Hate Myself For Loving YouFolc4evernaday
Chapter 4
The blank page of Lois Lane’s word processor blinked back at her, taunting her with the lack of progress she’d made so far on the story she was supposed to be turning into Perry by this afternoon. Of course, she wouldn’t be stuck if she weren’t so furious at her missing partner. It wasn’t like the behavior was new. He did it all the time. Running off to return a video or check the mail at the most inopportune times.
Every time she thought she had calmed down long enough to begin writing up her notes from the interviews throughout the day, something else would remind her of Clark’s lame excuse.
‘Cat walking. He couldn’t come up with something more original before ducking out of an interview he setup.’ Lois thought to herself as she glared at her screen.
“Mail call,” Jimmy’s voice pierced her inner thoughts as a manila envelope, and two letter envelopes were laid over her keyboard before she could react to her friend’s stealthy skills of maneuvering through the cloud of disparagement that hung over her.
“Thanks, Jimmy,” Lois said, looking up at her friend with a half-smile in hopes that she could fake pleasantries without alerting her friend of her current mood.
Jimmy cocked an eyebrow at her, turning his head to look at her as he prompted her with a smile, “You okay?”
Lois squashed down the turbulent emotions that raced through her mind, subconsciously stealing a glance at her missing partner’s desk before meeting her friend’s gaze. “Fine, just got a lot on my mind is all.”
“Yeah,” Jimmy nodded, crossing his arms over his chest. “Crazy how quickly things can change in just a few hours, huh? Mayson nearly getting killed. You and CK….” Before he could finish his sentence, he quickly began to backtrack, “I mean, I just assumed. I shouldn’t do that. Assuming is bad. I’m gonna…find somewhere else to be before I dig myself any deeper.” He pointed behind himself, backing away as he spoke.
Had she not felt the stress from carrying around her anger at Clark at that moment, she might have stopped him, but she wasn’t sure how to respond. Jimmy was right. Things had changed between her and Clark in just one day, and now she was left wondering if things would change for the worse in the next twenty-four hours. She didn’t want to think like that. It had taken what felt like an eternity to get this far and feel open to the idea of pursuing anything other than friendship with Clark. Now that she was here, staring at the reality everything felt so fragile.
He knew that.
Her uncertainties had gotten the best of her that morning, and he’d helped coax her out of her anxiety. This was different though. She ripped open the envelope and a small 4 x 6 photo fell on her desk, staring back at her with jagged pen marks and scribbles in red ink. A hand covered her mouth in shock at Lois stared at the photo from several months ago at the Kerth Awards. It looked to be one of the promotional photos the Planet had released as a part of their marketing campaign to promote the Lane and Kent, reporting team. A glaring change was the red and black pen mark that had been scribbled all over Lois’ face in the photo.
She quickly shoved the photo back into the envelope and began searching for a return address. A frown crossed her face when she saw there was no postage on the envelope. It had been hand-delivered. She looked around the newsroom with a wary expression, wondering if anyone here could have been behind the envelope’s arrival to her desk.
A mug of coffee moved in front of her, and she jumped, startled by the sudden appearance of the paper cup from Joe’s. She spun in her chair, ready to face the intruder and let out a long breath of relief when she saw Clark standing behind her.
He held up his hands, displaying his surrender against her scowl and tense features. “It’s just a peace offering. I know my timing could have been better earlier.”
Recalling her bitterness over being left holding the bag she snorted, “A little? You bolted from an interview you set up.”
“I know,” he hung his head, burying his hands in his pockets and then turning to her. “I lost track of time.”
“You seriously went to go walk your neighbor’s cat?” she challenged, noting the white and black hairs on his jacket and pants leg.
“Uh, yeah,” he shrugged his shoulders. “It was actually a good thing too.”
“How so? You find a stray dog that needed neutering?” Lois teased, still not ready to let her anger dissolve completely.
“When I was heading back to my apartment, I ran across one of the guards that works over at the prison. He claimed to have been attacked by the person behind something called ‘Resurrection.’”
