Nuclear Option: Epilogue
by Nan Smith
Previously:
"You're a lot more generous than I would be," she said. "I want to go home, if you don't mind."
"I'll take you there."
She nodded, and he saw her swallow again. She wasn't nearly as calm as she was trying to pretend, but she didn't want anyone to know, he thought, as he rang for the elevator. Here and there various persons who had been guests at the aborted wedding wandered about somewhat aimlessly as if they weren't quite sure what the protocol was for this kind of social situation. They would figure it out eventually, he thought, but he suspected that Lois didn't want to share the elevator with any of them. The car arrived within seconds and he and his companions boarded. The elevator doors closed and the car began its hundred-odd story drop.
Which was why none of them were aware, until they stepped out into the street and saw the crowd of onlookers, police and emergency vehicles, that Lex Luthor had fallen to his death after jumping from the balcony of his office to escape the avenging hand of the law. Justice, as Perry said later, had finally caught up with Lex Luthor. He had taken the easy way out, but not one of them could be sorry.
"Come on, Lois," Clark said. "I'll take you home."
Epilogue
Lois let Clark open the taxi door for her and slipped into the seat. Her partner got in beside her and gave the driver an address.
Lois leaned back in the seat and closed her eyes. She hadn't slept at all the night before, after she had listened to the tape. It had been Lex's voice without possibility of mistake and he had been speaking to his assistant. As she had listened, from the first conversation where he had implied an ongoing sexual relationship with his executive assistant -- one that he intended to continue after his marriage, and of which his wife would remain unaware -- to the final conversation wherein he carelessly ordered Mrs. Cox to make certain that the "incentives" to several members of the City Council regarding certain zoning ordinances were completely untraceable, she had been aware of a growing sense of dismay that rose rapidly to sheer fury. Clark had been right all along when he had told her that Lex was dirty, and listening to him conducting business as usual, she had known without doubt that he had no intention of reforming. Heaven alone knew what else he was involved in, but she intended to find out, and most of all she had wanted to make him pay for trying to make a fool of her. Lois Lane, investigative reporter, would have married a man who was everything she had fought against during her career at the Daily Planet, and no doubt that would inflate Lex's ego tremendously to know how he had duped her. If not for Clark, he would have succeeded.
She owed Clark an abject apology for the way she had treated him, accusing him of jealousy when all along he had been fighting in her corner, doing his best to save her from Lex and from herself. Well, she would take care of that, but that would have to come later. First she had to deal with Lex, and after many hours of concocting and discarding various plans, she had decided that the world should hear the truth about the great philanthropist and self-made billionaire from his own lips, as it were.
But now it was over; Lex was dead, and the anger that had sustained her through the day and the beginning of the wedding ceremony was gone. She was left only with a sense of depression.
As a matter of fact, seeing Clark there had brought home to her just how badly she had treated him. He was her best friend, and by his own admission, he loved her -- had loved her for a very long time. He had stuck by her even when she had accused him of trying to stop her wedding to Lex simply out of jealousy, and fought to save her with far more determination than she had any right to expect. He had nearly collapsed there at the end, and although he'd claimed it was lack of sleep that was to blame, Lois suspected it had more to do with relief that she had finally seen the light.
She opened her eyes and lifted her head to look at her former partner. Clark looked pale and tired, and she was aware of a stab of conscience. She'd known he cared about her, and hadn't been entirely surprised when he'd told her his feelings for her went well past simple friendship. She hadn't been ready to deal with that on top of everything else -- especially since the whole idea had scared her half to death. She could deal with a marriage of convenience, for although Lex had claimed to love her, her feelings for him had been more admiration for the man she'd thought he was, and respect for what he had made of himself. But Clark? Her partner was much more dangerous to her peace of mind, because she genuinely cared about him. But didn't he deserve some consideration from her after everything he'd done, even in the face of her resistance?
He turned his head and smiled at her. She'd missed that smile so badly in the weeks since her engagement to Lex. She'd missed his easy friendship, the way she had felt in his company -- that she could say or do anything, and that he would understand and accept it because he was her friend. That might not be love, but it was a good beginning, and who knew where it might lead?
The taxi turned onto Carter Avenue, and ahead she could see the crowd of news vans, the swarm of people from every news outlet in town, the video equipment all aimed at her modest apartment house. Why should she be surprised? The Media was waiting for her to come home so that its representatives could turn her life into a circus in their never-ending quest for sensationalism with which to entertain the public. She grimaced, but refused to flinch. This was her story -- hers and Clark's. They might not have a newspaper to publish it in, but she was quite sure they could find one that would take it.
"Pull over here," she said.
The cab driver obeyed and Clark leaned forward to pay the bill. He glanced at Lois. "Are you sure you want to face them?"
