Previously...
He wanted to say something. He wanted to ask her why she was doing this.
But everything seemed to be blocked out by her smell, her touch, and…
Those lips. So close to him, he could almost taste them. What would that be like? he wondered.
There was only one way to find out…
PART NINE
Kal was so close to her that she could sense his every move. There was a channel of energy between them that seemed to pulsate with every breath. He brought up a hand that brushed her hair back from her cheek, and then moved to cup the back of her head. She watched him come even closer to her, and yet she waited. Although she wanted nothing more than to reach out and drag him onto the bed, she waited for him make the move. Just before their lips met, his eyes flicked up to meet hers.
And that’s when he pulled away.
“Lois?” he asked, his eyes searching her face.
“Why did you stop, Kal?” she complained. “Just when I thought things were going pretty good…”
Kal looked at her for one more confused moment, and then raced out of the room, going so fast that he blew out half the candles.
Lois sank back onto the bed, drawing the shirt closed across her. What had happened there?
* * *
Something was going on with Lois, Kal decided as he flew as far away from her apartment as possible. He noticed as soon as he looked into her eyes. They were hazy. Unfocussed. Glassy.
He was upset with himself for not noticing it sooner. He should have noticed as soon as he saw her. Of course she had done an admirable job in distracting him. He hadn’t realized before just how attracted he could be to someone from Earth. After all, they weren’t technically the same species. But she had certainly smashed through those concerns. The image of her illuminated by the candlelight was still very present in his mind…
Kal shook his head sharply. It wasn’t right for him to think about that picture. She obviously wasn’t thinking clearly when she presented herself like that, and to dwell on it would be a violation of her privacy.
But what was wrong with her? His knowledge of Earth health problems was too limited to really tell. He would have to ask someone, and since Lois was out of the question, that left him with one more option.
Angling himself towards the west, Kal began to fly towards the Kent farm for the second time that day.
* * *
Lois woke up the next morning full of the energy that only true love can give someone. Last night hadn’t gone as well as she had hoped, and she had fallen asleep before Kal had gotten back. But today gave her another chance, and she wasn't going to let it slip through her fingers. Kal had to have come back by now.
She threw off the covers and padded out of the room, in search of her missing roommate. And she didn’t have to go far to find him. He was stretched out across her sofa, hovering just above the cushions.
He was sound asleep, with his mouth hanging just a little bit open. His hand fell across his face, and Lois took a moment to admire the grooves that traveled across his palm. She loved those hands, and everything else about him.
Kal looked so beautiful in his sleep, and she almost didn’t want to wake him up. But she also knew that it would be much better to spend time with him while he was awake. Leaning over the back of the sofa, Lois placed her mouth right by his ear, and whispered into it.
“I missed you last night.”
“Lois!” Kal jumped up from the sofa and stumbled across the room.
“You didn’t come home,” she pouted.
“I went to go visit Martha and Jonathan,” he replied, staring fixedly at the wall behind her rather than actually looking at her.
“You already visited with them all day yesterday,” she told him, taking a moment to stretch her morning sleepiness away. “Why did you have to go see them last night?”
“Because,” he replied, slowly inching along the wall to get even further away from her. “Lois, something is wrong with you.”
“There’s nothing wrong with me, Kal. I feel wonderful!” she announced. Finally having enough of the distance between them, she sprang towards him.
He caught her wrists neatly with one hand and held her away from him. “Lois, you don’t realize this, but you are acting very strangely,” he insisted. “The Kents think you may have been drugged.”
“The only drug I have is love,” she insisted. “Oh, Kal, I don’t know why it took me so long to realize this. Let’s not waste another moment!”
“Lois!” Kal exclaimed, pushing her back once again. “You may not realize it, but there is something wrong with you! Now, I’ve talked it over with Jonathan and Martha, and they think it’s probably best for you to go stay with them until I can figure out more about this. You will be safer there.”
