Thanks to Kmar and Maggs for beta-reading this story
Nightmares
Part 1
“Um, see you tomorrow, Clark,” Lois said a little awkwardly.
She could feel that she was blushing and she cursed herself for being so stupid. It hadn’t been easy to make her passing by look casual. Lois wondered why she just didn’t have the guts to walk up to him and say goodbye. This shouldn’t be a problem. It had never been. Instead she pretended to be busy somewhere on the other side of the newsroom for no other reason than to come back to Clark. She absolutely didn’t need any new pencils. There were more than enough of them stored in her desk. And it was no use standing by the printer, particularly not when she hadn’t sent anything to it.
Her behavior was stupid, girlish and in no way suitable for a business woman like her. But her heart told her otherwise. It beat madly for the brief moment it took Clark to look up. The smile on his face increased her heart rate even more. She couldn’t help but to think of Christmas Eve, the first they had spent with each other. Since that wonderful evening she knew that she could no longer claim that Clark’s friendship was all she wanted.
‘You’re behaving like a teenager,’ Lois mocked herself silently, while she was drowning in her partner’s brown eyes.
“Good night, Lois,” Clark replied gently, warmly.
“Good night, Clark.” The sound of his voice reminded Lois of that night in the Honeymoon Suit. She had been so unkind that evening and yet he had been patient with her and gentle just as he was now. She would never again behave so badly in his presence, Lois thought self-consciously. “You could call it a day as well,” she suggested, not sure what she was expecting to happen then. Suddenly the idea of him walking her home seemed so very appealing.
His smile faded and he looked at her, guiltily. “I’m sorry, Lois. I’m afraid this can’t wait until tomorrow. I need to finish these articles or Perry will kill me.” He vaguely gestured at the huge pile of papers on his desk and had the decency to blush.
“I guess you returned too many books this week,” Lois replied with a wry smile. She wanted to make sure he understood that she didn’t believe in his stupid excuses anymore, if she ever had.
“You may be right,” Clark agreed uncomfortably. “I’d really like to walk you home, Lois. But unfortunately...” he said and meaningfully glanced at the pile beside him. “....I can’t,” he finished his sentence and judging from his expression, he was cursing himself.
“See you tomorrow, then,” Lois mumbled and tried to hide her disappointment, maybe a little too successful. He didn’t tell her what was going on and why he kept disappearing all the time. Lois would have liked to turn her back on him, thinking that he didn’t deserve her friendship. But would Clark suffer from being alone like she would? Maybe it was true what he had told her a couple of month ago. Clark didn’t love her.
* * *
“See you tomorrow,” Clark replied dejectedly.
He sadly watched her as she turned around, making her way through the almost deserted newsroom. She didn’t look back at him, just moved on, and stepped into the elevator that seemed to have waited for her. It was another one of those goodbyes that held no promise of change. Sometimes Clark thought that his life would just continue to be like this. He would greet Lois in the morning and say good bye to her in the evenings. His secret identity would always keep him from getting more than that. Was he really willing to give up on his dreams just to save a few cats in trees?
Clark sighed, staring at the elevator’s doors as they closed behind Lois. For a moment he listened in on her heartbeat, waiting until the elevator had made its way down to the first floor. He heard a soft ping as the doors opened again and then the staccato sound of her shoes as she left the building.
“Good night, Lois,” Clark whispered into the silence of the newsroom, before he forced his attention back on his work.
He was alone, not even Perry was working anymore. Partially this was a good thing because he really needed to cheat a little in order to get his work done. Lois had been right; he had indeed returned way too many "books". This was going to take him a long time, despite his special powers. With another sigh Clark started typing, stopping only now and then to keep the keyboard from starting to smoke.
An hour later, Clark was still flipping through papers and writing down notes. His eyes were getting weary and so was the rest of him. But at least the pile of work didn’t seem so threatening anymore. It wasn’t going to take long until he would be able to call it a day as well. For a moment he allowed himself to lean back in his chair and close his eyes for a moment. He heard someone approach in a quick pace.
