Lois stepped out of the elevator and gasped in shock as her eyes traveled around the newsroom. Amazing. Unreal. This couldn’t be the newsroom. It couldn’t. How many things could go wrong in one day?
The rest of the newsroom scene was even worse than she had imagined from what she had seen in the morning edition. She wasn't even sure what scared her most about the chaotic newsroom. Every one of her senses was assaulted by love.
Balloons. Hearts. Flowers. Love songs. Coworkers walking hand-in-hand. Smiling. Kissing. Hugging. Dancing. Pairs of colleagues going into the copy room together to do . . . Lois didn’t even want to know. These people were not Lois's friends and coworkers. They were scary love mutants from the planet Kissyface working in the 'Love Shack'!
What could have happened here to change the newsroom, a respectable place of business, into such a tawdry shrine to all things love and sex? It looked like she was the one who had to figure out this whole mess.
Lois pushed through the balloons and skillfully avoided an amorous-looking Ralph on her way to her desk. She needed to sit down and think. This was all too much! How could this have happened? What or who could have done this to the newsroom? She wasn’t even sure exactly where to start.
Maybe she had been affected in some way, too. That could probably explain how she had abandoned her every inhibition. Could it also explain why she couldn't remember what had happened most of yesterday?
She surveyed the newsroom, shocked. The scene unfolded before her, and she felt a sort of enlightenment. Everyone's inhibitions were lowered like hers had been last night. It was like they all were drunk on love. No wonder she'd had such a powerful hangover! Love was a more potent tonic than any liquor!
Lois put her head in her hands and sighed. The stupid love muzak was driving her crazy! This was not an atmosphere conducive to investigating. Yet these were the people she needed to question. Hopefully she would be able to get something coherent from at least one of them.
Suddenly, she felt a hand on her shoulder. She hadn't even heard anyone come up behind her. It looked like this was the first step in her investigation. She hadn't even had to seek anyone out.
"Lois! I've been looking for you all day!"
She turned around in her chair to face her young friend. "Jimmy?" Oh no! Was he going to declare his undying love for her? It seemed to be the trend around these parts lately. Why not?
"Lois!" he exclaimed, beaming ear-to-ear. "Guess what!"
She rolled her eyes, and decided to humor him. It was probably less painful than fighting. "What?"
"I'm in love." He shoved a picture into her hands. "April Stevens. She's my new girlfriend. Isn't she perfect?" Jimmy beamed at the beautiful woman in the picture and practically drooled all over Lois's hand.
Lois stared at the picture, unsure of what to say to Jimmy. She was shocked. This woman would go for Jimmy? Where would Jimmy have even met someone like this? "A model? Where did you . . ."
"We met yesterday."
"Yesterday?" Lois looked back at him, wanting to know more. What would Jimmy and a woman like that ever have in common?
"At the perfume show."
Lois stared at him skeptically. "The perfume show?"
Jimmy looked at her quizzically like she was crazy for not knowing. "You know, the one we had here yesterday."
"We had a perfume show here?" She felt like slapping Jimmy on the back of the head to see if that would spur any more intelligent answers.
"You don't remember? How can you not remember?" He put his hand over his heart and sighed dramatically. "It changed my life. It's where I met my April."
"But why? A perfume show in the 'Daily Planet' newsroom? It doesn't make sense." She shook her head in frustration.
Jimmy shrugged, staring at the picture Lois held in her hands. "I think marketing set it up," he said offhandedly.
"But why?" Before she let Jimmy reply, she said, "Never mind."
She pulled the picture closer, trying to remember this perfume show. It didn't matter why marketing had arranged this event; it had happened. And probably something during it had affected the newsroom. But what? Had they been introducing a new perfume? Had the employees gotten free samples?
The words 'perfume show' didn't really explain much. Or anything. Unfortunately, she didn't think Jimmy was in any condition to answer her questions.
"Beautiful, isn't she?" Jimmy grabbed the picture out of Lois's hands. "And she's all mine."
Lois put a hand on her young friend's. "Be careful."
