Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Lois & Clark Fanfic Suddenly Blond(e) (24/30?)

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Paris in autumn. The streets, shops, and restaurants frequented by such luminaries as Ernest Hemingway, Zelda and Scott Fitzgerald, Gertrude Stein, Picasso, Matisse, Dali, Man Ray, Valery, Kerouac, T.S. Eliot, and James Joyce.

"Do you think we were there too?" Lane asked. "In the Twenties, when Stein had her salon? Part of the Lost Generation…"

"Maybe," Alexa replied as they walked from the Hôtel Meurice down the Rue de Rivoli. "Or maybe not. But it would be fun to visit assuming we knew where to find Mister Wells and his time machine."

"I'm not sure I'd want Picasso trying to get you out of your clothes, even if it was just to be a model," Lane stated.

"I'm sure he wasn't really as bad as people have made him out to be," Alexa said with a chuckle.

To their surprise, Perry had allowed them two weeks off for a honeymoon. Joel had called and reported that Francine Wright, the architect working on the loft for them, thought they could move in as soon as they got back. Ellen and Martha were planning a reception for them in the Daily Planet ballroom set for the day after Lane and Alexa were scheduled to be back in Metropolis.

Of course, their Paris honeymoon wasn't all play and sightseeing. They had a list of Luthor's European properties from Jennings, including a chateau on the French Riviera, office buildings and warehouses in several cities in Germany as well as in France and in Italy. In Greece it was docks, warehouses and a small shipping company.

The properties were held by various holding companies that were, in turn, held by LLHolding, a company registered in the Cayman Islands. That company listed Martin Joseph Alexander as the sole owner. The property transfers from LexCorp to the various holding companies had happened only a few days before Luthor's dive off the LexCorp tower. The transfer of the smaller companies to LLHolding and the ownership of that company had been transferred to Martin Alexander more six months before Luthor's final death.

"He'd been planning this for years," Alexa said after talking to the attorney for LLHolding. Like the late Lawrence Jennings in Metropolis, John Bennett appeared on the up and up – he'd had no contact with either Luthor or LexCorp either before or after setting up LLHolding and the transfer of properties and businesses to it. His retainer and fees were paid out of a numbered account in Switzerland. That same account fed the household accounts for the chateau.

Alexa went over the books for the various companies. All the companies were comfortably profitable. Everything appeared to be in order and as hard as Lane and Alexa looked, they couldn't find any secret safes or hidden rooms in any of the buildings that might have hidden any 'other' books the companies might have had or any illicit goods the companies might have been storing or moving.

In fact all the businesses held by LLHolding appeared to be completely legitimate. None of the managers or other employees showed any nervousness at their unannounced arrival and myriad questions. In fact, the managers all said the same thing: six months ago they had been told to expect Martin and Alexa to visit. They simply carried on normally while they waited for Luthor's son and daughter-in-law to show up and give further instructions.

A quick trip to the bank in Geneva and they had access to the numbered account they knew about as well as a safe deposit box. The safe deposit box held documentation for several more accounts and yet another holding company. The grand total of the listed accounts was more than 250 million U.S. dollars.

"What was he planning?" Lane wondered aloud. "This had to have taken years to set up."

"His bailout plan in case his criminal activities were discovered in the U.S.?" Alexa suggested.

Lane shook his head. "I'll bet there are similar stashes like this in South America, Asia, the Middle East, South Africa."

"Chances are if Mrs. Cox knew about any of those, she would have handed them over to her new employer."

"Based on the dates and the fact that these accounts are untouched, I suspect Lex didn't trust her as far as we all thought," Lane said thoughtfully. "He also didn’t trust Bender not to betray him in the event he ended up in jail or temporarily dead. And somebody had to have paid for Gretchen Kelly's research in resurrection."

"Or she simply stole Hamilton's research," Alexa suggested. "He was working for LexLabs when he started working on cloning and genetic manipulation, remember? And we don't know if Luthor suggested using Hamilton's research to bring him back in the event he died violently or she made the connection herself."

