Author's introduction: Readers will recognise the start of this story as being the scene in ATAI in which Superman re-awakens Lois from her frozen state of suspended animation. Things go a little differently this time, and from here on canon is altered. I'm not going to give away spoilers, but I would simply urge readers to remember my reputation when it comes to the safety of our principal characters. As ever, I want to thank several people here: first, the denizens of Zoom's message board, who faithfully post comments as a story is posted and who, in the course of this story, were extremely encouraging and supportive. You guys are wonderful! Most of all, I want to thank my ever-helpful beta-readers, Irene, Yvonne and Kaethel. As ever, you gave me exactly what I needed: criticism and helpful suggestions, praise and encouragement, and supportive advice. I couldn't ask for better beta-readers, nor for a nicer cheerleader than Anne Ciotola. :) Comments are very welcome, as always, at the address below. And I do not have the rights to any of the characters in this story: as ever, they are the property of DC Comics and Warner Brothers. I am simply borrowing them for a while; you can have them back now! _________________ The Devil's Bargain by Wendy Richards Rated: PG13 Submitted: February 2001 __________________ - The Devil's Bargain - Clark pressed his lips to Lois's mouth once again and breathed, then lifted his head a few inches, checking for any sign of respiratory action. There was still none. "Breathe, Lois! Breathe!" he pleaded in an agonised whisper, again checking her body temperature; while it had been warm, it was now getting cooler by the second. "Come back to me, Lois! You have to come back to me!" The prospect that she might not was too unbearable to contemplate... Distraught, he renewed the heart massage he'd started a short time ago, only to feel a hand tugging at his arm. "Clark - Clark, it's no good. She's gone," his mother told him softly, close to tears herself. "Come on, honey, you have to stop torturing yourself like this!" "She can't be," Clark retorted, not even looking at his mother. "I won't let her!" His mother was wrong. She had to be! Lois was going to be *fine*! He just had to keep going, keep breathing for her... Shaking off Martha's arm, he resumed the artificial respiration he'd been performing, increasingly desperately, for the last half-hour. "Clark." This time it was Jonathan. He turned to look at his father, seeing the grief and agony on the older man's face, telling him what he now knew was the awful truth. "Clark, you have to accept it. She's dead." He crumpled. He just couldn't hold himself up any longer, and he folded into a weeping heap on the cold stone floor. ********** He should never have let her persuade him. But he'd only had less than half an hour before that maniac Mazik killed his parents. He hadn't known what to do. And when Lois had told him she'd had an idea and wanted Superman, it had seemed as if a tiny ray of hope had lit up inside him. Until he'd got to her apartment and realised what she wanted him to do... "Freeze you?" he had exclaimed in total horror. She'd nodded, and explained how she knew he could do it, and how it could work: Mazik and anyone else would see that she was dead and he could free his parents. It had been a crazy, dangerous, foolhardy plan. If he hadn't already been panic-stricken over his parents' safety, he would never have considered it for a second. He knew all the risks, what it could do to Lois: rupturing her arteries, brain damage. He'd known it could kill her. But she'd insisted, staring at him with those wide brown eyes shimmering with tears. "You don't know what he's going through. He needs me," she'd protested. He *had* known, only too well, what 'Clark' was going through. he cried silently, weeping. Still trying to persuade him, she'd added, "And I have never needed you more than I do right now." She'd been so determined, using every word, every gesture at her command to persuade him. In the end, he'd given in, against every instinct warning him that this was too dangerous even to attempt. He'd agreed to freeze her. And her almost final words to him... oh, he should have stopped the craziness then! It was as if Lois herself had known what would happen. "If... anything... h-h-happens - tell Clark that I love him." He'd wished, many times, that his secret identity wasn't a barrier between them; never had he wished it more than at that moment. He'd wanted to sweep her into his arms, tell her that he loved her too, so very much, and that he never wanted to lose her. That, no matter how much he loved his parents, how much the pain of losing them would hurt, losing her would hurt far more. But, because he'd been there in the Suit, and he'd made such a *mess* of trying to tell her the day before, he hadn't been able to do any of that. He'd had to stand there, as Superman, and simply tell her that Clark knew. Oh, he knew. He'd known as soon as she'd made it clear she was willing to risk her life for his parents, because she knew he was hurting. His well-being meant more to her than her own, he'd realised, and all his questions about whether Lois really loved him as he did her had been answered. And he hadn't even been able to tell her that he loved her too, because he'd been separated from her by a Spandex suit and two years of secrets and lies. Lois was dead. And she'd died without ever knowing that the partner she was in love with and the Super-hero she'd yearned for were one and the same. He'd been going to tell her the previous morning, but then he'd allowed Mazik's threats to destroy his nerve. Now, he bitterly regretted his failure to tell her, because she'd died without knowing. She'd died without hearing him tell her that he loved her. ********* "Clark, we can't stay here." His father's anxious voice broke through Clark's misery and he struggled to his feet to meet his parents' worried expressions. He nodded, looking around for the exit; the door was standing open. Mazik had obviously made his escape in a hurry after killing Nigel St John. Quickly, he made a decision and turned back to his parents. "Go," he instructed them abruptly, knowing his voice sounded cold but unable to help it, or even care. "There's an alley outside, and it leads to a main street - you can get a cab from there back to your hotel. I'll see you both later." Martha frowned, concerned. "But, Clark, what are you going to do? And what about Lois? You'll need to see the police, and don't you want our help?" No... he didn't want anything, anyone, right now, only Lois... He shook his head dismissively. "I'm going to take Lois now. I just want to be alone for a while, that's all. I'll see you later." Clark knew that his parents felt shut out by his words, but he didn't care. The love of his life was dead, and nothing mattered any more. He waited until the sound of their footsteps had receded beyond even his Super-hearing, and then bent to scoop up Lois into his arms. She was so light, so frail, so cold... in death, she was still beautiful, but the vibrancy had all gone out of her. He'd closed her eyes so he didn't have to see their lifeless, dull upward stare; he almost wished he could cover her face too, because her still mask of death was a silent reproach to him. *He* had done this. *He* had killed Lois, his best friend, the only woman he could ever love. It was all he could do to get himself airborne; he flew high because he could barely see straight, and so he was flying very slowly. The last thing he wanted was someone on the streets below or in a skyscraper to see Superman carrying the stiff body of a woman. Where should he take her? That, of course, depended on what he was going to do. And so far he had absolutely no idea what he was going to do. He knew what he *ought* to do: he should take Lois to the nearest hospital, so that she could be declared dead and an autopsy arranged. He should go and find Jason Mazik, so that the man could be arrested and charged with murder, attempted murder and blackmail. And he should turn himself in to the police. He, Clark, was guilty of the jewellery-store robbery. He, Superman, was guilty of murder. It would be easy enough to say that Superman was responsible for both. Although Jason Mazik knew that Superman was Clark Kent, and so it probably wouldn't matter which of them was charged with what; the world would soon know anyway. He should care about that, but he didn't. Even the knowledge that someone else could use his parents to get to Superman didn't concern him right now. Not that he could carry on being Superman after this. If it wasn't for Superman, his parents would never have been kidnapped and Lois would still be alive. If it wasn't for his Super abilities, he'd never have been able to do that to Lois. Without his Super-powers, he could not have killed her. Clark hadn't consciously directed his flight in any way, but he suddenly realised that he was close to his apartment. In a burst of Super-speed he dropped to his balcony and then strode inside to lay Lois on the bed. Throwing himself down beside her, he pulled her cold, stiff body to him and held her tightly, new tears streaming down his cheeks as he buried his face in her hair. "Lois... oh, god, Lois, I love you so much... why did you leave me? I can't go on without you... please come back to me, don't leave me, stay with me... stay with me, stay with me..." he murmured incoherently, over and over, as he held her unresponsive body, shaking her a little as if, somehow, the movement might wake her up. Soon, he knew, he would have to get up and do the right thing. He probably didn't have much time; his parents wouldn't wait for him to come to them at the hotel. He knew them well enough to know that. They wouldn't leave him alone, given what had happened. They would come over, and insist on coming in, and insist on talking to him, making him talk about what had happened, about what he'd done to Lois, and about what they should do now. They would urge him to call Lois's parents, Perry, to tell them what had happened, that Lois was dead. But what could he tell them? Could he really tell Sam and Ellen Lane that he had murdered their daughter? Could he - as Clark or as Superman - look Perry in the eye and tell him about the gamble he had taken with the life of Perry's favourite reporter? Lois had been like a daughter to Perry White. Better to turn himself in to the police, and let them deal with informing people. But then, Lois's family and her dearest friends would hear about her death from strangers. He didn't want that either. But how could he, her murderer, tell them what he'd done? There was a huge, Lois-sized hole inside him, he thought bleakly as he continued to hold her body close to him. He felt as if someone had reached inside him and torn out his heart, leaving him bleeding and in agony. Not even his worst encounter with Kryptonite had hurt as much as this did. He wanted to die, too. Raising himself a little, he bent to kiss her lips reverently, deeply; almost as if he believed that, in kissing her lifeless, unresponsive lips, he could end his own life too. So, too, the distant thought occurred to him, had Juliet kissed Romeo; except that her lover had taken poison and Juliet had hoped to find some trace of the deadly fluid on his lips. He briefly wondered where the Kryptonite his father had thrown through the grating had gone; he needed it now. There was nothing left to live for, if Lois was dead. Oh, he could go on, but as a shadow of what he used to be. If he wasn't in prison, he'd have to leave Metropolis; there was no way he could stay here without Lois. Superman would disappear, permanently. And Clark Kent would... He didn't know what Clark Kent would do. He laid his head against Lois's breast and closed his eyes in despair, giant shuddering sobs overwhelming him. ********** "Mr Kent! Mr Ke-ent!" An annoying voice was calling him; Clark ignored it completely. The man would soon give up and go away. Unless it was the police, he thought with an abrupt shock. Could they have caught up with him already? But how would they know where to come? They would be looking for Superman, surely? Unless his parents...? No, his parents would never give away his secret. So who...? About to turn around to find out what was going on, Clark heard the man's voice again. "Oh, Claaarkieee!" his visitor called, in a sing-song voice. *No-one* called him Clarkie! Furious, both at the liberty his unwanted visitor had taken with his name, and at the man's presumption in disturbing him at this moment, Clark flung himself off the bed and turned to glare at the intruder, who had somehow managed to break into his apartment and had had the audacity, the *nerve*, to invade his bedroom. His angry gaze fell upon a short man with a short, dark goatee beard and eyes Clark instinctively did not trust. He was dressed in a strange multi-coloured outfit, with high, wide boots which seemed far more suited to early eighteenth-century England than twentieth-century Metropolis. And, as his brain tried to process the garish sight in front of him and failed to come up with an answer, Clark realised something else. He was still wearing his Superman suit. And his unwanted visitor had called him by his real name. This man, who looked as if he'd escaped from a comic strip, *knew* that Clark Kent was Superman. "Who are you? What do you want?" Clark demanded raggedly, moving so that he blocked Lois's body from the man's line of vision. "Now, now, Clark, that's not very friendly to someone who only wants to help you!" the man chided. "Help?" he echoed hoarsely. "How on earth could you help me?" "More easily than you think, Clarkie. Let me see..." The man paused, and, so it appeared to Clark, pretended to consider. He placed two index fingers in front of pursed lips, closed his eyes and tilted his head slowly from side to side, as if demonstrating that he was pondering, cartoon-style. Clark watched him in disbelief, barely resisting the temptation to seize him and throw him bodily off the balcony. Then his visitor opened his eyes again, his posture returning to normal. "Of course I can help you. We both know what your problem is." "You know nothing about me!" Clark gritted out furiously, realising as he spoke that it was a lie. Of course this man knew something about him - he knew his dual identity! And that reminded him that he had to tread very carefully, at least until he'd decided what to do about Lois and the police... "Oh, come on, Clark, there's no need to lie to *me*!" the man protested. "I know everything about you. I know you're an alien, where you're from, who brought you up - how are Jonathan and Martha, by the way? Recovered from their ordeal?" He grinned, and Clark fumed helplessly. "Not talking to me? How rude! Oh, well," the man continued. "I'll just have to keep the conversation going. Hmm. Where were we? Oh, yes. I was telling you that I know what it is you want most in the world right now." "No, you weren't," Clark snapped. "You were telling me that you know everything about me - and you still haven't told me how! - and that you know what my 'problem' is." He took a furious breath. "Well, in that case, you also know that I can kill you with just the squeeze of one hand. And don't think I wouldn't. I've killed once today already - " He broke off abruptly, wondering what had made him admit that. *Why* had he said it? Still, it didn't matter, since he was going to turn himself in to the police anyway. But his visitor merely smiled. "You could try, Clarkie, but I think you might find it a little difficult." "*Don't call me Clarkie*!" Clark almost yelled. "Oh, don't like that, do you?" The man paused, an irritating grin on his face. "You know, since I've come all this way from the fifth dimension to do you a favour, you might be a little nicer to me," he added petulantly. "From *where*?" Clark