Obsessed Chapter 2

Title:    Obsessed
Rating:    PG
Author:    SilverSnikle
Pairing:    Clois - Clark & Lois
Timeline:   Season 9
Warnings:   Season 9 spoilers
Disclaimer:   Borrowed characters and some dialogue... No affiliation to CW/WB, DC
Summary:   Lois never went to the future. Since The Blur cut off communication, she's has a new obsession.
Feedback:   Oh, yes please!
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~  Chapter 2  ~

Lois pulled her jacket tighter. Honestly, it was probably close to 75 degrees out, but standing in the shadows, a strong breeze was sending chills through her. The fencing around the construction site created a tunnel for the wind. After failing to find Tess at the Daily Planet for a quote, Lois had decided to check out the construction site. Clark had taken off on some sort of lead, so she was scouting alone. She didn't mind, not really, even if she had gotten used to having a partner. She was still better alone. Easier to move solo.

There wasn't much she could see with the contractor's fence blocking her view, but the loud noises were evidence enough that the crews were busy at work. She slid behind a camper and peaked through a window. No one was inside, but she spotted a jumpsuit and hard hat. A smile spread over her lips. This should be fun.

With her new overalls zipped up and her hard hat secure, Lois pulled out her phone. Evidently while she was changing, the Blur had saved an undercover cop's life. Something about his cover being blown, but the Blur showed up in time to pull him out of the deal about to go down. Then he had tied up the drug dealers with their 'product' neatly stacked on their laps. She grinned. And then she frowned.

Here she was playing dress up to sneak onto a construction site (oh joy) while she could be interviewing the cop for details about how he suspects the Blur knew he needed back-up. With a heavy sigh, Lois slipped on a pair of safety glasses and picked up her gloves. She needed to focus. She couldn't have the by line for every Blur story.

>/>/>

Clark frowned. Chloe had handed him a folder filled with documents pertaining to RAO, but he wasn't sure what he was holding. He looked up at his blonde friend, his forehead wrinkled and his eyebrow arched.

“So, I'm not sure how much you know about radiation, but that's what all those test results are. I'm still trying to determine how the radiation fits into the save-the-planet game plan.” She was watching Clark carefully. He knew it was harder for Chloe to read him lately. He'd actually worked very hard at that. She knew him better than anyone; to keep her from seeing what he was thinking was the ultimate feat. He could tell it was frustrating her. She was getting impatient, “So?”

“I'm not the expert Chloe. Is there anything else I should know about?” He sat the folder down on her desk. Chloe was studying him, her gaze steady.

“There is one thing... Seems Tess had no knowledge of this research. It was all conducted by RAO and it was buried pretty deep. Unless she knew what she was looking for, I'm sure she would never see it.”

It was very interesting that Tess had been left out of the loop. Especially about something that seemed to be such an integral part of her newest pet project. He did not like that, at all. He was an expert at hiding things, and he'd had an impossible time hiding from Tess. For someone else to succeed in blindsiding her so easily was a strike to his pride. This was someone to be feared. He needed to know just who he was dealing with.

“What about the company itself? What's its history?”

Chloe typed something onto a computer. “Seems it was recently bought out. The new owners gave it the name RAO. Previously it was Integral Inc.” She read the information to Clark.

Clark was her greatest and oldest friend. Everything she had ever done had been to protect him. Yet, she hadn't been completely honest with him in recent months. Her guilt seemed to be manifesting itself as a cold shoulder. She could tell Clark was trying to keep her at arm's length, and she knew it was only in response to her keeping him at a distance. Clark probably hadn't thought too hard about it all. Chloe had a feeling he blamed it all on his inability to protect Jimmy from Davis. He had destroyed Doomsday, but failed to see the threat that was left behind. What Clark didn't know was that she had forgiven him for that mistake. She had played her own part in that whole drama.

“Thanks. I better get back to the Planet in case Lois has made it back from her scouting trip.”

Chloe let out a sigh of relief when her hair blew back from her face. By the time she sat down at her desk she knew Clark was already walking through the bullpen doors. She nestled her headset onto her ear and picked back up scanning the city. Oliver was on patrol and he should have been finished with the muggers she sent him to deal with before Clark had arrived.

“Watchtower to Arrow.”

“Arrow is alive.”

“Ready for new coordinates?”

“Been ready for a good ten minutes.”

“Sorry, had to give Boyscout some research material for the duo’s next front pager.”

