Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Lois & Clark Fanfic For the Love of Mike! 3/4

Clark could never get over how alive the city was, even at night. Right now, though, everything was relatively quiet. No one seemed to really need his---

"Help, Superman!"

---Help.

Clark stopped in mid-flight. That had sounded like Lois! But, she had left Metropolis, hadn't she? Was she back? Or was he going crazy?

He headed toward the direction the cry had come from. It sounded like it had come from STAR labs. In no time, he was hovering over the famous building.

He didn't see any trouble nearby, but he saw an all-to-familiar figure ascend the steps and reach for the door handle.

It was her.

Even after all this time, he could still recognize her heartbeat and the smell of her perfume. It was definitely her.

He landed softly behind her. "Lois?"

She turned around. For a moment, they only stared at one another. Then, she suddenly flew down the steps and wrapped her arms around him. She clung to him and cried, all the while mumbling things he couldn't quite comprehend.

Shocked, all Clark could do was hold her while she let it all out. When her tears let up, he looked into her eyes and brushed away the few remaining tears with his thumb. Then, much to his surprise, she took a step back and slapped him. Hard.

"Why didn't you tell me?" she shrieked, "I thought we were friends; you should have told me! Why didn't you tell me you were Superman?"

Why didn't he tell her WHAT?

Lois glared at him. "If I'd only known, none of this would've happened! I would've known what to do; I might've gotten here sooner, then he wouldn't be in there fighting for his life! Okay, so maybe I was wrong for not telling you about him; don't change the subject!"

"Don't change---?"

"Look, we can talk this out later, but right now you need to save him; you're his only hope!"

Clark rubbed the bridge of his nose and tried to make sense of at least one thing she said. "Lois, save who?"

"Didn't I tell you?"

"No! Lois, not one sentence in that little rant made any sense to me! Just what exactly are you talking about?"

Lois lowered her head. For a long moment she was very quiet, but her heartbeat became very rapid. She almost looked like she was going to cry again. Finally, she swallowed and looked him in the eyes. "Clark, you're a dad."

Clark's jaw dropped. What? Had he heard correctly? He stared at Lois in disbelief, unsure whether he should be more shocked at the fact that she knew his identity, or at the news she had just given him. "Lois?"

She nodded, and a stray tear escaped her eye.

"Lois, how? When?"

Lois sniffed and brushed the tear away. "Well, for the baby," she said with a half-smile, "you know perfectly well how, and there's only one possible when. As for how I know who you are," Here the smile vanished, "We had an encounter with Kryptonite today at the bank. Mike---that's his name---had a bad reaction to it. I put two and two together and came here. He's unconscious, now; Dr. Klein says things don't look good for him." Her lip trembled as she fought a losing battle to keep from crying again. She reached out and placed a hand on his arm. "Please, you have to help him. Dr. Klein says a blood transfusion from you is his only hope."

All Clark could do was stare at her. His mind suddenly seemed incapable of any coherent thought. It was as if his brain, unable to process the onslaught of new and unexpected information, froze over. The only thought that managed to sink into his consciousness was that someone needed his help. Latching onto that thought like a life-saving rope, he nodded dumbly and followed Lois into STAR Labs.

*****

Dr. Klein looked up from his adjustments of the instruments and saw Lois enter the room, followed by a very dazed Superman. "Oh, good! You've brought him! I assume you told him about the situation?"

Lois nodded. "Yes, I told him."

"Good. I'm hooking up some Vital Sign monitors, just so we can get a more accurate idea of how Mike's doing. It'll only be a few more seconds."

Superman's eyes went directly to the table on which Mike was lying. His eyebrows shot up when he saw the boy. He turned and looked at Lois.

Lois placed a hand on his arm. "Come, I'll introduce you." She guided him to the table and looked down at the child. "This is Mike," she said. She gently caressed Mike's cheek and glanced at Superman. "Mike, this is your father."

Superman stared wide-eyed at the boy. "Uh, hi...."

Klein had never seen Superman look so---human. The superhero's normally passive expression was completely gone, and a myriad of emotions could be seen playing on his face at once. The most predominant one, of course, was shock. Becoming a parent must truly be an overwhelming experience, even for superheroes; Klein mused. Perhaps this was also because it was so unexpected; many men who are with their wives or girlfriends throughout the pregnancy still pass out when the baby arrives, so imagine waking up one morning and finding out you're the proud parent of a toddler! Dr. Klein frowned as he fiddled with a wire. Come to think of it, he should probably consider calling Betty. They hadn't really kept in touch since Med. school, so it would be a good idea to catch up on things---maybe just call and say "Hi; how are you; are you married; do you have any kids; are any of them mine...."

