"Good night, Clark," Lois said as he opened the door for her.
"Good night, Lois," he replied. "Thanks for a wonderful evening."
"Thanks for dinner."
"Any time," he said. "I'll cook for you any time."
With a final smile, she turned and left.
Clark closed his door and moved to the table. He stared at the front page of the Daily Planet. The accusations and the distrust and the suspicion had lost their sting.
Because Lois didn't believe them.
And that meant more than anything else.
Part 12
After Lois left, Clark flew home to Kansas. He found his parents weeding the vegetable garden together. "Hi, Mom. Hi, Dad," he said as he approached them.
They both looked up, their faces immediately crinkling to smiles of welcome. "Clark," Martha said. "It's wonderful to see you." Then her pleasure waned. "Have you seen Saturday's Daily Planet?"
Clark nodded. "Yeah. Lois got me a copy from Sydney."
"Lois?" Martha said, her curiosity overcoming her concern. "She knows?"
Together all three moved towards the farmhouse kitchen in unspoken recognition that Clark couldn't be seen by anyone who knew he was supposed to be in Australia. "No," Clark said. "She doesn't know - not *that* anyway."
"What does she know?"
They closed the kitchen door behind them. "She read the reports," Clark said. "But she believes that Superman didn't cause the train tragedy, and that he poses no threat to humanity."
"Well, she has more sense than that Drake woman," Martha said bitterly.
"Mayson did a comprehensive job on me," Clark said. "Six pages of character assassination."
"Jason Trask seems equally deranged," Jonathan said. "He's a government agent; I worry about Superman having enemies in high places."
Martha slammed the kettle on the stove with more force than Clark had ever seen her use. "I would like to take both of them and slap them upside the head," she stated.
Clark felt his smile begin to wander across his face. His mother turned, and he pulled it into a line but he just wasn't quick enough.
"What are you grinning about?" she demanded in a tone that transported him back to his childhood.
"I wouldn't like to be either Mayson or Trask if they came face to face with a mama bear like you," he said.
His mom didn't smile. "Clark!" she admonished. "This is serious."
Clark stood and gave his mom a quick hug. "I'm not sure there's much they can do," he said. "... Other than trying to convince everyone that there are thousands of us all trained and ready to take over the entire world."
"What if everyone believes them?" Jonathan said.
Clark sat down again. "Dad, I knew before leaving for Australia that I had to make some decisions about Superman. Mayson was already baying for his blood, and I knew that every time he appeared, she would only increase her efforts to bring him down."
"But now she's found a powerful ally in this Trask fellow," Jonathan said glumly.
Martha brought the teapot to the table, and silence fell in the little kitchen. Clark's mind slid back to the movie he'd watched with Lois. The horse-chase had been breath-taking. And he would never forget the wonder of having Lois's warm presence pressed against his side. He wanted to watch the sequel with her. And that other movie she had mentioned. And about a million more movies.
"What *are* you smiling about?" Martha demanded.
Clark forced his mind back to Saturday's Daily Planet. He knew that if he didn't manage to push aside the enticing aura of his evening with Lois, he would face a barrage of questions from his parents. Questions he wasn't ready to answer. Not yet.
"Mom, Dad," he said, forcing gravity into his tone. "My greatest fear is that someone will use you to try to get to me, but there hasn't been the slightest indication that anyone suspects you have a link with Superman, so you are safe - and nothing else matters."
"What about you?" Jonathan said.
"Dad," Clark said, restraining his chuckle. "They can say this stuff, but they can't actually hurt me. Not physically." And, he added silently, there is only one other person whose opinion really matters, and miraculously, she has already made up her mind that Superman isn't someone to be feared.
"What if they've discovered more of the green rock?"
Clark felt the little outbreak of apprehension that always accompanied the memory of the only physical pain he had ever experienced. "You wrapped the green rock in lead, and I tossed it far into space," he reminded them. "Trask is a government agent, but that doesn't mean he can retrieve little green pebbles from the vastness of the universe."
His attempted joke fell flat. Clearly, his parents were worried. "What if there's more of it?" Jonathan persisted.
"More?" Clark said, his throat tightening despite his belief that there was virtually no chance that Trask could have found more of the green rock.
