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Part 12/20
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After hours of fitfully tossing and turning, Lois had barely fallen asleep when the phone rang. She cracked one eye open and saw that it was seven o'clock. She briefly considered not answering but her hand reached for the phone of its own volition.
"Hello?" she croaked.
"Did I wake you?" Clark asked, surprised that her voice sounded husky with sleep.
"No," she lied. "I, um, what's up?"
"I called Kevin last night and he agreed to meet us at the plant again this morning. I thought we should try a stakeout."
"Oh," Lois sat up, wincing as a wave of nausea rose with her, "what time did you say we would meet him?"
"Seven-thirty."
Lois swallowed hard and gulped in a few shallow breaths.
"Are you okay?" Clark asked.
"Yeah, I might be a few minutes late, but I'll be there."
"All right." He hung up the phone and looked at it thoughtfully. Since when did Lois sleep this late? She almost always beat him to work. Was she still sick from the tunnels? Ken seemed to have recovered just fine, although he hadn't seen Mike around in a few days.
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Lois was more than a few minutes late. She showed up in jeans and a sweatshirt, her hair pulled back in a ponytail and her face looked pale and tired. She was carrying a cardboard tray with three coffees. She handed one to Clark. "Whole milk, three sugars," she said with a shy smile.
Clark blinked, surprised by the gesture. "Thanks."
"Kevin, I got you a regular coffee and grabbed a handful of cream and sugars so you could fix your own," she took a cup of decaf for herself from the tray before handing it to Kevin with the remaining cup.
"Thanks," he said, pulling the lid off the coffee to pour some sugar in.
"I was going to bring doughnuts, too, you know, but I was already running late and I…" she shrugged and looked away. "I'm sorry. I should have got doughnuts."
"It doesn't matter," Clark told her. "I already had breakfast. Look, let's just get going, we're running late enough as it is."
"Oh," Lois murmured. His reminder of her tardiness felt like a slap. What if she told him, right now, why she had still been asleep when he called? Would he feel at all bad that it was partly his fault she was so sick and tired lately?
Clark wondered if she was she trying to work up to an apology. Did she really think a cup of coffee was going to fix everything? Even if she had brought breakfast, it wasn't going to magically take it all away. That was twice now he had told her that he loved her only to learn that she could never feel the same way.
"I miss him. It's not the same between us anymore and I miss him. He barely even looks at me."
Talk to me, Clark thought, watching her over the rim of the coffee cup as he took a sip. She was staring at the cup in her hands, her expression pinched with weariness. Was she as tired of the strain between them as he was? Tell me we're still friends, he thought. You don't have to say you love me, but at least say you're sorry.
"Okay, let's get going," Kevin said, pulling the elevator cage open and stepping inside. Clark followed him in and turned to see Lois fiddling with the plastic disk covering her cup of coffee.
"Aren't you coming?" Kevin asked.
Clark looked at her, taking in the nervous movements of her fingers and the paleness of her complexion. She had seemed skittish yesterday about going down into the tunnels. He remembered the way she had trembled in his arms the night he found her locked in that room. Was she afraid to go down in the tunnels?
"It was really dark in there. And I just couldn't be in the dark anymore…"
He also remembered her fury last night when he had suggested she wait for him and Kevin to return. All it would take would be a little nudge to her ego and she'd rush headlong into danger. "Would you rather go notify Henderson? You can meet up with us later."
Lois looked shocked. "I thought you already told Henderson! Isn't that where you went last night?"
Clark flushed. He wasn't about to tell her where he went last night. He'd have to be insane to tell her the truth now. "Oh," he stammered. "I, I meant to, but I…"
"Oh my god!" Lois moved decisively into the elevator with them. "I can't believe you sometimes. Let's go down, see if it looks like Bad Brain really is camping out there and, if he is, we'll come back up and notify Henderson."
In spite of himself, Clark smiled. Sometimes it felt really good to push her buttons.
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As the cage descended Lois braced herself against its wall. Where had he gone last night in such a hurry if it wasn't to report Bad Brain's whereabouts to Henderson? She didn't believe for a second that his diabetic neighbor still needed babysitting. If he even had a diabetic neighbor in the first place.
Maybe it was better not to get involved with someone so… unstable. Hadn't her father perfected the art of disappearing constantly only to come back with some lame excuse? Had she unwittingly fallen for a man just like her father?
