Friends or Lovers
Folc4evernaday
Part 3
***
Clark set the cup of coffee down in front of Lois, which she accepted gratefully. Neither one of them had said a word since they had entered the apartment.
“All right, what gives?” he asked.
“What?”
Clark sighed in exasperation. “Don’t give me that, Lois. You’ve been avoiding me for the last few days. You hardly talk to me.”
“Clark … “
“Look, I understand, you’re scared, but we can’t keep doing this. You take one step forward then two steps back.”
“Me??? You have a lot of nerve … you know you haven’t exactly been forthcoming when it comes to conversation lately either, Clark.” She regretted the words immediately they left her mouth. Clark’s expression changed back to the solemn look he’d worn on the ride over to her apartment. “I’m sorry,” she hurriedly amended.
“No, you’re right. I’ve been … distant lately … “ Clark admitted. “I didn’t mean to push you away. It’s just … “ He sighed, raking a hand through his hair. “I don’t know. I’m not really sure what to do. There’s not really a manual out there for dealing with someone dying in your arms like that … “
Lois looked up at him through her eyelashes, unsure of what to say. “I know. I’m sorry.”
“But you’ve been kinda distant too,” Clark pointed out. “I mean, I feel like we keep going backward rather than forward. You slammed the door in my face last week, now we’re hardly speaking again. What gives?”
“Well, I do have a reason for my behavior … “ Lois began slowly. “I know ever since we kissed I’ve been acting kinda strange.”
“Yeah,”
“I’m scared … “ At his concerned look, she pressed on, “I don’t know what to think. I mean, Mayson dying in your arms like that. You’ve hardly been approachable since. I don’t know what to think. I mean, I know she was … a friend, but after … “
Clark hung his head in shame and sighed. Was this where he was going to tell her he’d been in love with Mayson? Was he going to tell her he only wanted to be friends? She prepared herself for the worst. It wasn’t like she’d been unprepared. She knew there had to be a reason why Mayson’s death was hitting him so hard. “Lois, Mayson was a friend; that’s all. I never lo- I never cared about her the way I care for you.”
What did he just say? He wasn’t in love with Mayson? She looked up at him, tears streaming down her face as relief washed over her. She hadn’t realized how scared she had been of the prospect of losing Clark to Mayson’s ghost. “Really? I, I thought … “
Clark smiled and placed a hand over hers, looking at her reassuringly. “I know what you thought, Lois. I only saw Mayson as a friend.”
“Oh.” He cared about her? What did that mean? He was watching her curiously. “So, you weren’t … you didn’t … “
Her train of thought ceased when his lips came crashing down on hers. Her body began to respond immediately. His hand cupped her cheek lovingly as the kiss deepened. Where did he learn to kiss like that? What was she saying? Something about Mayson? Who cared? She whimpered when she felt him pull away from her.
She caught his gaze. He was struggling to catch his breath. Was that an act? Could Superman become breathless from just a kiss? What if he were...?
’Don’t go there, girl,’ she told herself.
“Lois, you are the only one I’ve cared about in that way. The ONLY one.”
Lois smiled up at him, blushing as she pushed a stray lock of hair out of her face. Why was it so hard to hear him say that to her? She’d known he’d cared about her for some time, as Superman and as Clark. How had she not seen it? “Lois, what’s wrong? Please tell me.”
Dare she have this conversation now? She couldn’t hide this from him for long. He knew her too well, but her emotions were too high right now to deal with it. “I-I — “ She was cut off by the ringing of their beepers in a simultaneous union. “I guess Perry figured out the funeral is over.”
“Lois … “
She pulled away from his embrace and began cleaning up. “We should get going. Perry’s gonna kill us.”
Clark sighed, brushing his hand through his hair in obvious frustration. She felt his eyes on her as she gathered her things and headed for the door. He knew there was something up; he wasn’t stupid. He could always tell when something was bothering her. No one knew her as well as he did. It was one of the many things she loved about him. A week ago she would have said she knew him better than anyone else as well, but now she had been blindsided by the revelation that he wasn’t who she thought he was.
“Let’s go.”
He held open the door for her as they exited her apartment.
***
Perry looked up at the elevators as he saw Lois and Clark enter the newsroom. “What took you two so long? The funeral ended half an hour ago.”
“Sorry, Chief, but I was trying to stop these two grave diggers from burying a man alive,” Lois said before Clark could open his mouth to explain.
“Lois,” Clark warned.
“Don’t ‘Lois’ me. I know what I saw,” Lois sniped.
“Burying a man alive? Are you sure about this, Lois?” Perry asked inquisitively.
