Nightmare -- Part 8
"Oh god, Lois. I am so sorry."
"It's okay, Clark. I understand. Really. I know I seduced you. I know I did. I remember everything." She squeezed his knee, and looked into his eyes, hoping he had heard every word she had said.
"I couldn't resist." He closed his eyes so he wouldn't have to look at her. It was so humiliating. He was Superman. That should have given him so much more willpower.
"You couldn't resist," she repeated. “*I* couldn’t resist.”
"How could I resist, Lois? How could *any* man resist? The woman of my dreams was throwing herself at me of course I thought it was weird given everything that had happened yesterday morning, but what can I say, you were quite convincing. I really believed you wanted me." He opened his eyes, and looked at her, wondering what she would do.
"Can, can we ever get back to normal?" Lois stared at him, and then shook her head. "Guess not. That would be asking too much." She had blown it.
Clark closed his eyes and said, "I don't even know what normal is any more. We both said and did some things we regret."
"I know," she said softly. "But we can make the most of the future," she whispered hopefully.
"I should have told you I was Superman. I was wrong." He leaned back in his chair. "I shouldn't have led you on as Superman; I guess I am a liar and a horrible person." His voice didn't waver. It was completely devoid of all emotion. "Maybe I'm a rapist, too."
"You're not a rapist," she declared.
"But you said I was." He took a deep breath.
Lois wiped the tears from her cheeks. "I'm sorry, Clark. I can't believe what I did to you." She had changed him. "I was scared. So scared. I don't know what came over me. It was like I lost control of my own voice. I lost control."
"I love you Lois; really, I do, but that doesn't mean I have to like you right now." His eyes narrowed in anger, finally showing emotion. "I don't know how to deal with this. The things you said . . . The way I felt . . . You hurt me, Lois. I don't know if there ever can be a normal again. I can forgive you, but I don't know if I can ever forget."
Tears streamed down her face, and she made no effort to wipe them away. "I was scared, Clark. I woke up in a strange room not remembering anything for an entire day. Then I discovered I was naked. What kind of conclusion did you expect me to come to?"
"I expected you to know me better than that. I would NEVER do anything like that. Lois, you accused me of being a rapist!" He rubbed his eyes. Now was not the time to show Lois any of the pain and hurt she had caused. It would give her the advantage.
"I didn't mean it," she pleaded.
"Could've fooled me," he muttered almost under his breath, but loud enough for Lois to hear him.
"Okay, maybe I did mean it at the time. I was afraid, not to mention shocked." She sat on the table again and got as close to him as she dared. She ached to reach out and touch him, to comfort him, and to show him how wrong she had been.
"You told me you'd never . . . never make love to me. At least not by choice." He turned away from her. "You said, if I was the last man on earth, you still wouldn't have slept with me. At least not voluntarily." He took a deep breath before he completely poured out his soul.
"I'm so sorry, Clark." That wasn't enough. "I didn't mean it. I was scared." Still not enough. "I really didn't think you were capable of rape or any other horrible crime." She shook her head woefully, and pulled at a loose thread in her skirt's hem. "I didn't mean it. You know I have this habit of saying the first thing that comes to my mind, no matter what it is. Sometimes I lose the stop between my brain and my mouth and things come out. And I hurt you this time. It will be with me for the rest of my life."
"You sure sounded like you meant it." He stared into her eyes hoping to see a clue that he was wrong.
She reluctantly admitted, "Maybe at the time I did. Everything was happening so quickly. When I got home, I remembered it all. I remembered wanting you so badly it hurt. I remembered making love to you. I remembered wanting nothing more than to show you how much I love you."
"Lois . . ."
She reached out and put her hands on his shoulders. Initially, he flinched, but he allowed her to stay there.
"No, let me say this. I love you, Clark. I know you probably don't love me and I don't blame you after what I did to you."
"You hurt me," he said simply, his voice full of hurt.
"I know. I am so sorry. I don’t know what else I can say." It sounded so trite, but Lois couldn't say anything else.
"The word 'sorry' isn't going to magically erase the scars on my soul."
"Clark, I wanted you. I seduced you. It wasn't rape. I was so wrong."
She could never end a sentence that way. There always had to be a, "But . . ."
". . . but I was so horrible to you, and you might never be able to forgive me. And I understand, really, I do. But please listen to me."
