Hello everyone! Well, I'm still a day early at least... that's at least something, right? <g>
I realize that the first several parts of this have been really angsty. There is WAFF coming, I promise. In fact, the further along we get, the more WAFF there is... but then, of course, there will be more angst too. <g>
Anyway, enough babbling <hush, Babbles, I'm trying to post> hope you enjoy!
Table of Contents From Part 3:
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.”
**********
PART FOUR
**********
Lois was awakened to a knock at the door and she jumped. It took a second for her to remember where she was.
Had she really fallen asleep? She was amazed and a little embarrassed. The knock came again and she rushed to get up out of the chair she had pulled over next to Clark’s bed.
“Come in!” Lois hollered at the door without thinking. She cringed and looked over at Clark but he continued to sleep. Those drugs must have really knocked him out. She glanced back over at the door, expectantly waiting for it to open. She was sure it was probably Martha and Jonathan. If it had been a nurse, they would have just come in.
Sure enough, a half a second later Martha’s concerned face appeared as she opened the door. “Oh, my boy,” she said worriedly.
Lois walked over to greet her. She held out her hand but Martha pulled her in for a hug. “Thank you for watching over him, Lois. Has there been any change?”
Martha released her from the hug and she started to respond when Jonathan wrapped one arm around her in an embrace. “Hello, Lois.”
The emotion in the room was starting to get to her and she had to take a deep breath so she didn’t get teary-eyed again. “No, no change yet. He’s just been sleeping.” Staring Clark’s parents in the eyes now, she began to question her earlier suspicions. Her desire to get some answers and get to the truth was warring with her need to just let Clark’s parents spend some time alone with him and come to grips with the situation. “Why don’t I step out and let you two have a...”
“Nonsense!” Martha replied. “There’s no reason for you to leave... unless of course you were waiting to leave until we got here?”
“No.” Actually that was sort of true... “I just thought you might want some time alone.”
“If you want to be here, you’re welcome to stay. I’m sure Clark is glad you’re here.”
Lois didn’t want to point out that Clark was completely out of it and had no idea that she was here. Instead she kept her mouth shut and watched as Martha went over to give her son a hug.
“Oh, Clark. I’m so sorry,” Martha whispered quietly. She looked back at Lois. “Where was he injured?”
“On his left side,” Lois numbly replied, pointing. Before she realized what Martha was doing, she had folded Clark’s covers sideways and tugged the left side of his gown up.
Clark was still modestly covered but Lois blushed furiously at his exposure... that is, until she saw the long ugly line of stitches and dried blood that marked the side of his body. The sight threatened to make her nauseous and she had to look away.
“Jonathan, I don’t understand...” Martha broke off and Jonathan just nodded at her, going to her and wrapping her in his arms.
Lois’s curiosity was piqued again at the intriguing interchange. She was probably reading too much into it but it sounded more like Martha didn’t understand how something like this *could* happen – instead of how or why it had happened.
She knew in her heart that this probably wasn’t the most appropriate time, but she couldn’t stand it any longer. She was tired of being lied to and kept in the dark. There was a chance that her suspicions could be completely wrong and that they would think she was a looney for asking, but she had to do it. “Martha, Jonathan, if there’s something you haven’t told me about Clark, I think now would be a good time.”
“What do you mean, dear?” Martha asked, staring intently at her.
“This situation could be worse than any of us thought if my suspicions hold true,” Lois explained, “and I need to know the truth.”
“What truth?” Jonathan asked, eyeing her warily.
Lois sighed in frustration. They were as bad as Clark. They obviously weren’t going to make this easy on her, so she got right to the point. “I think there’s a good chance that Lex had Kryptonite.”
Martha and Jonathan’s faces both paled visibly and she thought she heard Martha’s breath catch. If that wasn’t an admission then she didn’t know what was. “Can Kryptonite kill Clark?”
Martha sighed, turning away from Lois to look back at her son. “We don’t...”
