Author's note: This section makes reference to events in the movie, "Superman Returns".

***************

Perry gave it two days before he called Clark into his office. Superman had come out of his coma. And, just coincidentally, Clark Kent came back to the Daily Planet the day after Superman left his hospital bed. Perry wondered if he'd ever have the guts to ask Kent about the hospital stay.

He'd heard that the hospital staff had found the bed empty and the Suit missing – Superman apparently having recovered enough to have flown out the window. Perry took a moment to wonder who was going to pay the bill for Superman's care – face it, Superman couldn't submit a claim to the Planet's health insurance carrier. Perry spared a minute to fantasize – he could just see the insurance guys poring over the claim. "Let's see, Mr. Superman. Stabbed with Kryptonite? This Kryptonite…hmm, you get weak when around it? From your home world? Pre-existing condition, then. Claim denied."

Then again, Metropolis General, as a Level One trauma center in the middle of America's second largest city, delivered more uncompensated emergency care than just about any other hospital in the country. (The money for the police guard didn't count, that was under the Dignitary Protection Bureau budget of the Metropolis P.D.) And Met Gen had gotten a tremendous amount of publicity for being "Superman's Hospital" that they were milking for all it was worth. So if they had to eat the charges….well, it wasn't like they'd been able to do a lot for Superman anyway. Perry had heard on the best authority that the doctors had no clue about Kryptonian anatomy and physiology, and that the medical staff had been unable to intubate, place intravenous lines, draw blood, give injections, and do many of the other basic things associated with a twenty-first century hospital stay.

Basically the Man of Steel's treatment had been bed rest, non-invasive monitoring devices and oxygen. Basically Mother Nature and Father Time. Plus the nursing care that was the outstanding specialty of Met Gen. It was a good thing Superman seemed to heal quickly...Perry dragged his thoughts back to the newsroom.

The first day Perry spent just sneaking glances at Kent, still agog at the thought of Superman – Superman! - in his newsroom. The tall man worked at his keyboard – Perry thought of the words he'd said to Lois early in Clark's tenure – "he's the fastest typist I've ever seen" – intermixed with strolls around the newsroom to get coffee, to use the copier, pick up stuff at the printer, bump into file cabinets, knock over coffee cups, drop reams of paper on his toes. A trail of exasperated smiles and lifted spirits followed Kent around the newsroom.

Now that Perry knew, he could see the clumsiness was an act. A good act, one that Perry had never picked up on before, but now Perry could see the subtle body shifts, the careful positioning that set up the pratfalls and the bumbling. And no one was hurt by the comedy routine. Clark was the one with paper reams falling on his toe. Clark was the one who got coffee on his tie. Clark was the one who got bruised - or not – by bumping into the file cabinet. Perry made a mental note to check the edge of the file cabinet for deformation.

One time Clark looked up and met Perry's eyes curiously. Perry quickly looked away, unable to face the even gaze. He swore at himself. He had to be more circumspect. Then Jason came running up to Clark and the latter's attention turned quickly to the child. Perry sighed in relief.

Why did I do that? Perry asked himself. Why am I scared of him? Heck, he'd been working with Clark Kent for over fifteen years now. Clark certainly wasn't violent or explosive. And although Perry had only met Superman a few times – at least when he's in the Suit – he knew the superhero never hurt anyone either. Even the bad guys agreed on that.

But he couldn't stop himself from shying away from Clark's gaze. And he couldn't stop himself from sneaking looks at Clark every few minutes. It was like nature videography. Come see the wild Kryptonian in his natural environment. Disguised as a mild-mannered reporter for a major metropolitan newspaper, this strange visitor from another planet…what? What did he do?

Well, right now, he was holding his son in his lap as Jason carefully explained the intricacies of a crayon drawing. Perry sneaked another glance. The two were so alike. The relationship was obvious for those with eyes to see.

Perry sighed. Then he dragged his attention back to his regular work, forcing himself to deal with laggard reporters, stories in dire need of grammatical correction, an editorial demanding composition. But throughout the day, Perry couldn't stop himself from staring at Clark Kent.

******************

Perry tossed and turned in his bed. He mentally rehearsed the conversation with Kent a thousand times. What would Clark do?

Perry stumbled into the newsroom early, his eyes bloodshot from lack of sleep. He let the assistant editor handle the staff meeting, careful not to react when Neal began assigning pieces on Superman.

"Eduardo – I want you to keep on working on the harbor cleanup. What have you got so far?"

"Well, Neal, most of the debris from Lex Luthor's island is way out to sea, past the twelve-mile limit, but a few boulders landed in the harbor. They're pretty big. The city will be pulling in dredgers and divers from up and down the coast. It's a hazard to marine navigation. That's not even counting the boats that sank in the earthquake. It's going to take quite some time to get all that cleaned up."

