Wrong Place, Wrong Time, Wrong Clark TOC can be found
HereWhere we left off in Part 190…Lois hadn’t meant… she grimaced. She had just wanted to make sure. They needed to be completely alone for this conversation. “Thanks.” She took a deep breath and exhaled it. “Clark, I’m sorry.”
He raised his eyes and stared at her. “For what?” he finally asked. “It was my idea to go to Vegas. While the sunbathing helped, I was bored out of my skin. Jimmy didn’t want me to go with him to his UNN interview and, well, I’ve never been a big gambler.”
“No,” she paused to officially end that conversation, before starting the new one. “For whatever he did to you.” Clark didn’t say anything but he kept staring at her, so Lois continued onward, “I know, Clark.” He drew back towards his door to watch her fully, and she could see the fear in his eyes again. “I know that he didn’t just try to kill you, but that he held you captive.” She swallowed. “I know that he had made up a mask in my image and that he… he…” The only thing was that she didn’t know anything else for certain. She wasn’t sure that she wanted to know what Luthor had done to him. “I want you to know that I didn’t mean for this to happen.”
Clark took her hand in his. “Of course you didn’t.”
“I was trying to protect you, and it went horribly wrong.” She squeezed his hand. “If I hadn’t gone undercover, if I hadn’t encouraged him, he wouldn’t have been so jealous. He wouldn’t have gone after the man I love.” She pulled her gaze away from their entwined hands and up to his face. “He
hurt you.” Her bottom lip began to shake. “He
hurt you, because of me, and that’s not okay.”
Clark caressed her jaw with his other hand. “He hurt the woman I love and that’s not okay, either.”
“He tried to kill you, Clark,” she reminded him. “On multiple occasions, but what he did on Saturday...”
He rested his forehead against hers. “It’s over, Lois. He’s gone. He can’t hurt us any longer.”
Lois wrapped her arms around Clark’s neck and, unable to resist any longer, pressed her lips to his in a much too short kiss. “Forgive me,” she whispered, resting her head against his once more.
“There’s nothing to forgive, Lois. He did it, not you,” he said, stroking her hair. “He’s to blame.”
She smiled weakly at him. “Not for that.” She bit her bottom lip before blurting out, “I promised EPRAD that I would ask Superman to check the shuttle for bombs before liftoff tomorrow.”
“
Tomorrow?!”
*
Part 191“
Tomorrow?!” Clark gasped with exasperation. “Lo-
is…”
First, Lois had dropped the bomb that she knew that Luthor had held him captive. Then she kissed him square on the lips. Now, she was telling him that she was leaving the next day.
“I know. I know. But someone suggested that I was bad luck and they shouldn’t let me go because the last time I went on one of their shuttles a bomb was found and I cut all those cables…”
He held up his hand to halt her rambling. “You leave
tomorrow?”
“There’s a launch window tomorrow and if everything syncs up…” Her voice faded. “I thought you wanted me to go.”
“I do,” he insisted. He would never forgive himself nor make it up to her if she stayed out of space a second time because of him. “I just didn’t think it would be so soon.”
A hesitant smile brushed the corner of her lips. “I’ll miss you, too, Chuck,” she said.
It wasn’t just that he would miss her. Clark missed her whenever she left the room, or he did. If he could spend almost every waking moment of the day with her, and every sleeping one, for the rest of his life, he would die a happy man. In these few short hours he had spent with Lois since returning from Vegas, he realized that she did for his psyche what the sun did for his body. Being with her chased his demons away. He was afraid a week of separation at this critical juncture would hinder his recovery.
If you love someone, you must let them go. The words from that song floated across his mind.
A curl of hair fell across her forehead and he brushed it softly away. “Do you think the colonists on the Space Station would mind a visit or two from Superman this week?”
“I’m sure that they would love it,” she replied, her eyes glowing with happiness. “But wouldn’t that start those nasty kinds of rumors we’ve been trying to avoid here on Earth? Superman only starts visiting the Space Station when Lois Lane comes to stay?”
“If I’d known we could finagle this trip for you, Superman would have been visiting the colonists on a regular basis this past year in preparation,” he said. Technically, Superman had visited the Space Station several times since taking the Prometheus shuttle up to space. Not enough times to be on a ‘regular basis’ but this wouldn’t be his first visit either.
