---------------
Second Thoughts
By Wendy Richards <wendy@lcfanfic.com>
Rated: PG-13
Submitted: November 2001 
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This is a Season 1 story, set early in Barbarian at the 
Planet. Lex has asked Lois to marry him, and the story 
begins the evening after the proposal. In *this* story, 
however, Lex did not buy the Daily Planet the day after his 
proposal; while I am using some aspects of the BatB A-plot 
in this story, I've slowed things down somewhat. 

Grateful thanks are owed to several people: to all who 
commented, nagged, yelled and waved disembowelling shears 
on Zoom's boards and IRC, and especially to the members of 
the STPWFIGSW* <bg>. Thanks, too, to IRCers and others 
waiting to read this in one piece, who kept asking when 
this story would be finished; your nagging helped to ensure 
that it *got* finished! I'm indebted also to Laurie, who 
actually *volunteered* to edit this monster of a story! And 
most important, thanks to my beta-readers: Pam, for her 
help with part of the story; Anne, for encouragement and 
lovely feedback throughout, and Yvonne and Helene, who 
stuck with this monster all the way through and provided 
comprehensive comments, suggestions, corrections, TTT-
interventions and all-round support. You two are fantastic! 

All characters in this story are the property of DC Comics 
and/or Warner Bros, and no infringement of their or anyone 
else's rights is intended by the writing and distribution 
of this story.


~ Second Thoughts  ~


"So, Lois, why exactly are you considering marrying Lex 
Luthor?"

That question had been eating Clark up inside for the last 
couple of days, ever since Lois had told him - just when 
he'd been about to tell her *his* feelings for her, and ask 
her out - that Luthor had proposed to her. And that she was 
thinking about it.

He'd reacted badly, he was aware of that. And because his 
hackles had instantly risen, Lois had jumped to the - not 
illogical - conclusion that he was jealous, and had frozen 
him out, rejecting his protests.

Of course he was jealous; he'd be jealous if Lois was 
seeing anyone other than him. But this was more than just 
jealousy, as he'd tried to explain to her a couple of times 
already, without success. It was his hatred of Lex Luthor 
as a result of the man's criminal activities. And, he had 
to confess, his anger at Lois for not seeing through the 
man's public facade. But again, every time he'd tried to 
tell Lois this over the past few weeks, he'd lost his cool, 
ended up unintentionally insulting her intelligence, and 
had been vulnerable to her charge of jealousy. And on each 
occasion she'd got angry with him and stormed off.

Now, however, they were stuck in her Jeep in a deserted 
underground car park, watching for a drugs handover one of 
Bobby Bigmouth's friends had tipped them off about. They'd 
been there almost two hours and seen nothing, and the near-
silence inside the Jeep was getting oppressive. Plus, he 
was acutely aware of his companion every single second, and 
the silence was only making matters worse. Even the sound 
of her breathing was sending signals to all of his nerve 
endings. Hence Clark's question; apart from distracting 
himself before things got embarrassing, if he was ever 
going to get a chance to have a reasonable conversation 
with her in a situation where neither of them could afford 
to lose their temper and storm off, this was it.

She glanced quickly at him and then away again. "Why is it 
any of your business what I do in my personal life, Clark?"

Her tone was dismissive, and her body language reeked of 
'get lost.' But Clark wasn't going to give up that easily.

In a carefully reasoned tone, he answered, "Because you're 
my best friend and I care about you? And I thought you felt 
the same way about me."

She looked at him again, this time apparently cautiously, 
as if debating whether to trust him not to go off on a rant 
again. "Clark, of course I do. You know that."

"Yeah, Lois, but it's kind of hard to remember that when 
we've barely talked these last few weeks. And I know a lot 
of that's my fault - I've lost my temper and said things I 
shouldn't have. But I'd like to make up for it now. You're 
seeing Lex Luthor, and I have to respect that," he said, 
aware that he was lying through his teeth - he would 
*never* respect Lois's choice in this case, even if he 
wasn't being eaten up inside by seething jealousy and a 
desperate yearning for something he couldn't have. "I'd 
just like it if you'd give me a chance to understand what 
you see in him, that's all."

"And you won't start flinging insults?" she asked warily.

He held his left hand up, three fingers aloft. "Scout's 
honour."

She grinned. "I always knew you were a boy-scout, Kent!"

"See, that means I'm one of life's good guys," he teased. 

Lois seemed to relax then, settling back into her seat but 
with her body turned so that she was facing him. "I never 
doubted that, Clark," she told him softly. "And the last 
thing I want is to lose your friendship. It's... important 
to me."

"It's important to me too." His voice husky, he reached out 
to trail the back of one finger down her cheek, a daring 
gesture for him. Lois was the one who usually initiated 
physical contact between them, and then it was usually a 
pat on the chest, a hand on his shoulder as he was sitting, 
a hand through his arm as they walked sometimes - in 
response to which he occasionally got away with putting his 
arm loosely around her shoulders instead. She flirted with 
him continually. He was well aware of it, just as he was 
aware of the limits which were imposed on him in her little 
games with him; unfair they might be, but he had always 
respected them because he knew that, should he ever step 
over the line and actually respond to what sometimes looked 
like an apparent invitation on Lois's part, he'd lose the 
close friendship they had and any hope of more.

Now, though, he was the one initiating physical contact, 
and he could be in danger of stepping over Lois's invisible 
line... but he was fairly sure that, at this moment, she 
wouldn't object. She couldn't know just how much touching 
her meant to him, anyway.

She caught his hand as he drew it away, and curled her 
fingers about his. Nothing was said, but in that moment 
their friendship was rebuilt and reinforced.

"So," Clark said casually, as if nothing at all of any 
importance had happened, "what about Lex?" He forced 
himself to use the man's first name.

"Oh, Clark..." She half-smiled, then shrugged. "Oh, there 
are all sorts of things I like about him. And before you 
ask, his money *isn't* one of them! He's elegant, charming, 
sophisticated... he always knows the best places to go, for 
dinner, the theatre, the opera, shopping... And he's very, 
*very* intelligent - it's wonderful having a discussion 
with him, because he's very knowledgeable about almost 
every subject under the sun. We can talk and argue for 
hours - it's so stimulating. And he's witty, and I really 
enjoy his company." Her tone was light and apparently 
happy, but to Clark there was something of a false note to 
her gaiety.

Choosing his words carefully, Clark said, "That sounds to 
me like a description of an entertaining friend, Lois. I 
mean, you do a lot of that with me - how many times have we 
sat in my apartment with a pizza and a couple of beers and 
argued almost until dawn? But with a guy you're thinking of 
marrying, there should be more than that. Actually," he 
added, warming to his theme, "even for someone you consider 
a close friend, there should be more than that."

"Like what?" She gave him a semi-belligerent look. "I'm not 
going to tell you about my sex life, if that's what you're 
asking! *And* I don't sleep with my close friends - *you* 
should know that!"

Sex life? Clark shuddered inwardly, revolted at the thought 
that she might actually be sleeping with the man. And he 
ignored her jibe about not sleeping with him; that wasn't 
what he'd meant and he knew she was well aware of it. 
Instead he shook his head, careful to maintain the outward 
appearance he wanted to project. "I meant that a close 
friend should be someone you can confide in, no matter what 
the circumstances. And a lover should, too. Yet you didn't 
mention anything about how well he understands you, how 
sympathetic he is, how supportive he is of your ambitions 
as a reporter and as a person... that's kind of the minimum 
I'd expect from someone I was thinking about marrying."

She sighed. "Clark, I thought you were going to respect my 
choices, not start being insulting again!"

He quickly reached out and laid a hand on her arm. "That's 
not my intention, Lois, honestly! I just care about you, as 
your friend, and I want... I want to understand your 
relationship with Lex." He had to swallow back his 
revulsion as he said the man's first name. "So... he 
understands you?"

At that, Lois looked defensive. "Of course he understands 
me! And he's very supportive of my career." She hesitated, 
seeming momentarily unsure, and Clark raised an eyebrow 
enquiringly. "It's just that... oh, he wants me to think 
about quitting the Planet and going to work for LNN."

"Quit the Planet?" Clark stared at her in horror. "You're 
kidding!"

"I've told him no," she said quickly. "But you have to 
admit that from his perspective it makes sense. After all, 
I am the top reporter in Metropolis, and he owns a TV news 
company! Of course he wants me working for his company."

Clark grinned momentarily at Lois's lack of modesty; but he 
was used to that, and anyway he agreed with her assessment. 
"Of course, it's your decision," he said soberly. "But I'd 
hate to lose you as my partner."

"You could come with me..." she suggested hesitantly.

But Clark shook his head. "Come on, Lois, you know I'd 
never do that. I... couldn't work for Lex Luthor."

"Why?" Now she was in reporter-mode. "I know you don't like 
him. Is it all jealousy, or is there more to it? Those 
things you've been saying..."

"I don't trust him," Clark said bluntly. "I realise you 
don't agree with me, but I... suspect... that he's not what 
he seems. And if I had any evidence, I'd give it to you!"

Lois shook her head slowly. "Clark, it's not like you to 
judge someone without proof! But... even though I'd like to 
believe you, I can't. Not without more than that."

"Promise me one thing," he said urgently, seeing an 
opportunity to get his point across. 

"What?"

"Before you make your mind up... talk to Superman. About 
Luthor," he added quickly, before Lois could jump to any 
conclusions about his suggestion. "It's not for me to tell 
you what he knows, but I think you might find his views... 
interesting."

"Okay," she said slowly, sounding hesitant and maybe even a 
little reluctant. But she *had* agreed.

Progress, Clark thought. At least, if she took his advice 
and spoke to Superman - and he would make sure that she did 
- she'd get the word of someone she seemed to trust 
implicitly, rather than the opinion of someone she 
considered to be just jealous.

Lois turned away and resumed scanning the car park area. 
Clark knew that it was pointless, since he'd have heard 
anyone coming long before they got there, but he played 
along. The place was still deserted, and it was now almost 
three am. Their informant had thought that the exchange was 
likely to take place at around 2.30.

He couldn't resist persisting with one more question, even 
knowing that the answer could hurt him. If he wasn't 
invulnerable, he supposed that the issue of Lois's 
involvement with Luthor would feel like a painful scab 
which he couldn't seem to stop himself picking at; or so he 
vaguely remembered from the years when he was very young 
and he used to get skinned knees. And, at least, he'd heard 
friends make that analogy about things affecting them, and 
he guessed it was somehow apt in this situation. 

"Lois, the other thing you haven't mentioned is how you 
feel about him. I mean, if you're thinking of marrying 
someone, wouldn't it kind of be natural to say that you 
love him? But you didn't say that. And..." He took a deep 
breath and blew it out quickly. "And you didn't say 
anything about finding him attractive. Does he turn you on, 
Lois?"

She stared at him, looking stunned; he wasn't sure whether 
it was because she thought his questions were outrageous, 
or because she didn't know the answers.

"*Does* he?" Clark asked again.

"I... uh... I mean, I guess... sure," she stammered.

"That doesn't sound at all convincing to me," he said 
confidently. "Come on, let's look at it another way. What 
do you feel when he kisses you?"

"Clark...!" she protested.

"It's a legitimate question!" he insisted, moving closer to 
her on a sudden, uncontrollable impulse. "And okay, maybe 
it's none of my business, but you really don't act like 
someone who's in love with the guy. You're flattered by his 
interest in you, yes, but you don't act like you can't wait 
to be alone with him."

"It's not all about sex, Clark!" Lois snapped, now losing 
her cool.

"No, it's not," he agreed. "But at least some of it has to 
be!"

He hesitated, now understanding the impulse which had 
spurred him to move closer to her. He couldn't, surely...? 
But on the other hand...

He caught his breath. She was so close, and the unique 
scent of her fragrance was almost making him lose his head. 
But if he messed up here... and yet, this would be the 
perfect opportunity to prove to her that she was misleading 
herself.

Clark decided in that instant to go for it, to act on the 
wild thought which had leapt into his brain and refused to 
leave. Looking intently at her, he began, "Lois, when he 
kisses you, do you feel like..." He shifted closer again, 
knowing that she might well slap his face and refuse to 
have anything further to do with him after this, but unable 
to stop himself. "Do you feel anything like this?" he 
whispered.

Before she could say another word, he slid his hand along 
her jaw and into her hair, tugging her face closer, and 
lowered his mouth to hers. 

He'd kissed Lois before and *he'd* certainly felt a spark - 
more than a spark. And he was pretty sure it had been 
mutual, remembering the dazed look on her face after his 
kiss on their honeymoon assignment. So he wanted to force 
her to recognise that spark between them now. If she could 
tell him that she felt that, and more, with Lex Luthor, 
then he'd leave her alone and he wouldn't raise the subject 
again, at least in his guise as Clark.

She uttered a protest, which was lost against his lips. 
Clark paused momentarily to see whether she would push him 
away, but she remained perfectly still. He moved closer 
then, opening his mouth over hers and kissing her the way 
he'd dreamed of doing. The way he'd never imagined himself 
*actually* doing... but he was doing it... he was kissing 
her...

...and he must be crazy to be doing this! What if she 
slapped his face? But... but it felt so good and all he 
wanted was one more moment...

<Get a grip here, Clark!> he tried to tell himself; but his 
impulses were over-riding any belated instructions coming 
from his brain. She tasted too good... and if she *was* 
considering marrying *Luthor*, then he wasn't only going to 
lose all hope of a relationship with her, he'd be losing 
*Lois* as well. There was just no way that they could even 
stay friends if she married him.

Her lips parted, and he heard her emit a soft moan. Then 
her arms came around him and she began to kiss him back, 
even more passionately than his dreams had ever envisaged 
her doing. Disbelieving, but too delighted that this was 
happening to question it in any way, he drew her closer 
still and deepened the kiss. Raking one hand through his 
hair, she kissed him back with equal enthusiasm.

Then suddenly, gasping for breath, Lois pulled away.


**********

She stared at Clark in panicked disbelief. What had just 
happened there?

How had they managed to go from a calm, rational 
conversation about her relationship with Lex - even if she 
had thought Clark was being somewhat intrusive - to *this*?

Kissing Clark had not been in her plan of action for the 
near future. In fact, it hadn't been anywhere near it! 

