Okay. I was trying to wait for Sue to give me the green light before I posted... but I haven't heard from her... and I implemented the information she gave me (more notes on this at the bottom of the part).
So I'm going to go ahead and post. If anyone wants to correct me, feel free... and if Sue gives me further info, I may come back and make adjustments. <g> I did make the disclaimer at the beginning of this story, though, that I am not a doctor and have not ever played one on TV <snort> So keep that in mind. <g>
And here we go!
Table of Contents From Part 17:
“Yeah, Jimmy and I would be happy to stay with him, wouldn’t we?” he asked, looking over at his friend. Jimmy nodded his willing agreement and Jack continued, “I leave the day after tomorrow and wanted to say goodbye anyway.”
“Yeah, and Perry’s letting me take a couple of days to help Jack get moved in,” Jimmy chimed in.
“Oh, so you’re going with Jack to New York?” she asked Jimmy.
They both nodded and Jack walked through the open door, brushing past Lois. He stopped and turned back to look at Jimmy. “Why don’t you go ahead and go back to the office with Lois? Perry won’t like it if we’re both gone, and I’m the one who’s officially off the payroll. Both of us don’t need to sit with Clark. You go on.”
“Are you sure?” Jimmy asked, looking a little lost all of the sudden.
“Yeah,” Jack nodded. “I’ll stay here with Clark. We’ve got some catching up to do.”
Lois noticed the peculiar look he had in his eyes. He definitely knew *something*. “Thanks, Jack,” she said appreciatively. She turned back to Jimmy and smiled. “Come on, Jimmy, let’s see if we can get a front page headliner done today.”
She glanced back at Jack before taking Jimmy by the arm and leading him off.
What she wouldn’t give to be a fly on the wall right now.
*************
PART EIGHTEEN
*************
Clark had stepped into the shower just long enough to rinse off a little and then, moving at top speed – definitely not super, but fast - he had gotten out, dried off, and dressed. He heard the front door shut as he finished tying his shoes. “I’m coming, Lois,” he hollered as he started towards the living room.
But Lois wasn’t there. Jack was. He was standing there with his arms crossed and a lopsided grin on his face.
“Jack!” Clark greeted him. Jack met him halfway, extending his hand, but Clark ignored the hand, pulling him into a brief one-armed hug instead. “Where’s Lois?”
“She went back with Jimmy to write her story from this afternoon,” Jack explained, releasing Clark and taking a step back. “You’ve had us worried,” he said, his face full of concern.
“I know, I’m sorry. But I’m getting better. I think I just overdid it today.”
Jack nodded and was quiet for a moment. “Did you hear the news?” he finally asked, grinning widely.
“Yeah,” Clark nodded. “Lois told me. I’m so proud of you, Jack,” he told him, clapping him softly on the shoulder.
“Thanks. Me too.” His face got serious all of the sudden. “You know I couldn’t have done any of this without you.”
“Sure you could,” Clark argued. “You’re a good kid, Jack. You just needed someone to believe in you, that’s all.”
“Yeah...” Jack shook his head. “Most people would have had me locked up for stealing from them, but you... you helped me. You’re a real hero, you know that?”
Clark shifted self-consciously on his feet. “Sure,” he said quietly.
“I mean it,” Jack continued, “You don’t have to fly or wear a cape to be a hero. You understand?”
Clark swallowed and gave Jack a small grin. He wasn’t exactly sure just what Jack thought he knew, but Clark knew he had his suspicions. “I just looked beyond the external, that’s all. I could tell you had a good heart.”
“Yeah? Well that makes you pretty super in my book.”
“Thanks.” Clark’s heart swelled slightly at Jack’s admiration and belief in him, and he had to clear his throat softly to keep his emotions in check. “So when are you leaving?”
“Day after tomorrow. Jimmy’s coming with me to help me get settled in. You know you’re welcome to come and visit anytime. It’s not that far to drive... or fly.” Jack grinned. “You can even bring Lois, if you want.”
