And life went on. Within a few weeks, Jimmy was back, and in the newsroom where he belonged, Eduardo and Steve reporting the news, Cat keeping tabs on the Metropolis celebrities, Ralph hitting on everything female. She looked over at Clark. He was sitting at his desk with a frown on his face as he played with something in his hands. She got up from her seat and approached his desk. “What’s that?”
He looked up guiltily and his hands stilled. It was a blue velvet covered box.
“Lana’s been pressing me to take the next step in our relationship. I guess Jack’s death had made me see how fragile life is, how short. We’re not assured of a tomorrow.” He flipped the lid of the box open and handed it to her. The blue velvet nestled a beautiful pear cut diamond. Lois eyes flew to Clark’s.
“You’re going to propose?”
He nodded. “I don’t know why I haven’t already done so. She wants us to move in together. I know it seems silly in this day and age, but I’m not really okay with that. Not for me. I think that if we’re ready to make that kind of commitment, we should go all the way, make it official.”
Lois closed the box with a snap, handing it back to him. “Clark, can we go somewhere and talk.”
Clark looked surprised. Apparently this was not the reaction he had been expecting, but he agreed.
“Sure, Lois.” He stood and pulled his suit coat from the back of his chair, putting the jewelry box in the pocket. “Let’s pick up sandwiches and take them to the park.”
They ate their sandwiches, both deep in thought. Lois broke the silence. “Do you love her, Clark?”
“Lana? Of course I do. Lana and I have been going out forever. She’s always been there for me. Lana and I have similar backgrounds. We’re a good pair. When I moved to Metropolis, I told my dad that I wanted to meet someone, raise a family, settle down. I didn’t even think that person would be someone from Smallville, but it just works. Lois, when I thought about losing my job at the Planet and then when we lost Jack, I realized something. I realized I could lose all that and still go on, but I wanted someone to come home to at night, somewhere I could leave my cares at the door, someone to belong to.”
“Are you sure that Lana is that person, Clark? I realize that you have known her a long time, but Lana has always seemed to be constantly looking for something, someone, better. You may love her, but are you *in* love with her? When we lost Jack, I think that we all realized just how short life can be. It made us take a good look at ourselves and decide what the really important things in life were. I realized that seeing you every morning, working with you, being with you was what I really wanted out of life. Clark, I love you.”
“I love you too. That’s why I guess I thought you would be happy for me.”
“No, Clark. I’m in love with you.”
He looked at her in surprise.
“Didn’t you know, Clark?”
“We’re family, Lois. I just don’t think of you that way, romantically. I love you like a sister.”
How could the words ‘I love you’ hurt so badly? Tears were stinging at her eyes.
“We’re best friends. If you want to belong to someone, Clark, belong to me.”
“There are things about me that you don’t know, Lois, that you may never know.”
“I don’t care! I know *you*, the real you, better than anyone. You may not be in love with me, but a lot of marriages start out with less than we have. I love you enough for both of us!”
Clark shook his head. “It doesn’t work like that.”
“Please, don’t marry, Lana. If you loved her with all your heart, I swear, I would do my best to support you, to be happy for you, but if you’re just doing this because you don’t want to be alone-”
“What about you and Lex? Aren’t you dating him?”
Lois looked away. “I- yes, I guess. It started out as an investigation, but then he got sprayed with the pheromones and he fixated on me and I guess I felt sorry for him. I’m fond of him, in a way, but I realized after he bought the Planet that somehow along the way, I had dropped my investigation. Lex says he has changed, but that doesn’t mean that I shouldn’t take a closer look at his past.” She looked back up at him. “Just promise me you’ll talk to your parents about this first?”
“How do you know I haven’t already?”
She smiled sadly at him. “I told you, I know you. I can tell.” She leaned forward and kissed his cheek. “Please tell Perry I wasn’t feeling well and went home.”
*****
She sat on her loveseat, staring at nothing until the daylight faded and she was left in the dark. Then she put on her sweatshirt and flannel pajama bottoms, crawled into bed and pulled the covers over her head. In less than twelve hours, she had to get up, get ready for work, and face the world as if her heart wasn’t a numb, cold stone in her chest.
