PREVIOUSLY...
A sob rose in her throat. Kent. The only man who’d ever been truly able to excite her. Had he really been about to say what she thought he’d been about to say when Spenser Spenser’s goons had shown up? He couldn’t have been. Still, it had almost sounded as if he were about to tell her that.... Nah. He wouldn’t have been about to say... that. There was no future there. There were simply too many barriers to overcome. Still, she couldn’t stomach the thought that he wouldn’t be out there somewhere. That she’d never again be able to look at his handsome face or see the spark in his eyes of... whatever it was she saw there when he looked at her. That... something that sent shock waves running through her entire being.
Suddenly, the future looked unexpectedly bleak and empty, day dragging into day with no hope, no color. Would she ever again know that tingle in her spine when being kissed by a man? She’d certainly never felt it with Dan. Would she ever again understand what it felt like to be totally consumed by passion?
She’d never even fulfilled her mission of understanding the mystery that was Clark Kent. And now, she never would. His life had been stolen from him. She dropped her head into her hands as the tears finally overwhelmed her.**
AND NOW...
* * * * * * * * *
Chapter Thirty
* * * * * * * * *
**Lois’ head snapped up and she quickly dried her tears when she heard the door open. If someone was coming in here, there was a chance for her to talk or trick her way out of this cell. And then... she stared in disbelief as Dan entered the room.
“Are you a ghost?” she whispered, wondering if she’d finally lost her mind.
“Well, if this is heaven, the billing leaves a lot to be desired,” Dan answered, rushing over to a key ring hanging on the far wall.
Lois rose to her feet. “What happened? I saw you shot.”
“They must have missed.”
“How could they have missed? They shot you point blank.”
“Hey, you almost sound like you’re complaining.” Dan fumbled with the lock for a moment before opening her cell door.
“Trust me. I’m not,” she said.
“Come on,” Dan said, even as he pulled her to the door of the dungeon. “We’ve got to get out of here.” After taking a covert peek up and down the hall, he rushed out.
“Wait! We have to find Kent.”
“What?” Dan asked, turning around to discover that she wasn’t following. “Come on, Lois. We’ve got to go. Now!”
“Not without Kent.”
“Who’s Kent?”
“He’s a guy who works for the Metropolis Star. They’re going to cut his head off.”
“We can contact the police when we get out of here.”
“How? Do you have a way off the island? Do you have access to a phone?”
“Well, no, but... You saw those guys. They’ve got some serious fire power. The only chance we have...”
“We’re the only chance he’s got. And I’m not leaving without him. You go ahead if you want. If you figure out a way to call the police, great! But I’m finding Kent. I’m not going to let him die.” There was steel in her voice on the final sentence.
Dan let out a breath. “You’re right. Okay... so... which way are we going?”
Lois looked in both directions before deciding on the direction opposite to the one Dan had chosen. If that way led to an exit, maybe the other way would lead to the operating room.**
“I remember how amazed I was when you and Scardino showed up,” Clark said. “I’d been struggling against the effects of the kryptonite, but I was sure I was a goner. So... thanks.”
“Hey, that’s what we do for each other,” Lois said, leaning in to kiss him.
“Even in this screwed up reality, so it seems. But... do you remember what happened when we finally escaped?”
Lois nodded.
**Lois saw Kent emerge from the bathroom, dressed in a pair of operating greens. They hadn’t been able to locate his clothing. He looked weak and shaken. She began walking in his direction when Dan suddenly appeared in front of her.
“I got hold of Henderson. He’s going to send choppers.”
“Great,” she said without much enthusiasm as she looked past Dan to where Kent was carefully lowering himself onto a couch.
Dan noticed her distracted expression. He turned to see the man sprawled across the couch, his arm over his eyes. “Did he say what happened?”
“I haven’t had a chance to talk to him. I mean, he doesn’t look beaten up or anything.”
“Well, lying strapped to an operating table, about to have your head chopped off has to take a toll on a guy. And who knows, they might have given him some drugs or something to prepare him for the surgery.”
“I suppose.”
Dan looked back at Kent one more time. “Why don’t we go check on him?” he asked.
