CHAPTER FIVE: SUPERMAN'S GIRLFRIEND

Lois hadn't slept.

Coupled with the revelation that Lex Luthor was innocent, her mind was a loop that kept repeating endlessly, no matter how much Lois tried not to think about it. It was like watching a crappy clip show in her head. The greatest hits of Lois and Clark, she thought sardonically when she finally got dressed to go to work the next day. Their first meeting, their verbal sparing, their long talks, leading to the slow drift into each other orbits, secured finally by the kiss that changed everything.

Lois remembered how it felt when she knew she loved Clark. It was as if something shifted into place, like cosmic wheels turning in the distant place where the design of the universe was decided. All those failed relationships weren't meaningless after all, as if it was preparing her to realise the real thing when it came along. And recognised it she did. Since that day, her life had become a mixture of highs and lows. Yes, there had been danger but there was also moments of exquisite joy in being able to look into the blue of his eyes and know with utter certainty that he loved her as completely as she loved him.

When he left it was as if the soul had been sucked right out of her body and what followed was five years of emptiness where she had tried to forget that for brief time, she had never been so happy.

Now she was tossed back in time, to that same distraught woman she had been five years ago when he left and damn near broke her in the process. Not the same, she told herself defiantly as she walked out of her apartment into the street. Head held high, Lois was determined to reclaim her title of Queen Bitch of the Universe, transmission temporarily interrupted by the arrival of Krypton's last son. Despite how she felt about Clark, she was done weeping for him. He had made the choice to walk out on her. He could live with the consequences. As for Lois, she was going to work.

Balls to the wall bluster and burning at full furnace, Lois made her way to the Daily Planet.

That had been the plan.

The reality was entirely different.

************

The first thing Lois Lane noticed when she stepped out of her cab in front of the Planet was the fact that just about everyone seemed to notice her arrival. Eyes darted in her direction as soon as she appeared, people whispered, they pointed and looked away guiltily when Lois stared back at them puzzled. For a moment, Lois wondered if she had left home without her clothes. However, as she was dressed, she came to the conclusion that was probably not it. Lois was walking past the new stand when suddenly she froze in her steps, staring open mouthed at the front page of the morning edition of the newspaper.

METROPOLIS WELCOMES SUPERMAN

By Clark Kent

Under the eye catching headline was a picture Lois guessed came from the shots Jimmy had taken when Clark had rescued her. If a picture was worth a thousand words then this one could fill a book's worth. Lois gaped in stupefied shock at the sight of herself in Clark's arms, his red cape swirling around them like a red cloud, the brilliant blue sky in the background. It didn't look like a photograph but the front cover of some cheesy Harlequin romance novel. With horror, Lois realised that while she might view it with distaste, the public was going to eat this up with a frigging shovel. Pictures like this ended up on Life Magazine or worse yet, as posters across the wall of every nut in the city.

And if that was not bad enough, the headline was apparently written by Clark Kent.

Snatching the paper after paying for it, Lois entered the Daily Planet building smouldering.

"Good morning Miss Lane!" Vicki at front reception greeted excitedly, staring at Lois as if she was Angelina Jolie or something. Vicki's reaction was not unique unfortunately and Lois spied other sniggering and laughing in her direction.

"WHAT?" She fairly snarled and shut them up with a near venomous look.

Silence followed until after Lois left the floor and then the conversations resumed with Lois barely able to contain her fury at how her personal anguish was becoming a very public humiliation. If she thought the reaction was gong to confined to the lobby, she was woefully mistaken. No sooner than she had stepped onto the newsroom floor, someone who sounded odiously like Cat Grant sang out loudly drawing laughter with her sneering voice.

"Hey, it's Superman's girlfriend, Lois Lane!"

Lois was ready to bite through titanium.

"Lois!" Jimmy stood up from his desk and hurried forward to greet her, throwing a reproachful look at the others in the room. "Come on guys, knock it off." He declared before turning to Lois and speaking in a lower octave. "I've got to talk to you. You've seen the headline?"

"Yes, I saw it," she hissed but didn't stop walking, heading directly towards Perry's office. "Superman? That's almost as bad as the Flying Man!"

"Oh I don't know," Jimmy started to say, as he followed her, a step behind. "I mean it is catchy and it fits."

Lois threw him a glare so fierce that Jimmy shut up immediately for fear of the consequences.

"Lois you shouldn't go in there!" He tried to warn her as Lois reached Perry's door. However, Lois being Lois, she wasn't listening.

"He's not alone…" Jimmy's voice trailed off when she barged into the room.

Perry White was behind his desk when Lois burst in. "Lois? Where the hell have you been?" He demanded, rising from his chair. "Are you alright? I've been trying to call you all night!"

