Wrong Place, Wrong Time, Wrong Clark TOC can be found
HereWhere we left off in Part 63 …Clark slowed down at the base of the stairwell to walk through the lobby at normal speed. He saw Herb waiting on a bench, next to the closed newsstand, reading that evening’s edition of the Daily Planet.
Clark had already decided to once again forego his nightly patrol and just fly over the city to visit some of those hot spots Jimmy had discovered. Maybe with this new heat map Superman could discover the source of the heat. He had just finished straightening up his desk and grabbing that box of donations, which he had brought to work earlier in the week, when Herb walked in from the stairwell and waved. It had completely slipped Clark’s mind that he had been in this new dimension six months now and to expect Herb’s next visit. Thankfully, Wells had given him time to let Lois know he was heading out.
After her reaction when Clark woke her up, he wondered if he should have just let her sleep. No, then she would have awoken to find him missing, so he was glad he did. She was a nervous wreck about the city of Metropolis forcing Superman to leave, especially for a crime they both knew could have nothing to do with the Man of Steel. At least, he reassured her that he wasn’t deserting her. He hoped she didn’t do anything rash while he was out talking with Wells. He’d make sure to keep their meeting short.
“You were wearing this the first time we kissed, Chuck,” Lois’s voice whispered from above.
Clark stopped in front of the time-traveler and held up a finger to ask him to wait a moment. He tilted down his glasses and looked up through the different floors to the bullpen.
In her hand, Lois still held the plain maroon tie she had repeatedly told him that she hated. She leaned back in her chair and ran it through her fingers. “I can’t believe you were going to throw it out.”
The side of Clark’s mouth tilted upward as the vice-grip around his heart loosened.
She might never admit it to his face, but Lois missed kissing him, too.
Part 64***********
Second Visit***********
“You’re out late, Herb,” Clark said, straightening his glasses and addressing the man in the familiar bowler hat.
“Not particularly,” Wells replied, standing up. “I dropped you off in this universe only this morning, which was…” He glanced at his pocket watch. “Just a couple of hours ago, actually.”
“A couple of hours ago?” Clark said with a shake of his head. How time flies.
“How are things progressing?” Herb asked, eyeing Clark’s box.
Clark had been carrying a similar box when Wells had arrived in his dimension to inform him of the futility of returning to early 1993 and rescuing his dimension’s Lois. “Oh, this?” he chuckled. “Maybe I shouldn’t carry my stuff around in a box. It seems to give everyone the wrong impression. Well, honestly, things could be better. Currently, Superman is being driven out of town on a rail.” He shrugged and pushed open the lobby doors into the warm muggy air that had become Metropolis’s norm over the last few months. “You’ve got to love those hot summer nights in November.”
“Oh?” said Herb, but he didn’t look all too surprised.
“Yes. It’s a bit of a pain,” explained Clark vaguely. “But we’ll figure it out.”
Herb stopped and looked at Clark with a perplexed expression. “Figure it out? You mean Superman isn’t leaving Metropolis?” he asked, holding up the evening edition of the Daily Planet, which clearly stated that was what Superman had volunteered to do.
“Even if Superman leaves town for a while, I’ll still be here. Lois and I are really close to determining who’s behind the framing of Superman, and the real reason behind the heat wave,” Clark said. “In fact, she had a brilliant idea upstairs, just now, about it having something to do with Lex Luthor and his LexCorp Nuclear Power Plant.”
“Did she?” Herb said, with a contemplative pout to his mouth.
“Yes. If Superman’s life hadn’t gone down the drain this week, with him being accused of causing the heat wave, being arrested for using his powers to
save people, and then being released into the care of the Daily Planet, thank goodness, I probably would have thought of putting Luthor down as my number one suspect too. This is right up his alley.” Clark looked up at sky in disbelief that the obviousness of this solution hadn’t hit him squarely between the eyes. “Sorry, about making you wait, Herb. I wanted to let Lois know that I was stepping out. Perhaps I shouldn’t have woken her up,” he said, shaking his head. “But if she awoke to find me gone, she probably would have reacted worse.”
“Why?” Herb’s brow furrowed. “What happened?”
