Lex could not have explained why, when he woke up in the guest suite without anyone in the bed with him, he felt extremely perturbed at Claire's absence. For a brief moment, there was a gnawing, irrational fear that he had made a poor judgment, that his estimation of her loyalty had been faulty and she had disappeared with all of his secrets in tow. He wouldn't have been entirely surprised - some small part of him expected it after the night before. Lubrano was, without a doubt, lying dead somewhere on the roadside - his death, very conveniently, would likely be attributed to the prior night's earthquake and his inebriation. That, however, was something that Lex had very much expected Claire to be unable to handle hanging over her head. It just meant that she would need to be handled.

These fears were quickly shut down, however, when Claire emerged from the bathroom, clearly dressed for work, brushing her hair with a toothbrush hanging out of her mouth.

"Sorry - did I wake you?" Claire spoke up, her voice garbled while she tried to keep one side of her mouth closed around the toothbrush. There was nothing elegant about her in the slightest in this moment - she was rushed and multitasking... and vulnerable. Unguarded. "I just really need to get into the office early - I had the hairdryer on low, I didn't think it was that loud -"

"We don't leave for another two hours," Lex said matter-of-factly, sitting up in bed and allowing himself to feel the relief that washed over him that Claire had in fact not bolted at the first opportunity, when he was in no position to stop her. But now, without it becoming a topic of conversation at all, it appeared that they had turned a corner - Claire had made a decision about her place in the grander scheme of things, and had come to accept whatever came with it. "If anything at the office required us rushing there because of the earthquake, we would've gotten word much sooner. Why are you in such a hurry?"

"I was going to take my car because I have about a hundred medical offices to visit if I'm gonna finish the report by the due date that you set - thank you for that, by the way," she rambled, putting the hairbrush down and finally pulling the toothbrush out of her mouth and placing all of her morning routine paraphernalia on the bathroom counter. Lex's expression looked briefly bemused at the fact that she was so comfortable around him - that this was the way people acted in their natural habitats, with their guard lowered and their most natural tendencies on the surface. "And I was going to leave early because I'm never going to get anywhere in Metropolis rush hour. I'll probably have all the site visits done by one-thirty if I leave... ten minutes ago, crap," Claire groaned, now skittering around the room and throwing things into her laptop bag for work.

Lex smirked a little - he was still of the opinion that a little chaos was in fact attractive on her, because it made her seem less surreal. More vulnerable. More human. Moreover, the seriousness with which she approached her work with LexCorp had surpassed his expectations. He had, in truth, given her oversight over the pharmaceutical project as a means of pacifying her, but the more she did, the more Lex realized that she was in fact more savvy than she let on and was on her way to building a robust business venture that LexCorp would benefit from in spades.

"I'll check in at the front desk right when I get into the office, I promise, but I really have to go. I'll see you when I get there," Claire said quickly, slipping into her shoes and slipping across the room, leaning over and planting a sneak attack of a kiss on Lex's lips before she scurried out of the guest suite. The action was a simple one, and a casual one, but left Lex feeling strangely stunned. There was such a normalcy about it, a normalcy that Lex thought was only for other people to experience because he was already well-acquainted with the impression others had of him. Claire treated him as though she considered him human, and in some instances did so without batting an eyelash. Lex had known for a long time that he was not a person who a woman in her right mind would ever wake up next to without ulterior motive, would ever kiss goodbye without expectation of reward.

He had known these things, and known them for certain.

This meant that either Claire was not in her right mind, or that he had been wrong. That he was human, that he was worth some level of kindness and a kiss goodbye.

For the first time, being wrong was something that made Lex Luthor feel the tiniest bit hopeful.

"Hello there, stranger."

Lois Lane couldn't help but smile at the sound of Martha Kent's voice on the other end of the phone line - after the news about the earthquakes broke the night before, Lois had tried calling Martha immediately, knowing that the woman lived alone and was in the epicenter of a large quake. When Martha didn't answer, Lois had admittedly stayed up all night, and was by now supremely exhausted but relieved that when she called at a more reasonable hour, Martha had picked up.

"I just wanted to make sure everything was alright out there," Lois said honestly with a slightly sheepish laugh, knowing it had been weeks since she had called Martha. "I saw on the news that the quake hit pretty hard."

"I think it's the element of surprise that hit folks out here harder than anything," Martha said with that frank, easy laugh that made Lois more than willing to think of the woman as a mother. "Earthquakes aren't common 'round these parts."

