Twins: 21/?
by Nan Smith
Previously:
Brian stepped forward eagerly. "I can fly you home and check before I set you down," he suggested. "Is that okay?"
Lois nodded, but she was frowning slightly. "Can you take me to New Jersey?" she inquired.
"New Jersey?" Clark asked. The workings of his partner's mind baffled him sometimes.
"Sure. I'll call him from New Jersey. He's bound to have caller ID, so if I call him from there, he'll think that's where Superman's emergency is," she said, simply. "I'll tell him it's going to take a while, and he shouldn't wait for me to get back."
"That's very good," Clark said.
She looked him over carefully. "Are you sure you're going to be all right?" she asked.
"I should be," he said. "I just don't have any powers. If any emergencies come up, it looks like Brian is going to have to handle them until I'm back up to speed."
"I will," Brian said, nodding eagerly. "I want to help if I can."
"I'll give you some tips," Clark said. He found himself looking at Lois again. "We'll talk about ... things, tomorrow, all right?"
"All right," she said. "Call me if you start feeling worse."
"I will," he said. He wished he could tell what she was thinking, but her expression told him nothing.
After Lois and Brian had left, he picked up the lead box that contained the nugget of Kryptonite. Brian was probably right, he reflected. He would give this to Dr. Klein in the morning when he took Brian back to STAR Labs. In the meantime, he thrust the box into the bottom drawer of his dresser and covered it with pieces of clothing. It would be safe enough there until tomorrow.
Moving slowly, he began to get ready for bed. He doubted he'd be able to get to sleep until Brian returned, but suddenly his bed looked very comfortable.
**********
And now, Part 21:
The moon was nearly full, and it cast a silver light over the countryside as Lois and Brian soared through the night air toward New Jersey. Clark's twin brother seemed earnestly determined to do exactly as he was told, and Lois had to smile a little at his grim expression.
"Relax, Brian," she said at last. "You're doing fine."
The boy looked at her anxiously. "Do you like me, Lois?" he asked.
She was able to answer that without hesitation. "Yes, I do. You're a very nice person. That's why I'm glad Dr. Klein is going to be able to help you."
He smiled cautiously. "Good. I like you, too, and Clark and Bernie. Bernie told Clark that there was a complication he didn't expect, though."
"Did he say what it was?"
Brian shook his head. "He said he wanted to talk to Clark about it, but that the treatment would work."
"If Dr. Klein says it will work, it will," Lois said. "I don't know him very well, but my friend Jimmy Olsen tells me he's brilliant. If he says he can do something, he means it."
"Do I have to go back to my father when it's done?" Brian asked. "I don't want to go back."
"Definitely not!" Lois said. "We don't want him to know you're still alive, or he'll try to use you to do bad things. Clark and I will figure out something. I promise; okay? We'll make sure you have a place to live without Lex. You'll never have to do what he tells you again."
Brian nodded, looking surprisingly like Clark when something was bothering him. "He scared me," he told Lois. "All the time -- even when he was pretending to like me. I heard him and Uncle Fabian talking about me losing my powers and then dying, like the frogs died. He ... I don't think he cared at all." He looked at her, and in the moonlight she could see his lower lip quiver, but he made a manful attempt to hide it. "I don't feel good like I did a few days ago. I think it's starting to happen to me -- the things that Uncle Bernie said would happen. I'm scared. I don't want to die."
Brian was only a little boy, Lois thought, even if he looked like a grown man. She didn't know much about kids, anymore, but she remembered that when she'd been a child she'd trusted her mother and father. The fact that they had betrayed her trust had struck deeply into her and made it difficult to trust anyone -- until she had met Clark. If nothing else, she owed it to him to try to reassure his little brother. Besides, she *did* like Brian. She didn't want him to be afraid.
"Brian," she said, "I want you to listen to me. Clark and I aren't going to let you die. Dr. Klein can and will help you. You're going to be fine."
"Promise?" Brian asked.
"I promise," Lois answered. "Did Dr. Klein tell you that Clark and I brought him some of the cloned frogs?"
"No. How could you do that?"
"Clark and I sneaked into Dr. Leek's lab in the middle of the night," she explained. "We took four of the frogs -- two sick ones, and two that hadn't got sick yet -- and gave them to Dr. Klein to try to figure out why they died."
"Why?" Brian asked.
"Superman overheard them talking about it. We didn't want you to die, so we needed to find out why it happened so we could help," she explained.
"I knew he was there," Brian said. "I 'felt' him. In my head. I didn't tell my fa -- Luthor."
Wow! Telepathy between Clark and his twin? That was something Clark hadn't mentioned. She'd need to ask him about it. "Why not?"
