A/N: Thanks to PJ, AnKS, Terry, Andreia, MrsMosley, Ann, symbolicangel, and LaraMoon for their wonderful comments.
I'd also like to thank Olympe for being a terrific beta. Take a bow!!!
Lois’s thoughts are italicised and enclosed by angle brackets (<>)
Asterisks enclose emphasis (**)
TOC Part Three“Hello?” Lucy answered the phone.
“Hi, you must be Lucy. This is Jimmy. Uh, Jimmy Olsen. I work with your sister. Is she there?” Jimmy asked, obviously in a hurry.
“I’m sorry, Jimmy, I haven’t seen her since she left with Clark last night,” Lucy answered.
“Really?” Jimmy sounded extremely interested in that answer, losing all trace of hurriedness. “Where did they go?”
“To the White Orchid Ball,” Lucy answered, confused. “Weren’t you there? Lois told me the whole paper was going.”
“Oh, yeah, I was there. But Lois and Clark left early,” Jimmy said.
“Really?” Lucy suddenly felt as interested in this conversation as Jimmy. “Did they say where they were going?”
“Nope, they just left in the middle of Lex Luthor’s speech. Lois gave Luthor one of her patented I-can-see-right-through-you speeches before they left, too.”
“Have you tried Clark’s place?”
“CK? He just started yesterday. I don’t have his number.”
“CK?”
“Yeah. Clark Kent. C-K.”
“Do you call everybody by their initials?”
“No, CK’s the only one. He came in for his interview with this battered old briefcase with CK monogrammed on the side. It kinda stuck in my head.”
“Hmm, CK. I like it. Kind of like Calvin Klein.”
(“Jimmy!”) “Uh-oh, the chief’s on the warpath, I better go. I guess I can tell Lois about the report when she gets in.”
“Okay,” Lucy started to hang up and then had second thoughts. “Hey, Jimmy?”
“Yeah?”
“Are you telling me that neither Lois nor Clark is at work?”
“That’s right. They’re both late. Perry’s gonna *kill* them when they finally show.”
“Ooh, I’d love to be the fly on the wall for that. Hmm, maybe I can. Jimmy, if I come down there, would you tell the security guards to let me in? I’ll make up some excuse to see Lois.”
“Sure, I’d love to meet you.” (“Where *is* that boy!”) Uh-oh, I’m being paged. See you when you get here,” Jimmy said, as quickly as he could before hanging up. Perry came over to his desk.
“Judas Priest, son! I’ve been calling you for ages! Who in the Sam Hill were you talking to?”
“Sorry, chief. That was Lois’s sister, Lucy. Apparently, Lois didn’t come home last night. Do you have CK’s number, chief? I think she might be there.”
“Oh, uh, it’ll be in his employee file.”
“Thanks, chief.”
***
“We really shouldn’t go back the way things are. Too much has changed. I mean, imagine us trying to be parents to a three-year-old. I’d go bananas in a week. I need to gradually prepare for it. Besides, this way we get four extra years together,” Lois turned to Clark, as he landed.
“My thoughts exactly,” Clark grinned. “And here I had this whole speech prepared to talk you into it.”
“Okay, Mr Wells, here’s what you do. Go back to that scientist guy and get the Soul Tracer...”
“Wait a minute. I just thought of something. That curse we removed...it’s still gone, right?” Clark asked, moving in to hug Lois.
Her eyes grew round like saucers.
<Oh god! We haven’t reversed the curse!> She heard Mr Wells voice ominously in her head. ‘Tragedy will strike you down, in every lifetime, every time you consummate. Usually it’s quite painful.’
<But I’m not in pain. That’s good, right?>“Oh, you don’t have to worry about that,” Mr Wells said, with utter conviction. “The fellow who invented the Soul Tracer came back in time with me and changed something that had consequences that he hadn’t counted on and he wanted to stop himself from changing history. He used the Soul Tracer on himself to go back to before I turned up and then chose *not* to go with me. But that point of history changed anyway.”
<Wow! Who knew babbling was contagious?>“So, you’re saying that even though we don’t go back and stop the curse it doesn’t matter because we’ve already done it?” Lois asked, trying to wrap her head around it.
“Yes, indeed. I’m not sure how it works, but...let’s just count ourselves lucky,” Mr Wells answered, ruefully. “Oh, and if you want proof that it *does* work, just look at that photo. If tragedy *did* strike because of last night, I doubt very much that you or your daughter would be in that picture.”
Lois smiled down at the photo she still had in her hands. Then she shook her head and looked at Mr Wells. “Anyway, you can use the Soul Tracer to find out where Tempus is, right? As in right now?”
“I can certainly try, Miss Lane. And since you are already late for work, I’ll come back tonight.” Lois and Clark both nodded as he went to the door.
“See you later,” Lois called after him as he left. “Okay, I’ll go take a shower and you can start writing up that story on the explosion in the sewer. That way we *may* escape Perry’s doghouse.”
