From part 9...
She smiled her thanks at the hotel delivery boy, then took the arrangement and set them down on the credenza. She reached for the small white envelope contained within the bouquet and pulled out the enclosed note. It read:
Lois,
Just wanted to thank you again for a wonderful evening. It was a real pleasure to finally meet you. I hope we can do it again soon.
More a fan than ever,
Lex
Lois wondered why she felt somewhat disappointed as she returned the note to the envelope. The bouquet was gorgeous, and it was definitely a thoughtful thing for Lex to do. Or maybe it was something he did for every beautiful woman he dined with? Lois frowned slightly as she studied the card. She couldn't be sure, but she supposed it was a possibility. Regardless, she didn't understand why she'd felt disappointed at seeing Lex's name at the bottom of the card. Who had she been hoping it was from?
Before she could analyze her hidden emotions and perhaps discover something she wasn't ready to learn, she gave the flowers one last glance, then hurried from her room. She wanted to make sure to catch Clark before he left to do whatever it was he had to do this morning.
**********
Now on to part 10...
**********
As soon as Lois stepped off the elevator, Lois spotted Clark working on his computer at his desk and made a beeline for him. She stopped next to him and opened her mouth to speak, but Clark beat her to it.
Without even looking up from his monitor, he asked dryly, "How was your date?"
Lois lifted her eyebrows in surprise. He hadn't even looked up to see who she was. How had he known? Was it her perfume? Or did he have some uncanny ability to sense her presence? Even more baffling to her, though, was the hint of something she'd caught in his voice on the word "date." Was it jealousy? Contempt? She studied him for a moment, but he didn't look away from his computer screen.
Finally, she shrugged. "Hi to you, too," she responded just as dryly. "And my date was fine, thanks. Lex is a remarkable man. He showed me around his gallery of antiques. He has quite a collection."
"Hmmm," Clark answered noncommittally.
Lois studied him closely for another few moments, then changed the subject. "I tried to call you last night."
That got Clark's attention. His head jerked up and his gaze met hers, a mixture of surprise and delight playing across his face before he made an obvious attempt to cover the look with feigned indifference. "You did?"
"Several times." She nodded. "Where were you?"
Her question seemed to fluster him, and he quickly turned back to his computer screen to avoid her scrutinizing gaze. "I had a bunch of errands to run."
"After midnight?" Her eyebrows knit together in confusion.
"I just had some things to do," Clark answered evasively, his tone sending the message he didn't plan to talk about it.
Lois studied him for another moment, then shrugged. "I guess it doesn't matter; I'm talking to you now." At the questioning look Clark threw her, she perched on the corner of his desk and forged ahead. "You said we were going to talk later about how I can get hold of Mr. Hero Guy, remember? I've got a story to do, and only one day left to do it. I fly back to San Francisco tomorrow, and, like I told you, my editor is going to have my head if I don't come back with something good."
Clark turned his attention back to his computer and started typing. "I can't tell you how to contact him, Lois. Let's just say the opportunity kind of fell into my lap."
Lois cocked an eyebrow at him. That was certainly elusive. "Does that mean you *can't* tell me how to contact him, or you *won't*?"
"What difference does it make, Lois?" He let out a sigh of exasperation. "He's probably off saving the world right now. I'm sure he has better things to do than give an interview to every reporter that wants one."
"How do you know unless you ask?" Lois persisted. "Maybe he'd be honored to let someone of my reputation interview him."
Clark snorted. "Yeah, right. By 'your reputation' you mean someone who's going to filet him and serve him to the public for lunch."
Lois's mouth dropped open and she let out a little gasp of indignation. "Clark, that's not fair!"
Before she could protest further, Clark took a deep breath to calm his nerves and held up an apologetic hand. "I'm sorry; I didn't mean it like it sounded. I just meant that he probably doesn't want the world to know every little thing about him. Did you ever think of that? Maybe he has some secrets he doesn't want shared."
