Thanks for your comments on part 9.
Here's part 10. I'm sorry for not posting earlier, but I've been having RL problems keeping me away from my computer.
I hope you enjoy.
See ya,
AnnaBtG.
TOC here Part 9: After they finished the interview, Clark took Lois to where he had arrested the drug dealers and Lois took a few pictures of him in the Suit. Then, he dropped her home and asked her to get some sleep, for it was past midnight and they’d have to be at the Planet early the following day, in order to have the article and the photos in the morning edition. She yawned in agreement and he left to quickly return to his hotel.
He was now lying on his bed, thinking. His alter ego, Superman, had made his debut tonight. A rather quiet debut, indeed, but one that tomorrow would be front-page news in the Daily Planet, the biggest newspaper in Metropolis.
His life would be different from now on.
Closing his eyes, he hoped it would be for the best.
Part 10: Next day, they both arrived at Daily Planet at 6 a.m.. The newsroom was almost empty at that hour.
While Clark was going to find someone to develop the photographs, Lois hurried to Perry’s office to give him the articles.
Perry read them all thoroughly, incredulously staring whenever his eyes met something strange, like ‘and then took the dealers in his arms and flew to the police station’.
“Great shades of Elvis, Lois! Where did you find this guy?” he asked in amazement, after he finished his reading.
“*He* found me, Chief.”
“If that’s not the story of the century, I don’t know what can be. But don’t you have a few pictures…”
“Oh, I do have pictures, Chief,” she cut him. “Clark took them downstairs to be developed.”
“What does Kent have to do with this?”
Lois was caught off guard. The article was under *her* byline, so, naturally, Clark shouldn’t know anything. They had agreed to avoid everything that could connect Clark with Superman.
“Nothing, Chief,” she finally said. “I just asked him to get the pictures developed.”
“Oh, well,” Perry said.
Just then, the door opened and Clark rushed in. “I brought the pictures, Chief.”
“I thought you said he didn’t know anything about your article,” Perry told Lois.
She looked lost for a moment, but quickly found what to say. “He doesn’t, Chief. Of course he doesn’t! This is *my* story. I’m sure he meant ‘the pictures Lois asked me to develop’.”
Clark didn’t understand what was going on, but realized what he had to do. “Yes, Chief, that’s what I meant. Lois asked me to bring them to you as soon as possible.”
“Did you see them?”
“Not yet, Chief.”
“Give them to me.”
Clark handed the folder to Perry, who took the pictures out. After examining them carefully, he gave them back to Clark.
Lois gave Clark a proud, I-am-the-best-investigative-reporter-in-the-world look as he kept looking at them, pretending to be astonished.
“A flying man?” he asked Lois.
“Yup, that’s right.” She broadly grinned.
He handed her the pictures. “Wow.”
“Thanks.”
“You should’ve told me. We’re partners,” he said, in fake annoyance.
“I had no time,” she said with an air of superiority.
“Better say you wanted all the credit.”
“That, too. Come on, now.” She grabbed his hand and headed to the door. “I’ll show you what it’s like to work with the best investigative reporter in the world.”
“Oh, don’t tell me! You’ve worked with her? What is it like?”
“Ha, ha,” she ironically said, making sure he realized she didn’t appreciate his joke.
“No, frankly, who named you this? This story was no investigation, after all,” he said, walking out of the office.
“It was! I was out investigating when Superman arrived!” she said, closing the door behind her.
Perry kept staring at them from the window. He saw them teasingly fight with each other while getting closer and closer, kissing and then heading for their desks, happily smiling.
<It seems like there actually is a man for her,> Perry thought. <And she finally found him.>
-----
More than two hours later, the newsroom finally began getting crowded.
Lois, who had seemed okay when she arrived, had been unusually sleepy for the last hour, yawning as she examined the past week’s articles, hoping to find something to work on.
“Lois, want a cup of coffee?” Clark called, from his desk.
“Yes, please,” she said, her head dropping onto her folded arms. “Low-fat milk and sweetener,” she murmured.
“I know, I know,” he smiled, heading for the coffee machine. He made a coffee for Lois and one for him – with extra sugar. “Here you go,” he said, leaving the mug on her desk.
