Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Lois & Clark Fanfic Stardust (20/20)

From Part 19:

He sighed. This had to be the most ridiculous conversation he’d ever had. Lois was demanding that he prove his own existence, which might be an interesting philosophical exercise, but he was pretty sure that wasn’t what she had in mind.

Tell her, tell her, tell her, his mind chanted at him, but the words stuck in his throat. It wasn’t an easy thing to tell, and it especially wasn’t easy when she was angry and hostile and about as approachable as a hedgehog. It wasn’t a thing he could say under the fluorescent conference room lights, with their colleagues sneaking peeks through the windows.

No, it was a thing best told under cover of quiet darkness, when he had his arms wrapped around her and could whisper it in her ear. It was a thing that would require kisses and reassurance and long explanations, not a thing he could spring on her in the middle of the workday, when none of those things was possible.

“I can’t prove it,” he said quietly. “Not right now. But I will, Lois. For now, though...I’m asking you to believe me.”

She nodded, her lips compressed in a thin line, and he knew she didn’t believe him. Couldn’t believe him. He knew he’d disappointed her... but she’d disappointed him as well.

He told himself that it was too soon to expect blind faith. And he honestly couldn’t say whether he’d have believed her had the circumstances been different – had he not had concrete proof that the man who had rescued her really existed. If he hadn’t been that man, would he have been as skeptical as their co-workers? He hoped not, but he wasn’t sure. That kind of trust came with time, and he and Lois hadn’t had much time yet. It was a journey, and he was still working up his nerve to take the first terrifying step.

So when she made a terse excuse about needing to get back to work, he let her brush by him and slip from the conference room without any further effort at conversation.

____________________________

Part 20:

Lois sat sullenly at her desk, drawing up a list of potential questions for the colonists that afternoon. Every now and then, someone would come by her desk and speak to her. About half the time it was to offer congratulations on her story that morning, and the other half it was to inquire snidely whether she’d seen any flying men lately. She wished they would all just leave her alone.

And Clark.

She didn’t know what to think about Clark. He’d obviously thought he was being supportive, but his claim to have seen the man in the blue suit just added to the number of people in the newsroom who were laughing at her behind their hands – or to her face, and she wasn’t sure which was worse. Most of the women were already jealous and couldn’t figure out what a nice guy like Clark Kent was doing with Mad Dog Lane. This thing with the flying man just gave them one more thing to talk about, one more thing to make fun of.

She knew the kinds of things they were saying: The men were speculating that she must be really good in the sack if Clark was willing to make such a fool of himself over her. The women supposed she had just scared him into supporting her about the flying man and were trying to work out how to rescue Clark from her clutches.

She felt like she had a target painted on her back, inviting the entire newsroom to take shots at her. And there was a part of her that wished she’d just never said anything about the flying man to anyone, even if it would have meant lying to the police. He was probably dead anyway, and she’d never be able to prove his existence.

But, no; that wasn’t the way Lois Lane worked. Oh, she didn’t mind lying if it got her a story or even to get herself out of trouble, but she wouldn’t stoop to lying just because she was afraid of the truth. That was a slippery slope for a reporter, and one she had no intention of starting down. The flying man existed, or had before Antoinette Baines’ helicopter had exploded last night, and Lois wasn’t going to claim otherwise, no matter what Perry thought it would do to her credibility.

She was staring into space, tapping her pen against her notebook, when Perry’s voice just behind her made her jump.

“Lois? Can I see you in my office?” he asked, his voice surprisingly gentle. It made her suspicious, but she nodded and pushed away from her desk. She kept her gaze carefully averted from Clark as she followed Perry into his office, but she could still see him in her peripheral vision, hunched over his desk staring into his computer monitor, just as carefully not looking at her.

“Sit down, honey,” Perry said, once they’d reached his office, and his syrupy tones put her even more on her guard.

“What’s this about, Perry?”

“I, ah...” He sat down in his desk chair and swiveled a little back and forth. He rubbed one hand over his mouth.

“Perry...” she said, a warning note in her voice.

“I need to ask you a personal question,” he said, finally looking her straight in the eye. “One I said I wasn’t going to ask. But I have a reason for asking, and I want you to give me a straight answer.”

Well, that wasn’t what she was expecting at all. She’d thought he was about to recommend counseling or something equally absurd. “All right,” she said cautiously.

“I want to know how you met Clark Kent.”

Her mouth fell open. She couldn’t help it. In the whole wide world of questions, that was the last thing she’d been expecting, and it landed like a bomb in the quiet room. She felt her stomach start to churn. “Why? What does that have to do with anything?”

“His first day here, Kent told me you two had never met before. Claimed he had no idea why you’d have had a grudge against him. Today he told me that wasn’t a lie but a ‘misunderstanding’.” He put the word in finger quotes to show his skepticism. “He refused to explain any further, so I’m asking you to.”

She bit her lip, silently thanking Clark for his chivalry, which she knew had come at the expense of his own good reputation. There couldn’t be many men who would do as much, could there?

