Wrong Place, Wrong Time, Wrong Clark TOC can be found
HereWhere we left off in Part 91 …“Precisely. You’re low in vitamin D. Time for some sunshine for you, big fellow,” Cat said, pushing Clark through the door and towards the elevator. They passed Lois’s desk, and Cat grabbed a fluffy jacket off a coat rack.
“Shouldn’t I get my coat too?” he asked, trying to find any excuse to get away from her.
“No, honey, you’re going to be taking your shirt off,” she replied.
“What? It still must be cold out, Miss Grant. I just got out of the hospital from having hypothermia and I don’t want to go back,” Clark said, turning away from her.
She dug her claws into his arm and pulled him towards the elevators. “First of all, you call me Cat. Second, I’ve seen you without your shirt before. And thirdly, the fact that I can get you to go where you don’t want to go, Clark, tells me you are really low in vitamin D and need as much sun exposure as possible, which means you should take off your shirt.”
“You’re nuts!” he said.
“And
you’re sick, Clark,” Cat said, shoving him into the elevator and putting on her coat. Once the doors closed, she pushed the button for the top floor, before facing him. “What do you know about Superman?”
Clark shrugged, wondering about her sudden change of topic. Did she think pushing him off the roof would get Superman to appear suddenly to save him? He didn’t like those odds, especially since nobody had seen the superhero since he went to deal with the asteroid. He saw that she was waiting for an answer. “I… I don’t know. He can fly?”
She motioned for him to go on.
“Um… he’s strong… Uh…”
“He’s super strong, super fast, and can fly. He heats things with his eyes, cools things with his breath, impervious to heat or cold, but none of that matters, if he’s vulnerable,” Cat said, lifting his hand. “Superman doesn’t bleed.”
“Okay, that’s great for him, but what does this have to do with me?” Clark asked.
Cat gave him a strange look. She took a deep breath, and then continued on, “He’s invulnerable. We call him the Man of Steel, because he can be shot, sit on an exploding bomb, dive into the Arctic Ocean, swim through lava, and journey out into space, just to name a few examples, with no side effects. You, on the other hand, are a mess.”
“And?” he asked.
“Do you have anything else wrong with you?”
He shook his head. “I don’t know what you want to hear.”
“I won’t know what it is until you tell me,” she said, waving at him to tell her. “So spill!”
“My eyes, the cold… the hypothermia thing, the bump on the back of my head,” he said.
She continued to nod and waved for him to continue.
“Uh… that’s about it… oh! I do have this strange rash on my right leg,” he said.
Cat knelt down in front of him and started to pull up his pants leg when the elevator doors opened. She turned to look at the very startled executive in the doorway. “Do you mind? I’m trying to save the world here!”
Clark shrugged sheepishly at the guy, who stepped back, and mumbled, “I’ll wait for the next one.”
The doors closed and Clark buried his face into his hand. He knew he should have gone to the press conference with Lois.
Part 92“This is where you must have come in contact with it,” Cat said, examining his right leg.
“Contact with what?” Clark asked, glancing down at her. The rash was red like a sunburn and localized to his right shin from his ankle to halfway to his knee. It had stumped the doctor at the hospital how he could have obtained a localized sunburn in February in Metropolis. In the end, they had assumed it was some sort of radiation burn and had treated it as such.
“Kryptonite. It’s the only thing which can make Superman vulnerable,” she replied with a nod, standing back up.
“Krypto-
whatsit?” he stammered.
“Kryptonite is a radioactive piece of your home planet. If you’ve been exposed to Kryptonite and left to die in Hob’s Bay, it means somebody out there has figured out that you’re Superman,” she said, and then her gaze shot to his, and he could see fear in her eyes.
“Wait a minute!” His jaw dropped as Clark tried to wrap his befuddled mind around what she was saying. “You think I’m Superman? You
are nuts, lady!”
Cat shrugged. “That may be, but I’ve known that you’re Superman since the moment you flew into the Daily Planet with Lois in your arms.”
“No! What? Superman held Lois in his arms?” he growled, not liking the possibility of Lois with someone else.
