- from part 12

Suddenly a thought came to Lois and she grabbed Jimmy's arm, grinning widely as she pulled him in the direction of her jeep. "Come on, we must have more than enough evidence for Perry now, let's get back to the Planet and start writing. With a bit of luck it will make the morning edition."

Jimmy jogged along behind her, glancing down at his wet and muddy clothes with a grimace. "Can't I get changed first? I don't want to risk bumping into Elle from research like this because she is really cute and if I'm lucky I think might get her to go out with me."

"Jimmy, it's the middle of the night. It'll just be you, me, Perry and a couple of security guards," she swung round to look at him as they reached her car, "besides, Elle's dating Joe from sports. Now shut up, don't even *start* moping, and get in the car. I'm gonna need those photos."

Jimmy watched as Lois jumped into the jeep and started the engine, shaking his head in heartbroken despair. "Heartless. She's just heartless."

*.*.*.

Part Thirteen

*.*.*.

Lois hid in a doorway and watched the formation of colonists trek through the Messenger to... well she actually had no idea where they were going, because her own papers were fake. She hadn't had the full briefing weeks ago about what to expect, just the short talk before they'd entered the shuttle. She shut the door and saw a seat and harness in the room she'd hidden in. She sat down and strapped herself in with a self-satisfied smile. Perry had run her article that morning after she and Jimmy had returned to the Planet and told him everything they had found out. EPRAD had discovered the same problem with the Messenger that had caused the earlier explosion and corrected it, so she knew that she was perfectly safe now. Lois' conscience was nagging at her that she should be spending all her effort on exposing Luthor and Bureau 39 for Clark, but when Bobby had told her he could get these papers for her she felt it was just too big an opportunity to pass up. Hopefully Clark would understand. She groaned, realising just how much she was missing him. She would never have thought that this was possible, falling so deeply in love with someone she'd only known for a few days, it just wasn't Lois Lane's style but it had happened nonetheless. She wasn't entirely sure that she liked it; she liked feeling in control in her relationships but she wasn't in this one. No one was. Still, it *was* like her to jump in without checking the water level first, so perhaps she hadn't completely changed after all.

As her eyes roamed unseeing over the wall opposite, a bleeping noise reached her ears. She furrowed her brow, trying to focus on it as she blocked out the firing of the rocket. She saw it. A small timer was counting down on the opposite wall. Her heart sank. It was a bomb. What was it with people trying to blow her up? First yesterday, now today. Lois grit her teeth as the identity of the perpetrator sprung into her mind. Luthor. It had to be. He didn't want the Messenger to go up, he wanted to sabotage it. When his more elaborate schemes had failed, he must have decided to go back to the classics. She unstrapped herself and ran to the door, ignoring the rocking of the Messenger as the boosters flared beneath her. She banged on the firmly locked door, yelling out but even if there were someone out there, they'd never have heard her shouts over the loud background noise. Realising it was pointless, Lois looked around the room and spotted some loose wires and a wire cutter. Storing the point of safety away in her head for a later article, should she survive *this* attempt on her life, she picked the cutters up and started breaking the wires. Surely someone at control would realise that something was wrong and the Messenger would be grounded and evacuated. If they could evacuate in one minute or less. An image of wheelchair-bound Amy Platt came into her head and she sniffed a little. Lois gripped onto the handles of the wire cutter as she moved onto a second wire, ignoring the sparks that were shooting out at her. She sighed as she realised the Messenger had stilled and the roar of the engines had stopped. They had a chance. She moved away to the bomb; less than a minute to go. Maybe not so much of a chance. Lois pulled the front of the bomb off, the timer hanging from the explosives by wires and she stared blankly at what she found inside. Surely Luthor could have been considerate enough to install an 'off' button for her? She felt a rush of air against her side and stared wide-eyed at what she saw beside her. Clark gave her a lopsided smile, before paying his attention to the ticking bomb.

He'd almost laughed out loud at Lois' expression when she'd seen him. So far he'd done all his rescues in a black outfit, this was the first time he'd been so noticeable, in more ways than one. His eyes fell on the displaced timer. He'd been meaning to read up on things like bomb disposal; after rescuing Lois and her friend last night he thought such things might come in useful but he hadn't got round to it yet. Now there were less than twenty seconds left and this thing was going to blow. Well, in for a penny...

Lois gaped as she saw Clark's fingers reach inside Luthor's bomb and pull the explosive out. He gave her an even more impish grin as he put it in his mouth and swallowed. "Clark!" she had barely hissed out the 'k' at the end of the name as the bomb exploded inside him.

He burped, "'Scuse me."

