~From Part 2~
“Clark…” She tried warning him not to go there right now. It was bad enough her hormones were raging from their kiss, but if they continued on this topic, she knew she wouldn’t be responsible for her actions. But he cut her off before she had a chance to change the subject again.
“When exactly do I get see this mystery tattoo of yours?”
She wasn’t going to win this one was she?
************
~Part 3~
Jimmy walked out of Perry’s office like a punished puppy with his tail between his legs. Sure, he knew it was his fault that Cat Grant found out about Lois’s tattoo but he didn’t mean for it to happen. Lois was going to kill him.
Making his way to his desk, he looked up in time to find Ralph sitting at his computer.
“Whoa, Lois!”
Hearing Ralph’s comment, he knew exactly what it was Ralph was reading. It was the e-mail from Lois to Clark. Up until that moment, he had forgotten he accessed it. He had been in the process of forwarding it to Lucy before being summoned into Perry’s office, which also meant he had forgotten to close out of it.
Yeah, he knew what Ralph was reading, and keeping that certain reporter’s mouth shut was like getting Perry to stop talking about Elvis. Impossible.
“Ralph, get off my computer!” He tried hard to sound intimidating.
“Jimmy, my man. How did you get a hold of this? Never mind, who cares. This is great.”
“Uh…it’s not what you think it is.”
“Yeah, right.” Ralph stood up, slapped Jimmy on the back, “So, Lane and Kent, huh? Who would have thought? And Lois with a tattoo…I knew she had to be wild underneath that cold exterior. Wait until I tell the guys about this. Way to go Jimbo.”
And off Ralph went, leaving a very fearful Jimmy in his wake. When he looked at his screen, it was then he also realized Ralph had copied the e-mail and sent it to himself.
Jimmy sat down in his chair, hands holding his head from beating itself on the desk. Maybe he could take one of his sick days and hide out from Lois. Or maybe he could look for a new city to live in. No, she’d probably have Superman find him. So it was inevitable. He was beyond dead once she found out. And it was only a matter of time when she did find out.
************
A shadow infiltrated itself across the newsroom, having just made some very needed changes to the Planet’s computer system. Repairs? Nah, what he just did wouldn’t be considered repairs; it was more of a prank. A very funny prank once they figured out what was happening.
Who wouldn’t think tampering with the e-mail system wasn’t funny? And who wouldn’t think that mixing up everyone’s e-mails, causing the messages to be send to the wrong addressee wasn’t a stroke of genius?
Looking around, he didn’t see the one person whom he wanted to cast his eyes upon. But she’d know, though. She’d know he had been there, sooner or later.
************
“Perry…”
Perry looked up at the mention of his name and saw the owner of the Planet standing in his doorway, looking none too pleased about something or another. He wasn’t in the mood for this either. It was bad enough that he had been dealing with Cat Grant just a while ago, trying to get her *not* to print anything about Lois, Clark and the damned tattoo. He didn’t say he succeeded.
Now what else could be wrong?
“Mr. Stern, sir, what can I do for you?”
“Perry, you can start by telling me why I’m receiving this,” Stern stepped forward, holding out a piece of paper to him.
Taking the paper, Perry started to read it, not missing the name of the sender. That boy caused more problems with his mouth than any villain could with a nuclear reactor.
To: Stern@dailyplanet.net
From: ralph@dailyplanet.net
Subject: fwd: none
Note: forwarded message attached: clark.txt
[Clark.txt] downloaded:
1. FULL NAME: Lois Elise Lane
2. SEX: Female
3. HOME: In Clark's arms.
4. HEIGHT: Tall enough to capture those wonderful looking lips of Clark's with my own and kiss him.
5. EYES: Brown (Not exactly the beautiful color of Clark's. His are rich, deep chocolate colored that I could drown in.)
6. HAIR: Brown (I wonder what it would be like to have Clark run his fingers through it as he kisses me?)
Momentarily forgetting about Ralph, Perry finally *saw* the contents on the paper. Seeing the majority of the answers held the name ‘Clark’, Perry was glad that Lois finally confronted her feelings for that boy. He knew a long time ago those two were perfect for each other.
He suddenly felt he was invading Lois’s privacy somehow, but was still slightly intrigued what the rest contained. But the moment his eyes landed on question 30, he instantly knew where Jimmy had retrieved the information about Lois.
30. IF YOU COULD HAVE A TATTOO, WHAT AND WHERE WOULD IT BE? Already have one. Where is for him to find out. Believe me, I will let him do an in-depth search because that's what it will take to find it.
<Great shades of Elvis, what was it with Lois’s tattoo?>
“Uh, well…”
“Yes I can see you have no words for this either. If what I read on that,” pointing to the questionnaire Perry was still holding, “is true, are we going to have a problem? You know what happened the last time the Planet had an office romance between the two top reporters and how well that boded.”
