Spoilers: Smallville Season 8 & The Dark Knight

Disclaimer: I own nothing. All rights, title, characters and storylines belong to Kane, Shuster & Siegel, Gough & Millar, Swimmer, Slavkin, Peterson & Souders, Goyer & C&J Nolan, DC Comics and WB. Absolutely not for profit.

Cast: Lois Lane, Bruce Wayne, Clark Kent

Supporting Cast: Alfred Pennyworth, Jimmy Olsen, Chloe Sullivan, Lucius Fox and Lana Lang

Author's Note: This is my idea of how a Lois Lane and Bruce Wayne romance would happen. I'm going to let this story and its characters guide me so I'm not quite sure how long it will be. I just hope I do justice to these two iconic DC characters. I hope everyone enjoys. Please note when I first started writing this story, it was during the summer so I was basing what was occurring in Smallville on spoilers and not on what actually occurred in the aired episodes.

Chapter 1

One year ago . . . Gotham City . . . Wayne Enterprises . . . Lucius Fox's Office

"And so Miss Lane, among the many avenues we are exploring and sectors we are investing in, we here at Wayne Enterprises and in particular Wayne Tech are serious in developing equipment and tools that will help our soldiers in the field."

"Well Mr. Fox, on a personal note, I'm glad to hear that Wayne Enterprises is moving away from heavy arms manufacturing and refocusing its attention back to protecting our soldiers. And I can't wait to see what new ideas will be coming from the innovative Mr. Fox."

Lucius Fox, CEO of Wayne Enterprises, gazed across his mahogany desk at the attractive brunette female reporter from Metropolis' Daily Planet. He had finally granted Lois Lane an interview after being inundated over the past two weeks with phone calls and messages from her requesting the same.

Admittedly he was a bit surprised upon meeting Lois Lane - a very beautiful young reporter but he had quickly come to learn that Miss Lane knew her stuff. She had come fully armed with figures of Wayne Enterprises' profit margin, the investments and business ventures the company was involved in and had just proven that she knew detailed history about his previous role at Wayne Enterprises. As he had been taught most recently, people aren't always what they appear to be.

"You have been doing your homework Miss Lane," Lucius commented with a raised eyebrow.

Lois shrugged her shoulders. "When you're the daughter of a general, Stars and Stripes and the like pretty much became required reading material in our household. So I got to read up on these cool and fantastical ideas emerging from Wayne Enterprises. Of course there's Congress, the suits at the Pentagon, defense contracts and underbidding by companies such as LuthorCorp that usually put the kibosh on such ideas from ever becoming a reality."

"As I said Miss Lane one of our goals will be finding new and innovative ways to help and protect our soldiers."

"And as the daughter and friend of those in the military, I say thank you." Lois quickly flipped through her spiral notebook and after jotting down a few notes on the pad. The late afternoon sun glinting off of the gold pen in her hand, Lois looked up at Lucius. "I have one more question before we're finished Mr. Fox. What is your take on the Batman?"

"The Batman," Lucius asked. He could not disguise the surprise in his voice. This was something that he was not expecting.

"Well, it is the reason why I'm here in Gotham," she said with a slightly abashed look, embarrassed to admit that the real reason she was sent by a world-renowned reputable paper such as the Daily Planet was to cover a story about a masked vigilante and not about the future endeavors of Wayne Enterprises.

When Lucius only stared at her with a stunned expression, she continued. "For some reason my new editor got it into his head that he wanted to find out more about this urban myth called the Batman and being the investigative reporter I started looking into Gotham City and why this Batman felt the need to take it upon himself to bring justice to the streets of Gotham.

"While in doing this research I came across a little article about how in the first two quarters under the new leadership of Lucius Fox, Wayne Enterprises' profits rose exponentially. Not that Wayne Enterprises turning a profit is newsworthy because it's not but that it all seemed to come on the heels of the company going public, you assuming the CEO position and the return of the prodigal son. Personally this seems more like the story to write but since I need to eat and pay rent, I have to ask about Batman."

"I'm not sure if I'm exactly the best person to give an answer."

"But you are a citizen of the city. I've gotten the man on the street's take of the Batman – a person who lurks in shadows taking down criminals. I have the police's official word – a man who has taken the law into his own hands doling out his own form of justice and I have a pretty good idea as to how the criminals feel but I was curious to know how the more influential citizens felt about this masked crusader."

"Well," Lucius said slowly picking and choosing his words with care. "One can say that this Batman has definitely made his presence known and seems to have had an influence on the city. How influential is yet to be determined."

