PREVIOUSLY...
Clark felt as if he were reliving one of the dumbest decisions he’d ever made - the day he’d let Lois walk off with Luthor. “Lois, I can’t let you go. Not this time,” he said, his eyes still locked on hers.
“Clark, you have no choice in the matter,” Deter said.
Clark instantly turned to look at Deter. “Deter, trust me on this - you have no idea who you’re talking to.”
In his peripheral vision, he saw something flash across Lois’ face, some recognition, a memory, perhaps. Or maybe it was just disgust with him over his possessive words. But before he could decipher the meaning, the look was gone.
Deter, seeming to decide that the discussion was over, grabbed Lois’ arm, turning her back towards the elevator.
AND NOW... PART 2
Clark saw red. Deter had no right to touch Lois. No right at all. Whether anyone noticed how fast he moved or not, he wasn’t sure. In fact, he wasn’t entirely sure how fast he had moved. Had he moved at super human speeds or not? At that moment, he didn’t exactly care. All that mattered was that he was suddenly standing between Lois and the elevator.
“Get out of our way, Clark,” Lois said warningly. “Deter and I are going to his villa in the south of France and there’s nothing you can do about it.”
“No, I don’t think you understand,” Clark said, his voice dangerously low. “I said I can’t let you do this. I won’t let you go again.”
Deter lunged forward, fists swinging. Clark, caught by surprise, was unable to move in time. Deter’s fist contacted Clark’s face. Clark spun with the punch, holding his jaw as if hurt. The sound of Deter’s resulting yowl covered for any lack of noise on Clark’s part.
Jimmy jumped in, grabbing Deter from behind. Perry, now free, joined in as well, attempting to immobilize Maxwell Deter who was holding his fist and howling like a stray tomcat that had caught its tail in a car door. Whether that would have been the end of it was never known because Lois chose that moment to jump Jimmy and Perry from behind in her attempt to free Deter from her colleagues. Almost instantly, other people in the newsroom began running to help. Some to help Lois; others to help Perry and Jimmy - depending on how much of the exchange they’d actually witnessed.
* * * * * * * * *
Clark continued to pace, circumspectly watching Lois tenderly tend to Deter’s damaged hand as they all waited for the police to arrive. Luckily, Franklin Stern had chosen that moment to make an appearance in the newsroom or Deter might have been suffering even more than he currently was. Not that Clark particularly cared how much pain Deter might be in, nor was he particularly enjoying watching Lois pander to Deter’s every weasel-like whimper of pain.
Still, Stern, with the help of some security guards, had managed to get control of the deteriorating situation fairly quickly. Now the primary rabble-rousers were settled in the conference room where they were currently awaiting the arrival of Inspector Henderson.
The ding of the elevator had all the current occupants of the conference room looking towards the top of the ramp leading into the newsroom.
“Stay!” Stern ordered in a voice that left no room for argument before leaving the conference room to meet the Inspector.
Clark took one last look at Lois and Deter before turning up his superhearing to listen in on the conversation as Stern greeted Henderson.
* * * * * * * * *
“Thanks for coming, Bill. I know you’re off work for the day, but we’ve got a bit of a situation here.”
“No problem. You said something about a brawl in the newsroom?” As he asked the question, he looked around at the unusually quiet newsroom.
“I managed to get the main participants to calm down and now they’re waiting for you in the conference room.” Stern gestured in the appropriate direction before striding down the ramp, assuming that Henderson would follow.
He did.
“Lois Lane. Now why doesn’t that surprise me,” Henderson said as he began to focus on the people he could see through the conference room windows. “If there’s going to be a brawl at the Daily Planet, she’s bound to be...” Suddenly, both his feet and his voice came to an abrupt halt. “Kent? Kent was involved in... Perry White!” He spun towards Stern. “Perry White! What was Perry White doing involved in a brawl?”
“I think I’d better let them tell you. Although, I warn you...” Stern took two steps back up the ramp to where Henderson was still standing. “...I hope you have better luck understanding than I did. All I know is that I stepped off the elevator and all hell had broken loose. I had to call security to bust it up.”
“And you put them all together in the same room?”
“I did separate them at first. But Kent refused to stay put. He kept trying to sneak into the room where I’d put Lane - and the others were helping him, distracting the guards, that sort of thing. At the same time, Lane kept trying to get her and friend out of the building. At one point, they actually managed to get all the way to the lobby before getting caught. It seems Lane knows every back door and escape route in this place.