"Secrets?" Lois's ears perked up at the word. "You think he has secrets? I mean, I suspect he does, but I didn't know if you'd picked up on that, or--"
Clark sighed again and hurried to cut off her ramble before it turned into one of her full-fledged babbling episodes. "Lois, everyone has secrets. I'm sure he's just as opposed to sharing them as other people are about sharing theirs."
Just then Jimmy walked up and held out a stack of papers to Clark. "Here's that research you wanted. Let me know if you need anything else."
"Thanks, Jimmy," Clark answered as the young man hurried off to his next errand. He glanced down at the pages in his hand and skimmed the first couple of pages. "Hmmm, this is interesting. Hey, Lois, check this out."
Lois let out a noise of exasperation. "Clark, you're doing it again!"
He looked up, his forehead creased in confusion. "Doing what?"
She snatched the papers from his hand and scowled at him, daring him to protest. "I'm sure it's fascinating, Clark, but you're changing the subject! We were talking about Tights Guy, remember? Are you going to tell me how to get in contact with him or not?"
"Lois, I told you, I--"
Just then Clark looked out across the newsroom, his eyes not focused on anything in particular. Lois glanced the direction he was looking, then turned back to him in confusion when she didn't see anything out of the ordinary.
"What?" she demanded, trying to regain his attention. "You told me what?"
But Clark held up his hand and appeared to be listening to something. Suddenly, he turned back to her, his hand going to his tie and starting to fumble with the knot. "Umm, Lois, I've gotta go. I just remembered...something...that I've got to go take care of. I'll be back later."
"Wait a minute!" Lois protested, putting her hand on her hip in indignation. "You're not going to run off on me again like you did yesterday, are you? Where are you going? What about Friend Man?"
"Lunch!" he called over his shoulder as he turned and started jogging toward the elevator. "We'll talk at lunch!" And with that, he was gone.
Lois stared after the closed elevator doors and groaned in exasperation. 'What's with that guy?' she complained silently. 'I've only known him for two days, and twice already he's made some baffling excuse and run off, leaving me standing here staring after him.'
She glanced at her watch. What on earth was she supposed to do for the next few hours until lunch? Her head told her to hit the beat again and try to find that mysterious man in tights herself, but the idea of spending the morning chasing fruitlessly after him wasn't particularly appealing. No, she had a lead--even if that "lead" seemed to mysteriously disappear every time she brought up the subject of finding Metropolis's new media darling.
And as little as Clark Kent claimed to know about the super hero, she had the sneaking suspicion he wasn't telling her the whole truth. He knew something. And if it took everything she had, she was going to make sure she found out what it was.
**********
Clark spun into his blue and red suit and rocketed off the roof of the Daily Planet, heading toward 9th and Oxford where a bank robbery was apparently in progress. As many downfalls as there were to learning how to be this super hero, he could see that it definitely had its advantages, as well. An excuse to leave awkward situations was one of them.
He shook his head as he flew toward the robbery. Why did it seem like he was only avoiding one disaster to go to another one? Well, thankfully, a bank full of robbers and scared hostages seemed easier to handle than Lois Lane.
'Did you really just ask her to meet you for lunch?' the little voice in the back of his head scolded. 'What on earth possessed you to do that? You made the perfect getaway, dodged her questions about finding your alter ego.... All you had to do was leave without explanation and you would have been home free. But now you're going to be seeing her in less than three hours, and you know she's going to be asking the same questions. What were you thinking?'
That was just it, he realized. He hadn't been thinking. The words had tumbled out of his mouth before he had even realized he was saying them. He kept drawing Lois in when he knew he should be pushing her away. There was just something about her....
The memory of her standing at his desk that morning popped into his head without warning. Man, she had looked good. Her long, black skirt clung to her shapely hips and emphasized her slender waist, while the slits in each side gave tantalizing glimpses of long, shapely legs. The color made a startling contrast against her white silky blouse, which in turn set off her dark hair and eyes...and full red lips.
