Green-Eyed Monster TOC Part 20 Part 21Earlier that day Lois was still furious at Clark hours after he left. She wanted to do nothing more than break her knuckles across the perfect plains of his face. She exhaled. Unfortunately, that would be exactly what would happen if she tried such a stupid move.
She would break her knuckles.
That man’s picture is next to the word stubborn in the dictionary. Why does he refuse to see reason and not see that you know the truth about him? Isn’t he supposed to have ‘super sight’?Lois wheeled her cart full of restock back out to the newsstand.
If the man is going to continue to be blind, you’re going to have to tell him you know.Lois sighed. She was getting tired of humoring him. She was to the point of either telling him she knew or just giving him up entirely.
Yes, I thought that was your original plan. Why do you keep hanging on to this man for whom you’re obviously destined? Who’s in charge of your life anyway?When Clark wasn’t being so pig-headed, he could be so wonderful, loving, and sweet. That was the man she couldn’t give up. That other part of him could take a flying leap for all she cared.
Flying leap? Really, Lois? What good would that do?Lois chuckled to herself. Yes, that was pathetic, she admitted.
A man entered her newsstand area and stood next to her. Lois moved down the rack filling in the holes and straightening the magazines.
How come it only seems to take minutes for your department to go to hell in a handbag?The man followed her down the rack. She returned to her cart, more for personal space than anything else.
She turned and was facing the man. He was tall, like Clark, with dark blond hair and a beard. He wore a tan suit, which Lois could just hear Cat say shouldn’t be worn after Labor Day. His penetrating gaze seemed to give her an uncomfortable chill. In a weird way, he seemed familiar, but she didn’t know from where.
“Excuse me,” she said, moving away from him.
“Good afternoon, Lois,” he replied.
She froze to her spot. That voice. She knew that voice. It haunted her nightmares. She heard it talking to her, doing its voiceover to her thoughts whenever she thought of Clark:
“Big, brawny, looks good in blue.” She swallowed and turned around to focus her attention on him again.
“How do you know my name?” It was the first thing she could think of to say and even Lois knew it wasn’t the right thing.
The man flashed her a charming thousand-watt smile full of teeth. “Duh!” he replied, flipping up her nametag.
Right. Nametag. At work. Treat customers with respect even if they don’t deserve it.Lois raised a brow about him touching her and took a step back. “If there isn’t anything I can help you with?” Lois said in a tone that indicated there wouldn’t be, before heading back to the rack. He followed her.
Ignore him and he will go away.“Actually, Lois, I was hoping you could join me for dinner Friday night,” he purred.
Really? Ugh. Never!“I’m busy,” replied Lois, silently thanking Martha for asking her to help out catering a party for Lex Luthor that night.
“Saturday night?”
Persistent, isn’t he?Lois turned and faced him. “I have a boyfriend. A big, brawny, boyfriend who looks good in blue.”
This time it was his turn to raise a skeptical eyebrow. “Nice alliteration, Lois.”
“Thank you,” she said more politely than she felt.
“I doubt your big, brawny, blue wearing boyfriend would mind you having dinner with little old me.” He grinned with those teeth again.
“Actually, he’s a very jealous man. You should know. You’re the one who told me to date him. Remember, Tempus?” Lois exclaimed, unable to hold back her knowledge any longer. She stared the man straight in the eye. “So you’re back from the future, are you? How’s Utopia? Still boring you to tears, is it? Felt you needed to come back and propose again?”
For the first time since the man entered her department several weeks ago, Lois saw shock cross those cheekbones causing his eyes to pop in a manner she was sure was a new experience. “Pardon?”
“Well, the answer is still the same resounding ‘no’. So go back home, Tempus, and leave me alone,” Lois said with perhaps too much merriment in her voice. Then she couldn’t resist a wave of her hand. “Shoo.” She turned away from him and went to the far end of the newsstand to start straightening again.
“You know my name?” Tempus asked her, suddenly by her side again.
Lois rolled her eyes. “Let’s see if I can remember it correctly. ‘Oh, Lois, I am your humble servant, your slave Tempus. I love you. I have always loved you. I have loved you since first my mother told me the story of your truelove. Don’t be galactically stupid this time and marry me instead.’ How’d I do?”
