A/N – this is a leap from Smallville; think S9 and Clark has graduated and embraced his true heritage.
"Perry, what is it? I'm in the middle of something." Lois ran into the editor's office. She had been working her way up to the investigative reporter since right after graduation. Holding her coffee in one hand and a stack of papers in the other, she barged through the door.
"Lois, I want you to look over the resumes quickly and pick one that you think that you can work with. I'm stumped between these few last choices." Dumping her files on Perry's couch, she flipped through the resumes with no names and stopped on one.
"I went to that school - had a good journalism school. Had to have brains to get into there. This person seems to have some experience too."
"That's actually the one I had been thinking of too. Hold on here Lois." Perry took the resume and walked out of the office. Lois sat down in the office chair and started reading over her copies of her latest damaging article. "Lois, you remember that we had talked previously about your workload and your need for some help. And you understand that for the time you're in charge of the work that you two do." Lois sat up and looked puzzled at Perry, even though she shook her head yes to everything. "You picked him, I didn't. He seems like a good kid."
Standing up, Lois started yelling at Perry, "You got me a kid?! I didn't know that picked a kid." She saw Perry wave at someone around the corner and heard footsteps. Taking a breath, she waited to drill her first ever partner into the ground.
"Lois, this your new partner - straight from middle America."
"What?!"
"Lois Lane...Clark..." But Lois cut in.
"Clark?! How...what...man..." Clark stood motionless in the doorway and looked at Perry. He stuck his hands in his pockets and rocked on his heels, smiling crookedly. He honestly had known that she was still there and was pleasantly surprised with his new job and its perks. Lois remembered the flustered feeling she felt when she had said goodbye. She could see all his smiles and somber looks flash in her mind. She stood motionless.
"You two know each other?" Perry was confused.
"We had a class together in college one summer. We kind of started working together back then and then we uhhh...never mind." Lois started to babble but could see Clark didn't feel that it was the time or the person to be talking to about their past.
"Well, all I want is a solid reporting team. Now, Lois you have one already in the works so fill him in and get to work." Perry watched as Clark turned on his heels and walked out behind Lois. Lois walked back to her desk, noticing that Clark's desk was just across the partition from hers. He went and sat down; Lois kept looking over in his direction knowing that he could tell she was watching. He never looked up. Clark sat motionless, shuffling some papers over and over trying to forget what was not ten feet away.
Lois, after staring into space for the last few hours, walked over to Clark's desk. "We need to talk..." Clark looked up at her and grabbed his coat. Lois grabbed up her stuff and they headed out. Being after lunch, they decided on a quiet bistro down the street.
"Lois, I have really gotten over everything that happened...it's past. It's been almost five years since..." he stopped and looked at Lois, who was buried in Kleenex.
Guess she's not all over it though, he thought. To her surprise, he took her hand in his. Lois looked up at him and then down at her hand in his. The familiar electricity of his touch seemed to return and made her nervous. Clark noticed it too and pulled his hand away and tucked it in his pocket. But Lois had noticed something else also.
"Clark, are you?"
"Was...am...it's not working." Clark lowered his head and fiddled with his hands that he had now put back on the table, knowing there was no reason to hide anymore. "I seemed to be doomed for bad relationships."
"Clark, do you want to talk about it?" He had never heard this side of Lois before.
"Maybe some other time - not right now. We need to work on how to work together right now without you know..."
Clark felt something hit him in the face and heard other people giggling around them. "SNAP OUT OF IT! Clark, we can work together. I couldn't have invented a better partner - I remember the pieces that we did for the class. They were wonderful. Come on, we need to get cracking." Clark was surprised by the turn that Lois had just done, but was happy that she didn't dwell on him. Maybe, though, there was something that she wasn't telling him.
The two started working in the library downtown, digging up files on the story that Lois had already started. Lois started sneezing with all the dust that they had kicked up. Clark tried not to laugh about the high pitch squeaks that came after each sneeze. He couldn't believe the amount of love he still felt for her. RING
"Hello. Hi hon...I'm working right now but I can meet you back at the Planet around 7ish. Alright, I'll see you then...You too. Bye." Lois threw the phone in her purse and hoped that Clark wouldn't be distracted by the call. She looked over and saw him buried in a pile of papers and thought nothing of him hearing the conversation. Little did she know that he could hear it all - just he didn't want to show it. He heard something around the corner.
"Lois, I think we should hide."
"Why?" Clark already had her by the coat and was pulling her behind the cabinets.
"Shhh." He pointed out someone that came into the room and started pulling out the files they had just been looking at. He looked at Lois and whispered, "Did you copy those?" She shook her head to affirm she had. The man left the room and turned the light out. "Come on - let's go." Clark took her and led her out of the dark room and out the back part of the library. When they arrived back at the Planet, Lois' date was already waiting for her.
"You're late." He gave her a comforting hug.
"You know work hon. This is Clark Kent, my new partner." Clark shook hands with the man as they stood looking at each other strangely.
"Clark is it? You look familiar - have we ever met before? Just to make sure, you two are partners at work right?" He smiled at Clark and tipped his head in jest. Clark knew he was kidding but could feel his throat close up. He could only manage half a grin.
"I doubt it - about the seeing me before. Night Lois." Before she could say anything, he was already in the elevator. Riding down to the ground floor, he thought how silly he felt standing there in front of Lois and her new man knowing he used to be 'hers'. He left the Planet and started home; he could really use some parental support after the whirlwind day.
"Mom? You here?" He still wore his suit, not willing to change into his alter ego. He had decided after college that he would finally embrace his true calling. With his Martha's's help, he decided to assume his superhero identity at the same time as his new Clark appearance. He had never actually said a word to the press or even posed for a picture but that could all change if he ever ran into Lois doing the story.
"Clark, I thought you would be working tonight." Martha walked her son in and sat him down in the kitchen.
"I was, but we finished early tonight." She could feel there was more to the story.
"So how was the first day working for the big city paper?"
"That's great...fast paced, but..." He started twirling his fingers around again. He felt his mother put her hands on his.
"But what honey..."
"My partner...is...Lois..." Clark looked up at his mother as her jaw dropped and a smile then came across her face.
"Clark - Lois from college...the one you..."
"Yeah, I would rather not go into it...I need to go to bed. I've had enough for today and have an early day tomorrow." He got up and started out of the kitchen.
Walking through the living room, he could hear his mother's heartbeat speed up. Turning around, Clark looked at his mother and waited. He knew that there was something wrong.
"Clark, I have something that I have to tell you. I know this isn't the greatest time, but you need to come sit down." Clark sighed and sat back down at the table.