'Touched by an Angel' /

'Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman'

Crossover story

By: Yvette Jessen

2004, an amateur story and is not intended to infringe on any previously or currently held copyrights.

*****

The Metropolis skyline shimmered in the early morning sunshine. It was a beautiful spring day and the city was a bustle with activity, people going to work, children going to school and the general stresses of big city life being taken in stride. On one side, a woman with shoulder length brown hair was running towards the glass door to a tall high-rise building. In front of the modern high-rise, a large globe-shaped sculpture stood with the words Daily Planet etched on one side in the same metallic material. On the opposite side of the street, a man with glasses and dark hair was also walking towards the building, his eyes filled with sadness, but he continued to make his way towards the same building, some quite obvious hesitancy emanating him.

Unseen by either of them, three angels stood observing their movements as well as observing the overall mood of the people around them. All three pairs of eyes were on the building that they had just entered. The tall auburn headed woman stared at the building and then glanced back over at her companions. “Tess, who is our assignment here?”

“Well, Miss Wings, this assignment is a little bit harder to explain,” the elder of the three angels answered. This woman was heavyset, with mahogany colored skin, gray hair, and kind, wise eyes. Her companions, one, a woman with long auburn hair and kind brown eyes, and a man with shoulder-length wavy blonde hair and compassionate green eyes, were standing and both of the younger angels looked confused.

The eldest angel took a deep breath before she was able to attempt explaining the case that she, herself, had a hard time understanding. “You and Andrew are going to be working at the Daily Planet and a part of the assignment is going to be Lois Lane. She's the woman you just saw who was in a hurry to get to work. The other part of your assignment will be Clark Kent, but you'll also be working with a young man named Jimmy Olsen. Anyway, Clark was the man who went inside after Lois, the dark-headed young man with glasses.”

“Three different assignments?” Monica looked at Tess.

“Well, this is going to be a complex case, Angel Babies,” Tess said softly as she shook her head. “Lois has been hurt many times in her life, Monica, and somewhere in there is an attitude that she won't let go of until she understands the concept of the whole truth and nothing but. I suppose that if anything, that was why she became a reporter in the first place, she's the best in Metropolis, and she knows it, but there is a part of her that wants to find the truth at all costs. Sometimes that cost causes her to do things without any conscientious thought as to whether what she is doing is the best thing for her or her safety. Clark is more level headed of the two, but he also has to learn that honesty is the best way to go and there is a secret in there that is destroying their newfound love for one another.”

“Tess, where are you going to be over the course of this assignment?” Monica asked.

“For now, I'll be working in Smallville, I don't really know yet what I will be doing there, as the assignment is actually here, but the Father is being very vague with us on this one, so I'm afraid to say, so I don't really know why I'll be there, but I think you two have things under control here.”

“You don't know why you're not going to be working with us here?” Monica asked.

“No, baby, I don't, but we're going to have to trust Him and hope for the best in this regard,” Tess said as she shrugged her shoulders.

“So what specifically are we going to be doing, Tess?” Andrew asked.

“Monica is going to see Perry White this morning and will submit an application for employment in order to become a reporter, and in a few days, you're going to do the same, except you will apply to be a staff photographer. You're not supposed to know each other yet, so Monica, you'll be on your own here for a couple of days, and then Andrew will come into the assignment and the two of you will officially ‘meet’.”

“Why is that? Why can't we work together from the start?” Monica asked, the confusion shadowing her pretty face.

“I think I know,” Andrew said as he ran his hand through his wavy, blonde hair. Although he sometimes did casework with Monica and Tess, he was also an Angel of Death. However, unlike the images that could emerge from many of today's horror movies, Andrew was anything but the gruesomeness that one might imagine whenever they would contemplate his job. The gentle angel positively loathed this concept of a creature that killed people or delighted in their demise, and his main task was to act as the link between Earth and the hereafter. He was, in fact, a depiction of kindness, compassion, and empathy. He was tall and handsome, dressed in light colored slacks and a beige, almost white, pullover. His shining green eyes were focused on the building as he spoke. “Did you see how Lois looked when she went in? She seemed as though she did not want to trust anyone in the world, and based on how Clark looked, I am under the impression that maybe Lois' attitude may have something to do with men in general.”

Tess nodded, “you're absolutely right, Angel Boy, Lois has been hurt, and you two are going to be walking on some eggshells until this assignment starts to take some turns and you are able to break down that wall she has successfully built up around herself. Don't loose heart, it is going to take some time for Lois to come around.”

Monica nodded and within seconds, she realized that now she was standing alone on the street. She looked down at her clothing and could see the pristine olive green suit that she was now wearing. Knotted around her throat was a matching silk scarf and in her hand, she carried a soft leather briefcase. Taking a deep breath, she crossed the street and walked into the building without looking back.

*****

Perry White was seated at his desk at that moment, his eyes staring down at the latest edition of the Daily Planet. He smiled in satisfaction as he read the headline that was splashed across the top of the paper. He could not help but beam with pride as yet another crime-wave had been stopped by the work of his dedicated reporters. He could feel the sense of fatherly pride overcome him as he looked out through the glass window and could see his star reporters, Lois Lane and Clark Kent each at their desks, but instead of hearing the casual chatter that tended to emanate the newsroom, an almost stony silence seemed to resonate all around this familiar place.

A knock interrupted his thoughts and he looked between the blinds to see that a pretty auburn headed woman was standing on the other side of the door. He went over and opened the door, and cleared his throat as he offered the woman a warm smile, but a confused look. He had no appointments and he was not certain who she was or what she wanted.

“Mr. White?” She spoke, her soft Irish lilted voice filled with warmth, and she smiled at him, her expression filled with warmth and honesty.

“Yes, what can I do for you?” He asked.

“My name is Monica, and I wanted to apply to work here as a reporter. I'm new in Metropolis, just got here last night from Chicago,” she said.

“Ah, Chicago,” Perry smiled. “You do any reporting there?”

“Yes, as a matter of fact, I did. I worked at the Guardian for a while and wrote a few articles there, but I've also done television reporting, but only small scale,” Monica explained. “I was the weather girl at a station back west, as well.”

“Well, not to worry, we don't really focus too much on television experience around here, but every little bit helps,” Perry smiled. Something about this woman was very nice, she seemed to have a very relaxed and calm demeanor and something told him that this would be a tremendous asset around the Planet, especially right now when a reenactment of World War II seemed to be going on between his top reporters. “Do you have any writing samples with you, by chance?”

Monica nodded, dug in her briefcase, and handed the editor three typed pages with one of the stories she had written at the Guardian. Perry looked down and began to scan the pages, as he did a smile covered his face and he nodded approvingly as he finished the article and looked back up in her direction.

“Not bad, but tell me, are you one of these eccentric types who doesn't believe in surnames?” He asked.

“Why do you ask?”

“Your by-line says just ‘Monica’,” he said looking at her with obvious confusion on his face.

Monica smiled weakly. “Is it required to have a surname, Mr. White?”

“Well, it does help with regard to reporter identification,” he said. “I’m more an old fashioned editor, I suppose and surnames do help.”

Monica smiled as she thought about his words. Angels did not have surnames, but if it would pacify him, she'd provide him with a surname. “Wings,” she finally said.

“Monica Wings,” he nodded. “OK, we'll get you started. I will have to put you with a partner, since you’re new and need to learn the ropes here.”

“Oh, that's fine,” she smiled at him.

“OK, good,” he stood up and went to the door to the office. “Come with me, and I'll introduce you to Jimmy, and he can show you around. When I figure out whom you'll be working with, I'll let you know. Just concentrate on getting yourself acquainted with everyone here and you might get started looking into the archives a little bit and just acquaint yourself a little bit with format how we do things around here.”

“OK,” Monica nodded and smiled as they walked out into the newsroom.

“Jimmy?” Perry called out.

“Yes, Chief,” came the youthful sounding response as a young man with brown hair and friendly eyes approached.

“Jimmy Olsen, this is Monica Wings, she's new here, and I thought maybe you could show her around the databanks and maybe introduce her to some of the others,” Perry said.

Jimmy nodded and smiled briefly as Perry left and returned to his office. Once he was gone, Jimmy led Monica over to his desk and offered her his chair. Once she sat down he began to show her how to use the archives to do research until it was nearing lunchtime.

“Time flies when you're having fun,” he interrupted her after an hour had passed and he looked at her, and smiled. “You want to have lunch with me, Monica?” He offered.

“Sure,” she smiled, closed the archive, and stood up.

