Hi FOLCs
I know... I know...This should be posted sooner.
I hate waiting for continuations because I am absolutely too anxious to know the end of every story. So, I promise this won´t take more than 3 or 4 days to have a continuation. The other parts are written already but waiting for my BR to finish re-building the whole thing. Thanks SQD.
***
On the previous part...
***
Clark left the newsroom with Stella and her assistant. He crossed in front of Lois who pretended not to pay attention to what was happening right in front of her face. Clark was going out with another woman just a few minutes after they had broken up. How could he do that to her?
Well, who cares? It wasn´t her problem anymore. She was going to London, far from him or his lame excuses!
Meanwhile, she had things to do.
“Jimmy, what do you think?” Perry asked as he and Jimmy stood looking through the glass of his office into the newsroom.
“I don´t know, Chief. I guess even if she doesn´t go, we´re gonna have a hell of a month ahead.”
“I just pray we´re prepared for that”. He said it rolling his eyes.
***
Even Steel Melts - Part 2
***
In a very nice restautant, Clark, the mysterious Stella, and her assistant were having lunch together.
“So, Ms. Stella…”
“Just Stella, please.”
“Ur… ok… so… Stella… How exactly can the Daily Planet help you?”
“Well, I hoped you could find a missing person for me. It is very important that I find this person as soon as possible.”
“Have you tried the police?”
“The police will not help me with this because they need a description of the person and I do not have it.”
“Well, if you could just tell them his or her name, I´m sure they would…”
“I do not have HIS name either.”
“I´m a little bit confused, Stella. How can you look for a person if you don´t know what he looks like or even his name?”
“That is why I contacted you… to help me find him.”
“Look, Stella… of course I´d like to help you, but this is out of my league. I´m not a detective and I´m sure the Daily Planet won´t be interested in putting me on this assignment. If there´s anything else I can do for you…”
She looked at him as if she was casting some kind of spell on him.
“You know, maybe I could try anyway," he said, contradicting himself.
“Thank you, Clark. I knew you would help me on this matter. I shall see you in a couple of days, if I do not find him for myself. Have a good day.”
Gallan stood up and helped his boss to get up. She elegantly said her good-byes and left Clark there alone.
What they didn´t notice was that a man was spying on them.
***
Later in the afternoon, at the newsroom, Lois was making a few calls in an attempt to organize everything for her transfer.
“No, I´m sure that we can arrange things…I don´t think it´s necessary to pay for an extra month when I´m telling you I´m leaving… no… I know the contract says that I should give a two months notice but can´t we jus…ok… fine…listen I´ll call you back tonight, ok? Bye!”
Jimmy came up behind her and told her secretly…
“Hey, Lo, can I talk to you for a second?”
“What is it, Jimmy?”
“Well, I… uh… I just wanted to say that I know that maybe Clark screwed things up, but he is a nice guy and I´m sure he didn´t mean…”
“Jimmy, if you are here to ask me to give Clark a second chance, you´re wasting your time. Forget it. There´s no human being in this world that´s capable of convincing me otherwise. Now… was that all you wanted to say?”
Jimmy nodded and left without a word. Right on cue, Clark arrived from his lunch.
“Was lunch good?” Lois asked sarcastically.
“Yeah yeah… it was. I just couldn't understand what happened until now.”
“What do you mean?” Lois tried hard not to seem interested in what he had to say.
“That woman I went out for lunch with… she wanted me… us… to find someone that's missing.”
“Why didn´t she call the police?”
“Because she doesn´t have his description.”
“Well, she could find him by his driver´s license.”
“She doesn´t have his name either.”
“Uh? You´re serious? Well, I´m sure she can find herself a good psychiatrist in the mean time”.
“She seemed pretty sure about who she is looking for. Yet… she seemed to have no clues about who he actually is.”
“Or maybe she just wanted to go out with you.” * Oh, no! He will think I´m jealous!*
“Are you jealous, Lois?” Clark said, giving her a teasing smile. *Maybe there´s still hope!*
“How dare you, Kent?” *You knew that would happen, you stupid gal!* “Get over it, farmboy! I did already.”
She cast him a final insulted look. But his hopeful smile still danced on his lips. *I´m not done with you yet, lady.*
****
A block behind the Daily Planet at 10 pm, a man walking with a woman spoke softly.
“Are you sure it is a good idea?”
“Why not? Do not you want to come with me?”
“You bet I do, babe.”
“So, what are we waiting for?”
***
Around the same hour, at her apartment, Lois was calling her land-lord again, trying to give a month's notice on her apartment. She didn´t want to do so, but she had to anyway. After a few minutes over the phone, she hung up furiously. At almost the time she heard a knock on her window.
