Clark heard the knock at his hotel room door and just knew who it was. He didn't even have to use his x-ray vision.

He opened the door to see Lana in the skimpiest dress she could fine. Where Lois would look good in a dress like that, it did Lana no favors.

Clark tried to act surprised. "Lana, what are you doing here."

"I was in DC on business and thought he could go out to dinner." Lana asked hopefully.
Clark decided that would be a plan as the hotel restaurant would be full of people and she could not try anything.

"Ok, Lana. It will give us a chance to talk. There some things need to be said." Clark said

Lana smiled. "Ok then."

Clark locked up the room and they went down to the lobby. He made a quick excuse that he needed to check if he had any messages. Then he quickly sent the text to Lois.

Lana kept pulling her dress down, so Clark could see her cleavage a little better. Clark did not know what effect Lana thought it was having on him, but the truth was zero.
Lana and Clark were shown to their table.

"Just like old times." Lana looked at Clark for a response.

"Do you think? From what I remember we barely made it anywhere for dinner other than the Talon." Clark fired back.

"We used to like to stay in a lot didn't we?" Lana winked at him.

Clark replied. "Yeah, we did. The night usually ended up in an argument and one of us stormed off to bed. That last year when we were lived together was just a nightmare wasn't it. Luckily Kara was there or we probably would have 'killed' each other."

"Well we did have some good times, didn't we." Lana tried to steer the conversation to happier times.

"I am not denying we had some fun together. You meant everything to me since I saw you at High School. But sometimes the dream does not match the reality. When we finally got together for that period of time two years ago, we could not cope with the reality."

"What do you mean?" Lana was getting annoyed.

"I dreamed for years that we would end up together and live happily after ever. But as you know our life barely turned out to be a fairytale. Sometimes people come to the realisation that they have made a mistake. And I finally did."

"Then, why did we get back together last year on my return?" Lana said confidently.
"It proved we still had strong feelings for each other"

Clark smiled. "No Lana, I think you have always had some sort of pull or spell over me. I always used to turn into a lovesick puppy when you were around. I would run at a snap of your fingers. I admit I was devastated when you left."

"So you do love me?" Lana asked.

"No, I don't anymore, I don't even know if what we had was anymore than a fantasy that I could not escape from. After you left and Lois returned, something sneaked up on me and tapped me on the shoulder. It was love like I had never experienced before." Clark was getting emotional.

Clark continued. "It took me a few more months for the feelings to get through the barriers I had erected to protect myself from another relationship like we had. But my feelings for Lois continually ate away at the barriers until they tumbled down. "

Lana looked at Clark. "That sounds so pathetic!"

"Maybe it does to you but all that matters is how me and Lois feels towards one another. There is no-one else for me" Clark stated.

"Look Lana, you are not to blame for our relationship breaking down, as much as I am not responsible for it. It was circumstances and everything we went onto experience, all the hurt and lies proved that we were never meant to live happily ever after." Clark felt sorry for Lana and was no longer angry with her.

On the other hand, Lana was furious. "Lois will never love you the way I do. I sacrificed so much for you."

Clark answered back calmly. "Lois does not love obsessively like you do/did, she loves and accepts me for who I am. And please let's not start on the 'poor little Lana' spiel. You are a grown woman, you made bad choices, as did I. Just accept we were not meant to be. No one is to blame!"

Lana got up "I will make sure that Lois and you do not stay together. I just need to put a few little doubts in her head with my version of events and they will soon start growing."

"Lana, don't waste your time. Lois has all my memories in her head so you can't feed her any crap about what happened in the past."

Lana was speechless. "How, why?"

"That doesn't matter. Lana, I would like to be friends with you, but you need to back off Lois and I."

Lana stormed off out of the restaurant.

After Lana left, Clark went to bed, he soon fell asleep and found himself thinking of Lois lying next to him. He missed her so he made a decision. He texted Lois and warned her. Minutes later he arrived to find Lois waiting for him.