“Oh, please, Clark. Only you could be jealous of yourself,” Cat said.
“And how did you, out of all the people in the world, recognize that I am this Superman guy?” he retorted.
Cat pointed at his face. “Easy. You both wear the same love-sick expression whenever you look at Lois.”
Clark stared at Cat. Was it
that obvious? Was that Superman fellow in love with Lois, too? How could he possibly compete with that guy for Lois’s love?
The elevator doors opened again, and Cat pushed him out the door and to the stairway, which led to a door marked ‘roof access’.
“How do you know how to get to the roof, anyway?” he asked.
She opened the door. “Superman has taken me flying; although, not as often as his biggest groupie Lois. He has to keep up appearances, but…”
“If you think I’m him, why do you keep referring to him in the third person?”
Cat laughed. “Sorry. Force of habit. You know, ‘keeping up the secret identity’ and all. I would’ve let you figure it out on your own if…” She pointed to the sky. “Time’s kind of an issue at the moment. I don’t want to give up life as I know it. I
like my life.” She said this last line with more emphasis. Was she trying to convince him or herself? Her determined face broke for a second, showing something else, which looked almost like sorrow.
“Is something wrong, Cat?” Clark asked.
“It’s not important,” she replied her voice wavering. “Getting you back to super status is.”
Clark rested a hand on her arm. “Who says?”
“I do,” she said, her back stiffened with resolve. “Now, strip!”
“Cat,” he said, trying to find a way for her to see reason. He wasn’t going to take off his shirt, let alone his suit jacket, on the roof, especially in the middle of winter. Vitamin D wasn’t going to suddenly make him Superman and enable him to save the Earth. That theory was preposterous. “Your life is just as important as mine. What’s wrong?”
Her face crumpled and she turned to his chest, resting her head against his shoulder. “I missed you,” she murmured, breaking into tears.
This time he patted her back as he held her. She sobbed onto his shoulder, speaking the whole time. The woman was clearly distraught about something and teetering on the edge of sanity. He could understand only every fourth word or so, due to her crying. Clark figured out that Cat believed that he was her only real friend, her heart had been broken, and he hadn’t been there for her. She had been worried about him and was scared Superman wouldn’t be around to save the planet from the asteroid.
Had he and Cat dated, only to have him break it off when he had met Lois, falling instantly in love with her? Clark could see that. No wonder she didn’t like Lois, and vice-versa. Of course, as far as he could tell, his love for Lois was unrequited. Lois saw him as her partner and nothing more. This wasn’t the time or the place, but with his new outlook on life, he was determined to change that.
Eventually Cat’s tears subsided, but she remained snuggled up against his chest.
“Come on, Cat. Let’s get back down to the newsroom,” Clark suggested with a nudge towards the door.
“No, Clark,” Cat replied through her sniffles. She raised a tissue to her eyes. “You need more sun exposure.”
He realized the fingers of her other hand weren’t just resting on his chest, but unbuttoning his shirt. He jumped away. “What are you doing?” he gasped, clutching his shirt.
“Trust me,” Cat said, stepping towards him.
“I don’t think so,” he replied, taking a step back.
“Superman has his abilities because he was born under a red sun, and ours is yellow. The more exposure to our yellow sun you get, the more quickly your powers will return,” she explained.
“So, Superman is solar powered?” he scoffed. Likely story.
“Yes! I know what I’m talking about. Ask Lois about it, if you don’t believe me… Well, don’t tell her that you’re Superman though, or even that I know you’re him, because that’s something you don’t advertise,” Cat went on.
He could see why. Lois would think he was insane.
“How do you know how I feel about Lois?” Clark asked, taking another step back.
Cat held out her arms. “Hello? Your best friend here, Clark. That’s what best friends do; they share secrets.”
Clark doubted if he were Superman that this woman would be his best friend. It would be quite ironic if Superman trusted his secrets to a gossip columnist. Had he told her that he was Superman as a way of interesting her in him? Was that the kind of man he had been? A horrible gambler as well as someone who would lie to women to get them into bed? He hoped not. “If I’m so in love with Lois, why haven’t I told her this big secret?” he inquired skeptically.
