Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Lois & Clark Fanfic Missing Lois: Chapter 2 - The Twilight Zone (5/8)

Missing Lois - TOC

Author's Note: Just a reminder Lois has told Sam Lane that she is his other daughter, Lucy Lane, aka Lois Lane's sister. She calls her Clark, Kal, except when writing in her diary, then she calls Alternate Clark, Kal. Everyone else in the alternate dimension thinks she is Lucy El (wife of Kal El), an old college friend of Clark's.

You can refresh your memory on what happened last time by clicking this link: Chapter 2: Part 4


Chapter 2: The Twilight Zone - Part 5

Day 9

Dearest Clark, you’re alive. You’re alive. Thank God, you are alive. The last 48 hours of you bouncing between life and death have been sheer torture. Please, promise me that you won’t die on me ever again! I couldn’t take another weekend like this one. I guess, you couldn’t either. I’m glad to hear that Lord Nor will no longer pose a threat to Smallville and Earth as a whole. I did a dance around my living room this morning after learning that the Kryptonians were going home and leaving you here with me. About time. I don’t think Earth could survive much longer with all those Kryptonians destroying everything.

Well, now we can concentrate on our wedding, our future. I hope H. G. Wells comes up with a solution to save us from… well… our honeymoon curse. I’m looking forward to officially being Mrs. Clark Kent. Personally, I’m getting sick of Lucy El. It’s getting especially confusing over here, because I told my father that I’m his other daughter, Lucy Lane. He knows about you… kind-of. He knows I’m married to a man named Kal El, who left our honeymoon to help save innocent people from being massacred during a civil war. He thinks you are in Berkistan. And once you, my stand-in, and H.G. Wells fix the curse, I can say good-bye to this dimension for good. And come home.

I still haven’t gained any weight. Actually, my Dad weighed me yesterday morning and I’ve lost three pounds. Don’t worry, he says that’s normal with some pregnancies – especially with people with sensitive stomachs like mine. Anyway, if we can fix this curse, maybe I can return to you right away. I know Kal’s itching to be rid of me. I’m driving him nuts. More on that later. I miss you so much. I just want to be held in your arms and never leave.

I slept most of the weekend. Needless to say, Friday night when they disintegrated you, I didn’t get much sleep. I’ve informed my father of my condition and he has conditionally agreed to be my doctor. Thankfully, he’s been sober since seeing me on TV during the mayoral debate. He thought that his Lois was alive and well and it shocked enough to give up booze. One of the reasons he dislikes Kal so much is because he didn’t contact him after Lois Lane showed up at The Planet.

Oh, I didn’t tell you. Kal is totally in love with Lois Lane. HIS Lois – not me. Even though he’s never met her. It seems that Perry assigned Kal on the initial team he sent to the Congo to look for Lois after she disappeared. He searched everywhere for three weeks and found nada. Not that the locals with whom Lois had been speaking about the gun running story would talk. I had a horrible time getting them to speak with me at first, too. Did I ever tell you that after I found a shipment of guns that were supposed to be destroyed by the UN were actually being shipped elsewhere, I tried to crawl into a crate to find out where they were going. But I got caught and deported back to Metropolis. But that’s another story.

Anyway, when Kal got back home, he kept up with the story. He read and reread all of her old articles. He interviewed all her family, friends and colleagues and even a few of her old sources. (How he discovered who they were, who knows? I guess he’s quite the investigative reporter. I mean, of course, Clark Kent is a terrific investigative reporter – even without Lois Lane. Love you. Think you’re wonderful.)

Perry used to tell him Lois Lane anecdotes like our Perry tells Elvis stories (Did I tell you that Elvis used to be president here and is still alive and well?) When the story seemed dead, the previous owner of the paper used Lois Lane’s “death” as extra publicity. Perry’s, Sam’s, and Kal’s were the few lone voices against placing the tombstone in the graveyard. Kal promised Sam at that point that he would never give up looking for Lois. He had fallen in love with me… I mean, with THIS dimension’s Lois. And you know what a promise from a Clark Kent means. It means forever.

