Here we go
. May even finish this sucker tonight! Am thinking 25 or 26 parts - 25 may just be a long section as it's a Clark POV and I wanted to end it in Clark POV. So we're about halfway through
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Last timeShe looked up at him, tears in her eyes, pleading for understanding.
He nodded. "I think so."
"And he was right. I didn't want to sleep with him because we *weren't* going anywhere in the long run. So we both just cut our losses. Or I thought we did. He still has that picture. It was taken, literally, minutes before he proposed."
He let go of her hand and wrapped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her towards him as the tears began to flow.
"It's okay, Lois," he murmured into her hair. "I'm here. I'm right here."
*~*14*~*"How much longer?" he asked for the dozenth time in as many minutes.
Or at least it seemed like it.
Lois sighed. "It'll be dark enough to get out of here before long – maybe fifteen minutes or so and then we can head out."
Clark nodded and Lois stifled another sigh. After she'd broken down they'd sat there, saying not much of anything, for another nearly two hours. Clark's suggestion of a game of 'I Spy' had been met with silence.
Lois had never told anyone much about her break-ups with Lex and Dan. The only one who knew nearly as much was her mom – and by extension her dad. It made her feel vulnerable to have told Clark that much, even though he'd unwittingly entrusted her with his much bigger, much more potentially newsworthy, secret.
If there was one thing Lois Kent didn't like, it was feeling vulnerable.
She glanced at her watch again. She could barely make out the dial in the darkness. "Let's go," she said.
They carefully exited their haven, stretching tired muscles as they stood. They'd moved around as much as they could within the confines of their hiding place, but it hadn't been enough.
A few minutes later, they were on their way.
Fortunately, it was still light enough that they could see where they were going. They made it back to the creek, crossed, and skirted around the tree swings.
"Where are we going?" Clark asked as they walked.
"Back to the Irigs."
"What?" Clark grabbed her arm and swung her around to look at him. "Are you *in*sane?"
She glared at him. "Wayne and Maggie are still missing. Your ship is there. That green stuff is there and we need to get it away from the nutjob. We have to figure out what's going on around here."
She wrenched her arm away from him and pointed to her left. "If you head straight that way, you'll hit the road. Take a right, then a right at the next road and the drive to my house is on your right. See ya later, Superman."
She turned on her heel and walked off.
She could hear him give an exasperated sigh before his footsteps indicated that he was following her. She hitched her backpack a little higher, glad she'd had the foresight to get the headlamps out before setting off. She didn't *want* to have to use them but if they needed to...
They'd made it to the edge of the clearing around the Irig farmhouse when a loud 'crack' stopped Lois in her tracks.
"Well, look what we have here," a gruff voice behind her said as she heard the click of a gun.
Before she knew what was happening, they'd been shoved in the back of a nondescript van by Trask and one of his men.
"Don't say it," she warned Clark who was gingerly touching the bruise on his forehead. "I didn't have a choice."
"I know."
Lois closed her eyes and concentrated on the turns they were taking. Her stomach dropped as she realized that they were headed to Parsons Lake. Parts of the lake were extremely isolated. That wasn't good.
There were even a couple of cliffs tall enough that they could have 'accidentally' fallen over them to their deaths.
"I know who this guys is," Clark whispered suddenly.
"What?"
"I've been thinking about it. A couple days after Superman showed up, some guys pretending to be FBI agents and some – apparently real – military men showed up at the Planet with a fake warrant looking for information about Superman. I wasn't there when they showed up. I'd bet this is the same guy."
"Why didn't you tell me?" she hissed.
"I forgot all about it. They were only there about ten minutes. I never saw them."
Lois nodded.
The van lurched to a stop and a few seconds later, the doors were yanked open and they were pulled out.
Lois watched as Trask dragged Clark several feet away and near one of the cliffs she'd been afraid of.
Clark was biding his time, she was sure. Even without his powers, he was a pretty strong guy.
Trask squatted down next to him. "Where's Superman?"
Clark glared at him. "Even if I knew, I wouldn't tell you."
Lois winced as Trask stood upright and viciously kicked Clark in the stomach.
She felt the grip on her arm tighten slightly and she glanced at the man holding on to her. His face was set in a grim line and she wasn't entirely certain that he approved of what Trask was doing.
Maybe she could use that to her advantage.
Trask kicked Clark again. "Sergeant Bass, bring me that box," he called.
The man holding her hesitated.
"Ms. Kent won't move," the colonel glowered.
Her arm was released as the man went back to the van.
Like hell she wouldn’t move.
Trask turned his attention momentarily back to Clark who was groaning in pain.
Lois headed towards him, always mindful of the man behind her and the cliff on the other side of Clark and Trask.
She threw her first kick only to find it blocked by the bigger man.
"I'd say 'nice try', Ms. Kent, but it really wasn't."
She managed to hold her own for a few minutes against the much larger Colonel Trask.
"Open that box," Trask roared as Lois found herself on the ground with a 9mm pointed at her head.
Clark screamed in pain a second later.
The other guy must have opened it, she thought. She had to do *something* but what?
She was breathing heavily as she glanced around. Trask was no longer looking at her, but at Clark who was now *writhing* in pain.
"The alien took over your mind," he said almost to himself, lowering the gun fractionally.
Lois took her chance. She brought both feet up and kicked as hard as she could into Trask's gut. He stumbled backwards and she hopped up, following up with another blow.
Trask stumbled again.
She had one more shot. It wasn't what she wanted to do, but as the gun started to come up, she knew she had no choice.
She kicked out with her bad foot, knowing even as she did that it was going to hurt like the dickens.
A shot was fired as Trask disappeared over the ledge.
Lois screamed in pain as she slipped, following him over the side of the cliff.
*****
TBC
