Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Lois & Clark Fanfic Wrong Clark (69/??)

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

Where we left off in Part 68 …

Jimmy approached the side of the room where Lois 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, but 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.

Part 69

Lois sat down next to a young teenage boy, who had a seat open next to him. “Hi, I’m Lois,” she said, holding out her hand. “Is this seat taken?”

“Is now,” he replied, glancing at her outstretched hand, as if she were weird. “I’m Denny.”

Denny ate with gusto as if he didn’t know when or where he would eat again. She also noticed that he ate some things, others he put into his napkin on his lap. He was wearing a loose windbreaker, several sizes too large, over his dress shirt and tie. Hoarding was a sure sign of possible homelessness. She was glad that Lex wouldn’t go so far as to hire actors for this strange party.

“I’m a reporter with the Daily Planet. Do you mind if I ask you some questions?” she said, taking back her hand.

He shrugged, which she accepted as permission.

“How’s the food?”

Denny grinned at her with a full mouth, which she interpreted as ‘good’.

“How long have you been at the Luthor House?”

His brow furrowed in thought. “About a month. My brother, Jack and I came here after the weather turned cold.”

“How did you hear about the Luthor House?” she asked. A platter of something dipped in chocolate passed by her peripheral vision. She turned in time to see the last chocolate covered strawberry disappear. Her stomach growled with approval.

“Some guy came around a couple of months ago and handed out flyers. We were told we’d get a place to sleep, meals, clothing, and schooling,” Denny replied, reaching across the table and grabbing a chocolate covered strawberry off the plate of a pre-teen girl, who had taken five, and handed it to Lois.

“Hey!” The girl stood up and screamed, “That’s mine!”

Lois quickly handed it back.

“You’ve already had six, Britney,” Denny countered. “And you have four more there.”

“You’re one to talk, Denny!” the girl spat back.

“I’m fine. I’ll eat when I leave, thanks,” Lois said.

“Might as well eat what you want now. They’ll just throw out anything left over,” Denny explained.

“The leftovers won’t be saved for tomorrow?” Lois asked, taking a glass of water.

“Nah. This is a onetime deal. Mrs. Cox said so,” Denny said. “We usually get oatmeal for breakfast, sandwiches for lunch, and surprise casserole for dinner.” He shrugged. “It isn’t great, but it’s better than foraging through garbage.”

Lois had met Mrs. Cox and could believe such a pronouncement would come down through her.

“But who knows, maybe they’ll save the leftovers for Christmas, and then they would only have to use half the cooking staff for tomorrow. Yep, I could see that. Whatever saves the bottom-line,” Denny said.

Lois was surprised to hear a boy speak like this. “What do you know about ‘bottom-lines’?”

Britney started laughing in a manner becoming a horse. “It’s the line in your underwear if you don’t wipe proper.”

Lovely, Lois thought, ignoring her.

Denny blushed on Lois’s behalf. “Sorry. Nothing really. It’s just something that Jack says sometimes.”

“Where’s Jack?” Lois asked.

“In solitary,” Denny mumbled. “He gets in trouble a lot because he expects more from this place.”

Solitary confinement for kids? What kind of place was this?

“He talked back to Mrs. Cox,” neighed Britney again.

“What did he say?” Lois whispered.

“That instead of spending a fortune on this party, Jack thought Luthor should spread the money out over the course of the year, improving the food in general,” Denny said, taking two more tartlets off a passing tray. One he shoved in his mouth, the other he set in his lap.

Lois noticed that the other food he had placed there had disappeared. What happened to the apple and roll she had seen him put there a few minutes earlier?

“That didn’t go over well. Apparently, the Luthor House did the same thing on Thanksgiving. We saw the dumpsters full of still good food when we came to see if there was room for us. We thought we were going to be living the high life.” He shrugged, implying that usually they didn’t.

“There was a pretty blonde lady from the Metropolis Star here for Thanksgiving,” Britney said, grabbing a couple of tartlets and putting them on her plate. The chocolate covered strawberries had already disappeared. It would explain the brown streaks on her cheeks. “I got my picture taken.”

