Description: Lois has been waiting since she was nineteen to meet a certain, super-special someone. Sequel to
Vision of Destiny and part 2 in the Destiny series.
TOC__________
From Chapter 4"That man. That man saved me. That man … pulled me out." Lois eyes widened when the rescued worked pointed to Clark.
"He's delirious," Clark claimed.
"Obviously." Lois injected as much disgust into her voice as possible. She didn't want the people standing around getting any ideas. Noticing Clark's attire she had an epiphany. "You're a mess. From now on do what I do. Bring a change of clothes to work."
As she strode off, Clark following and trying to brush away the dirt, she brought her hand up to her mouth. Had she just given Clark the idea for Superman? What if he wasn't supposed to have the idea yet. Surely OL wouldn't have suggested such a thing.
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Chapter 5Lois watched through the conference room windows and saw Clark being accosted by Cat. Cat practically draped herself all over him. Lois tut-ted in disgust. Clark, thankfully, managed to end the conversation quickly, sliding his tie out of Cat's grasp, but not without bringing out that devastating smile. Cat would never stop trying to get her claws into him as long as he used that irresistible weapon.
Unable to restrain the jealousy inside she immediately jumped on him when he opened the conference room door. "Cat-napping?"
He raised his eyebrows and slid into a chair. "Anything?" he asked while motioning towards the papers scattered around, clearly ignoring her comment. Lois didn't know if he was ignoring it because she was clearly being catty herself - insulting a fellow worker - or possibly because there was nothing for her to worry about, or possibly because it was actually none of her concern and she should just butt out of his life?
"I must have called fifty ex-employees who worked at EPRAD when Platt did. None of them are talking. I don't know, maybe there's nothing to talk about." She chose to ignore his lack of comment and just get on with the investigation.
"So, what do we do now?"
"Well, first, we piece together Platt's report, if that's possible. Then, we try and figure out a way to prove that Dr. Baines got a copy of it and if there's any written evidence that Platt found coolant devices and Baines ignored it ... I hope you didn't make dinner plans."
Clark rested his arms along the divider at the edge of the desk. "I am all yours." He dropped his chin onto his arms and grinned at her. She had to look away. Those words coming from Clark's mouth had been her undoing. He quite clearly meant them in a professional capacity, but oh how she wished they were personal instead.
Focussing on the papers covering the desk she began to move them around, but couldn't concentrate on any of them. She'd now spent more than a day getting to know the real Clark Kent rather than a fuzzy stolen memory of Clark Kent, and she was more in love with him than ever. Funny, how your fantasies and heroes don't usually live up to reality. Not in this case. Clark was so much more in reality. Being able to talk to him, touch him, smile at him, laugh with him … he surpassed all her expectations.
And he'd just said 'I'm all yours'. The fluttering in her abdomen was almost too much to bear. She had to fight the impulse to run to the rest room and bring up the contents of her stomach.
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Hours later and, while she had managed a little bit of success when it came to her runaway heart, there was no success with their investigation. Papers had been sorted into piles and then checked, often moving between piles on the second look-through and back again on a third.
"This is impossible. Nothing matches, no dates... We're never gonna get through this…" She stuck her pencil behind her ear. "Oh, and I'm starving. I wish I knew some good Chinese take-out."
"I know a place. I'll be right back." Clark pushed his chair away and stood without waiting for her response.
"Don't you even want to know what I want?" She frowned. She was pretty sure she could guess Clark's favourite meal but there's no way he could know hers yet.
"I'll bring an assortment." She nodded and he disappeared. An assortment of Chinese would be nice. She returned to the scattered papers and tried, once again, to categorise them, or match them, in some way, in
any way.
As she crossed another paper off her 'no date found' list she suddenly realised that Clark had said he knew a Chinese place. He'd only been in Metropolis two days. And he'd spent most of that time here, or with her at Lex's ball. So, actually, he'd spent the last two days with her.
How did he know a good Chinese takeaway already? Maybe there was one near his hotel. She shrugged and returned to work.
Unexpectedly a set of bamboo containers appeared on the papers she was looking at. "That was quick."
"I took a short cut," she explained.
