Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Lois & Clark Fanfic Wrong Clark (182/???)

Wrong Place, Wrong Time, Wrong Clark TOC can be found Here

Click here to read Part 181.

Part 182

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A Short Break
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Clark tilted back his seat on the airplane and closed his eyes, wishing the little sunlight coming through the oval on the wall next to Jimmy would help him feel better. The pounding of his head from his hangover still hadn’t gone away after all these hours. The cramped seating on the plane didn’t help the pain in his shoulder, either.

When Clark had originally accepted the trip, it had been unintentional. Jimbo had approached his seat on the patio that morning, asking how Clark felt.

“Like death warmed over,” Clark had replied.

“You look it,” Jimbo had said in the most sincere way possible. “I’m surprised you’re lying in the sun.”

“Got to dry out somehow,” Clark had murmured as his excuse.

“What you need is the desert!” Jimbo had said. “Nice dry heat with the sun beating down on you all day. You’d be a mummy before you returned.”

Clark had concurred that the strong sun of the desert was just what his parched body required, but not in the way Jimbo supposed. Clark’s mind had solely been focused on recovering, and the possibility of heading to a desert, let alone anywhere, had felt remote until his abilities returned.

“I’m going to do you a favor, CK. My cuz has just been offered a trip to Las Vegas in exchange for an exclusive interview about his role in the whole Lex Luthor scandal. Apparently, the owner of the new United News Network also owns one of the hotels on the strip. UNN has offered him a trip for two to Vegas, all expenses paid. Two plane tickets, two queen sized beds, two nights. Jimmy and I discussed it and we think you should go with him. You need it more than me. I mean, you’ve been doing double or triple duty this whole summer between the docks, the investigation, Lois, and all, with hardly a break. You need the couple of days off, CK, especially after those guys roughed you up on your way back from talking to Superman at the Luthor House fire,” Jimbo said with hardly a pause to breathe.

“You’re rambling like Lois,” Clark mumbled, regarding this nonstop speech.

Jimbo had exhaled a deep breath and continued more slowly, “The truth is, I feel bad that I told Jack and Denny that they could stay here without clearing it with you first. Now your apartment feels like Metropolis’ Union Station. Anyway, you look like you could use the vacation more than I could. I feel guilty that none of us went out to look for you, except Cat. You do have the tendency to disappear for hours on end and turn up okay.”

“Cat’s a good friend,” Clark had responded. “Don’t think any more about it, Jimbo. I doubt you would have found me anyway.” He knew it for a fact, but he didn’t want to get into the particulars. “And I’d rather Jack and Denny stay here than be out on the streets. I would have offered had I been here to do so.” He rubbed his forehead and shaded his eyes a bit from the morning sun to look at Jimbo.

His young friend stared at him for a while. “Are you sure you’re okay, CK?”

“It’s just a hangover,” Clark had said, wondering how badly he looked if he was getting nagged by Jimbo. “No concussion or amnesia, if that’s worrying you.”

“No. No. Oh, God, I had forgotten about that,” Jimbo had sputtered, causing Clark’s guilt to increase for even mentioning it in jest. “Don’t worry, CK, Mr. White and I were talking about finding some place permanent for the Miner brothers to bunk so that they don’t end up back on the streets again, and I’ll move in with my mom. She’s been back from her cruise for months, and I really should have moved earlier but, truthfully, it’s easier living with you than her. So, it’ll just be you and Jimmy here when you guys return. Between the two of us, I think something happened to him in prison...” Jimbo held up his hand and tapped his head. “Not physically, but… I don’t know. He seems different. Odd. He could use the break, and he won’t talk to me.”

Clark wouldn’t be surprised if that were true. He was going to explain to Jimbo how Lois needed him and he couldn’t go, but he couldn’t find the words after what Jimbo had said about Jimmy. His friend had then gotten up and returned into the apartment before Clark could stop him. Between the hangover and his loss of powers, his reaction time seemed slower than a slug’s.

Jimmy had come out to the patio a few minutes later to talk to him about Las Vegas. He seemed excited by the prospect, but reservedly so. First, Clark had tried to claim illness as the reason he had needed to stay in Metropolis.

