Thanks as always to Alisha, Beth, Nancy and CarolynK.
Some of the dialog comes straight from LtL.
*****
Chapter 7
*****
Two weeks later, on a Sunday, Lucy came home to find Lois in tears.
Lucy hurried down the stairs. "Lois? What's wrong?"
Lois raised the remote and turned the television off. "Just watching 'E.T.'," she said with a smile. "Gets me every time."
Lucy sat next to her on the couch. "Why is that?" she asked quietly. "Because E.T. goes home?"
Lois shot her a look as she wiped her face with a Kleenex. "Well, yeah. And Elliot's going to miss him. And he dies for a while."
Lucy chewed her bottom lip.
"What?"
"Do you ever wonder if Clark's people might come back for him?" Lucy finally asked softly.
Lois eyed her, an unreadable expression on her face. "No. Why would I?"
Lucy shrugged. "Well, he's an alien. You still don't really know why he's here, do you?"
Lois shook her head. "Not really. Unless he saw the last message from Jor-El without telling me."
"Somehow I doubt that."
"I don't think he has. He said something about core disintegration or something. Like the planet was dying – I think. I'm not really up on my interplanetary physics. I think he would have said something in the message that Martha and Jonathan saw if there was a chance that others survived."
"I guess."
"What brought that on?"
"Was just thinking about it the other day. Wondering what life was like on Krypton. What life would be like for Kal-El if he'd stayed on Krypton."
"What did you come up with?"
"Probably married to some Kryptonian chick or something by now, I guess. Having all kinds of Kryptonian babies or something."
"He wouldn't be any older than he is here."
Lucy shrugged. "I guess the society I imagined was some sort of quasi-feudal society with Kal-El as some sort of noble or something."
Lois raised an eyebrow. "You mean like Knights of the Round Table and all that?"
"I don't know. Some sort of birth wife, arranged marriage thing where he'd take over the crown or something."
"Why that?"
"Because it was more interesting than him being some kind of peasant or something. What fun would imagining that be?" Lucy asked with a grin.
"Well, I'm not sure I appreciate you birth marrying my husband to a Kryptonian chick and giving him lots of Kryptonian babies."
Lucy laughed. "Well, his Kryptonian birth wife looked an awful lot like you."
Lois sighed. "I'm not sure that helps any."
They sat in silence for a few minutes.
"You know we're not your legal guardians anymore, right?" Lois finally asked quietly.
"Yeah," Lucy answered slowly. "Do you guys want me to move out?"
"No!" Lois answered quickly – almost too quickly Lucy thought. "Of course not. You're always welcome to live with us, especially while you're still in high school. Besides, where would you go?"
Lucy shrugged. "Maybe live at Jimmy's house." At her sister's glare, she quickly clarified. "Not *with* Jimmy, but he lives in the right district so I wouldn’t have to change schools. They have an extra bedroom and his mom is never home, so there would be room for me."
"Are you really thinking about moving out?"
She shook her head. "No. But I know that you and Clark could probably use some more time together without me and Jimmy hanging around."
Lois rolled her eyes, but her breath caught slightly as she did so. "Are you still on that 'are you and Clark okay' kick?"
"No, but I know it can't be easy for you two to try to build a marriage with your little sister around." She glanced around. "Especially in an apartment with no real walls."
"Well, we were fine a few weeks ago and we're fine now."
"I'm glad." Lucy thought about saying more but decided to keep her own counsel for the time being.
*****
"Tell me all about it." Lucy had met Jimmy at the little restaurant across from the Daily Planet and wanted to hear all about his first day of college.
"It was... different." He glanced at his watch. He had half an hour before he had to go to work.
"How?"
"Well, they didn't take attendance or anything and didn't seem to care if you paid attention."
"That's weird."
He shrugged and speared his fork into the cheese fries on the plate between them. "That wasn't the weirdest part, though," he said before putting the fries in his mouth.
She waited until he finished chewing before she asked the obvious question. "What was?"
"There was this girl..."
She raised an eyebrow. "A girl? James Olsen – do I need to be worried?"
He put his fork down and sighed. "No. You don't. Not at all..."
"But?" she prompted when he didn't offer anything else.
"I wonder if Lois should be," he finally said quietly.
"What?!" Lucy hissed. "Is Clark cheating on her? I can't believe..."
He shook his head. "No. He's not cheating on her, but I met him for lunch like we planned and there was a girl with him."
"Okay."
"Her name's Mayson. She's blond and pretty but it was the way she looked at him that bugged me."
"How?"
"Well, during the conversation, she mentioned that she hadn't seen him since classes got out in May, but I got the impression that they'd eaten together a lot last year. It seemed like..."
