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Green-Eyed Monster TOC

Where we left off in Part 13...

A man dressed in a blue suit, a red cape and shorts, and a bright yellow ‘S’ on his chest. The photos and colors started to swirl together before her eyes. She blinked her eyes and focused harder. There was another photo of the man carrying one of the airplane’s eight engines – holding it in mid-air.

The headline read: ‘Met Star First To Talk To Flying Hero.’

Super Strong, Super Fast, Flying Man from Another Planet, who looks good in Blue, Tempus’s words rang in her ears. Lois dropped the paper on the floor and went to the cover story on the NY Times. ‘Flying Man Saves Colossus Plane’. The L.A. Times, the Chicago Tribune, Gotham Gazette, and the NY Post – all the papers had photos of this man flying through the air saving the huge plane. None of the papers had anything better than a grainy close-up photo of her ‘super’ man.

Yours?

No. Not hers. Clark was…

Lois’s eyes formed slits.

Clark! her inner voice growled at him as well.

Part 14

“Clark!” Lois snarled.

“Yes?” Clark replied softly, suddenly behind her. “Oh.”

“Oh?” Lois turned around and hit him with a rolled up newspaper. “Oh? Did you forget to mention something to me?”

Clark smiled sheepishly.

“Don’t give me your cute face, Clark,” Lois snapped, hitting his arm again with the rolled-up newspaper.

He swallowed. “This was what I wanted to talk to you about,” he responded innocently.

“Don’t think you’re going to get out of this so easily, Clark. I know you went to the airport to watch the launch of the new plane. Did you see this?”

“Yes,” he admitted. “I was there.”

“You knew this had happened when you came to pick me up last night.” It was a statement, not a question, but he answered it anyway.

“Yes.”

Lois hit him three times on the bicep with the paper. Granted, it wasn’t as hard as she wanted to hit him for lying to her, but it helped diffuse her anger. “Did you ever suspect that I would want to know about this?”

“I…” Clark looked at the rolled-up newspaper. “Lois, that’s the store’s paper, not yours.”

“I’ll pay for it and don’t change the topic.” Lois stared at him, waiting for an answer. When he didn’t reply right away, she said, “Well?”

Clark smiled sheepishly again. “I forgot the question.”

“Were you going to tell me about this?” she asked. Her terse voice was below a holler, but barely.

“I told you I had something to tell you…”

“Last night? Why didn’t you tell me about this last night?” She was screaming at him now.

“Truthfully…” he began.

“That would be a nice change,” she rebuked.

“Lois, I have…”

“Clark, don’t even try to go there. By not telling me about this you lied to me.”

Clark’s eyes went wide. “I never meant…”

“And yet you did, Clark. You lied by omission.” Her voice seemed more in control, less ranting, but that was only because her heart had stopped beating.

“I didn’t mean to deceive you, Lois. When I saw you last night it knocked all other thoughts out of my head. All I could only think of was you,” he murmured.

What a weak excuse!

Lois pulled the Metro Star off the bench and held it up to him. “This! This is why you were smiling last night. Why you had ‘the best’ day. You knew you had found the true owner of the globe and you never once thought I’d want to know about it? How is that ‘only thinking of me’?”

Clark winced. “I’m sorry, Lois. You’re absolutely right. I should have told you.”

“That offer I made upstairs to get together later…”

Clark gulped.

“Off the table. Gone. Goodbye.” Lois turned back to the newspapers and started to pick them up off the floor.

“I’m sorry, Lois. You have every right to be mad at me…”

Lois twisted back around and pointed a finger in his face. “Mad? Mad? Clark, I’m beyond mad. I am so angry that you need to leave right this moment before I say something we both will regret.”

Clark nodded as she turned back to the newspapers. “I thought you were different, Clark,” she whispered. “I thought you wouldn’t try to hurt me.” She turned back to look at his reaction to her words, but he was gone. He had left when she had asked him to.

