Identity
Chapter 4 – Threat
Revenge + 3 days
Clark was pleased that the wrap on the pheromone story came so quickly. To his great pleasure – and relief – Lois proved almost as adept as ever when it came to conducting an investigation. Unfortunately, he came away form this effort worried about her lack of aggressiveness. She didn’t seem to have the energy and drive that normally came to his mind when he thought of his partner. Fortunately, her intelligence and intuition were there in full force. Still, it was unsettling to see today’s version of Lois react with joy and understanding to situations where he knew that regular Lois would be angry and sarcastic.
He was in the process of working on edits to their pheromone stories. All together, they had three different joint articles on Miranda and her love potion. Lois had taken the lead to develop the bulk of the article on Miranda. The focus or that story was how she’d tried to poison the entire city. Clark had taken the more technical article which outlined the science behind Miranda’s concoction. It was up to Clark to put the finishing touches on both of them. After Lois had turned in her first story yesterday, Perry had asked Clark to work with her until she ironed out her style. For the time being, Clark was doing a final edit pass on all her work. She’d accepted this gracefully, and that worried him too. Under normal conditions, Lois would never have so calmly accepted his reworking her words.
They’d done a third story that described Miranda’s attack on the Daily Planet. Lois had worked with Jimmy and discovered that the Daily Planet was only one of three “test sites” where Miranda had spread the stuff. While the Planet was her high-profile target, she also released it in a nearby museum and the restaurant next door. Based on Lois’s research, there had been several hundred people exposed.
Two facts turned up about Revenge that had Clark especially worried. First, there was a way for the pheromone solution to affect someone permanently. That was what Miranda had intended at the end. Second, of all the victims that Lois had found, everyone had recovered completely in less than 48 hours. It was early in the process, but it sure seemed like Lois might have been unusually sensitive. It appeared reasonable to believe that her reaction was the same as what the one hundred percent solution would have done. If that was true, Clark needed to get used to the idea that Lo-lo might be here to stay.
Of course, if that were to prove to be the case, Clark was extra glad he’d finally given in to her advances. He hated to think what might have happened to Lois if she’d fixated on Luthor instead of him. The idea of Lois as Lo-lo being in love with Luthor, and acting toward Lex the way she was now treating him, made his skin crawl. Whatever happened, he was committed to do what was best for her. He’d try his hardest to bring her old self back, and if she never returned, he’d be the best companion and husband for Lo-lo that he possibly could.
“Clark, where’s that last story?” Perry’s bellow broke his muse and he went back to typing.
“And where’s Lo? I want to do a more in-depth follow-up on the other Miranda attacks.” Perry had tried to call her Lo-lo just once. It just didn’t sound right when he’d said it. After that, he started calling her “Lo” and that seemed to work a lot better. The name thing reminded Clark of his interaction with Jimmy. He was “CK” for Jimmy and “Clark” for everyone else. Now “Lo” was Perry’s name and everyone else seemed to be happy using “Lo-lo.”
“She said she had some business out of the office and left about an hour ago,” Clark answered his editor. “I expect her back any minute now.”
Perry grumbled for a second. “Tell her to see me as soon as she gets back.”
“I will, Chief.”
A few minutes later, Clark had just finished sending his story to Perry when he heard a most unpleasant voice from across the room. “Is Miss Lane in the office?” It was Luthor. He’d just exited the elevator and had gone over to Cat’s desk.
“No,” Cat answered. “Lo-lo had something that she needed to take care of. Clark might know when she’ll be back.”
“Lo-lo?” Luthor asked with disdain.
“That’s what she likes to be called,” was all Cat answered.
Luthor looked his way and caught Clark watching his exchange with Cat. His expression twisted into a sneer for only an instant. Then he seemed to calm himself and started toward Clark’s desk.
“Do you know when Miss Lane plans to return?”
Clark glanced at a nearby clock. “Any minute now. You're welcome to wait at her desk.”
Luthor started to turn away, but checked himself and turned back to Clark. “I must admit that you managed to surprise me,” he said casually.
“I’m afraid I don’t follow you.”
“I pride myself on being able to predict how people will act when presented with unexpected situations. Because of my relationship with Miss Lane, and your position as one of her coworkers, I’d formed a mental image of you.”
“I’m flattered that you find me to be worth your time.”
“You aren’t,” he snorted in an insulting tone. “It’s Lois that is worth my time. In any case, I didn’t have you categorized as the type of… person that would take advantage of a woman the way that you are abusing Lois.”
Fortunately, Clark had anticipated a comment like this as soon as Luthor started speaking to him. Still, the intensity of the surge of anger that Luthor's accusation triggered, caught him by surprise. Clark almost delivered a sharp response, but managed to remember that he needed to address Luthor as Clark Kent would, and not the way he’d speak to him as Superman. “Why do you say I’m abusing Lois?” he asked in a cold, but controlled voice.