“Thanks,” she said, rising her head and grabbing it. “I’ve been exhausted lately, and the fact that I could only manage four hours sleep tonight didn’t help,” she said, hungrily sipping the brown liquid.
“Your eyes are red,” he noticed. “Maybe you should go home and get some more sleep. You don’t have that much to do here anyway.”
“No, I’m fine,” she said. “You go write.”
“Okay.”
He headed to his desk, holding his coffee mug. Just when he was seated, the elevator doors opened, pouring out a few people who quickly joined their desks in the pool.
Among them was an auburn-haired woman wearing a long, highly-cut black leather skirt and a leather jacket, who waltzed to Clark’s desk.
“Good morning, Clark,” she playfully whispered, leaning on his desk.
“Good morning, Cat,” he pleasantly replied, without taking his eyes off his computer screen.
Lois, who had been watching Cat since she arrived, turned around to see what she was up to.
“You’ve been avoiding me lately,” Cat said, in the same tone.
“No, I haven’t,” Clark simply replied.
Cat stared at Clark for a second, frustrated that he didn’t even bother to look at her. “May I take off my jacket?” she asked.
“Sure,” he said.
She slowly unbuttoned it, before dropping it on the spare chair near Clark’s desk, revealing a red strapless shirt. She then leaned on Clark’s desk again, almost bending over the keyboard.
Lois chuckled at Clark’s ignorance of Cat’s show. <She’s *so* pathetic,> she thought.
“So?” Cat asked after several seconds, a bit irritated.
“So, what?” Clark asked back, now staring at Cat’s face.
“You said that you’d like me to show you around after you’d get settled in.”
“Yes,” he naturally replied.
“Have you settled in yet?”
“Yes, but, you know, Cat, it’s okay. You don’t have to bother.”
“It’s my pleasure,” she said, getting closer to his face.
Clark leaned back on his chair. “You see, Cat, I’ve arranged.”
“With whom?”
“With Lois.”
“For when?”
“For all days.”
“And nights?” Cat wryly asked, with a faint tone of incredulity.
“And nights,” Clark simply answered.
Lois let a joyful smile spread on her face.
Cat grimaced. “Okay,” she just said. She then took her jacket and headed to her desk.
“Seems like your tricks didn’t work this time.”
Cat turned around, to see Lois mischievously grinning. “He doesn’t know what he’s missing,” she commented, the displeasure she was feeling clearly showing.
“Doesn’t matter. He knows what he’s gaining.”
Cat, annoyed, walked away from Lois, who just kept staring at her, full of happiness and self-confidence.
-----
Several hours later, Lois was talking on the phone with one of her sources, scribbling down information about a ring of robbers, when Perry called for her.
“Lois! In my office, now!”
“In a minute, Chief!” she shouted back. “Yes, Bobby, I hear you,” she then said to her source. “What else?” Bobby kept on telling her things and she kept on taking notes. “Thanks, Bobby,” she finally said. “Yes, of course, today at six. See ya.”
She hung up the phone and walked towards Perry’s office. She was serious, thinking about the information she had just got, but it was nothing in comparison with Perry’s face. He looked troubled and sceptical.
“What’s going on, Perry?” she asked, closing the door behind her and sitting herself down on the nearest chair.
“Well, as you can probably imagine, today’s papers were sold right after they were out of the presses. Neither the television, nor the other newspapers had any idea about Superman, and, actually, I doubt that one single citizen of Metropolis bought another newspaper today.”
“Thanks, Chief,” she said, puzzled. Judging by his expression, she knew there was more to this.
“And one minute ago, Wilson Methers called me. Do you know who he is?”
“Of course, he is the Editor in Chief of the Metropolis Star.”
“He said he wanted to hire you. I told him that you love the Planet very much and that you’d never agree to do that…” He paused, waiting for Lois’s response.
“Of course not, Chief!” she exclaimed. “I wouldn’t leave the Daily Planet for anything in the world!”
“That’s what I thought.” He weakly smiled. “And then he said he wanted you to be interviewed for his paper.”
