Hi Guys
!
I'm back with part three and a new possible total for the part-count. I know, it's two days early, but actually the other parts have been four days late, since editing them for the gfic-boards takes extra time. I will try to do my best to keep the next parts going up on Sundays, too
My thanks go to my betas for finding any errors you will no longer find in the story below
This time I will give you Clark's point of view, when he gets back on Monday after New Year.
Michael
Disclaimer: The recognizable characters and settings in this story are the property of D.C. Comics, Warner Bros., December 3rd Productions, and anyone else with a legal right to them, and I have no claim on them whatsoever, nor am I profiting by their use. It’s just the original stuff, that would be mine, written down to bring some entertainment to other FoLC.
The setting is right after “Seasons Greedings” in Season 2.
Blocks in >> << are literal thoughts by the character.
Rating: PG-13
**********
In part two Lois had decided on the means of her revenge. She will use any and all means at her disposal to embarrass, shame, and hurt Clark like she had been hurt by him during the past months.
But what is Clark going to do once he returns from his Christmas vacation full of naive hope for the new year?
Part3 /
TOC /
Comments **********
When he woke up on the morning of his first workday of 1995, Clark got out of bed with more than even his usual élan. Today he would get to be close to Lois once again. It had been an excruciating week for him, being separated from her.
But there was nothing he could have done about it. He understood that his Christmas Dinner with Lois had been special, magical even. But if he had canceled his vacation plans altogether to stay with her in Metropolis over the holidays, he just knew it would have ended badly.
After all, Lois was like a shy doe when it came to matters of the heart. You had to tread carefully and not make any hasty movements, or she would throw up her walls and dash off to safety. And he had learned this lesson rather painfully when he had bared his own heart to her eight months ago.
And because of this, Clark knew that after having had a successful evening with Lois, an evening that bordered on the non-platonic, he had to give his Love the time she needed to adjust, before taking the next baby step in his courtship of her. And so he had given her all the space he possibly could, no matter how hard his own heart had ached for her.
Oh, it’s not that he hadn’t flown his regular patrols over the streets of Metropolis. After all, he couldn’t let the criminal element think the world renowned superhero was taking a Christmas break. And it definitely hadn’t had anything to do with checking in on a certain reporter from afar, making sure there was no dangling over the jaws of death involved in her daily routine.
And this year, it really had been from afar. Clark had not visited Lois as Superman since their fateful Christmas Dinner. Too wary was he of reawakening Lois’ worship of his blue-clad alter ego. Now that she was warming up to Clark Kent, he just couldn’t face her running after another man, even if said man was himself in tights. So he had stayed well out of her sight, and had just listened in on her steady heartbeat while she slept peacefully.
But aside from his brief stints as a superhero in Metropolis, Clark had stayed in Smallville, basking in the memory of a perfect Christmas Dinner with the woman he loved more than life itself, and thinking about the future – their future. And on one winter day, while he was sitting out there on the front porch of the farm house – his mother had called it brooding – Clark had come to a rather startling realization: he had to tell Lois the truth before their relationship continued to evolve into something more serious.
Talking the matter over with his parents had been easier than he would have ever thought it could be. His mother had been overjoyed that he had ‘finally come to his senses’. That’s what she had said. Literally. His father, too, had been far from anywhere negative about his revealing himself to Lois. There was no talk about dissection, or the government, or even the media finding out. It was all about how they were ecstatic that their son had decided to bring the woman he loved into the family.
Now, with his parents support firmly behind him, Clark had made the most important New Year’s resolution of his entire life: come Monday, he and Lois would have a quiet talk in the evening and he would tell her everything there was to know about Clark Kent, reporter and superhero.
With this in mind, it was easy for Clark to start the New Year on a light foot, and put all his energy into getting to work.
**********
Clark arrived at the Daily Planet at almost half past nine in the morning thanks to some impromptu emergency service duty. A fuel truck’s driver had decided to train for the race of Indianapolis on the local highway, resulting in this 20 tons vehicle careening out of control, crashing through the guard rail and skittering to a stop amidst the oncoming traffic. In the end, there had been a massive car pileup on both sides of the highway, leaving three people dead and dozens injured, even with Superman’s quick response. Luckily, Superman at least had been able to prevent the explosion of the spilled fuel. But it had certainly been enough to put a heavy dampener on his once good mood.
