So he wore the suit...along with a dark shirt that would be sure to hide the electric blue spandex and bright red ‘S’.
I approve of Clark's new dress code, Caroline. I always wondered how he managed to hide that primary colored spandex suit under his thin white shirt.
Remember to change, he told himself, as he left his hotel room.
Remember to change, he reminded himself again, as he entered the elevator at the Daily Planet.
Remember to change, he thought, as he helped himself to a cup of coffee.
And then he forgot all about the suit and the ‘S’ on his chest, when Pete once again stopped him to talk about football.
What a lovely, adorable way to say that Superman is really just an ordinary guy who is interested in football.
And of course... there are things that interest him even more than football....
It felt a little bit like déjà vu when, while he was still talking to Pete, Lois came barreling off the elevator, her briefcase over one shoulder and her purse clutched tightly in one hand. She met his eyes this time and gave him a little smile, and he must have returned it, must have let himself get completely distracted, because suddenly Pete laughed and punched him on the arm. “Guess the Big 12 can’t quite compete, eh?”
He felt his chest tighten at this news, but he forced himself to sound normal when he said, “It must have been a good interview, then.”
“What...? Oh, no.” She waved a hand dismissively. “Lex Luthor was a complete waste of time. You were right. All he wanted was a date.” She made a face that perfectly expressed her feelings on the subject, and he was so elated that it took every ounce of willpower he possessed not to sweep her up in his arms and dance with her around the room. All his worries had been for nothing! Her only interest in Luthor was in telling his story. And she’d told Clark that, of course, but he hadn’t quite been able to believe it. He hadn’t quite been able to believe that given the choice between a farmer’s kid from Kansas with hardly a dime to his name and a suave, confident, self-made billionaire, that she would choose the farmer’s kid. That she would choose him, Clark Kent. And somehow the realization that she had chosen him – that there had been a choice to make – made all his worries about her date with Luthor worth it. He was almost glad she’d gone now – glad that they’d both been put to that test and emerged from it unscathed. Not that he ever wanted her to do it again, mind, but the once was good.
I
love this description of Clark's insecurity and jealousy, as well as his utter elation at finding that Lois doesn't care about Lex Luthor at all.
“Yep! I just need to print it out and take it to Perry. This is going to be big, Clark. Huge.” She sat down and switched on her computer before popping the disk into the slot.
“I don’t doubt it.” Her excitement was contagious...intoxicating. He could watch her like this for the rest of his life and he’d never get tired of it, never get bored.
I love this.
She took off in the direction of Perry’s office and then halted suddenly and turned around. “Since we, uh, couldn’t have dinner last night,” she said, “would you maybe like to go after tonight’s meeting?” She seemed to be holding her breath, waiting for his answer, which was about the silliest thing he could imagine. She couldn’t possibly think he’d say no, could she?
“I’d love to,” he told her warmly.
She let out the breath she’d been holding, let her smile spread across her face. “Good,” she said. “That’s good.”
And this is utterly adorable. Lois is as uncertain of Clark's love as Clark is of Lois's.
When she emerged from Perry’s office twenty minutes later, the smile was gone, replaced by barely controlled fury. She stormed over to Clark’s desk and threw her story down in front of him.
“Hard facts!” she snapped. “He said it needed hard facts. He said he wouldn’t publish it, that Platt’s ‘suicide’ called everything he told me into question. And then he started stuffing leaves in his mouth. Seriously, Clark, I think Perry is cracking up.”
Aaahh, poor Lois! I can totally sympathize, but it's just so funny, too!
“Paava leaves,” Clark said, wincing slightly. “I told him at my first interview that the Yolngu tribe in New Guinea eat paava leaves to relieve stress.”
Lois looked, if possible, even more furious. “Well that’s just great! You tell him to eat leaves, and he just does it, no questions asked. I tell him the Messenger was sabotaged, and he acts like I’m asking him to believe in the Tooth Fairy.”
Vintage adorably furious Lois.
“Where are you going?”
“To get some hard facts,” she called back, already halfway across the room. “Jimmy!”
Her voice rang out across the newsroom like a shot, and Clark watched, just a little amused, as Jimmy nearly fell out of his chair, a look of blind panic crossing his face. As much as he loved being with Lois, he had the thought that he wouldn’t trade places with Jimmy Olsen just then for all the money in the world.
