Billion Dollar Reporter

Chapter I :

Gabriela Garcia was a simple girl from the bad part of Miami who moved to Metropolis in search of hope and a life away from the emotional and physical abuse of her father Marcus Garcia. The young female whom had just turned 20 and barely passed 5 feet tall landed a job at the Daily Planet as a photographer and investigative reporter of small news, she had a small column that was opaque by Lois Lane, of course Gabriela didn't mind, Lois Lane was one hell of a reporter, and although the young Latino woman did not see eye to eye with Ms. Lane she had to admit she quite liked her articles in the paper. What did bother her was her lack of consideration with Clark Kent; which was also one of the lead stars of Daily Planet, the man bended over backwards for her and she dismissed him, it was quite pitiful to the young woman, but she could almost guarantee that her best friend Lorenzo, thought quite the same about her when it came to Mr. Kent, Gabriela was absolutely in love with a man who barely knew her name and most of the time didn't acknowledge her existence.

Gabriela wasn't an ugly woman, which she didn't believe an ugly woman excited, in her eyes every woman had their beauty and deserved to be cherished. She was a tiny bit of a woman with long wavy raven black hair which was more often than not sadly wore in a bun, her skin was pale and soft as crème and her eyes a beautiful aqua blue color with a small rim of light brown near the pupils, her lips were soft and pink. The young woman wore glasses with big black frames, usually dressed in less flattering outfits, mostly shapeless jeans and whatever shirt she could find that day.

Her day started as usual, her alarm went off at 5:00 am making a low groan to escape her lips. Gabriela was meant to go to work at 7: 00 am but in order to get a good seat on the bus, or to catch it empty she left about an hour earlier, luckily the guard knew this and allowed her to go in earlier than necessary into the office. The young woman made herself and Lorenzo some breakfast, the man was her best friend, they didn't live together but he had a key to her place and she had one to his, he lived two floors above her.

 ❝ Good morning, Gabriela. ❞ Lorenzo said walking in with a wide smile as he wore a nice suit, rumor had it that he had an official interview with Batman. ❝ Is this professional enough you think? I mean I know Batman wears a mask and a cape and all but I want to look as professional as I can. ❞ The young man said, Lorenzo wasn't bad looking, he was a damn good looking guy, he had tan skin, dark hair and caramel eyes, he was Colombian and had the voice of an angel when he sang, he also had a jawline that could cut and his body was adorned by tattoo's. The two had met when she was in her junior year of high school and Lorenzo was on his senior year, she had graduated when she was 17 and it took her two years to finally take her best friend's offer to move in with him to Metropolis, she had lived with him the first couple of months working odd jobs here and there until she landed the job at the Daily Planet, and finally moved out to her own little studio.

❝ I think you look stunning, my friend. Are you excited? I mean I don't know how in the hell you landed this interview with the vigilante but I am so happy for you, and I know you are going to do such a phenomenal job Enzo. ❞ Gabriela smiled sweetly and patted his shoulder putting the coffee she had served him down on the table and his breakfast as she sat to eat her own. Gabriela's hair was on a ponytail, while she wore some slacks and a button up shirt, nothing fancy or flattering.

❝ Thank you, Gabs. For everything. I am extremely nervous. ❞ Lorenzo said and sat down to eat with his friend, Gabriela poked at her food and sighed, she felt like a high schooler; feeling elephants running around her stomach whenever she knew she was going to see Clark in the office, his office was right in front of her, if he ever looked up from his writing or from Lois he could see her sitting right in front of him on her writing station. But he didn't.

That same morning after they ate and said by to each other Lorenzo left to Gotham City while Gabriela left for work. Once she got to the Daily Planet she dropped her stuff on her desk and sat down starting her computer, she had a couple minutes until people starter to show up since the bus wasn't on time. Gabriela sighed when she saw Lois walk in with Clark, they were laughing at whatever she had said, which was probably not even that funny.

❝ G-good morning. ❞ Gabriela said softly fixing her glasses as her pale cheeks turned a deep pink.

❝ Good morning. ❞ They both said in unison as they kept walking making her sigh a bit as she sat back down and looked at her computer screen. She felt like a failure really, the only thing she did well was making a fool of herself in front of Clark Kent and half of the population.

When lunch time arrived Gabriela sighed softly, since Lorenzo wasn't there she had to eat by herself, not that she minded but she felt more like that odd kid everyone left out in high school. Gabriela just poked at her salad and looked at the people passing by with their lunch or reading over the newspapers, her eyes scanned her article of the importance of the global warming, she knew a lot of people didn't particularly care about those sort of things, but she knew someone somewhere did read about this. She had marked up the paper, catching errors and making sure everything was impeccable before fixing the minor errors and sending it off to her boss.

The young woman's head lifted when she heard a too familiar voice call her by her last name. ❝ Mr. Kent, h-how may I help you? ❞ Gabriela asked the man softly as she was almost positive she could hear her own heartbeat accelerating within her chest.

❝ Oh please Gabriela, call me Clark, do you mind if I seat with you? ❞ Clark Kent gave the small female the most amazing smile she had ever gotten making her blush and nod her head in astonishment.

❝ Yes, please go ahead, is there anything I can help you with? ❞ Gabriela asked trying to be professional and calm, sure she was nervous but he was just a person right? It wasn't like she was making a fool of herself...For now.

❝ Not quite, you just looked...Lonely and decided to keep you company. ❞ Clark looked at her and smiled a bit letting his eyes fall to the notebook she had with a drawing, it was a simple henna flower. ❝ Did you draw that? ❞ he asked her and traced it with his finger a bit smiling at her widely.

❝ Yes, yes I did. ❞ Gabriela replied returning his smile softly as she looked at his large finger trace the flower she had drawn. She ran her fingers over the length of her tattooed arm that was always covered in order to keep it 'professional' as most would say.

Clark eyes met her own blue ones and a small smile tugged at his lips, she was a pretty woman, he knew that much and something tugged a bit at his chest whenever he heard her heart skip a beat. ❝ You look quite sad today, is everything okay? ❞

Gabriela bit her lip and looked at his face before sighing, she wouldn't lie to him, he would see right through her since she was such a horrid liar. ❝ Well Lorenzo is interviewing Batman so he is not getting back until tomorrow, and I hate eating alone. ❞

❝ Are you and Lorenzo dating? ❞ Clark asked his eyes furrowing a bit as he heard her reason for not being all too happy as she usually was.

❝ Oh! No me and Lorenzo are just good friends, we've been best friends since high school.❞ The female said and played with her fingers for a moment before looking up at him. 'It's now or never Garcia.' Gabriela told herself as she cleared her throat. ❝ Would you want to- ❞

❝ Ah Clark, there you are I've been looking for you everywhere, can you come help me with an article I am writing? ❞ Lois called as she walked to the table. ❝ Oh hey, Garcia. ❞

❝ Hello Ms. Lane. ❞ Gabriela said and smiled softly as she poked at her salad again when she saw Clark raise.

❝ Sure thing, well I'll see you around Gabriela. ❞ He called out walking behind Lois making Gabriela sigh.

❝ Bye.... ❞ Gabriela mumbled to herself. Soon after lunch was over and she headed up to her working space, feeling stupid as she stared at the clock, well she more liked glared at the clock trying to make it go faster.