Clark smiled. “You can count on it.” He realized what Jack had said was true. He might not be Superman right now, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t make a difference. Every person could make a difference if they wanted to. Clark could still live a fulfilling life and could still find happiness – especially with Lois by his side.
He just had to put his mind to it, and that’s precisely what he intended to do.
**********
The next couple of days passed too quickly. The presses were rolling again in their temporary offices, and Clark and Lois were falling back into a comfortable reporting routine again. It wouldn’t be too much longer and the Daily Planet building would be open again and they would be fully functional.
Clark was healing from his sunburn and his wound seemed to be doing a little bit better. Since he hadn’t had any other *episodes*, they concluded that it really had just been heat exhaustion. But he had given a blood sample to Dr. Klein for him to examine and begin running tests on. If the doctor found anything further, he would let them know.
In the meantime, Jack and Jimmy had already left for New York and now, sooner than he would have thought possible, it was time for Lois to move into her new apartment.
Clark watched, feeling melancholy, as Lois packed up the few things she had brought with her. She was supposed to be meeting the movers in a half hour to let them into her apartment. He hated to see her go. The past few days with her living here had been beyond definition.
But what could he say? Lois, move in with me?
Even if he thought she would agree to it – which he wasn’t sure about - he wouldn’t ask her. Clark had been raised in a traditional family and he was fairly sure his parents would frown on him asking his girlfriend to live with him, especially since neither his parents nor Lois knew what his future plans were.
Future plans...
That thought brought a small smile to his face, but it was quickly erased when Lois set her box down next to the front door with a contented sigh.
“Okay. I think that’s everything,” she said, glancing around the apartment as if to make sure she didn’t see anything else.
She stopped when saw the gloomy look on Clark’s face, and she mistook it for him not feeling well. “You don’t have to come, you know. The movers have everything covered. We’ve both had a long day and I’m sure you’re tired.”
Clark frowned at her. “Of course I’m coming,” he said, a little agitated. If she didn’t quit babying him, he was going to start taking offense.
She wrinkled her nose. “Of course,” she muttered. Why wouldn’t she want a grumpy, dejected Clark tagging along? What was his problem anyway? He had been disconsolate all day.
Was he sad to see her move?
Surely not. He had to be glad to at least have his bathroom back, all to himself, and not have to worry about things like not being able to streak from the bedroom to the bathroom because he forgot to take his clothes in there with him.
Lois had felt like such an imposition to him, especially with him not feeling well. Although, on that count, she was glad she had been staying here so she could help him out. She was going to miss him horribly. She almost wished she could stay.
But what would she say? Hey, Clark, could I move in with you?
No. That was asking too much. Besides, what would people think? People would think she was sleeping her rent, that’s what. And it wasn’t that she even cared too much about what other people thought, but she did care what Clark thought. And that would be too much of an imposition. It would probably be good for them to have a little space. After all, they weren’t married.
She frowned unexpectedly at that thought. Her mind seemed to want to linger on it but she pushed it away. “All right, I guess we’d better get going then, huh?”
Clark let out a noisy sigh and climbed the stairs. “Yeah, I guess.”
This was probably for the best, he told himself. He didn’t know how things were going to unfold, and if they didn’t go the way he hoped, well...
Yes, it was probably better this way.
***********
Clark sat on his couch, quietly thinking. It was time for him to go to bed, but he just couldn’t bring himself to get up. He wished Lois was still here.
If she had been here, she would have shooed him from the room telling him that she needed to go to sleep. But he would have hung around for a few more minutes, just to talk to her a bit longer.
Instead, now, he would go to bed, alone in his apartment. He wouldn’t have to get up a little earlier than normal in the morning so that he could get finished in the bathroom to let Lois have it. There wouldn’t be someone sitting across from him at his table, drinking coffee and talking about possible headlines for the day.
He sighed quietly and stood up from the couch. If he didn’t go to bed now, he was going to be worthless tomorrow.
**********
Lois looked around her bedroom with a satisfied smile... well, almost satisfied. All of her furniture was where it should be. The layout of her new apartment was almost exactly the same as her old one. The only difference was that it didn’t have an extra bedroom. But even though everything seemed familiar, it didn’t feel right.
