Previously, on Part 12:He created his Superman persona to make his life easier, but in the last few days, that really had complicated it!
"Done! We can go," said Andrea tiredly.
Her voice broke into his musing. He looked at her.
"Okay. Let's go," responded Superman.
At that moment, Henderson entered the hospital room with another young blond haired woman.
"Andrea. Superman. I'd like you to meet Mayson Drake, assistant DA. She's the one in charge of the investigation on Intergang," said Henderson.
They all shook hands.
"We just came to let you know what we found so far," explained the assistant DA. "We thought you'd want to know. There was an office in the basement with a lot of papers and computer's files about many of the Intergang criminal activities. We have more details and more names that we'd ever believed possible. The operation was a complete success. We'd need time to sort always out, but it seems obvious at this early stage that Intergang was lead by the Church family. We put them under arrest, and the police came just in time to prevent them to execute a man, Ricky Ramirez. He has a long record, but he agreed to testify against Intergang. We can nail them!"
"Great!" exclaimed Andrea as enthusiastically as she could manage in her state of tiredness.
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And now, part 13:PART 13: THE EXCLUSIVE
Clark stopped in front of Lois' door and inhaled deeply. It was well after midnight. Lois would kill him for having disappeared for so long without even having told her anything.
Sooner, he envisaged to tell her the truth about the marriage and his alter ego. But it was very late and he would have preferred to wait tomorrow to confess. That wasn't an option anymore. She'd reclaim an explanation, and he didn't have any other one to give her. So, it was time to tell her the truth.
He knocked on the door, but he didn't have any response. He used the keys Lois gave him a few days ago to let himself inside. The apartment was dark. She wasn't there. He put the light on, and saw a sheet of paper with his name on it put in obvious sight on the table.
He read. That was a letter from Lois. She told him that Perry called her and asked her to go at the police station to cover the kidnapping of Superman's wife. He put down the letter, worried. That was hours ago, and she apparently hadn't come back since then. He was afraid something happened to her while he was busy with saving Andrea and arresting Intergang.
He heard the lock of the door and turned to see Lois enter the room. Unharmed, to his relief.
"Oh. Clark! I know it's late. I'm sorry. I wanted to come home sooner, but..." She stopped her babbling in mid sentence. "Oh God! So much happened you'll never believe me."
She sat on her sofa tiredly. Clark followed her. He was surprised by his sudden luck after such a difficult week. Lois hadn't seemed to notice that he just came back too, and therefore she didn't even think about asking him what took him so long. Well, he could do with a little luck for a change. He'll tell her everything next day.
When he was seated next to her on her sofa, she went on.
"Clark, you'll never guess what happened! Superman's marriage was a fake!" announced Lois quickly.
"How do you know it?" Clark couldn't help himself to ask, surprised that she already knew.
"Henderson talked at the reporters who were at the hospital half an hour ago. He said that it was all an act to trap Intergang, and apparently, it worked."
Clark could hear suppressed anger in Lois' voice. Well, he wasn't becoming lucky. Obviously, Lois took Superman's deceit badly. She'll kill him when he'd tell her he was Superman. He was so dead!
"But you don’t seem very surprised by the news, Clark. Did you know it already?" asked suspiciously Lois. That brought him back to reality immediately.
"Err... I... err... I talked to Superman earlier, when he was waiting for... agent Flynn, while she was examined. He told me. And... They'll give us an exclusive interview," responded Clark, hoping that the last bit will divert Lois from his flimsy excuse. He wasn't proud of himself. One more lie to add to the list. But the time definitely wasn't right to confess.
"Great," said Lois with a total lack of enthusiasm. She obviously didn't want to talk to Superman, even for an interview. He was in trouble.
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The next day, Lois was seated on the conference room, face to Superman and the police woman he pretended to be married with, for an exclusive interview. In a normal time, she would have been ecstatic. She loved to have exclusives, especially the ones about Superman. But not this time.
She was angry, really unhappy about having to interview Superman. But she didn't have a choice. Clark disappeared from the newsroom a little while ago. He hadn't even bothered to explain to her why when she asked him. He just looked ill at ease and promised to tell her later, in private. That was making her angry. She wanted to know where he went, and he hadn't told her. So now, she had to interview Superman and Andrea Flynn all by herself when she would have much rather let Clark take care of it. She wasn't particularly joyful to speak with Superman.