Lane grimaced. "The more we find out, the more questions we end up with."

"At least Aunt Martha will have my uniforms ready when we get back," Alexa reminded him. Lane was almost the same size and build that Superman had been – a half inch taller, maybe. Superman's old uniforms fit him without any problems. Alexa, on the other hand, was taller and heavier than UltraWoman had been. UltraWoman's uniform wouldn't work at all. Plus, Martha had suggested that, since Lura Jen-Lo was married into the House of El, she should probably use the S-symbol of the House of El. Alexa's new uniform was the same blue and red as Superman's uniform, but with a red skirt instead of briefs and tights.

"Every guy out there is going to be trying to look up my skirt," Alexa complained.

Martha grinned at her. "But they still won't be looking at your face."

They still hadn't decided what names to use and they were both getting used to wearing glasses as Lane and Alexa. They could only hope that people wouldn't think it odd that they both started wearing glasses the same week that two new super heroes showed up.

-o-o-o-

The end of their vacation came too soon. Sunday night Bob and Dotty picked them up at Metropolis International.

Bob seemed pensive on the drive to the Imperial. Finally: "The team figures this will be our last week looking after you two. With Nunk dead, the hubbub about you has died down and as far as the gossip scene goes, you two are positively boring. Of course, they don't know you two were at the Hardy-Joseph wedding and you were the ones to talk down Beech."

"When we were first contacted for this job, some of the younger guys wanted it," Dotty added. "They figured you'd be out at parties, checking out raves." She laughed. "You would have bored them to tears."

"Are we really boring?" Lane asked.

Bob smiled. "No, just… atypical… unexpected. Your bios didn't indicate a fascination for out-of-the-way used bookstores or that you'd be getting a job at a newspaper. By the way, the glasses make you both look more… studious. It's a good look for you."

-o-o-o-

It took almost no time to pack the rest of their clothes and their newly accumulated books for moving to the loft after the reception.

Then: A scream for help. An apartment building fire, families trapped. "You go," Alexa urged. "You've got the uniform."

It was a quick flight to the burning building. Lane stopped momentarily to assess the situation as he'd learned in running the simulations.

The top three floors were fully involved and the fire fighters were having a hard time with it. The pattern indicated arson. Several people inside were already dead. He spotted a family trying to escape by breaking a window. The problem: breaking out a window would bring in more oxygen and feed the flames. Solution: come in from the inside, through the flames and out the window. He sped through the building from below, broke through the apartment door, bundled the family in blankets so he could carry them all and broke through the window. It took less than a second. As expected, the fire exploded behind him. But the family was safe, he hoped. He had no idea how much smoke or other toxins they'd been exposed to.

"Superman?" one of the paramedics called. Then he looked more closely. "You're not…"

"No, I am Loq-El, his cousin," Lane said formally. He made a show of looking over the building.

"Nobody else in there?" the paramedic asked.

"Only dead," Lane said. The paramedic nodded and sent the ambulance in its way.

"Superman!" the fire captain yelled. Like the paramedic, he looked surprised when he realized the man in the blue tights wasn't the dark-haired man who had previously worn the blue and red uniform. But that was all. "What did you see?" he continued.

"Multiple ignition points on the second from the top floor. Three dead on the top floor," Lane reported. "I was able to rescue five from the third from the top floor. The rest of the building appears to have been evacuated. Also, the fire suppression system appears to have not been working on the top three floors."

The fire captain swore under his breath. "We were told the upper five floors were empty for remodeling. Can you put out the fire? It looks like HTA."

"I believe I can," Lane responded, taking flight. Carefully, methodically, he cooled the fire and fuel sources. He couldn't move too quickly for fear of creating unpredictable vortices that might actually spread the flames. Finally the fire was out and Lane came back to earth.

"Superman?" Alexa called, 'arriving' on the scene. "Alexa Alexander, Daily Planet. Wait… you're not…"

"I am Loq-El," Lane repeated for his growing audience. "The one you called Superman was my cousin, Kal-El. When our family discovered that he had died, my wife and I volunteered to take up his mantle."

