Author's note: refers to events in the "Smallville" TV series fourth-season episode, "Pariah".
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Two weeks later
"Perry," Lois said as she hung awkwardly half-in, half-out of the door of his office, "can we go out for coffee this evening?"
Perry looked up in surprise. "Been awhile since we've done that, Lois," he said. He gestured to Lois, and she moved into the office.
"Yeah, but….I need to talk," she said.
Perry gave her a sharp look. "About a certain reporter whose desk is near yours?"
Lois shrugged. "Uh-huh." She seemed strangely diffident. "And there are certain….well, usually I'd talk with the girlfriends –"
Perry interrupted. "Lois, you don't have any girlfriends. Mad Dog Lane doesn't."
"—but certain unique characteristics of Clark's and my situation make you the only person who I could possibly talk to about this," Lois went on, ignoring Perry's interruption.
A gofer came up, waving a message form at Perry. Irritated, he gave the gofer the patented Glare of Death. Unfortunately, it didn't work – the young man stubbornly remained un-ashed.
"OK, then, the Delmar at six."
"Thanks, Chief," Lois replied.
"And stop calling me Chief!" Perry shot at Lois as she retreated.
*******************
The clink of silverware and the drone of conversation reached Perry's ears as he slipped into the booth seat. Carlos, the busboy, brought Perry a glass of ice water within thirty seconds. Lois already had her glass.
"Thanks, Carlos," Perry said, taking a sip. He needed it – yelling at people all day long dried out his throat.
"Thanks for coming, Perry," Lois said quietly, at the same time.
"Ah, I'd come for you, you know that, Lois," Perry said jokingly. "And it's Alice's women's club night. And she's the hostess. If you hadn't set this up I was going to have to go home and make conversation with about twenty-five very frightening women."
"I know it's her women's group night," Lois said. "That's why I asked you tonight. I am an investigative reporter, after all." She fixed Perry with a stern gaze. "And those ladies are raising money for scholarships for women's higher education."
"That's the real reason I want to avoid even being around that meeting," Perry confessed. "Every time I meet some of those ladies at a club event, I end up making a huge donation to their projects."
Lois started laughing.
"I mean it!" Perry started laughing too. "When they have those events where the husbands attend as well….let's just say that my wallet's a lot thinner afterward."
"Sorry, Perry, but I'm with the ladies on this one. I can't forget that I actually got a scholarship from their group that helped me get through Met U."
"I'm glad to see those donations weren't wasted then, Lois," Perry said, losing his joking attitude. "My loss is the Planet's gain."
Teresa, the waitress, came, and took their order for coffee and dessert. As she walked away, the two made desultory conversation until Perry's apple pie and Lois' chocolate cheesecake were delivered.
Perry leaned forward onto the tired Formica table, and lowered his voice. Lois unconsciously copied his motion.
"Lois, what do you really want to say?" Perry asked.
"It's difficult…." She said, avoiding his gaze. Then she snorted. "You wouldn't think I make my living with words."
Perry said, "I wanted to ask you how it's going with Clark. I'm assuming that's what this is all about?" He glanced up at the camera on the ceiling that surveilled the cash register area. "Nothing too specific, right?"
Lois nodded. "You know, Clark told me that he automatically sweeps every room, every place he enters, for surveillance devices. It's just a habit with him now."
"I can see why. He told me that too," Perry said. "Did he put the little, um – " he whispered, "Kryptonian, um, crystal in your phone that he said would make it un-eavesdroppable?" Perry replied.
"Yes," Lois said. "It annoyed me, but then I realized what a great idea it was. You know the government can use your cell phone as a microphone if it wants to."
"Yeah, unless you turn it off and take the battery out," Perry said. "I knew that. And cell phones are so insecure anyway. You know that."
"Yes." The two glanced away from each other, and took another bite of dessert. Silence reigned.
"How's the Lex Luthor story going, then?" Perry asked. Better to start with something neutral.