"I missed you, Lo. What a night." Clark look relieved to be back home.

"What happened? Did she try it on with you?" Lois asked.

"Yes, she did and I succumbed to her charms..." Clark smiled.

Next thing he knew a pillow was travelling rather fast towards his head. It made contact and the feathers flew everywhere. Clark had to retaliate so he grabbed his pillow.

"Lo, this is war." Youou asked for this." Clark said determined to win.

Next thing he knew he was lying on his back and Lois was tickling him. He had no choice but to admit defeat.

"I surrender. You win. You can have your wicked way with me tonight." Clark said hopefully.

Lois laughed and obliged.

Clark and Lois were up with the birds and had an early breakfast where they discussed the events of the previous day.

Clark never had a chance to hear the results of the meeting with Dr Groll the previous night so Lois filled him in.

"So, Lois, you are basically saying that Lana is losing her powers and soon won't have any. That is the best news ever..." Clark smiled.

"Now we have to put part two of the plan into action. I will let you know how it goes. Will you be home tonight." Lois asked Clark.

"Well you never know. I might be tempted. " Clark winked as he grabbed himself and headed off to work in DC. He started work in ten minutes so he would be there with time to spare.

Oliver was at Watchtower with Chloe. He seemed to be spending a lot of time there these days. Maybe he had a reason to. Clark had even commented on the spark between those two and he was not exactly the most perceptive person around. It was hard to believe he had superpowers sometimes.

"Hi. Ollie, I need your help." Lois gave him that helpless look.

Ollie responded by holding up his hand. "Before you continue, Chloe filled me in last night and I have spoken to some contacts in Metropolis and I think we may be on to something."

"Lana made some mistakes when she made the deal for a controlling share in the Planet. She used some of Lex's old lawyers. They define the word 'corrupt'. It didn't take much delving to find some inconsistencies in the contract which may make it null and void. "

Lois was getting excited. "Tell me more."

"Basically everyone wins with this scenario. When we threaten to report her, Lana will no doubt give up control of the Planet, but will get all her money back. All we need is someone to buy her out." Chloe added.

Lois looked at Oliver. "So when are you buying her out?"

Oliver looked at Lois. "I'm not Lois. I have to agree things with Tess since the Merger and she does not want the controlling share of the newspaper back."

Lois was concerned. "So we have to find a buyer quickly so Clark can come back."

"Lois, don't panic. I have a buyer set up. Well buyers really. There is a consortium of buyers who approached me a few months back to buy into the paper. They are ready to sign the contract on the condition that they can appoint the new editor in chief." Oliver exclaimed.

"Well, they cannot be any worse than Lana. Who will new chief be?"

"I don't know, Lois. I never met the head honcho. We will have to wait and see. The wheels have been set in motion. Our lawyers are meeting Lana's lawyers as we speak, so the deal should be done before the end of the week." Oliver tried to reassure Lois.

Lois waited until Clark got back that night to tell him the good news. They were both relieved that Lana would be out from under their feet, but could not help but wonder who their new boss would be.

"I would love to see Lana's face now." Lois gave an evil grin.

"Lois, I'm just glad she is getting her money back. I bare no ill will towards her. In fact I pity her. Hopefully she will leave us alone. I want to get back to what matters – you and me"

Clark left early the following morning to go to DC and bring all his stuff back. He was back to the farm in time for breakfast.

"Thank God, I don't have to go back to DC, well except to visit mom. I hated being that far away from you." Clark kissed Lois gently.

Lois smiled. "All we need now is Ollie to make good on his promise." Her phone rang. Lois put it on speakerphone. It was Oliver. "Speak of the devil."

Oliver confirmed that the New Editor in Chief would be taking over Monday and he made a point of saying that he was looking forward to working with Clark.

"Why would the New Editor say that about me, Ollie. I'm not exactly a top notch reporter.

"Well not yet anyway..." Lois said squeezing Clark's arm. "Ollie, who is the new Chief?"