How could he leave? You weren’t done making him feel guilty.

Lois knelt down on the floor, the tears slowly falling from her eyes. “He’s gone,” she murmured to herself. “He can’t hurt you anymore.” She covered her face with her hands as she silently cried.

Clark’s gone. He can’t love you anymore.

***

Everywhere Clark went in the store he could hear Lois’s almost silent sobs. He had done that. He had caused the woman he loved pain, because he hadn’t told her about ‘the Flying Man.’ He sighed.

How does one gush about seeing oneself fly through the air and save a plane? Yes, of course, Clark was proud of what he had accomplished. And, yes, he had wanted nothing more than to share the whole story with her play-by-play. But he didn’t know where he would have begun telling Lois what his other persona, his other self had done the day before.

“I thought you were different,” she had said.

Oh, he was different from other men, all right. So different, in fact, that Clark had to lie about himself so no one else found out. This was exactly why he hated lying. Someone always got hurt.

“I thought you wouldn’t try to hurt me,” she had said then.

Clark hadn’t tried to hurt her. He was just really good at it. He sighed again.

Lois was right. His excuses were just that, excuses. Last night he had still been worried that she would flake or freak or who-knew-what when he told her the hero – the alien, whose globe they had both been watching – was now out and about saving people in Metropolis. It hadn’t been until this morning after she had explained to him that she wasn’t scared of the alien that he realized maybe Lois was made of sterner stuff.

When Lois had told him that she knew, deep down in her heart, the alien was a good man, Clark had been so thrilled, he almost had told her he loved her. Right then and there. She always said the right thing. But now he was glad she had interrupted him. That hadn’t been the correct time to tell her that he loved her. It would have been too soon, especially in light of him not disclosing earlier about his rescue of the plane.

He’s gone. He can’t hurt you anymore.

Oh, God! What had he done? He didn’t want to hurt Lois. He never had wanted to make her cry. Anger he could handle. Madness she could recover from. But pain, hurt… that she might never forgive. Clark needed her to forgive him. He couldn’t lose her due to his own stupidity. He knew she was going to leave him for her future husband someday, unless he could convince her otherwise that he was the right man for her. But he couldn’t lose her now – now when they had only just gotten together. She couldn’t just slip through his fingers already.

Clark wandered around the store, letting in employees as they arrived. All the joy from the night before had gone. The memories of their shared kisses were just memories. After unlocking the doors for the day, Clark walked up the escalator and went to clock out and grab his stuff. When he was back on the ground floor, Clark took a deep breath and turned towards Lois’s Magazine Receiving room. He stood in the doorway and watched her for a minute, wondering what he could possibly say.

“You aren’t helping by sneaking up on me, Clark,” Lois said, before glancing over her shoulder at him. She was still mad at him but calmer than she had been earlier. Unfortunately, calmer didn’t necessarily mean better.

His heart started to beat again. Just hearing her speak his name made his heart soar. Clark knew he was in trouble and it wasn’t because she was mad at him. He was so in love with this woman, there was no turning back. “I really am sorry, Lois. I should have told you. What I did was inexcusable.”

“Ya think?” She was still organizing her magazines, not facing him. But at least she wasn’t kicking him out.

“Would it help if I told you that I like you so much that when I’m around you my mind turns to mush?” He grinned hopefully.

Lois looked at him with a raised brow.

“Well… That would explain a lot.”

Had he heard a slight titter to her voice? Was she forgiving him?

Lois sighed and turned to face him, leaning against the wall. “Did I ever tell you about my parents?”

Clark shook his head. He believed the less speaking he did, the better for him.

