This part is a little bit shorter, than the previous one. I hope you'll enjoy it.
From Part 1: Lois woke up suddenly and felt a little drowsy. What had that dream been about? She had been dancing with Clark? Somehow she still felt him touching her. It had been so pleasant and comforting. But Clark? She dreamed of Superman and was going to marry Lex. Clark wasn’t part of this game. She didn’t love him. Maybe she had dreamt this because of his declaration.
Her mind was mixing things together that didn’t make sense. She shook her head and sank back into her pillows. But Lois noticed that the kiss she had dreamt affected her more than she was ready to admit. She relived the memory over and over again, though she tried hard to avoid the thought of kissing Clark. Lois closed her eyes and drifted away again.
Part 2 Lex Luthor woke up slowly. It had been a good night, granted by the knowledge of his victory. He had placed the ring on Lois’ hand. Now he needed to tie her to him forever. He had to do that carefully. Lois liked her freedom and that was one of the reasons why it was so challenging for him to trap her.
Someone had said it this way: Put a frog into hot water, and he will jump out of it right away. Put him into cold water, and heat it slowly, and he will wait until he’s boiled. This was the right recipe to get Lois Lane.
She had to feel admired but safe, desired but respected, but what was most important was that she needed to think that she was the one in control. If Lois noticed the trap he was going to catch her in, she would be dangerous to him. After all, she was still the best reporter in Metropolis. If she got the slightest hint that he wasn’t the gentleman he claimed to be, she would hunt him down until he went to prison.
Getting Lois was playing with the fire or walking a tightrope. The implied danger made it exciting. Lois must not be aware of the changes in her life. He had to be careful until the day she was chained to him and completely at his mercy. She would be only able to breathe when she had his permission.
But there was still an awful lot of work to do. Two enemies had the power to take her away from him. Being her fiancé wasn’t secure enough yet. He needed to wait till they were married to be sure that she was really his.
Superman was one of those foes. As much as Lex liked the challenge, the hero was going to interfere with his plans. He had finally outstayed his welcome. Lex had already taken care of this special problem. The trap for Superman was prepared.
The other enemy was somehow a surprise to Lex. Despite all his efforts, Kent had never bought the idea that he was the rich philanthropist he pretended to be. Usually he wouldn’t consider the average human being an enemy. They were inconveniences at best. But the strange thing about Kent was that he noticed what everyone including Lois ignored.
Though Lois was the best reporter in town, Lex was still able to fool her. With Kent, on the other hand, Lex had always felt exposed. Kent had shot him those intense, knowing glances. He had to get rid of that guy. Killing him wouldn’t be the best way though. Lex felt that he would need to use this man to intensify his influence on Lois.
She had mentioned Clark several times, complaining that she did miss her partner and friend. Kent obviously wanted more than friendship with Lois. Lex had seen the loving and worshipping look in the eyes of that fool. Lois was just perfect at ignoring it, but that didn’t leave Kent harmless. Lois needed Kent and if Lex broke her contact with Clark too abruptly, he might lose Lois.
He needed Kent incapable of being a potential lover and a future pursuer. At the moment, Kent remained silent and left the hunting of Lex Luthor to Superman. When Lex killed Superman, Clark Kent wouldn't be able to rely on the hero any more. Perhaps he would get active in the hunt on his own then. Lex wouldn’t allow him to do that.
But how exactly was he going to make Kent his personal lap dog? Lex Luthor was enjoying making his plan, when his telephone rang.
“Lex? How amazing,” Lois said. “This must be about the first time that I didn’t need to deal with your public relations for hours just to get to you.”
“Things have changed since yesterday, Lois, my darling.” Lex laughed.
“Lex, I need to know why Clark hates you so much,” Lois asked, getting to the point directly.
“I see that this is not going to be a conversation about sweet little nothings,” Lex replied, pretending to be disappointed. In fact, he had never liked any question better than this. It gave him with a reason to fill her with the biggest lies he had ever told.
“Don’t change the topic, Lex,” Lois answered with a hint of annoyance in her voice.
“Lois, I…”Lex hesitated in order to increase her longing to hear his lie. He wanted her to become less sceptical than she usually was.
“Lex!” Lois reminded him impatiently to go on.
“I’d rather not talk about it,” he said hoarsely. He gave his voice an extra soft touch, inviting her to dig further. Had he spoken with her in his normal manner, she would have been scared away by the sharpness in his words.
“Lex, please, I need to know the reason. Clark won't tell me. He accuses you of not showing the world your real face, but he doesn’t say what he thinks is the truth.”
He had caught her in his trap. She couldn’t blame him for telling her deliberate lies. She had forced him to do so. He smiled inwardly but exercised care in using his best sad voice. He sighed into the receiver, making her think that he was giving in involuntarily.
“I kind of betrayed Clark a long time ago.” He let out another sigh to emphasize his sadness. ”I’m not proud of it and I wish I could undo that. I’ve asked him for forgiveness so often. But heaven knows that he cannot forget it.” Lex placed a pause there, giving the words time to sink in. He waited until Lois said something.
