Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Lois & Clark Fanfic Wrong Clark (68/??)

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

Author’s Note: When I wrote Jolly St. Clark for last year’s Christmas challenge (write a Christmas Story for S1 with mistletoe and a reason for why Lois would date Luthor after MoSB) I had originally written it to fit into “Wrong Clark”. This story has been altered enough that the Wrong Clark draft of “Jolly St. Clark” will no longer work for this story, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t keep parts of that story for this one. If you (re)read that story, with this story in mind, you might catch echoes of this one hidden between the lines.

Where we left off in Part 67 …

Clark zipped into the forest and gathered up the workers’ guns, ushering the men back to the worksite. He informed them, still in Portuguese, that this jobsite had been shut down and that they needed to help load up the equipment to leave. After the men had returned to the site, Clark stood at the edge of the forest, pressed their guns into a ball, and dropped it to the ground.

“You are littering,” a voice from the forest informed him in English with the lilting accent of a man who had learned the language in school.

With a swift motion, Clark retrieved the offending object and hurled it into space.

“You are still littering. Now space and not Terra… uh… Eartha… Earth,” the voice continued.

“Clearly, I still have much to learn,” Clark responded in Portuguese. “I’ll be more careful in the future.”

“You are the man they call ‘Superman’,” the voice said more than asked.

“Yes, and you are?” Clark asked, already knowing he spoke to the man called Jaguar.

The man was quiet; if Clark had not been able to hear his heart beating, he would have assumed he had left. “I am a friend.”

“As am I,” said Clark.

“Ah, sim, but I was born here. I have much more to lose if I am discovered,” replied the man.

Clark turned to gaze in the direction of the voice for the first time. “You have no cause to fear me in that regard. I, too, understand the need for discretion.” His eyes searched out for the man, quickly finding him in roughly the same place and position as he had first spotted him.

“They say that you are a great advocate of justice, punishing all those who break the rules. To protect the people of my… forest, I cannot always work within the rules… laws,” explained the Jaguar.

If Superman brought to justice all those who trespassed against the law, Lois and himself would already have had plenty of charges brought upon them by the city of Metropolis. “As long as you aim to not harm anyone, you will have no quarrel with me.”

“I am here to help people, senhor. I live by a code, which I cannot break.”

“As do I,” Clark told him. For the most part.

“There are those that I know who worry that you are a demon, because of what you can do. They are afraid that you will try to make yourself into a god, make man bow down before you, and pray to you,” the Jaguar said.

“Yes, I’ve heard these things also,” Clark replied softly, still speaking in Portuguese. “I am no god nor would I want to be one. I am merely a man, trying to live his life as best he can. I would only accept prayers ‘for me’, not ‘to me’.”

“I am glad to hear that, Superman. Thank you for coming to the rescue of my forest,” the man said.

“De nada,” Clark replied, bowing his head. “You did the hard work, Jaguar.”

“God bless you, senhor,” Jaguar said, turning his head towards Clark for an instant before disappearing into the forest.

Stunned, Clark couldn’t do more than watch the man speed through the forest silently. When he had x-rayed through the Jaguar’s mask, he had seen his own face, looking back at him.

***

Part 68 - Part 68a

Lois looked at her wristwatch again. Three hours had passed since Clark left and told her he would be back in a ‘little while’. He still hadn’t returned. The MPD had arrived, arrested Barbara Trevino, took Lois and Jimmy’s statements, and still no Clark. She had typed up the article for Perry, reviewed the photos that Jimmy had taken of the police hauling Barbara Trevino off to jail, and still no Clark. She was starting to get worried. It wasn’t like him to disappear like that.

On a second thought, it was without a doubt like him. He had made disappearing into an art form but usually not when he was worried about her safety. Actually, during those times he stuck to her like glue. As a matter of fact, she had been kind of surprised that he had gone out earlier to search for Barbara Trevino and left her here, even with Jimmy ‘watching over’ her. She would have questioned him further about it, but she had been on the phone with Lex.