So she was angry against Clark, and against Superman, too. He could have said something to her sooner. He *should* have said something to her sooner. She thought that they were becoming closer in the last few weeks. She thought that she was special to him. But now, it was more that obvious that she didn't matter that much to him, and that he never had trusted her one little bit. And that hurt. He hadn't even cared about her feelings. He let her think he was married. Nevertheless, he should have known that it would hurt her badly to think he married someone else, but he didn't care enough to tell her, to soothe the pain he caused her.
Superman wasn't the good guy she thought he was all these months. He was a rat. A liar. A real bastard! He let her suffer in vain, without saying anything. She even cried in the streets, in front of a lot of her colleagues from all the papers she could think of. How could he do that to her?
But she was a professional. That interview was a big exclusive for the Planet. A front page story that'll stay in the memory. She couldn't let it pass. Perry would kill her. That was too big to refuse to write the story. And since Clark hadn't come back in time, she had to do it. She did her best to hide her anger, her hurt, and to act as a real professional while interviewing them.
They already answered most of her questions so she'd be able soon to end the interview. They told her that they learned that Intergang was trying to find a way to force Superman to work for them, so they pretended to be married, making it clear in the eyes of the world that he could do anything for Andrea. That way, they diverted Intergang to attack poor innocents to blackmail him.
That was a logical and caring explanation but somehow Lois was sure there was more than that going on behind the scenes. She didn't think Superman would agree that easily to deceive the world just because of a vague threat against the people of Metropolis. They probably had something more concrete to make him collaborate with them. Something big, her instincts were telling her. But she wasn't in the mood of digging deeper. She wanted to end the interview as soon as possible. And she already had enough information to write the official story.
Just at the moment, Superman made his excuse to leave. He heard an emergency where they needed him.
"No problem, Superman. I'll finish responding to Miss Lane questions on my own," responded Andrea smiling.
He flew away, letting Lois and Andrea alone in the room.
"Well, I'm done anyway," said Lois to the young woman, still pretty despite the ugly dark mark on her cheek. Ending the interview, Lois stood from her seat and began to show the door at Andrea, when this last one stopped her.
"You're really furious against him, huh?" asked Andrea softly.
"Sorry?" responded Lois, astonished. Was that woman really sneaking into her personal life?
"You shouldn't be mad at him."
Lois felt her anger rise higher. Andrea didn't know her. She didn't know anything about her and Superman relationship. How could she tell her what to do and not to do?
"Look. How I feel is none of your business, so I'd appreciate it if you..." began Lois curtly.
"He wanted to tell you," interrupted Andrea. That got Lois' attention. "We forced him to stay silent," continued Andrea. "He wanted to tell you. Badly. He couldn't bear to think of you upset. That really was tearing him apart. That made him really crazy, but we hadn't let him the choice."
Her anger at Superman was slowly dropping but she still felt badly hurt.
"No one can force Superman to do what he doesn’t want to. If he really wanted to tell me the truth sooner, you couldn't have prevented him," responded Lois with bitterness.
"You're almost right. There is only one way to force Superman to do what one wants him to. Putting *you* in danger," stated softly Andrea.
"Sorry?" Lois wasn't sure she heard it right.
"Intergang wanted to abduct *you* to blackmail him. They weren't about to hurt some unknown people to make Superman comply with their wills. They were about to hurt you. That's the only reason why Superman agreed to get along with our plan. And that's why he stayed silent. That was your safety that was at stake. Everything he did, he did it for you."
Lois was dumbstruck. She wasn't expecting that.
"He loves you, you know," resumed Andrea after a short silence.
Lois smiled sadly.
"You know, a few days ago, I would have been ecstatic to hear that. But... I have someone else in my life, now. He’s a great guy, and I’m really in love with him. It's too late for Superman," said Lois.
Andrea looked a little disappointed.
"That's too bad. You know, I saw you with Superman pretty often in the past year. And you both looked very much in love with each other. I would have been glad to know you're finally together."
"Well, it won't happen," responded Lois. "I already found my Prince Charming."
