Clark and Lois The Lost Years Matchmaker Chronicles Vol 3 28/46
By Ken Janney
This version is rated PG-13
* denotes emphasis *
< denotes thoughts >
[ playback of a recording or TV Commentary] / telepathic communications /
(#) footnotes
As always comments are welcome. (ken.janney@kjanney.com)
Reminder:
Universal Locator Designation
Alpha 023 x Gamma 004 x Tau -120 - Canon Lois and Clark universe also called – Prime
Alpha 023 x Gamma 025 x Tau 036 – Canon Alt Clark universe also called – Alt 1
Previously –
“Once you get it boxed, why not send it into the sun?”
“I don’t know what effect that would have. The Kryptonite could be destroyed or it could react with the sun surface somehow so that it starts to emit K-radiation, which wouldn’t do me any favors.”
Lois thought about these options for a few minutes then said “Let’s not take the chance that someone would find it buried on that mountain.” Some more thought. “Let’s not send it into the sun either … too risky, since we don’t know all that might happen. I think sending it out of the system is the best option.”
Clark’s expression sobered up from the light banter. “There’s one thing I didn’t ask. Should we keep at least one piece; just in case?”
“In case of what?”
All seriousness now, he asked “What if I … I don’t know … what if I run amok. What if I try to take over the world or something? Without the Kryptonite there wouldn’t be anything to stop me.”
“Clark, the mere fact that you’re thinking about that tells me that it would never happen. You’re too good a person to ever try something like that. That’s one of the reasons I love you so much.” She was constrained by her seat belt so that she couldn’t lean far enough over to kiss him. She had to settle for reaching out and caressing the side of his face with her left hand as she was speaking.
Finally, Clark pulled up in front of Wayne Irig’s house and parked. He got out and opened Lois’ door and escorted her to his door.
And now:
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Chapter 28 – Lana
June 30, 1992 Metropolis
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Nigel St. John knocked on Lex’s office door. He heard Lex say “Come in!”
“Mr. Luthor, we just got a report in on the latest arms shipment. The Brazzaville office reports that the arms arrived safely.”
“Very good, excellent, excellent in deed. We need to start preparing the next shipment.”
“There was one thing. There was a report of some Americans following the cargo. They were captured by the rebels; however they managed to escape. The rebels say that they claimed to be reporters. The circumstances of their escape seem to be somewhat jumbled but one definite detail is that they were both shot, the female had a mortal wound and the man was at least wounded. The man disappeared along with the body of the woman. They assume that he took the body and fled while they were otherwise occupied. They were convinced that there was no way for him to be able to survive without food, water or shelter, being wounded and carrying that burden. Also, in that area there are plenty of big cats prowling. If they had scented blood they would have finished them off. All that would be left would be some bones.”
“Were they able to get any names?”
“The leader of the rebel team that had them said he heard the names ‘Charlie’ and ‘Linda’. There was another thing that was somewhat unusual. The leader was disarmed by the man. His trigger finger was broken and somehow the gun he had used on the woman was mangled. He was struck a single blow which knocked him out and broke his jaw. His report had to be in writing since his jaw is wired shut.”
“Contact them and have the gun sent to Brazzaville. Contact our man in the State Department and have it sent back in the diplomatic pouch. I want to see that gun.”
Lex continued “I want a follow-up done. Have them search the area from where the encounter occurred all the way back to the town. Interview anyone that might have seen something. Check the local hospitals for any gunshot wound victims. We need to be sure. Follow any leads you get.”
Nigel gave a nod of assent and turned to leave. Luthor stopped him. “Nigel, check and see if any newspapers are missing any of their staff. Let’s see if we can identify who we are dealing with.”
Again Nigel nodded and this time managed to get out the door.
Luthor brooded over this information. It looked like there was a leak somewhere and he would need to plug it. He hit an intercom switch. “Mrs. Cox, please come to my office, at once.” He started tapping his finger on his desk as he waited.
Dressed in an extremely short skirt and a very low cut blouse, Mrs. Cox entered the office without knocking. “Mrs. Cox, it would appear that we have a leak in the operation. It appears as though someone passed on the information about the guns to the media and a couple of reporters were following them. There’s no telling how much they found out. I would like you to call in the head of that operation and have him in my office tomorrow morning.” He thought for a few seconds before continuing. “Tomorrow is going to be difficult trying to get to the bottom of this. This evening why don’t you order dinner for two to be sent up, you’ll join me, of course.”
“Of course, Lex.” She swayed her hips very suggestively as she exited his office.
He watched her as she walked out planning just how he would relax, with her, before he really dug in on this problem tomorrow.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Smallville
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Lana walked into Maisie’s Diner and took a seat at the counter.
Maisie walked over to her and asked “Hi, Lana, what’ll it be today?”
As she was in the process of sitting on the stool at the counter she replied “Hi, Maisie, just a cup of coffee, please.”
Maisie turned around and drew a cup. As Maisie set the coffee in front of Lana she said “I hear that Clark is back.”
“Huh, he’s back?”
“Yeah, how are you holding up?”
