Oooh! New fic!
Hmm… a ‘page’ is sometimes called ‘sheet’. This means the title can also be ‘Between the Sheets’
Description: Lois and Clark team up to prevent a potential scandal from Lois’s past from reaching her fiancé’s attention.
The one where a famous superhero was caught in-flagrante with an award-winning reporter?
NUNK: It was one of my finest articles
BATMAN:
Selina was *not* happy about that one.
It had been too many weeks since Perry’s retirement bash when Lois had told Clark flat-out to ‘get over’ her engagement to Lex Luthor. She was marrying the billionaire and that was that.
Wait, it’s about Lois and *LEX*?
If Clark couldn’t see how the man had rescued them all when he had bought the paper, then she no longer wanted to be partnered with him.
Oh, that’s Clark repeating Lois’s sentiment, isn’t it?
Clark had steadfastly refused to apologize for speaking the truth. Fat lot of good it did him.
To be fair, had he spoken the truth about *other* things, she might have listened to these truths as well. So, it’s kind of his own fault, isn’t it?
It was his fault, Clark knew. She had always been stubborn; it was one of the endearing traits that he had learned to love about her.
Because he likes his women opinionated because their angry face is usually quite attractive? Plus, makeup sex?
short of out-right lying to her about his true opinion of the Daily Planet’s new owner.
But isn’t he lying already?
CLARK: It’s not lying if I do not use words my mother forbade me from using to refer to other life forms. Or animal waste products.
Luthor had made Lois editor after Chip had been unable to handle the writing and grammatical side of being the editor-in-chief.
And Lois can? The grammar part, that is. I think she might have used sexual favors to garner that position.
Clark would never understand how the woman whose copy he had corrected on a daily basis while they were partners could do Perry’s job,
See? Even Clark thinks she’s sleeping herself to the top.
MINDY: My hero!
but Lois claimed that the position was only temporary until Luthor could find a suitable replacement for their former boss.
Not for her, then?
LOIS:
That had been two months ago and Clark doubted that Luthor wanted his future missus to ever investigate again.
LEX: It’s much safer that way.
Did Luthor think that a management position would knock the drive out of his fiancée? Would it? Clark hoped not.
Who know? But it certainly gets him to do a lot of dog shows.
“Kent! My office! Pronto!” Lois called as she passed through the newsroom.
Clark’s chin jerked up so fast in surprise, his neck actually pinched for a split-second.
“Today, Kent!” Lois roared again. “Jimmy, hold all my calls!”
“Yes, boss!” Jimmy replied. “I’ll tell Susan.”
She got Perry down pat, doesn’t she? Can you imagine her managing the Luthor household, or her husband? Poor Lex.
Clark suspected Susan was there more in a spying capacity despite, or maybe because, she was too good at her job.
He’s quite distrustful, isn’t he?
Since Susan’s hire two weeks previous, Lois rarely left the Daily Planet building during the day.
It’s because Susan keeps Lois busy with properly planned schedules and lunch deliveries.
LOIS: Plus, I’ve not got my own stockpile of chocolate in my own office.
Clark had repeatedly asked that she call him ‘Clark’ during those rare moments they were alone, but so far she had stubbornly refused.
It’s unprofessional and Lois is nothing if not a professional.
NUNK: And I’ve got the classifieds ads from her college days to prove it!
She plopped down in her chair in what had all the telltale signs of exhaustion. How had he missed the dark circles under her red eyes, the haphazard way she had applied her lipstick as if her hand had been shaking, and her slouched defeated demeanor?
Is she doing drugs?
“Nothing’s wrong, Kent, and it’s Ms. Lane to… to…” Her eyes closed and her shoulders slumped. “Nobody. I could never lie to you, Clark,” she murmured.
Huh? Yes. Mood swings. She must be on drugs. /checks google/ Yep, she’s doing Meth, all right.
“I can recall a time or two you had no difficulty doing so,” he replied softly.
He thinks that’s a wise thing to say?
She didn’t rise to his bait and even half-smile. “I’m in trouble,” she continued.
Clark’s heart stopped for a split-second. ‘I’m in trouble’ didn’t necessary mean pregnancy in Metropolis as it often did when whispered about unwed women in Smallville.
It does, if she is engaged to a billionaire and the baby was conceived by an infamous superhero.