Lois laughed. “We only started dating in February.”
“I’ve had high hopes I could break down your barriers from the moment I first saw you,” he admitted.
“Oh, so you think you’re irresistible, do you?” she asked, giving him a nudge.
Clark shrugged modestly. “You seemed to have resisted quite well, thank you very much.” He took hold of her hand. “And, frankly, I would like the chance to start anew with you, to have a clean slate, and the opportunity to say things earlier.”
She gazed at him inquisitively. “Am I going to be the one with amnesia this time?”
“God forbid,” he murmured. “Maybe a date where we pretend we’ve only just met.”
Her brows rose higher. “Two dates, Mr. Kent? My, isn’t that a bit rushing our usual timetable?”
‘
I’d schedule all your nights, if the universe would let me,’ he thought. However, it was too soon to bring that up again. He wasn’t ready, and he was sure Lois didn’t want to think about another wedding after being Luthor’s fiancée these last few months. Not that he was forgetting their biggest hurdle: the universe. “Three. Don’t forget the visit to the Space Station,” he teased.
“Oh, but that date is with Superman, not with you,” she said with a serious expression. “It doesn’t count.”
“Doesn’t count?” he echoed. He would be the man wearing the Suit. They would be together. How could it not count?
Her hand slid up his wrist, along his arm, past his elbow, to his shoulder. “Because I can’t touch Superman like this,” she whispered.
Clark swallowed. He had to admit that was true.
She leaned forward, her breath tickling his ear. “Not yet, at least.”
“Oh?” his voice cracked. If she ran her hands over his uniform as she was currently doing over his jacket, it would feel like her touching his bare body.
“And rumor has it Lois Lane’s partner might object if she were to kiss Superman, here,” Lois said, kissing his cheek.
“Oh, Superman gets kissed on the cheek all the time,” he reassured her. “It’s perfectly harmless.”
She stared at him. “Is it, now?”
He blushed sheepishly.
“What about here?” she asked against the skin at the corner of his mouth.
“That might be getting a bit risqué,” he murmured, his gut tightening in a very pleasant manner.
Lois pulled him closer and kissed his hair. “Is this more innocent?”
“Definitely more subtle,” he said, wishing her lips would return to his.
“What about if I kissed Superman,
here?” she asked, her hot breath tickling his neck before her lips started moving up his neck from his collarbone to his ear. “When he carries me,” she whispered between kisses, “— his neck is… so close…”
The kisses, which had started as a series of feather light kisses, took on a different vibe when she latched onto his jugular with her lips and started to suck. Clark’s leg jerked in surprise.
“I’m afraid that could cause an international incident,” he said, his voice sounding rough. His heart was beating a thousand miles a minute and he was glad he hadn’t kicked a hole into the floorboards of her car.
She had never done that before.
No woman had ever done that to him before.
“Too much?” she asked, too innocently.
He nodded empathically.
‘
Please do it again,’ he begged her with his mind.
Lois smiled as if she could hear him. She took hold of his hand and lifted it to her mouth. “Here?”
After that kiss on his neck, he doubted she could kiss him anywhere and have it feel innocent.
When he didn’t respond, she flipped his hand over and kissed his palm and then his wrist.
A sort of strangled whimper emerged from his throat. “Too intimate,” he croaked.
She pouted, and he dove in claiming her lips for his own, unable to restrain himself any longer. He licked her lips, teasing her to open her mouth. When she did, he blissfully deepened the kiss.
He was doing it, he realized. He was kissing Lois as he had before. He relaxed into the kiss, running his fingers through her hair.
Everything was wonderful. More than wonderful, actually. He felt as if they were flying.
Clark slid his hands down her back to her waist.
“Oh,” she moaned softly as if his touch were all she wanted in the world.
Suddenly, Lois wasn’t kissing him anymore, she was kissing Luthor, grinding into him, and moaning as she did so. Clark felt as if he were tied up with ropes, unable to get free no matter how hard he struggled. Luthor’s smirking face glared right at Clark, over her shoulder. With his free hand, Luthor picked up a burning green poker and plunged it deep into Clark’s chest as Lois screamed with desire.