"Alright?" Lois snapped almost incredulous. "How can I be alright? Someone tries to kill me yesterday by throwing me off a building and this morning, I find this!" She slammed the paper on the desk, rattling Perry's bottle of ulcer pills that was ordered as frequently as staples and paper clips.

"What?" Perry looked at her innocently. "This is the picture that makes news what it is Lois!"

"Who gives a crap about the picture?" Lois roared, "What the hell is this? BY CLARK KENT? "

Perry stared at her puzzled. "Kent? He's Bevin's replacement, I was in the middle of interviewing him when all this started. Who knew the kid was going to rush out and get the story of the century, first time. What a debut!"

"I wouldn't put it quite that way, Mr. White," a familiar voice said modestly behind Lois. "I was just at the right place at the right time."

Lois winced and turned around slowly.

Seated in the chair at the far end of Perry's desk was Clark Kent, dressed in a dark suit, open collared white shirt, his hair the same floppy mess she remembered from Smallville. A pair of steel framed glasses sat on the bridge on his nose. The look was different but unmistakably Clark.

"Lois Lane," Perry said, "meet Clark Kent. Kent joined us yesterday."

"Oh did he now?" Lois glared at him, uncertain whether or not it was worth the broken knuckles to take a swing at him. He had stood there on her balcony, telling her he was sorry and all the while, he had been planning to invade her life. The Planet was the one place she could feel in control of her life, where there was no doubt or hesitation. It was her place. How dare he violate that space too?

"Kent and I go way back Lois," Perry explained, noticing the storm cloud over Lois was growing in intensity, "when I passed through his home town. Wait, you should know each other," he pointed out. "Didn't you work on Senator Kent's campaign?"

Lois' eyes narrowed. "Something like that."

Clark watched her, telling himself that this was a terrible thing he was doing. He had hurt her enough and she didn't deserve any more pain. However, he wasn't the uncertain young man he had been five years ago either. He was a man now and that man wasn't prepared to give up on Lois just yet. In the twilight hours after leaving her, Clark had time to think about their encounter on the balcony. She was in pain yes, she was angry – she had every right to be but with a certainty he knew with every fibre of his being, he knew she still loved him.

This worked out well because he had never fallen out of love with her either.

However, with all things Lois, it wasn't going to be easy. It required more than a cape and super abilities to win her back. She had always made him work to win her love, this time would be no different than any other, with perhaps one exception; he was never going to run out on her again. Ever.

"Say I have an idea," Perry spoke up, inspiration illuminating his face, "since he saved your life and Clark got the interview with Superman, maybe you two should work together on a follow up story.

Lois shot Perry a look of pure death. This was not happening. This could not be happening!

"I…do…not…work with partners," Lois growled and almost went for blood when she saw Clark barely ably to keep from smiling.

"Oh you can make an exception Lois," Perry returned, quite enjoying seeing his favourite reporter becoming more and more unhinged. Most of the time it was Lois who gave him the ulcers so it was nice once in a while to get some payback. "Now get out of my office you two, every paper in this town is chasing a follow up on Superman. Don't come back until you have something."

Lois started to speak but Clark answered before she could tell him what she thought of that suggestion. "Happy to Mr. White."

"Call me Perry Kent," the newsman grinned.

"Call me nauseated." Lois snorted and stormed out.

***************

For Jimmy Olsen, yesterday had been a revelation.

Oh yes, the minute he saw the so called 'Flying Man' catch Lois, he knew exactly who that man was, even before he snapped the picture that proved it conclusively. He didn't get the full story, not until later, when the offer he had made to Clark Kent was accepted following the excitement of the rescue had died down and Perry had hastily called an end to their interview.

Jimmy had looked at him after Clark returned to the newsroom, leaving chaos in the wake of Lois' dramatic rescue, understanding at last why it was he always felt left out when it came to Chloe's relationship with Clark. It was why his relationship with Chloe could never get past its infancy. There had always been rift between them, created by Clark Kent's secret. In hindsight, Jimmy understood why. Back then, the meteor generation weren't recognized and Clark's abilities would have landed him in a lab or worse.

Chloe had wanted to protect her friend from that and Jimmy understood it now. It made the photographer wish things had been different between them. At the very least, he would have like to have told her that he was sorry for doubting her.

Now Jimmy found himself entrusted with the same secret so he did what he knew what Chloe would have wanted of him if she were alive; he would keep the secret. When Clark had returned to the apartment, after creating charged excitement across Metropolis and meeting Lois, they had talked over beer and pizza. Jimmy tried to wrap his mind around the fact that his house guest apparently leapt tall buildings in a single bound.

