Chapter 7
Lois awoke, disoriented. It wasn’t her hotel room; the bed was too comfortable and the furnishings were too eclectic. Her hotel was good, as hotels go, but the décor was impersonal at best. It struck her that the room had a familiar feel about it, and she realised she was in Clark’s bed. Blinking to clear the lingering bleariness, she focussed on the picture frame on the nightstand, recognising the photo it contained to be one of her and Clark, a candid shot taken at the Kerth Awards ceremony the previous year. She picked the frame up and studied the picture. He cradled his crystal statuette- his first ever Kerth Award- in the crook of one arm and looked so happy and proud. She had her hand tucked through his other arm and was laughing at something. They’d laughed a lot that night, she remembered. How had she not known then that she loved this man?
The smell of fresh coffee tempted her into sitting up and replacing the frame. She swung her legs out of the bed and stood, padding out in bare feet to the kitchen.
Clark was sitting at the kitchen counter, frowning in concentration at the laptop in front of him. He looked up when he heard her enter and his face creased into the brilliant grin she loved.
“Good morning.”
“Morning,” she yawned, approaching him and resting her hand on his shoulder. He grabbed her hand and pulled her across her lap, making her shriek with surprise before kissing her soundly.
“Clark!” She laughed up at him.
“Better than coffee,” he informed her.
She slid off his lap, straightening her clothes and made a beeline for the coffee pot. She poured a cup, fixing it the way she liked it and noting with pleasure that he’d picked up the artificial sweetener and low-fat creamer she preferred. Sipping at her cup, she leaned against the counter. “What time did you get in?”
“Late. I didn’t want to wake you.”
“Where did you sleep?”
“On the couch.” He gestured to where a pillow and blanket lay in a neat pile on the end of the couch.
“You didn’t have to give up your bed for me.”
He shrugged one shoulder. “You looked like you needed a good night’s sleep.”
“It’s a big bed, Clark. We could’ve shared.”
He shot her a look brimful of laughter at the reminder of their stay in the honeymoon suite at the Lexor hotel, then sobered.
“I didn’t think you were ready for that yet.”
“I’m not,” she sighed.
She took another sip of her coffee, studying him over the rim of the cup. He was looking especially good today, happy and relaxed. His glasses were sitting on the counter next to his laptop, and the lack of them made him look younger. The fitted black t-shirt he was wearing clung just right to his muscular frame, accenting his build without being skin-tight. The thought of sharing a bed with him was becoming more appealing by the minute. It’s too soon, she told herself. It had been what? A day?
“So. What are you working on?” She gestured with her mug at the computer.
“Next week’s column. You may be on vacation, but I am not.” He hit save and smiled at her, taking any sting out of his words. “When do you have to be back at the Planet?”
She thought rapidly. “End of next week. When do you have to go back to the jungle?”
“About the same time. I’ve got enough notes for this week and next.”
She rounded the counter and leaned over his shoulder, reading his first paragraph. “You know, this is how I found you,” she commented. “You were always better at this stuff than me.”
“You found me through my articles?”
“Of course. You think I can’t recognise your work? Perry recognised it too.”
“Does anyone else know?”
“Jimmy suspects. He helped me find your address.” She fidgeted, trying to decide whether the question she wanted to ask would be pushing too hard in a very new relationship. She shrugged mentally and forged ahead; the alternative, after all, was trying to carry on a relationship when one of them was deep in some South American wilderness.
“Do you have to go back to the jungle? Can’t you come back to Metropolis?”
He stopped typing and slowly swivelled around to look at her. “I’ve thought about it,” he admitted.
***
He’d been doing a lot of thinking about it, in fact. He’d only managed to concentrate on his article a few minutes before Lois had awoken. He wanted nothing more than to be able to go back to Metropolis, but it wasn’t that simple. Quite apart from having no job to go to, there was Superman to consider.
When he’d left Metropolis, he’d been too wrapped up in pain to think about what Clark and Superman leaving town at the same time looked like. And he hadn’t consciously decided to expand his Superman activities to the entire world; it had been a natural consequence of his travels. When he’d finally thought about what he was doing, it had dawned on him that having Superman suddenly concentrate his abilities on a succession of Central and South American countries- and at the same time as ‘Jerome King’ was travelling through them- was a bad idea. He’d immediately stopped attending every single local problem and initiated a worldwide patrol instead, even though it had meant having to concentrate mostly on bigger disasters.
