Title: Alchemical Attraction
Rated: PG
Summary: In this alternate beginning, Lois and Clark meet four years prior to the events of the Pilot episode while investigating villainous chemists at a journalism workshop in upstate New Troy.
Lois had been on edge all morning. She felt the stares of her colleagues as they looked at her during the morning session, whispering behind her back. “So, how did you enjoy the movie?” Eve had asked her when she saw her in the cafeteria that morning. Lois had mumbled a quick reply and fled with her coffee and bagel to the safety of her room. She cursed herself, yet again, for the stupidity of falling asleep with Clark Kent during the movie.
Then there was that little trick Clark had pulled, pretending to steal her scoop on the alchemy experiments. She really didn’t want to be seen anywhere near the man after last night. Not, of course, that last night meant anything, as Clark had said, just before he tricked her into spending lunch with him and Jimmy. What a conniving, unscrupulous, untrustworthy, perfectly brilliant play he had made to get her to do exactly what he wanted. No, Lois thought, Clark Kent could not be trusted, but maybe he could be manipulated. After all, he was from Kansas.
Being stuck sitting next to Clark that afternoon and trying to work with him had at first made her angry. After the initial discomfort of having all eyes on him when he arrived late and slid into the seat next to her, she had gradually loosened up. Working together again on a new project, and having something to sink her teeth into, she tried to forget about the unkind comments and harsh stares from the morning.
As soon as the session was over, Clark turned to tell her to go head back to the dorm while he talked with one of the other journalists. She was about to say she would wait when Sarah and Eve approached asking her to walk out with them. Not about to show any interest in spending more time with Clark than was absolutely required, Lois quickly decided to walk away, leaving him speaking with Greg and the instructor as she left to walk back to the dorm. She didn’t even take the time to look and see if Clark was following them or not. Well, maybe just one quick glance over her shoulder…
About halfway across the campus, Lois’ thoughts were pulled back to the present with a question. “Karen said that there is a great little Italian restaurant in the next town. A bunch of us at the Workshop were thinking of going out to dinner together. Want to join us, Lois?” Eve asked.
Normally the anti-social type, Lois decided that a good way to distance herself from Clark might be to spend time with other people and boldly answered, “I’d love to!” She was hoping that by going out with the rest of the group, they would be forced to keep the whispers about her and Clark to a minimum. Plus, Lois thought she might be able to find someone else besides Clark to help her investigate the lab. After all, no one said that they were partners on anything but the Workshop. She didn’t owe him any kind of exclusivity. Of course, another, more experienced journalist might want to share in the scoop on whatever they found, whereas Clark seemed too naïve to be interested in that right now. Well, she would figure something out, and a night out wouldn’t kill her either.
The idea that Clark might also be part of the group dinner this evening had absolutely nothing to do with her decision to go out, she told herself as she entered the dorm. He might not even join the group, being too busy talking on the phone with that ‘hot babe’ of a fiancée, she thought. She just didn’t understand why spending time near Clark made her feel warm and flushed all over. As she was freshening her makeup at the mirror in her room, she realized that the bit of blush in her cheeks was pretty attractive after all.
Lois felt a twinge of dismay for the restaurant owner when a group of twenty people walked in, completely filling the main dining area and taking over the place, forcing him to turn away a couple of unhappy regular customers. Every available table had been pushed together to create one large dinner table in the middle of the restaurant, and the waitress was frantically trying to write down everyone’s drink order. “Separate checks!” someone had yelled to her early on, causing her to frantically flip through her order pad, speedily writing down drinks on separate pages as she approached each diner. “Damn expense accounts!” Lois heard her mutter.
“That poor girl,” Lois heard from the man sitting to her left. Turning, she saw Clark Kent sitting next to her. There is no way I’m sitting next to this man, Lois thought. Glancing around at the filled seats, she realized that she couldn’t move away from him without displacing someone else and causing a scene. Lois wondered how he had sat down next to her without her realizing it, and why.
“What are you doing here, Kent?” Lois hissed at him, leaning over to whisper in his ear.
