Smallville TOC Smallville: 11/?
by Nan Smith
Previously, from Part 10:
"When -- oh, you mean in Shuster's Field a couple of weeks ago," Lois said. "But that was only a few seconds, and who knows how far away the stuff was from you. This was a lot worse. I don't think we should panic yet. You're just going to have to be careful until you recover; that's all."
There was a short pause, and then Clark smiled faintly. "You're probably right. But after the Christmas presents are opened, I want to give Rachel a call, just to be sure she's all right. And then we need to do some snooping around in town. If somebody is running some kind of criminal enterprise where they're willing to kill the County Sheriff, I don't think we can afford to wait until my powers come back."
It figured that he hadn't forgotten that, Lois thought. Well, neither had she, although other events had taken precedence last night. She kept her inevitable reflections about Clark's vulnerability to herself. They no longer had Superman to help them, at least for now. She was just going to have to watch out for both of them until his powers returned.
**********
And now, Part 11:
"Any results yet, Nigel?" Lex Luthor looked up as his chief assistant and jack of all dirty-tricks handyman entered his office.
The man certainly didn't look dangerous, which was part of his charm. Nigel had been a member of MI-5, the British Secret Service, and he was extremely useful to Luthor in certain aspects of his business. He was in his late sixties, white-haired and overweight, but his appearance was deceptive. Luthor was aware that a highly intelligent brain lay behind that bland face, along with a complete lack of either morals or ethics. Those qualities made him valuable as well. They also made him the kind of ally that Luthor felt it necessary to watch closely. Nigel knew that too.
The expressionless face did not change. "I'm afraid not, sir. There has been no reference to Lois Lane's location since the conversation between White and the photographer, Olsen. She has apparently been assigned some investigative project in an unknown location."
"Her partner, Kent?"
"He has, according to my acquaintance in the Daily Planet's office, returned to his somewhat bucolic hometown for their annual Christmas celebration."
"That was what I understood. Somehow, I don't quite see the cosmopolitan Ms. Lane in such a setting. The night she saved my life, she was most understandably disgusted with the dirt and vegetation that she had been forced to contact in the process. Have you any other leads?"
"Actually, sir," Nigel said, "there is still the other. The soon-to-graduate student, Anthony Daus, has been contacted and presented with the incentive."
"And? Has he accepted?"
Nigel's expression didn't change. "Not yet, sir. The first package was left in his cab. Instead of proceeding as one might expect, he apparently turned the package in, unopened, to his manager. It was retrieved a short time ago. A second was left for him."
"And?"
"He failed to answer the phone when he was called some minutes later. He will be contacted when the offer can be made in a suitably anonymous fashion. Unless the man is a greater fool than I expect, he will accept. He is a struggling journalism student, and his new employment at the Daily Planet is as an intern. A bare subsistence, I believe. Once he is made aware that all that is required is the location of Lois Lane, I suspect he will be amenable to our terms."
"I hope so." Luthor regarded his subordinate thoughtfully. "Unless he is another of these incorruptible do-gooders. There are all too many of them these days."
"Indeed, sir. I would have expected a young man in his circumstances to be more ethically flexible. However, we shall see if he can be persuaded to do the sensible thing. That much money will certainly be an incentive. And then, once he has compromised once, he will be much more amenable to your wishes the next time."
Luthor opened the cigar humidifier on his desk, selected a fine Cuban cigar and examined it minutely. "That, of course, will be useful," he admitted. "Much better than relying on a loose-lipped office gossip." He snipped the end off the cigar with a pair of silver cigar-clippers, placed it between his lips and struck a match. Nigel waited in silence while Luthor engaged in the careful lighting of the cigar.
Once it was drawing correctly, he said, "Indeed, sir. A reliable informant inside the Daily Planet will be very useful to your enterprises."
"Exactly," Luthor said." He blew a cloud of aromatic smoke. "But first things first. After that fateful night when Lois Lane saved my life, the scales fell from my eyes, and I knew that I had found the only woman suited to be my wife. The first order of the agenda must be to establish a network of observers, so that I may know her location and business at all times. The second is to learn if I have any rivals, and remove them in such a way that she doesn't suspect. I rely on you to recruit this Anthony Daus. And if he isn't suitable, to eliminate him before he brings us under suspicion."
Nigel nodded. "Very good, sir."
"And send Mrs. Cox in on your way out."
Thus dismissed, Nigel turned and left the room.
**********
Breakfast at the Kent farmhouse was a fairly lavish affair on Christmas morning. Clark had started it off by removing the bacon from his mother's refrigerator and, under Lois's instructions, defrosting it carefully in the microwave.