Clark nodded. He would take the high road and do what she hadn’t done for him. He was going to listen to her.
"God, Clark, when I remembered, it came back to me so suddenly. Maybe it was some kind of after-effect of the drug. I can’t believe that one little trigger brought all of my memories back in droves. I couldn't believe how vivid the memories were. You made me feel incredible loved, wanted, needed. I've never felt that way before. We made love, Clark, and you were the first man who ever . . ."
He tried to help her along, "Ever?"
"Put my needs before theirs." She looked at him with tears in her eyes, and said, "I'd never . . . I've never . . . No one has ever . . ."
"What?"
Lois took a deep breath, and said, "You're the first man who has ever . . . put my needs first. Clark, you were so tender, so loving . . . I've never felt that way before."
He was speechless.
"I have trouble admitting my feelings to anyone. Including myself. And I know I've hurt you, Clark. So I don't expect you to . . ."
"Your feelings? What feelings?"
"Weren't you listening to anything I said? I love you, Clark. I always have. I tried so hard to deny my feelings that I became hostile in the process."
He turned his head up to look at her. He was shocked. She seemed to be telling the truth. About everything. "You really love me?"
"Oh god, Clark, I do." She shuddered and another flood of tears fell down her cheeks. "But I understand if you don't love me. I don't know if I can ever really expect you to trust me again or even want to be near me."
He brought one of her hands up to his lips and softly brushed his lips against it. "Lois, how can I *not* be near you?"
She shrugged.
"I love you, too, Lois." He took one of her hands and brought it up to his lips. "I'll love you forever. No matter how much I'm hurt or how hard I try, I can't stop loving you. There will always be a part of my heart reserved only for you. My love is everlasting."
"Oh, Clark." He loved her, too. He loved her still. He loved her despite everything she had done to him.
"My heart might be bruised, but it can never be completely broken." He took a deep breath and met her eyes. "I am Superman you know. It’ll heal. Eventually." He looked up at her and winked.
"Eventually," she whispered.
He smiled at her slightly, “Maybe even at Superspeed.”
She laughed, not sure if it was the right thing to do under all this tension. But it seemed so right, and so necessary.
"If I only know one thing, Lois, it's that I will always love you. No matter what." He flashed her a crooked smile, hoping to lighten the mood slightly. "I'm cursed to love you, no matter what you do to me. Even if I don't have to like you all the time." He laughed slightly.
"I am a curse," she said softly.
"You are not a curse, Lois. You could never be a curse. I love you," he answered. He tentatively reached up and brushed the tears from her cheeks. "I love you, Lois, and my feelings are so strong; they overpower me." He smiled slightly. “And I am the most powerful man in the world.”
"I love you, too, Clark." She put her hand over his. "I can't believe I didn't know from the beginning that you are the man I'm destined to be with. Forever. I don’t know why I never . . ."
"Oh, Lois," he breathed. He leaned in towards her, wondering if he should try to kiss her. Her lips were calling him, urging him to inch closer and closer. Now that he knew she loved him, too, it was like a large weight had been lifted from his chest. He was free to show her how much he loved her. And he would do that with a simple kiss.
His heart was still hurting from her accusations, but it was beginning to heal. He knew this conversation wasn't an absolute cure-all, but it certainly was an affective band-aid. Right now, all he wanted to do was forget everything that had happened. He needed a few minutes where he could forget everything, and simply be a man in love. They could deal with everything else later. Right now, he wanted no, needed to kiss her if for no other reason than to help mend his broken ego.
"I love you, Clark," she said softly as she inched ever closer to him.
“I love you, too.”
With Clark's simple words, she felt completely, thoroughly, unconditionally loved. She reached her arms around his neck, and reveled in the feel of his warm skin against hers. This was something she'd never imagined she'd be able to do again. Not after what she had done to him. She arched head up towards his, and the magnetic force between their lips took over. She closed her lips over his, and she allowed her instincts to take over. For the first time in her life, she completely surrendered herself to the moment, and let her feelings control her actions. She surrendered to her all-consuming love.
They could never turn back. They were so far beyond the point of no return. He had been so right. They would never be able to go back to their previous status quo again. Now that they had confessed their love for each other, they would never be able to go back to being friends or partners again.
