A Future for Us
pt 19
Clark sat at his desk, thinking about what had just happened in Perry’s office. He’d not been very forthcoming with information about Perry’s Superman discovery. He shook his head and picked up his coffee. It was cold. He glanced around to make sure no one was looking before he lowered his glasses to warm it up.
Nobody in the whole world except Lois and his parents knew his secret. Well, was that really true? What about the Nigerian princess? And the people who he’d saved in China when he was traveling? He thought about country after country and all the people who had ever stumbled upon his secret back in those days. He’d moved on. However, what if they saw Superman on TV and recognized him?
He had the disguise for that. Nobody was recognizing him as it was. Still, did that mean that nobody in the whole world had? What about the family he’d stayed with in Argentina on the cattle ranch? He’d saved the father from the bull. He thought back.
It was sunset. The farmer, Miguel, was separating the cattle into groups for breeding. His daughter stood working the gate as his son herded them down the fence to the narrow opening. Miguel yelled at a particularly stubborn animal. His wife mistook his yell for the signal to release the bull from its pen on the other side of the rise.
Clark had been bringing in more cattle from the distant field when he’d heard Maria scream as the bull raced to the gate. There’d not been time to do anything but fly from the far field to block the bull’s attempt to gore the young woman. He’d flown in, swooped Maria up and moved her out of harm’s way. She was screaming uncontrollably. Clark tried to calm her fears and soften the panic she was feeling. Miguel ran over and embraced him. He thanked him profusely while Maria clung to Clark. Soon his wife and son had joined the circle, relieved that he’d been there to save Maria’s life.
Miguel insisted that Clark take Maria as his wife. It was difficult for Clark to refuse Miguel offering the hand of the beautiful girl, but he insisted that he couldn’t stay. Miguel was a hard man to convince, but he’d reluctantly accepted that Clark was leaving not because Maria was in any way deficient, but that Clark had other commitments.
Clark hadn’t thought about that family for a long time. They’d gotten a television just before he’d come to stay with them. Would they recognize Superman? After all, one man on the planet who can fly is hard enough to believe, let alone two. No, many people had to know that Clark Kent was Superman. He was just very fortunate that so far, there weren’t any people in North America that knew. Well, except the four he knew about.
Lois was busy at her desk. He was about to get up to see what she was doing, but just lowered his glasses and read over her shoulder instead.
Perry had just come out of his office and was heading over to the coffee station when he saw Clark with his glasses down on his nose looking across Lois’ shoulder at her monitor.
Clark glimpsed Perry coming and quickly pushed his glasses back up his nose, but the movement didn’t escape Perry’s notice, not this time. He’d certainly seen that movement a lot. Suddenly, memories of being locked in his office with a few of the staff came to Perry’s mind. He’d seen Clark watching the thieves working in the newsroom, with his glasses pulled down. He’d wondered at the time if Clark needed a new prescription. Now he remembered the experience from a whole different angle. Clark hadn’t been able to save them as Superman, not with them all locked into the room together. The night replayed through his mind.
What a double life Clark led. Holding down two full time jobs, always trying to take care of the people around him. Perry vaguely recalled some statement Clark had made, something about it being too dangerous for him to free them. It had sounded quite egotistical, to think that this man, ace reporter though he was, could single handedly free them and right the situation. A smile played on his lips. What a boy.
“What’s up Clark?” Perry asked as he arrived beside Clark’s desk.
”Are you off to lunch now?”
Clark nodded toward Lois’ desk. “I was just going to see if Lois was ready to head out.”
Lois wanted to find out what she’d missed while her mind was on holiday, so she began by going though her email. It was amazing how much had gone on since her memory had disappeared. All of the correspondence was new to her.
She came across the angry email she’d sent to Clark.
To: Clarkkent@dailyplanet.com
From: Loislane@dailyplanet.com
Dear Clark,
Sometimes I just don’t get it. You were here a minute ago and now, once again you’re gone. You’re supposed to be my partner. What is it with you? Why don’t you at least let me know where you’re going to be when you disappear? You’re lucky Perry doesn’t fire you. Sometimes I don’t know why you even think you work here!
