Chapter Three
“Don't stop thinking of me
Don't make me feel this way
Come on over here and love me
You know what I want you to say”
Elvis Presley - Don’t Be Cruel
***
It had been four days. Four days since Lois and Clark met with Mindy Church. Four days since Lois and Clark started trying to uncover what Mindy’s game was about buying the Raven Resort. Now the fifth day was beginning just like the second and third days.
Clark opened his eyes at the feel of a beautiful woman on top of him. His hand moved slightly up and down her back, enjoying the feel of her smooth skin under his fingertips. This morning was different than the previous days had been, as this time his hand was underneath her shirt and his shirt was off. They were on his couch like the other nights. They really ought to have moved to his bed, but they'd both been worried they would get carried away, and the couch made a bit of a mental boundary. Still, it was a wonderful way to wake up.
“Umm,” she mumbled as he kissed the top of her head. “What time is it?”
“Late. We have less than an hour before we have to be at the Planet,” Clark answered as he started drawing circles on her back with his index finger. She snuggled into him even more.
“We really should get up,” she responded as she began making a similar pattern on his chest.
“Can we stay like this forever,” Clark pleaded in a soft voice before taking a deep breath, the feel of her fingers against his bare skin driving him to distraction.
“I don’t think Perry would understand,” Lois smiled slightly, moving and feeling exactly how interested Clark was about prolonging their current position.
“We have three options,” Clark mumbled as he felt his muscles twitch as Lois continued to touch him.
“Just three?”
“We could stay here for the rest of the day and continue where we left off last night,” Clark said, his voice husky as his hand moved to settle on her hip. “Or you could move off of me and let me take a very cold quick shower and get ready for work.”
“Or,” Lois whispered, her hand moving farther down his chest to his navel.
“Or –” Clark mumbled. “We could move to the bedroom.”
It took Lois only seconds, knowing they really only had one option because they'd both agreed to wait, Lois moved off of Clark and sat up.
“I’ll be ready in a minute,” Clark stated before flying off toward his bedroom.
While he was gone, Lois got off the couch, grabbed her things together, and put on her shoes. She finished putting on her last shoe when he appeared, freshly showered, clean suit, and ready for work.
“Why does it take you less than five minutes to get ready? And it takes me - well, a lot longer,” Lois stated with a huff.
“It’s called having superpowers, honey,” Clark chuckled before kissing her quickly on the lips. “We don’t have much time, we better go.”
She gazed at him and put her arms out with her palms up. She gave up. He had her there. The superpowers beat her every time.
After fifteen minutes in morning traffic, Lois rushed into her apartment while Clark followed behind her.
“Give me fifteen minutes,” Lois shouted as she ran toward her bedroom. Clark knew it would take Lois longer than fifteen minutes. He decided Lois was going to need coffee, so he quickly spun into the suit and out the window.
When Lois returned from the bedroom showered and dressed for work, twenty-five minutes later, Clark was casually sitting on the loveseat drinking his coffee.
Lois looked down at the second cup and the bag of pastries on the coffee table.
“Thank you,” she stated as she grabbed her leather bag for work and her coffee. “We are going to be late even if we hit every green light.”
“It’s my fault this time,” Clark apologized, “And I think I have a better idea. I’ll fly you to work, then come back for your Jeep. Then Perry will only chew out one of us.”
Lois stood there and tilted her head for a second. Maybe his idea would work. But last night was not his fault. She had started kissing him.
“The longer I stand here and remember whose fault it is or who started it last night - just makes me want to head back to your couch. I say we just face the calvary together,” she said reaching out for his hand.
His smile said everything she needed to know as he took her hand. They were in this together.
Finally, after thirty minutes of heavy traffic, Clark and Lois stepped out of the elevator late holding hands. If anyone didn’t realize they were back together - they did now. The morning meeting had already started and Clark and Lois looked at each other and bit the bullet. Lois put her bag down and grabbed her notepad while Clark did the same. They opened the conference room door and walked in.
“So nice of the two of you to join us this morning,” Perry stated, watching the hottest team in town sit down at the table. “Please, tell me, you were out on a lead or something.”
“Or something,” Lois muttered covering her mouth.
“Actually, we were out late last night investigating Mindy Church,” Clark interrupted. “Sorry, Chief. We found out that she lived in New Orleans for a few months and before that Mobile, Alabama.”
“It was late,” Lois responded looking over at Clark. “We found out her dad was a mechanic and did a lot of work for some gangsters back in the day.”
