"I assume you two have heard of Love and Passion?" their temporary editor, Stern, asked them when they entered his office.
Clark and Lois looked at each other uncomfortably. They hadn't spoken any further on the subject of their breakup and working together was proving difficult. They both wondered if he was trying to put them back together with some sort of strange counseling session.
"I beg your pardon?" Lois said, looking distrustingly back to Stern.
"The soap opera," he explained. "It comes on at 1:00 on STA."
"I don't understand, sir," Clark said, his eyes narrowed in confusion.
"There is trouble on the set. Someone has been sending threatening notes to one of the current stars of the show, a Melissa Daggert."
"I don't mean to sound unconcerned, but isn't it fairly common for a star to get all sorts of creepy and threatening letters?" Lois asked.
"Whoever is sending them is starting to step it up a notch from the average nut, and there is reason to suspect that it is the same person that killed Lillian Decker, an actress who was also on Love and Passion, last year. They never found her killer and now it looks as if the killer might strike again. I want details about what is going on and what is being done about it."
"Do we need to set up an interview?" Clark asked.
"Better yet, will this take two people?" Lois asked.
Clark was hurt and looked at Lois, but she wasn't even looking at him.
"Oh, there won't be an interview. I want the both of you, emphasis on the both, to go undercover. Nothing clams up a star in regards to their personal life like the press."
"Undercover as what?" Lois asked.
"As actors on the show. I've set you both up with well-known talent agents, who know your situation and will keep your secret, and it just so happens that there are two openings for a male and a female part."
"I can't act," Clark and Lois said simultaneously, both in concerned tones.
"I don't know about that. Lane, you're a first-class liar, not that I'm knocking it, it's more than necessary in both your work as an investigative reporter and your work as an actress. And you've both done a great job of pretending for the past couple of days that you were never in a relationship and that you're still capable of working together."
"That's a low blow, Mr. Stern," Lois said.
"If you want to refuse the job," he continued, "it's fine with me, but you had better head over to classifieds for tips on other openings."
"We'll take it, sir," Clark said.
"I can speak for myself," Lois said, speaking to Clark for the first time that day. She turned back to Stern, "I'll take it."
"I knew you would. You are to report to the STA studio at 2:00. You'll get the lowdown on how your new job will work, but remember it's secondary to finding out more about the notes and the investigation. You won't have to audition as your talent agents are respected enough that you've already been hired."
He gave them a paper with more details about their assignment and Clark and Lois left the office.
"It looks like we're going to have to work together again," Clark tried to say cheerfully.
"Says who?" Lois asked. "We can go our separate ways in the studio. We simply have to collaborate on the story at the end."
"Lois, we have to talk."
"Later, we have 30 minutes to get over to the studio."
TBC