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Lois was in a foul mood. She was still exhausted from the night before; Perry White had blasted at her for turning up late for twenty minutes before realising that he had in fact given her permission to go home and while she had been sleeping this morning, she had missed several saves by Superman. Worst of all, she was doing what she hated most about reporting: spell checking.

Argh, son of a bitch, I have to deal a new partner as well. What's that going to be like? He better not be as bad as the last one. Watching a twenty five year old man burst into tears because you told him he was a sissy for not breaking into LexCorp with you to try to gain some valuable dirt on the billionaire was tragic beyond belief. Not to mention the fact that he never knew when to take a break at the right time, always disappearing at the wrong moment; he never wanted to break the law to find a story (its half the reason I went into journalism!) and I could never concentrate at my desk opposite his while he nervously bobbled his leg up and down while he worked. He was a complete nightmare.

Why can't I ever get some hunky, muscly and dangerous man? Someone who is sensitive but still oozes masculinity. Someone who could actually spell... Someone reliable but still surprises me with the occasional curve-ball. Someone a little nerdy, but in a really cute way. Someone willing to go the distance but reign me in when I need it. Is generous but not expectant or arrogant in it. Maybe someone into the whole hero factor? Definatly someone who is a family man and maybe with a that family will consider me as one of their own. Most importantly, a man who leans on me for support when he needs it and does the same for me as I will inevitably will cal for it. That man rarely happens of course...

Lois shook herself from her inner monologue. God I need some more coffee. I wonder if I could patent that IV idea? She rose to make her way to the coffee station but barely managed to get out of her seat before she bumped into something hard. The brunette fell back, hardly helped by her stilettos, and prepared for impact when she felt a set of arms wrap themselves around her. Lois opened her eyes and saw them reflected back at her in a set of blues as the man bent over and held her up. He was warm and she felt strangely comfortable considering her position. They clutched onto the moment a tad longer than needed.

"Watch where you're walking," Lois berated, pushing herself up and out of his arms, trying to regain some dignity. She was usually flustered. "And while you're at it, photocopy these witness statements for me and take it to Miss Sullivan."

"I'll get onto that but first I need to make sure you're ok," Clark rounded her as she stepped into the mini kitchen/break-room that hosted the coffee machine.

"Would you just step out of my way. I'll feel a lot better for it," Lois glowered causing Clark to shuffle a little bit- genuinely scared.

"I thought you'd appreciate some caffeine actually crafted by a barrister and a doughnut but you can drink that poor excuse for coffee that comes out of that machine," Clark offered meekly, hoping that his slight attempt at humour and offer of food would break Lois' wrath. He was right. She snatched it out of his hands causing him to laugh lightly.

"Mmm Mmm," Lois thanked, her mouth full of doughnut. She had somehow crammed over half a maple treat in.

"At least you're putting that big mouth to good use," Clark whispered to himself under his breath with a grin. Lois whacked him over the head with her folder as she stuffed the final chunk down the hatch and sipped her coffee.

"I'm only letting you get away with that because you bought me food and you're new. Next time, you'll endure some of the tricks this army brat learnt while touring every base in the US of A," Lois warned as she walked back to her desk, tilting her head back to finish the beverage- having only received it thirty seconds earlier.

Oh god angry Lois is so ridiculously hot... "Good to see that you haven't changed Lois."

That stopped the reporter dead and she balanced on her heels to turn around, a quizzical look on her face. "Who are you?" There's only one guy in the world who ever spoke to me like that and that was...

"Ah good you've met," bellowed Perry White, forgetting his inside voice and placing his arms around the pair. "Lois Lane, meet Clark Kent, your new partner." And with that he disappeared as quickly as he had appeared, leaving the couple staring at each other. Clark was beaming at the variety of expressions, not of them particularly positive, that Lois was giving him.

...was Clark Kent. Fantastic. "What the hell are doing here?"

"Nice to see you've missed me," Clark smirked, well aware that the whole bullpen was watching. "I applied for a job here and was told to partner up with you."

"I don't have a partner, I work alone," Lois forced out.

"I can see that but Mr White disagrees. He says you're over stretching yourself and it's hurting your prose," Clark added cheekily, knowing full well he was pushing his new partner.

"And since when could you help with that?" Lois exclaimed, hands on her hips and reared up on the balls of her feet.

"Don't you remember our high school days scrapping for the truth at the Torch with Chloe? Or have you tried to forget your time at Smallville?"

"I only forgot what I wanted to, farm boy. What happened to that anyway? Aren't you supposed to be milking cows or fixing the tractor or something? Didn't think I'd ever see you out of plaid let alone the nerdy get up you've got going now," Lois reminded him. Don't think about the plaid shirts you've got tucked away in your bottom draw that you stole from him. Nor that fact that he seems to be rocking the look anyway, despite what you said two seconds ago...

"I dunno Lois, I don't think he looks so bad," said a slim, curvy woman with long blonde hair as she stepped out of the crowd.

"I thought you only had eyes for Jimmy, Cat," teased another man. He was a bulky man, well built, and seemed to be very proud of his bushy moustache.

"Shut up Steven. I don't see any girls swarming around you while you swoon over your new car and shout at the football on the TV," retorted Cat. "Anyway, none of that matters. I'm Cat Grant, sub-editor and basically acting personal assistant and secretary to the Chief. Although he would never admit it, his life would fall apart without me."

"It's nice to meet you," Clark faked a slight tremor in his voice, keeping up the mask that was Clark Kent, as he shook her hand awkwardly.

"Yeah, the name's Steven Lombard- Sport's editor and feature writer, although mainly on cars," Steve bragged, confidently holding out his hand. And Clark told hold of his hand and they seemed to try to out-squeeze each other until the bulky man broke it off, cursing under his breath.

"This is all very nice," Lois interrupted, "but I have stories to finish and if Smallville here thinks he can just sit back and watch, he's got another thing coming." With that she strode through the small gathering of people.

"Good luck with that Clark," winked Cat, slinking off as well.

"Yeah, you'll need it. Did she say Smallville? Because they've produced some outstanding football players over the years and you look like you could handle a ball Kent. You fancy joining the work team?" Steve offered.

"Thanks for that Cat and err maybe, that would be nice," Clark rambled, turning to follow Lois back to their desks. He bumped into one, falling to the ground, arms flailing and sending papers crashing to the ground. "Oh my, I'm so sorry," he apologised to an angry looking woman towering over him as he scrambled to pick them up.

"Maybe not one for the team after all," Steve muttered quietly as the workers returned to their booths.

Five minutes later, Perry White stood at the top of the stairs, overlooking the hive of activity that was his bullpen. He was trying to contain a grin as he noticed Lois hiss at Clark for the second time for distracting her by squeaking on his chair as he moved from side to side. Those reporters of mine are going to take the world by storm...

Author's note: *Comes out of hiding to see if there is an angry mob outside his door* Hello, sorry this is so late! I have been really really busy and suffered from the largest bit of writer's block ever. But I'm happy with the outcome and I really enjoyed writing this, even if it is a little shorter than some other chapters I have posted in the past.

Anyway, thanks for sticking with me and for all the reviews and follows. To reply to the guest that wrote on chapter 17, yes we will see some more of Kara and Chloe very soon. Also to rediney, I love them too and I hope you like what I have in mind for them next time :)

As I am now on my summer holidays, I will try to get some longer chapters up more frequently. The next one should include: Chloe and Kara's shopping trip, Green Arrow's first proper patrol with a certain petite blonde and Lex checking up on his series of evil projects! Thank you so much for the views and reviews and I hope to see you next time. Cheers!