Since the last part was so short, I hope this section makes up for it.
TOC From Part 6:
The house was a simple affair in a development where every house looked more or less the same, complete with a small sapling out front.
Adjusting his glasses, Clark knocked on the door. Moments later, a man answered. Seeing who it was, the man gave Clark a wide smile.
"Clark Kent, nice to meet you, I'm Lex Luthor, Annie's husband."
~
Part 7:
Something about the name tickled the back of Clark's mind. For a reason he couldn't entirely explain, he felt as if he should know this man.
"Please, please, come in."
The house was a Spartan affair, which Clark chalked up to the family's nomadic lifestyle. He followed Lex, as the man talked to him as if he had known him for years.
"Thanks for having someone call us earlier to let us know you'd be delayed by the emergency. I trust you fixed whatever it was."
Clark nodded. "There was a fire in an abandoned warehouse.”
“No one was hurt, I hope?”
“No.”
“How did it catch fire then, if you don’t mind my asking?”
“The fire department suspects it may have been arson by the owner to collect insurance money."
Lex shook his head. "I simply cannot understand how people can be so greedy in this world. Burning your own property for money. It's just good to know no one was hurt. Can I get you anything to drink?"
"I'll have whatever you're having."
"Just tap water. I hope that's all right with you. Annie and I both agree that water's water. And compared to other places in this world, there is absolutely no reason why people need to spend any extra money on water when you can get it straight out of the tap. You know what I mean?"
Clark thought back to the large case of Polynesian water he had bought last week, suddenly feeling very guilty and unnecessarily extravagant. "Where is Annie?"
"She gives her regrets. Mary Beth Parker called at the last minute to ask if Annie could take over the women's Bible study group this evening. I got the full briefing, of course, so I should be able to answer any of your questions. Annie's the boss of the house, I just like to think of myself as a servant of God and his beautiful creature Annie."
Clark was rarely uneasy around people, but something about Lex Luthor made the invulnerable man's skin crawl. Lex quickly came back out with two glasses and handed one to Clark before motioning him to sit. Lex, meanwhile, put his glass down and picked up a small box of items near the fireplace.
"These are the things Wanda left behind," Lex explained as he handed them to Clark before sitting.
Clark did a quick survey of the box: two notebooks, a worn sweater, a pocket dictionary and a chipped coffee cup. Clark picked up the cup, looking at the CostMart logo.
"Wanda loved coffee. The amount she drank was nothing short of extraordinary. Annie and I were surprised when she left that mug."
"Where did she get it?"
"We gave it to her when she arrived." Lex took a sip of water.
Clark nodded. Lois loved coffee, and so did Wanda. "What about this dictionary?"
Lex chuckled. "Wanda was, well, for as good a writer as she was, she never could spell very well. Students corrected her quite a bit in the beginning, before they realized how much she disliked being ..." Lex paused. "There was a term she used."
"Corrected?"
"No, nothing like that. Something very unusual. Seems Annie's forgetfulness is becoming a family trait." The man chuckled. "What else do you want to know?"
"Did she tell you anything about her background?"
Lex shook his head. "No. She said she was from the East Coast of the U.S. and had decided she needed to travel for a while. She always talked about investigating the world. The way she talked and asked questions, Annie and I thought she was some type of undercover spy the first few weeks."
Clark froze. Undercover. Something clicked in his brain.
Further questions by Clark were cut off by the slam of a door and a young voice. "Mom! I'm home!"
Lex turned towards the voice. "LJ, come to the family room and meet our company, son."
A young boy, lanky and with his father's features, walked into the room. "Where's Mom?"
"She's at Bible study," Lex explained. "This is-"
"Superman!" LJ exclaimed as he took a good look at the visitor. He opened his mouth to say something further but closed it again as his eyes glazed over in awe.
"LJ, we've talked about this. He's only Superman in the suit. Right now he's Clark Kent, meaning he's an ordinary man just like anyone else. Treat him as such."
LJ recovered at this and extended his hand. "I'm sorry, Mr. Kent. It's an honor to meet you."
Clark took the young boy's hand. "It's nice to meet you."
"Mr. Kent, why are you here?" LJ looked at his father. "Are Poppa and Gran ok?"
"They're fine. Thinking about you and missing you just like always," Lex told his son. "Why don't you go get your homework done, so I can finish talking with Mr. Kent."
LJ nodded. "Nice meeting you, Mr. Kent. Will you tell me before you leave?"
"Absolutely."
LJ left and Lex watched him go before glancing at the reporter. "If you ever have the opportunity, Mr. Kent, have children. No fortune in the world could ever replace what it's like to be a parent."
Clark nodded, envying the man in front of him. "Why is he worried about his grandparents?"
"My parents. They're missionaries as well. I guess you could say it's our family business. Though they always pick the most dangerous places. It's amazing they haven't been killed. When I was five, they went on a mission and were held hostage for two months. It is still a miracle they survived. I often think I should have been an orphan."
