'All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy;
For what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves;
We must die to one life before we can enter another.'

Anatole France

God I hate forest fires. Clark sighed inwardly has he stood, slumped in the Daily Planet elevator, noting the implicit irony that he should have to wait in the excruciatingly slow lift while it made its way up to the bullpen. I could have got up there in a tenth of the time this inept machine is taking.

Secretly though he was pleased of any respite. Forest fires had been savaging Spain now for over a week, and every time one had been put out, two more had sprung to take its place. The Spanish Emergency Service was stretched to its limit, and there was only so much he, or rather Superman, could do. For all his powers, he couldn't fight nature, no matter how much he wanted to.

After what seemed like a lifetime, but at the same time no time at all, the elevator doors finally opened. Giant robots, killer mutants, extra-dimensional beings all seem to pale into insignificance when faced with the chaos that is Monday morning in the Daily Planet main editorial office.

Who'd be a journalist? He thought to himself. Someone who's always asking himself questions. Himself answered. God, is that the time? Clark had sneaked a quick look at his watch. Perry's gonna kill me. He sighed as he made his way towards his desk, bracing himself for the onslaught.

He weaved through the various cubicles until he found the messy three walls he proudly called his own. Looking over the array of articles pinned to the walls a sudden thought dawned on him, as did a brief smile. Chloe would be proud of this.

His musings were suddenly cut short by the booming voice of his editor-n-chief.

"What the hell do you call this?"

Clark walked round to the cubicle opposite his, trying to work out how to excuse his lateness. "Chief listen I know, I'm sorry but there was this…oh..."

Perry White's gruff little body wasn't facing Clark at all, and it certainly wasn't the Kansas farm boy he was addressing.

She's got her hair tied back in a bun, mustn't have had time to wash this morning. Probably stayed up all night watching the news reports.

"It's called an article chief. That's what I do. I'm a journalist, I write articles." Lois answered. She really was worn out. Somewhere between a two and a half hour phone call with Lana, Where does that woman find time to breathe, typing up her story, finalising her flight tickets to Smallville and back, and watching the constant news updates from Europe Lois had managed a measly two hours of sleep last night. It was starting to show.

"I asked you to write a report on the forest fires, not go on a one woman eco rampage." Perry screamed, waving the morning edition of the Planet like a war banner.

"You asked me to look into the root causes of the fire." Lois retorted. "I think global warming is probably a very strong link and, as such, so is the cause of global warming. Did you know that America is the largest producer of Carbon Dioxide in the world!"

"Did you know that 99.999 pre cent of our readership is American." Perry gasped, looking like he was on the verge of a heart attack.

"Well then perhaps it's time we started acting instead of just reading." Lois finished, in a manner that demanded that the topic be closed.

"Why can't you just write articles about men in tights like Cat?" Perry sighed as the walked off back to his den.

"I see he's in a good mood then." Clark laughed whilst perching himself on the desk next to Lois.

"As good as can be expected." She smiled back, stretching as she did. Her cherry red jacket slid down to reveal her slender but strong arms as she moved to tie her hair back tighter. It's darker than it used to be. Clark reflected. Indeed, Lois' once light brown hair was now a rich ebony, perfectly complimenting her celtic blue eyes, framed by her matured and beautiful features. Clark wondered how he could ever have looked at Lois and not been in awe of her inner and outer beauty.

He ran his hand through his own, relatively shorter hair and adjusted the unnecessary glasses resting on his nose.

"What's up Smallville?" Lois asked turning her eyes to Clark. Her voice a seemingly impossible mix of concern and indifference.

"Nothing." He lied. "Why?"

"Because you look about as good as I feel." She answered back. "Rough night?"

"Something like that." She's gonna take that the wrong way. He thought suddenly. Indeed, the look that flashed across Lois' face did seem to show disapproval, and possibly, jealousy. If she only knew the truth. He sighed to himself.

"Well, I wondered where you'd got to. I tried to ring you five times last night." She said, not quite as dismissively as she would have like.

Crap, why did I tell him that? Now he'll know I was trying to ring him. Why was I trying to ring him? God I hate you Kent. No I don't. Yes I do. No I don't. Oh, Christ, not again. Lois put her hand to her forehead, somehow Clark always managed to make her head swim. He blasted you! He was a stuck-up, insensitive prick! But he's not like that any more. Time and tide. Don't do this to yourself again Lane!

Fortunately, Clark didn't notice Lois' change in disposition as he was fighting his own internal struggle. His conscience was telling him that saving lives and helping broken families was far more important than waiting on the phone for Lois Lane to ring. A larger, more frustrated part of him was telling his conscience to shut the hell up.

"So, what where you ringing for?" Clark asked, trying to sound casual.

"I just wanted to know how the hell you managed to land that Flash interview." Lois snapped back.

Oh Sighed that frustrated part of Clark. Ha! Said his conscience, which was taking on quite a few Lois traits itself. "We have a mutual friend." At least that was partly true.

"Oh." Was all Lois could muster, as something flashed in her eyes.

Things hadn't exactly been running smoothly between Lois and Clark's other half lately. In fact, things hadn't been running particularly smoothly between Lois and either of Clark's halves for just over a month now.

Ever since Superman had told Lois that it wasn't safe or fair for either of them to pursue a relationship, she'd been considerably more withdrawn. The simple fact of the matter was that it would be hard enough to see Lois sad even if she was just Clark's best friend. The fact that he'd literally move mountains just to see her smile made it close to unbearable. Just to confuse matters more she couldn't tell him why she was so depressed, and he couldn't tell her that he knew why she was so depressed. Your head hurting yet? Good.

Actually, Clark had often since reflected, on the night he'd flown down to her balcony to tell her that they could never have a relationship, (not while he was in that guise anyway,) she had been rather sweet. Very sweet in fact by Lois standards. She'd said that all the powers and abilities were just superficial, and that she was really just a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking him to love her.

Flying away that night had been the hardest thing Clark had ever done in his life. But still, when he'd been just a boy, standing in front of a girl, Lois had said no and turned, albeit solemnly, away. Only Lois Land could make a man jealous of himself. He thought with a bitter humour.

"So, has Duckface picked out a dress yet?" Lois asked, eager to break the uncomfortable silence that had settled.

"What?"

"Duckface. I presume you're taking her as your guest."

Pete's wedding, right. "Duckface has a name." He said for what felt like the nine-hundreth time.

"Yes, Duckface."

"You make it so hard sometimes. And no, Celina isn't coming."

Celina Kenwright, daughter of one of the Planet's most successful stock-owners. Blonde, beautiful, sweet, innocent and totally head over heels in love with Clark Kent. But still, the one thing she was not was Lois Lane…

"So, no date then?" Her voice again a strange mix of indifference and hope.

"I thought it was customary for the best man to go with one of the bridesmaids." She can't argue with that he thought hopefully.

"Well." Lois continued, whilst logging off her computer. "Lana will be one bridesmaid short if I don't get down to the shop to get my dress fitted. Something I should have been doing," She glanced down at her watch. "Five minutes ago. You'll never guess what colour it is." She added, teasingly.

"Nice to know some things never change." He grinned back.

Lois rechecked the contents of her handbag and started to head towards the elevator.

"See yah, Smallville." She called back with a wave of her hand.

"See you later, Lois." Clark sighed, not loud enough for her to hear.