"So, the S doesn't stand for Superman?"

"It is not an S," Lane stated a touch pedantically. "It is the symbol of the House of El."

"Around here, that's an S," Alexa stated. "So, Superb-man, Splendid-man, Señor Terrific? Super-Duper-man? Supes? Sexy-Man?"

"Or we could just decide that 'Superman' is a job title and he's just the current guy in the red cape," one of the fire fighters suggested. "Superman Loq."

-o-o-o-

Alexa wrote up the story of Loq-El's first official appearance and e-mailed it to Perry.

"I'm surprised at how easily they all accepted me," Lane said once he got back to the hotel. He'd patrolled the city for an hour or so before heading back. A couple of fender-benders, a bar-fight where, if Lane hadn't been floating a foot above the floor, the bartender would have carded him once the fighters were separated.

"I'm sure it helps that Clark and Lois both did the job first. But, I suspect there may actually be some telepathy involved," Alexa said. "I think Clark may have unconsciously been sending out a 'trust me, I'm a super good guy, I'm here to help' vibe when he wore the suit."

"And when he wasn't in the suit?"

"Let's face it, glasses aren't a great mask but nobody seemed to pick up on it," Alexa said. "So Clark out of the suit may have been sending a 'trust me, I'm a really trustworthy normal person' vibe. I mean, people opened up to him even though they knew he was a reporter."

"I always thought people were just picking up on how much he cared about everybody," Lane said. "And people opened up to Lois, too."

"True," Alexa agreed.

"Well, hopefully thinking about it won't wreck it," Lane said. "You know, thinking about how you do something and then you can't do it."

"Well, hopefully there's something you've been thinking about and can still do," Alexa said, beckoning him to the bedroom.

-o-o-o-

The next morning was cloudy, threatening rain. LNN and the radio news stations were full of stories about the 'new' Superman.

Lane and Alexa ignored most of them as they ordered their morning coffee from the little coffee vendor in the Daily Planet lobby. The elevator ride seemed interminable, the elevator itself crowded and noisy.

"How are we going to get through the day?" Lane asked. Once the elevator doors closed on the last passenger, they were entwined in a fervent kiss.

"I don't know…"

"You'd think after two weeks…"

"We waited a lot longer than two weeks," Alexa reminded him.

"So... it was worth it, then? The wait, I mean…"

"It was perfect. Better than perfect…" Alexa said as Lane pulled her into another kiss. Then she pulled away a little, searching his face. "I mean… it was for me."

"Honey, it was super."

The elevator dinged and the doors opened onto the newsroom floor. They pretended nothing had happened as Perry came towards them, grinning widely.

"Well! Look who's back! Mister and Missus Lane Alexander…The happy couple!"

"Alexa, Lane! How was Paris?" Jimmy asked as he hurried closer. He had a copy of the Planet in his hand.

"Are you kidding? It was fantastic!" Perry announced with a chuckle. "These two got the very same look Alice and I had after our honeymoon at Graceland... 'Course, we all know how that worked out..." He shrugged and gave them both a searching look. "I got your story on that new Superman, Loq-El? Couldn't wait to get back to work, could you?"

"The Planet has the exclusive," Alexa stated with a grin.

"And when does the Planet Earth meet Missus Superman?" Perry asked.

"When she's ready, I guess," Alexa said. "I mean, I figure anybody would be a little shy about flying around in tights for the first time. And I suspect Kryptonian ladies tend to the demure side."

"We all look forward to meeting her," Perry stated before heading back to his office. As he went he exhorted the rest of the newsroom staff to get back to work.

Jimmy peered at them. "So, new look?" he asked, indicating the glasses.

Lane and Alexa nodded.

"Cool." Jimmy thrust the paper at them. "So check out the byline on 36b… Last page. Under the retractions."

Lane looked over Alexa's shoulder as she found the section. "'Metropolis Public Library To Extend Summer Hours… by James Olsen,'" he read aloud. "Jimmy, congratulations!"

"That's great, Jimmy! Um, James," Alexa said.