Startled, Clark opened his eyes and listened more carefully. Steps at this time of night were highly unusual and instantly reminded Clark of the thugs who had searched for Dragonetti’s money. The sound of steps approached and then stood still. A soft tingle was audible as the elevator’s doors closed. It didn’t take long before Clark heard another soft ping. He switched off the lamp on his desk. Holding his breath he hid in a corner of the newsroom.
* * *
Lois shrugged her coat off as she closed the door behind her. Heavily she leaned against it and closed her eyes fighting the pain that being alone in her apartment caused her. She hadn’t exactly hurried to get there. On her way home she must have been in at least six stores, leaving each of them without having bought anything. She was behaving strangely, no doubt about that. Usually, she didn’t need that much time to decide whether she was going to take comfort in some chocolate ice cream or a romantic movie. Much less did she return without any consolation at all.
Things had become so difficult between them since Clark had almost died. Well, difficult wasn’t the right word to describe it, but for the lack of a better one it had to do. It had all started with the realization that she was in love with Clark, deeply and hopelessly in love with him. It was so like her that she had to find out such a thing in the worst moment imaginable when she was going to marry another man. Of course she could be grateful that it had been before she had actually said her wedding vows.
But unfortunately Clark had told her that he hadn’t been honest with her when he had declared his love. Lois had thought that she would be able to live with it, that she liked her life with Clark the way it was. Friendship was great and most definitely enough for her, or so she had thought.
Clark’s reputed death however had changed her mind. It had been worse than anything else she had ever experienced. Not even her parent’s divorce had made her feel as if she was going to die. Losing Clark did. And now even the thought of being rejected by him was almost killing her. She deeply regretted that she had ever rejected Clark, even though his words had been a lie, said in desperate times.
“Stop wallowing,” Lois admonished herself aloud. “This isn’t going to get you anywhere.”
She looked at her phone. Should she call him, tell him how she felt about him? Maybe this was all just a huge misunderstanding and he really did love her. But the last week had been more like an indication that he was afraid of her, afraid that she might declare her love or anything along those lines. Or why else had he been running off to return so many books or whatever he had actually been doing?
Lois turned around, mechanically locking her door firmly, checking each of the five locks. Then she picked up her coat and started to do all the things she usually did in the evening. Clark wasn’t going to destroy her life just because he might not feel the same way about her. She needed to keep a clear head if she didn’t want to become insane. Maybe a hot bath would help her. And afterwards she would decide what she was going to do about her feelings. However, she needed to talk to Clark – like an adult.
* * *
He knew that this time nothing was going to happen – the Planet was abandoned but for him. Nothing was going to happen that he couldn’t prevent easily. Yet he had decided to hide from whoever was approaching. He didn’t know why he hadn’t checked out whoever it was earlier. Now it was too late, he had just rushed into a corner of the room, holding his breath until the elevator’s door opened.
A long leg appeared, followed by another long leg. For a moment Clark’s heart started to race as he thought that Lois had come back to him. But the legs were very long and the skirt above them extremely short. Clark stared at the woman, thunderstruck.
“Cat?” he exclaimed and stood up.
She squealed and almost stumbled. But then she caught herself.
“Clark?” she said breathlessly, her voice trembling with shock. “Don’t scare me like that!” she complained.
“I’m sorry. I was kind of shocked when I heard someone use the elevator.” He hadn’t been afraid, but Cat didn’t need to know that. “What are you doing here?”
He hadn’t seen her for weeks. Perry had told them that Mr. Stern hadn’t been willing to continue Cat’s column. Instead he had offered her work in Paris. Writing about fashion had been appealing to Cat. Despite her strange taste in clothing, she really had a knack for writing these articles. They were better than her column had ever been.
“I was invited to write about the Metropolis fashion week,” Cat said. “There is some background information that I left here. I just wanted to fetch it.”
“In the middle of the night?” Clark asked, surprised.
“I could ask you the same,” Cat replied. A smile lit up her face. But in the darkness Clark could discern it only vaguely. He switched on the lights again.