“‘Galactically stupid?’ I
love that. Do you mind if I use it?” he asked.
“Be my guest, since you told it to…” Lois stopped and stared at the man.
He doesn’t remember?The man pulled out a folder from his satchel. “Lois? Lois…” He flipped through the pages on a ledger inside the folder. “Ah. Here we are. Lois Lane, Periodicals Supervisor. That’s you, isn’t it?”
He doesn’t remember her name?Lois reached over and tugged on the man’s beard. It was real.
“Really, honey, not before the first date.”
She snatched her hand back. “How long have you had that beard?”
“Years. Much easier than shaving,” he replied, staring at the papers in front of him.
It’s him. He sounds like him. He acts like him. Hell, he even dresses like him.“Do you have any brothers?” Lois stammered.
“Sadly, no. Mother said they broke the mold the day they made me.”
I don’t think they did, but I’ll put in a recommendation.“You don’t remember proposing to me? The day of the Miranda book signing?” Her head was starting to spin.
It is him. He even admitted that Tempus was his name. So, how could it not be him? Who else could he be?“Ah. I remember reading about that in the company newsletter. Is that when this delusion happened? Were you one of the one employees exposed?” he asked, glancing up from his papers. “I don’t happen to have those records with me. But I could always check back in the office.”
Lois coughed. “Office?”
“Yes, I’m an auditor with Lexco. I’m here to investigate one Mr. Clark Kent. Do you know him?” he inquired, glancing up from his papers at her.
“You work for Lexco? The parent company of Daily Books?” Lois stammered. “Here to investigate Clark Kent?” She shook her head. “Where is your ID badge?”
“Oh, sorry,” Tempus pulled out a laminated Lexco photo-ID badge, complete with clip, and held it up for her inspection. B. Gerald Tempus.
“B.?”
The thousand-watt smile returned. “Barron, but don’t tell anyone. I do prefer people to call me by my last name, like you did. Have we met before?” He winked at her. “Perhaps in another life? I’m inexplicably drawn to you.” He dropped his badge back into his bag. “I feel like we are destined to be together.”
“No. It must have been someone else,” she responded, but even to her the words sounded hollow and false.
“Pity.”
Head back in the game, Lane. This man is from Lexco Corporate offices. Here to investigate your boyfriend.“What do you want with Clark?” Lois asked, trying to sound nonchalant, but assuming she failed miserably.
He raised a brow. “Have you seen Clark Kent in the store today?”
“Today? The man spends more time here than a bad sci-fi novel,” Lois admitted.
Don’t tell him that’s because he’s delivering boxes with MDS.“Really? That is surprising. I have him down here as only working one day a week and getting paid five times your daily income. Now, does that seem fair to you?”
Lois’s eyes widened from that bombshell. Her jaw hung open.
Clark? Your Clark? Honest Clark? Law abiding Clark?“There must be some mistake,” she said falteringly. “That can’t be right.”
“That’s what I’m here to find out.” Tempus put his paperwork back into his bag. “Now how about that date for Saturday night?”
He’s kidding, isn’t he?“Still have that boyfriend,” Lois mumbled.
For the time being. Until he gets arrested for misappropriation of Lexco funds. Then it’s goodbye, Superman.“Big, brawny, blue? Oh, right. Him.” Tempus stared at her. “He wouldn’t be Clark Kent, would he?”
Lie!“Clark? Kent? Me? No. No. No. Just friends. Colleagues. Hardly know the man.” Lois started backing away from Tempus.
It’s becoming clearer by the moment how little you know the man.“Shame. Clark Kent works the overnight shift on Saturday nights. Security guard, you know.”
“So I’ve been told,” murmured Lois.
By you. Future you. Other dimensional future you.“And if Clark Kent were this big, brawny, blue boyfriend of yours, he wouldn’t miss you on Saturday night.” His thousand-watt smile blinded her. “He would never have to know.”
Very big, very brawny, very blue boyfriend. He’d know.“My boyfriend has friends in high places…” Lois began.