*****
“Are you sure you should be here today, honey? You look awful.”
“Thanks, Perry,” Lois said sarcastically.
“You could go back home and try again tomorrow. I don’t need my reporters getting sick.”
“I’m fine, Chief. Where’s Clark?”
“Clark asked for a few days off to go home and see his folks. I told him to go for it. I think we all want to reconnect with our family and friends after Jack’s passing.”
“Oh. He didn’t say anything.”
“Well if you’re here you might as well start on the investigation into the bomb in the print room. We still don’t know how it got there or who may have put it there.”
“Who would have anything to gain from bombing the Planet? If it were a disgruntled employee, they would have made some sort of statement. I know not everyone has been happy with Lex’s management, but Lex hasn’t mentioned anyone making threats.”
“That’s a good start, Lois. And . . go home early.”
Lois picked up the phone and dialed a familiar number.
“Mrs. Cox? Lois Lane-Kent. I need to make an appointment to talk to Lex about the bombing at the Planet.”
“Mr. Luthor is a very busy man.”
“I’m sure he’ll see me.”
‘Unfortunately, Mr. Luthor has left word that you should have access to him. Will 11:00 work for you?”
“Yes. That will be fine.”
“I’ll let Mr. Luthor know to expect you.”
Lois wrinkled her nose as she hung up. Mrs. Cox certainly wasn’t her biggest fan. She had made it more than clear that she didn’t think that Lois was good enough for Lex. Lois didn’t think that Nigel liked her either, although he was far better at hiding his feelings, but sometimes she caught him staring at her as if he wished she would spontaneously combust. He seemed to find her presence in Lex’s life annoying.
*****
“Lex, can you tell me anything about the bombing? Had you received any threats, even had anyone seem particularly upset with your management?”
“Well, I don’t think that very many at the Planet were particularly in favor of the changes that I made, some were even outspoken in their disapproval, but no one person more than others.”
“Do you know of any reason that someone might want to destroy the Planet?”
“I don’t want to point fingers, my dear. Disgruntled employees, rival newspapers, business acquaintances jealous of my success- there are any number of people who could have some motive to try to hurt me.”
“Who would stand to gain if Superman had been unable to put out the fire and the building had been severely damaged?”
“No one that I can think of.”
“Hmm. Thanks for the interview, Lex. I know that you don’t normally allow them.”
“Anything for you, darling.”
“Lex, I don’t want to hurt you, but I think that you are reading more into our relationship than I am comfortable with. I view you as a friend. As an interesting companion. A stimulating conversationalist. But I am not interested in a romantic relationship with you. I’m sorry if that hurts you, Lex, but lately you’ve been hinting that you want more, so I felt that I should set the record straight.”
“I’m very sorry to hear you say that. You surely know that my feelings for you are strong.”
“That’s just the pheromones talking, Lex. Perhaps if we spent less time together, your. . . attachment to me would wear off.”
“It hurts that you think so little of me.”
“I’m sorry, but I think it would be for the best.”
“It pains me to hear you say that, Lois. Nigel will show you out.” Lex abruptly left the room.
Nigel appeared in the doorway. “So we are to lose your presence around here, Ms. Lane-Kent?”
“Don’t pretend you’re disappointed, Nigel.”
“On the contrary. You have distracted Lex from his business long enough. He is better off without you. Let me show you out.”
*****
When Clark returned after his vacation, he made his way to Lois’ desk. “Can I talk to you in the conference room for a minute?” She nodded, stood and made her way into the conference room. Clark shut the door and closed the blinds. “I wanted you to know that I am not going to ask Lana to marry me, at least not now. I talked to my parents as you suggested, and they helped me to see that marriage is not something that I should feel pressured into. Marriage is a decision that we should come to together. I talked to Lana last night and told her that I was happy with our relationship the way it is. If she isn’t, then maybe we’re not meant to be.”
“I’m. . . sorry.” She was sorry that the situation had caused him pain.
“I also thought about what you said about Luthor. I know you no longer believe that he is the root of all evil in Metropolis, but maybe we could investigate him together.”
“I told Lex that my feelings for him were completely platonic.”
“How did he take it?”
“He walked out on me. I think I made Nigel and Mrs. Cox very happy though.”
