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Part 23

Part 24

Wednesday

Lois marched to the front doors of Daily Books and rang the buzzer. She was still mad at Kal… Clark… what’s-his-name! She did not give him a set of keys so that he could wake her up in the middle of the night and drag her butt off to his parents’ place. She didn’t care if he did it ‘for her safety’. Super powers did not give Clark the right to make dictatorial decisions over her life.

A discussion first would have been nice. Asking your permission would have been the thing to do. But nooooo.

Jimmy moseyed up next to her and didn’t speak. Actually, he was looking at her like sour grapes.

What did you ever do to him?

Lois smiled. “Good morning, Jimmy.”

“Morning,” he replied brusquely.

Obviously there is nothing ‘good’ about it.

Suddenly he turned to her. “I can’t believe you would do that to CK!”

What?!

Lois’s eyes bugged. “What did I do?”

Jimmy rolled his eyes. “CK is the best, Lois. I strive to be like him and you… you…” He couldn’t finish.

“I what?”

“And they say men turn bonkers over a pretty scantily-clad girl,” Jimmy exclaimed, throwing his hands into the air.

“What?!” Lois snarled.

He better not be implying what you think he’s implying.

“You know what!” Jimmy spat back. “Your affair!”

Affair? Doesn’t someone have to be married to have one of those?

“Affair?” Lois asked confused.

“You’re cheating on CK! He loves you, Lois. How could you?” he shouted.

A-Ha! Finally no more beating around the bush.

“No, I’m not,” she replied coldly.

Jimmy gazed at her skeptically. “Even CK thinks…”

“He does not!” Lois corrected him with a roar. She took a deep breath and lowered her voice. “Whatever is going on with Clark and I is between us. He trusts me.”

Jimmy harrumphed in disbelief.

Oh, is this what’s it’s going to be like dating a guy with a secret identity? Because you can certainly do without this!

Lois pressed her lips together. “It’s not what you think,” she muttered, hating to have to explain herself to someone she thought was a friend. “Besides that, it’s none of your business.”

Finally Perry arrived and opened the front doors to let them in. Lois grabbed the stacks of newspapers outside the door. Jimmy just proceeded in without an offer to help.

Their boss watched him and then looked over at Lois as she grabbed the last bundle. “What’s up with him?”

Lois sighed. “Don’t ask.” And then without meaning to, she continued, “Apparently I’m cheating on Clark with Superman.”

“That could pose a problem,” the Chief said sympathetically, yet with a hint of a smile.

Jimmy hadn’t waited for them and was already up on the third floor on his way to the break room.

Lois glared at her boss. “Tell me about it,” she grumbled. “Speaking of problems, any solutions come to mind on our little Tempus problem?”

Perry swallowed uncomfortably as he relocked the front doors. “I’ve got my feelers out,” he murmured.

Whatever that means.

“I really don’t want to be going on that ‘date’ come Saturday night,” she said starting up the escalator. “Who knows what he might try?”

“Clark wouldn’t allow that,” Perry reassured her. “He’ll keep you safe.”

Lois rolled her eyes. “I’ve had it up to here…” She pointed to her neck. “With his over-protective side. Do you want to know what my boyfriend did to me last night?”

Her boss sputtered and blushed as he clearly had no response to that question; finally he said a simple, “No.”

Lois pressed her lips together as she looked up.

Men!

She stomped off the escalator and over to the break room. Perry waited as she slammed her stuff into her locker and clocked in. “He broke into my apartment in the middle of the night, packed me an overnight bag, and flew me over to Clark’s apartment ‘for my protection’,” she shouted at Perry.

The Chief glanced over at Jimmy, who still hadn’t left the break room – and who was now starting at her, his mouth ajar – and then back at Lois with a raised brow.

She waved aside Jimmy’s presence.

“He broke into your apartment?” Perry asked skeptically.

“He borrowed Clark’s keys,” she mumbled with annoyance.

“CK knows Superman?” Jimmy stammered.

“Clark has keys?” Perry asked, just as surprised.

“Yes,” Lois drawled, answering two questions with one word. Then to Jimmy, “They’re the best of buddies. How do you think we met?”

“Really?” Jimmy gasped, still surprised.

“I’m sure he would introduce you if you asked,” she snapped.

“Lois,” Perry warned her.

She rolled her eyes again and glared in his direction. “Fine! I’ve got work to do.” Lois would acquiesce to his years of experience on this matter and keep her mouth shut.

“I think Mad Dog has rabies,” she heard Jimmy say as she strode out of the break room.

