Thank you once again to my awesome betas – Carol, Mark, and Beth! And a special thank you to Carol who worked with me in making Emily sound believable for her age.
From Chapter 51
“Well,” Lex said looking at his watch, “we missed Madame Butterfly, but perhaps I can interest you in dinner?” he asked Lois. “You look way too lovely to go straight home.”
Lois put her arm through his, “That sounds perfect.”
“We could still make the late showing,” Jack said to Clark. Clark did not respond however, as he was watching Lois and Lex. Jack reached over and punched him on the arm. “Yo, Clark! Are you interested?”
“Sure,” Clark said, still distracted by Lex and Lois. A minute later, he seemed to wake up, though. “Now that you're finished with the office cleaning for the evening, do you two want to join us?” he asked Perry and Jimmy.
“I need to get home to Alice,” Perry said, “but thanks for the offer.”
“I'm in,” Jimmy said.
As they exited the building, Lex' driver pulled the car around.
“Good night everyone,” Lois called as she and Lex disappeared into his car.
“Must be nice,” Denny said, looking wistfully at the car.
“Come on,” Clark said, taking in his expression. “I think after the night we've had we should splurge on popcorn and candy at the movies. "Night, Perry.”
Denny smiled as Perry turned towards home. “Really?”
“Definitely,” Clark said. “I think we could all use a pick-me-up.”
Chapter 52
“Did you enjoy Madame Butterfly?” Lex asked Lois a week later as she put her napkin down.
“Yes,” Lois said, although that was not strictly true. She found the opera hard to follow and had hated needing Lex to explain it. Additionally, the story was terribly sad, and she had the impression that Lex would not necessarily be okay with her tears. She was sort of sorry he had managed to get them tickets for another night after they had missed it. Still, she appreciated his taking her, and did not want to seem ungrateful.
“Your first opera is always a little hard to follow,” Lex said as if he had been reading her thoughts. “But it gets easier over time.”
Lois smiled suddenly. “What?” Lex asked, taking in her smile.
“I was just thinking I bet it's easier if you understand the language they are singing in, too,” Lois started.
“Well, yes,” Lex admitted, not seeing the joke.
“It's just… well, next time you should take Clark. I bet he does.”
“He does what?” Lex asked, clearly confused.
“Understand the language,” Lois explained.
“I didn't realize Mr. Kent spoke Italian,” Lex said, his tone hard to read.
Lois rolled her eyes. “There's barely a language the man doesn't speak. It's downright annoying!”
Lex laughed and Lois could see him relax.
Lois got up to move to the couch. “Dinner was wonderful, Lex,” she said as she leaned back against the plush cushions.
“Well, Chef Andre did prepare your favorites,” Lex smiled at her as he opened the door for the entrance of a middle aged woman with a violin.
“A violinist?” Lois asked.
“Miss Choi is world famous,” Lex said as the violinist took a seat on the other side of the room.
“And she's going to play for us?” Lois asked. Lex never ceased to amaze her.
“Only the best for you,” Lex said.
Lois leaned forward and kissed him softly on the lips. “You spoil me.”
Unexpectedly, rather than answer her, Lex got up and walked back to his desk. When he came back, he knelt before her with a small box in his hand.
“I'd like to spoil you for the rest of your life,” Lex said softly as he opened the box. In it was a ring with the largest diamond Lois had ever seen. “Lois Lane, will you marry me?”
Lois gasped. She had not expected this at all. Even seeing the ring and hearing his words, until he said the more standard “Will you marry me?” Lois had thought… Well, she was not sure what she had been thinking, but not this. Sure, she and Lex had been dating for months now, but she had not thought they were this serious. She liked Lex, but marry him? It was funny, now that she thought about it. She had fantasized about marrying Lex before, more than once, but she had never thought it was a real possibility.
“Lex,” she started, knowing she needed to say something, but not sure what it should be. “I barely know you.”
“The only thing you need to know, Lois, is that I love you,” Lex said, his tone soft and gentle.
“I don't know,” she finally said. When she saw his face, though, she rushed on. “I think you're a wonderful man, Lex, really. And I'm not saying no. Just… well, this is all so unexpected. I need a little more time.”
Lex nodded his head in acceptance and got up, but then before he put the ring away, he sat down beside her on the couch taking her hand in his. “Take all the time you need, Lois. I love you. I'll wait until you're ready to decide,” he said earnestly, looking deep into her eyes.
***********************
Lois stopped in front of Clark's apartment. She needed to talk through the proposal thing with Clark. He would be able to tell her what to do. She only hoped that she got here before he had left for work.
She had hardly slept all night – her mind was in a whirlwind. Should she say yes? She liked Lex. She had certainly thought of being married to him enough. Living in LexTower would be wonderful – with all the staff around, there would be no issue with having a job. In fact, never having to worry about cooking or cleaning again, she probably would have even more free time than before.
On the other hand, while she liked Lex, every once in awhile he did something that made her feel… not scared exactly, but maybe unsettled? There was the time she had turned down his offer to spend the night in his apartment in New York, although she still was not sure she had not imagined that. And the apartment he had built for her in the ark – that was weird, particularly the Kerth case. She still did not know how Lex knew about that.
