A/N: This is a totally revived version of Not As Thick As Some Part 1. I'd like to thank Lexy for practically co-writing it with me. And a big thanks to symbolicangel for being a BR even though she was sick.
I'd also like to apologise for those of you who are waiting for the next part of Begin the Begin. I temporarily put it to the wayside this week to work on this. But I promise the next part has been started and I will be sending it to Olympe any day now.
Part One
Superman marched up to Clark, only stopping when they were inches away from each another. Lois tightened her grip on Clark’s arm, feeling intimidated. Superman raised his fist, but found his arm caught in mid air by Clark. Lois’s eyes widened as she saw Superman fail to yank his arm away. Superman stared at Clark, a slow smile breaking over his face as Clark lowered his arm. Lois stopped staring at Clark and turned to Superman in puzzlement.
“I have to go now,” Superman said, flashing Lois a smile. She gave him a weak half smile before he turned back to Clark. “I’ll be seeing *you* again.” The look on Clark’s face showed he was clearly looking forward to it. Superman turned back to Lois, who was still feeling dazed, and laughed before jumping out the window.
Lois turned her attention back to Clark, bewildered. His answering look said he was just as befuddled as she was. “He was unbelievable.” Lois sat down, still overwhelmed. She turned to scrutinise Clark. “And *you*!” she exclaimed, pulling Clark’s attention away from the window. “You actually *faced* him! You *challenged* him! You must be out of your mind,” she finished as he came closer.
“Are you all right? Did he *hurt* you?” he asked, crouching down next to her in concern.
“Not exactly; he *kissed* me.”
“*Superman* kissed you?”
“Listen, Clark. I’ve kissed Superman. I know what it feels like. I don’t know who just flew out that window, but I’ll tell you one thing: That was definitely *not* Superman.”
Clark sighed in agreement, without even the slightest twitch of shock. Not even a blink! Lois looked at him curiously. “What?” Clark frowned in confusion.
“You don’t seem surprised. Did you *know* there was some guy masquerading as Superman?” she asked, her eyes narrowing in suspicion.
“Yes...” He visibly cringed at the almost definite outburst that one word would cause.
“And you didn’t *tell* me?” she blurted on impulse. Her voice cut through Clark like a knife. The true pain of what his actions, or lack-there-of, had caused her was right there, in her voice.
“Well...” He floundered for a bit and ended up making a fair impression of a guppy.
“Clark!” Lois shot off the couch.
“I couldn’t tell you without *proof*. You would’ve thought I was *crazy*...”
“I still do. Why on *earth* did you grab his arm like that?” Lois asked, finding that she had this strange need to mother him. God knows why.
“I don’t know! It was a reflex action.” Clark admitted, looking like he’d just been caught with his hand in the cookie jar.
“You know how strong he is! He would’ve cheerfully beaten you to a pulp!” She involuntarily moved forward, and placed an almost possessive hand on his arm. “What did you think you were *doing*?”
“*Stopping* him from hurting *you*!” Clark placed his hand over hers. Lois looked down at their hands in realisation. She turned and started to pace, getting her hand (and her dignity) back in the process.
Lois stopped pacing, her memory flashing back to Clark grabbing the impostor’s arm. “How did you *do* that anyway?” She turned to Clark in curiosity. Clark seemed to have stopped breathing, but Lois was sure she must have been mistaken. “I mean, the guy might not be Superman, but he’s certainly close...”
“So you’re worried that I might’ve been hurt?” Clark asked in a defensive tone before he could realise what he’d just said.
Lois rolled her eyes. “Don’t change the subject. Tell me how you *did* that!”
“Uh...” Under Lois’s intense stare, Clark began to look panicky.
“Well?” she asked impatiently. Lois knew she’d seen that look before. Clark took a deep breath as he raked his fingers through his hair. Lois found a vague memory bubbling rapidly to the surface of her mind. She’d been looking at Clark through a blue veil, drinking in every nuance of his face, gradually moving closer until they were practically touching. Clark had been saying something about how he couldn’t take advantage of her like that. Lois’s pheromone influenced mind had been screaming, “Yes you can! Yes you can!” at him. It was then that she’d noticed the similarity. Lois suddenly couldn’t take her eyes off him. Memories of the nonsensical things he would do suddenly distorted to make all the sense in the world. Two mental images of Clark and Superman fused to become one.
