Lois never made it into the Planet on Wednesday. She told Perry that she would be out of the office trying to drum up a half-decent story. Given how slow things had been around the city that week, she didn’t get any argument from him. It was even partially true. Clark had a file on Lex Luthor in his Smallville office. Lois and Clark planned to go over it to see if they could find any connections that Clark might have missed before. The sooner they brought Luthor down, the sooner they could go public with their relationship—or rather, with Clark Kent’s part in it. Mostly, though, it was an excuse for Clark to show Lois around his home town.
Clark steered his Ford-150 pick-up through downtown Smallville. He loved being home. There were no gossip reporters within miles—his standing threat to boycott any media outlet that dared to harass anyone in Lowell County assured that—and he could be himself in boots and jeans instead of Herringbone and lamb’s wool. It was a sunny day and, although the air was cold, there wasn’t any snow, so the sidewalks were busy with people running morning errands. That was the great thing about small towns—he knew just about everyone he saw. And today was even better than usual, because Lois was with him. Spotting a parking space in front of Maisie’s, he pulled in. He was reaching for his door handle when Lois stopped him with a hand on his arm.
“Are you sure this is a good idea? Maybe we shouldn’t be seen together, even in Smallville. Aren’t you afraid that word will leak out and Caleb’s cover will be blown?”
Turning to face her, he laid a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “Trust me, Lois. It’s true that small town folks are notorious gossips, but only with each other. Nobody here will breathe a word to any outsiders, especially not the entertainment press. We all value our privacy too much for that.”
As he stepped out of the truck, he pulled the collar of his shearling barn coat up. The cold never bothered him, but he had long ago learned to mimic the reactions of his neighbors. Even in Smallville, he had to work to fit in.
A small string of jinglebells rang as Clark opened Maisie’s front door and ushered Lois into the busy restaurant. Most of the customers had long since tuned the bells out of their conscious hearing, but Maisie and the two waitresses—Sarah and Kendra—glanced over to greet their latest customers. Maisie’s face lit up as soon as she saw Clark.
“Well, I’ll be! If it isn’t Smallville’s favorite son!” She hurried over to give him a warm hug. “The news is all over town, Clark. We’re so proud of you.”
Clark could feel the blush climbing up his face. “Thanks. I think I’m still in shock.”
“Not me—I’m not a bit surprised. I just don’t understand why it took them four books to finally nominate you. You should have won two years ago. ‘Northern Passage’ should have beat ‘Mating’ hands down.” She rolled her eyes at the obtuseness of big city critics.
Putting his arm around Lois’ shoulder, Clark said, “Lois, this is Maisie.” He lowered his voice to a conspiratorial stage whisper and added, “She’s the one who gave me that recipe for apple crumble, but don’t tell my mom.” Turning to the older woman, he finished the introduction. “Maisie, this is Lois.”
It took just a beat too long for Maisie to answer. She was too busy staring back and forth from Lois to Clark to Clark’s arm around Lois’ shoulder to the proud grin on Clark’s face. Giving her head a little shake, she finally said, “Where are my manners? It’s nice to meet you, Lois. What can I get for you two? I’ve got a nice quiet booth in the back.”
Clark smiled. “Actually, we need four coffees and a bag of donuts to go. We’re going to surprise Pete and Lana.”
Maisie stepped behind the counter to fetch the donuts and coffee. Clark was the only one who heard her mutter, “Yeah, I’ll say they’ll be surprised.”
Clark carried the donuts and coffee down Main Street, cheerfully accepting congratulations from half a dozen more neighbors. After the second block Lois leaned close and whispered, “Why is everybody staring at us? They’re not still wowed by Clark Kent are they? ”
Clark laughed and whispered back, “Not one bit. Most of these folks have known me since I was a baby . It’s you they’re staring at.” At Lois’ concerned frown, he hastened to clarify, “You’re the first woman I’ve ever brought home.”
Just then he led her through a nondescript door into the lobby of a three-story brick building that housed several offices, including Clark’s. They took the elevator to the second floor and stepped into the third door on the left. A plaque on the door read simply “Kent Enterprises.” As they entered, the Rosses looked up from their respective desks and froze.
Pete was the first to recover his wits. “Breakfast! Thanks, Clark.” He walked over, reached into the bag, and pulled out a glazed donut. “Hello, Ms. Lane. It’s nice to see you again.”
Lois smiled and extended her hand. “I think you’d better call me Lois,” she offered by way of greeting.
By this time Lana had joined the circle . “Hello, Lois.” Her cheeks were burning. At first Lois couldn’t think why, but then she remembered the last time she’d seen Lana. “I’m sorry about the book signing,” Lana said. “I hope you’ll forgive me for keeping you away from Clark that night.”