So, now Clark was standing in the lobby of his work place, waiting for the elevator to arrive, which it did after the customary extra long delay of the Planet’s aging elevator. On the way up he trained his hearing on the newsroom; searching for Lois’ heartbeat. When he heard the thudding in the familiar rhythm, his own heart started to speed up and his mood improved significantly. It was another proof to the fact just how much he needed Lois to be in his life. Even her heartbeat was now enough to take his mind off the gruesome scenes he had to help out at as Superman.
When the elevator arrived at the third floor after a delightfully excruciating minute and a half, Clark’s heart had sped up to almost 160 beats per minute and he was anxious and giddy like a six-year-old on his first day at school. The doors opened and Clark was swapped into the familiar buzz of his work place. Now all he had to do was scan the newsroom for the familiar bob of hair that was one of his partner’s trademarks.
Strangely enough though, he didn’t see her, even though her heartbeat was close by, steady as ever. It was only when he focused on the distinct thumping sound that he was able to locate her. And he nearly did a double take at the sight of her.
Lois was standing at the coffee maker, not even 20 feet away. And he hadn’t seen her – had looked right past her, in fact – during his earlier sweep. And it was no surprise, now that he thought about it. Lois’ familiar bob had vanished, to be replaced by a short, modern hairstyle. A hairstyle meant to leave most of her slender neck exposed.
Clark swallowed, hard, and after giving his overly imaginative libido a quick, but stern, talking to, he made his way over to his desk to put aside his coat. It was only then that he felt sure enough to approach his partner, and her new, exciting looks. But apparently, it was too late, because Lois had noticed him and was coming towards him, carrying two coffee mugs.
“Good morning, Clark, and a Happy New Year to you!” Lois said, while she held out one of the coffee mugs towards him. “Three sugars, whole milk, lots of caffeine, just the way like it.”
Clark was stunned for a moment, but whether it was from her New Year’s wishes, her gesture, or the perfume she wore, he couldn’t say.
“And a Happy New Year to you, too, Lois,” Clark managed to choke out while taking the coffee from Lois’ offering hand. After a quick sip, he added a ‘Thank You’ and a smile to his earlier reply.
Focusing all his attention back on his partner, Clark once more noticed Lois’ perfume, the scent still as heavy in the air as it had been before. Not that this surprised him, given how she hadn’t moved an inch, but the intoxicating fragrance now proved to be quite the distraction to his conscious thought processes.
“Um, Lois, I see you had your hair cut over the holidays?” Clark probed carefully, not wanting to imply anything before she told him whether there was a story behind it or not.
“Yes,” Lois replied, moving her hand up in a probably unconscious gesture to tuck an errand strand of hair back behind her ear. “I have decided to make some changes to my life come 1995. And since Lucy gave me a gift certificate for ‘Tank’s Hair Studio’ as a Christmas present, I figured why not start off by getting a new haircut? Anyways, it’s all part of the new and improved Lois Lane. No more wallowing about past mistakes, but instead I will just get out there and take what I want.”
Clark wasn’t sure if he had heard her correctly. Did she really just say she was going to be more aggressive in her take no prisoners attitude?
Whether Lois noticed his questioning glance he couldn’t say, because she went on to switching the subject without any noticeable pause in her babble.
“But that’s enough talk about my private life. For now, I’m happy to have my partner and friend back. It was rather boring without you here.”
Clark wasn’t sure, but did she just emphasize the friend-part of her response a bit too much? Well, he would handle this particular obstacle later. For now he would just have to let Lois be, even if she was trying to put an emphasis on a platonic friendship once more. Later on, there would be time enough to plow ahead and put them back on track to where they had been headed for when he had said good bye after their Christmas Dinner.
Once he focused back on the newsroom and his partner, Clark noticed she had turned around and was headed back to her desk. It was then that he noticed her skirt. Was it just his libido rearing its ugly head again, or was her skirt really at least two inches shorter then her usual mid-thigh skirts.
