Three days, four hours, and 36 minutes.

That's how long it'd been since Lois Lane returned to her desk at the Daily Planet.

And she'd managed to avoid him for all but about 20 minutes of that time.

Which, she was pretty proud of herself. Because it took some doing. He sat at the desk across from hers, for crying out loud. Not to mention, he tended to hover when he thought something was wrong. And she could tell he thought something was wrong.

Thankfully, Tess was just as happy to have her out of the office as Lois was happy to be out of it, so she accommodated Lois' enthusiasm for assignments any hour of the day or night, at any location within a 30 mile radius of Metropolis.

That's not to say she wasn't civil to him. Friendly, even.

She'd teased him, in the past, about his "fortress of solitude". The loft that was his 'grown man's clubhouse', as she'd often called it. Where he would hide himself away, no doubt moping over Lana, and shut out the rest of the world.

Over the past few weeks, since Chloe's debacle of a wedding, though? She'd come to appreciate such a place. A place where a person could tuck herself away, where she could deal with the pain. A place no one could get into. Especially him.

Only her fortress, it wasn't exactly a place. It was the wall she had quickly rebuilt around her heart after seeing the look on his face when Lana Lang had wandered into the barn that day.

In one second things had changed. The future she'd finally come to admit she wanted to explore seemed to be hers for the taking, only to be ripped out from under her by a most unwelcome blast from the past.

And let's not forget the killing machine that had crashed the wedding. Winding up in an army hospital while her father kept watch hadn't exactly been her plan.

But the physical pain, that had passed. Sure, she still had a few aches, some bruises here and there. But they lessened each day.

The emotional pain? That just seemed to grow by the second. But she was Lois Lane, and she had a job to return to, a job she loved. So the wall that had gone back up that fateful day, that kept her focused. It kept her pain in, and it kept him out, while she tried to return to some sense of normalcy.

Essentially, she was hiding in plain sight. Pretending that nothing had changed as she tried to catch up on all she'd missed recovering from her injuries.

Burying her heartache in her job. How ironic that the advice she'd doled out to him in the all too recent past had come back to haunt her. To drive her.

The few times she'd been in the same room with him, she'd noticed the looks he was sending her. Confused. Concerned. Seeming to notice something was 'off' with her.

And he'd tried to talk to her. She'd lost count of the voicemail messages he'd left.

But she'd played them off. Her phone wasn't charged. Or it was off. Or she was too busy catching up, because damn that Tess was a slave driver, and sure, she'd catch up with him later.

Which, of course, she never did. There was always another assignment, or that meeting with a source she'd forgotten about. But soon, she'd promised him, soon they'd get together and catch up.

Indefinite enough so that he couldn't hold her to anything. She had zero desire to hear all about the wonders of Lana again, how fabulous his life was now that she'd returned and they'd reunited, and all was right with the world once more.

God, even her pain medication hadn't made her as nauseous as the thought of those words passing Clark's lips.

Of course, the fact that she'd avoided that conversation thus far didn't mean she didn't have to see Little Miss Perfect perching on the edge of his desk – and didn't she know that was her spot? – or bringing him coffee, all with that dazzling smile of hers.

That was usually Lois' cue to leave, if she happened to be in the vicinity. And just her luck, the few moments she'd actually been around him in the few days she'd been back, Lana had just happened to show up.

It had taken all her strength not to snap at him that he might want to hide all video cameras if he was entering into that relationship again.

But she hadn't. She wouldn't give him, or Lana, the satisfaction. She wouldn't let him know that he'd gotten to her. The wedding? The dance? The staring into each other's eyes as he'd pulled her closer? The uncharacteristically blissful sigh she'd allowed to escape her lips as she'd leaned her head against his shoulder, feeling his arms wrap more tightly around her?

Well, what is it they say? Weddings do funny things to people.

She wouldn't let him know that feeling his arms drop away from her, then turning around and seeing Lana, and then looking back at his face, had shattered her heart. Had caused her more pain than any monster did that day.

Three days, four hours, and now 41 minutes.

And she wondered if it would ever get any easier.

Three days, four hours, and 42 minutes.

He remembered the minute he'd walked in that morning, he'd heard it. The whispers that she was back, only four short weeks after nearly having been killed.

