In the Field

Re: Re: Favour

Better just hand it to me.

-L

On 7/29, James Olsen wrote:
Sure Lois. Plain envelope in your inbox by the end of the week? Are you sure about this?

Jimmy

On 7/28, Lois Lane wrote:
Hey Jimmy, listen, it's 3 o'clock in the mourning and I'm probabyl going to regret this but I was wondering if you could do some digging for me. remember the stack of photographs I polietly asked you to never let see the light of day agan? Could you kind those for me maybe? and not mention it to Richard on pain of death? because I will kill you.

-L

Jimmy Olsen sighed as he looked at his computer.

'This is not good.'

Jimmy tried to warn the Bullpen around him with his mind, tried to psychically convey how uncomfortable he felt with this mission and its inevitable consequences. While most of Lois' closest friends had been expecting something like this from the very moment Superman returned, Jimmy didn't think it was going to come like this. And he certainly didn't expect it to come to him.

Jimmy knew exactly where those photographs were (kind of), having championed a level of organization in his various portfolios unknown in modern times, which consisted of a few hundred different parameters for filing, from "Date" and "Subject" to "Six or More People" and "I Was Happy When I Took These." One hundred Paige boxes in the temperature and humidity controlled sub-basement of the Planet made up his professional collection. His old bedroom back at his mom's (which the kindly elder Olsen let Jimmy fill with slides, negatives, burned DVDs, and more Paige boxes) made up his personal collection. And the space under his bed. AND the second closet in the bedroom of his apartment.

Another sigh.

Having gotten the green light from Lois five years ago to 'dispose to the depths of hell' about one hundred and fifty photographs, and, knowing in his heart and soul that it was the right thing to do in addition to the death threats, Jimmy had changed the status of these photos from 'professional' to 'personal.'

Which meant moving them back into his bedroom at his mom's and sorting into the "Prevalent Emotion" boxes in his collection. Jimmy knew these prints were spread all over and while it might still, despite all this, be possible to find them all, he knew what the favor really meant:

Lois was thinking really, really hard about Superman. And not in a professional way. Not in the way that would have her ask for a good shot of him conquering evil for the front page, or of burning buildings, or lost kittens. No, she was thinking of him in a way that made her want to look back at the intimate dance that had been these rare shots of rare moments between them, photographs that Jimmy had had the chutzpah to take only because he was a trained professional with an Associates from the local community college.

He looked at Richard's dark head in the Assistant Editor's office and winced with sympathy for the man who had so unknowingly walked into a passionate, otherworldly tension between the world's strongest man and the world's most intense woman. Jimmy watched Richard move his head in conversation on the phone and thought suddenly of the little boy soon to suffer for his mother's sins. It was for Jason that Jimmy regretted Superman both leaving and returning. He sighed.

'That is, if sins they are,' for Jimmy didn't know after all. Lois could have any number of reasons for seeking out these photographs, maybe she just really wanted to burn them after all, because Jimmy knew Lois would never do anything to destroy the home life that she had sacrificed so much for. Lois wouldn't take Jason's father away from him. Whether that meant that nothing was out of place and this was an innocent request OR that Lois would be that much more careful in her secrets from Richard, Jimmy didn't know.

'It's a good thing for Lois Lane that I'm a good friend,' Jimmy thought wryly as he replied quickly to the e-mail and glanced over at Lois' empty desk. Not only could those photos potentially confirm to Richard something most people already knew, but, they could probably have earned Jimmy a LOT of money. Any number of tabloids would have paid thousands per photo, but he was only kidding with himself (as he often did). He would never dream of it. Superman was his friend, too.

'But, hey, if times ever get rough and if I'm sure it'll fall under the DoD's radar...'

"OLSEN!" Jimmy jumped in his seat and swung around, wide-eyed, convinced he was caught along with Lois in something no one knew about.

"Yes, Chief!"

"88th and Tulsen NOW! Hostage situation and a suicide jumper on the same building, that must be some kind of record. Every crisis counselor in the city is laughing at the police. GO!" Perry looked left and right. "WHERE ARE LLOYD AND HOLMES! Never mind, fucking people finally getting something done." He turned around, "AND WHERE ARE DACEY AND RADCLIFFEE! Damnit, RICHARD!"

Richard, who just had come to the doorway in his office and therefore right into Perry's line-of-sight, took a step back, "Uncle Perry I have no experience with-"

"NOW!"

"But I get nervous with-"

"NOW!"

And Richard ran back into his office while Jimmy closed out of his Inbox and immediately sought out his camera bag. He tried zippering the over-stuffed pockets, reached in, pulled out a package of dust masks and two flares, and tried ramming his telephoto lens in their place. The news monitors were switching to scenes of the crisis as the networks caught up with the police, details on the events audible only to Jimmy and a few others who had their desks right under pillars.

