Rules of Trust
Folc4evernaday
Chapter 2
***
Lois leaned against the doorframe of her apartment, taking a deep breath. Her lips still tingled from where Clark had kissed her goodnight. Tonight had been so much different than anything she’d imagined when she had pictured. She’d pictured a typical dinner date with Clark. She’d pictured a light conversation. Maybe a kiss goodnight. She never imagined being swept off her feet … literally by a dinner date under the stars. She’d never imagined she’d have such conflicting emotions as she continued to process everything she’d learned tonight.
Clark was Superman.
Superman was Clark.
Her best friend was Superman.
Superman was the guy she’d shared pizza with, watched Lethal Weapon with, and joked with for so many nights. Merging the two images into one would take time. She knew that, but the more she thought about it, the harder it was to deny how she felt.
She knew she loved him.
She was still upset he’d lied to her, but given that he’d told her on what was their first date she knew she couldn’t hold it against him. He was trying to be honest with her. He’d shared something with her he’d never shared with anyone. The images of Jor-El and Lara putting their baby into the silver space ship while their planet was dying around them haunted her. She knew from the look on Clark’s face they haunted him too.
<<“You’re about to fall head over heels in love.”
“I thought I already was.”
“Not yet, but you will be.”>>A slow smile spread across her face as she recalled her conversation with Clark a few nights ago. That was why he’d stopped. That was why he’d made her promise to go on ‘several dates’ with him. He’d been afraid of her reaction. Despite how close they’d been to crossing that line, he’d stopped. She could still recall how incredible he’d felt pressed up against her. They both had lost control that night. If he hadn’t stopped, she would have gladly moved their embrace to the bedroom.
That was how she’d felt two nights ago anyway. Whether she’d still have felt that way knowing what she did now, she wasn’t sure. She had two men she cared about deeply that she’d just found out were one and the same. Coming to terms with that concept was a challenge. Her heart wanted one thing while her head wanted another.
He’d promised to take things slow and let them figure things out. She wasn’t sure how she felt about that idea, but she was willing to give it a chance—give them a chance. At the end of the day, he was still Clark. He was still Superman. Losing either man from her life wasn’t a notion she wanted to entertain.
He’d trusted her with his secret.
That was a step in the right direction.
The rest they could figure out.
Despite everything, she knew she still loved him. Trusting him was going to be a little more difficult.
***
After he’d taken Lois home, Clark did a quick patrol around Metropolis. He couldn’t stop grinning. All he could think about was how it felt like an enormous weight had been lifted off of him. All weekend long he’d been worried about how Lois was going to react. He was terrified she would hate him. Terrified he would have ruined any chance at what was starting between them.
His dad had been right. She had surprised him. She’d been shocked, angry, hurt, and everything in between, but the most surprising emotion he’d seen from her was understanding. She had understood why he’d lied to her, but she was still hurt. That was going to be the hardest hurdle in their changing relationship.
‘Relationship.’He couldn’t help but smile at that thought. He was in a relationship with Lois Lane.
His patrol turned up a handful of incidents. He’d stopped a small group of thugs on the outskirts of town from making their mark on one of the buildings on Hobb's Bay district and stopped an attempted hijacking. Just when he thought it was safe to head back home, he heard a muffled cry for help from a building marked ‘Joe’s Antiques.’
When he scanned the building, he found a middle-aged man tied up in the back store room with the glass shattered everywhere. He moved to the store room and untied the man, “Are you okay?”
“Do I look okay?” the man asked irritably, rubbing his wrists as he stood up. Remorse washed over his face when he looked back at Clark. “I’m sorry Superman. I just…They took everything.”
“They?” Clark asked, looking around the shop that had been torn apart. It was obvious the assailants had been looking for something.
“My files. My collections….The entire collection on Bonnie and Clyde, Al Capone, and his gang….gone. My dad spent his whole life collecting this stuff.”