demanded, his lip curling scornfully. "You mean you haven't heard of the fifth dimension?" his visitor asked incredulously. "Well, never mind. Why don't we make ourselves comfortable and then we can discuss how we can help each other." "Why should I do anything for you?" Clark retorted. "Uh-uh, Clarkie-baby!" the man chided. "Better be nice to me, if you want your dearest wish granted!" Instinctively, Clark glanced behind him to where Lois's body lay still on the bed. But this was crazy, he told himself quickly. There was no way this man could know what had happened, and even if by some freak chance he did, Lois was *dead*. No-one could bring her back to life. It was too late. "Come on, let's make ourselves comfortable," the irritating visitor said. He waved a hand in Clark's direction, and... Clark didn't know what had happened, but he thought incredulously that he'd actually seen a puff of smoke. But when he glanced down in the direction where it had appeared to come from, he could only see his own shoes. Wait a minute... *shoes*? But he was wearing the Suit! No, he wasn't, he realised with a shock. He was in the charcoal business suit he'd been wearing at the Planet before flying to Lois's apartment. But *how*...? He stared accusatively at his visitor, only for his glare to freeze on his face as he noticed the man's posture. He was sitting, cross-legged... on thin air. "Why so surprised, Supes?" the man enquired, clearly highly amused. "You can do it, so why can't I?" Just who was that man? Clark would have suspected that he might be Kryptonian, except that that wouldn't explain what had happened with his clothes. Even Super-speed wouldn't be fast enough to fool him. "I asked you before - who are you?" "Oh, did I forget to introduce myself? I am Mr Mxyzptlk," he announced grandly. "Am I supposed to know you?" Clark asked rudely; he knew that he was behaving very badly, but in the circumstances he had no wish to be polite to anyone - especially not someone who was trespassing in his apartment and being rude to *him*. He wanted to get rid of this guy - Mxispiklik or whatever his name was - and get on with what he had to do. Dealing with Lois's death. Taking her to the hospital. Going to the police. Turning himself in. "Oh, you've never met me before," Mxyzptlk answered. "But I know you, better even than you know yourself, Clark." "What do you want with me?" he asked wearily. "I told you - I've come to do you a favour," the man answered brightly. "Now, since you're clearly not feeling very talkative, let me guess for myself. If I offered to give you your dearest wish, what would that be? Hmmm. Riches beyond imagination? No; you could obtain those any time you wanted with those powers of yours, Supey-boy. Hmmm. The most beautiful women in the world, to be your sex-slaves?" Clark flinched at that, and lunged in the direction of Mxyzptlk; to his amazement, the man floated out of his reach. "Well, I guess not," Mxyzptlk continued, as if nothing had happened. "Women just fall at your feet, don't they? At least, when you're wearing that flashy outfit. I'm sure you could scoop half-a-dozen of them up in your cape any time you wanted. No, it's not that. Hmmm...." He paused, and then grinned. "Okay. So it's not money or women. Or power either, I guess. Let me think... Yes! Your dearest wish is to have Lois Lane alive again," he pronounced. Clark stared in hopeless disbelief. How did this Mxyk... Mxypit... Mxy-whoever even know about Lois? And why was he trying to torture Clark by suggesting that he could offer him his 'dearest wish'? Was this some sort of additional punishment for what he'd done? As if he could ever forgive himself anyway! Suddenly, he was overcome with fury. Launching himself towards Mxyzptlk, he tried to grab the man between both fists... only to find himself grabbing air. He overbalanced, and had to float himself back to his feet. A distant raucous laugh made him look up; the man was sitting cross-legged at the top of the arch between his bedroom and living-room, grinning at him. He floated down then, and, to Clark's horror, sat on the end of the bed, at Lois's feet. "Come on, Clark," he said, before Clark could say a word. "Let's cut to the chase. I have a deal to offer you." "A... deal?" Clark repeated hoarsely. "A deal. You want Lois alive again - and, I have to admit, it's a shame to see her like this." He reached out and stroked Lois's ankle; again, Clark wanted to wring the life out of the annoying, insensitive little creep. He was barely restraining himself from blasting the guy to kingdom come with one megawatt-strike of his heat vision; in his head, he was muttering, "Get your filthy hand *off* her!" But he didn't dare speak, just in case this imp from hell did something far worse. "So, this is what I'm offering," Mxyzptlk continued. "I'll give you Lois back." "Give her... back?" Images flashed into Clark's mind: Lois sitting at her desk at the Planet, swinging around in her seat to grin at him as she finished a big story; Lois arriving at his apartment in a rush because she'd just had a *brilliant* idea she wanted them to investigate; Lois on his arm as they returned from their first date; that first real, earth-shattering kiss; that kiss in his apartment, only a few days earlier, when they'd both agreed to stop running from each other; Lois in her apartment, telling Superman she loved Clark. Lois, just being... Lois. The woman he loved, and couldn't live without. He wanted her back, and this *monster* was torturing him by making him yearn all the more for something he knew he couldn't have. "Yes! Resurrect her, rejuvenate her, bring her back to life, however you want to put it, Clarkie. You'll get your girlfriend back." "Don't be ridiculous!" Clark exclaimed in fury. "You can't do that!" "No? Watch!" Suddenly the man gestured at a book which lay on Clark's nightstand. It picked itself up and walked across to the far side of the stand, then lay back down again. "And this!" Mxyzptlk pronounced, making a grandiose gesture and suddenly plucking a huge bouquet of roses from thin air, passing them to Clark. "Feel! They're real! Totally genuine!" "What... are... you?" Clark stammered barely coherently. "I'm as alien as you are, Supey!" came the reply. "But I don't come from another planet - I come from another dimension! I guess you could call me an imp. I have powers, too, but they're not like yours. People in this dimension call them... magic. And I can do anything I want!" he announced. "You can... really... bring Lois back to life?" Clark asked hoarsely. "Sure I can!" "Then... please..." A new lump in his throat, Clark found himself begging. "I love her so much, I just can't tell you... I can't go on without her. I need her." "Well, of course, Clark! Just as soon as you promise to fulfil your side of the bargain!" Mxyzptlk replied expansively. *His* side of the bargain...? Clark began to feel worried about what he was letting himself in for. He wanted Lois back - but at any price? What price would he be willing to pay? He couldn't figure out what Mxy-thingy might want anyway. The guy seemed to have even more powers than he did himself, so how could Superman help him in any way? Just what did he want? And just how badly did he - Clark - want Lois back, anyway? Enough to... to conduct some sort of Faustian bargain with some guy with supernatural powers, about whom he didn't know the first thing and who he had no idea whether he could trust? "Okay, tell me what you want," he said roughly. "I'm not agreeing to anything yet, though." "Sure, take as much time as you want," the imp said expansively. "Hey, go right ahead, take poor Lois to the hospital, call her parents, turn yourself in to the police, go to her funeral - hey, even wait until you get sent to prison if you want! All you have to do, when you've made up your mind, is call me." Clark took a shuddering breath. Oh, he was sneaky, all right. He knew exactly what buttons to push, reminding him of everything which lay ahead of him. "What - do - you - want?" he demanded, enunciating each word separately, an indicator of his frustration. "Oh, simple, Clarkie-baby!" Mxyzptlk answered. "I'm not asking you to do anything which will cause you the least bit of trouble. In fact, I don't want you to do anything at all!" he announced, smiling happily. "What does that mean?" "Oh, it's just that I quite like this world of yours, Supie-baby," Mxyzptlk said brightly. "And I'm sure you can understand that - you came here from another planet yourself. I want to stay here and play for a while. So, basically, I don't want you using those little powers of yours to do anything to stop me. That's all!" He was definitely being offered a Faustian bargain. That was clear - after all, just who was this maniac? What exactly was he proposing to do? Obviously things Superman wouldn't approve of, otherwise why bother with any of this? On the other hand, he could have Lois back... alive, with him, in his life, working with him, loving him... Again, Clark allowed his gaze to rest on Lois's body, lying on his bed. She looked so peaceful; he could have believed she was just asleep, if he didn't know the horrible truth. She was dead. He had killed her. And now, he was being offered a chance to have her alive again... how could he turn that down? he reminded himself firmly, "Well, it seems to me, Clark, that you *obviously* don't love Lois as much as you thought," Mxyzptlk commented, getting to his feet. "And, as such, I'm wasting my time here. You don't want to accept the favour I'm offering you. And, you know, I didn't even have to offer it. With Superman in jail, or banished, or whatever they do to you, I can do what I want!" Something about his demeanour made Clark suspect that his visitor was about to leave; he made up his mind suddenly. "Wait! I want to... Let me ask you a couple of questions first!" "Questions, schmestions. What do you want to know?" "What are you intending to do that you don't want Superman interfering with?" Clark asked pointedly. "Oh..." Suddenly Mxyzptlk was smiling again, and it was a smile Clark didn't trust. "Nothing at all unpleasant. I just want to have some fun, Clarkie - can't you understand that? It's not as if I'm a major villain, or someone with a vendetta against you - heck, I won't even threaten to expose your secret identity! I just want to play, that's all. And I'll leave you alone as long as you leave me alone." Clark swallowed again. "And you'll... bring Lois back to life?" "Sure! Just say the word!" Could he do this? He still strongly suspected that his visitor was up to more harm than he was pretending. What if the imp turned out to be evil through and through? What if he went on the rampage, on a killing spree? What if...? He could do magic! What if he used his supernatural powers to harm people? What if he never saw Lois alive again? Again, his gaze was drawn to her; he moved closer and reached down to touch her face. It was cold to the touch; that, even more than his intellectual awareness, reminded him that the appearance of sleep was deceptive. She was dead. "You've got to promise me that you won't kill anyone!" he exclaimed suddenly, surprising himself; without realising it, he'd made up his mind. Mxyzptlk's mouth formed a big, round O. "Me? Clark, you wound me! I don't *kill* people! I might play with their lives a little, but nothing too terrible. That's just not what I do! You know, you really should work on being a little more trusting. That and the hospitality thing. Otherwise, you're a pretty nice person, I guess." Clark rolled his eyes, but otherwise ignored the irritating comments. Again, his glance flicked between Lois and Mxyzptlk; then he sighed. His heart still felt as if it had been ripped out of him. His life was no longer worth living because he'd lost the most important part of it. There was no alternative... "Okay. You bring her back to life, and I'll leave you alone." *********** "Breathe, Lois! Breathe! Come back to me, Lois!" Clark straightened, looking down at Lois as she lay flat and unmoving on the slab in Mazik's hideout. He was worried; he'd thawed her almost a minute ago and she still wasn't breathing. He'd tried artificial respiration, and he'd called to her, pleading with her to wake up and not leave him. Somewhere, in the back of his mind, there was a horrible memory - a dream? - in which she *hadn't* woken up. She'd died on him. And there hadn't been a damned thing he could do to save her. He could remember only too clearly the despair he'd felt, the feeling that he wanted to end his own life. The feeling that he would do *anything*, sell his soul if necessary, to bring her back to him. No. That was a dream - a nightmare. Lois was going to wake up. She had to! He bent and breathed into her mouth again. Then, suddenly, she coughed, and he helped her to sit up. He saw the wonder and relief in her gaze, saw the instant she noticed his parents standing just behind him and realised the significance of their presence, and then saw her gaze return to him. "I heard you... calling me..." she managed to say, breathless and weak as she was. Clark gathered her to himself, remembering too late that he was there as Superman and she still didn't know he was Clark. Still, Superman was entitled to have been worried about her, wasn't he? "We'd better get out of here, Superman," his father said from behind him. He was right; Jason Mazik might have escaped, but he could just as easily come back to check that his victims had indeed expired, or to deal with St John's body. Nodding, Clark scooped Lois up into his arms. "Where are you going to take her?" his mother asked. "You need to see a doctor, Lois, honey." Clark debated with himself briefly; he could certainly take her to her own apartment, but in a way he'd prefer to take her to his. Then Clark could come to find her there, and... well, maybe there was a chance they could talk. "Clark's place," he answered. "I'll have to go and find Mazik, though..." "That's okay, we'll get a cab on over there and take care of her until you get a chance to let Clark know what's happening, Superman." His parents were great at keeping his secret, Clark thought as he carried Lois out of the building, quickly taking off once outside. Within minutes he was carrying her into his apartment; he'd flown slowly out of care for her, not wanting to jolt her more than was necessary. She'd clung to him, resting her head on his shoulder, but hadn't spoken. As he laid her on his bed, hurriedly pulling a blanket over her, she reached for his hand. "Thank you," she told him softly. "You don't need to..." He swallowed, trying to regain composure, as the memory of everything she'd done for him, including putting her life on the line, came back to him. "I'm just glad you're okay. Umm... the Kents will be here any minute, but I have to go and get hold of Jason Mazik before he does any more harm. I... I'll see you soon, Lois." "Clark, wait a minute." Her words shook him rigid, and he stared at her, uncomprehending. Why had she called him Clark? Did she know? But she sat up and smiled at him. "Here - sit down for a minute." He obeyed slowly, his mind racing. "I know who you are, Clark. I... realised earlier, when you touched me." Stretching out a hand, she caressed his face in exactly the same way he'd done to her earlier that afternoon. And, he now remembered, as he'd done the previous evening, after he'd robbed the jewellery store. "Are you mad, Lois?" he asked her, in little more than a whisper. She shook her head. "You were trying to tell me. I know that now - like yesterday morning, when you asked me to have breakfast with you. I even remember you starting to tell me - you said, 'Lois, I'm Super - ' and then the phone rang. If Jason Mazik hadn't started messing around with your mind, you'd have told me yesterday." "Yeah, but I should have told you long ago," he admitted, reaching for her hand and squeezing