A/N: Sorry I couldn't get this posted sooner. I also haven't been able to edit this. I've had a horrendous migraine for a couple of days now. I had wanted to make this chapter longer, but I just can't seem to shake this thing and it's hard to look at the computer screen. So please forgive any mistakes or editing errors this time around. I figure I either post this now or I won't be able to get to it for another week, and I'd hate to leave you guys waiting that long!

Also, there's something I want to comment on, before I forget. Readers of my notes will see that I'm not a fan of Chloe from Smallville. I also hate Lana, and I have huge problems with what they did with Clark, particularly in light of the AoS. However, for fans of those characters, I did want to reassure them that, though I may slam them in author's notes, this story will not be used as a vehicle to slam those characters or "put them in their place." I'm not sure if Chloe, Lana, or Clark will make appearances (it's EXCEEDINGLY unlikely Lana will appear; it's fairly likely Clark and/or Chloe will appear in some minor capacity in future). However, I do want to clarify for both those who feel my pain and those who don't share it that if they DO appear, they're not going to be brought in to be slammed. I wouldn't have Lois attack Chloe and call her a bitch, for example, because that just wouldn't be in line with her character on the show. (I hate Chloe from s6/s7 onwards. Lois doesn't share my animosity.)

Thanks to everyone for helping out with the wedding date! I was kicking around an idea that would have necessitated Lois being in Gotham over Halloween, but I don't think I could fit it in with the timeline. So I'll let it pass, but hey...still Thanksgiving and Christmas to theoretically work with! Hmmm...

Chapter 11

Return of a Familiar Face

Lois adjusted her large sunglasses, pushing them a little higher on her face, and pushed a few rogue locks of hair back under her scarf, where they belonged. Then, satisfied she was as inconspicuous as a person could possibly be, she strode confidently into the police station, rebuilt after the Joker's recent attack.

Lady Luck appeared to be on her side, Lois noted as she walked through the front doors. The police must have conducted some sort of raid – either that, or the streets of Gotham had run rampant with criminals in the last few hours. The waiting area was packed; all visible police officers had their hands full trying to process everyone as quickly as possible. Lois's task of sneaking past the front desk on a mission to break into the Commissioner's office was suddenly a good deal easier than expected.

She darted up several flights of stairs to the floor leading to the administrative offices and walked briskly down the hall, moving quickly as she scanned the names on the offices as she passed. Finally, she found the door with the Commissioner's name emblazoned in bold black font on the glass pane. With one last glance over her shoulder to ensure she wasn't being observed, she rapped smartly on the wood. No answer, so she pushed it open a crack, peeked inside to ensure it was in fact empty, and darted into the room.

The only downside to working without a partner was that there was nobody around to tell her how awesome she was when one of her schemes paid off. So she did it herself. "Well done, Lois," she murmured with a smug smile in self-congratulation, then she darted over to the desk.

One glance, and she could tell that Commissioner Gordon was a man after her own heart. She knew he had to have a method of organization, but it was not likely to be easily cracked by the casual observer. It was almost disappointing, since it wasn't going to make her job any easier. Still, she didn't have a lot of time to indulge in "if onlys" so she turned her attention to the task at hand, instead. She tried to be as careful as possible to maintain the integrity of the individual piles; if Gordon really was anything like her, he'd know at a glance that something had been disturbed, no matter how disorganized his desk appeared to be to a third party.

She had just finished rifling through the piles on the desk and was turning her attention to the desk drawers (locked, of course) when she heard someone pause right outside the door. It sounded like they were about to enter the room, so, cursing, Lois looked around desperately for a place to hide. The only possible hiding spot was the most obvious, she was distressed to find, unless she wanted to jump out the window and hope there was some kind of ledge to catch her.

Lady Luck might have been on her side earlier, but she wasn't going to push Her good graces that far. And since it was highly unlikely she would injury or death if she jumped there wasn't a ledge outside the window, she decided not to risk it. After all, last she checked, men couldn't fly and one could hardly expect Batman to be conveniently nearby, ready to swoop in to save her from every perilous situation.

