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 8She watched as Clark let himself be chained to the metal beam next to her. He used the same column as her to rest his back against. She understood exactly why he couldn't do anything out of the ordinary, anything 'Super', but it still bothered her. They should be free by now. If he'd come in wearing the cape then he could have tied up Dr. Baines and the thug within a second and flown her and Jimmy out to safety. But, instead, they had to wait. He had to bide his time until no-one was watching.
Not even her, she realised.
Thankfully their backs were towards each other so he'd be able to do … whatever he was going to do … without risk of her seeing. It was a shame that she couldn't just tell him that she already knew. But tied up in a warehouse was not the place to drop her universe-sized bomb on him. And it really would 'explode' his universe when she told him. When, not if. Even if they waited years until they were together, she would still have to tell him, and explain, at some point. Even if she never made a silly mistake that caused him to become concerned over what she knew and how she knew it, he still deserved to know … at some point.
Dr. Baines and the tattooed man wandered off and Lois waited expectantly for Clark to make his move. She was, once again, overwhelmed by relief that Clark was here. If she hadn't based her earlier decision, not to get Clark involved, on whether she thought OL would tell him, then maybe he could have been here all along. But, thankfully, he was here anyway. Now that Clark was here she knew they'd get out of this. Now that they were saved … she resolved to live her own life … not OL's.
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Chapter 9Lois watched out of the corner of her eyes as Dr. Baines and her muscular associate finally wandered out of sight.
"Okay, they're gone. Do something, Clark," she spoke quietly but decisively.
"Do … something …?" came the confused reply.
"You know," she shrugged and jiggled at her bonds.
"Exactly what do you expect me to do?" came Clark's sarcastic retort. "It's not as if there is a weak link in this chain." She heard the rattle as he held up his bound hands.
"Well," she paused. "There
could be," she proposed, tentatively. "Why don't you just look?"
"All right," he sighed.
"Just … look quickly," she interjected some sternness into her tone. "Baines is going to be back any minute to kill us. I don't know why she hasn't done it already."
Trying not to sneak a peek over her shoulder, while Clark pretended to rattle away at the chains, her eyes wandered over to Jimmy, still unconscious on the floor.
"I told Perry I needed a task force. A
task force. And what do I do? Take Jimmy with me instead. Urgh," she growled at herself. "But then … I still can't believe you came barrelling in here like some five hundred pound gorilla. Why didn't you change int-" She clamped her mouth shut.
The rattling of the chains stopped as Clark ceased his pretending. It was
pretending wasn't it?
"Change …" he encouraged her to continue.
"Nothing, Clark, forget it. I already know. Because you're like every other man in Metropolis. You've got this testosterone surplus that says, "I can do it myself"." But, in Clark's case, it was true. He could do it all himself. And the most unbelievable part was that he was actually humble about it, rather than egotistical. Lois knew all this instinctively. It was part of what made him so easy to love.
"Now hold on a second. I'm not the one who snuck in here …" But, even so, he could still be argumentative with her, she realised.
"What are you saying? Are you saying that this is
my fault? At least I had the guts to come in here and …" Lois paused and rolled her eyes up to the ceiling. "What am I saying? It
is my fault." She took a shuddering breath. "Oh god. I sometimes do things ... you know, like jump into the pool without checking the water level first. But, Clark, it's the only way I know how to do it. How to get the job done. To get the respect that I want. That I
deserve."
Lois paused, letting the silence linger for a moment.
"Do you remember when you accused me of sleeping with Luthor to get the interview."
"Lois, I … you know I didn't mean that. I apologised. I'm really sorry." The pleading in his voice was sincere.
"No, Clark. It's okay." She spoke quickly to calm him. "I mean … what you didn't know, couldn't know … is that I've never …" She sighed. "There were a few times that I got close to people - other reporters, I thought they respected me. I thought they liked me. So I … I let myself like them back. Instead, it turned out that they were just using me. There was one man in particular who I …"
"You slept with someone at work?"
"NO! No. But I considered it."
"It wasn't Jimmy, was it?"
She was insulted by this insinuation and it was in her voice as she responded. "Don't be ridiculous. It was a long time ago. When I first became a full reporter at the Daily Planet. Claude - he was French. I was in love with … uh, someone, but I couldn't be with him. Claude was nice to me. Paid attention to me. Made me feel special. For a while I thought he might be a substitute for y … the man I was in love with. But in the end, I couldn't forget y … him."
"And now?" Lois wondered at the tone in Clark's voice. "This man you can't be with?"
"Um, things have changed. I …" Lois gulped, wondering whether she was being wise, telling Clark this. She'd already decided that it wasn't a good idea to tell Clark all about her intimate knowledge of him while tied up in a warehouse. Still, she continued on. "I'm still in love with this man. But … the circumstances have changed."
"Oh."
Lois felt a pain strike her heart at the hurt evident in Clark's voice. She hated it … would hate it, rather … when he was hurting, emotionally. Why would the knowledge that she was in love with someone be hurting Clark?
"Lois? You know what you said, about respect? Well, I just want you to know that everyone at the Planet - everyone - thinks you're just about the best reporter they've ever met. Perry told me that the day I interviewed."
Her tone held a hint of surprise as she asked, "He did?"
"Yeah. And not that it really means anything, coming from a "hack from Nowheresville", I think you're pretty terrific, too."
