I want to apologize again for not responding to each thank you for the last chapter. I had them all written out and my computer ate it up. Please know they meant the world to me! Here you guys go. Hope you enjoy. Please let me know what you think.
From part 7...
Keeping the knife trained on her neck, he reached down with one hand for the belt buckle of his pants. Lois’ stomach dropped in horror at the motion and she forced her wild mind to calm enough to plan. With one hand unbuckling his belt and one had on the knife… he was only keeping her against the wall with a knee pressed between her legs. It was risky, but what else could she do? Taking a deep breath that brought tears to her eyes as it forced the knife closer, she threw her body to the side, tripping over his leg but effectively pulling her neck away from the glittering knife.
“Help!” She began to scream, but it was cut off the second she opened her mouth. Despite his size, the man was nimble and fast. He tackled her and she came down hard on the cold cement, crying out as her legs scraped against the rough ground. He shoved her jaw shut and held it, straddling her waist as she struggled futilely. The man glared at her, panting hard as he brought the knife down angrily, skipping her neck and instead aiming directly for her heart.
Lois screamed, though no sound came out with the man’s hand clamping her jaw shut. She squeezed her eyes shut and waited, her last image of earth the blood stained knife speeding directly toward her.
Part 8
The knife grazed the front of her shirt, tearing though the fabric before a roar filled the night air. The knife was gone, her skin miraculously unbroken. Lois forced her eyes open, but they felt glued shut. A dark shape, nearly snarling with anger had her assailant tackled on the ground. The man struggled, but he was obviously no match for his attacker and Lois’ angel.
Lois struggled to her feet, pressing a fist against her mouth as her breath came in ragged gulps. There was no light in the area, save for the lone streetlamp about fifteen feet away. The pool didn’t extend so far as to their location however, and Lois was forced to only discern her savior and attacker’s silhouettes. The man on top had the obvious edge. He spoke a moment later, hissing quietly at his prisoner. Whatever he had said frightened the man into submission, though he still half heartedly struggled against the iron grip grinding him into the pavement.
“Lois, please call the police with that phone right there. You’ll be perfectly safe, I assure you. I won’t take my eyes off you.”
The voice was calm and gentle, at odds with the fearsome picture he made in the dark. It was familiar. Soothing. Clark’s.
“Clark?” she said a little timidly, not even realizing her lapse. Clark didn’t seem to notice either.
“It’s okay, Lois. You’re all right. Just go call the police and then this will all be over.”
Lois followed the directions speaking in a nearly calm voice to the woman at the end of 911. When she hung up, the fact that her English teacher had just saved her from certain death and was pinning a man twice his size to the ground rushed to hit her on the head.
“Y-you,” Lois began then changed her mind. “Where the hell did you come from?”
Clark grunted as an answer as the man beneath him attempted to break loose. Lois tensed, ready to fight, but Clark quickly subdued him again. “I live around here. I was walking home when I heard a scuffle in the alley.”
Actually, he had been watching a basketball game in his apartment when he had heard her heartbeat. At first he thought his tortured musings were following him home and he nearly covered his ears with his hands, desperate to stop the mental images and dreams. The heartbeat refused to leave him however, and he paused. It was speeding up and then… another heartbeat? What? Though he had always had an active imagination he couldn’t fathom what his subconscious was trying to tell him by throwing in another heartbeat into the mix. Finally he caught the breathless, near cry for help and he realized that it hadn’t just been his emotions kicking into overdrive. Lois needed him!
Thankfully both Lois and her assailant were too busy to notice that he jumped out of his third story window in his haste to get to her. When he saw them struggling and when he saw the knife flash from the man’s hand… Clark shuddered. He had very nearly been too late. It had been easy enough to overcome the man, however, and now his only struggle was how to make it look believable.
After her first question, Lois was quiet. She leaned against the wall of the alley and watched Clark keep an eye on her would be killer. There was no noise in the still night save for their ragged breathing. Finally a siren split the night air and Clark gratefully handed the man off to the authorities. Clark drove her to the station to give their statements and finally the ordeal was done. Lois and Clark walked to his car, both silent and pensive.
“I think you had better call your parents now, Lois,” he said softly. His gaze fell on the shallow slice across her throat. It was thin, no longer oozing blood, but it still glittered malevolently in the light as a constant reminder of what had nearly happened. Since his marriage to Lana, he had stifled the cries for help in his head. He helped when he could, oftentimes at night and dressed in black. The guilt never truly went away but he could function normally alongside it.
If Lois Lane had died because he had been too busy watching a basketball game to notice she was being mugged and threatened just outside his window, his world would have crashed around him. He handed Lois his cell phone and watched as she dialed a number.
After a few minutes, Lois hung up, giving the phone back to him with a shrug. “Sorry, Mr. Kent. My parents aren’t home, I guess.”
“Aren’t home?! It’s midnight. Where else could they be?”
“My parents are separated. My dad’s a doctor and on call at the hospital right now,” Lois stopped there, content with her explanation. Clark frowned at the evasion.
“Where is your mother?”