“Positive. I saw him. He looked at me.”
“Lois, it’s not uncommon for a body to have involuntary movements,” Clark explained.
“Yeah, I heard they can even belch after death,” Perry added with a hearty laugh.
Lois looked back and forth from her boss to Clark and then shook her head in disgust. Clark knew that look only meant trouble. Disagreeing with her usually meant a typical Lane tornado in the newsroom sooner or later.
“Fine, it never happened.” She shrugged as she proceeded towards her desk.
“Lois,” Clark began but was cut off as Jimmy came barrelling towards them.
“Lois, I need a favor.”
“What is it, Jimmy?” Lois sighed. She turned towards their young friend, ignoring Clark and Perry. Not a good sign. Anytime she appeared happy to see Jimmy in the middle of their conversations usually meant trouble for him.
“Do you think I could borrow your Jeep tonight? I met this incredible girl this morning,”
“This morning? At Mayson’s funeral? Jimmy, that’s tacky,” Lois scolded.
“It didn’t start out that way. Honest.” Jimmy looked around him at the disapproving looks.
“What happened to Angela?” Clark inquired.
“Yeah, I thought she was the love of your life,” Lois added.
“Yesterday’s news,” Jimmy said nonchalantly.
“Well, that didn’t take long,” Lois sighed disapprovingly.
“Lois, I’m young, single. I have to keep my options open; anyway, she left me for a guy with a Ferrari. So, what do you say? Can I borrow the Jeep?” Jimmy asked.
Lois sighed. “Tell you what. I’ll lend you the Jeep if you find out who’s buried in plot 29B at Whispering Pines.”
“Lois,” Clark began. She just wasn’t letting this go.
Jimmy grabbed the paper from Lois. “You got it,” he said and hurried away from the argument he knew was brewing between them.
“Clark, please don’t,” Lois sighed, putting her hands up defensively. “I know what I saw.”
“So, Lois, Clark, how’s the story coming along?” Perry asked, placing a gentle hand on Clark’s shoulder. It was obvious he was trying to steer the conversation elsewhere.
“Slow,” Clark replied quietly. The ‘story’ Perry was referring to was the investigation into Mayson’s murder. He had argued with Perry about staying on it. He felt responsible for her death and wanted to do everything in his power to bring the responsible party to justice.
***
Lois glanced up at Clark, whose face flooded with guilt and remorse when Perry mentioned their story. She still had no idea why Clark insisted on working this story. He was obviously too close to it but remained adamant about finding Mayson’s murderer.
“We’re just trying to get a handle on it, Perry,” Lois said, trying to steer their editor’s attention away from Clark.
Perry took a deep breath, giving them both a reproving look. The lecture about being too close to the story was well on its way. “Well, son, there’s a reason why surgeons don’t operate on members of their own family. You and Mayson were pretty close. If you need some time off, let me know.” Perry patted Clark’s shoulder. “Oh, by the bye, there’s an agent from the DEA coming by later today who is looking into Mayson’s murder. Maybe he can shed some light on your investigation.”
“Why’s the DEA involved?” Lois asked.
“Don’t know. Could be they think it’s mob related? Mayson made quite a few enemies with Intergang.”
“Maybe if I can get into her office, maybe go through her files,” Clark thought aloud.
“The police have it cordoned off,” Perry said. “But then, when has a little police tape ever stopped you two before?” He walked off into his office as Lois and Clark shared a conspiratorial look.
***
Dressed as a cleaning crew, Lois and Clark began to sift through the paperwork on Mayson Drake’s desk.
“What exactly are we looking for?” Lois asked.
“Anything that has anything to do with Intergang or Resurrection. It would probably be something she would have been working on in the last few weeks,” Clark replied as he opened Mayson’s file cabinet.
“Here’s something she received the day before she died. It’s a file on someone named Stanley Gables.”
“Anything on Intergang or Resurrection?” Lois looked through the file some more and shook her head ‘no.’ “Keep looking.”
Lois lifted up a sandwich wrapped in tissue paper. “How’s this for new? It’s still warm.”
“What?” Clark took the sandwich from her and examined it. “A meatball sandwich?”
A mysterious man dropped from the ceiling dressed in the same cleaning uniform as they wore. He had long, black, curly hair and dark brown eyes. He also had a gun. “Molinaro’s, the best in the city. Go ahead, take a bite. They got veal and peppers that will knock your socks off.”
“Who are you?” Clark asked, narrowing his eyes. He was trying to figure out a way to place himself in front of Lois to protect her in case this guy decided to fire the gun he was holding. He watched Lois nervously, hoping she wouldn’t try anything stupid.
