Wrong Place, Wrong Time, Wrong Clark TOC can be found
HereWhere we left off in Part 9…“Lois! It was incredible,” Clark said, stepping up next to her and gesturing to the sky. Now, he knew why Lois had followed him to his new apartment. She thought he had the inside clue on how to find Superman. She had thought he was going to meet Superman. She, who thought he couldn’t find his way out of an empty room with only one door in it, was using
him to find Superman. “You should have seen it. Superman caught that woman in midair. She’s okay; she left in the ambulance a minute ago. She was still screaming her head off though. He was amazing.” If he could say so, himself.
“So, you were here,” Lois stated the obvious. “Good for you, Clark. That’s great.”
Really? Hmmm. Maybe he had misjudged her. “I better go phone it in,” he said, pointing over his shoulder to the payphone behind him.
Lois grabbed his arm. “Oh, don’t! They’ll just re-write you up. My advice is to get back to the office and get typing.”
Clark’s brow furrowed. “No, they don’t. Doris did a great job on the story I filed yesterday.”
She looked at him in shock that he hadn’t taken her words at face value. “No, you’re right, Clark. They usually don’t, especially Doris. I don’t know why I said that. I just thought you might get to the office and type it up, be able to hand the story directly to the Chief, bask in his praise directly,” Lois said, glancing over her shoulder to the man who had just walked up to the phone booth. “Anyway, it looks like that guy is going to be on the phone for a while.”
Wow, that was really nice of her. Clark smiled sheepishly for his earlier assumption. Maybe she wasn’t so cut-throat as he thought. “Thanks, Lois.”
She turned and pointed behind her. “Look! Take my cab!” she insisted. “Go on.”
Again, he was stunned. She was really going out of her way to help him, he couldn’t believe it. Maybe last night’s dinner had really broken the ice between them. “Lois, I appreciate it. I owe you one.” He nodded and headed towards the cab.
As he sat down in the cab, he told the driver, “Daily Planet!”
The man nodded and pulled away from the curb.
“No, Clark, I owe you one,” he heard Lois mumble to herself.
He turned around; looking out the back window of the cab, he saw Lois pulling the phone away from some defenseless man.
“This is an emergency,” she told the man.
Clark turned and faced front, a determined grimace on his face. She had played him for a sucker, and he had fallen for it wrapper, candy, and stick. “No, this is war, Ms. Lane, and in war, there are winners and there are losers. I am
not a loser.”
Part 10“Pull up to the curb,” Clark told the cabbie.
“This isn’t the Daily Planet,” the driver sputtered.
“There’s been a change in plans.”
The cab pulled over to the side of the road. “That’ll be seven fifty.”
“Seven fifty? You’ve gone half a block,” Clark reminded him.
“Yeah, the fifty cents is your toll. The seven dollars is the lady’s.”
Clark handed the man a ten. “Keep the change.” Lois owed him, big time and seven dollars. He’d cover the tip.
He ran down the nearest alley and disappeared into a blur of blue and red as he leapt into the sky. Moments later, Superman landed across the street from Lois with a whoosh. Would she notice him and drop the call to… he turned to listen… Doris in Copy? Yep, Lois deserved what she was about to get.
*
“Doris, Lois. Take this down. Superman…” Lois said into the phone when she was interrupted by a gust of rushing air. She looked around, wondering what that sound had been and where it had come from when she spotted a familiar man in blue across the street.
“Lois? Lois? Superman what?” Doris was asking on the receiver.
“He’s…” Lois breathed into the phone, her voice an octave higher and dreamy. “Across the street. Gotta go.” She dropped the receiver and started waving her arm. “Superman! Superman!”
He didn’t seem to hear her; so much for super hearing. Of course, the twenty or so other people screaming for him probably had something to do with that. She continued to yell at him and stepped into the street to cross over to him.
Suddenly a car horn blared, and she turned to find a yellow Metro cabbie headed straight for her. “Ahhh!” she screamed again running forward and out of its way. Another car, this time red, started honking its horn and she ran backwards into the lane where the Metro cab had just been, then forward again to where the red car had been, then forward towards the next lane. “Superman!” Another horn beeped at her, this time from the opposite direction. “Ahhh!”
