A/N: First of all, my thanks to Carol for BRing this. Secondly, this is set during the episode ‘A Bolt from the Blue’. The plot bunny came to me while watching said episode, and honestly expecting Clark to say... well, what I have him say in the following story, even though I knew that wasn’t what he was going to say. So a lot of the words and plot that follow was actually written by Kathy McCormick, not me, I just twisted it into something almost new. And thirdly, and perfectly well aware that I may have done this whole introduction backwards, a quick explanation. This was one of the first fanfics I started writing, and is actually the first story into what I call ‘The Game Trilogy’ (all with equally bad sporty-esque titles). IIRC, they follow in sequence each with an episode ‘missing’ between them, which occurred as per the show. The only flaw in this is that the third story ‘Final Score’ is about twice as long as the first two stories, so I’ll probably post it in two parts. I’ll put all three stories together in the same
TOC: The Game Trilogy .
Standard disclaimers, as ever, apply.
*.*.*.
The Game Beginsby Alisha Knight*.*.*.
Lois was standing by her car, waiting as patiently as Lois could for Clark to return from his trip to the bathroom. She heard a familiar whooshing sound and the crunch of feet landing on gravel.
She paused, letting her anger rise slightly before confronting the man she knew had appeared at the other side of her car. It would be easier to confront the Man of Steel about his lies with adrenaline pumping through her veins. She turned around. Yes, he was there, arms folded across his chest in typical Superman stance, with almost a guilty look on his face, as if he already knew what she was going to say.
She strode around the car to confront him, her anger rising further with each step. “Did you lie to me?”
His expression didn’t change; he looked like a little boy who’d just been caught with his hand in a cookie jar. “What makes you say that?”
Lois didn’t have time for this. His very presence was calming, even when it was *him* she was mad at. “Either you know what I mean or you don’t.”
“I didn’t *lie*.”
“All right. Did you lead me to believe something that wasn’t exactly true?”
“Yes.”
Well, what had she expected? Him to deny it, to lie even more? He was Superman, she still couldn’t quite believe that he’d lied in the first place. Of course he was going to admit he’d misled her. And his doing it made her even less angry, she was just upset now.
“I wouldn’t have expected that from you.”
She walked away from him, and suddenly her anger returned. She turned round. “When I kept Kryptonite a secret it’s because it’s life-threatening. This is news.”
He was angry. She could see it in his face. Angry, and perhaps a little scared. Superman was almost shouting as he spat back at her. “Do you have any idea what would happen if this information became public knowledge? Everyone would want super powers. Everyone would think that they deserved super powers. I mean, if you found out what my real name was, would you print it? Sure, it’s not life-threatening, not if you don’t count that I wouldn’t have a normal life any more, or that the world’s criminals would suddenly make a beeline for my friends and family. Of course it *would* be news. People have been wondering about my life ever since I appeared on the Messenger shuttle, even you. Just because it isn’t life-threatening, doesn’t mean that it wouldn’t be harmful to print it.”
*.*.*.
Lois stared at him, her mouth open, unable to get any words out, and suddenly realisation dawned on Clark. He’d just told her that he wasn’t really Superman, that he had a *normal* life, as an ordinary man. There was only one way she could look more shocked, some annoying little voice told him, and that’s if you had also accidentally blurted out something more stupid such as ‘would you write the headline: Clark Kent is Superman’?
“Lois,” he took a step towards her, and she took one back, her arms wrapped around her body. This wasn’t a good sign. “Please, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have . . .”
“What? Told me the truth. No, wait a minute, you haven’t. You haven’t just told the truth about who you really are, all you’ve done is admitted that you’ve been lying to me for over a year. I thought we were friends, I thought...” She shook her head, tears appearing in her eyes. “I almost thought that you had feelings for me.”
“Lois.”
“Maybe not love. I know that you’ve told me that you didn’t want a relationship with me, but I thought that I was at least a really close friend of yours.”
“You are.” He moved forward to touch her, comfort her.
“But how can I be?” She dodged him again. “How can I be your friend, when you say Superman isn’t who you really are?”