“My parents aren’t like yours, Clark. I wasn’t raised in a happy, loving home. My father has been cheating on my mother for over twenty years. It started out with small lies. He couldn’t make it home for dinner. Then the lies got larger. Going away to a ‘medical conference’ when he was going on a romantic rendezvous in Kansas City. Lucy and I watched as, with each new lie, our mother would die a little bit. He thought he was saving her from pain, but she knew the truth. We all did. Now he doesn’t even bother lying anymore, because she’s so far gone in the bottle she wouldn’t even remember.” Lois looked him straight in the eye and he saw the pain, the unshed tears. “So, when I discovered you had kept this from me, I… I… saw history repeating itself.”

Clark was at her side in a second and wrapped his arms around her. “I’m so sorry, Lois. I will never do that to you.” He kissed the top of her had. “I am not your father.”

Lois was quiet for a minute. “I’m glad you’re not my father, Clark, because that would bring a whole slew of other problems to our relationship.”

He cracked up. He couldn’t help himself. Firstly, because her literal interpretation of his words had made her smile. Secondly, because he was so happy that she still considered what they had a relationship. And thirdly, she was pretty darn funny to crack jokes while she was mad at him. He knew he hadn’t been forgiven yet, but maybe she had unlocked the door to his doghouse.

Clark didn’t want to go. He wanted to stand there, holding her until she broke away. But he had that press conference at noon and he wanted to review his statement with both his folks and Perry before he went. Clark kissed Lois on the cheek – not wishing to press his luck – and stepped out of their embrace. “I better go and let you get back to work.”

“You have any plans for today or are you going to go home and crash?” she asked, moving back to sorting her magazines.

He gulped. How could he reply to that and stay honest? “I have some errands to run this morning, but a nap sounds good right about now.”

Lois smiled at him. “Drive safe.”

“Thanks, I will,” he said as he moved back through the doorway.

“Oh, Clark.”

Her voice drew him back. He glanced at her and saw an intense, determined expression on her face. “Don’t keep anything else from me.”

Clark nodded with a sinking heart, wondering how in the world he was ever going to dig himself out of this hole.

***

Sunday – Around Noon

Lois pushed her way through the crowds to the front. She had no problems using her elbows and a well-placed knee when push came to shove. She had used her precious funds to take a cab all the way to Centennial Park on her lunch break, just so she could see this ‘Superman’ in person. She needed to see for herself the man – this super fast, super strong, flying Superman – Tempus was so sure she would fall in love with that Tempus had come back in time and across dimensions to convince her not to marry him. A man like that couldn’t be properly judged by a grainy newspaper photo.

Linda’s article mentioned that the mayor had invited ‘the Flying Man’ – really that was the best name anyone had come up with? – to his press conference. A small part of her hoped that Superman wouldn’t show up and would make the mayor look like a fool.

Politicians ha! Always ordering people around, even superheroes.

Of course, that small part of her wasn’t the part that had just paid her lunch money to a Metro cabbie. If Superman was coming, Lois hoped he showed up on time, because as it was she would be back to work late.

“Well, look what the cat dragged in. What are you doing here, Tiny Town?”

Lois rolled her eyes. She would end up next to her nemesis. “Get your facts straight, Linda. The town is called Smallville. And I’m here – same as you – to take a look at the hero.”

“This is a press conference, Lois,” Linda King goaded. “You aren’t press.”

“I still write for the Smallville Post.”

Why are you explaining yourself to this hack?

“Smallville Post?” Linda started to chortle. “I can just picture you back home with your farmer husband and your three kids. Although that would mean the Ice Queen opening her legs willingly to a man more than once and for some reason I can’t picture that happening. Kill anyone else lately?”

Lois raised her brow, refusing to rise to Linda’s bait.

“I didn’t know they let booksellers write for newspapers,” continued Linda, flipping up Lois’s name badge that Lois had forgotten to remove. “Oh, Lois, how quaint. You got out of Tiny Town, after all. Aww. That means you haven’t found a man who can accept you, ice-cubes and all.” Linda gazed at her with a sarcastic pouting face, her laughter still seeping through.

“Not that it is any of your business, Linda, but I happen to have a perfectly wonderful boyfriend,” Lois snarled.