“Hey, everyone from the Workshop is here tonight. I’m just part of the crowd. How was I to know that this was the only seat left? I guess they saved a seat next to you for me.” Clark replied.
“Well, don’t think this means I have to talk with you.”
“Sorry, I just couldn’t help commenting on the waitress struggling with a group of demanding journalists.”
Thinking that, as long as she would be spending another night in his company, she should act nonchalant, Lois answered, “Yes, but just think of all the tips. This is probably more business than this place gets in a week.”
“True enough,” Clark replied as he placed his beer order and turned to the man across from him, obviously trying to follow her instructions not to talk with him.
Lois couldn’t believe how much she was enjoying the evening. It actually was fun to talk with other people who understood what challenges she had at work and weren’t just interested in celebrity nonsense. At the Daily Planet, no one ever asked her out any longer because she always turned them down. Her social life consisted of work events and evening interviews with sources for her stories. Here, her colleagues that she had thought were so annoying when they were gossiping about her and Clark she found could actually be funny and entertaining. She thought this must be what people do after work, when they aren’t working until ten o’clock at night. Perhaps there would be benefits to having a social life after all.
Lois had to give Clark credit for following her orders. He hadn’t initiated any conversation with her, but she did catch him looking at her from time to time. Because of this, she found herself watching him out of the corner of her eye, or unobtrusively staring when she knew he wasn’t looking. She had loosened up as the evening wore on, thanks partly to the friendliness of her colleagues and partly to the cheap wine that was liberally being poured. As they cleared the plates away, Lois decided it might be OK to converse with Clark after all, as long as it didn’t mean anything.
“So Clark,” Lois said, turning to see the surprised look on his face, “What’s your favorite food?”
“Well, I love Italian, especially pasta, but my mom’s fried chicken is also up there,” he said, “What about you?”
Lois’ eyes took on a glassy look as she said, “Chinese! I love Chinese. But not just anything. This place by me in Metropolis has the best Moo Goo Gai Pan. You know how some places put too much seasoning in it. And the fortune cookies have to be fresh, not stale. Yeah, nothing’s worse than stale fortune cookies. You know how when you open up the package, they have to be crisp enough to break open easily, but soft enough that you can bite into it without breaking a tooth. And the message has to be something interesting, too, not just a saying but a real fortune, like something you’d hear from a fortune teller with a crystal ball, telling you all about your love life and how many children you’re going to have.”
“I like Chinese, too. I know a great place where all the food is fresh, and the Moo Shoo pancakes are the best.”
“In *Smallville*?” Lois asked, incredulously, “I would have thought wheat bread was considered ethnic food in Kansas! I mean, do they even have restaurants in Smallville? I’m not counting the Tastee Freeze. A regular sit-down place. You know, a restaurant where they have tablecloths and waiters, and maybe even serve wine. Ah, wine, speaking of which, can you pour me some more?”
“Actually,” Clark said, “I think you’ve had enough. You’re starting to babble.”
“I don’t babble,” Lois said, as she leaned over Clark, reaching for the nearest wine bottle. “Oh, no you don’t, Lois,” he said, reaching for her.
“You are not my mother, Clark.” Lois said, suddenly realizing what she had said and regretting her earlier decision to admit to having an alcoholic mother when they had been talking on the patio the first night of the Workshop.
Lois felt Clark’s arms go around her as he held her in her seat, preventing her from reaching the wine. She sat, moving her arms against him as he continued holding her until she stopped squirming. His eyes held her gaze as if he was trying to figure out if she was going to keep struggling.
“I know, Lois. I’m not your mother, and neither are you,” said Clark, as he looked at her as if he understood every thought that ran through her head in the past few minutes. “Clark, that wasn’t what I meant, but thank you,” Lois said, shyly lowering her eyes from his. Feeling his arms around her was starting to remind Lois of waking up together on the couch.
“You’re welcome,” Clark whispered in her ear, as Lois gradually raised her eyes back to his face. She found herself looking deep into his eyes as he slowly (reluctantly?) began to pull his arms away.