it within his. She gave him a wry smile. "I guess it would have been nice if you had, but I can understand why you didn't. If I'm right, you've been hiding this all your life?" He nodded. "Ever since I started developing the powers, Lois. But I should have told you - when I was shot, when we started dating, maybe right back when Lex Luthor asked you to marry him. It probably looks like I didn't trust you, and yet it wasn't that at all." "I know," she replied, her voice a little hoarse. "It was because I was still kind of moony-eyed over Superman, wasn't it? I can't really blame you for that, I guess." Clark took a shuddering breath and gazed down at his partner, his best friend... his girlfriend. "Oh, Lois, have you any idea just how much I love you?" She looked back at him and he could see the emotion shimmering in her eyes. "I think I have a pretty good idea, Clark. Earlier - when you'd just had Mazik's phone call - you put my safety over your parents' lives. If I hadn't already known, that would have told me how much you loved me." Clark stared down at her, longing to pull her into his arms and kiss her senseless. But it wasn't a good time; not now, not when his parents were going to arrive any moment, not when he had to fly off and capture Jason Mazik and talk to the police. He inhaled deeply, giving Lois a regretful look. "I have to go now. But I will be back later, okay? I think we need to talk." "I'll look forward to it," she told him, smiling happily, her gaze never leaving his face. "Just one thing," he added quickly as he turned to go. "My folks... you can tell them you know, but be gentle with them, please! I don't want them to have a heart attack!" "Don't you trust me, Clark?" she asked, mock-innocently. And gave him that *look* - the one which made him want to kiss her so thoroughly that neither of them would be able to stand. "I *have* to go," he groaned, and hurried from the room before she tempted him to stay. *********** Flying towards Jason Mazik's headquarters, Clark was hard pressed to keep his mind on the task ahead of him - ensuring that Mazik was not able to tell the world his secret, and turning him in to the police. Instead, his mind was full of Lois: sheer relief that she was alive, delight that she knew his secret, joy that she'd taken it so calmly and accepted his reasons why he hadn't told her sooner. Lois knew he was Superman. And she loved him. He was going to find it hard to behave sternly with Mazik, because he just couldn't stop smiling. But then he remembered that, if Mazik had had his way, Lois would be dead. And so would his parents, most probably - Clark had no faith whatsoever in Mazik's promise that he'd release the Kents once Superman turned up with Lois Lane's dead body. That memory wiped the smile from his face, turning it to cold fury. He dealt with Mazik swiftly, removing the man's proof and handing him over to the police without further delay, then turned to fly back to his apartment and to Lois. His parents would be there, but they would understand that he and Lois needed to talk, and they wouldn't stay long. They had a lot to talk about. She loved him, and he knew how much he loved her - and the day's events had shown him exactly how much. He could so easily have lost her, and he was determined, as a result, not to waste any more time. Lois could so easily have died. Oh, he would never have agreed to Mazik's demand to kill her - how could he willingly kill the woman who meant more to him than anything? - but her suggestion that he freeze her could have gone disastrously wrong. For several seconds, back in Mazik's hideout, he'd thought it all had gone wrong: Lois just didn't seem to be waking. She hadn't responded to any of his attempts to bring her back to consciousness. And then, just as he'd begun to fear the worst, as his heart had been slowly turning to a block of ice, she'd opened her eyes and spoken to him. Clark had never before felt such a sense of incredible relief. She was *alive*! And yet... And yet, as he came closer to his apartment, something was nagging in the back of his mind. Something was tellinghim that she *had* died. That when she'd woken up he'd been given a second chance. No - a payment. Lois's life for... For what? He shook his head, trying to rid his mind of the unwelcome image of Lois, dead, lying on his bed as he argued with a ridiculous-looking man - a man who had called him 'Clarkie', had known his secret, and had insisted that he could work magic. No. That was just preposterous. It couldn't have happened. It hadn't happened. It was a bad dream, that was all. No. He hadn't really agreed to a bargain. A non-interference pact for Lois's life? It just hadn't happened. It was obviously just a nightmare; he'd probably had a second or two of delirium while trying to bring Lois back to consciousness. He should forget all about it, and focus on his forthcoming conversation with Lois. ********** Clark's parents were very kind, showing great concern for her state of health and thanking her profusely for what she'd done to help Clark secure their safety. Martha called a doctor immediately, despite Lois's protestations that she was fine; she felt vindicated when the doctor pronounced her perfectly well. She explained to the Kents that she knew Clark's secret, and was prepared for shock and dismay, but to her delight Martha came and hugged her immediately. "It was about time he told you." "If Clark trusts you, then of course we trust you," Jonathan added warmly. "And after what you did for us today, how could we doubt you?" Lois smiled, feeling almost as if she was being welcomed into the family; that wasn't really a new experience with the Kents, since Martha at least had treated her almost as a daughter for around a year now. She forebore to tell them that she'd worked out Clark's dual identity herself; it was up to Clark if he wanted to explain that, and she suspected that his parents were pleased that he'd made the decision to be honest with her about himself. And anyway, as she'd said to Clark earlier, she knew that he *had* been about to tell her, but he'd been interrupted by something which he'd - correctly - decided was more important. A sound on the balcony then heralded Clark's return, and she instantly turned to watch for him, needing to see him again, to remind herself that her two best friends were really the same man. It had cost her so much to relinquish Superman the other week; finding out that he was really Clark had actually been a relief, since she hadn't been able to understand how she could have been in love with the two of them at the same time. He strode through the arch into the kitchen, still in the Suit, looking concerned; the concern vanished as soon as his gaze rested on her, and she felt warmed by the strength of the love she could see in his expression. "Lois! Are you sure you shouldn't be resting still?" he demanded, hurrying to her. "Clark, I'm fine!" she assured him, half-laughing as she grabbed hold of his hands. He drew her to her feet and swept her into his arms; she hugged him and pressed herself close to him as the sudden realisation of how close they'd come to losing each other that day flooded through her. His embrace was strong and, she thought, held a sense of overwhelming joy and relief. Because there were no more lies between them, or because she was safe and well? she wondered. Or perhaps both? Clark released her after a while, and stepped back to spin into his casual Clark clothes; she stared in wonder as the whirling dervish which he'd become slowed to reveal the partner and best friend - and, yes, boyfriend - whom she loved so much. As he smiled at her then, she shook her head in amazement, asking herself just why she'd never noticed that both Clark and Superman had the same beautiful smile. She should have seen that. All four occupants of the room then sat; Clark kept Lois close beside him, a situation about which she had no complaints, while he filled them in on Mazik's comeuppance and arrest. It was a relief to know that the man was no longer a threat to their safety, or to Clark's privacy. After some time, Martha got to her feet. "Come on, Jonathan, we need to leave these two alone to get on with their work," she announced. "Work?" Her husband gave her a puzzled look. "Of course! They've got a story to write! - and didn't you say you left the Planet without explaining anything to Perry White?" Martha added, directing her question to Clark. "I didn't exactly have time!" Clark protested. "And, yes, we have a story to write - " He checked his watch. "If I call Perry now and warn him, he might just be able to squeak it into the afternoon edition, unless he'd prefer to keep it for the morning." A series of quick hugs later, Lois and Clark were alone. Lois looked longingly at her partner; she needed to be taken into his arms and held, which in a way surprised her: she was highly independent by nature, and in the past had despised men who wanted to cling. So why she should be behaving like a needy girlfriend, she had no idea. But, as if he'd been able to read her mind, Clark closed the door and took three swift steps to her side; in under a heartbeat she was enfolded tightly in his arms, his head resting on top of hers. "Lois... ah, Lois," he murmured with a shuddering sigh. She wrapped her arms around him, welcoming the warmth and strength of his body against hers, needing to feel him close to her; his presence and the force of his love for her was somehow a reaffirmation of life, after she'd come so close to death. She'd known that she was staring death in the face, when she'd asked Superman - no, Clark - to freeze her, and even if she hadn't known exactly what risks she was taking, he'd told her in detail. At the time, none of that had mattered; the only important thing was to ensure that Clark's parents were safe. For Clark. Because he was hurting so much, and she'd wanted to take away his pain. Because she loved him. His hand cupped her chin then, tilting her face up to him; the agony in his expression as he gazed down at her was almost unbearable. She reached up to caress his face tenderly. "What is it, Clark?" She saw him swallow. "Lois... you nearly died. You came so close. And if I'd lost you... I don't know what I'd have done without you." "But I didn't die," she told him softly. "I'm okay, Clark. I'm completely fine - no adverse consequences at all. We did the right thing." He cupped her face between both hands. "Lois, doing what I did... freezing you - that was the hardest thing I've ever done in my life. I... I had to tell you to close your eyes, because if you'd been watching me I'd have fallen apart." He broke off, lowering his head to touch his forehead to hers briefly. "Then you did look at me again, just as... as I was blowing my Super-breath at you. That made it even worse. I had to carry you, fly with you, and you were so still and - " He broke off, and Lois guessed that he hadn't been able to bring himself to say the word 'dead'. Closing his eyes briefly, he resumed speaking. "And you were staring up at me the whole time." "Clark." Keeping her voice calm, she demanded his attention and got it. "I'm *fine*. Your parents are alive. And Mazik's going to be in prison soon. We're safe. And I love you." "And I love you." He moved then, dipping his head and capturing her lips with his own, taking the initiative in much the same way as she had a week or so ago when she'd told him that it was time they stopped running from each other. His kiss was hungry, desperately needy, and she wrapped her arms around his neck, burying her fingers in his hair, as she parted her lips beneath his questing mouth, allowing him access. They'd kissed many times before, many times passionately too. But this kiss was different. There was something akin to desperation in Clark's exploration of her mouth; there was little technique in evidence, not that Lois objected in any way, and his every caress felt as if he had been starved of her for too long. She had to pull away from him after a while. "Sorry," she gasped, breathing heavily. "But I can't hold my breath as long as you can, Superman!" His mouth curved into a smile which she recognised was involuntary. "Sorry - I should have thought." "Hey, I'm not complaining! You have no idea what kissing you does to me," she confessed. Clark raised an eyebrow and his expression grew wry. "I think I have a pretty good idea, if it's anything like what it does to me." Instinctively, Lois looked downwards, but before she could get a proper look, Clark had turned away. "Lois!" He sounded shocked, and she laughed with delight. His reaction was so innocent, in a way, which told her a lot about her Super-hero boyfriend. It seemed that the naive farmboy was far more the real Clark than the Super-powered alien from Krypton. Suddenly, she wanted to see whether the farmboy would lose that innocent look in the throes of passion. Since that evening when they'd finally admitted how they felt about each other, they hadn't gone further than kissing. But now, having come so close to death, Lois wanted more. The thought that she could have died without ever knowing what it was like to make love with the man she loved more than anything in the world appalled her. She reached out to tug at his arm, and he turned back to her, his expression a mixture of embarrassment and desire. "Clark." Her voice emerged as a husky whisper, and she tried again. "Clark, I want you." His hands reached for hers and held them. "You have me, Lois. Always." "No, I *want* you. I want to make love with you," she explained. The deer-in-the-headlights expression she got in response to that was so endearing; Lois found herself wondering all the more about the extent of Clark's sexual experience. He'd never behaved as if he was inexperienced: he was certainly very quick with suggestive banter as a rule, and given his obvious attractiveness she'd simply assumed that he had to have had sexual relationships. But he *was* charmingly naive at times; he was one of the very few men she knew who had the ability to blush. So... could he be a v-? Lois could hardly articulate the word, even to herself. In the world in which she moved, it was rare for adult women to be sexually inexperienced; it was unheard of for men. And if any of the men at the Planet had even suspected that Clark was inexperienced, he'd never have heard the end of the teasing. Jimmy got a tough enough time as it was - only the previous week, she'd heard Ralph jokingly offering to pay for professional 'relief', since Jimmy clearly seemed unable to get laid on his own. And Jimmy had gone up several notches in her estimation when he'd told Ralph to get lost. It made sense, in a way, that Clark might not have slept with anyone. He was, after all, Superman; and she knew that his secret was very important to him. She also knew, because his parents had told her, that he'd never told anyone else that secret - other than Jason Trask, but that had been in very different circumstances. She knew Clark well enough to know that making love would, for him, be a very special intimacy, not one which he could take lightly. So she couldn't somehow imagine him making love to a woman without being completely honest with her. But he was speaking to her. "Lois... oh, I want it too, believe me. But we don't want to rush into anything..." Yes, definitely nervousness, she decided. Gripping his hands more tightly, she looked directly at him and replied, "Clark, I almost died today. And I don't want to die without knowing how it could be between us..." "I will not let that happen..." he whispered, his voice sounding raw. "I can't let you go, Lois - if you asked me to do anything like that again, I couldn't do it." "Clark, let's make love," she urged, reaching up to kiss him again. He returned the kiss with equal hunger before breaking away to bury his face in her hair. "I don't want to wait," she