Her feet left the ground and she found herself suspended above traffic being hugged against a wall of blue.
“We’ve got to stop meeting this way, Ms. Lane,” Superman said to her.
Lois smiled, raising her gaze so she could look into those radiant brown eyes. She couldn’t help smiling. He was holding her, and all of her nerve endings were singing. “Superman, you heard me,” she said breathlessly. She wished she could say she was breathless from her adventure of running into traffic, but she couldn’t. It was Superman; he took her breath away.
He shrugged. “The car horns were a giveaway.”
“You owe me an exclusive,” she reminded him as she felt them start to descend to the ground again. She could hear the crowd chanting his name again. “No!”
His brow furrowed. “No? No exclusive?”
“No, not here! We won’t be able to talk here. Take me somewhere where we can talk in peace,” she insisted, holding tighter onto him. “And quiet.”
“Going up!” he murmured his reply, and they floated back up above the crowd once more.
She laughed at his joke. “You’re funny.”
Superman grimaced.
“Oh, sorry. I didn’t mean to…” Embarrass him? Humiliate him? Laugh at him? All of the above. “Uh… Superman?” she said, as they continued to move higher than they had gone before, up past the rooftop level, up past the top of the skyscrapers, disappearing into the clouds.
“Ms. Lane?” he responded, shifting his position so that his hold tightened around her. “I’m sorry. I should have asked if going this high was okay. I know flying isn’t for everyone.” He almost sounded disappointed. “I’ve got you.” They slowly started to descend again.
Lois tightened her grip around his waist as well. Not that she didn’t think he had her, she knew that he did, but as an excuse to be closer to him. “I’m not afraid,” she whispered as the water vapor of the cloud tickled her cheek. She turned to look at the fluffy white stuff surrounding them. “This is nice. I’ve never been in a cloud before.” He stopped moving downwards and they just hovered in the cloud.
“Sometimes it’s pleasant to disappear into the clouds,” he agreed. “The city can be so loud.”
“I like flying with you,” she told him, returning her gaze to his. She did. There was something so profoundly unique about being in Superman’s arms in the sky.
He responded with a smile. No, he didn’t smile; he beamed, not only with his lips, but his eyes, his cheeks, his whole face lit up with joy. It was as if she had said she loved him instead of telling him she liked to fly, as if she had been the first person in his life to tell him that he was loved. She did love him, but she wasn’t able to speak those words, not yet.
Superman leaned towards her, and Lois’ eyes automatically shut with a moaning sigh as she sensed he was about to kiss her. When he did not, she opened her eyes and saw he was staring off into the distance.
“I’ve got to go,” he murmured, his lips next to her ear.
“I’ll wait for you here,” Lois squeaked, and she heard him chuckle.
“You would be safer on the ground,” Superman replied.
“Oh, right,” she admitted the truth in what he said. She didn’t mind being wrong around him; he was so right. “Can I see you again later?”
Sound like you graduated from eighth grade recently, there, Lane? She cleared her throat. “For our interview?”
“I’d like that,” he said, running a hand over her hair, tucking it behind her ear.
Oh, God! He was only holding her with one arm, she discovered, but then felt the ground appear beneath her feet. They had landed on a roof. Superman took a step back, and she moved with him before realizing that it was because she hadn’t let go of him.
“Ms. Lane, I
need to go,” he repeated.
She dropped her arms. “Right, sorry.”
Superman cupped her jaw and smiled, before he rose into the air.
Now, that her arms weren’t surrounding him, her brain started functioning again. “Wait! Take me with you!” she yelled at him. If he had to go, it had to be an emergency, and an emergency or someone calling for help was news! “Superman!” she hollered again, but he was already gone.
***
Clark sat down at his desk. He reckoned he had about ten minutes – fifteen, tops – before Lois figured out how to get off that roof and call Doris in Copy again. He hated to leave her on the roof of that apartment building with the broken elevator. She would be forced to take the stairs down to the ground level, all sixteen flights.
His fingers hovered above his keyboard as he recalled Lois’ words again.
