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Wrong Place, Wrong Time, Wrong Clark TOC can be found Here

Where we left off in Part 60 …

Perry chewed on this information a bit. “Did he say who it was that was after him?”

Lois shrugged. “A large criminal organization of some kind, I guess.”

“Do you have any proof that Clark isn’t who he says he is?” he asked.

Lois sucked her lips into her mouth. “No, no solid proof. Only what I’ve overheard and even that didn’t have much in the way of details. That’s why I need to keep investigating, so I can free him from whoever’s thumb he’s under.”

“But if he wanted you to know, wouldn’t he have told you about it?”

She scowled. “There’s our problem. He won’t tell me his secret until I trust him enough to forgive all his lying.”

“It sounds like you’ve already forgiven him,” Perry said.

“I understand now why he lied, but that doesn’t mean I’ve forgiven him for lying to me or for keeping me in the dark, and continuing to keep me in the dark,” she grumbled, throwing up a hand. “We were dating, for heaven’s sake!”

Perry raised a skeptical eyebrow. “If this is true, it sounds like the type of secret that is very need-to-know, like witness protection. He might be willing to tell you only if you got engaged or married, not go on just a handful of dates, Lois.”

“But we’re partners!” she exclaimed, and then blushed as she realized that she implied that as partners they were closer than a married couple was. “I do like Clark, and the more I get to know the him, the more I want to get to know him better, but right now I feel more pity than love for him. That’s no basis for a relationship. Anyway, I refuse to give my heart to someone who has told me to my face that he’s keeping stuff from me. There’s a good man there, Perry; I know there is. I’m just trying to find the real him.”

“A-ha!” Perry said, leaning back. “So, he has explained to you why he hasn’t told you.”

She rolled her eyes. “My protection.”

He looked at her for a moment as if choosing his words carefully. “Okay, for now, we’ll just assume Clark Kent is who he says he is,” he suggested. “Poke around, quiet like. If you find anything that isn’t kosher, tell me immediately. I don’t want to out the man if it will put any of us or him at risk, but I’m curious to know what he knows and how he knows it.”

Lois nodded and rested her hand on his arm. “Thanks, Perry.”

He set his hand on hers. “Do you have that Smallville follow-up for me?”

Her eyes lit up. “Better.” She grinned and her eyebrows danced with excitement. “An exclusive.”

Perry seemed intrigued. “What kind of exclusive, darlin’?”

She bit her bottom lip so their discovery wouldn’t fall out of her mouth. “A Superman exclusive! Clark went out to find him.” Lois jumped to her feet. Superman would be coming to the Daily Planet to see her, and she hadn’t checked herself in the mirror since before they had boarded the plane in Topeka. “Um… I’ve got to go prep for this interview!” she said, and rushed out the door.

***

Part 61

Superman landed on the roof of the Daily Planet. Lois stood there in the warm breeze, looking more beautiful than ever.

Clark inwardly sighed. It wasn’t his powers that made her seem more beautiful; it was the anticipation in her eyes. She still loved him, Superman him. After the last few days of her yelling at, screaming at, and basically hating the very idea of him, Clark him, it was just what he needed to soothe his bruised soul. Even if her adoration was based on a very huge lie, he would take what he could get for the time being. He stepped closer as did she.

“Lois,” he murmured, reaching to push that lock of hair behind her ear. The lock of hair stayed there for a moment and then slipped back out. It still wasn’t quite long enough.

Jimmy pushed open the roof door to join them, and Clark stepped back. Never had he been so happy to see the young man. His presence would remind Clark to keep up appearances. No matter how much he desperately wanted to swoop Lois into his arms and lock lips with her, he knew it was the wrong thing to do.

“Hi!” Jimmy stammered. “I’m James Olsen. I… er…” He held up his camera. “— take pictures.”

“Nice to officially meet you, Mr. Olsen. Clark and Lois have said many nice things about you,” replied Superman.

“Um… Jimmy’s fine, Mr. Superman, sir.”

Clark smiled. “Superman is fine, Jimmy.”

“Smooth.” Jimmy blushed.

Superman turned to face Lois again. “Clark said you found something of mine.”