He tightened his grip around her back and pulled her close. This was something he'd never thought he would experience again. After what had happened . . . NO! He couldn't think about what had happened. It was settled. She was sorry, and he even sort of understood why she had done what she had. Now it was time to focus on the important things in life. And right now, that included kissing the woman he loved and, more importantly, loved him, too.
Clark felt a strange dampness against his cheek, and pulled away from the kiss. "Are you crying, Lois?"
Lois sniffled, and looked up into his eyes, tears streaming down her cheeks. "I can't believe how lucky I am. I never thought I'd ever be able to kiss you again."
He took a deep breath. "I know." He stroked her soft, silky hair. "Believe me, I know. But, Lois, we're here. We're together. And it's amazing."
She averted his eyes from his, and rested her head on his shoulder. "I don't deserve you."
"Don't say that," he said sharply. "We love each other." He pecked her cheek to punctuate each word. "We more than deserve each other. We were meant for each other."
And he was right. They were meant for each other. They had each been hurt so often in their lives, loath to trust anyone with their true feelings, until they had met each other. Yet they had both so nearly destroyed that trust.
"Meant for each other," she repeated. The words felt so good to say. Before she had met Clark, she had never known what love was, and she had never expected to feel this way. He had made her a new woman, as she had made him a new man.
"I love you," he said, before his lips captured hers again. Their mouths danced together in an erotic tango, each craving closer contact and a greater intimacy.
"Hey, Lois, CK!"
They quickly broke their kiss and turned around. Jimmy. Neither had heard him come into the room. Why wasn't he out searching for his model girlfriend like he said he was going to do?
"What's up, Jimmy?" Lois said, in a slightly irritated tone. Why did he have to interrupt them at a moment like this?
Jimmy didn't notice, though, and came up to the table stopping next to Clark and clapping his hand on the older man's shoulder.
"I think CK is up after that kiss, huh?" Jimmy grinned at Clark conspiratorially.
Clark's cheeks flushed a deep crimson. "Uh . . ."
Lois's jaw dropped in shock. Obviously, Jimmy's inhibitions had been lowered to a point where he was willing to say anything he was thinking. Was this how she had been last night?
She couldn't help but laugh at the expression on her partner's face in part because Jimmy had been right on the mark regardless of if he had been out of line or not.
"What do you want, Jimmy?" Lois asked, trying to save Clark any further embarrassment.
Clark flashed a grateful look at her for saving him from a tactless Jimmy. Yes, he had been aroused by the kiss, and Lois had known it. That didn't mean he wanted the world to know.
"April," Jimmy moaned. "You have a picture of my April."
"What?" Clark asked, confused.
"The model he's in love with," Lois whispered, to update Clark on the situation.
"My April, my goddess, the love of my life," Jimmy answered at the same time. "I wrote her phone number on the back of one of the pictures, and you have it!” A flash of anger crossed his face. “You stole it!"
"April," Clark repeated.
Lois looked at Clark and shrugged. "The pictures are on my desk, Jimmy." She talked to him like he was a child who couldn't understand simple English. "Do you want to look for the one with April's number?"
"Yes," he moaned pathetically. "I need my April."
"Come on. Let's find your April." She put a hand on Clark's shoulder, and gently squeezed it before saying, "Come on, partner."
"Partner," he repeated.
Jimmy practically dragged Lois through the newsroom to her desk, but Clark hung back for a second and looked around the newsroom.
People were still hustling and bustling around, but not in the way anyone was used to. Instead of reporters rushing around to make meetings with sources and to finish stories before their deadlines, now the reporters were running around, trying to find love. The familiar had become completely foreign.
The sound of Jimmy yelling broke Clark away from his thoughts. "You’d better have my April, Lois! Or else . . . Or else . . . I'll do something really bad!"
Whoops. The rabidly love-struck Jimmy seemed like he was going to tear Lois’s arm off to get the picture. It was probably a job for Superman.
He crossed the newsroom and made his way over to Lois's desk where Lois and Jimmy were crouched down, flipping through a large stack of pictures.
"I'm sure I do, Jimmy. I'm sure I do," Lois said in an agitated voice, flipping through the pictures quickly.
"Find her!" Jimmy exclaimed dramatically. "I don't know what I'll do without her."
"Okay, okay! I'm looking."
Clark decided to jump into the conversation. "Which picture are you looking for, Jimmy?"
"The one where she's with the stinky perfume lady."
"The stinky perfume lady?" Lois asked quickly. Stinky perfume. Eau de Sweat Sock.
