Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Lois & Clark Fanfic Fidelity 8/?

Nancy, you're the best! But then again you already knew that didn't you? Flashback are outlined in... Well, I'm sure you guys know already.


CHAPTER EIGHT

“Kaylie? Kaylie wake up! Can you hear me?”

I groaned loudly as I tried to unglue my eyelids. My head throbbed, and my back ached.

“Kaylie!”

“Yeah, I’m awake,” I replied irritably to Lois. “Stop shouting.”

“Headache?”

“Yeah.” I took inventory of the rest of my body. As far as I could tell, I didn’t seem to be suffering from any other injuries, although my hands were tied behind my back and my ankles were bound. Struggling under my restraints, I managed to push myself up beside Lois. I sat there for a moment, trying to stop my head from spinning. “What happened?” I asked.

“I’m not really sure,” Lois replied. “They gave us both some kind of sedative and I only just woke up a few minutes ago. It looks like we’re in the back of a truck or something.” I glanced around the space and had to agree with her conclusion. It certainly looked that way, except…

“We’re not moving,” I observed.

“No,” Lois agreed. We sat in silence for a bit. Lois graciously gave me some time to get over my headache. Then she spoke again suddenly. “I hate it when this happens.”

“Which part, the getting caught while we were supposed to be investigating, or being tied up and abandoned inside a truck trailer?”

“Both, I guess. Getting out usually isn’t a problem, but then there’s always Clark’s post-kidnapping lecture.” She smiled faintly.

“He still lectures you?”

“Yep. And it’s always the same, too.” Her smile stretched in memory. “He always asks if I’m all right. And I usually am. Then, he moves on to telling me how scared he was. And he makes me promise to be more careful in the future.” She shifted awkwardly to get more comfortable. “I agree, but we both know that a week later I’ll be out there again, doing the same things. It’s just who I am, and Clark knows that. And after all that, we usually…” She trailed off, suddenly aware that she was telling this to someone, not just to herself. “We… um…”

“Express your love in a suitable fashion?” I filled in for her.

She grinned. “Something like that. Look, Kaylie,” She began apologetically. “I’m sorry I got us into this mess. We probably shouldn’t have raced over to LuthorCorp like that.”

“There’s nothing to apologize for,” I told her. “I was with you all the way, and it was me who got caught unawares as a lookout.” We were silent for a moment. “You know, I can’t hear anyone outside who would be guarding us,” I told her. Although I wasn’t expecting to hear anything drastic, I still expected to hear some sort of rustling or something. The trailer wasn’t insulated, so I could hear some other noises outside.

“They probably left to get back-up or something,” Lois suggested.

“So they just tied us up and dumped us here? Was it too much of an effort to leave a guard?” Although the circumstances made it fortunate for us, I was irrationally irritated that our kidnappers hadn’t planned this better. Didn’t they know that Lois would just call for Superman as soon as she woke up?

“Well, they also gagged us,” Lois explained to me. “I pulled yours off, and I was able to slip out of mine.”

“You slipped out of your own gag?” I asked, impressed.

“I’ve had a lot of practice doing it,” she told me. “That always seems to be the first thing anyone does to me whenever I get kidnapped.”

I wisely refrained from any implications about the reasons behind that trend. “You’ll have to teach me that trick,” I said to her instead.

“Well, I wish I had another one that’ll get us out this mess,” Lois replied. “We could always call for help, but I don’t like to depend on that solution. It’s fast and all, but I can’t always be relying on Superman to bail me out of trouble.” She glanced over at me. “How about you? Got any NIA tricks up your sleeve?”

As it turned out, I did. Although my headache was dimming, I didn’t want to try any drastic contortions just yet. Lois would have to give me a hand with this maneuver. “Can you reach my shoes?” I asked her.

“I guess I can.” She scooted over to where my ankles were bound together.

“The right heel pops off,” I instructed, watching her blindly groping at my shoe. Her hands were also tied behind her back so she couldn’t look at what she was doing. It didn’t take her long to find the correct shoe and remove the heel. “Now up by the sole, you’ll find a-”

“Ouch!”

