A/N: First the usual thanks to all those commentators without whom the enthusiasm to actually finish this story would wane considerably. Laura S, Ann, Camy, Laurach, Lexy, Mary, Pam...you guys totally rock!
And a big thankyou to Olympe who waited patiently for me to finish this part and kept telling me in every email “it’s still too short”
I blame the delay of posting this part squarely on Harry Potter.
1. The Movie that I spent the next week comparing to the Order of the Phoenix book.
2. The Book that I spent the entire Saturday reading before passing it on to my father and my sister and then discussed it with them in detail for the next week. So I am now reading it again, slowly. Apparently I missed some things when I breezed through it the first time.
3. The Game that I still haven’t finished and actually went looking for a list of how to discover 100% in each room on the Internet. *hangs head in shame*
Lois’s thoughts are italicised and enclosed by angle brackets (<>)
Asterisks enclose emphasis (**)
TOC Part TwelvePerry took the picture from Lucy with trepidation. His mind wandered back to the conversation he’d had with Lois and Clark before the accident. Lois, as usual, had tried to take the lead. She had preceded Clark into Perry’s office and had started talking before he had even closed the door.
*Flashback*
“Perry, I know what you’re going to say...”
“I’m just concerned, honey,” Perry interrupted, holding up his hands to forestall her flood of words. “I don’t think either of you know each other well enough to be thinking of marriage. I mean, don’t you want to try dating first?”
“Been there, done that,” Lois muttered.
“I beg your pardon?” Perry asked.
“We *did* date,” Clark clarified.
“For two days?” Perry asked sceptically.
“No, for two years,” Lois answered resignedly.
“Lois!” Clark hissed.
“Come on, Clark, he’s going to find out anyway,” she replied, turning to look at him. “After all, he didn’t become Editor-in-Chief...”
“...just because he can yodel,” Clark chorused with her.
“Hey, wait a minute...” Perry started to interrupt, but Jimmy burst through the door at the same time.
“Chief...”
“Not now, Jimmy,” Perry stopped him irritably.
“But, Chief...”
“I said *not* *now*!”
Jimmy looked like he was going to try again, but Lois took no notice of him.
“Just don’t go lumping Clark in with *Claude*,” she stated, investing as much scorn into his name as she could -- Claude’s name, not Clark’s.
“Definitely not,” Clark agreed, shuddering at the very idea. Jimmy saw the light, gave up, and left the room.
“Don’t worry, son,” Perry reassured him. “I could tell by your first meeting with Cat that you weren’t anything like Claude.” Most *definitely* not. When Cat had thrown her forward pass at Claude, he had taken it straight to the Duplication Room. It had been closer than the storage room. Too bad Lois had been out on a scoop at the time. “But how could you have dating for *two* *years* without me knowing about it?”
Clark turned to Lois. “Do we tell him about *that*, too?”
“I think we’ll *have* to,” Lois answered, glancing out at the newsroom where Lucy had joined Jimmy in a staring match with Perry’s door. “And the others, too.”
Clark followed her gaze and sighed in frustration, running his hand through his hair. “Great, just great. When did we become the stars of this little episode?”
“Come on, Clark. We’ve *always* been the stars. We’re the Hottest Team in Town,” Lois answered, pitching her voice low, but Perry heard every word.
“Not yet, we aren’t,” Clark muttered.
“Great shades of Elvis; will somebody please give me some straight answers?” Perry nigh on exploded.
Lois and Clark looked at each other. Without even speaking they reached a decision.
“We’ve known each other for four years...”
“...but we didn’t start dating until we’d known each other for a year and a half...”
“...and then Clark proposed about two months later...”
“...and Lois didn’t say yes until almost three months after that.”
“Well, that was *your* fault.”
“I’m never going to live that down, am I?”
“Not in this millennium.” And since Lois was grinning like a Cheshire cat, Perry figured that whatever Clark had done was long since forgiven.
“But, Lois, honey, I know everyone you’ve ever met,” Perry intercepted. Lois and Clark looked at each other in resignation. Half-truths just weren’t going to do it. “You’re here early each morning, and stay late every night. How could you possibly...?”
“Chief, do you believe in time travel?” Clark interrupted.
“Time travel?” Perry asked, not sure what the boy was getting at. “What has *that* got to do with...”
“Believe me, Perry, it has *everything* to do with it. Clark and I have come *back* *in* *time*,” Lois answered impressively, obviously believing what she was saying.
Perry merely looked at them in utter disbelief.
“It’s true, Perry. And we have been late the last couple of days because our body-clocks are telling us that it’s a few hours earlier than it is. We have proof,” Clark insisted.
“Proof,” Perry stated, feeling that Lois and Clark must’ve lost their minds.
“But not here, at the hotel,” Lois said. “Would you like to come over after work tonight? We can show you then.”
Perry looked into Lois’s pleading eyes and caved. “Okay, but this better be good.”