The admission only made Linda chortle louder. “He doesn’t mind a cold fish for a bed partner?”

Lois’s face flamed at Linda’s words. She searched for a suitable retort when she heard a male laugh from her other side. She turned to see Jimmy standing next to her.

“Lois? A cold fish?” Jimmy laughed harder. “Ms. King, I think your sources have been pulling your chain. The Lois I know can set fire with her…”

Lois put her hand on Jimmy’s arm. “I don’t have to explain myself to her.” Then she mouthed a silent ‘thank you’ to him with a smile, which he returned.

“Is this cute puppy your boyfriend, Lois?” Linda couldn’t contain her laughter.

What was the matter with this woman? Doesn’t she have anything better to do?

“Me? I wish,” replied Jimmy with mirth. “Lois is dating one of the most sought-after men in downtown Metropolis for the past three years running. The most beautiful women I’ve ever met have thrown themselves at him, but the only one I’ve ever seen snare him is this woman right here.”

Lois looked at Jimmy with surprise. “Really?”

“Really.” He nodded. “You saw Cat that first day…”

Lois hadn’t forgotten. And Clark only wanted her? Huh. Funny world.

“There must be something seriously wrong with him,” Linda continued to taunt her.

Lois saw red. If Linda wanted to make fun of her that was all fine and good, but nobody – and she meant nobody – made fun of Clark Kent, except her! “He is the nicest, sweetest, kindest, most loving, generous and devoted man I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. And he’s the sexiest and most gorgeous man of my acquaintance. No offense, Jimmy.”

He grinned with pleasure. “Hey, I don’t mind being included in the same breath as him.”

Linda raised a skeptical eyebrow at Lois and Jimmy. “Does this fabrication of your collective imagination have a name?” Then she looked past Lois as her jaw fell open.

“His name is…” Lois turned to see what Linda was staring at and looked straight into a pair of bright red boots. Her eyes moved up his legs to a skintight primary blue body suit with red shorts that left little to the imagination. Her view moved up to a broad chest emblazoned with a sun yellow crest of an ‘S’. All this she had seen in the color photos in the newspapers. Her eyes continued to move up until she was gazing into the deep brown eyes of… “Clark. My boyfriend’s name is Clark.”

It was at that moment her brain caught up to her tongue.

Clark is Superman? Your Clark? An alien from the planet Krypton whose globe you have sitting on your bookcase? This is the man Tempus didn’t want you to marry? Your truelove? Clark?

Her knees went weak and Lois reached out and took hold of Jimmy’s shoulder. He was busy taking photos.

Didn’t Jimmy recognize his buddy from the store? Didn’t anyone? Was it just her?

Lois realized Superman was staring at her as much as she was at him. He looked like he expected her say something. So she tried to speak. “You’re…? You’re…? You’re…? Super… Super… Superman?” Her tongue for some reason picked this moment to stop working.

“Superman? I am so using that!” murmured Linda from beside her.

No big surprise there, Linda. Isn’t that how you get all of your stories?

Superman – Clark smiled at Lois. “Thank you, Lois.”

This got Linda’s attention. “How do you know her name?” she snapped. “Superman!”

He crossed his arms across his chest, which Lois recognized as a move to feel less exposed after making that faux pas. To everyone else he seemed more intimidating. “I have excellent hearing, Ms. King. I heard your discussion from miles away.”

Lois took a step back away from the stage.

You shouldn’t be here. This is wrong, all wrong. You need to get away from here. Away from him. He has heard everything you have ever mumbled to yourself about him!

With a glance at Linda, Lois could tell her old friend looked as mortified as she felt.

Serves her right!

Lois took another step back and then another and another, all the while keeping her eyes locked with Superman’s.

“Where are you going?” asked Jimmy, still by her side.

“I can’t be here. I have to get back to work,” she murmured. Without thinking, she pointed to Superman and then at herself. “We’ll talk later.”