“Yeah, I suppose.” What she really wanted was some time to talk to Kent alone - to find out what he’d been about to say when Spencer Spencer’s goon had interrupted them. But getting that opportunity was looking less and less likely - especially if those helicopters arrived soon. Besides, she must have misunderstood. He couldn’t have been about to say what she thought he’d been about to say. It made absolutely no sense.
“Come on,” Dan said, taking her hand as they walked together towards Kent.
Everything about this felt wrong. When Kent looked in their direction, Lois met his eyes. Almost instantly, he broke eye contact to focus on where her hand was joined to Dan’s. Lois swallowed hard, having to force herself to continue putting one foot in front of another to keep pace with Dan.
Kent struggled, pulling himself into a seated position as they approached.
“I take it you must be Kent,” Dan said.
“Clark Kent. And you are?”
“Dan Scardino.” He stuck out his free hand. Kent grimaced as he rose from the couch so that the two men could shake hands.
“Well, thank you for the help,” Kent said. “I was sure I was a goner.”
“Hey, no problem, pal. Lois here wouldn’t leave you behind.”
Lois looked down, resisting the urge to squirm under the look she just knew Kent was giving her.
“She wouldn’t, huh?” Kent asked.
“Yeah, if I were the jealous type, I’d be worried.”
“You would, huh?”
“As if you have anything to be worried about, Dan,” Lois said immediately. Kent’s tone was just a little too knowing for her comfort.
“Anyway, the MPD choppers should be here soon. And Spencer and his goons are safely tied up like chickens in the operating room. So I guess all we have to do is wait.” Dan plopped down into a chair, tugging on Lois’ hand to pull her into his lap.
She cringed slightly. Dan didn’t realize what he was doing - or did he? Flaunting their relationship in front of Kent. Still, it was entirely possible she was overreacting - that Kent didn’t even care. After all, according to courthouse gossip, he was still dating Mayson Drake. Not that Lois made a point of knowing that. Not at all. She never even gave such things a second thought.
After all, it was hardly Lois’ fault that the reporter covering the courthouse beat always returned to the newsroom at about the same time every day - or that she always went for coffee the moment she entered the newsroom - or that Lois had discovered that that particular time of day was a good time for another cup of coffee - or that the courthouse reporter liked to pass on courthouse gossip. Nope. It was not Lois’ fault at all that she knew that Kent was still dating Mayson Drake.
Still, Lois quickly squirmed out of Dan’s lap, taking a seat on the arm of the chair next to him. She ignored the look she knew he was giving her in response.
She watched in concern as Kent gingerly sat back down - as if he were in pain. In fact, all of his movements were sluggish. He was obviously hurting. But... what had they done to him?
“Are you all right?” she asked softly.
He looked at Dan and then at her. “Just dandy,” he said, his tone of voice telling her that he wasn’t talking about whatever pain he was in so much as how it was affecting him to see her with Dan.
“Good,” she responded, pretending she hadn’t heard the underlying message. After all, what did he expect? Being with him was impossible. He knew that. And that was how she knew that he’d not been about to say... what she thought he’d been about to say.
Still, why was it that she always seemed to fall for the wrong sort of men?**
“As I remember it, those were the most uncomfortable fifteen minutes of my life,” Clark said.
“For me, too, trust me. I can remember being so confused that night...”
**Lois took a sip of warm milk. Dan had left hours ago, and still she couldn’t sleep. Oh, she knew what the problem was.
Kent.
It was all so confusing. The man she knew him to be and the man she saw every time she looked in his eyes were two completely different men.
On the one hand, he was the man who had almost ruined her life. He was the one who had sent her mother back to the bottle. He was the one who had blown her cover twice in attempts to prevent her from getting a story. He was the one who had written that story about Perry. By all rights, she should despise him - not find herself thinking about him all the time.
Maybe it was because those events seemed to be contradicted by others. The time he’d not taken advantage of her when she was under the influence of the pheromone compound. The number of times he’d saved her life. The way he would hold her and comfort her. The way he always seemed to be there when she needed him. Even the gentle way he made love. Every touch, every kiss seemed to mean something to him.
No wonder she was confused. He almost seemed to be two completely different men. And it was compromising her ability to forget about him, to get on with her life.
Well, and then there was this strange connection she felt whenever he was around. It was as if... She struggled a while, trying to figure it out. If she believed in reincarnation, she’d be tempted to believe that he had been her best friend in another life. Maybe even more than that.
