Hi!
After the turmoil and revelation of part twelve, this part will allow Clark to deal with some of the truths he had just learned. I’m working on the next bits of action, but as it is, there are some pages to get filled up before.
A big thanks to my trusty betas for checking two stories in parallel
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 “Season’s Greedings” in Season 2.
Blocks in >> << are literal thoughts by the character.
Rating: PG-13
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Lois had finally gotten her chance to tell Clark about what had really transpired. She was Anonymous. He had been the one who was drugged. And then her worst fears had become reality, for the next thing she knew, Clark had taken flight as soon as he had managed to get out of sight.
Part 13 /
TOC /
Comments **********
Clark only barely managed to run through the newsroom at normal speed before he reached the safety of the stairwell. Once there, he immediately shifted to super-speed and raced to the roof and from there into the sky.
He didn’t care that in his hurried daze to leave the newsroom he had almost run Jimmy over, nor did he care that the degree of his speed caused the sonic boom to erupt. His only concern was to get away as fast as super-humanly possible.
Getting away from the confines of the newsroom, his nosey colleagues, and most importantly, the woman he loved. Love! What was *love* really, but a word. Five minutes ago he would have been willing to walk away from the woman he loved in order to spare her the pain of his presence.
He had been certain that he had done the most unforgivable things imaginable, and then he found out that it hadn’t been him. No, *she* had actually been the one to seduce *him*, to take him to bed, to rob him of what he had preserved for the one person he had hoped he could share everything with – *her*. The irony of his situation truly was something to behold.
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It was only when he felt the ice splintering around him, that Clark realized he had sped all the way to the North Pole, actually crashing into an iceberg and digging himself into a trench a good 100 meters deep, before coming to a halt. Clark looked back up, panting not from exhaustion but from exasperation. When had his life become such a travesty?
He was just about to let go of a primeval scream while pushing the walls of the fissure apart, when he noticed a gray piece of cloth flutter down in front of him. And oddly enough, it matched the color of the business suit he had been wearing today.
Looking down at himself, Clark realized that ‘suit’ was the operative word, for he hadn’t bothered to change into his Superman suit before flying off the roof. And now his business suit was hanging in tatters, obviously unsuited to the harsh treatment he had subjected it to in the last few minutes. He groaned. Could this day get any worse?
Clark took a deep breath and spun out of the remainder of his wardrobe, glad his spandex suit had survived the ordeal. And what was he supposed to do now?
He couldn’t just fly to Smallville and talk *this* over with his parents. It was one thing to talk about what he had done wrong, or a stranger had done to both him and Lois. But he could just go and tell his parents that *Lois* had been the one to orchestrate all of this. They wouldn’t understand. True, he didn’t understand either, but this was different. His parents viewed Lois as the daughter they never had and if he told them now what she had done, he would take that believe from his parents. He couldn’t do this to them.
So who was left for him to go to? Surely not Perry. Lois was even more like his own kid to him than probably even his sons. So telling Perry would most definitely break their boss’ heart. He really was stuck. No matter what he would want to do, he would end up hurting someone. Letting go a scream of frustration that shook the fragile ice around him, Clark shot back out of the fissure and headed back to Metropolis. He wasn’t going to find his answers north of the Arctic Circle.
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It was just ten minutes later that he landed back on the roof of the Daily Planet and spun back into his business suit. He had already been home to change and luckily, he had a spare gray suit that had resembled his ruined one well enough to not attract any attention to his change of attire.
Of course, until he walked back down into the newsroom, this would only be a hypothetical problem. Shaking his head at his unique problems, he began to walk around the roof, chipping away at the jumble of his situation, starting to attack the six Ws like any good reporter.
*What* had happened to him? That one was probably the easiest to answer. Lois had obviously slipped him the sex drug before proceeding to reap the benefits of his incapacitated common-sense and afterwards, she had accused him of raping her. No, that wasn’t all of it. Lois had even more vigorously insisted that he had lied to her, since he hadn’t told her he was Superman. Or rather, that Superman was Clark. Or whatever. The point was, once she had learned that Superman and Clark where one and the same, she had completely forgotten about the rape accusation and gone on to kill him about lying to her.
