Disclaimer: The rights of Superman belong to DC comics and Warner Bros. I am making no financial gain from this story whatsoever.

A/N: Here's the second story. It has nothing to do with the first.

Disclosure

"Great shades of Elvis!" Perry White exclaimed. "It's darned hot in here."

"Shall we consider the meeting's cancelled then, Chief?" Jimmy Olsen said.

"No you can't," Perry replied. "And don't call me chief."

"So, what do we do about the next shuttle ride?" Lois asked. "I'm still interested in hopping aboard."

"Nope," Perry said, "you're staying on the ground. We'll send Jeremy on board. Clark! Why are you still wearing your suit, son? Come on, loosen up. Don't want one of my reporters having a heatstroke. Get rid of that tie, and open up a couple of buttons."

"I'm fine sir," Clark insisted. He could feel Lois' gaze on him.

"You're not fine," Perry insisted. "Olsen's sweating to his shorts. I admire your formality, especially in this age, but get rid of the blazer. Loosen up. I'm not torturing my reporters." His voice allowed no argument.

Clark looked around. He couldn't open up some buttons here. Think... think!

"I've got to do something," Clark stammered. "Continue the meeting. I'll be back quickly."

Perry looked like he wanted to say something, but kept silent after looking at Clark.

Clark got up, and walked to the door. He felt her look on him, never leaving. He tilted his face, so he could see her from the corner of his eye. She was staring at him.

Clark was bemused, to be honest. After the fiasco with Luther, Lois acted differently after a few months. At first he put it down to her happiness to seeing him again, but he later wasn't so sure.

As he worked in his side of the Planet, he would always notice her gaze on him. Every time he turned, she quickly looked away. After a time, usually a half-hour, or more, she started to look at him again.

Even her talking to him. While she normally loved to explain her point of view, she now asked his opinion more often. She was more playful with him, laughing a bit more, and touching his shoulder. Maybe...?

Nah. He was done over-analysing her, and assigning the wrong motive to her actions. She was friendlier to him? So what? He was gone five years. She was just happy to have him back. And her hand on his shoulder? A mother's instinct. She surely also did it to Jimmy, didn't she?

He reached the janitor's closet. He'd hide the suit there for a bit. He looked around, and saw nobody. He opened the door and snuck in.

He started to take out his clothes slowly, as the damned closet was too small. He removed his jacket and tie, and was about to unbutton his shirt when he heard the door close behind him.

"What on earth are you doing?" asked someone behind him.

Clark turned round. Lois had snuck in, and had a look of total shock on her face.

"I guess telling you I have a secret janitorial job won't work," Clark said sheepishly.

"Nope," Lois said. "Just why the hell are you undressing?"

"Why are you here?" Clark asked back.

"Well," said Lois. "I wondered where you were off to, and I followed."

"Followed me into a closet?"

"You're in a closet. I just went along."

"What's going on, Lois?" Clark sighed.

"Huh?"

"All this," Clark waved. "We've changed. You've changed."

"You left for five years," Lois said. "What did you expect?"

"I don't mean that," said Clark, "and you know it."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Lois replied.

Clark walked up to her, looked at her hard, and said, "Really? I'd say you do."

"If you're hinting something," Lois huffed, "then just get it all out. You never were the confrontational type, were you Clark? Always reacting, but never acting."

"What? You followed me into the closet!" Clark replied.

"So?"

"What did you want, Lois?" Clark asked softly, turning around. "As you can see, I'm busy."

"See?" Lois pressed on. "You avoid the question, avoid the whole confron...mmm?"

She couldn't speak, beacause Clark at that moment closed her mouth.

With his.

He wrapped his arms around her, and pulled her close. She was still for a moment, and then clasped her hands behind his neck. He opened his mouth, and she did so in return.

She stroked his hair frantically as they struggled to get as comfortable as they could in the claustrophobic closet. He grabbed her arms and held tightly. She quickly pulled back.

"Ow," Lois remarked. "Relax, Clark. Almost took my arms off!"

"Sorry," Clark mumbled and leaned in again.

They continued to kiss for a minute more, devouring each others mouths. Clark took his hands off her, and instead grabbed the metal rod of the mop behind Lois. He squeezed the rod hard as the wave of emotions rushed into his mind. He heard the groan of the metal being bent.

Lois is kissing me. Oh Lord, did this feel good.

She slid one of her hands under his shirt, trying to get him to remove it. She pushed Clark back, and then gasped.