She grinned and her whole face lit up as if she were full of sunshine. What was he thinking? Of course, Lois was full of sunshine. It was one of the reasons he was attracted to her. Her very presence filled him with hope, energy, and love, especially when she looked at him like that. “Clark and I found something with your crest on it in Kansas. It was… discarded by Bureau 39 in their haste to leave Smallville,” Lois said. She sounded breathless, eager, and excited.

Clark had to admit he felt the same way. Again, he was thankful that Jimmy was there. “I’m intrigued,” he said, more about Lois than about the spaceship he already knew about.

“I was hoping that we could record the handing over of the object to you for the Daily Planet as an exclusive,” she said. “If you don’t mind giving us a lift, that is. It’s being held at the Kent farm.”

“That sounds like a fair trade, being that you and Clark recovered this item and kept it safe for me,” Superman responded.

“Hey, where’s CK?” Jimmy asked, looking around. “Isn’t he coming with us?”

Lois shook her head. “No, when he phoned to tell us to meet Superman on the roof, he said that we should go on without him,” she explained, and then rested her eyes back on Superman. “Do…?” She flushed. “Will you…? Do want to carry us at the same time? Or do you prefer… individually?”

Jimmy’s eyes widened as the logistics of this photo op became apparent to him. “Me? He’s going to…?” His hand rose in the air as he made the universal, interdimensional gesture for Superman flying.

“Is that all right?” Superman asked.

“Smooth,” Jimmy choked out, sounding as if it were anything but.

“Let me reassure you that I’ve… I won’t drop you, Jimmy,” Superman said. “I can carry you both at the same time, but it would be more comfortable for you to fly individually.”

Lois glanced down demurely. “Who…? Who would you like to take first?”

“Jimmy?” Superman requested.

“Uh… sure. You aren’t going to hold me like you typically hold Lois, are you?” Jimmy asked, shifting from foot to foot.

“I can, if you prefer. Usually I carry men standing, slightly off to my side, with an arm around their waist.”

“Oh, yes. Let’s do that,” Jimmy gushed with relief.

“As you wish,” Superman said, turning towards Lois. “I will return for you shortly, Lois.”

She nodded enthusiastically as if to say she’d wait forever. He couldn’t help but smile at her again; knowing as soon as he told her his secret, it was doubtful he would ever see that expression again.

“Do you know the way?” Lois asked as Jimmy stepped between them.

Superman nodded without further comment. He picked Jimmy up and two minutes later landed outside of the Kent house.

“And to think I was here, just yesterday,” Jimmy chuckled. “It took two planes to get us back home this afternoon. Man, you could make a mint transporting people around.”

“I’ll keep that in mind, should the need for funds arise, Jimmy, but for now I prefer to keep my passengers to friends, victims, and an occasional criminal,” Superman said.

“Oh! I didn’t mean…” Jimmy said aghast, and then he cracked a grin. “You’re joking.”

Superman smiled and rose into the air, taking only two seconds to return to Lois.

“Are you ready?” he asked.

Lois nodded, wrapping her arms around his neck. “I must admit, Superman, I’ve missed this.” She cleared her throat. “Flying… with you. I’ve always enjoyed it.”

“As have I,” he whispered, scooping her into his arms and taking flight.

Clark spent the whole journey from Metropolis to Kansas, wondering how to tell her his secret, again, and what really happened in Smallville. He had decided that if anyone should tell Lois his secret, it should be Superman, the man she had once called her soul mate, not Clark, the man she thought of as a liar. Maybe she would believe the truth if Superman told her, since she hadn’t when Clark had.

Flying would be the perfect time, too. It wasn’t as if she would push out of his arms, so high in the sky. She would be forced to listen to everything he had to say. Unfortunately, that was where the difficulty lay. What exactly would he say to her?

Clark loved her, that was a given. He knew she still harbored feelings for Superman, which he had come to terms with, somewhat. He was still Superman after all. It was also clear that he had screwed up Clark’s chances with Lois. Lois always seemed to be angry with one or the other side of him. Put the two sides together, and she might never forgive him.

‘Lois, I’m Clark’ seemed to be the right words, but they felt wrong.