“He was right,” she said slowly. “It was a misunderstanding. I don’t know why you need to know more than that.”

“I need to know because Clark Kent is still a provisional employee, and I’m not going to hire a man who makes a habit of lying to me. Now, it seems that all of his lies are centered around you, so it only seemed right that I see if you had some explanation.”

“I don’t know why he claimed to have seen the flying man,” she said. “I guess he wanted to...support me or something.”

“So you don’t believe him either?”

Lois thought about it. Thought about how earnestly he had looked at her when he entreated her to trust him. “I...no,” she admitted, feeling the guilt pierce her at the admission. “I guess I don’t.”

“You can see why I might be concerned, then. The man’s been here less than two weeks, and first he tells me that he’s never met Lois Lane, when it was perfectly obvious that he had, and now he’s telling me he’s seen a flying man, when it’s perfectly obvious that he hasn’t.”

“He... wasn’t lying about the first thing.” The truth of it heated her cheeks, and the words felt like they were being dragged from her lips.

Perry’s eyebrows shot towards his receding hairline. “Come again?”

“He, um, didn’t know that he had met... me. Lois Lane.”

Perry cleared his throat slightly, obviously waiting for her to elaborate. When she didn’t, he said, “Lois, I’m not a mind reader, and surely you know this doesn’t make a whole lotta sense.”

She nodded, wondering how to begin, how to tell her story to this man whom she looked up to almost as a father. He sat waiting silently, expectantly, with no intention of letting her off the hook. And she didn’t deserve to be let off, she knew. Not when Clark had put so much on the line for her.

“Um, Clark and I met at a bar on the South side the night he first interviewed here.” She looked down at her hands, clasped tightly in her lap. “We, uh, hit it off, I guess you’d say.” She ventured a peek at Perry to see if he’d gotten her drift. From the look of surprised disapproval on his face, she guessed he had. She looked back down at her hands again. “But I... hadn’t given him my real name or told him what I did for a living. I was kind of... undercover. Not for a story but for myself. I was pretending to be someone else. I didn’t want... I wasn’t looking for anything permanent. I... left him....” She felt her heart twist in her chest as she remembered the sight of him sleeping in the bed they’d shared, her scribbled note on the pillow beside him. “And figured I’d never see him again. And then he showed up here, and I kind of... panicked.”

She peeked at Perry again. He looked like thunder. “Lois, I know I’m just your boss and not your father, but damn it, honey! Do you have any idea how dangerous that was? Where was your good sense?”

Lois shook her head and laughed a little through the tears that had gathered in her eyes. “Perry, where Clark Kent is concerned, I don’t seem to have any good sense at all.”

He sighed. “Well, thank goodness you picked a nice guy. Listen, I know you’re a grown woman and old enough to make your own decisions about, uh... things like that, but I just don’t want to see you wind up on my front page, you hear? You and I both know that it’s a dangerous world out there.”

“I know. And I’ve been telling my sister that for years. What happened with Clark... I don’t make a habit of....” She waved one hand vaguely in lieu of finishing the sentence.

“But Clark’s different,” Perry said, smiling a little for the first time.

She nodded. Yes, Clark was different.

“And he was telling me the truth about not knowing Lois Lane,” he said thoughtfully.

She nodded again. “Yeah. He was telling the truth.”

“In that case – and I can hardly believe I’m saying this – but in that case, I wonder if he was telling the truth about seeing this flying man of yours.”

She stared at him. “You believe there’s a flying man?”

“I believe that two of my reporters have now claimed to witness something that makes them think there is. And as of this conversation, Clark has a spotless record when it comes to not lying to me. You, on the other hand, will lie to me in a heartbeat, but you’ve never lied about a thing like this.”

“I don’t lie to you!”

He waved that away. “You lie to me whenever it’s convenient for you,” he said calmly. “But this is pretty damned inconvenient, and you’re sticking to it anyway.”

“So...?”

“So get me some proof! I still can’t run a story on this thing without some evidence, but if there is a flying man, you can bet I want The Daily Planet to get the scoop.”

“And you really think Clark was telling the truth about seeing him?”

Perry thought about it. “I’m not sure,” he said finally. “I’d like to think he was, but I don’t know him as well as you do.”

“And maybe he was just trying to defend me.”

“Maybe. I guess I can’t think too badly of him if that’s what he was trying to do. He seems pretty determined to protect you. He was willing to let me fire him rather than tell me the truth of how you two actually met.”

“What an idiot,” Lois said, but she couldn’t keep the smile off her face as she said it. Never, never had anyone put so much on the line for her. “I’m not worth that.”

“It’s about time someone showed you that you are,” Perry said, giving her a fond look. “I think you’ve picked a winner this time, honey.”

“I think I have, too,” she said softly. And suddenly, she didn’t care what the rest of the newsroom was saying. Maybe Clark really had seen the flying man. Or maybe he hadn’t. Either way, he was the most wonderful man in the world, and she’d be pretty stupid to let a thing like this come between them. “I think maybe I owe Clark an apology.”