He laughed. They fell into silence. She studied him. He almost seemed to be waiting for something.
“I’m not going to take it back.”
“What?”
“You thought that I would take it back, what I said about my feelings for you. Well, I’m not going to. I can’t help the way I feel, and I’m glad that I don’t have to hide it any more. Don’t worry, I promise not to chase you like Cat did when you first started.”
“I wasn’t worried about that.”
“So. . . friends?”
“Friends. And partners. We’re going to work together to find the real story of Lex Luthor.”
“Perry has me working on the bombing right now. I’ve hit a snag though. The police won’t talk to me.”
“I have a contact in the police department. I’ll give him a call.”
“Thanks, Clark.”
Well, he hadn’t dragged her into his arms and kissed her senseless, but at least he wasn’t going to pretend that she didn’t exist.
*****
The police weren’t very helpful. Anything they did know, they weren’t willing to release to the press. Lois and Clark were brainstorming trying to come with a reason for the tragedy.
“What if Superman hadn’t gotten there when he did? What if the Planet had actually been destroyed? Maybe that was the plan,” puzzled Lois.
“Right. If the fire had spread, the chemicals would have exploded. The entire building could have come down.”
“What changes would that have brought about?”
“There would be no Daily Planet, even if that was temporary. The employees would have lost heir jobs. Lex would have lost his investment.”
“Would a rival have done this to harm Lex?”
Lois shook her head. “It’s so confusing. I can’t seem to make sense of it. Let’s start with the effects of the worst case scenario and go from there.”
“Let’s see if Jimmy can help us. I’m sure Jack’s death hit him pretty hard. This will give him something else to focus on.”
*****
“I’ve discovered that there were two policies on the Planet. The policy that the board had was still providing coverage and Luthor had added the Planet to his businesses covered under his policy as well. Even after the repairs were made to the print room, Lex took home a tidy profit,” Clark said.
“That’s not illegal,” said Lois.
“No, but it could be motive. The Daily Planet got to upgrade its print room for free.”
“It could be something, I guess. Have you been able to get any more information from the police?” asked Lois.
“Not yet. I’m planning to go down and talk to them in person if I can get away this afternoon.”
“Good. I’m looking into the sale of the Planet. I still don’t understand why the Board would suddenly decide to sell to a private company. I know we were going through a rough spot financially, but that comes and goes. The Board has been through that storm before.”
“Could they have had some incentive to sell?”
“Good, Clark! I hadn’t thought of that.”
Their relationship was not the easy camaraderie that they had previously enjoyed, but they cared too much about each other to let Lois’ declaration ruin their friendship. What she missed most was the physical contact. She used to touch Clark on the arm or chest, and he would lay his hand on her shoulder as he read her computer screen or place his hand on the small of her back indicating that she should precede him out the door or up the stairs. He never touched her now. And the only time she had touched him he had quickly moved out of her reach, so she now just kept her hands to herself.
*****
Clark came back from the police station very upset. He sat down at his desk and leaned across it to talk to her.
“My contact says that, off the record, the explosives were found in Jack’s lunchbox. They found explosives and instructions on how to make a bomb in his apartment. Since he was killed in the explosion they’re hoping to keep it quiet until they need to release the information. But, Lois, why would Jack have brought his lunch box that day? We were going out for lunch.”
“What if he set it to go off while he was gone, but it malfunctioned and exploded early?”
“Why would he want to plant a bomb anyway? He had a job, people who trusted him. Life was looking up for him for the first time in a long time.”
“Then he was framed. Who would want to frame him? And why? I talked to Lex. He said that no one profited from the explosion.”
Clark shook his head. The whole thing didn’t make sense.
*****
Jimmy came bounding to their desks when he got in Monday morning. “You guys will want to hear this. I went with a buddy of mine to visit his brother in juvie yesterday.”
Lois interrupted, “Juvie?”
“Yeah. Juvenile Detention. Anyway, so this guy says that he overheard some stuff. They brought in a kid last week -- he was bragging about how he and his brother pulled this frame-up. You know, planted incriminating evidence in some guy's crib.”
“What kind of evidence?” asked Lois.
