Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Lois & Clark Fanfic Undercover Reporter: Resurrection (1/17)

Summary: Following a stray clue thrown to her in the aftermath of the Luthor Corp collapse, Lois finds herself partnered with Superman in a dangerous investigation. In the meantime, the pair attempt to make their fledgling relationship work around their new normal, never knowing that this story may be Lois' last. A sequel to Undercover Reporter (Revelation), this story is set in Season 2, post-TOGOM, in a world where Clark never make it back to his old life.




“Any time now!” she said testily, looking up into the sky.

He was supposed to be here by now.

Obviously, he was running late.

Sure, there was probably a good excuse — there was always a good excuse. A really good one, actually. A life or death one.

But that didn’t mean it wouldn’t be nice if he showed up right about now, Lois thought, risking a dizzying glance down.

Palms sweating, she hoped it was something simple this time, like catching an imperiled jumbo jet mid-air, and not something time-consuming, like digging a village out of a mudslide.

She’d cross her fingers if she had a free hand…




Clark adjusted his grip on the airplane set across his shoulders, fighting against the buffeting wind just above the Rockies that was stubbornly trying to pitch the plane into a mountainside. Atlas-like, he guided it safely past the tallest of the craggy peaks.

It sounded like the auxiliary power had finally kicked in, but he kept his grip tight anyway. He’d guide the plane all the way down to the ground, to be sure that he didn’t risk the passengers inside.

He could hear them cheering his name.

Superman had saved the day.

Superman always saved the day.

And he was glad he could help.

It was just…

He forced himself to keep hold of his neutral mask, his perennial ‘Superman’ expression, even though he knew that he was hidden in the night sky, especially at this altitude.

The needs of the people on the planet below him seemed to amplify unendingly in the days since he’d left Clark Kent behind. These days, he found the rescues somehow both challenging and repetitive. It hadn’t always been like this. Rescues had once been a highlight of a regular life, when he was fully integrated with society and the people he was rescuing. But that was back when he had a regular life.

He never imagined that he could think this, but sometimes… helping people wasn’t quite as fulfilling as he’d once imagined it would be. It meant everything[i/] to those he helped, and it meant an immeasurable amount to him, too, to be able to save a life. But since rescuing had become the sole reason for his existence, he often caught himself wishing that this wasn't his [i]whole everything. And it worried him what Lois and his parents might say to that. So he dug in, and pushed himself harder to keep helping. Surely if he helped enough, if he saved enough people, he would start to feel a sense of balance again.

Helping is what Superman did, he reinforced to himself. ...As if he could ever forget.

Superman had been working double and triple shifts over the last six months. As a Kryptonian, he didn’t need as much sleep as most people did. Now that he had no reason to keep up any pretense that he observed a regular human’s schedule, he had simply let it go.

He had let go of a lot of things in his life lately. He tried not to track them, to let the changes come as they would, but...

Just the thought threatened to weigh him down far more than the jumbo jet balanced across his back.

But he pushed that thought aside.

He had a date tonight, and he didn’t want any stray melancholy to linger, to even subtly mar the comforting embrace of a date with Lois. After all, he and Lois had enough trouble finding quality time together as it was.

It made him wonder, for the three-hundred-thousandth time, what would have happened if Clark Kent hadn’t died on that casino floor.

Sometimes he wondered if they would still be dating now if he’d been able to keep on living his life as Clark Kent. Or would they have gotten together months earlier than they had, instead of living separate lives for so long? Would Lois have been happier that way?

Would things be this hard?

Because even though he and Lois were often together, and their relationship had definitely surged forward, it felt like they were somehow in limbo.

Just like the rest of his personal life.

It was tricky for Superman to date, as he always knew it would be. And that was the sum total of who he was now.

Stolen moments on the roof of the Planet, quick interactions after rescues, long nights of more work than play during investigations, and a few dinners with his folks in Smallville had sustained them over the last few months.

Every moment with her restored him. It was the only time that he felt like himself, that he could relax into a sense of normalcy. Each moment with Lois was a gift.

But in too many of those moments, they were still working most of the time. So many of their discreet, attempted dates had been interrupted by either an investigation breaking or a rescue happening. And neither the decrepit warehouses she dragged them to, nor the dirty alleyways he dropped them off in could exactly be considered romantic.

The six months they’d spent apart hadn’t exactly done their relationship many favors either. He could never regret stepping in front of that bullet – he was grateful he’d been able to take the hit, instead of Lois.

But at the same time …he really wished he hadn’t had to step in front of that bullet.

He’d give anything to go back and change that night.

Anything, of course, except Lois.

If he had a thousand chances to relive that night, he would take that bullet for Lois every time.

Clark Kent had tried so hard to find another path for them. But time had run out on him.

Any hope for that future together, too, was just another example of something he’d had to let go of in this new world where only Superman existed.

Instead, he and Lois focused on the ‘here’ and the ‘now.’

They’d sorted through a lot after the night of Lois’ revelation. Her grief had been unexpectedly deep. In fact, it had been the only thing, outside of the familial obligation he felt toward his parents, to convince him to continue to come around at all. He couldn’t have just left her mired in the bleak place she’d been after his death. He’d had to tell her.

He never had been able to resist Lois.

He just wished that he could give her the future that she deserved.

Sometimes, in the very back of his brain, just for a moment, he even wished that they could leave behind the rest of the world – including the mess he’d made of their lives. They could live far beyond the reach of the masses he hid his identity from, far from everyone who’d known Clark, who wanted to hurt Lois, who inimically sought Superman.

And she would be safe.

And they could have a life – together.

But, he reminded himself, that wasn’t what Superman did.

He cast those thoughts aside, determined to clear his mind. Instead, he mentally calculated how much time was left before she’d be in his arms again.

Focusing back on the lights of the nearing Denver International Airport, the jumbo jet on his back felt lighter at the thought of seeing her.