A/N: Will continue my other story, "Clark Versus Lex," but I hit a wall and am taking a *short* break. Felt like doing something a bit more humorous and a lot less serious than my other stories... I'm not in a mood to depress myself by writing agsty stuff... Oh, and for some reason during this piece I pictured Clark being a little bit more Dean Cain-ish than Brandon Routh... sorry Routh fans. I love him too, but Dean Cain brought a lot more personality to the screen. XD

Enjoy! (and review...)

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Maybe plotline. And my imaginary friend, Clark. And all mistakes are mine to keep, too. :D

Clark just didn't get it. He didn't understand what was so difficult about this situation.

Really, how difficult could it be? This was absolutely ridiculous to fear or be nervous about. No harm could come to him just by participating. After all, all it took was to speak up, listen in, and participate. What could he possibly lack- Speaking up? Check. When he wanted to anyways. Good Listener? Double check. In fact make that a supercheck, with a little red cape flying behind it. And participating shouldn't have been hard.

Shouldn't have been, anyways.

He scowled into his computer screen. Maybe it was just an alien-thing, but Clark Kent knew one thing for sure: when it came down to the rumor-mill, he was downright clueless. It wasn't necessarily the topics of conversation, or even conversation itself, so much as the upkeep. Clark simply didn't have time to keep up on the mundane things of everyday life- he had to get interviews, write stories in time for Perry's deadlines, save the world, secretly spend time with his son, and take care of his place, and his mom, and Lois- for God's sake, he wasn't Superman!

Oh.

Mildly irritated with himself for his- albeit mental- Freudian slip, he decided to take a break and grab some coffee from across the bullpen. Not that the drink in itself would do him any good, besides satisfying a small craving- but the idea of doing something as mind-numbing as pouring himself a hot cup of joe was inspiring him to take action.

Okay, so the coffee wasn't that hot. And it poured out of the pot at an almost slug-like pace. But it was refreshing to get his mind off of things. After all, how was he supposed to know that Steve from sports was gonna be a father or that Teri from internationals was cheating on her boyfriend? Was it really expected of him to do so much? The looks of surprise he had received around the coffee pot, only a few hours before answered that last question in the affirmative.

Fortunately it was a bit late in the morning for a bunch of people to be crowded around the coffee pot now, so he was left relatively alone, only a couple of interns gossiping a few feet behind him. He grimaced as he took a sip- though whether it was because of the taste of the drink or the conversation, he wasn't sure. He really didn't care for gossip.

The sound of his son's name made him go stiff. Casually, he drained his coffee cup and returned to refill it, this time drawing closer to the three girls speaking. One of them- blonde, busty, and blue-eyed- noticed him and shot him an alluring smile. Or what would have been one, were he not already in love with someone else.

Curious about their conversation, however, he returned with a dazzling smile of his own, and a slight wave. The other girl elbowed her friend and snickered, all three giggling conspiratorally. They inched their way towards him, and Clark, instead of backing away, he moved slyly closer, and in an effort to reach a napkin, tripped slightly and fell closer. He grinned sheepishly as the blonde girl grabbed his elbow and helped him regain his stability. "Th-thanks," he started, stumbling over his words a little bit. "S-sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt anything p-personal," he gestured at the three of them, who glanced at each other curiously. "Don't mind me," he added with another flashy grin.

They giggled slightly in response. "It's hardly personal, Mr. Kent," the dark haired girl spoke up first. "Just some harmless office gossip and a fair amount of curiousity, that's all."

"Oh, really?" he asked, waggling his eyebrows flirtatiously. God, did I just do that? Clark was supposed to be anything but coy and flirtatious. He was supposed to be normal- no, invisible- not hitting on young girls to pry any information about his son out of them. Yet somehow, he couldn't stop. "Anything interesting?"

"As a matter of fact," the blonde drew closer and whispered conspiringly, "There is. Do you know Miss Lane over there?" She gestured to the desk where Clark knew Lois was sitting, frustratedly typing up an article that she had no interest in. She could barely stop complaining to him about it the past two days.

"Lois? Well, yeah. We've been b-best friends and partners for years," he shrugged casually. "W-why?" he asked, curiousity getting the better of him.

The third girl's eyes finally lit up as the significance of what he just said sunk in. "If you guys were as close as you claim to have been, then maybe you can fill us in on some gaps..." she practically purred at him.

Uh-oh. Red alert, Kent. Get outta here. He suddenly wished he had listened in from a distance, as he very well could have- but that was an invasion of privacy, he had thought. But even that was better than having these women ask him personal questions about his relationship with Lois (in either personna) and throwing themselves at him. "Uhh," he managed to croak out. "S-s-sure."

"Oh, hands off, Lindsey. Clark Kent's not that type of guy," the brunette remarked with a frustrated roll of her eyes.

Clark felt himself reddening and growing rather heated. The girl, Lindsey, pouted slightly, and the blonde decided to pick up the questioning. "Anyways, we were just talking about her recent split with Richard."

"I don't know why she left him- she had everything a girl could possibly want- the house, the man, the job and the kid," the brunette picked up.

"What I don't get is why Perry hasn't fired her yet. She walks all over his nephew, promises to marry him, has a kid with him, and then dumps him- and she still keeps her position as the star reporter! So not fair."

