Part 26
There's Always Something
By Xanabee
*****
“To Lois Lane!”
“Lois Lane!”
A radiant Lois acknowledged the tribute by touching her glass, filled with apple juice, against her husband’s.
Laughter and cheers were heard and champagne glasses rose to salute ‘Metropolis’s most astute investigative reporter’ as Gareth Keyes had just called her.
Today, Gareth and his father Gordon were combining two important events in their lives into one Sunday afternoon celebration, starting with a festive commemoration service to honor the life and work of their murdered butler and family friend, John Kincaid.
Visibly moved, Gordon Keyes had told the assembled guests that while his family mourned the death of their dear friend in private, they also felt the need to celebrate his life - and what better occasion to do so than at the christening of his granddaughter.
John Kincaid, Gordon told them, had been looking eagerly towards this day - the elderly butler had been so happy to be part of the lives of the children of the young boy he had watched growing up into the fine young man he’d become; John Kincaid had been as proud of Gareth as he, Gordon, was of his only son.
Gareth had not been able to hide his emotion at his father’s poignant request for a moment of silence in honor of the deceased and Lois, glancing concernedly at her sensitive husband, had grabbed Clark’s hand and squeezed it tightly when she’d noticed a telltale sheen in his eyes.
Fortunately, Gordon Keyes had then instantly lightened the mood by telling a few humorous anecdotes from Gareth’s visits to Metropolis in his youth; how the soft-spoken, dignified John Kincaid and the wild, uninhibited Australian boy had been able to build a deep and lasting friendship, in spite of the differences in age and culture.
The guests had laughed at the ‘uncivilised shenanigans’of ‘young Master Gareth’ as Kincaid had labeled them, making Lois whisper to her husband, “Told you he was a Crocodile Dandy!”
“’Dundee’, Lois, ‘Dundee’!” Clark had grinned as he and Lois had joined the others in a heartfelt applause.
The christening of tiny Charlotte Keyes that followed was a joyful occasion. After all she’d gone through already, the baby wasn’t fazed by the few drops of water that were sprinkled on her downy head. She merely blinked a few times, then yawned and went right back to sleep.
Gareth, holding his peacefully sleeping baby daughter, was relaxed and happy again when he asked the guests to join him in a toast.
“Ladies and gentlemen, thank you so much for being here today, to celebrate the christening of our daughter. For a long time our joy at her birth was overshadowed by the fear of losing her. She’s had to fight for her life and she’s made it!”
Gareth tenderly kissed Charlotte’s forehead, then handed her over to her mother. Glenda Keyes too looked happy and relaxed. She stood between her husband and his father and smiled indulgently when Gareth jokingly asked their guests to give him another few minutes before they’d be allowed to mingle.
“When Glenda and I moved to Metropolis about a year ago we’d mainly done so to do my father a favor; we’d stay for a few years and then return to Australia. But we rather like living in Metropolis and so we’ve decided to stay – permanently. Sorry, Mum.”
Gareth looked apologetically at his mother and waited until the surprised gasps and whispers had died down before he continued.
“Important things have happened to us this year and the most important was, of course, the birth of our daughter. The second was the renewal and strengthening of our relationship with my father, and the third, the start of a friendship I hope will last for the rest of our lives: with Clark and Lois Kent - and Clark’s parents, who have lovingly taken care of our two little boys when we were in mourning for John. Martha, Jonathan – there are not enough words to express our heartfelt gratitude, so I’ll keep it short: thank you.”
“Yes, thank you.” Glenda echoed softly and smiled warmly at Martha and Jonathan who stood next to Lois and Clark. Martha’s hands were resting on Eric’s shoulders as he leant against her, watching his father with fascinated eyes, while Jonathan was holding Simon on folded arms, thus allowing the little boy to watch the proceedings from a vintage point – facing his parents with his back resting comfortably against uncle ‘Jo-than’s’ chest.
“I feel privileged to have joined Lois and Clark and Perry White in investigating and bringing to justice three very dangerous criminals,” Gareth continued, “and I assure you, it’s really true: Lois Lane is Metropolis’s most astute investigative reporter. Every clue in this baffling and very dangerous case has been spotted and correctly interpreted by Lois long before we, the men involved, even knew there was a clue staring us in the face.”
Soft laughter rose and Gareth raised his glass, smiling admiringly at Lois.
“To Lois Lane!”
