Wrong Place, Wrong Time, Wrong Clark TOC can be found
HereWhere we left off in Part 106 …“I understand, Inspector,” Clark said. He understood, but it still bothered him. Pressing down his frustration, he returned to the main reason he called, the missing Dr. Brenda Muldoon. “Just out of curiosity, how many bodies did you guys pull out of Hob’s Bay since the Nightfall eclipse?”
“One.”
Clark grabbed his notebook and one of the pencils from his ‘stole from Lois’s desk’ cup. “Who?”
Henderson chuckled. “You.”
Clark pursed his lips and started weaving his useless pencil through his fingers. “I wasn’t a ‘body’ per se.”
“Touché, Kent. You’re the only one I heard of. Want me to ask around? I doubt there were any more, or I would’ve been informed,” Henderson said.
“Thanks, Henderson. I’d appreciate it,” Clark said. He doubted his disappearance and Dr. Muldoon’s had any thing in common, and Henderson had just confirmed it. “Oh, I heard the strangest rumor today,” he added, trying to sound casual.
“Oh?” the Inspector said warily.
Clark watched Lois stand up and head off towards the supply closet. His brow furrowed, wondering if she was going to get yet another box of pencils. Then, again, the ladies’ room was also down that hall. He cleared his throat. “That you guys at the MPD have been inundated with missing person cases in the past week.”
There was silence on the line, and Clark would’ve wondered if Henderson had hung up, except Clark could hear his heart beat increase.
Part 107“It’s a non-story, Kent,” Henderson finally said with a sigh, yet Clark didn’t believe him.
“Is it?”
“Many people do crazy things during times of crisis, Kent. Why when Superman came on the scene last spring, we had a bunch of people disappear, only to come out of hiding a week or two later,” Henderson said. “You’ll see, all these so-called ‘missing people’ will be found again, soon enough.”
Dr. Brenda Muldoon didn’t sound like the type to continue hiding in a basement after the all clear had been announced. No, something had definitely happened to her. Something else Henderson had said caught his attention.
“People hid from Superman?” Clark echoed. He wasn’t surprised by that, but he guessed Clark Kent should be. Actually, he was a bit amazed more people hadn’t been more terrified of him. “Thanks for being frank, Inspector.”
“Bill, actually, but you can call me Frank until you get all your memories back,” teased the policeman.
Clark chuckled at this corny joke. Bill Henderson would regret the suggestion. “If you notice anything out of the ordinary, Frank, I’d appreciate a head’s up.”
“Kent, you’re been spending too much time with that partner of yours if you really believe that’s going to happen,” Henderson replied.
The inspector’s words caused Clark to smile at his folly and then sigh because the truth was he was spending much too little time with her lately. “You’re absolutely right, Inspector. Where would my fun be if you did? But it won’t stop me or Lois from calling.”
“Oh, lucky me,” Henderson said dryly, hanging up.
Clark laughed. Even though the policeman always acted otherwise, Clark believed he had a soft spot for a certain set of journalists.
He reviewed his notes from his conversation with the Chief of Staff at Metropolis General Hospital, not that there was much there. The man hadn’t wanted to comment on the record about Dr. Muldoon’s disappearance, or her actions at the hospital on the night or morning she went missing. The man talked about what a terrific doctor Dr. Muldoon was, and what a valuable member of their team she was, and how he hoped she turned up soon, safe and sound.
Blah, blah, blah. Clark recognized the usual P.R. rhetoric when he had heard it. That certainly wasn’t a difference between the two dimensions. He could almost have quoted him without having written it down, having heard other such nonsense from others in similar positions. The Chief of Staff had an edge to his voice, which suggested that he was holding something back, but not wanting to burn bridges left him mute on the truth. Clark wondered if Dr. Muldoon’s job would be waiting for her, should they find her ‘safe and sound’.
Clark glanced over at Lois’s desk and wondered why she hadn’t yet returned.
