Sleeping With the Boss
Folc4evernaday
Part 3
***
After finishing up his interview with Ralph’s supposed source at City Hall, Clark headed back to the Planet. The ‘source’ of Ralph’s turned out to be a golf buddy of Ralph’s dad’s. Ralph seemed oblivious to the tell-tale signs that his source was lying through his teeth.
Three hours wasted. Hopefully, Lois wouldn’t be too much longer. His parents were in town for the weekend visiting dad’s friend, Al and getting ready for ‘camping Metropolis Style’ as Al had put it. He and Lois had invited them to come to dinner before they headed out to New Troy Campgrounds but that had been before Lois’ promotion.
Now both of them were running around trying to put out fires both literally and figuratively. They’d planned on canceling, but then they both had forgotten. He glanced at the time. If they left now, they’d have just enough time to swing by China Town to pick up some take out from that place his mom liked…
He was almost halfway down the ramp when he spotted Lois coming out of her office with Carly behind her. “Ms. Lane, what about…?”
“Whatever it is is going to have to wait,” Lois said hurriedly. “I’m dropping this off downstairs, and then I’m going home.” Lois patted the package in her arms.
Clark caught up with her as she was coming up the ramp. “Are you escaping?” He asked with a grin.
“Yes!” She cheered, jamming the call button on the wall. “How did it go with Ralph’s source? Do you think we have a story there?”
“I’ll tell you later.” He promised. “Right now you’re off the clock.” He helped walk her back into the empty elevator car that had arrived. “I’m off the clock…and we can finally catch up on this.” He leaned in to kiss her.
“I like the way you think.” She grinned against his lips.
The elevator doors closed behind them, and he pulled her close to him, running his hand over her cheek as his lips found hers. She dropped her bags to the floor, freeing her arms to move up and down his chest as he deepened the kiss. His arms circled her waist, and her lips met his just as enthusiastically. Her arms wrapped around the back of his neck, running her hands through his hair.
He dipped his head down and began nibbling on the sensitive flesh of her neck, smiling as he felt the tension in her back muscles loosen from his ministrations. “That feels good.” She sighed against him.
“You feel good.” He murmured, recapturing her lips with his as he felt her tugging on his tie. His hands moved up and down her sides as he held her close.
“Too bad we can’t just pull the emergency stop.” Lois giggled. “We’re bad hosts. We forgot the food and the guests.”
“I’m sure they’ll understand.” He chuckled against her lips, looking down at where she had folded his tie around her hand several times and was now working on loosening the knot. “Always with the tie.” He teased. She pulled him to her once more, capturing his mouth with hers in a fiery kiss. In the back of his mind he heard the soft bell of the elevator and the doors open but leaving his wife’s arms wasn’t high on the list of priorities.
Hearing the gentle ribbing and catcalls from the other staff members in the lobby they separated, turning away from one another unembarrassed as they stepped off the elevator. Lois smoothed out the wrinkles from her shirt, tucking it back into place. He readjusted his tie as they made their way through the lobby, dropping Lois’ package off with shipping before heading toward the parking garage to head home.
***
“Okay, food is out of containers.” Lois tallied off looking toward the empty Chinese cartons on the counters as Clark super sped around her finishing up the last minute settings for the table. “I think there’s a bottle of Merlot in the –“
“Got it.” He reappeared in front of her with the bottle in question and lightly blew on it to make a small amount of frost appear on the bottle. “Table’s set and …” He looked at the time, “Five minutes to spare.” He leaned in to kiss her.
“Only five minutes?” She teased with a grin. Thankfully there had been no calls from the office on her cell while they’d been picking up dinner.
“I can only go at super-speed so long.” He grinned.
“Tell me about it.” She said, linking her arms around his neck. “Hopefully your parents don’t mind takeout. I still can’t believe I forgot to call them…”
“Stressful few days.” He reasoned, leaning in to kiss her.
The double ringing of the phone and the doorbell reached her ears and she let out a frustrated growl. “Always something.”
“You get the phone. I’ll get the door.” Clark said, pointing toward the phone on the counter next to her. “Hello?” She groaned inwardly when she heard Carly’s voice on the other end. So much for a relaxing evening.
***
Clark crossed the living room to answer the door, “Hope we’re not late.” His dad handed him a bottle of wine. “Martha picked it up at one of the shops while we were out today.”
Clark chuckled inwardly. It was the same bottle he’d pulled out of the pantry earlier. “No, you’re fine.” He exchanged hugs with both of them, “Come on in. Lois will just be a minute…” He explained as they headed into the dining room where the food and place settings were.
Lois was standing in the doorway of the kitchen and gave a friendly wave as she spoke on the phone. “We’ve got to get the Evening Edition out there somehow. Can’t we rent a truck…?”
His mom looked at him in surprise, “What is she running the paper now?”
Clark grinned, “Actually, yeah.” At their surprised expressions, he elaborated as he poured them a glass from the chilled bottle of wine, “Perry got promoted, and Lois is the new editor.”
