Sorry for the delay. I've been reading all the other wonderful stories out there now. This part is a little longer, so I hope that makes up for it.
Summary: In this alternate beginning, Lois and Clark meet four years prior to the events of the Pilot episode while investigating villainous chemists at a journalism workshop in upstate New Troy.
Clark couldn’t sleep. He felt uncomfortable knowing that the waitress at the restaurant had assumed he and Lois were a couple. He knew that he felt some sort of attraction to her, but he also knew that he shouldn’t act on it. He was in love with Lana, or, at least, Lana was in love with him. That meant he wasn’t free to date anyone else, right? On top of that, Lois had certainly made it clear that she didn’t have any feelings like that for him; she didn’t even seem to think much of him and his country ‘charm’. What kind of person was he if he couldn’t keep his feelings for Lois from showing to himself, let alone to the rest of the world? He needed something to distract him from thinking about her.
For the thousandth time, Clark bemoaned his stupidity for not packing a book to read. He should have anticipated the free time in the evenings and brought something to help him pass the time. Lying in bed thinking about Lois was only making him more restless rather than lulling him into sleep. Slipping out from the sheets, Clark pulled a pair of sweatpants over his sleep shorts and threw a t-shirt over his head. Perhaps a walk around the dorm building would still his thoughts and bring him some peace. Clark carefully made his way down the stairs to the lower level of the dormitory where the lounge and cafeteria were located. Wandering over to the couches, he remembered falling asleep with Lois while watching the movie just two nights ago. He could feel his heart rate increase ever so slightly at the thought of her body lying next to his, and how they had awakened practically in each other’s arms, with the barest of space between their lips. Okay, this was not the place to forget about Lois. What about getting some fresh air?
As Clark cautiously opened the door to let himself outside, he saw that the lounge chairs were still located at the edge of the concrete patio where they had been pushed aside to make room for the dining tables at lunch. He ambled over to the loungers thinking that it might help to sit and breathe in the fresh night air and gaze at the stars. Finding himself scanning the chairs to see if Lois might be out here again, Clark decided that sitting outside wouldn’t calm his feelings and would only continue to remind him of his midnight conversation with Lois on their first night. Funny how he had only known her for three days but it already felt like a lifetime.
The Library was located at the far side of the campus from the dorm, just on the other side of the old science building. Clark briefly pondered the possibility of finding a book to read inside the building before setting off down the sidewalk. He knew that he needed something else to occupy his mind and keep him from turning his thoughts inward, and books had always been able to transport him into another world whenever he was feeling lonely at home. Even if the Library was closed, he didn’t think it would matter if he sneaked in to pick out a book and returned it during the daytime. After all, it wasn’t stealing, just borrowing. He had done it a time or two while he was in college, and since the setup here was even less structured, it didn’t seem to bother his conscience, well, maybe only a little.
His footfalls sounded loud even to his ears as he slowly made his way across the empty campus. He couldn’t help but pause as he got close to the abandoned science building. There was no light visible from the secret basement workshop, and as he tuned in his hearing, nothing out of the ordinary could be heard. He almost passed by without another thought, but something made him look towards the side door that he and Lois had entered earlier. This time, the padlock was open and hanging loosely from the hook on the door frame. Curiosity caused him to delay his library sojourn to detour through the now open door and enter the building.
The faintly chemical smell still hung in the air, and all was very dark as Clark stepped inside. He didn’t dare turn on a light but adjusted his vision so that he could see easily in the dark. Stepping down the staircase to the basement, he kept his hearing tuned so that he wouldn’t find himself surprised by the lab’s inhabitants. Content that no one was nearby, he moved forward until he reached the laboratory door, still obscured by the cabinet. Not wanting to take the time to move the cabinet, he lowered his glasses and scanned through it to see if anyone was inside the room. Not even the Bunsen burner was lit this evening, so Clark continued walking further down the narrow hallway. His eye caught a series of five vertical scratches on an old wooden cabinet, leaving the light pine exposed where the darkened lacquer had been scraped away. Clark ran his finger over the scratches, remembering that this was one of the cabinets he and Lois had hidden between the other day, their bodies pressed up against each other as he waited for the chance for their escape. Lois again. Only three days, and everything around him reminded him of Lois. Had Lois scratched the wood when they were leaving? He didn’t remember her doing so, but his thoughts hadn’t been the clearest at that time. He glanced down and saw a small black ring, apparently made of fabric. He picked it up and realized that it was the kind of thing women used to pull their hair into a ponytail. In fact, a few strands of long dark hair still clung to the fabric.
