Thanks to Labrat for betareading this. I have been lurking here for a couple years, and used to write in high school. I LOVE all the stories on these boards and couldn't seem to resist trying my hand at it. As always, the characters aren't mine, I just borrowed them blah blah blah.
Thanks,
Marcy
“Lois! Clark! In my office right now!”Perry bellowed from the door of his office.
It had been a slow news week, and everyone was keeping a low profile so as to avoid decapitation from one of Perry's frustrated growls, even his star reporters. Lois, who had been thoroughly engrossed in the important task of balancing her pencil on her chin, jumped noticeably at the sound and immediately rose to her feet. Looking around, she could see Clark was - not surprisingly - AWOL.
“Where is he?” she muttered to herself, immediately cursing whatever cheese of the month shipment he was probably engrossed in at the moment. Only somewhere like Smallville could make somebody that weird, she assured herself. Off to Perry's office she went, fists clenched and prepared to do battle.
“What is it, Chief?”
“Where is that dagblasted partner of yours? Every time I need you two lately, he is nowhere to be found. “
“Don't ask me, Chief. What do I look like? His zookeeper? He's probably off to get his monthly cheese fix. You're the one who hired him! You should have known someone versed in knobtailed geckos was not going to pan out as a reliable employee!...” Lois was just about to enter full rant mode when Perry interrupted.
“Now, Lois, I've enough ire this week for all of us. I was just hopin' you two could tell me that there is somethin' you're lookin' into that maybe has the slightest POSSIBILITY of becoming a story because it's not lookin' good from where I sit. We got nothin' for tomorrow's front page besides the AKC's dog show this week being in town. Great shades of Elvis! I'll retire before a dog show makes the front page of this newspaper! This is not the Metropolis Star, for cryin' out loud! Please tell me you've got somethin'....”
“Sorry, Chief, I wish I had good news. Since the pheromone story last week, I've been high and dry. I had one lead I followed yesterday, but it didn't pan out. I was just thinking of hitting the beat just to see if I can drum up something. Honestly, I'm beginning to wonder if the criminals went on strike this week and I missed the memo. I haven't really talked to Clark this morning, so I can't speak for him. Maybe he'll grace us with his presence today and you can ask him yourself.”
“All right, well you do that. Hightail it out of this office and find me a story. When Clark gets in, you send him my way. We may need to address his lack of punctuality lately...” Perry's rant was derailed as Jimmy poked his head into the office. It was at that moment that Lois saw her chance and bolted for the safety of her own desk. She could hear Jimmy and Perry's conversation as she ducked out.
“Uh, Chief, line two. It's Alice on hold. Something about your mother-in-law coming this weekend.”
“Good grief, Jimmy, are you gonna start readin' my mail too? How long has she been on hold?”
“A couple minutes, Chief. Sorry, uh, I think the donuts are out and I'm going to go get some,” Jimmy mumbled as he ducked out as quickly as he popped in.
Lois heard Perry mutter something about Elvis not having to work under these conditions as he picked up the phone and the door closed on his office. Yep, this was definitely not turning out to be a good week.
************************************
Clark straightened his tie as he entered the elevator of the Daily Planet. Yep, this was definitely not his week, he thought to himself. Three days this week he had been late to work due to his “super” duties — he had stopped a mugging, a rape, and handled a major pileup on the freeway, consecutively — and none of them were doing wonders for his relationship with his skittish partner. Things had been a little awkward ever since Miranda had sprayed her perfume on the newsroom the week before, and having her mad at him for not being around much this week was definitely not helping things. Lois was a live wire on a good day, but this week he had been thankful that only he had the ability to shoot fire from his eyes. Otherwise, Lois would have fried him long ago with one of her toxic stares.