Only Lois can be so irresistible in her fury.
(Poor Jimmy, though.
)
It was a large complex, and he didn’t find her in the first building, or the second, or the third. But then his sensitive ears picked up the sound of soft weeping.
Lois!
He knew it was her. The sound wrapped itself around his heart and squeezed, and he couldn’t have done anything but follow it.
As if Clark had been a child helplessly following the tune played by the rat-catcher-Lois from Hameln (or does that Dutch place have another name in English?).
The truth was that when he saw Lois tied up and Jimmy unconscious and realized the danger they were in, something in his brain woke up and shouted, "Now!"
Perfect.
He landed a safe distance from the building, his heart pounding in his chest at the nearness of it all, at how close he’d come to losing her when he’d only just found her.
I love his horror at this realization.
And he felt angry, too – coldly, blindly furious– at whoever had done this to her, certainly, but also at Lois, for putting herself in danger again, for apparently valuing her life less than he did.
Clark gets angry at Lois again, because she put herself in danger when chasing a story. His possessiveness could become a problem. Of course, Lois's habit of dangling over the jaws of death could be a problem, too.
“Are you all right?” he demanded, hearing that anger bleed into his voice with a sort of detached wonder. He hadn’t meant to sound that way at all. He should be comforting her, shouldn’t he? He should be reassuring her, not making demands.
He is not happy at his own way of speaking to Lois. He
wants to comfort her.
If he’d been there as Clark Kent, it would have been natural for him to return to be by her side, to comfort and support her, but he hadn’t been there as Clark. He’d been there as... whoever he was when he wore the blue suit and the ‘S’ on his chest.
Clark doesn't yet know what to call his superhero persona. Will Lois still be the one who will name him 'Superman'?
The thought of how near a thing it had been, how close he’d come to losing her, still bathed him in panic, even knowing that she was safe, that she was at that moment down below him, ordering the paramedics around and terrorizing the police.
I can see this scene so perfectly.
He wanted to swoop back down and carry her off in his arms. He wanted to kiss and touch every precious inch of her, to reassure himself that she was whole and alive and safe and his.
I totally, completely
love this.
He wanted to make love to her again – wanted it so desperately, so fiercely, that his whole body ached with it.
And I
adore this.
Dean Cain's Clark in the TV show was a "very patient man", and many people absolutely love that. Many people adore that undemanding aspect of him - he is a man who wants to date Lois and to kiss her, and maybe, just maybe, unbutton a button or two on her blouse, but that is where it stops. Many people love this Clark who doesn't seem to care too much about becoming intimate with Lois, as long as he gets to have dinner with her regularly and watch movies with her snuggled up on her couch. As for myself, though, this Clark ultimately fails to move me. If he doesn't yearn and ache for intimacy with Lois, I will reach a point where I no longer care.
The blue suit distanced him in a way he hadn’t expected. It would be too hard to go back there now – to explain a man in a blue suit and a cape descending from the sky and landing in the midst of all those flashing lights. What had come naturally in a moment of desperation felt awkward again now that the crisis was over. And even if he did work up his nerve to do it, he wouldn’t be able to approach Lois in the way he wanted. He wouldn’t be able to touch her, to comfort her – and just then, he wasn’t sure he was capable of playing the polite stranger. He knew that if he got close to Lois, it would be with Clark Kent’s heart pinned to his sleeve.
So, with one final look, he flew away.
How poignant.
A/N: So did she recognize him?
I vote yes, she
did recognize him. Why on Earth wouldn't she? Clark immediately recognized Wanda Detroit the first time he saw Lois as reporter Lois Lane, didn't he? We might argue that that was different, but I don't think so. Yes, in the LNC universe there is a general rule, a law of nature even, that says that Lois
mustn't recognize Clark Kent when she sees Superman. But I don't think you have to follow that rule, Caroline. Bottom line is, why
wouldn't she recognize him?
I'm going to miss your story very much when it isn't being updated during the holidays, but finding a new chapter in January is going to feel like getting a late Christmas present. And I wish you and your family a very happy holiday, Caroline.
Ann