A/N: I have to say this before I get started: The Clark Kent effect is real! Before, I never truly believed that someone could be completely unrecognizable just with a pair of glasses and a diffferent hairstyle- until my mom called me up and told me that her friends from the gym didn't recognize her with her hair down and dressed differently! Just because they said they didn't know she had curly hair! I was shocked. . . but I guess Clark gets away with it, so. . .

Disclaimer: I. Do. Not. Own. Superman. :(

"So, do either of you want to care to explain to me why it is that my entire office is buzzing about the two of you and not getting their butts in gear and writing me news articles?"

Clark cringed, Lois blanched. Perry's stare didn't waiver.

How much does he know?

Can he be serious about this?

"Perry, look, I don't know exactly what it is they're talking about, but whatever it is, it's harmless office gossip- you've never let it bother you before." Lois shrugged it off.

"Yes but it was never about my two best reporters before. Now, I need to know the truth. Clark, is it true that-"

"Perry," Clark's voice was stern and immediately commanded both his boss's attention and Lois's. "I think this is something I should probably discuss in private with Lois before I go into detail with everyone else, alright?"

Perry's eyes widened in response. So it was true, he thought. Absently he nodded. "In the conference room," he gestured, in somewhat of a daze.

Clark nodded, and led Lois into the room. The second the door closed, he let his guard down, and a panicked look inhabitted his features. Lois's eyes narrowed. What is wrong with him? "Clark, what's going on? Why are you so nervous? Gossip is gossip."

"Not when it's true," he muttered under his breath. Lois looked confused.

"Clark, what are you talking about? I happen to know what they're talking about, and there's no way it can be true."

It was his turn to look confused. "What?"

"Yeah, I know exactly what it is they're saying, and I don't understand what it is that has you so worked up about it. It's no big deal."

Clark was currently surveying Lois as if she were the one who was an alien. "I'm sorry?"

"Clark, come on. I know the truth. And if I'm telling you it's no big deal, then it's no big deal."

"I'm sorry. Are we talking about the same thing? Cause I think this would warrent a very different reaction if that were the case."

"What is it exactly that you think they're talking about? Cause everything I've heard about me, Jason, and you especially- it's not true. There's absolutely no way it's true." she shot back sharply.

"Lois, it is the truth."

She snorted, and muttered under her breath. "Yeah, like you're Superman or something."

"Lois, I am Superman."

Silence.

The sound- or rather, lack of it- was deafening to Clark's super-sensitive ears. Any minute now she would explode with rage. She would magically pull out kryptonite from her back pocket like something out of a cartoon and kill him right then and there. He was a dead man. No, a dead Kryptonian. Which is worse?

"I'm sorry?" she choked out, but knew the second she looked him in the eyes. No, no, no. . .

He opened his mouth to speak, but promptly shut it. He didn't know what to say anyways.

Finally finding her voice once again, Lois spoke up. "Why tell me this now? In the Daily Planet conference room? Why not later on?"

It was Clark's turn to look confused again. "What do you mean? I thought you said you already knew. . . I mean, half the office knows by now. . . right?" His speech slowed as he realized that he might have made a mistake. "Don't they?" his voice was practically a whisper now.

She shook her head slowly. "N-no. That's not what the rumor was at all."

Clark groaned and slumped into a chair. He put his head in his hands and removed his glasses so as to rub the bridge of his nose. Lois had to supress a gasp that threatened to release at the sight of him- it only further affirmed the fact that he was Superman. Clark Kent- Clark geeky, "golly-gee" and "that's swell" Kent from Nowhersville- was the savior of Metropolis and the rest of the world. Was her son's father.

Suddenly the rumors took on an entirely new meaning.

Lois sighed and took a seat across from the supposed man of steel. Clark's speech was muffled through his hands spread across his face. "Wh-wh-at were they talking about then? I mean, Steve practically shouted to the office that "Clark Kent is Superman." People can't be that dense can they?"