Jimmy relished the interesting feeling of being in the know before most of the world, something rare in the modern day of instant communication. Perry had an actual red phone in his office that Lois and Bill had given him as a prank birthday present one year, because he always managed to hear about emergencies first. The photographer wondered not for the first time who it was that alerted Mr. White to crises around the city.

Richard came flying out of his office looking distinctly off-put yet determined just as Jimmy dropped his bag.

"Do you have a car?"

Jimmy looked up as if to say, 'Look who you just asked!'

"Okay, never mind, we'll take mine."

"No, I'll drive." Jimmy shot over his shoulder as they made their way to the elevator, "There's only one way to navigate this city in a crisis. Don't worry, I'm your man."

"AHHHHH STOP!" Richard was yelling in his ear and holding onto his waist with all his might, legs flailing out and nearly kicking pedestrians and poles. Jimmy had his thumb on the horn of his "1950's green" and cream Vespa, and was weaving in and out of traffic at a healthy 20 MPH.

"Take your legs in, you're messing up my balance!"

"Are you crazy?" Taxis were whooshing by them on their way to the deadlock ahead that signaled a police block in the mid-day rush. Richard bumped his head into Jimmy's matching helmet for the fourth time and cursed. He kicked a leg out again and made contact with a newspaper rack machine for the Planet. Then he finally brought in his foot.

"Small motor scooters are an efficient and low-priced city transportation alternative," horns blared to their left, panicked people were cursing and warning them away in their wake, "I, as a licensed operator, am fully qualified to operate this machine," Jimmy's camera bag almost leaped out of the little basket on the front when he hopped a curb, "And the press pass on the front helps me avoid parking tickets."

"STOP!"

"Excuse me, Daily Planet coming through!" Jimmy took his hand off the handlebars to wave his press pass in front of him like a shield. Richard thought he looked like an over-excited teenager with a new toy.

"POLICE LINE! Get the hell out of here before you get hurt, kid!"

"That's fine," Jimmy said over his shoulder to Richard, "The jumper is on the other side, I bet he doesn't even know there's a hostage situation in the same building. We'll sneak in over there where security is more relaxed. Suicide is a breeze." Jimmy turned into an alley and swerved to avoid a broken beer bottle, "I envy Lois, the cops part like the Red Sea when they see her pass," Jimmy put his leg out to handle a 90 degree turn through a courtyard and out another alley, "I wonder what Superman will do with two problems at the same time."

Richard piped up with a normal sentence for the first time the whole ride, "Why doesn't he just pluck the jumper off the building?"

Jimmy maneuvered through trashcans and braked to a stop. He turned off the Vespa, put down the kickstand and waited for Richard to get off first, "He prefers to talk them down, just like the police, and only intercedes if they actually jump." Jimmy went about quickly fixing a chain to a lamppost. "Once he brought up sandwiches and sat on a ledge with a teenage girl for three hours." Jimmy swung his camera bag across his chest and shoulder and starting jogging towards the second police line in front of them. "Otherwise nothing gets accomplished and that person might just go kill themselves another day, another way."

They came out to another police barrier, but Jimmy had guessed accurately: the situation was not as tense nor as populated. Richard wondered what it must be like for a police officer in situations like these, whether they felt impatient with people trying to harm themselves when innocent people were pulled into a crisis against their will.

Jimmy and Richard moved forward with press passes held aloft and slowly made their way past the officers and barricades and towards the line of police cars. Many sets of binoculars were aimed skyward and a little think-tank of police and people in plain clothes stood closer to the building with a megaphone and hand-held radios. There, resplendent in a blouse of pale green, next to a television reporter holding out a microphone, stood Lois, digital recorder out and a stern expression on her face.

Richard moved a step towards her while Jimmy starting affixing the telephoto. "Lois is here."

Jimmy looked up quickly but snapped his attention back to his camera.

"She usually is, isn't she? Chief probably sent another reporter just in case they were too far away."

"They?"

"Lois or Clark or both." Jimmy was now focusing on the jumper. "It's a woman, mid-forties I would guess. She's holding a radio, Superman must have been to her already and left her with the crisis team." Jimmy started snapping pictures and Richard turned from squinting up at the jumper to looking across the flashing lights to Lois.

"Damnit," he muttered. Jimmy paid him no attention, as he knew he wouldn't.

'Damnit Lois, you said you never went looking for trouble!'

Richard and Lois had gotten into a whisper fight two nights ago after a very tense family dinner. It must have been obvious to even their four year old that something was about to pop behind Richard's eyes because Jason went upstairs and bathed with Lois without any extra fuss. Richard had sat fuming in the living room, reading the back of an air freshener can for no reason, ready to pounce on Lois when she padded downstairs all sweet-smelling with her hair in a towel.