“Frankly, I don’t know,” Cat said with a shrug. “Lois was mad at you for catching you in some great lie, and you were first trying to earn back her trust. You should’ve told her months ago, but you keep putting it off for some reason. Personally, I think you’re scared that she might reject you, despite her being head over heels in love with Superman.”
Clark turned away from Cat and leaned against a wall, staring out at the Metropolitan skyline. The sun glinted off the windows and metal. He wished it were even the slightest bit familiar. The fresh air and sun on his face did make him feel better, but this news weighed him down.
Superman stood for truth and justice. Clark, on the other hand, was a liar and a con man.
Lois had caught him lying to her and didn’t trust him. He was some kind of scummy ladies man, who lied to women, probably to get them to sleep with him. Clark knew he would never get a straight answer out of Cat because she was apparently infatuated with him. She honestly thought he was Superman, for heaven’s sake.
He dropped his forehead into his hand. Maybe it would be better if the asteroid struck, and he never recovered his memories at all. He could start his life anew.
“Once you’re feeling better, have taken care of Nightfall, and have your memories back, then you can tell Lois everything. It’s best if you don’t until you remember at least who has figured out your secret identity.” Cat gasped, putting a hand to her mouth. “She’s not safe, is she? Someone might come after her, if he knows that Superman or Clark is in love with her, to use her to get to you?”
Clark closed his eyes. Had someone heard about him boasting of his resemblance to the superhero, and thought it might have merit? Had he endangered not only himself, but Lois… and possibly Cat, too? He was an idiot. No, he
had been an idiot, if that were true.
“Clark?”
“Hmmmm,” he said.
Cat’s voice grew soft. “Clark?”
He shrugged.
She walked around so that she stood between the view and Clark. “Oh, honey, I’m so sorry,” she said. “I forgot you have no idea what I’m talking about. Oh, sweetie, no, don’t…”
Clark turned away, so he wouldn’t have to see her pity.
“It really isn’t as bad as I’m making it sound. It wasn’t that big of a deal, really. You told her you grew up on a farm in Kansas, so she wouldn’t know you’re from another planet. Big deal. She’ll understand once she knows the truth. And don’t worry about someone hurting her to get to you. Lois will be fine. Nobody is tougher than she is. She cares about you, she does. Half of the newsroom’s staff has placed bets that you two hooked up while you were at the Lexor honeymoon suite last week,” she said.
He shot a sharp and startled gaze her way.
“
Undercover at the Lexor honeymoon suite,” Cat amended, not making him feel any better. She reached up and touched his cheek. “I know you, Clark. I know nothing happened.”
“You don’t know anything,” he grumbled, and turned to look at the view in the other direction.
She turned his face towards hers. “I know that Lois has changed since she met you, and for the better. Not only is she kinder, and treats her co-workers better, she’s happier, and that’s because of you. You aren’t the type of man to do a one-night stand. I’ve never seen a man more in love, Clark. Trust me; I’ve seen plenty of men who thought they were in love.”
Clark raised a brow, looking her up and down. What was she saying?
Cat held up a hand. “I know this will be hard to believe, but I’m a bit of a wild party girl. I like to have a good time, especially in the bedroom; although, I don’t usually put limits on the place.”
“Is this one of those sarcastic statements you warned me about?” he asked.
She grinned and nudged him. “See, the sunlight
is helping. You’re sounding like your old self again.”
His brow furrowed. Was that a yes or a no? Because he couldn’t see how it was hard to believe at all.
“Let’s just say, I know the difference between a man who is out for fun and a man who wants more,” she said with a wink.
“What about…?” Clark said, waving his hand. He never had caught the man’s name she had been crying about earlier. He had thought she had meant him, but now he wasn’t so sure.
“Do you mean Phil?” Cat guessed, and then shook her head. “He was a mistake. It had been so perfect with him; I should have known there was a catch. The faith you have in love, and Lois, had me believing in True Love. I should have known something like that wasn’t for a girl like me.”
