A/N: Hey all! Here's my first go at an actual fic that isn't some quick bit of fluff I wrote in an old journal. Boredom plus 16 hours in a car equals lots of writing ideas, and this story popped out. It's not the newest or greatest idea for a story, but maybe somebody out there will enjoy it anyways. Hope it entertains ya!
Chapter 1: Life is Good
Even in the dark with only the slightest hint of moonlight coming through the blinds, Lois could see something was bothering her husband. She swept her bangs out of her eyes and glanced at the alarm clock, noting it was just going on four in the morning. After Clark had left the bed to pace quietly in the corner, Lois had woken up when she felt the sheets get cold. Now she was attempting to figure out what was bothering him.
"Come back to bed," Lois said, her voice thick with sleep. Clark spun around to look at her, having not realized she was awake. "And tell me what's bothering you." Clark sighed and ran a hand through his hair, knowing that he could no longer attempt to struggle through his worries in solitude now that Lois was aware of them. He came back over to the bed, sliding in under the cool sheets. Lois snuggled up close to him and wrapped her arms around his torso, resting her cheek on his broad chest.
"Jeez your feet are freezing!" Clark exclaimed.
"That's what happens when you leave the bed," Lois laughed. "But you're just stalling. I know my cold toes don't bother you."
"It's nothing," Clark whispered, pulling Lois closer to him and closing his eyes.
"You do know if you don't tell me tonight that I'm only going to hound you about it at work tomorrow," Lois said matter-of-factly. It wasn't up for discussion, and Clark knew it. He started running his fingers through Lois' hair, an act that always calmed both of them down.
"I had a dream. Shook me up. That's all."
"What happened?"
"I don't know actually. I couldn't really remember anything when I woke up. I was suddenly wide awake and I had this sort of... feeling of anxiety. I was trying to figure it out and remember, but you caught me before I decided to take a quick flight to shake it off."
"Oh," Lois said, pulling herself away from where she had buried herself in Clark's chest to look up at him. "You can still go you know. If that'll help?"
Clark opened his eyes and smiled at her. "I think you've helped enough that I don't need to," he replied as he kissed her on the forehead to punctuate his statement. "And I think your toes will fall off if I don't keep them warm for you." Lois smiled, knowing that the problem was solved, and she snuggled into Clark's chest again.
"I bet it was all that chinese food that gave you the weird dream," Lois said. "Maybe you should cut back." Clark smiled. Leave it to Lois to fix the issue with a joke. He wasn't going to let her get away with it though. Not completely, anyway.
"Oh yeah?" Clark asked, giving her a squeeze. "This coming from the woman who ate five whole pieces of crab rangoon."
"Did not! I had three."
"Honey, not only am I a reporter, but I'm a superhero. Did you really think I wouldn't notice you sneaking those other two pieces while I was re-reading the notes from today?" Clark's eyebrows rose but the expression was lost in the dark. Lois was still snuggled in his chest.
"Alright, alright. You win. I love that crab rangoon from Jade Spoon. It's a weakness."
"But at least you're admitting it. That's the first step."
"Can it buddy. You don't even want me to bring up your weaknesses. Especially not at 4 in the morning," Lois growled.
"Ah, but I only have one," Clark said with a grin.
"That's what you think," Lois laughed.
"Try me."
"Your mom's apple pie," Lois said.
"Damn! Right to the quick! You know me too well Miss Lane."
"And don't you forget it," Lois smiled, closing her eyes, finally exhausted of the conversation and willing sleep to come once again.
"Never," Clark whispered, free of his previous anxiety, content in bed with his Lois.
Clark could hear Lois cursing under her breath in the bedroom, and he smiled as he decided to pour her coffee into a travel mug. She'd woken up late and was having trouble starting the day. While Clark knew it was his fault she was short on sleep, he found her rushing around the apartment rather endearing. He probably wouldn't find it so funny if he couldn't move at speeds that broke the sound barrier.
A loud thud, followed by an even louder, "FUCK!" came from the bedroom and Clark stopped adding vanilla creamer to their coffee to check in on Lois. A quick focus of his eyes and Clark could see her bent over in front of the bed, one hand on her head, the other one blindly swiping underneath the oak frame. He could see what all the fuss was about- an errant patent leather pump was just out of her reach. With a grin he sped into the bedroom and promptly lifted the bed over his head. Lois got up off of her knees and bent down to grab the missing heel. She stepped out of Clark's way and smoothed out her skirt while he lowered the bed back to it's rightful place.
"You could have done that before I slammed my head," Lois harrumphed, shoving the heel on her foot and taking off down the hall for the kitchen.
"Sorry honey, I was fixing your coffee," Clark said as he appeared before Lois in a blur, handing over her travel mug. Lois took the mug and gave Clark a quick peck on the cheek.
"You're forgiven, now let's get going or we're going to be late."
"How did you ever get to the Planet on time before you met me?" Clark chuckled as he grabbed both of their briefcases in one hand and put the other around Lois' waist.
"Sheer luck and aggressive driving," Lois smiled, giving him another peck on the cheek before he swept both of them up and took off high into the sky.
Lois was adjusting her hair as the elevator opened up to reveal the already bustling bullpen of the Daily Planet. "I really need to invest in some heavy duty hair spray one of these days. You'd think I would've learned by now," she grumbled as she continued to adjust her waves with her free hand while following Clark to their desks.
