Fuse
By Teala373
Chapter 4: I Spent the night with Superman
(o)O(o)
Superman was trying everything he could to win Lois over during the interview, but so far nothing was working. She sat at the table of her balcony, jittering her crossed legs, as she scribbled away on a notepad. She barely ever looked up at him. She only shot out her questions with rapid fire.
They had discussed his purpose, his mission, his statement to the people. They went over the planet he was from, how he came to Earth, and what he knew of his parents. Lois seemed completely unfazed by all of it. She only asked follow-up questions, responding "mm-hmm" when she was satisfied with an answer. She asked him about his powers, his limits, his diet, his habits, his likes and dislikes. No matter what he said, or how he said it, she remained unfazed and still clearly wary of him.
"So," she began while scrawling away on her notepad, "are you truly the only surviving Kryptonian?"
"Yes. As far as I know, I am the only survivor and the one of my kind."
For the first time, Lois looked up and locked eyes with the man before her, who had been keeping a respectable distance, standing against the terrace railing.
"And does that bother you?"
Superman was taken slightly off guard by the question. "Well… I guess that I've lived with this for so long, that I am used to it. I've accepted it. My father sent me here to live, to save me, to help the people of this world where he cold not help the people of his."
Lois' gaze didn't waver. "And so you would be perfectly satisfied with an Earth human as a mate?"
He felt his eyes widen. "I… I've never thought of it that way… but, yes, if I met the right person."
"And how would you define the right person?" she persisted.
Smiling, Superman pointed out towards the sky. "Come and see what I see."
"You aren't answering my question," came a slightly annoyed response.
He turned softened eyes to her. "I am if you will allow me."
Furrowing her eyebrows together, she stood and walked over to where he was standing at the railing. "What are we looking at?"
"What do you see, Lois?"
Sighing, she crossed her arms across the railing and leaned forward. "I see the city lights and the stars."
"I see hope and endless possibilities. I see the stars, and all the galaxies they belong to. I want someone to share that with."
"How poetic," Lois drawled sarcastically. "Can you give me something more specific? Hair color? Interests?"
He gave her a sidelong look before answering. "I prefer brunette reporters that like to eat."
Lois jumped back as though the railing had suddenly become hot and turned wide eyes to the smirking hero. "Uh… sorry… I don't date interviewees."
"What kind of guys do you date?"
"Hey, I'm the one asking the questions."
He smiled playfully. "You can't answer just one simple questions?"
"I don't really date," she replied flatly.
"You don't date, you don't answer questions, and you don't like superheroes. What do you like?"
Ignoring his question, Lois turned away from him and looked back up at the stars, trying to see what he saw.
He cocked his head slightly to one side. "You seem to like that other reporter you're always paling around with. What's his name? Kent?"
"Clark Kent," Lois sighed his name as she leaned over the railing once more. "Yeah, he's great. Guys like him don't usually like girls like me."
Confusion flooded his face. "What do you mean?"
"Nice guys, genuine guys, smart, well-mannered, modest guys. Those guys see me coming and run the other way. They think I'll 'chew them up and spit them out', as my boss says. I tend to attract these egotistical jerks that think they can tame me or keep up with me. That's not what I want at all. What I want is…" She turned suddenly to shoot a suspicious look at the hero standing next to her. "Wait a minute. I am not discussing my love life with you. This is supposed to be an interview."
"Can't we also just have a normal conversation?"
Again ignoring his question, Lois sat back down at her small table and resumed scribbling in her notepad. "Now then, tell me about the government. How are they letting you get away with this?"
"Get away with what?"
"You're an alien, an alien with great power. That has to make people nervous."
"I'm not here to upset anyone. I'm here to help others. I did, however, speak with both the president and the general this morning. I am registered at Star Laboratory for observation, and I have made it very clear that I will not be used as a military weapon."
Lois leveled him with a look of both hostility and contempt. "And you were well received?"
He seemed confused by the question. "Yes. When you are honest and true, you will be well received."
Lois stood, her eyes ablaze. "Well, I think I got everything I need. This concludes the interview."