Clark shook his head. This was bad, this was really bad. Would telling her the truth now make it any better? He risked looking into her eyes for a split second. No, it would do no good. She at least needed to calm down first.
“I suppose,” he swallowed, and tried again. “Lois, for a while now, I’ve been considering telling you the truth of who I really am. I started wondering whether to when Luthor...” he couldn’t say ‘proposed’. Only Clark knew before their engagement had been announced that he had asked her to marry him. It was possible that Clark would have told Superman, but right now he wanted to distance the connection. “...and you got engaged.”
“Why? And why didn’t you?” She was still mad, and upset, but ever curious. Clark almost smiled.
“Why? Because if I did, maybe you would have changed your mind about Luthor before the wedding. Why didn’t I?” He could feel her eyes glaring at him. “Because it shouldn’t have made any difference at all. Why have I still not told you after admitting this much?” He glanced at her. Yes, that question was about to be brought up. “Trust me when I say, it’s complicated.”
“Complicated.” She gazed up at the heavens, as if looking for inspiration. “Complicated! What, you’re married? Got five kids and a mortgage? Have several different names you go by, not just two? Are a politician, a soldier, spy? How is it complicated?”
Clark gritted his teeth. He wasn’t going to tell her, not just yet. He was going to wait until she could take the news better. He knew she was never going to take it well, but she could take it better than she would right now. “Not like that. I’m single, I’m renting, I only have one other name and my job isn’t that any more high profile than yours.”
“Job?” Lois appeared to mull that thought over for a second. “I’m surprised you manage to keep one. Don’t you have to keep running off all the time?”
He fought the impulse to grin. Didn’t she ever wonder why her partner kept doing that? He tried to change the subject. “Look, Lois, I’m only asking you to think about it, talk it over with Clark.”
“Does he know who you really are, or have you kept him in the dark about it as well?” Lois’ voice sounded even more irate, it suddenly dawned on Clark that he was in danger of incurring her wrath twice over if he let her think that Clark had been keeping this from her.
“I haven’t told him.” Which, technically, was true enough. “I meant, talk to him about my powers being transferable. Right now, that’s the big issue.” She snorted. “That’s the story everyone wants to know. People are wondering more about that than Superman’s secret life right now. And about *that*, I need a little time before I can tell you that. Can’t you try and understand?”
Lois nodded sharply, her body stiff as she fought to control her anger against him. “I can try. You can think, and I’ll discuss with Clark what to print about how ‘Resplendent Man’ got his powers. But right now Superman, right now I don’t want to be anywhere near you. Do *you* understand *that*?”
“I think so. And if you stay out of trouble I won’t need to be.” Clark flew off before he had a chance to say any more. He had been trying to disarm the situation as best he could. Damn Lois Lane. Anyone else, *anyone* else, and he wouldn’t have got so worked up. He wouldn’t have blurted out that he wasn’t really Superman, that he lived another life as a normal man. Anyone else, and it would have mattered a lot less to be told that he was really Clark Kent, and there were some people who he trusted enough that he would have told them. Not that he didn’t trust Lois with that information. He couldn’t see Lois writing an article that said that she’d been working closely with Superman all this time and not known it. That, at the very least, he could count on.
The trouble was, as he had told her, it was complicated. And really, getting more complicated. He should have just told her, like pulling off a bandaid, all in one go. He wasn’t really Superman. He was Clark Kent.
He was Clark Kent, and he was only supposed to have left her for a few minutes. No-one should take that long visiting the little boy’s room who didn’t need serious medical attention. As he headed back to the institution, he picked out the sound of voices arguing. Below him was the railway line. A car was sitting on the line, as a train was hurtling towards it, and that silly little man was busy arguing with the driver. Clark headed towards the ground. At least he could vent some of his anger out towards Mr. Waldecker.
*.*.*.
Clark knocked on Lois’ window, hoping that she wouldn’t just close the curtains and ignore him.