Lois had been here! It had to have been hers, and he knew she hadn’t been wearing it when they were there the other afternoon. He should have known that she would come out on her own. Stuffing the hair band into his pocket, he quickly stepped down the hall, taking the stairs two at a time in his haste to leave. Clark had an overwhelming need to talk to Lois and find out what she had discovered on her evening expedition. How dare she lie to him, and then run off facing who knows what kind of danger all on her own. Within a matter of seconds, he found himself at the door to the dorm, poised at the entrance to the first floor where the women were staying. He was suddenly confronted with the fact that he didn’t know which room was hers. “Lois,” he whispered into the darkened hallway, hoping she would still be awake and would open up for him. “Lois?”
After waiting a few seconds, he decided that an easier method would be a quick scan of the rooms. His parents weren’t here to lecture him about invading people’s privacy, and he wouldn’t stop to look. Just a quick peek to find her. As luck would have it, the first room on the floor, and therefore the first room that Clark scanned, housed one of the instructors, an overweight woman of about fifty from Chicago. She was dressed in a short pink nightshirt and was standing over a chair in the middle of the room, one foot on the chair and another foot on the floor clad in a fuzzy pink slipper. Clark’s ever so quick scan revealed the woman bending over the chair, her shirt riding up enough to show a complete view of her full coverage satin underwear and her arms in front, clipping her toenails. Shaking his head to clear the image, he decided that there was a very good reason not to invade people’s privacy after all.
“Lois,” he continued to whisper as he wandered into the hallway, trying to tune his hearing to be aware of her heartbeat. “Lois, are you there?”
One of the doors opened slightly to reveal the tall blonde from the LA Times. “Clark, what are you doing here?”
“Um...nothing. I just needed to talk to Lois. Do you know what room she’s in?”
“That one there,” she said, pointing to the room diagonally from her own. “Is she expecting you, at 11 o’clock at night, in her room?”
“Well, actually, she’s not, but I really need to talk with her. Just talk. Thanks. Good night,” Clark said, loud enough to make his parting words clearly a dismissal. The look on her face told him that his nocturnal visit would only fuel the gossip about the two of them, but right at that moment, Clark didn’t care.
As soon as her door closed, Clark was gently knocking on Lois’ door. After several knocks and no answer, he took the risk and scanned inside into her room. The bed was still made, and apparently never slept in. This meant she must still be out ‘investigating’. In a flash, Clark was back outside the science building, scanning up and down to see if she was still inside. Where was that security guard when you needed him? No Lois, but he heard voices whispering around the corner of the building.
“Well, let’s get back to work. We’ll have to decide what to do with the woman later. She should stay out of trouble in the trunk of your car,” Clark heard one of them saying.
“Hey, the chick surprised me. I just reacted. That was smart of you to think of tying her up and putting her in the trunk. With the car parked in the far lot, practically in the field of sweet corn, near the cabbage patch, even if she slips out of the gag, no one will be able to hear her.”
“It’s just a complication I would rather do without. Let’s just hope she was alone in her snooping. We may have to do some interrogation before we get rid of her.”
************
Lois slowly woke to find that she was in the dark with her arms were pulled behind her back and her hands were tied together. The back of her head was also throbbing from where she must have been struck earlier. Lois struggled but couldn’t loosen the bindings. Her ankles were also tied, and she tried bending her knees so that she could reach the rope to untie them. She was able to bend so that she could reach her ankles but with her fingers numb, she wasn’t able to untie the knot in the rope around her ankles. Instead, she reached out and tried kicking to see if she could tell where she was.
