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Part 7/?
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"Josh? Lois, really…"
"I know he's your friend, but you need to look at this objectively. Who set all this in motion to bring us out here? Who knew ahead of time that we would both be here? Who knows that we work at the Daily Planet? Josh!"
"Lois, you're forgetting one thing. Josh was here in Valentia - he couldn't have taken those pictures of you in Metropolis. Someone was already stalking you before he called me."
"So he had an accomplice. Maybe he had someone leave those pictures on my desk to really mess with our minds after we got here. Did you ever make him angry? You had to have done something - think! Did you steal his girlfriend? Run over his dog? Maybe he thinks the best way to get to you is through me. After all, you did say all those flattering things about me to him. He knows you like me, right?"
"But that doesn’t make sense. Josh isn't like that."
"You're saying I didn't see what I'm telling you I saw?"
I sigh. "I don't know. Maybe you were mistaken?"
"Fine." She shakes her head in disgust. "Don’t believe me."
"Lois, it's not that I don't believe you…"
"Whatever, Clark. Forget it." She heads back up the hill. I sigh as I watch her walk away. It would have been nice if she'd been happier I was still alive for just a little bit longer.
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Doc tells us all to call it an early day. He thinks the cabin is too unstable to sort through right now. I breathe a sigh of relief that the box will stay safely hidden under the rubble. Marty, Josh and Doc start up the trail towards the house. I hang back, hoping for a chance to retrieve the box but Lois stays with me.
"Look," she says, pointing at the end of the thick center beam where it juts out from the tangled mass of wood. "See the end there? See how it's a clean break? Old wood should splinter. It doesn't break clean."
She's right. It doesn't look like an accidental break at all. "We were both working on the scaffolding, Lois. Just because you saw Josh messing with it doesn't mean he was trying to kill me."
"What about Marty?" she asks. "He had all the time in the world to tamper with that beam since he sleeps down here at night."
"But he wasn't here last night. He slept at the house because of the storm."
"He could have done it the night before." Lois never lets a theory go until a better one comes along.
"Then why didn't it blow down in the storm?"
She frowns. "I don't know. Maybe he got up early this morning to do it?"
"But why? And if you are the target, why weren't you sent into the cabin on some pretext? Josh was going to go in, not me. How could he be sure I'd offer to go instead?"
Lois falls silent, staring out at the lake as she nervously chews at her lower lip. I glance at where the box is hidden. What's inside it? Why does it call to me? It's torture having to wait until later to hold it again.
"Hey, Lois!" Emily yells from the top of the hill. We both turn to look at her. "It's your night for dinner!"
Lois sighs and then pats my arm as she moves past me. "In another half hour you're going to wish you were still under that pile of wood."
I give her a smile but don't walk with her. She stops and turns back. "Aren't you coming?"
"In a minute. I just want… to be alone for a few minutes."
She gives me a sympathetic nod and then trudges back up the hill.
I wait until she disappears into the trees before I lower my glasses and check that I'm alone. No one is around. I go back over to where the box is, pulling the foundation stones away so that I can reach inside. My skin begins to tingle even before I touch it. In better light I can see that the Kryptonian writing seems to be a border. The box is lightweight and a soft blue color reminiscent of the spacecraft I was sent to Earth in. Is it the same type of metal?
"What are you?" I breathe. It doesn't answer.
I turn the box over and over, looking at each side of it, but it doesn't do anything besides emit a soft hum. I still can't distinguish where, or even if, the box opens. I shake it gently but I don't hear anything.
Think, Clark. Why does it hum when you touch it? The globe does that too. But it didn't at first, I realize with a start. The globe was attuned to me, but it took months before it finally spoke to me. Would a Kryptonian object that wasn't attuned to me ever talk?
It wants to, I realize. It's trying right now. Would it hum for anyone who touched it or do they have to be from Krypton? Now there's a conversation I want to have. "Hey, Lois, will you just touch this strange object I found and tell me if you feel anything…?"
I hear footsteps on the bridge over the creek. Someone is coming towards the cabin. For a split second I hesitate. I don't want to put the box back. I hurry into the trees near the lake's shore. Marty calls out my name. I stay hidden, waiting to see what he does. He looks around curiously, shouting my name a few more times. Then he shrugs and kicks at the pile of rocks I dislodged from the cabin's foundation. He yells my name one more time before he turns and heads back towards the house.
