PARING: Clois; Lois and Lois/Bruce

NOTES: Thanks for the reviews everyone. They're MUCH appreciated. Driver Picks the Music! You're my long-lasting fan! Since my first material with Jackie and Hyde! LOL! Thanks for all the reviews in almost every single piece I've written!

TIMELINE: PRE-"Disciple" (9x10), POST-"Pandora" (9x09). No worries. There's no real spoilers, in case you haven't seen the new episode yet.

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOOOOOOOT own ANYTHING…just a VERY proud obsession. :D

SIDENOTES: Again, the italics part is Lois telling the story in her perspective.

"We became real quick friends. We didn't have any classes together, but we made up for it during lunch," Lois continued on with her story about her encounter with Bruce Wayne.

Clark frowned at the name. Something about it rang a bell, like he had heard it before and should know who that was. However, before he could further think into it, something else she said caught his attention more. "What do you mean made up for it?" He was afraid to ask.

Lois gave him one of her teasing smiles as she gave a dark chuckle in the dark. "Lets just say that friendship for us wasn't sufficient."

He took a deep swallow as his jaw clenched a bit. "Meaning…?"

She pursed her lips and cocked her head to the side, giving him one of her suggestive looks. "Use your imagination."

He gave a slight awkward nod. "Right." Another question wished to flow from his mouth, but he kept it inside.

"Spill it, Clark." Lois demanded.

Clark sighed. He should have known that Lois would have noticed his look. She was the person that knew him best and knew that something was on his mind that he wasn't telling her about. He could not get out of it and she wouldn't stop badgering him until he let it out. "It's none of my business. But, I'm curious."

She nodded and gave him a look that told him to continue on.

"Well…did you become serious or was it just a fling?"

He wanted to know almost everything about her past relationships for the simple reason that it would help him grow more perspective on why she was so skittish with theirs.

Lois now had a look on her face that told her she was thinking about how to word her answer. This wasn't very good. Lois was all about instinct.

She turned to Clark and must have noticed his now worried look because she responded with, "I honestly don't know. At first, for me, it was just a fling. Making out. Having fun. But somewhere along the line, in the two months that we were friends…it became more to me. Not only did I have a true friend that I could rely on, but all these sort of new feelings were surfacing. I can't explain it, but every time I was around Bruce, it felt like--ugh. I don't know. He was real quiet and kept himself away from others, but with me it was different. We laughed and talked and had fun. He just had this essence that couldn't be denied. Powerful, intimidating, important, strong, and it just drew me in. Before I knew it, I fell for him."

He nodded, understanding. At times that's how he felt towards Lois. As if he had no will power of his own and his emotions took over whenever she was around. He turned to Lois and said, "Continue."

She took a deep breath, reading herself for the continuation of her story.

---------------

After two months of being…friends, I found myself being invited a lot over to his home. His parents had died when he was younger, so he had a legal guardian, Alfred. Alfred didn't like me at first, I don't think. I think my bold and direct personality gave off fire alarms. He didn't think I was fit for Master Bruce. But in time, he just came to get used ot me. Kept calling me Miss Lane.

"Al, if it were anyone else calling me that, I'd sock them right in the mouth," I would always tell Alfred right after he would welcome me.

He would smile sweetly at me, looking cute as a button in his working suit. "Glad that I'm special, Miss Lane."

I would always smile back. "Don't you forget it."

Anyway, Bruce and I spent most of our after school time over in his backyard. I mostly sneaked out of my house at night. Everything we did was always at night. We goofed around and shared some pretty personal stuff. He was the first I really ever confided in about my mom's death.

"How old were you?" asked Bruce as he handed me his cigarette.

Yes, Smallville. This was back when I smoked. I took the bud and inhaled. "Too young. Not having her around has made things be pretty difficult. I have to fill in the role for both Daddy and Lucy. Be more of a mother than a teenager. Organize trips, help with homework, choose the right suits for the right occasions, plan everyone's schedule for the week." I took another drag. "It's made me grow up faster than I would have liked. More responsibilities to take on. But, you gotta do what you gotta do."

Bruce stared off into the distance. "Yeah."

I turned to him and for the first time since I met him, I saw it. There in his eyes, there was vulnerability. Sadness. Overwhelming tiredness. Although, I always kept in mind that he had lost his parents at a very early age, I hadn't noticed until that moment how much it was affecting him emotionally.

