Thanks to the usual suspects
.
Last time:
She hopped down off the bed and stormed back into the living room. "Don't lie to me, Clark. I know we're not conventional and that as soon as one of us gets around to calling a lawyer, we're getting a divorce, but you *promised* me before the whole 'let's get married' debacle that you'd *never* cheat on your wife. And, sure, we're not some long term love story, but I can*not* believe that you'd cheat on me. Once the divorce goes through, I don't care what or who you do, but until then, you better not or it *will* come up with my lawyer. And it's not like I expect some big settlement or something like that since you haven't held a job down for more than ten minutes since you were in high school, but if you're cheating on me, so help me, I'll get every dime I can for me and the baby. And it's not like I *care* who you're doing at this point, but seeing you dancing with *Cat* or whoever it was was one thing because for all I knew you didn't even remember I existed, but after everything you said that day to cheat on me when you know I'm around and with someone I know and detest..." Her voice finally trailed off as the tears took over.
He stared at her, mouth ajar, as she ranted. "Lois, I’m not cheating on you," he finally managed to get out as her tirade ended.
"You're not?"
He could see the trails of hot tears streaming down her cheeks. "No, I'm not," he told her quietly. "I wouldn't. Regardless of the circumstances, I meant what I said. I'd never cheat on my wife."
The closet slid open. "Wife? Married? Baby?" his guest asked.
Lois and Clark turned in unison and it was Lois' turn to have her jaw drop.
"Perry?" she whispered.
Chapter 13She looked at Clark, tears streaming down her cheeks. It wasn't that she really cared who he slept with – she told herself that over and over, hoping eventually she'd believe it – but *Linda*? And after all the sweet things he'd said after they first met about how not all men would cheat and how he'd never cheat. And even though she hadn't told him the *whole* story about the men in her past, he knew enough to know that fidelity was important to her.
"Lois, I'm not cheating on you," he told her quietly.
She didn't bother to swipe at her cheeks. "You're not?"
"No, I'm not. I wouldn't I meant what I said. I'd never cheat on my wife."
She turned as the door to the closet opened slowly. The closet. Why hadn't she thought to look in the closet?
"Wife? Married? Baby?" She heard the familiar voice before she saw the beloved face.
Her jaw dropped and she was sure the color drained out of her face. "Perry?" she whispered.
"Hey, darlin'."
She glanced at Clark who had shoved his hands in his pockets and wasn't looking at either of them.
"What are you doing here?"
He stepped out of the closet, walking towards her as he spoke. "I still can't offer Clark a full-time job, but he is working for us right now. Undercover at the Star to see if we can figure out why they're getting all those stories lately."
"That's what you were talking about in your office."
Perry nodded before enveloping her in his arms. "Why didn't you tell me, Lois?"
She rested her head against the chest of the only real father figure she'd ever had. "Because it was some variation on drunk in Vegas and I figured I'd hear from his lawyer at any time and I just threw myself into my work trying to get you to notice my investigative skills and then when you sent me to Kansas I found out I was pregnant. I stopped in Smallville to tell Clark and he showed up on my doorstep a few days later." She pulled away, finally wiping at her cheeks. "Jimmy's finding me a lawyer so..."
She didn't look at Clark when she said that. She was sure he'd be relieved, but she didn't need to see that. "So, about this whole investigation thing... Is Linda in on it? I'd bet she is."
"I don't think so," Clark said. "Carpenter calls to check and see where she is and then *bam*. Something newsworthy happens. Like that elevator yesterday."
"The one Superman saved?" Perry asked.
Clark nodded. "That's the one. The Orani Jewels thing today. She said that he always checks up on her but also that he's hitting on her constantly. I don't think she's involved."
Lois sat in one of the big chairs. "So how do we prove it?"
"I haven't gotten that far yet," Clark admitted, sitting in the chair opposite her while Perry took a spot on the couch. "But he's had opinion pieces in the same edition as Linda's stories for a couple weeks. There was one in today's paper about stricter building regulations, the same edition that had the elevator story."
An idea was beginning to percolate in Lois' head, but she decided to keep it to herself until it was more fully fleshed out. Perry and Clark tossed around a few ideas, but she couldn't bring herself to brainstorm with them.
