My apologies. This is late and a little short. The short thing is completely story-related. This was just a really good place to break up the story, so I decided it would be okay to be a bit shorter than normal. The late thing is real life related. just haven't had any real free time around a computer in the past week. All good things – visiting friends, friends having new babies, etc, but things that kept me away from home a lot.
One more note. Dandello has kindly let me know that Henderson was not a Detective on LnC (except in the pilot). He was an Inspector and so a Lieutenant (the rank I gave him in the last chapter) would be a demotion. So, Henderson is now the Assistant Chief of Police. I did some searching, and the police rankings that seem to match those I knew of for LnC's Metropolis most closely were those for NY City cops. Assistant Chief of Police would be two promotions from Inspector which is what I thought was reasonable for ten years. While this makes it a bit less likely that Henderson is doing any real police work himself, I've decided to take some liberties. This is a big investigation. Why wouldn't the Assistant Chief get involved?
The doorbell rang then, interrupting their conversation. “I'll get it,” Lois said, placing a hand on Clark's knee as she pushed herself up. As Lois moved to the door, Clark stared at the place where her hand had been, but Lois did not notice.
“Good to see you, Lois,” Henderson said as he came in. “Kent,” he extended the greeting to the man in the room behind Lois.
Henderson had a few more gray hairs than the last time Lois had seen him, but otherwise looked the same. “Oh, Clark,” she said as she remembered, “Henderson here said he'd make sure there was a record of your being in the Witness Protection Program.”
“Already done,” Henderson said as he moved to sit in a chair beside the couch on which Clark and now Lois, too, was sitting.
“Thanks, Bill,” Clark said. “I really appreciate it.”
“Not a problem,” he replied. “Now, what do you know about Weis?”
“I want to hear all about what you've been up to in the last ten years, too,” Lois said with a straight face.
“I got promoted. You managed not to get yourself killed. I think we're all caught up now, don't you, Lane?” Henderson asked, smiling. “Now, again, what do you know about Weis.”
“Well, for starters, he's in Malaysia waiting for Superman,” Lois said, picking a random place to start.
“No, he's not,” Henderson replied.
“I checked the flight logs,” Lois said. “He's there.” Henderson shook his head while Clark moved to turn the television back on. “Clark, can you shut that off? We're having a conversation!” Lois said, using the same tone Clark would have expected her to use for a small child.
“I'm just looking to see if Skagle is in the news,” Clark explained.
“What?” Lois asked, still sounding annoyed.
“What if it isn't Weis in Malaysia? Maybe it's Skagle. He could be using Weis' plane.”
“It's not Weis,” Henderson repeated. “One of my men just saw him go back into his office an hour ago. I'm pretty sure he can't be in Malaysia now if he was in Metropolis an hour ago.”
Lois nodded before looking at the television, “Nothing on Skagle?”
“Nothing,” Clark replied as he moved to shut off the television. “They showed the shelter and he's not there anymore.”
“Who the heck is Skagle?” Henderson asked.
“Mike Skagle. He's running for California senator,” Lois started.
“And his campaign appears to be funded by Mickey Weis,” Clark finished.
“Why the heck would Weis support a California senator?” Henderson asked, although it was clear the question was mostly rhetorical.
“No idea,” Lois said.
“But we think perhaps Weis is paying Skagle to kill Superman,” Clark clarified.
“Ah,” Henderson said, flipping through a notepad he had pulled out of his breast pocket. “That would explain why Detective Williams thought he spotted Weis handing someone an emerald.”
“Huh?” Lois asked feeling like perhaps her mind was working sluggishly.
“Williams is new. I should have realized. The thing he thought was an emerald was kryptonite. Are you okay?” Henderson asked Clark. “Has it come near you?”
“I'm fine,” Clark said.
Lois snorted. “Apparently when Clark says he's fine, he means he's alive. He's not super,” she told Henderson.
“So you have come in contact with it?”
“Some of it was ground into dust and spread across parts of the last two big rescues I did. I got covered in it last time and it's taken away my powers for the time being,” Clark explained.
“So it was in…” Henderson paused while he thought. “Australia and Germany?” he asked.
Clark smiled, “No, there was none at the riots in Germany last week. It was in Belize.”
“And near my apartment,” Lois said and finished with “in San Diego,” off of Henderson's blank look.
“Are you near the wildfires?” he asked.
“No,” Lois answered, “but pretty much everyone knows Superman visits me pretty regularly.”
Henderson moved to the window, peering out. “Is there any here?”
“No,” Clark replied. “Well, except for what Weis has in his office.”
“Okay,” Henderson said, sitting back down. “What else do you know?”
“Not a whole lot,” Lois lamented. “Skagle is using Superman as a way to win the election. He's claiming that his not being at the wildfires means he doesn't care about California.”
“People are buying that?” Henderson asked.
“No idea,” Clark replied. “We left pretty shortly after we heard Skagle's speech. But we're not really sure that means that much. Our guess is that Skagle was paid to kill me in return for funds for his campaign. He's just capitalizing on it to create fear. Not that it's really the reason for the effort.”
“And we know almost nothing more about Weis. We had an interview with him earlier today but got nothing out of it,” Lois explained. “Well, except that Clark learned he has kryptonite.”