The silence that followed, however, struck Lois because normally, it would have been filled with chatter about the other ladies in town, or about how an old neighbor dropped by to catch up. Now, Martha Kent was extremely quiet, and Lois gently cleared her throat to feel out if perhaps the call had gotten dropped.

"Are you sure nothing's wrong, Martha?" Lois asked gently, and unexpectedly, she heard the sound of a sniff on the other end of the phone. Lois felt her heart clench.

"The damage at the cemetery's pretty bad," Martha admitted in a shaky voice. "Heard from them earlier this morning. They said they'd repair anything they needed to, free of charge, but... you know, I don't think they'd have wanted it that way."

Lois knew immediately what Martha meant, and agreed without question. Clark Kent - and Jonathan by extension, Lois was sure even without having known him - wouldn't have wanted anyone to be hassled on his account. It was one of the things Lois most loved about him.

"I think you made the right call," Lois said, surprised to find herself choking up as well. "I - I think it's better that way."

It was now that Lois allowed herself to realize that she and Martha felt the same thing in that moment - extreme and complete loneliness. Even surrounded by friends and people who wished the best for them, who wanted them to stay busy and get back on their feet, both of them were terribly and hopelessly lonely in a way that only the other could understand.

"Do you... want to come out for a visit? For a weekend or something?" Lois asked suddenly before she could help herself, feeling herself pulled to want to cling a little more tightly to the woman because Martha Kent was one of the few ties Lois had left to hold onto of Clark. "It's - it's not a big deal or anything. But I thought it might be -"

"I'd like that," Martha said with a weak, obviously tearful laugh. "A little mother-daughter time. Can't say I know what that feels like," she added. Lois felt her heart immediately both swell and shatter at the fact that Martha, too, thought of her as family. "Just let me know when's best, Lois. I know how busy you city slickers get. I'm just right here."

It took all of Lois's composure to keep herself from breaking down into tears until after she got off the phone with Martha. She struggled for a good while to turn off the switch of emotion that had been inadvertently flicked on, but was soon at least put back together enough to make her way to work.

Perry did his best to treat Lois as normally as he could, but there were times that even he could not muster the ability to bark orders at Lois, to be harsh and deliver tough love, as he put it, the way he usually did. There was still something that felt amiss, seeing her in the conference room without Clark. Clumsy, aw-shucks Clark Kent who always seemed apt to trip over himself just getting Lois's coffee for her. But Perry had promised normalcy, and by God, he was trying. Lois Lane was one of his best, and he wanted her back.

"We have one assignment left," he said, looking at a file folder in his hands and visibly tensing, peering up of the edge of the glasses and putting it down. "Fogarty," he said pointing his index finger in the direction of one of their new correspondents who, if Lois's memory served, had little to no field experience. "This one is probably something for you -"

"You're not even going to let anyone else call dibs?" Lois spoke up in characteristic Lois Lane fashion, laughing slightly to herself and taking a swig from her coffee. Her expression fell, however, when Perry did not respond - not with amusement, not with annoyance, not with anything.

"Front page of the business section is going to be a spread on LexCorp's latest pharmaceutical project. It's big buzz lately," Perry said cautiously. "Big philanthropy paired with Luthor's colorful past few months is as good a story as we've been able to get these days. Been quiet on every other front -"

"I want it," Lois interrupted, her face shifting into a frown. "I want the LexCorp story."

And the table fell silent - not because they felt Lois Lane was incapable, because no one here with a modicum of experience would think that of Lois Lane, but because they knew that her grudge against Lex Luthor, for reasons that were still unclear to them, very personal.

Perry White would never admit it, but he had a soft spot for Lois Lane, like a stubborn daughter that pissed him off to no end yet never managed to do so to extent that would shake off his protectiveness over her. And this was how, he realized, she was going to heal. The only thing she loved almost as much as she had loved Clark Kent was her work.

"You got it, Lane. I want it finished copy ready to print. Tomorrow. Interview's set at LexCorp for two o'clock."

Two o'clock gave Lois an ample amount of time to prepare for her interview. She had admittedly been insulating herself from news about Lex Luthor and his business ventures because they were too close to home until now, and so, she was less privy to information about goings-on as she would have liked. However, a brief review of local news and correspondence from sources was clear enough - LexCorp was in the process of developing a new line of pharmaceutals aimed towards the poor and disadvantaged of Metropolis.

Now, it was a preconceived notion for certain, and preconceived notions were often the downfall of good journalism, but Lois was certain that Lex Luthor wasn't just taking pity on the ailing poor of Metropolis out of the goodness of his heart, and she was willing to suspend her journalistic integrity at least slightly to pursue her hunch.