“I need to get some work done,” Clark conceded and shrugged, gesturing towards the heap of folders that covered his desk.
“Ahh, I see,” Cat smirked and than gave him a sympathetic glance. “You still lack time for the pleasant parts of life. Why don’t you stop working and the two of us share a bottle of champagne in my hotel room,” she whispered seductively, leaning towards him.
“Come on, Cat, you know I won’t,” Clark reached for her arms before she could place them on his shoulders.
“Oh, Clark, can’t a girl try to seduce you?” she pouted. “After all, you could have changed your mind about...”
“I haven’t,” Clark stated, not exactly angry about Cat’s new attempt to make him spend the night with her. They both knew very well that this was never going to happen. Neither of them was actually interested. “So why don’t you fetch whatever it is that you need,” he suggested good-naturedly, “and I’ll get back to work.”
Cat looked at him in pretended anger and threw her head back. “You’re such a killjoy! You don’t know what you’re going to miss,” she said and left him, with hips swaying.
Clark chuckled as he saw her little show and turned his attention back to his work. He was tired, although Cat had somehow livened up his spirits. Before he started typing again, he made sure that she wasn’t watching him. The last thing he needed was Cat finding out about his secret. He could very well imagine that this would make her the new star in the gossip heaven.
Not so much later, Cat reappeared with a few folders. She said good-night to Clark and left the newsroom. Clark sighed with relief, not really sure why he did it exactly. He hadn’t been prepared for meeting Cat of all people. That was one reason, though it was sort of a late reaction to the fact that it had been only her to come here in the middle of the night. The other reason was that he liked being alone when using his powers as Clark Kent. He wondered whether he was also afraid of being tempted by her constant offers, though he had never actually found her attractive. But who knew if constant dripping couldn’t wear away the stone, particularly when Lois continued to ignore him.
With another sigh he leaned back in his chair, glad that he had finished his last article. Rubbing his eyes he decided that he deserved a few hours of sleep before he faced a new day filled with catastrophes and attempts to make Lois see Clark. He turned off his computer and cleared his desk. A little later he left the newsroom, grateful that he could finally head home.
* * *
Clark left the Daily Planet and went down the street. Despite the late hour, the area wasn’t deserted yet. People were running around hastily. Some of them were certainly on their way home, just like him. Some were standing at the side of the street, waiting for a taxi to appear. This city never really went to sleep. He hoped it would stay relatively calm, though. The week had been rough and he wouldn’t mind a few hours to relax.
Suddenly Clark heard a woman whimper. “No, please,” she pleaded.
She sounded scared. Clark’s heart started beating madly in his chest. Without hesitating Clark hurried towards her, secretly wishing that he was already with her. More anxious cries were to be heard and Clark automatically looked around, carefully checking if he could change into Superman. But he didn’t see a place to hide and too many people were staring in his direction. They must have heard the woman in danger, because most people around were getting slower, trying to locate the source of the desperate cries. So why was nobody trying to help her? Instead they were only making his job more difficult, Clark thought grimly and rushed on.
“No!” the distress in her tone indicated that he didn’t have time to wait for the right moment.
Clark could hear her panting, could almost smell the sweat covering her forehead. She needed his help now and it really wasn’t important that Superman was her savior. It only took a few more steps for Clark to make it around the corner. His heart clenched in sympathy for the poor woman as he saw what he had only heard before. Despite the darkness Clark could discern a tall, broad-shouldered thug, who was pressing her against the brick wall. He was wearing a leather jacket that made him look even more dangerous, than his wild mane of hair already did. Suddenly Clark saw the blade of a knife dangerously close to the woman’s neck as the light of a street lamp reflected in the cold metal.
“Let go of her,” he shouted angrily, approaching the thug, who just ignored him.
Clark did his best to look somewhat more impressive than usually. At the same time he cautioned himself not to let his anger take control. Remaining calm was always difficult for him in situations like these, because he knew that hard as he might try, he couldn’t spare those poor women the moments of sheer panic. But no matter how cruelly he would punish the villain, this wasn’t going to change. Besides, he couldn’t risk hurting the woman.