“No, I can guarantee that there will be *no* problems.” Perry answered with a solid matter of fact. He wasn’t trying to pacify Mr. Stern; he was sure there weren’t going to be any major trouble. Although with Lane and Kent, one could never really tell. But he'd threaten—or blackmail—them if he had too. No one was about to mess up the best pairing since Bonnie and Clyde.
“One more question. Did you know about Lois Lane having a tattoo? It’s not visible is it? I can’t have a member of this paper sporting any type of symbol that would place us in an awkward position.”
“I’m sure it’s fine, but if it makes you feel better, I’ll look into it.” Perry answered, rolling his eyes in the process.
“Good, good. Then I’ll be going to the golf course now.” With that said, Stern left Perry to his editing.
Shaking his head at his employees—current and previous, Perry let a huge sigh escape, alleviating the tension he suddenly found he had.
How did one little e-mail start so much trouble? He was going to find out what prompted Lois to send that questionnaire in the first place.
But first, he was going to hunt down Ralph.
************
“Jimmy?” The caller whispered, although she didn’t know why she was whispering, no one could hear her. She just felt she needed to, since she was sure Jimmy would have to.
“Lucy,” Yep, she heard him speak very low, “Man, am I in a lot of trouble. Cat Grant, I don’t know if you remember her or not. She worked here up until about six months ago. Well, anyway, she was standing behind me when I asked you about Lois’s tattoo.”
“Okay. So?”
“So? Lucy, she’s a gossip columnist who didn’t exactly get along with Lois. She’d do anything to show her up.”
“And now she knows that Lois has a tattoo.” The situation finally dawned up Lucy.
“And that she’s in love with CK. Lois is going to kill me.”
Lucy wanted to reassure him the Lois was not going to kill him, but she couldn’t. She knew her sister too well and knew that Lois was indeed going to be out for blood on this one. It was probably a good thing she hadn’t told Jimmy about her sister’s tattoo.
“Hey Jimmy, I’m really sorry.”
She knew she shouldn’t have gotten Jimmy involved with Lois’s personal life, but she was desperately wanting her sister to be happy. If Lois had just sent the questionnaire to her, than she wouldn’t have had to ask Jimmy anything.
“I know. It’s not your fault. I seem to have this knack of messing things up. But the worse part is that Cat isn’t the only person to know.”
“Oh, this isn’t going to be good, is it?”
By his sheepish tone, she knew somehow everything had blown up on him.
“Uhm, no. Before I hung up with you when Perry summoned me to his office, I started to send you Lois’s e-mail. I had known I was in trouble by the Chief’s tone, so I hadn’t bothered to close out of the e-mail and hurried into his office. When I got back to my desk, Ralph was sitting at my computer reading the questionnaire.”
“Oh Jimmy.” Lucy was starting to feel so bad for him, “Wait a minute. Ralph? Isn’t he the one Lois is always calling a wanna-be reporter?”
“Yeah, that would be the same Ralph.”
“Jimmy, why don’t you just tell Clark what happened. I’m sure he’ll see that this was all innocent.”
“I don’t know. Clark can be uptight sometimes especially when it came to him and Lois. It’s like she rubbed off on him or something.”
“It’s probably good that you didn’t send the e-mail.” She attempted to change the subject slightly.
“Yeah, well it should be in your inbox already. I know I probably shouldn’t have, but I figured if Ralph read the whole thing, why should he be the only one? Just don’t let Lois know I sent it to you. Although, I’m already in so much hot water, what more could it hurt?” Lucy had to smile at Jimmy's justification but was having a hard time holding in her amusement when she him continue, “Uh, Lucy look, I’ve got to go. I’m sure Lois and CK will be in shortly and I need to look for a hiding place. Bye”
“Bye Jimmy. And good luck.”
She chuckled slightly hearing his groan right before the call was disconnected. Jimmy was in fear for his life, as he knew it. Lucy was just glad she was in California at the moment, though. Better to be a safe distance away when Lois Lane was angry and on the warpath.
Placing the phone down and moving to her computer, Lucy logged into her e-mail account and looked for the message from Jimmy. Spotting the new message, she quickly opened it but just as sudden a frown appeared on her face. It wasn’t the questionnaire at all; in fact, it was even from Jimmy. It was from a Sydney Jones.
From the first line, Lucy realized even though addressed to her, the message should have been addressed to Lois. It seemed this Sydney was one of her sister’s research geeks. And according to the message, Sydney was looking up some research regarding the DEA. Something to do with the death of one of their agents, Jena Thompson and suspicions surrounding her partner, someone named Daniel Scardino and his involvement in her death.
Anyone with a name like Daniel Scardino was more than likely guilty, but she couldn’t care either way. What she did care was that she received this e-mail obviously by accident, and not the one she really wanted. With disappointment, Lucy deleted it, vowing the next time she talked to Jimmy she was going to gloat over knowing what Lois’s tattoo really was. Of course that all depended if he was still alive.
************
to be continued...
