Missing Lois - TOC Author’s Note: The “Lois” in Chapter 5 and 6 refers to alt-Lois. Canon Lois will be called “Lucy” to help lessen the confusion between the two characters.
Story Notes: This story is mostly set in alt-dimension, although visits to the canon dimension do happen from time-to-time.
- Clark = Alt-Clark unless otherwise noted (such as when we are in the canon dimension, then 'Clark' is canon Clark)
- Lucy El = pregnant canon Lois avoiding the curse by hiding out with alt-Clark, aka Lois's secret identity
- Kal = Lucy El's husband's name, or what Lois-Lucy and alt-Clark call canon Clark (except in Lois's
'Dear Clark' journal where she calls canon Clark 'Clark' and alt-Clark 'Kal')
- Lois = alt-Lois, wife of Lex Luthor
- Lola Luthor = ‘wife’ of Lex Luthor; alt-Lois, if not referring to Clois (Cloned Lois)
- Mr. Amazing = alt-Lois's nickname for Superman
- Sam Lane = alt-Lois's Dad, Lois's doctor & roommate
- Ultra Woman = the costume Lucy/Lois wore to Perry's 'Come as Your Favorite Superhero' party
- Lex Luthor = no explanation necessary, same bad guy as always, this time bald
- Mayson Drake = police detective, partner to Detective (in alt-world) Henderson, alt-Clark's ex-girlfriend
- The only people who know canon Lois's true identity are alt-Clark, Sam, Moonbeam (alt-Star), Dr. Klein and alt-Lois. Alt-Clark told Mayson Drake that Lucy El is his sister-in-law and that he has a twin brother, but not about the other dimension. Mayson didn't believe him (thinking instead that Lucy was a con-artist).
***
Where we left off in Chapter 6: Part 2...“Oooh, twist. Yum.” Lois smiled at him with glee. “That would be better than just plain vanilla. See, you’re always there for me. Even for the little things in life.” She sighed, again. “I just cannot believe that he….” The line moved and she walked up the counter. “Two twist cones, please.” She paid for their ice cream and walked away from the counter.
His ice cream melted as he stared at her. “It’s melting, Clark,” Lois told him, but he still stared. She looked at him with a shrug, leaning over and licking the drip running down his ice-cream cone and fingers. Clark jerked so suddenly as she ‘accidentally’ licked his fingers, the cone went flying into the air. She reached out and gracefully caught it, handing it back to him. “Sorry, about that, Clark. But I warned you it was melting.”
“You can’t believe that he
what, Lois?” he said, finally releasing himself from his stare.
Her eyes misted up. “It’s not important, Clark. I told you I wouldn’t speak of him anymore. It really isn’t fair to you.” Lois licked her cone.
Clark swallowed, bringing the cone to his lips. “That’s okay, Lois. Remember, friends tell friends their problems.”
“That’s true. But you’re his friend, too. I don’t want to put you in the middle, even more than you already are.” Lois licked her cone again. “Actually, you’re a better friend to him than he is to you.”
He raised a brow. “Why do you say that?”
Lois didn’t say anything as they walked back to their gate. She continued eating her ice-cream. “Mmm. This is really good, Clark. It’s no Double Fudge Ripple with Chocolate Chunks, but I guess I could eat this for the rest of my life.” She sighed. “Or just go without.” She sat down in an empty row of seats by the window. He sat down next to her, obviously waiting to hear the answer to his question. She made him wait, trying to figure out a good way to word what she wanted to say. “He lied to me.”
***
Part 3“He doesn’t lie, Lois,” Clark told her.
“Stop defending him, Clark. Please. He has lied to me from the start.” Lois looked down. “I should have known he didn’t really love me, when he never told me who he was. At first, it didn’t matter. Just being with him was enough. I should have known – it was just too good to be true. But he didn’t have to tell me he loved me, when he really loved her. That’s the kicker. Why make me fall in love him, think he was this really romantic guy, tell me he would wait for me no matter what, and then...?” She sniffed and took a lick of her cone.
