CHAPTER 3

Minutes later...

"Have you seen Rachel?" Lois asked while they walked in the garden.

There was a puddle of water in their path and Bruce gently extended his hand to help Lois cross it.

Clark was a few steps behind them. He watched the scene and rolled his eyes.

"No, I haven't" Bruce answered, still holding Lois' hand, unaware of Clark's attention. "As I told you before, I'm not coming here a lot. I just came because of the hearing"

"Hearing? What hearing?" Lois asked, curious.

"Joe Chill's hearing. He made a deal with the District Attorney" Bruce explained.

"What?"

"They're letting him go" he finally said.

"Oh... I'm sorry" she said, worried about Bruce's feelings.

Clark took a deep breath and wondered if he could ask what was going on or who the hell Joe Chill was, but he decided to wait and see what would happen.

"So, what kind of deal did he make?" Lois asked.

"I don't know" he answered, not interested in the details.

Suddenly, Alfred appeared in the garden and called Bruce showing him the cell phone:

"Master Bruce! Your telephone is ringing!"

"Excuse me, guys," Bruce said, kissing Lois' hand. "I'll be right back" and he walked over to where the butler was.

When Bruce had left, Clark faced Lois. They were finally alone. And the first thing he wanted to ask her was what was going on between her and Bruce.

"Why do I have the strange feeling that this visit is a kind of a romantic revival between you two?" he asked.

"What did you say, Smallville?" she asked, surprised.

"C'mon Lois, I thought we came here to prevent him from a murder attempt that may not even happen now that the Lucchesis were arrested after the anonymous call to the police we made," he said.

"Did you hear what you said?" Lois asked, with crossed arms. "You were in Suicide Slum too. Remember? You heard what our friend Vincent said, didn't you? Someone wants to kill Bruce. This is not a joke--"

Clark took a deep breath. She was right. But something still wasn't.

"I didn't mean to say this isn't serious, Lois" he explained. "I just... I mean, I'm not interested in being in the middle of this thing between you and Bruce, okay?"

Lois laughed.

"What? Did you say this thing between me and Bruce?"

"You know what I meant" he said, serious.

"Are you out of your mind, Smallville?" Lois asked, smiling. "If I didn't know you so well, I'd say you're jealous like you were when I met AC months ago"

"Me? Jealous? Over you?"

Lois laughed again.

"Okay. This is ridiculous. Forget it" she said.

"Of course it's ridiculous!" he agreed with a nervous smile.

"That's good. We finally agree about something" Lois grinned.

Clark didn't say anything. He couldn't understand how Lois irritated him. She was the only person in the world who could do that.

"So, what now?" he asked.

"What now what?"

Clark rolled his eyes.

"What do you want to do?"

"Well... I don't know" Lois answered.

"WHAT?" Clark asked.

"I can't simply say 'Bruce, someone wants to kill you'," she explained, indifferent to Clark's impatience. "By the way, he's not prepared for a situation like this one"

Clark wrinkled his forehead while Lois remembered the past with a lost look...

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FLASHBACK

Sam Lane had crossed the country with Lois to go to the Waynes funeral.

It was a rainy day in Gotham.

Next to Alfred and in front of the mansion, the young Bruce was unable to say a word.

He couldn't even look into people's eyes.

And people couldn't look into his.

"Alfred," Sam Lane said, holding Lois' hand. "If you need something... you know you can count on me"

The gentle butler smiled and with both hands over the shoulders of a distant and abated Bruce, he said:

"Thank you, Mr Lane"

Facing Bruce, a seven year old Lois understood his sadness. They both had lived the pain of loss in different moments of their lives. And both of them knew she didn't need to say anything. Because nothing would change the fact that he had lost his parents forever.

Sam Lane looked down to his daughter, and held her hand firmly.

"Let's go, Little Lo" he said.

And while Lois and her father walked away, she turned around to look at Bruce once more.

But Bruce wasn't paying attention.

END OF THE FLASHBACK

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Now, years later, Lois knew that since the night his parents passed away, he'd never been the same again.

"What do you mean?" Clark asked. "He seems just fine to me... In fact, your friend reminds me of someone we both know--"

Confused, Lois faced Clark.

"--and what's more," he continued, "I thought arrogant billionaries weren't your type--"

Lois smiled.

"Again, Smallville? Who do you think you are to say that? Besides, Bruce isn't like Lex--"

"Okay, Lois" he said, not interested in hearing her defending him once more.

"No. You need to know" she protested. "Bruce doesn't care about money or power"

Clark couldn't stop thinking how much Lois cared about Bruce, and how much this affected him.

"But there are some things I've heard about him--" Clark suddenly said.

"What things?" she asked.

"Well, uh... he's an irresponsible and inconsequential playboy. That's it. I said it!"

Lois laughed.

"What?" Clark asked. "He's always causing trouble. He doesn't care about anything!"

"You don't know what you're talking about!" Lois protested.

"Maybe" he agreed. "But I don't trust him"

"I can't believe I'm hearing this from you, Smallville. You're the guy who always sees the best in people--"

"Lois"

"He's a good friend of mine and everybody has dark secrets"

"Lois"

"Give him a break, Smallville. People have their weaknesses"

"Lois"

"I think you're confused because of your own experience with Lex, but you have to believe me--"

"Lois!"

She stopped and faced him:

"What?"

"Forget it" he said.

Then, Lois smiled.

"You'll see. He may be dark and mysterious, but he has a good heart. He's just a little lost--"

"Lost?" Clark repeated.

He didn't seem to be lost, Clark thought, remembering the way that Bruce looked at Lois.

"Okay, let's get something straight" Lois continued.

"Lois, I don't want to hear this--"

"No. You have to" she replied.

"There's something I didn't tell you about Bruce--"

Oh no, she would say it, Clark thought. He didn't want to know that! If he could just fly away from there! He didn't need to hear they were lovers!

"He's had some hard times" she finally said.

Clark wrinkled his forehead, confused.

Okay. Hard times. Everybody had hard times. So, why does that make him so special to Lois? Clark wondered. And why he was being so obsessed with Lois' feelings about Bruce?

"His parents were killed" she explained.

Shocked, Clark couldn't hide his shame for thinking badly of Bruce.

"It was tragic. It happened in front of his eyes. When he was a little boy"

"Oh..." Clark said, perplexed. "I didn't know that"

Clark felt guilty for judging the young Wayne. Perhaps, his flirts with Lois were blinding him. And that was another thing he didn't understand.

"Of course you didn't" she said.

"What?" he asked, lost in his thoughts.

And before Lois could say something else, Bruce appeared.

"It was Rachel. On the phone" he said, approaching them. "She's coming"

To be continued...