Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Lois & Clark Fanfic Reflections - Part 9

Sorry, a couple of days late on this post. Part 10 will be coming on Tuesday.

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Reflections

Part 9

Cruising at a comfortable Mach 35 in a wide ballistic trajectory, Clark held the food containers close to him, keeping them within his protective aura. He should be landing back at the Planet in a few minutes. Some good Chinese food would really hit the spot, since he had skipped eating for the last few days. He hoped Lois liked the food.

He scowled to himself at that thought. He just realized that this was the second time this evening he had flown a great distance to get something that would please Lois. 'I've got to stop doing this, I'm going to make her suspicious,' he thought to himself, but then shrugged it off, assigning his motivation to the 'Big Boy Scout' attitude his mother was always accusing him of.

He landed on the roof, changed back into his regular clothes, and made his way back to the newsroom, being careful to use the elevator. He carried the food containers to the conference room where he found Lois sitting, just staring off into space. She looked up as she heard him enter the room.

"How are you doing? Still hungry I hope."

"Famished. Let's see what you got Kent."

"Here you go." He set down the containers on the conference table, and opened the first one that was filled with pork and vegetable dim sum.

She picked up a steaming ball, and took a big bite. With her mouth full of dim sum she said, "Oh... this is out of this world. Where did you find this place?"

"It's a little family-owned place I know, maybe I'll take you there someday." As soon as he said it, he mentally smacked himself in the head with a large 2-by-4.

Lois leaned back in her chair, in taste bud heaven, and began to pop dim sum in her mouth as fast as etiquette allowed. Clark sat down in the chair near her, and popped a dim sum into his mouth. He saw the paper sitting on the table and pointed to it. "That's the morning edition?"

"Yep... and I got front page again. Read it and weep, rookie." Clark smirked at her comment and picked up the paper to see her article.

As he read the headline, he shouted in surprise, "Superman! Who named m... this guy Superman?"

She shrugged and replied, "I did. I figured that the 'S' stands for something, so I used it. He wasn’t volunteering anything, so I had to think of something. What, you don't think it's a good name?"

"Well it's just that... I mean... it's on the front page of the Daily Planet."

"Yes...?" she asked, clearly amused.

"The Daily Planet is a respected paper."

"That goes without saying, since I work here. And...?"

Clark held the paper with one hand, and the pointed to the article with the other. "Now everybody will be using that name.”

"I know, kind of catchy. Sort of like one of the guys in the comic books." She deepened her voice and then said, "This is a job for Superman." She punctuated her statement by pointing the ceiling.

Clark dropped the paper on the table, unsure how to feel about his new 'nom de plume'. "Superman...," he muttered softly to himself.

"Why do you care?"

"What? Oh, I... I don't really. I just wondered what he'll think about it. The name's a little egotistical, don't you think?"

"You are acting so weird. Do you know this guy or something?"

"Huh? No! I just... never mind, let's eat." He picked up another piece of dim sum and popped it into his mouth.

Lois looked at him with a confused expression, then shrugged it off, and took a swig of her cream soda. Smiling evilly, she said to Clark softly, "By the way, I know your secret."

Clark chocked on the food in his mouth momentarily. "What?"

"Did you think you could hide that from me?"

"I... I... I..." Clark was now panicked. How could she have found out so quickly?

"Oh, you don't have to be modest, it was great. You really drew me in to the story."

"Huh?"

"Reading your article made me want to run out to the theater and throw my body in front of the wrecking ball." She looked at Clark, concern on her face. "Are you OK, Clark? You seem a little out of it."

Clark, realizing that that she was talking about his piece on the Bernhardt, recovered from his panic attack. "I sorry, I'm fine. I think I didn't get enough sleep last night. So you really liked the article?"

"It was great. I was never any good at that touchy-feely kind of writing."

Clark, now relaxed, was able to respond normally to her. "I don't know, I think you could if you put your mind to it."

"Maybe. But of course, now I have you." Then after a beat, "To write that kind of stuff for me."

"Sure, anytime."

They both relaxed, and started to eat their dinner in earnest.

Thirty minutes later, they were both finishing the last of the containers, sated with the delicious meal. Clark had long ago taken off his jacket and tie, and had his sleeves pulled up. Lois had also removed her jacket and had her feet propped up on the table. She saw an item at the bottom of one of the containers, wrapped in paper. She removed it and found a fortune cookie inside. Seeing that it was the only one, she broke it open and pulled out the fortune.