"Why?" His eyes were filled with a wide-eyed innocence attributed either to the naivety of youth or the passion of lost inhibition.
"I don't want you to get hurt." She didn't want anything to happen to her friend especially nothing like what had happened to her. Whatever was going to happen, Lois was sure he would regret it in the morning.
"Hurt? How could I get hurt?" His voice was filled with the brashness of youth compounded with the arrogance of a man in love.
Lois shook her head, knowing she wouldn't be able to get through to him. She changed the subject. "Do you have any more of these pictures from yesterday?"
"Oh sure. I have a whole stack of them. You can have all of them except for the ones of my April." He sifted through the large stack of pictures in his hands.
Lois rolled her eyes, but said, "Of course."
In a few seconds, Jimmy handed her a large stack of photos, and had darted across the room before Lois could ask him anything else.
She wasn't sure where to start; she had so many unanswered questions. Why had marketing set up a perfume show in the newsroom? What kind of perfume could have done something like this to all of the people here? Had she been there? If she had, then why was she the only sane one in the asylum now?
She flipped through some of the photos, trying to create a picture of yesterday. One thing that she noted was that neither she nor Clark was in any of them. Interesting.
She picked up the phone, knowing she needed to talk to Clark, regardless of his reaction. She needed to apologize to him, but she wasn't sure how he could ever forgive her for her atrocious accusations.
Then she put the phone back down; she couldn’t do it yet. She didn't see any logical way he could ever forgive her.
She picked up the phone up again; she had to try. If she didn't talk to him now, she would never be able to salvage their relationship. But how did she know it wasn't ruined already? A simple apology would never be enough to undo what she had done to him.
She placed the phone on the cradle a final time. Nothing could undo what she had done, what she had said. She couldn't call Clark, couldn't face him. And she wouldn't blame him if he never wanted to see her again. She had undoubtedly lost him as a partner and a friend. Any hope of a deeper relationship was completely gone when she had realized she might actually want one.
She closed her eyes momentarily, and prayed that when she opened them, this whole day would have been a horrible nightmare. When she woke up in her own bed, she would laugh at this whole situation, and learn the moral of the story: she had to treat Clark with the respect he deserved.
The thing was, she'd always respected him. She hadn't shown it correctly. At first it had been the fear of the new guy in the newsroom. She hadn't wanted him to stab her in the back like so many men had done before. Even after he had earned her trust, there was still that intense need to protect herself. Thus, she had shut him out in fear, even though he deserved her trust more than anyone else ever had.
It was all too absurd. A perfume show in the newsroom. Something that made the entire newsroom staff crazy in love. Forgetting an entire day of her life. Sleeping with her best friend. Waking up in Clark's bed. Accusing him of rape. Realizing she was really in love with him.
Was she a player in some horrible b-movie? Or maybe a soap opera? It was that crazy; it couldn't be real life. At least not her real life. This seemed like a carefully orchestrated plot to ruin her life.
When she opened her eyes and saw the chaos still surrounding her, she sighed deeply. No, it hadn't been a dream. It was her worst nightmare, and it still wasn’t over.
She flipped through the stack of pictures again, trying to remember something, anything that might help her solve this mystery. Maybe someone's face would stand out and trigger her memories.
But she had been away at the PCD talking about fruit fly spraying. She sighed in frustration. She didn't remember any of these people. The only thing she remembered about that stupid interview was that it had been mind-numbingly boring. Well, that was a great start. This was such productive investigative journalism.
She closed her eyes again, and this time she saw . . .
**********
Lois walked out of the City Works building and was assaulted by the bright blue sky. What a day to forget her sunglasses. She squinted in a futile attempt to try to block the sun's bright rays as she hurriedly made her way down the front steps.
That interview with Gale Jensen at the MPCD had been a huge waste of her time. She should have gone to the strike press conference with Clark. At least that would have been interesting if only for the fight with Clark that would have ensued.
She stomped down the street, sneering at everyone who dared smile at her. This was the worst day in her professional career, and no one seemed to give that its appropriate respect.