"A person doesn't lie that well without practice. And you seem to keep a lot of secrets. I bet there are lots of things you don't tell me."
Now they were even, she thought. She had a whopper of a secret she hadn't told him.
The cage began to shudder through the turbulence and Lois leaned more heavily against the wall. She was trapped - trapped in this cage and also trapped in a situation she didn't know how to extricate herself from. What if she had never said those words to him? What if she had just smiled and said, "Hey, a toothbrush, what a great idea…" What if Clark had been there, pacing with her while they waited for the results of the pregnancy test?
What would his reaction have been? What would his reaction be now?
What did she want his reaction to be?
"Friends. No matter what else happens. That doesn't change."
Please, Clark, she thought. Just be my friend again. I really need a friend now. I really need for you to be my friend.
"You can turn off the light," she said quietly. "I'll be okay as long as you're here."
It was true, she realized. She could handle almost anything if Clark were there with her.
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Kevin led the way deeper into the tunnels. He kept his flashlight trained on the unauthorized cable as they followed it deeper. Lois followed behind Kevin and Clark trailed behind her. The floor of the tunnel was uneven and Lois stumbled. She pitched forward only to be caught at the last moment by Clark's hand on her arm,
"Are you all right?" Clark's voice asked softly near her ear.
"Fine," she said curtly to cover her embarrassment. His hand moved away and she wished she hadn't been so abrupt in answering. "Thank you," she told him.
Clark felt a small thaw in the anger he felt towards her. She was trying so hard to seem unaffected. For a moment he felt ashamed of goading her into coming down here. The frantic beat of her heart had thundered in his ears since they got in the elevator. She was terrified, but not about to admit it. He tilted his head, there was a soft galloping kind of sound as well - maybe it was a sewer rat or…
"Look!" Kevin whispered, stopping in his tracks and holding his hand up. "There's light coming from up ahead."
The walls and floor now had a faint glow to them. Clark listened but couldn't hear anyone but them. They crept along, slower than before, still following the cable until it led them to a brightly lit chamber. Lois pointed at the equipment at the far end of the large cavern. "That's his stuff. There's the table."
They explored the chamber, finding two more tunnels which led into it. One of them continued in the same direction they had been walking. Kevin told them this was the tunnel that led to the cistern underneath the nuclear plant. The other tunnel ended in a metal door after about fifteen feet. Clark scanned through the door and saw an elevator shaft.
"Are we directly under the plant now?" Clark asked Kevin.
"Probably," Kevin said. "Or very close to being so."
"I bet that's an elevator that goes directly to the plant," Clark said, indicating the metal door.
Lois tried the door but it was locked. "So now what?" she asked turning back around to look at them.
"The lights are on, so maybe someone is coming home," Kevin said. "I say we hide and watch for him."
"I say we go tell Henderson there's someone down here." Lois found her enthusiasm for running into Bad Brain again was waning. She and Kevin looked at Clark.
"You could go tell Henderson while Kevin and I stay behind and watch," Clark said. Just then he heard the soft hiss as the cable in the elevator shaft began to move. "Whatever we decide to do, we should do it now."
"Why?" Lois asked peevishly.
"Because that elevator's moving."
Lois looked behind her at the door. She couldn't hear anything. "Are you sure? I don't hear it."
"Well, I think I do. If you're staying, you'd better hide." Clark took a step back and looked around the chamber. There was really nowhere to hide.
"Back up the tunnel the way we came?" asked Kevin. "We can turn off our headlamps and hide in the shadows. If we need to get away fast, he won't be between us and the way we came in."
The three of them moved quickly back the way they had come in, turning off their headlamps. After a couple of minutes minute a tall man came into the chamber, carrying a device that looked like a gun but was humming softly. Lois' heart was beating so hard she was certain Bad Brain could hear her. She touched Clark's arm and mouthed "That's him!" Clark nodded his understanding.
The man came closer to them, swinging the gun insouciantly at his side. Lois shivered, remembering what Ken had said about the gun. That it obliterated sewer rats. That he thought Bad Brain was using it to stun his victims and then drag them to his lair. She took a step back, lost her footing on the uneven floor and fell backwards. Clark caught her wrist, stopping her just short of the floor but not before she had let out a surprised gasp. There was a crackling sound, Kevin emitted a kind of squeak and fell to the floor, twitching and moaning.
"Didn't I warn you not to look for me?" Bad Brain asked.
