Thanks to Queenie for her squeeing. And to Karen who decided for me that Lois should end up with Dan and Clark with Mayson.
Last time
He dried off using one of the towels he'd found in his room and swore under his breath. He'd grabbed the flannel shirt Mayson had given him, not the sleep shorts he'd remembered to toss in at the last minute. He wrapped the towel around his waist and walked back towards his room.
No sooner than he had shut the door than there was a knock on it.
He sighed and opened it to see Lois standing there.
"Yes?" he asked when she muttered something under her breath.
He heard her breath catch in her throat as she stared at him. "Um, I meant nine, but I thought you'd be naked."
*~*4*~*
"You should help him," Martha told her as Lois rinsed the plate in the sink.
"What? Why? He's a hot-shot big city reporter with three Kerths. He doesn't need or want my help." She shrugged. "That much was obvious when I mentioned that I was the editor here."
"Three Kerths?"
"I've heard of him, okay?" She sighed and leaned against the counter. "He's done some great investigative work, hard hitting *and* compassionate. That's why he's won three awards in two years. I think he thinks I'm going to be looking for a job handout."
"Bet you didn't know he was so cute," Martha whispered conspiratorially.
"Mo-om," Lois whined. "How cute he is doesn't matter. He sees me as a small-town hick who *might* be able to edit her way to *Smallville* - which is probably smaller than his whole high school – but couldn't cut it in the 'real world'. He's a guest. That's it." She turned back to the dishes while Martha pulled another tray of cookies out of the oven.
"You should offer to help him." Her mom's voice was quiet.
"I don't think he'd let me."
The shower turned off upstairs.
"Go talk to him and at least offer to show him City Hall on your way to work."
Lois sighed. "Fine. But don't get your hopes up."
Martha reached up to give her a big hug. "Honey, we don't need you around here as much anymore. If you left us for the big city, we'd be just fine."
"I'm sure you would, Mom," Lois told her with one last squeeze. "But that doesn't mean I'm going anywhere anytime soon." With a wave over her shoulder, she headed upstairs. The bathroom door was open so she knocked on the door to his room.
A second later it opened and all rational though fled her mind. He was wearing nothing but his glasses and a towel.
"Oh my," she breathed. "Tomorrow morning..." she muttered.
"Yes?" he asked.
"Um, I meant nine, but I thought you'd be naked."
"Excuse me?"
She watched a drop of water fall from the lock of his hair that fell over his face and land on his chest. It was all she could do not to follow it further from there.
"Um, I mean, if you're dressed and ready to go by nine, I can show you where City Hall is so you can get started on your research."
He nodded. "Thanks, but I think I'm going to sleep in a bit later if I can. It's been a long day and I'm not sure where I'm headed first."
Lois nodded. "Well, if you change your mind, I usually leave between quarter to nine and nine. Breakfast is any time after six. That's when Mom makes breakfast for Dad and Lucy. She has to catch the bus at seven so..."
"Lucy?"
"My sister. She's a senior in high school. If you need anything, pick up the phone and hit two – that'll go to my room. Tonight's my night on call."
"Thanks."
"Good night."
Lois turned to walk away but kept her eyes firmly on the mirror in the hallway, catching a great glimpse of his bare back as he went back into his room.
She sighed and headed to her room. Once there, she took a quick shower in the bathroom she shared with her sister before getting ready for bed. Morning came early on a farm.
Lois had no idea how long she stared at the ceiling trying to fall asleep. She consciously avoided looking at the clock knowing it would just depress her when she realized how little sleep she was going to get because she was dreaming about the chest she'd only too recently seen. The guy was built like Superman. Not overdeveloped, not underdeveloped – just right.
When she finally did manage to doze off, her dreams were filled with handsome big city reporters and, for reasons unknown to her, Superman.
She contemplated that as she stared towards the window where the light was starting to peek in around the curtains. She'd never dreamed about Superman before – at least not in a remotely romantic sense. Lucy had, she was sure. Her room was plastered with Superman paraphernalia and had been since the hero's appearance a year and a half earlier.
She'd dreamt of him once or twice before but only in the 'she was in danger because of her daring and brave investigative reporting and he'd rescued her from dangling over the jaws of death' sense.
She frowned as something occurred to her. The stories she'd been working on in her dreams – the ones where Superman rescued her – were Clark Lane stories.
What was that about?
Lois sighed as she hit the snooze button again before rolling herself up to a sitting position. It was time to get moving if she was going to help with chores before heading into Smallville for the day.
True to his word from the night before, Mr. Lane was still in his room when she was ready to leave. Shrugging to herself, she left and headed to town.
She spent two hours working on assorted things for the paper and by lunchtime she had wrapped up what *had* to be done. She headed to Maisie's for lunch before driving out to the Irigs.
She parked on a side pullout that few people knew about. She only knew about it because she and Josh had used it to make out a few times in high school. She made her way cautiously towards the house until she saw what looked like Army tents set up in the area. She frowned. That was odd.
She looked around carefully and then moved towards one of them. She peeked in an opening, careful to keep herself hidden.
"Tell me what you know!" She could hear someone practically roaring from inside.
There was a thunking sound and grunt.
Someone was getting beat up.
She moved a bit further so she could get a better view.
On the ground, getting beaten within an inch of his life was Josh Irig.
*****
TBC