He turned slowly to me, possibly because he could feel me staring. I met his deep blue eyes and we just stared at each other. Neither of us said a word. Through our eyes, we were saying plenty. We showed how vulnerable and scared we were on the inside. We both let out to this tough exterior, but it was a lie. An image we wished others to believe of us. It's easier to be stronger than to be fragile. And we had always refused to let others see us as so.

He was the first one I felt a connection to. We both had lost parents and were taking in responsibilities because of it. I think it was at that moment, that my feelings for him deepened more. Our connection was stronger and I knew at that moment that I didn't want to let it go. I finally had found someone like me.

"Wanna take a ride?" He asked me, interrupting the silence.

I nodded, not being able to say a word.

He stood up and began to walk towards his garage. He took his keys from his pockets and got behind his motorcycle.

I had never been in one. And Daddy would have my head if he ever found out about it. And as soon as that thought came into my mind, I immediately hopped in behind Bruce, encircling my arms around his waist.

I felt the engine come to life; felt the vibrations beneath my feet. My heart rate quickened and suddenly, I felt the air swift over my hair.

Freedom.

--------

Clark was doing his best not to imagine his girlfriend sitting behind some maniac on some motorcycle. The thought of it just made his hand change into a fist. Once again he was thankful it was too dark for Lois to see. He didn't want her to think he was getting possessive of her.

"That had really been your first time behind a motorcycle?" Clark asked, curiously. "Knowing you, I thought you would have done that since age 13."

Lois gave him a look. "Ha-ha," she said without any humor in her voice. "I had always been pretty bold, but Bruce just kicked it to the limits. I guess the connection we shared allowed us to be more free. From what I got from the other students from school, Bruce was pretty well mannered. He had his temper, but it wasn't until he met me that his darker side came out."

He didn't want to ask, so Clark looked away.

"Smallville…" Her tone almost made him cringe.

He really needed to stop wanting to keep his mouth shut and just say what was on his mind. She knew every time he wanted to say something anyway. And he couldn't keep much secrets from her anyway, so why even try?

He turned to her. "What other things did you do? The most wild?"

Lois' eyes lit up. A chuckle came from her mouth.

He let out a sigh. Why did he have to ask?

------------------

It was Senior Prom. Bruce never asked me and I never asked him, but we ended up being each other's dates. I did it behind Daddy's back. I didn't want him getting to know Bruce at all. I knew he wouldn't approve and there was no way I was going to stop seeing Bruce.

So, I sneaked out of the house, Lucy was in bed and had no idea and Daddy was having a late meeting with the Secretary of State. I had faked a flu and was able to get ready without his knowledge.

Bruce was waiting for me in his motorcycle about a block away.

Once I saw him in view, I could feel his eyes on my dress. "How I'd love to slip inside that dress myself," he said teasingly.

I chuckled. "Don't you wish." I looked down to his motorcycle. "What? No limo?"

He gave a shrug. "'Fraid not."

"You're a cheap date." Suddenly an idea was now planted on my head. I gave him a smile.

He frowned. "What?"

I smiled. "Take me over to the base. I'm gonna find us a better vehicle."

He shook his head. "Something tells me I'm gonna love this." He put on his helmet and I rode with him.

When we got to the base, it took a little longer than I expected to get what I wanted. Bruce didn't do much, he just kept an eye on things as I worked my magic.

---------

"What did you do?" Clark looked down at Lois with suspicious eyes.

She smiled sweetly at him.

----------

I drove into the parking lot, Bruce on the passenger side. Dozens of eyes on the M1 Abrams tank that I was rolling in. The look on their faces was priceless. And when we both got out? Even better.

Whispers were all around us, some thought we were the highlight of the party, others criticized us and looked down on us, and others went off to snitch. But I didn't care. I knew the General was going to be mad as hell, but for that night I just wanted to have a good time. For the first time, I wanted to do everything I wanted without thinking much of the consequences. Everything from then on out was going to surround instinct.

We were only there for a little less than an hour when I heard commotion. Murmurs that my father had been notified about what I had done and was now coming here surrounded us. I grabbed Bruce's hand and we took off out of there.

------------------

"What did you do for the remainder of the night?" Clark asked.

