Disclaimer: I Own Nothing
Author's Notes: It's always a pleasure to write for you reader's out there and even more fun for me to write Lois and Clark.
Chapter 4 – Dichotomy
Lois's Apartment (Morning)
Lois woke up from the oddest dream, she could almost bet on her life that she came home last night to find 'King of the Flannel' himself Clark Kent right on her doorstep. Literally. She remembered it like it really happened.
Hopping off of bed, her body has become systematically programmed to wake up the same time every morning regardless of how late she stays up at night, or how early she ends up sleeping. She looks at the clock and groaned.
6:00 AM
Life sucks.
She plopped on a pair of slippers and headed to the bathroom, but halfway across her hallway she noticed a half-eaten pie on her counter.
Her face scrunched up with disbelief. Last night was real. "I'm having a bad day," she uttered to herself before going about her daily routine like a robot.
Daily Planet (Same Day)
Lois walked into the bustling newsroom floor of the Daily Planet. She looked at her watch with a frown.
9:00 AM
There was a budget meeting she notably forgot to attend, but since she was 99.99999 sure Kent would be there, all awake and ready to take notes, Lois regrettably took her time getting there. Fortunately for Lois, the time she took to get to the meeting ended up being the entire meeting.
Unfortunately for Perry White, he would have none of it.
"LANE! MY OFFICE! NOW!" Chief screamed; he was long past sticking his head out and calling for her. Now he just yells for her in his office.
Lois shivered slightly at his tone. Whenever he gets like that, it usually means he has nothing to put on the city beat section.
"Hi Chief," she greeted in a light tone.
"Don't 'Hi Chief' me, young lady." Perry points to a nearby chair for Lois to find and sit.
She does.
"What's going on?" she meekly asked.
"What's going on? WHAT'S GOING ON?" He breathes. "KENT! GET YOURSELF IN HERE RIGHT NOW!"
Lois leaned on the armrest while massaging her forehead with her fingers. She could feel the already forming migraine.
"Yes, Chief?" Clark walks in all professional about it. He sees Lois sitting in front of Perry's desk and smiles. "Lois. Hi."
Perry becomes a bit miffed. "Aren't you two partners? You should be greeting each other before your boss calls you into his office. What's the point of having partners when you don't work together?"
Lois's eyes shot up. "That's an excellent question, Chief"
"Lane…" he says in a fatherly pitch.
Lois backs away. "Sorry"
"Grab a seat, Kent," Perry orders.
"Yes Chief"
Perry sat behind his desk like the head editor that he is. He laced his fingers together atop his desk like an obedient student, but his presence radiated with anything but. He was a man on a mission, and he did it with strength and authority and with a boat load of prescription pills.
"Collaboration. Participation. Team Work. Nouns used to imply action." He takes a look at both pairs of eyes in front of him. "Lane." He then looks at Clark. "Kent." Perry takes an even deeper breath. "What have you two been doing the past two days that results in a blank section on my newspaper?"
"I can explain," Lois jumped at the chance first. When Perry looks at her, Lois retreated and glanced at her… partner. "Clark"
Clark was stunned. "Wha… me?"
Perry begins to notice that there's more to their partnership than meets the eye.
"Lois, where were you all morning?"
"Meeting a source"
Clark stares at her; he couldn't believe she met with a source without him.
"Kent, did you know about this?"
Suddenly, Clark was torn. Should he tell the truth or wait to hear Lois give him a lame explanation.
"No, Chief, he didn't." Lois interrupted, much to Clark's surprise.
"And why not?"
"Because… it wasn't on my way"
Metropolis Museum of Natural History (Same Day)
"You know, I can't believe you said that"
"Said what?"
"In Chief's office this morning. I wasn't with you because I was out of your way – God – You can be so selfish."
"Okay, let's get something straight here, Smallville. I said 'It wasn't on my way' and secondly…" she paused. "I don't deny the selfish part." She spun to walk away but stopped and turned back. "And I never asked for a partner. I was doing fine on my own"
He pulled her from the crowd to a nearby corner, his voice low but serious. "And what, now you feel like you're babysitting me?"
"I never said that"
"You ignore me." Clark counts off on his hand with finger number one. "You run off without telling me where you're going." Finger number two. "You meet sources without me." Finger number three. "And you won't tell me how you really feel"
"Put that hand away before you give somebody the wrong impression," she knocked it off annoyingly.
"See," he expresses. "That's exactly what I'm talking about"
"What exactly do you want to hear from me?"
"You know, we used to work well together. Like a team."
"Not so well," she says softly, her eyes looking for anything interesting other than him.
"I deserve that." Clark knew he did. "I just want you to know that…"
"You're sorry," she finished. "Yeah, I got it last night"
"Then why don't you believe me?"