“Let go of her or you’ll regret it,” he threatened again, cursing his suit and tie, which made him look as dangerous as a puppy.
“And what do you think you can do?” the thug laughed, playing with his knife, showing Clark that he was armed. It was obvious that the man was drunk, which wasn’t an excuse really, not in Clark’s regard anyway. “You better run as fast you can, before it’s you feeling my knife. Back off!” the thug spat as Clark closed in on him. “I’m just trying to have a little fun with the gal.”
It sickened Clark as he saw the blade come closer to the woman’s neck. She winced in fear and closed her eyes bracing herself for what was going to come. It was all the encouragement Clark needed.
The knife made a metallic sound as it hit the ground. The thug growled, beginning to realize that he had been knocked over. A large figure wrestled him, held him down to the ground easily. It was an unfair fight between the dark guy in the leather jacket and the man, who’d pretended to be Mr. Goody-two shoes only a moment ago. The thug didn’t feel like laughing anymore. Instead he tried to free himself. His elbow landed in the other man’s stomach. A dreadful cry of pain was audible and the thug would have thought that he had landed a good punch, if it hadn’t been for his elbow hurting like hell. He whimpered, struggling to get away from the man who held him in a steely grip. But it was no use.
Suddenly there were sirens and soon Clark could see the lights of approaching police cars. He looked over to the woman. Her pale face became visible as the lights flashed periodically. She was standing there, sagging against the wall. Her breath came in gasps, her legs were shaking violently, but bravely she managed to remain upright. His heart missed a beat as he recognized her. It was Cat. Her face reflected the same surprise he was feeling. She mouthed his name; her eyes wide open with disbelief.
“Hands up!” someone yelled. Clark looked up, surprised and saw several police officers approach. They had their weapons pointed at him. “Get over to the wall, slowly,” one of the officers ordered.
“Officer, he saved me,” Cat said between body shaking sobs. She really sounded distressed, a state Clark had never seen her in. She was the ever smiling woman who never took anything seriously. She nodded towards the thug who was still lying on the ground. “He attacked me. If hadn’t it been for Mr. Kent, I...” her voice trailed off.
“Okay, then.” the police officer lowered his weapon. “Thank you, sir. We’ll handle this now.” The officer flashed a small smile at Clark, obviously in an attempt to apologize.
Clark let go off the thug and stood up. He didn’t really know what to do now. Had he been Superman it would have been simple. He’d probably say good-bye to everyone, nodding at them and then he would fly away, but he wasn’t used to saving people as Clark. He approached Cat, feeling awkward. Maybe it was Cat who made him feel so uncomfortable, he mused uneasily. He had never really known how to address her.
“Are you okay, Cat? Did he hurt you?” he asked cautiously.
Despite the darkness he could see how pale she was. She was shaking like a leaf and had her arms wrapped around herself protectively. He had never seen her so afraid and so lost. Cat wasn’t the woman he had ever expected to appear so vulnerable, and yet she was. It tore at Clark’s heart. Suddenly he held her in a firm embrace, caressing her back soothingly. He didn’t know if she had fled into his embrace or if it had been him making the first step. But that wasn’t important.
While he held Cat, Clark watched the officers as they arrested the thug. He knew that Cat would have to tell them what happened. But maybe he could ask them to postpone the interrogation when the shock had worn off. Clark was grateful that he had come in time before anything worse could have happened.
When one of the officers asked how Cat was, she still hadn’t said a word. She was just leaning against his shoulder, sobbing and dampening Clark’s coat.
“I don’t think she’s injured,” Clark replied instead of Cat. “But I don’t think she’ll be able to answer any of your questions.”
“But we need your statements,” the officer said. “Without them, we can’t arrest the man for more than twenty four hours.”
Clark’s mind raced and he hoped that he could think of something that would help both Cat and the police. But before he could say anything, Cat harrumphed. Her voice was low, barely audible and crack as she spoke.
“You’ll get your statement, officer."
to be continued...