If Clark had a choice, he would tell Lois as he had told Rachel, in-between kisses before they made love; Clark and Lois made love that was. Of course, Rachel hadn’t known he was serious. Actually, she probably did now that he had been outed. Shame filled him as he realized that he had never flown to Smallville to talk to her after that incident with Tempus at the mayoral debate. Another regret to add to his stack. He knew she wouldn’t have been angry like Lana or Lois; that just wasn’t who Rachel was. Now, knowing that he would never see Rachel again, not even this dimension’s her, made him wish he had taken one afternoon to go and say good-bye.

He didn’t want to be forced to reveal himself to Lois as he had been with Lana. Actually, he had hoped that night with Lana would have ended differently. He had wanted her to stay the night, because of him, not because of his secret. He had realized since then though, he never would have been able to tell Lana as he had told Rachel. Her reaction to his abilities, her reaction to them floating the first time they had made love, her reaction to every little thing about him that was different told Clark that she would have freaked. There hadn’t been a way that he could have told her his secret and still have made love to her that night.

Now that he thought about it, Lana had never slept with him. Those few nights that they had sex, he might as well call a spade a spade, she hadn’t let Clark stay the night or, if at his apartment, hadn’t stayed the night herself. She had said something about it not being right, them not being married and all. Had she been afraid of what he might do while she was asleep, or was he looking back at that time of his life through the prism of paranoia? They had been engaged to be married, after all. If she was truly afraid of him, she would never have agreed… insisted that they get married. Or was the enemy that she knew better than the enemy that she didn’t? Had she settled for him because she was too scared to go out into the dating world again without her bodyguard by her side?

Pushing away thoughts of his former lovers, Clark decided to go with the option he had come up with as Jimmy had rattled on about his internment with the sheriff’s department. Superman would tell Lois that he was Clark. It was simple. It was concise. He had better do it soon, or they would arrive in Smallville with the words still stuck in his throat.

He opened his mouth to speak, to say that horrible phrase he had come up with, when Lois gave this little contented sigh and rested her head against his shoulder as if there was no place she would rather be.

How could he let Superman break her heart again?

Clark shut his mouth and just enjoyed the fact that Lois was in his arms, and that she loved him.

It wasn’t true, he knew. It was just another lie, a daydream, but after the experience of the prior few days, he needed the pick-me-up of such a dream. How could he expect Lois to love him, love all of him, if he hadn’t told her everything? Anyway, Jimmy and the Kents were waiting. It would be better to tell her on the return trip, when they had more time.

Yep, Clark admitted to himself, he had chickened out.

They landed next to Jimmy and the Kents, who had come out of their house while he and Lois had enjoyed a leisurely journey. Their flight had taken twice as long as it had with Jimmy.

Lois, who hadn’t spoken a word on the entire trip, found her voice. “Superman, this is Martha and Jonathan Kent.”

Superman nodded his greeting. “We’ve met,” he admitted. “Nice to see you again, Mr. and Mrs. Kent.”

Lois’s eyes shot to his. “You have?”

“Clark introduced us,” he said and gave the Kents a smile, which they returned.

“Oh,” Lois murmured, seemingly shocked that Clark had done this. “He never said.”

“Clark is a very private man,” Superman said.

“Yes,” Lois agreed. “Yes, he is. He’s not one to volunteer information.” She seemed a bit annoyed by that. Big surprise.

Wouldn’t she be astonished when he revealed the doozy he had been keeping from her on the return trip?

“Really? CK seems like such an upfront sort of guy,” Jimmy said, lifting his head from where he was re-checking the settings on his camera.

“We were surprised to get Jerome’s call,” Martha said. “We didn’t expect to see you again so soon.”

Clark hadn’t either. Kryptonite exposure, the degree to which he had experienced it, usually lasted at least a day, if not more. The aftereffects appeared to decrease each time. He had suffered for three days with that very first dose, a day and a half with the large rock that the Irigs had found, and, now, a bit less than a day for that little carrot-sized rock that Trask had pulled out of his pocket the previous afternoon. Thankfully, he had felt his powers return on the airplane ride back from Chicago. Clark didn’t know if the decrease in recovery time had to do with the length of the exposure, the size of the Kryptonite chunk, the direct skin contact, or the fact that the more his body became familiar with the meteorite, the less it drained his powers. He hoped it was the latter, but he refused to bet his life on it.

“The Kents call Clark ‘Jerome’,” Lois explained.

“Yes. Clark told me,” Superman admitted.

