Here comes Clark's side of the story.Fools Rush In
It was Clark’s favorite time of the year, well usually. But even all the Christmas decoration around him didn’t help to get him in the right mood. Clark was just too preoccupied. He sat at his desk and browsed through some folders in front of him. He had settled for normal speed. The newsroom was quite busy with reporters who were trying to get their articles written before the deadline. Besides, doing things the old fashioned way left him some time to think.
“Tonight’s the big night, isn’t it?” Cat suddenly purred in his ear
.
Her hand came to rest on Clark’s shoulder as she bent forward to have a look at the folders. Startled, he turned his head to look at her. Cat grinned at him and ran her free hand along Clark’s jawline. She gave his chin a slight push to shut his mouth.
“Don’t worry, Sweety, I’m not talking about us.” Cat straightened again and sat down on the edge of Clark’s desk with a smirk on her face. “I’m talking about you and Lois. Rumor has it that you set up your date for tonight.”
“How do you know?” Clark managed to croak. He had no intention of discussing his private life with Cat.
“Are you kidding me?” Cat replied. “The whole newsroom is placing bets on whether Lois is going to go through with it and if she does, whether you’re still going to work here on Monday.” She chuckled. “She didn’t already cancel, or did she? I’m one of the few people who set their money on this date actually taking place.”
“Not yet,” Clark said quietly. He tried his best not to mull over the fact that his colleagues were placing bets on whether or not Lois and he were going out.
To him, it still felt like a weird dream. She had barely come around to consider him as a partner. The chances of Lois agreeing on a date had been slim to none existent even before the pheromone debacle. He was grateful that she was still talking to him at all. Good thing she had come to her senses before he had lost the battle with his raging hormones. He strongly doubted he would have survived the aftermath, kryptonite or no kryptonite.
And after all this, Lois had accepted to go out on a date with him. Granted, it had taken drastic measures to accomplish that. But perhaps shoving a giant meteorite from its deathly course
was the cosmic equivalent of hell freezing over.
Of course, Clark’s bout of amnesia had helped along quite impressively. The night before the meteorite had been about to hit, they had been sitting in the newsroom together. Perry, Jimmy, Cat, Lois and Clark - all of them had hoped that Superman would return in time. But at the same time they had felt the need to say goodbye to the world as they knew it, their friends and colleagues, the Daily Planet. For Clark, it had been odd because he didn’t remember any of it, save for his connection to Lois.
Somehow the conversation had led to all four of them confessing what they would like to do if by some miracle they would survive. Perry and Jimmy had decided to go fishing, Cat had settled for making a long journey, Lois had wanted to fly with Superman. And Clark had asked for a date with Lois.
Clark didn’t think he would have been so bold if he hadn’t lost his memory. If it hadn’t been for death looming over them, Lois probably wouldn’t have agreed either. Admittedly, he was surprised that she hadn’t already called the whole thing off. But maybe that was only a matter of time. Lois had been avoiding him all day.
“Well, I’m going to make sure that she won’t change her mind,” Cat said confidently. She stood up from his desk and walked off towards the lady’s room, merrily whistling some Christmas song Clark didn’t quite recognize. He knew that Lois had been spending the past ten minutes there, surely in another attempt to keep as far away from him as possible.
Clark was alarmed. “Cat, what do you have in mind?”
He jumped up from his seat to follow her through the newsroom as quickly as he dared. The last thing he wanted was to cause a scene. Still, Clark felt quite a few pairs of eyes in the back of his neck as he hurried past Cat to step in her way.
“Please don’t,” he begged. “You’re only going to make it worse.”
With a wave of her hand Cat brushed Clark’s objection aside. “Don’t worry. I’m on your side.“ She lowered her voice conspiratorially. “Besides, I feel like I owe you one for making you believe that we were, well… involved.”
Strangely, Cat sounded sincere. For a brief moment, she allowed Clark another glimpse of the real Cat Grant. The woman who actually meant just sweat pants and a t-shirt when she talked about putting on something more comfortable. Clark had had the privilege of spending a whole evening with this more natural version of Cat. Frankly, he liked this real Cat a whole lot better than the role she played all day.
She patted his chest. “Trust me, Sweety.”