Stupid Pest Control. Seriously. If pets needed to be inside during the fruit fly spraying, was it really safe? Oh right, it was a precautionary measure. Huh. Right. All she wanted to do was get back to the newsroom, write up this horrible story, and go home to take a nice, long bubble bath.
Before she knew it, she had traversed the few blocks back to the 'Daily Planet' building. She stormed through the revolving front door and stomped to the elevator and rode up to the newsroom, planning to storm right into Perry White's office and give him a piece of her mind.
The doors opened into the newsroom, and she brushed by a group of people who were getting into the elevator.
She stormed towards Perry, who was standing in the middle of the newsroom with Jimmy at his side. Before she could say anything about the fruit flies, she was hit by the most god-awful nauseating smell. She wrinkled her nose in disgust. "What is that?"
"Oh Lois!" Perry exclaimed. "I think it's one of those new-fangled perfumes. Eau de Sweat Sock, I believe."
Jimmy turned his head and wrinkled his nose as well. "It smells like something died in here!"
"This is so gross! How can anyone get any work done here?"
Perry rolled his eyes and said, "Great shades of Elvis, Lois, is this another excuse not to get me that story?"
Lois turned on her heel and stomped away from her editor. "You'll have your article in twenty minutes."
Stupid article. Stupid fruit flies. Stupid Clark. Stupid dockworkers.
"Lois," Cat Grant's voice rang out over the newsroom's dull chatter. "Have you seen Clark lately?"
Who was she supposed to be, Clark's keeper? As if. What could Cat possibly want with Clark? Lois chose to ignore her. It was probably better that way.
Lois’s her fingers pounded away at the keyboard, furiously trying to finish the fruit fly story so she could be done with it forever. Clark. The name resonated in her mind, rendering her unable to think about anything else. Suddenly, she was filed with the strangest feeling. It was an all-consuming love for her partner, her friend, and sometimes her worst enemy.
That perfect man. Clark. Tall, dark, and handsome. Her heart pounded with desire for her partner, her friend, her future lover. She wanted him. Needed him. Couldn't live without him.
Was this guilt over what she had done to him? He wasn't a horrible reporter. In fact, he was the best reporter here well, except her, of course.
Clark. Handsome, charming, wonderful. Clark. Smart. Sexy. Gorgeous, magnificent, stunning, dashing, awesome, spectacular, extraordinary, super, marvelous, incredible, fabulous, fantastic, amazing, terrific, sensational, sexy, desirable. Clark.
Wait. She'd thought sexy twice. Really? Sexy?
She sighed deeply. Yes, he was the sexiest man she knew. She couldn't deny it any more. Those large, brown eyes. That dark brown hair. Even those horribly unfashionable gaudy ties. His whole persona compounded to make him the single most desirable man in the newsroom and maybe the world.
Forget the fruit flies. She needed to see Clark.
**********
It hadn't been rape at all. She had seduced him. She had wanted him. She had needed him. Yes, she had been drugged, but she had wanted him so badly. He had been her obsession.
After she had smelled that disgusting odor, she had been overcome with the most powerful feeling -- a sensation telling every part of her body that she wanted Clark and no one else. Nothing had been holding her back. No memories to make her hesitate. She had known exactly what she had wanted and had gone for it full-force.
That smell had to be the drug. But what was it? Who made it? Why did they do it? What were they trying to gain?
She needed Clark -- the only other sane person in the midst of the love haven. But would he want to work with her?
She wasn't sure how to face him after everything she had said and done to him. Even if he was the most forgiving man in the world, Lois wasn't sure if he would ever accept her apology completely. She had said some very scathing things to him in the heat of the moment, and she wasn't sure how to begin to take them back. He probably would never accept her friendship and certainly would never return her love. And she wouldn't blame him one bit. It wasn’t like she could fix this with flowers or candy or a kiss. Not even a cheesy, sappy Hallmark card could do the trick. She seriously doubted they made anything that said, 'I love you. Sorry I accused you of raping me and told you I would never consider sleeping with you, you horrible liar!' Too bad. She could really use one of those handy little cards.