I clutch the box close to my chest and try to decide what I should do. Leave it in the trees? But that would be risking that someone else might find it. Take it back to my room? Is it really safe there? Someone has already been in my room to leave that picture. I can't take it back to Metropolis. It's not possible to just disappear at random as easily out here. Then again, I'm all ready in trouble - how am I going to explain not being at the dig site when Marty came back?
I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. I move at super-speed through the trees towards the house. I wait, listening to hear where everyone is. Marty opens the back door and says, "I can't find him."
"What do you mean you can't find him?" Lois asks.
"I mean, there was no one down there and he didn't answer when I called for him."
"Maybe he took a walk?" Emily suggests. "I'm sure he was pretty rattled by the cabin falling on him. God knows I would be."
I peek at the house. Emily, Lois and Marty are in the kitchen. There's no sign of Josh or Doc, but the truck is missing. It's now or never. I rush around to the front of the house, elevate to my bedroom window and slip inside. I quietly pull my suitcase out from under the bed. I rip out the liner of the suitcase and nestle the box between the two rods for its telescoping handle. Then I adjust the liner back into place. It's crude, but it will do for tonight. I click the security lock shut and scramble the combination before shoving the suitcase back under the bed.
I check again, the three of them are still in the kitchen, arguing about where I might have gone. I leave through the window and land on the front porch. I take one quick breath to steady myself and walk inside. As I come through the doorway into the kitchen they all turn to stare at me.
"Where the hell have you been?" Lois asks.
"For a walk. I… came back through the trees. Why?"
"We've only been looking for you for… How am I supposed to know that you aren't confused and dizzy and wandering around somewhere? That happens, you know. People get a concussion and fall into water or mine shafts all the time."
"I don't think there are any mine shafts around here," Emily says with a quick smile in my direction.
"That's not the point! The point is we shouldn't have left a person with a possible head injury, oh, never mind. You're here now."
"What are we eating?" I ask.
"Whatever Josh and Doc bring back." Marty grins. "Lois said she'd buy."
I look over at Lois and she flashes me a warning glare. "Don't say it. You could still die today, Clark," she cautions me.
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After dinner I head back to my room, feeling like an Argonaut lured in by a siren's song. I'm just about to pull the suitcase out from under the bed when Lois knocks on my door.
"Clark?"
Damn. "Yeah?"
"Can I come in?"
I can't think of a single reason why not. I couldn't possibly tell her I was undressed and have her believe me.
"Sure." I unlock the door and open it.
She doesn't come in. "How are you feeling?"
"Good."
She tilts her head and assesses me. Then she quietly asks, "Are you up for a swim tonight?"
Now I'm truly torn. Which siren song do I follow? The box under the bed? Or wet half-naked Lois? I think about the kiss we shared last night. "Give me a minute," I tell her. "I'll meet you on the back porch."
"Okay," she gives me a shy smile. "One minute."
As soon as she starts down the stairs I pull the suitcase from beneath the bed and recheck the lock. Still on, still secure. I push the suitcase back and head downstairs.
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Tonight I leave my glasses on. I've tempted fate more than enough. As we float on our backs looking up at the stars I find myself distracted, wondering about the box and what it might contain. Maybe swimming wasn't the best idea tonight. Maybe I should find a way to go back early… I touch her arm lightly and tell her I'm heading back to shore.
I'm wading through chest-deep water when she splashes me from behind and tries to start a water fight. I keep moving, feeling bad that I'm ignoring her, especially when she's in such a playful mood.
"Are you okay?" she asks.
"I'm fine."
"You're not feeling dizzy or sick, are you?"
"I don't have a concussion, Lois."
"How can you be sure?" She moves in front of me and I stop, still waist-deep in the water. "You really ought to get checked out."
"Lois…"
"Seriously, Clark. You're worrying me. You seem listless tonight."
"I'm just tired."
"You know you shouldn't sleep for 24 hours after a head injury."
"I don't have a head injury."
"Well, if you're confused, you'd hardly be the best judge, would you?" She reaches up and runs her fingers into my hair, pressing her fingertips down gently. "Does this hurt?"
"No." Hurt is exact opposite of how it feels.
"I was so worried… when the cabin collapsed on you."
"I know. Really, I'm okay."
Why did Lucas hide the box? There has to be something inside it.
Lois' hands drop to my left shoulder and she squeezes it gently. "How about here? Does this hurt?"
"No, that feels okay."
Both her hands travel down my left arm. "What about your arm? That's okay?"
"Yeah." On second thought, the box will still be there. Lois is here now.