BRUCE WAYNE: I swear, if I catch her again with Batman, I’ll…I’ll…
SELINA: …marry me?
Anyway, if Lois was pregnant she and Luthor could just move up their wedding date. It wasn’t as if it was far off anyway.
Totally inconspicuous.
“Do you need me to contact Superman?” he asked.
Because she doesn’t know how to reach the father? Oh, right, he thinks the little one is made-by-Luthor.
CLARK: Hey, I said she’s not…
“Not a story,” she went on. “Because it’s too newsworthy.”
Huh?
“Why not ask your fiancé for assistance?”
She wants the creep caught, not eviscerated?
She put her briefcase into her lap and gazed down at it, as if hoping she could hide behind it. “It’s private.”
She’s had done ‘artistic’ photographs and doesn’t want Lex to see them?
Reluctantly, she pulled a manila envelope out of her briefcase and set it on the desk. “This was slipped under my apartment door during the night.”
NUNK: With what I’m going to get from Lane for not sending those classifieds to her fiancé, I can retire in the Carribean.
“I… I told Lex that I…” She swallowed. “Uh… wanted to wait until… um… our honeymoon… to…”
Yes, but he doesn’t think she’s still a virgin, does he? I mean, the Claude incident must be well know in the greater Metropolitan area, right?
“You told Luthor you’re a virgin?” Clark guessed.
And he believed her?
Lois quickly nodded. “Not in so many words, but I’m sure he thinks…” Her voice petered out.
OTOH, yes, he must think she’s…well…he’s not going to marry her for her horizontal abilities…
LEX: You’re telling me she *hasn’t* slept with Superman?
No wonder the poor fellow spends his night out in the sky, looking for something to do. I wonder, if I supplied him with a willing replacement to Lois Lane…
Okay. That wasn’t exactly honest. Clark wasn’t sure of that in the least.
Hoping to break them up, huh?
“Well, while we didn’t go all the… um… way… he did convince me to pose for some risqué pictures.
He did? She did?
. It was just a game, he said. A flirtatious way to get me to feel more comfortable in my skin to get me to relax around him,” Lois said.
Yes, taking risqué photos but not going all the way? Smart girl.
“He told me there wasn’t any film in his camera.” She took a deep breath and exhaled. “He lied.”
See? Today you don’t have those issues.
PAUL: I’m going to delete those pictures from my Claude™ account right after our photo session is done. I swear!
Clark drew in a sharp breath as both of them looked down at the envelope on the desk.
CLARK: Nudie pics of Lois!
As he pulled open the flap of the envelope, a couple of latex gloves landed on the desk in front of him.
Oh? They’ve been doing kinky stuff?
“How dirty are these photos, Lois?” he teased, raising a brow.
“Why don’t you take it to Detective Henderson at the MPD if you don’t want to risk fingerprints?” he asked, putting on the gloves.
Right. Henderson. The MPD. Like they wouldn’t need the picture for ‘evidence’.
I’m selling the negatives to Love Fortress, International.
I wonder…What if Paul had them developed at a photo kiosk and they stole the negatives?
he stared at the camera with an expression Clark had only seen in his dreams… and while Lois had been high on pheromones.
Oh boy.
He swallowed his thudding heart back into his chest and set down the print. “That isn’t so bad.”
Yes, but she knows what *other* pictures she had taken.
“That was one of the tamer shots,” Lois revealed.
CLARK:
“Of course!” she growled. “I hunted him down and confronted him this morning. He claims the camera with the photos still in it was stolen during his senior year at Metropolis U.”
Oops?
That’s why he started LNN and bought the Daily Planet to make sure the coverage about him and LexCorp wasn’t slander-based.”
But it’s not slander if she really took those photographs.
Clark stared at her, wondering if she heard the words coming out of her own mouth.
Oh, right. Free press.
“So, you’re admitting that he bought the Daily Planet to get favorable press?”
“You’re twisting my words!” she said, standing up and leaning towards him.
Like any good attorney would.
Lois crossed her arms and tried to out-glare him into caving. It didn’t work. She had asked him for his assistance, after all. She sat down. “He’d be mortified, Clark. Humiliated if these came to print.”
He? Also…
CLARK:
Lois isn’t concerned about her own image, so…
Clark picked up the photo. “Personally, I think it’s sexy.”
