Table of Contents From Part 2:
He was about to turn away, to fly away, when he noticed her hesitate. She paused just before the doorway and peered inside, looking troubled and maybe a little downhearted. She stood there for a long while and then she finally walked passed the doorway, headed back downstairs towards her study.
She sat down once more at her computer. A funny little smirk came across her face and she began to type.
Her smile intensified the longer she typed and Clark felt himself smile.
She had found her way.
**********
PART THREE
**********
Clark stepped off the elevator, his eyes automatically scanning the newsroom for Lois. She was already there this morning, sitting at her desk, drinking a cup of coffee.
He was late. There had been an accident on the freeway that had needed some looking into. It had taken longer than he had thought it would. He pulled his eyes from Lois and glanced around the room looking for Perry. He didn’t see him anywhere; he was probably in his office. Good. Maybe Clark could slip in unnoticed. He was going to have to be more careful or Perry was going to fire him for being late so often.
He made his way over to Lois’s desk and smiled down at her. “Good morning, Lois,” he said in Clark’s timid manner.
She looked up at him and flashed him a sweet smile. “Good morning, Clark.”
He looked around the room and realized Richard wasn’t anywhere to be seen. He peeked into Richard’s office, but he wasn’t in there either.
“Richard sick?”
Lois was in the middle of a sip of coffee. “Hmm mmmh,” she hummed a negative. She lowered her cup and set it on her desk. “He’s been in Perry’s office all morning... with the door closed. I haven’t got a clue what they’re talking about, but it must be something big.
Clark looked up towards the office and looked inside. Richard had a decidedly happy grin on his face and was gesturing eagerly. “I could, uh,” he lowered his voice to a soft whisper, “listen in if you want.”
Her eyes twinkled momentarily and then she looked away, her face flushing. “No, Clark. I couldn’t ask you to do that. Besides, he’ll tell me later I’m sure.” She picked some papers up from her desk and straightened and stacked them neatly, handing them to him. “There’s your assignment from Perry this morning. I covered for you. Was there an emergency?”
“Accident... on the highway,” he said as he flipped through the pages. “A few people were hurt, not too seriously, but I stayed to help clear up the mess.”
She nodded. “Well, not that you really have any choice in the matter, but try not to make a habit of getting here late. Perry was pretty disgusted. I told him that you had gotten a tip on Superman and were off covering the story.” She smiled broadly at him, obviously pleased with herself. “So you might want to write up that accident to cover yourself.”
“Thanks,” he told her and gave her shoulder a soft squeeze. “I hadn’t thought about this aspect of your *knowing*. It might come in handy.” He gave her a crooked grin.
“If you’re lucky.”
If he was lucky...
He found his thoughts turning towards the other Lois and Clark, the ones who were married; did they work like this? Did she cover for her Clark when he had to dash off to some emergency?
Did they realize just what they had?
<<<“You’re *married* to Lois?” Clark asked his counterpart.
“Yes,” the other Clark managed quietly after a few seconds. “We were finally married a few months ago. It was a long, strange, and difficult trip to get there, but believe me it was worth it,” his voice choked in his throat. He paused for a second and cleared his throat. “It’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”>>> Yes, he supposed that they did realize what they had.
“Clark,” Lois said, her smile fading away into something more serious. “I think we need to talk about Jason and how we’re going to work things between the two of...” she broke off because he wasn’t looking at her anymore.
He was looking out the windows listening to the sirens and cries for help.
“What? What is it, Clark?” she asked concerned.
“There’s a fire in one of the downtown buildings, some people are trapped,” he murmured quietly. “I’ve gotta go.”
“Oh. Yeah. Okay. I’ll see you when you get back,” she said, sounding disappointed.
He started to turn away but stopped and looked back at her. “Have lunch with me, Lois. We can talk then. I’ve got something I want to tell you, too.”
She nodded at him and smiled. “Okay.”
And then he was gone, rushing off towards the elevator.
**********
Lois watched as Clark re-emerged from the elevator, over an hour later. He made his way gracelessly to his desk, allowing people to run into him, push him aside, and practically knock him down.
If they only knew who they were treating so dismissively...
How could she have not known? How could she have not seen who he really was?
Because he didn’t want her to.
He worked very hard to make sure people barely even realized he was there, much less suspected him of being Superman. She had to give him kudos on his performance as Clark Kent. He could have been a thespian. Clark Kent was the last person anyone would suspect of being an all-powerful, god-like superhero.
