Part 2
The tall figure glanced uneasily around the newsroom, and then let out the breath he was holding. Lois wasn’t anywhere to be found, and after leaving her in a lurch this morning, he wasn’t sure if he was ready to face the music.
Life was such a juggling act these days. Between dodging Mayson’s bold advances, tip-toeing around Lois’ glares and questions, and balancing two very conflicting jobs, he was certain that he’d slip up soon.
Clark sighed and headed toward the break area. At least right now, he could concentrate on his day job. All was quiet on the Lois storm front and his moonlighting-in-tights job, and a cup of coffee sounded like just the thing he needed before concentrating on his latest story.
A couple of moments later, he was loading his mug with another packet of sugar, totally lost in his thoughts, when a pair of slim arms slid around his waist. A message unmeant for human ears whispered inaudibly, ‘I think I love you.”
For a moment, he was stunned at her unwitting declaration heard by his super hearing. Apprehensively, he turned in her arms to be greeted by a low-throated, “Hi.”
Her eyes darted away from his gaze, and she appeared more vulnerable than he’d ever seen her. An anxious sigh, and then she was staring at him full in the eyes. A bold finger laced itself into his back belt loop, and he was effectively trapped in her embrace.
Clark gulped nervously.
“I know I said I’d let you ask me out, Clark, but I can’t help to get the feeling that you’re holding out on me.” Mayson trailed her free hand from his back to rest on his chest. “I think we need to talk, um, somewhere not so public, and figure out what is between us – *if* there is an us.”
A glimmer of tears filled her eyes, and Clark felt his heart torn. It was time to let her down, but not here, not in the newsroom full of his colleagues, where Lois could show up at anytime, he thought ruefully. The time he hadn’t shown up at the chateau *had* been rather rude. If he hadn’t been otherwise occupied with super troubles, he certainly would have found a way to get out of it gracefully.
He brushed away a tear that slipped down the corner of her eye. He *did* care for Mayson – it was the least he could do – and stringing her along when his heart belonged to Lois just wasn’t fair… to anyone.
“Come on over to my place tonight, and we can talk then.” He gave her a tiny smile. “See you at seven?”
Her face scrunched up in disappointment. “Tonight won’t work. I have a meeting with the Chief of Police about a case and there’s no telling how long-winded he’ll be. I’m sorry Clark. I came over here to corner you, but now I can’t commit to a time that you set.” She smiled shyly. “I’m pathetic. Maybe tomorrow night?”
“Um…” Clark rolled through his mental appointment calendar. There was that ribbon cutting ceremony for the new hospital wing at Metro Community Hospital. “I can’t tomorrow. How about the next night? Would that work?”
“Sounds perfect,” Mayson answered with a smile, before reaching up on her tip toes and placing a soft kiss on his lips. “I won’t be late.”
The elevator doors opened to reveal a small woman inside who immediately jabbed at the buttons to escape the intimate scene displayed before her.
******
She did *not* just see that, Lois thought as she leaned up against the wall of the elevator and pressed the emergency stop button. She did not just see Clark kissing Mayson in the middle of the newsroom with her hanging all over him like a designer suit rip-off.
So what was she going to do now? Run away from her newsroom because that tart couldn’t keep her hands off her partner? No, Lois Lane did not turn tail at the first sign that upset her. It was just that Clark was suppose to be *hers*.
She released the stop button on the elevator and the door opened. The last person she wanted to see was standing right in front of her. Mayson.
Lois stood stock still, frozen in her tracks with image of only moments before terrorizing her mind – of Clark kissing Mayson.
A quiet ‘ahem’ jolted her back from her revelry, and Lois realized that she was frozen in her tracks like a raccoon caught in a garbage bin.
“Mayson,” she stated while mentally smoothing her disheveled feathers back into place.
“Are you going to let me into the elevator, or am I going to have to take the stairs?” Mayson asked smoothly.
“Well, pardon me, but reporters do have other things on their minds other than social niceties.” Lois huffed. “And instead of blocking my way, why don’t you try letting people out first.”
Mayson waved her hand dramatically and stepped to the side. “Be my guest.”
Lifting her chin, Lois stepped out of the elevator purposefully, and then retorted over her shoulder, “By the way, Mayson, your lipstick’s smudged.”
No, she wouldn’t give her the satisfaction of being a beaten puppy in the corner crying over her ‘man’. She fully intended to fight for Clark and give that bimbo a run for her money, and maybe even a run in her designer stockings in the process.