Lois marched back into the newsroom some ten minutes later. It appeared as if she was still in her bitter mood. Without saying a word, she unplugged Clark’s electronic pencil sharpener and took it to her desk.
“Hey!” Clark called.
“I’ve been in the supply closet for the last fifteen minutes searching for pre-sharpened pencils, Clark, but for some reason, we seem to be out,” she growled, setting up the machine and plugging it into her surge protector.
Ooops. He smiled sheepishly at her, but that only seemed to make her eyes narrow further in annoyance. She was right. Secretly meeting in the supply closet had been his idea.
Her phone rang. “Lois Lane!” she grumbled into the phone. “Oh, Lex! I’m sorry… No, no. I’m fine. I was merely in a heated discussion with an associate.” Her tone turned soft and pleasant, making the hairs on Clark’s neck stand on end. “Dinner?” Lois glanced over her shoulder at Clark, clearly seeing his gaze was fixed on her and her telephone conversation. “That sounds nice. I could use a night away from the office. Thank you.”
She opened her agenda and made a notation. “That’s so nice of you to offer, but I’d rather drive myself. The Eugene Laderman trial will be going to the jury this week, and I might need to leave early if they come back with a verdict.”
Clark stood up, picked up his cup of pencils, and walked them over to Lois’s desk.
“Yes, I still have it,” she was saying in regards to the garage key card that Luthor had given her the previous week.
Clark realized that she
had been seeing Luthor, since her and Clark’s faux break-up, just as Cat had implied.
“Oh, no, Lex. I would never presume to keep it,” Lois went on.
Lex insisted, and Clark dropped the cup of pencils on Lois’s desk with a clatter.
“I’ll see you then, Lex. Thank you,” Lois said sweetly, hanging up and turning to Clark. “What was that about, Kent? Are you eavesdropping on my private conversation? I didn’t interrupt
your phone conversation with
your source.”
“Does Luthor have some information on a story?” he asked, knowing full well the man did not.
Lois shrugged. “He may. You know sources, Clark, you’ve got to keep them happy or they may dry up.”
Clark nodded. “I’m going out for a coffee. Do you want one?” The words tumbled out of his mouth before he could stop them. He didn’t want to buy her a coffee. He didn’t want her to have dinner with Luthor. He didn’t want her within a half-mile of the man. He wanted to take her and shake some sense into her, but in his current mood, it wouldn’t do either of them any good.
She smiled radiantly up at him as if she had won. Had her acceptance to dinner with Luthor merely been a ploy to pay Clark back for letting her stew in the supply closet for fifteen minutes? “Thank you, Clark.”
“Don’t worry, Lois. I won’t be stealing your pencils any longer,” he grumbled, walking towards the stairwell. “Apparently, the joke wasn’t as funny as I thought it had been.”
He moved slowly down the stairs, wishing he had a place to go where he could feel better, yet knowing he only had himself to blame. Why would Lois prefer him to Luthor? Clark might be younger and had morals, but Luthor had money, power, influence, and connections. Wasn’t that what Cat had told him that every woman wanted?
Lois stood just inside the stairwell doorway on the ground level and his heart started to beat again. “It’s only dinner, nothing more.”
Clark nodded. “Only, it’s more than I can have.”
She grabbed his wrist and pulled him past the doorway to the basement level, where people were less likely to interrupt them. “Stop pouting. We agreed to this. You know the truth, and this is the last time I’m going to reassure you. The
very last time,” she said in her ‘I’m serious’ voice as she put her hands on her hips. “If you can’t trust me, we might as well quit for real, right now.”
Clark hadn’t been pouting, but calling her on it would only prove her point. “I trust you, Lois; it’s him I don’t trust,” he replied, feeling guilty for his earlier thoughts.
“We’re just friends, not even friends. I’m using him to get information. That’s all,” Lois said. “Anyway, do you think he’s some octopus?”