But what did this mean for him? Ok, now it was obvious that Lois hadn’t been drugged and so he hadn’t raped her, either. And this left him to conclude that she had drugged him to accuse him of raping her.
Clark was stunned for a moment and quickly dropped back to the floor. He had to remember not to *literally* climb the walls when he was out and about. Perhaps he should fly home after all. But home felt wrong right now. It was the middle of the day, and at least he could say he had been at the Planet, working through something that would make a great story. Not that he would ever publish it. But at least he could tell himself he wasn’t slacking off.
So *why* did Lois do everything in her power to be able to accuse him of raping her? This was so completely unlike her. She wasn’t someone to sleep around, or even sleep with anybody in the last few years, as far as he knew. So, why would she have decided to sleep with him only to accuse him of rape later on?
Or could it be that she hadn’t intended to accuse him in the first place? Had she just tried to get Superman into bed, resorting to the lowest of tricks in the books after all her other attempts had failed? Somehow he couldn’t believe that either. And she *had* left him the first letter even before the evening when it all happened. Had this all been just so Superman would visit her this night, no matter what other obligations he might have had and have his wicked way with her? Was this her fantasy about the spandex-clad hero – teasing the strongest man on the planet until he snapped and took her to bed? But there had to be more to it than carnal desire.
Clark didn’t understand it. It wasn’t as if he usually understood his partner’s reasoning, but this was something new. And if he was honest with himself, right now even Lois herself might not understand her reasoning. At least, if her erratic reactions over the last twenty-four hours were to be any indication.
Clark took a moment to train his vision on the newsroom beneath his feet. Perry was apparently talking to Lois, who was still huddled up in the conference room. Well, he didn’t care for that right now and decided to get back to the subject matter at hand.
He wasn’t going to figure out why she had done what she had done. So what else was there on the list? Yes, the ‘Who’. That should be an easy one. After all, there were just two players in this comedy of errors. Or weren’t there? Lois had said she had drugged him. And in order to drug him, she would have needed access to a drug that was potent enough to influence even Superman.
So, somehow Lois must have been able to find somebody to help her out. It didn’t matter how brilliant his stubborn partner was, she wasn’t a chemist. And that’s who was needed for creating drugs. So he was still going to ask Mayson for whatever information she could dig up on Miranda Jameson. And even if he wouldn’t be trying to figure out who had helped Lois, he would still have needed to talk to Mayson. It would be far too suspicious, if he suddenly called off their date.
And why did he just think of it as a *date* instead of as an appointment? Only this morning he had had every intention of inviting Mayson over for dinner together with him *and* Lois, making sure the blonde district attorney would understand that he wasn’t available for dating.
But was he now? For one thing he surely wasn’t dating Lois. She had made it quite clear to him that she wouldn’t ever consider him again. And yet, at the same time, she had broken down in front of him and *begged* him to stay. And he had been elated that she would still consider him.
Only now he couldn’t be sure of anything anymore. Could Lois have faked her breakdown just like she had faked last night? And what about her nightmare?
“Arrrgggghhhh!” Clark let go of a scream that he only belatedly muted to prevent any glass from shattering. Could this situation become even more confused? He had absolutely *no* idea of where Lois stood in regards to him. Did she love him? Did she hate him? Was she just completely out of her mind? And did it really matter? Did he still love her?
Yes, that was a question he could answer. What did he feel for his partner?
Taking a deep breath, Clark stopped his mindless wandering and let himself slide down alongside the stairwell exit.
He probably should start with the easy emotions. Those that would be obvious and right on the surface. Did he *hate* Lois after what she had put him through? He searched his mind and his heart, but came up empty. No, he felt all sorts of things, the least of it a deep sense of disappointment in his partner. But hate? No, God help him, he didn’t hate her. He could never hate her.
