It's pathetic!! No new stories or parts?? I gotta do something about it!!
So, here's the first part of the story that's consuming most of my writing time at the moment. Can't promise I'll have a regular posting schedule, at least not for the moment... I hope I'm not going to receive many tomatoes about it (/ducking anyway).
Thankies:
to Carole for B-Reading it.
Disclaimer:
Lois, Clark, most of the other characters and some of the quotes mentioned here are not mine. I, however, do claim ownership of the situations described here, as well as the rest of the characters.
‘The Wall Between Us’ and Glory O’Gerald are also imaginary.
< > denote characters’ inner thoughts.
<< >> denote characters’ conscience replies.
Well, I don't know what you're gonna think about it, but be ready for a loooooong story with a few surprises here and there.
I'd also love to read your feedback, good, bad, or ugly. (or all three)
AnnaBtG.
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THE WALL BETWEEN US - PART 1/?
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“Excellent work, Lois,” Perry White said to Lois Lane, who was sitting on the opposite side of his desk. He had just read her last article, and he looked excited. It was the first time he had been so pleased with one of his reporters’ work. And even more, because Lois, although well established in the journalistic field already, was not exactly a star. Not yet.
“This article is wonderful, a masterpiece,” he went on. “Not only an interesting subject, but also your writing is perfect. Plus, it includes a very heart-breaking part, about the women and the children that were raped by Saulter. You had never written this way before! It’s amazing!”
“Thanks, Chief,” Lois shyly said. She was proud of her work and she knew this was the best article she had ever written, but didn’t expect her chief editor to love it so much.
<Thank God he did,> she thought, <for I had to go through hell for its sake.>
“Really, Lois, this is definitely going to win the next Kerth. No other article could be compared to this,” Perry continued, dismissing the bitter thoughts away of her mind.
“I hope so, Chief,” she just said, smiling coyly.
Just then, there was a knock on the door.
“Come in!” Perry shouted.
A guy opened the door slightly, sneaking his head in.
“Clark Kent, for the interview…” he said in an almost shy tone.
Lois had turned her head towards the door, but then had to turn back and slap her mouth with her hand, to keep herself in control. She had never seen such a handsome man. Tall, with a nice body, black hair, brown eyes and such a beautiful expression on his face… A pleasant, innocent expression, but not geeky at all.
<Now, here’s a *real* man.>
She grabbed the edge of her chair and squeezed it tightly, in an effort to keep herself from shrieking.
Perry, with the edge of his eye, caught Lois’s reaction, and, before Kent had enough time to realize what his arrival had caused, spoke up loud. “Oh, of course. So, come in. Lois,” he turned to her, “you can go.”
She rose, and tried her best to sound normal. “Alright, Chief, I, ehm, am already working on something else.”
“Good. Get to work. I’m expecting an equally good article soon!” he smiled.
“I’ll try, Chief.” She nodded, smiling shyly as before, and left the office.
As she was walking out, she noticed Kent looking at her, and hurried out, afraid she’d blush.
She closed the door behind her, relieved, and let a soundless exclamation go: “Wow!!”
Her heart was beating fast, and she tried her best to look normal, as she spotted Cat Grant approaching her.
“Did you see that new guy?” Cat asked Lois.
“Yes,” Lois simply replied.
“Cute, huh?”
“Yes…” Lois walked towards her desk, leaving Cat behind, wishing she stopped talking about this guy.
“I think I’m gonna have a little talk with him,” Cat wryly said, turning to Lois, who had now turned her back to her, as she was standing before her desk searching something between some papers.
“Ok…” Lois said, showing to Cat that she didn’t really care.
Her mind, however, was working intensely. She cared, of course! But there was no way she would let Cat know. So, she could let her do whatever she wanted with him, and she’d just examine the results.
If he showed he liked Cat, he was just a man, and didn’t deserve anything.
If he showed that he didn’t, and given his looks and the first impression he gave to Lois, he was *the* man, and deserved to be chased.
