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Green-Eyed Monster TOC

Part 30

Part 31

Saturday Evening, around 8:30 p.m.

Lois entered the same penthouse apartment she had come to the night before. Same impressive staircase. Same beautiful artwork on the walls. But other than that, the room was completely different. Gone were the stage and the bar. Furniture that must have been removed for the party had returned. It was decorated in a style she had always admired: classic and a bit austere in its discomfort. When she finally had money to buy new furniture, she would probably gravitate to knock-offs of pieces like this.

Can you really see Clark agreeing to furniture like this, Lois? This is not his style at all. He wouldn’t be able to put up his heels and watch the game on furniture like this.

Lois didn’t know why she let her inner voice go on so long about Clark. They were just dating, not buying furniture together.

Lex’s head of household, Nigel St. John, had picked Lois up at the bookstore and at this time was leading her across the room.

“Wait here,” Nigel told her. “Mr. Luthor will join you shortly.” Then the man paused, taking another glance at her slightly dusty work attire: black slacks and a gold blouse. Comfortable, yet stylish, had been the look she had been going for. Obviously, Nigel didn’t approve. “Did you need someplace to change, Ms. Lane?”

Nope. She recognized a dig at her clothes when she heard one. “Into what?” she asked holding out her arms, showing him her lack of baggage.

“I’ll see if I can find you something more suitable,” he suggested.

“I didn’t know that a tie and jacket were required to meet with Lex,” she sneered, dropping Luthor’s first name on purpose. She had had enough of put-downs from Luthor’s staff. First Mrs. Cox and now this guy.

“As you wish, Ms. Lane,” Nigel replied with a slight bow before leaving the room.

Good riddance!

“Hello, Darling!” Lex purred, entering the room from his office, his arms outstretched.

Darling?

“Hello, Lex,” Lois said politely.

Each time she met the man, she liked him less and less. She did not know why. He was all charms and smiles, platitudes and compliments, but next to Clark’s…

… everything…

… sweetness and charm…

…and rocking bod…

Lex seemed phony. She could never picture herself attracted to him. Sure, by dating a man like Lex, she could buy the world. But Clark would give her the world. With Clark she wouldn’t always be dining on caviar and pâté, but who would want to? Hello, calories! She couldn’t imagine going for a walk through a festival in the park with Lex, or eating hotdogs, or splashing around in the pool.

Or having steamy hot passionate kisses on a big pile of snow.

On the other hand, she couldn’t picture Lex Luthor ever using the word ‘streetwalker.’

Unless he was ordering take-out.

Eww! Lois pushed her inner voice back inside the box it had escaped from upon meeting Clark. Lois needed less sarcastic comments and more focus for this meeting.

“Come. Let me show you my latest plans,” said Lex, taking her arm and leading her into his office. His welcoming manner was a little off-putting being that he acted like they were old friends, despite only having just met.

There was an easel that Lois didn’t remember from the night before. The top page was a sketch of a tower similar to the one they were currently in. It was tall and had the name Luthor on it, but other than that, it was not very architecturally interesting.

Compensating for something there, Lex? her inner voice scoffed from inside its box.

A little nagging voice inside of Lois made her approach the easel. She flipped up the sketch and saw it sat directly on top of MJ’s Café just like Clark told her it would. It infuriated her how often her man was right.

“Lex?” she asked. “You want to tear down MJ’s Café to build another tower?”

“I can make space in the building for them, if you prefer,” he generously offered.

“And what will they do for income until then? Where will they live?” she asked.

Lex seemed a bit put out that she cared more about the people affected by the tower than the tower itself. “I have given them every opportunity to move.”

“By doubling their rent? If you want to build your obelisk so badly, why not just offer to buy out their lease? You’ll get them to move out sooner and they’ll have the funds to actually move. Wouldn’t that make more sense than playing chicken with their lease?” she suggested.

“Stunning woman, beautiful singer, talented writer, and a brain to boot.” Lex shook his head.

There he goes cataloguing your assets again.

Luthor went to a mini tape recorder on his desk. “Mrs. Cox, have the legal department draw up a contract to buy out the owners of MJ’s Café. Fifty thousand… no, better make it seventy-five thousand dollars.” He clicked off the recorder. “There. Will that put your mind at ease?”