"Stinky perfume?"
"Clark! We have to find that picture!" Lois exclaimed. "That's who we're looking for!"
"April? What do you want with April? She's MINE!"
Lois put her hand on her friend's arm, trying to stop his erratic, almost spastic movements. "Of course she's yours, Jimmy. We want the stinky perfume lady."
"Perfume?" Clark asked. "Why perfume?"
"Don't you remember the perfume show?" Jimmy asked in complete exasperation. "Why doesn’t anyone remember it? Now where is my April!"
"We're looking, Jimmy. There are a lot of pictures here. We'll find her."
"Perfume show?" Clark asked again.
"I'll get you caught up in a minute, Clark." She whispered, "When we get rid of Jimmy."
Lois flipped through three more pictures.
"STINKY PERFUME LADY!" Jimmy exclaimed.
Lois looked down at the picture. It was a pretty blond woman, a few years older than Lois, with a slightly exotic look holding a perfume atomizer.
"Do you remember her name, Jimmy, or what she sprayed?"
Jimmy shrugged. "It was something with an M. Mary? Margaret? Melanie? Melissa? Miriam? Miranda? Marjorie?"
"Do you know if they had a list of who was at the show yesterday?" She made a note to look for a woman with an M-name although she wasn't sure she trusted Jimmy's memory at this point.
"No idea. She sprayed something called 'Smelly Sweaty Socks' or something like that."
Clark wrinkled his nose in disgust. "Smelly sweaty socks?"
"Makes you want to run out and buy it, huh?" Lois said. She took a step back towards Clark.
"Where's April! I'll get my revenge if I don't get her number back. Do you have any idea . . . ?"
Lois cut him off by shoving a picture into his hand. "Is this it, Jimmy?" She pointed to the scrawled numbers on the back of the photo.
"April!" he exclaimed. "Thank you. Thank you. Thank you! You two are my heroes!" Not waiting for their response, he took off across the room.
Clark watched Jimmy scamper away like a happy little bunny, then he turned to Lois, and said, "What's going on here? Perfume? Smelly socks?"
"When we were away from the newsroom yesterday, apparently marketing had set up a fashion/perfume expo here."
"Here? Why? Did Perry know?"
"I have no idea. Maybe that's not the important thing right now. I'm not sure why they had it here, but they did."
"Okay," he said slowly. "But smelly socks?"
She shrugged. "I don't know. I missed the whole thing. All I know is I came back to the newsroom after my interview to write up my story, and there was this horrible smell."
"Smelly sweaty socks."
"Exactly. It was disgusting. And I really think that's the key."
"The key to what's making everyone here crazy in love?" He didn't add anything about it affecting Lois.
"Right. And I think everyone was sprayed directly. Maybe that's why they are all still affected, and mine wore off so quickly."
"You didn't get it directly," Clark finished. "What makes you think it was the stinky perfume?"
"Right after I noticed the smell, that was when everything started to get fuzzy. I remember hearing your name, and realizing that I wanted nothing else in the world than to have you. I was obsessed."
Clark took a deep breath. "Lois," he said softly. "About last night . . ."
"What about last night?"
He took a deep breath before he said, "Maybe we should focus on work right now."
"You want to go back to being colleagues?" She felt a pit forming in her stomach. It had all been too good to be true.
"Colleagues who are in love. For now. There's still so much we need to iron out before we can be completely together."
"Why does everything have to be so complicated?" She flipped through the pictures and pulled out the ones with the 'Stinky Perfume Lady' and put them into their own pile.
"Life is complicated," Clark answered. "My life has never been easy." It could never be as easy as save the lives, solve the mystery, get the girl. But his life was beginning to regain the bedlam and frenzy he knew so well. What a welcome chaos it was
"Mine either," she admitted. "Mine either." She reached out to squeeze Clark's hand, and said, "Colleagues it is. For now. But you have to remember that I love you."
He let a small grin spread across his face. "And I love you, too. Come on; let's get to the bottom of this."
"Okay." She held out the photos to him. "Here are five pictures of this woman."
Clark grabbed the pictures, and flipped through them. "We don't know her name, except that it might begin with an M?"
"Exactly. And that she was here yesterday with a perfume that stunk. And after I smelled it, I lost all inhibition." She motioned around the room. "And, apparently, so did everyone else."