Lois pressed her lips together in annoyance. Apparently, this wasn’t as exclusive an honor as Lex had led her to believe. She’d have Jimmy check through archives on whom Luthor deemed her equivalent over at the Met. Star.

A thin older woman approached the table with Mrs. Cox. “Britney, I heard you scream earlier,” the older woman said with disapproval.

Lois thought her name was Mrs. Browning, the House’s Assistant Director, but Lois would double check before leaving.

“Denny stole my strawberry,” Britney defended herself by ratting out her tablemate.

“A misunderstanding,” Lois explained. “We gave it back.”

“Ms. Lane,” Mrs. Cox said coldly, which seemed to be the only temperature her tone could be with Lois. “Enjoying our festivities, I hope.”

“Yes. Denny was just telling me how much better life is here than out on the streets. Lex must be proud of this accomplishment,” Lois said, dropping Lex’s first name to slap against Mrs. Cox’s plastic face.

“Very proud,” Mrs. Cox said archly. She focused her gaze on Britney, and then on Denny, before returning it to Lois. “We’ll be having a surprise visitor here soon. Perhaps this would be a good time to move to the common room.”

Wow, was that a dismissal if Lois had ever heard one? How could one be a ‘surprise visitor’ if one was announced?

“Be right there,” Lois said, and waited for Mrs. Cox to leave the table before turning back to Denny. He was no longer looking at her but shoving all the food he could into the pockets of his windbreaker. “Don’t they feed you enough?” she whispered.

“Jack,” was his only mumbled reply.

Mrs. Cox must have given Denny the evil eye for speaking with her.

“Thank you for talking with me,” Lois said loudly enough for Britney to hear and held out her hand to Denny. Pressed against her palm was her business card.

Denny once again thought her odd for this behavior.

Lois grabbed his hand and shook it. “Should you or Jack ever need anything,” she murmured. “Please let me know.” She agreed with Jack. There was something strange going on in this place. She knew of no charity who would throw out perfectly good food, when there were hungry mouths to feed.

Since her theory about the Luthor House for Homeless Actors was wrong, she still didn’t have an angle for her story. Right now, it was one great big puff piece on the greatness of Lex Luthor’s generosity towards homeless children. Sure, she could put in a commentary about how Lex should have spent the money he doled out for caterers and decorators, not to mention Mrs. Cox’s salary, and put it to better use, financing other parts of the House.

Lois could hear Perry now, “Lois, I don’t need something for the Op-Ed page, I need something for the front page!” So much for her commentary.

She waved good-bye to Denny and Britney and headed back to the kitchens, hoping to find her photographer with a page one photograph of the kitchen staff throwing a whole turkey into the trash. Instead, she found Jimmy, nose deep in a tartlet-tasting contest. She rolled her eyes.

The caterers were packing away the food to put into the walk-in refrigerator. So much for the waste of the leftovers theory. Well, at least, the kids weren’t going to wake up to oatmeal on Christmas morning. She grabbed Jimmy’s arm and pulled him back into the other room.

“Special surprise guest arriving soon in the common room, Jimmy,” Lois informed him.

“Santa!” Jimmy gasped, checking his camera for film.

Duh!

Lois glanced at her watch. Santa? It wasn’t even four in the afternoon. She was hoping that with the appearance of the man in red, she could then adjourn to the office to type up her P.R. piece. Maybe she’d be lucky and Santa would become stuck in the chimney or the tree would catch on…

She shook her head. That would be terrible for the kids, great copy, but traumatic. My, Lois realized, she had turned bitter, and she wasn’t even thirty yet. What had happened to her? Here she was wishing bad luck would befall the Luthor House, for Homeless Children yet, just because her story was as dry as desert sand.

Not everything was an investigation, Lois reminded herself. Sometimes a story was about rubbing Kent’s nose in how good she could write human-interest slop, especially without his help.

She used to be fun. She used to have fun. She couldn’t remember the last time she had enjoyed an afternoon. Then it struck her, it was that day after the Kerth Awards banquet.

Clark had come over and they had gone out for brunch. After brunch, they had retired to Lois’s apartment, spread out the Sunday paper and spent the afternoon, reading and discussing the different articles that interested them. She recalled laughing. She distinctly remembered kissing was involved. Clark had been happy, and she had been happy.