“It is, Perry, I promise.” Lois’s eyes sparkled and she sprang forward to give him an impulsive hug.
*End Flashback*Perry stared down at the photo in awe. It was true. Everything that they had told him was true. Neither Jimmy nor Lucy remembered the photo being taken. Nor did he. And yet, there they were. It was obvious to Perry that this photo had not been taken recently. He looked so...he hated to use the word but...he looked so
*old*, greyer, care-worn. Clark looked much less the boy and more the man. Lois hadn’t seemed to change at all except for the haircut.
But the kicker was the girl. That little girl who was being held by Lois and Clark had a very definite mark on her. There was no doubt in his mind. Her features were somehow arranged so that she looked exactly like Lois, and yet exactly like Clark. Perry had known Lois for nigh on five years. Never in all that time had she come close to looking pregnant.
So there was only
*one* way that girl could exist. The only explanation...was that the girl didn’t exist yet. That time travel
*did* exist. Lois and Clark stared as Perry made his way to his desk on slightly wobbly feet.
“Where the heck did I put those blasted things?” Perry muttered to himself as he opened his top draw.
“Uh, Chief?” Jimmy asked in a worried voice. “What are you looking for?” They all stared as Perry threw the draw and its contents on the ground in frustration.
“Those paava leaves Clark told me about, son,” Perry blundered distractedly. He opened his second draw and drew a sigh of relief. He smiled slightly, sat down and promptly shoved a few leaves into his mouth.
“Cat, get the Chief some water,” Lois ordered quickly. Cat blinked, shrugged and then moved out towards the water tank. As soon as Cat had left the room, Lois closed and locked the door. This went unnoticed by Cat who’d seen a man leaning over to pick something up off the floor, and pounced.
“What’s going on?” Lucy asked, exchanging a look of confusion with Jimmy.
“Do you guys believe in time travel?” Clark asked, causing Perry to grab another leaf from the box.
“What are you talking about? This is real life, not some mythical tale,” Lucy sneered.
“Yeah,” Jimmy agreed. “I think that H. G. Wells guy has been yanking your chain.”
“Maybe you guys better sit down,” Lois said, taking the photo off Perry’s desk, where he’d dropped it. Jimmy and Lucy sat together on the couch. “Now take a good hard look at this photo. Look at our faces; yours, mine, Clark’s, Perry’s. What do you see?”
Lucy and Jimmy both looked at the photo closely. They both seemed to see it at the same time.
“We all look older,” Jimmy said in wonderment.
“How did you do that?” Lucy asked. “Some sort of photo manipulation software?”
“Photoshop,” Jimmy stated decisively. “I’ll bet they used Photoshop.”
“Can a photo shop make people change their age?” Perry asked in wonder, his eyes starting to glaze over as he placed another leaf in his mouth.
“Not
*a* photo shop, Photoshop! You know, the
*software*?” Lucy blurted in frustration. She turned to Lois. “But Photoshop can’t make people age…can it? Why didn’t you tell me Photoshop could do that?”
“No, we didn’t use Photoshop. It’s a
*real* *photo*. Give it to me,” Lois said exasperatedly, grabbing the frame and pulling the back open.
“Lois, what are you doing?”
“Proving that the photo is real,” Lois said. She pulled the piece of cardboard out from behind the photo and then took out the photo itself. On the back of it, as she had hoped, was stamped the date of development: 6 October 1996.
Clark suddenly threw his head up like a startled rabbit. His hearing had come back in a vicious blast of sound. The feeling of elation didn’t quite turn his mouth into a grin before he saw the man who had just stepped out of the elevator.
“Luthor,” he growled, conveying his utter dislike for the man. Lois looked at Clark with a slight frown creasing her forehead. He reached up and tugged on one of his ears in response. She gave him a quick grin. Then they began to speak as one.
“I’ll/You go talk to Luthor while you/I hide those files.” They grinned at each other again and simultaneously left Perry’s office. The others looked at each other and saw the shock mirrored.
“Wow.”
“If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes...”
“Is that even possible?”
“What? Seeing it with your own eyes?” Perry asked in bewilderment, his eyes were starting to change colour with all that glazing.
“No!” Lucy grumbled furiously as Jimmy inconspicuously slid Perry’s leaves off the table. “Lois and Clark doing...that. What was that?”
“Do you think they can do telepathy?” Jimmy asked in excitement, dropping the leaves onto the floor in the process. “Wouldn’t that be cool?”
“What are you in, high school?” Lucy grated at Jimmy’s boyish charm. Jimmy sent her a wounded look.
“Don’t be silly,” Perry muttered distractedly as he started shuffling things around on his desk, looking for something. “We’re in my office, with the paava leaves...or at least, we were.” Perry sat back in his chair, looking quite baffled.