So with a game plan in mind, Lois called a cab to take her to the LexCorp main offices.

This place, Lois was convinced, was the epitome of the saying that looks could be deceiving. It was a bright, building with abundant windows, lobby seating, a basketball course - all of the employees she passed in the facility seemed happy to be there, save for a surly young woman with short hair, almost shaved on one side, manning the front desk. Her name badge read Trixie.

"Lois Lane, Daily Planet," Lois said, showing the young woman her badge. "Mister Luthor should be expecting me."

"You're early."

"I was wondering if he could accommodate any extra time -"

"He's in a meeting right now. I can let him know you're here but - no promises," the younger woman said shortly. "Feel free to hang around. Shoot hoops or something."

Lois was admittedly surprised by the dismissive treatment from the staff here. Granted, she was used to being less than welcome when she arrived to conduct interviews because as a reporter she was easily perceived as a snoop and a threat. Had Lex directed his staff to be short with her? Lex Luthor had certainly been effective in developing a particular culture among his staff - urban, twenty- and thirty-something professionals for the most part with an obsession with recognition and 'working smart'. It didn't seem too farfetched to imagine that they worshipped the ground that their CEO walked on.

These musings were interrupted by the sound of the main doors opening and the clack of heels across the floor signalling someone else's arrival - a woman in well-tailored slacks, a pinstripe dress shirt with sleeves rolled up to her elbows, her hair braided off to one side casually. Then, catching sight of her face, Lois realized that the woman who had entered was no stranger.

"Afternoon!" Claire Branigan said brightly, shifting her bag on one shoulder with a cup of coffee held like a precious trophy in the other. As the younger woman breezed by the front desk and flashed her personnel badge, Lois realized that the young woman looked different than when she'd last seen her in the coffee shop. Busy, yes, and clearly working incredibly hard - but in a different way, looking more energized and alive than she'd been before, as though being around Lex Luthor had actually been good for her.

"Trixie, I'm so sorry to bug you. Can you let Lex know I just got here? I told him I'd check in when I got to the office," Claire asked politely, and it was evident that she was well liked - the erstwhile grousing college student at the front desk who had earlier been so brusque to Lois gave Claire a grin.

"Sure, Miss B," Trixie said, hitting a button on the phone intercom system and sounding strangely eager. "Do you want me to have him scoot his two o'clock to two-thirty?"

"Nah," Claire said dismissively. "I'll catch up with him. Who's his two o'clock?"

"That'd be me," Lois spoke up as she strode over, finding that it took a surprising amount of gall on her part. "It's good to see you again, Claire."

"Miss Lane," Claire said in surprise. Almost like a watchful puppy picking up on the emotions of a master, Trixie seemed to grow suspicious as well, her gaze again becoming surly as Lois drew nearer. It was now that Lois realized that LexCorp as a whole was protective of its leader - and now, of Claire by comparison. Trixie's eyes were not the only ones that carefully watched the exchange from a small distance, as though prepared to intervene. "H-how... how are you?"

"Alive and paying the bills - looks like I could say the same for you," Lois said with a friendly, though perhaps somewhat forced laugh. It was bewildering to see Claire thriving in LexCorp of all places, but in a short span of time, she seemed to have become complete enfolded in it.

"Are you here for a story?" Claire asked, though she immediately rolled her eyes a little at herself, shaking her head and pinching the bridge of her nose. "Of course you are, I'm sorry. That's a dumb question."

"No, no, don't worry - guilty as charged," Lois said with a slight laugh, reaching out and giving Claire's forearm a reassuring squeeze. The girl had a quality about her that Lois admittedly warmed up to, even in spite of the fact that she was a willing collaborator with Lex Luthor. "My boss wants a feature by Friday on the new LexCorp pharmaceutical program -"

"Well," a recognizable voice piped in striding in from the opposite end of the room, across the basketball court, "then the lovely lady in front of you is the mastermind you seek - the woman behind the curtain, if you will," Lex said with a strangely reverent gesture as he stopped next to Claire and made a movement with his arms as though presenting her - showing her off. After the sweeping motion, he straightened up and placed his hands on his hips, tilting his head to one side. "My, my, Miss Lane. Aren't you a sight for sore eyes?"

Claire knew when the brightness in Lex's voice was meant to be antagonistic, and this was clearly one of those times - despite the fact that the rest of Lois Lane's face smiled politely, her eyes shot daggers in Lex's direction, and Claire felt a tugging at the pit of her stomach as though she needed to protect Lex from her.

