***~~~***
Chapter 12: News
***~~~***

Clark struggled with an emotion that he didn’t know he had. Since he had woken up in the hospital emergency room two days ago, Clark had gotten used to the idea that he didn’t remember anyone. But he had also come to depend on what he thought of as his “emotional” memory. In some cases, people that he didn’t remember at all would trigger an emotional reaction. Of the people that he recognized, his reaction was usually a feeling of mild friendship. The most negative result he had noticed so far had been to his coworker Ralph, and that was no stronger that a sense of mild disapproval. Based on these reactions, and what Lois had told him about his personality, he was coming to believe that he liked everybody.

When he’d come out of Perry’s office a moment ago, he saw a stranger standing at Lois’s desk. He hadn’t taken more than a step or two when the stranger turned just enough for Clark to see his face. In that instant he felt a surge of emotion that was, in many ways, just as intense as the jolt he felt when he had first seen Lois. However, where seeing Lois had filled him with joy, this was as opposite as he could imagine. Now he had a feeling to go with the word ‘hate.’ When he saw that face, his whole body had gone cold and the shock to his system had actually caused him to trip over his own feet and fall. For just a second Clark felt an urge jump up and attack this stranger. His location on the floor proved to be a convenient check against any rash behavior.

He was still staring at this man when he felt a touch on his arm. He’d been so distracted by his reaction to the strange man, that he hadn’t noticed Lois rushing to his aid. As she knelt down beside him, he heard her ask, “What happened? Are you all right?”

Her touch was a comfort and made it easier to deal with the anger that still filled him. With the help of Lois’s presence, he asked as calmly as possible, “Who is that?”

“That’s Lex Luthor.”

This was Luthor. Now that he had an image to go with the person, the very mention of Luthor’s name triggered another surge of anger. He waited a moment for it to pass before asking, “Can you tell me why I hate him?”

With his eyes locked on Luthor, he didn’t see her reaction. However, there was a gap of several seconds before her hesitant reply. “Clark, you don’t hate Lex. You never seemed to get along with him very well, but you can’t hate him. If you did, I’d know it.”

He turned toward her. Her face showed a clear mix of concern and confusion. He didn’t know why, but she couldn’t be more wrong. He tried to keep his voice calm. “I don’t have any memory of him at all, but I didn’t know I could feel anything like this. Whatever you might think you know, I’m telling you that hate is the right word. It’s all I can do to not run across the room and attack him.” Clark found that even thinking about this man was triggering waves of anger. It took another second or two to bring those emotions under control and then he continued. “Somehow I have the feeling that if I knew why, I might do that anyway.”

Lois was shocked by what Clark was saying. This didn’t sound like her partner at all. She desperately wanted to quiz Clark on this reaction to Lex and found it frustrating to think that Clark almost certainly had no idea of why he felt that way. Glancing toward her desk, she could see that Lex was beginning to show some impatience. As much as she may have felt like punching Lex in the nose for his remarks a moment ago, she didn’t want Clark to do anything like that. She moved closer to Clark’s ear and pitched her voice to barely above a whisper. “Clark, please wait here a minute while I get rid of Lex. As soon as he’s gone we can talk.”

She watched Clark nod in reply. Then she stood up and headed back to her desk and an obviously impatient Lex. “Lex, I’m sorry but I’m sort of responsible for Clark. He’s had a hard time because of his amnesia and as you can see he’s also had a few dizzy spells,” she lied. She paused for a second and risked a question. Turning to be sure to see his face and body language to judge his reaction, she asked, “Have you ever had any interactions with Clark? I mean other than what I know about?”

His demeanor suggested that he had no idea what she was talking about. “No, my dear. My only interest in him is that he is your coworker. Why do you ask?”

She shrugged and tried to project as casual an attitude as possible. “I’ve been asking most of the people that know Clark the same question. He has so few memories that we’ve been trying to find people and events that he can use to help remember.”

Lex’s reply had a tone that suddenly felt very personal. “I’m afraid that I’ve hardly seen Mr. Kent except when he has been with you. I do envy him the time that he gets to spend in your company.”

It was amazing how that same voice was affecting her today. Just a few days ago, she had been secretly thrilled to have him address her in such a personal way. Now, well, whenever he spoke, she had the feeling she was being manipulated. Right now, she just wanted him gone. “Okay. Thanks for coming by, but I need to take care of Clark and I’ve got several stories to write up.”

“Lois, you never answered my invitation. Shall I tell Andre that you will be joining us?”

He was getting to be annoying but she didn’t want to be rude. She tried to sound as reasonable as possible. “No. I’ve already made other arrangements with another Planet employee. That will work out best as I expect to be spending most of my time here for the next few weeks.”

