Well I thought why not. If I post on a steady basis hopefully by the time I get to the end of what I've got I'll have written more.
So here's hoping. I could of course just create links but this is easier. Who knows? Someone new might be inspired to read it.
Alex
Part 1:
Clark tossed down his pen and paper and stretched out on the couch. As had become his habit during the years he'd wandered the globe during times of stress or upheaval he found himself reaching for pen and paper and scribbling down his thoughts, trying to create order out of chaos. The last few days had been unusually busy and Clark had been hard pressed to find time to simply relax. Lately it seemed like if he wasn't working at the Planet as Clark Kent he was helping out at some emergency as Superman.
Despite the fact he could go for days without sleep the pace he'd been pushing himself this past week was beginning to tell on him to the point where people were starting to notice. This morning at work Cat had come slinking up to him with an offer to make him some chicken soup and tuck him into bed after work. The offer had been made with her usual air of innuendo but he'd seen genuine concern in her gaze. Things had to be bad if Cat was noticing! He'd politely refused her offer but her concerned expression had stayed with him. When Perry had asked him if he was all right after the morning staff meeting he'd brushed it off as the crusty editor's usual concern for his employees but when a fire chief had hesitantly asked Superman if he was feeling all right after a fire at an apartment complex Clark realised he needed a break. Assuring the fire chief he was fine he'd headed back to the Planet trying to figure out how Superman could take a break.
He could hardly ask people to stop having accidents or criminals to stop committing crimes he knew so what could he do? It was Friday afternoon and he had the weekend off so if he could just figure out some way for Superman to take a break he could have two whole days to recharge and relax. Suddenly a feasible course of action occurred to Clark causing him to stop in mid-air to the surprise of a pigeon who flew into his back with an alarmed squawk. Assuring himself that the bird was merely stunned Clark set the bird on a nearby ledge to recover and headed for the headquarters of the Metropolis P.D. He couldn't ask the criminals to take time off but he could ask the police to be a little more vigilant couldn't he? Manage all but the most pressing situations without him? It was only for two days surely they could manage that. Feeling better about the whole situation he alighted on the front steps of the building and strode up the front steps.
He'd decided to alert Henderson to the fact he was needed a break. Henderson possessed enough street smarts to handle the whole situation without blinking. Clark didn't trust the current chief of police not to have hysterics at the thought of handling crime in the city without Superman. Inwardly snorting he leaned on the front desk and asked the attending officer if Henderson was available.
Judging by the man's dropped jaw and wide eyes he was a rookie. The stutter confirmed it Clark thought in amusement.
“I-I-I-I-I'll j-j-just ch-ch-ch-check sir um, S-S-S-Superman,” he stuttered. Spinning around on his chair a little too violently he fell off and landed with a clatter on the floor. Scrambling to his feet he hastily dialed Henderson's extension. He listened for a moment and then said, “Superman's here to see you sir. Can I show him through?”
Adjusting his hearing just a little Clark heard Henderson say with his customary dryness, “Superman knows the way Maloney, he has been here before.”
“Y-y-yes sir,” Maloney stuttered. He looked up at the colourfully garbed superhero in front of him and said, “go on through Superman. The Inspector's free.”
“Thank you,” Clark said as he strode past the desk towards Henderson's office. Ryan Maloney watched him go in awe. His first week in Metropolis and he'd met Superman! Just wait until he told his family. Maloney snapped out his daze when he heard a rather impatient voice saying, “Officer!”
Clark tapped on the door to Henderson's office, walking through when he heard Henderson call out enter.
“Superman,” Bill Henderson said, standing and extending his hand. “What can I do for you?”
“Nothing I hope,” Clark replied, shaking Henderson's hand before dropping into the offered chair.
“I'm not following you, Superman,” Henderson said as he sat down again.
Clark sighed. “It's like this,” he said simply. “I need a break, Bill. I've been going almost non-stop this week and even I have my limits. If I don't get some time off soon I'm going to start making stupid mistakes which is something I can't afford.”
“No,” Bill agreed, studying the exhausted superhero in front of him. “So where do I come in?” he asked.
“I want to take this weekend off,” Clark replied. “I'll still be around but just for two days I don't want to respond to anything short of a gang war or a hurricane. I know the criminals aren't going to stop dead just because I'm not around but I thought if I let you know you could ask your people to be extra alert for two days. Also,” he went on as a thought occurred to him, “perhaps you could give me a radio or something so you could contact me if something did come up you couldn't handle on your own without losing lives. I wouldn't ask Bill, but I'm getting desperate.”
