For those of you who are wondering, this new story has absolutely nothing to do with my next gen series (Honesty, etc). This is an AU story with Lois and Clark as the protagonists. I'll let you discover the rest.

I'm planning on posting on a weekly basis, at least until I see how busy this next term is and how my buffer holds up. So far, I imagine this story will be 20+ parts, although I'm not sure as I'm pretty loose in my story outlines.

Thanks to Nancy and Carol who are great BRs, as always.

CHAPTER ONE

No matter what, she wasn’t going to cry.

Even though she could feel the tightening in her throat as she ran down the hall, getting as far away from the campus newspaper office as she could. Even though her vision blurred and her eyes prickled hotly, despite her best efforts. Even though a choking sob worked its way past her tightly clenched jaw. She *was not* going to cry, even though her heart thumped the same rhythm over and over again.

Paul and Linda.

Linda and Paul.

The picture would not go away, no matter how hard she tried.

Nor would the crumpled newspaper in her hand. That was *her* story on the front page. Her headline, her ideas, her sentences, her investigation…

Linda’s name.

People were staring as she shoved past them. Someone dropped their books because of her, but she didn’t have the courage to turn around and apologize. She needed to get away from the crowds.

Hardly paying attention, Lois ducked into the next room she saw, quickly slamming the door behind her. Thankfully, it was empty.

She sank into a chair, and dumped her backpack on the ground.

Then she let the tears come.

How could Linda do something like that to her? She had trusted Linda, told her that she had a crush on Paul, and Linda had listened the whole time. She had even given Lois tips to get Paul’s attention. Of course, none of those had worked, and now Lois wondered if maybe Linda was secretly sabotaging her the whole time.

And Paul… Obviously, he didn’t like her and never would. She probably wasn’t pretty enough or smart enough or-

“Are you all right, dear?”

Lois jumped in shock, and snapped her head up to see who had spoken to her. Apparently, she wasn’t alone after all.

The woman who had spoken to her was petite, with fading blonde hair. She was dressed in a sloppy shirt, and her eyes seemed large, yet kind, behind the glasses. She seemed a little familiar, but Lois couldn’t quite place her.

”You seem upset,” the woman spoke again.

“I’m sorry,” Lois finally spoke. “I didn’t mean to barge in on you.” She moved to pick up her things, but the woman stopped her.

“Now, don’t you go yet, honey. I can tell that something’s upsetting you, and I’m not about to let you leave until you tell me what it is. Is it boy troubles?”

“How did you know?” Lois croaked.

“When I was your age, that’s what it always was for me,” she said pragmatically. “Would you like some tea?”

“Well… okay,” Lois found herself saying.

The woman walked to the small sink at the back of the room. Water gushed out of the tap, and she filled a beat-up electric kettle, plugging it into the wall.

Lois began to look around the room more closely. There were several long tables, with sanded wood tops. Flecks of paint in all different colors decorated their surfaces. The air was thick with the smell of paint, and Lois could also see several easels set up by the large windows along the east wall. It was an art studio.

“Hey, I remember where I’ve seen you before,” Lois realized. “Your picture is on those posters around campus.”

“Those silly things,” the famous painter waved aside, getting two mugs out from the cupboard. “I was never very fond of them, you know. The university has spent far too much money to get me out here in the first place, and then they don’t even bother to put a picture of my work on the promotions. My face isn’t the reason why I was invited. And it certainly isn’t the reason why people will come to my show, or attend my seminar.”

“Oh, I don’t know about that, Mrs. Kent,” Lois spoke politely. “I came to see you without even knowing that you were here.”

“Well, that’s true,” she laughed. “But please call me Martha, dear. I’m not one for formalities.” She had placed a tea bag into each mug, and filled them both with boiling water.

“All right, Martha,” Lois agreed shyly. “I’m Lois.”

“Well, Lois, how about you start telling me what happened between you and this boy.” Martha placed a steaming mug in front of Lois, and Lois automatically hugged it with her hands.