As Clark took off his jacket Lois began opening the nearest container. "Mmm... still hot." Taking out a dumpling she bit into it, vigorously, then had to hold herself a little stiff when the heat and flavour took her by surprise. "Mmm," she moaned. "This is out of this world."
Her eyes widened as she suddenly realised how close to being true that statement probably was. Clark's short cut … probably took him all the way to China. And it was still hot because … well, the air at 10,000 feet was probably pretty cold so his short cut wasn't responsible for the heat … his eyes were.
As they ate Clark tried a little small talk with her, but she was so nervous that she brushed off all his comments and questions and focussed on the food. Sitting as stiffly as possible she devoured everything in sight. Clearly she was comfort eating. But, as she wasn't actually relaxing, instead, getting more and more uncomfortable, maybe it should have been called 'nervous eating'.
She reached for a fortune cookie, to finish off the meal, and noticed Clark's smile from the corner of her eye. Was he thinking that she was an overeater, or a greedy eater? He seemed to find her amusing anyway. That wasn't good. He was supposed to find her adorable and irresistible.
She sat back and cracked open the fortune. "It's in Chinese," she whispered in delight. It proved her earlier theory. She turned to look at Clark and her eyes widened. He really was … different. She couldn't wait till she shared in his whole life.
He reached out and took the piece of paper from her. She grinned. It was quite easily believable that he'd be able to read it.
"A good horse is like a member of the family."
"What?" Her smiled dropped. "I hate that. That is not a fortune."
Clark laughed and smiled, his eyes warm and deep. She frowned, childishly.
"Well, it isn't. A fortune says something like … 'Today you will meet a dark haired stranger' or 'Beware the man with the pimple on the end of his nose'."
When Clark laughed again she realised that she actually had, finally, relaxed. "I once got a fortune that said 'Don't leave the house tomorrow or you will lose your car keys.'." Lois smiled at that comment from Clark. "I don't own a car," he continued, and she laughed.
"How about … 'You will eat again tomorrow'?" Lois volunteered and picked up her coffee for a swig
"Good one. Um … 'The Red Sox will win the world series.'."
" 'Wear pink. It suits you.'."
" 'A man in blue will change your life.' "
Lois sprayed her coffee all over the stack of papers on her desk and stared at Clark. Did he know? Sometimes it seemed like he did, like … maybe … he'd had the same kind of experience as her.
He reached out with a napkin to wipe up the moisture on the paperwork. "Sorry, did that hit too close to home? Maybe you had an experience with a police officer, or something?" he queried.
"Um, nope. No police officer. No … man in blue." She gulped and tried to smile. "So, uh … maybe 'Eat another cookie. You can always exercise more tomorrow.' "
Clark obviously caught on to her avoidance and picked up the game again. " 'Cut your hair tomorrow.' "
" 'Don't trust the next person you see.' "
" 'Your best friend will go on a foreign vacation next year.' "
" 'Never try to open a can of beans with your teeth.' "
"What about 'The next phone call will be from your brother's neighbour's cat'?"
Lois giggled. "I don't have a brother."
"Well, then that fortune is going in the trash," Clark dead-panned and threw the original paper over his shoulder.
Lois' giggles turned into real laughter and she had to clutch at her stomach. "I think we're … about done …" she managed to wheeze out. Looking up she found Clark smiling back at her. The laughter suddenly died. She straightened up, removing her hands from her stomach. Clark leaned a little closer.
"Lois," he whispered.
Another memory … hundreds of snippets of memory … told her what was coming next. Panic mode set in. "Don't," she whispered in terror, her eyes wide.
Clark stared back at her, frozen. After a wait, that was both too short and too long, he pulled away and turned to start collecting the takeout containers. Lois felt an incredible sense of loss. She'd just stopped Clark from kissing her. She was sure. But why? She had a list … of three things she missed ... three things she was waiting for. Kissing Clark was one of those three things. She longed for it, every day, since that day … when it had all started, when she'd 'acquired' these memories. And she'd panicked.
She busied herself, tidying her side of the table. Once the cartons were dealt with she spied the mess of paperwork, now revealed again.
"Come on," she sighed. "Let's go find Platt. Maybe he can help us decipher this."
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