Dr. Klein plugged in the last wire and flipped a switch. "Okay, done." Lois and Superman looked up at the monitor as little wavy lines began to move across the screen. Klein studied the lines for a minute and shook his head. "He's very weak. We have to get that transfusion going NOW. I'll start setting up to drain the contaminated blood from his body. Meanwhile, we have one major problem to solve."

They both turned away from the monitor and looked at him, their faces full of worry. "What is it?" Lois asked.

"I don't know how to get the blood out of Superman's body."

"What?"

Lois stared at him in disbelief. "What do you mean you don't know how to get the blood out of his body?"

"Well, I---"

"You're a scientist; you're supposed to know these things!"

Superman put a hand on her shoulder. "Lois---"

She shrugged him away and took a step toward Klein. "Aren't you supposed to the expert on Superman? Can't you figure out how to get blood from him? Just how can you be his 'personal physician' if you can't even get blood from him?"

"Miss Lane, please calm down." Klein put his hands up to stop her advance. "Yes, I have done blood work on Superman in the past, but only rarely since it requires Kryptonite exposure in order to render him temporarily powerless so that the needle can pierce his skin. Right now, though, we need Superman's powers to stay intact so that his blood can recharge Mike. So Kryptonite is out. Besides, I think Mike has dealt with enough Kryptonite already today." He glanced at the clock on the far wall. "Well, yesterday. So, since we can't use Kryptonite, we need to find another way of getting the blood from Superman's body---without removing his powers, of course."

Lois grabbed his lapel---again---and glared at him. "My baby needs blood! I don't care if you have to call in a Kryptonian vampire!"

Superman gently took her hand, lifting it off of Klein's lapel, and pulled her into a tight embrace. She sobbed into his chest. "I don't care," Klein heard her say, "He has to do something! If my baby dies, I'm going to shoot him!"

Wait a minute...

Klein's eyebrows slowly rose.

Shooting. Of course! Increased velocity enabling an object to penetrate another otherwise impenetrable object, just as a bullet can travel through wood, brick, and in some cases metal when fired from a gun. Basic physics! Why hadn't he thought of this before? It was so simple! Grinning from ear to ear, he triumphantly shouted "Of course!"

Lois and Superman turned and looked at him.

"What?" Lois asked.

"Shoot him!"

They exchanged puzzled looks, then stared at Dr. Klein as though he'd completely lost it.

Superman cleared his throat. "Um, Dr. Klein? I realize it's late and you've been up a very long time..."

"No, no, no!" Dr. Klein moved over to Mike and began hooking up the necessary equipment. "I mean the principle!"

"But Mike isn't even old enough for school!" Lois protested.

Klein rolled his eyes as he swiftly finished connecting the tubes to Mike's body, allowing the contaminated blood to begin slowly oozing out into a plastic blood bag. "I don't mean 'shoot the principal', I mean the principle of shooting! Velocity!"

They were staring at him as if to indicate that they were no more enlightened than they were before he spoke.

Dr. Klein slipped the needled end of an unconnected tube into Mike's body. He handed the needled other end to Superman. "Here. Drive this into the vein in your inner elbow as fast as you can."

Finally, Superman understood. He rolled up his sleeve, then raised the needle as high as the tube would allow and drove the needle toward the vein Klein indicated so swiftly that the human eye couldn't even detect the motion.

It went in.

Lois' eyes widened. "How---?"

"I had to build enough speed to be able to break through my own aura."

Lois smiled. "So is he going to be all right?"

"Of course!" Said Dr. Klein. "The jab of a needle shouldn't be able to cause any permanent damage; though I wouldn't want to let it get out that compromising Superman's invulnerability is physically possible..."

"I meant my baby!"

"He'll be fine." Dr. Klein then picked up a clipboard and began jotting down notes on Mike's status as the transfusion got underway.

Superman floated so that he was 'lying' next to and slightly above Mike. Lois looked on as he hovered there, watching the blood flow from his arm, through the tube, and into her son. She brushed a loving hand across the child's forehead. Klein saw her lips move, but he couldn't make out what she said.

There was a moment of silence among the three, then Superman spoke. "Lois?"

"Hmm?"

"Why didn't you tell me?"

Lois bowed her head and sighed. "I didn't want to ruin your life."

"WHAT?"

"Let's face it: we weren't dating; we weren't hopelessly in love; heck, you weren't even interested in me!"