“Then?” Clark whispered.
“Not.”
Clark flinched. “In his defense, he’s not good with women. He means well, but it always blows up in his face.”
“See what a good friend you are? You’re still defending him. I knew I shouldn’t have put you in the middle.” She tossed the rest of her cone in a nearby garbage can, making it easily. “I can’t eat that. Maybe I should just give up on ice-cream all together.” She hugged her laptop case. “What other women? I thought it was just me and you-know-who?” She lowered her voice, leaning towards him. “Ultra Woman.”
Clark coughed. “You know about that?”
Lois shrugged. “Didn’t he date someone called Mayson Drake?”
He shook his head. “No, that was me.”
She tilted her head. “But why would the tabloids make it look like he did by putting that photo on the front page? You know, the one I stole from your apartment.”
“I know the one. She wasn’t very happy about that photo, I can tell you that much.” Clark laughed forlornly. “She’s not a big Superman fan. She thinks he breaks too many laws while catching bad guys and saving people.”
Lois’s jaw dropped. Clark Kent dated a woman who didn’t like Superman? He did have issues. “That must have been difficult for you, dating someone who obviously disliked your best friend.”
“Yeah, a bit.” He swallowed. “I kept them apart as best I could. If you don’t mind, Lois, I don’t really want to talk about her.”
“Wow, she did a real number on you. I understand.”
“Well, since you convinced me that Lana didn’t really dump me, it means that it was just Mayson.”
She set her hand on his. “I’m sorry, Clark.”
He jerked his hand away and glanced around, making sure nobody saw her. “Please, don’t do that, Lois.”
“Wow, Clark, jumpy much?”
Clark lowered his voice. “Don’t forget you’re a married woman.”
Lois rolled her eyes. “I forgot who I was talking to. It won’t happen again, Smallville.” She held up her hands, then she hugged her laptop case to her chest again, dropping all expression from her face. “I’ve filed for divorce, Clark. Don’t treat me like I have the black plague.”
“I’m sorry. I over-reacted. You just surprised me, that’s all.”
If he really wanted to be surprised, she should tell him what Kal El told her the day before – about her being pregnant with Mr. Amazing’s child. Clark was lucky. Lois would never tell him.
***
They were quiet for a few minutes. Clark finished his ice-cream cone and threw his napkin in the trash. As he returned, he saw a couple of tears rolling down her cheeks. “Lois, I’m sorry.”
“I’ve had a really bad day, Clark. So, could you just forget about apologizing for a while, please?”
He sat down next to her and twiddled with his thumbs. After a few minutes, he murmured, “When are they going to call our flight? I’m tired of waiting.”
“Welcome to flying commercial,” Lois replied.
“I’m not good with sitting around and doing nothing.”
“Me neither.” She wiped the tears from her face. “If you want to call him and fly home, go right ahead. I can make this trip by myself.”
“Lucy said I should stay with you.”
“Lucy,” Lois growled, turning away from him. “Don’t mention her to me, please.”
“I’m…” He swallowed the rest of what he was going to say.
“I’m fine, really. Things just feel weird. Sounds are really loud, reading gives me a headache, those suitcases…” She shivered.
Clark looked at her. “I’ll stay.”
“I wish you could just hold me and tell me everything’s going to be fine,” she murmured.
“Me, too.” He wanted nothing more than to hold her.
“Like you did this morning.” Lois looked at him. “Thank you. You don’t know how much that meant to me. To not have been alone at that moment.”
“I hate that he causes you so much anguish.”
She smirked. “Me, too. But that wasn’t his fault.”
Clark appeared skeptical. “Not his fault?”
“Never mind, Clark. It’s complicated. Something private, between him and me.” She sniffled, again.
Did Lois really think he – Clark Kent he – didn’t know that she and Superman had been intimate? He nodded. “I think I know what already, Lois. It’s all right.”
Lois looked at him in shock and then shook her head. “You have no idea what I’m talking about, Clark, believe me. Don’t even try, please.”