"The Henderson story, Lois?" He hadn't even given her warning that he was about to start up with her, but he didn't really care. He was entitled. Lois had been acting so odd lately, he felt so out of sorts between her behavior, Clark, Superman, and the world that he just finally felt himself snap.

Lois looked angry, but kept her wits about her for the first few volleys.

"I know that story, I testified, it only makes sense for me to follow up!"

"Do you remember what we went through during that story? Do you remember us having to call your mother to baby-sit when I bailed you out of jail?"

"Don't bring that up again, you know perfectly well that cop was working for-"

"Lois, I don't want to have to deal with this again!"

"Well you will deal with it, Richard. This is my story, my career, my neck."

"Has it occurred to you that we all almost died recently?"

"What? Luthor has nothing to-"

"It has everything to do with it! What the hell did you think you were doing, bringing Jason to that house? You just walked off with the lives of our son, me because I had to go after you, even..." Richard stopped, in a huff. He knew he shouldn't say it. He wasn't that angry, there were places he didn't want to stray in this argument. He didn't want to direct her attention away from the point at hand: their lives.

Lois, thankfully, didn't remark on the conspicuous absence of Superman's name.

"He was trying to take over the world, Richard," her dry manner incensed Richard even more, "As a citizen of the planet I thought it might be my duty to try and stop him. And I didn't even know that when I got there! I was just looking into the EMP, wasn't I? I don't go looking for trouble!"

"Oh, you don't? You just happen to come across it?" Richard moved across the room and headed towards the door. Lois must have thought he was leaving because she practically ran to intercept him. He picked up his briefcase however, and turned around.

"Look at this, Lois," he slammed down his suitcase on a couch cushion, which was obviously more for show than shock, and flipped it open to reveal innumerable photocopied articles spread out among his possessions. "Kyle thought it would be funny to show me something in the wake of the Luthor incident. Did you know there was a Bullpen pool going for almost nine years on how you'd get yourself killed?"

Richard made a gesture at the briefcase that he felt would express the horrendousness of this action, hoping it would speak of the concern and attention that Lois obviously needed to have for her own life. As he looked at her however, he saw she was trying not to smile. Richard stared at her, furious again. "You did know?"

"I, uh, took odds on 'death by natural fire.' I think I get five hundred dollars if I die in a volcano."

"Are you fucking serious?" She bet on her own life? "Can't you see how sick this is?" He pulled out a fistful of articles. "Look! Look! Bill didn't win when you almost died in a helicopter crash, Betty wrote 'nice going' when you didn't die the last time Luthor was around, and the time before that, and the time before that," he kept leafing through articles, pointing out the sarcastic hand-written comments in the margins, "Uncle Perry laments here that Superman didn't kill you by accident when he flew you away from a gas main explosion, Clark said 'happy you're safe' when you weren't flattened by a truck during a bank robbery, some guy I've never heard of was disappointed that you," he squinted at the text of the article, "managed to survive testifying against Antoine Falano, Marissa told you to 'pull over' during a car chase..." Papers were flying all over the living room.

"This is my job, yours too! We're bound to encounter some difficulties while in the field-"

"In the field? In the field? Lois, you're a reporter, not a soldier, this isn't a joke! You have a family, you have Jason and me to be concerned about, and here on the eve of almost killing us you're off insisting you get a story that almost killed you once already! Who would have won the pool had you died in the shootout last time!? Who would have won the pool had you drowned in that pantry?!"

"Margaret from Copy. She retired. I think Jimmy bought her out. Maury would have made out on the drowning." Lois was glaring at him, her hair down now and wet around her face. She looked as fierce as he imagined she must be.

"Lois." He tried to calm his voice, make her see reason, get her to actually answer a question to his satisfaction, "How many crazy things have you done without telling me?"

"What? Nothing! You've read my stories these past four years, haven't you?"

"Did you really just happen to be there when the factory fire started last October?" Silence. "Were you just around when you chased down that armed cab driver?"

"I didn't know he was armed at the time, did I?"

"It seems like the second you stopped breast feeding you went out and tried to make me a single father." He said this calmly, hoping his tone would help it sink in. This was a low blow; a high card to show.

Lois' nostrils were flared, her voice was steely, "Shut up, Richard. If you must know I've been watching my steps ever since Jason was born! Do you know how many times I ignored a good lead or an interesting story? NO! You weren't around when I was single and unattached, you don't know how relatively cautious I have been for your sake." She said this last in a sing-song voice as she took steps nearer and nearer him, backing him into a corner and making him crinkle the various sheets thrown about the living room, "Don't you ever imply such a thing about me and my son again-"

"Your son?!" They were spiraling away from the real issue, as often happens in heated fights.