Then another year passed and still no new leads. Kal continued to work on the story on his own, but then – and I’m guessing here, because I wouldn’t dare presume to ask Kal – Lana gave him the old relationship ultimatum, so he caved and proposed. In a way, by agreeing to marry Lana, he was giving up on HIS Lois and it shattered him, his hope. Not to mention, it pissed off Sam Lane, who thought that Kal had given up his daughter for dead. Then I showed up – when Tempus kidnapped me – and all those old Lois Lane feelings started blowing around again. Lana gave him the ‘it’s me or Superman’ ultimatum – she really likes things her way, doesn’t she? I also don’t think she liked me much or how much Kal listened to me.

You know, Clark, it is really hard to write to you about this, because I don’t want you to be jealous of Kal. I want you to know what I know. I don’t want you to think I have any secrets from you. Kal is a sweet man, but when I look at him, I don’t see you anymore – I see your twin brother. You know that, don’t you? I bet I could even tell the difference between you, if you were standing side-by-side. There’s a slight difference around the eyes and I don’t mean that he wears completely different glasses… well, he does, but that’s beside the point.

So, to make a long story even longer. After I got here, this time, things were awkward at first. I love and miss you and he looks like you. He loves HIS Lois and I’m as close as he’s ever gotten to his Lois. I told you before, he’s become quite the Mother Hen. He needed something to distract him from taking care of me. Because he was driving me bonkers. So, I decided that he needed some more experience with women. I could be wrong, but I think Lana was the only woman he’s ever dated.

So, on Friday, you’ll never guess who walked into the bullpen… You’ll never guess, so I’ll tell you. Mayson Drake. It gave me quite a fright. But then I remembered the chemistry between the two of you. And, personally, it was quite disturbing how easy it was to convince him to ask her out on a date. Not too surprising on how quickly she accepted. If I recall, correctly, she made the first move with you, too. Or did she? And, now, I’m going crazy, wondering what would have happened if she hadn’t had died in that car explosion. Clark, I am being crazy, right? Being jealous of a dead woman. You wanted me, right? I wasn’t a consolation prize, was I?

Lois reread the words she had written to Clark. It was just awful. She couldn’t give him that letter. No matter how she worded it, it sounded bad. Either it sounded like she liked the other Clark too much or he liked her too much. That wasn’t the feeling she wanted to convey to her Clark. Especially not in the letter where she was telling him how thankful she was that he was alive. She still felt terribly guilty about betraying him the other night with this Clark. She was only too thankful that this Clark had stopped her. She could tell he hadn’t wanted to stop, but he had anyway.

She tore out two pages of the notebook. The first page describing Clark’s love of his Lois she wadded up and tossed at the trash can next to the dresser. She overshot and it bounced off the rim and fell behind the can. The second describing her efforts at matchmaking and how they had backfired on her, actually made it into the can. She reread the letter as it stood, ending with her description of her father sobering up after seeing her and Clark at the debate. She continued writing the letter from that point.

Kal had promised never to stop searching for Lois and then he forgot to contact Sam Lane when she showed up. At least that’s how it looked to my father. And you know what a promise from Clark Kent means… it means forever.

Marry me, Clark. Marry me, so I can come home to you. I miss you with my whole being. I promise you my heart forever, Clark. Yours always, LL

***

The week passed uneventfully. Clark walked Lois to work. Sam acknowledged Clark’s existence and even called him by name. It was an improvement from ‘that man,’ but Clark felt he was still on probation.

Lois herself, in Clark’s eyes, had started to glow. She still couldn’t hold down much food and he had to cover for her a couple of times when she bolted from the room. But, strangely, everyone at work seemed to take it in stride. As far as they knew that was just another facet of her weird personality.

Clark stepped off the elevator and stood at the railing, holding Lois’s smoothie. He had trouble keeping his eyes off her recently. He wondered if she seemed to glow from the pregnancy or because she was so happy that she almost floated on air. Kal and the younger Lois were once again planning their wedding in her dreams.