She saw him give her a barely noticeable nod before he broke eye contact with her and looked at the Mayor who had been greeting him.

Lois then turned and shoved her way through the reporters, who were all pushing her back towards the stage. When she finally broke through, she placed her hands on her knees, trying to catch her breath. Her heart was racing a mile a minute. She could not think. Her brain too full of thoughts and they were all jumbled together. She could not hear anything but the blood rushing through her head. She could not see, her eyes were blurry with unshed tears. She stumbled forward, her knees still weak.

Suddenly a hand took hold of her elbow and a voice told her, “You’re coming with me.”

She blinked her eyes and saw Jimmy. “Thank you,” she sputtered and let him lead her off.

Once she was sitting in his old Mustang with a bottle of water in her hand, Lois started to calm down. She still could not wrap her mind around the fact that her new boyfriend was Superman. It was as if her brain were floating separate from her body.

No. No. No. This couldn’t be right.

She couldn’t think about this.

“Drink some water, Lois. It will make you feel better,” said Jimmy from beside her.

Lois turned and looked at him.

What? Water. Right. Good idea.

She unscrewed the lid and took a sip, and then another. He was right, it did make her feel better. “What were you doing there?” she finally asked.

He grinned. “Same as you. Looking at the Big Guy. Perry called me at home this morning and suggested I go. Good opportunity to practice my live action photography skills.”

Oh, right. The camera.

“But you left before it had hardly started.”

“True.” Jimmy laughed softly. “But I had already used up a roll and you looked like you could use some help.”

Lois patted his arm. “Thank you. That’s twice you saved me today. Maybe you’re the true Superman.” She smiled.

Nope. Sorry. That title belongs to Clark.

OK. Her brain had recovered from the shock and was shooting wisecracks at her again. Lois took another sip of water.

“Superman? Wow, Lois, you’re amazing. Everyone else had been calling him ‘the Flying Man’ and you pull ‘Superman’ out of thin air. I hope you get the credit for naming him.”

Lois sighed. “Not with Linda on the job. That woman would steal the Declaration Of Independence if it weren’t under armed guard.”

“Bad blood, huh? And here I thought Cat was catty.” Jimmy shook his head. “Whew! That woman takes the cake.”

“Can we not talk about her?” Lois asked, her stomach juices starting to boil. The last thing Jimmy needed was her to throw up in his classic Mustang.

“So, do you know Superman?” her friend asked delicately.

Lois raised a brow and was tempted to say, “You introduced us.” But she couldn’t. She wasn’t yet ready to verbalize this new truth in her life. “He saved me a couple of weeks ago from being hit by a car.” She took another sip of water.

“Whoa! You mean he’s been around for a while?”

You have no idea, Jimmy.

“I guess so,” was what Lois said instead. “I didn’t realize until today when I saw his face that it was him. Clark had said he was a figment of my imagination.”

No, what he had said was ‘Do you really believe some mysterious hero saved you, flew you back to your apartment, placed you on the bed to sleep and then left?’

And here Lois had already forgiven him that transgression.

Not anymore, Buster!

If Clark thought she had been angry this morning? Ha! He hadn’t yet seen the depths of her fury. If he thought that lack of disclosure was even in the same league with this new discovery of his deceit…! Lois shook her head and took another sip of water.

“Lois, did you get lunch?”

She turned and stared at Jimmy. What did lunch have to do with Superman?

They are both wholesome and delicious?

“You look a little pale. I figure you left on your lunch break to go to the news conference, so I was wondering if you had had time to eat,” Jimmy clarified.

Her stomach rumbled in response. It had been a long morning since that donut and coffee with Clark. Had that just been this morning? Had she really attacked him? Plastered herself to him like honey on a bear? Oh, God! She had made out with Superman!

And he had made out with you!

She couldn’t, wouldn’t let her mind take her there.

Already there, babe. And you know you can’t stop me, don’t you?