Clark was too sick to fly. Literally.

Jimmy had laughed and told him that the best cure for a hangover was hydration, which Clark had once known, but clearly forgotten in the many years since working as designated bodyguard to drunken sorority girls in college. His brain was seriously on the fritz.

“Drink water, CK, not caffeine,” Jimmy had said, taking away Clark’s coffee mug and replacing it with the glass of water he had brought with him. After Clark had taken a few sips, Jimmy had returned from inside with another full glass for himself and sat down next to him.

Clark had just been about to say that he that he would love to go to Vegas, but that he couldn’t due to Lois, that Lois needed him, but he was having a difficult time picking his words. He didn’t want to sound as if he was Lois’s whipping boy. He perceived that Jimmy had noticed that Lois had him wrapped around her little finger, but still… Clark had his pride.

Somewhere.

He just wasn’t sure where he had put it.

Instead, Jimmy had spoken before Clark could find the right words. “Hey, man. Thanks for coming with me on this trip.” He had paused to take a sip of his water and to glance back inside Clark’s apartment, before lowering his voice. “I want to discuss something with you privately and, well…” He pulled his gaze away from the apartment and back on his friend. “It isn’t really possible here. Jimbo would want us to paint the strip red if I took him, and I…” Jimmy shook his head. “I don’t.”

“You hung-over, too?” Clark had asked. Misery loved company, as everyone knew, and he was sure that nobody could feel worse than he had at that moment.

“No… well, yes, but that’s not what… look, can we talk about it in Vegas?” Jimmy had paused to take another sip of his water. “Since we both know that Lois is going to roast you alive anyway for not being there for her yesterday, especially after what happened, it’s probably best that she has a few days to cool…”

Clark sat up with his eyes focused on his friend. “What happened?”

Jimmy looked away. “Man, did you forget about Luthor?” As he made a whistling noise, which just about split Clark’s head in two, Jimmy swirled his finger downwards until he made an exploding gesture. “Boom!”

“I heard about his parachute-less swan dive,” Clark admitted, leaning back in his chair.

Everyone had been speaking about nothing else at Lex Tower when he returned to the building to search for Lois after his power nap. Had he known what the billionaire was to do, he wouldn’t have gone home to change into one of his own suits and grab his own glasses. He still couldn’t believe he had passed out. He had only sat down on the bed for what felt like a second… and a half-hour disappeared. He had never felt so exhausted.

“Yeah… well…Lois and her mother… uh… witnessed the event.” Jimmy appeared uncomfortable; although, he wasn’t telling Clark anything Denny hadn’t mentioned the previous afternoon when Clark had returned to the apartment and been told that Lois had called.

Clark’s gut twisted as he again thought of how horrendous witnessing that event must have been for Lois. She might have hated Luthor, but nobody would’ve wanted to see that. He wished he could have been there for her. Even a Superman without powers was better than an absent boyfriend. Then, again, if he had been there – as Superman – everyone would be wondering why he hadn’t saved Luthor. His reputation was in shreds enough already.

“Sooooo, now that Luthor’s out of the way, do you think she’ll want you two to…” Jimmy coughed and looked meaningfully at Clark. “— partner up again?”

It was both an understatement and one of Clark’s major concerns.

Clark wasn’t quite sure how Jimmy had known about his relationship with Lois, but guessed that either Perry or Jimbo had let the secret slip. Then again, maybe he had himself the night before while he had been drunk. Clark wouldn’t be surprised if he had stood on the bar to announce that he was Superman before trying to prove it by flying. Fortunately, he couldn’t, so nobody would believe him. Since a scene hadn’t been alluded to this morning, Clark concluded that nothing untoward had happened.

Nevertheless, it was still possible that Clark had mentioned his feelings for Lois the previous night. His power to recall much of what was said during their time at the bar hadn’t been great. On his walk back to his apartment after leaving Cat’s this morning, Clark had tried to recall as much of the previous night’s activities as he could. Sadly, he couldn’t remember much of the latter half of it until he arrived at Cat’s. Most of what happened at the bar was a blur. Drinking without abilities was off his list of things to ever try again. He had been lucky this time.