"I think it's sexy. The windblown look," Clark whispered in her ear as he set down Lois' briefcase before going to sit at his desk. Lois smiled and a hint of a blush crept into her cheeks. She too sat down, took another swig of coffee out of her mug, and began pulling notes out of her briefcase.
"Morning guys!" a shout came from over the top of Lois's one cubicle wall that blocked her and Clark off from Gil and Ron. Clearly Gil wasn't in yet as Jimmy was peering over from his side of the wall at Lois and Clark.
"Morning Jim," Clark said cheerily.
"Hey Jimmy," Lois smiled, unfazed by the young man peering down at her work.
"I've finally figured out my Halloween costume idea," Jimmy exclaimed excitedly, as if this was the biggest news the bullpen would see all day. He hopped off of Gil's chair, which he had been standing on to see over the cubicle wall, and came around to sit on the edge of the middle of Lois and Clark's back to back desks.
Clark glanced at the calendar hanging on his side of the cubicle wall with a puzzled expression. "Jimmy, it's August."
"Clark, good costumes take time," Lois said with a look at Clark that said 'play nice.'
"Right, and that means I've only got, like, 2 months left."
"Alright, alright," Clark conceded with a roll of his eyes.
"So take a guess!" Jimmy cried, practically bouncing on the desktops.
Lois began sucking on the end of the pen she was currently holding and her eyebrows knit together in thought. "Hmm. Waldo?" she asked.
"Nope."
"The Lone Ranger?" Clark tried.
"The who?" Jimmy asked. Lois snorted, earning her a glance from Clark that said 'you play nice.'
"Robin?" Lois tried again. Clark tried to hide a smile. He made a mental note to tell Bruce about the image of Jimmy in Robin's costume.
"LANE! KENT! Get in here!" bellowed Perry from across the room. The costume debate was over for now.
"Coming Chief!" Lois yelled. She grabbed a notepad before turning to Jimmy and saying, "We'll keep brainstorming." She winked and followed Clark to Perry's office. After taking their respective seats, Perry started.
"Alright. Where do you two stand on this case?"
"Sanderson is still pleading not guilty. I'm positive, as I'm sure the court is, that he embezzled all that money from Willis & Co. but nobody has strong enough evidence, and he knows it," Lois explained.
"We're going through old files from the company to see if the reported income in each quarter meets what was actually being made to see if we can spot when the company started losing money. He had to have been taking small amounts for years and years but he seems to have all the paperwork covered so far. Hopefully we can find a connection to him though. That $22 million he suddenly made didn't come from nowhere," Clark added.
"Good, keep it up. If anyone can nail this guy it's you two," Perry grunted, pleased with his top reporting team. "I had a story on the new Metro Park vote but I'll pass it along to Ron so you two can keep on this case. That's all I need from you then, go figure it out."
"Thanks Chief," Clark said.
Perry nodded and pointed to Lois as an after thought, "Oh, and Jimmy is going as Teen Wolf this Halloween. He told me so the minute he walked in this morning."
"Dammit Chief! I would've figured it out," Lois whined. Perry and Clark smiled as she stamped her heel and walked out of the office and back towards her desk.
"I don't know how you handle her Clark," Perry said with a chuckle. It was always a good day when he could push Lois' buttons a little first thing in the morning.
"With mountains of patience," he answered before leaving the office as well, Perry shaking his head as he went. Lois had already resumed the costume discussion with Jimmy by the time Clark had walked over.
"You could borrow Clark's old Smallville letter jacket. Although it would probably be way too big for you."
"I can't believe the Chief spilled the beans! Wait until you see the mask I'm trying to get. It's awesome."
"Hey Lois, I was gonna start on the 2005 company spending reports, see if there's anything in there," Clark said as he sat down at his desk once more.
Jimmy hopped off Lois' desk where he had been perched and started backing towards the elevators. "Oh! Hey I'll get outta your way. I gotta get some shots of the proposed site of the new Metro Park for the Chief anyways. I'll check ya guys later!"
"Bye Jimmy!" Lois and Clark said simultaneously.
"Would you like me to just handle these files?" Clark asked once Jimmy was out of sight.
"I explained this to you last night over that chinese food Smallville. Where's the fun in that? You'd get all the credit. Not all of us can speed our way through tedious corporate files, and I like it that way," Lois smiled. She winked at Clark before grabbing the 2006 spending reports up off the middle of their desks.
"Yes ma'am," Clark replied, happy at work with all of the anxieties from the previous night forgotten. Clark took a moment to appreciate how great life was. Lois looked radiant, her eyes scanning the reports, the end of her pen in her mouth, her dark waves of hair flowing just over her shoulders. Yes, life was good, and Clark knew just how good he had it. On the other side of the city, another man was appreciating life as well- life on the outside of Stryker's.
Dr. Raymond Burke took in a deep breath and smiled. The summer sunshine felt good on his face, and he instantly felt rejuvenated as he stepped inside the sleek black car and rode away towards downtown Metropolis. It had been 10 years since Dr. Burke had been on the outside, no thanks to a spunky young reporter. It would have been longer, but good behavior goes a long way. Besides, he smiled, he had truly reformed. Although Dr. Burke had originally been arrested for illegally testing new medical technology of his design on unwilling human subjects, he had only one piece of technology he wished to test this time, and only one subject he wanted to try it on- Lois Lane.