Healing Wounds

[Tiggers]

[lovinredkclark]

Thanks Jools, I'll be updating at some point over the next few days

Lou look ^, you said the next few days, and it is the next few days! since you started this new fic, I have to say it's the reason I keep coming back onto ksite more often than I have in the past few months.
you can't let me down my friend, this idea is fantastic and I need more.

[Loulou26]

OMG I am sorry guys, this is much later than I'd planned to get it up but I do have a reason. I've been pretty sick this past week so writing has been a little hard but not to worry, it's done and here it is. Enjoy

Chapter Two

The Present



The clacking of keys, the scent of fresh ink, these were the things that Lois Lane loved most as she walked into the Daily Planet. She loved everything about her job, not least of which was her shiny, new office. Located on the eighth floor, it was fairly large and the floor-to-ceiling windows gave a gorgeous view of the city.

She knew there was a lot of resentment coming her way from the basement bullpen, since she was the youngest reporter to get promoted to the eighth floor, but she didn’t care. She’d worked hard to get here, sacrificed a lot, and she was going to enjoy it. But she still needed to prove herself, if only to keep her promotion or aim for a higher one in future. In her mind, she could picture herself on the same floor as the Editor-In-Chief one day.

After only having been in her own office a month, she was already feeling at home. In fact she spent more time there than she did at home. Flipping her long, brown hair behind her, she threw her bag down onto her desk and then made a beeline straight for the one thing she needed most, coffee.

“Morning Lois.” Matthew Filcher, writer for the Sports Edition of the paper, smiled at her over the rim of his mug as she entered the kitchen.

“Matt, what are you doing here? It’s not like you to visit the lower classes.” She teased, knowing him to be a little bit of a snob. He seemed to think his job was more important but Lois failed to see how that could even be possible when she reported the news and he only reported on the lives and loves of various celebrity sports people. Oh and he occasionally threw the odd game review and scores in there too.

Matthew just grinned and raised a brow at her. “Actually I came to see you.”

A frown appeared. “Me? Why?”

“I was wondering if you would like to go to dinner with me sometime.”

She almost choked on her own saliva. “What? We’ve worked here for years and you’ve never asked me out, barely even spoken to me before. What gives?”

He shrugged, his expensive, charcoal-grey, suit jacket moving over all those muscles. For a sports writer he sure did look the part. The guy could be a line-backer, he was so big.

“Just because I’ve never really spoken to you doesn’t mean I haven’t noticed you. And isn’t that what dates are for anyway? Getting to know someone?”

She had no idea where this was coming from, but she had to admit that he was kinda cute. With dark brown hair and standing at over six feet tall, he almost reminded her of…no Lois, don’t go there. “Uh, I guess one date wouldn’t kill me. But I get to pick where we eat.”

He chuckled and stepped a little closer. “Naturally. I’ve heard good things about you Lois, I just hope they’re all true.”

“Such as?” she asked, swallowing as she caught a whiff of his expensive aftershave. Mentally she was kicking herself for reacting like this, but it had been a long time since any guy had shown her attention. Ever since…no, she shook her head away from those thoughts.

“Wouldn’t want to spoil you too early now would I? But I’m guessing there’s a reason they call you Mad Dog Lane.”

“Oh, that.” She felt her cheeks heat for a minute and looked away. What are you doing? Get a hold of yourself. She squared her shoulders and stared back at him. “Well it’s an earned reputation, I can tell you that.”

Matthew chuckled again. “I’m sure it is,” his eyes locked onto hers. “I’m looking forward to figuring out the rest. How does eight o’clock tonight sound?”

“Tonight? That’s a little sudden isn’t it?”

He shrugged. “Why wait? Come on Lois, don’t think of it as a date, just think of it as two colleagues getting to know each other a little better.”

She stayed silent while her mind tried to decide, but really what was she afraid of? Maybe it was time she put herself back out there. If she didn’t like him at the end of the evening, she never had to go out with him again. “Fine but this isn’t a date and we take separate cars, no drama.”