She just was not sure. Maybe these were good things? Lex was passionate and he liked her… actually, he loved her. Of course he was upset when she declined his invitation to spend the night. She should feel lucky that he loved her enough to want her to feel comfortable in his ark – that it was so important that he produced a reproduction of her apartment in his home.
Really, how often did someone like her get a chance to marry someone like Lex Luthor? This should be a dream come true. How many women would kill to be in the position she was in? Well, probably not many. Any sane woman would be engaged by now – who would need to time to think about whether or not they wanted to marry Lex Luthor?
She knocked on the door and waited as patiently as she could manage until the door was open.
“'Morning,” Superman said quietly.
“Oh, hi,” Lois said, flustered. For some reason, she did not want to talk to Superman right now. She had been so focused on wanting to talk to Clark that she had forgotten that she was likely to see the superhero here. Had she remembered, she would not have come. Her life was enough of an emotional mess right now. Adding Superman to the mix did not seem wise. “Is Clark here?” she asked.
“Uh, no. He left for work a little early today,” Superman said.
“Oh, okay,” Lois said, turning back to her car.
“Lois, do you want to come in?” he asked her.
“No, no,” Lois said, backing away further. “I need to get to work.”
***********************
Superman shut the door behind him, leaning heavily against it. What was wrong with him? Why had he invited her in? He felt like he was barely in control of his actions anymore; like his mouth had started working independently of his brain.
It was ridiculous really. If it had been anyone but Lois he would not have answered the door – he did not want anyone else knowing that he lived here. So why did he feel the need to answer it whenever Lois came to the door? He needed distance from her. Maybe with enough time away from her, his memories of his wife would come back.
For a moment, he flashed back to Back to the Future. He had watched the old movie with Jory shortly before he came here. He could remember clearly the scene from the movie where Michael J. Fox' character had started to interfere with his parents' future too much. He started to disappear – first in the picture he was carrying and then in reality. Was that what was happening to him? Did spending so much time in a parallel universe mean he was losing himself? Maybe if he stayed here much longer Clark Kent would be erased from his universe and all he would have left would be to be Superman here.
Superman took a deep breath. The idea was ridiculous. Surely if that was the case, Herb would have come and taken him home. He took a deep breath. Clark was doing well now. Maybe he would get to go home soon. Maybe he would get to leave before this whole thing turned into a nightmare.
***********************
Clark landed in an alley near the Planet. He was starting to get used to the morning patrols. He still avoided speaking to the press when he could, but no longer felt so sure he would be caught just doing a rescue. He still felt nervous, but it was becoming more and more clear that no one else could tell that. Plus, the few times he had spoken to the press, no one had pointed at him and called him an imposter. He thought he was doing okay.
Emerging from the alley, he spotted Lois walking in.
“Did you walk today, Lois?” he called to her.
Lois turned to him and to Clark's surprise (and pleasure) her face lit up. “I did. I actually walked from your place.”
“My place?” Clark asked.
“I came by this morning to pick you up and then when you weren't there, I decided to walk,” Lois explained.
“Thanks for trying to pick me up,” Clark said, wondering what had gotten into Lois. Was it possible? Were her feelings for him changing?
“No problem,” Lois said, linking her arm through his. “I just wanted to talk.”
“Is everything okay?” he asked, concerned now.
Lois shook her head. “We can talk about it later when we have more time. The walk this morning made me feel slightly better.”
“Well, good,” Clark said as they got into the elevator. “Anything else I can do for you now?”
Lois smiled at him. “Distract me?”
“Okay,” Clark smiled. “Um…” he tried to think of something to distract her from whatever was bothering her. “State capitols?” he asked. Lois grimaced. “State names? I'll name a state and you think of one that starts with the last letter of the one I mentioned?”
“Wow, you're a barrel of fun,” Lois laughed at him before agreeing to the game.
“New Troy,” Clark started with.
“No fair!” Lois immediately protested. “There are no states that start with a "y'!”
Clark nodded. “You're right. New Troy is out. How about New York?”
“Kentucky,” Lois replied. “Another "y'. This game is stupid.”
“Fair enough,” Clark said. “How about I name an actor and you list a movie he was in and then a different actor from that same movie?”
“That's my kind of game,” Lois smiled. “I'll go first. Dennis Quaid.”
“The Big Easy,” Clark said after a moment of thought. “Um… John Goodman.”
“The Flintstones,” Lois said cheekily. “Rick Moranis.”
“Honey, I Shrunk the Kids,” Clark said as the exited the elevator. “Marcia Strassman.”
“Who the heck is she?” Lois turned to ask him.
“She played Rick Moranis' wife,” Clark shrugged. “Sorry, no one famous was in Honey, I Shrunk the Kids.”
“I'm just the messenger,” Perry was saying as they got further into the newsroom. “I'm sorry I don't have any more information.”
“What's going on?” Clark asked Jimmy.
“Have you tried to cash your paycheck? It's rubber.”
“Again?” Lois asked, annoyed.
“What's going on?” Clark said, agreeing with Lois' tone. Last week's paychecks had also bounced.
