Hope

03 - coffee

Upon seeing the name on the file and automatically recognizing it, Clark looked around, his eyes searching for someone who might have placed it there. Finding nothing, his eyebrows furrowed into a frown and he took a seat, placing the file into his bag before setting his laptop on the desk and opening it up. The thing that Kent realized as he shoved the file into a slot in his bag, was that it was light. Very light. Out of pure curiosity, he opened the file to see absolutely nothing. It was empty. It had nothing but an ID picture of Alex from her days in Quantico, attached to a paper clip at the top of the empty file.

Leaving the file alone, Clark decided to start his day of work. He would have to look further into it when there was less people around him. Clark had worked at The Daily Planet for a while, and had learned to tune out all the extra noise of printers or people yelling across the office, or Perry yelling across the office. It was all just extra noise to him. Suddenly, his attention was diverted to a woman's voice.

"You seem awfully focused." Lois said, leaning against the wall of his cubicle. Her silky red hair was loose along her shoulders and chest, and her expression was more serious than playful, as her comment sounded.

   "Lots to do." He replied shortly.

There was a short silence before Lois finally spoke again, "You weren't just following the work rules, were you? What was it? What other reason did you have?"

   "Lois, please-"

"No. If you were just following the rules, you wouldn't be so unemotional about it. You would have been looking over, or sad, but no. What is it?"

Clark just sat there in silence, sighing through his nose as he let the woman let out her frustration. What could he say? He didn't want to upset her any further, and didn't want to cause a scene in the middle of the office. He waited for Lois to finish, but before he could speak, she had already left with a frustrated huff. He didn't know what she wanted from him. Sure, she asked for an answer, but she knew he couldn't give a solid answer, he just wasn't like that; to spit any answer, whether it hurt that person or not. Clark knew she needed time, and he did too, but she seemed more distraught about it than he thought.

The rest of the work day was simply editing. There weren't any new stories to chase, and all Clark could think about was that empty file of the agent he met this morning. It made no sense. Who would put a random file on his desk, coincidently after he just met that person? Also, leaving it empty, with nothing but a small ID photo. Kent tried not to make it a huge deal, as he had to focus on getting back home. After letting Perry know he was clocking out, he started his walk home, his blazer hanging along his forearm, as his office bag lay on his other shoulder. As soon as he reached his apartment building, he quietly made his way up the elevator, standing amongst the other men and women that were coming home from work, or even leaving to go elsewhere. The elevator stopped at Clark's floor and he stepped out, walking to the door of his apartment while searching for his keys in his pockets and bag. Finally, as he found it, he heard heels approaching the door a few feet down from him.

"Hey!" A familiar voice called out, causing Clark to lift his head to see a face to match; it was Alex.

   "Agent Parrish? You live here?"

"Yeah, I do! What are the odds?"

"I know. You um... wanna come in? I have coffee."

"At 6 in the evening? Sure." Alex chuckled at the man's suggestion. She mentioned that she should set her things down before going in, so after that was done, she followed Clark into his clean apartment. Though they were in the same building, Clark's apartment looked far more different than Alex's. Different floors, different walls. The rooms and space was exactly the same, but the walls and furniture made it look like a completely different place. Parrish helped the journalist make their evening coffee, following him to the comfortable couch to settle down.

"Mm.. this is good." She mumbled after taking her first sip.

   "Heh, glad you like it." Clark replied, flashing a bright smile, "so... if you're not in the FBI anymore, what are you doing now?"

Parrish took a moment before answering that question. She was in the CIA, but could she really reveal that to Mr. Kent? No. she was a spy. "I'm working in Public Relations, as of now. I have a medical degree, but I don't know.. it's weird." Alex laughed, shaking her head and waving it off, making Clark give an amused chuckle.

"Well, I hope you find your place here. It took me some time too.."

   "I can imagine that. I mean, I've only known you for a few hours.. but I know a face that's been through some stuff, from one who's had it pretty good."

"How?"

   "I look for signs. Things I normally did while everything was going on."

"But, how do you know that applies to everyone?"

   "Not everything does– some deal with it in different ways, but we're all humans, and there are similarities."

Clark remained silent again, staring at her as she spoke and then calmly nodding his head as she finished. "I'm glad I bumped into you today."

   "Did I trigger a great day, or something?"

"No- I mean, you didn't make it good or bad. I'm just glad I did." Kent chuckled, fumbling his words as he rubbed the back of his neck.

   "Well, Clark, I'm glad you ran into me too."