***

Clark pushed his cart of boxes down the ground floor hallway towards Lois’s Receiving Room.

So, on a scale of one to ten, with one being ecstatic and ten livid, Jimmy had said Lois was a twenty-five. She had been so ticked off at Clark she had actually told Jimmy that her boyfriend knew Superman. That Clark had actually introduced them. Wouldn’t it blow his friend’s mind if Clark told Jimmy that it actually was he who introduced Lois to Superman?

Clark exhaled. Lois had given him the silent treatment at breakfast again. And worse than that, his folks had actually sided with her.

“You’re in a relationship now, son,” his Dad had said. “You need to make your decisions together.”

Okay. Yes. He could see their point. Only after the run-in with the tabloid photographer and then having found that not one but two bugs had been planted in Lois’s apartment, Clark had seen red. He hadn’t thought through his actions; he had only reacted. Granted, he had reacted badly. Waking her up and forcing her to leave with him, not even allowing her to pack her own overnight bag, was probably not the best way to convince Lois her safety was at risk.

He just knew he couldn’t let her sleep on in blissful ignorance until morning, unprotected. And he couldn’t have stayed there with her, because if Superman was called away in the early morning hours… No, he had not wanted to leave her alone.

Right, and it had nothing to do with how cute and cuddly she looked lying asleep in her bed. And how much safer you were with the two of you at your folks’ place instead of hers.

As Clark pushed the cart into Lois’s back room, she glanced over to him, fire in her eyes. He was glad to be the one with the super powers, because if her eyes could shoot laser beams, he would be a pile of ashes by now.

“Hey,” Clark said casually.

“Hey, yourself,” she snapped back.

Yep. Still past ten on the livid scale.

“What’s that?” she inquired, a smile dancing to her face for the first time all morning as she pointed to the cellophane-wrapped delectables sitting on top of the boxes. “Did you bring me apology brownies?” She picked up the brownies and smelled them with a satisfied sigh.

Apology brownies? Good to know. Chocolate soothes the savage beast.

Unfortunately, he owed Lois the truth. He promised himself to always tell her the truth from now on. And the truth was he hadn’t brought them for her. Clark swallowed in anticipation of her reaction to his forthcoming words. “Sophie gave them to me,” he admitted.

“Sophie? As in second floor Art and Architecture Sophie?” Lois growled.

Oh, good. She’s taking it well.

“Actually, I believe she’s Cooking, Gardening, and Wine Supervisor,” he corrected making a bad situation worse.

Do you have room in your mouth for your hands, Kent? Because you are now out of feet to chew on.

“And why is Sophie from the second floor making my boyfriend brownies?” Lois asked her voice low and her eyes fierce.

Cheer up, Kent. She still considers you her whipping boy.

Clark gulped. This wasn’t exactly the way he had wanted to broach the subject. “They are sympathy brownies because of this.” He lifted up the copy of Dirt Digger Weekly he had picked up that morning.

Lois pulled the paper from his hand and looked at the cover photos of her and Superman outside of her apartment on Sunday. “No big surprise there after my run-in with Leo Nunk from the National Whisperer yesterday.”

“Inquisitor,” he corrected automatically, and then bit his own tongue to shut himself up.

“Inquisitor! Whisperer! Whatever!” she shouted.

“Lois, please,” Clark said, trying to calm her down.

“Please? Please? Oh, now you are suddenly remembering your manners?”

He winced. He deserved that. Keeping his volume low, he continued, “Kal found a photographer staked outside your apartment and two listening devices hidden in your apartment. I was worried.”

She raised her hand. “I’ve already gotten the lecture, Clark. That was still no reason to tell me to get dressed at three o’clock in the morning to be moved to a safe location, no questions asked. I would have been fine at home! Or you could have had Kal fly you over to protect me. I wasn’t able to sleep a wink at your place, I was so mad.”

“I know,” he murmured. “I’m sorry.”

“Are you going to send him here to check on my work space too?” she muttered as she began to tear off the covers of a stack of outdated magazines.

Clark paled. He hadn’t thought about the store being vulnerable. They had had too many revealing conversations recently in this back room. He tilted down his glasses and gave the room a quick scan. It was clean and he relaxed again. He took three the boxes off the cart at once and set them on the floor. “How about this? I’ll come by at noon and treat you to lunch.” He tried his charming smile on her and said coaxingly, “I’ll throw in some of Sophie’s brownies.”

Lois glanced at him from the corner of her eye. “Are they any good? I take it she’s one of those women who cooks?”

Clark shrugged nonchalantly. “The fudge she gave me at Christmas was mouthwateringly good.”