“Anyway, I didn’t have enough security guards available to keep a proper eye on all of them - not and ensure that the building remained secure. So eventually I put them in the same room, with the security guards between them. Once they were together, and accepted that no one was going anywhere, they calmed down quite a bit. Just before you got here, I moved the guards out to watch the door.” He gestured to the guards as he and Henderson resumed walking. “I figure they can get back in there quickly enough if necessary.”
“Are you saying that Lane and Kent were on different sides in this brawl?”
Stern nodded.
When they reached the door, Henderson placed a hand on Stern’s arm, bringing him to a halt. “And you have no idea what it was all about?”
“They all kept talking at once. Finally, I decided to call you - thought you might be able to straighten out this mess without making it into a federal case.”
“Well, I’ll do my best. But I should warn you that if a crime was committed and someone wants to press charges, I’ll have no choice but to do so. I might enjoy our weekly poker games, but I’m still a cop.”
“I know that, Bill. But I also know that you’re not going to jump in and start charging everyone unless you’ve got a case. That’s all I ask. It wouldn’t do the paper’s reputation much good if our two top reporters and our editor were arrested for disorderly conduct or something.”
Henderson nodded. “Okay, well, let’s see if I can make more sense out of it than you could.” With that, he reached out and pulled open the conference room door. Taking a deep breath, he stepped inside. “So... someone want to tell me what’s going on here?”
It was the wrong thing to say. Instantly, everyone began talking at once.
“Hasn’t anyone in this crowd ever heard of the right to remain silent?” Henderson mumbled under his breath before holding up both hands and demanding quiet.
When everyone finally quit talking, he looked around the room. The only person in the room he didn’t know was a man who was holding a bag of ice against his hand. A man who appeared to be receiving tender loving care for his injury from... Lois? His eyebrows rose and his gaze flicked over to Clark. Kent was obviously not appreciating his fiancee’s Florence Nightingale routine.
Henderson let that question go for the time being. Hopefully, all would be explained in good time. So... where to start? His gaze finally settled on the person he thought most likely to give him a rational answer.
“Perry?” he asked. “Do you want to tell me what’s going on?”
“This conniving little brain sucker...” Perry practically spat, pointing to the man with the ice pack on his hand, “...was trying to abduct my best reporter.”
Okay, so maybe not exactly rational - but it was a start.
“That’s not true!” ice-pack man jumped in.
“He wasn’t trying to abduct me!” Lois added.
“Then what do you call it, Lois!” Clark said. “You walk in here and announce that you’re running off to France with that scumbag!”
“I said I was going to France to get therapy. Therapy! You do know what therapy is, right?”
“Therapy? Oh, right. Intensive, one on one therapy. In... what was it you said? His ‘villa’ in the south of France?” Clark responded sarcastically. “Admit it. No one goes to a villa in the south of France for ‘therapy.’ Do you know anyone who goes to a villa in the south of France for therapy, Bill?”
“So what are you saying?” Lois responded, before Henderson could get a word in edgewise. She rose to her feet, glaring at her partner across the conference room table. “That I’m lying?” As she spoke, her grip tightened around the hand she was holding.
A gasp of pain from the man who’s hand was currently serving proxy for Clark’s neck caused Lois to release her grip. “Now look what you made me do!” she exclaimed, glaring at Clark.
“Oh, please,” Clark said in exasperation. “He’s the one who hit me. I’m not complaining about my jaw, am I?”
“Well, that’s because... that’s because...” Lois’ voice trailed off in confusion, almost as if she knew there was a reason Kent’s jaw wasn’t hurting but couldn’t quite figure out what it was.
Still, it gave Henderson a chance to jump in. “Okay, so let’s see if I’ve got this straight. You...” He pointed to Lois. “...came in here and said you were going to the south of France for therapy...”
“That’s right,” Lois said. “And then these guys go into some kind of nuclear meltdown, tackling us.”
“As I recall, no one ‘tackled’ anyone,” Clark said, placing his hands flat on the conference room table as he glared across at Lois. “Not until Deter here starting throwing punches around.”
“He wouldn’t have started throwing punches around if you hadn’t gone all caveman on us,” Lois responded, matching his stance. Face to face, with their hands flat on the surface of the table, only a couple of feet separating them.
“Caveman? Trying to prevent you from throwing away your career... throwing away... everything is suddenly caveman?”