insisted. He heaved a ragged sigh. "I want to. But, Lois, I want us to talk first - and we can't do that now. We have a story to write." She wound her fingers through his silky hair. "You're right. We do. But it can wait a while, can't it?" His answering laugh held little humour, more a note of frustrated yearning. "Not as long as I'd need it to wait. Lois, I've waited this long - I don't want to rush our first time." Knowing he was right, but not wanting to give in just yet, Lois countered, "But it's hardly going to be the only time. We can take all the time we need later... it's just that now I need you..." His lips trailed across her face, from her earlobe to the corner of her mouth. "And I need you, Lois. I discovered today how lost I'd feel, how empty my life would be without you in it. I couldn't bear to lose you," he murmured huskily. "And I want us to make love, if you want it too. But... I want to talk first. And I have to call Perry and we need to write that story even before we do that." Yielding to a shuddering sigh of her own, Lois closed her eyes and let her head fall against his shoulder. "Okay, okay, I guess you're right. The story. But later, Clark, we're going to have that talk." ************ Clark dragged himself out of Lois's embrace with difficulty, though part of him couldn't help feeling relieved. His physical desire for her had been very obvious over the past while, and her swift glance downwards at his groin a few minutes ago had made him very conscious that she was aware of it. He shouldn't be embarrassed that his girlfriend knew how much he wanted to make love to her. But he couldn't help it. And, of course, it was that very embarrassment which was part of what had prevented him from moving to advance their relationship over the past week or so - that, and the fact that Lois hadn't known he was Superman. He had never done this before. And he was well aware that Lois had. What if he disappointed her? What if he made a fool of himself? What if... What if he just wasn't capable of satisfying her? But there was no point agonising over that now, he told himself firmly, deliberately forcing his body back under rigid control. They had work to do, and he had a phone call to make. No matter how delirious Lois's kisses made him, no matter how much his body was screaming for him to drag her off to the bedroom, they had *work* to do. Now. Ignoring the little voice which told him that he was being a coward by putting off the issue, he strode to the phone and called Perry, filling the editor in briefly on the Mazik developments and agreeing a deadline for the submission of their story. On ending the call, he discovered that Lois had already booted up his laptop and was opening his word processing software. Laying his hand caressingly on her shoulder, he said, "Mind if I take over here? I can do this quicker on my own." She shrugged and slid the laptop along the table; Clark sat and began to type at Super-speed, carefully writing the story in his head as he typed, making sure to include nothing which could compromise Superman in any way or give Mazik an opportunity to challenge the detail. After a minute or two, he felt Lois's gaze on him; glancing at her, he saw that she was staring in amused disbelief. Meeting her gaze, he winked. "You... I've worked alongside you for almost two years, and you could do this all along, and you let me sit for hours typing stories sometimes!" she exclaimed. "Oh, you mean my function should be to save you effort?" he teased. "Now that I know what you can do, sure!" She sat back in her chair and fixed him with a determined gaze. "The hard part is doing the research and getting our proof. I can dictate a story far faster than I can type it." "And so I should type it for you?" Clark found that he couldn't keep up his act of being offended for long, and he grinned at her. "Well, we'll see. Now that I don't have to hide my labour-saving abilities from you, I'm sure we can take advantage of some Super-speed techniques. But for now..." He pushed the laptop towards her. "See what you think of that." She scanned the story, the quick smile she gave him at the end telling him she approved, if he hadn't already guessed that from her failure to make any changes. It took a matter of minutes to connect to the Planet's network and email the story to Perry, and then their time was their own; Clark had told the editor they wouldn't be in for the remainder of the day. Now, they could talk. He stood and spun into the Suit, holding out his arms to Lois. "Come fly with me?" "You're not going to fly me to the moon?" she enquired, giving him a teasing glance from under her lashes. Clark understood the reference, and grinned. "I probably could, you know, as long as we got you an oxygen tank." Laughing, she allowed him to scoop her up. "So where are you taking me, Superman?" His alter ego's name was said with a tender note. "Somewhere we can talk properly, without being overheard," he explained as he walked out towards his balcony with Lois in his arms. "But we can do that here," she protested, her lips grazing his chin in what he knew was an entirely deliberate manner. Clark sighed heavily. "No, we can't. If we stay here, I won't be able to concentrate enough to talk, and you know that, Lois." His tone was tinged with barely-suppressed longing, and he felt sorely tempted to put off their talk until later, and just to lay her down on his bed instead of walking straight past it to the door leading out to the terrace. But they needed to have that talk. Later... maybe later, they could take advantage of his bed, since Lois seemed to want it as much as he did. ********** Flying with Superman had always been exciting, whether it was a short flight out of necessity to take her somewhere she needed to be, or whether he'd invited her to take a pleasure flight with him. But no previous flight, no matter how closely or how protectively the Super-hero had held her in his arms, compared to this. Superman, her friend, the hero who - despite his obvious feelings for her - had always kept himself at a distance - was in reality her best friend and boyfriend, Clark. No wonder she'd always thought Superman looked at her as if he wanted so much more than he'd asked for. No wonder he'd always looked torn whenever she'd asked him for more than he'd been prepared to give. And no wonder she'd felt as if she was in love with two men at the same time. She should, she supposed, be angry with Clark for his lengthy deception. And it had been tempting, when she'd recovered fully after Clark had left, to plan an angry confrontation. But there seemed to be too many reasons not to fight with him over it. After all, they'd both just been through a horrible experience. She'd almost died. And, since she'd been fortunate enough to come through it safely, it was almost as if they'd been given a second chance. So why waste that chance by holding grudges? After all, as she'd told Clark, she knew he'd intended to tell her. Sure, he should have told her sooner - like when they'd started dating, for instance. But, in a way, she could understand why he hadn't. She knew her partner pretty well after all this time. And Clark was a pretty insecure guy when it came to his personal life, and she could easily imagine that he'd wanted to know that she wanted him for himself, not for his Super-powers. There were specific things she did resent, if she allowed herself to dwell on them; times when Clark had used Superman to say things he wouldn't tell her as Clark, for example, times when he'd let her confide in him as Clark about Superman, and so on. And one or two other things besides... But none of that mattered next to the joy and relief of being alive, and being with the man she loved. That, of course, was very unlike the Lois Lane she knew, and she suspected that Clark was expecting her to get mad; this was probably why he'd insisted on this 'talk'. But she was determined to show him that the only thing which mattered to her now was their love for each other. She had no intention of spoiling that by fighting with him. She could do nice. Sure, she could. And she could do forgiving, too. Because she loved Clark. She'd willingly, though not without a great deal of soul-searching and considerable pain, given up Superman for Clark only a week since. At the time, she'd thought that Superman had looked strangely hurt; he'd begun to protest, had started to say, "But I need - " before cutting himself off. She'd felt torn, at the time: having waited so long for Superman to declare himself, had he just decided to do so at the point at which she'd finally decided to relinquish him? Yet now she understood. Clark had thought she was going to Dan, she'd realised once she'd got to his apartment and found him packing. Clearly Clark, as Superman, had thought the same thing. How many times had she hurt Clark by her careless rejection of him in favour of his alter ego, her failure to see through his disguise to the man beneath? But they had come a long way from the days when Lois had tended to dismiss Clark casually while swooning over Superman, and she was glad she'd grown out of that. And, while she wished Clark had told her the truth about himself sooner, she was glad that the day's events had happened while she still thought Clark and Superman were two different men. While she deeply regretted that Clark had been caused pain by the danger to her life - and, of course, she wished that he and his parents hadn't had to suffer, Clark now had to know how much she loved him; for himself, not because he was Superman. And she loved Clark more than ever now. His actions that day had shown her how deep his feelings for her ran, as if she'd been in any doubt. His panicked fear in the conference room, when he'd told her to get away, out of Mazik and St John's reach, his appalled reaction in her apartment when she'd asked him to freeze her as a way out of the situation, the emotion in his face when she'd asked 'Superman' to tell Clark that she loved him, the desperate love blazing in his eyes when he'd touched her, and the deep need in his voice when she'd heard him, through the mists, plead with her to come back to him. And she loved him, equally desperately. She wanted him, too; that plea for him to make love with her might have been spur-of-the-moment, the result of her thoughts about how close they'd come to losing each other, but she yearned to make love with him. Lovemaking with Clark was something she'd found herself thinking about off and on over the past six months; often unexpectedly, occasionally unwelcome, the images had set her heart racing and left her breathless as she imagined how her best friend would be in bed. Would he be tender and reverent as he touched and caressed her? Would he let his lively sense of humour take over and tease and laugh his way to ecstasy with her? Or would the fire she'd glimpsed once or twice in his expression come to the fore to make him devour her with blazing, consuming passion? It had never occurred to her before now that he might be inexperienced. And that possibility made her feel strangely privileged: after all, Clark was an incredible, wonderful man - even without the knowledge that he was also Superman, she'd come to see just how special he was. But now, knowing that he was also the Super-hero to whom many people in Metropolis and beyond owed their lives - and over whom so many women sighed and dreamed - the possibility that she could be his first lover gave Lois an immense sense of awe. But right now, he wanted to talk. That was a little frustrating: Lois couldn't imagine what could be more important than spending time together getting to know each other more intimately; even if he didn't want to make love straight away, it would be wonderful just to explore and touch each other. She could spend hours just touching him, running her fingers over his body, getting to know the smooth planes of his skin, the muscularity of his torso and arms, the whipcord strength of every limb, and his staggering male beauty. She was well aware that he was equally fascinated with her body. But, she reminded herself, dragging her gaze away from the point where the edge of his Suit met bare flesh at his neck, he wanted to *talk*. So they would talk. He was landing, she realised; looking around, she discovered that they were somewhere lush and green, in a wide open space with rolling hills in the background and deep blue water nearby. A lake, and open countryside, with a narrow road winding its way through the wilderness somewhere in the distance. "Where are we?" He grinned, showing a flash of white, straight teeth. "In one of the loneliest parts of the Lake District, in England. It's beautiful here, and I thought you'd like to see it." Setting her on the ground, he stepped back and spun; in under a second, he stood in front of her wearing the casual clothes he'd worn back at his apartment. Extending a hand to her, he invited, "Let's walk." It was beautiful, Lois thought, and walking with Clark along the well-trodden path leading to the lake was very romantic. He'd been right to bring her here, she thought, edging closer to him; he reciprocated by dropping her hand and looping his arm around her shoulders instead. She wrapped her arm around his waist, loving the feel of his body so close to hers. "So what do you want to talk about?" she asked, after a while. His arm tightened around her fractionally. "Me being Superman." He paused, then continued, "I know it had to be a shock for you. And I guess you probably have dozens of questions - and, now that the initial surprise has worn off, you probably want to yell at me and call me all sorts of names. So I figured we might as well come here and talk it all out." "Well..." she began, deliberately drawing it out, pleased that she'd guessed right about his motives for bringing her here. "You *were* a rat some of the time, you know! Especially when Superman kept telling me what a great guy Clark was!" She was looking at him as she spoke, and his blush in response was entirely endearing and totally unexpected. "What can I say, Lois?" he asked helplessly after a moment or two. "I was so completely in love with you - I was getting desperate, hoping that you might notice me as more than a friend..." He shrugged. "So I took advantage of Superman a little. You want to hold that against me?" he enquired lightly, but she could hear the note of anxiety underneath. "I'd rather hold you against me," she quipped, pressing closer still to him; she heard his chuckle as he bent to drop a kiss on the top of her head. "I know I should be mad at you. I should be yelling at you and calling you a liar and threatening never to speak to you again," she told him ruefully. "But... well, I was thinking about that, and about what happened today. And, you know, maybe it's something to do with almost dying, but all of that just seems less important compared to us being together." She shrugged lightly, her gesture an acknowledgement that this wasn't usual behaviour for Lois Lane. "I guess you had your reasons for not telling me, though I can tell you that I expect you to grovel for that, and for all your pathetic excuses, and for letting me think you were running away from me!" "You want me to grovel, I'll grovel," he told her. "You just name the time and the place." "Oh, you bet I will," she teased him. "And I'll make you take me flying every day until I think you've earned my full forgiveness! But you're right, I do have questions," she added then, more soberly. "I mean, I'm having to reassess everything I thought I knew about Superman. I thought he - you - well, whoever, came to Earth more or less around the same time as the Prometheus transport, but I *know* you grew up in Smallville. Martha even showed me your baby pictures!" "I remember," Clark muttered with a strangled groan. "Okay, let me tell you the whole story..." Lois