"-Besides, the Henderson story was a fluke, it went too crazy, too fast, but it's different this time, I have someone at my back-"

"So Uncle Perry was serious about Superman being back so that you wouldn't go and get yourself killed! Is this really the way it is, are you really this reckless when you know he's around?" He interjected this as quickly as he could, suddenly riled up again.

Lois continued as if he'd said nothing, "-And if you have an issue with the Henderson story, or anything that I decide to do now that I have my partner, Richard, Clark," she could have no idea how this infuriated him, more even than if she had admitted the Superman factor, "Then you will just have to deal with it."

Richard stared now at her, flaunting the utter disregard she had for their argument by her very presence here, having responded to a story that she probably heard about over the radio. She had no business here, it was all quite worthless and it aggravated him. And she was alone, after all! Where was her partner now? What difference did it make to say she had Clark back?

'You're a reporter, Lois, not a first responder. Why do you get yourself into everything?' Richard looked around, 'Granted this isn't going to get you killed but why are you always in the thick of it? WHY?'

These angry thoughts dissipated a little, however, as he watched Lois' expression. 'Why does she look so concerned?' Richard started walking towards her, 'This is, after all, standard to her...' He glanced up at the building, and then left to where he could see flashing lights there, too, reflecting off the windows of buildings on the corner. 'And why is she on this side?' Richard suddenly wondered about the hostages, hoped they were okay. The reality of this situation was starting to sink in; Richard had not spent any time 'in the field.'

Richard did have to admit however, as an unfazed Jimmy came up behind him and they trotted over to Lois, that he was in awe of the two of them. They were completely at ease in this high tension. Jimmy had seen more in his short career than Richard probably had seen in his life, and never mind the experience that it must be to live as Lois Lane. Richard gave her a frustrated look that she never got the chance to see, as just then a scared, weeping voice came across the radio held between the think-tank.

"I don't have a reason! I just want this to end!"

"Calm down, Melody, and we can resolve this together."

"Where is he? He said he'd come back, I felt a lot safer, this is crazy, oh my god I'm so scared..."

That seemed to be enough for Lois who flicked off her recorder, turned on her heel and broke out into a full run down the block. Richard had just opened his mouth to softly call her name and was now hurrying to catch up, Jimmy right behind him.

"Well, I guess we're going to the hostage side!" Jimmy sounded amused, Richard felt cold and nervous.

They rounded the corner, sprinted down the abandoned sidewalks and flashed their passes at the police keeping curious onlookers at bay, came around the next corner, and continued to run towards the line of cross looking police. Stern faces were closing ranks where the swell had opened for Lois and it was probably only because the cops thought they were with her that they got through so easily. No words were exchanged as the Daily Planet pass worked flawlessly this time and Richard and Jimmy emerged into a much darker scene. SWAT trucks were lined up directly in front of them and various heavily armed people stood like an army against the world.

While Richard stalled in his pursuit at this scene (which put the words "hostage situation" into perspective for someone who was eating a raspberry danish fifteen minutes ago), Jimmy was the one who made his way bravely between the trucks and towards the line of police cars with men taking cover behind doors, weapons raised.

Richard had never seen so many guns.

Past the flat black of the SWAT trucks, Richard's eye suddenly found the only colors that his eyes seemed to register in the scene: the primary assault that was the red and blue of Metropolis' favorite headline contrasted rather horribly with the pale green that was Lois. She was hanging back behind a circle of SWAT and police officers, who were currently engaging a very serious Superman. Lois looked ready to rush forward and was practically on her tiptoes with impatience.

Richard gingerly walked past Jimmy, who had taken a discreet spot off to the side and was now struggling with his digital camera. The telephoto was interchangeable and Jimmy nearly dropped it in his rush.

Richard circled wide, trying not to startle any on-edge and armed police, and made his way to where the rest of the media had gathered, just out of ear shot. Television reporters juggled microphones and notes. Richard noticed there weren't many other newspapers represented, and those reporters who had shown up already were looking over at Lois with sour expressions. None of them dared go so close to the think-tank and Richard couldn't help but agree with Jimmy about the different atmosphere here. Everyone seemed to be holding his or her breath.

Richard moved around the front of an idling news van and listened to the low hum of servos positioning the onboard satellite dish. He looked over at Lois and just then remembered to actually take out his pen and pad. The eerie quiet of the abandoned sidewalks and scared looking residents peering down from their apartments above chilled Richard. He felt very much that he did not belong here.