“ Lois Lane!”
“To my wife,” Clark said softly, the look in his eyes so full of love and pride it made Lois blush.
Alice White, who intercepted that look, sighed wistfully. She looked away from the happy couple to stare at her ex-husband, who was now deep in conversation with Gordon Keyes. Perry White had also been invited to the christening and Alice had agreed to accompany him, although she was now wondering if that had been wise.
“Penny for your thoughts.” A soft voice behind her startled Alice out of her reverie. She turned and smiled at Lois.
“Lois! Where’s that handsome husband of yours? He looked like he was planning to stay glued to your side all afternoon.”
Lois grinned. “I unglued myself. Alice, have you talked to Perry yet?”
“No, I was planning to do so later.” Alice sighed as she glanced again at Perry. “Lois, it’s harder than I thought. He’ll be so upset!”
“Oh, Alice - the longer you put this off, the more upset Perry will be. This is the ideal time to do it, you know that. Perry won’t be able to maintain that he’s tired of it all and fed up with journalism; he’s been actively involved in the Mindy Church case and even written some really great pieces about it. So you can come right out and tell him that you don’t want him to quit his job yet. Just a few days ago I told him again that Clark and I will be really unhappy if he left so soon… that we still need him on the job.”
“What did he say?”
“Get over it!” Lois grinned, then sobered again. “But you see, he thinks that you are still hurting too much, Alice, because of your son Jerry. Perry believes you need him to take care of you constantly.”
“I know… and that was true for a while, Lois. When we heard that Jerry was once again in prison for embezzlement I was crushed. But Perry was there for me, even though he was working and he helped me to deal with it. ”
“It was hard on both of you.” Lois briefly laid a comforting hand on Alice’s shoulder.
“It was and still is. But you see, Lois - I’ve finally realized that we can’t help Jerry; he has to help himself. You’d think that after having been in prison twice already he would’ve learnt his lesson. As difficult as it is, I’ve had to accept that it’s not my fault, and it’s not Perry’s fault either, that Jerry turned out the way he did. His brother is doing fine and he’s had the same upbringing. Jerry’s just too attached to money. He’s never satisfied with what he has – it always has to be more. I’m afraid that will never change.”
“And now it’s up to you to convince Perry that Jerry isn’t going to change if he quits his job. Alice, please talk to Perry tonight. It will probably save you another sleepless night.”
“Probably.” Alice smiled, feeling a little better now that she’d talked to Lois.
A few days after Mindy Church had been arrested Alice had poured her heart out to Martha Kent; she’d confessed to Martha that she’d never really liked the idea of Perry going into early retirement. At the time he’d announced it to her, she’d been hurting too much to think clearly about what it would mean to him – and to her.
Martha, always the practical one, had pointed at an editorial of Perry’s in that morning’s edition of ‘The Daily Planet’ and said, “Alice, this piece of Perry’s about the Mindy Church case is proof enough that he’s still an exceptionally fine journalist; people have been praising him for his part in this operation and Lois told me that the Daily Planet managers have begged him to stay on. Tell you what - let me get my scissors; I’ll cut this out for you and if he gets all pigheaded about it, Alice, then you just wave this under his nose.”
“Lois is right,’ Alice thought, ‘I can’t put this off much longer.’ The cut-out editorial was safely tucked away in her handbag just in case she’d need it. Alice took a deep breath before saying, determinedly, “You’re right, Lois, I’ll talk to Perry tonight. Now, let’s go raid that buffet before the others discover those delicious crab cakes I’ve already spotted. Now, if I’m right, then this food has been catered by ‘Louisiana Nights’, that fabulous new restaurant at the marina – their Cajun-style crab cakes are to die for!”
Lois grinned and looked around for her husband. She spotted Clark deep in conversation with Gareth’s mother Felicity. Undoubtedly he was pumping her for information about Sandy and Cheryl Marie DeAngelo’s new life in Australia. Clark still felt deeply responsible for their welfare – especially now that Joey Bermuda most probably would get out of prison earlier.
After he’d heard that Mindy Church had been arrested, Joey Bermuda had immediately filed a request to have his case reviewed and he’d even sent Clark a ‘thank you – I owe you one’ note. Clark had not been pleased, but Lois had pointed out to him that they, at least, wouldn’t have to be afraid that Bermuda would be a threat to them, or their child, in the future. As long as he didn’t find out that Clark had played a crucial role in the disappearance of his ex-wife and child, they would be safe from Joey. And, Lois had said, Bermuda would have no reason to look for his family in the Australian outback.
