25Lex Luthor sat in the dilapidated building in which he called home. Actually home may not be as correct of a word as hideout. For the last 3 years, he combed over all the evidence he had been able to gather trying to piece together what happened on that fateful day - the day where he forgot everything. The last thing he was sure of was that he was in a room with a striking red-haired beauty - a red-haired beauty who had been fatally stabbed and lay on the floor 3 feet away from him. Was he a murderer? Who else could it have been? Who was this woman? Better yet, who was he? Through his own research, he found out he was Lex Luthor, and he was worth billions. The only problem was he had no means to access his money. What bank did he use? What was his bank account number? With lack of money at his disposal, he found a lack of people who wanted to help him. He pieced together that he must not be likeable. Through that same research, he found out that the dead woman who was stabbed was Tess Mercer - his half sister, and owner of the Daily Planet. All he remembered about that day was seeing a dead body in front of him, and knowing that he had to clean up the mess. There was no way that he could be charged with this heinous crime. Even without his memories intact, Lex knew how to clean up a crime scene. That much was just instinctual. He dumped her body in Crater Lake where it washed up on shore a few weeks later. The news coverage on her murder was extensive, but Lex was most interested in the columns put out by the Daily Planet. Since she worked there, she must have friends there; and since Lex knew he had most likely killed her, he wanted to know what she knew that was worth taking her life. Two reporters by the names of Clark Kent and Lois Lane were the ones who kept coming up in his investigation, as amateur as his investigation may be. Not only did they write exclusive articles on Tess' death 3 years ago, but they also wrote a large amount of articles on the world's newest superhero: Superman. Superman surfaced the same day that Tess was killed. Was that a coincidence? How did these reporters get so much coverage on the world's biggest superhero? He couldn't put his finger on it, but he couldn't shake a nagging feeling that there was more to these two than meets the eye, and from that feeling, a plan was born.
XOXOXOXOXOXOXO
Lois Lane was approaching the Daily Planet sans husband on a Thursday morning. Superman had been working in Hawaii from the time they left work the night before. There had been a major volcano eruption on the island of Oahu that was in major need of Superman's assistance. An entire town was in danger of burning, and hundreds of houses, and thousands of people's lives were in danger.
"Let me get that door for you, Ms. Lane," a familiar voice said, coming up behind Lois, and chivalrously opening the door for her.
Lois looked over her shoulder to see the handsome smile of her husband coming up behind her. "Not only do you have piercing blue eyes and a killer smile, but you're a gentleman, too?" Lois asked flirtatiously. "Men like you don't come along everyday."
"You have no idea," Clark added, smiling mischievously at her, playing along while pushing his glasses up further on the bridge of his nose. While everyone at the Planet knew that the two were married, and they didn't try to keep their relationship a secret, they tried to keep their relationship relatively professional in front of their colleagues. Privately, however, they enjoyed flirting slyly with one another.
"I should snatch you up before some other lady gets her hands on you," Lois said, continuing the facade as they walked towards the elevator.
"Sorry, Ms. Lane," Clark told her as they stopped in front of the closed elevator. "But I'm already married…." He paused as the elevator doors opened and the couple stepped inside. He waited until the doors closed all the way to grab his wife by the waist and pin her up against the back wall of the elevator. "...to the most incredibly sexy woman in the world." He leaned in and kissed her passionately.
"Good-looking, a gentleman, and knows just what to say to make a woman feel like a million bucks?" Lois asked once they pulled away. "You really must be out of this world." Clark sweetly smiled at her, and gave her a sweet peck on her lips. "I missed you last night," Lois said, breaking their role-playing. " I wasn't sure if, or when, you would make it into work today. How's Hawaii looking?"
"Superman saved the day," Clark told her. "The spewing lava was stopped, and the hot lava flowing down the streets was diverted so that no homes or businesses were damaged."
"Way to go, Superman," Lois encouraged. "Maybe I can track him down later for a quote for page one?"
Clark leaned in close, put one hand on the wall on one side of Lois' face, and his other hand gently pulled her chin up to look him in the eye. "Doesn't Superman always give you what you want?" Clark asked, his voice lowering to a soft, suggesting whisper as he brought his face closer to his wife's once again.