Perry waved in the direction of the door. “Well, go work it out then. But just remember to behave yourself in my newsroom. I’m running a newspaper, not a dating service.”

She laughed as she stood to go, suddenly feeling a hundred pounds lighter. “Got it.”

_________________________________

Clark was still at his desk, bent like a question mark over his keyboard and staring into his monitor. She was nervous as she made her way over to him; he didn’t look particularly welcoming, and she didn’t do apologies well.

“Hey,” she said softly, approaching him. “You look stressed.” She let her hands settle on his shoulders, felt the tension there and gave an experimental squeeze. If anything, he tensed further under her touch, but she didn’t remove her hands.

“A little,” he admitted, turning to give her a surprised look.

She rubbed his shoulders again, wishing she could feel the warmth of his skin, but he was still wearing his sports coat, and she had to content herself with imagining the feel of what he kept hidden underneath. “I just talked to Perry,” she said, letting her fingers creep up to his neck, threading them gently through the longish hair at his nape. He needed a trim, she thought, but she loved the feel of his hair in her hands. She heard him take a sharp breath as her fingers gently massaged his neck, burrowing into the tension there.

“Uh, what about?”

She continued to rub his neck, loving the feel of his skin beneath her hands. Was this what Perry had meant when he’d told her to behave? Probably not, and she couldn’t have cared less. “I told him,” she said simply. “I told him how we met.”

“Oh.” He bent his head a little to give her better access, and she smiled. She wasn’t sure he even knew he’d done it. “You didn’t have to do that.”

“Yes, I did. I couldn’t let him think... I had to tell him.” Now tell him you’re sorry, she thought to herself. Tell him.

“Thank you,” he said softly, and she felt him relax a little more under her touch.

“You’re welcome.” She took a deep breath. “If you say you saw the flying man, then I believe you.” It wasn’t quite ‘I’m sorry,’ but it was darn close.

His head came up and he turned to face her. “You do?”

She shrugged self-consciously. “Perry made me realize that you’ve never lied to me. So if you say you saw him... then you saw him.”

“Lois... I... I don’t deserve that kind of trust. I mean, I have seen him, but there are... things... I need to tell you. Things I should have already told you. But I can’t do it here. Can I see you tonight? Somewhere where we can talk privately?”

“Is this about the flying man?”

“Kind of,” he hedged.

“Do you know something about him?” she asked, sounding excited. “Because Perry’s willing to consider the story now if we can get him some proof. This could be huge, Clark! Bigger even than the Messenger story.”

Was it her imagination, or did he go a little pale? He certainly didn’t look as excited at the prospect as she was. “Let me tell you what I know about him, and then we can decide together what to do,” he said. “Just... not here.”

“Well, here is where we work, so if it’s about a story, it would make sense to do it here,” she pointed out, “but all right. If you want to talk privately, we can do it at my place.”

“I thought your sister was there.”

“She is, but I can throw her out for the evening. She’s gone most nights anyway. Let’s get back here and write up the story of the colonist launch, and then we’ll get take out and eat it at my apartment.”

He smiled and took her hand. “That sounds perfect.”

“But I warn you, if this is some trick to get me into bed...”

“Lois!”

“...it’ll probably work,” she added with a grin. She laughed out loud when his face immediately sprouted a bright pink blush.

“It’s not,” he said, sounding a little choked, and then the corners of his mouth turned up in a smile as he added sheepishly, “but that’s good to know.”

“We should fight more often.” She felt delighted with the entire world, suddenly. “This making up is fun.”

“I don’t exactly think that not fighting enough has been one of our problems so far,” he said dryly, “but I agree about the making up.”

She couldn’t resist. She leaned down and brushed a quick kiss across his lips, and the entire newsroom, which had apparently been watching their whole exchange, immediately broke into cheers and catcalls.

“I hate them,” she said matter-of-factly, drawing away from him.

“I’m not crazy about them myself right now,” he agreed.

She sighed and pulled her hand from his. “We should probably get back to work. You ready for this afternoon?”

“As I’ll ever be. You’ll have the exciting part. Are you ready?”

“Yeah. I have to be at EPRAD an hour before lift-off. They’re going to brief me and then give me twenty or so minutes on board with the colonists before they start the final countdown. Can you be ready to go by noon?”

“Yep.”

“Good.” She gave him one more quick smile and then headed for her desk. She still wasn’t completely sure she believed that Clark had seen the man who had rescued her the night before, but she was glad she’d told him she did. She’d known him such a short time, but already, it felt awful when they argued, awful when things weren’t right between them. And something was telling her that it was time to trust Clark. It was time to stop comparing him to every other man she’d known. He had demonstrated over and over that he wasn’t like other men, and it wasn’t fair for her to keep measuring him by that same pathetic standard. Clark wasn’t her father. He wasn’t Claude. He wasn’t Mitchell or any of the sleaze balls Lucy had dated. He wasn’t using her and he’d showed no signs of wanting to leave her, even when she’d given him every provocation.