She could swear she heard the faint sound of the door handle rattle, so, knowing she was out of time, she dove under the desk. It took some effort to stifle her grunt as she tucked her legs underneath her; was she getting old, or did they not make the foot wells under desks as wide as they used to?

The door swung open, and Lois held her breath, sending a silent prayer to anyone that might be listening that the intruder not come around the side of the desk. She heard heavy footsteps approach, and then she heard the soft flutter of paper. She breathed a soft sigh of relief when she heard the stranger turn and the footsteps retreat through the door, though she didn't move immediately upon hearing the latch click, wanting to make sure the coast was clear before she left her hiding place.

She had just shifted, preparing to crawl out of her hiding hole, when another soft sound stopped her in her tracks: the scrape of wood against wood. Lois cursed under her breath, froze, then hunkered even further under the desk. She didn't know where the sound was coming from, but she didn't dare betray her hiding place to look.

Another sound, like a foot falling almost silently to the ground. She strained to listen, barely hearing the footsteps as they approached the desk. Had the stranger returned? Had he detected her presence under the desk and planned to sneak up on her? Her mind worked furiously as she tried to think of anything resembling a reasonable excuse for her to be found under the Commissioner's desk.

Before the perfect – or even halfway plausible – excuse could come to mind, the intruder interrupted her thoughts. "Miss Lane. You can come out from under there now."

She'd recognize that husky rasp anywhere. Rolling her eyes, she scooted out from under the desk far enough to glance at her companion over the edge. Batman stood on the other side of the desk, staring at her with that enigmatic expression that was probably made easier with the cowl.

She smiled. "Oh, hey, Batman! I just dropped my pen. I'm sure it's down here somewhere!" she lied glibly. Okay, so there was no way he was going to buy her excuse, but she'd be damned if she let him think he had her at a disadvantage.

Of course, there wasn't a pen to be seen, but she pretended to find one and stood, slipping her hand into her purse so that he couldn't see it was empty. "So, what are you doing here?" she asked with a smile, as though she'd just bumped into him in the checkout line of a grocery store, instead of him catching her in the middle of a break-in.

"I could ask you the same question," he pointed out.

She rolled her eyes. "Oh, please. I'm breaking, what, one, two laws at most? This is nothing." Which was probably not the best thing to admit to Gotham's costumed vigilante. Lois cleared her throat and decided it would be best to just breeze past that admission. "Anyway, I'm looking into you, actually, since you refuse to give me an interview." She grabbed a paperclip, straightened it, and slipped it into the top lock. If she was going to dig into the Batman in front of the man in question, she might as well be brazen about it.

"Only," she grunted when the paperclip bent but the lock didn't give, "it looks like what Gordon lacks in organization, he makes up for in being conscientious about security." She threw Batman a wry smile. "Well, I guess he could be a bit more conscientious, since I'm here. I won't hold it against him that you're here too, since you've got this whole 'swirling cowled prince of shadows' thing. Which reminds me, you still haven't answered my question. What are you doing here?" Her eyes narrowed. "You and Commissioner Gordon wouldn't still be on good terms, would you? Because I thought you were supposed to be persona non grata around here."

"He'll arrest me if he finds me here," he replied, and Lois noticed he didn't directly address her comment.

The lock finally gave, and Lois let out a soft cry of exultation. However, when she pulled open the drawer, all she found was a half-empty bottle of scotch. Maybe the next drawer down would provide something a bit more interesting. Without missing a beat, she moved on to the next lock.

"He'll arrest you if he catches you here, too," Batman pointed out, but she shrugged.

"I've had bigger problems," she said absently, grimacing as she felt the lock almost give, but her paperclip slipped and she had to start over. "You here about the breakout?"

He was silent for a long moment, but she refused to let it make her nervous, since she was almost sure that's what he intended. Before they could determine who would blink first and break the silence, footsteps raced down the hall. Her interest diverted, Lois put down the paperclip and scooted around the edge of the desk, intending to make her way to the door.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Batman move toward the still-open window. For the briefest of moments, she was torn between her desire to follow up on what was going on in the hall and her desire to find out where the Batman was headed, but in the end, it really wasn't a difficult decision.

