Yet more thanks to my betas – Carol, Beth, and Mark!!
From Chapter 58
Lex followed her inside. “Coffee?” she asked him.
“No, I can't stay long,” he said in an eerie replay of the last time he had come by. “Can I ask you a question?” he asked as he sat on the couch.
Lois moved to the seat across from him before answering, “Of course.”
“I'm just wondering… why did you say no? Did it have anything to do with Superman?” he asked.
Lois suddenly felt very cold all over. “No,” she said. “I just didn't feel like I knew you well enough.”
“Because, it's not like your crush on Superman was a secret, m'dear,” Lex said casually. “But you must know that you can't date Superman. It would be far too dangerous for you.”
“It really didn't have anything to do with Superman, Lex. You're right. I had a crush on him at one time. But that's all it was. I'm over it now,” Lois said. It was true, sort of. She no longer had a crush on Superman. Her feelings were much stronger than that now.
Lex shook his head before standing up. “Well, I must go,” he said, making his own way to the door. Once he reached it, he turned back to Lois, saying, “If you ever change you mind, Lois, please let me know.”
Lois nodded her head and sagged in relief when he left.
Chapter 59
Clark pulled the tie from around his neck. If he had any super breath left, he could use it… maybe? He was hoping he could use it to capture the key to the cage. If he could just get away from the kryptonite, he would have some hope. He had no hope of having powers any time soon, but at least he might live.
He slid forward to be closer to the key and groaned at the intensity of the pain. Being this close to the bars was necessary to get the key, but was certainly not helping him to feel better.
With shaking hands, he threw the end of the tie out of the cage trying to get it as straight as possible while he held the other end. He paused for a moment, trying to regain his strength before lifting his head and blowing under the tie, getting it to rise off the ground. It was no where high enough off the ground to grasp the key ring and Clark fell back down.
After resting for another few minutes, he lifted his head up again. This time he lifted the tie up above the key ring. Then weakening his breath, he let the tie fall slightly – right into the key ring, which was hanging off the wine casket.
He rested again before giving a tug on the tie. The key fell with it, clattering to the ground, the sound giving Clark hope. After another rest, he gave another tug, hard again, to get the key as close as possible before the tie fell out of the key ring.
The key landed a few feet beyond the bars of the cage and with a deep breath, Clark reached past the bars to grab it. He screamed in pain as his arm hit the kryptonite bars, and collapsed when he realized it was still out of reach. The tie had fallen out of the key ring and there was no way to get it back in now that the ring was lying flat on the floor.
He slid back to the middle of the cage and lay there for a few minutes to rest. Then standing up slowly, he backed up to the back of the cage and ran forward, screaming and falling to the ground when he made contact with the front bars. He was successful, though. The cage had moved an inch or two closer to the key.
After another brief respite, Clark reached out again and this time, he grasped the key in his hands.
***********************
“Superman!” Lois said in surprise as she rounded the corner.
“Hi, Lois,” he said flushing.
“Where have you been?” she asked. “Why haven't you stopped by?”
“I… um…” Superman stumbled over his words, not knowing what to say.
“Have you seen Clark?” Lois asked.
“What?”
“Clark. We've gotten the rest of the evidence. That's where I was heading, actually. I'm meeting Perry, Jack, and Jimmy at LexTowers. Henderson said we could come with him when he went to arrest Lex given all the work we had done. But it was Clark's research that spurred us on. I hate that he's missing it, but I haven't seen him for a couple of days now. I thought maybe you had.”
“I'm sorry. I haven't,” Superman said softly.
Lois shrugged. “If you see him, you'll let him know what's going on, right?”
“Of course, Lois.”
“Okay, well I'd better go. Henderson is unlikely to wait for me,” Lois said, looking around. Then realizing they were all alone in the alleyway, she leaned up on her toes and kissed Superman.
He stood there, frozen to the spot, but as had happened the last two times, his lips responded to hers. He had to stop this.
“Lois,” he pulled away. “We need to talk.”
“Not now, Superman. I really want to see Lex get put away,” Lois said. “But maybe you can come by later?”
Before he had a chance to answer, she had run off.
***********************
Lois ran to the front entrance of LexTower right before Henderson and crew stepped inside. “Darlin', I thought you were going to miss it,” Perry said to her.
“Sorry, I got delayed,” she said as they followed the police to the elevator.