Nor was Clark looking forward to conversing with Lois about their relationship. He didn’t want to tell her about his fears regarding the curse or how it might stop their relationship from moving forward in a way they both wanted. Personally, after what Luthor had put him through, any thoughts of intimacy made him queasy… dizzy, too. Just thinking about it broke him out into a cold sweat and caused his ears to ring. He needed to be completely cured of this hangover and Kryptonite exposure before he knew how much of these reactions were related to his current physical ailments. Lois deserved that much before he even mentioned the curse.

The conversation was a necessary one, he knew, and one long put off already, but he thought that it would be better to have his invulnerable skin again, just in case. Not that Clark would ever mention this fear to anyone, but there was a part of him – a little, teeny, weensy piece of him, which suspected that Lois wouldn’t need Super powers to rip him to shreds, not just emotionally, but physically. When vulnerable, as he currently was, and both hung-over and without powers, that tiny piece of him grew exponentially to became terrified she might succeed.

It was an irrational fear, true, but most fears were, as he well knew.

When Clark didn’t answer Jimmy’s inquiries about his and Lois’s future, Jimmy continued, “Anyway, CK, I really appreciate the sacrifice, man. Thanks.” Jimmy had patted Clark’s knee and headed back inside with his glass of water.

Clark had no idea how to back out of the Vegas trip after that. Jimmy was counting on him. Clark had also wrongly figured that maybe Jimmy was right about Lois’s fury at his absence taking days before it cooled down before he could start to talk to her rationally again.

If it had only been fear of her temper which convinced him to continue on this ill-advised trip, he probably would have canceled upon seeing her at the Daily Planet and gaining her forgiveness.

After he had seen how being near Lois and the feel of her touch had affected him, he knew that he would need a few days of distance between what Luthor had done to him before he could be himself around Lois again. He hated that Luthor’s mind-tricks had succeeded with him, even temporarily. Clark was convinced that after a couple of days of sunbathing to recover his powers, he would have enough control over his mind again to banish those horrible images from his conscious. He refused to let Luthor win.

Clark closed his eyes and let his mind drift back to what happened at the Daily Planet just a few hours before.

His first glance of Lois had knocked him mute. She had cut her hair. It was even shorter than the style that other Lois had when he had first met her. It was more like when he had seen her when her Clark had disappeared through that time window.

Lois had never looked so beautiful.

Then, Clark had felt a pang of guilt. How could he be comparing the two Loises? They were two completely different women. He felt almost adulterous of thinking that his Lois seemed more attractive with shorter hair because the first one he had met had too.

On the other hand, the best thing about the haircut was that she didn’t look like the woman in the video Luthor had plagued him with. She looked like a completely different person, but he knew in essentials she would be the same as she ever had been. Of course, like him, she was wearing dark sunglasses, so it was hard to be sure.

After saying a sharp ‘hello’ she had ignored him for a good ten minutes, so he knew it was definitely her.

‘At least, she isn’t too mad,’ Clark had thought wryly.

Going out of town until she cooled off never felt like a better plan.

Out in the noise of the city, though, the pounding of his head had seemed to increase. Perhaps it was his guilty thoughts making his head spin.

As the others wandered around saying goodbye to the building, Clark pulled Cat’s note out of his pocket and read it again.

‘You’re right, Clark, that wasn’t Lois. Don’t let Lex win by believing his lies. Tell Lois that you love her.’

Easier said than done, he had thought before shoving it back into his pocket.

When the guys left, Jimmy lifted up a wary hand to wave goodbye. “We’ll meet you back at the apartment, CK,” Jimmy had called with a look which was to remind him that they had a plane to catch in less than two hours’ time. Jimmy knew that Lois had a siren’s power to persuade Clark to do her bidding. He had even repeatedly warned Clark not to miss their flight on their walk to the Planet.

When Clark had been finally alone with Lois, she moved up next to him causing his heart to race unexpectedly. What would she say? Would she try to kiss him? An image from the Luthor sex tape flashed across his sore mind. He hoped she didn’t try anything while it was so fresh a wound. It wasn’t her fault what Luthor had done to him, but he still did not have the control to banish it from his thoughts while in her company.