But did she even know him? No. It wasn’t as if they’d ever really sat down and had a conversation. Either they were yelling at each other or they were falling into bed together. On the other hand, it almost felt as if she did know him. For example she could almost swear that his favorite color was blue - although red and yellow were important to him, too. Or if she were getting him coffee - although it seemed more natural to think of him getting coffee for her - she just knew that he would want full caf, whole milk and three sugar.
Still, it was three o’clock in the morning, and she wasn’t going to figure out the mystery that was Clark Kent tonight. She’d worry about it tomorrow.**
Clark sighed. “The last thing I remember about that night was watching Scardino put his arm around you as he led you to one of the helicopters. I stood on the grass of the mansion, just watching the helicopter until you were finally out of sight.”
Lois leaned over, wiping away his mournful expression with a kiss. “It seems to me that it was about this time that Patrick Sullivan showed up,” she said, getting them back on track after the kiss ended.
“How did Dan take that?”
“Not well.” She glanced at Clark. “Not that you can criticize Dan for that. You weren’t exactly thrilled when Patrick showed up in our reality.”
“I was just worried about you.”
“Hmph! Right!”
“Lois, Sullivan tried to sacrifice you to his ancient gods! I was right to be worried.”
“And you weren’t the least bit jealous?” she asked, her tone of voice making it very clear what she thought of that possibility. As she spoke, she rose to her feet, sashaying over to stand behind her husband. Placing her hands on the table on either side of his body, trapping him, she leaned over to nip on his ear before whispering into it. “Not the least bit jealous that I was spending time with another man?”
A deep rumble of laughter rolled through his chest. “Okay, so I was jealous.”
She immediately straightened up. “I thought so,” she said, taking her seat once again, a satisfied smirk on her face.
“Well if you’ve made your point, can we get back to this investigation?”
“No. I just want to sit her for a minute and enjoy the memory of making my husband jealous.” She giggled. “Okay, well, Patrick came to town, and for the first time, Dan had some competition.”
“What about me? Wasn’t I competition?”
“Dan didn’t know about you. And I wasn’t about to tell him. Although, I did wonder about his behavior after we rescued you from Spencer Spencer. He never said anything, but I did wonder if he sensed something.” She shrugged. “Anyway, I guess the story about Patrick Sullivan went pretty much the same as it did when you and I investigated it - with the role of Clark Kent being played by Dan Scardino.”
“So he saved your life?”
Lois nodded. “He found out I had gone to Patrick’s suite and came there looking for me.”
**Lois was exhausted as Dan escorted her back to her apartment. Being almost killed tended to take it out of a person. And now that the adrenalin that had kept her going throughout her encounter with Patrick was beginning to wear off, what had actually transpired tonight was beginning to sink in.
She’d been tied to a table, Shamus standing over her holding a knife in some sort of bizarre ritualistic Druid ceremony. She continued twisting on the table, attempting to get her hands and feet free of the bindings holding her. Still, she’d been convinced that she’d finally gone too far. She wasn’t going to get out of this one alive.
Until she’d heard someone knock on the door.
“Help!” she yelled. “They’re trying to kill me.”
A hand was instantly clamped over her mouth. She’d bit down hard. Shamus yelled, jumping back.
“Help!” she yelled again. “They’re craz...”
A piece of cloth shoved into her mouth cut off any further pleas for help. She choked slightly around the cloth. The only bright point was that she suddenly heard someone smashing through the door.
She looked towards the sound to see Dan stumbling into the room, his gun drawn. Keeping Patrick and Shamus in his sights, he spoke. “It’s over.”
“Not yet,” Patrick responded. “Shamus!”
Shamus instantly raised the knife. A gun shot, perfectly executed, sent the knife spinning out of Shamus’ hands. Shamus let out a cry of pain before fleeing the room.
Dan’s gun moved to Patrick.
Lois was baffled when Patrick, instead of raising his hands or fleeing, placed the Mask of the Ancient Ones over his face.
“Get down on the floor!” Dan demanded, keeping the gun’s sights leveled at Patrick.
“I don’t think so!” Patrick said.
A green laser shot from Patrick’s eyes.
