Story TOCChapter 7Clark awoke with slow reluctance, mightily resisting emerging from his dream. They were flying together, she and him, from China, and she was kissing his neck and nibbling his ear in a way that had him searching frantically for the nearest, most deserted Pacific island on which to land.
But it wasn’t exactly all a dream, he realized, as his eyes met the dawn rising from the round captain’s window. Lois was curled into him, her legs tangled in his, his arm wrapped tightly around her as her head lay on his chest, her lips pressed sleepily against his neck. Something was off, even more off than just them sleeping like this. He realized, to his horror, that they were floating—hovering—just a few inches over the bed. Oh god.
He grimaced inwardly; it really was time she knew the truth. He was grateful she had given him the opening last night; he would tell her on their real first date, a thought that made him both nauseous and elated at the same time. They were close, so close to becoming something more, it was tempting to wait. But he knew he could trust her, and she deserved to know everything.
He lowered them back down, ever so gently, and he could tell from her breathing that she was still in twilight sleep. He couldn’t resist pressing the lightest of kisses into her hair.
Please don’t be mad, he thought.
Please forgive me. I can’t do this without you. Her foot slid up and down his leg in response, sending his mind places that were definitely neither platonic or allowed in this bed in this moment. He backed off of her a bit, afraid of the impending effects from the touch and the fact that her breath was still tickling deliciously at his neck, and she stirred, pulling his arm back around her like a blanket.
“Stay,” she murmured sleepily, threading his fingers with hers. “So warm.”
Oh god, he was done for. The precipice of every living fantasy he had was right here, warm and in his arms, asking him to stay.
“Believe me, Lois, I’d love to, but I...”
You what? ‘I have to leave. You drive me absolutely insane under normal circumstances, and I am nowhere near monk-like enough to handle being tangled up with you like this?’ ‘I may be superhuman but really I’m a very weak, extremely aroused man who is dangerously close to ravishing you right here on this bed?’ Mercifully, his super hearing kicked in and he heard rustling on the tape in the living room.
He untangled his legs from hers, and slid his arm out from under her gently, giving her upper arm a small reassuring squeeze as he did so. “I need to go check on Bender. I think he’s up. There’s something going on over there.”
“Ugh,” she grumbled. “Of course.” She kicked off the covers and slid off the bed, padding to her suitcase for her clothes. Clark made his way to the living room as she shut the door behind him to dress.
“What do you see?” she called out.
“I can’t tell who it is yet, his back is turned. But someone is on the boat with a briefcase.”
She joined him at the window in time to catch the exchange. “Clark—that’s Judge Winkler!”
“Let’s go,” Clark said, adrenaline rushing into his veins, suddenly sensing Luthor was within their grasp. She scrambled to get her shoes on. “If we catch Bender off-guard, maybe he’ll tell us something about Luthor. I’m going to change. I’ll be fast.” Clark made his way back to the bedroom and shut the door.
What seemed like ten seconds later, Clark emerged.
Lois stared at him. “Wow, that really was fast.”
“Huh, yeah, you know...men,” he shrugged as he joined her in the doorway. He put his hand on the knob and paused, looking at her. “Lois, stay right with me, okay?”
She nodded in a silent, solemn promise, and he opened the door, ushering her through it and scanning the perimeter for danger.
“Hey, Bender!” Lois shouted as they approached the yacht.
Bender whirled around, his face registering fear and surprise, followed by total shock as a dart flew into his neck and he crumpled to the ground.
They scrambled onto the boat as Lois checked Bender’s pulse. With her attention on Bender, Clark quickly scanned the marina for whoever shot the dart. He spotted him, there, in the water, his flippers and scuba gear already propelling him clear to the other side of the marina. It was unmistakably...
“Nigel.”
“Nigel? How do you know?’
“Well...” he thought quickly. “He was a spy, Lois. Who else in Luthor’s inner circle would be clever enough to kill Bender with a dart like this?”
She looked at him through narrowed eyes, her wheels clearly turning. “I guess you could be right, but he got away. How do we prove it?”
“I’m not sure...but we need to get back to the Planet. He may have seen us, and I don’t like you being out here exposed like this. You could be his next target.”
