Part 2 of god knows how many parts.
A Little Privacy Please? Part 2:
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Five past eight. Was this his only way of rebelling against the way she treated him? By being a few minutes late rather than not showing up at all?
He needed to stop this train of thought now. As soon as he landed on that balcony, he needed to be a completely different person. Superman would not be affected by anything Clark Kent experienced today - at least not that directly. And Lois must need him for something. A man did not refuse a woman a moment of his time to hear what she required of him, though he might refuse once he had heard the request.
His feet landed on the balcony and though the curtains were not drawn, the big French window was closed. He could see her though - she was seated on the sofa staring off into space. She didn't know he was there yet.
At least she hadn't dressed up. Dressed up Lois around Superman made him nervous because it meant he would usually have to refuse any attempts at seducing him as much as he might hate doing it and at the same time try not to upset her. Though come to think of it, she hadn't done a lot of that lately. The seducing Superman bit. Which was both a relief and an annoyance. As Clark Kent, he hardly ever got to see her dressed formally .... or sexily .... or seductively....
He frowned. Clark Kent was supposed to be a mile or so away in his own apartment, having dinner and watching the sports channel or whatever it would be that a normal Clark Kent would be doing. He should not be here musing on the probability of getting to see Lois Lane in sexy formal wear.
He took a deep breath and tapped on the glass. He saw her head snap up and around and he was surprised to see her look somewhat guilty. He smiled at her as she came up to the window to let him in but she didn't return it as she usually did.
Instead he got a "Thank you for coming. I appreciate it." in a very soft tone and a gesture to the sofa.
"Lois?"
She looked up.
"Are you all right, Lois?" He watched her bite her lip. He wondered what had gone wrong - it could be anything really. But Superman wasn't the person she had confessed to about her dysfunctional family or her disastrous love life. If she was upset about anything that she had to talk to Superman about - it usually was about him - Clark Kent.
She just nodded to the sofa so he sat down as she paced slightly in front of him. He was used to this now - it sometimes took her awhile to get started - she always wanted to find exactly the right words - which was probably why she babbled so much.
"Lois?"
She turned around to face him. "Superman? I have to ask you something but you might not like it." It came out all in one breath and she stared at him.
He stood up and walked over to her. "What is it, Lois?"
"Will you tell me the truth even if you hate the question?" She looked up at him and he noticed the telltale redness in her eyes,
"You've been crying."
She moved away and waved a hand dismissively. "I have but it isn't important right now. Will you?"
"Will I what?" He asked, too caught up in the fact that she had been crying. Lois had been crying? He looked up and saw her glaring at him and brought himself back to the topic at hand. "I will." he promised, wondering what he had let himself in for.
"How often do you fly by here?"
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"How often do you fly by here?"
She knew her answer as soon as she had asked the question. He looked positively guilty. Like a little boy, he was staring down at the floor, shuffling his feet, hands behind his back. Like Clark when she would very rarely catch him out or embarrass him ... or more to the point when his mother Martha would. Just like Clark.
Clark would have to wait. For now.
"Is it every night?"
Superman looked up at her but the look on his face was unreadable. He had promised to tell her the truth and he nodded.
Lois took a deep breath. Okay, so it was true that he flew by every night. She still didn't believe that he would spy on her or invade her privacy but she had to know why he bothered to come by. "Why?"
He sat down on the sofa and put his head in his hands. She sat beside him, leaned against the back of the sofa and hugged a cushion while she waited for his answer.
It was muffled when it came. "I care about you."
"What?" she asked softly. He turned towards her.
"Lois. You are a friend. I care about you. So does Clark. But you lead a life that's dangerous than most and so we worry and I come by to check that you are all right every night." He looked at her. "I didn't intend for you to find out."
"Why not?" She was still hugging her cushion, trying to take all this in. She had two men in her life who cared about her and worried about her and so one of them came by every night to make sure she was fine. Nothing wrong with that except that the one did happened to be so noticeable. But why did they not want her to find out?
"I didn't want you to think that ... that we were trying to babysit you." He replied, and smiled nervously at her. She had to laugh secretly to herself. The most powerful man in the world was sitting here, imparting truths rather sheepishly half afraid she was going to be mad at him for what he said. And he was right. Mad Dog Lane thought she didn't need babysitting - Mad Dog Lane could take care of herself. But Mad Dog Lane was an act, and they hadn't .... or had they?
"How do you check up on me?" she asked. "If you don't come in or let me know that you are here?"
She watched him. He was clearly nervous about answering this one. Don't let me down, she found herself thinking. You're not the person I expect to be using those powers you have that way. But he floored her with his answer.
"I - I listen for your heartbeat."
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The Little Tornado.