Lois pressed her lips together again.

Perhaps that wasn’t the correct thing to say at this juncture, Romeo.

Clark set down the last box and stepped over to her, wrapping his arms around her. Lois squirmed for a minute and then calmed. As he ran his hand over her hair, he said, “I reacted badly, true. I feel terrible and guilty that your security, your home, has been compromised because of Kal. I was trying to make a horrible situation better and I only made it worse. I’m sorry. I love you so much and I keep screwing up…” He shook his head. “I fear I’ll never be the perfect boyfriend that you want… need… deserve.”

“I don’t want perfection, Clark. I only want you,” she told him, resting her hands against his chest.

What was that? Was that supposed to be a compliment?

“Promise to not screw up again?” Lois asked.

Clark sighed and kissed her forehead. “I don’t think I can promise you that, Lois. I can promise to try not to screw up again… but with my track record?” He shrugged. “Really, I am trying, Lois.”

She lifted her chin and placed a soft kiss on his lips. “Try harder.”

At least she isn’t piling on the pressure.

Someone cleared his throat behind them and Clark jumped away from her. Just what he needed, to be caught kissing his girlfriend when he was supposed to be delivering boxes.

“Sorry to interrupt, Kent, but Superman said I could reach him through you,” Officer Henderson said from the doorway.

“Right.” Clark nodded. He had stopped by the police station again after dropping Lois off with his folks and typed up his statement about the burglar he had apprehended. “How did you know I would be here?”

“I didn’t, but I knew she might be,” Henderson said, indicating Lois with his head. “And I figured she would know how to contact you.”

“What’s the message?” he asked, curiously. He had signed the statement, hadn’t he?

Well, Superman had signed it with a big S and a wavy line.

“There is a jumper at the Lexor Hotel. I thought Superman could…” Henderson started before he was interrupted.

“Lois, lunch?” Clark kissed her cheek.

She waved him on. “Go! Go, find Superman.”

Clark beamed at her and then grabbed his cart, disappearing down the hall.

***

Lois turned to the police officer. It was the same man to whom she had reported her robbery. She glanced at his name badge to refresh her memory. She wondered what the W. stood for.

William? Wallace? Webster? Waldecker?

“Henderson, was it?” she asked.

The policeman nodded at her, yet he appeared as if he wanted to bolt with Clark.

“We’ve got some new information about the break-in at my apartment,” she informed him.

She had captured his interest enough for him to warily remain. “Okay. Shoot.”

Lois picked up the copy of Dirt Digger Weekly that Clark had left with the boxes.

Oooh. He forgot the brownies as well. Losers, weepers.

She tried to look casual as she flipped through the tabloid looking at the photographs.

“If you are searching for an apology for my reluctance to believe your Superman story the other day, you aren’t going to get it,” he told her.

She pressed her lips together and shut the paper. “Ka… Superman found two bugs hidden in my apartment last night. He thinks that they may have been planted there during the robbery.”

Henderson stepped forward. “Bugs?”

“Listening devices,” she clarified, setting down the tabloid.

“I know what they are, Ms. Lane. What were they doing in your apartment?” he asked.

“Isn’t that your department, Officer?” she inquired innocently.

“Where are the bugs now?”

Lois shrugged. “You’ll have to ask Clark. Should I tell him to drop them off at police headquarters?”

“Precinct twelve, care of my attention, would be good. Do you think the break-in was a cover-up?” Henderson said, glancing down at the tabloid on the boxes.

“I don’t know. Either that or the burglars came and went and someone else planted the bugs. Either way,” Lois said, picking up the tabloid and slapping it against the officer’s chest. “I think we have a witness.”

“Witness? Who?” He looked down at the tabloid now in his hands. “The photographer?”

Lois moved next to him. “See that photo there. That was taken before Superman flew me off to the beach.” She pulled the paper out of his hands and flipped it to another page. “This photo was taken after he brought me back home. See how my hair looks different. And there, that in my hand is the glass fish Superman made for me.”

“And if he took the photos before and after, the photographer must have been there during the crime. He may have gotten a photograph of the thieves.” Henderson appeared impressed by Lois’s reasoning.

See, Officer, Clark doesn’t just like me for my rapier wit and good looks.

Lois felt pleased that Henderson finally noticed her intelligence. It was a small victory, but she would take what she could get. “I would appreciate it if you could keep us apprised on the status of your investigation.”

He raised a skeptical eyebrow. “That’s not how this works.”