"Hey, this is in Chinese!"

Clark reached over and took the small slip of paper from her. "Here, let me."

"Oh, don't tell me that you can read --"

"Beware of dark haired strangers."

"It says that? You're kidding?"

"Yes, I am." He chuckled as she threw half of the cookie at him. "It really says, 'A good horse is like a member of the family.' ”

"What does that mean? I hate that; it's not a fortune. Besides I don't even have a horse, so it's useless to me."

"I don't write them, I just deliver them. And in your case, read them.” She laughed as she watched him shrug and throw the paper on the table.

"You are a strange one Mr. Kent. Are you really from Kansas?"

"Spent my whole life there, until I left for college."

"Don’t tell me... you were raised on a farm. It had to be a farm, with a name like Smallville."

"Yes, I'm afraid guilty as charged. I even know how to milk a cow and slop a pig."

"And read Chinese, apparently.

"Well, I spent some time in China, and had to pick up enough of the language to get by."

"Really, where else have you been?"

"Hmmm... let me see. England, France, parts of Africa, Borneo, Jamaica, Australia, and Tibet."

"How old are you?"

"Twenty-eight. I've been traveling the world, working freelance for the last six years."

"So what makes a Kansas farmer want to explore the world?"

Clark was amused at her curiosity. "What is this, an interview?"

"No, I'm just interested. We *are* working together."

"So does that mean we're going to swap life stories?"

"I don't know about the swapping part. I'll have to decide if your life story is interesting enough to swap for mine," she said with an evil grin.

"That doesn’t sound fair, so I'll have to think about it."

Playfully she replied, "Ha! You forget who has the seniority Kent. I'm in charge here, so I get to make the rules. You are low man, and I'm top banana."

Lois stared at him in mock defiance, daring him to challenge her. Clark just grinned at her, and said, "I'll try to remember that in the future."

They just sat there staring at each other in the darkened newsroom, until slowly Lois's expression began to soften, and Clark's grin began to disappear. Their eyes seemed to be locked together, both of them unwilling to move.

Clark shook his head, as if trying to clear the cobwebs that had seemed to form in his head. "Wow, look at the time, it's after midnight. We’d better pack up, and start fresh on this in the morning."

That seemed to break Lois out of her spell, and replied with a soft whisper, "Yeah, I guess so." After a few seconds, she became more focused and said, "Thanks for the dinner, Clark, it was fantastic. And for your help... I would have never gotten this by myself." Then, suddenly remembering something, she grabbed the paper, and turned to the city beat section. She scanned the paper, and found what she was looking for. She put down the paper and pointed to an article on page four.

'NASA Scientist Murdered in His Home'

'by Lois Lane and Clark Kent'

"See? Our first co-byline."

"Hmmm.... I see that your name is first, Miss 'Top Banana'."

"Yeah, and don't you forget it, Smallville." She emphasized her statement by jabbing her finger into his chest a few times.

Lois's comment caused the memory of Lena to resurface, freezing him to his spot. He could hear Lena's voice ringing in his head...

'Come on Kansas...'

'Don’t worry about it Kansas...'

'Really, Kansas, you’re going to have to learn...'

The memories tore at him, opening the scarred wounds in his heart. He couldn't even get himself to respond to what Lois had said to him. He just stared at the newspaper laid out on the table before him, unable to move.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

She was beginning to get scared. Clark had suddenly frozen up, not saying anything, and just staring down at the newspaper. Was it something in the paper? Was it something she said?

"Clark? Are you all right? What's the matter?'

She saw him turn his head slowly towards her. In a labored whisper he asked, "What did you call me?"

Confused, Lois reviewed what she had just said. After a moment's thought she replied, "I called you ‘Smallville’. I'm sorry, did that bother you? I was just teasing, that's all. Did I say something bad?"

She was now more worried, because Clark was just staring at her blankly. She could tell that something was eating him, but what, she couldn't begin to guess. He looked down for a minute, appearing to mull something over in his mind, and then he looked back up to her.

"No, you didn't say anything bad. I just used to have a... um, friend, that would call me something like that."

Working on a gut feeling, she asked him, "So this friend of yours, *she* used to call you Smallville?"

He sighed loudly. "No, she called me 'Kansas'. She thought that is was a big joke that I was from there."

His expression was still unreadable to Lois, but somehow she knew that this woman had caused Clark some pain in the past. And she didn't want to cause him any grief over something as silly as a nickname.