“Resurrection?” Lois echoed the word with a scrunched up nose. “What is that?”
“I don’t know,” Clark admitted tapping his coat breast pocket, “but I figured we could find out when we go interview him.” He shrugged his shoulders. “He’s at the hospital now being treated for his injuries from earlier.”
“You know you can’t just show up with a lead on a case and assume everything is forgiven.” Lois pointed out, the curve of her lip threatening to overtake her scowl with a half-smile.
“I can’t?” he asked innocently, breaking his face into a full mega-watt smile that threatened to undo her right there.
A smirk curled across the curve of her lips, cracking the little resolve she still had. She crossed her arms over her chest, turning in her chair to face him, hardening her features behind her dark eyes. As tempting as it was to just jump into their investigation like nothing had changed, she had to make a point.
An uneasy expression crossed his face, and his smile melted away. His head lowered and he let out a deep breath, “I’m sorry.”
She caught a glimpse of the sincerity in his eyes. Noting the white and black hair on his jacket from a cat she supposed it wasn’t fair to be angry at him for helping out a neighbor. Even if it was at the most inopportune time. Still, it wasn’t the first time he’d done something like this, and if they were going to have a relationship he couldn’t just bolt on her. She had no intention of continuing down this road and finding herself pushed aside time and time again. That was a conversation for a less public location though. They did need to follow up on this lead Clark had come across. She had no intention of letting the subject die completely but sulking about it wouldn’t do either of them any good either.
“Let’s talk to this Gomez character and find out what he knows.”
________________________________________
“Room 503,” Mayson flashed her federal identification to the charge nurse and followed her through the narrow hallway until she was standing in front of Officer Gomez’s room. She nodded her thanks, taking a deep breath, preparing herself for what lied ahead.
She opened the door and entered, slamming the door behind her. Officer Gomez jumped, startled by the loud clap of the door hinge hitting the door frame. Mayson crossed her arms over her chest as she stared at the distressing sight of her key witness in the undercover investigation into the Metropolis prison.
“You’re not doing a great job of laying low, Chris.”
“I wasn’t planning on getting mixed up with these characters either, Ms. Drake,” Chris Gomez snorted, motioning to his sling and bandaged leg propped up in the hospital bed. “Yet here I am.”
“You’ve got to be more careful, Chris,” Mayson scolded, sliding her hands up and down her upper arms. “We’re still building the case…The DA is not ready to file charges yet.”
“I know, I know,” Chris waved her off. “But obviously, they know something’s up, Ms. Drake.”
“I’ll talk to the DA and see what we can do about protection,” Mayson said, uncertain how she would be able to convince Michael Clemmons on the extra security for a case that was still in shambles. No evidence other than her star witness who was being threatened.
“So, I show up to my next shift with two armed guards. That’ll go over really well.” Gomez snorted, pointing at his forehead with a low growl. “Why don’t you just tattoo snitch on my forehead and save the penitentiary some time from sniffing me out.”
“We’ll figure something out,” Mayson promised. "Right now, it's just the two of us that know about resurrection." Mayson’s eyes twinkled as she added with a smirk, "On our side anyway."
"Right,” Gomez nodded with a twinge of hesitation.
“We are the only two that know about resurrection, right?” Mayson pressed.
Gomez paused before nodding, “Of course.”
Mayson glanced at her watch, realizing the time. “I’ve got to meet with the DA before he gets pulled into court. Try to keep a low profile until then.”
“You know where to find me,” Gomez shrugged his shoulders as she left.
________________________________________
The long trek to the parking garage seemed to take forever as Clark followed Lois in silence. She was still stewing about his disappearance earlier. He had apologized, and she seemed to have accepted it—at least she hadn’t brought the subject up again –or any other subject for that matter. He let out a deep sigh as they reached the car and he watched Lois fumble with her keys to unlock the car and mumble a quick “let’s go” before climbing in.
Without a word, he climbed in and resigned himself to a car ride of silence on the way to the hospital. To his surprise, they barely made it out of the parking garage before Lois broke the silence.
