Life In Smallville & Metropolis {9}

Chapter 18: Charade

Liana arrives at the Daily Planet and walks into the elevator to see Clark and she smiles. Clark says, "Hey." Liana softly says, "Hey." Clark says, "Did you already get my message?" Liana says, "Yep." Clark says, "So, we're still on for tomorrow tonight?" Liana smiles at Clark and she says, "Definitely." Clark looks at Liana's bag and says, "What's in the box?" Liana smiles and says, "It's a surprise. No, x-raying." Clark nods with a smile." Clark says, "It's gonna be a long day." Liana says, "Yep." Clark inches closer to Liana and says, "How about a sneak preview?" Liana looks at Clark with a nod and Clark brings Liana into his arms and they make out. The elevator dings and they step away from each other and Liana says, "Sometimes I swear you have more than two hands." They walk out the elevator to see the Daily Planet is crowed and Liana says, "Either that kiss altered my sense of time and space or this place is busier than usual. It's a big news day." Clark says, "I think it has something to do with our new editor." Liana says, "Another editor?" They walk up to their desk to see one desk with two name plates and a voice says, "Well... I guess I pulled the lucky number this week. Franklin Stern. And this must be the lovely and charming Ms. Lane, I presume." Clark smiles lovingly at Liana and says, "She sure is. Ever since Tess went away, we've gone through a lot of editors." Mr. Stern says, "Well, not for long. The board just launched a global search for the next editor-in-chief. I intend to make their decision very easy." Liana says, "And you decided to start your campaign by downsizing the desk inventory?" Mr. Stern says, "Ms. Lane... I have been, uh... reading through the personnel files... to identify any red flags. And I understand you two are entangled in an inter-office relationship?" Liana and Clark look at each other and Mr. Stern says, "Well, for whatever reason... it seems you're both spending so much time out of the office trying to reel in the big fish you're not delivering the daily catch." Clark says, "To be fair, sir, we've both turned in some pretty big stories." Mr. Stern says, "Here's a bigger one. Our fair city's disgraced DA, Ray Sacks just had his life sentence reversed. He gets out of prison today. Only one of these stays on the desk at the end of the day. May the best reporter win." Mr. Stern hands the couple their name slates and then he walks away. Liana says, "I can't believe this." Clark says, "I know, we'll figure something out." Liana nods. Later, Clark's sitting at his desk with Liana hovering over his shoulder and she says, "I don't know what's worse, Clark? That they freed the DA that threw me off the roof or that our editor threw us in the ring to wrestle for the same desk?" Clark says, "Don't worry, if we land a big enough story, we can save both our jobs. Now, in order for him to reverse his sentence Sacks must still have powerful friends down at City Hall. And according to the underground blogs he's having a welcome home party at Maxwell's." Liana says, "Crime kingpins like to keep out the outsiders. It'd be easier to crash the White House than it would be to sneak into that party. Look, we only have till the end of the day to get this done. I think we'd cover more ground if we split the work." Clark looks at her, nods, and says, "That's a good idea." Later, Liana's waiting outside of Tony's pizza because she found out this is where he likes to be. A car pulls up and Mr. Sacks comes out and Liana walks up to him and says, "Mr. Sacks, Liana Lane from the Daily Planet. You may remember me from the roof of the Daily Planet." Mr. Sacks says, "Oh, yes. Yes, I remember you. You have a nasty habit of always landing on your feet, don't you, Lane?" Liana says, "And now I need to land a story. So, who let you out of your cage? Since I'm the one that you sent skydiving without a parachute, I figured I'm at least owed a quote." Mr. Sacks says, "You have to much faith in The Blur, Lane. To think you can meet with me like this alone." Mr. Sacks snaps his fingers, and a man stands next to him. Liana says, "My editor knows where I am. Hurt me, and you'll be back behind bars. Mr. Sacks says, "Oh, I won't hurt you, no. He will. And this time, they won't find me guilty because they'll never find your body." The man points a gun at Liana and Mr. Sacks