A split-second later, Clark stood on the pavement outside the car trying to catch his breath, tears running down his cheeks, and his chest aching as if he’d been stabbed. He leaned over the hood of the car, burying his head and taking shallow breaths to ease the phantom pain.
“Wait! Wait! Wait!” Lois called, scampering out of the car and joining him.
Clark wasn’t leaving. He had promised Lois he wouldn’t run off any more. He was tempted to fly to some junkyard and start tearing everything he found in two, he was so angry with Luthor. Every muscle felt taut with tension. He wanted to scream in frustration and slam his fists down, smashing Lois’s car.
He knew that the woman from the video wasn’t Lois, and yet he still couldn’t fully separate them in his mind.
It wasn’t fair!
Lois set her hand on his back, and then quickly removed it. “I’m sorry, Clark. I’m so sorry. It’s all my fault. I pushed. I wasn’t going to push. I was going to give you space. I know you need time. You told me you did. I’m so sorry; I just love you so much.”
He reached out with his arm, wrapped it around her waist, and pulled her to his chest, burying his face in her hair. “Never,” he growled. “
Never apologize for loving me.”
“I’m not,” she whispered.
Clark could hear her heart increase in speed, and he instantly felt chagrined for yelling at her, for frightening her.
“I’m not,” she repeated, her voice level and calm. “I’m apologizing for pushing you. It’s too soon.”
“Yes,” he murmured into her hair. “Too soon.” He closed his eyes in an attempt to keep his tears inside. He failed. He opened his mouth to tell her that he would defeat this, but instead all he could hear was his ragged breath, gasping for air. He pulled her closer, and tried to swallow his tears down his dry throat. He didn’t want Lois to see him cry again.
“We’ll conquer this, Chuck,” Lois told him, her hand rubbing his back. “Together, nothing can defeat us.”
“I love you,” he choked out.
She leaned back to stare him in the face. “I’ve never doubted that.”
He brushed the hair out of her eyes and tried to find the words to tell her that he had. He had doubted her love and that was why he was still being tortured. He pulled her close and kissed her hair. “I’ll never doubt you again.”
Lois stiffened momentarily in his arms and he loosened his grip.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered.
She looked up into his face, wiping his cheeks with her thumb. “Don’t. You have no reason to apologize,” she said, pointing at him.
Mistrusting her was the very reason he needed her forgiveness, even if he had only done so for a minute.
“And if I recall correctly, I still haven’t given you permission to apologize for every little thing you think you do wrong. That moratorium is still on.”
“I thought it ran up at a year,” he said, feeling better at her teasing.
“A year?” she scoffed. “It’s hardly been a year.”
“We met in mid-May of last year,” he said, wondering if she had forgotten one of their anniversaries.
“But we didn’t become partners until last August, and I’m quite sure that your apology freeze started after that,” she said, slapping his arm and scooting out from between him and the car. “Now, come on. I need your help carrying these groceries up to my apartment.”
Clark caught her hand. “Are we okay?”
She turned and faced him, setting her forearms and palms on his chest. “We’re just remodeling our home. There’s dust and debris scattered around, making everything a mess, but once we clean all this up and finish our repairs, our home is going to be stronger than ever. You can quote me on that.”
He set his lips against hers in a tender, yet brief kiss as words failed him.
***
The pilot of the shuttle, Captain Martin, showed Lois how to buckle her harness and insisted that she wait to unbuckle it until he returned and gave her the all-clear signal. Then he left her alone in the passenger section, which was only a couple rows of empty seats behind a partition. The rest of the passenger section had been converted into a storage area for supplies. This was essentially now a cargo ship.
Lois had overheard Captain Martin tell Director Avery that ‘the reporter must ride in the back’. He didn’t want her to touch anything on the console without permission, or distract him with idle chatter or annoying questions, which meant she had to be out of the cockpit. He also mentioned not wanting to be hit with vomit, should she not be able to handle the blast off.
Clearly, he was a fan.