So she would trust him, and trust that whatever he had to tell her that evening would be the truth.

_________________________________

It amused Lois that she was now treated as visiting royalty at EPRAD, whereas only the day before, she’d had to sneak in under cover of darkness, and before that, she’d practically had to perform a strip tease for the guard to be allowed inside. What a difference a day could make. What a difference being right could make. She loved it when the end justified the means. Loved it.

And she was, as ever, gracious in victory. Defeat she didn’t handle particularly well, but victory – victory was one of her best things. So she smiled benevolently as their car was waved through, and kept the smile on her face as she was escorted out of it by a high-ranking EPRAD official named Dr. Morrison. He seemed to have taken over for Antoinette Baines, who had been confirmed dead in the previous night’s helicopter explosion, and Lois could only hope that he didn’t share his predecessor’s homicidal tendencies. She didn’t ask, of course, because that would have seemed less than gracious, and she had a part to play... at least until she got the colonist story.

“Dr. Morrison, this is my colleague Clark Kent,” she said, as Clark stepped out of his side of the car and joined them.

Morrison, a lean, silver-haired man in his early sixties, shook Clark’s hand but looked uncomfortable. “I wasn’t aware you were bringing a colleague, Miss Lane. I’m afraid that you’re the only one who has been approved to board the launch.”

She nodded. “That’s fine. Clark will be covering the launch from the outside. The Daily Planet is very thorough.”

“That’s... yes, it certainly is,” Morrison agreed. “Well, if you two will just come this way, I’ll show Mr. Kent the area that has been designated for the press, and I’ll escort you onto the launch, Miss Lane. We’re glad to have you both here.”

“You’re glad I’m not suing EPRAD into the next millennium,” Lois said sweetly, “but thank you, Dr. Morrison.”

“Lois,” Clark whispered, sounding aggrieved.

“What?” she asked innocently. He rolled his eyes.

“Uh, if you’ll just come this way.” Morrison led them to a small golf cart and drove them first to a cordoned-off area where other members of the press were already milling around and setting up cameras. Lois introduced Clark to several people she knew and then, quite gleefully, let them all watch as she and Dr. Morrison climbed back into the golf cart. “See you after,” she called to Clark over her shoulder. She heard his warm chuckle following her as the golf cart lurched into motion and zipped across the field toward the launch complex.

The launch pad, shuttle, and all its associated apparatus was absolutely immense up close, and for the first time since arriving at EPRAD, she felt a sense of awe overtake her delight at landing such a professional coup. She was about to board an actual passenger shuttle that would be taking people to live in space. This was history in the making, and she was a part of it. This was one of those things she’d tell her grandchildren about, assuming she ever had any, which she wasn’t so sure about – but she was still young and didn’t have to decide that right then, did she? But if she ever did have grandchildren, they would certainly hear about this.

“The colonists are already on board receiving their final briefing,” Morrison said as he stopped the golf cart. “When that concludes, you’ll have approximately 20 minutes to ask questions. You may take a notebook, but no recorder or any other electronic devices. That should have been in the information we sent your editor.” Lois nodded and held up her notebook and pen.

“Good. Launch is at 1400 hours, and you’ll need to be in the pad operations building at that time.” He pointed to a building some distance away. “You’ll be escorted off the shuttle 30 minutes before then so that the colonists can make final preparations for lift-off. Any questions?”

“No, but I might have some later. Will you be available?”

He nodded and for the first time that day, his mouth quirked in a real smile. “I’ve devoted my entire career to this program, Miss Lane, and your actions last night probably saved it. I know you think we’re just doing this because we’re afraid of bad press or afraid of being sued, but that’s not the case – at least with me. I’m genuinely grateful to you, and I want your paper to keep right on printing the truth about this program. So if you have questions, I’ll do my best to answer them.”

Lois nodded and returned his smile. “Thank you, Dr. Morrison.”

He nodded in the direction of the launch pad. “Are you ready to see the inside of the world’s first colonist transport vehicle?”

She took a deep breath. “As I’ll ever be.”

“Then let’s go.”
___________________________________

Lois could feel the nervous anticipation in the air as she made her way among the colonists, her notebook in hand. Some of them chattered excitedly, while others seemed thoughtful, almost burdened by the historical significance of their undertaking. All, though, were committed to the project and committed to being the world’s first space ‘pilgrims’, and all seemed eager to have her record their final thoughts before they left their native planet and tried to make a new home so far away. Her pen flew across the pages of her notebook, her sense of excitement increasing with each brief interview. This was going to make an amazing story.

“Mrs. Platt,” she said, recognizing Samuel Platt’s widow and daughter. “And Amy, isn’t it?”