She had been about to offer that Henderson take their copy of Dirt Digger Weekly, but with that small reaction Lois realized that she herself might be able to find out more information on her own. “Of course not. I completely understand,” Lois said as she reached over and tugged the paper out of his hand, folding it. “I should really be getting back to work. I’ll remind Clark about those bugs.”

“I’d appreciate it, Ms. Lane,” Henderson replied.

“No problem,” said Lois cheerfully as she turned her back on him.

“That’s not how this works,” her inner voice repeated with a nasally tone, a sneer and a scoff.

***

The morning hours flew by and Lois felt her stomach rumbling. She wondered how close to noon it was getting and whether she should just cave and eat the rest of his brownies. If Clark hadn’t packed her overnight bag, she would have her wristwatch with her now and know how soon her boyfriend would show up.

She pulled a stack of new weekly magazines off the v-cart and set them on the shelf. A photo of Superman holding the colossus plane graced the cover. Two weeks – even one week ago an alien on the cover of such a magazine would have been considered a joke or an advertisement for Hollywood’s latest blockbuster. Now? Clark had changed history.

“Ms. Lane?” a voice from behind her inquired.

Oh, goodie. Another one.

Lois had been defending herself against tabloid reporters and Superman groupies all morning. It appeared that another tabloid had printed photos of her and Superman at the press conference and arguing outside the bookstore, afterwards. There would never be an end to her misery.

“Look, I’m trying to work here. I don’t…” She turned around at this point and faced a tall man with longish, wavy, sandy brown hair. Lois began to stammer as her heart beat loudly against her chest. “Daniel Scardino? You’re Daniel Scardino!”

He smiled at her and her knees went weak.

“I know,” he said smoothly.

“I loved you in Resurrection where you played the FBI agent trying to find the bomber who blew up that pretty blonde D.A. You were so romantic. I even dreamed once that I was the reporter whom you plied with gifts and shared sweet kisses with.” Lois sighed.

Okay, Lane. I’ve got to put a stop to this. You’re gushing.

Lois swallowed and blushed as Daniel Scardino’s smile grew larger.

“You dreamed that you broke the heart of your writing partner by running off with me?” he asked softly, reaching up and brushing a lock of her hair out of her eyes.

She shrugged, unable to say any more.

“I was wondering if I could take you to lunch,” he said, stepping closer.

“Me? Lunch? Why?” she squeaked.

This is a dream come true. Daniel Scardino! Wow!

“Because you’re dating Superman,” he simply replied.

Lois’s heart hit her feet and rebounded back up into her chest with a thud.

Oh, yeah. Your boyfriend. Great, Scardino is another fan. So much for daydreams and fantasies.

“I. Am. Not. Dating. Superman,” she growled, glaring at him.

Daniel Scardino stepped back and raised his hands in surrender. “Okay, you’re not dating Superman. But you’ve talked to him. You know him better than anyone else on this planet. And, right now, that’s what I need.”

“Huh?”

Scardino took her arm and he led her away from the crowds at the newsstand. “There’s talk in Hollywood about making a Superman movie, Lois. I want to play Superman. Let me take you to lunch and you can tell me how to be Superman, so I can get the part. Please.”

Lois raised a hand to her face to hide her giggles.

This guy? Superman? I think not.

She shook her head. “I’d love to help you, Mr. Scardino, but…”

“Call me Daniel,” he said sweetly, pouring on the charm.

She ignored his interruption. “But I already have lunch plans with my boyfriend.”

“Big Blue is coming here?” stammered Daniel, obviously caught off guard.

“I am not dating Superman,” Lois repeated. “My boyfriend’s name is Clark. And I’m expecting him momentarily. He’ll be here at noon.” She instinctually looked at her wrist again. It felt naked without her watch.

“I don’t think he’s coming,” said Daniel.

“Why’s that?” she asked gruffly, raising an eyebrow.

“Because it’s a quarter to one,” he replied, showing her his watch.

Lois gulped.

What happened to Clark? Where is Clark? He promised…

She closed her eyes as the truth hit her. Superman. She took a deep breath and slowly she released it.

He isn’t coming.

“Clark must have been held up at work,” she managed to say through the pain.

Clark loves you, Lois. He would be here if he could. It was probably an emergency. Soldier on.

“I can take you to lunch. My treat,” Daniel was saying. “There’s a nice restaurant down the street. You need to eat.”

What was it about men and force-feeding her?

“A girl has to eat,” coaxed Scardino.

A girl? Losing points by the moment there, Danny boy.

