A/N: Thank you to PJ, Laura, Lara, Ann, JD, Olympe, Queen of the Capes, Symbolicangel, and Framework4 for your comments. You are feeding my muse.
And thanks once again to my wonderful BR Olympe.
Lois’s thoughts are italicised and enclosed by angle brackets (<>)
Asterisks enclose emphasis (**)
TOC Part FiveLois looked frantically around the room and her eyes lit on the vase of flowers standing at the corner of Dr. Baines’ desk.
<Perfect!> She grabbed the vase and positioned herself behind the door, the vase raised in readiness. A head came through the door and her arm came down before she recognised the bowler hat. Lois jerked backwards and managed to end the downward momentum just before she connected with his head. The water went everywhere.
“Mr. Wells! I’m so sorry! I thought you were someone else.” Mr. Wells was soaked; Lois was soaked; Jimmy was soaked. But at least Mr. Wells hadn’t joined the others on the floor. And it looked like the soaking had helped Jimmy, at least, because he was beginning to stir. Lois looked speculatively from the water remaining in the vase to the unresponsive form of Clark Kent; should she?
“Could you help Jimmy, Mr. Wells?” she asked, as she put the vase down next to Clark. “Clark?” she tried, as she lifted his head onto her lap. “Come on, sweetheart, Dr. Baines and her thug could come back any minute.” While Clark didn’t respond, Jimmy did.
“Sweetheart!” he exclaimed in surprise. Did he hear right? “That guy must’ve hit me harder than I thought.” Jimmy rubbed his head, confused.
“Oh, no, Mr. Olsen, you’re perfectly fine,” Mr. Wells answered.
“Mr. Olsen?” Jimmy blinked. “I think you’re confusing me with my dad.”
Lois rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to Clark; still no response.
<That’s it!> She reached for the vase and dumped the contents over his head. She suddenly felt a strange wetness soak her skirt. Hmm…maybe she should have taken his head off her lap before she did that. But Clark’s sudden moan shook that irrelevant thought from her head.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” Clark answered uncertainly.
“Can you stand? We have to get out of here.” Lois was trying to help him to his feet as she spoke, and was glad to see Mr. Wells following her example by helping Jimmy to *his* feet.
“Where’s Tempus?” Clark asked as he stood, leaning on Lois for support. He kept eyeing the corners of the room as though Tempus might jump out with another surprise.
“Don’t worry,” Lois reassured him. “I took care of Tempus and for the moment, he won’t be harassing us.”
“For the moment?” he asked when he finally got his feet under him.
“Not until the asteroid,” she whispered. “And can we talk more, later? We’re not *alone* here.”
Clark grinning sheepishly. “Sorry.”
<Okay, Lois, stop focusing on his incredible smile and focus on getting out of here.> “Let’s go.”
***
Lois sneezed as they reached her jeep. “Okay, the first thing we need to do is have hot showers and change into dry clothes. Unless…” But Clark was already shaking his head. She knew it was an empty wish before she’d voiced it. The way he was leaning on her, how she was practically all that was holding him up, the haggard look on his face, it all added up to no super powers. “Mr. Wells, is your machine handy?” she asked, as though that had been what she was intending to say all along. She opened the door and helped Clark into the front passenger seat.
“Yes, but I don’t see…”
“I just thought that you’d rather clean up at home and change into your *own* clothes rather than borrowing from Clark or Jimmy.”
Mr. Wells looked alarmed at the very idea. “Yes, I would look rather strange, wouldn’t I?” Jimmy took in what he was already wearing and tried to bite back a laugh. But he needn’t have worried, because both Lois and Clark laughed easily.
“I wouldn’t worry about that, Mr. Wells,” Lois stated, her eyes gleaming as she blatantly looked him over.
“Yes, quite,” Mr. Wells answered, looking down at himself.
“Who are you supposed to be, anyway?” Jimmy asked, letting his smile take over.
Mr. Wells seemed to draw himself up to his full height. “I am HG Wells,” he announced, impressively.
Jimmy frowned. He opened his mouth to speak and Lois waited for the inevitable question. Aren’t you supposed to be dead? But Jimmy surprised her. “Who?” he asked, clearly having never heard of the famous author.
“Jimmy!” she exclaimed, even as Mr. Wells deflated.
