Part 2
The next morning Clark leaned back in his chair looking at his computer. He stared at the screen which displayed the article about the shooting of Della and Paul Drake, their son, Tom, and his wife, Janice. He ran a hand through his hair. Mayson was right. He hadn’t been there when her parents needed him. He had allowed himself to be intimidated by Lex Luthor who had threatened the citizens of Metropolis. Instead of doing something about it, Clark had taken the cowardly route by hanging up his suit. It was another kind of running away. He had no idea how many people died or were injured because he wasn’t around those three days. Up until this time, he hadn’t thought about it. Even now, when he appeared at a catastrophe, there were often people whom he couldn’t save, survivors who grieved. This time, unlike others, he had a peripheral relationship with the victims who now had names and the survivor had a face, Mayson’s face. How could he live with that?
A breath on his neck and a whiff of perfume interrupted his thoughts.
"What are you looking at?"
"An old story. Mayson told me why she dislikes Superman so much."
Lois leaned over him, turning the screen so she could read it easily. After scanning the article she moved around to face Clark.
"I don’t get the connection with Superman."
"Look at the date."
"So?"
"That’s when Superman wasn’t around for three days, not long after he came to Metropolis.
"So?" she asked again.
"Mayson’s parents might not have been killed. Maybe Superman could have saved them."
"Or maybe Superman was somewhere else. Or maybe they didn’t have time to call for help. Or maybe...Or maybe. She can’t blame Superman for what might have been, and you definitely can’t obsess about it. Superman isn’t responsible for criminal behaviour..."
"But..." Clark tried to argue.
"In an ideal world, he should only have to help out with natural disasters and accidents, not have to deal with aberrant human behaviour." She shifted positions so that she was leaning against his desk and facing him. "Look, Clark, there’s only so much that Superman can do. It’s the idea of Superman, the idea that truth and justice are important. I told you that before. Now stop obsessing. We’ve got more important work to do." Lois patted Clark on the shoulder on her way back to her desk where she picked up a file.
Clark looked at his screen again. Paul and Della Drake’s picture screamed out at him. Even though Lois made sense, it was hard to forgive himself for making such a selfish error because he had allowed himself to be threatened by Lex Luthor.
"I think that this picture...Clark, stop obsessing and pay attention...proves that Mayson is involved with Church and Snell. We have to get more information about Mayson. Clark, she’s dirty."
"Show me the proof," he said following Lois into the conference room. Once again she was jumping to conclusions without having a shred of evidence. Mayson was his friend and he believed that she was innocent.
"We don't have any proof on Snell, but you're willing to go after him," she challenged him, facing off across the conference table.
"That's different. I told you, I have a... a source," Clark said, hesitating because once again he was evading the truth by telling her that Superman was his source.
"I'll tell you what's different, when Snell bats his eyes, you don't get quite so giddy."
"Wait, wait. Are you jealous or something?" he asked, leaning forward on the table.
"Of what? We're friends. We're partners. What you do away from me is... is..."
"Yes?" Clark really wanted to know what Lois was thinking.
"... whatever you do," she said waving her arms in the air. "I don't care --except when it affects our job."
"How is it affecting my job to say I disagree? To say, you have no proof that Church is the head of Intergang and so no proof that just because Mayson worked for Church...she's part of Intergang? We've got to stay on track."
"You're not saying stay on track, you're saying stay away from your girlfriend."
"She's not my girlfriend," Clark pointed out.
"Whatever she is, she's got you finger-wrapped and blindfolded."
"If there's anybody blind here, it's you." Upset by Lois’s lack of clarity on the Mayson issue, Clark stormed out of the conference room, grabbed his jacket and headed to the elevators.
He heard Lois ask what that was supposed to mean. He knew damn well what he meant. She was blind to him and how he felt about her. What did she see in his demeanor when he was with Mayson? Did he bring Mayson coffee and donuts in the morning? Did he stare at her whenever she wasn’t looking? Did he put up with Mayson’s temper tantrums? Did he fly by Mayson’s apartment at night to make sure that she was all right?
No. He did all those things for Lois. She was the one who was blind because she was only interested in Clark as a friend. And once he got over this latest tiff, he would return to loving Lois from a distance. He definitely wasn’t going to tell her. The last time he let her know how he felt about her, she went running into Lex Luthor’s arms. He wasn’t sure what she would do this time. So, he’d continue being her friend and continue to bury his feelings inside. He was getting good at keeping secrets.
***************
Clark leaned back in his chair. Knowing that he and Lois had to prove a connection with Snell, Intergang, and Bill Church, he had shaken off his anger at Lois and returned to work which had to be their priority. In the end, they hadn’t been able to find a connection to Bill Church, but he and Lois, with Mayson’s help, proved that Snell had a major role in bribing police officers and tainting evidence for a trial. In the end, Snell was in custody, and Baby Rage was back in jail awaiting trial.