“Wait a minute,” Lois said, not believing what she had just heard. “He wants me to give an interview for the Metropolis Star?”
“That’s right.”
“Has it even happened before? I mean, I can’t believe an editor may want an interview from another paper’s reporter!”
“Your career has been taking huge leaps. First it was the Saulter story, then the interview from Glory O’Gerald, now Superman… It’s natural. And Methers, like me, believes that you’re going to have more hits soon. The truth is, many citizens of Metropolis would like to read an interview from you.”
“Look, Perry…”
“It would also be very good for your status,” he cut her. “If you want to do it, I’m not going to stand in your way.”
“Perry, how could you even think I’d want to do that?” she said out loud, rising from her chair. “My job is to *interview*, not to be interviewed! I don’t like talking about myself and I’m certainly not gonna do that for the Metropolis Star’s profit!”
Perry happily grinned. Rising from his chair, he couldn’t resist giving her a bear hug. “Thank you, Lois,” he said.
“There’s no need to thank me, Chief,” she simply said, still not completely calm. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got work to do.”
“Sure,” he replied.
Without a word, she left the room.
-----
“Lois, what happened?” Clark asked her, as she heavily sank on her chair, clearly unpleased.
“I’m becoming a celebrity,” she grumbled, without turning to him.
Clark, worried, headed to her desk and knelt beside her. “What happened?” he repeated his question.
“The Metropolis Star wants to interview me.”
“And is that such a bad thing?”
Lois gave him a look of incredulous astonishment. “If they wanted to interview *you*, would you agree?”
“No,” he replied, “but I don’t think I would be that sad.”
“Clark, you don’t understand…” she said in despair. “People are getting to know me. Now it’s the Metropolis Star wanting interviews. The other papers will follow, interviews, photos, there’ll come some time when I won’t be able to avoid it. And, next thing I know, I’m in ‘Cat’s Corner’, in an article entitled ‘Discover Lois Lane’s biggest secrets’!”
“Lois…”
“I want people to know me, to recognize my value as a reporter and as a person, to respect my opinion, I want to win Kerths… I do want these things. But I don’t want to give interviews, or have paparazzi after me, or be greeted by photos of you and me kissing all around Metropolis! If I let it happen, I won’t be able to be an investigative reporter anymore, have a life the way I want it… They’ll never leave me alone!”
“Lois, it can’t be so bad! So many people are craving for it…”
“Would you rather be in my position, Clark?”
“No, but it’s not the same thing!” he whispered. “I have things to hide!”
“Well, I may have things to hide too!” she said out loud. “There are things that are personal! And as I’m not craving about celebrities’ gossips, I don’t want anyone reading gossips about me either!”
“But, Lois…”
“Why are you so insistent in me giving this interview, anyway?”
“I thought you’d find that good for your career,” he said.
“No,” she matter-of-factly said. “It would only be good for my career if I were an actress or a singer. Now, I am a reporter, I have a steady job that is not affected by the number of times my name appears in the public, and I have a quiet life, and I don’t want anyone to ruin it!”
“Excuse me, you think you have a quiet life?”
“Stop kidding, Clark!” she angrily cut him.
“I was just trying to make you feel better,” he said with a timid smile. Then, grabbing her hands, he added “You just don’t have to worry so much about it.”
“You know,” she said, faking indifference, “one of the favourite subjects for gossip is the celebrities’ dates. If I become a celebrity, they’ll eventually come after you, too.”
“I see you have arguments,” he playfully commented.
Lois put her arms around his neck, kissing him softly on the lips. “Don’t mess with me, Kent,” she said with an evil smile.
“Why not?” He kissed her back. “It’s not that bad.”
She kissed him again, and then pulled her chair back and grabbed her purse. “Come on, we’ve got work to do.”
He rose. “What is it?”
“I have some information.” She took the paper with her notes and waved it in front of his face. “First of all, we’re going to feed Bobby Bigmouth, and then, maybe he’ll let us know what he was talking about.”
Clark looked confused. “We’re going to feed… whom?”
Lois smiled, amused by the expression on his face. “I’ll tell you on the way. Come on now.”
Convinced, he followed her out.
-End of part 10-