Lois hoped that Gareth’s mother would be able to set Clark’s mind further at ease. She saw Clark fling back his head, laughing animatedly at something Felicity said to him. Relieved, Lois turned to Alice and took her arm.
“Lead the way to the crab cakes, Alice, I’m starving!”
*****
“Lois, Clark – in my office, please.”
“Coming, Chief!” Clark looked up from his computer screen at his wife. His eyebrows shot up when he noticed the apprehensive expression on her face. “What’s up?”
“The Alice thing – that’s what.” Lois whispered as she got up and started to walk towards Perry’s office. Clark quickly followed, asking softly, “How do you know that?”
“She promised me yesterday she’d talk to him,” Lois mumbled before she walked in, saying in a normal tone, “Here we are, Chief. We missed you at the morning briefing, so I handled that on my own. You were supposed to meet with the research staff, but we didn’t know when you’d be in so I couldn’t reschedule. Then there’s Carl – he says he needs – “
“Lois, right now I’m not interested in what Carl needs. Sit down - you too, Clark.”
“Chief, I - “
“Lois, I’m sure you know what I want to discuss with you. Alice told me she’d talked this over with you and Clark’s mother already. I s’pose you’ve been informed too, Clark?”
“Umm – not really,” Clark said carefully, looking questioningly at Lois.
“Chief, I did talk to Alice yesterday about – you know - but I’d completely forgotten it by the time Clark and I left the party. I was too tired, I just wanted to go home and to bed.”
“Hmm – then I guess it’s up to me to tell you wat’s going on, Clark. Last night Alice told me she doesn’t want me to retire so soon. And if I did, she wouldn’t come and live with me again.”
“Chief, I’m so sorry,” Clark said sincerely.
“Don’t be, Clark, it’s all right. Alice gave me an ultimatum: she wants us to get married again, and she’ll even move in with me right away, if I promise not to give up my job.”
“Really?” Lois laughed delightedly, “That’s great! What did you say?”
“I told her I’d think about it.”
“Chief! You didn’t!” Lois gaped at Perry who stared back at her impassively. “But – you’ve always said you wanted to retire because of Alice! Are you telling me you jilted her? Perry! This is… this is…”
“Not what you expected, darlin’? Can’t a man take his time before he makes a major decision like that?”
Suddenly, Clark laughed. “Chief, stop making fun of my wife. How much time did you need to think it over – about two minutes?”
“Something like that, son,” Perry grinned back at Clark, “That’s how long it took me to find my tongue again.”
“You - speechless, Perry?” Clark teased, “That’s a first!”
“Oh! This is… ! For a minute here… I really thought…” Lois looked reproachfully at Perry, “That was mean, scaring me like that. But I’ll forgive you. I’m so happy you two are getting back together again – it’s about time! Does that mean you’re staying, Chief?” Lois looked at Perry eagerly, “And I can go back to fulltime reporting after the baby’s born?”
“Well, Lois, I was kinda hoping you’d want to stay on as my assistant – part time, that is. I’d like to have some more spare time to spend with Alice – not only when she needs me, but just to do some of the fun things we missed out on before. Of course, when you and Clark are working on a major case you’ll be free to do your own thing… what do you say?”
“Yes – of course I say yes! Perry, I think it’s a splendid idea! And Clark doesn’t have to quit and become a freelancer, right?”
“Right – unless you’d prefer to do it anyway, son? On the same conditions as I’d stated before, of course. Have you thought about it?”
“I’ve given it a lot of thought, Perry,” Clark admitted, “I’m not so sure about the financial consequences yet, but one of the advantages would definitely be that I’d be working at home more often; Lois wants me to start writing down my Superman stories; she believes that books about Superman will really sell - maybe she’s right, I don’t know. But right now, I don’t have time for all that.”
“Gareth’s asked him to write in depth articles for his new magazine, Chief.”
“Hmph! I just knew that guy would stay in competition with us. I had a hunch that sooner or later he’d come around and ask you to work for him. Well, that’s fine with me, son, I don’t mind if you write for him, as long as it’s about stuff a daily newspaper couldn’t print anyway.”
