I am so sorry for the delay of this chapter. I had a terrible time writing it! All of the other chapters seemed to flow so effortlessly from me, but this one was a really tough assignment. Anyway, sorry for the delay, but I hope you enjoy this installment.
From Part 9... “What was the meaning of all this,” he playfully flicked the strap and looked at her inquisitively. “The dress and the time, I mean.”
Lois felt cold ice drench her scalding insides. The camera. Lexy. She had forgotten her assignment. Seduce Mr. Kent. He had her pulled on his lap, she was definitely halfway there. But… There was no way she could go through with it now. And there was no way she could convince him to go along with it either. He deserved better. Lois felt like screaming. Every time she made a step in the right direction she was forced at least fourteen steps back! It was infuriating. It never even entered her mind to lie.
“Okay, so I’ve been on my way to joining the Rosettes, as you know,” Lois began. Clark nodded thoughtfully, his chin gently bumping the top of her head. “They gave me three initiation tasks. My first one was to steal some test answers.”
“From me?”
“No, Redwick. Let me finish. I did that easily enough. Anyway, my second task was to get some fake IDs for the girls. Now that one was a little more difficult, but lets just say I know guys who know guys.” Lois fell silent. She didn’t know how to phrase the next part. “And then last night I got my last test. My test was…” Lois broke off and stood. It was just too intimate sitting there. She paced for a moment and finally convinced herself to just say it. “My last test was to seduce you, Clark.” Part 10 Clark stiffened. “Excuse me?”
“It was Lexy’s idea. I was supposed to come over here all dressed to impress and… well… sleep with you.”
A beat passed as the air between them grew thick. “And so you did?”
Lois frowned. “Well, no, obviously, since I just told you about it.”
He stood from his spot on the couch and walked into the kitchen. Lois followed, perturbed by this lack of a response. Clark’s fingers gripped the tile counter, his back to her.
“Get out,” he said harshly. He did not turn to face her.
Lois’ heart skipped a beat, causing her breath to quicken. “What?”
Clark was silent for a moment before he repeated his demand. Lois stared at his back, fear and anger warring in her mind.
“Turn around, Clark.”
Clark remained unmoving as stone. Lois took in the tense lines of his shoulders, bitterly regretting her phrasing earlier. “Look, Clark. I know how that sounds. But you can see I didn’t do it. I told you about it for heaven’s sake! I picked you. Don’t you see that? I picked
you.”
“That’s just the thing, Lois,” Clark said softly. Lois cringed. She might have preferred him to yell. This deathly calm scared her. “You didn’t pick me. Look at you. You came over here with the intention of going through with this. Do not insult me by lying and saying you didn’t. What stopped you? My pathetic declaration? Did you stop to think about the consequences of what you were about to do? Did you stop to think about what this could do to me?” Clark finally turned around and Lois’ breath caught at the depth of the hurt she saw there. “Forgive me, this sounds extremely selfish. But how can you profess to love me when you would hurt me like this?”
“But I didn’t
do it, Clark! Why are you blaming me for something I didn’t do?”
“How do I even know you’re 23? You’ve lied about everything else. You lied about loving me.”
“God damn it, I didn’t lie about that! I do love you!”
“Prove it.”
Lois gritted her teeth and faced off against Clark. “Exactly how am I supposed to do that?”
“Leave.”
Clark clenched his jaw and glared at her. He had been so foolish. First she had barely walked in the door and he had exploded, professing love and passion he had no right to feel and then he had ignored the warning signs in his head as his unmitigated joy took hold of rational thought. And this was what it left him with. A woman who had no more maturity than the 17-year-old she professed to be. How did she not see the obvious holes in her logic? How did she not understand that it was her intention that mattered, not just the fact that she had perversely changed her mind at his sorry speech? She had intended to go through with something that would have wrecked him.
And what scared him the most was the fact that she might have very well succeeded.
Would he have given in to the obvious longing in his heart? Could he have lowered himself that far? To risk a lifetime of self loathing and possible time in jail? The fact that Clark didn’t have a definite answer to give himself wrenched his stomach.
Lois was still standing on the opposite side of the island, her hands shaking almost imperceptibly in the harsh light of the kitchen. Suddenly bone weary, Clark leaned an elbow on the counter and dropped his head on his hand.
“Just leave, Lois,” he murmured, no trace of anger in his voice. “I believe you’re 23. I never really doubted you. But I’m sure no one else caught it. Your cover is safe.”