listened in fascination as Clark related the tale of his discovery by Jonathan and Martha, his upbringing, and the gradual development of his powers, culminating in the day he'd discovered he could fly. He skimmed briefly over the time he'd spent travelling the world, since she'd heard about most of that before; now, however, she saw his journeying in a different light. Clearly he'd made use of his ability to fly as a means of moving around - and, finally, she understood why he'd been able to settle in Metropolis, viewing the city as his home after only a very short while there. In Metropolis, he'd created Superman; he no longer had to worry about being discovered in the act while using his powers surreptitiously. For the first time, he had a means of doing what he could to help in a way which didn't put himself or his family in danger. She said as much to him, and was then taken aback by his quick grin and head-shake in rejection of her supposition. "No, it wasn't Superman which kept me in Metropolis, Lois," he added. "By the time I invented Superman, I already knew I wanted to stay." "What, then?" she asked. "The Planet?" That earned her another amused smile, and he gave her a quick hug with the arm slung around her shoulders. "Come on, Lois, you have to know. It was *you* - the day I met you, I knew the time had come to stop travelling. Okay, I already hoped that Metropolis might be the place I was looking for, and I wanted to work at the Planet more than anything - but then you came rushing into Perry's office and suddenly I didn't know whether I was on the Earth or the moon. All I could do was stare at you. And when I wrote that piece about the theatre, I didn't know who I was trying to impress more: Perry or you." "And I deliberately stood there pretending not to be impressed, while inside I was seething, madly jealous that some guy could walk in off the street and string words together in such a wonderfully evocative way, far better than anything I could have done," Lois confessed wryly. "I *knew* you liked it really!" Clark crowed, and she thumped him with her free hand. "I hated it," she retorted. "Because it was good," he returned - correctly, of course, though she wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of admitting it. "You know, Clark, you've frequently accused me of needing to be good at everything," she reminded him. "But here, you want to be a better reporter than me, and at the same time you're Superman, which already means that you're stronger, faster, more powerful and better at *everything* than anyone else! You might give us poor ordinary mortals a chance at something!" She'd only been teasing, but Lois was unprepared for Clark's reaction. He dropped his arm from around her and stopped in his tracks. "Do I do that?" he demanded, aghast. "Do you really think I'm that much of a perfectionist?" "Clark, I was kidding!" she exclaimed. "But... well, I guess, now that you mention it, you do tend to set kind of high standards for yourself. Not that it's a bad thing, but now I know you're Superman I guess maybe a part of me is wondering how I can compete with that - with *you*. I'm never going to be good enough," she finished, a little sadly. Clark shook his head, bewildered. "But I don't want to compete with you, Lois! We're partners - at least, if reporting's what you're talking about. You're still way ahead of me in awards, but I don't want to win any more awards unless I win them with you. And in everything else... Lois, don't you know how I feel about you? I want us to be together, a partnership, not in competition with each other. I love you. I thought you knew that." He ran his hand through his hair, mute appeal in his brown eyes. "I know you love me, Clark. And I love you too. But - well, I was kind of used to thinking of my boyfriend as an ordinary guy. A pretty terrific ordinary guy, true, but not a Super-hero. And now... well, you are a Super-hero." "Is that a problem?" The question was hesitant, his expression worried. "Lois, I can't help being who I am. I *am* different - an alien. But I'm still the guy who became your best friend. And you're still the only person who ever treated Superman like a person, a friend, instead of some miraculous saviour who just appeared when he was needed and then disappeared again afterwards." Clark was right: she had, once she'd got over her initial hero-worship, treated Superman as a friend of hers. Okay, she'd still tended to swoon over him a little, put him on a pedestal, but at the same time she'd responded to him as a man, not as a flying alien. Alien... Clark had used that word to describe himself. Was that how he thought of himself? Or... maybe it was how others forced him to think of himself. After all, as he'd just told her, he hadn't even known of his true origins until less than two years ago. It hadn't been until he'd found his globe at that Bureau 39 warehouse that he'd known he was from another planet. Lois reached out to take both his hands in hers, shaking them slightly to make him look at her. "Clark, I don't care where you're from! You - or Superman - being from another planet never bothered me one bit! Like you said, I saw Superman as a man, first and foremost - right from the moment I first saw him. And that hasn't changed now that I know you're him. I suppose... well, it's just that I wonder whether I could ever be enough for you, that's all," she finished awkwardly. He shook his head in denial of her words. "Lois, you are all I could ever want, and more. You're all I've wanted since the day we met. And I love you more than I could ever put into words." He paused, and squeezed her hands encouragingly. "I just needed to know that you were okay with me being Superman as well as Clark, before I asked you - " He halted abruptly, and Lois looked at him quizzically. "Ask me what?" "This." He released her hands suddenly, and dropped to one knee in front of her. "I don't have a ring, Lois, because I thought you'd probably prefer to pick out your own - that is, if you say..." He trailed off, shook his head, muttered, "I'm making such a mess of this! And I rehearsed it often enough! Lois - " He gazed up at her, his tone deepening. "Will you marry me?" Lois caught her breath; the proposal, at this moment, was so unexpected. She'd actually expected something of the kind the previous morning, when Clark had asked her to have breakfast with him because he had 'something important' to discuss with her. Now, though, she knew that he'd actually intended to tell her then about his dual identity. Marrying Clark was a very appealing prospect; she'd already decided that if Clark did propose, she'd accept. Marrying Superman was another matter entirely. Could she cope with being married to a man who was effectively at the beck and call of the entire world? She was very well aware of her mother's increasing irritation and anger with the way her father's dedication to his job had kept him away from his family - although, she reminded herself, his *job* hadn't been the only thing keeping him away. But Clark, as Superman, would never be able to commit to being present for special occasions. She would be sharing her husband with the whole world. On the other hand, she loved Clark more than she'd ever believed she could love anyone. And in him, she knew that she had a man who would never lie to her, never betray her. So what if she had to put up with him constantly running off on her? At least now she knew where he'd be going. And who else other than Clark would put up with *her* dedication to her job? But what it ultimately came down to was the fact that she loved Clark. And he loved her. And she wanted to be with him, so very much. She smiled down at him, reaching down to wrap her arms around his neck, hugging him. "Yes, Clark, I'll marry you." ********** Later, Clark flew back to Metropolis with Lois held close against his chest. This had been a day full of emotion, in one way or another, and he was well aware that it was one he wouldn't recover from any time soon. He'd begun the day knowing that his parents' lives were in danger; he'd been distraught and desperate. Then there had been that threat against Lois's life, and the battle with his conscience and his love for her until he'd agreed to freeze her; and then, once he'd defeated the power which Kryptonite had over him and got himself and his parents out of their prison, there had been the agonising moments when he'd believed that his actions had killed Lois. And now, she'd just made him the happiest man alive by agreeing to become his wife. They'd both agreed that they wanted the wedding to be as soon as possible. Neither saw any point in waiting: Lois insisted that, while a huge white wedding would certainly please her mother, it would drive *her* crazy. Clark, now that his relationship with Lois had got to this point, just wanted to be married and living together all the time. So he'd suggested a wedding in Smallville, in about a month, and, to his delight, Lois had agreed to that. They would be married in about a month's time. Clark felt as if he wanted to soar up into the clouds and perform somersaults, to shoot upwards as fast as he could, to the edge of the Earth's atmosphere, and then plummet down again as if he was on a Super-powered rollercoaster. But, with this precious cargo in his arms, he wouldn't do anything like that. Instead, he would take her home - to her apartment, if she preferred; she was probably tired - and make plans to take her shopping for a ring the following day. They could fly to London or Paris or Hong Kong or wherever she wanted. "My place or yours?" he enquired, bending his head towards his passenger. "I mean, do you just want to go home now?" "Home?" Lois sounded incredulous. "Clark, we've just got engaged, and you're planning to just drop me off at my doorstep? Or I guess you'd leave me at my windowsill, but you know what I mean." "Lois, I want whatever you want," he assured her quickly. "Your place, then. We have some unfinished business," she informed him. "My place. Sure. If that's what you want." Clark concentrated on the journey ahead, wondering what on earth Lois meant by 'unfinished business'. Knowing his partner and girl - no, *fiancee*, it could be anything from wanting to chew him out over some misdemeanour to telling him that he hadn't kissed her thoroughly enough for her liking. Either was very possible. But he hoped it was the latter... Minutes later, he landed softly on his balcony and, lowering Lois to her feet, led her through the door into his bedroom and on towards the arch leading to the kitchen. But she stopped, forcing him to stop as well. "Lois? Is there something you want?" he asked, puzzled. "You." She advanced on him, wrapping her arms around his neck and raising her mouth to be kissed. Clark wasn't averse to this form of activity at all, and covered her lips with his, indulging himself in the manner of which, up until a couple of months ago, he had only dreamed. "Mmmm." It took several moments for him to realise that the murmur of pleasure was actually coming from Lois, not himself. Raising his head and gazing down at her dreamy expression, he teased, "You like that?" "Too much to let you get away with stopping," she muttered, tugging him down to her again. But Clark resisted, tilting his head to one side as he studied her beautiful face. "Why don't we go into the next room and get comfortable on the couch while we do this?" "Uh-huh," she said with a firm shake of her head. "We are not leaving this room, Clark. We're right where I want us to be." This room. His bedroom. The *bed*. Suddenly her plans for him - the unfinished business she'd referred to - was all completely clear. She wanted them to make love. And he was still nervous at the prospect - but he wanted her, too, so badly. "Clark, you didn't want us to do this earlier because you said we had to write the story and then you wanted us to talk," she reminded him. "Well, the story's written. And we've talked. And we're engaged. You're not going to say you want to wait until we're married, are you?" *Had* he wanted to wait until he was married? Clark had never thought about the prospect of having sex in that light, although he had always known that he wanted to be in a serious relationship with a woman he loved, and with whom he could be entirely honest about himself, before entering into this deepest intimacy of all. But he *was* in a serious relationship. He *was* with a woman he loved, very deeply indeed. And he'd just told her everything about himself. She knew he was Superman, knew he was an alien from Krypton, and loved him regardless. So what was stopping him? Nothing, except nervousness. He smiled awkwardly at his fiancee. "No, not that. I want to make love with you, Lois. I want to show you with every breath of my body, every touch of my hands, how much I love you. But... there's something you need to know about me, first." "Something else?" she queried, still keeping her arms tightly locked around his neck. "You mean you being Superman isn't your most deeply-held secret after all?" Her teasing helped to relax him a little. He smiled slightly, self-deprecatingly, at her. "Well, I guess it's not as important as that, no. But... Lois, the reason I'm a little scared about the prospect of making love with you is that... I've never done it before." The final words came out in a rush, and he eyed her cautiously. "I... wondered," she replied softly. "You know, I wish I'd waited. My... other relationships are things I kind of prefer to forget ever happened." Although she didn't spell it out, Clark could tell that Lois found it painful to remember her previous lovers. He knew about one: the infamous Claude, whom he'd frequently wished was still around so that he could teach the guy a lesson in good behaviour that he'd never forget. And although Lois had never gone into details, he had a pretty good suspicion that her first lover was someone she'd met in college, and that the relationship hadn't lasted long before going horribly wrong. Federal disasters. That was how she had once described all the relationships she'd ever had - that, he knew, included her engagement and near-marriage to Lex Luthor. This was going to be interesting, he thought wryly; there was himself, the virgin, and Lois, the survivor of a series of disastrous relationships. On the other hand, there they were, two people deeply in love for the first time in their lives. What else mattered besides that? "Lois... look at it this way," he murmured, lowering his head to nuzzle at her throat. "I'll be your first non-federal disaster." She gave an emotional laugh, clutching him to her. "Oh, Clark! You really do say the sweetest things sometimes - it's no wonder I love you so much." He allowed his lips to trail across her jaw and then to her mouth, kissing her deeply, enfolding her body in his arms and cradling her against him, feeling a deep longing for her building up inside him. He wanted to make love with her; he was also *in* love with her, and, for him, the two things were completely inseparable. On the point of scooping her up into his arms to carry her to his bed, he paused as he felt her fingers tugging at the neckline of his Suit. "Lois? What are you doing?" "Told you I'd find out how this Suit comes off one of these days," she retorted with a grin. Clark laughed, and proceeded to show her how. ********** "This was the most perfect wedding day I could have asked for," Lois declared as Clark lowered her onto the king-sized bed in their honeymoon chalet in the Caribbean. "It was?" Clark countered, adding with a growl, "It's not over yet, wife!" Lois giggled. "I should hope not!" She lay watching her new husband as he divested himself of the smart shirt he'd worn as part of his 'going-away' outfit. Although she'd practically moved into Clark's apartment in the month since his proposal and their first lovemaking, she still