“Lois, are you sure you’re all right? You seem a bit spacey,” Jimmy asked her.

Right. Jimmy. Car. Keep brain here. Lois smiled at him. “Just a little tired. I didn’t sleep well last night.”

Ooh! I remember last night’s dreams, her inner voice said with glee.

Lois needed to keep talking. She couldn’t let her mind remind her of her late night fantasies. “So, photography, huh? I’d love to see your photos sometime. I took an Intro to Photography class once and I just was horrible, plain horrible. Just give me a fully automatic, point-and-shoot camera any day. I envy you if you can understand those knobs on the lens. I could never get the hang of it. If I got the depth right, the focus was wrong. Or was it vice-versa?” She paused to take a sip of water.

Clark’s hands had trailed down your body as his lips had followed…

“So, Jimmy. How about you? Have a girlfriend? Sold any photos? Talk to me, Jimmy. I need to stay out of my mind,” she stammered.

Jimmy glanced at her with a raised brow, his lips pressed together. “Stay out of your mind, Lois?”

She nodded and then they both laughed at the silliness of it.

“You have no idea, Jimmy,” Lois told him and took a gulp of her water.

“Lois, you are a one-of-a-kind babe.”

She gave him a look at the ‘babe’ remark.

“I mean woman.” He cleared his throat. He reached into the backseat and pulled a small paper bag into the front seat, tossing it at her. “Here. Eat.”

“Jimmy, I can’t take your lunch,” Lois said politely, while opening the bag and peering inside.

“It’s just a PB&J, Lois.” He snickered. “I can make another one when I get home.”

“What is with the men in this city?” Lois asked, taking a bite of the sandwich. “They’re always feeding me. Do I look starving or something?” She said this with a full mouth.

“I have no idea,” he murmured in amusement. For some reason she didn’t believe him. Jimmy pulled the car up to a red light. They were almost back to the store now. The city was starting to seem familiar again. “You wouldn’t, perchance, have a younger sister?” he asked, cautiously.

Lois nodded. “Yes. Lucy. She’s the wild child.”

Jimmy’s jaw dropped. “Wilder than you? Does she swing from vines and beat her chest like Tarzan?”

Lois indulged him. “Sometimes.”

“Oh, I’ve got to meet her.”

“I don’t know, Jimmy. I’d need a full medical write-up and a list of all your sexual partners.”

He nodded like she was serious. “OK.”

Lois bubbled with laughter as she patted his arm. “I’m joking, Jimmy. You’re too sweet. She’d…” ‘Eat you alive’ sounded bad, even if it was the truth. He might take it the wrong way. “… wouldn’t know what to do with a guy as wonderful as you.”

“Thanks, Lois. I think,” he replied. After a moment of thought, he said, “I can be bad-ass.”

Lois raised a brow as he pulled the car over to the park across the street from the bookstore. “Not improving your chances for an introduction, Jimmy.”

“Oh. Right. Sorry.”

She smiled and kissed his cheek. “Thanks for the sandwich and the ride. You’re a lifesaver. And for that I’ll introduce you, should she come to town and…” Lois opened the car door. “… keep herself out of jail.”

Jimmy’s eyes bugged.

“Oh, Jimmy,” Lois chortled, stepping out of the car. “You’re too easy.”

He returned her grin, obviously happy she had been joking. “Take care, Lois.”

She waved at him and shut the car door.

Take care? Why do you need to take care? You can do anything! Superman’s your boyfriend.

Lois sat down on her and Clark’s bench to finish her sandwich. She just couldn’t face going inside the bookstore yet.

“I need to recharge my batteries first,” she murmured, closing her eyes and letting the sunshine wash over her. She felt a slight breeze come across her face.

“I feel like that sometimes, myself,” replied a familiar voice in a slightly lower octave than she was used to.

Without opening her eyes, she replied, “Aren’t they missing you at the press conference, Superman?”

*** End of Part 14 ***

Part 15

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