“Lois is stressed out about Superman leaving. Every little thing seems to be setting her off. She isn’t eating properly, she isn’t sleeping at all, and she’s edgier than ever, working nonstop to save Superman. Just now, she blew up at me for no reason I can fathom. She accused me of sneaking out of town in the dead of night, because I couldn’t cut it in the city. As if Superman’s departure meant I’d be leaving…” Clark’s eyes widened. “You don’t suppose she knows, do you? She practically danced for joy, when I told her this was just a box of old clothes I was donating to the Fifth Street Mission, and not all of my worldly possessions.”
“That’s
not all of your possessions from your desk?”
“No,” said Clark, exasperated. What was with everyone tonight?
“That…” Wells tapped his glasses in reference to Clark’s x-raying the ceiling of the lobby a few minutes before. “— wasn’t you taking one last look at her after saying goodbye?”
“No, I heard her say something peculiar, and I wondered to what she was referring,” Clark clarified. “She must have taken one of my old ties out of the box.”
“Hmmmm. Interesting,” Herb said, and then sighed. “Therefore, I reckon you aren’t returning with me to your universe tonight?”
Clark tossed up his free hand. “No. Of course not. I belong here, with Lois. Isn’t this why you brought me here? So that we could fall in love?”
Herb rested his hands together behind him as they walked. “Have you fallen in love?”
“Yes.”
“And Ms. Lane?” Herb asked pointedly. “Has
she fallen in love with you?”
Clark flushed. “Well, yes and no. We did go on a few dates, but it’s still early. We’ve only known each other for six months. Anyway, we’re currently on a hiatus relationship-wise. I’m sure she’s on the verge of forgiving me for lying to her. Right on the cusp. Any day now.”
Herb gazed at him skeptically. “I take it that you’ve informed Ms. Lane about your other identity.”
“Well, no,” Clark admitted sheepishly. “That’s part of the problem. She discovered recently that Clark Kent doesn’t have a history in this dimension, not that she knows about the other dimensions or time-travel. I’m currently working on a path towards telling her. It’s a slow process.”
The other man looked unconvinced.
Clark cleared his throat. “It’s a work in progress.”
“Clark, as I told you before, I brought you here to have a holiday from the demands of what your life had become in your universe, not for you to fall in love with
this Lois. I expected you to return afterwards with a clearer view of what
you wanted out of life there.”
“And leave Lois, the woman I love with my entire being, forever? Moreover, return to a time and dimension where everyone knows all my secrets, where I’m alone, with no family, hardly any friends, and no privacy or home life at all? Not likely,” Clark scoffed, and then stopped walking to face Herb, as his brow furrowed. If Wells had expected him to return to his own dimension after only a few months, how would Clark have been able to stop that disaster in the future? Was the heat wave the natural disaster that Wells wanted him to avert? “Wait. You knew that this heat wave would be blamed on Superman, and that he’d be forced to leave Metropolis, didn’t you? That’s why you’re here,
now, isn’t it? You
want me to leave this Lois and return to my dimension.”
Herb cleared his throat. “No, no, my boy. I want what’s best for you, this universe, and your universe.”
“What about what’s best for Lois?” Clark asked, trying to calm his growing anger.
“And you’re saying that would be a life with you?” Herb asked.
Clark winced, and then raised a hand in defense. “Okay. I’m the first to admit I’ve some failings in life. I’ll never be perfect like the Clark from your dimension, but I’m no Lex Luthor either.”
“No person is perfect, Clark. Everyone makes mistakes, even the Clark Kent married to the Lois you first met,” Herb assured him. “But I can tell you that this Ms. Lane, your current partner, wouldn’t have ended up with Lex Luthor, had she never met you.”
“Thank God,” Clark said, exhaling with relief. “True, the best Clark for Lois is
her Clark, but as you mentioned, he died when he was an infant. Speaking of which, I’ve learned from the Kents a bit more about this dimension’s Kal-El.”
“You’ve contacted the Kents? You’ve spoken with them about Kal-El… um… their Clark?” Herb sputtered, clearly in surprise.