Lois dropped her head onto her hand. Lex Luthor. Clark was jealous of Lex, and he heard Lex asking her out, again. After what had happened at Clark’s apartment the night before and that morning, she couldn’t believe that… Of course, he was Clark, so she could believe that he would think she would want Lex over him. Damn lunkhead. Didn’t Clark know that had he kissed her at any point, she would have caved? Couldn’t he see that she wanted him? Men! Hello, she practically pulled off his towel and jumped his bones right then and there.

What more did she have to do to convince Clark she wasn’t interested in Lex? She had told him that she didn’t like Lex. Naturally, he had been asleep at the time. Perhaps she should rent a billboard that proclaimed that she wasn’t interested in multi-billionaires, or any man for that matter, who discounted her professionally. Nah, knowing Clark, he still wouldn’t see it. That man could be so blind sometimes.

The elevator dinged and Lois glanced up. She didn’t know why she glanced up. Clark never took the elevator, he always took the stairs, but look up she did and she was glad she did.

Clark stepped out of the elevator and walked towards her as if the weight of the world rested on his shoulders. Oh, dear, he clearly hadn’t heard that Barbara Trevino had been caught. He must have been out searching for her the whole time.

“CK! There you are. Lois and I were starting to get worried,” Jimmy said before Lois could speak. At least, he said the ‘w’ word instead of her.

“Huh?” Clark said, turning towards his friend. He looked dazed.

She stood up and approached them. “Clark? Are you okay?”

Clark moved his gaze slowly from Jimmy to her. Something was obviously bothering him. He looked like he was staring right through her. “Huh?” he repeated.

She hoped he wasn’t coming down with something. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost. Are you okay?” she asked again.

“Ghost?” Clark repeated. “No, not a ghost. Definitely not a ghost.” He shook his head. “No.”

“Jimmy, why don’t you get Clark a coffee? He must be half-frozen,” Lois suggested, taking Clark’s elbow and leading him over to the chair next to her desk.

“One cup of hot office sludge, coming right up,” Jimmy said, hurrying over to the coffee machine.

“What happened?” Lois asked, taking hold on Clark’s hand. Thankfully, it didn’t feel cold.

“I don’t know. I mean, I think I do know; only I can’t wrap my mind around it,” Clark said, looking down at her hand. He squeezed her fingers and then raised his gaze back to hers. His eyes were sadder than she had seen them recently, as if all remaining hope had been sucked out of his soul. “You deserve to be happy, Lois.”

Uh… okay. Clearly, something had happened. “I am happy, Clark. I’ve got a great job that I love. I have good friends, who are there for me when I need them. Least of all, Barbara Trevino was captured and taken to jail, so I’m out of danger,” Lois reassured him.

“You’re always in danger,” he murmured.

She pressed her lips together. So much for her reassurance. “I step on some pretty sensitive toes. We both do,” she said as Jimmy arrived with Clark’s mug full of black coffee. “So, why don’t you tell me what’s wrong?”

“Besides me?” Clark said, taking a sip of the liquid.

“Yeah, besides you,” she answered.

Clark took another sip of his coffee. It seemed to bring some of the color back into his cheeks. His eyes darted to Jimmy and then back to Lois. “Superman stopped Hobs Mining down in Brazil.”

“That’s great!” she exclaimed. “You spoke with Superman?”

He nodded. “You could say that.”

“And? Did you get the details for our story?” Lois pressed. Really, this man, sometimes.

Clark took another sip of his coffee. “Yes.” He took a deep breath and released it. “He saw something he wasn’t expecting to see down in Brazil.”

Her eyes widened. An exclusive! She leaned forward in anticipation. “What?”

“Me.”

“Huh?” Lois’s brow furrowed as she sat back in her chair.

“What?” Jimmy sputtered from behind her. “What were you doing down in Brazil?”