Clark frowned. Why couldn't he stop thinking about her? If he wasn't daydreaming about how beautiful she was, he was thinking about the other ways he found himself attracted to her. They seemed to have some...connection. He had sensed it many times the day before, and he was certain she had sensed it too. His heart seemed inexplicably in tune with hers, which was startingly why he'd been able to sense her arrival that morning without even looking up from his computer. They seemed to have a connection.
'But what does that mean?' Clark asked himself in wonder. 'It can't mean that we're supposed to be together, that's for sure. How could I be with her? She's set on revealing my secret. I can't let that happen...even if that means ignoring whether or not fate is trying to tell me something.'
Up ahead he caught sight of flashing police lights and knew he was nearing the scene of the crime. He had to concentrate. This was what he had decided to do with his powers, so this was what he needed to focus on. Even if thoughts of Lois Lane were proving to be impossible to eradicate from his mind.
With all the willpower he had, he forced her out of his head as he landed next to the police barricade and turned to the task at hand. Lunchtime would come entirely too soon, he knew. He only hoped he could come up with some more believable excuses by then.
**********
Lois looked down at her watch as she sat on a bench just outside of the Daily Planet's revolving front doors. It was almost one o'clock. Where was he?
She glanced anxiously up and down the street, hoping to catch sight of him approaching. If he didn't arrive soon, she was going to demand that Jimmy page him. Her time was ticking. If something didn't break in the next few hours, she was doomed. Her boss was not going to be happy if she went home empty handed.
Finally she caught sight of a familiar head of dark hair in the crowd not far from her. She practically jumped to her feet in relief. She hurried to close the distance between them, and finally pushed past the people separating them. She instantly noted the firm set to his jaw and the wary look in his eyes, but quickly filed it away for later. Right now, she had more important things to deal with.
"It's about time you showed up," she protested when she was finally standing next to him. "My editor called me twice this morning to ask what I had for him. I told him I was meeting your hero friend this afternoon. Please make that not be a lie."
The muscle in Clark's jaw tensed, and she couldn't decide if that meant he was nervous or angry. He seemed to be thinking about something, his expression a myriad of emotions. Then he took a deep breath and put on a smile. "Are you hungry? Let's get some lunch. What are you in the mood for?"
"Clark..." There was a warning tone in her voice. "You're changing the subject again."
"I'm not changing the subject," he objected a little too brightly. "I'm just hungry. There's a great sandwich place just down the street. Let's grab something to eat, then we can talk. "
Lois's shoulders rose and fell visibly as she sighed in resignation. "Fine. But if you run off on me one more time, I'm going to encase you in duct tape and throw you off the Metropolis bridge."
Clark chuckled in spite of himself. "The scary thing is, I believe you would."
"Darn right I would," she confirmed as they started off down the street.
Fifteen minutes later, Lois followed Clark to an empty spot on the lawn of Centennial Park not far from the Planet. The beautiful autumn day had brought out the lunch crowd in droves, and every bench in the park was occupied. Her mood mysteriously lightened by Clark's presence since they'd walked to the sandwich shop, she watched with a smile as Clark slipped out of the sleeves of his suit jacket and laid it, lining down, on the grass for her to sit on.
'Ever the gentleman,' she thought as she smoothed her skirt around her legs and settled down onto the smooth, gray fabric. Then she kicked off her high heels and tucked her stockinged feet up underneath her.
"Yours was such a noble gesture that I wouldn't want to ruin your jacket any more than this is already going to," Lois told Clark as she noticed him watching her movements.
He grinned. "It will be fine, don't worry." He turned his attention to unwrapping his sandwich and commented abstractedly, "Besides, if anything were to happen to it, it wouldn't be the first time I've had a jacket ruined."
Lois raised her eyebrows as she took a bite of her sandwich. "Oh? Care to elaborate on that?"
Clark's head jerked up as he realized what he'd just said. Instead of answering, he took a bite of his own lunch and shook his head. "Nothing. It's no big deal. I'm just hard on clothes, that's all."