Lois tried to yell a warning from around the cloth in her mouth, but it seemed Dan must have seen it coming because although his cry of pain told Lois that he’d been hit somewhere, he dove to the floor, firing his gun at the same moment.
And then the only sound that could be heard was Dan’s heavy breathing. Lois turned her head to see Patrick lying on the floor, blood beginning to pool around his body. She quickly looked away.
Lois unlocked the door to her apartment, opening it slightly. She wanted nothing more than to climb into a tub of hot water and have a nice, relaxing bath. Her plan was to get rid of Dan as quickly as possible so that she could do exactly that. She turned towards Dan.
“Dan, I just want to say...”
Dan reached over her shoulder, pushing the door fully open, and stepped past her into her apartment. She hesitated for a moment before sighing and following him into the room herself.
“God, what a day!” Dan said, dropping down and sprawling out on the couch. He gestured her over.
She closed the door and took a couple steps towards him before stopping.
“What exactly happened back there?” he asked.
On his question, she covered the remaining distance between them, taking a seat beside him. He obviously needed to talk about what had happened. And given that he’d saved her life, surely she could give him that. Besides, she could probably benefit from talking things out, too.
He pulled her over to settle in the crook of his arm.
“I’m not exactly sure what happened,” Lois said. “Before you got there, Patrick kept going on about how he had to sacrifice me so that the power of his Druid ancestors would be given to him. But I didn’t expect that green laser thing.”
“Who would? Still, when I heard you scream...”
“I didn’t scream.”
He raised his eyebrows, shifting positions slightly so that he could look at her.
“I yelled,” she corrected.
He smiled as his hand came up to stroke her cheek.
She glanced down. “I couldn’t believe how long the police kept us there.”
“I killed a man, Lois. They had to make sure it was a righteous shooting. And I think that green laser thing caused them some problems.”
“Well, until someone touched the mask Patrick was wearing and almost got killed from the electrical charge it let off.”
“That certainly did help my case.” He turned her face back to him, pulling her closer to kiss her lightly. He pulled back slightly before kissing her again, his lips slowly exploring hers.
Lois soon found herself responding to the slow, gentle kisses. In fact, it felt... good. She didn’t exactly remember how they ended up sprawled across the couch, bodies entangled. But she became very aware of what was going on when Dan’s hand slipped beneath her shirt.
“No, Dan,” she said softly, breaking the kiss and removing his hand.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, looking up at her with passion filled eyes.
“Nothing’s wrong. It’s just getting late.” She squirmed off of him.
He let out an audible breath, struggling to rise into a seated position. “Let me guess. You’re just not ready,” he said sarcastically.
He was upset, angry even. That much was obvious. “Look, Dan, I...”
“I’ve heard it before, Lois. And let me tell you, it’s starting to get a little old. It’s not even about sex. It’s about the fact that you back away at the first hint that things are starting to get serious.” He picked up his jacket that had somehow ended up dumped in a pile on the floor. He carefully pulled it over the bandage covering the burn he had on his arm from Patrick’s laser vision. “I saved your life tonight. And not without injury to myself.”
“So... what’s this?” She gestured to the couch. “Payment?”
“Don’t be stupid! Of course not. But what do you expect from me before you’ll be ‘ready?’ Sainthood?”
Lois practically snorted. Sainthood? Given the fact that she’d slept with Kent, sainthood didn’t seem to be very high on her list of priorities. She sought for a way to answer Dan, unable to find any. How could she explain to Dan that she simply didn’t want to be intimate with him?
Fortunately, no response was required. Dan already had his coat on and was walking to the door.
“Goodnight, Lois,” he said coolly. Still, when she joined him at the door, he touched her cheek gently before turning and walking out.
She closed and locked the door behind him. Leaning against it, she closed her eyes for a moment before returning to the couch. She hated to admit it, but Dan had a point. She was holding back - and not just from sleeping with him. No wonder he was frustrated. Even if she wasn’t ready to make love - and to be fair, they had been dating pretty steadily for about five months now - she wasn’t letting things go past a few kisses, sometimes not even that. Any show of intimacy seemed to make her uncomfortable.
And she knew why. The problem could be summed up in a single word.
Kent.