"Like what?"
"Like she likes him. She told him about some stuff she'd learned from interning with her dad's law firm over the summer. She worked for him and her grandma or something. But her dad's a family law specialist and she said some stuff about kids being emancipated under certain circumstances and emancipated kids being allowed to have custody of younger siblings sometimes and stuff like that."
Lucy's eyes narrowed. "Like Lois could have been emancipated and still gotten custody of me?"
"That's what I got out of the conversation."
"So she wouldn't have had to marry Clark?"
"Right."
"And this chick's got a crush on Clark?"
Jimmy shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe."
"You guys are planning on having lunch together most of the time, aren't you?"
He nodded. "And even if we weren't, I am now. And I can talk up his relationship with Lois or something if I need to. I don't think Clark would *ever* even *think* about cheating on Lois, but..."
"Some women just don't get the message?"
"Something like that." He looked at his watch again. "I gotta get, Babe."
"I love you."
"I love you, too." He stood up and kissed her quickly. "I'll call you when I get home, okay?"
Lucy nodded, but didn't move for a long time after Jimmy left for work. There was another woman interested in Clark. What did that mean for her sister? Clark wouldn't cheat on her; Lucy knew that and she knew Lois knew that. But what about long-term? Would Clark leave Lois eventually for someone else? Would Lois let him? Well, not that she could actually stop him, but would she fight for her marriage? Their mom...
Sam and Ellen.
Sam had never, *ever* been faithful to Ellen and Lucy knew that and Lois knew that. Jimmy had never cheated on her. She *knew* that. Jimmy wouldn't have had much of an opportunity to cheat on her. She knew where he was when he wasn't with her and she knew his boss. She'd worked a very low level mail room job at the Planet over the summer and had seen his schedule often and knew that she'd been with him virtually every waking moment that he wasn't at work or out with Clark.
So Jimmy wouldn't cheat.
And Perry wouldn't cheat. She didn't think he would anyway. And she didn't think Alice would put up with it if he did.
But Clark? Would he? She didn't believe for a minute that he would cheat on Lois.
But would Lois believe that? The only real example Lois had had of a married couple was their parents and Sam had been the epitome of unfaithful. Could Lois believe that Clark was cheating on her? Or that he was capable of it?
Surely not.
Could she?
Or was that part of what Lucy had been feeling was off between her sister and brother-in-law? Did Lois have some suspicion or something – however unfounded – and that's why Lucy kept getting that 'something's off' vibe from her?
There was no way Lois would *really* believe that Clark was cheating on her.
Was there?
*****
April 1988
*****
Lucy wondered for weeks whether to broach the subject with Lois or not and eventually stopped wondering about it.
Her senior year of high school was busy with schoolwork and after school activities. Lisa had approached her with the idea of joining the Lincoln High Relay For Life group and somehow they'd ended up coordinating it. Relay For Life was the annual walk-a-thon sponsored by the American Cancer Society to raise money for cancer research. Lisa's grandma had died of breast cancer the year before. They'd been very close and now Lisa wanted to support the group that could keep something like that from happening to someone else.
Between weekly Relay meetings and being a photographer for the newspaper and studying and spending time with Jimmy, her last year of school went by very quickly. She and Lisa applied to work at a summer camp for kids who were wards of the state and were in long term foster care situations. Together, they along with Jessica, were moving into the dorms in the fall. Or that was the plan anyway.
First she had to tell Lois and Clark about it.
Lucy looked up from her spot on the couch where she was reading 'Macbeth'. "What's wrong?" she asked her brother-in-law when she heard an exasperated sigh and his pen hit the table.
"I just can't concentrate on this."
"Hmm..." Lucy thought for a minute and wondered if she could ask him something that had crossed her mind from time to time. He'd never shied away from answering questions about his uniqueness – not if he knew the answers. She decided to go for it. "You know, Clark, can I ask you something about... you know, being you?"
He shrugged. "Sure. You know I don't mind and I'll answer if I can."
"Why don't you study fast? I mean, you could read that whole book in like 6 seconds and finish the homework in another 4, so why don't you?"
He grinned. "Yeah, I could and I do sometimes. Part of it depends on how much I like the subject. When I do homework and stuff that fast, I can retain the information. I can recall it for tests or whatever. I could even recreate the whole book if I wanted to, but I don't always understand it if I go that fast." He shrugged again.
"Huh?"
This time he laughed slightly at her confusion. "I mean, I could tell you how to do a math problem, for instance, and why it works, but I might not actually understand it. I'd just be repeating what I'd read, like a little kid who says he's two years old, but really has no idea what that means or why one day he's magically three."
