PREVIOUSLY...
She screeched when someone grabbed her from behind, pulling her into the alley. She spun in her attacker’s arms, swinging out with her fist. Before it could connect, his hand came up and stopped it.
“You scared the hell out of me!” she exclaimed when she suddenly recognized her attacker.
“I have a feeling it’d take a lot more than that to scare you,” Kent said with a laugh before lowering her mouth to hers.
“Mmmm,” she moaned, wrapping her arms around his neck and giving herself over to the kiss.
Suddenly he pulled back, shocking her with his quick movements.
“Lois!”
She spun around at the sound of her name being called. Oh, god. Claude. “This isn’t what it looks like,” she said.**
AND NOW...
* * * * * * * * *
Chapter Forty
* * * * * * * * *
**“We were just...” Lois glanced back over her shoulder, trying to figure out exactly what they were just doing. Her eyebrows crinkled in confusion when Kent was nowhere to be seen.
“You were just... what?” Claude asked.
“I... uhh... nothing. What did you want, Claude?” Lois was still trying to get her heart rate back to normal. If Claude had seen Kent, it would be all over the newsroom within the hour. But... had he? It wasn’t as if she could ask.
“You forgot your cell phone,” Claude said. “Perry told me to bring it to you. Something about expecting a call from Gendell tonight?”
“Oh... uh... right,” Lois said, taking the cell phone from him. How could she have forgotten that? Her mind was obviously too occupied with Kent.
“You’re losing it, cherie,” Claude said as if reading her mind. “You’re much too tense. What you need is... some relaxation. How about I remind you how to relax?” He reached for her.
She stepped away. “Not in this lifetime.”
Claude gave her a smile that made her skin crawl.
“Don’t worry, cherie. I know you don’t mean that. You just need to raise your standards in choosing your lovers. And I have no doubt you’ll be begging me again soon. After all, you know I can pleasure you like no other man.”
He gave her a wink before turning around and walking away, leaving her fretting behind him. She would have been seething, but right now, she had more important things on her mind. Claude’s comment about raising her standards in choosing a lover. Did Claude’s comment mean he’d seen Kent... or not? Or was he referring to Deter - who would have been the last date Claude knew about.
And... had Kent overheard Claude’s final comments? If so, would they change the way Kent felt about her? Would they make him think that she slept around a lot? She unconsciously began chewing on her lower lip nervously.**
“Of course, it didn’t change the way I felt about you. And it didn’t make me think you slept around,” Clark said immediately. “After all, I overheard your ‘deathbed’ confession - back when you were stuck in the hanger at EPRAD shortly after we met - so I already knew about Claude. Although, I have to admit, Claude’s slimy innuendos did make me dislike Claude quite a bit more than I had before - which is something I wouldn’t have believed possible.”
Lois rubbed his arm soothingly. “I can remember how long it seemed to take afterwards for me to really believe that he hadn’t seen you,” Lois said. “Even after I made you listen in on what Claude said after he went back into the newsroom, I was still terrified the next day when I went to the newsroom that everyone would know I’d been kissing you outside the Planet.”
“And did they?”
Lois shook her head.
“You know, it’s sort of funny. I was actually thinking of another occasion when we almost got caught.”
**‘Ding.’
Kent was floating on the ceiling of the hallway outside the door to Lois’ apartment before the elevator even opened. One minute he’d been kissing Lois goodnight, and loving it, the next the elevator had dinged and, after a quick look through the door and spotting Jimmy, Clark was floating on the ceiling. And Lois was staring up at him in disbelief.
Oh, no. Not a good idea. If the kid saw her looking up, he might too. A moment later, a gust of wind swept through the hallway and the door was closing on the stairwell.
“Hey, Lois?” Kent heard the kid say as he stopped on the roof.
“Jimmy!” Lois gasped. “What are you doing here?”
“You wanted some information on those deaths with the weird patches on their bodies. Anyway, I thought I’d stop by on my way home and drop off what I found.”
Clark immediately quit listening. It was one of the rules, after all. Or... technically not. After all, eavesdropping to get inside information on each other’s stories was not actually on the list of dating rules. Not talking about current investigations was. But he was certain Lois wouldn’t see the distinction.**
“I think that was about the same time as the fire,” Lois said when Clark finished his story.
“Fire?” Clark asked.