Her apartment seemed empty, and she felt lonely.
She had lived alone since she had moved out of the house as a teenager. Sure, she’d had roommates in college and Lucy had moved in with her for an occasional stint. But for the most part, she had lived by herself.
And she had liked living alone.
But somehow it seemed to have lost its appeal. How could staying a few nights with Clark have changed her point of view so much that she now missed having someone with her?
A noise outside her bedroom window startled her out of her thoughts. Her new apartment was on a different floor, on a different side of the building and it faced a different street. She was going to have a whole new set of sounds to get used to.
However as she turned down the sheets and blanket on her bed, she heard another noise. This time it was louder and sounded like it was coming from the fire escape.
A cold shiver ran up her spine. What if someone was out there? She ran over to her window and quickly closed it, looking down through the ladder-work of the fire escape.
After a few seconds passed and she didn’t see anything, Lois backed away. Maybe she would call Clark... just to check on him and say goodnight. She sat down on her bed and picked up the phone from her nightstand.
But what if he was asleep? She glanced at her alarm clock. It was a little late, but not that late. She dialed his number and put the phone to her ear.
“Hello?” Clark’s sleepy voice answered.
“Clark? Oh, I’m sorry. I woke you, didn’t I? I shouldn’t have called...”
“Lois?” Clark was instantly concerned. Something must be wrong. “No, it’s okay. Is everything all right?”
Suddenly, she felt ridiculous. “Yes, everything’s fine. I...” She what? Just wanted to hear his voice? Wished that she could come back over and stay the night on his couch even when she had her own bed to sleep in? “I just wanted to say goodnight.”
“Oh.” Clark sighed inwardly. Her voice sounded as lonely as he felt, but he was sure he was probably imagining it. “Well, goodnight, Lois. I’m sure you’ll sleep better in your own bed...”
“Yeah. I mean your couch is comfortable...”
“But it’s not a bed,” he finished for her.
“No.” She bit her lip. “It’s not a bed.” She shook her head inwardly. What was she doing? She needed to let the poor guy get some sleep. “Well, I guess I’ll see you tomorrow. G’night, Clark.”
“Lois, I...” Clark ran a hand through his hair in frustration. No, there would be other times... He sighed before continuing, “G’night.”
Lois stayed on the phone until she finally heard the click from the receiver being hung up on the other end.
***********
Lois was startled out of her sleep by the phone ringing. She cracked one eye open and looked at her alarm clock – it would have gone off in another fifteen minutes. Who had the audacity to rob her of her final fifteen minutes of sleep?
She moaned audibly before snatching her phone up. “Hello?” she grumbled.
“Lois? It’s Clark.”
She was instantly awake. “Clark? Is everything okay?”
“Yeah, fine.”
“Oh.” She frowned. “Then why did you call and wake me up before my alarm even went off?”
“Was I early? I’m sorry. I was trying to catch you before you got in the shower.”
Lois found herself blushing that he knew her so well, and she cleared her throat. “It’s okay. It won’t hurt me to get an early start. Did you need something?”
“Yeah. I need you to cover for me at work this morning. Tell Perry I went to the doctor for a check-up.”
Lois would have been more concerned but Clark didn’t sound like he wasn’t feeling well or was in any pain. “Aren’t you forgetting something?” she asked.
“Hmm...?”
She sighed exasperatedly. “You aren’t going to tell me what’s going on?”
“Oh, I’m sorry,” he said, flustered. “Dr. Klein called and wants me to come in so he can check my stitches. He said he has some news for me. So would you tell Perry...”
“No.”
“No?” he asked surprised.
“Yes. No. I’m not going in to work either,” she stated adamantly.
“You’re not?”
“No, you lunkhead! I’m coming with you!” she said, thoroughly annoyed with him.
“Oh, you don’t have to do that. You’ve already had to waste too much of your time listening to his clinical...”