Short weeks? Clark had quickly revised that thought in his head. Those weeks were long. Excruciatingly so. Sure, he had been busy, trying to uncover who was behind the shooting of his friend, trying to help out Lana and Chloe.

But his thoughts, they never strayed very far from her. When Chloe had been divested of Brainiac, finally, the first instinct he'd had was to call Lois. Even knowing he couldn't fully explain it to her, but just to let her know her cousin was alright.

He couldn't, though. She'd been hurt so badly at the wedding, a guilt he still carried with him every minute of the day. Her father had come soon after, the hospital having contacted him, to have her transferred to the hospital on the base he was currently stationed at as soon as she was stable enough, and Clark understood that, even though he wanted no part of her being so far away.

The General had heard from him, though, as he called several times a day to check up on her condition. And the minute he'd heard that she was making progress, the calls to her cellphone began. Not that she'd picked up. But he'd left messages anyway. Telling her how quiet it was without her around, and that it was starting to get to him. Assuring her he'd look out for Chloe in her absence.

Telling her how sorry he was that he hadn't been able to save her. And that she had to get better soon, because, well, things just weren't the same without her.

She hadn't called him back. Not that he'd expected it, she was recovering after all. But, still, there was a pang of disappointment when his phone would ring and the number displayed on the screen belonged to someone else.

Someone not her.

So when he'd walked in that day and heard she was back? He'd had to keep himself from superspeeding to their desks to see her.

As it turned out, it wouldn't have mattered if he had, since she wasn't there. Off meeting with Tess, getting her new orders while being filled in on what had transpired in her absence. At the Daily Planet anyway.

So he'd waited, putting off some of the copying that was beginning to pile up, because he wanted to see her walk in, wanted to see with his own eyes that she was okay, back to being Lois.

His Lois.

He wasn't entirely sure when that had even happened, when he'd started to think of her that way. Sure, he'd always been a little overprotective of her, especially when it came to her choices in dates. Not to mention, he'd have to be blind not to see how gorgeous she was. And, they'd always had a connection, different from one he'd had with anyone else. One that he couldn't necessarily explain, but one that he knew he'd come to depend on having in his life.

But before everything had happened that day, there'd been something. Something more. He hadn't let himself fully admit that until the day of Chloe's wedding, but when he finally did, he realized that it was something that had been there for a long time. Hidden, buried, bubbling under the surface, but there. And he'd been sure she'd felt it too.

Of course, then all hell had broken loose in the form of a psychotic monster on a killing spree and well…the return of his ex-girlfriend.

Speaking of Lana and her impeccable timing.

He'd sat at his desk that morning, waiting for Lois to return from her meeting with Tess, when Lana showed up, bag in hand filled with a blueberry muffin and coffee. A friendly gesture, because that's what they were, with no hard feelings between them, and nothing but best wishes for the other.

So she'd handed him the bag with a smile, a smile he returned in thanks.

Naturally, that was the moment Lois returned from her meeting with Tess. He'd looked past Lana and had seen her, standing in the entrance to the bullpen. The smile that had begun to form on his face upon seeing her froze when he could swear he saw pain flash in her eyes, as she took in the scene before her.

But as quickly as it had appeared, it was gone, with a brief shake of her head.

Purposefully walking to her desk, she'd muttered brief hellos to him and Lana, barely making eye contact with either of them, before she'd grabbed her coat and notebook, mumbling something about a mayoral press conference, and practically rushing back through the entrance she'd entered moments before.

And just like that, she was gone again.

In the ensuing hours that had turned into three long days, their interactions had been much the same. He'd tried to catch her, but it seemed as soon as he'd entered the room, she'd be rushing out on assignment. She'd told him her phone was off, or not charged, which was why anytime he'd called her, it went to voicemail.

He'd told her he wanted to talk to her, and, while looking down, writing something on her notepad, she'd promised they would talk. Soon. But she was so busy catching up on all she'd missed, there just wasn't time right now.

But soon, she'd said. Soon. Not exactly specific.

And while she'd always accused him of being a little slow on the uptake, he wasn't slow on this.

Lois Lane was avoiding him.

And it hurt. Because he wasn't entirely sure why.

Three days, four hours, and now 45 minutes.

And he wondered when Lois' silence had become as painful to him as kryptonite.