Previously:
Clark froze and stared down at the gutter in horror.
A lone red high-heeled shoe was lying there. It had only been two weeks since Lois had found that shoe and its mate on sale and had exulted all afternoon about what a steal it was to find them for less than a hundred dollars.
Wherever Lois was now, she hadn't left voluntarily.
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The Other Shoe 2/10
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Saturday morning
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Outside the bar, Clark scanned the buildings around him. There were apartments above the businesses, but none of them revealed a trace of her. There was no familiar heartbeat. Nothing except the memory of hearing Lois say his name.
Had it been that close? Had she been out front while he was in the alley? Had she called out for him as they took her away?
If only he wasn't following a trail that was now several hours cold. Clark berated himself again for not looking for her last night. If only he hadn't made assumptions. If only he had asked the bartender before leaving last night. If only he hadn't left her there to begin with. He should have let the world get by on its own for just a few hours. He should have given that soft plea for help his full attention.
Who had taken her? And why? What were they doing with her? Clark balked at thinking about that one. He couldn't concentrate when he started imagining what might be happening to Lois right now. Again and again his imagination played out the circumstances of Lois being carried out of the bar and calling for his help. She hadn't been drunk, or even tipsy, when he'd left her, of that much he was sure. Had someone drugged her?
Even in Metropolis on a Friday night, dragging an unconscious woman down the street might draw attention. Her shoe in the gutter made it appear likely that she had been taken away in a vehicle. He could check with the taxi companies and see if anyone remembered taking a fare from this location the night before.
Or maybe they had been parked close by?
Cursing himself again for not checking the night before, Clark scanned the parking structure at the end of the block. Lois' Jeep was right where they had parked it. He could practically hear the echo of their footsteps as they had walked through the garage. He remembered walking down the stairs with Lois ahead of him. He had been fascinated by the sway of her hips; delighted, as always, by the opportunity to watch her walk.
Why, why, why hadn't he checked last night before assuming that she had given up on him? Why hadn't it occurred to him that her car keys were still in his pocket? Because, he tortured himself, you were secretly glad for the reprieve from telling her your secret.
What if he had told her his secret? Heaven knows, he'd come oh-so-close to telling her more than once in the past week. What if he had worked up the courage to explain the real reason he was always running off? Would they still have gone out on Friday? Or would she have been safely at home, hating his guts?
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Tuesday night
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Clark was watching a baseball game on TV when his senses came to sudden attention. He could hear Lois' heartbeat somewhere nearby, like a siren's call. He closed his eyes, focusing on the sound that was quickly becoming the center of his universe.
"Hi," she said in a breathy, girlish tone. "Have you missed me? I missed you." Lois made a small dismissive snort and chided, "Don't be so pathetic." Clark heard her sigh and then she tried again, "Hi. I wanted to bounce some ideas off you." Her footsteps paused and he heard her draw in a shaky breath. "That won't work. You could have called him. Just be yourself," she instructed and started to climb the stairs again. "Act natural."
Keep going, Clark silently urged her. Lois was working on a new story and had been secretive about sharing the details with anyone until she was certain it was, as she put it, "more than speculation". He hadn't officially seen her since yesterday morning. Clark had, of course, cheated and found her doing surveillance near the docks. He had even toyed with the idea of visiting her as Superman, but dismissed it when he realized that would only draw attention to her efforts at being covert.
Her footsteps had reached the last landing on the stairs before his apartment. Galvanized into action, Clark stood up and swiftly scanned his surroundings. No dishes in the sink. No capes left lying around. His apartment was fit for visitors. He watched as her shadow appeared outside his door. She took a deep breath and let it out quickly before knocking. He let a respectable few seconds tick by and then moved to open the door.
"Lois, hi!" he greeted her, trying to strike a balance between surprise and delight.
Her answering smile seemed to light up his entire apartment. "Hi. Are you busy?"
"No, please." Clark stepped aside and pulled the door open wider. "Come in. So what's your big story? Or can't you say yet?"
Lois went down the stairs and stopped in front of his couch. "Do you know who Herman Twitchell is?"
Clark thought about it as he came down the stairs to join her. "The Alliance Technologies guy? He's one of the major donors for the new pediatrics wing at Met General."
"That's the one. He's the head of R&D at Alliance. His soon to be ex-wife went through nursing school with my mom. She contacted me because, according to her, his philanthropy is all a front and he's knee-deep in dealings with Intergang. I figured she was looking for revenge or leverage in the divorce or something."
"So what did you find out?"
"Nothing concrete -- yet. But when I talked to him this morning, he was evasive."
"You talked to him or you confronted him?"
