Missing Lois (aka Season 6)
Chapter 9: Don’t Be Cruel - 13 Parts
Disclaimer: Inspired by the characters created by Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster and portrayed on the
Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman television series, developed for TV by Deborah Joy-LeVine. The character of Batman / Bruce Wayne was created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger. Many thanks for the above-referenced writers for their inspiration. The plot of the story is entirely my own.
Part 1Lois covered her mouth. Oh, God! What had she done? Which Clark – in her mind – had she been kissing? Did she even know? If someone saw…
“Hi, Lois.”
She quickly spun around and saw Jimmy standing outside the darkroom door. Lois’s whole world shattered around her. Had he seen Superman? Had he seen her kissing him? Had he seen her push him onto the desk and… Lois swallowed. She didn’t need to have Jimmy read her the riot act, but she knew she deserved it. She had cheated on Clark. Not on this night, but before.
Burning Love still was throbbing her brain into a headache.
“You working late tonight?” Jimmy asked. He seemed stiff. Uncomfortable. Was he? Or was she just imagining it?
“Yes,” she replied, placing a smile on her face. “You?”
“I forgot something. Just stopped by for a moment.” He gulped.
“Uh-huh.” This conversation was awkward, she could feel the tension. Would he say anything?
“Is someone else here? I thought I heard voices,” Jimmy asked her, glancing around.
Did he really not know? Lois almost sighed in relief. “Clark. He stepped out for a moment.”
“CK?” He looked skeptical of her response. Not good.
“Of course. Who else?” she replied innocently.
Jimmy raised a brow. “Who else, indeed?”
Lois decided to ignore that comment and turned back to her desk. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“You working on the Bruce Wayne background?” he asked, coming closer.
“Yes.” Safe topic. Work.
“Clark asked me to come with you. Take some photos.”
“He wanted to come, but I don’t need a partner on this.”
“Maybe he doesn’t trust you. Bruce Wayne is rumored to be sophisticated and handsome. Perhaps Clark’s afraid you might get swept away by his charm.”
Lois closed her eyes. “Of course, Clark trusts me. Why wouldn’t he?” If Jimmy saw something, they might as well get it out in the open tonight.
“Should he?” Jimmy asked.
She turned and faced him. “I would never do anything to hurt him. I love Clark, Jimmy. He knows that.”
“Do you, really, Lois? You have a funny way of showing it.” Jimmy looked at her like she was garbage, then walked over to the stairwell.
Lois bit her bottom lip as a tear crept down her cheek. She picked up her stapler and threw it at the boombox, silencing Elvis forever.
***
CK and Penny were standing there in the hall by the stairwell.
“CK?” Jimmy gasped. “Penny?” He had totally forgotten that Penny had come with him.
Penny jumped up. “You ready, Jimmy? Finished?”
He glanced over his shoulder. “Yeah.”
Oh, God. Poor CK. How would he ever be able to tell him? The man looked like he had already been slashed through the heart. Had he seen what his wife had done?
“Jimmy.” Clark smiled weakly. “Excuse me.”
Jimmy watched as his friend went into the newsroom. Poor CK.
“Is everything all right?” Penny asked.
“You didn’t see him?” Was he the only one who saw Lois’s deception?
“Who?”
He swallowed, not able to keep quiet any longer. “Superman.”
“Yeah. I saw him.”
Jimmy’s eyes flashed to hers. She knew. Oh, thank God, he could talk to someone about this. “I can’t believe she cheated on CK.”
“No, she didn’t, Jimmy,” Penny stated.
“Didn’t you see…?” He pointed back towards the newsroom. She nodded. He would never be able to get the image out of his brain.
“She would no more cheat on Clark than Psyche would cheat on her husband.”
“Who? What?” Jimmy shook his head. What was with the obscure reference, Penny? “I know what I saw.”
“You saw the lie, Jimmy. Not the truth.”
“No, I think I saw the truth for the first time, just now.”
Penny turned him around and made him face his friends in the newsroom. Clark was holding Lois, comforting her. “That, Jimmy. That’s the truth.”
Jimmy sneered. “How? Why isn’t he yelling at her? He doesn’t know what she did.”
“He knows, Jimmy,” she stated.