"Listen," she finally said. "I'm going home. I'm tired and hungry..."
"I've got some food in the fridge if you want it," Clark told her, standing and heading towards the kitchen. "Lasagna?"
Her stomach rumbled. "That sounds good," she admitted.
He dished some up and put it in the microwave.
Perry stood. "I don't think there's much more we can do here tonight. Keep me posted, Clark." He looked pointedly at her. "You and I are going to have a little talk later, Lois."
Fat chance. She'd avoid him. "Night, Perry."
He left as Clark took the dish out and handed it to her with a fork. "Would you like something to drink?"
"Do you have cream soda by any chance?"
"No. Sorry. I can go get you some..." His voice trailed off.
She shook her head. "No thanks. Water's fine."
She was pleasantly surprised by how good the lasagna was. "Did you make this?"
"Yeah." There was a long silence as she ate. "What were you talking about when you got here?"
"What?" she asked, scraping together one more bite.
"You barged in here asking what the hell was I thinking, but you weren't thinking about another woman at that point. What was it?"
"Right. Giving yourself an interview. What were you thinking?" She set her dish on the side table and pulled her legs into the chair with her, wrapping herself in the blanket that had been thrown over it.
He sighed. "I know. I was trying to cover with Linda about where I'd been and it just sort of came out that I'd talked to him. She was so excited that she gave me this huge hug and wouldn't let go of my arm."
So that was what she'd seen as she'd pulled away from the press conference. She leaned her head back against the chair and closed her eyes. His chair really was much more comfortable than her couches.
"My folks want me to bring you out to meet them," he said suddenly.
Her eyes flew open. "What?" She looked at him, surprised.
"I talked to my mom earlier. They want to meet their daughter-in-law, even if you won't be that officially for long, and the mother of their grandchild."
"Oh."
"Heck, you might have run into them at the fundraiser."
"I guess it's possible. I have no idea what they look like, though, and they wouldn't have known me."
"They've seen your picture."
"They have?"
He nodded. "The, um, the hotel gave us a wedding album."
"They did?"
"Yeah."
"Do you have it?"
He headed for the bedroom part of the apartment, returned a moment later and handing the small album to her.
She stared at the picture on the front for a long moment. "Not how I pictured my wedding attire."
Clark chuckled. "My friend, Pete, gave me a hard time about that. He's Smallville's only lawyer so I went to talk to him a couple weeks later. He tried to get a copy of our marriage license but it's impossible to get one from Arkansas without knowing the bride's last name. He said that surely I could have found some store in town to get a better shirt and not wear a John Deere shirt and a flannel to get married."
She shrugged. "I don't think we really cared."
"No," he said quietly, not looking at her. "At that point all we cared about was a preacher, I think."
Something had been niggling at the back of her mind for a few days. "Um, I can see how I could have been drugged or something. I mean, I don't know who would have or why and I know you didn't and I don't know what purpose it would have served or anything like that, but aren't you supposed to be invulnerable or something?"
"I don't understand it. I've never found anything that's affected me. I mean, I even tried to get drunk once in college and nothing. I never tried drugs or anything like that, but there wouldn't have been a point. I *do* know that I don't remember much from the time we left the bookstore until we got to the room and that I had a huge headache the next morning... and I don't remember the last time I had a headache."
"I had a headache, too. I went back to my room and slept for about eight hours."
"I slept until about ten-thirty, I think. My head still hurt but not as badly and then I saw the ring and started to remember."
She couldn't help but yawn again as she started to flip through the pictures. "We look happy," she finally said.
"We do."
She could feel her eyelids start to droop a bit as she flipped to the next page. She needed to get up, to go home, but that would take more energy that she suddenly realized she didn't have. She felt... drained.
She turned the page to see a picture of the two of them, Clark behind her holding her close to him. Both of them had their eyes closed and his face was buried in her hair. They both looked so... happy, content.
Lois closed her eyes again, willing another bout of tears to stay where they belonged. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, letting the photo album slip onto the chair next to her.
Before she knew what was happening, Clark had scooped her carefully into his arms.
"What're you doing?" she asked, even as she rested her head against him.