This morning, she hadn’t heard a word he had said; her mind was elsewhere. On Kal. She was even humming. He had never heard Lois hum before. Was that even usual for her? He recognized the tune, but couldn’t place it.

Lois floated by, humming, and took the smoothie from Clark.

“Thanks, Clark. Hi-ya, Mayson.” She continued to her desk, humming.

Clark turned, noticed Mayson, and smiled. “This is a surprise.”

“I thought I’d take you to lunch as an apology for bolting from dinner the other night.”

His smile grew into a grin at his words. “Duty called. I understand.”

When he had groaned about it to Lois yesterday morning, Kal’s fiancée had laughed and laughed.

“Turnabout is hard, isn’t it, Clark?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” he asked.

“Oh, gee, her beeper rang and she had to run off without notice, with a lame excuse or without explanation at all? I wonder what that’s like?” She laughed louder. “It’s not like you ever disappear without a moment’s notice when duty calls.” She slugged him in the arm. “And what kind of investigative reporter are you? She’s a detective and she gets called away unexpectedly, shouldn’t you follow her to see if there’s a story there? I guess some investigative reporters need to turn it on when they’re off duty.”

“I’d love lunch,” he said to Mayson.

“I thought Lucy was your assistant. Why are you fetching her drinks?”

“We’re colleagues, friends, and I was out anyway…”

“And I thought you had super hearing,” she teased. “Didn’t you hear me calling for you to hold the elevator?”

Clark gulped. He hadn’t heard her. He had been thinking of Lois and wondering how long before she was going to disappear back to her dimension.

Mayson followed his gaze to Lois. “I see.” She stepped between them, so Clark couldn’t see Lois unless he used his x-ray vision. “Where were you last night? I tried calling.”

Clark blinked, surprised by the question. “California. Forest fire.”

Mayson relaxed. “Oh, I thought…” she cut herself off, glancing over her shoulder at Lois, who was happily typing at her desk.

“Thought what?”

“That maybe you and Lucy had taken in the revival of My Fair Lady with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Michelle Kwan.”

He laughed. “Why would you think that? Do I seem like the musical theater type?”

“Well, Lucy was humming, ‘I’m getting married in the morning’…”

He jerked his head to look at Lois. “Well, she was always quirky like that.” He placed a light kiss on Mayson’s lips. “Shall we go?”

She nodded. Once they were standing in the elevator, she asked, “What was that for?”

“What was what?”

“The kiss.” She raised an eyebrow. No slipping anything past Mayson.

“Oh, that.” Clark smiled weakly. “For telling me the name of the song she was humming. It would have bothered me all day.” He pulled Mayson into his arms. “And this one is for you.” Clark pressed a deeper kiss on her lips. No fireworks, but still nice.

Mayson was smiling when the doors of the elevator opened. He needed to forget about Lois, even for an hour. He needed to focus on his life and people who cared for him.

A half-hour later, he set down his last French fry and tried once more to get Mayson to reveal where she had gone the other night.

“No, Clark. You’ve got your secrets. I’ve got mine. Now, let’s talk about something else or I’ll think it was just a reporter agreeing to lunch.”

“Sorry.” He truly was. So much for focusing on his private life. “So, tell me about Mayson Drake.”

Clark really tried to concentrate on what she was saying, but he felt a change in the air. Like it was thicker, like time or history was shifting and through this sludge, he could hear Lois’s voice softly echoing, growing fainter, calling to him.

“Lois?” he murmured.

“What?” Mayson asked and time slammed back into focus.

He could hear Lois clearly now. “I’ve got to go,” he said kissing her on the cheek. “Lucy’s in trouble.”

Mayson stood up, reaching for her purse. “I’ll come…” she said before a strong breeze knocked her back into her seat. Clark was gone. “… with you.”

***

Lois glanced up and saw Clark watching her. He didn’t look happy. She was sorry about that. Here she was on the verge of having all her dreams come true and he was going to lose Lois once again.

Oooh, he had brought her a smoothie. What a sweetie. He looked too distracted to deliver her drink, so she decided to get it herself. As she stood up, Mayson arrived. And poor Clark was oblivious to her.