He tried not to let a smile tug on his lips, and wondered if she remembered her old S.O.S. codeword with Superman. “Promise me that you’ll call him that to his face if he lays one finger on you,” he insisted, knowing that Superman would be between them an instant later, windows or walls be damned.
“I have a black belt in Taekwondo, Clark, if you haven’t forgotten,” she snapped. “I can take care of myself.”
“How can I forget? You’ve reminded me on every assignment we’ve ever been on,” he retorted.
“Do you think I’d accept dinner with Lex, if I thought he would try to make a move on me?” she said. “Us, hiding our relationship from the rest of the world, doesn’t mean I’m going to start dating other people, Chuck. Lex and me, that’s strictly business, I promise.”
“I miss you,” Clark whispered, caressing her cheek.
She nudged his shoulder with her fist. “You’d miss me less if you didn’t disregard the crumbs I keep leaving for you.”
“Sorry,” he mumbled sheepishly. He glanced up and down the stairwell. They were alone. He lowered his mouth to hers. “It will never happen again.”
There was something illicit about kissing Lois when they were undercover as just friends. He didn’t know if that was what made her kisses turn every fiber of his being to fire, or if it was the three days since he had last kissed her or his jealousy over Luthor, or thinking he had lost her again. One thing Clark knew for certain, Lois could feel the heat between them too. Her heart rate increased, and she slammed him against the wall by the force of her kiss. He lifted her up and turned them around, so that it was her back against the wall. She wrapped her legs around him, pulling him closer, allowing his hands to trail up her bare thighs.
Oh, God! Why did she wear a pleated skirt today of all days?Lois moaned his name, and it came out in gasps. “I miss you too, Chuck,” she murmured into his mouth, followed by a whimper of desire.
The rubber band of resistance tightened in his belly. The lack of time they had together, the clandestine nature of their meeting, their fight, and the way she spoke his nickname, all contributed to his burning through the ropes tying back his control. His hands moved higher up her thighs, and this time it was he who moaned. Her skin had never felt so soft.
“Yes,” Lois panted, tightening her grip of her knees around his hips as she tugged on his bottom lip with her teeth. “Yes… yes… oh, Chuck, yes…
please.”
Suddenly, the image of them in full thralls of ecstasy against the stairwell wall flashed across his mind. Only in the image, her head whipped back in pleasure, cracked against the cinderblocks, and cocked off to a strange angle, growing still as a trail of blood leaked out her mouth.
Clark jumped back and stared at her in horror as she dropped to her feet. “No! We can’t. I’m sorry, Minha, we…
I… can’t. I love you too much.” He turned to run up the stairs, but he stopped when he felt her fingers on his arm.
Lois tried to get him to face her, but he didn’t want her to see his unshed tears. “Hey, calm down. It’s okay. You’re allowed do this,” she whispered soothingly, placing her hand on his cheek. “There’s no need to panic.”
He closed his eyes and felt one of the tears escape. The deadly image flashed across his eyelids again. He went to open his eyes only to see Lois leaning in to brush his lips with hers.
“We can wait,” she whispered, giving him another soft kiss. “We can wait until all this stress is over, Chuck. I don’t want to pressure you. You’re worth waiting for.”
Clark wanted to tell her not to wait and to move on with her life, because they would never
ever be able to have the kind of relationship she deserved with him, but instead he murmured, “What if I can’t… I never can…” He twisted his face away again. “If we can’t be together… forever?” He choked. “Because of me.”
“Never is a long time, Clark,” Lois said with an indulgent smile. “I believe you’ll be up for the job long before we close in on forever.”
He caressed her cheek, and wished he had the faith in him as she did. Then again, Lois didn’t know the truth about him or the curse.
“Hey, how about we face those evil magicians together at the ‘Magic of the Night’ thing of Cat’s?” she suggested, running a calming hand through his hair. “We can meet there, if you’re afraid to arrive in my company.”
