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Part 4/5
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The Jeep tips forward and the back wheels, locked by the brakes, slide for a few feet. Then the entire vehicle lurches, the back end rises and the Jeep rolls end over end. The air bags deploy and I choke on the powder released into the air. My seat belt digs into my shoulders and hips. Leaves and branches whip through the window as the world outside turns into a crazy green kaleidoscope.
There's a long metallic moan as the Jeep slides several feet on its roof before making one last roll and landing with a shudder and a huge splash in the creek. A few seconds tick by as the air bag deflates and I try to come to grips with what I've done. Clark hasn't said a word since we slid over the edge. He's absolutely still and pale, his eyes closed. Just as I'm wondering if I've killed him, Clark releases his seatbelt and looks over at me. His hair is full of little green squares of safety glass that used to be the front windscreen.
"Are you okay?" he asks. His eyes are wide and look as shocked as I feel.
"Yes," I answer in a shaky voice. I fumble for my seatbelt and try to open the door. I have to lean hard against it with my shoulder before it creaks open. Cold water from the creek fills my shoes when I step out of the car. I can taste blood in my mouth. Clark opens his door and comes around to stand next to me. We both look up at slide marks left on the side of the ravine.
"I can't believe you didn't stop me," I mutter.
"Stop you? How? What was I supposed to do? I can't believe you drove over the edge!"
"You know what I mean!"
His mouth opens and closes a few times but he doesn't actually say anything.
"Why didn't you just tell me? This could have all been avoided if you would have just 'fessed up. I gave you every opportunity!"
"This is my fault?" He couldn't look more surprised than if I had just told him I was Superman.
"Yes!"
"You are unbelievable. I… I had no idea you would take it this far. Lois, you could've been killed!"
"It's a risk I was willing to take."
"Is there a risk you aren't willing to take?" He watches the dust still settling on the hillside and shakes his head in disbelief.
"Tell me I was wrong! Tell me the truth! Why don't you take a risk, Clark? You're Superman, just admit it!"
For a few seconds he doesn't move. Then he sighs and his shoulders slump. "This is not how I wanted to tell you."
"So you were going to tell me? How were you going to do it? What were you waiting for?"
"I don't know." He runs his fingers nervously through his hair, dislodging a small shower of safety glass. "I wanted to see how serious you were about me first."
"You don't think driving over the edge was serious?"
"No, Lois, not serious about Superman. Serious about me, Clark. Just me."
"That kiss last night wasn't serious enough for you?"
"You didn't know then?" He looks so hopeful.
"I didn't know then." I can feel myself blushing. "I, uh, it was this morning, when you were talking in your sleep. Actually, no, that's not right. First I took your glasses off and I thought you looked like him but I didn't really believe it until you started muttering about the sauce being good."
"So you're not upset?"
"Upset? Have you seen my car? Do you think it's drivable?"
We both look at it. The roof is crushed, the front tire is leaning at a crazy angle and the windows are all shattered. Our eyes meet and we both start to laugh. I laugh until my sides ache and then I lean back against the Jeep, exhausted and feeling more like crying now.
"So," I ask with a hiccup, "do I get to see the suit or are we hitchhiking home?"
Clark gives me a nervous smile and peels off the long-sleeved t-shirt he's wearing. Sure enough, there's an S on his chest. "Usually I change faster," he explains, "but you're going to need this for the flight home." He hands me the shirt. I take it from him and then he blurs into a spin. When he stops moving he's entirely Superman.
Even though I knew I was right, I still can't quite believe it. I pull his shirt on over my own. It's still warm from his body and smells like him. The familiarity of it all makes me feel shy.
"Ready?" he asks, sounding just as self-conscious as I feel. "I'm going to go fast," he tells me. "If I fly at the speed I normally do with you it would take us hours to get there."
I nod my understanding and he steps closer. He puts one hand tentatively on my waist, his gaze skittering away from my own. I raise suddenly numb arms to encircle his neck. He gives a nervous swallow and bends to lift my legs. Clark clears his throat and his fingers flex against my waist and leg as we rise slowly into the air.
Unable to truly believe this is happening I ask, "Clark?"
"Yes?" he answers.
"Just checking," I tell him.
