It was almost dawn, a little after four in the morning. Clark still had at least two hours before he had to be back at the prison. Maybe he could wake his mother and try to get some ideas for the following night. Besides, he wanted to tell her his conjecture… that he was almost certain Lois was alive somewhere in the city!
He had covered a lot of territory, motivated by the thought that Lois might be alive, but still, nothing turned up. He had then begun the tedious task of x-raying the underground sewers, but there were so many old lead pipes, that it made the task frustrating and difficult. He couldn’t do much more searching tonight, and he just needed to be near something familiar.
Clark landed at his apartment, wondering if he was wasting more time by coming here instead of hunting down Luthor.
His spare key was gone from the front door, which he thought was strange. So he flew around to the large window in the living room. Luckily, it was easy to open, since it was virtually impossible for thieves to access it... unless those thieves could fly, he thought wryly.
Clark slipped in, wondering if his mother might even be up by now. It was nearing 5 o’clock in the morning, and though she tended to sleep in a little bit more in the city, she might be up. It would be nice to have a morning cup of coffee and a chat with her if she was up.
Clark wandered into the doorway of his room, his heart sinking as he was pretty certain his mom was still sleeping. He suddenly noticed that there were two figures in his bed, which he thought odd, since he knew his dad was in Kansas and especially since they both were the slight forms of women. So who...
All at once it hit him. Lois' eyes opened, and those deep pools of brown widened in recognition.
She swiftly flew out of the bed and into his arms with a gasp.
Clark could barely control the trembling in his arms, but quietly pulled her from the room and closed the door so as not to disturb his mother.
When the door shut, he let out a ragged sigh, half sob. "Lois..." he said, tears pooling in his eyes as he caressed her beloved face, a face he never thought to see again.
"Clark," she said brokenly, touching his 'S' on his chest, leaving the significance of recognition of both of his personae unspoken. It didn’t matter to her that he hadn’t told her the truth before. She had thought never to see him again, and any recriminations she may have had, at that moment seemed insignificant.
Clark leaned in about to kiss her, but hesitated a moment with a question in his eyes. She answered it by immediately closing the distance between them. She was through with pretention about her feelings for him, their feelings for each other; having nearly lost him, she knew that she loved him and would do anything for him, Superman or not.
His lips met hers, gently yet insistently, all the fear he had felt and passion beginning to speak through his kiss. She moaned slightly, tears constricting her throat, as she understood him, their kiss speaking volumes to each other. The rush of sensation sent both of them trembling. She caressed his back under his cape, pulling him in to her, as if they could never be close enough ever again.
Clark moved on to reverently kiss her eyes and her chin, her neck, caressing her and memorizing her.
Suddenly, the emotion became all too much for him. He fell to his knees before her, holding tightly to her waist as the tears came. She leaned down, turning his face towards her.
"It's okay," she whispered, bending down to meet him, to return the gentle treatment he had given her, kissing his face lovingly. Clark pulled her further down into his lap, and she tucked her head under his chin while he held her and both of them wept the tears of having nearly lost each other forever.
After a moment, when the first rush of emotion was over, Clark moved them over to the sofa. He wouldn't let go of her, which she didn't mind. He seemed to want to talk, but had difficulty forming the words as emotion choked him.
"What... happened?" he asked at last. "You were---*dead*. I saw you--" he shook his head, pulling her close to him again, his arm protective around her, when it couldn't be before.
She nodded. "Yes,” she said shakily, pushing her hair back behind her ear in a nervous gesture. She still hadn’t reconciled the strangeness of having been dead and now brought back to life. “Ironically, it was Lex who saved me," she said, but knowing the impact those words would have on Clark, she quickly continued. "He didn't do it to rescue me, but to try and control me. He--told me you were dead," she whispered, the horror of the moment relived in her mind.
Their eyes met, the shared torture of thinking the other one was gone forever eloquent.
She reached for his hand, squeezing it as much to reassure herself of his presence as to comfort him. "He told me Nigel St. John had stabbed me and killed me. And that he rescued me through some cryogenics method. And that Nigel had... killed you."
Lois fell into tears again, and Clark pulled her against his chest.