“So,” she said.

“You cut your hair,” Clark murmured. “It looks good.”

She touched her head. “Thanks.”

“I heard about what happened yesterday with your mom. I’m sorry I couldn’t be there for you,” Clark said. He had moved down the building until he stood in a patch of sunlight, hoping it would give him the mental strength to make it through this conversation without revealing to her how incredibly weak her hero actually was. So far, so good.

“So, where were you?” she asked, crossing her arms and following him.

Or not.

“Perry said you were held up,” she added.

“Yeah.” He nodded, agreeing that phrase summed up well what had happened to him. “Held up.” Tied up. Put in a cage and tortured. Same diff.

Lois stepped closer to him and his stomach lurched, causing him to stiffen. He once more reminded himself that it hadn’t been Lois on that sex tape. He loved Lois, and it was unfair to blame her for something that hadn’t involved her.

“What is going on with you, Chuck?” Lois snapped. “Out of all the people I know, you’re the last person I would ever suspect of not being there when you were needed… Our friends needed us… needed Superman to see this through.” She glanced back to the boarded up shell of the Daily Planet. “Now…”

Was she blaming Superman for Luthor’s death and thus the final nail in the coffin of the Daily Planet? That had been Luthor’s choice, not his. Clark’s lips pressed into a line. “I was delayed, Lois. You once said that I had to do what I could and that there were limits even to what Superman could do,” he said, finding his pride. It had been neither Superman’s nor his fault that the Daily Planet had been bombed. He reminded himself that she didn’t know what Luthor had done to him, causing his delay. He needed to try another tactic.

“The Daily Planet, my friends…” Clark continued, and then stopped as he stared at the woman he loved. He could live without those things. He would miss them terribly, but compared to her they meant nothing to him.

“What about us?” she probed, removing her sunglasses to glare at him better.

“You’re probably everything in the world that’s precious to me,” he finished, knowing that he shouldn’t have included the ‘probably’, because Lois Lane was definitely his everything. Even though he could also add the Kents into his everything, he still loved Lois more than anything; he just didn’t have the ability to show her right now.

This wasn’t the time or place to inform her what had happened, either. He didn’t know when would be; maybe when the humiliation that Luthor had ladled upon him had faded.

So, sometime late in the next century perhaps.

How could he admit to her how easily he had been fooled by Mrs. Cox’s disguise? Or how quickly he had acted when he had thought she was in danger without waiting for her code word? He had flown blindly into that monster’s trap. All Luthor had needed was a damsel in distress, and there was Superman to save the day. Make it Lois, and he would be there without a second thought. Mrs. Cox had been wearing a Kryptonite necklace, and he hadn’t even noticed it.

Mostly, Clark wanted to protect Lois from the knowledge of the lengths Luthor had gone to sully her good name in Superman’s mind. It wasn’t something he ever wanted to admit to anyone, let alone the woman he loved. How could he tell her that he had doubts? That he wavered on knowing whether that woman was her or not? That he had to keep repeating that it was a lie so that he wouldn’t buy into it? How could he tell her that and still hope to have her respect, let alone her love?

Sure, he had been able to talk to Cat about what happened, a little bit, but that was only because she had been there. She had seen what he had been through, so he didn’t have to tell her. To speak the words of his ordeal to someone who hadn’t been there, and didn’t know, and hadn’t seen… he wasn’t ready to go there, yet. He didn’t know if he ever would be.

Frankly, Clark just wanted to forget it ever happened and move on, but that would take time and strength of mind he currently didn’t have. He would need that time and distance from the event before he’d ever be ready to tell Lois.

Her gaze narrowed as if his words of love infuriated her, before she snapped, “I don’t think I have ever, will ever, meet anyone quite like you.”

“Lois,” he whispered, wondering why her anger seemed to be increasing.

“Let me go first,” Lois insisted in her usual way.

“No. Not, not this time, Lois, please,” he said, holding up his hands to stop her. His pounding head couldn’t take her yelling at him right now and his wounded heart could do without her criticism. He would talk to her when he got back to Metropolis. “I’m going out to Las Vegas in a couple of hours with Jimmy.”