“Clark! How could you say that?” she chastised him. “Of course I want to come, and I’m going to come. What time?” She heard what sounded almost like a sigh and it made her pause. Did he not want her to come with him?
“I was going to leave in about a half an hour. You know how bad the traffic is during rush hour.”
A half an hour? That didn’t give her much time. “Yeah, I do. Okay, let me throw myself together and I’ll come by to get you.”
“Okay.” There was a pause and then, “Thanks, Lois.”
“You’re welcome. I’ll see you in a bit. Bye.”
“Bye.”
Clark hung up the phone and let out a long sigh. He hadn’t thought she’d be willing to let him go alone. And he wasn’t sure he wanted to. Something in Klein’s voice had sounded like he didn’t have good news. Klein had said that he tried to call Clark late last night but the line had been busy. It must have been when Lois had called. So Klein had called him first thing this morning. That couldn’t be good news, could it?
In some ways he’d be glad to have Lois along, but it would mean that he wouldn’t be able to run the errand he had planned... Clark sighed again. He obviously hadn’t thought this through very well.
But it was okay. He’d just have to be patient. He could run the errand a little later today.
**********
Dr. Klein looked grim. His normally pleasant, cheerful face was lined with worry and his brow was creased. “I think I know why you’re still vulnerable, Superman, and why your wound isn’t healing.”
Clark was anxious to hear the answer and yet part of him was afraid of what that answer might be. “What’s wrong with me, Dr. Klein? I can see it in your face. Just tell me.”
Lois was clenching Clark’s hand so tightly that it was almost painful. He glanced over at her and found her lips pressed together in a tight line and her eyes focused intently on the doctor.
Dr. Klein sighed. “I’ve spent the past couple of days examining the blood sample you left with me. I noticed some peculiar traces of an unknown substance. I began running tests to isolate the substance...” He fidgeted slightly before continuing, “Superman, I found trace amounts of Kryptonite in your bloodstream.”
Lois gasped audibly and turned to Clark. “How is that possible? Was Le... were you injected with something?” She and Clark had already discussed the fact that they couldn’t reveal that Lex Luthor was the one who had injured Superman or that Superman had been cut with his axe. Too many newspapers had published articles about the wedding fiasco and they had also printed the details of Luthor’s attack on Clark. It would be too coincidental for both Clark Kent and Superman to have been attacked by the same man, with the same weapon, in the exact same place on their body.
“No,” Clark answered her. “I wasn’t injected with anything.” He turned to look at Klein. “What do you mean, exactly? Do you mean that the radiation from the Kryptonite is still in my system?”
Klein shook his head. “No. I found actual particles of the substance in your blood. They entered your body through some means.” He paused for a moment and tapped his chin in thought.
Lois sucked in a breath. The report she found in Lex’s desk about the experimentation on Kryptonite - Lex had tested it in several forms. “Maybe whatever caused that wound was somehow coated with Kryptonite - like in a liquid form.”
Klein nodded. “That’s very possible.” He looked from Lois over to Clark. “You know I respect your privacy and I’ve tried not to pry into how any of this happened. But if you could tell me how you were wounded and what the circumstances were, it could go a long way towards helping me figure this out.” He glanced briefly at Lois again. “I’m sure Ms. Lane would leave if you would be more comfortable with...”
“No,” Clark interrupted him. “It’s not that. It’s just... there are certain things I simply can’t tell you.”
Dr. Klein sighed and nodded wearily. “I understand. Let me ask you this then, would you be willing to let me take a tissue sample from your wound?”
Clark felt a knot in his stomach and he glanced nervously at Lois. She didn’t say anything, just gave him an encouraging look – as if to say that she would support him no matter what he chose to do.
But what should he do?
Lois scrunched her toes inside her shoes nervously. She was going to die if she didn’t say something. Surely Clark wasn’t thinking about not letting Klein take the sample?
“Okay,” Clark said reluctantly, with a soft sigh. “But *you* have to do it, and it has to be done here. I don’t want to risk going to the hospital and the tissue sample disappearing.”