"Go," Clark whispered, nudging Lois to move. She held her ground, pushing back against him and shook her head decisively. The woosh sound returned and they looked over to see the man staring directly at them.
"Come on you two I know you're in there."
Lois felt rooted to the spot, wishing now that she had run when Clark said to. Her legs seemed to have turned to rubber now. She threw back her shoulders and said, "I never did follow instructions well."
"Actually I was hoping you were the kind of person who didn't heed warnings. You might say I counted on that fact." He gestured with the gun for them to come closer. "Please, come in. Let me show you around."
Clark glanced at Lois. She hesitated and her eyes slid shut while she took a deep breath.
"That's not the worst part… I could hear him, Clark. I could hear him screaming as Bad Brain killed him. It was… I can still hear him…"
When her eyes opened again she was looking at him. Clark nodded his head at her in reassurance. He could get them out of this quickly if he had to.
"Come on," Bad Brain said. "We need to have a little talk, just the three of us."
"I have nothing to say to you," Lois told him as she stepped into the chamber with Clark right behind her, "except to tell you that you should give yourself up. The police know we're here."
"Didn't your mother ever teach you not to lie, Lois?" Bad Brain lifted the ESW gun and Clark stepped in front of her.
"What do you want from us?" Clark asked.
"Superman," Bad Brain said with a grin. "I'm told you two are his closest friends."
"Why?" Lois stepped around Clark to look at Bad Brain. "You want Superman to be the one who catches you? Because you can't hurt him, you know."
"I think I can," Bad Brain laughed. "At least, I'm willing to give it a shot."
Clark blinked, feeling an uneasy tremor run through him. He ducked his head slightly and looked over the top of his glasses at the gun Bad Brain was holding. There, in the mass of wires and circuits, was a thin green disk. "You've made a Kryptonite lens for the gun," he said grimly.
"Bingo," Bad Brain stepped closer to them. "And I can't wait to try it out." He nodded at Kevin, still prone on the floor. "That's what happens when the gun is set on low. You tell Superman that I'm going to crank this thing up to full power and I'll shoot first and ask questions later."
"It will never work," Lois told him.
"Maybe, maybe not. How about I let you give your buddy a firsthand account of what it feels like?" Clark heard the crackle as the gun discharged and he quickly moved in front of Lois, hoping that she was right and it wouldn't work.
Lois heard Clark gasp and then he, too, dropped to the floor, brushing against her as he fell. The contact sent an electric jolt up her arm, numbing it for a few seconds. Her stomach twisted uncomfortably at the sensation. "Clark!" she cried out, falling to her knees alongside him.
"Like fish in a barrel," Bad Brain said with a grin. "I'd go for three out of three but I can't afford to be caught without a little juice left in this thing. So stay right there and we can all still be friends, okay?" Bad Brain walked backwards, towards the elevator shaft, the gun trained on her the entire way.
As soon as he disappeared around the corner Lois turned Clark over.
"Clark"? She stroked his cheek, her heart squeezing painfully. "Clark, can you hear me?"
She placed her other hand over his heart, relieved to feel it beating beneath her fingers. "Clark, please, talk to me!"
His lips moved but he didn't make a sound. She leaned closer to his mouth. "What? I can't hear you."
"That really hurt," he whispered. "Is Kevin okay?"
Lois looked at Kevin, who had managed to prop himself up on one elbow and seemed dazed. "Kevin? Are you all right?" she asked him.
Kevin nodded, "Yeah, that was just… it just knocked the wind out of me. Where did Bad Brain go?"
"Back the way he came."
"I take it you didn't want to follow him?"
In spite of herself, Lois smiled. "No, I didn't want to follow him. Can you stand up? Can you make it out of here or should I go get help?" Lois stood up and held her hand out to Kevin.
"No, I'm okay." Kevin took her hand, letting her help him stand up. Then he caught sight of Clark, still lying on the floor. "Is Clark all right?"
"Just a little shocked," Clark said, wincing as he pushed himself into a sitting position.
"Ha," Kevin said with a shaky smile. "I'm a little shocked, too."
That should have been me, she thought as Clark struggled to his feet. If Clark hadn't moved to protect her it would have been her lying on the floor. Was it just instinct that made him step in front of her or did he still care?
"Tell you what," Kevin said to Clark as they slowly limped back to towards the elevator they had come down in, "the next time Lois says we should leave, I think we should leave."
