Lois was numb all during her trip back to the Wichita airport. When she’d thought about this leg of her journey before starting out, she thought that by this point she’d be angry or too sad for words or hopeful or – or something! But there was nothing. She might as well have been floating in a sensory deprivation chamber.
She drove on automatic pilot, returned the car without paying attention to what she signed, waited for her flight without moving except for one bathroom visit, and ignored everything and everyone around her. All she was willing to hear was her flight number to Chicago, where she’d change planes and fly back to Metropolis.
She’d planned to eat during the layover in Chicago, but at the moment she wasn’t a bit hungry. In fact, hunger might be a permanent stranger to her now, displaced by her loneliness and a fresh sense of abandonment.
Which wasn’t reasonable. Nothing had changed in regards to Clark in the last two hours. The only thing that was different was what Lois had learned. Now she knew for certain that she’d destroyed any future she might have had with him. He couldn’t wait for her to leave, to drive away and vanish from his life. He might even be hovering overhead, waiting to make sure she actually boarded the plane before he flew back to Rachel.
To Rachel Harris. That was a puzzler. The woman’s mental faculties weren’t in Lois’ class, nor was she as attractive as Lois was, but she was neither dumb nor ugly. Lois had seen the woman’s smile many months ago when they’d faced down Jason Trask and it was very nice. Not beautiful, but still very nice. And she was very good at her job.
Rachel’s character had been easy to see – she was honest and idealistic and pleasant under nearly all circumstances. And she was fearless and softly determined to do the right thing no matter the consequences. She’d shot Jason Trask only when it was the last resort, not just because she could. Rachel obviously didn’t consider Clark’s superhero persona to be either a threat or a betrayal. And Lois was sure that Rachel would look very good in feminine clothes instead of that uniform.
That last thought reminded her of a true story she’d read many years before. A woman recently separated from the Army had appeared in her state’s driver’s license bureau, back in the days when the applicants brought in their own photos. The clerk, a young man, told her she had to have a photo of herself out of uniform – meaning in civilian clothes – not the one she presented wearing her full dress blues. Two days later, the woman blushed deeply as she handed the clerk a 5x7 photo of herself standing at attention – fully naked.
Clark probably thought Rachel would look good out of uniform.
The off-color thought jarred her. Clark would never see Lois out of uniform now. And she wondered if Clark already knew how good Rachel looked unclothed.
No, that wasn’t fair. He’d refused a number of very straightforward offers of sex from a number of other women – Lana Lang, Toni Taylor, Mayson Drake, and especially from Cat Grant. Not one of them had made a serious dent in him. Clark was the kind of man who’d marry a woman before he made love to her. And with Clark, it would really be making love and not just having sex. He’d had several opportunities to push Lois beyond that threshold and he’d never taken advantage of a single one. He was truly a unique man.
And Lois had shoved him away with nuclear force. She couldn’t have done more damage to her relationship with Clark had she blown up the Planet building and bragged about it on national television.
She barely registered people standing up around her. She tuned in and heard her flight called, so she shouldered her purse and fell in step with her fellow passengers.
No one tried to speak to her except the attendant at the gate who verified her flight number and seat assignment. Apparently her despair created a non-interference field around her. Even the people in line with her didn’t jostle her elbow.
She trudged to her seat by the window and pulled down the shade. The flight appeared to be only half-full, and it seemed that no one had purchased the aisle seat beside her. Nor did anyone take either of the seats in front of her.
Her isolation suited her black mood.
*****
Rachel watched through her office window until she saw Lois Lane walk out and get into the strange car across the street. The sight of that rental had given her a bad moment when she’d left Lois to wait for Clark. Had she known whose car that was at the store, she could have – done – something, anything, just to make the witch go away.
Now she’d left and Clark hadn’t come down with her.
She’d watched him run into the building knowing who and what he’d be facing once he got to his office. She’d left him there to face his tormentor all alone, with no support or help from her. Knowing that he would not want her there didn’t assuage her fears. Even remembering that she only knew the word “assuage” because of her relationship with Clark didn’t calm her.
She could wait for him to tell her how things had gone. Or she could go ask him now. She didn’t know which choice would be the better one.
If she waited, it might show her trust in Clark and his unspoken commitment to her and to Smallville. It might demonstrate that Rachel knew that some floozie from the bright lights and big city of Metropolis couldn’t lure her Clark away.