“Careful, its sharp.” Lois gingerly removed the small blade from its nest. “You’ll have to cut my ropes first,” I told her as I scooted up to her. “I’ve cut my own before, but there’s too much danger of self inflicted damage. The angle is better if you do mine.”

“But I won’t be able to see when I cut your ropes either,” Lois protested.

“Just be careful,” I instructed. “Small, light strokes won’t really do much damage if you happen to miscalculate, and I’ll let you know right away if you injure me.”

Lois sucked in a deep breath, and began cutting away at the bonds holding my wrists together. She made quick work of it, and didn’t even nick me with the blade. I then took the blade myself and released Lois’ hands and feet, then my own ankles. I stretched gratefully, and recovered the discarded heel. I placed the blade back in its spot and snapped the heel back on.

“I’ve got to get myself a pair of those,” Lois observed.

“They’re horribly expensive,” I told her. “And to try to find a pair that actually looks halfway attractive is a real challenge, but I’ll see if I can sneak some away from the NIA for you.”

Now that we were free from our bonds, we were able to explore the space more thoroughly. The trailer was large, but it had no windows or anything to conveniently escape from. The only light came from the gaps by the door at the very end of the trailer.

“Well this is perfect,” Lois commented sarcastically as she ran her hands over the smooth surface.

“There has to be some sort of emergency lever,” I insisted. “They have codes and stuff to keep, right?”

Before Lois got a chance to reply, the large door buckled, giving off an awful screech. I jumped back.

What the hell was that?

Then, the entire door was ripped away and discarded on the ground nearby. Light from the setting sun flooded into the trailer, and I could just make out the silhouettes of Supernova and Superman as they hovered near the exposed doorway. I blinked, and my eyes adjusted to the change in light. They looked as shocked to see us standing by the entrance we were to see them.

“What are you doing here?” I asked stupidly, still trying to process the recent events.

“We’re umm… Well, we came to… to rescue you,” Clark finished lamely.

Lois grinned up at him. “Who said we needed rescuing, Superman? We were doing just fine by ourselves.” She took a step towards him.

“Yeah, I can see that,” he replied, wrapping his arms around her. They leaned into each other, temporarily oblivious to anyone else.

I turned to look hesitantly at Jon. “Hey,” I spoke tentatively.

“Hey,” he replied hoarsely.

“Can we… Can we just get out of here?” I asked. “I think we really need to talk.”

“Yeah,” he nodded. Then I was in his arms, and we were flying through the air. I held onto him tightly, and soon we were stepping into my apartment. Thankfully, Jay wasn’t home so we would be able to have a real conversation. Jon didn’t speak, and didn’t even look directly in my eyes. The disguise I had been wearing all day seemed to put a barrier between us, so I pulled off my wig and kicked off my shoes. I still couldn’t really discern what Jon was feeling. He had remained in his Supernova suit, and had sat down in an armchair.

“Jon-”

“Look, Kaylie,” he interrupted. “I know you’re going to lecture me, but just hear me out first okay?” I remained quiet, and sat down on the floor next to him. “I know you didn’t want me involved in your investigation, and I can see that you probably had that truck situation under control. But the thing is, it’s driving me crazy to be kept out of this, and when you and Mom went missing tonight, I just couldn’t take it anymore. I had to do something. And I’m sorry if that makes you mad and if you think that it’s controlling, but I just can’t help it. That’s just the way I am.”

“Jon… No, I’m not mad. I was actually… really glad you came.”

“You were?” he asked in surprise.

“Yeah,” I nodded. “I was. Look, Jon, I know things have been difficult for us lately. And I know I’m partly to blame for that. I talked to your mom earlier about some of this-”

“You talked to my mom?”

“Yeah. But I wasn’t going behind your back or anything,” I hastened to clarify. “I just really needed someone to talk to.”

“No, of course you weren’t. It’s just that… well, my mom sure gets around, that’s all.”

“You talked to her too?”

“Yeah.”