Lois nodded. “After all, you couldn’t very well expect all of our dates to be so... perfect.”
**She had meant it to be a quiet, romantic evening. She really had. She’d even managed to find a simple recipe that she’d been certain she actually understood. ‘Full-proof,’ the book had said. ‘Impossible to mess up.’ ‘Cooking For Dummies.’ After all, cooking was what women did for the men in their lives.
She should have known better.
A knock on the door brought her out of her thoughts. Sighing, she squared her shoulders before walking over to the door. Checking through the peephole first, she opened the door.
“Hi, Lane,” Kent said pleasantly before suddenly taking note of her appearance. The way his nose twitched, she knew that wasn’t the only thing he was noticing. “Lane?” he asked.
Sighing again, she gestured him inside.
“I tried to make supper,” she said, looking towards the kitchen to see exactly what he was seeing. Even from the entrance way, the blackened walls and cupboards in the kitchen could be clearly seen - well, those spots anyway that didn’t have the chemicals from several fire extinguishers dripping off them. In fact, she was pretty certain by the time she’d gotten the fire out, and before the fire department arrived, she’d ‘borrowed’ every fire extinguisher in the apartment block.
“But... what...”
“Welcome to the world of Lois Lane’s cooking,” she responded.
“So...” he said when he finally recovered the power of speech, “...I take it we’re ordering in tonight?”
In spite of the situation, in spite of the mess, in spite of the fact that her furniture, although not directly affected by the fire, was never going to smell right again, Lois burst out laughing.
“Uhh... and in the future, Lane,” Kent continued, “how about you let me do the cooking?” As he spoke, he walked towards the kitchen. “I won’t be able to get rid of the smell, but...” He shifted into superspeed and she stood in awe watching as the mess was quickly cleaned up, at least as well as could be expected.**
“But your cooking attempts never got quite that out of control in our reality,” Clark said.
“Well, in our reality, I wasn’t desperately trying to impress you.”
“You weren’t?”
She leaned over, giving him a quick kiss. “No. I already had you by then. Although, in our reality, this was about the time that I started looking into taking cooking lessons - so maybe there was an element of wanting to impress you in there somewhere.”
Clark laughed. “Trust me, I’ve always been impressed. After all, you’re the only person I know who can actually burn water.”
She gave him a well-deserved smack. “That was only once. Besides, how was I to know that the water in the pot had all boiled away while I wasn’t looking or that when I threw my notebook across the room after getting that extremely unhelpful call from Bobby it would land in the hot pot and catch on fire?”
Clark didn’t dare respond to that. No need to remind her of her plaintive cry when he ran into the kitchen to see flames leaping out of the pot: 'But I was just boiling water.' So he smoothly changed the subject. “So how did Mr. Tracewski react to your accident?”
“Well, Mr. Tracewski... wasn’t exactly impressed. In spite of your clean up job, the place still stank of smoke. Carpets had to be replaced to get rid of the smell. The tiles in the kitchen were pretty much a write-off. The damage to the cupboards was pretty extensive, too. And for some reason, Mr. Tracewski wasn’t willing to do all that if I was still going to be living there. I guess having a reporter living there who had been broken into several times over the years, and had on one occasion even had a missile launched through her window was not exactly his idea of... the ideal tenant. So then with the fire... I guess that was just the final straw. He said his insurance had gone through the roof. So... although he couldn’t force me to move, he made it pretty clear that he had no intention of getting around to fixing the damage if I was staying.”
“Wait a minute! Is that why you moved? Because of a cooking accident?”
Lois nodded.
“Okay, well... wow,” Clark said, fighting back a laugh. “I have to admit, even though we knew you moved, I’d have never guessed that your cooking was the reason.”
“Well, when I thought about it, I guess I realized that moving could be a good thing. I figured maybe I could use an apartment with a little more... discrete entrance.”
“So that’s why your new place backs out onto a park - so that there would be less chance of me being seen going in and out?” Clark asked.
Lois nodded. “I seem to remember suggesting, after Jimmy almost caught us, that we start using the window. You were afraid there was too much risk of someone seeing a flying man. But having you drop me off on a balcony looking out over a park... It seemed the perfect solution.”
“Wow. So you were serious enough about us that you actually looked for an apartment that had a discrete fly-in entrance.”
