Summary: Lois thinks she has finally discovered where Clark goes off to when he disappears so mysteriously.

Disclaimer: They're not mine.

Category: Drama, Clark/Lex friendship fic.

Spoilers: Clark is Superman and Lex knows, not much reference to the show or actual episodes otherwise, Clark works with Lois at The Planet .

Please excuse any errors as I don't have a Beta.

Any feedback would be very helpful, but this is my second fic ever, so please be gentle.

Mystery Solved

Chapter One (of Two)

Lois sat at her desk in the middles of the Daily Planet bullpen trying to surreptitiously watch her partner, Clark Kent. His desk butted up against hers facing each other, so watching him was not hard to do ­– except that Clark seemed to have a sixth sense about being observed.

"Stop it, Lois" Clark said suddenly, without even moving his head away from his computer screen to look over at her.

"Stop what, Clark?" Lois had a policy to never admit to anything.

Clark looked up from his computer screen. "Stop staring at me, Lois. I don't know what you are planning but you can forget it right now. You know I'm on a really tight deadline and Perry's breathing down my neck to get his hands on this 'Senator McKnight' piece, so I don't have time for you pranks."

Lois was known to try to subtly pull pranks on any reporter that scooped her on a story, as he had with the 'Senator McKnight' story, so Clark felt justified in his accusation.

"Really Clark" she hissed at him sarcastically, "If my intense concentration is making your guilty conscience act up and make you think that I'm staring at you, I'm very sorry" she said, in such a way as to convey that she was not sorry at all.

"As for your other accusation, I will not even justify that with a response."

Clark was satisfied with this and went back to his work, he knew that was Lois' 'pat answer' that she used every time she was accused of pranking people. He figured this was so she never actually had to lie about being involved in any pranks or not.

Lois looked away and reminded herself to be more circumspect, after all she was a professional, but then again, so was Clark.

But as everyone at the planet knew, when Lois was on the trail of a mystery, she was never deterred. Lois had decided that her partner Clark was a mystery and she would be the one to solve it.

For this reason, Lois, who had several stories currently in the works, had decided to spend the day, and even the week if she had to, following Clark around.

Clark was an enigma because he often disappeared for periods of time, and then returned with no explanation or occasionally, very lame excuses. Any other reporter would be fired for such behavior, but fortunately for him he had two things in his favor: one, Perry White liked him and cut him some slack; and two, sometimes when he disappeared Clark ended up being the first reporter on the scene of some major news story. This kind of luck struck Lois as suspicious, she just didn't know what she was suspecting Clark of.

So Lois had decided to find out where he went when he disappeared, after all, she justified, they were supposed to be partners.

Just then Clark's cell phone rang and she went back to watching him obviously, as opposed to just pretending not to.

"Clark Kent"

"What!" Clark jumped up from his seat in seeming surprise and anxiety.

"What? No, No, Laura, it's okay, I'll be right there. Don't do anything."

The conversation ended abruptly and Clark had his suit jacket and was making for the elevator before Lois realized she was supposed to be following him.

She grabbed her jacket and purse and ran towards the elevators, only to stop short on Clark's heels as he stood waiting for the elevator to come.

"What are you doing Lois?" he said, with exasperation and impatience in his voice.

"Just backing up my partner" she said winningly with a smile. "I don't have much going on right now (lie, lie, lie) so I thought I'd help you with whatever you're working on.

"Look Lois, there is a personal matter that I have to take care of and I really don't have time to argue with you. Just please, please, please leave me alone."

Clark sounded truly miserable, and the 'please, please, please' accompanied by puppy dog eyes meant he was serious, but Lois would not be deterred. She was tough, so she squelched that tiny feeling of sympathy she felt and pressed her advantage.

"Not a chance, Slick. Today, where you go, I follow. And don't bother trying to ditch me, if you like I can always tell Perry you ditched me when we were working together on a story---she paused dramatically--- and point out to him how often you disappear. Not even being Perry's favorite will allow him to disregard such blatant slacking off and unconcern for his rule that we work together."

Clark opened his mouth as if to argue, then shut it and looked at Lois with such an expression of woeful appeal that even the devil himself would have given in to his sad-eyed expression. But Lois wasn't called 'Mad Dog Lane' for nothing.

"Forget it, Clark, you're stuck with me today. I'm sticking to you like white on rice, and there's no getting away from me. Just give in gracefully.

They got onto the elevator together as it finally arrived but Clark's agitation didn't lessen any – he anxiously pressed the Parking Level button a few too many times.

He turned to face Lois in the close confined space and she was suddenly surprised to notice how tall he actually was (he usually held himself hunched over and smaller somehow) and how broad his shoulders were – he suddenly seemed to take up more space as he loomed over her -- also he had a very intense and strange expression on his face.

"Alright Lois, here's the deal. If you come with me today, you will undoubtedly learn a few things that would be newsworthy and make a very good story. But everything you learn today must be off-the-record. This can never be published, ever. I'm not kidding around here Lois, this is serious. You have to agree or your little field-trip today ends here."

She started to respond "Clark, I…" when he cut her off.

"And I'm not talking about writing the article and publishing under a pseudonom either. This is one secret you can't tell, and don't worry about Perry, he already knows about it."

If possible, this intrigued her even more, how could Clark 'Smallville' Kent have such a good, even newsworthy secret, so she said, "If you'd let me finish Clark, I agree to your terms. Lead on."

They stepped out of the elevator and made their way to Clark's rust-bucket of a car.

Lois knew she was only there on Clark's sufferance so she probably shouldn't make the usual jokes about his car, but oh well, he knew her, probably expected it even.

"Nice jalopy, Archie!" she joked. "Are you sure you don't want to take my car Clark? I don't mind, really. Then we might at least arrive at our destination."

Clark was still acting tense and uneasy, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel, he barely even reacted to her usual crappy car joke.

"It's fine Lois. My car will get us there, we're not going far."

TBC.