Chapter 2: Continued Conversations

As the night continued, Bruce's phone begins to ring again.

"I really want to break that," Lois thought out loud, much to the amusement of both men. The three has spent the last hour talking, Bruce sharing all kinds of stories about his adventures with Lois. The conversation was light and a lot of fun. Clark couldn't remember the last time he ever felt this comfortable talking to people, especially when one of them is almost a virtual stranger.

Another thing that surprised him was Lois. She, for the first time was actually fairly patient with him all throughout, just occasionally teasing him every now and again, but never letting on that she was even remotely bothered that he was there. She really welcomed him into their conversation, and it felt, nice.

As Bruce hung up the call one last time, he turns to Lois and Clark. "That was my CEO, he needs me to participate in a conference call at 2100"

"At what?"

"9 pm," she explained.

"Oh." Clark nodded in understanding. He looks over her shoulder to see his mom waving at his direction.

"Excuse me guys, my mom's calling me." He gets up and reluctantly headed towards his mom while Lois and Bruce watch him leave. Bruce turns to Lois, taking another sip of his coffee.

"You two seem close," he began.

Lois looked at him incredulously. "That's the popular theory," she replied. Bruce was always too observant for his own good, has been since they were kids.

"So you're not." He knew otherwise. Watching the two of them tonight, he saw a glow in Lois's eyes he doesn't see too often. Most times, it would fade as fast at it had come, but it was different this time around, the glow in her getting brighter by each passing moment. He doubts that she even notices, considering her mouth runs faster than her mind can follow, he smiles to himself.

"We're just friends Bruce, nothing more"

Looking unconvinced. "And she takes it personally. That's a first," he stated amusingly.

"Didn't you have a conference call to take?" She expressed in mild annoyance.

He grins at her playfully. "Not for another hour."

A few seconds later, his face suddenly gets serious.

"You know, we barely see each other anymore," Bruce reminded her.

"So I've noticed." She slumps back on the comfort of the sofa. "After you took over your family's business, and me finding out about my cousin's 'death,' and then everything else that happened afterwards - I don't know - I felt the need to isolate," she tried explain.

He understood what she was talking about. As soon as he turned 21, for the last year and a half, there has been a power struggle within Wayne Enterprises elite corporate businessmen. Although Wayne Enterprises continue to flourish, it has been headed by men of egos and greed, and that fact has long bothered his conscience. If his parents were alive today, he would know that they'd support whatever decision he makes for his future, but there came a moment when he realized that the future he groomed himself for could never to be shared with them, and that subconscious part of himself knew that taking over the company was a way of being close to them. But, over the last couple of years, he's come to learn more about the interworkings of his father's company to the point that he could take the head role himself... a lot of this confidence came from the help of his good friend, butler, and surrogate father, Alfred Pennyworth.

Clearing his thoughts. "What about Met-U?" he asked.

"What about it?"

He takes a deep breath. "I called the school a few months back - I was trying to get a hold of you. If I remember correctly, I helped you fill out the admissions forms, then we studied the hell out of those SATs, and I WAS present when you got the acceptance letter, so imagine how surprised I was when I found out you started a few weeks late."

He waited for her to respond, and when nothing, he continued.

"I was worried when you didn't call so - "

She cut him off. "You took the liberty of making a few inquiries on my behalf." She wasn't angry at the invasion of privacy, if you can ever really call it that. Her friendship with Bruce was something she didn't really share with anyone, not on purpose of course, it just turned out that way.

"More or less - Yeah," he answered truthfully.

"You could've just asked me, you know," she says. "I would've told you." And it's true. She would have. Secrets were rarely kept between them.

"But would you have asked for my help?" That was the question, and he already knew the answer before she even says it.

"No," she answered bluntly. Seeing his feigned expression. "Come on, Bruce, you never take it this seriously with anybody else"

"Anybody else isn't you," he softly argued. He stood up and left, leaving Lois behind with her thoughts. Like any friendship, they have their disagreements. For the last ten years, Bruce can literally count how many times she'd ask for his help in both hands, and for ten years, that isn't a lot. It's sort of a blow to a man's ego. He could remember nights when he'd wake up from a nightmare in a cold sweat, and he'd instinctually call Lois, and before he would ask her if they can talk for a bit, she'd already be out the door and on her way. Being the son of a Wayne and the legacy that it held left little room for him to make friends, let alone really good ones, but Lois was always an exception. She really looks out for you, and despite how different their upbringings were, she never held it against him. He knew without question that he trusted his life in her hands.

Outside, Clark is loading up the truck, getting ready to make a trip home to finish up his chores before the day ended when he notices Bruce walk abruptly out of The Talon looking upset. He didn't know a lot about Bruce Wayne, but from their hour long exchange earlier in the evening proved that he and Lois were very good friends.

Walking up to him from behind. "Everything all right, you left kind of in a hurry in there?"

"Fine, thank you." He starts to walk away but then quickly stops and turns back around. "It's just," he sighed in frustration. "She can be so stubborn, you know"

He hides his amusement, much too aware of who he was referring to.

"Lois can be, difficult"

"Oh yeah, that's right. I forgot for a second that you've been in the receiving end of Lane's," following Clark's lead, "Difficulties..." he mused. "One minute she can be pig-headed, and the next, you just want to hug her and never let go"

Clark couldn't argue with that. Then realizing. "So you left her in there?" He looked back at The Talon.

"She can take it," he replied. "Besides, walking out seemed a lot more dramatic," he added. It was their thing. Neither ever took it personally. When coming out of an argument or disagreement between himself and Lois, it was always best for one of them to walk out. It was a system they applied to their relationship for the last several years, a way to cool off without having it ever getting too out of hand.

"You guys were in an argument?"

Bruce doesn't answer.

"That bad, huh?"

"We have our moments," he admitted.

"So..." He needed to know. "Are you two..." And somehow he couldn't get the proper words out.

Seeing what Clark was asking. "Me and Lois?" he looked on in surprise.

"So I take that as a no." Relief washed over him. He hadn't even realized he was holding his breath till Bruce answered.

"We were 'once upon a time,'" he revealed thoughtfully. The relief he felt earlier was then replaced by envy. So Lois and Bruce, were at one point, more than friends - lover's maybe. The thought didn't sit well with him, and he really needed to control that.

"You like her," he added, breaking Clark out of his personal thoughts.

Taken aback. "What - Lois?" He shakes his head. "No, we're too different, we can barely stand each other," he explained rather unconvincingly.

Not buying it. "And yet here we are talking about her"

"It's not like that." He wasn't sure if he was trying to convince Bruce, or trying to convince himself.

"Uh huh, I'd believe you if you didn't look so obvious"

"Look, besides, even if there was, which there's not, she's not interested. We're not even that great of a friends"

Reaching his car. "You'd be surprised how well she regards you," he says as he's unlocking the driver's side door of his car.

Clark looks at him in disbelief. "I find that hard to believe"

Turning on the ignition. "Most people do," he replies thoughtfully. "That's what makes her special," he adds as he drives off leaving Clark with his thoughts.

Great, as if his life wasn't already complicated, leave it to Lois to add more weight.

To be continued...