Chapter 17 “Bonding”

Perry White was sitting in his office, hands folded on his stomach and both feet on the desk, following a discussion on the television.

One of the men on TV signalled wildly as he gave a passionate speech about justice, truth and trust. All because of the fraud-scandal at Metropolis General that had come to light this morning with today’s edition of The Daily Planet. The board members were quoting the article – Lois’ article – once in the so many minutes, and The Daily Planet was mentioned often. Perry smiled contently as he thought of all the free advertisement.

Memo to self; Let Lois have her way, next time she wants something.

There was a knock on the door and young Jimmy Olsen walked in. Perry switched off the television and removed his feet from the desk.

“You wanted to see me, Chief?”

“Come in, Olsen. I want to know if you’ve got anything for tomorrow’s front-page.”

Jimmy’s mouth dropped open.

“The f-front-page, Chief?”

“Yes Olsen. You went with Lois to Metropolis General this morning, didn’t you?”

“Well, yes… but - ”

“And it’s your job to shoot pictures, isn’t it, Olsen?”

Jimmy Olsen nodded meekly.

“That hospital-scandal will be on the front page again, tomorrow. So, I’ll ask you again; do you have a picture for tomorrows front-page?”

“Y-yes Chief … I’ll get them right away.”

Young Jimmy hurried out of the office and Perry watched him go.

Olsen is just like Kent. Perry mused.

Always on edge, nervous, afraid to fail. Modesty and caution aren’t the best tools for a cunning reporter. Someone should help this kid gain some confidence.

Jimmy re-entered the office with a pack of photos, and Perry skimmed through them, picking out two pictures that impressed him.

“Chief? I was wondering, w – why did you choose me? I – I mean, not because I’m not grateful,” Jimmy added hastily. “But why me and not Arthur Griffin?”

“Arthur has been performing below standard for a while now, I think his new girlfriend made him soft.”

Perry tapped his fingers on the shiny wooden surface of his desk.

“You, on the other hand, handed in some pretty damn good photo’s over the last few weeks.”

Jimmy tried to fight the full-blown grin on his face as Perry made his pick.

“COPYBOY!”

“Chief?” A spotty teenager appeared in the doorway.

They get younger every year…

“I want this on tomorrow’s front-page.” Perry handed the boy a picture of the Hospital’s director wearing the expression of a deer caught in the headlights.

“Sure thing, Chief!” And the boy was gone.

“Jimmy, son, take a seat.”

Jimmy, looking startled to be addressed as ‘son’ by the boss, obeyed.

“You work closer with Lois than I do. How is she holding up?”

Perry followed Jimmy’s look at Lois, who was sitting cross-legged on Clark’s desk, talking rapidly.

“Well, I think she’s alright, Chief. I mean, she’s yelling again…”

“Good,”

Perry had noticed that too. Lois had been unusually quiet for a good number of months, with good reason of course, but the last few weeks she seemed to be her noisy, lively self again. She had re-gained her fiery attitude, if yesterday’s article was anything to go by.

Perry sent Jimmy back to his seat after pushing him for more information – and gaining nothing -, but he kept his eyes on Lois. She was chatting and laughing with Clark Kent and Perry felt a rush of gratitude towards the mild-mannered reporter. He had asked Clark to take care of Lois, and from what he had heard, Clark had risen to the occasion admirably.

Perry’s family was healing, its members were closer, but Perry regretted that it had taken something as tragic as Richard’s death for them to bond over.

Talking about bonding. Lois and Clark had grown very close over the last half-year. Clark taking her and Jason to places, spending a lot of time together. And now they were laughing and chatting and smiling and teasing. Perry’s eyes widened.

No, I’m imagining things. There’s no way she would … not this soon…

Perry rubbed his temple. He had never been wrong before…

But with Clark, of all people? Clark was nothing like Richard … or Superman for that matter… Well, maybe they don’t realize it yet, but something is definitely there…

He sat up straight when suddenly Lois looked directly at him and walked over.

“Perry?”

“Lois?”

“This may be a strange request, but I was wondering if you could pick up Jason from school. Clark and I have an interview we really can’t cancel, and Jimmy said he was busy too. I know you like Jason, so…”

Me? Pick up little Jason? A little scene popped up in Perry’s head where Jason ran towards him, squealing “Uncle Perry!” the moment he entered the classroom, just like Richard used to do when he was little.

A smile started to grow on his face, but he quickly masked it. All his family and bonding stuff was nice, but he was still the boss. He couldn’t go around and pick up his employee’s kids.

Then suddenly his memo-to-self came back to him. Let Lois have her way, next time she wants something.

“Alright.”

“Really?” Lois said, incredulously.

“Yes, I’ll pick him up, you go and work that interview.”

“Thanks Perry!” Lois smiled relieved. “You do know, at three o’clock - ”

“Yes, I know. Now, go!”

Lois left the office in a hurry and Perry leaned back in his chair, put his feet on the desk and switched the television back on before putting his hands behind his head. The discussion was still on, but Perry wasn’t really paying attention.

“Uncle Perry,” he muttered.

(sorry about the bad layout. LJ insists on putting everything in the cut in bold, and I'm can't get it to change...)