From Part 18:
"I'm going to hold to professional privilege on this one, Boyle. You just have to remember the word 'deadline'!"
"Is that the trigger word you gave her?"
"That's it. I can't guarantee how long it will last, but when you say it, if Lois finds you attractive in the *least*, it will lift her inhibitions and she will allow herself to follow through with her feelings. The caveat is that if she's *not* attracted to you, it won't do a damn thing. At least you'll know, one way or the other."
"I'm glad I haven't paid you in full, yet. What about Kent?"
"She'll temporarily forget that she's married to him when you say 'deadline'. Good luck Boyle. Hey, see you at the Metro tonight?"
"Sure, unless a certain beautiful dark-eyed reporter decides she wants to spend the night with me. Speaking of the devil, here she comes. Wish me luck, Deter. See ya."
Mark's eyes followed Lois as she exited the elevator, walked down the stairs to the bullpen, and sat down at her desk. She checked her voice mail and then started to head over towards him – probably to find out if had any hot assignments for her.
"Good morning," Lois said, as professionally as she could muster. "Anything you want me to jump on this morning?"
<Besides *me*?> "Actually, Ms. Lane, we *do* have quite a deadline here," he said, with a smile.
Lois' eyes widened, as if she was seeing Mark Boyle for the very first time.
~~~~~
And now....
Part 19
Lois had a momentary flashback to the dinner that she had shared with Mark back in Brazzaville the night that she was eventually kidnapped by him and St. John. She hadn't been in a relationship with Clark at that point, and *had* found Mark attractive:
He really was a good-looking man himself, Lois thought. An older
Clark Kent. <Maybe that's why I find him so attractive, because
he reminds me so much of Clark>.
They went to one of the hotel's more expensive restaurants for
dinner… after they were seated, and a bottle of fine wine ordered, Mark
said, "Lois, I have a confession to make, and I hope you're going to be able to forgive me."
He leaned in, and gave her one of his more electrifying smiles.
<His smiles are almost as magical as Clark's. The British accent
is so sexy, too. Omigod! What am I thinking? Focus. Focus.>
(from "Jungle Love")
Clark, desperately trying to stay in sync with Lois from space, knowing she was upset, picked that exact moment, intuitively, to try to connect with her. <"Lois! Lois! What's going on? Are you back at the Planet?">
Lois' head was swimming in a pool of mixed emotions. The voice in her head was *so* familiar, yet all of a sudden she wanted to put her hands on Mark Boyle's smooth cheeks, draw his face to hers, and kiss him. The psychological conflict was too much for her, and she made a quick exit to the ladies room to regroup, leaving Boyle standing there stupefied.
Thankfully the rest room was unoccupied. Lois stood behind the door, breathing heavily. She had a migraine and didn't have a clue why. The voices in her head continued. <"Lois! Are you hearing me? I am feeling your anxiety – what's going on? Please, honey, can you hear me?"> The voice in her head sounded desperate, but comforting, somehow. <"Who are you? Why are you in my head?">
Clark was starting to freak out. <"Lois – it's me Clark – remember, the man who loves you desperately? Your *husband*?">
Lois continued to grimace in pain. <"Clark – my sweet Clark?"> At that moment, Mark Boyle knocked on the rest room door. "Lois, are you all right? Please let me know. It's Mark. I'm right outside the door."
Just then Lois had another painful flashback, again from Brazzaville. It was right after Lenny Thorul had told her via teleconference that he was Lex Luthor's fraternal twin brother. If she didn't promise to bury the story, St. John and Boyle would use the Kryptonite in their possession to kill Clark, right after they killed her, of course.
The speakerphone went dead. Mark and Nigel moved Lois to a
windowless room. "Lois, we'll leave you alone a few minutes; I'm
sure you'll make the correct decision," Mark said to her, with a
cunning smile pasted on his face.
"You're just another scumbag male that can't be trusted," she
snarled at him as he locked the door. Left alone, Lois felt
herself welling up with anxiety. A thousand thoughts were running
through her mind simultaneously.
Several minutes later, Mark and Nigel reappeared. "Ms. Lane, can
you meet our requirements in order to save your life?" asked
Nigel.
Lois swallowed hard. <Like I'm going to say, `Sure, kill me now,
because I know with my big mouth that I won't be able to keep
this secret.' I'm going to end up dead later instead of now. What
kind of a choice is this?>
The thought of never seeing Clark again; that sweet, wonderful
man who had catered to her every whim since she had met him -
well, that was the tiebreaker. "Yes, I agree to your terms, if
you are willing to turn over the Kryptonite to me so you don't
double-cross us." <What the heck, may as well throw that out
there!>
"Ms. Lane, you really have no bargaining chip here. We could kill
you right now, and no one is around for miles to hear the gun
fire. And, quite frankly, no one in this country would care."