couldn't get enough of simply staring at him. She loved his body, every inch of it, whether she was just studying it or exploring it with her hands and her mouth. He was so strong, quite literally the strongest man in the world. And yet he could be so gentle, in his caresses and in the way he held her. He seemed capable of lying beside her for hours just stroking the tip of one finger up and down her body, gazing at her as he did so; and that action, of course, had the power to drive her completely crazy. He had the most intense concentration of anyone she'd ever met. On the first time they'd made love, she'd felt bathed in warmth, embraced in the soft glow of his love for her as they'd undressed each other. Without the barrier of his glasses, his eyes had appeared darker and more eloquent than ever; she'd felt dazed by the passion in his gaze as he'd watched her. He'd spoken occasionally, his voice a soft husky murmur as he'd admired her or told her how much what they were doing was affecting him and how much he loved her. And she'd sensed, without him telling her so, how much of what they were doing together was a complete gift of trust from him to her. Clark had never made love before, mainly because he was always conscious of his differences. Not that he was different in a physical sense; he looked and felt completely human. But he was alien, regardless, and he possessed powers the like of which no human had ever seen before. And that meant that he had to be careful about being intimate, with his secrets as well as his body. And he had trusted her enough to let her in on his secret as well as make her one with him. And she had also lowered her barriers entirely with him, in a way she had never before done with any man. Making love with Clark for the first time had been an incredibly special experience, mainly because, for the first time, she gave over control of her body, of herself, to another person. In the past, those couple of experiences she tried so hard to forget, she'd always held something back; perhaps, she now suspected, because the men involved were not worthy of her trust. Surely, she thought, they were destined to be together. And yet it was remarkable that they had met at all; after all, he was from another planet. He might never have come to Earth in the first place. And once he had, he'd been brought up in Smallville, Kansas: what if he'd never come to Metropolis? But he had, and had come into her orbit both as Clark and as Superman. How more fortunate could she have been? Could *they* have been, she amended, reminding herself of what Clark had never ceased to assure her since that night: he also considered himself incredibly lucky to have found her. And now, they were married. It had been a hectic month; despite both of them making it very clear that they wanted a small, *quiet* wedding, neither had been able to control the double-act of Ellen Lane and Martha Kent as they had planned their respective offspring's nuptials. The church, the flowers, Lois's dress, Clark's suit, the bridesmaid's and best man's outfit, the menu for the reception; every little detail had been discussed in more depth than Lois had ever imagined could happen. Just *how* could it possibly take two days to decide on the precise shade of cream for the name-cards on the tables? But none of that had mattered in the end. Their wedding had been everything either of them had dreamed of; the moment when the officiating minister had pronounced them husband and wife had been incredibly moving for both of them. Lois had been looking directly at Clark at the time, and had seen the tiny muscle in his jaw twitching, a sure sign that he was overcome with emotion. And when they'd moved closer in order to kiss, she'd seen moisture sparkling in the corner of his eyes, behind his glasses. Although, after they'd kissed, Clark had raised his left hand - the one now bearing her ring - and brushed a stray tear from her cheek, so they were even. And, at the end of a wonderful day, Clark had flown them to the Caribbean location they'd chosen to spend the next week. Alone. Together. And, by mutual agreement, without the third partner in their relationship: Superman was having a week off. Lois reached up to tug her new husband down onto the bed beside her, determined not to waste one minute of this precious time. *********** "Hey, CK! How was the Caribbean?" Jimmy yelled across the newsroom as Clark exited the elevator on their first morning back at work. Clark grinned. "Just perfect, Jimmy." His young friend came hurrying over, glancing around as if looking for someone; then he added conspiratorially, "And Lois? Not got you all tied to her apron-strings yet, then, I take it?" Clark laughed disbelievingly. "Jimmy, Lois doesn't even *have* an apron. But just let me warn you, pal," he added, looping his arm around Jimmy's neck and steering the younger man back across the newsroom, "Lois wouldn't react too well if she heard you saying anything like that." "Why d'you think I checked to make sure she wasn't anywhere around first?" Jimmy grinned and leaned against Clark's desk. "So, come on, CK - how was it? Man to man!" "Man to man?" Clark raised an eyebrow in amusement. "All I can say, Jimmy, is that I entirely recommend marriage." His friend looked disappointed. "Come on, CK! Lois isn't anywhere around, so you can talk freely. Tell me all about it. You know what they say about the cool ones who give off that don't-touch-me air, don't you?!" *That* was not a subject Clark was prepared to discuss, with Jimmy or with anyone else except Lois. Although he conceded silently that, of course, Jimmy was right. Lois in bed was an amazingly exciting lover, active, frequently willing to experiment, and passionately sensual. Their love life over the past five weeks had been far in excess of anything he'd imagined in his wildest dreams. Smiling at Jimmy, he shrugged and replied, "Jimmy, when you fall in love, you'll understand why that's not something I want to talk about. All I am willing to tell you is that I'm happier than I've ever been in my life." A movement caught his attention then: Lois emerging from the elevator. She'd wanted to stop off at the bank on the way in, and had insisted that he didn't need to wait for her. He'd *wanted* to wait for her; for the past nine days they hadn't been apart for longer than about five minutes at a time, and this twenty-minute separation could have been avoided. Still, she was here now. He turned to smile at her, Jimmy completely forgotten. Later that afternoon, as they sat together at Lois's desk writing up an interview from the morning, Clark's attention was caught by the TV screens, which were showing some very weird scenes indeed. It was very strange. People were walking around one of Metropolis's largest shopping malls... on *stilts*! The stilts were attached to people's shoes, and so weren't all that simple to get rid of, short of removing footwear. Many older people couldn't cope with their stilts and were falling over, while kids were running up and down with the greatest of ease. Mothers with small children were giving up entirely and just sitting down on the ground, unable to go any further. Discarded footwear, stilts still attached, littered the floor. It seemed that the presence of TV news cameras was entirely coincidental: the team had been there to film a small news item about the opening of a new store. And they'd been right on the scene to catch and broadcast this. "I have to go," Clark muttered to Lois. "Even if I can't do anything, I could find out what's causing it." "Yeah, well, if there's a story in it..." she replied with a grin. "See you later, honey." Before he could run off, she'd grabbed his tie, pulling him towards her for a swift and hard kiss. At the mall, no-one seemed to know what was going on. The security guards were running around in their socks, sliding on the highly-polished floor and desperately trying to avoid tumbling adults and kids who were running amok. Clark had to steady a couple of middle-aged shoppers before he was able to find someone in a position of authority. "No-one knows what's going on, Superman!" the mall manager exclaimed, clearly frustrated. "This just happened - one second everyone was doing their shopping as normal, and then the next, everyone's on these things! If it didn't sound so off-the-wall, I'd say it was some kind of magic!" Magic... The word resonated with Clark for some reason, yet he couldn't figure out why. Something was telling him that he'd encountered some form of magic recently, and yet he really had no idea where, or why he seemed to be having this very hazy flash of memory. There was no such thing as magic, of course there wasn't. All it involved was trickery and sleight of hand. *He* knew that - even the best illusionists in the world couldn't fool his Super senses. If this was some large-scale illusion, then all these people had to be in on it. No magician could pull this kind of stunt without collusion. a little voice whispered to him. It can't be real! he insisted. He turned back to the manager. "I really have no idea what's happened here, or how to stop it. But if there's anything I can do to help anyone in trouble...?" "Well, yeah, if you don't mind, Superman," the manager answered, his tone sounding even more harassed. "There's a lady in my office with what the mall first-aider thinks could be a broken ankle. But because of the crowds and the TV cameras, the ambulance we called is stuck in traffic a mile away. Could you take her...?" "Sure. Show me where," Clark quickly agreed, and busied himself ferrying the woman - whose ankle was indeed broken - to the waiting ambulance. On his way back to the mall, however, he was suddenly confronted by an apparition, floating in front of him in the air. The apparition wore a brightly-coloured outfit in several clashing primary colours, large wide boots, and sported a dark goatee beard. And although Clark couldn't remember ever encountering him before, the man looked... strangely familiar. "Who are you?" he demanded, ignoring all the obvious questions, such as 'what are you doing up *here*?' 'How come you can fly?' "Clarkie, you wound me!" the strange apparition complained. "You don't *remember* me? And after all I did for you!" "Don't call me - " Before he could finish his instruction, Clark stopped abruptly as he remembered where and in what circumstances he had previously ordered this man not to call him Clarkie. Everything came flooding back to him. It hadn't been a bad dream at all. Nor had the images which had haunted his nightmares occasionally over the past few weeks been completely imaginary. Lois *had* died when he'd frozen her. He had brought her dead body back to his apartment. Had laid it on his bed while he'd tried to become accustomed to the appalling knowledge that the love of his life was gone, and that *he* had killed her. He'd been ready to take her to the hospital and turn himself in to the police when... When this man - Mxyzptlk - had appeared, and had offered him a bargain. Lois's life in return for a guarantee of non-interference from Superman. Magic. Mxyzptlk could work magic - *real* magic. He had brought Lois back to life - no, he had sent time into reverse, somehow, and on the second time around Lois had woken up. She'd been fine. Safe and well - *that* time. Magic. "The stilts!" Clark exclaimed then. "That was you!" Mxyzptlk bowed. "It was indeed. And wasn't it hilarious? I thought those old people falling over was the killer, really. I haven't had so much fun in centuries!" Aghast, Clark stared at him. "You did that for a *joke*? Don't you realise that people got hurt? I've just had to fly an old woman to an ambulance because she'd broken her ankle!" "Aw, lighten up, Supes!" Mxyzptlk retorted. "Have some fun for a change! Or, if you insist on being a boring old stuffed shirt, leave me alone to enjoy myself. That *was* the deal, might I remind you?" The deal. Without which Lois would be dead. Yes, Clark remembered that all right. "Look, you promised me that it would just be fun. You never said that people would get hurt!" "Hurt? No-one would have been hurt if they'd used the stilts properly," Mxyzptlk scoffed. Clark sighed. "It's not that simple where people are concerned. People got *hurt* today!" "It was no biggie!" Mxyzptlk announced. Clark begged to differ. Then, as something else occurred to him, he demanded, "Anyway, why now? That was over a month ago! Why come back *now*?" Mxyzptlk shrugged. "I was biding my time - that's part of the fun," he said loftily, then... vanished. Clark, staring at the empty space, was left reeling. Lois had died. And this... *imp* had brought her back to life. And he'd agreed, in return, to this *crazy* deal. Just *what* had he committed himself to doing? And *what*, if anything, was he going to say to Lois? ********* Later, as Clark flew back to the Daily Planet newsroom, he decided that the one thing he was *not* going to tell Lois was the truth. After Mxyzptlk had disappeared, Clark had hurried back to the shopping mall, determined to ensure that, even if he couldn't stop the appalling imp's nasty trick, no-one else should get hurt as a result. But just as he'd arrived and was striding through the mall, there was a blinding flash of bright light. It just lasted a second, but when it had gone, everyone was back to normal. The stilts had disappeared, and instead hundreds of bewildered people were staring at each other, trying to work out whether what they thought had happened actually *had* happened. Clark could imagine how they felt. For them, it must have seemed like something out of a kid's fantasy cartoon. *Flash!* you're all on stilts. *Flash!