She shrugged. “Well, Sally down in accounting had mentioned that she was looking for someone to take over her lease. I knew a bit about the place and... It sounded perfect. So even if we hadn’t been dating, I think I’d have been interested. But after the incident with Jimmy and then the fire...” She shrugged again.
“It seems to me that in our reality, Sally was looking for someone to take over the lease for her apartment, too.”
“But we had just bought the brownstone.”
“Besides, it wouldn’t have been big enough for the two of us. But in this reality...”
“...it was perfect. And since my living room furniture stank of smoke, I decided that was an ideal time to replace it, too.” She paused as a new idea struck her. “I think it was when you were helping me move that I gave you the picture of me that we found in your secret closet.”
“I remember that. I was looking at it as I was helping you pack, bemoaning the fact that all I had was a newspaper picture of you, and you told me to keep it. I loved it, by the way. It gave me many hours of... pleasure. I found it a real... release.”
Lois swatted him, although she couldn’t quite keep the grin off her face.
“I guess this need for discretion explains all the cryptic notes we found in my closet, too,” Clark continued.
Lois nodded. “You know, I can remember thinking that all this sneaking around was sort of sexy.”
Clark smiled. “Well, at least we didn’t have any problems with rule number three.”
“The one where we weren’t to talk about current investigations?”
Clark nodded.
“Oh, right. I probably never told you.”
“What?”
“I’m not sure you even realized you did it.”
“What?” Clark asked again.
Lois took a deep breath. “If I recall correctly, we were having dinner in Hawaii. It was a great evening. But then all of our dates were really great.” That earned her a quick kiss. “Anyway, we were talking about some of our favorite past investigations when...”
**“It’s crazy some of the things people do,” Kent said. “I mean, right now I’m looking into this guy - Herbie Saxe. I think he’s making people in this one particular brownstone complex believe that the place is haunted so that he can get them to sell.”
Lois looked down at her plate, pushing food around. He didn’t even seem aware of what he had just told her. Oh, god. Now what did she do? She had to admit the story definitely sounded intriguing. So what would be the harm if...
No. No. She couldn’t do that. Not if she wanted to keep dating Kent. She glanced up at him.
“What?” he asked, seeming to realize that he’d lost her somewhere along the way.**
Clark reached over to confiscate her mouse, quickly scrolling through the upcoming stories on her computer. “You didn’t get the story,” he said a moment later.
“Of course not. But I have to admit... I was tempted.”
He leaned over, giving her a kiss.
“What was that for?”
“For choosing us over a story.”
“Well, don’t think I didn’t struggle with it for a long time. In fact, I think that incident explains what happened next.”
**Lois was lost in thought as she walked down the street to her apartment. She’d made arrangements to see Sally’s place. She’d never been there before, although she definitely had heard incredible things about it. And from the sounds of it, it looked out over a park - perfect for discrete take offs and landings. Now, though, she wasn’t so sure about the place. After all, it was more expensive than her current apartment. She had to find somewhere to live, but...
She’d certainly not been expecting what had happened today. Perry had been promoted. And she had been appointed editor - at least on a temporary basis.
She was pumped.
She was worried.
After what had happened with Kent blurting out the Herbie Saxe story, she realized just how easy it was to make a slip. And now that she was going to know every story being investigated by the Planet... Maybe dating Kent wasn’t such a good idea.
Still, the idea of calling things off broke her heart. How could she do that? How could she give up the first really great relationship she’d ever had? How could she give up feeling alive inside?
“Hey.”
Lois looked up at the sound of the familiar voice. Kent was approaching from the other direction.
“Hey,” she responded. She knew her smile wasn’t reaching her eyes.
“What’s wrong?”
She stopped, trying to get her thoughts in order before she spoke. “I’ve just... I’m sorry. But I’m going to need to cancel our date tonight.” She looked at him apologetically. “I’m sorry. I’m just... really busy.” She needed time to think about this. Until she did, well... she wasn’t lying. This new editorial position had her running in seven different directions all at once. She wasn’t sure how Perry did it.
“Hey, it’s okay,” Kent said, taking her expression to mean that she was afraid of hurting his feelings. “There’s always tomorrow, right?”