"You, you, you idiot! How could you be so sure that wouldn't kill you?!" Her anger rose further as he just shrugged her question off. Then a second thought came to Lois. "You probably could have eaten that pasta I cooked."

This time he did laugh. "Probably," he agreed with her.

As Lois' heart started to slow down and beat at a more normal rate, she took a proper look at what Clark was wearing. Her eyes wandered to his face and realised that he was blushing under her scrutiny. "Well, there aren't many men who could pull off an outfit like that. It's very, er, tight and quite garish, in a sexy way." She amended, her eyes once again taking in it's tight fight over his well-formed body. "I know you're an alien and all that, Clark; but you do realise that your underwear is supposed to be worn on the inside, right?"

He opened his mouth to respond but instead tilted his head to the side as if he was listening to something Lois couldn't hear. "Look, I can't explain all this now," he told her, almost absently as he continued concentrating on whatever it was, "but the passengers are disembarking and well," he looked back at her with a guilty look on his face, "can you pretend that you've never met me before and you haven't the faintest idea who, or what, I am?"

Lois didn't attempt to hide her puzzled look. "Sure. Am I allowed to have worked out that you're the flying man, though, because that's kind of obvious?"

"That's fine. Come on."

She followed him out to where the confused passengers had congregated by the unopened exit. Lois noticed how unsure Clark was, despite the fact that it had been his idea to join them, so she spoke first. "There was a bomb. He... he ate it."

The colonists watched Clark grin at Lois' speech, but it seemed to be enough to let him find his own tongue. He turned his focus to the disabled girl in front of him. "Hi."

"Hi," she smiled back at him. "I like your costume."

"Thank you. My mother made it for me." He heard Lois' confused whisper of 'Mother?' behind his back, but ignored it and continued to speak to the girl, "what's your name?"

"Amy. Amy Platt. Who are you?"

Clark paused, thinking, before he stuttered out, "I'm a friend."

"Can you teach me how to fly?"

"Not fly. But once this lab is operational, walk. That's very possible."

Any further conversation was stopped by a female voice coming through the speakers to them from control. "Attention, colonists. The mission has been scrubbed. Prepare to disembark."

A disappointed groan rippled through the colonists. "That's it, then. It's all over," said one man fatalistically.

"Why?" Lois piped up in full reporter mode, still regretting missing out on all their previous meetings.

Mrs. Platt turned the focus of her attention from Clark to the reporter behind him. "Once the thrusters have been fired, they have to be replaced."

"We lose our launch window," the man continued.

"Yes."

"We just have to forget about space station Prometheus."

Clark glanced at Lois, then confidently faced the crowd. "No, you don't. There's nothing wrong with this transport vehicle or the station. You only need to get there."

"How are they supposed to do that?" Lois asked him, as a ball of dread knotted in her stomach at what she suspected was going to be his answer.

"Easy," Clark's grin was back, "I'll give them a boost." He headed towards the exit, leaving a group of very confused people behind him. As Lois rushed to his side, a world of questions bubbling away in her head, officials from mission control came through the door.

The pair stopped in their tracks as security guards pointed their guns at them. "OK, hold it right there. Everybody, show us your passes."

"I don't have a pass." Clark told them honestly.

"Sir, you'll have to come with us," said one of the guards, who then turned his attention to Lois. "Now, you miss." Slowly, Lois took out the pass Bobby Bigmouth had given her and watched as it was examined by the security guards. "This is fake. Take this one as well," the guard then moved on to the Platts.

"Wait," said Clark, realising this could take quite some time and he was now on a schedule. "I was going to fly the Messenger to Prometheus."

"You what?" The guard scrutinised the man in the blue spandex as he tried not to laugh. "Listen, bud, even if you *are* the flying man, *he's* only flown buses and trains short distances away from crash sites. How are you planning on flying a space ship all that way?"

"Let me have a go. What have you got to lose? At worst, you get a cheap laugh from a freak in a stupid outfit, at best everything goes ahead as it should."

The personnel stopped at looked at each other. Lois sensed their indecision and tried to give them a nudge in the right direction. "He's right. Give him the chance."

The guard sighed. "Fine but you two are going to disembark right now and I'm going to alert security on the station. If anyone else here shouldn't be, you're going to be detained at the other side. Let's go."

*.*.*.

Lois folded her arms across her chest as she heard the sonic boom that heralded Clark's return to Earth. She couldn't race over to him and hug him, telling him how glad she was to see him return safely like a worried girlfriend would do. No, she didn't even know him, according to Clark. She'd met him when he ate the bomb and had been merely pacing worriedly because she was concerned over the well-being of the mission. That was it. She watched as Clark spoke to the personnel with a smile on her face. Already he had overcome his shyness and was able to converse easily with these strangers. He shook hands, then made his way over to Lois, his facial expression changing from one of friendly ease to something unreadable. "We're free to go. Do you want me to fly you home?"