If he went back to Metropolis, could he keep that up? In the less densely populated areas he’d been travelling through, there weren’t as many cries for help and it had been easy to expand his operations. Once back in Metropolis, back amongst its twelve million inhabitants, he was sure it would be a different story. He couldn’t ignore a cry for help; that was why he’d invented Superman in the first place. And he knew from experience that Metropolis would be full of people needing his particular type of help.
“And?”
“I want to come back. I’m just not sure if I can.”
“Why not?”
“Superman, for one thing.”
“But Clark, that’s easy. You never explained why Superman left; you don’t have to explain why he comes back.”
He raised an eyebrow. “You don’t think Clark Kent and Superman arriving back in Metropolis at the same time isn’t a little suspicious?”
“Oh.” Her shoulders slumped a little. “I didn’t think of that.” She perked up again. “I’m sure we can find a way around that. What’s the other problem?”
He sighed. “What am I supposed to live on? I have some savings, but that’s not going to last very long in Metropolis and I don’t have a job to go to.”
“What about the Planet? Perry would hire you back in a heartbeat.”
“Really? I’m not so sure. Look, Lois, in the two years that I worked there, I left twice- both times without notice. I was lucky that Perry overlooked the first time, but I was only gone for a couple of days. This time, it’s been almost a year. If it was you, would you hire me back?”
“You’re right! You’re right.” She set her coffee cup down. “Come back anyway. We'll figure out a way around the Superman thing and we can work on Perry. Even if he says no, you'll find something, I know it. I want to be with you, Clark, not have you thousands of miles away, splitting your time between here and some remote South American village. I want to be able to go out to dinner and a movie with you. I want to be able to turn up at your place at three in the morning just because I wanted to see you. I want to build a relationship- a life- together.”
He stood and took her into his arms, cradling her against him. “I want that too.”
“So you'll come home?”
“Yes, I'll come home. I'll even fly us there.”
He grinned, feeling laughter build in his chest out of sheer joy. Lois loved him, and he was going home.
All too soon she pushed herself away from him with a familiar determined look on her face.
“Maybe I should go back first. It’ll take you a few weeks to pack anyway, and that way I can talk to Perry-“
“Minutes. It’ll take me a few minutes to pack.”
He broke into laughter at the expression on her face.
“You forgot!”
The consternation on her face only made him laugh harder.
“I didn’t forget; I‘m just not used to thinking in terms of you being Superman.”
“Even after yesterday?” he teased.
“Clark, will you be serious?”
“I can’t; I’m too happy,” he informed her.
She shot him an exasperated look and he held up his hands defensively. “Okay, okay. I’ll pack and store my stuff at the farm, then we’ll go back to Metropolis and see Perry together.”
***
Faster than she had thought was possible, even for him, Lois found herself cradled against Clark’s Spandex-clad chest as the coast of Florida dropped away. He hadn’t taken her to Kansas, explaining that he could travel faster and carry more if he didn’t have to worry about a passenger. She’d been guiltily grateful that she hadn’t had to face Clark’s parents- her last conversation with Martha Kent, a few months after Clark’s disappearance, had not ended well. Eventually, she knew she’d have to see them again, especially considering how close Clark was to his parents, but she was glad it could wait just a little longer.
“Is everything okay? You’re not cold, are you?”
She smiled up at him, wanting to kiss away the little concerned furrow of his brow. “No, everything is fine. It’s… beautiful.”
Flying like this… she could see why Clark disliked planes. She could see so much… the coastline with its seemingly endless expanses of white sandy beaches, the sparkling ribbons of rivers winding across the land, the sprawling cities and towns. It sure beat the view from a tiny aeroplane window.
Before she knew it, Clark started to descend and the familiar skyscrapers of Metropolis came into view. He flew over Centennial Park and came to a stop, hovering above her apartment building.
“Are your windows unlocked?”
She thought for a moment, then shook her head. She’d resolutely locked them after she’d broken things off with Superman-Clark- last year, and had gotten back into the habit of keeping them locked when she wasn’t home.
Swiftly he dropped into the alleyway nearest to her building, making her yelp in surprise.
“Sorry. I didn’t want to be spotted.”
She clung to him for balance for a moment before regaining her feet.
“Guess I should start leaving my windows unlocked again, huh?”
“It does make this easier.”
She took a few steps towards the mouth of the alley before she realised he wasn’t following her. “You’re not coming?”
“No.” He gave her a reassuring smile. “I’ll be back in a few minutes- with your luggage.”
“Oh! Right.”
