Jimmy was full of wonder at being at the Kerths. Lois, herself, felt as if something was missing or, someone, to be more accurate.
She sighed. It was all her fault. If she hadn’t let her ego get in the way, she and Clark could be enjoying their second date here at the Kerths. Instead there was a truckload of tension between them.
Probably not as much as you think.
Clark hadn’t mentioned the Kerths again since that day that Perry had announced her nomination, nor had he asked her on a second date. That was her fault as well. Why couldn’t she have just told him the truth about lunching with Lex?
I doubt that's the reason, Lois.
Jimmy was leaning toward and whispering into the ear of some strumpet who was sitting in her seat! She hadn’t spent that much time in the restroom that Jimmy could’ve had enough time to pick up someone, had she?
“Lucy?” she sputtered. “What are you doing here?”
“Clark invited me,” Lucy said.
“Clark?” Her teeth started to grind. Who invited him?
“He said that you’d want me here to help you celebrate your third Kerth win,” Lucy gushed, and then blushed. “And James. He said that you had invited James as your date, and me as his so that we could swap once we got here. That was so sweet of you to do that for James, so he could be included.”
Awww. Giving Lois a family connection she has not had in a long time is a good thing and giving Jimmy a friend (more than a friend?) to be with is an added bonus as well.
“You invited my sister on a date?” she said with her hands on her hips. She had strictly forbidden that.
She did?
He grinned. “I did.”
Her lips blossomed into a smile. “Thank you.”
Sometimes going against Lois's edicts work out better than you expect I guess.
Oh dear, I see us nearing the top of a steep climb. Arms up! Arms up!!
A couple of ‘we loved your story’ or ‘your story moved me to tears’ messages. Her brow furrowed. How come she never got any of those? Her stories were twice as good anything Chuck wrote. She pressed her lips together in annoyance. It probably had to do with the mood factor. Yep, both of those messages were on mood pieces that Clark had written about some historic buildings on the demolition list for the new Lex Towers. She rolled her eyes. Those two men would never get along.
Nope, never will. (Almost) never have.
Her hand paused on the last message. Urgent. Need to reach Superman. Martha. And a phone number. Who in the hell was Martha? And why was she calling Clark to try and reach Superman? Everyone knew that Lois and Superman were best buds… okay, that was part of the problem with their relationship, and one of the reasons he had backed off in recent months, giving other reporters a fair share of stories. She still saw Superman in the course of her work, interviewing him on fires, robberies, muggings, and the like, but people like Cat covered the charity circuit, and Clark the foreign pieces, and even Pete in sports had covered Superman throwing out the first pitch of the last game for the Metropolis Monarchs.
Spreading the wealth around a little better, I suppose?
The area code, 620, wasn’t one that she knew. She sat down at her desk and pulled up her reverse directory on the computer. As the computer searched, she looked at her coffee mug. Her coffee had gone cold, but did she really want to go through the effort of cleaning it to get a fresh cup? Her computer beeped and she glanced up at the screen.
Jonathan and Martha Kent, Smallville, KS.
Her grey mug slipped out of her hand, bounced on her desk before falling to the floor to shatter and splash cold coffee all over her shoes. Lois didn’t notice, her eyes still fixated on the monitor.
Lois: First thought... his parents are still alive in Smallville? Then why did they give him up to the foster system? Clark always talks of them fondly and supposedly they died in a car crash. Then again... that can't be. Clark wouldn't lie about something like that so that means they're not his parents. But how is that possible??
Jonathan and Martha Kent of Smallville, Kansas.
The words danced in front of her as if floating in the air. Swirling around it were her own thoughts written out for all to see.
Clark lied to you. Clark lied to you about his family. What else did Clark lie to you about? Why?
Clark: I didn't lie to you. I just told you something and you assumed these people were my parents. I didn't tell you that I came from a different universe.
Cat: (whispering) You're not helping yourself.
Lois went back to her computer, switched search programs, and typed in the name Martha Kent. Nothing came up; just as nothing had come up about Clark – her Clark, at least – when she had typed in his name. It was possible that Smallville’s local newspaper wasn’t large enough to have its stories on the internet database yet.
Quite probable. I don't think the newspaper around here had theirs online until 2000+ and we're only around 35,000 (probably larger than Smallville but not by much) and there's still local newspapers that don't even HAVE an online presence.
Think he knows where this is going? Are things going to get too close for comfort here, Clark?
