No, this story is not dead. I'm still just waiting on some inspiration.
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From Part 3
“Are you busy tomorrow night?” Clark asked as he sat on Lois’ bed sharing her rocky-road ice-cream straight form the carton.
“Why?” Lois asked him, giving him a suspicious look.
“I’d like to take you and Pulitzer out to dinner.”
“You’ve *got* to quit calling our son Pulitzer, Clark! Someone is going to ask why.” But the way she grinned told him that she rather liked his pet name for the baby.
“If you’ll go out to dinner with me, I promise I won’t call him Pulitzer, not for a few hours anyway.”
“Why is it that ‘take me to dinner’ is now ‘go out to dinner with me’? Are you asking me out?”
“Well, I’m not asking you for money.” They both smiled remembering the first time he had tried asking her for a date and she thought he was asking for a loan.
“A date? You mean a real date? Like where I take out my best perfume, the one I bought after seeing 'Love Affair', the good one not the remake- or is it the re-remake now?, and put a dab behind my knee, even though I have no idea why?
Clark struggled to remember his lines from that life-changing conversation they had had so long ago. “Yeah... I guess that's what I'm saying.”
“Where is Jimmy when I need him?” Lois grumbled.
“Perhaps you’d like to think about it since I’ve already had time to think about it, plan what I wanted to say, what I’d say depending on what you say. . .”
Lois laughed before her expression grew sober. “What is this about, Clark?”
“This is about you and me. At the least, we need to have a very amicable relationship for the sakes of all our children, and at most, well, let’s just see what happens, okay?”
“Clark, I’m not sure I can do this again.”
“It won’t be *this*. I made mistakes, Lois. I can’t say I won’t worry about you. It isn’t possible for me to keep that promise, but I will try to remember that you have another identity than wife and mother just like I have another identity than Clark Kent, Editor Daily Planet. You’ve always allowed me to be Superman and I need to allow you to be Lois Lane, Super Reporter. I want to give you the same support that you have always given me. So we’re not going to do “this” again; I want to try for something better. Something that will make you feel fulfilled in all your identities.”
Wow. How could she refuse after a speech like that?*****
Clark snapped shut his cell phone with a sigh. “I’m sorry, so sorry, Lois. I need to stop off at the Planet right quick before dinner. I’m really sorry.”
“Clark! I was editor for several years. It’s okay. I understand that there are times when only the boss will do.”
“It’ll just take a minute.”
“Fine. I’ll just wait here.”
“Why? Come in and help me and maybe I’ll get this taken care of in half the time.”
“No, I’m fine here.”
“Lois? What’s the problem?”
“Nothing.”
“You *are* mad at me.”
“No, I’m not.”
“Yes, you are.”
“No, I’m. . . well, actually I am starting to be. Just let it go, okay?”
“Lois. . .”
“I don’t want to run into anyone, okay!”
“Why not?”
“I just don’t.”
“It’s 7:00, Lois. There will only be a few people there working late.”
“Who?”
“What?”
“Take a peek and tell me who.”
“You’re kidding, right?”
Lois gave him a disgusted look.
“Okay, not kidding.” He pulled down his glasses and peered through the ceiling of his car, the paring garage and several floors of the Daily Planet. “Looks like a researcher, one who has started since you left, Morty in Obits, Jane in sports, also new, the security guard-”
“All right, then.”
Clark replaced his glasses and looked at her. “That was quick.”
“I have to pee. Pulitzer’s sitting on my bladder.”
Clark started to chuckle. “Stop laughing, Kent, or I can find my way home.”
“Sorry. Hopefully this won’t take long and we’ll be back on our way.”
*****
“Clark? Clark!” Lois’ whisper invaded Clark’s thoughts as he looked over tomorrow’s proof while mentally cursing his junior editor who was conveniently incommunicado after cutting off one of the sentences on the front page.
Clark looked up from the proof and looked out to the pit. Where was she and why was she whispering?
“Clark, I need your help.”
The baby! Something was wrong with the baby.
“I’m sort of stuck.”
Not the baby then. Stuck where? Clark set the proof down and told the copy boy standing by to take it back to the print shop. “One second, I need to check on something right quick.”
“I’m stuck in a storage closet by the bathrooms.”
How had she ended up in there?
“The door must have locked automatically. Please get me out.”
The pit was deserted when he walked past. “Lois?” he called.
“Clark! In here.”
“Lois, what are you doing in the closet?”
“Just get me out of here, Clark!”
“As soon as I can, but Lois, I don’t have a key to this closet.”
“Why ever not? You’re the editor! You should have keys to every room on this floor. In this whole building! Why don’t you have a key to this closet?”
“It’s a cleaning supplies closet, Lois, for the cleaning crew. I really have no need to get in there and we keep the cleaning supplies locked up because they kept disappearing.”
“Disappearing? Who was taking them?”
“I don’t know for sure. It might be someone doing it as a prank, or someone trying to save money by taking products to use as home. Or someone picking up the chemicals to make drugs-”
“Making drugs from supplies pilfered from legitimate businesses. That would make a great story, Clark!”
“Lois?”
“Yes?”