Now it was Clark’s turn to blush. Lois couldn’t help rubbing it in just a little bit—to Clark, not to Lana. “No harm done, Lana.” She held her hand out to show that there were no hard feelings. After the two women shook hands, Lois went on, “After all, you were just doing your job. I’m sure it was Clark’s idea.” She gave her boyfriend a withering scowl, but everyone saw the twitch at the corners of her mouth.
Clark held up both hands in self-defense. “I plead temporary insanity.”
“Really?” Lois was having a hard time keeping a straight face. “What’s your evidence?”
“Expert testimony. Just ask Lana and Pete how blown away I was when we first met.”
“I’ll vouch for that,” Lana put it, “but I think you’ve got your tense wrong.” She smiled broadly, looking back and forth between Lois and Clark. “Looks to me like she still blows you away.”
“You’ll get no argument there,” Clark agreed easily.
Pete brought them all back to the business at hand. “As I was saying…breakfast?” he motioned to the bag and cup carrier that Clark still held in his free hand.
“I think you mean second breakfast,” his wife corrected.
“Only if granola and yogurt counts as the first one,” Pete told Clark and Lois. He made a face to show what he thought of such healthy offerings.
Clark grinned back at his friend. “Well, the sugar’s on me and the caffeine as well.” Clark set the bag and cups down on the coffee table in the office’s seating area. Pulling a donut out for himself, he lowered himself into one of the four chocolate colored leather armchairs that served as both waiting area and conference room.
Lois took the seat next to Clark’s and the Rosses took the other two. When everyone was settled, Pete turned to Clark and said, “Now don’t take this the wrong way,” his questioning look took in both Clark and Lois, “but why are you here?”
***
Two hours later, Clark looked up from the file he was reading and ran a hand through his unruly hair. “I’m still not seeing it.”
Lois set down the spreadsheet she was perusing. “Me either. I’ve read through these financial statements at least three times, and I can’t find anything illegal.” She leaned back and laced her hands behind her head, resting her eyes. “I believe that Luthor’s crooked. There are certainly plenty of ‘convenient’ accidents that end up benefitting LexCorp. But he’s slippery. The hard part is proving it.”
“Tell me about it,” Clark mumbled, pinching the bridge of his nose. He looked up as Lana hung up the telephone and approached their impromptu work station. Her expression was hard to read—a mix of disbelief, wry amusement, and…suspicion?
“You’ll never guess who that was on the phone.” When every eye in the room was on her, she went on, “One Katherine Cox, personal assistant to…”
“Lex Luthor,” Lois and Clark chimed in chorus.
This got Pete’s attention and he crossed the room to join the pow-wow. “What did she want?” he asked.
Lana handed Clark a page of handwritten notes. “It seems that Mr. Luthor wants to host a charity dinner to raise money to fight child labor overseas. Since Clark will be in Metropolis for the Book Awards in a couple of weeks, and since the dinner’s cause fits in so well with ‘Little David,’ Mr. Luthor hopes that Clark will consent to be the key-note speaker.”
Clark glanced at Lana’s notes. “December 3rd. That’s the night before the Book Awards dinner. I can hardly claim that I won’t be in town.”
“I don’t like it.” Pete frowned. “He’s up to something.”
“Maybe,” Lana put in. “Or maybe he’s just trying to get his share of the spotlight that weekend. What do you think, Clark?”
Clark thought for a moment before replying. “I don’t know. I’m sure he has some ulterior motive—Luthor always does—but his fundraisers really do bring in a lot of money for legitimate causes. He might be using me to get some personal glory for himself, but I don’t see what else he could be up to. He can’t stand Superman, but he has no reason to want to hurt Clark Kent. Even if he tried, it wouldn’t work. I’m invulnerable.” The disquieting memory of yesterday’s brief dizzy spell after a false bank alarm flashed through Clark’s mind, but he quickly dismissed it as a fluke. There was certainly no reason to worry his friends about it. “And there’s always the chance that I’ll be able to use a little judicious eavesdropping to learn something that will finally get through his shiny white armor. I say ‘yes.’”
“You’re the boss,” Lana agreed. “I’ll call Mrs. Cox back tomorrow. There’s no need to seem overeager.”
*****
For the next couple of weeks, Lois felt like she was being introduced to Caleb all over again. Not that Clark was any different than he’d always been, but she was getting to know the context of his life—his home town, his parents, his friends, in a way that hadn’t been possible before. Seeing him in his native element, she was more convinced than ever that the carefree playboy image the world knew as Clark Kent was even more of an act than Superman.