"A very diplomatic answer Mr. Fox." Lois then flashed him an impish smile. "Don't worry. I won't press you any further. I got my answer. Thank you for granting me an interview," she said as she stood up to leave.

Lucius followed suit. He walked around his desk to escort Lois out of his office. "It was my pleasure Miss Lane." They stopped in front of the office's glass doors and while Lois juggled her notepad, pen and purse in her one hand she shook Lucius' hand.

Lois turned to exit the office. Preoccupied with putting away her pen and pad, Lois was not looking where she was going when she collided with a solid yet warm object. The collision made Lois lose her hold on her purse causing its contents including the pad and pen to tumble to the floor.

Lois stared down at the scattered contents of her purse. "That's just great," she muttered as she knelt down to gather up her stuff. She haphazardly shoved her things back into her purse but came to a stop when the object she had collided with knelt down in his black Armani suit and held out her lip gloss which had come to a rolling stop between his highly polished black leather wingtips.

She took the proffered lip gloss from his hand and then as she stood up Lois finally looked into the famous face of her immovable but very warm, handsome object. "Well, if it isn't the Prince of Gotham," Lois said with a smirk.

The tall, dark, attractive man gave Lois the slow once over and as his gaze came to settle on her face, a slow appreciative smile spread across his handsome features. He raised an eyebrow in query. "You know who I am?"

Lois snorted. "You can't pick up a newspaper in this town and not see a picture or read about the wild and wondrous exploits of Bruce Wayne." Lois stuck out her hand. "Lois Lane, Daily Planet."

Bruce looked at her extended hand for a long moment but then with a laconic but cocky smile, he offered his hand in greeting.

As Bruce let go of Lois' hand he asked with a furrowed brow, "Daily Planet? Is that a tabloid?"

Lois slowly nodded her head as she looked at him. She had caught the teasing glint in his eye. So the playboy can dish it out. Impressive, she thought. However, not to be outdone she responded in kind. "Wayne Enterprises? Some sort mom and pop upstart company?"

"Touché," he said with an amused smile.

Quickly dismissing the lofty Bruce Wayne, Lois turned back to Lucius Fox who was silently observing his carefree but detached with strangers boss and this strong-willed female reporter butt heads.

"Again Mr. Fox, thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule." Lois then faced Bruce once again. "Mr. Wayne," she said with a curt nod.

"Bruce."

"Mr. Wayne. Good bye." Lois turned on her heel and walked out of the office nodding her head to Mr. Fox's assistant as she passed by the woman's desk heading straight for the bank of elevators. As Lois pressed the down button, she softly whistled, "Woooow."

While waiting for the elevator, Lois fought the overwhelming urge to look back over her shoulder and catch another glimpse of Bruce Wayne, the Crowned Prince of Gotham.

Lois took a deep breath and on the exhale her lips curved into a half-smile as she remembered seeing Bruce Wayne in the flesh. Looking into those hazel eyes for the very first time, she felt the ground shift beneath her feet, literally. "Pictures certainly don't do him justice," she softly uttered under her breath as she gazed absently at the elevator doors but after a long second she realized what she was doing and quickly cleared her throat while giving a tiny shake of her head. "Okay Lane, you've had your little fangirl gawking moment. Time to get it together. You've got a bag to pack and two articles to write."

Another thirty seconds passed and still there was no sign of the elevator. "If only this damn elevator would arrive," she muttered as she punched the down button a few more times.

As she stood facing the closed doors, counting the seconds till the elevator arrived, Lois got the sense that someone was looking at her and she knew it wasn't Fox's secretary. She tried not to fidget or squirm. She certainly didn't want to give any outward indication to a certain playboy billionaire that she was consciously aware of his existence.

Just then the elevator dinged its arrival and the steel doors slowly slid open. Lois stepped onto the elevator and when she turned around to punch the lobby button she saw Bruce staring out through the glass doors of Fox's at her. He had the look of a man who was not quite sure what to make of her but was definitely intrigued.

A slow self-satisfied smile spread across her lips. She, Lois Lane, had knocked Gotham's playboy billionaire for a loop.

Across the expanse the reception area through the glass doors, Lois looked Bruce right in the eye. With a slight tilt of her head and the smug grin still firmly planted on her lips, she licked her index finger and then proudly held it up silently conveying to Bruce that she had won this first round. As the elevator's doors slid closed, Lois saw his ghost of smile blossom into a full-blown grin.

To be continued . . .