Lifeflight - An Elseworld Story - Part III
By Raconteur <RACONTEUR27@YAHOO.COM>
Rated PG13
Submitted January 2001

______________

**Author's Notes**

This story picks up right where Lifeflight Part II left off. You 
really do need to read the first two parts (which have been archived) 
or none of this will make any sense.  Same ol' disclaimers apply, and 
again, many thanks to the readers at Zoom's message board for making 
this story possible.  As usual, Erin Klingler is the guilty party 
responsible for fixing all of my mistakes, pointing out problems, and 
generally making this readable.  Thanks, Erin. Comments welcome.

**********


In case you don't remember, 'Lifeflight Part II' ended with:



"Tell me, sir, if you would.  What is so remarkable about Dr. Lane?"

"I know what you're thinking, Nigel.  I can have any woman that I 
want.  Why pursue her with such ardor?  It is quite true, there are 
many beautiful women whose talents I could enjoy with much less 
effort on my part.  But I ask you, Nigel, where is the joy in 
possessing that which gives itself freely to you?  With all their 
pretense of propriety, all women are common whores.  The only 
difference among the entire lot of them is the asking price.  Not 
that I don't enjoy beautiful women, but they are like money.  The 
more you have, the easier it is to acquire more, and the game becomes 
rather dull.  Dr. Lane, on the other hand, has made it quite clear 
that she does not intend to be possessed, by me, or any other man for 
that matter.   What could be a greater test than bending that noble 
integrity and indomitable spirit, than twisting that independence, 
than branding her soul indelibly with my mark, than transforming her 
from the headstrong and independent creature that she is into one 
whose very existence revolves around me, than becoming the very god 
of her idolatry?  I will have her, and turn her into my own private 
treasure, to be enjoyed by only me.  A work of beauty for my eyes 
alone."

********

And now for Part III:


Lois dropped Clark off at his apartment with the hard copies of the 
Luthor file not long after Perry and Jimmy departed.  She sat down to 
an evening of Chinese take out and research on her laptop as she 
poured over the documents carefully, looking for any clues.  She 
removed her reading glasses and rubbed the bridge of her nose.  A 
knock at the door startled her.  She quickly closed up all of the 
files and turned off the laptop.  She walked to the front door and 
looked the through the peephole.  She felt her stomach clench and her 
heart slammed against her rib cage.  Slowly, she exhaled and opened 
the door.

"Hello, Lex," she said calmly.

"Lois, my dear, how are you?  I know it's dreadfully rude of me to 
stop by unannounced, but I was nearby, and I've been thinking about 
you and wanted to make sure that you're all right."

"I'm fine, Lex, but thank you for your concern."

"I'm glad to hear that.  Do you mind if I come in?" he asked.

'Actually, I'd prefer it if you stood out in the rain and died of 
hypothermia,' she thought bitterly.  "Please do," she said.  She 
stepped aside and allowed him to enter.

"It's good to see that you're handling the recent tragedy so well.  I 
know that Superman was a friend of yours.  We both lost a good 
friend, and the city lost a remarkable hero."

"That it did," she agreed with him.

"Such a waste, such a tragic waste," he shook his head.  "I know that 
this has been a difficult time for you, Lois.  Beginning with that 
savage attack, and the Fitzgerald case, and now Superman's death and 
the elimination of your funding."

'Gotcha!' she thought.  'How would you know about that? I just found 
out today!'  "Yes, it has been a rather trying couple of months...."

"Lois, your strength amazes me.  But I beg you, don't feel as though 
you have to endure this alone.  Now is the time to surround ourselves 
with friends and remind ourselves of all that we have.  Let us try to 
do our best to help each other through."

"Lex, I--"

"Lois, I can see it in your eyes, my dear.  You haven't rested for 
days.  You've thrown yourself into your work and have persevered, I 
know.  You'd be surprised at how alike you and I are, but the 
constant pressure, Lois...there is only so much of it that you can 
subject yourself to.  Have dinner with me tomorrow night, Lois.  Let 
me help take your mind off of all this."

"Lex, I appreciate your--"

"Please, Lois, trust me."

She suppressed a shiver.  The thought of spending time with Lex made 
her skin crawl, but perhaps she could use it to her advantage.  He 
didn't seem to suspect that she was onto him.  Perhaps she could 
learn something of value from it.  "All right, Lex," she agreed 
finally.

"Splendid. I'll send a car for you."

********

Lois went to bed soon after Luthor left.  She lay awake for hours 
unable to sleep, thoughts of Lex tumbling through her mind in a 
twisted mess.  Why did he want to kill Superman?  Why was he pursuing 
her so earnestly?  And most frightening of all, what was he going to 
do next?

********

"Sunlight."

"Sorry?"

"All Superman needs to recover fully and regain his powers is sunlight, Lois."

"Are you sure, Bernie?"

"Positive," Dr. Klein replied to the trio gathered in his lab. 
"Here, let me show you."  He walked over to his computer terminal and 
brought up a set of graphs.  Lois, Superman, and Sam gathered around 
the monitor.  "As you know, certain biological functions can only 
occur in the presence of sunlight.  Human beings can't synthesize 
Vitamin D without sunlight, nor can human pigments be stimulated 
without it.  I ran this test immediately after collecting Superman's 
blood and tissue sample.  After exposing the cells to direct 
sunlight, I ran a chemical analysis and compared it to a control 
analysis of cells not exposed to sunlight.  They results were 
remarkable.  By now, Superman's body should be fully healed, all he 
needs to restore his powers is sunlight.  His body will do the rest."

"How long will it take, Bernie?"

"If the weather were cooperating, 24 hours.  But thanks to the storm 
and the fact that sunlight is less concentrated this time of year, 
and therefore weaker, it'll take a while longer."

Lois frowned.  "What about sunlamps?"

"Yes, yes, I think sunlamps might just help.  They won't be nearly as 
effective as the real thing, but they should significantly speed up 
the restoration process," Bernie mused.

"Bernie, if my powers are charged by the sun, why have I never 
experienced any diminishment in them at night--or when it's 
cloudy--before?"

"It doesn't require a great deal of sunlight for you to maintain your 
powers, and your body seems to act as a natural solar panel of sorts, 
able to absorb and maintain the energizing effects of sunlight.  But 
since you have to start from scratch, well, it will require an awful 
lot to bring you back up to speed.  You should set the sunlamps up as 
soon as possible, and whenever you can, try to get under natural 
light.  I'm estimating that it will take a few days, and considering 
your current state, I'd be willing to bet that your powers will come 
back gradually at first.  But once they start to return, you should 
be back at top condition within a few days."

"Thank you for all of your help, Bernie."

"Oh, of course, Superman.  Don't worry, none of the data or records 
on you will be available to anyone except me.  I ran all of the tests 
myself, so no one knows anything about it, and the sample of the 
meteorite is in the classified lab vault under lock and key.  No one 
has access to it, except me."

"I really appreciate everything you've done for me," Superman replied 
genuinely.

"After all you've done for the city, Superman, it's really the least I can do."

********

Lois drove Clark, still in his Mafia hit man disguise, back to his 
apartment in her rental car.  She'd grumbled and brooded earlier in 
the day when she had to leave her beloved Jeep at the auto body shop 
and was loaned a practical Japanese sedan as a replacement.  They sat 
in silence for the first fifteen minutes of the drive.  Lois placed 
her hand on Clark's knee.  "Long day?" she asked, glancing over at 
him with a sympathetic expression.

"Yeah," he replied.  "I had a lot to catch up on in the lab, and next 
week I'll have an entire new battery of results to analyze.  Did you 
want to work tonight on the Luthor files?"

Lois tensed at the mention of that name.  "I can't. I'm having dinner 
with him tonight."

"Him who?" Clark asked flatly.  Surely she didn't mean....

"Luthor."

She did.  "Lois, you told me yourself that the guy's a psychopath, 
and now you're having dinner with him?"

"Clark, I know what I said about Luthor, and I don't doubt for a 
second that the man is a snake.  Everything I've read about him, 
everything I've seen just confirms it.  But he's up to something, and 
this could be our best chance to figure out what that is.  Whatever 
Lex is up to, he's not finished yet.  I thought he was pursuing me 
first because of my research and then because he figured he could use 
me to add another notch to his bedpost."  Clark grimaced at the 
euphemism.  "But I realized that whatever he's up to is even more 
sinister than that.  I thought I was being paranoid, but I realized 
that every time I've talked to him, he's known too much...about me, 
my funding, my friendship with Superman, the Genzyme case.  Clark, he 
knew that my funding had been revoked practically before I did.  It's 
as if the man is keeping tabs on me, God only knows why.  I know I 
should have told you earlier, but I didn't realize until yesterday. I 
still don't know why me.  I don't know where I fall into his sick 
little game.  He can't be doing all of this just to get to my 
research, and yet, he's there, like a vulture, every time something 
terrible happens, ready to benefit from the opportunity."

"Do you think he tried to kill Superman just to get to you?"

"No, I don't think so.  But he's done a terrific job of playing off 
the tragedy.  I think he wanted to kill Superman to get him out of 
the way.  I think that he knew that eventually Superman would pose a 
threat to him, and he decided for a preemptive strike."

"Lois, if any of this is even remotely true, then you can't go 
through with it.  It's too dangerous."

"Clark, I'm not going to do anything stupid.  Besides, he has no 
reason to be suspicious of me.  He thinks he won.  He thinks you're 
dead."

"Lois, I don't want you playing cat and mouse with a panther for my sake."

"But it's okay if you do it for me?"

"That's different."

"The hell it is, Clark."

"Lois, this is an unnecessary chance you're taking.  We can get to 
Luthor without you putting yourself at risk like this."  The tension 
in his voice was undisguised.  He took a deep breath, and in a softer 
tone, continued.  "Do you think I'd be able to live with myself if he 
did something to hurt you and I was powerless to stop him, Lois?"

"Clark, do you think I'd be able to live with myself if Luthor came 
after you again?  If the bastard had another piece of that damn 
meteorite?  Do you think I'd be able to live with myself if he hurt 
or even killed you and there was something I could have done to 
prevent it and didn't'?"  Lois gripped the steering wheel tightly 
with both hands.  Her knuckles turned bone white.  Clark placed a 
tentative hand on hers.  "Clark, Luthor wants you dead," she reminded 
him, her voice small and thin.  "What he wants with me is anybody's 
guess."  She, however, didn't want to ruminate on the morbid and 
perverted possibilities.  "Whatever he's after, he isn't going to 
stop until he gets it, and I wouldn't put it past him to do 
everything--including killing--to get what he wants.  Maybe I can 
find out what that is tonight.  Maybe not.  Either way, Clark, I'm 
not going to do anything to arouse his suspicions.  Besides, it would 
raise more questions if I backed out now."

"Lois, nothing you can say can convince me that this is a good idea. 
You said it yourself, the man isn't above murder to get what he 
wants.  I don't want you to put yourself in danger, especially when 
I'm in no position to help you if you need it.  But I also can't tell 
you what to do.  If you're going to do this, please, at least call me 
to let me know where you are and again when you get home so that I 
know you're safe.  Keep your phone on you and keep it turned on, and 
if anything happens, please call for help."

"I will," she agreed.

"Lois, promise me, please."

"I promise."

********

A black limousine pulled up in front of her house at seven that 
evening.  She turned her phone on, put it in her purse, and felt her 
stomach clench and her heart stop at the sound of knocking at her 
door.  Trying her best to stay calm, she opened the door and was 
greeted by Lex's personal assistant, Nigel, perhaps the only man 
she'd ever met who oozed more creepiness than Lex himself.

The twenty-minute ride was conducted in silence.  The limousine 
finally pulled up onto the tarmac at a minor airport.  The car came 
to a stop a hundred feet from a Lear jet.  She could see Lex standing 
beside the plane waiting for her, a charming smile on his face.  He 
walked to the limo and opened her door, extending his hand to help 
her out.

"You look positively radiant, Lois," he said, still smiling.