She was dating Lex. She was considering Lex's proposal, for 
heaven's sake! How could she have let this happen?

But she'd not only let it happen, she reminded herself, 
embarrassed. She'd actively participated! She'd welcomed 
his kiss, and kissed him back with a degree of enthusiasm 
which made her cringe. 

What must he think of her? Engaged - well, almost engaged - 
to another man, and kissing her *partner* with reckless 
abandon in the middle of a stake-out?

It would be something if Clark had done it because he 
really wanted to - because he was attracted to her himself 
and was trying to persuade her that she felt the same way. 
If, say, he'd just got desperate because he knew she was 
considering Lex's proposal.

But he hadn't. At least, she didn't think he had. What had 
he said to her before the kiss? 

<Lois, when he kisses you, do you feel anything like this?>

He'd only been trying to make a point; that was obvious. It 
would have been half-excusable if he was actually 
interested in her himself, beyond the typically-male 
attraction to anything female and beyond passable-looking. 
But she didn't really think Clark did feel anything for 
her. If he'd really wanted to kiss her, after all, wouldn't 
he have done something about it long before?

No; he'd just been arguing that, since she hadn't *said* 
she found Lex attractive, she obviously wasn't sexually 
attracted to him. Maybe, she thought angrily, he'd even 
been trying to suggest that Lex wasn't attracted to *her*, 
that their relationship was somehow sexless, devoid of 
anything beyond friendship and mutual interests. Not, Lois 
mused, that there was anything wrong with that - when she 
considered the number of marriages breaking up every year, 
which had supposedly been love matches, the idea of a 
marriage based on mutual liking and admiration had its 
appeal.

But anyway, that was irrelevant. She *did* find Lex 
attractive, of course she did! 

The sensible thing to have done, if she really wanted to 
prove to Clark that he was wasting his time, would be to 
have remained completely still, not respond in any way, 
until he realised what was happening and let her go.

But she hadn't. She'd completely lost all sense of reason 
and kissed him back.

And now, no doubt, he'd be triumphant, pointing out that 
she couldn't possibly contemplate marrying another man when 
she'd just responded to him like that. Typical macho male 
posturing.

<Clark's not a macho male...> her inner voice pointed out 
tentatively.

No? she answered back. He'd done enough posturing recently 
to give the lie to that one! Ever since she'd started 
dating Lex, he'd been behaving as if his personal territory 
had been invaded. Suddenly he no longer had first call over 
Lois's free time. He was clearly too possessive where she 
was concerned; taking friendship too far, it seemed. He 
couldn't accept that their friendship did *not* mean that 
he had exclusive rights over her company. And thus, he 
couldn't get used to the fact that if she was going 
somewhere it would be *Lex* who would be her escort. If she 
wanted to see a movie, he'd take her to the premiere; a 
video and pizza round at Clark's place hardly matched up to 
that!

But she *liked* pizza and movie evenings round at Clark's 
place...

But that wasn't the point here, and Clark knew it. He knew 
that he couldn't compete with Lex in so many material ways, 
so instead he was trying to compete in the most basic way 
there was: sex. And it was all so petty! Clark wasn't 
interested in her in that way - if he was, he'd have done 
something about it long ago. He was just being a dog in the 
manger. He didn't like Lex, and so didn't want him to have 
Lois. As if she was just some object they were fighting 
over! She'd thought better of Clark, but now he'd proved 
himself to be just as bad as any other man she'd known. He 
was full of it.

Well, she'd show him it hadn't worked.

Very much on her dignity, Lois shifted back to her own 
seat, then gave her partner a cool look.

"So, just what was that all about?"

He blinked, and she realised that, while she'd been 
gathering her composure, he'd been staring at her with a 
goofy grin on his face. The grin disappeared, and instead 
he looked confused. "Huh...? Lois?"

"That he-man act!" she said contemptuously. "Just what were 
you trying to prove?"

He seemed to struggle for words; then finally he said, 
"Lois... I just wanted to show you... I mean, that was 
pretty spectacular, wasn't it?" His tone was uncertain, 
almost belying his words.

She had the upper hand here, and that gave her far more 
confidence. Smiling at him in a deliberately superior 
manner, she said, "I'm so glad you enjoyed it, Clark. 
You'll have to admit that I'm good at kissing. It's one of 
the things Lex loves most about me." She was exaggerating, 
of course, and her supercilious air was just an act, but 
Clark couldn't be allowed to know that.

"I... um..." He was still lost for words. Then he 
protested, "But you kissed me back!"

"I did, didn't I? Well, Clark, you're right - it *was* 
enjoyable. Actually, you're not a bad kisser yourself. It 
was certainly fun, I'll grant you that. And you've helped 
me a lot, you know, in relation to making my mind up about 
Lex."

Now he looked happier. "I have? Well, that's what I was 
hoping..."

"Yes. Now I know that I'd be doing the right thing if I 
said I'd marry him," she said brightly. "After all, you 
just kissed me and I liked it, but I wasn't in any danger 
of getting carried away." 

Liar, her inner voice hissed.

"So I know that there's nothing to worry about. I've had my 
final fling, if you could call it that, and I'm reassured." 
She smiled then, and turned to look out the windows and 
around at the still-deserted car park. "Well, looks like 
this tip was a bust. There's no point staying here any 
longer. Want a ride home?"


**********

Well, that had backfired spectacularly, Clark thought 
miserably as he climbed out of Lois's jeep about fifteen 
minutes later. So much for hoping that he could show Lois 
how much more he cared about her than Luthor did; so much 
for hoping that he could persuade her with kisses that she 
had to be with him instead.

It had been sheer impulse which had led him to give in to 
the overwhelming desire to kiss her. Okay, he'd considered 
it for all of half a minute before doing it, but he was 
well aware that if he'd really taken the time to think the 
idea through logically he'd have known it was a stupid 
idea. Lois wasn't the kind of woman who would appreciate 
what was quite simply caveman tactics. 

But she'd kissed him back...

Was he being foolish to think that a woman couldn't be in 
love with one man if she responded passionately to another? 

But then, what did he know about it? When it came to 
experience of the sexual or even romantic kind, he was way 
behind the vast majority of people his age. And that 
included Lois, he knew; after all, she'd told him in the 
very first week of their acquaintance that she'd slept with 
someone who used to work at the Planet. Whereas his own 
experience had never gone a great deal beyond kissing. 

He *did* know enough about women to be aware that Lois had 
been at least a little bit aroused by his kisses. Maybe 
more than a little. She'd certainly been enthusiastic in 
her response. Until, probably, she'd realised just what she 
was doing. But then, he suspected, sexual response wasn't 
necessarily the same thing as love.

After all, how could he be sure that she didn't love Lex 
Luthor? 

Okay, her recitation of the things she saw in Luthor hadn't 
mentioned love. And her final comment on the subject of 
their kisses had seemed to suggest that she'd been unsure 
whether to accept Luthor's proposal or not. But she hadn't 
actually said that she wasn't in love with him.

She hadn't said that she was, either...

But it was entirely possible that she *was* in love with 
the man, or at least thought she was.

And if that was true, did Clark have any right at all to 
interfere? 

After all, what business of his was it who she married? It 
wasn't Lois's fault that he was in love with her. And she 
was under no obligation to love him back. Even if he could 
fool himself into thinking that maybe the reason she 
started dating Luthor was because *he*, Clark, had never 
told her his feelings for her, he had to accept that Lois 
herself had never shown any signs of reciprocation. And no, 
enjoying his kisses was not the same thing.

But then he reminded himself that there were perfectly good 
reasons why Lois shouldn't marry Lex Luthor, and they had 
nothing to do with the fact that Clark himself was head 
over heels in love with her. They had everything to do with 
the fact that Lex Luthor was one of the most evil men 
alive, from what Clark knew. 

So far, though, Lois had shown herself unwilling to listen 
to his warnings in that direction. But maybe, he wondered, 
remembering the promise he'd extracted from her that she 
would talk to Superman about Luthor, perhaps he could get 
through to her as Superman where Clark didn't seem able to 
make any progress.

Walking swiftly out onto his balcony, changing clothes as 
he went, Clark tried to reassure himself that all was not 
yet lost. If he could persuade Lois of the truth in the 
guise of his alter ego, then at least she would be spared 
the appalling discovery, some day, that she was married to 
a cold-blooded murderer.


**********

She'd lied to Clark.

Getting ready for bed, Lois forced herself to face the 
unpalatable truth. She'd lied to her best friend - and 
worse still, she'd tried to lie to herself.

Clark's kisses had moved her far more than anything she'd 
ever experienced before.

And Lex had never kissed her like that. Never.

But maybe, she told herself, Lex was simply being 
considerate. After all, she'd made it clear, the first few 
times she'd been alone with him, that she wasn't easy, that 
she wasn't prepared to go to bed with him just because he 
expected it. And he'd taken that on board. So perhaps he 
was keeping the physical side of their relationship light 
because he was being considerate of her wishes. So if he 
hadn't tried to kiss her beyond a light peck on the cheek 
or forehead, or a very gentle brush of his lips across 
hers, then she probably had herself to blame for not 
indicating that she would be happy with more.

Lex clearly thought that she was shy, a little skittish, 
when it came to any kind of physical intimacy. But if she 
was considering marrying him, then it was really about time 
that she relaxed and encouraged him to be more romantic, 
more amorous. After all, once they married she'd be sharing 
his bed every night. 

She shivered slightly, and hurried to find a warmer 
nightgown than the one she'd been about to put on. The 
temperature had suddenly dropped.

Clark had pushed her very hard about whether or not she was 
in love with Lex. And whether he loved her. 

*Did* she love Lex?

He loved her, of course he did. Though, now that she 
thought about it, she couldn't actually remember him ever 
saying so, except just once, on the night he'd proposed. He 
called her 'my love', and 'my sweet' and 'darling', but had 
only actually said the words 'I love you' that one time. 

Perhaps he thought he didn't need to say them more 
frequently, that Lois would understand without any need for 
him to articulate the words. Or perhaps he was waiting for 
her to say the words - after all, she hadn't reciprocated 
his declaration, had she?

Did *she* love *him*?

She caught herself thinking the words and mentally gave 
herself a shake. What was she going on about 'love' for 
anyway? Love was such a destructive emotion. She'd never 
known a circumstance in which it wasn't, not in her own 
life nor in that of those close to her.

Her mother had loved her father - and still did, despite 
the divorce and their constant arguments and sniping. Yet 
her father had been unfaithful almost from the start. Sam 
Lane had no respect for his ex-wife, and hadn't even when 
they'd been married to each other. 

And if her father had loved her, when she'd been growing 
up, he hadn't showed it. Lois had stopped expecting her 
parents to behave like other kids' parents by the time she 
was about twelve. Other kids' parents loved them; she and 
Lucy, she'd become increasingly convinced, were simply 
inconveniences.

But that wasn't the worst. No, that was reserved for her 
humiliation at the hands of Claude Laroche. She had, as 
she'd allowed herself to imagine, fallen completely in love 
with him. And he'd claimed to love her, too, whispering 
sweet nothings to her all day long, whisking her out for 
romantic dinners, followed by blissful kissing sessions in 
his apartment. And, finally, after a couple of weeks of 
being thoroughly romanced, she'd succumbed. She had eagerly 
jumped into his bed and made love with him, anticipating 
all sorts of blissful, forbidden ecstasy.

Only it hadn't been blissful. He'd taken his own pleasure 
without satisfying her, then fallen asleep, snoring loudly. 
And in the morning, he'd been gone... and her story notes 
had vanished too.

And, of course, the story had appeared under Claude's 
byline in the following afternoon's edition, and by mid-
afternoon the story was circulating that Lane was frigid 
and a complete waste of time in bed, despite the fact that 
she'd been begging for it.

And Lois had choked back the tears and vowed never, *never* 
to let another man take her for a ride like that again. 

The love she'd thought she'd felt for Claude certainly 
hadn't survived her full discovery of his betrayal. But it 
had hurt. She'd spent several evenings weeping in bed, 
crying for the loss of the love she'd thought she'd found, 
and for the loss of her pride. And it was then that she'd 
decided that love was a luxury she couldn't afford.

So why was she even pausing to wonder whether she loved 
Lex, or he loved her?

It was far better, really, that they didn't love each 
other. They certainly had mutual respect, liking and 
admiration, which was a far better basis for a lasting 
relationship. Much more sensible than a situation in which 
emotions could run out of control, leaving one or both of 
them ripped apart and devastated.

Climbing into bed, she wondered why she hadn't simply told 
Clark this, instead of hesitating, when he'd asked whether 
she loved Lex. Her hesitation had made him believe that he 
could put on that stupid macho act to 'prove' to her that 
she couldn't be in love with one man if she could feel 
pleasure in kissing another one.

But then, she knew why she hadn't told Clark her feelings 
about love. Clark was such a naive, optimistic guy most of 
the time, and she knew that he'd simply refuse to accept 
her words. He'd insist that, just because she'd met the 
wrong man in Claude, it was no reason to believe that there 
wasn't someone out there she could love and could trust.

And she didn't want Clark persuading her to let down her 
guard. Because, she somehow knew instinctively, if anyone 
could make her believe in the existence of happy-ever-
after, it was Clark. He so obviously believed in it, and he 
could be very persuasive when he put himself out to do so.

So she had to stop allowing Clark to talk to her about Lex, 
and at the same time she needed to start making some things 
clear to Lex about her willingness to be more... 
affectionate with him.


***********

"Can we talk, Lois?"

Clark set down a mug of coffee and a deftly-acquired 
chocolate doughnut - the last in the box - on his partner's 
desk and waited, almost holding his breath. He'd been doing 
a lot of thinking since the early hours of the morning, and 
he'd decided that his best course of action was to 
apologise for his behaviour. Grovel, if necessary. 

Kissing her like that had been out of order. In fact, Lois 
would have been within her rights to call it sexual 
harassment, though he didn't think she would. They were 
friends, after all, and it was in that context that they'd 
been having the discussion. Nevertheless, he'd taken 
advantage of her and kissed her, and even though she'd 
responded at the time it was clear that she'd been angry 
with him afterwards.