Lois’ eyes flashed angrily. “What’s it matter to you, anyway?”
Taken aback, Clark shot her a sharp glance as he drove to a 24 hour pharmacy.
“It matters.”
“I don’t see why it should.”
“It just does, Lois!” He finally exploded just as he pulled into a parking space. He twisted the ignition to shut off the car and he jerkily opened the door and waited for Lois to follow. “I care about your well being.”
Lois fell into a stormy silence as she trudged after Mr. Kent into the fluorescent glare of the store. “What are we getting here, anyway?”
“Peroxide and bandages.”
“Why those?”
Clark threw her an exasperated look. “For someone who’s excelling at their advanced course senior English class, you’re awfully dense today.” He meticulously read the backs of the bandage boxes.
Lois let out a surly hrumph. “If this is about my legs, they’re fine. Obviously the cops didn’t think I needed a hospital.”
Clark paused from his reading and finally selected a type. He headed toward the exit, barely waiting for her to catch up with him. “Yeah, well. I guess I’m a real nut for wanting to bandage up that.” Clark gestured vaguely to her raw and scraped legs. She had nearly forgotten about them in the excitement, but obviously Clark had noticed.
Clark paid for the supplies and then returned to the car. He turned on the ignition and then flipped a switch. The interior of the car was suddenly bathed in light. Clark sat Lois down in the passenger seat, swinging her legs out of the car. He knelt on the pavement and ripped open the various packages around him.
“Sorry about this.”
“Sorry about wh—AHHHH!” Lois squealed as the peroxide bubbled and burned her raw legs. “This stuff can’t be legal,” she gritted out, squeezing her eyes shut as it stung.
“I’m afraid it is. And recommended too.”
Without seemingly caring that he was slowly burning her to death, Clark gently held her calf and bandaged the various scrapes on her legs. Through the stinging haze, Lois became aware of a different kind of heat. His large hands glided effortlessly over her legs, never pausing, never approaching anything remotely a caress.
But the whole thing was so damn intimate.
She took in his form speculatively as she mindlessly spat out insults and curses at him. She wasn’t really aware of what she was saying and it didn’t appear like Clark was listening either. His hair was falling into his eyes, blocking them from her view as he tipped his head downward to concentrate on his hands bandaging her legs. The hum from the generator was the only noise in the silent parking lot and Lois realized that if she had been with any other man in such a creepy location she might have been frightened. The area wasn’t the best and Lois was sure the stoned kid who sold them the supplies wouldn’t be able to tell that a scream from the parking lot warranted investigation. But she was with Clark and she didn’t feel the slightest sliver of fear. She felt a few other things, most of them things she wouldn’t dwell on until later, but no fear.
“There, all bandaged up.” Clark’s fingers skimmed over the broken skin one more time, checking to be sure he hadn’t missed a spot. “You’re a target for trouble, Lois Lane. This is twice in two days.”
“Just drive, Mr. Kent,” Lois said, brushing over his concerns. She smiled then, but it wasn’t mirthful. The smile was a ghost of what it could be and full of wry condescension. “After all, I have school tomorrow.”
Clark helped her move her feet back inside the vehicle and shut the door. Lois switched off the light in the car and waited for Clark to make his way back into the driver’s seat. She shouldn’t be so snappy with him. He had just saved her life. As if sensing her mood, Clark didn’t fill the silence with any discussion. He thumbed on the radio and they left the music the job of making conversation. Lois unconsciously ran her own fingers over her injuries and the spaces of unbroken skin between them. Clark’s fingers had been deft and gentle and warm. Her breath caught in her throat as she looked at him out the corner of her eye. In the dark his body was a mere shadow, but the light from the dashboard clearly threw his face in relief. He looked tense. Without thinking, Lois rubbed his shoulder.
The muscle underneath her gentle fingertips was steel, but it relaxed after a moment. A blissful smile crossed Clark’s face and he looked at her. His eyes roved her face for a moment, horror dawning in his eyes. His shoulder suddenly became rigid muscle again and she let her hand drop, for her sanity as much as his.
There was no other way to explain it. It was insane. She couldn’t fight the rampant attraction between them and she didn’t want to have to. She shouldn’t have to. She was 23-years-old, a consenting adult. She needed to tell him. She tried to form the words in her mind in a way that didn’t sound certifiable.
“Hi, Mr. Kent, or should I call you Clark? No, you see, I can do that. I’m actually 23. Undercover. Yeah. So… why did I tell you? Oh um… I just thought we could go back to your place and I could jump your bones?”
The car stopped.
Lois jerked out of her musings and looked around. They were at her parent’s house. Right. Clark thought she was a high school student and that she lived here. She turned to him.
“Clark, I…”
“—Don’t. Don’t Lois. Call me Mr. Kent. Please, for my sanity. It’s time for you to go home. Be sure to tell your parents what happened to you tonight. Go to the doctor tomorrow.” Clark paused and his voice nearly cracked on the last bit. “Do your homework. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“But Cl—Mr. Kent, I have to tell you something.”
Clark stared stonily out the front window.
“Go on, then,” he said brusquely. “What is it?”