<*Chased??*>
Lois left the papers on the desk and absently looked in front of her. What was wrong with her? *Chased*? Of course not!! He would just be… worth a shot. Yes, that was it. He’d be worth a shot.
<Provided that *he* makes the first step,> she thought, bending over her papers again. <I’m *not* going to humiliate myself once again, throwing myself at a man who doesn’t like me.> She left the papers down again. <Now what was I looking for?>
She stared at her desk, thinking that she probably had gone crazy.
<I need a coffee,> she thought, and headed to the coffee machine.
-----
A couple of minutes later, she was sitting on her chair, her legs crossed, a cup of coffee in her hand, slowly drinking and thinking.
Her last article was before her eyes. Seeing it, she remembered once again that painful night. She had never felt so embarrassed and humiliated before.
Well, she had helped arresting York Saulter, of course, a guy who had ravished twenty-six women and children.
But was it worth all this pain, all this torture, all this shame?
She took a sip of coffee. <Maybe,> she thought. <After all, nobody knows. And nobody will ever do.>
She heard Perry’s office door cracking, and turned around. Perry was standing right there, with Kent beside him.
“Guys,” he said loudly, “this is your new colleague, Clark Kent. I hope you welcome him.”
“Of course, Chief!” someone shouted. Applauds were heard all around the newsroom, even a few whistles. Lois could swear that Kent was turning red.
<Shy?> she wondered, and raised her eyebrows, something indefinite sparkling in her eyes. Then, she glanced once again to him and turned back to her desk.
“Jimmy?” Perry called. “Where did you put the desk I told you to bring for Kent?”
“Right there, Chief!” the young man replied, pointing to an empty desk not far from Lois’s one.
“All right, Kent,” Perry said, “get to work!”
“All right, Chief, but… I don’t have anything to work on,” Clark timidly said.
“Oh, well, why don’t you ask Lois if she needs help with anything?”
“Lois?”
“The brunette over there.” Perry pointed to Lois.
“Oh, okay,” Clark replied.
Lois hadn’t heard the conversation between Perry and Clark, and was quite surprised when she heard Clark’s voice.
“Excuse me…”
He was standing right behind her. She turned around and smiled.
“Yes?”
“Ahm…” He looked kinda lost. “Clark Kent,” he finally said, extending his hand towards her for a handshake.
“Lois Lane,” she pleasantly said, shaking his hand. “Can I help you?”
“Mr. White said that I could help you, that is, if you need any help…” he said, still reserved.
Lois didn’t know what to say. She actually *had* something to work on, an article about the new novel of an unknown writer that had become a best seller, a ‘must-read’. However, she was now really depressed to work on something like this.
“Actually,” she said, “you could write this article about ‘The Wall Between Us’, I have to go.”
“Sure.” Lois saw him smiling, for the first time since he got in the Daily Planet building, and her heart jumped. It was the most beautiful, gentle, magnetizing smile she’d ever seen.
“Okay,” she replied, ignoring her rising heartbeat, and then rose and took her purse.
“Is it a review?” Clark asked her, while she was leaving. She turned back to him.
“No, no, not a review. You’ve read the book, haven’t you?”
“Yes.”
“Well, you’ve got to write an article about… you know, how can it reflect the real life, how we sometimes keep ourselves from falling in love because we’re afraid, like the novel’s heroine…” She suddenly felt frightened, and stopped. “…Stuff like this,” she said, then. “I gotta go now.”
“Ok,” he said. “See ya.”
She hurried to the elevator and went out as soon as she could. Clark didn’t get his eyes off her until the moment she disappeared.
-----
Lois unlocked her apartment’s door and got in. She left her purse on the couch and headed to the bathroom. Then, deciding she didn’t need to go to the bathroom, she began pacing around the living room nervously.
What was happening to her? She was not her usual self. She would’ve never reacted this way before. Today, she had let a sweet, calm, good version of herself show.