Directed at the blonde chick came the next reply. "Are you kidding me, Josie? Perry White? Fire Lois Lane? You know she's like a daughter to him- besides, who in their right mind would fire Lois- she's one of the greatest investigative reporters known on the planet, she has an in with Superman, somehow, and not to mention the fact that she would kill Perry before the week was up. Join up over at the Star, write a scathing article about the Planet and everyone's dirty little secrets here, and then personally come over and shoot Perry White in the face. You know how she is," Lindsey had finally recovered herself enough to join the conversation.

Clark stood flabbergasted. In under half a minute, these girls had covered nearly every important, public facet to Lois Lane's relationships, without seeming to stop and think or even take a breath. Didn't humans need to breathe more often than he did? He was an alien, for god's sake! This shouldn't have been so difficult. Even with his increased speed and thoguht capabilities, Clark was having trouble keeping up. He managed a slight smile at Lindsey's rather accurate impression of Lois, despite his obvious confusion. The brunette spoke next, thinking that now would be the perfect time to drag Clark into this mess.

"I still say she was wrong to leave him. Clark, did you know Richard before you left? How close were they?"

Somewhere in the back of his mind part of him registered the fact that his mouth was hanging open and his face was set in an expression of surprise. Probably the same part of him that would later come to realize that what he was about to soon say something that would change his relationship with Lois forever. "U-uhhh," he tried, but failed miserably.

"Hannah, come on, give the guy a break. He's obviously having a hard time keeping up," Josie chided.

Keep up? Clark had never had an issue keeping up before. Ever.

"N-no, you guys just caught me off-guard that's all." He stammered, pulling nervously at his tie, hoping they wouldn't notice.

They did. And they closed ranks.

"Well then?" Hannah asked, nothing if not persistent.

They waited expectantly, hanging on his lips- figuratively, though the expressions in Josie and Lindsey's faces might have expressed a desire to hang there otherwise. "Um," he began. "Actually, I didn't even know Richard before I left. Neither did Lois. I only just met him when I came back- the only person I'd ever heard about him from was occasionally Mr. White- and only at a few social events. He never expressed the desire to set Lois up with him or something." The image of Perry pushing Lois towards another man came to his mind, and he found it bothered him more than it probably should have.

Unfortunately, Clark's feelings weren't as masked as he believed them to be. All three girls picked up on it simultaneously, and shared a quick, meaningful glance with each other, their eyes communicating as though they had telepathy. Clark would have given the world to have that power right then and there, to know what they were thinking. Though in hindsight, he should have seen the trouble coming. But hindsight is twenty-twenty anyways.

"But," Lindsey broached the subject first, "Jason's five years old. Richard would have to have known Lois at least a little bit before you left- in fact, probably a long while beforehand. And she's your best friend- how would she have never told you?"

Again, Clark had to fight off that feeling of alarm growing inside him. Uh-oh. He had said too much. They'd figured it out. All of it. And if, or when, the truth came out that Superman had a son, he would be under suspicion. Immediately. He flushed and shuffled his feet a bit, trying to compose himself. "I was her friend, not her keeper," he spoke, trying to mask the pain in his voice with humor. When he just wanted to tell them that Richard had never known Lois like he had. That he hadn't known Lois then because Clark had; that he, Clark Kent/Kal-El/Superman was Jason's biological father. And he wanted in this instant to run now more than ever before.

Surprisingly, Superman was rescued. By the one person who had continually rescued him from his own demise on numerous occasions.

"Hey Clark, how's the coffee?"

He let out a silent sigh of relief before answering the beautiful voice that had spoke his name. Is this what it felt like to the people whom he rescued? Weak at the knees, desperately wishing she'd just say his name again?

"Same as usual, Lois," he spoke dryly, the sparkle in his eyes the only thing that gave away his deadpan features.

"That bad, huh? Why don't you and I grab a cup while we go chase down our next lead then?"

He frowned. "Our next lead? Lois, are you just rounding me up into this story because you don't want to have to write it up?" He was well aware of her many tactics.

"What?" she seemed genuinely puzzled for a moment as she scrambled through her purse, searching for and finally locating her voice recorder and pulling it out with a victorious grin. "Oh, no. That story's crap anyways- I know it, you know it, even Perry knows it. I can spin crap in my sleep. So I'm doing something more positive right now."

"Disobeying Mr. White?" he frowned at her.

She smiled back sweetly. "It's called taking initiative, Smallville. Now come on, let's go before he catches us."

They took off in a whirlwind- as Lois was commonly referred to throughout the bullpen- with Clark turning back to give the three interns a polite wave and a broad smile. For a while they giggled at his awkwardness, how easy he was to push over, and the fact that he had been rather suprisingly easy to flirt with. And he had flirted back. Then came the big question.

"So, who here believes 'Smallville's' very faked little spiel on Lois Lane's life? Because I think there's something much more to it than 'best friends' or partners on some stories. . ." Josie let her sentence trail off at another fit of giggles.

A/N: Tada! T.T

Im hoping to continue this, because i like the feel of where its heading. hope you enjoyed it! Please lead feedback!