Then Lois had found that phone message to Clark from Martha a few days later, and the rest was history, literally. Clark didn’t have one, and Lois wouldn’t forgive him for lying to her. Actually, that wasn’t true. The lying was just part of the equation. Clark had betrayed her trust, and in doing so had allowed Lex to score a point in the positive column. There was just something about Lex that gave her the willies, but he was an important man in Metropolis and she wasn’t willing to burn that bridge as easily as Clark was. A Christmas tree on the other hand…

She and Jimmy filed past the large Christmas tree in the dining room and into the common room, where there was an even larger tree. It was huge. She actually felt a bit bad for scolding Clark about trying to chop down that oak tree in Smallville. It was but a youngster compared to this ancient tree. This one had also been decorated professionally. As she stared at it, and Jimmy snapped away with his camera, another tree came to mind, a tree, which children had covered with handmade ornaments. She couldn’t remember where she had seen such a tree, but she felt that one was more in keeping with the spirit of the holiday.

While the kids here at the Luthor House had a Christmas that none would soon forget, she doubted that any of them had been included in the preparations. Helping decorate the tree was one of her favorite activities during the holidays. Lois remembered that, as a child, it had been one of the few activities that, strangely enough, had been argument free at her house. Okay, maybe not completely argument free, as her parents had a difference of opinion on the type of tree they should buy, and what ‘straight’ meant but, after that, everything went smoothly. Her mother loved to do the lights and tinsel, which sadly had gone out of vogue, and then she would retire into the kitchen to make up a snack, while her father brought out the ornaments. Her father used to bring ornaments back from the different places he traveled. He would tell them stories about why he had chosen that particular ornament to bring home to the girls as the three of them decorated the tree. It had been the one time during the year, she could guarantee the Lanes were a family. Sadly, it only lasted an hour or two at most, but it was the one reason there was a Christmas tree at her apartment now.

Everyone milled about waiting for Santa. The younger kids seemed to be getting antsy with anticipation. Suddenly, the doors slammed open and in marched Lex Luthor in a Santa suit, a tailored Santa suit. He hadn’t worn the traditional white hair or beard, or added a jolly tummy, but he did carry a bag, which appeared almost empty. Several men, dragging in a sleigh piled high with gifts within three red Santa sacks, followed Lex into the room. It wasn’t quite traditional, but Lex always had a style of his own. It was also clear that he wanted everyone to know from where they had gotten their gifts.

“Merry Christmas, children,” Lex said to the crowd.

“Merry Christmas, Mr. Luthor,” the kids said in unison, as if they had practiced. Nope, it wasn’t a ‘surprise’ visitor. This part of the afternoon, without a doubt, had been orchestrated.

“I have brought each of you a gift,” Lex told them, turning to his assistant. “Final tally, Mrs. Cox?”

“Thirty-six children,” she told him.

“Only thirty-six made it to Santa’s good list?” Lex said with a click of his tongue. “Oh, dear. Well, the others will have to try harder next year.”

Lois’s jaw fell open in shock. How many children, like Jack, had been excluded from the celebrations, due to “bad” behavior, such as speaking up? How many children, who had been living on the street, still would not receive a gift, even from Santa, this year? She would have to ask Mrs. Browning how many children currently resided at the Luthor House.

Lex turned back to the men working the sleigh, pointed at one of the bags of gifts, and waved it away. The man grabbed the sack and walked out of the room. “Those toys will be sent to girls and boys who have been good this year.”

Other boys and girls who toed the line, in other words. Lois shook her head in disbelief.

“Single file, now,” Lex said to them and waved Mrs. Cox forward. Lex was going to delegate the gift handout? Why did he open this charity in the first place? It seemed as if he liked children less than Lois did, and that was saying something.

“Do you children have something you’d like to say to Mr. Luthor?” Mrs. Cox scolded, more than reminded, the kids.

“Thank you, Mr. Luthor,” the kids said again in monotone unison.

“You’re welcome, children,” Lex said as if they had lavished him with the highest praise.

“Now, remember if you don’t like the gift you receive, you may trade it with another child to get what you want,” Mrs. Cox said. “I don’t want to hear of any complaints. Be happy that Mr. Luthor was generous enough to give you this much and your lovely party.”

