Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Lois & Clark Fanfic Nighttime in the Daytime, 5/?

This is the tale of Nightfall in the Alternate Universe depicted in “All the Daytime and the Nighttime.” Thanks to Deborah Joy Levine and the pilot for parts of this.
The year of this story is 2003.

Previously in Part 4:

Clark noticed Henderson to the rear edge of the crowd and had a moment of panic. ‘I hope he doesn’t recognize me!’ Then he squelched it. He wasn’t acting like Clark, therefore he wasn’t Clark. People see what they are accustomed to seeing.

For a time the press corps continued to shout questions at him. Finally, the question that he was dreading came. “What’s your name and where are you from?” After Cindy Lou from LNN broke the ice with the question, other reporters chimed in and repeated variations of it.

Clark didn’t have an answer. The ‘Heroman’ that Pete called him didn’t really seem to be a great name and not very modest or helpful.

From the police cars he heard a call about a major wreck on the rain slicked northbound lane of I-95 on the route from the city to the airport.

Shamed that he was relieved he could ditch the question for now, he started to lift slowly into the air. The crowd immediately backed away further. “I’m sorry,” he said, “but there’s an emergency and I have to go help. That’s what I’m here for, to help.” As he increased speed leaving, he thought, ‘And I need help with a name.’

*+*+*+*+*+*+

Lois could barely see through the driving rain, but she determinedly pushed on and could see the lights of the airport in the distance. Suddenly, without warning, she plowed into a stopped car and the world went dark.

*+*+*+*+*+*+

Lex Luthor had been alerted that one of his aircraft was in trouble. Normally, he didn’t care about the daily workings of his airline, but this one had some special cargo from Denver designated for some of his clandestine activities. He had even called in Nigel St. John to listen to the reports with him.

When LNN showed that the plane landed successfully, he released the breath that he didn’t realize he was holding and gestured to Nigel. “Go get the cargo we want.”

Obediently, Nigel turned and left with a nod.

Lex then saw the figure drop from the wing and start stopping the plane. “Well, well, what have we here?”

Avidly following the exploits of what appeared to be a super being, Lex waited impatiently for the newshounds to get some information from him. He brightened when Cindy Lou asked her question. “Good girl. Here it is.”

When the super being didn’t have an answer or wasn’t prepared to give one, he felt disappointed. “I’m here to help,” he mocked. “Maybe this fellow could be useful to me, depending on how much about modern society he doesn’t know. Just because he can speak five languages doesn’t mean he is wise in the ways of this Earth.” Lex had even understood his flawless Mandarin.

“But,” he conceded, “All in all it was an astonishing debut. And saved me a bundle of money. Maybe, he should be awarded just recompense.”

*+*+*+*+*+*+

Part 5. It’s Complicated

The EMTs were surprised when Clark landed beside them after doing a quick survey of the extent of the pile-up. “What do you need?” The nearest EMT pointed up the road in the direction of the airport to a command vehicle. “Those fellows are coordinating the effort.” Clark left and landed by them. Oh, no, Henderson was there. He must have left early from the airport.

Consciously squaring his shoulders, Clark approached Henderson and repeated in as deep a voice as he could muster, “What do you need?”

Henderson looked the new fellow up and down and calmly said, “I need a quick assessment of the worst injuries. I understand you fly?” He raised an eyebrow as if in doubt, but he had been at the airport and seen some of Clark’s abilities.

Clark nodded. “Yes, I can fly down the line of cars and assess people’s general conditions.”

The inquiring eyebrow rose further.

In explanation, Clark amplified, “I can see through the roofs of the cars and report back.” He paused, “Quickly.”

Henderson said, almost conversationally, “Well, it was a good thing we were at the airport for the airplane rescue, the equipment assembled there is very handy for the crash site here. Rain and ice slick roads and all. By the way, nice job on the airplane rescue, Mr.----?”

Clark ignored the implied question and lifted into the air. He knew Henderson was unflappable, but was he really that calm? Zipping down the line of cars, he quickly assessed the apparent injuries. Most seemed not too serious.

Toward the end of the line, he saw a familiar looking car. ‘Oh, no. Lois!’ She had blood on her forehead and was slumped on the steering wheel. He quickly zipped to the end, then back to Henderson and rapidly gave him the numbers of injured and where the most serious ones were.