"The past week and a half has been hell for me, Lois. But now that I know you are okay, I think everything is going to be all right."
She sniffled and then looked up at him, realizing something. "Your mother said they had accused you of….” She couldn’t get it out. “You were in prison blamed for my death all this time?"
He nodded, the memories of the past week evident on his face. "I was.”
“Did you… sneak out?” she asked, wondering how Superman’s ethics were justifying breaking himself out of prison.
He shook his head, stopping her questions. "Henderson knows. He figured it out and knew that the best way to find Luthor was to get Superman's help. So, we've made an arrangement. He's working the overnight shift and is allowing me to hunt down Luthor at night."
She smirked unexpectedly.
"What?" he asked with a smile.
"Maybe you have something in common with Gotham's caped-crusader after all," she laughed.
He shook his head. "I do not go around pretending I'm a bat," he said derisively, his eyebrow shooting up in that quirky way that she loved so well.
She reached out and stroked his face, serious again. "I thought I'd never see you again," she said quietly, blushing now as she realized the depth of her love for him, something she wouldn’t have acknowledged even to herself so readily before.
"I know," he breathed, turning his head to kiss her palm.
She reached around his neck, pulling him to her and breathing in his scent, still reconciling things in her mind. <<Clark is Superman... it's so simple and yet so extraordinary...>>
Suddenly Clark pulled away from her, shaking his head.
“What is it?” she asked, fearful she had said something wrong.
He looked at her, puzzled. “I don’t know, I have a headache all of the sudden…”
Her eyes widened with fright as she gestured for him to sit up. He looked at her with a question, but leaned forward at her insistence. She saw the evidence of what she feared on his cape from the sofa.
“I’m so sorry, Clark! I was trying to get rid of it!” she cried, running to the kitchen to get something to wipe up the Kryptonite dust from his cape.
“What do you mean? Is there Kryptonite here?” he asked in horror.
“A very little bit… You see, I was escaping Lex, and I kept dropping that stupid rock and the dust… got all over me… only I didn’t know it… and now you…” she fell into a puddle of tears on the sofa next to him, taking a cloth to his cape.
“It’s not much, Lois. I’ll be fine,” he said, his eyes strained with the headache.
Lois got the last bit of the dust off of him, and not having anything lead to put it in, she opened the large window and chucked it into the alley.
She immediately came back over to him and hugged him around his waist. “I’m so sorry!”
Suddenly he was comforting her. “It’s not your fault, Lois. And I feel better all ready, really. I’ll be fine.”
She looked at him, all of her confused emotions evident on her face. He lifted her chin to look at him. “I’m fine, really,” he said again, kissing her nose lightly.
She pulled him to her again, trembling. “It’s just been so scary, Clark!”
“Everything is going to all right. We’re together now. The hottest team in town, remember? And we’re close to nailing Luthor…”
She calmed down a bit. “Are you sure you’re okay?” she asked, her sniffles starting to die down. She inspected him carefully, looking for any change in his color.
He nodded. “Scout’s honor,” he said, lifting his fingers in a Boy Scout gesture that made her giggle.
“My big, blue Boy Scout,” she said, kissing his cheek.
“Speaking of being your Boy Scout, I think there’s one thing you haven’t told me that we really should deal with.”
“What’s that?” she asked.
“Where *is* Lex Luthor?”
“I want him arrested and given to the law as much as you do, but do we have to deal with him right now?” she sighed, shivering just thinking of going back into that sewer again.
“Lois, can you tell me where he kept you? I can be there and back and have this whole mess dealt with…”
“I would love to be there when you get him… I left maybe two or three hours ago… He's probably still under the influence of the tranquilizer...“ She turned to him, as if she made up her mind about something. “Go… twenty or so blocks down Clinton, towards the wharf. He’s underground, in the sewers….”
She had just barely finished her sentence and he had dashed out of there like a flash.
“Wow… “ she said, awed by his speed. Normally she would immediately chase after Superman and the bad guys, but she didn’t particularly want to see this bad guy again. She could, however, get some wheels moving in other directions.
Suddenly awake and full of more energy than she felt in days she dialed Henderson’s direct line.
“Henderson, this is Lois Lane. Just thought you should know, I’m not dead after all.”