“Well, I wasn’t expecting to when I arrived here; it just sort of happened. They saw through my disguise and knew who I was almost from day one. Not that I knew that until they contacted me about Bureau 39, this rogue military group out to kill Superman. I told you about them on your last visit. Well, they made another appearance. Trask, who was this group’s leader, and Bureau 39 visited Smallville last month and kidnapped Wayne Irig, the Kents’ neighbor. Therefore, the Kents contacted me for help, well… Lois, actually, which is how she found out about my history not lining up exactly as I had told her it had. In fact, the Kents are the best people, very supportive of me. They remind me of the Martha and Jonathan Kent of your dimension,” Clark clarified.
“You’ve bonded with the Martha and Jonathan Kent of this universe?” Herb stated more than asked.
“Yes. It’s nice to have someone else to talk to and give me advice, especially about Lois,” Clark said. He was really proud and excited about the possibilities of this unexpected development of his relationship with the Kents. True, he had Cat, but he had a feeling the Kents’ advice might bring about more positive results with Lois, than Cat’s had.
“Do you think that was wise, Clark, forming a relationship with the Kents before you know if you’re going to stay in this universe?” Herb asked.
“I
am staying!” Clark said as plainly as he could.
Wells raised a hand. “All right, you wish to stay here. Nevertheless, what about your home universe? Are you going to leave it without a Superman? Those people need you just as much as these people do,” Herb reminded him.
Clark’s shoulders fell. “I know. I know, but
I’m happier here.”
“Are you?”
Clark raised a brow, refusing to answer such a ridiculous question.
“I mean…” Herb hurried to add. “Superman isn’t revered in this universe as much as he is in yours.” He held up the Daily Planet again. “They’re blaming you for the weather.”
“It’s a temporary blip. An annoyance to be sure, but it will pass as soon as the truth is revealed,” Clark said. He had a feeling Wells knew more than he was saying about this heat wave. “This dimension has a living breathing Lois Lane,” he murmured the obvious. “Fame and celebrity are fickle friends, Herb. You know that as well as I.”
Herb nodded in agreement. “Let’s return to the Kents. You said that they knew about the Kal-El from this universe.”
“Yes, they found his spaceship as my folks had. Well, not exactly, it was dusk, not mid-afternoon when they discovered it, and it wasn’t because of a meteor shooting out of the sky but because of a fire in Shuster’s woods. They also came across a piece of Kryptonite inside the ship,” Clark explained. “I believe someone else must have traveled back in time to kill him, as Tempus did in your dimension, unless Kryptonite is a component of the ship’s engine. I’ve examined the spaceship from this dimension, and it didn’t appear damaged in any way. I could not see how Kryptonite could factor into its design. Have you learned for certain that Kryptonite will kill me? Or does it just remove my abilities, thus making me vulnerable enough to be killed? Tempus seemed pretty certain that…”
Herb interrupted, raising his hand. “With deep enough or long enough exposure, the radiation from the Kryptonite itself
will kill you, Clark. I’m sorry.”
Clark’s shoulders fell in disappointment, although not in surprise. So much for
that theory. “So the more often I’m exposed to Kryptonite doesn’t lessen its affects on me or doesn’t lessen my recovery time? I won’t build up resistance over time?” he asked in hope.
Herb shook his head again. “I’m sorry, Clark. I’ve never heard of either those aspects as being true; though, I wish it were so.”
“Me, too,” Clark said with a sigh, as another pipe dream bit the dust. “What did you find out on your research of this dimension’s history? Did you discover why Lois has these semi-psychic feelings?”
The other man appeared a bit contrite as he cleared his throat. “Nothing definite yet. If what you’re telling me is true, it is possible that this Ms. Lane had already met her Clark Kent and Superman…”
“But he
died back in 1966!” Clark interrupted. “How could they’ve met? That was before she was even born.”
“Yes, but that may only be because someone came back in time and changed history, killing off this universe’s Clark Kent before his rightful time. As I was trying to elucidate before, if this Ms. Lane had already met her Clark, these semi-psychic feelings she experiences with you could be actual memories of what happened in her previous life with him.”
