A/N: I just wanted to say thank you all for being such wonderful reviewers. I don't think I can properly express my gratitude for your awesome reviews. I think you're all mental for thinking that my story is good, but whatever. What do I know? I'm just the author. Lol. Enough of this pointless note, time for the story. Vaminos!

"Lois, honey."

The sound of Richard's voice startled Lois, nearly causing her to drop her flute of champagne. She wasn't sure how many this one made the count, but she was pretty sure it was over seven. Especially since the photojournalist she was talking to was droning on and on about a cover for National Geographic that he shot about fire ants. She silently thanked Richard for coming to her rescue.

She turned around, her hand over her fluttering heart. "Oh, hey, Richard." Lois said, the relief barely masked in her voice. Richard smiled, having picked up the small hint.

"What've you been up to?" He asked, nodding in greetings to the man talking to his fiancé. His arm snaked around her waist and Lois shivered uncomfortable. As sweet and familiar as the gesture was, Lois could never get used to Richard's touch, not since he came back. The caped crusader was always in her thoughts, whether she knew she was thinking about him or not.

"Frank here," Lois started, her words a little slurred. Damn, how many flutes of champagne had she downed she they arrived? She hardly ever slurred her words, even when consuming large amounts of alcohol. She prided herself in having her father's immunity to alcohol, but now she was slurring her words? "Has been telling me about his adventures as a photojournalist. Weren't you, Frank?"

Said journalist nodded. "I sure have, but, if you ask me," He said in a stage whisper to Richard. "I don't think she's really been paying attention."

Richard laughed, earning him a sharp elbow in the gut. He still chuckled, although it was accompanied by a painful, yet playful groan. "Ouch."

"You deserved it." Lois replied lamely, turning her attention back to Frank. "And I was paying attention. You shot the cover to the September 2003 cover with the fire ants on it, right?"

Frank smiled as he laughed. "Sure is. Maybe I was wrong."

Or maybe you should remember the fact that I'm a reporter and often hear things that I shouldn't -- or in this case, don't --- need to hear. And not to mention I can commit almost anything to memory.

"Lois!" Richard exclaimed, taken back that she had actually said the words aloud.

She clapped a hand over her mouth and looked away from Frank's offended gaze, biting down on the inside of her cheek to keep from chuckling. Oh god, she was going to laugh? If there was a Lord, he would control her giggles. She had just offended one of Metropolis' best photojournalist, which was why she came over to talk to him in the first place, and she was laughing about it.

Richard sighed as he rolled his eyes. "I'm sorry, Frank, it's just that Lois has had too much to drink. She really didn't mean that." He said reassuringly to the older, stumpy man.

"It's all right, really, but I must be going," Frank replied, however bristled he still was.

"Oh," Richard started, sticking out his hand for Frank to shake; he did. "It was good to see you again, Frank."

"Good to see you too, Richard. Be sure to say hello to your uncle for me."

"I will." Richard promised with a small grin. And with that, the photojournalist was gone and Richard turned to his fiancé. "I think you've had enough, Lois." He took the champagne flute from her hands and set it down on a table.

"Hey! I wasn't done with that." Lois protested weakly. "And you would hit the champagne if you had to listen to him drone on for a half hour." She hit Richard softly on the chest. "Where'd you run off to anyway?"

Richard paled, suddenly remembering why he had sought his fiancé out. Should he tell her now that he was going away -- to Lebanon, to be exact -- to cover the crisis in the Middle East, because his uncle saw him best equipped for it? Or should he tell her later, when there weren't so many people around to see Lois start screaming?

Would she start screaming at him, or crying? Or would she remain indifferent? Lois tried to hide it, and Richard had to admit that she did it well, but from him, it was pointless. She wasn't the same Lois Lane he had fallen in love with. She was different now that Superman had returned. She no longer looked at him the way she used to, yet when the Man of Steel came on the television in the bullpen, she would take a sharp intake of breath, barely noticeable to anyone else but him.

Oh yes, Richard White was loosing the woman he loved to the world's savior. When he had met Lois, she had been broken and cold from Superman's sudden departure, always snapping at him whenever he tried to talk to her to leave her the hell alone and that she wasn't interested. It remained that way for two weeks, until they both stayed late one night, ended up going out for coffee, and realizing just how much they had in common.

They had talked about anything and everything in that small coffee shop, including their past love life. Though Lois failed to mention the name of her ex, Richard had told her all about Morgan. Morgan had been his girlfriend since their junior year in college and, until recently, they had seriously considered marriage an option for them…until cancer claimed her life, which was why Richard moved from Gotham to Metropolis. They had kissed that night and Richard remembered what it felt like to feel again. Lois had evoked that from him and he couldn't have been more thankful for that.

