A Future for Us
Pt 15
Clark tried to explain things to Lois, but he seemed to keep making it as confusing as it was. He wasn’t feeling much more on top of things than Lois appeared to be.
Lois watched him. Her memory was fine as far as she was concerned, all except for one thing. Her feelings. They seemed to have changed drastically. It was this closeness that she was now feeling to Clark, her best friend, her buddy, her partner. She’d never felt this way before, so why now? Well, he’d explained it a few times, she’d gotten really close to Superman and since he was Superman, she had those same feelings for him still.
She didn’t remember anything since Lex had proposed. She’d not given him an answer had she? Maybe he’d been calling her. Maybe she should talk to him, let him down easy. He must have seen all the tabloid stuff Clark had told her about. How must he be feeling? Somehow though, she didn’t really feel it was important to talk to him. In her head it was important, but her feelings were different from what they’d been before. Actually she felt great distaste for Lex at the moment. Why would that be? They’d had such a nice time the other night in his airplane. They’d stayed in Italy for a few days, gone to see the sights, sat together in the coliseum and talked. He’d not opened up to her the way she would have liked him to, though.
So Ralph was taking her to court. Would he win? Of course not. She, Lois Lane, always won whatever she was involved in.
Clark was picking at his food with his fork. “Is everything fine?” the waiter was asking Clark in Dutch. Lois and Clark looked up to him and nodded. Clark responded, making small talk with him. He looked so handsome, his smooth skin, the way it radiated with goodness. He had such good manners, she realized, watching the way he dabbed at his lips after putting his fork on the edge of his plate when the waiter had addressed him.
“Clark, can you tell me more about this court case with Ralph?”
“Well, I don’t know a whole lot really. You were served with papers from the Sheriff yesterday at work. You told Perry about Ralph harassing you and he gave you a form to fill out. He talked to the lawyers and said that the planet will take care of things for you. The sexual harassment defense will certainly clear you of any charges he’s laid against you.”
Lois nodded, picking up her drink and leaning back in her chair. She glanced out over the canal at the lights reflecting in the still water. The party on the boat had moved downstream, leaving only wisps of music and laughter on the air.
“So what should I do about it?”
Clark looked at her and shrugged. I guess you’d better talk to Perry. Maybe he’ll want you to talk to one of the paper’s lawyers and work things out. I don’t think it’s much of a problem really. Perry sent Ralph away for awhile on a sexual harassment course. I think he’s hoping to have an iron clad excuse to fire Ralph. He seems to be more trouble than he’s worth. I think once this case makes its way around the newsroom grapevine, there will be other women glad to fill out those harassment forms.”
Lois nodded, taking a sip of her drink. “So there’s not really anything I need to worry about with that then.” She took a pad of paper out of her bag and rooted around in the bottom for a pen. She flipped the pad open and started making notes. ‘Ralph’s Charges’ she entitled that page.
Then she flipped the page over and entitled the next one, ‘Clark’s problem’. He watched her write, glad to see that some of what he’d said had sunk into her partially functioning brain.
“Okay, Clark, so tell me again what your problem is.”
“My identity secret.”
She nodded but didn’t write anything down. “So who knows about you now? I mean other than me.”
“I'm not sure. Let’s see. Willoughby and that woman photographer.” Lois made another note. “And the woman with the camera I didn’t get a chance to burn the film in.” Lois made another note.
“Anybody else?”
Clark looked up at the sky, leaning back in his chair. “I don’t know. I think that’s all.”
“You think? Isn’t this important Clark?”
“Yes. I just can’t remember. We’ve been photographed a lot lately, but actually the woman who kissed me and planted that bug on me, then Willoughby and his photographer seemed to be the only ones.”
“You said something about people with a net to catch her if you hadn’t come. Do you think they’re in on this?”
He leaned his head forward, resting it in his hands. “I don’t know. I guess so. Maybe.”
He sighed and looked at Lois. She was busy writing again, her silky hair rocking with the movements of her body. Her face looked quite determined again. That was the Lois he knew. He hoped she wasn’t going to suffer for helping him. Maybe he shouldn’t have asked for her help, she certainly had enough to deal with herself. Of course, she didn’t remember any of it, which was leaving her with an open slate and schedule to help him figure this out. He should really have stayed with that woman and seen where that camera went. He could have done that. But he’d been busy watching over Lois. Now that film could be anywhere. What had it caught really? That woman mauling him? Women were known for trying to take advantage of him. It’s not like his suit was saying ‘hands off’. He sighed again.
Lois reached her hand out and took his. “It’s going to be okay, Clark. We’ll get through this.”