“Oh,” Lois said again, this time a bit more perturbed. “Shall we then?”

Superman nodded and followed her to the barn.

Martha showed Superman where she and Clark had hidden the spaceship. He thanked her, Lois, and Jonathan, and posed for a few photos with the ship for Jimmy. Then Superman took off into the air with the ship. He left it in that cluster of trees that he had always loved between the Irig farm and the Kent farm. Then he returned to take Jimmy back to Metropolis.

On the return flight back from the city, Clark swooped down, picked up the ship again and landed on the far side of the barn. He hid it in the old secret underground storeroom beneath the barn, where the Kents kept old farm tools and furniture rarely used anymore. He placed it behind the stairs, under another couple of horse blankets, and leaned an old tiller against it to make it appear that it had been there for quite some time.

As Clark turned to go back upstairs, he saw the box, the large square-shaped lead-lined box, in which sat the large Kryptonite chunk. It smelled to high heaven of bull manure. Sitting on top of it was Grandpa Kent’s old red tackle box. Was that where the smaller piece of Kryptonite had ended up? He would return another day to dispose of the Kryptonite, although how, was the major question.

He left the way he came in, through the far side of the barn, so Lois wouldn’t see him, zipped into the air, and landed on the Kents’ back porch. He could hear them talking inside.

“So, you didn’t destroy the rock when Thomas first brought it to you, but after those fake FBI agents came looking for it, while Clark and I were at the Irig farm with Sheriff Harris?” Lois repeated.

Clark crossed his arms. That woman never stopped working. He loved that about her, but she would die early of a coronary if she kept up this pace. He added ‘teach Lois to relax’ to his mental to-do list.

“Yes, dear, after that man Trask claimed it would… kill Superman,” Martha lied on his behalf. Trask had never openly told them what he expected the Kryptonite to do. “And then those men came back looking for it, Jonathan and I knew we had to get rid of it.”

“May I ask how you destroyed it?” Clark watched as Lois leaned forward and reassured his newly adopted mother. “I mean, Superman’s out there. I wouldn’t want him to accidentally land on the spot where you disposed of it.”

Too late. Thankfully, they were still hidden away in their respective lead boxes.

“Don’t worry, dear. He’ll be fine,” Martha said, glancing up and seeing him on the porch. “Oh, look, here he is now.”

Lois looked over at him, relief in her eyes. She stood up and thanked the Kents. Martha and Jonathan came with her to the backdoor.

“Would you like to come in for some pie?” Martha asked. “There’s one piece left.”

Superman swallowed in anticipation of his stomach churning, but it didn’t happen. Strangely enough, his mouth actually watered at the thought of Martha’s pie, something it hadn’t done in twenty years. “We best be heading back to Metropolis,” he replied. “Thank you, though.”

“Let me wrap it up, and you can take it to Jerome,” Martha said, pulling out her plastic wrap.

“Clark doesn’t eat sweets,” Lois said.

“He doesn’t?” Martha asked with a questioning glance at Clark. Her brow furrowed. “I thought…” She looked at Lois and slowly nodded. “I must have been mistaken.”

As Clark watched Martha continue to wrap up the piece of pie, he made another mental note; this time to tell her and Jonathan about how his parents had died. They had much to catch up on.

“I’ll take it,” Lois said, reaching for the pie. “I’d hate for it to go to waste.”

Martha glanced at Clark again, and he smiled. “Too bad Jerome doesn’t like sweets,” she said. “I made this from the apples he brought us last month.”

“He did mention once, his fondness for his mother’s homemade applesauce,” Clark said.

Martha laughed. “I’ll be sure to make up a batch the next time he visits.”

Lois looked back at Superman questioningly, and then shook her head. “Thank you, Martha, Jonathan, again for all your help.” She gave Martha a quick hug. “You two should think about making this place a bed and breakfast.”

“Oh, I don’t know about that,” Martha said, setting a hand on Lois’s arm. “Take care of Jerome, Lois. He may make mistakes, but he’s only human. He’s been alone a long time. Remember, he only has us and you.”

“I promise not to hurt him more than he hurts me,” she replied.

How reassuring, Clark thought wryly, but knew he didn’t even deserve that much consideration.

Lois patted Martha’s hand. “He’s lucky to have found you.”

