Hello everyone! Hope you all are having a good week so far. Thanks for all the wonderful comments. Hope you enjoy this part.
Here is the
Table of Contents in case you missed anything.
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PART FIVE
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Lois slid slowly down into the welcome heat of the bath she had drawn. She took the small bottle of fragrant sea salt, which the hotel had provided along with her bar of soap, and emptied the contents into the water. It didn’t take long for the heady scent of wild flowers to permeate the air around her.
As she sank down even lower in the water, taking care not to let the water slide up past the hairline of her short ponytail, she shut her eyes and willed herself to relax. It had been a hard day. She wasn’t used to pouring over stacks of papers, notes, and old newspapers. It wasn’t like Lois didn’t do her own research, but Jimmy helped her with a lot of it - more than she’d realized. By the end of the day her eyes had been so tired and smeary that all the words on the pages had just seemed to run together.
After a few restless moments of *relaxation*, she realized she was too keyed up to just lay here in her silent solitude. She reached for the TV remote that she had set on the side of the tub. Maybe there was a good old movie on - preferably something with Cary Grant in it.
She pushed the button to turn on the TV and after a few blurry seconds, the screen cleared into a discernable picture.
Lois almost laughed out loud.
It was one of those old Godzilla movies. The ones they filmed with stop-motion/claymation cinematography. She watched for a few seconds while Godzilla tore through what appeared to be a Japanese city, smashing cars, and causing chaos.
Then a memory flitted through her mind.
Godzilla.
She remembered stumbling upon the hideous Godzilla toy when she had been trudging around looking for the crash site of Superman’s space ship.
Lois hadn’t realized, until finally finding that stupid doll, that someone had led her on a wild goose chase... through, what had turned out to be, the Metropolis Sewage Reclamation Facility. She had never had so many mosquito bites in her life.
She had never wanted to kill someone so badly before in her life. All she could think of on her way back to the office that day was that whoever had done this was going to pay. Then, when she thought nothing else that day could possibly surprise her, she had learned that Clark Kent was, in fact, the perpetrator. Given the way she had treated him, it wasn’t really a surprise that he would retaliate; what had surprised her was how badly she had underestimated him.
Her respect for him had risen exponentially that day; and as much as she had wanted to get revenge for what had been done to her, she had realized that she couldn’t. Clark had owed her for stealing his story. He had owed her more than a little humiliating trip through the sewage facility.
She was amazed and ashamed that she had sunk so low as to emulate the person she had vowed to hate for the very same reason. Claude was right. How could she think that if the situation had been reversed that she wouldn’t have done the same thing to him?
No.
No, she wouldn’t have. Part of who she was today was because of what Claude had done to her.
Lois frowned.
Yet... if anything, shouldn’t what Claude had done have made it even harder for her to steal Clark’s story?
But it hadn’t. She had used Clark. Maybe not in the same way Claude had used her, but still...
All at once, Lois wasn’t sure she knew herself – or what she was capable of – at all. She knew one thing for sure. Her relaxing bath had lost its appeal.
She climbed carefully out of the tub and wrapped herself in the blue terry robe she had brought with her. The soft fabric enveloped her and comforted her. She pulled the plug on the bathtub and was about to change into her pajamas when she heard a tap at the window, coming from the other room.
Her heart skipped a beat. The only time she ever heard a tap like that at her window it meant...
She walked out of the bathroom and turned to look towards the window. Her breath caught in her throat when she saw Superman hovering just outside. Lois hurried over to the window and opened it. “Superman?”
“May I come in for a moment, Lois?” he asked, giving her a soft smile.
“Uh, sure... I mean, of course,” she stammered. “But... what are you doing in Paris?”
Superman seemed to hesitate for a moment, but then he replied, “Clark.”
“Clark?” Lois asked, puzzled.
Superman cleared his throat. “Clark asked me to check on you if I was in the area.”
She felt like she was at a complete loss for words. “And you were?”
“What?”
“In the area?” she clarified.
In the dim lighting she couldn’t really tell, but she would almost swear that he was blushing.
“Not really,” he answered hesitantly.
“Oh.” Her mind reeled trying to come up with something to say... anything, to break the uncomfortable silence. But in the end, it was Superman who continued the conversation.