“I’m sorry, sir.” Clark managed. “How long ago did they leave? If you give me a description, I might be able to catch up to them.”
“I doubt it.” The man sighed, “The Bonnie and Clyde wannabes were in and out before I could make a sound. I’ve been tied up there for almost an hour. Took me over half an hour to get the gag they had on me loose enough to be able to yell and another half hour to get the sound-proofing turned off.” Off Clark’s look, he explained, “We keep the place sound-proof for the privacy of our customers. Activated by this remote.” He pointed to a small silver object that was on the floor by where he’d been tied up.
Clark did his best not to react as he watched the man pick up the phone to call the police. He’d been on patrol for the last hour. He could have helped if he’d heard, but from the sound of it, there hadn’t been anything for him to hear. He glanced at the cases that had been broken into. Clyde Barrow’s 10-gauge Winchester shotgun, Bonnie Parker's 20-gauge model 11 shotgun, and numerous .30-caliber BARs that were found in Bonnie and Clyde’s car upon their capture. It appeared the man’s collection specialized in historic weapons from some of the most notorious criminals in history. Now, someone had a collection of unlicensed weapons with more firepower than any gangster, or police officer could defend themselves with. It looked like he knew what his and Lois’ next story would be.
***
Lois fumbled with the clasp to her skirt, twisting it to the back as she tucked her blouse in, examining herself in the mirror. She was late. She had tried on four different outfits and still didn’t find anything she felt was right.
‘This is ridiculous.’ She thought to herself.
‘It’s work. The Planet. Not a date.’ She stared at her reflection in the mirror, mussing her hair as she let out a scream in frustration, falling against her bed. The phone on her nightstand rang, and she sat up, reaching over to answer it, “Hello?”
“Lois? Hey, it’s Jimmy!” Jimmy’s voice rang on the other end of the line.
Lois sat up, running a hand through her hair, “Jimmy, hi, what’s up?” she replied, trying to cover her distressed tone.
“I’m supposed to head over to the Chief’s to look over the car for the rental he got for Friday’s party, but I can’t get my car to start. I was wondering if you could give me a boost?” Jimmy’s tone went up a few octaves as he got his usual ‘I need a favor’ tone to his voice.
“What about Perry? Can’t he give you a boost?” Lois asked, reaching for the jacket to her suit hanging on the bed post. It didn’t look like she’d be seeing Clark at the office anytime soon.
“Uh, he’s still at his place. I figured since you’re just a few blocks away…”
“Okay, I’ll be right over.” Lois sighed, “Be ready.”
“Thanks, Lois,” he said before hanging up.
Lois sighed, looking at her reflection in the gray business suit with a short skirt that came just above her knee. “I guess gray it is.” She said with a sigh. She grabbed her purse and bag and headed for the door. She held her keys out to lock it and stopped when she saw a note with a single rose taped to her door.
//Lois,
I’ll be a little late this morning. I’ve got to check on a few things from last night’s patrol.
Enjoy the croissants.
Love,
CK//
‘Croissants?’ Lois looked down to see a small white bag outside her door.
A slow smile spread across her face as she picked it up.
<<“You’re about to fall head over heels in love.”>>***
Clark stopped by the police station as Superman to talk to the Police Chief about how they planned to handle having the gun power of a small army out on the streets without any way of tracking it.
“I’m sure we can come up with a solution.” The chief explained, “We’re not equipped like they were in the 20’s.”
“Thank you, sir,” Clark said, following him into the station, “That kind of firepower in the hands of a petty thief will be dangerous for everyone in Metropolis. I just wanted to make sure the police were prepared. I’m fast, but even I can’t be in two places at once.”
***
“I honestly thought it was the battery,” Jimmy explained as he sat in the passenger seat of Lois’ Jeep.