If she were to go to him now, she might show concern, both for him as a man and for them as a couple. She could also get his immediate reaction to Lois’ visit and whatever pressures she’d brought to bear on him.
She’d also know if he planned to leave her.
He’d left her after high school, then once again after Rachel had killed a man to save him. If he left yet again, this time after he’d learned how much she loved him and needed him, how would she survive?
*****
After Lois drove away, Clark paced around his office several times, then moved into the second floor hallway and paced its length perhaps a dozen times. After the tenth circuit, Jane Clemens opened her office door and peeked out. “Clark? Is something wrong? You’re shaking the floor.”
He lifted his hand and tried to signal that he couldn’t speak at the moment. She must have understood his “can’t talk now” gesture because she nodded and withdrew. After a moment he heard her typewriter start its rapid-fire clacking again.
Out of curiosity, he peeked through the wall and into her office and saw a small pair of headphones covering her ears. He listened for a moment and realized that she was typing something someone had recorded and given to her to transcribe. That was surely why she hadn’t heard his – his more than a discussion but a bit less than an argument with Lois.
The thought of Lois enraged him yet again.
How dare she. How
dare she! Four months ago, Lois had crushed his hopes, his dreams, and his heart, and now she wanted things to go back to the way they were! She was – she was impossible to deal with!
He forced himself to calm down a little. No, she hadn’t said she wanted things to go back like they were before. And she’d admitted that the newsroom would be a less hostile place for her if he went back. She’d also insisted that improving her personal situation wasn’t her primary reason, that she wanted what she thought was best for him.
Was it, though? Was the Daily Planet what was best for him? In the two years and several months he’d known Lois Lane, she’d insulted him repeatedly, denigrated his talents and aptitude for writing many times, put down his “touchy-feely” style, danced close to him and then pushed him away, almost married Lex Luthor, had been offended when Superman hadn’t told her every little detail of his life – like hers was an open book! – and then, to top it all off, she’d accused him of the worst kind of betrayal when he really did open his heart to her and reveal his biggest secret. Worse yet, she’d promised to expose him to the world and put everyone he cared about in danger if he didn’t leave the city forever.
Now, unbelievably, she wanted him back. Shakespeare was right. Women were inconstant, unreliable, completely and utterly fickle creatures at the core.
Except – except for Rachel. Surely Rachel wasn’t fickle. Surely she was reliable and constant.
He should go see her, to talk to her, reassure her. Meeting Lois like that had to have been a surprise, and hearing that Lois planned to take Clark away surely compounded surprise into the shock. Maybe she’d hug him like there was no tomorrow and cry on his shoulder, or maybe she’d laugh and tell him she’d known the whole time that he wouldn’t leave.
Maybe she’d ask him if he loved her.
And he didn’t know how to answer that question.
His office seemed to be a haven now that Lois wasn’t there and he went in. He sat at his desk and stared out his window at the sky. He didn’t respond when Jane stopped typing, walked down the hall, paused by his door, then continued toward the stairs.
*****
Rachel turned away from her office window and headed for the stairs. She needed to talk to Clark and she couldn’t wait any longer.
If he’d decided to go back to Metropolis, she wanted to know now. If he wasn’t leaving, she needed to know now. If he was running away to travel around the world and avoid making a decision, she had to know now.
She sprinted past a woman she belatedly recognized as Jane Clemens coming down the stairs. Jane said something Rachel didn’t catch, and Jane’s briefcase whacked the wall as she spun to avoid Rachel.
No time to be nice. Had to talk to Clark.
Rachel took the stairs two steps at a time and spun on her toes to sprint down the hall to Clark’s office. She threw open the door and stopped in the doorframe with one hand on each side and panted, “You – you’re still here!”
Clark turned away from the window and took a step toward her. She detached herself from the doorway and launched herself across the office and into his arms. The intensity of her own relief frightened her – she hadn’t realized how scared she’d been until that moment.
He caught her and held her tight and stroked her hair and whispered softly to her and she didn’t understand a word he said because of her sobs. She felt herself rise into the air, then she realized she was sitting sideways on Clark’s lap. Her arms were still around his neck and her feet rested on the next couch cushion. And still he held her close.
Rachel’s tears finally wound down enough for her to speak clearly. “You know I – I almost expected you to come out and get in that car with – with Lois.”
He stroked her hair and kissed her cheek. “No. I told her I wasn’t going back to Metropolis.”
She took a deep breath, then leaned back a little and looked into his eyes. “What did you – did you tell her why you wasn’t goin’ back?”
