[Chapter 8: Us]A power rippled against her hands and a sensation like shattering glass reverberated out like a gong. And then it was over.
"Clark! Clark, are you okay?" Lois asked as she felt him relax.
He opened his eyes and she immediately hugged him. He returned the hug, and she clung to him desperately.
"Yeah. Yeah, I'm okay," he said, sounding surprised but extremely relieved.
Lois wanted to weep in the shared relief.
"Thank you," Clark said, his breath on her neck.
She closed her eyes and tightened her grip before pulling back.
"You were right. That was different," Lois said after a moment. "Sunday must have gotten beyond frustrated because that move feels like desperation to me."
"You mean with him attacking so soon?" Clark asked.
"Yeah, and having it involve more than one fear," Lois said before taking a deep breath.
She lowered her gaze, now afraid to look at him. She didn't know what to say, what to feel.
Her best friend was Superman.
Her mind spun.
There was so much she had learned.
Luthor had almost killed him at some point – if she was interpreting what she had seen correctly (and she was certain she was).
From Trask, to Nightfall, to that horrible cellar. . . .
"You saw it all, didn't you?" Clark asked, finally filling the silence.
She nodded.
"So you know," he stated, his voice betraying no emotion.
She nodded again, slowly. "It makes . . . it makes a lot of sense."
"I'm sorry. I didn't want you to find out this way."
"So you were going to tell me?" she asked, torn between disbelief, wonder, hope, and confusion.
“I had been about to tell you an hour ago, but then the cruiseliner. . . .” He trailed off and smiled apologetically.
She gasped, the last word making it so much more real, undeniable.
He truly was Superman.
“I can't believe this is real,” she whispered.
“I’ve hated lying to you,” he said, sliding his hands up her arms. "I've wanted to tell you for a while now, but things kept becoming more and more . . . complicated."
She winced, recalling how she had asked him to get Superman . . . himself . . . right after she had rejected him. And how many times had he tried to warn her about Lex? Why hadn’t she believed him?
Oblivious to her thoughts, he shook his head and went on.
"I could give all the specific reasons I had, but they really don't matter now, if they ever truly did.” He leaned closer, watching her expression. He moved his hand up, cupping her cheek. She leaned into his touch. “What matters is that we're here now . . . together."
She didn't have to think about it. She closed the distance, her lips meeting his, and let herself be embraced by his love.
They both pulled back before too long, embarrassed and yet . . . not.
She smiled shyly at him and placed her hand on his chest. She glanced down at it, suddenly recalling the image of the snake that had appeared there twice within the last two hours.
“I know we have a lot to talk about, but we need to stop Sunday. I . . . I never want to see that snake on you again,” Lois stated. “So everything else. . . .”
“You’re right, everything else can wait. So why don’t I pick up our research at the Planet and bring it back here?” he offered.
“So we can pull an all-nighter?” she asked with a smile, latching onto what she did best: work.
Maybe through work she could postpone thinking about her new reality.
“Normally, I'd say yes, but maybe just half the night this time?" he said apologetically.
"That's probably a good idea. I imagine being magically attacked back-to-back is a lot, even for . . . you.” She gave him a nervous smile.
He chuckled softly before stifling a yawn. “Yeah, but helping must not have been easy either.”
She shrugged self-consciously.
“Ok, so we’ll do a little bit of work and then sleep. And I’ll order us some delivery. There’s still a few places open,” she offered.
Clark grinned. “No need. I’ll pick us up something on my way back. Chinese?” he asked.
Her eyes widened in sudden understanding. “From China?! That’s how you always get the best take out!”
“Guilty,” he admitted.
She smiled. “Don’t forget egg rolls.”
“Okay.”
O o O o O
They went into work the following morning, though Lois was only functioning because she was nearly overflowing with coffee. Clark was doing a bit better, although that was likely due to his quick five minute sun exposure when he had flown to China six hours before.
Lois did get a few hours of sleep after they had a few breakthroughs though.
They now knew who Baron Sunday was. Thanks to Jimmy’s thorough information gathering, they had been able to process the collected information from the declassified case files and spotted a photograph of a man who they learned was named John Hendrix.
It was uncanny. Hendrix and Sunday were the same person.
However, Hendrix was supposed to be dead.
He had been an unfortunate factory worker where the raid and fire had taken place, and he had been counted as missing and presumed dead due to the severity of the fire and the inability to find him. Another sad fact was that his brother’s body had been found in the ruins. Lois felt it was very important.