***
As Lois and Clark rode the elevator up to the newsroom, Lois could feel her heart beating a mile a minute. Her hope that only a very small audience had caught their little performance on the dance floor last night had been dashed when she saw the cover of the National Whisper: a full-page photo of Lois pulling Clark down by his tie with a headline screaming ‘Mad Dog Lane Takes Puppy to Heel’. Clark, for some ungodly reason, had found it hysterically funny. Lois, on the other hand, had never liked that nickname, which had grown worse when Jefferson Cole tried to frame her for murder, and therefore was not impressed with Clark’s reaction.
“Come on, honey, relax,” Clark reached up and tried to knead the tension out of her shoulders. While she didn’t stop worrying about the reaction of the newsroom, Clark’s magic fingers were doing their work well. She could feel the strain flowing out wherever his fingers worked their magic.
“I’m sorry, Clark, it’s just...”
“We’ll be fine,” he insisted, turning her around to face him. “Trust me.” Lois found herself drowning in his chocolate-brown eyes. He leaned down and their lips met in a long, languid kiss, which was interrupted far too soon when the elevator doors opened. Lois sighed, grabbed Clark’s hand and led him out of the elevator. When she finally stopped looking at Clark long enough to take in the rest of the newsroom, she realised that they were the star attraction.
Lois rolled her eyes. “What? You want entertainment go watch TV!” The crowd immediately began to disperse.
“Very impressive,” Clark commented. “And you thought you wouldn’t be able to handle this.”
“Well, it’s amazing what a little *encouragement* can do,” Lois smiled brightly, her eyes twinkling.
“Lane! Kent! My office! Now!”
“Uh-oh, you got that story handy?”
“Right here,” Lois said, as she fished it out of her satchel.
“All right, let’s go, partner.” They linked arms and entered Perry’s office.
“Now, Lois, I know you’re the best reporter we have but that doesn’t mean you can just turn up when you feel like it. And Kent, this is only your second day on the job...”
“We’re sorry, chief, but we weren’t being *idle*,” Lois interrupted, handing the story to Perry. “There was an explosion in one of those pipes those workmen outside were working one, and one of the workmen got caught in it until Su...someone helped him out.”
Perry frowned. “Well, why didn’t you come straight in here and write it then?”
“That was my fault, chief,” Clark shrugged, apologetically. “I got too close to the explosion and got sewer refuse all over my clothes...”
“And then I got stuff all over my clothes, so we both had to shower and change...”
“So I started the article while Lois was showering and she finished it while I was showering.”
Perry’s eyebrows almost met his receding hairline. “I see.”
<Yep, definitely didn’t become chief because he could yodel.> Lois bit back a sudden desire to giggle.
There was a rapid knock on the door and Jimmy poked his head in. “Sorry to interrupt, chief. But Dr. Platt called earlier to say his report’s ready. Do you want me to pick it up?”
<Dr. Platt!>“No, Jimmy. Clark can go. I need you here,” Perry answered. Clark sighed in relief as he headed out the door.
“And don’t forget to bring him back with you!”
“Yes, Lois,” Clark answered, obviously having already decided to do so.
But Cat slunk over and intercepted him at the stairs. “Hi, Clark.”
“Hey, Cat,” Clark replied, trying to walk straight past her.
“You know, you’ve turned me down two times now,” Cat turned sulky, grabbing his tie so that he couldn’t get away.
Clark rolled his eyes and took his tie back. “I’m sorry, Cat, but...” It was time to be blunt or she’d never stop flirting with him. “You’re just not my type.”
“Oh, really,” Cat answered, clearly not buying it. “And what is your type?”
Clark looked beyond Cat to where Lois was just leaving Perry’s office and grinned. “Lanky brunettes with wicked jaws.” At which point the elevator arrived, and he jumped in.
Cat turned back to find Lois rolling her eyes, but with a smile on her face. She couldn’t stand it anymore. “Come on, Lois. How can you not take offence to that comment?”
“It’s quite easy, Cat. Clark just compared me to Myrna Loy,” Lois answered, with a self-satisfied smile.
***
Dr. Baines looked at the monitor in sheer disbelief. A man was tinkering with the Messenger! And none of the other monitors had recorded his entry.
“Go check it out,” she commanded, and her muscle quickly left the room. She turned back to the monitor and stared. The man was gone. A quick scan of the other monitors did not show him leave.
“No one’s here,” she heard through the intercom. Dr. Baines sighed in exasperation. Of course there was someone there! She decided to find out for herself.
Dr. Baines kept an ear out and her gun cocked as she neared the wreckage of the Messenger. A cursory glance told her that nothing had been taken. But her main objective was to find this mystery man. Unfortunately, a thorough investigation of the hangar revealed nothing. The man was definitely gone.
“Let’s go,” she commanded and let the bodyguard follow in her wake. Neither of them saw the rock fitted to the inside of the shell, emitting a sickly green glow.
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