"So I hope you'll be happy with him. And I hope anyway you're not furious anymore against Superman for lying to you. That hurt him badly, too."
To her surprise, Lois realised that she didn't have a grudge against him anymore. The hurt hadn't completely disappeared - of course not - but Andrea's words did have a soothing effect on her bruised feelings. She thanked her with a smile.
Lois was now more comfortable with the whole situation, and wasn't as eager as before to end the interview. That was a very big scoop. She couldn't botch it up.
"Err... I just realised there is still aspects of the story I didn't cover yet in the interview. Do you mind if I ask you a few more questions, all things considered?" asked Lois, changing the subject.
"I don't mind. Go ahead."
Lois took advantage of having only Andrea in the room to ask her about the aspects of the situation that touched her personally. That could be an interesting thing to write the story from her point of view instead of writing about Superman, as always.
She asked questions about how it affected her daily life and her professional life to be perceived by everyone as Superman's wife. She asked about the attack of her police car, and her abduction. The ugly mark on her face was a sad reminder of what happened to her the previous night. Luckily, she was unscathed except for a few bruises.
Their conversation lasted a long time and slipped little by little into personal matters. Lois was surprised to realise that she actually liked her. She was a nice person, with a strong sense of humour. But she also was very lonely because she chooses her job as her top priority in life. They had a lot in common. Lois began to think of her as a potential friend. It was weird to remember that a few days ago, she completely hated her.
It took Clark almost an hour to come back after his rescue. He came back as himself, not Superman, and was surprised to see that Lois and Andrea were still talking in the conference room. He stopped to look at them a few seconds.
Lois seemed to sense him. She turned her head and looked in his direction. She saw him and smiled wildly. She was happy to see him.
Clark felt his heart melt when she smiled to him. That was the smile of a woman in love, and that smile was directed to him. He still wasn’t used at the idea that she loved him. That was too great to be true. He pushed quickly away of his mind the thought that he still had to tell her about his secret.
Clark saw Lois tell something to Andrea, and then both women went out of the conference room. Obviously, Lois ended the interview as soon as she saw him. They came his way, and Lois made the introductions.
"Andrea, met Clark Kent, my partner. Clark, this is Andrea Flynn, the police officer who pretended to be married to Superman."
"Hi. Nice to meet you."
"Yes. Me too. Well... I need to go. Bye, Lois. Mr Kent," said Andrea before heading for the elevators.
Clark was astonished. One hour ago, when he let them alone, Lois was almost hostile, and they were saying "Agent Flynn" and "Miss Lane" when addressing each other. And now, that was "Andrea" and "Lois", and they looked like old friends. He would have never believed it if he hadn't see it with his own eyes.
"So, Clark. Where have you been?" asked Lois as soon as Andrea left them.
"I... err... My neighbour. He is... on vacation. I promised him to spray his plants," responded Clark stammering.
<Lame, Clark! Think again!> admonished he himself. But nothing better came to his mind when Lois asked him the question.
"You were spraying your neighbour plants?" repeated Lois unbelieving. "You were gone almost two hours, Clark!"
"I... It's because of his cat. I... I have to feed him, too. And... He escaped. I had a hard time to find him," explained Clark even more lamely.
Lois chuckled.
"You know, Clark. Sometimes you really give the impression you lead a double life you want to keep secret," stated Lois.
Near the elevators, Andrea starred at Clark, unbelieving. He and Lois had now moved near their desks, and she couldn't hear more of the conversation. It didn't matter anyway; the conversation had apparently moved on professional topics since Lois was now showing him her notes.
But that was the part of the conversation she heard while she was going away that had her so astonished.
The way Clark Kent was stammering when explaining to Lois what he was doing... There was simply no way! She heard that babbling voice a lot theses last few days, but she just met Clark Kent for the first time.
She starred attentively. The way he looked at Lois, lovingly. She saw that same look on Superman's face while looking at Lois, too...
His face... Also a lot alike.
The day Superman let slip he had parents and panicked right away at the idea that she could repeat it to someone, she figured that he probably was just a normal guy with a normal life somewhere. But meet him in a suit and tie... and glasses... that wasn't the same as imagining it. But how much chance was there to meet two good looking, insecure, babbling man look alike? And both in love with Lois Lane? That had to be him.