"Putting you to bed. Don't worry. I'll take the couch."
"I'm not going to kick you out of your own bed," she murmured half-heartedly. "I can go home."
"You're in no shape to drive home." He set her gently on the bed, pulling the covers up over her.
"Don't leave me," she practically sighed, burrowing under the covers, glad that she'd changed into a pair of leggings and a long T-shirt before she'd come over.
A minute later, she felt the other side of the bed depress as Clark slipped in behind her. Instinctually, she snuggled back into him and felt his arm wrap around her as she slipped into sleep.
*****
Clark carried Lois towards his bedroom, wondering if it was a good idea to put her in his bed or if he should just fly her home. Finally, he decided that his bed was probably the best option and that he'd take the couch.
"Don't leave me," she breathed as he set her down.
Did she want him to sleep with her? Could he trust himself?
It was only a few seconds before he'd decided that not leaving her was part of the whole 'if you need anything' thing. A minute later, he slid into the bed, careful to keep a reasonable difference between them.
That effort was foiled when Lois moved back to settle in against him. Of its own volition, his arm went around her and pulled her closer.
It was a matter of moments before her even breathing told him that she was asleep. Secure in the knowledge that she'd never know, he pressed a kiss against the back of her head.
It wasn't long before he joined her in sleep.
It was several hours later when he jolted awake.
Clark found himself sitting straight up in his bed, alert to any signs of danger or intruders or...
Lois.
She was gone.
He felt the other side of the bed to find that it was cold. "Lois?" There was no sound of her heartbeat anywhere in the vicinity.
He told himself that she was probably fine. She'd just woken up and decided to go home. That was it.
But just to be sure...
He quickly donned the Suit and took to the air off the balcony. In seconds, he was hovering over Lois' apartment to find that Lucy was there but that there was no sign of Lois.
The uneasy feeling wouldn't go away.
He headed towards the Daily Planet but she wasn't there either.
A thought suddenly occurred to him and he turned towards the Star.
There was activity in Preston Carpenter's office. Hovering high overhead, he felt no moral compunction about eavesdropping.
~*~
"Where is she?" Carpenter asked the thug.
"Somewhere no one will find her until after the incident."
~*~
Incident? What incident? And who was 'she'? Unless his instincts were very wrong, 'she' was Lois and she was in danger of some kind.
~*~
"Is everything set?" Carpenter sounded vaguely threatening.
"Everything's ready."
"And the sharpshooter?"
~*~
Clark's stomach dropped. Sharpshooter? Whatever it was, it was big.
He watched the two of them head for the door, but stop as it opened.
This time it was his jaw that dropped as Linda walked in the room.
*~*
"Is the bitch taken care of?" she asked.
*~*
Clark's eyes narrowed. There was only one person she could be talking about.
~*~
Carpenter's arms went around her. "She's a brilliant investigator, dear. I don't see why you two couldn't get along and you could have pulled her in here where I could control her."
"Control her like you try to control me?" Linda asked, ice in her voice. "Believe me, Lois isn't nearly enough woman for you."
"And how would you know that?"
Linda smiled, a cold, hard smile, as she fiddled with Carpenter's tie. "Let's just say her college boyfriend needed a little more of a woman. Rumor around the newsroom at the campus paper was that he spent two weeks in her bed trying to teach her even the basics, but she couldn't even handle that. Of course, he was being kept perfectly satisfied elsewhere because she'd made him wait more than three months. The bitch had the nerve to be mad at *me* because she couldn't keep him satisfied."
~*~
Clark's fists were clenched and it was all he could do not to fly down there and tell Linda exactly what he thought of her – while flying with her dangling by her belt over the Arctic Ocean.
The thug looked uncomfortable as the other two started... The first phrase that came to mind was 'making out' but that seemed too polite as Carpenter pushed her up against the wall.
Clark continued to watch until the thug left and the other two stumbled towards Carpenter's desk.
He really wanted to throw up but decided that following the thug was a better use of his time. The thug headed to the World Club located on the top floor of the building and Clark watched him from his spot in the night sky as the thug entered, heading for the now-vacant kitchen. He used his vision to scan around.
His heart nearly stopped when he saw her.