Lois’s jaw dropped open.

Clark’s so going to kill you for interfering with his parents’ restaurant.

Lex grinned mischievously at her reaction. “See. I’m not a bad guy.” He held out his hand. “Shall we eat?”

Caviar was definitely served as an appetizer, but after one polite taste, Lois couldn’t help thinking of the fish eggs Pete had once used for fishing. The linguini alfredo with shrimp was delicious, but for some reason reminded her of Clark.

Perhaps it had been the pasta her boyfriend had brought back the night before, after taking his shower. Simple spaghetti and meatballs with a still warm loaf of authentic Italian bread and a bottle of Italian house red. It had felt like Clark was seducing her with food. They had laughed and talked late into the night, drinking the whole bottle of wine.

Clark had spoken of his travels and places he wanted to share with her. She had once again posed the question of where he would fly off to if given the opportunity. He had simply answered, “Wherever you are.”

Lois had a feeling it was the same answer he hadn’t given her the first time she had inquired. She liked that Clark had reached a point where he felt comfortable being himself around her, able to say what he truly felt. Despite loving the emotion that came with his vague answer, Lois had still felt it lacking. So – as a good reporter – she asked it again. If he could take her anywhere in the world – which he had interrupted her to tell her he could with a slight wink – where would he like to take her first?

Clark must have thought about this question before because he didn’t hesitate. He had wanted to take her back to that beach in Costa Rica. Not to the exact one he had taken her to – because she had revealed it in the article; they were sure they would never be able to go back unnoticed – but that other beach, the one Kal had mentioned was used by skinny-dippers. For some reason, their conversation had been sidetracked there.

It had been all those kisses you gave him. I agree, he should take you skinny-dipping… or anywhere where Clark wanted to go in the all-together.

Lex was talking about his life. How he had gotten rich at such a young age, trying to impress her with his skills at business and the power he exerted in Metropolis, when her mind had wandered to her night with Clark. But she reined in these thoughts and tried to politely listen to what Lex was saying. If for no other reason, he was telling her stuff he had never told another reporter.

For a man so well known for shunning the press, he sure likes to talk about himself.

But was he really saying anything? Lois wondered as she listened to him give opinions but still dance around topics.

When the dinner dishes had finally been cleared and Lois had emphatically turned down his offer of dessert twice – only one of which she speculated was really an offer of food – it was time to turn the conversation to her dilemma with B. Gerald Tempus. It was for this reason alone she had limited herself to only one glass of wine.

“The reason I asked for this meeting, Lex, was because of the treatment I have received by one of your auditors,” she told him.

Lex had held up a finger, asking her to wait as he pushed a button on a hand-held intercom remote he had removed from his jacket pocket. “Nigel, can you bring that file we discussed earlier – into my office, Nigel.” The billionaire stood up from their private dining table in his living room and indicated they should retire into his office. “If we are going to discuss business, we should adjourn to my office.”

Lois agreed, standing. Lex had been trying to become more intimate at dinner; perhaps in his office, he would be less so.

Nigel entered the private room with a thick folder. Did Tempus have so many complaints against him?

“That will be all, Nigel. You may dismiss the staff for the night, I shan’t be needing them.”

Nigel gave Lois a cool once over before replying, “As you wish, Sir,” and closing the door behind him.

Was Lex planning on driving her home himself? Or sending her home in a taxi? Or was he anticipating her remaining for the night? All those thoughts combined with Nigel’s parting glance, sent shivers of foreboding down her spine.

Lex indicated she should sit in a guest chair as he himself sat behind his desk, all business.

Lois launched into an explanation of what happened with B. Gerald Tempus earlier in the week. She edited out all mention of her ‘big, brawny, blue boyfriend’ and the investigation into Perry’s and Clark’s padding of Clark’s paycheck. She did include Tempus’s threat of having her arrested for stealing and his offer to cover it up if she went out with him.

“And when is this date to take place?” Lex inquired.

She lowered her head and blushed slightly. “Tonight.” She raised her eyes to his and said, “I left him a note telling him I had gotten a better offer.”