“Thanks, Clark,” Lois said. “Hi-ya, Mayson.” She took the smoothie and continued to hum back to her desk. That should wake Clark up.

“I’m getting married in the morning,” Lois hummed.

It was so nice of Jimmy… James to invite her to the opening night of My Fair Lady. She couldn’t resist what she was sure was going to be a catastrophe. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Michelle Kwan? They both sang and danced beautifully. And there was even a melodic British accent emerging from Arnold’s mouth. She felt like she had stepped into The Twilight Zone.

Lois had only agreed to go with Jimmy because he said his date had canceled at the last minute. She established that she would only go under two conditions. First, they were to go as friends, because she didn’t date the boss, and secondly, she was allowed to call him something other than Mr. Olsen. He tried to renegotiate the first point and lost. For the second condition, she tried for Jimmy, but they settled on James. No matter where she went or how she dressed, men crawled after her begging her to go out with them. She was beginning to think she was cursed in more ways than one.

She had another reason to be happy, besides her upcoming wedding. Jimmy had informed her that there had indeed been a bug in Clark’s phone and on his computer, and one on hers, as well. So, her theory of Jaxon being a spy was proven true. Ten points to the visiting investigative reporter!

Jimmy, whom they thought had been absent from the newsroom, apparently was doing some of his own investigative work on his computer. The bugs had been removed a day after she started work at theDaily Planet. Currently, Jimmy was checking into Jaxon’s computer and his programs to see what he was up to. He was still slogging through the mountains of data he had collected from Jaxon’s computer, but nothing concrete had appeared. It still seemed random. She volunteered to help him and Jimmy lit up. She wondered if it was because she had validated his research project or because misery loved company. She didn’t want to even consider the other, probably more obvious, reason.

She glanced back at Clark and Mayson by the elevators. Clark reached over and kissed Mayson, and her heart sunk. He wasn’t her Clark, she reminded herself. Her Clark still loved her and was planning a wedding for this very afternoon. Any minute now. This Clark had no Lois, but he had Mayson.

Her phone rang. “The Daily Planet, Research.”

“Where’s Clark Kent?” The woman demanded.

“Lunch. Can I help you with something?”

“Who are you?”

“Lucy El, Clark Kent’s research assistant,” she replied.

“He has his own research assistant?” the woman asked, snidely.

Lois took a deep breath. “How can I help you?”

“Take a message. Tell him that a Hurricane is in Singapore and needs his help.”

That was a strange message, but she wrote it down. “Singapore is in the Pacific and has typhoons, not hurricanes, but I’ll pass on the message. Can I tell him who called?”

The line was dead.

“Hello? Hello?” Lois shrugged and hung up the phone. Odd.

She picked up the phone to call his beeper and happened to glance up at the TV running in the corner of the office. It showed that the weather in Asia was hot and clear, no typhoons. What in the world? She hung up the phone, shook her head, and tossed the note into a box marked: Clark. He got the strangest messages.

“He just left with Mayson Drake,” Jaxon was saying at the next desk.

Lois stiffened. Who was Jaxon talking to? What was their interest in Clark and Mayson? She opened her purse and pulled out a compact. Using the mirror, she watched him talk on his cell phone. He was talking softly, but she could hear him clearly. This super hearing she had developed sure came in handy.

“So,” came the reply on the other end of the phone. It didn’t sound like Lex Luthor.

“I told you, Junior, he’s not dating Lucy El. They are just friends. Call Trask and cancel the test.”

Lois felt a chill go down her spine. Her mouth felt dry. What test? Did this test have something to do her? Who was Junior? She hadn’t come across a Junior related to Lex. Someone new?

“The Neuroscanner stopped working when he appeared. She was looking at his face. He will tell me who that imposter is or I’ll kill everyone he loves.”

“I don’t care if she’s messing with your invention. Call the sharpshooter off. It has nothing to do with Lucy.”

Lois felt dizzy. This Junior character was going to try to kill her. Clark could not stop bullets when he was across town. She closed the compact and scanned the newsroom. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Wait, sharpshooters worked from a distance. She needed to put something between her and the windows.