“Jon,” I started again, “you were right about what you said earlier. I’ve been pushing you away. I just somehow got it into my head that I couldn’t be an agent and a fiancé at the same time. But I was so wrong about that. We’ve worked together before, and there’s no reason why we can’t do it again. Anything you have to offer would be great asset.”

“Well, I haven’t been the most accessible either,” he admitted. “I immersed myself in Supernova instead of telling you how I really feel. And Kaylie, I really want to apologize for what I said to you the other night. About the whole Gertrude thing.”

“Jon, you were right about what you said,” I told him. “As Supernova, you have a duty to uphold the law.”

“Maybe so,” he replied. “But that gives me no right to get upset with you for bending the law. I’ve done that a couple times myself.”

“That’s right, you have,” I grinned. “And I never got a chance to thank you for that little bit of hacking you did today.”

“That was kind of meant to be an apology,” he admitted.

“I figured. And I liked it.”

“You know, most girls would prefer flowers or chocolate or something.”

“Well, I guess that just shows how much you know me.” I took his hand in mine.

“Does that mean I’m forgiven?”

“Yeah. Do you forgive me?”

“Of course, Kaylie.” Our hands twisted together, and Jon reached his other hand up to touch the engagement ring that I wore on a chain around my neck. I couldn’t wear it on my finger as Molly Turner, but I had still wanted to keep it close. “Funny how things can get off course so quickly,” he commented.

“Yeah,” I agreed. “I guess there are a few issues we still need to work out.”

“Yeah.” Jon brought his hand up to touch my face delicately. “Is that what you really want to do now? Talk?”

“No,” I said as shivers ran down my spine. “It’s not.”

That was the last coherent sentence I said for a while. We came together instantly, and I was lost in the ecstasy of touching him once again. Although it was only a few days, it had still been all too long since we had… how had I phrased it with Lois? Expressed our love in a suitable fashion.

* * *

I was awakened several hours later by Jon tiptoeing across my room.

“Wha?” I mumbled incoherently.

“Hey,” he came back to the bed and leaned over me. “I have to run out for a second, okay? Someone’s calling for me.”

“Oh. Okay. You’ll come back, right?”

“Of course.” He leaned over and kissed me, and then flew out of the room. I fell back asleep instantly, knowing that he would be there again when I woke up.

* * *

***

Ironically enough, it was Kryptonite that saved him. The first exposure was the worst, his dad had told him. As he lied in bed feeling achy and shivering, Jon hoped that his father was right. He didn’t want to go through any of this again.

It was the silence that was the most difficult to adjust to. After weeks and weeks of being able to stretch out his hearing and find a distraction, the silence was oppressive and scary. It left too much time for thinking. He blinked his tears back hastily when his sister entered, carrying a tray.

“I brought you some soup,” she announced proudly. Even without his refined sense of smell, it still made his stomach growl with hunger. That was another different thing, too. Hunger.

“Did you make this?” he asked in surprise at his first taste.

“Of course I did, you twerp. Not everyone in this family is completely useless in the kitchen.”

“Well, it’s good. Thanks.” He sipped it carefully to avoid being burned.

“Mom and Dad are on the trail to find out who did this,” she offered.

“Hmm,” he mumbled noncommittally. He wasn’t too interested in the outcome. His parents would find the bad guys like they always did, and get a front page story. Whoopee.

“How are you feeling?” Ellie asked sympathetically.

“Like crap.”

“I know what you mean.” Jon glanced at her sharply. “I sort of… exposed myself to a chunk in STAR labs,” she confessed. “I figured it’d be better to do it in a controlled lab setting and see what it really feels like rather than wait for some creep of a criminal to do it.”

“Jeez, Ellie.”

“I wasn’t going to tell Mom and Dad, but of course they found out anyway. Dad already gave me a solid lecture, so I don’t want to hear anything from you, okay?”

“Okay, I won’t.” He returned to his soup, mulling over her confession. There were some things about Ellie he just didn’t understand.

“Jon,” she began hesitantly, “I know it sucks to be grounded like this, but maybe some good can come out of it all.”