"I don't understand it either, they may be threatening them with something else." Superman's voice was quite deep, Richard suddenly realized. He looked across the street and felt rather naked under the open sky as he spotted the silhouettes of what he guessed were the hostages and their captors.

'Shit. Guns.' He looked around at the very serious police, trying not to make eye contact, 'A lot of guns.' Richard edged further behind the TV van, thinking wildly about which direction he would run should someone start shooting.

"Alright, we'll just have to wait and see," the officer closest Superman radio-ed some unknown party. He had heavy eyebrows and was sweating.

"Confirmed, we're waiting for their demands."

"Confirmed, standing by." The sweating man turned to Superman, "I agree that we wait to hear what they're after."

"Then I'm going to circle around and check on Mrs. Lamontage, I'll be back in five minutes, but I'll have an ear out." The officers nodded, Superman turned back to the building for what Richard guessed was an x-ray. It was odd to Richard to see the now-powerful Superman broadcasting gravitas, since his introduction to him in person had been a brief moment of insane strength followed by death throes and bloody pliers on the floor of his seaplane. It was only now that Richard appreciated the alien force that was this creature before him, this visitor from another planet that talked down depressed girls and who gave Lois, his Lois, the interviews of a lifetime. Superman seemed satisfied and started ascending out of the circle and across the street when a hand came up and caught his cape.

"Wait, this isn't what it seems!"

And the powerful, iconic image that was the Man of Steel Surveying a Crisis suddenly became a comical look at what it looks like to be halted in mid-air by a woman jumping up to tug on your cape. The SWAT member closest to Lois looked alarmed and ready to seize her. The older, eyebrow cop looked around at her, not as surprised as the others. Superman landed quickly and took two steps towards Lois, regarding her very seriously. Two of the officers had started forward, but they suddenly stepped back in confusion at Superman's next words.

"What do you mean?"

"C'mon, you know there's no way that two incidents of this magnitude would happen on opposite sides of the same building at the same time."

Richard cringed; the police were looking angry at this intrusion and Richard had to admit that Lois looked a little nuts in the middle of this war zone. He glanced back at the other media who were watching warily. Surely this was no time for Lois Lane dramatics.

But Superman did not seem to think so.

"What are you thinking?" he had eyes only for her face now and was giving her his full attention.

"That woman doesn't want to kill herself, she has no reason to, and doesn't sound so far gone to not need one. I don't think she ever wanted to be out that window."

Superman stared down at Lois, thinking, and Richard took a few steps closer to watch them interact in a moment that threatened neither of them and only someone else. Richard spotted Jimmy taking pictures of the pair of them rather than the surroundings. The police still looked incredulous.

"Then what?" Superman looked around thoughtfully and then back at Lois without even a glance at her recorder, "A distraction? From what? Not the hostages, they knew that wouldn't work, or are they also a distraction..." He looked towards the ground floor of the building, frowning. Then he let his gaze drift right, and up, and over, scanning. He rose lightly into the air, slowly raking over the whole building with his eyes and looking like a man hypnotized, his forehead creased in thought. Lois watched him, the circle of uniforms now also puzzled looking.

"They don't have any demands, copy."

The sweaty cop looked down at the radio. "No demands?"

Superman now looked even more thoughtful, and closed his eyes.

Jimmy caught Richard's eye, pointed to his ear and then put a finger to his lips. Richard understood and actually held his breath as he looked on, feeling the awe again, imagining super-hearing washing over him. It was almost like a physical sensation, to know that Superman could probably now hear his and every other heartbeat in a mile radius.

"Fake bomb."

The circle of authority looked up at him.

"Where?"

"Ground floor. In lead. Ticking, as if bombs still ticked. And now we know why everyone is doing such a good job of pretending. I'm guessing Mrs. Lamontagne made her way to the 47th floor from where these unfortunate people are now, under the same threat. I also expect that open safe," Superman pointed at the stone wall a number of floors above the hostages, "Is why we're here, and not in pursuit right now."

Lois gave a dry chuckle, "Good one. Not as sharp as we used to be, eh?" This was said to the group at large. They turned to stare at her, incensed. Richard cringed for her.

"You are, Ms. Lane." Superman turned gracefully in midair to look at her while he drifted back to Earth. "As always."

"Let's confirm this before we all have tea, shall we?" The cop hit the trigger on the radio, "Boris, ask the kind people if they're really sorry and are afraid of being blown up for admitting it, will you?" The SWAT team leader was looking between Lois and Superman in frank astonishment.

"Confirm?"

"Confirm!"

"Would you mind asking Officer Thompson to radio over to Lieutenant Rodriguez? I'm sure Mrs. Lamontagne has had enough." Superman directed his gaze up and apparently all the way through the building to the other side, "I'll wait here until we get word back from the 'hostage takers.'"