Lex laughed in delight as he opened the folder. “Aren’t you worried that he will go after your boyfriend since you didn’t show up to your blackmail date?” he questioned, the amusement remaining in his eyes at her shock. “Shall I continue?” Lex asked her tapping the folder. “Or shall we retire upstairs for the rest of the evening?” His smile broadened as he registered the revulsion in her expression. “You might actually learn to enjoy it, my dear. And if you don’t protest, I’ll let you take a few pages from your folder. I guarantee you, there aren’t any copies.”

Bile rose in her throat as she realized that wasn’t Tempus’s file, but a file on her.

“Tsk-tsk. Regretting not taking up my offer of dessert earlier? If you had been willing, I might have thrown in the whole file.” Lex shrugged. “Yes, I agree. Where would have been the fun in that?”

“Never!” Lois finally snapped.

“No?” Lex said, only somewhat disappointed. “Oh, well. Shall we see what’s in here, then?”

Lois swallowed down the bad taste in her mouth. It seemed Lex wasn’t going to force the issue. And she wished she could exhale in relief, but found she could not, as her eyes focused on that thick folder.

“Shall we start at the beginning? Here’s a photo of you and Superman at the press conference,” he said holding up a photo. Lois and Superman had explicit eye contact. “As I watched the press conference unfold on LNN, I wondered who that woman was that Superman was attracted to. The woman who Superman knew by name and who named him Superman.”

As her tongue crossed her teeth, Lois tried to keep her anger at bay.

“Then we have the photos that Out in Public acquired.” He held up a copy of that tabloid, showing the argument she and Clark had had after the press conference, when Superman had come by the bookstore. “If it had only been the press conference, we all would have forgotten you by now. Now you cannot deny that you and Superman have a definite relationship… chemistry, shall we say?” He looked down at the tabloid again. “Looks like a lover’s spat to me? So? What did Big Blue do to anger you?”

Lois pressed her lips together, refusing to let him have the satisfaction.

“No?” Lex shrugged. “Then I learn that Superman’s girlfriend works for me!” He laughed with glee. “As a bookseller in my tax write-off of a bookstore. And, as last Sunday progressed, Lois Lane returned home to find… Now, darling, you know the saying: ‘Once, shame on you. Twice, shame on me.’ I wonder what thrice would be?” Still laughing, Lex pulled out the Dirt Digger Weekly with which Lois was already quite familiar. “Guess who was waiting for you again? Not only waiting for you, but he flies you off on a date right then and there. Really, Lois? You shouldn’t be surprised by your sudden fame and notoriety.” He took a highlighter out of his drawer and drew picture of a neon sign above their heads reading We’re an item! “And then you have the gall to say you aren’t dating him.”

“I’ve heard enough. You don’t have anything but speculation in that folder, which is exactly what the tabloids have. I’m leaving.” She stood up to walk out.

Luthor simply pressed a button on his remote locking his office door. “Sit back down, my dear. You’re not going anywhere until you call your boyfriend. I’ve got a business proposition I would like to discuss with him. Just one simple ‘Help Superman!’ will do.”

“I’m not dating Superman,” she stated as she tried to open the door despite hearing the bolts latch. With each shake of the doorknob her anger grew. She refrained from banging on the door and screaming for help. Luthor’s staff – from what she knew of them – wouldn’t pay her any heed and she didn’t want to get Clark’s attention, as that was exactly what Luthor wanted.

“Of course, you aren’t,” he said in disbelief. “According to my man Tempus, you have …” He flipped a couple of pages in the folder. “A ‘big, brawny, blue boyfriend’.”

Lex knows about your conversation with Tempus? Word for word?

“I must admit, I was surprised to find out from him how amenable to blackmail you are. Why do you think I asked you out last night? Did you actually think it was because I was interested in you?” Lex laughed for a moment and then stood up. He walked over to where she was standing with her arms crossed. “I must admit there is something about you.” He ran a finger down her cheek and she turned her face away from his touch. “I knew you had that ‘date’ with Tempus set up for this evening. And I knew, like any woman, you’d drop his date for one with me in an instant.”

With a grunt of displeasure she moved away from him.