If Lois had noticed his sudden discomfort, she didn't comment on it. Instead, she fixed Clark with an intent, unwavering stare. "Okay, Clark, in case you've already forgotten, I'd like to point out that we now have lunch, and are sitting in a park where nobody is going to interrupt us. I'd say this is as good a time as any for you to answer my questions. Are you going to tell me how to get hold of this super hero guy or not?" She waved her sandwich at him and added, "And don't you dare say you're not, because that would result in duct tape and a certain bridge we talked about earlier."
Clark's attempt at a smile failed, and he swallowed his bite of sandwich before he could choke on it. Then he stalled by taking a drink of his bottled water. He studied Lois carefully, seeing that determined, fixed look in her eye. That's when he knew. He was not getting out of this so easily. His mind quickly worked over his options. She was obviously not going to take no for an answer, nor did he seem physically capable of steering clear of her. Maybe he could arrange to meet her as Superman and watch his words? He was a reporter, himself; surely he could recognize and avoid any leading questions he saw coming. If worse came to worse, he could pretend to hear a cry for help and get out of there. Fast.
With one more look at her gaze, now more pleading than confident, he caved. When she had that look, he realized there was no way he could say no.
Finally, he sighed. "Fine, Lois. I'll see what I can do about getting hold of him."
"Yes!" Lois exclaimed, her face lighting up and creasing into a huge grin. "Clark, thank you. I promise I'll return the favor. Maybe I can help you with your investigation on that shipping company? We could compare notes and see if two heads really are better than one."
Clark's feeling of defeated resignation was quickly replaced by one of optimism. He liked her proposal. If he could get through this "interview" with her, he could focus on keeping in contact with her long distance. And long distance contact had to be safer than face-to-face contact, wasn't it? It was easier to keep a secret from someone you didn't see on a daily basis. And just as appealing, it would mean he could keep in contact with her even after she went home. He had to admit, the thought made his heart soar.
Just then he realized Lois was talking again, and he forced his attention back to her.
"If you can arrange a meeting for later this afternoon or evening," she was saying, "that would be great. Do you think he'd agree to that?"
"I'll see what I can do." He took another bite of his sandwich, and they fell into a comfortable silence as they ate their lunch and enjoyed the afternoon sunshine.
"Mmmm, this is nice," Lois murmured as she set her sandwich down for a moment to stretch out her stocking legs and rest back on her hands, her face tipped up to the sunshine. "It's not often I find a moment to stop and enjoy a fall day like this."
"Everyone should take a minute to stop and enjoy the day, especially a day like this one." Clark finished his sandwich and looked around at the business people around him, many of them talking on cell phones and conducting business while eating. "Maybe the world would be a less stressful place if everyone was less stressed."
Lois's eyes held a teasing glint as she took a drink of her bottled water. "What are you, a philosopher?"
Clark grinned sheepishly. "Sometimes."
"Well, I, for one, actually feel invigorated by work," Lois stated, looking around at the business people around them. "Which reminds me...what were you going to have me look at in the Planet?" At Clark's blank look, she clarified, "You know...the research Jimmy handed you?"
"Oh!" Clark exclaimed. "That's right. After our morning together yesterday, I had asked Jimmy to do a little more digging into Mesopotamia, Inc. I had him pull up financial records, a list of board members...things like that. I only got a brief look at what he handed me, but it seemed to confirm what I'd dug up yesterday afternoon. They appear to be a shell company."
"You're kidding!" Lois sat up straighter. "Were you able to tie them to another corporation?"
"Several," Clark admitted. "But for all I know, those could be shell companies, too. I'd have to do a lot of digging. Maybe with what you've learned in your investigation, and what I've gathered for mine, we could find some similarities that could point us in the right direction."
Lois nodded eagerly. "I agree. Whoever is behind this has obviously covered his or her tracks well. I wonder how deep this goes? I mean, to pull off this kind of scam, you'd have to have a lot of people on the inside--people at the insurance company, black marketers, the people shipping them the goods..." She paused, clearly thinking for a moment. "Do you have any idea where the diamond shipment came from? Maybe if we can find an invoice with a place of origin, we might be able to use that as a connection, as well."