/

Clark twisted anxiously in his chair. Lois wasn't back yet and he really didn't have anything he could do from his desk. He tapped his foot and thought over the info Chloe had given him. It didn't make any sense; Tess wasn't one to overlook details. She would have gone over the tower's plans with a fine toothed comb. He thought about all the documents from the email Lois had forwarded him. He pulled the email back up on his computer and began scanning over them again. He stopped scrolling and stared at the screen. Ah hah.

Tess had signed a contact with Integral, not RAO. The new company had taken over after the initial business deal. The buy-out must have been a shock to her. He was sure Tess would have never put this large of a project in the hands of a company likely to be bought out before the conclusion of her tower.

He leaned back in his chair, proud. Movement at the elevator made him turn his head. Lois was grinning ear-to-ear. She had a hard hat under one arm and a pile of papers in her other hand. What is she wearing? Clark kept his expression neutral, but internally he was doubled over with laughter. She had on a pair of overalls.

“Not a word Smallville! I found something very interesting at the site.” She dropped the papers onto Clark's desk and smiled in triumph.

“You killed a small forest? Congratulations.” Lois's expectant look annoyed him, but only slightly. She's back.

“Ugh. Look at them. Clark, these plans show something very different from the tower plans in our email.”

Clark looked down at his disaster of a desk again. He recognized some of the same designs from the folder Chloe had showed him. RAO had made adjustments to the original schematics. What was their end game?

“Oh, yeah you're right. So what's that mean? You know why they've made the improvements?” He started gathering up the files neatly.

“Not yet. But I think it's a glorious find! How about you? Any luck with that lead?” She sat on the corner of his desk, her arms crossed. He wondered just how dirty that jumpsuit was.

“The only thing I found was that the company Tess originally planned to have build the tower was bought out by this RAO.” He shrugged as if this information wasn't all that interesting.

“Are you kidding me? Huh. It's almost as if whomever purchased the company needed Tess to sign the paperwork before they took over. They were waiting.” She was chewing on her bottom lip and Clark couldn't look away, a grin spreading onto his lips. “The question then, is why?”

He almost groaned when she stuck her lip out in a pout. He had been trying very hard to ignore the way Lois made him feel, but she never made that easy. He cleared his throat and ran a hand down his tie, smoothing it. His movements seemed to draw Lois back to the present long enough for her to realize she was still propped up on Clark's desk wearing nasty construction overalls.

“Well, I better clean up, and get started on a rough draft.” She hopped off his desk and disappeared through the bullpen doors.

/

Lois brushed her hair out and up into a pony tail. Examining her work in the mirror she realized she had forgotten lipstick. Duh. Her lips were dry and pouty after her time in that wind tunnel of an alley earlier. She applied chap-stick before color to help heal the damage.

Her phone beeped at her and she snatched it up from the side of the sink. A new alert. She clicked to open the new image and her heart fluttered. It was the Blur's shield set over a wonderful set of pecs. As she stared at the picture she smiled wondering what the real Blur's chest would look like. She scrolled down to see the past images on her dashboard. Shaking her head, Lois slid the phone back into her pocket.

It had been too long since the Blur had directly contacted her. She felt silly and more than a little teenybopper-ish, or tweeny, whatever they were calling it now. Something told her the majority of the accounts she followed online were run by high-school aged girls. But Lois couldn't stop herself. She felt a surge of energy every time something new appeared. It wasn't comparable to the feeling she got from a phone-booth rendezvous; but this was evidently all she had now.

She looked herself over in the mirror once more before heading back to her desk. Lois almost felt bad for Clark as she walked out the bathroom doors. The back-up outfit she'd had on hand was a little different from her normal office wear. She self-consciously pulled at the hem of her skirt and failed miserably to ignore the slack-jawed farm boy as she walked to her chair.

“I'm hungry. You want anything Lane?” Clark stood up, almost knocking over a cup of cold coffee in the process.

“No, thanks. I'll be good for another couple of hours.” She smiled sweetly at her co-worker then shifted her eyes back to her computer monitor. She could see Clark still, hovering at the side of her desk, taking in her outfit. “Thought you were hungry Kent?”

“I, um, yeah. See ya in a bit.” Lois held her eyes steady on the screen until she heard the elevator doors ding shut. The smile that spread over her lips was positively devilish. She ignored the knot in her stomach and set to work.

“Earth to Clark!” Chloe couldn't help but stare at him. She hadn't seen Clark show this much emotion since Lana had left him the infamous break-up video. Something was going on, and she wasn't sure she remembered how to handle Clark's human side. She had become quite accustomed to the new 'Robo-Clark' operating system.
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