"Chloe, we need to talk."

As Lois approached her desk Chloe stood up. Not wanting to get into another possible argument for everyone to hear Chloe led the way to a small, separate enclosed space off the main new floor. "We'll be able to talk in private." Chloe called over her shoulder. As the door to the copy room closed behind them all the noise of the day was swallowed up by an awkward silence as the two stood staring at each other from across the room. Lois bit her bottom lip, her face contorting into several odd expressions as she formulated what to say. "Well, go on. You're the one who said you wanted to talk...so talk." Chloe prompted after a minute or two of watching her strained attempts to speak.

Suddenly all the color drained from Lois' face as she steadied herself against the wall, looking as if she was a prisoner staring down her execution squad. "This was so much easier in my head on the way over here." She mumbled, wringing her hands nervously. "I haven't been able to stop thinking about what you said to me outside The Inquisitor, about never speaking to me again." Her chin trembled a bit and she paused to collect herself. "Chloe, I'm so sorry."

"Lois, you betrayed me." Chloe declared, trying her best to assume a cool demeanor and not let her emotions get a hold of her. "I trusted you and you hurt me in the worst way possible. I know it's not healthy to hold grudges, and I don't like the idea of never speaking again, but right now I don't know how to forgive you."

Lois looked shamed at Chloe's words and dipped her head slightly. "I'm not like you Chloe, I've never been." She said abruptly, turning to look out the window into the busy newsroom. "I don't have any deep, burning passion for anything. I've spent my life flitting from job to job seeing what sticks. Maybe it's my way of trying to find my calling." Lois shrugged her shoulders and turned back to face her. "Then, like pretty much everything I do, I fell into journalism on a whim. Or rather, journalism fell into me." A wistful smile played across her lips as she brought her hands up in the air and brought them crashing back down in one swift motion. "And maybe I was just bored, but when that barn door came flying out of the clear, blue sky I thought what would Chloe do? So I looked into it."

"You thought I would investigate something like that?"

"Yeah." Lois nodded her head earnestly. "It's not as weird as some of the stuff that goes on in Smallville, but I at least thought that you would be impressed that I took the initiative—you always tried to get me interested in journalism."

"Ok Lois, I understand wanting answers, but what does this have to do with anything? How do we get from falling barn doors to stealing my story?"

"I'm getting there, trust me." She replied quickly. "Well, I never intended on writing an article or anything, and when I did and The Inquisitor actually printed it and offered me a job I thought wow! Why did I push this away for so long? Maybe this is my calling? It's the first job I've earned on my own and not just because the boss is a friend of a friend, know what I mean?"

Chloe managed to keep her expression neutral and nodded her head, feeling a smirk burning to break free.

"I mean The Inquisitor—a real paper—liked my work! And I found myself actually liking journalism. Well not all the boring research and stuff." She added hastily; Chloe opened her mouth to reply but was cut off. "It made me feel like I was important, like I had something to say. Plus, seeing my name in print was this huge rush—not like when I did those articles for the Torch. This was the big time! And I think I finally understood why you loved it so much."

"Lois," Chloe began, walking towards her to close the unfriendly distance between them. "That's not why I love journalism. It's not about fame or power; it's about helping people and exposing the truth."

"Right." Lois nodded her head in embarrassment. "And when the Green Arrow Ban—er, the Green Arrow came along I thought this was my big story; my chance to not only make a name for myself but..."

"But what?"

Once more Lois' gaze shifted away and her body language morphed into that of an unsure child. "Impress you."

"Impress me?"

"Yeah. You're the journalism whiz and I work at a trashy tabloid. I thought that if this was truly my calling then a big story, one with actual facts and stuff, would make you think I was a real reporter no matter where I worked. Not that I was just handling Elvis sightings or whatnot." Suddenly her head snapped up and she waved her hands erratically as she blurted out a barrage of words. "Not that I'm blaming you. You were always supportive. I was just insecure. The blame rests strictly with me and..."

"Lois, calm down." Chloe said, reaching out to grab her arm. "Take a breath. Take several."

"Sorry, I just didn't want to mess up my apology about messing up." She smiled half heartedly and ruffled the collar of her shirt. "Is it hot in here? I swear it's like a million degrees in here."

Suddenly a man tapped on the door window and opened it slowly, poking her head inside. "You guys almost done? Or should I come back later?"