This was it, the big question. She’d find out now how he felt.
He pulled her head down on his shoulder. “I told her I’d rebuilt my life here in Smallville. That I’d made new friends and reconnected with old ones. And that I was comfortable here.” He tightened his embrace for a moment. “And I told her that you were here.”
She closed her eyes and held her breath for a moment. He hadn’t told her that he loved her, not quite, but it was close. Maybe she could lead him to say he really loved her, trust him to follow her lead and commit totally to her.
But if she did, wouldn’t that make her dishonest with him? Wasn’t their relationship built partly on Lois’ rejection of him and the hurt she’d laid on him? Was his anger at Lois still driving him away from Metropolis and to her side?
He relaxed his hold and she leaned back again. “I think we need to talk.”
He sighed. “Oh, boy,” he breathed. “That’s never a good sign. Movies, plays, books, one of the couple says ‘We need to talk,’ and the next thing you know all heck breaks loose.”
Despite herself, she grinned. “All ‘heck’ breaks loose?”
“You smiled. My work here is done.”
She sat more upright without leaving his lap. “No, not yet. We really do have to talk.”
He nodded. “Okay. I have my suspicions about the subject of this talk, but you have begun so you get to set the agenda.”
“I ain’t got no agenda. I just wanna talk to you about somethin’.”
The ghost of a smile played at his lips for a moment, then vanished. He nodded again. “Then we’ll talk. You start and I’ll chime in when I need to.”
“Fine.” Rachel pulled in a breath through her nose and let it out slowly, then, as gently as she knew how, asked, “Are you still in love with Lois?”
*****
Lois pulled the shade down on the window beside her seat on the plane and closed her eyes. She was tired, ever so tired, and she’d spent all her energy trying to reason with Clark, trying to convince him to come back to Metropolis with her.
She’d failed. She had nothing to show for her efforts.
He’d given her no hint, no wink-wink nudge-nudge, no indication at all that he might consider coming back to the Planet. He’d rejected the thought out of hand. And he hadn’t said or done anything that would make Lois believe he would ever forgive her. Never mind suggesting that he might still love her. Forget being his friend. Dump the thought of their being partners in the document shredder. Or she could throw it in the incinerator and cackle maniacally as it turned into hot ash. He was still furious with her and she didn’t blame him one iota.
She’d probably never see him again.
She turned to the drawn shade and pressed her face against her thin blanket. Maybe she could cry silently enough that no one would bother her.
She put her arms around the small pillow and buried her face in it.
Time to get on with her empty life.
*****
Clark stared at Rachel for a long moment, then shook his head. “Wow. Really You go for the jugular, don’t you?”
She slipped off his lap to the couch beside him, then took his hand. “Look, Clark, I know you was in love with her ‘bout from your first day at the paper. It’s real hard to turn off those feelings, and I – a body don’t just decide to stop loving someone in a minute. Takes a good long while.”
He looked into her eyes and thought, then asked, “Are you talking about how I feel – how I felt about Lois then or how you feel about me now?”
Her eyes changed but she didn’t flinch away. “Both, I guess. I love you. I been in love with you for a long time, ever since high school. I never said nothin’ to you about it cause I’m Smallville and you always been bigger than that. I always knew you wasn’t gonna stay here.” She tightened her grip on his fingers. “But you’re here now and I really thought you was gonna stay this time. And – and if I’m wrong I gotta know.”
He nodded. “I understand. And you deserve to know. But – but I really don’t know my own heart right now.”
He stood and started walking the perimeter of his office, talking the whole time. “I won’t deny that I have a very deep and visceral reaction to Lois Lane. But it’s not a positive reaction. I had to make myself not grab her and throw her out when I walked in and found her here.” He stopped and spun back to face Rachel. “Did you know she cried? The few times in the past when she cried, I folded like wet cardboard. This time it made me angrier than I already was because – well, I don’t really know why. It just did.”
Rachel nodded at him. “My daddy told me about Jimmy and Erin Peters. You remember them?”
“Um – yeah, I think so. Didn’t they get a divorce about twelve years ago?”
“Yep. My daddy told me why.”
He shrugged and wondered where she was going with this. “Are you going to tell me? It seems as if you’re aiming at a point.”
“I am.” She sat back and crossed her arms. Still speaking quietly, she said, “Call came to the sheriff one Tuesday afternoon in the summer back when I’d just turned thirteen. I wanted to ride along with Daddy on some of his calls, and he and I talked Mom into letting me go with him. We went to the Peters’ apartment and he told me to stay in the car. I fussed, of course, but I stayed, cause we could hear them yelling from the parking lot. They was both real mad.