And to make things even more difficult for him, it seemed his libido had no sense of proper timing as memories of Lois' dance of the seven veils would spring to mind at odd occasions, most uncomfortably when she went into full Lane rant mode. Even a few nightly laps in the Arctic Ocean weren't cooling his passions very well. A sigh escaped his lips as he exited the elevator, only to be grabbed and pulled right back in.
“Where have you been all morning? Never mind, I don't want to know. You better thank me later. Perry's on a witch hunt, and your head is the next to roll thanks to your cheese fetish. What is it with you farmers anyway? Don't they have clocks in the Midwest that are on time? I hope you have a lead because Perry seems to think dog shows are in the Planet's future, and I don't intend to be the one writing them up. At the very least...”
Lois's voice droned on in a soothing haze to Clark's brain as visions of her kiss with Superman came unbidden to him. Abruptly, he shook himself. This was going to have to stop if he meant to live. Kryptonite had nothing on Mad Dog Lane.
“Lois, I'm sure something will pan out soon. You just have to keep your eyes open and chin up, “ he offered, although even he cringed inwardly as he said it.
“What's that supposed to mean? As if I don't keep my eyes open! I am the bastion of eye opening in this newsroom! Nothing escapes my attention for details, buddy. Don't lecture me on eye openingness!”
He bit his tongue before he could tell her that 'eye openingness' was not actually a word. Sometimes, he wanted to just beat his head against a wall when it came to this tiny woman. Of course, that would probably escalate things considerably when he happened to knock a hole clean through it. Nope, best to stick to tongue-biting for now.
Suddenly, silence engulfed the closet-sized space as the elevator came to a complete stop. A couple seconds passed before Lois started randomly pushing the buttons in an effort of sheer mental determination to get the elevator moving again. Nothing worked. Apparently fate had stepped in and determined that her day would only be more perfect if she spent the rest of it stuck in this elevator. With the partner she had just danced half-naked in front of last week. And had no desire to be alone with right now. Or ever, for that matter. Just as suddenly, her anger dissipated into nothingness, to be replaced by utter despair. As a minute passed in awkward silence, Lois found herself slinking down toward the floor.
Clark followed suit, finding it hard to resist the urge to pull her into a full bear hug. He settled instead for a platonic arm rub. They both stretched their legs out in front of them, comfortably surrendering to the inevitable wait.
“I'm sorry I was late again today, Lois."
“Where were you, Clark? Perry has really been on the warpath and I can't hold down the fort alone.” Lois wondered silently where on earth that had come from. What was it lately about this guy that made her feel like he was as indispensable to her as the air she breathed? She hastened to reassure herself it was the lack of any good stories making her edgy, not the lack of time spent with Clark this week.
Clark's heart lurched at her question. He hated lying to her, but what could he say? The truth sure wouldn't help right now, especially since he was trapped in this small space with her. He would most assuredly die. But, lately, the lies had sounded pretty lame, even to his mind. And he knew Lois well enough to know that honesty was something she valued. He felt reasonably confident at this point that she wouldn't sell him out for a story, but the whole idea that she preferred Superman was holding him back. He still harbored the hope that one day she would prefer Clark to Superman. And then he would tell her, he promised himself. But right this moment, after the pure openness of her question, he couldn't seem to lie either.
“ I can't tell you where I was, Lois. I wish you would just trust me that it was something I had to do. Maybe someday I'll be able to tell you, but I can't right now." He ducked his head and groaned, wondering if he wanted to die today. <Stupid, Kent, stupid! Since when does Lois ever let anyone have a secret she doesn't think she is entitled to know? And you can't exactly bolt out of here right now, can you?>
Lois' head perked up as something in her—reporter's instincts maybe- realized Clark was being more forthcoming than usual today. <So he IS keeping a secret from me! But what on earth could Clark POSSIBLY be hiding? His secret affinity to invest in corn futures?> But those same reporter's instincts seemed to feel something bigger than corn futures worthy of Clark Kent. Or maybe it was just that being kept on the outside of knowing anyone's secrets did not sit well with Lois Lane. And, for some reason unknown to her, a little sadness stirred within her too. That someone she trusted as much as she trusted-- well, anyone-- would not trust her too. So when she spoke, she was surprised to hear very little of the anger in her voice that had been there moments earlier.