* you're back to normal. They would all, he knew, be looking at each other, not knowing whether to hope that no-one else had been through the experience - in which case they could tell themselves that they'd imagined it - or whether to hope that everyone remembered it, in which case they *weren't* going mad! Clark, however, didn't have that luxury. He knew it had happened. And he also knew that it was all his fault. If he had never accepted that... that *devil's* bargain, then that imp from the fifth dimension, or wherever it was he'd claimed to be from, wouldn't be in a position to wreak havoc on the city, and none of this would have happened. But Lois would be dead... But what gave him the right to put Lois's life - and, by extension, his happiness - above the safety of his fellow citizens? No, not even that: his own self-interest. That was what he had chosen. Sure, his own self-interest happened to coincide with Lois being alive, but his principal motivation at the time had been *himself*. His selfishness had given this dangerous lunatic licence to do whatever he wanted. ********** Lois looked up as her husband emerged from the stairwell. She'd seen the remainder of the LNN coverage of the incident at the mall, and was still completely mystified by what had gone on. The newscaster had commented that neither the police nor the mall management had a clue about what had happened, or how it had happened. It was like something out of a Disney movie, she thought. But things like that just didn't happen in real life! Still, perhaps Clark knew what was going on. She waited until he was beside her before asking softly, "So, what was that all about?" "Huh?" For a moment, Lois could have sworn that Clark looked... panicked. But she couldn't understand why that would be the case. "All what, honey?" he asked, bending to kiss her. But she pulled away after a couple of moments. "All that stuff at the mall, Clark! You're distracting me here, and we need to concentrate on the story." "Story?" Now her husband was definitely looking shifty. "There is no story, Lois. It was just..." He paused, and now he was avoiding her eyes. "Just someone playing a prank, that's all," he finished dismissively. "A *prank*?" Lois exclaimed. "Clark, people were stumbling around on stilts! How could anyone have done that as a prank? - how could anyone have managed it? I know Kyle Griffin managed to pull off some crazy stunts, but this one's even beyond him," she exclaimed, then paused. *Was* it? Wasn't this just the kind of thing Griffin might have done, if he could find a way? It would make the perfect distraction... "Clark," she said then, all businesslike, "did anything else happen while you were at the mall?" This time he definitely looked panicked. He swallowed a couple of times, then stared at a point above her head. "Anything else? Like what, Lois?" Frowning as she wondered what on earth was wrong - and just what her husband was trying to hide from her - Lois explained. "I don't know - a jewellery store theft, bank robbery, something like that." "Oh. Nothing." Lois stared at her husband for a long moment. She knew he was hiding something, but she had no idea what it might be; and the middle of the newsroom was not the place to try to make him tell her. She could get him to come into the conference room with her, but she was pretty sure that if she suggested it, he'd refuse. No; this was one she'd just have to figure out on her own. But she'd make sure that Clark understood, later, that she didn't appreciate him keeping secrets from her. Not any more. *********** He'd got away with it; at least, he hoped he had. Lois suspected something, that was obvious, but she hadn't pushed it, seeming to accept his answers at face value. He wasn't sure whether she'd recognised just how evasive he was being. Lois Lane hadn't gained the reputation of being Metropolis's best investigative reporter by being slow on the uptake; her incredible leaps of intuition still astounded him, and more often than not her hunches were correct. But at the same time, she'd worked beside Superman for two years without realising just who her partner was. She'd also become the best friend - and even girlfriend - of the Super-hero without figuring it out. So Lois Lane wasn't infallible. And, if he was lucky, he could prevent her finding out about this. There was just no way on Earth that he wanted Lois to find out what he'd done. He had absolutely no idea what her opinion would be on the subject. It was just possible that she might approve: after all, if he hadn't taken Mxyzptlk's bargain, she'd be dead. On the other hand, Lois did rate Superman's ethics very highly indeed. He still remembered that injured, disillusioned look she'd given him the day she'd discovered that Superman had, by implication, lied to her. He was well aware that he'd tumbled from his pedestal that day, so far as Lois was concerned. In some ways, that had pleased him; after all, no matter how hard anyone tried - even Superman - no-one was perfect. Superman did tend to have a somewhat higher standard of ethics than most people, which had been a conscious decision on Clark's part. But in this case, Superman's ethics were compromised. It was no good telling himself that he'd done the deal as Clark. His obligation was clear: as Superman *or* as Clark, he could not interfere in anything Mxyzptlk wanted to do. And that was something Lois would definitely *not* approve of. Even though she now knew that Superman was very much an ordinary guy, she still set high standards for the Super-hero. She wouldn't endorse what he'd done, Clark suspected. He didn't want Lois to find out about this; no way. But, at the same time as he felt relief that she had let the subject drop, at least for now, he felt guilty. He loved Lois. Lois was his *wife*. She was the one person in the world he should be totally open with. And yet she was the last person in the world he could confide in about what was going on. She would hate to find out that he was keeping things from her, and especially something this serious. Clark was used to feeling guilty about not telling the truth to people he cared about. But this felt different - it *was* different. And yet there was nothing he could do about it; he would simply have to cope with his feelings. After all, he reminded himself once again, if he hadn't made that deal, Lois would be dead. He sighed heavily and loaded the document containing his current article. If he was lucky, Mxyzptlk wouldn't do anything so very terrible, and he'd soon get bored and go back to wherever it was he came from. *If* he was lucky. But Clark had a sinking feeling that he wasn't going to be lucky. *********** Lois's own investigations hadn't given her any answers. Kyle Griffin was still in a maximum-security prison, and his father was in a medium-security prison far upstate. And the telephone calls she'd made to the mall and to the local police precinct had elicited the response that no-one who'd actually been there had any clue whatsoever what might have caused what had happened. And Clark's behaviour had continued to be strange. He'd refused to write up the story with her, first telling her that he was too busy finishing up the bank robbery story Perry had assigned him earlier that day, and then, when she'd pointed out quietly that he could finish that story in five minutes flat with a little Super-speed typing, as long as she stood in front of him and blocked people's view, he'd said abruptly that he didn't think there was anything worth writing about in the mall incident anyway. Yes, Clark was definitely hiding something. But she'd decided that it would be better to wait until they were home that evening; then they could discuss it in private, amicably, like a newly-married couple in love ought to share their secrets. This just wasn't like Clark. Okay, he'd hid the fact that he was Superman from her for two years, but that was different; that was a secret he'd had to keep, and even though she was hurt that he hadn't confided in her sooner, she'd been able to understand his reasons, and had forgiven him for it. Just as he'd forgiven her for the many times she'd been abrupt or dismissive with Clark, while fawning over Superman. Clark was quiet in the car on the way home, but as soon as they walked into his apartment - which they now shared - he turned to smile at her. "So, we got a free evening, honey! What would you like to do?" he asked, in a voice which seemed strangely over-cheerful. "Well, I was thinking we could talk about - " she began, but Clark cut across her. "Well, see, if there's nothing you'd prefer to do, I was thinking we could go and take a look at some places." "Places?" Lois knew she shouldn't let Clark get away with changing the subject, but she had no idea what he meant. "Yeah - you know, we agreed that we need a bigger apartment, or maybe even a house. This place isn't really large enough for the two of us." "And you want to go looking tonight," Lois answered flatly. That was it: he was definitely avoiding talking to her. "Well, yeah, why not?!" he answered enthusiastically. "See, I got details of these really great places. And you know how fast quality real estate sells in Metropolis, so I figured the sooner we go take a look the better." He was right there, Lois knew, but she was also very well aware that Clark's real motivation for looking at houses had nothing to do with the reasoning he'd just given her. But did she really want to push him to explain right now? She sighed inwardly as she concluded that she didn't. They were just married, after all. Only just back from their honeymoon. And the last thing she wanted was to provoke some massive fight, which she was pretty sure would result from any attempt by her to force the issue. She knew how stubborn Clark could be when he didn't want to discuss something. And she also knew her own temper. If she pushed it, and Clark refused to talk, she'd probably get mad and would push him even further, and he'd react by flying off or something, and she'd be left feeling even more furious with him. Which was not what she wanted to happen when they'd been married less than two weeks. No. Far better to wait, and to broach the subject some time later, when he was in a better mood. Or better still, to try to find out what was going on herself. ********** Once they got started viewing a couple of larger apartments and a small town house, both of them enjoyed looking around and imagining what it would be like to live in each place. Clark's Super-abilities came in very handy indeed, since he was able to X-ray around looking for damp or dry rot or other warning signals. The town house was ruled out by him very quickly, once he noticed a significant amount of damp in the cellar, and some quite serious cracks in the internal walls which had been covered up with wallpaper. Lois, unfortunately, liked the house a lot; she emerged smiling happily at Clark, and he could tell that she was about to tell him that she could just imagine living there. He forestalled her with a raised hand. "Sorry, honey, that one's out of the question," he said softly. She looked crestfallen. "It is?" He nodded, hands stuffed into his trouser pockets. "Damp. And subsidence. Even if we could fix it, it'd cost too much, and it's likely we wouldn't get a mortgage to buy it anyway." Lois stared at him for a moment before tilting an imaginary pair of glasses; he nodded again. She grimaced, then muttered, "I guess I should be grateful." Clark reached out, looping one arm around her waist. "Come on, honey, don't let it bother you. We'll find the perfect place, I promise you." For the first time that evening, she relaxed against him, wrapping both arms around him and hugging him tightly. "I love you, Clark Kent," she murmured. "I love you too, Lois Lane," he answered, holding her to him and bending to kiss her thoroughly. He *hated* lying to Lois. After she'd figured out that he was Superman, he'd congratulated himself on the fact that he'd never have to lie to her again. No more secrets, he'd thought. No more secrets. How sure he'd been in his own conceit! No lies - well, except for one pretty major lie. And now, several little ones to go along with it. In hiding from her the bargain he'd made with that imp Mxyzptlk, he'd also had to lie to her about the mall incident, and he'd had to be evasive in answer to other questions. He knew she was suspicious. Her behaviour ever since had confirmed it, and he'd known very well that she'd been about to ask him what was going on once they'd got home. Which was why he'd been very relieved that he'd had the foresight to arrange these viewings. At least it meant that she'd been distracted, and if he was very lucky, once they got home she might decide that she was too tired to raise the subject. Or he might get called out on a Superman emergency. At the same time, Clark felt sick inside. They'd been married less than two weeks, and already he was keeping secrets from his wife. *********** A combination of a call for Superman, and Clark's subsequent arrival home in a romantic mood, prevented Lois pursuing the question of the mall incident any further that evening. However, the following morning she woke up with a burst of inspiration. Not much more than two months before, Superman - and Clark, now that she came to think of it - had been behaving very oddly for a period of two or three days. This had been explained, eventually, by the effect of a new form of Kryptonite, which was red in colour. This type of Kryptonite seemed to make Superman apathetic, uninterested in stopping crime or helping people. It had made Clark uninterested in his job, in contrast to his normal dedication. Could Clark's strange behaviour the previous day be explained by his having come into contact with red Kryptonite? He wasn't there - must have been called out as Superman - so she couldn't ask him immediately. Instead, as she got out of bed and headed for the shower, she thought the possibility through. On each occasion he'd been affected, the previous time, he'd behaved completely out of character. He'd let criminals go. He'd allowed Perry to be kidnapped. He'd ignored *her* in favour of some bimbo. As Clark, he'd been cynical and lazy. He'd wanted to abandon their hugely important assignment - finding Perry - and go to the movies. The last thing he'd wanted to do, in either guise, had been to talk about what was happening to him. Just as, the previous day, he hadn't wanted to discuss whatever had happened at the mall - and, although he'd helped by flying one injured victim to medical help, he hadn't returned immediately. Instead, by the time he'd got back to the mall, according to witnesses and the TV crew which had been there, the strange incident had already been over. And Clark had definitely been in a weird mood for the remainder of the day. When he'd been affected by red Kryptonite before, once the effect had worn off he'd been completely back to normal and considerably ashamed of his behaviour, and totally baffled as to its cause. But that was before he'd known of the existence of this variant of the meteorite. Was it possible that he knew what had happened to him and hadn't wanted to tell her? But that didn't make sense: why would Clark not tell her? He'd need her help in finding out who had the meteorite and what their motive was. Perhaps he simply hadn't realised what had caused his behaviour. In which case, she needed to broach the subject with him. Padding back into the bedroom to get dressed, she suddenly became aware of a whooshing sound out on the balcony. Clark was back. He strolled into the bedroom a moment later, dressed as Superman, and immediately crossed to stand in front of her. "Morning, honey," he murmured, bending to kiss her thoroughly. "Sorry I had to go out." "Me too. I missed waking up with you," she told him softly, wrapping her arms around him. He hugged her close for several moments before standing back and spinning into his work clothes, minus the jacket. Lois pulled a face at him. "Not fair! You get dressed in under a second, and it take me ages to get ready!" Clark laughed, amused, then winked at her. "Just stay exactly where you are, okay?" Giving him a puzzled look, she did. Then she was surrounded by a mini-whirlwind; yet, surprisingly, she didn't feel any loss of balance or dizziness. Instead, under a minute later, the world around her steadied once more and she discovered that she was fully dressed. *And* he'd dried her hair and styled it - that had to have been the sudden burst of warmth she'd felt. He'd used heat vision on it. "You are just incredible!" she told him. He grinned in satisfaction, bending to kiss the back of her neck and nuzzle at her ear. "Well, isn't that why you married me?" he teased. "Come on," he added, straightening. "Let's get breakfast." Over breakfast, Lois decided it was time to raise the possibility she'd been mulling over. "Clark... about yesterday," she began. He looked distinctly wary. "What about yesterday? Lois, I told you, there's nothing to say." He was obviously in denial about what had happened, she decided. "Clark, I've been wondering - could you have come into contact with red Kryptonite?" For a moment, he was still, watching her from extremely startled eyes. Then he asked, dismissively, "What on earth makes you think that?" "Clark, the way you've been behaving since you got back from the mall makes me think that!" she threw at him impatiently. "Come on - I mean, something really weird happened there, and yet you've shown no curiosity whatsoever! That's not like you. And you didn't want to discuss it. In fact, you avoided discussing it. And it's my guess that Superman could have done more to help than he did. All that screams red Kryptonite to me." While she'd been speaking, Clark's expression had altered from scepticism to anger. As she finished, he got up from the table, flinging himself away from it in a furious movement before turning to glare intimidatingly down at her. She stared at him disbelievingly; just what had got into the Clark she knew and loved? "So you think 'something weird' happened, do