Lois did her best not to react. It wasn’t his fault his alternator had gone out. It wasn’t his fault that she probably wouldn’t see Clark till after lunch at this rate and would miss her chance to talk to him…and thanking him for what she could only assume were authentic French croissants. It wasn’t Jimmy’s fault that all she could think about was her partner and how her lips still tingled every time she thought about last night.
It wasn’t Jimmy’s fault, but she was still upset.
She’d been miffed when he’d helped himself to one of her croissants because he was starving. She’d been annoyed at having to drive him to Perry’s house. She’d been irritated when Jimmy had sat on her rose. Everything he did this morning seemed to set her off.
“It’s fine, Jimmy,” she snapped. “Let’s just get you to Perry’s then you can ride back with him. I’ve got leads to follow up with, and I’ve been out of the office all weekend.”
“Hey, that’s right, you got the whole weekend off,” Jimmy recalled. “Did you do anything exciting?”
“Not really.” She shook her head, refusing to look at him. “Rested mainly.”
“Oh.” He nodded. “Is CK still mad about the whole setting him up on dates thing?”
“No, he’s over that,” Lois said offhandedly.
“Good.” Jimmy let out a sigh of relief, “I mean, I know he said he forgave me and all, but I just wanted to make sure..." he trailed off before interjecting, "I really think you should cut Mayson some slack though. I mean, CK deserves to be happy. He’s got himself a hot babe that…”
“Babe??” Lois zeroed in on the word Jimmy had used to describe Mayson. She’d forgotten about Mayson. The ADA that had been throwing herself at Clark the last few weeks. She really didn’t want to talk about her. She knew Jimmy didn’t mean anything by it, but hearing about the blonde ADA on the heels of last night felt like a punch in the gut.
“Well, yeah,” Jimmy said with a grin. “I gotta say I’m surprised CK hasn’t made his move. I mean if I had a hot babe like that chasing me I’d….”
Lois pulled into Perry’s driveway and jerked the car into park. “We’re here.”
“Thanks, Lois,” Jimmy hopped out of the car, closing the door behind him.
Lois looked over at her crinkled flower and broken stem. “I will not kill him. I will not kill him,” she told herself. She waited a few minutes willing her annoyance to go down before getting out of the car to greet Perry who was walking up the driveway.
“Hey, darlin’, I thought you’d be at the office by now,” Perry said as she stepped out of the Jeep.
“So did I,” Lois gave a forced smile, “but Jimmy was having car trouble so here I am.”
Perry looked back at Jimmy who shrugged, “The alternator’s going out.”
“Well, since you’re here you might as well get a peek too.” Perry motioned for her to follow him to the garage.
Perry hit the garage door opener in his hand. The door slid open to reveal a vintage 1934 Ford Coupe in mint condition. “Nice ride, Chief,” Lois complimented.
“Whoa, check it out…” Jimmy’s eyes lit up as they walked into the garage.
“Beauty, ain't she? I got her on loan for the Planet's anniversary celebration.” Perry said proudly, eying the car with admiration.
Lois peered inside, eying the leather and wood paneling. “Original interior. Nice.”
“She’s a classic.” Perry beamed.
“Is this what you used to drive when you were my age?” Jimmy asked.
Perry shared a look with Lois before giving Jimmy the evil-eye, “Jimmy, I might have gray hair, but that’s because of my job. I wasn’t even born when this car was built.”
“So what's wrong with this one?” Jimmy asked, pointing to the white sedan parked next to the coupe.
“When I came in last night I couldn’t get it to shift into ‘park.’” Perry explained.
Jimmy pulled out a wrench from his toolbox, “Well, let me see what I can do…”
“You guys have fun. I’m going to head into the Planet.” Lois said, heading back toward her Jeep.
“All right, darlin’, thanks for giving Jimmy a ride,” Perry called after her.
She gave a quick wave and headed up the driveway, pulling her keys out of her purse. She felt a cold metal object against her back and jumped.
“I’ll take those.” She looked back to see a man dressed as if he’d just come out of an old gangster movie staring at her with a blonde next to him.