"That's a good idea," Clark agreed. "Maybe that person or company would have shipped wares to the San Francisco area, as well?"
"Exactly what I was thinking. If we can make that connection, maybe it would help us tie them into the person behind Mesopotamia, Inc."
Clark crumpled his sandwich wrapper into a ball and lobbed it into a nearby garbage can. "What I don't get is the information Bobby gave us about word on the street regarding the board members getting a lot of the diamonds. What would they be doing with them?"
Lois shrugged. "Maybe it's a simple as the diamonds being their payment for orchestrating the whole thing."
"Let me get this straight." Clark furrowed his brow thoughtfully. "You think that maybe they were the ones who arranged to have the goods stolen--"
She nodded. "...and then found a way to sell them on the black market--"
"...making a sizeable profit," Clark continued, "while, at the same time, claiming the insurance money. And when all was said and done, nobody--"
"...would be the wiser," she finished for with a victorious grin. "It's perfect."
They sat there grinning at each other for a moment, enjoying the way their minds had worked off each other so perfectly.
Lois laughed, finally breaking the silence. "Do you think we knew each other in a previous life? Only people who know each other so well should be able to do what we just did."
"Finishing each other's sentences?"
"Yes!" She grinned and shook her head. "Weird. Anyway," she emphasized, turning back to the subject at hand. "I think if we put our heads together and go over each other's research, we can get to the bottom of this."
Clark chuckled and shook his head. "I can't wait. I have a feeling, though, that whoever is behind Mesopotamia, Inc. is going to regret the day you ever got hold of this information."
Lois beamed. "Well, thank you. But it won't be just me who would take them down. We're talking a joint investigation, remember?"
"How could I forget?" Clark smiled. "I get the feeling you don't partner with people very much, though."
"I don't. Not for long, anyway." She made a face. "The times that my editor has told me to work with somebody, it's never worked out."
"Why not?" Clark looked at her curiously.
She shrugged. "I'm not the easiest person to work with. I work long hours, demand one hundred and ten percent effort, and never settle for second best."
He raised an eyebrow. "Pretty high standards."
"Hey, I don't ask for any less than I give," she defended herself. "At any rate, either my latest partner or I are in my editor's office by the end of the day, asking to get out of it." She paused, then a slow smile worked its way across her face. "Perry seemed to think we would work together. He told me he'd been planning on partnering us up while I was in town."
Clark's eyes widened in surprise. "You're kidding."
But Lois shook her head as she took a swig of her bottled water. "No, I'm not," she insisted with a smile when she lowered her bottle. "I told him I worked alone, so he didn't press the issue. Still, I think that's interesting, since we're sitting here having lunch together. Maybe he thought we would make a good team."
"I'd say he was right, wouldn't you?"
Their gazes met and held, and a look passed between them that made Lois's heart stop. Then Clark shifted his position on the grass and changed the subject.
"Here we are, talking business during our lunch hour instead of relaxing." He flashed her a smile. "Didn't we just talk about the evils of doing that just a short time ago?"
Lois laughed. "I think we did. To be honest, though, I actually feel invigorated by the thrill of the hunt, so to speak."
Clark nodded in agreement. "I do, too. But don't you ever feel like just taking time off? Leaving all your work behind and doing something different for a change?"
"Not really," Lois admitted as she finished her sandwich and crumbled her empty wrapper into a ball and tried to toss it into the garbage can as Clark had. She missed.
Clark laughed as he reached for the wrapper and tossed it into the garbage for her. "I don't think the NBA will be pounding down your door any time soon."
She threw a handful of grass at him. "Watch it, buster."
He steered the conversation back to her answer. "You don't ever feel the need to get away? To quit working for a while?"
"No. I can count the number of times I've thought about taking a vacation on one hand, and I wouldn't need any fingers to count the number of times I've actually taken one." She smiled wryly. "Seriously, though, work is what I do. It's all I really know."
"What do you mean?" Clark ventured, more than a little curious. "Don't you have friends you do things with back home?"