She was unconscious in the walk-in refrigerator. The thug walked in and, grabbing the fire ax, took aim at a metal tube. The clanging sound caused Lois to stir, but not wake.
A couple of well-placed blows later, Freon poured into the enclosed space.
"Breathe deeply," the thug growled, locking the refrigerator behind him.
Clark had been scouting the roof at the same time and he yanked open the door to the stairwell without bothering to land. A bare second later, he was pulling the freezer door off its hinges. He twisted the pipe so it was no longer spewing the deadly substance before breathing in as much as he could and swallowing it.
He knelt at her side, lifting her off the ground and cradling her in his arms. "Lois?"
Nothing.
"Lois, come on. Wake up."
There was still no sign of her waking, so he scooped her into his arms and flew her to the hospital where she'd gone for her doctor's appointment.
Gasps went up around the emergency room as he strode confidently in, doing his best to keep his face stoic.
"Superman!" The nurse behind the desk was in awe. "Can we help you?"
"This woman has been unconscious for a period of time – I'm not certain how long. I do know that she probably received a blow to the head and inhaled some Freon. And she's pregnant – nearly four months, I believe. Her name is Lois Lane."
A gurney appeared from nowhere and he set her gently on it.
"We've got it from here," a doctor told him as they headed towards the rooms. "Do you know who her husband is?"
He nodded. "Clark Kent. I'll see if I can find him."
The doctor nodded his thanks as the doors swung closed behind them.
Clark was torn. Part of him wanted to return in about thirty seconds as Clark. The rest of him thought that getting Carpenter and Linda and anyone else responsible was the better plan. He'd listened to the baby's heartbeat on the way over and it seemed strong but...
He turned to the nurse and asked for a pen. He wrote down two numbers. "That's her boss – she was working when this happened, but away from the office – and her husband. Could you call her boss and let her husband know if anything changes? He's in the middle of helping me figure out who did this to her."
The nurse nodded and took the slip of paper. "I will. Thank you, Superman."
He strode purposefully out of the building and took to the air.
*****
Lois slowly came to be aware of her surroundings.
She moved her tongue around her mouth to try to get rid of the dry cotton-y feeling.
"Here." The voice was quiet, but recognizable.
She opened her eyes slightly, glad that the lights in the room were dim. She could see the straw and parted her lips slightly, taking a slight sip when she could.
"Thank you," she whispered.
"How're you feeling?"
"I'm not sure." Her eyes closed again. "The baby?"
"Is fine."
"Thank God." A sense of relief washed over her and she rested her head on the pillow.
"*Superman* found you and brought you here. What happened?"
"Secretary Wallace..." She tried to sit up, to reach the phone. She had to get word out.
"Is fine. Linda King, Preston Carpenter and several underlings are all in jail."
She breathed another sigh of relief. "Linda was in on it?"
"From the beginning. Apparently, she and Carpenter have had a thing going off and on for years. When she wanted to move here, he used her in his plan. She figured it out pretty quick and wanted in. Taking you out was bonus."
"Oh. So glad I could help her reach her goal."
"You won, Lois. You're fine. The baby's fine. She's in prison. Secretary Wallace is fine. The Orani Jewels are safe. Perry's proud."
She smiled slightly. "Is the story written up?"
"Going in the morning edition."
"Good."
"The byline is 'Lois Lane and Clark Kent'."
She nodded. He'd done more work on the story than she had. She'd found a crucial piece of information when she broke into Carpenter's office, but she'd been taken out before she could do anything about it.
Her head still throbbed.
"Will they give me any medicine?"
"Maybe."
Lois pushed the call button.
"Can I help you?"
"Um, I just woke up finally. And I could use some medicine."
"Ms. Lane?" the disembodied voice asked.
"Yes."
"Someone will be right in."
"Thanks."
She closed her eyes again. "The baby's really okay?"
"The baby's really okay."
There was a slight knock on the door. "Come in," Lois called.
The door swung open and there he stood.
"Clark," she said quietly. "Come on in."
He held out a bouquet of wildflowers. "These are for you."
"Thank you."
He glanced between the two of them.
"Um, Lois, can we talk?"
*****
TBC