Captain Martin had been flying the Prometheus last year and he apparently hadn’t been appreciative of her being a stowaway or cutting all those wires, despite the fact that her actions had saved his life. According to the co-pilot, Martin had needed to wait up at the Space Station either an extra three weeks until they could fix the wires she had cut or an extra week returning via emergency pod to Earth. Martin had chosen to take the pod, so as not to miss his daughter’s graduation. Instead of taking the four days at the Station and returning with an easy landing in Utah as had been planned for the return of the Prometheus, he had been stuck on the Station an extra week and had needed to be fished out of the Indian Ocean, where he floated on a life raft for twenty-eight hours until the Navy found him.
Lois was twice as glad Superman was outside the shuttle to protect her.
Clark…
Superman must have officially completed his walk-through and scan of the shuttle and declared it bomb free; otherwise, the crew wouldn't have been allowed to board. Through the crew lounge window, she had seen him flying around the shuttle and then speaking with Director Avery.
Unfortunately, EPRAD had wanted Lois down at the staging area by six this morning for orientation and training, prelaunch checks, and the prelaunch briefing, so she hadn’t had time to go into detail with Jimmy about her trip. She had left him a note, explaining that Henderson was putting her in a safe house due to credible death threats against her, and instructions on how to feed her fish, in case he forgot what she had told him the night before. She had also slid a note under Mr. Tracewski’s door, explaining that Jimmy was apartment / fish sitting for her while she was away on assignment. She had paid in advance her July’s rent before the wedding that wasn’t as she expected to go on the run. Her Tahiti fund was now being used as her emergency unemployment fund until Mr. Stern could get the Daily Planet back on its feet.
Franklin Stern had sounded surprised when Ms. Riviera had called Lois, where she was waiting at the woman’s office, so that he could speak directly to the current owner of the Daily Planet over speakerphone. Lois had even heard him mumble that he should have known it was her. He had admitted to understanding now her passion for saving the paper, her terms, and her reasons for remaining anonymous. She had told him that she wasn’t comfortable with the idea of having the Daily Planet’s downfall make her rich, and that she hadn’t investigated Luthor’s shady dealings in order to get anything in return, except another criminal off the streets. She just wanted to return things to the way they were before Luthor had infiltrated their lives.
Mr. Stern said that he understood that sentiment, but that if he were going to agree to her terms, she would also agree to how he managed the paper, which would include improvements, streamlining, modernizations, and bringing the paper out of the nineteenth century and into the twenty-first.
Lois had smiled, wishing she could see the expression on Perry’s face when Stern had told him about that. It had been hard enough to distract Perry the night before when he asked about her meeting with Bender. She had come up with some lame excuse about the lawyer wanting to know if she had sensed some inkling about Luthor’s state of mind prior to their wedding and his ultimate jump.
She asked that Stern wait to inform Perry that he had purchased the Planet until late Wednesday or Thursday, after she would be too far away to be considered involved in the dealings. Part of their agreement was that neither Lois’s name nor the terms of this sale would ever be discussed with anyone outside of the three of them. Lois didn’t want anyone, let alone Perry or Clark, to know that she had profited by her investigation, or the Daily Planet’s bombing. It seemed only right after what Luthor had done to Superman that the only profits from the sale were earmarked for an anonymous donation to the Superman Foundation in order to help people. Clark would never know from where the funds came. She didn’t want Superman to reject the funding, knowing whence it had come.
After Clark had dropped off Lois’s groceries the night before, she had him do another thorough check of her apartment for bugs and cameras. The only camera he found was Jimmy’s, which he assured her wasn’t being used for surveillance. If she had known that she wouldn’t be able to speak to Clark and warn him about her conversation with Director Avery, she would have done so the night before. She would have also given him more than a light goodbye kiss to last him until her return.
It was probably for the best that she hadn’t pushed his intimacy threshold again that night.
Clark was supposed to accompany her to EPRAD that morning, so that they could do a proper goodbye full of tears and promises to miss one another. When he hadn’t arrived by five-thirty, she flipped on the morning shows to hear of Superman’s busy night. He had stopped a ring of muggers terrorizing Las Vegas, a forest fire taking hold outside of Sacramento, and was currently assisting the cleanup of a chlorine tanker derailment on the Texas coast.