She rolled her eyes. “It wasn’t him,” she explained, and then turned back to Clark. “Was it?”

“No, it wasn’t me,” Clark said, and took another sip of his coffee. “Superman said the man looked exactly like me though. Same height, same build, same eye color. Everything.”

“Wow, man, that’s…” Jimmy said and seemed to lack a description, before finally deciding on “Freaky.”

“It isn’t freaky, Jimmy,” Lois corrected him. “You are making too much of this, Clark. So, you have a doppelganger, big deal. It’s bound to happen to everyone at least once in their lives. You’re letting yourself be shocked by nothing.” She patted his hand and went to turn off her computer. “You ready?”

“Ready?” Clark said, confused.

“To walk me home,” she said, standing up and taking down her coat.

“I thought Barbara Trevino was caught. I distinctly remember someone telling me that she didn’t need a bodyguard,” he reminded her.

Lois smiled. “I don’t. I just thought that you’d like to walk me home.”

“I… I… I…” Clark stammered, giving her a deer caught in a headlights expression.

Her jaw stiffened. “You don’t want to walk me home?” she finished for him.

He jumped to his feet. “Of course, I do.”

Lois smiled to herself as Clark helped her on with her coat. She knew she was right.

***

As Clark walked Lois home, he kept the conversation going, not wanting to fall again into his thoughts about what his discovery in the rainforest really meant. At her apartment door, Lois invited him inside, which to him was a bright shiny red flag.

Clark cleared his throat. “Are you afraid that there might be someone hiding in there, and you want me to check it out?” he asked.

Her lips puckered and not in the good way, but in the ‘she had sucked on a lemon’ way. “I don’t need you to protect me, Chuck,” she repeated her mantra. “I thought we might pull out my laptop and type up the article about Hobs Mining in the Brazilian rainforest and how Superman stopped it.”

He blushed. Was that what he had told her? He searched his memory and saw that he had. “Actually, off the record, Superman told me that it wasn’t him who had initially stopped Hobs Mining, but a masked vigilante, who had sabotaged the equipment.”

Lois leaned against her doorjamb and stared at him. “They’re coming out of the woodwork now, huh?”

“Who?”

“Heroes. First Batman, then Superman, and now this guy. Did he give you a name?” she asked.

“Jaguar,” Clark mumbled.

“What did he look like?” she probed further.

Me.

When he didn’t respond, she continued. “His costume. I’m assuming this Jaguar person was wearing some sort of ‘Jaguar’ disguise.”

Clark looked down the hall as the elevator dinged.

“Come in and tell me everything. I’ll put on a pot of coffee,” Lois suggested, opening her front door further.

“I got the feeling that since it was ‘off the record’ Superman didn’t want Jaguar’s involvement mentioned in the article,” Clark said, staying out in the public hallway. “He doesn’t believe that Jaguar is a superhero like Batman or Superman, but just a local stiff, trying to help out as best he can.”

“And Superman wants to steal his thunder?” she asked in surprise, entering her apartment, tossing her briefcase on her coffee table, and shrugging out of her coat, before continuing into the kitchen.

Clark had no other choice but follow her inside. He shut the door behind himself. “Of course not.”

“So, why ‘off the record’ then?”

He went into the kitchen but he wasn’t sure where to stand. He figured it would be best to stay further away from Lois, because when they were close, all he wanted to do was draw her into his arms, kiss her, and never let her go. That was no longer an option. He took a step back towards the living room and leaned against the back of her sofa.

“For Jaguar’s protection,” Clark explained. “Superman’s afraid of retaliation from locals who were hired on by Hobs Mining. They might hunt the man down and hurt him for costing them their jobs. Not that it was his fault, but Superman could see them placing the blame at Jaguar’s feet. Apparently, the man told Superman that he had a lot to lose if his identity were discovered. He considered himself the protector of that region of the rainforest.”