“Explosives,” said Jimmy with a satisfied look on his face. “It was Jack. This guy, Pete Black, and his brother, John, were paid to plant the explosives and literature that was found in Jack’s apartment.”
“Anything about who hired them?” asked Clark.
“Just that it was someone important, and they got paid a ton of money. He called him “The Boss”. Seems, though, that Pete was scared to death. His brother went missing and Pete purposely got caught breaking into an electronics store so that he would go to juvie. He thinks he may stay out of The Boss’ reach there.”
Lois’ eyes lit up. “When I was doing research several years ago, I ran into several people who talked of someone called The Boss that ran all the organized crime in Metropolis. I thought it might be Lex, but I never found any connection.”
“Jimmy, let’s you and I take a trip to the Juvenile Detention Facility and see if we can talk to Pete Black. Maybe we can convince him to talk.”
“Sure thing, C.K.”
*****
“Clark!“ Jimmy said, bursting on to the scene. “I talked to one of the corner markets that used to advertise in the Planet. I asked the owner why he switched to advertising in the Star. He said that he has an agency that places ads for him. Guess who owns it? LexComm. He said that the agency told him that he could get a much larger ad in the Star for half the price. So, I called the Star and pretended to be looking for advertising space. They quoted me the exact same rates as the Planet. So I asked if they ever had any half-off specials and they said no.”
“So how did LexComm give the market such a good deal?” Clark asked.
“Jimmy?” prompted Lois.
“I, uh, *happened* to see some expense vouchers for LexComm. LexComm paid full price for the advertising space in the Star. They were selling it to companies at a lower price.”
“Does Lex have any financial ties to the Star?” asked Clark.
“Nope,” confirmed Jimmy. “Preston Carpenter holds the controlling interest at the Star, and Luthor is not the type to share the stage with anyone.”
“So there’s no logical way that Luthor Industries would recoup that money.” stated Lois.
“So Luthor was causing the Planet to lose money, and then he bought it?” asked Clark. “Why would he do that?”
Lois blushed, “I thought he had bought the Planet because of me. Now I wonder if the purchase had been in the works all along.”
“We need to find out why the board decided to sell to LexCorp. What made them give up on the Planet and decide that leaving was better than sticking around?” decided Clark.
*****
Cat wolf-whistled at Lois when she entered the Daily Planet after her weekend off. Lois looked at her curiously.
“What?”
“I didn’t think you had it in you, Lois, but maybe I underestimated you.”
“What do you mean?”
Jimmy walked past carrying a paper. “Wow, Lois. I didn’t realize you’d look that good in a bathing suit.”
“How good? I don’t know what you two are talking about.”
Jimmy unfolded the paper displaying the cover of the National Whisper with the caption “Lois Captures Lex Luthor” across the top. Lois grabbed the paper. “What is this?” The picture showed her, or rather someone who looked very like her, grabbing Lex Luthor’s arm as they ran through the surf together.
Lois shook her head, “That’s not me.”
“It sure looks like you,” stated Cat.
“I thought you were over Lex Luthor, Lois,” said Jimmy.
“There was never anything to get over. That’s not me. This says I was in Bermuda with Lex this weekend. *I* spent the weekend at home doing some cleaning.”
“Right,” drawled Cat.
Clark walked up to the group.
“It’s not me,” she insisted. “Look,” she said pulling her blouse off her shoulder. “No tan line. If I had spent the weekend in Bermuda, I would have a tan line.”
“Not if you were topless,” put in Jimmy.
“I was not topless!”
“Or if you and Lex spent more time in bed than in the sun,” teased Cat.
“I was not topless, I was not with Lex! I wasn’t there. Besides I burn first before I tan. Tell them, Clark.”
Clark was staring at her shoulder. “Clark? Tell them I always burn before I tan.”
Clark looked up seeming to mentally shake the glaze from his eyes. “That’s true,” Clark confirmed.
“Whoever that is, it isn’t me. Now aren’t there any stories that we should be working on instead of discussing my love life?”
“You’d have to have one first,” smirked Cat as she sauntered off.
Too true, thought Lois. “So what’s up in Metropolis?” she asked Clark. Where was his mind this morning?
“Superman’s popularity is down in the polls,” offered Jimmy, handing her another paper, this one the Metropolis Star.
