Where we left off in Part 3

Clark took hold of Linda’s hand and pulled her closer, setting his other hand on her waist. His fingers dipped into the large pocket of her jacket and extracted a manila envelope. Gazing over the top of his glasses, he glanced through the outer wrapping to confirm the contents: a photo of Lois dressed only in a negligee. Holding up the sealed envelope, he shook his head. “Linda,” he scolded. “How could you?”

“How could I? That witch ruined my life! First, she told the Ethics Board at Metropolis U that I stole her story, which put a black mark on my career before it even started. I’ve had to work twice as hard as she has to make it in this business because I wasn’t Perry White’s little darling,” Linda snapped with a sneer. “The same Perry White whose job she stole, I might add. That’s gratitude for you. That job at the Star was my ticket to fame! Carpenter loved me; he gave me all his choicest stories. They may have been illegally gotten stories, but they still put me on the front page. Lois accuses me of sleeping my way to the top and then what does she do?” She flicked her hand over to Lois’s apartment building. “She gets engaged to her new publisher and skyrockets up to the editor’s position in the same week. Come on, Clark. We both know Lois didn’t get that job because of her grammatical skills.”

“Lois has worked hard for her accomplishments.”

Linda groaned. “Oh, please! She was on the front page her first year out of Met. U. I bet she’s never even seen the inside of the Wedding Registry’s office or had her byline on the Obits page.”

“And blackmailing her evens the scales?” he replied.

She shrugged. “It’s not as if it were her money. It’s a drop in the bucket to Luthor.” Linda looked Clark up and down. “How’d you find out anyway? Taking up stealing her mail?” She grinned. “So, is that why you’re here? Got a taste of her naughty side and now hoping you might get a glimpse of some more?” Her grin reminded him the Cheshire Cat’s. “Wait until you see today’s shot!”

“No!” Clark returned. “I’m here to catch you.”

“Me?” She tilted her head and stared at him. “Luthor hired you to bodyguard Lois? You? Isn’t that like hiring the fox to guard the hen house?”

“What?” He shook his head, completely perplexed by her analogy. “No! I don’t work for Luthor.”

“Really? Then who signs your paycheck at the Daily Planet?”

Clark’s spine stiffened. He hated being reminded of that fact.

“See?”

“Linda, Lois asked me to find her blackmailer.”

You?” she gasped. “Oh, no. Luthor’s not going to like that.”

“If you’re lucky, Luthor will never find out about your little money-making scheme, Linda. Why don’t you just hand over the negatives and we don’t have to involve him at all?” he asked, pocketing the newest manila envelope and holding out his hand to her.

“I can’t. I don’t have ‘em.”

“Fine. We’ll go to your hotel room or wherever you have them squirreled away, and then you can give them to me.”

“No, you don’t understand, Clark. I can’t give them to you. It’s not that I don’t have them on me. I don’t have them at all. I’ve already sold them.”

Clark’s jaw dropped. This was his biggest fear. Lois was going to be devastated. “Spencer Spencer?” he asked.

“No,” Linda replied with a sly smile. “Lex Luthor.”


Part 4

The sound of an aluminum can hitting the sidewalk made Clark realize that they weren’t alone. At the far end of the park, some twenty feet away, some kid was digging through the garbage searching for soda cans.

“I don’t understand. What?” Clark said, drawing his attention back to Linda. “What do you mean ‘Lex Luthor’?”

“I sold the negatives to Lex Luthor.”

Clark stared at her before hissing, “Then why are you blackmailing Lois? She doesn’t have that kind of money.”

“Actually, it was his idea,” Linda said.

He blinked his eyes. Either it was too early in the morning for even his brain to comprehend this or Linda King was insane. It didn’t make sense. “W…? Why?” he sputtered.

“Who knows? I think he was curious what her reaction would be.”

O-kay. Clark could kind-of see that. Logically, he couldn’t make sense of torturing the woman he was going to marry, but they were discussing Lex Luthor… reason need not apply.

“I mean,” Linda went on when Clark still didn’t speak. “I’m betting Luthor wanted Lois vulnerable and to come to him in her hour of need.” She rolled her eyes. “Sounds like the kind of patronizing stuff guys pull all the time on their girlfriends, just to feel needed... You know, the big hero.”

“That’s sick!”

She shrugged.

Something clicked in Clark’s brain, but before he could speak, a can flew through the air and clocked Linda in the back of the head, causing Clark to jump to his feet.

The young man was pointing at Linda and screaming, “That’s a lie, and you know it!”