Lois nodded. “That makes sense. Heroes do like the protection racket.” She was quiet for a few minutes as she finished setting up the coffee machine.

“No coffee for me, Lois. I really should be heading home. It’s been a long couple of days,” Clark said, backing towards the door. “We can write it up tomorrow. I’ll draft something when I get back to my apartment. I bet you’re exhausted.”

“Are you?” she asked, following him to the door.

“A bit,” he admitted. He couldn’t wait to put on the sleep shirt Lois had been wearing the night before and crawl into the sheets where she… they had slept and… okay, that just sounded creepy and stalkerish, but what other choice did he have? It wasn’t like he could crawl into bed with Lois and snuggle with her again. He had to take what he could get.

“Didn’t sleep well?” she asked innocently.

There was no way he could answer that question without falling further down this slippery slope. Frankly, he slept better than he had since before Smallville, but he feared Lois wouldn’t like that unvarnished truth. His mouth opened, yet had second thoughts. No, this was Lois. He had promised himself that, whenever possible, he would not to lie to her anymore. Before he could tell her how much he loved cuddling with her, she spoke.

“What? A hot woman in your bed keep you up to all hours of the night?” Her eyes stared intensely at him.

He gulped. Yes. “Very hot,” he murmured, as she got closer to him.

Clark could almost feel the heat radiating off her. He needed to do something quick before he turned into a melted gooey mess in front of her. He could kiss her and damn the consequences. He could babble some excuse and bolt, only his feet were already stuck to her floor. He could…

“How’s your dad?” he blurted.

Lois froze. “My father?”

He both regretted and rejoiced in his chosen conversation topic. Rejoiced in, because it did the trick of allowing him to escape this situation. He regretted it for the same exact reason. “Yes. Dr. Sam Lane. How’s he doing?”

“He’s fine,” she said, turning away from him and sitting down on her sofa.

Clark felt both able to breathe again and bereft from the warmth that she took with her. It seemed as if she captured his heat along with hers, leaving him cold. Why, oh, why had he done that? “Have you spoken with him much since he’s come out of hiding? Are you going to get together during the holidays?” He shut his mouth, realizing he was babbling.

“No, not much,” Lois murmured, gazing down at her hands. “We were never really close. Lucy is spending the holidays in L.A. with her friends, and my mom…” She rolled her eyes. “Is going to some health spa. I don’t do Christmas.”

He glanced around her apartment at the little tree and the few twinkly lights she had put up. Her words seemed to contradict her décor. She was like him. Part of her wanted to bask in the warmth of the season, dive into the bubbly rapids of its hope and cheer, but the other half was afraid that she would come out at the other end more battered and bruised from the sharp rocks she had found there.

“Christmas reminds me of catching my father kissing the neighbor lady, and my mom passing out drunk under the tree,” Lois went on, rubbing her hands together. “So, no, I don’t have any plans to get together with my father during the holidays.”

Clark sat down next to her, feeling worse than ever that he had even brought it up. “Maybe we can spend the day together, not-celebrating,” he suggested, trying to undo the damage. “We could go out for Chinese food. I know a great…”

She stood up and moved towards the windows. “Do what you like, Clark. I’m going to be working.”

He nodded, knowing he deserved that slap in the face. “I better be going then,” he said, standing.

Lois didn’t even turn to look at him as she gazed out her window, only flicked her wrist in a wave. “Bye.”

Clark knew he couldn’t leave things like this, yet he also knew he had to. She belonged to her Clark. He had no right to get involved with her and then leave her two months later, even if she wouldn’t remember. He opened the door to her apartment and looked back at her. She was still staring out the window, and he noticed that she had placed a sprig of mistletoe above the window at some point, probably to ensnare Superman in a Christmas kiss.

What the hell!

He took five strides across the room, spun Lois around, and pressed a kiss to her lips.