As for Ziggy, they had been able to find that he had a flat within Metropolis. He had immigrated to the United States two years prior from Jamaica.
“Hey!” Jimmy greeted, unquestionably better rested than they were. “Do you two have– oh!”
He spotted the stack of papers on Clark’s desk.
“Phew! I thought I had lost those,” Jimmy said. “So have you discovered anything?”
“Actually, we have, Jimmy. We’re going to be heading out to follow a lead shortly. Thanks for gathering those files. They were a big help,” Lois said, organizing a few things on her desk.
“Oh, great!” he said, pleased, before hurrying off, no doubt to complete an errand for Perry.
Lois smiled at Clark.
“Ready?” he asked her.
“Yup,” she said, quickly going to his side to walk to the elevator.
Clark smiled as she took his arm. "How about we skip the cab?" he asked quietly.
Her eyes widened as the elevator doors closed. "You mean. . . ?" She made a swooping motion with her hand.
"I figure, now that you know, we might as well take advantage of a few of my . . . quirks."
She laughed as the elevator came to the ground floor. "Quirks. Right."
O o O o O
Lois and Clark stepped out of the alley not far from Ziggy's flat.
"I can definitely get used to that," Lois said as he beamed at her.
"Whenever you want a lift, let me know," he said.
"I will," she promised happily.
They cut across the street and before too long they were before the front door of Ziggy's apartment.
They knocked and waited. And waited.
"Uh . . . maybe he's not home?" Lois offered.
Clark frowned and inhaled a bit, scrunching up his nose slightly.
"What?" Lois asked, concerned.
"I smell . . . decay," he said, before lowering his glasses down the bridge of his nose and, presumably, peering through the door.
His eyebrows rose and he pulled back, grim.
"We need to call Henderson. There are two dead bodies inside," he stated.
"What?!" Lois gasped.
O o O
Henderson arrived in ten minutes with a forensics team and medical examiner.
"I'm glad you believed us and came so quickly, Bill, but I'm still surprised you contacted a coroner before you even saw the bodies," Lois commented half an hour later.
"You two have demonstrated enough times to me that it's best to be proactive," Bill said as the covered bodies were removed. "And yet, I still feel ill-prepared here."
"I understand. I'm not sure how much we'll be able to include in the article. Much of it sounds like a work of fiction. Voodoo, snake welts, and mummified bodies perfectly dressed in modern clothing with the IDs of Baron Sunday and his assistant in their wallets," Lois said with a sigh. "And you know, I actually believe those two are Sunday and Ziggy."
"Really?" Henderson asked, bewildered.
"We’re not going to publicize this, but Sunday had targeted me. Lois saw the snake on my chest. And Superman saw another on Matt Young,” Clark softly put in. "From that, I don't think much is impossible."
Henderson rubbed his forehead, at a loss. "Well, I guess that explains your doll look-alike we had found beside one of the deceased, as well as the other dolls in the back room. There was even a creepy looking Superman one of you can believe that," Henderson revealed, understandably disturbed. "Anyway, I guess we'll know for sure about their identities once we check the dental records," he said. “But do you know why you were targeted?”
Clark shrugged. “The only thing I can think of is that the loss of his brother in Jamaica drove him to revenge. He probably blamed the NIA for what happened at the factory and didn’t like that I helped Matt Young get out of the fire all those years ago when his brother didn't.”
Lois nodded. “Revenge does weird things to people.”
“I’d say voodoo is weird,” Henderson agreed before shaking his head. “I don’t get paid enough for this.”
Clark smiled apologetically as Henderson gave them a parting nod.
"Well, partner, let's head back. Perry should be happy with whatever we write from this," Lois said once Henderson had left them.
"Sure, and then lunch?" he asked, now on the sidewalk.
"I'm voting hooky after. We worked well into the morning so we deserve some devoted
us time," she decided, before glancing at him in nervous hope.
"Us time. I like the sound of that," he said, wrapping his arm around her as they ducked into the alley they had arrived in.
A sonic boom soon followed.
O o O o O
Perry was happy with the article they wrote and didn't push back at all when Lois stated they'd be calling it a day at noon. And so they were now back at his place with soft tacos he had fixed in his kitchen.
Lois stared at him as he sat down at the table across from her.
"What?" Clark asked.
"Sorry. I'm just trying to wrap my mind around everything, now that this week's adventure has passed," Lois said. "Like, you could have made lunch in seconds if you wanted to, but you didn't."
"Things usually taste better if you don't rush," Clark admitted as they started eating.
"Hm. That might explain why I can't cook," Lois said with a smirk. "So I take it you have super taste?"