“Really?” He looked at her, bewilderment shadowing his face.

“Yes, where do you have in mind?” She asked as she realized that she was hungry.

“There's a coffee shop down the street,” Jimmy said.

“Sounds good, do you know if they serve mocha lattes?” Monica asked, her mouth watering at the mention of her favorite drink.

“No idea, come on we can find out. We have about half an hour, then when we get back I'll introduce you to a few people, then I have an assignment to get to.” As the last words emerged, Monica noticed a look of pride that briefly crossed the young man’s face.

She liked Jimmy; he was much smarter than given credit for being, but was also young, and energetic. There was also a trace of melancholy in his demeanor and she wondered for a moment what it could have meant. She looked up and could see that Jimmy was watching a man who was seated at the desk on the other side of the newsroom. “Is everything OK?” She eventually asked him, thus breaking him out of his reverie.

The young man shook his head as he stared over at his long time friend, Clark Kent.

"Is that a friend of yours?" Monica asked, casually trying to get Jimmy to open up a little bit to her.

“Uh, yeah I guess so, his name’s Clark Kent, he's one of the best reporters in Metropolis, and he's also one of my best friends, but for the last couple of days, he really hasn't been himself,” Jimmy said. “I guess it's no big deal, because everyone has a bad day now and again.” He shrugged his shoulders, smiled bravely at her and they left the newsroom.

*****

A half an hour later, Jimmy and Monica returned, and much to the angel's added confusion, Jimmy did not seem able to cast any light on anything as to why she was even there. Sighing deeply, she looked around the busy newsroom, her soft brown eyes filled with confusion as to why such an assertive and confident woman as Lois Lane needed an angel.

Jimmy walked with her over to Clark's desk. “Hey C.K., this is Monica she’s the new rookie. Perry asked me to show her around and introduce her to some of the folks.” Jimmy said, the unfamiliar pride back in his voice.

The man at the desk looked up and smiled at her. “Hello, I’m Clark Kent.”

“Nice to meet you,” Monica said smiling. “I had a chance to read some of your articles while I was working in the archives this morning, you’re a wonderful reporter, Mr. Kent,” Monica said.

“Call me Clark, and thank you,” Clark said smiling briefly, but he looked at Jimmy, he took a deep breath before he was able to exhale. “Jimmy, I'm not going to be able to go fishing with you this weekend. Something came up and I have to go home.”

“It's OK, C.K., I figured that something had come up, you look kind of tired,” Jimmy said, but Monica could detect the disappointment in the younger man's eyes. Instead of speaking about it, she remained silent.

“Any breaks on the drug case?” Jimmy asked.

“None, it's almost as though contacts and connections have just dried up,” Clark said. He glanced over towards where Lois usually sat and it was clear to anyone who were to look at him that he was getting aggravated with the silent treatment that Lois was dishing out. He knew that he wanted to run away, and maybe going back to Smallville was the way to do so.

As he began to drown into his thoughts, he could see that Lois was coming out of the elevator and he went over to meet her. “Lois?”

The woman at the elevator looked at him scornfully, her eyes filled with rage. “Why do you do this to me?” She asked; her voice filled with scorn.

“Calling your name?” He asked with puzzlement in his voice. “Look, I’m not doing anything, Lois, but we need to talk. Please, you don’t have to say anything, but I have to explain.”

“There's nothing to explain, we may have to work together, but that doesn't mean we have to like it.” With that, she walked over to her computer and sat down, her hands brusquely typing, all the while she was trying to shut him out. Eventually, he went back over to his desk where Monica and Jimmy were and sat down.

“Strike two?” Jimmy asked, looking at his friend, his eyes filled with worry.

“Yeah,” Clark said softly, but did not say another word about Lois Lane.

By this time, Jimmy had excused himself to go out and fulfill his assignment, thus leaving Monica standing next to the desk and on her own in the large newsroom. “Clark, can I ask you a question?”

“Maybe later, Monica, I think I need to talk to Perry about something,” Clark stood up and made a beeline towards the editor’s office.

Unmoving, Monica was left standing next to his desk, and rather than stay there, she walked a short distance over to where Lois sat at her desk. “Excuse me?” She spoke, causing Lois to look up.

“Yes?” The reporter addressed the angel with a no-nonsense voice.

“My name is Monica, and I'm new here at the Planet,” she began.

“Yeah, so?” Lois’ eyes never left the computer screen.

“I just thought since I hadn't met you yet, that I would come over and say ‘hello’,” Monica said.

“Hi,” Lois looked up and after a second, she looked back down at her notes. Monica shifted her weight slightly, but when she said nothing, Lois eventually looked up, her dark eyes filled with obvious frustration. “What do you want?”

The angel shook her head. “I wasn't expecting anything, I just wanted to say ‘hello’,” Monica looked down and could see the nameplate on the desk. “You're Lois Lane?”

“And you're a rocket scientist who can read,” Lois looked up, her sarcasm literally dripping in her words.

Monica shrugged her shoulders as she remembered what Tess had said that morning about Lois’ demeanor. She backed slowly away from the desk and made her way back over towards where Clark’s desk was. When he didn't come out of Perry's office, she went back over to Jimmy's and continued searching the archives and trying to find a way to find out about the relationship that seemed to exist between Lois and Clark.

She continued to investigate their relationship through the articles they wrote, and she discovered a new person coming into the mixture, Superman. He seemed to be the theme of many of Lois and Clark’s articles, in fact, she found herself smiling as she scanned the articles and saw pictures of the attractive man who wore blue tights and a red cape.

As she read through the articles, she found herself really liking him; he seemed to stand for things that she and her friends also stood for: truth, goodness, and honesty. Just like an angel, and he can fly too, she thought trying to keep herself from chuckling under her breath as she continued to study the articles.

As she learned more about Superman, she discovered that the people who seemed to have the closest ties to him were the two people who wrote the most about him. Shaking her head in bewilderment, she continued to read, all the while, she wondered how it was that these two people could reach the point where they were so angry with each another. What sort of secret could be so detrimental that it would destroy their friendship or possible romance? What could it possibly be that was keeping two people apart who obviously loved each other, and deeply? The questions continued to buzz around in her head until six O'clock, when many of the reporters still in the newsroom started to pack up their things and head for home.

*****

Just before Monica was ready to leave for the evening, she finally started to get a small glimpse as to why Lois needed to have angelic assistance. The angel had been working in the databanks at Jimmy's desk for much of the afternoon, when out of the corner of her eye, she watched as Clark had gunned up the courage to get up from his desk and once again go over to where Lois was now sitting. “Lois,” he began as he tried to clear his throat. “Can we talk?”

“I think you could have talked to me long before now, Clark, but you didn't,” she snapped finally managing to look up at him, her eyes practically shooting fire. “Of all the people in my life, why is it that you had to go and lie to me?”

“Lois,” Clark tried to plead with her, his eyes filled with urgency. “You really don't understand.”

“Understand?” She shook her head. “What’s there to understand? I mean; you're not going to deny it, are you? How many times have you thought to yourself ‘what a stupid broad Lois is, all she had to do was remove a pair of cheap glasses and she would have figured out the truth’?” As she spoke, her words were barely above a detectable whisper, but they were positively laced with aggravation. “I guess you figured that you would have some fun with me, I couldn't tell the difference, I didn't know.” She looked at him; her expression filled with bitterness, but deeply embedded in this anger, was pain.

Monica could see from Jimmy's desk, that Lois was hurting. The angel did not know why, but she could detect that Lois' trust in Clark was nonexistent, and now she refused to forgive him for whatever it was he had done to her.

Lois shook her head. “How could you do this to me? Did you not think I would eventually find out the truth? I'm a reporter, I should have been able to see right through all those made up ideas of yours.”

“No, I had hoped that you wouldn’t,” Clark said before he was able to prevent the words from emerging. “I didn't mean that, I just…” His voice trailed and he shook his head. “Lois, I'm sorry I hurt you, it wasn't intended.”

“It wasn't intended,” Lois shouted sarcastically. “You just said that you hoped that you could have kept the truth from me. Did you not understand that a lie is a lie? You're a reporter, Clark, you're supposed to find facts, but if the biggest fact is staring you in the face and you still didn't talk about it, then it's a lie. I will never be able to trust you again, and I will never be able to look at you without remembering that you lied to me, and that you probably spent weekends at the lake with your dad having a good laugh at my expense.”

“That's not true,” Clark objected, his voice filled with pain. “I never laughed at you, Lois.”