“I came because Clark said you had asked him to say goodbye for you.”
He stepped away from the window and moved a couple of steps closer to Lois, causing her head to feel a little giddy. This was the closest she had been to him in weeks. She forgot how being around him made her feel.
“I did,” she told him, fighting the urge to fidget.
“I would have said goodbye to you, Lois,” he continued softly.
“Would you?” Lois turned away, trying to hide her conflicting emotions from him. “Last time we spoke, we didn’t part on the best-”
“I know...”
“Plus, I didn’t really have any way to get in contact with you,” she continued doggedly.
“Clark could have... if you had given him more than two hours notice that you were leaving.”
Lois frowned and turned back to look at him. “Is that what he told you? That I skipped town without hardly a goodbye? How much did Clark tell you? Because that’s not really how it happened.”
“Why don’t you tell me what happened then?” There was no accusation in his voice, just a genuine need to know.
Lois sighed. “Well, it probably seemed that way to him. I meant to tell him sooner, I really did.” She bit her lip. Why was she lying to Superman? Why would he care what she had nearly done to Clark? She would probably feel better if she told someone and got it off her chest. “No... that’s not true.”
He didn’t make an attempt to interrupt her, so she continued on, determinedly, “I actually thought about leaving without telling him. Just hopping a flight to Paris and calling him when I got here.”
She could almost swear that Superman’s posture stiffened a little. And his voice seemed just a bit strained when he asked, “Why?”
She sighed heavily. “Because saying goodbye to Clark was the hardest part of leaving Metropolis.” She shook her head in amazement at what she was revealing to him. “And I never thought that would be the case. I thought leaving the Planet would be the hardest thing I had ever done, but I had already lost the Planet once...”
“When the bomb destroyed the building?” he ventured quietly.
“Yes. But I also lost Clark then, too. Luthor had proposed to me and Clark... well... he told me some things and I didn’t listen... but it doesn’t matter because I found out later that he lied anyway...” She paused for a moment when she realized she was babbling a little and tried to get herself back on track. “And then you... You came to me that night and I poured my heart out to you... and you left. I lost everything I cared about.”
“I’m sorry, Lois,” he said in the genuine tone that she knew so well.
She shook her head and continued on, “But this time, this time *I* was the one doing the leaving. No one was leaving me. And yet, it still didn’t make it any easier to leave.”
“Because you care about Clark?” he asked, an odd tone in his voice.
“What?” she exclaimed, amazed at the boldness of his question. “Of course I care about Clark. He’s...” Lois broke off at a sudden knock at her door, turning back to look in that direction.
“Lois? It’s Jacques. May I come in?”
She grimaced. “Um... yeah. Hang on just a second, Jacques.” She turned back to Superman, but he wasn’t there. The fluttering curtains were the only indication that she hadn’t merely dreamed she had been talking to him a moment ago.
Lois sighed. That hadn’t really gone the way she would have liked.
Then she noticed something she hadn’t seen before.
There was a pillow lying on the floor under the window. Lois walked over and picked it up. There was a note pinned to it that read:
‘Lois,
Hope this helps you feel a little more at home.
Miss you,
Clark’
Before she even had time to process the note, or anything that had just happened, there was another knock at her door.
“I’m sorry, Jacques. I’m coming!” She sprinted over to the door and opened it, still clutching her pillow in one hand.
Jacques smiled warmly. “I have disturbed you, I’m sorry.”
She shook her head. “No, it’s all right.”
He stood awkwardly at the door in anticipation and she realized that he had asked if he could come in.
“Please, come in.”
“Merci.” He stepped inside and she closed the door behind him.
Lois waited for a few seconds, expectantly, but Jacques was not forthcoming in the reason for his visit. Her impatience soon won out.
“What’s the matter?” she asked, trying not to sound irritated. First, her relaxing evening hadn’t gone as planned and then her conversation with Superman had been interrupted. She wasn’t running high on tolerance at the moment. If the man had something to say, he needed to spit it out.
“I wanted to show you something,” he began hesitantly, looking slightly flushed. “I would like to see your reaction.”
Lois quickly moved beyond annoyed to a full-blown state of curiosity. “What?”
Jacques cleared his throat nervously, stuck his hand in his pocket, and pulled out a velvet black box. “This,” he said simply, opening the box to reveal an elegant diamond engagement ring.