“What do you mean ‘How am I holding up’?”
“You know since the break up. How are you holding up?”
<How did she know? I haven’t told anyone that we broke up. I thought that he might come to his senses and come back to me.> “What do you mean? What break up?”
“You and Clark.”
“We didn’t break up!”
“You didn’t? Then who’s that living with him out at the farm?”
All the color drained from Lana’s face “What!!!!!”
“You didn’t know????? Oh, Lana, I’m so sorry. I thought you knew and it was because you had broken up!”
Lana felt like she had been pole axed. She was in a daze but her daze quickly gave way to anger. Her coffee sat on the counter getting cold as her emotions flared. She got up like one in a dream and exited Maisie’s and headed for her car. The reality slowly sunk in and her anger turned into determination. <Who is this woman? How dare she steal Clark from me? He’s mine!> She got into her car and drove straight to the Kent farm.
When she arrived there was no one there. She decided to wait so she took a seat on a rocking chair on the porch. The longer she had to wait the angrier she got.
Finally, after about an hour, Clark and Lois drove up. Clark had seen her car in front of the house and had warned Lois. “Uh oh, that’s Lana’s car. I haven’t spoken to her since that terrible call from Brazzaville. She doesn’t know we’re married, but the last thing she said was that it was either the powers or her. I told her then that I couldn’t stop being what and who I am and she hung up on me. I hope she doesn’t make a scene.”
As they were parking Lana got up from the rocker and descended the porch steps. As they got out of the car and Clark got a close look at her face he could see that her eyes were red and puffy, that her mascara was ruined and that there were tear tracks down her face.
Clark said “Lana … “
She interrupted him “Why, Clark. Why did you do this to me? Why?” She glanced over at Lois as she was saying this.
“Lana, I’m so sorry. I never intended to hurt you like this.”
With a bitter laugh she replied “Well you sure succeeded. I thought we had an understanding! What is she doing here?”
“Lana, I’m sorry I hurt you, but our last phone conversation … “
“I know about our last phone conversation. I told you that if you weren’t coming back to me to stay away and here you are, but you’re with … her.”
“Lana, we’ve known for a long time that it would never work between us. You always wanted me to deny what and who I am. To stand by and allow evil things to happen when I could prevent them. That’s not who I am and I could never live that way.”
“But Clark, we had an understanding!”
“Lana, people change. I’ve changed. I’m not the person you saw off to school six months ago.” He gave Lois a sideways look. She picked up on his statement but carefully kept her expression neutral.
Lana stepped up to Clark and started beating on his chest emphasizing what she was saying as if physical violence would change things. “Clark, I want things back the way they were. Send her back wherever she came from and come back to me.”
Clark grabbed her hands more to prevent her from injuring herself than for any other reason and spoke calmly to her. “I can’t do that Lana. It never would have worked out with us. I just couldn’t keep on denying what I am and what I can do. Lana, Lois and I are … married. I’m sorry. We’ve been married for a little while now. We can’t go back to the way things were. It’s too late for us. You have to move on. I have.”
Lana collapsed in a heap at his feet crying hysterically. Muttering over and over “Clark, Clark, why? Why?”
Clark knelt down and helped her to her feet and assisted her in walking over to the porch. He set her on a rocker and tried to soothe her by stroking her hair and patting her back. After a time she seemed to settle down. “Why didn’t you tell me? Why did I have to find out from Maisie?”
“After our last conversation, I didn’t think you wanted to hear from me. I should have, I’m sorry.”
“Sorry? sorry!. Sorry doesn’t hack it! I don’t understand. Make me understand. How could you do this to me?”
Kneeling down in front of her Clark took her hands in his and speaking like he would to a distraught child said, “Lana, we’ve had problems with our relationship right from day one. Then when I finally told you what I could do you insisted that I hide it. You didn’t want me to do anything to help anyone. You wanted me to hide out here in Smallville and pretend that I was a ‘normal’ man. Lana, that’s not me. It’s not something I can do. I have these powers for a reason and I feel an obligation to use them for the good of humanity. I can’t just sit on the sidelines and watch the world pass by. When I played football in high school the time I hated the most was when I had to sit on the bench and watch. I need to participate. You would have benched me and we both would have been miserable. More accurately it would have made me miserable and I in turn would have made you miserable. The only real togetherness we would have had would have been our common misery and that is no way to live.”
Lana had been openly weeping the entire time he had been talking. She sniffed a couple of times. Clark handed his hanky to her. She dabbed at her eyes and wiped her nose and said “Maybe I could have learned to put up with it.”
“Lana, you and I both know that isn’t the case. Your fear both for me and I think actually your fear of me would have prevented that. I know what you’re going to say, you don’t fear me, but, really, I’ve seen it in your eyes. It was too strong for you to hide completely. Even with all that, I still trusted you with my secret. I still trust you not to reveal it.”
She gave a couple more sniffles before she said, “I would never tell anyone. I would never hurt you that way. I’ve never wanted anything bad to happen to you.”