“What do you want?”
The woman pointed toward the garage, “We’ll ask the questions. Move it.”
“Lois, I thought you…” Perry stopped mid-sentence when he saw the man and woman next to her with a gun to her side.
“You just made the biggest mistake of your life,” Perry said, reaching for his phone on the workbench.
“Don’t even think about it, Gramps,” another pistol was pulled out by the blonde, training it on Jimmy and Perry.
The man moved toward the coupe, fiddling with the keys to her Jeep to try and get the car door open. “Those aren’t the keys.” Lois tried to explain.
Frustrated he threw the keys to the ground. “Y'all got the keys to my car?”
Perry looked at him like he’d grown a second head, “You want to run that by me again?”
“It ain't that confusin', Pops. You got my car, and I want it back.” The man said scowling at them, “Where are the keys?” the man moved the pistol from Lois’ back to Perry and the blonde turned back toward Lois, giving her a warning look.
Lois looked around, hoping to find something she could use as a weapon.
“Just give him the keys, Chief.” Jimmy stammered.
“I don't know what your game is, friend, but that car's on loan from a collector to my newspaper.” Perry’s tone remained calm as Lois tried to inch her way toward the garage door opener.
“Newspaper man, huh? You boys always were gutsy.” The mans’ smile faded away, and he scowled, “Too bad I never cared much for gutsy.”
Lois saw her keys on the ground next to the door opener. She met Perry’s gaze, trying to signal to him what she needed to do.
“Bonnie!” the man called out.
The blonde turned her attention to Perry and Jimmy. Lois took advantage of the distraction and grabbed the keys and door opener. At the same time, Perry threw the keys into the coupe and ran with Jimmy out of the garage just as Lois hit the door opener.
“Run!!” Perry pushed them toward Lois’ Jeep as they ran up the hill.
The sound of gunfire echoed inside the garage. Lois looked back in shock to see dents poking out but no holes from the bullets. “Bullet-proof?”
“Yeah, Alice wanted to make sure we had a place to go in case of an emergency, home invasion…That sort of thing. Never thought I’d need to use it. You got your mobile phone?”
Lois opened the door to her Jeep, climbing inside to hand it to him. Perry took a shaky breath and began to dial. A loud crash came from the garage.
“Chief, I think you better look at this,” Jimmy called out.
“Not now, I’m trying to remember the number to the ….”
“Duck!” Jimmy pushed them both inside the Jeep.
They looked up to see the coupe flying by with cracked wood from the garage door flying all over the place. Lois peeked up from the driver’s seat where she’d been pushed. “I hope you had insurance on that thing.”
Perry looked back at the hole in his garage door and muttered, “Alice is gonna wring my neck…”
***
Clark looked up at Lois’ empty desk for the hundredth time since he’d gotten in. It was well past nine which was when she usually got in. So far no call, no message. Nothing. The longer he waited, the more worried he got. Lois had a knack for finding trouble. Just as he was about to head for the stairwell to scan the city for her, she stepped off the elevator with Perry and Jimmy in full tirade.
“I don’t understand! How can you
not insure a car like that!” He smiled watching her light into Perry and Jimmy as they made their way down the ramp into the newsroom.
"Lois?" He approached her, Perry and Jimmy as they made their way toward Perry’s office. He asked approaching the trio as they made their way toward Perry's office. He did his best to suppress his growing anxiety over where she’d been all morning.
“Hi,” she smiled at him. He couldn’t suppress the grin as he got a good look at the dark gray, knee-high skirt and jacket she'd chosen to wear with a teal blouse. She looked beautiful.
Noting the presence of Jimmy and Perry watching them he cleared his throat, “Hi,”
She met his gaze, giving him a quick once-over with a half-smile before turning back toward Perry. He loved that smile. He'd seen her give him that half-smile all last night on their date and at her door when he'd been kissing her goodnight. He wanted to pursue where her train of thought was headed with that look, but he also wanted to know what had happened. He'd spent the last hour worried sick about her.
