Title: Unmasked

Author: Nadia Mack

Rating: K+

Disclaimer: I Own Nothing

Summary: Post Superman Returns. Behind the hero is a man longing to be free.

Author's Notes: The first three chapters have been edited, and hopefully, little to no mistakes can be found. Everyone, clap your hands for Barbara! As for Sunday's lack of update, I was pretty busy this weekend, I worked majority of the day with my other job, so by the time I got home, I was too exhausted to do anything but read.

Thank you all for the continued support and feedback, this story would be lost without you.

By the way, there are some amazing stories in this section, I'm growing very fond of "An Understanding" and really enjoyed the one-shot "Right Before Your Eyes." "In the Shadow of My Father" is a bit intense, so make sure you're eating lots ice-cream when you do. Comfort food is needed for stories like that. And don't forget "Déjà Vu" but judging by the response to that story, does Barbara really need it? lol. There are plenty more out, and they're all great in their own right.

Chapter 14: Collide

Clark remained still as the two men regarded each other in silence. Since he had come back to the Planet a month ago, his relationship with Lois's fiancé had stayed on a professional level, and neither one had felt the compulsion to really get acquainted with each other as friends. So at this moment, Clark was left seriously wondering just why Richard White was standing in his hallway at 1:30 in the morning.

Thankfully, Richard began speaking. "I was in the neighborhood," he started out somewhat awkwardly. "I was headed towards my uncle's but I'm – anyway, I…"

"How long have you been waiting out here?"

"About an hour," Richard admitted gloomily. "No one answered so I figured I'd wait." He reached into his pocket and pulled out something out. "I found this the other day." His hand shook as he handed it to Clark.

Clark pushed his glasses further up the bridge of his nose and looked at it with definite surprise. It was a photo taken of him and Lois back when they were assigned the story in Smallville.

"Where did you get this?"

"In Lois' things," Richard answered. Clark pushed the implication aside, and his super hearing closed in on Richard's erratic heartbeat, causing his envy toward the man to turn into concern. It was probably best for Clark to think about the photo a little later because Richard didn't seem to be acting like himself.

"Why don't you come inside?" Clark asked, grabbing his keys from his coat pocket and unlocking his door. Richard reluctantly followed Clark into his apartment, taking in the grandeur of the place. It was wide and spacious, and completely above Kent's means.

"Nice place."

"Thanks," Clark replied awkwardly. They moved to the kitchen where Clark opened up his fridge to pour himself a glass of milk. "Thirsty?" he offered to Richard holding up a glass in one hand and a pitcher of water in another.

Richard mused over his preferred drink of choice and politely accepted the water over the milk.

"Sure."

Richard continued to look around his co-worker's apartment. He didn't know what to expect, maybe a small one bedroom place with very few furnishings. He had always thought Kent was too modest for his own good, but as evidence was pointing out, he had pegged the farm boy wrong.

"So how does a guy like you find a place like this?" Richard asked. He couldn't help himself, he was a reporter too, you know.

"Luck, I guess," Clark answered simply.

Richard nodded and ended his inquiry, doubting it had really been luck that got him into such a nice abode. He didn't want to be the rude guest or anything. What he really envied about Clark Kent was his history with Lois and his son's apparent attachment to him. He had noticed from the beginning that whenever Jason wasn't with him or Lois, he was with Clark. Normally, Jason had stayed in his office or drawn on his mother's desk which was common for a quiet child like Jason, but for the last few weeks, Jason's outgoing enthusiasm surprised even him.

Clark attempted to explain. "Look, the photo was just…"

"I'm not accusing you of anything," Richard cut him off to assure him otherwise. In a way, he was there in hopes of finding some common ground. "I'm here because…" Richard exhaled, and for a moment, Clark saw his eyes glisten. "Well, because Lois is going to need your help."

"My help?" Clark began to worry. "Is she okay?" He had left her only a few hours ago, and she had been fine.

"No, nothing like that. She's fine." Richard gulped down the rest of his glass of water. At that moment, he wished it were something stronger, but he wasn't going to let the situation beat him down like that. "I meant, she's going to need your help… in the future I mean."