“Great story or not, you’re still stuck in the closet. So sit tight while I find that security guard. Oh, and I need to give the okay on the proof so Bob can get it back downstairs-”
“Why can’t you just get me out of here?”
“I can, but people might wonder why Superman busted down the door of the supply closet. There’s no window to that room and the hinges are on the inside. There’s no way that Clark Kent can get you out of there.”
“Oh.”
“Lois, are you okay?”
“Yes, just hurry, okay?”
“Do you want me to stay with you?”
“No, I’m fine, but you better be glad I already peed or secret identity or not Superman would be getting me out of this closet pronto!”
“I’ll be right back, I promise.”
Clark rushed back to his office. “Just go with that,” he told the waiting copy boy and scooped his cell phone off his desk. He quickly punched in the number to the lobby while he walked back to Lois. “Yes, this is Clark Kent. Please tell the guard I need him in the pit with the keys to the cleaning supplies closet as soon as possible.”
*****
“Clark?”
“I’m back.”
“Are you going to get me out of here?”
Clark sighed. “Yes, but apparently the guard is new and not yet entrusted with all the keys so the head of security has to be tracked down, and he’s not answering at home-”
“So it’s gonna be a while.”
“Sorry, yes.”
“It’s dark in here, Clark.”
“I’m right here, Lois.” Clark scooted down against the wall and stuck his fingers
under the door. Warm fingers grasped his instantly. “What exactly were you doing in the closet?”
“I was headed to your office when I spotted Ralph heading towards the men’s room. So I ducked in here so he wouldn’t see me.”
“I know Ralph can be a pain, but-”
“I didn’t want to see him, I didn’t want to talk to him, and I didn’t want it announced to all and sundry that I “did you” even after I divorced you.”
“Lois-”
“And don’t try to tell me that Ralph wouldn’t do that. We both know that he would.”
Clark chuckled. “Probably.”
“He would!”
“Lois, is it so bad? Are you really so upset about Pulitzer? Sometimes you seem really happy about it and then there are times, like now. . . I just don’t get it, Lois.”
“Oh, Clark.” He heard her give a deep sigh. “I *am* happy about the baby. It certainly wasn’t something I ever dreamed about, at least not in the last eight or so years, but I love him already. I worry all the time about him, I’m afraid I won’t be able to carry him long enough to give him a good chance at life. I’m afraid that I won’t be a good mother, that I’m just too old and out of the loop. I’m afraid people like Ralph will judge me and our child. And I. . . I’m. . . Clark, I don’t want to do this alone.”
“You’re not alone, Lois.” Clark squeezed her fingers. “I’m here for you in any way you want me to be. And not just because of the baby, but because I love you and I’m the biggest fool in the world for letting you get away. What happened to us, Lois? Why?”
“Clark, don’t think for a minute that I regret being JC and Mariel’s mother. To even be a part of two such wonderful people’s lives is an honor. But I *do* wish I could have done both. Other women have a family and a career. I don’t understand why I was so incapable of doing so. I needed to get that story. I needed to prove to *myself* that I was the reporter that I always wanted to be.”
“And I didn’t listen.”
“Why, Clark? I always thought we had a pretty good relationship. Why didn’t we talk to each other?”
“I always felt bad that I wasn’t able to be there for you and the kids as much as I wanted to be. Yet any time I had to miss being Superman because I was with you I felt bad. I constantly struggled with what was more important. Spending time with my family or saving someone else’s family. Once JC and Mariel graduated I felt like I didn’t have a right to tune out those calls for help any more. Like maybe now I could make up for any calls I hadn’t answered in the past because I chose to spend time with them. But I forgot the most important person in my life. I took it for granted that you would understand.”
“I do understand that you have to help people, Clark. But I still miss you when you’re not there. And because of the reason, there wasn’t anyone else I could talk to. Mariel was just starting out in her own marriage and your mom doesn’t need to be worrying about us.”
“Why. . . why did you divorce me?”
“Oh, that was so stupid. I guess I figured that if we weren’t married then it wouldn’t hurt that you didn’t have time to talk to me. And we argued all the time anyway. I wish I hadn’t done it. And I never meant to go to Irrat by myself. It was supposed to be Lane and Kent together again, but it just-”
“And I got mad instead of listening to your explanation. But I was scared that you were getting farther and farther away from me.”
“We were a pair of fools. That’s what we were.”
“Lois, we don’t have to stay fools. If you will let me back into your life, it will be different. JC is ready to take on more of Superman’s responsibilities. He can especially handle all the PR stuff that he can schedule around his classes. And Mariel is happy as a stay at home mom so Pulitzer can stay with her anytime that you need to work.”
“I’m not even sure I want to go back to work. I’m not really sure what I want to do, but right now. . . I’m just so tired all the time.” Lois voice was wobbly with stress and tears.
“Ah, Lois. I wish there was something I could do.”
“You can’t. I know you would if you could.”
“So where do we go from here?”
“Out of this closet would be nice.” Clark could sense Lois mentally square her shoulders and push away from the moment of weakness. Lois might be willing to let him back into her life, but she wasn't going to throw the door wide open. No, Clark was going to have to work at opening the door slowly and carefully.