A real date. Okay, a genuine date masquerading as a chance meeting between partners. He would like that. He would take what he could get for as long as he could get it. Someday, he knew he would have to let Lois go to lead a normal life with a man with whom she could have a full relationship. Anyway, he hadn’t wanted to face the Magic Club on his own. He smiled weakly his acceptance. It wasn’t an honest smile as the horror of that image refused to leave him.
“Now, are we okay?” Lois asked.
Clark nodded. He pressed his lips together to control his emotions, knowing they would escape if he spoke. Besides, Lois was too wonderful for words.
“I need you to trust me, Clark. Can you do it?”
He nodded again.
“Good, I want a half-caf mocha with non-fat milk and whipped cream,” she said with a wink and a spank to his bottom as she passed him on the stairs. “See you in the newsroom, partner!”
***
Joe handed Lois a pile of messages when she arrived into the office Friday morning. Dinner with Lex the previous night had been another round of both of them saying a bunch of nothing. She hadn’t been in the office all week due to the Laderman trial, so she had a ready-made excuse for not filling Lex in on the latest Daily Planet story rumors, not that she would have told him anything worth telling anyway. Lex hadn’t seemed to mind her lack of information for him, for which she was glad. He seemed happy just to be in her presence.
She didn’t know what it was with men in Metropolis over the past year, but suddenly she had become irresistible. Not that Lois hadn’t thought herself irresistible before that, clearly she was, only the men in Metropolis didn’t receive the memo until Clark Kent arrived in town. It must have been stuck in back channels on Krypton, either that or the drinking water had been spiked.
Lex had asked her about the cutbacks at the paper, but she pled ignorance on the subject, not wishing to discuss it with the dishonest billionaire. If Metropolis newspaper readers wanted real news, they would have to wait until she handed them Lex Luthor on a silver platter. That would have them coming back to the Daily Planet in waves. She wasn’t worried.
Laderman’s jury went out to deliberate the previous afternoon, and she expected a verdict some time that afternoon, but with her luck, it would drag out until Monday. She had tried three more times to convince Eugene’s attorney to let her speak with his client, but it was a losing proposition apparently.
Oh, look. Here was a message from Laderman’s attorney, stating that Eugene would speak with her after the verdict was read. Peachy. It would be too late for her to help by then, Eugene.
From what Lois deduced by what wasn’t said during the closing arguments, Eugene’s confession to the police was him covering for someone else. Lois presumed that someone else was Lena Harrision, the dead man’s wife, whom the State said was the reason for the murder. Eugene apparently killed Henry Harrison to get his wife, or so was their argument. Well, push comes to shove, anyone was able to murder someone, she guessed. Murder seemed to be a stupid way for such a smart man to get what he wanted, but all’s fair in love and war.
Lois had grumbled when Jimbo had told her earlier in the week that the disk she had given him contained a spreadsheet with a bunch of numbers and formulas on it, which didn’t look hinky in the least to him. He then went on to say that he was starting to work, long hand, on the information on the spreadsheet she had given him, but with all the calculations it might take him a few days.
What had she expected? He was a starving college student and he was doing this as a favor for her, and she hadn’t been able to do more than write some sympathetic articles about Eugene Laderman, emphasizing the circumstantial nature of the evidence against him. She should have offered to pay Jimbo, but the thought of giving money to one of her sister’s ex-beaus was below acceptable. On the other hand, she had decided that she needed some more information on Mrs. Harrison, so she asked Jimbo to tail the widow… offering to buy him an extra ticket to Cat’s charity ball as payment. The trade-off thrilled Jimmy. Lois didn’t mention that she already had two tickets, so it wouldn’t cost her an extra dime. She would never understand men’s obsession with magic. She shivered with disgust. She was thankful Clark didn’t seem to like the stuff. Maybe they could sneak out early.
