It was such a little thing she reasoned a few hours later as she sat at her desk at the Daily Planet. A little thing that altered her world. Three little words which altered her entire life.

Honestly Lois' first reaction had been to feel angry. To lean across the large mahogany conference table and shout at him until her throat hurt ... to punch him in the face over and over again and then tear his insides out and hang them out to dry. Yet now, a few hours later, as she sat here nursing a mug a coffee (coffee that Clark Kent aka Superman had fetched for her) she began to process her thoughts much like she would on a new story she was working on. She wasn't angry any more or in shock. She was simply upset. She couldn't believe that she had never seriously considered the fact that he had a secret identity or if she had, she certainly never thought his secret identity was someone she knew, someone she considered her friend. She felt betrayed that he didn't feel he could confide in her.

She thought back over the mornings staff meeting and the moment that everything changed. Perry had as usual been bellowing at the Daily Planets employees filling the conference room. Whilst the more seasoned reporters had taken it in their stride the younger ones looked ready to bolt . Lois had known Perry since she graduated and considered him as a second father. She knew that his bark was much, much worse than his bite and it often amused her when these kids straight out of college were quaking in their shoes. The fact that none of them had the nerve to sit to the table with the other reporters and instead stood around the perimeter of the room never failed to make her smile. Lois sat on one of the sleek and modern blue fabric chairs directly opposite Clark, tapping her pen on the scarred table whilst glancing down at her battered note book.

Her mind hadn't really been focused on the subject at hand as she was going over her notes for the opening of the new Wayne Foundation Museum on the outskirts of Metropolis. Why Bruce Wayne wanted to open a museum in Metropolis was anyone's guess but Lois was hoping to get an amazing interview from the Prince of Gotham himself. Bruce Wayne rarely gave personal interviews and if anyone was going to find out the inner workings of the billionaires brain it was going to be Lois Lane. She had been glancing across at Clark and wondering if he would be free to babysit Jason if she was lucky enough to get an interview over dinner on Saturday. Since her break up with Richard she had relied on Clark a few times to look after her son and was amazed how much Jason worshipped him.

Perry's voice had broken through her thoughts when he bellowed "Clark ... Clark are you going to be around later?". Clark's thoughts must also have been elsewhere because Jimmy had to give him a nudge with his leather clad elbow to get his attention. He looked up startled with an owl like expression and said "I'm always around"... just three little words which changed everything.

To say she had been shocked was an understatement, the air had whooshed from her lungs and she had a strange sensation in her head which felt like thousands of little needles had been inserted into her skull. There had been so many thoughts going through her head that she simply couldn't process them all at once. In her befuddled mind Superman's face appeared superimposed on top of Clark's. She had realised then that her heart beat was out of control and she was in danger of hyperventilating right there in the middle of the conference room if she didn't do something, anything to calm herself down.

My God ... Clark Kent was Superman! The sweet goofy farm boy from Kansas and her superhero ex-boyfriend, the father of her son were the same person. They had the same chiselled jaw line and the same bright blue eyes, the same straight nose and the same long artistic fingers. The only difference was the thick glasses. Oh My God how could a simple pair of glasses hide a secret of this magnitude?

She had suddenly become aware that there was movement around her. The meeting had come to an end and the Daily Planet staff were leaving the confides of the overcrowded and overheated conference room. She stayed seated unable to make her brain tell her body to move.

"Geez ... Lois are you OK? You look kind of upset!" Clark's voice had sounded so normal, the same voice she heard him use every day, well whenever he wasn't wearing blue tights. She had sat there frozen. He had come up behind her chair and bent his body slightly to look into her eyes. His face had been clouded in concern. She realised with awe that her pounding heartbeat must have alerted him to her distress.

She had suddenly become aware that she was staring at him with her mouth open but she still found it difficult to string together a real sentence. She had hastily snapped her mouth shut with an audible click and muttered something unintelligible under her breath. Clark's concern had grown but he knew to tread lightly with the irrepressible Lois Lane. He simply asked if there was anything he could do to help.

She had quickly grabbed her bag and her long warm coat and swept through the bullpen and over to the elevators. She had been aware that if she tried to communicate with him further she would simply have gone to pieces. As she ran across the marble floor of the bullpen towards the elevators she had noticed Richard White, her ex-fiancé. He must have seen the confusion displayed across her face because he had quickly stood up and headed towards his office door on his way to waylay her. The last thing she had needed then was Richard White. At the elevator she had pressed the button marked up and then pressed it again and again for good measure. She needed air and she needed time to think.

The irony of going up onto the roof of the Daily Planet wasn't lost on her but the air had done her the world of good and a when she had returned to her desk a half hour late she felt much more like herself. Lois had always been very pragmatic and had to admit even to herself that if their roles were reversed she would have had problems confiding in Clark too. Once a secret of this magnitude was out there was no going back.

Her relationship with Richard had come to it's natural end once Superman had come back into everyone's life. She had been in love with Richard, he had been her saviour. Her solid rock when her life had been in utter confusion. He had been there when she found out she was pregnant and they had both assumed that the baby was his. He'd held her hand whilst she gave birth and he had been the only father Jason had know but in her heart she knew that her love for him had been weak compared to the feelings she used to have for the superhero in her life. For Clark Kent! Clark was her friend. He was steady and reliable and she had trusted him implicitly but did she love him? Did she even know him?

