“Unless it's lined with lead, Lois, don't bother.”
The words completely caught her off guard. She stared at him in bewilderment for a very long moment, as if replaying his words so she could analyze them.
She shook her head. There was no way that he would have said that to her It didn't fit in at all with his previous behavior.
Lead-lined robe? Had he been checking her out all this time? Why would he bother, knowing that he could have seen for himself without the barrier of clothing any time he had wanted. She had made it clear over and over that she had feelings for him, so why be furtive about it?
She could not have been so wrong about this man. She refused to believe it. They had had plenty of time in each others company since they had met. She knew him better than Lex, and she was considering marrying Lex.
No. It simply didn't make sense, which meant he wasn't himself.
Is he under the influence of Miranda's pheromone spray again? But no. No, back then he was amorous,but he was friendly about it. So what's wrong with him? Superman wouldn't – he wouldn't violate someone like that. But – his clone would. Oh god. His clone.
Clark regretted the stupid angry words as soon as they escaped his mouth. He was so mad that he had said something angry,something that called attention to her blatant attempt at seducing the superhero, but as he watched her bewildered and pale face he realized he had made a very bad mistake. God only knew what she thought of him.
“Lois,” he said, his tone completely devoid of any of the anger or bitterness from before. He took a few steps toward her to somehow try to fix this, and was surprised to see her take a step back. He paused, unsure about what to do. Was she angry? Was she afraid?
“Who are you,” she asked, her voice suspicious and urgent? “Stay back. Stay where you are. I'm warning you.”
He thought for a brief moment that she was being overly dramatic to prove a point. The point that he wasn't acting like himself.
“Look. I know I crossed the line with what I said,” he said holding up his hands in surrender. “I would obviously never do that. I was -”
“Stay away from me,” she said, stepping back further as he approached.
Clark looked at her in shock. This wasn't sarcasm. She really was afraid of him.
“Lois, I promise I'm not at threat to you,” he said carefully. Of course she didn't trust him. He just told her something which must have altered her entire opinion of him. If he really had been looking through her clothes, he was a dangerous threat. “I was just mad and I said something stupid. I never did that. Not once. Not ever.”
“You're not superman,” she accused him, afraid of believing him. But he wasn't acting cruel or overly amorous, and he clearly seemed to feel badly about what was now going on.
“I'm not an impostor,” he urged her, suddenly realizing the cause of her fear. She thought he was a clone. Just like the clone who had pawed at her not too long ago. No wonder she was freaked out. “I was just being a jerk. I was -”
“I don't know,” she said nervously.
“I was angry at you and I said something mean. I'm sorry. I know that's horrible, but I got – mad, I suppose when I saw you like this. I felt like you were trying to make a point with your current outfit, and on the heels of what happened earlier today.”
“Earlier?”
“I don't want you to blackmail me with this whole Luthor thing,” he said. “ I don't want you to bully me by laying responsibility of you ruining your life at my feet.”
“What are you talking about,” she said, her fear evaporating. Clearly this was him.
“You are balancing a decision as to whether you should marry Luthor on the results of this meeting that you set up with me. “
“No. I'm not -”
“Come on,” he said in frustration. “I'm not the most perceptive person all the time, but this one's obvious. I'm not trying to be insulting, but your outfit is kind of -”
“What?”
“Seductive,” he said, looking away. “And I have to think that given the fact that you asked me to come here, you were trying to see if maybe we could have a future together before answering Luthor.”
“But – but what about you? Look how you're dressed! You don't call that – well, it's so tight, and it doesn't leave much to the imagination,” she spat back defensively, knowing full well he was right. “What right do you have to wander around looking like that. How do you expect women to react to you?”
He had to fight from grinning at that. He remembered his mom's words all too well.
“Lois, I know – but it's aero -”
“Don't give me that,” she said snappishly. “Maybe this is aerodynamic too.”
“It's more, um, billowy,” he said.
“Billowy? That makes me sound huge.”
“Lois. Come on. You know better than that. The point is, I think Lex Luthor is dangerous. And if the only thing that will stop you from marrying him is my telling you that I love you, then that's an enormous burden. How can I turn my back on someone that I care about? On the other hand, how can I tell you, like this, that I can have a future with you.”
“None of what you're saying makes sense, Superman! Lex isn't dangerous. Why do you and Clark think that about him? And what did you mean by 'like this' – do you mean, under pressure, like you feel I'm bullying you into making a declaration? You wanted time to make it on your own?”
“Lex is very dangerous. I know this. I don't doubt it for even a second. I have seen things that prove it to me. He's all but admitted culpability in some very frightening and dangerous endeavors, but he laughs at my inability to do anything to stop him. Lois. The man will in time destroy who you are!”
“You really believe that,” she gasped. “You believe he's dangerous?”
“He's one of the most frightening people I've ever met. I can't believe he doesn't in the slightest ring any warning bells with you. “
“He's a little intense at times,” she mused. Superman flinched at her words, misreading them.
“No. I didn't mean that,” she said, turning red. “No. We've – ah – we aren't close like that. I just mean that it's clear that when he sets his mind to getting something, he gets it... that's not necessarily bad.”
“Wow,” he said, shaking his head. “The guy gives me the creeps loud and clear.”
“But you're Superman!”
“If anyone could kill me, it would be him. Lois, you thought maybe I was another clone when I said what I did? Who do you think made the clone? I have no proof of course, but I do know it.”