“Oh, we do know one thing,” Clark said. “One of the scientists at Star Labs determined that the earthquake in Australia wasn't an accident. Someone started it with a small nuclear explosion. Lois has determined that Weis' plane had been in the area shortly before that which would give him the means to set up the explosion and the kryptonite dust.”
“Right,” Lois said as she came to the realization. “So, if we could prove that Weis caused that explosion…”
“What?” Henderson cut her off. “You may not realize this, Lane, but the Metropolis Police Department doesn't have any jurisdiction in Australia.”
“On the other hand,” Clark said, placing a hand on Lois' arm to calm her, “maybe the local police in Australia would be interested in catching the man who killed everyone who lived in the area of the earthquake.”
Henderson nodded. “Yes, that is possible. We'll get to work on contacting someone from there and seeing what we can do to determine if Weis was behind the explosion. Anything else?” he asked. “Can you prove he has kryptonite?”
“No,” Clark answered. “We never saw it. I just felt it.”
“Okay then,” Henderson said, starting to get up. Then he remembered, “Wait, what was the thing about Weis being in Malaysia?”
“When we were in his office,” Lois started to explain, “he seemed concerned about something. Based on what he said, we think he was planning to use another natural disaster to attack Superman.”
“There's a typhoon headed for Indonesia right now and Lois tracked Weis' plane to Malaysia, but not back,” Clark continued. “Given that I didn't show up at the California wildfires we think he thinks I'm either dead or close enough to it that he can kill me if I show up to help at the typhoon. If he's based in Malaysia it wouldn't take long to reach me at the typhoon spot once there was word that I was there, but this way who ever is there isn't in any immediate danger from the typhoon if I don't show.”
Henderson looked at them blankly for a moment and then said, “But it's not Weis that's in Malaysia. And you think it's Skagle?”
“Yes,” Lois said.
“You can't even fly to Malaysia right now anyway?” Henderson asked Clark.
“No,” Clark said.
“Okay, good,” Henderson said getting up. He walked to the door before looking back, “I've almost forgotten what it's like to have you around, Lois. I can't believe I almost left without asking. What are you planning to do next?”
Lois looked at him blankly, finally admitting sheepishly, “I don't know. We haven't talked about it yet,” she said as she looked at Clark. “I'm not even sure what we can do right now.”
“Good. Please let me know if that changes. Weis is dangerous. I want to know if you are getting yourself in any trouble,” Henderson said.
Lois got up and gave him a hug, “It's good to know you care, Bill,” she said with saccharine sweetness.
“Lane, get off me,” Henderson said, pushing her away with mock annoyance. “It really is good to see you again,” he said when he moved away. “I'll be in touch.”
Lois smiled at him as he walked out the door and then turned back around to face Clark. For a moment, neither of them said anything. I know I have no right to ask anything of you, but I really want you to be happy, Lois. Clark's words from yesterday came back to Lois when she saw Clark's face as she turned around. He had watched her interaction with Henderson with a smile. He looked happier in this instant than Lois had seen him since the awful night in the club. He looked… he looked like Clark again. He was not busy trying to run her life, or beating himself up over his having done so in the past. He was not awkward and shy trying not to upset her. He was just Clark. Clark, who loved her and loved to see her happy. While she had gotten brief glimpses of that man in recent days, this was the first time she truly felt like he was there with her. His smile made it clearer than any of his words had that he did love her, even if he was a lunkhead who had made some pretty major mistakes.
In alarm, Lois noticed the smile drop off Clark's face as he moved forward. He wrapped his arms around her, resting his head on top of hers asking, “What's wrong, Lois?”
“Wrong?” she asked, her words muffled in his shirt. “Nothing's wrong.”
Clark moved away slightly to look into her eyes and asked, “Then why are you crying?”
“What?” Lois asked, moving a hand up to her cheek. To her surprise it came away wet. “I don't know,” Lois said. “It was just…” In an instant, though, Lois knew exactly why she had been crying. “It's just that I missed you so much.”
Clark laughed lightly, pulling her back into his arms. “But I'm right here, Lois. I'm right here and I'm not going anywhere.”
Lois said nothing for a moment, not ready to fully explain what she was thinking. Finally she took a deep breath, and whispered, “I know. I didn't mean now.”
She felt Clark's reaction immediately. His whole body seemed softer somehow and she could feel his chest get slightly further away from her as his shoulders slumped. “I'm so sorry, Lois,” he whispered into her hair. “If I could go back…”
The tone to his voice made Lois want to cry. He was back to beating himself up over it. The moment earlier where he was just Clark was slipping away.
“Don't, Clark,” she commanded as she pulled away to look at him. When she could tell he was about to apologize again, she stopped him. She leaned forward onto her toes and pressed her lips to his.
For a moment, neither of them moved. They were frozen in place, standing toe to toe, arms around each other, with lips lightly touching. Then Clark responded. He tightened his hold on Lois slightly while moving his lips lightly over hers. In an instant, though, he backed away.
“You didn't mean to do that,” he whispered, an undercurrent of breathlessness in his words.
Lois stared at him, a bit unsure of what had happened. Then she backed away from him, breaking their embrace. “No,” she whispered, a bit breathless herself. “I didn't.”
She moved a few steps further back and then looking solidly at her feet, she said, “I need to go.” Without looking at Clark, she grabbed her purse and was out the door.