“When Daddy got to the front door – they was livin’ on the ground floor – he knocked on the door, called out that he was the sheriff, then stepped to one side. Good thing he did, too. Erin had a four-ten shotgun and she turned and blew a hole in the door. Jimmy was tryin’ to take it away from her and she knocked him down with it. She swore up ‘n’ down later pullin’ the trigger was a accident. Scared me so bad I almost wet myself.
“Daddy drew his weapon and told her to put it down, and when she did he arrested and cuffed both of them. He put ‘em in the back seat and told me to scrunch down in the front floorboard so they couldn’t see me. His car had the wire cage in the back so they couldn’t get to me anyway and they was both cuffed with their hands behind ‘em, but they was still screamin’ at each other and cussin’ up a storm. Before we left, Daddy told ‘em to hush up and said they was both in big trouble and if they made any problems in his car they’d be in twice as much trouble. They must o’ believed him cause they shut up.
“I watched him take them up to the jail and lock ‘em in separate cells across from each other. Once he locked the doors, they started up screamin’ again. He turned them over to one of his deputies and took me out to the car quick as he could.”
“Amazing.”
“What?”
He almost smiled. “That you still wanted to be sheriff even after all that.”
She almost smiled back. “It was the way he handled them that impressed me at first, that he only used as much force as he had to without hurtin’ ‘em. Then he sat me down and told me that when he first met Jimmy and Erin, they was real in love. Couldn’t keep their lips off one ‘nother. But Jimmy had trouble keepin’ a job and Erin had to work and they never had kids and they – they just drifted apart and started blamin’ each other for all their troubles. Their love turned to hate over the years until Erin threatened Jimmy with a shotgun.”
She sighed. “Jimmy got released with a fine, but Erin spent eight months in county lockup because she shot at a police officer. She was lucky she didn’t get charged with attempted murder. Their divorce was made final before she got out of jail. Jimmy left the state for Oregon, I think, and Erin went to either Georgia or Florida.”
Now he was confused. What did this have to do with the Clark-Lois-Rachel triangle?
“That’s a tragic story, but I don’t understand now it applies to us.”
“That’s cause I ain’t finished it yet.”
“Oh.” He gave her a small bow. “In that case, please proceed.”
She smiled for real and bobbed her head in return. “Thank you. Anyway, Daddy said that Jimmy told him before the divorce was final that he would’a stayed married to her but she wouldn’t leave him be. That woman nagged him day and night, never showed him any kindness, never told him she loved him after the first couple o’ years or so of their marriage, and Jimmy couldn’t take it. He said she’d broken his heart and let all his love drain right out and she wouldn’t let him fall back in love with her. It weren’t all her fault, but she didn’t do all she could to fix things and by the time the divorce came through, Jimmy told Daddy that if he never saw Erin again he’d be a contented man. He also said he’d never trust another woman again as long as he lived.”
Rachel fixed his eyes with hers. “Jimmy’s love for Erin turned to hate and he couldn’t let go of it. Even I could tell he was turnin’ mean and bitter. Daddy told me he didn’t see Jimmy ever lovin’ another woman for the rest of his life. Erin had just about poisoned him for everyone else.”
She stood and moved in front of him, then took his hands. “I don’t want you to end up mean and bitter. See, I think there’s still somethin’ inside you that’s tied up with Lois. If you didn’t feel something for her, you wouldn’t get so mad when you hear her name, and you sure wouldn’t have to make yourself not hit her.”
Her hands slipped up to his chest and rested there. “I want to be with you, Clark, but I can’t be with you if you get mean and bitter. And I don’t want to be your second choice. No woman wants that. And you don’t wanna settle for a girl you think is your second choice, either.” She dropped her eyes and snorted lightly. “Or third or fourth. I dunno who else you dated in Metropolis.”
He had to fix this. Rachel was in pain and it was his doing. He couldn’t let her suffer like this.
He tugged her close and kissed her cheek. “Rachel Harris, I love you. You’re my best friend who’s a girl – sorry, a woman – and I wouldn’t hurt you for all the gold in Fort Knox.” He wrapped his arms around her and held her close. “I wish I could tell you that I love you enough to ask you to marry me, but I can’t. Not yet.” He pulled back and lifted her chin with a finger. “I think I’m getting there, though. Can you wait? Can you be patient with me?”