"I'm sorry, Clark, I didn't want to upset you. I... no, never mind. Listen Clark, I don't want to pry, but if you ever need to talk to someone... well I'm here. And if you want, I promise no judgments, and no advice, just listening. And I promise I won't call you 'Smallville' any more."

She saw Clark smile a little at her, which was a good sign. "That's OK, Lois, I'm not that fragile. You can call me anything you want, you just caught me by surprise, that's all." Then after a beat, "At least you didn't call me 'Kansas'."

Lois returned his smile. "Yeah, good thing. OK Clark, let's get out of here. You can walk me to my Jeep." She started to collect her purse, and stopped to ask, "Hey, do you need a ride home?"

Clark looked like he was thinking about it for a moment before replying, "No, I think I'll walk. It's not that far, and I could use the fresh air."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, but thanks anyway, maybe next time."

"Sure." Slinging her purse strap she declared, "OK, I'm ready."

"Then let’s go... Ms. 'Top Banana'.

"Right behind you... Smallville."

That elicited a grin from Clark, which made Lois feel a little better. They rode down the elevator in comfortable silence. She could see that something was on his mind, but she didn't ask. When they arrived at the basement level, Clark followed her out as she walked to where she had parked her car. When they reached her Jeep, she pulled out her keys and unlocked the doors.

"Lois, I was wondering if you'd like me to see you home. I was thinking that it might be safer if I saw you to your door... you know, just in case."

Lois didn't know if she should be amused, annoyed, or grateful at his request. "Just in case what?" Then using a pseudo child voice said, "Are you worried the little female reporter can't take care of herself?"

"No! I'm just thinking that someone might make a connection of Platt seeing you at the Planet, and whoever this is, means business. You may be a target now, and you could easily..."

He stopped suddenly, and looked away from her. She touched his shoulder, and moved around him to look him in the face. He had a grim expression, his jaw clenched tight. Once again, Lois wondered what could have triggered such a reaction from him. There was something about their current situation that was triggering memories of his past... a past where something bad had happened.

"Clark, I'll be fine, really. I'm at my car, and I'm going straight home. Promise. Why don't you tell me where you're staying, and I'll come by and pick you up on the way to work. How's that?"

Clark's face relaxed slightly as he responded, "I'm at the Apollo on Maple Street." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small notebook and a pencil. He scribbled something quickly, and handed the note to her. "This is my phone number in my room. Give me a call when you're safely at home, OK?"

She gave him an amused smile, and took the note from him. "Sure. Now go home, and I'll see you at eight tomorrow morning."

"Eight o'clock then." He paused like he was going to say something else, then merely said, "Goodnight, Lois."

"Goodnight, Clark."

He turned and walked toward the exit, his figure disappearing in the dim recesses of the parking garage. She continued to stare into the darkness where he had disappeared, still thinking about him. He was a strange collection of contradictions. She sighed, and turned to put the key in her lock.

Just as she turned the key, and hand from behind clamped over her mouth, and she could feel the cold steel of a knife at her throat. A raspy voice whispered in her ear, "One sound and I cut you. You understand?" Lois nodded.

"Now all you have to do to walk away from this is to answer me truthfully. You got it?" Lois nodded again.

"Good, now did Platt give you anything? Notes, books, anything?" Lois shook her head. Maybe if he thought she didn't have anything, he would leave her alone.

Lois heard a second voice speak from the shadows. The voice sounded cultured, with a slight English accent. "Did she tell you anything?"

The man with the knife answered. "Naw, she said she ain't got it."

The man in the shadows was silent for a moment, then said, "Dispose of her, then search her office. I'll meet you at the designated spot."

"Sure, no problem," he replied. Lois could hear footsteps walking away into the distance. The man with the knife spun her around, but kept his hand on her throat. "Such a waste of material," he leered at her. He drew his knife back, aiming for her heart. Just before the knife came forward, she executed a perfect front snap kick, hitting him in a place that would hamper his ability with women for some time to come. He dropped the knife, and doubled over. Lois immediately made a run for it, heading for the parking lot exit. She was half way there when she tripped on a piece of debris, and feel to her knees.

She got up quickly, and started toward the exit again, when she was tackled by her assailant from behind. He landed on her heavily, knocking all of the wind out of her. He flipped her over, and wrapped both of his hands around her neck, cutting off all of her air. She struggled, but in this position had no leverage over the much bigger man. She slowly started to lose consciousness, as he continued to choke the life out of her.

-- End Part 9 --