Lucy laughed with him. At least he had some flaw. "It's nice to know you have some chinks in your armor."
Clark groaned. "I'm not that different... am I?"
"Sometimes. I mean, you're a great guy but who else could fly me to LA for dinner right now if I asked really nicely?" Maybe they could go to one of those Chinese restaurants in San Francisco...
"I told you, I'll take you for graduation." She watched as he stood up and wandered around the living room. "You and Jimmy both."
"Will you and Lois come too?" A double date. Imagine that. Lois and Clark had been married for three and a half years and she'd been dating Jimmy for two and a half, but somehow they'd never been on a double date. Unless the baseball game for her eighteenth birthday counted as a double date.
Clark shrugged. "If we can find a time when we can all make it. Otherwise, I could always just take you and Jimmy somewhere and come back later – Italy or France or somewhere in Asia... wherever you might want to go."
Come to think of it, when was the last time Lois and Clark had gone on a date? When was the last time they'd spent anytime – besides overnights – together? Lucy chewed thoughtfully on the end of her pen before speaking again. "Clark, can I ask you something a little more personal?"
"Sure, but I can't promise I'll answer."
"Is everything okay with you and Lois?" She practically held her breath waiting for the answer. The more time Jimmy had spent with Clark and Mayson, the more certain he was the 'relationship' was one sided, but the idea of something being wrong between two of her very favorite people... That scared her. She'd promised her sister that she wouldn't ask about it anymore – but she hadn't said anything about asking Clark.
He turned from where his circuit around the living room had taken him and looked at her. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, I see a lot more of you than she does; it seems like I always have. I won't pretend to know what you two have gone through the last three years – and I can't tell you how much I appreciate everything you've both done for me – but Jimmy and I have been going out for two and a half years now, and now that he's already in college, it's gotten a lot harder. I mean, we used to eat lunch together every day and we'd hang out after school and talk all night on the phone until you made us cut those shorter." She held up a hand as Clark opened his mouth. "You were right. My grades were suffering even though I didn't realize it. After I spent more time studying instead of talking, my grades went up and that's how I have a partial scholarship to UNT Met next year.
"But that's not my point. I mean relationships are hard enough under any circumstances but yours are more difficult than anyone else I know. You hadn't seen each other in four and a half years. You were eighteen, she was seventeen and two weeks later, her little sister moved in. And let's face it; I wasn't the easiest to live with that first year or so."
Clark had moved to the chair while she was speaking. "No, you weren't, but you're a good kid and you're growing into a lovely young lady."
"Thanks, but like I said, you and I spend more time together, unless you count overnights, but most of that you're asleep." She shuddered. "And I don't want to know any more than that." She really didn't.
Clark grimaced. "Don't worry; I'm not going to elaborate."
She let out a tiny breath of relief. "Anyway, I don't remember the last time I saw you two together for more than a few minutes before bed at night. You're usually both here for part of the day on the weekend, but Lois is usually studying. When was the last time you two had a night out together?"
"Our anniversary." He ran a hand through his hair. "Life's been hard and busy and money's been tight since we got married and nights out just haven't been in the cards for us. But our contracts at the Star are almost up and we're almost done at the Metropolitan. Lois has worked so hard to graduate with me this year. Perry's offered us jobs at the Daily Planet. He said they'd be very entry level but that he'd make sure we work the same schedule most of the time – no more of this opposite thing. A couple of his college students have already told him they're leaving at the end of the semester and he promised to hold the jobs for us."
She finally decided to just take the bull by the horns while she was at it. "Well, there's something I'd hoped to talk to both of you together about but..."
"What's that?"
She took a deep breath and watched his reaction carefully. "I'm going to be moving out pretty soon."
Clark's head rose sharply at that. "What?"
"Lisa and Jessica and I are going to live in the dorms together. Lisa and I were accepted as counselors at a summer camp for kids so I'm leaving the week after graduation."
Clark frowned slightly. "I knew you'd applied but didn't know you'd been accepted."
"The letter came today." She smiled at him. "You guys don't need a third wheel hanging around anymore." They didn't and she was really ready not to live above them anymore.
"You're not a third wheel, Luce. You're family."
"I know but you know the old saying 'Family is like fish – after three days it begins to stink'. Three years is even worse I'm sure."
"I thought it was 'company is like fish'."
She shrugged. "Potato, patato. Anyway, you guys don't need me hanging around here anymore. My scholarship covers most of my tuition and fees. I've got a couple other small scholarships and I'm hoping that the money I make at camp this summer will cover most of my room and board at least for fall. I was going to ask you and Lois about the inheritance money. I know Lois was saving it for my college and even though I don't need it for tuition, I was hoping I could use a little bit of it to help with room and board. I've got some savings of my own from working last summer, but I've gone through a lot of it for clothes and gas and stuff this year so I was hoping Lois would let me use the inheritance money anyway."
