"Well, that was a colossal waste of time," Lois said as she and Clark waited for the elevator to return to the newsroom after their HR meeting with Mrs. Newcombe, the Daily Planet's HR representative.
"The sexual harassment video seemed to go on forever." Clark sighed dramatically, rolling his eyes. "And what did she mean by 'I need to stop hovering over you?'"
Lois shrugged. "Was the multiple-choice questionnaire afterward really necessary?” She looked at him curiously. “Hey, what did you put for question six? Because I put two to three times a day."
“Uh, I think I put eight to ten times a day.” Clark pressed the elevator button urgently.
“Eight to ten times?” Lois squeaked. “How do you get any work done?”
“Uh, I dunno…” He avoided eye contact, pressing the button again.
The elevator door dinged open, and the couple stepped inside. Clark pressed the button, and the door closed behind them.
"We have homework, don’t forget." He waved the folder full of paperwork he held in front of her. Relationship disclosure forms to backdate and… relationship dissolution forms. Clark frowned. He was not looking forward to making their breakup official.
Lois groaned. "Another waste of time. Our relationship is… was," she corrected herself, "none of anyone else's business."
"Well…" Clark started. He wanted to remind her that HR only got involved because of the discord between them in the workplace, that their ability to work together had been affected, and that they had barely spoken to each other in three weeks. But he bit his tongue. "Let’s just go to the conference room and get this over with."
"Sounds good." Lois nodded.
"I'll grab us some coffee first."
"Extra…"
"'Extra chocolate and extra sugar. I know," Clark recited knowing she always enjoyed a sugary treat after a stressful day.
"Don’t forget the cream." Lois smiled at him, and he grinned back.
Their smiles faded after a moment, and they both froze, looking at each other in surprise. Lois cleared her throat and looked away nervously. Clark fidgeted for a moment, then, on impulse, reached out and pressed the emergency STOP button. The elevator came to a grinding halt.
Lois's head snapped toward him. "Clark, what…?"
"Lois, do you realize what just happened?" He looked at her in amazement.
"What?"
"You’re talking to me! We’re… talking to each other!" It had been over three weeks since the breakup — three weeks of clipped tones, minimal eye contact, and avoidance. They hadn’t worked on a story together in forever.
"Oh," she said. "What does this mean?" She bit her lip.
"I… I know what I want it to mean…" Clark said softly. "Let’s work on things," he suggested quickly before he lost his nerve.
Lois let out a shaky breath. "I don’t know." She shook her head. "I don’t think I’m ready."
"I made a mistake. I still want you. I still love you." The words tumbled out.
Tears pricked Lois's eyes, and Clark watched as she began to tremble beside him.
"You’ve put me through hell the past three weeks!" she hissed.
"Yeah." Clark hung his head. "I did the same to myself." He kicked the elevator floor lightly in frustration. "I let my fears get the best of me."
"I have fears, too, Clark! I was willing to talk about them, though! You’re too busy hiding behind Superman. Instead of running away from me to save the world, you’re running away from me to avoid your fears." She crossed her arms and turned away from him. "You think I don’t get scared every time you fly off to save the day? That I don’t worry that some bad guy has a chunk of Kryptonite ready to use on you?"
"So… we both have fears." Clark realized for the first time. Lois feared for his life as much as he did for hers! "You’re right," he said, still looking at the floor. "I screwed everything up."
Lois turned her head slightly and watched him. She reached out with her hand to touch his chin and tilt his head up so she could look at him. "Look, I’m not the poster woman for healthy relationships either. You know all about my history with the male of the species." She grimaced and rolled her eyes.
"Well, no one is perfect." A ghost of a smile graced his face as he watched her. "I like to think we came close, though."
Lois smiled back cautiously.
Clark's smile grew, but then he sighed loudly. "So, what do we do?" he asked her. The ball was in her court as far as he was concerned. He held her hand in his, entwining their fingers, holding his breath, praying she wouldn’t pull away.
"We just need to… communicate more," Lois implored, looking at their entwined hands.
"Yeah." Clark nodded in agreement. He had never seen two hands fit together as well as theirs. "Definitely."
"And talk about our fears," she continued. "And just… relax!"
"Us? Relax?" Clark chuckled.
Lois laughed lightly, and Clark raised his free hand to brush away her tears.
"Thanks," she mumbled.
"We should get out of here…."
"Right," Lois agreed. Clark pushed the STOP button again, and the elevator came alive. "Wait!" Lois pulled away from him and pushed the button again. They screeched to a halt.
Clark looked at her, alarmed. "What?"
She snatched the manila folder from him and shuffled through the paperwork.
"These." She held up the relationship dissolution forms. "We don’t want these, do we?"
"I don’t," Clark said quickly.
"Good." Lois ripped the pages to pieces, letting the torn-up bits of paper fall to the ground. They grinned at each other.
Clark reached for the STOP button again.
"Wait!" Lois said again, her hand reaching out to stop him.
"What now?"
"Just… this." She launched herself into his arms.
***
FBK can go below if you wish!
Last edited by 90stvfangirl; 05/27/26 03:18 AM.