Superman seemed shocked by that last statement. "Lois---"

"I knew that someday you might fall in love and get married with someone, and I didn't want your opportunities for that to be totally wrecked because of one night with a love-crazed woman in a harem costume who was high on perfume."

Dr. Klein's jaw dropped and his fingers flew open, causing the clipboard to clatter noisily to the floor just as Superman was about to speak.

The two became painfully aware of his presence.

Dr. Klein scrambled to retrieve his clipboard from where it had fallen. All three faces were red.

Superman turned once again to Lois. "Um, maybe we should talk this out later?"

Lois nodded.

*****

It seemed like an eternity passed before Dr. Klein finally disconnected the tubes. "We've done all we can. Now we wait."

Clark rubbed his newly freed arm and descended to stand beside Lois.

"Are you all right?" She asked, "You look a little pale."

"I'll be fine. Just a little woozy, that's all."

"It's the blood-loss," Dr. Klein noted. He went to a small refrigerator and took out a flask of orange liquid. "Here." He poured it into a glass and handed it to Clark. "Drink this."

"What is it? Some kind of blood-restoring formula?"

"Orange juice."

"Oh."

While Clark drank the orange juice, Dr. Klein observed the monitors and took more notes. "He's starting to stabilize, now, but it's too soon to know how well the transfusion worked. He's still comatose; I think we ought to---"

Dr. Klein had trailed off when he and Lois both noticed the distant expression on Clark's face.

"What is it?" Lois asked, "Does someone need you?"

Before Clark could respond, they heard it too: footsteps.

"Someone's coming," Lois breathed.

Clark stared intently at the wall. "He's wearing a lab-coat. Dr. Klein, were any STAR Labs personnel supposed to be here at this hour?"

Klein's eyes widened. "Stuart!"

Lois raised an eyebrow. "Stuart?"

"My assistant. He's been helping me with an experiment. We've been checking on it at six-hour intervals and recording any observed changes, and he agreed to come in early and prepare it for stage two. I completely forgot!"

The footsteps were closer now. They paused.

"What'll he do if he sees us all in here?" Lois whispered.

"Stuart's a trustworthy guy; if worse comes to worse, I wouldn't mind him knowing about the situation. Still, it's probably a lot better to keep this between the three of us." He eyed Mike. "Well, three and a half. I'll go distract him, maybe try to get him to leave, then we need to work on setting Mike up in a private room."

"Will he be here that long?" Somewhere, in Lois' heart, she had been hoping that this was all just a bad dream, that when morning came, she and Mike would wake up in their apartment and go to the park. She would have settled for just knowing that in the morning, Mike would wake up.

"Lois, he's in a coma. He could be out of it for months!" Bernie opened the door as narrowly as possible and slipped out into the hall. Soon, two male voices could be heard talking in the hallway. Then, there was the sound of receding footsteps and the voices began to get smaller.

Lois crumbled.

She sank to her knees on the floor and buried her face in her hands. Her whole body shook with her sobs as she let out all the grief, anguish, frustration, and guilt. In the back of her mind, she became aware of Clark's arm around her shoulders.

"Lois?"

She didn't respond. She couldn't! She was losing the most precious thing in her universe, and it was her own fault.

"Lois, it will be all right."

"No," she finally managed to choke out. "No, it won't be all right! You heard what he said!"

"Lois, just because he could be out for a long time doesn't mean he will. This is uncharted territory. For all we know, Mike could wake up tomorrow fresh as a daisy!" Clark wrapped his other arm around her and held her tightly. "Lois, please don't cry. Mike's alive; it'll be all right."

Lois took a few deep, ragged breaths. "Oh, Clark, you must hate me!"

"Hate you?"

She could hear the shock in his voice. "Yes, hate me! I treated you like dirt since the day we met. I came over to your apartment and seduced you, then I didn't even tell you about your own son. Then I put your son's life in jeopardy by taking him to a bank that was held up by a Kryptonite-toting lunatic! He could be dying and it's all my fault!"

"Lois! Lois, look at me." Clark tilted her chin up toward his face. She blinked and stared into his chocolate-brown eyes. They didn't hold any resentment, just concern. "Lois, I don't hate you. I'll admit I'm a little hurt that you ran off, but I do not hate you!"

A tear trekked its way down her cheek. "But Mike---"

"Will be fine! Lois, you had no way of knowing what would happen at the bank! You didn't jeopardize his life, Lois; in fact, you saved his life! You brought him here. You called for my help. You even gave Dr. Klein the inspiration to figure out how to get past my invulnerable aura! You're Mike's hero, Lois. If it weren't for you, he'd already be dead!"