His parents exchanged impressed looks, and then his dad nodded, “Hey, that’s great.” He looked at him with a quizzical expression. “Isn’t it?”
“Oh, yeah. Absolutely. It’s just been a—adjustment for both of us.” He explained, gesturing to his wife who was mouthing ‘sorry’ to them as she finished her conversation on the phone.
“... Yes, fine, just do it. You've got my approval. 'Bye.” Lois clicked the phone on the receiver and took a seat next to him. “Sorry. Delivery truck broke down.”
“Congratulations on the new job!” his mom said with a smile.
Lois gave her a hesitant smile, and his dad added, “We’re so happy for you.”
“Thanks. It’ s...exciting. Let’s eat.” She handed the plate with the rice to his mom. “We didn’t have time to cook, so I hope Szechuan Palace is okay.”
“We understand,” Martha reassured. “Looks great.”
Just as Lois was about to take a bite of her food the phone rang again, and she let out a frustrated sigh, “Sorry.” She set her fork down and headed for the kitchen to answer the phone. “Just start…”
Clark glanced toward Lois’ plate and sighed. She said she hadn’t had a chance to eat earlier. “Look, son, if this is a bad time we could..” his dad’s words intruded his thoughts and Clark looked back at him and shook his head.
“No, Dad, it’s fine it’s just…”
“I see, how long will it take?” Lois tapped her hand on the doorway as she spoke.
“…been a little crazy.” He finished weakly.
“Well, that’s to be expected.” His mom gave a reassuring smile.
“Forget it!” Lois snapped into the phone. Clark couldn’t help but feel a little sorry for the person on the other end of the phone. “not worth the overtime.”
“It’s perfectly understandable.” His mom added.
“We’ll just have to go with the subway lead. Okay.” Lois hung up the phone and reclaimed her seat. “I told them no more calls.” She said with a sigh as she took her first bite. He could tell from the look on her face it was probably the first bite she’d had since breakfast that morning.
He gave her a reassuring smile before taking a bite of his own food. “This looks delicious.” His mom said. “I always love their …” the phone rang again, and Lois hung her head in defeat. “Lo-Mein.”
Irritated at the intrusion once more Clark interjected. “I’ll get it. Eat.” He got up to answer the phone before she could argue. “Eat.” He ordered before turning to answer the phone. Carly, Lois’ administrative assistant was on the line. Why she was at the Planet this late he wasn’t sure. “Hi Carly,”
“Is Ms. Lane there?”
“No, she’s finishing up dinner. I’ll have her call you back when she’s done.” Clark noted the dirty look Lois just threw him but ignored it.
“But we still need to get…”
Ignoring the protests, he added, “She won’t be of any use to you if she hasn’t eaten. She’ll call back in an hour. No more calls until then.” He added the last sentence in his Superman tone, sending the message that he meant business. He hung up the phone and took his seat back at the table.
Lois glared at him irritably. “Clark! You can’t just…”
“They will manage for an hour. Believe me.” He reassured her. “Just eat and enjoy the hour before she starts in again.”
“What if there’s an emergency?” Lois interjected.
“Clark’s right.” Martha added, “You’ve got to put your foot down otherwise they’ll run you instead of the other way around. You won’t do anyone any good if you’re not taking care of yourself.”
Lois relented on her argument for the moment at least and began to work on finishing her meal quietly. He knew she was mad at him for cutting her off from the phone like that, but he needed to do something to make sure she didn’t have a repeat of last night.
“I guess it’s your turn to take off at a moment’s notice, huh?” his dad joked with Lois.
Lois sighed, offering a slow smile, “Hopefully things settle down soon. Everyone seems to think their emergency is a real…”
Clark hung his head when he heard the familiar sirens reach his ears. “What is it?” she asked.
“A bridge collapsed.” He gave them an apologetic smile, “I'm sorry. I gotta…”
“Go.” Lois nodded.
"Yes, of course." His dad chimed in.
“Eat.” He ordered to Lois. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
“Be careful,” Lois called after him.
***
Lois watched Clark leave and shook her head. “Always something.”
“Gives a whole new meaning to the term balancing act, doesn’t it?” Martha asked.
“You have no idea.” Lois smiled.
“He’s just worried about you.” She added, seeming to sense her current mood after Clark had ordered an hour of silence from Carly. She had a feeling she’d be paying dearly for it when the phone did start ringing again.
“I know. I just…want to prove I can do this. I mean, Perry’s been able to handle this job on his own for years. I don’t want to let him down.”
“But you’re not Perry any more than he is you.” Jonathan chimed in. “It’ll take some time to figure out, but you two will find the right balance. I have to agree with Martha and Clark here though. You’ve got to put your foot down. They can’t expect you to jump when they say jump 24/7. You’ll burn out that way.”
Lois let their words sink in. Taking the reins from Perry had been an eye-opening experience. She was constantly juggling the demands of the fifty different reporters on staff with the pressure coming from upstairs to generate newspaper selling stories. She missed being the one writing the stories rather than the one editing them. Making the leap from reporter to editor was harder than she’d ever imagined it to be. It was an honor to be selected and came with plenty of perks, but it also came with an intense amount of pressure she didn’t know if she was ready to take on.
