Lois opened the door to her apartment slowly the next evening. Work had been… odd to say the least. She had still been unsure what John had meant by the kiss at the end of the night, but honestly had not given it as much thought as it likely deserved. Shortly after lying down, she had fallen asleep. When she woke up a few hours later, it was only as she had managed to twist her dress around her uncomfortably. She had gotten up, quickly changed for bed, and was asleep again within moments.
It was not until she reached the Union Tribune office that she had remembered the kiss, and as a result she felt shy and unprepared to meet her editor. But when she arrived upstairs, John was not there. Abby came over and Lois updated her on the information she had uncovered the previous night on Mike Skagle. The two talked for a few moments before Abby went back to her desk.
Lois got up to get herself a cup of coffee, but kept casting discreet glances at the entrance, waiting for John to show up, although she had no idea what she planned to say to him when he arrived.
It was just as well, as he had not come in all day and it was not until late in the afternoon that she heard Ellen, one of the sports reporters, comment that John had left that morning for a trip to visit his parents. He had gotten word that his mother was sick and had gone to see if he could provide any help.
This news prompted Lois to think beyond their kiss, and despite her nerves, she called John's cell phone. When he did not answer, she left a rather awkward message on his voice mail. “Hi, John. It's Lois... Lois Lane. I..um…I just heard about your mother. I just wanted to make sure everything was okay. Give me a call if I can do anything. Okay? … Um… Bye.”
Lois had still not heard from John when she left work and was feeling on edge. Sometime during the day, in addition to all of her nerves about John, she had realized that implications of her conversation with Clark the previous night. She had told him that she would go to Smallville with him. While it would be nice to see Martha again and she was looking forward to seeing Jonathan, she had not really thought too much about getting there. And now she realized Clark clearly intended to carry her and fly. It had been a long time since Lois had flown in Superman's arms aside from the fire and she had never flown this far with him before.
Peeking her head in, she looked around. No Clark. She breathed a sigh of relief, happy to put the flight off for a few more minutes. She changed clothes quickly once she was inside.
Once she was changed though, she was unsure what to do. She wandered around her apartment picking things up and placing them back down in her nervousness. Finally it occurred to her that the trip to Smallville could be off. Who knew where Superman was tonight?
She walked over to the television and flipped through the channels quickly looking for LNN. Finding that there were talking about the President's current visit in France, she sat down. Ten minutes later, though, there was still no news on Superman, and she figured that meant he was either coming or doing something so small it would not be carried by the national news.
She flipped the channels some more, finally landing on an old episode of Family Ties. She watched with little interest as Alex complained loudly about some girl he was clearly interested in and was almost relieved when she heard the knock on her window.
Flipping the television off, she walked to the window slowly. As she walked towards him, she studied Clark's face through the window. He looked nervous, too, and that made her feel slightly more comfortable.
Lois opened the window with shaky hands and Clark clambered in. “Ready to go?” he asked softly.
She nodded her head, afraid she would give her nervousness away if she spoke. Clark walked towards her slowly and finally stopped in front of her. For a moment neither of them moved, and then Clark moved closer. He put a hand on her shoulder and then stopped.
Finally he took a deep breath and slipped a hand under her knees and one across her shoulders, cradling her towards his chest. “Are you comfortable?” he whispered. Lois nodded.
“You may want to keep your head tucked tight to my chest,” Clark instructed quietly. “We'll get there quicker if I fly a bit faster than I used to do when we were just moving around Metropolis.”
“Okay,” Lois whispered, and then snuggled her head into his chest as asked.
Clark walked towards the window and floated out of it. He turned around so Lois could reach out and close her window.
Then with a whoosh he was floating above San Diego. They flew in silence for a moment and then Lois asked, “Can I pick my head up? I'd like to see.”
Clark nodded his head, but then realizing she could not see anything, said, “Sure, I'll slow down a bit.”
Lois moved her head out from his chest and looked down. It only took a moment for her to realize that the earth was hidden beneath a sheet of clouds, but there was starlight all around her.
“Wow,” she whispered. It was amazing.
Clark smiled and softly whispered back, “Yeah, I've always wanted to share this with you.”
Lois looked up at him, “What do you mean?”
Clark looked down at her, his eyes sad. “I used to fantasize about telling you who I was. There was so much I wanted to do with you, so much I wanted to experience with you. I knew you would love it up here. I even thought of taking you as Superman, but…”
“But?” Lois prompted.
“Nothing. It's just going to upset you,” Clark mumbled.
“Tell me anyway,” Lois replied, an edge to her voice.
“I didn't want to encourage you. You had such a crush on Superman.”
Lois nodded her head, not being able to argue with that, but still not understanding why that would matter to him. She thought in silence for a few seconds before suddenly understanding. “And you wanted me to want to be with Clark,” she said.
Clark nodded, before saying, “I know it sounds silly, but I didn't want to experience it with you as Superman. It just… it isn't the same that way.”
Lois smiled, “No, it's not. I agree.”
They flew in silence for a few more moments. “Thank you for sharing it me, Clark. I'm glad I had the chance to experience it with you.”