Despite her insanity, Cat clearly was in pain over what had happened with Phil. Clark raised a hand to her jaw, running his thumb over her cheek. “Don’t say that,” he whispered.
Tears dotted her lashes. “Promise me something, Clark. If it doesn’t work out between you and Lois…” Her voice caught in her throat.
His heart ached for her, but not in the way she wanted. “I’m in no position to make any promises, Cat.”
Cat nodded, forcing a smile to her face, which he could see wasn’t real. “I know.” She coughed. “Now, let’s get that shirt off and get you some sun exposure,” she said, returning her attention to his chest and loosening his tie.
Suddenly, Cat was jerked away from Clark and thrown to the gravelly roof.
“What the hell, Cat?” Lois voice roared out of the silence. “Clark has amnesia
and hypothermia. You don’t take advantage of a man in his condition, and you certainly don’t strip him out on the roof.” Lois gazed at Clark with regret, and started to button up his shirt. “And you call yourself his best friend,” she scoffed.
Clark glanced away in shame and embarrassment. Cat hadn’t been lying about their friendship. If that was the truth, what else had she said that was true too? Anything? Everything?
“Hey, this isn’t your fault,” Lois reassured him, touching his cheek and turning his face back to hers. “I’m blaming her, not you, Clark. It’s okay to tell her ‘no’.”
Clark nodded. He wanted to tell Lois that he had said ‘no’ to Cat, and that he hadn’t wanted her to undress him, but he seemed to have lost his voice in the relief he felt that Lois had returned. After everything Cat had said, he didn’t feel like he deserved Lois’s kindness and support.
“Lois, you don’t know anything,” Cat spat at her. “Clark needs me more now than he does you!”
Ignoring Cat, Lois took Clark’s hand in hers and her warmth radiated throughout him. “I shouldn’t have left you,” she grumbled.
“It’s not your fault,” he murmured.
“Damn straight!” Lois agreed with him, glaring at the other woman. “It’s Cat’s. I knew she’d do almost anything for sex, but I didn’t think she’d stoop this low. I feel like such a fool. I believed her when she said that you two were just friends.”
“She’s scared about the asteroid,” Clark explained, as Lois led him to the door.
“Don’t defend her, Clark. Cat wanted your body, plain and simple. Sometimes you are just too kind-hearted,” Lois complained, dragging him through the door and down the stairs.
He was? On the other hand, was that part of the con? Had Lois fell for his lies as Cat had? No, Cat had said Lois was angry with him for lying to her. Had he told Lois that he was Superman, like he had with Cat, and then Lois proved he had been lying? Yes, that could be the lie that Cat was talking about. Had Lois finally moved past that? Had she forgiven him for that transgression? On the other hand, that lie might have landed him in ‘just partner’ land for eternity. He hoped not.
“You’re my responsibility. Mine! I shouldn’t have left you,” Lois said, berating herself. “I’m
not leaving you again. No matter what anybody says! Got it?”
Clark smiled. “Thank you, Lois. I don’t deserve you,” he replied, and then he flushed at the underlying message of that statement. “Er… your support.”
“No, you probably don’t, but you’ve got it just the same,” Lois said. “You’re my partner, and that’s what partners do. We stick up for one another.”
Yep, Clark felt firmly stuck in the ‘partner zone’.
Instead of exiting to the elevator, they continued down the stairs. He wasn’t complaining as Lois still held onto his hand; he was only mildly surprised. “How did we become partners?” he asked.
Lois paused on the stairs and glanced briefly back at him, her eyes wide. “Perry assigned you to work under me, when you first started at the Planet.”
“So, you
are the senior partner,” he replied.
She grinned at him. “More experienced perhaps. We’re equals now,” she insisted, continuing down the stairs. “You’ve proven yourself a competent reporter.”
A thought flitted through his mind. “But you like it on top, right?”
Lois slipped, and their enclosed hands were what stopped her from falling down the stairs. “What? What?” she sputtered, grabbing onto the railing with her other hand.
“Being in charge,” Clark clarified. “You like being in charge.”
