I know that she wants grandchildren. She must know how they are made even if Clark is adopted”.
Tess smiled but agreed with Chloe, “No, I don’t think that we should do that”.
“No”, Chloe agreed. “Which just leaves my option: trick him into playing strip snap”.
“Please tell me you didn’t try that on my brother”, Tess groaned.
The blonde’s eyes shifted. “No, of course not”.
~*~
It was just passed nine o’clock when Tess made the call. “Clark, hi, it’s me”. She couldn’t help but smile when he immediately recognised the sound of her voice. She ignored the fact that his phone had probably told him who it was before he picked it up.
“No, no”, she her smile grew, “nothing is wrong. I just needed your help with one tiny problems, if you are not too busy”.
“Of course not”, he said, standing there in person before her, “I mean, not for you. What’s up?”
“This is going to sound really stupid”, she hedged.
“I’m sure that it isn’t”, he grinned at her.
“I can’t leave the office”.
“What?” He looked over at the entrance, “Is the door stuck?”
“No, it’s not like that. You see, I need to make a good impression and there are a lot of employees down there still working hard so I can’t let them see me leave but I’ve had a really good week and have actually finished everything that I needed to do”, she gave him her best innocent look.
“Oh, I understand. Do you want me to fly you out via the window?” He offered, moving towards her.
“No”, she said, a little too quickly. “I mean, would you mind just keeping me company?” Chloe’s little gang had promised that there would be no interruptions.
“Of course”, he said cheerfully. “Anything in particular that you feel like doing?”
“Well, I do have a pack of cards”.
The End
Clark strode through the doors of The Daily Planet and headed straight for the lift. Things had changed a great deal for him in the last month. He moved straight passed his very own corner office towards Tess’ and was unsurprised to be greeted with a smile.
“You are looking very pleased with yourself”, he greeted her, not adding that, as always, she was stunning.
“And why shouldn’t I be? My brother has returned from the an ice cave - thanks to a very kind, anonymous stranger”, she gave him a knowing look. “The circulation of The Daily Planet is up considerably since we hired you as the head of the crime section plus our new fiction section”.
Clark blushed. It had been a very kind stroke of genius on Tess’ part to create a new crime section for him to ‘edit’. He could come and go as he pleased and everyone believed that he was going through the thousands of freelance articles they received on crime in the city.
“I heard something about that on the radio. Latest reports stated that an extra four million people are buying this newspaper outside the state of Kansas just for the novel”, he had been so proud when he had heard that. “Chloe loves getting back to writing by the way. Thanks for giving her the chance”.
“It was just good business”, Tess shrugged the praise off.
He had learned a lot about his boss over the last month. The first of which was that she wasn’t used to receiving praise and couldn’t quite digest it yet.
“No, it was more than that”, he walked over to her and held out his hand to her. She took it and he rubbed his thumb across the backs of her knuckles. “You have a real gift, you know that?”
She stared up at him, not understanding.
“You can look into someone’s heart, into their head, and understand what makes them tick”, he said in a low voice.
“It’s in the Luthor genes”, she brushed it off.
“Yes”, he agreed, “but you use it to help them. To give them a chance”, he broke off, this was getting too mushy, “and Chloe really loves writing, like I said”.
“I didn’t have much choice when I saw how much she cared about Lex, even when we thought that he was going to be paralysed she cared for him. She was the one who convinced him to give both you and me a chance”, the list of things that Chloe had done for them was too long to itemise.
“Yeah, Chloe and Lex came as a bit of a shock to me”, he agreed, dropping her hand as he thought about it.
“True, but you also didn’t know that Lois and Oliver had got back together. Or Kara and Davis. Or Jimmy and Cat”, he teased him.
“Yeah, that last one still scares me slightly”, he shuddered.
“Just be happy that it had made her so much nicer”, Tess reminded him.
“Believe me, I am”, he remembered what she had been like before he had discovered Jimmy kissing the stuffing out of her in the copy room, “but she isn’t the only one with a wagging tongue”.
Tess raised an eyebrow at him.
“Even with Lois protecting me, there are rumours”, he informed her gravely.
“Rumours?” The Blur couldn’t be spooked by little things like rumours, could he?
“Yes. I come into your office a lot. Sometimes for a few minutes, sometimes for a few hours ...” He would really rather not go into any further detail with her, he was already blushing. He didn’t seem to be able to get within ten feet of her without turning scarlet.
“Well, in that case they are either under or over estimating your abilities tremendously”, she smirked at him.
“Oh, I wouldn’t say that”, he said, almost suavely, responding instantly to her tone. He wondered if there was red K in her hair. Maybe that was why it was so shiny.
“Really that fast?” She feigned a look of shock.
“Tess, that was unkind”, he tisked as he pressed himself against her.
“Well, we aren’t all good little farm boys are we?” She pushed back.
“Speaking for myself I’m very happy that you aren’t a boy”, he assured her, his hands going to run down her back.
“Noted”, she stroked her hands over his chest, “But don’t you think that I would look good in flannel?”
The image of her, dressed only in his flannel shirt flashed through his head. “Yes”, he admitted.
She smirked at him knowingly.
They moved so there lips were only inches apart ...