Straightening her skirt and flipping her hair over her shoulder, she pasted a brilliant smile on her face as she approached Clark who was still at the coffee break area apparently very curious about her and Mayson’s exchange of words.
“All right, partner. What do you have for us?” she asked casually. Her insides were wrestling like a bunch of kittens fighting over a ball of yarn, but her exterior was prime yoga poster board pin-up material.
Clark’s eyebrows shot up into his hairline in his surprise. This was not the response he’d been expecting from Lois. He was ninety-nine percent sure she’d had witnessed Mayson’s kiss. Clark tuned in on her heart beat with his super hearing and heard its rapid pounding. Okay, he was in trouble. Lois had definitely seen the kiss between him and Mayson. But what was she up to now?
Wasn’t she supposed to be throwing blunt and not-so-blunt objects at him? Shouldn’t he be cringing from the sting of her babbling rant?
Unless it hadn’t bothered her at all that she’d seen another woman with him, but this was no time for contemplation. Lois was staring at him expecting an answer, and he’d better stop feeling so guilty and give her something.
Pasting on a tentative smile, he grinned back at her. “Oh, so we’re back to there being an ‘us”?”
“When you’re around.” Lois shut her mouth quickly. No. This was not the time to reveal her suspicions about her partner. There was a job to do, Mayson to get rid of; and most importantly, find out if Clark was really Superman.
She’d spent the whole drive from her apartment to the Daily Planet fretting over the information she’d found out earlier. It had taken her quite a few tears and scoops of chocolate ice cream to muddle her way through all the facts she had gathered that day. Sometimes panicking and on the verge of tears at the implications of this enormous revelation, she’d finally eased herself into a semi-tranquil state.
And… admitted to herself that she was in love with Clark Kent – no matter what he did in his spare time.
It was that knowledge that helped her toss the messy emotions of seeing Clark with Mayson in another emotional baggage compartment, and gave her the strength to move on with her plan. All the moments they had spent together had to have counted for *something*.
The wonderful friendship that had forged between them, albeit, somewhat reluctantly at times on her part; the stakeouts and casual Friday nights spent cuddling while watching a movie or sharing take-out, had to have added up. It had to be more than what Clark shared with Mayson. She had him and she almost knew it.
Clark cared for her enough to take out an insurance policy for her… and she loved him enough to eventually forgive him. Of course, she wasn’t going to make it easy for him. The super weasel still deserved to be plastered on the bottom of her shoe, but first she had to prove her theory.
Clark Kent *was* Superman.
But how? How was she going to prove it?
“Lois, I’m always around.” The voice of her handsome, best friend broke up her thoughts. True, he was always around. If this hypothesis was true, then he’d been around for her far more than she ever realized.
Superman rescues, the times he’d conveniently dropped by her apartment when she was in danger or just to visit. It would explain why Clark always got that certain look on his face, tugged at his tie and left – only for her to hear about a Superman rescue moments later. The times he’d insisted on being her body guard when he could barely open a peanut butter jar. He had had the self-assurance that he could protect her.
And she’d laughed at his confidence - as Clark Kent.
But what a clever way of covering up his tracks then by being the bumbling, awkward reporter! It explained so much of his contrasting personalities.
He had wanted her to believe he was two different people. And it had worked – up till now.
“Yeah,” she answered softly. “You’re around when it counts.”
Grabbing his tie, she twirled on her heels and he followed her, chuckling quietly.
“Let’s see what you’ve got, partner,” Lois commanded. Yes, this was the perfect plan. Ease him into a false sense of security, glean the information she needed, and then go in for the proverbial kill.
If she was correct, she literally held the Man of Steel on a brightly colored leash. This was getting fun.
Releasing her willing captive, she perched on the edge of his desk, making sure to flash a glimpse of her longs legs. Oh, she knew she was playing dirty, and hopefully someday soon, she’d have the full rights to tease him this way, but for now, her adorable bit of pocket lint deserved every uncomfortable moment she could give him.
Clark had gathered his composure once again and was pulling up some notes on his computer. Lois slid off his desk and moved around to stand behind him. Presumably to be debriefed on the case they were working on, but secretly to study her partner without him being aware.
The back of his handsome head distracted her. In the light of her new revelation that she loved him – *was* in love with him – she yearned to study him in a new light. His soft, dark hair gleamed under the bullpen’s lights and she examined practically each strand thoroughly. The clean cut of where his hair met his neck was meant for kissing. Lois blushed furiously, unaccustomed to this new train of thought.