I'm really getting sick of all the stupid excuses, too. Perry’s thinking of sending you on a time management seminar. He says, and I agree, that you’ve forgotten more things in the year we’ve known you than he has in his whole life. Ditto from me.
I'm really getting sick of this, Partner. I’m trying to work on this story, the one with the look alike and I got interrupted now with investigating these two explosions. I found out that they were both caused by gas leaks. I’ve got a hunch the people doing the maintenance have something to do with it. I want to go check it out, but I needed to talk to you first.
This is all getting pretty overwhelming for me. First Lex proposes, then you nearly do, then Lex gets arrested, we’ve got these two huge stories and now you’ve disappeared again!
Lois.
Your partner, remember?”
She’d obviously not known he was Superman at that time. She’d not known why he was always gone when she needed him.
However, when she read their latest correspondence, her heart did a little flip.
From: Clarkkent@thedailyplanet.com
To: Loislane@thedailyplanet.com
My dearest Lois,
Thank you for making me the happiest man on earth. After I took you home, I couldn’t sleep for hours so I went out for awhile. I found something I think you’ll like to see. May I take you there for lunch?
Your loving husband to be,
Clark
She found the reply in her sent box:
From: Loislane@dailyplanet.com
To: Clarkkent@dailyplanet.com
Dearest Clark,
The thought of seeing you when you come through those doors in a minute fills my stomach with butterflies. When I remember our evening together last night, I feel all tingly inside. I didn’t sleep much either so I wrote in my novel. I guess you probably can guess what happened in my novel last night. Maybe one day I’ll let you read it even!
I’d love to come to lunch with you today. It never ceases to amaze me what surprises you have up your sleeve.
Oh, and by the way, I want to know about what was in that big bag in your apartment, the one from the post office. You never told me about it.
I can’t wait to see you today when you come in.
Love,
Lois, your wife to be
She and Clark certainly loved each other.
From: clarkkent@thedailyplanet.com
To: Loislane@thedailyplanet.com
Lois, my true love,
I’m sorry that you’re having a hard time of things at the moment. I'm here if you want to talk about it, but I think I’d better give you a little space right now.
Love,
Clark
From: superman@hotmail.com
To: loislane@thedailyplanet.com
I'm heading to the terrorist hostage taking in Lebanon.
Me
Somewhere in there she’d realized that Clark was Superman. She turned around to look at him and saw Perry standing by his desk. She looked down at her ring as she touched it with her fingertips. <I’m marrying Clark Kent> she thought. <Clark Kent loves me> <Superman loves Lois Lane> she sighed and turned off her computer, pushing out her chair and picking up her satchel.
Perry was standing beside Clark’s desk. Clark glanced at her and stood up as she came over. “Ready to go to lunch, Clark?” she asked.
He nodded. “How are you feeling, Lois?” Perry asked.
“Fine, Perry. I’m just trying to catch up on what I’ve missed.”
“Well, you take it easy now. I’m not expecting a lot of work from you today, so just do what you can.” Then turning to Clark he added, “You take care of her, Clark. I’ll see you two love birds after lunch.”
They smiled. Lois slipped her arm through Clark’s. “He will Perry.”
With that, the couple headed up the ramp to the elevator. Once inside, Clark looked at Lois, “How’d you like to go to lunch at my parents?”
“At your parents? In Kansas?”
“Sure.” Clark made a little swooping motion with his hand, to which Lois nodded.
“We can do that? Won’t the time change be a problem?”
Clark looked at his watch. “They’ll be having breakfast. They’ll be glad to see us!”
Lois smiled, unsure if she’d ever get used to all the things he took for granted. The elevator stopped on the top floor. On the roof, Clark stepped away from Lois and spun into a blur of red and blue. “I’ll never get used to that you know!” she said.
“And I’ll never get used to letting you see me do that!”
Clark scooped her up in his arms and took off into the clear blue sky. She relaxed in his arms, hers around his neck. Lois related her morning to him. She’d read their correspondence.
“I’m sorry I wasn’t very nice to you.”
“What?”
“That email I sent you, it wasn’t very nice.”
“Oh that. Well, you were tired of me running off with lame explanations.”
“They have been a constant source of irritation you know. I wonder if I would have fallen in love with you earlier if you’d not been always so secretive.”