He squeezed her hand and nodded. “I just don’t know how we’re going to keep my secret safe. I guess I’ve been rather lax about it lately. It didn’t seem to matter so much after you were dating me as Superman, I guess it was you I wasn’t worried about finding out. But I guess things have gotten out of hand.”
“Clark! You didn’t do anything wrong here. They bugged you on an ordinary rescue and have been tracking you until they found you in my apartment when Superman wasn’t there but the bug was. It wasn’t anything about being ‘lax’ with your secret!”
He looked her in the eyes and realized that she was right. He’d not been helping in this matter. Would the media or people figure it out when there was the romance of Lois and Superman alongside the romance of Lois and Clark? Those tabloids seemed to be poised to bring him down. Why were they so intent on it right now?
“Lois, I think it’s rather odd that the media is so interested in you and me. Don’t you?”
“What do you mean Clark? We’re celebrities aren’t we. Isn't that what they do, make mincemeat of the reputations of those in the public eye?”
“Maybe the National Inquisitor is behind this. Maybe they want to find out who Superman is. That would certainly add fuel to their stories if they can find out who he is. It’s not like they’re above this bugging stuff.”
“Do you think Ralph is mad enough at me to be feeding them information about my love life? Being the low life that he is.”
Clark looked intently at her for a few minutes, trying to piece things together. “Maybe. Maybe that’s why he’s been right up on what’s in the paper and shoving it in your face all the time.”
“Clark, what stories have we been working on lately? Is anyone out there that had something to gain by exposing you?”
Clark sat back and thought for a moment. “There was this story lately that we broke. It was a big one.” He glanced across at Lois, wondering if news of Lex’s demise would be harmful to her. Maybe it would. The rest had just been small stuff. But she’d be emotionally affected by Lex’s suicide attempt. That had been a huge story. But Lex was in jail. All the rest of the people were dead. Weren’t they? He pondered the players for a moment. Wait, what about Mrs. Cox? She was in jail. Lex had lots of connections in jail. Maybe she had something to do with this. Just where was she anyway?
Well, if anyone wanted to harm Clark it would be Lex. But would he also want to harm Lois? Who knows.
He thought about what other stories had been happening lately. There’d been the gas explosions by a disgruntled employee. That didn’t seem to call for a heated attack on Superman and Lois.
Had Mrs. Cox anything to gain by finding out who Superman really was? She could sell that information. Perhaps she could try to bribe someone to get her out of jail. She could set up some sort of extortion.
Where was Nigel St. John in all of this. He hadn’t been arrested had he? Would he have any reason to do this? Certainly. He could easily set up blackmail. He probably knew where there was more kryptonite too. That chunk that the police had confiscated from Lex’s office had been ‘bought’ from those dead thugs. Maybe there was more. Perhaps there was more in Schuster’s field, or maybe in the land beyond. Had his father been successful in ridding the area of all of it? Maybe he and Lois should take a trip over there and see what they could find, just to be sure.
They’d not investigated where that chunk had come from that Lex had been trying to buy. Maybe a bit of research in that department would be in order. Who had some anyway? Star Labs? Bureau 39? Maybe this was more important than he’d been worrying about before. It’s one thing to cripple Superman, but it’s quite another to know he’s Clark Kent and to cripple him that way. As Clark Kent, he’s a walking target. No guns necessary, just a hidden piece of kryptonite in a pocket.
Clark shook his head and sighed. He’d been missing a lot of information he’d never thought was relevant before.
“Clark? You haven’t answered me.”
“What?”
“What stories have we been working on lately?”
“Oh. Well there have been a few. Maybe we should try some other avenues.” He explained what he’d been thinking to her, all except the part about Lex being incarcerated. She didn’t ask about where he was, so he assumed she figured he was in jail with Mrs. Cox.
She looked pretty disturbed though. She hadn’t ever thought that Lex was capable of murder. She’d ranked him right up there with Superman, at least as a suitable husband.
She wasn't saying anything. “Lois?” Clark said tenderly, scooting his chair around the table to sit beside her and to put his arm around her shoulder. “Are you okay?”
Now he’d done it! There were tears in her eyes. Shoot! Why’d he have to tell her that? Now she might revert to her previous mental state.
“Clark, can we go home now?” she was asking.
“Sure sweetheart. I'm sorry I told you this. I wasn’t thinking.” He held her hand between both of his and kissed it. “I'm so sorry, Lois.”
She tried to smile, wiping her face with the napkin that lay in her lap. “It’s okay. Let’s just go home now, okay?”
“Do you want to talk about it?”
She shook her head, tears threatening to spill from her flooded eyes.
part 16
They headed to the alley where Clark stood apart from her and spun into the suit. She smiled. “I like watching you do that.”
Clark stepped forward and embraced her, then shot them up into the air. She laid her head on his shoulder and began to sob.