Sky high places…“He always knows where I’m at.”
X-Ray vision.She had backed up so far she hit a display table. She was out of the newsstand area. “I really need to get back to work. Nice meeting you, Tempus,” Lois sputtered, turning around and quickly straightening the books that had been jostled on the table when she had bumped it. When they were tidy again, she sped back to her magazine receiving room.
Lois leaned against the bare wall next to the shelves full of her back stock magazines.
Clark Kent? Misappropriation of funds? No. That doesn’t sound like Clark. He was such a good guy. Law abiding. Honest.
Smoking hot.Not now!
In debt. He told you he was in debt.Lois had thought he was joking.
You thought he was being honest enough about it to use it to scare off Mayson.She had never gotten around to asking him why he still lived with his parents and worked three jobs. Was it to save money to pay off that debt? Alimony? No. A man who was still a virgin had no ex-wife.
Actually a man afraid to have sex was more likely to have an ex-wife than a wife.Lois shook her head. That wasn’t it. That probably eliminated child support payments from the list as well. Gambling? Credit cards? Medical bills?
Hello? Superman does not incur medical bills.Lawsuit?
With his super strength? It’s a possibility.Lois threw up her hands. This was ridiculous. There was no way she would know why Clark was accepting a paycheck equal to hers for a job he only did one night a week, unless she asked him. Or Perry. Perry had to know. How could a man run the largest bookstore in Metropolis and not know one of his employees was getting paid for five times as many hours than he actually worked? He had to know. And if he knew, it meant her boss was in on the deception.
Her heart began to ache. She liked Perry. He had worked too long and too hard to have it thrown all away. So when this investigation was over, both Perry and Clark would be in jail. She shook her head. No. She wouldn’t accept that. Claude in jail – yes. Perry and Clark. No!
Lois noticed that one of her boxes of new magazines Clark had delivered that morning had fallen over while she was out at the newsstand. Someone must have bumped it. And if someone had bumped into it, it meant that someone had been in her back room when she wasn’t there. Who was there and what had they been up to?
She righted the tumbled box and started to refill the contents. One of the magazines had come out of its plastic wrap. She removed the rest of the plastic and went to throw it in her trashcan. But the trashcan was already full. Wasn’t it empty when she had started her shift? Lois pulled the pieces of cellophane out of the trash.
Oh, no! The thief had struck again.Lois turned to take the CD wrappers to Perry only to find her way out blocked by Tempus.
“What do you have there?” he asked. His tone was friendly enough but she doubted its sincerity.
“Trash. Excuse me, but customers are not allowed back here,” she said, pointing back to the music department.
“I’m not a customer. As auditor, it’s my job to go into every room in the store. I check to make sure nobody has been stealing from us.” Tempus grabbed the plastic out of Lois’s hands. “Hello? What do we have here?”
“I just found these. I was taking them to the store manager,” Lois explained.
“And yet you told me it was trash.” Tempus raised his eyebrow with glee.
Lois felt a chill.
Why is the man so happy?“It looks to me like we have a thief in our midst.”
Lois swallowed.
“A beautiful, raven-haired thief,” Tempus continued.
“I am no thief,” Lois protested, defending herself. “I
found these and I was about to turn them in.”
“I bet you were.” There was that thousand-watt smile again. “But there is no one here to corroborate that story, is there? Just you and me. And I
found you with the evidence in hand.”
“I didn’t steal anything,” she retorted. “If you’re looking for an excuse to search me…”
“Honey, you aren’t hiding CDs in that outfit,” he agreed, but for some reason it sounded like and felt like he had x-rayed through her clothes to discover that answer.
“Well, then? All you found is a bunch of CD wrappers, which I was about to turn in to my manager…” she started saying as he stepped into the room. Lois backed up to get away from him but he kept coming closer and closer. There wasn’t much space to back up into.
“One call and you’ll be behind bars tonight, Lois,” he told her, his leer quite close now.
“Circumstantial evidence,” she muttered softly.
“Perhaps. Perhaps not. Enough to hold you. Enough to get you fired.”
