from last time...
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lois shut the light off in her room and climbed into bed, not wanting to take off her comfortable sweatshirt and sweatpants. She pulled the covers over her tightly and let out a long breath. She shut her eyes and was surprised by the images that filled her mind. For the first time all day, she was able to see Clark…
….smiling… happy…
Clark…
****************
****************
*** “I’m telling you, we kissed. Don’t make me repeat it again, mom!”
“You kissed Lois? The same Lois you’ve been going on and on about for days?” his mother said.
“I have not been going on and on about her! But we work together so naturally I would talk about her a little…”
“Sure, son,” his father said, humor in his voice.
“I mean, we didn’t kiss because we wanted to or anything… it was a pretense. A ruse. For the story,” he explained.
“Uh huh,” his mother said, as if taking this in, very seriously.
“Now Martha, if that is all Clark says it was, then I am sure that is all it was,” Jonathan said, although Clark was not sure his father was being entirely genuine.
“Bye guys,” Clark said, laughing at his parents now.
“How was it?” his mother asked, coyly.
“I’m hanging up now.”
“Clark,” his mother said, urging him to give her SOMETHING.
“It was good, okay? Now, I’m going,” he said, shaking his head, but not able to stop smirking himself.
“Bye Clark,” his mother barely got out, she was laughing so hard.
“Bye son,” his dad said, sounding close to the same state as his mother was in.
“Bye,” Clark said, hanging up, shaking his head again.
“It was good?” he said to himself. He knew THAT was a lie. It was unbelievable. Up there in the plane, his lips touching hers for the first time, it was…
…better than flying…***
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
HAVE A LITTLE FAITH IN ME
PART 15
Lois awoke to a new day… a sunny day. She smiled. This was more like it. She felt, somewhere deep inside, that this day was going to be a much better day than the nightmare that preceded it.
She stumbled out of bed, her hair messed up and threw a robe around herself, stumbling sleepily into the living room. She quickly noticed the couch was empty, the blanket she had lent to her visitor folded nicely atop it.
“I hope you’re hungry,” Jack said, as he walked into her apartment, a bag with wonderful smelling food, in his hand. Lois smiled.
“Could you hear my stomach rumbling from in here?” she asked.
“Well I was starving,” he explained, “and figured you must be too. I didn’t eat barely a thing yesterday, and you had it worse than me.”
Lois thought back. She realized she hadn’t eaten yesterday. At all. In all the craziness and in her despair over the situation, food and nourishment was far from on her mind. “You’re right. I didn’t eat,” she said. She looked up at him. “Maybe you’ve never seen me when I’m REALLY hungry, but standing there with great-smelling food and not putting it in such a way that I can eat it is NOT the best course of action! I would think Clark would have taught you that, if nothing else!” she joked, to which he cracked a smile.
“Point taken,” he said, and made himself at home in the kitchen, finding two plates and silverware.
They ate mostly in silence, but Lois realized that she felt much better than she had in previous days. She had slept last night and surprisingly soundly. She realized she probably slept more last night than in all of the nights of the week combined.
She ate quickly, as did Jack, to speed up the process of getting to the hospital. Visiting hours were starting in about two hours, and she didn’t want to waste any time being away from Clark. He still needed her by his side; and she needed to be near him, just as much.
“Jack?” Lois said, after a long silence.
“Mm?” Jack said, looking up from his dish.
“What was Clark like in those last couple of days before the wedding?”
She had been fearing the answer, but wondering all the same. She knew that he was miserable in those days, like her, but still… she wanted to know more. Morbid curiosity or the reporter in her led her to ask the young man.
“He was okay… sort of,” Jack answered. “I mean, we all knew that he was in love with you, so the impending nuptials weren’t exactly making the romantic boy scout in him come out. He was darker than I had ever seen him,” he said, not looking at Lois. He was looking around, seeming to be thinking back. “Not dark exactly… but dark for Clark. You know he’s such a laid back and calm guy. He works and he works hard, but he loves to just sit back when he can and relax. Well, in those last few days, he worked like a machine. I don’t think he slept at all. He just wanted to get Luthor; get everything he had on him. He didn’t stop. He didn’t eat, didn’t laugh or smile really. When your name came up, he was distant and would look a little defeated, but then it’s like he would remember what was at stake if he failed, and he would work even harder.” Jack looked at Lois, at that moment, and seemed to be studying her—reading her mind. “He never stopped loving you, if that’s what you think. Believe me.”