“Right,” she said without much enthusiasm.**
“I think Perry was a little bit surprised by how happy I was when he came back and took over as editor again. I think I even kissed his cheek,” Lois said. “I didn’t explain, of course. But I think the very next thing I did was to tell Sally I’d take her apartment.”
“I can remember a comment you made after you bought your new furniture - something about choosing it because it would be better for making out on. I even remember when I sat down on the couch for the first time, saying something like, ‘Oh, yeah. Much better.’ Mmm... I’m suddenly remembering a lot of really hot kisses.”
“It was fun. So many romantic locations...”
“...and hot kisses...”
“....midnight strolls...”
“...and hot kisses...”
Lois swatted him. “And it was sort of fun having a secret...”
“Not to mention all the hot kisses.”
“Clark! Would you get your priorities straight?”
“What are you talking about? I think my priorities are absolutely straight.”
She laughed. “Anyway, I can remember being surprised about how easy it always was to talk to you. I told you things I’d never told anyone. About my mother’s drinking problem. About my absent father. Even about Claude and Paul and all my other previous federal disasters.”
“And I can remember opening up to you about how frustrating it was to have all these powers and not be able to do more to help people.”
“I remember,” Lois said softly, recalling another story.
**Lois sat across from Kent in her apartment, staring intently at the cards in her hand before looking at the pile of clothing on the table. What had ever possessed her to suggest a game of strip poker? And... just how far was she prepared to take this? Although, she had taken out a bit of extra insurance by throwing on a sweater at the last minute - claiming she was chilly. Still, at the moment, it was working out perfectly - she was winning.
“So far I’m already ahead by two socks, a shoe and a belt.” She looked back at her hand, blushing slightly as she continued. “When I win this hand, you can just kiss that shirt goodbye.”
“Are you sure you don’t moonlight as a dealer in Vegas?”
“Some people are just born with good card sense. So... how many?”
Kent looked down at his cards before saying, “I’ll take... three.”
Triumph leapt in Lois as she dealt the next three cards. Oh, yeah, she was going to enjoy seeing him without his shirt on. After all, if he was asking for three cards, the most he had was a pair. She dealt herself one final card. “One for me.”
“I’ll see your shirt and raise you... a sweater.”
Lois took in his expression and instantly became much more wary. “What have you got?”
“Full house.” He spread his cards out on the coffee table and grinned at her.
She looked down at the table in disbelief. He must have picked up three of a kind on that last draw. What were the chances of that?
“So what have you got?”
“Two pair.” She pulled off her sweater and tossed it onto the pile of clothing. “Amazing how you pulled that off,” she said. “You sure you didn’t use a little...” She pretended she was pulling down a pair of glasses. “...buzz buzz?”
“Lane, I’d never use ‘buzz buzz’ to cheat at cards.”
“Okay, okay... Shuffle them up while you’re hot. And get ready to taste the bitter agony of defeat.”
“Hey! What about the shirt?” Kent said. “I raised your shirt by a shirt and a sweat....”
Lois realized that somehow she’d suddenly lost his attention. “What is it?”
“Bank robbery,” he said, tensing.
“Kent, there’s nothing you can do.”
“I know.” He turned his attention back to the cards for a moment before tossing the deck on the table. “I just can’t...” His voice trailed off.
“What?”
“It’s just so frustrating, you know. I could be there and stop them faster than the cops, but I...” He shook his head.
“Well, would it help if you took a trip down there and... I don’t know. Maybe there is something you could do without anyone seeing you.”
He stared at her for one long moment before nodding. A flash of wind later and he was gone.**
“I remember realizing that red S-126 must be the power source for the getaway van almost immediately. But this time, it didn’t make me apathetic. It made me...”
“...lose control of your powers. I remember.”
**Lois shrieked at the sound of something busting through one of the walls in her apartment. She spun around to see Kent standing on the other side of the room, a concerned look on his face as he stared at the hole he’d left in the wall.
“Do you want to tell me what just happened here?” she asked as calmly as she was able.
“Sorry... I just...” He looked slightly confused. “I guess I just misjudged the distance from your balcony to the wall. Here... I’ll just...” And with that he moved again into superspeed, repairing her wall using up the remainder of the supplies they’d used to do some redecorating before she’d moved in. When he finally stopped she stared at the spot where he’d wallpapered part of the ceiling.