Around lunchtime a silence had fallen on the bullpen as everyone surveyed the screens. There was a large forest fire in California and Superman was in attendance. She had been surreptitiously looking towards the elevator doors all afternoon for him but with a bemused feeling realised that Clark wasn't going to come through the elevator doors any time soon. It was so surreal and she found herself smiling like an idiot!

About ten minutes after Superman had left the scene in California her eyes were drawn to the elevator doors and sure enough Clark walked through them. He glanced up at Lois and stopped still as he saw the expression on her face, paused and looked behind him to see if the strange expression on her face was meant for him. His worry should have grated on Lois' nerves but she couldn't help but chuckle to herself. His confusion was absolute and with a flash of insight Lois realised that her new found knowledge could work to her advantage. She had no intention of letting him know that she knew his secret ... not yet anyway. She needed a bit more time. Time to understand her feelings towards the man, time to see how far she could go with this before he figured out that she knew.

As he approached his desk across from Lois she got a whiff of smoke, obviously from the fire. With hindsight she realised that Clark's mysterious disappearances often resulted in him coming back smelling of smoke but she had never really paid much attention to it before. What else hadn't she paid attention to? She thought of all the flimsy excuses he had used in the past to leave her presence. She understood that there was still a little tiny bit of her that was angry at him when she asked the next question or when the little devil on her shoulder prodded her.

"Clark where have you been you reek of smoke and you haven't been in the office all day!"

He looked up and pushed if oversized glasses further up his nose. He had a slightly panicked expression on his face as he tried to come up with an excuse.

"Well I er ... I was supposed to be interviewing inspector Henderson about the Mackenzie case but he was called away and then I caught up with him at lunch and there was a bonfire" Lois stared at him speechlessly. You would think with all his powers he would be able to think on his feet much quicker than this. It was pathetic!

"Right well then" she said "I've a favour to ask you. I'm trying to get an interview set up with someone and his PA suggested that he might want to take me to dinner for the interview. I'm hoping for it to be tonight. Do you think you could look after Jason?"

His face lit up and he flashed Lois his infamous farm boy grin. She almost melted inside as she realised that she was giving him an excuse to spend time with his son. No wonder he didn't mind babysitting! She had been a little peeved with Superman as he had promised to be there for Jason. She suspected that he had been visiting him at night once he was asleep but that was for his own benefit not Jason's. Now of course she knew that he had spent plenty of time with him either when he was babysitting or at the Daily Planet.

"Course I will Lois just let me know when ... I love spending time with the little guy"

"OK then I'll make the arrangements" She reached across and grabbed the outdated phone on her desk and dialled the number scribbled on her notebook "This is Lois Lane from the Daily Planet. May I speak with Bruce Wayne's PA please?" She quickly spoke to the woman on the other end of the phone and made arrangements to go out to dinner with the billionaire that night and someone would pick her up at 7.30.

She glanced across at Clark but stopped in her tracks when she saw the expression on his face. His mouth was open in shock but his eyes had a dark dangerous expression which she had never seen on him before either as Clark or as Superman.

"You OK Smallville?" She asked in concern. What had happened to make him this angry?

"You are going out to dinner with Bruce Wayne ... THE Bruce Wayne? ... And I'm babysitting" He managed to get the words out but the harshness of his voice made him sound more like his alter ego than the mild mannered reporter. He was really upset and angry and struggling to keep it in. Was he jealous? Oh lord what did this mean? She had been on a few dates since here break up from Richard but she'd never mentioned it in front of Clark before. Did this mean he still had feelings for her?

Lois wasn't sure what to say "If you can't look after Jason I can ask someone else you know .. what difference does it make who I'm going with Clark? Perry has been on my case all week about getting an interview with him" she paused and then against her better judgement added "He thinks that as I'm Superman's favourite reporter that I can charm Bruce Wayne as well"

She saw Clark gulp and mentally pull himself together. "I ... er you know the reputation Bruce Wayne has, he is a total cad when it comes to women. You will be careful won't you?" his concern was annoying. She may not have his superpowers but she wasn't dumb enough to be taken in by a billionaire playboy.

Now she was pissed off "I am a professional investigative reporter Clark. Do you think I'm going to jump into bed with the man to get an interview. What do you think I am?" Her voice had risen considerably and a silence had fallen across the room.

He looked like he was going to say something but then changed his mind. "Sorry" he mumbled "Of course not I just hear he can be charming! ... I need to make a phone call!" Instead of using the phone on his desk he pulled out his mobile and punched in some numbers as he strode across the room into the spare office. His footsteps were confident and Lois realised that he must have temporarily forgot his office persona. Her mind whirled as she realised that he was jealous! Did he really think she would be interested in Bruce Wayne? As if her life wasn't complicated enough without throwing a sexy rich and flirty billionaire into the equation.

She pondered whether or not to cancel the interview but with her usual stubbornness she pushed the thought from her mind. If she wanted to spend the evening with a charming companion why shouldn't she? It served Clark (aka the caped wonder) right to be a little jealous and boy was she going to make him suffer!