She was sitting on the couch eating from a tub of chocolate ice cream as he knocked. Slowly she placed the tub on the floor and turned down the volume of the TV before standing up, walking over to the window, and opening it for him.
“What do you want?”
“To talk to you and to see how you are.” He told her, referring to the earlier events of the day when Gretchen Kelly had locked her in a cage under a mausoleum.
Lois turned and walked back into her living room, leaving the window open so he could follow her. Clark was a little hesitant as he stepped down and walked across to her.
“I understand, I think,” she began to say, without looking at him, just staring blankly at the TV screen, “why people can only see you as Superman. I mean, look at all the trouble I’ve gotten into by being linked to you. It just wouldn’t be safe for the people you’re close to. But I won’t lie to you; I’m hurt that you won’t trust me with that information.”
“Lois, it’s not that I don’t trust you with it, it’s just hard for me to tell you, that’s all.”
She turned round to face him with a sad smile. “So don’t. Just promise you will tell me when you’re ready.”
Clark stepped closer to her and touched her cheek. “I will. It’s a promise I made to myself some time ago anyway.”
She smiled again, a real smile this time. “Really?”
“Really. I’ve never wanted to hurt you, and at first, it never really crossed my mind that it would.”
Lois eyed him suspiciously. “What are you talking about?”
Clark laughed. “Nothing, I suppose. At least nothing that’ll make sense to you... yet.”
“You are a strange one, Superman.” She said, picking up her ice cream and heading towards the freezer.
“Am I?”
“Whoa,” Lois grinned, “I just got the strangest feeling, almost like déjà-vu, only... not.” She shut the freezer door and turned to face him. “Do you ever think you’ll be able to tell me who you are?”
There was such hope in her face but at the same time Clark felt so unsure. Could he ever bring himself to tell her? The longer it went on, the harder it would be. Perhaps he’d never be ready.
Almost as if Lois sensed his uncertainty, she walked over to him, took his hand, and sat him down on the couch. “Listen to me, Superman. I believe you when you say you would like me to know who you are, and that you, for some reason I’m not aware of, would find it really tough to actually just say, “Hey, Lois, guess what, I’m really so-and-so”, so I have an idea.”
“An idea?”
Lois laughed. “Just hear me out. What if, instead of you telling me, I just, figured it out?”
“What do you mean?”
“Come to the Planet tomorrow, as you, not Superman, and speak to me. You don’t have to say something like ‘guess who’, just something so that I actually look at you, not just pass you in a corridor. I’m sure I’ll recognise you, I mean, you’re not wearing a mask or anything now, and Superman *is* your disguise, right?”
Clark fought a grin; why would she recognise him tomorrow when she didn’t today? Still, if she was that eager to work it out, and it really was almost blindingly obvious that Clark was Superman, maybe she would. Maybe she would understand why he found it so hard to tell her. Maybe she would never speak to him again. That was just a risk he was now going to have to take. “OK, I will say something to you at the Planet, and I will give you a clue just to help you out a little.”
“Superman, it’s me, Lois. I won’t need your help.”
He laughed. “Lois, you *always* need my help. How do you think we became friends in the first place?”
Wait, why did he just ask her that? If she knew, she’d know the answer, and it wasn’t that she was in a deadly scenario almost every week. She’d know it was because they worked together. Still, it was too late to take it back. Maybe when she worked it out, she’d have forgotten it. “Look, this is what my face looks like, but, normally, I do have something that kind of obscures it a little.”
“Like what?”
He fought the smile that wanted to appear on his lips. “I thought you didn’t need my help. I’ve got to go, but, I’ll, uh, see you tomorrow.”
*.*.*.
Lois watched as Superman flew out of her window. He had a normal life. He was single. Maybe she really could be with him after all. They could go to the cinema, have dinner in fancy restaurants, like a normal couple. Her and some man who was almost a stranger. Perhaps they could double date, Lois and Superman, Clark and Mayson. Jealousy flickered over Lois’ heart. No, she wouldn’t want that. She couldn’t bear to watch Clark with Mayson on a date, even if she was with Superman.