~*~
“It happened again”, Tess sighed over her glass of red wine.
“Again?” Two female voices chorused.
“How on earth is that possible?” Chloe asked, staring at her new friend over the table.
“That’s crazy”, Lois backed up her cousin, “you’re hot”. Upon seeing the odd looks that she was getting Lois defended herself, “What? I still love Ollie but she is”.
“It happened again”, Tess brought them back to the topic. We were this close to kissing”, she held up her thumb and forefinger barely an inch apart to illustrate her point, “and then ... He hears a cry for help and has to go!”
“Ohhhhhh, but that does happen when you are dating a hero”, Lois put in. She had adapted to the news that Clark and The Blur were one and the same very well.
“That’s why I opted for an evil super-villain”, Chloe shrugged and sipped her wine.
“Hey”, Lex protested from the couch. He was almost fully recovered but Chloe was still insisted that he lay down for an hour in the afternoon as his doctor had ordered. And monitored him to make sure that he did. That was how they happened to all be in the Luthor Penthouse.
“You never have to leave mid smooch to save someone”, Chloe reminded him.
“Of course not”, Lex wrinkled his forehead at the idea.
“Occasionally to fulfil an evil prophecy and get suck in a block of ice for months sending Chloe into a depression”, Lois pointed out, still not having quite forgiven him now that she had found out what he had done to her cousin.
“Hey, I’ve cut right back”, Lex complained, feeling genuinely bad for everything he had put Chloe through.
“I know you have baby”, Chloe blew him a kiss. Then she turned back to Tess, “He does have to save people a lot and he does have super-hearing”.
“I know, but every single time?” She stressed every single word.
“Yeah, that’s not normal”, Lois agreed.
“No kidding”, Tess and Chloe rolled their eyes in unison.
“Come on Lex, we need a man’s opinion and Ollie and Jimmy are working as productive members of society rather than lounging around”, Lois nettled her future cousin-in-law.
Lex shot her a scathing look. They had been going at each other like this since he had returned. Just Lois’ way of keeping him in line, even more than Chloe already was.
“I’m not giving my little sister advice on how to seduce my best friend. It’s just plain creepy”, he informed them. It was bad enough that Chloe wouldn’t let him have any alcohol.
“Fine, we will try my way”, Lois announced. “Whipped cream, all over your tits”.
“I don’t need to hear this”, Lex got up.
“You are supposed to be lying down”, Chloe reminded him.
“I can do that in our bedroom baby, believe it will be more restful”, he explained.
“Fine, but no cheating”, Chloe replied.
“I won’t”, he rolled his eyes.
“I’m serious Luthor if I find you on your laptop again, I’ll ...”
“I said I won’t”, he snapped, then sighed and went and kissed her on the head. “I’ll be good. For now”, he added with a wink.
“Great”, something that I didn’t need to hear”, Tess groaned.
They waited for Lex to leave and then Chloe sneaked after him quietly, just to check.
“I told you ... For God’s sake woman!” Came Lex’s voice from the bedroom before she was even halfway down the corridor.
“Honestly, you use up the last of your meteor freak abilities saving a guy. You would think that he would let you check on him”, Chloe grumbled as she returned to the table.
Lois and Tess traded knowing looks. Chloe and Lex seemed to be able to fight almost continuously like an old married couple but still loved each other.
“So, what do you think of my whipped cream idea?” Lois asked.
“No”, Chloe shook her head, “Clark is strangely particular about his dairy products. He would probably want it hand whipped etc and none of have any culinary skills and we can hardly ask Martha for help with this”.
“I don’t know, she likes Tess”, Lois considered the matter, “and I know that she wants grandchildren. She must know how they are made even if Clark is adopted”.
Tess smiled but agreed with Chloe, “No, I don’t think that we should do that”.
“No”, Chloe agreed. “Which just leaves my option: trick him into playing strip snap”.
“Please tell me you didn’t try that on my brother”, Tess groaned.
The blonde’s eyes shifted. “No, of course not”.
~*~
It was just passed nine o’clock when Tess made the call. “Clark, hi, it’s me”. She couldn’t help but smile when he immediately recognised the sound of her voice. She ignored the fact that his phone had probably told him who it was before he picked it up.
“No, no”, she her smile grew, “nothing is wrong. I just needed your help with one tiny problems, if you are not too busy”.
“Of course not”, he said, standing there in person before her, “I mean, not for you. What’s up?”
“This is going to sound really stupid”, she hedged.
“I’m sure that it isn’t”, he grinned at her.
“I can’t leave the office”.
“What?” He looked over at the entrance, “Is the door stuck?”
“No, it’s not like that. You see, I need to make a good impression and there are a lot of employees down there still working hard so I can’t let them see me leave but I’ve had a really good week and have actually finished everything that I needed to do”, she gave him her best innocent look.
“Oh, I understand. Do you want me to fly you out via the window?” He offered, moving towards her.
“No”, she said, a little too quickly. “I mean, would you mind just keeping me company?” Chloe’s little gang had promised that there would be no interruptions.
“Of course”, he said cheerfully. “Anything in particular that you feel like doing?”
“Well, I do have a pack of cards”.
The End