She stayed where she was, watching him take off before she shook her head and walked around the corner to her building, jogging up the steps at the entrance. It was one thing to know that Clark was Superman and something entirely different to see him being Superman. She unlocked the door to her apartment and went straight to the living room windows, unlatching them and pushing them wide open.
He was back before she’d had a chance to do anything besides a tidy up of the ‘stuff-it-out-of-sight’ variety. Depositing her luggage next to the couch, he spun back into his ‘Clark’ clothes in the manoeuvre that had so fascinated her the night before.
“Should we go see Perry?”
***
“Ready?” Lois asked as the elevator climbed to the newsroom floor.
“I was thinking… maybe you should go and see him first. After all, he doesn’t even know I’m in Metropolis.”
“I don’t believe you… You spend your time flying around in skin-tight Spandex and you’re nervous about talking to Perry?”
He shrugged. “That’s different.”
The elevator opened onto a crowded newsroom, and instantly Clark regretted choosing this time of day to try and get his job back. But Lois was already striding down the ramp and across the room, giving him little choice but to follow her. Behind him, he could hear the puzzled whispers of the newsroom staff and Jimmy’s shouted exclamation of “CK!”
Lois knocked on Perry White’s door and opened it in the same motion, walking in and dropping into one of the chairs in front of the editor’s desk.
Perry looked up from the article he was editing; from the amount of red pen decorating the page, Lois was sure it was one of Ralph’s.
“Lois. I wasn’t expecting you back so soon.”
“I didn’t need the extra time after all.”
“Do you mind telling me where you went?”
“Florida. Sarasota, actually.”
“So you went looking for him after all.”
The editor kept his voice mild, but Lois could hear the undercurrent of steel in it and braced herself for the conversation that would follow.
“I had to, Perry.”
“And?”
“He’s here. Waiting to talk to you and probably being mobbed by Jimmy and the rest of the staff.”
“Lois, are you sure you know what you’re doing? I mean, you lit off out of here- what was it, five days ago? Saying that you’d split with Dan, and now you walk in here with Clark?”
***
Perry White surveyed the young woman in front of him with misgivings. From Lois’ air of suppressed excitement, it was clear that Lois and Clark had patched things up. He was happy for them; he'd never considered Lois' relationship with Dan to be a good fit, after all, and Clark was like a son to him. But so soon after Lois had broken up with Dan?
Another thing was also clear to him. If Clark was back in Metropolis, he'd want his old job back, and Perry just wasn't sure if he could give it to him. The one problem he had- that he'd always had- with Lois and Clark dating was what it would do to his newsroom if it went sour.
He'd seen the effects firsthand.
After Clark had left, not only had he lost one of the most successful teams the paper had ever seen, but Lois had fallen apart. For weeks afterwards, the only thing she'd been able to concentrate on was trying to find Clark. As she'd run up against brick wall after brick wall, she'd become more and more despondent. While she'd seemed to recover eventually, she'd lost some of the fire that had previously characterised her writing. If it happened again- if their personal relationship went sour- what else would they lose?
And then there was the matter of Clark's employment history.
Three years ago, Perry had managed to pass off Clark's absence during the heatwave as personal leave, but that wasn't possible this time. Not with Clark being gone for so long.
“I know what I’m doing, Perry.” Lois spoke with a confidence that had been lacking from her voice for far too long, and Perry had to suppress an exultant smile.
“I had to go after Clark.” She leaned forward to press her point, the earnestness and sincerity in her voice impossible to miss. “It was always Clark, Perry. He’s the reason I couldn’t marry Dan. It always will be Clark.”
He studied her. She’d changed in the five days she’d been gone; there was a lightness, a vibrancy that he’d never seen in Lois before. She was, he realised, completely happy for the first time he’d known her.
“Can’t argue with that. Send him in.” As she got to her feet, he warned: “But no promises, Lois.”
***
As Lois had predicted, Clark was surrounded by a gaggle of newsroom staffers, including Jimmy. They were bombarding him with so many questions that it was almost a relief when Lois exited the editor-in-chief’s office and broke up the gathering.
“Your turn. Good luck.”
Clark took a deep, steadying breath and entered the office, closing the door behind him. Perry sat back in his chair, looking almost as forbidding as Clark remembered.
“Kent.”
“Hi, Chi- Mr White.”
“Lois said you wanted to talk to me.”
Clark nodded, remembering exactly why he’d been dreading this meeting. What did you say to an employer- no, more than that, a friend- who you’d deserted?
“Yes, sir.” He figured that the honorific couldn’t hurt at this point, even though he’d long gotten out of the habit of calling Perry sir. “I wanted to apologise for the way I left last year-“
“And the year before that.”