Clark blinked. "You know, I've never really thought about it, but probably."
"I’m sorry. This is so . . . surreal," Lois said, taking a deep breath.
"I'm still . . . me," Clark said hesitantly.
"Oh, I know, and I'm sorry for going all weird," she said, placing her hand on his arm. "But I keep thinking back to conversations I had with Superman, and yet it was you, and talks I even had about Superman with you. It's very. . . ." She suddenly looked away. "And then everything with Luthor." She hurriedly wiped a threatening tear away. "You were right when you said things had been complicated. And what I did to you. . . . You're even more forgiving than I had thought."
"Part of that mess was my fault. At the very least I should have shared what Superman knew and suspected with you, but my ego got in the way," Clark said regretfully.
"Your ego?" Lois asked, confused.
Clark blushed. "I wanted my word to be good enough."
"Oh." Lois frowned sadly.
"I realize now that that had been unfair."
Lois slowly nodded. "I can see why you felt that way though." She sighed. "We were both unfair to each other, but I think you were right before. What matters most is where we are now."
"So we let the past be the past?" he asked, hopeful.
Lois nodded. "As long as I can still ask you some questions, let's not dwell on the past."
"Of course! If you didn't want to ask questions, I'd be afraid you were an imposter," Clark said.
"Har-har," she said good-naturedly, before growing serious. "So, uh. . . ."
"You want to know what had happened with Luthor, huh?" he asked when she had trailed off into silence.
"Only if you’re okay with it,” she said.
Clark sighed softly but relented. “He called me the day before the wedding, asking to talk to Superman. Like a fool, I obliged. You saw what happened.”
Lois covered her mouth and closed her eyes, willing herself not to succumb to tears as she thought back to that day. She had asked, and he had told her. And like they had agreed, they would not dwell on the past. She shakily exhaled and opened her eyes to find him watching her sadly. She took a deep breath, her mind taking in the new information.
“Do you think that’s how Ariana got the kryptonite bullets?” she asked.
“Undoubtedly,” he stated, placing his hand over hers as she continued trying to keep control of herself. “Lois, it’s over. Everything is okay now.”
“How can you say that so easily?” she whispered sorrowfully.
“Because you're here with me, and because I love you,” he answered.
“You do?” she asked, struck by his sincerity.
It was almost like she could feel him, like before, only instead of fear, there was confidence, a powerful certainty that would not be denied as he stood up. He went around the table and then knelt by her side.
She sniffled and gave a happy sob. “You should know, on the day of the wedding . . . I stopped it because – because I couldn’t picture myself with anyone but you, Clark."
Clark startled. “You did?!”
She nodded, taking his hands with hers. “I knew then. I knew I loved you then.”
Clark closed his eyes and shook his head in self-reproach. “I could punch myself.”
“What? Why?” Lois asked, confused by his words.
“That day in front of the Planet, when I had told you I . . . wasn’t in love with you, I lied. I had said that because I was afraid of losing you all together. I had thought that after everything, having you know how I felt . . . wouldn’t work. So I convinced myself it was better to take back what I had said and just remain friends.”
Lois chuckled, exasperated. “We really deserve each other.”
Clark laughed, nodding in agreement. “So let's stop resisting this. Seriously, what are we gaining by doing so? This thing with us, whatever it is . . . is stronger than, well, stronger than I can be alone. I think that was fully demonstrated when Sunday irreparably failed." Clark shifted forward and looked into her eyes.
"I'm used to doing the rescuing, not being the one who is rescued," he said. "But every time I've needed a rescue, it's been you who has saved me."
"I couldn't let Sunday–" she started, but he interrupted.
"It hasn't just been this past week. You've saved me before, and not just from Ariana's kryptonite bullet. You saved me during the heatwave, when I had already given up and left Metropolis. You saved me when those tests had been happening. I had been so close to giving up being Superman back then, you have no idea. And Nightfall. You were who helped trigger my memories to return. Time and time again, it was you. Sure, you hadn't always known it at the time, but you have saved me more than anyone ever has. You did what I couldn't or helped me become more. Heck, I became Superman because you gave me the idea!"
Lois swallowed, her eyes swimming in tears.
"There is no Superman without Lois Lane, and there is no happy Clark Kent without her either," he softly declared before he tenderly kissed her.
She happily followed his lead for a moment before pulling back, though she kept her grip on the front of shirt.
"I promise, I will always do everything I can to keep you anchored," she said, before resuming their kiss.
O o O The End O o O
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