gets into his car and leaves. Liana knocks the gun out of the man's hand and the man goes to grab her neck and Liana freezes the man's neck until she can break herself free and then she knocks the man out. Liana sees a flash of a camera and the man looks at her and says, "No way. I can't believe I got something better than The Blur. I'm gonna be rich." Liana steps in front of the man and says, "Wait, you can't do that. You can either trash that photo or I throw you in the trash." The man shoves Liana into the wall and he runs off with a photo of her using her powers. Liana says, "Oh, crap." Later, Liana arrives at Maxwell's party, and she sees a fake cake and thinks of an idea. Liana gets dressed in a cute bunny costume and she hides in the cake. Later, Liana hears the drop roll, and she pops out of the cake and gets helped out of the cake and waves her hand with a smile at Mr. Sacks. Liana then sees the man who took a picture of her, and she hears a familiar voice say, "Liana?" Liana's surprised to see Clark and says, "Clark?" Liana purposely punches Clark and pretends to stumble into the man who took a photo of her, and she purposely steps on the phone resulting in it being destroyed. Liana says, "Oops. Sorry about your million dollars." Clark grabs Liana and they both leave the building. Later, they're both in Mr. Stern's office and he throws the newspaper about how Liana punched Clark in the face. Mr. Stern says, "I told you to find the story not be the story. One of you want to tell me what happened?" Liana can't exactly tell him the truth and Mr. Stern says, "Let me guess. You two had a lovers' spat?" Liana says, "No. There was just a misunderstanding. We try not to let our personal lives get in the way of our jobs." Mr. Stern says, "Well, you don't have to try anymore. Because you're both fired." Liana softly huffs and they both walk out of Mr. Stern's office and Liana grabs her beige peacoat to cover herself up and her and Clark pack their stuff and walk out the Daily Planet. Liana says, "Three years of selfless service to this paper and the new editor just fires us. I can't believe after everything I just went through to get that photo deleted; I get fired from my dream job." Clark says, "But you got fired for the right reasons, you destroyed a picture of my identity so Sacks wouldn't have gotten." Liana stops walking and says, "Actually, it wasn't photo of you. It was a photo of me using my powers. The reason I punched you, was a distraction, so I could smash the phone. Sorry, about that by the way." Clark says, "You were protecting your identity." Liz says, "Yeah, and in doing so I got us both fired." Clark says, "I don't blame you for that." Liz says, "Well, I do. I just need a minute alone." Clark nods and watches Liana walk away. As Liana walks away, someone grabs her and takes her hostage. Later, Liana wakes up on a bed in a strange place and she feels a hand grab her shoulder and she grabs it and turns around to see her knight and shining armor, Clark. Liana wraps her arms around Clark's neck, and he wraps his arms around Liana's waist, and he says, "I'm so glad you're okay." Clark then lifts Liana in his arms, and he speeds out the room.

The next night, Liana meets Clark on the roof and sees he set up a romantic dinner. Clark smiles and hands Liana a red rose and she smiles and smells the rose. Liana says, "It's beautiful, Clark. This is just what I need." Clark smiles. Liana and Clark eat dinner. After dinner, Liana gets out the surprise for Clark and she says, "Here." Clark grabs the box and opens it to see a small telescope with his named engraved with gold lettering. Clark smiles and says, "I love it. Thank you." Clarks the gets out a small box and gives it to Liana and Liana opens it to see a small golden locket and she opens it up to see a picture of her and Clark when they were little. Clark watches Liana smile and softly says, "Happy Anniversary, Liana." Liana looks up a Clark with happy tears and says, "Happy Anniversary, Clark. Will you put it on for me?" Clark nods and Clark stands up grabs the necklace and places it around Liana's neck. Liana stands up to stand in front of Clark and she places her hand on his face and says, "I love you so much." Clark smiles lovingly and says, "I love you, too." The couple share a passionate kiss under the night sky.

Note: This is what the necklace looks like.