Clark narrowed his eyes, not liking where this conversation was headed, or in this case what the conversation implied.

"Richard, um… whatever it is, I'm sure you and Lois will work it out."

Richard snorted at his words and it definitely caught Clark off guard. "I appreciate the relationship advice, Kent, but it's a little late for that." Soon after, Richard found himself pouring his heart out to the one person besides Superman that he actually felt threatened by when it came to Lois' affections. "Do you mind?" he gestured to the couch.

Clark's mouth opened to answer when Richard sat himself down. Clark snapped his jaw shut and walked over to the recliner situated perpendicular to the sofa, feeling oddly. He didn't know what to say, nor did he know exactly how to act. This was the last thing he had expected to come home to. Clark knew it had been tense at the office, but he had fooled himself into thinking they weren't having that many problems.

"Did something happen?" Clark had a pretty good idea what it was, but he dreaded the answer all the same.

"We broke up, that's what happened," Richard answered, a little too bluntly. "I don't know why we held on so long, but I guess I hoped…" He looked at Clark with faint disdain. "I know you're a good guy, Clark, but I don't like you. I hope you're not offended by that."

"No, no of course not," Clark replied meekly. "I… uh… feel the same way."

"Good," Richard said with a nod, one common point checked off. "I should get going." He stood up and made his way to the door. "I'll see you at the office."

Clark followed Richard out the door and watched as he walked away with a look of total bewilderment. As Superman, it was easy to be confident because he knew what he had to do. There was little time to talk while trying to help, so his exposure to people in a personal sense was limited. So when he was being himself as Clark, he could get just as confused as the next person, and right now, he had no idea what had just happened – only one line in his entire conversation with Richard White had registered thoroughly.

"We broke up…"

"Morning, Lois!" Clark waved goofily in her direction.

Lois had to clear her throat to keep from laughing. "Hey, Clark!" This was ridiculous. Even after a few weeks of getting to know this side of him, it amazed her how he could act this adorable all the time. Yes, adorable – and the fact that he could stay like that on such a consistent daily basis astounded her.

"So, how are you?"

Lois sighed, and upon noticing Clark's sad look at her reaction, she realized that he had taken it the wrong way. She wasn't upset that he had asked her how she was doing, she was upset because they were having the same conversation as the one they had last night.

"I'm fine," she forced out. "So where have you been?" she asked, crossing her arms and giving him a pointed look. "You're late."

Clark gulped, but Lois found it amusing. He deserved to be uncomfortable for keeping this charade up, especially with her, the mother of his child.

"You know, Lois…" he tried to move the discussion elsewhere but she refused.

"So where were you?" she continued stubbornly.

"Um…" he struggled for an excuse, hating himself for continuing his deceit. "I was um… talking to my mom," he quickly said. "Yeah, she's uh, she's coming to Metropolis this weekend."

Lois hid a snorted laugh behind her hand?. He actually had brought his mother into this.

"Really?"

"Hmm mm," he nodded. His attention moved elsewhere. "Where's Richard?"

Her amusement broken, she shrugged at his response. "He's working on a separate assignment for Chief, this morning. He'll be out all day," she said, her voice passive.

"Okay."

She rolled her eyes. "Come on, Kent." She strolled right past him without a glance back. "We've got trouble to get into!"

Clark shook his head, amazed.

What was he going to do with her?

By the time Lois and Clark finished following up their morning leads, Lois insisted that they make a beeline to the nearest coffee shop. She had a craving for another cup when she remembered something.

"You're still coming over tonight, right?"

Clark turned to her rather blankly as his attention was focused elsewhere. His mind constantly went over Richard's unexpected appearance the previous night, and it left his thoughts scattered.

"Tonight?" he repeated. "Gee, Lois. It was awfully nice of you, but I don't think I'll be able to make it."

Clark felt entirely too awkward to show up in the home that Lois shared with her former-fiancé, and it was even worse that they would be surrounded by close friends and relatives, leaving him in a lot of ways, the odd man out.

