Previously on Spark of Discovery:
"I have...reason to believe...that it could be Luthor's doing."
"Lex?"
He nodded again. "Yeah."
To his infinite relief, Lois only looked at him with interest. There was no mocking disbelief in her features. Nothing to suggest that she thought him insane.
"Why?" she finally asked.
Clark shifted a little in his seat and shrugged, as though that would help him find the right words. "It's more of a gut feeling than anything," he admitted. "But I've gotten the sense that he's been behind some of the near-disasters we've seen since Superman arrived."
"Like?"
Again, it was a genuine question. There was no animosity, no disbelief, nothing to indicate that she was merely humoring him.
"Probably a dozen things," Clark said. "The space program debacle, for starters. The tests that I mentioned before. The smart kids. The heat wave that Superman was blamed for. Think about it. Every time, Lex has been lurking the shadows. His companies have been there, involved in some way. Lex Labs made the smart serum. Lex's company was responsible for the nuclear reactor. Lex was ready and willing to send up a space station of his own. LexCorp has always, always been there."
"Lex employees thousands of people in the city though. It doesn't mean he is personally responsible for anything."
"That's true, but in all of those cases, who had the most to gain? Objectively speaking, it's Lex. Let's take the sabotaged the space program - and we do objectively know that sabotage was involved with that bomb that got planted. Luthor was perfectly poised to swoop in and be the savior of it. Then he'd make millions - billions - off any medical discoveries made aboard his own station. Who saved the space program? Superman, killing Luthor's dreams of looking like a hero while making a ton of money in the process. So Luthor started to hate him. He probably decided to get rid of him. But to do that, he needed to know Superman's limits. Hence the tests. He learned how fast he is, how invulnerable. How do you get rid of someone you can't kill?"
"You drive them away," Lois said, fitting the pieces together.
"Exactly."
"You think the leak at the nuclear reactor site was...intentional?"
Clark drew a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Yes, I do. I didn't see it at the time, but looking back, I'm almost sure of it."
"But...he must have known that would expose millions of people to harmful nuclear waste. Not to mention blistering heat. Thirty-nine people died of heat stroke during that fiasco."
Clark nodded. "Knowing and caring are two very different things, Lois. My guess is that he wasn't willing to let a little thing like millions of lives sway him from his ultimate goal of getting rid of Superman."
"And what about tonight?"
"I don't know," Clark admitted. "Somehow, someone, Luthor or otherwise, discovered that Kryptonite is real. And somehow they got a hold of some, probably from the chuck that Wayne sent out to a lab to be analyzed, but went missing. My guess is that no price tag would be too high for Luthor to pay for something that could potentially kill Superman."
"Okay, I have to ask. Do you always talk like this?"
"Like what?"
"Like Superman is some sort of other person?"
Clark smiled and laughed lightly. "Yeah. Drives Mom nuts. Even more so when I start talking completely in the third person, like Clark and Superman are both separate from who I am."
Lois laughed too and shook her head, before turning back to the subject at hand. "Do you have any proof of this? The stuff about Lex?"
He shook his head. "Not yet. But believe me, nothing would please me more than to take him down when I do find it."
***
It was just after two in the morning when Lois and Clark finally left her apartment. At that hour, no one was likely to be on the streets, to potentially see Clark without his glasses. And he most definitely had to go as Clark. His powers hadn't returned, and it just wouldn't do at all to have Superman riding around in Lois Lane's Jeep Grand Cherokee. Too many unwanted questions could arise from that. Instead, Clark carefully examined his suit once it was dry, noting with relief that he didn't feel any of the sickening effects of the Kryptonite as he ran his hands over the whole of the fabric. He folded up the suit and cape, and placed them, along with his boots, in the oversized gym bag. Then he and Lois left the apartment.
They rode in silence for the duration of the short drive. Clark would have given anything to know what Lois was thinking. If only he had the power to read minds! He sighed. Not that a power like that would do him any good at the moment. He still needed to recharge in the sunlight before any of his powers would come back, he suspected.
It didn't take long before they were in front of Clark's building, the normally brief drive feeling somehow shorter than ever. He sighed to himself, then turned to face his partner, his best friend, the only woman he'd ever loved.
"Lois?" he ventured, after a moment. "Are we...okay?"
She didn't immediately answer. She seemed to be gathering herself before replying. "Yeah, we're okay. I'm sorry I got so angry earlier."
"You had every right to be."
"Maybe. But, I'm more relieved now than anything else. Thanks for trusting me with this secret."