The elevator bell dinged, and Lois turned her head to watch the doors slide open. Could it be? Did she have that kind of cosmic karma that as soon as she decided she wanted to apologize to Clark, he magically appeared in the newsroom?
Fate was playing a dirty trick on her. Again.
She needed more time! A couple of hours? One hour? Thirty minutes? Fifteen minutes? Heck, she'd even settle for five minutes! She still had to psych herself up to face him again, to admit her true feelings, and to bare her soul to him.
And, most importantly, to face the prospect of rejection -- the thing that scared her the most.
She would survive in her professional life, and she would still be the good reporter she was before she'd met Clark. But she would no longer be the great reporter he had helped her become. They complimented each other in so many ways.
It was her personal life she was more worried about. Sure, she would live, but it would be a boring, bitter, and lonely existence. She needed her best friend, the only man she could bare her soul to. He was an integral part of her existence.
If their friendship didn't survive, she was the one who was to blame. She really might have blown any chance of salvaging their friendship. Plus she was no sure that they would never be able to try to have any kind of romantic relationship.
Shoot. Just when she realized that she might actually want one.
All the air left her chest as she watched the tall, dark, muscular, bespectacled form of her partner step from the elevator into the newsroom.
Clark froze when their eyes met. He looked trapped. It looked like he wanted to bolt back into the elevator or escape to the air as Superman, but something was holding him back.
"Clark," Lois whispered, knowing he could hear her. He looked so sad almost like a shattered figment of the man she had known.
She wiped away a trail of tears from her cheeks. For what seemed like the millionth time today, she found herself hoping that this day was really a nightmare and that she would wake up and this would all be a figment of her imagination. When she woke up, she would treat Clark so much better. That was her promise. It was like Dickens’ Ebenezer Scrooge’s revelation about the miracle of Christmas. She would promise to forever love Clark Kent if all of this could be a horrible nightmare.
No such luck. She had to face Clark right here, right now, with no promise of a happily ever after.
Clark looked horrible, but what had she expected? It wasn't like he was going to be dancing the jig because his best friend had accused him of rape and had practically told him that she would have never slept with him even if he was the last man on earth. How had she expected him to look? Happy? Unaffected? Of course not.
"Clark." She got up from her chair and crossed the newsroom, her heart pounding. "I'm so sorry," she whispered, knowing he could hear her even from across the crowded room. It was so insufficient, but it was all she could say.
Clark took a step back towards the elevator. He hadn't exactly expected to see her here. Stupid. He should have scanned the newsroom before he got into the elevator. Wasn't that what superpowers were supposed to be for? Part of him almost wanted to face her. Again, it was the masochist in him.
She was calling him, walking towards him. Talking to her was the last thing he wanted to do, yet there was no avoiding it.
"I'm sorry," she repeated.
She had cornered him. Clark took a deep breath and took a step closer to her. He had to face her sooner or later. Now she was sorry. For what? For breaking his heart?
She'd called him a liar, a hypocrite, and a rapist. He wasn't sure how he could look her in the eye. Yet he was.
And here she was, standing in front of him, looking as scared as he felt. She was missing her usual swagger, that Lois Lane air. Clark stared at her, frozen in place. "Lois," he whispered, for lack of anything else to say.
"I remember."
“What?” he breathed.
"Everything, Clark. I remember everything." She put her hand on his arm, and cringed when he flinched. "Oh god, I am so sorry." She felt her warm tears falling down her cheeks.
"Everything?" His voice was guarded, almost emotionless. He didn't want to give her the upper hand for any reason. What if this was some kind of ploy? What if she turned his every word, and his every action against him?
"Everything. Oh, Clark, it all came back to me so suddenly." She paused to look at him. It seemed like he was staring into space, ignoring everything she said. Maybe there really was no way of winning his forgiveness, much less his heart.
"Everything," he murmured.