"I appreciate you taking the time to speak with me, Mister Luthor," she said with prim stiffness, reaching her hand out for a handshake as was proper. It took her best efforts not to sneer in disgust when Lex made a gesture of kissing the back of her hand.

"Always a pleasure, Miss Lane."

"I don't take this interview lightly. I'm sure you're a very busy man," Lois said, making no motion to hide as she yanked her hand out of his grasp.

"Indeed. I always have been," Lex retorted. "But you know that better than most, don't you, Miss Lane?"

"I'm... gonna go," Claire said, clearing her throat and forcing a smile when she realized that she was currently standing in the middle of an extensive history with which she had little to no connection. "I still have a ton to do by the end of the day so I'm going to get cozy at my desk for a little while."

Claire moved to walk away and give an appropriate level of space to what was clearly a tense interaction, but before she could make a complete departure, Lex caught her by the forearm and gave her gentle tug, making a small show of planting a kiss on her right in front of Lois Lane. It was perhaps a show of dominance and victory over the woman who had tried so hard to thwart him - but at the same time, perhaps not about her at all. "I'll come by and get you when we're done."

"No rush," Claire said, gently giving Lex's arm a squeeze before walking off, leaving Lex alone with Lois who appeared to be losing by the minute her ability to maintain neutrality about what she was seeing.

"Well, make yourself comfortable, Lois. Can I call you Lois? I think we're there," Lex said with a smirk before waving her over to a set of hightop tables under a sunroof near the LexCorp basketball courts. "Have a seat. Oh," he said with exaggerated surprise as Lois obliged and began pulling her tape recorder out of her bag, pulling open the flap of her bag with her left hand. "Congratulations. Who's the lucky guy?"

Lois looked confused at first until she followed Lex's gaze down to her hand where she still wore the engagement ring that Martha had been keeping for Clark to give to her. Lois felt rage again boiling inside of her at Lex Luthor's nerve - the glint in his eye was proof enough that he even thought he was being humorous. But she had a job to do, and with great difficulty, she chose not to dignify the statement with a response.

"I'd really like to just have a few questions answered about LexCorp's new pharmaceutical program," Lois said, keeping her gaze high and focused. "So if you don't mind -"

"Oh. Oh," Lex said, resting his elbows on the table between himself and Lois, then clasping his hands so he had a place to rest his chin. "I wish we hadn't let Claire go back to her office - she's the mastermind behind the project. It's genius, isn't it? She couldn't be more perfect if I'd engineered her," Lex quipped with a smirk, but Lois was surprised to see that there was some extent of actual admiration in his expression - as though a part of him thought that Claire really was perfect.

"Claire Branigan is in charge of the program?" Lois pressed slightly. "A matter of weeks ago, she was still working as your nurse, wasn't she? That seems like a very fast transition. A fortuitous one -"

"Now, now," Lex said, adjusting and now wagging his index finger lazily in Lois's direction. "That seems like a very unfair accusation, Miss Lane. And here I thought you were all for girl power." Lex got off of the hightop chair with an unnecessary bounce to his step, starting to pace casually back and forth on a short line in front of Lois, tapping his chin in feigned deep thought. "I can already foresee the headlines about Claire, and I can tell you, I don't like them!" he said in a deceptively sing-song voice. "Now, that woman is extremely valuable to me, so I am going to nip this bad press brewing in the bud. Claire Branigan is the most qualified, best fit person to lead this project, and she was long before she and I became... involved," he added with a vague smirk as he paused in front of Lois and gently leaned in closer, his eyes gleaming with a predatory sort of excitement, having the upper hand in the conversation this way. "And she is excellent at what she does. Everything she does," he added suggestively. "She didn't require a big strong man to bail her out of trouble to get a leg up in her career."

Lois's jaw clenched at the implication, pulling back slightly. She couldn't speak, at the risk of having it captured on a work-issued recorder and considered fair game for future record - and Lex knew that. Lois realized that this was the reason he was grinning at her in that way. It was an awful accusation, whether or not it was spoken outright, that Lois had built her career on stupid risks and the confidence that Clark - that Superman - would not allow anything to happen to her. In hindsight, it was unclear if these accusations were even completely false.

"I think I've heard enough, Mister Luthor."

"Oh, but I'm not finished, ace reporter!" the said, stepping in front of her when she tried to get out of her seat and picking her tape recorder up off of the table before she could shut it off. Lois, however, had now had enough of Lex Luthor's antics - she got to her feet anyway and snatched the recorder from his hands, shutting it off and shoving it into a pocket of her bag.