“But Cla--”
“Go!”
He didn’t want to look up to see the tears in her eyes. He didn’t want to know if there were tears in his eyes. He kept them shut and eventually he heard the front door of his apartment slam shut. Lois’ retreating footsteps echoed in his head.
And the absolute worst part was that he still loved her. The feelings in his heart hadn’t dimmed in the slightest.
___________________
Claude Malfois shifted from his uncomfortable position in the bushes outside Clark Kent’s apartment and watched in dismay as Lois hurried out. Claude could tell from his vantage point near the window that they had argued. He grimaced. It threw a definite wrench in his plans. He wasn’t sure the police would accept his anonymous tip about the possible indecency with a child if he hadn’t been able to get the pictures of them in bed to prove it. Damn. If only they had followed the plan, they would have all gotten what they wanted. Fortunately, Claude was a Malfois. And the Malfois men had always been quick to land on their feet and simply wonderful at wriggling out of unfortunate situations.
It had saved his butt a few times, actually. But that wasn’t the case now. Claude beamed at his own cleverness as he pocketed the small camera. In its memory were four pictures. Clark and Lois had argued, true, but they had also embraced and Claude had had the foresight to document it. It wasn’t enough to get any charge that would stick, but hopefully it would suit his purposes well enough to get Lois Lane out of the way.
Speaking of, she was far enough away that he could follow without worrying about detection. He kept her in his sights always, watching her amble aimlessly amidst the rowdy Metropolis nightlife. A man made a drunken lunge for her, but she merely sidestepped him and kept going, apparently not even noticing the danger the man presented. Claude had to fight to keep the smile off his face. The woman was a fascinating contradiction. Had he met her under different circumstances, he would have very much liked to invite her to his house to become better acquainted.
That, however, would not happen. And he had neither the time nor the inclination to entertain such unimportant thoughts. They continued to walk, Claude a good 100 feet behind her. He was curious as to where she would head. Some instinct buried deep down inside him had assured him that this was the night. He had listened and understood her challenge to seduce her teacher. The thought was so delightfully evil it brought him to a whole new level of respect for the younger generation Lexy was a part of. He had gone over the notes he photocopied at Lois Lane’s apartment thousands of times. He knew her preliminary work and a few inquiries of his own had brought him his own level of knowledge. He had to hand it to the girl. It was quite a scoop. Lexy indeed had murdered the girl, he was quite sure of it. Whether it had come about because of a harmless prank gone terribly wrong or if some darker reason lurked, Claude wasn’t quite sure. His source in the area had informed him of the talk on the streets. Someone was encroaching on some of the big name drug dealers’ territory at the high school. This person, a girl whose looks fitted Lexy Hartness, had the inside scoop and the cheapest drugs around.
Apparently their little gang, the “Rosettes” had joined the big league. It had all the makings of a best seller. The corruption of youth, the scandals of drugs and murder. And then there was the bonus. A highly respected teacher convicted of sexual indecency with a child? He wasn’t sure of the logistics of such a thing. If it came out that Lois was indeed overage and consenting then he was sure that the charges would be dropped. If not, they would vastly lessen. No, Claude Malfois wasn’t worried at all about Clark Kent. The man would be fine. His reputation and job might be tarnished forever, but legally, Claude knew Clark had no reason to fear.
Not that guilt had ever stopped him before. Keeping a wary eye on Lois, Claude stopped at a payphone and phoned the police station.
“Sir? I’d like to report a tip about one of the teachers at Metropolis High…” Claude spoke for a few minutes, nodding and promising to send over his pictures to the station. When he hung up, he frantically scanned the street for Lois. Finally, he saw her and he let out a sigh of relief. Jogging a little to catch up, Claude grinned. The guy at the police station owed him a favor and promised to rush his call. Clark Kent should be getting a visit from Metropolis’ Finest in the very near future.
_____________________
When Lois left Clark’s apartment, she had no idea where she was headed. She vaguely remembered stumbling out, but the walk from there to where she was now remained a giant question mark. The troubled thoughts in her head clouded her vision and her body ran on autopilot. Her mind bounced from thought to though and topic to topic at hyper speed, barely allowing time for contemplation of each thought.