I turn my head into the hollow beneath his chin. How did I never notice that Clark and Superman have the same smell? I wasn't just blind, I was olfactorily-impaired as well.
He gradually speeds up until I can only hear the roar of the wind. My hair whips wildly and I pass the time wondering just how bad it's going to look when we get to Metropolis. By the time we reach my apartment I'm thoroughly cold and miserable.
He sets me down in my living room and then steps back quickly. He gives me half a smile before he turns towards the window.
"Wait… you're leaving?" My heart sinks in disappointment.
"Someone has to get the Jeep out of the ravine. When you call your insurance company, tell them it's in the parking lot at that view area." He flies out the window before I can say anything else.
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It's after-hours and I have to leave a message for my insurance company. I keep watching the window, waiting for him to show up. Clark was going to come back here, wasn't he? I take a quick shower and put his shirt back on afterwards, inhaling his scent.
It gets dark outside and he still hasn't returned. I try writing but I can't find an angle for a story that doesn't really exist. I pick up a book but the words mean nothing to me. I'm preoccupied with watching my living room curtains billow with every little breeze. It's probably too cold to have the window open, but I can't bear to shut it. Instead, I wrap a blanket around my shoulders.
Two hours pass since he dropped me off. Should I call him? Maybe he didn't realize I wanted him to come back? I call and get his answering machine. Flustered, I leave a message. "Hi, it's me… I, uh, I was just calling… Are you back yet? No, you must not be. You'd call me when you got back. Or come over. You can come over anytime. Are you avoiding me? Clark?" Rattled, I hang up.
I sit on the sofa, staring at the window and listening to the rain that has started outside. I want to go break in to his apartment and erase that message before he gets home. But what if he's there? What if he's already heard the message? And if he's not there, what if he came back while I was there? Where is he anyway? It couldn't have taken him long to get the Jeep out of the ravine and fly back here. Is there a natural disaster? Some looming emergency? I should turn on the news channel and check, but I'm afraid to learn that all is right with the world and he's just avoiding me.
Is he avoiding me? No, of course not, I tell myself. You only drove him over a cliff today - why would he be avoiding you? It's obvious you care enough to make a grand romantic gesture. Sure, he seemed a little reticent as he was flying out of here, but maybe he had something else on his mind. Maybe he's just feeling shy because you know his secret?
I try again to start an article to justify this to Perry. I have nothing to write since I have no idea what was in the warehouse. If they didn't load the truck, is something still being stored there? Obviously the empty truck was a diversionary tactic. I remember what Clark said about the warehouse having surveillance cameras. If they knew we broke in, they probably figured we'd follow the truck. So what was in the warehouse? Is it still there?
There's only one way to find out.
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I take a cab to the warehouse. After the car drives away I realize this was probably a bad idea. How am I going to get home? Taxis aren't exactly easy to come by in this part of town, especially this late at night. Still, now that I'm here I might as well take a look around; and quickly, because the rain shows no sign of stopping any time soon.
The perimeter fence for the warehouse has been left wide open. I go to the same side door that I used two nights ago and it, too, is already open. This is either the luckiest break I've ever had or there's nothing left here to find. My money is on the latter. Still, I'm nervous as I tiptoe down the corridor. I keep glancing over my shoulder, fully expecting Clark to come sneaking up on me again.
What if he did? Would he grab me like he did the first time? Is that really why I came back here? Am I hoping that he'll catch me? I don't want to think too hard about the answer.
I reach the door at the end of the corridor and it's not locked either. My heart sinks, there can't be anything incriminating left here. I open the door and step into the cavernous space of the warehouse. The rain is beating on the tin roof overhead, creating so much noise I can't think straight. I wonder if Clark knows, but isn't saying, what was in here. Did he know that truck was empty the whole time?
I go back into the hallway, mostly to get away from the noise of the rain, and run right into Superman. I jump back, startled.
"You never give up, do you?" he asks.
"You, of all people, should know that. Are you going to drag me out of here again? Or are you here to ask me out?"
"Ask you out?"
"You said you were going to ask me out the minute we got back to Metropolis. Did you? No, you flew out the window and I haven't heard a word from you. I even left you a message. Which was stupid. Not the leaving of the message. The message itself. It wasn't even really a message. It was just… oh, never mind."