Realizing that he would be unavoidably detained, she therefore had left a third letter for Clark, explaining the truth behind her subterfuge on the dining room table next to Jimmy’s note. She had planned to hand it to him directly and to ask him to wait until he returned home to read it. Avery had already warned her that once she checked in for orientation, she wouldn’t be able to see any of her family or friends again until her return. She assumed this list included Superman, and she had been correct.
Lois wished she had a window in the shuttle with which to view their ascent into the sky. By now, Director Avery of EPRAD had surely informed Superman of her trick. She gripped her hands tightly in front of her, hoping that Clark wasn’t too angry with her. She hoped that her letter would soothe any hurt feelings, but once he learned what else she had withheld from him, she doubted it. Thankfully, Clark had a greater ability to forgive than any human she’d ever met.
“Please forgive me, Clark,” she whispered.
***
“I didn’t see any bombs or anything out of the ordinary,” Superman said, after landing on the platform near Directory Avery. “I’d say that you’re clear to go.”
Avery held out his hand for Superman to shake. “Thank you so much, Superman. Ms. Lane informed me yesterday afternoon of your generous offer. I’m grateful for all the value you have placed into our program.”
Superman shook his hand. “You and your colonists are providing valuable…” He hesitated as Avery’s words sunk in. “— assistance in the fields of medicine and science, Sir, and should be commended. I’m sorry, to which generous offer are you referring?” he asked, knowing darn well
he hadn’t made any offers – generous or otherwise – to EPRAD via Lois. According to Lois, it had been Director Avery’s request that Superman check the shuttle for bombs, something Clark had planned to do anyway, before allowing Lois Lane fly with them. Furthermore, Lois hadn’t told him about it until late the previous night.
“The offer to recreate your heroic save of our initial Prometheus flight, of course, by flying this shuttle to the Space Station,” Avery said, eyeing Superman nervously as if the man were to rescind his offer.
Superman schooled his features so that he wouldn’t react to this surprise. Lois had volunteered Superman to fly the shuttle to the Space Station? What was she thinking? His mind rushed to answer this question.
Was this payback for Clark not escorting her to EPRAD that morning? He had been on his way home from California when he saw the yellow cloud rising into the air. He couldn’t have just left it because his girlfriend expected him to drive with her to the airport. It would have been an ecological disaster, not to mention the number of people who would have died without his assistance.
Didn’t she understand that Superman had other obligations and couldn’t always be there? Even as Clark Kent, his normally busy reporting schedule made it impossible for him to be at anyone’s beck and call. It was true that Clark wasn’t employed at the moment, but he had told her that the criminal ooze was filling in the void left by Luthor’s death, making Superman extra busy. Was this punishment merely because she was upset that he hadn’t even called this morning?
No, there had to be another reason for this outright lie, because of the timing of it. Why hadn’t she told him? Had she planned to tell him about it this morning? Even so, it wasn’t something she should have postponed mentioning until the last minute. Frankly, it wasn’t something she should have agreed for him to do at all.
Lois Lane might be Clark Kent’s girlfriend, but that didn’t mean that Superman would do her bidding. He might bring in dinner from Bangkok, pick wild flowers from the Amazon, or fly them to Tahiti on vacation, but this was beyond the pale and she certainly had gone too far. She had been in Space Station orientation all morning, taking a crash course in how to do basic functions and activities in space, and wouldn’t be available for him to confront before blast off. Or as it now appeared, ‘Up, Up, and Away’ off.
Unfortunately, Superman wasn’t quite sure how to turn down the offer without offending Avery, or humiliating Lois or himself. “It was merely a suggestion,” he said. “I would never imply that EPRAD pilots are unable to perform their own flights safely. I completely understand should you want to continue on as regularly scheduled.”
“We’re not offended in the least, Superman,” Avery replied with an eager bob of his head. “The fuel cost savings alone will fund our little project just that much longer. We are most grateful for your assistance.” He grinned broadly at Superman. “She also mentioned that you wanted to visit the Station and speak with some of our colonists, thanking them for their hard work. She thought it would be a good idea if the visit coincided with her stay, so that she could include it as part of her article. For all that you have done for us, we would like to present to you the first honorary Key to the Space Station. You are welcome to visit any time you like.”
