As always, this chapter was made immeasurably better by Beth and Mary Beth. Thanks, guys!
And also as always, I’ve “borrowed” some dialogue from the pilot, but with no ill intent.
The ball had been interesting. Clark had been a bit late for it as he had spent some time talking with his father on the porch before heading out. Back when he was in college his father had taken to walking him out. Sometimes Clark just said goodbye and took off, but more often, they would talk for a few minutes. This time was often used just to catch up for a few moments alone without his mother (who spent more time with Clark on the phone), but sometimes they would have more serious conversations.
Tonight had definitely been of the last variety. He had not even realized it until his dad mentioned it, but he had been considering staying in Metropolis permanently. He knew it was not really possible, but somehow getting to work with Lois at the Planet made it seem like all he had ever wanted was within his grasp. As always, his father reminded him that he could live where ever he wanted. He just had to stop trying to help people. The problem was that this was easier said than done. Jonathan himself had raised Clark to believe he should do everything he could to help others. Of course, that was before they had realized just how much Clark could do.
Clark had tried to put thoughts of this away when he entered the ball. Lois had looked beautiful in a way that blew Clark away. He had tried to hide her effect on him, but he suspected the only reason he was at all successful was because Lois had eyes for one man only – Lex Luthor. She was single-minded and determined in her efforts to get an interview with the man. For his part, Clark did not trust Luthor. It was just a gut feeling, but he could not shake it. Luthor clearly was a man who enjoyed power and in Clark’s experience, that was usually not an indicator of someone as philanthropic as Luthor pretended to be.
He had followed Lois into Lex’ private study - in search of some sign of the “real Luthor” Lois had said. As Luthor had found them there, this had led to the two of them having a few moments alone with the man and the memory of it made Clark’s skin crawl.
“This is a lovely place you have, Lex,” Lois said.
“Thank you, my dear. You haven’t even seen the best part. Come,” he beckoned toward her.
Lois moved into the protective circle of Lex’ arm and let him lead her onto the balcony. Clark followed a pace behind already feeling like he was seeing the “real Luthor” and Lois was missing it.
“This is the tallest building in Metropolis,” Lex informed them. “I must confess that I love the fact that everyone in the city has to look up in order to see me.”
Clark glanced at Lois, but somehow she missed the significance of this. She was smiling up at Lex in a way that made Clark’s chest feel tight.
After that, Lex had made his announcement about the space station. It seemed generous – to offer to fund a space station if Prometheus could not move forward. But something in the way Luthor presented it, or maybe just the name, Space Station Luthor, made Clark suspicious of Luthor’s motive. He had been amazed at how impressed everyone seemed to be, how little notice they took of the note of smugness in Lex’ voice.
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Clark was smiling as he approached the Daily Planet the following morning. He had decided to put thoughts of Lex Luthor behind him and focus on the fact that he was investigating a story for the Daily Planet with Lois Lane.
“Good morning, Lois,” Clark called as he saw her.
The two stopped at the crowd in front of the Daily Planet. “There’s a man caught,” a construction worker was calling, panic in his voice. Clark glanced around and saw a manhole cover right in front of him, then glanced around again and saw that everyone was busy staring at the area where the man was caught. He quickly removed the manhole cover, dashed down and freed the man pushing him up through a different manhole. He was back on the street before Lois even noticed he had disappeared.
“That man…” the man who had been caught gasped, pointing at Clark, “that man saved me.”
Clark tried to school his features into a look of shock. “He’s confused,” Clark said quietly.
“Well, clearly,” Lois said with disdain. “What did you do?” she asked, turning around and taking him in. “You’re a mess.”
Clark glanced down and took in the dirt all over his suit. He was lucky Lois was not more suspicious. This is what always happened and Clark wondered how much longer he would be able to stay in Metropolis.
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Clark glanced at Lois surreptitiously. Jimmy had retrieved Platt’s report earlier today. He and Lois were now the only ones in the newsroom trying to make some sense out of it. But the report was more a pile of notes than an actual report. Clark was having very little luck getting anywhere, and wondered how Lois Lane tackled such things.
“This is impossible,” Lois declared and Clark gave a sigh of relief. Perhaps it was not any easier for her. “Nothing matches, no dates,” she clarified. “We’ll never get through this and I’m starving. I wish I knew a good Chinese take-out.”
Clark stood up. “I know a place. I’ll be right back.” Clark was not sure why he was so eager to impress this woman, she had barely been cordial to him the entire time they had known each other, but that did not seem to change the fact that he did want to impress her.
