As always, tons of gratitude to the irreplaceable Carol, Beth, and Mark!
From Chapter 55
Lois opened the door to her apartment. The ride home was weird. Lex had told his driver to take her home, but she felt even stranger using the car than she had before she rejected his proposal.
She sighed. That was weird. She was glad it had gone well – not that she could imagine Lex making a scene, but it was still weird. She wished he had not ignored her before she left.
And the expression on his face – she had seen it twice, both times so briefly she was not sure she had not imagined it. Would she have imagined it twice, though? It was the same look he had given her in New York when she did not agree to stay the night. It was … anger was not the right word. It looked more like… barely controlled rage.
Did that make any sense? Lex always seemed so polished. Was it all just a veneer?
She was not sure, but she knew someone who thought they knew the answer. Whether or not he was right, she did not know, but it seemed like perhaps she should talk to Clark about Lex. And this time, she should hear him out.
Chapter 56
“He was?” Clark asked. “Okay, thanks.”
Feeling concerned, he went to hang up the phone, but it rang again before he had a chance to.
“Hello?” he asked.
“Clark!” Perry sounded more energetic than Clark had ever heard him.
“Chief! I was just about to call you,” Clark said.
“Yeah? I just wanted to make sure you were okay. I'm on my way to the airport. I talked to Alice this morning and she has never sounded so happy – we've never spent more than a long weekend in the little cottage we bought in Florida. She's already started settling in and says she's making a special dinner for my arrival tonight,” Perry explained.
“That's great, Chief,” Clark said.
“So, how are you, son?” Perry asked.
“Well, I'm fine, but… I just tried to call Jimmy and his phone's been disconnected.”
“What?” Perry asked, confused.
“I know. Luckily I had the number for his landlord from that time he locked himself out and asked me to call his landlord for him. But when I called he said Jimmy was evicted for not paying his rent.”
“What? Why didn't he tell me?” Perry said. “He must have known last night at the party.”
“He was probably embarrassed,” Clark said. “I'm sorry. I had sort of hoped that you knew where he went, but I guess not.”
“No,” Perry said, sounding sad. “Maybe I should stay and help you find him.”
“No, Chief,” Clark laughed. “Alice'll kill you. I'll keep you updated, though.”
“Thanks, Clark,” Perry said, his voice dropping slightly. “You're a good kid, you know. I know you haven't been with the Planet for that long, but not only are you talented but you really care about people. It makes you both a great reporter and a great friend.”
Clark did not say anything at first – he was surprised. Perry did not normally get mushy. “Thanks, Chief,” he said quietly. “I've never worked with an editor that was even in the same league as you before.”
“No thanks necessary, son. I meant it. You've been a good friend to me. I'm going to miss working with you.”
“I already miss working with you,” Clark said honestly.
Perry suddenly laughed slightly. “You know what, Clark?”
“What?”
“I'm glad I sicced Lois on you when you started. I almost sent you packing. That would have been a mistake.”
Clark laughed, too, “I'm glad you sicced her on me, too, Chief. Sort of.”
“Oh, come on, son, she'll come around. I know you two are not getting along right now, but you care about each other. It'll work out in the end.”
Clark nodded, not really believing it. Then realizing Perry couldn't see him, he said, “Thanks, Perry.”
“Listen, Clark. I'm about to arrive at the airport, but give me a call when you find Jimmy,” his voice had the same commanding tone that made him a great editor.
“Will do!” Clark replied, grinning.
Clark hung up the phone smiling, but then he remembered about Jimmy. He was about to spin into the suit so he could fly over Metropolis and find him that way when he realized he was not sure what his roommate was up to. Not only had Clark not seen Superman in days, but there was no sign that he had slept in his bed the last couple of nights. It did not make any sense. Who was Superman hiding from? This was not like when he was trying to hide out from Luthor or he had to keep a low profile in Metropolis for some other reason. Clark had checked, and he was still doing his nightly patrols and helping out during the day sometimes. So, why was he not coming home to sleep?
He remembered Superman telling him that he was homesick. Superman had brushed it off as being unimportant, but now Clark wondered if it was worse than Superman had implied. Now that he thought about it, Superman had seemed depressed for a while. It had to be hard to be away from his family for this long.
Clark thought he might try helping more, try to get closer to a time when Superman could go home. Particularly now that he would not be around Lois that much, he would have time. The problem was finding Superman to tell him.
He turned the television on to check his roommate's whereabouts. LNN was reporting a Superman rescue in Suicide Slum. He wondered if Lois had written the copy. Anyway, it meant he could not go out looking for Jimmy yet.
There was a loud knock on the door and surprised, Clark looked to see who it was. Lois. What was she doing here?
Grabbing his glasses on the way to the door, Clark went to open it for her.
***********************
“Lois?” he asked.
“I've been waiting to talk to you all night,” Lois said, brushing past him.