The thought of spending another second away from Kal was unbearable.
“Don’t do that, Kal, please,” she begged him, stroking his chest. “Let me stay with you. I can help you get to the bottom of this. I can be useful, I promise.”
Kal looked her straight in the eye with scrutiny.
“Well, to be honest, you would be a big help,” he replied. “I am not sure how to go about this.”
“Oh, this is wonderful!” She threw her arms around him, and sighed happily at their closeness.
Until Kal pulled her off again. “But I can’t take you out in public if you are acting like this,” he told her.
She couldn’t have him leave her here!
“Oh, I’ll be good,” Lois promised. “Kal, whatever you want me to do, I’ll do it. As long as I can be close to you the whole time. And when I say whatever…” she couldn’t help adding coyly, “I mean *whatever*.”
“Yes, I understand that,” Kal replied, grimacing. “Okay, first of all, I need you to get dressed.”
“You don’t like the shirt?” she asked, a little wounded. She had tried so hard last night to find something to wear that would appeal to him.
“No, it’s wonderful,” Kal replied gently. “But it’s not something that you would want to wear at the Daily Planet, is it?”
“The Daily Planet?” she asked blankly.
“Yes. I thought that would be a good place to start. That is where you were all day yesterday, right?”
“Yes,” she replied. “Good thinking, Kal. You’re *so* good at this!”
“Thank you,” he smiled. “Now go get dressed, please.”
“Don’t you want to come with me?” she asked.
“What? No, of course not!”
“Well, how else will I pick something out that you’ll like?” she asked innocently.
“Lois, whatever you choose to wear will be wonderful,” Kal replied.
“Are you sure?” she asked him.
”Yes,” he sighed. “Positive. As long as you are covered, I will be happy with it.”
* * *
Kal leaned against the wall of the Planet elevator in exhaustion. Handling Lois had been even more challenging than he thought it would be. Not only was she under the delusion that they were both deeply in love, she didn’t seem to take no for an answer. Once again, he was questioning the wisdom of keeping her with him rather than depositing her with the Kents.
But he did need her help with this. Without her, he would be at a complete loss. And judging by what he knew of her character, he thought that she would be embarrassed to have the Kents witness her exhibiting this strange behavior. She would probably be embarrassed that he witnessed it as well, but at least this way her embarrassment would be kept to a minimum.
Delicate fingers reached over and brushed against his hand.
“Lois, what did I say about that?” he warned.
“Can’t I just hold your hand?” she asked, nearly begging. “That’s all I want, honest.”
Sighing in resignation, Kal wrapped his fingers around hers. Flying over here had been equally challenging, but Kal didn’t trust Lois to be focussed enough to drive, so they didn’t have any choice. She had held herself very close to him the entire flight, and Kal had struggled to remain focused. He couldn’t deny the physical attraction between the two of them, although as the only sober one he had to take the responsibility of keeping them on track. So he had firmly told her that she had to keep physical contact to a minimum.
He tried to ignore how deprived he was feeling because of that.
Lois rested her head against Kal’s chest and gave a sigh of contentment. “Isn’t this nice, Kal?” she asked.
“Yes. Very nice,” he replied distractedly. “But you have to remember to call me Clark here, okay?”
“Okay,” she agreed, her voice muffled by his clothing.
He hoped that she wouldn’t slip up. They were walking into a room full of reporters, and he was sure that they would be suspicious of the slightest mistake. After all, if they were at all like Lois-
He stopped suddenly, realizing what he was doing. How could he be worried about Lois’ embarrassment in front of the Kents, and not even think about her embarrassment in front of her colleagues? It would be far worse!
But going to the Daily Planet would be useless without Lois. The whole point of this was for them to see if there were any clues as to what happened. He wouldn’t know what was out of the ordinary if he didn’t have Lois with him.
Well, as long as she behaved somewhat decently, he could cover up the rest by just playing along, he decided. Not that he enjoyed lying. It was just the only way to preserve Lois’ reputation.
