Born To Fly

By Serena Kenobi

Rating: T

A/N: Thanks for all the support! I noticed that 64 people have put this story on their alerts list. If you're reading it, please leave a review and tell me what you think!

Disclaimer: Me? Own Superman Returns? (snorts) Yeah right... well, at least I have my muse back.

Chapter 7 - Interview

"Lane, I have a new assignment for you," Perry spoke up as he, Jimmy, and Lois looked at some photos of something in the sky. Lois wasn't sure what they were, but Jimmy was confident about who it was.

"See chief?" he interrupted his boss, who glared menacingly at him, "I told you I could get some photos of him. Can't you tell who it is?"

Perry guessed first, dropping his question for Lois. "It's a bird," he stated, pointing to the blurry figure in the sky.

"It's a plane," Lois added, glancing at Jimmy, who frowned.

"No," Jimmy argued, shaking his head, "It's-" His declaration was cut short by the entrance of Clark, who was bringing in some more files on Superman.

"Uh, I have these for you, Chief," he said, putting them on the desk. Perry nodded in return and turned back to Lois, trying to remember what he was going to ask or tell her. Clark looked at the photos, holding one up. "That's Superman, right?" he asked, looking at the other three. Jimmy grinned triumphantly.

"See? That's just what I was going to say!" he hooted.

Perry and Lois shot him a withering glance, and he cleared his throat, reddening. "Well, I was," he mumbled rebelliously. Lois snatched the picture from a startled Clark and put it down on the desk again.

"You can't even tell from this picture," she shot back, glaring at Jimmy, "It could be anything. We need better and clearer photos if we're to tell WHAT it is. It doesn't look much like anything." She gave the photo a distasteful glance. "Maybe Superman just needs to come out a little more so we can take pictures of him," She continued, careful not to look at Clark, who self consciously pushed up his glasses more, feeling uncomfortable.

"Well, maybe he's just trying to save the world and not worry about posing for cameras," Clark defended him, shrugging. "I mean, he probably can't do everything at once."

Jimmy stared at him, incredulous. "He's Superman, Clark, have a little faith!" he cried, looking at him earnestly.

Lois rolled her eyes and piped up, "Jimmy, just because he's Superman doesn't mean he's God. He's not perfect, or fully invincible, and he can't do everything all at the same time." She put her hands on her hips as if to further add to her statement.

"Lane, Kent, enough," Perry cut in. "I want you two to start working together again. Get some details on Superman. I want details, people, details!"

"Uh, what kind of details, Chief?" Lois asked, wondering if getting details on Superman was such a good idea.

Perry shrugged. "Oh, I don't know… what movies does he like? What books? Does he prefer Chinese or Italian food? What's his take on solar power?"

"All that jazz," Lois muttered, not even daring to look at Clark, who had tensed.

"Yeah," Perry nodded. "You two have worked great together in the past, so there's no reason for you not to work together now. Now all of you, get out of here!"

The three walked out of the office; and Lois and Clark decided to walk outside to see if they could find more information on Superman. Lois kept glancing at Clark, wondering when he was going to tell her the truth, but the mild mannered reporter didn't say anything. They were walking down a sidewalk when they noticed a burning building a block away.

"Hey, let's go see what's happening," Lois suggested, and hurried off, taking out her notebook.

"Okay, Lois," Clark replied, staring at the building. He pretended to follow behind her, but then darted into an alleyway and zoomed out as Superman.

Lois rushed to the scene, where the firemen and police officers were trying to control the blaze.

"It's Superman!" a young boy called, pointing to the sky. Everyone looked up to see the familiar blue and red super hero flying towards the fire. He floated in front of the building, took a deep breath, and blew out some frosty air, which doused the flames quickly, leaving a charred and badly burnt building. Luckily, though, no one was badly hurt. Lois grinned and wrote furiously on her notepad. She had suspected that Superman would show up, and Clark was nowhere to be found.

She walked around the police to the side of the building, straining to see any glimpse of Superman. Where'd he go?

"Looking for someone, Lois?" a deep voice behind her questioned. She rolled her eyes and turned around to see Superman hovering a few feet in the air, grinning slightly.

"Maybe," she shot back. "I'm looking for a guy who's wearing red and blue, flies, is incredibly strong, and happens to be from another planet. Know him?"

Superman pretended to think for a second. "Mm, nope, don't think so," he smirked.

"Too bad," Lois sighed, "Now I'll never find him." She paused. "I need to get another interview, if that's convenient with you, of course."

Superman nodded and held out his hand. "Come on, I know where we won't be bothered." Lois took his hand and they flew up into the sky, leaving the ground far behind them. Instinctively, Lois tightened her grip on him, thinking once again how incredibly warm he was.

They rose higher and higher into the air until they came to the top of the Daily Planet building. Superman slowly dropped down onto the large world shaped statue, which was actually quite large and easy to sit on.

"Never done this before," Lois remarked, inspecting the metal statue. She then plopped down on it, taking out her pen. Superman also sat, facing her, his dark hair blowing slightly in the cool breeze. Lois gazed at him for a minute as he looked out on Metropolis with a calm stare of contentment and peacefulness, for now. "Um, are you ready?" she hesitantly asked, not wanting to break his chain of thoughts.