“What do you mean?” he asked quietly.

“I’m just saying that maybe it’ll be good to take a breather, that’s all,” she said cautiously. “Even though this is a major setback, it might give you some time to… rethink some things. You know, priorities and stuff. Hey, are you done with your soup?” she asked quickly. “Here, I’ll take the bowl downstairs.” She scurried out of the room, leaving him alone with his thoughts.

He was in his childhood room in Metropolis. Although he hadn’t lived there much since he was fifteen, his parents still kept the room the same for whenever he visited. They even left up the same posters, which seemed a little ridiculous to him now. Had he really liked those things? And on his bedside table, a picture…

There was no escaping it in this room. For the first time in weeks, he couldn’t just fly away from the painful memories that flooded him. Instead he clutched that picture to his chest as he felt the tears spill onto his pillow. And for the first time in weeks, he allowed himself to grieve.

***

* * *

But when I woke up, he wasn’t. There, I mean. Beside me. Or anywhere else in my apartment. Jay had come home at some point and was sprawled across my sofa, but Jon was nowhere to be seen. Well, he must have had a good reason for it, I rationalized. Maybe he had seen Jay and was uncomfortable with blatantly staying the night when my brother was here. Which didn’t seem entirely right. Jon was hardly scared f Jay.

I picked up the phone to call him, but then I decided against it. A glance at the clock told me that it was still early. He wouldn’t have left for work yet.

So I scribbled a note for Jay explaining where I went when he woke up, and I climbed in my car and drove as fast as I dared to Jon’s apartment. I spent the entire trip convincing myself that there had to be a reasonable explanation for him not coming back last night, yet my mind kept flashing to images of crazed villains holding him prisoner with Kryptonite. In all honesty, I couldn’t think of another plausible reason why he wouldn’t come back to me after he had promised he would.

That’s why I was disappointed in him and a little angry when he opened the door to his apartment looking fresh and well rested.

“Hi,” I choked out.

“Uh, good morning,” he replied.

“You didn’t come back last night.”

“I…”

“Jon, I know things haven’t been perfect between us lately,” I told him as I squeezed past his body and through the doorway. “But I guess that’s why I thought you’d put the extra effort into making sure we’d be okay. And even if it did take you longer than you wanted it to last night, or if you got dirty or something and needed a shower, I wouldn’t have minded. You could’ve come back anyway. And I don’t think you’re scared of Jay or anything, so that’s no excuse… I don’t know, maybe it wasn’t a big deal for you, but it was for me. With everything we’ve gone through in the past few days I just needed to know, you know? That we’re okay.” He stared blankly at me. “You’re not saying anything,” I commented tensely. “Why aren’t you saying anything?”

“Umm… Look, this may be a little awkward for you…” he began hesitantly. “But… are you sure that you’ve got the right place?”

“What?”

“Just… maybe take a breath… and, you know, look around.” He was still standing by the door, which he hadn’t closed yet. I could sense that something had put him on edge. His right hand was jammed through his hair and he was fidgeting from side to side. And there was something else wrong with him. Something missing in his expression…

Oh god.

“Call your sister,” I whispered hoarsely.

“Is she the one you’re looking for?” he asked as his brow wrinkled. “Cause I have to tell you, it’d be difficult to get our addresses mixed up-”

“Damn it, Jon!” I screamed, near hysterics. “Just call your sister, okay?”

“Okay! Okay, I’m calling her. Just… sit down, alright?”

I obediently sank into the sofa as Jon picked up the phone and dialed Ellie’s number. The phone. Right. Because it’s not like he would just call her the normal way. I slumped over with my head between my knees to stop the black spots from dancing in front of my eyes.

He didn’t know who I was. He had forgotten everything.

***********************

Author's note:

The idea for Kaylie's shoes came from one of my favorite mystery/suspense authors, Elizabeth Peters. But when I was doing some research, I was ecstatic to discover that such shoes ACTUALLY EXISTED!


How cool is that? BTW, Kaylie's look much prettier.