She pushed her hands against his shoulders momentarily before her arms surrounded his neck, pulling him closer and deepening the kiss. Her body melted into his and for one second it felt as if their souls joined as one, jumping off Lover’s Leap into the blissful unknown of love. His feet practically floated them off the ground.

Then reality came crashing down upon him as he remembered that he would have to leave this Lois and give her back to her Clark in less than two month’s time.

Clark stepped back, breathless. He gazed upon her beautiful face, which was rosy with pleasure and alight with happiness. “Please forgive me, I shouldn’t… I shouldn’t have… I’m so sorry, Lois,” he sputtered, turning and running from her apartment. He slammed her door behind himself and disappeared into the night quickly enough not to hear her reaction. He knew he had hurt her, but his agony overtook him and swallowed him whole.

He would never forgive himself, and yet at the same time, a part of him was glad he had done it. One last kiss to remember her by.

One last kiss to torment his soul.

***

Clark awoke in the predawn hours in that little meadow surrounded by trees on the Kents’ property. He was sitting on the cold ground and his head rested on his knees.

He had gone over every scenario to try to find a loophole that would allow him to keep Lois for himself until he had passed out from exhaustion. If Wells returned in February and told Clark that there was no way to save baby Kal-El in the past, then Clark would have been free to continue wooing her. That had been Clark’s one chance at happiness. Discovering the Jaguar in the Brazilian rainforest had essentially wiped out that option.

Even if there was no way to save this dimension’s Kal-El, there was the possibility that Lois could still find her soul mate in the Jaguar, although Clark had no idea how such a possibility could even exist. Was the Jaguar this dimension’s Kal-El’s reincarnated soul? Was there no planetary division when it came to soul mates?

The only choice would be to introduce Lois to the Jaguar and see if she would be willing to trade one hero for another. It was an awful plan. Clark disliked the idea of it. He hated introducing Lois to a man, whose name, personality, and background Clark didn’t know, knowing that she would love him on sight as Clark had with her. What else could he do? Lois deserved the best, and the best was her Clark… her soul mate. Could he deny her that option?

He stood up and dusted the snow off himself. He walked through the small wood to the access road nearby and took that back to his folks’… the Kent Farmhouse. He hated to burden them with this news, but he couldn’t let this torture him for the next two months while he waited for Herb to return. He needed to talk to someone else about it, and he doubted that person was Cat Grant.

Clark knocked on the kitchen door. He could hear the Kents in the kitchen, making their morning coffee prior to their morning chores.

Martha opened the back door and her face lit with joy. “Jerome! This is a pleasant surprise.” She turned back to her husband. “Jonathan! Jerome’s here.”

Jonathan, who could see him quite well from his vantage spot, hadn’t needed this said aloud. “Well, let him in, Martha.”

“Good morning, Martha. Jonathan,” Clark said, sitting down at the table uninvited.

“Are you all right, son?” Jonathan asked. “You look like you slept in those clothes. Big emergency?”

Martha brought him a cup of steaming hot coffee.

“Thank you, Martha,” Clark said, taking his sip. He took a deep breath and exhaled. “I kissed Lois.”

Jonathan and Martha beamed with delight.

“That’s great news, Jerome. Has she finally forgiven you?” Martha asked. “Did you tell her about Superman?”

Clark shook his head and took another sip. “No, and I don’t deserve her forgiveness either.”

“What happened?” Jonathan asked. He must have sensed there was more to this story than Clark was telling.

“I found Lois’s soul mate,” he said.

The joy dropped from their faces and was replaced with confusion. “I thought in the absence of our Clark, you were the closest thing to Lois’s soul mate,” Martha said, sitting down next to him and covering his wrist with her hand. His hands still surrounded his mug of coffee.

“So did I,” Clark admitted. “But apparently the universe doesn’t work that way.” He went on to explain to them what happened in Brazil the night before. “So, you see, if he’s really Lois’s soul mate, how can I deny her the opportunity to have everything her heart desires? She will only be truly happy with him.”

