(Untitled)

[hero_farmboy]

Clark doesn't help all that much with the food. Cutting bread doesn't really count and frankly, Anna not only seems to have things under control, she likes it that way, so he figures staying out of her hair is the best option

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[downsidedarling]

The couscous was, sadly, unsalvageable. But Clark was quite helpful in cleaning it off the floor.

The table's set, the food is ready to be served...

"Are you sure this is the right place, Chloe?" comes a voice from the door.

Looks like the guests have arrived.

[hero_farmboy]

"Of course I am," Chloe's voice can clearly be heard responding as the service elevator door rolls open and she and Jimmy step inside the apartment.

And then in lieu of actual greetings, Chloe launches herself at Clark, wrapping her arms tightly around his chest. He really has little choice but to hug her back, confused but also slightly amused.

"You said you just got beat up a little," she whispers in explanation.

[downsidedarling]

Anna hears this.

And... busies herself in the kitchen, readying the vegetables.

"Okay, you're right, it is the... right... place," says Jimmy, somewhat awkwardly trailing off at the hug.

Emerging from the kitchen bearing veggies, Anna makes a detour on the way to the table to whisper "No, seriously, just no," in his ear. He gives her an annoyed look, probably about to launch into a further complaint about his precious camera, but she sails off elegantly to deposit her vegetables on the table before he can marshal his wits to the task.

[hero_farmboy]

Clark sighs and attempts to extricate himself from Chloe's grasp. It's not easy, even given his strength. "Chloe, I'm fine, okay? Really."

"You are now, but, just stop almost dying on me already, all right?" She lifts her head to half smile up at him, still whispering, as is he. "A girl can only take so much."

"Well, it's not exactly like I plan these things." Clark half grins back and brushes her hair out of her face. Finally, he seems to remember there are two other people in the condo and steps away from Chloe almost abruptly.

"Uh, hey, Jimmy. I hear you already know Anna." Clark manages a genuine enough smile for the other man and then turns his attention to Anna. "And this is Chloe, who I guess you sort of met too but well, consider this your formal introduction. Chloe, this is Anna."

[downsidedarling]

"Hi," says Anna, oddly shy for a moment. She tilts her head, gives a tentative smile and a wave, then vanishes back into the kitchen to bring out more food.

Food which Jimmy is giving a raised-eyebrows look, after he's done nodding amicably to Clark.

"What, did you guys have this thing catered or something?" he asks disbelievingly.

"No," calls Anna from the kitchen. "Unless you count 'bored dead girl cooks for four' as catering, but I don't."

It's true - the array is impressive. Anna is a skilled chef. Practice makes perfect, after all.

[hero_farmboy]

"She's been at it all day," Clark offers by way of explanation with a shrug, as if anyone who'd been slaving away in a kitchen as long as Anna had could come up with the same results.

"It looks amazing," Chloe calls back to Anna. "I had to skip lunch to meet a deadline, so I'm really glad you invited us over."

Clark looks at her pointedly. "We didn't."

[downsidedarling]

"Okay," says Anna as she brings out yet another dish, "somebody care to fill me in on that one? Preferably while you're all in the process of sitting down to enjoy my delicious meal?" She starts shooing people tablewards, looking for all the world like a thirty-year-old housewife. If thirty-year-old housewives moved like twenty-one-year-old professional dancers, that is.

Jimmy allows himself to be shooed, although Anna's attempts to get him to leave his camera elsewhere are naturally met with suspicious glances and refusal, provided of course that he can snag a seat beside his girlfriend. Anna herself, after fetching the last dish and checking over the table settings one more time, sits at the head of the table.

[hero_farmboy]

Chloe sits next to Jimmy and gives him a quick smile. Clark sits opposite the two of them, perfectly happy to have that whole side of the table to himself.

"She invited them both on her own," he explains to Anna, waiting for the others to serve themselves first.

"Oh, please Clark. If you didn't want us to come over, you just could've said no."

"Yeah, because that always works out really well for me. And what's this about you skipping lunch?" Clark frowns at Chloe from across the table. "I'm not going to have to start force feeding you like I did in high school, am I?"

He is grinned at in response. "Like I'm going to turn down special delivery on Martha Kent muffins."

[downsidedarling]

Anna and Jimmy exchange uncomfortable glances over the corner of the table, both pretty much thinking the same thing in two different directions and each aware of exactly what's going on in the other's head. With a mutual rueful smirk, they begin to serve themselves simultaneously.

"I like to cook," offers Anna when the moment has passed. "It was honestly no trouble."

[hero_farmboy]

"This was really great of you, Anna. I wasn't expecting anything like this," Chloe says, utterly sincerely. "I mean, come on, it's Clark. The only time I get a home cooked meal out of him is when he thinks I'm on the verge of work induced starvation and he drags me over to the farm so he and his mom can fuss over me." She waves her fork at Clark here. "Unnecessarily, I might add."

"Muffins and coffee is not a balanced diet, Chlo."

She shrugs, taking another bite before answering. "That's because we live in a far less than perfect world. But one day, Clark. One day."

[downsidedarling]

"You can live on it for about six months before you die of malnutrition," offers Anna helpfully. "Roughly. Depending on the muffins."

She seems to think this an entirely reasonable topic for dinner conversation, yet there's an air of indefinite creepiness lent to the statement by the confident way in which she makes the pronouncement, as though she knows someone personally who's verified the result in the past. (As it happens, she does.)

[hero_farmboy]

Chloe glances up at Anna briefly. "Okay, that's a little more exact information than I needed, but still, that lets you off the hook all but twice a year, Clark. Take heart."

He snorts in response. "You wish."

[downsidedarling]

Anna blushes. "Sorry."

Yeah, she's just going to be eating her food, now. In a very 'contrite dead girl' way.

While Jimmy gives her the same eyebrows-up look he gave the food earlier, obviously trying to decide whether or not he wants to know how she arrived at that figure.

[hero_farmboy]

"Don't worry about it," Chloe waves it off. "But since you're talking in exact time frames, how long can we expect to see you around Metropolis?"

"Chloe," Clark says softly, half a warning, half a plea.

[downsidedarling]

Anna shoots a part-questioning, part-reproachful glance at Clark, recalling their earlier conversation on more or less this topic.

"I don't know," she says, softly. "Depends."

Only one other person at the table knows on what.

[hero_farmboy]

Chloe thinks she has a pretty good idea, but this isn't the time or place to call Clark on it.

"Well, however long you decide to stay, consider me your on call for girl talk. It's really not Clark's forté and I get the impression you probably don't know a whole lot of people around yet."