“What?” she sputtered, taking a step back. “What do you mean? The investigation is over, and you’re leaving?”

Of course, she would think that. She was always accusing him of running off on her. That was not what he meant at all. “I’m not leaving. I’ll just be out of town for a few days. You’ll be busy here tying up loose ends regarding Luthor,” he had explained, realizing he shouldn’t have told her so bluntly. “When all that dies down, we’ll talk. When I get back, okay?” When she had a few days to calm down, and he had recovered his strength to hold his own against her.

“No, not okay, you… You, get over here!” she hissed, grabbing his arm and dragging him into the shadows of the overhang of the Daily Planet portico. “We’re going to talk, and we’re going to talk, now!”

In the shadows, Clark backed away from her. She had twisted his sore arm when she had taken hold of him and his head exploded in pain from her loud voice. Just having her so close brought up images of that woman on the video, wrapping her arms around Luthor. He tried to push those thoughts away. “Lois, please, I need some time and…”

“And what?” she growled. She took a step forward, and he took another step back.

“Distance,” he admitted, glancing away. He needed time to recover and distance from Luthor’s torture, so that he could put it into the past. If she wanted the truth, here and now, he would give it to her.

“Distance? From me? Time away from me?” Lois retorted. “Isn’t that what we’ve had for months, already? Time and space apart?”

That was not what he meant at all. He was screwing this all up. He tried again. “Look, it’s not you,” Clark said with exasperation. “I promise you that. It’s me.”

“You didn’t just go there, did you?” Lois scoffed, starting to pace. “I don’t know what’s up with you, Chuck, but I’m certainly not going to accept that answer.”

He wished her use of her nickname for him gave him strength, but instead the tone in which she used it reminded him of how she once used it as an insult. “I’m sorry, Lois… about a lot of things…” he said, trying to find the words in his muddled head to make her understand what he was going through without having to speak of the incident itself.

This time, she stopped him with a raised hand. “I know you would have done anything to bring Luthor down. I get that. I know that you never wanted to hurt me. Well, tough, big guy, because you have,” she said. “You’re still hurting me.”

Clark’s heart crushed at her words. “I…”

“But I refuse,” she interrupted. “Refuse to accept that you used me to bring Luthor down.”

Clark’s jaw dropped open. Used you? He wanted to ask what she meant, but his throat constricted.

“That’s not who you are,” she continued. “You know that I hated him, hated everything about him, just as much, if not more, than you did. So, don’t tell me how you never really wanted to marry me when you proposed, because you never actually loved me.”

Wherever had she gotten that idea? Clark knew he wasn’t sounding positive, but it was hard to remain positive with a steamroller crushing his skull. And why in the world did she bring up his failed proposal, now?

“I do love you, Lois.” His hand covered his heart in a solemn vow. “You are my world.” His everything. Hadn’t he just told her that just a few minutes before?

Her brow rose with disbelief. “So, you’re not taking it back?”

“No! Never,” he exclaimed, stunned that she wouldn’t believe him. “I love you with all of my heart. I always will, no matter what.” If he could still love her after watching Luthor’s sex tape, nothing would drive him away.

Lois flung out her hand. “Then what was all that ‘It’s not you. It’s me’ crap?”

Oh, God. Did I really say that? No wonder she was furious.

He raised a hand to his head for a second and took a deep breath, trying to collect his thoughts. “I’m not breaking up with you, Lois, if that’s what you thought. I just need some time…” He wished he could think of some better way to explain what he meant.

“To do what?” Lois roared, causing his head to feel as if she had hit it with an ax. Without another word, she snatched the sunglasses from his face.

“Lois!” he hissed, turning his back to the street. His glasses were his only disguise.

“Nobody is looking at you, Ch…” Her voice faded as she stared at him, contradicting her own words. “Why do you have bloodshot eyes, Clark?”

He did? No wonder Jimbo was so worried about him this morning. Clark had never had bloodshot eyes before. Then, again, he had never been drunk before.

Thankfully, Lois had handed him right back his sunglasses. As he slipped them on, he glanced over his shoulder to see if anyone was watching them or had seen him without his glasses.