“I hate that you feel like you have to hoard your pain, Lois.”
“Forget it, Clark. I shouldn’t have said anything.”
“I’m here; let me help.”
She glared at him. “Trust me, Clark. You can’t handle it.” Lois stood up and wandered around the waiting room.
Clark watched her, wishing she would let him in, knowing she never would. No matter what she said, he would know deep in his heart, he was at fault. Only Mr. Amazing caused her that pain. He didn’t like that reading was giving her headaches. He didn’t like that everything was too loud for her. He didn’t like that because of his temper, he could never be Mr. Amazing again.
They called boarding for First Class passengers and he followed Lois to the line. He pulled the boarding passes out of his pocket and handed one to her. She didn’t say anything as she took it. She almost looked distraught. He hoped flying in an airplane wouldn’t aggravate the problem, whatever it was.
Clark wondered how long it would take Lucy before she would forgive him and tell him what had happened to Lois. He knew she would forgive him eventually, but it had been a big digression on his part. Even bigger, now that Lois knew about Lucy. Lucy would forgive him; she always did. Weeks and weeks from that point probably, if he was lucky. He sighed and handed his boarding pass to the flight attendant.
The seats in First Class were huge and soft and wonderful with real blankets and pillows. He had the flight attendant bring both for Lois. He was really worried. Maybe this healing thing that happened to her was only temporary and her body would just collapse at any minute. He released a breath. No. Lucy would have told him if it was that serious. The healing thing must be permanent. What else could it be?
Lois covered herself with the blanket and propped the pillow between them. He didn’t know if that was to block her view of him or to turn her back to him. He didn’t know what Clark Kent had done to piss her off. A few minutes later, he felt her hand brush against his leg. It was at that moment, he realized that she had placed the blanket over the hand rest, so they could hold hands without anyone knowing. He smiled as a chill went down his spine. It felt so good to hold her hand again. He took a deep breath and released it. At least, she would spend the flight sleeping.
“I love you, Mr. Amazing, where ever you are,” Clark heard her murmur under her breath. Stroking her thumb with his, he wished he could tell her he loved her too. Never again.
***
Clark apparently couldn’t sit still. After the plane took off and the flight attendants started serving refreshments, he got up to walk the aisles. If Lois hadn’t had the morning she did, she would probably have teased him about joining the mile high club. She smiled. They could join it without a plane someday. She shook her head. Not anymore. What was scaring him off? She hadn’t seen him up close and personal in weeks, and suddenly he was angry because she made-out a little with his twin? Men.
The flight attendant brought her coffee. Black this time, with two sugars. She had had enough sugar for one day. It was so hot it was actually steaming. First Class ruled. With Lex, she traveled on a private jet – recommended, if your wife was a kidnap victim. The
Daily Planet was so broke before Mr. Olsen bought it, that she always traveled coach. She wondered if she got her job back, if she would still travel coach. So, she didn’t really have much experience with First Class. So far, she loved it.
Lois stirred her coffee with the little red straw / stir stick they gave her. Then she blew on it to cool it off as she leaned across Clark’s seat and looked down the aisle to see where he had disappeared off to. Must be in coach. The First Class passengers’ privacy curtain was closed. She lifted her cup to her lips to sip, but nothing came out. Glancing down, she saw that her coffee had turned into a popsicle. Her eyes opened wide. What in the…? It had been steaming not the minute before. She pulled up the stir stick but the whole cup went with it. She glanced around to see if anyone was watching her, not that she could tell. She was going to have to melt it and fast, before the flight attendant or Clark returned. She glanced up at the ceiling at the little air conditioning fan. That was ridiculous. Those little vents were cool, but not that cool.
She went over in her mind what had happened since she got the cup of coffee. Lois had put in the sugar, stirred, blew on it to cool it down and poof – coffee-icicle. Her mouth hung open.