"I think we're really getting some good leads," Lois smiled. "Not that the police haven't investigated, but what helps is that Clark and I knew Lex back in our younger days in Smallville. We know how he thinks." A frown crossed her face. "That's actually kind of scary, to know that we think like Lex Luthor."
"Honey," Perry said gently, "has Clark been, um, talking with you? And you started remembering stuff?"
She looked away again. "He told you, huh?" Lois seemed near tears.
Perry snorted. "He didn't tell me till after he'd done it to me," he said, still with a hint of bitterness. The violation of his mind was the hardest to forgive, even though Perry had told Clark that he had forgiven the younger man. "He started talking to me, and I started remembering some pretty, um, unusual stuff," Perry finished, indicating with a glance the diners in the booths and tables nearby theirs, implying that they had to talk in circumlocutions. "I was pretty mad at him."
Lois nodded.
"And I suppose it's worse for you," Perry added. He'd wondered about this for quite some time, after Clark had confessed how close he had been to Lois in Smallville, and how many memories Lois had had taken away.
Lois began crying quietly. It almost frightened Perry – Lois Lane never cried. Awkwardly, she pulled some Kleenex out of her purse and blew her nose. "I remember a lot more, now, Perry," she said. She looked very tired. "When we were in Smallville – when we were young – I had some pretty strong feelings for Clark," she confessed.
"Um," Perry said, noncommittally.
Lois went on, the floodgates opening. Bitterly, she said, "And all he could think about at first was Lana Lang."
Perry raised his eyebrows. "Not the Lana who later became – "
"—Lana Luthor. Yep. Lex Luthor's wife." Lois took a sip of her coffee. "And I had a front-row seat to their on-again, off-again romance. And, every time it fell through, or they had an argument, in their soap-opera lives, who would Clark come to? Friend Chloe, that's who."
"Lois," Perry said, this time very quietly, "Chloe Sullivan is gone. Remember?"
"Uh-huh," Lois said, taking in his warning and then ignoring it. "God, I was such a sap!" Fiery Lois was back. "Supporting him all that time! That BDA!"
"BDA?" Perry enquired.
"Big Dumb" – she leaned closer in to whisper – "Alien."
Perry couldn't help but smile. She was so right.
"Back in Smallville, Clark was always involved in some meteor freak-of-the-week attack, and he'd come in and save the day," Lois said pensively. "I'm beginning to remember that now. And then – it was before I knew, Perry – he'd always have some lame excuse for the crazy stuff that happened. I can't believe I missed it then. I mean, his excuses were so bad."
"Actually, when did you find out Clark's secret?" Perry asked, interested. He knew from his own experiences that she must have known it when she began working at the Planet.
"Senior year of high school," Lois said. "I'm ashamed to admit this, Perry, but I didn't figure it out on my own."
Perry raised his eyebrows.
Lois said, "Well, in my defense, who'd have thought, you know, alien?"
"That is a little unusual," Perry allowed solemnly. "So how did you figure it out?"
"Actually, Clark was outed by someone," Lois said slowly. "It's coming back to me now." She sipped coffee. "Another girl – she was a meteor freak – had found out his secret and she was mentally unstable. She set up a situation where he'd have to use his abilities in front of me."
"Situation?" Perry said.
"Yeah. She arranged an accident where Clark had to catch a runaway car in midair," Lois said quietly, glancing at the diners in the nearby booths to make sure they were engrossed in their own conversations. "Let me tell you, it was a shock to see."
"I can only imagine."
"And this girl thought that, since I was a reporter, I'd plaster Clark's secret all over the front page." Lois stirred her coffee nervously. "Obviously, I didn't."
"I've always thought you loyal to your friends, Lois."
"And he danced around the truth for another six months, until finally I pinned him down and made him admit it to me," Lois said.
A memory teased Perry. "Did this have something to do with a forty-story igloo?" he asked
Lois' eyes widened. "He told you about the Fortress?" she asked, her words now barely audible.
"Uh-huh," Perry said, not wanting to go into all else that Clark had told him about that event.