“You didn't huh? Well Mr. Kent, I have a hard time believing anything you say to me, so just leave me alone. Our partnership is terminated, and I mean it this time.” Without saying another word, she got up abruptly, and left the newsroom, the pain in her face so massive that even Superman could not have cut through it.

Clark stood stunned, his eyes misting over as he watched her go. He shook his head as he looked down at the ground. At that moment, Monica came over to him. “Is everything OK?” She asked him after a few moments, when she saw the pain etched in his face.

He shook his head and looked at her.

“Love is sometimes hard, isn't it, Clark?” Monica asked.

Clark looked at her. “I don't know if it's really love anymore. I mean; she and I were partners, but we also worked well together on other levels.”

Monica rested a gentle hand on his shoulder. “Anyone can see that you love her very much and that you both are in pain right now. But I’m sure that whatever it is that came between you, you will find a way to resolve it. It will be in a way that will help Lois find a way to accept and appreciate that those feelings you carry for her deep in your heart are real.”

“My heart?” Clark scoffed shrugging his shoulders. “My heart is broken, there is nothing but fragments left of it.”

“What's broken can always be put back together,” Monica said gently. “But, nothing will ever be the same if a lie is what keeps a relationship going.”

“You heard what she said, didn't you?” Clark asked.

“Uh, without trying to embarrass you, but I think the entire newsroom heard what she said,” Monica said softly. “Voices carry.”

Clark looked around the room and when he could see that the small handful of people in the room had heard this exchange, he took a deep breath and released it slowly. Without saying another word, he went back to his desk and lowered himself into the chair. Monica followed him over to the desk and she leaned up against it, her soft brown eyes seeking his.

“Clark, if you need a friend, I'm here,” she said gently.

“No, it's OK, Monica, I’m fine, don't worry about me,” he smiled weakly, but added silently; unfortunately, the only thing that could kill me is kryptonite. Sighing once again, he looked down at his desk as his thoughts continued, well that and Lois’ rejection comes pretty close.

“Easier said than done,” she said softly. “I know this is only my first day, and I don't know you very well, but you had a first day once too, and sometimes change is never easy.”

“Yeah,” he said nodding. As he spoke, he could hear someone calling for help, and he stood up. “Listen, I need to go, I think I uh…forgot to put enough money in the parking meter. I'll see you later.”

Parking meter? Monica asked herself as Clark dashed off like a shot. Tess had parked her car in a nearby parking garage, she thought, there were no parking meters around the building. There was definitely something strange going on, but before she could even begin to find out, she glanced up to see that Tess had reappeared and was standing next to Clark’s desk.

“How’s it going, Miss Wings?” Tess asked as she looked at her younger charge.

Monica shook her head, her confusion matching that of her supervisor. “Nothing but unanswered questions, Tess.”

“Such as?” Tess asked.

“Well, I’ll start with: What happened to them? I showed up here and there was a stony silence between both of them, and now Clark has disappeared, and Lois looks as though she has lost absolutely everything.”

“In a way, she has. You see, Angel Girl, a secret has torn its way into the hearts of both of them. They love each other, baby, but the fear of being hurt is going to drag Lois down and it will be our job to make sure that they both learn that they are a stronger force together than separated.”

“What kind of secret is doing this to them, Tess?” Monica asked.

“I don't know, the Father hasn't told me anything about it,” Tess took a deep breath.

“How can I help them if they are hiding behind a secret and I don't even know what that secret is?” Monica asked.

“The secret isn't so important, well, it only is because Lois and Clark have put some relevance on it, but what is important, Miss Wings, is that they both have to learn that their love for each other should be capable to withstand anything. This is why the Father has sent them angels.”

Monica nodded but looked around the quickly emptying newsroom. She walked over to Lois’ desk. “When is Andrew going to come?”

“Give it time, Monica, he'll come when the Father is ready for him to come, but right now, you have to get ready, because tomorrow there are going to be some changes happening here and these two are going to need angels now more than ever.”

With that Tess was gone and Monica was standing alone in the large room. She sighed deeply as she turned towards the elevator and pressed the button that would take her downstairs to the lobby. Her thoughts were still a complete jumble as she made her way downstairs and stepped out onto the sidewalk some five minutes later.

*****

That evening, Lois had come home and after getting something to eat, she found a comfortable place to sit on the sofa. Her sister had come by and brought some movies over and she looked forward to sitting alone with something to distract her from all the pain and heartache that she was now experiencing.

As she pulled a small blanket up over her lap, she could hear that the doorbell was ringing, and she stood up thinking that it was her sister with the movies. Unconsciously, she rubbed her hand through her hair and next she rubbed her face, all the while trying to get the sleep out of her eyes.

Opening the door, she could see that Clark was standing on the other side. “Why are you here?” She immediately asked.

“We need to talk, Lois, and I'm not going anywhere until we do,” Clark said, his voice filled with an assertiveness that she rarely heard when he would speak with her.

“So, how will you go when you’re done, through the door, or through the window? What difference would it make anyway?” Lois spat out. “My answer is still the same, I don't want to see you again.”

Clark looked at her. “I love you, Lois, and I think you know deep inside, that I would never have wanted to hurt you.”

“Love?” Lois shook her head. “You call that ‘love’? I don't think you even know what love is. You have embarrassed me to such a degree that I can't even look at you without feeling ashamed of the things I said to ‘Superman’ about you, or to you about him. Do you even know how much that degrades me, but then I discover that Superman and you are one and the same. Do you even realize or care how humiliating that is? Lois Lane, star reporter for the Daily Planet, but she is so stupid that it took her over two years to figure out the biggest scoop of her life, that her partner, and best friend, Clark Kent, is Superman.”

“I wanted to tell you, but I didn't know how,” he began.

“Did you really want to or were you just trying to keep it to yourself like you said back in the news room?” Lois asked sarcastically. “If you really wanted to be honest with me, what stopped you from telling me, a three car pileup, perhaps?”

“Lois, that’s not fair, when we first met, it was something that I couldn't talk about, only my parents knew, and I realized that the only way I would ever be able to talk about this would be with someone who meant so much to me that I know this is the person I want to spend the rest of my life with,” he said. “The point is, as we became closer, I wanted to find the right time to tell you, but then I got scared.”

“Scared? Superman got scared,” She shook her head, her words taking on a sarcastic edge.

“Lois, let me at least try to explain something to you. Superman isn’t me, Superman is what I can do, but it's not who I really am,” he said softly. “I'm Clark, a reporter and a friend, and you know that I have feelings as well, and one of them is that I was afraid to tell you the truth because I did not want to hurt you. I knew as we got closer that you were not just going to love an image, but I had spent the last two years hoping that you would love me, as Clark, not as Superman. As we got closer, this uncertainty about me versus Superman became less and less dominant, yet, there were times that I wanted to tell you everything, but I didn't know where to start.”

“I just want to know why you simply decided to lie to me for the last two years,” Lois asked.

“I've already told you why; you know that I was scared, but I was also trying to protect you as well as my parents,” he said.

She shook her head. “Protect me? Yeah, it makes perfect sense to me. You know, trust is something that I never really had with men. Every time I even started to trust or believe in someone, they turned around and lied to me. I suppose, I should be used to men lying to me, I figure it's probably something that you all learned to do when you were learning to repair a carburetor in shop class during high school.”

“I didn't lie to you, Lois,” he insisted.

“You didn't tell me the truth either, that you moonlight in blue tights,” she snapped, but before Clark could respond she looked at him, her eyes filled with anger. “Please just go, I don't want to see you again. If it means me leaving Metropolis than fine, I will, but I don't want to see you again. Just get out of here!”

Clark looked at her, the dejection evident in his eyes and he could see that she was close to crying. Instead of trying to console her, he nodded, but before taking his leave, he looked at her. “If you don't want me around, then you don't have to leave Metropolis, Lois, I will, tomorrow, I'll put in my resignation and go back home to Smallville. Without you, there's really nothing left for me here anyway.”

She looked up at him, her eyes filled with anger and pain, and she spoke, the one word emerged shooting through the man of steel as though it were a dagger made of kryptonite. “Fine.”

*****

The following morning, Lois arrived at the newsroom early and she immediately went to Perry White's office and banged on the door. The editor watched with shock as the door suddenly opened the door as a very agitated reporter entered. Before she could speak, he spoke, his voice laced with concern. “Lois, what in tarnation is going on with you? Are you well? You look as though you haven’t slept in weeks.”

