“How does it feel, Clark?” Abby asked.
Lois said nothing, just smiled as she looked at Clark. She did not need to ask how he felt. It was all over his face.
“It feels amazing,” Clark said.
“It should,” John interrupted the threesome. “That was an incredible piece of journalism, not to mention the investigative reporting skills. You all did a wonderful job. This is the biggest story ever to be broken by the Union-Trib. The boys upstairs are ecstatic.”
Lois smiled at him. “Well, they should be,” she said. “With our help, the FBI and Australian government were able to put together multiple charges against Mickey Weis and Mike Skagle.”
“This is utterly ridiculous,” Mickey Weis said when Dan and Henderson went in together to arrest him. Lois and Clark were outside the open door and Lois' eyes moved quickly back and forth between her slight view of Weis and her view of Clark. So far, Clark showed no signs of further kryptonite exposure, so it must be back in the drawer it was in when they had interviewed Weis.
“We have the evidence here, Weis,” Dan said, showing him the folder of papers. Inside were the emails Jimmy had uncovered, the plans Lois and Clark had found, evidence of various other crimes Henderson found in his search, and pictures Inspector Kelly had sent of the weapons he found out near Whyalla.
“I'm a very successful business man. Clearly someone has framed me,” Weis said. His tone was arrogant and Henderson had a flashback to the arrest of Lex Luthor. “I'll have your head… badge for this.”
Deciding that ignoring him was the wisest action, Dan started reading him his Miranda rights. “Stop, this is insane. I haven't done anything!” Weis demanded, but Dan just kept on speaking.
When he finished, Henderson moved forward to place the handcuffs on Weis.
“Hey, how are you feeling, CK?” came Jimmy's voice from behind them.
“Good,” Clark answered quietly.
“They are almost done in there,” Lois whispered.
“I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to see Weis in handcuffs,” Jimmy explained. “And since Henderson didn't seem to have an issue…”
At that moment, Weis came out with Henderson and Dan.
“Olsen. You did this, didn't you?” Weis demanded when he saw Jimmy.
“It's him. Olsen. He framed me.”
Henderson laughed, “I'm not sure James Olsen would be able to go through with such a thing if he wanted to,” he said. “If you are going to start making accusations, you may want to pick more likely targets.”
Lois did not mention anything about Alice's work as a pilot or Jimmy and Pam's rental of the plane or purchase of titanium to John or Abby.
“Are you ready, honey?” Perry asked as they stood beside the small plane.
Alice looked at him with such love in her eyes that Lois felt the need to look away. “I'm more than ready. I'm excited.”
“Will you be okay?” Clark asked, the concern clear in his voice.
“I'll be fine,” Alice assured him. “Flying here was good practice,” she said. “Besides, the flight today will be short compared with getting us all down here.”
“So, can we run through how this is going to work again?” Lois asked, feeling uncharacteristically nervous. She felt Clark's hand move against hers and looking down she could see him trying to take her hand. She looked up at him to smile in thanks as she interlaced their fingers.
“Well, we've tested it already and the titanium is firmly attached to the plane,” Jimmy said.
“So, I'll fly a short flight around the field to make sure the plane is still handling properly with the titanium there,” Alice said. “If it is, I'll fly north to Belize and then over the entire covered area. I should be able to see the green dust coming at me, so I'll just keep going until I'm short on fuel or there's no more dust coming at me.”
Lois nodded her head. “But you'll land immediately if something goes wrong?” she asked.
“Yes,” Alice said. “But nothing is going to.” With that, the older woman climbed the short staircase into the plane.
Abby had agreed that including the attack against Superman in the article would just cause more problems for the superhero later and now that he had returned to the skies, she could not imagine that anyone had any desire to see him missing again.
So, the references to Superman and kryptonite were left out of the article aside from the necessity of pointing out that the connection between the two men was made in an effort to kill the superhero.
“Do you think kryptonite is real?” Abby asked Lois and Clark as they ate Thai food and tried to finish writing up the story.
“It must be,” Clark said. “I can't imagine that Weis offered it to Skagle to kill Superman without having it. Or at least something that looked like it.”
“But of course, even if it is kryptonite, that doesn't mean that it really has any effect on Superman,” Lois added.
“Where do you think he was?” Abby asked.
Lois and Clark shared a glance, before Clark said, “Apparently, he was around, but helping with rather small things and did not hear the news of either the wildfires or the monsoon. It's a bit unusual, but I guess it's possible.”
Abby shook her head in agreement and Lois made a mental note to mention something about this in the sidebar article.
Lois felt a bit badly about keeping the truth about kryptonite from Abby, let alone John, but knew that the fewer people who knew about it, the better.
John laughed at Lois' confidence that their story would impress the boys upstairs. “Sorry to break things up, but Lois, can I talk to you for a minute?”
“Sure,” Lois said. “What's up?” she asked once she and John were alone in his office.
“I wanted to talk to you,” John said. “Please take a seat.”
Lois sat down and looked at John expectantly.
“As I said, the boys upstairs are really happy with the article,” he opened.
Lois smiled, “You didn't bring me in here to tell me that,” she said. “I knew that before they even saw the article.”
John smiled. “There's no surprising Lois Lane, is there?” he teased. “No, that's not why I wanted to talk to you. They are so happy they want me to offer Clark a job.”
“Really?” Lois said smiling. “That's great. Clark hasn't been able to write in years before this and I know he really missed it.”
John smiled at her. “You love him, don't you?”
“What?” Lois asked, the question catching her off guard.
“I wanted to talk to you first to make sure you were okay with it, but you didn't even think about yourself. You immediately thought about how Clark would feel. He's a lucky man.”