“He wrote ‘The Time Machine’,” Clark answered, just before he sneezed.
Jimmy shrugged uncomfortably. “Never heard of him.”
“Okay, that’s it. We’re going home before we *all* catch the ‘flu,” Lois interrupted. “We can play catch up later.”
***
After they had dropped Jimmy off, Lois and Clark took separate showers.
<After all, we have company coming. If we take the shower together…> She slammed the gates on that thought. It would never do to have just started when Jimmy and Mr. Wells turned up. It would have severely compromised her ability to concentrate on the conversation at hand. As it was, her thoughts were rather thoroughly focused on the man in the bathroom.
Clark chose just that moment to enter the main room.
<Fully dressed. Damn.> “So, what would you like for dinner?”
Her eyes gleamed with mischief. “Ravioli.”
He grinned and went to the window, almost defenestrating himself before he remembered that, tonight at least, they’d have to settle for the local cuisine. Clark sighed and picked up the phone. “Hello, room service?”
***
Lois and Clark had just finished eating when the phone rang, announcing Mr. Wells’ arrival. His first words when they opened the door were, “May I see the photo, Ms. Lane?”
“Okay,” Lois answered, frowning in confusion. She headed to the bedroom wondering why Mr. Wells would possibly want the photo back. He couldn’t. This meant he was looking for a change. But what kind of change? Surely not…? Her pace noticeably quickened and she made a mad dash for the drawer with the hidden photo. She yanked the drawer open and sent the jumpers flying until she saw the back of the frame staring up at her. And she stopped. She found herself praying. Please be there; please be there; please be there. Her hands seemed to freeze in mid-air. You can do this; you can do this; you can do this. But her hands stubbornly refused to move.
Then, part of the frame became obscured by a hand; a masculine hand; Clark’s hand. His hand steadily brought the frame out of the drawer while his other hand gently massaged her shoulder. She found herself rising with the hand, her gaze fixed on the back of the frame. “Are you ready for this?” he asked, in a voice nowhere near as steady as his hand.
She snaked her arm around his waist and squeezed. Her free hand came up to hold the other side of the frame. “Okay,” she breathed. “On three, we’ll flip it.”
“Which way?”
“Huh?”
“Up or down?”
“Oh, right, up, I guess.”
“Okay, on three.”
“One.”
“Two.”
“Open your eyes, Lois.”
“Sorry.” Lois opened her eyes. “Clark, you’re going to break the frame.”
Clark held her closer and relaxed his grip on the frame. “Okay, one two three!” The frame flipped; the photo was intact; the girl was there. Lois let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding.
“Oh, thank god!” Lois threw herself into Clark’s arms, the photo carelessly tossed to the side of the bed. “I thought for a minute there.”
“Yeah, I did, too,” he answered between kisses.
***
Mr. Wells appeared in the doorway and was about to announce himself when he thought better of it. They wouldn’t appreciate it and at the rate things were going, they would probably ignore him, anyway. He took the photo off the bed, just before they fell on it, and left the room.
He sat down on the lounge and took a moment to study the photo. Ah, very interesting. In the photo, Jimmy had moved. He was now standing next to Lucy Lane. With his arms around her. Mr. Wells raised his eyebrows. It was too bad he didn’t have that zoom vision of Clark’s or he’d take a closer look at their fingers. Maybe he could ask Clark to do it. He glanced at the bedroom door, now thankfully closed. Maybe later.
A knock at the door interrupted his thoughts and he opened it gladly. Jimmy stood on the other side. “The Honeymoon Suite?” he asked in amazement.
Mr. Wells smiled and let him in. “I’m sure they’ll be able to tell you why, later,” he answered.
Jimmy frowned. “Why not now? Where are they?”
“In the bedroom,” Mr. Wells gestured at the door in question. Jimmy started towards it. “But I wouldn’t…” It was too late. Jimmy was in.
Seconds later, Jimmy was back, closing the door hastily, his face a brilliant shade of red. He came over to the dinner cart and poured himself a drink.
“Are you okay, my boy?” The question sounded genuine, but there was a suspicious twitch at the corner of Mr. Wells’ mouth.
“It was like walking in on your parents,” he spluttered, pouring a second glass.