"Look, my life means nothing to me if Clark is still not safe."
"How sweet, Lois, I really thought we were starting to care for
each other, too," said Mark. "But I'm afraid the boss will not go
for that. This Kryptonite cost us plenty. And the poor slob that
stole it from Star Labs for us lost his life over it as well!
What a shame, he was quite a young fellow too.
"However, you have our word that once we bring you back to your
hotel tonight, we will leave the two of you alone. Upon your
return to the states, the playing field is wide open again. If
you betray us, we kill you and use the Kryptonite on the Boy
Scout. Remember, the only territory that is off-limits is
Thorul's connection to his brother. The rest will be a fine game
of cat-and-mouse, I'm sure."
"Then get me back to the hotel. Clark must be frantic. I agree to
your lousy terms," Lois said, completely disgusted that she caved
in. What would her college ethics teacher have said about this
type of situation?
(from "Jungle Love")
That was it. Things became crystal clear again. While she had initially been attracted to Boyle, her eventual realization of the slime-dwelling creature he really was spurred Lois to action. She slammed open the rest room door, facing Boyle, and acting completely on instinct, with the element of surprise on her side, she swung her right leg out at him. Using the sharp heel of her shoe, she planted her foot squarely on his crotch. After all, the trigger word had told her: "…allow yourself to act on your emotions, also." Well, she certainly had done that!
The newsroom became so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Boyle fell down in agony as Lois made a grand exit to the elevator doors.
"That's for Brazzaville, you scummy bastard. I quit! You and your bosses can take your therapy sessions and stick them up your asses!"
Lois spotted Linda King and Ralph with smirks on their faces, obviously relishing the entire scene.
"The rest of you can go right to Hell too! None of you have enough integrity to work for a great newspaper like the Daily Planet *used* to be!" At that, the elevator doors opened, swallowing Lois along with her newfound cocky attitude.
Clark, meanwhile, realized that something was desperately wrong with Lois. The damn bastards were taking full advantage of the fact that he wasn't there. Well, it was time to take some action, regardless of putting his health and well-being at risk. If he died trying to help Lois, so be it.
He said good-bye to his astonished crewmates, advising them what a pleasure it had been to meet and work with them, and entered the hatch where his lead-lined space suit lay. Getting near the Kryptonite dust nearly did him in, but he nonetheless managed to get the suit on. Once it was in place, the lead protected him from the deadly particles on its outside. He opened the door, flew out, secured it, and headed right toward the red-green rings encircling the earth. If he had to wear the suit until Bernie came up with the antidote, so be it!
Clark made it through the Kryptonite rings, spotted North America, and headed towards Metropolis, flying faster than he ever thought it possible. Lois was just saying a final good-bye to Walter and Scott as she strutted through the Planet's revolving entrance doors when Clark swooped down to the sidewalk in his space suit.
Faster than the eye could follow, Clark grabbed a shocked, screaming Lois Lane and flew the two of them straight to Star Labs. Bernie's balcony doors were open, as it was a beautiful spring day in Metropolis. The look on Klein's face as Clark and Lois entered the lab was priceless!
~~~~~
Back at the Planet, several suck-up-to-the-boss types, including Linda King, helped Mark to his feet, and escorted him back to his cubicle. Mark was devastated. He really thought that Lois was attracted to him, and that things would be different. Just then, the TV monitor in the newsroom had breaking news:
Superman is back! That's right, our news helicopter got a picture of the "Man of Steel" wearing the space suit he wore to defeat the Nightfall Asteroid. He appeared to be heading toward the Daily Planet newsroom. EPRAD reports that the ISS contacted them to advise that Superman, AKA Clark Kent, left suddenly without explanation. As you all know, the new red/green rings encircling the earth are partly composed of Kryptonite, which is deadly to Superman.
We can only hope that an antidote has been found and that soon Superman will be back in action to fight for "truth, justice, and all things American" very soon!"
At that news, Boyle nearly ran over to the conference room, walking slightly bowlegged. He closed and locked the door, and pulled out his cell phone.
"Thank you for calling the office of Dr. Maxwell Deter, Psychiatrist. How may I help you today?"
"Deter, please. This is Mark Boyle. Interrupt him if necessary," he commanded.
"Hold, please."
After almost five minutes, Deter finally picked up the phone. "Boyle, what the hell's wrong now?"
"The bloody bitch kicked me in the crotch with her stiletto heel! Great trigger word."
"Ouch!" Deter started laughing hysterically. "Well, I told her to act on her emotions. Now you know… you don't have a shot with her," he responded, still chuckling.
"She just quit the Planet. You just lost our business. Laugh your bloody *** off at *that*," Boyle said, clicking disconnect on his cell phone.