She tentatively placed her hands on his shoulders – one at a time, as to not appear *too* clingy, or touchy-feely. Casual. That was the name of the game.
His shoulders were solid beneath her small hands, but she repressed the desire to squeeze them appreciatively. Grappling with her warring emotions, she reminded herself that she was on a mission. A mission to seek out the truth about her partner… but he was just so delicious feeling!
Clark was murmuring something about a new source, and she tried to shake off these fresh feelings of desire for her partner.
Concentrate, Lois, concentrate!
The time for ogling would come later – after everything was sorted out.
But now she needed a foolproof plan to find out if Clark Kent was Superman. Oh, god! She realized! Was it really possible that the shoulders she was grasping could be Superman’s? The god-in-tights that she’d worshipped from afar for practically a year and a half was a solid, ordinary man beneath her palms?
Superman. What in the world was she going to do about Superman if Clark was really him? Or if Superman was actually Clark? Who was the real man? Was it the cape-wearing Adonis, or the average guy in glasses who was the real person?
Thinking back, it had to have been Clark. Superman hadn’t appeared until after Clark started working at the Daily Planet. And hadn’t he told Amy Platt that his mother had made the suit for him? That made perfect sense. Martha Kent was the type of mother who would know her way around a sewing machine and would encourage Clark in any endeavor he would come up with. How many years had she wished her son could be all he could be for the world? Seeing Clark grow up with all his special abilities and not have an outlet for him to use them properly must have been a burden for her.
And the Kents had instilled in the kind of values in Clark that complimented a superhero. What a better man to become the world’s beacon of truth and justice then one country-raised and fed in an ideal Kansas farm setting!
Unable to resist, her right hand grazed the skin above his suit’s collar. Clark slightly squirmed beneath her hand, and she instinctively knew that he was reacting to her touch. Now if only she could make this to her advantage – but how? And she did have to concentrate on what he was saying… if she could multi-task between her silent appreciation of his physique, the multitude of her potential discovery, and attempting to come up with a fool-proof plan to trap him.
A cup of his pencils caught her eye and suddenly a plan was formed. Could she really pull this off? Was it really this simple? Of course, there was the second stage of tracking down Superman afterwards, that would prove more difficult, but she’d cross that bridge later.
Reaching over Clark’s shoulder, she grabbed a pen from his holder. Using it as a point, she commented on the only information that she could remember him telling her.
******
Clark was confused. Lois was acting totally out of character. Her hands were distracting him to a frenzy, and her voice near his ear had him almost undone. It was all he could do to focus on his notes and explain them to her.
Sure, she had leaned over his shoulder in the past, but now she was touching him – almost intimately. When her fingers grazed his neck he nearly turned around in his chair and bolted. Heaven help him if she found the Suit underneath his business one!
This was not the right timing for them to become more! He had to tell her his biggest secret first. Lay it all out in the open and confess the secret that he had never told anyone.
He was a pioneer in this area – telling someone the secret that he’d guarded his entire life. His parents had grown up with his ever-developing abilities and had helped him muddle through all the problems and heartaches of being different. Lois would be thrust into this situation blind. Forever throwing herself at his alter-ego, he’d hoped that she’d one day turn to him – Clark – for more than friendship. But in his well made plans, he would have seen it coming. He’d have known that Lois was changing her heart towards him and he would have been prepared.
He always imagined that he would be the one to make the first step. In fact, he had been contemplating on asking her out for a date – as soon as he stirred up enough courage to do it.
Daydreaming about dating and kissing Lois was one thing, but to actually go through with it was a completely different thing. He paled at the thought of them having a great date, then Lois slamming the door in his face when she was over-whelmed with the changes in their relationship.
Even he – Clark Superman Kent - was frightened that taking the next level in their friendship would prove to be disastrous. Tiptoeing around Lois had been par for the whole time he’d known her. Why couldn’t she allow him to tread carefully for a few days more?
Her breath tickled his ear, and he involuntarily shivered. Close proximity to Lois meant that nothing else mattered, and he was effectively trapped beneath her charms.
A slender arm reached forward and grabbed one of his pens from his desk. Maybe she was concentrating just a bit more than he if she was going to edit his notes.
Suddenly the world blurred as he felt a warm wet sensation on the top of his ear.
“Later, partner,” she whispered in his ear. “I have to return a video.”
The tiny flick of the pen marking his neck didn’t register. For all he knew, Lois Lane was finally becoming *his*! Then it hit him.
Lois had to return a video?
*******