Lifting her water bottle to her lips, she took a long drink before responding. "Not really. I have a couple of co-workers I get together with from time to time for dinner or a movie or something, but I don't know that I would really call them friends. If I ever want to be with somebody who understands me, there's always Agnes."
Clark's eyebrows lifted. "Agnes? Who's that? A relative?"
That made Lois chuckle. "No, though I suppose we both think of her as a surrogate something. She's my neighbor. She's eighty-four going on twenty, and I've known her since I moved into my apartment building many years ago." Her grin broadened and she shook her head. "She's quite a character."
"Sounds like you're close," Clark observed.
Lois nodded. "We are. But what about you? Do you have a lot of friends you do things with?"
"A few." Clark brushed a few stray crumbs from his slacks as he continued. "I haven't been in Metropolis very long. Just over six months. I didn't know anybody in town, so it was a little hard at first. But Perry kind of took me under his wing and showed me the ropes. He trusted me with some bigger stories, and I met a lot of people. I play poker one night a week with Perry and some other co-workers, and Jimmy and I quite often go to ballgames together."
"Sounds nice," Lois said.
"It is. And then there's my parents." He smiled and shook his head. "They were so thrilled when I told them I'd gotten a job at the Planet, since Metropolis isn't that far from my home town. It's closer than Africa or Europe, at least, where I've worked in the past. I'm an only child, and fussing over me is their favorite thing to do. I don't mind, though. We're really close."
Lois's smile slipped a bit, and Clark noticed. Lois averted her gaze from his curious stare and started fiddling with a long blade of grass. "I think that's great. You're really lucky."
It was quiet for a moment, but then Clark pressed on, curious to her sudden change in demeanor. "What about you? Are you close to your family?"
Lois felt the sensation of tears prickling at the backs of her eyes, and she kept her gaze on the grass between her fingers. She didn't dare look up for fear that seeing sympathy in Clark's gaze would send her tumbling from her precarious emotional precipice.
"I was," she said at last. "My mom and dad and younger sister were killed in a car accident when I was fifteen."
She heard Clark's sudden intake of air and then he fell silent. Finally feeling strong enough to look up, she met his pained expression with her own.
Clark's voice was sincere and full of compassion when he whispered, "I'm sorry. I didn't know."
Lois lifted one shoulder in a half shrug and attempted a tremulous smile. "How could you have known? It's okay, really. It happened a long time ago."
Clark didn't say anything right away, and Lois concentrated on the sound of the afternoon breeze rustling the leaves of the nearby trees. When Clark did speak again, his voice was soft, compassionate. "That must have been so hard. What did you do? Who took care of you?"
Lois took a deep to breath to reclaim her emotions. "My great aunt was the only family I had on this side of the country, so she took me in for a couple of years, but she wasn't in the best of health. When her doctors recommended she be placed in a health care facility, I went out on my own for most of my senior year."
She paused to pull up a few blades of grass, then rolled them absently between her fingers as she went on. "I bounced around a bit, staying with different friends for short periods of time while I worked a couple of jobs--one in the evenings and another on the weekends. It was tough, but I refused to let me school work slip. I had a lot of sleepless nights as I stayed up late to finish my homework." She smiled, but there was little humor in it. "It paid off, though, and I graduated with Valedictorian honors. I got several scholarships, and between those and the money I'd managed to save while working, I was able to put myself through college."
"Didn't you have an inheritance, or get anything from their life insurance policies?"
"That would have been nice," Lois agreed, "but the ironic thing was, as smart as my parents were, they were never very practical. My dad was a scientist and my mom was a nurse, so they made a decent living, but they put most of their earnings into funding my dad's research. There wasn't much left to inherit. To make matters worse, they'd let their life insurance policy lapse several months before the accident and never got around to renewing it. No, I was pretty much on my own."
