AN: This fic has distracted me from at least 3 other projects I was working on when one scene rudely focused all of my attention and demanded a story be written around it.
Much thanks to Blueowl for BR and being very patient while I stumbled through plots. Thanks to the Discord group for answering all sorts of odd questions and helping in research.
Fic is completed, and will be posted at least one chapter a week, though there's a good chance it'll be faster as I can't wait eleven weeks to post all of this!
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Chapter 1
“I… I…”
“Lois?” Lex asks quietly.
“I can’t,” I whisper in response. I watch as his face contorts into the angriest expression I’ve ever seen on him, and it terrifies me. In that moment, I know I’ve made the right decision.
“Lois, my dear,” he mutters next to me. “This isn’t the time for hesitation. The Archbishop is waiting.”
I step away from him and flip my veil over my head. “I’m sorry, but I can’t.”
Lex grabs my arm tightly, hard enough I’m sure he’ll leave bruises, and pulls me toward him. “Lois, you don’t want to do this,” he hisses in my ear.
I glance down at where he’s holding me tightly, aware that no one in the congregation can see his grasp on me, and the Archbishop is looking anywhere but at us. I boldly step away from Lex, back to the aisle I’ve just walked down, in a gamble that he won’t want everyone here to witness him forcing me to marry him. As he releases me, I gather my dress and hastily walk toward the grand doors I entered through, heading to the room I was allotted to prepare for the ceremony.
I tear the veil from my hair and drop it on the floor as a knock makes me freeze. There are no locks on these doors. If Lex were to barge in, there’s nothing to stop him. The knocking repeats.
“Lois? Dear?”
I open the door and permit my mother to enter the room.
“Lois? What’s going on? What just happened? This isn’t the time to be playing games.”
“Mother, I can’t marry him.”
“Why ever not? He’s rich and he chose you over all the other women he could have.”
Her reasoning strikes close to my heart. I often wondered why this man chose me over everyone else. I’m not the prettiest, or wealthiest, and I’m certainly not compliant, docile wife material. I’ve spent the last few months believing it was my intelligence and drive that attracted Lex, that we were equal in other ways, but when I refused him, I saw something in his face; a flash of the Lex that Clark had warned me about, and it terrified me.
“Mom, I can’t. There’s something about him that I didn’t realize until today.”
I’m shaking, and I can hear my voice wavering. My mother stops looking irritated at me and grabs onto my hands.
“Are you sure? I don’t want you to regret this later, but you shouldn’t marry someone you can’t be happy with.”
“I’m sure. Lex and I could never be happy together.”
I watch my mother as she contemplates my words and I’m waiting for the inevitable pep talk to convince me to go through with the wedding. Instead, she sighs and nods, surprising me.
“It’s wiser to stop this now than to go through a lengthy and costly divorce. Trust me. Let's get you out of this dress,” she suggests.
She’s muttering under her breath while struggling to undo the multitude of tiny buttons on the back of the dress as a sharp knock startles us both.
“Lois. This has gone on long enough,” Lex states as he opens the door, entering uninvited.
“Mr. Luthor,” my mother begins.
“Ellen,” he interupts. “I’m glad you’re here. Could you help me understand what the delay is?”
His voice is polite, smooth, but there’s an angry undertone that makes me start shaking again. My mother places one hand on my shoulder, which is comforting, and a warning at the same time.
“Lex, Lois won’t be continuing today.”
“Now, Ellen. I have half of Metropolis’ elite here, several out of state dignitaries, and the Archbishop. If we don’t finish the ceremony now, we won’t be able to gather all of these people here together on short notice.”
His eyes flicker to mine, and I try to stare defiantly back at him. “Lex, I’m not marrying you. Not today, or ever.”
As I speak, I take off the engagement ring and hold it out to him. He looks enraged and his face starts to turn red. Lex snatches the ring from my hand, and, in my surprise, I almost drop it. I hadn’t been expecting him to acquiesce so quickly.
“You will regret this,” he snarls as he walks out of the room.
My mother closes the door again and begins to tear at the buttons holding the dress onto my body. “Let’s get out of here as fast as we can.”
I release a sob of relief as I hear my mother’s voice. We don’t get along, haven’t for decades, but for the first time in my life I’m grateful she’s here with me.
****
At my mother’s urging, we make a brief stop at my apartment to pack a few bags before going to her apartment. Her building has a doorman and security staff and, while I doubt Lex will come marching up and demand to see me, there’s a nagging thought that he might send someone else. If Clark was right, Lex was behind the bombing of the Planet, it wouldn’t take much for him to make me suddenly vanish.