He still didn't know what to make of her final comment on 
the matter, the suggestion that his kisses had helped her 
to decide that she *did* want to marry Luthor. He had a 
suspicion - which he hoped was correct - that she'd said 
that only to punish him, that it was in some way getting 
back at him for his presumption.

So, although he still thought that her response to him 
meant more about her feelings than she was admitting, he 
had come to the conclusion that if he was going to keep her 
friendship, and thus stand some sort of chance of talking 
her out of accepting Luthor's proposal, he needed to undo 
any damage he'd done last night. Keeping her out of 
Luthor's clutches was the most important thing in all this; 
somehow getting Lois to admit that she was attracted to 
*him* would be nice, but he could live without that for now 
so long as she didn't agree to marry Luthor.

The thought of Lois as Lex Luthor's wife was enough to 
chill him to the bone.

Lois turned and looked at him out of the corner of her eye, 
then stared down at his peace-offerings, clearly avoiding 
his gaze. "What's it about, Clark? I'm pretty busy," she 
said dismissively.

He sighed inwardly. So she was playing it like this, was 
she? "Lois," he said persuasively, edging around so that he 
was in her line of vision. "We need to talk. I mean, either 
we tiptoe around each other pretending last night didn't 
happen, or we clear the air. And I'd rather clear the air, 
personally. Like I told you last night, you're my best 
friend. I don't want to lose you. So if you want me to 
apologise, then I apologise."

She gave him a wary look; clearly she had been hoping to 
avoid any discussion of their late-night emotional 
encounter. "I accept your apology. Now, I'm kind of 
busy..."

"Lois, please," Clark said, emphasising the 'please'. "Can 
we talk properly about this? Come on - five minutes, that's 
all I'm asking."

She sighed, then shrugged. "If you insist..." Getting to 
her feet, she said, "Actually, you can walk with me down to 
the morgue - there's something I need to look up." 

He followed her across the newsroom, not failing to notice 
that she took the coffee and doughnut with her. So she'd 
accepted that part of his peace-offering, at least, he 
thought, smiling. Once they entered the elevator and the 
doors had slid closed, though, Lois surprised him by 
hitting the emergency stop button.

"Okay, Clark, you wanted to talk about last night," she 
said, turning to him; to his dismay, her expression was 
distinctly cool.

"I just wanted to - " he began, but she cut him off.

"I know you apologised, and I'm glad you did," she told 
him. "It makes me feel a little better about you today. 
Because I have to tell you that I did *not* appreciate that 
macho display you pulled last night! I don't know what the 
heck you thought you were doing, but I do *not* like being 
mauled, Clark!"

*Mauled*, he thought, sickened, recoiling from the word. He 
hadn't mauled her! He'd kissed her - and she'd certainly 
kissed him back! With enthusiasm, too, until she'd 
remembered where she was and exactly who she was dating, 
he'd guessed. And now she was trying to cover up her 
reactions by accusing him of *mauling* her. Well, that 
wasn't fair, even if she did need to persuade herself that 
it was true in order to satisfy her conscience.

"Lois, I did not 'maul' you," he protested, quietly but 
firmly. "I kissed you. And I realise that you'd given me no 
encouragement whatsoever to do anything like that, and 
that's why I apologised. But I swear to you, if you'd 
pushed me away, or told me to stop, I would have. 
Immediately."

That had been the wrong thing to say, he realised almost 
instantly as she glared at him. It probably wasn't sensible 
to remind a woman, after the event, of how she'd responded 
to a man's advances, when she was clearly ashamed of it and 
when she was dating another man, into the bargain! 

Lois ignored his protest. Instead, she gave him a direct 
look. "Clark, you said last night that you didn't want to 
lose my friendship. Well, the same goes for me. You *are* a 
good friend, and I... I do care about you. I want us to 
stay friends. But that has to be on one condition."

He ran a hand through his hair, at the same time betting 
himself silently that he knew what the condition was. 
"Yes?"

"My love-life is none of your business, okay? If I run off 
tomorrow and elope with a mass murderer, I don't want you 
to lift a finger to try to stop me! It's *not* your 
business, Clark! If I want to marry Lex Luthor, I'll marry 
him, whatever you think about it or him. I appreciate that 
you care about me. I *like* it that you care. But I don't 
like it when you get jealous. You have no *right* to get 
jealous over me, and Lex Luthor has never done anything 
against you. So is that understood?" she finished, jamming 
her doughnut in her mouth and jabbing at his chest with a 
finger.

Clark swallowed; it gave him no pleasure at all to know 
that he'd been right about her stipulation. And he wasn't 
at all happy about her demands, either. Sighing heavily, he 
shook his head. "Lois, come on! Do you really expect me to 
say nothing at all? You know I care about you! That's why I 
have to tell you what I think. If I didn't care, then I 
*would* just act like it was none of my business!"

"It *is* none of your business!" Lois retorted. "And I'm 
telling you to butt out!"

"I can't do that," Clark said heavily. "Not when I think 
you're making a mistake."

"So what if I am? And anyway, Clark, don't you think that's 
incredibly patronising of you? You're saying that you know 
better than me, that I can't be trusted to make my own 
decisions. Well, newsflash, buster - I've been running my 
own life for a lot longer than I've known you! And I've 
done pretty well at it, too, even without your superior 
advice!"

Inwardly, Clark considered that to be very debatable; 
hadn't Lois told him, during his very first week at the 
Planet, about a misjudgement she'd made in a previous 
relationship? But he knew that no good would come of 
raising that right now. It would probably only make her 
reject his friendship completely. And that was the last 
thing he wanted.

So instead he sighed again, running his hand through his 
hair. "Okay," he said at last, very reluctantly. "If that's 
the condition you want to put on our friendship, Lois, then 
there's not a lot I can do about it. I don't want to lose 
you. But I don't want you to be unhappy, either," he told 
her, grimacing. "And I can't stop thinking that Lex Luthor 
isn't right for you."

"You're not the arbiter of what will or won't make me 
happy!" she objected, but her tone was less harsh than it 
had been. "And you have no idea whether Lex is right for me 
or not. I make my own decisions, Clark. And if you can't 
accept that..."

"I can accept it; of course I can," Clark quickly 
protested. Not that he really meant it; he could never 
accept that he was wrong about Luthor, and he would never 
reconcile himself to the prospect of Lois marrying that 
man. He would continue to do everything he could to prevent 
that happening; he'd just have to be more careful about the 
means he chose in order to try to achieve that end. After 
all, the mark of a true friend was that he did not stand by 
and watch his friend destroy herself. But there was no 
point arguing this further with Lois right now. She was 
determined not to listen, and if he persisted the only 
thing he might succeed in doing would be to make her reject 
his friendship altogether.

And, of course, he reminded himself, Lois had promised to 
ask Superman about Luthor. Naturally, he would make sure 
that Superman sought Lois out and told her everything he 
knew and suspected about Luthor, and the sooner the better. 
After all, he was well aware that Lois was far more likely 
to listen to his Spandex-clad alter ego than to her partner 
and best friend, he reminded himself wryly. 

He met her gaze again; she was watching him with a half-
defensive, half-challenging expression. Obviously his 
actions last night had put some degree of constraint on 
their relationship, and he needed to mend his fences there. 
Giving her a rueful, apologetic smile, he added, "And I 
apologise again for last night. That won't happen again."

"It better not," she grunted, then released the elevator. 
It travelled down to the morgue floor, then stopped; Lois 
exited, but turned to block Clark's passage. 

"I've got work to do," she announced, then hit the door-
close button. He could only watch her walk away as the 
doors glided to a close in front of him.


***********

It had been so tempting to yell at Clark when he'd started 
in on her about Lex again. But she'd bitten her tongue, 
reminding herself that, however irritating he might be at 
the moment, he was someone she cared about, and who cared 
about her. Despite their inauspicious beginnings, over the 
past six months or so Clark had become a vitally important 
part of her life. And she didn't want to lose him over a 
stupid argument because he was jealous about her 
relationship with Lex. 

Clark would get over it; of course he would. It was only 
because, as far as Lois could tell, he didn't seem to have 
any other women in his life. As long as she'd known him, 
she'd never seen him with a girlfriend or heard him talk 
about being attracted to or interested in anyone. He seemed 
to spend most of his free time with Lois herself, unless he 
was going to a ballgame or the movies with Jimmy. 

There had been that thing with Cat right when Clark had 
first arrived - everyone, including Lois herself, had been 
convinced that Clark had spent the night with the gossip 
columnist, an impression which Cat herself had gone out of 
her way to foster. Clark had protested his innocence at the 
time and Lois hadn't listened, but he'd reasserted it a few 
months later when they'd been on that undercover assignment 
at the Lexor, and she'd found his quiet statement utterly 
convincing. It had been clear from his manner that he'd 
never been remotely interested in Cat.

Of course, there was that sheriff, Rachel whatever-her-
name-was, in Smallville, who clearly had a crush on Clark; 
but if Clark had been interested in her, he wouldn't have 
moved to Metropolis. There was no doubt about that. And 
there had been Linda King, only a few weeks ago; she'd been 
very interested in Clark, Lois remembered, her hackles 
rising at the memory of the way that woman had brazenly 
pursued her partner. She'd had no shame whatsoever; but 
then, that was nothing new for Linda King. 

Had Clark shown any interest in her? At the time, Lois had 
strongly suspected that he had, but then she hadn't known 
that he was in cahoots with Perry over his undercover 
operation. He'd 'resigned' from the Planet to take up a job 
with the Metropolis Star, to work as Linda's partner. When 
that had happened, Lois had been convinced that Clark had 
been seduced by that woman's too-obvious flaunting of 
herself, and she'd been contemptuous of what she saw as her 
ex-partner's typically-male reactions to a flirt. 

But then, Clark hadn't really abandoned *her*, or the 
Planet. It had all been a ruse, to find out what was really 
going on at the Star. So did that mean he hadn't really 
been interested in Linda? He'd certainly gone off with her 
unhesitatingly that night when the two of *them* had been 
eating together at the Press Club; it hadn't taken much 
persuasion from Linda to make him leave Lois without a 
backward glance. But then later, when Linda had announced 
her intention to head off for Hollywood, Clark hadn't 
seemed at all troubled or despondent. He'd certainly shown 
no inclination to go with her, although there had been open 
invitation in Linda's behaviour towards him.

So, it seemed he hadn't really been attracted to Linda. 

Lois sat down at one of the microfiches in the morgue, but 
didn't instantly begin to focus on her work. Instead, she 
continued to puzzle through her partner's behaviour. She'd 
known him for almost a year, and, as she'd just reasoned, 
he hadn't had a girlfriend in that time. And his parents 
had never mentioned anyone in the recent past; she knew 
that Clark had taken Rachel to his high-school prom, and 
that there'd been somebody called Lana in his past as well; 
but both of those had been in his school or college days. 
Clark was in his late twenties now - twenty-eight, she 
thought - and most men she knew of that age were married, 
or living with someone, or otherwise in a serious 
relationship, with at least one other serious relationship 
behind them. Unless they were gay or something... and she 
was pretty sure that Clark wasn't gay. 
 
So he felt possessive about her, because she'd been the 
only woman in his life over the past year. That was, no 
doubt, why he resented her getting involved with another 
man, she told herself.

<But what about that kiss?> a tiny voice objected. <That 
suggests it's more than just a dog-in-the-manger attitude, 
doesn't it?>

Was it possible that Clark might actually be attracted to 
*her*?

But then, she admitted to herself, she'd always known that. 
He'd made it very clear by his behaviour that very first 
evening they'd worked late together, when they'd been 
talking casually over the Chinese food he'd bought. The way 
he'd looked at her, admiration clear in his eyes, had 
screamed his attraction to her loudly. And something about 
his expression had even made her own heart skip a beat for 
a moment, before she'd remembered that men were trouble, 
and men she worked with even bigger trouble. Definitely 
forbidden territory. And anyway, she'd reminded herself 
that he was just a hack from the back of beyond, foisted on 
her against her will, and certainly not anyone really worth 
her notice.

Well, she'd been wrong about that; Clark was definitely 
more than just a hack from nowhere, and he was worth her 
notice. He'd become a very good friend, and someone she now 
couldn't imagine her life without. 

But was he still attracted to her? Hadn't that initial 
interest died away once he'd got to know her? After all, 
he'd never tried again to pursue her; he'd never asked her 
out or given any other sign of interest, apart from his 
participation in their everyday, harmless flirting with 
each other. That meant nothing; they both knew that. 

That kiss last night, though... Was it simply a dog-in-the-
manger attempt to convince her that she couldn't want to 
marry Lex if she could kiss another man and enjoy it? Or 
had it meant something more? Was Clark *really* interested 
in her as more than a friend, or was his interest in her 
merely a habit that he didn't want to break? 

She supposed, thinking about it, that it was possible that 
he might have a crush on her. But in that case she 
certainly didn't want to encourage it. She liked Clark too 
much for that. After all, her experience of relationships 
was that, when they went bad, they went *very* bad. She'd 
lose Clark as a friend too, and that wasn't worth risking. 

Before Clark, she had never had a real friend. Oh, she'd 
had plenty of acquaintances; people she'd been to school or 
college with, for instance, casual acquaintances through 
her career. But none of them had been a *friend*. In fact, 
she'd have to admit that, before Clark had come into her 
life, she hadn't even known what the concept of friendship 
was all about.

She'd never had someone in her life who was always there, 
no matter what. Who would come when she called him, no 
matter what time of the day or night. Who was always there 
on the other end of the phone when she needed to talk. Who 
cheered her up when she was down, and laughed with her when 
she was happy. Who supported her even when he thought she 
was wrong, and picked up the pieces when things fell apart 
- and who almost never said, 'I told you so'. 

Clark had become her best friend - her *only* friend. She 
knew that she could talk to him about anything in the 
world, and that he'd listen and never judge. She could ask 
him to do almost anything for her, and she knew that if it 
was within his power he would do it. He was fiercely loyal, 
and completely dependable. Through him, she'd slowly been 
regaining her faith in human nature.

She *couldn't* lose Clark's friendship! No matter what else 
happened, that was essential. Which was another reason why 
it would be crazy to encourage Clark in any way to see her 
as more than a friend. Because all of her relationships 
turned to federal disasters; she seemed to have a unique 
talent of taking something which should be good and 
precious and turning it to ashes. And if that happened to 
her relationship with Clark, she simply couldn't bear it. 