“Who is it?” Lois asked, almost screaming.
Clark entered the room as Superman. “Who is it? Who knocks on your window on the 5th floor?”
“Superman?! I´m sorry, I was distracted. Please, come in.”
“Lois, I wanna talk to you about something.”
“I´m listening.”
“I know you probably know what I´m here to talk about.”
“Clark?”
“Lois… I´ve told you before that you two are very lucky to have one another. Why don´t you give him a chance?”
“Another one? Superman… I really wish it was just a matter of giving him chances. I´ve given him more chances than one could ever give anyone. You know him… he disappears whenever I´m talking to him about something important and I can´t take it anymore. I don´t really know what I´m doing, but I do know I have to be as far from him as I can.”
“Is that a reason for you to leave Metropolis? I thought you had other reasons to stay.”
“Superman, you know I don't want to go. I´m just really tired of having my heart broken. I have a long list of relationships that didn´t work out and I really wanted this one to linger a little bit more than the others. Clark is a generous man. He´s sweet and kind and he is the best friend I´ve ever had. And what I feel for him is stronger than anything I've ever felt for anyone. Even for you.”
Clark's eyes started gleaming. Finally, after so long, she'd admitted her feelings for him. Hearing it felt better than he'd anticipated. And her admission was also his final chance to fix things with her. She looked so lost, hopeless. Maybe if he opened up, things wouldn't be lost forever.
*What if I open up and she's even angrier when she learns the truth?*
If he didn't, she'd be lost for sure. Wasn't it worth trying at least?
“Lois…” * Oh my God, what am I doing?* “I want to tell you something. I know it might not be the right time to tell you this, but I´ve been waiting for so long…” * This is it. She's gonna kill me.* “… and I think you should know that Clark and I are…”
“What…?”
“Not willing to let you go…” *I can´t. It is too risky to do it now.*
“Superman, that´s very kind of you, but I´ve made up my mind on it.”
“Are there is nothing we can do about it?” He was disheartened.
“I´m afraid not. But, hey, I still have a month around here and you can always visit me in London. I´m sure you won´t have a problem booking your travel.” * He looks really disheartened… I can´t stand seeing him this way.*
“Yeah, I wouldn´t have a problem with that… but, Lois…”
“I´m sorry, Superman, but I have a very important meeting tomorrow with Mr. Stern. I know it isn´t that late, but he wants to meet me at 4 am. So, I need to go to bed. Can we talk another day?” * Please just leave me alone. I need to think about this. *
“Yeah, sure. I'll come back another day.” * I've really lost her. She doesn´t even want Superman around.* “Goodnight.”
“Goodnight.”
Once Superman was gone, Lois took a quick shower and went to bed, too exhausted to sleep, but too emotionally spent for anything else.
***
The same night, a little bit later…
“Another total failure.”
“Just like the other one.”
“But that other one is perfect.”
“So, do you think we found him?”
“Yes, I definitely think so.”
“So, what is the next step?”
“You will see.”
***
At 5 in the morning, Clark was already up and dressed to go to the Planet. He was determined to tell Lois about his secret and see what would come next. He knew he had the best chance ever when he was there at her house as Superman, but he thought it would be better if she heard it from her friend and partner, Clark Kent. He knew she would already be there, having had breakfast with Mr. Stern. So, he decided he ought to go to the Planet earlier and catch her before everybody else arrived. It was a long shot but he had to go for it.
When he arrived at the newsroom, he saw Lois sitting at her desk alone. It was the perfect time to do it.
“Lois?”
“Oh, hi, Clark? Problems sleeping?”
“Yeah, I guess. But I really wanted to come earlier to talk to you.”
“To me? I thought we´ve said everyhing we had to say.”
“Lois you´ve always wanted to know why I keep running away. I wanna tell you why.”
“Clark, that´s very kind of you but now it really doesn´t matter. I really think I got over you.” * Of course I didn´t… do I seem that obvious?*
“Still, Lois, I want you to know and then you tell me if I was right or not.”
“Very well then. What is it?”
"Lois…”
Perry and Jimmy entered the room arguing about Perry´s favorite subject.
“No, Jimmy. He was the King. He ALWAYS had something good to say. You should´ve seen when he had that show in Men… Oh, hi, Lois, Clark… I´m glad you´re both here. I need to talk to you.”
“Chief, I´m talking to Lois about…”
“Now!”
So they headed to Perry´s office and Jimmy closed the door.
“Now… Jimmy and I were talking about the King… I was just telling Jimbo here that the King had this show in Menp…”
“Perry, I´m sure it´s another extraordinary story but I need to talk to Lois about something really imp…”
“You´ve got a problem with Elvis, son? Anyway… that´s not what I wanted to say. I want you two to work together on one more piece. Then, I leave you both to work separately.”