I like flying with you.How many times had he dreamed Lana would say that just once? He had lost count. She was scared of heights and abhorred flying; therefore, he had only done so in the direst of emergencies, which in the span of their ten year relationship was a total of about… once. Twice, if he counted the first time he tried to take her flying, just for fun. Both times she had yelled at him for an hour afterwards. The second time, when he had rescued them because their car had gotten stuck in high water, she had yelled at him not only for the flying but for not figuring out another way to save them. Lana
really hated to fly.
It didn’t help matters any when he had started to float the first time they made love. Clark hadn’t even realized he was doing it. He had been so happy that Lana wanted to spend the rest of her life with him – even if it hadn’t been his idea to get married – and that she finally agreed to let their relationship progress to this next natural step. He had thought she was happy as well, until she screamed in fear and pushed him off her, falling the two feet back onto the bed.
Lana had almost broken up with him after that event. At first she had “needed space” and sent him out of Smallville to give her time to think. So, Clark had traveled the world and worked on building his career as a journalist. He couldn’t move on, build new friendships, and create new ties. He loved Lana and the guilt he felt at scaring her, hurting her, was eating him alive. He visited Lana often, bringing her gifts and mementos from his travels. While she liked the presents, she didn’t like that he was flying about where anyone could see him. She said that she loved him and cared about his safety, but she just “needed time” to adjust. Marriage was forever and she needed to be sure. He understood that.
Clark had wanted to comfort her, but she wouldn’t let him touch her, at all, even to touch hands for weeks afterwards. He remembered how he had started saying “I’m sorry,” at the beginning of every conversation, every sentence it felt like. How he promised to change, to give up everything most dear to him, just to please her. How he had begged, pleaded with Lana to give him another chance, to not give up on him. She was the closest person to family he had in his life, and he didn’t want to lose that connection.
It took over a year for their relationship to progress back to that location. Seven months of no touching, then only hand holding, which led to a slow progression to kissing her cheek without her flinching, before she let him actually kiss her mouth. It took another eight months of gentle caresses, basically having started their relationship over from scratch, before he even brought up the idea of trying it again. Then another nine months of begging Lana to allow him to prove that he had changed, of pleading for her to trust him, of promises to never let it happen again, and of agreeing to move to Metropolis, where he wouldn’t need to use his abilities and because she wanted to live in the big city, before Lana agreed to try making love to him again.
Finally, Lana had claimed to have moved past “the incident” – as she referred to it – but their relationship was never the same as it had been before they had first tried to make love. They both saw their relationship, and the part they played within it, differently.
There had been a reason behind the fact that it had taken Lana over two years, including another year without an ‘incident’, before she even wore the engagement ring she had chosen for him to buy and to officially announce their engagement to their friends and her family. It had taken two more years before Lana started to plan their wedding in earnest. It was this point that his fiancée turned into someone he didn’t want to spend five minutes with, let alone the rest of his life. The fact that what little there was of their sex life had dissolved into her using it against him, to get him to concede things he wanted in their wedding and marriage, but she didn't.
Clark sighed, leaning back in his chair. He picked up a pencil and started tapping it on his desk. Then he had met that Lois from the other dimension. That Lois, who had wanted him to help people. That Lois, who hadn’t wanted him to hide who he truly was anymore. That Lois, who had asked him to take her flying with him, to make
him comfortable. That Lois, who loved her Clark for all that he was, flaws and all, for everything that he could be. His relationship with Lana hadn’t stood a chance after that. Even before Lana had given him the Superman ultimatum, Clark had known he couldn’t go back to the status quo.
I like flying with you, this Lois Lane had told him.
No wonder Superman had almost kissed her. It had almost been impossible to resist a come-on line like that. It took all of his willpower, and one call for help, to distract him from pressing his lips to hers.
He mentally kicked himself. How could he do that?! To himself? To her?
If Superman became involved with Lois, he might as well tattoo a target on her chest and back because criminals and madmen like Luthor would do anything to hurt her. Look at poor Lana. They had been broken up for six months and she was still kidnapped by people who wanted Clark, aka Superman, to do their bidding. She had ended up going into hiding. He didn’t want that for Lois. He wanted to be able to kiss the woman he loved in public without worrying about her safety. That was why he had come to this dimension, to have a secret identity and protect the people that he cared about.