Both Mrs. Platt and her daughter gave her sad smiles. “It’s nice to see you again, Miss Lane. We wanted to thank you, Amy and I, for what you did. Nothing can bring Samuel back to us, but you believing in him... proving that he was right... you’ve given him back his dignity. That means so much to us.”

“All I did was tell the truth,” Lois said sincerely. “Dr. Platt was the real hero.”

“Thank you.” The older woman leaned forward and gave Lois an impulsive hug. “He would have been so happy about this day,” she said through tears that thickened her voice. “He would have been so happy that Amy will have this chance.”

“Mom,” Amy said softly, reaching for her mother’s hand.

“I know, honey. I said I wasn’t going to do this.” Mrs. Platt laughed a little and wiped her eyes. “Samuel wouldn’t want us crying. Not today.”

A young woman in a jumpsuit appeared at Lois’s elbow. “It’s T minus thirty minutes Miss Lane. I need to escort you from the vehicle now.”

“Of course,” said Lois, looking regretfully at the colonists. She’d have liked to stay, to ask some more questions, but this was not the day to push her luck. “Mrs. Platt, I hope you and Amy have a wonderful trip.”

“Thank you,” Mrs. Platt replied, placing a gentle hand on her daughter’s shoulder.

“Thank you,” Amy echoed.

“Miss Lane...?” Lois’s escort prompted.

“I’m ready.” With one final smile at Amy and Mrs. Platt, Lois followed her escort through the labyrinth of narrow passageways that would lead them out to the launch pad. She trailed along slowly, however, trying to absorb each and every detail in the hopes that she might see something she’d find useful later in her article. Every now and then, her guide would have to stop and wait with forced patience for Lois to catch up to her, but Lois didn’t care. This was her one chance at a story like this, and she wasn’t going to miss a single thing if she could help it.

Ultimately, it was a case of being in the right place at the right time. Or the wrong place at the wrong time, depending on your perspective. But a split second’s difference either way, and she wouldn’t have seen the man enter the narrow alcove just to the left of her and slap a small piece of plastic onto the wall. And if the man hadn’t looked so sneaky as he’d done it, if he hadn’t darted out the other side almost before she got a look at him, she might not even have thought anything about it. He was dressed like the rest of the technical crew, and maybe that little piece of plastic belonged on the wall.

But, no. If there was one thing Lois Lane knew, it was sneaky. And the man who stuck that piece of plastic on the wall didn’t want to be seen doing it. She was sure of that. So she stopped and turned back. She went to investigate and let her guide go on ahead of her without giving it a second thought. Instead of following along obediently, Lois slipped silently into the tiny alcove the man had just vacated.

She squinted at the tiny piece of plastic, which seemed very small and unimportant until she saw that it was attached to a timer. A timer with tiny, ominous red numbers blinking 2:51, 2:50, 2:49, 2:48...

It took about five more precious seconds for her to find her voice. “Help!” she screamed, wishing she hadn’t let her guide go on ahead. “Help! It’s a bomb! Help!”

She didn’t know her way out. She didn’t even know her way back to where the colonists were preparing for take-off. She doubted she could get off the shuttle in the time left.

2:25, 2:24, 2:23, 2:22...

“Help!” she screamed again, reaching for some nearby wires and jerking at them, ripping them from whatever important-looking thing they were connected to. She began pushing buttons randomly, stabbing at whatever she could find that might communicate to someone, somewhere that there was a problem. When no alarms sounded, when she didn’t hear any pounding footsteps, she backed away from the device, her heart thundering in her chest, and prepared to run into the labyrinth of corridors on the blind chance that she could find someone who could help her.

1:59, 1:58, 1:57, 1:56...

She ran straight into a wall of vivid blue spandex.

It’s an S, she thought crazily, irrelevantly, as her hero from the night before gently steadied her and stepped past her into the little room. The thing on his chest is an S.

Aloud she stammered, “It’s... a bomb,” she said, pointing at the wall.

He flashed a quick grin that seemed utterly inappropriate under the circumstances. “So I heard.” He squinted at it a little, frowned briefly, and then plucked it from the wall and popped it into his mouth while Lois stared. A determined swallow was followed by a rumbling sound and a slightly smoky belch, which he stifled politely with his hand. “Excuse me,” he said.

“Who are you?” she demanded.

“We’ll get to that,” he promised. “Right now, though, we need to let the launch crew know what we just found.”

And finally, there was the sound of pounding footsteps she’d been waiting for, and suddenly the tiny room was filled with people. Before she knew it, they’d been herded back into the larger room with the colonists, and she was being peppered with questions about the man she’d seen planting the bomb. The bomb itself was no longer available for examination, but her hero in the blue suit and red cape was able to describe it in every detail. Finally, the scientists seemed to have every fact they could give them – every fact except one, which was how a man had flown into the launch vehicle and swallowed a bomb, but they all seemed somewhat hesitant to question the man directly about that. Instead, they confined themselves to the facts about the mission.