“Thank you, Mr. Luthor,” the kids echoed again in unison.

Lex smiled at the kids. He scanned the room and, spotting Lois, headed over to her. On the way, he stopped casually to shake hands with the other adults present. Lois didn’t know if his final destination was discernible to anyone other than herself, but his repeated glances in her direction with eye contact gave his plan away to her.

“Ah, Lois, I’m so glad you could join us,” Lex said, finally approaching her position. “Enjoying yourself?”

“The party is lovely, Lex. You’ve really outdone yourself, but are you really not going to give gifts to all the children?” Lois had to ask.

“I don’t believe in bribing people for future behavior but instead let their current actions determine whether they should be rewarded,” Lex explained. “Isn’t that what the Santa Claus myth is all about?”

How could he talk about Santa Claus being a myth with young children not twenty feet away?

“No, Lex,” Lois corrected him, lowering her voice. “It’s about believing in magic, and about someone knowing that you’re good inside, even when no one else believes it. It’s about hope.”

“All these children have a roof over their heads, a bed to sleep in, clothing to wear, and an education that was denied them this time last year, Lois,” Lex defended himself. “If that doesn’t give them hope, I don’t know what would.”

Nope, Lex had no idea what hope was, Lois decided. However, he seemed to have generosity down pat. She glanced over to Mrs. Cox handing out the gifts. Lex's staff had organized the boxes in either pink doll paper or blue truck paper. Lex’s assistant grabbed a present at random and handed it to the child, waited for a ‘thank you’, and shooed the child away so the next one could take its place. Blue for boys, pink for girls, other than that the gifts had not been personalized in any way. With the kids’ ages ranging from under five to teenagers, it wasn’t a very well thought-out system. Perhaps Lex didn’t understand generosity either.

“Clearly, a hand chosen gift for each child would have been more thoughtful,” Lois suggested.

Lex shrugged. “These children are used to trading to get what they want. They enjoy that part of the holiday tradition,” he said, once more dismissing her ideas.

Her brow furrowed. Lex had strange notions about ‘holiday traditions’. “What were holidays like for you when you were growing up, Lex?”

“Just like everyone else’s, I’m sure,” Lex said vaguely.

Terrific. Another man who refused to speak about his past. Of course, both men had been orphaned at roughly the same time in life. Strange, those two men with so much in common would end up despising each other.

“From what I can tell, Lex, nobody’s Christmas was like everybody else’s,” she said, refusing to let him get away with this diversionary technique. Maybe she had learned something from working with Clark.

Lex took Lois’s arm and drew her a little bit away from Jimmy. “I’m so glad you came tonight. I have a gift for you,” he said, reaching into his Santa sack and removing a small rectangular box.

Oh, look, another diversion. Big surprise.

“Lex, how thoughtful of you, but you didn’t need to get me anything,” she said with a polite smile, trying to hand it back, unopened.

“Nonsense, Lois. I love to give gifts,” he replied, clearly impressed at her words as he lifted his hands to the room at large, as if to explain this party.

Figuring that she would seem rude if she didn’t accept the gift, she opened the box and found an ornate, jeweled watch inside. At least, it was semi-practical, but she had a watch that she loved. This gift from Lex wasn’t at all her taste or style, and she knew on sight that she would never wear it. “Thank you, Lex, but I cannot accept such a lavish gift,” Lois said, trying to hand back the watch, and then added in a teasing tone, “Perry might accuse me of bias.”

“No, no! I insist that you keep it, Lois,” Lex said, refusing to allow her to return it. “I had it made especially for you.”

She took another look at the chunky green and red crystals, which adorned the watch. They seemed to catch the light and appeared almost to glow from within. It was a bit Christmassy, but in a tacky, stomach churning way. Maybe she could re-gift it to her mother, who was apt to despise the scarf Lois had bought her and let Lois know as much. “Thank you, Lex, that was very kind of you,” she said, slipping it into her briefcase.

“Aren’t you going to put it on?” he asked.

“I’m already wearing a watch,” she explained lightly, showing him hers. “Anyway, I’d be worried about getting mugged in this neighborhood for such a watch, Lex.” She would never put on that hideous thing.