Clark stared at Herb. He was at a loss for words. He hadn’t thought through all the implications of what it meant if someone had gone into the past to kill off Kal-El. Up until now, at this very moment, he hadn’t considered the fact that maybe this Lois had met her Clark in his previous life. This Lois could have known, loved, and even married her Clark before his life was wiped from her existence, erased from her memories, torn from her soul.
The implications hit him like nuclear blast. Clark saw a bus stop bench and fell into the seat, no longer able to stand.
It would explain Lois’s inconsistencies for her feelings for him. It would explain how she was attracted to him, but repelled by him at the same time. It would explain how she could slap his hand away from caressing her face one moment, and cling to him, as if her life depended on it, the next.
He set down the box and buried his face in his hands.
It would explain why, when Lois burst into his apartment after he – as Superman – had broken up with her, that first time, she told Clark everything about him was “wrong”. It would also explain why she thought he was “leaving” her tonight, if her Clark had temporarily left her when her Superman had been driven out of Metropolis. It would explain her use of the word “again”, as in “don’t leave me
again” when he, Clark, had never “left her” before.
Clark’s head spun as his heart started to shatter at the weight of this possibility. It took all of his strength to keep from giving up hope entirely.
With the realization that he would have to return to his home dimension, if they were able to rescue this dimension’s Clark, his stomach sank like concrete. Clark would have to leave Lois and return to his own dimension, where there was no Lois, where he didn’t have a job other than being Superman, where he didn’t have a home, or parents, or hardly any friends, where he didn’t have any secrets, except this one. How could he return to his old life after living for six months with a living, breathing Lois? How could he live without her snarky comments, her laugh, or her smile? How could he function without her brief touches that made his blood flow, or her kisses, which felt like liquid sunshine rejuvenating his soul, or hearing her heartbeat change with her mood? How could he return to being always Superman, rarely Clark, and nobody’s “Chuck”?
He wouldn’t only be giving up just Lois either. He would no longer be able to hang out with, joke around with, or do anything with Jimmy “James” Olsen, whom he had sorely missed since his friend had been killed in his own dimension.
Clark would even miss his relationship with Cat. Sure, she could be silly and a terrible flirt, but she was a good friend, better than most friends – save probably Rachel – he had back in his dimension. She was loyal and always there for him, both professionally and personally. Moreover, she could be unexpected, in the most predictable ways possible. Most importantly, Cat made him laugh. She didn’t take life seriously and, thereby, reminded him that not every little setback was of life or death importance.
Perry and Jimbo, or his dimension’s “James” Olsen, would still be there, but not in the same way. Clark would no longer see either of them without thinking of their counterparts in this dimension. The way this Perry obsessed with Elvis more than Mayor White ever had. The way that this dimension’s Perry was an iron fist of the newsroom, never let anyone tell him what to do, and was never one to fix what “ain’t broken”, but was willing to listen to Clark, to believe in him, and to give him a chance.
The never-ending kindness, optimism, and even the uncertainty of the “Jimbo” scratching out a living by his fingernails made him so different from Clark’s starchy, former employer. He reminded Clark of how he had once seen himself, before Lana had gotten her claws into him. Jimbo still had potential, instead of having fulfilled it already.
Clark’s head and shoulders fell forward. He would be returning to a place where a Lana existed who felt as if she owned him. In the pit of his stomach, he knew that there had been more to Lana and Walt’s relationship than she had ever told him, more than he had ever suspected, more than he ever wanted to know, but now he did know and he’d never be able to wipe those thoughts from his mind. He never wanted to think of, let alone see, or – heaven forbid –
deal with that woman again. If he returned, he knew he would have to.
Most importantly next to Lois, Clark would also lose his new-dimensional folks, Martha and Jonathan. That loss would only compound his previous one and he knew that all those old wounds, which were finally starting to heal, would be ripped open once more. He finally had a family, friends, a home, a job, and a woman he loved. He practically had his ideal life, here, in
this dimension. He just needed some more time to make all his dreams come true.
Try as hard as Herb had to find him a Lois without a Clark, the writer hadn’t succeeded. Instead, he had found a Lois with a missing Clark. This Lois wasn’t free to love Clark, because she was already in love with her Clark. Only, like his Lois, her Clark was dead, or at least, dead for now.