But even then, his plan seemed to have shaky construction. He didn’t have much more time to think about it before the elevator door opened into the newsroom.
As it turned out, however, his worries were unfounded. He wasn’t sure how newsroom normally operated, but he guessed that this was not it.
The entire room was filled with red, white, and pink balloons. No one seemed to be working at their desks, and after one unfortunate eyeful, Kal averted his gaze from any corners or secluded areas.
“Jimmy?” Lois was looking at a young man with dark hair approaching the elevator.
“Lois, I’m off to find April,” he announced with determination.
“Good luck!” she called. “Isn’t this wonderful, Ka- uh…” She giggled. “I mean *Clark*.” She patted him on the chest.
“What happened here?” Kal asked as they walked down the ramp.
“Love, obviously, silly,” she told him.
Whatever was affecting Lois was also affecting the rest of the newsroom. That would have to be the obvious answer.
“Okay, Lois, can we sit down at your desk and talk this out?”
“Of *course*.” She led them over to a desk that was neatly kept with the exception of a dead plant placed by the monitor.
Kal took the seat he was offered gratefully, although he was shocked when Lois chose to sit on his lap rather than in her own chair. Of course, given her behavior today, he shouldn’t have been surprised.
“Okay,” he spoke, trying valiantly to avoid the distraction in his arms. “We need to determine what happened here that could cause all of this. Can you walk me through your day here?”
“Well… It was a *really* boring day,” she told him, tracing a pattern with her finger along his arm. “That’s why I came home early to wait for you.”
“Lois, can you please focus?” he asked in exasperation. “Something very strange is going on here and we need to get to the bottom of it.”
“Fine,” she sighed. “If you say so.”
“Did anything happen that was out of the ordinary?”
“We had some people come in to promote some kind of perfume,” she remembered.
“Great!” Could perfume cause this type of thing? It seemed unlikely, but Kal was willing to take anything he could get at this point.
“It wasn’t all that great,” she replied, wrinkling her nose. “There was one woman who sprayed us with this *awful* sample. It smelled disgusting.”
“Was she with the rest of the promoters?” Kal asked, becoming curious.
“I don’t think so,” Lois shrugged. “Cat said… Cat! Hi!”
Kal groaned at the distraction and turned to see a thoroughly mussed woman rushing towards a desk. The woman knelt by a drawer and began rooting through it frantically.
“I can’t talk now, Lois,” she spoke, hardly looking up. “I need to get back to Arthur. Do you think the purple one is okay?” She held up a small lace garment for inspection.
Kal blushed at what he saw, but was not about to be distracted. “Wait! Uh… Cat!” he called. “Do you remember anything about a woman who was spraying a bad smelling perfume around the newsroom yesterday?”
“Oh, yeah,” Cat rolled her eyes. She threw the purple garment back and began to dig through the drawer again. “Talk about bad odor. Hey, remember how I said that she wasn’t a real perfumer, Lois?”
“Yeah,” Lois replied, uninterested.
“Well, it turns out I was wrong,” Cat shrugged. “I remember seeing her in the latest Vogue. Miranda something. Anyway, she may be a real perfumer, but her latest is a real dud. Now, *here’s* the black one!” Cat lifted the garment up in triumph. “Got to go, kids. I’ve got someone waiting for me downstairs.”
“Lois, I bet that Miranda has something to do with what’s happening here,” Kal shared as Cat ran off. “Is there anyway we can find out how to contact her?”
“Whenever I want to find out someone’s address I just ask Jimmy,” Lois shrugged. “But I think he’s busy right now. Pursuing his true love.”
“Poor girl,” Kal muttered. “How about that magazine that… uh… ‘Cat’ was talking about. Is there any way we could buy a copy?”