"Thank you, Lex," she replied.  She wasn't sure if the prospect of a 
journey by plane was a good thing or a bad thing.  It was probably 
better than being in the monster's den, but it was clearly a 
calculated move designed to put her at his mercy and probably 
intended to impress her.  She allowed him to lead her up the stairs 
onto the plane; the feel of his hand in contact with hers sent a 
chill down her arm and up her spine.

********

They rode silently down the New York City streets in another black 
limousine.  Lex sat too close to her for her own comfort.  She nearly 
jumped when he placed his hand on top of hers, but somehow, she 
managed to maintain her composure, despite her own frayed nerves. 
She had excused herself once during dinner to call Clark and let him 
know where she was.  After receiving his assurances that he was at 
home, sitting under the sunlamps his parents had purchased and set 
up, she told him that Lex had flown them out to New York.  He was 
everything except pleased by that particular development.  She 
assured him that she was all right  before hastily saying goodbye, 
afraid Lex would begin to wonder what was keeping her so long.

The limousine pulled up in front of the New York Metropolitan Museum 
of Art.  The driver opened the door; Lex exited first and then helped 
her out of the car.  They ascended the steps of the museum.  It was 
well after closing, and she was uncertain what they were doing there. 
As they approached the door, the security guard nodded politely at 
Lex.

"Good evening, Mr. Luthor."  Lex merely smiled as the guard held the 
door open for both of them.  The museum was deserted, but the 
exhibition rooms were still lit.

Lex smiled at her.  "I have a collection on a long term loan to the 
museum, and as a gesture of thanks, they let me come see it whenever 
I want."

Lois recognized several works as those of Monet, Cezanne, Gauguin, 
Renoir, and Degas.  She allowed herself to silently absorb the sheer 
magnitude of the stunning works that surrounded her.  She was 
startled out of her reverie by the feel of Lex's hand being placed 
against the small of her back.  Through the material of her dress, 
his hand felt like ice.  How many times had Clark touched her like 
that?  When Clark did it, it was a gesture of warmth and gentle love. 
Lex's touch conveyed manipulation and control as he guided her away 
from the Impressionism exhibit.  She tried to hide the effect that he 
was having on her, tried to keep her body from railing against his 
touch.

Their footsteps echoed loudly in the cavernous museum, deserted at 
this late hour.  They walked though several corridors lined with 
notable, yet less historically significant works of the Impressionist 
and post Impressionist periods.  Lex led her away from the main 
corridor, past the Rodin rooms and toward a small, darkened exhibit 
room.  She was surprised when Lex presented a key and began turning 
the master switches.  The small room was flooded by light.  She 
couldn't believe her eyes.  A slight gasp escaped her lips 
involuntarily.  "These aren't...."

"They are," Lex assured her.

She crept closer toward one of the large, glass cases and looked down 
at the yellowed and aged paper.

"The complete original human anatomy studies of Da Vinci, his studies 
for the Mona Lisa, and my personal favorite..." Lex proclaimed as he 
approached a large, mounted glass case with it's own lighting system. 
He switched on the lights.  "Michaelangelo's studies--"

"For the Pieta."

"Precisely."

She gazed in wonder at the artist's sketches of the Virgin Mary 
holding the body of the crucified Christ, long considered 
Michaelangelo's greatest work.  "These aren't supposed to exist," she 
said breathlessly.

"Long thought destroyed.  It's amazing what you can find with zealous 
and exacting art historians in your employ.  Stunning, aren't they?"

"They're beautiful," she replied.

"I've been blessed with the ability to surround myself with such 
objects of beauty," he said, looking directly into her eyes.  "For 
what is the purpose of wealth and power, if it cannot bring you 
beauty?  Inspiring, passionate, mysterious...."

Without breaking eye contact, Lois replied evenly, "'The awful thing 
is that beauty is mysterious as well as terrible.  God and the devil 
are fighting there and the battlefield is the heart of man.'"

"I think I should like to take my chances," Lex replied with a smile 
that chilled her to the bone.

********

Several hours later, the limousine returned to the curb in front of 
her house.  Lex escorted her to her door once again.  'Don't panic. 
Don't do anything to make him suspicious,' she repeated to herself 
silently.  She thanked him politely and unsurprisingly, he leaned 
forward to kiss her.  At the last moment, she turned her head, 
causing him to kiss her cheek.  Without showing any reaction to her 
snubbing of him, he smiled again and bid her good evening.  She 
hurried inside, driven by an overwhelming need to take a long, hot 
shower.

She shed her heavy overcoat and stepped out of first her shoes and 
then the dress.  The stockings were next to be removed as she left a 
trail of clothing all the way from the bottom of the staircase to her 
bathroom.  She was about to finish disrobing when she remembered that 
she was supposed to call Clark.  She slipped into her thick bathrobe 
and sat down on her bed, then picked up the phone.  It was late, but 
she had promised.  She dialed the familiar number.

********

Clark's nervous pacing in the living room was interrupted by the 
ringing of the phone.  He dove over the couch and reached for the 
phone.  "Lois?" he asked, breathlessly.

"Clark," the voice on the other end replied.

"Oh, thank God." Clark sighed, relieved.  "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine, Clark.  Sorry to call so late."

"No, it's fine. I'm glad you did."

"Sounds like you were worried."

"You have no idea."

"Well, I just wanted to let you know that I got home all right.  I'm 
going to take a shower and go to sleep.  I'll pick you up tomorrow at 
eight?"

"Sounds good."

"Love you."

"Love you, too.  Good night, Lois."

"Good night, Clark."

Clark hung up the phone quietly.  His parents had gone to bed long 
ago and he hoped that he wasn't keeping them awake.  He'd waited up 
for Lois's call, unable to go to sleep.  Assured now that she was at 
home and all right, Clark stretched out across the couch and went to 
sleep.

********

Lois knocked on the door to Clark's apartment promptly at eight the 
next morning.  Clark opened the door, an easy grin on his face. 
"Come in," he said, cheerfully.  He gave her a quick kiss, devoid of 
the passion that their previous kisses possessed, but in its own way, 
it was comfortable, familiar.

"I take it you're feeling better," Lois said with a knowing smile.

"Yeah, no powers yet, but I feel much better today."  He led her 
toward the kitchen where Jonathan and Martha were cleaning up the 
remnants of breakfast.  They exchanged 'good mornings' and Lois took 
the opportunity to ask the Kents to have dinner with them tomorrow 
evening.

Lois and Clark said their goodbyes and left, hand in hand, leaving 
the Kents to a day of exploring Metropolis.  Their concerns for 
Clark's well being had been abated by his significant improvement 
just in the past day.  The sunlamps really seemed to be doing the 
trick; they had done for his physical health what Lois had clearly 
done for his spirits. The previous evening, Clark's anxiety over 
Lois's safety had completely preoccupied him.  This morning, all 
signs of worry had evaporated and their boy could hardly contain his 
relief.

As the door closed behind the younger couple, Martha turned to her 
husband and smiled.  "I'm so happy for them, Jonathan."

"Me too, Martha," Jonathan concurred.  "I was always so worried about 
how Clark never felt that he fit in.  I think Lois has given him 
something I was afraid he'd never find."  Jonathan placed his arm 
around his wife and smiled.

********

"Are the lab monkeys still talking about us?" Lois asked as they 
walked through the corridors toward the lab.

"Yesterday the pool was up to two hundred bucks."

"Betting pool?"

"Yeah, on how long before you get tired of me, bag me, and I change 
my name and run off to the French Foreign Legion."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Geoff gives it six months, I think Andy's got three; he says 
the strain of a torrid, secret romance will cause both of us to 
crack," Clark replied with a wry smile.

"Torrid romance?"

"His words, not mine, though you'd think they'd be more careful."

"Well, Larry, Curly and Moe were never known for their subtlety.  Is 
that all they've said lately?"

Clark frowned and shook his head.  "There's been a good bit of 
speculation into your 'bedside manner.'"

"You didn't fly off the handle, did you?"

"I managed to restrain myself."

"Why can't they just get lives?"

Clark grunted as he opened the door to the lab.  Lois reached out a 
hand to stop him.  "Clark, do you trust me?"

"Of course."

"Then just follow my lead."

"Morning, Clark.  Lois what a pleasant surprise."  Geoff grinned at the pair.

Lois smiled disarmingly at him.  "Geoff, so nice to see you again."

"Well, Kent, you look much better today.  That flu really knocked you 
out," Geoff said before turning away from the pair and getting back 
to his work.

"Yeah, I guess the flu shot didn't take this year," Clark replied absently.

Andy and Steve entered the lab, and from the corner of her eye, Lois 
could see the pair exchange knowing glances.

"So, Clark, I'll see you at one?"

"Yeah, one o'clock," Clark agreed.

Lois turned to walk away, but quickly spun around on her heel.  She 
reached up, and with her hand at the back of Clark's head, pulled him 
toward her, crushing her lips against his and kissing him thoroughly. 
She felt his body stiffen, but few moments later, he wrapped his arms 
around her.

After a long while, she pulled away to draw in a shaky breath. 
Clark's expression begged her for an explanation of what just 
happened, but she merely smiled at him.  She turned and walked past 
an uncharacteristically silent Geoff.  Andy and Steve, who looked 
almost as stunned as Clark, stepped out of her way as she strode 
across the lab toward the door, whistling Le Marseilles.

********

The elevator chimed as the doors opened, but if the sound was heard 
over the din of the chaotic newsroom, it was ignored.  The pair 
stepped off the elevator and walked toward the editor's office.

"Lois, Clark!" Jimmy yelled enthusiastically.

"Hi, Jimmy.  Is Perry around?" Lois asked.

"Nah, but he should be back soon.  He said you might be in today. 
I'll get you set up at one of the empty workstations. I gotta run 
these photos down to copy, but I'll be back in a few."

"Thanks, Jimmy."

"Sure thing, Clark."  Jimmy bounded off with his usual youthful 
enthusiasm, though he was intercepted on his journey.

"Who is that?" the striking, auburn-haired woman practically purred at Jimmy.

"You don't know Dr. Lane?" Jimmy asked.

"Of course I know Dr. Lane.  I was asking about the Greek god 
standing next to her."

Jimmy looked over at the desk where Lois was situated, sitting in 
front of the computer.  Clark was leaning over her, and placed his 
hand on top of hers on the mouse and moved it.  "Oh, that's Dr. Kent."

"He's a doctor?  Hmmm."  She eyed the subject of her inquiry lasciviously.

"Put the claws away, Cat," Jimmy said with a grin.  She gave him a 
cold stare and he wiped the smile off his face.  "I don't think Dr. 
Lane would appreciate the competition."

"Don't tell me he's with her," Cat scoffed.  "What on Earth could he 
possibly see in her?"

"Other than the fact that she's a brilliant, successful surgeon and 
number twelve on Metropolis Magazine's list of most beautiful people?"

"Quit drooling, Jimmy.  That was a rhetorical question.  Besides, I 
was number nine."  Cat raised an eyebrow at him.

"Hey, I wasn't trying to compare her to you.  Jeez, Cat."  Jimmy 
rubbed his shoulder where Cat had decided to smack him.  He made his 
retreat before he could get himself in more trouble.

********

"Here you go. Here's the list of everyone who works in the LexCorp 
building, plus all the upper level management at every LexCorp, 
Lexicom, and Luthor Industries subsidiary, plus his personal 
accountants, lawyers and physicians."  Jimmy dropped the thick stack 
of files on the desk with an audible 'thud.'  "What do you guys need 
all this stuff for?"

"Lex can't do whatever it is that he does alone, so we're trying to 
find anything or anyone to link him personally to any wrong doing."

"Though at the moment, it's like searching for a needle in a 
haystack." Clark frowned.  They had been at the Planet for hours. 
Most of the staff was gone, leaving behind what Clark assumed was the 
night staff.  Even Perry had gone home.  Jimmy, excited by the 
prospect of a real investigation, had volunteered to stick around. 
Lois and Clark would not have been allowed in the building after 
regular hours without a member of the staff with them.

"Well, when you get a list of people you want to look into, give me 
the names and I'll run them," Jimmy offered.

"Run them?" Clark asked.