“How do you know?” Lois said quietly, almost ashamedly, staring at her lap while she talked.
Jack shook his head with a wistful smile. “You never saw a guy more in love than Clark. Anyone who looked at him knew it. Perry, Jimmy and I would see the look on his face when anyone would accidentally say your name. You couldn’t miss it. We’d look at each other, all thinking the same thing. ‘That poor guy’s got it bad.’”
Lois smiled sadly. It was comforting to know that he hadn’t stopped loving her, even the day before her wedding and after how she had treated him. But that is what made her sad at the same time. She had been treating him awfully during that time! How she now wished she could have put her arms around him and gave him the comfort in his heart that he had so often put in hers, by telling him that it was okay. That he wasn’t alone. That she loved him. She had been feeling that, but hadn’t acted on it. And he had died… never knowing. Never feeling her love.
But now… he was alive! She had been given the miracle of a second chance… and she was so close to not getting that miracle. Well, she had learned her lesson. He would never go another day without knowing of the strength and force of her feelings; of her love for him. That she vowed to herself. And Lois Lane did not break vows to herself.
“I’m gonna shower and then we’ll get going,” Lois said, feeling rejuvenated just thinking about the miracle she’d been given.
************
************
*** “Mom, not about Lois again!”
“Oh, honey, we’re just saying, we are glad we finally met her. Now we can picture her if you ever happen to maybe mention her in one of your stories about Metropolis, writing, stories, the Daily Planet, the love of your life being your partner—“
“Mom!”
Clark had to laugh at his mother’s lack of subtlety. She never had subtlety and he knew it. And she didn’t even really try to hide it, either.
“Well, honestly, Clark! If you are telling us a story that involves Lois’s eyes—“
“Because I am constantly telling stories that involve Lois’s eyes—“
“—we don’t have to ask what color they are or any other questions, because we know they’re blue—“
“Brown,” Clark said instinctively. Almost protectively. He thought her eyes were the most beautiful eyes he had ever seen. Vulnerable and deep; at times childlike, but at other times as sophisticated as royalty’s. Brown, warm eyes she had. And his instinct to correct his mother on her mistake, contrived as it probably was, even surprised him. There was no joking when it came to any part of Lois Lane…
Especially her eyes…
His mother was silent, but he could practically HEAR her smiling…***
******************
******************
Lois stood outside the building that used to be the Daily Planet, looking at it wistfully. She still had plenty of time before visiting hours started at the hospital, and something had just compelled her to stop at the Planet. Jack was sitting on the curb a couple of feet away, letting her grieve over the loss of the Planet alone.
“Lois? I didn’t think you’d come by here,” Perry said, as Lois turned to see him and Jimmy approaching.
“I just wanted to look around. After that day… I haven’t been back. I’ve avoided any route to any place where I would have to pass this. And remember,” Lois explained sadly to her friend and former boss.
“I know. Me too. I just felt like being here now.”
“Strange we all came at the same time,” Jimmy said. “The whole gang together… well, almost the whole gang,” he said, trailing off.
Clark’s absence, standing in front of the Planet with Perry and Jimmy and Jack was loud. It was startlingly, yet simultaneously not at all surprisingly, loud. It wasn’t the same without him.
“I’m gonna miss this place,” Lois said, sadly, after a pause.
“That man caused so much destruction,” Jimmy said. “He killed the Planet and Superman, and maybe Clark too…”
Lois closed her eyes, her heart breaking again at the thought that Lex had done all that Jimmy was saying and more and she had almost married him.
Perry looked at Lois, looking sympathetic but distracted. “I just hate it that Luthor got his way in so many things. The only thing he didn’t get was you, Lois.”
Lois looked at her hands, thinking of how close she had come… how no one had stepped in to save her this time… she was glad to know that in the end, her heart saved her and she didn’t make the biggest mistake of her life. But how she wished it could have saved her just a day or two earlier. That she hadn’t been so stubborn and blind for so long.
“Things could eventually go back to normal,” Perry said, as if to no one in particular, “but the Daily Planet is gone forever… and that will never be normal.”