Turning towards his own desk, Clark saw that the office mail had apparently been delivered by now and he dug into it, enthusiastically grabbing at any distraction that might help him divert his current train of thought.
While digging through the usual office memos and sipping his coffee, Clark came upon a sealed beige envelope, addressed to him personally. Ripping it open, he was surprised to find a second envelope within the first.
Switching into reporter mode, Clark carefully extracted the second envelope from its wrapping. Once he held the plain yellowish envelope in his hand, he checked the addressee and became even more intrigued. The addressee area was adorned by the Superman crest. And considering that his alter ego got all his usual fan mail by a special post office box, this had to be something more serious.
Clark carefully examined the envelope’s surface with all his senses, normal and enhanced. But he could not find a single fingerprint on it. Deciding against using his x-ray vision, he tore the envelope open and slipped the folded piece of paper out of its wrapper. Another quick use of his enhanced vision confirmed the absence of any prints on the letter itself. Not that he would have expected any given the clean state of the envelope, but one could never be too careful in these matters.
Finally, Clark unfolded the paper and glanced at the letter. When he did, his heart almost stopped.
**********
Hello Superman!
Did you ever wonder if there was something that could cut you deeper than Kryptonite?
Well, I did. And I have figured it out, too:
It is losing Lois Lane.
You better watch out, Superman, because by this time tomorrow morning, you will have lost her.
– Anonymous –
**********
Clark reread the letter carefully, hoping his mind had played a trick on him. But he had no such luck. What he held between his shaking fingers was a threat to Lois Lane. Someone had actually decided to come after him by way of his partner. It looked like his worst nightmare scenario was about to come true.
>>Don’t panic, Clark! You will be of no use if you lose your head now. It’s not the first time Lois is being threatened,<< he tried to reassure himself.
>>But it is the first time someone is going after her to get to me since Trask kidnapped us when I first went public as Superman,<< the worrier in him replied.
This was deadly serious, Clark knew. And he would have to do anything and everything to make sure that nothing happened to his partner. It was bad enough when she attracted trouble on her own. But to have some nut job come after her in order to get to him, well, this complicated matters even more than usual.
So enthralled was he in his thoughts that he was startled by the feminine voice from across his desk. And a very familiar voice at that.
“So, what do you have here? A lead for a new story, perhaps?”
>>Lois!<<
Looking up, Clark saw the shapely legs of his partner in front of his desk. Hastily, he tried to cover up the letter and the envelope before Lois’ investigative streak encouraged her to make a grab for it. And this would open an entirely different can of worms; one, which he wasn’t prepared to deal with right now.
“Um, no. Just a letter from the IRS,” he mumbled while stuffing the papers into his jacket pocket.
“Hmpf,” she snorted before continuing, “but if I find out that you where holding out on me, Kent, there will be hell to pay. Anyway, Perry has already called for the Monday morning meeting and apparently your IRS letter was so fascinating that you completely missed it. So you better hurry up. I don’t want my partner to drag me down.”
“Okay, okay, Lois, I’m coming,” Clark answered his partner’s back and grabbed his now empty coffee mug before he headed up to join her in the conference room after a quick detour to the coffee maker.
**********
When Clark closed the conference room’s door behind him, he was greeted by his boss’ gruff voice.
“Nice of you to join us today, Kent. So what’s the matter? Forgot all about how the job is done over the holidays?”
“Um, sorry, Perry. I’ve been looking into something,” Clark responded in a slightly dejected voice, promptly earning himself a strange look from his partner.
>>Oh boy, I guess I will have to reassure her about the letter after the meeting, or she might actually demand to see it,<< Clark thought to himself while he went on to take the seat next to his partner.
**********
Over the course of the meeting, Clark actually managed to keep half an ear on his editor organizing this week’s work. The rest of his attention, though, was focused on working on more pressing issues. For instance how to keep a very close eye on his partner for the next 24 hours. He would have to make sure that no one could get near Lois without him being able to intercept any threat to her that might come up.