Heroman wasn’t supposed to know Lois, but he couldn’t just leave her there, it just wasn’t in him. On the other hand, he didn’t know enough about her injuries to be able to move her. X-raying her neck showed she didn’t have any apparent damage there, but he still felt like he couldn’t move her. He settled the quandry by deciding to take the car to Metropolis General Hospital.

After returning to Henderson and reporting the tallies, he then said, “There’s one car with one person with apparent serious injuries. I’m going to take the car and occupant directly to Metropolis General Hospital.”

“The whole car?” Henderson asked incredulously.

“The whole car. I think the rest can be handled by your team here, but if you need me to take others, I can do that.”

The uninjured standing beside their wrecked cars and the EMTs and police watched as Clark flew back down the line toward Lois’ jeep. Even though it was hard to see in the storm, some could make out a vehicle slowly rising directly up from the road. Clark could hear the collective gasp as he began to fly it toward Metropolis General Hospital.

“Interesting that the new guy seems to know where to take that car. Alert MetGen we’ve got an incoming emergency,” Henderson said to the nearest patrolman.

“Yes, sir. He’s quite a fellow. Wonder what his name is?”

“Well, so far, he hasn’t mentioned a name even when asked directly. There’s an “S” on his chest and his cape, but he hasn’t said what it stands for.”

*+*+*+*+*+*+

There was an audience to his arrival outside the Emergency Entrance to MetGen even in the driving rain. At least it seemed to be just rain, not sleet now. Flying under the jeep, Clark had protection from the rain, not that it really bothered him. At least not wearing glasses made seeing through it easier.

Clark lowered the Jeep onto the driveway just in front of the ER portico, delineated with a bright neon sign saying “Emergency.”

The driver’s side door to Lois’ car was locked, of course. Debating momentarily, Clark figured she’d have a fit if he tore the door off its hinges. He simply pulled and the lock broke and the door swung open. He stepped back to let the ER team do its work.

Hesitating momentarily and staring at the man who had just made the most unique arrival at the ER in history, the team finally rushed forward with the gurney when the ER doctor walked rapidly to the car door and began assessing her injuries.

Clark watched as they put a neck collar on her still unconscious form, then moved her sideways and laid her on the gurney.

There wasn’t much more that Clark could do here, so he nodded briefly, lifted up slowly and then accelerated to faster than the speed of sound, leaving a loud boom behind him. He went back to the accident scene to see if there were others he could help in the same way.

*+*+*+*+*+*+

A tired Clark Kent was sitting in the Waiting Room at MetGen. It was now around 10 p.m. and he hadn’t been able to find out any information on Lois’ condition. Since he was not family, he could not get in to see Lois or find out any information on the extent of her injuries and he was really concerned about her.

Clark had returned to the accident scene and brought other cars with critically injured occupants back to several different hospitals once the police saw what he could do. He also pulled cars out of the side ditches and pulled them away from the bridge guard rails for the tow trucks to take them away. After all that, he had been thoroughly wet and muddy. True to his previous experience, the Suit had not torn in any place, embarrassing or not. The cape, however, was another story and he would have to get another one from Rita by an express trip to the Farm.

Not yet having found a way to do a smooth clothes change between Heroman and normal Clark, he had simply returned to his apartment, thrown the grubby Suit in the hamper, showered, shaved, dressed as Clark and driven his car to MetGen. Also worried that after his public exploits people would be scanning the skies more intently, he didn’t want to fly in his normal clothes. All this public exposure still contravened his instincts and he was having to deal with it emotionally.

Looking up at the sound of authoritative male footsteps coming his way from the hospital interior and hoping to see a doctor in a white coat, he found himself looking at Sam Lane as he rounded the corner. Sam was dressed in casual clothes that looked rather rumpled. A tired look was on his usually impassive face.

Since they had met at a secret meeting, Clark didn’t know if he should greet him publicly or not. There were only a few other people in the Waiting Room, none with an apparent vested interest in the doings of law enforcement, but still, rules were rules. He would take his cue from the Admiral.

Sam Lane saw Clark and his step hesitated briefly, then he came toward him, hand outstretched. “Clark, how are you? Are you here about Lois?” Sam asked the question softly in deference to the other people waiting.

Rising from his seat, Clark extended his hand. “Yes, sir, I am. How is she?”

Sam sat beside Clark and whispered, “Actually, quite good, all things considered. Nothing is broken but they are keeping her under observation overnight in case of a concussion. How did you find out about her accident?”