“Martha, wait,” Jonathan urged her.
Martha looked up and frowned at him. “No, Jonathan. She knows already. Can’t you see?” She turned back to face Lois. “You do, don’t you?”
Lois suddenly felt an unbridled flash of anger well up inside her. “I do now!” she huffed. Martha looked startled and it only fueled her annoyance. “He didn’t trust me, did he? He told me he loved me but he didn’t even trust me enough to tell me who he really was. He led me to believe that he was two different people. How could he not have expected me to choose between them? Here I thought I was being rejected when in reality I was merely being given a taste of my own medicine from the man whom I had rejected.” She snorted at the irony of it.
“Lois, honey, he wanted to tell you,” Martha assured her.
“Well wanting and doing are two entirely different things, aren’t they?” she snipped. She couldn’t believe how brazenly she was behaving but her ego and her pride had taken a huge hit and she just couldn’t let it go. She looked down at her hands and was surprised to find them shaking. She was furious.
And yet a small part of her was screaming at her, chastising her for her insensitivity. Clark was hurt and his parents had just spent the last several hours on a plane to get here... only to have to see their only son lying injured in a hospital bed. How callous could she be?
She swallowed the bile that had tried to rise up the back of her throat and let out a soft sigh. This wasn’t the time or place for this. “I’m sorry, Martha. That was rude and insensitive of me. It’s... it’s just a shock, you know?”
Martha nodded her head and gave her a soft smile. “I know. But believe me when I say that Clark did want to tell you, eventually. He just felt that right now wasn’t the best time. Lex Luthor hated Superman. And with you being so closely involved with him...”
“Martha!” Lois was aghast. “I would have never told Lex about Clark. You have to believe me. I may not have known the true nature of the man, but I would have known to keep something like that a secret.”
“It’s not that, Lois,” Martha hurried to assure her. “Of course Clark trusted you and your integrity but... well... Clark told us that Lex Luthor has ways of finding things out, and he didn’t want to put you in that position.”
Lois felt inexplicable tears forming in her eyes. “Clark tried to warn me about Lex but I didn’t listen.” A couple of tears broke free and rolled down her face. “But he didn’t have any proof, and I couldn’t see past my own ego. I’m so sorry.”
“Oh, honey, *we’re* sorry,” Martha said, coming over to give her a soft hug. “What an awful way to spend what was supposed to be a happy day. No woman should have to spend her wedding day like this.”
“No, but better like this than married to a monster. I was so blind.”
“It’s not your fault, Lois,” Jonathan piped up. “Lex Luthor had a lot of people fooled. Clark knew who Lex really was *because* he was Superman. He all but admitted to Clark that he had been the one performing those tests on Superman back when Clark first created Superman.”
“Yes, Clark’s been quietly investigating him from the beginning,” Martha continued. “Especially his connection to several deaths, including Dr. Baines. It was because of the things Superman saw that no one else could that Clark knew Lex was behind a lot of the shady things that went on in Metropolis. Clark just hadn’t been able to find any solid proof before now.”
Lois nodded her head and then glanced over at Clark. “Yeah, but I was blind about more than just that.”
Martha patted her arm. “Well, that wasn’t exactly your fault either.” She looked down at Lois’s odd choice of clothes and then over at the trash bag that her wedding dress was peeking out of. Martha’s questioning eyes came back up to search Lois’s face. “Can you tell us what happened?”
Lois nodded. “Yeah. Let me go see if they have some more chairs we can bring in here. I’m sure you guys are exhausted. And then I’ll explain.”
**********
Lois had rolled and unrolled one of the elastic cuffs of her sweatshirt as she spoke, unable to sit still. She had explained the situation to Martha and Jonathan to the best of her knowledge. None of them would know any more until Clark woke up and could fill in the missing pieces.
But for now, at least, he was safe and he had someone to watch over him. For the first time today, Lois felt like she might want to go home and get out of these ridiculous sweats and into some comfortable clothes of her own.