"Yeah, through the database.  If anything comes up, I'll let you 
know.  It sure beats trying to track down all these people on foot. 
For important LexCorp employees, it shouldn't be too difficult to get 
a hold of their location, and any information on them made public in 
the last ten or so years."

"Wow," Lois replied, impressed.  "Well, we should limit this to only 
Luthor Industries divisions and people who interact with Luthor 
personally, which eliminates 99 per cent of the people at the LexCorp 
building."

"You think his wrong doing is only limited to the Luthor Industries 
branches?" Clark asked.

"Probably not, but that's the parent group for LexLabs, and that's 
the only area where we're even close to pinning any wrong doing on 
him.  Besides, it wasn't hard to get Luthor talking about himself and 
his work last night.  He seemed pretty focused on technological 
developments and acquisitions, probably because there's no one left 
on the Eastern Seaboard except STAR labs to challenge him."

They began the process of narrowing down the list of people to look 
into.  About an hour into the task of crossing off names, Clark 
called out, "Bender!"

"What?" Lois looked at him, confused.  Jimmy, who had fallen asleep, 
was startled awake and nearly fell out of his chair.

"Luthor's personal attorney is Sheldon Bender."

"The rat?"

"The one and only," Clark confirmed.

"So that ties him to Fitzgerald."

"Well, obliquely, yes."

"Jimmy, can you find out who paid for Fitzgerald's attorney?"

"Sure thing," the young man replied, trying to stifle a yawn.  He 
took the list from Clark and jogged off to his own computer.

"Clark, if Luthor's connected to Fitzgerald, then he's connected to Genzyme."

"But LexLabs and Genzyme were in competition."

"Not really.  There's some overlap, but the two facilities 
specialized mostly in different fields."

"But why would Genzyme be doing Luthor's dirty work anyway?"

"That's the sixty-four-thousand dollar question," she replied.  "But 
if it's true, then we can see a revenge motive for Luthor's attempt 
to kill Superman.  Bringing down Genzyme and preventing the deal must 
have cost him a fortune."

"Yeah, but Superman was no more responsible for bringing down Genzyme 
than you."

"Which might explain Bender's defense," Lois noted wryly.

"And why Luthor's pursuing you now."  Lois could see the muscles in 
Clark's jaw twitch.  Before he could say anything more, Jimmy 
returned, file in hand.

"I've got the name," he replied.  "It's not exactly legal to do this, 
but it's not that difficult either."

Lois took the file from him.  "Nicolas S. Janisek," she read aloud.

"Doesn't sound familiar," Clark replied.

"Jimmy, could you run this name?" Lois asked.

"You got it."  Jimmy returned a short while later, another file in hand.

"Lois, you're not gonna believe this.  This guy's got a heck of an FBI file."

"FBI file?"

"Yep.  Nicolas S. Janisek, a.k.a. N. Stephen Jameson, a.k.a. Nigel 
St. John,.  Former MI6."

"Wait a minute.  Did you say Nigel St. John?"

"Yeah, why?"

"That's the name of Luthor's personal assistant!"

Clark took the file from Jimmy.  "Well, it looks like he isn't just 
Luthor's Mr. Belvedere.  It says here the guy was former SAS, Special 
Operatives Executive.  He's wanted for treason, espionage and a 
laundry list of other crimes."

"And now he's Luthor's right hand man."  Lois had known that the man 
was a snake who'd learned to walk upright.  Here was the proof.  She 
shook her head, unable to fathom the absolute limitless nature of 
Lex's perfidy.  "Clark, all of this, it's all been Lex all along."

Clark placed his arm around her.  "We're going to get him, Lois. 
We're going to bring him down."

********

"Damn that woman!"

"Something the matter, sir?"

Lex sat back down in his chair.  "She's more stubborn than I could 
have ever imagined."

"So I take it you have not yet won Dr. Lane's confidence?" Nigel 
inquired with an almost aristocratic smirk.

"Oh, how she quoted Dostoevsky at me in a thinly veiled threat.  Her 
bravado may be without equal, but she has no idea with whom she is 
dealing."

"Indeed," Nigel replied noncommittally.

Luthor dropped a stack of papers onto his desk with an audible 
'thud,' and gave his assistant a malignant glare.  "Dr. Sam Lane has 
apparently filed a request to have his research project picked up by 
NIH.  It appears as though the Lanes would rather move to Washington 
and have the project controlled by the government than become 
partners with LexLabs.  This mule-headed behavior is becoming a 
trifle irksome.  Killing Superman was easier than this."

"Does this mean that it is time to redirect your focus and forget 
about the Lane woman?"

"Of course not, Nigel.  If I cannot tame the shrew, I shall simply 
break her spirit and leave her broken.  'And therefore, since I 
cannot prove a lover, to entertain these fair well-spoken days, I am 
determined to prove a villain.'"

"What are you planning, sir?"

"A more direct attack."

"On Dr. Lane, herself?"

"No, of course not.  Killing those who have disappointed you is such 
a boring way of handling your affairs.  I'll simply kill her father 
instead."

"I see you are becoming more and more like your hero."

"Well, much can be said for Richard and his tactics."

********

Weighed down by a considerable stack of files, Lois and Clark left 
the Planet and made their way back to Clark's apartment.  They rode 
together in companionable silence through the light traffic.

"So you never did explain yourself for that little stunt you pulled 
today," Clark said with an impish smile.

Lois shot him an innocent glance that clearly said 'what stunt?'

"Don't look at me like that," Clark teased.  "You know exactly what 
I'm talking about--kissing me like that in front of those three."

"Oh that," Lois replied, smiling mischievously.

"Yeah, that," Clark agreed.

"Didn't anyone ever tell you that the fastest way to silence gossip 
is to confirm it?"

"Gee, maybe you should explain that to them."

"Just give it a few days, Clark.  We'll be old news soon enough." 
She gave his knee a reassuring squeeze.

********

Clark slipped quietly into his apartment, surprised to find the 
lights on and his mother sitting on the couch in the living room, 
reading the Daily Planet's Arts and Entertainment Section.

"Hi, Mom," he said quietly.  "What are you doing still up?"

"Oh, I couldn't sleep," Martha replied with a smile.  "Tired?"

Clark nodded.

"Well, go get changed. I'll set up the sunlamps."

Clark disappeared and returned wearing only a pair of mesh shorts to 
ensure that he received maximum exposure to the healing energy of the 
sunlamps.  "We found evidence linking Luthor to Genzyme," he 
explained as he situated himself on the couch under the lamps.  "That 
gives him motive and opportunity to kill Superman.  We may be able to 
prove his involvement in other criminal activities as well."

Martha sat down in a chair beside the sofa.  "You don't sound too 
excited about that."

"I guess I should be, but it also means that Luthor has been watching 
Lois very closely.  He was probably responsible for the fiasco with 
Bender."

"The lawyer who questioned Lois at the trial?"

"Yeah, that's him."

"But why?  What did he stand to benefit from that?"

"I don't know, Mom.  The way he's pursued Lois, it scares me."  He 
shook his head.  "I don't even want to think about what he wants to 
do with her."

"But at least you two now know what you're facing."

"You're right, Mom.  With the Daily Planet's help, we should be able 
to get enough information together to take to the police.  I think 
Perry White might assign a few reporters to the investigation as 
well."

"Make sure to be careful, Clark."

"I know, Mom."

"It's getting late and I should let you get to sleep," Martha said as 
she stood up.

"Goodnight, Mom."

"Goodnight, sweetie."  Martha gave her son a kiss on the cheek before 
retiring to the bedroom.

********

"Morning," Lois said as she leaned in to give Clark a kiss.  "How do you feel?"

Clark grinned.  "Super."

"You mean...?"

Clark nodded.  "They're not all the way back yet, but they're 
definitely returning."

"Clark, that's wonderful!" Lois exclaimed as she threw her arms 
around his neck.

"Good morning, Lois," Jonathan said with a smile as he walked in from 
the kitchen.

"Good morning," she replied.

"Hi, Lois." Martha followed Jonathan into the living room.  "Honey, I 
was hoping you'd let me and Jonathan do the cooking for dinner 
tonight.  I know how busy you must be at work, and it would be our 
pleasure."

"Oh, Martha, that's so sweet of you, but, really, I think I can get 
everything under control."

"Lois, it really is the least we can do.  We insist," Jonathan assured her.

"All right," Lois replied with a smile.  They arranged for what Lois 
was planning on making for dinner before she and Clark left for work.

********

Lois finished scrubbing in Post Op and headed up to her office.  She 
stared at her phone for a long moment before picking it up and 
dialing.

"Daily Planet."

"May I speak to Jimmy Olsen, please?"

"Just a sec," the voice on the other end of the line replied.

"Jimmy Olsen."  She heard Jimmy speak into the phone in a deeper tone 
of voice than usual.  She smiled.

"Jimmy, it's Lois."

"Hey, Lois, what's up?"

"Jimmy, you said that if I gave you a name, you could probably get me 
a number and address, right?"

"Sure, no problem," he replied.  "What do you need?"

"A listing for Dr. Guy Sialano."

"Sialano, got it.  Who is this guy?"

"The president of Genzyme."

"No problem, Lois. I can give you a call in about half an hour with 
the number."

"Thanks, Jimmy."

"Anytime."

********

Lois checked the address again.  She got out of the Jeep and ran to 
the front door.  She rang the bell and waited.  The door was opened a 
few moments later by a rather pudgy, middle-aged man she recognized 
as Guy Sialano.  His face visibly fell when he saw her.  "I'm sorry, 
Dr. Lane, but my attorney has advised against speaking to you."

She put her hand out to stop him from closing the door.  "Wait," she said.  He 
hesitated for a moment.  "I know about Luthor."

The color drained from Dr. Sialano's face.  He looked around behind 
her but saw no one.  "Come inside," he said tersely.  Twenty years in 
the United States had done little to change his distinctly French 
accent.  She followed him into the foyer and on to the den of his 
sprawling home.  "What is it that you want, Dr. Lane?"

Lois looked at him, surprised.  He wasn't merely irritated.  He 
seemed down right scared.  She looked at the typical pictures of Dr. 
Sialano, his wife and three children that adorned the walls of the 
den.  He sat down at his desk.  She took a seat across from him.  "I 
want to know why you're protecting Luthor, why you're taking all the 
blame, knowing that it will result in a lengthy prison sentence. 
Like I said, I know about Luthor and his involvement in everything 
that went on with Genzyme and Fitzgerald."

"I don't know what you're talking about," he said flatly.

"Come on, Doctor.  If that was the case, you would have just slammed 
the door in my face.  You know what I'm talking about, so you might 
as well tell me why.  I know what Luthor is up to, and I'm not the 
only one.  He will get what's coming to him."

"So you are going to catch Mr. Luthor.  What do you want from me?"

"Do you know what the charge of conspiracy is, Dr. Sialano?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"According to American law, anyone who is part of a conspiracy to 
commit a crime is guilty of every crime committed as a result of that 
conspiracy.  It doesn't matter if you're just driving the getaway 
car.  If your co-conspirators are robbing the bank, and they kill 
someone, you, too, are guilty of murder," she explained pointedly. 
"We've only scratched the surface of all the crimes Luthor committed 
stemming from the Genzyme case.  But every charge they bring against 
him will be brought against you and the rest of the top management at 
Genzyme.  Even the bombing that took out Superman."

"I had nothing to do with that," Sialano hissed indignantly.

"Well, as a defense, it generally doesn't work for the getaway car 
driver.  Hope it works for you," she said as she stood up.

"You don't understand!" he exclaimed.

"What?  What don't I understand?" she asked as she sat back down.

"He threatened us.  Threatened our families, if we didn't go along 
with him.  Luthor forced us to allow him to use Genzyme to conduct 
his dirty business in order to keep it from being traced back to him. 
You see, Fitzgerald and the Army were just a convenient conduit for 
Luthor's business.  The final recipient of the virus was unknown to 
us.  We just manufactured the substance and delivered it to 
Fitzgerald.  We knew nothing else of the matter."

"If you don't testify against Luthor, it will all be traced back to 
you.  Surely you know that."

"Do you have any children, Dr. Lane?"

"No," Lois shook her head.