She felt him shrug. "I don't know. I didn't want to tell him. Superman didn't *feel* like my enemy, even if Luthor said he was."
"What do you mean you 'felt' him in your head?"
"I can sometimes *feel* the things he's feeling. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't." Brian shrugged. "I could never feel what Luthor was feeling, or Uncle Fabian. I can't feel anything from you, either, but it's different with Clark."
"Maybe because you're both Kryptonians. Or maybe because you're twins. What's he feeling now?"
Brian was silent for a long minute. "I think he's asleep," he said.
That wasn't surprising, Lois decided. "That's probably a good thing," she said. "Anyhow, on the subject of the frogs, Dr. Klein figured out exactly what was killing the frogs. We saw them afterwards. We couldn't even tell which frog had been sick. He'll be able to do that for you, too."
Brian seemed to think about that for some seconds. "I don't like to feel sick," he said. "I can't fly as fast anymore, and I ache. My head hurts a little, too."
Maybe, Lois thought, that was why she was more aware of the cold and the breeze of their flight than she was when she flew with Superman. "How far are we from New Jersey, now?" she asked.
"That big patch of lights down there is Newark," Brian said. "Is this okay? Should I land here?"
"This is fine," Lois told him. "The Daily Planet has a branch in Newark. Let's find it. Do you know where Public Street is?"
"No."
"Well, I've been there once. Find Broadway, and I can take it from there."
Brian was silent for several seconds, floating motionless in the air, and then their forward motion resumed. A moment later, they were hovering above a street sign that announced itself as Broadway and Freedom Drive. Lois directed him south.
The local office of the Daily Planet was nothing like her place of work in Metropolis, but her press credentials got them entrance, and a moment later she and Brian were escorted to an office from which she could make her all-important telephone call. Nigel St. John answered, and after an inordinate amount of time, that was actually about thirty seconds, she was speaking with Lex. Her date for the evening sounded both irritated and resigned when she gave him her prepared story, but she had the feeling that his attention wasn't entirely on their conversation. After signing off, she glanced at her watch.
It was eleven-thirty. She pulled her coat more tightly around herself. "I wonder what Lex is up to at this time of night?"
Brian spoke up. "I could hear him talking to Mr. Nigel before he started talking to you. He's very angry that I'm not there, and he's mad that Superman took you away from him." He bit his lip. "He says he's going to make him regret it."
"Are you supposed to be there now?"
Brian looked uneasy. "I'm supposed to be home at ten."
"So he must be wondering where you are," Lois said. She laid a hand on his arm. "It will be all right, I promise. Clark and I will make sure he can't get hold of you again. Right now, we'll just let him wonder. He'll probably send his people out looking for you soon. We'll just have to make sure they don't find you."
Brian nodded, looking scared. "I don't want them to find me. He'll make me hurt Clark."
"Not if I have anything to say about it." Lois stopped speaking. Brian was looking more afraid than ever. "I have an idea. We're going to disguise you, okay? That way if any of them see you, they won't realize it's you. Do you still have the clothes Clark gave you?"
Brian nodded. "They're at Clark's place."
"Let's go get them," Lois said. "Clark has some spare glasses in his apartment. We're not even going to let Lex know you're alive. You're just going to disappear as far as he's concerned. The only people who will know the truth are Clark, Dr. Klein, you and I. Okay?"
Brian swallowed and nodded weakly. "Okay." He had wrapped his arms defensively around himself. "I wish I wasn't super," he said abruptly. "If I was like you and other people, my father wouldn't want me for anything. He'd leave me alone."
"Brian," Lois said firmly. "Trust us. Clark and I will keep you safe. Come on. Let's get back to Metropolis."
**********
Clark was sound asleep when they let themselves back into his apartment. Lois tiptoed into his room and opened the drawer to his nightstand. Clark never twitched. He was sleeping on his stomach with his face buried in the pillow, and she paused to admire the torso that was imperfectly concealed by the sheet and the T-shirt that had hitched itself up around his armpits.
Drawing a deep breath and feeling distinctly warm, she returned her attention to the purpose that had brought her here. There were three pairs of glasses in the drawer, and she selected the pair with the old-fashioned frames that he had worn the first time she had seen him. They would make Brian look a little different than Clark, but at the same time it would take away any obvious resemblance to Superman. She could say that from experience.
Brian had changed into jeans and a T-shirt by the time she returned to the living area, and combed his hair into an approximation of Clark's hair when in his civilian clothes. She held out the glasses. "Try these. And I think you'd better let your hair grow a little ... how *do* you cut it, anyway?"
"With my heat vision," Brian said. "Nothing else will cut it."
"Well, don't cut it for a while. Let it get to about the level of your collar," Lois advised. "That was how Clark's was when we first met. You won't look anything like Superman; take it from me."