“Lois?” he asked, nervously watching as the wheels turned furiously in her head.
The sound of his voice startled Lois back to reality. She realised that she had been staring at him. She slapped his face as hard as she could. “And don’t pretend that hurt, Superman!”
Clark sighed. And by the look on his face, no matter what she said, that slap *had* hurt him. His eyes shone with the utter anguish of their friendship suddenly shot down in flames. He *was* in pain, maybe not physical pain, but pain nonetheless. But Lois couldn’t deal with his pain right now. Not when her own pain over his evident mistrust of her was so fresh.
“Why didn’t you *tell* me?!” Lois almost cried. If Clark thought he felt bad before, that was *nothing* to what he felt now.
“I didn’t tell *anyone*, Lois!” Clark tried to reassure her that it wasn’t just her he had to lie to. But from the betrayal he could see in her eyes, that reassurance obviously wasn’t enough.
“So, explain.” Lois sat down again.
“You think it was easy for me sitting there watch you *swoon* over Superman, at the same time ignoring me?” Clark looked a little strange when he pointed to himself twice as he talked about apparently two different men.
“That’s ridiculous!” Lois looked affronted. “I did not *swoon*!”
“Oh, really?” Clark’s eyebrow cocked up in disbelief. “Who came up with the name ‘Superman’ in the first place?”
“That is hardly the point,” Lois finally answered as she finished her own impression of a guppy. “Why is this such a problem anyway? You *are* Superman!”
“No, Lois.” Clark rose and started to pace away from her. “Superman is what I can *do*.” He turned and walked back to her. “*Clark* is who I am.”
“Oh, well. I’m sorry for not knowing that,” Lois apologised insincerely. “I’m sure I would have known if you had *told* me.”
“I *am* telling you! Lois, I have *hated* not being able to tell you this.” He sat down next to her, running his fingers through his hair in frustration.
“Weren’t able, or didn’t want to?” she muttered at him scathingly.
“Lois!” Clark whined as he covered his eyes.
“What?” Lois asked innocently.
“Alright, look the closer we’ve gotten,” Clark tried to explain their slow growth to friendship. Okay, don’t blush, Lois! Lois reprimanded herself as she fought to keep her face neutral. “The more I wanted to explain this to you but, it just kept getting so complicated.” Clark sat back down, his eyes wide, and puppy-like. Oh no, he’s not going to get away with it that easy, Lois thought.
“So why don’t you answer one question for me?” Lois looked into his eyes, letting him see just how much he had hurt her. “How can I ever *trust* you again?” Lois turned away from Clark, not wanting to see his pain. If she saw that, she knew she just might throw all her cautions to the wind and hug the daylights out of him.
“Glasses, secret identity, seemed like a good idea at the time.” Lois barely heard Clark’s absolutely adorable attempt at an apology before she heard the door slam. She whipped around. Clark was gone.
~=*_*=~
The next morning, Lois was at Clark’s desk, having spent hours on research before he arrived. Part of her had been afraid that Clark might not come at all. So she had breathed a sigh of relief when he showed. She had decided to act as if it was business as usual. And thankfully, Clark was going along.
“A clone?!” he exclaimed after she explained her theory.
“Yes! It’s so *obvious*. There’s no technology in the world that can produce a robot like that. We *know* that Superman doesn’t have a twin.” Lois gave Clark a pointed look, which Clark returned with a pained smile. “So, there’s only one possibility. Someone has *cloned* Superman; made an exact genetic copy.”
“Well, how? They can’t do that yet. We’re not that advanced.”
“Maybe we are.” Lois picked up Clark’s phone and started dialling. “I was reading this article in the Metropolis Science Magazine...” The operator interrupted Lois. “Yes, I’d like the number for a Dr Fabian Leek.”
~=*_*=~
In the car on the way over to Dr Leek’s office, Lois was barely listening to Clark as he once again tried to explain himself. But something he said in the last sentence filtered through. “...and it was partly for your protection.”
“Oh, so it was *partly* for my protection,” Lois almost spat, sarcastically. “What was the rest of it for, to enjoy watching me trying to find out?”
“No! If you knew, and somebody *found* *out* that you knew, you’d have been a target.” Clark chanced a glance at her before turning back to the road.