“Well okay then, I’ll see you later.” He threw her a wink and walked out of the kitchen, and almost immediately, Colby appeared.

“Good morning Miss Lane.”

“Oh hey Colby.” She replied, her mind still stuck back on the impromptu dinner invitation. Where had it come from?

Colby Spears, her new assistant fresh out of Journalism College, stood smiling at her, waiting for her to give him something to do. When he’d started here a month ago and he’d been assigned to Lois, she couldn’t think of anything worse. Of course it would happen to her wouldn’t it?

However since then, her tune had changed because he was a very sweet young man, eager to learn and he’d barely made any mistakes. Well, that and the fact that he reminded her a lot of a farm boy that she used to know years ago. But she never allowed her thoughts to go there. It never did her any good to dwell and quite frankly, it still had the power to hurt.

“So did Perry holler for me yet?” she asked, picking up her coffee as she headed back to her office.

“Not yet, he’s in a meeting I think. But I don’t think he’s in a good mood.”

She chuckled, sitting down at her desk. “Is he ever? So how’s that obit coming?”

Colby’s smile faded, replaced quickly by a look of sadness. He ran a hand through his blonde, curly hair. “I don’t know if I’m cut out to write those things Miss Lane. It’s awfully morbid.”

Lois tilted her head and smiled sympathetically. “Well don’t think of it like that, think of it as reminding people how nice the person was, how they influenced the people around them, how they brought happiness to those that loved them.”

“I’ll try that, thank you.”

“Why don’t you go back to your desk and work on it. Your deadline is coming up today.”

He quickly nodded and left, leaving Lois wondering if he had what it took to be a reporter. Sure the kid was nice, but he needed to have more of a backbone. Maybe that was why Perry had assigned him to her, like she was supposed to be a mentor of some kind.

The Daily Planet hired four new interns each year, and most of them were to shadow a reporter who could help them ‘be all that they could be’ in the words of Perry White. Though she had a sneaking suspicion he also did it to get a rise out of her. Wouldn’t be the first time, she thought.

The phone on her desk rang and she snatched it up whilst turning her computer on. “Lane.”

“Lane, get your butt in here, now.” Then the line went dead before she could even blink, let alone speak. Was the man psychic or something? He always seemed to call at the moment she was talking about him. If she didn’t know any better she’d think he’d had this office bugged or something.

