From part 32:
She tucked her head against him and tuned in to his heartbeat. It sounded slow and reassuringly steady in her ears, and she fell asleep to its soothing cadence.-----
The Girl Next Door, part 33:
She woke when Clark stirred. He pulled her closer for a moment, arms tight around her, and she hugged him back. Too soon, he was carefully sitting up on the couch, she with him.
“How do you feel, Clark?” she asked.
He grimaced. “Right now? I have to…” He gestured vaguely somewhere in the general direction of his bedroom – and bathroom. “Too many fluids…”
With a smile, she stood up. “Well, come on, then, big guy. Let’s get you on your feet and see how that goes.”
With a flash of his old self, he grinned weakly at her. “But, um… even if I’m not very steady, I’m going to…” His face flushed a little, and her smile widened. “I’m going to, uh… do the rest of this on my own…”
To Clark’s obvious relief, he was able to walk unassisted to the bathroom. Lois took the comforter back to his bedroom, and then sat down to wait for him.
“How are your powers?’ she asked when he returned and sat down beside her. “Have you tested any of them?”
He sighed. “Well, I can’t hear or see very far. They’re not completely gone; I can look through the wall –“ He gestured at the brick wall separating the main living area from his bedroom. “Everything is really fuzzy, though. Like… like in the early days, remember? Before the power fully developed.”
She nodded. “And can you fly?”
He grimaced again. “No. Not at all. And my strength is… well, I can’t test it very well here, but it seems to be affected, too. I tried to lift the big armoire in my bedroom. I can get it a few inches off the floor, but it’s very heavy.” He leaned forward, resting his forearms on his knees, and sighed. “I can’t remember ever feeling like I did yesterday, Lois.”
She nodded sympathetically. “What about other things – like your ice breath? And heat vision…?”
He gave her a rueful smile. “Lukewarm.”
She gave a small laugh. “Oh, Clark.” She scooted forward and put her arms around him.
He immediately lifted the arm closest to her, putting it around her and pulling her close, then turned fully into the hug and wrapped both arms tightly around her. She felt his breath on her hair, then his kiss on top of her head.
Pulling back enough to look up at him, she stretched up the small distance and kissed him. He responded and they shared several gentle and unhurried kisses before just simply sitting and holding each other.
Clark’s phone ringing separated them, and without thinking much about it, she picked it up. She’d talked to Martha and Jonathan last night, and also to Perry – she’d left it that she would call him in the morning with an update on Clark. This might be Perry anticipating her.
It was Martha, and after greeting her, Lois gave her an update on Clark as he sat there grinning at her from the couch. After thanking Martha again for her support and advice the previous night, Lois passed the phone to Clark and went into his kitchen. She might as well make some coffee. It wasn’t exactly cooking, but it was something she could do pretty well.
When Clark concluded his call and joined her, she said, “I’m sorry about just jumping in and answering that. I sort of made myself at home here with the phone, and…”
He stopped her with a kiss. “I don’t mind at all, Lois. The call was for you, really, anyway. Mom said she was more likely to believe it if the all clear came from you.”
Lois laughed and poured them each a cup of coffee before remembering his stomach the night before. “Oh! I’m sorry, Clark, I wasn’t thinking. What about your stomach?” she exclaimed as he took a long, appreciative sip.
“I’m fine, Lois,” he reassured her. “Maybe not up to speed super power wise, but physically, I’m okay. Maybe a little weak, but okay.”
She smiled back. “Good. Your mom said rest and fluids were what you needed, so I guess you could stay here today and –“ She stopped because he was shaking his head.
“No - we need to keep looking into this, Lois,” he said. “More than ever, now. Whoever this is – and I’m beginning to wonder if it was Luthor after all – has managed to find something to hurt Superman. We have to put a stop to this.”
“Clark, you were sick,” she argued. “You’re still not back to normal. What if…” What if he had a relapse at work? Or at home? Maybe she should stay with him.
“I’m well enough to work,” he argued back.