“I wanted this date for one reason and one reason only. You are going to tell me Superman’s secret identity. It’s as simple as that, Lois. I know you know it.” Lex went back over to the file on his desk and picked up another photo. Superman standing at Lois’s door staring at a set of keys in the palm of his hand in the middle of the night. His motivation was clear. Superman wanted to go inside her apartment. And everyone would know it was her apartment from the Dirt Digger Weekly photo spread.

Lois could feel her heart pounding against her chest. The photographer that Clark had chased down the alley the night he found the bugs and whisked her off to his apartment. It wasn’t a tabloid photographer. It was one of Lex’s spies!

“You couldn’t get this close to a man and not know. You want to protect him, keep these photos out of the press, stop me from ruining his Boy Scout image, and to protect…” Lex flipped over another paper. “Clark Kent from finding out about your afterhours visitor. One who is more than willing to do with you what your boyfriend won’t.”

Did Luthor just imply that he knows that Clark’s a…

“And here I thought ‘blue’ in reference to your boyfriend was his suit color. That was until I got the transcripts from the bugs my men left at your apartment.”

Lois blanched.

The bugs! Lex Luthor – billionaire, CEO, philanthropist – was the one who bugged your apartment as well?

He came over to her and whispered, “I’m curious if you would be willing to divulge a little secret? Were you ever able to crack that nut?”

Lois’s knee came up and struck his body. “You mean like that?”

***

It felt weird, odd, and strange even, shelving books at human speed. Clark had gotten so used to doing it at super speed. Even at this speed, Clark had done twice as many carts as the others. Sarah was the exception – she kept pace with him.

Clark finished shelving the fiction on his cart and was moving over to sports when he stopped at the windows. There was a brief lull in the music Jack was pounding through the store and Clark once again listened for Lois. He had called her number at midnight, but she hadn’t answered.

If she had taken herself out to dinner and a movie, she should have been home by then. He had telephoned his folks, but they hadn’t seen or heard from her either. Clark knew if she was truly in trouble, she would have called out to him – if she could.

And it was this thought that had Clark stopping by the windows to listen for her again.

Music pounded into his ears as Jack’s next music choice – was that Nirvana? – switched on. Resigned, Clark went to turn away from the windows as something caught his eye. Ching was still standing in the same spot, in the same position he had been in when Sarah had arrived.

“Enough!” Perry shouted. “Enough! Jack, turn that trash off. Time to play something made before 1990!”

Hear hear!

Clark couldn’t help but chuckle, agreeing wholeheartedly with Perry.

Sarah joined Clark at the windows and gazed down at Ching.

“He’s still there,” Clark said, stating the obvious.

“I know. I don’t need his protection here, but he insists,” she replied, a rare smile gracing her lips.

“Out of love?” Clark asked, glancing over at her.

“Duty.” She nodded. “Ching is a good lieutenant.”

At her words, Ching’s shoulders seemed to shift slightly with pride.

Sarah noticed this as well. “The best,” she said fondly.

Ching looked up at them.

The music suddenly died and the silence of the night was heavenly to Clark’s ears.

“Take it from a man in love, Sarah. That’s not duty,” Clark informed her.

Ching stepped back into the shadows, but Clark felt and saw his glare nonetheless.

Why does it seem like the man can hear every word you speak?

“Why do you think Superman hasn’t tried to rule the people of Earth? He could easily,” she inquired innocently. “Do you think he’s scared to take his rightful place as God?” She was just carrying on a conversation. There was no emotion in her voice but curiosity.

He stared slack jawed at her.

Who is this woman? Besides crazy?

Clark swallowed the bad taste from his mouth. “Superman doesn’t want to rule over us. He wants to help us.”

“Like a good little servant?”

“No!” He hadn’t liked her implication. “Because he can help. We were all put on this Earth for a reason, and he believes he was given his abilities to help mankind.”

“From themselves?”

“Sometimes.” Something was off about this conversation, but Clark could not put his finger on what. “And to make his home a better place.”

Sarah raised a brow. “Home?”

Clark shrugged at her skepticism. “Adopted home, then.”

“What about Krypton?” Sarah asked.

She had picked up on his one brief mention of Krypton from the press conference?

“I don’t know.” Clark was beginning to think there wasn’t a Krypton left to save. “He said Earth and Metropolis are his home now. I believe him.”