She cleared her throat, allowing him to rest his free hand on top of hers. “Who doesn’t?”
As long as Lois took care of him, he didn’t mind her being in charge, but he didn’t say so aloud.
She glanced down at his hand. “You’re bleeding.”
He lifted his hand off hers and examined it. “It’s stopped.”
“We’ll put a bandage on it when we get back to the office.”
He nodded vaguely. “So, we’ve been partners since day one?” he asked, as they continued down the stairs.
“On again, off again partners since we met,” she explained vaguely with a shrug.
“Have we always liked each other?”
“What’s with the third degree?” Lois wondered, shooting him a curious expression.
“I’m trying to figure out where we stand,” Clark admitted.
She stopped on the next landing and faced him. “No, we haven’t always liked each other, Clark, but we do now, and that is what’s important.”
He wanted to press her on the definition of ‘like’. He wanted to pull her into his arms and hold her. He wanted to kiss her to show her how much he liked her now.
“Come on! Let’s eat lunch,” she suggested, continuing back down the stairs, and the moment was gone. “I picked us up some Chinese take-out. It’s waiting down in the office.”
“How was the meeting at EPRAD? Have they found Superman?” Clark asked, trying not to sound overly hopeful.
“No. Nothing. Not one word,” Lois said dejectedly, yet squeezing his hand with reassurance. “This afternoon, they are sending the Asgard Rocket up to blow up what’s left of Nightfall. We could cover the launch, if you want.”
“That could be fun,” he said, not really caring as long as they were together. “Cat said that you were angry that I lied to you. Will you tell me about that at lunch?”
Lois gasped, slapping herself on the forehead and stopping suddenly on the stairs, causing him to bump into her. “Martha! Jonathan! Oh, I almost forgot. We’ll call them as soon as we get back to the office.”
Jonathan like the alias he had picked at the hospital? “Who?”
She stared at him as if searching his face for something, but he knew not what. “Your family,” she finally said. “Your… folks.”
A smile broke out on his face as relief and excitement filled him. “Family? I have folks?” Excitement that he wasn’t alone. Relief that Cat was wrong about him being Superman. He knew she hadn’t been right, but it was nice to know that everyone’s fate wasn’t resting on his brainless shoulders.
***
When they returned from the Asgard Rocket launch, Jimmy flagged Lois down after she and Clark passed by him on the way to her desk. “Lois! Inspector Henderson stopped by and left this for you,” he said, handing her an envelope, which had both her and Clark’s names on it. “And Luthor called again,” he informed her with a sideways glance at Clark as he gave her the message. “Hi, CK.”
Lois wadded up the note, and opened up the envelope. “Oh, Clark! That key that Henderson found in your glasses case
is to your apartment. He’s returned it to you, since you weren’t found with any keys or identification.” She dangled it in front of him, and Clark took it from her with a smile. “Good. We won’t have to bother Floyd to get a spare.”
“Who?” Clark asked, pocketing the key and turning to Jimmy. “Thanks, Jimmy.”
“I got that password for you, CK. Let me know when you’re ready to log on and check out your hard drive,” Jimmy said, with a pat to Clark’s arm and a nod, before heading back to his desk.
“Your landlord is a very large man who likes to wander around in his bathrobe… his very small bathrobe,” Lois explained to her partner, and then shot him a look, which told him plainly that he didn’t want to see that. She wished that she could forget it.
“Who’s Luthor?” Clark asked, helping Lois off with her coat and hanging it on the coat rack beside her desk.
“Lex Luthor is more of a ‘what’ than a ‘who’,” Lois explained, leaving out exactly what Lex was. “He owns half of Metropolis, LexTel, LexComm, LuthorLabs, Luthor Technologies…” She pointed to the television turned to LNN. “Luthor News Network, LexCorp, and the list goes on. He’s the third richest person in the world, and employs millions of people here in Metropolis and worldwide.”
“And
he’s calling
you?” Clark said, sounding impressed. A grin spread across his face. “Well, I’m certainly the lucky one in this partnership.”
Luck isn’t getting Lex Luthor to call me, Clark, Lois wanted to say.