The tension between Lois and him had eased while they worked on the case. Lois begrudgingly accepted that Mayson wasn’t involved with Snell, but she never apologized for her outburst in the conference room, and he never called her on it. Once again, he allowed work to help them gloss over their arguments so that they wouldn’t have to deal with the real issues.
Now, Clark shut down his computer. Staring at Paul and Della Drake’s picture over and over was not doing any good. Something was niggling at the back of his mind, but he couldn’t put his finger on it. He put on his jacket and headed toward the elevators. He needed to get ready for the charity ball Perry had insisted that he attend.
***********
Lois had an amazing time at the charity ball. Dancing with Clark had been wonderful. She was glad that they had made up after their little spat. She knew that Clark was her friend, and deep down she knew that no matter what happened, she wouldn’t lose him. When they were dancing, she had enjoyed the feel of his arms around her, the way their bodies moved together. It was almost comfortable except for the trace of electricity that passed through her when they touched, when he moved closer to whisper something to her. Just as her eyes kept looking around the dance floor for him, his eyes kept connecting with hers. Even when he was dancing with Mayson, she could still feel that electricity when their eyes met, when he smiled at her from across the room. He wasn’t interested in Mayson, she told herself.
She wasn’t willing to let go of the evening when she got home. She flipped on her stereo. Listening to strains of "Fly Me to the Moon", she closed her eyes and remembered being in Clark’s arms. She began swaying to the music letting it sweep her across the living room. As she moved she felt a presence in the room. Slowly, she opened her eyes. Standing in front of her was Superman. She looked at him a bit embarrassed being caught in the middle of her daydream with Clark. She felt disloyal, but she wasn’t sure to whom the disloyalty was aimed.
"I just dropped in to say thanks for your advice the other night," he said, his eyes taking her in.
"You're welcome...Officer. My uncle keeps wanting me to find out who that cop was so he can bake him a cake."
"Well, tell him I retired from the force, but I'll still be looking out for him... and you, too." He took a step closer to her.
"I know," she said. He always managed to look out for her. He had in the last year saved her from falling out of a plane, into a vat of acid, off a building, out her window...Yes, he was there when her life was in danger, but not when her heart was in danger. They had a strange relationship. Several months ago, when she had tried to see if they had a future, he had brushed her off in a rather brusque and hurtful way. A few days ago, when she had waved to him on the court house steps, he’d barely acknowledged her before he flew off. And now, he was standing there, staring at her as if he couldn’t yank his eyes away. She couldn’t figure him out, but he was with her now and appeared to be interested. She watched him as he turned to leave. She liked it when he paid attention to her. She didn’t want him to go. "Would you... like to dance?" she asked.
"That sounds nice."
His answer surprised her, but she moved closer to him allowing him to take her in his arms. They danced, gazing at each other, neither sure what to say to the other, letting the music and their closeness wash over them.
"I like this song," he finally said.
"Do you? I've been thinking, I don't know very much about you. I don't know what kind of music you like, what your favourite colour is. I didn't even know you could dance."
"This isn't dancing."
"It's not?"
"This is."
Lois felt lighter than air. As she looked over Superman’s shoulder, she realized that they were floating and hovering two feet off the floor. Yes, she thought, this is dancing. She allowed Superman to lead her in this very special kind of dance, feeling comfortable in his arms except for the trace of electricity that flowed through her when they touched.
The music ended too quickly for Lois. She had never had such an intimate moment with Superman before. It surprised her that she had felt the same way, special, tingly twice in one night. But thinking about Superman or Clark in a romantic way was ridiculous, she thought. Superman was this god in tights, not really a part of the earth. He belonged to the heavens.
Clark had found his own clouds–Mayson. He was involved at the moment with Mayson, or at least he was obsessed with Mayson. His mind seemed to be stuck on those days when Mayson’s family was killed. That’s all that Clark could talk about. Funny, that the groove in which he got locked had more to do with Superman than Clark.
But now with Superman in her apartment, she had the opportunity to ask some questions about where he was when Mayson’s parents were killed. She could help her partner out. Superman was walking toward the window.
"Superman, before you go, I...uh...I would like to ask you something," she said.
Superman turned around. He had hoped to leave before he betrayed how wonderful it felt to hold and dance with Lois. Ever since he had learned ballroom dancing with the Nigerian Princess, he had wondered what it would be like to dance with someone in the air. Until he met Lois, he hadn’t craved it. Now that he had experienced it, felt how good it was to be so near to Lois, he wanted more. He had to leave before he gave into the desire to kiss her. That would be a mistake. But she was calling him back.
"Of course, go ahead," he said nervously, hoping that she wouldn’t ask him something he’d have to lie about. He could deal with his favourite colour or his favourite food.
"When you first came to Metropolis," she began, "you disappeared for several days. Why?"
Superman just stared at Lois.
"Why? Why are you asking?" he countered.
"Clark’s been obsessing about something that happened while you were away. I think he needs to understand why you weren’t here."