No way! Super cooling breath was one of Superman’s abilities. How in the world had she gotten it? She glanced around again. If she had stolen that, maybe she had acquired some of his other skills as well. She closed her eyes a moment and recalled that first conversation with Perry. Strength, speed, flying, cooling breath, heat vision, x-ray vision, invulnerability and hearing. Super cooling breath, got it. Hearing? Check. Strength? Check. Invulnerability? Her brow furrowed, would that include super healing? If it did, big check.
Alright, let’s see if she could try a little heat vision on the coffee-icicle without bringing the plane down. She wrapped her hands around the little china coffee cup and then glanced around at the First Class passengers. Good, nobody was looking. She tilted down her Lucy glasses, focused on the frozen coffee and thought ‘heat.’ Soon her mug of coffee was boiling hot again. Of course, she had melted her stir stick, so she set the cup off to the side. She didn’t really need to ingest melted plastic.
Lois leaned back in her comfy seat with a smile. Heat vision, check. Her day was suddenly ticking upwards. There was no possible way Superman could run away – or in his case, fly away – from her now.
She grinned with delight. No wonder Lucy had told her to be very careful whenever she touched anyone or anything. The chair she had broken at breakfast! She had just plopped herself into it. She couldn’t do that anymore. Good to know. What else weird had happened that day? The book! Oh, my gosh, she had speed-read it. That was how she knew what it was about. She would have to be careful about that as well. But super great research tool. She wanted to get up and dance around the plane. She was going to be the best reporter ever! Clark Kent wouldn’t be able to catch her in a million…
“Hi!” said Clark, sitting back down. “You’re awake.”
“Hi.” Lois smiled wickedly at him.
I have a secret.“You look like you’re feeling better.”
“Tremendous! Never felt better.” Her smile grew into a effervescent grin. “So, tell me about some of these abilities of Superman’s.”
He raised a brow. “Lois.”
“Lucy,” she said batting her eyelashes. “Lucy El.” She held out her hand. “Your assistant who knows everything that you do about Superman, remember? So, spill it. No breaking any rules here.” She smiled. “Just a nice conversation between colleagues.”
Clark swallowed, lowering his voice. “You don’t know everything she knows. She knows more than I do; she’s been around him for almost four years now. I’ve been… with Superman for less than a year.”
“Then we will certainly have to pick Lucy’s brain for every little detail she knows before she heads back to her husband.” She licked her teeth, thinking a moment. “You ever going to tell me why she’s here in the first place?”
He glanced around. “That’s not a conversation for a crowded plane.”
She smiled. “Later then.” She leaned closer to him and dropped her voice even more. “I feel so good right now, I could fly.”
“Good thing we’re in an airplane.” Clark chuckled.
Lois radiated happiness. Oh, she definitely wanted to try flying…. Without a plane.
***
The cab stopped outside of Lois Lane’s apartment building and Lois jumped out. Clark paid the driver and then went to retrieve the suitcases from the trunk. He didn’t know what happened on the plane, but something had. Lois was happy to be alive. Glowing, almost. She swung her laptop case over her shoulder and grabbed one of the suitcases from the sidewalk, and practically flew up the front steps to her building.
Lois sighed at the door, swinging it open and sailing inside. Clark shook his head. She wasn’t scared of the luggage anymore. She wasn’t scared of anything anymore. She almost seemed excited to be going back to her apartment where Lucy surely was there to kill her for kissing her husband. He released a breath. Clark followed her inside and into the elevator that was standing open and waiting for them on the ground floor. He set the second suitcase down on the floor of the elevator next to the one that Lois had put there. He pressed the five button and the doors shut.
“Wait!” she gasped. He turned around. She was reading a note taped on the back of the elevator.
Ride elevator at your own risk. Building has been having sporadic power outages and the elevator stopped five plus times already. The note was signed by Maintenance.
“Great. You’d think the note would have been on the outside of the elevator.” Clark rolled his eyes and hoped that they could finally arrive at the apartment. This day had gone on long enough. He was ready for Lucy to tell them the big news why Lois wasn’t dead and…
The elevator stopped. It wasn’t on the fifth floor yet. The lights dimmed and went out and they were standing in the dark. Lois giggled.