Shaking her head and smiling, she put the phone back down and headed out to the elevator.



~~~~~~~~~~



“So you’re telling me that you have a source, but you won’t tell me her name or where you’re going to meet her?” Perry demanded, leaning back in his chair and staring at her from across his desk.

Lois crossed her legs and shook her head. “Well it’s kinda hard to tell you where I’m going when I haven’t actually spoken to her to arrange a meeting. And I’m not telling you her name, I have to protect my sources Perry, you know that. Heck you're the one who taught me that.”

Perry sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration and Lois smiled. She knew that she riled him up, but honestly, Perry was an awesome boss. He used to be the best reporter the Daily Planet had ever seen and now he was the Editor-In-Chief. But above all that, and deep down under the snark and sarcasm, she knew he thought of her as more than just an employee. Over the past couple of years, he’d helped to shape her into the journalist she was today. She owed him a lot.

“Look Lane, there is no way I am sending you out there without at least knowing where you’re going. So you better report back to me before you go anywhere, got it?”

“Fine, but I’m still not telling you her name. She needs to be protected and I can’t do that if I don’t write this story.”

“Lois, how do you even know that they’re up to anything? I mean I understand it, Intergang isn’t exactly something you want to go up against, but lately they’ve cleaned up their act. They claim to be rejuvenating Suicide Slums, turning the burned out buildings into safe havens for the homeless and others. Hell they’ve even got the Mayor on their side.”

“That’s probably because the Mayor is in Morgan Edge’s back pocket.” She grumbled, wishing that she could find evidence to prove that. “Look, I have a source, a reliable one that could blow the lid off whatever it is that Morgan’s got going on. I mean come on, do you honestly buy that one of Metropolis’ biggest crime lords is cleaning up his act and now helping the homeless?”

Perry shook his head, having dealt with Morgan Edge in the past. “No I don’t, but there’s a funny little thing we need to have before we actually print anything. It’s called proof.”

“I promise I can get you your proof Perry, but please…don’t kill this story, not yet. I have a feeling I haven’t even scraped the bottom of the barrel yet, there’s so much more we don’t know.”

“What do you think they’re up to?”

“Well for one, I know that on the surface, while they appear to be buying up all the derelict buildings in Suicide Slums, cleaning them up and claiming to do it for the homeless or those with hardly enough income to afford a place to live, that isn’t their goal. It’s a front for what’s really going on behind the scenes.”

“Like what?” Perry asked, genuinely interested.

“Prostitution, for one. Who knows what else? But because he’s helping to get people off the streets, people are suddenly thanking him instead of investigating him. And they must know about the prostitution at least.”

Perry frowned, his pensive face appearing, which Lois knew meant he was deep in thought. “Okay fine, bring this story in, but Lois…please be careful. You have a knack for getting yourself into trouble and believe me, Morgan is not someone you wanna tangle with.”

“I can handle it Chief don’t worry.”

Perry shot her a glare. “Lois…”

Ignoring the warning tone in his voice, Lois grinned, he really did hate being called that. “Besides, if they are truly on the up and up, they won’t mind if I report their good deeds will they?”

“You really think that’s gonna happen?”

“No but it’s worth a shot right? I’m telling you Perry, something big is going on and I am going to find out what it is.”

Grumpily, he snorted. “Okay but if you get yourself killed, don’t come crying to me.”



~~~~~~~~~~


As soon as she was back in her office, Lois closed the door and grabbed her cellphone. Too risky to use the Planet's main line. Dialling the number she’d been given, she perched herself on the edge of her desk and waited.

“Lois? Is that you?” A panicky voice sounded on the other end.

“It’s me. How are you doing?”

“Not so good. We need to talk. You have to help me.”

“I will Melissa, I promise. Where should we meet?”


To Be Continued...

[FWvidchick]

AGh!!.. This was good..awesome and just as I was getting into it ..it ended :| Girl!!.. *sigh* I know. You've been sick *hugs* and I gotta be patient..but still *pouts*

Love it! PPMS (after you update OI2U of course )

[tra42008]

Wonderful but now that I've had a glimpse of the past, I'm dying to know what happened between Lois and Clark. Whatever it is she's still thinking about him so there must be more since Chapter One. I can't wait for the next chapter.

Take it easy and feel better, though. There are a lot of nasty bugs out there right now...

[cathy14]

oh poor thing, you're sick, Laura i know i hate being sick so i can imagine how bad it felt. Glad to hear you're fine now
Looks like Lois is about to get deep into her investigation, huh?
Also it's clear she hadn't forget a certain farm boy. I just hope he's not over her either

[Mpj891]

This is looking like it will be a wonderful story
but can get rid of that Matt guy as I think he's going to be abit a s### to lois
but I could be wrong as I said great story can't wait to see what happen next
hope your feel better soon all the very best

[gardipy21]

great update.ppms

[Eleidich]

I´m intrigued, what happened?, where´s Clark?, pls update soon

[MariVe]

I need to know what happened between Lois and Clark, what the heck did Lois do to Clark???
But it seems that she also got burned with what went between them....

Update as soon as you can!!!!

[bigvillir001]

Great chapter more soon

[Tiggers]

*an update*

Be back later

[clarkfan325]

Great chapter. I’m really intrigued as to what happened between Lois and Clark in the past and I hope that we’ll find out what Clark is up to in the present.

[gardipy21]

great chapter.ppms

[lovinredkclark]

great update, but you stopped. you just get us hooked in again and then stop?
seriously though i know you've been sick this past week, so thanks for posting this.
so can't wait for more though.