Chapter 6

Ever since the direct attack on his Mom by Zod, Clark remained wary of her safety. Clark looked after the entire world, but his Mom was always a priority. As a protector of Earth he hesitated to choose favorites, but it would be dishonest of him to say that there weren't humans in this world he granted special security. Besides Clark had experienced an odd few weeks even for him and needed some Mom time.

The conversation with Batman had angered him. And although Lois had tried to cheer him up,("That psychotic bat wannabe actually accused you of being irresponsible? Everyone knows about his own issues with collateral damage and excessive force. He doesn't know what he's talking about Clark!") he begrudgingly accepted that Batman had a point. Being criticized by a veteran hero was...disappointing. Even with all of his abilities and even though he had made a great deal of progress in his saves, he had to admit that Batman was on a whole other level. When it came to subtlety, Clark was still a novice. And he never recalled reading about one of Batman's clashes leading to massive destruction. A bit of destruction, yes, but not flattening a city.

So Clark really needed to not be in Metropolis and his home pushed away his dark thoughts. He smiled as they pulled into the familiar drive of his (and now Lois') favorite place on Earth: the Kent farm. And it was looking much better than it had the last time she was there. During Zod's invasion, he had added an old pick up truck to the house decor, making the house as open literally as it was figuratively. Besides the newly built roof, there wasn't much different. Unless you counted people.

"Who is that?" Lois asked pointing out a few yards ahead of them where a young woman with dark auburn hair stood working.

"Must be a new hire," Clark said easily. During his childhood, Jonathan Kent ran the farm on his own and Clark helped as best he could. But when Clark was older and better at controlling his abilities, Jonathan enlisted the help of some local hands. Clark still helped, though in the human way. After his father's death and his lengthy absence from the farm, it came as no surprise to him that his mother had hired several more workers to pick up the slack.

"I didn't realize your Mom hired children," she joked.

Clark smiled a little bit. Even during the school year, students were looking to earn money to either save for college or spend. Therefore it made sense that there was someone new, not to mention young.

"She probably goes to the high school. Come on, my Mom's probably fixing dinner."

"You go ahead. I want to see what it's like to go to a farming community's high school."

Clark frowned a bit. "I went there."

"Fifteen years ago. Maybe I should do a piece on the life of farming communities."

"Don't you think Smallville has had enough attention?"

The feds had already combed the place after the battle with Faora and Nam-Ek. The last thing he needed was another spotlight on Smallville.

Lois bit her lip."I suppose you're right." Almost immediately she lit up again. "But it wouldn't hurt to do some research into my boyfriend's town. From, you know, an unbiased perspective."

She played with the lapel of shirt teasingly and Clark leaned forward obediently.

"I can't begrudge you that. But don't scare her off. My mother needs help on the farm."

"Yeah, it's not like she has a superpowered son or anything." She kissed his smile sweetly. "Come on let's go say hello," she said as she dragged him over to the young worker.

When Lois reached the new employee, she noticed just how young this girl looked. She couldn't have been older than 16. Wearing paint spattered jeans two sizes too big, a faded large t-shirt, black sunglasses and a ratty hat, it would have been difficult to tell she was female at all had it not been for her short pony tail poking through the back of her hat. Her head was bopping up and down as she listened to her music player. She looked enthralled in her work of trimming a wild-looking bush.

"Hi!" Clark said loud enough so the girl could hear over her head phones.

The girl jumped a little bit and looked at Lois and Clark confusedly before a half-smile appeared on her face.

"Hello," she stammered as she removed her sunglasses to show bright blue eyes and a slightly freckled face.

"Sorry to bother you, but you must be new here. I'm Clark Kent," Clark said cordially extending his hand to greet her.

"Yeah, I started a week ago. You're Mrs. Kent's son," she said still a little dumbfounded. But after a moment she took his hand and shook it eagerly.

Lois couldn't tell if her odd behavior was because she was shy or that she thought Clark was hot. The girl's eyes surveyed Clark's body from head to toe and back.