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Kryptonians were telepathic. Maybe he could hear her if she tried hard enough. “Clark! Help! Clark!” she called out with her mind. Nothing. Her hands were twitching. She couldn’t relax enough.

She stood up. Where should she go? Maybe they wouldn’t shoot her if she were too close to Jaxon. She sat back down and rolled her chair closer to him. He pointed to his phone, but she rolled even closer.

“Jaxon, I’m starving. Want to do lunch?”

His jaw dropped and he nodded, holding up a finger.

“Okay. Okay.” She waved. “Some other time then.” She felt strange. She rolled back to her desk. Light headed. Weak. Dizzy, again. Maybe Junior wasn’t hitting her with bullets. She grabbed her smoothie, she needed something cool to drink, but she couldn’t pick it up. It was too heavy. She tried to pick up her phone to dial Clark’s beeper, but her hand wasn’t working.

“Clark,” she whispered. “Clark, help!” She held up her hand and it was transparent.

This wasn’t Junior’s doing. Something was happening to her younger self. She was being erased from time. She had seen it happen once before, when they had visited Clark as a baby.

Lois stood up and called him louder, “Clark!” She couldn’t tell if she was being loud at all. “Clark! Help, Superman!” As the room started to spin, she heard the crashing of glass and something grazed her shoulder. Someone yelled behind her and she collapsed. The world went black, but she could still hear echoing sounds as if through a long tunnel.

“I’ve been shot! That idiot Trask missed her and shot me, you bungling birth defect!”

Suddenly, there was a rush of air and she was flying. Was she dead?

“Lois? Lois?” Clark was whispering to her.

“Clark.” She reached up and caressed his face. “You came.” Then she passed out.

***

Sounds returned first. Her whole body tingled, ached. Oh, yeah. The Wedding Destroyer electrocuted her. Her mouth was dry. Where was Clark?

“Clark?” she whispered.

She felt the floor shift and realized she was lying on a bed, not the church floor. He squeezed her hand.

“I’m right here, Lois.”

“Did you catch her?” Her voice felt rough.

“Who?” He sounded anxious.

“The Wedding Destroyer.”

He made a sound, but Lois didn’t catch it’s meaning.

“I’m jinxed, aren’t I? My first wedding to Luthor… Did I ever tell you why I didn’t go through with my wedding with Lex?”

“No.”

“I got all the way up to the altar and I realized I loved you. And I couldn’t marry him, if I loved you, could I?”

“Um… Lois…”

“Then of course, Henderson and Perry barged through the door with arrest warrants for him and he ended up jumping to his death. Then the whole clone wedding mess. And, now, strike three. Electrocuted by the Wedding Destroyer with my own wedding ring. I’m jinxed, I tell you. I’m never going to have a happily ever after.”

“Sure you will, Lois. And it will be a beautiful wedding.”

“So, do you still want to marry this jinx?”

Clark paused. “Uh… Lois…”

“Fine. You’re having second thoughts. I can understand that.” She rolled over in bed, putting her back to him. “While you are thinking about that, let me tell you about my bizarre dream. You’ll get a kick out of this.” She felt Clark wipe a tear off her cheek.

“I was in the alternate dimension with the other Clark. He’s a really great guy, but it wasn’t like being with you…”

“Lois.”

“Because he didn’t love me like you do. He did love me, but more like a sister, like family. He’s in love with his Lois and I was a watered down version, I guess. Same great taste, less filling.”

Clark chuckled.

“Oh, that sounded bad.” Lois laughed. “Anyway…”

“Lois,” Clark tried interrupting again.

She turned back over and placed her fingers on his lips. “Hush.” His face was damp. “Did you take a shower?”

“No, Lois.”

“Your face is wet. Is it raining?”

“No, Lois.” He took a deep breath. “I was worried about you. I was afraid…”

“Oh, Clark.” She pulled him down for a hug. “I’m okay. I ache, though, especially my shoulder.” She touched her right shoulder.

“Did something happen to your shoulder?” She could feel him examining her.