“Lois, I’m sure…”

She cut him off. “Lex, I’ve made up my mind.”

He seemed to freeze for an instant. Now his expression showed the same calm exterior but something felt very different. The sudden chill in the air was so real that Lois almost shivered. When Lex finally did reply, the tone was flat. “Very well. I’ll leave you to your work.” Lex turned away in a manner that was almost dismissive. The change was startling. It was almost as if he had thrown a switch and shut off the veneer of charm.

As Lex headed for the elevator, Lois started for Clark. She reached him just as the elevator door closed behind Lex. “Can you walk?” she asked.

Clark was smiling again as he practically jumped up. “Sure, I only tripped. If I’d been standing still when I felt that surge of…whatever, I wouldn’t have fallen at all. I only stayed on the ground because it seemed the safest thing to do while *he* was here.

Lois pointed at a nearby empty conference room. “We need to talk.”

As soon as the door closed, she turned to Clark. “Now, just exactly what happened out there?”

Clark moved over to one of the chairs and sat down. He took a second as if to think before he looked up at her. “I honestly don’t know. I’m not sure that there’s a lot more to tell. The feelings were…what I told you. I’m not proud of my reaction but I have no idea why I feel that way.”

Lois thought for a moment. Why would Clark react so negatively to Lex? Her new knowledge of Clark suggested one possible explanation. Could it be about her? She sat down next to him and in a hesitant tone asked, “Clark, could it be jealously?”

Clark paused a moment before replying. When he did respond there was a note of regret in his voice. “I wondered about that while I was on the floor. I… I’m sorry to admit this but there is a bit of jealously mixed in. I can feel it way in the background. But Lois, there’s a lot more going on than that. Most of what I was feeling was like… I just don’t know. Did he kill my mother or something?”

Her reply was immediate and far more passionate than she’d expected. “Of course not! Lex is a businessman and something of a philanthropist.”

The intensity of her defense of Lex seemed to catch Clark by surprise. But after a second he continued in much more defensive tones. “Lois, is it possible that there is more going on with Luthor than you know about? Could he have a hidden side that I might have known about that you don’t?”

Lois thought for a moment about Lex and her attempts to interview him. She had already realized that she never had been successful in conducting a proper interview. Then she thought some more about that copy of her apartment. There was no way to get around the fact that he had rather intimate details about the interior layout. It still seemed that the only way to have made that copy so perfect was to have someone enter the apartment without her knowledge. There seemed to be things about Lex that she had never encountered in any other businessman. At least, none that were honest. “You might be right,” she conceded. “I wonder if investigating Lex was what you were really doing all those times you made those sudden mysterious exits.”

“What mysterious exits?”

“Ever since you’ve been working here, you’ve had a habit of suddenly remembering that you had to leave the office. Some of your excuses have been *so* lame. I figured that there was something else that you were doing, but it didn’t affect work so I didn’t give it that much thought.”

“Is this what you were talking about with that ‘Cheese of the Month’ comment?”

She felt herself blush that her remembered her earlier attempt at humor. “Yeah. Like I said, some of the reasons have been pretty lame.”

“But Lois, why would I have been investigating Luthor without you?”

“I don’t know. If you were someone else, I would think you were trying to keep a big story for yourself. However, I don’t think that’s what was going on.” Lois paused for a second to gather her thoughts. “If you were investigating him in secret, you must have had a reason to keep me out. My best guess is that either someone else swore you to secrecy, or that because of my involvement with Lex you were worried that I wouldn’t believe you until you had the proof in hand. Are you sure you don’t remember anything?”

“I’m sure. Maybe I’ll remember more as my memory returns, but for now he’s a complete blank. I think we’re close with this idea that I had done some investigations into Luthor that I hadn’t shared with you yet. That just feels right. I suspect I know things about him that I was keeping from you.” Clark reached over and placed a hand on hers. “Lois, I’m sorry that I was keeping secrets. I don’t know why I was doing it, but somehow I know I had a good reason. I’m… I’m sure I didn’t like keeping things hidden from you.”

She squeezed his hand. “Somehow I believe you. And if you could remember anything about my history, that’s saying a lot. But it sure would have been more convenient if we would have been working together on this.”

“I wish we would have been. If I remember anything, I promise I’ll tell you immediately.” Lois was about to stand up when Clark came back with another question. “Have you decided where you are going to stay?”

