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"You don't fool me."
Claire looks up from the (extremely boring) article she's writing about the city council's upcoming agenda. "Are you going to elaborate?" she asks when Lois didn't say anything else.
Lois slaps a piece of paper down on Claire's desk. Paper. Who does that? Even at the Daily Planet, nearly everything they do, except for printing the paper, is done digitally.
Then Claire really looks at what the paper was, and winces. Her prom pictures are just about the last thing she wants Lois looking at. "Where did you get these?"
"I'm an investigative reporter," Lois says. "Getting things like this is my job." She's half scowling at Claire. It doesn't make her any less attractive. "You're not the mild-mannered, quiet girl you appear to be, and I'm going to find out what you're hiding. Even if you turn out to be Superman."
Claire's had more than enough practice to contain her wince, but she does squeeze one hand into a fist below her desk where Lois can't see it. "I am a mild-mannered, quiet girl," she lies. It's amazing how much assuming a different demeanor will keep people from seeing the truth. "And what's your obsession with Superman anyway?"
The look on Lois's face turns into a full scowl. "It's not an obsession. No one knows who she is when she's not out saving the citizens of Metropolis. It's the story of a lifetime."
"You never talk about it like a story," Claire says. She stays calm, because that's more likely to rile Lois up. "You talk about it like it's personal. Why are you so obsessed with Superman?"
Lois says, "Because she kissed me and I want her to do it again," and then snaps her mouth shut. "Pretend I never said that." She grabs the printout of Claire's prom pictures and stalks off toward her office. Claire only lets herself watch for two seconds before she goes back to her incredibly boring story.
*
Lexi takes Lois. It's a trap. Claire knows it's a trap. It's possibly even a trap set by Lexi and Lois together. But it's Lois, and Claire can't ignore it. She can't let anything like this happen to anyone if she can help, and certainly not to Lois.
Claire's not completely stupid, so she waits around listening until she thinks there's enough of a break that she can get in and snap the cuffs around Lois's wrists before Lexi's store of kryptonite can weaken her too much to do at least that much.
"You came," Lois says in the barest whisper. "Are you stupid? She wasn't going to hurt me. She was just luring you here."
"I know." Claire lifts Lois up. "We have to go. Now." She makes it halfway to the window before Lexi walks into the room behind them.
"So nice to see you, Superman. I've been preparing for this all week." Lexi doesn't just have kryptonite. She has kryptonite jewelry, bits of it glowing at her neck and wrist and dangling from her ears.
"Put me down," Lois hisses, and Claire doesn't have a choice anyway now, but she pushes Lois behind her.
"This is such a fascinating substance, don't you think?" Lexi rolls her wrist in the air, the kryptonite throwing a sickly green light across the room. "I wonder just what I could do to you with enough of it."
Lois steps around Claire. "You said you weren't going to hurt her."
"Yes," Lexi says, "I did say that."
"Lois, get behind me."
"No." Lois turns and stabs her finger into Claire's chest, just above her breasts. "I am a grown woman, and I came here of my own free will." She keeps jabbing her finger into Claire's chest, even when Claire tries taking a step back for every time she does it. "You will not boss me around."
"Oh," Lexi says, "a lover's quarrel. I'm afraid I don't have time for that right now."
"You can make time," Lois says, and she stabs her finger into Claire's chest again. "I will not be bossed around."
The light's different, less green, more yellow. Claire flicks her eyes to the side. Lois has backed her all the way up so they're two steps from the window. Claire only has to wait a second before Lois is poking her again, and this time she grabs Lois's arm, uses the momentum to pull Lois close to her, and throws herself backwards.
They go crashing through the window. Claire's still weak, but the sun helps, enough that she stops them before they hit the ground. She flies low, just skimming the ground, until she's been in the sun long enough that she can start to climb. Then she takes them over the walls and away from Lexi.
She lands, carefully, on the roof of the Daily Planet and sets Lois down even more carefully. "You don't have to go to such extreme lengths if you want me to kiss you again."
Lois stares at her, face entirely blank for a very long moment. "How did you-"
Claire cuts her off by gathering her carefully into her arms and kissing her. Lois kisses back, softly at first, and then hungrily, her hands tightening around the back of Claire's neck. It takes more effort than Claire would like to admit to pull away.
"I'm always listening."