So, all in all, it was just as well that she was 
considering marrying Lex. That way, she'd be out of Clark's 
reach as a romantic or sexual interest, and he'd get used 
to that soon enough. And he'd still be her friend, and her 
partner - after all, being married to Lex, if she did marry 
him, didn't mean that she couldn't carry on working at the 
Planet. That would be one of her conditions, she thought. 

And then she made herself turn to the research which had 
brought her down to the morgue, deliberately refusing to 
acknowledge the memory of just how much *she* had enjoyed 
Clark's kisses last night... and how much she'd like him to 
do it again.


*********

Clark emerged from the elevator back on the newsroom floor 
to see several of his colleagues standing together, talking 
agitatedly. Jimmy, Eduardo, Ralph, Cat, Jack and a few 
others, comprising a group most of whose members would not 
normally give at least one other member the time of day as 
a rule. Something was seriously wrong, in that case, he 
thought as he strolled over to join them.

"What's up?" he enquired.

"Hey, CK! You mean you don't know?" Jimmy exclaimed, 
sounding incredulous.

"Haven't you opened your special delivery yet?" Jack 
drawled, sounding even more boredly cynical than ever.

"The Planet's in even bigger trouble than we thought," Cat 
said seriously, no sign of her usual flirtatious nature in 
evidence now. 

Clark frowned. They'd all been aware that the Planet was 
going through a bit of a bad patch; sales had been dropping 
for the past couple of months and advertising revenues were 
beginning to follow suit. But no-one had really taken it 
all too seriously - after all, things were bound to pick 
up, had been the conventional wisdom around the newsroom. 
All they needed were a couple of big scoops, and they were 
bound to get those, weren't they? After all, they had Lois 
Lane, a three-time Kerth winner, and Lois was partnered 
with Clark Kent, with whom she'd been nominated for a 
Merriweather. And Eduardo Friaz was a good, solid 
journalist with a long-standing reputation for good 
reporting - and Cat's Corner was essential reading for most 
of Metropolis. And Perry White was the most respected 
newspaper editor in New Troy, if not in the entire country. 
So how could a paper like the Daily Planet really be in 
trouble?

But now it looked as if their optimism had been misplaced, 
Clark thought as he read the letter Jimmy was waving under 
his nose. The figures weren't looking good at all, and the 
accountants were getting increasingly nervous, it seemed. 
The letter warned of cutbacks at every level, from a freeze 
on overtime for all staff and a ban on expenses to the 
possibility of short-time and even layoffs.

"Layoffs?" Clark exclaimed in disbelief.

"Yeah, and you know who's going to be first in the firing-
line," Jack muttered belligerently. 

Feeling desperately sorry for the teenager he had taken 
responsibility for, and helped to get his job at the 
Planet, Clark grimaced. "Maybe not. I mean, if they really 
need to make savings..."

"Cutting my job won't help much. I know," Jack said flatly. 
"But a gofer's a luxury at this sort of time. And we all 
know the rule is last hired, first fired. That's me, all 
right."

It occurred to Clark that, if layoffs were needed among 
reporters, then according to the rule Jack had just quoted 
he would be in the firing-line. His heart sank; this was 
his dream job. He'd so much enjoyed this last year, working 
at the Planet, being Lois Lane's partner, and he hated the 
thought of losing it all at the stroke of an accountant's 
pen.

"It's not looking good," Eduardo said glumly. "I've been at 
the Planet through bad times before, but they never sent 
out a letter like this to all employees before. My guess is 
we have to expect layoffs."

Clark noticed that Jimmy was also looking worried, and he 
discreetly reached out to squeeze his friend's arm 
supportively. Ralph, who appeared to have been waiting for 
an audience, then said, "Well, if reporters are in the line 
of fire it'll be you first, Kent."

Clark gave Ralph an irritable glare, then deliberately 
looked away to re-read the letter. It sounded even worse on 
second reading, and he felt even more despondent. The 
sombre comments being made by the others around him 
certainly didn't help.

"Hey, what's going on here?" A sharp female voice 
penetrated Clark's thoughts, and he looked up to see that 
Lois had joined the group. Without a word, he handed her 
the letter and watched as she read it.

"No way!" she expostulated. "They can't do this!"

"Newsflash, Lois, they're doing it," Jack drawled, again 
cynical. "Guess I might as well quit now and save them the 
trouble of printing the pink slip."

Clark could almost imagine Lois's private thoughts at that; 
she made no secret of the fact that she didn't like Jack. 
But she shook her head immediately. "No-one's quitting! No-
one's even going to get laid off if we can help it!"

"Face facts, Lois - what can we do?" Cat said, almost 
rhetorically. "We said sales would go back up - they 
haven't. The advertisers aren't going to come running back 
without a good reason. And has anyone got a scoop hidden up 
their sleeve?"

"We're bound to get a good story sooner or later," Lois 
retorted. "But anyway, that's not the most important thing 
here. Has anyone called the union? We need a meeting, 
preferably today!"

"Union?" That was Jack.

"The Newspaper Guild," Lois answered impatiently. "If 
you're not a member, you should be."

"That's only for reporters, isn't it?" Jimmy objected.

"Yeah, and since when have unions done any good for 
anyone?" Jack demanded. 

Lois rolled her eyes. "Read the newspaper, Jack! What about 
in Philadelphia last month, when the Daily News was going 
to lay off more than a dozen employees? The union saved all 
but two of those jobs."

"Yeah, and if that was here I can guess whose job wouldn't 
get saved," Jack muttered, then turned and walked away.

"Defeatist!" Lois snapped, then turned back to the 
remainder of the group. "Okay, so has anyone called the 
union office?"

Silence greeted her question, so she muttered something 
inaudible - Clark heard "incompetent idiots" and grinned 
briefly - and stalked off to her desk. 


*********

Lois replaced the telephone receiver and grabbed her copy 
of the suits' letter, preparatory to faxing it to the union 
office. As she began to move away from her desk, however, 
Jimmy stopped her.

"Lois, I was wondering... well, is it fair to the Chief, 
bringing the union in behind his back?"

Lois frowned at him, surprised at the question. "Jimmy, 
first off, this isn't an attack on Perry. Do you really 
imagine for one minute that he wants to lay off anyone 
here? Or even cut our expenses - he's the editor, for 
heaven's sake! He knows we need all that stuff to get 
stories! It's the suits upstairs we need to deal with. And 
if you think that Perry isn't just as furious with them as 
we are, then you don't know him!" She paused, then added, 
"He's in the union too, you know. And my guess is the only 
thing that's stopped him calling them in is that he's under 
a lot of pressure from above."

Jimmy took a step backwards. "I guess so, Lois," he said 
doubtfully. He half-turned, then noticed Clark standing 
behind him. Lois thought Clark's expression was more 
depressed than she'd ever noticed him look before, and she 
frowned, wondering what was wrong. It couldn't be all of 
this stuff; Clark was a pretty resilient, optimistic guy 
and he knew they'd get through it and get the Planet back 
on top. Could it be that she'd been right in her guess, 
that he did have a crush on her and was having to resign 
himself to her relationship with Lex?

"Oh, hey, CK," Jimmy said awkwardly. "You know, you don't 
want to pay any attention to Ralph. He doesn't know what 
he's talking about."

"Ralph?" Lois looked from one to the other.

Clark shrugged. 

Jimmy burst into speech. "Oh, he was just being a jerk, as 
usual. Jack said that 'last hired, first fired' meant he'd 
be out of a job, and Ralph said that would apply to Clark 
too."

Trust Ralph, Lois thought. Insensitive through and through. 
She waved Jimmy away, then turned to look at Clark. He was 
avoiding her gaze, but he definitely looked uncomfortable, 
to say the least. She went to him and patted his arm. "Come 
on, Clark, you know better than to listen to Ralph!" she 
said, she hoped encouragingly.

He shrugged. "He's right. I was the last reporter hired." 

"Yeah, but you're also one of the best the Planet's got, 
and Perry knows it!" Lois replied bracingly. "Last hired, 
first fired might mean something when you're looking at 
distribution workers, or gofers like Jack, but not 
reporters!"

Only after she'd said it did Lois realise that Clark might 
be upset at her reference to Jack; after all, he'd 
sponsored the young ex-petty thief and got him his job at 
the Planet. But still, she decided with a mental shrug, she 
neither liked nor trusted the teenager and Clark was well 
aware of that fact. He'd just have to accept it. And 
anyway, her concern was - quite rightly - for Clark 
himself, not for some unqualified and untalented hanger-on.

"I don't know," Clark said despondently, shoving his hands 
into his trouser pockets. "I mean, sure, I've done some 
good work, but so have others. And who's to say that the 
work I've done isn't good just because I've been working 
with you - the Planet's multiple-award-winning reporter?"

This was a Clark she'd never seen before, Lois thought, 
worried about her partner. He was normally such an 
optimistic guy, cheerful and smiling and generally 
encouraging other people - including herself - to look on 
the positive side. Oh, sure, he had his occasional moment 
of feeling down, but it rarely lasted long, and never made 
him sound so depressed. This wasn't good.

"Clark, you are *not* going to get laid off!" she said 
firmly. "Apart from anything else, Perry wouldn't allow it. 
And if I discovered that he was even considering it, I'd be 
in his office making darned sure that he changed his mind! 
So stop thinking like that," she instructed, jabbing a 
finger into his chest.

He smiled, reluctantly, it seemed, and reached up to catch 
her finger in his large hand. "Thanks, Lois. I guess I 
needed that."

For a moment, Lois felt herself drawn to her partner; his 
smile, even though it wasn't the mega-watt smile she'd seen 
so many times, warmed her, and his hand holding hers made 
her want to...

But that was crazy! She was dating Lex, and considering 
marrying Lex. And anyway, she'd already determined that 
getting involved with another co-worker was not a good 
idea. Clark was a friend, and she needed to keep him that 
way.

So she drew her hand from his and gestured towards the fax 
machine. "I need to send this," she told him, indicating 
the letter in her hand. "And then we need to figure out 
what's going on here."

"Going on?" Now Clark was looking puzzled, which was fine 
if she'd managed to distract him from thoughts of her. 

She waved at him to follow her, which he did, standing 
beside her as she fed the letter through the fax machine. 
Then she turned to him again. "Don't you think this is all 
too much of a coincidence, Clark?"

"What is?" His expression showed his complete confusion, 
and she tutted impatiently. 

"Oh, come on!" she exclaimed impatiently. "Why are sales 
down so suddenly? And why have half our advertisers 
decamped? Things just don't happen that quickly in this 
industry. Don't you remember the last time this happened?"

"When Preston Carpenter of the Star was behind it all," he 
said, his tone revealing that the penny had dropped. "You 
think one of our competitors is trying to destroy the 
Planet?"

That made Lois sigh. "I just don't know - *yet*," she 
stressed. "But I'll bet on any stakes you want to name that 
this isn't a coincidence."

Clark raised an eyebrow and gave her a quirky grin. "I take 
it this is the famous Lane gut instinct kicking in? In that 
case, I think I'll pass on the bet."

She gave his arm a good-natured thump before heading back 
to her desk, leaving him to follow her.


*********

By the end of the working day, Lois was feeling exhausted 
and in no mood to spend the evening in any way other than 
vegetating in front of the TV. But she knew she couldn't do 
that; not tonight. She had to go to see Lex; not only 
because she was keeping him waiting for the answer to his 
proposal, but also because she needed to find out some 
things for herself about their relationship.

So she showered, changed and drove over to Lex's penthouse 
suite on the top floor of the LexCorp building, trying, on 
the way, to shake off the atmosphere which had pervaded the 
Planet newsroom for the entire day and which had, in spite 
of her efforts, succeeded even in making her feel 
despondent about the newspaper's future.

Not long after she'd faxed the letter to the Newspaper 
Guild regional office, Perry had emerged from his office 
and addressed staff. And, for the first time in Lois's 
memory of him, the editor had seemed genuinely worried 
about the paper's future. That was very troubling. Even 
when Preston Carpenter had been manipulating accidents so 
as to get major scoops before the Planet, while Perry had 
been irritable and had urged reporters to get out there and 
get better news stories, he had never shown any serious 
sign of concern. But now... this was different.

So her idea of looking into what was behind the sudden loss 
of market share had had to be shelved for the time being, 
as she and Clark had spent the day in and out of the 
newsroom, hunting down big stories. But again, this had 
been a slow news day, their biggest scoop being a jewellery 
store robbery in which the thieves only managed to get away 
with some zirconia necklaces - not diamonds, but synthetic 
substitutes. 

There hadn't even been a Superman sighting all day - not 
that Superman sightings were such big news now that the 
hero had been around for almost a year, but at least it 
would have been something decent to write about. And 
research showed that a front-page picture of Superman still 
had the 'Princess Diana effect' - it would sell more copies 
than a rival publication without such a front-page picture.

If only she knew how to contact Superman, Lois had thought 
wryly, she would have been tempted to ask him to fake some 
sort of rescue just to give them a story! Clark, of course, 
did seem to know how to get in touch with the Super-hero, 
but she was well aware that Clark's over-developed sense of 
ethics would never allow him to ask Superman to do anything 
of the kind. And that was a pity...

*Somehow*, they had to get a really big story. Something no 
other news organisation had a chance of scooping them on... 
As she parked her car in the private parking area behind 
the LexCorp building, she wondered whether she could 
finally talk Lex into giving her that exclusive interview 
she'd wanted and never managed to get from him. That would 
help. 

But first, she had something else to discuss with Lex: 
their relationship, and her reaction to his proposal. Her 
resolve in the small hours of that morning to find out 
whether she was attracted to Lex had by now grown stronger, 
helped by her exchange with Clark in the elevator that 
morning. 

"Lois! My dear!" Lex met her as she exited the elevator 
outside his penthouse apartment, greeting her with a 
charming smile and a kiss on the cheek. "Come on in - I've 
had Nigel arrange a light supper for us, since you said you 
didn't feel like eating out tonight."

She moved closer to him as he looped an arm around her 
shoulders, walking with him into the luxurious sitting-room 
of the apartment. Inside, a maid took her coat and Lex 
immediately offered her a drink. "Wine? I have a delicious 
Pouilly here, which was just flown in from France last 
week."

