Chapter 39: Planet

"Oh, thank God!" Lois exclaimed as she fell back in her chair, stretching her arms to the heavens with enthusiasm.

"Somebody's in a good mood." Clark treaded towards her desk and delivered a steaming hot mug of stimulating liquid caffeine.

She beamed back up at him and eagerly snatched up the mug. "I haven't felt so alive in months. I'm chaining my ankle to this desk and never leaving again." She said, trying to suppress a yawn. "Although, I haven't had to get up so early for months either."

Lois let her eyes wander around the hectic, bustling environment surrounding her desk. People were rushing back and forth, papers and documents were scattered chaotically on the ground, fingers were tapping furiously away at keyboards, Mariah Carry, and Led Zeppelin ring tones were tinkling in the background waiting to be answered. The Planet was a disaster zone. A disordered, frantic, permanent state of cluttered commotion. Just the way she liked it.

"Six months." Lois mused after a desperately needed swallow of caffeine. "And the Daily Planet hasn't even experienced the slightest inkling of change."

"I don't know about that," Clark's gaze floated across the frantic pandemonium to the other side of the room. His face fell when he rested his eyes on a deserted, chair and an uncharacteristically tidy mahogany desk isolated in the corner. "Jimmy hasn't woken up."

Lois's brief sudden burst of upbeat optimism suddenly vanished. The thought of never seeing that happy-go-lucky grin of the young, spirited photographer, ever again was finally starting to sink in.

"It's been about two months now, hasn't it?" Lois let her hand, with an inconspicuous attempt, slide overtop of his to offer some sort of comfort. "Clark, you know that he might not-"

"He will." He spoke with a heavy tone of confidence in his voice. "Chloe visits him everyday. He'll wake for her."

Lois didn't know how to respond. She knew as well as Clark did that Jimmy's chance of ever regaining consciousness was slim, and slipping further away with each day. She didn't press the matter. They didn't need to come to terms with anything just yet. As long as they had the slightest bit of hope, Jimmy still had a chance.

"So," Clark cleared his throat quickly and glanced down over her shoulder onto her screen. "Perry's got you working on something already?"

"It's just a small piece. Nothing in the world seems to matter expect for the bomb attempt. Richard White is the focal point right now." Lois lifted her head and reached across her desk for a slim stack of brightly colored papers. "And that got me thinking..." She began with uncertainty, "Perry is getting a lot of attention right now because of his family ties. I want to try to keep Jason away from that." She handed Clark the vibrant colored registration papers, "Those are for Jason's new school. He'll be starting the first grade and I don't want him to feel any pressure from the other kids about his relationship to Richard. I don't want him to use the White name anymore."

Clark's gaze skimmed down the page briefly until he came to the dotted line. "Jason Kent?" His mouth fell open as he gawked down at the page in bewilderment. "Really?"

Lois shrugged her shoulders. "If that's alright with you, I'll go make it official this afternoon."

Clark was immediately overwhelmed with pride. Jason Kent. There was a satisfying ring to it. Clark beamed down at the name with warm ball of joy swelling up in his chest. It was perfect.

"Lane!"

Clark watched Lois practically leap out of her chair at Perry's command. She met him with a smile and replied in a sort of sing-song voice, "Coming!"

Lois couldn't help but burst through Perry's office with a small skip. Chloe was leaning against the wall; her arms folded patiently seemingly waiting for her arrival. Perry's eyes were glued to his desk as he sat sullenly flipping through his morning mail. Both seemed rather dreary, not nearly floating as high on happiness as Lois was. She met them with a bright toothy greeting and chirped, "Mornin' Chief,"

She saw Chloe's expression twist into an awkward gawp, probably surprised at Lois's unusual morning buoyancy. "How many cups of coffee have you had?"

"Just one." Lois replied with a wink as she strode gracefully to the edge of Perry's desk. "What can I do for you, Mr. White?"

Perry tilted his head slowly up at her, his face giving her the same awkward look of suspicion as her cousin. But he didn't question her. He knew better than to mess with a good thing. As long as Lois wasn't whining, he was satisfied.

"You've got mail," Perry grunted as he revealed a long manila envelop that had been hidden under the scattered mess of paper swathing his desk.

Lois's eyes widened as she felt a swift sting of alarm shoot through her veins. Her smile vanished.

More pictures? How could he? Richard is in jail? Maybe it's not Richard? Is it from someone else?

Lois immediately snatched up the envelope and scanned it quickly before ripping it open. What has Perry seen?

Her name was cursive written neatly on the front with a thin black marker. Probably written by a woman, but Jimmy would have known better...

She shook the envelope until a slender plastic case slipped out into her hand.

"That came for you about a week ago." Perry informed, satisfying only a fraction of her curiosity, "It's a DVD."

Lois's heart fluttered madly in her chest. Whatever was on that disk probably contained something that had to do with Clark. "Did you watch it?" She swallowed thickly.

"Yes, so did Sullivan." Perry gestured to Chloe in the corner, who gave Lois a hard stare of assurance. Her deep green eyes were blazing, as if to give Lois a message of significance.

"So...what is it?" Lois spoke carefully after a moment of unexpected silence between the three.

"It's an account of Lex Luthor's actions that incriminate him for the blackout last year. Also for his plans for New Krypton...and Superman's murder."

Lois froze in mid-breath. "W-what do you mean...murder?"

"Attempted murder, obviously. On New Krypton. That man can take one hell of a beating."

Lois tilted her head with curiosity, not really understanding what Perry meant. "And why haven't you given it to the police?" She inquired harshly.

"Because it's addressed to you." Perry gestured a finger at Chloe, "You and Sullivan are going to do a piece on this disk and everything on it."

"B-but you don't even know who it's from. It could all just be a farce, Chief! I don't think that-"

"That's why you are going to find the source. Find out who sent it, and get it on the front page."

"Perry, this is ridiculous." Lois let her arms fall to her sides. "I wouldn't even know where to start. Luthor had been missing since last year. I don't even know-"

"I'm sure you'll have no trouble narrowing it down, Lois."

"This is evidence to a police investigation! You have to-"

"Less talking, more typing." Perry gave her a gentle nudge towards the door. "The sooner you watch it, the sooner I can take it in."

Lois gave the Chief a fiery glare. He had pushed a needle through her delicate bubble of bliss. The weight of reality tumbled back down onto her shoulders as she fiddled agitatedly with the disk. " You know this is probably a fake, Perry. You know what people can do with today's technology."

There was a slight twitch of an amusement on Perry's lips. "I don't know, Lois." He narrowed his eyes sharply and added, "You looked pretty real to me."

Note: Okay. I bet you're all wondering about this DVD. Think back to the movie, remember that guy with the video camera? One of Luthor's men practically video taped the entire plan. So let's play into the whole 'what if' world and say that the video tape somehow survived the ordeal on New Krypton. Don't understand? Don't worry, I'll explain how it may have been able to in the next chapter. You'll get it soon, I promise :)

Please leave a review! I PROMISE to update within the next week. I feel SO horribly bad for making you all wait for long. (Exams were hell) I am very pleased and thankful for all of the sudden new readers that have joined in, I hope you enjoyed this short little chapter. The nest one will be longer.

Thanks for the beta, Lilly!