“Now, let's be clear,” Henderson said, turning to look at the Planet crew, but singling out Lois for this lecture. “No speaking. This is a police matter. You're coming with us is highly unusual, and only because you did… well, all the legwork for this case.”
“Understood,” Lois said cheekily, giving Henderson a salute. He rolled his eyes at her as the elevator arrived.
They were greeted by a receptionist outside Lex' office, just as they had been downstairs. Henderson ignored her, but she called out after them, “You can't go in there.”
“I think we can,” Henderson said to her, flashing his badge.
“Mrs. Cox?” the receptionist asked, seeing Lex' assistant in handcuffs in the back of the group. Mrs. Cox stayed silent, a fact that did not surprise Lois a bit.
“I'm sorry, you can't just barge in here like this,” Lex said as the group entered his office. His eyes focused on Lois. “Lois, what's going on?”
“I have a warrant here for your arrest,” Henderson said. “For arson, murder, and other crimes too numerous to mention.”
“Are you insane?” Lex asked him and Lois saw it again – a brief flash of rage. “There is clearly some mistake. Lois, what is going on here?” Then Lex' eyes settled on his assistant and realization seemed to dawn. “Et tu, Mrs. Cox?” he asked. As when they were outside, Mrs. Cox chose to remain silent.
“You have the right to remain silent,” Henderson began reading Lex his Miranda rights and Lois breathed a sigh of relief. She had almost married this man and ruined her life. “You have the right to an attorney,” Henderson continued. “If you can not afford an attorney…”
“If I can't afford an attorney? I can afford a thousand attorneys!” Lex interrupted and now the rage was clear. What ever mask he normally wore to hide this side of himself was gone. “I'll have your head… badge for this.”
“…one will be provided for you,” Henderson carried on as if Lex had not spoken. “Do you understand these rights?”
“Do I understand them? Of course I understand them, you overpaid monkey!” Lex yelled.
Two of the officers with them moved forward to handcuff Lex, but he backed away. “Lex Luthor will never be kept in a cage!” he announced as he backed onto his balcony. The policemen followed him, but a minute later, Lex climbed onto the railing and jumped.
Three of the officers ran back to the elevator, although they had no hope of using either elevator or stairs to get to the ground floor from ninety-five stories in time to catch Luthor. The rest of the party, including the Planet crew ran to the balcony.
For a moment, they all watched Lex dropping through the air, although Lois felt a little sick to her stomach watching it. Her feelings towards Lex were not clear cut – she had cared about him, been on the verge of agreeing to marry him three days ago. It was hard to turn those feelings completely off. She recognized that the man she cared for was not real and that the real Lex was a horrible person, but that did not mean she wanted him dead.
Before he hit the ground, though, Superman swooped in and caught him. Even from up on the balcony, Lois could hear Lex' muttered, “Superman?”
The group went to join the police officers downstairs, getting there as Lex was pushed into a patrol car. Superman was standing around awkwardly and Lois started to walk over to him, but then turned to Perry first.
“I wish Clark was here,” she said. “This was largely his work.”
“I know, darlin',” Perry said.
He did not know, though, and Lois knew that. She also wanted Clark here as she was feeling sad about Lex and Clark would understand that. He had been gone for so long now, she was really getting worried about him.
To her surprise, at that moment, Clark came stumbling out of LexTower. “Clark!” she called, so happy to see him she did not even notice how awful he looked.
***********************
Superman stared after Lois when she ran off. Again he had kissed her. What was wrong with him? He was unable to get the words out, but he really needed to let her know that they were not dating.
Then her words came back to him – she was going to LexTower to watch Luthor's arrest. Superman had no intention of letting Luthor drop this time. No one knew what had happened to his body until that horrible doctor woman had nursed him back to health. That would not happen here. Since he had never been in the cage, he was perfectly capable of catching Lex himself.
He flew over to LexTower, getting there after Luthor had jumped. He still managed to catch the madman long before he would have touched the ground. It was almost fun doing this – Luthor was surprised, bewildered, and furious that the superhero had caught him. Superman felt no need to let Luthor in on the secret. He was happy to have Luthor think he had escaped the cage and it had had no ill effects on him.
He was about to go inside and assist Clark when Lois walked out the door. Seeing her there made him stop in place. Would he be able to control his behavior around her in public? He was not sure, given his complete inability to do so in private.