Talking in a way they hadn't spoken…ever, Clark told Jimmy the truth about everything. He wasn't a meteor freak, not by a long shot. Jimmy learned about Krypton, about a parent's desperate bid to save their child in a world facing annihilation. It was touching story, one that made an odd kind of sense, the pieces of the jigsaw finally coming together.

This morning, it was surreal riding the train with a guy who flew over the city like a god, talking about good neighbourhoods in proximity of the Planet and what was a reasonable commute. Nevertheless, Jimmy felt a sense of privilege and likened himself to Sancho Panza as he followed Don Quixote in his fight against windmill giants.

Although Sancho Panza never had to warn Don Quixote to beware of Dulcinea, he was sure.

The door to Perry's office bursting open snapped Jimmy out of his reverie. He had been sitting at his desk pretending to eye the photographs he had taken yesterday, even though his gaze kept shifting to Perry's door, trying to imagine what was happening between Clark and Lois. He could only imagine just how she'd react. In the last four years, Jimmy had become Lois Lane's best friend. He had been dating Lucy for some time but he and Lois' had a friendship that her younger sister knew to respect. He knew that despite her feigned indifference to the subject of Clark Kent, she had been nothing less than devastated when Clark had left.

Hadn't he been the first one to say that they had chemistry?

Lois Lane stormed out, eyes blazing, a fire elemental in comparison to the cool, breezy demeanour of Clark Kent. Some could compare them to fire and ice. Not at all, Jimmy thought with a little smile, fire and wind was more appropriate. She marched right past her desk and kept going, headed for the ladies bathroom. Jimmy watched her go and approached Clark who returned to his new desk, courtesy of Bevins.

"How did it go?" Jimmy asked, staring after Lois.

"Lois was Lois," Clark shrugged, unpacking the box of the belongings he brought in with him today.

"Homicidal?" he pointed out.

Clark lifted his gaze to the direction of the bathroom.

"Hey, no peeking," Jimmy ordered under his breath. "Suffer like the rest of us guys."

Clark uttered a short laugh, finding Jimmy not as abrasive as before and glad to have confided in him. In truth, Jimmy had seen him in Smallville and it was going to be difficult assuming that he wouldn't recognise Superman as anyone but Clark Kent. No idiot would believe that a pair of glasses made him a different person.

"Wouldn't dream of it," Clark smirked.

"Sure, sure," Jimmy snorted, "that's what you say and then there's the truth." He replied and then eyed Clark with a more sober expression. "You know this isn't going to be easy right?'

"Nothing worth having ever is." Clark returned quietly, knowing that no statement could be truer when applied to Lois Lane.

**************

Lois Lane stared into the bathroom mirror, trying to pull herself together.

She couldn't do this. She just couldn't. Five years of anguish could not be forgotten so easily as much as she wished otherwise. Why was Clark doing this to her? Hadn't he hurt her enough? Why couldn't he just go away? She knew why of course, even she was not so obtuse, no matter how angry she was at him. She could not deny that his feelings weren't entirely mutual. Martha had once told her that she'd find her Jonathan. Martha probably never imagined that Lois' Jonathan would be her son Clark but then Lois hadn't thought her Jonathan would run out on her either.

However, he was still her Jonathan and Lois knew, deep in the core of her, he always would be. That did not change the fact that he had inflicted upon her five years of pain that was still too raw for her to simply throw her arms open to him and cry all was forgiven. He had broken her heart and there were some wounds that could not be healed or forgiven.

Jonathan or not.

Regaining her composure, Lois decided that if this was the course Clark wished to pursue, then so be it. She wouldn't make it easy for him and she would make it clear that this pathetic attempt to wheedle his way into her life wouldn't work either. Clearly he was the delusion that all it would take was his continued presence to gain her forgiveness. If that was his reasoning, he had another thing coming, Lois told herself as she straightened herself out in the mirror, primping a little to show no indication of her earlier distress.

Once Lois was sure that the confident, professional who was the Planet's best investigative journalist was staring back at her in the mirror, she knew she was ready to go out there. Tossing her hair over her shoulder, Lois stepped out of the bathroom and strode towards the news room floor, her head held high, exuding pride and presence.

Approaching Clark's new desk, both he and Jimmy fell silent when she neared them.

Clark could tell just by the look of her, Lois was seething with anger. While she projected a veneer of cold professionalism, Clark knew that beneath that hardened exterior which seemingly nothing could penetrate, she was furious. Trying to break through that shell to find the woman was one of the most challenging feats Clark Kent ever had to accomplish. Most gave up trying, preferring to seek consolation in the belief that she was as the bitch she appeared to be.