“I appreciate that and I never questioned your loyalty. I’m sincerely sorry that this happened this way. I never meant it to. Lois and I met a few months ago and fell in love. I was going to tell you the last time we talked, but, you hung up on me. I took that as a break-up. Lois accepts me for who and what I am. I’ll be going public soon and it’s partly due to her support that I’ll be doing what I need to do, which is helping people in peril. I’d like it very much if we could at least remain friends and I’d sincerely like you to be a friend to Lois.”
“Clark, I still love you. How can I get past that?”
“I don’t know Lana. I can only hope that you can change that love into like. I still like you Lana. You were my first real girlfriend and the first person I trusted with my secret. That must say something for how I feel about you.”
“I guess so but we were planning a future together. What am I going to do now?” A fresh set of sobs started.
“Lana, you’re going to have to find some ‘normal’ guy that can make you happy. What about Pete Ross? He’s liked you for years. He just hasn’t said anything because he was my best friend. I’m sure that if you tell Pete that we’ve broken up he’ll jump on the chance to go out with you.”
“Really? Pete’s interested in me? I never realized.” As the realization of what he had been saying sank in her sobbing stopped. Her face had taken on a look of disbelief. “Pete? really?”
“Really. I’ve known for years. He just didn’t want to cut in on his best friend.”
“Wow! I never knew.”
“Actually I’m surprised he hasn’t said anything by now. He knows about Lois and me. He’s been helping us with a little project. It’s possible that he has been holding off because he’s waiting to hear back on a job application and he’s not sure if he’s got the job. Tell you what, why don’t we do this, Lois and I will invite you and Pete to dinner. Separately, not as a couple and see if Pete says anything.”
“Clark, are you sure? You’d do that for me?”
“Lana, I’d do just about anything I could for you, you know that.”
She got a kind of watery smile on her face as she replied, “Yeah, I guess you would at that.”
“Alright then, it’s settled. Lois and I’ll be inviting you and Pete to dinner. Let’s say Friday night at 7:30. How’s that?”
Her spirits appeared to be picking up as she replied, “That’ll be fine.”
Lois had been standing off on the side as Clark had been handling Lana. She stepped forward now and extended her hand to Lana. Clark stepped aside and said “Lana, I’d like you to meet Lois Lane-Kent, my wife.”
Lana took Lois’ hand and slowly shook it. Lois, overcome with compassion for this woman pulled her into an embrace. Lana was shocked at first by this action but then realizing that this woman really was a good woman and the one that Clark loved, brought her arms up and returned the embrace. Lois said “Lana, I’m sure Clark is right and everything will work out. You can count on me for anything you need to help you.”
Lana pulled back somewhat and replied “Lois all I really need is for you to make him happy. That’s all I really ever wanted for him.”
Lois looking over at Clark said “He is and I plan to keep him that way. Now we need to get you to the same state, happy. You know, I could really use some help. I’m not a real good cook. Could you come over and help prepare the meal on Friday? It’ll give you an opportunity to show Pete just what a good cook you are. The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach you know.”
Lana was really seeing Lois for the first time and seeing her as possibly a friend. She nodded and said, “Sure, I can do that as long as you’re sure.”
Laughing, Lois responded “Trust me, I need the help.”
“Well, okay then. I’ll come over a couple of hours in advance.”
“Just let me know what you want to prepare and Clark will pick everything up.”
“Okay, I’ll call you tomorrow with the list.”
“I’ll look forward to your call.” Lois gave her another hug.
Lana looked back and forth between Clark and Lois. She noted his expression, his obvious pleasure that she and Lois were going to be friends. She also noted his very obvious affection for Lois and hers for him. He was giving her a look that she had never had him bestow on her. She was realizing the correctness of this decision and was starting to accept it. She reached out and took Clark’s hand. Totally unexpectedly she reached out with her other hand and took Lois’ hand and brought their hands together. “I’m happy that you found someone that can make you happy. I’m sorry it wasn’t me, but, you’re right. We probably would have been miserable together. I’ll probably be happier with Pete. It’s worth a try anyhow. I’ll call you tomorrow. Will you have called Pete by then?”
Clark laughed “Count on it. One way or another, he’ll be here. I think that all I’ll need to tell him is that you’re going to be here and he’ll show up with bells on.”
Lana laughed at the picture that engendered in her mind and said “Normal clothes would be preferable.”
All three laughed together.
Lois put an arm around Lana’s shoulder and directed her into the house as she said, “I think some repairs are needed. Let’s go into the bathroom. You can use my mascara.”
Lana put her arm around Lois and said, “Thanks, I guess I really do need to do the repairs. I probably look like a witch.”
“We’ll have you presentable in no time.” They moved into the house.
After sharing some time together during the repairs and some ‘girl talk’ wherein Lana told Lois some anecdotes about Clark, Lana was presentable enough to go back into town. She was headed back to Maisie’s to clear up what had happened earlier and quash any rumors that might start. She would let everyone know that she and Clark were still friends even though they had broken up and that his wife, Lois, was one of her best friends and that she was happy for them.
comments go here To be continued in Chapter 29 – 348 Hyperion Ave.
