In Any Reality

"They do?" Laura said, curiosity getting the best of her for a second as she shifted her gaze from Steve's face to an area much lower. "I can't ever imagine why." She grinned just before she turned and walked away.

On the other end of the spectrum, Laura found herself becoming very good friends with Jimmy Olsen, the intern who she had met on her first day on the job. Unlike Lombard, Jimmy had never even made so much as a pass at her, despite the closeness of their ages. Asking around, Laura discovered that none of the other women in the office had ever been asked out by him either, not even those who had expressed an interest in such a development. That, combined with his lack of mention of any woman in his life other than his mother, caused many of the women to conclude that young Mr. Olsen was gay. A shame to be sure, at least from their perspective.

That conclusion, Laura discovered while working late one night, turned out to be as far off the mark as could be. Heading for the storeroom where she often locked up her clothes before going on a late night patrol, Laura stopped just short of entering when she heard a muffled noise from within. One curious enough to prompt an x-ray scan of what was beyond the door.

"Oh my," Laura said silently as she discovered that not only was the room already occupied, but that young Mr. Olsen was most definitely not gay.

Nor was Jimmy alone, as she identified the source of that barely audible moan. If she had to pick that last woman on Earth, or at least the Planet, that the intern might've been involved with, Cat Grant would've been at the top, or quite near it, of the list. Yet, there was the forty-something year old gossip columnist doing the nasty with young Mr. Olsen. Grant, it appeared, had been out at one of those parties where she got most of her scoops from at least that was the assumption based on her dress. Or rather her state of undress as the expensive gown was crumpled on the storeroom floor, leaving her with only a garter belt and a pair of sheer stockings.

At the moment, she was quite energetically riding his cock, seemingly held in place only by the tight grip his hands had on her rounded breasts. Breasts which Laura had long ago noted had been surgically enhanced, but some people didn't seem to care about things like that. What attracted Cat to the intern rather than one of the more famous people she normally associated with was rather obvious. Unlike the boastful Mr. Lombard, Mr. Olsen would've been quite justified in calling himself "Big Jim" if he'd wanted to.

-=-=-=-

"Kent, do you have those notes on kickbacks and the City Council Speaker?" Lois asked from across the small aisle that separated their two desks.

Without looking up from the open folder she was reading from, Laura reached into a seemingly disorganized pile on the edge of her desk and produced a paper clipped stack containing the notes Lois had asked for. The brunette reporter could never understand how her junior partner could keep track of anything on that mess she called a desk, much less be able to seemingly pick anything she was searching for out of it without looking.

Another hour passed as the two of them worked on their respective stories, during which time the city room grew emptier as people ended their workday.

"What do you say we grab a bite to eat once we finish up here?" Laura asked across the aisle as she sent her story off to the appropriate editor's desk, after saving a back up copy to her hard drive.

"Eat?" Lois said, as if the word had no meaning.

"Yes, as in putting cooked things which taste good in your mouth and consuming them so as to have the energy to go on another day," Laura said with a grin. "I'm told there are places called restaurants where people can go and sit down and actually enjoy a meal without interruption."

On most nights, dinner to Lois usually meant whatever came in little white cartons or Styrofoam boxes. Cooking, even the most simple dishes, was not one of her many talents.

"I have a lot of work to finish up here," came her reply.

"On a story for which we won't have all the confirmations we need until sometime next week," Laura pointed out.

As expected, Lois had yet another excuse, one that Laura again had an answer for. Finally, after a little more cajoling, Lois finally gave in.

-=-=-=-

"Now, isn't this better than eating at our desks, trying not to spill marinara sauce on our notes?" Laura said as the waiter walked away from their table after delivering their entrees.

"Okay, I'll give you that," Lois said after sampling the chicken marsala she had ordered, "but don't think that this little culinary field trip isn't going to cost you."

"Oh I don't mind picking up the tab," Laura replied as she took a taste of her own linguini with clam sauce, "it was after all my invitation."

"No, I can pay for my own dinner, thank you," Lois said as she took a long sip of the wine they had also ordered. "What I mean is that as long as I let you drag me here, you're going to have to make it worth my time."

"In what way?" Laura asked.