Linda whirled around to face her accuser as she rubbed the back of her head. “Lois?”

Clark’s eyes widened. No. It couldn’t be. Instantly, he turned his gaze towards Lois’s top floor… and empty… apartment. Jimmy had always said that Lois was a master of disguises but he’d never thought she could pull it over on him. Anyway, when had she snuck out?

“Lex isn’t behind this,” Lois growled.

Linda took in Lois’s getup. “Nice look.”

Lois whipped off the sandy colored wig and baseball cap. “Stop changing the subject.”

“God’s honest truth, Lois,” Linda said, holding up her hand as if swearing an oath. “I sold him the negatives about a month ago for five figures. He called me up last week and asked me to do it again, only to bump up the asking price. He said that he’d give me a portion of the ransom.”

“Lex isn’t behind this!” Lois shouted. She was adamant and sounded as if she was convinced.

So much for her doubts about her fiancé, Clark thought. Then again, that had always been a pipe dream.

“I’m sorry, Lois, truly I…”

“Oh, shove it!” Lois retorted. “We both know you’re not.”

Linda paused for a second to consider that. “Okay. You’re right about that. Who cares if you’re getting your just desserts? You’re still engaged to the third richest man in the world. We’re even.” Linda stood up to leave, but Lois blocked her path. “Take it up with him, Lois.”

“We’re not done yet,” Lois said. “Did you meet with Lex directly? Face to face?”

Linda sat back down. “Well, no. I met with his butler. Some English gentleman with a white goatee, but he paid me in cash. Fifty-K. Lex must have authorized it.”

Lois looked over at Clark. “Nigel…”

“St. John,” Clark finished with a nod. He turned to Linda. “Was it Luthor who you spoke to over the phone?”

Linda shifted her eyes back and forth between them standing in front of her as if dawn was slowly arriving to her brain. “No… but…”

“But what? I told you it wasn’t Lex,” Lois said. “Where are the rest of the photos?”

“Uh…” Linda swallowed. “Back at my hotel.”

“Where?” Lois demanded, leaning in.

Linda lifted her chin. “Somewhere safe.”

Lois reached for her former friend, but Clark was able to put his arm between them before Lois’s hands hit her target.

“What should we do with her while we search?” he asked.

A slow grin eased across Lois’s face, replacing the look of abject fury. “I knew I… uh…” She cleared her throat. “I know.” With a bob of her head that told him to bring Linda, she headed across the street.

***

“Linda’s cocky,” Clark said, pointing at the corner of a photo sticking out from inside the hotel’s Bible.

“You don’t know the half of it,” Lois replied, flipping through the book before pressing it to her chest in slight embarrassment.

Even without using his x-ray vision, Clark knew that they had found the photos. He went to sit down at the desk as Lois removed the pictures and put them inside an envelope. He had seen enough of them to last him a lifetime. Anyway, pining for a woman who was clearly in love with another man, even if the guy was the worst man Clark had ever met, was pointless. He wondered how often and for how long he would have to remind himself of this.

“Now, what?” he asked.

Lois glanced up from where she tucked the envelope of photos into her briefcase. “It’s over.”

“Nigel St. John still has the negatives,” he reminded her.

“He won’t use them. Lex would kill him,” Lois replied.

Clark raised a surprised eyebrow at this accurate appraisal of the situation.

“Metaphorically,” she clarified.

He wasn’t so sure about that, but he didn’t want to get into that old argument again. He stood up. “So, you’ve got it from here?” he asked, knowing when he was being dismissed.

Lois held out her gloved hand to him. “Thanks, Clark. You’ve been a real…” She stopped herself as he took her hand in his, giving it more of a slight squeeze than a shake. “Thanks. I couldn’t have done it without you,” she went on, more softly.

“That’s not true.”

“Take the compliment, Kent,” she ordered. “Even if it’s a wild exaggeration.”

He nodded and released her hand. “Yes, ma’am. You’re welcome, Lois.”

At the door to Linda’s hotel room, Lois paused, turning to Clark once more. “We make a good team, you and I.”

Clark gently smiled. He liked the sound of the present tense.

“Anytime,” he said, knowing that there’d never be any more times. If she married Luthor, Clark would move away, unable to watch as Lois’s soul slowly died. If he, Jack, and Jimmy were successfully able to prove Luthor was behind bribing the Daily Planet’s board to sell the paper for dirt, Lois would never speak to any of them again. Her rant from the night before must have been the ramblings of woman who had drunk too much wine on an empty stomach after being slighted by her fiancé. Clearly, Lois loved Luthor enough to know that he would never blackmail her.