“Perry, we need to talk about something important,” she said, her voice filled with weariness, but she conveniently disregarded his other questions. Somehow, he knew that her personal frustrations were what had been getting the better of her and it was starting to have an affect on everything about her. He glanced up to see that Clark had not arrived at the newsroom yet.

“Where's Clark?” Perry asked.

“I don't know, and I don't care,” Lois spat out before she could stop herself, her personal frustrations obviously getting the better of her. She eyed the editor as he backed away from the door, closed it once she had entered the small office.

“What seems to be the problem?” Perry eventually asked, almost not wanting to know what the answer to his inquiry was going to be.

“I will not be working with Clark anymore, Perry. I can't,” Lois said, her voice filled with anger, and her eyes, although tired, were intent. “In fact, I don't want anymore partners at all.”

“Well, Lois, what you want and what you need are two entirely different things,” Perry began, almost automatically as though he was just waiting for the day, and the moment to deliver this particular speech. The way things were going around there, it was completely obvious that she had reached the point where the editor had no choice but to put his foot down in this regard. “Now, you know that I have always been there for you, and stood by you, but I will not let you go out on assignments alone, especially not in this frame of mind. You will work with a partner, or you will not work at all, period!”

“Excuse me?” Lois snapped. “Perry, before Clark came here, I was working solo.”

“I know that, Lois, and maybe later you can work solo again, but I think under these circumstances, you need to work with a partner at least for the time being,” he said firmly.

“Well if I must, then what choice do I have?” She muttered.

“You can choose who you work with, but you are not working alone. Now whether you believe it or not, this is for your own good,” Perry stood his ground as he looked across the desk at her. “You have been working very well with Clark for the last two years, and now you want to terminate a completely successful partnership. The reasons why, I suppose, are your business, and I am pretty certain that you have no intention of telling me them. However, I will not have you going out looking like death warmed over in order to interview people for articles. Right now, whether you like it or not, you need a rest, no question, and since you don't seem all that willing to take some time off to rest, I can only say that you need to divide the workload with someone else. Now, if you're not going to work with Clark, then I want you to work with Monica.”

“The new girl? You mean; the weather bunny from Chicago? Perry, you can't be serious,” Lois looked at him as though he was kidding. She knew that if she had to spend even five minutes in the presence of this particular person, she would resolve herself to going crazy. It should be a sin, for someone to be that upbeat. “I can't work with some wet behind the ears reporter, it would be like I'm a babysitter again; I am not a kindergarten teacher.”

“No, but you are part of a team, Lois, and if you won't work with Clark, then you will work with Monica, and I won't hear anything else about it,” he said, his eyes never faltering.

“I have to work with Miss Sunshine?” Lois asked. “I saw her here yesterday and talked to her for a few minutes, and she looked so happy and fluffy that I thought she could act as double for the Easter Bunny.”

“Lois, maybe we need someone around here who could cheer things up a little, and far be it from me to get angry with you for copping this attitude, but the fact remains, I am the boss and what I say goes. Now, you may hate me for it, but I am looking out for your best interests here, and Monica may be the new rookie in town, but every reporter has to start somewhere, and why not with the best in Metropolis?”

Lois' anger dissipated slightly when she realized that he was paying her a compliment, but her sour look returned when he got up from the desk and went to open the door. “Monica, could I see you in here for a minute?”

Seconds later, Monica had come into the office and sat down in the neighboring chair next to where Lois was already seated. “You two know each other?”

Monica shook her head. “Not very well, we talked a little yesterday when Jimmy was showing me around.”

“This is Lois Lane, Monica, and she's going to be your new partner,” Perry said.

“Nice to meet you,” Monica offered, but Lois looked away and the angel could see the aversion in the reporter's stance. “I look forward to working with you, I've heard a lot of wonderful things about your work,” she tried again, but when Lois did not reply, she stopped speaking.

Lois finally looked at Perry. “Is that all or am I sentenced to scraping gum out from under the desks, too?”

Her biting sarcasm caused Perry took a deep breath and he shook his head as his star reporter got up to go. Once she was gone, Monica looked at the editor.

“Did I say something wrong?” She asked.

“No, she's just having a bad day,” Perry said softly as Monica got up to leave the office. Once the angel was gone, the editor looked down at the clutter on his desk. At least I hope it's nothing more than just a bad day, he thought to himself as he watched Monica walking slowly over towards Lois’ desk and trying to engage the stony-faced reporter in conversation.

Next, his gaze came to rest on Clark Kent's desk, but when he realized that he had not arrived at work, he started to wonder where it was Kent had disappeared to, and what was going on with his two star reporters. Sighing deeply, he reached for a cup that was on his desk and took a long sip of the coffee that had been waiting for him since before Lois had come into the office.

As he watched the events in the newsroom, he could see that Clark had finally arrived, but instead of going to his desk, he could see that Clark was coming towards his office, and the reporter did not look happy.

*****

Once Lois and Monica had left to go out on their first assignment, Clark took the opportunity to submit his resignation to Perry. His eyes were filled with sadness when he knocked on the office door and was asked to come inside.

“Perry, I guess you noticed that things have gotten out of hand around here these past few days,” he began, his expression earnest, but he knew that the last thing he wanted to do was to say something that would cause Lois even more pain.

“What is it, son?” Perry asked once he looked at Clark and could see sadness in the eyes of the reporter.

“I'm going back to Smallville, Perry,” he said softly.

“You're leaving because something happened with Lois?” Perry asked.

“She terminated our partnership,” Clark replied.

“I know, I had to put her to work with Monica,” Perry said.

“Monica's very nice, maybe things will work out for both of them,” came the unenthusiastic response, and Perry looked at Clark, somehow detecting some kind of hidden meaning in the words of the younger man who was seated on the opposite side of the desk.

“Clark, is everything OK?” Perry asked as he intently looked at the younger man.

“Sure, everything's fine,” he hedged.

“Something tells me that you aren't telling me the entire truth. I think you and Lois could give stubborn lessons to a mule sometimes,” Perry said trying all the while to lighten the mood, but this mood became all the more distressing to the editor as Clark reached across the desk and handed him a piece of paper. Once he looked down at it and quickly skimmed the writing on it, his smile disappeared and he looked up. “You want to resign?”

“Yes,” Clark's response was almost automatic and forced. Noticing this, the editor, for some reason could not buy this response. After a few moments, he looked at Clark, all the while, seeing the determination in his eyes, and he figured that it was futile to argue the point of the reporter staying on.

“Are you sure?” Perry asked. “Is this really what you want to do?”

“It's not what I want to do, Perry, it's what I have to do,” Clark said softly. “I'm leaving Metropolis, and chances are I won't be coming back.”

“Clark, all that professionalism stuff aside; are you sure that you want to go?” Perry asked as he placed the piece of paper on the stack of pages already on his desk and looked back up at Clark. “If this has anything to do with Lois…”

“…It's my decision and I don't really want to talk about Lois anymore, I just want to go home because that is where I belong,” Clark's words were agonized, and Perry looked away only briefly, but after a few moments, he looked back over to the reporter on the other side of the desk.

“Let me make a suggestion,” Perry said. “In the interest of the Planet, go home for a time, think about what you really want to do, I mean; put some thought into it. Give it a couple of weeks, maybe three, talk it over with your parents if you want, and then call me, and tell me what you decide to do. But, son, don't throw away your career over this, it's a rash decision, and it may not be the choice that you would ultimately want to make. I'll hold your resignation for a time, but I won't file it until I hear from you, and I won't do anything with it for three weeks.”

Clark looked at the editor. Perry has always cared for him, and he knew it, and this action was just another way in which, he was showing how much he cared. After a few minutes, Clark reluctantly nodded. “I'm going to miss Metropolis, Chief.”

“You'll be back, I'm almost certain of it, but Clark, do think about what I said,” Perry smiled and nodded as he reached for the phone and watched as Clark left the office.

Once outside in the newsroom, Jimmy spotted him and came over to him. “Hey C.K., why the long face?”

“I'm going home, Jimmy, I just filed my resignation with Perry,” Clark said and the color faded from the younger man's face.

“No, you can't take off, C.K., you're one of the best reporters Metropolis has ever seen,” Jimmy objected, but when he looked at Clark, he knew that it was true, and there was nothing he could do to stop this nightmare from coming true.

“Jimmy, I'm sorry, but I'm leaving. I'll try to write you from Smallville,” Clark said, the determination in his voice, but his words were not convincing.

The young photographer, instead of speaking, simply nodded numbly as he walked over to his desk and sat down, his shoulders slumped as he stared down at the photos he had taken that morning.

