Jimbo was asleep on the twin bed in the loft, while Jimmy had taken over Clark’s own bed.
So much for coming home.
I’m sure if Clark taped a sock to the arch, the guys would leave him and Lois alone in the big bed.
JIMMY: Sorry, CK, Lois, I’m just on my way to the bathroom!
It had to be better than the nicks and scratches he’d have all over his face after another attempt at shaving this way.
What if he never gets his powers back?
to soak up some early morning rays, bringing his cordless phone with him.
For some additional radiation?
He had no idea how long his abilities would be out this time.
Usually until the next episode, or until the plot demands them. Whatever happens first.
He had no idea how or why humans repeatedly dealt with this.
Because excessive alcohol consummation causes memory lapses, thus negating the aversion training.
Was it really worth this torment to feel a few hours of numbness from reality and to do things he was liable to regret in the morning?
SPRING BREAKERS:
![[Linked Image]](http://cosgan.de/images/midi/froehlich/d025.gif)
Was it like Kryptonite, in that one was better able to tolerate the pain with repeated exposure?
Only one way to find out and humans are said to be explorers.
He decided that he would rather not discover the answer by experimentation.
Why Kryptonians had spacecraft and yet weren’t able to save themselves, except for sending a bunch of nutjobs out into space to ‘form a colony’.
JOR-EL: I had no idea they’d actually stumble across an asteroid that had an oxygen atmosphere.
Jimmy was the closest James Olsen to the patio door, so Clark tossed the phone on his bed where it landed square on Jimmy’s stomach, waking him.
So, he’s hung over then, huh?
CLARK:
![[Linked Image]](http://cosgan.de/images/midi/frech/c030.gif)
What are you doing back so early? Lois kick you out?”
It’s only been a couple of hours! Even Clark wouldn’t be able to muck things up so qui-
![[Linked Image]](http://cosgan.de/images/midi/konfus/a050.gif)
Lex had taken away that sense of privacy and security from her.
That why she sneaked into his stuff? To return the favor? That doesn’t sound like a very healthy relationship.
Just being alone in this apartment made her skin crawl.
Maybe if she moved her Kerths, her fish, and her harem’s costume over to Clark’s and torched the place?
It was just business, they told her. She understood. Right.
Wouldn’t she do the same…?
LOIS: No! That’s just society page stuff. Let Cat do that!
The non-request for an interview messages Lois skipped included a couple from strangers blaming her for Lex’s suicide.
To be fair, Lex’s slut of an ex-fiancée did drive him off the balcony by cuckolding the poor man with that boytoy in tights.
There was even a message from some drunk guy she could hardly hear, because he was in a noisy bar, who told her in a slurred voice that not to worry about anything because he loved her and was planning on coming over to show her just how much before the message got cut.
Thank God that she hadn’t been home to deal with that guy.
CLARK:
![[Linked Image]](http://cosgan.de/images/midi/liebe/a080.gif)
LOIS:
![[Linked Image]](http://cosgan.de/images/smilie/boese/k085.gif)
…oops?
None of them warned her what kind of man they obviously knew he was.
Because she *had* to know. And if she didn’t, she wouldn’t be worth them.
“Not in this century,” Lois mumbled, hitting ‘delete’ and moving on to the next message. She didn’t owe that woman any favors.
Yes, but now Cat gets to keep Clark since Lois isn’t claiming ownership.
She wasn’t going back to LNN to work, not in this lifetime.
She would have to be no-other-alternative desperate before she would consider it, and maybe not even then.
So, that means when she figures out that they prefer hookers to be under 30?
Apparently, after talking to everyone else, he had new questions to ask her and new information to share.
Still trying to figure out just how much of Lex’s dough she’s weaseled off to the Caiman Islands?
That man had no interest in history or historical significance unless there was a buck to be made from it.
That’s not true. I’m sure he’d be happy to have his face placed into Mt. Rushmore.
“I wish they would just get it over with and tear this place down,” Jimmy said, standing under where the globe used to sit over the entrance to the Daily Planet’s lobby.
“Yep, too many memories,” Perry agreed.
He doesn’t sound very Stern to me.
Perry gazed at Lois with a startled expression. “I asked him, actually, but he said he wasn’t interested.”
“Not interested?” she sputtered. “But… but… that’s impossible!”
Seee!
It certainly didn’t give her any confidence that Mr. Truth-and-Justice wasn’t about to break her heart as he had in her dream.
Nah, that guy from her dream still had his hopes and thought he could score girls by the dozen during summer break. The guy standing in front of her, he’s a beggar. He might just take her if she offered.