“It’s my life! Hence, my decision!”
“You’re not well enough to be making decisions like that!”
“Says who? You? And what gives you the right to make that determination?”
“When you agreed to marry me, we decided that our decisions would be made together. Together! That gives me the right to say what I think!”
“Oh, really. Agreeing to marry you gave you the right to make my decisions for me!”
“That’s not what I said!”
“Sure sounded like it to me!”
“That’s not what I meant. I meant that until your memory returns...”
“My memory is just fine!”
“No, it’s not! Obviously! You clearly don’t remember how much your job means to you. And you don’t remember being engaged to me! What else don’t you remember? And how can you make decisions like this without having your memory?”
“Maybe I don’t remember being engaged to you because I don’t want to remember!”
“What are you saying?”
There was a pregnant pause where it seemed everyone in the room held his or her breath.
“I think you know what I’m saying,” Lois said, her eyes firmly on Clark.
“Maybe you’re going to have to spell it out for me, dumb caveman that I am.” Clark’s response was controlled, calm. In fact, it seemed almost too calm for Henderson’s piece of mind especially given how heated their previous exchange had been. He took a quick look over his shoulder, relieved to see that the guards at the door had stepped back into the room.
“She doesn’t want to marry you anymore, Kent,” Deter said when Lois didn’t respond quickly enough.
“Good to see she can answer for herself,” Jimmy muttered. “Talk about getting a doctor’s help. She doesn’t even have to speak for herself.”
“Can it, Jimmy,” Perry growled.
“Cat got your tongue, Lois?” Clark asked. “Can’t answer that one for yourself? Maybe you should think about what that means.”
“Well, you obviously think it means something, Clark,” Lois responded. “So let’s hear your brilliant hypothesis.”
“Maybe it means this wasn’t your decision at all. Maybe, just maybe, you’ve been letting Deter here make your decisions for you. Maybe that’s why you can’t say you don’t want to marry me for yourself.”
Lois’ eyebrows rose, as if in answer to the challenge. “You want to hear me say it? Fine. It’s over, Clark. If it even ever was in the first place.”
Henderson’s eyes darted over to Clark just in time to see the blood drain from his face. It seemed he wasn’t the only one who noticed because a moment later, Perry was helping Clark find a chair as his legs seemed to give out beneath him.
“Goodbye, Clark,” Lois added, grabbing Deter’s damaged hand before cringing when she realized what she’d done. “Sorry,” she muttered as she took his other hand and helped him to his feet.
“You’re not leaving,” Perry said, stepping in for an obviously stunned Clark. Perry positioned himself between Lois and Deter and the door, making it impossible for her to pass.
“You can’t keep me here against my will.” She turned towards Henderson. “Can he, Henderson?”
“No, he can’t,” Bill confirmed reluctantly. He agreed that Lois was not acting like herself. But it wasn’t as if she was acting crazy, or as if she didn’t know her own mind. “That would be unlawful confinement - and it’s a crime.”
“Move,” Lois demanded of her boss when she got the confirmation that she needed from Henderson.
“On the other hand,” Henderson continued. “I have the right to detain you to investigate a crime.”
“What crime?” Deter demanded. “She just came by to give her resignation. There’s no crime in...”
“She quit?” Henderson asked in disbelief. “Lois quit her job at the Planet?” he repeated, just to be sure he’d understood.
“I decided I needed to quit so that I could get better,” Lois said defensively. “So... can we go?”
Henderson hesitated a second. Perry and Clark were right. Something was very wrong with this picture. He could almost buy into her breaking up with Kent in the middle of a fight. After all, although he’d never seen a couple more devoted to each other than Lane and Kent, he’d never seen one so able to fight like cats and dogs either. But quitting her job at the Planet... Still, legally, he had no real grounds to detain her. On the other hand, he could try arresting Deter since he had apparently taken the first swing. But given that Clark’s jaw seemed fine and Deter’s hand was obviously hurt, the judge was likely to laugh that charge out of court - and Henderson could be looking at a lawsuit for malicious prosecution.
“Okay, you can go...”
“Thanks, Henderson,” Lois said.
“...after you get that hand looked at,” Henderson said, pointing to Deter’s wrapped hand.
“It’s fine,” Deter said.
“That’s my condition,” Henderson said, even though he knew he was skating on thin ice. He really didn’t have the power to order someone to get medical attention. But maybe he could delay them long enough to figure out what was really going on here.