“Unfortunately,” Dr. Morrison said, addressing the entire assembly, “due to our equipment problems and this... unfortunate occurrence, we’ve had no alternative but to abort. I just received word that the mission has been scrubbed, and we need everyone to prepare to disembark.”

A collective sound of disappointment went up from the assembled colonists. “This is it then,” one of the colonists said. “It’s over.”

“Why?” Lois asked.

“Once the mission has been scrubbed, the boosters are shut down and we lose our launch window,” Mrs. Platt said sadly. “I’m afraid this means we have to forget about Space Station Prometheus.”

“No, you don’t,” the man in the blue suit said. Lois looked at him in surprise. “There’s nothing wrong with this transport vehicle or the space station,” he explained. “You only need to get there.”

“How are they supposed to do that?” Lois asked, cocking her head at him.

“Easy.” Was it her imagination, or did he look a little smug? “I’ll give them a boost.”

Amy Platt rolled her wheelchair a little closer to the man who had saved them all. “Can you really fly?” she asked in a tone of wonderment. It was a question that every adult in the room had wanted to ask but hadn’t dared.

“I really can,” he told her.

“Can you teach me?”

“Not to fly, no,” he said, shaking his head gently. “But once this lab is operational, you can learn to walk. That’s very possible.”

“And you can really get us there?”

He nodded. “I really can.”

She beamed at him. “I like your suit.”

He chuckled at that and touched Amy’s shoulder gently. “Thanks,” he told her. “My mother made it for me.”

____________________________________

The next few minutes were a jumble of explanations and scientific concerns, but the end result was that Lois Lane was relocated to the pad operations building and had a front row seat for history being made twice over as the mysterious flying man boosted the colonist launch vehicle into space. She had extracted a promise from him that he would return and give her the full story, and she could hardly believe her good fortune. The Messenger story, the colonist launch... they were small potatoes next to this guy. And thanks to her, The Daily Planet would have the inside scoop. She sipped at coffee and tried to jot down some notes, but she was too keyed up, too excited.

He was alive. Her hero from the night before was alive and well and proving her right on a public stage. She wished she could see the look on Perry’s face right now. She wished she could see Cat’s... and Jimmy’s... and that cop’s from the night before. What was his name? It didn’t matter. He’d thought she was nuts, or lying, and now he and everyone else in the world had seen the guy for themselves. She wished she could find Clark just then. Wished she could gloat with him and share this moment with him. He’d believed her. He’d been the only one to believe her. He’d even hinted that he knew something more about the man.

Well, whatever he knew couldn’t possibly compare with this. She’d seen the man up close. She’d seen him swallow a bomb with no more trouble than the average man might have with a little Mexican food. She’d seen the blue suit and red cape and red underwear and the S on his chest. What could the S mean? she wondered. She would ask him that.

She jotted it down.

And how could he fly? How had he survived the helicopter explosion? Where had he gone afterward? How had he known she needed help, both last night and that day, on the colonist transport?

Now that really was a question. She’d told Jimmy she didn’t believe in guardian angels, and there was nothing about this man to suggest that he was one, but how did it happen that he’d come to her rescue twice in two days? Was he following her? And if so, why?

Her excitement began to be tempered with a bit of nervousness. Maybe she should go find Clark, make sure he was with her when this guy returned. But she couldn’t leave the operations building by herself, and even if she did, it was too far to walk back to where the press was assembled. She would have to wait.

She paced restlessly, looking out of the huge bank of windows. It was late afternoon by then, and the light was waning. She’d been at EPRAD for five hours, but most of those hours had been so hectic that until now, the time hadn’t started to drag.

“Miss Lane?” a member of the launch team approached her. “I was sent from ground control to let you know that the colonist transport has reached the space station. The... man... whatever he is... was able to dock the vehicle safely.”

“That’s wonderful,” Lois said, thinking for a moment of Mrs. Platt and Amy. The flying man had made their life’s dream come true for them. She would make sure he knew that, when she saw him. “When do you think the man will be back here?”

The scientist shook his head. “I’m afraid there’s no precedent for... his kind of space travel.”

“Guess not,” she agreed, and as the scientist melted away, she resumed her pacing in front of the bank of windows. It seemed an eternity before she saw it – a speck of bright color in the golden afternoon sky. He came closer, close enough for her to make out the blue of his suit and the red of his cape, and she saw him circle around the distant area where she knew the press was gathered. He was showing off, she thought with a grin, as if lifting a shuttle into orbit wasn’t going to garner him enough attention. But it didn’t matter, because she was the one to whom he’d promised the story.

And sure enough, he was coming straight towards her, close enough now that she could almost make out his features. He’d remembered his promise, and she felt her nerves fire up again as she waited for him to find his way into the building.

This was it. This was the biggest interview of her career. She had a feeling that this man, whoever he was, was going to change her entire life.