“Did someone slip you some drugs on the plane, Lois?” Clark shook his head. What was up with her?
“No, I was just wondering if this was a job for Superman?” She laughed again.
“It’ll turn back on again soon, I’m sure,” Clark said. “We’ll have to talk to James about adding some emergency lighting to this box.”
“Sit down, Clark. Take a load off. You are way too tense.” Lois was already sitting on the floor. “I don’t mind the dark. Remember, I was blind for ten months.”
Clark slid down to the floor and rested his head on his knees. Looking over at her, he watched as she crawled across the elevator towards him. “What are you doing, Lois?”
She grinned naughtily. “I’m finally going to look at you, Clark,” she whispered, pushing down his knees and sitting in his lap.
He cleared his throat. “Lois? What are you doing?”
“Didn’t Superman tell you about this game?” She licked her lips. “The first time I kissed him was right after we played.”
“Lois,” Clark warned her.
She took off his glasses and set them in his shirt pocket. Then she started tracing his face with her fingertips.
Does she have any idea how erotic that is? he wondered.
“What’s the matter, Clark? Don’t you trust me?”
Absolutely not. “Lois, I don’t think this is a good idea,” Clark murmured.
“You need to relax more, Clark. You’re always so tense. Maybe I’ll give you a massage one of these days. Not this week, though. This week’s bad. Perhaps, in a week or two, when I’ve adjusted.” Her breath sounded rough and sexy and was making his heart race.
He swallowed. “Adjusted to what?”
“Being alive. I almost died, you know.” This she whispered in his ear.
Clark coughed. “Lois, I really think you should get off my lap, now.”
She was still at his ear. “Make me.”
What he really wanted to do was pull her into his arms and kiss her until the cows came home and then went back out in the field again. She was making it incredibly difficult to think even. Her chest was pushed up against his and her hips rocked back and forth as she moved her hands softly around his face. No wonder he was so turned on by her at the Smallville house that night. This felt divine. He took a deep breath and set his hands on her hips. Part of him wanted to pull her closer. A large part of him.
But she was a married woman. Married to an evil mad-man, but still married. It was bad enough that he had slept with her once… twice. He felt guilty as hell for breaking the sacred marriage vows… with two different women. He really should have told Kal the truth and let him kill him. “You’re married,” he said finally finding his voice. It sounded higher and squeakier than normal.
Her hands stopped moving. Her voice turned colder, “What Lex and I had wasn’t a marriage, Clark.”
“Legally, you belong to him,” he muttered, instantly regretting the words as soon as they left his mouth.
Lois let go of his face entirely and he felt like she had slapped him. “If that’s really how you feel why do you and Superman keep protecting me from him? When we get to the apartment do you want to call Jaxon and let him know where to find me? So Lex can come and pick up his belongings?”
Clark swallowed the bitter taste in his mouth. “No.”
“Well, then…” Her forearm pressed against his throat and shoved him against the elevator wall.
Clark felt no desire to resist.
“Let’s get one thing straight right now. I
belong only to one person. Myself. No number of marriage certificates will ever change that. It would be in your best interest to remember that as well.” She let go of his throat.
Clark coughed. He couldn’t believe how weak he felt under her grip. It was probably because he was so turned on he couldn’t think straight. Or because just Lois’s scent was overpowering him like a strong narcotic. She squeezed her thighs that were on either side of him, causing new and perilous sensations to fill his body. He was right. She would make a dangerous super-villain.
“Now, let’s see about turning on the lights,” Lois murmured, resting her hands on his cheeks and staring at his face. She took a deep breath. Strange she hadn’t noticed the similarities between him and Mr. Amazing yet. As he lifted up her hips so he could breathe, she gasped and flew across the elevator, hitting the wall opposite him.
“What happened?” Clark asked, crawling over to her.
“Nothing.” She shook her head. “I thought I saw something.”
“Are you all right? I think you dented the elevator.”
