Previously...
“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.
PART TEN
Miranda stroked her cat as she stared straight ahead, seething with anger.
It hadn’t been enough.
Spraying the entire newsroom with Revenge hadn’t been enough to convince him. She had *shown* him that ridiculous headline that the Planet had put out, and he still wasn’t convinced. And instead of *going* to the Planet to see for himself, he had spent all his time cuddled up with *that woman*, completely oblivious to the world around him.
No wonder things were going so poorly for him lately. If it wasn’t for that disgusting woman, then he would be right on top where he belonged.
“He’s just not thinking clearly,” Miranda whispered to the animal on her lap. “The Daily Planet stunt didn’t work, so I’ll just need something bigger to get his attention.”
And she had the perfect idea…
* * *
As soon as she woke up that morning, Lois realized that she had made a mistake. Sleeping for another ten years would be better than facing the hangover that she was now dealing with. What had she done last night to deserve this? Lois groaned, and rolled over in bed.
Then she stopped, running her fingers over the sheets. That wasn’t the pattern on her sheets. It looked more like the pattern on…
She sat bolt upright, the pounding in her head temporarily forgotten. What was she doing in Kal’s bed?
“Kal?” she called quietly. He didn’t seem to be anywhere in sight. And although she was thankful for that, she did want some answers.
“Kal?” she asked again, this time a little more loudly.
The door to his room opened, and Kal poked his head inside. “Lois?” he asked cautiously.
It looked almost like he was afraid of her. Something tickled in the back of her head, but she couldn’t quite grasp it. What exactly had happened last night? Suddenly, that question was much more important than before.
“Kal…” she groaned. This was far too much effort with the headache she was having.
“I’ll get you some water,” he told her, leaving the door ajar as he left.
“And at least three Tylenols,” she told the empty doorway.
The pills were soon pressed into her hand, and she gulped them down quickly. Even the sip of water helped to make her feel better, and she soon was able to push herself into a sitting position.
And that’s when she realized what she was wearing.
Or what she wasn’t wearing.
“Here,” Kal offered, holding a t-shirt out to her yet not making eye contact.
She slipped it on quickly, and then pulled the covers up to her chin.
“Kal…” She wasn’t really sure how to continue. How did she tell him that she had a big blank space in her memory before waking up here? Clearly she had done something very irresponsible beforehand.
Hadn’t she?
“Kal, do you have any idea what I’m doing here?” she finally burst out.
“You don’t remember?” he asked in surprise.
“No,” she spoke in a small voice.
“The newsroom at the Daily Planet was sprayed with a perfume,” he explained. “It made everyone feel as if they had fallen in love. Everyone acted very strangely, although I can see it’s worn off of you.”
A flash of memory hit Lois then. A mental picture of her on this bed amidst a sea of candles wearing one of Kal’s shirts. And conveniently forgetting to button that shirt. She looked up at Kal, and the look of discomfort he was giving her provided all the confirmation she needed.
She groaned. “Oh, Kal, I’m so sorry.”
“You were not in control,” he shrugged. “It is not your fault.”
The more she thought about it, the more she remembered the last two days. Including her embarrassing attempts last night to get Kal to sleep in the same bed as her while she had ‘forgotten’ where her pajamas were.
“I am going to get even with Miranda,” she growled. “Why on earth would she pull a stupid stunt like that? People might have gotten hurt!”
“We took the perfume to be analyzed, and the lab said it used an animal based pheromone to override a person’s inhibitions. I imagine there could be plenty of uses for something like that. She might have sprayed the Daily Planet simply as a test.”
“We’ll find out her motives,” Lois growled. “And then we’ll expose it all in the Planet.” Thinking of her reporting career gave Lois a fresh reason to groan. “Kal, I acted like an idiot at the *Daily Planet*,” she moaned.
“Everyone there was too busy with the pheromone’s effect on themselves to be paying attention to you,” Kal told Lois.
“Well, that still doesn’t make up for what I did to you,” Lois grumbled. “I’m must have made you so uncomfortable, Kal.”