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Lois double-checked her windows that night when she got home. Then she began to pace. She was filled with a nervous energy that made her feel jumpy despite the weariness she knew was just under the surface.
She was haunted by the memory of Clark, by the knowledge of what she had thrown away. She missed him. She missed his touch, his mouth, his body. Most of all she missed him. She missed his sense of humor. She missed the almost tangible feeling of security that being around him gave her. She had always felt safe with him. He had made her feel sexy and completely at ease in all the time they had spent exploring each other's bodies.
She missed the quiet affection in his eyes when he would look at her. She missed the reverence in his touch that no other man had ever shown her. Clark had always been so achingly gentle with her; it was almost as though he was holding back. She remembered the bruises he had left on her hips and how much that had upset him. Most men would have looked on those as a mark of possession. The fact that Clark didn't only seemed to establish his possession of her that much more in her mind.
The truth was he had her. He absolutely had her. And there was no way to get him back. Telling him about the baby was the worst possible idea. He had to know that she wanted him for him. Just for him.
"So… we're still friends, right?"
"I don't think so. Not right now. It's just too weird."
But how could she bridge that gap? She could bring him coffee from now until the day the world stopped spinning and it wasn't going to do any good. He had cared enough to step in front of Bad Brain and protect her. So there was still hope. She just had to figure out another way in. She had to apologize.
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Clark laid on his bed, staring at the ceiling. Every muscle in his body still ached. His powers had returned but the effort it required to use them was excruciating.
"That's what happens when the gun is set on low. You tell Superman that I'm going to crank this thing up to full power and I'll shoot first and ask questions later."
Lois was wrong; Bad Brain could hurt him. Could probably even kill him if he shot him at full power. Frustration rippled through him - how was he supposed to stop him? Henderson was installing sensors in the tunnels right now to watch for him, but what were they going to do, realistically, if they found him?
He had left a message for Rachel Eames, with STAR Labs, to call him back. She had helped to build the ESW gun, maybe she knew a way to foil it. His phone rang and he reached to answer it, wincing when his body protested. Was it an after-effect of the Kryptonite, the electricity or a combination of both? Wherever Kevin was, Clark hoped he was feeling better.
"Hello?"
"Hi! It's, uh, it's me, Lois."
"Hi," he said softly.
"I, um, I was just calling to see how you were feeling?"
"Still a little achy, but better than I was," he admitted.
"That's good," Lois told him, feeling like the words were clumsy. She put her hand on her stomach, hoping he would ask how she was. A few seconds went by, the silence felt awkward to them both.
"I called Rachel earlier," Clark said. "We need to find out if there's a way to disarm that ESW weapon."
Lois was greatly heartened that he still said "we". At least at work he still considered her his partner.
"What did she say?" Lois asked.
"Nothing yet, she wasn't there. I left a message."
"Oh." There was another pause and then Lois said, "Clark? Do you think Bad Brain killed Dr. Gatenby and Tony Weir and tried to kill Rachel so that there wouldn't be anyone who knew about the weapon?"
"I think it's a distinct possibility."
"How long ago did you leave the message for Rachel?"
Clark looked over at his alarm clock, grimacing at the slight effort that required. "It's been a couple of hours."
"You called her at home?"
"I left messages at home and at STAR Labs for her."
"Maybe she's still in hiding?"
"They said she came to work today."
"Then maybe she went to dinner or decided to call it an early night?"
"Sure," Clark allowed. The word hung heavy in the new silence between them. Finally Clark said, "Well…"
"Well," Lois echoed, feeling like an idiot for having called him. "Good night, Clark."
Clark closed his eyes. "I don't think I can tell him what he wants to hear."
"Good night, Lois." He hung up the phone, the pain in the movement perfectly mirroring the pain in his heart.
The line went dead but Lois didn't hang up. "I'm sorry," she whispered, too late for him to hear the words.
Why was that so hard to say?
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The next morning Clark made another call to STAR Labs and asked to speak with Rachel. The man who answered the phone told him that Rachel wasn't there. She hadn't shown up for work yet. Clark felt a stab of guilt. He should have gone looking for her last night, regardless of how bad he felt. He was still a little sore this morning.
"Did she say if she was going somewhere last night?" Clark asked her co-worker.
"Yeah," the man said. "She was supposed to be interviewed for a story."
