Thanks to Labrat for betareading. Feedback appreciated.
Thanks,
Marcy
“Lois....Lois...wake up...Lois can you hear me?” Lois opened her eyes groggily, only to find herself staring up into the face of her partner, a face encircled by a halo of light. For several seconds her brain muddled as she tried to process exactly where she was and why Clark appeared so concerned for her. As she sat up, the halo revealed itself only to be the elevator light fixture. Slowly her mind unjumbled itself as she recalled the events immediately before losing consciousness. And the next thought after that which leaped to mind was <oh my gosh, I danced nearly naked in front of superman!>
With a groan of embarrassment, Lois sank back down onto Clark's suitcoat, which was currently functioning as a makeshift pillow. Lois waited with her eyes closed, praying silently that if God was listening, now would be as good a time as any to create a hole in the floor of this elevator to swallow her up. Apparently, He wasn't.
To say Clark was perplexed and a tad concerned was an understatement. At that exact second he was finetuning his superhearing to her heart and respirations. He had already x-rayed every bone in her body and was having the debate in his head as to whether this was serious enough that he should just reveal his secret and airlift her out to a hospital via Superman Express. But as her breathing and heartbeat seemed to be functioning in normal, healthy parameters (although her heart was on the fast end of that spectrum), he had forced himself to remain calm and gone into Superman- taking- charge-in-crisis-situation mode. Though on the outside, he was still, to all appearances, plain old Clark Kent.
Lois, realizing that she was going to have to open her eyes eventually, slowly unscrewed them and rose from the coat into a sitting position, barely reclining against the elevator wall. She turned her head slowly to look at her partner's face. He smiled encouragingly back at her. She forced her mind to focus as he spoke.
“You okay, partner? You had me a little concerned. You were out cold for several minutes there.”
Lois scrambled for a logical explanation. Her mind suggested the alternative of ' whoops, sorry I just passed out cold. That whole superman-is-my-partner thing just threw me a curve ball. Do you have any orange juice?', but somehow it just didn't hit her as the right answer.
“I skipped breakfast again this morning. Maybe my blood sugar dropped?...” she suggested limply. <Oh please let him buy it. I really do not want to deal with this right here, right now... I need some time to figure this out.>
Another voice in her head chimed in that no wonder he got all those Superman exclusives, which seemed to justify the waiting to deal with all of this, if only so that Clark Kent should die a slow painful death instead of a quick one. The saccharine smile on her face, however, belied nothing of the mercurial moods going on in the tornado that was Lois at that moment.
“I did notice that you ate the last of your double fudge crunch bars yesterday afternoon. So, Bernie's stand was all out this morning, huh?” he jibed teasingly, now that he was beginning to relax again. As he spoke, the elevator groaned and revived itself as, slowly, it continued its descent to the ground floor. Lois scrambled to think of a way for a quick exit as the bell chimed, announcing they had finally reached their destination.
“Clark, I was thinking...maybe we'd be more likely to stumble on a story if we split up. You know, you can check with your sources and I'll check with mine, and we'll regroup first thing tomorrow morning. How's that sound? Great. Call me on my cell if you need me.”
And, faster than a speeding bullet, she was headed out of the elevator and out of the Planet, while a stunned Clark Kent tried to figure out exactly what just transpired and if he was missing something.
He called out weakly “Sure, Lois, first thing tomorrow. “ But he got the impression he was addressing the potted ficus by the elevator rather than an actual person, as no one acknowledged his reply. Least of all Lois Lane, who was already hailing a cab. He smiled to himself. <And they think Superman is the one with superpowers! I can barely keep up with her!>
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Of course, the last thing at that moment that Lois felt like doing was checking with sources. So instead she went home. Entering her apartment, she dropped her purse down on the table by the door, kicked off her heels, and made a beeline for the bedroom. After leaving a message with Perry's voicemail that she was not feeling well and would be taking the rest of the afternoon off, she began to undress. <Thank God he didn't answer, she thought, as dealing with anyone right now required too many neurons firing that were currently unavailable.>
Trading her work clothes for a frumpy robe, she then angled toward the kitchen where a half-gallon tub of rocky road ice cream was beckoning her. Grabbing a spoon from the drawer, she returned to the bedroom and sank down on the bed, cursing the salesman who talked her into buying the sofa that had bricks for cushions. Otherwise, she would have had a living room that was actually comfortable. As the velvety chocolate entered her mouth, she closed her eyes and finally felt her stomach start to uncoil, although the anger level within was definitely rising.
<How could I have been so galactically stupid? I mean, right under my nose the whole time. And a pair of glasses and some hair gel? Oh, come on. I bet Mr. Greenjeans thinks he is so slick....>
With that thought her anger gave way to embarrassment as scene after scene replayed in her head, her own words taunting her as she realized how horribly she had treated Clark while holding Superman up on a golden pedestal. She almost knocked her ice cream over as she sat in shock, realizing that the same guy she called a god in a cape brought her coffee every morning. And edited her copy. The guy that had saved her life on countless occasions was the same guy that took her moods in stride and even joked that 'she liked to be on top' when she had once warned him that she was the top banana.
She dug deeper into the ice cream tub searching for absolution and finding only placation. It was obvious at that moment why he hadn't told her in the first place. And she decided then and there that she was going to be the kind of friend to Clark that he would be able to trust with his secret. Some day.
For now, she decided that the best thing for her to do would be to take the weekend and clear her head. Maybe begin to see Clark as how he really was, not her ideal or the idea he presented to her. The real man. Tomorrow was Friday, and if she was lucky maybe the criminals could keep their strike going until Monday, just long enough for her to enjoy some much earned R and R at the Lexor hotel.
And then, on Monday, Clark Kent wouldn't know what hit him when the new and improved Lois Lane arrived at work.