Jimmy gave them a sheepish grin. "It's still 'Jimmy.' I just wanted something a little more professional sounding for my first byline."

An old man emerged from the elevator. He was incongruously dressed in clean torn jeans, fashionable sneakers, and an Elvis Costello t-shirt. "Jimmy Olsen…" the man called in a weak voice, "Jimmy Olsen! I need to speak with Jimmy Olsen!"

He spotted Jimmy, coming at him at as near to a run as he could manage. He clutched at Jimmy's shirt. "There you are! I almost didn't make it here! The police wouldn't listen. Someone's got to tell the story! You'll do that for me, won't you, Jimmy?"

Jimmy looked mystified as he eased the old man into a chair at a nearby desk.

"Jimmy, who is that?" Lane whispered.

"No idea, maybe he saw my story?"

Lane and Alexa gave him a skeptical look.

The old man looked over at Alexa. "Hey, you weren't lyin' bud, she's a babe." Then his eyes glazed over and his head dropped to the desk.

Alexa checked for a pulse at his neck. "He's dead."

"Jimmy... I'm... sorry," Lane said.

Jimmy shook his head. "Don't be. For me, I mean. I've never seen him before in my life."

Alexa found the man's wallet in his jeans, pulled it out, and opened it. "Benny Rockland," she read. "But…this can't be the same guy..." The ID photo showed a man about Jimmy's age.

Jimmy grabbed the wallet away from her. "What? Benny?"

"You know who that is?" Lane asked.

"We've been friends since the sixth grade. I gave him this scar..." Jimmy said, pointing the scar out on the photo. The old dead man had an identical scar on his temple. "Benny...?"

-o-o-o-

Normally the Medical Examiner's office wouldn't be done with the autopsy until the next day or even the day after, but there were aspects of the case that had the Chief M.E. put a priority on it once they confirmed the identity of the dead man as Benjamin Rockland, age 22.

"How is that possible? Some rare disease that looks like aging?" Lane asked when Alexa got off the phone with her contact at the OCME.

"If it is, then it's one nobody knows about," Alexa reported. "The initial gross examination looks like that really was a ninety-year-old man that died here, even though the fingerprints and other biometrics belong to a 22-year-old kid. The CDC's been called in. Tissue samples are being sent to all the major medical research facilities, including Star Labs. But what they're really worried about is it being some toxin, maybe in a new designer drug."

"Not likely," Lane said. "I did some checking on Jimmy's friend while you were talking to your person at the OCME." He checked his notes. "'Benny Rockland. Grad student in history at Metropolis U. Lived in the dorms. According to his roommate, Benny started a new job last Thursday and hasn't been back since. Also, according to his roommate, Bennie was a straight arrow and a bit of a health nut. Didn't even overindulge in caffeine."

"New job?"

"Yeah. But that's as much as he could tell me."

An alarm sounded somewhere to the north east. "Stryker's Island," Alexa said, identifying it. "Go…"

-o-o-o-

Stryker's Island Penitentiary looked like nothing so much as a medieval fortress with gun emplacements instead of catapults and archers, the weapons pointing in instead of out, and tall concrete cell blocks inside the walls instead of barracks and stables.

One of the cell blocks had been breached and noxious smoke poured out. Inside, Lane could hear guards and prisoners coughing and gagging. He sped through the hole and blew the smoke out. Before training with the simulator he might have simply sucked up the gas and blown it out over an unpopulated area. Then Henderson and Farmer pointed out the potential of it being laced with microscopic amounts of kryptonite. Not enough for him to initially feel and be warned off but enough to kill him from the inside.

"Thanks, Superman," one of the guards managed to say once the smoke was cleared.

"What happened?" Loq-El asked.

"The wall blew out and D-Block was pumped full of that gas. We didn't even see who broke him out…"

"Broke who out?"

"Conner Schenk," the guard said.

Loq-El tried to place the name. "I have not heard of him…"

"I'm not surprised. He's been on the inside for the last fifty years. I think they built the prison around him."