"Try and understand my position. I have a wife and three children to 
think about.  If I go to jail, it will be very difficult for them, 
but better for me to go to prison than to allow that snake Luthor to 
harm them."

"Dr. Sialano, at least consider talking with the police.  They can 
protect you and your family, perhaps even grant you immunity."

"It is too dangerous for me to talk to the police.  You do not know 
Mr. Luthor like I do, Dr. Lane.  If I talk, he will know.  It is 
foolish for me even to speak with you."

"I know someone, a detective, with MPD.  He can be trusted.  I'll 
talk to him, no names, and see what he can do for you."

"You can do as you please, Dr. Lane.  I do not know how it is that 
you have found out what it is that you know about Luthor, and I do 
not doubt the fact that if the information gets into the hands of the 
wrong people, both you and I will end up dead."

"I will contact you tomorrow, Dr. Sialano.  Give me until then to 
prove to you that I can help you."

He nodded gravely before standing to see her to the door.  As soon as 
she left, he picked up the phone and dialed with trembling fingers. 
"Michelle, you must listen to me," he spoke into the receiver.  "Take 
the children fromschool and go to your sister's home tonight...yes, 
you must go tonight.  Please do not ask me any questions.  I will 
call you there...please just do as I ask...I love you."

Lois got into the Jeep and picked up the phone immediately, dialing 
the number from memory.  "Dr. Clark Kent, please."

"Clark Kent."  She heard him say in an upbeat tone.

"Clark, it's me," she said as she pulled away from the curb.

"Hey, how are you?"

"Clark, I just left from meeting with Guy Sialano and I'm on my way 
to see Inspector Henderson."

"Sialano, the president of Genzyme?  Lois, are you nuts?"

"Clark, he admitted it.  Luthor is behind the whole thing.  I'm going 
to see if Henderson can get him immunity if he testifies."

"What on Earth possessed you to seek out Sialano?"

"I figured I could bluff him out.  Anyway, it worked."

"Lois, do you realize how dangerous that was?"

"Clark, as long as Luthor is free, he's a danger.  The sooner we get 
him behind bars where he belongs, the safer we'll all be.  I just 
thought I'd expedite the process."

"Did you have to just run off and do this by yourself, though?"

"I just sort of got an idea and went with it.  Next time, I'll call 
you first, okay?"

"Lois, I'm serious."

"All right, then meet me at the 33rd precinct.  We'll talk to 
Henderson together and then see where we can take it from there."

"Okay, I'm on my way."

"Love you."

"Love you, too."

********

"Dr. Lane, I don't even think I'm going to ask how you pulled this 
off," he dropped the stacks of files onto his desk.

Lois hid a smirk.  "Do you think you can get immunity granted for the witness?"

"You aren't going to tell me who it is, are you?" Henderson asked.

"Of course not."

"But you promise it's senior management at Genzyme?"

"Definitely."

"Inspector, we've found significant links between Lex Luthor and Genzyme."

"I can see that, Dr. Kent, though I'd kinda like to know how Dr. Lane 
here roped you into all of this.  I'll talk with Drake, and see if we 
can move on this."

********

"Oh, Sam, you should have seen him," Jonathan said with a hearty 
laugh.  "There he was, thirteen years old, too tall and scrawny, but 
out in the storm picking up the cows and carrying them to the barn."

"They were spooked," Clark exclaimed.  "I had to get them in somehow, 
and they just wouldn't cooperate."

"So you picked them up?" Lois asked.

"Of course."

The six people gathered around Lois's dining room table laughed 
together, like old friends who'd been gathering for years, at the 
story and the image of an awkward and gangly teenage Clark Kent 
carrying cows.

"So before you were Superman, you used your powers to do your chores, 
huh?"  Ellen smiled.

"He still does, Mother.  You should see him do windows."

"But I'm sure it wasn't all fun and games," Sam said soberly.

"No, I guess it wasn't," Clark said with a smile that didn't quite 
reach his eyes.  "When I first started to get my powers it was pretty 
scary.  I didn't know what was happening.  But eventually, I learned 
to get used to it.  Mom and Dad were great," he said as he smiled at 
his parents.  "They took everything in stride, and never treated me 
like there was something wrong with me."

"There never was, honey," Martha reassured her son.

"Anyway, after a while, I got used to the fact that normal for me 
wasn't.  Mom and Dad even started to take my powers for granted."

"Well we certainly did take advantage of the fact that we could 
always count on you to fix the leaky roof on the barn once you 
learned how to fly," Jonathan added cheerfully.

"I just have one more question, Clark."

"Fire away, Ellen."

"Where did you get that suit?"

Clark felt the color rise in his face.  "Well, you'll have to ask Mom 
and Lois. They designed it."

"I should have known you had a hand in that, Lois."

"I have no idea what you're talking about, Mother," Lois replied, as 
though stung by the remark.  She could hardly suppress a grin.

"All right, all right, enough about me, okay?  I'm sure someone else 
has an embarrassing story."

"I don't know about that, Clark.  Compared to you, the rest of us are 
down right boring."

"I hardly think so, Sam.  You've traveled the world practicing medicine."

"But so have you, my boy."

"Come on, Sam. I'm sure you have a story for us," Martha encouraged him.

"All right.  A story, huh?  Well, my entire third tour in Viet Nam, I 
moved from one field hospital to another.  About sixth months into 
it, I was stationed not too far from Da Nang.  One day they brought 
in a couple of men from the same company who'd been wounded in a 
sniper attack.  One of them was a Lieutenant named Louis Morgan. 
He'd been shot in the neck.  He was lucky.  The bullet somehow missed 
every important blood vessel and nerve in his neck, but he lost a lot 
of blood and it was touch and go for a while.

"When he was finally in the clear, he called me over to his bunk.  He 
couldn't speak very loudly, but we got to talking.  He showed me a 
picture of his wife, and we argued over who was the luckier man.  I, 
of course, won.  He told me about his little girl whom he'd never met 
and who'd been born a few months before.  He showed me the picture 
that his wife had sent him of his beautiful baby girl, and he thanked 
me for giving him the chance to meet his daughter.  He said to me, 'I 
don't know how yet, Captain, but I'm going to repay you someday. 
You'll see.'  I just told him to hurry up and get better, that there 
was a plane ticket waiting for him.

"Anyway, a week or so passed and Lieutenant Morgan was soon walking 
around.  I was riding back to the hospital one day in one of the 
company Jeeps when one of the tires blew out.  The Sergeant driving 
the Jeep lost control and next thing I knew, we were both stuck in 
the Jeep, which was lying on its side in a ditch.  Lieutenant Morgan 
came running from the hospital like a bat outta hell, pulled both the 
Sergeant and me out of the Jeep before the blasted thing caught fire. 
He saved both of our lives, and he said to me, 'See Captain? I told 
you I'd pay you back.'  He, of course, tore open his stitches and we 
had to redo them, but he most certainly did pay me back.  A few years 
later, when we found out Ellen was pregnant.  We decided that if we 
had a boy, we were going to name him 'Louis' after Lieutenant Morgan. 
Of course, we didn't, but we thought we'd name our little girl after 
him, anyway."

"That's some story, Sam," Jonathan said with a smile.

"And just so you know, there's a Samuel Morgan about Lois's age 
running around somewhere in Missouri," Sam said, smiling.

When the dishes had been cleared, everyone moved to the living room. 
Lois went into the kitchen to brew some coffee, and Ellen wasn't far 
behind.

"Lois, what's wrong?"

"What makes you ask that?" Lois asked, a guarded expression on her face.

"I'm your mother.  It's my job to know when something's wrong. 
Besides, you've been rather quiet tonight."

"Mother, Daddy's told you about the project, hasn't he?"

Ellen simply nodded.

"NIH may be our only way to save the project.  We've come too far now 
to just give up."

"I know, and that's why I told him to go ahead with it."

"But you know that means that Daddy and I will have to move to 
Washington for at least a year until we can find a sponsor in 
Metropolis."

"I know.  But I also know how important the project is, how important 
it is to Sam, how important it will be to all of the people whose 
lives are improved because of it."

"But that's not fair to you two.  And what about you?   What about 
your work? What you're doing with the Women's Center is so important."

"And I can't leave that.  Not now, anyway."

"So you're willing to be apart from Daddy for an entire year, just 
for the research project?"

"Lois, we both know how important this project is.  Your father and I 
have been through tougher stuff than this before.  Don't worry about 
us.  I've told you about our wedding, haven't I?  How your father and 
I took our week of R and R and ran off to the first Chaplain we could 
find and eloped?  How that was only a few weeks before we found out 
he would be out of Saigon for the next year?  We spent the first year 
of our marriage apart and I spent almost every night worrying about 
him, wondering if he'd make it back safely to me.  I don't look 
forward to being away from him for so long.  But we made it through 
that; we'll make it through this."

Lois sighed as she placed the six cups of coffee on the tray.

"You haven't told Clark yet, have you?"

"No.  I don't even know what to say.  How can I tell him something like this?"

"Well, you start by just being honest and talking to him about it. 
But you know, if you can't do it, if you can't leave Metropolis, 
well, your father's been saying that he doesn't want to force you to 
leave, that he'll go ahead to NIH alone."

"I can't ask that of Daddy.  I can't ask him to just give up 
everything, to make all of the sacrifices."

"Well, whatever you decide, you need to tell Clark about it.  Talk to 
him.  The two of you will figure something out."

"I love him so much," Lois confessed.

"I know you do, sweetie."

"I just can't even fathom doing something that I know will hurt him."

"That's why you need to talk to him.  I know it seems bleak right 
now, but believe me, if you two love each other--and I have no doubt 
about that--you'll find a way to make it work." Ellen hugged her 
daughter.  "Now come on.  Let's get this coffee out there before it 
gets cold."

Lois gave her mother a lopsided smile.  "Oh, don't worry about it. 
We can always get Clark to reheat it."

********

Clark's pager went off during coffee; he was called into the 
Emergency Department.  Clark arrived at the hospital and changed into 
a set of scrubs, readying himself for a marathon evening.  The ED 
proved to be even more hectic than usual, with several weather and 
alcohol related car accidents adding to the chaos of the emergency 
department.  The clock slowly inched toward two am and the end of the 
shift.  Clark was in the lounge nursing a cup of coffee and preparing 
to leave when he heard an ambulance arrive at the emergency bay.  He 
tuned in, his hearing apparently back up to par, and was gone in a 
blur, leaving behind his cooling cup of coffee.

"What have we got?"

"Police response to a domestic violence call.  This is how they found her."

"Victim's pupils are dilated, unresponsive; possible cranial 
contusion, probable concussion."

"BP's 81 over 55 and falling"

"Symptoms of an acute subdural hematoma."

"Order a Cat scan and get me fifty milligrams of dexamethasone, stat!"

"Let's get a pulse..."

"On three everyone...."

Clark ran into the exam room where his colleagues were already 
working rapidly.  He looked down at the woman on the gurney and he 
felt his stomach tie itself in a knot.  'No,' his mind called out 
weakly.  He opened and closed his mouth, unable to form any words. 
He forced himself to look down again and this time he focused his 
eyes, not letting himself turn away.  The petite brunette was not 
Lois, despite the striking resemblance.  He looked down at the 
slender woman, her eyes unfocused, her body covered in bruises. 
Brett moved deftly to place a cervical collar around her neck.  Her 
listless form was suddenly gripped by a violent seizure.

"She's tonic-clonic."

"Let's get her stabilized!"

"Give me one hundred milligrams of Depakene, stat!"

Clark tuned out the voices of his colleagues as he helped them 
transfer her onto the table.   Soon all he could hear was the weak, 
erratic beating of the woman's heart echoing loudly in his ears.  But 
wait, there was another sound.  A faint, fluttering sound.  He 
focused on it.  He counted almost a hundred-thirty bpm.  It couldn't 
be.  He concentrated on the sound; there was no mistaking the 
fluttering sound, and for the first time, he noticed the slight swell 
of the woman's abdomen.