“Fine,” Lois said. “We’ll head over to Metropolis General and...”
“One of the security men will take you,” Henderson interrupted, looking over at Stern to see the other man nod his agreement. When neither Deter nor Lois responded, Henderson continued. “That’s my condition, Lane. Take it or stay here until I can sort this all out. And don’t think I’m above charging Deter here with assault for punching Kent.” He threw in the last in hopes of strengthening his argument.
“Fine,” Lois finally grumbled. “But we’re never going to make our flight now.”
“We’ll just catch one in the morning,” Deter said softly in her ear.
Henderson watched as Clark, who was still sitting in stunned silence, grasped onto the edge of the table at the final words. Was it Henderson’s imagination that Kent was actually leaving finger shaped indentations in the wood?
Henderson gave his head a shake. Obviously, he needed a vacation if he thought someone could leave finger indentations in a solid mahogany table just by squeezing - well, other than Superman, of course.
* * * * * * * * *
“How could you let her go?” Clark’s words were softly spoken but even he could hear the heartbreak they conveyed to the remaining occupants of the conference room.
“I couldn’t keep her here against her will, Kent,” Henderson responded. “And neither could you.”
“She’s not in her right mind,” Perry said.
“What makes you so sure of that?” Henderson asked. “Okay, so maybe breaking off her engagement with Kent here was a little... unexpected. But it isn’t as if she hasn’t broken off an engagement before.”
Clark knew he must have flinched at that because Henderson immediately responded by saying, “Sorry, Kent.”
“Calling off her engagement to a psychopath like Luthor is not exactly the same thing as what happened here,” Perry growled.
“And what about Lois quitting?” Jimmy added. “You’ve got to admit that was a little nuts.”
“Tell that to the majority of the population who hate their jobs,” Henderson said. “They’d probably say quitting would be the sane thing to do.”
“The majority of the population isn’t Lois,” Perry said. “And running off to France with that piece of crap? You call that sane?”
“Giving up Metropolis weather to run off with a doctor to live in a villa in the south of France. Come on, Perry. That is the fantasy of ninety-five percent of the women in this city.”
When Perry and Jimmy began to object that Lois wasn’t like that, Henderson held up his hands in surrender. “Look. I happen to agree with you. Lois isn’t exactly acting like herself. And that Florence Nightingale routine was a bit much. But, I couldn’t stop her from leaving. I did get you a little time, however.”
“Until tomorrow morning,” Jimmy said. “Then she’s going to be on a plane to France to become Deter’s love slave. Sorry, C.K.,” he added when he, too, saw Clark flinch.
“What good is a little time going to do?” Stern asked, entering the conversation for the first time.
Seeming relieved to have someone not quite as emotionally invested to talk to, Henderson let out a breath. “You say she’s not in her right mind?” Everyone nodded. “Then get a judge to make an order declaring her incompetent. Get Kent, here, appointed as her guardian. Or you do it, Perry. But either way, until that happens, I can’t prevent her from leaving just because you don’t want her to. You get that order, however, and I’ll be more than happy to enforce it for you.”
“Right,” said Perry. “What we need is a judge...”
“I’ll call the lawyers,” Stern said, heading towards one of the conference room phones even as he spoke.
“Jimmy, you get on your computer and dig up everything you can about Dr. Maxwell Deter and the Metropolis Neuroscience Center,” Perry added. “Clark, we’re going to need a doctor to back up our assertions. Also, I want to know the rules about personal relationships between doctors and their patients. Maybe there is something there that we can use to...”
“It’s no use,” Clark said, rising to his feet and glaring at the others.
“Clark, we won’t know that unless...”
“It’s no use, Chief. Dr. Maxwell Deter is considered the foremost expert on memory loss. What doctor is going to contradict him and say she’s not competent to make her own decisions if Deter says she is. And he’s going to say there is nothing ‘personal’ about Lois going to France with him. She said it was for ‘treatment’ after all. And he’ll just say it’s some new treatment he’s working on or something.”
“We’ve got to try,” Perry said.
“I’m not going to try,” Clark responded, grabbing his jacket and heading for the door. “I’m putting an end to this now.”
“Don’t do anything stupid, Clark,” Henderson said, grabbing the younger man’s arm.