He looks down at his boots. "I'm sorry. I should have called you when I got back."
My heart makes a painful lurch in my chest. "Did you get my message?"
"Yeah." He still doesn't look up. It feels like all the air just left my lungs.
"You were there when I left it, weren't you?"
His chin dips in the barest of nods.
"Oh." I blink away the tears and swallow to clear the lump that has suddenly grown in my throat. "You're avoiding me?"
He hesitates for a half-second too long before answering. "I'm not avoiding you. It's a lot to deal with, for you, I mean. I didn't want you to feel like I was crowding you."
"That's not what you were thinking at all!" My pain turns quickly into indignation. "It wasn't about you crowding me! You didn't want me crowding you! Right? You were thinking that all I'm after is this," I poke his 'S' hard enough that he takes a step back, "and that's absolutely not true!" I rush past him, biting my lip to keep from crying. I've lost him. I've lost Clark and the realization breaks my heart. It's entirely my fault, too, if I hadn't pushed him into revealing himself as Superman than we could still be friends.
I'm soaked from the rain before I even reach the fence. Clark follows behind me, calling out my name but I ignore him. When I reach the street I look both ways but there's no traffic and definitely no cabs nearby. I start walking towards downtown; I have better chance of catching a taxi there.
"Lois, please wait. Let's talk."
I keep walking.
"At least let me take you home." His hand touches my elbow and I shake it off.
"Go, just go, okay? You haven't quite got the hang of how to avoid someone, have you?"
"Lois, please! I wasn't avoiding you, I just panicked!"
"Panicked?" I turn to look at him in open-mouthed amazement. "You panicked? Why?"
"Because I was scared."
"Oh, nice try. What could I possibly do to you that's so scary? It's not like that accident today hurt you."
"Accident? Lois, that was more like an 'on-purpose' than an accident."
"And that scares you?"
"No, not that. I didn't want you to be angry with me."
"So you avoided me? Yeah, that's not likely to make me angry. I can understand that perfectly."
"Lois, you're getting soaked out here. Please, can I just take you home?"
"No, you can get the heck away from me. This is me avoiding you. Let's see how you like it."
I turn away from him and start walking again. Do I want him to take me home? No, yes, no, I don't know. It would be nice if he'd make another effort to stop me. Clark apparently has too much respect for my free will. He's never going to stop me from driving us both over the edge - whether that's figurative or literal.
No wonder he thinks I'm scary; I haven't got any kind of impulse control when I'm positive I'm right or I think someone is hiding something.
C'mon Clark, stop me, I think as I march away from him. But he doesn't come after me and I don't dare look back to see if he's still standing there. I'm too far over the edge on this one to turn around so I just keep going.
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The next morning I sleep through my alarm. I wake up bleary-eyed just after eight o'clock when the phone starts ringing.
"Lois?" Jimmy sounds far too frazzled for this early in the day. "Perry wants to know if you're going to make it to the staff meeting this morning?"
That would be the staff meeting that started at eight o'clock. I am so dead. Not only did I waste two whole days on an unproductive story, now I'm skipping out on work. "Tell him I'm sorry but I'm running late today. I'll be in by nine."
"Okay. I just hope Perry doesn't shoot the messenger," Jimmy says darkly.
By the time I arrive at the Planet the meeting is over. Perry's office door is shut and the shades are drawn, so at least I won't have to deal with him just yet. I glance at Clark's desk and his chair is empty. Did he make it here in time for the meeting? I'll just bet he did. So where did he go? Is he still avoiding me? My heart twists at the thought that he might be. I should have talked to him last night instead of running off like an irrational idiot. I should have let him take me home. He should have asked me out like he said he was going to do!
"Lois! In my office!" Perry barks from behind me.
Taking one quick deep breath for courage, I make my way into Perry's office. Clark is leaning against the wall just inside the office. He gives me an almost imperceptible shake of his head as I close the door. Is that a warning?
"Do you want to tell me what that little stunt you pulled was about?" Perry goes behind his desk but doesn't sit down. Instead he stands with his hands braced on the desk in front of him.
"What little stunt, Chief?" I'm honestly not certain which stunt he means. I've pulled far too many stunts in the past few days for which I ought to be held accountable.