“It’s stupid,” she spoke glumly, her temporary good mood deflated.

“Come now, it can’t be all that bad. Why don’t you start by telling me who he is?”

“He’s editor of the school paper,” she finally began.

“Sounds prestigious,” Martha commented neutrally.

“It is,” Lois agreed. “He’s a really great reporter.”

“Are you a reporter as well, Lois?”

“Yes,” Lois nodded. “Or, I will be, anyway. Someday, I’m going to win the Pulitzer.” She lifted her chin at that last statement, waiting for Martha to tell her that she shouldn’t count on something like that happening.

“That’s wonderful, Lois,” Martha said instead. “You certainly seem to have the determination to do it.”

“Thanks,” Lois flushed. She took a sip of her tea, and then paused as the flavors mingled on her tongue. “What kind of tea is this?” she asked curiously.

“Oolong,” Martha replied, taking a sip from her own mug. “It can be difficult to come by when I’m home in Smallville, Kansas, but worth the extra effort.”

“I can’t imagine living in a small place like that,” Lois said without thinking. Realizing what she had done, she hastily tried to backtrack. “I mean, I’m sure it’s a nice place. Just that some people might like… I mean, it’s just not…”

“I know what you mean,” Martha reassured with a smile. “I know that Smallville might not be the ideal home for many people, but it’s home to me. And as much as I like traveling to different parts of the world, I always miss being home.”

Lois nodded, although she couldn’t really understand. To her, home was a place she wanted to get away from as quickly as possible, and never return to again.

“So what is it about this editor?” Martha reminded Lois.

“Oh, well, I wanted to find a story to put in the school paper,” Lois told her. “I thought that if I could come up with a really good story, then Paul would realize how good I would be for the paper. Freshmen don’t normally have regular positions there, but I know I’m good enough to be a part of it. And, well, I guess that was only half of it. Paul’s really… Not that I’m shallow or anything, but it was still something that…” She blushed, and fiddled with her mug, feeling too embarrassed to go any further.

“I know what you mean, dear,” Martha reassured. “Why don’t you just go on?”

“Okay,” Lois nodded. “Well, I found a really great story. Did you know that one of the assistant coaches for the football team is stealing exams for his team members?”

Martha’s eyes widened. “I didn’t know that.”

“Well, he is. I found out *everything*, and wrote a really great story about it.”

“And did you show it to Paul?”

“No,” Lois whispered, feeling the tears prickle again. “I was just heading to the office to give it to him, when I saw this.” She picked the newspaper that had her story with Linda’s name written on it and placed it on the table between herself and Martha.

“Oh, honey,” Martha spoke sympathetically.

“Linda and I were best friends,” Lois said quietly. “And when I opened the door of the office today, I saw her and Paul… They were…” she couldn’t bring herself to say it. Reliving that kiss was beyond her capability right now.

“Oh, Lois, come here.”

And before she even realized it, Lois found herself hugging Martha desperately, as the sobs shook her body. Martha stoked her hair, and hummed softly, a fragment of a song that she didn’t recognize, but was still comforted by.

“I’m so sorry you had to see that,” Martha said to her.

“Now that I think of it, I’m not too surprised that Linda did it,” Lois choked out. “But I just really wanted to impress Paul…”

“Honey, any guy that can be won over by something as trivial as a news article isn’t worth fighting for,” Martha told her. “If he doesn’t love you for who you are rather than what you can do, then there’s no point. My husband Jonathan doesn’t love me for my paintings, or even for my apple pie. He loves me for who I am.”

“Really?”

“Well, sometimes I wonder about the pie,” Martha joked.

Lois giggled. “I don’t know if I’ll ever find someone like that,” she confessed honestly.

“You will,” Martha assured. “Trust me on that. And in the meantime, it’s not worthwhile to waste your energy chasing after men who aren’t good enough for you.”