She’d almost managed to put that out of her mind. That problem wasn’t going to solve itself. “No. I hate having to figure this out. Earlier today, I was even toying with the idea of accepting Lex’s invitation. Even with the suspicions I have about him, the idea of staying in my own place, even a fake version, is surprisingly tempting.”

She found Clark looking at her with a look of disbelief. “Don’t worry, Clark. With what I know now, there’s no way I’ll be staying with Lex.” She looked over at her partner and it was clear that he was struggling not to ask her again to stay with him. She had to admit that she would almost certainly be more comfortable staying with Clark than anyone else. It would be convenient. Of course, some people would gossip that there was something more personal going on, but under the circumstances, it shouldn’t be too bad. After all, he was her partner, he needed help because of losing his memory, and her apartment had been destroyed.

It seemed that they were staring at each other for a long time. Lois finally conceded that there was no easy answer here. It wasn’t about what other people would think. There were really only two questions that were important. What was best for her, Clark and the Daily Planet? Then, what did she want to do? If those were the essentials, the answer was easy. “Clark, if your invitation is still open I’d like to stay at your place.”

“Of course the invitation is still open,” he replied. His smile was big and bright even for Clark Kent.

When Lois saw his reaction, her whole day brightened. Now that she had made the decision, it felt more right than ever. Clark’s reaction, and what that triggered in her, left her feeling confident in the decision to stay with him. She stood up and headed for the conference room door. “Come on Clark, we have a lot of work to do before the end of the day. Didn’t you say that you had material for your own stories? And don’t forget that you promised to look over my article.”

***~~~***

The afternoon passed quickly for Clark. Working with Lois felt so familiar that he would have sworn he’d been doing it for years. His own first article for today was about how the city government was using satellite communications and radio to stay in touch with other government agencies. Since as of this morning the entire country was under martial law, this was being coordinated with the military. When the government declared martial law they went to great lengths to stress that the purpose of this was only to allow better coordination between civil and military authorities. MPD was still responsible for most of the police work. That pattern was true for police forces in other cities. Their efforts were being supplemented by the National Guard. This also gave the civilian authorities access to the military communications channels. Clark had prepared an article on this change in government structure. He tried to balance the advantages with the risks of a military government while being careful to try to not give the appearance of presenting propaganda.

Lois was a great help for this article. When she reviewed his initial version, she agreed that it was accurate on fact but tore it apart as too propaganda-like. Her edits made it read much more like a news report than a party line piece. When they were finished, Clark was shaking his head. “I can’t believe how much better this is with your changes. Do you always improve my work this much?”

The smile she flashed back at him made his heart skip. “Of course,” she replied in a teasing tone. “That’s why I’m the senior partner.” Before Clark could react, the smile changed to a light laugh. “I’m kidding, Clark. Depending on the type of story, I can help a great deal. However, this is an extreme case. If you had more of your memory, you would have recognized most of what needed correcting without my input. I see your style and talent in the article. You’ve just lost some of the polish that comes from your missing experience. Tell me, do you understand the changes I made and why they were important?”

“Of course,” Clark replied without hesitation. “I feel almost embarrassed that I didn’t see them myself earlier.”

“Then you’ll be fine. We’re partners and under normal circumstances you carry your weight very well.” She hesitated a second then he saw a hint of a smile appear on her face. “Of course, don’t forget that I’m the *senior* partner.” It was obvious to him that the line was not so much a reminder of the office pecking order as it was a reference to their camaraderie. God, he loved working with this woman!

Clark’s second story focused on the activities of MPD. The police had spent the majority of their time working to keep the chaos from the Nightfall impact from turning into a crime spree. Their informants had reported that the main local crime leader, a person known only as “The Boss,” had been working to keep outbreaks of violence under control. The rumors were that The Boss had put the word out that the greatest potential for profit would be during the rebuilding process. So, while in some ways the MPD found itself to be thankful for the efforts of the crime lord, they were nervous about the future. The Boss was a very smart man who was particularly ruthless and brutal when crossed. The possibility of him gaining more power was not an idea that MPD liked.

When Clark passed this second story by Lois, the result was much better. Other than a few structural suggestions, she left the article almost entirely intact. When she finished her review, Clark said in a relieved tone, “I’m glad this one didn’t require the rework that the first one did. I was starting to wonder if I wasn’t just freeloading off your talent.”

Lois could sense the real concern in his voice and responded seriously. “If you had your memories, you’d know that I would never tolerate working with you under those conditions. You earned your position, and my respect, through hard work and talent. I’m surprised you are doing as well as you are with so little of your memory back.” Then she let a smile cross her face. “But don’t tell anyone I actually complimented you.”