"What I'm thinking of is my favorite pastime, a nice little game of questions and answers," Lois said with a anticipatory grin. "I ask the questions, and you get to provide the answers."

Laura didn't immediately reply, instead taking a long drink from her own glass as she told herself that she should've realized that Lois had given in too easily.

"And don't give me that 'questions about little old me' look," Lois said with an even wider grin. "You've turned out to be far from the innocent farm girl I first took you to be, and as I'm sure more than a few people have told you, I hate being proven wrong."

"Well, if that's the price I have to pay, fire away," Laura smiled, confident she could handle any question Lois might ask.

Laura had learned enough about Lois's interview techniques to know that she would begin with a number of softball questions. Sure enough, most of the first dozen were about things that she had already told Lois, or at least didn't keep secret from anyone. It was only when they were halfway through the meal and and half a bottle of wine was gone, that the questions began to become more personal.

"Anyone special in your life?" Lois asked, refilling Laura's now empty glass from the bottle.

"Well, my parents, of course," Laura replied, thanking Lois for the refill as she took another healthy mouthful, thinking that she could empty the wine cellar down in the basement and not be affected in the least, unlike Lois who was obviously beginning to feel the effects a little.

"You know that's not what I meant," Lois said, refilling and raising her own glass.

"Who has time for a relationship in this line of work?" Laura said, giving an answer she was sure Lois would relate to.

"True enough," she agreed, "but as someone once said, if something is important enough you make the time,"

"Then I guess I haven't found anyone important enough," Laura said. "How about you?"

"No one, or should I say nothing that doesn't run on batteries," Lois softly laughed. "There are times I feel like I should be sending thank you notes to Duracell."

If Lois was looking to provoke a reaction from Laura with that remark, she was disappointed, as the younger woman didn't even flinch.

"What about back home, what was that town called again, oh yeah, Smallville," Lois continued. "Any special guy back there?"

"I was somewhat of a tomboy growing up," Laura answered. "I think I scared away most guys because I was better at the games they played than they were. There was one guy, Pete Ross was his name, but we were more buddies than anything else."

"Any girlfriends?" Lois said without missing a beat, "and I don't mean the kind you listened to CD's with and did each other's hair."

Laura hesitated, waiting too long to lie and just say no. The wine hadn't affected Lois as much as she was pretending it did, she was still focused enough to have classically set her up. The Duracell comment had been to throw her off her guard and unprepared for the next question. Laura had watched enough tapes of Lois's interviews to recognize the tactic, but hadn't done so. With nowhere else to go with it, being honest seemed to be the safest course of action, or as close to honest as she dared to be.

"Her name was Lana," Laura finally said, then added with not a small amount of pride, "she was head cheerleader, class president and the best friend I ever had."

There was much more she wished she could say about the beautiful redhead that had captivated her heart. As alien as she had sometimes felt due to her extraterrestrial origin, there had been many times that aloneness paled against the realization that she was also different from other girls in a much more human way. It wasn't until that night in high school when, during a snowstorm, Lana's car had broken down halfway between Smallville and the Kent farm that Laura learned that even in a small town in the middle of the heartland, she wasn't as unique as she thought. At least in that aspect.

"I've done the girl thing," Lois said without hesitation. "No biggie," she added, her speech just a little slurred.

"Did you like it?" Laura asked, her question full of the hesitancy that Lois's had lacked.

"It was fun," Lois replied with equal ease. "In fact, I think I sometimes get along better with other women than I do men. Like you, I probably intimidate them too much."

There was a pause as Lois again sipped her wine, then she returned to the questions.

"What happened to Lana?" Lois asked.

"Life changes," Laura said. "We just wanted different things. She wanted to stay in Smallville and I wanted the world."

"But you settled for the Planet, right?" Lois said, laughing at her own small joke.

"Anyone since?" she continued.

"Well, I met a few girls in college," Laura said, "but nothing very serious. One of them even told me that nothing that happens in college counts."

"Gay until graduation, huh," Lois laughed. "Been there, done that, got the t-shirt."

"There's a t-shirt?" Laura asked, thinking that she might like to have had one as a souvenir.