She remembered with some trepidation how she felt after Clark had been murdered. She pictured the double-date scene in her mind again, only this time she was the one dating Clark.
Strange, was it possible? Had Clark somehow overtaken Superman in her feelings? That couldn’t be right, but at the same time she knew it was. She could lose Superman if she had to, her life would go on, but if she lost Clark...
She glanced over at her phone. It was too late to call him, just to hear his voice and check that he was really alive again. She’d been calling him a lot more since the incident with Capone’s gang for that very reason. Just as after a couple of nights of them posing as a honeymooning couple, it had become necessary for her to say goodnight to him. How had that little worm managed to sneak himself into her life like that, and become such an essential part of it that she wasn’t sure she would be able to live without him?
She shook her head and brought herself back to her present conundrum.
Superman.
Just finding out who he really was didn’t mean that she was definitely going to date this mystery man. Besides, Clark had only once said that he felt more for her than friendship, and he had withdrawn it as soon as she was free from Lex. He didn’t want to be her boyfriend and maybe Superman wouldn’t, once she knew the truth.
Why didn’t Clark want to be her boyfriend? Was she really that repulsive? Or did he just not want to risk losing their friendship by suggesting it might be something more?
She got up and walked back over to the freezer and pulled out the ice cream. If that idiot hadn’t have fallen asleep the only time she’d felt brave enough to broach the subject with him, she wouldn’t be wondering all this now, and eating so much ice cream that her clothes were beginning to feel a little bit too snug for her liking. She flopped down on the couch and turned up the volume on her TV. Men. Life was a lot less complicated without them.
*.*.*.
She watched as Tad Waldecker walked over to the elevators, then Clark spoke to her. “Well?”
“Well, what?”
“How do you feel about not telling Perry everything we knew?”
Lois self-consciously tucked her hair behind her ear, avoiding eye contact with her partner. “Bad. I feel bad. But Superman was right.”
“Yeah.” Clark smiled broadly. “It’s one of his more irritating qualities.”
She looked at him, thoughts racing through her mind. “Do you think that that strange woman had Lex’s body all along?”
“I guess so.”
“What kind of person keeps a body frozen in a glass case?”
“Somebody who’s having a hard time getting a date?” he joked, as if trying to lighten the mood. “At least we know for sure that he is dead.”
“Absolutely. I saw everything go flatline.”
She watched her partner as he returned to his own desk. He had a good body. Lois mentally scolded herself for her wandering mind. Why was she concentrating on Clark? She was supposed to be keeping an eye out for Superman. He said he’d come in and speak to her today. Had he already come in and spoken to her and she’d ignored him? It was quite possible, she thought sadly. She knew what she was like, even if she wouldn’t admit it to anyone else.
She sneaked another peek at her partner. She could use him as her eyes, he noticed everyone, especially attractive men who spoke to *her*. Maybe he did like her after all.
With an irritated groan, she forced herself to concentrate on her job.
*.*.*.
Clark looked over at Lois. That was the second time he had seen her looking at him. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat. Had she figured it out, or had he somehow irritated her again? There were still times when he managed to wind her up without ever working out how. He was just a master at annoying Lois Lane, whether trying to or not.
He watched her glance over at the elevators. Well, she hadn’t worked it out, because she definitely looked like she was hoping someone would burst through those doors and sweep her off her feet.
He fiddled with his glasses. Who was she imaging Superman would really be? No, he shouldn’t think about that, because it was only going to get him down when he compared what he imagined Lois was imagining with himself.
“Clark,” she called over to him, “you’re close to Superman, right?”
“You could say that,” he answered cautiously. Where was she going with this? Knowing, Lois, it could be anywhere.
“Well, I was just wondering...” she began.
What was she just wondering? Clark was watching her curiously. She couldn’t give much away; Clark would undoubtedly be hurt if he knew that his friend was keeping such a big secret from him. She had to be careful.
And now she had taken too long on this pause, still with no idea what she was going to ask him. “I was just thinking, you know, we don’t really know that much about him. We think we do, but when you get right down to it. We don’t know anything about him.”
