I know, I know, I'm supposed to be working on Supercop 2, and I still am, really. But it's a complicated story, and I don't have a lot of time to work out the twists and turns of the plot. I haven't even put it temporarily on hold. It's just that this one hit me a few days ago, and it isn't nearly as complicated, so I thought I'd post it first. Hopefully Mom will give me a few minutes a day to work on it so I can shoot for a once-a-week schedule -- more often if I can.
This is part of the Alt-world series and follows First Case.
Nan
Disclaimer: The familiar characters and settings in this story are not mine. They are the property of DC Comics, Warner Bros., December 3rd Productions and whoever else can legally claim them, nor am I profiting by their use. Parts of this story are adapted from the episode: "Ultra Woman", and credit is hereby given to the writers of the episode. Any new characters, settings, dialogue and the story itself belong to me.
How I Spent My Christmas Vacation -- One Year Later: 1/?
By Nan Smith
"'Billionaire Philanthropist Scorched in Arson Probe,' by Lois Lane and Clark Kent," Lois said, happily. "Special contribution by Charles A. King." She regarded the headline with the deep sense of satisfaction that was born of a difficult job well done.
Their investigation had begun nearly a year before with a series of unexplained arsons and coincidental robberies. Between them, she, Clark and his alter ego, Charlie King, had followed the trail slowly but relentlessly, always careful not to alarm their quarry. When they had required the help of an expert computer hacker, they had gone to James Olsen for help. They had presented him with their evidence and suspicions, and after due consideration, the young business magnate had offered his services -- after securing their promise that the subject of his part in the investigation would never pass their lips.
Lois was secretly of the opinion that James Olsen had discovered a previously unrecognized talent for investigation, for he turned in a superior job, locating information that they hadn't realized existed before, and then erased his tracks with masterly skill. The information he uncovered led Lois and Clark to other, and more incriminating, evidence that Lex Luthor had left undisturbed apparently in a calculated effort to avoid drawing attention to any appearance of irregularity or cover-up. And when they had amassed enough evidence to convince even the cynical Inspector Henderson, Lois thought smugly, they had presented it to him.
"I don't think I've ever seen Henderson smile before," Clark said, apparently following her line of thought without difficulty. "Especially not like that. I wasn't even sure the man had teeth."
Lois giggled. "I know. I wasn't surprised to find out he'd been doing some investigation on his own, though. He just didn't have the advantages of Superman or James on his team."
"Or," Clark said, "you in a low cut cocktail dress."
"Oh?" Lois said, giving him an innocent look. "I didn't think you particularly noticed."
"A guy would have to have been dead not to have noticed," Clark said. "Luthor never stood a chance."
The phone on her desk chose that moment to ring and Clark reached over to pick it up. "Lois Lane's desk. Clark Kent speaking."
He held the receiver away from his ear, grimacing slightly at the shout that issued from it. Even from several feet away, Lois could hear Perry White's voice, and had to suppress a laugh.
"Easy, Perry," Clark said. "You don't need to shout. I can hear you fine."
Their former editor's voice lost some volume, but Clark's eyes met Lois's in a broad wink. "Yeah, we think so, too. Yes, Lois is right here." He put a hand over the mouthpiece. "He wants to talk to you."
"Well, he *did* call my phone." Lois held out her hand for the instrument and Clark passed it to her. She put the receiver to her ear. "Hi, Perry."
"Honey, I'm so proud of you two I could bust a seam!" Perry said.
"Thanks," Lois said. "We're pretty proud of us, too."
"I see a Kerth in your future," Perry said. "How come I didn't know anything about this? I've had my suspicions about Luthor ever since that business where he ended up selling the Planet to James, but evidence always tended to slip away when Luthor got involved in things."
"We know," Lois said. "It wasn't easy. We started investigating this thing on New Year's Eve -- and it's nearly Christmas again."
"Well, the point is, you did it," Perry said. "I want you to come over for dinner tonight -- all three of you. I've heard a little about this Charles King guy. He sounds like a real promising investigative reporter, pink earring and all. Why isn't he working for the Planet?"
"Charlie says he likes being a free-lancer," Lois said. "He doesn't like set schedules, and since he's got another source of income, he can afford to do it his way." She winked at Clark. "We'll pass the invitation along, but I think he's got a date tonight. Clark and I will be there, though."
"Okay," Perry said. "Seven o'clock."