Clark laughed. “I can see you’ve already thought hard about this too, Chief. Don’t worry – I’m fully aware of what I can or cannot write for ‘The Sentinel’. If it would make you feel better I’ll even run the articles by you first – how’s that?”
“No, that’s all right, Clark, I’m sure that won’t be necessary.”
“Chief, do you mean to say that Clark can start writing for Gareth right away? He doesn’t have to quit first?”
“Well, Lois, if Clark finds time to do it, I’ll say more power to him.”
“Chief, I don’t think I’ll have time to take on another job on a regular basis. Not if I keep on working fulltime for the Planet. My Superman duties can be very demanding and I want to spend a lot of time with Lois and the baby too, you know, I don’t want to work all the time.”
“Well, kids, this is something you’ll have to work out for yourselves. Clark, you’re more than welcome to keep working fulltime at the Planet. Now that I’m staying on for a few more years there’s no pressure and no reason for you to go freelancing right away.”
“That’s great, Chief - I know I’ll have to someday and the idea is growing on me, but… we’ll see.”
“I agree, we can shelf that one for now.” Lois sighed happily, “Oh, this is so wonderful! Everything’s working out so beautifully, Chief. You’re staying and you and Alice are getting married and so are Lucy and Lucas; we nabbed Mindy Church and scored some pretty great headlines; oh, and I’m not having those awful, gloomy feelings anymore, so I think that means no more disasters are about to happen, right? Let’s see… what else is great…”
“How about havin’ a baby? Doesn’t that rank as ‘great’?”
“No Chief – that’s greater than great – that’s… so life altering, I can’t find just one word to describe my feelings about it.”
Lois turned to Clark and lovingly touched his cheek. “It’s the greatest and most important thing that’s happened in our lives so far, Perry. It will be the highlight of this year for us.”
Clark smiled and took Lois’s hand in his own. He bowed his head and lingeringly pressed his lips in her palm, then closed her fingers over his kiss. Still holding Lois’s hand in his own he looked at Perry.
“Chief, for me, one of the greatest things that happened this year is finding out that you know I’m Superman. I can’t tell you what a relief it’s been to be able to act normal around you. Especially when Jimmy had that accident and then again, during this whole Mindy case. It’s made life so much easier, not having to lie around you anymore.”
“That’s so true, Chief - and the same goes for Bernie Klein. Right now, that man’s working himself ragged trying to find an antidote or vaccine for Clark and the baby - and so is my father. Now that they’ve got Clark’s spaceship over at Daddy’s private lab in his apartment, Bernie’s practically moved in with him - that’s how dedicated they both are.”
“Lois’s parents and Bernie Klein are so supportive - I wish I’d told them sooner, Chief. And I wish I’d told you, instead of you finding out by yourself. I feel like I’ve wasted a lot of precious time, being afraid of the consequences.”
“Well, Clark, there’s a time and a place for everything - sounds corny, but it’s true. These things can’t be rushed, son. You weren’t ready for it before. You needed time to set up a ‘terra firma’ with Lois first - before you could afford to branch out, so to speak. You’ve still got some loose ends in this respect, Clark, but take your time and wait for that all important ‘right time’.”
“Loose ends? What loose ends? Chief, what are you talking about?”
“Lois, darlin’, sometimes you can be so dense!”
“Honey, I think Perry means letting Bill Henderson and Gareth Keyes in on our secret. Chief, I’ve also realized that it would be so much better if they knew. They’re not out to hurt Superman in any way and I’m sure they can be trusted with the secret.”
“Well,” Lois said slowly, frowning thoughtfully, “I don’t mind if you tell Bill; he’s a bachelor, so he won’t be tempted to tell his wife. Besides, he’s a policeman, he knows how to keep his mouth shut. As for Gareth – don’t you think it’s best to wait until we know Glenda a little better? Your Mom likes her and she doesn’t strike me as a blabbermouth, but even so - “
“Lois, I wouldn’t dream of telling anyone – not even Gareth or Bill for that matter – if you’re not one hundred percent behind it.”
“I know, Clark. I know you’d discuss it with me first.”
“That’s what I meant with ‘the right time’, Lois. And I agree with you, darlin’, it’s not the right time to tell Gareth - or Jimmy - or my Alice, for that matter. There’s too much going on in their own lives right now. I’m beginning to sound like a broken record here, but I’ll say it again - wait for the right time!”