She glanced over at the bag with her dress in it – it was a horrid reminder of the day’s events. Maybe she would burn it. With the shape the dress was in she certainly wouldn’t be returning it. And there was no way she was keeping it.
“Martha, Jonathan, I think since you’re here now, I’m going to run home for just a bit. It’s been a really long day and I could use a shower and,” she gestured at her sweats, “some of my own clothes.”
“Oh, of course, Lois,” Martha said, reaching out to pat her hand. “You go home and relax. You’ve had a hard day. I’m sure Clark wouldn’t want you to spend all of your time up here at the hospital.”
“Yes, Lois,” Jonathan agreed, “You should go home and get some sleep...”
“Thanks. I don’t know if I’ll sleep or not but I’ll be back later. I’d like to say goodnight to Clark and check on him before I turn in.” Lois got up from her chair and went over to Clark. She hesitated for just a moment before she leaned down and gave him a gentle hug. “I’ll be back,” she promised in a whisper.
Lois released him and patted Martha and Jonathan on their shoulders. “You make sure you call me if anything changes.”
“We will,” Martha promised.
**********
Lois wasn’t completely sure how she had ended up at Clark’s apartment, staring at his front door. She had gone home first to shower and change clothes. A pair of jeans and a t-shirt had never felt so good.
She was fortunate that her water and electricity were still on at her apartment. As it was, her apartment felt foreign to her with half the furniture gone and all her pictures and knick-knacks missing from the walls and counters. She had spent a few days earlier that week packing up her stuff for the move to Lex’s penthouse. But when Lex had learned she was moving everything herself he had put a stop to it, telling her that his people could move all of her stuff while they were gone on their honeymoon. And since part of her furniture was gone, she could only assume that they had already started.
It was going to be fun trying to sort this whole mess out.
After showering, changing her clothes, and feeding her fish, she had gone for a walk. With her wedding dress under one arm, she had set out to clear her head and look for a dumpster to deposit the garment in.
It hadn’t taken her long to locate a dumpster and she had gladly pitched the thing inside it without so much as a glance back at it as she walked away. But then, instead of going home, she had continued walking.
Walking and thinking.
And she had ended up here, at Clark's apartment. She had been about to leave, had actually turned around and walked down a couple of steps, when she realized that it might be good to get Clark a couple of things while she was here. It certainly wouldn’t hurt to get him a pair of fresh clothes to change into when he was released from the hospital. She knew if it were her, she wouldn’t want to go home in her hospital gown; and the clothes that Clark had worn today were certainly in no shape to be worn again. So now she found herself staring at his front door with a decision to make.
Was it wrong to break-in to a friend’s house? Just to get them a change of clothes?
It probably was. She had searched high and low for a hidden key but couldn’t find one. She thought he used to have one under his front mat but maybe he had let Perry use that key while he was staying with Clark.
It was too bad that Jimmy, Jack, and Perry weren’t still staying here, but Perry had insisted on getting them a hotel room. He had told her earlier that if she needed to find him she could call the Metropolis Tower hotel. He said Clark didn’t need a bunch of squatters hanging out at his house when he got back so they would stay at a hotel until Perry could sort out a few details with his house. He had put his house up for sale when he had retired and moved to Florida. The house hadn’t sold yet, but it also no longer had any furniture or food inside of it either.
Okay, so no hidden key. Actually, now that she knew Clark was Superman, she thought it was probably not a good idea for him to have a key hidden somewhere for just anyone to break into his apartment and snoop around. Truth be known, if he ever got locked out of his apartment, he probably didn’t need a key to get back in. Having super-powers surely had its advantages. She would mention that to him later.
But that didn’t help Lois any now. She wouldn’t have felt so bad using a spare key to get into his apartment... but using her lock-picking skills to get in?