“All night?” Clark asked.
Lois understood why he sounded surprised. Normally, if she wanted to talk to him, she felt no qualms about waking him up. “I came by last night, but it was after midnight and it was dark in here.”
“And?” Clark asked.
Lois blushed. “I didn't think you'd appreciate me waking you up considering how things have been between us.”
“Oh, Lois,” Clark said, looking sad at this. “You can wake me up whenever you want. I promise.” Smiling at her, he added, “I'm sort of used to it.”
“Thanks,” Lois said shyly.
“So, what is it you wanted to talk about?” Clark said as he moved around the kitchen making them coffee.
“I told Lex no last night,” Lois said.
“You're not with Luthor?” Clark asked, dropping the filters on the counter to turn to look at her.
Lois hesitated. Clark was her best friend. She had desperately wanted to tell him yesterday, but with the fight about Lex last night, she had not had a chance.
That was not really why, though, and she knew it. Things were different between them now. Clark's confession had irrevocably changed things, and Lois could not help but selfishly wish he had kept it to himself.
Still, Clark and Superman were roommates. It would only be so long before Clark would know anyway. “No,” she finally admitted.
“That's great!” Clark said, the relief clear in his voice.
“Clark,” Lois said, wanting to get the confession over with quickly. “I'm… I'm dating Superman.”
“You're… you're what?” Clark asked, looking pale. He moved over to the table to sit down, the coffee forgotten.
“I'm dating Superman,” she whispered, hating the look on his face. She had not come over here to break his heart again.
“When? How? You're dating Superman? My roommate, Superman?” Clark tried to clarify.
Lois nodded her head. “Let me make the coffee,” she offered, getting up.
They said nothing while Lois finished getting the coffee started, although she could feel Clark watching her the entire time. Finally, when she sat back down at the table, Clark's face cleared slightly and she could see something besides surprise and shock there.
“What did Luthor say?” he asked, the concern clear on his face.
“I didn't tell him about Superman,” Lois said. “I figure that's probably something I shouldn't tell many people. But you're his roommate and my best friend, so…”
“What did Superman say?” Clark asked. “About telling other people, I mean?”
“We didn't talk about it,” Lois admitted. With a sigh, she explained, “When he came over, I told him I loved him. He said he loved me, too, and he kissed me.” She rushed on at the look of pain on Clark's face. “But then right after that, he must have heard a call for help or something as he flew off. I guess he's been busy as I haven't seen him since.”
Clark nodded, not sure what to say.
“Anyway, I came to talk to you about Lex,” she said, wanting to move off of this uncomfortable topic.
“What about him?” Clark asked, guarded.
“When I told him no, I thought I saw something… Maybe I should start at the beginning. A few months ago, Lex took me to New York for dinner. While there he mentioned he kept an apartment in the area,” Lois started. She saw Clark's jaw clench and realized he knew where this was going. “He asked me to spend the night with him in New York and I said no. At the time, I brushed the whole thing off as my imagination, but he gave me a look when I said no. I wasn't sure what it was, but it gave me the creeps. And he was cold and chilly on the way back.
“But I figured he was just disappointed and, you know, it's probably rare that someone says no to him. So I decided to forget it – thinking I probably imagined it and it wasn't important anyway.”
“Lois, did he hurt you in any way?” Clark interrupted her, his voice fierce.
“No. I'm fine, Clark, really,” she said, giving him a smile and squeezing his hand.
“Anyway, then during Nightfall, he invited me over to show me this bunker he'd built.” She stopped at the smile on Clark's face. “What?”
“Nothing,” Clark said. “I'm just not surprised that Luthor had a plan for survival if the world ended.”
Lois laughed. “Well, that wasn't the weirdest part. The room he showed me… It was my apartment.”
“What do you mean?”
“It looked exactly like my apartment,” Lois explained. “Every detail. I even have a….” she broke off blushing, but then realized she needed to tell him this. “I have a secret compartment in my cabinet where I keep my Kerths. I checked and it was there. In Lex' bunker.”
Clark looked flushed. “I didn't… um, I didn't realize Luthor had spent that much time at your place.”
“He hasn't,” Lois insisted. “He's only been by once for maybe ten minutes. Other than that, he's been in the doorway when he's picked me up or dropped me off, but not inside.”
“You should ask Superman to sweep your place for bugs,” Clark suggested.
Lois nodded. “So, last night, when I saw that same look again when I said no,” she continued, “I wondered if… well, if you were right. I'm not saying I think he's evil or anything yet, but I'm ready to see everything you've collected and think about it.”
“Really?” Clark said. “Because it's still all circumstantial.”
“Really,” Lois said. “I really want to see it all. And I promise to keep an open mind this time.”
***********************
When Lois and Clark had finished going through all of Clark's notes two hours later, Lois looked pale. “Do you really think he's connected to all of this?” she asked Clark.