Clark sat frozen for several moments, stunned. He'd had no idea she'd been through what she had. His heart ached for her loss. No wonder she was so fiercely independent and extremely determined. She'd been on her own for a long time and had learned that she had no one else to rely on but herself. It was definitely a testament to her strength of character that she'd managed to come through it all so successfully. It also made him realize how wrong he'd been to judge her as cold, hard, and ruthless, the stop-at-nothing-to-get-a-story Lane he figured her to be. Inside, she was just as alone and hurting as he was.
Clark blinked back sudden tears at the connection and cleared his throat. "Wow," he said at last. "I hope this doesn't sound trite, but I'm impressed at what you've managed to accomplish. I don't think there are many people who would have made it through what you have."
"Oh, I don't know about that," Lois answered shyly, downplaying his compliment. "Besides, people don't choose the trials that come their way. You simply do your best to play the hand you've been dealt."
Clark thought of his unusual powers and his life-long quest to discover who he was and his purpose on earth, and he found himself nodding. "True enough. How you come through it, though, proves the kind of person you are. I'd say it proves you're a fighter."
This time, a genuine smile--albeit small--broke through. "There you go, philosophizing again."
Clark smiled back. "Sorry. I honestly believe that, though." His smiled started to fade, though, and he studied her with new interest. His voice was hushed, almost reverent, when he continued. "Do you miss them?"
She nodded, but tried to keep her tone even as she spoke to hide the deep well of emotion that the topic brought. "Sometimes more than others. Especially my sister. Lucy and I always had a lot of fun together. She was only fourteen months younger than me, and my parents both worked so much that we spent a lot of time entertaining ourselves."
"What about your parents?" Clark asked. "Were you as close to them as you were to Lucy?"
"Not as close. Like I said, they weren't home very much, but we did love each other." She suddenly smiled nostalgically as a memory surfaced. "We used to take these really great family trips every summer. In fact, our last trip we took together as a family was here to Metropolis to visit some of my dad's distant relatives. We were only here for two days, but some of the buildings and places are so familiar that it makes me remember--"
At the sudden thickness if her throat, Lois cut off her sentence and cleared her throat. In an effort to hide the fresh tears springing into her eyes, she turned to watch a squirrel near the trees a short distance away, his tail twitching nervously as he moved in quick stops and starts across the manicured lawn.
Clark seemed to sense she wasn't ready to continue, so he waited patiently in silence, his gaze moving to the squirrel she seemed to intent on. When it finally reached a tree and scurried up the rough bark, Lois spoke again, her voice wistful and longing.
"Anyway, as families sometimes are, they were kind of a pain, but...well...." She trailed off as her voice caught, and she shrugged. "I loved them."
It was quiet for a minute. Finally, Clark said softly, "I can tell. Sometimes I forget how lucky I am to have parents who are still so much a part of my life. It makes me feel almost guilty to have what you don't."
Lois's stomach twisted at his words, and she silently scolded herself for getting emotional. She hadn't meant to make him feel bad, and she suddenly wished she'd never said anything. She forced a smile and waved a hand as if dismissing his concern. "Oh, don't feel guilty. I don't have it all that bad. After all, it's not like I don't have anybody. I have Agnes. She's been kind of a surrogate mother to me. She's my best cheerleader." Lois smiled again, trying to brighten the solemn mood that had fallen over their conversation.
But Clark didn't smile. His eyes seemed to be staring into the depths of her soul, and she found herself squirming under the intensity of his gaze. "Do you always do that?" he asked seriously, his eyes full of concern and compassion.
Lois frowned. "Do what?"
"Try to pretend something doesn't upset you?"
His eyes were searching, and Lois felt the wall of defense around her tender emotions start to crumble. She looked away. "It doesn't do any good to dwell on the past. I chose a career that I'm good at and enjoy, so I focus on that."
"I'm not saying you don't enjoy what you're doing," Clark clarified. "I'm just saying you don't have to pretend your past doesn't hurt to think about. There's a world full of people out there, Lois, many of who are eager to listen and understand. It's not a crime to admit you're hurting."