"Someone went to a great deal of trouble to break a senior citizen out of prison," Loq-El commented. "And something got past the prison's item screening process. The wall blew out. Plus, how did he get beyond the outer perimeter and off the island?"

"Good questions," the guard commented.

A quick investigation revealed that a tour group had been on the island at the time of the alarm. And while they had passed all the routine checks, one of the tourists had been an old man in a wheelchair accompanied by a nurse. When the alarms sounded, the tourists had been hurried back to the tour boat for safety. But they'd had to wait for the man in the wheelchair before leaving the dock. Review of the security tapes revealed that he and his nurse had been out of sight of any security cameras for at least a minute before rejoining their group and leaving the island.

-o-o-o-

Alexa waited and watched as Doctor Klein and one of his associates, a Doctor Charles Blanchard, studied the tissue sample the M.E. had sent over.

"This is incredible. This tissue sample, it's aging as we watch…" Doctor Blanchard said. "It's breaking down. Whatever it was that sped up this boy's aging process is still at work."

"Any idea what it could be?" Alexa asked.

"That's what's strange. There doesn't seem to be any kind of foreign agent introduced. No viruses that we can detect. No bacteria. It's almost as if his youth was... sucked out by some powerful force," Klein stated.

"And what could do that?"

"Something noxious maybe…" Blanchard said. "Intense radiation, a cell disrupter, any Patrick Swayze movie… Whatever it was caused a chain reaction at the molecular level which brought about accelerated decrepitude. The internal mechanisms of his cells have been disrupted. It's a wonder he lived through it. Almost all the energy his cells contained has been sucked dry."

"The initial autopsy findings do indicate the effect was more pronounced on the body's exterior, which might indicate a radiation source as the proximate cause," Klein added.

"How could a Met.U. grad student in history get exposed to enough radiation to do this?" Alexa wondered aloud.

-o-o-o-

Lane and Alexa weren't going to have time to worry about the prison break or Jimmy's friend until after the reception.

Lane wrote up the facts as he knew them about Connor Schenk and his escape from Stryker's Island. Research had revealed that Schenk had been a bank robber in the 30s and was serving two life sentences without parole for the cold-blooded killings of a bank teller and a police officer as he tried to make his escape from his final heist. Except for a niece that had occasionally visited in recent months, he had no family. There were stories that Schenk had gotten away with millions and had hidden the money somewhere, but the actual records of how much was stolen didn't support that.

The story on Bennie Rockwell would wait until they had more facts. The CDC was now looking into places Bennie may have been exposed to radiation and didn't want to start a panic over what may well have been a fluke accident. So far, Met.U. was in the clear. There was nothing on campus that could cause the type of radiation poisoning that was currently believed to have killed Rockwell.

As for the reception: Martha and Ellen had outdone themselves. The decorations were ivory, the flowers were white and red roses. The banner over the cake table read 'Congratulations Lane and Alexa'. The wedding cake and the groom's cake were from Carlisle's. Lane was afraid to ask what strings Ellen had to pull to get a Carlisle's cake on such short notice. Or what threats were made. And the cake itself was an incredible creation: multiple tiers of white cake and raspberry filling with ivory frosting and confectionery roses.

And the buffet… the tables were heavy laden with sandwiches and salads, cheeses, meats, deserts, and non-alcoholic beverages. A hosted bar was set up in a corner and a jazz quartet was playing from a small stage in another corner. There was also a karaoke set up. Lane guessed that was Jimmy's suggestion.

"Sam's brother Mike arranged the catering," Ellen told them. "Any leftovers will go to the Fifth Street Mission. Martha thinks Lois and Clark would have liked that."

"Yeah, they would have," Lane agreed.

Franklin Stern, the Planet's publisher came up to them and shook Lane's hand. "When Perry told me he planned on offering Lex Luthor's son and daughter-in-law jobs in his newsroom, I thought he'd lost it. Two kids with no experience, no track record, not even journalism degrees, to replace two of the best and brightest journalists this paper has ever seen? I only let him do it because I promised him I'd never interfere in how he ran his department. So far, you've surprised me and vindicated him. Don't do anything to change that."