Clark glared at the hand for a moment until Henderson released him. “I’m not going to do anything stupid, Henderson. Trust me. I’m going to do the first sane thing I’ve done in weeks.”
With that, Clark turned and strode from the conference room.
“C.K.?” Jimmy yelled after him.
“Let him go, son,” Perry said. “He’ll be back when he blows off a little steam. In the meantime, we need to...”
As Perry continued speaking, Clark darted into the stairwell and a moment later was airborne. Perry might think he’d be back when he calmed down. Clark knew better. He knew now what he had to do. It was long past time he took matters into his own hands. He gave a small snort. At least he couldn’t make things any worse.
* * * * * * * * *
Clark hovered in the evening light over Metropolis General, his eyes and his ears focused completely on the young woman who sat by Maxwell Deter’s side in the emergency room. His first thought had been to swoop in and simply snatch Lois. Fortunately, he’d quelled that impulse. After all, having Superman abduct someone was not the best of ideas. Superman had to be seen as being above taking the law into his own hands.
Clark Kent on the other hand... He had to be careful that if anyone became aware of what had happened that the blame fell squarely on Clark Kent’s shoulders. There could be no hint of involvement by Superman.
That limited his options, of course. After all, if Clark Kent were to go into the hospital as himself and try to abduct Lois, he would surely be stopped. No, he had to find a time when she was alone.
However, until he found his opportunity, he wasn’t about to lose sight of Lois and take the chance that she and Deter would disappear before he could act.
Of course, there was also the problem of letting even Lois know of Superman’s involvement. Normally, that would not be an issue. But this time... he had to admit, he had no idea what she might do with that information. How deep was Deter’s control over her? Would letting her know be tantamount to telling Deter?
Not that handling Lois without letting her know of the superhero’s involvement was going to be easy. But so far, she hadn’t made the connection between him and Superman. He’d seen hints that it had been on the tip of her memory, moments that he thought she almost remembered. But until he was in control of the situation, letting Lois know that he was also Superman was probably not a good idea.
So what could he do? How could he possibly abduct Lois without giving away his secret?
Suddenly, an idea came to him. He used his x-ray vision to look around the building over which he was hovering until he spotted what he required. He continued his search until he spotted the next thing he’d need.
Moving too fast for the human eye to follow, he zipped into the hospital and liberated a bottle of the liquid he required - it was an emergency after all and he’d send them a donation that would more than cover his theft at the earliest opportunity. Maybe Lois’ pragmatism was beginning to rub off on him, he thought with a wry grin. But then this wasn’t the only crime he planned on committing tonight. Nor was it the most serious.
Next, he darted into one of the doctor’s offices where he spent a moment studying one of their medical journals on the proper use of the substance. There was no way he could make a mistake with this.
The entire exercise only took a couple of minutes and when he returned to the skies, he had his plan in place. Now it was just a matter of waiting for his moment.
* * * * * * * * *
Clark was glad to discover that the large, cast-iron gate was well oiled. Sure, he could have simply flown over the fence surrounding the Metropolis Neurological Center. But the more obvious the trail he left, the more likely authorities would attribute his actions to the work of Clark Kent, leaving Superman blameless.
He had to protect Superman’s image. Clark Kent was different. His reputation meant nothing if his actions made Lois remember. Surely she would be able to defend him then. Unless... unless Lois still wanted to go to France with Deter.
No. No, Lois loved him. He knew that as surely as he knew the sun would rise tomorrow. And there was no way Lois would leave the Daily Planet. Something else was going on here.
He looked down, stepping heavily on the mucky path. Footprints. Footprints were good, because surely Deter would call the police and this entire area would be gone over with a fine tooth comb. Of course, he and Superman had the same size feet. Okay, so he would just have to make sure he left the muddy dress shoes at his apartment. Surely it wasn’t such a stretch to think the police would find them there. After all, he was undoubtedly going to be the number one suspect after Lois’ abduction.
And that was good for more than just leaving Superman out of it. If it were obvious that Clark was responsible for Lois’ abduction, then their friends at the Planet wouldn’t be so concerned about her safety. So although he couldn’t make them accessories by telling them what he was about to do, he could give them the reassurance after the fact that Lois was with him and not the victim of foul play by Deter or one of Lois’ numerous enemies.
He looked around. The gardens surrounding the center were deserted. Good. He might want to be identified after the fact as Lois’ abductor, but the last thing he needed was to be stopped before he accomplished his mission.
