Author's note: Hi all, thanks so much for the feedback and continued interest in this particular story! This chapter starts that journey back into the past I mentioned. This is the first of two scenes that Lois and Clark referenced in the previous chapter.

Hope you enjoy reading as much as I did writing! Would love your feedback!

Hugs, M.

Chapter 7 – We Are

The Daily Planet – Five Years Before

The party was in full swing when Lois Lane reached the Daily Planet.

The plan was to drop in, be seen by the big boss, down a few drinks, grab a piece of cake, then quietly make her escape after an appropriate amount of time.

But now, because of a deadline imposed at the last minute by Randall, the assignment editor and her immediate supervisor, Lois was feverishly trying to finish a story in the midst of the birthday party thrown for, and by, the one man whose very existence had such an unsettling affect on her life.

Unable to concentrate in the celebratory atmosphere of the bullpen, Lois had long abandoned her desk for a quiet corner on the Daily Planet rooftop. For the past hour, she'd been making steady progress on her article. Another half hour with no distractions, and she just might get a chance to grab that much-desired piece of cake before filing her story, going home and dropping into yet another fitful night of sleep.

Suddenly, the door swung open flooding a narrow strip of the Daily Planet's roof with light. An imposing shadow filled the doorway before the man himself stepped out into the night air. As the door slammed behind him, Clark Luthor closed his eyes and breathed deep as if savoring the quiet and solitude he found in the gentle breeze of the night.

From the shadow of her hiding pace, Lois watched with growing curiosity as the man of the hour took a few long strides to the roof's edge, spread muscled arms to place large manicured hands on the concrete ledge and gazed out at the city spread before him below.

Like a powerful emperor observing his empire.

Unsure of what to do, where to go, and unprepared for a confrontation with Clark – alone, on a roof, on a beautiful moonlit night – Lois held her breath and tried to recall every skill she'd learned from her Army Ranger pals on how to successfully evade the enemy.

She was well on her way to making her stealthy escape and managed to reach the door when the soft timbre of his voice stopped her mid-sneak. "Lois Lane. I wondered where you went."

Cursing her misfortune at being caught, Lois slowly turned to face him, her curiosity captured when she saw that he was still as he had been. With his back to her, there was no indication that he'd moved a muscle. Or even a hint that he'd observed her attempted escape.

Seemed there really was such a thing as having eyes in the back of one's head.

Lois snapped herself out of her erratic musings. "Really? I'm surprised you even noticed I was gone. Or here, for that matter."

Turning to face her, a flirtatious smirk tilted his full lips as he gave her a slow, blatant once-over that unleashed a riot of butterflies in her stomach. "I notice everything about you."

A scoffing chuckle escaped Lois. "I find that hard to believe, what with so many people trying to get your attention. Hanging on your arm, your every word." She tilted her head toward the door leading back down to the party and the women of every stripe that were waiting, hoping to be the one he'd take home. "You looked quite occupied down there."

"Looks can be deceiving." Clark commented flippantly, though the bittersweet smile on his lips was anything but. His shift to a less sensitive topic was swift and obvious. "So, what are you doing up here anyway?"

"Yeah, sooo..." Lois drawled as she slipped her pen into her notepad holder and took a few cautious steps in his direction. "...I know it's not great form to leave the boss' birthday party, but it was a choice between that and missing a deadline."

His gaze shifted to the notepad in her hand. "Is that the Aimes story?"

Lois nodded.

"You know, I'd be willing to let the deadline slip until say...noon tomorrow if you wanted to go enjoy yourself." Clark's innocent offer turned suggestive in a heartbeat. "Even later if you wanted to enjoy yourself..." He flashed her a predatory grin. "...with me."

And there he was. The Clark Luthor she'd been preparing herself to battle for the past month. In all his wolfish glory.

Her knees suddenly felt weak.

Shoring up her defenses, Lois rolled her eyes at the obvious come on. "Now, how did I know you would somehow be part of that generous offer?"

"Because you notice everything about me too." Clark quipped confidently.