After the first pronouncement, this second one didn’t come as quite as huge a surprise. Clark and Lois had discussed Superman coming to visit the Space Station while she was there, and she had found a way to make it seem like it was Avery’s idea and not theirs.
Apparently, Superman couldn’t get out of substituting for the shuttle’s rockets unless he was called away to a natural disaster or humiliated both himself and Lois, but he was having serious second thoughts about the visit. In his current mood, he doubted even as Superman he could speak civilly to Lois. If he could find a way not to visit the Space Station until after she left, all the better. On the other hand, he didn’t want her to think he was being petty.
He only wished he could get a minute of privacy with Lois to express to her how deplorable, how selfish, how patronizing, and how very
wrong it was to make promises on Superman’s behalf without first consulting him. It was bad enough when she did that with Clark. Should there be a next time, he would let Lois fall on her face and reap the benefits of her own humiliating behavior. His dad had told him that making mistakes for oneself was the best learning tool. The only problem was that Lois never admitted to making any.
Clark would have to watch out for that woman of his. She was slippery. Had it been her idea that he search for bombs as well?
“While I thank you for considering me for such an honor, Director Avery, it is completely unnecessary,” Superman said. “There is no need to go out of your way in this manner.”
“We’d be delighted to do it,” beamed Director Avery.
Clark could see the P.R. bulletin being written in the man’s eyes as he spoke. The lure of free publicity was just too strong for some people to resist.
No good deed goes unpunished.***
Jimmy stumbled into the kitchen and poured himself a cup of coffee from the machine. It was already cold. ‘That’s strange,’ he thought. Had Lois already gotten up and left? Where did she have to go?
He put his mug in the sink and noticed the clock on the microwave indicated that it was after nine. He smiled with satisfaction. He had already acclimatized himself to Vegas time.
After he pulled a cola out of the fridge to drink instead, he looked around the kitchen for something to eat. He spotted a note sitting on the dining table. Taking his can with him, he walked over to the dining table and sat down. Rubbing his eyes, he picked up the envelope and broke open the flap.
Don’t be angry, Chuck.Ooops. Jimmy rubbed his eyes again to make sure he had read it correctly before focusing on the letter before him.
Don’t be angry, Chuck. I did what I had to do to keep you safe from Lex Luthor.“Huh?” He picked up the envelope and saw that it was indeed addressed to CK. There was another envelope lying next to it addressed to him.
Double oops.
His brow furrowed as he took a sip of his cola. Protect CK from Lex Luthor? But Luthor was dead. Curiosity got the better of him and Jimmy opened CK’s note again.
Don’t be angry, Chuck. I did what I had to do to keep you safe from Lex Luthor. While you and Jimmy were in Las Vegas, Inspector Henderson and I deduced that Lex Luthor faked his death.“He’s some magician if he did,” murmured Jimmy.
We believe he’s hiding out in his underground bunker that I told you about. We’ve been keeping it secret so that his spies don’t catch wind of it and warn him. By the time you read this, the FBI will have broken into the elevator shaft and captured him. I know that if I told you he’s still alive that you would go after him yourself, especially after what he did to you.“What did Luthor do to CK?” Jimmy mumbled to himself. Then he remembered Jimbo telling him that it was Lois’s theory that Luthor had been behind CK’s kidnapping back during Nightfall. He glanced skeptically down at the letter. Vengeance didn’t sound like something of which CK was capable, even if Luthor had tried to kill him.
I couldn’t chance that he would hurt you again or even kill you, especially with me gone and not able to protect you.“Protect CK? She’s lost her marbles,” Jimmy said to himself. “Where did she go?” He continued reading to find out.
Everything I’ve done has been to protect you. Your safety is upmost of importance to me. I’m sure you can understand my reasoning.Jimmy understood where she was coming from.
If anyone ever hurt Jenny… He ran a hand through his hair, wishing once again that he had stayed in Vegas.
I know what you’re thinking, how can Lois bolt town all the while knowing that Lex Luthor is still out there?Yeah, now that she mentioned it, Jimmy had been wondering that as well. She
was good.