“You disappeared on me…again,” Lois said turning the car onto Main Street. Her voice was stern as she spoke. “Then you left me to complete the interview you had setup without any context about what you had talked to the M.E.’s assistant about already.”
Clark let his head drop, hearing the anguish in her voice as she spoke. How he wished he could just tell her where he really was. Instead, he’d been reduced to lying and trying to salvage his reputation by searching for an alley cat, so his story hadn’t been a total lie. The words felt empty as he spoke them, but he wasn’t sure what else to say. “I’m sorry,” His head lowered and he let out a deep breath, uncertain how long Lois would hold onto her anger at him.
“You can’t just disappear on me.” She stole a quick glance in his direction before turning her attention back to the road.
A pained expression crossed her face, and he found himself silently nodding, unsure if he could keep such a promise. He couldn’t abandon his responsibilities as a superhero, but he certainly had to do better about balancing those responsibilities with his life. This – whatever it was that was developing between himself and Lois was changing everything. For the better he hoped. He momentarily wondered how long he would be able to keep up this charade without pushing Lois further and further away from him.
________________________________________
‘Boring.’Agent Dan Scardino flipped through the incoming reports, searching for the next assignment. It had been a trying few months after losing his partner, Jenna but he was ready to get back in the field. He had been on desk duty for too long, and he was ready to prove his worth and take another shot at that promotion.
‘More Boring’Unfortunately, fate wasn’t on his side with that ambition. Everything that filtered into the agency seemed to be your run of the mill drug bust. Nothing new or exciting about busing up a small-time meth lab or stopping a small-time dealer from baking mary jane in his oven.
“Pass,” he muttered, tossing the reports on the desk. The ceiling fan blew across the desk, and a slim folder opened up from the bottom of the pile and revealed a 4x6 glossy photo of a car explosion clipped to a two-page report. Curious, Dan Scardino leaned over to pick up the file and skimmed it over.
A frown crossed his face as a sense of déjà vu fell over him. He looked over the file as he wheeled himself over to the file cabinet where an eerily familiar bombing had happened just six months prior. With precision, he pulled out the thick green folder and flipped the pages to find the initial incendiary report from ATF. “Unbelievable.”
________________________________________
The front desk receptionist to Metropolis General pointed to the waiting area behind Lois and Clark. “You can have a seat. I’ll have someone come out and talk with you.”
Lois scowled as she jerked her press id back from the counter and turned on her heel to the waiting area. Clark was a few steps behind her, tucking his own press badge back into his inner pocket. “This is a waste of time,” Lois muttered, pacing by the front door of the lobby. She gestured to the receptionist with a nod of her head and added, “Look at her. She’s probably telling whoever it is on the other end to take their good old sweet time so they can wait us out.”
“You don’t know that,” Clark reassured, placing a hand on her shoulder. “She could genuinely be asking someone to come out here.” A reassuring smile peeked through the corners of his mouth.
She felt her insides flip flop as a warmth spread through her, staring back at Clark as a small smile peeked across the corners of her mouth. Clark had a way of looking at the world through this lens that always saw the good in everyone despite the signs that told her otherwise. Though it was tempting to think the worst and insist the receptionist was conspiring against her Lois found herself almost convinced of Clark’s version of events.
“I’ll bet she’s on the phone right now with the head nurse, asking someone to come upfront.” Clark grinned back at her, reaching over to cup her cheek like he had a thousand times before. This felt different somehow. She stared back at him, wondering if he felt the electrical spark that had just coursed through her from his simple touch.
“I guess we’ll have to see, won’t we?” Lois replied playfully, leaning a little closer before turning to look back at the reception desk. Sure enough, the woman was still on the phone, but what was being said seemed to be anyone’s guess at this point.
“They can’t just let anyone in.” Clark reminded her, looping his arm across her shoulders.
Lois nodded, letting out a long huff. She knew he was right. She just hated the suspense of going through the bureaucratic red tape just to get answers on something she was sure would open the floodgates of their investigation. This was the thrill of the chase that she lived for and like it or not this receptionist held the keys to blowing this case wide open. So, for now, she would play nice and bide her time.