“Poppycock!” Jonathan retorted. “You don’t know that man from Adam, Jerome. You don’t know if it’s just a coincidence that he looks like you…”

“I’m from another planet, Jonathan. The possibility of someone looking exactly like me is…” Clark shook his head as the math confounded him.

“The same as if you had seen a double of Martha or myself,” Jonathan said.

Martha nodded. “Don’t give up hope, Jerome.”

“He not only looks like me, Martha, he also dons a disguise to help the less fortunate. The similarities are too great,” Clark said, rubbing his temple.

“How about this, then. Go back to Brazil, find the Jaguar, talk to him, and see what kind of man he really is when he isn’t wearing the mask,” suggested Martha. “Maybe he already has a wife and family.”

A tiny spark of hope flickered in Clark’s chest. Maybe the Jaguar already had a family. Clark refused to break up a man’s marriage by introducing him to his soul mate. That would be worse than cruel. He smiled. Maybe the Jaguar was married. Not all was lost for Clark.

He shook Jonathan’s hand and hugged Martha, kissing her cheek. “Thank you. Thank you. Now, I’d better be getting back to Metropolis. I’ve got to apologize to Lois.”

Martha’s brow furrowed. “For what?”

“For telling her that I was sorry I kissed her and that I shouldn’t have done it,” Clark replied. “And then for bolting out of her apartment before she could respond.”

“Oh, honey, you didn’t,” Martha groaned, burying her face in her hand.

“I know, which is why I need to go apologize,” Clark said.

“Jerome, son,” Jonathan said with a shake of his head. “You’re going to need more than an apology.”

“Flowers?” Clark asked.

“A lead-lined suit to start,” Martha suggested. “But flowers wouldn’t hurt either.”

Clark grinned. “Lois doesn’t have any Kryptonite. Anyway,” he said with a wink. “She doesn’t know I’m Superman.”

“A bullet proof vest then,” Jonathan called as Clark walked to the door.

With another wave and a chuckle, Clark stepped out onto the porch and started walking away from the house. He didn’t want to take off and land too close to the house, for fear that some gawker was spying from the woods, hoping for a glimpse of Superman, would actually catch him in the act.

*******************
It’s a Wrong Christmas - Part 68b
*******************

Lois wasn’t in the office when Clark arrived an hour later with a cup of coffee fixed in her favorite way. After another hour, Lois’s coffee had grown cold, and Clark knocked on the Chief’s door.

“Morning, Perry. Have you seen Lois?” he asked, trying to keep the slight shake from his voice. Maybe Lois hadn’t been out of danger when he had dropped her off at her apartment the night before. Perhaps Barbara Trevino had hired another hit man to take care of her, before she herself had been captured.

Clark caught the brief flash of bewilderment and then understanding that crossed Perry’s face. “Lois is at Luthor House for Homeless Children,” the Chief said.

“The Luthor House?” Clark repeated with terseness, before surprise hit him. What was Lois doing reporting on homeless children? Lois had hated everything about the Beckworth School article. Why was this the first he had heard of it?

“Lex Luthor graciously invited Lois to spend the day at his charity to report on how the children are spending their Christmas Eve. She took Jimmy with her,” Perry explained.

Clark nodded. “Well, I better go meet up with her.” Lois hated writing articles on children, especially touchy-feely human-interest pieces.

“Hold on a minute there, son,” his boss said, raising his hand. “Lois can handle this.”

“But, Chief, it’s the Luthor House for Homeless Children,” Clark said as if that explained everything.

“And unless Luthor has the children doing slave labor, which I doubt he is, there won’t be anything to find. This is a fluff P.R. piece, and you and I know it. Hell, even Lois knows it,” Perry said. “We all hate doing them, but at this time of year, people like reading them, so let her be. Lois said that you’d have something for me on Hobs Mining operation down in the Brazilian rainforest. Apparently you spoke to Superman about it last night.”