“You may remember that I was here the day after Miranda’s attack on this office. I know that Lois was affected and that by pure chance seemed to fix her attentions on you.”
“So?”
“So I learned at the airport today that you have used her compromised condition to convince her that you two were involved in an intimate personal relationship.”
“Our relationship is none of your concern,” Clark said, his anger starting to get the better of him.
“You seem to have forgotten that before this incident, Lois and I were dating,” Luthor said confidently.
“Based on her actions over the last few days, you don’t seem to have made much of an impression.” Clark knew he shouldn’t get into this sort of argument with Luthor, but after his interactions as Superman, he had very little tolerance for this evil little man.
“Be careful Mr. Kent. You aren’t in Smallville, Kansas anymore.”
Before Clark could reply, there was a voice from across the room. “Why does Clark need to be careful?” Lois was approaching from the direction of the elevator.
Luthor turned to her and changed his tune without skipping a beat. “My dear, Lois. I was just pointing out to you co-worker that the consequences of ill-considered actions or words in a city such as Metropolis can carry more weight than might be the case for a small town.”
She never lost her smile. “That’s true,” she said closing the distance to Clark. “And it’s something I’m sure I’ll remind him of many times after we’re married.” As she reached Clark, she slipped her arm through his and casually kissed his cheek. “I missed you,” she said earnestly, gazing up into his eyes.
She was the perfect antidote for Luthor’s hate. “Me you too,” Clark replied softly.
After another second, she turned to Luthor. “Did you come to congratulate us,” she asked, brightly.
The genuineness of her tone seemed to set the billionaire back for an instant. “Lois, I came by because I wanted to speak with you.”
“Go ahead,” she said simply. “And call me Lo-lo.”
Her suggestion to use that name seemed to hit Luthor like another blow. “May we speak in private?”
“Sure, we can use an interview room.” She gave Clark’s hand a squeeze as they separated and she led Lex to the small room. After he entered, she closed the door and sat. “What did you want to talk about?”
“You need to reconsider your relationship with… Kent. He’s taking advantage of you.”
She simply smiled. “No he’s not. Clark is perfect for me. I’m lucky to be with him.”
“Lois, you don’t know what you’re saying. I’m sorry to say this, but I believe you’re still under the influence of Miranda’s compound.”
“Of course I am,” she agreed quickly. “Everyone in the office knows it. But that doesn’t matter. I’m happy with who I am and I know what I’m doing. Clark is so perfect and being in love like this is the best thing ever,” she gushed.
“Can you hear yourself? That’s Miranda’s drug talking. You don’t sound like Lois at all.”
His unwillingness to listen managed to irritate her just a tiny bit. “Lois is gone,” she said sharply. “I told you, I’m Lo-lo. Lois was a stick in the mud. I’m making new friends and having a lot more fun than she ever did.”
Lex’s eyes went wide. “You can’t be serious. Lois… you and I… I thought we might have something special.”
“Maybe,” she said, a bit more thoughtful this time. “Lois seemed to enjoy it when you two were together. But you’re way too stiff for me. I want to have fun. I like pizza and beer and laughing at bad movies. You might have been right for old Lois, but Clark is my dream come true.”
Now Lex seemed to be getting angry. “Lois, I swear…”
“She’s not here,” she insisted, feeling suddenly defensive and fragile, “I told you. I’m Lo-lo.”
His look turned even harder as he reached out and grabbed her arm. “LOIS,” he shouted, “I swear I’ll find a way to reverse the effects of this poison and we’ll be back together.”
“You’re hurting me,” she whimpered in pain.
The door opened suddenly and there was Clark. “Lo-lo, are you okay?”
She pulled free from Lex’s grasp, rushed over to Clark and threw her arms around him. She had started to cry and Clark could feel the wetness of her tears through his shirt.
“You need to leave,” Clark said sternly to Luthor.
“This isn’t over,” he said as he brushed past them. Just outside the door, he stopped and turned back to face them. “I will bring Lois back.” Then he turned and headed away.
Clark held her for several minutes until it seemed that her crying had ended. “Lo-lo, are you all right?”
“No,” she said softly as she squeezed him tighter. “He hates me.”
“He hates anyone and anything that doesn't go his way.”
“He hurt me,” she said in disbelief. “I don't remember him being like that.”
Clark moved his head so that he could whisper in Lo-lo's ear. “We need to talk about Luthor. I've seen things as Superman that he never let anyone else see.”
She went still. “Talk to me,” she said in a surprisingly somber tone. Even so, she didn't loosen her hug by even the slightest margin.
“There have been a few things,” Clark said softly into her ear. “Back during our first assignment together, you know, the space transport, I heard enough that convinced me that he was deeply involved in the sabotage and may have been involved in the death of Dr. Baines. Then, right after I appeared, do you remember that series of tests that Superman was subjected to?”