"Interviewed?" Clark had a sinking feeling.
"Yeah, you know, that guy from WMET?"
"Ken Randall?"
"That's the guy! She left work a little early yesterday to meet with him."
Clark called and left a message for Ken. "This is Clark Kent at the Daily Planet. I was trying to find Rachel Eames to talk to her. I understand you met with her last night. Please give me a call." There, he thought, Ken will know I'm on to him. If anything has happened to Rachel, I really will break his fingers.
Lois had watched Clark all morning. She had spent another sleepless night, trying to figure out a way to apologize and tell him what had happened. There was simply no neat and tidy way to clean up the mess she had made. Dimly she knew she should be working on the story but it seemed she had used all her energy just getting dressed and to her desk this morning.
Every time she thought about talking to him she felt nauseated. Should she tell him? What would he say? Would he even want her now? If she told him she was wrong, that she was sorry, wouldn't he think it was desperation and not love that was motivating her?
She glanced at the supply closet and blushed.
This had all been her fault. Right from the beginning it had all been her idea. She was the one who stayed when he asked her to leave on the night of the asteroid. She was the one who propositioned him, offering him sex without strings. Even the supply closet had been her idea. She had pushed him and seduced him. She had secretly hoped that he would fall in love with her and then, when he did, she had spurned him.
Lois was quite certain she was going to be sick. She rose unsteadily from her desk and walked to the restroom, feeling like she might faint before she could get there. She stumbled into the first stall and dropped to her knees, choking and spluttering up nothing but a little bit of water. Shuddering, she leaned sideways against the wall, grateful for the coolness of the tile against her cheek.
The door squeaked and a pair of stiletto heels tip-tapped in and then stopped alongside her.
"Lois?"
Great, it was Cat. Lois closed her eyes and silently willed her to leave.
"Are you okay?"
Lois nodded. "Just a stomach bug."
Cat looked at her skeptically. "Is there anything I can do for you?"
"No," Lois said. Go away, she thought. Please, just go away now.
To her relief, Cat turned and walked back out the door.
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"Clark?"
Clark looked up, putting a politely vacant smile on his face as he hoped like hell that Cat wasn't going to come on to him again. One look at her face told him that she wasn't. She looked concerned.
"Yes?" he asked.
"It's Lois," Cat looked over her shoulder towards the bathrooms. "She's sitting on the floor in one of the stalls and she doesn't look very good."
He had risen from his chair before she finished speaking and the two of them crossed the newsroom together. Cat stayed in the doorway of the restroom as Clark crouched next to Lois. He put his hand on her forehead; she felt a little warmer than she should. Lois turned her head to look at him with unfocused eyes.
"Clark? You do realize this is the ladies room?"
"Do you realize that you're very sick?"
She grimaced. "I'm fine. I was just a little nauseated, that's all."
Clark turned to look at Cat. "Cat, would you please go get Lois' purse out of her desk? She's going home now."
"No, I'm fine. Just give me a few minutes…" Lois tried to push him away.
"No, you're not. I'm taking you home. Can you stand up?"
"If I say 'no', you're just going to carry me, aren't you?" she asked in a resigned tone of voice.
"Probably."
"Then I can stand up." This time she succeeded in pushing him away and he stepped back to give her room to stand.
Clark held the door open and Lois walked out of the restroom, trying to muster up as much dignity as she could. Cat came back and held Lois' purse out to Clark.
"Thanks. Would you please tell Perry I'm taking her home?" He gave Cat a smile as he followed Lois to the elevator. Cat watched them as they moved into the elevator.
"That's one hell of a stomach bug," she muttered to herself and then she caught sight of the supply closet door. A small laugh rose in her throat. Poor Lois. The woman couldn't even have a fling right.
As the elevator doors shut, Lois swallowed back another wave of nausea. There's nothing left in your stomach to throw up, she told herself. Just get home and you can crawl back into bed. She looked at Clark, perplexed, as she realized he had just asked her something. "What?"
"I asked if you drove yourself to work today."
"No," she shook her head and then regretted it as it set off a feeling of vertigo. "I took a cab."
The elevator doors opened and she managed to make it through the lobby to the revolving door. Suddenly Lois wasn't sure she could push hard enough to get the door to move. Clark moved into the space with her and slowly eased the door, and her, until they were standing outside. His hand held her elbow as they walked to the curb. He whistled for a cab and she closed her eyes, desperately wishing that Superman was there to get her home faster.