"I'm sorry but hat cannot be announced until Monday. Changing the subject... Lana doesn't know yet apparently. She has disappeared off the face of the Earth since your encounter the other night. Clark, you must have said some major things and touched a nerve. Apparently the lawyers are more in control of Lana than she realises. She trusts them with everything, not exactly clever of her considering the botch job they made of buying the Planet." Oliver explained.

Clark was puzzled. "I wonder what she is up to, knowing Lana's current mind set, she won't take my rejection lying down."

Oliver added. "I have spoken to Dr Groll and he thinks Lana's suit will depower slowly at first but the process will start to speed up exponentially"

Clark was worried. "I think we need to keep an eye out until we know the suit is defunct. She has become totally unpredictable since she put the suit on."

Lois thought Clark was overreacting, although she would never admit it, she did like Clark being protective of her.

All of a sudden, there was a loud bang and Lois and Clark heard Oliver shout. "Oh my god"

"What is it Oliver, what's wrong." Lois asked.

"There's been an explosion at a building downtown. It looks..." Ollie shouted shaken.

Clark looked at Lois, she smiled knowingly.

Before Oliver could finish his sentence, Clark had arrived at the building and started to put out the fire. Luckily it was a disused building and no one had been inside.

Lois never minded sharing Clark with the world. It was just part of the Clark she had fell in love with. She was daydreaming again and didn't notice the blurry figure come into the farm house before it was too late. All she felt was a hit to the head and then nothing.

When Lois came to, her vision took a while to clear, but she soon realised she did not know where she was. She realised that she was unable to move as she was tied to a chair. The bind were tight and she knew she stood no chance of working her way free. She just had to try and get the gag off her mouth so she could try and attract Clark's attention.

Although she was disorientated from the blow to the head, she knew who had taken her. It didn't take a genius to work that one out and it did not take long for her suspicions to be confirmed.

A man's voice called out. "Ms Lane, it is pointless trying to break free. "

Lois shouted back. "Lana, drop the voice modifier, its tacky."

Lana appeared from the shadows. Lois realised that it was not Lana's voice as the voice continued and Lana's mouth was not moving. She took Lois's gag off.

"Lana, why are you doing this? One shout of Clark and he will come running." Lois exclaimed.

"He can't hear you, the building is soundproofed. We have put out some breadcrumbs so he will find you. That is what I am hoping for. " Lana said smugly, as she flipped the switch on to reveal a large room. More worrying was the red beams of light that traversed the walls, floor and ceiling to form a type of cage.

"What are these? What are you planning to do to Clark?" Lois begged Lana "Don't hurt him."

"Hurt him, why would I hurt him? I am going to make him be with me. It is what he wants deep down, but you have blinded him to his real feelings." Lana explained
Lois looked at Lana. For some reason, she did not feel angry with Lana. She could see the desperation in her eyes. She wanted Clark.

"Do you love Clark?" Lois asked Lana.

"How can you ask that?" Lana shot Lois a look. "More than anything."

"Are you sure it is not the idea of you and Clark you are in love with, not the reality. After all, the time you spent living together was a disaster. As Clark told you I have seen some of his memories and the time you spent at the farm wasn't exactly harmonious." Lois said gently, trying to show Lana some empathy.

"Your relationship was full of lies and deceit. Do you not think it showed that you two weren't meant to be." Lois added.

"What would you know, Lois. What makes you think that you and Clark are meant to be." Lana snapped back.

"Lana, I don't want to fight, as I said before Clark is not some trophy we can win. He is free to make his own choices." Lois replied.

Lois could see that her words were having an effect on Lana. Her eyes were tearing up.
"Well, he won't be after today when he comes into contact with this modified red kryptonite. This makes the effects permanent and he will love me forever." Lana said defensively.

Lois was shocked by Lana's desperation. "But Lana, even if it does make him love you, it won't be real, his feelings will not be real, it will be due to the kryptonite. Can you live with the knowledge that Clark doesn't love you of his own freewill?"

