Title: Jumpline
Author: htbthomas
Category: Smallville, post-Season 8
Pairing: Clark/Lois
Prompt: #17/news stand
Rating: PG
Word Count: 2,097 words
Spoilers: for Smallville Season 8.

Author’s Note: Written for 12days_of_clois's "Somewhere in Metropolis" challenge.

When the bright light and nauseating spinning sensation ended, Lois found herself on the floor of an empty office. She sat up, blinking, and tried to figure out where the hell she was.

How the hell she got here could wait for later.

The office seemed to be organized a lot like the Daily Planet. Desks with computers and name plates, filing cabinets, etc. But even though it was somewhat similar to the newsroom Lois knew, it was definitely not the same place. What did Tess do to her? Knock her out and dump her in some building halfway across town? So she’d be out of the way for whatever shady business she had planned? Well, that woman had gravely underestimated Lois Lane if she thought that would keep this reporter from digging into the editor’s dealings.

Lois brushed herself off and started to search the room for some sign of where she was. She tried the desk beside her, jiggling one of the drawers. Damn. Locked. She looked for the mouse of the computer on the desk -- it was definitely a cut above the ones the Planet had -- but there wasn’t one to be seen. Odd. Tapping the keyboard didn’t do anything either. She gave up -- this was just wasting time. She walked toward the hallway on the other side of the room. Maybe she could find the company logo somewhere, like on the doors or a placard...?

About five yards from the entrance doors, she noticed something strange: a velvet rope slung from sturdy metal stands. She pondered it for a moment, and then shrugged, stepping over it...

...an alarm klaxon went off, complete with flashing lights.

“Crap.” She practically dove under the nearest desk, frantically searching for a way out. She hadn’t been doing anything illegal. She prided herself on being able to talk herself out of any situation, but that would just slow her down in getting back to the Planet.

An elevator bell pinged on the other side of the glass. She heard footsteps, and a male voice. “Excuse me, ma’am? You can’t be here after closing.”

Dammit, they must have seen me on the security cameras. Well, it was time for that trademark Lane charm...

Another voice spoke up, one that sounded familiar. “Nothing to worry about, sir. She’s with me.”

What? Who the heck was this now? And where had he come from? Strange that she’d only heard only one set of footsteps earlier.

“You shouldn’t be here, eith--” the man who must be a security guard began, before his tone became apologetic. “Oh! I didn’t recognize you out of uniform, Mr. Kent. Excuse me.”

Kent? As in Clark? She rose to her feet so quickly that she banged her head against the bottom of the desk. She rubbed at the top of her head and scrambled up into sight. “Hey! There you are!” she said, playing along. “What took you so...”

The words died on her tongue when he turned toward her with a smile so blinding she was nearly knocked back. This was not the ‘Clark Kent’ she knew. Maybe Clark in about 10 years... and the way he was dressed? Some sort of jumpsuit? The security guard leaving behind him looked pretty similar, too.

All she could assume was that he had gone to some elaborate trouble to make himself up to look like he worked here. As soon as the elevator doors closed behind the guard, she stepped over the velvet rope and strode quickly toward him. “I don’t know what you’re up to, Smallville, but we’ve got to get back to the Planet and stop--”

Suddenly he was there in front of her, gathering her into his arms. Arms which were stronger and more possessive than she remembered. “You’re exactly where you said you would be,” he whispered into her hair. “I’ve missed you so much.”

Lois was too shocked to react. Her mouth opened and closed like a fish for a couple seconds. Then she really noticed how comforting his arms were and let her eyes slip closed...

...just as he released her and looked into her eyes like he really hadn’t just seen her earlier that day. The warmth that flooded through her was nothing short of terrifying. Hadn’t she decided just a few weeks ago that she and Clark would be a bad idea?

She cleared her throat and stepped out of his arms. “Damn, who did that make-up job, Clark? It’s practically flawless close up.”

He laughed. “It’s not make-up. I’d explain more, but I think I’d better get you home.” He reached his hand out for her to take. “But before that, let me show you something.”

She hesitated, her mind filled with questions, but his smile charmed her into grasping his hand. “All right.”

They took a short elevator ride and walked into a main lobby area. It didn’t look like an office lobby at all, though, more like a... museum. What was this place? Clark stopped over next to a display, which looked exactly like the news stand right outside the Daily Planet building. Lois frowned. “I don’t get it. Is this some sort of... journalism museum?”

“Yes, in a way,” he said cryptically. “This place has a lot of memories for me.”

“Really? I’ve never even heard of it, and I thought I knew Metropolis pretty well.” She stepped closer, up to the newspapers stacked in front. She leaned over the ropes blocking off the display to read the headline on the top of one of them. “My Night with the Red-Blue Blur” read the first one. “What?!” she squeaked, and snatched up the paper to look at it.

“Lois, that’s property of the museum...” Clark warned, but she ignored him.

She read the first few paragraphs with growing confusion. This reporter had gotten an incredibly detailed interview with the mystery superhero. And the writing style seemed awfully familiar...” Her eyes drifted to the byline: Lois Lane.

Lois turned toward Clark and shook the paper at him angrily. “Is this some sort of joke you’re playing on me, Smallville?”