She nodded and blinked away dampness. “Yes. I can wait. I been waitin’ a long time for my knight in shinin’ armor, but I’ll settle for a writer with a laptop.”
He looked over his shoulder at his desk where his computer rested. “A WayneTech laptop?”
She chuckled. “Sure, that sounds fine.” She leaned in and embraced him again. “Be sure to take it with you when you go.”
He smiled and started to say that he already took it—
What?
What did she say? When he goes? Goes where? And why?
He pushed her back and looked straight into her eyes. “Please tell me you didn’t just say what I thought I just heard you say.”
She brushed his cheek with her fingertips. “You got to go back to Metropolis and figure it out. I know you can do everything you need to do from right here. I also know I can be the wife you want to go home to every night. I can handle things at home when you’re not there. I can do my job without you hovering over me all the time.” She pulled his head down and kissed him softly. “And I’d love you and stay with you all our lives.”
His head spun and he actually felt dizzy. “But – if you love me enough to want to marry my why are you sending me away?” He felt his face harden as he took a step back. “And why would you send me to
her?”
Rachel shook her head. “I ain’t sendin’ you
to her, like you’re gonna move in with her soon’s you get there. I’m sendin’ you back to figure out your heart. You got to stop thinking you hate Lois, cause if you do end up hating her for real you won’t have no room in your heart to love me. I want you to go back there so you can get shut o’ her for good.” She paused and took a shuddering breath, then said, “Please? Please, do this for me? For what might be – us?”
He closed his eyes and took another step back. Her hands slid down his chest and fell to her sides.
This was not at all what he’d anticipated during a lunch date with Rachel. He’d finally managed not to think of Lois first thing in the morning most days. He’d gotten to the point of not thinking about her every night just before he went to sleep. Clark Kent was actually putting Lois Lane in his past.
Then he’d walked into a Lois ambush that Rachel could’ve warned him about but didn’t and he was a little mad about it. The realization surprised him, and he told himself that Rachel was trying not to run his life like Lois still was. Anger at Rachel, therefore, was totally inappropriate.
Yet he was baffled by her plan for him to go back to Metropolis. How would going back to the Planet to work beside a woman who’d broken his heart be a good thing?
“Rachel – I don’t understand.”
She stayed where she was. “Do you trust me?”
It was a trick question and he knew it, but the only possible answer was, “Yes. I trust you.”
She smiled sadly and nodded. “Then you got to go back.”
And there was the trap. Disagree and damage their relationship. Agree and go back to Metropolis. He just couldn’t win this one.
He licked his lips. “When? And for how long?”
“Soon’s you can get there. And as long as it takes for you to be sure.”
“About Lois, you mean, right?”
“About her, yeah, and about me. You need to know in your heart which of us you want to love. Or if it’s some other woman.”
“There’s no other woman. There never has been.”
“What I thought. You still need to decide between us, though.”
He took a breath. Then another. Then yet another. He thought furiously as he breathed.
Finally he nodded. “Okay. I’ll go back, assuming Perry will want me back.”
“From all you’ve told me, he’s a smart man. He’ll want you back.”
He ducked his head and bit his lip, then asked, “How long before I can come back?”
She took a short, sharp breath and turned her head, then said, “You come back when you know the answer. I’ll be waiting.”
She moved closer and wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her cheek against his. “Think you know I been chasin’ you ‘bout since you got here. Thought I had you close to roped and thrown, too. But I don’t want a man I have to wrassle with until he surrenders. I want one who wants to be with me for the long run all on his own.”
He held her close. “I think I could be that man.”
She stayed tight against him for almost a minute, then pulled back until her hands were on his shoulders. “I know you could be. But I can’t
make you be that guy. Wouldn’t be right for either of us. I might end up pointin’ a shotgun at you one night.”
He grinned a little. “Be bad for your reelection campaign, don’t you think?”
She chuckled. “Would at that.” Her face fell. “You don’t have to come find me and tell me goodbye before you go. Rather you didn’t. I don’t think I could take hearin’ it twice.”
He hesitated, then nodded. “Okay. I’m going to keep the office for now. I have eight more months on my lease anyway, and I don’t want to run out on Sam. You still have a key, right?”
“It’s how I got in here before Lois did.”
“Right, right. I’ll call – no. I’ll write to you. Twice a week. And if you don’t want to write back, that’s okay.”
“Depends on what you write.”