Martha stood abruptly, and from the shelf, she took a copy of the Daily Planet. Clark recognised it as the same edition as Lois had given him. The picture on the front was truly appalling. His mom smacked the paper on the table, opened it, and pointed at a column. "A quote from Trask," she said bleakly. "'Government scientists have discovered the weakness in this alien race. Despite seeming to be invulnerable, the secret to their strength has been uncovered, and we are confident that when they attack us, we will be ready for them with the means to overpower them. This is a war we can win if we remain vigilant and refuse to be blinded by Superman's meaningless benevolent acts of charity.'" She looked up to Clark, her eyes filled with a compelling mix of fear and fury.
"Mom," Clark said. "That doesn't mean they have the green rock."
"It means they might have it," Jonathan countered.
Clark thought for a moment. "That would mean there was more to find," he conceded. "And we didn't get all of it."
"Exactly," Martha snapped. "From where we found it, and from the effect it had on you, we concluded it had come in the trail of your spaceship. Your father and I searched the whole area and gathered up all we could find, but we have no way of knowing if we got all of it."
"And," Jonathan added, "We had no way to test it, and we certainly didn't want to show it to anyone else. Science is so advanced these days, there is every possibility they could determine that the green rock is alien in origin."
"And then," Martha said as she absently poured the tea. "It's only a small leap to assume it is somehow related to Superman."
"They haven't even fully decided Superman *is* alien," Clark said.
"Publicly, there have been numerous hypotheses," Jonathan said. "Most of them too far-fetched for even science-fiction - but we have no way of knowing what they believe privately. This Trask fellow says he has been working on 'eliminating' the threat since the first appearance of Superman, and now, after two years of intensive research, he believes he has the answers. He sounds confident that he knows how to bring down Superman."
Clark could see from their faces that his parents were concerned. He imagined them poring over the Planet stories and anxiously trying to determine what it meant for their son. His irritation with Mayson Drake surged. Her attacks on him he could tolerate, but now her obsession had touched his parents.
"Clark," Martha said sombrely, "We don't think Superman should appear any more. Not for a long time."
"Mom," Clark said. "You know I can't sit by and watch people die when I can prevent their deaths."
"You won't be in Metropolis," Martha said. "You won't even have to know about it."
"That's not a long-term solution," Clark said dejectedly.
"Clark," Martha said. "We think Trask will swoop the next time Superman appears. He is frighteningly single-minded and driven; it's possible he would cause an emergency just to lure you into his trap."
"How are they going to hold me, Mom?" Clark asked. But he already knew the answer.
"That won't be hard if they have the green rock," Jonathan said, his voice not quite steady.
Clark sipped his tea. He had nothing to quell their fears.
"Clark," Martha said. "We think you should go back to Australia and stay there for the remainder of the three months. We think you should destroy the suits and give up all thoughts of Superman. It is just too dangerous."
"Mom, I can't ..."
"You can," she said firmly. "You've helped a lot of people these past two years. I know you want to help others, but you can't put your own life at risk."
"Mom, I just want to help."
"We know that," she said. "But you didn't see Trask. He was on the television, and his hatred is frightening, Clark. He said he will stop at nothing to see Superman dead."
"And with that Drake woman writing her poison, it won't be long until everyone starts believing them," Jonathan said ominously.
Clark contemplated them - first his mom and then his dad. As always, he saw the magnitude of their love for him; he saw their desire to protect him, to give him the normal life they knew he craved.
"And Clark," Martha said. "You know how much we love seeing you, but we don't think you should fly home again - we don't know if they have radars that could pick up your movements."
Clark felt a rising river of dismay. Was that possible? Was it possible they could track him as he flew? And if they could, had he just led them directly to his parents? And did that mean he would lead them to Lois when he flew back to Melbourne?
Perhaps his mom saw his alarm, because her hand closed gently over his. "There's no reason to believe they can do that," she said. "We just think you should be careful." She took a deep breath and managed a smile. "Tell me about Lois," she said. "You were with her before coming here, weren't you?"
"What makes you think that?" Clark said, trying to keep his tone even.