“No, Lois. That paper is 100% real.”

“Yeah, right.” She tossed it back on the stack and picked up another. “Superman Revealed” was printed across the top of the next one, again with her byline. There was a full-color photo of a bodybuilder in a bright red and blue suit with a cape. Clark’s head photoshopped on top. She didn‘t bother to read the article any farther than the jumpline. “This is the world’s lamest practical joke. And a total waste of my time! I’ve got to get back and stop Tess Mercer from ruining the Daily Planet.”

The nerve! Lois knew Clark didn’t take his job as seriously as she did, but he had no right to make fun of her for her ambitions! “When you’re quite finished, you can ‘take me home’ like you promised.” She stalked over to the wall beside some sort of screen mounted beside the news stand and leaned against the marble with her arms folded.

The screen beside her flared to life, a soothing female voice erupting from a speaker behind her head. “This display recreates the famous news stand which was located right outside of the Daily Planet offices until the switch to all-digital format in 2029.”

Lois jumped and looked at the words on the screen, which appeared as the female voice continued. “In fact, the Daily Planet was one of the last newspapers to switch completely, mostly due to editor-in-chief Perry White.”

Lois slowly and cautiously moved her fingertips toward the screen. “He insisted that people ‘liked to have something with pages they could tur--” As soon as her finger touched the display, the voice silenced.

Lois watched the words continue to scroll in front of her, less and less sure what was going on. “This is an awful lot of trouble to go through just for a joke...” She turned toward him to see him holding out another newspaper.

With a quiet voice, he said, “You forgot to look at this one. It’s my favorite.”

“Whatever.” She took it from him. The date was May 8, 2014, but there was no fake headline belonging to Lois Lane.

“Open to page 12.”

She flipped open the pages, not sure why she was even putting up with this, and saw a large wedding photo below a caption of “Congratulations, Mr. and Mrs. Kent!” In the photo were she and Clark, kissing in front of a huge floral arrangement.

“Okay, now you’ve gone too far.” Fuming, she threw the paper down on the carpet, and marched toward the exit doors on the other side of the lobby.

Then he was simply in front of her, blocking the exit. “Wait, Lois. I’m sorry. I went about this wrong...”

“How did you--?” she said, whipping her head to the fake news stand and back to him a couple of times. “Never mind. I’ll just hail a taxi...”

“Lois. You’ll have a hard time getting home that way.” He placed his hand in a pocket and brought out a golden signet ring. “This is the way you got here, this is how you’ll get home.”

In her disorientation earlier, she had totally forgotten that she had touched a ring exactly like this before she ended up in this building. But how could a ring take her anywhere? “I don’t understand.”

“This is the future, Lois. Hundreds of years later. All of those newspapers?” He gestured at the news stand. “All of them are real. You wrote... you are going to write all those stories.” He added shyly, “And you are going to become my wife.”

“The future?” Her head was spinning even faster than it had when she arrived.

“Here, look outside... you’ll see.”

He opened the door, and guided her onto the platform outside. And that’s what it was, a metal platform, like something out of a science fiction show. Little car-sized airborne vehicles zoomed in all directions. And she finally saw the logo for the place: Superman Museum. Beside the sign was a gigantic statue of Clark in that uniform from the newspaper photo inside.

“The first time I saw this place, I had just about the same reaction.” He chuckled. “And I would love to show you all around, but I think I’ve upset things enough.” He held the ring out in the palm of his hand. “Put this on, it will take you home.”

“But... I can’t believe... this is...” She couldn’t seem to string together a coherent sentence.

“It is. But you won’t remember it when you go back. Not until later, anyway, when it’s safe for you to know.”

Lois just blinked, still overwhelmed with conflicting emotions.

“I’ll put it on you, then. Goodbye, Lois.” His voice was soft, sad. “But first, let me do what I should have done long before you ever came here...”

He leaned down and kissed her, his lips molding gently to hers. Her shock from before slowly turned into pleasure, and she kissed him back, pouring into it the feelings she’d been bottling up for far too long. He pulled away, and it was too soon for her liking. “Clark...”

“I was really a fool. Thank goodness you loved me anyway.” He kissed her again, this time on the forehead, and then slipped the ring onto her finger all the way.

~o~o~o~

Lois groaned as she came to, and put a hand to her forehead. She felt woozy and parched. What had that evil skank Tess Mercer done to her? Knocked her out and dumped her on the street? She blinked a few times to clear her vision and noticed the Daily Planet news stand several feet away.

She got to her feet, and staggered over to the man working the counter. “Hey, Joe. Can I get a bottle of water? I swear I’ll pay you back.”

He looked at her for a moment, his face lighting up in surprise and relief. “Miss Lane! You’re okay! No one knew what happened to you...” He pulled a bottle from his cooler and handed it to her, babbling on about how everyone was worried.

“Worried? How long was I out?” She pulled a paper from his stack and read the date. An entire week had passed since her fight with Tess. Lois’ anger bubbled up inside her, and she opened the cap of the bottle with a vicious twist. “Oh, Ms. Mercer,” she growled. “It’s on.”