It was through this split of attention that Clark noticed when Perry switched the topic onto the city section, and Clark turned around to Lois, making sure she was paying attention. After all, his partner tended to get bored by the discussion of the sports section and the gossip corner, both of which preceded the city section as the last topic on the meeting’s agenda. He had often guessed that the agenda was intentionally set like this so Lois would actually attend the whole meeting, given how she usually found a way to excuse herself once her home turf had been discussed.
But when he gazed at Lois, he found her not half asleep as he had expected, but actually daydreaming and scribbling on her legal pad. Taking a closer look, his heart almost stopped for the second time this day.
Lois was doodling Superman’s crest on the pad. Over and over, like it was the only thing on her mind right now.
“Clark! Lois! What is it with you kids today?”
Perry’s voice jolted him back to the conference room and he noticed Lois also starting up.
“If Elvis had been this easily distracted he would never have become The King. Do you two know that?”
“Okay, Chief,” came Lois’ response, no hint of remorse in it.
“Sorry, Perry,” Clark replied even more subdued than the first time. Only this time it was not because he was sorry but because he was deeply concerned by Lois’ apparently reawakened fascination with his alter ego.
“So, do my two star reporters actually have anything to bring into this meeting besides apologies?”
“No Chief. New Year’s Eve has been quiet and it looks like the crooks took some vacation time as well. But we will let you know if anything pops up.”
“You do that, Lois. But if you don’t find anything worth printing, there is always a mood piece on the late snowfall this year that’s waiting to be written.”
Clark smiled at Perry’s handling of Lois’ flippant reply, earning himself a glare from both his boss and his partner.
With that the meeting came to a close and Perry ushered them outside to ‘get back into the trenches and start digging up a good story’, which Clark was only too happy to do.
**********
When he got back to his desk, Clark noticed in a panic that his partner had vanished. Taking a deep breath, Clark switched into Superman mode, trying to calmly take control of the situation.
He knew that he could only have missed Lois by a couple of seconds, so she still had to be in the building. And this meant he should be able to locate her by listening for her heartbeat’s steady rhythm.
He managed to find her after a quick and thorough sweep of the newsroom’s floor, finding her in the women’s bathroom. Shaking himself out of his panicked state, he mentally scolded himself for so easily losing his head. Whoever had sent the letter would have to assume that he wouldn’t have instant communication skills for contacting Superman. So, if the letter was meant to scare Superman first, before actually going after Lois, the guy – whoever he was – wouldn’t make a move just yet.
>>But on the other hand, one could never be too careful,<< Clark thought, as he refocused his enhanced hearing onto the bathroom and his absent partner.
He immediately noticed that the sounds coming from the stall were not what he would have expected at this time, but rather an agonized moaning. >>She is in trouble!<< was Clark’s first thought at this moment, as he pushed his glasses down to check up on Lois even while he began to start for the bathroom’s door.
Clark immediate clamped his eyelids shut though, once he managed to sneak a peek at Lois and then stumbled back for his desk. Sitting down hard, Clark couldn’t believe what he had just seen.
Lois was in no physical trouble whatsoever. He wasn’t too sure about her mental state, but physically, she was quite fine. And while he was contemplating mental states, Clark realized that his own wasn’t all that good at the moment, either.
“Oh man, that hurts! I love you but why I do the things I do for you, I will never know.”
Clark’s head shot up. His hearing was still trained in on Lois and he was glad his glasses had slipped back in place. He doubted he could withstand a second glimpse of his partner and the sight of her new body-art adorning a section of her creamy skin that was not usually available for inspection.
But still attuned to his partner and the sounds she was making, Clark felt his blood pressure rise as his mind was continuing to taunt him about her. Normally, he had no trouble keeping his mind on the job, but right now it was even worse than what he had gone through after he and Lois had kissed during the pheromone incident. And back then he at least had been able to blame it on his imagination running rampant while Lois slept off the pheromone induced haze while clad only in her skimpy harem’s outfit.
Clark tried to refocus his hearing but he just couldn’t switch her off. And he certainly couldn’t get up and flee the news room; at least not while he was overcome by thoughts of carnal desire. And to make matters worse, he didn’t even know whom she had meant by her earlier declaration. He knew that Lois wasn’t currently involved with anyone, but that left him with only one conclusion as to whom the tattoo symbolized.
