milliways_bar | (no subject)

"Yah. With the Smallville Torch. I'm the editor, too."

So what if it is a high school paper?

"Editor," she repeats, obviously impressed even though she would have been in the astronomy club with Clark in high school.

"I'm guessing journalism is what you plan on going into after school?"

She nods, grinning. "I'm planning on getting an internship with the Daily Planet this summer."

Her eyebrows go up. "The Daily Planet...that's a very prestigious newspaper."

Well, the Metropolis comment makes more sense now.

"I know. They'll only take the best."

Chris smiles. "You seem devoted to your craft, I'm sure you'll make it."

Chloe shrugs. "Pete says I'm obssessive, but at least I'm not running around on a field chasing after a ball with the rest of the jockstraps."

"Sports aren't so bad but some schools get a little crazy over them, which can be hell if you're not into sports."

Chloe nods, remembing Coach Walt's fanaticism. "Where you into sports in high school, Chris?"

"I played soccer for a while but quit when it ate up too much of my time." Not to mention the injuries.

"I went to an all-girl school though and those tend to be a little more blase about sports than their co-ed counterparts."

"An all-girl's school? Couldn't have been fun."

Chris shrugs. "I enjoyed it although a lot of the girls missed being around guys. It made dating a little more difficult but I didn't care too much."

She thinks for a moment. "It did make joining the military afterwards a bit of a culture shock."

She raises an eyebrow. "You joined the military? Talk about your drastic change of scenery."

"To say the least. Sometimes it was like being surrounded by hundreds of those 'jockstraps'. Just replace 'chasing a ball' with 'blowing things up real good'."

She laughs. "Good comparison. What made you enlist with good ole Uncle Sam?"

"I wanted a career in military intelligence so the military seemed like a good place to start."

Chloe's quiet for a moment, thinking back to their first conversation. "Is that how you got to work with the CTU?"

"Yes," she nods. "I went to work there after I got out of the military. My dad worked there so he sort of pushed me in that direction. I had originally been looking at the FBI."

"What does your father do there?"

"He was the Regional Director so he oversaw various branch offices and coordinated with the folks at the Federal level. Thinks like that. The field agents did the work that is closer to what the public imagines the job to be like - undercover work, raids. Things like that."

Chloe nods. "What's the most exciting thing you've seen on a job?"

"I worked with computers so most of my exciting days involved preventing the system from crashing during the crisis."

She shrugs. "Honestly, the journalists covering the crises as they unfolded were closer to the action."

"What crisis?"

Chris thinks for a moment.

"There were several when I worked there. The most recent was the bombing of Air Force One, the attack on nuclear power plants and the kidnapping of the Secretary of Defense. All the same day."

She sighs. "Since I no longer work at CTU, I had to get my information from the newsmedia. Almost every major source had people on the scene, as close to the power plants as they could get and right where the wreckage of the plane was found."

"Understandable," Chloe responds. "Got to be in the heat of the action to get the scoop."

She looks at Chris curiously. "When did you stop working there?"