“We’re not leaving,” Lois said, crossing her arms over her chest.
________________________________________
Mayson tucked her head down as she made her way to the elevator, hoping not to draw any attention to herself. Christopher Gomez was right. Providing protection would only further put a target on his back, but right now, she wasn’t sure how else to keep him safe. The police had been less than forthcoming when she had requested, they remain outside his room. Whoever she was dealing with here had connections. She just wished she knew who she was up against before it was too late.
The threatening notes and attempts on not only her life but her witness made her even more determined to get to the truth. Project resurrection was big and sure to make a lot of heads roll when the ringleader was revealed.
The elevator arrived, and she ran into a man with dark curly hair. “Oh, excuse me,” she said stepping aside for him and his companion. She noted the man’s demeanor seemed nervous as he pushed past her. She brushed it off, watching as the two men disappeared behind the elevator doors.
Protecting Chris Gomez pushed its way back to the forefront of her mind, and she pulled out her mobile phone, preparing to dial once she was out of the elevator. It wasn’t like she had plentiful resources at her disposal. Though she wasn’t a huge fan the recent help from Superman had been instrumental in stopping assassin Dianna Stride from taking her witness out. That help came with the help of Lois Lane though. And she would be damned if she ever put herself in a position to owe Lois Lane a favor again.
The elevator doors opened, and she breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the double doors leading to the hospital. Thinking too long about Lois Lane would only stir up her anger, and right now she had to focus on getting Chris Gomez to safety. She pulled the antenna to her mobile out, dialing the number by heart and her heels clicked on the black and white tile floor. Before she could finish making the call, she found herself faced with the subject that was determined to torture her today.
There in the lobby, Lois Lane stood barely inches away from Clark Kent, wrapped up in what appeared to be a private conversation between the two. She couldn’t go even a few hours without the duo crashing into her life and subjecting her to their — whatever it was. She refused to acknowledge what had formed between the duo as anything other than
‘that night.’ Giving it a status would only further torment her.
Lois Lane seemed hell-bent on doing that for her.
She ducked her head down, hoping to avoid being recognized by either Lois Lane or Clark Kent but failed miserably as she collided with the duo a few feet away from the front door, causing her purse and files to slide across the slick tile floor with speed that rivaled a fighter jet taking off. Every second she sat on the floor scrambling for the files and contents of her purse only further amplified the humiliation and anger that simmered beneath the surface.
Had today not been enough of a nightmare?
“Mayson, are you all right?” Clark knelt down to hand her her purse, and she found herself drowning in her self-loathing, staring back at the dark eyes that had captured her heart so completely. Before she could succumb to the painful waterfall of emotions that threatened to overtake her she quickly grabbed her purse from him and turned away.
It wouldn’t do to come undone here for all to see. She wouldn’t give Lois Lane that satisfaction.
To her dismay Clark seemed unfazed by the cold shoulder reaction she gave him and stood up, placing his arm around Lois Lane as Mayson finished gathering her things. How quickly things had changed between them.
She had to get out of here.
She reached for the door and found her eardrums welcomed with a blaring alarm. She looked back to see the red and white lights above the emergency room, leading to the hospital rooms lit up. A voice shouted
“Code Blue! Room 503!”The blood drained from her face, and she went weak in her knees as she realized what was happening. The room began to spin, and she could hear Clark’s voice in a muffled tone calling her name, asking if she was all right. Her mind began to race as she processed what had happened.
Room 503. Officer Gomez’s room had a code blue. Chris Gomez had been awake and alert moments ago. How could there be a code blue on an assault? There was only one explanation. Foul play. She had failed him.
She looked around the room, increasingly suspicious of those around her. She then zeroed in on Lois Lane, wondering just what the duo had been doing here. The last thing she recalled was the image of Clark’s spectacles glinting in the fluorescent lights before her head hit the tile with a hard clunk.
TBC...
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