Lois shot him a sideways glare. Clark fought a smile as he pictured exactly how her "talking" to Herman Twitchell had gone. "You know, it doesn't hurt to make a little conversation with people before you question them. Be friendly."
She arched one eyebrow. "Is this that 'attracting more flies with honey' thing again?"
"Maybe." Clark sat down on the sofa and patted the spot next to him in invitation.
Lois remained standing and put her hands on her hips. "Why would you even want to attract flies, Clark?"
For half a second, Clark was convinced he had just crossed a line with her and then he saw the barest hint of a smile tug at her lips. Was she deliberating picking a fight with him? It was entirely possible, especially since their last fight had ended in an embrace that had gone from sweet to passionate in about two seconds flat.
Fine - he could work up a little fight if it meant making up afterward. "I'm just saying that sometimes you come across as pretty, well, blunt."
"You make that sound like a bad thing. At least people know where they are with me. They don't wonder if trying to finesse something out of them."
"I'm not talking about finessing anything out of anyone. There's nothing wrong with being nice to people."
"I actually came over here to be nice to you. But if you're going to antagonize me, I'll leave."
He hadn't kissed her since Saturday night. Kissing her again was almost all he had thought about since then. "I'll be nice, I promise." Clark held up one hand in invitation.
She grinned at him and took hold of his hand. "How do I know you're not just trying to finesse something out of me?"
Clark winked at her. "What if I am?"
Her eyes darkened and her lips parted. In an instant, he had tugged her onto the couch and was kissing her. She threw her arms around his neck and kissed him back with abandon. Lois leaned back, drawing him down until he was lying atop her. Her hands slipped beneath the armholes of his sleeveless shirt so her fingers could stroke over his back and shoulders. The soft pressure of her touch on his bare skin sent ripples of pleasure through him.
How was it that he could hold his breath for nearly an hour, but a few kisses from Lois could leave him completely breathless? When the need for oxygen became urgent, Clark shifted his attention to the ticklish spot just below her left ear that made her giggle whenever he kissed her there. How amazing his life would be if he could get her to make that low laugh again?
Lois obliged him with a throaty chuckle and Clark grew bold enough to set free the top button on her shirt to stake a claim to a new patch of bare skin. Her breath skittered and she unbuttoned the next two buttons for him. He wasn't about to argue with that invitation.
The hem of her shirt had crept up and his hand inexplicably found itself resting on the warm silk of her stomach. His thumb traced the indentation of her navel. He wondered what it would be like to kiss her there and feel the quiver of her abdominal muscles beneath his lips.
His hand moved higher she whispered a long, slow, "Oh, Clark."
That seemed like permission, especially when her body arched closer to his. Her leg shifted so she could caress the back of his knee with her foot. At that moment Clark's entire life boiled down to two absolutes. The first was that he loved Lois Lane. And the second was that he had to tell her the truth before they went any further.
The sound of his phone ringing broke into their world of two.
"Ignore it," he murmured into the join of her shoulder and neck.
She clutched at his hair, directing him exactly where she wanted the next kiss. The phone continued to ring. How many rings until his machine picked it up? After another ring, his machine whirred to life and his voice announced that he wasn't home.
"Hi, honey! You'll never believe who I ran into in town today. Do you remember Ben Gossard? He's now a vulcanologist and he's been…"
"Is that your mom?" Lois asked with another of those throaty giggles that made him dizzy. "There goes the mood, huh? You might as well answer it."
"Yes, ma'am." He fumbled for the phone, remaining sprawled on top of Lois, supporting his weight on one elbow. "Hello?" Clark tried to control his voice, but even he could hear how husky it was.
"Am I interrupting something?" Without even seeing her, he knew his mom was grinning.
He quickly sat up, his cheeks flushing guiltily. "No. I was, uh, I was watching baseball." His mind whispered that he had been rounding second and headed for third base.
"Tell Lois I said 'hi'."
He wiggled his fingers at Lois and mouthed 'she says hi'. Lois propped herself up on her elbows. The movement caused her half-unbuttoned shirt to splay open further. She was unbelievably tempting right now and he fervently wished he hadn't picked up the phone.
"Were you still planning on coming home this weekend?" his mom asked.
"Uh--." For a second or two his mind blanked, still occupied with thoughts of Lois' cleavage. Home? Wasn't he home already? Oh, right, she meant Kansas. "I don't know," he hedged as he wondered just how set his mom was on a weekend visit. "Is it important?"
Lois tilted her head, curious to know what was important. Her lips were slightly swollen from their kisses, sending another pang of lust through him. He should never have answered the phone.
"Dad wanted some help with the east field, but he can check with the Rollins boys. They might be able to come over."
Clark had to look away from Lois so that filial obligations could come first. "I'll work it out. Tell Dad I'll be there on Saturday."