A metallic clunk and the pain in her toes told her senses that she must be in the trunk of a car. Lois scooted towards what seemed to be the edge of the trunk and rubbed her face along the side, trying to see if there was some type of latch that would open the trunk. All she succeeded in doing was give her cheeks carpet burn from the rough fabric lining the interior. Not to be deterred, she kept rubbing, trying to rub off the tape that was covering her mouth. The problem was that she couldn’t seem to find a spot of tape that was loose enough to catch on the carpet and rub off. She could feel the tears begin to well in her eyelids as the gravity of her situation began to sink in.
Lois decided that anger was a more constructive emotion than fear, and turned her efforts towards banging on the car, thumping her limbs against the trunk’s interior and murmuring muffled curses not only at her attacker but also at herself for her stupidity in getting caught. After struggling for some time, the tension and exhaustion forced her to stop and rest. Her arms were really beginning to ache, and her head was pounding from where she had been hit earlier. What did they say about concussions? Was it good to sleep it off, or bad to sleep after receiving one, not that Lois was even sure if she had a concussion or not. With the adrenaline high fading, Lois realized that it was late at night, and she hadn’t yet gotten any sleep. As long as she couldn’t find her way out, she thought she might as well rest so that she would be able to conserve some strength for when the kidnappers returned. Rolling on her side so that she was facing the back of the car, Lois found her breathing growing shallower and shallower in the darkened space, until her eyes closed, falling into slumber.
************
“…get rid of her,” was all Clark heard before he was galvanized into action. In a blur, he ran past the Library, past the old stables, and sought out the parking lot closest to the vegetable fields. He stood at the edge of the campus and stretched his vision as far as it would go, looking for the abandoned lot. Not seeing anything, he glanced around to be sure that no one else was nearby and floated up to the level of the nearby treetops. With the added height, Clark easily spotted the parking lot, overgrown with weeds and abutting the nearby fields. The dark grey car parked at the far edge was indeed practically in the corn. In a blink, he had flown to the abandoned lot and landed next to the car. Stopping just outside the trunk, he paused to call out, “Lois! Lois! Can you hear me?” Nothing. No response.
He slid his fingers under the edge of the trunk lid and lifted up, knowing that he could open it with his super strength. The trunk flew open, revealing the figure of a small woman, dressed in black, with her wrists and ankles bound in white rope and a piece of duct tape over her mouth. Gently, Clark lifted her from the car, cradling her in his arms. He set her down on the broken pavement and pulled the tape off her mouth in one swift motion. Still no response from Lois. Clark untied the rope and began shaking her, trying to wake her from whatever stupor she was in. He laid a hand on her chest and felt her heartbeat, steady underneath his fingers. Still alive. “Lois,” he said practically in her ear, cradling her head and shoulders on his lap as he slid down next to her, “Wake up, Lois.”
A moan came from the small mouth as she slowly began to move her limbs, pushing him away. “No, don’t touch me!”
“It’s me, Lois, Clark. You’re okay,” he said, pulling her up tighter into his arms.
Her struggling stopped as his voice sank into her consciousness, “Clark?”
“Yes, I’m right here, Lois. Right here,” Clark said.
“I didn’t want to be with you tonight, but right now, I’m really glad you’re here.” She gradually relaxed into Clark’s arms, putting her own around his neck to help pull herself into a sitting position. She buried her head into the crook of his neck, breathing lightly onto the skin at the top of his t-shirt. Her breath was still coming in short gasps, but she seemed to be unharmed. Clark felt the tension leaving her body as she settled onto his chest, her heart rate gradually slowing. His own realization that she was safe finally began to sink in, calming his panic after discovering what had happened to Lois. As he sat with her, he breathed in the familiar smell of the crops, growing just a few feet away, and their scent of comfort becoming overlaid with the aroma of Lois that was surrounding him, a mixture of her perfume, sweat, and receding fear. They sat like that for a few minutes, just two people embracing on the ground, beside a car, in a dark, abandoned parking lot. The only sound was the insects loudly buzzing from the rows of sweet corn nearby.