Clark smiled at her. "Thanks for being trustworthy. And for forgiving me, not to mention for saving my life."
Lois nodded. "So, I'll pick you up at nine? Then we can get to work figuring out who tried to kill you, and put the lives of so many on the line."
"Nine sounds good," Clark said, nodding. "I'll buy breakfast for us on the way in to the Planet."
"You were doing that anyway," she said, and Clark was relieved to hear the familiar, teasing tone in her voice.
"Fair enough," he said, shrugging.
"Well, I guess this is goodnight."
"I guess." Clark swallowed hard, needing to ask his next question, and dreading the answer. "Lois?"
"Yeah?"
"I, uh, realize that this might not be the best time to bring this up, in light of everything that happened tonight. But, I, uh...should I still make that reservation for us? At Antonio's?"
Lois frowned for a moment. "No," she finally said, shaking her head slightly.
Clark's heart deflated right there in his chest, like a balloon that had been punctured with a needle. The wind was squeezed from his lungs as his chest suddenly became tight.
"That's understandable," he said, trying his hardest not to let his utter heartbreak show. "I shouldn't have asked. I should have known better."
"No," Lois said again. "What I mean is, tomorrow isn't a good day for that. Let's hold off until we nail whoever messed with the fireworks. Something tells me we won't have time to enjoy ourselves on a date if we're in the middle of a huge investigation like this one probably will turn out to be."
Clark felt his whole body brighten, and the vice around his ribs vanished. "You mean you still want to go out with me? Even after all I put you through?"
Lois nodded. "I was hurt earlier, that's true. But I'm also smart enough to realize when something good is staring me in the face. At least, I hope I'm smart enough. You're a good guy, Clark. You're my best friend. And recently, I've started to wonder if there's more to us than just our friendship. I have too many regrets in my life as it is. I don't want missing out on an opportunity to find happiness be one of them. And if I passed up exploring a possible relationship with you, I'd regret it for the rest of my life. I'm willing to give us a chance, if you are."
"No regrets," Clark breathed.
"No regrets," Lois echoed again. "Now get going. You look exhausted."
He had to agree with Lois. He was exhausted. Since Lois had cornered him with her discovery that Superman and Clark Kent were the same person, he'd been running on adrenaline and what little energy he'd had left after the Kryptonite had savaged his body. He needed sleep, and needed it badly.
"All right," he said, giving her a nod and a smile. "See you at nine."
"Goodnight, Clark," Lois said softly.
"Goodnight, Lois."
"You will be okay by yourself, right? After everything that happened with the Kryptonite?" she suddenly asked. It was clear that the thought hadn't occurred to her before now.
Clark wished he could say no. He wished he had a legitimate reason to ask Lois to stay with him. But he was through lying to her. That was a thing of the past. He wasn't the same man he'd been twelve hours before - the one who gave her half-truths, partial lies, and flimsy excuses. From this night forward, he'd made a silent vow in his heart to never lie to her ever again, to never be that man again.
"I'll be fine," he assured her. "The biggest threat is gone. I just need some sleep and sunlight, that's all."
"Okay."
"Goodnight, Lois," he repeated, grabbing the door handle. "And thanks again for saving my life tonight."
"What are best friends for?" she replied, giving him a bright smile.
Clark nodded, then leaned over and lightly kissed Lois on the cheek. It was purely on impulse that he did it, and he was happy to see that she did not pull away, or get angry, or slap him. Then he opened the door and grabbed his gym bag from the back seat. In the next moment, he turned from the car and headed to his door.
All around him, the night was as silent as it got in a big city. Somewhere in the distance, he could hear the wail of an ambulance siren. Dogs barked and two cats screeched as they fought. Car tired squealed as someone took a turn way too quickly, probably only a block or two away. And from Mr. Kinsey's apartment, he could hear light jazz music playing through the open window, two stories above, in the building directly adjacent to Clark's apartment. Clark smiled to himself, and carefully kept his back to the window. Mr. Kinsey was a self-admitted "horrible" insomniac. In seconds, Clark was inside his apartment, shutting the night out behind him as he closed the door. For the first time since leaving Lois' apartment, he felt safe. There were no prying eyes here. No one to see him without his glasses. No one to question his pallor and the weary way he held his body.
He brought his bag over to the closet. Zipping it open, he carefully extracted his Superman suit and all its pieces. He hung them in his secret compartment with the others, happy to have it out of sight for the time being. He was finished being Superman for the day. Then he brought his bag to his bedroom, replacing the items he was wearing with new ones, so that the bag was once again full. He stripped out of his clothes and readied himself for bed.