“You’d better not expect me to believe that someone’s calling for help,” she said sharply, crossing her arms. “Because you’re not leaving until I get a straight answer.”

He sighed and his shoulders fell. Did she really think he rescued people to avoid talking to her? Okay, maybe the old him used to do that, but not the new Clark. “Even if they were, I couldn’t hear them,” he said softly, hoping she would follow suit with her tone.

“You were exposed to…” She lowered her voice. “Kryptonite the day before yesterday, weren’t you? That’s why nobody saw you or Superman yesterday morning, isn’t it?”

Clark nodded. He couldn’t tell her how or why. The words just weren’t there to speak them.

Lois set her hand upon his sore arm, causing him to stiffen beneath her touch, but she didn’t let go. She ran her hand up and down his arm in a tender gesture. He knew that it was well meant and he tried to ignore the ache in his shoulder. He also worried that she might try to kiss him. When Mrs. Cox had kissed Superman in her Lois mask, she had touched him gently too, before kneeing him in the crotch. Once struck, twice as prepared.

‘This isn’t Mrs. Cox,’ he reminded himself. ‘This is Lois. This is the woman I love.’

“Why didn’t you say something? Why didn’t you tell me?” Lois whispered.

“I failed you. You needed me, and I wasn’t…”

“Hush,” she interrupted, pulling him into her embrace. “I failed you, Clark. You needed me, and I wasn’t there for you.”

How could she ever think that?

Images from Luthor’s sex video flashed cross his mind, making him want to flee, but he forced himself to stay. This was Lois, the woman he loved.

“Yes, you were, Lois,” Clark whispered all the reassurance he could give. He realized he was just standing there as she held him and he forced himself to wrap his arms around her. A part of him rebelled against this close contact. It felt wrong with those memories of the video plaguing him. He tried to push them away. “You’re always with me, Lois, wherever I go.” Didn’t she know how much better his life was with her, than without her? He pictured what his life had been like back in his former dimension before he moved here. “Your love is what gives me the strength to… it allows me to be the man that I…have to be.” If he hadn’t had faith in her love while he was in Luthor’s cage, he never would have survived. He needed to tell her this. It took all of his effort but he pushed those words to his lips. “It was because of you that I survived. If I hadn’t trusted in your love…” He shook his head.

If he had believed Luthor’s lies…

If Cat hadn’t found him when she had…

“Then, why did you let me yell at you?” she asked, gazing up at him with those big brown eyes.

Let? This brought a smile to his lips and he spoke without thinking. “I thought anger was your super power, a part of the Lois Lane passion package. You mean there’s a way to opt out of the yelling? By all means, tell me how to turn it off. I’m all ears.”

“Very funny,” she retorted wryly.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t be with you, yesterday, Lois. Believe me when I say I’d much rather have been with you,” Clark said, slightly increasing his embrace. “You had a right to be angry with me. I wish I could say it would be the last time.” He was being sincere. He knew already that he was sure to disappoint her again when he told her the whole truth about his past.

“You can count on that,” she mumbled with a slight giggle.

Clark sighed. She had forgiven him. They stood there in each other’s arms under the overhang of the Daily Planet building in silence, beautiful wonderful silence. They were together now. He wished he could tell Lois that everything would be all right, but he couldn’t, not yet. There was too much to convey to her before his flight to Vegas.

“This morning, I got a call from the assistant to the director of EPRAD,” Clark murmured against the top of her head, which was leaning against his chest. Her proximity was making it difficult for him to breathe. He knew if he moved her away, she would take it wrong. It was his problem. He needed to deal with it.

“Hmmm.”

He could tell from her lack of response that she hadn’t been listening. “The assistant to the director of EPRAD called me this morning,” he repeated, pulling back enough to lean up against the wall and look Lois in the face. “They wanted to thank me for all the work that we put into clearing Professor Daitch, EPRAD, and Superman’s names from blame for the Nightfall scandal. I told them they should really be calling you.”

“You helped,” she admitted. “You never gave up on that story.”

