Hello everyone! I'm out of town right now - and my internet connection is spotty at best. So any fdk would be greatly appreciated and so so welcome, but just know that it may take me a few days to respond <shrug> we'll see how the connection holds...
Note: Thoughts are in brackets <...>
Table of Contents From Part 2:
As her eyes adjusted to the light, she realized that he had some bruises on his right arm. The white light made his skin look pale and the sight of the purple flesh made her eyes tear again. “So sorry,” she murmured again. “You were right. You were so right and I was so wrong. When you wake up I’m going to tell you that. So you have to wake up, okay? You want to hear Lois Lane admit that she was wrong, don’t you?” She laughed half-heartedly at her own joke but there was no response from Clark.
If it hadn’t been for the slow rise and fall of his chest she would have felt alarmed by the sight of him. Clark was a strong, healthy looking man – very healthy looking – despite what his diet might say otherwise. She should know; she had seen him before in nothing but a towel. But she had never seen him like this. He looked so... frail. It frightened her and she averted her probing gaze from his body. As she did, the telephone on the table next to his bed caught her attention.
Had anyone phoned his parents yet? Her heart sank with the thought. She needed to call them.
**********
PART THREE
**********
“Lois?” Martha’s cheerful voice greeted her. “How nice to hear from you... um, but aren’t you supposed to be getting married today?”
Lois couldn’t miss the strangely hopeful sound in Martha’s voice and it made her grimace with guilt. “Yes, I was. I wish I were calling under better circumstances,” Lois told her unsteadily.
There was a hesitant pause before Martha answered her, “Better circumstances? Is something wrong, Lois?”
“Oh, Martha, how do I say this? It’s... it’s Clark. He’s in the hospital.”
“What?” Martha asked anxiously. “Why? What happened?”
“It’s a long story and I promise to fill you in on all the details later but,” she took a deep breath, “Lex Luthor... wounded him.” At Martha’s worried gasp she hurried to continue, “He’s... okay. He had to have some stitches.”
“Can I talk to him?”
“No, I’m sorry, Martha. They gave him some pain meds and they seem to have knocked him out. I’m sorry no one called you earlier. Everything just happened so fast...”
“I understand,” Martha replied tightly, trying to reassure her. Lois flinched. She was sure Martha did probably understand but Lois was also sure that Martha was still probably upset that she hadn’t been contacted sooner. “I’m just glad you called now. Jonathan and I will catch the next flight out and be there as quickly as we can.”
“I thought you might.”
There was silence for a few seconds and Lois began to wonder if Martha had already hung up when she began speaking again, “Lois, can I ask you to do something for me?”
“Anything.”
“Can you watch over him, please, until we get there?” There was another pause but before Lois could answer, Martha continued, “Don’t let them treat him any further until we get there.”
Lois felt her eyebrows creeping up her forehead. “Can I ask why?”
“I promise I’ll explain more later. For now, you just need to know that Clark could have some very unusual reactions to medication or treatment. Promise me, Lois, please?”
Lois found herself nodding her head and she verbalized her promise. “Okay, Martha. I will. I wasn’t planning on leaving him alone anyway. I’ll look after him until you get here.”
“Thank you. We’ll be there just as soon as we can. Bye, Lois.”
“Bye Martha.”
Lois hung up the phone and stared at it, a weird kind of shiver running through her. The last part of that conversation felt very peculiar. She glanced back down at Clark. “What other things don’t I know about you, farm boy?”
The door opening startled her and she looked up to see Perry entering the room.
“Oh, Perry! I’m sorry. I meant to come out and get you. The lady out front let me come back to see him and then I realized that no one had probably called the Kents so I called them to let them know what was going on.” She glanced behind him, waiting for the door to open again but it didn’t. “Where’s Jack and Jimmy?”
“They don’t usually like a lot of people in the room at once,” Perry explained in a hushed tone. “I told Jack and Jimmy that I’d come back first and then they could take a turn.”
“Oh. Well, there’s not much to report on right now,” she told him mechanically. “They stitched up his wound. I guess the pain meds they gave him must have knocked him out.” She sighed softly, letting a little of her emotion through. “The nurse said he’d just be groggy... I really wanted to talk to him.”