Just as she took her last bite of dinner, the phone rang again. She looked up at the clock and saw the time. One hour on the dot from the time Clark had told Carly not to call. Martha and Jonathan helped clean up then left early for the evening while she fielded calls from the Publisher and the Press Room trying to balance their conflicting needs by phone. She was determined not to go into the office tonight.
***
After helping rescue all the people that had become trapped under the bridge collapse earlier and checking with Emergency Personnel on what the cause could have been they found a weak spot in one of the beams, causing it to give out. A repair crew had been dispatched, and everyone was safe thankfully. Clark did a quick patrol around the city then headed back home. Judging by the time he knew his parents were probably long gone. Hopefully, Lois was still home and hadn’t been called back to the office again.
***
“Well, what do you mean you don’t have a photographer?? I sent Jimmy …The Planet has plenty of photographers employed. I’m not going to reserve one photographer for you just because you…If I can’t get one to respond then I call the next. No, I don’t care about your relationship with him just…I’m done arguing. I expect those photos to be on my desk by seven am, or you’re going to be on Dog Shows for the next month!” Lois slammed the phone down irritably.
“I hate him. I hate him. I hate him.” Lois fumed angrily as she turned toward the door he had just closed behind him. “Hey,” Her tone softened, “Everything go okay?”
“Repair crew is fixing the broken beam. Everyone is safe and no casualties.” He said sinking down on the couch heavily. “How about you?” He asked, pulling her down with him.
She let out a long sigh, “Worst hostess award goes to me tonight.”
"At least you were here for the whole dinner."
“Rescuing people from a collapsing bridge is more forgivable than racing to answer the phone every two seconds." Lois countered.
“I’m sure they understand.” He reassured her. "You get everything sorted out with Carly?"
"Yeah, but then Tom started in. He was covering the bridge collapse earlier and got upset because I didn’t send Rogers out there with him. He didn’t answer the phone, so I sent Jimmy.”
“Oh, brother…” Clark groaned, letting her finish.
“So even though Jimmy’s probably got plenty of great shots Tom is refusing to have them run with his story,” Lois added with a bite in her tone. “When did we replace all these journalists with two-year-olds?”
“I don’t know.” She leaned her head back against him and sighed. “Did Carly finally go home?” Clark asked, running his hand through her hair.
“Yeah, she called with a rundown on everything they did while I was taking five as she put it.” She gave him a half-smile, “Apparently she hadn’t taken a break either so…”
“So, you weren’t the only one burning both ends of the candlestick?” Clark prompted. She threw him an annoyed look and he shook his head, “I’m not going to apologize. It needed to be done. You are exhausted and I could tell by the look on your face you never ate anything this afternoon, did you?”
“No…” She sighed, “It got cold when I got pulled into a conference with the Publisher.” She explained avoiding his gaze.
“Honey, you’ve got to slow down a little. Delegate. The world will not come to an end if you shut your office door or turn your ringer off for half an hour and take time to relax a minute. Perry used to shut himself in there with his Elvis records all the time.”
“I know.” She sighed. “I’m trying too hard.”
“You’re pushing yourself too hard and too fast for too long. You can only go at super-speed for so long.” He reminded her.
“I just want to do a good job.” She explained. “I mean, Perry’s put a lot of faith in me, and I don’t want to blow it.”
“You’re not going to blow it, honey.” He smiled at her reassuringly, “It’s not your style.”
“What if I do?”
He looked at her tenderly, “Then you’ll know you tried your best and gave it your all.” He tightened his arms around her. “You’ll be fine.”
“Did I tell you Perry stopped by this morning?”
“No.”
“I think he misses the newsroom.” She commented sadly. “Kinda like how I miss being a reporter.”
“Well, it’s an adjustment for everyone.” He remarked good naturedly, uncertain where she was going with this.
“Thanks for not giving me a hard time about Ralph. I couldn’t think of anyone else to suggest at the moment and…”
“You so owe me for that one. Three hours of listening to him put his foot in his mouth repeatedly while failing to figure out his source is yanking his chain for publicity.” Clark sighed, leaning back.
“So there’s nothing there?” Lois asked with a heavy sigh. “I’m sorry.”
“According to Ralph he’s got the story of the year, but no there’s nothing there but a one-way ticket to a lawsuit and out of court settlement.”
“Good thing I didn’t mark any copy for his story yet.” Lois ran her hand through her hair. “I’m so tired.”
“Here.” Clark raced them upstairs and laid her on the bed. “Better?”
“My hero.” She grinned back at him.
“I aim to please.” He grinned back at her, leaning in to kiss her.
“That you do.” She pulled him down on the bed with her, resting her head on his chest.
“I think I may stop by Evan Press’ and see if there’s anything the police may have missed the first time. Thankfully there wasn’t another cyber attack today but after what I found…” The sound of her deep breaths against him made him pause. He looked down and saw she had already fallen asleep. “Good night, sweetheart.” He whispered, leaning in to kiss her.
***
TBC...
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