His heart sank.  Almost as soon as he had identified it, the sound 
was gone.  Replaced by silence.  Only he noticed.  Around him, the 
doctors worked just as frantically, completely unaware of the life 
that had just ended.  He watched as if disconnected from his own body 
as he checked the woman's brown eyes.  Her pupils were still dilated 
and unresponsive as Dr. Walcowitz added the Depakene to the IV. 
Somewhere he heard the sound of the ECG and the synchronized beating 
of the woman's heart.  The sound was muffled, as though his ears had 
been stuffed with cotton.  The sound suddenly faltered, the pattern 
was broken.  Then the beating was replaced by the long, continuous 
beep of the ECG.  He heard Brett call for the crash cart.  Clark took 
the Defib. paddles in his hands and placed them on the woman's chest. 
He held the paddles steady as electricity jolted through the metal 
plates and into the woman's body over and over again, but to no 
avail.  He felt a hand on his arm.  Someone called out the time of 
death.

'It's not her,' he tried to remind himself.  But his body shook, and 
the paddles fell from his hands.

********

He hovered outside her window.  He didn't want to go home and he 
couldn't be alone.  He listened to her heartbeat, focused his mind on 
it, as he memorized the sound.  He shut everything else out as he 
closed his eyes, listening to the slow, steady sound of her heart 
echoing in his mind.  'It's okay,' he told himself.  'She's okay.' 
But he couldn't drag himself away.  He floated outside her window, 
unable and unwilling to move.

Lois looked up from her notes.  It was late and she was exhausted. 
She removed her reading glasses and rubbed her eyes.  She caught 
something in her peripheral vision outside her window and turned to 
look.  She saw Clark hovering outside her window.  His eyes were 
closed, and his brow was furrowed in concentration.  He wavered 
slightly as though it was taking all of his strength to maintain his 
position.  She opened her window and called to him.  He opened his 
eyes, clearly surprised, and lost a few feet in altitude.  She 
gasped, but he recovered after a moment.  She held out her hand to 
him and drew him into the room.  He smiled weakly at her, and she 
immediately wrapped her arms around him.

"Baby, what's wrong?" she pleaded with him, but he said nothing. 
Lois knew that something had happened--something that had shaken him 
to his very core.  He would tell her about it when he was ready; of 
that, she was confident.  So she demanded nothing of him, and was 
prepared to give him whatever she could, whatever he needed.  She 
hugged him tightly and they remained that way for several long 
moments.  "Come on, let's get you to bed," she whispered.

He stripped off his clothing until he was wearing only his boxer 
shorts, and in the darkened room, he allowed her to lead him to the 
bed.  He lay down next to her, and when she opened her arms to him, 
he placed his head upon her chest.  She wrapped her arms around him, 
hugging him close to her body.  He felt her heart beat out a slow, 
steady rhythm beneath him, he allowed the feel of her body, the sweet 
scent of her skin, and the sound of her heartbeat to drown out all 
conscious thought and exorcise the images that had seared themselves 
into his mind.

"Oh, Lois," he murmured.

"It's all right, baby.  I'm here," she told him.

She allowed one hand to gently caress his face, and bent her head to 
press her lips against his dark hair.  She held his big body in her 
arms, keeping him as close as she could.  Eventually, the even sounds 
of his breathing told her that he was asleep.

She lay awake for a long time afterward; her own weariness had 
somehow faded into the recesses of her mind.  In the forefront laid 
only her concerns for Clark.  She ran her fingers through his soft 
hair as she wondered what it was that had upset Clark so terribly. 
She assumed that he'd lost a patient in the ED that evening, 
something that neither of them were particularly good at dealing 
with.  On the surface, they knew how to move on, to keep going, to 
focus on the next patient and what could be done to help them as 
opposed to dwelling on the things over which they had no control. 
That calm, composed air only held for so long.  There always came a 
moment, a moment in which they realized that right before them, a 
human life had ended.  A fire had gone out.  The incredible, 
mystical, incomprehensible thing that was the human soul was gone, leaving 
behind an empty chalice.  Life ended, and despite all their education 
and experience and technology, they were powerless to stop it.

Yet this, this was somehow more than the feeling of despair over the 
loss of a patient.  She'd seen Clark lose patients, seen when his 
quiet determination finally succumbed to the cold harsh reality of 
death.  She knew the haunted expression, the distant look in his 
eyes, and the sullen silence.  Clark was a man of great strength, but 
he often wore his heart on his sleeve and Lois had quickly learned to 
gauge his emotions.  Tonight, seeing him hover outside her window in 
the rain, he'd looked like a lost little boy.  He floated with his 
eyes shut and his face screwed up in tight concentration.  When she'd 
startled him out of his self-imposed exile, she'd seen something in 
his eyes that she hadn't seen in a long time.  She'd seen pure, 
unadulterated fear, followed by a look of profound relief.  Yet when 
they embraced, she could feel his sadness.  He clung to her as if his 
life, as if his very soul, depended on it.  As she protectively 
cradled his invulnerable body, she only hoped that she could shelter 
his all too human and delicate heart.

She thought about all those nights when Clark had held her--when, in 
his warm embrace, he'd lent her the strength and offered her the 
protection she'd needed.  She hoped that her embrace could give him 
the same feeling of being loved, cherished, and protected that she 
felt whenever she was in his arms.  Not for the first time, she sent 
up a silent prayer of thanks for whatever force of Luck or Fate that 
had brought this man into her life, along with a wish that she could 
give to him all the things that he'd given to her.

"I love you so much," she whispered, her voice low and thick with 
emotion.  "You know that, don't you?  There is nothing I wouldn't do 
for you.  I will always try to be here for you, just like you've 
always been there for me."

********

Clark woke up to the same sound that he'd fallen asleep to--Lois's 
heartbeat.  She was asleep, but her arms were still wrapped around 
him.  He heard her sigh and felt her shift slightly, never letting go 
of him.  He wondered what he would have done had she not noticed him 
last night, had she been asleep already.  But she had been there for 
him.  By some stroke of luck, she'd still been awake at that ungodly 
hour and she'd brought him inside.  She'd held him and comforted him, 
and had asked no questions, knowing that he was in no shape to 
provide any answers.  He remembered with a smile, that she'd called 
him 'baby.'  She'd never done that before.  In fact, she rarely used 
any terms of endearment; it just didn't seem very Lois-like.  Under 
other circumstances, 'baby' would have struck him as almost silly, 
especially coming from someone who wasn't normally emotionally 
effusive, but last night it was so reassuring, he couldn't even say 
why.  She had a way of touching his heart like no one ever had before.

There had been times in his life when, world weary and tired in 
spirit and body, he'd sought refuge in the most desolate of climes. 
His parents had always been there for him, had given him their 
unconditional support, but there were some demons they could not help 
him exorcise.  He'd seen things in his time abroad that would shock 
the average person.  He never vented his frustration in front of his 
colleagues and generally avoided the types of emotional reactions 
that would draw even the slightest attention.

But having bared his soul to Lois before, he realized that he needed 
exactly what she could give him: undemanding support.  Simply being 
able to be with her was cathartic.  Her boundless support sustained 
him.  Last night was no exception; she'd offered before he'd asked. 
She knew him so well.

"Hey," she whispered.  He felt her run a hand soothingly up and down his back.

"Hey," he replied softly.  He rolled and propped himself up on his 
elbow so that he was lying beside her, face to face.  He reached out 
a hand to cup her cheek and brushed his lips softly against hers.  He 
smiled a wan smile at her; he could feel her soft brown eyes 
penetrating his defenses, silently urging him to open up.

He rolled onto his back, staring up at the ceiling.  "They brought a 
woman into the ED last night," he began.  "Her husband...her husband 
had beaten her," he said quietly.  "God, Lois, when I saw her, I 
didn't know what to think.  She looked...Lois, she looked so much 
like you.  At first I thought she was you, and it felt like my heart 
had been ripped out of my chest.  It took a moment for me to realize 
that it wasn't you.  She was covered in bruises.  I kept thinking, 
'who could have done such a thing?'  The whole time, I heard this 
sound and I couldn't figure out what it was.  I thought it might be 
one of the machines.  It sounded like a butterfly flapping its wings 
really fast.  And then it was gone.  I realized what it was.  It was 
a heartbeat, Lois.  She was pregnant.  Maybe twelve, fourteen weeks. 
When it stopped, everything seemed to go quiet.  I couldn't hear 
anything else.  She died maybe a minute later.  I tried, Lois. You 
have to believe me, I tried."

"Shhh, Clark.  You did everything you could."  She took his hand, but 
he continued to look up at the ceiling.

"Who could do something like that, Lois?  How could someone do that 
to the person they're supposed to love the most?  I always thought 
that when you loved someone, you'd rather hurt yourself than do 
anything to hurt them."  He was silent for a long moment.  "I 
wonder...I wonder if he knew about the baby...."  He closed his eyes 
and felt Lois give his hand a gentle squeeze.   "I couldn't get the 
images out of my mind.  I knew it was irrational, but I had to see 
you, to make sure you were okay.  It was almost three in the morning, 
so I didn't think you'd be awake."

She propped herself up on her elbow.  "Well, I'm glad I was. 
Otherwise, who knows how long you'd have stayed out in the rain." 
She kissed him softly.

"I'd probably still be out there," he admitted.  He turned to look at 
her.  "Lois, I can promise you that I will never intentionally do 
anything to hurt you, but what about everything I can't protect you 
from?  I try to tell myself that we can beat the Fitzgeralds and the 
Lex Luthors of the world, but I only have to be wrong just once. 
What Fitzgerald did to you...what if I hadn't gotten your message, 
what if I hadn't found you in time?  If that isn't bad enough, there 
have been times when I've put you in danger.  Lois, because of my 
carelessness, you had to run into a building about to explode in 
order to save my life."

"And I'd do it again in a heartbeat, buster.   Clark, do you have any 
idea how much you've changed my life?  You've given me the strength 
and the courage and the reason to risk my heart, something I was 
determined to never do.  After that, why should I be afraid to risk 
my life for love?  Clark, if I only get to live another two days, or 
two hours, or two minutes with you, it would be better than living 
two hundred years having never met you.  You and I know better than 
just about anyone how fragile life is.  That doesn't mean we should 
spend the rest of our lives too worried to live it, and if being with 
you means assuming risks, I'm more than willing."

"Lois, I love you so much.  All my life, ever since I realized that I 
was different, I've known that I didn't belong.  I spent years trying 
to find my place in the world.  I traveled the entire planet looking 
for a place to fit in, a way to belong.  No matter where I went, or 
what I did, I always felt like an outsider, until I met you.  I've 
spent my entire life looking for you.  I almost gave up.  I know now 
that I've been in love with you my entire life, it just took me 
thirty years to find you."

Lois reached out a hand to touch his face and kissed him thoroughly, 
a gesture he was more than willing to reciprocate.  He pulled her 
into his arms, sighing contentedly as their lips parted.

"Your whole life, huh?" she asked him with a smile.

"Yep." He nodded.  "Well, I didn't know it at first, but realizing I 
was in love with you was like finding the answers to questions I 
never even knew I'd been asking."

"Oh, and just how long did it take you to realize you were in love 
with me?" she asked playfully, kissing him again.

"You positively took my breath away the first time I met you."

"That's because I yelled at you and wouldn't let you get a word in edgewise."

"Well, that, too.  Let's see, when I knew for certain...November 8th."

"You know the exact day?"

"Yeah."

"Liar."

"Scout's honor."

"Okay, then what was so special about November 8th?"

"Well, it was a Friday, about two weeks after I first met you.  Up 
until then, I was completely enamored with you.  You were unlike 
anyone I'd ever met before, but I realized that I'd totally and 
completely fallen in love with you that evening.  I was looking for 
you; it was a few days after we had that argument over the funding. 
I saw you in the Children's wing of the ICU.  You were talking to a 
little boy who you'd just operated on the day before.  I felt like I 
was spying, but I just couldn't bring myself to leave.  I saw then 
the incredible compassion inside you that you'd worked so hard to 
hide from everyone.  It was like seeing the real Lois Lane for the 
first time and I knew at that moment that I was utterly, hopelessly 
in love with you."

She kissed him again.  "Have I ever told you how much I love you?"