As he stared at the pictures, his eyes began to mist over, but instead of showing Clark how hurt he was, Jimmy tried to conceal his emotions from the world. The thought of responding as his feelings seemed to have dictated seemed wrong somehow, so he shook his head and stared down at the desk as Clark left the newsroom.

Behind him, unseen by the people in the room, Andrew stood watching the young man all the while knowing that he was hurt about the fact that his best friend was leaving. At that moment, the angel received word that in two days, he would be sent to the Daily Planet and would have the opportunity to actively take part in this assignment.

“Angel Boy?” A voice emerged behind Andrew and he turned around.

“Tess, I thought you were in Smallville,” Andrew said softly.

“I will be going there very soon, in fact, once I leave you, I'll be working at the cafeteria at the Smallville Press and chances are, I will be working to convince Clark Kent to not give up his life in Metropolis. Did you get any word on your part of the assignment?”

“Yes, I am supposed to go in two days from now,” he said.

Tess nodded and looked down at Jimmy as he sat almost stoically at the desk, the young man still staring down at the photographs.

"He was the only one in this crummy place that treated me like an equal," Jimmy muttered under his breath. “Why does he think he has to leave?”

Andrew looked at the supervising angel. “I don't think Clark realizes the impact he has had on Jimmy, do you, Tess?”

“Clark has a lot to realize, and it is not just the fact that he possesses the ability to leave a positive impact on other people,” Tess said and smiled at him before disappearing leaving the compassionate angel still staring at Jimmy, his eyes filled with empathy.

*****

On the other side of town, Monica made very little headway with Lois; in fact, the reporter did not speak more than two words to her since they had left the Daily Planet newsroom after Perry had assigned them to work together.

They both climbed into a cab and were on their way back to the newspaper building. Once they were seated, Monica continued her observations of the reporter. She had learned a lot about Lois that day, but what the auburn headed angel wished for was that she could do more to help her assignment. Part of her wanted to show Lois that she wasn't as wet behind the ears as the reporter presumed, but she also thought that if she could show Lois this without coming across threatening, that they could become friends and she would be better able to help her.

She had not seen Tess or Andrew in over twenty-four hours, and she was starting to miss her angelic friends. With Lois treating her so indignantly gave Monica a new, strange, and unfamiliar sense of loneliness. She wanted to help, but she honestly did not know how.

As they disembarked the cab in front of the large high-rise building, Monica took a deep breath and finally decided to try and break her silence. “Lois?”

The reporter released a suppressed breath. “What?”

“I know you don't like working with me, but I wanted to tell you that I appreciate getting the chance to work with you,” Monica said earnestly. “I have been trying to learn how you are able to get answers to hard questions, and I discovered that you really do have a gift with this kind of thing.”

“Monica, let's get one thing out in the open before this charade goes on. You're not a reporter, are you?” Lois asked.

“I've donesome reporting,” she hedged.

“No, taking minutes at the business meeting of ‘Troop number 12 of the Boy Scouts’ is not reporting, I mean; have you ever been down in the trenches before?” Lois asked.

Monica shrugged her shoulders as she released a pent up sigh. “I'm sort of new at this, Lois.”

“Let me give you some vocational advice,” Lois began, her voice edgy, but she kept it level. “If you want to make it in Metropolis as a reporter, get rid of the ‘Miss Sunshine’ stance, it's becoming a real aggravation.”

“Miss Sunshine?” Monica asked looking somewhat bewildered.

“Yeah, you know, all that disgusting ‘have a nice day' stuff. It's getting you nowhere and fast. Take it from me; if you want to make it as a reporter, you've got to give it your all to get the story. That means, going on stakeouts like the police, believing in the worst about people, because they're always going to let you down, and simply not taking ‘no’ for an answer.”

“I can't do that, Lois,” Monica said.

“Then you'd better go back to taking minutes then, because that’s what it takes to be a good reporter around here,” came the sharp answer.

Monica nodded numbly, her eyes filled with confusion, and after a few moments, she glanced over at Lois. “I am under the impression that you don't like me.”

Lois' eyes rolled upon hearing Monica's words and she turned around and made eye contact with the angel. “Let's just keep this on a professional level, shall we?”

Having little if no choice, the angel nodded as the two of them made their way towards the large building, which housed the newspaper. As they walked, Monica took another deep breath all the while the young angel was trying to remember what Tess had said to her prior to her having gone to Perry in order to interview for this job the day before.

Once inside the building, Monica stopped in the lobby as Lois walked towards the elevator with the intention of riding it up to the newsroom. As the light blinked indicating that the elevator had reached the ground floor, both women looked up to see that Clark was coming out of it, and in his arms, he was carrying what appeared to be a large, heavy cardboard box.

“Clark?” Monica spoke as Lois ignored the two of them and stepped into the elevator and pressed the button without giving Monica a second thought. Seconds later, the doors closed behind her.

“I’m leaving Metropolis, Monica,” he said once Lois was gone and he was left standing in the lobby with the young angel. Monica looked at him and somewhere in the deep recesses of his eyes; she could see the utter pain and heartbreak that shadowed his handsome face.

“Why?” She asked. “You remember what we talked about yesterday, don't you?”

“Yes, I remember, but I can't stay here, it's too hard for me,” he said but before she could say anything to counter what he had just said, he walked slowly away from her, his shoulders slumped. As soon as he disappeared outside and she was alone, she covered her face with her hands and shook her head.

“Oh Father, what now?” She asked softly, as she looked from the entrance to the building back in the direction Lois had gone. With deliberate steps, she walked towards the elevator and once she reached it, she could see that Andrew was standing next to the door waiting for her. The Angel of Death was in angelic form, so no one could see him except for Monica. When she looked over at him, she could see that he carried a concerned look on his face. “Andrew?”

“Hi,” he said softly, and reached over and rested a gentle hand on her shoulder. “Rough day?”

“What am I doing here?” She finally asked, her confidence in this assignment seriously waning.

“I don't know, Monica,” he said softly. “In two days, I'll be here working with you, but until then, all I can tell you is to just hang in there.”

“Andrew, what are you doing here?” She finally managed to ask him.

The Angel of Death shifted his weight uncomfortably; he knew that Monica didn't like it very much when he tried to interfere with her on assignments. In fact, she seemed to like it about as much as Lois did.

Andrew smiled weakly as he realized that this was one similarity that both his friend and the reporter seemed to share. Perhaps it was enough to give Monica the leverage in regards to helping Lois. He took a deep breath and exhaled it very slowly before he began to speak. “Tess wanted me to come here and check in with you and see how everything is going, just doing my part to be a good friend,” he smiled weakly, but quickly added. “I think you're doing a great job though, Monica, and you don't really need me around unless to give you a little moral support.” With that, he handed her a styrofoam cup and when she took the lid off, she inhaled the scent of a decaffeinated mocha latte.

“You always know what I need, Andrew,” she smiled at him.

“You’re going to do just fine,” Andrew said as she sipped the drink.

She nodded but looked up at him, and shook her head. “How am I doing? Oh Andrew, I don't know how I'm doing. Lois doesn't like me, it's perfectly obvious, she doesn't talk to me, and when she does, she's usually angry and sarcastic. She calls me ‘Miss Sunshine’, but all it does is give me the distinct impression that I'm doing everything wrong. I mean; when I offer a compliment she gets upset, and when I try to help, she literally tells me to butt out.”

“Did it ever occur to you that you're not doing anything wrong, Monica?” Andrew asked gently as he squeezed her shoulder comfortingly. “She just doesn't want to trust because she's been hurt by people in the past. This isn't a reflection on you; you’re doing your best, and the Father made the best decision possible when He put you on this case,” Andrew said softly and smiled gently at his sensitive friend. “Remember what Tess said at the beginning of all this? She told us how hard it was going to be for us to get close to Lois. Something or someone has hurt her. We don't know what it is yet, but this hurt is causing her to say and do things that she would not normally say or do. Keep that in mind, but don't give up on her; she needs to learn to trust, and this defensive mechanism that she has is going to take a little bit of time to break through.”

“I still don't think I'm the right angel for Lois, Andrew, maybe Tess is better suited for this one,” Monica said softly as she thought about Tess’ attitude and she shrugged her shoulders as she looked at her friend.

“This was no mistake, Monica, you're here because this was the best place for you to be,” Andrew said sternly. “Now, you just do your best, that's all you can do.”

“I don't know if I can even do this assignment, Andrew.”