Chloe nodded, stepping towards the door. "Oh, we're done. Come on Lois." She said, grabbing her sleeve and pulling her along. "We can talk at my desk as long as you keep it down."

"Okay, so where was I?" Lois addressed Chloe's back as she followed her out of the room.

"The Green Arrow." Chloe whispered.

"Right." Lois dodged a woman headed straight for her, jumped out of the way of a man wheeling a file cabinet on a dolly and spun around to find herself in front of Chloe's desk. "Did you see that? I almost got run over!"

Chloe pulled up her chair and sat down. "Uh huh. So, we were talking about the Green Arrow?" She said with an amused smile.

"Oh, right." Lois ran her fingers through her hair, her expression frazzled. "So when I wrote the story and people were calling him what I named him—or rather what I named him minus the insistence that I drop the bandit by my editor—I was so excited. It made me legit, a real reporter. But then when you told me the Green Arrow came to you, wanting you to write the exclusive with him I felt like my story was being yanked away from me. Like, maybe I wasn't good enough to handle it after all."

"Well maybe if you wouldn't have attacked him, calling him a kidnapping thief regardless of the facts, he would have wanted to give you the exclusive." Chloe retorted, throwing her hands up in the air. "Besides, I asked you several times if you wanted me to back away from the story and you said it you were fine with it!"

"I know, but my pride wouldn't let me admit that it bothered me." Lois grimaced and picked up a bronze paper weight in the shape of the Daily Planet globe off the desk, playing with it in her hands. "I didn't want to act like a child who couldn't share her toy."

"Not a perfect analogy, but in the end that's exactly how you behaved."

"It was selfish."

"I would call it passive-aggressive."

"Yeah." Lois nodded enthusiastically, propping herself up on the edge of the desk. "I knew what I was doing—cribbing your story—was wrong, but I kept telling myself that somehow it was payback for you not realizing how much the Green Arrow exclusive really bothered me."

"Kind of like how women tell men I shouldn't have to tell you, you should just know?"

"Yeah, it's messed up I know. Maybe I need Dr. Phil or something?" Lois said in a self-deprecating manner, attempting to cut the rising tension. "And it's not like I ever took Journalistic Ethics 101." She joked, the look on her face displaying instant regret for uttering it.

"Or, how not to screw over your cousin 101?"

Lois' mouth twisted up and she blew out a long burst of air as she placed the globe back down. "Woo—this isn't going too well is it? Look, I did what I did because I was stupid and jealous and scared; scared that you were stealing my thunder over the Green Arrow, and was too much of a baby to tell you. There. That's it in a nutshell. It's not eloquent—it's not even particularly interesting really—but that's why. And I'm so sorry."

Chloe leaned back in her chair, looking up at Lois pensively for a few moments. "You could have saved yourself a lot of breath and said all of that ten minutes ago." Suddenly she lurched forward and stood up.

"Chloe?" Lois called as she followed Chloe away from her desk, down through the busy aisle and out into the hallway. "Where are you going?"

"Coffee. I need coffee." Chloe muttered over her shoulder and ducked into a small, brightly painted break room off the main corridor. Making her way to a table filled with boxes of donuts, baked goods and a large coffee maker, she grabbed a Styrofoam cup and began to pour the hot liquid into it slowly. "I hate the stuff they brew here, but I don't care. This is going to be the only thing keeping my brain from exploding right now." She quipped as she held the cup up, shaking a sugar packet furiously.

Lois pulled out a seat from behind a small, round table and sat down, looking up at Chloe expectantly. "So, I take it you don't accept my apology then?"

"Honestly Lois, I don't know what I was expecting. But everything you just told me was the same excuse you told me on the street. You did it out of jealousy. But ya know what Lois, that's the biz. People are going to scoop you, albeit not in the manner you did, and you are going to get jealous that you didn't beat them to it. And believe me when I say that no one is going to ask you for permission about a story—to make sure your feelings don't get hurt—like I did." She gulped down the contents of her cup, threw it into the trash and reached over into a large basket covered with a red checker board cloth. "If you want to be a real reporter, not to mention a real adult you have to know that the way you reacted was childish, unacceptable and unethical and no respectable paper would hire someone who behaves that way. Furthermore, journalism is more than just your name in a byline for everyone to read. It's more than making a name for yourself and being famous. And if you don't realize that, then maybe you should go back to selling these." Chloe stuck her hand into the basket and pulled out a blueberry muffin for her to see before she ripped off a piece and tossed it into her mouth. "Now I need to know the extent of your involvement with Kahn's brilliant idea."