Lois let it pass too, going on to another topic.
"Clark was still in love with Lana then. And all the time, Lana was going on and on to both me and Clark about his secrets and lies," Lois continued, now working into a rant. "And I had found out, um, about Clark, and I kept on telling him to tell Lana, and be honest with her, and he wasn't, and then now I find out he hasn't been honest with me and I thought we were friends and I thought he cared about me! And all the time, he's been, well, you know who, and lying to me, and laughing at me behind his face!" She'd worked herself into tears again, Perry noted.
She blew her nose defiantly and loudly. Leaning over the table towards Perry again, she said fiercely, "Clark Kent is a big fat liar!"
"Uh-huh," Perry agreed. It was actually kind of nice to be with someone who could rant as well as Lois and express the feelings that Perry still had.
"All the times I thought he was going out to see a source…." Lois went on.
"Uh-huh," Perry said. Lois was on a roll.
"And, I thought we were good friends," Lois said angrily, but with a note of wistfulness. "I told him I'd never betray – " she leaned toward Perry again and whispered "- his secret." Leaning back, she said more loudly, "And what does he do?" Lois asked rhetorically. "He makes it so I don't have the choice. He didn't trust me. He didn't believe me."
"Uh-huh," Perry said again.
"I mean, Perry, you know me!" Lois gesticulated, almost knocking over her coffee cup. "Am I the kind of person who won't keep her sources confidential? Am I a blabbermouth?"
"No," Perry said.
"And, that weasel! That snake! He didn't trust me! How can I trust him now?" Lois' face paled. "What if he does it again?"
"He said he wouldn't," Perry offered, playing devil's advocate.
"You know, Perry," Lois said seriously, "ever since I knew that Clark was –" she mouthed the word "Superman", not saying it out loud, "after I found out what those glasses could do – what he could do with them – you know, that's the first time I've really been afraid of him."
"Yeah, me too," Perry surprised himself by agreeing.
"Because, you know, beating someone or killing someone or whatever – that's just physical. But what he did to me - that was changing my identity. My soul," Lois went on.
"I felt the same way when I realized," Perry confessed. "That's why I was so angry."
They shared an empathetic glance, then as one, ate a bite of dessert. Then another bite.
Perry felt the stirrings of conscience. Much as he wanted to dump on Clark right now, it wasn't getting them any further ahead. He needed harmony in his newsroom, and he needed Lois Lane acting like the Pulitzer-winning reporter she was and could be.
"Well, in his defense," Perry said, "He did say that he hadn't intended for it to happen. And he didn't know how to reverse it till now."
"He told me that first off," Lois said.
"You know, honey," Perry began. He was feeling very avuncular tonight.
"What?"
"Clark goes to Friendly Friday meetings with me."
"Clark? Why?"
"He said he had a run-in with some designer drugs when he was younger," Perry said. At Lois' look of incomprehension, he leaned over and murmured to her, "Red Kryptonite?"
He saw understanding bloom in her face.
"And I know he's trying to work the program," Perry went on.
"And?" Lois said slowly.
"Part of the program is teaching you to be honest with yourself and others," Perry said. "If you're not honest, you're going to go back to your old habits." He took another bite of pie. "And then, if you're a serious drinker like myself, you'll die."
"Clark wouldn't die from Red K," Lois demurred.
"That's not the point," Perry said. "All I can tell you is that Clark is trying to work the program. And no matter how mad we are at him, he's said that he won't do, you know, the glasses thing again. I think he's being honest with us. And, even though it still irks me sometimes, I'm going to trust him."
Lois sighed. "I don't know if I can do that yet, Perry."
"I don't blame you, Lois. He hurt you the most."
She looked away. "Yes."
"All I can say is, for me, please keep working with him. Please keep talking with him. Get back everything he took from you. Maybe you'll never be able to trust him again. Can you at least work with him? Can you be civil to him – for the sake of your son?" Perry cast the last barb sharply.
Lois looked away again and took another bite of pie. "I guess I have to," she said slowly.
