Starting up the episode plotline, I had fun playing with the dialogue here =)
Beyond the External
by Lieta
Disclaimer: This is a fan work based on “Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.” All rights to the characters belong to DC Comics and Warner Bros. No profit was made off this work.
Chapter 5
The next day found both reporters frustrated. Perry had assigned them both bread and butter city beat stories. Lois had wanted to commandeer Jimmy to start researching LexCorp in more detail so they could try to see if LexHarbor was typical of the ‘luck’ the company got or if that was an isolated incident. Clark was trying to get *anyone* to talk about the heat wave or the power plant. It was as if the entire city government, any available scientist and *anyone* else he tried to talk to just wanted to relegate it to a bad memory.
An exasperated groan signaled the arrival of his partner as she pulled up a chair next to his desk. “Are you any more excited about your assignment than I am mine?” she asked.
Clark sighed, rubbing his nose around the pads of his glasses. “No, I’d much rather be working on our… other one.”
Lois nodded and looked over the draft of her story Perry had handed back to her at the morning meeting. As she went to start marking changes to the article someone ran into the back of her chair, causing her to make a long black line across the paper. Lois gasped in outrage and glared at the retreating figure. “We’re not going to get *anything* done today,” she groused.
Clark eyed all the extra people in the Planet bullpen for the photo shoot. He definitely shared Perry’s incredulity that the marketing department had thought this was a good idea.
Clark took another look at his notes for an ongoing strike. He was supposed to submit a story on it to Perry but the negotiations had been ongoing for *months* with no sign of any resolution. Granted, the escalation to an actual strike was new, but even then negotiations had broken down into purposeless shouting matches several times since the strike went into effect.
With a contemplative expression, Clark eyed his partner. “You know, Lois,” he drawled out, “we *could* take the day off…”
Lois sneered at him, “It’s a *work day*, Clark, and, as bad as the work environment is today we *still* need to get copy in.”
Clark smiled charmingly, earning himself an appraising glance from a passing model, much to Lois’ visible disgust. “Never played hooky in school, Lane?” he returned tauntingly.
Lois wrinkled her nose primly, “Never.” He stared at her incredulously and she rolled her eyes. “I was always busy. Student government, usually as president, school paper, clubs, year book committee… Besides,” she continued snidely, “I would have expected *you*, the quintessential boy scout, to be worried about setting a good example.”
Clark leaned his chair back and folded his hands behind his head. “I don’t know, Lois, it could be fun.” She scoffed. “We could go enjoy the fresh air, maybe go visit a museum-“ Lois feigned a yawn. “-go to the library and do some… research.” Lois froze, her eyes shooting to his. “After all, if we’re on our own time, we don’t have to work on our… assigned stories, right?”
Lois gave him an appraising look and simpered, “You know, Clark, you might just have a point there… after all, I doubt I can really add any more *zing* to this fruit fly dribble. We could better spend our morning on something else. Did I mention one of the clubs I was in was the chess club?”
Clark grinned back, “I’m sure you’re an expert on all kinds of strategy, Lois. Give me a few minutes to get something printable for Perry and we can sneak out.”
“Lois! Phone!” Jimmy called from Lois’ desk and she hurried over to take the call, leaving Clark to finish his article. With the general distraction in the room, Clark took a small risk and typed at a moderate, for him, pace. In a few short minutes his article was done and he forwarded it to Perry, noting that the editor was occupied arguing with whoever was in charge of the ad shoot about the disruption going on in his newsroom.
Clark made his way over to Lois’ desk, watching with concern as she hung up her phone with a frown. Perry met him there as he corralled Jimmy, who had been leaning against Lois’ desk watching the models.
Slightly wary of their boss’ presence with his and Lois’ plans to escape the office, Clark waved to Lois as he reached the loose group.
Before he could say anything, a blond woman carrying a large bottle of what he assumed was perfume bustled over. With a winning smile, she said, “Here, have a sample of my new fragrance.” And proceeded to spray all of them in face. She whirled away before any of them could so much as protest.
Jimmy and Perry had been front and center to the blast and began coughing and sputtering. Clark caught a whiff and wrinkled his nose against the smell. But, something was odd about it besides the odious smell, for a moment he felt almost light-headed, though he dispelled it with a shake of his head. Something was off here: that was *not* perfume. He had no idea what it was, but his instincts screamed against breathing it in. After the near instantaneous analysis, he pinched his nose shut and clamped his hand over Lois’ nose as well, ignoring her squawk of indignation.
Jimmy and Perry quickly fled the area, complaining about the smell. Clark used a touch of his super-breath to disperse the ‘perfume’ before releasing Lois’ nose.
Lois scrubbed a hand over her face, glaring at Clark all the while, “I appreciate the chivalry of protecting me from the stench, but what exactly did that accomplish?”
Clark glanced at his partner and, to his dismay, found his usually well-hidden attraction for her overtaking his thoughts. He cleared his throat as he beat back the impulse to grab her and kiss the daylights out of her. “I don’t know, Lois… um… Do you still want to get out of here?”
Lois nodded, “Yeah, and I have another… development we need to discuss that I’d forgotten about.” They quickly gathered their things and headed for the elevator.
Fin