I hide out for two days without a word from anyone; not that anyone had talked to me right before the wedding anyway. I had hoped Clark would try to contact me once he heard the wedding was off, but I hear nothing from him and I feel cut off from everyone. I spend hours watching the news, looking and listening for anything related to Lex but there’s no reports, but it’s better than trying to analyze why I couldn’t marry Lex.
It’s been several slow news days in a row and I can see the news anchors are hoping for a Superman sighting to break up the monotony of traffic snarls and political wrangling.
On the third day of my self confinement, I’m startled out of my boredom when the phone rings.
“Ms. Lane? There’s a man here who insists on seeing you.”
It’s one of the front desk attendants and I feel a wave of panic, wondering if it’s Lex.
“He gave his name as Bobby and he’ll wait here until you permit him to visit.”
Bobby Bigmouth? My heart leaps in hope. Maybe he’s heard from Clark, or Perry.
“Is he alone?”
“Yes, ma’am,” the lady at the desk responds. “We can ask him to leave, that’s not a problem. Mrs. Lane stated you weren’t to be disturbed.”
“Lois! It’s me,” I can hear him shout in the background.
“He can come up,” I quickly assert.
Within a few minutes, Bobby is knocking on the apartment door. After I let him in, he proceeds to make himself at home and begins eating the contents of the greasy paper bag he’s got with him.
“Spill it,” I order as I hand him some napkins.
“That was quite the act you pulled the other day,” he says between bites. “Everyone’s talking about you jilting Luthor at the altar. Good to see you came to your senses.”
I glare at him. “What are you doing here? Who bribed you with lunch?”
“Henderson sent me. Said you need to make yourself scarce.”
“Isn’t that what I’m doing?” How much more scarce could I be?
Bobby finishes his mouthful and wipes his hands, setting the half eaten burrito down. That act alone concerns me. Bobby never leaves something unfinished.
“You need to leave, not just hide in your mothers apartment.”
“Leave Metropolis?” I state dumbly.
“Leave New Troy, the United States, ideally the American continent.”
I stare at him in shock. I’ve only been out of the US three times. A trip to Ireland in my college years and two foreign assignments for the Planet, one in the Congo and one in the Gulf. Though if I was now fleeing the country it could hardly be considered a vacation, or for pleasure.
“Where would I go? Do I just go to the airport and pick a flight somewhere?” I ask somewhat rhetorically as I’m a little shocked at this direct approach to something that seems so drastic.
Bobby had picked up his burrito and resumed eating. “No. We’ll get you out. You need to pack a bag.”
“Right now?”
As Bobby nods while fishing around in the bag for more food, I walk to my room, pull out the suitcase I just unpacked, and place it on the bed. While I’m moving hangers of clothes on the rack trying to determine what to pack, my mind catches up with what’s going on. I stomp back into the kitchen.
“Why do I have to leave? Why does it have to be now? Who’s ‘we?’”
He’s not at the table anymore; instead he’s raiding my mother’s fridge.
“Don’t you have any regular soda? Not this diet stuff?”
“Who’s arranging all of this?” I ask as I shake my head at his question.
Bobby opens the can of diet soda, takes a sip, and grimaces. “Look, I’m just the messenger. We needed someone you could trust and I was the best for the job. It’s all arranged, but you have to leave now.”
“Why?” I demand with my arms crossed. “I’m supposed to take your word on this? Pack a bag and run away into the night to another continent? At least tell me why.”
Bobby doesn’t answer. Instead he returns to the greasy bag and starts digging around.
“This isn’t the time to find the last burrito,” I remark snarkily, pausing as he hands me a folded piece of paper. I open it, trying to not touch the splotches of grease and sauce. The words ‘trust us’ along with the initial ‘H.’
“Henderson?”
Bobby doesn’t even look at me. “Go pack.”
****
For the first time in my life, I fled, Lex’s threat echoing in my head all the way across the Atlantic. While I had been relieved, being whisked away in secrecy by the gruff Inspector I’ve worked with for years scared me terribly.
It was all arranged. I was given flights and a passport with a new identity. Henderson wasn’t messing around. Once I landed in England, an undercover agent with Scotland Yard escorted me to Wales, ensuring I was checked into my hotel and leaving me with strict instructions to not contact anyone I knew, and to lay low.
Several weeks passed while I read, walked, and scoured every newspaper I could find for news of home until one day the breaking news aired on the radio. Lex Luthor had jumped from his penthouse to avoid arrest by the police.
I could go home.
****
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