"A couple of times, I think, but my memory could use a little 
refreshing."  He pulled her closer in his embrace and wrapped his 
arms around her slender waist, pressing her body against his, and 
kissed her again.  She returned his kiss with every bit as much 
passion, sending him reeling.  Her hands caressed the muscles of his 
shoulders and back, setting his skin on fire everywhere that she 
touched him.  He was certain his mind was going to explode from the 
sensory overload, yet he couldn't get enough of her.  Some part of 
his conscious mind was reminding him of a promise he'd made at some 
point but he couldn't focus on anything except Lois.

Eventually, the tiny voice was screaming at him and he broke off the 
kiss.  "I guess we should stop, because if we keep this up, I'm not 
sure I'll be able to."

"There are millions of reasons why we should stop, aren't there?" she 
whispered.

"Yeah," he replied, breathless.

"Funny, I can't think of any," she whispered in his ear before 
kissing him again.

"Neither can I," he said between kisses.  She moaned softly as he 
kissed her again and his conscious mind was just about tossed out the 
window.  It, however, came screaming back and went to war with his 
libido, which, after a poison- and coma-induced vacation, was back 
with a vengeance.

Lois finally broke off the kiss, breathing hard.  "But we did agree 
to take this slowly, and I don't think this qualifies."

"You're absolutely right, and I don't want to pressure you, Lois."

"Don't you try to take the blame.  I instigated this, thank you very 
much."  With that, she threw back the bedclothes and got out of bed. 
"I'm going to make breakfast.  We've got a lot to do today."  Clark 
got up as soon as she left the room.  Deciding that a trip to the 
Arctic Ocean would be imprudent, he did what men in his position had 
done for years: he took a very long and very cold shower.

********

Clark stopped dead in his tracks.  He tried to remind himself to breathe.

"Morning," Lois called to him cheerfully as she looked up from 
setting the table.  Didn't she have any idea what she was doing to 
him?

"Morning," he finally managed to reply.

She shook her head and smiled at him.  "What is it?"

She stood in the middle of the kitchen, smiling at him.  She placed 
her hands on her hips, which only served to hitch the shirt she was 
wearing up a little higher, revealing more of her perfectly sculpted 
thighs.  He hadn't been paying much attention earlier to what she had 
been wearing, which was probably a good thing.  It was hard enough 
for him to keep his hands to himself when she was dressed in a bulky 
labcoat, and now she stood in front of him, wearing only a men's blue 
dress shirt.  The top few buttons were undone, giving him a good view 
of, well, he had to stop looking there out of fear that he'd need 
another cold shower.  Looking lower was no better; the shirt only 
covered so much, revealing enough of her legs to be more than just a 
bit distracting.

"Clark?" she asked, raising a puzzled eyebrow.

"Uh, is that my shirt?"  'Real smooth, Kent.  How long did it take 
you to think up that one?'

"Mmm-hmm," she nodded and walked toward him.

'Eye level, Kent!' he told himself.  He nearly jumped when she 
wrapped her arms around his waist and placed her head against his 
bare chest.  Logic told him that being this close together when they 
were both half-naked was probably not conducive to maintaining the 
pact they'd made, but he put his arms around her nonetheless.

"You left it here a while ago.  It reminds me of you," she murmured 
against him.  "It smells like you."  She tucked her head under his 
chin.  He kissed the top of her head.  She stepped back and took his 
hands in hers, looking up at him and favoring him with a smile that 
he couldn't help but return.

"Come on," she said, nodding toward the table.  "We should eat."

They sat down at the table.  Without looking up from pouring her 
coffee, Lois said casually, "You were in the shower for a pretty long 
time. I hope you left me some hot water."

Clark cleared his throat.  "I, uh, don't think you have to worry 
about that."  Their gazes met and he saw the mischievous twinkle in 
her eye, and her wicked grin.  She really did enjoy torturing him; it 
was the only explanation.

"I called Henderson while you were in the shower."  She suppressed a 
smile.  "He'll meet us this afternoon.  I told Sialano to expect me 
at noon.  I think we'll be able to convince Sialano to talk to 
Henderson."

"Looks like you've got it all figured out."

"Well, maybe.  If Sialano won't cooperate, we'll pretty much have to 
go after every member of the Genzyme board and hope we get someone to 
fess up soon.  The longer it takes, the more likely that Luthor will 
get away clean."

********

"Who is this?" Dr. Sialano said testily as he peered through the 
partially opened door.

"Dr. Sialano, this is Dr. Kent.  He's a colleague of mine."

"Dr. Lane, you said nothing about bringing someone else.  Now what is 
it that you want?"

"To catch Luthor before he tries to kill anyone else," she replied 
flatly as though she had no personal interest vested in the matter.

He opened the door slightly further, looking his two visitors up and 
down.  He stepped aside and allowed them to enter.  "Come in," he 
said gruffly.

"Dr. Sialano, I spoke with Inspector Henderson of Metro PD yesterday. 
He believes that the District Attorney will grant you immunity and 
will protect you and your family if you can provide evidence and 
testimony against Luthor."  They followed Dr. Sialano toward his 
study.

Royce spun around, startling them. "Heaven help me, tell me you have 
not spoken with Royce."

"No, not yet," Lois replied, confused.

"Do you not see?  Who do you think it is who works for Luthor?"

"Dr. Sialano, are you telling us that Luthor has bought the DA?" 
Clark asked, incredulously.

"I cannot say for certain, but who else could possibly guarantee Mr. 
Luthor the outcome he desires?  Besides, Royce is running for 
governor, and Luthor has donated considerably to his campaign. 
Surely you do not believe that Mr. Luthor has made such donations 
because he thinks Mr. Royce is the most qualified candidate."

"So Luthor is linked to Royce and Bender..." Lois mused.

"But that's not concrete," Clark interjected.

Dr. Sialano pulled out his keys as he entered the study.  He unlocked 
his filing cabinet.  He dropped several thick folders and several 
cassettes, as well, onto his desk.  "But this, Dr. Kent...this is 
concrete," he said.  "Dr. Lane, I am looking at a rather long prison 
sentence.  If I cross Luthor and he catches me, it will be a death 
sentence.  You cannot talk to Royce about this.  He is as dirty as 
Mr. Luthor himself."

"What about Inspector Henderson?  Both Dr. Kent and I can vouch for 
his trustworthiness...."

"Yes, I know.  He was the officer in charge of the case.  He is a 
good man, but I know he cannot grant me immunity."

"No, but the assistant DA can petition the federal judge, especially 
if there's reason to believe that the DA himself is corrupt."

Dr. Sialano sighed.  "I will speak with Henderson, but I will make no 
guarantees.  And if I am not satisfied that my wife and my children 
will be properly protected, I will not talk at all."

"Of course, Dr. Sialano," Lois assured him.  "I'll call Inspector 
Henderson; he'll arrange everything.

********

"Dr. Lane, I don't know how you do it," Bill Henderson shook his head 
as he walked toward the lobby of the precinct building where Lois and 
Clark were waiting.

Lois simply smiled.  "I take it everything went well?"

"I just called Drake.  She needs to write up a petition for immunity. 
We can bypass Royce and take it straight to a judge, and I just got 
off the phone with the only federal judge I know willing to issue a 
warrant at eight in the evening on a Saturday night.  We've got 
enough in memos, and the tapes that Sialano secretly made of Genzyme 
board meetings, to send Luthor away for several lifetimes."

"That's fantastic!" Clark exclaimed.

"Mr. Luthor will probably be spending an awfully long time in prison, 
thanks to you and Dr. Lane."  Henderson extended his hand first to 
Clark and then to Lois.

She shook his hand warmly.  "Thank you, Inspector."

"Hey, don't mention it.  Anything to get you to leave me alone, Lane. 
Now that the Genzyme mess is cleared up, I can go back to my routine 
without being terrorized by you."  He grinned.

"Don't get too comfortable, Inspector," she replied.

"You be careful, Dr. Kent, take my advice and stay on Dr. Lane's good side."

"True words of wisdom, Inspector," Clark said with a grin as he felt 
Lois jab him in the ribs with her elbow.

"Oh and Dr. Lane," Henderson lowered his voice.  "If you happen to 
see you know who, let him know that I'm looking for him."

"How did you..." she began to ask, stunned.

"I'll tell you later."  Henderson grinned and winked before turning 
back to his office.

********

Superman met Bill Henderson just as the Inspector was leaving the 
precinct.  Insuring that no one else was around, Superman touched 
down near Henderson's car.

"You wanted to see me?"

"Superman, I'm glad to see that you're okay.  Yeah, I guess you got 
my message from Dr. Lane.  We'll be arresting Luthor tomorrow 
morning.  Luthor's not known for being caught off guard, and I'm 
somewhat concerned about what will happen tomorrow if he is.  He's 
liable to snap, Superman.  I'm pretty confident my guys will be able 
to handle it, but I thought it would be best to have a contingency 
plan.  Besides, I thought you'd probably like to be there when it 
happens."

Superman nodded.  "What time?"

"We'll be there to serve the warrant at eight, Superman."

"Thank you, Inspector.  Oh, and I was just wondering.  How did you 
know Dr. Lane would be able to get a hold of me?"

"Are you asking how I knew you were still alive, or how I knew that 
Dr. Lane was the one who knew where you were?"

"Both."

"Simple.  Dr. Lane goes careening into a building about to explode to 
rescue you.  We found no body, which means you were still alive when 
she got there.  Since she wasn't busy raising hell in my office the 
few days after, I figured she must have had better things to do. I 
wasn't sure until this evening, but Dr. Lane confirmed my suspicions. 
So what exactly did happen?"

"It's a long story, Inspector."  Superman grinned and shook his head 
before taking off again.

********

Lex slipped out of bed and crossed the spacious room to the master 
bath.  A short while later he sat down to breakfast.  It was early on 
a Sunday morning but he was impeccably dressed nonetheless.  He 
sipped his coffee as he read the paper and went over his agenda for 
the coming week.  He frowned at a note from his secretary informing 
him that she'd been unable to get a hold of Sam Lane to set up an 
appointment.  He shook his head as he thought about the less than 
tidy way that he would have to dispose of the Lane affair.  It was 
always such a disappointment to him when he couldn't get his way 
without killing his adversary; it was so much more fun to leave them 
beaten and broken rather than dead.  Except Superman, of course.  His 
death was necessary, and a spectacular triumph, no less.

"Morning, Lex,"

"Ah, good morning, Vendela," Lex smiled.

The statuesque blonde tied the silk robe around her slender waist. 
She poured herself a cup of tea.  A loud knocking startled them, and 
the tea she was pouring splashed across the table.  Lex stood up as 
the doors flew open.

"What is the meaning of this?" he demanded angrily.

"Lex Luthor, I hereby place you under arrest for murder, attempted 
murder, fraud, extortion, blackmail and other crimes too numerous to 
mention." Bill Henderson smirked as he nodded to the uniformed 
officers beside him.  Two of the officers began to move toward Lex.

Lex's eyes darted wildly from side to side.  He made a sudden leap 
toward the mantle halfway across the room.  The officers scrambled to 
follow him.  He lunged and pulled back with considerable agility, 
turning quickly, brandishing an antique pistol in his hand.  The 
officers, caught unaware, stepped back; they had no time to unholster 
their weapons.  Lex pointed the gun directly at his companion from 
the previous evening.  Vendela stared at him wide eyed and in 
disbelief.  She began to tremble.  Several of the Henderson's men 
began to reach for their sidearms but Henderson held up a hand to 
stop them.

"There's nowhere to go, Luthor," Henderson said authoritatively. 
"Put the gun down."

Instead, Lex grabbed his unfortunate hostage, holding the barrel of 
the pistol to her temple.  He dragged her toward the balcony.  "Stand 
back!" he yelled.

A loud 'whoosh' drew the attention of everyone in the room.

"You!" Luthor spat venomously.  "You're dead!"

"Put the gun down, Luthor.  There's no where to go."  Superman 
crossed his arms menacingly.