“I don't know,” Clark said, “but the trails are all there.”
Lois closed her eyes tightly. “I'm an idiot, aren't I?”
“No!” Clark said fervently, getting up to put his arms around her. “Luthor fooled a lot of people. And you are one of the most loyal people I know. You didn't want to believe it because you were being loyal to Luthor.”
“Thanks, Clark,” Lois said, resting her head on his chest. “I don't deserve you.”
Clark tightened his grip on her, but a minute later, she had recovered. “So, if we want to start really looking into this, we need to start cracking. I think we should call Perry. And maybe Jimmy could help with some of the leg work.”
Clark's face fell. “I forgot to tell you. Jimmy's missing. He was kicked out of his apartment.”
***********************
Lois looked at her watch as she entered LNN's offices. She was ten minutes late, but given how much time she and Clark had spent going over files, this was not surprising. Still, as the new kid on the block, coming in late was not the wisest move. Of course, she was less convinced that she even had a job now that she had seen Clark's evidence. She was not one hundred percent convinced Lex was evil, but she had to admit, she could see how Clark had come to that conclusion.
She still believed that Lex may not know all the details of everything that went on in every subsidiary of his companies. With the information Clark had uncovered, though, Lex would have to have no idea what any of those companies were doing and it was unlikely Lex had gotten where he was without mastering the art of keeping close tabs on everyone while leaving them free to make their own decisions.
“Morning, Wendy,” she said to her assistant as she passed.
“Oh… you're here,” Wendy said nervously.
“Yes,” Lois said. “Where else would I be?”
“I just… um… well, there's someone else in your office.”
“What?” Lois asked. “Who?”
“Her name's Jessica. She used to be a writer for the Washington Post. She's currently the writer for the afternoon news anchors and is covering the evening anchors as well,” Wendy explained.
“I thought writing copy for the evening anchors was my job,” Lois said, as the sinking feeling in her stomach got worse. She had wondered if she even wanted to work at LNN given some of what Clark showed her, but she needed an income. Now it looked like the choice had been taken from her.
“I think Jessica should explain it to you,” Wendy said.
“Wendy,” a petite blonde woman poked her head out of Lois' office. “I need you to arrange a meeting for me with Senator Weiss.”
“Sure,” Wendy said. “Jessica, this is Lois Lane.”
Jessica smiled at Lois, “Yes, I've heard about you. Please come in.”
Lois gritted her teeth. This woman was inviting her into her own office?
“Ms. Lane,” Jessica said as Lois entered the office. “There's been a reshuffling of assignments. HR felt that given your experience and skill set you would be better suited to edit the materials our anchors read.”
“Edit?” Lois asked.
“Right. I would write them, then Janelle would look them over, Bill will do fact checking and once I've incorporated all of their comments, you'll give it a final read-through.”
“Who was doing this before now?” Lois asked.
“No one,” Jessica shrugged. “But we really don't want our anchors making silly errors, do we?” she asked.
“Thank you, Jessica,” Lois said, standing up. “But I'm a reporter. I think I'll look for a job where I can report on the news, not give a third edit to it.”
Jessica gave a small smile, “I'm sorry things didn't work out for you here at LNN, Lois. Good luck on future endeavors.”
***********************
Superman flew away from the rescue in Hobbs Bay, glad that things were quiet in Metropolis now. He needed to go see Lois and apologize to her. He needed to go to Clark and explain. He did not feel up to either.
How could he break Lois' heart? Or Clark's? This was such a mess. How could he have done this?
“Lois… I love you, too.” How could he have said that to her? Was it even true? He was not sure. Did he love this Lois? Or did he just think he might because she reminded him of his wife?
A few years ago, he recalled watching a movie with Lois – it was some sort of Cinderella movie with Drew Barrymore. The prince in the movie asked… someone, he was not sure who, about soul mates. The question was something like: “What if you meet your soul mate, but then they die and you meet someone else? Is the old person still your soul mate or is the new person your soul mate and you were supposed to be with them the whole time?”
What if he was supposed to be with the Lois here? He supposed that might lead to Utopia, too. Would it ruin Utopia in his universe for him to disappear? Or was it just the ideals and progeny that were important so he was not needed there anymore?
How could that be, though? How could he meant-to-be with this Lois now? It felt so forced and…. But that was a lie. It did not feel forced with her. It felt more real with her than it ever had with his wife when he was Superman. He had let this Lois see him as a person. He had been a person around her.
So, it felt natural and right with her. More than with his wife? He just did not know. He wished he could remember enough to know the answer to that, but all the memories he had left were snippets and most seemed to feature this Lois now anyway.
If he was supposed to be with this Lois, what would that mean for this Clark?
With a sigh, he turned east. It had been awhile since he had looked for cracks in the touristed sections of the Great Wall.