“Uhh... Okay. Interesting decorating statement.” She glanced over at him, awaiting an explanation.
“I don’t know what’s happening,” he said, staring at the ceiling in confusion. “I’m not quite... in control of my powers.”
“Since when?”
“There was red S-126 powering the bank robbers’ van. I noticed it almost the moment I arrived. I actually burrowed about fifty feet into the street before I managed to get stopped. I’m not sure what maintenance crews will think of that tomorrow morning - assuming it even gets reported.”
“A sink hole, probably. But... what happened? I thought you said that red S-126 affected your emotions.”
“Last time, it did.”
“And this time? How do you feel?”
“Fine... except...” He gestured to the ceiling.
“Okay, well... Last time you said it wore off in a few hours. So just don’t use your powers until it wears off.” She walked over to give him a reassuring hug. He hugged her back and she had to fight the urge to cry out when his hand dug into her arm. She couldn’t let him know he was hurting her. She just couldn’t. She shifted and he released her. “Anyway, it’s getting late.” She walked towards the door to her apartment. “I’m sure all you need is a good night’s sleep.”
Clark nodded, gathering up the clothing he’d lost during their poker game. “That’s probably a good idea.” He stopped at the door, turning towards her.
She leaned towards him, giving him a quick kiss, and then pulled back before he could touch her. “Goodnight,” she said.
He looked confused for a moment before returning her sentiment and leaving the apartment. She closed the door, leaning up against it as she rubbed her arm. He must never know what he had done. He was the gentlest man she’d ever known. He’d be shattered to know that he had hurt her.**
“I was devastated to know that I’d hurt you in our reality. But at least in our reality, we were close enough that I was able to get past it. So I’m glad you decided to keep that information from me in this reality. I’m not sure I’d have had the nerve to touch you ever again otherwise.”
“Hmm...” Lois responded.
“What does ‘hmm’ mean?”
Lois took a deep breath before continuing with the story.
**Where was Kent? This was just the type of story he normally covered. She’d brought down Hank Landry, aka Mr. Gadget, who was extorting money from the city by threatening to destroy Metropolis one building at a time. And yet not once during her investigation had Kent shown his face. At the same time, almost every time she turned around, she had been tripping over Linda King. So where was Kent?
Worried, she climbed the steps to his apartment. When no one answered her knock, she dug his key out from under the mat in front of his door - she was going to have to mention that he was not in Kansas anymore - and opened the door.
A gasp escaped her lips as she looked around. The place looked like a war zone. Had someone burgled his apartment? If so, where was Kent?
Her eyes were drawn to two knees sticking out from behind the couch. What?
She rushed over, fearing the worst, and then stopped in surprise when she saw Kent sitting there, his knees bent and his head resting on his arms.
“Kent?” she asked, crouching down next to him.
“I hiccupped,” he said.
It took her a moment to make sense of his words. What did hiccupping have to do with anything? Suddenly, it sunk in what he was saying? “All this happened... because you hiccupped?” she asked cautiously.
The pain that crossed his face told her that she was right. She reached out to him and he flinched back, away from her touch.
“I’m not safe,” he said.
Determined to get through to him, she reached out again, this time enfolding both of his clasped hands in hers.
“Has this been going on since the last time we saw each other?” she asked.
He nodded.
She let out a breath. “Okay, so...”
He gave a very small shrug, as if to do more would destroy the world.
“Surely you must have someone you can ask about this? A doctor or... someone.”
“Lois, no one knows about...” His voice trailed off and she saw new hope in his eyes. “Dr. Klein,” he said.
“Bernard Klein? From Star Labs?”
He nodded. “He knows about me. Maybe he can figure things out.”
“So then... what are you doing sitting here?” she asked cheekily.**
“I remember that,” Clark said. “I went to see Klein. He was the one who figured out that a little green S-126 would counteract the red S-126. I think it was something of an accident on his part, though. Given how out of control my powers were, he suggested exposure to the green S-126 to take away my powers. When they came back, they were normal again.”
**Clark landed on the balcony of Lane’s apartment and knocked on the glass door. She looked up from where she was seated on the couch, reading a book... and smiled. Rising to her feet, she walked to the door, quickly opening it.
“So...?” she asked.
“You are a genius,” he said, stepping into her apartment.
“He found a solution?” she asked hopefully.