Clark wasn’t being fair. Couldn’t he see how big of a step it was for her to admit to him about her undercover status? She was risking the job of a lifetime, the job she had lusted after ever since she had won the Daily Planet’s junior reporter contest in the fifth grade. She had risked everything to take a chance on love and he rejected her. If it wasn’t so pathetic, she’d be furious. No, she was furious! Lois scowled at a passing stranger and the man hurried off, obviously frightened.
She conceded that she probably should have handled telling him about her initiation a little more delicately. But in all honesty, she preferred bluntness. It sidestepped all of the nonsense that usually preceded a statement one was loathe to actually utter. Besides, she had been perfectly willing to stay and fight it out, to fight for them.
He was the one being pigheaded and spiteful. A fresh spurt of anger welled up inside of her at the thought of his gall, and Lois suddenly knew her direction.
She was tired of being a high school student and there wasn’t a snowball’s chance in hell that she’d return to her English class at Metropolis High. She had been treading lightly around Lexy for weeks and it wasn’t like her at all. She wondered now if she hadn’t been going after the story with her usual doggedness because of Clark. The thought sent a pang straight through her stomach and into her heart. She had taken notes, but that was all she did. And while she filled her notebooks with pointless scribbling about her days at school, she filled her dreams with thoughts of Clark Kent, the good, honest man who believed in her and her writing. The man she had nearly thrown to the wolves.
Lois let out a frustrated growl as she found her anger being washed away by gently lapping shame and guilt. It didn’t help her cause any when she felt guilty. Anger made her spark. It allowed her to get moving and keep her eye on the prize. Shame just made her lethargic.
Lois’ legs finally stopped outside Lexy’s pretty, two storey house. This was it. She checked her watch: 11:30 p.m. If Lexy wasn’t up this late then that was too bad for her. Lois boldly went around the side of the house and knocked loudly on Lexy’s window.
She was sick of being undercover. That was going to change. She had just enough information to scrape together a convincing bluff and if she had to tip her hand to use it, well then she would. Lois patted the recorder in her purse reassuringly. She had taken to carrying one around with her after her word had been questioned while on a routine investigation for the paper in college.
The window lurched beneath Lois’ hands and she quickly removed them from the sill so Lexy could shove up the pane. She looked incredulous at seeing Lois standing there outside her window, dressed to the nines and twigs in her hair.
“Um… hi? Ever heard of using the front door?”
Lois paused mid clamber over the sill “I didn’t want to wake anyone up,” she said, looking over her shoulder at Lexy. Lexy was casually dressed in sweats and a Metropolis High T-shirt. She rolled her eyes and stepped back to allow Lois room to get in.
Once inside the room, Lois turned to face Lexy.
“Did you do it?” Lexy asked, a genuine curiousness in her voice. After Lois paused, her voice grew snide. “Was he good?”
Lexy’s own attempt to sleep with Clark flashed through her mind and Lois felt a wave a nausea and shame at her own gall. Her anger quickly returned, however, when her subconscious filled her in on a mental image of Lexy with Clark intimately, the light of the fire playing on the strong curves of his back.
“I wouldn’t know and if I did, I certainly wouldn’t tell you,” she hissed, dully aware that her anger had gotten the best of her again and caused her to speak before thinking. But she was already this far. “I wouldn’t do it. I told him about you instead. I told him everything I know about you. How you abandoned poor Beth Warner in that water tower after she called for help. How you’ve been the new drug dealer on the streets. Yes, I know about that. You obviously weren’t careful enough about covering your tracks.”
Lexy’s eyes glinted malevolently out of a face carved from ice as she glared at Lois.
“I didn’t kill anyone and I certainly do not sell drugs.”
Lois snorted slightly. “Yeah. Very convincing. Clark’s already gone to the police, Lexy. The gig is up. I’m not even a real high school student. I’m an undercover investigative reporter from the Daily Planet,” Lois savored the look of unmitigated shock on Lexy’s face. “Yes, you were this close to letting a reporter become a member of your precious gang. How does that make you feel?” Lois took a step forward, lording her victory over Lexy. The girl looked frightened, but she jutted her chin out defiantly.
“You have no proof.”
“Of course I have proof. Do you think I would waltz over here and lay down my entire hand if I didn’t have proof?” Lois mentally crossed her fingers. “Your proof is already in the hands of the police and you have nowhere to run, Lexy.”
Lexy paused for a moment, pale and shaking. Finally she grabbed the handle of the door and slipped out of her room with a quiet “excuse me.”