"Are we still talking about reporting?" Lois asked, meeting his eyes with a flirty smile.
Clark responded to her question with another deep kiss. His hand gently stroked the side of her face while his other hand snaked around her waist to pull her body closer to his. "What else would we be talking about?" he asked seductively.
Their flirtation was halted by the ding of the elevator door, alerting them that the doors would open momentarily.
"We'll continue this conversation at home," Lois told him, giving him a quick peck on the cheek and adjusting his tie as the doors opened.
"I'm counting on it," Clark said, giving her a small wink and a big grin while pushing his glasses up on the bridge of his nose.
They stepped off the elevator and Lois surprised Clark by grabbing onto his forearm. He turned around and saw her eyes fluttering as though she might pass out. He quickly wrapped his arms around her, and his brows furrowed in concern for his wife.
"Hey, hon," he said softly. "What's wrong? Are you OK?"
"Yeah," she said as she put her hand to her forehead. "I'm fine. I just had a little wave of dizziness hit me when the elevator stopped moving." She looked around and saw that a small crowd had gathered. She waved her hand at them to shoo them away. "There's nothing to see here, people! I just had a small bout of low blood sugar." The crowd dispersed, and Lois stepped out of Clark's embrace to smooth out her clothes.
"You're OK now?" Clark asked.
"Yeah, I really am," she assured him. "That came from out of nowhere, but I feel fine now."
"OK," Clark said smiling at her. "I'll go get you a donut."
Lois and Clark headed into their joint office that they had recently promoted into, and Clark grabbed Lois her favorite maple donut on the way.
"Thanks, Smallville," Lois said, gratefully accepting it and devouring it in seconds.
Clark just looked at her with his eyebrow raise in disbelief. "Are you sure you don't have a super speeding ability, too?" he asked her. "I'm pretty sure I can't eat as quickly as you just inhaled that donut."
"I'm carb-loading," Lois said, her voice muffled with donut. She chewed the donut filling her mouth and swallowed before continuing her defense. "On this job, you never know when you'll be sent out in the field and unable to eat. I need to carb-load to keep my energy high for a ground-breaking story."
"Absolutely," Clark agreed, in a slightly sarcastic tone. "Should I get you another one? You know, in case we break a big story?"
"Ha. Ha," Lois said. "No thanks. I feel better now."
They both took a seat at their own desks and got to work. A few hours later, Clark pushed his chair away from his desk, took off his glasses, and rubbed his eyes.
"Hey hon, I need a break," Clark told her. "How about I take you out to lunch?"
"Lunch sounds great," Lois answered. "That donut just went right through me, and I am starving!"
"What are you in the mood for?" Clark asked putting his glasses back on his face.
"Hmmm, a big tuna sub sounds delicious," Lois said. "Oh, how about that little mom and pop cafe around the corner? They have the best chocolate pie!"
"Carb-loading again?" Clark asked with an eyebrow raised, and a smirk.
"That big story could drop any minute," Lois answered back, matter-of-factly. "A girl has to be prepared at all times."
The couple headed out of the Planet, and Lex watched them from behind the safe disguise of a janitor. When he saw them get on the elevator, he wheeled his cleaning cart into their office and immediately started rifling through their drawers, papers on their desk, and anything that might give him insight into this very attractive, very well-known, power couple. Just thinking of Lois Lane and Clark Kent as a "power couple" made Lex Luthor's blood boil. If he had learned anything about himself during the last 3 years, it was that he craved power. Money can buy power, and Lex was willing to use any means necessary to get his hands on some money, but knowledge also buys power….and knowledge was often even more powerful than money.
After trying unsuccessfully to hack into each of their computers for an entire hour, Lex was forced to stop his search for fear of Lois and Clark returning from lunch and catching him in the act. He was leaving their office as he heard Clark's voice heading his way.
"Do you feel better now that you've carb-loaded?" Clark lovingly teased.
"Judge all you want, Mr. Hardbody, but I burn it off as quickly as I put it in!" Lois snapped.