"I do, do I?"

"How could you not? I'm the most intriguing, exciting, irresistible man you've ever met."

"Tell me." Pursing her lips to keep an unbidden smile in check, she tilted her head in obvious scrutiny as an eyebrow hitched in query. "How exactly did you get so full of yourself?"

"Ah, Lois." Clark shook his head with a chuckle. "What some would see as perceptive insight and justified confidence, you perceive as pure, unadulterated arrogance." A casual shrug. An exaggerated sigh of regret. "I don't quite blame you for that. After all, you've been conditioned to see me as an unfeeling, selfish cad."

A few more cautious steps and Lois was within striking distance. "Isn't that what you want people to see? Why you have that endless line of one-night stands and corporate take overs?"

Lois' question hit its mark. Though Clark's answer was vague and nonchalant, the emotion that flickered through his eyes betrayed him. He didn't like that Lois saw him that way. He didn't like it one bit.

And yet, his place in the Luthor family demanded maintaining a certain mystique. One that Clark had a way of maintaining effortlessly. Especially in the presence of a beautiful and mesmerizing woman.

"Both serve many purposes." Clark answered smoothly.

"Such as?"

"Well, for one, the corporate take overs are to satisfy my father's voracious appetites. The one-night stands to satisfy mine."

"Appetites for?" Lois prompted, genuinely intrigued by what motivated a man like Clark Luthor. What drove his actions, what he was trying to prove and to whom.

Besides the obvious. Which was, of course, what Clark focused on.

"Unfettered pleasure. No strings." Though his tone was light and flirtatious, Clark's gaze was electric. Penetrating. "If you're unfamiliar with that type of instant gratification, I'd be more than happy to introduce you to the experience. Tonight, if you'd like. My penthouse is just around the corner."

"What? And miss my deadline?" Lois countered easily, ignoring the seductive offer as a coy smile slipped over her lips. "Whatever would my boss think of me?"

Clark chuckled, admiration sparking in his eyes. "You know, Lois, when I hired you, I didn't think you'd be such a work-a-holic."

"Like you're one to talk." Lois shot back dismissively, then explained at his questioningly raised eyebrow. "Rumor is...you're here most nights putting the paper to bed. Makes me wonder how you have the energy to put..."

Lois pulled up short and bit her lower lip.

"To put?" Clark prompted, his lips quirking into a knowing smirk. "It's ok. You can say it."

Suddenly nervous, Lois knew she shouldn't go there. Not with the drop-dead gorgeous way he looked tonight. And especially not with the way he was looking at her. Caught up in her own thoughts, her silence was bordering on uncomfortable. And if there was one thing Lois hated, it was uncomfortable silences.

Her words unexpectedly tumbled out. "It just...it makes me wonder how you have the energy to put so many someone elses to bed."

Amusement flared in his blue eyes as he casually leaned back against the wall of the roof. His voice, sultry and low, reached out to her and wrapped her in a sudden heat that sent a shiver down her spine. "Well, if you're really curious, I can easily arrange a private demonstration. That penthouse I mentioned does contain a soft, accommodating bed…"

"Do you never stop with the obvious pickup lines and endless seduction?" Lois huffed out in sudden exasperation.

Clark raised an inquiring eyebrow. "Would you really want me to?"

"What if I said yes?"

"I'd say you were lying."

"Is that so?"

"It is."

"And why do you think that?"

Clark pushed himself away from the ledge, claiming his full, alluring height. "The flush on your cheeks when our eyes meet across a room." A few predatory steps. "How your breath hitches every time I'm near you." The hint of a smile tilted his lips. "The way you squirm a little when I get…" Having invaded her personal space, Clark's intense gaze zeroed in on her lips. "…this…" His breath warmed her skin. "…close."

Lower lip slipping between her teeth, Lois had to remind herself how to breathe.

It was like being caught in a time warp or put under a spell.

Unwilling to back down from his obvious challenge, Lois snapped herself out of the trance he'd managed to put her in – again – her gaze never wavering from his as she delivered a blow that won her a point. "You must have me confused with someone else. Because I don't let you get this close."

