BACK TO WORK

Clark typed as fast as humanly possible, which of course was a lot slower than he was capable of typing. He had to hold himself back because his desk was situated such that coworkers could see his keyboard. Perry had given him and Lois a stern lecture the previous morning. The latest news cycles were absolutely insanely busy and bonkers, and the Planet's two star reporters may as well have gone AWOL.

Clark didn't have much "spare" time to actually do any investigative stuff. So the previous day he banged out an article about a supposed interview he had had with Superman. Boy, was Lois furious about that. Richard and Clark ignored her tirade, but Clark was dreading the confrontation that would erupt the next time Lois saw Superman. And that would be tomorrow afternoon, when Superman would be stopping by to pick up Jason for their weekly mini-excursion. They had decided it was safe for Jason to return to school. Clark missed being able to glance over at Richard's office and see his son, but he knew it was better for Jason this way.

Today, he was writing a summary article about the events of the last several weeks surrounding Superman, Linda, and Luthor. Little bits and pieces of information that were not generally known, sprinkled here and there into the article, were attributed to 'anonymous sources.' He hoped that would placate Perry for another day or two.

On the other hand, Clark had no clue what Lois had been working on. He glanced over at her once and a while. She was also busy typing out something or other. They had been working together on a story till Lois's fateful trip to Midvale. Maybe one day they'd get back to that. For now, as long as she was staying away from Luthor, he didn't much care what she was working on.

Luthor had granted his first interview to Ron Troupe at the Daily Star. Clark had made time to read that, of course. Apparently, Luthor already had laid the groundwork for a new supposedly legitimate business venture. He had a slew of investors already lined up, and a large fancy office suite, and fully stocked laboratories ready and waiting for him in a building across the street from the Planet. He had been very evasive answering Ron's questions regarding exactly what his new business venture was all about, but Clark thought he had a pretty good idea already. Ron owed Clark a few favors, and he was in the process of cashing in on them. He was hoping that if Ron could establish a relationship with Luthor Corp, he would eventually be given a tour of the laboratories. Maybe he could tag along incognito.

Clark was impatient to finish his article. He wanted to get back to Smallville ASAP. The more he thought about what he had seen in Leesburg, the more he worried about leaving Kara with his mother. Anyway, he and Kara had an appointment in about an hour. Ma didn't understand why he was so worried. Kara had lived at the girls' school for two years without incident, after all. He had already confirmed that with Fred Danvers.

Clark clicked on the send button, and his article was on its way to Perry's inbox. He stood up and gathered his belongings.

Lois suddenly looked up from her computer. "Where are you off to?" she asked suspiciously.

"Off to do journalism…ing …stuff. I'm a reporter … that's what I do," echoing Lois's words from many weeks ago.

"Meeting with Superman again, by any chance?"

"No, why?"

Lois rolled her eyes. "So where are you going?"

"You first. What are you working on?" He stepped toward her and leaned in to look at her screen. She quickly closed the window she was working in, but not before Clark had a look at it. He grimaced at Lois, who smiled at him innocently, knowing there was no way he could have seen anything.

Clark glanced briefly at Richard, who was busy in his office. He wondered if he should call him over to help him deal with Lois.

"Donovan? Really, Lois? I'm sure that must be another scientist named Donovan that you're writing about because you're supposed to be maintaining 10 degrees of separation between you and Luthor. And an interview with Dabney Donovan would certainly violate that."

"Really, Clark?" Lois echoed his tone. "I didn't know you guys were planning on keeping these rules in effect in perpetuity." She shot him an annoyed look, then reopened the window on her screen and got back to her typing.

"Lois…"

"I'm busy, Clark." She waved her hand dismissively.

Clark unplugged her screen.

"Clark!"

"Superman has enough on his plate right now without having to worry about you running around with mad scientists."

"What do you know about Superman's plate? Oh, right. You guys are chummy now." Lois grabbed the plug out of Clark's hand and jammed it back in its socket. "And I wasn't running around with him. He offered to show me around the laboratories. I wasn't going to say 'no.'"

"You were inside Luthor's labs! Are you insane! Do you think for one minute Luthor would have let you in there if It didn't benefit him?"

"Of course." She got back to work on her computer.

"He's using you for something."

"Maybe," Lois murmured, "if for nothing else, then just to annoy Superman."

She got that right, at least. Clark tapped his finger hard on Lois's desk. "Don't you dare send this off to Perry before we've had a chance to discuss it."

"Who do you think you are, ordering me around? I've been pent up here for two years now. Thanks to you and Richard, my career is practically ruined. I've had enough. And anyway, whatever happened to Clark Kent, the mild-mannered reporter? I think I liked you better before."

Lois was right about that too. Clark hadn't been himself lately. He could blame Luthor for everything, or he could own it. Luthor was going to do Luthor. But how Clark responded was up to Clark and Clark alone. He couldn't let Luthor break him. He took a deep calming breath.

But then Clark's thoughts turned to the reason why he was now heading out and what lie ahead in the next few hours. He would work on getting back to himself tomorrow.

"Humph!" Clark headed toward the elevators.