Clark shrugged. "I don't see why not, but you'll need to talk to Lois about it. It's your money – hers and yours that is." He sighed and ran his hands through his hair. "I think I’m going to go for a walk. Maybe go pick up Lois at the paper." He glanced at the clock. "She should be done soon."
It finally hit her how odd he was acting. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I've just got this feeling and I can't quite figure out what it means."
"What kind of feeling?"
"I don't know. That's just it. I'm just... uneasy and restless and I don't know why."
"Huh." She watched as Clark headed for the door. "See you in a bit."
"Yeah." And he was gone.
She shrugged. She wasn't getting any studying done. A glance at the clock told her that Jimmy should be getting home any minute. As if on cue, the phone rang.
"Hello?"
"Hey, Babe." She could hear the smile in his voice.
"Hey. How was work?"
"Oh, fine. Did you hear yet?"
She let out a small scream. "I got in!"
"That's great, Luce. I'm happy for you. You'll make a lot more money at that summer camp than you would sticking around here."
"I'll miss you though," she said quietly.
"I know. I'm going to miss you, too, but it's going to be a great experience for you and you can at least sort of relate to those kids in a way most other people can't," he reminded her.
"Oh, I'm excited about it; I just wish I wasn't going to have to go ten weeks without seeing you, that's all."
"We'll muddle through somehow. We can write like Lois and Clark did. That's how they kept in touch for years and then we'll have sappy love letters for our kids to find and embarrass us over in years to come."
She laughed. "That sounds like a great plan. Blackmail material for our kids. I did tell him about it and that I'm moving to the dorms when I get back." She fingered the promise ring she still wore on her left hand. "I didn't tell him everything though," she finally said.
"You mean about the wedding next year?" Jimmy replied softly.
"Yeah."
"That we've already got a date picked out?"
"Yep."
"I'll remember not to mention it then," he said with a laugh. "Besides, I haven't asked him yet if I can marry you."
She played with the ring some more. "Do you think we're rushing that?"
Jimmy thought for a minute. "I don't think so. We'll have been together three and a half years by then. I'll have two years of college under my belt and will be almost 21. You'll have a year of college done and you'll be almost 20. We both know what we want to do with our lives and our career goals mesh well together. We both want kids and we both want you to be able to either stay home or work from home if possible, but we want to wait until you're out of college for a year or so before we start a family. Besides," his voice lowered. "I want to get to that honeymoon with you."
She smiled into the phone. "Have we made a decision about that?"
He laughed. "No, but at the same time, no matter what decision we make about between now and then, I know what we're going to spend a lot of time doing on our honeymoon."
"True. And I'm looking forward to that, too."
A thump sounded on the balcony and the door opened. "Hang on." She moved towards the bedroom to see Clark set Lois on the floor.
Her sister looked disheveled and bolted towards the bathroom as soon as her feet were on solid ground. Clark looked as mad as she'd ever seen him. "Jimmy, let me call you back later, but it might not be until tomorrow, okay?"
"What's up?"
"I'm not sure, but I'll get back to you, okay?"
"Love you."
"Love you."
"Clark, what happened?" Lucy asked as soon as she hung up the phone.
"That son of a..." He didn't finish the sentence.
"Who?" Lucy was puzzled.
"Professor Paul."
"The newspaper guy?" She thought that's who he was. "What'd he do?"
"He almost raped her. If I had been two minutes later..." Clark's fists clenched into balls. "As it was, she was basically naked when I got there. The first time I actually saw... The first time I really wanted to see how strong I am," he finished.
Lucy wondered what he was going to say, but didn't dwell on it as the rest of what he said sunk in. "What?" she gasped. "Professor Paul? Lois always speaks so highly of him."
"Not anymore." He stopped mid stride on the ceiling. When had he started pacing up there? "Listen, she's going to be in there a while, I'm sure. I'm going to fly west and get her a nice big, fluffy towel and some new pajamas and... stuff. I'm sure something new will be better than something old. I'll be back in a few minutes."
"Okay." Lucy sunk onto their bed, some place she'd managed to avoid for three and a half years. "Raped," she whispered. "Almost raped."
She couldn't imagine being so violated and she couldn't imagine what Lois was feeling. She walked to the bathroom and almost knocked on the door to check on her sister, but the water was running and she could see steam coming out from under door. She was sure the water was turned up as hot as it could go – the hot water wouldn't last long.