Still, Clark meant the word. Anytime. He didn’t have the strength to refuse her aid.

“You know, Clark, I believe you genuinely mean that,” she replied, and then chuckled. “Even if I knocked at your door at three a.m.”

“Why not?” he said, opening the door and passing through to the hall. “You’ve done it before.”

“I never!” Lois gasped, following him so that she could slap his arm for suggesting such a slander.

“Well, let’s see, there was that time when you…”

“Okay. Okay,” she interrupted in defeated laughter. “You win!”

It felt like old times. It felt better than old times. It felt as if he should wrap his arm around her waist and pull her to his chest, before pressing all his love on to her lips in a kiss that would lift them both off the floor with pleasure. Yet, it also felt as if his heart contracted within her closed fist causing his eyes to shut in a pained wince as his life force slowly started to ebb from this wound. He searched for some inner strength and used the drop he found to push a weak smile to his face.

“Good luck, Lois,” Clark said, ducking into the stairwell and heading up instead of down. He didn’t feel like extending this awkwardness through an elevator ride down to the lobby.

***

There was an annoyed message from Lois on Clark’s answering machine when he returned home late that afternoon. Apparently, Linda had been able to free herself and escape from Lois’s apartment before Lois had made it home from the hotel.

It took two phone calls to learn that Linda had switched her booking to an earlier flight and hightailed it out of Metropolis before noon.

Clark hoped that meant that Linda was safe from any retaliation from Luthor once he found out about her involvement in the blackmail scheme. St. John, on the other hand, had known the viper he was dealing with when he had started this nasty business. While Nigel might need protection, Superman wasn’t anyone’s bodyguard.

This whole scenario had turned out better than it could have for Lois. Unfortunately, it was the exact opposite for Clark. Not only were photos of a scantily clad Lois seared onto his memory cells to torture him for eternity, this experience reminded him of why he had fallen for her in the first place: her wit, her stubbornness, her vulnerability, and her ability to catch him off guard. He loved that Lois came to him in her hour of need and, yet, hated that she returned to Luthor stronger and more determined in her decision to marry him.

Clark had racked his brain all afternoon on what he could have done differently to change this outcome and never came up with a solution. With the exception of going back into the past and changing it somehow, Clark knew that the only true way to save Lois was to quadruple his efforts to topple Luthor’s empire before the wedding. Lois might never forgive Clark, but at least her eyes would finally be open to what kind of man she was engaged to and prevent her from falling under that man’s thumb completely.

Rescuing Lois from Luthor might not make Clark’s life any better, but he hadn’t gone into the hero business to improve his own life. Allowing Lois the possibility of a future free from Luthor was all the reward he wanted. That he did this knowing it could ruin their friendship was his cross to bear.

As Clark pulled open the drawer of his side table to remove the notes from his investigation into Luthor and LexCorp, he was interrupted by a knock on his door. He glanced at his watch. Jimmy and Jack weren’t supposed to arrive for another hour. Clark hadn’t even had time to order the requisite three pizzas. He tossed his folder onto the dining room table and jogged up to his front door. Opening it, he said, “I wasn’t expecting…” The words dried on his tongue.

“Saints alive, Kent! Of course, you weren’t expecting my help, but we both know you could use it,” answered the jovial southern gentleman on the other side. After two more beats of Clark gaping at him, the man continued, “I am welcome, right?”

Clark shook himself out of his astonishment and clasped his old boss on the shoulder in greeting. “Chief! Of course. Please, come in.” He backed away to let Perry White into his apartment, still staring at him as if seeing an apparition. “How great to see you! You couldn’t have arrived at a more opportune moment.”

“So I’ve been told.” Perry dumped his bags next to the sofa. “You know, I was twiddling my thumbs by that phone at my new beach front condo just wondering when you’d realize that you needed this old hound dog.”

“Always, Chief. I hadn’t realized that you needed a formal invitation,” Clark responded.

“Well, at least, I still have some friends not above asking for help when they truly need it.”

Clark’s brow furrowed. Who had invited him? Jimmy?

“Hi,” Lois’s voice sounded from Clark’s open doorway. “I had the devil of a time finding parking in your neighborhood, Clark.”

Twice, in as many minutes, Clark felt winded by surprise. He moved towards her before stopping himself from gathering her into his arms and pressing his gratitude against her lips. It took two whole steps before he remembered that she wasn’t his to kiss; she never had been and never would be. He gripped the handrail leading up to his front door.