"This is *our* story," Lois said, tight-lipped. "They're just going to have to find their crumbs somewhere else."
Surprisingly, Clark's face broke into a smile. "You're the boss." He got out and extended a hand to help her out. Lois lifted the hem of the fabulously expensive wedding gown and slid her feet to the sidewalk. With an impatient gesture, she pulled the veil from her hair. "I can't wait to get out of this thing," she said. "Let's go."
**********
Getting into Lois's apartment hadn't been exactly a picnic, Clark thought later, but it wasn't nearly as bad as he had expected. Mad Dog Lane was back in spades, and she had dealt with her colleagues in her usual no-nonsense fashion.
"You know," he remarked as he closed and locked the door behind them, "spiking Frank Madison's instep like that was a little excessive, don't you think?"
"He wouldn't get out of my way," Lois said. "He knew better, so I just reminded him why I've always gotten the story first."
The phone rang on the last word, and she snatched up the receiver. "Lane. No, I have no statement at this time ... Look, you idiot, this is the story of the decade, and it's mine, so bug off!"
Clark raised his eyebrows as she slammed the phone into its cradle. "Your story?"
"Well, ours, if you'll share your byline." She tossed the veil onto the coffee table. "I guess I haven't thanked you for what you did, Clark. Thanks."
"Any time," her partner said.
"No," Lois said. "I think you went well above and beyond the call of duty for me and I wasn't very appreciative -- at least until today. Last night, actually." She looked seriously at him. "I'm grateful, Clark, but I think you know that. Thank you for coming to the rescue -- again."
"You're welcome," he said.
"Are we still friends?" she asked.
"The best," he said.
"That's a relief," she said. "I've chased a lot of friends away with a lot less than I've put you through."
He shrugged, a little embarrassed. "I guess I had a selfish motive," he said. "Not," he added quickly, "that I'd have made trouble if the guy you were going to marry was a decent man. I just --"
"I know that," she said. "I should have realized it before, but I was determined to be right, no matter what. I sometimes wonder how you put up with me."
"So you're a little stubborn," he said.
She laughed dryly. "That's a generous five hundred percent understatement."
"Well," he said, "sometimes stubborn is a good thing."
"Sometimes it is," she said. "I guess I'm not likely to change, either."
"I don't want you to change," he said. "I like you the way you are."
"Good thing," she said. "I've missed you, Clark."
"I've missed you," he said. "I guess we can still be friends while we hunt for jobs. Maybe we could market ourselves as a matched set. The reporting team of Lane and Kent."
"Any editor would be crazy not to want us on his staff," Lois said.
"I'm glad confidence isn't an issue with you," Clark said.
"Only some of the time." He saw that she was looking at the veil, lying carelessly on the table. "Remember what you said that day in the park?"
He nodded.
"Did you mean it?"
"I meant it. Only I know you don't feel the same way, so just pretend I never said it. It won't make a difference."
"It can't help but make a difference," she said. "It doesn't have to be a bad thing, though." She looked up to meet his eyes. "I don't know how I feel about you exactly. I know you're the best friend I've ever had, and I'm more comfortable with you than I am with anyone else -- even my own sister. Whether it can ever be more than that, I don't know, but --" She looked down. "-- We could just keep being friends, and see if anything develops, can't we? I mean --" she fumbled slightly, "I don't really know if I'm cut out for the whole love and marriage thing after this last fiasco, but you and I seem to have done all right, at least up until Lex got in the way. Couldn't we just try having fun together and see if it turns into something more?" She looked hesitantly up at him and he found himself smiling at her.
"It sounds like a great idea to me," he said. "I didn't really expect you to throw yourself into my arms when I told you, you know. I just wanted you to know. I guess I didn't have the best timing."
"Probably not," she admitted. "But lots of things have changed since then."
"That's true," he said.
"Then it's a deal?" she asked.
"It's a deal."
"Good. Then as my official best friend, do you think you could help me out of this thing? It's so tight I can barely breathe, and the buttons are all down the back where I can't reach them."
Clark gulped. "Me?"
"Yes, you. But don't get any ideas, buster. I'm still wearing my spike heels." Her grin told him she was joking. "Really, Clark, I'm hot and tired, and I want to get into some shorts, so if you'll help me out of this, I can go back to being me instead of a society bride. I think you can handle it. You saw me in a lot less than a slip, after Miranda sprayed us with that pheromone."
He gathered his nerve. "Okay, turn around."
Things had definitely changed for the better, he thought as he began to deal with the tiny pearl buttons; in fact, they had turned out a lot better than he'd had any right to expect. Superman could stay in Metropolis after all. Lois knew how he felt, and she didn't seem to mind, and given time and some luck, maybe they would be more than best friends before long.
It was certainly something to hope for, and he hadn't really wanted to work for the Borneo Gazette anyway.
The End