“You know, you’re really good at this kind of stuff,” Lois told Martha. “I bet your kids are always coming to you with their problems.”

A sad look passed over Martha’s face, and Lois knew instantly that she had said something wrong.

“I’m sorry,” she apologized, although she wasn’t quite sure why.

“Don’t be,” Martha smiled sadly. “It’s just that Jonathan and I had always wanted children, but… Well, I guess it just wasn’t in our stars.”

“Oh.” She didn’t know why she had just assumed that Martha had children. Maybe because she had shown herself to be a better mom than Lois’ own mother had been, even in the few short minutes they had known each other.

“For a while, we thought we might be able to adopt, but then that didn’t work out either,” Martha shared.

“I’m sorry,” she told Martha. “That must’ve been really hard for you.”

“Well, there are some good things that came out of it,” Martha shared. “The opportunity to work on my paintings, for example. But sometimes I do wonder how my life would’ve been if things had worked out differently.” She got a far-off look in her eyes for a moment, but quickly snapped out of it. “But that’s enough about me,” she spoke. “How about you tell me more of what kinds of things you’re going to do as a reporter?”

* * *

**Eight Years Later**

Lois wondered what the Kents would say if they saw her right now. Jonathan would probably be shocked at first, but would soon realize that it was just one more crazy situation that Lois had gotten herself into. Martha would probably take her aside gently and ask her how she might do this differently in the future, in order to avoid getting into this mess.

How *could* she have done this differently?

Well, for starters, she probably could’ve not snuck onto the shuttle. But that would’ve meant she wouldn’t have gotten the story, and that was no good.

Well, maybe she could’ve brought someone along with her. Like Jimmy.

Yeah, that was just a *great* idea. Then there would be two people stuck inside the room with a bomb. But maybe Jimmy would have a way to get someone’s attention rather than yelling and banging. That would be great right now.

“Can anyone hear me?” Lois yelled again, hitting the wall as she spoke. “There’s a *bomb*!”

The Kents had given her quite a bit of wisdom over the years, Lois reflected. It was truly tragic that they were never able to have kids. The world was a pretty unfair place when people like her parents had two daughters while the Kents weren’t even able to adopt. Ever since she had burst in on Martha unexpectedly all those years ago, they had been sort of an adopted family for her, so maybe the cosmic scales were balanced in some way.

Lois had kept in touch with Martha when the artist had gone back to Smallville, sharing letters and phone calls. Then, at Christmas, Lois’ mother announced that she and Lucy were going on a trip to Thailand so she could “find herself”. Since Lois was technically an adult, Ellen wouldn’t be paying for her to come. With her father as absent as always, Lois was resigning herself to a Christmas alone until Martha and Jonathan stepped forward and offered for her to come out to Smallville.

And that’s when she had first met Jonathan. He was in the barn, underneath the tractor when she had come in. Some of the wires on that tractor had needed to be replaced, and-

The wires! The idea came to Lois, suddenly.

She pried off the covering from the wall that hid the bomb, and slashed at the cluster of wires she found there with her Swiss Army knife. She couldn’t tell if there was an effect, but maybe it would get someone’s attention.

At first, Lois was reluctant to accept the generosity, she remembered. But she soon realized that the Kents were lonely, and their simple lifestyle combined with two separate incomes meant they had more than enough money to pay for the occasional plane ticket. After that first Christmas, their relationship was even more cemented, and it had been strong ever since.

But come to think of it, it had been a while since she had talked to them. She had called maybe a week ago, but Martha had seemed very distracted about something, and finally asked Lois to call her back later.

Of course, the chances of there being a later for Lois didn’t look very good right now. Actually, it didn’t look good for anyone on board the ship. What if no one came in time?

Before Lois could dwell on that, the door burst open and a strange man suddenly came through.

“Help! There’s a bomb!” Lois shrieked, pointing at the digital countdown.

The man strode over to the wall, ripped the device off, and pulled it apart, revealing the explosive. Lois watched attentively. She should pay attention to what he was doing so she could repeat it if she ever found herself in a similar situation.

