Hi Evie!
And since there was no ability to shift the outcome for those people in the storm’s path. They weren’t interviewees or targets of an investigation; they were victims. So everyone had collectively indulged in their annual sigh of relief as the season came to a close. But then Tropical Storm Gordon decided to prove to the national news circuit that they had all been wrong to think that they could predict, and therefore underestimate, the forces of nature. It promoted itself to a hurricane and proceeded to brutally pummel the Caribbean and the east coast.
Very vividly written
They had first heard about it last week when it had clipped the tip of Jamaica, and Clark had offered to go grab them coffees, his treat, as Lois and Jimmy shared a knowing glance over her desk.
I wonder if he realizes that coffee isn’t fresh if he delivers it three mornings hence.
Two days later, they’d tracked the storm’s progress to Cuba, when Clark told them he had a doctor’s appointment he’d nearly forgotten,
Okay, I grinned but assumed ‘coincidence’ when Clark got coffee on his trip to Jamaica. But given Che Guevara was a medical doctor, I’m now calling ‘sneaky author hiding nuggets’!
Three days ago, Clark had called her to say in a hurried voice that one of his apartment windows had broken, and he was stuck waiting for his landlord to come to replace it.
Poor guy is so tired he didn’t notice the window was closed when he got home.
“Jimmy, I’m sure he’s fine. He’s, you know, him.”
Unless the Gordon picked up some green glowing water in the Bermudas where Lois was on a cruise last summer. And I’m not constructing a connection with Gordon Shumway about this being an alien catastrophe.
Because she was, she told herself, now vacillating hourly on her reaction to Clark and his secret.
You picked the title wonderfully. Clark is running ragged due to emergencies. Lois is running ragged due to her own issues with Clark and her lying to him about knowing the truth.
Then what would happen when he ran out of time off? No more rescues?
PERRY: *yodelidado!*
so she’d just told Clark to wait. That way she could pivot the blame to herself, as the senior partner.
She’s very adorable. Also, not very consistent in her being angry with him. More like a mother being mad that her four-year-old drew all over the table with crayons. But at the end of the day, she still loves him. Maybe she should tell him that she loves and cares for him like a mother. This should either cause some very interesting issues for Dr. Friskin to resolve or once and for all quiet the sexual ardor they’re both feeling.
Or maybe she should convince Clark to tell Perry what he hadn’t yet told her, and get a real support system for himself in place.
Now wouldn’t that be a fun conversation?
PERRY: So, Lois sent you to me. So I can help you with your…errands. But she doesn’t know about your…errands?
CLARK: Uh…yes?
PERRY: Jimmy! Jimmy! Where is the guy… Jimmy! Book a weekend at the Lexor. Yes. Honeymoon Suite. One bed. … I don’t care that it’s last minute. … Now, let’s see… The HR form. The expense form. Cancel the Cat package… Clark, what is it? … Call Wayne Enterprises? What? Why would they be interested in… Oh, never mind. Wayne Manor. I see. A guy named ‘Alfred’…? By Elvis cape, those two are going to run me into the ground with their antics.
Dammit. She knew that tone. Somehow she’d gotten his antennae up, and now he was going to dig in.
Sometimes ‘busy Mad Dog’ disarmed it.
“Without you?”
“I don’t need to go out on every tip we get,” she said, trying to sound appropriately annoyed.
“Is it credible?”
“Should be,” she said with a shrug.
“But you sent Kent to check it out alone?”
“While you type up story notes on last week’s news?”
“I always clean up my notes after a big story,” she said, attempting to sound scandalized and still a little annoyed.
Uh-huh.
“Uh-huh,” Perry replied, staring her down.
“Let me know if I need to pull the front page for your tip,” he said with a lilt to his voice that she might describe in a less professional setting as ‘smart-ass.’
Well… it’s a story about that new hurricane they’re developing down in the Gulf. It’s still all very hush hush right now…
“You’re not mad at him anymore,” Jimmy accused playfully.
“I’m mad as hell.
See? Lois can have passionate making-love with Clark while being mad at him. What does the one thing have to do with the other?
CAT: /proud
mama …
older sister/
“There’s a new folder on the upper right corner of your desktop called ‘Pizza Toppings',” Jimmy said.
Also, shouldn’t she be worried he can also access *her*computer?
One button was open on his shirt, which was coming untucked. As he walked down the ramp, he put his hands in his pockets; with his jacket pushed aside, she could see that he’d missed a belt loop. One of his shoelaces was even untied.
Oh dear! Did he spend the entire night with the ladies down at the docks, pretending to be a sailor man?
Without thinking, she reached up to remove his glasses and a second later, her hand was gently, but immovably, encased in steel.
Their eyes met.
His were suddenly alert, and she realized what she’d been about to unwittingly do.
She’d been about to remove Superman’s disguise in a room full of reporters.
I wonder if he would have stopped her this instinctively had they been alone.
For some reason, Clark’s gaze swept over to Lois, a pleading look in his eye.
And it clicked.
He had to cover the orphanage fire.
So that Superman could put out the fire.
“Uh, actually, I’ve got that press conference, Chief!” she called back to Perry, breaking away from Clark toward her desk and throwing her purse over her shoulder.
“What?!” Perry asked, his head swiveling back to her.
Behind her, Clark’s face was a study in surprise.
Perry’s so gonna call the friendly men wearing the white coats. Or the frog catcher.
“Now hold on there, do you even know what this press conference is about?” Perry stopped Lois just as she was about to follow Clark and Jimmy.
Yes… boring numbers about the city officials spending tons of tax dollar money in the Bahamas. It seems that the local tourism industry has opened a new venue catering to *male* city officials.
“He’s talking about how to leverage interest savings against the city’s current existing debt to maintain a robust credit rating over the next fiscal year.”
Sounds like he’s betting the tax dollars on Twelve Red (sic) in Vegas.
Jimmy cut him off. “You go ahead, CK. I just remembered I have to get my camera. Would you mind if I met you there?”
Clark’s face cleared. “Yes. Sure, Jimmy! I’ll meet you there.”
Martha’s gonna have a field day explaining the birds and the bees to her son.
Perry gave her a hard look, but seemed to decide that he was getting the best he was going to get out of this whirlwind of chicanery masquerading as a newsroom today.
He should be thankful for all the stories coming in on time and not ask too many questions. Much healthier for his heart that way.
“You think he’ll do ok at that fire?” he asked.
“Of course,” she said confidently, tossing her hair over her shoulder.
“How can you be so sure?”
“Because he’s Superman,” she said emphatically. “And when he’s not feeling so super, we’ve got his back.”
Still, he had looked really tired.
STAR: Superman fell asleep during rescue and dropped into the burning building.
Then Jimmy grinned widely. “You’re so not mad at him anymore,” he teased again.
Oh, she is. Just wait till he’s gotten a chance to sleep and she finds him in his bedroom the next day. She’ll so give it to him then!
“I’m furious,” Lois insisted with a straight face.
Jimmy’s smile grew.
Without looking, Lois reached over and whacked his upper arm.
“Ow!” he protested, chuckling.
“See? Furious.”
The elevator dinged, the doors opened, and they were off to the races.
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Wonderfully chaotic chapter
Michael