"Patricia."

"Yes?"

"How are the man-on-the-street interviews coming along?"

"Well, so far I've got the guy who fell off the high rise that Superman caught, three guys from Metropolis Power and Light who were almost blown up when the gas lines caught on fire but didn't because Superman saved them, and a bunch of people who were on First Street when the glass came tumbling down."

"And?"

"Superman incinerated it with his heat vision, nobody was hurt."

"You won't get much out of those interviews, but try to dress it up," said the assistant editor. "Superman rescues have been done a thousand times already. Just try to make it fresh."

"OK, Neal." Patricia made a few discreet notes into her PDA.

"Get the story," the assistant editor said. He turned. "Mitch! How is the baseball team coming on the removal of that airplane from the playing field?"

Perry shot a glance at Lois. She'd been on that plane which had carried the space shuttle. Lex Luthor's first blackout had caused an electromagnetic pulse which had lobotomized the software necessary to have the shuttle detach. Unable to separate from its carrier airplane, the shuttle had carried the jet up into the stratosphere, and the shuttle exhaust had set the tail of the jet on fire. Had Superman not intervened, all aboard would have died, either from oxygen deprivation at apogee, or later on, when the ungainly contraption crashed to Earth. Lois maintained a stony countenance, keeping an apparent façade of indifference at what must have been a terrifying episode.

Superman had separated the shuttle from its carrier, given the shuttle a push into orbit, then gone back to rescue the hurtling plane. In the frightening tumble back into Earth's gravitational well, both wings had come off the airplane. Superman had stopped the falling jet body with literally no time to spare. Perry spared a minute to look at Kent. The tall reporter had an amused countenance. Perry had to give him kudos – without Superman's save, the jet would have crashed and killed everyone aboard, along with whoever on the ground happened to be at the crash site. In this case, the crash site might well have been the stadium for the Metropolis baseball team. Perry shivered as he thought of the carnage that might have occurred in the bowl-like stadium – jet fuel exploding and burning, a blast wave from the crash rippling against the confining walls….Horror averted once more by…a mild-mannered reporter.

"Um, the team isn't making much progress, Neal," Mitch said. "All the heavy equipment is being used for earthquake repairs. The team is getting antsy – they've had to cancel one home stand already." He chuckled. "Actually, I've heard that the team executives are asking around if Superman would be willing to take the jet out of there."

"Come on!" Neal said, amidst laughter from the other reporters. "Superman does what he does. He isn't an errand boy so the Metropolitans can cram in more fans." Perry saw Clark smile too.

"I know, Neal," Mitch said, laughing too. Then he turned a little more serious. "Major league baseball, and the government, are going to put out an offer to Superman – they'll take whatever it would cost to get the jet out of there and donate that amount to a charity of Superman's choice. Which, knowing the big blue guy, will probably be the Superman Foundation. And, honestly, the team didn't ask to get a jet dumped in the middle of their baseball diamond."

Perry shot a look at Kent from under lowered eyelids. From his perch behind the seated reporters, the tall man asked, "Just out of curiosity, Mitch, where do they want Superman to take the plane?"

"I heard them say the Space Center in Florida. The NASA guys really want to dissect out this plane and compare it to the shuttle, look over the software and everything, see if they can figure out what exactly went wrong," the short sports reporter said. His height didn't reflect his talent. The Planet rejoiced in no less than seven Pulitzers won by Mitch, a reporter with a talent for making sports writing serve as a prism for life. "That's why they want Superman to do it. Otherwise, they'll have to cut it up into pieces to get it out of there, and it'll take forever. And cutting it up – any more than it is already, with the wings off - would probably damage evidence, make it harder for them to do their plane autopsy." He took a sip of water. "Heck, NASA or the government should double the bounty for Superman to do it. It would be worth it to them."

Perry shrugged. It probably would be.

Mitch continued teasingly, "I think Superman should hold out for Metropolitans season tickets too."

"Hey, watch it! If Big Blue takes that plane out of there, he's supposed to be rewarded, not punished!" Neal quipped. The assembled reporters laughed at the humor involving Metropolis' perennially losing baseball team.

Perry again shot a glance at Clark. Superman can't use season tickets. He likes baseball but he only goes once or twice a year. Maybe because he's pretty busy? Having two jobs really cuts into your free time, you know.

Clark had a tiny smile on his lips.

"Well, if the officials are going to put out a request for Superman, the Planet will print it," Neal said, not bothering to look at Perry for approval. None needed – Perry concurred. It was Planet policy to print newsworthy items like that.