Kal shook his head. “Lois, you did not-”
The phone rang.
Wincing at the noise, Lois reached over to grab it from its cradle.
“Hello?” she grunted.
“Lois!” Jimmy practically yelled through the line. “Turn on the TV! Now!”
“What channel?” she asked miserably.
“Doesn’t matter, she hijacked the broadcast system,” he replied, hanging up immediately.
Lois really didn’t want to get out of bed, but the urgency in Jimmy’s voice spurred her to get up and make it all the way to her bedroom, where she turned on the TV.
Miranda was on the screen, holding a pilot’s helmet and with a plane in the background.
“…staff of the Daily Planet has felt the effects of my one percent solution,” she was saying. “I am about to spray the entire city with the one hundred percent solution of my formula. This is to prove once and for all that my formula *is* functional. Unlike the diluted formula, the one hundred percent solution will have permanent effects.” She smiled wickedly.
“Kal…” Lois looked over her shoulder to see him standing in the doorway.
“I see her, Lois,” Kal replied. “She’s at the Metropolis airport, I think. I can stop her.”
With a spin and a blur, Kal was gone.
Lois turned back to the TV. Normally, she would be hopping in her Jeep to race over to the airport and nab an exclusive. But her head still hurt, and she wanted to wait for her medicine to kick in. Besides, she could easily get an exclusive interview with Superman later.
That is, if he was still willing to talk to her. Her cheeks flamed as she remembered some of her behavior while she was under the influence. She hadn’t taken no for an answer. Every second he had spent with her, he had been under constant attack. Now that he was gone, the memories seemed so much more mortifying. She remembered with painful clarity her desire to spend every waking moment with him, and how she was constantly touching him, in some ways more appropriate than others. There was probably more physical contact squished into that forty-eight hours than in the whole time she had known him.
The worst part about it was that she wasn’t even sure if he was attracted to humans. It was one thing to be shamelessly throwing herself at someone who might appreciate a part of it, even from an objective standpoint. It was another thing entirely to be throwing herself at someone who would have no appreciation for it whatsoever.
It seemed silly to her, but that’s just the way it was. Maybe it was a feminine pride thing.
Anyway, Kal had arrived at the scene, and had taken Miranda and tied her up to a chair, her hijacked broadcast still airing. Then he took the barrel of Revenge she had attached to her plane and flew it up out of the screen. He would probably throw it into space or something.
Kal reappeared in front of Miranda’s camera.
“The pheromone has been dispensed with,” he announced. “The police are on their way to the scene, and Miranda will be taken into custody. Everyone is perfectly safe.” His arm reached up to the side of the camera, and then the screen went blank.
Lois slumped in her bed.
Kal had saved Metropolis.
She should feel proud for him. This was the biggest thing he had done since his original appearance. But she couldn’t rise up from the narrow canyon where her self respect had buried itself. Soon, Kal was going to come home, and she would have to face him again.
Of course, if she was to go into the newsroom, then she wouldn’t have to see him. Sure, it was supposed to be her day off, but it was a big news day. Perry would probably be calling her in a few minutes, anyway.
In record time, she had dressed, brushed her teeth, and was out the door. She told herself that she was rushing so much because she wanted to get to the Planet quickly, but an annoying little voice kept insisting that it was because she wanted to avoid Kal.
No matter the reason, she was glad to come into the newsroom. As soon as she entered, she walked over to where Perry was standing with Jimmy and Cat.
“Hi, Lois,” Jimmy greeted her glumly.
“Jimmy, what’s wrong?” Lois asked with concern.
“Well, thanks to Miranda’s pheromone spray, I made an idiot of myself in front of April Stephens,” he replied. “Repeatedly.”
“You think that’s bad, son?” Perry asked. “I’ve got a sexual harassment charge to deal with, *and* I have to find a way to get out of Alice’s doghouse.”
“Well, I do have something that might make you feel better, Chief,” Lois offered. “I’ve got lab results of an analysis of Miranda’s perfume that will fit perfectly into a story.”