Andrea chuckled. She had been sad for Superman when Lois told her she moved on and fell in love with another guy. When she saw Lois looking and smiling to her partner, she didn't doubt for one second that he was that other guy. And finally... Lois was Superman's girlfriend. But she didn't seem to be aware of it.
She entered the elevators smiling. She'd never tell his secret to anyone. Superman, or Clark Kent, whoever he was, was a good guy. He deserved some privacy.
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At the end of the day, Lois and Clark were in their way for Clark's apartment. They wanted to spend a nice evening together to make up for the separation of the previous night.
They entered the elevators, and as soon as the doors closed, Lois took his hand and approached to kiss him. She still wasn't comfortable with showing their new relationship in front of people, especially co-workers. She talked about it with him the first morning after revealing her feelings to him, and luckily for her, he was a very understanding and patient man.
A little ringing signalled them that the elevators reached their floor, and they broke the kiss.
As they exited the building and entered a cab, Lois remembered the little time she spent with Clark since the change of their relationship. That first night, when they kissed for hours, the previous day, when he asked her to go home early...
"Clark, what did you want to tell me?" asked abruptly Lois, just remembering that he suggested going home early to talk.
"What are you talking about, Lois?" responded Clark, without a clue.
"Yesterday. You said you had something important to tell me."
Clark stayed silent, dumbstruck. That was it. He had to tell her tonight. Not now, they were in a cab, but as soon as they'd be in his apartment.
<But I'm not ready! I didn't even have time to think about the good way to tell her! Oh God! How do I do that?> panicked he.
He stayed silent a little too long, so Lois decided to push the issue.
"Clark, you said that you wanted to talk about a very serious subject," she prompted him.
"Yeah. Actually, I really need to tell you something, Lois," responded Clark, his voice coming back as the panic receded. "But... We'll talk in private," added he with a discreet look to the cab driver.
"Oh. Okay."
Lois was a little puzzled. Whet did he want to talk about, in private? He was nervous since she asked him what he had to say, as he was nervous when he first broke the subject. That was startling. She became eager to hear it, whatever it was.
He already told her that he wasn't about to dump her. Except if he changed his mind, amended mentally Lois.
<No! He hadn't changed his mind!> Lois hit herself. <Okay, what else did he say?>
He said that it was a serious subject, but not a bad one. He said that he even hoped that she'd see it as a good thing. But that was making him terribly nervous. He even admitted it. What could that be?
<Oh God. No! Surely he isn't about to... propose, is he? Oh God! It's too soon! But how could I refuse him without hurt him? Everything could be over if I do that! Oh God!>
By the time the cab reached Clark's apartment, Lois was as nervous as Clark. They sat in the sofas, and Clark began to speak, very quickly.
"I love you. I never wanted to hurt you. I would never have done what I did if I had a choice, I swear to you. I didn't want to. Please, forgive me," begged Clark, almost forgetting that she still didn't know the truth.
"Clark, you're scaring me," responded Lois. "You said I could think of it as a good thing, but by the sound of it, you did something terribly wrong! What did you do, Clark?" asked she, dreading to hear his response.
He took a deep breath, and said it.
"Lois. I'm Superman."
She starred at him without any reaction. He took off the glasses, and started to open his shirt, but before he could show her his emblem, she stood up quickly and ran to the door.
"Lois!"
Putting back his glasses on his face, he followed her.
"Lois, please! Forgive me! Lois!" begged Clark.
As she keeps running without looking back, he stopped. He knew she'd be even more furious if he tried to catch up with her. She needed time to calm down and digest the shock before they could talk about it.
Sighing in frustration, he went back inside his apartment, letting her run away from him.
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When Lois entered her apartment, she was crying, hard. That jerk! How could he? He really was the worst man she ever known!
Not only had he lied to her, he played her for a fool!
Drying her tears, she went to the kitchen and took a jar of ice cream from her freezer, and then sat on her sofas eating it. Soon, she started to cry again, by rage. He laughed at her for more than a year! She never felt so humiliated in her entire life. Was it possible to humiliate someone more than he did to her? To make someone suffer more? Did he take pleasure to see her suffer? How she hated him!