He did his best to keep his tone as neutral as possible and not give any clue about their budding relationship to Perry or Jimmy before Lois was ready. They had agreed to take things slow. Letting the whole office know they were dating before they’d had a chance to talk after last night wouldn’t exactly win him any points toward earning her trust back either. “Uh, where have you been all morning?
She threw Perry an annoyed look before turning back to him and giving him a once over with a half-smile. "Getting carjacked. How was your morning?"
"What???" “Lois, I don’t want to talk about it.” Perry argued, “Let it go.”
“Let it go?” Lois echoed, following Perry and Jimmy into the Editor-in-Chief’s office. “I’m not going to let it go. You were almost killed because you’d rather argue with carjackers instead of hand over the keys. Would you have taken a chance like that if you had bought the insurance?”
“No, probably not, but..”
Lois cut him off, “Of course you wouldn’t! You would…”
“Carjacked?” Clark interrupted her tirade. “Chief, are you all right?” He looked at Perry in concern, seeing the extra lines of worry on the man’s face.
“Fine. I’m fine. Jimmy’s fine. Lois is fine. Everyone made it out in one piece…and that’s’ all that’s’ important, right, Lois?” He eyed Lois with a stern gaze.
“Yes, everyone’s fine, and Perry got carjacked by Bonnie and Clyde.” Lois shot back with an even sterner gaze.
Clark, did his best to suppress a chuckle, “Bonnie and Clyde? Lois, they
died over sixty years ago.”
“Oh, but CK you weren’t there. They looked just like them. Had the accent, the clothes, the makeup…” Jimmy rambled. “It was insane.” He patted himself on the chest, “
I saved us.”
“Jimmy, go splash some water on your face,” Perry ordered.
Clark looked between Lois and Perry, uncertain where to even begin. How was it that Lois could find trouble so easily? Why hadn’t she called him? He’d been worried sick for the last hour. “I’m sorry, Chief, how did all this happen?”
Lois sighed, “I gave Jimmy a ride to Perry’s because his car wasn’t starting. When I got over there, we got held up by Bonnie and Clyde wannabes. We were able to trap them inside the garage, but unfortunately, they used the Chief’s collector coupe to break down the garage door and escape. Jimmy pushed us out of the way.”
Clark placed a protective arm around her. He still wasn’t sure what was okay and what wasn’t now. She didn’t pull back, so he assumed she was okay with him holding her after the ordeal. “Why didn’t you call me?” He asked in concern. “I could have….”
“Could have what?” Lois asked, eying Perry who was watching them with a critical eye.
Remembering he had an audience, he covered, “I could have…
helped.” He supplied, meeting her gaze with a half-smile.
“Well, son there wasn’t much anyone could do at that point. The police weren’t that optimistic about getting the car back.” Perry said with a sigh.
“The police don’t have any leads?” Clark asked hesitantly.
“No, they were too busy laughing at the description of Bonnie and Clyde to be of any help,” Lois explained, stepping away from him as she began to pace. “I think we need to check and see if there have been any crimes like this reported. A couple in their late-20’s dressing up as gangsters. They’d have to get the outfits from somewhere. You can’t get stuff like that off the rack anymore…”
Clark recalled the robbery Superman had helped out with last night, “There was a robbery last night. A man and woman described as ‘Bonnie and Clyde’ lookalikes held up a private gun collector. They got away with an arsenal of antique weapons. Tommy guns, Colt forty, five automatics…”
“I’d say that at least sounds like a connection.” Lois reasoned aloud, stopping mid-pace. She cracked a half-smile, but he couldn’t bring himself to return it. She’d yet again found trouble. Normally, he was with her and was able to help, or she called him. This time she hadn’t. What he couldn’t figure out was 'why.'