"Alright Rookie," she said sharply, acknowledging Jimmy with merely a fraction of a nod. "Let's take a walk." Lois retorted, not pausing at the desk but continuing towards the lift.

Jimmy gave Clark look of sympathy as he stood to follow her, bracing himself for the worst.

She led him to the elevator saying nothing but each look she threw his way was laced with arsenic. Clark decided to err on the side of caution and remain silent, saying nothing until they were freer to speak. He wasn't surprised when he stepped into the wood polished interior of the elevator and saw that she pushed the button to the roof. Lois didn't look at him, her eyes fixed on the numbers as they continued their slow ascent, oblivious to the other occupants in the lift until finally they reached the top.

She still hadn't said anything.

The doors slid open and Lois stepped out of the elevator, taking the fire stairs that led to the roof. Clark followed her, guessing that she wanted absolute privacy. He could appreciate that since he would need to speak freely as well. She went through the doors first with Clark following closely behind.

Stepping onto the roof, the wind rushed around them as was the case on buildings 30 stories up. Yesterday that hadn't been time to admire the view and frankly for Clark, no view could match the panoramic view he had of the city every time he flew over it.

No sooner than she had stopped walking did Lois turn around and slap him, hard.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?"

The slap didn't hurt of course but the rage behind it, did. "I applied for a job at the Planet a few days ago," he tried to explain but knew that was not what she was referring to.

"You said you would go if I asked you to….what the hell is this? I work here! This is my place! Of all the papers you could have applied for, THIS is the one you picked? Why? To be close to me?"

With a completely straight face, he answered. "Actually no, it's the only one that would give me an interview."

"WHAT?" Lois pulled up abruptly, wondering if her humiliation could get any worse.

"Its true," Clark tried to use logic here. Sometimes, it was the life preserver of a drowning argument. "I don't have that much experience as a journalist, Perry had read my stuff when I was in High School and he owed me a favour from back then. We ran into each other once."

"I don't care!" Lois exploded. "You stroll back after five years, invading my life, my job, making me a laughing stock across the city! They're calling me Superman's girlfriend for Christ sake!"

"I thought it was kind of catchy," he shrugged, unsurprised by her anger but lashes from Lois always drew blood, even from one as invulnerable as he.

"Where did you come up with it anyway?" She asked irritated, not really interested in the answer.

"Chloe," Clark answered.

Lois' bluster diminished somewhat and she found herself asking, "Chloe?"

"Yeah," he nodded quietly. "Whenever I used my powers, she always described it as super speed, super vision, super hearing…sounded kind of fitting. It had to be batter than Flying Man."

Lois remembered Chloe's phrasing well and Clark's use of it as a name for his alter-ego was as telling as Lois using Chloe Bly as secret identity. "Anything is better than Flying Man," she replied, thawing a little.

"I went to Chloe's grave…" he started to say.

If there was one thing that could have reminded her of what he had done, it was that. The momentary thaw ended swiftly and Lois' hostility returned in full force. "Spare me," she growled, "How long do you plan on carrying on this façade? I don't want you at my place of work." She was unkindly.

Clark took in a breath, determined to hold his ground no matter how hard Lois tried to push him away. He recognised the tactic well. She pushed away the people who might get too close by hurting them. In the beginning, she had used Lana for that end to good effect. Now it was Chloe. "No, not until we find a way to help Lex," he said firmly. "This way, we can work together without drawing suspicion…"

"That one of us wears a cape?" She bit back sarcastically.

"Something like that," Clark sighed. "Lois, I am sorry that you're upset but I didn't do this to hurt you, I just needed a job and a chance to build a life for myself again."

"You had a life," she retorted. "You're the one who walked away from it," she accused, refusing to give in, refusing to admit that he did have that right.

"Lois I'm not debating with you that I screwed up. You're right I did mess up but I want things to be right, between us too. I don't expect us to pick up where we left off but I thought we could be friends at least." He said sincerely.

"You always thought to much," Lois turned away, unable to look at him.

Taking on a new tact, he replied. "If you really think that you can't handle being around me, I don't want to make you uncomfortable. I'll concede without a fight."

You are bad, bad man, Clark Kent, he told himself.

Lois bristled and swung around. "I don't need you to concede anything! I'm a big girl; I can handle working with you if I had to do."

Too easy, Clark thought silently, even though he knew he should feel guilty for playing her this way. However, any advantage he could get with Lois could only help the situation.

"Hey if it makes you feel any better, unlike Warrior Angel's girlfriend Susie Sondheim, you know my secret…."

If she had Kryptonite, he would have been a dead man.