He closed his eyes. He wanted to kiss the woman he loved. Period. He heard a crack and knew he had just splintered the pencil in his hand without opening his eyes. He sighed again. Hadn’t he made a vow to himself, just yesterday, that he would not flirt, or kiss, or… no, he wouldn’t even think those words…
Make love… damn his independent mind… as Superman?
I like flying with you.Clark liked flying with her, too. He
loved flying with Lois. Oh, God, hearing her say those words was like her saying,
I accept you for who you really are. What an aphrodisiac! What euphoria! What man could resist a woman – a beautiful, sexy, intelligent, sweet smelling, funny woman – who said that to him? He couldn’t, that was for sure. Maybe because he had never had anyone, besides his folks, who had ever loved him for who he really was. Lana had never loved him, all of him, for who he was.
The elevator dinged, and Clark sat upright, realizing he had wasted five precious minutes daydreaming. A part of him felt like he should just give Lois the story. He felt guilty for using her crush on Superman to distract her from stealing his story. They say “all’s fair in love and in war”, but he had to admit, what he had done to Lois certainly counted as cheating. He hadn’t planned on taking her up into the clouds, but she had said take her someplace peaceful; that had been the first place he had thought of.
He had needed someplace peaceful as well. Clark couldn’t believe what an idiot he had been, landing
across a busy street from her. Of course, she’d risk her life to run across the street to Superman. When he had heard that first blare of a horn and turned his head to see her running through traffic, his heart had stopped. If she had gotten hit by a car, it would have been
his fault. He should just let her have the stupid Superman story.
But…
If Clark gave in to her on this one thing, what next? He refused to give up his integrity as a reporter just to ease his guilt. He remembered how back when he had started back at the Daily Planet in his dimension, he had heard stories of a mythical, boogeyman of a reporter – everyone called Mad Dog – who had loved to torture new hires by stealing stories from them.
He chuckled, remembering how the usually serious Eduardo Friaz had wiggled his fingers and told him, “Be careful, Kent. Mad Dog said ‘never to trust anyone’. You get too soft, and the ghost of Mad Dog will give you a life lesson you’ll never forget!” Perry had come out of his office and shooed them all away, telling Clark not to listen to them, that Mad Dog didn’t exist.
Clark smiled. He missed his old boss. He glanced over to Perry’s office. This new Chief reminded him a lot of his friend, except instead of telling Lois Lane stories, he told Elvis stories. He guessed that there was no reason to tell Elvis stories in his dimension while the man was still alive and kicking. He felt a sharp stab to his gut. Right, that was why his old boss used to always tell stories about his Lois, because she was dead.
He shook his head. So what had Clark done when he first moved to this new dimension? He had acted like a greenhorn and trusted this woman who he loved implicitly and almost got a Mad Dog ‘life lesson’ handed to him on a plate. His hands went back to his keyboard as he started to type.
Not in this millennium.
“Hey, Kent,” the Eduardo from this dimension said, coming up to his desk. “I just wanted to warn you. There’s some nut hounding me; he thinks he’s the dead president Grover Cleveland and that Superman kidnapped him on his spaceship and plans to take over the world with a bunch of his freeze dried clones.”
Clark’s jaw dropped. “What?” Freeze dried clones? That was a new one. Clark thought he had heard all of the crazy theories out there.
“I know,” Eduardo scoffed. “Anyway, I told him that the Daily Planet wasn’t interested in his story, but he didn’t listen. He told me he plans on stopping by to tell me his story in person. He wants me to buy him lunch for the whole story. I’m getting out of here. If he stops by, tell him I’m not here, will you?”
“Yeah, sure, Eduardo. Thanks for the warning,” Clark said, nodding and returning to his computer. He checked his notes about the correct spelling of the names of the two jumpers.
“Clark,” Cat said hesitantly, moseying up to his desk.