“And you, dear,” Martha said, pulling Lois into her arms. “Together, neither of you have to be alone anymore.”

Lois glanced at Superman.

He cleared his throat. Any more of this and Clark would break down and confess his secret right here and now. That wasn’t recommended when he knew how Lois was likely to react, and that the Kryptonite was still in the vicinity. Lois didn’t know that it hadn’t been destroyed or where it was, but knowing Lois as he did, he didn’t want to bet on her not finding it.

He knew he was envisioning the worst possible level of her anger. Certainly, Lois wouldn’t want to kill him. Figuratively, definitely. Literally, not so much. Clark maybe, but not Superman.

No, it was best to stick with his original flawed plan and tell her while flying her back to Metropolis. Clark didn’t want to tell Lois like this, in response to her anger. He wanted to tell her out of love. When he knew she wanted to share her love with him, then he would feel like sharing his biggest… well, second biggest, secret with her. Unfortunately, that option was no longer available. He planned to sacrifice all on the altar of love, and hope Lois would be merciful.

“Thank you,” Superman said to the Kents. “I appreciate everything you have done for me.”

“’Tis nothing,” Jonathan replied, taking hold of his wife’s hand. “Come back and visit us, soon.”

Superman nodded and scooped Lois into his arms. As soon as they were airborne and heading towards Metropolis, Clark once again searched for the courage to tell Lois the truth she demanded.

“They’re nice people,” Lois said, chattier than she had been on the trip over. “Clark is lucky that they accepted him so willingly after he had lied to them.”

“Yes, they are good people,” Superman acknowledged, ignoring her barb against Clark.

“Superman,” Lois started at the same time he said, “Lois?”

“You first,” Clark insisted. He could put off her hating him a while longer.

She was quiet a minute. “This green meteorite, which Clark called Kryptonite after your home planet, is it real? Will it actually kill you?”

“I don’t know, Lois,” Clark replied, answering her second question. That was the scout’s honest truth. Exposure to it took away his powers, and it hurt like hell, but he didn’t know for certain it would kill him. The Kents had found a piece of it in the spaceship with their Kal-El, but that didn’t mean it caused the baby’s death. It may have just made the baby vulnerable, allowing for something else to kill him. “I’d rather not test Trask’s theory.”

Lois nodded in agreement. “Did you know that Clark was shot impersonating you yesterday?”

“What?” Clark gasped, screeching to a halt and hovering over what must have been southern Illinois or eastern Missouri. How had she known about that?

She bit her bottom lip. “Right about here,” she said, letting go of his neck with one hand and touching the exact spot where Trask’s bullet had grazed him. “It was only a flesh wound, more of a burn really.”

Superman waited for further information.

“If it makes you feel any better, he didn’t tell me about it either,” Lois said.

He raised an eyebrow. He knew that much and wondered if he remained quiet, would she reveal how she had discovered it.

Lois flushed. “I noticed it last night, when I tucked him in.”

She had tucked him in? His heart began to race as it dropped into his stomach. True, he had found his glasses on the side table this morning, but he figured he had just removed them at some point the night before. Had Lois seen him without his ‘mask’? Did Lois already know that Clark Kent was Superman? Was that what she was trying to tell him? Was that why she went under his two shirts to his chest? Had she been looking for his uniform? How had he not felt her loosening his bandage?

On the other hand, could she be discovering it now as she stared at Superman’s face and realizing it was the same as Clark’s? Of course, that would mean she had investigated Clark’s bare chest for no apparent reason.

Superman cleared his throat, not sure quite what to say, under her deep scrutiny. Begging her forgiveness seemed appropriate, but she didn’t appear angry. She actually seemed as nervous as he was.

“We didn’t sleep together, if that’s what you’re thinking,” Lois continued in his silence, her face turning redder by the suggestion. “I mean, share a bed type sleeping together. We didn’t do that. Not that we’ve done the other kind of sleeping together either. Nope. I put some blankets over him, tucked him in on the couch, and then went to bed… alone… upstairs.”

Lois didn’t recognize Clark in Superman’s face. He knew revealing himself to her without his abilities would have been pointless. Clearly, the glasses didn’t add as much to his disguise as he thought. Only now… now, she seemed to be professing a bit too much on how she and Clark hadn’t slept together. His heart soared. Did that mean that she still wanted to? She had been quite admiring of his chest when she checked him for injuries. Had she forgiven him?