“When her father died, Mindy tried to take over,” Clark acknowledged seconds later.
“She had no luck until she decided to move to New Orleans,” Lois retorted.
Jimmy and Perry watched as Lois and Clark went back and forth on what they learned about Mindy as they had rehearsed it.
“Where she started to move farther up the chain until she crossed a man by the name of Morgan Edge,” Clark stated quickly. “Edge is known to be as ruthless as Bill Church Junior.”
“Okay, well, good work,” Perry said before moving on. He didn’t believe for a moment that is all they did last night. They looked too cheerful just for finding out about Morgan Edge. Perry had heard that name before and needed to make some calls later to find out more. “What else are you working on,” Perry wondered as he looked from Lois then to Clark.
Lois knew that they couldn’t just be working on one story. No, they had to work on several stories since they were only working on research for Mindy. No article had been written as of yet.
She tilted her head slightly and grabbed her notepad. She was ready for this.
“Superman stopped a car chase last night. The black Ford Mustang was going over eighty-five miles per hour at the highest. Three police vehicles crashed and two civilians were injured before Superman stopped the suspect. The article is in your inbox,” Lois explained as she read her notes.
“Also the Metropolis Museum of Art will be having their annual fundraiser tomorrow night,” Clark stated as he relaxed.
Perry knew his most valuable partners were on the ball. Yet, he still had to make sure he kept them in line and stopped their romance from interrupting his newsroom.
“Good, keep at it. Okay, people, let’s get moving,” Perry ordered before everyone got up from their chairs and left the conference room.
Lois went to her desk and Clark to his to start the day. Jimmy strolled over to Lois’ desk and looked at Clark then at Lois.
“Second day in a row,” Jimmy announced raising his eyebrow “I gave that research to you about Mindy around four. How did you find out about who Mindy worked for?”
“We had a few other sources to contact,” Lois told Jimmy as she booted up her computer.
“We have that meeting with Halstead Construction later this morning,” Clark mentioned moving over to Lois’ desk. “Halstead won the bid on the Raven Resort. We are going to meet with the head engineer.”
“How do the two of you do this,” Jimmy wondered as he stood between the two.
“Do what,” Lois and Clark asked simultaneously.
“That,” Jimmy announced, “you finish each other’s sentences and know what the other is going to say without hesitation.”
“Jimmy, when you find the right partner it just comes naturally,” Clark stated putting his hand on Lois’ shoulder with glee in his eyes.
“That and we just work well together,” Lois responded putting her hand over Clark’s.
“That’s perfect. The two of you should dress up for that Halloween Ball as a pair. I mean there are great couples you could dress as - Julius Caesar and Cleopatra, Ken and Barbie,” Jimmy suggested with a smile.
“Seriously, Jimmy. There is no way I would ever dress up as Barbie,” Lois vetoed instantly.
“At least you are invited. I would love to check that place out and see if it’s really haunted,” Jimmy responded with a huff. Jimmy didn’t get invited to all of the Daily Planet events like the top reporters. Yet some events Jimmy really wanted to attend. He stormed off to start research for Diane.
Clark sat at Lois’ desk. He tapped his finger on Lois’ desk while she read her emails.
“What are you thinking,” Lois wondered with a softened voice.
“What did you think about the movie last night,” Clark asked lowering his head briefly.
“Clark, I’ve seen Star Wars plenty of times. I think that is one reason we got distracted so easily,” Lois smiled with a bit of mischief in her voice.
“I mean what if we dressed up as Han Solo and Princess Leia? It’s better than the typical costumes we will likely see there,” Clark explained as he took Lois’ hand into his.
“I’m not doing the outfit from the last film,” Lois refused as she shook her head.
“No, of course not. You can use that one for me later,” Clark grinned kissing her hand. “But I do believe it would be cool to dress up as a hero who is misunderstood.”
“And the fact no one knows much about him and he is in outer space probably makes him perfect for you,” Lois questioned without hesitation.
“Well, yeah, that too. Plus Han and Leia make a great team, like us. Just think about it, okay? On another note, I think a trip to New Orleans might be needed to find out more about Mindy.”
“True,” Lois responded. “How about you go there and I interview the engineer?”
“Are you sure,” Clark asked as he let go of her hand and sat back. “We could always go tomorrow.”
“Well farmboy, I was thinking tomorrow we go furniture shopping. Plus I might need some help moving the furniture,” Lois suggested while she replied to an email.