Lois glanced up to the third floor where Clark usually stood when he watched her, but he wasn’t there. As her gaze came down she caught sight of Miss Blonde Buxom Brownies on the mezzanine. Lois turned to Scardino. “Tell you what, Mr. Scardino, I’ll let you take me to lunch as long as you let me interview you for the Planet.”

He grinned with glee. “If you insist and, please, call me Daniel.”

“Let me just clock out and make a phone call and I’ll be right down,” she said, grabbing her cart.

A few minutes later, Lois picked up the telephone, dropped in her quarter and dialed the number on the piece of paper in her hand.

“Hi, Mrs. Cox. It’s Lois Lane again. Did you happen to give Mr. Luthor my messages?... You did? Great. When can I…? No. At the company meet-and-greet in December won’t do. I need to see him before the end of … Okay. Yes, I understand he’s a busy man, but what I have to tell him… No! I won’t hold… ARGH!” Lois slammed down the receiver.

Hating that woman more and more!

Lois plodded down the escalator stairs. Daniel was leaning against a pillar reading that weekly magazine with Superman on the cover. He folded it under his arm as she walked up.

“Ready?” she snapped.

“Uh. Yes,” he said, his smile wavering.

“Sorry, I’ve been trying to get a meeting with Lex Luthor and I keep getting the run-around by his assistant,” Lois admitted as they walked to the door.

“You get the interview of the century, of the millennium, and now you’re trying to nab number two?” Daniel chuckled.

She stopped at the door and crossed her arms, looking the action superstar up and down. “Forget something there, Scardino?”

He appeared perplexed.

“The magazine? I don’t have lunch with shoplifters,” she stated.

“Oh!” He blushed, pulling the magazine out from under his arm. “I’ll just go pay for this.”

“You do that.”

Daniel came back a few minutes later holding up a receipt. “Can I blame my forgetfulness on the most incredible pair of brown eyes?”

Lois rolled said eyes, pushing open the doors. “Can it, Scardino.”

“Daniel. Please call me Daniel.”

Almost a half-hour later as they sat on the patio of the restaurant down the street from the bookstore, Lois pushed her plate away. “I really should get back to the store.”

Daniel reached across the table and took her hand. “Wait!” He lowered his voice, his eyes gazing deeply into hers. “Tell me the truth. You’re really dating him, aren’t you? Because I’m telling you, I’m excited more about the re-enacting a romance with you than wearing that suit.”

A roar of wind sounded overhead as Lois grimaced and pulled her hand back. “Daniel, I have spent the entire lunch telling you that I’m not dating…”

Dan looked skyward. “Was that him?”

Lois’s tongue glided over her front teeth. “Yes. My boyfriend is a very jealous man. And, no, he isn’t Superman. But Superman is a friend of mine and Clark’s and if you want his permission to play him in a movie…”

“Permission?” Dan’s eyes opened widely in amusement. “I don’t need his permission, Lois.”

“You don’t think Superman has legal rights over his image and name?” she scoffed.

Suddenly an explosion shook the restaurant. Lois jumped to her feet. It had come from behind her. The same direction Superman had just flown a few minutes before.

Clark!

“I’ve got to go.” Lois hurtled over the ropes surrounding the restaurant’s patio and ran down the sidewalk in the direction of the explosion. She saw smoke rising from the Carlin Building and a huge crowd of people and reporters cordoned off outside. She pushed her way through the crowd, her heart pounding against her ribcage.

Please be all right. Please be all right.

A moment later a slightly disorientated Superman emerged from the building. He appeared smoky, a bit singed, and dusty from debris, but otherwise unhurt.

“Are you okay?” Lois called out to him, reporter fashion.

His eyes found hers, softened a moment, and then darted to the side, checking out the rest of the crowd. When they returned to her, they seemed hurt and angry. “I’m fine,” he replied.

Linda King was inside the barricade and was just pushing herself to her feet. Superman bent down and scooped her off the ground. She had a minor cut on her forehead that was bleeding. Eagerly that blonde reporter wrapped her arms around Superman’s neck as he took off into the air.

Lois gasped, her heart turning to stone.

He did not just ignore you to fly off with Linda King?

She continued to watch where they disappeared into the sky.

“Go ahead,” said a voice from beside her. “Tell me again how there’s nothing going on between you.”

Lois glanced next to her and realized Daniel Scardino had followed her from the restaurant.

Oh, God! Clark had seen Daniel take her hand at the restaurant when he flew by!

She turned and stared Daniel straight in the eyes. “Superman and I are just friends,” she said again, believing her words were becoming more true by the second. She slowly pushed her way through the crowd and back to the bookstore.

*** End of Part 24 ***

Part 25

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