“I don’t know about that,” a deep voice said.
They all turned to see a prominent-looking man approaching. Lois didn’t recognize him.
“Mr. Stern?” Perry asked. He recognized him.
“As in Franklin Stern?” Lois asked.
“I heard about what Lex Luthor did to the Planet, about the whole scandal, and, well… one more nail in Lex Luthor’s coffin would suit me just fine.”
“What are you saying?” Perry asked, looking like he was just daring to hope… even a little.
“I am saying that Metropolis needs the Daily Planet and I want to rebuild it. I have a list here of the key players that I want to return to their roles on the paper. If we can get ninety percent of this list back, we’re in good shape…”
He handed the list to Perry. “That won’t be a problem, Mr. Stern. Most of the employees never even left. Not really,” Perry said with conviction.
“And of course, we will use this as an opportunity to make some modernizations,” Mr. Stern said.
“Modernizations?” Perry handed the paper to Lois and walked away, asking Franklin Stern exactly what he meant my ‘modernizations.’ But she knew, Perry would agree to almost anything, he was so happy at the moment to have that little piece of home back in his life. Or the promise of it.
She looked at the list. There they were. Lois Lane. Clark Kent.
She smiled. Any other employee that had only been at a paper for merely a year would not, most likely, be asked to return under these circumstances. At a quick glance, she could tell there would be cut-backs. Everyone she could think of that started around the same time as Clark, or after, were not on the returning list. She could already see various names missing of older employees that she could think of. But they wanted Clark back. In such a short amount of time, he had made himself virtually indispensable. He was, granted, crucial to her life and well-being, but also, this paper declared, to the Planet as well. She wasn’t surprised. From the beginning, he had proven himself to everyone. Proven he was a capable reporter, worthy of the most important stories, worthy of the partnership of Lois Lane, award-winning experienced reporter, and worthy of the friendship of pretty much all the Planet employees he had ever met. He always remembered names, after only hearing them once. He remembered every detail from his conversations with them, so in future conversations, he could ask for updates on certain aspects of their lives. People trusted him and respected him. There was a point where he no longer needed to prove himself to anyone. He did so anyway. He never acted like things were different, just because he had finally gained the respect he deserved. But he no longer had to worry that he didn’t have it. No one felt that he didn’t deserve the high status he had quickly achieved. No one felt jealous of his close friendship with her, or even Perry. He quietly but persistently, with his work ethics and ways, made himself vital to the newspaper he so wanted to be a part of, just as he had done with her and with everyone else. He was so special…
Looking at their names, on the same line on this paper, she realized something that amazed her. She wanted him to win an award. He was a great reporter and had written so many good stories! With her and without her. Normally, she would want more awards for herself, even if just to add more prestige and respect to the name ‘Lois Lane’. But right now, she found herself thinking that she would give up all her awards if he could be recognized for the wonderful reporter he was and get an award as well. She knew it would mean a lot to him. She also knew, she realized, with a twisted smile, that if he won an award over her, he would probably assume there was a miscount. She knew he thought that highly of her.
She looked up from the paper, finally, in time to see Franklin Stern pull a sheet off of a structure to reveal the new Daily Planet globe that would hang on the building, once it was ready. She smiled at the beautiful site, wishing Clark could see it too, and know that another one of his investigations, perhaps his biggest of all, had gone successfully to create this moment.
Looking at the globe, she realized somberly that if none of this had happened, and Clark WAS nominated for an award and she wasn’t, her first instinct would be to be jealous and compare their stories, grasp at straws to explain what could have gone wrong that he was nominated and she wasn’t. She would want to be a bigger person, of course, and in the end, she really would be happy for him, but her first instinct would definitely be low and childlike. She hated herself for that. She could just see it. Both her and Clark would assume she would get nominated, and when she didn’t but he did, they would both be shocked. Where he would have been genuinely happy for her, she would be shocked and bordering on mortified at the turn of events. Now, after almost throwing her life away, and then seeing his life hanging in the balance, with such dreams as winning just that first award possibly never being able to come true, she had changed. Even before his life had been hanging in the balance, she had changed. She had looked at their relationship and at him as a person with a new eye. What she discovered about him and about herself had changed her. She suddenly embraced him as more than the amazing friend he already was. She loved him. Not like a brother or even like a friend. She loved him with all her heart. Clark Kent, who was just as important as her, as far as the Planet was concerned. She loved him wholly and selflessly. And that realization shifted things where he was concerned. She no longer felt that slight sense of competition with him professionally. Even knowing he was her partner, they worked on stories separately and it was only then that her competitive nature would fire up. But now, she was proud of that work that he did on his own. She could never deny, even early on when she wanted to, that he was an amazing writer. He had a style completely different from her own, a fact that made their partnership work even better, and he wrote in facts, yet from the heart. He didn’t write what she referred to as ‘fluff pieces’, but real news-worthy stories as well as interesting features. He just had a voice in his writing that pulled the reader in, because you could feel the truth and conviction in every word, as if you were present in his heart as the words spilled from him onto that computer screen.