“…ow, dammit, Suupeermaaaargh.”
Hearing Lois rip the last bit of the bandage off while cursing his alter ego drained all color from his face.
He might have decided to tell Lois about his being Superman before she was totally committed to Clark, but to actually know she had his stiffest competition permanently engraved on her body? Sure, from a purely logical point of view, Lois’ tattoo was that of his family crest, and he should be happy that she found it appealing enough to have it placed where she had. But did Lois truly only want Superman, or was it an expression of a deeper longing? Could it be that it was just his powers she dreamed of? Or even worse, did she believe herself in love with Superman, the one dimensional do-gooder?
And to have a bad situation deteriorate even further, Clark noticed that his body apparently didn’t share any of his doubts and concerns. Letting his head drop onto his desk, Clark cursed his vivid imagination and what it was doing to him.
**********
After what must have been at least a couple of minutes, Clark became aware of a presence in front of his desk. Looking up, he barely managed to stifle a groan, because the object of his distraction was standing right next to him.
“Do you have a minute, Clark? I need your help on something,” she said, while sliding partially onto his desk. A move which caused her already short skirt to hike up another tantalizing inch or two.
And while she was so close to him, he could not help but notice how her clothing accented her slim figure. The skirt that stretched over her derriere and her tattoo, the blouse that was just a tad too tight to be modest, and did he just imagine it, or was she not wearing a bra today?
And this did it for him. He now knew for a fact that he would not be able to accompany Lois anywhere, much less all the way to the conference room without a long trip to the Arctic Ocean. Unfortunately, while getting there clad as Superman would be no problem at all, accomplishing the same feat as Clark was impossible. Just what was he going to do?
“Clark, what’s going on? Are you getting sick?”
>>Lois!<<
He had totally forgotten about his partner sitting on his desk. A quite remarkable feat given how she had contributed to his current state of misfortune.
“Um, no, Lois. Just a little distracted, apparently. What can I do for you?”
“The ‘helping me out’ thing? But I’d like to talk to you in the conference room. It’s more private there,” Lois answered, apparently unfazed at his absent-mindedness and completely nonchalant given how she shouldn’t be able to sit on the desk like that with a fresh tattoo adorning a certain well defined body part of hers.
He needed to do something, and fast. Clark knew he wouldn’t be able to shake Lois off, and he couldn’t get up in his present state either. Looking around frantically for anything that could help him hide his non-presentable state, his gaze fell on his coffee mug. His still half full coffee mug.
“Oh, right. The conference room it is. Lead the way, Lois,” Clark responded in the hopes of diverting her attention.
Once his partner had turned her head, he managed to tip over the coffee mug while standing up. This fortunate accident resulted in a large brown stain in the middle of his pants, allowing him to fiddle with it and preventing a casual observer from noticing anything out of the ordinary; except for the coffee stain, of course.
Letting out what amounted a quite obscene amount of cursing – there where at least two ‘oh, boy’ and three ‘that’s just great’ in there – re-attracted the attention of his partner.
“Clark, what now?” Lois sighed exasperatedly before she noticed the stain on his pants and the coffee mug lying on its side on his desk before she continued. “Oh, Clark, you are such a Klutz sometimes. You know, you are lucky that coffee was already cold. Geez, one would think that growing up in the wilderness would have taught you some basic hand-eye-coordination.”
Clark looked back at her, completely stunned. He had expected a certain degree of mocking, but she seemed far more annoyed than he would have expected. After all, her only inconvenience were a clumsy partner and a certain delay, he on the other hand had managed to ruin a perfectly good pair of dress pants. And yet, here she was, standing and looking like he had just spilled the coffee down her blouse, making it cling to her equally full breasts.
>>What am I thinking? Stop it, Clark! Just go to the bathroom while the coffee is still working as an excuse.<<
A piece of advice that came in quite a bit too late, since he had started to feel uncomfortable once more. This was definitely not good.
“Um, Lois, I’m just going to get cleaned up and meet you in the conference room afterwards, okay?” Clark shot to Lois, and rushed off for the men’s room without even waiting for Lois’ reply.
**********
tbc