“I’ll survive.” Lois waved off his complaints. “Clark,” she whispered. “Do you think that Mr…” She cleared her throat. “… that Superman knows I only kissed Kal El because I thought it was him? Do you think he knows that?”
“Who knows what Superman thinks about that, Lois?” Clark murmured. He didn’t want to talk about Superman. He wanted to kiss her and his resistance was fading fast. She smelled so good. And that face massage she had given him…
“Do you think you could tell him that?” Lois closed her eyes. “No. Don’t tell him. Let’s see if he comes to talk to me first. It’s not your job to mediate between me and him.” She grabbed Clark’s face in her hands. “Please, tell me it’s not your job to mediate between him and his girlfriends.”
“I don’t think so. You’re the only woman he’s been with since I’ve met him,” he whispered.
“With the exception of Ultra Woman.” Lois said with a glare.
“I never met her,” he replied. “She was gone before morning.”
Lois raised an eyebrow to that remark. She didn’t believe him. Maybe that was because she knew Lucy was Ultra Woman.
“Clark,” she whispered, setting her cheek against his. She sighed. “You have a nice face. I like it.”
“Thanks.”
He could feel her hot breath against his ear. “Clark,” she whispered again.
“Uh-huh.”
“I can feel destiny pulling me towards you.”
“Me, too, Lois.” Clark swallowed. “We need to resist it, though. Make our own decisions.”
“Are you afraid?”
“A little bit,” he told her honestly.
“I don’t think he’d hurt you, Clark. You are his best friend, aren’t you?”
“I’m not afraid of Superman, Lois. Are you?”
Lois hesitated a moment before answering. “I’m afraid that if I kiss you, like I want to – really, really want to – he’ll know it wasn’t an accident and I’d lose him forever, if I haven’t already.”
“He’d have to be pretty stupid to give you up over one kiss,” Clark murmured.
“Two kisses, actually. The one with Kal-El and the one I want you to give me right now.” The lights flickered and came back on and Clark was already standing up again, over in front of the door, glasses on. Lois sighed. “Time’s up.” She pulled herself to her feet as the elevator doors opened. Clark stepped out onto the fifth floor with the suitcases and Lois followed him.
She reached into her purse to pull out her keys. Clark lightly touched her arm, before she put them into the lock. She stopped, glancing at him.
“I just wanted one last look at you.” He sighed. “Before she kills you.”
Lois laughed. “As if.”
The door swung open and Lucy stood on the other side, daggers in her eyes. “Took you two long enough.”
“Hi, Lucy.” Clark smiled at her, still trying to get back in her good graces.
“Kansas is pretty far away,” Lois replied, nudging past her with both of her suitcases.
Clark followed her inside and shut the door behind him. They both turned and looked at him, then at each other.
Lucy’s eyes closed into slits. “You kissed my husband!” She growled.
“You slept with my boyfriend!” Lois retorted.
Lucy turned to him, shocked. “Clark! How could you?”
Clark’s jaw fell open. He hadn’t expected this turn.
“He didn’t.” Lois saved him. “Superman told Kal.” Or not.
Lucy glared at him. “I know. He should have known Kal would discuss it with me.”
“How could you have cheated on him?” Lois asked, shocked.
“Funny, coming from you, little miss hot stuff. What? One Superman not enough for you?”
“Or you?”
“Ladies, please,” Clark said, stepping between them. “There’s no need to fight.”
“Clark,” Lois said, keeping her eyes on Lucy. “Stay out of this.”
Lucy raised a brow at him. “Yeah, Clark. This doesn’t concern
you.” Her sarcasm bit him.
He swallowed. “I want to know what happened to Lois. How she survived the accident, the lightning strike.”
“I think I figured it out,” Lois said.
“You do?” They both turned to her. That was what it was. That was why her mood changed. She knew something.
“Have you heard anything about what Superman’s been up to today, Lucy? Busy saving people or something? Some huge natural disaster that required his attention perhaps?”
“Nothing. Not a peep,” said Lucy with a glance at Clark.