“What if his home planet wanted him back?” she said.

It’s too late for that. Krypton is surely gone. Earth is your home now. Even if some other planet needed your help, could you just up and leave Lois? She is your heart and without your heart you would only be a shell of a man.

When he didn’t answer, she went on, “This ‘love’ you spoke of… it sounds pretty powerful.”

Clark sighed. “It is. For love a man could move mountains.”

“Why would a man want to do that?”

He glanced at Sarah again, expecting a slight curling upwards of her lips at her joke, but instead she looked completely serious. “Metaphorical mountains, Sarah,” he clarified.

“Ah.”

Either she’s the best straight man to your comedy routine you’ve ever met or she’s one odd duck. I’m leaning towards the latter.

“For Lois, you would move mountains?” she asked, turning her full attention on him.

“Yes.” Literal and figurative ones. For Lois, he would do anything.

Even believe her when she tells you an obvious lie?

What seems like an obvious lie, Clark corrected himself. Lois would not lie to him.

What about her lie of omission, Kent? What if she didn’t tell you about breaking her date with Tempus because she was really going out with Luthor?

Lois loves me, Clark told himself. If she met with Luthor, it wasn’t romantically.

Then where is she?

Where indeed?

Sarah wandered off to continue shelving, leaving him still staring out the window.

Clark exhaled and closed his eyes, savoring his moment alone to wade through the silence. He listened through the hum of machinery and computers working all night, the clicks of the traffic signals, TV and radio broadcasts, and the occasional horn, siren and car alarm… listening for Lois’s heartbeat… for her voice calling to him.

After a minute, he sighed. Nothing. As he turned towards the Sports Department, he heard her.

Lois wasn’t screaming.

She wasn’t calling for help.

She wasn’t even having a conversation – with herself or anyone else.

Lois was singing.

And, if he hadn’t listened to her sing to him the entire evening the night before, he might not have recognized her voice. But he had, so he did. Could she be at the Metro Club? No. There was no music accompanying her.

Her voice was melancholy and slightly rough with an emotional edge he could not place.

He knew with his heart that she was singing to him, to let him know she was okay.

It was moments like these he wished he could communicate back with her.

Perry walked up to him, “Clark…”

But Clark didn’t want to hear what his boss had to say, so he held up a finger to ask him to wait. Then he pointed to his ear and said, “Lois.”

Perry nodded in understanding and kept quiet. Clark walked behind the cashier counter and telephoned Lois’s home number.

It rang off the hook. She wasn’t at home. Clark hung up the phone in time to hear the end of her song.

Then Lois whispered, “I know you’re worried, but I’m okay, just laying low. Get through the night and I’ll see you in the morning. I’ll repeat this message again in an hour, if I can. If I haven’t fallen asleep. Watch out for the wrath of Tempus. I love you.” There was nothing more.

Clark turned to Perry. “She said to ‘watch out for the wrath of Tempus’.”

“Where is she?” Perry asked, his voice low.

Clark’s brow furrowed. “I don’t know. Somewhere without a telephone, I’m assuming, but close enough that I could hear her. She’s still in Metropolis. She said she would repeat the message in an hour to let me know she was okay. She said she was fine, just laying low.” Clark shook his head. He had this nagging feeling that she was lying to him. He took a deep breath. “It’s snowing in Metropolis tonight,” he told himself.

“What?” Perry gasped, looking out the window. “It is?”

Clark chuckled. “No. Just a little reminder to trust Lois.”

“O-K,” Perry said skeptically.

Clark exhaled, feeling much relieved that he had heard from his girlfriend. There could be a blizzard outside but that nagging little doubt would still be there.

Why would she lie to you?

Perry patted his back. “Don’t worry about the Lexco auditor, Kent. Our little shelving party should take care of him.”

Clark wasn’t listening; he was focused on what Lois had said. ‘I’ll repeat this in an hour. If I can.’


*** End of Part 31 ***

Part 32

A/N: I didn't embed the song this time, because I thought it would sound strange to have Michael Buble subbing in for Lois.

For Once in My Life , performed by Michael Buble, written by Ron Miller and Orlando Murden.

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