you?" he threw at her angrily. "And you think whatever it is you imagine I've done since is 'not like me', huh? And that automatically 'screams' red Kryptonite to you?" He made little quotation movements with his fingers as he spoke, emphasising certain words. "Just what gives you the right to diagnose me like that?" he demanded. Appalled, Lois could only stare back at him. "I'm your *wife*, that's what gives me the right!" "Does it?" He glared at her again before turning away. "It gives you the right to care, Lois, but it doesn't give you the right to decide what's wrong with me, always assuming that there's anything wrong at all!" He sighed and ran one hand through his hair, before turning to face a still stunned Lois. "*You* thought it was red Kryptonite. I know I'm an alien, but do you know just how *patronising* you're being by suggesting that any time I behave a little differently to the way you'd like me to behave, it has to have something to do with me being Kryptonian?" "Patronising? But, Clark - " Lois began to protest. "Yes, *patronising*! Just as patronising as you'd accuse me of being if I dared to suggest that any time you got mad it had to be PMS. Lois, there is *nothing* wrong with me. Anything you think you've noticed is a figment of your over-active imagination. So can we please drop this?" he finished, and immediately vanished into the bedroom. Lois remained in her seat, realising after a moment that she was physically shaking. She'd never imagined that Clark could speak to her like that. In a way, she thought, he'd just given her a taste of what her own temper could sound like, but nothing could have been further from mild-mannered Clark's normal behaviour. Oh, he did have a temper; she'd seen glimpses of it once or twice. The day of Perry's retirement party a year earlier, when he'd told her to get in bed with the devil, for instance. And again a couple of weeks later, when he'd scornfully told her to *investigate* her fiance. And perhaps once or twice in the interim. Clark was only driven to anger when he was truly at the end of his tether, though. At least, that was what she'd always thought. Yet his demeanour this morning had given no indication that he was tense or upset. And yet he'd just completely flown off the handle with her. His *wife*. The woman he claimed to love more than anything in the world. Lois caught her breath, shocked. Where had that thought come from? She *loved* Clark. She knew he loved her. They were meant to be together. And being married was what they'd both wanted. There'd been no need to wait. But, she reminded herself, how well had she really known Clark before they'd married? Oh, she'd *thought* she knew him. But that was before she'd discovered that the farmboy from Kansas was also the Super-hero from Krypton. That was one heck of an adjustment to make in her perception of him. The Clark she'd known had been a facade, not the real Clark at all. She'd known a man who could barely open a peanut butter jar on his own and who, she'd imagined, had a fear of intimacy. A gentle, mostly reliable, normal guy from Middle America. The Clark she was married to was an alien - and, she could now see, who was troubled by that aspect of his heritage. This Clark was used to hiding what he could do, though he no longer hid from her. He had so many powers which he could use surreptitiously any time he wanted - and she suspected that he did sometimes. Now that he'd finally allowed her to see all of him, was he regretting sharing all his secrets with her? Was he regretting having *married* her? *********** In the bedroom, Clark slowly pulled on his jacket, all the while mentally cursing himself for that scene in the kitchen. He should never have spoken to Lois like that. He knew that what he said, as well as his tone of voice, would have upset her - angered her as well, no doubt. They'd been married less than two weeks, and already he was doing his level best to make her regret her decision. She'd only been trying to help. And she was quite right: of *course* he'd been behaving strangely, as Superman and as Clark. And of course she would have noticed. Who knew either of them better than Lois? And who had more right to know what was going on than Lois - his wife? And of course he couldn't tell her what was wrong. But surely he could have handled the situation better than that? He was a fool. A total, utter, crassly stupid *idiot*. And he owed Lois an enormous apology, always assuming that she was willing to accept it. He sighed and went to stare out of the large picture window. Things that day seemed to be going from bad to worse. It had been bad enough when sirens and the screech of brakes had called him out of their bed earlier: he'd discovered that a number of major signposts out near Hobb's Bay had been altered, and that a main route into the city had been directing drivers towards one of the dock's loading areas. Other 'diversions' were sending commuters the wrong way down one-way streets and into parking lots. Chaos had ensued, and in the middle of it all there had been several accidents, though thankfully nothing serious. Superman had helped the police readjust the signs, and had simply acquiesced to the suggestion that it must have been teenagers indulging in a prank. He didn't believe it, though. This had Mxyzptlk's handiwork all over it. The wretched little imp was reminding him that he wasn't going to go quietly. Now, Clark was dreading the little hobgoblin's next trick. First, though, he had some major fence-mending to do with Lois. Engaging his X-ray vision, he looked through to the kitchen. She was still sitting at the table, her expression bleak, devastated. She looked as if she wanted to be anywhere but where she was. Sighing, and hoping that she would listen to him, he headed back to the kitchen to grovel. ********** Lois dragged herself to her feet, thinking that it was time to get ready for work. If Clark wasn't ready to talk now, this would just have to wait until that evening, much as she hated leaving this unresolved for now. If he was still in the bedroom, and hadn't flown off somewhere, she'd just have to be polite but distant as she put on her make-up. But just as she headed for the arch leading to the bedroom, Clark emerged. His expression was stricken, the look in his eyes deeply apologetic. "Lois... Lois, I'm so sorry," he exclaimed as soon as he saw her. "I shouldn't have said those things to you. Can you forgive me?" It was a relief to find that Clark wasn't still angry; it was so unusual for him to show any sign of annoyance, and she was still baffled as to what had made him react in the way he had. But she had no wish to prolong the argument. Reaching for his hands, she said, "Of course. I'm sorry too if you thought I was pushing too much. I'm just worried about you, Clark." "I know," he answered softly, pulling her into his arms. "I know you are, and I know it's because you love me, like I love you. And you *do* have the right to wonder if something's wrong, of course you do. But, honey, I'm fine, I promise. I know I was a bit quiet yesterday, but everything's all right," he assured her. Lois wrapped her arms around her husband, wondering why, when his assurances sounded so convincing, something was telling her that everything wasn't really all right. ********** He *hated* lying to Lois. But there was absolutely nothing he could do about it, Clark decided later that day. However, he couldn't see it getting any easier. One of the first things he'd noticed about Lois was her tenaciousness - well, apart from her great body, of course, he added with a rueful inward grin. Her tenaciousness, and her high degree of intelligence. So she'd figured out that he was hiding something - well, not that *that* would have been at all difficult for her to work out, he added wryly. He was one of the world's worst liars - it was amazing that he'd managed to keep Superman's identity secret from anyone, let alone Lois. She also knew that what he was hiding had something to do with the mall incident - and she'd somehow found out that he didn't go straight back there to help. In a way, he could see how that had led her to the conclusion that there had been red Kryptonite somewhere around, and for a moment he regretted having so comprehensively denied that possibility. It could have provided a convenient excuse... But no. That would have been a mistake. For one thing, he would simply have been compounding one lie with another, which was the last thing he needed to do at this point. And for another, Lois would never leave it there. She'd want to find the Kryptonite and destroy it, and she also wouldn't rest until she'd found out who was behind it and what they wanted with Superman. Because that was Lois all over. And that was one of the many things he loved about her: her unswerving loyalty to those she considered dear to her. And another thing he loved her for was the fact that she, in some ways more than he, had made Superman what he was today. Lois had named his creation. She had given him what had in some ways become his trademark line: that he stood for truth and justice. Truth. He - Superman, as well as Clark - was lying to Lois. Lois had set some very high standards for Superman. And even though, as he'd recalled the previous day, she'd had to adjust some of those when she'd discovered that her hero *did* have the capacity to deceive her, he felt that she'd accepted his deceit in that instance, since it was for the purpose of protecting himself. And she'd colluded in that deception later, by not revealing how Resplendent Man had obtained his powers. She would be very disappointed to learn that Superman had compromised his ethics like this; that he had agreed to give free rein to this gremlin from wherever it was to create any kind of havoc he wanted. That was not the sort of thing Superman did, whatever the reason. Clark strongly suspected that Lois would have told him to refuse the bargain, even at the sacrifice of her life. In fact, he mused bleakly, he knew that was what she would have done. After all, she'd already shown that she was willing to sacrifice herself because of her love for him - she'd done it on the same day as he'd made the bargain. She'd accepted the risks entailed in his freezing of her. She'd known that she could die. And yet she'd still gone ahead with it. Yes, Lois would have told him to refuse. And so, he now felt that, besides compromising his own ethics as Clark and Superman, he'd let Lois down. She would be disappointed in him in both incarnations if she knew. For an instant, it occurred to him that matters would be easier if she didn't know that Clark was Superman. She wouldn't have been able to ask him about the mall incident. He could have ensured that Superman stayed out of her way until she'd either forgotten about it or given up trying to find out what had happened. But he quickly dismissed that thought. Even if it were possible, he had no desire to return to the days when Lois didn't know his secret. Already he'd discovered so many benefits to her knowing. No more silly excuses. No more lies. Someone he could confide in, even in ways he couldn't talk to his parents. And someone who was able, and willing, to cover for him. And, most important of all, a helper and supporter for Superman when he needed it. Except for now, when he needed it most. ********** To Clark's relief, the remainder of that day passed without incident - at least, without anything which could be attributable to Mxyzptlk. Superman was called out a couple of times, and on each occasion he went out, heart in his mouth, dreading finding out what that hobgoblin from hell had done this time. But both times the emergencies were purely of human origin: an armed robbery, and a plane about to crash due to instrument failure. However, Clark didn't leave the airport, where he'd landed the plane, until he'd checked out the instruments himself and discovered the cause of the failure. He sighed with relief when he discovered that a cable had burned out. Not Mxyzptlk. At least, not this time. On leaving the Planet that evening, he was pleased to learn that Lois was taking their house-hunting seriously enough to have made several appointments for them that evening. Apart from the fact that he too wanted to move somewhere which was *theirs* rather than *his*, an evening spent looking around apartments and houses for sale meant that Lois wouldn't have much opportunity to continue quizzing him about the mall incident or his own behaviour. They looked at three small houses and two apartments that evening, and one of the houses, an old brownstone on Hyperion Avenue, seemed absolutely perfect. They exited with the real estate agent, having spent almost an hour looking around the house in the minutest detail possible, thanked the agent, then looked at each other. All tension, whether within or between them, was forgotten as they each met the other's gaze, smiling happily. No words were necessary; they both knew that this was where they wanted to live. Clark nudged Lois and guided her swiftly into an alley just around the corner, then spun into his Super-suit; they'd left the Jeep behind that evening, since the agent had been escorting them around the properties they were viewing. Lois grinned broadly as he scooped her up into his arms and flew them home. Back at the apartment, they immediately sat at the table, Clark's laptop between them, so they could check their finances and see whether they could afford an offer close to the asking price. In between discussing monthly repayments and salary expectations and the level of offer which might be acceptable to the vendor, neither could resist occasional comments on just how perfect the house was. "Clark, it really is just what we need!" Lois exclaimed happily, and he felt warm inside for the first time in a couple of days on seeing the delighted glow of her expression. When Lois looked at him like that, he could almost allow himself to forget the appalling predicament he was in. He reached across to take her hand, squeezing it. "Even more than you know," he informed her with a grin. "What you don't know is it has a secret compartment." "A what?" she demanded, incredulous, as he'd known she would. Still smiling, he explained. "Downstairs, in the living-room, there's a hidden compartment behind the wall. I saw it as I was looking around." He fingered his glasses lightly, their private signal for his use of Super-vision. "I have no idea what the original owners used it for, but it's just perfect for hiding my Suits." "Even better!" she exclaimed. "And did you notice the back yard?" He winked at her. "Do you think I wouldn't have?" "I guess not," she said, her mouth turning down at the corners. "Have you any idea how frustrating it can be sometimes, being married to Mr I-see-it-all-I-hear-it-all?" Clark tightened his grasp on her hand. "Is it really that bad?" he asked anxiously. But she grinned. "Only sometimes. The rest of the time it's pretty okay, really." "Just okay?" he challenged. "Well..." she drawled, then grinned. "Okay, more than okay. But, you know," she added then, giving him an impish look, "I think I might need a reminder of just how *really* great it is being married to you..." Clark instantly got to his feet and slowly advanced towards her. "I think that can be arranged..." Scooping her into his arms, he floated them both into the bedroom. ********* Later, as Lois slept, Clark lay awake, staring up at the ceiling. He knew he ought to be blissfully happy. He'd been married for almost two weeks to the woman of his dreams. They'd just found the perfect house to live in, and they were going to make their offer on it the following morning. He had a job he loved, great friends, and a life he thoroughly enjoyed. He even had abilities beyond the wildest imaginings of other men, and his alter ego, Superman, was the most admired man in the worl