She nodded her head without looking up.
“That was Luthor. Those are the only two things I know about for sure. But based on those things, I started noticing when he was nearby. You'll remember that he was conveniently right there to shoot Max Menken. It’s interesting that Menken was the only person that could have said where the money for the cyborg experiments came from. Then you were investigating the Metro gang, and again Luthor appears right in the middle of things. After that there was the smart kids brain boost drug, and he was right there again. And again the key person that might be able to provide a link to the money source ended up dead. And finally, the heat wave that almost drove me away from Metropolis...” she hugged him even tighter, “...it turned out to be his nuclear plant.”
Clark paused to see if she was going to say anything. After a long moment, her head still pressed up against his chest, she finally asked, “Why didn't you tell me what you knew?”
“Luthor is very smart and incredibly careful to never leave any evidence. The only stuff that I'm really sure of are those things that only Superman saw.” He hesitated but wanted to get the rest out. “We hadn't really known each other that long and, to be honest, I hadn't earned that level of your trust. I was sure that if I – Clark – came to you with this, you wouldn't have believed me.”
“You're probably right,” she said after a minute of silence. “Lois was very nervous about trusting you. First, you were so green. Then you turned out to be so good at what you do. But the scariest part of all for her was that you were so nice and so handsome. You left her off-balance and confused. You were making progress but she wasn't ready to listen. Not yet.”
“We need to talk about Lois,” Clark said directly.
“Yes?” she asked defensively as Clark felt her hug tighten ever so slightly.
“You're sounding more and more as if you think Lois is a completely different person,” Clark said nervously. “I'm...”
“I'm scaring you, aren't I?” she suggested softly.
“A little,” he admitted.
She released her hug and looked up at him. “I'm sorry, Clark. I know who I am. I really do. I haven’t forgotten that I'm really Lois. But I also know that before this... change, there were a lot of fears and emotions that were driving me in a very different way. It's easier to talk about the old me as if she was a different person, but it doesn't mean that I’ve lost track of who I am. It’s just that for right now, I feel so good about what this change has allowed me to experience.”
“I heard some of what Luthor said. I heard the way he insisted on calling you Lois.”
“I didn't like the way he used her name,” she said, just the slightest note of anger in her voice.
“I'd been thinking that I'd rather call you Lois. I want you to know that I loved you before. But after what I just heard, I think I'm in the Lo-lo camp for a while.”
“Thank you,” she said sincerely. “It will be a lot easier for me – especially for now – if you'd call me Lo-lo. But I also know that when you speak to me as Lois, it means something very different than what Lex meant. I meant what I said earlier. I really am okay with you calling me Lois. And I understand that the way I sound might be a little scary. I’ll try to do better.” She took a deep breath. “But please don’t use my Lois name for the rest of the day.”
~~ *** ~~
As Clark walked up to his apartment, he looked down at Lois’s hand holding his own and couldn’t help but wonder at the way the changes in his relationship with her felt so natural. As such, he wasn’t particularly surprised when she insisted on coming with him to his place instead of heading to her apartment.
“Go on in,” he said, holding the door open for her.
She went in first with him right behind. Clark closed the door and turned to her. “Now...”
He never finished his sentence. She literally jumped toward him and attacked him with a powerful and sensual kiss. After only an instant of initial surprise Clark was more than happy to return the kiss with all the desire that had built up over the months since he'd met this incredible woman. The first kiss blended into a second, and then a third.
Some number of minutes later she pulled her face back just an inch or two. “I've been dying to do that all afternoon,” she said with a very satisfied smile.
“If that's what happens when you walk me to my apartment, we're going to have to make a habit of this.”
“Clark, I did something today that I’m nervous about. I hope you aren’t mad.”
“You excel at doing things that make me worry, but I doubt I’ll be mad. What did you do?”
“Look around.”
Confused, Clark looked out into the center of his apartment. There were several suitcases near the bedroom. “Suitcases? Where did those come from,” he asked.
“They’re mine,” she said, a nervousness still in her voice. “If it’s okay with you, I want to move in with you.”
“Lo-lo, being with you is… incredible, but this seems awfully quick for such a big step. Are you sure that this is what you want?”
“Yes it’s quick. And I know this is forward on my part, but it’s how I feel. I… I just don’t want to be alone right now. The truth is that I can’t image ever wanting to spend another night away from you, but for now I’d be happy if you’ll let me stay with you for the rest of the week.”
She was looking at him hopefully. This was probably a bad idea, but she felt so fragile. Before he could reply, she tried again. “Please, Clark. At least let me stay for a few days.”
Clark could see in her face just how much she wanted this. And he had to admit, at one level, he wanted it too. That voice from the first night was back and reminding him that this was probably a very, very bad idea, but he’s done fine so far ignoring it so he simply said, “Welcome home, roommate.”
TBC
Bob