“Thanks. Have a nice night!” Lois heard the waitress brightly announce as she placed the check on the table in front of Clark, interrupting what had felt like almost an intimate moment. The waitress turned to the person on Clark’s left and said the same thing, breaking Lois’ concentration from Clark to the idea of suddenly getting out of the warm restaurant and into some cool air. Yes, Lois definitely felt the need to cool things down, thinking that the wine must be what was making her feel warm and somewhat fuzzy in the head. She looked around but didn’t see her check on the table.
“Wait, miss, where’s my bill?” Lois called out to the waitress, who was working her way down the table.
The girl turned and looked at Lois, then at Clark, “Right there,” she said, pointing to the bill by Clark.
Looking down, she realized that the woman had put her order on the same tab as Clark’s. ”
“What!” Lois exclaimed, “This is one bill for the two of us! When everyone else is getting separate checks, why would you put our bills together? What were you thinking?”
“Oops, sorry. I thought, well, aren’t you two, um, of course not. It just looked like it. Let me—” she stammered at Lois.
“Don’t worry about it. I’ve got it,” Clark interrupted, placing cash and the bill into the waitress’ hand. “Have a good night.”
“Clark, what—” Lois started to say before she found herself propelled from the table and dragged outside the restaurant by Clark.
Once outside the door, Clark laid his hand on her arm to keep her still. “Lois, she made a mistake. I didn’t want everyone to know we were making a big deal over it, so I took care of it. Let it go.”
“Clark, how could she! I mean, what makes her think that with a table full of strangers attending a workshop together, the two of us would be together? What--am I wearing one of those signs that say ‘I’m with Stupid’?”
“Thanks, Lois. Nice to know you think so highly of me. Now, let’s go.”
Of course, just like all men, Clark was beginning to tell her what to do. “Wait one minute, buster. I’m not about to hang around with you on one more minute. My reputation can’t take it. That’s it. I’m going to the lab on my own, and I don’t want you following me,” Lois said, storming away from Clark.
“Lois, it’s not safe. Let me go with you.”
“Right, and share my scoop with you after you threatened to cut me out earlier. No. way.”
“Lo-is. It might be dangerous. I’m not trying to steal your story, just make sure that nothing happens to you.”
Lois looked at Clark and realized that there was no way a goody two-shoes like that would leave her alone if he thought she was planning another trip to the lab that night.
“You’re right, Clark. I think I’ll skip the visit tonight anyway. We should see what Jimmy has found out about our chemist friends before doing anything else. Maybe then we’ll understand what we might see in the lab. My editor is a bear when it comes to having all the facts straight anyway.”
“You’re sure you won’t go there on your own tonight?” Clark asked.
Sighing loudly, Lois answered, “No, it’s been a long day. I’m going to catch a ride back to the Center and turn in. See ya.” This time, Lois didn’t even bother turning around to see if Clark was following as she headed toward Eve’s car.
After returning to the dorm, Lois went up to her room to relax before pretending to turn in for the night. She had been unusually silent in the car on the return trip, so the other passengers had left her to her own thoughts. Behind the closed door of her room, she changed into black jeans and a dark sweatshirt and pulled her hair into a ponytail to keep it out of the way. Her black flats completed the outfit and were comfortable enough to wear for a nocturnal visit to the lab. Her conscience gave only a slight twinge at the idea of lying to Clark, but she knew that to get ahead, sometimes you had to take things into your own hands. She wasn’t about to spend any more time with him than necessary to keep the rumors down.
She mentally kicked herself for allowing him to sit next to her. Even though they hadn’t spoken together until the very end of dinner, that crazy waitress had somehow thought they were together. And if a stranger thought that, no wonder her colleagues were thinking the same thing. Lois couldn’t figure out what people were seeing that she wasn’t. After all, she wasn’t even attracted to Clark.
OK, she realized, maybe she was attracted to him, but that didn’t mean she had to act on it. It certainly didn’t mean that everyone else had to assume that they were having some sort of affair. Lois Lane did not have time for a man to complicate her life, and certainly not one who wasn’t even available. If she wanted someone, Claude was dropping enough hints with his rubbing her knees under the conference room table and caressing her shoulders whenever he stood over her when she was on the phone. Yes, if she wanted a man, the sophisticated Frenchman, Claude, was definitely more her type than some do-gooder boy scout from Kansas.