Gosh darn it! It wasn’t fair! Her true Clark had already had his chance with her and this life, and now it was his turn.
On the other hand, was her Clark really dead just “for now”? Perhaps her Clark was truly, and irreparably dead. Maybe Clark should just carry on as if the knowledge had never presented itself to him. Perhaps this was the way it was supposed to be. It was possible that he and this Lois were the true soul mates in this scenario. How many lives would be changed for the better or worse, if they went back and made things as they were supposed to be? Would her Clark actually be able to stop the natural disaster that Herb had sent Clark to stem with his presence?
Clark’s stomach twisted at that fleeting thought. No, he wouldn’t be able to live with that decision. He wasn’t God. He couldn’t take it upon himself to make those life or death decisions. He still hadn’t forgiven himself for not saving his Lois, and knew he never would.
Moreover, could he really try to steal Lois from her Clark if there was a way to save him? He had already tried that with the other Lois with disastrous results. He wouldn’t go down that road again. Anyway, it wasn’t fair to Lois, and it wasn’t fair to the Kents, who deserved a live son to love from infancy. Clark loved them all too much to forego their happiness for his own.
He knew he had felt pain many times before. He lost his folks. His foster families rejected him and bounced him from foster home to foster home with little thought to what he really needed or wanted. He missed out on a relationship with Rachel. Lana, repeatedly, had caused him pain. He had met his soul mate while they were both engaged to others. The agony of his first exposure to Kryptonite rivaled having to say good-bye to that other dimension’s Lois that first time. He then had to see her again, only happy and in love with another him. In this dimension, not only had someone shot Lois on Clark’s watch, he had once more been exposed to Kryptonite. He had thought both his new-dimensional folks, and then Lois, had been killed while he was unable to stop it, only to discover it had been all in his mind. Most recently, he had the pain of Lois telling him that she wanted to be just friends. He had totally screwed up his new life in this dimension, but he had always figured that he would have time to fix it, time to get Lois to fall in love with him, and time to live happily ever after, finally able to be blissfully fortunate for the first time in his life.
Now, he knew his dreams were just that, dreams. How could he deny Lois her Clark, the Clark that should have been here? And the bitter irony was that only he, Clark, could save the parallel version of himself. He had to save someone who would be taking his place and gaining everything that he himself had to give up. He knew what he had to do, and the excruciating agony that accompanied it, seemed double of all that other pain combined.
With a heavy heart, Clark glanced up at his friend to speak. He realized for the first time that the man was talking to him or, at least, Herb’s lips were moving, but Clark couldn’t focus on any of the words. He swallowed, took a deep breath and exhaled, forcing the following words out of his mouth, even if it meant interrupting his friend, “Herb, you must…” His voice failed.
No, he couldn’t do it. Clark couldn’t leave Lois. Then he realized he had to. What if the roles had been reversed? What if someone had kidnapped his Lois out of her rightful timeline, stopping them from ever meeting? Would Clark still feel the same way about going into the past and setting things right? He cleared his throat.
“Yes, Clark? What must I do?” Herb asked softly.
“You must…” Clark paused, this time just briefly, before plunging into the icy waters once again. “– go back into the past and find out what happened to this dimension’s Clark. You need to find out if there is a way to save him.” There he had done it. He had done the right thing, the honorable thing, the most difficult thing he had ever done. It was also the worst possible thing he could do to himself. He would never forgive himself, but neither would he have ever forgiven himself if he hadn’t said those horrible words. He stood up and picked up his box of donations. “We could be wrong,” he reassured himself aloud. “It’s possible that somehow a piece of Kryptonite entered into the spaceship before it left Krypton.” It was a lie. He knew it and, by the skeptical expression on his friend’s face, Herb knew it as well.
“Possible, yes. As I’ve said before, nothing is impossible, but it is highly improbable.”
“Yes, I realize that as well. Before I can continue wooing this Lois…” Clark stopped, long enough to send a silent prayer that this pause in his relationship with Lois was only a temporary one. “I need to know if it’s possible to save her Clark. I love her, but no matter how tempted I may be, I… refuse to take her away from the man with whom she truly belongs.”