Clark's expression went from light-hearted and playful to taken aback and a bit perplexed. "Honey, I was just kidding with you," he assured her as they continued walking into their office and shut the door. "I'm sorry if I offended you." He put both hands on each of her hips and lovingly squeezed them. "Besides, I thought you knew that your body drives me wildly crazy." He pulled her in close and his lips closed over hers.
"I'm sorry, Smallville," Lois admitted, slightly embarrassed over her over-reaction, after they pulled away. "I don't know why I just snapped at you."
"Apology accepted," Clark said, smiling at her.
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO
Lex knew that he needed more professional help in hacking into Lois and Clark's computers. To hire help, he needed to get his hands on some money. The First Bank of Metropolis was his target. It had the smallest lobby, and only one security guard on duty at a time. He decided that, in order to do this the right way, he needed to familiarize himself with, and memorize the layout of the bank. He wore a disguise everywhere he went. After finding out that Lex Luthor was not well-liked, and all of Metropolis suspected him for Tess Mercer's murder, he went into hiding and figured out creative ways to disguise himself: sometimes it was sunglasses and a toupe; sometimes a glue-on beard and a hat; the list went on. Today's disguise of choice was big, chunky glasses, a glue-on mustache, and a beanie on his head. Lex went into the bank and put his name on a waiting list, pretending he wanted to talk to someone about opening an account there. While inside the waiting room, he used his phone to secretly snap a few photos so that he could plan his robbery. He heard a woman's voice loudly speaking, and looked up to see Lois Lane and Clark Kent heading to the front doors to exit the bank.
"I mean, seriously, who in this day and age, still deposits checks at the actual bank? Ever hear of direct deposit? It's so much faster, you don't have to drive or walk all the way to the bank. Smallville, seriously, it's time to join the 21st century," Lois told Clark.
"Look, I know it's old-fashioned, but I thoroughly enjoy talking and interacting with people. If I direct deposited my check, I never would have known that it was our teller's birthday. You heard her yourself; she said that my telling her happy birthday and giving her a big smile just brightened her day," Clark told her.
"Clark, have you looked in the mirror? Your smile would brighten any woman's day," Lois smirked as they left the bank.
Lex continued watching the public display of affection as the couple stopped walking right in front of the bank's waiting room window.
"I wear a wedding ring, and I had my hand resting on the small of your back," Clark said. "It's obvious that we were in there as a couple. People just genuinely like good, friendly, positive interaction with others."
"Ugh, Clark," Lois said with a grin. "That's one of the many things I love about you. You genuinely see the world, and all people, through rose-colored glasses. I just hope that if we ever have a baby, he or she gets your wholesome, honest, trusting personality."
"A baby?" Clark asked, raising his eyebrows in disbelief. "Is that really something that you're interested in."
"Of course," Lois said. "We don't even know if we'll be able to make a baby together, but lately, I've been starting to think I'm ready to start talking about it. Perhaps we need to take a trip up north to talk to dear old Dad about our situation."
Clark smiled warmly at her and loosely wrapped his arms around her waist. "Do you think the world is ready for a little Lane-Kent baby?"
Lois grinned. "The world needs a little baby with your charm and good heart, and my fiery, feisty personality. Those characteristics together would make one very super baby." She winked playfully at him. Lois saw the expression on Clark's face change from smiley and playful to serious as his eyes darted away from her. "Go," she said, knowing that his super hearing picked up a cry for help. She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. "I love you."
"I don't know what I'd do without you," Clark said. "I love you, too." With that, he ducked off into the crowd of people walking down the sidewalk to find his favorite alley.
Back inside the bank, Lex watched with perplexity at the couple right outside the window. They seemed so happy, so in love, so content. Lex couldn't remember his love life, but he was sure he had never known love like what was presented in front of him. Though he couldn't hear the conversation that had taken place between Lois and Clark once they stepped outside the bank, he could see their facial expressions and studied their body language enough to know that each of them made up half of a whole. Lex smiled - an evil smile. Knowing how much and how deeply Lois and Clark loved each other was advantageous information for him….should he ever need to use it.