“That’s great, Lois,” Perry said, cheering up a little. “Friaz has got some interviews from the airport coming in, so can I get you two to put a story together?”
“Sure,” she nodded. As a general rule, she preferred to work alone, but she didn’t mind being partnered up occasionally. As long as it wasn’t too frequently.
“No one was able to get an interview with Superman, though,” Perry lamented. “If you’re at all able to work the same magic you did in order to get that first interview, I would be grateful.”
“I’ll have to see,” she replied. “No guarantees.” Especially if she was too embarrassed to talk to Kal ever again.
“That’s great, Lois.” Perry patted her on the back and walked away, Jimmy tagging along in his wake.
“So, did you actually have a good time while you were under the influence of that perfume, Lois?” Cat asked. “Something like that can only do someone like you good.”
Every instinct within her told her to keep quiet, but it seemed as if everyone had been embarrassed somehow through this whole fiasco.
“Nothing too exciting,” she told Cat. “I just embarrassed myself in front of a friend. Luckily he was a gentleman and didn’t take advantage of me.”
“A gentleman?” Cat asked with raised brows. “There’s no such thing, Lois. I’m thinking your friend there is gay.”
Or an alien, Lois added silently.
“I don’t think so,” she said out loud. “He’s probably just not attracted to me.”
“Ouch,” Cat winced.
“I guess the pheromone didn’t work out too well for you, either, huh?” Lois asked, remembering Cat’s brief appearance in the newsroom yesterday. That performance had probably been enough to scare Arthur Chow away from Metropolis for good.
“Didn’t work out?” Cat asked. “Are you kidding? It was the best thing that’s ever happened to me!”
“So Arthur…”
“Turns out he wasn’t after stability,” Cat replied with a smug grin.
Lois bit her tongue to keep from speaking. Hadn’t she been trying to convince Cat to act more like herself with Chow? But of course, Cat wouldn’t take that comment very well at all.
“I’m happy for you, Cat,” Lois said instead. “At least something good came out of this whole thing.”
“Oh, yes,” Cat purred. “Something *very* good, Lois.”
It didn’t take her long to type up the article with Eduardo. After that, she hung around the newsroom stalling until Perry forced her to leave.
“It’s supposed to be your day off!” he told her. “Now, I don’t want to see you again until tomorrow, you hear?”
Having no more distractions at work, Lois finally gave up and headed home. She couldn’t avoid talking to Kal indefinitely, and maybe getting it over with now would be better.
Yeah, right.
She entered her apartment with trepidation and Kal stood to greet her. Seeing him again brought back all of her painful memories from the last two days. She had really behaved terribly.
“I went over to the Planet,” she told Kal, not able to make eye contact with him.
“I thought that is what you would do,” Kal replied. “It was either that or I would meet you at the airport, with you demanding an interview.”
“Well, one of the reporters working today was there anyway. You didn’t give him an interview, though.”
“Maybe I am only comfortable with talking to you,” Kal suggested.
Lois didn’t respond, not really in the mood for those types of sentiments, even if Kal only meant them in friendship.
“Miranda was taken into custody,” Kal spoke, trying again to make conversation. “Hopefully they will find out more about her motives when they question her.”
Lois nodded, still not looking at him.
“Do you still have a headache?” Kal asked with concern.
She nodded brusquely. It was a good excuse for not talking to him.
“Lois, are you sure you are okay?” Kal asked, not letting her off the hook with her pretend headache.
“Fine,” she replied. But realizing this wasn’t going to get Kal off her case, she tried to think of something else to say. “Uh, so I noticed that you were handling that big barrel of pheromone. You weren’t affected by that at all were you?”
“No,” he shook his head. “It must be part of being invulnerable. I don’t feel anything.”
“Of maybe you’re just not attracted to anyone here,” she suggested lightly. “Remember what the guys at the lab said? There has to be some sort of base attraction in order for the pheromone to work.”
There was an uncomfortable silence. Why did she have to bring something like that up? All it made her think of was her desperate attempts to get closer to him yesterday.
“That… would not be the issue,” Kal finally said.