“Listen to me, Monica, you will do just fine,” Andrew said smiling at her. “Sometimes working with people like Lois, helps an angel to find their belief in themselves, but at the same time, it enhances their understanding. Although people have free will, it is God who is in control of the situation, but you know as well as I do that He does offer them help if they wish to accept it. He knows you're doing your best, but just keep this in mind as you try to make heads or tails of all of this.”

Monica nodded, and within seconds, she was once again alone and the elevator had reached the ground floor. Taking a deep breath, she stepped into the small closet sized room and rode up to the newsroom, her thoughts a constant jumble.

*****

Once Monica had reached the correct floor and the doors had opened, she stepped out into the foyer. Once she came out into the newsroom, Lois came over and met her. “Monica, do you still have the notes I gave you this afternoon?”

“Yes, I have them, they're right here,” Monica said softly, all the while trying to maintain her characteristic optimism. She pulled the requested papers from her briefcase and handed them to the reporter. “What does all this mean, Lois?”

“Rookies,” Lois muttered under her breath, but when she noticed the hurt expression on her partner's face, her tone softened considerably and she tried to offer an adequate response to Monica's inquiry. “Just before you showed up here in Metropolis, there was a big drug bust that went down, and Superman was there and he sort of cleaned things up, but now one of the big bosses is back in town and seems to be in circulation again. Anyway, the long and the short of it is this: We’ve got to take care of them, as well as help put them out of commission.”

“What can we do?” Monica asked. “We're just reporters.”

“Well Rookie, since we have to work together, I'll let you in on the story I have been trying to find a break in. Now, grant it, I'm not completely thrilled with sharing this with you, in fact, if truth were known, I wouldn’t. However, I also know that if I didn't, Perry would hit the roof, and the last thing I need right now is more stress. So, this is strictly on a professional level.”

“I suppose that's a start,” Monica mused more to herself than to Lois.

“Start, huh? Well, just so you'll know, I'm not looking for any new friends, I'm just looking to have results, and if there aren't any, then that will mean nothing but trouble for both of us.” As she spoke, Monica could see the hesitancy in Lois’ stance, and instead of asking about it, she remained quiet as Lois continued speaking. “I heard that in a few weeks there going to be a rave going on in one of the clubs on the eastside, I thought maybe we could dress as outdated hippies or something, go there, and see if we can blend in a little and get the story out.”

Monica looked at her. “Hippies?”

“You must be from the sticks, Monica, or do they not have rave parties in Ireland?” Lois asked after a few moments of silence. It was obvious that she was trying to place Monica's accent, and seemed to have been successful at detecting it.

“No, I suppose not,” she smiled weakly and rather than elaborate on what Lois had just asked, she took a deep breath and rubbed her hands together. Deep inside Monica had this uncanny feeling that she had finally found a small break in Lois' abruptness, but this did not last long, as the reporter seemed to be rather reluctant about offering any information about herself at all.

“Well, then I guess we have some work to do, Miss Sunshine,” Lois continued to speak, her voice filled with sarcastic undertones. Once she sat down at her desk, Monica managed to pull a chair over and sit down as well.

“Why do you call me that?” Monica asked after a few moments of awkward silence had passed between them.

“Well, it suits you for one thing,” Lois, said and taking a deep breath she looked over at Monica. “The truth is, without Clark around, I guess I'm a little lonely here, I mean Jimmy's here, but now he looks at me as if I've got a contagious disease or something.”

“Maybe he's hurting, too, Lois. From the looks of things, it seems as though he has lost his best friend,” Monica said as she looked across the room and could see that the young photographer looked lost. After a second, she glanced over to see that Lois also carried a despondent look on her face. Without thinking, she continued. “It also looks as though you have lost yours as well.”

“I don't want to talk about it,” Lois said icily. “It's bad enough that we have to work together, but if you start meshing yourself into my private affairs, then I will not work with you at all, and I don't care what Perry says about that.”

Monica, knowing that she had lost, nodded numbly and the two of them went over to Lois' desk and got to work.

*****

That evening Clark arrived in Smallville and immediately went to the home of his parents, Martha and Jonathan Kent. The small farmhouse where he had grown up was a welcome sight for the weary reporter and as soon as he came into the house, he knew that his parents were going to be expecting a viable sort of explanation from him as to why he had abruptly left Metropolis. As he came into the kitchen, he could see that his mother was hard at work cooking dinner.

“Mom, you don't have to go through so much trouble for me,” he offered as he sat down at the kitchen table, thus causing her to turn around.

“Don't you worry yourself about that, Clark, it's perfectly obvious that you're tired,” she offered. She and her husband had just returned from their anniversary trip to Italy, and her face was flushed with happiness, but when she saw the unhappy look on her son's face, this newfound joy melted away and her expression altered, the concern so evident, that she eventually sat down at the table and looked at him. The expression on her face was a cross between fear and worry for his welfare. “What is it?”

“Mom, Lois knows the truth, but now she hates me,” Clark said softly. “The weird thing is, I tried to tell her the truth before, but every time I tried the phone would ring, or Jimmy would come into the conference room where we were talking, and I never got the chance. I mean it feels like fate has something against me even telling her the truth.”

Martha shook her head. “I don't think it was fate, honey, it was just bad timing is all.”

“OK, maybe so, but Mom, you didn't hear her last night; she absolutely hates me,” Clark said miserably.

“I don't think so, Clark,” Martha patted her son's hand gently, and her eyes met his. “I have the feeling that she’s just angry, maybe her pride is just a little bit hurt, but I honestly think that she'll come around. Now, tell me, was this the reason you came home, or is there something else?” Martha smiled gently at him; her eyes filled with all the love only a mother could carry.

“I just wanted to come and see you and Dad,” Clark said sadly. “I was thinking about quitting at the Planet, but Perry told me to take three weeks off and see if I can come back after a little bit of time has passed. I suppose he figures that I will change my mind.”

“Rather smart of him, time tends to have an effect on decisions, especially rash ones,” Martha said smiling at her son. “So you're home for three weeks?” She asked as Clark’s father came inside, his eyes brightening considerably when he saw his son seated at the kitchen table.

“What brings you home, Clark?” He asked, not expecting to see his son there, especially in the middle of the week. He smiled warmly as he ran his hand through his gray hair as he sat down at the table as well.

“Perry gave me three weeks off,” Clark said, deciding it best not to elaborate too much. “I've got a few things to think about here, but if I just sit around here the whole time, I think I'll go nuts. I can't just sit here and do nothing but think about what has happened in my life.”

Jonathan nodded. “We're glad you're home, aren't we Martha?”

She nodded and rested a reassuring hand on Clark's shoulder.

“Well, if I could, I'd like to stay here for awhile, maybe get a job in town,” Clark said weakly.

“I have a friend who works for the Smallville Press, maybe she can help you get some part-time hours in over there, but you need rest, Clark, you've got circles around your eyes,” Martha said. “It wouldn't hurt to take a little bit of time off for yourself, and I think your father would be just a little bit skeptical of you sitting around here moping.” She looked at Jonathan and received a reciprocating nod.

“OK, Mom, I'll work part-time,” he conceded. “I'll go by there tomorrow morning and see if there's any openings there. At this stage of the game, I'll even work in the mailroom if I have to. I guess since I may have a job to go to tomorrow then I should get some sleep, it’s late and it's been a very long day.”

“Maybe you should, but I’d suggest that you do so after you have eaten a good meal,” she said and smiled as she stood up and retrieved a bowl from the cabinet, filled it with homemade chicken and noodles, and placed it on the table in front of him.

Using super speed, he ate the food his mother had prepared, and stood up to go down the hall to his room. Once he was gone, Martha looked at Jonathan all the while shaking her head. “You ever notice how our friends would complain about how quickly their children inhaled their food? If any of them could see how quickly Clark sometimes eats, they would immediately stop their complaining.”

Jonathan chuckled, but in the recesses of his mind, there was a matching concern dwelling there. “Sometimes things look a little bit better after someone has gotten a good night's sleep,” he offered trying to lighten his wife's mood, but as he looked at Clark's empty plate, he shook his head, barely able to believe those words.

*****

By this time, Clark had gone down the hall and went into his old room. Once he closed the door, he looked around the familiar room and smiled only slightly. His parents had kept the room as it was in case he was to come back to Smallville to visit. He was still unsure as to whether or not he would ever go back to Metropolis, but something told him that he would not really want to go back until the three weeks Perry had insisted on were behind him.