He gave her half a smile. “I guess we’ll never know. I…”
She squeezed his neck, “Don’t say it, I know you didn’t have any choice. It must have been hard for you.”
“It got a lot easier when you loved me as Kal. I finally felt I could let out a lot of my secrets. It was still complicated though, because I couldn’t let you know I was Clark, but at least I could let you comfort me after all those disasters. That was really nice. You’ve really been good to me, Lois.”
She leaned her head comfortably against his shoulder and sighed. He could feel her steady slow heartbeat. It was so wonderful to be in love with Lois. It was so wonderful she was finally in love with him, all of him.
They landed in the front yard of the Kent farmhouse. Clark took Lois’ hand and led her up the stairs to the door and knocked.
In a moment, Martha opened the door, wiping her flour covered hands on her apron. “Clark! Lois! Come in!” she pulled the door open wide. Martha hugged them in turn, being careful not to touch them with her dirty hands.
Jonathan leaned the newspaper down and saw the couple coming into the house. He stood up and greeted them, glad to see them as usual.
“Clark! Lois! What a nice surprise. Are you on lunch break, son?”
Clark nodded and pulled out a chair for Lois at the table. “Can we join you for breakfast?”
“Of course! Settle yourselves right in, I’ve got a coffee cake in the oven. I’ve been working on blueberry pies. Would you like some bacon and eggs, or would you prefer a sandwich?” Martha said, pouring coffee into two mugs for the guests.
“Oh, you don’t have to go to any trouble for us.”
“It’s no trouble at all, Lois. I’ve still got everything out.”
She began to work, but Clark got up. “Here Mom, let me do that for you.”
Martha chuckled, “Okay, dear.” She seated herself at the table while Clark rustled up a few eggs and cooked them and the bacon with his eyes. In a moment he put the plates down on the table. X-raying the oven, he saw that the coffee cake was done, pulled it out and put it on the table on a hot plate as well.
“It’s so nice to have you home, Son.”
Clark smiled and served the bacon and eggs to Lois and himself before sitting back down at the table.
“I don’t think I’ll ever get used to watching him do that!” Lois said, shaking her head.
“It grows on you, dear.” Martha laid her hand on Lois’.
“I guess so.”
“Now how are you doing, Lois?”
They embarked into a conversation about Lois’ mental state, what she’d forgotten, what she’d remembered, with her adding details along the way.
It was nice to be back in the farmhouse with the Kents. Clark tipped his head up to the side. “Is there construction going on around here?”
“Not that I know of, Clark. Why, what are you hearing?”
“It sounds like heavy machinery digging.”
Martha stood and looked out the window across the quiet Kansas scenery. The corn was growing tall under the heat of the sun.
“I think it’s in Schuster’s field.” Clark related, listening carefully.
Martha and Jonathan looked at each other. Schuster’s field and heavy machinery digging only meant one thing. Someone was looking for kryptonite.
“I’ll be back in a minute,” Clark said, pushing his chair out and standing up.
“No, you’ll do no such thing!” Jonathan objected, standing to lay a hand on Clark’s shoulder. We’ll take the truck.”
“Dad, I’ll just fly over and x-ray it far out of reach if there’s any kryptonite.”
“I don’t know what anyone expects to find, that field has been dug up by Trask and every other villain on the planet has searched it with a fine toothed comb.
The four of them drove down the road to the field and got out. Clark didn’t see anything amiss, or feel any effects of kryptonite. “I’ll be back in a minute.” He was gone before anyone could stop him.
Superman hovered high up above the workers, far out of sight. He had to be careful of oncoming air traffic; he was pretty close to the level some of the lower flying planes took.
One machine was working. It had made a pathway through the forest, out of sight from the road. He could see several men in the woods alongside, waving some sort of a Geiger counter devices back and forth over the ground.
Clark played in those woods as a child, erected log cabins, built tree forts, and even tried to dig a hole to China once. He’d had to bury up his work when he felt the molten core of the earth begin to press upward. He remembered that time well. The last thing he needed was to have caused a volcano to erupt in Smallville. He chuckled at the memory. His poor parents.
Now the men were standing around the area where the ground had been dug up twenty years ago. The forest had reclaimed it. A beeping came from the machine.