After waiting until the sounds from the adjoining rooms had settled into quiet, Lois slipped out of her room and down the sidewalk towards the old science building. In her dark clothes, she was barely visible in the dim light. As she approached the side entrance she and Clark had entered before, she realized that the padlock was back in place. She pulled on it, hoping that it would come undone as easily as it had for Clark. After a couple of sound tugs produced no results, she pulled out a pin from her pants pocket. Lockpicking was a skill that she knew would come in handy after reading that book last month. Finally, the lock gave way, and she managed to open the door and slip inside. Her steps carried her downstairs to the basement where they had found the hidden door before. Cautiously, she crept forward, keeping her hands held out in front of her to be ready if someone sprang out from the shadows.
As Lois neared the room, she noticed that the cabinet that had been obscuring the door was pushed aside to allow enough room to open the door. The frosted glass of the door revealed that the light inside was on, but she wasn’t able to see anything. A shadowy figure passed in front of the door and moved on, causing her to shrink back toward the cabinets. Lois stepped towards the door and hunched down, below the line of glass. Crouching by the keyhole, she tried to listen to what was happening inside. Aside from the slight clink of glass hitting glass, she only heard distant mumbling. When she turned her eye to the keyhole, she found that it looked directly on the blank side of the closest lab table, allowing her no further view.
Lois looked around to see if there was any other access to the room and spotted an upper window further down the hallway. The window was high in the wall, near the ceiling, and was also frosted glass. It was a small window, like those that tilted out to let out the hot air on a warm summer day, but she thought that if she could open it, the higher perch might give a better view. Lois tiptoed down the hall until she stood underneath the window. She began quietly pulling out wooden drawers in the cabinet directly under the window to give herself a foothold. Once she had pulled them out, she carefully began using them as steps to climb up the cabinet and sit atop it. Finally reaching the top, she had just enough room to crouch with her head between her knees and pull at the edge of the window. She succeeded in opening it about an inch, but then it wouldn’t budge beyond that. Peering down, she could see two figures huddled over a lab bench, swirling some substance in a beaker. Using tweezers, one of the men dropped a piece of shiny metal into the beaker, and it began to bubble. She twisted her head so that her ear was to the open window and she could listen in.
“Yes, the metal is reacting to the solution. We just need to heat it to the proper point to burn off the excess oxygen, and then we should be left with…gold!” Lois heard one of the men say. Wanted to be able to see more of the room, she pulled on the window once again to get a better look and was rewarded as it opened wider, although with a loud screeching sound of metal on metal.
“What was that? Did you hear something?”
Hearing the men stop in mid-conversation, Lois decided that she’d better hide before they found her. She swiftly climbed back down the cabinet and hid in the gap between the cabinets that she and Clark had used the day before. If someone stepped into the hall, they wouldn’t see her hiding in the dark space unless they looked directly at her. Only a moment later, she heard the door to the lab open and the shuffling of feet walking towards the cabinet where she had climbed to her listening post. Lois tried to remember if she had closed the drawers after climbing down as she held her breath to listen better. After a muttered curse from the hall, all became silent. Her heart beating in her chest suddenly sounded as loud as a booming canon to her ears. She strained to hear the footsteps along the hall but couldn’t tell if they were coming closer or receding.
The next few seconds of silence were reassuring as she let out a long breath that she had been holding. Obviously, the person must not have seen her, so she was safe. After a bit of internal debate whether she should stay to try to hear more or leave now, Lois decided to peek out from behind the cabinet to see if she could see anything in the hall. Turning her head, she never even saw the arm of the man who hit her from behind. Time seemed to stop as Lois felt a sharp rap on her skull and then felt her fingers slide across the wood of the cabinet as she fell to the floor. Her last thought as unconsciousness began to steal over her was, ‘Curse that stupid farm boy for being right’.