She nodded again. “Let’s go,” she said. “We can call the cops from Kennebrew’s, but I don’t think we should stay there long.”
He felt a rush of gratitude that she wasn’t protesting his need to protect her anymore. He placed a hand on her back and guided her quickly back to the boat.
***
Clark set a mug of coffee down for Lois in the conference room. “So what we know so far is Bender bribed Judge Winkler,” Clark said to Perry.
“Which, we have on tape,” Lois interjected.
“And as soon as Winkler left, someone—we suspect Nigel—shot Bender in the neck with a poison dart.”
Perry’s eyebrows raised. “That’s a new one. That’s like something out of a Bond movie,” he mused.
“That’s why we think it’s Nigel. He’s a former MI6,” Clark said.
“Ah, that’s right, I forgot that,” Perry replied.
Jimmy stuck his head in. “Uh, guys, sorry to interrupt, but this just came in over the wire. Veronica Cox was just found dead in her prison cell.”
Clark’s eyes shot to Lois’. A steely dread gripped his chest.
“They’re dropping like flies, Lois,” he said quietly.
She nodded. Perry stood up. “Look, I want you two to wear your bulletproof vests from here on out. I’ve got to check on the afternoon edition but Lois, I want you to stay with Clark, you hear me? No arguments.”
“Absolutely, Chief.”
Perry looked at her, a little surprised by her quick compliance, and left them alone in the conference room. Clark exhaled, trying to calm his rattled nerves.
Lois looked at Clark thoughtfully. “Why would Bender want Vale broken out of prison? What’s in it for him?”
“Whatever it is, it’s big enough to cost Bender his life.”
Jimmy poked his head in again. “Hey, guys, that guy from the homeless shelter called...Ramin? He’s down there having breakfast right now. Said you’d want to talk to him. Something about Luthor?”
Lois looked at Clark. “We’ll go together?”
Clark shook his head. “No, it’s not important enough. We don’t need to meet with him right now. It could be a trap, Lois.”
“Either that, or it’s the lead we need to break this case wide open and catch Luthor,” she countered.
“I’ll go. It’s safer if you stay here. I’ll stop by your apartment too. Where is your vest?”
“It’s in the back of my hall closet. You still have a key?”
He nodded. She had given it to him a few months ago when she went to a Women in Journalism conference so that he could feed her fish. He’d tried to give it back, but she insisted he keep it; he was her partner, it made sense for him to have a key.
“Get your vest too, Clark,” she said.
“Okay,” he said, feeling a twinge of guilt as he pushed back his chair. “I’ll be back soon. And Lois? Please, stay HERE.”
“Clark. I’m not a dog,” Lois retorted sharply.
He softened, his voice growing quiet and intimate, pleading for her to listen. “Lois, I know that...I just. I’m worried about you,” he said.
He couldn’t tell her that he had this sixth sense sometimes when danger was near. Especially when it came to her. He couldn’t tell her how once he sensed she was in trouble in the middle of handling a mudslide in Chile, and rocketed back to Metropolis to check on her, only to find her being held at gunpoint by a member of Intergang. He couldn’t tell her how every time he heard her cry for help, his heart jumped into his throat in a panic as he shot into the sky, always convinced that this was it; this would be the time he was too late. She may have the advantage of frequent superhuman protection, but Lois was still very human. It only took once.
“Clark. Please don’t worry about me, I’m at the Planet. I’ll be fine.”
He looked at her, unconvinced. She rolled her eyes, “I won’t go anywhere, I promise,” she said, picking up a file from the stack Jimmy had brought them. “I’m going to do a little digging on Rollie Vale.”
He started to leave, then turned back around, wincing with confliction.
She stood up and stilled him with a hand to his chest, placing her other hand on his upper arm and rubbing his bicep with her thumb in a reassuring way that felt both newly intimate and thrillingly in-bounds since last night. He released a tense breath, and he reveled for just a moment in the reminder that her touch had the power to calm him.
“Clark,” she said softly into his gaze, taking a minute to let her eyes do the talking, just as his had done with hers the night before. “I promise. Now go.”
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