“I’ll do that, Clark. I should have researched this universe more. If I hadn’t been so naïve to believe that you would return to your universe after meeting and spending time with this Lois, I would have checked her background and her universe’s history better. I’m sorry. It’s entirely my fault,” Herb said, and Clark could hear his remorse in his voice.
Clark raised his hand to stop the man’s apologies, unable to hear them any longer. “Learn all you can about this dimension. Check out its past and… its future. See if anything I’ve already done has changed the course of its destruction. Once you discover the truth, I’ll go back into the past with you to save her Clark, no matter the outcome,” he said unable to keep the despondency from his tone. “Shall we meet again in three months?”
“Are you sure you want to wait that long, Clark? I can come and go through time as I please,” Herb replied.
Clark nodded. “It will give me time to resolve this heat wave issue and restore Superman’s good standing. The Kents have invited me to spend the holidays with them, and I’d like the opportunity to do that. I’d also like time to capture and put Lex Luthor behind bars. I would like to be Clark Kent just a little while longer, even if only as Lois’s friend and partner.” His eyes closed and he took a deep breath, trying to keep control of his emotions. “I guess there’s no reason to tell Lois the truth now, even though she deserves, and has deserved the truth for a long time now. Somewhere in that mixed up mind of her, she probably already knows. But telling her now would only serve to complicate things for me. When we return this dimension to as it should be, I will have to say goodbye to her forever.” The one thing he had just promised this Lois he would never do to her. He refocused his attention on Herb. “I’ll tell her then, though… She won’t remember me, will she?”
“No. If this universe can be returned to its original timeline, the only ones who will remember this version will be you and me, Clark,” Wells reassured him.
Clark nodded. He had that, at least. A sudden thought came to mind. “Oh, and you might want to check back one hundred fifty years ago. Something happened around that time, which changed this dimension to become different from my dimension.”
Herb stared at Clark. “Something happened in the 1850s that changed history?”
“Prior to the 1850s, the histories of my dimension and of this one match.”
“Is that so? I never knew that,” Herb said, his voice wavering. “How peculiar.”
“I thought you’d find it so,” Clark said, holding out his hand. “I’d better go drop these clothes off and find me and Lois something to eat. I promised to return to her shortly.” He had promised a good many things, he would no longer be able to follow through on. He refused to let himself dwell on what might have been between them, until he and Lois had solved this current mystery. Actually, Clark wouldn’t give up all hope until Wells had returned and pronounced his findings. Until then, Clark would focus of keeping himself numb and try not to feel anything, anything at all. He knew he would fail terribly at this, though.
“Until February 1994 then, Clark,” Herb said, shaking his hand.
*****************
Through New Eyes*****************
Superman burst into the control room of the LexCorp Nuclear Power Plant and shouted, “Stop!”
Lois followed on his heels. They pushed through the crowds and up to Lex Luthor at the control switch.
“I’m afraid that stopping is not one of the options, Superman,” Lex said haughtily.
“We think that there’s a leak in the reactor core. That’s what’s causing the heat, not Superman,” Lois informed him and Mayor Berkowitz, who was standing at Lex’s side.
“It’s impossible,” Lex said to Mayor Berkowitz; he almost sounded nervous.
“What other explanation can there be? Your plant is causing the aquifer water to heat up,” Lois went on.
“Unless there’s some
other reason, Luthor,” Superman said; his arms crossed as he glared at the man. Like Clark, Superman had never forgiven Lex for shooting her.
“Well, of course not,” Lex said, addressing his next comments to the mayor. “And, believe me, there’s no leak.”
“Well, then, there’s no leak,” Mayor Berkowitz parroted to Lois and Superman.
A tall blond man from behind the billionaire whispered something into Lex’s ear.
Lex announced with glee, “We’re online. The fuel rods are hot.” He, the mayor, and all the other ‘dignitaries’ in the room started to applaud.
Lois couldn’t believe that Lex was discounting her argument, dismissing her, and rejecting her ideas as ‘impossible’. How dare he? He never even took the time to listen to her. Someone had once told her ‘
Nothing is impossible!’ Clearly, Lex Luthor hadn’t been apprised of this discovery.
“Can your men shut it down?” Superman asked.
