Hi Evie!
In an increasingly alt-version of Fly Hard, the intrepid Planet team (and Luthor) end up spending a longer-than-scripted night trapped in the conference room.
Hmmm…besides from a wild ride I got no clue what to expect. Only Lois and Clark, on the dark side? Sure, there’s expectations. But the entire gang on the light side? No clue at all.
She’d spent too much of the evening twisting the uncomfortable cuff around in a frustrated, nervous tick once Lex had been shot. It had started to chafe about half an hour after that.
Should have asked them to use the vanity cuffs from Cat’s desk drawer. They got padding.
While Perry catnapped across the chairs,
CAT: When I lobbied for a big sofa for the conference room, Perry had told me to keep the bedroom at home. Pfft, as if I need a couch for that.
She’d been excited enough to be in the belly of the beast on this heist when she thought it meant she’d get a story out of it. But with every hour that had passed, she became more uncertain that she’d end up being around to submit this.
It’s funny-sad. Is that something you can say? Dunno. It still is.
And, most frustratingly, Superman hadn’t shown up.
It wasn’t like him to ignore a call like this. Maybe he’d been hurt?
Just waiting till Lex has enough blood loss to blabber the truth. Or go silently into that dark night.
Maybe it was the lack of sleep getting to her, but she had a weird feeling that he was stuck in some kind of bad situation tonight, too.
Kinda, yeah.
Next, she’d blamed the environment. Her loveseats might be uncomfortable, but her mattress had a luscious feather topper beneath Egyptian cotton sheets. The floor couldn’t compete. Plus, it must be filthy.
LOIS: Plus, Superman could visit at home. He often does.
Also:
Cat never desanctified the conference room floor.
CAT: There’s a perfectly good table right there.
Or, at least, her physical proximity to Lex.
Yes, he is icky and old enough to be her father.
with a quick mind and a bent toward the philanthropic
He does like to make champagne from lemonade. And that’s ‘lexanthropic’.
She should be so lucky as to be sleeping next to him right now, in any situation.
Either way, she was currently weighing the options of either gnawing off her own arm or filching Jack’s paperclip to free herself, buddy system be damned.
Option three: break that bone in your palm that prevents the thumb from folding in and slipping free.
. He had always come to her when she’d needed him before
He’s tied up with his buddy right now.
On the other hand, Lex had named himself de facto leader, but then gone rogue at the first opportunity
He wanted to lead the way out the door.
He hadn’t brought any of the others in on his plan.
LEX: It was obvious. They should have known.
Lois wasn’t sure she agreed with his leadership style.
Or the results.
It’s called Lex Prime. It’s a favorite technique at the School of Opportunity.
This was better. The crawling sensation diminished.
Lex behind you should be be even creepier.
And he was always ready to anticipate her when she did something that everyone else judged erratic or spontaneous.
Somehow, Clark could keep up.
They used words as play things between them, to joust, to tease, to paint the world they saw together in a story. But they needed precious few words to really communicate.
Not that she’d never admit it.
Beautiful section
Tomorrow she’d write this all off as a response to the panic of the moment and the stress of being held by criminals with a nuclear device, and she’d make sure he knew it, too.
But tonight, for once, she’d let her guard down and indulge.
this reasoning is something I have in one of my WIPs, too.
he was proving to be surprisingly adept at reading her emotions and making her feel better.
His eyebrows rose lightly, giving him a more open expression.
Even now, he knew her mind well enough to see it was moving on to another topic.
They are adorable!
And at first, sure, it was interesting, even flattering! But why am I dating a man that makes me want to chew my own arm off?
Financial security? She likes men who are as obsessed with Superman as she is herself?
. I doubt we could learn over laundry and breakfast dishes — and I bet Lex doesn’t even do all the little normal things like laundry.
I was going to say that…
I wanted something extraordinary,
Something… super?
What if my life ends while I’m chained to this man? I don’t want to just be remembered as the reporter who was dating Lex Luthor when she died.
he truly is her ball and chain.
Had their exchange in the night even been real?
Who knows? And why did they let her sleep on the floor? Maybe it was all a hallucination, induced from some party drug or other Lois did while out on the town with her rouge boyfriend?
It must have been, because he’d kept his promise to her. He was still angled toward the gunmen, watching them through the doors.
Oh, it’s not over yet.
She tilted her head to look up and realized that she was resting on a human pillow.
Which is why Clark is unhappy. Is it wrong to have hoped he’s unhappy because Lex passed during the night?
Had he awoken to find her cuddled next to Clark, hands clasped? Or had Clark left her side before Luthor woke? She guessed that would be a fun surprise to learn later.
Including the question which of those would be less fun to learn.
Instead, she sat up, dislodging the possessive grip that had been agitating her shoulder.
Great phrasing on her feeling and interpretation of things.
? She reminded herself that he was in pain, and it probably wouldn’t improve his mood if she dumped the hot coffee over his head.
Only one way to find out.
Taking a sip, she found it didn’t steady her. It was off somehow, too, like the rest of her usual touchstones today. That’s what she got for not making her own coffee for a year, she supposed.
This should be telling!
CLARK: I promise, I never use the sugar packs and real creamer from the coffee station for Lois’s coffee.
She was a person of action. But last night had been about waiting to see what her captives would chose to do with her and the people closest to her.
That was another great insight
. “Lex! Don’t sneak up on a girl who’s just been held hostage!”
So, *never* do that to Lois?
The best Italian food you’ve ever tasted.”
Slightly longer commute?
“You know, my dear, your friend didn’t show up last night.”
He was tied up.
Her mind sputtered. Her friend had been next to her all night, holding her hand. He’d been the only thing to soothe her during —
Then the penny dropped.
Lex was talking about Superman.
Awww
She was getting mad. If Clark could practically read her thoughts in the darkness, she would have to consciously shield her emotions from Lex now that they were standing in the clear dawn light.
but he’s sort of a trustworthy colleague, at best.”
Someone like Henderson?
She glanced back to see Jack standing beside Clark, tugging on his sleeve to get his attention.
Eavesdropping again?
Honestly, how long had he been patronizing her without her seeing it?
Uuuuhhhh… 19 episodes?
Well, she thought, as break-ups go, that could have been worse.
Don’t worry. It can still deteriorate.
She snorted. “I just lived through a nuclear threat as a hostage. I’m not giving one of the Metropolis cabbies a chance at killing me in the same day. I’ll run out of luck.”
She’s a cute one.
She chose her next words purposefully.
“You’ve got a date,” she said, watching a happy light enter his eyes.
Awww
She slid her arm into his, pulling herself close to him, and she felt her heart speed up when he smiled earnestly at her in response.
Better, she thought again.
Together, they walked toward the sunrise.
This was another great outing!
Edit:
It was a challenge to see if I could actually write a full conversation/chapter without words. I also wanted to play with what happens when you take away Lois' ability to DO something. Usually her mind starts working overtime. But when she can't solve the big problem, her coping mechanism to investigate sends her looking to solve something else...
I love this insight of yours! And it's embarrassing that I didn't even notice you did no talking the entire time
Michael