"Oh, I could...uh...talk to Clark about that."
"Well, now that I’ve asked, I’m curious to know as well. Why did you leave?"
Could he tell her the truth? Would she understand? And would it make any difference to his reactions to Mayson’s family’s deaths? He stared at her for a few moments. He had prevaricated with her enough. He could at least tell a partial truth here.
"I was around. I just stopped helping for a while."
"You were around, but you stopped helping? I don’t understand."
He should have known that Lois would probe deeper, would not let him get away with a half truth.
"I was being threatened."
"Nobody can threaten you; you’re Superman."
"Yes, they can. I was told that if I interfered, the people of Metropolis would get hurt. I couldn’t let that happen. When the bomb went off in the lobby of the Carlin Building, the explosion could have hurt other people." He stepped closer to her and traced the small scar on her forehead. "Look, you could have been hurt a lot worse than you were. That explosion was directed at me."
"How do you know it was directed at you?"
"When I first arrived in Metropolis, someone set up a series of tests to find out how strong and how fast I was. He also found out my weakness."
"Tests?"
"Yes. Two people jumped off tall buildings across town almost at the same time. I saved them both. That showed my speed. Then there was the explosion at the Carlin Building. He found out that I was invulnerable. When he realized that human lives were my weakness, he used it."
"Who is this ‘he’ you’re talking about?" Lois was getting frustrated with Superman’s evasions.
"I don’t think you want to know."
"Trust me, I want to know," she said curtly.
Clark hesitated for a moment. Luthor was dead after all. "Lex Luthor."
"Lex Luthor," she repeated, "was testing and threatening you?"
"Yes."
"And you didn’t tell me?"
"What could you have done?"
"Find out more about him....Wait a second...You...you...knew that Lex Luthor threatened you, so you must have known that he was into a lot of illegal dealings."
"I had strong suspicions, but nothing concrete. It was all based on circumstantial evidence."
"And you didn’t tell me?"
"I didn’t have anything for a court of law or for a newspaper to publish."
Lois shook her head not believing how incredibly dense Superman was being at the moment. "That’s not what I mean. You didn’t tell *me*." She paused, staring at him. "I was engaged to that man, and you, who I thought was my friend, didn’t tell me. You would have let me marry him."
Superman stood with his mouth open. She had backed him into a trap that he never saw coming. How was he ever going to get out of this one?
"I...I...had hoped that you’d find out before the wedding. I...Clark told you his suspicions about Luthor and you didn’t believe him." He felt flustered. How could he explain why he hadn’t told Lois about his suspicions. For himself, the division between Clark and Superman was not that clear. He had believed that if he told Lois to be wary of Luthor, in whatever guise he wore, she would trust what he said. Clark was becoming her friend. She should have trusted him. Not having told her had angered and frustrated him when he was trapped in Luthor’s kryptonite cage. If he hadn’t been trapped and weakened, he would have come to save her even if he had to interrupt the wedding. He would not have let her marry him.
"I thought that if you didn’t believe Clark, then you wouldn’t believe me," he said, but Lois still glared at him, letting him know that she expected more. "I had hoped that Clark and the others would unravel Luthor’s deeds and let you know. That should have happened before the wedding."
"You delegated the task of warning me to Clark?"
Superman stared at her, open mouthed.
Lois took a step toward him. "And so, in the end, you..." she jabbed her finger into his chest, "let me walk down the aisle into the arms of a..." she paused looking for the correct word, "psychopath...because you were hoping that I... wouldn’t? That’s not what friends do."
"Lois, it’s not as simple as that."
"It’s very simple," she said slowly, enunciating each word as if she were explaining a difficult concept to a child. "Let me explain in very elementary terms: When a friend has information about someone...no, not just anyone, a sociopathic criminal...that friend tells her of his suspicions so she can make a knowledgeable decision. Simple enough for me."
"Lois," he started, but he could see that she was just beginning.
"Instead, I end up making the biggest mistake of my life because, for some reasons that I don’t understand and that you for sure aren’t making clear, you found it necessary to deliver your messages to me through Clark...And speaking of Clark, why can you tell him your suspicions and not me?"
"No matter what Clark said, you were still running into Luthor’s waiting arms. Why would what I say make a difference?"
"But I asked you if there was any hope for us. I told you how I felt about you," she whispered more to herself than to him.
"Lois, this is so complicated... " he said before the sounds of sirens invaded his hearing.
"Complicated?" she asked as she continued on with her rant unaware of the crisis that was lurking in the streets of Metropolis.
Superman kept signaling that he needed to go, but his hand motions didn’t register on her.
"Lois, there’s a fire. It sounds pretty bad. I’ve got to go."
"Convenient, isn’t it?" she asked sarcastically as he darted out her window. "You manage to hear a fire at the most opportune times."
Lois walked over to her stereo system and turned it off. She didn’t feel like dancing anymore.
tbc....