“Why not, Clark? Why don't you trust me? I thought we were becoming good friends. You know my past, even about Claude. Do you think I would tell somebody?”
“No, Lois, it's not like that. Look, can we talk about this another time? I wonder what's wrong with the elevator? Is it hot in here?”
Clark shifted uncomfortably, pulling at his collar as he began to realize how cramped a space he was actually in. Beads of perspiration broke out on his forehead as Lois pinned him down with her eyes and posed questions he couldn't answer. He closed his eyes, laying his head back against the elevator wall, and swallowed the lump in his throat. Mentally he reminded himself, no head banging, no head banging.
Lois, seeing his discomfiture, immediately felt more in control of the situation. She'd interviewed enough people to know when she was close to cracking the subject. Smiling to herself, she decided maybe a less direct approach was a better tactic. <He'll never know what hit him.>
“Okay, Clark, whatever you say. I was thinking maybe we could play a game to pass the time while we wait. What'd'ya say, partner?”
Clark eyed her suspiciously. Lois never gave in that easily.
“What kind of game? I don't have any cards on me.”
“Oh, that's okay. I was thinking of something we could play without cards.”
“Like what?”
“Well, I don't know, I'm brainstorming here. How about truth or dare?”
“HA! I knew it. You're just after getting me to talk! “
“Talk about what, Clark?”
“Nice try, Lois. Any other ideas?”
Lois shrugged nonchalantly, though inwardly she was scrambling to think of some way to get him to talk. <Use your sexuality, girl! Men can never think straight when you use that running down your stories! > Concurring with her inner voice, Lois smiled demurely. Soon he would be putty in her hands.
“No really, Clark. I just thought it would be fun. If you want to do something else though, I think I have a better idea.” Slowly, almost catlike she stretched her arms over her head and arched her back. Clark's eyes nearly popped out of his sockets as her breasts strained the silk of her dress shirt. “My muscles are so tense right now I could really use a backrub. How about we take turns? I'll even let you go first. Come on, turn around.” And she suited words to action by turning toward him and positioning herself standing on her knees, with Clark seated on the floor in front of her.
Though his head was screaming DANGER! Clark found himself unable to refuse her request as she gently guided him with her hands to turn away from her. It was a rare opportunity that Lois would focus her attention on him like this, and he knew not to look a gift horse in the mouth. Compliantly, he allowed her to help him out of his suit coat and his arms dropped awkwardly to his sides. His mouth went dry and he felt a warmth diffuse through him, emanating from the tips of Lois' fingers at the top of his back as she went to work.
Working in slow, sensual circles over the cotton of his shirt, Lois smiled to herself as she saw Clark working his hands into fists beside the floor.
Moving her hands lower down his back, she wondered at the sharp intake of breath she heard coming from him. But as she continued to work on him, she forgot herself as she marveled at the hardness of his muscles, how perfectly they seemed to be placed on him, no spare flesh anywhere. Was it getting hot in this elevator, she wondered. Because it was fairly clear she was feeling a little lightheaded and short of breath.
And it was at that second, pressing the cotton of his shirt onto him, that her eyes noticed something. A tint of blue on a white shirt that wasn't supposed to be tinted blue. Her circling slowed as she examined it more closely. More bluish tint, and then lower, a hint of red. And from this angle, behind him, it would be really easy to imagine that was someone else's head.
Slowly, shaking as she did it, she raised one hand up to touch his hair, which caused another groan out of the blissfully ignorant offending party. As she smoothed it back gently, the pieces slammed together like a car wreck at an intersection. As Lois struggled to process the information trying to integrate itself into one picture in her brain, she did something she hadn't done ever... she fainted.