“Don’t worry, honey,” Perry said, coming up beside her and patting her arm. “I’m sure he’ll wake up soon.” Perry reached down and lightly patted Clark’s shoulder. “You hear that, son? I need you up and at ‘em. I’m not letting go of the Daily Planet without a fight and I’m gonna need all the help I can get.”
Lois felt a tug at her mouth and her eyes sparkled with a watery smile as she watched the loving exchange. Perry was a softie, whether he wanted anyone to know it or not.
“Okay,” Perry said, stepping away from the bed and clearing his throat softly. “I’m gonna go so Jack and Jimmy can come back. When they’re done, we’ll head down to the precinct to give Henderson an update. I remembered one more file of info that I need to give him on Luthor’s involvement in the destruction of the Daily Planet building.”
Lois blanched at the reminder of what had happened. “Perry, I’m so sorry. I still can’t believe I didn’t see Luthor for who he really was. He almost destroyed everything I cared about.” She briefly glanced at Clark. “Almost.”
“Don’t you worry. The Daily Planet is not going down without a fight. I’ve already had one meeting with an investor I hoped might be interested, Mr. Stern...”
“Really? Was he?”
Perry let out a sigh. “No, I couldn’t convince him. But I’ve got other names on my list. I’m not ready to give up just yet. The Daily Planet was more than just a building with offices and desks. It was more than just a newspaper. What really made the Daily Planet great were the people who worked there, like you and Clark. That and the things it stood for, like honesty and integrity. I’ve just got to get other people to see that,” he growled in frustration.
“You will, Chief. I know you will,” Lois said encouragingly. If anyone could resurrect the Daily Planet, Perry could.
An awkward silence fell upon the room and Perry cleared his throat. “I should, uh, probably get going. You know you’re welcome to come down to the precinct with us. Or we could run you by your apartment...”
Lois shook her head. “No thanks, Perry. This is where I need to be right now. I don’t want to run off and Clark wake up here alone. When the Kents get here then I can think about leaving.”
“All right then. I’ll be back first thing in the morning to check on him. You take care of yourself, okay?”
Lois nodded at him. “I will. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
***********
Lois fingered the edge of the baby blue sweatshirt she was wearing. It was probably one of the ugliest items of clothing that she had ever worn. It had a big brown teddy bear on the front of it that was holding a sign that said ‘get well soon’. But after having been in that wedding dress half the day, it felt like a cashmere sweater on a crisp fall evening. Bless Perry’s sweet heart for buying the sweatshirt and pants for her in the hospital gift shop downstairs.
She glanced over at the trash bag that she had stuffed the wedding dress into. She’d deal with it later.
Once Perry and the boys had left and everything began calming down again, Lois had felt herself beginning to get tired. It had been a very long day, and the day wasn’t over yet.
But she didn’t want to fall asleep. At least not yet. She walked over to Clark’s bed and stood beside it, looking down at her friend sleeping peacefully. The hair on his forehead was damp and the ends had begun to curl just slightly. She reached out and laid her hand against his forehead. It was hot. She wondered if that was normal after what he had been through.
Lois walked over to the sink. There was a paper towel dispenser hanging on the wall next to the sink. Grabbing a couple of towels, she ran them under some cool water. After squeezing the excess water out of them, she took them over to Clark and blotted the cool, wet cloths against his forehead as she whispered softly to him, “You have to cooperate with me here, Clark. They’re going to keep fussing over you if your temperature doesn’t come down. You’ve gotta work with me, partner.” She sighed quietly. “You’ve got to wake up.” She pulled the towels back and felt of them. They felt warm so she turned them over, applying the other cool side to Clark’s face.
“I called your mom,” she continued in a soft, soothing voice, “I bet she and your dad are in the air right now on their way here to see you.” She rubbed the towels across his face lightly, wiping his cheeks and down his neck. Clark’s face looked different to her and she finally realized what it was. He didn’t have his glasses on.
She wondered briefly where they were. Did the hospital have them somewhere? Or had they been lost or left back at LexCorp? She draped the warmed towel across the table next to his bed and reached out with one hand to feel his face. She was satisfied to note that he felt just a little cooler. Lois stroked his cheek softly with the back of her hand and smiled at him.
“You know, you look very handsome without your glasses, Clark. You really should try wearing contacts.”
She reached out with her other hand to smooth a few curls from his forehead with her fingertips. When she had them combed back to her satisfaction, she frowned down at the man lying in front of her.