She stopped pacing for a moment. She was completely crazy. Was she so anxious because she’d been good? Would she prefer acting like a nervous snob? What’s so bad about being good anyway?
She continued pacing. It wasn’t bad, she was thinking, it just wasn’t her.
<It’s not like I’m an evil, mean person,> she silently objected to her previous thoughts.
No. But she had always been reserved towards people she didn’t know. Not shy, not shy at all, just reserved. She would’ve never smile to someone she didn’t know and she would certainly not let them write her article! Even if it was a completely boring one.
She had always been kinda… scary. She was a spirited person, and she wanted everyone to know that. And everyone knew that, and they knew they would better not mess with her. They had named her 'Mad Dog Lane', for God’s sake!
Maybe not flattering at all, but it suited her well.
This was the side of herself she was familiar with. Since she was a girl, she had learned that you must never, ever let emotion control you, if you want to succeed in anything.
But today, her mind was probably in vacation. She had let herself act from the heart, and it was scary.
What had caused this change?
<Clark Kent.>
She fell on the couch. That was it. From the first time she saw him, she had felt… something. She had no idea what this something could be, but just looking at him made her feel like… melting.
<<You are in love, Lane.>> a voice popped in her head.
She closed her eyes and sighed. Falling in love was the last thing she needed right now. She opened her eyes, and, all of a sudden, she remembered what she’d said to him.
“…How we sometimes keep ourselves from falling in love because we’re afraid…”
She closed her eyes again. This was what had happened in the novel. The heroine had fallen in love with a colleague of hers, but she didn’t want to admit it, until he told her he was in love with her too.
She blankly stared at the wall. Maybe she indeed was in love with him, and she should admit it.
<But life is not a novel.>
Yes… Thinking it over, who could guarantee to her that Clark Kent was in love with her too?
<<Love doesn’t need guarantees,>> the voice replied.
<But I don’t even know whether I really am in love with him or not.>
<<Since you’re thinking about it for so long, you definitely are.>>
She sighed.
<<Did you forget what you felt when you first saw him?>>
She shook her head. No, of course she hadn’t forgot. She had never felt like this before. At least, not so intensely.
<<So why are you making it hard to yourself?>>
She sighed again. Maybe the voice was right, after all. Maybe she should just try stopping controlling herself like this.
<What must happen, happens.>
She just had to act natural from now on, and see what it resulted in.
<Yes… But what’s natural?>
She shook her head. No thoughts like this were needed now! Natural would just be the way she’d naturally react. Whichever this way was.
-----
Next day, when she got in the Planet, Clark Kent was the first one to greet her with a happy smile.
“Good morning, Lois!” he said, as she was heading towards the coffee machine.
“Good morning, Clark,” she said hurrying to the coffee machine, almost without looking at him.
“Thanks for letting me write that article yesterday.”
“It’s okay.” She took a mug of coffee. “I’d like to read it later,” she said, sitting on her desk, her voice still indifferent.
“Sure,” he said, heading to his desk. She noticed that, despite her polite but indifferent attitude, he sounded pleased and not insulted at all.
She shook her head. What the hell was happening to her? Was *this* a natural reaction? When had she *ever* behaved like this?
Some time ago, if a new colleague called her ‘Lois’ from the first – well, the second - day, she’d get upset, she might even yell to them. Especially if it was a man.
But, if she was in love, she would’ve stopped and have a friendly chat with him.
What was *that*?
She knew. It was the stance she used to take when she was trying to cover her uneasiness. Like yesterday, let’s say, when Cat proudly announced her she was going to have a ‘chat’ with Clark.
<So much for ‘natural’…>
She smiled bitterly. Her mind was used to be controlled and would react as controlled even if it wasn’t.
<Oh, whatever…>
She turned on her computer, focusing on her next assignment: Solving the puzzle of the mysterious burglary in the Mayor’s house.
-End of part 1-