---
It was an argument that Clark won.
Of course, he won because she let him win, but they didn’t have time to debate the fine points of the issue at the moment. Right now, they needed to devote all their time to solving this mystery. To discovering what, exactly, it was that had affected Clark, and to find it and somehow destroy it.
If the two of them together ever encountered it…
It was a chilling thought.
She drove more slowly than usual, conscious for the first time that though they both had abilities far beyond those of anyone else on the planet, they were still mortal. And if Clark was without his powers, he would be vulnerable to injuries if she were to have an accident on the way in to work.
As they drove through the city, she quizzed him about the bank robbery, going back over it minute by minute with him. As he had said, it was much the same as other, similar situations Superman had dealt with before. He’d apprehended the robbers quickly and without incident. He’d secured them, as usual, and waited for the police to show up.
“And you didn’t… Nobody shot at you?” she asked again.
“No. No one. I disarmed the robbers first, like I usually do. Nothing about them, or their clothing, or their weapons, was at all unusual,” he repeated.
“You didn’t eat or drink anything…”
“Nope. I also didn’t handle anything anyone gave me – you know, sometimes people approach me after a rescue and ask me to autograph a photo or something…” he reminded her self-consciously. It was an aspect of being Superman he still wasn’t very comfortable with. She knew he preferred to fly in, fix the problem, and fly out, avoiding any celebrity treatment.
“When, exactly, did you start to feel bad?” she asked.
“After I handed the robbers over to the police. I was getting ready to go…”
“What, exactly, did you do?” she pressed. They were at a stoplight; she looked over at him. “You know, Clark – did you leap into the air? Walk with the police for a moment before taking off? What did you do?”
He looked back at her. “There was a crowd,” he said slowly. “There always is…”
She nodded shortly. “Yes…”
The light turned green, and she looked both ways before she pulled into the intersection, causing the driver immediately behind her to lean on his horn at the – infinitesimal – delay. Honestly – some people were so impatient! She didn’t bother to acknowledge him with her usual gesture, though. She had better things to do, like get Clark safely to the Planet.
If the guy had a problem with her driving, he could go around her.
“I talked to the police for a few minutes, then walked along the sidewalk a few paces before I took off. And…” He trailed off for a moment, and she shot a quick glance at him before she returned her attention to the traffic.
“So you actually got off the ground?”
“Yeah…” His voice strengthened. “Yes. That’s when it hit me, Lois. As I was going over the crowd, still very low. Someone…”
She glanced at him again, nodding. “Yes. Someone in the crowd…”
“Someone in the crowd must have had something,” he finished.
She pulled up for another light, stopping as it turned yellow. Normally she’d have zipped through it, and the driver behind her apparently felt, from the length of the blast on his horn, that she should have done so today. Again, she ignored him. She had more important things to do than to reply to a rude driver.
“And what happened, Clark?” she asked softly. “How did you… get away?”
He grimaced. “I felt like I’d been… hit by a train. I think. I mean, normally being hit by a train wouldn’t affect me, you know, because of the whole invulnerability thing, but… Well, I felt like a person would probably feel if they got hit by a train. Or maybe by a car. I guess a train would be kind of extreme… If you weren’t super powered, you know…”
“Clark, you’re babbling,” she said gently, smiling, as she reached for his hand.
He curled his fingers around hers. “Sorry.” He grinned at her, then sobered again. “Well, I managed to stay airborne – just barely. I think I hid it okay, though… You know, from any observer. I hope I hid it okay. Anyway, I went up and around the side of the building quickly, and landed on the roof…”
“And?” The light turned green again, and she let go of his hand reluctantly to return her attention to the street. She glanced in her rearview mirror as she entered the intersection; Mr. Impatient Driver behind her was cut off by a taxi whose driver swerved into the lane behind her, in front of him, thereby earning his irate horn blast. She grinned involuntarily. Apparently, it wasn’t Mr. Impatient Driver’s morning.