She heard the commotion as he approached the room where she’d been tucked safely away. He was being followed by every scientist on the East coast, she figured, and all of them were probably congratulating and thanking him – as well as pelting him with questions. He came into the room, followed by his entourage, and he took a few moments to answer, in careful, measured tones, specific questions about the docking of the transport vehicle and the safe arrival of the colonists. He looked so serious, she thought, so very capable and strong, but then she remembered his gentleness with young Amy Platt, and the quick grin he’d flashed her when he’d arrived to take care of the bomb, and she suspected that there was much more to him than what they were now seeing.

She hung back while he gave his report, but then he politely but firmly refused any further questions. “I’m sorry,” he said, “but I’ve promised Miss Lane an interview.” He gave her a look that was almost beseeching, and she took the hint and stepped forward, shouldering her way through the crowd.

“You can read all about it in tomorrow’s Daily Planet,” she said smugly, and she could have sworn she saw her hero smother a smile.

“If you’ll excuse us,” he said in his deep voice, and he put one hand at the small of Lois’s back and gently guided her outside of the building. For a moment, they stood in the small parking lot, just looking at each other.

“I, uh, was wondering if I could get my colleague, Clark Kent,” she said, the nervousness overtaking her once again now that she was alone with this... impossibly powerful man. “He’s here with me today. Well, not here here, of course, but with the rest of the press.”

“I’d like to talk to you alone first, if that’s OK,” he said softly. “Would it be all right if I took you someplace where we could talk privately for a few minutes?”

“Uh... yeah,” she said, hoping he couldn't see how uncomfortable she was with the suggestion. “I guess that would be all right. Did you have someplace in mind?”

“There’s a place I go when I want privacy,” he said. “A place I go to think. Can I take you there?”

She nodded, wide-eyed, and before she knew it, she was being gathered into his arms and cradled like a child, held close against his chest.

“Don’t worry,” he murmured, as they started to rise up and away from EPRAD. “I’ve got you.”

She linked her arms around his neck, holding tighter. His assurances were all well and good, but the ground was a long way down, and she had no idea how this guy was doing what he was doing. What if his battery died? What if he just got careless and let her go? She was accosted by a wave of vertigo and hid her face in his shoulder.

“Lois, I promise you, you’re not going to fall,” he said soothingly. “Look around. It’s amazing.”

She ventured a peek, and once her head stopped swimming, she realized that he was right. It was amazing. Dusk was falling, and Metropolis was sprawled out beneath them, a gorgeous crazy-quilt of patterns and colors. She watched, enthralled, as the city lights seemed to flicker on one by one, like fireflies dancing in the twilight. Up above it as they were, all was peaceful and quiet, and she relaxed a little in his arms as the gentle evening breeze ruffled her hair. “You’re right,” she said in a low, breathless voice. “It’s so beautiful. I can see why you love it up here.”

“I do. But I love it down there, too.”

She cocked her head and looked at him. “You do?”

He nodded. “I live down there, just like you.”

He was looking at her so earnestly. She stared at him... stared into sweet, hopeful brown eyes that plucked at her heart in a way that she knew. A way that was so familiar....”

“See me, Lois,” he begged softly. “See me.”

And then suddenly she did. She saw him.

And in his strong arms, soaring over the city she called home, she laughed out loud. It was relief and delight with maybe a little bit of hysteria thrown in, but she laughed and cried a little, too, as the face of her mysterious hero seemed to soften and blur into the face of the man she loved. And he laughed, too, and held her tighter, even though she no longer felt even a trace of fear, because she knew that Clark would never let her fall.

“You told me you weren’t like other men,” she said, shaking her head at him when the storm of laughter had passed.

He grinned at her – a goofy, Clark Kent kind of a grin. “I have a gift for understatement.”

“You can say that again,” she told him.

“I have a....”

“Oh, shut up.” She was still giggling, still half-wondering if she’d fallen asleep in one those uncomfortable chairs at EPRAD, and this would all turn out to be a crazy dream.

“I promised you I would show you magic,” he reminded her, gesturing to the Earth below them. “So how am I doing?”

He had told her that, and at the time, she’d thought it was sweet and romantic but nothing more than the hyperbole of a man in love.

“You said you’d make me believe in fairy tales,” she remembered, a note of wonder in her voice.

He touched her face, a gentle caress, and then tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear, out of the wind. “At the time,” he said, “I didn’t know just how good you were at playing the damsel in distress.”

“You saved my life,” she whispered. “And then you let me think you were dead.”

“I’m sorry.” He looked at her so remorsefully that she knew he truly was sorry. “I didn’t mean for it to be quite like this. I didn’t mean for a lot of things between us to happen the way they have. But I wanted to tell you… I wanted you to know two things. One is that I’m really not like other men.”

“Yeah, I can kind of see that,” she said, glancing down at the city below.

“But you need to know why. I don’t know all the details myself, but I do know that I’m from... another planet. A planet called Krypton. My parents found me in a field near their farm when I was just a tiny baby, so everything else I’ve told you is true, but I can’t change the fact that I’m... not from here.”