Sighing deeply, he sat down on the bed, his thoughts literally encasing him. He knew that Monica was in Metropolis working with Lois, so maybe the pretty auburn headed woman would help curtail her endless quest to get into trouble. As his mind drifted to that topic, he sighed deeply. It was at that instance that he understood that he would have to show up there periodically in order to protect his secret. Even with this knowledge, he realized that Superman was not always going to be around to bail Lois out and this made his heart literally ache.

He closed his eyes for a moment, and slowly removed his glasses. Once he laid them on the nightstand next to the bed, he began to rub his face with his hands. He was tired, but he was not sure if he would even be able to sleep. Lois' angry words from the night before still stabbed at his conscience and he shook his head in denial as he contemplated what she had said to him.

He continued to ponder the decision he had made to leave Metropolis. Not only was there Lois to consider, but then there was also the Planet. He had friends there, Perry and Jimmy, to name a few. He really liked Jimmy, the young man was more like the younger brother he never had, and Perry was more like an adopted father than a boss. Clark continued to reflect on how Perry even called him ‘son’ now and again. This made a difference to him, even though he had the most wonderful parents in the world.

After a few more minutes of mulling over his complicating life, he stood up and finished getting ready for bed. This secret identity stuff was not what it was cracked up to be, he thought sadly. Sometimes, he felt as though he was split in two, and the worst part about it was the person he loved more than anything, was one he had hurt the most because of this secret.

Releasing another pent up sigh, he laid down on the bed and stared up at the ceiling, his eyes refusing to close, but all the while he hoped that he would eventually be able to sleep. He lightly punched his pillow, hoping that he would be able to fluff it without sending the feathers flying because of the usual force sustained with his super-strength. This had often happened to him when he was younger. Today, he had lost count as to how many pillows he had unintentionally destroyed because during his teen years, he did not know his own strength sometimes.

As he continued to stare at the ceiling, the realization dawned on him how nice it was to actually be back home, how the sounds of nature had replaced the sounds of police sirens, alley cats, and the hustle and bustle of the life in the big city. He inhaled slowly and could smell the freshness of the air around him, the scent of honeysuckle and hay filling his nostrils.

“Maybe in all of this, I can actually find some peace,” he whispered to himself as he closed his eyes and rested his hands comfortingly behind his head.

Beside his bed, Tess stood in angelic form, all the while; she was shaking her head sadly. “You will find your peace, baby,” she said softly, her voice filled with motherly compassion. “But, you will have to go back to Metropolis and face some very hard truths before you will find that peace, which you desperately need. I am here and I have every intention of helping you do that, but it is going to be very difficult.” Without another word, the angel disappeared and Clark sat bolt upright in bed and abruptly opened his eyes.

“Who's there?” He asked the stillness, all the while, he was completely certain that his super-hearing had detected a soft and gentle utterance. It was a comforting and loving voice, which literally enfolded him, and the resonance of it, seemed to be coming from a spot right next to his bed. He looked around the room for a few minutes, and when he noticed in the direction of his bedroom door; he could see that the lights in the rest of the house were out, an indication that his parents had already gone to bed.

He looked around the room one last time, but when he could see that he was still alone in this room, he shook his head, bewilderment shadowing his handsome face, but eventually, he laid back down against the pillow, pulled the comforter up to his chin and on his back, he stared at the ceiling until sleep eventually overcame him.

*****

The following morning Clark woke up bright and early and got dressed to go into town. He had been told that he would be able to go to the Smallville Press and that he was assured that because of his reputation back in Metropolis that he would be able to secure his old job there. He hadn't been back to the small town newspaper since leaving for Metropolis, but none of that seemed to matter because everyone there seemed to know him anyway. Although he could not stop thinking about Lois, he was really glad to be back in the swing of reporting, even if what he was reporting were things that were small and insignificant compared to the action of the big city.

After getting his assignment, he met the young Hispanic man who was to become his working associate. The youth was a photographer named Raphael, who reminded him a lot of Jimmy, although there was absolutely nothing similar in their behavior whatsoever. Raphael was a sort of 'in your face' personality, and oddly enough, the only thing he shared with Jimmy was an uncanny enthusiasm for work, as well as appearing to be around the same age.

“So you've been living in Metropolis for the last two years?” Raphael asked trying to get Clark to start talking as they were leaving the PTA meeting that was taking place on the other side of town. As they were walking back through the old fashioned town in the direction of the offices, Clark seemed to have his head in the clouds, but a nudge from the young man brought him back down to earth, and he looked at Raphael, suddenly realizing that the photographer had spoken.

“Yeah I was there for awhile, but something came up and I had to come back home,” he offered freely as they walked through the square. “Sometimes coming home is the best thing for a person. It kind of puts their situation into a proper perspective.”

Raphael nodded as he, too, began to think about home. “I know what you mean, Amigo.”

“Listen, I'm going to go and have a cappuccino, want to come along?” Clark asked. “I remember they used to have the best cappuccinos around here, well next to Italy, of course.”

“Sounds great,” Raphael said smiling broadly.

Once the two of them went through a small doorway on one side of the Smallville Press’ leased out office space. There, they entered a cafeteria and they approached the counter. On the opposite side, stood Tess, a caring smile on her face and her brown eyes were filled with compassion. “Hello there, what can I get for you two today?” She asked warmly as she took a towel and wiped it across the counter.

“Can one still get a cappuccino here?” Clark asked.

“Yes, is that what you would like?” She asked; her alto voice filled with warmth and kindness. “You can get it with whipped cream or condensed milk on top, so what's your preference?”

“Condensed milk for me,” Clark said as Tess looked at Raphael her eyebrow raised in expectation of what he was going to order.

“I'll have a caffeine free cola, and a bag of chips,” Raphael said and once Tess tossed a bag of chips at him she went over to retrieve the bottle of cola for him.

“The cappuccino is going to take a few minutes to make, but I'll bring it to you when it's done,” she said as Clark went over to an empty table and sat down. A copy of the newspaper was on the table, so he reached for it and opened it as Raphael looked at Tess.

“What's his story?” Raphael asked softly, trying to keep his voice low.

“None of us know yet, baby,” Tess said.

“Andrew and Monica are in Metropolis?” Raphael asked.

Tess nodded. “Our job is going to be helping Clark get back there and face his past, but I don't know anything else, I'm afraid. Did you find out anything about why he came here?”

“Nothing, he's really quiet about his life, it's like he has a secret or something and doesn't really know how to deal with it,” Raphael said as he took a sip of his drink.

“I know, I'd better get his cappuccino done, why don't you go over and try to get him to talk about himself?” Tess suggested, but before he had completely walked away, she looked up. “Angel Child?”

“Yes, Tess?”

“It's a hard case right now, Monica's been having some problems with her end of it, but the Father has the utmost faith in you,” she smiled and watched as he picked up the bag of chips and the bottle of cola and walked over to the table where Clark was sitting.

“What are you reading?” Raphael asked as he sat down next to Clark and watched as he mulled over the newspaper that was in front of him.

“Someone left a copy of the Metropolis Star here and I was just checking out what was happening back there,” he said shrugging his shoulders.

“Did you work for the Star?” Raphael asked.

“No, I was working at the Daily Planet,” he offered freely.

“Really, that must have been awesome, I mean; the Planet is big time, not like here where people are just getting their feet wet. So you did big time reporting there?”

“I don't know about that,” he said shrugging his shoulders. “I enjoyed the work.”

Raphael shook his head in disbelief. “I heard about the Kerth award you got earlier this year for your reporting, Clark. The deal is; if you were so successful there, why did you come back here? I mean; most of the people around here would give their right eye to work for Perry White and hang around the Daily Planet. Most people here would love it if you came back and just did a workshop on reporting here, not actually work here.”

“I'd just like to forget about it, Raphael,” Clark said softly, but something told him that the enthusiastic young photographer was not about to give it a rest, in fact, he seemed just the type that would savor the flavors of the big city.

“Why? I mean; you're one of the best reporters around, and when I was told that I would be working with you, I thought that was the greatest privilege that I could have been given.”

“Look, in this game, we're equals, and nobody is better or worse than anyone else,” Clark said softly.

“Oh man, I know you're right, but still.” As he spoke, Tess brought over Clark's cappuccino and sat it on the table in front of him.

“You need anything else, baby?” Tess asked, thus causing Clark to snap his head up and look at her with a mixed expression on his face, one was bewilderment, the other anxiety. After a few seconds had passed, he shook his head indicating that he was OK and she walked away.

“What's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost?” Raphael asked as Clark began to put spoonfuls of sugar into his drink.