Probably not, though, she thought with a sigh. She had noticed a man following her this morning. It could have been nothing, but she remembered all too well the Voyeur and his minions, which followed her and Clark around after Lex shot her. Was that why Lex had offered her a live-in nurse? Not because of he felt guilty for shooting her, but because he hadn’t wanted Clark to take care of her? That was a bet on which she’d place money. Clark had helped her that first night and then again after Lucy left for California. No wonder Lex had Clark investigated.
Her eyes widened.
Oh, God! Superman! Lois gasped, placing a hand to her mouth. She had kissed Clark that night, and then she had pushed him away, telling him that they couldn’t become involved because she was in love with Superman. Had she mentioned Superman by name? Yes, she believed she had. The next afternoon, Superman had announced to her that he had found cameras and microphones in her apartment. Clark must have found them sometime during the… although, his head had been on her bed for much of that night. A small smile brushed her lips as she remembered coaxing him that much into her bed. How much she had wanted him to hold her while she slept. If only…
Her smile pressed into a frown so tight she teeth began to grind.
If only Superman hadn’t been standing between them.Lois wanted to clobber Clark. She recalled how he tried to convince her she wouldn’t be cheating on Superman with him. Ha! There was a minor understatement.
My, how history repeats itself. She wanted to find a chunk of Kryptonite, shove it down his trousers, and beat him senseless with a big stick until he felt as she had after Superman had broken up with her that day in the woods. If Clark had been honest earlier and hadn’t played his stupid dual identity games with her, they could've been happily dating at this point, if not marr…
Oh, God! Her gaze shot across the room to Clark. Did she love Clark enough to marry him? Marriage? Ugh. She didn’t want to marry any man. It was such an archaic tradition, which only seemed to place a yoke on a woman. Man continued to go to work and live as he wanted, while the woman had the burden of her job, the housework, the cooking,
and the care of any children. It certainly wasn’t the type of life she wanted.
Clark was typing something up on the computer. He had his tan jacket off, his shirt sleeves rolled up to the elbows, and a pencil over his ear. How dare he appear so adorable when all she wanted to do was smack him!
Then again, Clark could cook and, as Superman, he could accomplish the cleaning in five seconds. He also seemed to value her career. It was one of the most attractive aspects of him, and that was saying something. Yet, would she want to marry a man who lied to her and hurt her on purpose just to save his own invulnerable skin?
He glanced up, probably sensing her attention, and smiled. She glared back. He widened his smile, glanced up at the ceiling, and then returned to his work with a slight shake of his head. Did he just roll his eyes
at her?
She could practically read his thoughts:
Oh, it’s just Lois Lane being ticked off at me again. It must be another day, which ended in ‘y’.The nerve of that man!
Lois turned her back towards him, unable to look at his face any longer. She decided right then and there that she would no longer feel any guilt
whatsoever for having cheated on the twerp. He deserved it. In fact, she felt like kissing another man right in front of him, at this very moment.
Ralph walked by, and the feeling quickly passed.
Maybe not at this
exact moment.
Therefore, Lex Luthor must know that Lois loved Superman, or had back last summer.
Terrific. Clark would not be happy to hear that, so she decided that she would keep that news item to herself. Not that she was talking to the louse now anyway. Anyway, he may have already figured out that detail and hadn’t passed it on to her, so why should she pass it on to him? Was that why Lex had acquired Kryptonite? To rid himself of another of Lois Lane’s love interests? Was it a simple case of jealousy, and the billionaire who thought he could always get his way? Or had Lex become interested in her because… no, that was ridiculous. Lex couldn’t have discovered she and Superman had been
involved before then. Lois rolled her eyes at that word by the sheer incorrectness of it.
Lois and Superman wanted to be together, but
couldn’t because it would make her too tempting a bait for anyone wanting to get back at Superman. They loved each other, but it simply wasn’t meant to be. They had desired each other, but had never even kissed until the previous week because once they did so, they would never be able to stop. Ha!