Martha smiled, and it peeked out from her concern like the sun materialising from behind a dark cloud. "The way you walked in here," she said. "The way you were almost walking on air; the glazed look in your eyes; the way you kept smiling at some private thought."
Clark felt his smile pull at the edges of his mouth. "Yes, I was with Lois," he admitted.
Martha smiled more fully. "Then you need to go back to her and just be Clark Kent for a while. Clark Kent, American reporter on exchange in Australia. Clark Kent, young man in love."
"I didn't say I was in love," Clark said quickly.
"You didn't have to," his mom replied.
Clark chuckled and stood up from the table. "I should get out of here," he said. He gave them a long hug. "I love you both," he said, realising that for the first time ever, he was facing a possibly extended time away from home. "I'll miss you," he said.
"We'll miss you, too," Jonathan said.
Clark backed away and looked at both of them. "If ... if you have any problems," he said, hating to give voice to his fears, "... anything at all, call me. Promise you won't try to protect me by not contacting me."
He waited, knowing they wouldn't want to agree to his request.
"Promise me," he demanded.
They nodded - only slightly - but Clark knew it was as much as he would get. He scanned for anyone in the vicinity and, finding it clear, they walked outside. He quickly hugged both of his parents again and shot into the sky.
||_||
Tuesday morning, Clark walked into the Herald Sun office feeling as if his emotions were attached to the end of a wildly swinging pendulum. Whenever he thought about Melbourne, and Lois, and watching the movie with her, and how her small body had felt against his, and her staunch support of Superman, he was flooded with exhilaration. But then he would remember Metropolis, and Mayson, and his parents' worries, and Trask - and a smothering drape of anxiety threatened to suffocate his joy.
Perhaps the time had come to stop trying to be two people.
Perhaps it was time to retire Superman and put away the red cape and the blue tights forever.
Perhaps it was time to pretend he was normal.
But if he did, people would die. People who didn't have to die because he had the strength and the speed and the power to save them.
Innocent people would be maimed and injured and denied justice. Criminals would continue to steal and cheat and dominate and wield their weapons of fear.
Clark felt like he was suspended on the cliff of indecision.
When Lois walked in, his heart accelerated. She nodded in his direction with a half-smile and picked up the phone the moment she sat at her desk. He wondered if there were further developments regarding the merger.
She was on the phone for over an hour, immediately dialling a new number as soon as she hung up from the previous call. Finally, she replaced the phone and scrutinised her scribbled notes.
Clark sprang from his desk, glad he'd had the forethought to use a little super-speed to get ahead on the story Browny had given him. He detoured to the coffee bench and made her a drink. "How's it going?" he asked Lois when he arrived at her desk, fervently hoping that none of the closeness from last night had been lost.
Lois smiled up at him - giving his optimism the impetus to surge through the cloak of despair. "OK," she replied. She glanced down for half a second and then added, "Thanks for last night. I had a wonderful time."
That one comment from Lois completely shredded the last traces of gloom. Not Mayson, or Trask, or anyone else could cloud his world if Lois enjoyed being with him. "I had a wonderful time, too," Clark said. "I'm looking forward to seeing the sequel."
"It won't be for a few nights," she warned. "I think I'll be chasing this story for most of the week."
"What's been happening?"
Lois motioned him to come closer, and he leant over her desk. "The meeting is definitely going ahead tonight," she said quietly. "It's in Brunswick."
"Where's that?"
"Inner northeastern suburb," she replied. "Ironically, it's just past Fitzroy. One of the key figures in this has offices there."
"Do you think there is any possibility of a solution other than a merger?"
Lois shook her head. "No," she said sadly. "I think that by tomorrow, there will be one less Victorian club."
"Will you be at the meeting tonight?" Clark asked.
"They won't let me in, but I'll be outside."
"Can I come?"
"You want to share my byline?" she asked in a tone that left Clark unsure as to whether she was joking or serious.
"No, I want to make sure you get home safely," he said.
Lois laughed, although it was strained. "I can't see how it could possibly *not* be safe," she said.
"Can I come?"
"OK."
"Thank you."
"I'm not sure what I'll be doing this afternoon," Lois said. "I'll let you know where and when to meet."
"Thanks, Lois." Knowing she needed to get on with her story, Clark straightened and began to walk away.