‘Oops. Story, quick,’ Clark thought in panic. “I was at the airport. I had, unh, just gotten back from Kansas and Thanksgiving and saw the pile up on the freeway as I came home.” Clark continued, “I knew Lois was brought here because the police sent a list to the Daily Planet and Perry left a message on my answering machine.”

Those penetrating fighter jock eyes bored into his again. “So, did you see what happened at the airport?”

Clark looked back as calmly as he could. “You mean the plane landing and the media circus? Yes, I did.”

“So what’s your evaluation?”

“Well, I thought I’d better get some information for a story or Perry White would kill me.”

An eyebrow arched. “I mean about the, er, - individual, who came with the plane.” He whispered so low that Clark was glad he still could hear him with his abilities. “Is he a threat?”

Oh, dear, oh dear, oh dear. He was on the hook. But on the other hand, if he could convince this one individual that Heroman wasn’t a threat, it would go a long way to being seen as one of the good guys. “No, I don’t think so. He gave a little speech in five languages about being here to help. Then he helped out at the traffic pile up getting people to the hospital, including Lois.”

The eyebrow arched again. “Yes, Lois keeps going on about Superman.”

“Su – Superman?” Was this better than Heroman? It sounded boastful. “He didn’t give a name,” Clark said rather pointedly. But he was happy to know Lois was talking. “She is talking? Can I go see her?”

“Yes, I’ll take you to her room. She will want to see you. I think you were the only subject she talked about at dinner today. They’ll let us in.”

Yeah, Clark bet they would. Getting up and following Admiral Lane down the hallway, Clark was startled to find him talking a left turn into a Men’s room. The Admiral gestured for Clark to follow him in. ‘Well, whatever he wants,’ Clark thought. ‘I’m going to get to see Lois.’

As they walked through the swinging door, Clark was suddenly struck with the memory of decade old TV program about a time traveler named Sam Beckett and his connection to his real time, Admiral Al Calavicci. They always met in restrooms because there were no surveillance cameras there. Once they were inside and Admiral Lane turned to talk to him, the resemblance to the show grew even stronger. ‘At least there is no Ziggy,’ he thought.

“Since you’re part of the hunt for the illegal materials, I wanted you to know that we found a whole lot of the stuff in the cargo hold of that airplane. We didn’t interfere, but we are tracking where it is going in Metropolis by putting a bug on each crate. We wouldn’t have found it except for the incident with that particular plane. Do you think this ‘Superman’,” he did quote marks in the air, “is connected with the gunrunning operation in any way?”

Clark was surprised he would even think such a thing, and then realized that it was a logical deduction. “Well, maybe he was just there to save a plane that had lost a wing.”

The Admiral looked dubious.

Clark continued, “After all there were nearly 400 people on that plane to save.”

The Admiral nodded as if considering the point, then gripped Clark’s shoulder in a strong grip and moved it to turn him toward the exit. “Let’s go see Lois, unless you….?”

Clark shook his head, indicating he had no need to use the facility. “Yes, I’d like to see Lois,” he said and walked out the door.

*+*+*+*+*+*+

Sam opened the door to Lois’ hospital room and held it open for Clark. The look of joy on Lois’ face and the sparkle in her eyes told him all he needed to know as a father about how his daughter felt about this man. He looked over at Clark and found the same expression on his face. “Look who I found in the Waiting Room, Princess.”

“Clark!” Lois held out her left arm and extended her hand to him, beckoning him closer.

“Lois!” Clark rushed to her side and grasped her extended hand. He found a nearby visitor’s chair and hooked a foot around the leg and dragged it over to himself and sat by Lois’ bedside. He examined her bandaged face minutely, and then noticed the bandage on her right arm. “How’s your head? And what happened to your arm?”

“Just a little bump on the head. It looks worse than it feels, but they are keeping me for observation. The wrist and arm got sprained, evidently when the steering spun on me when I crashed. Oh, and you don’t want to see my chest!” After saying that, she blushed and followed up more softly, “It’s all black and blue!” To get off the subject of her chest, she asked, “How was your Thanksgiving?”

“Oh, Lois. It was just great, but now I have something to be really thankful for. And I don’t care if you are black and blue as long as you are in one piece.” He lifted her hand and kissed her knuckles for emphasis.

Sam realized they didn’t need him any more. “I’ll see you in the morning, honey, and we’ll get you home.”

“Night Daddy. And thanks for coming and looking after me.”

“Not a problem. Night, Clark. Nice to meet you in the Waiting Room finally after all Lois has said about you.”