How she only wanted the opportunity to read more of his writing. To connect with him in that intimate way that she felt she connected with him when she would read his articles. How she only wanted the chance to write more with him. To collaborate and produce something so wonderful together, that reading it gave her a feeling of amazement she had never known before.
She looked at her watch. Visiting hours were starting in a couple of minutes. “I’m going to get going. I have somewhere to be,” she said to Jimmy and Jack, as Perry was quite busy planning a new and improved Daily Planet with its owner.
“I’m gonna stay here. Make sure Perry doesn’t ruin this whole thing by yelling too much at Mr. Stern about the modernizations,” Jimmy said and Lois nodded, smiling.
“Can I come with you?” Jack asked.
Lois gave him a little smile. “Of course.”
*****************
“My, Clark was clumsy that night,” Martha said after Jack gave them the long-and-short of how he knew Clark’s secret.
The four of them, Lois, Jack, Martha and Jonathan, were piled in Lois’s jeep heading for the hospital.
“It’s hard to not be clumsy when emotions are involved,” Lois offered in Clark’s defense. “I mean, most of why Henderson knows the secret is because of the extent of my reaction. I was warning you guys not to act like it was Clark in there… dead… but all the warnings in the world couldn’t have prevented me from reacting the way I did. And that’s what gave me away.”
“I’m sure our reactions gave it away too for Inspector Henderson,” Jonathan added.
Lois nodded casually, not wanting to admit that Henderson had said that it was her reaction, plus the looks on Clark’s parents’ faces that made the truth really ring clear for him.
“Well, you don’t have to worry about me telling anybody,” Jack said. “Clark’s like a big brother to me. A good friend. I’d never betray him by telling anyone.”
Martha and Jonathan smiled at Jack, nodding in a way that said they believed him and trusted him.
“Finally,” Lois said, pulling up to the hospital. She threw her keys at the valet parking officer as she ran inside.
She immediately located Henderson. He looked at the three people entering with Lois.
“Lois, I see your entourage is growing,” he said.
“Funny,” Lois said. “Bill, this is Jack, another friend of…” she looked around, and saw a few people that were close enough to them, even if they weren’t listening. “Another friend in the loop,” she settled for.
“He sure has a few of those,” Henderson said.
“More than he knows about, that’s for sure,” Lois agreed. “Has there been any change?” Lois asked, hopeful.
“Well, not exactly,” Henderson said, walking with them toward Clark’s room.
“What do you mean ‘not exactly’?” Lois asked.
“I’ll let the doctor explain. He’s in there now,” he said. “I have to check on a few things. I’ll be back in a little while.”
Henderson left the four of them outside Clark’s door. Not needing any more encouragement, Lois walked inside, immediately locating Clark, who still lay, still as ever, on that same bed, receiving natural sunlight again. She could hear the wonderful sounds of the heart monitor beeping steadily in the background.
The doctor looked up when they entered. “Lois, correct?” he asked.
“You remembered,” Lois said, knowing she had made quite a scene yesterday and wouldn’t soon be forgotten. “Inspector Henderson said there was some news you might be able to explain?” she urged.
“Oh, right. Well I wouldn’t call it news. It’s normal for coma patients,” the doctor started.
Lois winced at the thought that Clark… her Clark, her partner and best friend, who she bantered with daily for so long and got so close to… was a coma patient. Anything was better than him being dead… but still, the thought of this man lying in a deep coma was almost as unbearable.