Lois shifted to a sitting position and squeezed his knee. Clark put his hand over hers to stop the distraction.
"Maybe you could bring Lois with you?" his mom suggested. "We'd love to see her."
"Yeah," he sighed. "Uh, I haven't started that project yet."
"There's no time like the present," she insisted cheerfully.
"Good night, Mom," he said firmly. She laughed and said goodbye. Clark hung up the phone before she could say anything else. Asking Lois to visit Smallville wasn't going to be nearly as easy as his mom made it sound.
"You're going to Kansas this weekend?" Lois asked.
"Yeah." This was the perfect opening. I'm flying out there on Saturday, he could say. I go out there just about every Sunday night for dinner. Mom's invited you. Airfare? Not a problem. I'll fly us. You see, I'm Superman…
And then she would take her hand off his knee and she would never voluntarily touch him again. Clark lifted her hand and kissed the inside of her wrist. He heard the slight intake of her breath and his pulse quickened in response.
Lois cupped his cheek and said, "I should probably go home now anyway. I have to be on the docks bright and early." Instead of getting up from the couch, though, she gave him a slow, lingering kiss. "You wanna come with me?" she whispered.
"Where?" he teased. "Home with you tonight or the docks tomorrow?"
Lois giggled and kissed him again. "Either one. Both. You choose."
Clark wanted to beg her to stay. Another ten minutes, twenty tops, and he'd be able to find the words to tell her the secret that stood between them. But then there would be the recriminations and neither of them would get any sleep. It was better, tonight at least, to let her go. He kissed her again and it felt bittersweet because he feared it might be their last.
"I'd better leave you here," she admitted when their kiss ended. "If you come home with me tonight, we'll never make it to the docks by five." There was an invitation in the breathy quality of her voice that told him she wasn't exactly saying no.
It would be heaven to spend all night holding her. It would also be a lie, if she didn't know the truth. Once she knew the truth, though, she might never trust him again.
"I'll walk you to your car," he stalled. Maybe he could work up the courage to tell her before they got there. Most likely he'd kiss her again as if it were the last time.
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Saturday morning
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Clark returned to the bar's door and began knocking again. The man inside muttered a few curse words, but grudgingly came over to open the door. Clark grabbed hold of the door as soon as it was open to prevent the man from shutting it.
"I'm sorry to keep troubling you, but this is important. The woman who was carried out last night, can you describe the man who was helping her?" Clark asked urgently.
"Are you kidding me?" The barman sighed and shook his head. Obviously this guy wasn't going to go away anytime soon so he closed his eyes and tried to remember. "Okay, yeah. I think he was tall. And he was wearing a Red Sox hat. I remember it because I hate those sons of bi--."
"He was alone?"
"There was just the one guy carryin' the one gal out last night. He was sittin' right next to her and she started to kinda fall off the stool and he said he'd take her home. That was it. He acted like he knew her."
"Had they been talking to each other?"
The bartender's forehead furrowed as he tried to recall. "I don't remember. Mind you, it was pretty busy last night. I do remember she was flirting with a guy when she got here. He wasn't wearing a hat, though." The man frowned. "No, yeah, the hat guy was sitting on her left side. The guy she was flirting with was on her right. She was saving the spot, she shooed a couple of people from sitting there."
"And she never spoke to or seemed to recognize the guy on her left, the one with the hat?"
The man shook his head. "I'm sorry, I don't remember him saying anything to her except that he was taking her home. He'd been there next to her long enough that I figured they were together."
"How many drinks did you serve her?"
"I--." The bartender looked up, his expression nearly as stricken as Clark's. "Geez, I didn't think about it at the time. I think I only ever gave her the one drink. It's possible Mike, the other guy working last night, served her, but she was on my side of the bar."
Clark let go of the door and fished in his pocket for his card. He found one and handed it to the man. "Would you please call the police and tell them everything you just told me? The woman's name is Lois Lane and she's definitely been kidnapped. Her car is still parked in the garage at the end of the block and she never came home last night. Tell them that I've gone to ask Superman to look for her and I'll be in touch with them as soon as I can. If you remember anything else, or if Mike knows something that can help, please call that number and leave a message for me."
The man looked at the card and then back at Clark. "I'm so sorry. I thought he knew her."
Clark gave him a tight smile and turned away. He hurried around the building and into the alley. For a moment he stood in the exact same spot as the night before and trembled at the memory of hearing Lois say his name. Then he swiftly spun into the suit and lifted up into the air to begin a methodical search, block by block, of Metropolis.
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End 2/10
See! Didn't I promise you action on a couch and some nookie? And there's still more to come! What's that? You still want to know what happened to Lois? It's in the next part, I promise.