“Oh my god,” she said, sitting down , exhausted by the weight of what she'd heard.
“Please don't make this into a game, Lois. Please don't play games with your life. You're someone who means a lot to me, and it's torture to see you about to make a decision that will ruin your future.”
“I didn't – I'm not trying to play games with you,” she said, tears starting to spill over from her eyes as she realized that he was right.
He wanted to do anything to make her stop crying, but he couldn't. Touching her would be the end of his resolve.
“Maybe I misunderstood. I'm sorry. What were you going to tell me?”
She couldn't stand the intensity of his brown earnest gaze.
She looked away from him, because she realized as she thought through what she had planned on saying that he was absolutely correct.
This just wasn't as easy as asking him if he had feelings for her. Obviously he had feelings for her or he wouldn't have been angry at her in the first place.
“I guess I was going to do what you said. I was going to ask you how you felt about me. I guess I was going to base my decision about Lex on what you said. “
“But why?”
“I love you. I can't help it,” she said, her tears flowing even faster. “I know I can't ever love anyone else like this, so what difference does it make. Marrying Lex, I wouldn't be doing it for love. Once I'd married him, I wouldn't need to worry about love anymore. You would be out of reach for other reasons too.”
“You would marry someone like Lex to avoid feeling the pain of rejection?”
“It isn't rejection,” she suddenly shouted out, unable to bear it. “It's a broken heart. You have no idea what it feels like to yearn for someone so much and to know you'll never have them.
Her words hit him like a freight train.
“I know exactly how that feels, Lois,” he said, suddenly very serious.
“Oh. I'm sorry – of course. You mean about your home world blowing up?”
“I mean about loving a woman who ...”
“Somebody rejected you,” she asked in a hushed and horrified tone. “Who would be so blind?”
“This is completely spiraled out of control,” he cried out in frustration. Lois felt a little uneasy. She wasn't used to seeing such strong emotions from the normally stoic hero.
“I'm sorry, I'm not trying to make you angry,” she said hastily.
“Lois,” he said. “I've kept a really big secret from you. It's a secret only a very few people know and they are people I trust completely. I've grown to trust you. I really have. In the beginning, I couldn't be sure, because your drive for a story seemed to overwhelm everything else. But in the time I've known you, I've known you to be kind, generous and unflaggingly brave.”
She listened in wonder. The characteristics he saw in her were those she loved in him.
“But you're possibly going to marry someone who I believe to be a threat, and I can't risk him finding out my secret. It would destroy me.”
“Superman, I'm not going to say yes,” she whispered. “I can't. Not after talking to you. I'd rather ... I'd rather be alone than do that. I know I can't do it. The thought of spending my life with Lex,” she shuddered suddenly as she pictured his suave face. “It is pretty frightening. “
“Really,” he asked her, overjoyed?
“Really. Um. Pinky swear if you'd like.”
He grinned at that, trying not to picture her as a kid doing that with her sister.
“You don't have to tell me your secret either,” she said.
“I do, Lois,” he said. “Because I've finally figured something out. Keeping this secret has forced a very unpleasant situation to arise. This situation won't get any better. It's not fair to expect someone to love all of me when I don't let that someone see that the both halves of me are really one single person.”
“You can split yourself into more than one person? That's not how that duplicate -”
“No, he was a clone,” he said hastily. “I meant – I have two separate identities. And I can't expect someone to love one identity when she thinks that I'm two people. It's ridiculously unfair. I think I owe this person the same amount of trust she's always shown me. When I first revealed my powers to the world, a lot of people were afraid of me, but this person trusted me implicitly. It's time I did the same back. Because sure... you can hurt me, but that doesn't mean you will.”
She gasped at his words. He said 'you'. He was talking about her.
“You love me,” she asked hesitantly.
“Uh. Yes. I do. And I also told you this in the park today, in my other – life, identity, disguise whatever you want to call it.”
“The - “ She looked at him and suddenly it all fell into place. She sat down, stunned by his revelation.
Long moments of silence passed and he finally spoke again.
“Lois, please talk to me... are you all right?”
“How the heck did I not see this? You ... and Clark – you're identical.”
“People don't see that,” he said. “It's just – I project different things so that it's no so obvious. Maybe some people might see a similarity but then they brush it off as improbable.”
“I'm a – prize winning journalist,” she said. “How could I have been so stupid?”
“Maybe... it's the getup,” he suggested nervously. “Mom said that they wouldn't be looking at my face...”
She paused, looked startled for a moment, and then suddenly she began to laugh.
“Martha said that? Oh... my... she's a – she's quite a lady, Clark. You have no idea how lucky you are.”
He was thrilled she called him Clark.
“How lucky am I,” he asked as he walked over to her, trying not to project anything even remotely threatening.
She looked at him with a smile. She ought to be furious. Or maybe she ought not. She wasn't feeling very angry now, and only time would tell ... right now, she knew only once answer to that question.
She reached over, and took his hand in hers. Her eyes met his with a suggestive and teasing glimmer.
"Well, considering we are both dressed rather provocatively," she said, tracing a finger across the symbol on his chest, "I think we've both been asking for it."
He pulled away uncomfortably.
"I didn't mean that about your nightgown. I mean, nobody ever 'asks for it', and -"
"Clark... just shut up and kiss me!"