He quickly strode across the grounds until he was just outside a door on the side of the building where he knew Lois’ room was located. He’d watched her enter it some time before.
His blood boiled as he recalled that scene. Deter had walked with Lois to her room, his hand encased in newly dried plaster - apparently he’d broken a bone when he’d hit Clark.
“I’m sorry I got our trip postponed,” Lois had said contritely.
Clark had flinched. Lois apologizing for anything was out of character. But to apologize for something that wasn’t her fault... It rankled Clark. And it stiffened his resolve. Lois was not acting like herself - this was definitely something more than just memory loss. And he’d put a year’s pay on it having something to do with Deter.
Deter’s good hand had come up to her cheek, lightly stroking it with his fingers. Lois’ eyes had closed momentarily and Clark had felt a pain slice through his heart.
“It’s okay, Lois,” Deter had said. “We’ll get a flight first thing in the morning. In the meantime, I should really go.”
Clark had whole-heartedly agreed.
“Can’t you stay?” Lois had pleaded. “Surely...”
“We must be patient. Once we get to France...” he said, letting the obvious implications go unsaid. “The French are more understanding about matters of the heart. They know that when it comes to passion, there is no right or wrong - there is only need.”
Did men really talk like that? His mind flashed back to Deter’s comment to Lois earlier in the day: ‘All I ask is that you honor the work that we have done and make no rash decisions until we’ve spoken.’ Maybe most people didn’t talk that way, but Deter certainly did. Just one more thing for Clark to dislike about the man.
Besides, he wasn’t even sure that Deter’s assertion that the French would be more understanding of a doctor-patient relationship was true. And that didn’t even touch the morality of the sentiment Deter had expressed. Still, Clark didn’t have time to ponder the issue further because the next thing he saw was Deter leaning in to kiss Lois. It had taken every ounce of self-control Clark possessed not to sweep in at the moment and intervene.
He tapped down the fury just the memory of that sight evoked in him and concentrated on the door. He took a quick glance through the wall, satisfying himself that there was no one to see his entrance. Then he turned the handle.
Damn. It was locked.
He could, of course, simply twist the handle and break the lock, but far better that there be no evidence of superstrength being used. Still, he’d prepared for this. He pulled Lois’ lock-breaking kit from his pocket. He’d never had a need to do this before, but he’d watched Lois do it numerous times. And he understood the principle. So... how hard could it be?
Several minutes, and a number of muttered curses later, the door slowly slid open. Clark quickly disappeared inside.
Finding Lois’ room was easy. So too was avoiding detection - although on one occasion he’d been forced to float on the ceiling when someone had come down the corridor he was using. Fortunately, the woman had rushed past without even the slightest hint that she was going to look up. As for the rest, given the time of night, the hallways were basically deserted.
Finally, he arrived at the door to Lois’ room. A quick look through the wall told him that she was in bed and, if her heart rate was any indication, on the verge of sleep.
He took a deep breath. “Here goes nothing,” he whispered under his breath as he silently turned the doorknob to her room.
* * * * * * * * *
PRESENT
* * * * * * * * *
Clark glanced towards the bedroom to see Lois still sound asleep through the crack in the door. Better to let her sleep as long as possible. After all, when she woke up, she was not going to be a happy camper. After all, she was bound to remember what had happened after he’d entered that room at the Metropolis Neurological Center. And what had happened had not been pretty. He had hoped that he could chloroform her while she was still groggy with sleep, before she had a chance to really know what was going on. Unfortunately, it seemed Lois was ready to fight even in her sleep.
It had been a struggle not using his powers to such an extent that it became obvious to her what he was doing. Not only that, but he had to worry about her getting hurt. He had to avoid that at all costs. Still, the state of the room by the time Lois had gone limp in his arms certainly supported the idea that Lois had been abducted by Clark. After all, surely Superman could have done it with a lot less trouble.
Clark almost chuckled on that thought. Didn’t people realize by now that even Superman was hard pressed to best Lois Lane?
Clark’s almost smile turned to a frown. He figured he was going to soon be learning which one of them had the most determined stubborn streak because it wouldn’t likely be much longer before he was on the receiving end of Mad Dog Lane at her very best. And the only real advantage he had was that, unlike him, she had nowhere to run.
* * * * * * * * *
The sun coming between the curtains pulled Lois slowly out of sleep.
TO BE CONTINUED...
ML