“Not now, Cat,” Clark said, not even raising his eyes from his computer monitor. What was it? Interrupt the newbie week? “I’ve got to get this story to the Chief.”
“Okay,” she replied, and exhaled in relief. “It’s not important. I’ll catch you… I mean, we can talk later.”
Cat didn’t sound like her usual flirtatious self, and he glanced up at her for a moment, wishing he had an extra moment to find out what was wrong. She had returned to her desk and was staring at him, nothing new there. He smiled reassuringly and returned to his story.
***
What a morning! Lois was exhausted. Between chasing after Clark to his new apartment – no, she didn’t want to think of her odd feeling of déjà vu when he had told her that was where she was, to chasing down the first almost jumper, to racing to catch sight of the second jumper, to almost being eaten by Metro cabbies when she had run across the street to Superman, to floating in the clouds and almost kissing her man in blue, to having to climb down sixteen flights of stairs, because the elevator was out in that apartment building where Superman had left her; she had been a busy bee that morning. At least, after all her troubles, she had a promise from Superman that they would get together later for her exclusive interview. She sighed. Superman.
When Lois had gotten back down the street, she had almost forgotten to call in
her Superman story to Doris in Copy. No matter what Clark or Perry or anyone else said, Superman was
her story, just like he was
her man. Her almost kiss with Superman proved that. He definitely liked her for more than a friend.
After her call to Doris, she wasted a good quarter of an hour waiting in line to buy a chicken salad sandwich at the deli on the way back to the Planet. At least, she could eat her sandwich at her desk and review the questions she had come up with for her Superman exclusive. Her flight with him had made her want to add a few off-the-record ones as well, like ‘are you married?’ Do they even have marriage on his planet? Perhaps that was the wrong way to ask the question. ‘Are you seeing anyone?’ or ‘Do you have a life partner?’ If not, could she volunteer? She blushed as she pushed past Eduardo on her way into, and his way out of, the Daily Planet.
Lois stepped into the elevator. No, she couldn’t ask Superman that, point blank. She doubted even she had the nerve to tell him that. Clark was right again, damn him. She couldn’t just throw herself at his red boots. Aloof, she needed to be aloof. Fat chance, she laughed at herself. Speaking of which, she wondered if Clark was in the office. She needed to work on her plan of making that man into a human being. She opened the bag that held her lunch. Step one: potato chips. She grinned. Who could resist them?
The grin slipped off her face as she walked out of the elevator, realizing Clark wouldn’t eat them if she just handed the bag to him. She needed a plan. Hmmm. She’d have to think about that. A man that serious about his food intake wouldn’t cave just because she asked him to. She would make Clark crash his diet if it was the last thing she did.
Clark was just exiting Perry’s office as she got to her desk. Ha! She got her story in first. She resisted the urge to do her happy dance.
He saw her and marched right up to her. “You owe me seven bucks.”
“Expense it,” she said with a shrug.
“It was your taxi, Lois. Who offers a taxi with a tab to a friend and doesn’t offer to pay?” Clark responded.
“Fine!
I’ll expense it,” Lois grumbled, and held out her hand. “Where’s my receipt?”
“Receipt?” he repeated, a dumb expression on his face.
“You did get a receipt, didn’t you, Clark?” she asked him.
He shook his head, and he had said he was an experienced reporter.
“Well, tough. You got what you deserve, and it only cost you seven dollars. Some day you’ll thank me.”
“Thank you?” Clark retorted.
“You’re welcome. Never, never, forget the receipt. Without a receipt, you can’t expense it, Clark, and you won’t be seeing a dime from me.”
“I see,” he said, nodding his head in anger.
“Consider this a life lesson, no charge.” She patted his face.
Clark’s face drained of color as he stared at her. “You… you didn’t just say what I think you did, did you?” he sputtered.
Lois raised a brow in confusion. Okay, that was a strange reaction. She was sure he’d throw a hissy fit and march off. Weird. She looked at him like he was nuts and sat down at her desk, refusing to dignify his odd response with an answer.
He stumbled back towards his desk, continuing to stare at her like she was a ghost. Definitely weird territory there. Chalk that one up for the Clark Kent book of oddball stuff.