She began to cry harder and harder, eating her ice cream, dwelling on everything that happened since she met him the previous year, and even more, everything that happened in the previous week.
After a few hours, she calmed down a little and began to think about it a little more rationally. She remembered what Andrea said to her sooner:
"Everything he did, he did it for you." Was that true?
She thought again about what happened in the last week. Perry announced her Superman's marriage, and then, while the entire newsroom was looking at her hoping to see her fall apart, Clark was by her side, supporting her.
He let her go alone at the Press Conference. Of course. But then, he played the perfect husband in front of her! She felt a new surge of rage at the memory. Nevertheless, Andrea told her that he loved her. Maybe she was so engrossed in her pain that she missed some hints that he wasn't that happy to play house with Andrea?
But then, just after the Press Conference, when she was falling apart, he was there to support her. He comforted her while she cried on his shoulders. He did that a lot in the following days. She couldn't deny that he was there for her when she needed him.
She felt her anger melt a little remembering how Clark took good care of her. For days, he was always supporting her. He really cared about her.
"Everything he did, he did it for you." Well, considering the way Clark acted with her, that probably was true. She was less and less angry against him.
He really spent all his time with her. She fell in love with him, with the guy who always put all her needs before his. Could that really be the same guy who lied to her and made her cry like no one before him did?
"That hurt him badly, too." Lois heard again Andrea's voice. She had to admit that he looked very depressed every time she was crying because of his deceit. He could have told her, then, she thought with a new surge of pain. He hadn't, but she couldn't deny that, whatever his reasons were to keep the pretence with her, that was making him unhappy too.
He had been such a great guy during these last few days. She fell in love with this guy. Too bad he was also this liar...
<He told you the truth> contradicted her consciousness.
"He loves you, you know." Lois heard Andrea's voice a new time. And she couldn't deny it either. Clark told her time and time again since they revealed their feelings for each other. But that wasn't what convinced her of his sincerity. She knew it was true because of the way the cared for her and stayed with her when she needed him. Because of the emotions she could read in his eyes when she confessed her true feelings to him.
"I love you. I never wanted to hurt you. I would never have done what I did if I had a choice, I swear to you. I didn't want to. Please, forgive me.This time, that was Clark's voice that echoed through her mind. And she knew. He was in love with her, and she was in love with him. So, why was she alone in her apartment? He was a great guy, even if he wasn't perfect. But she needed him in her life. She knew she needed him. And the fact that he was Superman was just an extra bonus.
Resolute, she left her seat and went out, directly to Clark's apartment.
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She knocked and waited anxiously a few moments before the door opened. She immediately noticed his reddened eyes. It looked as if he cried too since she left him a few hours before. Her heart melts at that obvious proof of his feeling for her. He seemed surprised to see her.
"Lois?"
"It hurts, Clark. What you did to me, it was very wrong," she launched immediately.
"I know. I'm so... so sorry, Lois. If I could, I'd erase all the pain..." responded Clark in a begging tone. He wanted so badly for her to forgive him.
"I know, and... I understand," told Lois softly. "That doesn't mean I'm not angry with you anymore," added she more curtly. "But... I guess that... What I'm trying to say is that... I'm still in love with you anyway."
He looked at her with a new hope in his heart.
"I love you too, Lois," declared Clark solemnly.
"I can forgive you, Clark."
Happy, he kissed her, but she pulled away quickly.
"This time," she added in a menacing tone.
"There wouldn't be another time, Lois. I swear. I'll never break your heart again, I'll never lie to you again," promised he. "I've been so scared I had lost you. I just want us to live happy."
That was the promise she wanted to hear. She kissed him back, accepting the future he was offering her.
THE END.It's over! I hope you enjoyed reading my story as mauch as I enjoyed writing it.
I'd like to thanks every person who posted feedbacks, because when I started to post, I was almost done with the story for months, but I wasn't able to find the strenght to finish it. Thanks to your comments, I wrote the 3 1/2 last parts that were remaining in less than a month.
I'd like to thanks too Kristal, who beta-read for me for a few parts. I lost contact with her. I don't know what happened to her, but I wish she's okay. And I wanted her to know that I am very grateful for her help.
And thank you to all my other readers, just because I'm glad I have readers