She and Clark, on the other hand, were allowed to do all the things she and Superman weren’t. She wanted to pick up his pencil sharpener and hurl it at the man. Wouldn’t it have just been simpler, instead of leading her on as Superman and making up all these excuses on why
they couldn’t be together, to explain to her why it would be better if she would only date his secret identity? What was she? Five? She understood his need to conceal Superman’s identity from the world, not to mention that of his truelove. Was she not trustworthy of such a secret? Revealing it to Perry, aside. Obviously, Clark, Superman, whoever his true self was, wanted her. He had certainly gone through many unnecessary hoops to make their relationship possible.
Lois recalled that first day, when they met in Perry’s office and how upon seeing him, she had felt an instant connection with him. Had he felt the connection too, but prior to that day? Had he stolen Clark Kent’s identity, just so he would have a reason to interact with her? Had she met Clark as Chuck before he came to the Daily Planet that day? She searched her mind but came up with nothing. Perhaps he had been a witness to something, a person in the crowd, and when she had interviewed him, he had given her the name ‘Chuck’. Had she met Clark, Chuck, or whomever he had been pretended he was when he had first arrived on Earth, surely she would have remembered. Wouldn’t she have?
Soul mates, Superman had called them. Well, that would explain her irrational behavior regarding the man. Not that she was thrilled to hand over control of anything, especially her destiny, to fate, but better that fate was to blame for her stupidity than she was.
Perhaps she was over-thinking this. Maybe the day Superman arrived on Earth, he had flown over Metropolis and suddenly felt a yearning he had never felt before. He looked around and saw his heart’s desire, Lois Lane, walking down the street, interviewing someone, covering some event, or something trivial such as that. He followed her, learned that she was a reporter for the Daily Planet, and decided that he too would become a reporter for the Daily Planet, so that he would have an excuse to meet and interact with her. Lois nodded her head. That made logical sense. So, he had stolen Clark Kent’s identity, came to Perry, and interviewed for a job, not getting it because his portfolio was nonexistent being that he had just arrived on the planet, and the Daily Planet was the best newspaper in the world. Despite not getting the job, he still asked Lois out on a date. She turned him down, because he didn’t have a job. A worthy reason in her opinion.
The new Clark Kent decided he
needed to try harder. So he stole her theatre assignment, knowing she didn’t want it, but not knowing that stealing it would tick her off. It had been downhill from there for ‘Clark Kent’. He got the job without any experience, when she had to make it to her position digging and scraping from the bottom up
for years. Then Perry assigned him to work with her, which probably thrilled Clark to no end, but she was already annoyed with him. She knew he was a distraction from her career, he was cocky, and he was a reporter, three undesirable traits in a man.
Then he made the mistake of commenting that her interview with Lex Luthor was really a date. True, Clark probably made the comment out of jealousy, because she had finally caved and agreed to go out to dinner with Clark, only to cancel because of Lex. She had yelled and berated him, when Dr. Barnes had captured him with her in the Messenger wreckage hangar. Was that why he decided to come out as Superman? Because Clark Kent had failed in wooing Lois Lane, so he reinvented himself again? Alternatively, was it simply because it was the only way to rescue her from the bomb on the Prometheus?
Then Superman got lambasted on LNN, Trask and his Bureau 39 bigots showed up, and someone started trying to blow Superman up. Life as Superman started to look too difficult, and he probably realized that his ‘S’ crest was more like a bull’s-eye, attracting negative attention. Anyone too friendly with Superman, therefore, would also be a target, so Superman couldn’t date Lois. She had confused matters, when she kissed Clark on Trask’s plane and announced that they were dating. Clark had certainly believed her, gullible romantic fool that he was. Was that when he decided that ‘Clark’ might actually have a shot after all?
Lois thought back on that kiss with Clark on Trask’s plane, and how she had tried to pretend she was actually making out with Superman. Ironic, wasn’t it?