Lois shrugged. "Just laughed about the whole thing. We walked around the city at night and just hung out. It was a perfect night--oh, if you don't count the muggers."

Clark's eyes popped open. "Muggers?"

Lois nodded. "Yeah. Things there in Gotham were starting to get more and more dangerous. That night, these five guys jumped us. Thankfully, Bruce and I held our own. I took on two of the guys and he took the other three. We left there just as we saw some cops coming our way. We let them handle the rest."

Clark shook his head. Leave it to Lois. Even back then she got herself into messes. It amazed him how much trouble she got into.

Lois gave him a sock in the arm. "I know what you're thinking, Smallville, so don't. It's just coincidence."

It was his turn to give her a look. "Danger is pretty attracted to Lois, or the other way around. I'm still not sure yet."

She grunted. "Are you going to allow me to continue with my story or not?"

He rolled his eyes. "You're going to anyways, whether I say yes or no."

"Tell me one thing," I asked him. We had been walking around all day, that when we came to the park, we decided to just lay down on the grass and look at the stars. We hadn't said a word for quite some time.

"What's that?" came his deep voice. It sounded as if the wind was the one speaking. As if he belonged to it in some way.

"Anything. Something you haven't told anyone."

There was silence for a moment. I was sure he had decided to not say a word and just ignore my question.

However, I heard the wind speak again. "I feel like I belong."

I frowned at this and turned to him slightly. I could barely make him out. "What do you mean? Belong to what?"

"This." I could make the silhouette of his hand motioning in the air.

"What?" I wasn't getting it.

"The night. I hate the day. Hate the bright colors. The sun. The blue sky. It's all fake. A complete lie. Nothing in this world holds any light." His voice was so low that I could barely hear him.

I didn't want to say a word, just wanted to allow him to continue without any interruptions. Because even though his words were confusing me, at the same time I understood what he was saying.

As every word spilled out of his mouth, his voice grew deeper. "I prefer darkness. While everything at night can be dark, the moon shines bright above us, spreading in just enough light to create shadows. You can hide behind them. Can move undetectably. They're liars as well, but they're not lying about it. Unlike the day."

I stared up at the black sky above us. Its twinkling lights shown as brightly as they could. With a big city like Gotham, it was pretty difficult for stars to be seen perfectly.

I repeated his words over and over in my head. They didn't bring me any kind of warm comfort, but they brought clarity. Up until that point, for most of my life I had been living a lie myself. With my mother having died when I was very young, I had continued on and put a front for everyone to see. I had enjoyed the day because it brought a positive hope. That everything was going to be ok. However, there I was with Bruce, more than a decade after the passing of my mother and nothing was ok. My emptiness was still there.

For several minutes more not a word was said. Until he spoke again. "Tell me something."

He snapped me out of my thinking. I didn't know what he meant by it. "What?"

He gave a low chuckle. "Anything. Something you haven't told anyone else," he echoed my past words.

As I stared up at the dark sky, I said the first truth that came to mind, "I feel alone." The moment those words spilled out of my mouth, tears made their way into my eyes. "I feel like there is no one to depend on but myself. Everyone always ends up leaving me once I trust them. My mother. She couldn't fight off the sickness and just gave up. Daddy commits his entire time to his job. As if nothing ever happened. He always leaves and I'm left to take care of everything by myself. And Lucy…every time I have her close to me, its cut short. She leaves to another private school overseas. And I'm alone again."

The tears that were now coming down had been kept inside of me for many years and now that I had finally let them out, they were not stopping. They spilled out of me, as if they too now had freedom. I didn't try holding them back anyway. There in the dark, no one could see how fragile I was. And I felt the same as Bruce. I welcomed the night. It gave me comfort. And he was a part of it. I allowed the tears to flow out of me. I didn't make any noise.

Suddenly, I felt an arm embrace me. "I won't leave you, Lois." Bruce's arm grew tightly against me, pulling me towards his broad chest.

I didn't say a word. I just crawled into him and closed my watery eyes, his words echoing in my head. I won't leave you. It had been the first time in a long time I allowed the following to happen…. I believed him.

NOTE: Sorry, it took me a while to continue on with this. Much apologies. But hoped you guys liked it. Alright, off to write the next piece. Just two more chapters more to go. I have them outlined, I just have to invest time on it. LOL