“We won’t need to,” Lois shrugged. “Cat always has the current ones in her desk.” She hopped off Kal’s lap and walked over to Cat’s desk. The magazine was in the top drawer, so Lois was able to easily find it and deliver it to Kal. Then she settled herself back onto his lap.
Using a judicious amount of speed, Kal flipped through the magazine until he found a perfume ad featuring someone called Miranda.
“Is this the woman you saw?” he asked Lois, showing her the picture.
“Yes!” she exclaimed. “That’s her.”
“Great. There’s even an address there for her shop. We can go talk to her.” He started to stand up.
“Wait! Clark!” Lois exclaimed before she was dumped off his lap.
“What, Lois?”
“We can’t just go in and ask her what she’s up to,” Lois told him. “We have to be more…” she leaned in closer to Kal’s ear, “secretive than that,” she whispered.
He gently pushed her back. “What do you mean?”
“We need a cover,” she explained, playing with the knot of his tie. “You can be my boyfriend searching for the perfect fragrance for me while I can be your girlfriend who is just *all over* you the whole time.”
Kal hesitated. This sounded like a ploy of Lois’ to increase the level of physical contact between them. However she was more knowledgeable in this type of thing, so perhaps he should bow to her expertise.
“All right,” he finally agreed. “We will pretend to be a boyfriend and girlfriend. As long as you do not get too distracted, Lois. I need you to be focusing on this, okay? Lois?”
She pulled her head up from the crook of his neck. “Yeah, Clark. I’m focused.”
“Right,” Kal sighed. This trip was going to be interesting.
* * *
Miranda’s perfume shop was a tiny little store tucked away amongst a strip of shops that all had the same quaint, artsy charm. Luckily, Kal had no problem in finding it. The shop was the source of a bewildering mixture of different smells, blended together in a way that made them hardly recognizable.
As they entered, a bell above the door tinkled and the woman from the magazine ad came out from behind the desk.
“Looking for something in particular?” she asked.
Kal didn’t miss the look of recognition that Miranda gave Lois.
“Something for my girlfriend,” he spoke, keeping an arm around Lois.
Lois giggled appropriately.
“Have we met before?” Miranda asked Lois.
“You were in the newsroom yesterday,” Kal spoke up.
“Oh, yes. Promoting my new perfume. ‘Revenge’.” She didn’t give anything away in her words, but Kal caught her gaze moving sideways and landing on a large atomizer sitting by itself on a shelf.
“Lois just loved it,” Kal told Miranda, ignoring Lois’ roaming fingers that were perfectly in character for a woman ‘all over’ her boyfriend. “Is there any way we could purchase a bottle?”
“Unfortunately, no,” Miranda spoke. “The formula isn’t perfected yet. Would anything else interest you? How about my ‘Jungle Passion’? Pure white petals, picked from a flower grown only in Micronesia.”
She turned to get the bottle, and Kal took that opportunity to zip over and nab the atomizer she had been watching before.
“No, thank you,” he replied once she had turned around. “We’ll just have to wait until ‘Revenge’ is perfected.”
They exited the shop together.
“We didn’t get much information,” Lois spoke glumly as they walked down the street together.
“Not information,” Kal spoke. “But I did get this.” He drew the atomizer out of his pocket.
Lois’ eyes lit up. “That’s what she was spraying yesterday! Oh, Kal, you did it!”
Before he could stop her, she landed a kiss square on his lips.
His steps faltered, and they stopped on the sidewalk.
He gently pulled them apart.
“Yeah, I found it,” he spoke huskily. He cleared his throat. “Now we need to take this to get it analyzed. I want to know what’s in this. Do you know somewhere we can go?”
“Yep,” Lois nodded happily. “There’s a lab I know. C’mon, flyboy, we’ve got to get to the alley. I’ll give you directions from the air.”
As Kal allowed himself to be dragged off to the alley, he fervently hoped that the perfume would either wear off on its own or the lab would have a solution. He wasn’t sure how much more of this he could take.