"We don't plan to, sir," Lane said formally. Alexa echoed his sentiments as Stern walked away. They watched as he nodded greetings to the mayor and a number of city officials, including the New Troy District Attorney and the Chief of Police. Lane hadn't realized the mayor had even been invited.

"Nice turnout," Perry said, coming back to them.

"Who invited the mayor?" Lane asked.

Perry chuckled. "She just wants to check out the new rich kids in town, maybe talk you into making a campaign contribution. As for the others…" He pointed out several of Metropolis's better known movers and shakers, including the publishers of several rival media outlets. "You're a mystery. They know you inherited a mind-boggling fortune, but they don't know how exactly how much or what you're doing with it. But, you came to work here for apprentice wages. They figure it's a lark or you're trying to expiate some guilt over Lois and Clark's deaths. You've stayed out of the public's eye. Cat Grant would be as annoyed as hell if she still worked here."

"The investment firm Stern recommended seems to be doing a good job for us," Alexa said. She didn't mention that many of the higher yielding investments had their dividends going to various charities across the city. They're next planned step was to get Jimmy and the tech news guys to help them select companies involved in leading edge energy and medical research so they could throw some money at those.

Perry looked around the room once more. "Time to introduce you to the circling vultures," he said, leading them to the back of the room and the cake table.

There was a bench behind the table and a hand-held microphone. Perry stepped up on the bench and cleared his throat to get everyone's attention. "Ladies and gentlemen," he began. He was ignored. Finally he raised his right hand high, fingers straight with the little finger held down by his thumb. A low murmur went around the room: 'sign's up'. A number of the men and several women raised their own hands in the same sign – including Alexa.

When the room was finally quiet, Perry lowered his hand. "Ladies and gentlemen, thank you all for joining us in the celebration of the recent nuptials of two of the newest members of our reporting team, Lane Alexander and Alexa Parker Alexander. This was originally planned for just friends and the Daily Planet family, but then it was pointed out there was a lot of interest from people who wanted to meet Metropolis's newest multi-multi-millionaires and Lex Luthor's heirs." He turned to the couple. "Lane and Alexa, I know these past months have been confusing and more than a little frightening. Discovering your roots is never easy and discovering the truth of yours, I can't imagine how difficult and troubling that was. But you've risen above that and are now, really and truly, beginning your lives together, lives that were interrupted by Luthor's villainy. I hope, we all hope, you have many, many, happy years together."

Perry handed the microphone to Lane who climbed onto the bench. Lane was quiet for a moment as he collected his thoughts. Now was the time to spin their public back story. Finally: "I have a birth certificate that states that Lex Luthor was my birth father and his last will made me the sole heir of whatever was left of his misbegotten empire. But I never met the man. He was never a father to me. If he cared that I even existed he never let anyone else know… When my parents, the ones who raised me, died I discovered they had a close connection to Luthor. My fiancée and I sought out Lois Lane and Clark Kent to help uncover that mysterious connection. We became friends. But that was the kind of people they were. Actions spoke louder than blood or words. What my birth certificate said didn't matter to them. What I did mattered. I cannot overstate the loss this city suffered with their deaths. The loss we suffered with their murder at the hands of someone who thought that money made him above the law. By the man who would claim me as his own. Alexa and I cannot replace them. We cannot hope to. But we can continue their mission to make Metropolis a better place, to make this world a better place by undoing some of the damage done by an egomaniacal madman, and by uncovering the Truth so that Justice may be served. So, yes, we may be among the richest twenty-something's in Metropolis, but that's not going to stop us from trying to follow in the footsteps of our friends. We owe it to them. We owe it to the citizens of this great city. We owe it to the world. And for those here who are journalists, you owe it to them, too."

There was silence then Perry, Stern, and the Planet staff started clapping. Soon the rest of the audience joined them.

"The cake!" somebody yelled. Lane thought it was Jimmy.

-o-o-o-

Lane and Alexa managed to leave the party early so they could get to the loft while there was still daylight. There was new construction happening on the lower three floors – those had been designated retail and professional office space.

