(4/14)

"That is an incredibly bad idea," Clark said as he paced up and down in front of Lois' desk. Her office was small, so he only had about six feet to do this, and she wondered if he was ever going to get as annoyed with it as she was.

"C'mon, Kent, it would be just like -" She stopped, and her breath caught as he halted his pacing to turn and look at her. "Just like all the other times I've done stupid stuff like this," she said quickly.

"Or like all the times Chloe and I did this?"

"Or that, too," she agreed, hoping he hadn't caught her. "She had some tales."

"And one finally got her killed," he said darkly.

"I -" Lois pushed a lock of hair behind her ear. "I know that," she said defensively.

Clark turned and walked out her door.

Lois almost slammed her chair against the wall, she got up so quickly. She followed him through the newsroom to his cubicle, where he stopped so suddenly she almost ran into him.

"Geez, Clark!"

He turned around and gave her an odd look. But then his expression turned to stone and he said, "What do you want?"

"We have to do this. You know we do. To finish the assignment, we have to, and I want it to be over. Mr. White wants an interview with Lex Luthor. Either we get one or we get fired."

"He wouldn't really..."

"Yes, he would. I've seen it happen countless times."

"He's never gonna see us."

"Yes, he is."

"He's never gonna talk to us."

"Then we'll make him."

The hard glint in her eyes told him it was true. Lois Lane was not a woman to be messed around with. He was finally beginning to see that.

"Do I need to tell you again that this is a bad idea?" Clark whispered to Lois as they sat outside Lex Luthor's office.

She glared at him, then continued staring at her hands in her lap. So showing up without an appointment hadn't been the smartest thing to do. Last resorts usually weren't. The point was, they had been announced, and security hadn't been up to retrieve them, so she was going to take what she could get.

They had already been waiting half an hour, which she thought was stretching it, even if they had barged in. But she'd known Lex wasn't going to make this easy for either of them.

She sighed and shifted in her chair just as Lex's secretary popped her head out the door.

"Mr. Kent? Ms. Lane? Mr. Luthor will see you now."

They both stood, and Lois straightened her suit.

Get in, get answers, get out, she thought. And hopefully no one gets hurt.

The moment she laid eyes on Lex, for the first time in person in seven years, she wasn't so sure about that last part.

He was still bald and well dressed, but the weight of his years spent battling against what he thought was the true nature of the Luthors had taken their toll. Not so much in the way he looked - at the age of thirty he still had boyish features - but in his demeanor.

He stood and walked toward them, greeting them like perfect strangers. She was, as far as he knew, but they all knew Clark wasn't.

As he reached out his right hand to shake hers, she noticed it was encased in a black leather glove.

"If you're here about the stock scandal, I've answered all the questions I'm going to answer," he said, gesturing to two chairs as he headed back behind his desk.

Clark made no move to speak, so Lois took the lead.

Just like old times, she mused to herself.

She took the seat in front of Lex's desk, and primly crossed her ankles.

"I'm afraid we're here about a scandal of another kind," she said, looking him straight in the eye.

"And what would that be, Ms. Lane?"

"Well, there have been... rumblings, shall we say, that Lex Corp is secretly carrying on illegal genetic and biological experiments. Much like the ones performed at Luthor Corp in Smallville in the late nineteen-nineties through the early part of the last decade.

"Considering the trouble those caused, I'm curious to know why they're still going on when the repercussions are so clear?"

"And how would you know about the experiments in Smallville?"

"Research," she replied evenly.

"And I grew up there," Clark chimed in, finally.

Good, Lois thought. I thought you were dead over there for a minute.

Lex's attention still seemed focused only on her.

"Well, then. If you've done your research thoroughly enough, Ms. Lane, you will know that once the danger of the meteor rocks - which all of my father's experiments were based on - was made public knowledge, they were eradicated."

"Oh, I know that," Lois countered. "But if all the meteor rocks were gathered by a Luthor-backed company, you'd be good to go for, oh, ever."

Lex smirked at her, clearly amused by her tenacity. "I can assure you we had nothing to do with the digs for the rocks, nor is there anymore experimentation involving them. I put a stop to that long ago."

"So that's it? That's your official statement?"

"That's the truth, Ms. Lane."

She had known she would never get the truth out of him, but she'd had to try.

Lois stood, followed by Clark, and smiled at Lex. "Thank you for your time, Mr. Luthor."

"I'm sorry to have wasted yours, Ms. Lane. Mr. Kent."

It was the first time he had openly acknowledged Clark, but he was still looking at her with that enigmatic smile. It reminded her of the way he used to look at Lana. Apparently, I should've been a brunette all along.

"We can show ourselves out," she said, and by the time she reached the door, Clark was already holding it open for her.

She only glanced at him as they made their way into the elevator, and down to the main lobby.

As they stepped out, she turned to look at him.

"That was a great performance, Kent. What the hell were you doing? Or not doing, I should say."

Clark looked positively defeated, but she couldn't feel all that sorry for him. After all, she had just faced the man whose father had tried to kill her. And it wasn't as if Lex had done anything to stop him.

Lois looked at him expectantly. "Well? Did you freeze, or was I just doing that good of a job?"

"It's complicated."

"Oh?"

"I haven't spoken to Lex Luthor since right after Chloe died."

"I guess that's why he paid such a great deal of attention to you," she said. Shaking her head, she started for the door.

Clark followed and gently grabbed her arm. "I'm sorry, Lois. I should've been more help. But it - It didn't end well."

She eyed her arm, and he removed his hand. "It doesn't matter, Smallville. Neither one of us was going to get a straight answer out of him. I doubt anyone ever has."

Lois turned and continued making her way out of the Lex Corp building. The further she got from any Luthor, the better. Right now she didn't even care if Clark followed, she just wanted out.

TBC