Clark barely registered the message that they supposedly had just met for the first time tonight. He had eyes only for Lois. “So what were you doing out on I-95 in that horrible storm?”

Lois had a sheepish expression on her face. “Well, I came home from Thanksgiving Dinner at my folks. I had talked so much about you during dinner. I didn’t realize how much I was missing you.” She gave his hand a squeeze. “I turned on the TV after I got home and changed to dry clothes and saw the LNN report about Superman.”

He still couldn’t get over it. He choked out, “Superman?”

She shrugged nonchalantly. “Well, he has an “S” on his shirt, and he clearly did a very super job, so I figured that was a good name until a better one comes along. Anyway, I knew I had to get an interview with him, so I threw on a coat and got into my car. The rest, they say is history.” Suddenly her face crumpled and tears started to come. “Oh, my poor Jeep! I wonder how badly it’s damaged and where it is now.”

“Probably in the MetGen parking lot.”

“Why would it be there and not towed and in a police impound lot?”

Clark waved his free hand, trying to come up with an explanation. “Well, the guy you call Superman flew it to the ER here. The keys were still in the ignition. If it was drivable, somebody probably just took it out and parked it.”

“Oh, after that, I don’t think it was drivable.”

“Well, then maybe they got it towed. I’ll look into it for you if you want.”

“Yes, please. Check with Daddy, though, he may have done something with it.”

“I will, honey.”

“What did you just call me?”

“Honey. But I didn’t mean it the same way your father did,” Clark answered with a smile. He realized time was very short both for them and maybe parts of the Earth. He really didn’t want to waste more time in dancing around her. He switched his hands, holding her left with his left and began softly caressing her hair above the large bandage.

Noting the unoccupied bed behind him, he smiled more and said, “I see you have a private room.”

“Yeah. They haven’t brought anyone in here to share the room. And they don’t seem very strict about their visiting hours.”

“Lucky me. But I couldn’t get in here without your father bringing me in. I tried.”

“Did you have to wait long?”

“I would have waited forever.”

Whoa. Lois blinked, stunned.

Clark saw her expression. “Was that too fast? Sorry about that, but it has been a wild week for me and some of my priorities have shifted. You kind of bubbled to the top of the list. But you set the pace, fair lady, and I follow in your footsteps.” He smiled one of his dazzling to die for smiles.

“You are only saying that because I’m presently incapacitated,” she teased.

“True,” he conceded. “But just wait until you are well.” He winked at her.

Lois turned her head slowly toward him and examined his face more closely.
“You look tired. But there is something else. You also look… excited?… happy?… proud?”

He smiled again. “You are one smart lady, Lois. Yes, as I said, I am tired, but also elated. We may have a break in our story. I have to go do some more work tonight, but it may well pay off.”

“Oh, I want to go help you!”

“Ah, this is the side you can’t, sorry. But you will help me by getting well soon. I’ll be in deep trouble if I have to write a story myself. Also, it may be some time before we can even publish it, if we find what we think we can.”

Lois faked a pout, but her eyes danced at the good news of some progress in their stymied investigation. “What can I do other than lie here in bed?”

“Kiss me?”

“You’ll have to get closer. I can’t move much here.”

Clark did just that with great relish and kissed her deeply and gently. “Now, if you give me your controller, I’ll dim the lights and you will lie here and fall asleep. I’ll hold your hand until you do.”

“And we have to write the story about Superman’s arrival in Metropolis,” she muttered as a last thought, succumbing to the comfort Clark provided.

Clark gave a noncommittal “Sure thing” in response to that.

Stroking the back of her hand, Clark dimmed the lights and watched her drift off to sleep with a smile on her face.

*+*+*+*+*+*+

It was 11 p.m. when Clark pulled his car back into his garage. He wanted to do a very visible patrol of Metropolis tomorrow and needed a clean suit and a new cape. It was only 10 p.m. in Kansas, but farmers went to be early because they were up early. Clark grabbed his dirty suit and torn cape and stuffed them in a plastic bag to keep from getting muddy again and took off quickly from his convenient back patio with the obscured view.

Landing at the Farm, he pulled the key from the fake flowerpot and walked in.
After quickly fixing the coffee pot and plugging it in, he walked into the dinning room and found a note from Rita.

Clark grabbed the nearby paper and pen with a muttered “Bless you, Rita,” and began to write.

Clark decided to sleep at the Farm and do an early morning patrol in Metropolis tomorrow. Also, he would see what the office had picked up on the trackers.

*+*+*+*+*+*+
tbc


Artemis