“Duh, you finished the leaves, Chief,” Jimmy explained quickly as he kicked the leaves under Perry’s desk. “A...and you said you had a nervous reaction to them...and you’re never going to have them again.”
“I did?” Perry blinked in surprise. “Well, since it was me who said it, it must be true. I’m a trustworthy fellow, you know.” Jimmy kicked the leaves further under the desk, much to Lucy’s amusement.
***
Lex Luthor stepped out of the elevator with the sharp clip of an Army General arriving at the battleground, about to inspect his troupes. His eyes scoped the newsroom, looking for the elusive Lois Lane. There had been no date last night. A pity. Nigel’s background check had been most illuminating. She was reputed to be ruthless in her search for a good story. And she wasn’t afraid to use whatever means necessary to achieve her ends. A woman after his own heart.
His gaze finally found her in Perry White’s office. She was conversing with four people, one of whom he recognised instantly. Clark Kent. The man who had interrupted their dance. The man who had spent the last five years flitting from country to country, seemingly unable to settle down. Luthor had a hard time reconciling the two.
Clark Kent was an enigma. He didn’t lack for friends. But none were especially close. At least, not according to the paperwork Nigel had provided. Nigel was nothing if not thorough. He had tracked the lives of both Lois and Clark and deduced that nowhere in that time had they ever come close to meeting. They had never been in the same state at the same time until Clark had arrived in Metropolis just last week.
And yet, on the dance floor, Luthor had met a different Clark Kent. One who knew Lois well enough to kiss her senseless without the threat of retaliation. A Clark Kent who looked into Luthor’s eyes, and saw straight through the polite veneer to the real man within. And in that look had been a promise. A promise to bring him down. A challenge.
“I accept,” Luthor said in a silky undertone, just as the door to the Duplicating Room opened.
“Mr. Luthor,” an auburn-haired beauty said in surprise as she left the room. She was flushed and breathing heavily. A man slunk out of the room behind her, hastily closing the zip on his tool belt. The auburn-haired beauty ignored the man and offered her paw to Luthor.
“Catherine Grant,” she introduced herself. When he didn’t respond the way she would have liked, she elaborated. “Cat’s Corner.” This was obviously the name of her column. A gossip columnist. Too bad. She could have provided some light entertainment. But nothing Luthor would want to be public knowledge.
“I’m pleased to meet you, Miss Grant,” Luthor said smoothly, taking her hand. Her pulse was beating rapidly. “Could you perhaps show me where I may wait to see Miss Lane?”
The sparkle left Cat’s eyes. And as her eyes were attracted to something behind him, her smile left also. “Lois, Lex Luthor wants to see you,” she said cattily before stalking off. Lois made quite sure her stalk didn’t end at Clark’s desk before she turned to address Luthor.
“What can I do for you, Mr. Luthor?” Lois asked, efficiency personified. She didn’t offer a seat at her desk; she didn’t offer a refreshment while they talked. She clearly wanted him to leave post haste.
“You can do me the honour of rearranging our dinner date for next Sunday,” Luthor answered, laying on the charm.
Unfortunately, Lois Lane appeared to be immune to his charms. “Date?” she asked, staring at him incredulously. “I’m sorry if you got the wrong impression, but that dinner was to be an interview. And any interview would have to involve my partner.” She turned to Clark, who was stacking files from a crowded desk into a cardboard box. “Clark?”
“Just a sec, honey,” he responded absentmindedly, his mind on the task at hand. He picked up the last pile of files, placed them in the box, and then quickly sealed it. “Right, that’s done.” He wiped his hands together and then strode over, his distaste at seeing Lex Luthor in the newsroom evident in every facet of his face. “Luthor.”
“Kent,” Luthor responded, his flat tone matching Clark’s perfectly. That casual use of the pet name just screamed long-term-relationship. While Nigel’s research screamed one-week-fling.
“Clark, are we free for an interview next Sunday?” Lois asked, apparently unaware of the hostility. No. Lois was an intelligent woman renowned for her intuitive insights. She must be aware of the hostility. But she was acting as if this was clearly normal behaviour. From both of them.
“I was hoping we could get to Smallville next weekend,” Clark answered. “My parents still haven’t met you, remember?”
“Oh yeah,” Lois answered in a tone that clearly stated that she
*had* forgotten. She turned back to Luthor. “Would you mind postponing the interview for the moment?”
“Not at all,” he replied, his face a mask. He didn’t want the interview in the first place. And now she was acting as if it had been his idea. What was going on here? Nothing that he could simply ask them about. He looked at his watch. “I’m afraid I have a meeting to attend. I’ll look forward to seeing you again, Lois.” Lois merely nodded back at him.
Luthor headed to the elevator area and caught the next one down. His mind was in turmoil. All these facts just weren’t adding up. For the first time in the last week he felt that maybe he shouldn’t have been so quick to toss that Tempus fellow out on his ear.
Comments tbc