Luck would be getting him to stop. However, that would bring up stuff that she really didn’t want to get into with Clark when he didn’t know the context. She placed a smile on her face, realizing that Clark was only trying to compliment her. In that way, Clark also remained Clark. “Let’s get started on that Asgard Rocket story for Perry,” she said instead.
“Aren’t you going to call him back?” Clark asked, sitting down next to her desk. “It could be something. Perhaps he has alternative data on Nightfall. Maybe he’s heard word about Superman.”
Lois gazed at Clark’s eager face. It was so odd to see him excited about Lex Luthor calling. Clark had loathed the billionaire from the first. Damn, it perturbed her that Clark had been right about Lex, before she was.
“He wants to meet with me,” she said slowly.
And Lex Luthor hates you. She stared at Clark.
Lex Luthor hated Clark.
It wasn’t just hatred; it was irrational hatred. Lex was jealous of her relationship with Clark.
She felt as if someone with clammy hands grabbed her shoulders and shook her.
Lex
hated Clark.
Lex was doing stuff that wasn’t kosher.
Someone had tried to kill Clark.
Someone had robbed Clark’s apartment, broken into his bank to access his safety deposit box, had tried to hit him with a car,
and dumped him into Hob’s Bay wearing handcuffs. With his resources, Lex could orchestrate all of that easily. He had admitted to doing a background search on Clark, and that just because she turned Lex down for dinner.
“What?” Clark inquired.
Lois shook her head.
No. She didn’t want to believe that Lex would do that. He wouldn’t have tried to kill Clark over her, would he have? Not only had she rejected Lex, but she had lied and told him there wasn’t anything between her and Clark, so why try to murder him? She was looking for answers where there wasn’t any proof. She just
wanted it to be Lex. Not that she wanted Lex to go after Clark. She just wanted her fear for Clark’s safety to be over. Having Lex put behind bars because of it would be a bonus.
“No, it’s something. Tell me,” he said, leaning forward and lowering his voice.
Loathe as she was to admit it, Clark was right. Lois couldn’t ignore Lex as a source because he was a creep. “It’s okay, Clark. I’ll call him back later,” she said, resigning herself to that fate.
“I’m not going to allow myself to be a distraction, Lois. You have a job to do; I won’t stand in your way,” Clark said, clearly misreading her words as he stood up.
A smile brushed her lips as a flirtatious retort came to mind, but Dr. McCorkle had said to keep their relationship professional until he remembered their relationship on his own. She patted his hand and tried not to gaze into his eyes with the longing to kiss him, which came over her whenever he put her career over himself. “You’re my partner, Clark. You’re never in the way. I’ll call Lex and ask him to tell me the information over the phone.”
“If you need to meet with Luthor…” A strange expression came over his face, as if he were remembering something. He picked up the copy of that day’s
Daily Planet off her desk and flipped through several pages, before coming across an advertisement for suits by Lex Luthor’s Apparel for Men. He held it out for Lois to see. “Is this him?”
Lois nodded, and watched as Clark’s brow furrowed in concentration.
Finally, he nodded. “Yes, see if he will tell you his information over the phone.”
“Are you remembering something?” she asked.
“No. Not really, it’s just a feeling,” he said, and she recognized the fake smile he put on his lips. “If he will only meet you in person, I can come with you.”
She wasn’t going to take any chances. Her vibe said to keep Lex and Clark apart, and she wasn’t going to discount that suspicion. “Lex is one of those eccentric people, Clark. He’ll only meet with me, alone,” she explained.
“Oh,” Clark said, a frown appearing on his mouth meant that he understood. She saw him pinch his lips together with resolve. “I appreciate all your help, but I don’t need a babysitter,” he said, turning towards his desk.
“Clark!” Lois called after him. He had misunderstood. She hated that Lex was coming between her and Clark,
again. She stood up and followed him to his desk. “You’re more important to me,” she said softly.
He glanced up at her with a startled expression, and she realized how bald that statement had been.
“Your safety,” she amended.
Clark nodded, accepting her change. “I’ll be okay. If you need to meet with him, I can wait here until you return.”