As if he had any choice in the matter if he was going to save Superman’s reputation. “You got the ball rolling,” Clark said. “You knew that something was wrong and you followed that hunch to discover what. Anyway, the director of EPRAD offered you an exclusive interview.”

“You mean he offered it to you,” she corrected with some bitterness.

Okay, niceties aside, then. “Yes, initially,” he admitted. “But I told him that you deserved it more than me. Besides, I’ll be in Las Vegas with Jimmy.”

Lois crossed her arms and stared at him. “You’re still going?”

“Jimmy’s been offered two days and nights at a hotel on the Strip in exchange for an exclusive interview about being Lex Luthor’s scapegoat for the Daily Planet bombing. It includes airfare for two. He grabbed it. I’m sure you would too after two months in jail for a crime you didn’t commit.”

She shrugged.

“He was going to take Jimbo, but after they saw me and heard about me being…” Clark coughed. “— beaten up and mugged, they both decided that I should go in Jimbo’s place. I can’t back out.”

“You said ‘yes’ without consulting me,” Lois stated.

The muscle in his jaw tensed. “I didn’t realize I needed your permission.”

Lois took several deep breaths, and he could tell that the eye of her furicane had passed and he was about to be pummeled with the brunt of the storm. “I thought we were a couple,” she said softly. “I thought we’d finally have time for us. I thought we would make these kinds of decisions together.”

His newly found pride flexed its muscles. “Lois, we are a couple, but I can’t run every decision I make past you first. If this investigation wasn’t over, if we had gone ahead with our escape plan for you, we still wouldn’t be together for several days,” he reminded her. “All I’m going to do is spend two days sitting by the pool soaking up as much sunshine as possible, and then I’m coming home. Two days!” Clark flung out his hand in exasperation. “I can get that better out in Las Vegas than I can from my patio, here, in Metropolis.” He lowered his voice. “You know how important sunshine is to my healing.”

“Yes, but…”

“This is about me recovering faster,” he said. “This isn’t about us.”

“By not including me in the decision making process, or even considering whether I might want to come with you or would want you here with me, you made it about us,” she replied.

Clark closed his eyes and exhaled a deep breath. He couldn’t believe she was making a mountain out of this drop of sand. Apparently, he had misread this situation and he needed to fold this hand. He didn’t want to argue. “You’re right, Lois. I’m sorry. Do you want to come to Las Vegas with us?” he asked, hoping she would say ‘no’.

Jimmy would kill him if she said ‘yes’.

Clark needed these few days to recover his wits and prepare himself mentally and physically for their upcoming conversation about their relationship. He needed some space and time away from Lois to clear that video out of his mind and set himself on the right course. Why couldn’t she give him that?

Lois straightened her shoulders. “No,” she said coldly. “You weren’t wrong when you said I have things to clean up here in Metropolis.” She placed a hand on his chest, and he wondered if she was about to pull his heart out. “Maybe you’re right, Clark. Perhaps we do need some time apart to think about what we really do want.”

He placed his hand over hers. Geez, he was only asking for two days to help out a troubled friend and recover from his ordeal. How many times in their relationship had he ever asked and been granted something he wanted? “I want you, Lois. That will never change.”

She closed her eyes and leaned her head against his chest, clinging to him in a manner that made him feel like she was saying ‘goodbye’, because she didn’t think he would ever return.

He was trying to be the man she wanted him to be. He was saying all the right words about loving her. It was hard to be romantic when his head felt like a Cyclops was repeatedly smashing boulders against it. He loved her, but he couldn’t talk right now. He needed to get past this problem first, before he could focus on her.

“I love you,” she whispered, so softly that he almost didn’t hear it being that his good hearing was currently on the fritz.

“I really do like this haircut, Lois,” Clark said, and kissed the top of her head. “I’ll call you tonight, and give you the number of the hotel. I promise you, when I get back, we’ll have that talk.”

He tried to tell her that he loved her, again, but the words got stuck in his throat. Instead, he tightened his embrace and hoped she would understand.

***End of Part 182***

Part 183

Has Clark redeemed himself or is he still in the running for Lunkhead of the Year? Was Lois right or was she less than right to be angry with him? Let me know what you think. Submit your comments HERE