She heard the word he wasn’t saying: alien. He was an honest-to-goodness alien from outer space. And he was obviously afraid that that would matter to her. Would scare her or even repulse her. And maybe it would have if men from Earth hadn’t repulsed her first, or if Clark hadn’t already stolen her heart so utterly and completely. But no, where Clark Kent was born didn’t matter to her now. It interested her, that was for sure. Intrigued the hell out of her, even. She would probably have a million questions for him – later, when she had time to think about them. But right now didn’t seem to be the time.

“So what was the other thing?” she asked, tightening her hold around his neck. “You said there were two things.”

“Oh.” He looked surprised that they were moving on so quickly. Clearly, he’d thought the ‘I’m an alien from outer space’ conversation was going to take a little more time. “The other thing was... well, I just wanted to tell you that... I love you. I know it’s kind of soon, and I probably shouldn’t even be saying that, but I always thought that I would only tell this secret to the woman I loved, and you are the woman I love, even if we haven’t known each other very long, and....”

“Clark.” She put her fingers over his lips, stopping the flow. “I love you, too.”

His eyes widened. “You... you do?”

“Uh huh. So how about you make the most of this incredibly romantic scene you’ve got going here?”

He looked delighted. “You think this is romantic?”

“Are you kidding? This is every girl’s dream. Floating in the clouds. City lights below. Really cute guy... wearing... red underwear....” She sneaked a peek in that direction.

He groaned. “I hate the red underwear! They were my mom’s idea. The whole suit is meant to be a disguise, and she thought the underwear would distract people from looking at my face.”

“Well, she was sure enough right about that,” Lois teased.

“I should go home and change,” he said, sounding mortified. “Take you somewhere nice for dinner. Do you know we’ve never had a real date?”

“I had noticed that,” she said. “But right now, you’re not going anywhere, spaceman. I’m still waiting for a little romance in the clouds.”

“Are you telling me you want me to kiss you, Lois?” His eyes twinkled at her.

“That’s exactly what I’m telling you.” Once again, she looped her arms around his neck. “I want you to show me magic.”

“One magic kiss, coming up,” he promised softly. And with that, he let go of her legs and let her slide down the length of his body, still keeping her tight against him. He once again stroked at the errant strand of hair, fingering it gently before he brushed it away from her face. “I love you,” he said, his lips grazing the spot on her cheek where the lock of hair had been.

“I love you,” he said again, his voice low now, intimate, and so close to her ear – his lips tickling her earlobe. She wanted to answer him back, but she was too breathless, too caught in the moment, to speak. Night was falling, and they were enveloped by soft darkness, with stars beginning to peep out shyly all around them. It was as if the entire universe belonged to them alone.

“I love you,” he murmured one final time, before letting his mouth settle on hers, sweet and warm. She felt another lurch of vertigo that had nothing to do with her distance from the ground. The instant Clark’s lips moved against hers, she lost all sense of everything except the intoxicating taste of him and the pounding of her own heart. They could be spinning into infinity for all she knew, but Clark was her anchor. She clutched at his shoulders, her hands slipping a little over the slick spandex, tangling a little in the folds of his fluttering cape. Clark’s body was warm and solid and his lips moved over hers, his tongue teasing her mouth open and darting inside in quick, tantalizing forays that ignited sparks of desire deep in her belly. His legs tangled with hers, drawing her closer and fitting her to his body more intimately, and she felt the blood thundering through her veins in response.

It had been like this the night they met, she remembered dizzily, like they could never get close enough, but that night the desire had been sharp-edged and almost painful. This was different. It was the difference between having one night and having a thousand nights. It was the difference between being with a handsome stranger and being with Clark. It was the difference between dancing at the Stardust, and dancing in the stars.

“Lois,” he said thickly, dragging his mouth from hers.

“Clark,” she breathed.

“We’re over the ocean.” He looked over her shoulder in obvious surprise. “I guess I wasn’t paying attention to where we were going.”

She laughed softly and put her head on his shoulder. “It’s a good thing we don’t live near the mountains.”

He chuckled, his breath stirring her hair. “Let’s go home,” he said. “My place or yours, I don’t care.”

“We have some stories to write,” she reminded him, but the odd thing was that she couldn’t seem to make herself care all that much.

“Yeah. We need to talk about... this.” He wrapped his cape around her. “What you’re going to say about this guy.”

“I’m going to say whatever he wants me to say. I’m going to interview him, on the record, and whatever he tells me will go in the story. No more, no less.”

“Thank you.” He claimed her lips in one more quick kiss.

“But there was something I meant to ask you.”

“Ask away.”

She smoothed a hand over the shield on his chest. “What does the S stand for?”

“I don't actually know,” he admitted. He gathered her closer in his arms and turned them back toward Metropolis and The Daily Planet and their future together. “Why don’t you think of something?”

The End

_______________________________

A/N: Thanks so much to all who have followed "Stardust" while it was being posted. I appreciate your patience and your encouragement more than I can say, and I hope you enjoyed the conclusion!
~ Caroline