“But, then… why?” He was at a loss. How could CK allow Lois and Superman…?
“Because he loves her. He knows she would do anything for him as he would do for her.”
Jimmy pointed at them. “She kissed Superman, Penny. More than kissed him. You cannot excuse that.”
“Yes, well… That was a mistake.”
“You
are trying to excuse it.” What was with everyone tonight?
Penny sighed, looping her arm through his and starting back towards the stairs. “Even I kissed Superman once, thinking he was you. Everyone makes mistakes.”
“Wait. Are you saying that Lois Lane thinks CK is really Superman?” He laughed as she shrugged. “Oh. You’re funny, Penny.” Then her words sunk in. “You don’t still want to kiss him, do you?”
She shook her head. “No. I’m over him. Anyway, I only date single men.” She smiled at him.
“What? Superman’s married?” He laughed. “Like he could keep that a secret. You’re a riot.”
Penny patted his cheek.
“He’s never been on a date. How can any woman marry Superman?”
Penny shook her head and sighed. “By saying ‘I do’.”
***
A few minutes earlier, Clark had skipped up the stairs. He couldn’t believe he had done that. They had been so careful, since January… since that tabloid photo. Why hadn’t he spun right into his Clark clothes like he usually did? Lois shouldn’t have kissed him like that, but he was equally to blame. She had fallen in love with all of him, but since the beginning of the year he had been keeping half of himself more and more away from her. She hadn’t complained, per se. She had been pretty adamant about them needing privacy for him to be himself at home. With her mother visiting for the past month, watching Lara, he hadn’t been able to be himself at home for quite a while. Tonight she had shown him how much she had missed that side of him.
Clark got to the floor with the newsroom. As he walked away from the stairwell, a voice stopped him cold.
“Clark.”
He turned around. Penny. How long had she been there? Had she seen them? She stood up from where she had been sitting on the stairs.
“Penny. What are you doing here?” he asked. Was she spying on them?
“We stopped by for a few minutes, because Jimmy forgot to clean up in the dark room,” she told him.
Lois had been right. They hadn’t been alone as they seemed. He heard Jimmy talking to Lois in the other room.
Is someone else here? I thought I heard voices. Clark winced. Oh, crap. He had made her the bad guy again. How were they going to get out of this one? This wasn’t some photo that could be faked. This was live. Sometimes, he could be such an idiot. Well, he had better go intercede.
“Tell Lois if you hire me, I won’t kiss Superman again,” Penny was saying.
Clark stopped and turned back to face her. That was an odd thing to say in these circumstances. “What?!”
“I wouldn’t have kissed you the first time, if I’d known you were married,” she continued.
“Excuse me?” Did she just say what he thought she said?
“I should have realized. The strong connection between Superman and Lois Lane. It was more than just friendship.”
“Excuse me?” This time, he growled. Who said something like that to the husband?
“I won’t tell anyone, Clark. I’m not trying to extort you, I just thought we could help each other. You can trust me.”
“Blackmail,” he corrected automatically. “And
what won’t you tell anyone?”
“You want me to spell it out for you?” Penny shrugged. “Okay. I know who Superman is when he’s not in his blue suit.”
Clark stepped towards her, lowering his voice. “Who?”
Penny looked at him straight into his eyes. “The man whose wife is talking to my boyfriend,” she replied, batting her eyelashes innocently.
Clark glanced over his shoulder to his wife. “I should go,” he said, neither admitting nor denying her theory.
Jimmy walked up. “CK?” He seemed shocked to see him there. “Penny?”
“Jimmy, excuse me.” Clark left them standing there. He didn’t know what to do with Penny’s proposition.
Clark saw Lois lower her head down in shame; her spirit crushed. Jimmy knew; he must have seen them. He could tell from Lois’s body language. She picked up her stapler and threw it at Perry’s boombox, knocking it to the ground, silencing the music with a crash. Then she covered her face with her hands and started to cry.
Clark walked up to his wife and wrapped his arms around her. “I’m sorry, Lois. It’s as much my fault as yours. Please, forgive me.” For some reason, his apology made her cry harder. He had promised himself never to make her cry, but he kept breaking that promise recently.
He glanced at the broken boombox and could understand her anger. She had alienated one of their best friends.