"No, not really, but there should've been." Lois said, her mind obviously on a far off memory for a moment. The moment passed and then Lois asked, since there was no one else in her life, what it was that Laura did with her spare time.

"Oh fight crime, stop natural disasters, the usual sort of thing," Laura grinned.

"Funny," Lois said, thinking as Laura had expected that the wine had prompted that particular answer.

They were interrupted by the waiter who cleared the dishes and asked if they wanted anything else. They settled on after dinner coffee but would skip the suggested desserts.

"Ever wonder what she does for sex?" Lois asked once the waiter had delivered their coffee.

"Who?" Laura replied.

"Who else, the girl in red and blue," Lois expanded. "I mean, talk about a woman being intimidating to a man. To say nothing of the rather unique physical problems that must go along with it."

"Physical problems?" Lana asked curiously.

"Well, just imagine how hard a man would have to work to just get her off," Lois replied. "In fact, a normal guy might not even be able to do it at all."

"You were the one who finally got the in-depth interview with her," Laura pointed out, "maybe you should've asked her when you had the chance?"

"Because I promised Perry that I'd be on my best behavior when I did it," Lois explained. "He's never let me forget the time I asked the junior Senator from New York during her Presidential run if it was true she had slept with her husband's former attorney general."

"I never heard about that," Laura laughed.

"Neither did anyone else, " Lois grinned. "At the Senator's insistence, the question was later edited out." Lois grinned.

"Did she actually answer it?" Laura asked curiously as she visualized the two women in question.

"Sometimes lack of an answer is answer enough," Lois pointed out.

"Maybe Supergirl is a fan of Duracell too," Laura abruptly offered, returning to the previous subject.

"I think in her case, Black and Decker might be more appropriate," Lois laughed. "More power and the right tool for the job."

Laura laughed as expected, even though she knew the truth was quite the opposite. Just because bullets and the like bounced off her skin, there was no reason to assume that her sexual responses were anything other than those of a normal woman. In fact, in her experience she had found quite the opposite to be true. Kryptonian women, she'd discovered, were quite sensitive in that regard.

The conversation drifted on to a few more mundane topics and soon enough their coffee cups were empty. Declining a refill and the again offered dessert, they paid the bill, and exited the below ground restaurant out onto the street.

"You heading back to the office?" Lois asked as they stood outside the restaurant.

"No, I don't think so. I've got a few things I need to check out before I head home," Laura said, glancing off in the distance for a moment.

"Anything I might be interested in?" Lois asked, her reporter's instincts aroused.

"No, I don't think so," Laura smiled, "they're more of a personal than professional nature."

"Ah, so I didn't learn everything tonight," Lois smiled.

"Well a girl's entitled to some secrets," Laura laughed softly.

"Only if she can manage to hold on to them," Lois grinned.

"Then I guess I'd better get going while I still can," Laura said with a matching grin as she started to turn away.

She stopped in motion when she hard Lois call her name. It was only later on that she realized that Lois had called her by her first name rather than simply Kent, as had become her practice.

"I just wanted you to know that I really enjoyed this," Lois said. "It's been a long time since I've been able to just relax for an hour or so with a friend."

"Are we friends now?" Laura asked, hoping for an answer in the affirmative.

"I'd like us to be," Lois said, her tone full of the suggestion that she was looking for one as well.

"Me too," Laura agreed.

They stood silent for a few long seconds, each just looking into the eyes of the other. Then, before Laura could react, Lois leaned in and kissed her right on the mouth. The press of her lips against Laura's only lasted a moment, but it was enough to leave an aftertaste sweeter than any dessert they might have ordered. Not quite enough to have been categorized as intimate, it had also been more than could be counted as just a casual exchange between friends.

"Good night," Lois simply said as she stepped back, just before she turned and walked away from a still stunned Laura.

-=-=-=-

When she really needed to clear her head, there was only one place for Laura Kent, and that was high above the lights of the city, wrapped in the comfort of the star filled night. Five minutes after Lois had turned the corner and vanished from sight, Laura was once more clad in blue and red and soaring through the man-made canyons of Metropolis.