"Thanks for the coffee, Clark," she called after him.
He waved in response and sat at his desk, deciding his best move would be to get his story finished so he could be free to go with Lois whenever she decided to leave.
||_||
That evening, Lois and Clark sat in her Jeep in a dimly lit lane off a larger, brighter street. Lois told him the meeting was to be held in an office around the corner - out of their sight, but hopefully she would recognise the cars as they passed.
She seemed tense and preoccupied and Clark sensed that any excitement at the possibility of a big story wasn't enough to counteract her sorrow over the probable death of a football club. She said little, merely noting when a car passed carrying a relevant person.
By nine o'clock, Lois estimated that the people imperative to the deal had arrived. She started the engine, crawled around the corner, and parked in sight of the office building. She called Browny and told him that she expected to have concrete news within an hour.
Ten o'clock came and passed. Occasionally, Lois would sigh deeply, and Clark couldn't help thinking that this felt like waiting in a hospital for news of a desperately ill loved-one. He gently squeezed her shoulder. "It's tough waiting, isn't it?" he said quietly.
She nodded.
By eleven o'clock, Clark could sense Lois's rapidly increasing tension. Her heart had accelerated, and he didn't need to touch her shoulders to know they were tight with stress. "Any thoughts?" he asked.
"This is either really good news ... or really bad," she said. "If the merger had been going ahead, I doubt it could possibly have taken more than an hour. The details would have been thrashed out already, and it should have been simply a matter of signing the documents."
"The delay makes it less likely the merger will happen?"
"Yes," Lois said. "But I really don't know if that is good news for Fitzroy or bad."
It was past midnight when Lois suddenly lurched, opened her door, and sprinted across the road to where a man had emerged from the office block. Clark followed her. "Lois Lane, Herald Sun," she said. "Is the North-Fitzroy merger going ahead?"
The man's face was impossible to read. "No comment," he said.
"When will it be announced?" she pressed. "When will the supporters of the two clubs be informed of the decisions made about their futures?"
"No comment."
"Don't you think the members of the clubs should have had some say in what happens to their clubs?" Lois asked. "Why have the boards chosen this path without consulting the members?"
The man pushed past her and walked away.
A second man emerged from the house and stepped up to Lois. Even in the dim light, Clark could see that his face was pale and drained, and his body language was one of extreme hopelessness. He glanced to Lois and said one word. "Nothing."
"Nothing?" Lois echoed, and it seemed she had managed more understanding of his meaning than Clark had.
"Nothing," the man repeated.
"Why?"
"I'm sorry, Flinders," he said. "My first loyalty has to be to my club."
Lois lifted her hand and rested it on the man's upper arm for a moment. She said nothing, but Clark could sense the empathy flowing between them. The man gave her a quick glance that was probably meant to suffice as thanks for her gesture and he walked away, his step heavy and his posture slumped.
Lois trudged slowly back to the Jeep.
"You aren't going to talk to anyone else?" Clark asked.
She shook her head. "No one else there will talk to me." Something of the man's dispiritedness had settled upon her.
"What did 'nothing' mean?"
"No merger."
"So?"
Lois lifted her hands in abject indecisiveness. "I don't know," she said. She took her cell from her bag and called Browny.
"Nothing was decided tonight," she said after he'd answered her call. She listened for a few moments and then said, "All of my sources said the decision would be finalised tonight. No, I don't know what stalled it. I get the feeling that if the truth about what happened in there tonight comes out, it could spell the death of Fitzroy."
She listened for a long moment.
"It's your call," she said eventually.
She listened again and then hung up her cell and replaced it in her bag. She slumped back into the driver's seat and stared into the darkness.
"Is Browny going to print your story?" Clark asked softly.
She nodded. "He feels we've sat on this long enough. He's going to print what we know for sure - that there was a meeting tonight that was meant to sign off on the merger between North and Fitzroy. We don't know what happened, or what will happen now."
"Is it possible they will sort out whatever couldn't be decided tonight?"
"Yes, but my gut feeling is that the longer this goes, the more ground Fitzroy will lose."
"Would you like me to drive home?" Clark asked.
Lois chuckled, restrained and doleful, but it put a crack in the gloomy atmosphere. "How many times have you driven on the correct side of the road and the correct side of the car?" she asked.