So what else was there available in the form of negative feelings? Well, there was vindictiveness. Would he like to pay her back? Make sure she suffered just as he did. Humiliate her? Clark shook his head. No, that wasn’t it either. He didn’t have it in him to actually take revenge on her.
Okay, that wasn’t true. He could get vindictive and he *had* sent her to dig through the sewers when they had first met. And if he was perfectly honest with himself, he did feel good when he imagined his partner dripping with syrup and covered in corn.
Clark couldn’t help himself but burst out laughing at the mental image of Lois, covered in the yellow goo and corn. She would look just like a corn dog. Corn Dog Lane. Yes, that was a picture to behold. And it would serve her right, if he would then start to nibble away the corn, first from her face and then from the rest of her body. Yes, she would have to be nude when he dumped her into the vat and rolled her through the corn. And then he could discover all the secret spots hidden by the sticky sweet mass.
Clark let go of another scream and almost drove his fist through the concrete of the roof. How did thinking about how to get even with his partner turn into a *weird* sexual fantasy? At least, he had only thought about transforming her into a corn dog and not about spanking her. Yes, she could certainly use a good spanking for what she had put him through.
*Crash!*
Clark carefully pulled the now dust covered fist back from the hole he had left in the rooftop. He *really* should try to ignore Ralph when he told his *stories* on the John. He was *not* going to spank Lois, no matter how naughty she had been.
He really needed to get back on topic and that was what he felt for his partner. And the last ten minutes of daydreaming about Lois’ naked body and the things he would do to her certainly told him one thing – lust. He definitely still lusted after his partner. That fire that had blazoned from the smoldering embers over the last two days was definitely still raging in his pants and if he wasn’t careful, he would rush down and show Lois just what she had thrown away.
No, this really wasn’t helpful. Lust wasn’t an emotion to consider when thinking about what the future held for him and Lois. Instead, he should consider how she had hurt him. Yes, she had hurt him deeply with her reckless behavior. And at the same time, she had claimed to love him. But could one person love another and yet do the things Lois had done to him? Had she just tried to garner his sympathies when she had cried her eyes out before? Did she just playact again, trying to placate him?
But why would she do this? She didn’t have to tell him about her not being drugged. If she had really planned this act, then she wouldn’t have revealed that she was the mysterious Anonymous, now would she?
Probably not, but in the end, it didn’t answer any of his questions. He couldn’t be sure about how Lois felt about him. And that was what it boiled down to. She had lied to him and tricked him and hung him out to dry. And now here he was, thinking about whether to forgive her.
Clark shook his head in confusion. Could he forgive her for what she had done? And what had she done? She had drugged him and then dragged him off to her lair. She had basically coerced him, hadn’t she? And yet at the same time, he hadn’t felt like he didn’t have a choice. Had it been the drug that made him do all the things he had done or had it been something else?
After all, he had already lusted after her the whole day long and unless she had drugged him, Clark, too, then he had certainly been a willing participant in this torrid affair. Ralph! Hadn’t he just this morning assumed that Ralph had been drugged by Anonymous alongside of him? *Had* Lois drugged them both in order to do – what, exactly?
Could she have tested the drug on him, watched how he reacted before employing it against Superman? Somehow, the thought seemed ridiculous. Lois wouldn’t do something like that. And she wouldn’t drug Superman either, now would she? >>Oh boy, what a *mess*!<< he thought while running his right hand through his hair, leaving traced from the gray dust behind.
But it did answer one question. He had *no* idea just how far Lois would have gone in her madness. And this meant he couldn’t trust her anymore. And if he couldn’t trust her, then how could he even contemplate having a relationship with her.
With this settled, he looked at the remaining questions. He still couldn’t answer the ‘Why’ and the ‘Who’, but perhaps the ‘When’. After all, Lois had had to give him the drug in some form. And the only food or drink he had received from Lois before things had gotten out of hand, had been a glass of champagne. So that was it. She had given him the drug-laced champagne and he had fallen for it like the naïve hack she had pegged him for in the beginning.