“We can tell from his brainwaves that he was dreaming last night,” the doctor explained.
“Dreaming?” Lois asked, as Martha, Jonathan and Jack took seats against the wall, to let Lois deal with the doctor.
“Yes. On and off. Either dreaming or remembering. Either way, his brain was active. That is a good sign. He’s been in the same state now for a few hours. He hasn’t dreamed again. Uh, yet, that is. But the fact that he is dreaming at all… well, it just shows that he is not as far away as he was earlier in the day yesterday.”
Lois let out a small breath. This was definitely good news. It was a promise from Clark, in a way, that he was finding his way back to her.
“If you’ll excuse me, I have a few other things to attend to. I’ll be back shortly,” the doctor said, leaving them alone in the room with Clark.
Lois walked up to the bed and looked down at him. He had his head tilted to the side. His lips were parted a little, and she could see a little white peeking out from behind them. Those pearly whites that he flashed at her so often. Ahh… that smile. She wanted to see it so badly. He looked so at peace, she thought, like he was sleeping.
“Good morning,” Lois said to him, touching his face.
“He’s so still,” Jack said, walking up to the bed, looking a little shaken.
“I know,” Lois said, remembering how emotionally draining it was to be near Clark in this condition. “But he’s better than he was. And he’ll just keep getting better,” she said, looking into his beautiful face again, just willing his eyes to open and look at her. He was breathing so gently, via a machine still.
“It’s so weird to see Superman like this,” Jack said. “Even knowing he’s… well even so… he’s Superman.”
Lois looked at Jack, who was just staring at Clark, like he was afraid of him.
“His color looks better,” Jonathan said, as he and Martha walked toward the bed now too.
“It does,” Martha agreed. She pulled something out of her bag.
“What’s that?” Lois asked, seeing that familiar brilliant blue of Clark’s Superman outfit in her hands. She took one of Clark’s hands and placed one of her hands under it, so it rested on her. It felt so warm. So much warmer than yesterday.
Martha opened the material she was holding, revealing the ‘S’ of his shirt, in perfect order. “I took it home last night, and sewed it back up. He can’t afford to lose any of these outfits. As it is, he’s ruined a few for good because of oil spills and bombs.”
Lois had to stifle the urge to laugh at what a bizarre family the Kents actually were, talking about ruining his clothes in bombs and oil spills the way most mothers might refer to dirt or grass stains.
Martha gave Clark a kiss on the forehead and looked at him lovingly, while Jonathan stood close by, also gazing at his son with much love in his eyes.
“Jonathan, why don’t we get some breakfast? We didn’t eat anything this morning,” she explained to Lois.
“Sure,” he said.
Lois looked at Jack, who wasn’t looking at Clark. He really looked afraid of him. “Um, maybe I’ll come with you. It’ll just be a few minutes, right?” Lois asked the Kents.
“Yeah, we just need something; we’re starving,” Martha answered.
“Jack, keep an eye on him, okay?” Lois said, walking with the Kents out of the room.
He turned, opening his mouth, to argue surely, but Lois escorted the Kents quickly out the door, leaving the young man alone with Clark.
******************
“I just think that Jack needs to maybe talk to Clark or be with him, one-on-one, so he won’t be afraid. I mean, I’m still afraid myself, but not at the sight of Clark. Not anymore. I feel… I mean, I know… that he’ll be okay. I think he needs to realize that on his own,” Lois explained to the Kents, as they made their way to the cafeteria.
She didn’t want to stay away for more then five or ten minutes. She needed to sit with Clark and hold his hand. Make him and will him to come back.
To her…
******************
Jack finally mustered up the courage to look at Clark. Really look at him. He watched his steady breaths, which were small and quiet, and aided by a machine. He looked at the expressionless face of his friend, who was usually so animated around him… always smiling and joking and encouraging and supporting…
He was in a coma.
Coma…
The word seemed so scary. Maybe that is why he couldn’t look at him. Less than twelve hours ago, he thought his friend was dead. Gone forever. But then he learned that it wasn’t true. He would be okay, he told himself. In the meantime, however, he was in this scary coma. Looking so still. Eyes closed, breathing slow, face expressionless. The word scared him.