"Brillant idea?"

"Yeah. How suddenly I am the amazing Inquisitor reporter everyone is talking about. The one who just got hired by The Daily Planet— Lois Lane." Chloe answered, placing another piece of muffin in her mouth.

"Oh." Lois' eyes lit up and she leaned forward hesitantly. "Well, to be honest it was both our ideas in a way. See after out little street side blowout I went and talked to Kahn. Well, stormed into her office is more like it. I told her that the article in question was yours and I offered to print one of those retractable things."

"A retraction?"

"Yeah." Lois nodded, standing up and making her way towards Chloe. "I insisted that I had to make this right and she started getting really angry, going off about how much of a scandal it was going to be and how she could lose her job, especially since her superior really did want her and The Planet to make a job offer to me. And as she proceeded to call me a few choice words and shuffle me out the door it came to me."

"What?"

"Well, I found myself blurting out that you could just use my name, and that you wouldn't mind because your hero is Nellie Blue..."

"Bly."

"Right. And that she is your hero and even she went by an alias." Lois, looking rather pleased with herself paused to see Chloe's reaction before she continued. "This way you would get full credit for the story, she wouldn't have to hire me because technically I already worked there." She gave Chloe a wink. "And The Daily Planet would avoid a scandal and everything would go back to normal. Well, almost normal."

Chloe leaned up against the counter, chewing on her muffin. "That was some pretty quick thinking on your part, I'll admit to that at least."

"She seemed rather intrigued with the idea and the next thing I know she was on the phone with my editor talking about photographs or something." Lois said, pouring a cup of coffee. "When she hung up the phone she said it was done. I still have no idea how she convinced my editor to go along with it though." Lois shrugged her shoulders and took a sip.

"Never underestimate the power of blackmail." Chloe smirked.

Suddenly a head poked in through the doorway; a tall, elegant looking woman looking down at a clipboard spoke loudly. "I'm looking for a Miss Lois Lane?" She sniffed. "Mrs. Kahn sent me to get her for the press conference." She looked back and forth between the two girls. "Have either of you two seen her?"

Chloe and Lois both froze immediately and exchanged anxious looks. After a moment or two Lois coughed and gave Chloe a tiny shove on the arm. "Oh, Lois." She muttered under her breath.

Chloe's head snapped up. "Oh, yeah that's me, sorry." She cleared her throat and spoke louder. "I'm—I'm Lois Lane."

"Great." The lady replied, running her hand down the length of the sheet and making a mark with her pen. "We need to get you in makeup and do a little last minute prep before we go on air in forty-five minutes. Are you ready?"

Chloe looked back and forth between Lois and the woman, her hand trembling slightly sending crumbs from the empty muffin wrapper flying. "As ready as I'll ever be." She smiled.

The lady nodded curtly and spun on her heel. "Okay, if you'll just follow me." Chloe took a deep breath as the woman departed; taking a step forward she felt Lois' hand reach out and grab her shoulder.

"Are you okay then, with the whole pseudonym thing? I wish it could have been different, but I don't think I had any other options. I know what I did cheated you out of being known as Chloe Sullivan to the world."

"I've made my peace with that." Chloe replied, turning around to face her. "At least my story—the truth—is out there. That's all that matters in the end."

Lois looked downwards, making indentations into her cup with her fingernails. "I hope your press conference goes well. I'll be watching."

"Thanks."

Lois looked up and cocked her head to the side, her eyes softening and her mouth curling into a frown. "Chloe, I know what I did was the worst thing I could have ever done and I'm so sorry. I understand if you can't forgive me now, but I need to know, will you ever be able to forgive me? Can we ever move past this?"

"Lois, I..." Chloe began. Suddenly the woman's head popped around the corner, once again interrupting them, her face cold and impatient.

"Miss Lane." She harped, tapping her foot. "We are on a schedule here. Unless you think because you're a big star now you can make everyone wait. We have many things to do, so I suggest you come with me now."

"Sorry. Right behind you this time." Chloe smiled, turning to follow the woman as Lois cried out behind her.

"Chloe! You didn't answer me."

Chloe paused in the doorway, running her hand along the frame. "I don't know Lois—right now I just don't know." She watched as Lois' hopeful face fell and disappeared around the corner into the hallway.