“Er…” Clark stammered and looked down with contrition. “I haven’t gotten to it yet, sir. Right away.” He returned to his desk.

A feeling of desolation washed over him. He knew he had hurt Lois’s feelings, and before he could apologize, she was off spending the day at one of Luthor’s charities. Was it a coincidence, or had she called up Luthor that morning and asked for the ‘opportunity’ to spend the day with the children and away from her partner? Had this been set up in advance? Would Lois have brought Clark along with her if he hadn’t acted so atrociously the night before? He dropped his head onto his desk.

“Hi, handsome,” Cat said, sidling up to his desk. “You’re in late.”

“You’re in early,” he replied, glancing up at her. Cat held the coffee he had brought for Lois in her hand.

“Trouble in paradise?” she asked, taking a sip.

“That’s not your coffee,” Clark said.

“Like Lois is going to drink it,” Cat retorted and set it down on his desk. She leaned towards him provocatively and whispered, “Heat it up for me, big fellow?”

He gave her a sour look. “No.”

“It’s better than letting it go to waste,” she told him.

Clark sighed and leaned back in his chair. He could just hear the Jaguar agreeing with Cat about being wasteful. He shot her an annoyed look. Rubbing his nose, he bumped down his glasses a notch and shot a couple of doses of low strength heat vision to the cup. It started to steam.

She grinned, picking it back up. “Thank you.”

He leaned back over his desk and mumbled, “You’re welcome.”

“Any plans yet for the holidays?” she asked, sitting down on his desk. “My invitation for tonight still stands. The Grants know how to party.” She did a shimmy to prove her point.

Clark shook his head. “I asked Lois to spend tomorrow with me, and she turned me down flat,” he said. Of course, that had been before their kiss. Now, he would be lucky if she talked to him again.

“Still mad, huh?” Cat asked with sympathy. “What you need a little pick-me-up!” She grinned.

“Nothing personal, Cat, but I hate large family Christmas parties. They only serve to show me how alone I am. No, what I need to do is give Lois her space. If she wants to forgive me, she will. If not, she won’t,” he said with a shrug.

She took another sip of Lois’s coffee. “So, you’re finally giving up.”

He stood up. “I’m not giving up. Actually, since Lois is otherwise engaged, it gives me ample opportunity to do some research,” he said, before wincing. “But first I need to type up this story for Perry.”

“So, that’s a ‘no’ as my plus one?” Cat repeated her tone a bit dejected.

“Sorry, Cat, maybe New Year’s if Lois still isn’t talking to me,” he said, facing his computer and starting to type up his story.

“I’m busy,” she retorted and, turning on her heel, marched off.

Clark belatedly realized that he had hurt her feelings as well. It just wasn’t his day with women.

***

This was just odd. Something felt off, but Lois couldn’t put her finger on what, other than she was spending the day with a bunch of kids. It could be just her. She hated to admit that she wasn’t on her game, that this wasn’t her forte, or that she needed Kent here to point out the obvious. At the same time, she was glad he wasn’t there.

They had been spending too much time together lately that if they didn’t take a break, they’d end up engaged by New Years. She didn’t want that. She didn’t want or need to get married, let alone rush into it. Although, after that intense kiss they shared the night before, she could see it happening. Naturally, in this day and age, one didn’t need to get married to have lots of hot, passionate sex. Although, with her track record with men bolting afterwards, she was beginning to think it might be a good idea. At least she would have a legal right to hunt the man down and destroy him within an inch of his soul, should he abandon her, right?

Kent, obviously, hadn’t waited for the sex. One hot kiss, and he had been out the door, spouting rejecting words of wishing it hadn’t happened. Of course, unlike the other times with the other men, Kent had been ‘sorry’ for hurting her. If anything, that man at least was consistent.