“No. Once the sequence has been initiated, it’s physically impossible. It’s one of the safety features,” Lex said proudly.
Superman turned around and opened the door behind them to the reactor core.
Mayor Berkowitz chased after him. “Wait! You can’t go in there! The radioactivity will kill you.” Apparently, the mayor wasn’t familiar with Superman or his invulnerability.
Lois faced Lex with a scowl, trying to focus her thoughts, so she wouldn’t scream at one of the most powerful men in Metropolis, or do what she was sorely tempted to do, punch him in the nose. She wasn’t so naïve as to know that wouldn’t come back to bite her on the backside.
“How could you? I defended you to Clark after you shot me and after seeing you at the Metro Club. You didn’t even listen to us… to
me,” she said. Her feelings had been hurt, but mostly, she was mad.
“Superman is wrong, Lois,” Lex said calmly, almost patronizingly, as if she were blindly following Superman’s lead because she was a starry eyed teeny bopper and he a rock star. “The LexCorp Nuclear Plant isn’t responsible. It’s perfectly safe.”
“Superman didn’t discover the leak, Lex,
I did. Are you telling me to my face that
I’m wrong?” Lois demanded. “That my whole investigation, all the data that I collected, all the experts with whom I spoke, and that everything I’ve put my sweat and energy into for the last week is wrong?”
“Well, we…” Lex looked around at everyone staring at him and placed a fake smile on his face. “We both can’t be wrong, Lois.”
“Actually, Lex, it looks like we are. You were wrong about your plant, and I was wrong about you!” she announced, and turned towards the reactor door to wait for Superman to emerge.
Lex followed her, grabbing her arm. “Lois, darling…”
Lois stopped, not facing him. “Don’t call me ‘darling’,” she said through clenched teeth, her voice barely loud enough for him to hear her. She jerked her arm away from him.
“Please, allow me to explain,” Lex pleaded.
“Explain? How are you going to
explain that you pushed the LexCorp Nuclear Plant through channels to cover up the fact that it was the cause of an environmental disaster? How are you going to
explain that by turning on this power plant you endangered the lives of everyone living and working within at least a twenty mile radius?” Lois retorted. She pulled out her mini-cassette recorder from her briefcase and held it up between them. “Go ahead; explain, for the record, Mr. Luthor.”
He set his hand over hers, turning off the recorder. “I never allow myself to be recorded, Lois, you know that. It increases the possibility of me being misquoted.”
Well, that was backwards logic if she had ever heard it. More likely, that there was too much chance of being caught in a lie. What was it about men? Did they always lie, or was it only to her?
“Lois, this isn’t the best time or place to discuss this. Why don’t you meet me for dinner at the Top of the Towers, and I’ll tell you everything?” he suggested softly, running his thumb over the back of her hand. “Just the two of us.”
“Lex, if you want to treat me as a woman,” Lois retorted, pulling her hand out of his. “You first need to show me you respect me as a reporter. Either we discuss this here and now, just the two of us, or in your office later this afternoon with Clark. I don’t care. I’ll even let you choose, but this
will be an interview and not a date.”
Alarms and sirens started going off. Lois turned her head towards a monitor showing Superman taking a deep breath and stepping away from the reactor core.
“Fine, Ms. Lane. I’ll pencil you in for, let’s say, two this afternoon, my office,” Lex said with a slight nod. “It looks like the rest of my morning will be quite busy cleaning up this mess that Superman caused.”
“We’ll see you at two, Mr. Luthor,” Lois responded. She would much rather interview Superman now, anyway. She glanced over her shoulder at the entrance to the control room, wondering when Clark would show up to help her interview these dignitaries before they escaped.
***
Clark finally arrived five minutes after Superman left.
In confidence, Superman had told Lois that he wanted to fly into the heavens and give himself a sunbath to recharge his batteries after dealing with the reactor. She didn’t need to know why he told her that in confidence. She was sure there would still be those around who thought Superman was to blame for the heat wave, at least until the snow began to fall and he was still flying the skies above Metropolis.
“Took you long enough,” Lois grumbled to her partner. “I was wondering if you’d make it.”