"I thought you couldn't cook," he remarked, while they waited for the device to do its work.
"I can't," Lois said. "But I microwave frozen dinners a lot, and I warm up leftover Chinese food and stuff. I can use a microwave without much trouble."
Clark forbore to comment, but filed the information away for future reference. It sounded to him like Lois's diet definitely could have been better. Well, maybe after they were married, he could show her some of the basics. Or maybe his mother could. It might be a better idea for her to teach Lois how to scramble eggs rather than him, he decided. Martha Kent always seemed to know how to handle difficult people without making them feel foolish, as Lois certainly would if he tried to teach her and failed.
About the time the bacon finished defrosting, Martha Kent entered the kitchen.
"Are you two already up?" she said, in obvious surprise. "Jonathan and I decided to sleep late for a change, since it's Christmas, but I thought you'd still be in bed." She glanced at her watch. "It's barely six!"
"I couldn't sleep," Lois admitted. "I was worried about Clark."
"How do you feel this morning?" Martha asked, turning to Clark.
He shrugged. "Normal. My powers haven't come back."
"Oh." His mother looked slightly disappointed. "Well, give it time. That stuff, whatever it was, hit you pretty hard last night," she pointed out. "It might take a while to wear off." She straightened her shoulders. "In the meantime, let's get breakfast started. I'm guessing Jack and Denny haven't had much in the way of Christmas celebrations for a while, if ever, judging what he's said." She shook her head. "How any woman could desert her kids to run off with a boyfriend ...." She let the remark trail off. "Oh well, I guess it takes all kinds of people to make a world, as your father says. Get the griddle out from under the cupboard, Clark, and I'll need the carton of eggs in the refrigerator. Lois, how are you at squeezing oranges?"
By the time Jonathan Kent and the two boys came in from their morning chores, breakfast was ready, and Martha served them scrambled eggs and bacon, big wedges of French toast with jam and maple syrup, fried potatoes, orange juice and thick stoneware mugs of hot chocolate with big puffs of whipped cream floating on top. The two boys wolfed the offerings down as if they were starved, and Clark discovered that he was ravenously hungry as well. He actually ate until his stomach felt tight against his jeans and he had to loosen his belt.
Lois was smiling at him. "It's a good thing you don't eat like that all the time," she remarked softly. "You'd get fat." She, herself, had eaten considerably less than he had, Clark noticed. Lois had to sacrifice some of the fun of eating in order to keep her lovely figure. If she had possessed his super powers, it might have been different. It was too bad that he couldn't give them to her, but right now he didn't even have his own. Clark gave a tiny sigh and deliberately switched his thoughts to the Christmas celebration that his mother had planned for the boys, and for Lois.
When breakfast had finished, Clark, Jack and Denny cleared the table. Clark didn't comment, but his respect for his mother rose another notch. The boys went about their job without a word of argument. Belatedly, he recalled that he hadn't argued with her much either while he had been growing up. During his mid-teen years there had been a few disagreements but they had been tiny ones. Martha Kent seemed to possess the gift of handling people, human or alien, he thought in amusement. Even Jack. Maybe she was the most super-powered of all.
"Just leave the dishes in the sink," she ordered at last. "We have to see what Santa left for all of you."
Jack sighed audibly, but Clark could see the faintest of smiles on his lips. Jack was keeping up appearances, but he was actually enjoying the whole "Santa" thing. And his mom knew it. Maybe she really did read minds after all, he thought.
Jonathan Kent led the way back into the living room, and switched on the Christmas tree lights. Clark watched out of the corner of his eye as the two boys eyes opened wide at the sight of the wrapped boxes under the tree, adorned in bright Christmas wrapping, ribbons and bows.
"Clark has the honor of handing out the gifts," Martha announced.
Clark hesitated, but Lois poked him sharply in the back. "Move it, farmboy," she said. "I haven't had a Christmas like this in years. I'm anxious to see the loot!"
Martha and Jonathan laughed. "Exactly," Martha said. "I want to see what's in that box you brought me. Hurry up!"
Being thus urged on, Clark sat down next to the tree and picked up the first package. The tag, in Lois's handwriting, indicated that it was for Jonathan.
"This one's for you, Dad. From Lois."
His father accepted the box and, after carefully removing the card, began to detach the tape. Martha laughed.
"Even after all these years. Just tear the paper, Jonathan. I'm going to use it for kindling anyway."
Jonathan grinned sheepishly and ripped the gaudy wrapping open. A moment later, he shook out a thick, padded bathrobe, deep red in color. He held it up. "Just the right size," he announced, "and exactly what I needed."