“The cleaning man. Who are you?”
“The cleaning woman. What a coincidence.” Lois laughed nervously, throwing her hands up in the air in an attempt at humor. “We’re all cleaning people. I guess the agency overbooked.” She moved towards the door but was stopped.
“Not so fast. You know I’m a very sensitive guy. I just hate it when people lie to me,” the man said as he pointed the gun a little higher.
“But you don’t mind lying yourself?” Lois countered.
“Ah, touché’, but I’m the one holding the gun. So my lie takes precedence.” Clark moved towards the door and the man pointed the gun right at Clark. “Unless you’re Superman I wouldn’t recommend it.” The mysterious man waved the gun for effect.
Lois narrowed her eyes in disgust. Clark took advantage of her distraction to discreetly shoot a beam of heat vision at the man’s right foot. He dropped the gun and yelped in pain.
“Come on, let’s go!” Clark ushered Lois out of the room. Files in tow, they rushed out of the office and headed towards Lois’ Jeep.
Lois sighed in relief as Clark closed the passenger door to Lois’ Jeep.
“That was close! What happened back there?” Lois asked.
“I … I … I don’t know. I guess he stumbled on something.”
“Hmmm.” Lois stared at him a moment then shook her head.
“What?” he asked. There was that look again. He couldn’t figure out what was going on with Lois but it was driving him crazy not knowing. He used to be able to read her so well. She used to tell him everything … until now. Things were different now. They were beginning a relationship.
“Nothing.” Lois started the engine and they headed towards the Planet.
***
Lois punched the button for the newsroom in the elevator car repeatedly, obviously stressed about something. “Lois, stop it. You’re gonna — “
The lights in the elevator went out and the car stopped moving.
“ — cause it to short out.” Clark finished.
“Great,” Lois said, exasperated. “Perfect. What else could go wrong today?”
Clark sighed, equally frustrated, but he knew getting upset about it wouldn’t help. “Just calm down, Lois,”
“Calm down? Why should I?! This whole day has been a nightmare, Clark.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Where do I begin? Dead bodies coming back to life; nobody wants to believe me on that one. I’m upset. I don’t know what I saw, right? Then we try to investigate and some Loony Toon clown decides to horn in on our investigation, and it’s just, it’s just — “
“It’s just what, Lois? I know you want to tell me something, but you keep holding back. What is it?”
“Clark, I’m not ready to talk about it, okay? There’s been too much going on lately. It’s just something I need to work out on my own, okay? I don’t want to say something I’ll regret later.”
“Lois, why do you do this? You bottle everything up inside and won’t let anyone get near you. Every time someone gets close you push them away.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about the fact that you refuse to let me in, Lois.”
“I do not REFUSE to let people in, Clark. I am just careful. And I DID let you in, Clark. You are the ONLY one I have EVER let in after my parents and Claude. But that’s what happens when you let people in. They hurt you or betray you.” The tears began to flow down her cheeks rapidly as she spoke.
“Lois … “ Clark wasn’t sure what to say. She didn’t normally voice her trust issues so openly. He knew of them from the time he’d spent with her and what he’d picked up in between; things she had said over the last year and a half. She had been fearful of dying when she’d told him of Claude. Later he’d discovered no one else knew about what had occurred between her and Claude. As far as he was concerned no one would ever hear about it again.
He glanced hesitantly into her watery eyes. She was hurting. That much was clear, but he still didn’t know what had brought this on.
“I can’t.”
“Just tell me, please. I can’t stand to see you like this,” Clark pleaded, brushing a few stray tears from her eyes.
She appeared to be contemplating something in her mind. He stepped forward to comfort her, but she stopped him. “No. You don’t get off that easy. You don’t betray my trust like that and get off scot free.”
“What?” Clark was so confused. He had no idea what she was talking about.
“This.” She proceeded to open his dress shirt and reveal the ‘S’ emblem underneath. “Did you really think I wouldn’t figure it out?”
“What? How? When?”
“The night Mayson died your shirt was torn.” Lois sighed. “I guess I can understand part of why you lied to me, but it doesn’t excuse it, Clark.”
Clark’s face crumpled. “Lois, I’m so sorry. I never meant to hurt you. I — “
Lois held her hands up. “The point is … you did.”
The elevator began to hum with life again and Lois looked up at Clark through her tears. “You might want to button up your shirt.” Her voice cracked with anger. “Don’t want anyone else to accidentally find out.”
The doors to the elevator opened and she stormed out, headed straight for the restroom. Clark sighed as he exited the elevator. What was he going to do?
***
TBC...