Returning her attention to their conversation, she prompted Clark, “You landed on the roof…”
“I rested there a while, then tried to fly – and couldn’t. But the buildings along there are all pretty close together, so I jumped from building to building until they ended. The last one in the row was that new office tower – can’t think of the name of it, but it’s still mostly empty. I went in through the rooftop door and changed clothes, and walked down. By then I was feeling pretty rotten, and by the time I got to Centennial Park I probably looked like a drunk. I had to stop to rest twice, and once I threw up in the –“
She hit the brakes involuntarily; fortunately, there was no one immediately behind her at the moment.
“You threw up? Clark, you didn’t tell me that!”
He grimaced. “I felt too bad to tell you much at all, Lois. And it was mostly just… well, my stomach was empty, so it was more – what do they call it, dry heaves? I sat on a bench and rested awhile, and the feeling faded somewhat. But all I wanted to do was to get back to you, so I kept going. I guess I’m lucky I didn’t run into anyone we know in the Planet’s lobby, or in the elevator. I probably looked pretty out of it.”
“You looked ill, Clark.” She took his hand again, squeezing it tightly. He returned her grip, and they drove for a while in silence. Finally, she whispered, “I’m glad you made it back to me. I was…” She looked at him. “I was so scared for you.”
He didn’t say anything, but he meshed their fingers together, then bent his head and placed a kiss on the back of her hand.
---
As they approached the Daily Planet building, Clark suddenly asked, “Lois?”
She glanced at him. “Yeah?” She turned into the Planet’s underground parking.
He hesitated.
She threw another swift glance at him. His brow was furrowed, and she asked again, “What, Clark?”
“Until we resolve this…” he paused for a moment.
She waited. It must be important to him, because he was fumbling a bit for words, which was unusual for him. So instead of giving him one of her usual gentle little verbal nudges, she kept silent as she drove through the parking area to her reserved space – a perk given to her after the last Kerth award.
“Would you consider holding off a bit longer on your disguise and debut?” he finally asked as she pulled neatly into her space and parked. “The thing is,” he hurried on, “it’s not that I don’t think you can take care of yourself… I mean, I wouldn’t wish this –“ He made a vague gesture that she took was meant to indicate himself – “on you, ever, of course. But it’s more that… it might be a good idea to… sort of hold you – Kinetic - in reserve…”
She reached out and took his hand. Martha was right; he *did* babble, especially when he was worried. She did, too, though - according to Clark. Maybe it was a Kryptonian thing.
“Clark, it’s okay,” she said soothingly. It was what she’d already decided, anyway. She turned to face him. “I agree. Until this is all resolved, it would be good if we had a sort of a… secret weapon.” She grinned at him. “I kinda like being Secret Weapon Lane instead of Mad Dog for a change.”
He laughed, then leaned over the console between their seats and kissed her. “I love you, Lois.”
She kissed him back. “I know,” she said softly. “And I love you.” She pulled back to look at him, and honesty compelled her to add, “I had already decided to wait on the debut thing, Clark.”
“I thought you might have. I hoped you had,” he replied. “I’d been thinking about it on the flight back from Smallville, but I forgot when we were at your place.”
The fact that they’d grabbed a movie and a pizza, then ended up kissing and cuddling until late, had nothing to do with either of them forgetting about her disguise, of course. Or with the fact that neither of them had any idea how the movie had ended.
“Anyway,” he continued, “There are a few hints I’d like to give you – things that work for me, and things that don’t – and like I said, until we know what happened to me yesterday, the less anyone knows about you the better.”
“Works for me,” she said with a grin.
He grinned back. Opening his door, he asked, “Ready to go fight this dragon?”
She opened her own door. “Lead on.”
---
They had missed the morning meeting, but since Perry had asked her to check in with him when she arrived, they got the highlights from him at the same time.
Dismissed to their desks, they settled at hers so that she could show him what she had on the sabotaged plane. Once Clark was back up to speed, they worked companionably on the information he’d collected regarding the buildings and their security setups.