They were *supposed* to be sexy!
She snatched the picture out of his hand and stuffed it back into the envelope.
He’ll understand that after dealing with scum such as Paul and Claude, you wanted to know his intentions were honorable and not a means to an end.”
Also, she gets way more money in a divorce than when he dumps her before the wedding for the next starlet that comes along.
“I’m not paying this scumbag! I want you to find the photos and steal them back.”
“Aha! Grand larceny.
Because they’re worth a million dollars?
Quite the diplomat. Can’t wait to see her dealing with upper management.
He crossed his arms and stared at her in disbelief. She really didn't listen to what she said, did she?
LOIS: My time is more important than to spend it listening to stupid drivel.
“Mail call!” he said, handing Lois a pile of letters including another manila envelope.
A petite firestorm of a blonde secretary stormed into the office after Jack and grabbed the stack of mail out of Lois’s hands. “I’ll take those!
Uh-oh.
“It’s okay, Susan. I can open my own mail,” Lois said, holding out her hand. Delegating to anyone not named Jimmy wasn’t Lois’s strong suit.
“Ms. Lane,” Susan said, standing her ground and holding out her hand. “What if that envelope is laced with a deadly poison or an explosive? If you let me do my job properly, your safety won’t be at risk.”
Really? She’s happy to play the taste tester for the boss?
SUSAN: I did a lot of tasting the Boss to get this job.
“Susan went through Army ROTC, Kent.
Oh? And now she works for a crook?
She’s trained in handling explosives and to expect danger to come from anywhere,” Lois explained.
Lex worried someone might kidnap Lois?
LEX: It’s not *that* farfetched a notion.
“Don’t worry, Susan, I’ll have Mr. Kent here open the envelope and we’ll know in a few minutes whether someone was trying to kill me… by whether he’s still alive.”
“Mr. Luthor worries about your safety, Ma’am,” Susan corrected. “And you’re no longer a reporter.”
Clark took a large step backwards, out of the blast radius.
“Don’t call me ‘ma’am’!” Lois roared, pointing to the newsroom. “Out!”
“You know, I’ve been thinking that you probably have enough to go on with that first photo…”
Clark picked up his discarded latex gloves and put them back on. Then he held out his hand.
He’s evil.
Lois eyed him warily. “Why weren’t you attracted to me when we were sprayed by that love perfume?”
He’s into superheros?
“You didn’t even respond when I did the dance of the seven veils.”
Back on the farm, boys are mean to girls they like?
“I’m different than they are. I woo differently.”
He ignores them.
CLARK: To be fair, it worked on Cat.
LOIS: A pulse works on Cat.
Lois straightened her spine. “Just curious. You didn’t seem any different than you normally do.”
He lowered his voice to a suggestive tone, “Maybe that’s because I’ve been wooing you since day one.”
There was a certain sexy librarian / secretary vibe to it or, in Lois’s case, reporter.
He’s so going to file those images away in his mind for later use.
the more it appeared as if Lois had jumped out of bed with a brilliant idea and headed straight to her computer to write it up without bothering to get dressed in more than the first shirt she found beside her bed.
A guys shirt. A guy she’s slept with.
CLARK: Hey, it *could* be my shirt!
A shirt that could’ve easily been taken off Clark’s chest.
See?
He could picture a scene where he walked out of her bedroom, still wiping the sleep from his eyes, to find her so.
That!
She moved next to him to peer at the photo from over his shoulder. “I was afraid my underwear was showing.”
She was wearing *underwear*?
Clark closed his eyes. “No.”
“That’s good, at least.”
Unless, it’s not showing underwear because it only shows naked skin?
“It doesn’t appear to have another note enclosed. I’m going to… uh…go…” He pointed to the door with his thumb. “— get started.”
Yes. Right. Uh-huh.
At the door, he turned back to her. “I’m going to catch this guy, Lois.”
But will they find him afterwards?
CLARK:
It wasn’t until he was back at his desk that he remembered that she wasn’t his to protect, no matter what his wishes might be. That honor belonged to Lex Luthor.
Umm…I…this is…umm…slightly longish FDK? I’m sorry about that.
and I plan on posting once every week.
her rolling out of his bed, grabbing his shirt, and quickly typing up an important story,
Like how she just discovered Superman's secret identity?
CLARK:
Michael