He quickly brushed his teeth, slipped into a thin pair of sleep shorts, and climbed into bed. The cool sheets felt good on his tired, still somewhat sore, body. He closed his eyes, beckoning sleep, but it did not come right away. For a short time, his mind kept him awake, thoughts of Lois swirling through his brain.
She now knew everything.
It was inevitable. He had known it, almost from the time he'd first been partnered with her. She was either going to find out on her own one day, or he was going to be forced into a situation where he would have to tell her. Or they would wind up in a relationship and he would tell her because she would need to know. Clark had always imagined that it would be awkward for her to be privy to such knowledge. He'd always imagined that he would still harbor some last shard of fear. But oddly enough, he felt not one iota of worry. He didn't feel awkward, having her know about his alter ego. He felt freed, like a man whose shackles had been removed after close to thirty long years of captivity. He felt lighter. In fact, he was certain he would have been floating all night long, if only his powers had returned. He felt embarrassed too, that he'd withheld the truth from her for so long.
"What's done is done," he muttered to himself. "Can't change the past."
That was his last thought before sleep overtook him. He slept deeply and dreamlessly. It was as if his ordeal had sapped even his brain's energy to the point where it could not conjure any dreams, good or bad. He was thankful for that, once he awoke. He'd needed the break from any and all types of reality.
He found himself in a warm patch of sunlight, which filtered in through the half-closed shades of his bedroom windows. He groaned a little, throwing a hand over his eyes, shielding them from the sudden assault of light. For a moment he just lay there in that same position, unmoving. Then he rolled over, off his back, and looked at his bedside clock. The clock he suddenly realized he'd forgotten to set.
"Oh no!"
It was a minute to nine. He'd overslept. Lois would be arriving any time now. And she would be expecting him to be dressed, ready, and bright-eyed. Instead, he was wearing nothing but his sleep shorts, was far from ready for the day, and was still somewhat groggy, his head still fogged with the remnants of his sleep. He pushed himself out of bed, rubbing the heels of his palms into his bleary eyes.
A second later his hearing picked up the sound of a heartbeat.
Clark's own heart soared at the sound. Never mind the fact that his powers had returned. Lois was there! All remaining fragments of sleep melted away. He sprang away to the door, leapt the steps with a single small jump, unbolted the lock, and threw it open to find Lois poised there with her fist raised to knock.
"Morning!" he offered brightly.
"Morning," Lois said, stepping into his apartment. "How'd you know it was me?" She paused for a moment. "Stupid question. X-ray vision, right?"
Clark shook his head, shutting the door as his did so. "Nope. I heard your heartbeat."
"And you knew it was me, just based on that?" she asked, surprised, and noting his state of utter undress. He wasn't even wearing his glasses.
He nodded. "I don't want this to sound creepy, but I'd know your heartbeat anywhere, Lois. You could put everyone on this planet together in one place and I'd be able to find you in that crowd, completely blind, just by the sound of your heart."
Lois smiled at him. "That's sweet. And now it makes so much more sense to me how you're always looking at the elevators when I come into the bullpen. Don't think I haven't noticed how you try to hide it by burying yourself in your work."
"Guilty as charged," Clark said, grinning from ear to ear.
"So, is this how it's going to be now, all the time?"
"What? Casually talking about my powers as if it's the most normal thing in the world?" he asked.
Lois gestured to his mostly naked form. "I meant your lack of clothing in my presence."
"Sorry about that. Just give me a few seconds to get ready, then we can head out. I'm afraid I overslept."
"I'm guessing you needed it," Lois said, nodding and motioning for him to go get dressed. "You look a lot better this morning."
"I feel better," Clark admitted, dashing off to his bedroom, while keeping up the conversation. "I'm a hundred percent recovered." He shaved, brushed his teeth, dressed, and reemerged, even finding time to make his bed. "Everything's right again. All my powers are back and seem to be functioning just as effectively as they always have."
"Good," Lois said, smiling in approval. Her eyes raked over his light gray suit and white shirt, though she rolled her eyes at the American flag print tie. "Because something tells me we're going to need all the help we can get in putting whoever was behind yesterday's attack behind bars where they belong. You know," she said, gently grabbing his tie as he stood before her, "for a superhero, you have surprisingly super-horrendous taste in ties."
"What? You don't like it?"