He was back moments later with steaming hot food directly from Shanghai. For a moment, he wondered what he would say if she asked where it came from, but then disregarded that concern. Lois did not seem to be the sort of person who thought much about details pertaining to things she did not care about. And it was crystal clear that Clark Kent was not a topic she cared about.
“Mm…. Still hot. This is out of this world,” Lois said as she swallowed a dumpling. Clark tried not to look too happy that he had impressed her.
He continued to watch her facial expressions as they ate, storing information on what foods she seemed to enjoy most. By the time they had finished eating, Lois had relaxed somewhat. She had kicked off her shoes while he was out and her feet were now propped up on her desk.
The feeling of intimacy was broken however when Clark handed Lois a fortune cookie. “It’s in Chinese,” she informed him.
Despite the annoyance in her voice, Clark smiled – another chance to impress her. He held out his hand, but Lois’ voice dripped with derision when she said, “Don’t tell me you can speak Chinese?”
Clark answered by reading her fortune, “A good horse is like a member of the family.”
A look of annoyance crossed Lois’ lovely features, “I hate that. That is not a fortune.”
For reasons he could not define, Clark found this amusing and laughed, but Lois just looked at him oddly. “So, what’s the deal, Farmboy?” she asked him.
“The deal?” Clark nearly choked on his fortune cookie. He was not sure if the apprehension he was feeling was just the general unease he always felt when asked about his life or if it was from the predatory gleam Lois was currently sporting.
“Well, you know like what? Like a thousand languages. Clearly this is not the first time you’ve forgone a staff job. What’s with the hunger to travel the world?” she asked.
“It’s not like you’ve never left the US,” Clark replied in an effort to deflect attention off of himself. Lois narrowed her eyes in response, and Clark immediately realized how that sounded. “I wasn’t checking up on you or anything. I was just reading some of your old articles and I saw the one on the Congo.” His voice was soft, leery of Lois’ response, but she nearly beamed in reply and Clark relaxed.
But as a sign as to why Lois was such a good reporter, she was not distracted. “Still, that was for a story. I don’t move to a new place every few… What is it? Weeks? Months?”
“Months,” Clark replied, but his voice was soft and sad.
Lois looked at him critically. “Why do you move so often if it doesn’t make you happy?”
Clark shook his head slightly. He was thinking of the places he’d been to before now. All the places where he had not fit in, where people started talking about him and the things going on that did not seem possible.
Clark tried not to notice when the newsroom got quiet right as he entered. It made him wish he had used his enhanced hearing to listen in to the conversation they had been having before he entered.
“Hi, Clark,” Larissa said quietly, but the others looked away.
“Hi,” Clark forced himself to sound normal and unconcerned, but it was hard. There had been a fire last night in the one-room school. Given it was not during the day, the school was mostly empty. But while no one talked about it, everyone knew the Charo boys had been living there since last winter when their parents died.
Clark had been wearing all black, but he had suspected that one or two people might have seen him sneak into the schoolhouse right through the flames to save the boys. He sighed. It was time to move on again.
But he could not share those thoughts with Lois, so instead he pasted a smile on his face. “Whose to say I don’t like it?” he asked her. “I grew up in a small farming town. No one leaves. It was nice and I wouldn’t change it for anything, but it left me with a desire to see the world,” he answered. He hoped Lois would buy this. It was true. It just ignored the fact that he was tired of that life now and he had wanted to move from place to place of his own accord, not because he had to.
“You’re a strange one, Clark Kent. But I think I’ve got you figured out,” she said in response.
“Didn’t take you long,” Clark said, not believing for an instant that she really had figured him out.
“That’s my business. Looking past the external,” she told him.
“I didn’t realize I was that transparent,” he said. Then, just to rile her up a bit, he added, “At least not as transparent as you are.”
Lois said nothing, just looked at him and for a moment, Lois and Clark locked eyes. Then Lois moved and the moment was broken. “Don’t fall for me, Farmboy,” she told him. “I don’t have time to deal with it.”
Clark said nothing in return, knowing that it was already too late for the warning.
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As Lois and Clark approached Samuel Platt’s apartment building, Clark placed a hand on Lois’ arm. “Let me look first,” he suggested, but as he knew it would, the suggestion just annoyed Lois.
“Listen, Kent. I’ve seen it all, okay? War, crime, famine…” Despite her brave words though, Lois started to sway when they entered Platt’s apartment to find him dead. Clark grabbed her arm in an effort to steady her and then wrapped his arms around her when she turned to bury her face in his jacket.
