Chapter Twenty Seven

Clark walked into the elevator and pushed his floor but before the doors could close an arm shot out and Lois stepped inside, "Hey" he says with a small smirk as they stand there almost awkwardly nervous despite the fact that it was just them.

They stood like that for a few minutes and just as he was about to speak she finally broke the silence, "I didn't get the chance to thank you for last week." She looks at him then moved back to staring at the closed elevator doors, "I had a really great time."

"So did I." he sidestepped closer to her, "Maybe we can do it again sometime."

"I'd like that"

"Tonight at my place"

"Okay but first we need to talk" she turns around to face him, "Before we jump into this whole dating thing, I think we need to clear the air about a few things" Lois states, "This is our second chance and I don't want any old feelings or issues to screw it up."

"Why would you think something would screw it up?"

"Well there was Alicia then me and then me again. Do you get what I'm trying to say?"

Clark nods and removes his glasses so that there was nothing between them, "I don't have the best track record especially when it comes to matters of the heart and your afraid that I might run or that I don't love you." He stands closer to her placing his hand over hers, "What happened with Alicia was tragic but that's all in the past."

"Is it?"

"I'll always be grateful for the daughter she gave me and I know that it hasn't been easy for you." He places his hand on her cheek and offers her a small smile, "The time we spent together was the happiest I have ever been. Your compassion gave me the strength to move on with my life."

"Then why did it seem like you were still hung up on the past?"

Clark moved a piece of hair out of the way, "Sometimes we try to fight the past but then there are things that remind us of it. I'm not the same man that I was back then, I know what I want…" he leans closer, "I want you. I'm just sorry for everything I put you through, that I made you think I didn't love you" he finishes the gap between them and places his lips against hers, "You're the one for me"

Lois pulled away smoothing away his hair and gave him a happy smile and was about to say something when the doors slid open and Jimmy Olsen immediately stumbled through an apology before rushing off as the elevator doors closed again.

They looked back at each other and suddenly burst into laughter that soon faded into an awkward silence with the couple passing glances at each other when unable to take the tension any longer, "Oh for heaven's sake!" she exclaims grabbing him by the time and planting on him which stunned and delighted the kryptonian.

Just as she was about to pull away he put his arms around her and went right back into their very affectionate embrace for a few minutes until the doors opened again and they quickly parted to adjust their clothes when they stepped out of the cart as if nothing had happened.

"You should save some of that stamina until we get past the third or forth date." she states in a low tone as they walked towards their desk when they noticed everyone was in a very busy mood, "Did I miss something? Since when is everyone this active in the morning."

"Maybe they finally installed a new coffee machine or something." He said while they looked around confused until Jimmy appeared walking towards them, "What's going on?" he asks the bow tied intern.

"I don't know CK. Everyone's been like this since I got here." Olsen replies then walks away leaving the duo to question the cause of everyone's strange behavior.

"Lane!" Perry's voice bellowed from his office causing their heads to turn to look at the chief, "In my office!"

Lois gave Clark a look, "I'll be right here." He states with a reassuring smile then nudged her playfully with his elbow, "Better go before Perry loses his voice again."

She nodded and began walking towards the chief's office, "Cheer up Lane. You act like I'm gonna fire you or something" Perry jokes as she walks past and the office door closes.

Clark stands there watching for a few minutes until Jimmy appeared at his side again, "Oh. I forgot to give you this" he looks at the bow tied intern confused then looks down to see a manila envelope in familiar handwriting, "Aren't you gonna open it?" Jimmy asks clearly curious about the package's contents.

"Later." He replies then walks towards his desk and the young man stand there for a few minutes before shrugging it off and walked back towards the mail room leaving Clark alone with the parcel.

He looked around to make sure no one was looking before ripping it open and a small white envelope slid out, "I hate it when he does this" he shakes his head and proceeds to open that envelope to reveal its contents.

Come A.S.A.P. Have something important to tell you – Bruce

Clark shakes his head again then puts the contents back in the manila envelope and reminded himself to burn it later.

Bruce knew from the sudden gust of wind that Clark had gotten his letter and immediately turned around in his chair to see that the farmboy was dressed as Superman, "Really?" he says in a almost sarcastic tone, "Don't you think people will get suspicious if they see Superman in my neck of the woods?"

"I don't have all day Bruce. Some of us actually have jobs."

The billionaire let out a rare laugh, "It's nice to see you too Kal."

"Clark" corrects the kryptonian, "My name is Clark."

"Not when you're wearing that." He rises up from his chair and presses a button, "Hold all my calls" a female voice responds seconds later from outside the office earning a confused look from Clark, "She's new." He pulls something out his desk drawer and hands it to the big blue Boy Scout, "I thought you'd be interested in this."

Superman opened the file and instantly frowned, "How is this possible? I thought we had him under lock and key."

"Apparently not."

Anger swelled in the kryptonian at the idea that John Corben was out there somewhere, "Do you know where he is?"

Bruce just shook his head, "Oracle and Watchtower are working together to find him."

The file shut and Clark practically thrust it into Bruce's chest, "That's not good enough" he knew the look in his friend's eyes and instantly flashbacked to a very dark moment in his life, "I'll find him myself" Clark states and prepares to leave.

"Joe Chill" the name stops the kryptonian from flying off in anger to no doubt do something reckless and stupid, "That's the name of the man that killed my parents."

Clark turned to look at the now stoic billionaire, "I would dream about that night over and over again until eventually I snapped." He steps closer looking very serious, "Chill was going to get out and I knew I had my chance to end it all. But when the time came to act I froze."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"I like to think that we're friends."

Clark sat at his desk typing up his half of the article when he noticed Lois step out of the chief's office with a stunned look on her face that didn't fade even when she walked towards her desk, "Are you okay?" Clark asked but when he didn't get an answer he rose up from the chair and walked over towards her desk to place a hand on her shoulder, "Lois?" his voice and touch knocked her out of her thoughts and wiped the look from her face.

"I just got promoted." Clark looked at her surprised, "He said something about the new owner being impressed with my work." She looks around before leaning closer, "I didn't even know there was a new owner."

"Neither did I" Clark admits just as the door to Perry's office opened and he stepped out fully dressed in his suit which was odd since he usually took off his coat when working on the paper, "Can I have everyone's attention" he called out but no one did what he asked prompting a very loud whistle from his lips to stop the bullpen dead in its tracks as everyone turned to look at their boss, "As most of you know this paper has been having financing issues and the recent layoffs have backed the board into a corner."

There was a murmur amongst the bullpen wondering where Perry was going with this, "A couple weeks ago an anonymous source purchased the Daily Planet."

The murmurs got louder while Lois and Clark shared a look but what happened next was something no one saw coming not even the man of steel.

Lex Luthor appeared with several security officials at his side, "I can take it from here Perry." He cut in before the editor could say anything more, "I'm the new owner of the Daily Planet." He walked down the bullpen moving past the stunned workers before he turned back around to face everyone, "There's going to be a few changes around here."

TBC

So Clark officially knows that Metallo isn't in Belle Reeve which believe me will lead to some interesting developments in the near future especially when Lex begins a campaign against Superman.

Lex is beginning to turn into the major villain of this story which I'm excited about cause I've got a few ideas that you could connect either to the comic verse or the Smallville verse.

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