The sincerity in his soft-spoken voice nearly tackled her already waning wall of defense. She has nothing against him, not really. Most of her issues come from the mere fact that she has worked hard to get where she is, and to suddenly be paired off with someone got to her. To top it all off, it just had to be Clark Kent.
"Because I don't know you," she replied truthfully.
Clark was taken aback. He hadn't expected that. How could she think she didn't know him? Lois may not know the Kryptonian part of him, but she knew him better than most. Sharper.
"That's not true"
It was this point that Lois would've laughed, but she didn't. She kept back, held her ground and forbid herself from showing any possibility that they had something. Lois may not know what that something is, but it was enough that she was afraid to even touch it.
As they made their way out of the museum after a brief meeting with another one of Lois's sources, they walked out side-by-side silent until Lois was ready to talk to him.
"Those things you said about me…" she began the reluctance clear in her voice. "Before I left… they were true."
Clark swallowed with a bit of difficulty. She said it as a statement of fact, not a question directed to him. He wanted to say something but knew from experience that it was best to wait.
"I was irresponsible, reckless and completely without direction"
"Lois…"
"You wanted me to talk, Smallville, so let me talk"
Clark immediately silenced himself.
"But I knew all that already, even before you said it aloud." Clark blinked; he didn't know what to say, so Lois continued. "I made a few calls, worked something out with my dad, I even managed to save some money for myself"
Clark couldn't take it anymore and spoke out of turn.
"And then I open my big mouth and you left sooner than you would've?" He already knew it was true.
"I never blamed you," she admitted, garnering a look of surprised shock off of Clark. "I was mad… Outraged ill-tempered furiously out of this world raging mad." At this Clark smiled and so did she. "But I never blamed you," she confirmed once more.
"But you never said anything," Clark says, wondering why she never did.
She nods. "It was never about you"
Clark smiled at her thoughtfully. "I like who you've become"
She returned it with a smile of her own.
"You didn't turn out so bad yourself." She looks at his business ensemble, noting once more his skewed tie. Lois chuckles softly, closing the distance between them, fixing his tie again.
Lois caught him grinning at her.
"I'm beginning to think you're doing this on purpose, Smallville," she says with a smirk, finishing up his tie.
Clark's grin turned into a big smile. "I don't know what you're talking about, Lois"
Lois shook her head, smiling. "Come on, we've got a story to write." The genuineness in her voice was almost enough to make Clark sweep her off her feet.
Perhaps there is something there.
Daily Planet (Late, Late at Night)
Lois walked zombily into the deserted newsroom. She couldn't sleep, she had too many thoughts running rampant in her head that she needed to do something or she would die of boredom.
Just as she was about to head to her desk, she caught the sight of Clark sleeping soundlessly atop of his. She smiled at his sleeping form. It seemed she wasn't the only workaholic around here.
She didn't know why, but she just sat there staring at him, even going as far as noting the features that had changed in him. He is certainly no farmboy she remembered several years ago, their impromptu talk earlier today proved that.
He moved a bit in his sleep. He uttered words like "Jor-El" and "Lara" throughout various moments and Lois mentally struggled deciding whether or not to wake him. "No, please… don't go," he says.
"Clark…" she shook his shoulder a bit. "Wake up," she says softly.
"No!" Clark began to shiver and Lois grew worried.
"Clark." Lois says a little louder and it was finally enough to wake up him.
"AH!" He bolted upright almost forcing Lois backwards.
"Whoa, there, Smallville. Take it easy, it was just a dream," she says in an attempt to comfort him. Clark looked horrible. His eyes were a bit puffy and his hair was disheveled, even on his worst days back in Smallville, he didn't look this bad.
Clark stared at her for a long moment with a mixture of surprise and confusion. He didn't realize he had fallen asleep in the office.
"Lois?"
Lois sat straighter and looked around the clearly abandoned newsroom. "Yup, that's me," she says playfully.
Clark looks at her embarrassingly. "How long have you been here?"
"Is that really important?"
"Depends on my dignity, and if you're willing to give it to me"
Lois smiled but then it turned to concern. "Are you all right? You were really tossing there."
"I've had better days"
Lois looked around and noted a suitcase besides his desk. "Do you have a place to stay?"
Clark was hesitant to answer, he's been flying back and forth to Smallville and Metropolis, and so he hadn't really had the time to look for a place to stay. He was hoping that after his first paycheck, he could actually start saving up for an apartment.
"I just came back a couple days ago; I haven't really had the time to check any places out"
Lois couldn't believe what she was about to say next. "Why don't you stay at my place for a few days," she offered.