Lana started to sob and headed towards Lois. She knew Lois was right. All the anger she had bottled up since finding out about Lois and Clark evaporated.

Lois was terrified deep down but would not show it. Lana was mentally unstable so she braced herself for what could be coming. She closed her eyes, but then nothing. All she felt was the binds loosen from her arms and fall to the ground.

"Lois, I'm so sorry, let's get you out of here." They headed to the door. But the door would not open. "Dr Barnes, change of plan, please open the door. I cannot go through with this anymore."

The voice boomed across the room. "No, the plan has not changed. I knew you would back down so I made a back up plan."

All of a sudden, the red beams turned green. Lana realised it was green kryptonite, but then thought how could Dr Barnes be so stupid. Hadn't Dr Groll taught him anything over the years, after all he had been there when the suit was fitted to her.

"Do you think that will stop me." Lana said as she grabbed the door and tried to lift it off, but the door was not budging.

Dr Barnes laughed. "Apparently so. I did learn things off Dr Groll including the fact that when the kryptonite was extracted from your suit, it started to extract the powers as well. He did not have the guts to tell you. He was always frightened of you and how you would react. Your suit is useless now and will never work again."

Lois panicked. "Why did this have to happen now?"

Lana looked at her. "you knew about this?"

Lois looked guiltiy "Yes I did, but can I tell you about it when we get out of here."

Suddenly a display lit up in the corner of a room, it was a countdown timer.

"What's this'" Lana screamed.

"It is a bomb and if my calculations are correct Clark should be here in a few minutes." Dr Barnes explained.

Just then the green beams went off and the room was dark once more. There was a bang and all they could see was the outline of Clark dressed as the Blur.

"Lois, are you ok?" Clark shouted out.

Before Lois had a chance to warn Clark the green beams lit up again. Clark collapsed. To make matters worse the timer started counting down from ten minutes

The clock continuing its decent. Lois and Lana tried frantically to get out the door but the beams were acting as a forcefield blocking the doorway. They needed Clark but he was on the floor unconscious, the green rock taking away all his powers.

4 mins 15 secs.

"Lana, what can we do? Is there anyway of deactivating the system? There must be some sort of fail-safe switch." Lois was desperate

"I had nothing to do with the design of the system. It was all down to Dr Barnes. I never wanted anyone to get hurt. I am so sorry that I dragged you and Clark into this."

"Lana, that suit made you act that way. You couldn't deal with the power, could you?" Lois conceded.

"Lois, we both know that is not true. You have access to Clark's memories, no doubt you have seen I changed when I got involved with Lex. The money and influence he had was intoxicating and very addictive."

"Well, its all immaterial now, Lana. We just need to get out of here." Lois went over to Clark but he was out cold. In some ways she preferred him this way than writhing round in agony like he normally did in the presence of Kryptonite. Saying that they needed him more than ever but he was powerless.

What they didn't realise is that Clark had brought Oliver along for the ride. He was in the control room overlooking the room. He could see everything that was going on through the one-way glass. He was talking to Chloe on the phone. Dr Barnes was lying on the floor disabled by an arrow.

"Chloe, please tell me you have got something. the beams are stopping anyone getting in or out,and this building is going to go up in less than three minutes." Oliver was frantic.

"Ollie, i know exactly what is at stake. My cousin and best friend are in there. Give me a few minutes to work out the frequency of the bomb so I can trigger a remote shutdown."

"We don't have that much time. Can you at least deactivate..."

"the beams, yes I can." The beams switched off. The room was left in darkness.

"Ollie, I cannot deactivate the bomb. It is going to go off before I can. Let's hope Clark can come around before then."

Once the beams went off, Lois went to Clark but he was gone. Meanwhile there was a loud bang in the distance. The timer was gone.

Lana and Lois ran outside the building to the sight of a bedraggled Clark. It had been quite a powerful bomb by the look of his scorched coat.