He saw her turn towards him, but then change her mind and turn to Perry. “I wish Clark was here,” she said.
Superman started toward her, even knowing it was a bad idea, but then saw Clark stumble out of the building and Lois fall into his arms. Some small part of his mind registered that while he had been kissing Lois, Clark had escaped the cage that was meant for him, but he was distracted. It was hard not to notice that the man Lois had called for here was not him.
Watching Lois in Clark's arms, Superman wondered what he was still doing here. No one was paying attention to him, he was not needed here. He lifted his arm into the air and took off.
He headed back over to Lois' apartment with the intention of waiting for her there. He thought he would just get the uncomfortable conversation over with now, but then he pictured her in Clark's arms.
He could not help it, he was jealous. He did not want to be, he wanted to be happy to see them together. He was clearly not ready to do this. On the chance that the hug with Clark was platonic only and Lois tried to kiss him again, he could not see her now. He was not ready.
***********************
“What are we doing here?” Clark asked Lois as he joined her in front of the old Planet building a week later.
“No idea,” Lois said. “Perry just said to meet here at four.”
Clark smiled as he saw Jimmy and Jack run up. “He called you, too?”
“Yeah. What do you think it's about?” Jimmy asked.
“No idea,” Clark said, shrugging his shoulders.
“Perry,” Lois called as she saw him approach. “What's this all about?”
“I have a surprise,” Perry said. He motioned to a truck behind him with a large object in the back covered by a tarp. As they watched, the tarp was removed.
“Oh my…” Lois started.
“How did you do this?” Clark asked.
“Well now, son, the Planet is made of more than steel and cement. It's the people that work there that make the paper,” Perry said.
“Which is what he told me, and I agreed to buy the paper,” a tall African-American man said from behind Perry. “I'm Frank Stern,” he introduced himself. “And Perry tells me that you are the crew that brought down Lex Luthor. Impressive work. It's not surprising to me that you're all Daily Planet alum. I hope you'll all come back or my investment won't be nearly as good.”
Stern shook Perry's hand, “I hope to see an edition of the Planet out by the middle of next week,” he said before walking away.
“We're back?” Clark asked.
“We're back,” Perry smiled. “Sorry I didn't tell you I was working on this. I didn't want to get anyone's hopes up until we knew for sure.”
“What did Alice say?” Clark asked.
“That she loves me and wants me to be happy,” Perry said. “And that being in Florida without any responsibilities is the most boring thing she's ever done and she'll be home in two days,” he finished with a grin. “So, what do you say? Are you coming back?”
“Coming back?” Lois said. “We never left.”
***********************
How they had gotten to this point, he was not sure. In that quiet time before he fell asleep each night, he thought of it and it made him feel slightly sick, but in the daylight, he forgot. When she was in his arms, it was hard to think.
It was hard to imagine how this was supposed to go. In the timeline Superman claimed to be so desperately trying to follow, life could not have gone this way. Without a separate Clark Kent from Superman, who did Lois spend time with?
Here, she came over often, much more than ever before. Ever since the Planet had re-opened, she had been over nearly every night - always to see Superman, but Superman's schedule was unpredictable at best. That was the excuse he was giving Lois, anyway. The truth was that Superman was not sleeping here anymore in an effort to avoid Clark, so he never came home. As a result, often Lois would end up spending the evening with him. How this had developed into spending evenings in his arms while they watched movies, Clark had no idea.
It was wonderful in a way to spend this much time together. He had never felt closer to her. On the other hand, he felt awful. He could not have her this way. They were almost a couple, except that she was in love with someone else.
How could Superman do this to her, lead her on in this way? He was more than ready for Superman to go home. He was ready to take over for Superman full time. Maybe it was foolish, but his anger at Superman was giving him courage. He had yet to have a chance to act on this courage, though, as he had yet to see Superman and the superhero still came by to do daytime rescues.
He needed a way to get through to him, though. To let him know that it was time for him to go home.
***********************
“Do you think Superman is avoiding me?” Lois asked Clark as the movie ended. Her voice was quiet, and she could feel the vibrations of her words moving through his chest where her head rested.
“What?” he asked.
“Do you think he's avoiding me?” Lois asked. “I haven't seen him in nearly two weeks now. I've tried everything. I spent the first week at home every night in case he stopped by. I've spent every night this week here with you, but he never seems to come home.”
She could not figure out why Superman would be avoiding her, but it seemed like he was. She was not sure what to do about it, though.