*******
Lois’ legs still felt shaky as she was half sitting, half lying on the lounge chair on the patio by the dorm building. Clark had gotten her a glass of water from the cafeteria inside, and she was slowly sipping it, gathering strength to tell him what had happened. He was sitting in the chair next to her, his legs swung over the edge and his knees touching her lounger. She could see his hands clasped in front, almost but not quite touching her, elbows resting on his legs and the concern on his face as his eyes gazed at her.
“Lois,” she heard him say, as he lifted his hand to cup her cheek, “It’s okay. Can you tell me what happened?”
She set the glass down on the concrete beside the lounger and turned to face him. “Don’t say it, okay? I went back there on my own deliberately. When I saw that there was someone inside the lab in the basement, I tried to find out what they were up to. I climbed onto one of the cabinets and was listening in through a window in the room. I guess they must have found me, because I heard somebody step into the hall. I was hiding there between those two cabinets from the other day, and the next thing I remember was waking up in the trunk of the car, tied up. I guess I fell asleep and woke up when you pulled me out. No big deal.”
“Are you crazy? What were you thinking, spying on them by yourself? I told you they had a gun the other day!” Clark started ranting at her, grabbing hold of her arms to hold her tight.
Anger at his words allowed Lois to focus on that emotion rather than the fear of what had happened, or almost happened, to her as she shook herself from his grasp. “Clark, you have no right to tell me what to do. Didn’t we learn in the class just this morning that investigations can be dangerous? I took a risk and got caught. It was worth it to find out more about what they’re doing. If you aren’t man enough to check things out when it gets rough, then you can sit this one out.”
“What do you mean by that? I was the one who first discovered what was happening. You aren’t getting this scoop without me, and I’m not letting you go anywhere else alone. You’ve got to tell the police what happened. They were going to kill you,” Clark said, sighing on the last few words.
“No police. Not yet. What makes you think they were going to kill me, anyway?”
“Lois, I overheard them talking. That’s how I knew where to find you. They were talking about torturing you first, then killing you. Don’t you get it? If I hadn’t found you, they could be dumping your body in the river as we speak. I couldn’t let that happen to you.” Clark took hold of her arms again, only more gently this time, gradually rubbing his hands up and down her arms as if to rub away the thoughts of her dying without his being able to help her.
The idea of actually dying hadn’t really occurred to Lois before now. She knew that she was taking a risk, but even though she was caught, it didn’t dawn on her that she might actually be killed until she heard the pain in Clark’s voice as he spoke to her. Lois reached out to grab onto Clark’s arms as she said, “When they go back to the car, they’ll find out I’m gone. Oh, Clark, what if they come after me again? What am I going to do?”
Quietly, Clark said, “Let me take you to the police. They’ll know what to do,” while he leaned into her to rest his forehead on hers.
Lois sat there, she and Clark loosely holding on to one another, not sure who was offering who comfort at that moment. With their heads resting together, she was finally able to feel safe for the first time that night. “What were you doing outside the building late at night, if you thought I wasn’t going to be there?” Lois quietly asked.
“I couldn’t sleep and was out for a walk when I saw that the padlock on the side door was open,” Clark answered. “Here,” he said, pulling the hair band from his pocket, “I think this is yours.”
“Yes, it must have fallen out when I fell in the basement.”
Clark took a deep breath. “When I found this, I knew you had been investigating on your own. I’m afraid I started looking for you and got lucky when I overheard them coming back from dumping you in the trunk,” he confessed. “Oh, and I also went looking for you in your room in the dorm. I’m afraid I didn’t help your reputation any.”
“Great! Just what I needed,” Lois said as she grabbed the hair band from his outstretched hand. As much as she enjoyed being with Clark, this was a reminder of how she couldn’t afford to get close to him, for many reasons. The chimes of the carillon began their midnight serenade, booming loud enough for Lois to remark, “Can we skip the police until tomorrow? I’m exhausted and would like to get some sleep.”