Back into her usual role, Cat walked off with her hips swaying. On her way, she waved at Mandy from City Desk. For a moment they seemed to make some silent arrangement, which only fueled Clark’s concern. But short of picking Cat up and dragging her away from the lady’s room, there wasn’t much Clark could do about it.
He let out a last cry of protest. “Cat!”
Clark knew very well that it would be in vain. He watched her helplessly as she passed the door that was off limits to him. His hand involuntarily reached out to lower his glasses. But he pushed them back up before he actually used his x-ray vision. He didn’t want to know what was going on behind that door. There was no way that his secret dreams of a life with Lois were going to survive the night, anyway. It was really no use making his life any more difficult than it already was.
Clark strolled back to his desk with his shoulders slumped. Truth be told, he was almost hoping Lois would call this date off. This was too much too soon. Had he been in his right mind, he would have known how dangerous it was to push Lois. She didn’t care much about this date. She was just worried about the effect it would have on their partnership or on Clark’s ability to get past it, if it didn’t work out. For the life of him, Clark couldn’t think of a place to go, a movie or a play to watch that could make her relax into enjoying this evening. If he didn’t play this right, his name would have made it on her list of federal disasters. Months of carefully approaching her would have been for nothing.
Clark had a strong sense of impending doom. He wished he hadn’t taken her flying as Superman. Then maybe she wouldn’t feel obliged to keep her end of the bargain.
A noise pulled Clark out of his reverie. It was the resounding thud of the door as Lois left the Lady's room in a hurry. She rushed towards the coffee maker. Clark watched as she fixed herself a cup. He cringed inwardly as Lois took three spoons of sugar and an unhealthy dose of full fat cream. Then she returned to her desk and did a lousy job of pretending to get back to work. It was heart-wrenching to see her suffer like that. Cat had to have done quite a number on her.
After agonizing minutes of watching her, Clark couldn’t take it anymore and walked over to her desk.
"Lois? Are you okay?" he prodded carefully.
Broaching the topic was much like flying into an asteroid field. And he could honestly say that he had already been close to one of them at least one time to many.
Lois looked up, flabbergasted. "Why wouldn't I be?" she said a bit too quickly to be convincing.
"You have been staring into space for the past ten minutes," Clark replied gently. "Usually, that means something is on your mind. Look, we don't have to do it - go out I mean. I'm not going to hold you to your promise, if you feel uncomfortable about it."
"Clark, I am very well capable of going out on a date with you," she spat.
Her whole demeanor left little doubt that she considered this date a fight she was willing to take on. After all, Mad Dog Lane never gave up. She always dug her teeth right in, no matter the cost. Though this was something Clark loved about Lois, he wished she wouldn’t be quite so pig-headed.
"Okay, then I'm going to pick you up at seven o'clock?" Clark tried his best to sound light-hearted. He smiled because he really didn’t know what else to do.
"Don't be such a boy scout," she retorted warningly. "I own the car. I'm going to pick you up."
Clark just nodded and returned to his desk before he, however inadvertently, made things any worse than they already were. He glanced at his clock. There were only a few hours left. Not much time to think of a way to appease Lois.
Cat chose that moment to walk past Clark’s desk. She stopped beside him and leaned in to give him a free view of her ample cleavage.
She grinned. "Having second thoughts?” she said in a seductive voice. “I'm still available for tonight."
“Cat!” Clark let out an exasperated sigh. “Would you please stop doing that?”
She pouted. “Okay, okay. I was just wondering if you’ve already picked out a restaurant?”
Clark shook his head. “I was thinking about Callard’s.”
He felt his cheeks blushing at the lie. The truth was that he hadn’t yet dared to choose a place.
“You do know it’s December, Clark?” Cat asked. ”Every restaurant in Metropolis is overbooked with company Christmas parties.”
Clark stared at her in shock. He hadn’t thought about that.
“Don’t worry.” Cat winked at him. “I know a place.”
Out of the corner of his eyes Clark noticed that Lois was staring daggers at him. Clark broke out in cold sweat.
“Cat!” he pleaded. Clark didn’t know for what, exactly. That she would stop interfering with his date or that she would help him save it. His mouth was unspeakably dry all of a sudden.
Cat rolled her eyes. “Come on, Clark. Trust me. It’s not that kind of place. Clothing
is required.”
To be concluded in Don't Play Me For A Fool