“Well, then you would know if that happened,” Lois commented, folding her arms and leaning back. “So you would tell me. And then you and I would know, that somebody *found* *out* that I know, and we’d stop them before I became a target.”
“It’s not like I’ve got telepathy or something, you know,” Clark retaliated as he turned a corner.
“What do you think I am, *galactically* *stupid*?”
Clark pulled the car sharply into the parking space. “You are the *smartest* woman that I know. And I never wanted to hurt you in any way.”
“Don’t *patronise* *me*.” Lois leaned on the window and looked out.
“I’m not *patronising* you,” Clark argued to the back of her head. “Now, if what I did was wrong, then I apologise. But I can’t change what I’ve done.” Lois didn’t answer and kept looking out the window. Clark sighed. “Well, we’re here.” He got out of the car, and Lois followed.
~=*_*=~
As Lois and Clark were leaving Dr Leek’s office, Lois was feeling disgusted. “Boy, that guy’s a piece of work. A *lying*, *sleazy* piece of work. He *completely* backtracked on all his recent research.”
“Still, to even *begin* to make a clone of Superman, they would’ve *had* to use some cell from his body.” Clark commented, placing one of his hands in his pocket as they walked. Lois found herself surprised at how easily Clark talked about Superman in the third person. Clark lowered his voice. “And I’d certainly remember something like that happening to me. So how would someone get my DNA without me knowing about it, especially considering my invulnerability?”
“I don’t know, Clark. But someone figured it out. And we’re gonna figure out who.” Clark’s face suddenly lit with inspiration and he stopped walking. Lois thought for a minute that he was just happy to be included in ‘we’, until he started in the other direction. “Where’re you going?”
“To find someone that might be able to help.” Of course, Lois thought, the clone. “I’ll meet you back at the Planet.” He said it decidedly, but Clark’s eyes were asking permission. And then he didn’t leave until after she’d nodded approval. He obviously knew he was still on thin ice.
~=*_*=~
When Clark came back to the Daily Planet after his meeting with the clone, Lois ran over to him brandishing a back issue of the newspaper. “Found it! ‘Superman Donates Lock of Hair to Charity Auction’!”
“Of course! I remember this!” Clark took the paper and started to read.
“You mean, you remember *reading* about this, right?” Lois quizzed him.
“Oh, right,” Clark agreed quickly, looking a little sheepish. “Thanks.” He turned back down to the paper. “Does it say who bought it?”
“I’m way ahead of you,” Lois said a bit smugly. She picked up a piece of paper she’d written on earlier. “Mrs Doyle Alexander. I called her. She said she had a break in the day after the auction. The lock of hair was stolen. Never found out who took it. Never got it back.”
“Okay, so now we know *how* they did it. We just don’t know *who* did it.” Clark sat down, looking at Lois. She was almost certain he was saying ‘we’ more often than usual.
“Well, has the clone said anything?”
“According to his *father*, I am his *enemy*, he is the *strongest* *man* in the universe, and I have *outlived* my *usefulness*.” Clark was obviously a little upset about that. Lois had never seen him actually use his fingers as quotation marks before.
“So, we have to find out who the father is. Would the clone...” Lois sat down, and tried to ignore the fact that Clark seemed to glow (figuratively, of course) every time she said ‘we’.
“He promised *never* to *tell*.” Lois stared at Clark who had just done a fair imitation of an unruly schoolboy.
“Hmm, well I have an idea...”
~=*_*=~
Lois sat tied to a pillar on the western set of the Metro Bros studios. She watched with wide eyes as the branding iron came closer and closer. “No! No!”
“Let her go.” To Lois’s relief, Superman had flown to her rescue. Again. The clone immediately pulled the branding iron away.
“I never would have hurt you, Lois. But the only way I could guarantee Superman would fight me was to make him think your life was in danger.” Oh god, Lois thought. This is exactly what Clark feared would happen. “See you later.” The clone threw the branding iron in a bucket of sand and entered the closest saloon.
Clark came over and untied Lois at super speed. He looked around as though looking for the clone. His attention must have been entirely on her, Lois mused, which wasn’t entirely a bad thing. Clark turned back to her.
“Stay here,” he commanded. Lois watched him enter the saloon and then slowly followed. Come on, Clark, she thought. You think I want to miss this?
