And this one is easy easy easy too!
The Red Skirt , by Carol Malo.
Sorry, had problems finding something, and Jose got both his answer and his next quote in before I could find my quote...
That would make him Clark's brother. Of course! It finally explained their close relationship, and why Martha had been so flabbergasted when Lois had suggested they were a gay couple. And why she had talked about supporting one's children's decisions.
Lois sipped her coffee thoughtfully. It even explained why Clark and Superman looked alike. Then she winced - that had to be the stupidest thought she'd ever had. Superman was an alien from Krypton, and Clark... Clark really did look
remarkably like Superman, except for his glasses and his hairstyle.
No, it was ludicrous! She'd seen Clark get a paper cut, and he'd exerted all his strength to win her a teddy bear at the Smallville Corn Festival. She still had that teddy. She'd named him Jerome. Lois stood up and walked through to
her bedroom, picking up the little bear from the shelf beside her bed and staring at him.
They had gone to Smallville to investigate a case of bureaucratic bungling, and they had come back with a story about Jason Trask and a mythical mineral called kryptonite. Only, Superman had said it wasn't mythical, it was real. It had made him "weak and ill."
The first evening in Smallville, Lois had come downstairs to find Clark's parents hovering around him, and Clark himself looking as sick as a dog. He had said it was allergies, but he had never suffered from allergies before or since. He hadn't even had a cold all winter.
Lois sank onto the bed, still staring unseeingly at Jerome. Her mind was whirling.
Nobody in Smallville, not Sheriff Rachel "tush-push" Harris, not even that nosy waitress at the cafeteria - what was her name? - who had known all about Lois's romance novel, had ever mentioned Clark having a brother. Lois herself had slept in Clark's old bedroom, a tiny room with just enough space for a single bed. The farmhouse had no third bedroom.
Clark's clothes fitted Superman perfectly. Clark had been unaffected by the pheromone compound. Clark had been unaffected by the heatwave in November. Clark had left the Daily Planet the night before Superman had to leave Metropolis. Clark was always disappearing at a moment's
notice, generally just before Lois needed him to help her on a big story... involving Superman.
Clark Kent, her highly esteemed partner, the only person she trusted enough to get this close to - this *attached* to, damn him - had been laughing up his sleeve at her, ever since he first met her.
Kathy