“Yes, and the year before that. I was wrong to leave the way I did, and I’m sorry.”
Perry was silent for a moment, then Clark saw the older man’s face soften. “Love makes us do some crazy things, son.”
Clark nodded, unable to deny the truth of that statement.
“Was there something else?”
“Yes, I wanted to talk to you… about a job. You gave me a chance once before and I’ve always been grateful for that. You know my writing and you know I can do the work-“
Perry held up a hand. “I can't do it. If it was up to me, I'd hire you back in a heartbeat. But it's not up to me. Something like this has to go to the suits upstairs.” He leaned forward. “If you'd left on better terms, maybe it'd be a different story.”
Clark nodded. He was lucky Perry had even agreed to see him.
“I'm sorry, son. What will you do if the suits say no?”
He sighed. “There’s always the Star. Or I’ll try the magazines, one of them might be hiring.” He gave Perry a wan smile.
“You’d do that?” The editor’s voice was suddenly sharper.
“If it means staying in Metropolis.” He reached out a hand for Perry to shake. “Thanks for seeing me.”
***
When Clark emerged, Lois was seated behind her desk, idly swivelling her chair from side to side. She looked up as he approached.
“Well? How did it go?” she demanded eagerly.
He made a so-so motion with his hand and perched one hip on her desk. “Maybe. It's not Perry's decision- has to go higher up.” He sighed heavily. “I really messed everything up. If I had just talked to you...”
“Well, next time you leave town in the dead of night you'll just have to remember to talk to me first.” It was lightly said, but he could sense the lingering worry behind the words.
He grabbed her hand and squeezed it gently. “There won't be a 'next time', Lois. I'm done running.” She smiled shyly at him and he wanted to kiss her so badly, crowded newsroom or no crowded newsroom.
Jimmy broke the spell, pausing by Lois' desk on an errand.
“Hey CK, are you coming back to work at the Planet?”
“Not sure yet, Jim, I-“
Someone called Jimmy's name from deeper in the bullpen and he changed direction with a wave of his hand at Clark.
“Some things never change. Listen, I'm going to go book into a hotel. I'll call you when I've found somewhere.”
“Mm, not the Apollo I hope,” she teased.
He winced, remembering the rundown flea pit he'd stayed in when he first moved to Metropolis.
“No, definitely not the Apollo. Someplace nicer.” He squeezed her hand again. “I'll see you later.”
***
He booked into a Holiday Inn that was conveniently close to Lois' apartment building, making the promised phone call and giving her the room's phone number. He'd barely hung up the receiver when the sound of sirens reached his ears.
A pile up on what used to be the Luthor Expressway required his attention. It was the beginning of three solid hours of Superman duties, ranging from armed robberies to a fire in an apartment building. As he walked up the corridor to his hotel room, he reflected that Superman had been too active in the skies of Metropolis. To allay suspicion, he was going to have to patrol someplace far away. The return of Superman to Metropolis had to be a gradual thing if he didn’t want the link between Clark Kent and Superman to become obvious.
The first thing he saw when he walked in the door was the blinking red light on the answering machine. He pressed the button to hear the message.
“Clark, its Lois. Where are you? I guess you’re out doing… other… things. Perry wants you to call him as soon as you can-“
By the time the message had finished playing he was already out the door.
***
“They signed off on your rehire- with certain conditions.”
Perry White dropped a thick sheaf of papers on the desk in front of Clark.
“They're giving you a six-month contract, on probation for the first three months. After six months, they'll review it.” He mentioned a weekly salary that made Clark wince internally- it was significantly lower than what he'd been earning at the Planet the previous year- but was, at least, more than he'd been making as a freelance.
He gave Perry a relieved grin. “I'll take it.”
“Good. I don't think I need to tell you, Kent, that this is your last chance.” He pointed a finger at the pile of papers. “The only reason you got that contract is I told the suits that the Star would snap you up. I convinced them that we'd lose front page stories if they let you go, and they didn't like the idea of losing stories to that rag. So don’t slip up.”
“Thanks, Chief.” He poured every ounce of his heartfelt gratitude into the words.
Perry waved him off. “You can start on Monday. Oh, and Clark? It's good to have you back.”
***
Clark left the office with a grin on his face. Career-wise, he was back at square one; more like square zero. It was worth it to be back at the Planet. He couldn’t wait to tell Lois. He had a second chance- his last chance- and this time, he was determined not to screw it up.
He had his dream job, and more importantly, he had Lois.
Life couldn't get any better than this.