Which probably also explained why she had been so eager to provide him with coffee all day long. She had probably fed him the drug in the coffee, too. But why had she kept up feeding him more and more coffee. Surely not to keep up her cover. It would have been easier to just hand him one cup during the day, making sure he drank it and then watch the effect it had on him.
And what an effect it had! At least now he knew why his hormones had been so out of control and his control had been nonexistent. And what had it been about her little performance in the ladies room, when she had shown him more than he should have been privy too. It still didn’t make any kind of sense and the more he thought about it, the more convoluted it all became.
Perhaps he really should stop obsessing about spilt milk and just think about the future. Unless of course, he wanted to actually investigate this whole affair. And that would mean talking to Lois. Picking her up, dragging her home to his place, tying her up in a chair and interrogating her about her intentions and methods. Then she would at least have a real complaint against him – kidnapping.
Shaking his head at his wandering thoughts, Clark tried to clear his mind and actually think about the future. He wouldn’t be dating Lois, of course. He wasn’t even sure what he felt about her, much less how much her professed love for him really existed.
So what about being friends. Well, that was easy. She had certainly treated Clark like a convenience. Someone to test a drug on. She obviously still hadn’t learned the value of friendship, and so how could he be *her* friend.
And this left being partners at work. Lois had already told him that she couldn’t work with him anymore. And while he had been willing to fight her on this before, now it just seemed pointless. Why should he try to work with the woman he loved, if she wasn’t willing to be his friend, much less something more?
Yes, that was it. He wouldn’t make things difficult or awkward for her. He still remembered the respect he had once held for her. But he certainly wasn’t going to work towards becoming partners again. Perry would just have to accept the new reality and assign them different partners. Jimmy was a great guy and quite loyal. He would make a great compatriot in the fight for truth and justice they waged through their headlines.
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Lois was still shaking with violent sobs when she heard a knock on the door. Deciding that she had more pressing issues than talking to whoever was on the other side of that damn door, she buried her head even deeper between her arms and got on with ignoring her environment. She never noticed the second knock, or the slowly opening door.
“Lois, Darlin’?” Perry’s voice cut into the silence of her hiding place. “You okay in there?”
Not caring about how her boss disturbed her seclusion, she just snorted and got on with sobbing. It was only when she felt herself being pulled into a fatherly hug that she realized someone had actually dared to enter her shelter.
“Oh, Lois,” she heard the thick voice of her editor rip through the haze of her mind. “What’s going on?”
Lois felt a tissue being stuffed into her fisted hand and she began to press it against her eyes. “Don’t-” she sobbed, before trailing off again.
“Look Lois, you know I’m all for the grand gestures and emotions, but at first you tell me that it’s personal between you and Clark.” Perry hugged her close again. “And that’s fine. We may be reporters, but there is such a thing as a private live. But then the next thing I know is you rushing out of my office and dragging Clark in here.”
Perry paused to gently replace the tissue she had been slowly transforming into a ball of papier-mâché. “Then, just ten minutes later, your partner storms out of here, like he had been bitten by a pit-bull and no one sees or hears thing from you until I find you here, curled up like a beaten-up puppy.”
Lois felt Perry draw in another deep breath before he continued to intrude into her thoughts of despair and loneliness. “Lois, what’s going on between you and Clark? You two haven’t been dating, have you? Because the only other time I’ve seen a display like this, was when Nordstrom and Judd broke up. There was talk about an affair with Rochfort or something like that.” Perry trailed off. “Anyway, when Judd supposedly found out, she broke down just like you did now.”
At the mentioning of one of her previous federal disasters, Lois began to cry even harder and all Perry could do for the next few minutes was to hold her and provide fresh tissues to help her manage the tears streaming down her face.
“No, Perry.” She sobbed after finally finding her voice again. “Clark didn’t cheat on-” Lois blew her nose in the sodden wad of paper she had pressed into her face. “-me. It’s-” She tried to find the best term to not tell Perry too much. “-more complicated than that.”
“Then why don’t you explain it to me, Honey?”