“Oh my,” Lois breathed.
***********
Clark felt dizzy. Lois had said she cared about him... *Clark*.
But *how* did she care? As a partner? A friend? More? She had been interrupted by that knock at her door before she could finish...
He frowned as his conscience pricked him for hanging around outside her window the way he was... spying on her... again.
Not wanting to get caught, he floated to one side and expanded his vision to peer through the brick wall beside the window. Just a quick peek. He needed to know what the overly-familiar manager, Jacques, was coming to her room for.
Plus, Clark was curious what her reaction would be to the pillow.
Much to his chagrin, Lois didn’t have time to react to the pillow before the persistent Frenchman was knocking on her door a second time. Clark resisted the urge to bodily remove the *distraction*. It wouldn’t look good for Superman to go flying in there and...
Clark stiffened. Lois was letting the man into her room.
Leave. That’s what his conscience was telling him. This was none of his business and he should go... now.
But he couldn’t.
Then his heart leapt into his throat. The Frenchman had pulled out what appeared to be a ring box. When the box opened a second later, Clark’s suspicion was confirmed.
It contained a tasteful, but beautiful, diamond ring.
No! This was insane! Clark knew Lois had an affect on a lot of men, himself included, but she had only been here two days!
Ignoring the little voice in his head, he stretched out with his hearing...
“So you like it?” the Frenchman was saying.
“Jacques, it’s beautiful,” she told him, looking and sounding all together too happy. “It’s perfect.”
No. Clark closed his eyes in disbelief. This couldn’t be happening. It was absurd.
“She’ll love it,” Lois continued, “I’m sure of it.”
Clark opened his eyes and looked back through the wall, feeling disoriented – and not from hovering several stories off the ground.
The Frenchman was beaming from ear to ear. “Thank you. I had hoped... Sophie is very... how do you say?”
“Picky?” Lois offered.
Jacques shook his head, smiling. “No. She is-”
“Rich?”
“No.” He smiled, seeming satisfied that he had found the word he was looking for. “Unique.”
“Ah.”
He nodded. “Yes. Very special. Like you.”
“Merci.” Lois blushed prettily. “If Sophie’s tastes are anything like mine, then I can confidently say that she will, without a doubt, love it.”
“Thank you,” he said, closing the ring box and looking pleased.
“When will you propose?”
Jacques smiled widely again. “This weekend.”
Lois smiled in return. “I wish you all the best.”
“Merci. I will leave you now. I am sorry for having interrupted,” he apologized graciously.
Clark turned away from the window and blocked the remainder of the conversation from his ears, ashamed of himself. He had no right to spy on her like this.
What would his parents think?
Well, they had told him to check in on her...
...but not to spy on her! This is definitely not what they would have had in mind.
He flew quickly away from the building, wishing he could stay longer but knowing that he shouldn’t – pillow or not. It was time to go home. And if he was smart, he wouldn’t come back. Not anytime soon anyway.
***********
Clark spun out of his suit as he entered through the balcony door to his apartment.
What an idiot, he rebuked himself, for about the hundredth time since leaving Paris. Had he actually jumped to the conclusion that the diamond ring had been for Lois?
And what about stalking her like that? Because that’s really all it could be called... stalking. If he were honest with himself, it wasn’t the first time - or even the second time - he had ever done it, either. In fact, with Lois, it was an ongoing occurrence that dated all the way back to when he had first moved to Metropolis and had spied on her after her *interview* with Luthor.
Clark shook his head at himself. He had it bad. Maybe Lois was right; maybe this time apart would be good for them... if he could manage to give them any time apart.
He was headed towards the bathroom, contemplating a long shower to clear his head, when he noticed the light blinking on his answering machine.
Half-heartedly, he walked over and pressed the button to listen to his messages, wondering who might have called. Maybe his mother had called to-
“Clark?” Lois’ voice said from the machine.
Clark’s pulse immediately quickened and he gave his full attention to what she was going to say next. Was she in trouble?
“I wanted to... oh, this is Lois. Sorry, I should have said that to begin with. I hate it when people call and just expect you to recognize their voice even when everyone knows that most answering machines distort your voice beyond normal recognition...”