"Er, no," Lois said, checking that all her valuables were still in her handbag, "can you take me to the Planet? I took a cab here, as I was hoping to actually make it to Prometheus but I now have quite a big story to write following some usual events surrounding the launch."

She heard him clear his throat and shuffle nervously. "What?" she looked up at him, then rolled her eyes as she realised what his problem was. "I got it, OK? No names, no details about," she whispered, "Bureau 39. Just flying guy saves Messenger, right?"

Clark nodded, feeling bad for worrying that she might say too much about him. "Right. I *will* explain this to you later."

"You'd better," she said, as she closed her handbag and pushed it firmly up onto her shoulder. Then he took her into his arms and flew towards the Daily Planet building.

*.*.*.

She turned off the television set as soon as she heard someone knocking on her door. Lois strode over to answer it and grinned as she recognised the spectacled figure behind who was calling on her. "Hey, Superman," she greeted as she opened the door to allow him to enter her apartment.

"And that's just the first bone I have to pick with you," he scolded her, almost jovially, thrusting the latest copy of the Daily Planet into her arms as he walked past her and stood beside her couch, waiting for an explanation.

Lois sighed as she shut the door and placed the newspaper on the nearby table. "So you don't like the name. I had to call you *something* and that symbol does look like an 'S'. I can write a new article telling everyone that you're really called Clark if you want, but you gave me the impression you didn't want people to know that."

"No, I guess Superman will do, it's just... it sounds so egotistical."

She laughed, "So not you?"

"Exactly," he rolled his eyes at his own idiocy, "which I guess is actually what I wanted."

Lois motioned for him to sit down and after a moment's hesitation he did. Sensing that something else was bothering him besides 'Superman', she sat down on the other end of the couch and watched him intently. "The first bone? So there are more things bothering you, about me I mean? You were a bit strange with me at EPRAD."

Clark stood up and ran his fingers through his hair as he paced across the living room, then turned to look at her as he finally found the courage to speak. "I saw you with that guy."

"What guy?"

"Your date for Luthor's ball."

"My... Oh, you mean Mitchell," then Lois realised how he must have seen it and privately cursed herself yet again for inviting that man instead of Clark. "Oh, Clark, no. It was just--"

"You don't need to explain, Lois. I understand, really. I know you said you were all right with the whole alien thing..."

"Clark!"

"...and obviously we've never actually discussed our relationship, I mean, we never had much of a chance what with being captured in Smallville. I know it was stupid of me to just assume that we were together like that, but it seemed like you felt something more than friendship for me, and so..." he shrugged and looked away. "It hurt. It felt like you were cheating on me. For a moment I wondered whether you were actually part of Bureau 39 and it was all just another experiment."

"Clark, please," Lois walked over to him and took his hand in hers, squeezing gently. "I'm sorry. Mitchell and I had been on a couple of dates before we met, so technically if I was cheating on anyone it was him, not you. I only went to Luthor's ball to prove to him that I wasn't scared of him, which to be honest I'm not sure that it worked all that well. I couldn't go alone so I asked Mitchell to go with me. I would have asked you but I didn't know where you were and it didn't seem like a brilliant idea for you to be there."

He snorted at her logic. "As good as you going."

"Anyway, I'm sorry. Mitchell was a terrible choice, he couldn't have fought off a salad. Literally, he would have run screaming. I won't be seeing him anymore, Clark. I wish I'd gone with you; I want to be with you. Are you happy, now?"

"You broke up with him?"

"Well, technically, he kind of broke up with me. I never really thought of us as a couple anyway. I only went out with him to shut my sister up."

Clark finally smiled at her, his fears allayed. "OK. I believe you. And you don't need to worry about Luthor bothering you anymore."

Lois eyed him suspiciously. "Why? What have you done to him?"

"Moi?" he asked in mock innocence. "I've just had a quiet word with him."

"A quiet word? OK, Clark, you are keeping a lot of secrets from me, what are you up to?" She pulled him back to the couch and forced him to sit down but this time she sat right beside him, still holding his hand.

"First things first," he told her, pulling some documents out from his coat's interior pocket, "Bureau 39 is no more. I'm a free man. And these prove it. To buy my silence, I suppose, they have provided me with an official birth certificate, exam certificates, the works."

"Wow. You've got a lot of qualifications." Lois exclaimed as she flicked through Clark's papers.