Strangely enough, him bolting after that kiss hadn’t been Earth shattering, even though the kiss had been. She didn’t dive into a carton of chocolate ice cream. She didn’t call her sister in L.A. and vent for an hour. She didn’t even cry herself to sleep. It could be that she was numb from the shock.

Could it be that she was getting so used to Chuck’s foibles and antics that it was no longer surprising when he panicked and did something stupid? Between asking about her father and then kissing the stuffing out of her and running off, she certainly could call his actions stupid. Had she finally come to the realization that she had to be the strong, mature one in their relationship, the rock that calmed his rough waves?

There was also one other possibility, and no matter how much she wanted to discount it as pure fantasy, it did make the most sense. Clark Jerome Kent was madly, passionately, head-over-heels in love with her and that kind of commitment scared the living daylights out of him. Therefore, she hadn’t been knocked off-kilter by his sudden disappearance after that kiss the night before because she knew he’d come back, contrite and begging forgiveness and feeling guilty as sin, that she didn’t take it personally anymore. It seemed par for the course for him.

No, Lois decided, she still must be numb. When that feeling wore off, she’d be good and properly irate at Clark.

She sighed. Personally, she was getting tired of being mad at him all the time. Hmmmm. Maybe she was coming down with something. She grinned to herself. Good! Because after that kiss, there was no way Kent wouldn’t get it too. Served him right!

Jimmy approached the side of the room where she was standing. He bent down and pulled another roll of film out of his bag. “Lois, what are we doing here?” he mumbled. “This seems more up CK’s alley than yours. Isn’t it… well, beneath you?”

Lois smiled at him for the compliment. “Lex invited me… us. The Daily Planet was the only paper invited to share in the festivities, Jimmy,” she explained. “So, it’s an honor. Anyway, there aren’t any small stories.”

“I guess.”

She looked around the room again, still unable to shake that odd feeling. “Does something about all of this feel…” She shook her head. “I don’t know… off to you?”

“Luthor seems to have gone over and above himself for a party for these kids,” Jimmy replied, closing his camera. “I wonder who his caterer is, because those mini pecan pies are out of this world.”

“Tartlets,” she automatically corrected. Tartlets at an orphanage Christmas party? Lois’s eyes widened as she gazed around the room once more. Lex hadn’t, had he?

She took in the lights, garland, tree, and the rest of the holiday décor. It was perfect. Nothing about it shouted “kids”. The kids hadn’t decorated it, a party planner or set decorator had. She pushed open the door behind her and peered into the kitchen. There indeed was a professional chef running the show. She doubted that was the House’s normal chef or cook. Who was the sophisticated show for? Certainly not her. Lex wouldn’t have gone through staging this elaborate hoax to impress her, had he? That seemed ludicrous. She caught herself before a bubble of laughter escaped. No, he must have done it for the children.

She looked more closely at the guests of honor. The kids themselves almost appeared to have been dressed for the part in frills, bows, or matching ties. Were these kids even homeless? No, they had to be homeless, right? This was the Luthor House for Homeless Children after all.

But if these kids weren’t the homeless kids for whom Luthor had created the House, where were the real homeless kids? Were there any? Who were these kids? Actors? Was this whole charity as much of a fraud as this party?

She reached into her pocket and pulled out a couple of her business cards, pushing them into Jimmy’s hand. “Jimmy, you’re absolutely right. Why don’t you sneak into the kitchen and take some photos of the chefs at work. If you can, slip the head chef my card, and tell him that I’d love to do a feature story on him.”

Jimmy pocketed her cards with a shrug. “Sure thing, Lois.”

“I’m going to try and talk to some of these kids and get the human interest angle,” she said, wishing more than ever that Clark was there with her.

She straightened her spine. No, she could do this. She was Lois Lane, three times Kerth Award winner, after all. If Clark could write human-interest crap, she could too, and be better at it as well. She didn’t need him as her partner, but that still didn’t make her wish he was there with her any less.

***End of Part 68***

Part 69

Any Comments ?