He looked around the room. "And they’re still affected. And you’re not."
"I know. I have no idea how long this stuff lasts. Especially if they got a full dose."
"Right." He ran a hand through his hair. "And we're assuming the reason you're okay now when everyone else is still high on love is that you weren't directly sprayed?" Oh she was so cute when she got into her investigative mode. He wanted to give her a little kiss on the cheek.
"Exactly. Either that or it had already diluted in the air by the time I got here, and I only got a partial dose of whatever it was." Oh he was so cute the way he was looking at her like she was the only woman in the world, the way he gazed at her so intently, so lovingly. This 'only partners' thing wasn't going to work. All she wanted to do was kiss him a little kiss on the top of the head.
His hand trailed in a circle around the newsroom, and again said, "I wonder when this stuff will wear off." He took a deep breath, and voiced his biggest fear. "Or *if* it will wear off."
"Who knows?" She shrugged and followed his gaze. Still no sign of the newsroom getting back to normal any time soon. Cat darted into the copy room with a short, balding man Lois didn't know. Perry was chasing after the janitor, Rahelia, singing 'I'm Too Sexy'. Jimmy was running around, holding his picture of April, and kissing it repeatedly.
It was pure insanity. Perry wasn't even singing an Elvis song!
"Do you think *anyone* remembers her name?" Clark sighed in frustration. "Would marketing have a list of registered presenters?"
Lois shrugged. "What if she wasn't even registered? What if she snuck in? If you were going to poison everyone with a perfume, would you sign in? She probably wasn't even invited."
"Guess not." He stood up, and said, "I'm going to see if they have a list anyway."
She put a hand on his arm. "Wait, Clark, look. She's holding two perfume bottles. You can, you know." She made a motion like she was taking off her glasses. "With your, uh, vision gizmo."
"Vision gizmo?" Even though he wanted to be indignant, he found himself chuckling. Maybe without directly saying it, she had come to terms with the fact that he was Superman, and she was already thinking about using it to her advantage.
"Well, yeah, that's what it is, isn't it? What would you call it?" she challenged.
"I, uh, actually, I don't know. I thought it would be something cooler than 'vision gizmo'." He shrugged. "Vision gizmo works, I guess. I mean, that's what it is."
She handed him the pictures, and said, "Do you see the one in her right hand with the label?"
He pulled his glasses down, and focused on the tiny writing on the bottle. "I see it," he said, zooming in once, twice, three times, four times. "Got it!"
"What! What is it?"
"Miranda's."
"Miranda's?" Lois grinned at Jimmy across the room. "He was right. An M-name."
A smile formed on Clark's lips. "Jungle Passion."
"What?" Lois looked at him skeptically.
He looked up from the picture and smiled at her surprised reaction. "The perfume in her right hand is called 'Jungle Passion'."
She shook her head. "Jungle Passion? I wonder if that's what she sprayed here."
"I think Jimmy said she sprayed the other one. But who knows?" He looked at the picture again. "The other one is in a really weird bottle without any markings."
"Figures," she said. Then she looked around the room again. "I mean, everyone is acting like they live in the jungle, and they are all very passionate. Maybe it was the Jungle Passion."
"Who knows," he said.
"With that name, it must be some kind of aphrodisiac." She looked around the room and her eyes fell on Ralph, who was chasing a young woman from research all around the room. The poor girl was running after Ron from Sports. "And what an aphrodisiac!"
"Do you think it's sold commercially? Why would they sell it commercially if it causes this kind of reaction!" He shook his head, and zoomed in on the picture again trying to find more clues. "It would never get FDA approval."
"But does it need FDA approval? It's a perfume."
Clark looked up and smiled. "I'm really not sure. Is there even any kind of agency that regulates perfume?"
"I don't know." Lois shrugged. "I’d assume the FDA."
"Should we look into the FDA?"
"That might take too long." Lois wanted to scream. "We need Jimmy!"
"Is everyone from research affected?"
"I guess so," Lois said as she watched Kara from research chasing after a fellow researcher, Joe. "Maybe we should work on this Miranda first before we look into the FDA."
Clark nodded. "It looks like the Jungle perfume is definitely sold commercially. The bottle looks like it's mass-produced. I wonder if anyone actually buys this!"
Lois shrugged. "Who knows? There's got to be a market for it somewhere."
"I guess."