"Yeah. Apparently they did educate me along the proper guidelines, so it's all real."

Lois had reached his birth certificate. "Clark *Kent*. Son of Jonathan and Martha Kent?"

His smile broadened even further. "It's amazing. I actually have a last name now. I am Mr. Kent. The Kents were really happy when I told them. I know I took a risk saying they'd be my parents without asking but I needn't have worried. They're busy coming up with a convincing story about how they're suddenly going to have a 27 year old son that no one's ever seen."

"You told Amy Platt that your mom made your outfit."

"Yeah. Martha had far too much fun coming up with something for my disguise and some of them are far better forgotten. I shouldn't have told her that really, it's not going to help with the secret identity thing, I was just getting used to calling them Mom and Dad."

Lois put the documents down on the table and looked at him, "So why the disguise?"

"As I flew around avoiding Luthor and Bureau 39, I picked up a taste for helping people. But all I really want is a normal life and the two just don't mesh. So I'm going to be Clark Kent most of the time and Superman when someone's in trouble. That's the plan anyway."

She nodded in understanding as his strangeness on the Messenger finally made sense. "That's why you wanted me to act like I'd never met you."

"Exactly. It was Clark Kent I wanted you to be with. Or at least be friends with."

Lois smiled at him shyly. "Be with, Clark. I want to be with you."

"Good," Clark matched her smile.

"Oh, but, a secret identity. Too many people know about you already. Everyone at Bureau 39 and all of Luthor's people..."

"Everyone one who worked for Bureau 39 had to sign stuff to say they wouldn't talk about me, so they're no problem. Also I promised that they could still study me, if they left me alone and kept my secret. As for Luthor, I went to see him before I came here. I simply told him that if he revealed Superman's true identity, I'd reveal how he knew it. What he did to us."

"Bet that shut him up."

"He didn't seem happy about it. Although as bribes go, it's not the best one in the world."

Lois patted his hand as she stood up. "It'll buy us a little time at least. I'm still investigating him, I'm sure we'll bring him down somehow. Do you want some coffee?"

"Sure."

He watched as Lois padded into her kitchen area. "You said you'd given Bureau 39 permission to carry on studying you. Are you sure that's wise?"

"Technically it's not Bureau 39, it's STAR Labs. Dr. Wicks has resigned, she's decided to go travelling and has left me to Dr. Klein. His memory has pretty much all returned, in case you were wondering," he called out to her.

Her head peeked round the divide. "At least you can trust Dr. Klein."

"Exactly. I know you don't seem to like me saying it but I'm not human, Lois. If something goes wrong, I can't just go to the doctors and get a prescription or something. The more they know about me, the more I know about myself."

He got no response from his logic and smiled as he imagined the disgruntled look on her face. Clark pulled a sheet of folded paper out of his pocket and looked at it nervously. He focused in on the sounds of Lois preparing the coffee, then walked out to join her. He unfolded it to reveal it's printed side and placed it beside the two cups Lois was pouring out.

"What's that?"

He cleared his throat nervously, "It occurred to me that when we met, you were investigating the STAR Labs' fire and never wrote the story because you wanted to protect me. Also, you said you wanted to read some of my written work, although it isn't really my *work*..., so I wrote an edited version of events about the fire."

Lois smiled at how apprehensive he appeared to be as she picked up his story and started to read it. "This says Superman was in STAR Labs."

"Yes. *He* was, Clark Kent wasn't. It's basically the truth, only with Superman, not Clark and I decided to ignore Luthor's involvement. If we expose him..."

"He'll expose you," Lois nodded slowly as she continued reading his story, "I guess it makes sense."

"What do you think?" he asked as she put the paper back down on the work top and stared at it.

"It's good, Clark. I think you're letting Bureau 39 and Luthor get off too lightly but then in your situation I guess there's not much else you can do." She smiled up and him and gave him a quick hug. "There are people on staff at the Planet who don't write pieces that good."

He hugged her back. "Thanks. I know that means a lot coming from you. Are you happy to work from that version of events?"

"Yeah. It's the nearest to the truth I'm gonna be able to print. Obviously I'm going to have to rewrite it a bit but a Superman exclusive has got to be a good thing."

"And there's plenty more where that came from," he smiled down at her.

"Well, sure," Lois started to reach up to his face, "I've got a bit of an advantage there. You do know that my boyfriend has a special relationship with Superman, don't you?"

"Boyfriend?"

Lois didn't bother with a reply as she plundered his lips with her own. She needed to build up his self-confidence and she couldn't think of a better way of boosting it. Or one that was more fun for all involved.

To Be Continued...