“Your tie is crooked,” she murmured under her breath.
She watched with pleased satisfaction as he reached up and pulled at the knot in his tie, straightening it.
“Better,” she whispered. He looked up at her and grinned. She was about to get up and go talk to him when a voice stopped her.
“I need to talk to you,” Richard whispered softly into her ear. Lois looked up to see him standing over her with a pleased grin on his face.
“Okay. What is it?”
“No, not here. Come to lunch with me.” He held out a hand to her.
“Oh, well I was, uh, actually supposed to go to lunch with Clark today. We had an article we were working on and...”
“I’m sure Clark won’t mind. After all, you’re not engaged to Clark.” He was still smiling at her, but it almost seemed like there was an edge behind it. And she wasn’t sure why, but she didn’t like his tone either. It sounded a bit guarded, a little over protective.
That wasn’t normally like Richard.
She decided not to push it. “All right. Let me tell him what’s going on and then I’ll be along shortly, okay?”
Just a flicker of a frown flitted across his face and then he was smiling again. “Sure. I’ll meet you at the car.”
She watched Richard as he walked off towards the elevator and she looked back up to find Clark staring at her curiously. She shrugged her shoulders at him and walked over to his desk.
“What was that all about?” he asked, gesturing towards Richard.
“I don’t know. He’s not usually so cryptic about things.” She looked back up to see the elevator door close. “I’m sorry about lunch today, Clark. Can I take a rain check?”
She could see the disappointment on his face and in his eyes. Her heart wanted to feel for him, but she cautioned it. What Richard had said was right – she wasn’t engaged to Clark, and she shouldn’t put him before Richard. What would people think if she turned Richard down and insisted on going to lunch with Clark? They’d think she was off her rocker.
But of course they didn’t know.
They didn’t know what she knew. That Clark Kent was Superman. That he loved her above all else except for their son Jason, whom she truly believed he valued more than life itself.
“Yeah. It’s okay. I understand. Maybe tomorrow?” he asked with a hopeful look in his eyes.
“Definitely tomorrow. That’s a promise.” She smiled at him and reached down to pat his hand affectionately.
He caught her off guard when he quickly folded her hand in his and gave it a gentle squeeze before releasing it again. It sent butterflies fluttering in her stomach and she reached down straightening the jacket she had on to try and disguise what he’d done.
“Bye. Love you,” he murmured softly in a deep dulcet tone.
“Bye. Clark, I...” she stammered for a second. The ‘love you’ part had caught her off guard but she quickly gathered herself together again, “Bye,” she whispered back to him and then rushed off to the elevator.
**********
“Excuse me? What did you just say?” She *really* hadn’t heard Richard, she realized awkwardly. She had been thinking about Clark. About what it was he wanted to tell her at lunch today. Her mind had been so totally wrapped up in her own thoughts that all she had managed to make out were two little words – move and Paris. That’s what had snapped her out of her musings.
“Don’t get excited,” Richard cautioned her, “let me explain. Hear me out first.”
She nodded numbly at him, willing herself to listen... for now. Move to Paris? What was he thinking?
“I think a move like this could be good for us. It would give us a fresh start. Allow us to build a life together and...”
“Wait,” she interrupted him, “you can’t be serious. What prompted this? Metropolis is my home and you know the Daily Planet is my life.”
“I know that. And you would still be working for the Daily Planet,” he paused and sighed, long and deeply. “The editor-in-chief of the Daily Planet’s international branch in Paris is retiring...”
“And what? You thought you’d swoop us off and fly us to France in hopes of securing his position? Do you know how many people will be after his job when he leaves? You can’t honestly think...”
“Perry offered me the job, Lois,” he interrupted her with a little irritation in his voice. “The offer came down from the board with Perry’s blessings.”
“You can’t be serious!” She realized she was getting a little loud for the quiet restaurant they were dining at when she caught a few people staring and she tried to lower her voice a little. “The board has offered to make you the editor of the international edition of the Daily Planet?” Holy crap! This was big. Really big.
“Yes. And I want to take it. It’s something I’ve always dreamed of – being the editor of a major newspaper... not to mention the Daily Planet. And you and I both know it would be years before that would happen here in Metropolis. My uncle will work till the day he either dies or they drag him out kicking and screaming.”
“And just what did you expect me to do? Follow on your heels and play the doting little housewife to her big editor husband?” She didn’t mean for her comments to come off sounding so harsh; but really, what did he expect her to do? To say?