"All right," Lois said. She saw Clark's hand stray to his tie. "Gotta go, Perry. Breaking story."
"See you tonight," Perry said. "I want to hear all the details."
"Right. Bye." Lois set down the receiver. "What's going on?" she asked Clark.
"Jewelry store robbery," he said. "I'll tell you about it when I get back."
"Just be sure you get a couple of good pictures," she admonished him. "Got your camera?"
"Leave that to Charlie," Clark said. He ran for the stairs, pulling at his tie.
Ralph looked after him and glanced sourly at Lois. "Why aren't you going, Lane?"
"Clark will take care of it," Lois said. "I've got a follow-up on the Luthor story to finish before the deadline."
Ralph grunted. "Anybody could have broken the story, Lane. You got lucky."
"Oh?" Lois raised an eyebrow. "I'll bother to take that seriously when you turn in something half as good."
"Ralph," Eduardo's voice said. Their editor appeared beside Lois's desk. "Where's that bit I assigned you on the demolition derby?"
"Uh, it's coming," Ralph said. He glanced sulkily at Lois. "I don't see why I don't get assigned stories like the Luthor expose. How come Lane and Kent always get the juicy stuff?"
"Could be because they go out and find it," Eduardo said, mildly. "How's that follow-up coming, Lois?"
"I'm on it," Lois said. "I've already got it roughed out, but I'm waiting for a call-back from a source before I have all the details."
"Just be sure it's ready by deadline," Eduardo said. He turned back to Ralph. "Well? What are you waiting for? Get moving!"
"I'll bet if you didn't have Superman on your team, things would have turned out different," Ralph grumbled.
"A good investigative journalist uses whatever advantages he has," Lois said. "The problem you and your buddies had wasn't that you didn't have Superman helping you. It was the fact that not one of you had any clue that Luthor was up to anything -- or if you did, you didn't have the guts to investigate him. Clark, Charlie and I did. The fact that Clark can bend steel bars with his pinky finger has nothing to do with his investigative ability. And no matter how hard you tried, I doubt that you'd ever look good enough in a cocktail dress to interest Lex Luthor."
"All right, break it up," Eduardo said. Lois could swear that he was trying hard to keep a straight face. "We've got a deadline."
Lois's phone chose that second to ring and she reached out to answer it. "If you'll excuse me," she said pointedly to Ralph, "Unlike you, I have some work to do. Lois Lane," she added, speaking to the caller. "Oh, hi Bobby. You do? Good. Yeah, I'll reserve a dinner for you at the Mandarin Palace. Go on." She grabbed a pencil and began jotting notes on the scratch pad on her desk. "Yeah -- okay, that makes sense ... good. Thanks, that's exactly what I need. Yeah, I'll give them a call right away. Uh huh. You'll be hearing from me." She set the receiver down with a flourish and almost immediately lifted it to her ear again. Without pausing, she punched in a number and proceeded to order Bobby Bigmouth his favorite Chinese dinner. Then, with an air of satisfaction, she turned to her computer and began to type, pointedly ignoring Ralph. The other reporter walked away, muttering under his breath. Lois summarily dismissed him from her thoughts as not worth her time. She had long ago pigeonholed her fellow reporter as a man with big aspirations but not the initiative or determination to ever realize them. Ralph was destined to remain mediocre all his life unless a miracle somehow happened -- which didn't seem likely.
Finished with the follow-up well before the deadline, she LANned it to Eduardo and leaned back in her chair to stretch. A glance at the calendar pad on her desk reminded her that she still had some Christmas shopping to do this afternoon before she and Clark attended the Mayor's informal dinner tonight.
It was December 21st. In two days, it would be exactly a year since Clark had brought her back to 1997. As a matter of fact, according to Clark, HG Wells had shown up on this day, one year ago, to take him back to 1993 in time to save her life. And what a year it had been.
At first, she had been afraid that she wouldn't be able to adapt to a world that seemed to have leaped forward tremendously in the nearly five years that she had skipped, but Clark stood by her like a rock, helping her to adapt to the changes. And it rapidly became evident that he needed her help as much as she needed his. The Media had set its sights on Superman as a source of news, almost to the exclusion of Superman's real purpose, and was making his life a shambles. She had made it her business to step in, and now the new rules were finally, if reluctantly, accepted by the various news services. Clark Kent was to be left severely alone as an object of news, and woe to the reporter or news crew that was foolish enough to violate that prohibition. Their newspaper or news service would be summarily blacked out of any Superman news, except for the stuff available to everyone, for the next two weeks. No quotes, no original photos, no interviews, no nothing, and Superman would go out of his way to be certain that their chief competitor got extra attention for that same period of time. It worked like a charm, and while it made neither Lois nor Clark particularly popular with the news services thus affected, it did inspire reluctant respect. And Clark had his life back.