Clark grinned. “And you haven’t quoted ‘The King’ even once, Perry!”
“Ah, - well, at this point I guess Elvis would say, go home and concentrate on the ‘Love me tender’ part of your lives, Clark. I mean that – it’s been a very crazy couple of weeks and I want you two to take the rest of the week off. Go buy a crib – paint the baby’s room – buy baby bottles – but stay out of my newsroom for a while.”
“Well, that’s – we could use some extra free time, Chief – are you sure?”
“Lois, I wouldn’t say it if I didn’t mean it.”
“Thanks, Chief, that’s great! How’s this - we’ll stay until lunch and then – “
“No way! We’re taking you up on your offer, Perry, starting right now. You know where to reach us if anything major comes up; our cell phones are on at all times. C’mon, honey, let’s go.”
Perry laughed. “That’s the spirit, son! Get that work-a-holic wife of yours away from here a.s.a.p. But I’m not through yet, so sit down for another minute, will ya?”
Perry waited until Lois and Clark were seated again.
“Lois, I wasn’t at the morning briefing ‘cause I went straight to the suits upstairs. I told them I’d stay on as Editor-in-Chief on a few conditions: I’ll be working less hours for the same salary and you and Clark both get a hefty raise; on account of the Mindy case.”
“Chief! You didn’t!”
“Lois, what did I just tell you about timing? ‘The Daily Planet’ is selling like crazy and we’ve almost doubled the circulation these last few weeks. I thought the Suits would need some time to think things over, but the paperwork is already being taken care of as we speak. Right now, money’s pouring in, kids. See? It’s all about timing.”
“And yours is just perfect, Chief! You’ll have to teach me how to do that. A raise – Clark, did you hear that? We’re getting a raise! Oh, this day is getting more perfect by the minute!”
“I agree with my wife, Chief. This is great news. Thank you.”
Lois floated towards Perry to kiss him soundly on both his cheeks.
“Thanks Perry – I’ll make sure everything’s okay before I leave. If you need help then you’d better ask Anna Johnston instead of Tammy Barrow. Tammy’s a bit ditzy, but Anna’s really – “
“Lo-is! Perry’s perfectly capable of arranging his workload himself. ‘Bye Chief!”
As Clark started to usher Lois out of the room he said, “Honey, this calls for a celebration! Let’s have lunch at that new restaurant at the marina; I really liked that food we ate at Gordon’s yesterday.“
“Could we do that some other time, Clark? Let’s eat at home and then we can tell our folks right away that we’re having the rest of the week off.”
“Oh, okay, if that’s what you want – how about dinner at the ‘Louisiana Nights’ then? To celebrate getting a raise?”
“Tonight already? I don’t know, Clark, yesterday we had that party at Gordon’s… don’t you wanna stay home tonight? We can go tomorrow maybe.”
“Oh, okay, if that’s what you want.”
“You said that already! Do you really want to eat out today?”
“No, Lois, it’s fine by me – we can do that some other time.”
“You’re sure?”
“I’m sure – are you done tidying your desk? Good - now put on your coat… here, let me help you… honey, before we go home I’d like to stop at that new baby furniture store on Baker Street. I saw this cute little rocking horse in their showroom and I’d like – “
“ - to buy that? Clark, we’d better put that on the list of baby presents; then somebody can give it to us.”
“But what if it’s sold out by the time they want to buy it? I don’t think they have too much of the same stuff in there, Lois, it’s a very tiny store.”
“Oh, well – if you’re really set on it – but you’ll have to help me with that list, Clark. People are constantly asking me what I’d like to have for the baby, and frankly, I need some ideas; there’s nothing on that list yet! It doesn’t help if you keep buying all that stuff yourself, you know.”
Perry, standing in the doorway of his office, laughed softly before he shut the door and walked towards his desk again. He threw a contented look at the King’s youthful, smiling face staring back at him from the wall.
“Some things never change, eh, Elvis? I’m sure by now you’ll have noticed something about those two – they always argue! But unlike you and Priscilla and me and Alice – they’ve always managed to make up in time. Well, I guess this is my ‘right time’, too. Alice is giving me another chance and you know what - I’m darned if I’m going to waste more time! Where’s that phone? Hope she’s home right now… C’mon dumplin’ - pick up the phone… we’ve got a chapel to book!”
*****
(Tbc - and finally ended - by an Epilogue!)
