A/N: I wrote this 10 years ago and never posted it anywhere. It's intended to take place after Superman Returns, but really it would be compatible with any Superman movie. So fear not, lovers of Man of Steel! There is literally only one sentence that places it in Superman Returns world, so if it makes you feel better, you can skim over that sentence! Personally, I really like Superman Returns. I think it shows the heart of Superman really well, Jimmy is adorkable, and I liked that version of Clark quite a bit. I also adore Henry Cavill and I preferred the Lois Lane from Man of Steel since she isn't clueless and blind. So no hate from me about any of the Superman movies. I love the character and enjoy seeing him on the big screen! Looking forward to Cavill's next one!


Coworkers Speculate

The elevator dinged and the doors slid open. Clark slipped surreptitiously back through the bullpen, winding through a bubbling sea of humanity, careful, as always, to be friendly but unmemorable. Most people at the Planet ignored him, but he noticed today a handful of people scattered throughout the room were staring at him, thoughtfully. It was unnerving.

Clark hunched his shoulders and sneaked a peek at the front of his clothes. Nothing was showing there, but it was the cape that caused the most problems. There wasn't a mirror handy in the bullpen, so he awkwardly sneaked an X-ray glance through himself. Nope, the cape was tucked neatly under his shirt and in his pants. His boots were crammed inside his shoes, which, he noticed with a frown, were starting to buckle outward from the pressure. He only bought them a week ago. The previous pair had lasted a month. See if I ever buy this brand again, Clark thought, irritably. I guess you get what you pay for.

He glanced around. Melanie in Sports was making her way toward Eric in Finance, both had been staring at him. He knew they were friends…in fact, all the people who watched him come in were from the same circle of office friends. Clark narrowed his eyes, thoughtfully. They must have talked about him while he was gone. He wasn't so worried now that his suit was showing underneath his work clothes. However, there was still cause for concern as they had evidently noticed something. It was probably his mysterious absences. Did they realize he always left just before Superman appeared somewhere? He swallowed nervously. They were reporters. They noticed things. They probably especially noticed his return to the Planet coincided with Superman's return to Earth. Great.

Finally, Clark made it to his desk. He sank into the battered, creaking office chair and pretended to shuffle through papers on his desk while he tuned in to the conversation on the other side of the room.

"I don't know, Eric," Melanie whispered. "Are you sure?"

"Well, I can't be absolutely sure, but it seems to explain things, doesn't it? I mean he's always disappearing so suddenly…" Eric trailed off as Dustin and Grant from Business joined them.

"I think you might be right," Grant said.

Clark shifted, his seat creaking, and shuffled his papers a little faster, agitated.

Dustin piped up, "What I don't understand is why he keeps it such a secret. I mean, wouldn't it be easier – "

"Easier?" Melanie interrupted, loudly.

The men shushed her as people near them began to look.

"Sorry," she whispered, then repeated, "Easier?! Of course not! Could you imagine? I mean, what if you were in his shoes? Would you really want to blab about it to everyone?"

Superman…Jesus….somebody!

Clark tilted his head slightly to the left and zeroed in on the cry for help. The conversation at the back of the room was making him nervous, but he would have to deal with it later. He pushed back from his desk and darted quickly – but not too quickly – from the room, ignoring the speculative nudges and prods from his inquisitive coworkers.

Both elevators were on the wrong floor, so he took the stairs and sped to the roof to deposit his work clothes. A quick leap into the air and he was off, breaking the sound barrier above the clouds and rocketing to an old farm in Nebraska where a twenty-eight year old man lay alone and pinned under a toppled tractor at the bottom of a hill.

After flying the man to the nearest hospital for two broken ribs, a broken femur and a fractured ulna, Clark zipped back to the farm, repaired the tractor and deposited it just outside the barn so no one would have to walk so far to get it. Breaking the sound barrier again, he sped back to work, careful to dodge an Air Force Base south of Omaha. He had learned over the years that it made the military uncomfortable when a bogie traveling faster than a standard missile entered their radar screens.

Clark managed to slip back to his desk unnoticed, but it wasn't long before he heard the whispers start up again.

"Look, he's back!"

"Jesus, Dustin! Give the poor guy a rest," Melanie hissed.

Clark fumbled clumsily in his desk drawer for a notepad and pretended to take notes off the computer, while listening.

"Eric," Grant said, "I googled it, and…" he paused, blowing a puff of air, "dude."

"Yeah, I know," Eric replied. "But don't you think it would explain everything?"

"Why does he always come from the elevator or stairs, though?"

Clark paused his scribbling. What do they think I do? Fly out the nearest window?

"I was thinking about what you said earlier," Dustin said, "and if he wanted to keep it on the DL, it would make sense to go upstairs."

Grant and Eric murmured in agreement.

"What do you mean?" Melanie asked, confused.

"The next floor up," Dustin explained, "is set up like ours, but only has one guy – two if they're lucky. All the rest are laaadies," he sing-songed the last word.

Wait, what?

"Yeah, it's like an unwritten rule – "

"Part of the Guy Code – "

"Yep."

"Sooo, if you have to…" Melanie whispered.

"Uh-huh, the one closest to the elevators."

Clark was confused. A tantalizing tendril of relief began to creep through him that they likely didn't suspect he was Superman, but now he was immensely curious what they were speculating about him.

"Oh, Eric," Melanie said, "Your poor wife! Seeing how often Kent…how does she handle it?"

Clark sneaked a glance out of the corner of his eye and saw Eric shrug. "She's used to it after all these years. Seeing her when we're in public, well, I can understand why Kent makes all those strange excuses. I imagine he's just as embarrassed as she is."

What in the world…?

Superman…

Clark heard the whispered plea and jumped up from his desk, once again weaving through the bullpen and darting toward the stairs. Just as he was stepping into the stairwell, he heard Grant's voice.

"Man, I'd hate to have Crohn's."