Lois raised her hand, cutting him off. “Yeah, well, there are some things I never thought possible that turned out to be very possible,” she said. Such as Clark being less optimistic than me. “But you guys giving up on the Daily Planet wasn’t one of them.”
So, what’s she more ticked off about? That she doesn’t have a story or that she doesn’t have a place to publish the story even if she had it?
but what if he were just another one of those men out to burn her?
KYLE:
![[Linked Image]](http://cosgan.de/images/midi/boese/s025.gif)
“I’ve said this before, but I just hate that Luthor got his way in this one thing!” Perry said, slapping his palm with his fist.
I bet Clark hates it even more that Lex got his way with something else, too.
LOIS: I’m a *someone*! I mean…
Lois scoffed. “Who would’ve thought that out of all of us Cat Grant would land on her feet first? Not I.”
CAT: Hello! Cat.
Jimmy chuckled. “Well, Lois, she is a Cat…”
Jimbo also smiled. “And you know what they say about cats always landing on their feet.”
See?
It paused on whether she should ask Mayson Drake to introduce her to Bill Church
![[Linked Image]](http://cosgan.de/images/midi/boese/a045.gif)
“It seems that was another one of Lex Luthor’s lies,” Mr. Stern went on.
“Wait a gosh darn minute! What are you saying? That Lex Luthor never owned the Daily Planet?” Perry asked.
My lawyers went to take the Daily Planet off of LexCorp’s hands this morning, only to discover that it was a private asset owned solely by Lex Luthor himself.”
Oh.
ARI:
Until Sheldon Bender, the executor of his estate figures out who inherits, its ownership is in limbo.” He held out a hand to Perry.
Couldn’t they have Sheldon visited by some nice people who talk nicely to him so he releases the ownership to Mr. Stern?
Perry shook his hand. “I appreciate your help, Mr. Stern.”
“Any time, Mr. White,” Mr. Stern said, stepping back into his town car.
Clark said softly, moving down the building until he stood in a patch of sunlight.
He’s like a sunflower, huh?
If we’re so precious, then where were you yesterday?
Held up.
“Let me go first,” Lois insisted. She had stayed up half the night at her mother’s composing a list of questions for Clark to answer. The last time he went first the lunkhead had proposed.
also, maybe a comma after ‘first’.
“I’m going out to Las Vegas in a couple of hours with Jimmy.”
Appointment at the Chapel of Love?
“When all that dies down, we’ll talk. When I get back, okay?”
Or does he want to make a tour of the Vegan cathouses?
and we’re going to talk, now!”
It’s possible I just found the missing comma.
“And what?” she growled. She took a step forward, and he took another step back.
“Distance,” he replied, glancing away.
If he says ‘maybe we should take a break’, Lois might just try to pickle-dice him.
“Look, it’s not you. I promise you that. It’s me.”
He’s treading on very dangerous ground.
“I don’t know what’s up with you, Chuck, but I’m certainly not going to accept that answer.”
“I’m sorry, Lois… about a lot of things…”
Too bad he can’t chose ‘flight’ as an option, right now, huh?
“I do love you, Lois.” His hand rose to cover his heart. “You are my world.”
Her brow rose with disbelief. “So, you’re not taking it back?”
![[Linked Image]](http://cosgan.de/images/smilie/konfus/k045.gif)
He raised a hand to his head for a second and took a deep breath. “I’m not breaking up with you, Lois, if that’s what you thought. I just need some time…”
Yep, he’s so getting sliced and diced.
“Why do you have bloodshot eyes, Clark?” Lois asked, handing him back his glasses.
Because he’s been out all night drinking and chatting up the local barfly scene.
She could almost feel his pain in his jolted movements and reluctance.
No, most of that is from the alcohol.
LOIS:
She would give him the time he needed to heal. Distance, not so much.
Awwwww
It wasn’t as if she was infused with Kryptonite and keeping him sick, now was she?
LEX: Passed over opportunities.
They were together now. She would get the answers out of him. Slowly. With time.
Like pulling teeth, huh?
“Then, why did you let me yell at you?” she forced herself to ask calmly.
“I thought anger was your super power, a part of the Lois Lane passion package,” he replied with a sheepish smile. “You mean there’s a way to opt out of the yelling? By all means, tell me how to turn it off. I’m all ears.”
“I’m sorry I couldn’t be with you, yesterday, Lois. Believe me when I say I’d much rather have been with you,” Clark said,
Instead of Lex?
Everything would be all right.
***End of Part 181***
![[Linked Image]](http://expert2.be/smilie/pix/tapfoot.gif)
Well, what do you think? Did Clark stick his foot in his mouth again? What WAS he thinking?
He's a strange one...
Michael