"I'm driving, Lex," Lois demurred. "I really shouldn't 
drink."

"Nonsense! If it's a problem, then Nigel will drive you 
home. In your car, if you like, so that you'll have it for 
the morning. Though, you know, if you would just accept my 
proposal then you'd never have to worry about such things 
again. You'd never even have to drive yourself again, if 
you so wished."

Yes, marrying Lex would certainly mean that she'd live in 
the lap of luxury, Lois knew. But that was not a good 
reason for marrying anyone, and it certainly wasn't a 
reason she personally found acceptable for marriage. There 
had to be mutual respect and liking. 

So exactly what was there between herself and Lex? She'd 
asked herself that question only that morning, but hadn't 
really come up with satisfying answers. She'd meant to save 
the discussion about their relationship until later in the 
evening, but perhaps now was the right time, since he'd 
already brought up the subject of his proposal. 

Sitting beside Lex on the deep sofa, Lois turned to him. 
"Lex, why do you want to marry me?"

He blinked. "Well, isn't it enough that you're beautiful 
and intelligent and charming? And that I find you 
stimulating company, as well as very attractive?"

Well, that was close to her own reasoning, Lois thought. 
She too found Lex intelligent and charming, and he was 
handsome. Always well-dressed, his clothing perfectly cut 
and just right for any occasion. 

An image of another man looking breathtakingly handsome in 
jeans and a black T-shirt flitted into her mind then, but 
she batted it away.

Lex was all those qualities she'd outlined for herself the 
previous evening. And he clearly thought the same about 
her. But he had said that he found her attractive...

"Lex," she began, a little awkwardly. "You say you find me 
attractive."

He inclined his head, smiling slightly, as if he was 
wondering why she was asking the question and was being 
polite. "Naturally, Lois."

"Well, I suppose I was just wondering why... why you 
haven't tried to... well, take things any further than just 
light kissing."

That made him frown. "Didn't it occur to you that I was 
trying to respect your choices? That I would not want to 
push you into something you might not be ready for? If 
you're saying I was wrong, Lois, well, then, let's adjourn 
to my bedroom," he finished, a little tartly.

Lois gasped. "I didn't mean  -" she began, then halted. "I 
suppose I did, really. But... well, there's more to it than 
just..."

"Just sex?" Lex finished for her, his tone now smooth. He 
smiled at her, and she realised that his earlier comment 
hadn't been serious. "I should hope so!"

"Yes, but... well, if we're considering marriage, then we 
should at least be considering the... the physical side of 
things!" Lois protested.

Lex reached out and laid his palm against her cheek. "Oh, I 
don't foresee any problems in that direction, my sweet." 
Turning away from her then, he gestured at someone she was 
unable to see. "Shall we eat now? We can return to this 
subject later, if you really insist; but I wish you'd take 
my word for it that it's not going to be an issue with us."

Lois couldn't see why Lex was so confident, however. Okay, 
he was obviously attracted to her and saw no potential 
problems with their sex life, but how could he possibly 
know how she felt, or whether she would find their sex life 
satisfying? 

<Unless> a tiny voice suggested, <he doesn't think it's 
important that *you* find it satisfying?>

But she refused to listen to that. Which, she knew, was not 
at all sensible or rational; after all, her previous 
experiences with sex had involved men who were not at all 
interested in her enjoyment. And that had certainly 
coloured her view of sex and relationships ever since. 

So why was she reluctant to consider that Lex might be no 
different? she asked herself as she allowed him to lead her 
into the dining-room where, despite his promise of a light 
supper, she was well aware that they would be served a 
four-course meal. That was a question she needed to think 
about another time; there was no way that she could focus 
on it while she was actually with Lex, as he tended to 
demand his companion's entire attention at all times.

Just as he was doing now, asking her what she thought of 
the consomm‚ and wanting to know whether she was happy with 
the Pouilly or would prefer a different wine. Actually, she 
thought the consomm‚ was a little over-fishy, but then Lex 
liked fish. And, while the Pouilly was delicious, crisp and 
dry, for some reason she had a sudden longing for beer and 
pizza.

But that was being silly. She could have pizza any night - 
and, in fact, had eaten greasy, cold pizzas on far too many 
occasions when pulling an all-nighter at the Planet or on 
stakeout. 

"Since I know you don't want to eat a heavy meal, I asked 
Chef Andre to prepare a grilled chicken Caesar salad for 
you, my dear," Lex said smoothly as their soup-bowls were 
removed. "I hope you won't mind that I'll be having 
Chateaubriand."

Assuring him that of course she didn't mind in the least, 
Lois reflected on the lifestyle Lex clearly took for 
granted; among other things, the ability to order whatever 
he wanted at mealtimes, without the usual reliance on 
whatever happened to be in the refrigerator or the amount 
of time available for cooking - or cooking ability, come to 
that. He had an army of servants at his beck and call and, 
while Lois had always found the idea of having domestic 
servants a little... well, feudal, she couldn't deny that 
it had its attractions now that she was exposed to it. 

She had no further opportunity for reflection, since Lex 
claimed her attention throughout the meal, and over coffee 
afterwards when he insisted on asking her opinion of a new 
work of art he'd just purchased. It was a modernist statue 
and, while Lois was mildly interested in art, abstracts 
didn't do a lot for her. Clearly Lex admired it, though... 
or perhaps he thought of it merely as an investment, since 
he continually referred to the sculptor as 'the next Damian 
Hurst'. Despite her best efforts, she ended up yawning 
before she'd finished her coffee.

"Tired, Lois?" Lex asked, concerned. "You're not working 
too hard, I hope? But weren't you on a stakeout last night? 
You really should make sure that you don't overdo it."

Of course, she remembered; she'd told him about the 
stakeout the previous afternoon, in order to explain why 
she hadn't been able to have dinner with him. "It's not the 
stakeout that's made me tired, Lex," she explained. "Things 
have just been a bit rough at work today, and it got worse 
today."

"Oh?" He gave her an enquiring look. "What happened?"

About to tell him, Lois was struck with a sudden caution. 
Lex, after all, was owner of LNN, which - even though it 
was television-based and not print - was still a rival news 
organisation. And it wouldn't do the Planet any good at all 
for the news that it was in difficulties to get out. So she 
smiled and shook her head. "Nothing interesting. It just 
made the day a little tiring, that's all."

"You know, my sweet, if you marry me you'll never need to 
work another day in your life," Lex said with another of 
his charming smiles. "You can leave all that stress and 
hassle behind you."

"Lex, you know I'm a reporter," Lois answered instantly. 
"And that I love my job. No matter how much money I had, 
I'd still want to carry on writing about the news."

"I guess I can understand that," he agreed. "But why the 
Planet? You could come and work for LNN - I already offered 
you that. And you'd come in at a much senior level to where 
you are now. Did you think about that at all?"

Lois shook her head. "I did think about it, but I couldn't 
do it, Lex. I belong at the Planet. And anyway, Clark would 
never move to LNN."

Lex frowned. "Clark Kent? What does he have to do with it?" 
Lois fancied that his tone had grown sharper, but when she 
looked quickly at Lex his expression was urbane.

Was he jealous of her relationship with her partner? 

But that would be crazy. Lex knew, surely, that she and 
Clark were just friends. Now, if it was Superman, that 
would be a different matter entirely, and so far she'd 
avoided even mentioning Superman in Lex's company. 

"He's my partner," she said quickly. "We're a team. We work 
well together, and I wouldn't want to work with anyone 
else."

"I see," Lex said, his tone giving nothing away. "But, 
Lois, do you really need a partner? Before Clark Kent 
arrived, you were the best reporter in the city. And you'd 
still be the best if you went back to working alone."

But she didn't want to go back to working alone... 

She might have resented being teamed up with Clark in the 
beginning, but now she couldn't imagine working without 
him. She couldn't imagine not having him around in her life 
at all... it was unthinkable. And the realisation of just 
how unthinkable it was scared her.

It was time to change the subject. Placing her coffee-cup 
on the low table, she turned and studied her companion out 
of the corner of her eye. He was sitting back in his corner 
of the sofa, looking perfectly relaxed even though he was 
still dressed in his formal business suit; his tie was 
still perfectly in place. Not a hair had shifted from his 
perfect coiffure. 

Lex was a very good-looking man. And, for his age, which 
she estimated to be somewhere in his forties - not that 
he'd ever told her how old he was - he was extremely 
youthful in appearance. It would be amazing if any woman 
wasn't physically attracted to him. 

But was she?

Lex was so different from any other man she'd dated. She 
couldn't quite imagine curling up in his arms on the sofa, 
nor running her fingers lazily through his dark, curly 
hair. And as for kissing him... well, so far all they'd 
exchanged had been brief, platonic salutes on the cheek, 
and one very short closed-mouth kiss on the lips. 

So it was time to find out more, she decided. Meeting his 
now-curious gaze, Lois said boldly, "Kiss me, Lex."


********

It was a quiet night over Metropolis, which gave Clark time 
to think. 

Too much time to think.

His job at the Planet could be at risk. Oh, he knew that 
Lois had attempted, in her own way, to reassure him on that 
score, but if the paper was really in such bad shape then 
jobs would be lost. And the fair rule for layoffs was last 
hired, first fired. Which meant that if reporting jobs 
went, of course he would be first.

Lois was right; they had to figure out why this was 
happening. It all seemed too weird; one minute the Planet 
was one of the most respected newspapers in the world, and 
one whose sales outranked its rivals in Metropolis by large 
numbers, and the next it was heading for bankruptcy? 
Something had to be going on.

But in the meantime they had to do something to help stem 
the decline. And the continuing lack of good stories wasn't 
helping at all. That afternoon, he'd been sorely tempted to 
stage something as Superman just to produce a story; 
although he couldn't justify using his alter ego in that 
way, he'd actually hoped for some sort of real emergency 
where he'd have to help out, which would give him a big 
front-page story. Even better if Lois could somehow have 
been there; a good Lane and Kent Superman splash would have 
helped sales, for at least one issue.

Superman hadn't been required all day, however. And the 
last big rescue he'd done as Superman had been witnessed by 
live TV cameras, which meant that there was virtually 
nothing left for the print media to report. Oh, well, he 
thought with a sigh, perhaps if he was fortunate - or 
someone else was unfortunate, he reminded himself guiltily 
- something would happen tomorrow.

But the Planet's future wasn't what was most bothering him 
tonight. It was Lois, and her possible future plans, which 
was eating away inside him. 

He knew that she was with Luthor tonight. She hadn't told 
him her plans, but he'd happened to be flying over her 
apartment when she'd emerged, dressed smartly, and got into 
her Jeep. He simply hadn't been able to prevent himself 
following her, and he'd felt sick inside when he realised 
where she was going.

To see Lex Luthor.

And, if her behaviour that morning was anything to go by, 
she intended to tell Luthor that she'd marry him. 

There was a world of difference between an engagement and a 
marriage, he told himself. And even if she did accept 
Luthor's proposal, he had time to persuade her to change 
her mind. Okay, that thing with kissing her hadn't worked, 
but there were other things he could try. He still intended 
to tell her, as Superman, what he suspected about Luthor's 
criminal behaviour. That might help change her mind.

And if it didn't? he asked himself gloomily. What could he 
do then?

There was always Superman, he thought then. He knew very 
well that Lois still had a crush on his alter ego; that was 
another reason why her apparent interest in Lex Luthor had 
come completely out of the blue to him. Only a matter of 
weeks ago she'd still been batting her eyes at him whenever 
he was in the Superman costume, and he was pretty sure that 
nothing had changed. 

So did he mean that he'd be willing to court her as 
Superman? 

Coming to a halt in mid-air, Clark pondered the logic of 
the direction his thoughts had just taken. Would he really 
consider courting Lois as Superman, in order to entice her 
away from Lex? 

But that was crazy. Being with her as Superman would simply 
be impossible; he was already finding that balancing two 
apparently separate lives was darned difficult on occasion. 
How could he possibly manage to cope if he complicated 
things still further, being Lois's partner and friend as 
Clark and her lover as Superman? It couldn't be done. And 
even apart from that, he could never put her safety at risk 
by openly identifying her with Superman.

And anyway, he wanted her as Clark, not as Superman...

<So tell her you're Clark> a little voice tempted him.

Tell Lois that he was both Clark and Superman, letting her 
see that if she accepted Clark she could also have the 
Super-hero she admired. And tell her that he loved her. 
That would probably do it, he reflected wryly. She'd walk 
away from Lex Luthor in a second, more than likely.

But if it worked, he thought slowly, what would that say 
about Lois herself? Did he really want to find out if she 
was that shallow? 

But did he really want to see her marry Lex Luthor, if he 
could prevent it?

It wouldn't come to that, he told himself firmly. He would 
talk to her, as Superman, and convince her that her 
boyfriend was a crook. Even Lois was bound to listen to 
Superman. Then she'd dump Luthor, and everything would get 
back to normal.

<Even if you can't forget about that kiss...>


*********

<Kiss me, Lex>

Lois's words seemed to reverberate around the suddenly-
silent room, and she cringed inside. Had she just made a 
complete fool of herself?

But then, as she was ducking her head so that Lex couldn't 
see her flaming face, she saw an arrested look come over 
her companion's features. "If that's your wish, my 
sweet..." he drawled, and slid closer to her. 

She waited for the same sense of anticipation that she'd 
felt the previous night, when Clark had moved closer to her 
in the confined interior of the Jeep and she'd known that 
he was going to kiss her. Instead, she felt nervous, her 
heart thumping as she wondered, with almost a sense of 
panic, whether she'd just made a terrible mistake. 

Lex's face blotted out the light as his lips brushed over 
hers in a dry sweep. She felt nothing except a distant 
surprise that his kiss was so... innocuous. Completely tame 
and passionless.

Was *this* what it would be like if they married?

Was Lex really so uninterested in sex? But that was hard to 
believe; after all, she knew he'd had lovers. She was 
pretty sure that he'd been intimate with Miranda at some 
point - she'd noticed the perfumer giving Lex that lover-
scorned kind of glare a couple of times. And she'd noticed 
Lex checking out attractive women many times - to say 
nothing of the very determined, and sexual, way he'd 
pursued her when they'd first met.