“I bet Clark wanted to, sleep together, I mean. That’s probably why he pretended that he was my husband when we got to the Kents’ house. I’m sure that was part of the reason. I mean, he is male after all,” she rambled on.

No, definitely not forgiven.

Her eyes widened. “Not to imply that all men are like that! You’re not.” She winced. “And neither is Clark, really. I mean, I’ve tried to…” She slammed her mouth shut, cutting off the rest of that thought. She turned away from him and noticed that they were still floating stationary instead of flying. “Shouldn’t we be heading back to Metropolis?” she said hoarsely, changing the subject.

Superman nodded and continued their forward motion. His mind swirled with the implications of Lois’s babbling.

“You can’t be surprised, Superman, or jealous. You have to know that Clark and I have been dating. You practically pushed us together. Speaking of which, do you know Clark’s past?” she said.

“Yes, I know Clark’s history,” he admitted. How could he not? It was his own.

“His real history? Not this cock and bull story of growing up in Kansas. You know he stole the identity of the Kents’… child?” she pressed, her voice wavering slightly at the mention of the dead Kal-El.

His eyes flashed to hers. How had she known about this dimension’s Clark? Was that why she had been so adamant in asking Clark to tell her the truth about who he really was? He would never doubt her investigative skills again, not that he ever had. “He didn’t steal…” he started to say before he realized that perhaps, in a way, he had. “I don’t think that it was intentional. But, yes, I know Clark Kent’s true history. Lois…”

“Did you know about it when you picked him to watch over me?” Lois probed. “Did you know he was lying to me?”

Was that what Lois thought was the relationship between Clark and Superman? That Superman hired Clark to act as bodyguard when he wasn’t around? He shook his head at the wonder of Lois’s leaps of logic. “I did not consider Clark’s past as important as who he is now and who he has shown himself to be since arriving in Metropolis. I’m sorry, Lois, but I did not see it as him lying to you.”

“How is that not lying?” she asked, gaping at him.

“From my… from Clark’s point of view, what he has told you about his past is true,” explained Superman.

Her jaw fell open. “Point of view? Superman, facts are facts. They don’t have a point of view.”

“As you well know, Lois, history appears different to the victors than it does to the victims.”

She chewed on this interpretation of Clark’s history.

“He doesn’t want to hurt you,” Superman continued in her silence.

“Well, he did,” she murmured. “I detest being lied to.”

“I’m sorry,” he whispered and kissed the side of her head by her ear.

“It’s not your fault,” she said, leaning closer to him. After a moment of thankful silence, Lois asked, “So, you’re not even the tiniest, eensiest bit jealous of Clark?”

“No,” Clark responded. How could he be? Superman had Lois’s love; Clark only had her ire now.

“No?” Lois echoed, sounding skeptical.

Did she want him to be? She wasn’t dating Clark to make Superman jealous, was she? Well, better Clark than Luthor. “Let’s just say, I’m happy that you’ve found someone, such as Clark, who can spend time with you when you aren’t in jeopardy or covering a story, who can hold your hand on the street without paparazzi ruining your life, and who can…” He took a deep breath. “— love you without it putting your life in danger.”

“But you’re not jealous?”

He groaned slightly. “Would it please you if I said I was envious?”

“Yes.” She grinned for a moment, before it faltered and she scowled. “And I’m envious that he shared the truth with you and not with me.”

Like Clark really had a choice in the matter.

Superman glanced ahead of them and saw the Lex Towers on the horizon. They were approaching Metropolis. Either he made a detour now, and told her the truth, or he continued on this path, and hoped a more favorable opportunity presented himself.