Jimmy shrugged. “Don't know, but there's a rumor the paper is going under.”
“Anything else?”
“I heard something about layoffs,” Cat said as she walked by.
Lois looked at Clark in alarm as they moved towards their desks. “It can't be that bad,” Lois said.
Clark shrugged. “I don't know. Maybe those weeks when the Star was scooping us really hurt the paper's finances.”
Jimmy and Jack joined them. “Have you noticed the lack of advertisements in the recent editions?” Jimmy asked.
Before he finished, a messenger handed him an envelope. “You Jack Minor?” the messenger asked Jack.
“Yeah, why?”
“This is for you,” he said, handing Jack an envelope just like Jimmy's.
“Thanks,” Jack said as he tore his envelope open.
Clark saw the pink piece of paper as Jimmy pulled it out of the envelope and sighed.
“What is it?” Lois asked taking in the faces around her.
“I guess Cat was right,” Jack muttered looking at his own pink slip.
“We've been laid off.”
***********************
“Cookie, Daddy?” Emily asked, tugging gently on Clark's pants' leg.
“You just had a cookie,” Lois said.
“'Nother one,” Emily said ignoring Lois and looking directly at Clark. It had taken her all of two years to master the divide and conquer strategy.
Smiling at her persistence, Clark picked her up, “Maybe after dinner, Em,” he said.
“Want cookie now!” Emily shouted and Clark placed her on the blanket Lois had spread out on the living room floor for her.
“I said after dinner,” he told her, keeping his voice quiet, but firm.
“No!” Emily shouted.
“One more shout and you won't get a cookie at all,” Clark said looking the little girl in the eye.
Emily promptly burst into tears. This was her new trick – if she did not get what she wanted, she cried. Clark rolled his eyes. Like her mother, she could be a little unreasonable at times. Unlike her mother, though, he could handle her easily – for now anyway.
Clark stood up, taking Emily with him. He placed her on the small chair that was hers in the corner of the room.
“You can sit there until you finish crying,” Clark said, turning around.
“No go, Daddy!” Emily wailed.
“I'm not playing games with you, Emily. There's no reason to cry,” Clark explained.
“Have cookie?” Emily asked through her tears.
Clark laughed. He could not help it. “Not if you don't stop crying,” he said.
Emily stopped crying at once. “Now?”
“After dinner, like we talked about,” he said.
Emily pouted, but she did not cry or shout and Clark reached out to give her a kiss on the top of her head before carrying her back over to the blanket.
She immediately moved over to her favorite Elmo doll and picked it up. “No cookie,” she told the doll sadly. “No, no crying!” she mimicked her father.
Smiling at Emily's antics, he moved over to sit next to Lois on the couch. “You sure you want to do this again?” he asked as he leaned down to kiss her swollen stomach to let her know how he felt about it.
“Do what again?” Lois asked.
Clark looked at her strangely. He had not thought he was that cryptic. “Another child?” he asked.
“No,” Lois said. “I don't want kids.”
Clark looked at her. She did not appear to be sick. “Lois, the child over there? Emily. She's yours.” He smiled at her weird behavior.
Lois looked over at Emily, then back at him, her eyes wide. “Well, for you I guess it's okay.”
“Lois, are you okay?” he asked her.
“As long as I have you,” she said sweetly and Clark leaned over to give her a kiss. Just before he reached her, though, she finished her thought. “Superman.”
Superman stood up from the couch. He could not sit here and daydream about his old life anymore. It did not do any good anyway. All his memories were warped. Lois had been thrilled to be pregnant with Jory. While he could not seem to remember what she said when he asked her the question after Emily's temper tantrum, he was almost sure she had laughed at him. Certainly she had not said anything about not wanting children.
He needed to go somewhere, do something, get his mind off of this. Now that he thought about it, he had not checked on Moscow in awhile. Maybe this was a good time.
***********************
“What are we going to do?” Jimmy asked.
“I could talk to Perry,” Clark said feeling awful.
Jimmy shook his head. “It's not his fault. He probably would have done something if he could.”
“He probably feels badly enough,” Jack added. “We're young. We'll find something else. I hope.”
“But working at the Planet was my dream,” Jimmy said glumly.
“What's wrong, Steve?” Lois asked the reporter as he passed by.
Steve looked up at them looking lost. “I've been laid off. I've been here for thirty-years. I was nearly ready to retire, but not now. I feel like I've lost everything that wasn't vested.”
Clark sighed. He could see how Steve felt that way, but did not know what to do for him. “We need to do something.”
“I bet lots of people would help,” Lois said, thinking aloud. “I mean, it can't just be us whose been hit. I bet printing and sales would help, too.”
“Lois, are you suggesting a walk-out?” Clark asked, surprised Lois would suggest such a thing given her devotion to the Planet. Secretly, he was pleased that she was looking at the hardship others were going through, too, though rather than not caring since she still had a job. Not a lot of people in the newsroom realized how selfless Lois was as she hid this side of herself. He was glad she was letting it out.
“What else are we going to do?” she asked. “It's a massacre!”
“At least you have a job,” Jimmy said, holding up his pink slip.