“Hmmm.” Lois thought for a minute. “I can’t tell you, Clark.”
“Why not?” he gasped.
“What do you think, Lucy? If I told Clark, he’d tell Superman, wouldn’t he?”
“Oh, most definitely,” Lucy agreed.
“I believe I deserve an apology from Superman for his behavior yesterday. Or at least an opportunity for me to speak with him, clear the air, and tell him thank you for rescuing me… yet, again.”
“That sounds reasonable, Lois,” Lucy said with a raised eyebrow. “Don’t you think, Clark?”
“I haven’t heard you apologize for stealing my credit card or the time machine or breaking into my house…”
“My, you’ve been busy,” Lucy stated looking at Lois.
“Oh, that was Kal, who broke into your house, Clark. Not me. I wasn’t going to attempt it with that security system.”
Lucy’s jaw dropped open. “Kal broke into Clark’s house?”
Lois nodded.
“Or apologized to Lucy for kissing Kal and stealing her ID.”
“I’m sorry, Lucy. I thought he was my man,” Lois said.
“Perfectly understandable. Kal’s extremely handsome. Don’t let it happen again.”
“Not planning on it. You keep your hands off my man.”
Lucy gave him a quick glance. “I’ll do my best.”
Lois held out her hand. “Truce.”
Lucy nodded, shaking it. “Truce.”
They both turned to Clark, who stood there in shock. What happened? They were about to claw each other a moment before.
“I’m sorry for stealing your credit card, Clark; I’ll reimburse you all the charges.” Lois said with a sigh. “And for attempting to break into your house. Don’t even try to convince me that time machine is yours.”
“Thank you, Lois. I appreciate that, I think.”
They stood there a minute in silence, staring at each other, before Lois piped up. “Oh, and thank you for bringing me home and for sitting by my side all night.” She took hold of his hand and gave it a light squeeze. “You don’t know how much it meant for me to see you there, when I woke up this morning… to know that you cared.”
Clark swallowed and placed a smile on his lips. “Anytime.”
“But you can go, now.”
The smile fell off his face. “What?”
“We’re not going to tell you, Clark. I know if we do, you’ll tell Superman and I don’t see why he should know, if I don’t get to know his secret identity.”
“Lois!” He begged her with his eyes. “Please.”
Lois nodded. “Not going to tell me, huh? I didn’t think so. Tell him, if he cares enough to ask about what happened to me directly, then I’ll be happy to tell him, so long as he’s willing to give something back. Tit for Tat.”
“Lois, please. I’d tell you if I could, but my job…”
She shook her head. “That’s a BS excuse, Clark, and you know it.”
He winced. She was right. “I’m sorry. I can’t.”
“I understand, Clark. You’ve chosen your side. If he doesn’t want me to know who he is, that’s his decision. I’m sorry you’re caught in the middle, but it doesn’t mean I have to play by his rules.” She stepped right up to him and then gave him a hug, pressing her full body against his, whispering in his ear, “See, I told you you’re a better friend than he is. He stole me away from you; he didn’t give you a chance to win me on your own. Anytime you want to switch sides, let me know. And I’ll let you in on my little secret.” She ran her hands over his butt, pushing him closer to her. “Anytime, Clark. Day or night.”
Clark swallowed, a hot shiver dancing down his spine. Lois let go and stepped back. Suddenly, he felt like he had double vision. Both Loises were standing in front of him in identical positions, with identical self-satisfied expressions on their faces. And they were both grinning in amusement. Perry was right, if they ever ganged up on him, he would be a dead man. Prophecy fulfilled.
“Good-bye, Clark,” said Lucy… no, that one was Lois. His head was spinning. The other Lois opened the door and he stepped out into the hall. They waved in unison and shut the door. He had never felt so alone. He turned around and x-rayed into the room.
“Clark hasn’t left yet,” Lucy informed Lois.
“I can wait.”
“OK. OK… “ He grumbled, stomping down the hall.
*** End of Part 3 *** CommentsChapter 6: Part 4