Clark nodded, unsure what to say. Lex seemed to have realized what he had just said. "Excuse me. I spoke without thinking. I imagine growing up without parents to be one of the most traumatic experiences one could go through."
Clark nodded. "I'm sure you've seen quite a bit of suffering in your travels."
"I've been lucky. Annie and I are both educators, so we have the job of enriching young lives. My parents go to the areas that have been robbed of hope. The most important thing my parents ever taught me was the importance of lessening the suffering in other people's lives."
"They sound like wonderful people," Clark responded.
"The best. I don't know what would have become of me without them." Lex glanced to the mantle above the fireplace where Clark noticed a picture of an older couple sat. Given the strong resemble, Clark surmised them to be the Luthors.
"Enough of that, of course. You're hardly here to learn my life story. What else do you want to know about Wanda?"
~
An hour and much Superman gushing later, with little more learned about Wanda Detroit, Clark flew back to Metropolis with the box of Wanda's personal possessions. Glancing at his clock, he decided to call Perry.
"White residence."
"Hi Alice. It's Clark."
"Clark, it's nice to hear your voice. How are you doing?"
"I'm good, Alice."
"Are you sure? Perry told me about how you're looking for Lois. That has to be hard on you."
Clark sometimes forgot how close the Whites were. There was nothing one of them knew that the other did not. It made Clark's heart ache at times, watching the two of them interact and wishing he could have someone in his life to be his lover, confidante and best friend.
"It's actually going well. I think I may have found something."
Clark heard the mouthpiece become covered. "Perry, pick up the phone. It's Clark."
Moments later, Perry picked up another phone. "Clark, son, how are you?"
"Perry, there was a lead in finding Lois. But I'm not sure. Could we - "
"Clark," Alice cut in. "Why don't you come over for dinner tonight?"
"I don't mean to impose," Clark started.
"You'd never impose, Clark. If anything, we wish you'd impose a little more often."
"She's right, son. It's just the two of us rattling around in this big house anyway. We'd like the company."
"I'll be right over then."
Dinner at the mayor's residence was a simple affair. Perry, Alice and Clark discussed everything but the reason he had come that night or the small box sitting in the foyer. After the remains of an apple pie had been cleared, Alice disappeared upstairs momentarily with some mention of knitting a sweater for the baby Jerry's wife was expecting. Perry watched her leave.
"She started that sweater when I told her about that picture. Only time she ever knits is when something's bothering her. She wants to hear what you have to say, but she needs something to fiddle with first."
Moments later Alice returned with her knitting bag, which was overflowing with sea green yarn. "Does anyone want anymore coffee before I sit down?" Polite refusals were heard from both men.
"I take it you located the owner of that picture," Perry prompted.
Clark told them about Angela Martin, the Luthors and the box.
Alice shook her head. "It's almost too good to be true. Lois coming home after all this time."
"I'm not sure it is her."
"What do you mean son?"
"Her name was Wanda Detroit."
"So Wanda made a reappearance," Perry said as the hint of a smile began to creep onto his face. "I never thought it would happen again, but maybe she really is alive."
"What?"
"Lois used a large collection of aliases when she worked for the Daily Planet. Wanda was the first one she used out of college. She stopped using it after she realized an alias well-known around the newsroom wouldn't get her very far." Perry leaned forward in his chair. "Tell me about her."
"Well, they said she loved coffee and that she was a horrible speller."
Perry gave a short chortle. "Worst speller I've ever seen in a newsroom. If she hadn't brought in the amount of top-notch stories she did, she would have been back out on the street before the end of an Elvis movie. Thing was, she hated it. Always complained about being rewritten, even in the beginning when most cub reporters are trying their damnedest to impress every single person they come across. Not Lois. Right after she first started, I paired her with one of our veteran reporters, Claude. After they had finished writing a story and she had gone home for the night, he rewrote a section he thought needed help and corrected a few errors. When she noticed it in the next morning's edition, she walked into that newsroom and tore into him like he had stolen her story and taken the byline."
Alice smiled, segueing into another story. "The first time I met her, she was rushing out of the newsroom but wanted to stop and get a cup of coffee for the road. Someone had taken the last cup and neglected to start another pot. I had come over to get myself a cup and she looked at me and goes 'Start another pot. I don't have time for it and you don't look busy' and left. When she realized I was Perry's wife, she apologized but then told me I made better coffee than anyone else in the newsroom, so she didn't really feel bad." Alice smiled. "The thing was, she was never mean about any of it. Just always wore her emotions on her sleeve."
Clark noticed Alice stop knitting long enough to brush away a stray tear. Alice softly said, "Bring her home, Clark."