He smiled. A moment later, Lois found him leaning in to kiss her in a way that was neither gentle nor pleasing. In fact, she felt directly the opposite of how she had felt when Clark had bestowed his kiss upon her the night before. She stepped back, putting up her hands, as her back hit the wall behind her. “Lex! What are you doing? Think of the children!” she pleaded, moving to the side along the wall and further away from him.

“They already know I’m not Santa,” Lex said, pointing above their heads. “I only wanted to give you a Christmas kiss.”

Lois glanced up to the garland of mistletoe above them. Was that why he had moved her here, not so he could speak with her privately or distract her from her inquiries, but to kiss her? Either way, his kiss had been unwelcome and unacceptable.

She reached into her bag, retrieved the watch, and held it out to him. It was time to tell him what she should have said from the beginning. “I appreciate you thinking of me, but on second thought, I cannot accept gifts or favors from anyone upon whom I report. I had hoped we could be friends, but if we became more, I would no longer be able to cover any stories about you, LexCorp, any of your private holdings, or charitable endeavors. I’m afraid that would leave me with little to work on, since you are of such great importance to the city of Metropolis and the world at large.”

“Oh?” Lex said, his smile growing larger as if she were paying him compliments instead of rejecting him. “But you’d still have Superman, wouldn’t you, Lois? Our stories wouldn’t overlap.”

He had a point there. “I don’t like to limit myself to one topic, Lex,” she replied. Although, if she had to chose between them Lex would lose, every time.

“So, this doesn’t have to do with the fact that I shot you?” he asked.

“No,” Lois said honestly. It had to do with the fact that she knew she would be brushing her teeth as soon as she returned to Daily Planet to get the taste of bile out of her mouth. “I believe that you were only trying to protect me that day in the alley.”

“That’s true, I was. So, you’re rejecting me for purely professional reasons?” Lex asked. “This has nothing to do with your heart being involved elsewhere?”

She stiffened and took another step back. What or to whom was he referring? True, she hadn't based the decision solely on her career, but Lex had thwarted her at every chance, professionally. She had thought that had changed with this exclusive invitation to share the day with the kids from his charity. Now that she knew that she hadn’t been the first reporter afforded this ‘honor’ those doubts returned. Had this ruse, this elaborate party, which clearly wasn’t for the kid’s benefit, been part of a plan to woo her? She was insulted that Lex would think her so easily swayed by expensive gifts and fake displays of generosity, but unlike her partner, she didn’t want to antagonize the most powerful man in Metropolis.

“Of course, Lex. As I’ve stated before, my career is of upmost importance to me,” she replied. “If you were a humble, ordinary man of little importance to the city, and its impact on society or on news in general, then this would be a different conversation entirely.” Yes, then she wouldn’t be holding back how much she was growing to dislike and despise him.

“This has nothing to do with your burgeoning relationship with Mr. Kent, then?” he said smoothly.

Lois’s skin began to crawl. Lex was a little too much interested in her and Clark. Time for some diffusion. “What ‘relationship’, Lex? Clark is my partner. We work together.”

“I understand that you two attended the Kerth Awards together,” Lex countered, sliding around her and blocking her path back to Jimmy.

“We were at the Kerth Awards at the same time, but we weren’t ‘together’. I took Jimmy,” she said, nodding to her photographer, who was currently helping a girl try to get her doll out of its packaging. “Clark was there to support me, but he wasn’t my date.” Officially.

“Didn’t he take you to dinner before that?” Lex continued to probe.

She wanted to roll her eyes at this ridiculous line of questioning. “Clark and I are friends. We work together. Of course, we eat together on occasion,” she replied.

“I heard that he took you to eat at Amphora,” he said. “Their food is a bit pedestrian for me, but I’m sure it put Kent back a pretty penny. It’s not exactly a ‘dinner with friends or colleagues’ type establishment.”

Lex seemed to be inordinately knowledgeable about details of her life, about which he should know nothing, unless he had been investigating her… or Clark. Lex had run that background check on her partner after he had shot her. Was he still searching for something on Clark? Her digging into Clark’s background made perfect sense. Lex continuing to do so made alarm bells go off in her head.