He nodded again. “I understand. I’m – I still don’t know about this plan of yours.”
She shrugged. “If you come back to me, I’ll know. If you don’t come back, I’ll know. Remember that old saying? If you love something set it free, and if it comes back, you’ll know it’s love.”
He shook his head. “I saw a poster with that saying on it once. At the bottom, someone had added, ‘If it doesn’t come back, hunt it down and kill it.’”
She snorted a laugh, which was what he’d hoped she’d do. “Okay, Clark, you got me. Now git on back to the big bad city and get your heart right.” She touched his face again. “Will you – will you come to me and tell me how you decide? Either way?”
He turned his head and kissed her hand. “Of course.”
“Good.” She put her hands on his chest and shoved him back. “Now get outta here before I forget I’m a lady and a sheriff.” She waved one hand between them. “Better yet, I’ll leave.”
She turned to the door. “Rachel?”
She stopped in the doorway. “Yes?”
“Thank you. For everything.”
A sad smile appeared on her lips. “No. Thank you for letting me love you.”
And she vanished through the doorway.
*****
Perry White didn’t much like working all day on Saturday, but Lois was out of town, Eduardo was taking care of two sick kids and a sick wife, Jimmy was on a planned weekend trip to meet Kim’s parents, and he had to take up some of the slack.
He put down his pen and sighed. Finished, and it wasn’t quite two o’clock yet. He could go grab a late lunch and spend the evening with Alice, assuming she’d gotten away from her office on time today. Lois’ brief call to tell him of her failure in Smallville hadn’t helped his state of mind either. All in all, this was not a great day.
Then the phone rang. “Perry White, Daily Planet.”
“Chief? This is Clark. Do you have some time to talk? I have some news I hope you’ll like.”
*****
Perry put the phone back on its cradle. Clark had agreed to an unofficial six-month probationary return period, contingent on his decision to either remain in the city or return to Kansas. Perry would not force him to work with Lois. For his part, Clark had agreed that if circumstances and the demands of a particular story put them together, he’d behave professionally. If it was okay with Perry, he’d take a desk across the newsroom from Lois, one with quick access to a window and the stairwell. He planned to get a suite of rooms at one of the long-term rental hotels, and the Planet would give him a housing allowance for those six months. He’d keep his office in Smallville for the time being. And Clark would keep Perry up to date on how things were going with him, including his personal relationships.
Lois had briefed Perry on Clark’s situation with Rachel, so he’d heard Clark’s subtext clearly. There was a young woman in Smallville who wanted to be with Clark full-time, long-term, and permanent, and Clark didn’t think the idea was a terrible one. In fact, he seemed to favor the idea at the moment. So Clark would regularly update Perry on his desire to stay in the office as opposed to his desire to get back to Smallville and this other young lady.
The only question now was when he would let Lois know her trip had borne fruit despite what she thought had taken place.
After thinking about it, he decided he wouldn’t tell her before Clark came in. Part of his decision came from the thought that Clark could always change his mind before Wednesday, his first scheduled day back. And part of it came from a perverse desire to let Lois twist in the wind a little longer and suffer for her sins.
It was a bit petty, he knew, but Lois had disrupted the camaraderie of his newsroom and badly shaken the smoothness of the paper’s operation and he wasn’t quite ready to let her off the hook for it. Oh, sure, things still got done on time, and Lois was still producing good copy, but even with her cast as the villain in the Clark-Lois melodrama, people had still taken sides. Those who were fully on Clark’s side, like Jimmy, had little patience with those who thought maybe Lois had what she thought were good reasons for breaking it off with Clark so abruptly. A few heated arguments had broken out, and two of them had required Perry’s intervention. No blows had been exchanged, but some feelings had been badly hurt and a few friendships had been damaged.
The Daily Planet newsroom was no longer a “happy ship.” And Perry wanted it to be happy again. If Clark and Lois could coexist in peace, maybe that would happen.
With that thought, Perry decided that he’d put Clark back at his old desk. If he and Lois were bound to try to kill each other, he’d rather find out sooner than later. Them being that close together would tell him if their truce would hold. And if they were physically close, they’d have to speak occasionally. It might help to heal the breach. That was the result he’d like to see, and not just because it would help the Planet. He really cared for both of those kids.
And maybe Clark would go back to Kansas in six months or less. He’d just have to wait and see what happened like any other person.
Altogether, though, his day wasn’t so bad after all. There was potential for light at the end of the tunnel.
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