An older man came up and tapped her on the shoulder. “Excuse me. My name is Cleveland. I’m looking for Eduardo Friaz.”
Lois glanced over at Eduardo’s desk and then remembered she saw him leaving as she had come in. “Ah… He went to lunch.”
“Well, we had an appointment,” the man told her.
Yeah, so what. She wasn’t Eduardo Friaz, what’s it to her? “I’ll tell him you came by.”
“Don’t bother. I’ll tell my story elsewhere. Perhaps the Metropolis Star would like to receive some information concerning Superman,” he said, and walked off.
“
Superman?” That man she had just blown off had information about Superman? Lois followed after him, trying to remember his name. “I… uh… Cleveland! I’ve been expecting you,” she said, placing her hand on his shoulder to stop him. “I’m so sorry, I’m Lois Lane.” She took his hand in hers and shook it. “Eduardo told me that you’d be coming by. I just… uh… please, forgive me.”
“Ah… Lois?” Clark called out to her from his desk.
Lois waved off his pesky interruption without turning towards him. “Not now, Clark.” She took hold of Cleveland’s arm. “Let’s go to the conference room and talk, shall we?”
“I’m suddenly rather hungry. Perhaps after lunch,” Cleveland replied.
He had to be kidding her, right? Nope, he looked serious. Fine! She grabbed her lunch off her desk. “Here!” Lois said, handing it to him. “Take mine. Chicken salad.”
Cleveland held the paper bag up to his nose and sniffed. “Homemade?”
Right. Homemade. Sure, whatever, buddy. Lois tossed her hands up into the air and laughed. Cleveland seemed convinced, the sucker, and allowed her to lead him to the conference room. They passed Clark’s desk and his lips were pressed together and he was shaking his head. Crap! Did he know what she was doing? What
was she doing? First Clark and now Eduardo? She was obsessed. Well, it was
their fault. Superman was
her story. They deserved what they got. Another life lesson, free of charge.
*********
Cat Grant*********
Catherine Grant stood in the conference room, gazing at those blow-up photos Jimmy had taken of Superman flying into the newsroom from the day before. In one he carried Lois Lane while flying, and in the other, he was hovering above the newsroom about to leave, gazing over his shoulder at Lois. She had no idea why Perry had wanted these photos blown up. At this size, what she had seen the day before was clear as day, even if the pictures themselves seemed blurry and grainy. Why wasn’t anyone else seeing it? Could she possibly be the only person looking Superman in the face?
She raised a brow. Well, that said a lot more about her fellow reporters than it did about her, now didn’t it? She held up her magnifying glass once more, just as she had after the meeting that morning. There it was. She had been sure before, but now… she was positive. Proof conclusive.
Cat had tried to talk to him, give him a chance to defend himself, clear his name, so to speak, but this was too big. Huge! Pulitzer material, not that she really cared about such things, because she didn’t. That was more Lois’ life ambition, not hers. Although… Cat grinned her trademarked Cheshire Cat smile. It would be an extra super bonus, if she got one before little Miss Investigative Reporter of the Year, two years running. If she pulled off this coup… If Lois Lane couldn’t see the hundred year old redwood tree in the forest of baby alders, well, that was her problem, not Cat’s, wasn’t it?
Speaking of the devil, Lois barged into the conference room, dragging an older man with her. “Cat!” she said in surprise. “Do you mind? Mr. Cleveland and I have a lunch meeting.”
“No, that’s okay, Lois. Take the room, I was just leaving,” Cat informed her, not annoyed in the least. With Lois occupied, it would be more than likely she could get in to see the Chief.
Cat left the conference room and looked over at Clark. He was shaking his head and chuckling to himself about something. She hated to do this to him. He seemed like a decent guy, but this way too big. Oh, but she knew the instant she told the Chief her theory, the chance of her test driving that Lamborghini was out the window, well, faster than Superman. Maybe he would learn that he shouldn’t have turned her down. She scowled at herself. No, that was not why she was doing this. She didn’t really care about the sex; really, she didn’t. Sex was sex, fun and games. This was business. Only,
this didn’t feel like business; it felt more like treason.