“I understand,” Klein said, giving them a brief nod. “I have some local anesthetic I can use to deaden the area. Give me a minute to round up a few things and then I’ll take a biopsy.”
Lois watched Klein walk off and then she went to Clark and slid her arms around him. “Lex’s last ditch attempt to get back at us from the grave,” she grumbled. “Now do you see why I wanted to have Dr. Klein work on some sort of antidote?”
He nodded silently, holding her snugly against him.
Lois could feel the tight apprehension in his body and she hugged him gently. “It’ll be okay, Clark,” she whispered, trying to impart more encouragement into the words than she was feeling herself.
“I know,” he replied, surprising her. He put his hands on her arms and rubbed them softly.
Klein came back all too soon carrying a small container. “Superman if you’ll hop up on the counter here,” Klein patted the surface, “No offense, but some people get queasy at the sight of blood and I don’t want your legs to give out on you.”
Lois frowned. It seemed absurd that the world’s strongest man could be brought to his knees by a little blood, but she knew what Klein said was the truth. When she was younger she had been around enough athletes when her dad worked on them to know what babies some of them could be. Not that she thought Clark was a baby. But she remembered how he had reacted that time in Smallville when he got that paper-cut and his finger had bled. It had freaked him out.
Clark obliged and Klein set the container down on the counter next to him – it contained a vial of liquid and a couple of syringes, one significantly larger than the other. Lois stepped to the side, out of the way, but took hold of Clark’s hand and held it reassuringly. Clark looked into her eyes and focused on them while Dr. Klein gave him a shot of local anesthetic in the wound. It didn’t feel very good at all but he was sure it would be better than the sensation of the doctor extracting a biopsy from his wound with that other longer, thicker needle.
While the anesthetic took effect, Dr. Klein worked on preparing the other syringe and cleaning the area where he would make the extraction. Then, all too soon, he brought the biopsy needle towards Clark’s side. Lois squeezed Clark’s hand and tried to tell him with her eyes that it would be all right.
A few short seconds later, Dr. Klein announced that he was done and he headed over to a corner of his lab. “I just have to flash freeze this tissue sample first, otherwise it would be several hours before we could view the sample. I’d have to enclose it in a formaldehyde solution and...”
“We would prefer to get the results as quickly as possible,” Lois urged him, trying to keep the impatience from her voice.
He nodded at them and began fiddling with a machine that looked like a big freezer of sorts.
It took several minutes for Dr. Klein to freeze the sample and then he proceeded to create several slides from it. Lois and Clark tried to wait patiently, not disturbing him while he worked, but it was more than Lois could bear when Dr. Klein spent another couple of minutes examining the slides under a microscope, grumbling and murmuring disapprovingly to himself without saying a word to them.
“Well?” she finally blurted out. “What do you see?”
“It’s just as I expected. Kryptonite. There are particles of it in the infected tissue around his wound. That’s why it’s not healing properly.” He leaned up from the microscope and frowned at them. “And it won’t heal until we get it cleaned out. Those stitches have kept it trapped inside of you, festering the injury.” He let out a long sigh. “We can try irrigating the wound, first; however, simply cleaning it and disinfecting it may not be enough. We may need to resection some of the infected tissue.”
Lois watched Clark’s face pale and could feel the blood leaving hers as well. “Resection?” she asked weakly. “As in, cut out a chunk of his abdomen?”
Klein shook his head. “No, no, Ms. Lane. Nothing so drastic as that. Only the small amount of tissue that might resist our efforts to clean it would have to be removed. Kryptonite is an inanimate substance. It’s not like a living virus that can multiply or reproduce. We just need to clean out what’s there.”
Clark looked dazed. Lois hated to overstep her bounds by asking all the questions herself, but someone needed to do it. “But what about what’s already in his system?”
“You mean what has seeped into his bloodstream?” Klein frowned thoughtfully. “I’m not sure.”
Lois opened her mouth to utter a protest, but Klein continued, “I think if we can remove the majority of the substance, that Superman’s body will eventually expel the remainder of the particles itself. Again, this is all merely speculation at this point, but his kidneys and liver will probably try to filter the poisons from his system.”
