Title: Revelations in Captivity
Part: 6 'Superman the Locksmith' & pt. 7 'Invitation to Redemption'
Author: tvnerdgirl
Rated: PG
Disclaimer: I do not own these wonderful people, and promise to return my toys once I am done playing with them
Summery: A 'revelation' fic that centers largely on the events that took place in 'That Old Gang of Mine' and Lois' reactions to them. Lois and Clark get locked in a department store by accident and a secret is revealed during a game of truth or dare...
Author's Note: Since both parts are relatively short, I am combining pts. 6 & 7 together.
Enjoy!
****
When Lois left the office, Clark didn’t follow her again. She didn’t expect him to. What she had just said to him had little to no possible rebuttal. She wished she could regret it, but much as she tried to quench it, there was a burning anger towards him that she had never felt before. She wasn’t sure she would ever let go of it.
Clark Kent was Superman. She wished she could feel shocked, but it made too much sense for that. She couldn’t believe she hadn’t seen it sooner. She wanted so badly to rewind the night, to go back to thinking of him as just Clark Kent, her gentle boy scout of a partner.
Even now she could still see it in her mind. Dillinger would point the gun at her, and Clark would dive in front, falling to the ground, dead. Except he wasn’t and he didn’t see fit to tell her that. She hadn’t been lying when she told him she understood the enormity of what he had done for her. She was angry, but she wasn’t heartless. He had given up everything that mattered to him. And he had taken away the only thing that mattered to her.
How could she ever trust him again? How could she look him in the eye, knowing all the times she had praised Superman and put him down in the process? It was bad enough she had ignored the wonderful man he was for so long, but to know that she had been quietly tearing him apart by worshipping the superhero…how could she face him again? And she knew she had hurt him deeply. He may not have said it, but when she thought back to all those times she had gushed over Superman she could see the hurt in Clark’s eyes.
She could see the raw pain in his eyes when she had told Superman she would love him even if he had no powers at all. How could she have done that to him? No wonder he had taken back his declaration of love. Maybe he had secretly wanted to get away from her and Clark Kent’s death was the best way to do it. No, it wasn’t that. Lois knew that for sure. He had managed to come back and to make it plausible. She wanted so badly to go back there, to wrap her arms around his neck and tell him that it was OK, that she forgave him, but anger and her pride prevented it.
She hated herself for feeling sympathy towards him. She deserved her anger, she needed her anger. In the past it had kept her strong, kept her from getting knocked down. He had slipped past her defences though and she was helpless to fight it. Somehow he had gotten past all the barriers and straight to her heart, far deeper than Claude or anyone else had ever gotten.
Looking around at the darkened department store, Lois felt a numb emptiness engulf her. She had thought there was one person in the world she could trust. And he turned out to be the biggest fraud of all. She just wanted to go home and curl up on the sofa with some ice cream with more chocolate in it than the human body could handle and sob. She wanted to burn all his pictures and curse his name. She wanted to run to him and have him hold her the way he had earlier, and she didn’t know which urge was most prominent.
But she did need to get out of here and only Clark could accomplish that. Drawing a deep breath, she headed back to the office she had left Clark in and opened the door.
She found him sitting at the desk in the room, staring blankly at the wall in front of him. She wondered briefly if he was looking through it or just staring at it. His head snapped up to look at her, but he said nothing.
“I take it asking Superman to help get us out of here is no longer out of the question?” She spoke softly and calmly, hoping that her voice did not betray the swirl of emotions raging through her. Clark stood up.
“You want to go home Lois?”
“There’s no reason for us to stay here until morning.” She said matter-of-factly. “That excuse is gone. Can you just open the doors please?”
“We’ll have to leave money here for the things we’ve used.” Clark reminded her. Lois glared at him.
“I’ve already done that Clark.” She said tonelessly. “Can we go?”
Clark nodded and looked up at the security cameras, zapping them all as they left the department store for good measure.
Lois knew that the employees of the store would find it quite the mystery that things were missing from the store, taken in the night and yet paid for with no evidence to suggest who had been in there. She felt somewhat relieved for not having to explain themselves, and yet at the same time vaguely guilty for they would surely wonder what had happened. She shrugged off the feeling and followed Clark as he opened the doors, careful not to damage them in the process.
She got into her car without even offering to give him a ride. She knew now that he didn’t need it, and didn’t feel like spending any more time with him than was necessary.
“Lois…” Clark was attempting to speak to her again as she put the car into drive.
“No Clark,” she stopped him with her hand. “I just can’t talk to you right now. I’m still too upset. Maybe later, but not now.” Clark nodded soundlessly and watched her drive away.
****
Clark watched as Lois entered the Daily Planet newsroom and without looking his way, headed to the coffee machine. It had been two days since she had found out he was Superman and she hadn’t spoken a word to him since. There were no new breaks in the story they’d been working on, at least not on Clark’s end. He suspected if Lois found anything out, she would inform him out of professional courtesy, but that was probably the best he’d get from her.
He wondered if it would be like this from now on. People in the newsroom were beginning to notice the freeze-out going on between the two of them. He had caught Perry giving them a disapproving look at their solo research efforts more than once. Would he assign them different partners if they couldn’t get along? Or would he have them work individually? Would he have to fight Lois for every story he did? Would she revert to the Mad Dog Lane persona she had been hiding behind when he first met her? He hated to think that would happen.
They worked so well together. Their styles, though as different as night and day complimented each other perfectly. Perry had said so on many occasions. Clark sighed and turned back to his computer.
He would regret the loss of their partnership if it came to that, but wouldn’t be what he mourned the most. He was desperately afraid that he had lost everything now. She had told him she loved him. If that were true, than he had ruined their chance to be together with his deception. He couldn’t blame her for it. She deserved her anger. He couldn’t bear the thought of not talking to her every day, laughing with her, going out to movies, hell even arguing with her.
She was a part of him in a way that nobody had ever been before. She was everything to him. How could he have been so stupid? He should have told her from the moment he met her.
Looking over, he saw her seated at her computer, typing. It looked like she had possibly found something out, as she was staring at the screen as if her life depended on it. Clark gave a soul weary sigh and turned back to his own computer.
He wanted to go over there, to apologize to her, but knew that would be futile. She would talk to him, when and if she was ready. If that happened, Clark was determined to get her friendship back somehow, even if it took the rest of his life to gain her trust again. He had given up hoping they would ever be together. The hurt likely went too deep for that. But friendship, well he couldn’t live without at least that.
He was startled from his thoughts by a soft beep on his screen. Clicking on the instant message bar at the bottom of it, a window popped up. It was from Lois.
<Clark, can you meet me at my apartment tonight? I think we should talk.>
<I’ll be there Lois,> he replied typing almost at super speed. He risked a glance at where she sat, but she hadn’t looked up. Despite that, he allowed himself a hopeful smile. She wanted to talk. Talking meant she wanted to understand. He only hoped he didn’t make as big a mess of things the second time around. He knew if he did, he wouldn’t get another chance.
****