Lois sniffed. He was right.

They sat in silence for a few moments while Lois collected herself. When she was finally calm, she looked back up at Clark. He seemed deep in thought about something. "Clark?"

He took a breath. "Lois, when this is all over---"

She cut him off. "Look, Clark, don't worry about it. I'm glad you came through for Mike, but you don't have to do anything else for us. When Mike wakes up, we'll go back to our apartment and be out of your way."

"WHAT?"

"You don't have to worry about taking any kind of responsibility for him, Clark. I'm not even going to ask for child support. If you want to, you can visit him from time to time, but you don't have to do that either."

Clark stared at her, his jaw hanging open. "Lois, what kind of a person do you think I am? Do you really think I want to have nothing to do with my own son? I was going to suggest that when this is all over, we get married so that Mike can grow up in a proper family!"

Lois sighed. "Clark, you don't have to do that! This is what I left Metropolis to avoid. I don't want you to chain yourself to me just because one night we made a baby. I want you to be free to live your own life, Clark. Stay available for someone you really love!"

Clark shook his head. "Lois, Lois, Lois." He looked at her, and his eyes seemed to stare right into her soul. "Don't you see? I love YOU!"

What?

Lois gasped as Clark took her hand. "I've loved you from the moment I first saw you, Lois. I thought you knew! You're the reason I stayed in Metropolis, Lois. You're the reason I'm Superman. You're the one who kept me going when things got difficult. Lois, when Miranda sprayed the Daily Planet with that pheromone, I wasn't affected. I tried so hard to resist you because I knew you weren't yourself and I didn't want to take advantage. But do you know what it's like when someone you adore, someone who's never given you the time of day, suddenly makes it clear that they feel the same way you do? From the day we met, Lois, I admired you. I loved you. I wanted you! That's why I finally caved."

Lois took a shaky breath. She'd never known!

"Lois, I love you. Please say you'll marry me."

He was looking at her as though her answer could make or break him. He really wanted to marry her? Not just a shotgun wedding, but an actual love-honor-and-cherish-till-death-do-you-part marriage? He'd said he loved her. Lois had no idea he'd felt that way! Yet he'd been in love with her all this time... So there was only one way she could answer:

"No."

Clark looked like he'd just been stabbed. "No?"

"At least, not yet." At Clark's quizzical look, she went on. "Clark, in the space of one day I learned that you are Superman, my baby is allergic to Kryptonite, and you've been in love with me since the day we met. Just one of those three is a lot to take in! It's clear to me now that I don't really know you as well as I thought I did, and before we make any decisions about marriage, I'd like a chance to get to know you. The real you! Not Clark Kent, not Superman. Both." She placed a hand on the side of his face. "Can you be okay with that?"

He reached up and covered her hand with his own. "Lois, I love you. I'm willing to wait for you. Take all the time you want getting to know me."

She smiled. "Thanks." Just then, a thought occurred to her. It was crazy but----oh, why not. "You know, Clark, they say the best way to get to know someone is to live with them. So...does your apartment have room for two more?"

At first Clark seemed surprised, then he broke out into a thousand-kilowatt smile. "Lois, I would be glad to let you move in with me! I'll even help you move your stuff! This'll be great! We can----" He trailed off, and his smile was replaced by a frown.

"What is it?"

Clark sighed. "As much as I'd like to have you, Lois, I don't think there's enough room for the three of us. There's a small area I can turn into a room for Mike, but there's no way you both could fit in there. The only way it would work is if we both shared my bedroom."

"Okay."

Clark's eyes widened. "Okay?"

"Well, sure, Clark! I mean, if we are seriously thinking about someday getting married, then Mike will need to get used to the idea of his mother sharing a room with some strange man." She grinned. "Just don't try anything funny, Farmboy!"

Clark raised his hand. "You have my word as a superhero and a gentleman!" They laughed; then Clark put his hands on Lois' shoulders. "I've missed you, Lois."

"Oh, Clark. I've missed you too!"

The kiss was sweet, just a gentle brush of the lips. Still, it was as though a spark of electricity had passed between them. Their lips met again, and this time they molded together, tasting each other. Clark slid a hand down Lois' back. The lab and the rest of the world simply melted away. Each of their souls seemed to recognize its mate. Each body fondly recalled its one-time partner. Lois wrapped her arms around Clark's neck and pulled him closer to her. Their tongues explored each other, probing, tasting, entwining. As they knelt on the floor of the lab, locked in their passionate embrace, time seemed to stand still for them.

Neither of them heard the door open.

*****


TBC, Next Week