Lois straightened her spine. “If you must know, it had been for my birthday. I don’t have to explain myself or my actions to you, but I’ll spell it out for you, slowly, since you clearly aren’t listening. I’m currently not dating anyone. My work is too demanding for a social life.” Whether or not she and Clark were dating, she would be turning Lex down. Her private life was none of his business, and Clark’s private life was even less so.

He smiled as if she had said exactly what he had wanted to hear. “All work and no play, makes for some very lonely nights, Lois, does it not? I have learned that,” he said, lowering his voice and adding a bit of incredulity. “Should you think dating one the richest, most influential men in the world would be damaging to your career, we could keep our relationship secret.”

A chill crept down her spine. There had been something recently in the news about a secret relationship that had gone badly but, for the life of her, she couldn’t remember what it was.

“I prefer to keep my private life private, not secret,” she said, her voice rough.

His eyes brightened. “Oh? I also believe that.”

He reached out and caressed her cheek, making that chill feel as if it had frozen her spine. One false move and she might break in two.

“I could help your career,” continued Lex in a purr. “I could introduce you to the movers and shakers. I could leak you insider information. I know things that only a handful of others know and before everyone else. There is so much I could teach you.”

Lois cleared her throat and took another step away from him. “You have given me much to think about, Lex; but, unfortunately, Jimmy and I must go if we’re going to get this story of how you spoiled the homeless kids into tomorrow’s paper. Thank you again for inviting us.”

Lex placed his hands on her shoulders, and she was afraid that he was going to try to kiss her again. She hated to knee the man of honor at his own party in front of thirty-six kids, but she would if he tried anything.

He slid his hands down her arms to her hands. “It’s a pity that you are unable to join me for dinner in Italy on New Year’s Eve, Lois, due to your work.”

“Italy?” she echoed, her voice cracking with envy, as her eyes darted to his. Was that really where he had been planning to fly her for dinner? To think of how much she could have accomplished on her investigation of Clark with a few hours in Italy itself. “Pity,” she agreed.

He smiled, raising her hands to his mouth and kissing the back of each of them. “I have business meetings that will keep me traveling for the next month, Lois, but I hope you’ll be open to allowing me to invite you to dinner upon my return.” He gave her a slight bow, released her hands, and returned to Mrs. Cox.

Lois exhaled audibly with a slight groan as Jimmy moseyed up beside her. “It appeared as if Luthor is quite taken with you, Lois,” he said.

“Huh?” she said, turning towards him. “Yes, quite.” She grabbed his elbow and swiveled towards the door. “Let’s get out of here.”

Jimmy grinned. “You took the words right out of my mouth.”

***

Lois ran down the damp sidewalk, through the crisp night’s air, hoping that she wasn’t crazy, that this vision she had seen wasn’t insanity.

She looked through the crowd of people, searching for Clark, but still didn’t see him as everyone came together as a group to sing. As they finished the final verse, a plume of soot and ash came out of the large fireplace on the side of the dining hall.

When the smoke cleared, she saw a pair of black boots hit the ground with a thud. A tall man in a red suit with white trim bent down and emerged from the fireplace. Santa!

Clark? Lois wondered. Was this where her partner disappeared off to? Were these his friends and his plans?

As he stood up, Santa indeed had his traditional belly and his long white hair and beard and red hat. His cheeks were certainly rosy and his eyes had the brightness of… Lois’s jaw dropped.

“Ho ho ho,” Santa chuckled and his belly shook. He drew out his big red bag from behind him. “Oh, deary, dear. Am I so early? Everyone is still awake!” The voice was deep and low and, though he had added a bit of an accent, Lois would recognize it anywhere.

From inside his bag, Santa started to pull gifts, some wrapped, some not, for the horde of children that now surrounded him – each one received a gift, no one was left out. He greeted each child by name and said something personal as well. She saw his black boots lift off the ground a couple of inches as he stretched over the heads of some of the taller kids to reach a small child in the back of the group.

Lois nodded to herself. Yep. Super Claus!