They had done it together. She wasn’t the only one to blame. He held her as she cried. “I love you, Lois,” he murmured. “I’m sorry I left you to face the music by yourself.”
“Stop it, Clark. Just stop it,” she demanded.
“What?”
“Stop being so good. I don’t deserve it.”
“Don’t deserve it? You’re going to shoulder the fallout of both of our actions again. Personally, I think you deserve someone to treat you well. I might be the only one for a while.” He ran his fingers over her hair.
“Did you talk to Jimmy about keeping quiet about me and you-know-who?” she asked hopefully.
“Not, yet. I can’t imagine he’d go behind my back with that story, though.”
“I just wanted to kiss you,” she whispered as an excuse, looking away.
“Kissing me wouldn’t have been so bad. It was the pinning me across the desk and straddling me that pushed it beyond pale.” Clark chuckled. “You were hot. Smoking hot. If I hadn’t been in the blue suit, Jimmy might have walked in to quite a different scene.” Wiggling his eyebrows, he grinned.
Lois covered her eyes. “I’m so sorry. I don’t know what came over me.”
He kissed her. “Too much stress over this Bruce Wayne interview. Why don’t you let me take it?” He wasn’t sure what he saw behind the Caped Crusader’s mask, but it sure looked a lot like Bruce Wayne. He would love to test his theory on the identity of Mr. I’m-Not-The-Bad-Guy.
“You heard Perry. He specifically asked for me. And I’m not going to turn down the opportunity to interview one of Gotham City’s most celebrated philanthropists. Maybe I can convince him to spend some of his money here in Metropolis.”
“He can keep his money,” Clark snapped.
“Clark, what’s going on here? Why don’t you like this guy?” she asked, reaching up and caressing his face.
“Besides being extremely wealthy, he’s a notorious playboy. Why come to Metropolis? Why now all of a sudden? And why ask to be interviewed by my beautiful wife, who was once engaged to another wealthy philanthropist?”
“Those are some good questions.” Lois jumped up and found her notepad.
“I’ve got a thousand of them.” Clark leaned against her desk. “Which is why you should take me with you to your interview tomorrow.” A pleading smile graced his lips.
She glanced at him, brow raised, whispering, “Jimmy thinks you don’t trust me.”
“You, I trust. Wayne, I don’t.”
“I can handle those handsy, old money types.” Lois grinned at him.
“He better not be handsy with my wife.” Clark growled.
“Whoa, Clark. What did he ever do to you?”
Clark hadn’t told her about what happened in Gotham City. “Let’s just say, he rubbed me the wrong way and I don’t like him within a hundred miles of my city, let alone my wife.”
Lois raised a brow, crossed her arms and waited.
Good time to change the subject. ”By the way, I bumped into Penny in the hall…”
“Oh, great. Two witnesses. I’m dead.” She placed a hand on his chest. “What did Miss Ninety-Seven Percent want?”
“To tell me that she found the last three percent and that she wants us to hire her as our nanny.”
Lois set her head against his chest. “Clark, she kissed you. I don’t want her anywhere near you, especially if she thinks you’re you-know-who.”
Clark kissed the top of her head. “There’s only one woman for you-know-who.”
“That’s part of our problem.” His wife sighed. “Jimmy’s not going to want her to work for us... for me. He’s especially angry at me; well, angry for Jimmy. Nothing more than I deserve. I should have kept my lips to myself.”
“Penny told me to tell you that she wouldn’t kiss me again.” Clark grinned. “She never would have kissed me if she had known I was married.”
“I don’t like this, Clark. I’m feeling backed into a corner.”
“I know.”
“You didn’t tell her she was right, did you?” Lois asked, starting to look at the papers on her desk again.
He let go of her. One couldn’t distract Lois long from a story. “Of course not.”
“Good.” She smiled at him. “Why don’t you fly off and get us something to eat, then you can help me finish up here?”
Clark swept her up into his arms. “How about I take you someplace, where we can finish what we started?”
“Down boy,” Lois said, pointing to the floor. “I’ve got to get back to work.”
He set her down and started to hum
She Works Hard For The Money. She smiled and slapped him on the chest. “Chinese sounds good.”
Clark sighed. “Yes, dear.”