Her pent-up emotions looking for release, they finally came out in the form of anger. "Don't try to tell me how I should deal with things, okay? I'm doing just fine!" She scrambled to her feet and refused to look at Clark as he got up beside her. She grabbed her shoes and started to jam her feet into them. Then she bent over to snatch Clark's suit jacket off the ground at the same time he bent over to reach for it, and their heads clunked together.
"Ow!" Lois protested, putting a hand to her head as she straightened up quickly. She glared angrily at Clark as he straightened up beside her.
"Sorry," he mumbled, a flash of red starting to creep across his cheeks. He reached for the jacket she was clutching in her hand. As he did, their hands brushed. A jolt of electricity passed between them, and they both pulled back, startled.
Lois looked up shyly, and their eyes met. She stared into Clark's beautiful brown eyes and found herself transfixed by the gentleness and compassion she saw there, shining through from the depths of his soul. She was aware of Clark lifting a hand to her face, but she found herself unable to move, unable to breathe, as the world around her faded into a misty haze. The only thing that remained in focus was the man in front of her.
At the feel of Clark's hand on her cheek, she closed her eyes briefly at his touch, savoring the sensation of his thumb stroking her cheek lightly. When she opened them again, she found Clark's gaze still upon her, an intensity there that hadn't been there before.
"I am sorry," he whispered, his words so quiet they were almost lost on the breeze. "I didn't mean to upset you. I just meant...well, I know it might sound strange, since we've only known each other two days, but...I do care. If you ever want to talk, just let me know, okay?"
Lois nodded wordlessly. He was right; it did sound strange, to have a virtual stranger tell you he cared, that he wanted to listen. But something about Clark just felt right; she couldn't explain it. And the way he was touching her.... Something about it reached clear down to her soul, and she found herself feeling uncomfortably vulnerable.
Perhaps sensing her emotions and recognizing them as his own, an unspoken need passed between them, drawing them closer. Imperceptibly, Clark closed the distance between them, his face nearing hers, causing her breath to catch in her throat. When his lips were only a breath away, she found her gaze drawn to them, full and enticing. Her already pounding heartbeat quickened further as his lips parted. Lois closed her eyes in anticipation, awaiting the touch of his lips to hers...
BZZZZZZZ!!!!
Clark jumped back, and Lois looked around startled. Then Clark muttered under his breath as he looked down and pulled his buzzing cell phone from his belt clip and flipped it open. "Yes?" he grumbled, holding it to his ear.
Lois stepped back and wrapped her arms around herself as she turned away to give him a little privacy. She hugged her arms tightly against herself in an effort to calm her shaking. 'What almost happened?' she asked herself anxiously. 'Did we really almost kiss?'
Her lips tightened into a frown and she took a small step away as she realized that, yes, that was exactly what had almost happened.
'But why?' she asked herself, still feeling stunned. 'You've only known him for two days. That hardly sounds like you, letting someone get that close to you so fast...especially a man!'
Before she could scold herself for being impetuous, she heard Clark snap his phone closed and she turned back to him. He was frowning.
"Sorry," he said for what seemed like the hundredth time in only a matter of minutes. "That was Jimmy. They need me back at work."
Lois averted her gaze and nodded, letting her hands fall to her sides. Wordlessly, she bent over to pick up her lunch wrappers, then walked over to put them in the garbage can. Clark did the same, and as she turned to start walking back to the Planet, Clark's hand on her arm stopped her.
"Lois."
His soft voice compelled her to look up. With a wary expression, she met his gaze and saw the confusion clearly written across his face. He cleared his throat as the awkwardness hung heavily in the air around them. Then he spoke again, this time his voice firm, yet still sincere.
"I mean what I said. If you need to talk--"
She forced a smile she didn't feel amidst the raging confusion seeping through her body, then nodded. "Thanks, Clark. For now, though, let's just head back to the Planet. It sounds like you have work to do." Then her voice became more business-like as she forced the unsettling emotions from the surface. "You need to get in touch with Mr. Super Hero for me, too, remember?"
Clark sighed, the mood of before now broken. "I know, Lois. I'll see what I can do."
**********
to be continued in part 11 on Friday...