She stopped herself short before crashing into the tall iron gates surrounding the courtyard of the old stone building. She took a few calming breaths, which she could see as fog in the air, and pushed the gates open. She approached the large wooden door and pressed the buzzer, begging the universe to let her please not be too late.

“Hello,” said a friendly older woman opening the door. “How may I help you?”

Lois blinked at the woman with a momentary loss for words. How could she explain why she was there? Finally, she decided on the truth. “Have I missed Santa?”

The woman laughed, and gestured towards a large room full of bright lights and music. “See for yourself.”

Inside Lois found a huge crowd of children dancing or playing a game. The room was awash in holiday décor, almost the complete opposite of Clark’s apartment. Wreaths, bouquets of balloons, boughs of holly, garlands of pine, streamers, and lights of all colors had been strewn around the room as if every hand in the place, no matter how small, had been called to assist in the decorating. A huge tree teetered off in the corner, so tall it almost bent at the top where it scraped the ceiling. Other than that one comparison, it did not match the one at the Luthor House in the slightest. Handmade and bought ornaments covered from lowest boughs to tallest point; she could hardly see the pine needles. This was indeed the tree she had pictured earlier, the one, which had made the Luthor House children’s Christmas trees seem more sad, more fake, and less perfect. Several long tables with remnants of a holiday meal had been abandoned to one side of the room. There were adults scattered about, here and there, but mostly there were children, laughing, happy, and cheerful children.

Lois sighed into a smile. This was what her Christmas had been missing.

The woman from the door joined Lois. “Do you see Santa?” the woman asked.

Lois just shook her head, still in awe in what she did see, almost as if she had stepped out of her dreams into this room. “Lois Lane, Daily Planet,” she said, out of habit.

“I’m Judy, the Metropolis City Orphanage’s director,” replied the woman. She nudged Lois and pointed beyond the tree, where Santa knelt resplendent in his white hair, his beard, his belly, and his red fur suit and hat, dusted with soot, talking to a small girl.

The girl seemed almost in tears as she was speaking to the man in red as she stared down at a ragdoll in her hands.

“Samantha is one of our newest guests. Sadly, she lost her mother to cancer just last month,” Judy explained, as Lois watched Santa shake his head, unable to grant the little girl her wish.

“I hate you! I hate you! I hate you!” the girl screamed, throwing the doll at Santa. She ran away across the room, plowing directly into Lois and knocking her to the floor.

Not knowing what else to do, Lois surrounded the girl with her arms, so she wouldn’t tear into anyone else. Samantha burst into tears and latched onto Lois with all her might. This girl’s tears reminded Lois of her partner’s tears, when he had told her of his parents’ death. Finally, Lois herself succumbed to tears as well.

How could Clark not fear commitment when the dearest people in the world to him were torn from him so suddenly as a child? How could he not feel afraid to reveal the truth of his past to her, after bouncing around from home to home, being rejected time and time again? And what had she done? She had pushed him away. She had rejected him and told him he wasn’t worthy of her love. Yet, after all that, Clark kept coming back. He never gave up. He kept trying to break down Lois’s own terrifying walls she had built to keep others out, because he loved her. Her! She felt like the least deserving person of his love, the most unlovable person imaginable.

Samantha stopped crying and pulled back, staring at Lois. “Why are you crying?”

“Because a friend of mine lost his parents, and I was mean to him when I shouldn’t have been. I shouted at him and told him I didn’t care,” Lois said, glancing up and seeing Santa standing not so far away and holding the doll he had been trying to give Samantha. He looked almost as lost as she felt. “I forget sometimes that deep inside he’s just a little boy, who is scared and frightened, and who, occasionally, will say and do stupid things he doesn’t mean. We all do. I came here looking for Santa, hoping he’d find my friend and tell him that I forgive him, if he’ll forgive me.”

Samantha wiped her face with the back of her hand. “I hate to tell you this, lady, but Santa’s got a busy night tonight. He won’t have time to look for your friend. Maybe he can in a couple of days, when he’s had time to rest.”

Lois chuckled through her tears, wiping her cheeks with her hands. “I don’t think he went far. Maybe Santa will see him while he’s traveling around the city.”

“You know Santa can’t grant wishes. I asked him for my mommy back, and he said he wouldn’t give her to me,” Samantha said conspiratorially.