Brian slipped the glasses on and examined his face in the small mirror that hung on the wall near the kitchen. "I *do* look different, don't I?" He seemed somewhat reassured.
"Definitely. The glasses will make you look even more like Clark, too. Let me try something." Lois took the comb and arranged his hair so that one lock fell across his forehead. "There; perfect."
Brian squinted critically at the image reflected in the mirror. "I look like a dork," was his verdict. He grinned suddenly. "Is this really how Clark used to look?"
"He did when I first met him. He changed his style later."
"If I look like this, Luthor won't know it's me," Brian said with satisfaction.
"You mustn't wear these around Dr. Klein, though," Lois cautioned. "We don't want him to guess about Clark."
"All right," Brian said. He turned back to the mirror. His grin grew wider. "I really like this," he said. "Nobody will ever guess."
"What's going on?" a sleepy voice behind them inquired. Lois turned.
Clark was standing at the entrance to his bedroom, blinking drowsily at them. He was still wearing jeans and a rumpled T-shirt, and his glasses were nowhere to be seen. Lois found herself staring at his face.
In spite of the fact that she had realized the truth about him three days ago, seeing the actual fact in front of her was still a shock: Clark's disheveled hair, combined with Superman's features. It simply drove home what she already knew; Clark Kent was Superman. Or, Superman was Clark Kent, and always had been.
"What?" Clark said.
"Nothing." Lois wrenched her eyes from his face. "Brian's afraid Lex will find him. I told him we'd fix it so he won't."
Clark examined Brian's disguise. "Are those my old glasses?"
Lois nodded. "I figured you wouldn't mind if he borrowed them for a little while."
"You were right. What happened? I thought you were going back to your apartment after you made the call from New Jersey."
"I was, but Brian overheard Lex talking to Nigel St. John. He was annoyed that Brian wasn't back yet."
"I get it," Clark said. He studied Brian for a moment. "Did I really look like that when I got to Metropolis?"
"Yeah." Lois nodded. "I don't think you really ought to blame me for sizing you up as a hack back then. Besides, I had to admit I was wrong after I got to know you."
"You did?" Clark asked.
"Sure I did -- even if I didn't exactly say so." She shrugged. "You must have known that."
"Well, maybe," Clark conceded. He yawned. "You know, I was thinking before everything sort of fell apart this evening. Maybe in the morning we should take what we know to Henderson, give him our evidence, and tell him more or less how we got it. He might be in a better position to pressure Leek than we could. Personally, I'd back Bill Henderson against a dozen Leeks any day of the week, and if we wait too long, Luthor could decide to dispose of Leek to get rid of an inconvenient witness."
Lois considered the idea a little reluctantly. "I guess we could give it to him with the proviso that we'd get the exclusive if he can pin something on Lex. It would certainly take Lex's mind off of Brian, too. Besides," she added, "I don't want him to propose to me."
"Neither do I," Clark said.
"He isn't likely to propose to *you*," Lois said. "You may be pretty, but I don't think he'd appreciate you the same way."
"I certainly *hope* not!" Clark said, shocked. He paused. "'Pretty'?"
"That's from my point of view, not Lex's," Lois said. "On the other hand, I'm not so sure about St. John ..." She grinned at the appalled expression on his face. "Anyway, I'm going to ask Brian to take me home now, and tomorrow you can take him back to Dr. Klein. Then we'll get our stuff together and make a visit to Inspector Henderson."
"You agree, then?" Clark asked.
She shrugged. "It's probably the best way to get the evidence out of Leek. Bill can be a lot more intimidating than you and I can. Once in a while you come up with a good idea," she added magnanimously. "Don't ever say I never give you credit for anything ... What?" she added, at his snort. "I can sometimes be nice!"
"I think," Clark said obscurely, "that I was worrying unnecessarily." He glanced at Brian. "Be sure nobody sees you drop her off."
"I will," Brian promised. "Just a minute and I'll get changed." He picked up his Superman outfit and headed for the bathroom.
As he disappeared into the bedroom, Clark regarded Lois with a little smile. "Sometimes you surprise me," he said. "No, I take that back. You surprise me most of the time. We still need to talk tomorrow. I guess you can yell at me then."
"*Yell* at you?" Lois said. Then she recalled that Clark still didn't know exactly *when* she had discovered his other identity. "Oh yeah. We'll talk about it when we have more time. I kind of have the feeling that tomorrow is going to be pretty busy."
"So do I," Clark said. He glanced around as Brian emerged from the bedroom dressed again in his Superman regalia. "I'm going to try to get a little sleep for whatever is left of tonight," he said. "Good night, Lois."
"Good night," she said.
**********
tbc