But before she could say anything, his mouth descended 
again. This time, his lips were moist, and parted; he 
ground his mouth against hers, his tongue pressing forward 
and invading her mouth. He tasted of rich wine and the 
cigars she wished he'd give up. Without waiting for her to 
participate, Lex continued kissing her, his tongue urgent 
and rapacious; to her appalled horror, Lois realised that 
the only emotion she was feeling was revulsion.

She tore her mouth from his and leaned back, breathing 
heavily. As she did so, the memory of another kiss floated 
tantalisingly in the forefront of her mind. Feeling 
slightly sick, she pushed it away. She was with *Lex*, the 
man she was contemplating marrying!

Lex tilted his head to one side and looked at her 
consideringly. "You didn't like that much, did you, Lois?"

Embarrassed, she avoided his gaze.

"Come, now, you can tell me the truth. Not that I need you 
to say it - of course I know that you didn't enjoy it!" He 
gave her a smile which, if she was feeling unkind, she 
might have characterised as patronising; then she wondered 
what had got into her to make her so cynical tonight. 
"Lois, my sweet, you really have to learn not to rush these 
things," Lex added. "I assure you that we'll be just 
perfect together physically, but it's so... so uncouth just 
to jump into bed at the first opportunity. Let me woo you." 
He smiled again, a warm, self-deprecating smile of the type 
Lois really did find attractive in him. 

"I guess you're right, Lex," she said slowly, trying to 
ignore the part of her which was really not at all sure 
that she believed him. 

"And now," he said, getting to his feet. "I think it's time 
that Nigel took you home."


*********

He hadn't been able to stop himself hanging around the 
vicinity of Lois's apartment. It was stupid of him - and if 
Lois ever found out, she'd accuse him of stalking her or 
something worse - but he just hadn't been able to help it. 
Wondering what she was doing, what time she'd get home, and 
whether *he* would be bringing her home; whether she'd 
invite *him* in, and how long she'd allow him to stay.

Or whether she would come home at all...

His gut tightened at that thought. Lois, with that 
monster... Luthor kissing her, touching her, removing her 
clothes... Clark stifled a scream of protest and resolved 
yet again to detach her from Luthor by any means possible. 
He would talk to her as Superman as soon as he could.

And there was more he could do, he realised, cursing 
himself for not having done it seriously sooner. He was 
convinced that Luthor was a criminal. And yet, apart from a 
few initial enquiries and a bit of research, he'd done 
nothing to prove it. Superman's word might be enough for 
Lois, but it wouldn't be enough for the police or for a 
court. And yet Luthor needed to be brought to justice. The 
longer Clark left him untouched, the more evil he would do. 
His failure to do anything about Luthor was almost 
criminally negligent, Clark told himself angrily. First 
thing tomorrow, he'd start investigating. It wouldn't be 
easy, given Luthor's habit of covering his tracks extremely 
thoroughly; but then, Clark had some advantages over the 
head of LexCorp. Such as a number of super-human powers...

The sound of a car approaching pulled Clark from his 
thoughts; it wasn't just any car, but Lois's Jeep, a sound 
he'd know anywhere. Using his Super-vision, he peered down 
through the clouds and the darkness to see the Jeep just 
pulling up outside Lois's apartment building. But she 
wasn't driving; a man was at the wheel. 

Clark's gut churned again; *he* was with her... But then 
the driver's door opened and a much older man, with white 
hair and a goatee beard, emerged. This was a man he'd seen 
with Lex Luthor a couple of times, and he thought the man's 
name was Nigel. Luthor's personal assistant, or something 
like that.

He watched as Nigel escorted Lois to the door of her 
apartment, noticing that he entered first and, apparently, 
checked to ensure that all was well before allowing Lois to 
go in. At least Luthor was concerned for Lois's safety, 
Clark grudgingly accepted.

Nigel then left, walking back out of the building and 
climbing into another car which had glided silently up to 
collect him. Clark focused his attention back to Lois, who 
had dropped her coat on a chair and was in the kitchen 
pouring herself a drink. 

Milk. One of Lois's versions of comfort food. He wondered 
what had happened to upset her, and considered flying down 
to find out. After all, he justified it to himself, he'd 
planned to talk to her anyway. And this was a good 
opportunity, wasn't it?

He was floating down, almost at her window, when it 
occurred to him that it was actually pretty late and that 
maybe tonight wasn't the best time for this conversation. 
It was close to midnight, and Lois looked tired; she was 
clearly getting things ready for the morning, preparatory 
to going to bed. If he went to talk to her now, he'd keep 
her up and that wouldn't be fair to her. Just because he 
didn't need sleep didn't meant that he should deprive her 
of her rest.

Part of him so badly wanted to be with her now, to hear her 
voice, inhale her scent, and bask in the warmth of her 
company; to purge from her mind the memory of another man's 
company this evening, and to ensure that her dreams were of 
*him* and not of Luthor. But this wasn't the reason why he 
needed to talk to her. They had something serious to 
discuss, and that would require a time at which she was not 
already tired.

And, as he turned to leave, another idea came to him; a 
good excuse to approach her in the first place, which would 
also do the Planet - and therefore his job as Clark Kent - 
some good. 

He - Superman - could offer Lois an exclusive interview. 
She'd interviewed him before, of course, but this would be 
different: longer, more in-depth - he could cope with that 
- and alone. In her apartment, if she'd agree. That would 
be bound to help the Planet's sales. And then he could turn 
the conversation around to Luthor, and tell her everything 
he knew and suspected about her boyfriend's criminal 
activities. 

Yes, he would do that. Tomorrow.

He turned around and flew home.


*********

Lex Luthor inhaled deeply on his cigar as he heard 
footsteps entering the room. "She's safely home, Nigel?"

The older man appeared to show no surprise that his 
employer knew who was present without turning around. "In 
her apartment, tucked up in bed, I should imagine."

"Her lonely bed," Lex mused aloud. "But not, I think, her 
virginal bed. Which is altogether preferable, don't you 
think, Nigel? Breaking in a virgin is rarely worth the 
effort, don't you agree?" he said, turning to face his 
companion.

"I wouldn't know, sir," the older man drawled, in a soft 
voice which held a note of sardonic cynicism.

Lex smiled, amused. "Ah yes, women hold no interest 
whatsoever for you, Nigel. I wonder, do you ever feel any 
curiosity about what you're missing?"

"Never, sir."

"There have been times when I might have been inclined to 
agree with you, Nigel," Lex observed, pausing to bring his 
cigar to his lips again. "However, society does have 
certain expectations, and it is undeniably pleasant to have 
a beautiful woman on one's arm at times. And Lois Lane is 
beyond doubt beautiful."

"Ah, but is she a wise choice, sir?" Nigel queried softly. 
"After all, she is a journalist, and one who has made it 
her career to expose those with things to hide."

Lex took his time answering; then he strolled to the large 
picture window at the end of the room and gazed out over 
the dark city. Then he spoke casually, half-turning to give 
his employee a satisfied smile. "Yes, she is a journalist. 
But thus far she hasn't been remotely suspicious. In fact, 
she appears to believe my press releases, which is, I must 
concede, a considerable coup for the public relations 
department, since I know my dear Lois to be remarkably 
cynical as a rule. Where I am concerned, however, she is 
unquestioning."

"Yes," Nigel replied. "And also smitten, perhaps? Though 
she did not enjoy your lovemaking."

Lex swept that away with a casual wave of his hand. "That 
was a lesson. Oh, when the time comes I don't doubt that 
there'll be pleasure in our marriage bed. For her too, as 
long as she learns to please me."

Nigel raised an eyebrow, clearly suppressing a shudder, but 
didn't comment.

"But kissing, *romance* - " Lex emphasised the word, 
drawling it sardonically " - is just too tedious. 
Therefore, she had to be persuaded to drop the subject, at 
least for now."

"I shouldn't have thought that obedience was one of Miss 
Lane's strong points," Nigel observed.

"That's *Ms* Lane, Nigel; do wake up to the 1990s," Lex 
remarked, strolling over to an ashtray to extinguish his 
cigar. "No, I don't believe it is," he added. "Subtle 
persuasion will do for the moment; I believe my skills are 
up to the task. Once we are married, however, that will 
change; I'll control that irritating independent streak of 
hers."

"Ah. But you love her." Now Nigel sounded mildly curious.

"What is love?" Lex enquired idly, of no-one in particular. 
"Oh, in my own way I do love Lois, certainly in a way I 
have never felt about anyone before now. But I've never 
believed in all this 'the world's lost for love' kind of 
emotion - it's so sentimental, don't you think?" he added 
with a sardonic smile. 

"But I can play the game of love easily enough. And that 
will get me Lois; that, together with the appeal of being 
married to the third-richest man in the world, of course," 
he suggested smoothly. 

"And the remainder of your plan, sir?" Nigel queried.

"I believe we can set things in motion now for Phase Two 
now," his employer said, moving across the room. "The 
shareholders must be sufficiently worried about declining 
sales and advertising revenue to consider a reasonable 
offer."

"Reasonable, sir?" Nigel asked, a faint smile on his lips.

"Oh, say sixty cents on the dollar. No more than sixty-
three."

"Of course." Nigel smiled again, this time with an air of 
cool triumph. "The Planet will be in our hands within the 
week."

"Which will make it more difficult for Lois to escape me," 
Lex added smoothly. "Oh, and one more thing, Nigel: I think 
it's time that Clark Kent was taken out of the way."

"As you wish." Nigel nodded briefly. "You wish his death to 
look like an accident?"

"No, no." Lex waved a hand dismissively. "Killing him would 
be a mistake. Lois is too fond of him, and were he to die 
she would be too upset - while she might well look to me 
for comfort in such a circumstance, she would also grieve 
for him, and that would get in the way of my ambitions. No, 
it would be better were he to abandon her. Do we own 
newspapers in any other cities? Somewhere like San 
Francisco or DC would do very well. If not, acquire one. 
And make Kent an offer he can't refuse."

"That can be arranged." Nigel crossed the room then to open 
the door for his employer, who was obviously retiring for 
the night. "Will you be wanting anything else, sir?" he 
asked calmly.

Lex turned and regarded his secretary and accomplice with a 
half-smile. "Not tonight, Nigel."


********* 

Feeling not at all the wiser about the virtues of marrying 
Lex, Lois prepared for bed. The kiss, she thought, had 
definitely been a mistake. She'd obviously pushed too hard, 
and his response had been to show her clearly that he 
wouldn't be forced into anything he didn't want. He was Lex 
Luthor, after all, Lois reminded herself wryly: the boss of 
a multi-billion-dollar empire and used to being in a 
position of command. And since his previous romantic 
relationships, from what she'd seen, had never lasted all 
that long, she suspected that he simply wasn't accustomed 
to the notion of equality in any kind of relationship. 

That could be a problem, she mused as she slid between the 
covers. After all, there was no way at all that she would 
take a subordinate position in any relationship. And if Lex 
was expecting that of her, then he'd be in for a 
disappointment. 

Maybe that was something else they needed to discuss...

Lex had been urging her to consider going away for a 
weekend with him, and now she decided that it was probably 
a very good idea. It would give them an opportunity to get 
to know each other better, and that had to help her make up 
her mind about whether or not she wanted to marry him. It 
might also, she acknowledged with a tiny shiver, lead to an 
intimate relationship... But if she was seriously thinking 
about marrying the guy, then she could hardly avoid 
intimacy. And it might actually help her to feel less... 
skittish at the thought of marriage. 

Maybe. 

She could think about that in the morning.

And she could also find a way to make herself forget just 
how much more pleasurable Clark's kiss had been; how he had 
made her feel things she hadn't even begun to feel in Lex's 
arms. She had to ignore that; not make any comparison. 
After all, it wasn't Clark she was considering marrying. 
And it wasn't sensible to think of Clark as anything other 
than a friend. That was all he was, and all he could be.


**********

At the end of a long day, Clark had to admit that he wasn't 
much further forward. It didn't help that he was having to 
keep what he was doing secret; much as it would have been 
very useful to get Jimmy doing some research for him, he 
couldn't take the risk that Jimmy might let something slip 
to Lois. His young friend didn't like Lex Luthor much, that 
was clear, but at the same time Clark didn't want to have 
to rely on Jimmy's discretion. Which was a shame since, for 
all his Super-powers, he didn't have Jimmy's skills at 
digging out information which his target did not want to 
have discovered.

And anyway, he was having to confine his searches to times 
when a certain person couldn't see what he was up to. Just 
when he most wanted Lois to leave him alone and give him 
some space, she was barely away from his desk. Admittedly, 
they did have a couple of ongoing investigations to work on 
- nothing earth-shattering, but the Planet needed all it 
could get at the moment. But she also wanted to talk about 
what they were going to do in order to find out what was 
behind the sudden slump in the Planet's fortunes. So they'd 
spent an hour or so planning and debating that, an activity 
Clark normally loved doing with Lois. 

Working with Lois was one of Clark's secret pleasures; 
secret in the sense that he knew he couldn't afford to let 
her see just how much it meant to him. Sitting next to her, 
or standing behind her watching as she typed something, and 
putting their heads together over a big story was something 
he loved. Her brain was like quicksilver sometimes, 
lightning-fast and darting from one thought to another in a 
way which might have seemed bizarre to some people but, to 
Lois, made perfect sense. And he'd lost count of the number 
of times her leaps of logic had actually solved an 
investigation for them.  

But Lois being around so much today had left him little 
privacy, and almost no time, to investigate Lex Luthor. 
Then there'd also been the union meeting at lunchtime, 
downstairs in the staff-room. As members of the reporters' 
union - clerical and technical staff were having separate 
meetings with their own unions - had filed out of the 
newsroom on their way to the meeting, Clark had noticed 
Perry standing at the door to his office, watching 
silently. Jimmy had approached and said something Clark 
hadn't been able to hear, but his boss's response had been 
audible. 

"Go, son. If I could, I'd be down there with you," Perry 
had said quietly, but Clark had heard the stifled anger in 
the editor's voice. Perry, too, hated to see the newspaper 
he loved in such a state.

Not that the union had offered much in the way of hope. The 
regional officials reported a meeting they'd had with the 
Planet's owners, and confirmed that the paper was indeed in 
trouble. It seemed that there was little hope of avoiding 
layoffs in the near future.