"Lois… Miss Lane… is there something I do that offends you?"
She crossed her arms over her chest. "Why Metropolis?"
"It's a city in need to protecting. It is a city that has gone without a defender."
"And what do the other superheroes of the world think of you?"
He shrugged. "I haven't met any of them, yet."
"Alright, well, thank you for the interview…"
"Maybe we can meet again another time?"
Lois was gathering her pen and pad, and walking back into her apartment. "Yeah, sure. Don't call me, I'll call you."
(o)O(o)
It didn't take Lois long to hammer out her interview on her computer and upload it to the Daily Planet's servers. She called Perry to tell him to "stop the presses", and then she called Clark to let him know what had happened. He wasn't at home, prompting her to leave a message on his machine.
Clark called her later in the evening, claiming to have been out running errands. "Sounds like you topped your last story, Lois," his upbeat tone made her smile.
"Yeah… but, I feel bad. I mean, we're supposed to be partners on this." In the back of her mind, she marveled at how soft she had gone just from knowing Clark Kent for such a short time.
"Hey, no sweat. I uploaded a side bar to go with your piece that details all the research we did."
"Swear you're not mad?"
Clark smiled into the phone. "I'll tell you what; how about I take you to a nice dinner tomorrow night to show you there's no hard feelings."
"Baring no major catastrophes we have to cover, you're on!"
(o)O(o)
The next morning, Clark walked in with two white chocolate mocha lattes (the taste was growing on him) and two warm croissants to share with Lois. As the elevator door opened, he immediately saw that Lois wasn't at her desk, but he also immediately heard her screaming from Perry's office.
"That was NOT the original title of MY interview!"
"I'm well aware of what you turned it, Lois, but as your editor-in-chief…"
Tuning them out, Clark set his things on his desk and went over to where everyone was crowded around the bulletin board with the morning's newspaper freshly tacked up. The large black type large letters across the front page read "I Spent The Night With Superman".
Clark coughed away a laugh as he went back to his desk and waited for Lois to finish berating Perry for making her interview sound more risqué than it was.
(o)O(o)
For the entire morning, and most of the afternoon, Lois was cranky over having the title to her article changed. She finally calmed down around 3:30 when she and Clark went to interview a Lex Corp representative about a recent robbery in one of their manufacturing plants.
"We could have really used Superman last night, but I guess he was too busy spending the evening with you, Miss Lane," the manager of the plant sneered.
Lois opened her mouth to shoot back an acid response, but Clark cut her off. "He's just one guy. He can't be everywhere at once. Besides, this plant is on the outskirts of Metropolis; so far, we've only seen Superman activity in downtown Metropolis."
"And you can't just count on Superman," Lois threw in. "You should have a better security system in place, and maybe not be so concerned with getting military contracts that you keep development plans that other unscrupulous companies would want to steal."
The plant manager and Lois bantered back and forth until Clark politely, but firmly concluded the investigation, steering Lois back out to the car.
"The nerve of that guy!" Lois screeched as she fastened her seat belt. "Where does he get off saying crap like that? I should've punched his lights out!"
When Clark shot her an incredulous look, she recomposed her self, and settled back into the passenger seat. "Sorry… it's been a long day. I promise to be a better dinner companion tonight."
Smiling, Clark set the car in gear and began driving them back to the office, while Lois fiddled with the police scanner on the dashboard. As they pulled into the parking lot, a request came over the scanner for backup at the pier.
"Uh, Lois, I just remembered I have to run a quick errand," Clark began as Lois shut the passenger car door. "I, um, have to pick my prescription up before the pharmacy closes. I'll pick you up at seven."
Before Lois could say anything, Clark sped off. Glancing at her watch, she noted the time and sighed. She had already turned in an article for tomorrow, but she had wanted to type an outline on the Lex Corp robbery.
Looking over her notes as she rode the elevator, Lois suddenly found a new angle for her story. She spent the rest of her time in the office making phone calls. Her story was going to be about all the people who could have used Superman's help, but he wasn't around.