Once more, Lois rolled her eyes. "How is it that you can be so clueless sometimes?" she wondered aloud, shaking her head.
"Maybe my wardrobe needs a woman's touch," he said playfully.
"Don't get ahead of yourself, Kent. I agreed to go out on a date with you. Not to be your personal shopper or your wife or anything." By her tone, Clark knew she was only teasing him.
"Not yet," he teased back, shrugging, as if to suggest that he knew he'd win her over.
"Maybe not ever," she said, grinning playfully and patting his cheek. "But first things first."
"Our date."
"No," she said, her eyes sparkling with laughter. "Finding your would-be assassin, so that we can enjoy our first date in peace."
Clark nodded, still smiling. "Agreed."
"I thought so. And on that note, let's get going. I spoke to Henderson before I came over. A dive team is going to be recovering whatever they can from the rocket in about an hour or so. He said he'll call when they're done so that I can take a look."
"Great," Clark said, grabbing his glasses and setting them on his face. He grabbed his keys and wallet and shoved them into his pocket. "You're the best."
"I know," Lois retorted, smiling and patting him on the shoulder. "But I love to hear you say it."
Clark chuckled and shook his head. He guided Lois back through his apartment to the door, locking it behind them as they exited. He was so thrilled to be trading such playful, light-hearted banter with her. The night before, when Lois had figured out his secret and been so angry, he'd been terrified that he'd lost her for good. He'd imagined an irreparable, jagged hole torn from the once invulnerable fabric of their friendship. Even after they'd talked things out, and though the night had ended on a positive enough note, Clark had feared that Lois would treat him differently, now that she knew his secret. But to see her acting so normal around him, his last, tiny knot of fear uncoiled and disappeared.
He was still Clark Kent in her eyes, the only person he'd ever wanted to be to her.
***
Clark drummed his pencil on his desk, staring sightlessly at the monitor of his computer. He leaned forward in his desk chair, resting his elbows on the top of his desk, unable to focus on anything. He sighed and shifted his gaze to Lois' desk, directly across from him. Lois' empty desk. Without her there, it looked dark and cold, like some foreboding dungeon sitting across the way, not twenty feet from where he sat. He always felt that way when Lois was out of the office. He missed her warmth, her smile, the always open invitation to perch on the edge of her desk, sharing information with her, or working through a confusing batch of research, or reading over her copy, or sharing a brief respite while munching on a bagel and sipping a cup of coffee.
"Donut?"
"What?"
"I said 'donut,' CK," Jimmy said, sidling up to his desk with a box of donuts in his hand. "Man, you are one distracted guy today."
"A little, yeah," Clark admitted, eying the treats in the box. He reached in to grab one.
"Uh, not the cinnamon," Jimmy said, shaking his head. "Unless you want Perry to kill you and mount your head on the wall as a warning to the rest of the bullpen."
Clark obediently pulled his hand away from the donut in question and instead settled for a glazed one. He spied a double chocolate one and fished it out as well, setting it aside for Lois.
"Thanks, Jimmy," he said, raising his donut like he would a glass of wine in a toast.
"No problem, CK. And, uh, if you want to talk about whatever's bothering you, you know I'm here, right?"
Clark nodded. "Thanks. I just have a lot on my mind, that's all. Lois and I are working on what happened last night at the park."
"Yeah, Courtney and I were there. That was some crazy stuff. Any leads yet?"
"Not yet."
Jimmy nodded knowingly. "So all this distraction is just about that, then? Nothing to do with you and Lois finally going out on a date?"
"Wait, how did you...?"
Jimmy leaned a hip against the front of Clark's desk. "Oh come on, CK. It's so obvious. You've been pining after her since the day Perry hired you, maybe longer. Everyone knows that. And to my highly trained photographer's eye, you two are looking pretty close all of a sudden. So when'd you finally ask her? Last night?"
Clark nodded and laughed. "You're good." He took a bite of his donut.
"Before or after?"
"What?" Clark swallowed the piece of donut he was chewing and took another bite.
"Before or after the fireworks?"
Clark gave Jimmy a guarded look. "Why?"
Jimmy squirmed a little under Clark's gaze. "It's important."
The look did not leave Clark's face. "Before." He took a sip of his now lukewarm coffee. "Why is it so important?"
Jimmy grinned impishly even as his face reddened with embarrassment. "I had a bet going with Tom in sports. He owes me fifty dollars now."
Clark choked a little on his coffee as he took another sip. "Jimmy!"