The solemn looking think-tank started to move apart into separate conversations and finally word got back from both radio points that this was all a sham and no one could describe the perpetrators. The sweating cop swatted Superman on the back before gathering men to go take statements. Richard couldn't believe the shift in the air as the lack of danger made itself apparent. A dark, amused feeling took over. Richard was still close enough to listen to the TV reporters update the world and even heard the tech guy laugh from inside the van. Jimmy started to make his way from next to him and over to the frazzled police.

It shocked Richard to the core to see a look of pleased recognition cross Superman's face.

"Why if it isn't Mr. Olsen! A pleasure to see you!"

Richard watched Jimmy go from fierce battlefront photographer to star-struck kid. "Hi, Superman!" He stuck out his hand like a Boy Scout and Superman shook it. "Good to have you back! I haven't seen you yet to tell you so!"

Lois rolled her eyes and smiled at Jimmy. The various officers were now walking towards the building, muttering. Jimmy got his hand back and made a show of rubbing it as Lois reached into her purse for her pen and pad with the recorder in her teeth. Richard listened to the metallic clinking of about one hundred safeties clicking back into place.

"How have you been?" Superman asked.

"Good! Good! Got my own place, and a cubicle wall with a nameplate!" Superman chuckled, "I've done a lot more running around lately with you back, I'm usually about ten steps behind you. Would you mind standing still sometimes? Especially when you see this?" and Jimmy took a photograph of a startled Superman. The broad shoulders moved with laughter and he shared a look with Lois. The three of them were smiling like old friends at each other. Richard had not even thought about moving forward.

"I've also got my best friend back! Did you know Clark was back in Metropolis?"

Superman looked like the statement meant the world to him, "Oh!" He turned to regard Lois; she glanced up with her mouth full of recorder. "You should have told me Mr. Kent was back." He looked down at her, a teasing quality in his voice that raised the hair on Richard's neck.

"Did he owe you a bottle of whiskey, too?" Jimmy's voice was full of laughter. Weren't they in a life and death situation about sixty seconds ago?

Lois was spending most of this conversation looking at her pad and gumming the hand-held TechSound that Richard had given her for Christmas this year, but she spit it out into her purse and shared a humored look with Jimmy, "We both got Clark drunk in the last three months. It must be some kind of record."

"Not Mr. Kent, certainly," Superman chuckled and turned to ask Jimmy another question.

Lois looked up and straight at Richard, her mouth dropping open in surprise, something she tried to make up for a split second later with a smile and a wave. Superman trailed off in the middle of a sentence and Lois looked up at him, cottoning on: his eyes were closed. She wrote something down very fast and held up the pad towards him before speaking.

"Well, go on, I'm surprised you stayed this long. How far away is it?"

"Close." He started to take off from the ground, opened his eyes, and looked down at her and the pad.

"Is this how you spell 'deceitful' as in 'deceitful illusion?'"

Superman regarded the pad for a split-second, "Yes," looked right at Lois and then moved skyward so fast that Richard felt invisible pressure from where he lifted off. The scene had begun to clear remarkably fast and Richard felt they should get out of the way. He beckoned to Lois and Jimmy. Lois' heels had just started clicking towards him when a BOOM seemed to rupture out of the sky. Richard looked wildly around for smoke or flames or debris, whatever usually accompanied a bomb exploding, but saw nothing.

Lois gasped one single word that Richard had no way of really understanding before the chaos broke out: "Exhale!"

And Lois grabbed Jimmy and himself, blew her warm breath into his face in her rush, and so suddenly that Richard was sure he'd just died, all the air was concussed out his lungs and a loud noise went off to his right. He gasped blindly for air but couldn't move with the sudden shock of acceleration that was being saved from a bomb by Superman. Crushed into an awkward embrace were a terrified Jimmy, Lois, and Richard, flying so fast that they were dropped off a good five blocks from where they had been a second ago. Richard fell face down on the sidewalk and tried to breathe again. Lois was the first back on her feet. She and Jimmy still had their bags, but Richard was sure he'd left a pair of lungs behind.

Lois spoke, "It didn't sound too big, the area had already been cleared, we figured it out too soon!" and was running back towards the smoke. Richard was gasping for air. Jimmy took off after her. "Lois!"

"All in all, a shitty day."

Lois was covered in black soot and was resting her forehead on the lid of a store bought coffee.

"So it was all just an illusion?" Clark's voice was a little amused. Lois did look rather comical covered in black powder with raccoon eyes from where she has rubbed her face. The steam from the coffee had moistened some of the substance and it smeared across her forehead when she moved to talk.

"We figure the smoke bomb was timed to go off at just about the time we figured out it was a hoax, causing more delay in apprehending the thieves."