"This one's for Jack," Clark said, handing another package to the older boy. "And this one's for Denny."
The boys ripped into their gifts. Even Jack forgot to maintain his usual cynical attitude as he discovered the Swiss army knife, with, Jonathan assured him, every attachment known to man. Denny discovered a remote control plane and immediately began to open it up to insert the batteries.
"This one is yours, Lois," Clark said. He swallowed and handed her the small ring box that his mother had wrapped for him the night before. Lois's eyes widened and she detached the card with great care.
"To Lois," she read. "All my love, Clark."
"Open it!" Martha urged. Clark gulped again.
Lois tore open the paper and the velvet ring box was displayed. He saw her swallow as well as she gently opened the case.
The diamond ring gleamed up at her from the inner recesses of the box and she looked up at Clark, her lips forming a silent "Oh!"
He swallowed again. "Will you still marry me?" he said.
Lois's eyes met his. She smiled faintly. "Could you ever doubt it?" she whispered.
Clark removed the ring from the box and slipped it onto her ring finger. She turned her hand, letting the colors of the Christmas lights dance from the facets of the diamond.
"Corny," Jack said into the silence. "But it looks nice."
**********
An hour later, the Christmas gifts had been unwrapped, and the wrapping paper gathered up and stuffed into the fireplace. Martha Kent was wearing the fuzzy green sweater presented to her by Lois, and the fuzzy pink bedroom slippers in place of her worn ones, and Jonathan was fiddling with the camera that Clark had given him.
"Ah! I knew this had to have a timer on it," he said at last. "It has everything else." He did something with the controls, moved around and put his arm around Clark's shoulders. There was a silent flash. A moment later, he held up the camera to display the picture on the screen. "Every time I think things can't get any fancier, they do," he said.
Denny and Jack had identical watches with enough attachments to satisfy even Jack. Both had brand new coats and gloves, and both were looking forward to flying not only the remote controlled plane, but a twelve inch remote controlled helicopter as well. The video game system that they had jointly received, along with two video games apiece, sat by the television. Martha had informed them that the games would be allowed only after all school work was done. The boys hadn't even protested. Even Jack seemed to have been rendered speechless by Christmas at the Kent home.
Clark, however, was the first to stand up. "Lois and I need to go in to Smallville to check on a couple of things," he announced. "Would it be all right if we borrowed the pickup?"
"Sure," his father said. "How long will you be gone?"
"I'm not sure," Clark said. "We picked up on something yesterday that we need to check out."
Jonathan glanced at his wife, who smiled and shook her head. "Figures. Go on, but try to give us a call so we'll know when to serve dinner."
"We'll do our best," Clark said, gravely. "I need to make a phone call, first, though."
**********
Lois gazed at the diamond ring with a sense almost of unreality. Somehow, even though she had accepted Clark's proposal two weeks ago, it was still a surprise to see the ring on her finger. It meant marriage to him. It meant forever. It meant that one man wanted her to be his wife, for better or worse, as long as they both lived, because Clark was not a man to take such vows lightly. If he said forever, he meant it.
Until she had met Clark -- Charlie -- she hadn't believed in forever, at least on the surface. But somewhere underneath, the little girl that had believed in her prince, who would come to take her away, must have managed to survive all the turmoil of her mother and father's short and unhappy marriage, because something in her had known him when he finally came. Just because this prince had come from another planet, grown up on a farm, and wore blue spandex didn't make him any less the realization of her dream.
Of course, back in Metropolis she would have to wear this on a chain around her neck instead of on her finger until Lex Luthor was under arrest, but she certainly could manage that.
She smiled to herself. She'd told him that once she accepted his proposal, he would never get rid of her. She wanted forever as much as he did.
Clark put down the phone. "I can't get hold of Rachel. No one's answering at the station. I guess we'd better just head for Smallville and see what we can find out," he said.
"I guess so," Lois said. "Let me get my coat."
The ringing of the phone startled her as she was slipping her coat on. Clark answered. "Kent residence. Oh, hi Pete. What? Lois and I are just leaving. We'll be there in twenty minutes."
"What's up?" Lois asked.
"That was Pete Ross," Clark explained. He put the phone down. "They've found a body in the park."
"A body! Whose?"
"They don't know who he is, but Pete remembered you said last night that we were investigating something here and he wanted to know if there could be any connection."
"Do you think there is?"
"Don't know." Clark opened the door for her. "But Smallville doesn't have much serious crime. Let's hurry. I want to see what's going on, and I need to talk to Rachel."
**********
tbc