“See what you can dig up. That car was a piece of this paper’s history. It belonged to one of our great publishers…and more importantly,…it’s
not insured.”
Lois and Clark nodded, stepping out of Perry’s office. Lois turned to him after Perry’s door was closed, “So, where do you want to start?”
He looked around to see if anyone was watching, before guiding her toward the conference room, “Can I talk to you a minute?”
He opened the door for her, and she stared at him in disbelief, entering the conference room with a huff, “What is it?” she asked after he closed the door.
“Are you okay?” he asked, checking her for any sign of injury.
“Fine,” she said with a light laugh. “A little confused right now, but fine.”
“What’s this?” He knelt down to look at her, ankle where she had a small scrape.
“It’s nothing.” She reassured him.
He looked her over with his x-ray vision reassuring himself she was indeed okay before letting out a sigh of relief. “Why didn’t you call me?”
She looked at him in disbelief. “When was I supposed to call you? There was no time.”
“You could have gotten seriously hurt,” he pointed out taking a step toward her.
“I’ve survived a lot worse.” She reminded him.
“What if they’d shot you?” he asked in concern. “Lois, you could have been killed.”
“But I wasn’t.” Lois pointed out, holding up her hands for inspection. She crossed her arms over her chest pacing as she spoke, “I have been taking care of myself for quite some time. I know what to do when a gun gets pulled on me. The Chief’s the one you should be mad at. He could have just given them the keys and avoided the thousands of dollars of damage to his garage.”
“I’ll deal with him later,” Clark said, cutting her off. “Right now, I want to talk about why you didn’t call for help when someone pulled a gun on you guys like that. I would have been there in a heartbeat, and you know that.”
“Clark, I’m fine. It was no big deal." she shrugged it off, “These things happen. You can’t protect me from every bad thing that is going to happen any more than the police can protect Southside from Intergang.”
“They had
guns, Lois.” He said, taking a step toward her.
“They didn’t shoot me,” Lois reassured him, holding her hands up to prove her point. “Look, I know you’re upset but don’t you think you’re overreacting just a little bit?”
“No, I don’t,” he argued, taking her hand in his. “You should have called me.”
"I was dropping Jimmy off at Perry's. He lives in one of the safest neighborhoods in Metropolis. How was I supposed to know we'd get held up? It was just dumb luck." She fingered the lapels to his jacket with a smile. “That’s all.”
He looked down at her, seeing the flirtatious smile on her face. He was a goner, and he knew it. “Please try and be more careful.”
“I can try,” she reasoned aloud, “but you’ve also got to trust me to be able to handle the situation on my own too.”
“I
do trust you,” He argued.
“Clark, what do you think would have happened if I’d yelled ‘help Superman’ this morning?” she pressed, taking a step back from him as she crossed her arms over her chest.
Clark took a deep breath, frowning at the loss of contact, “I would have gotten there in time to stop these gangster-wannabes, and we wouldn’t have to chase them down. Perry’s garage would still be intact, and you never would have gotten hurt.”
“I think you give yourself too much credit.” She argued, placing a hand on his chest with a smile. “If I’d yelled, ‘Help Superman’ or anything like that I might as well have had a ‘Shoot Me’ sticker plastered on my forehead.”
“It never stopped you before,” He pointed out, sighing in relief as he felt her small frame press against him.
“When I couldn’t find any other way out, yes, I’ve yelled for help, but when I can get out of there without drawing attention to myself, I like to go that route.” She ran her hands up his chest, allowing her hands to finger the back of his neck as she continued, “Besides, there’s no guarantee on where you’d have been at the time. How do I know you’ll hear me? You could be on the other side of the world saving someone, and I wouldn’t know. I did what I had to do to get out of there.”
“Lois, I will
always come when you call me.” He whispered, stroking her cheek. “but I guess you have a point.”
“I know I do.” She grinned up at him. “You can say it. ‘You’re right, Lois.’”