Ah.

Clark smiled boyishly and turned to Lois who only raised her eyebrow, but an amused grin slid on her face. He blushed adorably.

"Well, I should go say hi to my Mom. It was nice to meet you." He waved a little to the girl, kissed Lois on the cheek, and walked toward the house.

The girl was staring after him; her eyes transfixed on his taut behind.

"And my name is Lois Lane," Lois said a little too loudly. She jumped again after being jarred out of her leering, but her smile grew larger.

"Oh, I know who you are. I've read all your articles. Especially the ones about Superman," she said shaking her hand vigorously.

Lois blushed a little bit. She wasn't used to people being excited to speak to her, so she immediately forgave the young woman for checking her boyfriend out. Lois couldn't blame her really; Clark was stupidly handsome.

"What's your name?"

"Melissa Banks," she replied.

"It's nice to meet you. So what attracted you to working on the farm?"

She shrugged. "Fresh air, honest work. It gives me time to think. I'm an aspiring writer myself, although I mostly delve into fiction."

"You'd be surprised how many reporters delve into fiction."

Nothing bothered Lois more than the fact that her medium had been overrun by 'journalists' who were willing to obfuscate or even manufacture stories just to generate click traffic on their articles. There were few reporters left with the guts and the integrity to only print the truth without alteration.

"Like Woodburn?" she asked making a slightly disgusted face.

Lois chuckled. "Not a fan?"

"No. The only time he printed anything factual was when he had your article up there."

Although flattered, Lois shifted uncomfortably. A lot of people that she talked to now-a-days interrogated her about Superman. This was a mini vacation; she didn't need that now.

"So do you attend the high school in Smallville?"

She laughed. "I'm 25."

Lois' eyebrows shot into her hairline. "Wow. You look very young."

"I get that a lot." She laughed a little awkwardly. "It's not always an advantage."

"Where are you from?"

"Metropolis."

"Really? Why are you all the way out here?"

Melissa's smile suddenly dropped. "My dad and I—We were both in Metropolis the day that it happened."

"Oh."

Swallowing the usual platitudes, Lois remained silent. As one who was accustomed to death and war she knew that they were empty words. As an Army brat, she understood the reality of great calamities. She saw it in the faces of the soldiers returning home and in the faces of the families who would never see their loved ones again. No amount of folded Old Glory's or encomiums of the dead would replace what they lost. She really hoped nothing had happened to her father. Regardless, she wanted desperately to say how sorry she was. She choked on her selfishness until it passed. It must have shown on her face because Melissa was shaking her head.

"It's okay. I mean, neither of us got hurt, but-", Melissa looked long at Lois, "I just can't go back there."

Oh. A wave of relief washed over her, but Lois understood her feelings. Seeing her beloved city in ruins had been one of the most heart wrenching moments in her life.

Melissa was fidgeting uncomfortably and grimacing as if reliving memories of that day.

"Can we not talk about this?" she asked.

"Sure," Lois said sympathetically. That's the second time she had opened up a wound with her probing. The first one was with Clark in the graveyard. She supposed it was the journalist in her that made her ask uncomfortable questions, but it still didn't make it okay to do it to regular people.

"Miss Lane?"

"Call me Lois, please."

"Lois. Could I ask you something?"

"Sure."

Melissa hesitated. "What's he like?"

"Hmm?" she asked feigning ignorance.

Lois understood that Superman was a hot topic and as his journalistic connection, by proxy so was she, but the constant questions about him were tiring after a while. Usually she just cut off the offending person, but she liked this girl and the way she asked the question seemed to stem from a genuine interest in him than a fan girl's fanatical obsession.

Thankfully, Melissa either didn't notice or didn't care about her attempted evasion.

"Superman. You know him, don't you?"

Lois shrugged. "How well can you know a man like him?"

"I just thought that if anyone could answer my question you could."

She looked so vulnerable, Lois gave in. "What is it?" she asked kindly.

"People say he's a hero. Is that true?"