But not the round.

Because Clark Luthor did the unexpected. He flashed her a full-fledged, heart-stopping, genuine smile. "Did you know that you have the cutest habit of biting down on your lower lip when you're struggling to not want something? You do it in our morning meetings when they pass the maple doughnuts around. You do it when your post-lunch, pre-dinner snack cravings find you contemplating your choices at the vending machine. And you're doing it…" Eyes focused once again on her lips, Clark felt himself losing some of that carefully maintained control he'd cultivated his entire life. "…right now."

Sensing a way out of her very disturbing, very tempting dilemma, Lois' lips curved into a challenging smile. "Well, I can't imagine that's the case…because there's nothing here that I want." Delivering her blow with a casual shrug, Lois sidestepped Clark, the thrill of escape coursing through her.

Until Clark's chuckle followed her. "I truly admire your attempt to deny the obvious, but there really is no point." He scrutinized her turned back, her elegant profile before renewing his challenge. "Come on, Lois, just admit it. You want me. There's no shame in that. In fact, the sooner you do, the sooner we can get to where we're meant to be."

Lois spun on him, posing a question that had been niggling at the back of her mind for weeks. "If you really believe that, why have you waited so long to make a move on me?"

Clark's eyes sparkled with admiration. "Ah, so you have noticed that then."

"Kinda hard to miss." Lois shot back, clearly miffed.

Sincerity pulled the smile from Clark's lips as his gaze softened. "I told you that I intended to respect you, Lois. That hasn't changed."

"You also told me you wanted me, and that you always get what you want."

"That hasn't changed either."

Narrowed eyes took in the man standing in front of her. It was as if, in a heartbeat, he had become someone else. A someone else that was even more dangerous than the Clark she'd met on the roof tonight. Because that Clark was right. She did want him. She wanted him in a way that shook her to her core.

But this Clark? This Clark could do some real damage.

To the steady ground beneath her. To her own sanity. To her heart.

And despite all of the reasons to walk away, to leave the field of battle unconquered, something inside of her – whether the curious reporter, the fighter who couldn't back down from a challenge or simply the woman who couldn't resist the mysterious man before her – Lois took a step forward and engaged.

"I can't figure you out. You spend weeks practically ignoring me, then all of a sudden, you're declaring you want me again?"

"I've never stopped wanting you, Lois." Clark explained with simple, straightforward honesty. "But even I know boundaries when I see them. You truly do want to make your career on your own terms, absent of suspicions and rumors of being the boss' latest fling." Clark paused, catching her gaze with his own. He melted her insides with that gaze. "I want that for you too."

"You do." Lois stated uncertainly.

"Of course. I don't want your success tainted that way anymore than you do."

Thoroughly perplexed by the ever-shifting sides of Clark Luthor, Lois challenged his assertion. "Why would you even care?"

"Because then what we have between us would be tainted too." He stated as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Whether from the flash of surprise in Lois' eyes or her unusual lack of a challenge, Clark plunged ahead with an explanation.

"Look, you're right. People would talk if you and I explored our…" Pausing, he pulled in a breath as his eye swept over in a way that made her flush. "…mutual desire for one another. Especially while you were moving your way up the ladder. Which is not what either of us what."

"But once you're at the top due to your own merits…" Clark seamlessly integrated a prediction into his carefully woven view of the future. "…which you will be very soon…no one can say it was because of any kind of favor on my part." He shrugged as if the weight of her reputation was an effortless burden. "The way I see it, they may still talk about us, but it won't be because of that. And so…" A confident smile curved his lips upward. "…I'm waiting. Patiently."

"You make all of this sound like it's a done deal. That you and I are…inevitable." Lois observed almost flippantly.

"That's because, Lois Lane…"

She was ready for a playful retort. Guarded against a suggestive parry.

But she was wholly unprepared for the confident, intense candor with which Clark claimed their destiny.

"…we are."

Tbc…