The water eddies between us as she moves to stand behind me. "Hmm. What about here?" she asks, drawing her fingers across my back. My mental 'Yellow Pages' flips to "Getting Some" and the box fades dramatically in importance.
"That's okay, too."
She lets out a small, nervous laugh. "Just okay?"
What does she want me to say? All higher brain function is rapidly deserting me. I let out a little gasp as she places a feather-light kiss on my shoulder blade.
"How about that? Was that okay?" she asks quietly.
"Yeah. That was more than okay."
She kisses the center of my back and then her arms slide around me from behind. Her cheek rests against my shoulder blade and she sighs. I take her hands in mine, threading my fingers with hers.
"I was so worried," she whispers.
"It's over now, and I'm fine." I lift her right hand and press a kiss in her palm. "We're here, together. Don't think about what didn't happen."
"Remember last night when I told you I only took risks because Superman is always around to save me?"
"Yes."
"Today, when the cabin collapsed, I kept hoping that he was going to fly in and save you." She kisses my back again. "But he didn't. We're on our own out here, Clark. Promise me you won't do anything that reckless again."
"I…" I chicken out. "I promise."
She leaves a trail of soft kisses across my back as she works her way to my right shoulder. "How about this side?"
"It's okay," I answer and bend my head to kiss her. She kisses me back, her arms wrapping around my neck.
As the kiss deepens she presses against me. The water laps at us softly. She trembles as I smooth my hand down her back and then to her waist. Her hands leave my shoulders and caress across my chest. Is that a hint? I nudge my hand a little higher. Give me a sign, Lois. Something, anything.
She's so soft, the kiss so tender and yielding, that I feel daring. I lightly trace my thumb just beneath her breast. Lois quivers, her mouth coming loose from mine.
"Oh," she whispers.
I freeze, moving my hand back to her waist. "Sorry," I murmur.
"Don't apologize." She nibbles at my lower lip. "I wasn't asking you to stop."
There's a pounding in my ears that matches the throbbing elsewhere in my body. "So this is okay?"
"Oh yeah. It's more than okay." Lois lets out a nervous laugh and kisses my shoulder again. I bend down, kissing along the edge of her bra before darting my tongue out to taste her skin. Lois tips her head back, her hands threading through my hair in encouragement. I kiss my way back up her throat and find her lips again.
"Oh my god, this is it, isn't it?" She shivers in my arms and I attempt to pull her closer but she puts her hands flat on my chest to push me away. I reluctantly let her go. "Don't get me wrong, I want this. I mean, I think I want this. Do you want this? What am I saying? Of course you want this. Don't you? You do want me, right? Oh god, this is embarrassing."
"Lois, this doesn't have to be anything. It's whatever you want it to be."
"What do I want it to be? What if I don't know? What if… we just go back now? I'm sorry."
"Sorry? For what?"
"For…" She lets out an embarrassed giggle. "For leading you on."
"You weren't leading me on," I assure her. "Let's go back to the house."
"Thanks," she says softly. "I just don't think I'm ready…"
"You know what?" I take her hand as we wade towards the shore. "I don't think I'm ready yet either."
Taking that step will mean telling her. And telling her… well, I'm not ready to do that. Things are going so well between us. I don't want to ruin it.
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It's nearly one o'clock before I'm certain that everyone is asleep. I roll off the bed, pulling the suitcase out and taking the box from it. It hums, but this time it also gives off a soft glow. I trace the engraved symbols, wishing I could read them. Are they instructions? Just for decoration? Lucas' monogram?
"I greet thee…" a garbled noise comes from the box, sounding like a cassette tape as the machine eats it.
"Go on," I will the box to continue, but the glow fades and then dies. The humming stops. Disappointment floods through me. It's so unfair.
"Come on… please," I whisper. Nothing. I set the box on the bed and sit down next to it. I trace my finger over one of the symbols, then the next. Suddenly the box begins to glow again. I run my finger over the etched outline again and the box floods the room with light.
Lucas Peregrine's form emerges from the light. "I greet thee thrice," he says, raising his hand. Even though I know he can't see me, I raise my hand in return.
"I am Lu-Kess, son of Krypton. I have fled my planet, accused of a crime I did not commit. I have left my family so they will not have to share in my shame. If you find this message, please tell my family that I did this for them. I have left these memories for my wife. Please see that she or my son receive them."
The light fades and Lucas disappears. I'm still sitting there in open-mouthed wonder when the box springs open.
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