“Do you ever read the Daily Planet?” muttered Lois.
“Twenty percent of the people in Metropolis are anti-Superman,” Jimmy said.
“That’s ridiculous,” scoffed Lois.
“What's really weird is when they asked why they didn't like Superman, half the people couldn't even give a specific reason,” Clark said, joining the conversation.
“I swear, we're witnessing the dumbing down of America. People with opinions who have no idea why they even have an opinion. Anything on that *other* investigation that I should know about?” Lois asked.
“Plenty. From what Pete told us when Jimmy and I visited him, I was able to locate John Black where he was hiding out and asked him about doing a job for me. John Black'll do just about anything he's paid to do: break in, plant explosives, anything. He even gave me a number to call for a reference. I believe you are familiar with a Mrs. Cox? And it’s all recorded,” Clark said waving a mini recorder.
“We’ve got him!” Lois exclaimed.
“No, we have Mrs. Cox. And frankly, I’d rather let her go and hope she leads us to the bigger fish. I mean, why would Mrs. Cox want to blow up the Planet?” asked Clark.
“To annoy me?” Lois guessed. “She doesn’t like me very much.”
“No, Pete said it was The Boss, remember?” said Jimmy.
“There’s something else, Lois,” Clark said. “I don’t know if you realize it or not, but we have nowhere to print anything that we do find. Luthor is not going to allow us to print anything in his paper.”
Lois nodded, “And we can’t go to the police because we don’t know who might also be working for him. We don’t want to arouse his suspicion. We’ll have to wait until we have something big enough the law can’t sweep it under the rug.”
Perry approached them from his office. “A plastic surgeon, a Dr. Heller, has been murdered. I want you two to look into it,” he said indicating Lois and Clark. “And, as long as you're here, you might as well know about this too.” Perry raised his voice to address the newsroom. “Alright everybody, gather 'round. I have an announcement to make. As you know, we've all been through some difficult times recently with the loss of our fellow employees and our new owner feels that counseling should be available to anyone that feels in need of it. So, as of today the Daily Planet has its own staff psychologist. Many of you might be familiar with this woman from her syndicated column we've been running ‘Healing the Inner Self’.”
Just then a beautiful brunette walked into the newsroom. “Ah, folks, this is Dr. Arianna Carlin that I was just telling you about.”
“I'm looking forward to meeting all of you over the next several days. Please feel free to drop in to my office any time,” she greeted the crowd.
“Okay people, we got blank pages to fill,” Perry ended the meeting and the staff, including her partner, wandered off.
Dr. Carlin caught Lois’ arm. “Miss Lane-Kent. I'm especially looking forward to meeting with you,” said Dr. Carlin in a confidential tone.
“Sorry to disappoint you, Dr. Carlin, but I have my own therapist. She’s a *real* doctor.”
“Oh, I’m a *real* doctor too, Miss Lane-Kent.”
“If you’ll excuse me, I have a story to investigate. A murdered plastic surgeon. Perhaps you knew him?” she said waspishly.
Dr. Carlin was not fazed. “I don’t believe in surgically altering one’s appearance Miss Lane-Kent.”
Lois snorted. Dr. Carlin’s good looks *were* too good to be true. She stalked off to find Clark so they could head out to look into Dr. Heller’s murder.
*****
Lois and Clark decided to start with a visit to the alley where Dr. Heller’s body had been found. As they turned into an alley, Lois spotted some graffiti spray painted on the wall. It was an acrostic that read “Superman Tyranny over People.” She hated to see anyone express feelings of hatred toward Superman; how much more must it hurt Clark? She kicked a near by soda can in frustration. “Idiots. Don’t they know that Superman is here to help?”
“I’m not sure idiots is the right word, Lois. They were clever enough to create an acrostic.”
Lois gave him a disgusted look. “I don’t care how artistic they are. They're still idiots.”
She preceded him into the alley, stopping at the dumpster surrounded by police tape. “I guess this must be it. It's ironic isn't it? Someone whose work it was to make people beautiful ends up in a dumpster.”
The dumpster moved slightly and a rustling sound came from behind it. “Excuse me-” Lois began, but the apparently homeless man took one look at her and took off running.