Lois looked up in surprise. To her disbelief, Kal was blushing, and didn’t seem to want to look her in the eye.
“Oh,” she replied, a little pleased to hear this. Maybe she didn’t have to be as humiliated after all.
“Lois?” Kal asked after a pause.
“Yeah?”
“Does that… matter to you? Attraction?”
“Well, I guess I just thought that maybe you weren’t attracted to humans,” she replied, a little embarrassed now. “I don’t know what women looked like on Krypton, and sure you look like a typical male, but that doesn’t mean everyone on Krypton was like that. Maybe you were some kind of freak.” She froze in horror as she realized what she had said. “Not that you’re a freak or anything. Just that… I mean… Well… Or maybe there’s some kind of subtle difference that I haven’t picked up on but that you can’t stop noticing because your senses are so much more perceptive than mine. Or maybe…
“But that’s really none of my business,” she finally spoke, shaking her head.
Kal stared at her, still openly processing what she had just said. Then he spoke into the silence.
“Lois?”
“Yeah?”
“I do find humans to be attractive. But for a while I thought that wasn’t true,” he confessed. “Kryptonian females are very similar to human females, but I still thought there was a difference, somehow. But when you were under the influence of the pheromone, I realized that there is no difference, really. At least not in any way that matters for this issue.”
“So are you saying… That you liked what you saw?” Lois asked curiously. She had no clue why she was pushing with issue so much. Was some of the pheromone was still in her or something? There had to be some excuse for her acting this crazily.
“I…” Kal scratched the back of his head nervously. “Well, yes, I… I did. But Lois, nothing is ever going to happen between us in that regard.” He winced. “That sounded cruel. I am sorry-”
“No, don’t worry about it, Kal. I wasn’t really expecting… You know, my question was just out of curiosity.”
“Okay,” he nodded.
“Just… How can you be so sure?” she pushed further. “That’s a pretty definitive statement, so you must have a reason…”
“I do. Lois, I am not interested in romance with anyone here on Earth.”
“But… You said there’s attraction…”
“Yes, there is that. But I can’t ignore the reason why I was sent here.”
“The reason?” she asked with curiosity. Up until now, she had thought that he was sent here because it was the only planet his parents knew of that he could live on.
Kal sighed. “My parents sent me here with the hope that I would use my abilities to help people here on Earth. They knew that the yellow sun would give me these strange abilities, and they hoped that I would use them for the greater good. A romantic relationship would only distract me from that purpose.”
“So… They wanted you to spend the rest of your life basically being a slave to people here on Earth?” She frowned at the thought. “They didn’t want you to have a life of your own?”
“Lois, the people of Earth have given me *life*,” Kal argued with sudden heat. “Without this planet I would be as dead as… as everyone else I knew.”
Lois knew she should stop there. She knew that pushing him further would only upset him and wouldn’t help. He *never* talked about his life before he came here, and she could see that even the little he was sharing was almost too much for him to handle.
She saw all this, and yet she didn’t stop.
“Kal, you don’t need to *pay* anyone here,” she told him. “You’re not an indentured servant. You can have a life.”
“And romance?” he asked accusingly. “Is that what this is really about, Lois? You must have some sort of base attraction to me as well. Is that what you are really asking?”
“Yeah, that’s what I’m ultimately after,” she said sarcastically. “Who wouldn’t want a relationship with a moody alien who has such severe survivor’s guilt and PTSD and whatever else that the thought of living a life is just too terrible for him to comprehend.”
“Human psychology will not work on me, Lois,” Kal snapped. “I am not human, remember?”
“How could I ever forget that?” she replied. “You’re always so-”
*ring*
Lois stopped mid-sentence.
*ring*
“Are you going to answer it?” Kal asked.
Lois wordlessly snapped up the phone.
“What?” she demanded.
As she listened to her source speak, the energy she felt drained from her.
“Okay,” she replied softly. “Thanks.”
She hung up.
“What is it?” Kal asked.
“That was a contact of mine at the police station,” she told Kal. “Miranda’s dead.”