“What is it, Chief? Scandals, corruption in the government, international affairs…” Lois said, excited.
“Missing people.”
“What kind of missing people, chief?” Clark asked.
“The kind of people who are missing, Kent." Perry said, obviously picking on him. "The thing is… we´ve got a tip that there are two men missing in Metropolis. Apparently, they are athletes in very good shape. At first, the police thought they were victims of the sports mafia but it turned out to be that they weren´t even playing the same sport. One´s from baseball and the other´s from basketball and not even from good teams.”
“So, what do we do, Chief?” Lois said, yawning, not even remotely interested in the topic.
“You two have to investigate it. Period. I´m sure that you´ll have enough time for this simple task, Lois. By the way, how´s the moving thing coming along?"
“I´ve just started packing things up. I´m sure by the end of the month everything will be settled.”
“Good. So, now let´s get to work. Jimmy will get you the information we already have on this. Work on that!” He ordered, directing them to the door with both hands.
“Alright, Chief," Lois said, leaving the room. She waited for Clark to get out so she could talk to him.
“So, what was that about? You wanted to tell me…”
“Leave it, Lois, we have plenty of work to do.” He said, defeated by another lost great chance of telling her.
“Oh, well, suit yourself." She said in a cold indifferent tone of voice.
****
A couple of days had passed and they still hadn't found much on their story about the missing men. They weren´t working as a team on this piece and each one was trying to follow their own clues. Clark was working on the guys´ descriptions when the mysterious lady of the other day appeared in front of him.
“Too early for lunch, Clark?”
“Oh, hi Mrs…?”
“Stella. I thought you would remember it by now.”
“Yeah, yeah. Of course uh… Stella. I´m sorry but I still don't have any information on the person you are looking for. Actually, my partner and I are working on the subject with two other missing men. Perhaps now I can help you find him. Any clues from where we should start looking for him?”
“Well, let me see… He has got to be a tall man, not very muscled but with a great personality and manners, has to be intelligent and most of all, absolutely healthy…”
Clark seemed astonished by her detailed yet evasive description.
“It seems that you are looking for Mr.Hardbody-nice-guy, Ms.…?” Lois said, interrupting her description.
“Her name is Stella and you are…?” The albino assistant asked.
“Lois Lane. His partner. Listen, Ms. Stella, are you sure you´re in the right section? Because here we write the news. We´re not responsible for the relationship seeking ads…”
“I am sorry, Ms. Lane, but this is not your business. Stella is here to talk to Mr. Kent and she will only address him at this time.”
“What? Clark!?!” Lois looked at Clark as if she was asking him to do something about it.
“Mr. Gallan… Lois is my partner and what is said here is shared with her. We work together or it won´t happen otherwise.”
Lois felt really flattered by his words. She had never considered herself that important to him. She felt he defended her as a superhero would defend his heroin… * Uh? What the hell am I thinking about?*
“There is no need for this, Gallan. You can provide Ms. Lane all the information she needs to know about the case. Meanwhile, can we talk alone for a second, Clark?”
Lois looked at him as if she was expecting him to continue acting the way he was but instead he accepted the woman´s request and showed her the way to the conference room. Lois was going to say something but the albino assistant blocked her way.
“What kind of information do you need, madam?”
***
At the conference room, Clark tried to explain to Stella his point but she didn´t let him do it.
“Stella, Lois is my partner and believe me… she can find the person you are looking for much faster than I could.”
“I am not looking for him anymore, Clark. I have found him. He is you.”
“Wh… what? Stella, I don´t think…”
***
Outside the conference room, Lois was pumping Gallan for some more information.
“She doesn´t have a clue of how this man looks? The only thing she knows is that he´s the man every woman on Earth is looking for???” Lois impatiently asked the man.
“You could say that.” He didn´t seem to notice her tone of voice. “Personally…” He lowered his own. "…I do not think she will find him, but time is running out and she has to do something about it.”
“She has to do something about…” Lois said it holding one of his shoulders and lowering her voice too as they weirdly assumed a position of best friends telling each other a secret.
Lois was trying to get some extra information from the guy when the door of the conference room opened. Clark came out holding hands with the woman.
“Lois, don´t wait for me. Stella and I are going out for lunch.”
“You´re going what???”
“Out for lunch. By-yye.” He said it flicking his fingers on the air.
The assistant followed them, leaving Lois alone talking to herself.
“What the hell did I just miss here?”
“I don´t know, Lois… but if I were you, I´d try to find out.”
Jimmy said approaching her from her side.
“You bet I will.”
tbc...
MDL.