“Yes,” he said, pulling her into his arms.
She flinched when his hand connected with her bruised arm.
“What?” he asked, pulling back.
“Nothing,” she responded immediately.
When she couldn’t seem to meet his eyes, he knew it wasn’t nothing. “What is it?” he asked, his eyes focusing on where she was rubbing his arm.**
“You’re right,” Clark said, remorse coloring his words. “I felt horrible about what I’d done to you.”
Lois smiled. “I seem to recall finding a way to make you feel better.”
**“Where are you going?” Lois asked when Kent stepped back out onto the balcony.
“I just thought... Well, I thought you wouldn’t want to see me again after...” He gestured to her bruised arm.
“Kent! That wasn’t your fault.”
“How can you say that? You can see every finger mark!”
Lois rolled her eyes.
“I’m serious. I hurt you. I don’t see how you could not be afraid of having me touch you again.”
“Kent!” she said, exasperated. When he just continued to stand there, looking at his shoes, she walked towards him. Reaching out, she took his hands, raising them to the top button on her blouse.
He looked up at her in shock.
“Does this look as if I’m afraid of having you touch me?” she asked, her voice having a low growl in it. She stepped closer, holding his hands at the top button. “Now... we were interrupted during our game of strip poker, but before we were... What were you were saying about me owing you a shirt?”
As if they had a mind of their own, his fingers began working the button on her blouse. He looked almost surprised when it popped free of the hole.
She moaned, deep in her throat, when his fingers slipped down to the second button. That one, too, slipped easily through the hole.
Stepping closer, she reached up, sliding her hands up his arms and then around his neck to play with the hair at the nape of his neck as he continued working the buttons of her blouse. When it was finally open and his hands slid inside, she pulled his head down to find his lips with hers. The feel of his hands on her skin, the taste of his lips... She felt the blood in her veins begin to heat. Slowly, she began walking backwards towards the couch. When she bumped against it, she allowed herself to fall backwards. As if in slow motion - he must have been floating them - they tumbled backwards onto the couch as their kisses continued.
She moved her hands, getting them under the edges of his t-shirt. A moment later, he broke the kiss so that he could pull the t-shirt over his head and toss it to the floor. She moaned, her hands loving the feel of the hard muscles of his chest, sides and back under her fingers, of exploring it as their kisses continued.
Light kisses, probing kisses, long kisses, short kisses. One minute, the kiss would be so intense, she’d feel as if she was drowning in it, the next they would be sharing a series of light, teasing kisses that left her dying for more.
And then, all too soon, Kent pulled back.
“What?” she asked, as he raised himself to sit next to her on the couch.
“It’s just...” He let out a long slow breath, obviously struggling to get himself under control. Looking back at her, he watched his hand trace a path across her stomach. “You’re so beautiful,” he whispered, sounding slightly awed.
She smiled, her hand slowly sliding up his arm as he continued to touch her. “So are you.”
He met her eyes then, looking surprised by her words.
“I just think...”
“Yeah...” she responded. He didn’t need to spell it out. If they kept going much longer, rule number one was going to be broken. Problem was, at the moment she wasn’t quite sure why that was a bad thing.**
“Yeah, I can remember how effective your therapy was,” Clark said. “You had my mind so entirely on... other things... that I wasn’t worrying about hurting you.”
“Just call me Florence Nightingale,” she said with cocky grin.
He laughed. “Yeah, that’s what I meant by ‘other things.’ All I could think about in that moment was Florence Nightingale.”
She gave his arm a swat. “Okay... so what’s next? Hey, isn’t this about the time that John Doe showed up... challenging President Garner for the presidency?”
Clark nodded, looking through the next few stories on his computer. After a moment, he gave his head a shake. “I guess he never showed up in this reality,” he said.
“But, Clark, if he didn’t show up...”
A sudden commotion coming from the next room interrupted her thoughts. Both Lois and Clark leapt to their feet, rushing to the door. When Lois got there first and threw it open, they were confronted by the sight of men with guns, holding the entire newsroom in their sights.
Clark ducked back out of sight, but before Lois could do the same, one of the men spotted her.
“Hold it right there!” he yelled.
Lois froze.
“Do you have your powers?” Lois whispered out of the side of her mouth to her husband.
“No,” was his disheartening response.
TO BE CONTINUED...