Lois wished there was some way she could reassure him physically without him and everyone else in the newsroom knowing how much she really cared for her partner. She couldn’t push him, no matter how much she missed that part of their relationship. “Are you sure you can fend off Cat, if she attacks you again?” she asked wryly.
“She didn’t ‘attack’ me,” he said
Lois crossed her arms and gave him her best ‘yeah, right’ expression.
“Well…” Clark admitted, glancing down at his hand.
Lois knew it! Cat
had tried to seduce Clark. She would never trust that woman again.
His brow furrowed, as he continued to stare at his hand, rubbing one of his fingers with his thumb. It was the same finger she had noticed was bleeding earlier. The bandage must have fallen off. Wait. Had they remembered to put one on?
“Clark?”
“Um… uh…” he sputtered, glancing up at her. “I’ll be fine... um… Remember my fortune from lunch?”
“Huh?” Lois said, only able to remember that Clark had eaten sweet and sour chicken like she ate Double Fudge Crunch bars and had popped his cookie into his mouth no problemo. Her fortune had been ‘
When anger rises, think of the consequences.’ Yeah, right, she totally did that. “Um… no?”
Clark smiled indulgently. “‘Confucius says: It is more shameful to distrust our friends than to be deceived by them.’” He looked so much like her smug Clark, she wanted to reach over the desk and slug him.
“O-
kay, but don’t say I didn’t warn you,” she replied, returning to her desk to call Lex. If Cat touched one hair on Clark’s head…
***
Lois opened Clark’s front door, walked into his apartment, and turned on the lights. When she turned back around, she noticed Clark wasn’t right behind her. She glanced out the open doorway and saw that he was still standing on the front stoop, scrutinizing outside his apartment.
“Clark, come in,” she said. “This is your place.”
Clark stepped inside and looked around. “Are you sure?”
“Doesn’t it look familiar?” she asked.
“Not yet,” he replied, almost apologetically.
He walked down the steps into the living room, and Lois closed the front door.
“Where’s all my stuff?” Clark wondered, walking over the bookcase behind the sofa and picking up the photo of him and Jimmy.
“You never had much stuff, Clark. Plus, you were robbed last week and they destroyed a lot of what you did have,” Lois explained, indicating a table across from his couch. “For example, you used to have a television here.” She turned back to Clark to see that he wasn’t listening.
Clark had set down the first photo and picked up one of her and him. He went to pick up the statue of the lovers entwined.
“Wait!” she called, but too late. Only the top part came up with his hand. “The robbers broke it.”
He nodded, but she could see the pain in his eyes. He set the top part of the statue down next to the bottom half. He sighed. “There doesn’t seem to be much here,” he said, wandering towards the kitchen. “It’s almost like I didn’t live.”
“Well, you spent most of your life on the run… running… er… traveling… recently…” she said, tripping over what she knew of his back-story. “Before you came to Metropolis, you were traveling. You probably weren’t able to carry much.”
“Oh,” Clark said, accepting this answer and turning towards the bedroom.
Lois exhaled.
“Who’s this?” he called.
She went into the bedroom and saw him holding a photo of him with the Kents. It was a new one; he must have gotten it since the robbery.
“Are these my parents?” Clark asked.
Lois wasn’t exactly sure how to answer that question. She knew his real folks had died when he was young. He had been ‘adopted’ by these Smallville Kents, when she and Clark had gone to Kansas in October. She decided to be vague. “Nice people,” she said with a slight head bounce. “You can try to call them again, while I’m…” Her voice faded. She hated to leave Clark here in a place he didn’t recognize to go and meet with Lex, but Lex had insisted that he could only tell her his news in person. Lex was expecting her in little under a half-hour at his penthouse. “If the Asgard Rocket is successful, maybe the phone lines will stop being so overloaded, and you’ll be able to reach them,” she suggested, but held out little hope. She knew Earth’s only true hope was Superman, wherever he might be.
“I’ll keep trying,” he said, but sounded as optimistic as she felt.