As she watched Clark she saw his chuckles run dry and he sighed, both defeated and dejected. Lois must have rejected him again. That woman could be such a blind idiot sometimes. It was because of her that Cat knocked on Perry’s office door, because Lois deserved the humiliation coming to her when Cat outted Clark as Superman.
Perry waved Cat in. “Hey, Cat, did you need something?” he seemed only mildly curious as to why she was there. If he only knew what she was holding.
Cat had only been in the Chief’s office on rare occasions. She did her little gossip pieces and Cat’s Corner and Perry was happy, but he never expected anything real from her. Maybe her façade of unintelligent beauty worked too well at the office. Well, she could be throwing it aside for this opportunity to one-up Lois Lane once and for all. She closed the door behind her and sat down in one of his visitor chairs. She knew that with Clark’s super hearing, shutting the door was almost pointless, but at least it would stop the others from overhearing. “Sir,” she said, feeling foolish for addressing him thusly. “Perry,” she corrected. “I wanted to run my Superman story idea by you.”
“Oh?” Perry replied, even less interested. She could tell her boss believed she was going to do some fluff piece, some report on the style of Superman’s suit or something trivial like that. His gaze even went back down to the articles he was reviewing on his desk.
Cat took a deep breath and couldn’t find the words to tell Perry about Clark and his
big secret. She glanced back at Clark through Perry’s closed glass office door.
Clark seemed like a lonely sort of guy. Sure, he made friends easily and, hell, he had fallen in love with Lois Lane at first sight, but she was sure he didn’t have any close friends. How could he? He had only just arrived on the planet and at the Planet. Maybe she was wrong, maybe he had friendships that would outlast time, but that sadness she had seen in his eyes told her he didn’t. She had been watching Clark on and off all day. At times, he seemed to carry the weight of the world on his shoulders. Cat didn’t know anything about the man, personally, but she knew she didn’t want to hurt him. She scoffed, according to Lois’ article, Superman had been holding the bomb when it detonated, so Cat bet not much could hurt this man, physically. That look that he got in his eyes when he gazed at Lois though, that expression of longing mixed with fear, misery, and love, proved to her that his heart wasn’t so invulnerable. No, she was reporter; as such she couldn’t let the emotional edge to a story burden her.
“Chief,” she murmured. “I know…”
“Dammit! Lois! Clark!” Perry interrupted, grabbing two stories off his desk and standing up. That was when he remembered she was there. “I’m sorry, Cat. I’ve got to yell at these two. Can we discuss your story idea later?”
She nodded, standing up herself. Lois deserved to be taught a lesson, but Cat wasn’t sure that this was the way to do it. What would happen if she didn’t out Clark? Ooooh. The possibilities danced in her mind. “It’s okay, Chief. I’ll get back to you.”
As she walked out the door, Perry shouted to his two pet reporters. She wondered what they had done now. Cat watched as Clark stood up and then glanced smugly at Lois, who was walking out of the conference room with her sandwich in hand and a scowl on her face. Hmmm. Clark seemed to know what was up. To be a fly on the wall of
that meeting. What was she thinking? Fly? Ugh. A ladybug, now there was an insect who knew about color coordination.
“Lane! Kent! My office now!” Perry roared again.
The two reporters shot daggers at each other with their eyes as they went into the Chief’s office, silently. Maybe the bloom was off the rose, eh, Kent? Maybe she had a shot after all.
Cat sat down at her desk and pulled out the photo she had stolen from the stack Jimmy had shown Clark the day before and shook her head. How come she was the only one who saw that both Clark and Superman had the same moonstruck expression on their face whenever they looked at Lois Lane. One new man in town enamored with Lois, possibly, but two? And both hot? The probability of them
not being the same man seemed slim and far between.
A large group of men in suits entered the newsroom; Cat’s radar was suddenly at attention.
“I have a warrant issued by Federal courts. Everyone step back from your desk!” one of the men announced.
Oh, crumb! Cat frowned. She wasn’t the only person to realize Clark Kent was Superman.
***End of Part 10*** Part 11 Comments