Clark knew Lois was getting the short end of the stick when they slept at his apartment. He was loving every moment of being with her at night. They would go through the research for a couple of hours, while he would make a quick dinner or order in Then they would start the movie, and the next thing the movie would be forgotten. It was usually quite innocent at first with sweet, slow kisses. Yet last night it went farther than either of them had anticipated. At one point she had pulled his shirt off and her hands began to roam his chiseled chest. His hands had also wandered over new territory and her lips were not the only place he had kissed. They couldn’t get enough of each other. Yet they knew if they had moved off the couch into his bedroom that it would lead to them taking an even bigger step in their relationship.
The phone rang at Lois’ desk, bringing both of them back to the present time. The smile and rosy cheeks had made Clark realize that Lois had also been thinking about last night’s activities. He stood up to go back to his desk when he stopped and got that far-off look.
Lois noticed the way he had abruptly stopped. Clark had turned to look at her and she nodded her head in agreement. She knew that his alter-ego was needed somewhere important.
Lois finished her phone call, then turned toward the television behind her. She heard the newscaster announce that Superman had arrived on the scene of the earthquake in Mexico. It would be a couple of hours until Clark would return to Metropolis. Lois got started on her day.
She had more research that Jimmy had given her about the Raven Resort that she hadn’t had time to go through. Lois grabbed the stack of files from her bag and flipped through the papers. She started writing down the important details of the resort that would be needed for her story. Now that Mindy Church had bought the resort and the construction would be starting tomorrow; a story would need to be written on the true history of the resort.
A man in his thirties named Robert Graham had moved to Metropolis from Chicago in 1908. He had worked with his uncle, Ernest R. Graham years earlier helping him with some of the most prominent buildings in Chicago. Robert had moved to Metropolis with his wife, Eliza, who was expecting their first child. He wanted to build a resort up in the hills of Metropolis. He had heard of a fascinating resort in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. Now Robert wanted to build something as grand on his own without the influence of his family. As the resort became a reality several deaths occurred during the construction.
Robert had named the resort after all of the ravens that he would see during construction. His wife had found the ravens quite exquisite with their shiny black color yet in the sunshine, the bird had hints of purple, bronze, and green. Plus Eliza heard that ravens mated for life. She found them fascinating for some odd reason. He named it the Raven Resort in dedication to his wife. Six months after opening the resort in June of 1910, his dear-wife had fallen ill with tuberculosis and died. Robert was left to raise their daughter and run the resort on his own.
After writing the article on the history of the Raven Resort in its infancy, Lois realized it had been a couple of hours. She had eaten the pastry that Clark had bought her already and was beginning to get a bit hungry again. Plus she would be meeting with Connor Cortlandt the head engineer for Halstead Construction in forty-five minutes.
As Lois stepped out into the cool fall air from the Daily Planet, she looked up to see Clark walking up to her.
“I should ask where you have been, but I think I can already guess,” Lois stated as she put her hand on his upper chest.
“Were you heading out to meet Cortlandt,” Clark wondered, putting his hand over Lois’.
“I was going to grab a bite to eat first,” Lois answered fixating on his lips and the feel of his hand on hers.
He watched her lips part slightly and he could feel her heart rate rise. Both of them felt the electricity between them, Clark stepped away from her knowing that this was not the place nor the time to ravish her like he wanted to.
“How about we head to the deli around the corner,” he recommended, walking in step with her. They began to walk down the street together.
A few minutes had passed in silence, and Lois could feel the tension start to roll off of Clark. When they sat down at a table in the deli with their order, Lois leaned over to him.
“Are you okay,” she asked with sincerity.
“Forty deaths and almost a hundred injured. A lot of homes and businesses were destroyed. I flew home to shower afterward. On my way back, I flew over Raven Resort. I noticed a few vehicles over by the carriage house along with some equipment and around a dozen people. One of the men is a known associate of Mindy’s,” Clark explained as he reached over for Lois’ hand. “I’m okay though.”
“Good,” she replied with a smile. “I worry about the things you see and hear.”
“Just being near you strengthens me. I come back knowing you are here for me no matter what,” Clark admitted as his muscles relaxed and warmth came through him.
“I will always,” she responded as she rubbed her finger over the side of his hand between the thumb and index finger.
Ever since he had become Superman, Lois was the anchor that led him home. She didn’t know that even in the beginning that she was his light. Lois calmed her nerves as no one else could.