She wasn't sure how long Clark was gone, but it wasn't long before he came back through the door from the balcony with a couple of Target bags stuffed full of what she guessed were towels and clothes. "She's got to be almost out of hot water," she told her brother-in-law.
"I wonder if she'd let me heat it up for her."
She shot a look at him from where she was seated on the bench under the window in the hall to the bathroom. "What?"
"I mean, I can't imagine she's going to want out anytime soon, but the water isn't going to last long. If I can see it coming out of the showerhead without making her uncomfortable, I can heat it up as long as she needs."
Lucy nodded.
"Would you mind to ask her?" Clark said, shifting from one foot to the other. "I mean, after what happened, I wonder if she might be more comfortable with you, you know?"
Lucy nodded. "Yeah." She moved until she stood in front of the bathroom door and knocked softly. "Lois, I'm opening the door." Lucy stuck her head in the bathroom. "Listen, Lois, Clark doesn't want to intrude at all, but we know the hot water's going to run out soon. He offered to come in and keep heating it for you – as long as you want."
"Okay," she heard her sister manage to get out.
She shut the door and turned back. "She said that was okay."
He nodded and moved into the bathroom, shutting the door behind him. She heard them talking and then she moved back to the big chair in the living room. The phone rang a few minutes later.
"Hello?"
"Hey, it's me," came Jimmy's voice. "I just wanted to make sure everything's okay."
She sighed. "I'm fine, and I can't really tell you what's up right now, but I don't think Lois and Clark are going to be at school tomorrow."
"What happened?"
"Something happened to Lois – I don't know a whole lot more than that. Something at the paper." She felt uncomfortable telling Jimmy half-truths, but she also knew Lois would be humiliated if word got out without her okay. She knew that Jimmy wouldn't tell anyone, but she couldn't violate her sister's confidence when she was already in so much pain. "I do know a little more than that, but I can't say without her permission, honey. Please believe me."
There was a long pause. "Okay. Let me know if there's anything I can do."
"I will. Listen, I don't know if I'll see you tomorrow before the Relay for Life walk."
"I know, but I'll be there a little while after it starts. Perry said I could take some pictures and if they're any good, he might use one or two."
"Okay. I'll see you then. I love you, Jimmy. Please know that," she whispered, meaning it like she never had before.
"I do. And I love you, so much."
"I know."
Lucy said good-bye and hung up the phone. Clark came out of the bathroom a few minutes later. "How is she?"
Clark shrugged. "She didn't say much of anything at all. She was crying, but I guess that's to be expected."
"Yeah." She looked at the clock. "Clark, I hate to do this, but I had to be at school really early this morning and I'm going to be up all night tomorrow night."
He nodded.
"Wake me up if either of you need me, though."
"I will"
*****
Lois and Clark were gone when Lucy left for school the next morning but she did see Clark for a few minutes when she ran home to get something before the Relay for Life Walk. He filled her in on what had happened that day and she knew she'd probably get more information from Jimmy when he got to the school later – Clark said he was working with them at the Planet.
A lot had happened. They'd filed a report with the police, gotten fired from the Star, hired at the Planet and discovered that the university was trying to cover it all up. Jimmy filled in some more of the details for her – that there was definitely a cover-up and Lois wasn't the first person something like this had happened to. Lucy offered to go to work with him for a while on Saturday afternoon to see if she could help dig anything up.
She'd gone home after daybreak to try to get some sleep. Lois and Clark were asleep when she got in. Well, Lois had been asleep. Lucy had never seen them together like that – she'd seen them spooning more times than she cared to count – but if they weren't spooning, they weren't touching. This time, Lois' head was resting on Clark's chest and his arm was wrapped around her back holding her to him. He'd whispered that Lois had already had one nightmare and woken up screaming, wanting to warn her in case it happened again.
That afternoon found her in the offices of the Daily Planet.
"What can I do, Perry?" She sat in the office of the editor-in-chief.
"Well, darlin', you're not officially on payroll."
"I know, but I want to help."
"Well, you can hang around with Jimmy but officially, you're not here."
"That's fine. I just want to do what I can to help get the bastard who did this to my sister." Fire flashed from her eyes.
"How's she doing?"
Lucy shrugged. "I haven't really seen her. When Clark got her home she went straight to the shower and she was in the shower when I came home yesterday for a few minutes and she was still sleeping when I left a little while ago. Clark did say that she had at least one nightmare last night and she woke up screaming."
"That's not surprising." His expression softened. "If there's anything we can do for them... make sure they know that. I told them both that but..."
"I know."
Lucy gave Perry a big hug before heading to the conference room to see what she could do to help Jimmy.
*****
TBC