“I bet if he could, Santa would bring her back here in a moment, but there’re some things in the world that are even stronger than Santa’s magic. There are some things that even Santa can’t do,” Lois said with a sniffle. “And this is one of them.”

“But I miss her. I miss her,” Samantha wailed, flinging herself back against Lois’s chest.

Lois closed her eyes and squeezed the little girl, remembering the pain she had felt when she discovered that old grave on top of the hill. Another tear dripped down Lois’s cheek. She too was no stranger to sorrow.

Santa came over to Lois and handed the doll to her. “I’ll see what I can do about finding your friend, Ms. Lane,” he said hoarsely.

Samantha’s tears had even brought tears to Santa’s eyes, making them sparkle more than ever. He let his hand hover above the little girl’s head for a moment before drawing it away without touching her.

“Thank you,” Lois whispered, as he moved away. “You’re right. He needs me.”

Santa glanced over at her and nodded once, before stepping into the fireplace and setting his finger beside his nose.

“Santa! Santa! Wait!” Samantha yelled, pulling out of Lois’s grip and running over to the large man in red. “The lady didn’t get a gift. Do you have anything in your bag for her?”

He took the sack off his back and peered inside. “Let’s see,” he murmured, reaching down to the bottom of the bag.

“It’s okay, Santa, I don’t need…” Lois said, approaching him.

Santa reappeared out of his sack with a black and white fuzzy teddy bear and held it out for her. “So you never have to be alone, Ms. Lane,” he said, holding it out to her.

Lois sniffled, and then laughed, taking the bear. “Thank you. I’ll think of you whenever I hold him, Santa.”

He smiled at her, set his finger back against his nose, and disappeared up the chimney.

*

Clark sat on top of the orphanage’s roof for a minute longer than he had meant to, trying to stop the tears from his eyes. He had kissed Lois so passionately the night before, and then ran out on her, and she still hunted him down and begged him to forgive her. How could he ever give up such a woman? How had she known Superman was going to be at the Metropolis City Orphanage? He shook his head. Had that been another one of those psychic visions, or had she followed Clark there from his apartment? Had she thought Santa was Clark not Superman?

Time for him to face the music. Clark stood up, took a leap into the air, and came back down spinning out of Jonathan’s old Santa suit, and back into Clark Kent’s suit. He pulled his glasses out of his breast pocket, put them on, and ran his fingers through his hair. He took another deep breath, and entered the orphanage’s kitchen through the side door.

There were a few pieces of pumpkin pie left, and they smelled almost as good as the pie Martha was cooling on the counter, when he had stopped by that afternoon to pick up Jonathan’s Santa suit. It smelled so good, it almost tempted him to try to take a bite, but this was neither the time nor the place for him to throw up.

“What are you going to name him?” he heard Samantha say.

He was glad the little girl's tears had abated for the moment. He had hoped the ragdoll would help her feel better, but instead it had made her feel worse. She hadn’t wanted a doll; she had wanted her mommy back. Lois was right, as always; there were some things that were outside of his abilities. He couldn’t bring someone back from the dead.

Clark shrugged. Well, not, at least, without a time machine.

He walked into the dining room from the kitchen. He hadn’t taken more than five steps, before his favorite brunette approached him.

“Clark, I was so worried. He found you!” she said, giving him a hug. “Santa found you.”

“Hi, Lois. I was helping out in the kitchen… Um… about last night…” he paused, running his hand through his hair. How could he apologize for kissing her so thoroughly under the mistletoe and then telling her that he wished it hadn’t happened when he was so glad it had? “I know I shouldn’t have…” He began.

“The mistletoe, I know. I shouldn’t have hung it up. I got it, Chuck. I understand. It would have been like you leaving a Double Fudge Crunch bar on my desk and telling me to save it for Christmas. The temptation was too great,” Lois said, stepping back. She pointed her finger in his face. “Don’t do anything that stupid again! You have some major explaining to do before I’ll give you access to my lips again. For now, you aren’t allowed to kiss me without my say so.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he said, bowing his head to hide his grin.

For now.

His smile faded.

Forever.

*** End of Part 69 ***

Part 70

Comments?