The more he looked at him, the more it looked like Clark was just sleeping, though. A coma wasn’t so scary, if he really looked at him and faced it. He was alive and it was obvious. That alone made it less scary to face. Lex Luthor hadn’t won and killed this amazing person and friend. Clark’s strength won, in the end, and saved him. He was breathing. Heart beats heard on a monitor.
Beep… beep…
He was alive.
Just sleeping.
Jack pulled a chair up beside the bed and looked at Clark again.
“Clark. It’s me, Jack,” he started, his voice shaky and unsure. He looked around, rethinking this whole talking thing. He looked back at Clark and just knew. He had to.
“I want you to know that it worked. Our investigation. Luthor would have gone to jail if he hadn’t gotten himself killed,” he said, a little humor in his voice, even though his words and their meaning were serious. He was beginning to feel more comfortable talking to Clark now. He felt, almost intrinsically that he could hear him, which made talking to him less nerve-wracking.
“He lost, Clark. He never got away with all those horrible things. He never killed you. He never got Lois. Before we charged into the church, she called the wedding off herself. Can you believe it? All that work to stop her from marrying that monster and criminal, and she ended it on her own terms. It was because of you, too. Not Superman… well not the powers, I mean. She is in love with you, Clark. You should see her; she’s a mess. She went through hell and back yesterday, thinking you were…you were… well, you’re not, anyway. We all went through hell, by the way.”
Jack put his hand through his hair and looked at Clark, shaking his head. “When you didn’t come back all night, me, Perry, Jimmy… we all knew. You were in trouble and Luthor was behind it. We had no way of helping you, though. We didn’t know where you were all day and we didn’t know where to look for you. We had just proven we were dealing with a mastermind of crime, who covers his tracks immaculately well, that only intense, week-long or so investigating could lead a person to find the truth on one given matter. We knew we couldn’t find you and that something had probably already happened anyway. That feeling of helplessness… it was awful. We all knew… we just knew… something was wrong. Even knowing your secret, I knew something was wrong, that you were in trouble. I think in the future we’ll keep a lojack on you so we know where you are at all times,” he joked.
He stopped talking, hearing the silence and the beeps.
“Clark, you’ve got to come back. We all… we all need you,” he said, quietly, feeling suddenly near tears. “You know, Perry said he loved you like a son, and that Luthor better hope you were okay and unharmed. I’m not sure what Perry thought he could do to Lex Luthor, but it doesn’t change the sentiment. Jimmy just kind of closed himself off, like I did… probably fearing the worst and praying for a miracle. Like me. The last time I closed myself off like that, fearing the worst, and treating the world as my enemy all the while praying deep down for some miracle, was right before you found me. You were that miracle. You were like this big brother and… great… friend. You saw things in me that on one else did and helped me when no one else thought it was worth the effort. That I was worth the effort. Clark, I’m not used to needing someone. When I discovered your secret, I felt a little betrayed and tried to tell myself that I didn’t need you or any lying friends like you. But that distance just made me miss that friendship and you. I did need you. I couldn’t even stay away right. So I came back. I’m so glad I did. If this had happened when I was ignoring you, well I’d be in Lois’s shoes, more or less. I know, seeing her, that I am actually lucky. Time was on my side, in a way that it wasn’t for her. I had a couple of weeks on her. But I know how she must feel, because I came close to feeling that way myself, and I know it. So Clark, a lot of people need you. Perry, Jimmy, me… Lois above all. She’s lost without you. You can see it in her eyes. We’re all feeling it… but no one more than her. You have to come back… If you don’t come back, I’ll… I’ll… well, I’ll tell the world your secret,” he threatened. “I know how big that secret is to you. So if you don’t come back, the world will know. And that is a real threat,” he said with conviction.
“Smooth,” Lois said.
Jack turned. “How long have you been here?” he asked, embarrassed.
“Just long enough to hear your threat. You know, I have tried pleading and luring him back with words of love. But blackmail… that I haven’t tried,” she said, smiling.
“Well, I’ve never been a straight-shooter,” Jack said.
“True. Listen, do you need some more time with him? I can come back.”
“No… no, I’m good,” Jack said. “I said all I wanted to say. Thanks for that, by the way… I’d still be staring at the wall in here if you hadn’t forced me to talk to him in that subtle way of yours.”
“Any time,” Lois said, taking Clark’s hand in hers again.