Deter was stunned. Here he had just uncovered some really pertinent information – that Lois had given birth to a daughter – and the "good" shrink that was buried in him somewhere knew that Lois needed to continue her therapy in order to get to a place where she could handle this information. Somehow, he was going to have to try to convince her to continue her sessions, even if it was on a pro-bono basis.
~~~~~
Back at STAR Labs, Bernie quickly escorted Clark and Lois into a room he had lined with lead in preparation for Superman's eventual return to earth. Bernie took the space suit out of the room and placed it in a microwave chamber, which would remove the dangerous particle dust embedded on it. It was a windowless room. Bernie locked the door on his way out of the room, to give the newly-reunited Lois and Clark some privacy.
Clark swept Lois up in a long, lingering kiss and embrace. It felt so good to hold her in his arms again.
Lois took off Clark's Superman jersey, wanting so badly to feel that wonderful muscular chest that she had been visualizing in her fantasy sleep world.
"Sweets, *how* did you know I needed you?" Lois breathed, rubbing his chest and arms, drinking in the sculpted feel on her fingers. "For a moment there, I was so confused, I didn't know who you were. Something weird happened at that session this morning. My twin is right - Deter's up to no good, for sure. For a moment there, I had this horrible impulse to kiss Mark! Ewwww!"
There was no furniture in the room, so Clark lifted Lois on top of him, floating them horizontally about three feet off the floor.
"Lois, honey... I knew something was up," Clark breathed, having removed the blouse that Lois had been wearing. He began peppering Lois with butterfly kisses on her neck and shoulders. "This morning, when you had your hypnotherapy session, your mind was completed blocked. But later, when we were talking while you were in the coffee shop, you seemed okay. Suddenly I got a wave of - I don't know - confusion, panic, and anxiety - from you. When you had no clue who I was, I had a near panic attack. Without really thinking it through, I grabbed the space suit and flew home. Now, I may have to stay in this chamber until Bernie comes through with the antidote, but at least we can be together," he whispered, his excitement turning his tone of voice into a dangerous weapon of seduction to Lois.
"Clark, I'll live in a box if I have to, don't leave me ever again," she exclaimed, very excited now from Clark's probing kisses. "I quit the Planet right after I jabbed Boyle in the crotch with my heel," she told him, giggling in memory of the pained expression on his face. "He *so* deserved it. You were *right*. Maybe when we finally get the goods on these guys and reinstate Olson at the Planet, it would be a newspaper worth working for. For now, I'm taking my chances as a free-lancer."
"Honey... you're sure?"
"Clark, if I didn't quit, I'd be fired- I assaulted my boss. I'll be lucky if he doesn't sue me/us! Besides... my period is a few days late. I may have some more important things to deal with in about nine months," she smiled.
"What? You think you might be pregnant? It had to be from the time in Brazzaville when I lost my powers from the exposure to Kryptonite and we made love - that *very* first night!"
"That's right! The other Lois told me that if CK was exposed very briefly to Kryptonite, she was able to get pregnant for the period of time that he was a 'normal' man. Wow. We didn't even *try* - it was purely timing!" Lois exclaimed. "I know we have only known each other what - three weeks? And we have all of these problems to contend with. Maybe -"
Clark cradled Lois' head in his hands. "Lois, don't say it. And for all you know, it could be *stress* making your period late. It used to happen to Lana all the time. Since her and I never 'did it', I used to wonder if she was cheating on me when she complained about being late. But it always turned out to be something she had gotten herself all worked over about for nothing!
"If you *are* pregnant," he continued, "well, that's just the greatest news in the entire world." Clark suddenly realized that for now, he was confined to a lead-lined room or wearing a containment suit. How could he possibly help Lois raise a child? His expression became one of dejection.
Lois felt his sudden depression and knew why. "Sweets - Bernie is going to succeed. He's very close. And I'll buy a home pregnancy test this afternoon…" Lois stopped in mid-sentence, realizing that the wife of Superman buying a home pregnancy test at the pharmacy would be on LNN within the half hour.
Clark read Lois' mind and smiled. "Yeah, you're right, honey. Probably best not to do that. Maybe we can ask Alice to buy one - no, she's the wife of the soon to be ex-Mayor. Then the rumors will start that Alice being pregnant at age 52 is the reason that Perry stepped down as Mayor. Hmm…"
Suddenly, the only thing they really cared about was making love and being intimate with each other. They tabled the pregnancy discussion and shortly, if one had super-hearing that is, screams of ecstasy could have been detected originating from a certain lead-lined room in STAR LABS. Luckily, Bernie had taken it upon himself to not only line the room with lead, but he had made it soundproof as well!
~~~~~
TBC