But, now, she was slipping away from him and he was loosing her to perhaps the most perfect of men. It was hard to hate Superman. Hell, it was damn near impossible, but Richard should've saw the signs earlier. Whenever someone mentioned his name, she would get a faraway look in her eyes that was so revealing to how she still felt about him. And he was blind to it.

"Richard?" Lois's voice interrupted his thoughts.

"Huh?"

"I've asked you where you went seven times already," She replied irritably.

"Oh," Richard said, a bit confused on why she was so snappy. Because you took her drink away, that's why. "I was just talking with some old friends of my uncle."

Lois stared at Richard for a few seconds to see if he was telling the truth. Richard had always been a horrible liar, almost worse than Clark now that she thought about it, and he always showed every sign of lying. The aversion of the eyes, the tripping over one's words, the constant fidgeting, the sweaty brow. Richard usually displayed all these signs and more when he lied -- which wasn't often --, but at the moment, he wasn't.

"Really?" She asked, her brow raised in question.

Richard nodded, and swallowed, glad he was in the clear for the moment. "Yes, really." He smiled as he slipped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer to him. Their lips were barely inches apart and Richard could smell the unattractive scent of alcohol on Lois's breath. "And they told me to tell you that you looked positively gorgeous." He kissed her softly on the lips, unaware to her stiff body, unresponsive and emotionless eyes, and protesting lips.

Lois forced a small chuckle, as well as a smile as Richard pressed his lips to her forehead, murmuring, "It's nearly eleven thirty."

"Your point?"

Richard blinked as he said, "You told Clark that we'd pick up Jason around midnight. Remember?"

Lois bit back a smile at the thought of how much fun Clark and Jason had probably had that evening. A ping of jealousy surged through her. She suddenly wished that she could've joined in on the fun instead of going to this boring gala and meeting the same old, rich men and women of Metropolis.

"Yeah, I do." She nodded her head, taking a backward step from Richard to put some distance between them. She used to feel so cold once she left the comforts of Richard's arms. It had been into his arms she ran when she found that she was pregnant. At the time, they had only been dating one month, but they had slept together after the third date. While Richard believed the child to be his, and for some time, so did Lois, when Jason finally arrived three months ahead of schedule, yet was oddly healthy for a pre-me, she wasn't so sure of his true paternity. The point was that Richard had always been there for her when she needed him, and she knew that was one of the reasons she fell in love with him.

…until Superman returned. The night he had taken her flying over Metropolis, their bodies so close together, their hearts beating in unison though neither was aware, she had fallen in love with him all over again and then some.

"Lois?" Richard's voice cut through her thoughts like a jack knife.

"Huh?"

"I asked you if you wanted me to get your coat for you." Richard repeated, his voice devoid of annoyance, unlike hers had been when he didn't answer her straight away. The patience of that man often unnerved her.

"Sure," She answered with a small smile. Such a gentleman, just like Clark.

Clark? Why are you thinking of Clark? Why are you even spending your time comparing Clark to Richard?

Because Clark's one of your best friends. The reasonable part of her brain argued.

She would have to accept that answer, no matter if she liked it or not…or whether it was truthfully or not.

Lois sighed as she tucked some loose strands of hair behind her ear, tapping her foot against the hardwood floor to the soothing sound of the classical musical that had been playing all night. She closed her eyes, the past week finally catching up with her. She had written so many articles, put in loads of overtime at the Planet with Clark and Richard for their joint assignment, and had eaten way too much take out.

Two hands on her shoulders startled Lois and she bit back a gasp once the hands began massaging her shoulders. "Relax, it's just me." Richard whispered into her ear as his hands went to work on her tense shoulders, though it wasn't relaxing her at all. In fact, it was making her muscles scream in protest. He dropped his hands once he saw that Lois wasn't enjoying nor appreciating it like he thought she would've and held her coat out to her.

"Thank you," She murmured as she slipped her arms into the sleeves and shrugged it onto her shoulders. Lois threaded her fingers through Richard's and was shocked to feel him tense up in surprise. She smiled weakly at him and he led her over toward a group of men, apparently some of his friends, to say goodbye to.

"Richard, my good man," a middle aged man with salt and pepper hair said, the cigar in his mouth pivoting dangerously on his lower lip. He patted Richard forcefully on the shoulder, Richard hiding a wince at the pressure applied to his shoulder. "You're not leaving, are you?"

"That is what we came over here for."

"We?" The cigar man peered around Richard's shoulder and saw Lois, his face immediately brightening. "So this is the Lois Lane that I've been hearing so much about. That we've all been hearing about so much." He looked at Richard and laughed. "She's a beauty, Rich. Better keep a tight leash on her."