"Come on," Clark opened the door of the cab and helped her get inside. She was both grateful and terrified when he climbed into the cab with her. He was taking her home. She had to tell him. God, no, couldn't she wait just a little longer? Couldn't it wait until they were friends again?
As they climbed the steps to her building Lois faltered. Clark scooped her up, ignoring the soft protest that she made. He carried her upstairs, not setting her down until they reached her door. She was so lethargic in his arms that it increased his apprehension. She was seriously ill - he had to get her to agree to go to a doctor. And if she wouldn't agree, he would force the issue and bodily carry her there.
"Thanks," she murmured, leaning against the wall when he set her down to open the door. She walked inside slowly, dreading the conversation she knew they had to have. What if she just told him to leave now, would he do it?
He shut the door and said, "Lois, I'm really getting worried. You need to see a doctor."
"No, I'm not sick. Not really." Tell him. Tell him. Oh god, she was going to have to tell him.
"You practically passed out at work. I don't think I've seen you eat anything in days." Clark watched her slowly sit down on the couch. It was frightening that such a simple act seemed to take so much effort for her. She put her face in her hands and sighed.
"I can't keep anything down," she admitted.
Clark shook his head in disbelief. "And that doesn't worry you?"
Lois lifted her head and looked over at him. For a few seconds she didn't say anything and then she softly cleared her throat. She had to tell him. She should just do it quick, like pulling off a band-aid.
"I'm pregnant," she said, watching him closely to gauge his reaction.
Clark said nothing at first, although his eyes widened and a sea change came over his features. Had he even heard her right? What should he say? What did she want him to say?
"That's why you've been so sick," he finally managed, hoping to get a clue as to how she felt about this before he said anything stupid.
"Yeah." Come on, she thought. Tell me we're still friends.
"Are you… are you okay with this?" No - that was the wrong thing to say. He mentally kicked himself. Of course she wasn't okay with this.
"I don't know." Anxiety rose in her - he wasn't rushing to reassure her that everything would be all right or that they were in this together.
She looked so tired. He had attributed her pallor to her being ill. The thought suddenly hit him that maybe she was so sick because this wasn't a normal pregnancy. What if this was all just a horrible mistake and they weren't really compatible? What if it was a mutant? What if it sapped the life out of her as it developed? He had to tell her.
"So what are you thinking?" she asked, feeling rattled that he was just standing there, staring at her with such evident shock. She realized that she had been hoping he would take her in his arms and tell her everything was going to be fine. Reality was so much worse - he was horrified, she could see it in his eyes.
"I… I, wow, I don't know how to say this. I, I'm sorry," Clark stammered, the words tumbling reflexively from his mouth. How could he tell her the truth when he felt so tongue-tied?
Lois' heart felt like it had just imploded. Sorry? That was all he had to say about it - that he was sorry? Was he sorry that it had happened? Sorry for her? Sorry for himself? What did that mean exactly?
"I'm fine. You can go now," she said, pushing herself up from the couch to go to her bedroom.
"Lois, we should talk."
"Now you want to talk to me? You've ignored me for days and now you want to talk?"
"Ignored you? Lois, you were the one who said we weren't friends anymore!"
"I tried to be nice, to be friends again, for all the good that did me. It's okay, Clark, really. You don't have to be sorry, or anything else, for that matter. I just want you to leave."
He blanched, feeling like she had just slapped him. "Lois…" He shook his head as pain flooded through him. She really didn't want him. "You know whatever you decide you want to do, I'll be here for you."
"Oh sure! Now you want to be supportive! If I give you long enough, will you find all the right things to say?" Lois saw the hurt and confusion on his face and was glad for it. Now he'd know how she felt. "Maybe you should be writing greeting cards."
He opened his mouth but could think of nothing to say when she was looking at him with so much anger in her eyes.
"What do you want me to do?" he finally asked in a pained tone of voice.
"I want you to go. Just leave. You've done enough."
"If you need anything," he paused in the doorway. "Just call me, okay?"
Lois locked the door behind him and almost made it to the bedroom before she started crying. Why couldn't he have offered to do anything for her when he first found out? She shouldn't have had to goad him into it. Why couldn't he just want to hold her?
"You hurt him.”
Had she hurt him so deeply that there was simply no way to get him back?
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End 12/20