Suddenly she saw one of them thrown out the window, glass breaking everywhere. He got up and jumped straight back into the saloon. Clark, she thought.
Lois tried to sneak in the door, which wasn’t easy with saloon half-doors. But Clark was looking at her as she came in. How could he possibly hear her coming? Oh yeah, Lois remembered, super hearing.
Clark turned around to the clone. “Let’s take this fight outside.” Then he turned back to Lois in exasperation. “Stay here!”
When pigs fly, Kent.
Lois came outside to witness Clark and the clone facing off at each end of the street, like two gunfighters. Then a tour bus came by. “The old west town was built in... Apparently, I was mistaken. They must be shooting something.”
Yeah, Lois thought, each other.
The tour guide stopped the bus to give the passengers a look. The clone glared at Clark, and Clark glared back. Suddenly a ball of flame erupted between them. The tour guide immediately started the bus again. “We’re leaving. We’re leaving.” Good idea, Lois thought, as the flame zoomed at the sign directly above her head, causing one end to fall dangerously low.
“Don’t you understand? This is a fight neither one of us can win!” Clark exclaimed, trying to reason with the clone. The clone immediately retaliated with what Lois now knew was heat vision. Clark blocked the beam again with his own heat vision, causing an explosion that knocked the clone to the ground.
“Go ahead! Finish me off! Might is right! Only the strong survive!”
“I don’t want to hurt you. You and I, we have so much in common. We’re linked. We’re... we’re brothers.”
Jeez, Clark is such a sentimental softy, Lois thought.
“Why don’t you want to rule alone?” Lois heard the clone ask. She felt safe enough to start coming closer. The fight appeared to be over. And if it had been up to Clark, she would’ve bet the fight would never have started.
“I don’t want to rule! I want respect, yes, but you earn that respect by caring for others, not overpowering them.” The clone tried to get up, but groaned in pain. Clark helped him up. “Are you all right?”
The clone was breathing as if simply standing had taken all his wind. “I’m dying.” Clark immediately looked concerned. “Maybe it’s for the best. I was created just to do my father’s bidding: to kill you. And there’s nothing left to live for anyway. I have something to do. Will you wait here for me?” Clark nodded and the clone flew off just as Lois got close.
“Where’s he going?”
“I don’t know. But when you get back to the Planet you can find out.”
“You tagged him?”
“On the cape when we were wrestling in the saloon. You were right. He didn’t notice it at all.” Lois grinned. “Come on, I better get you to the Planet while he’s still...wherever he is.”
~=*_*=~
Lois looked up when Clark came back to the Planet. He looked so depressed. “The clone?”
“Gone,” he sighed. Lois stood up and immediately offered a comforting hug. “Thanks, Lois.” He sounded genuinely surprised.
“Look, I’m sorry I was so hard on you before about...you know. Must’ve been really hard all those years having to hide and pretend. Not being able to share. I’m sorry you had to go through that alone.”
“I wasn’t alone, Lois. I always had my parents. And you.” Lois pulled back and looked at Clark in surprise. “Maybe there was a lot of things that I couldn’t say, but there was nothing I couldn’t feel.” Lois felt herself melting into Clark’s chocolate eyes.
“Where’s Perry?” Jimmy came running over, completely breaking the mood.
“He left about fifteen minutes ago.” And I thought you had too, Lois thought bitterly.
“Oh no.” Jimmy was practically moaning.
“What’s going on?” Clark came to the rescue on impulse. Come on, Clark. Even Lois’ thought sounded a bit whiny in her head. We don’t want to know. We want him to go away.
“I promised I wouldn’t say anything, but I found out that the chief got bad news from his physical last week. I think he’s planning on doing away with himself.”
“Jimmy, that’s absurd.” As if Perry would ever do something like that, Lois thought.
“No, I’m serious. There was an entry in his calendar for tonight that said he was going to the Metropolis Bridge. I think he’s gonna jump.” Jimmy rushed to the elevators. Lois went to follow, but Clark stopped her.
“I have a better idea.”
Lois suddenly found herself airborne, and it wasn’t long before they were hovering over the Metropolis Bridge. Clark suddenly started laughing. “What do you see?”
“Would you believe the chief is bungee jumping?”
“What?!”