Lois took in his rigid form and sighed. “Nothing, Mr. Kent. Thanks for everything tonight.” She got out of the car and slowly made her way to her front door. She fumbled for the key in her pocket and it took two tries to force the key into the lock. She looked back. He was still waiting. Finally she got the door open and stepped inside.
The car was gone before she could even tilt her head to look outside.
_____________________
Clark dialed his parent’s number, needing to hear a sane voice. He had flown them back home a few nights ago despite their protests. They could tell something was up, Clark thought ruefully, long before he could. At the time he couldn’t get their gently probing questions far enough away, but now he craved the reason and inevitable wisdom they would offer.
Martha picked up on the fourth ring. “Hello?”
“Hi Mom,” Clark said softly.
“Clark, is something wrong? Should I go get your father on the line?”
Clark shook his head, oblivious to the fact that his mother couldn’t see him. “No, that’s okay. How have you been?”
“Things are going great here. Just normal, really. Katie Klinger just had her baby.”
“That’s wonderful,” Clark was having the conversation without paying attention in the slightest. “What’d she name her?”
“Him. They called him Tristan. Honey, are you all right? You sound awfully strange.”
“Why wouldn’t I be all right?” Clark dodged the question, rolling his eyes at his own perverseness. He had called his mom just to talk about the scenario but now that she was on the phone, he denied he had a problem.
“You had that nightmare and you looked so pale! And now you sound like you just lost your best friend.”
His mother was much too perceptive for her own good sometimes.
“Lois was nearly killed tonight,” he finally said after a moment of silence. “I saved her just in time though.”
“Oh Clark! That’s terrible. What happened? Are you all right? Is she okay?”
“Of course I’m all right. Lois is okay too. She banged up her knees a little, but nothing that won’t heal. She was mugged walking home and then he nearly…” Clark broke off, rage hazily filling his eyes and his voice faltering on the words. “He nearly raped her.”
His perceptive hearing had no problem distinguishing the sharp, but nearly inaudible intake of breath. “It was terrifying, Mom. I was almost too late. And when I tackled him, I wasn’t myself.”
“What do you mean ‘you weren’t yourself?’ Who else would you be, Clark?”
“I was so… angry. Fearful, but angry. I wanted to kill him. I’m terrified of what I would have done if Lois hadn’t been there. I’ve never felt such an all consuming rage. I can’t feel like that, Mom! It’s dangerous. I’m dangerous.”
“Clark Kent, if I was there right now I’d tan your hide for saying such things. You are not dangerous. You acted on fear and adrenaline and when someone you loved was threatened, it merely magnified the emotions. You didn’t harm a hair on that man’s head, did you?”
“I… I knocked him into the ground.”
“He deserved that.”
“I guess, but… wait, Mom, love? Are you serious? Are you feeling okay? I don’t love Lois. That would be wrong.”
Martha bit her lip, though Clark, with all his powers, couldn’t see her. He was right; it was wrong. But yet her mother’s intuition was telling her she was spot on and she couldn’t disregard it. It had never failed her before.
“Clark, matters of the heart are mysterious. And I can’t solve this for you. All I can tell you is that when love taps you on the shoulder, you can’t just shut the door in its face. That usually backfires.”
“Solve what? Mom, you’re wrong. There’s nothing to solve. I haven’t been tapped on the shoulder.”
His words sent a flash of bright fire behind his eyes and his shoulder burned where Lois had rubbed it. God, his mother hadn’t been speaking in literal terms. He needed to get a grip.
“I appreciate the sentiment, Mom, and I’ll be sure to keep it in mind. But you don’t need to worry. I’m not in love with anyone.”
“Are you sure about that, Clark?”
Clark was silent for a long moment. “Yes, I’m sure.” His face burned as he crossed his fingers behind his back. “I’m positive.”
“As long as you’re honest with yourself, Clark. You know your father and I love you very much?”
“Yes, of course. I love you both, too,” Clark took a steadying breath. “Goodnight, Mom.”
“Goodnight, Clark.”
Clark curled up on his window seat and stared out into the inky darkness. His mind whirled with too many thoughts to keep straight and organize. Flashes of his day, his past few days, his life before Lois Lane mixed and blended. He’d always looked forward to last period, right? That had always been the case. Not just because of his students. He’d have reacted just the same tonight had it been any other student. Of course he would have. The answer was beyond debating. He would have done the same thing for any human being. The feelings in his heart weren’t the same as they had been for Lana. With Lana, things had been so easy. He hadn’t had to question falling in love. It had just happened. Now things were achingly similar and heartbreakingly different. Clark laid his head on his arm in exhaustion.
“Goodnight stars… goodnight air…goodnight noises everywhere,” he quoted sleepily to himself, recalling years and years of falling asleep to the same story. “Goodnight moon.” Clark paused and got up from his seat. He tumbled into bed, pulling the covers tight around his chin in a mocking version of his childhood routine. “Goodnight Lois,” he whispered to the dark room.
Silence filled the apartment.
_______________
Clark quoted "Goodnight Moon" by Margaret Wise Brown.