“Hi?” Clark hadn’t meant for it to sound like a question, but he had never expected to see Lois Lane gracing his life, let alone his apartment again. He tried to cover up his confusion with a smile.

“Is this what you have so far?” Perry asked from behind him.

Clark turned to look at the Chief and then back at Lois as she shut his front door. What were they doing here? He returned his gaze to Perry. “Uh…”

Lois walked down the steps and set one hand on Clark’s back and the other on his stomach in a makeshift hug that was the most intimate touch they had had in months. Clark was unable to stop his arm from going around her shoulders to return the embrace.

“I figured if we’re going to bring Luthor down,” Lois said, leaning into Clark’s chest and surrounding his waist to draw him closer before letting go, and moving towards their former boss. “— we’d need the Chief to help us continue where you left off.”

“Us?” Clark sputtered in the least nonchalant way possible.

Lois glanced back at him from where she was looking at Clark’s notes from beside Perry and smiled at Clark. “Us, partner.”

“No offense, Lois, but what makes you think that I’m investigating your fiancé?” Clark closed his file, pushing it to the center of the table and away from them. He then took her arm and guided her towards his sofa.

Perry chuckled as he sat down at the table and pulled the folder towards himself once more.

She glanced back towards the papers Perry was perusing and then at Clark as if he was an idiot. Or, more accurately, as if asking if he thought she was one. “Former fiancé. I broke the news to Lex this morning after I phoned you about Linda. Then he told me that Chip would return as editor come Monday.”

“Sucks, doesn’t it, honey?” Perry said from behind her. She nodded in agreement.

Clark sat down on his sofa, mostly because he lost the ability to stand. “But… but… but…” He held his hand out to his front door. “You defended Luthor just this morning!”

Lois sat down next to him. “You heard Linda. Lex didn’t have anything to do with blackmailing me.”

“So, you dumped him?”

“Was I too hasty?” she replied. “I know. I should have seen your evidence first.” She stood up and turned to head back to his dining table.

Clark grabbed her hand to stop her. “No. No. I mean, how did you…? Why did you…?” There were too many questions buzzing in his mind to choose the correct first one.

She looked down at his hand holding hers. Before he could let go, she squeezed it, knocking him breathless. “You wouldn’t lie to me, Clark.”

“No, I…” He was lying to her.

“I should’ve realized that months ago. I thought you were jealous of Lex,” she said.

“I…” Actually, he was jealous of Luthor.

“I realized yesterday, after you dropped everything to help me…” Lois sat down next to him again, still not having let go of his hand. “— that even if you loved me like a brother, you would’ve reacted the same way. I should’ve given you the benefit of the doubt.”

Clark lifted his gaze from their joined hands to look into her eyes. “I’ve never loved you like a brother, Lois.”

“Still in the room,” Perry called from the dining room table.

In the silence that followed, Clark heard Perry turn a page of paper. Clark felt the heat rise in his cheeks. “I mean…”

Lois squeezed his hand once more before whispering, “I know.” Then, she slowly let go.

Clark’s chest filled with sunshine. He cleared his throat and tried to recall what they had been discussing before a world of hope opened up to him. “Except, you defended Luthor this morning to Linda.”

“He was innocent,” Lois explained with a shrug. “If he were trying to get my attention, he wouldn’t have brushed me off last night.”

“Luthor is hardly innocent,” Perry said from behind them, stealing the words from Clark’s lips.

“Nor was Lex innocent when he killed Max Menken in order to ‘save’ me. Linda was right when she suggested that Lex could be putting me in jeopardy in order to rescue me.” Lois shook her head. “I wish I had seen it then. Max Menken even said that Lex was trying to frame him. Being kidnapped and Lex saving me by shooting Menken blinded me that I didn’t even question those words, or that Lex’s bullet had shut Menken up. What I should’ve asked Lex was how he knew Menken? Why did Menken think Lex was setting him up?” She stood up and set her hand on Perry’s shoulder. “I’m sorry, Chief; I let you down.”

Perry patted her hand on his shoulder. “Don’t let it happen again!”

Clark cracked a smile out of the side of his mouth.

“So before I went to Lex’s office, I swallowed my pride and called my father. He said that he had spoken to Luthor after the cyborg boxer incident and was offered a cushy job at LexLabs. However, the patent for anything my father created would then belong to LexLabs, so they parted ways. Two weeks later, the medical board revoked my father’s license to practice medicine.”

“Circumstantial,” murmured Perry.