“There's something just different about her, I can't put my finger on it, but something unusual,” he said shrugging his shoulders, but opted to keep his thoughts about the dream to himself. Strangely enough, he could not get the events of the night before out of his mind. He had heard someone speaking to him while he was lying in bed, he just knew it, but there was no one there. The words that the woman had said to him had emerged as clear as crystal. Specifically, the word ‘baby’ seemed to vividly stand out in his mind. Oddly enough, as Tess had brought his cappuccino, she had used the same word.

He shook his head, almost as though he was in denial, but then he had come into this cafeteria and Tess had said this word to him, the cadence of it practically the same and he could almost feel the essence of the word literally leaping out at him. To add to his confusion, he could not remember if last night had only been a dream, but there was a subconscious impression of familiarity, and this, if anything, added to his confusion.

Part of his abilities included a nearly flawless memory, and yet, even though he could remember every single person he had rescued since becoming Superman, he could not remember ever having rescued or seen the warmhearted woman standing at the counter in the cafeteria. Although she was a stranger to him, he realized that she seemed oddly familiar, his instincts telling him that she was someone he could trust, but the reason behind this was still unknown and rather spooky to him.

“Maybe you should talk to her about these weird feelings,” Raphael was saying, and the words seemed to abruptly break Clark out of his reverie. When he saw the expression on his new colleague's face, he thought better of it. “Listen, Tess has been working here for only a few days now, and she's really nice, very wise to the ways of the world. In fact, there is probably nothing that you could say that would surprise her; so why don't you try?”

Clark smiled ironically, the last question causing him to shake his head slowly. As he sat and stared down at the cappuccino in front of him, he wondered what was happening in Metropolis, and how Lois was faring now that he was not around to make things complicating.

*****

The morning after Clark started working in Smallville for their newspaper, a handsome new photographer walked into the Daily Planet building in order to apply for a job. He rode up to the newsroom and walked through it, stopping only for a moment at Lois Lane’s desk. Lois had come to work early and was concentrating on the rough draft of one of the stories she had been assigned to work with Monica on.

“Excuse me, I don't mean to interrupt, but I was wondering if you could tell me how to find Perry White's office,” the man spoke, causing Lois to immediately look up and into a pair of compassionate green eyes.

“Right over there,” she pointed to a glass door and returned her attention to the notes in front of her.

“Thank you,” he said with a smile and walked over to the door, knocked and when he heard the voice on the other side saying ‘come in’, he opened the door and went inside. “Good morning, Mr. White?”

“Yes, and you're?” Perry asked.

“My name is Andrew,” came the response and as the angel looked across the desk at the editor, he realized that it would be prudent to supply a surname. “Andrew Halo,” he quickly supplied all the while smiling at the nickname Tess had given to him.

Perry nodded. “You're a photographer, right?”

“Yes,” he smiled.

As the editor looked outside into the newsroom he could see that Jimmy was sitting at his desk, his elbows on the desk, his hands practically holding his chin up. He was staring at the computer screen and Perry sighed deeply as he tried to look at Andrew instead of at the young man who had not been himself since Clark Kent had left Metropolis.

“Mr. White?” Andrew spoke, but instead of waiting for an answer, he turned around and followed the gaze of the older man.

“Call me Perry, almost everyone around here does,” came the almost automatic response, but the man was still staring at Jimmy through the blinds that separated the glass encased office from the outer sanctions of the newsroom.

Once Andrew could also see Jimmy, he nodded as though he understood, Perry was worried, and perhaps for good reason. “You're worried about him, aren't you?”

Sensing the sincerity in Andrew’s words, the editor nodded as he tried to refocus his attention on the man who was applying to work there. “Yes, I suppose I am. You see, Andrew, I tend to look out for people who work here. I guess you could say I'm like an overprotective mother hen or something, but that's just how things are here. We're kind of like family here, and a few days ago, one of our family members decided to fly the coop, so to speak.”

“I'm sorry,” Andrew said.

“No reason, anyway, if you want a job here, it's yours, just do me a favor and fill out this paperwork and give it back to me by the end of the day. Once you do that, we'll see what we can do to get you processed into the system and get you out there in the field. Incidentally, it's a nice coincidence that you came in when you did because we're a few photographers short right now.”

“I don't believe in coincidences, Perry, I'm just glad to be here,” Andrew said.

“Whatever, so I imagine with that huge chunk of equipment you're carrying that you know which end to look through in order to take a picture?” Perry asked through an almost forced smile.

“Absolutely,” Andrew smiled.

“OK, I'll let you go to work with Jimmy for now, at least until you learn the ropes around here. Jimmy is kind of young, but he knows his way around here, and I figure that he can put you on the fast track as to how things are here,” he said smiling, but he did not add that he was concerned with Jimmy's mental state so soon after his best friend had left the paper and gone back to Smallville. For some reason, he hoped that the kind-hearted, green-eyed photographer would be able to help Jimmy not feel so upset about Clark's abrupt disappearance. The editor also figured that he could always put Andrew elsewhere if or when Clark was to come back.

Andrew stood up to leave the office, “Thank you.”

With a wave of his hand, Perry dismissed his newest photographer.

Outside in the newsroom, Andrew went over to Jimmy's desk. “Jimmy Olsen?”

The younger man looked up. “Yeah, what can I do for you?”

“Hi, my name's Andrew, I'm new here and Perry said that once I fill out all this paperwork, I could work with you a little bit, and that maybe you could show me around,” he smiled at the younger man.

“Sure,” Jimmy stood up and ran his hand through his dark brown hair. Once Andrew had filled in the paperwork, he returned it to Perry and then came back out into the newsroom. As he stood next to the desk, Jimmy smiled weakly. “You can drop your stuff here if you want. I was just going downstairs to get something to drink.”

Andrew smiled and did as the younger man suggested. “So, how long have you been working here?”

“Awhile, seems almost like forever,” came the unenthusiastic answer.

“Is there something wrong?” Andrew asked noticing this.

“No, it's nothing,” Jimmy said.

“If you need a friend, I'll listen,” Andrew offered.

“Look, it's no big deal, I just have been having a rough few days is all,” Jimmy said shrugging his shoulders as they got into the elevator and rode down to the lobby. “You ever wonder if the world is going to take you seriously?” He muttered to himself all the while hoping that Andrew had not heard the soft utterances he had spoken. He knew that the only reason he had said them was to vent his frustrations, but not with the expectations of an answer.

“Sometimes, people feel like they have to prove themselves a lot, I suppose,” Andrew said, “but there's really no reason to.”

“Maybe not, but the only person around here who actually treated me as an equal is gone and I'm left here to muddle through alone,” Jimmy said as they came outside and walked towards the small coffee wagon that was located down the street from the building where they worked.

“You're not alone, Jimmy,” Andrew said softly. “You still have friends here.”

“Yeah, well, that's all fine and good, but new friends can't replace the old ones,” he said.

“No, they can't but new friends can help you to accept what has happened, and help you to make the best of it,” Andrew said. “I'm new here, completely new to Metropolis, I don't know anyone in this town, I have only been a photographer for a short time, and I don't have very much experience when it comes to the newspaper business. Maybe that's why Perry decided to let me work with you; maybe he has more confidence in you then you realized.”

“Really?” Jimmy asked looking up as Andrew's words somehow struck a chord with him. “You mean it?”

“Why would I say this if I didn't?” Andrew challenged him with one of his own. “Sometimes it's nice to have someone to talk to who understands these kinds of things. It's nice to have a friend to go to bat for you, so to speak.”

“Yeah, you're right, it is.” Jimmy placed his order and paid when he was given a cup filled with cola and ice. He took a drink as Andrew paid for his order and the two of them walked back in the direction of the building.

“It's a nice day, isn't it?” Andrew asked as he looked towards the heavens, the sun was high in the sky and he could feel the warmth of it on his face. Across the street, he could see that Monica was walking towards the door of the building.

“Yeah,” he said, but instead of commenting further, he started to quicken his step and ran to catch up with Monica. Andrew followed and by the time they reached the lobby of the building, they had managed to catch up with her. “Hey, Monica.”

“Hi Jimmy,” Monica smiled.

“This is Andrew, he just started today,” Jimmy introduced the two angels and pressed the button that would summon the elevator. “This is Monica, she's fairly new here too.”

“Hello,” Monica said and Andrew could detect a sense of relief on the face of his friend and fellow angel. She looked completely frazzled, and although he had tried to help her with this particular case, he knew that his efforts had been unsuccessful.

“Hi,” Andrew smiled. “Jimmy's been showing me around, we went first to the coffee cart and got a hot decaffeinated mocha latte.”