“Oh my! What happened, Lex?” Lois inquired with a trembling voice.
“Clark and I met years ago, when he was still living in Smallville and writing for a local newspaper. One of my companies that was close to the town needed my attention. Clark wanted to publish a few articles about the company and me. I agreed and we met so that he could interview me,” Lex said.
“I didn’t see any interviews with you in the last couple of years, when I was researching you, Lex,” Lois mentioned, sounding doubtful.
“Well, it was never actually published. I don’t know what excuse Clark found to hide it from his editor.” Lex tried to sound as uneasy as possible. “When I worked in Smallville, I met an incredible woman there and fell in love with her.”
“And Clark loved her, too?” Lois asked.
Lex harrumphed, pretending to be embarrassed. “Yes, she was and still is his wife.”
“What?” Lex could hear her confusion and surprise.
“She didn’t tell me that she was married. I was so blind then. I guess, she liked playing in the neighbour’s yard. When Clark noticed that something was going on, she told him that I tried to seduce her. She cried heart wrenchingly and said that it was all my fault. She clung to him, pleading him to save her from me. When it came to it, Clark chose to believe his wife rather than me. I can’t blame him,“ he said hoarsely as if he was fighting tears.
"Hmmmmm....." Lois said, then paused. "Okay, see you later, Lex," Lois whispered and hung up.
* * *
Everything seemed to toss and turn inside her head. How could Clark be married? He had never ever mentioned a wife. Or had he? They had spoken about being married briefly when she had asked him what he would tell his wife when she looked ghastly after a day at the beauty salon. Had he really spoken as if he actually knew? As if he had actually had a wife? She wasn’t so sure anymore.
Why had he claimed that he loved her, when he already had a wife? Did he, too, like to play outside his own yard ? Had his wife betrayed him once too often so that he had stopped caring about the vows? Did he need Lois as an excuse to finally get divorced? But family meant so much to him; she had seen that in Smallville.
Neither Clark nor his parents had shown any sign that there was another woman in his life. Hadn’t they offered that she and Clark could sleep in the same room? They surely didn’t think that Clark was immune against seduction, did they?
Lois was confused and everything inside her revolted against believing Lex. But then, there were all those strange things about Clark. There were his frequent disappearances with rather lame excuses. And was he really so tidy? Why didn’t his apartment look like Jimmy’s? They were both supposed to be bachelors, weren’t they? Well, maybe Clark wasn’t.
*You have no proof,* a small voice in the back of her mind whispered. *You have absolutely no proof that Clark is married.* The voice belonged to Lois, the investigative reporter. Lois often listened to that voice, and it was rarely wrong. The disadvantage was that it made her frequently walk on dangerous ground.
*You have the word of an honourable man,* replied the trusting Lois. It was just the Lois she sometimes wished to be. This Lois was able to relax when safe and when strong arms embraced her. This Lois loved Superman, admired Lex Luthor and felt at ease with Clark, the rock, who offered her shelter in the stormy sea of life.
Lois disliked both answers, because the two Loises kept arguing with each other. Lois the investigative reporter had been stronger for years now. She was experienced with winning fights.
But this time the inner battle ended with a compromise. Lois the investigative reporter wanted to address Clark directly. She wouldn’t let him escape without a satisfying answer. The trusting Lois feared to offend either Clark or Lex. They agreed that a marriage had to have documentation. If Clark was indeed married, there had to be papers to prove that.
After she had made this decision, Lois considered the two possibilities. She didn’t think about the likelihood of each, she just envisioned them in her fantasy.
The first assumption meant that Clark had a wife, and Lois didn’t know her. Where did his wife live? In Metropolis? Usually a couple would live in the same city. So maybe they shared Clark’s apartment. But Lois decided that this wasn’t the case. She had been there often. Unless Clark’s wife was invisible it would be strange that she never happened to be there.
Another important question was why Clark had kept his marriage a secret. Was he afraid of not getting enough dates if everyone knew that he had a wife? Lois had seen him rejecting Cat. She couldn’t imagine that someone who looked only for sex would do that. Cat didn’t care if her bed mates were married. No, Lois thought, Clark just wasn’t such a man.
Maybe his wife embarrassed him because she had some kind of mental illness or whatever. But was that really his way of dealing with problems? Lois didn’t know, but she rather thought that was wrong. Extreme situations brought out the best or the worst character traits.
Maybe Clark was even forced to keep his marriage a secret. Maybe his wife wanted to betray him more easily. But why didn’t he escape her then. Did he disappear so frequently because she was controlling every step he took? Was his declaration of love a cry for help? The mere thought made Lois regret her rejection instantly.
But there was also the other possibility. Lex was lying. But why? Was it because he had something to hide as Clark kept saying?
Lois couldn’t really see the point in telling her that Clark was married if he really wasn’t. Why should someone tell her a lie that was so easily proven wrong? On the other hand Lex' explanation for Clark’s hate sounded so logical.
Again the trusting Lois was speaking. It didn’t help to consider what was wrong or right. Lois needed proof.
tbc...