“Well, I’d rather do it now, Lois, but whatever you want. I’ll see you at breakfast tomorrow, and we can talk about what to do then.”
Lois leaned forward to give Clark a brief kiss on the cheek before standing up. “Thank you, for everything,” she murmured in his ear as she stood to walk inside the dorm building, a part of her hoping that he would follow her. Every step was taking her further away from him, even though she wanted to feel his arms around her awhile longer. She knew that it was dangerous for her to feel this way since Clark wasn’t available, but she couldn’t help thinking that maybe he felt something too, after his reaction to her near-death situation. By the time she heard the twelfth chime of the carillon, she let out a sigh as she realized he wasn’t coming after her.
************
The next morning, Clark was late to breakfast. He had gone back to the lab after Lois left and discovered that the two men he had heard before had already left. Everything was closed up tight, with the door securely padlocked. He had gone back to the dorm and crawled into bed, but he hovered at the edge of consciousness most of the night, keeping an ear out for any signs that they were coming back for Lois. He was surprised not to see Lois in the cafeteria the next morning and hoped that she was feeling alright. Without even stopping to get food, he headed towards the hallway with the phone to see if she was there before going to knock on her door. He heard her voice, practically in a whisper, as she spoke on the phone.
“I know, Claude, but you wouldn’t believe how close we are to breaking the story. I told you—I’m fine. One more trip to the lab for some final evidence, and I think we’ll wrap this up.”
“We? Who is this other person you are working with?” Clark heard through the phone as his superhearing kicked in automatically where Lois was concerned. The thick French accent was apparent even over the phone.
“Oh, just some small town hack from Kansas. I got stuck working with him at the Workshop, and after last night, he won’t let me go it alone,” she said into the phone.
That was enough for Clark to stop and turn around, not wanting to hear more. He had thought that maybe, after last night, Lois was starting to warm up to him. Those few words were enough to dash his hopes completely. She had put her arms around him last night, and even kissed him, although in truth it was just a peck on the cheek. Clark began to feel that those gestures must not mean anything to Lois if she could still think of him as a small town hack. It sounded like she was still trying to get the scoop on her own, too. He walked back into the cafeteria, grabbing a muffin and a cup of coffee before sitting down at one of the far tables by himself. He couldn’t bring himself to make small talk at that moment.
With his back to the rest of the group, Clark didn’t realize that Lois had arrived until he felt her hand on his shoulder. “Clark, can I join you?”
“Sure, Lois. Sit down,” he said.
“Listen, I can’t thank you enough for saving my life last night. That was really brave. I mean really, really brave.”
“Lois, what is it?” Clark asked, knowing that she was buttering him up for something.
She took a deep breath before answering, “I don’t think they know who I am, so I think I’m safe for awhile. I want to go back to the lab later today and see what else they were working on. After that, we can go to the police and tell them everything.”
“I don’t like it. I think—” he started to say when Lois cut him off. “I know, Clark. But, really, if we go to the police now, it will just scare off those men and we’ll never know what they discovered. If we can go back and learn more, we’ll have enough for the police to go after them.”
“And you think that assault and kidnapping aren’t enough of a motive for the police to bring them in?”
“I should have known you wouldn’t understand the importance of the story! Listen, I’m asking for your help, here. Are you with me or not, because I can work on my own, you know?” Lois said, her voice rising in volume with each sentence.
“Fine, have it your way. But I’m keeping my eye on you, and if you disappear, even for a minute, I’m going to the police myself. We can go back to the lab, together, this evening,” Clark said, as he got up from the table. “I’ll see you in the first session.”
He felt his blood start to pound in his head after that conversation with Lois. She was so pig-headed that it just infuriated him. He knew that he needed to calm down. Somehow, Lois Lane caused him to lose his equilibrium far too easily. Wishing for a distraction, Clark headed to the phone to make a quick call. He had planned to call his parents and let them know how he was doing, since talking with them almost always made him feel better. It was only when he saw Lois loitering at the end of the hall trying to listen in on his call that he decided to change his plans.
“Lana, Honey, it’s me. How are you?”