He couldn’t contain the smile that was spreading across his face, as he listened to her babbling. She definitely didn’t sound like she was in trouble. His curiosity hit an all-time high, waiting for her to continue.
“Anyway, I wanted to thank you for the pillow. I need to thank Superman for bringing it – he left before I had a chance...” There was a short pause and then a sigh before she continued, “I thought you’d be home. I really don’t like talking to these things and I wanted to talk to you...” There was another pause and then in a small, quiet voice she said, “I really miss...”
There was a long pause this time and Clark almost thought that was the abrupt end of the message, but then he heard her clear her throat.
“Ummm... anyway, thanks for the pillow. I’ll definitely sleep better tonight. G’night, Clark.”
He stared blankly at the answering machine for a few seconds before finally mumbling, “Really missed what?”
Missed home? Perry? The Planet?
Him?
Did she miss him? Miss talking to him? Is that what she had been about to say?
Should he call her back?
No. She hadn’t asked him to...
...but she had called to talk to him. Actually, she called to thank him for the pillow, and she had thanked him, so he really didn’t need to call her back.
No... but he wanted to. He *really* wanted to.
Clark picked up the sheet of paper that he had written the number for her hotel on. He grabbed the phone with his other hand and dialed the number with his thumb.
Two rings later, a man answered the phone, speaking French. It was very likely Jacques but Clark wasn’t sure. Either way, it didn’t really matter.
Clark interrupted him, “Excuse me, a woman, Lois Lane, called to speak with me. Is there a direct line to her room?”
“My apologies, there is not,” the man explained. “May I give her a message for the morning?”
Clark sighed. If Lois ever decided to call him again, is this what would happen every time? Would he be out - probably on an errand as Superman - she would leave a message and he would have to call her back... leaving yet another message?
Phone tag?
“Just tell her that Clark Kent called for her.”
“Oui, Monsieur.”
Clark hung up the phone, his earlier elation now deflated. He could hear a siren blaring off in the distance and he spun back into his suit, happy to have something to focus on... and somewhere to go.
His apartment suddenly felt a little too claustrophobic.
**********
Lois flung open the door to the lobby and let it slam behind her, startling Jacques where he stood behind the front desk.
Talk about the day from hell.
“Lois?” Jacques said, concerned, “Is everything-”
“I don’t want to talk about it!” she hollered, making a beeline for the stairwell.
“Wait!” he protested, following behind her.
“No, Jacques. This time I really don’t want to talk,” she assured him, marching up the stairs.
“Oui, but I have something else-”
Lois stopped abruptly on the stairs and Jacques had to do a side-step to keep from running into her.
“What?”
He held out a slip of paper. “A phone message. Monsieur Clark Kent called for you late last night. He did not leave a message but-”
“Clark called?” she exclaimed, grabbing the paper from him. “Why didn’t you tell me last night?”
Jacques took a hasty step back, moving down one stair. “I apologize, it was late and I was going to give it to you this morning but you left before I-”
“No, it’s okay. It’s not your fault.” She shook her head and let out a sigh. “Okay, let’s go.”
“Go?” He looked thoroughly confused.
“Yes, go back downstairs. I need to use the phone.”
“Ah, oui.” Jacques turned and led the way back down. He opened the door when he reached the bottom and held it for Lois. “I believe you know where it is,” he said with a small smile.
Lois felt her cheeks redden. “Oui. Merci, Jacques.” She watched him walk off in the direction of the café and silently thanked him for giving her privacy for the call.
Setting her purse down on the counter, she rummaged through it until she found her long distance calling card and then she proceeded to dial Clark’s home number.
After four rings, she got his answering machine. She glanced down at her watch and then felt like an idiot when she realized what time it was. He would still be at work.
She dialed the direct line to his desk and was slightly thrown when a woman’s voice answered his phone.
And not just any woman...
“Cat?” Lois exclaimed in disbelief.
There was a pause and then, “Lois? Is that you?”
“What are you doing there?” Lois demanded.
“Well, technically, I am still employed here...”
Lois frowned. “You know what I mean.”
“When the mouse is away, the Cat will play,” Cat teased mischievously.
Lois’ frown turned into a scowl. What a stupid play on words. And what exactly was that supposed to mean, anyway? Was she saying Lois was mousy? And play how? With what? Or...