"But Superman caught them anyway?"

"They got a blowout twenty blocks away." She sat up and looked across at Jimmy and Richard, both covered in black soot. "That's what he heard before he came back, them cursing about putting too much gold in the trunk." Richard and Jimmy nodded glumly.

"And that first noise?" Richard inquired.

Lois put her head back on her coffee. "Sonic boom. And for him to go that fast I knew we would need rescuing. Words to the wise!" Lois raised her voice and a few people looked around, slightly interested. Lois held up a hand as she spoke and then let it flop back down. "Always exhale if you expect to be catapulted by Superman." The few interested souls smiled and shook their heads, turning back to their work. Clark nodded sagely to nobody.

Richard and Jimmy rubbed their ribs. Richard turned to Jimmy. "Why the digital camera?"

He knew that Jimmy still preferred film, when he could get it.

"Huh? Oh. More words to the wise: clicking shutters startle gun toting cops." Lois and Clark chuckled at Jimmy.

Richard, of course, did not now and never seemed to ever get the joke between the three of them. He bristled as he felt the Treehouse Effect again; the obviously battle-tested trio were sharing wisdom and laughs over what Richard thought was madness enough for a lifetime. He began to pout. The phone was ringing in his office.

He stared over at Lois, wondering again at her like he'd never seen her before. Maybe it was the shock of seeing her in her element for the first time, of seeing her interact with Superman without being half-drowned or trying to save his life. But whatever the case, Lois seemed suddenly tied to the mythos of Superman more than lofty ideals and hope for humanity.

In all the angry thoughts he directed towards her and her recklessness lately, Richard had never before appreciated her role as the liaison to the extraordinary presence of 'Superman.' She stood next to him today like a solider, shoulder to shoulder with a comrade, all other forces eclipsed by her simple words and frank observation. Richard replayed their conversation in his head, watched Superman twist in the air to come down to her as if about to step up and engage her in dance. He noted the look on the older officer, the one who recognized her, who stayed back from her conversation with Superman. He wondered how many times Lois Lane had changed history, saved a life, made a difference in the world. He then turned these thoughts inward, and asked the same questions of himself, hidden in his office all these years.

But there was something else bothering him as he watched Clark walk to the break room to retrieve the paper towels Lois demanded of him. He had spent the entire cab ride back to the building ("NO THANKS, Jimmy, really, I'll just split a cab with Lois.") thinking about it.

"Jimmy."

"Mmm?" The younger man was clicking through his digital camera, Richard saw him trying to angle away the shots of Lois and Superman and didn't realize Richard could see them anyway. Richard had lost count of the number of times people had tried to hide something of this nature from him since Superman had returned to the city.

"Superman knows Clark?"

"Oh, yeah, Clark used to write him all the time." Jimmy paused, still looking at his camera. "He and Lois shared Superman duties for awhile, and whenever Lois didn't make it to a scene, Clark usually managed to get there in time. And actually," Jimmy shook his head and said wonderingly, "I think Superman gave CK phone interviews, too. Wouldn't that be funny? Having Superman's phone number? I guess they haven't gotten together yet since he came back, Superman has been kinda scarce. You know?"

Richard didn't know, no, but nodded thoughtfully as if in understanding. He watched the mini LCD screen reflected in Jimmy's computer monitor, saw a mini Lois being regarded by a mini Superman and felt that same lost feeling echo all around him again. He looked back at Lois who was trying to ruin Clark's suit now that he came into reach with her towels.

"Hold still, this is what you get for deciding you needed to go to your bank at THAT second!"

"But I was going to overdraft my account, that's a fifty dollar fee!" Clark was dancing out of her reach.

Lois was trying to grab his coat with her stained hands, "Come back here, you clean bastard."

Richard was surprised. He had not once encountered the fact that Superman knew Clark. Or Jimmy for that matter. It seemed like the Treehouse had a fourth member, and that annoyed him again.

It had always been Lois that seemed to know everything about him. In the weeks following Superman's return every section of the paper had been assigned a Superman-related piece. Everyone seemed to automatically know that Lois Lane was the Superman Encyclopedia and even the interns came up to her expecting answers to the most random questions. While at first this irritated the hell out of her, she eventually just took it in stride and answered automatically.

"Hey Lois, did Superman live on Earth before he came to Metropolis, or did he just show up that day knowing our languages and stuff?"

"He lived here before, and I can't tell you any more than that."

"Why does he look human?"

"I don't know. Although he told me his belly button is here," she sat back in her chair and pointed lower on her torso than usual, "If that floats your boat."

"What are his favorite movies?"