"I mean, there's bound to be a market for people who want to be swinging from the chandeliers and having wild jungle orgies."
"True, I guess." He focused on the picture again. "Look at her. She had to have planned this. But why? What did anyone here do to her?"
"Who knows? Maybe she had a bad affair with Ralph or someone. Maybe she wants to get on the news."
"Like some kind of publicity stunt?"
"Who knows? We have to find this Miranda." Lois grabbed the White Pages out of the bottom drawer. "She's selling a drug."
"I know," he said softly.
Lois opened the phone book and started flipping through the pages.
Clark said, "Could it really be that easy? Do you think she's in the phone book?"
Lois shrugged. "If she runs a legitimate store, why wouldn't she be in the phone book?"
"Good point." He stood up and leaned over her shoulder, scanning the book with her.
She felt his hand graze her shoulder, and she shivered involuntarily. If only he would touch her. But there was still that tension there. Maybe the tension would be there for quite a long time.
"Miranda's." She flipped through the pages quickly, muttering, "J, K, L, M, Ma, Me, Mi. Here!" She pointed to the entry.
"Miranda's Perfume Shop," he read. "Interesting name."
"What else would it be called?" It almost seemed too easy. Way too easy. Like Orem’s Razor told them, sometimes the simplest solution was the correct solution.
Clark looked at his partner's expression and laughed deeply. "At this point, I really have no idea."
"You kind of thought the store would be called Miranda's Illegal Jungle Love Shack, right?"
"Well . . ." he let his voice trail off. "No comment." It wasn't exactly what he had been thinking, but she was close.
Lois reached out and placed her hands on Clark's arms. She tilted her head up, and their eyes met.
They had been kidding themselves. Their love couldn't reside in the back recesses of their minds. It was so powerful, so all-encompassing, it needed to escape and be freely expressed.
They couldn't be colleagues, not even colleagues in love. Yes, they were colleagues. Yes, they were in love. But they needed to be able to express both parts of their relationship freely or else they would go insane.
Lois stood up, and wrapped her arms around Clark's neck.
He wrapped his arms around her back, and pulled her close before he lowered his head and captured her lips against his.
She moaned softly when their lips met, and they both surrendered completely to the luxurious friction of their lips rubbing against each other. All their pent up emotions flowed into the kiss, everything coming to a passionate head in their simple kiss. Pure beauty and absolute magic.
They reluctantly broke apart, and Lois leaned in for another quick peck on the lips.
"I love you, Lois," Clark admitted. He leaned in to kiss her again. "I love you so much."
With their mouths inches apart, Lois's heart pounded with anticipation of what was to come. It was as if the mood of the newsroom was rubbing off on both of them. Love was in the air. Literally.
"We should . . ." She leaned in for another kiss. "Stop . . ." She touched her lips to his again, obviously not believing nor wanting to believe her own words.
"Stop?" he prodded. He knew exactly what she was trying to say, but that didn't mean he had to listen. "Stop doing this?" he breathed before he leaned in to kiss her again.
"Mmm-hmm," she said softly.
He pulled away slightly, but held her tightly in his arms. "Mmm-hmm," he repeated.
She looked into his eyes, and said, "We have to find this Miranda."
"We do."
She placed a soft kiss on his lips. "I know."
He ran a hand through her hair, and kissed the top of her head. "Right. I know we do."
"Come on," she said, tugging on his hand. "We need to figure out what we're going to do."
"I think we need to get out of here," he said. "There's something in the air." His hand drifted around his head.
"It couldn't still be the perfume."
He wrinkled his nose. "I don't smell anything. It must be the whole atmosphere rubbing off."
"Rahelia!" a loud, booming voice with a heavy southern accent exclaimed.
Perry.
"But I love you, my goddess."
He was chasing the cleaning lady.
"You're right. We have to get out of here." She grabbed the pictures from the desk and the sheet she used to write down the address and stood up.
"Should we do anything? I mean, he always says Alice has spies."
Lois shrugged. "I guess they have a lot to report today.”
He laughed slightly. “I have no idea what we can do.”
She shrugged again. “I think it's futile to try anything. We really should get out of here."
"We have to get to the bottom of this . . . fast, before anyone else gets hurt."
"Exactly."
Before they left to investigate, they shared one final look, and both realized that they were more than friends, more than colleagues. They loved each other. And their love would survive whatever obstacles were to come.
**********
to be continued