<<Clark Kent, call parked at 271. Clark Kent, 271.>>
As the overhead page went silent, Clark pulled her phone slightly toward him, keyed in his extension, and spoke into the phone. “Clark Kent.”
Although she wanted to, Lois deliberately didn’t listen in. It might be a personal call, and besides, it felt like an invasion of his privacy to just brazenly listen in without permission.
He touched her arm, and when she looked at him, gestured at the handset he held against his ear.
She tuned in at once as Clark said, “Hi, Bill. What can I do for you?”
<<You can give Superman a message for me. I just got the results from S.T.A.R. Labs on that last bullet Superman gave me.>>
“And...?”
<<It’s made of adamantium.>>
“Adamantium? I’ve never heard of it.” Clark looked at Lois, who gave him a wide-eyed shrug. She’d never heard of it, either.
<<Dr. Klein says it’s the strongest metal known - tougher than titanium. Astronomically expensive compared to titanium, which is why it’s not used very much. But it’s basically impenetrable, if used as a shield, by anything short of a nuclear weapon, apparently. Whoever this is has access to unlimited funds if he – or she – has managed to obtain adamantium. According to Dr. Klein.>>
“Unlimited funds,” Lois repeated. “Lex Luthor certainly fits – fitted - that description.”
Clark nodded. He spoke into the phone. “If someone has enough money to afford it, though, is it easy to obtain?”
<<Doc Klein says no. He says it’s not available for sale through any ‘normal’ channels.>>
“What about black market?” Lois asked just before Henderson continued speaking.
<<It’s not even easy to find on the black market, according to the Doc.>>
Clark gave her a half grin. “So… if we can determine where this came from….”
<<Yeah. That’s a pretty big ‘if,’ though, Kent.>>
“Clark –“ Lois waved a sort of vague ‘stop’ motion at him.
“Hang on a minute, Bill,” he said, and covering the mouthpiece with his free hand, raised an eyebrow inquiringly at her.
“What about the other bullet?” she asked. “Was this Dr. Klein able to confirm its composition? Was it a meteorite?”
Clark repeated the questions into the phone.
<<Yes. It’s an iron meteorite, as he had suspected. Not the most common kind of meteorite, apparently, but not particularly rare, either.>>
“Rock shop, or rarer?” Lois asked.
“Rock shop, or rarer?” Clark repeated.
<<I didn’t ask. Tell Lane, for the answer to that question, she needs to go talk to Dr. Klein.>> Clark grinned at her as the detective continued, <<That’s all I have for you at the moment, Kent…>>
“Wait! Clark, ask him if we can have that adamantium bullet!” Lois said urgently.
<<I heard. She’s joking, right? No, Lane. It’s crime scene evidence. But thanks for asking; I like a good joke as well as the next guy.>>
“Then can we have a copy of whatever information this Dr. Whoever gave him?” She winked at Clark, and he grinned back at her.
<<What’s she asking?>>
“Can we have a copy of the information Dr. Klein gave you, Bill?” Clark repeated.
<<I never said he gave me anything, but yeah, sure. Want me to fax it over?>>
“Yes, please. Thank you, Bill. I’ll tell Superman what you said.”
Clark hung up the phone and turned to Lois. “Why ask for the bullet, Lois? You didn’t think he’d give it to us, did you?”
“No. I knew he couldn’t give us the bullet. But I wasn’t sure he’d give us whatever printouts he got from this Dr. Klein, and I want the same copies Bill has. Ask for the impossible first, you know.” She laughed. “And I like to give Bill a hard time. That way he knows I care.”
Clark laughed.
“I wonder if we should we go see this Dr. Klein, Clark,” Lois said thoughtfully.
“Maybe. Let’s see what Bill sends us first.” When she nodded, he stood up. “I’ll go check the fax machine.”
---
“Let’s go get some lunch, Clark,” Lois said a short time later. “We can stop by this S.T.A.R. Labs while we’re out, and see if we can talk to Dr. Klein.”