Lois rolled her eyes at Gary from Entertainment. He shrugged, looking off-put that he had this assignment to begin with, "He likes murder mysteries, but doesn't have time to watch a lot of TV or movies. He reads more." And she picked up a sheaf of paper and flipped through it rapidly with her thumb as explanation, "And loves Agatha Christie and Conan Doyle. His favorite book is Moby Dick."

"Does Superman drink?" came Food and Wine, "And well, can he get drunk?" This second question was asked, Richard knew, out of pure curiosity.

"He does and yes. But that's not to say often. All I know is that I've seen him have a glass of champagne and that he can get drunk because I asked the same way you just did. But," she laughed at her monitor as she kept typing, "I doubt he's done it more than twice in his life."

"Where does he live?" Jake from the cleaning service.

"Metropolis."

"How do you know?" Came another voice.

"He told me?" And Lois went to swat the newbie away like a fly, "And most of his intercessions are here, aren't they?"

"What does that mean?"

"Superman can only hear so far, so he must spend most of his time in this area because he comes down from heaven most often around here."

Another newbie had spoken up, listening in and openly curious, "Why do you suppose he stays here?"

Lois snapped, "Why don't you ask him?" but Heather Reynolds looked around at her at the question.

"Hey Louise," Lois glared at the guy from Travel, "Does Superman go on rounds?"

"My name is Lois and if you don't know that already, you should be fired. And yes. He circles the planet twice a day at least."

"At least?"

"Yes, at least." This seemed to be a sore point, Richard had no idea why.

"Does he have super-smelling?"

"Yes."

"Does he need air?"

"Yes. But he can hold his breath longer than a whale."

This brought an odd image to Richard's imagination.

"Does he eat?"

"Yes. An iron stomach, good for him. I made him eat a jar of jalapenos once on a dare just to prove it." Lois had said this when she didn't know Richard was listening. He had a feeling she wouldn't have added that last bit if she'd known.

The day that the new woman from Gossip walked up to her, Lois had stomped away before she could finish her question.

"Um, Superman doesn't have any 'love interests,' Noreen." Jimmy had actually whispered that, "Don't ask that question." Poor Noreen had no idea why half the Bullpen was suddenly talking louder than normal and trying to get Richard's attention. Betty took her away and the next day Noreen sent knowing, interested looks at Lois for two hours.

"Do you, uh, know if Superman speaks any other languages?" This was Richard's question.

"He can communicate the basics in almost every major language," and she ticked them off on her fingers without looking up, "Mostly things like 'what's your name,' 'where's your family,' 'are you hurt?'"

"Does he ever get depressed?" Lois actually looked up at this query. It was asked by the mousy girl from Health who had exhausted her list of questions about Superman's diet. A haunted look came over Lois and she nodded slowly, "He feels the weight of the world on his shoulders. He mourns those he's not in time to save. He remembers every mistake he's ever made. He makes himself responsible for all of humanity. He..." And Lois trailed off at a serious look from Clark. "Don't print that, Mary."

"Okay." And she turned to walk away. Lois seemed to think she'd been rude and sent some useful information to her retreating back, "He can only use calisthenics to exercise and does Tai chi every morning!"

Neither Clark nor Jimmy had ever piped up to answer a question. A Superman Encyclopedia, indeed. One that Richard fell asleep at night wondering about, wondering if Lois' three month long denial of having loved the most curious thing on Earth was a lie spoken in defiance or a truth she had forced herself to believe. Richard was fast losing faith. Or, maybe he was just simply, The Story of a Lifetime, and she the most passionate journalist on Earth.

After seeing them interact today, he felt he just didn't have enough information.

Jimmy looked up at the frown on Richard's face. He looked down at his camera.

'Crap. He saw the pictures.'

Richard was staring at Lois, who in the last five minutes had managed to chase Clark home for the day. She was now gathering her belongings and talking to him about getting Jason from daycare downstairs. Jimmy gave a smile as they bade him good evening and watched them wait for the elevator from across the room.

'Poor Richard,' thought Jimmy sadly, although he couldn't help but smile at the memory of getting to talk to Superman again. Memories of crazier times and the special feeling of having Superman know your name and remember your birthday had Jimmy thinking that whether he wanted to or not, he was suddenly routing for Superman over Richard. It was less about Richard and more about what Jimmy could just feel between the two of them today at the hostage situation. It was the way Lois had stepped back in time to their old repartee, the way he looked at her when she came running back through the smoke.

Jimmy sat staring long after the elevator had swallowed Lois and Richard, wondering. Words were burned behind his eyelids, black against yellow paper in his mind, shouting out a warning similar to Lois' email this morning. He had seen it, although he was rather certain that Lois didn't realize.

'Meet roof 11?'

"Is this how you spell 'deceitful' as in 'deceitful illusion?'"