Secrets of the roof [pre-SR]

[C_K_unlimited]

word count: ca. 1.330
verse: pre-SR set in 2009/2010
pairing: Lois/Clark

Disclaimer: I hold no rights to Superman and the related characters. I only borrow them for this story. This is written for entertainment only and I don't earn money with it. Now enjoy and please don't forget to tell me what you think about it!

A/N: Huge 'Thanks' to Kitkaos who took her precious time to beta-read this story and helped me to make it easier for you to read.



Standing on the roof of the Daily Planet Lois felt the wind playing with her hair. It was a strong wind that brought some rain with it. But she still had to be up here, staring in the evening sky of Metropolis searching for him.

For four months she had not heard any news from Kal-El. Even when the huge earthquakes in Haiti and Chile had happened no one had seen even a blur of his cape and most of the newspapers and TV stations had declared Superman missing.

Lois had known earlier that something was wrong. The last time she had been with him, Kal-El had been too quiet. Lost in thought, he had let down more of his mask than usual and Lois had seen a part of him, his real self, that still made her heart ache.

Now that he was gone she felt the same loneliness she had seen in his eyes. Last week she had visited Martha Kent in Smallville to see if she could contact Clark. But all Martha could say was that Clark had sent her an e-mail from somewhere in Nepal or India where he was following the route the 14th Dalai Lama had taken when he had fled from Tibet. She said she would send him a reply but wasn't sure when Clark would get it and if he could contact Superman from there.

Lois knew that Martha wasn't telling the truth but she respected the older woman's choice keeping her in the dark. But now here on the roof, in rain and wind, she felt the entire hurt of it and decided to go back to Smallville for the week-end and talk to Martha Kent again. Martha was the only one who could understand how Lois felt, what she went through now that she was pregnant from a man who was missing and happened to be born on another planet. And she seemed to be the only one who could tell Lois if she was right or not.

Wind and pain brought tears to Lois' eyes. How could two so lovely persons lie to her for so long? She had trusted Clark and Martha and was disappointed that her truth-loving partner had lived such a lie. Taking a deep breath, Lois couldn't hold back her sobs nor her memories.

~*~

“Lois? What are you doing out here in the rain and cold? You'll get at least the sniffles!”

She jumped a little, surprised by the sudden voice of her friend and co-worker Clark Kent. Kal-El had been acting so strange lately that Lois had to come up here thinking about it. This place was her refuge. Here she was alone, no phone, no e-mail, no nosy co-workers.

“I'm thinking.” Her voice sounded raspy, for she had been there for quite a while.

Putting his warm jacket over her shoulders and tugging it firmly around them Clark asked softly, “What's wrong that you have to stay out here in the rain for an entire hour?”

Lois hesitated a moment. Telling Clark about her thoughts would mean letting him in on her biggest secret. But then, being Kal-El's friend he may already know about it. Surrounded by Clark's comforting scent Lois decided to open up.

“You know, Superman and I, we – have – a closer relationship than just a hero and his press agent.”

Calmly, with only the slightest bit of hurt audible, Clark replied: “I know. You love him. And he loves you.” From the corner of her eye she could see him hiding his hands deep inside the pockets of his trousers. His face looked like from a Greek statue and his gaze went far in the distance.

Surprise in her voice and eying him from the side Lois asked, “And you can accept that? Just like that?”

With a nod and a shrug Clark spoke: “You've been in love with him as long as I have been in love with you – from the first moment you saw him. And I know that his feelings for you are as honest and deep as you deserve. Who am I to interfere there?”

Marveled by Clark's words and his tone of voice, Lois turned around to face him properly. There was something about him at that moment that wasn't klutzy Clark Kent, but her mind refused to tell her what it was.

“You're my friend. You have every right to tell me what you think. Even when you're not okay with whom I'm dating.” Somehow she hoped that this new light on her well-known partner would intensify when he went on talking. Maybe he would let her see more of that hidden side, she never thought he could have.

“As your friend I'm only telling you that I will leave soon. I can't stay here any more. There is something I have to find and it's not in Metropolis.”

Clark's tone was harsh and Lois saw him closing up and hiding his inner self from her. The only thing that intensified now was the pouring rain.

“Where are you gonna you go? And when are you gonna be back?” But in her thoughts she said: Don't go! I want you around.

“I'll travel far. I don't know when I will be back. I guess it depends on when, where and how I will find what I'm looking for.” A distant look was on Clark's face, one that Lois had seen on someone else's face, too. And with the wet hair glued to his head she saw a similarity that she had never thought was possible. Could Clark be more than the clumsy and quiet reporter? More than the goodhearted friend?

“Don't you think I could help you find it? We've always been such a great team. Don't you remember how we found out where Luthor was hiding? Even the police didn't know.” Her voice was unsure, as if she was afraid of something. How could she make him stay? She needed time to follow the train of thoughts that had just started and then to find proof for it.

A small nostalgic smile lit up Clark's face for a second but then he closed up again. “Lois, I have to do this alone. You can't help me with it.” His tone was just a nuance deeper than usual, but it was enough to make Lois' heart skip a beat and run faster when Clark softly caressed her cheek. It was barely a touch, light as a feather and over in the blink of an eye. Then Lois felt his hand at her shoulder pushing her to the door.

“We better go inside.”

~*~

Even with the memory of that touch Lois' heart rushed and her cheek burned. In that single moment she had seen so much love in Clark's face. How come that she had never realized before that his feelings for her went far beyond a simple crush? How could she have been so blind about everything concerning Clark Kent?

Only when he was gone she managed to put the pieces together. His sudden exits and halfhearted excuses, his goodness and the strength he gave her. The fact that he knew so many things and the brilliant outcomes of his investigations. And on the other hand Kal-El, who always knew where she was and when she needed him for an interview or just as a friend. She would never have thought that those two men, who were so different and both so close to her, were in fact only two sides of one person.

And now that both of them were gone, Lois missed one of them more than the other. The one she had never seen for his real self was now more present than ever before. His absence showed her how much he meant to her.

All of her sorrow and her fear culminated in one loud outcry against the ever-blowing wind and cold rain:
“Clark! Come back to me!”


~END~


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