"Romanoff's Jewelers and Le Petit Boulangerie have started their build-outs. Other buildings in the area are starting to get spruced up. You started a trend," Bob said with a smile.

He made a show of unlocking the door to the top floor apartment, then he handed Alexa the keys as they walked in. Joel Livingston and Francine Wright were waiting with a photographer.

The space beyond had been little more than a concrete shell the last time they'd visited the building, when Wright had walked them through her ideas for the space. Now the space was transformed into something amazing. It was still mostly empty but now had oak floors and a combination of exposed brick and white fabric-covered walls. A modern fireplace was prominent on one tall brick wall.

The ceilings in the old warehouse were high enough to allow for multiple levels so the master bedroom and bath were 'upstairs', over a bookcase lined space that was obviously meant to be an office. At the opposite end was a second raised area with additional sleeping spaces. A gourmet kitchen done in stainless steel and dark wood was beneath that section. The stairs to the upper levels seemed to float in midair.

Clark's small collection of South American and Asian art was already hanging on the walls and placed on shelves. Lois and Clark's books were in the bookcases along with Lane and Alexa's newer acquisitions.

"It's… wow," Alexa managed to say.

"We figured you'd want to pick out the rest of the furniture at your leisure," Joel said, walking them toward the kitchen area. "Missus Kent and Missus Lane stocked the refrigerator and pantry for you, although I have to admit I'm appalled at some of Missus Kent's selections for you two. Man does not live on Twinkies and Ho-Hoes alone. Or double chocolate ripple ice cream." He sniffed disapprovingly. "The coffee is ready for the morning," he added, pointing to the coffeemaker. He then went through and pointed out where the 'everyday' dishes, mugs, and flatware were stored. The 'fancy' dishes were in a closet in the pantry and there were enough settings for a large dinner party.

Then he led them out onto the patio the stretched across the back of the building behind the kitchen. "From the original plans for the building, the manager's offices would have opened onto this. You'll get sun most of the day out here and this will be a marvelous place for summer entertaining."

He sighed and smiled. "I hope you two have as much fun living here as I had working on it with Francine. The first installment of the series will be in next Sunday's Lifestyle. I'll get in touch with you later in the week for your thoughts for the series and I'd be grateful if you keep me posted on what you're doing with the place. By the way, with this and some of the other projects we've been following, Greg and I have enough for a book, so don't feel like you've misused my time."

With that, Joel and his photographer Greg left with Francine.

"Now for the rest of the tour," Bob said. "You've got a long term lease for an entire floor of the parking garage across the alley for you and your tenants and there's an underground access tunnel. Security for this building and the access points over there was designed and installed by WayneTech. They also installed the lead-lined panic room that's tucked behind the master bath. Also, inside each of the walk-in closets is a hidden space. Big enough to hide some furs or whatever. Not that either of you are likely to want to store dead animal skins. All the skylights are open-able, although the fire marshal frowns on that. If this was an industrial or retail space, those would be sealed shut."

"This is incredible," Lane said.

"Do we want to know how much all this set us back?" Alexa asked.

Bob chuckled. "The build-out here came well within the budget Mister Livingston and Mizz Wright suggested, as did bringing the entire building up to code. Mister Livingston knows how to drive a hard bargain and from what I saw, he enjoyed every minute of it. You own the building outright and with it now 90% leased out, I'm told you should recoup all cash outlays within twelve months, probably a lot sooner. Of course, with all the improvements your taxes on this will go up."

Lane shrugged. "I've never understood the people who complain about their taxes and try to cheat their way out of them but then complain about the quality of services they're actively avoiding paying for."

"How about the people who think that building codes and health and safety regulations are conspiracies designed to rob them of their right to do whatever they damn well please, no matter the consequences?" Alexa suggested.

"Exactly."

"Copies of your signed off permits are in a notebook in the office, along with all the instruction manuals and warranties," Bob said with a grin as he headed for the entrance door. "Good night, have fun."
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"Brutal Youth" was written by Tim Minear.