"Need... air," she coughed. "What are you wearing underneath, Clark?"

Clark tried to cover up his ruffled shirt. Damn! He was so caught up in his emotions.

But it was too late. Even with the dim light bulb the closet provided, Lois clearly saw the familiar tight blue cloth. The distinctive "S" insignia on it.

She stumbled back.

"Wha-wha...what?"

She sat on the ground, as if her legs couldn't take it. Her head dropped, and she wrapped her arms around it. She looked up, and stared at Clark for a bit, and then dropped her head again. She repeated this for a bit.

Clark stood still, totally unsure of what he could do.

"You're..." she started but said no more.

Clark said nothing, letting her think.

"I should've known something was extremely wrong," Lois said, to herself it seemed. "I mean, five years two people were missing. When Clark left, so did Superman. When Clark returned, Superman did, too. How couldn't I've seen it? Even Richard compared your physique to Superman's."

"I'm sorry you found out this way," Clark mumbled.

"This way?" Lois asked. "You never planned to tell me. I was your friend, Clark. I thought I was Superman's too. Who the hell am I talking to, anyways?"

"The both of them," Clark replied. "I mean us. I mean... there's only me. I am Superman, and I am Clark Kent."

"Why did you do this?"

"I wanted to help," said Clark. "But at the same time I wanted a life. A life of my own. Private and free."

"Who else knows?" asked Lois.

"Mum," he replied. "She's the only one."

Lois got up and walked to Clark. She hit her fists into his chest.

"How could you not tell me?" she snapped. "How could you not trust me?"

He grabbed her hands gently.

"Of course I trusted you," Clark insisted. "I just couldn't tell you."

"Why?"

"I love you."

"What?" Lois exclaimed. "What's that got to do with anything?"

"Today," Clark said, "did you kiss Clark, or Superman?"

"What are you babbling about?" Lois asked. "Of course it was Clark. I didn't know you were Superman until now."

"Exactly," Clark said. "And up to this moment, you never showed any interest in me, Clark, at all. Let's say I asked you out. You'd have shot me down, right?"

Lois remained silent.

"Instead you had an infatuation for Superman, a crush for the powerful Man of Steel," Clark remarked. "Sure, he's real. But your vision of him's a fantasy. Superman and Clark have similarities, but you've disregarded Clark's qualities, but somehow the same qualities are great in Superman."

"It was different," Lois said. "I thought you two were different."

"Doesn't change much," Clark waved away. "Your 'love' for Superman is the love of someone fantastic. You love him precisely because he's totally different from normal people. How do I know this? Because I never caught your attention, yet I've opened up to you as Superman. Shown you who I am, the Clark and the Superman in me. You never cared for Clark."

"I loved Superman because he was noble," Lois argued. "He did what was right, and was fearless."

"As opposed to Clark Kent," he countered. "An average Joe who's normal, did what was good for him (like all others) and showed fear? You're proving my point."

"That's not true," Lois said.

"It is," he replied stubbornly. "Why are you here? You kissed me. What the hell?"

"You kissed me," she said.

"You returned it," said Clark, "with interest. Don't think I haven't noticed your staring at me. What's going on?"

"I just missed you," Lois sighed.

"What? When?"

"When you left," she said. "Seriously, you forgot that?

"I realised when you were gone, how much I missed you," she said in thought. "You know, that cliche is so true. You never know what you've got... Suddenly I wanted you to be around. I missed working with you. I started to think about you. By the time you came back, you were my in one of my every five thoughts. When I saw you for the first time, I wanted to run at you and hug you so hard. But I had to hold myself. A cool demeanor was needed. I couldn't understand it, and I still don't. But who ever understands their feelings? I wanted you and here you were."

"But you're with Richard now," he said.

"Richard? Oh God, Richard!" Lois cried. "This changes everything, doesn't it?"

"I'll step aside then," Clark said.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"You're engaged," he replied.

"I know," Lois said. "But I can't continue this, feeling the way I do about you. The marraige will fall apart in less than a year. I know it."

"So you're cutting off the wedding less than two weeks before the event?" Clark asked incredulously.

"Well, you waited this long to kiss me," Lois replied in mock anger.

"Well worth the wait."

"Did I live up to your fantasies of your first kiss with me?" she asked coyly.

"Oh..." Clark stammered. "There's a few things I'm going to have to tell you."

"I have all the time in the world," she said.

"So," Clark said. "Are we together?"

"Always."

A/N: I hope you enjoyed this.