She paused for a moment and looked at her own article. “Here is something that I’d like you to take a look at. This is a report on the difficulties that people in other parts of the country are facing.” Lois pointed at a notepad. “I have these notes and I can tell that there is a very moving article in here but I’m struggling to find it. This is the sort of thing you’re best at. Would you look over my article and my notes and see what you can do?”

“Of course.” He sounded pleased at being asked to look at her article. “Should I work here or do you want to send it to me so that I can work on it at my workstation?”

“I need to head back to the roof to check on the latest information. Why don’t you just work here and I’ll be back in a few minutes.” Lois stood up and, as Clark took her seat, she turned back to him and lowered her voice so that only he could hear. “It’s nice to know you aren’t going to remember some silly excuse to disappear while I’m gone.”

***~~~***

Lois’s return to the bullpen was marked by a certain amount of trepidation. There was starting to be some news trickling out of the big information hole that dominated the center of the country. By chance, it seemed that the worst of Nightfall landed near the geographic center of the United States. There were confirmed reports of whole towns and cities that had sustained impacts resulting in damage that seemed almost unbelievable. The most shocking confirmed report was of the total loss of Kansas City. The reports suggested that a large fragment had hit on the Missouri side of the city. The impact had leveled the city and there were reports of a mile-wide crater.

The radio operator had found a contact with a list of cities and towns that were believed to have been a total loss. Smallville, Kansas was on that list. At first, Lois hadn’t been willing to accept this. She had demanded that Jacombe focus on that to the exclusion of all else. Fortunately, he knew and liked Clark so he was willing to bend the rules to assist Lois in tracking down this information. Eventually they were able to make contact with a man in a town near Smallville that was willing to swear that he had spoken to people that had been over to Smallville earlier in the day. The town was gone.

As Lois approached her desk, she was surprised to see Clark missing. For only a second she wondered if, despite the memory loss, he could be doing the disappearing acts again. Given what had transpired today, she had to believe the unexplained sudden disappearances were a thing of the past. She looked around and saw him sitting in Perry’s office. Perry happened to look up at that moment and motioned her over. She used the walk to Perry’s door to compose herself and opened the door with a cheery, “What’s up, Chief?”

If Perry sensed that anything was bothering her, he gave no clue. “Clark and I have been going over his stories. He was worried that he would be taking too much credit if he turned them in under the Lane and Kent byline and we were talking about it.”

Lois shook her head as she looked over at her partner. “Clark, I told you not to worry about it. In fact your MPD story should be a Clark Kent byline. I didn’t contribute much to it at all.”

Clark’s reply was immediate. “Lois, I’d like to earn that solo byline. I feel like I’m depending on you way too much to have one yet.”

Perry interrupted him with a laugh. “We’ve been going around on this for at least five minutes. The martial law story is clearly a Lane and Kent joint work. I recognized the mix of your styles instantly. But Lois, I have to say that I recognize your hand in the MPD piece also.”

“I barely touched the story,” she replied defensively.

“I understand,” Perry replied. “I think Clark is compensating some for his memory issues by copying some of your style. We’ve been going over what I recognize as classic Clark Kent and what feels like Lois Lane. I called you over to let you know and remind you that when you are working with Clark you should help him focus on his own style. As much as I value the Lois Lane approach, it isn’t what will work best for Clark.”

“I’m with you on that, Chief,” Lois said. “I’ll be more careful to make sure that I show Clark the differences between his style and my own.” She turned to Clark. “You should dig out copies of stories we’ve done that have solo bylines. That should make the differences in our styles more obvious.”

“Perry already suggested that,” Clark offered. “I was planning to spend as much time as possible on that this afternoon.”

Perry stood up. “Good. I have to verify that we have production capability for a run this evening. Lois, you have something on how other cities are coping with the crises for me?”

“Yes Chief. Clark was looking it over while I was checking for new information. It should be in your inbox is less than half an hour.”

As they left Perry’s office and headed back for their desks, Lois was wondering how to tell Clark the news about Smallville. He deserved to know, but she didn’t want him to hear this from someone else first. She needed to fill in some time until she could figure out how to break the news. “Clark, did you finish your review of my story?”

He suddenly looked nervous and seemed to struggle for a reply. “When I read it, it didn’t sound right. I made some minor adjustments to wording and grammar. I left that for you to review. After I read it again I… well, I still didn’t like the feel of it. I left your version in place and opened a new file where I made some far more extensive changes. I sort of did to that article what you did with my martial law piece. This is your story and I expect you’ll use your version but I wanted to know what you thought of mine.”