What she needed right now was action, something to take her mind off what Lois had done. It wasn't that she had minded it, quite the contrary in fact. It had been one of the most enjoyable moments she'd shared with anyone in a long time. It was just that she didn't want to read too much into it; after all, it could've just been a spur of the moment thing, brought on by the wine.

Frustratingly, the city seemed unusually quiet tonight, as she crossed the length of the oval shaped municipality a second time. She couldn't find so much as the proverbial cat stuck in the tree to draw her attention.

After an hour and a half of a much too quiet patrol, the Guardian of the City decided to make sure that one special citizen had gotten home all right. Changing her direction, Supergirl soon found herself back over the island of New Troy, specifically that section containing the condominium apartment belonging to one Lois Lane. Normally, she would never think of spying on one of her friends with her x-ray and telescopic vision, but, as she reminded herself, Lois did have a bit to drink at dinner. She would only take a quick peek, just be make sure she was okay.

Standing in the middle of a passing cloud, Supergirl quickly located the right building and, counting the floors down from the top of the high-rise, Lois' apartment as well. Narrowing her focus down to the bedroom in the rear of the condo, Supergirl found Lois where she expected her to be, but certainly not in that condition.

Rather than fast asleep, the dark haired beauty was quite awake and also quite naked, laying atop the comforter that covered her bed. One hand rested on her left breast, her fingers playing with the erect nipple in the middle of it. The other hand was buried deep between her legs, with those fingers a blur of motion as they slipped in and out of her pussy.

Supergirl knew she should have instantly turned away, leaving Lois to her privacy. Yet she felt herself unable to do so, the sight was just too compelling. Despite being physically a half mile distant, her enhanced vision produced an image as clear as if she was standing at the foot of the bed. She didn't need any further abilities to tell that Lois was on the verge of an orgasm.

Unable to tear herself away, Supergirl watched as Lois' body rocked with the force of that climax, her upper hand moving from breast to breast as the lower continuing to massage her clit. It was only after the last tremors had faded from the star reporter's body and she let the pleasing weariness lure her to sleep that the Girl of Steel finally turned away.

Despite the temptation to do so, Supergirl had always resisted using her x-ray vision to sneak a peek at Lois, even though she sometimes gave in when other women were concerned. In fact, she had even avoided doing so in the locker room or sauna on those few occasions they gone to the gym together. Now, she knew exactly what she had been missing.

As she began to move off in the other direction, the Maid of Might tried to push the image out of her mind, but was unable to do so. Lois had, at least in her opinion, the most perfect breasts she had ever seen. She found herself remembering a line from a sitcom she once watched, given by an actress in reference to her own not unimpressive bust - 'Not only are they real, but they're spectacular.' In fact, recalling the actress in question, Supergirl realized that in other areas as well, she had borne a striking resemblance to Lois.

Thought of Lois, and what she might have felt for her were now impossible to dismiss from Supergirl's mind. Worse, those thoughts allowed certain other memories to come to the forefront of her mind as well. Memories that might have been relevant but no less uncomfortable. Images of a time years before and hundreds of miles distant came back, of a life centered around, and a future once imagined with the girl of her dreams.

Lana Lang had indeed been all of the things Laura had mentioned to Lois over dinner earlier in the evening, and, as she had kept to herself, she had been so much more. In Lana's arms, Laura had found love in ways that had previously been beyond her imagination. All she had to do was close her eyes, even now, and she could feel the softness of the redhead's lips, and the warmth of her smooth, naked flesh.

Lana hadn't been afraid of anything, least of all what people in their small town might say if it came out that she loved girls. Nor was she one of those girls who ran away to Los Angeles, Gotham or one of the other big cities searching for acceptance. No, Smallville was her home and people would accept her for who she was or they could go to hell.

To anyone who hadn't actually grown up in Smallville, that attitude might have seemed a recipe for disaster, but that hadn't proved the case. Most people in Smallville were only a few generations removed from the pioneers who settled the town, and they had been an eclectic lot to say the least. The town and its citizens had always had a strong tradition of leaving people to live their lives as they chose, much more so than their big city counterparts did. So if Lana, who was quite well liked, and that nice Kent girl, who was also well liked, if thought of as a little strange at times, wanted to be together, well that was no one's business but their own.