"You have an unorthodox approach to finding stories, I can appreciate that, but Lois, what were you thinking breaking into that warehouse last night? They have you on tape!"
"Oh," I say, "that little stunt."
"Clark tells me you two followed a truck from the warehouse and that it was empty when you were finally able to look inside it."
"Which just proves that there really was something to hide in that warehouse! They were deliberately trying to divert us," I point out.
"Two days! You and Clark disappear for two days and you have nothing to show for it."
I shrug. Does he think I don't feel bad about that?
"Which is disastrous enough, but did you know that a security guard turned up dead at that warehouse this morning?"
"If they have me on camera than they know I didn't kill him. I wasn't there very long last night."
"Lois, I think you're missing the point here. The warehouse owner is good friends with Franklin Stern. He's asked Mr. Stern to reprimand you."
I break into a cold sweat. He can't be serious. "Perry, I…"
"I'm not suspending you, Lois. But I am putting you on notice. If you're going to pursue this story, you'd better do it entirely by the book. You have no more room for error, do you get me?"
I think about arguing with him, but it's not going to do me any good. "Yes, Chief," I say as meekly as I can manage.
Perry isn't fooled. "I'm going to ask that you defer to Clark's judgment on this story."
"Clark!" I turn to give him a furious look. "He was in that warehouse, too! Both times!" I flinch after I add that bit about both times. I shouldn't have said that - what if they have Superman on tape, too? Or were the cameras only in the warehouse and not in the hallway?
"Both times? You went there twice? Judas Priest, I don't want to know about it! At least Clark was smart enough not to be caught on tape! I didn't get a call from Bill Henderson this morning looking for Clark. Let me tell you, Lois, I never like starting off my morning with a phone call from Metropolis' finest looking for one of my reporters. Never! It doesn't bode well for the rest of the day."
"I'll give Henderson a call," I offer.
"No, you won't! You'll get your butt down there and answer his questions in person! Even if you have nothing to tell him, you say it to his face and get him off of my back. You hear me?"
"Yes, Chief."
"Then get!" Perry waves his arms at us dismissively and sits down behind his desk. I can hear him muttering as I head for the door, but thankfully I can't tell what he's saying.
As Clark shuts the door behind us, I turn on him. "Way to stand up for me in there, partner! I really appreciate it."
Clark gives me a grim look. "What did you want me to say?"
"I don't know," I tell him truthfully. "But you could have at least admitted you went in there on the first night. And you didn't have to stand there and say nothing when Perry said I should defer to you. You must be insane if you think I'm going to trust your judgment!"
"Is that the same judgment that told you there were cameras in that warehouse?"
"No, that's the same judgment that let me follow an empty truck for an entire day and said nothing."
"I didn't know the truck was empty when we started following it." He shakes his head.
"You expect me to believe that?"
"Yes," he says, like it's patently obvious that he's trustworthy. "Why would I lie about that?"
"Don't get me started on your habitual lying."
He looks around nervously. "That's an entirely different issue."
"Not to me, it isn't."
The thing is, I know he's right. They are completely different issues. He had a dang good reason for never telling anyone, even me, about Superman. Do I believe him that he didn't know the truck was empty? Absolutely not. If I had x-ray vision I would have peeked in the truck before it ever left the dock. But what did he have to gain by letting me tail an empty truck all day?
I look at my watch without really seeing the time. It's more for effect, to impress upon him that I'm a busy person who doesn't have the time to stand here arguing with him all day. "I'd love to stay and hear about your views on honesty and integrity, but I really need to get going."
He follows me to the elevator. "We need to talk."
"So, talk." I push the button for the elevator and look up at him as if I were ready to be fascinated by every syllable that comes out of his mouth.
"Not here," he shakes his head. "I'll wait for you, maybe after you talk to Henderson we can go somewhere private and…"
"Are you asking me out?" I interrupt.
He blinks, clearly confused. "No. I'm just saying we should have this conversation somewhere less public."
He just doesn't get it. Apparently men from Krypton are just as much from Mars as the garden-variety Earth kind. The elevator doors open and I step inside. Clark doesn't move, his face creased with confused irritation as he waits for me to answer him. I push the button and the doors start to close.
"Call me when you figure it out," I tell him.
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End 4/5