Meanwhile, Lois was upset that he was planning on skipping out, but then she had to remind herself that even though he'd done an honorable job keeping his two identities separate, she was pushing him too hard. She should've known that Clark would have problems attending a Thanksgiving dinner with the man she was formerly supposed to marry. A part of her wished they could have beaten the odds, but she couldn't make herself regret it.

The thought of Richard sprung up in her mind. She had asked how he was, and he sufficiently responded, but she had lived with him long enough to know that there was more behind his eyes than he let on. During their brief meeting with Perry early this morning, it was obvious that their boss – his uncle, her mentor – knew more about what was going on between them than he let on as well.

In the end, Lois was just glad that Richard had someone to talk to.

"What do you mean, you can't make it?" She might as well make an effort to ask why even though she had a pretty good idea of all the reasons why he shouldn't come to Thanksgiving Dinner tonight.

"Well, you see Lois…" Clark paused to take a deep long breath. "My mom really is coming to town. I'm picking her up this afternoon. It's been a while since we spent this day together, and you know, I thought maybe I could make her dinner."

As soon as those words came out, Lois' heart leaped with joy. She had this warm sensation every time he did something so… human. She was reminded, despite his many superhuman gifts which could have easily separated him from humanity, how normal he could be.

"Why don't you ask her to come? We'd be more than happy to have her."

The sadness that followed her words made Lois want to kick herself. She was trying really hard win this game of musical chairs with Clark, but no matter how she tried, one of them, or both, ended up failing miserably. Full disclosure with Clark Kent right now seemed quite tempting.

"Thank you, Lois, but I'll have to take a rain check on that," he said regrettably, avoiding the look of disappointment in his partner's eyes. "It'll just be me, my mom, and her… husband."

"Husband?"

Clark sighed and shared a different sort of turmoil. "She remarried last week, and they wanted to spend their first Thanksgiving with me."

This time, Lois tried not to let her disappointment show at not having known that particular bit of information. She had thought they were past secrets like that and had become the kind of friends that friends should be.

"You haven't mentioned that."

"It's probably because I try not to think about it," he admitted with difficulty and Lois immediately buried any resentment she had entertained when learning his mother had remarried.

"You don't like him?"

"It's not about liking him, he's a good man. My mother did good… but… he's not my dad, and I guess that bothers me a little."

So human, she thought and wondered even further how he felt about Richard raising their son all these years. Before she could talk about anything else though, they were suddenly approached by Jenny, writer of the society column.

"Hey there, Clark Kent," Jenny greeted with her trademark voice, which held an invitation of less than noble intentions and completely ignoring his company.

Lois rolled her eyes that the woman would even try that with Clark let alone think she could succeed. Shouldn't she be off at some movie premiere or something?

"Hello, Jenny."

"Are you free tonight?"

He is way out of your league, little girl, Lois thought entirely too venomously, but she schooled her features all the same to avoid suspicion. The office knew that she and Richard were having personal problems and no one knew that they both mutually called it quits last night, so as far as the general populace was concerned, she was off the market.

Clark gulped nervously. "Actually, I'm pretty busy tonight, but thank you anyway."

"Oh."

The look of defeat on Jenny's face was priceless to Lois. She wasn't as jealous of Jenny's attention toward Clark now as she had been a couple of weeks ago when the green-eyed monster of envy had come out of left field. The thought of her Superman stooping so low was beyond even her own comprehension. Jenny was often described as a shameless flirt and her actions hardly denied that fact.

"I have to go," Clark said.

"Maybe we can…"

"You go right ahead, Clark," Lois jumped in, a perfect opportunity to cut into Jenny's continued advances. "I'll meet you there." It was like killing two birds with one stone: Clark could fly off and save the world yet again, and she could have the pleasure of watching Jenny shrink away from being brushed off.

"Okay, Lois." Clark readily agreed, sending her a silent 'thank you' afterwards.

Lois returned his thanks with a silent 'you're welcome.'

A couple of minutes later, the daily news report on television was broadcasting a live feed of a warehouse fire when suddenly, Superman appeared. A smiled graced her lips as she stopped what she was doing to watch the man that had captured her heart tend to the disaster with relative ease.

One day, Superman would be ready to tell her, and when that day came, Lois would be too.

To be continued…