The introduction of Charlie King had also been an innovation of Lois's. The independent, free-lance journalist slowly but surely began to establish a reputation for himself and as Lois had said to Clark early in the experiment, people saw what they expected to see. Charlie wasn't well known, but his work was respected, and it was known that he was a friend of Lane and Kent. It gave Clark the freedom that had been missing from his life since Tempus had revealed his secret to the world.
Lois smiled as she began to clear her desk. She hoped that Clark would be back before she was ready to leave. Spending time with him away from work had become second nature to her over the last year, and he no longer made any effort at all to hide his feelings, at least from her.
Five minutes before deadline, Clark stepped out of the stairwell and jogged down the ramp to the newsroom.
"All done?" Lois asked.
He nodded. "Give me a minute to write this up and we're outta here," he said with a quick smile. "Charlie got three pictures that I think will work with the article, and sent them to Eduardo." He seated himself before his computer and his fingers became a blur of speed.
The science editor, Catherine Grant, glanced wistfully at him as she passed by their desks on the way to the stairs. "Oh to be able to type like that," she said.
"I know what you mean," Lois agreed.
The other woman smiled. "Oh well, at least he works for the Planet and not some other paper. What are you two planning for Christmas this year? I noticed neither of you are on the schedule for Christmas Eve."
Lois nodded. "I covered for Jacob on Thanksgiving and he's covering for me on Christmas Eve," she explained. "Clark and I are taking the day off in Aspen."
"Nice," Catherine said. "After this last investigation you deserve it. Congratulations on the story, by the way. Superman or not, I imagine investigating Luthor wasn't easy, no matter what Ralph says."
"It wasn't," Lois said.
"I wondered about him after the scandal," Catherine said. "I know the whole thing was pretty much hushed up, and then James bought the Planet, but it made me think a bit. Considering what you found out, that was just the tip of the iceberg. It's hard to believe he was the kingpin of an entire international criminal network. He'd established such a reputation as a philanthropist."
"Yeah," Lois said. "I thought I'd seen it all until we started to turn up the evidence. I guess it emphasizes the old saying -- if something seems too good to be true, it probably is."
"That's for sure," the other woman agreed. "It must have been a little scary when you realized what you'd found."
There had been a time when Lois would have denied being afraid of anything, but the last year had made its mark. "Definitely," she said. "But now -- well, considering the convictions en absentia in other countries, he'd better hope he never gets released from Stryker's Island. East Umbrito has a death sentence just waiting for him, and they're not particularly well known for their record on human rights."
"I noticed that," Catherine said. "Well, congratulations, is all I can say. You and Clark have done the world a big favor."
Clark glanced up. "Thanks," he said. "I appreciate that, Catherine."
"You're welcome," Catherine said. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow. Have a nice evening."
The science editor went to reclaim her coat and fur hat from the coat rack and Lois turned to Clark, who was shutting down his computer in preparation for leaving. "Is Superman free for the evening?"
"More or less," Clark said. "I guess you have to finish your Christmas shopping, huh?"
"I'm afraid so. I put the last of it off until the last minute, as usual."
Clark grinned. "Well, just by coincidence, I did, too. Shall we go together?"
"I was hoping you'd ask. Just as long as you don't peek at what I'm getting you."
"Scout's honor," he told her.
"Aren't you going to make me promise the same?" she asked.
"Nope. I got yours months ago," he said, looking smug.
She swatted his arm. "Show off. All right, let's go. We've only got a little while before we have to be at Perry's."
They went up the steps and he retrieved her coat for her. She slipped into it and buttoned it up, only to find him holding the door to the stairs open. She didn't comment but proceeded through the door. As it swung shut, a pair of blue-clad arms lifted her lightly. The stairwell blurred around her and then she felt the tiny flecks of cold as the snowflakes of the outer world brushed her face as lightly as feathers. They were flying through the late afternoon air of Metropolis and below her she could see a snow-enshrouded city with the tinsel decorations waving in the stiff breeze that accompanied the snowstorm.