But the man defied all expectation when he opened his mouth wide, and swallowed the explosive in one big gulp.

“Are you insane?” she demanded hysterically.

The man simply smiled as the sound of a muffled explosion erupted from within his stomach.

For the first time, Lois really looked at the man. Although he was sternly focused, his face did look like it could be kind, with warm brown eyes, and a concerned expression. But what on earth was he wearing?! Skin-tight blue tights, with a red cape, and a strange symbol on his chest. And red boots, and was that… red underwear? With a yellow belt?

“What the hell are you?” she demanded, feeling too shocked to be polite.

“Are you all right?” he asked, ignoring her question. There was something about his voice… It wasn’t really an accent that Lois could recognize, but it did seem as if this man was unused to speaking English.

“I’m fine,” she replied.

The man nodded, but before he could say anything else, a group of colonists appeared in the empty doorway.

“There was a bomb,” Lois rushed to explain. “He… ate it.” The magnitude of what he had done hadn’t even settled in yet.

Young Amy Platt rolled forward from the group. Lois couldn’t help but smile when she saw Amy. That girl had an incredible amount of courage.

“Hi,” Amy greeted the strange man.

“Hello,” the man replied. He looked curiously at her wheelchair, but didn’t say anything.

That caught Lois’ attention. Didn’t he know what a wheelchair was for?

“I like your costume,” Amy continued.

The man looked down at his strange garb. “Thank you,” he replied, with a faint smile.

“Can you really fly?” she asked.

Lois’ eyes bugged. This man could also fly?!

“Yes,” the man nodded. “I can.”

The way he said it was almost as if he wasn’t used to the idea himself.

“Can you teach me?” Amy asked.

The man looked surprised, and at a loss for words.

“No, he can’t, Amy,” Lois jumped in. “Not to fly. But once this lab is operational, walking is very possible.”

Then, fate slapped her in the face as the speaker crackled to life.

“Attention, colonists. The mission has been scrubbed. Prepare to disembark.”

The disappointment felt by all the colonists sank the room into despair, and even Lois felt her spirits dip, despite her recent brush with near-death.

“That’s it, then,” one of the men said. “It’s over.”

“Why?” Lois asked.

“Once the thrusters have been fired, they have to be replaced,” Mrs. Platt explained.

“We’ll lose our launch window,” the same man spoke again. “We’ll just have to forget about Space Station Prometheus.”

Lois looked sadly down at Amy. How much longer would it be before she would have this opportunity again?

“Is there anything wrong with the transport vehicle or the station itself?” the strange man in tights spoke up.

“No,” the colonist replied.

“Then all you need is a way to get there,” he said.

“And how are they supposed to do that?” Lois asked despondently.

“Well,” the man spoke carefully. “I can take them there. I’ll give them a… a ‘boost’.”

He spoke the colloquial term with hesitation, and he didn’t look too convinced about his own abilities, either.

“You can do that?” Lois asked sharply.

“Yes,” he replied, this time sounding more firm. “I can.”

* * *

Lois spun around in her chair, taking in the empty newsroom. Although it was a monumental day, it wasn’t without disappointment.

For one thing, she did not appreciate being escorted out to the parking lot by security before the shuttle was lifted into space. Yes, she did sneak on board illegally, but that was no reason to cut her out of the eye witness account, was it?

And although she stayed around in the parking lot after the launch, the flying man didn’t return, which cut out her chances of an exclusive. Perry had not been happy about that.

But she did manage to write up a pretty decent article, being the person with the most knowledge about this strange man, even though it was hardly anything.

She broke off another piece of her Double Fudge Crunch bar, and savored the taste of the chocolate melting on her tongue. And she did come up with a pretty good name for him, all things considered. And she knew that tomorrow was another day, and she would have another chance at tracking down Superman and finding out exactly where he came from, and what he was doing here.