She reached out and grabbed his arm to get his attention. "We have to talk."
"Conference room?" he said softly. He could barely look at her, but he knew he couldn't ignore her forever. They still had to work together. Unless he ran off to some remote place maybe the North Pole never to be seen again.
She nodded, and gently tugged him towards the conference room. She knew exactly what she wanted to say, but had no idea if he would listen to her or believe her. "Oh, Clark, I can't believe what I did to you."
"Lois," he said softly. He took a seat at the table, and avoided her gaze.
Lois perched on the table in front of him and reached out to touch his arm, but he flinched and drew away from her. "Clark, I don't know what I can say to make this better."
"I don’t know either." He ran a nervous hand through his hair. "I don't know if it can ever be better. Maybe this is where we have to stay."
Lois stood up and began to pace around the room. She was filled with a nervous energy that made her want to run for miles and miles and never turn back. Taking to Clark had never been hard. It had always been like second nature. Now, it was her call whether their friendship would survive or flounder. "I don't know where to start." She took a deep breath, and let her emotions flow. "When I met you, Clark, I also met this other person. He was the first man I'd met in such a long time who I *trusted*. He was so different from every man I've ever known. He was perfect."
"Superman," he said softly.
"Exactly. But I also met Clark, this sweet guy who challenged me in so many ways. I don't know how it happened, but I let you into my heart; I let you see my deepest feelings. Clark, I haven't let anyone in that far, well, ever."
"Lois . . ."
"Clark, I fell in love with Superman because he was unattainable. He was . . . you were sort of unreal -- a fantasy. Someone I could love from afar. But you, Clark, were sort of scary. You were real. You could hurt me. But I found myself falling for you anyway."
"I guess I did sort of flirt with you, and maybe I led you on. But, Lois, you have to believe me, I was in love with you, but you ignored me. I wanted to be with you any way I could."
How did the subject change so quickly? She'd never even told him he flirted with her. "What?"
"Wait. What are we talking about?"
Lois grinned sheepishly. "I have no idea."
"Lois, look, I am so sorry. I know I should have told you about myself first, but I wanted to spend one day as Clark, and only Clark, without having to worry about Superman. I wanted to be normal for once in my life. I wanted to experience everything without Superman. I don’t know if I can ever really explain it."
"Oh, Clark."
"Lois, when you told me you loved me, Clark, the guy with glasses, the guy with major faults, I was so happy. I guess my elation overrode my good sense. But I was going to tell you, believe me." He looked at her pleadingly, hoping she would listen to him.
She took a deep breath and said, "I know, Clark. I know. I believe you. I know you planned to tell me eventually. I understand, really."
"Do you, Lois? Do you have any idea how hard it was for me not to tell you?" He sighed deeply.
"Really?"
He nodded. "Absolutely. How could I not tell you? I couldn't go on living two lives around you; I wanted to be myself."
"And I didn't let you tell me.” She shook her head and sank down into one of the chairs across from him.
"You kind of figured it out by yourself." He grinned sheepishly, wanting to lighten the mood, but knowing he could never succeed.
Lois put her hand on his knee, and tried to explain herself. "Oh, Clark, I was so surprised, so humiliated."
"I never meant to . . ."
"Look at it from my perspective. I had held my emotions hostage for so long. How did you expect me to feel? I know I wasn't right. I woke up in your bed having no memory of an entire day of my life. And to make it worse, I found out that you were two people . . . two people I had known and loved." She shook her head woefully.
"Loved?" She had loved him. Both parts of him.
She smiled. "Of course loved. But when I saw the two of you as one, I felt so used. I had trusted both you and Superman, and I found out that you had lied to me since the moment I met you. That hurt, Clark. Really hurt." She brushed her tears off her cheeks. "I hadn't felt so betrayed since, since . . ." She couldn't even say the name. "Since . . . Claude,” she said the name almost under her breath. Now was not the time to bring up her past mistakes. “But this was so much worse."
"Oh god, Lois. I am so sorry."
To be Continued