“Of course...” he said simply. She flashed her eyes at him in disbelief and opened her mouth but he held up a hand to silence her and let out a soft laugh. “...not. Lois, if I’m the editor, I have the power to hire whomever I want, within budget and within reason. I would hire you on as a reporter under the international branch. That’s what I meant when I said you’d still be working for the Daily Planet... You’d still be a reporter, and a damn good one at that.” He tried a smile out on her.
She knew he wanted to see a smile back, but she couldn’t give him one.
This was... not good.
Not good at all... from her perspective. If this had happened before Superman had shown back up, she would have given it serious consideration.
But now?
How could she move to Paris? How could she rip Jason away from *him* like that?
How could she *do* anything - period?
She hadn’t even been able to make up her mind yet exactly what she was going to do... not to mention *who* she was going to do it with.
This was way too much, too soon.
“Wh..when,” she stammered. “When do they want an answer from you?”
“I have twenty-four hours to consider their proposal.”
“Twenty-four hours!” she exclaimed and then again remembered to lower her voice when a couple from the next table over glared at her. “Are they kidding? How do they expect you to make a life-altering decision in twenty-four hours?” she hissed.
“Well probably because they feel like there isn’t really anything to consider. It’s an incredible opportunity. The increase in pay, company stock options, career path... the fact that it’s Paris – they probably feel like it’s a done deal.”
She bit down on the inside of her cheek, trying to keep her voice calm and even. “And you? How do you feel?” Had he already made up his mind?
He lowered his head for a moment, sighing softly, and then looked back up at her. “I think it’s a chance of a lifetime. But I don’t make decisions without you.”
“I can’t.” She said the words before she even realized she was saying them. They came out with such infinite finality that they caught both her and Richard by surprise.
“You can’t? Just like that? That’s it?” he exclaimed, his voice the one on the rise this time. “No ‘let me think about it’? No ‘we can give it a trial run and see how it goes’?” His face had flushed and when he spoke again his voice was deadly quiet. “Just ‘I can’t’.”
She shook her head softly at him. “Richard, I’m sorry. I know that’s not what you were hoping to hear, and I didn’t mean it to come out that way. But it is how I feel. I can’t do this.”
“Why?”
“Why?” Why? How could he ask that? Did he really think it was that simple? “There are a lot of reasons. I’ve lived in Metropolis all my life. Jason just started kindergarten and he’s made a few friends. I don’t want to rip him away from everything he knows.” She attempted a half-hearted smile at him. “Plus, I haven’t spoken French fluently since college... and I don’t know that I ever *wrote* it fluently. Your boss would have your press pass if you tried to hire me as a reporter.”
“I’m sure I could brush you up on your French.” The tease sounded forced. “But seriously, Lois, kids are resilient. Jason would make new friends, and he’d have the opportunity to learn not just a different language but also a different culture. And you’re the one who told me that you wished you’d done more traveling.”
“*Traveling* to another country, yes, *moving* to another one... no. Richard, I’m sorry. I really am. But I just can’t do this.”
“Just like that, huh? You won’t even think about it, will you? God, Lois, you’re so stubborn sometimes. Why can’t you see that this might be a good move for our family? It would let us start fresh, build a new life. It would get us away from Metropolis.”
*Our* family... get us away from Metropolis...
She finally realized where he was going with this... and it made her angry. “It would get us away from Superman,” she chimed in, biting the words out.
He flinched at the heat in her voice, but didn’t deny what she’d said. “It would get us away from a lot of things, Lois. I think it could really help.”
“You know sometimes when you rip a tree out of the ground to move it to a place that you think suits you a little better, the tree dies from shock...”
“Yeah, and sometimes the room to grow and better soil allow it to prosper.”
She shook her head at him sadly.
He clenched his jaw together and she could see the tic working in his cheek. “Be careful, Lois. Be careful that while you’re taking your time trying to make up your mind that someone else doesn’t make it up for you.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” she asked pointedly.
He didn’t answer and instead got up from the table and pushed his chair in. As he started to walk away, she stood up from the table in disbelief. “Richard, don’t walk away from this. Don’t walk away from me.”
He turned and looked back at her with a deep sadness in his eyes. “You know what I want, Lois. Now you just have to figure out what *you* want. I don’t know what more there is to say. I’m going home. I’ll... I’ll see you back at the house later.”
“Richard,” she called out after him, but he didn’t look back this time.
**********
To Be Continued...