Something looked very familiar about him.
Well duh, she chastised herself, he is your partner. Of course he looks familiar. She looked again, more closely. No, something definitely seemed familiar, almost in an abstract sort of way somehow. As she continued to stare at him, grasping at the idea that was tugging at the back of her mind, thoughts began to run through her head.
Henderson’s earlier words came back to her mind.
<They were down in the wine cellar...>
<Why did he and Clark get into a fight...?>
<I’d like to know what Superman’s uniform was doing down in that cellar...>
Lois frowned, trying to decide where her tired mind was going with this when Martha’s words flashed through her mind.
<Don’t let them treat him any further until we get there...>
<Clark could have some very unusual reactions to medication or treatment...>
Now that Lois thought about it, what Martha had said was very odd. She didn’t want Clark to be treated any further? If he had some kind of weird allergy or medical condition why didn’t she just tell Lois what it was? So Lois could tell the doctor?
She took an even closer look at him.
<You know, it’s remarkable. I never noticed before... You look a lot like Superman...>
Lois had dismissed that thought when she had told Clark that while under the influence of the pheromone. It was a preposterous idea.
Wasn’t it?
<You and Superman seem pretty close... Have you seen him in the past couple of days...?>
She hadn’t. And that just wasn’t like Superman. He might still be upset with her for whatever reason... Lois paused in her thoughts. Why *was* Superman upset with her? She had been mulling that question over and over since the night he had flown out her window without even saying goodbye. He just hadn’t seemed like himself that night. At first she had thought she was imagining it. But there had been that crass remark about her putting on a robe. And he had just seemed so cold and aloof. Not at all the way he usually was when he came to see her.
Why?
And then he had obviously been avoiding her since then. She had even seen him at a public function once after her engagement to Lex, but he had taken great pains not to even make eye contact with her.
Her engagement to Lex...
Was that what was bothering him? But why? He had told her that they couldn’t be together. She had wanted to know his feelings before she gave Lex an answer and he had slighted her. She had poured out her heart, told him she would love him even if he was an ordinary man and...
Lois paused and blinked a couple of times, looking at Clark again.
<...you look a lot like Superman...>
Her breath caught in her throat. She reached out with both hands and smoothed his hair back from his face. Her eyes widened at the sight of him. “No,” she whispered. “No, it can’t be.”
Clark had been wounded. Superman was invulnerable. He couldn’t be hurt. She had seen bullets bounce off his chest. She had watched him eat a bomb for crying out loud.
<There was a very strange cage with metal bars in the middle of the room... It was glowing...>
Had Lex found a way to hurt Superman? Was he that evil? Lois snorted. The man had blown up the Daily Planet. He had endangered the lives of every person in that building. Of course he was that evil.
And he knew that she was in love with Superman.
But how could he hurt Superman? The only thing even rumored to hurt Superman was Kryptonite. And she hadn’t seen any proof that Kryptonite even existed.
A stray memory flitted through her mind. Mrs. Cox. She was in Lex’s office reading his itinerary to him.
<The Series K field test is set for three forty-five...>
Mrs. Cox hadn’t been willing to talk to her about Series K when she had asked. And Lex had oddly changed the subject when she brought it up. Lex had promised her that there wouldn’t be any secrets between them and she had meant to bring it up again later but with everything going on, she had forgotten.
Could Series “K” have been short for Kryptonite? It couldn’t be a coincidence, could it?
She shook her head at herself and almost laughed out loud. Lane, you are losing it. You’re grasping at straws.
Was she?
She tried furiously to think of a time when she had seen the two men together – Clark and Superman – but she couldn’t think of one. Not one single instance where she had seen them in the same place at the same time. That was a little weird, wasn’t it? After all, Clark and Superman were friends, weren’t they? When Lois had asked Clark to get a message to Superman – he’d been able to. But if they were that close, or friends, why hadn’t she ever seen them together?
And then there were all those times that Clark would just dash off in the blink of an eye, with no good reason.
Lois frowned down at Clark. She needed answers. And if Clark couldn’t give them to her, she knew of two people who were on their way there that just might.
She laid her hand across Clark’s chest and leaned down, whispering fiercely to him, “Clark Kent you have some explaining to do when you wake up.”
**********
To Be Continued...
