SV AU Fic: Kent Returns
This was a first page of an AU story that went a completely different direction.
I don't know where this story might have gone if I'd continued from this tangent.
The city room of the Daily Planet was buzzing with rumors about the new reporter Perry had hired.
"Is it true that the Chief has snagged Clark Kent? The Kent who has a Pulitzer prize for journalism and a Hugo for science fiction?" Jimmy Olsen sat on the edge of Lois Lane's desk pumping her for information.
"Smallville earned that Pulitzer last year for a story he did out of Iraq. He got the Hugo while he was still at Central Kansas when he wrote his first novel, Escape. I think he's up for another " Lois glared at the Planet's up and coming photographer. Jimmy hurriedly moved off her desk.
"Smallville?"
"Clark Kent is from Smallville, Kansas. He was a friend of my cousin, Chloe's. I'm surprised that he's agreed to work for the Planet. He turned Perry down three years ago."
"Someone's actually refused to work with Perry?"
"Kent turned down an internship while he was in college and a staff reporter position when he graduated from Central."
"Why would anyone turn down the Planet?"
"Two reasons, Jimmy. Lionel and Lex Luthor."
*****
The man who walked out of Perry White's office was only superficially like the boy Lois remembered from Smallville. He seemed impossibly tall and broad-shouldered. His eyes were masked by stylish tinted lenses. Lois caught her breath the same way she had the night she'd found him naked in a corn field after a lightning strike. Kent seemed almost as grim as he had that night.
"Welcome to the Daily Planet, Smallville." She pasted on a smile and offered her hand. Kent hesitated a moment before he took it.
"Lois." Kent's voice was cordial but cool.
"How was Iraq?" she asked.
"Dusty." He smiled then and Lois nearly forgot the three years it had been since she had seen Clark. But she couldn't forget the rivalry that had always clouded their association.
"How are sales?"
"Good. My agent is after me for a draft of another book."
"How's Lex?"
Kent's cool facade cracked.
"Luthor and I haven't spoken in years. I doubt if we'll have any reason to meet. Excuse me, I have an assignment I need to get started on."
Lois' eyebrow climbed as she watched Kent stride across the newsroom and out the door.
"What was all of that about, Lane?" Perry White asked.
"Clark Kent is Lex Luthor's ex-lover."
"Since when?" Perry's tone demanded answers to this little bombshell.
"Since Clark graduated Central Kansas State. Luthor kept the affair very quiet. They had been friends since Clark saved Lex's life, but they didn't start dating until after Clark published Escape."
"And you know this how?"
"I knew Clark when he was still in high school."
I don't know where this story might have gone if I'd continued from this tangent.
The city room of the Daily Planet was buzzing with rumors about the new reporter Perry had hired.
"Is it true that the Chief has snagged Clark Kent? The Kent who has a Pulitzer prize for journalism and a Hugo for science fiction?" Jimmy Olsen sat on the edge of Lois Lane's desk pumping her for information.
"Smallville earned that Pulitzer last year for a story he did out of Iraq. He got the Hugo while he was still at Central Kansas when he wrote his first novel, Escape. I think he's up for another " Lois glared at the Planet's up and coming photographer. Jimmy hurriedly moved off her desk.
"Smallville?"
"Clark Kent is from Smallville, Kansas. He was a friend of my cousin, Chloe's. I'm surprised that he's agreed to work for the Planet. He turned Perry down three years ago."
"Someone's actually refused to work with Perry?"
"Kent turned down an internship while he was in college and a staff reporter position when he graduated from Central."
"Why would anyone turn down the Planet?"
"Two reasons, Jimmy. Lionel and Lex Luthor."
*****
The man who walked out of Perry White's office was only superficially like the boy Lois remembered from Smallville. He seemed impossibly tall and broad-shouldered. His eyes were masked by stylish tinted lenses. Lois caught her breath the same way she had the night she'd found him naked in a corn field after a lightning strike. Kent seemed almost as grim as he had that night.
"Welcome to the Daily Planet, Smallville." She pasted on a smile and offered her hand. Kent hesitated a moment before he took it.
"Lois." Kent's voice was cordial but cool.
"How was Iraq?" she asked.
"Dusty." He smiled then and Lois nearly forgot the three years it had been since she had seen Clark. But she couldn't forget the rivalry that had always clouded their association.
"How are sales?"
"Good. My agent is after me for a draft of another book."
"How's Lex?"
Kent's cool facade cracked.
"Luthor and I haven't spoken in years. I doubt if we'll have any reason to meet. Excuse me, I have an assignment I need to get started on."
Lois' eyebrow climbed as she watched Kent stride across the newsroom and out the door.
"What was all of that about, Lane?" Perry White asked.
"Clark Kent is Lex Luthor's ex-lover."
"Since when?" Perry's tone demanded answers to this little bombshell.
"Since Clark graduated Central Kansas State. Luthor kept the affair very quiet. They had been friends since Clark saved Lex's life, but they didn't start dating until after Clark published Escape."
"And you know this how?"
"I knew Clark when he was still in high school."