Author's Note: I do not own the characters. At first, it might look as though this is in the same vein as most of my other stories, but keep reading and following the narrative, and you will be rewarded. Please comment and review.
CAFÉ ET AMOUR.
Chapter 1.
The office on the 20th floor looked as though a tornado had swept through it. Wherever one looked, files and paperwork were strewn about. It was almost impossible to tell where the desks stopped and the stacks of files started, or indeed remember what colour the carpet was. This was the base of operations for the Daily Planet's star reporting team - Clark Kent and Lois Lane, husband and wife, partners in crime. The names etched onto the glass in the door had Lois above Clark, a requested the feisty brunette had pestered anyone in charge of such matters to change despite alphabetical precedence holding sway. Kent might appear before Lane in the phone book but as the more experienced reporter, Lois believed her name should appear first, as it always did when they shared by-lines. Clark remained steadfastly non-committal because he enjoyed winding her up just as much as he did calming her down.
As the office had been spick and span when he'd left earlier in the morning, the current state confused him. Clark slowly called out to Lois as he closed the door.
"Lois?"
From somewhere in the vicinity of where he knew her desk was situated, he heard the muffled reply.
"Yeah. Oh come on, where did you get to?"
"Lois, I just had to run an errand on the far side of town, you know that! What's going on in here?"
With a heavy sigh, Lois popped up from beneath her desk looking fed up and frustrated. Her hair still had the neat up-do she usually wore these days, only this time a few strands had found their way down the side of her face, requiring her to try and blow them back. She peered up at Clark through the narrow lenses of her glasses, and looked for all the world as though she was about to point out the error of his ways.
"Not you! The file with the poison pen letters to the Mayor. Another letter surfaced this morning and Perry's man at Met PD forwarded him a copy. I think there's a pattern in these letters and I just want to check it out but I can't find the file with the rest of them.
"We are this close to cracking the mystery," she held her thumb and index fingers an inch apart on the word 'this' as she continued, "and finding out how and where our would-be assailant might strike. We can break the story before it even happens, and then the Mayor will have to grant us a few privileges."
"Are you sure one of the interns didn't take it back to Archives?" asked Clark, knowing that it was unlikely.
Lois stood up, sweeping away the small creases that had formed on her black pencil skirt. Her outfit for today included a lemon yellow blouse with the buttons undone to just above her cleavage, as usual. Her matching black jacket was still hung up on the coat stand in the corner by the door. Her face had taken on a slightly rosy complexion from her exertions in overturning everything in the office, but it didn't matter. She was a vision that made Clark think things that would make a whore blush. He could visualise the glint in her eye, feel the hitch in her breath and smell the delicate aromatic scent of her skin. He couldn't focus on any of that right now as he'd just asked a question which she was no doubt about to answer.
"I didn't use an intern because Perry is keeping this one close. He's the one who got the tip-off in the first place, and he wants me to cover it. And now I can't find it."
Clark had just begun to start shifting the paperwork piled on his own desk when Lois piped up again.
"And to top it all off, the coffee maker's on the fritz. I might as well have been drinking ditch water." She waved her arms around before slapping her hands on her sides resignedly, further evidence of her growing frustration. "Can't you use your super eyesight to spot it?"
Clark smiled. "Lois, it doesn't work like that. I'm afraid I'll just have to join you in this search for the Holy Grail."
A knock on the door punctuated the conversation before Jeff Hage entered the office. The man was in his 20s but still had the youthful features and awkward gait of a teenager, and he was carrying a clipboard and the nervous smile he always reserved for a visit to the office of Lois Lane and Clark Kent. It was warranted on this occasion as he surveyed the papers strewn around the office - the Planet's power couple were working on something big. No longer a mere intern, Jeff had been a cub reporter for about eighteen months now after a spell away working for the Gotham Gazette. He now occupied the desk in the bullpen once used by Clark, and he'd been making a few waves at the Daily Planet in recent months.
"Hi Miss Lane, Kent. Do you guys have a minute?"
"Sure Jeff, what can we do for you?" Clark replied.
Jeff moved further into the office, taking care to avoid stepping on any paperwork. "Well as you know, the Planet collects for the homeless shelter every year. This year, we're asking for donations but with a difference. If you donate, you have to give up something for a whole week. Failure to complete your forfeit means you have to double your donation. No exceptions."
Clark moved over so he could see how much people were donating. As was the way with such things, the amounts being donated tended not to vary too much because nobody wanted to be seen to be flashing the cash or worse, a cheapskate. Most people were putting $20 down.
"I think we can manage twenty bucks apiece," said Clark, so Jeff started to write their names on the list. There was an extra column detailing what each person was giving up for the week. In most cases, it was simple things like smoking, drinking, chocolate or doughnuts. One person was giving up the use of their car.
"Great!" replied Jeff. "So what are you guys gonna give up?"
Clark glanced over to Lois with a smirk before turning to Jeff. "I think Lois is giving up coffee for a week."
Lois, who'd not really been giving the conversation her full attention as she continued to rummage for the missing file, caught that part as though she'd been blessed with super-hearing.
"That's some death wish you've got there, Smallville," she said, narrowing her eyes at Clark.
She moved away from her desk and slinked towards Jeff, unnerving both men - Jeff because he was still a little intimidated by Lois' forceful personality, and Clark because he was a touch fearful of what she might have in mind. She took the clipboard and pen from Jeff, quickly scrawled something down and then headed back to her desk with a sidelong glance at Clark that automatically suggested two can play that game. Clark was really worried now.
Jeff held the clipboard and looked at it. His face became bathed in a beetroot hue as all of a sudden he didn't know where to look. Clark took the clipboard to read it. Beside his name, Lois had written the word SEX in big block capitals. Clark's eyes went wide as his mouth opened, stunned. Lois simply carried on searching for her file as though nothing had happened. Then she spoke, smiling sweetly.
"Oh and Jeff? Nice work on making the front page yesterday. Who knows, if you keep that up, you'll be out of that bullpen in no time."
She knew Jeff was a bit scared of her and that he'd always had a bit of a crush on her, and she also liked how he lit up whenever she was nice to him or paid him a compliment, as though she'd made his day. It was no different here. Her opinion clearly mattered a lot to him.
"Thanks, Miss Lane!" he gushed liked a love-struck schoolboy.
"How many times do I have to tell you, it's Lois."
"And I'll remember that next time, Miss Lane."
Clark was still stood in a stupor at what he'd been made to forfeit as Jeff exited the office.
"Clark," Lois' voice broke him out of his daze. "Are you gonna help me locate that file or not?"