This was perfect for Lois. She could get the story finished for Perry and still keep Clark occupied until she had the chance to talk to him about Smallville. “Why don’t you come over to my desk and I’ll read through both versions. That way I can get the story submitted and we can talk about them.”

Lois sat down and found the updated version of her original story. The changes were minor and didn’t have a material impact. Clark’s changes made sense and it reminded her that she had suggested that Clark would be a fine editor some day. She almost hit “send” to submit this version, but just before striking the key, she thought it would be good to see what Clark had done. She found Clark’s alternate version and went through it. Reading it was almost a déjà vu experience. They had just finished talking about how their styles differed and here was a prime example. Her original story had been good. It described the facts and the situations that were proving challenging in these other cities. Clark’s revision was far better. After reading his rewrite, her version felt flat and dry. Clark’s left her with a genuine feeling of the struggle that these communities were facing in trying to deal with the crises. His memories might be missing but the compassion that so defined his personality was just as evident as ever. The combination of her directness and Clark’s compassion made the story soar. They really did make a great team.

She fixed a neutral expression on her face and pivoted her chair to face Clark. “I’ve read yours. Can you tell me why my version is better?”

The question obviously caught Clark off-guard. After fidgeting for a few seconds his answer was clearly in the form of a question. “Because it conveys the facts more clearly?”

She felt a little guilty at having a tiny bit of fun at his expense, but he was so adorable that she couldn’t resist. Now it was time to take him off the hook. “No. The correct answer is that my version isn’t better. ” She let the smile she’d been hiding burst forth. “Yours is far better and a perfect example of why we work so well as a team. I want to go over a few points but then we’ll be submitting your version under the Lane and Kent byline.”

It only took a moment to agree on the revisions and to modify the byline and the story was off to Perry. That meant it was time to talk about Smallville. Lois stood up and put her hand on Clark's shoulder. “We need to talk in private.”

As Lois headed for the conference room, Clark was filled with worry as to what she wanted to talk about. His mind flashed back to the last thing they had talked about in that room. It had been Lex and where she would be staying. By the time he entered the room, Clark was terrified that Lois was going to tell him that she would be moving in to Luthor's apartment after all.

Lois closed the door behind him and said, “Please sit down. I have something I need to tell you.”

What could she be thinking? This was not the time for sitting down. He had to stop her from making this mistake. He took a step toward her and pleaded, “How can you stay with him?”

Her look of determination was replaced with one of bewilderment. “What? Clark, what are you talking about?”

“You mean you aren’t staying with Luthor?” He knew his voice was hopeful but he couldn’t help it.

“No.” Lois replied, apparently understanding his concern. “We settled all that earlier. I’m staying with you.”

Clark could feel the tension drain out of him. “I’m so relieved. When you wanted to talk I started imagining the worst thing possible. I guess that was it.”

“Relax, Clark. I think we both agree that my staying in Lex’s copy of my apartment would be a very bad idea, but that’s not what I wanted to tell you.” Her tone and expression turned more serious again. “I’d really like you to sit down for this.”

This time Clark sat and asked, “Okay, what’s the big secret?”

She pulled a chair over and sat next to him. “While I was collecting data via the amateur radio, I got a list of towns and cities in the Midwest that were severely damaged by Nightfall. Smallville was on the list.”

Clark didn’t feel any emotional reaction to that revelation. “That’s bad isn’t it?” he asked.

His non-reaction appeared to be the last thing that Lois expected. Her reply was energetic. “That’s your home town! Clark, you have friends there. What about Rachel? The Irigs? Your parents?”

When Lois said parents, Clark felt a twinge, but no more. “Lois, I know I should feel something but I just don’t have any memories. Those names don’t mean anything to me. But my parents – didn’t you say our house was on a farm that was outside of town?”

“Yes. It was a couple of miles away from the town.”

“So there’s a chance they may be all right?”

“I guess so, Clark. But I don’t think you can count much on that.”

He wasn’t sure he understood why he wasn’t feeling more. He knew he had a positive reaction to his parents, but right now there were no strong feelings of any kind. “I guess I have to. Without them… If my memory doesn’t come back I’ll never know much about myself.” He paused for a minute and the room got very quiet. “Lois, am I a callous and unfeeling person?”

“No, Clark. You’re among the most caring people I’ve met. It shows in how you write.”

“Then why don’t I feel anything? I should feel bad but I don’t feel hardly anything at all.”

She reached over and put her hand on his arm. Her touch was comforting. “I’m sure it’s all part of your amnesia. I think you will feel something when your memories return. I guess it’s just as well not to be burdened with that on top of everything else today.”

Clark sighed heavily. “Believe me, I’d rather have that particular burden.”

TBC

Bob