Okay, she had to admit that theory Superman had about them kissing was fractionally true. While it was physically possible to stop kissing him, it was torturous and difficult to stay away. She recalled that dream which had plagued her sleep the night before. In it, first Superman had floated them among the trees as he had made love to her. Then Clark
hadn’t stopped her from seducing him the infamous Night of Passionate Pasta. Instead, he had… Lois closed her eyes and smiled as she remembered the feeling of Clark’s lips on her bare skin as he had pushed away her blouse. Sadly, her alarm had gone off just after Clark had
locked the Metro Club’s supply closet door and hiked up her dress, condoms be damned. She couldn’t remember having so many erotic dreams before she started kissing Clark on a regular basis.
Lois heard Clark clear his throat and she glanced over her shoulder at him. He looked the same as before, but he appeared a bit more uncomfortable.
Could Superman read minds? Oh, goodness! She hoped not. An evil grin spread over her lips. Actually, maybe she did.
Clark glanced up and caught her grinning at him. He flushed. Could he read her thoughts? He jumped to his feet and as quickly as possible, without running, left the room.
Hmmmm. Did he leave because of an emergency, or because he could sense she had been thinking about making love to him? How had he described their lovemaking at the hospital? Hot passionate sex. He definitely wanted her, and he was a man who loved the chase.
A sense of empowerment washed over Lois. Superman was invulnerable to everything, but Kryptonite… and
her. Oh, he was so going to regret the decision to keep his secret from her.
She flipped through a bunch of ‘nothing’ messages from sources. Well, at least they were in contact. At the bottom of the pile was a message from a “Jimmy”. Since the Jimmy Olsen who worked at the Daily Planet was sitting at his desk, she figured it must be from his cousin Jimbo. It was vague.
Let’s do lunch and catch up about Lucy. Same place as last time. Don’t forget the golden ticket.Lois had told Jimbo that the information on the disk was hush-hush, so apparently he was in stealth mode, using her sister as the excuse for them to have lunch. She wondered if he figured out what the formulas and calculations meant. Jimbo wanted her to buy him lunch. Well, she’d see his data first. Lastly, he wanted her to pay him. She only hoped he didn’t expect a chocolate bar with his “Magic of the Night” ticket.
She dropped most of her messages in the trash, unhelpful as they were, and returned to the elevators, stopping by the information desk. “Joe, I’ve got to go meet a source. If the Laderman jury comes back, page me.”
Lois walked two blocks and still didn't see the man – her tail – she had spotted on her way into work. Either she had been mistaken, or another person had replaced him. She guessed the latter. Lex wasn’t going to make the same mistakes he made last time. He was someone who learned from his mistakes, even if – like her – he wasn’t one to own up to them. She turned suddenly into a crowded coffee bar and pushed her way through the crowd to the payphone, down the back hallway towards the restrooms.
“Hello?”
“Hey, Jimbo, I got your message. What do you have for me?” she asked. She hadn’t wanted to call him from the office in case Lex had opportunity to bug her phones there again.
“I’ll give you that at the deli, but I’ll tell you this much. ‘Hinky’ is definitely the word of the day,” he replied.
Lois grinned. Just what she wanted to hear. “Lunch is on me, then,” telling him what he wanted to hear. “And I’ve got your ticket.”
“Thanks, Lois. I appreciate that. See you at 11:30,” he said, hanging up.
She went into the restroom, fixed her hair, which looked just fine, and then went to get into the line for a coffee. She didn’t want whoever was following her to figure out that she hadn’t come in for a coffee. She pulled out her compact from her briefcase and pretended to powder her nose as she glanced around at the other people in the shop, wondering if anyone would seem familiar. She just noticed the new researcher, the one who replaced the woman whom Lois had pulled Ralph off in the conference room on Impact Day, after she realized Clark’s big secret, when another face in her mirror caught her attention.
No! Lois groaned with every fiber of her being.
Anyone but her.***End of Part 107*** Part 108 Who is the illustrious "her"?
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