He quickly reviewed the facts, as he knew them. Lois was angry that Clark had lied to her about being Clark Kent, well, the Clark Kent that never had a chance to grow up in Smallville, this Smallville. She thought that he had stolen the other Clark’s identity. She also didn’t believe that he was Superman. Therefore, Lois had no idea who Clark really was. Despite this, she liked Clark enough that she didn’t want him to die, that she thought him a good reporter, and that she found him attractive enough that she would look under his shirt to examine his chest while he was asleep. She wanted to know the truth though; therefore, she wouldn’t stop digging into his non-existent past until she found it. On the other hand, she hadn’t really asked Clark the tough, direct questions for which Mad Dog was known, besides who he was. Why was that? Was she biding her time or planning her mode of attack? Was it possible that she was starting to believe that some of what he had told her was actually true, not lies? If so, that would be progress. Although, she still obviously had feelings for Superman, she wasn’t acting on them or pressuring Superman as she used to. Had she finally accepted that they would never have a relationship? It felt to him as if she was working through her feelings for the hero, as well as her anger at her partner, at the moment. Maybe Martha was right. Perhaps all that Lois needed was time to sort through her feelings.

Superman headed for the Daily Planet and hoped Clark’s darkest days were now behind him.

***

“‘Superman didn’t say what the ship was used to transport; he was just happy to have it returned to him’,” Perry read aloud, before setting down the paper. “This is a good follow-up to the Trask story, which I’ve got to tell you is the darndest story I’ve seen in my thirty-five years in the newspaper business.”

Lois beamed at the Chief’s praise, yet at the same time, she knew from his tone of voice there was a ‘but’ coming.

“Let me guess,” she said before he could. “— ‘but this would sing better if we knew what he used the ship for’?”

Perry’s shocked face was evidence that she had stolen the words out of his mouth. “By Elvis’s sequined jumpsuit it would,” he said a moment later, slapping his hand against the paper.

Clark walked in from the stairwell. He wore a fresh bandage over that scratch on his eyebrow and the glasses he had used while ‘Charlie’ at the Metro Club.

“Kent, did Superman tell you what he transported in the ship?” Perry asked.

Clark glanced at Lois. “No, sir. Superman took Jimmy and Lois back to Smallville, giving them the exclusive since they… er… Lois and I uncovered his ship,” he explained. “Since I had been too close to the initial Trask story, I insisted that Lois take full credit on that story as well as this follow-up.”

Perry looked between the two of them with curiosity.

“What my partner is trying to say is that the three of us weren’t needed at the photo op of Superman picking up his ship,” Lois interjected.

“Partner?” the Chief repeated.

Lois stared at her boss with a sour expression. They weren’t going to have this conversation in the middle of the bullpen, especially since she hadn’t spoken with Clark about the status or non-status of their dating relationship yet.

On their return flight to Metropolis, Jimmy and Clark had sat together as Clark helped the photographer with his story and follow-up.

Perry nodded. “Kent, stop giving up your byline on stories, or she’ll never be your date to the Kerth Awards.”

“I’ll keep that under consideration, Chief,” Clark replied.

“Hardy-har-har,” Lois scoffed.

Perry turned towards Jimmy as the younger man winced at the brightness of the spotlight.

“Chief?” Jimmy gulped.

“You got arrested?”

Jimmy nodded.

“You got arrested for defending your rights, not only as a member of the fourth estate but also for the freedom of speech?” Perry slapped him on the back. “And to think, I wasn’t going to take a chance on you.”

“Sir?” Jimmy sputtered in confusion, glancing between Lois and Clark for clarification.

“In other words,” Lois said, feeling generous enough to translate. “You did well.”

“Oh,” he replied with relief. “Thank you, Chief.”

“Yes, sirree. I’m going to expect a lot more from you, son,” Perry said.

Panic filled Jimmy’s expression as ‘what have I done?’ flashed across his face.

“And, Kent, thank you,” Perry said, clearly in a rare pass-out-the-praise mood. “For helping Olsen here out with his story.”

“You took a chance on me, when you hired me, sir. I thought I should pass on the favor.”

“Too bad this signal watch didn’t work,” Jimmy grumbled, glancing at his arm.

“Don’t give up on it, Jimmy. We were in Kansas, Superman was in Metropolis,” Clark reassured him to Lois’s dismay.

“Clark?” Lois said, catching his eye. “Conference room, now.”

“Hey, CK, you never told me, why did everyone in Smallville think you and Lois were married?” Jimmy asked and the bullpen suddenly became quiet enough to hear the signal watch tick.

***End of Part 61***

Part 62

Oh, dear, Clark, what's that on the bottom of your shoe? Yep, he's stepped in it. What's he going to do? Comments