She had fully recovered by the time the police arrived, though. Lois was clearly familiar with the detective who showed up, Henderson, so Clark stepped back and let Lois handle the conversation. “Suicide? That’s ridiculous,” she said and Clark bit back a laugh. Clearly, Lois did not feel the need to speak to the detective with respect. Actually, Clark wondered if Lois Lane spoke to anyone without sounding slightly superior.
While Lois argued with Henderson, Clark heard one of the other cops comment, “Man’s gonna barbecue himself, he oughtta use sauce.”
Without thought, Clark stepped up to the cop, grabbing his lapel, “That man’s name was Samuel Platt. He was brilliant, a scientist and someone who cared about others. Under the circumstances, I don’t believe that kind of humor is appropriate.”
Clark could feel all eyes in the room on him, but did not move away until the cop apologized.
As the cop left the room, tension eased slightly. Clark turned around to see both Lois and Detective Henderson looking at him with respect. He smiled slightly. He had done it, even for just a moment, he had impressed Lois Lane.
“We tracked down Platt’s wife and kid,” Henderson said, bringing Clark back to the matter at hand. “Do you know about them?”
Clark nodded, “I’d like to tell them personally if that’s alright with you.” Henderson, happy to be rid of the unpleasant task, agreed.
When Henderson left a moment later, Lois turned to Clark. “Are you okay?” she asked, her voice gentle.
Clark smiled slightly. She was right, she was quite perceptive. “We should have protected him,” Clark said.
“How, Clark?” Lois asked.
“I don’t know,” Clark replied, his voice despondent.
“Look, Clark. This type of thing happens. I’m not saying it’s nice or pretty, but it is something we need to deal with. What we need to do now is focus on proving Platt’s theory correct so that he did not die in vain.”
Clark nodded, still feeling a bit guilty.
“We still have a bit of work to do,” Lois said. “It’s six now. Why don’t we try to get a little sleep and I’ll come by for you at nine?”
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Clark got up at 8:30 to get ready. His phone was ringing as he came out of the shower though and he got caught up in chatting with his parents.
“Now you listen to me, Clark Kent,” Martha said when Clark told her he felt guilty for not helping Platt, “You may be the strongest man on Earth, but the world and all of it’s problems do not rest on your shoulders. If you could have helped him, you would have.”
“Clark?” Jonathan interrupted. “What was this about a worker caught in an explosion down a manhole. Your mother told me he recognized you.”
“Dad, the man was semi-conscious. Nobody believed him when he pointed to me.”
“Maybe, but one of these days you’re going to pull some stunt, and some nut with a video camera is going to…” Jonathan started to say.
“What was he supposed to do, Jonathan?” Martha interrupted. “Let the man die?”
“Maybe,” Jonathan said. “There, I said it. I know you want to help people, Clark, and I think you should. But you shouldn’t let it ruin your life.”
There was a beat while Clark thought about what his father had said. “I don’t know, Dad. I mean, I see your point, but it’s so hard to just let someone suffer when I know I can help them so easily.”
“Well, what do you want to do, Clark?” Martha asked, her voice gentle.
“I don’t know. I wish there was an easy solution…” Clark started.
“Solutions to problems this big don’t come falling out of the sky,” Jonathan said.
A knock on the door interrupted their conversation and Clark suddenly remembered that he was supposed to be ready for Lois at nine.
“I have to go. Lois is here,” Clark told his parents.
“Lois again, huh?” Martha said.
Clark, ignoring her tone, replied, “I’ll talk to you later,” before hanging up the phone.
It was not until after he answered the door that Clark remembered that he was still wearing just a towel. He had to admit that he was not too sorry he did. While she tried to hide it, it was clear that the sight of his bare chest impressed Lois. Possibly more than his comment to the police officer last night.
“I said nine,” Lois said, her voice attempting to sound angry, but slightly off. “I thought you’d be naked… I mean ready.”
Clark hid a smile, “Sorry. I was on the phone. I’ll be ready in a second.”
While he grabbed his clothes and went to change in the bathroom, Lois decided a drink would be a good idea to solve the parching of her mouth that occurred at seeing Clark shirtless.
She opened the refrigerator to find it full of junk food. Grimacing, she found a container of orange juice and pulled it out. Then rifling through the cabinets in search of a glass, she saw even more junk food. Her facial expression changed from disgusted to curious as she uncovered even more junk food in another cabinet.
When Clark emerged from the bathroom, Lois took him in, making sure she had not imagined his well-defined chest earlier. While it was harder to tell now that he was clothed, there was nary a sign of extra fat on him.
Lois decided not to give Clark any more satisfaction by pointing out the fact that she had noticed how attractive he was. But she was going to watch him closely to uncover how he managed to eat like an eight year old and still maintain that body.