"You're dead!" Luthor repeated.  "I killed you!"  Luthor looked back 
toward the open balcony doors.  "And to prove it," he said with a 
chilling smile, "I'll see you in hell, Superman!"  He pushed his 
hostage away at that instant and fired his pistol at one of the 
police officers, before jumping onto the ledge and off the building.

Superman sped to intercept the bullet.  He caught it in his hand, a 
few feet from the young officer who'd turned ghost-white with fear. 
Wasting no time, Superman rocketed toward the balcony and chased 
Luthor on his descent.  He flew faster and harder to catch him. 
Luthor neither screamed nor flailed wildly as he fell toward the 
rapidly approaching ground.  Superman soon caught the billionaire and 
roughly stopped his descent, pulling him back upward to Henderson and 
his waiting team.

"Let go of me, freak!" Luthor spat.  He began to kick and fight furiously.

"You may as well sit still, Luthor.  You'll only hurt yourself," 
Superman said through gritted teeth.  He deposited his passenger 
unceremoniously in front of several waiting officers who handcuffed 
him and dragged him to his feet.

"You will pay for this, Superman!  I'll have your badge, 
Henderson...I'll have you're head!"

"You have the right to remain silent," one of the officers began as 
they dragged Luthor off.

Superman looked at Henderson and merely shook his head.  The officers 
began to file out of the room.  A few helped the young woman to her 
feet and guided her out of the room as well.  Henderson and Superman 
were the last to leave.

********

Lois stood outside the Lexor building.  Unlike Clark, she wasn't able 
to be there when the arrest happened, but she waited outside 
nonetheless.  She waited for the extreme satisfaction that would come 
from watching them lead a manacled and chained Luthor away from his 
skyscraper and his empire.

"Lois!" Luthor seethed as he caught sight of her.  "I should have 
known.  What more wretched and venomous creature is there than woman?"

"Good to see you, too, Lex," she replied calmly.  Lex was forced into 
the back of a police cruiser and the train of black and whites began 
to stream away.

An excited Jimmy Olsen, along with a Planet reporter and several 
other members of the press, took pictures and reported on the arrest 
of Metropolis's leading citizen.  A crowd began to gather at the 
spectacle.  A few moments passed before Superman and Inspector 
Henderson emerged from the building.  Suddenly, all the cameras were 
on the blue and red clad super hero.  Those below had watched as he'd 
plucked Luthor from the sky, preventing his suicide.  Now the Man of 
Steel stood before them, reassuring them that he was, in fact, alive. 
He stayed for several minutes, giving quotes to the journalists and 
promising to hold a press conference to answer their further 
questions.  He finally flew off and, unnoticed, Lois got back into 
her rental car and drove toward home.

********

Lois was surprised to find Clark waiting for her outside the 
townhouse.  She pulled the car into the drive, shut off the engine 
and got out of the car.

"Hey."  He smiled, his hands in the pockets of his overcoat.

"Hey, yourself," she replied, grinning.

He put his arm around her and they walked to the house and out of the 
cold.  Lois took his coat to hang it up in the closet as Clark 
disappeared into the kitchen.

"They've got Luthor on suicide watch," he called out to her. 
"Henderson said they've got enough evidence to indict St. John, and a 
few other of Luthor's closest associates.  A federal judge ordered 
Royce to take a leave of absence while he's being investigated, and 
all of Luthor's personal files will be seized once the warrant comes 
down."  He returned, carrying two steaming cups of coffee in his 
hands, to the living room where Lois was waiting for him.  He handed 
one to Lois and sat beside her on the couch.

"Thanks."  She took the mug and sipped slowly from it.  "So I guess 
that's it. Bad guy goes to prison, Superman returns, all is right 
with the world," she mused.

"Not quite," Clark said.  He lifted a hand to caress Lois's cheek, 
tilting her head upward so he could capture her lips in a soft kiss. 
"Now everything's right with the world."  He smiled.

"This is unprecedented," she said with a grin.  "It's only noon, we 
both have the day off, neither of us is recovering from serious 
injuries, and there are no evil villains out there for us to catch. 
What on earth are we going to do with ourselves?" she asked 
dramatically.

"I can think of a few things," he said with a wink.  He finished the 
last of his coffee and placed the mug on the coffee table.

Lois jabbed him in the ribs with her elbow.  "I'll bet you can, Dr. Kent."

"That wasn't what I was thinking," he responded emphatically.

"Too bad."

"You have a dirty mind, Dr. Lane."  He smiled as he kissed her again.

"So what were you thinking?"

"That you're idea is probably better than mine."  He grinned wickedly.

"Very funny."

"Actually, I was thinking that, I don't know about you, but I'm tired 
of winter."

"And is there something in particular that you intended to do about that?"

"I was intending to sweep the woman I love off her feet..."  He got 
up off the couch and, before she could react, he was holding her 
against his chest.  She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed 
him.  "...and spirit her off to this tiny little island in the south 
Pacific, where, if we hurry, we can watch the sunrise.  So does that 
particular plan meet with your standards?"

"I think it's perfect," she said slowly.

"Then let's go."

"Are you sure you're up to that long of a flight?" she asked, a 
concerned expression on her face.

He nodded.  "My powers are all back."

"One hundred percent?"

"One hundred percent."

She sighed, relieved.  "Give me ten minutes."

He smiled, putting her back on her feet.  As she disappeared up the 
stairs, he spun into the suit.  She returned, collecting her overcoat 
before he gathered her in his arms again.

Lois had flown with Clark on several occasions before, but rarely for 
pleasure and they hadn't flown together at all since she'd confessed 
her feelings for him several weeks ago.  Being with him like this was 
incredible.  The world passed by quickly beneath them, but Lois was 
too busy enjoying the feeling of being held in Clark's arms to 
notice.  She closed her eyes, reveling in the way his body felt so 
close to hers.  She put her head on his shoulder, breathing in his 
intoxicating scent which was a wonderful mix of sandalwood, soap, and 
the unique scent that was just 'Clark.'

The gently rolling hills and seemingly endless plains gave way to the 
snowcapped Rockies.  They breached the majestic mountain range, 
crossing the southwestern deserts and finally the valleys and the 
stretch of coastal oasis.  Land gave way to the expansive ocean that 
seemed to stretch out to forever in all directions.  They flew over 
the endless blue, glassy surface of the water, catching up with and 
passing the sun.  He slowly began to descend as a small island became 
visible on the predawn horizon.  They touched down on the eastern 
side of the tiny, uninhabited island.  As Clark lowered her to her 
feet, she shed her bulky overcoat and slipped off her shoes, feeling 
the soft, cool sand under her feet.  Clark spun out of the suit and 
took her hand in his, their fingers interlaced.  They began to walk 
along the tiny tropical paradise when Clark stated "here," and 
promptly stopped.  Still holding Lois's hand, he sat down in the sand 
and pulled her into his lap.  He wrapped his arms around her.  She 
leaned into his embrace and together, they watched a fire red sun set 
the ocean ablaze as it crept up the horizon.  The air began to warm 
quickly as the sun started to burn off the early morning haze.  They 
sat in companionable silence, enjoying each other's company and 
watching the world around them wake to life.

Lois moaned as Clark's lips found her neck.  He trailed kisses up her 
neck and to her ear.  "Come with me," he whispered.  His breath 
tickled her skin.  She stood up as he too off his glasses, shoes, and 
socks.  He took her hand.

"Where are we going?"

He nodded toward the water.  She looked down at her white blouse and 
khaki slacks.  "I'm not exactly dressed for swimming," she informed 
him.

"They're just clothes," he said with a shrug and a smile.  He pulled 
her along but she obstinately refused to budge.  He dropped her hand 
and ran off ahead of her.  She simply stood and watched as he ran 
barefoot toward the ocean's edge.  Without slowing, he ran into the 
blue waters, small waves breaking at waist level.  She shook her 
head, amazed, as he dove into the water with the enthusiasm of a 
child.  He stood up and began wading back to the shore, his navy polo 
shirt clinging tightly to his body.  He ran his hands through his wet 
hair, pushing the dripping locks away from his face.  He grinned at 
her as he sloshed his way back up the beach, stripping off his wet 
shirt and tossing it in the sand.

"Satisfied?" she asked.

He shook his head. "Nope."  He walked more quickly as he approached 
her.  She turned to run away, but before she knew it, the powerful 
arms of her dripping wet boyfriend were wrapped around her.

"Clark!" she exclaimed.  She squirmed but to no avail.  Her 
determined effort to stay dry had been all for naught.  He picked her 
up and carried her toward the water.  She play acted at struggling 
with him as he splashed through the tiny waves that broke at the 
shore.  He waded until he was waist deep.  Lois was surprised by how 
warm the water felt on her bare feet.  She slipped down from his 
arms.  Standing close to him, she reached up and pulled his head 
down, kissing him hard.  Lois broke the kiss off and smiled at him 
before diving under the water's surface, swimming away from him.  She 
stopped, stood up, and turned to look back at him.  Her white blouse 
was now translucent and positively clung to her body.

Eventually, Clark got the message and gave chase.  As he closed the 
gap between them, he dove completely under the water and quickly 
caught up with her.  He wrapped his arms around her and could hear 
her first gasp and then giggle.  He pulled her down with him before 
pushing them both up above the surface.  He turned her around so they 
were facing each other.  Their foreheads touched and they closed the 
remaining inches between their lips.  Lois tangled her fingers in 
Clark's wet hair, pressing the length of her body against his.  She 
finally pulled away, breathless.

"I love you so much, Clark," she murmured as she tucked her head 
under his chin.

"I love you, too," he whispered.

The air of playfulness was now gone as she held tightly to him.  He 
gathered her close to him and then floated himself on his back on the 
water's surface with Lois resting on top of him.  She placed her head 
on his chest.  Before long, he realized that she'd fallen asleep. 
Careful not to disturb her, he floated them back to shore.  He lay 
them down on his outspread cape.  They dozed in the warm sunlight.

"Clark?" she asked.

"Hmm?"  He was surprised that she was awake.

"Tomorrow we're going to have to go back to work and the Genzyme case 
and deal with the lawyers and the paperwork...."

"Perry also wants corroboration for the Planet's article," he added, 
wondering where she was going with this.

Lois sighed.  "And you know that Daddy and I have lost our funding 
for the research project."

"I know."

"I guess what I'm trying to say is, I'm glad we took the time to do 
this, Clark."

"Me too."

"Clark, Daddy and I applied to have the project picked up by NIH. 
They expressed interest in the technology a while back.  They're 
probably the only ones who'll be able to save the project.  If they 
don't, that's it.  We're done.  If they pick the project up, my 
father and I will have to move to D.C."

"I know," Clark said softly.

"I don't know what to do, Clark.  Daddy told me that he'd go alone 
and hope that within the next year we'll find a private sponsor in 
Metropolis and move the project back there.  Clark, I don't want to 
leave you.  I don't know what I'm supposed to do."

"You're work is important, Lois."

"You're more important."

"Lois, what you're doing will improve hundreds of thousands of 
people's lives, and it's just the first step.  The prosthetic heart 
will be possible because of the work that you and your father are 
doing.  I don't want to be the thing that stands in the way of that 
work."

"Clark, you're not a roadblock.  You're the man I love!" she said emphatically.

"And I will wait for you, Lois.  If you ask me to wait a year, I'll 
wait.  If you ask me to wait ten years, I'll wait.  If you ask me to 
wait forever, I'll wait.  Lois, nothing will ever change the way I 
feel about you.  If you go, if you're a million miles away, I won't 
love you any less.  I'm not saying it's going to be easy.  I don't 
want you to go, but I don't ever want to be the thing that holds you 
back.  I won't."

"Clark, I can't ask you to sit around and wait for me while I put my 
career ahead of us."

"Maybe you're right.  Maybe you can't ask that.  But you're not 
asking, Lois. I'm telling you, I will be right here waiting.  My love 
is forever.  Nothing can change that."  He hugged her tighter. 
"Besides, you're talking to a guy who can be just about anywhere in 
the world in around two minutes flat.  Anytime you need me, I'll be 
there.  In fact, you'll probably have a tough time keeping me away." 
He looked down and saw her smile.  He tipped her head up and kissed 
her softly.

