So I just got back from a long trip over the holidays and I have horrible jetlag. I just wrote this story in the middle of the night in under an hour, suffering from insomnia myself. I'm posting it un-betaed, because I think it will work better in my tired, jet-lagged state. A total experiment. Forgive me if it bombs.
Enjoy!
Takes place in Season 1, after PML but before TOGOM.
****
Freaking jetlag.
Lois had flown in from a journalism conference in Los Angeles two days ago, and yet she still couldn’t get back on her regular schedule.
She wasn’t tired when she should be, and she was tired when she needed to be wide awake.
She managed to get through Monday all right on two cups of coffee, and even splurged on two real sugars in each. Clark had raised an eyebrow at that, but her glare had shut him up.
Lois couldn’t focus properly at work, though, and Perry told her to take another day off to get readjusted. But Lois insisted that the best way to beat jetlag was to jump into the time zone you land on. Sink or swim, just like in life.
Now, it was Tuesday night. 3 AM and she needed to be up at 7. Clark said he’d come by at 7:30 and they’d pick up breakfast on their way into the office.
Lois had tried everything to get to sleep. Chamomile tea. Herbal relaxers. Yoga… nothing helped.
She got up and got a glass of water, pacing in her apartment as she worried over the fact that she needed to be up in four hours…no, now three.
She tossed and turned, grumbled and threw her pillow. Why was sleeping so difficult? It should be easy, natural… maybe she just wasn’t relaxed enough.
Lois tossed herself yet again on her bed, determined to fall asleep. She tried to think of the most relaxing thing she could… she imagined floating…in the clouds, with Superman. Yeah, that’s right… nice and easy, cradled in his arms. She could imagine the wind in her hair, the sound of his cape fluttering as they flew…
Lois sighed in annoyance, as yet again her eyes drifted open. The dream disappeared as quickly as she had thought of it. She grumbled in frustration, turning over on her stomach to glare, bleary-eyed at her clock once more. Almost 4 AM.
“I’m never getting to sleep now. I might as well just wake up and face the day!” she groused, tossing her comforter off her body as she sat up in her bed. She glanced in her mirror, seeing her hair a mess, and bags under her eyes.
She knew that Clark would appear in a few hours, looking well-rested and chipper as ever. She already wanted to punch him, just thinking about it.
Lois looked longingly at her bed, wishing it would give her the sleep that she longed for. But it was hopeless… she may as well give up and take a shower. She could take her time getting dressed. Maybe Clark wouldn’t notice the bags under her eyes if she wore something stunning… Like that a-line skirt with the slit up the side.
Now why did she care what Clark thought of how she looked?
Determined now to forget sleep for the night, Lois got out of bed. She turned on her bedroom light and then switched on the radio. Already news programs were gearing up for the day.
“See, it’s perfectly normal to be up at this hour,” Lois said to herself, staring into her closet as she searched for a blouse to go with her a-line skirt.
Her vision was blurry, but she knew it was a ruse. She wasn’t really tired. She’d felt like that for hours, and it hadn’t won her one wink of sleep!
There was the blouse she was looking for! She tossed it along with her skirt onto her traitorous bed and headed into the bathroom.
Lois splashed cold water on her face. See? She felt better already.
She started the shower, noticing with grim satisfaction that the sun was beginning to make its presence known above the city. So many people were getting up right now. People who got up every day at 4 or 5 AM to go to work. Surely they too had nights where they couldn’t sleep and yet life went on! People did their jobs! The world did not end!
Lois showered, making sure the water wasn’t too hot. In the back of her mind, she worried it would make her actually sleepy and she knew she needed to just wake up and face the day.
She shut off the lukewarm water and reached for her towel and robe. The robe felt ever so comfy… She scrubbed her wet hair and turned up her radio as hits from the 80’s blasted across the airways.
“It’s just another manic Monday..ohhh ohhh… I wish it were Sunday..ohhh ohhh. An I don’t have to run day…”
“Stupid song. It’s Tuesday!” Lois shouted irately at the radio.
She glanced at her clock. It was 5:30. She had a whole two hours before Clark would show up.
Plenty of time to get perky and pretty for work.
Coffee, that’s what she needed… Lois plodded off into the kitchen, still irrationally angry at the Bangles for wailing about it being Monday, even though it was Tuesday. She started the coffee pot, confident in her decision not to try to go back to sleep.