“But how long will that take?” Lois objected. “Isn’t there anyway to speed it along?”
Klein nodded. “Yes, if Superman was healthy, I might suggest exposing him to a large dosage of radiation in attempt to burn out the Kryptonite. But that again would only be a theory and there would be no guarantee of success.”
Clark perked up at the idea. “But there is a chance that it could work?”
“Again, in theory,” Dr. Klein said, shrugging his shoulders. “But, in your current condition... you can’t risk it. It could very possibly kill you. Your body has been stripped of its invulnerability and has been invaded by infection... No, at this point, I think our best option is to wait and see how your body responds.”
“But what if it can’t expel the toxins?” Clark asked, finally slipping into his ‘reporter’ mode and pushing past his fear.
Klein frowned. “We’ll jump that fence when we come to it. Let’s give your body a chance. In the meantime, you need to make sure you are getting plenty of sunlight, but not in the heat of the day. I would tell you to wear sunscreen, but I’m not sure how that would affect your absorption of what you need. So just stay out of it during the more intense hours.”
Lois watched Klein retrieve a clipboard. He was jotting down notes as he continued talking, “You need to make sure that you continue to drink plenty of fluids – especially water – your kidneys will need it. Based on a human’s physiology, your kidneys will be working overtime to clean the infection and poisons from your body. And it wouldn’t hurt to make sure that you’re eating healthy, either. Lots of vegetables and whole grains.”
Lois snorted. She didn’t mean to do it so loudly, but both men turned to look at her. “Sorry.” Her cheeks flushed and she flashed Clark a smile. “Private joke.”
Clark returned her smile and then grimaced – in other words, no more donuts for breakfast or midnight runs for Twinkies and Ho-Ho’s. “But my body hasn’t ever seemed to rely on food in the past,” he contended.
Klein nodded. “That might be true, for the most part. I couldn’t be certain without running further tests to see just what benefit your cells derive from physical nourishment. But for right now, with your body in a weakened state, I think it would be good for you to eat healthy. It certainly isn’t going to hurt anything.”
Clark couldn’t really argue with that.
Klein walked over to a table and began clearing books, papers, and various pieces of equipment off of it. “I’m assuming that you will want me to do the procedure here.”
Clark nodded at him and his palms begin to sweat. He felt Lois grab hold of his hand once again and when he looked up into her face, she smiled reassuringly at him.
“I’ll need to give you several more shots of anesthetic in the wound, and even at that, I’m not sure that you won’t feel some of it.” Klein set an armful of items down on the counter and spread his hands apologetically. “It would be better to put you out, but I don’t have the equipment and I’m not trained as an anesthesiologist.”
“I understand,” Clark assured him, with more strength in his voice than he felt. “I know you’ll do the best you can.” He felt Lois squeeze his hand gently and he squeezed back.
“Okay, then,” Klein said nervously, picking his clipboard up again and making more notes in it. “After I get done cleaning the wound, I’ll give you another injection of antibiotics. You’ll be sore when the anesthetic wears off, but with the Kryptonite removed and the wound cleansed, you should start to feel better soon.” He set the clipboard down and looked up at them awkwardly. “I don’t know if you have a place to stay, um nearby, but I would suggest that you rest for the remainder of the day. Don’t do anything too strenuous. In fact, it would be better if you took it easy for the next several days.”
“Don’t worry, Dr. Klein,” Lois assured him. “I’ll make sure of that.”
Klein nodded. “Let me explain what I’m going to do and then I can gather up what I need and we can get started.”
**********
To be continued...
Author's notes:
Okay, if any of my medical info on the biopsy or slides or cleansing of the wound... or any of that... is incorrect, blame me. Sue gave me a crash course in it and I did the best I could without 'weighing the story down' with too much medical information. Hopefully she can tell me later if I got it right. <g>
Oh, and I forgot to give you all this link in the last part. Here's where I got my information on Heat Exhaustion, in case you were interested:
Heat Exhaustion