~
It was funny, really. Clark would even hesitate to call it ironic, though ever since the release of that song that talked of things that were ironic without actually being so, he had found his use of the word lessened considerably. He had had the biggest break in his investigation of Lois to date, and he was thinking of Lana. Even until the end, Lana had been capable of listening. When he had been in Belgrade, he had called her one night because of an impasse he had reached over a story about a recent fire in an orphanage. It was, and remained, the most expensive phone call he had ever made, but he had needed Lana's sensibility and take-no-prisoners attitude that night. She had talked him through the entire issue, helping him to see that he could use his own status as an orphan to help rather than hinder the story.
"Clark, I agree with you. I don't know why any editor would give you this type of story given your personal history. But he has, and maybe there's a reason. I did a story last week on a woman who lost both her children to a drive-by shooting. The thing is, she's a cop. And you know what she told me? The one thing she had learned after 15 years in the force was that life doesn't make sense. Things happen and the only thing you can do is find a way to extract some good out of a bad situation. She was staying with the police, because she felt like if she could make a little difference everyday, she had succeeded. That maybe this had happened because she was in a position to make the world a better place.
"That's what you have to do, Clark. Make the world a better place. Use what happened to you to understand these children and how hard it was for them to lose friends and what had become their home."
Clark was not entirely sure he had ever loved Lana more than at that point. Her assertive personality and larger-than-life approach often overshadowed the fact that she was very intuitive. She had done everything within her power to make him feel better, given her limited knowledge of the situation. He had neglected, of course, to tell her it was more than just the story: he had flown to London earlier that day and by the time he had returned, had been unable to stop the flames.
What would she tell him now? Tell him to take it slow, keep his patience. Ask him why this was so important.
He briefly debated calling Lana, though he somehow doubted telling her he was looking for the woman Lana blamed for their break up would be a good topic to breach. Desperate to cleanse his mind of the questions his talks with Lex and the Whites had created, Clark found a photo album of his relationship with Lana and lost himself in memories of a simpler time.
~
"Hello?"
"Hello Lex, this is Clark Kent."
"Clark, how are you?"
"Good. I have a question for you."
"Anything for the Luthor family's favorite Daily Planet reporter."
"When someone corrected Wanda's spelling, did she say that she hated being rewritten?"
There was a moment of silence. "Yes, yes, that was what she said. She didn't like to be rewritten." Lex laughed. "If I had any doubts before about you being one of the top investigative reporters in the business, I wouldn't now. I'm impressed, Clark. Very impressed."
"Thank you, Lex. Tell Annie and LJ I said hi."
"Will do. And stop by the next time you're in our neck of the woods, which we just found out, is about to be Mexico."
"Congratulations."
"Gracias. Annie and I are trying to brush up on our Spanish now. I'm afraid I'm still a little rusty."
"Good luck to both of you. And if I'm down in Mexico, I'll make sure to stop by."
"Sounds good, Clark. Well, God bless you in your quest to find Wanda," Lex said, the sincerity clear in his voice.
"You too," Clark replied before hanging up the phone.
"Mr. Kent?"
Clark turned to see one of the new assistants Cat had hired standing by his desk. It had become something of a non-topic of conversation that every single male office gofer Cat hired was, in addition to being incredibly well-qualified and intelligent, capable of having a second career as a Chippendale.
"Yes?"
"I have the information you wanted from Mr. Olson about the investigation. I got the name of the guy who was in charge of the case. I hope you don't mind, but I went ahead and left a message with his office about setting up an interview."
~
The office was littered with pictures of children and an attractive blonde woman Clark took to be the agent's wife. Sitting on the government-issue chair as he waited, Clark had plenty of time to familiarize himself with the office. One picture in particular had caught his attention: the blonde and the man in formal wear, arms around each other. Both smiled but neither looked exactly at the camera. Despite the obviously posed nature of the photo, it was apparent with even a passing glance that they had eyes for each other and no others. Clark seemed surrounded by couples in love and completely devoted to one another. He wondered if other single person had ever been surrounded by so many perfect relationships.
"May, honey, for the last time, I'm positive. Stop buying Rocky Road ice cream. I'm a chocolate man, plain and simple."
Clark turned to see a dark-haired man dressed in a conservative suit walk into the office, talking on a cell phone. Seeing Clark, he indicated he needed a minute.
"I know you have a lot more time since you stopped working for the DA. But ... that's fine, I appreciate the fact you've decided you want to be more assertive. No, I don't just appreciate you. You know I love you. Yes, I'll come home early tonight. I'll even make dinner. Listen, someone's here ... no I don't think less of you now that you're a stay-at-home mom. What would give you that idea? May, I love you and I'll talk to you later. No, I'm not marginalizing you. May, I have - fine, yes. That's fine. No, I'm not hurt. I know, you have a lot to get done. Finishing the conversation doesn't hurt my feelings. Yeah May, I love you too."
The man closed the flip phone and looked at Clark. "I love my wife, but the woman doesn't always check in with reality. Daniel Scardino."
End Part 7
Does this make me evil yet??
[