Richard squeezed Lois's hand as he nodded with a chuckle. "I will."

"Aren't you going to introduce us to your gorgeous fiancé, Richie?" Another man asked. He had dark blonde hair that was cropped too closely to his scalp for her liking, kind, brown eyes, and a lazy grin.

"Oh right," Richard said with a laugh. He cleared his throat as he said, "Lois, this is Robert Hudson," He pointed to the man with the cigar hanging out of his mouth, "Anthony Kline," he gestured to the dark blonde with the cute grin, "Steven Hurst," he nodded in the direction of another blonde man, although his hair was platinum in color and very blinding in her humble opinion, "And…" Richard stopped, his brow furrowed in confusion as he looked around the group of men standing before him. "Hmm, that's odd."

"What's odd?" They all asked in unison, which more or less creeped Lois out. They all smiled at one another and laughed.

"I could've swore that Bruce was here a few seconds ago." Richard answered, before sighing. "Well, I guess you won't get to meet him tonight."

"It's a shame, I tell you." Steven Hurst said, feigning distraught. "Not getting to meet Bruce Wayne."

Lois's eyebrows shot up so high they nearly disappeared into her hair. "Bruce Wayne? As in the owner of Wayne Enterprises?" Her eyes nearly bugged out of her head as she turned to Richard and smacked him on the arm. "You never told me you knew him!"

The men laughed and Richard chuckled, though not as heartily as his friends were. He placed a hand on Lois's arm as he addressed the group. "I have to go to the bathroom and say goodbye to the others, so if you'll excuse me."

Lois instinctively tilted her head so Richard could place a short, departing peck on her lips. She didn't feel that spark she thought she felt at the beginning of their relationship and, in all honesty, she wasn't completely upset about it. Richard's friends -- more like Anthony and Steven -- gave a cat call or two before Richard laughed and was gone.

Lois turned to Richard's friends, wondering how he knew them all in the first place, before switching on her reporter mood and asking, "Richard knows Bruce Wayne?"

"It's more like his Uncle Perry does, sweetheart," Robert Hudson supplied, getting a collective nod of agreement from the others.

"And Perry only knows him through that one reporter," Anthony pointed out and Lois realized for the first time that he was English.

"What reporter?" Lois questioned curiously.

"That really tall bloke," Anthony continued, holding his hand a few inches above his head. "You know the one I'm talking about?" He turned to Robert, directing his question at the older man.

"The kind of bulky one, but not like Steven here, rather healthily bulky, with the coke bottle glasses and seems like a big wuss?" Robert said as more of a statement then a question.

If Lois thought her eyes had nearly bugged out of her skull now, she was truly mistaken. Her jaw opened and closed a few times as she said, "You mean Clark? Clark Kent?"

"Yes!" Steven and Anthony exclaimed together. "That's the one."

"Total goof that one is," Steven chuckled.

"A little too humble for his own good, maybe, but Clark Kent is most certainly not a goof." Lois said defensively.

Steven raised an eyebrow at both Anthony and Robert as Anthony said, "He's an excellent reporter, if that helps any." She smiled faintly as he continued, "The articles the two of you wrote together were always fantastic. I myself was completely addicted to them."

"As was I," Steven added.

"I wasn't," Robert grumbled. At Lois's curious look, he said, "I was fuming with anger that I didn't have a brilliant team like yours working at my paper!"

They all laughed, Lois smiling brightly, as she realized just how easy these men were to get along with. She and Clark had made a good team, hadn't they? Lois didn't know anyone else who could've put up with her, and Clark did it with flying colors. He never once complained to her about how she received the majority of the credit for their joint assignments. And not once did he bitch to her about how it was unfair that she was getting all the attention. He really was the perfect partner for her.

By the time Richard rejoined the group, Lois had already taken off her coat and had another flute of champagne in her hand. He smiled as they all took a step back to welcome him into the circle.

"Lois," Richard started, but Lois quickly shushed him with, "Oh hush. Clark's not going to complain about watching Jason for another hour or two and Anthony's in the middle of a really good story."

Slightly surprised by her outburst, but glad she was getting along with his friends nonetheless, Richard accepted a proffered glass of red wine and joined in the conversation. As they all exchanged stories, told jokes, and nearly fell over from laughing, Lois couldn't help but wonder…

How the hell did humble, farm boy Clark Kent know big time, billionare Bruce Wayne?

A/N 2: This is what one would call a filler chapter. And although it may seem completely unnecessary, I'm afraid to say that it is, but I'm not telling you why. Lol. Thanks again for all your wonderful reviews! Keep them coming! I'm loving it! Lol.

Countess Jackman