"Where to, Ms. Lane?" he inquired.
"I was thinking of the Metro Center Mall," Lois said. "I have six more people to buy for, including you. If I'm lucky, I can pick everything up in an hour and then we can head back to the apartment house and be ready for Perry's dinner in plenty of time."
"Metro Mall it is." Clark changed direction. "I can't help thinking that it was about this time a year ago that HG Wells showed up on my doorstep with news of you. That was a defining moment in my life."
"And mine," Lois said. "Have I ever thanked you for coming to save me?"
"More than you'll ever know," Clark said with sudden seriousness. "Do you have any idea what a difference you've made in my life?"
"A little," Lois said. "I think you would have made the same changes eventually, though.
"Maybe the ones that involved the media," Clark said, "but there have been a lot of other changes that have nothing to do with that. The most important one was just you being there. I was missing something incredibly important, but I didn't know how important until --" He broke off and she could see that his cheeks were pink. "I'm sounding pretty mushy, aren't I?"
"Mushy isn't always bad," Lois said. She rested a hand on his arm. "It's almost scary to know that I mean that much to you."
"To me, too, a little," Clark said. "I don't know what I'd do without you now. I'm used to having you as my partner. Let alone that you're necessary for Utopia to come to be, you're necessary for me, too. I still have that question I'd like to ask you whenever you tell me you're ready to hear it."
She knew what that was. She'd asked him not to ask her that until she was ready. Clark's style was about as subtle as a sledgehammer, she thought. Her record with men wasn't good. She tended to scare the male of the species away, and it was hard to reconcile that fact with the knowledge that this incredibly superior male specimen not only wasn't scared, but would be satisfied with no woman but her. He'd said so often enough, but almost subconsciously she kept expecting him to change his mind.
"I'll let you know soon," she promised. The idea scared her silly, although she would never admit it to him. If she once committed to Clark, it would be much more painful if he were to back out than it would if the agreement had never existed. Still, she recalled thinking at the New Year's party, nearly a year ago, that if she wanted him, Clark was hers for the taking. She'd been thinking it over ever since, but every time he came near to asking her, she backed skittishly away. What was wrong with her, anyway? It wasn't as if he had given her any reason to doubt him over the last year.
The mall came into view through the dancing snowflakes and Clark dropped into an alley between two buildings across the street from the entrance. A few moments later, a completely unremarkable couple strolled through the entrance to Broadhurst's Emporium. Lois was still chewing the subject of her own skittishness over in her mind as they entered the warmth and glitter of the big store, decorated lavishly for the holiday season. She'd promised that she'd tell him soon. Now she was going to have to carry through. She glanced quickly at him out of the corner of her eye. He was everything any woman could want. For that matter, he could have any woman in the world that he wanted. What made her so special that Clark Kent would be satisfied with no one but her? And what would she do if he ever changed his mind?
On some level she was aware that the whole line of reasoning was a little silly. For some months, now, Clark had made no secret of the fact that it was Lois Lane or no one. So why was she so afraid of making the commitment?
From somewhere, there came the shrilling of an alarm bell. Clark lowered his glasses, glancing quickly around.
"What is it?" Lois asked.
"There's a baby trapped in an elevator, stuck between floors. Come on." Clark slipped an arm around her waist and an instant later they were zipping over the heads of the mob of shoppers that packed the mall during the Christmas season. They exited the department store into the main body of the mall and whisked up an escalator. A crowd of humanity was massed around an elevator door, where a man in the uniform of a security guard was restraining a shrieking woman.
"I don't know how it happened!" she wailed. "I turned my back for a second and when I looked back he was in the elevator and the doors were closing! Somebody help!"
"Ma'am, the fire department is on its way," the uniformed man was saying. "Calm down --"
"*You* calm down! He's not your baby!"
Clark set Lois on the floor and stepped forward, changing from Clark to Superman in the blink of an eye. "I'll get him, ma'am," he said quickly to the woman and vanished instantly. In another instant he was back, a howling child held in his arms.
The woman grabbed her baby. "Oh, thank you, Superman! I don't know how it happened!"
"Just keep a closer eye on him after this," Clark said with a smile. He turned back to Lois. Then he looked past her.
Lois didn't see what happened next. One instant, Clark was standing in front of her; the next he had spun her around, shielding her body with his own. A bright red glow enveloped them both.
A wave of dizziness swept over her and the world around her was abruptly blotted out.
**********
tbc