"We tried to get a guarantee of no layoffs among 
journalistic staff, but they couldn't even promise that," 
the official had said. "But we are in discussions about the 
way any layoffs will be handled, as well as the number, and 
we'll be available to negotiate fair severance packages."

Fair severance packages, Clark had repeated to himself, his 
lip curling. He hadn't been at the Planet long enough to 
qualify for anything of that nature. At best, he might get 
a month's salary in lieu of notice. 

He'd felt a gentle hand on his arm then, and had looked 
down to see Lois shaking her head at him. "Stop panicking, 
Clark!" she'd hissed. "You're a *news* reporter, for 
heaven's sake! The Planet *needs* us to write the stories 
that sell papers! If they have to get rid of reporters, 
Perry will start with Features, or Travel! Not half of his 
best team!"

He'd shrugged. Maybe she was right, but on the other hand 
he was well aware that he *was* the newest hire and that 
Lois had been the best darned investigative reporter in 
town - Perry's words - long before he'd been taken on. She 
didn't need him to be good at her job. And the paper could 
certainly survive without him; Clark was sure that Perry 
knew that.

So the meeting hadn't done a lot to reassure him that his 
position at the paper was secure.  It was beginning to look 
very much as if his brief period of employment at the 
Planet was coming to an end. This was the job he'd dreamed 
of ever since, as a student on his journalism course, he'd 
read the Daily Planet every day and admired Perry White's 
work from afar. The chances of his staying beyond the end 
of the week were looking pretty remote. He felt angry 
inside, and bitter; this was the best reporting job he'd 
had in his entire career so far, and he'd been doing a 
great job, of that he was sure. He and Lois had even been 
nominated for a Merriwether Award only a couple of months 
ago! He felt sure that, as a team, they'd have also picked 
up a Kerth nomination when they were announced in the 
autumn. Instead, he wouldn't even be here. 

Life was just so unfair sometimes. 

The fear of layoff, together with Lois's continual presence 
throughout the afternoon - he suspected that she was 
feeling sorry for him and wanted to make him feel needed - 
meant that it was now after seven pm and all he had to show 
for his day's work on the issue which mattered was a couple 
of scribbled notes of things he needed to check out 
further.

He wasn't doing any good by just sitting brooding at his 
desk, he told himself suddenly. If he wasn't getting 
anywhere, he might as well go home. And then, he castigated 
himself, he should start using his *brains* instead of his 
emotions! He had all those Super-powers; well, it was about 
time that he started using them to find out what Luthor was 
up to.

<Spying?> he caught himself thinking, experiencing a brief 
feeling of guilt; he did *not* use his powers to spy on 
people!

But of course that wasn't true. He frequently did, in the 
course of his daily work with Lois. Why should this be any 
different? And anyway, where Lex Luthor was concerned 
almost any tactics were justified, he insisted to himself.

It was time he stopped playing at investigating the man. 
But first, he reminded himself as he stepped into the 
stairwell and headed upwards, there was something else he 
needed to do. It was time to go to see Lois, in the guise 
of his alter ego.


**********

Lois checked her reflection once more in the mirror. She 
didn't really want to go out, but Lex had called shortly 
after she got home from work and suggested a trip to the 
first night of a new musical in town. And it was one she 
wanted to see, too, so it had been too tempting an offer to 
refuse. 

Of course, seeing any kind of show or concert with Lex was 
a pleasurable experience. No queuing for tickets. No 
standing in line to get to their seats. And no peering over 
other people's heads, or wishing that others around them 
would keep their voices down or stop otherwise making 
distracting noises.

No; when she went somewhere with Lex, they had a private 
box and a special escort directly to it five minutes before 
curtain-up. And the box was secluded, well away from anyone 
else who might spoil their enjoyment of the occasion. And 
their view of the stage, or the orchestra, or whatever, was 
unimpeded.

It briefly occurred to her that Clark would probably call 
her a snob if he knew what she was thinking. But then, she 
told herself, why did it really matter what Clark thought? 
He was her *friend*. He wasn't her conscience!

As she re-adjusted the gold chain she'd put around her 
neck, she heard a light tapping sound; a sound which had 
become quite familiar to her over the past few months.

Superman was here!

But why...? 

Never mind; she'd never questioned his visits before now! 
Although, she thought wistfully as she hurried out of the 
bedroom and into the living-room, it was a pity that he'd 
come now, just when she had to go out. Nigel was due to 
pick her up in less than ten minutes.

And there was another reason why his presence here, now, 
was... difficult. 

Lois had tumbled head-first in love with Superman the 
instant she'd seen him. And there'd been times over the 
past year when she'd thought he might return her feelings 
for him; something in the way he looked at her when he 
thought no-one else could see, and perhaps something in the 
way he touched her just occasionally. 

But he'd never, ever followed through; never given her any 
reason to hope that he might be prepared to return her 
love. Apart from that one time when he'd been affected by 
the full-strength love pheromone compound, but that hadn't 
lasted. 

So she'd given up on her dreams that she might one day be 
more to Superman than just a friend. Instead, she'd allowed 
Lex to date her, and although he wasn't her first choice, 
she'd told herself to consider his proposal seriously. 
After all, there was no point sighing for the moon. 
Superman was unattainable. He would always be her friend, 
she believed, but never her lover.

And now, just as she was setting off for another date with 
Lex, the man she would probably marry, Superman had turned 
up again. Great - just the thing her already weak resolve 
didn't need.

And yet she wanted to see him - *needed* to see him. 

She refused to consider just why she wanted to see 
Superman; whether she had thoughts of some sort of last-
ditch attempt to persuade him to love her back, or whether 
she wanted to say a kind of silent farewell to her hopes 
where he was concerned. Either way, she was determined to 
have a stolen five minutes with him now, before Nigel came. 

She opened the window to allow him entry; in under a second 
he was standing in her living-room, smiling at her.

"Superman! This is a surprise!"

"Hi, Lois," he began, then frowned. "You're all dressed up 
- you're going out?"

She nodded. "To the theatre."

He gave her a wry smile. "That's a shame. I... was hoping 
we could talk."

"I have five minutes," she told him quickly, eagerly. His 
other visits had never been longer than that, in any case.

But he shook his head. "Actually, for what I wanted to 
discuss I guess we'd need at least an hour. I suppose I 
should have checked first, to see if you were free."

At least an hour...? Lois stared at him, baffled 
momentarily as to what Superman would want to discuss which 
would take that long. And then a memory came back to her; 
Clark in the Jeep the night of the stake-out, asking her to 
talk to Superman about Lex Luthor before committing herself 
to marrying him.

"Clark asked you to come, didn't he?" she said accusingly.

His hesitation gave her all the answer she needed. She 
began to turn away, feeling hurt and betrayed by her 
visitor. How could he allow Clark to use him like that? 
Didn't he realise that it felt as if he was turning against 
her? 

And as for Clark...! He'd promised her to butt out of her 
personal life. Well, she would have a few strong words for 
him in the morning! If he thought that sending his bigger 
and stronger friend over here in his place, to do his dirty 
work for him, counted as butting out, then he had another 
think coming!

"Yes, Clark did ask me to talk to you," Superman said 
quietly. "But I wanted to talk to you too."

"Well, I *don't* want to talk to *you*!" she retorted, 
although she knew it wasn't true. Beneath her hurt at his 
defection to Clark's side, she really did want to hear 
Superman's opinion of Lex. She thought it might actually 
help her to understand why *she'd* been feeling a bit... 
uneasy about her determined suitor all day. 

Or was it just that she'd hoped that Superman had come 
because *he* wanted to see her, and not because he was 
doing Clark a favour? And that if she listened to him, he 
might relax and become more sympathetic? 

"Well, there was something I wanted to suggest to you," he 
said, in meek tones which didn't fool Lois for an instant. 
"But if you're not interested...?"

"What?" she asked quickly, almost rudely.

"Well, Clark's told me about the problems the Planet's been 
having," Superman explained. "And it occurred to me that 
maybe I could help, in some small way."

"How?" Lois asked, her mind whirling. Arrange for her to be 
at the scene of a spectacular rescue job? But how could he 
do that? Surely he'd be too focused on getting to where he 
was needed to waste time picking up a reporter?

He answered her question with another one. "You've wanted 
an in-depth, no-holds-barred interview with me for some 
time, haven't you?"

Barely able to believe what he was suggesting, she said, 
"Sure! Well, you're pretty newsworthy, Superman. Even after 
all these months."

He smiled slightly. "Okay. Well, you've got it. I was going 
to suggest this evening, but since you have other 
plans...?" He let the suggestion trail off.

Lois was torn. She desperately wanted this interview, but 
Nigel would be here any minute now to pick her up. She 
*could* probably call Lex and tell him that something had 
come up at work - he'd understand, or at least she hoped he 
would. On the other hand, she didn't really want to tell 
him *what* had come up. It wasn't that she thought he'd 
disapprove; Lex admired Superman just as everyone else in 
the city did. But if this was going to be an exclusive with 
all the impact it deserved, then no-one could know about it 
until Perry was ready to run the advertising campaign. 
And... well, she just didn't know how Lex would feel about 
apparently coming second to her job again. So far he hadn't 
seemed to mind too much; he'd been charmingly indulgent, 
but she'd suspected that he could change his attitude very 
quickly if it happened frequently.

Though that could present problems, if she was serious 
about Lex... he would have to accept that her job was 
important to her, if they were going to be together. Just 
as his work, his business empire, was important to him. But 
that was a confrontation she didn't want to have right now. 

Lois grimaced. All things considered, it was probably 
better if she went ahead with her date.

"I'm sorry, Superman," she said with genuine regret. "I 
have to go. But can we do this tomorrow? At the Planet, 
maybe?"

"I'd prefer to do it somewhere more private," he said 
quickly. "How about I call you and arrange to meet you here 
some time during the day?"

"Sure," she agreed, relieved that he wasn't withdrawing the 
offer. "And in-depth? No-holds-barred?"

He hesitated. "Well, not entirely. Let's just say... there 
may be a couple of questions I'm not prepared to answer. 
But then, you might not ask them. So let's just wait and 
see."

So he was already putting preconditions on it. Still, Lois 
thought, she was getting something that no-one else had 
managed to get in the year since Superman had showed up. 
Oh, several reporters - herself included - had had brief 
five-minute interviews, mostly about whichever emergency 
Superman had just been dealing with. But this was 
different: an hour alone with him, to ask him about 
anything she wanted. 

This was a fantastic opportunity! And if he did show 
reluctance to answer some of her questions, she could 
always try to persuade him. He had *no* idea just how 
persuasive she could be if she tried.

But right now, Nigel was due any minute. And, for some 
reason she couldn't really explain even to herself, Lois 
didn't want him to see Superman here. So she smiled widely 
at Superman and said, "Okay, let's discuss it tomorrow, 
yes? You need my phone number?"

He smiled warmly in response. "I think I can find it, Lois. 
And now I guess I'd better go and let you get on with your 
evening."

She watched him turn to leave, and once more wished 
fervently that she wasn't going out, that she could spend 
the evening with him instead. Shivering faintly, she closed 
the window behind him, thinking that she needed to turn 
down her air-conditioning.


*********

<Damn!> Clark thought as he flew away from Lois's 
apartment. Of course he should have expected that she had a 
date with the monster. And of course he should have somehow 
contacted her as Superman earlier, to try to pre-empt her 
going out tonight. 

One more day before he could confront her with the truth 
about her boyfriend. 

She hadn't looked too pleased when she'd realised what he 
wanted to talk to her about. For a moment, he'd thought she 
was about to tell him to leave. She'd certainly spoken to 
him more harshly than she'd ever done before to Superman.

But she had promised him, as Clark, that she'd talk to 
Superman about Luthor. And Lois normally tended to keep her 
promises, so he had every intention of holding her to this 
one. Oh, he'd give her the interview she wanted; it would 
be a good way of sweetening her up, apart from helping out 
the Planet. But then he *would* talk to her about Luthor, 
for as long as it took to make her see that the man was a 
villain and not to be trusted.

Tomorrow. 

Sighing, regretting the need to delay again and the loss of 
what could have been a couple of hours in Lois's company, 
he took off to patrol the city.


*********

The following day, all Lois could think about was Superman: 
wondering when he would call her, deciding what questions 
she wanted to ask him... and once again allowing herself to 
dream that he cared about her, that he might want to move 
their relationship forward to more than just friends. After 
all, she rationalised, he clearly didn't want her to marry 
Lex. Why else would he have agreed to talk to her about 
him? Surely he wouldn't simply have agreed as a favour to 
Clark? There had to be more to it, she felt sure.

So maybe, just maybe, there was hope for her yet...

And in the meantime, she had to concentrate on work, or at 
least give the impression that she was interested in the 
latest tedious machinations of the city council. She had no 
intention of telling anyone about her interview with 
Superman until she had it in the bag. Not even Clark; for 
all she knew, he'd want to come along, and this was 
definitely going to be one-on-one.

After several false starts - telephone calls which turned 
out not to be Superman - he finally phoned shortly before 
lunchtime. He seemed to be speaking quietly, almost 
furtively, as if he was worried about being overheard. In a 
very brief conversation, he arranged a meeting for later 
that afternoon, at her apartment.

Happy to have that organised, Lois then began to apply 
herself to their assignment. Looking for Clark a few 
minutes later, she spotted him at his desk, but on the 
phone. She needed to speak to him, so she went straight 
over and stood directly in his line of vision, in order to 
encourage him to finish his conversation quickly.

He glanced up at her, then waved her away. She ignored him. 

The phone conversation seemed rather strange, at least at 
Clark's end of it. Her partner wasn't saying all that much, 
and he looked somewhat shell-shocked. All he was saying was 
the occasional "Yes", and "I understand", and "it's very 
flattering". 

Finally, he sounded as if the conversation was winding to a 
halt. She heard Clark say, "So can I have a couple of days 
to think it over?"

The answer was clearly in the negative, for he responded 
with, "I see. Well, okay, I'll get back to you by the end 
of the day, then. And thank you."

Clark at last replaced the receiver and looked up at Lois. 
"I would have come straight over to you when I'd finished," 
he said, sounding mildly irritated.