“Perry wouldn’t fire me,” she stammered, trying hard to believe her own words. “Perry doesn’t believe I’ve been stealing.”
Tempus shrugged. “Mr. White has no choice in the matter. He has his own problems to deal with.”
Lois swallowed. Then she found her backbone. “Well, do what you have to, Tempus, I’m innocent. I know it and you know it.”
“I don’t care.” He lifted a finger and traced her jaw. “You could persuade me to care.”
She pushed him away. “Don’t touch me.”
“I could make it all go away. Or I could call the coppers. Your choice,” he drawled. “Either way, it doesn’t matter to me.”
“What do you want?” she snarled, her voice low.
“A date, Saturday night. That’s all.”
Lois stomped past him. “Call the police then. I’m not going out with you.”
His voice stopped her in her tracks as she reached the doorway. “You won’t be able to help your friends from jail.”
“One little, itty bitty date and it all goes away. The stolen CD and the misappropriation of funds.” Tempus moved closer to her, his voice murmuring. “Think about it, Lois. You would be able to keep your job. Mr. White, his job. Clark Kent, his job – well, at the normal rate. I couldn’t let him get away scot-free, now could I? And I wouldn’t have to fill out paperwork. Win-win.”
No, Lois! Don’t agree to it. Agreeing to the date is tantamount to admitting guilt. Don’t do it. You thought Clark was angry about his missing byline…Lois’s heart ached. She knew deep down Clark was a good man. An idiot when it came to women, but still a good man at heart. She couldn’t believe he would do something so horrible as stealing from Lexco. Agreeing to the date would buy her time. It was only Monday. She would have until Saturday night to clear herself, Perry, and Clark. It wasn’t a good option. Truthfully, both options sucked. But Tempus was right; she couldn’t do anything from the inside of a jail cell.
Blackmailers never stop after the first taste, Lois.She knew that. She had seen all the movies. Taking a deep breath, Lois nodded once and then headed out to the newsstand to finish putting out her magazines. She bent down and picked up another pile of magazines off of her cart. When she stood back up Tempus was there, standing next to her again. She pushed her way past him and he grabbed her arm.
“I want to make sure we’re clear,” he told her.
“We’re clear.”
“So, I’ll see you Saturday night then, beautiful,” Tempus purred.
Lois gave him the barest of nods, jerking her arm away.
“It’s a date then.” He leaned over to kiss Lois’s cheek with those scratchy whiskers.
Lois pushed him away, snarling, “Don’t touch me!”
Tempus defied her by putting his finger under her chin and tilting her face so that she looked at him. “Be nice to me, Ms. Lane, and this will all go away nice and quiet, but fight me…”
Lois stepped away from Tempus and glanced up. It was an automatic reflex. Clark always seemed to be standing up on the third floor watching her recently. She had gotten used to gazing up to see him smiling down at her, loving her from a distance. Clark was there now. This time he seemed thunderous. All he was missing was long white hair, robes and a staff and he could double for Zeus.
If Tempus connects you to Clark, he’ll add a conspiracy charge to your rap sheet. If he finds out Clark is your boyfriend and gets wind of your date with the real big, brawny man in blue, would he link Clark to Superman? More could be lost than your freedom, Lois. Clark needs to stay free. What would they do to a man like him in jail?She had to protect Clark from that man, no matter the consequences. No matter the outcome. Superman was worth saving. Clark was worth saving.
“
Supervisor to main cashier,” came an overhead announcement, causing Lois to jump at the suddenness of it.
“I’ve got to go,” Lois said, walking quickly away from the man and jogging up the escalator. When she reached the third floor, Clark was there to greet her. “What are you doing here?” she stammered, glancing over her shoulder and moving away from him.
“Obviously learning about the real you,” Clark muttered following her.
Lois’s heart started to race faster than it had downstairs. “Clark, you don’t… You can’t be here.”
He raised a brow. “I can’t, can I?”
Lois moved down an aisle of books. “He can’t see us together. It will only make matters worse.”
Clark took her arm. “Make
what worse, Lois?” he asked, his voice low.