“Oh Lois, don’t cry!” He struggled with his own emotions.
She only sobbed harder, letting all sorts of emotion give rise to more and more tears.
They flew in an embrace for about a half an hour. Finally Clark landed them in her living room. He hadn’t been able to do anything to stem the flow of her tears.
“Do you want to talk about it, Honey?”
She shook her head. “No. I'm too stupid.” She blubbered. At least that gave him a hint as to the direction her mind was taking. Was this really the straw that had broken her before, the knowledge that she’d been so wrong about Lex? All the rest, heaped on top of it had just been enough to sink the boat? She hadn’t seemed to be too worried about the identify crisis, nor about the lawsuit with Ralph. Had all of this been simmering under all the rest they’d been dealing with? Perhaps so. Perhaps this was connected to something more fundamental within Lois, her ability to depend on her own opinions and judgments. Perhaps when she hadn’t blown up on finding out Clark was Superman, or Kal was Clark, that had in some way added to her devastation about her understanding of Lex.
Clark hugged her closer and planted a kiss on her cheek, not trying to remove his sobbing burden from his shoulder. Her arms were around his back, under his cape. She gave no hint that she realized they had touched down in her living room. He floated them into her bedroom, and up to lie on her bed together. At least she could fall asleep this way, he reasoned.
Sure enough, eventually her muffled sobs gave way to sleep. Clark hadn’t tried to talk to her. It was obvious that she’d needed to cry it out. It was terribly difficult to let her do just that, though. He could feel her pain as if it were his own and had to fight back tears on her behalf.
Her hold on him had loosened now that she was asleep. He drew her arm out from under him so he wouldn’t hurt it, reached down and pulled up a blanket to cover them. He had no intention of leaving her. He rested his head on the pillow and let her tuck her head into the hollow of his neck. She looked so sweet now that she was asleep. How difficult it must be for her to deal with her inadequacies.
Clark stroked her back under the blanket until finally he too fell asleep.
Her sleep was fitful and restless punctuated with gasps and brief shouts. He opened his eyes to watch her and stroked her back again.
“Lois? Lois are you dreaming?”
Suddenly she sat up in bed screaming, a look of panic and fear in her eyes. She felt Clark’s arm around her and looked at it in terror until she whirled and saw him sitting up beside her.
“Oh Clark!” she sobbed, sinking back into bed beside him. “It was so terrible. I thought you were dead!”
“It’s okay, Lois, I'm fine. Nothing’s going to happen to me.”
“But you don’t understand! It was kryptonite. They had it and they killed you!” she clung to him tightly, the tears flooding out again.
He breathed deeply and put his hand on the back of her head as it leaned against his chest. He smoothed her hair over and over, waiting for her emotions to calm. He’d had enough bad dreams to know how real they could seem.
She sat up again and turned to look at him, his face the picture of innocence and concern. “I can’t go back to sleep. It starts over again. Hold me Clark.” She leaned back into his embrace. “I hate nightmares. They were so mean to you, Clark. You’re so nice and they were just being so mean to you!”
He rubbed her back and held her, waiting for the bad dreams to go away.
The morning sun was rising. The darkness of night had been replaced by dim light. The sky overhead no longer offered stars. Clark sighed as he listened to something he didn’t want to hear. Cries for help were a far different thing than a bank alarm. Why should he rush off to take care of every bank alarm? What if he ended up causing the police force to lay off some of its staff. Ambulance services were also important. How did he know he wasn’t affecting their ability to respond to problems when he always showed up first and took care of what they would be doing? Why would he want to take over the jobs of others? Didn’t they also get some sort of personal benefit out of helping others? Cries for help were different though. They weren’t already being responded to by the emergency system. They included people jumping off roofs or falling. Yeah, right. Just like the last two women he’d helped. He shut down his hearing and looked at Lois lying quietly beside him. She didn’t really need him anymore. She may not remember everything, but she was alright wasn’t she?
Maybe he should have taken her to the hospital, but she’d come around after a few hours. Had she had a stroke? What had caused her memory loss, other than the trauma she was going through. Maybe he’d better take her to the hospital, at least they could check her over and make sure everything was alright. Would she even let him take her?
What he knew about women he could fit in a thimble. His dad had told him a joke once. Something about a genie giving out a free wish. A man had asked for a bridge to Hawaii. The genie had asked him to choose again as that was just too big a job for this genie. Instead the wish had been for a book explaining how a woman’s brain worked. ‘will that be a two lane or a four lane bridge?’ the genie had asked. Clark smiled as he remembered his father’s laughter and his mother’s mock stern face.
Lois opened her eyes and caught him looking at her. She smiled and warmed up to him for a kiss. “I like waking up to seeing your face.” She snuggled into him. “Can we get married today?”