"Well, I needed to talk to you. And I didn't see any point 
in going back to my desk, because then someone else might 
have distracted you before I could get to you again," she 
insisted.

Clark rolled his eyes. "Okay, so what did you want?"

"Who were you talking to?" she countered first.

Clark sighed. "Lois, have you ever heard of the concept of 
a private conversation?"

She'd been about to let it go, being only mildly 
interested, but his reply whetted her curiosity further. "I 
thought we were friends!" she pointed out coolly. "And 
friends talk to each other about things... that *is* what 
you've been telling me lately, anyway."

He grimaced. "Actually, Lois, I was going to talk to you 
about it. But let's deal with whatever you wanted first, 
okay?"

She explained her query, and they spent several minutes 
discussing it. Then Clark raked a hand through his hair and 
faced her. "This phone call... I don't want to discuss it 
here, so how about we go across to the deli for a 
sandwich?"

Lois agreed, now very curious about the phone call. Clark 
was certainly acting very strangely; secretively, in fact. 
Once seated across from him in the deli, their sandwiches 
in front of them, she eyeballed him. "Well? What's going 
on?"

He looked at her with a completely baffled expression. "I 
really don't know, Lois. That call... well, it was from the 
San Francisco Examiner."

Lois blinked. "Why were they calling *you*?" she asked 
bluntly.

"They were offering me a *job*, Lois," Clark answered, 
sounding a little tetchy. 

"You?? A *job*?" Lois stared at him incredulously, a 
reaction which turned very quickly to panic. He wasn't 
going to accept, was he? He couldn't! Suddenly, she became 
aware of just how badly she didn't want to lose Clark.

"Yes, me. They offered me a job," he repeated, now clearly 
irritated. "Why - do you think I'm not good enough to work 
on a paper like the Examiner?"

Lois stared at him. "Of course I don't! You work at the 
Planet! And that's the best - "

"I know," he interrupted. "But I work with you there - as 
your partner. You think I'm not good enough to make it 
without you?"

"Of course I don't!" she exclaimed immediately, stifling 
the instinctive reaction that she *did* think she was the 
better half of their partnership and that if anyone was 
being headhunted it should have been her. "Clark, you know 
I think you're a great reporter. Let's forget that and tell 
me more about the offer. You're not going to take it, of 
course?"

He sighed. "Lois, I'm really not sure. I... I think I 
should consider it."

"Consider it? Why?" she demanded. "You have a job here - a 
*good* job! And you have a reputation in Metropolis. 
Nobody's heard of you in San Francisco," she pointed out 
baldly.

"Oh, thank you very much, Lois!" Clark almost snapped. "The 
Daily Planet does sell out there too, you know! And a 
couple of my articles about Superman were syndicated, in 
case you've forgotten."

She'd offended him, Lois realised belatedly. Reaching 
across the table to grab his hand, she said quickly, "I'm 
sorry, I didn't mean to... to suggest that you're not 
talented enough. I *know* you are! I just don't want you to 
quit the Planet."

He studied her for a few moments, then said, "Lois, I may 
not have a choice soon. You know the way things are going. 
You heard the union guy yesterday!"

"Clark, you're not going to get laid off!" Lois insisted. 
"And I'd really like you not to go, because you're my 
partner and I've kind of got used to working with you, you 
know."

"Would it kill you to say that you like working with me?" 
Clark asked, almost wistfully, before adding quickly, "I 
love working with you, Lois. It's one of the things I like 
most about this job. But... well, maybe you could come with 
me?"

Leave the Planet? Leave Metropolis? Lois stared at Clark in 
amazement, barely able to believe that he was suggesting 
it. Besides the Planet, she had no wish to leave 
Metropolis. Apart from anything else, she was dating Lex! 
And... 

And Superman was based in Metropolis. If she moved to San 
Francisco, she'd never see him again. She couldn't see him 
flying out for occasional late-night visits, somehow.

"Clark, I can't quit the Planet," she said impatiently. 
"And neither can you."

"Lois, I might not have a job in a week! I have to consider 
my options! And, you know, if things get much worse you 
might not have a job either."

"That's nonsense," she said quickly. "And it's a crazy idea 
that I should go with you."

"It wasn't crazy when you were trying to suggest that I 
move to LNN with you! Why is it okay for you to leave and 
me not?"

"I wasn't really serious!" Lois threw back at him. "I 
wouldn't have gone. The Planet's in my blood - you know 
that! And, Clark, you can't quit the Planet just because 
it's going through a bad patch! What about loyalty to 
Perry? Loyalty to your *partner*?"

Clark blew out a long breath. "Okay, Lois, if that's how 
you feel, I'll tell them no," he said at last. "I'm not 
going anywhere."

Lois smiled brightly at him. "You won't regret it, Clark. 
And don't worry; I won't tell Perry."

Clark shrugged, then picked up his sandwich.


*********

Finally, it was time for his appointment with Lois. She'd 
left the newsroom twenty minutes ago, telling a couple of 
people that she had 'things to do' - neatly giving the 
impression that it wasn't work, Clark thought. It seemed 
that it was okay for Lois to hold out on her partner, but 
not for him...

He smiled wryly and headed for the stairwell. He'd covered 
his bases by letting it be understood that he had a dental 
check-up, and that he wouldn't be back today. On the way to 
Lois's apartment, though, for once he wasn't thinking about 
his partner.

He'd called the Examiner back a short while ago and 
declined their offer. And, while part of him was very glad 
he'd turned it down - he really didn't want to leave Lois - 
he was still unsure about whether he'd done the right 
thing. What if he *was* next in line for layoff?

Well, if he was, he decided, then he'd just have to take 
his resume and cuttings file around every news organisation 
in Metropolis - except one, of course. It was as simple as 
that. After all, Superman belonged in Metropolis... and so 
did Clark Kent.


*********

Lois was pacing the floor in her apartment, counting the 
seconds until the moment Superman was due. Her date with 
Lex last night had almost been a disaster; she hadn't been 
able to concentrate on her companion at all, because her 
mind had been filled with thoughts of Superman. How he'd 
looked standing in her apartment. The sound of his voice, 
occasionally laced with humour. Those beautiful liquid 
brown eyes. That stunning, muscular body. And the fact that 
she was going to be seeing him again today.

Lex had noticed her abstraction, and had even questioned 
it; thankfully, she'd been able to pull herself together 
and at least try to pay him some attention. Probably not 
convincingly enough, though, because when he'd taken her 
home he'd given her a quizzical look and told her to get a 
good night's sleep, before dropping a kiss on her cheek.

Was it right that she was spending more time thinking about 
Superman than about the man she was considering marrying? 

Come to that, she thought wryly, why was it that the 
thought of Clark leaving town bothered her more than if Lex 
had told her the same?

<That's *different*!> she told herself firmly. She wasn't 
considering marrying Lex because she loved him, after all. 
She'd already had that debate with herself. Lex was a 
suitable companion, someone she felt comfortable with and 
would make a good husband. The fact that she didn't love 
him, nor he her, was a bonus. People fell out of love, 
after all. 

And love itself was usually a lie.

A sound outside alerted her to Superman's arrival. She 
beckoned him in then, flustered, offered him drinks, 
something to eat and some ice-cream. He grinned as she 
blushed, then he rejected all of her offers and took a seat 
on one of the love-seats. She sat opposite.

"So, the interview?" she asked him. "Or do I have to listen 
to you tell me what you think of Lex first?"

He smiled. "The interview, I think. Then, if you get mad at 
me after, you can tell me to leave without losing your 
exclusive!"

She smiled in return, then busied herself preparing her 
notebook, pen and tape recorder. Then, facing him again, 
she began. "Superman, you've been here on Earth a little 
under a year. Would you say that anything's changed for the 
better since you've been here?"

"Well, I suppose that would presume that I know much about 
how it was before," he teased gently. "I don't know, Lois; 
I'm not really sure I can answer that. I think that maybe 
criminals think a little more carefully before acting, 
because they know there's more of a chance they'll be 
caught. And if that's the case, then I'm pleased." He 
paused briefly, then added, "Well, you're a news reporter, 
Lois. You'd know if crime statistics are down."

"I wasn't really thinking of crime," Lois explained. "It 
was more... well, the values you stand for, Superman, the 
reason people admire and respect you so much. I wondered if 
you thought more people were taking those values to heart."

"I don't really know," he said doubtfully. "But I guess I'd 
like to believe that, if they were, it's because they 
believe those are values worth holding, and not just 
because I hold them." Again, he smiled, this time a little 
ruefully. "I'm sorry, I don't think I'm being a very good 
interviewee, am I?"

Lois smiled back at him. "It's fine. Another question: 
what's been the toughest rescue or Super feat you've had to 
do so far?"

"I suppose that'd have to be the Nightfall Asteroid," he 
said thoughtfully. "It took me a couple of attempts, as you 
know, and the first attempt actually took me out of 
commission for a day or so."

"It weakened you that much?" Lois stared at him, aghast. 
She'd never known that there was anything which could 
affect Superman.

He inclined his head. "Well, it was pretty big," he said 
apologetically. "And I'd never flown that far into space 
before. But the other thing which made it so tough was that 
it was so important. Literally, the fate of the world was 
resting on my shoulders. If I messed up, chances were that 
everyone on this planet would die."

"But you came through for us," Lois reminded him. "And you 
know the whole world was grateful."

That made him smile. "But I don't do it for gratitude; you 
have to know that, Lois. I do it because... well, because I 
can, and I can't stand by and do nothing when people need 
help."

"But what about when you need help?" she asked him then. "I 
mean, for example, there was that time that the nuclear 
power plant was leaking and causing the heatwave, and 
everyone was blaming you. The city council even got an 
injunction against you!"

"And you seemed to be the only person who believed in me," 
he added softly. "Don't think I've forgotten that, Lois."

"How could I not?" she protested. "But that's not important 
now. What I want to know is, how did you feel when an 
entire city turned against you like that? I mean, only a 
day or two earlier you were the best thing that had even 
happened to them!"

So she listened as he talked about feelings of shock and 
dismay, of wondering and worrying whether he really had 
been the cause of the heatwave, of sadness and resignation 
when it appeared as if he'd have to leave Metropolis.

He answered questions for almost an hour with no sign of 
reluctance, and Lois was inwardly delighted, knowing that 
this would be a great scoop. Then, beginning to wind up, 
she said, "Tell me something about how you came to Earth, 
Superman. You've said that you're from a planet called 
Krypton - where is that, what's it like, and how did you 
get from there to here?"

He seemed to hesitate this time. Then he said slowly, "I'm 
really not sure where Krypton is - or was - in relation to 
Earth."

"Was?"

"Yeah. As far as I'm aware, it no longer exists. I believe 
it exploded not long after I left."

"And how do you know that? Are there other Kryptonians on 
Earth?"

He looked surprised at that. "Not as far as I know! I... 
uh, my family left a recording device for me in my 
spaceship. It recorded Krypton's last moments."

"Your *family*? You left them behind?"

"I had no choice. It had already been decided for me," he 
said abruptly. 

Guessing that this was a touchy subject for him - after 
all, he'd been sent away from his entire family, who were 
no doubt all dead now - Lois changed the subject. "So, you 
came here in a spaceship? When was that?"

He stiffened. "That's one of the questions I don't want to 
answer, Lois."

Why not? she wondered. Surely it was a simple enough 
question! He'd appeared in Metropolis a little under a year 
ago. Hadn't he just arrived on Earth then, or just before 
it? If not, then where had he been hiding? What had he been 
doing? And why didn't he want to tell her how long he'd 
been here?

"I realise that by not answering your question I'm just 
making you wonder what I've got to hide. But I can't help 
that," he told her. "It's just not something I'm prepared 
to discuss. You've got enough for your story anyway, 
without it, haven't you?"

He actually looked concerned, Lois noticed. "Oh, sure. 
It'll be a great interview."

"Front-page stuff, huh?" he suggested, grinning.

"I hope so! After all, it's not every day a reporter gets 
an in-dept interview with Superman! You're more reclusive 
than Lex Luthor, you know," she teased. But as she saw the 
shadow flitting across his face, she regretted mentioning 
Lex's name.

But he smiled - with some effort, it seemed - and said, "I 
hope so, too. Clark's... uh, told me about the trouble the 
Planet's in. It's a great newspaper, and I'm sorry to see 
it having problems. I can't... um, officially do anything 
to help, but I thought an interview might at least give you 
an edge, for one day anyway."

"I understand," Lois replied. "It would help, too, if 
either Clark or I were ever on the spot when you're at an 
emergency. It's not good when we get scooped."

"But the Star scooping you was a set-up, wasn't it?" 

"Yes, but... oh, I don't know. A couple of papers have been 
beating us to big stories lately. I don't know if there's 
anything behind it, but the Planet's shareholders and 
advertisers are very unhappy. They're putting a lot of 
pressure on Perry."

"Yes, so I heard." Now he was looking uncomfortable again. 
"Lois, if you're finished with the interview, perhaps we 
could...?"

"Oh. Okay." Very reluctantly, Lois agreed to change the 
subject. Not that she was really sure just why she was so 
disinclined to hear whatever Superman had to say on the 
subject of her boyfriend. She knew Superman, after all, and 
she knew he wouldn't traduce anyone unfairly. 

Which meant that he probably knew some stuff about Lex 
which she wouldn't like. In that case, she thought, she 
should hear it, shouldn't she? After all, if she was 
considering marrying the man then she needed to know if 
there was anything important which wasn't to his credit. 

So she waved a hand lightly in Superman's direction. "Go 
ahead, then. Talk to me. Tell me what you and Clark think 
is so important that I hear."


*********

Clark paused and took a deep breath, exhaling loudly. He 
was finally getting the opportunity to tell Lois exactly 
why he didn't trust Lex Luthor, and he didn't want to blow 
this opportunity. The last time he'd tried it, he'd really 
made a stupid tactical error, after all, and there was no 
way that she'd even consider listening to Clark on the 
subject again. 

But this was him as Superman, and he well knew that Lois 
respected Superman; more than respected him, of course, but 
he tried to ignore that fact if he could. Superman could 
succeed where Clark had failed, but it was already clear 
that Lois was only listening to him on sufferance. Her 
expression when he'd brought the subject up, both now and 
t