Superman blinked and turned to her, smiling. "Go ahead, ask away," he joked, feeling very comfortable. There was nothing he'd rather be doing right now. He was spending precious time alone with the one woman he loved more than anything in the entire world.

"So," Lois began, "I know that you went to Krypton, but what are you planning on doing in the near future?"

He paused for a minute. "Well," he replied, "I like doing what I'm doing now, just helping the world, but I'd like nothing more than to find Lex Luthor. He got away to who knows where, and I want him to be put back in jail, this time for good."

Lois nodded understandingly. "Yeah, since you weren't there for his other trial," she added, not trying to sound too accusing. However, Superman winced.

"I'm sorry for that, too," he apologized, "I know I've done a lot of things wrong, but I'm not leaving again. I'm going to be there for his next and hopefully final trial."

"That must have really ticked you off, knowing that he was guilty, but got away, huh?"

Superman's gaze hardened. "A lot," he said, repeating the same words he'd said to Jimmy before. "But I don't intend on making that mistake again."

Lois wrote down his answer. "I should imagine not," replied she.

"There is one thing I'd like to find out," Superman continued, rubbing his chin. "How he got all that money."

Lois smirked. "I asked him nearly the same thing," she spoke up, slyly glancing at him, tapping her pen on her notepad. It was a constant habit of hers, but she didn't even realize that she was doing it. "I said something along the lines of, 'Did you swindle an old widow out of her money?'"

"What did he say?"

"He just laughed, so I'm guessing I wasn't far from the truth."

Superman narrowed his eyes. "That conniving slime," he spat, anger growing. "None of this wouldn't have happened if I had just-" two smaller hands grabbing the sides of his cape and pulling him closer to Lois interrupted him. He blinked, surprised, and looked into the reporter's face, which was annoyed, firm, and determined.

"Superman," Lois nearly had to bite her tongue from saying 'Clark Kent', "Don't you dare blame yourself for this. It wasn't your fault. Get it?"

Superman grinned. "Got it."

"Good," she answered, fighting to keep a smile off of her face, and shoved him back playfully. "You'll get him back, I'm sure. After all, you ARE Superman."

"And that's gotta count for something, right?" he grinned mischievously, shrugging. Lois nodded, biting her pen.

"I guess," she answered teasingly, gazing distantly out at Metropolis, pretending to be indifferent. Superman chuckled, shaking his head, and she had to smile again. His deep laugh was infectious, just another one of his many addictive traits.

"Are we going to finish this interview or not? You'll remember, Miss Lane, that we still have an appointment on the beach tonight, and I wouldn't want for you to be late."

Lois glanced back at him. "Well if I AM late, which is highly unlikely," she returned, "Then you can just come over and fly me there. It would only take you a few seconds, of course."

He nodded, giving a small grin. "Of course," he replied, crossing his arms over. Lois rolled her eyes.

"Well I'm glad to see all this attention and praise hasn't gone to your head," she mocked, narrowing her eyes at him. "If there's one thing I hate, it's men who think they've got it all. Like Lex Luthor. He thought he was the greatest thing since sliced bread."

"Well," Superman added, "I know I don't have it all. I don't have a Ferrari, for one thing." At this, she laughed. "Or a Mustang convertible," he continued. "Or a private yacht." He paused for a moment, thinking. "What makes sliced bread so great, anyways?" he asked. "I don't get why people say that all the time."

Lois shook her head, still laughing. "I don't get it, either."

He smiled at her. "I guess we'll never know, will we?"

"Probably not," she responded, shrugging. "But anyways, back to this interview. Um..." she thought for a second, trying to think of a good question. She wasn't as prepared as she thought she had been. "What's your favorite animal?" she asked randomly.

Superman raised an eyebrow. "That's kind of an out-of-the-blue question," he began, hesitating, "but I'll answer it. Well, I'd have to say a dog. They're great animals to be around." He smiled, as if remembering some distant memory. Lois wrote what he was saying down and looked up.

"You speak from experience?" she questioned, curious. He gave her a sideways glance, silent for a second.

"Maybe," he answered cryptically. She gave him a 'what a great answer' look.

She said, "I'll take that as a 'yes', then," and proceeded to write it down. "What is this mysterious dog's name?" she continued mischievously, still scribbling furiously on her notebook and not bothering to look up.

A beat.

"Shelby," was Superman's slow reply. He decided that it was unlikely Lois would ever visit his house when she didn't know he was Clark, so what was the harm?

"Favorite food?" The change of subject made him relax more.

"Tough one. I don't have a favorite, but a good steak is always something to look forward to for dinner."

Lois nodded. "Can't disagree with you there. I…" she trailed off when he stiffened, seemingly to listen to something. "You have to go?"

His short nod was all she needed as an answer. "Go then! Hurry up! Save people!" She shooed him away, but then stopped.

"I should get you down, first," he smirked, suddenly taking her and swooping down to the roof, dropping her off quickly before hovering slightly. "Goodbye, Lois," he called before zooming away.

Lois sighed, smiling. Not only did she just spend another fantastic few moments with Superman, she also had her detailed report!!

Well, that was a longer chapter than usual... I hope you enjoyed it! But I won't know unless I get feedback... so just press the little blue button below! Thanks!