"Really?" Lois whispered out, incredulously, while grinning. Clark liked her. Maybe her interpretations of his actions, the looks he'd been giving, were not that far off. She second guessed herself whenever she'd thought he was gazing at her in adoration. What if she shouldn't have? What if she was right.
"Clark …" she began, her heart beating wildly in her chest.
Before she could continue another voice spoke. "Well, I hope you'll forgive the accommodations." Dr. Baines had returned. "But then again, I never was much of a hostess."
"Answer one question. Why?" Lois glared at the woman, unable to understand how anyone could be so selfish and uncaring of their effect on the world around them.
"It's simple, Lois. Profit. Outer space is no different than any new frontier. It'll belong to those who get there first and seize the high ground."
Selfish. That was the word. Lois couldn't understand selfishness. Although … she did feel pretty selfish and jealous when it came to the man tied up with her.
"Sorry you won't be around to enjoy the rest of the evening, but accidents do happen."
"Accidents?" Jolted out of her thoughts of Clark, Lois hoped that Dr. Baines didn't mean what she thought.
"Yes. You see, while dismantling the orbital manoeuvring system, the monomethylhydrazine leaked and mixed with the nitrogen tetroxide... Unfortunately, the blast killed three nosy reporters who didn't bother to read the sign."
She did. Dr. Baines had used the age-old cliché of 'accident' when she actually meant murder. Well, Lois
had already figured that Dr. Baines would want to kill them, she had just credited the doctor with a bit more intelligence than to use such a terrible cliché.
Out of the corner of her eye she saw the blonde haired, scientist begin to crouch down. She twisted her head to look over her shoulder and gasped when Dr. Baines' lips touched Clark's. Her heart lurched and her stomach churned. Turning away she rested her head back onto the post and closed her eyes tightly. The sound of Dr. Baines' heels clicked on the floor as she hurried away.
Suddenly there was a tugging on her bindings. She opened her eyes and saw Clark towering over her, reaching out a hand. She took it and he pulled her up.
"Missing link?" Lois grinned up at him, joyfully.
"Uh, huh," came his affirmative grunt as he bent down to get Jimmy.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Lois pushed on the cab door handle and then clambered out as the door swung open. Clark climbed out after her and closed the door behind them. As she headed for the steps to her apartment she left Clark to pay for the cab. He would. Somehow, she knew it.
"Um, Lois?"
She stopped on the top step and turned. The cab was driving away and Clark looked incredibly unsure, waiting at the bottom of the steps. She smiled. "Come on up, Clark." She nodded with her head in the direction of the building entranceway.
He smiled and seemed to breathe a sigh of relief.
"Thank you, Clark." Lois started up the stairs once they were inside, and then turned back to check that Clark was following. "Thanks for rescuing us. I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't turned up."
She continued up the steps, her heart pounding in anticipation. Hopefully Clark would think that it was the exercise causing her heart rate … if he happened to listen in.
"You're welcome, Lois."
"How did you know to come looking for us?" Lois had a good idea of the answer to that question, but she needed to seem 'curious', otherwise
Clark might get curious.
"When you and Jimmy weren't at the staff meeting I got worried."
"Oh," she nodded. It was a reasonable enough explanation, and if she continued and asked something like, 'how did you know
where to find us?' then that could bring trouble so she smiled back at Clark as if to say that it was enough of an answer. "Well, I'm really glad you came for us." She exited the stairs at the top and began walking along the corridor to her apartment. Clark was still following, a few steps behind.
Her palms began to sweat and her fingers trembled as she reached for her keys. She wanted this. She wanted to invite him in and show him that … what? What did she want to show him? That she had feelings for him? That she loved him? That she knew all about him?
Her hand shook as she slid the key into her lock and she let out a breath and paused.
She'd invite him in, they'd talk, she'd make it clear that she liked him, but that was it. She was living her own life now, not OL's, and she wanted to be with Clark. But that didn't mean she should be silly and ruin her chances by rushing it.
She turned the key and the door swung open immediately. The other locks and chains were not engaged. Lois' eyes widened as she remembered that Lucy was here. She couldn't invite Clark in now. It would be awkward and embarrassing and how would she deal with all the questions that Lucy would have afterwards?
"Um," she faltered and turned to look at Clark while pulling the door closed a little. "I'd like to ask you in, Clark, but I … I can't at the moment."
Clark's gentle, handsome face changed from friendly to disappointed in a moment. He nodded. "Oh. I understand."
"It's just, you see, I have someone …"
"Him." Clark almost bit out the word.
"Him? Him who?" Lois asked confused.
"Him. The man you are in love with, the one you couldn't be with years ago, but now you can." Clark was looking down at his shoes and trying to effect a nonchalant attitude.
"What?" Lois shouted incredulously. "NO. No, it's my sister. She's staying with me for a while, and it would be awkward beyond belief if I invited you in. That's all. I really would have loved it if you could come in. Really, Clark." She reached out a hand to touch his arm.
He looked up again. "Your sister." He smiled. "Not … him."
Lois nodded. She watched as many emotions played across Clark's face. He was obviously thinking through some things. When the final emotion that settled on his face looked to be sadness she felt her heart lurch.
"Well, I'll be off then. Back to my hotel room. Night, Lois." He turned abruptly and strode away.
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