“Yeah. I know,” Lois said. “My father also said that Menken had never told him who was backing them. He had always let himself believe it was Menken, but he doubted that even Menken could have afforded to spend all the money they had on their research.” She let go of Perry’s shoulder and turned back to Clark. “So, today, I asked Lex about Menken and what the man had meant with his accusation. Lex merely said Menken was a mad man. Menken had lost everything and had kidnapped me as a last grasp effort to gain control of his life. He was a ranting lunatic, Lex said.”

“Seems plausible,” grumbled Clark.

“Right! Lex is more slippery than… a… an eel.”

“The term is a warthog’s back side, darlin’,” interjected Perry.

“Did you tell Luthor about Nigel St. John’s involvement with the photos?” Clark asked.

For the first time, the Chief raised his gaze from Clark’s Luthor file and focused his attention on Lois. “Photos?”

Lois glared a storm cloud at Clark.

“Ooops,” he mouthed. Clark honestly thought that she had told Perry what had happened.

“Someone tried to blackmail me with some risqué pictures…”

“Of you and Kent?” Perry asked.

No!” Lois exclaimed. “Clark and I are only friends… partners… best friends, really… it doesn’t matter. Anyway, as a good friend told me recently, I have a great life. I don’t need to get married.”

Perry’s brow furrowed. “Who said anything about marriage?”

“Not me.” Clark shrugged away Lois’s storm cloud, trying not to let a grin escape.

“Terrific!” Lois said, clapping her hands together once sharply. “We’re all in agreement then.”

Their old boss shot Clark a questioning expression on Lois’s sanity. Clark decided to act as if he didn’t understand.

“The photos aren’t important,” Lois went on. “Did I mention…?”

Clark’s front door opened after a quick double tap.

“Hey, CK!” Jimmy said, walking straight into Clark’s apartment. “Chief! Lois said that she phoned you.” Jack followed him inside, shutting the door.

“Good thing I have nothing to hide,” murmured Clark under his breath before saying more loudly, “Hi, guys.”

“Lois, do you want the good news or the bad news first?” Jimmy said.

“Bad news?” she echoed.

“Someone leaked a semi-naked photo of you onto the Internet,” Jack said.

“They what?” Lois snapped.

Jimmy glared over his shoulder at the teen. “Hey! I was going to tell her!” Turning to Lois, Jimmy held up a hand in self-defense. “Don’t worry. You were covering…” He waved his hands around his torso. “— everything.”

“Who knew you were once hot, Ms. Lane?” Jack said before stepping out of range.

Lois focused on Jack so sharply, she could’ve cut him in two with laser vision. Luckily, it wasn't one of her powers.

“The good news,” Jimmy continued. “—is that on a normal private dial-up connection it takes fifteen minutes to a half an hour to download.”

“Good news? Then why were you having such a hissy fit while it loaded?” Jack asked.

Jimmy scowled at him to shut up. “The bad news is that LNN picked up on the story and has been covering it and the picture non-stop for the last hour.”

Lois screamed at so loudly that only Superman and dogs could hear her. When she again found her voice, and Clark his hearing, she told Jimmy to continue.

“When they questioned Luthor, he said that he had only just learned of the photos…”

Her eyes closed on the plural form of the word.

“ – and that you two had a disagreement about the freedom of the press and personal privacy and that you decided to part ways.”

“Ha!” she scoffed. “Nice spin.”

Clark rubbed her arm. “How about some good news?”

“Oh, right, CK,” Jimmy said, opening up his laptop on Clark’s coffee table. “It’s up and running.”

“What is?” Clark asked.

A large Cheshire-sized grin spread across Lois’s face; he was relieved that she worked on the side of good and not evil. She slid her arm around Clark’s waist again and gave his stomach a friendly pat. “Did I mention that I left a listening device in Lex’s office while I was there?”

“That’s my girl!” Perry said with a jovial chuckle, joining them at the couch.

Once more, Clark’s arm automatically encircled Lois’s shoulders. He felt at home there. She must have felt the same, because instead of pushing him away, she pulled him towards her, squeezing his waist. They stood like this behind the couch, watching Jimmy work wonders on his laptop with Jack and Perry at his side.

It was nice having the team back together again.

***End of Part 4***

Comments

Last edited by VirginiaR; 01/19/16 09:43 PM. Reason: Added Link

VirginiaR.
"On the long road, take small steps." -- Jor-el, "The Foundling"
---
"clearly there is a lack of understanding between those two... he speaks Lunkheadanian and she Stubbornanian" -- chelo.