He smiled and chuckled. “How did you sleep?”
“Pretty good I guess. And you?”
He shrugged. “Okay.”
“Clark? What’s wrong?”
“I'm just worried about you Lois. I don’t dare leave you. You had bad nightmares last night. You woke up screaming three times.”
She tried to remember, her eyes closing slightly. “It’s just as well to be awake now then isn’t it?”
“Lois, I wonder if I did the right thing not taking you to a hospital.”
“What would I need to go to a hospital for, Clark? I'm not bleeding. I'm not sick. But you, on the other hand, you definitely have some sort of dark growth covering half of your face. Maybe you should go to the hospital. I hope it’s not contagious.”
He felt the stubble on his face and grinned at her.
“I don’t have any razors, Clark. I used my last one and haven’t bought any more.”
“I don’t use razors anyway. They break on me.”
Her eyebrows rose. “So how do you shave?”
He grinned mischeviously. “Wouldn’t you like to know! That’s one of my Superman secrets, Lois!”
She pulled her pillow out from under her head and wacked him with it.
“Ow! Careful there, you could hurt a guy!” he ducked away, rolling away from her on the bed.
“Yeah, right!” she pulled her legs up under herself and sprang over to land on him, tickling his sides. He laughed, holding onto her wrists so she couldn’t move them.
“No fair! No superpowers!”
“Who me?” he relaxed his grip to what may have been normal, but she slipped her arms out of his grasp, tickling him again as he rolled off the bed, landing on the floor with a thud. She hung over the side of the bed and laughed at his inability to keep her from tickling him. She leaned her face on the edge of the bed, looking down at him where he lay on his back looking up from the floor, smiling that Clark smile.
Her alarm clock rang, breaking the mood. She rolled back over to turn it off. “Why does six always come so soon?”
“I guess time flies at night. Probably because nobody is really looking.” She threw her pillow at his head which had appeared above the edge of the bed. “It figures it can get away with all sorts of things if nobody is looking.” She looked around for something else to throw, but just rolled onto her back trying to contain her laughter.
Clark stood up and rubbed his beard, heading to the washroom. She lay on the bed listening to him humming in the shower, not recognizing the tune she was hearing.
He emerged wearing the same clothes, but clean shaven with wet hair. “Hey, how’d you do that? Shave, I mean?”
He smiled mysteriously. “That’s for me to know and for you to find out.”
“Ha, is that a challenge Mr. Kent?”
“Lois, to you, everything is a challenge.” He met her as she stood up and gave her a hug. “I’ll go make breakfast. What do you fancy today my dear?”
She raised her eyebrows again. “I don’t know what I have, ice cream and cream soda I think. And maybe some peanut butter.”
“Ah, a float! Sounds like my kind of breakfast, Lois, not yours. I’ll be right back.”
With that, he spun into his suit in front of her. Her mouth was open and her eyes looked amazed. “Do that again okay?”
Clark looked down, then at her as if she’d just asked for him to recite the declaration of independence for the second time.
“I mean it Clark! Do it again.”
Sighing, he turned and spun again, standing before her as Clark. Then he turned and spun again, stopping in a swirl of red and blue. “There, is that what you wanted?”
“I want to see it in slow motion now. Well, not my speed, but slowly enough that I can see what you’re doing.”
“Oh you do, do you? You think you can just have anything you want?”
“No!” she laughed. “But just do it again, okay, only a bit slower this time so I can see what you’re doing.”
He shook his head and rolled his eyes. “You think this is easy, Lois? You just think I can do this and not get tired?”
“Yes. And Yes.” She grinned. “Now do it, Clark!”
He turned and spun more slowly this time. She could just barely see his arms and legs moving as if removing and putting the clothes on. This was good.
“So where do you keep your other suit when you change? And I ‘have’ to know about those red boots. How do you disguise those?”
“Lois, did anyone ever tell you that you ask too many questions?”
“Do you feel hot wearing the suit under your office clothes?”
“Lois, I never feel hot. Except when I’ve been around kryptonite and have a fever.”
Her eyes drew close as she recalled her dreams from the night before. She shook off a shudder and stood up. Time to go to the bathroom.
Clark shot out of the window for breakfast supplies while she was showering. When she came out he had a breakfast of bacon and eggs, toast and grapefruit on plates at the table. “May i?” he asked as she rounded the corner and swa him. He was pulling out her chair for her.
She smiled and sat down in the chair he offered her. He took her napkin, shook it open and laid it across her lap before pushing her chair back in.
“This smells wonderful, Clark. I don’t have to ask you if you made it!”
He bowed, “Kent Cuisine, at your service.”