Lois shook her head. "No, he was going to say "Clark Kent is Jason's father." I'm just glad Jason hasn't picked up on it yet- lucky Josie covered his mouth when she did."

Clark snorted. "Lucky for you and Jason, maybe. I almost flew out the window when I heard him say that."

"Clark- er, I can still call you that, can't I?" A flabbergasted look came across his features. Lois continued, babbling a bit. "It's just, I don't know what your name really is anymore. Should I call you Superman, Clark Kent- or is there something else? I mean, you travelled the world for five years- I mean, I guess you didn't, did you? You were out looking for Krypton, I guess. While we all wondered what the heck happened to our hero- then wait, where did all those postcards come from? And the stories, are those all made up? I can't sort out what's real and what's-"

He stopped her with a kiss. She stiffened in surprise. The kiss ended before she could respond, with him retreating back to the other side of the room, looking ashamed. He almost left too quickly, she thought, if he wanted to keep his little secret. Even though the blinds were closed, he couldn't risk exposure, especially not now.

Suddenly she realized the burden he carried, now that she was apart of it. How hard it must be, she mused, but then he spoke up, interrupting her thoughts.

"I'm sorry. You were hyperventilating, and I wasn't quite sure what to do, and you kind of. . . well, anyways. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have responded in that way, it's just. . . you don't know how long I've been wanting to do that, Lois."

"No," she broke in, not realizing she had been practically holding her breath since his kiss. "I mean, it was, um, just unexpected. Not bad," she rushed, "Just. . . not what I thought was going to happen."

They fell into an uncomfortable silence. Clark broke it first. "For the record, Lois, my name is Clark Kent. Well, it's Kal-El, but I never really liked my Kryptonian name as much as Clark- and anyways, I grew up as Clark Kent. I am Clark Kent. I just also happen to be Superman. I haven't been hiding the real me all this time: Clark Kent is me. Superman is. . . well, he's not a disguise, per se, but he's not exactly. . . real, you know? I had my mom send the postcards while I was away, and the stories are real. I traveled the year before college- saved a lot on airfare," he quirked his mouth at this with a slight twinkle in his eyes. His very, unnaturally blue eyes.

How could I have never seen it?

Lois tried to smile, but it came out more as a grimace. "Well, what are we supposed to do now? I mean, if they figured out so easily the connection between you and Jason, how did no one see the connection between you and Superman- or Superman and Jason, for that matter?" She shuddered.

"Well," Clark began slowly, "no one ever made the connection between Superman and myself because no one was ever looking. Superman never had anything to hide- no mask, nothing but some tights and a cape, really. And to save the world- what else could the man have time to do? Clark Kent on the other hand, was the opposite of Superman in every aspect possible. And if Jason is connected with me, then there's really no chance of him being compared to Superman."

"Unless we tell them you're not his father," understanding dawned in her eyes as she spoke. "And then they keep looking, and it comes up that I was once rumored to have a relationship with Superman, and Jason looks like Superman, and from there it's not a far jump to say that Superman looks like Clark. . ."

He nodded. "Exactly. So, I mean, I don't want to put any pressure on you or anything, but, we should probably make a decision about this. . . soon. Perry keeps glancing over at the conference room, and everyone's whispering. I can explain everything else to you later."

"How do you know that?" she asked quizzically. He gestured to his eyes and then to his ears as he put his glasses back on his face. "Oh," she realized how much he had probably overheard and seen over the years, and flushed a bit at the realization. How could she have never noticed?

"Quick question though, before we go out."

He grinned. "Shoot."

"Did you ever, you know, use your powers to eavesdrop on conversations and stuff, on the job?"

His grin only widened as they left the room and headed back to Perry's office. "Why, Lois, I have no idea what you mean."

A/N: Ta-da! Okay, I'm not sure how much farther I'm gonna take this, im thinking maybe another chapter or two. Let me know what you think! Clark will manage to get you an autograph from Superman. . . not that he knows who he is or anything. XD