"Sooner or later, everyone's going to see through you. Claire is going to see through you - she's a smart girl," Lois said matter-of-factly. Their posturing, even if they weren't audible to those around them, drew attention to the fact that this interaction had grown very tense, very quickly. From the reception desk, Trixie , catching sight of their well-loved CEO clearly getting quickly in over his head, immediately had picked up the phone. "You think because you're out of prison, just because Clark is gone, you get to do as you please? Bruce Wayne isn't ramping up his presence in Metropolis for the bay views, Lex. I don't know what kind of hold you have on Claire Branigan, but she's too smart to stay blind to what you are for too long."

Lex's upper lip curled into a sneer, and he found his heart racing - pounding in his chest. However, he managed a nasal, forced laugh, shaking her head in Lois's direction. "Fiesty as ever. But I'm not afraid of whatever Bruce Wayne has planned. There are far worse problems coming than a tantrum from the Bat," he said in a low whisper.

"We'll see," Lois said with a defiant tilt of her head.

"Is something going on?" Came Claire's voice across the basketball court, accompanied by the click-clack of her heels on the court. "Gina paged me up and said that it was urgent?"

"My bad!" the receptionist called out from her desk. Claire paused a few yards away from Lois and Lex, quickly noting their posture and expression, then approached slowly.

"Sorry," she said with a sheepish laugh. "Didn't mean to interrupt."

"No - no interruption. I was just leaving," Lois said with convincing nonchalance, putting on a smile and reaching into her pocket and holding her business card out to Claire. "If you ever want to talk more about the LexCorp Pharmaceutical program - or if anything else comes up," Lois said with a meaningful glance in Lex's direction, "give me a call."

"Oh. Well," Claire said, clearing her throat and putting on a smile as well, though hers appeared more confused than please. "I'm sure Lex already gave you all the information he needed. I'm not cleared to talk to media. Too green," she shrugged. "But thank you."

Good answer, Lex couldn't help but think as Lois left the building, leaving him and Claire standing at the tables near the basketball court. Now, Claire's attention finally turned toward him, and in typical Claire fashion, a brief once-over caused her to sigh gently and tilt her head to one side, her eyes wrinkling at the corners the way they did when she was concerned. She reached out and squeezed his hand, which was still clenched at his side, and gently uncurled his fist.

"Do I want to ask how that went?" she asked with a gentle irk of her eyebrow, approaching the situation as casually as possible. Lex, however, responded with a smirk and shrug.

"Just another Lois Lane interview," he shrugged before sliding an arm around Claire's waist. "Now, since we have that out of the way, maybe I could convince you to play hookey for the rest of the day. I'm sure your boss wouldn't mind."

"Tempting," Claire smirked, reaching over and smoothing out the collar of Lex's shirt - it was a gesture that Lex surprisingly enjoyed a great deal, and he briefly considered tousling it intentionally from time to time so she would do it more often, because it allowed a moment where she was close to him, but focused on something else so intently that she would never realize that he was looking at her. "But I respect my boss too much to risk missing the deadline that he happened to set himself," Claire reminded him before gently placing another kiss on his lips. "I'll see you at home."

But even with the sense of relief that came with Claire's actions, Lex realized as she walked away back to her office that something in Lois Lane's words rang true.

Lex valued Claire greatly. He valued the sense of being valued by her even more. And the more they were in Metropolis, the more intersections between Claire's path and Bruce Wayne's path, Claire's and Lois Lane's path, the greater the risk that Lois's foreboding prediction would come true. If the influence of people like Lois and Bruce and those who surrounded them became too thick, it would be poison, Lex couldn't help but suspect, and this was one thing he would not stand to see poisoned - which meant that protecting Claire from their influence was of the utmost importance.

A/N

I managed an update for you all during my vacation! Not the most action-packed chapter, but there will be more juicy bits to come! In addition, I'm realizing that this is also my longest chapter to date. The next chapter will be slightly delayed because I'm reworking the scenes to accommodate a special surprise! As always, I am so grateful to hear from all of you and I'm still working on the story when I can during my vacation - but I'm spending some long-needed time with family, which is really nice.

Next chapter, we'll see more Lex and Claire of course, but also a little more of the development of the soon-to-be Justice League. It needs a few tweaks, but I'm hoping to have it up within the next week. As always, your feedback is always deeply appreciated, and I'm excited to hear if you guys have any ideas for anything you'd like to see. Seriously. Until next time, cheers!