The move was so unexpected, Lois stood obediently for a second before she bolted after Lexy. She skidded into the hall just as the front door slammed. Cursing herself and her impractical shoes, Lois kicked them off and sprinted after the girl. She wrenched open the front door and jogged out the first few feet, looking wildly down the street for a glimpse of the girl.
It was then, as she stood on the porch gazing out at the street, that she felt the cold steel pressed into her back. Lexy warned her not to move an inch and every muscle in Lois’ body stiffened.
“Start walking.”
Lois berated herself endlessly for her stupid flight right into Lexy’s trap. She didn’t doubt that it was a gun pressed against her back and even Lexy wasn’t bad enough to miss this close. As if reading her thoughts, Lexy spoke.
“I do know how to shoot a gun, you know. My father worked in law enforcement before he retired.”
“So what are you going to do, Lexy, kill me? That’s going to look real great on college applications.”
“Shut up, you idiot reporter. I’m not going to college. I think I have quite a lucrative business running right now and further education would just take prime selling years away from me.”
“There’s still a little question about the warrant out for your arrest,” Lois bluffed. She was gratified to see that Lexy stumbled a little, but the gun wedged against her spinal cord remained steady.
“I do believe you’re lying,” Lexy said quietly. “I have been extremely careful. And besides, had there truly been a warrant out for my arrest, you wouldn’t have come. The police would have. No, I don’t believe you Lois. Sorry. But you are a little too close to home, if you know what I mean, so I believe you might have to take a tragic dip off the edge of the water tower. You and poor Beth Warner. Whatever happened to the two of you? A midnight dare taken too far?’
“The police won’t believe that if they see my body riddled with bullet holes.” Lois paused when she realized with a sickening drop of her stomach that they were there. The water tower. Lexy led her to a gap in the fence and instructed her to move.
“That’s why I’m counting on you drowning to death, Lois. But don’t fear. If you hesitant, I will certainly have no qualms about shooting you. I can work out the police later. As I said, I have some connections.”
Lois took a deep breath as she contemplated lunging aside and going for the surprise attack. The gun was wedged so firmly against her though, she threw away the notion as quickly as it occurred to her. Damn, but she didn’t want her spinal cord severed by a bullet. Lois reluctantly obeyed Lexy’s instructions to go to the ladder and start climbing.
Lois perked up. Perhaps if Lexy stayed on the ground, she’d have a chance when she got to the top. She could run around to the other side… Lois’ mind churned wildly with schemes and ideas. An ominous creak below her send her heart dropping to the soles of her bare feet.
Lexy was climbing the ladder right behind her. Lois chanced a look down and saw that the gun was still trained on her, albeit a little more shakily, as Lexy attempted to climb one handed.
All too soon they reached the top and Lois’ golden opportunity to strike passed as Lexy forced her to go to the side and face the tower while she awkwardly finished hauling herself up. It only took a few seconds and then the gun was firmly trained on Lois again.
They approached a door in the side of the tank and Lois, under instruction, opened it up. She turned to face Lexy, ready to offer a biting comment and finally deciding it was time to screw the plan and take her chances, when she felt the hands on her back. A fierce shove and Lois was plummeting down, screaming as she hit the black water. She surfaced, sputtering and yelling obscenities at Lexy, still framed by the star's light coming in from the door.
“Goodbye, Lois Lane.”
And then the door was shut, and Lois was locked in complete and butter thick darkness.
______________________
A rough knock sounded at Clark Kent’s door, but he was still up. He hadn’t been able to sleep since Lois had left and her scent still infused the apartment, a special brand of torture. He answered the door, too tired to check who it was. His sleepy eyes perked up when he saw the police officer standing on his doorstep, a frown evident in every crease of his face.
“Officer? Can I help you?”
“You can come down to the station for questioning, sir.”
“Questioning? For what?”
“On the suspicion of indecency with a child.”
________________
One of the reasons I had such a tough time with this chapter was because of the legal proceedings. I did research of course, but it was hard to sift through all of the useless links. I'm not sure if Claude's tip could have resulted in a visit from the police and being hauled down for questioning. That's why I threw Claude's police officer who owed him a favor in there. :rolleyes: Forgive me if I was completely wrong. But I do hope you can ignore that if it's factually incorrect and enjoy the chapter anyway.
Laura
(Oh, and shameless plug. Please join in on the ficathon! Link below in my sig.)