"What? It's become something like of a hobby with a few of us." Jimmy tried to stifle his smile and failed. "Sorry, CK. I know, it was lousy of us." He tried to look contrite, but failed at that as well.
Clark shook his head. "You guys need new hobbies."
Jimmy nodded and patted Clark's shoulder. "Sure thing, CK. Hey, you want in on the action? There's a bet going around on how long it's going to take before Stephanie in travel decks Ralph right in the face."
Clark rolled his eyes. "Jimmy..."
Jimmy's hands went up in a gesture of surrender. "All right, all right. But seriously, man, congrats on you and Lois. I think you guys are cute together."
"Thanks."
Jimmy moved away, a grin stretched from ear to ear, carrying the box of donuts toward Perry's office. Clark watched for a moment, then went back to staring at his computer screen. The cursor on screen blinked back at him from the blank document page, mocking him. Clark groaned and threw his head back to study the ceiling instead. He wondered how much longer it would be before Lois came back, for what felt like the eightieth time that hour.
A moment later, his question was answered. Down in the lobby, he could hear the steady beating of her heart. His own heart lightened in response. Four minutes later, she entered the newsroom, striding purposefully down the ramp. Straight to Clark's desk she went, and plopped down a steaming mug of coffee on his desk. He looked up at her questioningly. She didn't say a word, so Clark dutifully went to her desk, retrieved her chair, and wheeled it up to his desk for her. She gave him a smile and sat, then sipped from a second cup of coffee. She waved toward the one on Clark's desk.
"Whole milk, three sugars," she said. "Just how you like it."
Clark gave her a smile. "Thanks. What's the occasion?"
"Oh, I was just doing some thinking while I was waiting for Henderson. Did you know that you've bought every cup of coffee we've had in the last three months?"
"I wasn't really keeping track of that, Lois. Besides, I don't mind. I like being able to do things for you. Like this." He handed her the donut he'd taken for her. "Freshly stolen from Jimmy."
Lois nodded. "You've always been so sweet," she mused, "even when I wasn't so sweet to you."
"Don't worry about it," Clark said, taking a sip from his cup. "It's perfect." Then, to switch topics off rehashing the past, "So, what did Henderson have to say?"
Lois shrugged. "They couldn't find much on the lakebed. But they did find two interesting things."
"Okay, I'll bite. What were they?"
"A mini motor, like the type you'd find on a remote controlled helicopter, and some sort of electronic box."
Clark's eyebows shot up into his hairline. "Electronic box? What kind of electronic box?"
Lois shook her head. "They don't know yet what it is. But they've passed it along to S.T.A.R. Labs. The theory is that it may be some sort of timer."
"Or a computer," Clark suggested.
"Could be."
"Or it could have housed the...you know." Clark lowered his voice to a whisper, gesturing vaguely.
"It's possible."
"Did you get to see them? The box and the motor?"
Lois shook her head again. "No, the police had already passed them on. I called Dr. Klein though. He said it will be a couple of days at the earliest before they can analyze everything. He'd going to send over some pictures when he can."
Clark sighed. "A couple of days," he echoed.
"Don't worry. We'll get whoever it was," she said, rubbing his arm affectionately.
"I hope so, Lois. I'm genuinely worried about this."
"Well, of course you are. Someone tried to...you know."
Clark shook his head. "It's not even about me," he said, keeping his voice low. "It's about all those people. The longer it takes to put this person behind bars, the longer people will be in danger."
Lois nodded and sighed. "I know." She took another sip of her drink. "Did you come up with anything?"
"No," Clark admitted, feeling himself growing frustrated again. "I've got a few messages in with the event coordinators. I'm waiting to hear back. And I guess...I'm still a little distracted."
"About last night?"
Clark nodded. "Some parts more than others. An attempt on my life I can handle."
"But you're worried about me? I thought we settled this, Clark."
"That's not exactly it," he said, smiling. "It's just...did you know that Jimmy had a bet going with some of the others here at work?"
"A bet?" Lois arched one eyebrow. "What kind of bet?"
"Oh, you know. Just how long it would take before I'd ask you out." He chuckled.
Lois laughed too. Clark could see it dancing in her eyes as well. "You're kidding."
"Oh no. Jimmy's quite happy it happened last night before the fireworks. Seems he won fifty bucks in the bet."
"Good. Now he can pay me back for last month when he borrowed my car and got a parking ticket," Lois said, crossing her arms and leaning back into her chair a bit.
That elicited another chuckle from Clark. "Come on, let's see what we can find out, partner."
To Be Continued...