Even Perry wouldn’t want me to turn down a definite exclusive for just a possible one. There’s no certainty that Luthor will still be in his bunker when the cops bust in. Although, there’s no evidence that he isn’t either. After that punch in the jaw I gave him at the altar, I wouldn’t want to do anything more to interfere with the case against him, which needs to be rock solid. Anyway, I doubt even Superman could guarantee his safety with me around. At least, I will sleep easier knowing that Superman will be there watching over everyone I care about and not having to expend extra time and energy watching out for me.“Bet that’s a full time job itself,” Jimmy chuckled to himself. “Superman’ll probably be appreciating the vacation.”
You have to see that this situation is win-win for us all. Henderson gets me out of his hair and saves himself from telling you that Luthor killed me (I don’t know how he figured out about you and me, but he has.) Perry will get an exclusive Lois Lane story or series of stories. Jimmy will get some peace and quiet, I hope.Jimmy smiled, happy that she had considered him.
And you can have more time to heal from your wounds and can catch up on your sleep, knowing that I’m safe.‘Famous last words, if I’ve ever heard any. Most likely, CK won’t sleep a wink because of them,’ Jimmy thought.
Luthor hurt you because of me. He tried to kill you because of me. He wanted you out of the way, so that he could have me to himself. Henderson believes that my public rejection of Luthor at the wedding will have sent him completely off his rocker…“He’s not the only one off his rocker,” said Jimmy with a shake of his head. “— if either of them thinks Luthor hadn’t fallen off his rocker long ago.”
Henderson believes that my public rejection of Luthor at the wedding will have sent him completely off his rocker, and that I’m in serious danger. Henderson wanted to hide me away in a safe house, even threatened to arrest me as a material witness to keep me protected, lock me up and take away my freedom. I can’t live under someone’s thumb any longer, Clark. That is why I took the offer; it was a compromise of sorts. While I’ll be sadly away from you, I’ll be out of Luthor’s reach as well and get a killer story to boot. From what we know of Luthor, I’m betting that this is the only place where I would truly be safe from him, merely because it’s the last place he’d look. It was why our departure was moved up a day, to coincide with the FBI’s schedule, and why I insisted on having Superman take us there himself. For that reason, this trip must still be hush-hush until my return.
On the positive side, I’ll spend my week working on my tell-all book about being undercover as Luthor’s fiancée. Apologize to Perry for me and tell him I’ll have an out-of-this-world exclusive article (or series of articles) for him on my return.Jimmy stared at the letter skeptically. “She does remember that the Daily Planet has gone bye-bye, right?”
I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about it beforehand, but I’m telling you now. If you’re reading this, it means I’ve protected you and that’s all that matters.“She’s completely lost her mind,” Jimmy muttered.
The rest of the letter focused on endearments too private for Jimmy to do more than skim. He set down the letter and furrowed his brow, realizing that she never once said to where she was going or what this exclusive article would be. It was just like Lois to keep it secret. Did CK already know that she was heading off and to where?
Jimmy picked the note she had left to himself and quickly scanned it. It was vaguer than the letter to CK had been, implying that Henderson put her up in a safe house. He shook his head, glad he had read CK’s letter, knowing he never would have bought that load of baloney had he read it without further explanation. As if Lois Lane would ever allow Henderson to do anything of the sort… or any house could be ‘safe’ with her in it.
He also realized that he had a head’s up on a secretive FBI operation. He could snap some photos and start working on updating his portfolio. He drummed his fingers on the table and downed the rest of his cola, before walking over to the telephone and dialing CK’s number.
According to Jack, who had answered, CK hadn’t come in the night before. Where had CK been all night, Jimmy wondered. Jack had assumed that CK had stayed the night with Lois, but Jimmy distinctly remembered CK taking his leave the night before and making plans to meet up with Lois first thing this morning. Jimmy had discovered that being in jail made one a light sleeper, so he guessed that he would’ve heard if CK had returned to Lois’s apartment.
He tapped the letter on his palm a couple times in thought, and then ran into his bedroom to change and grab his camera.
***End of Part 191*** Part 192 Comments Even tomatoes are welcome. Monday is pasta night!
[i]If You Love Somebody Set Them Free[/i] is the correct title from that song Clark recalls. It’s by Sting and is on his “Dream of the Blue Turtles” album from 1985. /It’s always possible Mr. Sumner recorded it differently in Alt-Dimension, though./