Lois grabbed his tie and pulled him towards her for a kiss. “You can show me your blue suit when we get home,” she whispered.
He picked her up and deepened the kiss. “Forget Wayne. He’s not worth it. I am.”
“Maybe so, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to skip my preparation.” She slid down his body and returned to her desk.
It was difficult being married to a sexy woman with a Type A work ethic. Clark knew he wouldn’t be able to change her mind. He kissed her cheek and zipped off to San Francisco’s Chinatown for some late night take-out.
***
Lois and Jimmy arrived at Wayne Enterprises’ Metropolis branch office, together and in silence. Jimmy hadn’t said word one to her all morning, let alone looked her in the eye. In his eyes, she was mud. At least he hadn’t told Perry his scoop about Lois and Superman. He respected his friendship with Clark too much.
As they waited in the lobby, Jimmy adjusted his camera lens three times. Lois sighed.
“I can’t believe you did that to CK,” he murmured.
She closed her eyes and winced. “This isn’t a good time, Jimmy.”
Bruce Wayne entered the lobby and extended his hand. He was everything all the photos and articles said about him - tall, dark, handsome, and dressed in clothes that cost more than a month of paychecks. She knew some women who needed that in a man. Not her.
“Well, hello.” He smiled with a debonair swagger, handing her a corsage rose. “You must be the beautiful Lois Lane. I can see what keeps Superman in Metropolis,” he said, kissing her hand instead of shaking it.
“You don’t know the half of it,” scoffed Jimmy, under his breath.
She elbowed her friend and smiled politely at Bruce Wayne, taking back her hand. “This is Jimmy Olsen, my photographer.”
“Howdy.” Jimmy waved. She could tell he was trying to act cool around the celebrity extraordinaire. Lois resisted the urge to roll her eyes.
“Okay. My limo will take us to the restaurant,” Bruce Wayne said, extending his hand out the door of the office.
“No tour?” Lois asked. “Do you have something to hide?”
“Of course not. You want a tour, a tour you shall get.” Wayne lead her through the offices at breakneck speed. There wasn’t anything except offices in the building. He stopped in his huge, colossal space. “See anything you like?”
“This is killer!” gasped Jimmy. His anger at Lois forgotten for the moment as he found the vintage pinball game in the corner.
“Everyone needs an escape every once in a while.” Bruce Wayne shrugged. “I can’t be serious all the time. What’s the fun in that?” He held up a quarter. “Want to take her for a spin, Jimmy?”
“Do I ever!” Jimmy grabbed the quarter and rushed back to the game.
Lois looked at Bruce Wayne with a raised brow. “So, what exactly does Wayne Enterprises do, Mr. Wayne?”
“Anything it wants to, Miss Lane. Or can I call you, Lois? You may call me Bruce.” He smiled, those perfect teeth exposed, as he sat down in his chair behind the desk.
“It’s Mrs. Kent,” Jimmy called from the corner. Okay, so Jimmy hadn’t forgotten he was mad at her. Or why.
“Oh, that’s right. You’re married, now, aren’t you?” Bruce stared at her, really stared at her. He leaned back in his chair, placing his fingertips together. “So, tell me about yourself, Ms. Lane. How long have you and Mr. Kent been married? Do you have any children?”
“I believe I’m here to interview you, Bruce,” she replied, sitting down and pulling out her notepad. “What do you mean, when you say Wayne Enterprises does anything it wants?”
“Besides owning several smaller companies, Wayne Enterprises also has a charitable side, Wayne Foundation. I try to give back at least half of Wayne Enterprises’ yearly net income to charity.”
“Admirable. It must be quite substantial to still accommodate your lifestyle on only half your yearly net income.”
“I do well, yes.” He smiled.
“What kind of charities do you sponsor?” she asked.
“Well, Lois, I have many of my own charities under Wayne Foundation. I sponsor relief work all over the world, feed the hungry, clothe and educate the poor, clean up the environment, fund medical, technological and scientific advancement, help the victims of crime, things like that.” He waved his hand as if that wasn’t really important.
“Do you get your fingers dirty?”
“Excuse me?” She had caught him off guard with that question. He sat up.
“Do you just put your name on Wayne Foundation or do you actually get involved with your charitable giving? Do you see the faces of those you help? Do you just throw money at a problem and hope it goes away?”