“Time off sounds fair,” Henderson said dryly. “It'll do my people good to be without super help for a weekend. They're getting sloppy.” Clark knew that the Metropolis P.D was among the top ten on the eastern seaboard for efficiency and smiled inwardly. Bill Henderson was a perfectionist. “I'll have Fitzgerald fix you up with a radio before you leave. He can be relied on to keep his mouth shut until I tell him otherwise.”
“Maloney, Fitzgerald – you're surrounded by Irishmen, Bill,” Clark said in amusement.
“You think we're bad,” Henderson said getting to his feet. “Drop in at a firehouse sometime. I sometimes think half the fire-fighters in the city have brogues.” Clark laughed and followed Henderson off to the supply sergeant.
Henderson had ended up giving Clark something akin to a cell phone. It was coded so it could only receive calls not make them and Henderson had assured Clark that only he would have the number. Both he and Clark had been afraid that if the number were distributed to other officers someone would get jumpy and call in Superman for something they could well handle themselves.
“You're a great asset to this city, Superman,” Henderson had said as they walked out of headquarters, “but my people can't rely on you to always be there. I want them to think that they're on their own this weekend. Oh and Superman?” He waited until Clark's gaze met his. “You are absolutely forbidden to beat yourself up if something goes sour this weekend and some cop or fire-fighter gets hurt or killed. Even if you were around catching a bullet is the work of seconds ok?”
Clark had smiled ruefully. “Message received Inspector.”
“Good now go and find yourself a weekend.” He looked curious. “Have you ever had a weekend off?” he asked.
“Not for a long time,” Clark said, rising into the air. He acknowledged Henderson before climbing rapidly until he vanished.
Henderson stood there for a moment before turning and making his way back inside. “I wonder what a superhero does on a weekend off,” he mused.
A log broke apart in the fire and Clark's attention was drawn back to his surroundings. The cabin he'd borrowed from a friend was an arduous three-hour drive from Metropolis but for Clark it was the work of seconds to ferry himself and his belongings out there. The cabin had three bedrooms, a bathroom, a kitchen and a long main room with a fireplace wide enough to roast an ox. Clark's friend had told him that the fireplace was that width simply to enable the cabin's occupants to build a large fire, as it was the buildings' only source of heat. The cabin was furnished fairly basically, Michael once said he and his wife Susan used it as a dumping place for furniture that was on its way out but wasn't there yet. The only room in which they'd spent money was the bathroom. Michael had laughingly informed Clark that Susan had insisted they install a bath so that she could soak after long hikes. Clark planned to use it himself. He knew it wouldn't have much effect on him but just lying there in hot water was awfully relaxing.
He couldn't believe that for two days he had nothing to do but relax. Eat, sleep, and hike a bit if he felt like it. He didn't have to talk to anyone, interview any sources or make nice with any visiting dignitaries. Suppressing the urge to leap into the air and yell Clark thought back with some amusement to that afternoon when he'd told Lois and Perry that he was going out of town for the weekend.
* * * * * * * *
Clark hung up the phone and strode over to Perry's office. His friend Michael Hepburn was an accountant with a large firm in Metropolis and played basketball in the park with Clark most Friday evenings during summer. He'd long ago offered Clark the use of his cabin in upstate New Troy and Clark was finally taking him up on his offer.
“Chief? You got a minute?” Clark asked, knocking on the open door to Perry's office.
Perry barked a few more scathing comments down the phone to some hapless individual on the other end before looking up. “Layout!” he snorted banging down the phone. “What is it, Kent?” he asked, gesturing to the chair in front of his desk.
Clark slipped into it. “It's about this weekend, Chief,” he said. “I've got two days off and-“
“You're not going to tell me you don't want to take them are you?” Perry interrupted. “Pardon my French Clark but you look like hell. You need a break son.”
Clark smiled slightly. “I know Perry and I'm taking them.”
“Good,” Perry relaxed. “What did you need to see me about then?”
“I'm borrowing a cabin from a friend of mine. It's about three hours from Metropolis so Superman offered to give me a lift up there. It doesn't have a phone so I'm not taking my pager, which means I'm going to be incommunicado for the whole weekend. I just wanted to let you know.”
Perry leaned back. “Smart, Kent. No pager means no one can get hold of you and interrupt your weekend.”
“That thought had crossed my mind,” Clark admitted with a grin.
“What about your partner? She's got the weekend off herself. Any ideas what she plans on doing with it? Lois looks like she needs a break almost as much as you do.”