...whom?
“Where’s Clark?” Lois asked crossly, not in the mood for any more games.
Cat let out a soft laugh. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”
“Cat!”
“Relax, Lois. He’s in Perry’s office. He’ll be back in a minute. Until then, I guess you’re stuck with me.” Cat sighed. “Or vice versa.”
Lois rolled her eyes. “Again... what are *you* doing there?”
“Well, like I said, I’m still technically employed by the Planet, even though I’ve moved on. I’m just here to collect the rest of my things and tie up some loose ends.” There was a pause and Lois swore she could *hear* Cat smiling on the other end. “Oh, and have dinner with Clark.”
Clark was going to have dinner with Cat?
Lois shuddered with revolt. Then she frowned. Why should it bother her? It shouldn’t...
...but it did.
“Whatever. Just tell Clark that I returned his call,” Lois spat irritably.
“Actually, you can tell him,” Cat offered, the smile still in her voice. “He’s back.”
Lois was about to protest, suddenly no longer in the mood to talk to Clark, but then he was speaking.
“Hello?”
“Hi, Clark,” she said briskly. “I was just returning your call from last night, but I can tell that you’re busy right now so-”
“Lois?”
“Yeah. So I’ll talk to you later,” she hurried on. “Just wanted you to know that I got your message.”
Lois could have smacked herself. Clark hadn’t left her a message.
“What message?”
She cursed silently. “You know, the message that you called.”
“Oh...” he paused for a second before continuing. “Lois, are you okay? Is something wrong? You seem-”
“Okay? Of course. I’m fine,” she lied, realizing she was speaking far too fast and her voice had risen slightly in pitch.
She took a breath, attempting to compose herself, and a thought came to her. Clark had a dinner date with Cat? So be it. “Better than fine, actually. In fact, I really don’t have time to talk right now because I’ve got to get upstairs and get ready. I’ve got a dinner date tonight.”
“A date?” The surprise in his voice was palpable... and annoying. “With who?”
Lois frowned – that was a bit nosy of him. “Oh, no one you would know.”
She certainly wasn’t going to give him Claude’s name. Lois doubted that Clark even remembered her little confessional that night from the warehouse, but she wasn’t taking any chances. “Just a colleague of mine.”
Before Clark had a chance to say anything further, Lois continued, “Anyway, I gotta go, Clark. You have fun on your dinner with Cat. Tell her I said goodbye.”
And good riddance, she added silently.
Clark was in mid-protest when she hung up the phone.
Cat.
Of all people, Clark was going to go out with Cat. She was probably hoping that Clark would give her a special *send-off* for her going-away present.
Lois made a disgusted face.
Clark had always protested that he wasn’t interested in Cat, and that nothing had ever happened between them. Deep down, Lois had always thought she believed him. But then why was he going to dinner with her?
Just two friends catching up? Saying goodbye?
Possibly.
That didn’t mean it still didn’t irk her a little, though.
Lois lowered her head into her hands. What had she done? When Claude had asked her to go out to dinner with him tonight, she had semi-politely refused. But that hadn’t dissuaded him. Claude had never been easily dissuaded.
Not to mention, right now he was her boss.
He had kept on pushing her until she had finally agreed to dinner. But then she had immediately regretted the decision. She didn’t have his telephone number to cancel and had no intention of actually meeting him at the agreed upon restaurant – he had offered to pick her up at her hotel but she had declined, thank goodness – so she had actually planned to just stand him up.
After all, he deserved it.
Lois didn’t care how he tried to explain away what he had done to her; in her book, she still owed him one.
But now...
She sighed. Now, she was going to have to make good on the dinner. Wasn’t she? She had told Clark she was going out to dinner. That meant she had to go. It was either that or lie to Clark when he asked her how the dinner went.
No. Unacceptable.
No hiding at home and no sulking about Cat. If Clark could go out and have a nice dinner with a co-worker of the opposite sex, then she could too.
But she bet she wouldn’t have nearly as much fun on hers as he would on his.
That thought really irked her and she scowled. She’d show him. She’d show Claude, too; he wouldn’t rattle her.
Everyone always thought they had her figured out and she was sick of it. She had come here for a fresh start and tonight she’d show them all.
**********
To be continued...