She sighed softly and wavered a few more seconds before rummaging through her purse for the needed items. A minute later she was standing inside Clark’s front door. She inhaled the familiar scent that was distinctly Clark and let out a soft sigh. Then she realized that the scent also reminded her of Superman. How had she never noticed that before? That the two of them smelled so much alike?
She glanced around the room and noted with satisfaction that the boys had done a fairly good job of picking up after themselves. They hadn’t left the place a disaster at least. Lois walked down the stairs and found herself looking at things through new eyes.
This was where Superman lived.
Everything in the apartment reminded her of Clark. It was so... him. And yet, little had she known the times that she had come over to hang out with him or work on a story that she had been with Superman. It gave her a weird out-of-sorts feeling and she had to catch her breath. She was still trying to meld the two men together in her mind.
She made her way over to his closet and opened the door. She wondered briefly what clothes he would want? Definitely something soft and comfortable. She fished around until she found some dark gray cotton pants. They weren’t exactly sweatpants because the legs weren’t gathered at the bottom, but they had a drawstring waist and looked like they would be comfortable. For the shirt she just grabbed a white cotton t-shirt.
She started to shut the door and a thought hit her. Where did he keep his *suits*? Or did he have just the one suit? She stuck her head back inside the closet and looked around but she didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary. If he did only have the one suit, she probably needed to find some way to get that back from Henderson later. She’d have to ask Clark about it when he woke up.
Poor guy. If he knew everything he was going to have to answer for when he woke up, he might not ever wake up.
Lois frowned and mentally chastised herself. She didn’t even want to joke about that.
Okay, she had pants and a shirt. He probably already had shoes, but were they dress shoes? He might appreciate a pair of sneakers. She glanced down at the floor of the closet and spotted a pair. Now to find some socks.
She walked over into the bedroom area of his apartment and looked around. He had an armoire of sorts in one corner. Is that where he kept them? She opened the doors on it and found that it was filled with drawers. Probably so.
Opening one of the drawers, she looked inside and immediately felt herself blush. It was his underwear drawer. She started to close the drawer but then realized that he would definitely want a fresh pair of boxers to put on. Pulling the drawer open further she felt her flush deepen.
Oh, come on, Lois, she thought. They’re just boxer shorts for crying out loud.
But still... they were *his*. She reached inside and pulled out the pair sitting on top. They had a red and black plaid pattern. She doubted he’d care very much which pair she brought or what color they were. Her mind began to drift and she found herself visualizing what Clark would look like in the boxer shorts. It wasn’t hard to do because she had seen him that one time in nothing but a towel.
She felt her mouth fall open. She had seen Superman nearly naked! It was a good thing that she hadn’t known he was Superman at the time because that image had already left her lying awake more times than she wanted to admit, wondering how it was that she had ended up with a partner like Clark. If she had known the fine male form she had been gawking at was really Superman...
Lois pulled her thoughts away from the vision that had come back to her mind, yet again, feeling the heat in her face spreading to other parts of her body. She quickly tucked the shorts inside the folded pair of pants she had across her arm and then began busying herself by checking the other drawers for socks.
Once she had everything she turned to walk towards the front door. As she moved past his bed, a picture on the table next to his bed caught her attention. It was a picture of them together. She picked it up with her free hand and took a closer look. Jimmy had taken it at one of those press events they had all attended together. They both had happy smiles on their faces. She remembered that night. They’d had a fun time together.
Would there be more times like that?
Now that the initial fear of losing him had passed, she was back to worrying about losing him for a whole different reason. And she was still upset with him. She was still angry at him for allowing her to believe that he was two different people. But she was also scared.
She was scared because *she* had messed up too.
Royally.
She knew she could forgive him for his deception... eventually. It was always hard for her to let go of things. It wasn’t easy for her to trust people to begin with and she had really begun to open up to Clark. But now, after this... she wasn’t sure how she felt. It felt on some level like a slap in the face. But she would try her best to work through her feelings and not lash out at him.
