Clark took a good look around the Daily Planet. It was his first day, and he was nervous and excited at the same time.

Mr. White had told him that a Lois Lane would be working with him until he got used to things. Her desk was across from his, but she hadn't arrived yet. Then he saw the most beautiful woman he had ever seen step off the elevator. He watched her walk to the desk marked Lois Lane. He couldn't believe his luck. He watched as she pushed her lovely brown hair behind her ear and picked up her coffee mug. He was startled when her sharp eyes focused in on his. "What are you staring at?" she asked rather harshly.

He blushed. She had noticed him staring at her. "Um, uh. I'm Cla-Clark Kent," he managed to stutter. He got up from his desk and went to shake her hand. Instead of shaking his hand, she handed him her coffee mug.

"I want a little cream and lots of sugar in my coffee."

This wasn't going well, he thought, as he poured the coffee.

"Don't take it personal, Mr. Kent," said a young man, "she's like that with almost everybody. I'm Jimmy Olsen."

"It's nice to meet you."

"She does get better, as you get to know her, but if you have a crush on her, you'd better get over it. I've hardly ever seen Miss Lane dating. Work is her life."

"Thanks for the advice," Clark said and he took her the coffee.

Jimmy laughed, as he watched Clark meekly handing her the coffee and looking for her approval. Clark wasn't going to get over it. It would take a super man to crack her shell. While Clark appeared to be a nice guy, he didn't seem to fit that description.

"So what's our assignment for today, Miss Lane?" Clark asked her.

She set down the folder that she was looking through and got intimidatingly close. "Let's get something straight, Kent. I may have to keep the boss happy by babysitting his newest employee, but that doesn't mean I have to like it. I don't want to be best buds. I don't even want to be civil. I work alone. You are just tagging along for a short time."

Clark nodded and sat back down at his desk. Lois watched him and felt a little pity for him. He was probably some farm boy from nowhereville and this was his first encounter with unfriendly city folk. Oh well. That's how life worked in Metropolis. He'd better get use to it.

Lois' phone rang. She smiled when she saw the id and answered it. "Hey, cuz! How are you?"

Clark watched her. She had a warm, genuine smile. He wished she would smile at him like that. He tried to tune out the conversation, but he couldn't help hearing it.

"Hey, Lois. Are you still going to visit this weekend?"

"Of course I am. It may be my only chance to see the inside of a mansion. How is being a newlywed?"

"It's like walking on clouds even after a month."

"I'm happy for you, sweetie. Are you sure you want me intruding on your cloud walking?"

"Bruce has to go out of town. It'll just be us girls and Alfred."

"Who's Alfred?"

"The butler, remember? He was Bruce's best man."

"That's right. Well, I'd love to keep chatting, Chloe, but I have to get to work. Bye."

"Bye. See you this weekend."

"Who was that?" Clark asked.

"None of your business."

"It wasn't Chloe Sullivan, was it?"

"How do you know my cousin?"

"I'm from Smallville."

"Smallville, huh? So you're that Clark Kent."

"So Chloe mentioned me?"

"Only once, but then I only reconnected with her a month ago when she invited me to her wedding. She said you disappeared before senior year."

"I went to get an education and travel the world."

"Educations are overrated. I spent 5 torturous years at Met U just so I could get a degree in journalism, but the knowledge comes from actually doing the job. So you're a Smallvillian? I've never been there myself, but Chloe says it's the weirdest, smallest place that you'll ever see. Apparently she got into all sorts of life and death situations in that quaint little town."

He didn't know how to answer her. He must've look like an idiot, and he felt his face growing hot.

"Come on, Smallville. Time to go chase down the story. Let me remind you to stay out of my way. If you get hurt your first day, they'll blame me."

He smiled, as he went to follow her. "This may sound a little strange, but I feel like we've met somewhere before."

"That's one of the oldest lines in the book. Right after, 'Do you believe in love at first sight?' Just so you know, I don't."

Clark smiled again. He'd been doing that a lot around Lois.

They left to pursue a story down at the docks. It was also where Lois saw Superman for the first time and changed her opinion on love at first sight. However, the lasting love grew with Clark Kent.

sss

I'm sure you're wondering by now what the heck's going on. If everyone forgot the previous line of events, how can I be writing about it?

Once the new life was firmly established Lois, Clark, and I got the memories of our old life before the change, which was when we were in our 50s. It might seem confusing, but it's like the 2nd timeline is our clearest and truest and the first was a memorable dream or a previous life. We think maybe the universe or Jor-El did it on purpose so Clark and Lois would know their previous mistake and I would document it so that everyone could learn from it. I wrote the way things were in the previous time line, now I'm going to go back and write the way things happened the 2nd time around. This is going to be the longest autobiography in history.

This chapter told how that 2nd timeline really came about, but like I said this chapter can't make it in until after we're dead and gone, so I'll make something up. This chapter didn't have a lot to do with my autobiography anyway. If you're interested, Bruce and I did have our son in the 2nd timeline, and we named him Thomas Alfred Wayne. He's married now with two kids of his own, and speaking of my grandchildren, Janet and Alan are knocking on my study now. So I'm going to officially end this chapter and go play with them. They're spending the weekend here. Kids grow up so fast; I don't want to miss a moment.

The End