He smirked at her, fighting the urge to kiss her. It was really hard to think straight when she was standing this close to him.
“Come on. You know you want to.” She teased in a sing-song voice.
“Fine, you’re right,” He said with a smirk.
“I know.” She leaned in to whisper a soft kiss against his lips. “I’m sorry I scared you.” She brushed her lips against his again, lingering a little bit longer this time. He moved his hands to the back of her head, holding her to him as he deepened the kiss.
“God, I’ve wanted to do that since I left you last night,” he murmured against her lips.
“Thank you for breakfast.” She whispered to him with a grin, breaking off the kiss, “Even if Jimmy did steal half of it.”
He chuckled, running his hands up and down her sides as he walked them away from the main window to the conference room. “You want me to get you some more? It’ll only take a few seconds.”
She fingered the lapels to his jacket, “No, knowing my luck Jimmy will find the bag again.”
Her hands moved to the back of his head, fisting his hair as he walked her back toward the corner of the conference room away from peering eyes. “We’re going to get caught.” He looked back toward the window behind them.
She giggled, tugging on the knot of his tie, “Makes it more fun.”
“You said you wanted to keep….” He stopped mid-sentence when she grinned at him, fingering the silk tie in her grasp. He loved seeing this side of her. His hands slipped around her waist, pulling her to him.
“I said a lot of things last night.” She murmured, fingering his hair as he held her to him. “Keeping it professional in the office is a lot harder than it sounds.”
“It was
your plan.” He pointed out, outlining her face with his palm.
“It was a dumb plan. A stupid plan.” She whispered, fingering the knot to his tie as she spoke. He chuckled against her as she mumbled, “Less talking.”
“Did you just call
your plan dumb?” he whispered in her ear.
“Yes,” she whispered softly, fingering the hair on the back of his neck flirtatiously, “Now, shut up and kiss me.”
Jimmy’s voice penetrated his thoughts, and he backed away from Lois, “Hey, Lois, there’s a…”
Lois moved away from him, taking a few steps back. Jimmy looked at them with an amused smile, “Am I interrupting something?”
“Nope,” Lois said hurriedly.
“Nothing,” Clark said at the same time.
“Uh-huh,” Jimmy stared between the two of them for a minute before finishing. “Right, well, Lois, there’s a Detective Wolf on line two.”
“Detective Wolf?” Lois asked, smoothing out the sides of her skirt and straightening her jacket.
“He said he was calling about the carjacking this morning.” Jimmy supplied, looking at his feet.
Clark did his best not to look at Jimmy as he straightened his tie.
“Oh,” Lois nodded, “We, uh,
I should go talk to him then.” She looked at Jimmy who was still staring at them with a big grin on his face. “What?”
Jimmy snickered, “Nothing. I didn’t say nuthin.” She didn’t move, and Jimmy cleared his throat, “Lois? Line two.”
“Right. I’m gonna just take that at my desk,” Lois said, rushing out of the conference room.
Jimmy cleared his throat watching Lois leave with a chuckle.
“What?” Clark asked, still not sure what Jimmy was laughing at.
“Nothing.” Jimmy shrugged.
“Okay,” Clark said, shaking his head as he headed into the newsroom to follow Lois.
“Yeah, CK, wait!” Jimmy nodded with a glint in his eye, patting him on the shoulder, “You might want to wipe the lipstick off first.”
Clark looked back at the young man in surprise, pulling his handkerchief out of his pocket to wipe his face. Sure enough, Lois’ lipstick appeared on the white cloth. There was no denying that.
“Don’t worry. I’m not going to say anything.” Jimmy shrugged. “You two might want to be a little more discreet though if you’re not telling anyone. Rumors fly fast.”
“Thanks, Jimmy,” Clark smiled at his young friend before heading out.
As he left the conference room, he overheard Jimmy talking to himself. “This place keeps getting stranger and stranger. Poor Mayson never had a chance….”
***
TBC...
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