“Me, too,” Clark admitted. “I got here just as the alarms started blaring. I was stuck until the lockdown was called off.”
He looked as tired as she felt. They both had been up over twenty-four hours, not counting her nightmare filled catnap the night before.
Lois summed up what happened and what they still needed to do. “We’re meeting Lex at his office at two.”
He raised a surprised eyebrow. “We? As in ‘us’ as in ‘me and you’?” he asked.
“We’re partners, aren’t we?” she countered.
Clark smiled in that way he did where his face looked conflicted. His mouth was genuinely happy, but his eyes were sad.
Lois patted his arm. “Come on. Let’s finish up these interviews, write up our notes, grab a quick lunch, grill Luthor, type up our story, eat a celebratory dinner, and then crash,” she said, before a bubble of laughter escaped. “You know, that sounded like a shorter day inside my head.”
“Sounds perfect,” he replied.
***
Clark followed Lois down the hall to her apartment. Despite being tired, Lois seemed happier than he had seen her in a while. Well, happier at him, at least. She would start to forgive him as soon as he had realized that there could never be anything between them.
“Mmmm,” she said, pulling her keys out of her purse. “I’m going to have to add that Mexican restaurant to my speed-dial list. That was delicious.”
“I discovered it a while back, but you never seemed interested in eating anything other than Chinese and Italian food,” he replied, handing her the doggie bag from the restaurant with a deep bow. “Your bag, milady.”
Lois leaned against her doorway and looked at him for a minute. “You know, you don’t have to come all the way to my apartment with me,” she said. “It’s not necessary.”
“When I walk a woman home, she always gets door-to-door service,” he replied.
She looked at him skeptically. He doubted she believed his motives.
“You’ll have to blame my mom. She insisted I treat women, well… everyone really, but especially women, with respect,” Clark continued. Since Lois probably assumed anything he said that didn’t add up was just another lie, he felt more comfortable speaking to her about his past. The time they had together was too short to spend it arguing, which was another reason he had decided it was pointless to tell her the truth about Superman now. It wasn’t as if she would remember it anyway, after her timeline was returned to where it ought to be.
“It’s rare to have an actual gentleman for a friend.” Lois touched his arm. “Well, thank her for me, the next time you speak with her,” she said, and then quickly added, as her cheeks went rosy, “I meant, in your prayers, or however you...” She winced, trying to walk herself out of that hole. “I’m sorry, Clark. I shouldn’t have…”
“It’s okay, Lois. Really,” he said, and for the first time in a long time, the words felt true. He gave her a wink. “I’m sure she’d be glad to hear it.”
“Do you want to come in?” she asked, backing away from the door and giving him space to enter. “We could work a bit more on those follow-up ideas we came up with at dinner.”
Longing hit him square between the eyes. “Better not,” Clark said. “I’m dead tired. I’d probably fall asleep on your sofa.”
Lois laughed. “Trust me, Clark, nobody sleeps on my sofa.” She stepped closer, silently staring at him before she touched his cheek. He wondered if it was him, she was looking at, or was a part of her searching for
her Clark in his face. “Hey, do you speak Italian?” she then asked unexpectedly.
“What?” he sputtered. Where had
that question come from?
Lois blushed and dropped her hand. “You speak so many languages: Chinese, French, and the Spanish at dinner tonight. I was curious what other languages you spoke, like Italian.”
Oh. That was all. For a second there, he thought she knew about that crazy idea of him being Jonathan’s uncle’s Italian grandson. “
E 'tardi e dovremmo andare a dormire. Ci vediamo in mattinata,” he said with a slight bow as he backed down her hall. “
Buona notte, Lois bella.*”
“Good night, Clark,” she said, shutting her door.
Clark started back down the hall towards the stairwell, when he heard her lean against the inside of her front door and whistle. “You better keep that sexy Italian accent away from me, Chuck, or who knows what I might be capable of?”
He couldn’t help but grin.
Unfortunately, it was short lived. He pressed his lips together and bit his bottom lip, but nothing stopped the tears from coming to his eyes.
***End of Part 64*** Part 65 *Italian Translation = It’s late and we should go to sleep. I’ll see you in the morning. Goodnight, beautiful Lois.
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