Lois blushed slightly. “It's not what you think, John. We're just friends.”
John laughed. “Like us?” he asked.
“Huh?” Lois asked, not understanding where this is going.
“Clark adores you, Lois. I see the way he looks at you. He's in love with you.”
Lois' blush deepened. “Maybe,” she conceded, “but even so, he knows…”
But John cut her off, “And when I see you look at him, I know that you and I have gone on our last dinner date.”
“What?” Lois asked, startled.
“You love him,” John stated. “It's all over your face when you look at him. I'd probably be all eaten up with jealousy if it wasn't so clear that he understands how special you are.”
“John,” Lois said weakly.
“It's okay, Lois,” he replied quietly. “Clark Kent is a good man. I can't seem to work up any of the righteous indignation I'd like as I like him too much.” Then getting up from his chair, he walked toward the door. “Just one more thing,” he said before he opened the door.
Lois, who was still feeling shell shocked, turned to look at him. “What?” she asked quietly, feeling a little afraid of what was coming.
“You're staying, aren't you?” John asked. “You're not planning to go back to the Daily Planet?”
Lois smiled, feeling better now that the question was one she could answer easily. “No,” she shook her head firmly. “I love it here and I couldn't leave Sammy.”
“Good,” John smiled.
“But, John,” Lois said as he started to walk through the door. When he turned around to look at her she said, “I don't know that Clark wouldn't like to move back to Metropolis. I don't really think he has any desire to live in San Diego, so he probably won't take the job.”
John smiled. “You really don't get it, do you? Clark would do anything for you. If you're committed to staying in San Diego, he's going to be tickled pink to be offered a job here.”
Lois started to protest, but she feared John was right and so said nothing as her editor went to offer Clark a job. A moment later, she got up and followed him over to Abby and Clark.
“I, uh,…” Clark fumbled for words as Lois approached and she realized she had lingered in John's office a moment too long and missed the offer. Looking up now, she saw Clark's eyes search for hers before he said, “I can't.”
“What?” Lois asked, loudly. Why would Clark turn down the job like that? Even if he hoped to move back to Metropolis, she didn't think it would be so easy for him to turn down the job offer.
“I'm sorry,” Clark said softly before pushing past them to make his way outside.
Lois followed a moment later to find him leaning against the side of the building.
“What are you doing?” she demanded when she saw him. “You were offered a job writing again. If you want to go back to Metropolis, that's great and I'm sure you could get a position at the Planet again in a heartbeat. But still, I wouldn't have thought you could say no so easily.”
Clark stared at the sidewalk for a moment and when he raised his eyes to meet hers they were full of pain. “I don't want to work for the Planet,” he said softly.
“Then what do you want?” Lois asked him, her voice softening as she took his hand in hers.
“I want to work here with you,” he said and if he made an attempt to hide the longing in his voice, it failed miserably.
“Then why did you turn down the job offer?” Lois asked confused.
“Lois,” Clark said softly, “I can't do that to you.”
“Do what?” Lois asked, confused.
“I can't stay here. You don't want me…” his voice trailed off as if he could not decide how best to qualify that statement.
“I…” Lois found herself at a loss for words. “Clark,” she finally said, moving closer to wrap her arms around him. “I want you to be happy. I want you to… I don't know, but I know that I don't want you to turn down this job.”
“Really?” he asked, his voice full of hope.
“Really,” Lois said, moving away slightly to look up at him. “I know having a chance to write again will make you happy. How could I not want that for you after everything you've done for me?”
Surprisingly, Clark's face fell. “Oh,” he said.
“What?” Lois felt confused again.
“Lois, you need to stop thanking me for that. It was nothing and you've more than made up for anything I might have done by forgiving me for all the mistakes I've made.”
“Okay, fine,” Lois conceded. “But that's not the only reason I want you to take this job. I liked worked with you again.”
“Really?” Clark asked again, sounding hesitant to believe her.
“Really,” Lois said, smiling at him. She reached out to run a hand through his hair. “It's been fun,” she said, but found her breath hitch when she saw the darkening in Clark's eyes.
She told herself she should step back and put some distance between them, but found herself instead taking a small stop closer so that she could feel Clark's body pressed against hers.
Clark's eyes darkened further, but he took a deep breath, and pushed gently against Lois' waist. “Lois,” he pleaded and Lois could not determine if he was asking her to step away or to reject his gentle push and move closer.
She looked down at his hands on her waist and felt tears come into her eyes. She was weak. There was no other explanation for it. She was weak and John was right. She loved him. She loved Clark Kent. Despite all he had done and all her talk about never being able to move that much past it, she was in love with him.
She moved her own hands down to rest on top of Clark's and prying his hands off her waist, she moved them to fall around her. Then stepping closer to him again, she leaned up.
“I love you, Clark,” she whispered before bringing her lips to meet his.
“Lois,” Clark whispered against her lips. “Please don't.”
“Shh…” Lois whispered back, caressing his lips with her own.
For a moment, Clark did not move, but then he responded to the kiss. For a few moments, they stayed in their embrace, lips meeting again and again.
When they pulled apart, Clark pushed Lois away slightly so he could take her in. “Are you sure?” he asked, his voice hesitant.
Lois smiled. Surprisingly, she was sure. So Clark made a mistake. He learned from it and he loved her. And she loved him. She really did. “Yes,” she said softly and felt her face break into a broad smile to match the one on Clark's face.
“Thank you,” he whispered. “Thank you, thank you, thank you,” he said repeatedly between bestowing tiny kisses across her cheeks. But then his lips found hers again, and his mantra of appreciation stopped.