Clark's face was a picture of shock.
"You mean, stay with you?" Even with his super hearing, Clark wasn't sure he heard her right.
"Yes, with me… on the couch," she replied flustered by his naiveté.
"Thanks," he says, processing what just happened. Not only were they staying in the same city working the same job and sharing the same byline, but now he'll be staying with her. He should've said no, but deep inside, he really didn't want to.
"Consider us even," she says to make it sound not as serious as it is. She's lived with him for months before, how hard can it be for a few days?
She picks up several notes on his desk. "In the mean time, you look like your making headway on our illegitimate businessman"
"Yeah," Clark mussed up his hair and sat straighter on his chair, sharing with Lois everything he's been looking into. "I think I've got a name, but I don't know much about him. He could possibly be called 'The Roman.' Other than that, I can't get a lead on his identity"
"Falcone"
"What?"
"The Roman was a nickname given to him in the 80s; he goes by his real name now. Carmine Falcone"
"You knew all this already?" he says incredulously.
"I had my suspicions." She hands him the file. "I wanted another set of eyes to take a look at it just to make sure"
Clark is flattered. "I don't know what to say"
"You're a reporter, Clark. You're doing your job; you don't have to say anything you don't need to." She takes off her jacket and sets in aside. Then she takes a seat net to Clark. "Since I can't sleep and apparently, so do you… let's see if we can crack this"
"Is that a challenge?" he responded playfully.
"You want it to be?" she returned teasingly.
Clark expected a lot of things when it came to Lois Lane, but he never expected making up with her to be so much fun.
Daily Planet, Metropolis (Following Morning)
Jimmy Olsen loves to come to work on time. Primarily, he's aspiring to be a photographer, he also happens to have a knack at doing research, and even regularly help Lois Lane, the Planet's top investigative reporter on her cases.
Little is known about Lois Lane personally. While everyone in the entire office has a thing or two to say about her, the only person who'd probably know her best is Perry White.
That of course was simply a theory till now.
Walking deep into the newsroom, everyone was gathered near Perry White's office. A circle was more like it. Something must be happening.
"What's everyone looking at?" Jimmy wonders aloud, shoving people out of the way so he can take a look too. "Come on guys, what is it…….. Whoa!"
On the couch laid Clark Kent and… Lois Lane sleeping on his lap.
"Great Shades of Elvis! Let me get to my office, people!" He stops when he notices Lois and Clark sleeping. "Whoa!"
Perry stares at all his associates, and then stares at Lois and Clark. Jimmy even tries to poke Kent in the shoulder once or twice as if to see if they were wax models, and what everyone was seeing wasn't really real.
But it was real.
His two reporters are… Perry shakes his head. Nahhh…
"LISTEN UP EVERYONE!" His voice was so loud, Lois and Clark jumped to their feet.
"Yes Chief!" Lois says.
"Right away, Chief!" Clark says.
"Commitment. Devotion. Seriousness. Nouns used to imply a work ethic." He points to Lois and Clark. "Lane. Kent. Now that you two are wide awake, get me my story." Perry walks into his office and shuts the door.
For Lois and Clark, it felt like they were suddenly run over by a bulldozer. They must've fell asleep while doing more research last night.
They looked up and noticed everyone still staring.
"What?" they both say in unison.
A month later at the Kent Farm, Smallville
It's been one month since moving to Metropolis and getting a job with the Daily Planet. One whole month being partners with a particular co-worker who always has an uncanny ability to make him smile.
Everything has been going great. At least, he thought it was.
Clark looked awkwardly at himself in the mirror. "Mom, is this really necessary?" He looked at himself from front to back, checking it out from all angles. "It looks a little… revealing." A pause. "And colorful"
"I don't like this, Martha," his father voiced in.
"Why, what's wrong with it?" she asked the two most important men in her lives with disappointment.
"No!" they both exclaimed.
"He looks great, sweetheart." Jonathan assured her.
"I can work with the outfit, mom," added Clark.
Jonathan tried again. "What I meant was this… Clark… using his powers for everyone to see"
His son interrupts. "Dad, it's my choice." Clark and Jonathan have gone over this for hours on end, but Clark had made his decision, and he was going to stand by it. "I feel cooped up when I know I can help. This…" gesturing to his outfit. "Is a way for me to do that?"
"And what if somebody recognizes you?" Jonathan continued to argue.
"It's a risk I have to take"
"Clark's right, Jonathan"
"I know he's right, Martha, I'm just worried"
"I know." Martha hugs him, and Clark soon follows.
"Everything's gonna be okay, dad." Once he let them go, he looked at his mom. "You think Lois will like this?"
Jonathan and Martha laughs at his insecurity.
To be continued…