Clark shook his head. “We haven't talked about it, Chief. I only decided this afternoon to go out of town for the weekend. I'm afraid if I stay here something will happen. It feels like I haven't managed two consecutive days off since Christmas.”
“Huh. Well you tell Lois when you see her that I want her to turn in her pager before she goes home today. I know that girl, she's as bad as you are about taking time off.”
Clark grinned and got to his feet. “I'll tell her Chief but I think I ought to get combat pay for telling Lois she has to hand in her pager.”
Perry snorted. “You're tougher than that, Clark. Remember, I want that pager on my desk before that girl leaves the building.”
Clark sketched a mock salute and left the office. He made his way over to his partner's desk. Lois was engaged in what looked like a futile attempt to save the desiccated fern that sat on a corner of her desk while she carried on an animated conversation with her mother.
“No Mother, I don't think Daddy did that just to spite you. He probably forgot you were going to be there.” She winced and held the phone away from her ear as her comment prompted a tirade from her mother. “Mother? Mother! Look Mother, I have to go. Yes Mother, we'll do lunch next week. Goodbye Mother,” she said firmly, hanging up the phone. She looked up at Clark. “Mother and Daddy are godparents to a cousin of mine who got married last weekend. Apparently Daddy brought a lady friend with him to the ceremony.” She glared at the phone before dumping what appeared to be fertilizer on the fern.
Clark eyed the fern. “Isn't it a little late for fertilizer, Lois?”
Lois vigorously patted the fertilizer down. “This stuff's supposed to rejuvenate almost any plant.”
“Yes but Lois I think the plant has to be alive first. That plant looks pretty dead to me.”
Lois paused and regarded the fern. “Are you sure? It's not just dormant?”
“I'm sure, Lois. I grew up on a farm remember? Lots of growing things.”
Lois shrugged. “Well in that case.” With a careless sweep she dumped the fern in the bin next to her desk and sat down. She looked up at Clark. “Did you want something?”
“Just needed to let you know that I was going out of town for the weekend so you won't be able to get hold of me. The place I'm staying doesn't have a phone and I'm leaving my pager at home. Oh and Perry wants you to leave your pager here when you go home tonight. He said otherwise you won't take the weekend off and you need it.”
Ignoring the second half of Clark's statement Lois latched onto the first part. “You're going away? Where? When? Why didn't you tell me? What do you mean I can't contact you? Why not?”
Was that disappointment in her eyes at the idea of not being able to contact him? Clark wondered. He hoped so he really hoped so. “You remember my friends Michael and Susan Hepburn? They've got a cabin about three hours out of Metropolis so I'm going there for the weekend. No phones, no TV, no radio. Just me, a good book and Mother Nature for two days. I'm leaving right after work. I'm getting a ride with Superman on his way out of town.”
Lois blinked. “Superman is going out of town? Why? Where's he going? Is there a story in this?”
Clark sighed. Would she never lose her fascination for the superhero? “I don't know where he's going Lois he didn't say. He just said he needed a break so he was taking a few days off. I don't think he'd appreciate you publishing that in the Planet. Come to think of it, I don't think Henderson would appreciate it either.”
“But what if something goes wrong? How can he just take time off like that?”
“How can he not, Lois?” Clark retorted in irritation. “Superman needs a break just like everybody else. When I saw him earlier he said he'd told Henderson he was unavailable for anything but the most major emergencies. Henderson understood his need for a break Lois, why can't you?”
Lois looked hurt. “I understand, Clark,” she said huffily. “I was just surprised that's all.” She returned to Clark's previous comment. “What do you mean, Perry wants me to leave my pager behind? How can he get hold of me if I do that?”
“They're called telephones, Lois,” Clark said with exaggerated patience. “Besides, he doesn't want to be able to get hold of you, he wants you to take a break. As in don't work. You can take time off can't you, Lois?”
Lois glared at him. “Of course I can,” she snapped. “I bet I enjoy my time off more than you enjoy yours.”
Clark laughed. “This isn't a contest, Lois.” He smiled at her. “I'm going to head off now, it's 5:30 and the night staff will be here in half an hour. I doubt anything will blow up in that time. See you Monday, Lois.”
“Monday,” Lois repeated. She watched her partner clear his desk, ostentatiously tossing his pager into the drawer when he saw her watching. She glared at him. Clark stuck his head into Perry's office and had a brief conversation with him before heading for the stairs. Then he was gone.
tbc...