She handed Clark his one key on his new Superman key ring. They had found it at a newsstand they passed on the way to his apartment. “I should get going,” she said, heading for the door.
“Do you have to?” Clark asked, halting her steps. “I mean, I know you have to go, but could you wait until Jimmy gets here?”
Lois glanced at her watch. Jimmy was supposed to meet them there. He must be running late. “Maybe a few more minutes wouldn’t hurt.”
They both stood there, not knowing what to say or do. Lois knew what she
wanted to say and do, but also knew that she shouldn’t unless Clark gave her some signal.
“I wish Superman would contact us,” she said, filling the dead air. “Everyone has written him off, as if he died in space or something, and my… and
I don’t believe that. He’s a good man. We need him.”
Clark stepped towards her. “You’re right. I’ll go back to the office and continue working…”
Lois touched his sleeve. “We need you too, Clark. You’ve been through a lot the last couple of days. Why don’t you get a good night’s sleep?” she said, her hand sliding down his arm and into his, so that she could give it a reassuring squeeze. “I know you must be scared.”
“To have time running out, and not even know what you’ve missed,” he said wistfully.
“As I said, you’ve traveled the world and… and… and you have family who loves you,” she said, knowing she was grasping at straws. “And we’re…
friends.” Even to her ears that sounded pathetic. As if their friendship could make up for all that was missing from his life.
His gaze moved from their entwined hands up to her eyes. “Are we
more than friends?” he finally asked.
Lois had been waiting all day for him to ask her this and, yet, it caught her off guard. “More than…” she sputtered, trying hard neither to force his feelings nor to kiss him. She swallowed. “As I told you, we’re partners. We work closely together.”
“How close?” Clark asked. His chest touched hers, and they still held hands between them.
“Close,” she whispered.
“Close close?” he murmured, tilting his face towards hers.
Lois shut her eyes. “Very close,” she breathed more than spoke as his lips descended onto hers.
They both sighed with the relief of it.
A loud banging made them jump apart.
“Not again,” she grumbled.
“CK! Lois! Are you there?” Jimmy called out from the other side of the front door.
They stared at one another, both their hearts racing as they panted with want. Clark moved first, pulling her tightly against him and kissing her once more. “I’ll send him away,” he said between kisses.
“Oh, please,” she moaned, and then remembered her meeting and grimaced. “Oh, damn! I’m supposed to meet Lex.”
“Cancel. Stay with me,” Clark pleaded.
“Yes!” she agreed both with her words and with kisses; this was what she wanted. “Yes,” she begged, wishing the world would fall away and leave them alone.
“CK? Lois?” Jimmy called again with another bang on the door.
“No,” Lois said, pulling away from Clark.
“No?” Clark repeated, his tone wavering towards anguish.
“Lex might have something. You’re right. He’s big. He might know something. I’ve got to go,” she said, taking a step back and picking up her briefcase from where she had dropped it next to couch. She lifted her hand to Clark’s jaw and ran a thumb over his lips.
He kissed her thumb. “Come back, afterwards,” he insisted.
“How would it look? Jimmy’s supposed to stay the night,” Lois reminded him. “And you need your rest. We’ll spend tomorrow night together.”
Clark focused his eyes on hers. “There
is no tomorrow night, Lois.”
In a way, he was right. Nightfall was supposed to strike tomorrow in the early evening.
“There’s only tonight,” he continued.
Lois pressed her lips to his. “Which is why I
must go,” she said, breaking off the kiss and moving towards the door. “So that we can have more than just tonight.”
“You really do save the world,” Clark said with admiration.
She grinned at him. “See, your memory is already starting to come back.” She flung open the door, and Jimmy stumbled in.
“Oh, hi,” Jimmy said, catching himself, so he wouldn’t fall down the steps into Clark’s living room. “I thought maybe you guys weren’t here yet.” He lifted up a plastic bag with the words Ralph’s Taj Mahal printed on the side. “I brought dinner. I hope you’re up for Indian.”
Lois looked back at Clark and mouthed ‘lucky you’ as she went out the door. She hoped he knew she was joking.
***End of Part 92*** Part 93 
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