Oh, what a great chapter! And so hopeful! Lisa hasn't been drinking Lana's tea, and Lois made Bruno sing like a bird, just like Terry predicted!
I loved, too, how you showed us how extremely determined the doctors at that hospital were to save Superman, and how grateful they were for the chance to do something for him:
Superman had brought dozens of victims to this hospital over the last few months. It was thought that he had a special love for Colorado because he worked there more often than he did anywhere else.
Although he was most often seen in Denver and Colorado Springs, he'd been to this location more than once, most often bringing in victims who couldn't have made it to the hospital on their own.
The people of Pueblo owed him a debt of gratitude, one they'd thought they could never repay.
The doctors sprang into action.
I loved how that doctor took the chance to fill in the forms and ask Lois questions, just to get the chance to do one additional small thing for Superman.
Meanwhile, Lisa had to use all of her brains to fight off Lana:
“At least you drank your tea.” There was a slight sound of smugness in Lana's voice, and Lisa knew she'd been right not to drink it.
She caressed Lisa's forehead and Lisa fought not to flinch. Instead she looked away from Lana and allowed tears to rise to her eyes.
People thought girls were weak; even other girls thought it sometimes. The girliest thing of all was to cry, and so Lisa allowed herself that.
Lana pulled her into a hug and Lisa was struck by just how skinny the woman was. Her hand touched the heavy bag at Lana's side, and her fingers started to tingle unpleasantly near the flap of the bag.
Lana kept the poison in the bag. It was probably what she'd used to hurt Lisa before.
Lisa pulled her hand away from the bag unobtrusively.
Getting the bag away from Lana would be her first priority, although if she had a chance to run, she'd take it.
Lisa is so smart! Go, Lisa!
The rolling table beside his bed she pulled slightly away from him and she started pulling things out of her purse. A curling iron, scissors, nail file, something that may have been an eyelash trimmer, but looked like something that came out of a medieval torture chamber and finally an innocuous looking thing that looked a little like a pink electric razor.
He strained to see what it said on the side and he realized that he could read it.
It said Epilady.
I just love this description of Lois's instruments of torture!!! The Epilady thing wasn't dangerous, eh, Bruno?
She leaned close. “How well do you think police are going to guard a guy who helped kill Superman and a little girl? How hard would it be for someone to slip inside and do something…well…terrible to you?”
Bruno shook his head. She was bluffing. She had to be. No one had proof that he was involved at all, and no jury would convict him without evidence. If he told where the girl was, though, he'd be incriminating himself.
Lois sighed. “I'd hoped not to have to do this.”
He opened his mouth to yell, although it was hard to get a breath, probably because of his ribs. Before he could, Lois stuck something in his mouth and tied it into a gag.
She picked up the Epilady and a moment later he felt the sheets at the base of the bed move.
“Wow,” Lois said. “You've got really hairy legs.”
A moment later he began to scream.
Wonderful!!!!
“About halfway through the surgery, some of the lesser injuries started spontaneously healing on their own, after the fragments had been pulled from them. There were a few fragments that we had to go deeper for, and it was touch and go for a while as to whether we were going to be able to get them.”
Lois nodded. If he was healing spontaneously, that was a good sign.
“We couldn't use anesthesia,” the doctor said. “We had no idea how his system would react to it.”
“He was awake?” Lois asked.
“For part of it,” the doctor admitted grimly. “He's out now. We just send him through to get x-rays to see if we got it all. Since we broke a couple of scalpels toward the end, I'm betting the answer is yes.”
But speaking about torture, the person who was really tortured this night was Clark. But he has begun to heal, so he is going to pull through.
“I haven't been fair to you,” Lois said softly. “Except for that first day you've always been good to me.”
He lay on the bed, terribly still. It was the lack of animation in his features that bothered her as much as anything. When he was awake he was the first person you noticed when he entered a room. He had charisma, a sort of dynamism that was more than just physical beauty, although he had that as well.
“I've been alone for a long time,” Lois said. “Being responsible for someone else makes you grow up in a hurry, and it was just easier to focus everything I had on Lisa.”
She touched his hand, which seemed cold and still. If it wasn't for the slow rise and fall of his chest she'd have thought he was dead.
“I always believed that a woman doesn't need a man to be happy, and I think that's true.” Lois stared down at him, “But since I've been around you I've been happier than I've ever been in my life.”
Grasping his hand in hers, she said, “I'm going to save our daughter. When we get back, I think I'd like to give being a family a try.”
Almost imperceptibly she felt his hand tighten in hers, and she felt a moment of hope.
Wonderful, Shayne. And it almost brought tears to my eyes.
Ann