“I was electrocuted, remember?”

“So, you said. Tell me more about what happened in the dimension with the other Clark.” His voice sounded funny, odd, nervous.

“I was working as a researcher at The Planet. You know, Jimmy’s job.”

“Uh-huh.”

“We really need to have Perry give him a raise…”

“What happened at the Daily Planet, Lois?”

“Oh, right. I set the other Clark up with Mayson.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Mayson Drake.”

“I know who she is, Lois.”

“Of course, you do. In my dream, she was a detective, not a D.A. like in our reality and she was still alive. Nice as ours, but still didn’t trust me. I tried to keep an open mind, you know, but it brought back those old feelings, seeing them together. Though he’s not you and she’s not her, I can’t help but wonder what would have happened, if she hadn’t died. Would you have chosen her instead?”

“Lois, don’t you worry about such things. Your Clark loves you.”

“I know you do.” She squeezed his hand.

“Lois, did something happen at the Daily Planet?”

“Oh, right. Jaxon Xavier was there. You remember him.” She shivered. “I still cannot believe we had our most intimate conversation in his virtual reality machine. How you admitted that I’d be your first…”

“Lois!” Clark gasped.

“Sorry. I wonder if the other Clark waited, too. Or if he and Lana…”

“Lois!” This time his voice squeaked.

“You’re absolutely right, Clark. None of my business.”

“Yes. None of your business,” Clark agreed with her.

She chuckled, patting his hand. “Now, don’t be jealous, Clark. It was only a dream.”

He cleared his throat. “Tell me more.”

“Well, today… I was there in the alternate dimension a long time. Several weeks. How long was I passed out?”

“A couple of hours,” he whispered. “I couldn’t wake you.”

“Wow. I must have been tired; dying really wears a girl out. Where was I? Oh, right, after Mayson took Clark to lunch, I overheard Jaxon talking on his cell phone.”

“Overheard him? Was he being careless?”

“No. I think because of the pregnancy I developed super hearing. Some defense mechanism, huh? Didn’t you tell me about some animals that …”

“What?!” He seemed startled.

“Oh, right. I didn’t tell you that part. The reason I’m in the alternate dimension is because the night before you left with the New Kryptonians, we made love and I got pregnant.” She sighed. “Mmmm. That was the best part of the dream.”

“Lois.”

“Just thinking about our honeymoon, Clark.” She moaned.

Clark cleared his throat. “Ah… Lois.”

“I know. I know. Have to get married to have a honeymoon.” She sighed, again. “Let’s get married, tonight.”

“Lois! You’re making me a bit uncomfortable here.”

“I know, Clark. I can’t help it if I find you irresistible.”

“You’ve had enough excitement for one day.”

Lois yawned. “Yeah. Electrocution can zap the energy right out of a girl. I wouldn’t want to fall asleep on you.”

“That would be bad.”

“Yes, it would.” She yawned again, shifting further away from him. “Come and hold me.”

Clark hesitated. “That’s all, Lois. Don’t try anything.” He lay down next to her.

“You make me sound like a tease.”

“Lois,” he whispered in her ear. “What was Jaxon saying on the phone?”

With his warmth against her, Lois relaxed into drowsiness. “Oh, Jaxon was talking to someone called Junior. They were planning some kind of test for Superman and Jaxon was trying to convince him to stop it.”

“Really? Why?”

“I don’t know. I think he has a crush on me. Junior was convinced I had something to do with some invention of his that wasn’t working right. I didn’t understand what they were talking about. Anyway, I guess there was a sharpshooter pointing at me…”

Clark stiffened.

“And Jaxon was trying to convince this Junior guy I was the wrong target because Clark, the other Clark, was dating Mayson, not me.”

“Mayson?!” Clark sat up.

“Clark, is everything okay?”

“That’s some dream, Lois. Why don’t you get some rest.”

“Okay, Clark. Promise me you’ll marry me when I wake up.”

“Maybe I’m marrying you right now in your dreams.”

Lois snuggled deeper into the blankets. “Yeah. Marry me in my dreams, first.”

