Orokid: So… I technically don't know how I had come up with this. I had been on YouTube watching a Chlois (current Chloe = future Lois) video when I suddenly had a sentence to start from. It was odd. It was cool. It… is the usual thing I've done with most stories I've written. ^^ I'm too weird for words sometimes I think.

Moving on… I really don't have too much to say other than that I haven't really watched much of Smallville after season 5, so I'm not really caught up with the series. Thing is, after I heard what was going on with Chloe's life in the storyline, I got too irritated to keep watching. It was immature, but that's me. Again. It's who I am. Sorry to anyone that may have an ounce of doubt to my mental maturity or not. ^^ Other than that… Blah. It's not much, I know, but I'm working uphill against a Writer's Block- and oh do I hate having it.

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Smallville or anything that has to do with the characters from the television show. That belongs to the writers and the channel that shows it. Not me. At all. Got it? Good.

Hope you enjoy!

Lying To Him

It hadn't taken her long to remember how she had hated lying to him.

It had been a painful reminder when she had watched him walk through the glass doors and politely ask for a job from Perry White. At the time, she had been arguing over an article that the old editor had wanted her to revision- but that had changed the moment she had looked at him through those thick glasses and into his blue eyes. Immediately, she had returned to her old self with her knees weakening at the sight of him, and she desperately wished for him to look at her and know the truth about her.

Yet her only watched her with glazed eyes, acknowledging her to be someone that she wasn't- because he didn't have to do anything more than that. He was told to partner up with her as a woman he had once despised, to learn from her ways of reporting- and yet he hadn't noticed the familiarity of it all like she had. As she yearned for his realization, he proceeded to remain oblivious to her secret identity.

So, as a punishment almost, she had begun to tease him much like her cousin had once done. In that, he fell into perfect rhythm, responding to her taunts about his hometown- her hometown- with the animosity that he had once done before. She knew that she was punishing him with every jab she made with her words, though she was positive that he had no clue as to why the Planet's best reporter was harsh to him other than out of playful banter as before.

Her heart had sunk lower than it had for years as days… then weeks… passed by without him pulling her aside and chastising her for her lack of trust in him. He had seemingly forgotten about the woman he had called his close friend, the one whom had pulled him from death's door and closed it before her. He had forgotten her.

And it hurt. Possibly more than she might ever allow him to know.

The ache would return to her when she would return to her small apartment after work, as she would pass by the pictures of she and him back when they had been carefree and young. In one, they had been laughing about some joke or another when her father had suddenly captured the image forever. They were in junior high at the time, sitting on her front porch and drinking lemonade. In other, it had been her and her two close friends from high school, standing straight and tall so that his lovely mother could photograph the beginning to their freshmen jitters. So many memories…

… that he had forgotten.

She could remember how it was to be wrapped within his strong arms for the first time after she had dyed her hair into her cousin's rich auburn hair. His glasses were gone, his bright blue eyes illuminating the night, and she didn't care any longer how she had been in danger mere moments before. She could only feel her heart throbbing in her chest, much as it always had since some time in middle school, and she could only watch him as he set her down.

She had asked for a name at that time, noticing for the first time that he had donned the colors of an old printing press- and he had only answered "A friend." She had felt her face flush in a light pink color, and her gut hoped that he had meant it as a clue to her- that he did know her from beneath the attitude and dye job.

To write her story, to tell of his bravery, she had opted to give him the name 'Superman', hoping to cause him to remember how she had named a skill swapping teenager with a similar title.

After that moment, she had waited for him to make another clue, waited for him to offer that simple Kent smile that only he could give as the Daily Planet's employee meeting where articles were to be given and ideas to be taken. She found herself watching him, studying him- until she had been put to the task of meeting him once more, known to be the only reporter with any clue to his name.

She could remember at that moment Perry's words when he had been standing beside the Wall of Weird, gazing at her life's work with a studied eye. "The only thing worse is having the story of your dreams- and to be afraid to print it."

She looked back at him, watched him with soft eyes, before interjecting about not knowing how to get in touch with someone of Superman's stature. She wasn't allowed to tell the world that she already knew, that she had been someone that had been dropped from the world years ago- and she wasn't the type to plaster his secret on the side of a building just because it might earn her the Pulitzer she desired.