Clark sighed. “I think there’s a very big possibility that you know more about Superman than you think.”
“What makes you say that?”
He seemed to think about it for a moment before answering.
“Knowing people isn’t knowing every little fact about them, it’s about knowing what’s in their heart. Once you know that, something silly like their favourite colour, food or TV show doesn’t seem that important.”
She smiled at him. Trust Clark to think like that. It was a lovely thought, but that wasn’t how she saw things. She wouldn’t feel like she knew Superman until she knew, well, probably not quite as much as she knew about Clark. She knew Clark better than she knew anyone.
“So, what do you think about this?”
*.*.*.
Lois mulled the events of the day over and over in her head. Not that there was much to mull over. After his initial jubilation over the Waldecker scoop, Perry had sent her and Clark out some conference that was so dull she’d forgotten what it was about as soon as she stepped outside. Luckily for her, Clark seemed to be on the ball. Just as well, really. He hadn’t *actually* been there yesterday when all the action happened, he had just helped her write it up. It was only fair that he did most on the work on their next article.
That wasn’t what was really bothering her, she had no problems with Clark, but for some reason she couldn’t stop thinking about Superman.
When she had the idea of working out his true identity, she’d seen it as a kind of game. It would be something to brighten up her day when she saw Superman, knowing that she would be the only one who knew it was him, and they could laugh together at everyone else’s ignorance. They would make silly jokes like him having to fly when he had to leave because he heard someone in trouble. Now it was just irritating. She’d have understood if some major disaster had happened somewhere and he hadn’t been able to make it, but there hadn’t been, and yet she still hadn’t seen him.
There was a tap on her window. Cautiously, Lois walked over and opened it.
“Chicken out?” she asked.
“No,” Superman replied as he stepped into her apartment, his cape flowing behind him in the evening breeze. “I was at the Planet today, and I spoke to you.”
Lois felt her jaw drop to the ground. “I... I didn’t notice you.”
Superman looked a little guilty at her reaction. “Perhaps I’m not what you were looking for. You were looking for someone new. I saw you keep glancing at the elevators.”
She blinked as she fought to understand what he was telling her. “You work there? With me; at the Planet?”
“Yes.”
“Oh.” She laughed, though she had noticed the touch of hysteria that had crept in. “Well, you were right about that. I... hadn’t expected you to work at the Planet.” She narrowed her eyes at him. “Does Perry know about you?”
“That I’m Superman?” He asked, pointing to himself, his finger landing in the centre of the large ‘S’ that adorned his chest. Lois nodded. “If he does, he hasn’t given me any hint of it.”
Lois flopped down onto her sofa, disgusted with herself. “So that’s why it’s so hard for you to tell me, right? Because I really do know you. The other you. Which does make it really complicated. Superman, you know what, maybe we should just drop this. I think you were right. It’s all just too weird.”
There was a pause, and she looked at Superman. He appeared to be mulling things over and for a moment she thought that maybe he was about to tell her. Then his face fell and he shook his head slightly. “We can let it go for now, if you’d like Lois. So long as you’d still let me tell you when I’m ready.”
“I don’t know that I *want* to know now. Some guy I’ve probably said a cutting remark to in passing, because, let’s face it, that’s about the only conversation I have with most of my work colleagues, is really the man I’ve...” She blushed and glanced at him, before looking down at the floor. She really should find some time to do some cleaning soon, there was dirt everywhere. “But, I know I’ll keep wondering every time a man walks past my desk, so. Yeah, you can still tell me. Though I’ll probably work it out in a couple of days.”
Superman smiled sadly. “Yeah, Lois,” he replied, before stepping out of the window and flying away into the night sky, leaving the reporter alone and wondering what she was destined to one day discover.
*.*.*.
End Note:
Just for any FoLC out there (and I suspect I’m referring to pretty much everyone) who doesn’t remember the complete episode order of Lois and Clark, ‘A Bolt from the Blue’ was the next episode shown after TOGoM. Well, according to my series 2 DVDs anyway, which is what I was going by.