"Looks like I will have to go back to my tailors" he smiled weakly. Lois ran up to him and kissed him as if her life depended on it. Lana looked sheepish. Oliver joined them.

"So Oliver, it was you who disarmed the beams." Lois asked,

"No it was Chloe. She is a genius. Pity she couldn't disarm the bomb in time." Oliver smiled.

Lois and Clark were so glad to be home again. Lois told Clark that she wanted to take it easy that weekend. Lana had left town under a cloud. She could not face being around Clark anymore and needed some time to adjust to life without her suit. She mentioned something to Chloe about going back to Paris to study arts. Lois wanted Lana to end up happy and she made this clear to her before she skipped down. Lana thanked her and even told Clark she hoped they would be happy to together.

Now the fun part was going to begin. They were going to meet their new boss tomorrow and wanted to impress him/her. They were both nervous and hoped that they would not be demoted to another position. Although the basement was not the frontline of reporting, it was a start, a step on the first rung of the ladder, so to speak.

Clark looked at Lois with that now familiar look. "Why don't we do something to take our mind off the stress of tomorrow."

"What do you have in mind, Mr Kent? – Poker" Lois suggested

"Well that depends on what type of poker you have in mind." Clark kissed her and was just about to carry her upstairs when there was a knock at the door.

Clark went to answer it whilst Lois adjusted her clothes. "Who could that be?"

All she heard was Clark shouting. "I don't believ it , you're the last person I expected to see back in Smallville. Come in."

Lois still did not know who it was when she saw a man in his 50's approaching her.

"Lois, I cannot believe it. Looks who's here" Clark was beaming from ear to ear.

"You must be the Lois Lane I have heard so much about." The man said

Lois was puzzled. Clark noticed the look and realised that Lois had no clue who the man was.

"Lois, could I introduce to you, Mr Perry White. Mr White, this is my partner Lois Lane."

Lois's face lit up. "Not THE Perry White of the Star City Herald."

Perry nodded. Lois jumped towards him and hugged him like he was an old friend. "Mr White, can I say it is an honour to meet you. You are legendary."

"Great shades of Elvis, have you got me mixed up with someone else, Ms Lane." Perry said in a joking tone.

"Don't be modest. You turned the Star City Herald from a failing paper into one of the biggest on the west coast. I am sorry I didn't recognise you, but I know your name rather than your face. You keep yourself to yourself from what I have read" Lois recounted her facts.

"Well if Clark has told you about my history, you probably understand why I have kept a low profile of my personal life. I much prefer to stay behind the scenes and run a newspaper from the heart of the newsroom" Perry replied.

Lois smiled knowingly, she had heard a few stories from Clark and his parents.

"anyway, what brings you to Smallville, Mr White?" Clark asked.

"Clark, please call me Perry, but you can call me chief from tomorrow." Perry smiled

It took a few seconds before Lois and Clark realised what he meant by that comment. He was going to their new boss.

"I always said I would come back to Metropolis and when I heard my old friend Oliver Queen was involved in the deal, I thought why not."

"That's great Perry. It will be great to have you as a boss. Not that we will see you that much. If you ever want to find us, take the lift down to the basement and go ahead through the double doors." Clark joked.

Perry looked serious. "You don't think you two are keeping your jobs in the basement do you?"

Lois got defensive. "Look Mr White, I know you are a respected editor and a friend of Clark's but I don't think it is right of you to sack me and Clark without working with us first."

Perry looked at Lois. "Oliver said you were a feisty reporter, looks like its true."

Clark was a little embarrassed. "Perry..."

But before Clark had a chance to defend Lois and her reaction, Perry smiled and interrupted.

"Clark, I think you misunderstood me. The basement is the last place I want Lois and you. I want you on the top floor, both of you as a team. I said last time we met that the stuff you wrote for the Torch was rough but promising. I have read most of your articles and you have top notch reporters written all over you."

Perry continued. "Lois Lane and Clark Kent – Reporters at the Daily Planet. Has a ring about it, don't you think..."

THE END