Every Morning their meetings seemed to go longer than any of the members of the Daily Planet would have preferred. There was always someone who caused the meeting to go on longer, and today it was Irene that was preventing the others from beginning their work for the day.

Maybe she was getting too comfortable in that Perry had recently been allowing her to choose her own stories that she thought getting him to agree to this one would be much easier. Though maybe because some part of her knew it would be difficult to get him to agree she waited all these months to finally pitch this story.

"I have a reliable source in S.T.A.R. Labs that told me that Emmette Vale approached them in regards to using the Kryptonian technology from the crash and he wanted access to..." Irene began before stealing a quick glance at Clark who was already looking at her intently. "General Zod's body."

"What's your source?" Their editor-in-chief challenged, but hearing this news seemed to have piqued his interest as he leaned forward.

"The head of S.T.A.R. Labs."

"Dr. Silas Stone?" Perry questioned, clearly surprised. Irene wasn't sure whether she should be offended that Perry didn't believe that she could have access to such an important source or to be proud of the fact that she surprised him. "How do you know Dr. Silas Stone?"

"I went to school with his son."

"You mean you dated his son." Lombard attempted to correct with an excited look on his face. Like Cat he was clearly bored of this meeting and was excited by the possibility of some gossip or drama being revealed.

"No, I mean I went to school with his son."

"Well that's no fun." Cat commented as she looked back now at her notes clearly losing interest in their discussion now.

"Come on Perry let me investigate the abandoned Cadmus building and if I don't find anything then I'll drop the story." Irene continued to argue and she couldn't help but wish that Lois was here. She would have backed Irene in her pursuit for this story, but Lois was currently following a lead on the disappearance of a man named John Stewart. Perry had called it a dead end story, but Lois wasn't so sure.

Perry seemed deep in thought as he considered her offer. It was difficult for Irene to think about the possibility that she really would come to a dead end and have to lose the story. But she knew that her offer would be the only way for Perry to even allow her to pursue this story. "Fine, you two could go investigate."

"Two?" Irene questioned, unsure of whether she had heard Perry correctly.

Perry nodded as he motioned between her and Clark with his pen. "You and Clark."

Again Irene found herself in a state of shock by Perry's words. She momentarily met Clark's equally surprised eyes before turning her attention back to Perry. "Did you say Clark?"

"I heard him say Clark." Clark replied as he straightened in his chair.

"He definitely said Clark." Jimmy added.

"Definitely." Cat continued, her interest once again being piqued.

"Perry..."

"Irene, this sounds dangerous," He stated firmly, making it clear that his mind would not be changed on the subject. It wasn't that Irene didn't want to work with Clark, it was just difficult for her to accept that she would have to share what was her story. Though if Irene was being completely honest with herself the idea of working closely with Clark was unnerving. "Last time you worked on a story this big you almost got yourself killed too many times to count."

Although he had been working at the Daily Planet for almost a year now they hadn't seemed to exactly find anytime together. They were always working on their own stories, and as a senior writer Irene had found herself traveling more. Maybe it was the secret between the two of them, but they mostly acted like strangers when they were at work.

Irene found herself disappointed by the fact, but some part of her also wanted to believe that things were better that way.

Irene was incredibly behind on her story for the evening paper. With Mia sick with the flu Angel was struggling with his inability not to call her whenever there was any minor change. It was a simple flu and it would pass in a couple of days but Angel tended to worry too much, even Mia herself seemed frustrated with her father.

Though that only spoke of what great of a father her brother was. Even if it meant that she was close to missing her deadline.

"Irene?"

Looking up Irene met Clark's eyes as he held onto his coat. It was only then that she realized that it was in fact lunch time and that she would just have to miss it. Everyone around them was already preparing to either head to the breakroom or go out for their hour break.

"Yes, Clark?" She questioned returning her eyes on the computer screen, her fingers moving across the keyboard at an impressive speed. But considering this was her third draft of this story it didn't mean much.

Clark cleared his throat nervously and Irene could only assume that his hesitation was due to the fact that she had initially seemed against the idea of sharing a story with him. Although she hadn't fully accepted the idea she had to admit that this story did involve him in some way.

"I was wondering if you maybe would like to go out for lunch?" He asked and Irene found herself caught off guard. "You know with me?"

She had expected him to want to discuss the story they would be working on. "Sorry Clark I can't, I have this deadline I have to meet."

"I would love to go to lunch, Clark." Cat stated pointedly as she gave Irene a pointed glance as she stood from her desk. Irene suddenly couldn't ignore the hint of jealousy that overcame her as Cat smiled at Clark. She knew she was being ridiculous and she had no right to be jealous or irritated at the thought of Cat getting lunch with Clark. "Get my coat will you? It's the green one."

Clark seemed momentarily caught off guard as he nodded while pushing his glasses farther up the bridge of his nose. "Oh...um...of course."

The two women watched as Clark struggled to make his way to the break room where everyone left the coats. It wasn't until Clark was completely out of sight that Cat turned towards Irene in clear frustration."Are you out of your mind?"

"What?" Irene replied in the same whispered tone.

"You better act before it's too late is all I'm saying." Cat said as she aggressively snatched a stack of papers from her desk before heading towards Perry's office to turn in her evening story.

Usually Irene tended to ignore any relationship advice that came from Cat, mostly due to the fact that she had no interest in being in a relationship. Irene had always put her work first, but now she didn't have to constantly prove herself anymore. She delivered the greatest story of last year, there was talk of her getting a Pulitzer for it.

Now Cat's words didn't seem so easy to ignore. Not only was she content where she was in her career but she just couldn't deny what she felt for Clark. Maybe it was a simple schoolgirl crush, but they both had gone through so much to not naturally want to be around each other. Irene still had nightmares about what happened that day and she wondered if Clark did too.

Clark came to a stop at Cat's desk realizing that she had disappeared in the couple of seconds it took for him to get her coat.

"She went into Perry's office. She'll be back."

Clark nodded as she stood stiffly by her desk waiting for her to return. Irene tried to return her attention to the story she needed to finish but still couldn't seem to shake Cat's words from her mind. Of course it was exactly what Cat intended when she chose to leave even though Clark was only getting her coat.

Irene bit her lip conflicted with uncertainty that was normally foreign to her, but with Clark it seemed like an unfortunate side effect of his presence. "Clark?"

"Irene?" He questioned.

"I can do dinner."

"What?"

"I couldn't do lunch but I can do dinner." Irene clarified getting a firm hold on her usual confidence. She still wasn't sure whether she liked that Clark tended to confuse her, or maybe she was confusing herself. It was something that she would never know unless she attempted to see where her relationship with Clark went. "That is if you want to."

Clark smiled then and Irene wondered how she ever doubted what she felt. "I would like that."

"Me too." She replied, returning his smile before turning away. The last thing she wanted was for Clark to notice that all the blood seemed to rush to her face, though she couldn't help but feel grateful for her warm complexion and that blushing wasn't a large concern for her.

What was concerning was how she would ever get any work done knowing that she would have dinner with Clark Kent in just a couple of hours. But most importantly was that the story they were going to work on, now that her thoughts seemed to be clearing she wondered if it was a good idea to involve the Last Son of Krypton on a story involving a man who seemed to have an obsession with Krytoninans and their technology. 

A/N: So this  is where the romance is really going to start to kick in. I' have so many cute moments planned that you all aren't going to be ready. Like I stated before  Book Two is going to be all my original plot. Like I literally wrote a Superman movie (WB please hire me I am available, I'll do it for free).