“I… I… I can’t, Perry.” She snorted again, using her sleeve as a tissue. “Please, don’t try to-” She raised her tear streaked face and turned to look him. “-pull it out of me.” Her eyes silently begged him to understand.
Then she noticed the door opening again. >>Oh god, who was going to show up now? Jimmy or Ralph?<<
The Midwestern accent she heard next proved her wrong, even if it didn’t help her composure.
“Uh, Perry?” Clark interrupted her modicum of pseudo-privacy.
“Not now, son,” her boss tried to usher Clark back out of the room.
“Sorry, Perry, but Lois-” She heard Clark falter for a moment. He was obviously trying to find a reason to get Perry away from her. “-she could really use some female advice right now. I could call Lucy. She’s in town and I’m sure she would be willing to help Lois.”
“Lucy?” she sobbed. Clark was going to call Lucy to help her. Was she this much of a wreck that her partner actually had to come back and try to save her from Perry, before she babbled herself out of a job?
Lois felt Perry stiffen at that. “Clark, would you please come in here and close the door?”
“Uh, Perry, I don’t think-“
“I’m not going to repeat myself here, Son!”
The stern voice of her surrogate father shocked her back to reality. Clark wasn’t here to save her. Not by himself, that is. He couldn’t stand being in the same room wither. That much was sure. So he obviously had decided to enlist Lucy’s help. Just how much more humiliation would she have to endure today?
Then she heard the door click close as Clark obviously followed their editor’s command and pulled out a chair to sit in front of them. He really was trying to keep his distance from her.
“So, Clark,” Perry started. “Are you going to tell me why you’ve left Lois here crying her eyes out?”
Lois pulled in a sharp breath at the biting sound of Perry’s voice. Was he blaming Clark for her current situation? “Perry, this-”
“Shhh, Lois. I’ve got this,” Perry whispered to her while stroking her shoulder with the hand he had clasped around her. “I’m waiting, Clark.”
Lois tried to blink between her tear-swollen eyelids. Clark definitely looked less than comfortable in his seat. She had never known that a grown man could actually look like a dwarf when sitting in one of the conference room’s chairs, but Clark seemed to manage it somehow.
“Perry, I haven’t-“
“Do I look like a man who is willing to listen to excuses, Clark?”
Lois flinched at the sharp edge she heard in his reprimand. And Clark looked like he had just been hit.
“And just what is this about my Lois here needing *female advice*? Clark, I swear to you, if Lois is pregnant and you’re looking to skip town, then I’m going to-“
“*What!*” Clark had jumped up, his chair toppling over and skidding over the floor from the jolt it had received.
“Perry, NO!” Lois refuted her boss’ conclusion. And at the look of confusion on Perry’s face, she clarified. “I’m not pregnant!” Only to silently amend, >>I think.<<
“You’re not?” Her editor looked genuinely surprised now. What did he think she was, anyway? Or Clark, for that matter. Why would he even assume that Clark would get her pregnant only to run for the hills the next moment?
“Why would you even think that?” she asked him, the shock having cleared her throat from any remaining sobs.
“Well, the way you and Clark had been acting, and since you’ve said he hadn’t been cheating on you. Well, that was the only other explanation that would come to mind. Unless of course, you two had broken up over something else?”
“Perry,” Clark tried again. “Lois and I *work* together. We are *not* a couple and we’ve *never been* a couple.” He turned around to pick up the chair. “There’s nothing untoward going on. Please, it really is just something personal for Lois, and she could really use her sister to talk about it,” Clark implored of their boss.
Lois stared back at the stoic image her partner presented her with. She wasn’t sure if Perry had actually bought it, but at least he hadn’t challenged Clark’s explanation any further.
“Fine.” Perry let go of her and pulled himself to his feet. “But *I’m* going to call Lucy, and *you’re* going to stay with your *partner*-“ Perry pointed his finger first on Clark then at her. “-until she gets here. Understood?” Lois found herself nodding at the stern look their boss shot both of them before he went over to the door and left them alone.
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tbc