But that still left him. She could forgive him, but there were also things that she had done that would require forgiveness. Would he be able to forgive her?
Lois set the picture back down on his table suddenly anxious to get back to the hospital. She noticed a pair of glasses on the table and realized that Clark probably kept several spare pairs of glasses around just in case. She smiled as she picked them up and added them to her pile.
Now she was ready to go check on him.
***********
It was late when Lois finally made it back to the hospital – later than she had planned. She walked into Clark’s room to find Jonathan and Martha fiddling with their chairs. There were a couple of extra blankets and pillows lying at the foot of Clark’s bed.
“You aren’t thinking of sleeping here tonight, are you?” she blurted out.
Martha looked up, a little startled by the intrusion. “Hi, Lois. You didn’t need to come back here tonight. And yes, we were going to stay here with Clark tonight.”
Lois frowned. “But there’s nowhere for you to sleep. You can’t possibly get comfortable or get any rest in those chairs.”
“We’ll be okay. I don’t want Clark to wake up during the night and be alone.” Martha looked tired and Lois knew she had to find some way to get her and Jonathan to leave and get some rest.
“I’ll stay with him.”
Martha raised a questioning eyebrow at her. “You’ve had an exhausting day too, Lois. You need your rest as much as the rest of us.”
“Yeah, but I’m betting my back can handle a night in one of these chairs better than yours can.” Lois smiled reassuringly at her. “You have a key to Clark’s apartment, don’t you?”
“No, but we found Clark’s things in a bag next to his bed and his keys were with his stuff.”
Lois nodded. “Then I think you should go stay at Clark’s apartment tonight. I don’t have a bed to go home to at my apartment right now. There’s a bed at Clark’s and there’s no reason all of us should stay here tonight. I can call you just as soon as he wakes up. I promise.”
Jonathan had been quietly staying out of it but when Martha looked like she was about to object, he spoke up, “I think that’s an good idea. There’s not anymore we can do tonight, Martha, and Lois is perfectly capable of keeping an eye on Clark.”
Martha looked conflicted. “Lois, are you sure? We don’t want to impose.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. Please, go home to Clark’s and get some rest. He wouldn’t want to wake up and find you sleeping in these uncomfortable chairs. I’ll call you when he wakes up or else I’ll see you first thing in the morning.”
Martha hesitated and glanced over at Clark. She looked back at Lois and smiled softly. “Okay. Thank you, honey.”
Lois nodded at her. “Sorry I was so late getting back. I went by his place before I came back here and picked up some clean clothes for him to wear home.”
“I’m sure he’ll be grateful,” Martha assured her as she began packing up her things.
Lois stood back out of the way and watched while Martha and Jonathan got their stuff together and prepared to leave.
“Now you promise to call when he wakes up? Don’t worry about getting us up, okay?” Martha told her.
“I will.” Lois diverted her gaze as Martha and Jonathan said goodbye to Clark and gave him a hug, feeling that to watch would be an intrusion. They came over and gave her a hug as well, and then she walked them to the door. After saying goodbye, she shut the door behind them.
Lois turned to look at Clark. She was alone with him again. She walked over to his bed and gently took his left hand. “Hi there,” she whispered, rubbing her thumb across the back of his hand softly. “I guess it’s just you and me. Are you still hanging in there?” She reached up and felt of his forehead. It didn’t feel as hot as it had earlier. That was good.
“I brought you some clothes. Probably not what you would have picked out for yourself, but go with me here. I’m not used to dressing a guy.” She smiled at him and squeezed his hand before letting go of it.
“I guess I’d better rearrange the furniture a little bit and see if I can get comfortable,” she mumbled more to herself than anyone. She put two of the chairs together where they were facing each other and then grabbed one of the pillows and blankets from the end of Clark’s bed. She sat down in one chair and propped her feet up in the other.
As tired as she was, she didn’t think she’d have any trouble sleeping in the chairs.
She was right.
**********
To Be Continued...
