Ten Questions

by Cyrano the 2nd

Rating: PG

Spoilers: None

Setting: After Superman Returns

Disclaimer: I do not own Superman or Lois. I just play with them from time to time.

"I have a few questions for you."

"Questions?" Superman raised an eyebrow. "Is that why you called me up here?" His expansive gesture took in the roof. Lois had the grace to flush.

"It was Perry's idea," Lois blurted out. "Over the last couple of weeks, he let readers send in questions and picked out the best ten."

"Only ten?" Superman sounded amused. Lois knelt down, digging in her purse for her voice recorder.

"Yeah, only ten." She stood up, recorder in hand. "Okay, question one is from Kate Laurence, age 19. Is Superman's cape invunerable? "

Superman cocked his head to the side, looking even more amused. "Not entirely, but nearly so," he said vaguely.

"What can penatrate it?" Lois asked eagerly.

"Is that question two?"

Lois shot him a look. "All right, all right. Question two, from Gavin Smith, age seven. Can Superman cook food with his laser vision?"

Lois heard a snort of laughter and turned to find Superman's shoulders shaking with mirth. She stared at him for a moment in shock, and then joined in. "It is a ridiculous question, isn't it?" she asked.

"No, its not that," Superman said between chuckles, "Its just that-well- I have tried it."

Lois' mouth hung open. If anything, Superman seemed to laugh harder at her expression. "Well, I got hungry in college!"

"College?" Lois said, suddenly looking sharp. Superman composed himself quickly.

"Um, lets just say the answer to question two is 'no', shall we?"

Lois narrowed her eyes, and her expression told him that that particular line of questioning wasn't over.

"Question three, from Karen Hepburn, age 12. Where does Superman sleep?"

Superman's lips quirked, and Lois was afraid he was on the verge of another bout of hilarity. "In my bed, of course."

Lois grinned at him. "What?" Superman asked.

"Nothing. I just thought you were going to say, 'Wherever I want'."

Superman looked confused. "You know, 'Where does a 40 foot gorilla sleep?' " At his even more confused look, Lois shrugged. "Nevermind, just something Jason told me. Now-question four is-"

"Are they all like this?" Superman cut across her.

Lois scanned down the list. "Ummmm, yeah, pretty much," she said.

"Why don't you just make up your own questions and ask those instead?"

The smile slid off of Lois' face. "You don't want to answer the questions I've got," she said flatly.

The comraderie that had sprung up between them abruptly evaporated.

"Lois, I-"

"No!" Lois exclaimed. "I don't want your explinations. You left, I didn't. You don't get to decide when and where we talk about it." Lois turned away, trying not to cry. She could feel him behind her, but he did not touch her. After a moment, Lois took a deep breath and released it. "Let's just go on, okay?"

She did not turn to him, but kept her eyes on the Metropolis skyline. She heard Superman sigh behind her. "All right," he aquiesced.

"Question number four, from-"

"Lois, I'm sorry, I have to go," Superman's voice interrupted. He was already lifting off the roof. "We will continue this later."

Lois watched him rise into the clouds, and then disappear from sight.

A few minutes later, Lois saw Superman saving victims of a tsunami in Malaysia. She tore her eyes from the TV screen and swivelled her chair to face her laptop.

But, an hour later she was staring at the ceiling, mulling over a theory.

Superman had gone to college.

For some reason, Lois had never thought that Superman did anything but fly around in a cape and save people. But, what if he had another life- a secret life? What if he had an alter-ego?

Hmmmm...

"Hey Lois, Clark and I are going down to the cafe for some dinner. Do you want anything?"

Lois shook her head, "Thanks Jimmy, but I'm fine."

Lois' eyes moved to Clark, who stood uncertainly at the corner of her desk. Lois was reminded of a conversation she had once had with Richard, one in which they had both noticed the physical similarity between Clark and Superman.

Clark, noticing her perusal, gave her a quick half-smile. Jimmy waved to Clark from the door, and Clark turned away from Lois, threading his way through the desks towards Jimmy.

"Hey, Clark," Lois stood up, calling across the office. Heads turned, but Clark only stopped and turned back, raising his eyebrows enquiringly. "Where does a 40 foot gorilla sleep?"

Clark's face broke into a huge grin, "Anywhere it wants to," he said.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A/N: This is just a one-shot that I thought of last night when I should have been sleeping grin Please read an review. And look for my multi chapter story, "Cruel to be Kind", coming soon to a computer near you!