She growled in frustration. She had to forget about Kent. Dan was wrong. She didn’t expect sainthood. But she did need a man she could trust. And that man wasn’t Kent. But until she could find a way to force Kent out of her head, things were pretty much at a stalemate with Dan.**
Once Lois finished her story, she looked down to find Clark was holding her hand. It wasn’t a possessive move. It was more like... comfort. She gave him a shaky smile. Still, nothing was said and after a moment, Lois and Clark returned to their computers. It wasn’t long before they came across another story that caught their attention. It was a small piece, buried in the middle of the paper. Lois’s name was on the byline.
‘Five Hundred And Thirty-One People Missing in Metropolis.’
“Including Michelle and Arnold Sitkowitz,” Lois said, remembering.
“Your neighbors?”
Lois nodded. “You know, it’s funny,” Lois said. “I can remember Perry letting me run the story. I think he just wanted to get me to stop wasting my time on it. His exact comment was about how he was sure that my neighbors were nice people but he didn’t think their disappearance was hard news.”
“He didn’t send you to Larry Smiley’s resort?”
“The Smiley Institute of Love and Dependency?”
“Love and Commitment,” Clark corrected with a roll of his eyes.
Lois shook her head. “Which makes me wonder... why did he send us there in our reality? Was it because he believed there was a story there or...”
“...did he just want us to go for counseling?”
Lois nodded.
“Could be the second, I guess. I think he was worried about us. After all, we weren’t exactly getting along at the time. So anyway what did you do when he took you off the story?”
“What do you think? I took some time off.”
“Huh?”
Lois let out a breath. “I’d promised Michelle’s sister that I was going to get to the bottom of Michelle’s disappearance. So when I discovered that a number of the missing couples had been to Smiley’s Institute, I decided to check it out.”
“So you went alone?”
“Not exactly.”
“Why do I get the feeling I know what’s coming next?”
“I needed a partner,” Lois said. “It wasn’t as if I could go for couples’ counseling on my own. And who better than the guy I was currently dating. Besides, Dan was a D.E.A agent, so I figured he could take care of himself,” Lois said in her own defense.
“But...” Clark paused and a confused expression settled on his face.
“What?”
“I’m just... remembering something, I think,” he said slowly. “Mayson had dragged me to some art exhibit - I think it was some big work thing she had to go to - when...”
**“I’ve been thinking,” Mayson said as she wandered over to the next painting.
“Yeah, so have I. How do they get ‘A day in the park’ out of this.” Clark tilted his head to the side as he examined the painting, trying to reconcile his images of a day in the park with the painting before him.
She gave his arm a smack. “No, Clark. I’ve been thinking about... well...”
“What?” He turned to look at her.
“It’s just... We’ve been dating for almost six months now - on and off and...”
“Yes,” Clark replied, suddenly feeling a little nervous. Mayson had been extremely patient with his... patience. Was now the time she finally lowered the boom?
“I was just thinking. I mean, in all that time, we really haven’t... I mean, you haven’t...”
Unable to stand the tension a moment longer, he took her hands, pulling her around to look at him. If this was where she finally told him she didn’t want to see him anymore, he wanted to just get it over with. “What is it, Mayson?”
“Well, I just think...”
He nodded, encouraging her to continue.
“I just think we have some issues in our relationship and...”
“...you think you deserve better,” Clark completed for her. He couldn’t blame her. How many other women would put up with a relationship where her boyfriend didn’t seem inclined to move things beyond kissing? “I can’t say I blame you, Mayson. I know you deserve better.”
“No, Clark. I just... Well, there’s this counselor - Larry Smiley. I’ve heard great things about him and...”
“You want me to go to a counselor?”
“No, I want us to go to a counselor. Together. He does a weekend relationship seminar that’s supposed to be really good. So... what do you think? It would mean getting away for the weekend - which we could both use after working so hard the last couple of months. And...”
He was about to start shaking his head. He wasn’t interested in counseling. He didn’t need counseling. And relationship counseling with Mayson would just be... weird.
“...it would mean a lot to me.”
He hesitated. She really had been understanding - far more than he had any right to expect. And she asked so little in return. “Okay, Mayson. So when do we go?”**
“Are you telling me that we’re both about to end up at the same retreat, with our respective partners, for couples’ counseling?” Lois asked nervously.
TO BE CONTINUED...