Clark kissed her cheek and then she heard the rush of wind and he was gone.

“Marry me in my dreams, Clark Kent,” she murmured before she fell back asleep.

***

Superman flew up to one of the giant windows overlooking the newsroom at the Daily Planet. A yellow crime scene tape surrounded the research desks of Lucy and Jaxon. Mayson stood there talking with a crime scene tech. A bullet hole had penetrated the big window next to Clark. He swooped in and hovered next to Mayson.

Startled, Mayson glanced over at him with chagrin. “Well, look at who decided to join us.”

“Hi, Mayson.”

“Don’t touch anything, Superman. I wouldn’t want you to contaminate my crime scene.”

Clark closed his eyes and sighed. “Mayson, I need to talk to you.”

“I can’t talk to you, right now. I’m working.” She turned away from him.

“Mayson, please. It’s important.”

“Important, huh? So, I should drop everything that I’m working on, because none of this…” She held her arms out to the crime scene. “… is important?”

“Of course this is important, but…”

“Really? Because you don’t treat my work as important, Superman.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You swooped in here, rescued Lucy and took her… where exactly? Do you always rescue one victim and leave another bleeding on the floor? How super of you.”

Clark looked confused. “Someone else was shot?”

“Jaxon Xavier. He’s over at Metropolis University Hospital with a nice hole through his shoulder. Not that you care, Superman. Where’s Lucy?”

“Resting. Jaxon was shot? I didn’t know, Mayson.” He had been so completely focused on Lois that he hadn’t even looked around when he flew in and out earlier.

“That doesn’t surprise me. When it comes to Lucy, you have tunnel vision.” She glowered at him.

“Mayson, that’s not fair.”

“Fair? Don’t talk to me about fair. Where have you been? Have you been searching for the shooter? Well?”

He swallowed as he took a breath. “Mayson, I’m here now.”

She waved her hand in the air. “Thanks for coming, Superman. But you can leave now. I’ve got work to do.”

Superman landed next to her, imploring, “I need to talk to you.”

Mayson stared him directly in the eyes. “Get out of my face, Superman. If you want to talk to me send Clark Kent. From him, I’ll accept an apology.”

What was it with people hating the blue suit all of a sudden? Superman stepped back as Mayson went back to surveying the trajectory of the bullet. He looked at the angle of entry the crime scene tech had indicated. He scanned through the window and saw that it ended at a building across the way. Scanning the building, he saw something metallic covered by a tarp on the roof. He looked back at Mayson with pursed lips, before flying out the window he had entered. Superman returned a moment later with a flak jacket, which he handed to her.

She looked down at the bullet proof vest with confusion and then at him.

“Put that on and let me fly you over to the building where the shooter was positioned.” He crossed his arms over his chest as she stared at him. “Please.”

“Superman, I don’t need…”

“For Clark,” he asked quietly.

With reluctance, she put on the vest. “We could just walk.”

Superman cradled her in his arms. “This is quicker,” he said, lowering his voice. “And Clark would like to have some time alone with you tonight.”

A hint of a smile flashed across her mouth. “I don’t know about this,” she said as they lifted into the air. She wrapped her arms around his neck.

“Trust me, Mayson.”

She squeezed her eyes shut tight as they passed through the open window and flew to the building across the way. He landed and set her feet down. Her eyes were still closed and she still held tightly around his neck.

“Mayson?”

She expelled a rough breath and loosened her hold on him. “Sorry.”

“Wait here,” he said and stepped behind a large air conditioning unit, then returned dressed as Clark Kent.

Mayson smiled holding a hand out to him. “Thank you for changing, Clark.”

Clark took her hand, and as she stepped away toward the edge near the Daily Planet building, he tugged her back. “I still need to speak with you, Mayson.” He pulled her to him and kissed her.

“Clark! Everyone’s watching,” she murmured, embarrassed, trying to step out of the kiss.

“Everyone who, Mayson? We’re on top of a building.” He held his hand on her back and deepened the kiss. Her knees failed her and she wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing him back.

*** End of Part 5 ***

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Chapter 2: Part 6