"Woah, there!" she blurted, reaching towards her companion with the vague thought that she wanted to stop him somehow. It was without conscious thought that she found her hand wrapped up in his cape, as she presumed it would be called – she hadn't boned up on the proper names for various superhero/vigilante garb.

Whatever it was called, it was heavy black cloth affixed to Batman's neck by some means or other, and her hand was currently firmly grasping a good chunk of it. She actually – heaven help her – gave it a quick tug, to get its wearer's attention.

He stopped in his tracks, so in a sense, Lois achieved her goal. However, the look he gave her was so incredulous, she could see it even around the cowl that obscured two-thirds of his features. She knew she should let go, since she'd seen Batman in action recently enough to have a fairly good mental image of what he could do to her if she didn't. But Lois was stubborn, and she had stopped Batman from leaving.

"Where are you going?" she asked mildly, as if she wasn't still tugging on a vital part of his costume – an action that she didn't doubt would normally cause the Batman to respond in a way that would cost most others the full use of their arms.

Batman looked down at her hand, then back up at her face. She could read his astonishment that she still had hold of his costume, and truth be told, had she thought about it before acting, she doubted even she would have been as brave as she was currently being. A sane person would undoubtedly let go of the cape and stammer some sort of abject apology. Lois, figuring she might as well go for broke, now that she was already committed to this insane course of action, merely tightened her grasp and threw him a thin smile.

Just then, the office door was thrown open and Commissioner Gordon stepped through. He didn't notice them at first, yelling something to someone further down the hall. But when he caught sight of the scene in front of him, he stopped abruptly and stared.

"Um…hey, there, Commissioner," Lois said weakly.

The Commissioner assess the sight in front of him, sighed, and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "If I asked what you were doing here, is there any chance I'd get an answer that wouldn't lead to your immediate arrest?" he asked blandly.

For a split second, Lois considered dropping Batman's cape and stepping in front of him, like he needed her to run interference for him. But since she was pretty sure he'd disappear out the window or fade into the shadows or evaporate into a poof of mist if she let him go, she held on tight. Throwing the vigilante a glance, she looked back at Gordon and admitted, "Probably not. But I'd appreciate it if you could arrest me later. Batman and I were in the middle of something."

Gordon's eyebrows quirked up, and he shot Batman a speaking glance. "Well, I didn't mean to interrupt," he replied, his voice sarcastic with a twinge of astonishment at her cheek. Then he turned his attention back to the vigilante. "We picked up the men you left for us. You know, it's getting harder to explain how you keep leaving these tips for me but we haven't caught you yet. Now that the Joker's out, you sure you don't want to rethink things?"

It was really hard for Lois to suppress her gloat; in fact, she didn't entirely succeed at doing so. "I knew he wasn't really after you," she hissed, loud enough for Gordon to hear across the room.

Batman ignored her. "This isn't the time," he retorted, and Lois wondered if he was talking about Gordon's suggestion or the conversation he was hinting at.

The Commissioner shrugged but let it drop. "We still haven't heard anything from the Joker. It's unlike him to stay quiet for this long. He's up to something."

As if in response to this remark, the noise in the hallway escalated. Gordon frowned and, as if he heard something in the commotion that they couldn't, he stepped into the hall without a word. Lois started to step forward, intending to give into curiosity and follow, but Batman grabbed her arm. She paused, and before she could decide what to do next, Gordon walked back into the room.

She could tell by the look on his face that something was seriously wrong. "You're going to want to see this," he said, his mouth a grim line. He grabbed a remote and switched on a television set up against the wall near the window.

As the television flickered on, it tuned into what appeared to be a news broadcast playing a black and white feed. Lois recognized the face on the screen immediately, with its uneven, cracking white makeup and the scar that stretched across his cheeks. The Joker.

"Hello, Gotham," he was saying into the camera. Behind him, she could see Mayor Garcia, gagged and tied to a chair. "Miss me?"