She shook off his loose grip. “Trust me, Clark. Stay here.”
Trust you? He knows you agreed to a date with Tempus. Why should he trust you? He didn’t even trust you when you went out with himself in the blue suit.Lois left Clark standing in History as she jogged down to the end of the aisle and then back up the next one – Religion. She stopped almost directly opposite him and started straightening books, not paying attention to what she was doing. She needed to get Clark to leave before Tempus spotted him or worse, them together. “It isn’t what it looks like, Clark,” she murmured.
“It looks like you made a date with that guy,” Clark grumbled. “After telling me you’d
never cheat on me.”
He would bring that up!Lois’s eyes met his over the bookcase. They were cold and in slits. “Only a man who doesn’t trust me would believe that, Clark. I’m trying to protect you,” she muttered, glancing away.
“I can protect myself, Lois,” he responded gruffly. “Especially from a man like that.”
Men! There is more to protect himself from than a fistfight. If he doesn’t leave, you could lose him forever.Lois stared into his eyes, pleading, “Please, don’t, Clark. Trust me. For once in your whole life, trust me. It’s not what you think.”
A customer passed by and she went back to straightening books, pretending that Clark didn’t exist. Then she moved down to the far end of the aisle and whispered, knowing he could hear her, not caring that he knew she knew his secret. “We can’t talk here. Pick me up at the corner by the convenience store at 8:15. Please.”
He walked to the end of his aisle and leaned against the shelves looking directly at her. “What if I’m busy?”
Get It Through Your Thick Skull, Clark, We Can’t Be Seen Talking!Lois raised a brow at him as her eyes met his, then she scooted down the aisle. “If you’re busy, then you’re busy, Clark.”
Gotcha. Superman rescues take priority over you. Got the message, loud and clear, big boy.She took a deep breath, trying not to let him see how with each word he was breaking her heart more. “But if you’re ‘busy’ because you don’t trust me and you think I’m lying to you and that I would ever want anyone other than you, then…” She swallowed, trying to keep the tears at bay. “… why don’t you break up with me now, so I know whether we’re in this together or I’m all alone.” Her voice wavered as she spoke.
Lois would not cry. Not now. Not here. Not anymore. This problem was bigger than them. Protecting Superman was bigger than their relationship. She knew that. She got that.
“In
what together?” he asked again.
Again with the questions! Listen for once! We’ll talk later, Clark.“I told you. I can’t talk about it here. He may be watching me. He must not see us together. It would only make things worse.” Lois allowed herself to glance over at him, trying to convey to him what was going on with her eyes.
Clark’s voice got firmer, deeper, almost sounding like Kal’s. “What’s going on, Lois?”
“Tonight, please, Clark. I’ve got to go talk to Perry,” she murmured, heading towards the break room. Then she stopped, knowing the answer to her question almost as it popped into her head. Glancing back at him, she asked, “Has Perry ever met Kal?”
Clark moved closer to her, but still kept an aisle of bookshelves between them.
Finally, he’s getting it that this is dangerous business.“Lois, I’m not leaving you here while you’re afraid,” he said, avoiding her question entirely.
She sighed.
So, Perry knows. That will make things easier when you confront him.“I thought as much,” Lois replied. She took one last look at him, wondering if she would ever be able to be held and comforted in those arms again.
Tell him not to worry. There are still hours until you get off work.“I’ll be fine, Clark. He wants something else from me,” she continued, answering his question.
Not that Tempus will ever get it. Her inner voice shivered with disgust.
“I was able to stall him until Saturday. Maybe by then…” She didn’t know what they could accomplish between now and then, so she walked off to the break room without even a backwards glance at him. She paused as she typed in the code to the break room door. Lois spoke softly knowing he was still watching her and knowing he would still be able to hear her, even over the noise of the store. “Go. And keep Kal away, too. If he shows up, I’ll lose you both.” Then she opened the door and went inside.
“What in blue blazes…?” Perry stammered, meeting her half way across the break room.
Lois didn’t answer him until they were back in his office with the door closed and could face him privately. “You’re stealing from Lexco?”
*** End of Part 21 *** Part 22 Comments