"Never."
"Then I think I should drive home."
"Will you come to my place and let me get you something to eat?" Clark asked. "I know you have had nothing since mid-afternoon."
She smiled, but it could dispel her dejection. "Been keeping tabs on me, have you, Kent?"
"Hardly," he denied. "But I'm starving, and you've been with me for hours, and neither of us has eaten, so I figure you're probably hungry too."
"I am hungry," she admitted. "But more than that, I'm tired. Thanks for the offer, but I just want to get home and get some sleep. However this falls, I can't see tomorrow being anything other than a big day."
"Wednesday's your day off," he said.
"Not this week," she said with a sigh.
"OK," Clark said, trying to stifle his disappointment.
She drove them home through the dark, sparsely-populated streets.
At his driveway, she bid him goodnight, and Clark walked away, his arms aching to hold her.
||_||
It wasn't a hard decision for Clark to forego his day off and head into the office the next morning. He wanted to be with Lois, and if she was at work, that was where he intended to be. From his desk, he heard her heartbeat first, and he looked to the door, knowing she was about to enter. As she appeared, a shout erupted, followed by loud applause as several people crossed the floor to surround her.
"Congratulations, Flinders," Banjo said.
"Your first-ever front page," Bluey said. "Well done."
Browny came from his office, a smile on his face. "Great story, Flinders," he said. "It's about time football took the front page again, and you did us proud."
Clark stood up, and he was able to see Lois's face through the crowd. She was smiling, but he could read enough into her smile to know that although she was happy about the success of her story, she fervently wished the subject had been something different.
Browny turned back to his office. "Flinders," he ordered. "Come with me."
Lois sent Clark a little smile as she headed into Browny's office. Clark logged onto his computer and opened the Daily Planet site. He flicked back to Sunday's edition and found more speculation about Superman - his past origins and his future intentions.
Clark shook his head. Mayson had missed her calling - with an imagination like hers, she should be writing science fiction.
And Trask - he sounded dangerous.
Monday's edition led with the story that a group of three men had been charged with sabotaging the train track and weakening the tunnel. Clark noticed that there was no published apology to Superman for the now-disproved accusations.
Tuesday's edition didn't mention Superman. Clark surmised that one of two things had happened - either Perry was out of the hospital and back in the office, or he had somehow managed to wrest back control of the paper despite being confined to bed. Clark knew that some of the stories published in his absence would have done nothing to lower the Chief's stress levels.
Clark closed the Planet site and picked up the copy of the Herald Sun that had been left on his desk. On the front page was the headline - NORTH-FITZROY, and then in smaller print, 'Merger planned, stalled.' And under that ... 'by Lois Lane'.
He read the story and was again impressed at how Lois had managed to include so much detail without losing sight of how devastating this was going to be for many people.
"RUBBER!"
Clark stood, hoping Browny was calling him into his office to tell him to work with Lois on the merger story. His hopes were dashed when he met Lois at Browny's door, coming out of his office. Clark stood back to let her pass, caught the little smile she tossed to him, and returned one of his own.
He stepped into Browny's office and shut the door. "Isn't it your day off?" Browny said darkly.
"Yes."
"Why are you here?"
"Lois told me about her story, and I knew it was going to be a momentous day, so I came in," Clark said, hoping that sounded reasonable.
"I hope you don't have any plans for next Wednesday," Browny said.
"No, I don't," Clark said, knowing from Browny's tone that that was the only acceptable response.
"Good. You'll be playing for the Print Media boys in our annual charity game against the Electronic Media boys."
Clark gulped. "Football?" he said.
"Of course football," Browny barked. "What were you expecting? Tiddlywinks?"
"No," Clark said. He hurried on. "I haven't played a game in my life," he said. "I really don't think -."
"You're here as Deano's replacement," Browny said decisively. "And Deano always plays, so you'll be playing."
Clark knew argument would be pointless. "OK," he said.
"Gazza's the captain. He'll get you the details and give you your kit. You're going to the barbie this arvo? Good. See him then."
Browny picked up his phone and began to dial.
Clark turned and walked out of Browny's office.
This was not good.
This was not good at all.