“I do what I can,” he replied vaguely.
“And what is that?”
“A little of this, a little of that.”
“Such as?”
“You’re tenacious.” He leaned forward and gave her a dazzling smile. “I can see why he likes you so much.”
“Excuse me?”
Who likes her?
Bruce shook his head as if he misspoke.
Jimmy came over to them at that moment. “Oh, that brings back my childhood, Mr. Wayne. That totally rocks.”
“I’m glad you enjoyed it.” Bruce stood up. “Shall we go to lunch?”
“I should probably snap a few pics while we’re here,” replied Jimmy, lifting his camera.
Bruce Wayne leaned on his desk and smiled. Obviously, he had had his picture taken once or twice. He knew how to pose.
“We have that shot, Bruce. How about one by the pinball game?” Lois suggested.
Bruce reached into his pocket and retrieved another quarter. “Only if you’ll give her a spin.” Charming.
Lois smiled at him. So, he wanted to dazzle her. She wondered why. Did women really fall for this phony act? After Superman, men like this were a dime a dozen. “Why don’t you show me how it’s done?” she said sweetly. Then when he stepped up to the machine, she nodded to Jimmy to snap his photo.
“You won’t be able to see anything from way back there, Lois,” said Bruce. Hesitantly, she stepped closer. She didn’t want to be in the photo, but he obviously wanted her in it. He grabbed her hand and pulled her in front of him. “You pull this lever here to get the ball rolling.” He placed his hand over hers. Oh, God, what kind of idiot did he think she was?
Lois didn’t like that he was touching her so much, like she was some plaything of his. His hands were over hers and his front brushed against her backside. After ten seconds, she had had enough. She stepped back onto his toe with the sharp point of her heel, her elbow to his ribcage. “Excuse me. Where may I find the little girl’s room?”
He pointed out his office door, rubbing his chest. “Just down the hall on the right.”
“Thank you.” She smiled at Bruce.
Turning to Jimmy, she grimaced, pretending like she wanted to throw up. He didn’t smile like he normally would. Jimmy sneered at her as if he thought she was enjoying Bruce’s attention. He really had lost all trust in her. She sighed and left the office, searching for the restroom. She was beginning to wish she had brought Clark and his x-ray vision on this interview. Bruce was definitely hiding something. She didn’t know what, but whatever it was, it probably wasn’t here at the Metropolis branch of his offices. This guy was really too much.
Lois found the restroom and walked on past it. She closed her eyes and listened as she passed office after office. Nothing much of interest, people chatting on the phones about this event, organizing that party, purchasing supplies, paying bills. Boring. She pushed open the door of the office of the woman purchasing supplies.
The woman held up her finger, finished her call and hung up. “How may I help you?”
“I’m so sorry, I got totally turned around. Which way to the ladies’?” Lois smiled politely.
“Let me file this and then I will show you the way,” the woman answered. She had a slight lilting Spanish accent, the other side of the Atlantic’s Spanish, not this side. The woman walked over to the filing cabinet.
“Thank you.” Lois glanced down at the invoices on the woman’s desk. Zippers? Kevlar fabric? What would Wayne Enterprises need with zippers and Kevlar? “Does Wayne Enterprises have a fashion division?”
The woman looked at her and then closed the folder on her desk. “This way.”
“Thank you.”
The woman went inside the ladies’, so Lois went in as well.
“Mr. Wayne makes Kevlar vests for some of his employees that work in danger zones.”
“Oh.” Admirable and therefore no longer suspicious. “Why doesn’t he just buy them already made?”
“He’s particular,” the woman said, leaning against the counter. “You don’t work here. No ID badge.” She flipped her badge snapped on the hem of her shirt.
Lois smiled. Caught. “Lois Lane,
Daily Planet.” She held out her hand.
“Ah, the reporter. Margarite Javez. What do you want to know?” She shook her hand.
“You don’t mind talking with me?” This surprised Lois. Usually there was a memo sent around warning employees of her visit to an office whenever she and Clark had an interview with a CEO.
“I have nothing to hide and neither does Mr. Wayne.”
*** End of Part 1 *** Burning Love – Performed by Elvis Presley, written by Dennis Linde.
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