“All right,” he said cheerfully. “I’m ready to go when you are.” He began to gather up the files and documents they had spread across both desks. After tapping a thick bundle of papers on the desk to straighten them, he handed the neat stack to her.
She dropped it into the appropriate hanging folder in her file drawer, then took the second stack Clark was holding out and did the same. “I think we’re going to need a larger capacity folder, Clark.”
He handed her two more stacks. “Here’s the active and follow-up files, too,” he said, and continued, “Either that, or solve this puzzle and break the story.”
She laughed. “Yes, or that.” She dropped them into the correct folders, then shut and locked the drawer. Unlike earlier, these documents contained sensitive information.
Clark had a lockable file drawer in his desk, too, of course. Every Daily Planet writer or editor did. Lois had keys for both drawers, as did Clark, since they both needed equal access to the information.
Now he sat down at his own desk, signed off his computer, then stood and rejoined her on her side of the desks. She signed off her own computer and stood up. “Ready?”
They went up the ramp together.
Without his powers, they couldn’t fly. Well, they could, but she would have to carry him. They usually took the elevator to the lobby and walked to one of the eateries near the Daily Planet building for lunch, though, anyway. And equality of the sexes aside, it just seemed… *odd* for her to carry him.
They were the only ones waiting for the elevator, and the cab was empty when it arrived at the newsroom floor. As soon as the doors closed behind them, she asked, “How are you doing, Clark? Any return of your powers?”
He shook his head. “No, not really. My hearing seems a little sharper than this morning, but I haven’t really tested anything out.” He paused, then added, “No flight, yet,” and she realized he had just tried to float.
She slipped her arms around him. “They’ll come back, Clark. They *have* to.” He was still Clark without the powers, and she would love him regardless, but he’d had them – as she had – all his life. They were a basic part of him and helped define, to him, who he was. He had to be feeling their loss.
He wrapped his arms around her and held her close. She felt his sigh as much as heard it. “I hope so, Lois. I keep… poking at them, you know? The way you poke at a loose tooth. It’s there and you can’t keep from wiggling it.”
She nodded against him. She knew. She was always conscious that the powers were there, whether she was using them or not. If they were gone… Of course she would keep trying – keep poking at them, as Clark had said – to see if they’d come back.
The elevator doors opened onto the lobby, and she let him go reluctantly.
As they stepped out of the elevator, he bent down to whisper in her ear, “I’m afraid we’ll have to eat with the locals, honey. My take-out picking-up abilities are offline.”
She giggled. That was her Clark, dealing with what had to be a frustrating situation with grace and humor. She wrapped one arm around his waist. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders, and they ambled across the lobby, only separating to go through the revolving doors at the main entrance.
---
To be continued
Author's notes:
When I was writing the window washers scene, I asked my husband for a building name. It wasn’t until later, researching tactile telekinesis, that I discovered that there really is a Baxter Building in comics. Wikipedia’s main page for tactile telekinesis has a picture of a superhero named Gladiator lifting a building called the Baxter Building. Researching the Baxter Building itself (also at Wikipedia), however, informs me that I’ve put it in the wrong city. And the wrong universe, as it was the headquarters for a Marvel universe team called the Fantastic Four. When I pointed this out to my husband, a longtime comics fan and collector, he just laughed. I’ll add that adamantium comes from that universe, too.
I've found myself increasingly using Wikipedia, at
Wikipedia.org for almost everything related to comics, including adamantium, tactile telekinesis (although I also have to thank my husband for suggesting it in the first place), super powers in general, and costume ideas and superhero names for Lois - as well as for the decidedly non-comic Black Talon. And for Internet history (browsers, search engines, and modem speeds). I also used Wikipedia to research red-green color-blindness – if you’d like to see why Jonathan needed to ask for help when Martha sent him out to buy her some more red fabric, go here:
Clinical forms of color blindness and scroll down to the pictures of the apples.