“Hey! Wait!” called Clark. He took off after the man, and when Lois caught up around the corner, Clark was holding him by the arm.
The man was insisting, “Look mister! I don't know nothing!”
“About what?” Clark asked. A determined look crossed the man’s face and he visibly snapped his mouth shut. “I think some money would be a good idea about now,” Clark said to Lois.
“Me? Where’s your wallet?”
“My hands are full.” He turned to address the man he was still holding by the arm. “Look. We’re reporters. We just want to know if you can tell us anything about the body that was found in that alley.” Lois unhappily extended a twenty towards him. The man reached for it and she pulled it back.
“*After* you tell us what you know,” she explained.
“I saw two guys dumping a body. Heard one of them call the other Harry. Except when they were leaving, I saw it wasn't guys. It was chicks.”
“Did you get a good look at either one of them?” Clark asked
The man lunged for the twenty and when he was successful, he began to take off calling, “Yeah. It was her!” He nodded towards Lois as he ran off.
“Lois, you certainly have had a busy weekend! First you spent the weekend in Bermuda and then you took time to murder Dr. Heller last night.”
“Funny, Clark Kent. He’s probably just trying to throw us off track.”
*****
When they got back to the Planet, there was a huge bouquet of red roses on Lois‘ desk. She figured there were at least two dozen. Curious, Lois pulled the card out and opened it.
Lois,
The weekend was more than I ever dreamed. I know you wanted to keep our reconciliation quiet, but I couldn’t resist expressing my love in a more subtle way than we did this weekend.
Love, Lex.
What was going on? Lois reached for the phone and dialed a number she hadn’t called in weeks.
“Mrs. Cox? This is Lois Lane-Kent. I really need to talk to Lex.”
“Lois. I’m sure that Mr. Luthor had no interest in speaking to you. If you recall, you ended your relationship. You no longer have unlimited access to him.”
“Perhaps Lex does not agree with you. I just received flowers from him and I wanted to call and thank him.”
“Perhaps the florist delivered them to you by mistake.”
“The card is addressed to me.”
“And you’re the only Lois in this town? Excuse me.” The phone was abruptly put on hold.
Then, “Miss Lane-Kent. Nigel St. John. I’m afraid this was my error. Mr. Luthor had requested the bouquet to be ordered some weeks ago and I neglected to cancel the delivery. You can throw them in the garbage if they’re offensive to you.”
“No, they’re beautiful. Thank you for explaining. If Lex happens to bring them up, would you tell him that I said so?” She knew Nigel would not.
“Certainly,” he lied.
Lois hung up. She wasn’t quite sure what to make of it. The roses could have been pre-ordered she supposed, but what about Lex’s note?
*****
Lois came back from lunch an hour late, but she was practically dancing. She came over to Clark’s desk, and held out her cell phone as if it were a microphone. “Mr. Simon Truesdale, former Daily Planet board member, has had a sudden attack of conscience. He's now willing to confess to receiving a substantial cash 'inducement' I think he called it to support the sale of the Planet to Lex Luthor.” She turned the microphone to herself.
“Miss Lane-Kent, any particular reason for this sudden attack of conscience?”
She stopped and flipped the cell phone open, showing it to Clark. “It might be related to a certain phone recording he's hoping his wife never receives.”
“Great work, Lois! How did you manage that?”
“I was eating my lunch, minding my own business-”
“Yeah, right!”
“-when I noticed one of the former board members in a lip lock with a young . . . female. . . certainly too young to be the woman he has previously introduced to me as his wife. I happened to catch the scene on my cell phone. When they got ready to leave, I slipped into the booth and asked him to take a look at pictures of my latest investigation.”
“So we have proof that the board members were pressured to sell, and that they accepted an additional sum above what they would have received from the sale and what would be reported to the IRS as income. That still just gets us the board members on suspicion of tax evasion.”
“Not exactly *just* that.”
“What do you mean?”
“The board accepted the bribes before I mentioned the Planet’s money troubles to Lex. This proves that he intended to purchase the Planet all along.” It was a blessed relief to her. “But to what purpose?”
Clark shook his head. “I guess we have to keep digging.”
*****