“I guess you won’t be passing any closed doors in future without knocking,” Mr. Wells assumed, taking the proffered glass.
“You got that right,” Jimmy muttered. He held up his glass. “Cheers.”
***
“I’m sorry, Mr. Wells, I found the photo but it seems to have…” Lois trailed off as she saw the frame sitting on the coffee table. Then she saw that he wasn’t alone. “Jimmy! When did you get here? Have you been here long?”
“Long enough,” Jimmy muttered, unable to look at her.
“What does *that* mean?” she asked, exasperated.
“It means that he went looking for you,” Mr. Wells said mildly.
“And he couldn’t find us?” Clark asked, frowning. They’d given him the address, so why…
“Oh, I found you, all right,” Jimmy muttered, taking another swallow of his drink.
Lois went pink. “Sorry, Jimmy,” she tried unsuccessfully to suppress a giggle.
Clark’s eyes widened. “I didn’t even hear you come in.”
Lois’s giggle turned into a full-on chortle. “I think you were…otherwise occupied.”
It was Clark’s turn to go pink. Jimmy found himself relaxing and joining in the laughter.
“I mean, I think it’s *great* that you guys are getting together…but, I *so* don’t want to see that.”
Lois grinned. Great didn’t begin to describe it. She cleared her throat. “Okay, so, Jimmy, you up for some research?”
“Sure,” he answered quickly, glad for the subject change. “What do you need?”
“Try to find out everything you can about Lex Luthor…” Lois started.
“…his companies, employees, subsidiaries…” Clark continued.
“…see if you can find a connection to the Messenger sabotage…”
“…particularly through Dr. Antoinette Baines…”
“…these letters should help.” Lois held out the stack of letters that she had found in Dr. Baines’ office. She didn’t remember tossing them in her bag during the kryptonite incident, but she certainly wasn’t going to look a gift-horse in the mouth.
Jimmy sat there with his mouth wide open. “Wow,” he finally managed to say. “Did you guys rehearse that?”
“Ha-ha,” Lois retorted. That joke wasn’t any funnier the first time. “Do you think you could start tonight?”
“Yes, I can do that,” he answered, practically jumping out of the chair. He *really* didn’t want to be around them right now. His thoughts kept returning… “I’ll see you at work tomorrow.” He practically ran out the door.
Lois and Clark smiled at each other. “Ahem,” Mr. Wells coughed, just to remind them that he was still in the room.
“I bet he’s going to tell Lucy,” Lois said.
“Why would he do that?” Clark asked, confused. He wasn’t even sure if Jimmy and Lucy had even *met*.
“Because while you were off getting Dr. Platt, Jimmy went downstairs and came back up *with* *Lucy*,” Lois stressed.
“What?”
“Yeah, and they were having an animated conversation about *us*, too.”
Clark quirked an eyebrow. “Really?”
“I heard some of what they were saying before I broke them up, too. Jimmy was telling Lucy about how we were snogging on the dance floor…”
“Snogging?” he objected.
“His word, not mine. And then Lucy asked if they were talking about the *same* Lois Lane,” she continued grimly. “I interrupted them mid-smirk.”
“And how did they take it?” he asked, a smile teasing the mole in the corner of his mouth.
“Not well,” she smiled at the memory. “Lucy acted all hurt that I hadn’t told her I wouldn’t be back last night and that she was worried that something might have happened to me.”
“Are you sure she was acting?”
“She knew I was there, Clark. If she was really worried she would have come right up to me instead of chatting with Jimmy.”
“Ah, so that explains the change in the photo,” Mr. Wells noted, picking it up and turning it the right way up.
“What do you mean?” Lois asked as she took the photo from him. “Would you look at that!” she exclaimed when she saw Jimmy hugging her sister.
“Now *that’s* something I didn’t expect to see,” Clark added, coming up behind her. “Too bad she’s not his soul mate.”
“Soul mate.” Lois’s eyes widened and she turned back to Mr. Wells. “Do you have that Soul Tracer gizmo?”
“Yes, indeed, Ms. Lane, it’s right here,” Mr. Wells answered, taking the instrument out of his pocket. “I got it from the inventor *and* I found out who sent you back in time *and* why.” He sat there looking immensely pleased with himself.
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