In a strange twist of irony, the invitation from Lex Luthor was good for Clark. He’d never been asked to speak publicly about any of the social issues behind his books before. As he worked on his keynote speech for Luthor’s fundraising dinner, he realized that he had something to say, and the Book Award nomination gave him the confidence that people would be willing to listen. When Clark Kent reappeared after his ‘sabbatical,’ he was going to be a different man. A one-woman man, for starters. And he was definitely through with hair mousse and lamb’s wool.
Smallville was like a sanctuary, and Lois and Clark spent as much free time there as they could. The people were warm and welcoming. Martha Kent was just as terrific as Lois remembered, and Jonathan was a teddy bear. They both welcomed Lois into their home with open arms. Lana and Pete had gotten over their initial suspicions of Lois and seemed glad to have another member of the ‘people Clark can be real with’ club. The two couples shared more than one double date of barbecue and line dancing. It was still a small circle, but bigger than the ‘just the two of us’ one that Lois and Caleb had had before. It was only in retrospect that Lois realized how isolating sharing such a big secret could be.
The only fly in the ointment was that Clark was still undercover in Metropolis. In some ways it was no different from how it had been all along—Lois was dating Caleb, who still got the occasional ‘special thanks’ in her stories, and Caleb was known around the Planet as a freelance reporter who still hadn’t broken his big story. Caleb, as Charlie King, took odd jobs that paid cash under the table and got him into at least the outskirts of Metropolis’s seedier side. But as Thanksgiving approached and December loomed, they were still no closer to bringing Luthor down. That was a problem for two reasons.
The merely annoying reason was that, as Luthor’s dinner and the Book Awards got closer, Lois was forced to endure Cat and Jimmy’s endless speculation about who Clark Kent would have on his arm at the respective events. Ralph even had two betting pools going on under the table. The first was a simple yes or no bet on whether Kent would bring the same woman to both events. He’d never been known to do that before, but, then again, he’d never been to two black-tie affairs within 24 hours. The more intricate pool involved *which* woman he’d bring to the Book Awards. To make matters worse, when Lois fumed to Clark about the speculation, she was sure she’d caught him stifling a smile when she told him that the smart money was on Julia Roberts.
The more serious problem was that Lois fully intended to be that woman, at both events, and that would put an end to Caleb Knight. Clark tried to argue that he could still go undercover as Charlie King, but he knew there was slim chance of that working. Once it was common knowledge that Clark had been in town for weeks—and Caleb was too well known as Lois’s boyfriend for that fact not to make it’s way back to Luthor—the ‘people see what they expect to see’ effect would be useless in Metropolis because the ‘people’ he wanted to fool the most would be on the look-out for Clark Kent.
Of course, given how little progress he was making anyway, maybe that wasn’t such a loss after all. He was reluctantly learning that there’s a big difference between getting to know the underworld in general and trying to pin something on one person in particular, especially a person as sophisticated and well-connected as Lex Luthor. Clark had come across all sorts of hints about what ‘the Boss’ was up to in Metropolis, but still nothing he could take to the police or that Lois could put in print. It was increasingly frustrating to *know* what he couldn’t *prove.*
Added to all of this was, of course, the complication of Superman. He’d had an eventful November. It started with being accused of causing a heat wave. Clark himself wasn’t sure what to think at first, and he had to spend a night at Perry and Alice White’s house when the Daily Planet vouched for Superman’s behavior. That spandex suit might be great for aerodynamics, but it was not the most comfortable thing to sleep in. Besides, it was hard to look heroic while eating Alice White’s tuna casserole or watching ‘Jailhouse Rock’ with Perry. Thankfully, Lois had tracked down the real source of the heat before Clark had been forced to leave town. Luthor’s nuclear power plant leak—just one more ‘unfortunate accident’ to add to the list.
Then there had been the pheromone incident. Lois had been pretty angry when Clark refused to stay in the same room with her while she was under the influence. He flew her off to Smallville—holding her at arm’s length for the entire flight, no less—and left her in Martha’s capable hands until the noxious stuff wore off. That took some explaining afterwards. The simple fact was that Clark knew he didn’t stand a chance if Lois Lane decided to seduce him. And, while he fully intended to be seduced by her one day soon, he wanted it to be when they were both sober enough to enjoy it and remember it afterward.
Even after what Clark thought was an eloquent apology and a relaxing Thanksgiving weekend in Smallville, Lois was still just a little bit put out. No woman likes to be rejected when she makes a serious effort at coming on to her man, even if he thinks he’s doing it for noble reasons. Maybe that was why Clark, or rather Caleb, found himself saying ‘yes’ to a certain proposal that he really should have declined.
It was all Cat’s fault.