“I don't know,” Clark said. “Maybe he's just busy. I haven't seen him either.”
Lois sat up to look at Clark closely. “Do you miss him, too?” she asked. Clark and Superman were friends: it would only stand to reason.
Something unreadable crossed Clark's face, but then he gave a sheepish look. “Actually, yeah, a little bit. I'd like to talk to him.”
“Just a little bit? I thought he was your friend. I would have thought he was your best friend,” Lois said.
“Well, he is my friend. A good friend. You're my best friend, but you're right. I am close to Superman, too. But… we had a fight a few weeks ago and we haven't had a chance to talk since then.”
“What was it about?” Lois asked.
“I'd rather not say,” Clark said.
“Clark! You can't keep something like that from me!” Lois insisted.
“Oh, I think I can. Another cream soda?” he asked as he got up.
“You are so mean!” she said as she followed him into the kitchen.
“Maybe,” he grinned at her. “But I'd lay off the insults if I were you.”
“Or what?” she asked, her hands on her hips.
“Or I'm going to vote for Terminator as the next movie we watch instead of Far and Away,” Clark teased.
***********************
Lois lay in bed thinking. She was becoming more and more convinced that Superman was avoiding her. They were supposed to be dating, but she had only seen him twice since the night he told her he loved her and both of those had been very brief.
What was going on with him? Why would he avoid her?
More confusing was the fact that she was not sure she cared. She had taken to spending evenings with Clark while she waited for Superman and she had to admit she rarely thought about the superhero while she was there.
She wondered if her behavior with Clark was wrong. They had been sort of… well, not sort of, but actually cuddling recently. It had not started on purpose. She had come over to see Superman – she always came over to see Superman. He had been gone, though, as he always was recently. Clark had suggested they watch a movie and they had sat side by side on the couch to do so.
There was nothing wrong with that, was there? She was allowed to sit on the couch with her best friend, right? She had gotten up to go to the bathroom, though, and when she sat back down, she moved a little closer to Clark. Not a lot – it was still a perfectly okay place to sit with her best friend. But it was getting chilly and she wanted to get under the blanket Clark kept on the couch and she felt like she should share.
Then she had fallen asleep though, and had apparently fallen against him. That was okay, right? She could not be blamed for leaning on her best friend when she was asleep, could she? It was not like she was conscious of her behavior.
When she woke up, though… well, it was comfortable there. So she had stayed. That was all right, right? She did not need to move from someplace where she was comfortable?
Maybe, though… maybe she should not have taken to leaning against him every time they watched a movie, though. He was so comfortable, though. Superman would not mind. Besides, she would not be cuddling with Clark if Superman were around. It was his fault for ignoring her!
Was it mean to Clark? Should she not be cuddling with him while she was dating his roommate?
He had seemed to be able to move past his admission of love better than she would have been. She felt closer to him now than she had before the whole Lex thing. He was comfortable and safe and she fit against him perfectly. She wondered if all best friends were like that. Then again, she did not know that many women whose best friends were men.
That was because they did not know Clark, though. There were few men like him. He was sweet and kind, warm and caring. Not to mention that he had a body to die for. Lois sat up in bed. That was no way to be thinking about her best friend.
It was true, though. Whether she thought it or not, she could not honestly say she had not noticed. Not that he could compare with Superman, of course, but…
Actually, maybe he was better, she thought. She could not imagine ever spending an evening snuggled on the couch with Superman watching movies.
Was she in love with Clark? No, that was ridiculous. Why would she be in love with Clark when she had Superman?
***********************
“Sally,” Perry called from his office door. “There's a hostage situation going on at the new mall on Summerside.”
Sally, one of the new members of the city beat grabbed her bag and ran to the elevator. Clark watched her go and then got up himself. Maybe he had to stop waiting to talk to Superman. Maybe he just had to start getting to rescues before Superman and taking over. This was the perfect opportunity since Lois was not covering this particular rescue.
“Where you going?” Lois asked.
“I just realized I left my coffee pot on this morning,” Clark called as he ran out.
***********************
Lois watched Clark run out with interest. She was nearly certain his coffee pot had one of those automatic off functions. What was he up to?
Then she realized. He thought there was something big at the hostage situation and wanted to make sure to get in on whatever Sally was doing. Well, two could play that game!
She grabbed her coat and followed Sally and Clark.