Clark smiled in response, but a few moments later warned her, “You should tuck your head back in. I'm going to speed up a bit before landing.”
Lois snuggled her head back into Clark's chest, feeling better. She felt like she had seen something real in that conversation. Some part of Clark that seemed completely genuine and resonated with all her memories of him. Something that linked this Clark, the one she was deeply mistrustful of, and the old Clark, the person she trusted most in the world, to each other.
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Lois felt the slight impact of Clark's feet hitting the ground and lifted her head upright as Clark swung her legs down. She moved a step back from him feeling suddenly shy. It had felt so intimate up there, just the two of them.
“Lois!” she heard Martha exclaim behind her and the moment was broken. She turned to the older woman with a smile before stepping towards her and allowing Martha to envelop her in a hug.
“Come on inside, dear,” Martha encouraged. “Jonathan can't wait to see you.”
Jonathan was sitting on a recliner in the living room, but stood up when Lois entered. “Lois!” he exclaimed, his arms wide open. “You look even prettier than I remember,” he said as she stepped into his embrace.
As they always did, the Kents made Lois feel immediately welcome and within five minutes of arriving all of her nerves were gone. They sat in the living room each with a cup of coffee and a slice of Martha's homemade apple pie.
“Clark told us you were on a date last night, Lois,” Martha said, a smile in her voice. “Someone special?”
Lois paused before answering, taken about by the tone and the question. Martha seemed genuinely interested. But why would she be okay with the idea of Lois dating someone other than Clark? She looked at Martha carefully for a second, but saw no malice or sarcasm in her glance. Martha was, as always, 100% genuine.
“It wasn't really a date,” Lois clarified. “It was sort of a work thing. John had tickets to a charity event and he thought I could get some information for a story I'm working on, so he invited me.”
“Anything interesting?” Jonathan asked.
“I certainly hope so,” Lois smiled. “My partner and I are looking into a senatorial candidate for California.”
“Skagle?” Clark cut in.
Lois looked over at him surprised. “Yeah, how did…?” but she cut her question off. Of course Clark knew. He was a journalist – he could smell a story just as much as she and Abby could. “Yes,” she amended her response. “Any info I could use? We still have almost nothing.”
Clark shook his head. “Not really,” he said. “I know this is not his first run at congressman and I've seen him speaking with Mickey Weis, but I can't determine if there's anything really going on there. But of course, I'm not investigating them,” Clark said, a touch of bitterness in his voice.
Lois said nothing for a moment caught between being ashamed that her digging had gotten her no further than information Clark knew and wondering at the bitterness in his voice. Was he angry at her, or just disappointed, missing the thrill of working on a story?
Finally, she decided this was too good an opportunity to let pass. “So, what do you know about Weis?” she asked.
Clark smiled a bit, “Really not much. Except that after Luthor's death, Weis picked up quite a bit of the old empire at bargain basement prices.”
For a moment, the connection seemed crystal clear to Lois. “Do you think he got Lex' kryptonite?” she asked.
Clark shook his head. “We found it. Superman told Henderson about it when Luthor died and Henderson found it and gave it all to Star Labs for safe keeping.”
“What?” Lois asked. “You knew Lex had kryptonite even then?”
Clark nodded his head, but did not elaborate. When he failed to clarify Lois went on, “But Henderson couldn't have found all of it. Ariana had some.”
Clark nodded in agreement. “I know, but we found that as well. There wasn't much more than the bullet she formed out of it.”
“But if he missed one piece, couldn't he have missed others?” Lois asked.
“Maybe,” Clark admitted. “But that doesn't explain why Weis would grind up what he had into dust and sprinkle it all over a sparsely populated area of Australia.”
“Good point,” Lois admitted. “But still, we should keep an eye on him.”
Her cell phone rang before Clark could reply and glancing at it she saw it was John. “Can I take this?” she asked, and when the Kents nodded, she got up and walked to the kitchen to get some privacy.
“Hi,” she answered the phone.
“Hi,” John replied and Lois could hear the smile in his voice. “I got your message,” he said.
“How's your mom?”
“I think she's going to be okay. She passed out yesterday a couple of times and they weren't sure what was wrong with her. But they think now that she may simply have been dehydrated.”
“So, she's going to be fine?” Lois clarified.
“Almost definitely,” John said. “They are going to keep her in the hospital one more night, but it's mostly a precaution.”
“I'm glad,” Lois told him.
“Thank you for calling, Lois. It meant a lot to me that you did,” John said, his voice a bit rough.
Lois searched for something to say, but before she could, John began speaking. “Lois, when I get back… do you think… I mean, clearly say no if you don't want to, but maybe I could take you to dinner?”
Lois fought the urge to laugh. She had never taken John for being shy.
She said nothing for a moment, glancing into the living room to see the top of Clark's head. She smiled. Clark was Clark, but he was never going to be anything more than what he was right now. And John was great – he made her feel comfortable and smart. “I'd like that,” she finally replied.
She could hear the sigh John let out. “Great! So, I'll see you in the office in a couple of days?” he asked.
Lois said goodbye feeling good about her decision and smiling as she shut the phone and walked back into the living room.