Perry idly wondered if Clark would go ahead and move the plane – money didn't seem to motivate Clark much. And it wasn't like Superman didn't have other things to do. Neal was right – Superman wasn't an errand boy.

On the other hand, Mitch had given some good reasons for Superman to help. And, in a sense, it was Superman's mess. And Perry had noticed that Clark Kent was a pretty tidy guy. He looked over and saw Clark's tiny smile again. Suddenly Perry felt certain that Superman would be taking that plane out of Metropolis Stadium soon. As soon as the Planet printed the story, in fact – just let the official request get into the media. And Perry would use his awesome editorial powers to make sure that the Planet put pressure on the government to double the bounty. He only hoped that Kent - no, Superman in this case - would give enough warning so that the Planet could cover the story. Somehow, Perry thought he would. He smiled as he remembered a long-ago nighttime interview with Superman. The Man of Steel had said, "I have a special relationship with the Daily Planet." Yeah, we sign your paychecks, thought Perry. That's your special relationship. He snickered.

Perry remained lost in thought for the rest of the meeting. Clark was assigned some puff pieces, nothing that should take him too long to complete. Lois was finishing up her exclusive story of Lex Luthor's megalomaniacal plan. Perry saw that once again, she looked past Clark, barely acknowledged him. Ever since Clark had returned from his five-year world trip – no, from his intergalactic travels to Krypton – Lois hadn't really greeted him, hadn't really talked to him. Perry noticed that now. Why was that? Was it because she had a kid now? Because she had a fiancé now?

But they had to talk. Knowing what he knew now, Perry was willing to bet that Lois and Clark were going to have some deep conversations in the next few days. He decided to throw Clark a bone.

The meeting ended and reporters scattered. "Kent! Lane! In my office!" Perry growled. The two fell into step behind him, most of the other reporters having already exited the conference room. The three entered Perry's office and he shut the door.

"Lois?"

"Yes, Perry?"

"How are you feeling?" Perry's tenderness surprised even himself. But the mention of the airplane had put him in Lois' shoes for a moment. In the last week, she'd almost died in a horrific plane crash, been kidnapped, had her son threatened in front of her, seen her onetime lover in a coma….surely repeated blows could damage even the strongest of souls. Perry shot a quick glance at Kent. The tall reporter had pulled his glasses down and was staring at Lois with a peculiar unfocused gaze. Perry's heartbeat shot up at the realization that Superman was checking Lois Lane for injury. Not for the first time, he thought.

"I'm fine," Lois said dismissively. Perry gave her a steady look, which she returned. Out of the corner of his eye, Perry caught Clark pushing his glasses back up and looking relieved.

"OK, then, Lois," Perry said. "But if you need some time off….if you need to get caught up, or whatever, you've got it coming."

"I'll be fine," Lois said again.

"OK." Perry turned so that Clark and Lois both faced him.

"Clark, Lois, I want you to finish up what you're doing today. Then tomorrow, I'm putting you both on the Lex Luthor search."

Clark raised his eyebrows, nodded.

"Perry!" Lois said. Was she surprised?

"As Jimmy said, Lex Luthor has more bad history with Superman than anyone," Perry said, carefully not looking at Clark. He hoped that Clark wasn't picking up on his accelerating heartbeat. If he was, there was nothing Perry could do about it. Talking to Superman directly, even with the hero incognito, still made Perry just a tad shaky. Lois was the buffer, although she didn't realize it.

"What about Richard?" Lois asked.

"What about him?" Perry retorted. "Yeah, he was with you, helped you save Superman. But now he's got work to do in the international section." He firmed his voice. "You and Clark are my best team. I want you two to do the Luthor story."

"Thanks, Perry," Clark said softly.

"Lois, don't forget," Perry said, "after Superman, you're the one with the next most bad history with Lex Luthor." He held her gaze. "I think as far as he's concerned, it's him or you. I don't want it to be you." Or your son, or my nephew, he added mentally. With an inner wave of humor, Perry thought, I think your reporting partner can take care of himself.

He stood up, his body language ending the meeting. "So, again, finish up what you're doing today. Start the Luthor story tomorrow."

"OK." Lois knew not to argue when Perry got that tone in his voice. She exited the office, once again not acknowledging Clark.

"Clark," Perry said.

"Yes?"

"Can you go out for coffee this evening?" Their code phrase again. It meant that one of them wanted to talk AA stuff.

Clark gave him a look of mild surprise; it had been a long time since their last coffee meeting. "Sure, Perry."

"OK. The Delmar at six."

"OK." Clark gave Perry one more curious look, then went out to the bustling newsroom. Perry saw him head hopefully to Lois' desk and walk away disappointed. Lois had already left the newsroom.