As the weeks turned to months, as the articles were published about where he had come from (planet-wise, of course) and the battles that he faced on the streets of Metropolis, she was restricted to act as though she hadn't known him to be his old self. She continued to tease him, to hurt his feelings, and she went so far she to tell him how she believed his other self to be the perfect rendition of a man in the universe. She continued to pretend as though she had no secret Wall Of Weird at home.

She continued to lie to him, even if it was hurting her in the end.

She stared at the computer screen, gazing at the words that she had once thought could solve all her problems long ago. The picture was of someone that she herself could not picture any longer, even if she had once been in the mirror each morning when she would wake up. It was an obituary- and she had written it as her new identity. It had been written from a passive view so that it might not sound as though she were placing her old self onto a pedestal- and her editor had complimented her on being a reporter instead of a family member for the article.

No one knew the truth behind her actions, having never told a soul the truth to her inner identity. No one knew that the body that had been reclaimed in the supposed 'accidental' fire had been of the one that she had taken the existence of. At the time, she didn't think that she could trust anyone after the proclamation of death for her from Lex Luthor himself. It was easier to care for her own worries than to force someone of knowing her deep dark secret, even if more dangerous in itself.

"You know… it isn't always the best idea to focus on the past, Lois."

The sound of his voice reverberated in her head, and she felt her heart race at the feeling of his breath against her ear. She despised the fact that he could still get such a rise from her even after their years apart, although she knew that one could not change one's heart no matter how they might try.

"Shut it, Smallville." The usual retort. It was horrible for her to use it, but she knew that she had to remain in character- much like she had since their rekindling friendship had begun. She had to be Lois. "I've been researching Lex's old bank files." It was a lie, but she was sure that she could somehow find the paperwork to go along with her hunch. Somehow, she always did. "There was a withdrawal out of his account the same day of the fire- and I think that he has something to do with it." She knew he did, but that was a different thing entirely. Swirling around in her chair, she looked at him with that same smug that he had once complained about in the past. "It might be a long shot but… if I can get him on this, then we have one less Luthor to worry about."

He was leaning against the nearest desk, watching her through those absurd thick rimmed glasses with a sparkle in his eyes that she had once saw in his eyes only for her. Though it had taken a while, it had soon returned- for Lois. Often, she had found herself hating the woman, even if it was herself. "Funny thing about that…" She watched the Kent smile that made her weak, feeling glad to be sitting down. He raised a hand, and her eyes caught sight of papers that she had forgotten of- and, while her heart sped out of fear and excitement within her chest, she contained it enough to make sure her face kept completely still. "I looked into the dental records of the victim in the fire."

Dental records. That had been the only thing that she couldn't completely cover up at the time, opting to only cause the ability of assuring the police that the victim was the person it was supposed to be. She had already crossed over into her cousin's form at the time, who's father had been killed in the line of duty. Lois had been unemployed by the Planet a few years prior due to a lack of potential story ideas, so there wasn't someone who could determine the difference between the two after Perry White had taken over the editor position.

"Oddly… they don't match the records from her past." The man whom she had been cursing for his lack of intellect and memory had her in a corner. "I cross-referenced pictures and found that they look like your old ones."

Shrugging, she swiveled her chair back around, looking at the screen with interested eyes. "I don't know what you're thinking of, Smallville. You could have made a mistake." She didn't want him to see how she was lying through her teeth, fearful that he may have crossed onto a boundary that she had once been determined to hide from the world. Even if she had once wished him to figure it out, she wasn't quite sure that she did any longer.

Footsteps. He was standing behind her again. As he leaned down, she felt her heart race once more, and she felt the tips of her fingers tremble against the key pad. "I missed when you were blonde, you know", he whispered, breath against her cheek. She felt his hand tighten upon her shoulder, and she remained in place out of uncertainty as his lips drew ever closer to her- until he had planted a small yet simple kiss upon her cheek. "I'll always love you, no matter what form you take, Chloe. I just couldn't find the right time to actually say it."

As she slowly turned her head to look at him, he was already retreating- though he had paused for a moment to blatantly yet carefully trash the papers that he had in his hands.

It was then that she knew that there was no reason to lie to him any more.

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Orokid: So… what did you think? I know that it was a pretty random idea at the time (and that people have probably written it better than me) but I sorta feel better about this story than some of the others that I've been writing recently. So, if you could, please share with me your thoughts about it- I'm curious and I think that it would be cool to hear what you guys think.

Thanks for reading!! ^^