“I’m not even tired. See? Even just the smell of coffee, and I feel totally well-rested,” she said, heading over to feed her fish. “I bet you guys don’t have to worry about jetlag and insomnia, huh? What’s the worst that happens if you don’t get enough sleep? You swim slower? Come on…”
Lois headed back into the kitchen, her coffee ready. She poured herself a cup with skim milk and two Sweet and Low sugars.
She wandered into the living room, thinking she’d enjoy her cup of joe as she watched the sun rise over the city. I mean, how often do you get to see the sun come up anyway? What a privilege, right?
Lois took a sip of coffee, settling down into her couch… It was more comfortable than she remembered it ever being. Especially in her robe, still warm from her not so warm shower…
It wouldn’t hurt to just stretch out here for a moment…. Would it?
***
“Lois?” Clark called after knocking on her door and getting no response.
He leaned towards the door and used his super hearing to try and determine if she was awake. He heard the radio… was she in the shower? He leaned in a little closer, sorting out all the noises in her apartment. No water running.
Clark tried to quell the sudden panic he felt. She obviously had been awake… did she have an accident? Did someone break in?
He tried knocking one more time, calling her name a little louder this time. Nothing.
Clark hesitated spying on Lois, but he had to know if she was in danger. With a reluctant sigh, Clark pulled down his glasses, and x-rayed her door. Sure enough, he saw her dozing on her sofa, still in her robe. He shook his head, knowing she had been quite jet-lagged at work yesterday, and loathe to admit it.
He couldn’t bust in her door from here, because she had at least three locks secured. But he could whip in quick as wind as Superman and change to Clark before she awoke… He didn’t see much of a choice… Besides, the way she was sleeping on that sofa, she would have a crick in her neck in no time…
Clark moved fast, and flew in through Lois’ balcony window. Quiet as a mouse, he spun out of Superman and back into his Clark clothes. He hoped that Lois was tired enough that she wouldn’t question his presence there if she did awaken.
“Lois?” he whispered quietly.
But Lois was out cold.
Clark sighed with a rueful laugh. Perry wouldn’t mind if Lois came in late today, but Lois would be mad later that Clark hadn’t tried harder to wake her. Too bad. She obviously needed sleep.
As carefully as he could, he lifted her in his arms to take her to her bedroom. To avoid disturbing her sleep, he floated just above the floor, to take her to her bed as smoothly as possible.
Halfway to her room, she nuzzled closer to him,under his chin, and he swore he heard her whisper, “Superman…take me flying…”
Clark resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Of course she would recognize Superman when she was totally out of it. It was only when she was wide awake and ready for her next story that she missed what was right under her nose…
As gently as he could, Clark set her on her bed. He feared taking off her robe, worrying that she might not have much on underneath, so he settled for just laying her on the covers.
“Get some sleep, Lois,” he whispered. He lingered longer than he should, enjoying watching her sleep. She looked so innocent… just lying there, lost in a land of dreams.
He pulled himself away from her side, and went to turn off her radio. Then he came by her bed again and turned off her lamp.
As quiet as a breeze, Clark flew out of her apartment.
***
Lois’ eyes fluttered open some minutes later. She looked at her clock and saw that it was almost eight… She must just have missed Clark!
Lois stumbled out of the bed, pulling her robe tighter around her, angry with herself for having fallen asleep.
She ran to the door and opened it, stupidly thinking that her partner would still be there, waiting for her to wake up. She pulled open the door, and called Clark’s name down the hallway… but he wasn’t there. Disappointed, she turned to go back into her apartment. She noticed a note on her door.
“Maybe you aren’t feeling well? I came by but you didn’t answer. Call me when you get this. Clark.”
She crumpled the note and tossed it on her end table, embarrassed that she would be late to work because she couldn’t get over a little jetlag.
Then she noticed that her balcony door had been left open… she remembered closing it last night… Had Superman come by?
“Did I miss him, too?” she winged in frustration. “And how did I get to my bedroom?”
Her brain was a tired jumble… Lois knew Clark had been there… and it seemed as if Superman had paid a visit as well… It was almost as if they had teamed up to take care of her, and make sure she got the sleep she needed.
But how would they have done that? Could Clark just call Superman on a whim to float her to her bedroom? That seemed patently absurd…
Then, Lois had a thought. She shook her head and laughed out loud.
“Okay, now I know I am tired,” she said. Because this thought was really off the wall.
What if Clark was Superman?
Lois laughed out loud again. She was punch drunk tired. Clark, Superman? Please!
Yeah, that was too much!
Time to get some sleep!
THE END