"He is," she said without hesitation. "You don't think so?"

Melissa looked away thoughtfully for a moment. "Maybe. I want to."

"What's holding you back?"

Melissa grimaced a little. Right.

"I'm not saying what happened was his fault," she said. "But if Zod hadn't come here..."

If Zod had never shown up Colonel Hardy, Doctor Hamilton and thousands of other lives would have been spared. Clark wouldn't have been forced to kill, but also Clark wouldn't have come out as Superman. It would have been later and when that happened would the world have been less inclined to trust him if not under apocalyptic duress? The world wouldn't be inspired as it was now. ...Would she and Clark be together? Lois knew it was selfish, but if there was one good thing that came out of that dreadful day it was their relationship.

"Anyway, I've been disappointed before, so I'm reserving judgment."

"He won't disappoint you," Lois said vehemently.

She chuckled mirthlessly. "Yeah, well. I'm afraid I'm a 'believe in evidence' kind of girl. I would really like to know who he is before I trust him."

"Everybody wants to know who he is."

"No, I don't mean his identity. I mean his character, his beliefs. I want to know the man underneath the cape."

Lois found herself impressed by this young woman. Youth did not always dwell with wisdom. This young woman was smart. She looked up at the house and saw Clark in the window washing dishes and sighed. Melissa didn't realize how close she was to discovering that truth.

"You know I can see why you're such a great reporter. I don't know what, but there's something about you that makes people tell you their secrets," she said with genuine admiration.

Lois laughed a little bit. "It's a gift."

"Be careful. The government might hear that, scoop you up, and question you about your 'gifts'," she joked sardonically.

The line in Lois' forehead creased before she remembered. The Meta-Human Registration Act was a piece of hotly debated legislation drafted by Ferguson and Clay with Lex Luthor as a backer. It had been announced the day before so she wasn't surprised that Melissa knew about it. With Clark, Lois, and Kassandra as legal consultant collaborating together, they were writing an article about the bill and its questionable constitutionality along with interviews with other legislators and the opinions of Americans. Lois' grimace turned into a determined smile. Melissa was an American and she seemed to have an opinion.

"You mean-"

"Current legislation being debated on the House floor? Yeah, I know about that," she said this calmly, but still there was an edge to her voice.

Lois was surprised and impressed again. This girl displayed an emotional maturity lost among some of her peers as well as an awareness of the world and the events within it. But also she noticed there was a burden on her.

"You sound angry," she said simply.

"I am. These meta-humans are just trying to live their lives. Most meta-humans don't even have dangerous powers. The ones that do usually use them to help people."

"There are probably also those that would use their abilities to hurt people."

"Yes. But just because there are a few bad apples it doesn't mean you throw out the bushel. You can't discriminate against people just because they might be a risk. That's like people with guns. Most gun owners are responsible people."

"People do have to register to own guns."

Melissa looked confused and aghast. "Do you agree with them?"

"No! But to have an informed opinion and write a good article I need to know what both sides are saying."

"An article?"

Lois smiled broadly. "Clark and I along with one of our colleagues are writing an article on the legislation and I'm interested to know the voice of the people. If you're up to it, I'd appreciate your opinion."

Inexplicably Melissa deflated. "I don't know."

A few seconds ago she was passionate about her position and now she was suddenly shy about sharing. Lois was perplexed.

"You seem to be well-informed and you are very articulate," Lois encouraged.

"I don't want to be in a newspaper," she said a little nervously.

"I understand."

That made some sense. Some people didn't want to be published, but her journalistic instinct gnawed at her consciousness. Something else was holding Melissa back.

"If you change your mind," Lois handed her a business card, "contact me."

"Thanks," she said taking it reluctantly. Judging from her body language, Lois didn't expect a call.

"Look, I'm sorry. I really have to get back to work. It was nice to meet you, Miss Lane." She plugged her earphones back into her ears. A little confused and disappointed, Lois walked into the house to join Mrs. Kent and Clark.