"How did I get to be so lucky, huh?" she asked.  "What did I do to 
deserve to fall in love with the most wonderful guy in the world and 
to have him love me back?"

"Lois, I'm the lucky one."

"So now we're going to argue about who's luckier?"

"Only if we get to kiss and make up," he teased.

She looked up at him with her big brown eyes.  "Why don't we just 
skip the arguing and go straight to the making up?" she suggested 
huskily.

"Dr. Lane, that's a brilliant plan."  Clark grinned.

********

It was early evening when they arrived at the townhouse. Clark 
descended carefully until they were floating outside her bedroom 
window. He'd joked once about not knowing what he would have done if 
her home had not been equipped with large picture windows not visible 
to prying eyes. He floated them inside, landing softly.

"Well," he said, lowering her to her feet. His hands remained on her hips.

"Well," she replied, smiling. They shared a gentle kiss.

"I should get going. My parents are leaving tomorrow and I thought it 
would be nice to spend the evening with them considering how hectic 
everything's been."

"Yeah," Lois agreed, nodding. She smiled at him. "I had fun today, Clark."

"Me too, Lois."

"Are you ready for your big press conference?"

"I guess so.  Superman owes the city an explanation, at the very least."

"What are you going to tell them?"

"I haven't really got that all figured out yet."

"But you aren't going to tell them about the meteorite, are you?"

He was surprised by the intensity of the concern on her face. "No, I 
don't think the bad guys of the world need to know that there's a 
rock out there that can kill me. I thought I'd just try to explain to 
everyone that my absence was unavoidable and apologize for it."

"You think they'll accept that?" she asked skeptically.

"I hope so," he replied.

"You're so trusting, you know that? Well, just smile a lot."

"Smile?"

"Yeah, just like that," she grinned. "When you smile like that, I'd 
pretty much believe whatever you told me."

"Really?"

She nodded at him.

"Good, because when I tell you that you're the most brilliant, 
beautiful, incredible woman I've ever met and that I'm hopelessly in 
love with you, I'm hoping that you believe me." He grinned, but she 
could tell he meant every word.

"Hmm, I might need a little convincing," she teased.

He swept her up in his arms and kissed her passionately.

"All right, I'm sold," she said breathlessly.

He smiled. "I'll see you tomorrow, then?"

"Yeah."

"I love you."

"I love you, too."

He kissed her again, then floated out the window and darted off, 
leaving a colorful streak and a sonic boom in his wake.

Lois closed her eyes and sighed happily. She began peeling off her 
clothing, stiff with saltwater but dry thanks to a judicious amount 
of heat vision, as she made her way to the bathroom, humming 
tunelessly.

********

Clark flew home, checking to insure that no one was asleep to wake in 
the bedroom when landing.  He descended slowly and entered the 
apartment. "Hello?" he called out.

"Clark, honey?" he heard his mother reply from within the living 
room. He spun back into his regular clothes and walked out of the 
bedroom.

"Congratulations, son," his father said with a grin. "We saw the news 
report of the arrest and Superman's return."

"Thanks, Dad," Clark replied as he planted himself on the couch.

"Did they keep you long at the police station after the arrest?"

"Not too long, Dad.  They let me off the hook around twelve, although 
Lois, Clark, and Superman are supposed to go in and answer some 
questions.  Superman owes the press a news conference and an 
exclusive to the Daily Planet, on top of the story Lois and I are 
being interviewed for."

"Sounds like they'll be keeping you two busy," his mother mused.

"Yeah, between all of that, work, and Superman being back, I'll 
probably be pretty busy."

"How's Lois doing?" his father asked.

"Fine, Dad. We spent the afternoon together.  You know, took some 
time off to relax. It was nice."

"Make sure to give her our love," Martha said as she sat down next to Jonathan.

"I will, Mom." Clark sighed.

"Is something wrong, honey?"

"No.  Yes.  I don't know, Mom."  He ran a hand through his hair. 
"Lois's research funding was cut a little while ago. In order to save 
the project, her father applied for a grant from NIH.  Until he finds 
a cooperating partner in Metropolis, he'll have to relocate to DC. 
Lois is debating whether to go with him.  Her work is important.  I 
couldn't ask her to stay because of me, but I don't want her to go. 
It's selfish, but she's everything to me and I'm going to miss seeing 
her everyday, seeing her at work and just being able to spend time 
with her."

"Have you and Lois talked about this?" Martha asked gently.

"Yeah, she told me that she wanted to stay here but I can't see her 
giving up her work. I told her that. She said she didn't want to put 
our relationship through that.  She said she couldn't ask me to wait 
for her."

"What did you tell her, son?"

"I told her she didn't have to ask, and I mean that," he said 
earnestly. "I will wait for her.  I'm not going to force her to 
choose between her career and me, so if she's willing, I'll be here 
waiting for her to come back. It won't be that bad if she's only gone 
a year, and it's not as if I can't go see her.

"I guess the one thing we both haven't talked about is what if it's 
not just for a year? What if NIH wants to keep the project in 
Bethesda? What if they don't agree to the partnership? What if Lois 
can't even find a partner in Metropolis? We can't be sure that it is 
only going to be a year. I mean, I'd move to DC to be with her, but 
what about Superman? I don't think I can just move him. He's pretty 
much said that Metropolis is his home."

"It's certainly not an easy situation, son."

"Tell me about it, Dad."

"Do you love her?" his father asked.

"You know I do."

"Then you'll figure something out. If you two love each other that 
much, you'll find a way to be together."

"You can't be sure of what's going to happen, Clark, but you can make 
sure that Lois knows that she has your support, no matter what.  And 
whatever does happen, you'll deal with it together," Martha said.

"No simple solution, huh?"

"Not this time, I'm afraid." Jonathan shook his head.

********

"There he is!" someone called out as Superman descended to the steps 
outside the district courthouse. He landed softly behind a bank of 
microphones. He adjusted the mikes lower; for some reason, everyone 
always thought he was taller than he actually was. He placed his 
hands on his hips in a stiff, Superman-like pose.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I'm afraid I must be brief." He didn't tell 
them the reason: the head technician in the lab called in sick and 
Clark was running the timed experiments all day.

"About one week ago, a bomb exploded at the Lexor in an attempt to 
kill me. As you can see today, the attempt was not successful. I'm 
very sorry that the events of that day led everyone to believe that I 
had been killed, but I was touched to hear about the public outpour 
on my behalf in the days that followed. I'm sorry to have caused any 
grief.  All I can say is that my absence was unavoidable. I will be 
answering a few questions now."

"Superman, surely you could have at least contacted us and told 
everyone that you were all right," one of the LNN reporters called 
out from the front of the group gathered at the steps.

Clark knew that this was going to come up. People wanted an 
acceptable explanation for why on Earth Superman would allow the 
world to believe that he had died, and despite wracking his brain, he 
didn't really have one. He hoped that he'd built up enough trust with 
the people of Metropolis to be able to make them understand that he 
hadn't abandoned them by choice and that he felt terrible about 
allowing everyone to believe that he'd been killed. He chewed his 
lip, deep in thought, as he searched for a way to phrase his 
response. Before Clark could say anything, Bill Henderson stepped out 
of the group and walked up to the podium. Superman stepped aside for 
his colleague.

"I'm afraid Superman is telling the truth, ladies and gentlemen. My 
name is Inspector William Henderson, Metropolis Police Department. 
I'm the officer in charge of the Genzyme investigation as well as the 
Lexor bombing. When we determined that the two might have been 
related, we decided that those responsible posed a serious and 
immediate threat to the people of Metropolis. I asked Superman for 
his help in the matter, which meant that he had to maintain the 
charade that the bomb had its desired effect. To have done otherwise 
may have provoked another attack, one with potentially much greater 
devastation than the incidental damage that resulted from the Lexor 
bombing. I'm sorry to have deceived you. I know Superman is, as well. 
Thank you."

Bill Henderson stepped away, leaving a dumbstruck Superman behind to 
answer the remaining questions. As expected, he refused to comment on 
Luthor, the Genzyme case and the investigation of Royce since all 
were still ongoing investigations. He fielded a couple of softball 
questions before excusing himself and flying off. He caught Bill 
Henderson before the inspector could drive back to the precinct.

Henderson looked up at the descending superhero with the closest 
thing to a smile that Clark had ever seen on his face. "Superman, I 
didn't expect to see you again so soon."

"I wanted to thank you.  You didn't have to do that."

"Well, I didn't think you would lie, which would have left you with 
little choice but to tell everyone what really happened in the Lexor 
building.  And since you didn't seem too eager to share last time, I 
figured that whatever it was, was something the criminal element of 
Metropolis didn't need to know."

Superman merely nodded in agreement. "Thanks again, Inspector 
Henderson. I really do appreciate it."

"Anytime, Superman.  Oh, and call me 'Bill.'"

Superman smiled and shook Bill's hand warmly before flying off. He 
found himself losing his stiff and formal edge and almost breaking 
character as a result of Henderson's far more relaxed and friendly 
manner. He was surprised by Henderson's request to call him 'Bill.' 
Just half an hour earlier, Clark would have sworn that even 
Henderson's mother probably called him Inspector Henderson. He 
shrugged it off and simply assumed that the often seemingly dour and 
prickly Inspector Henderson was capable of surprising him.

He flew back toward MetroGen and arrived at the hospital and rushed 
up to the lab with only a minute to spare. Checking to make sure that 
everyone else was still at lunch, he sped through the procedures as 
quickly as he could without affecting the test results. He had just 
begun the entry of the data when he heard a bank alarm. It looked 
like the very visible return of Superman hadn't deterred these 
particular crooks. With a sigh, he got up from his desk, changed in a 
blur and darted through the open window.

Geoff opened the door to the lab just as a gust of wind raced through 
it, setting off a whirlwind of papers. He looked at the open window, 
puzzled, before shrugging his shoulders and crossing the room to 
close it.

********

"Chief!"

"What is it now, Jimmy?  Can't you see I'm busy?"  Perry turned down 
the volume on the record player that was belting out "Love Me 
Tender."  He dropped the mock up of the front page with the headlines 
already set onto his desk.

"Lois and Clark are here."

"Why didn't you say so in the first place?"  Before Jimmy could 
reply, Perry continued impatiently.  "Well, don't just stand there 
like your feet are glued to the ground.  Go get them.  And tell 
Mitchell and Hastings I want them in here, pronto."

With a vigorous nod, Jimmy was gone.  A moment later, the summoned 
four were standing in Perry's office.  He made the necessary 
introductions; both Mitchell and Hastings had met Lois previously, 
but neither knew Clark.  When the formalities of introductions were 
dispensed with, Perry shepherded the group into the conference room 
and left them to it.  He made his way back to his office, ruminating 
over his good fortune.  Lois and her colleague Clark Kent had been 
the best thing to happen to the paper in a while, and neither of them 
worked for him.  He trusted that Mitchell and Hastings, his fledgling 
reporting partnership, would do a satisfactory job with the story. 
Heck, they were young, but Perry had faith that they both had that 
reporter's instinct that couldn't be taught, only cultivated.  As a 
team, they were no Nordcross and Judd, but perhaps that was for the 
better.  He needed a sordid office romance disrupting his newsroom 
like he needed a hole in the head.  Lucky for him, Hastings was 
married and Mitchell was--what did Jimmy call it?--oh yeah, Mitchell 
apparently "batted for the other team."  Not the Perry cared one way 
or another what his staff did on their own time, so long as it didn't 
interfere with work, didn't get them arrested, or the Planet sued. 
He was just relieved to know that this reporting team wasn't going to 
crash and burn in a fantastic, fiery wreck, the result of a love 
affair gone sour.

Perry paced like a caged animal as the deadline drew nearer.  He 
opened his office door and peered out into the bullpen where his 
reporters raced the clock to finish their stories.  The air was heavy 
with the smells of nervous apprehension and adrenaline mixed with 
linotype.  It smelled exactly as a newsroom should.  "Grant!" he 
bellowed.

Cat looked up at him from her desk, an eyebrow raised.  "Yeah, Perry?"

"Where's the story on the reactions of the city's elite to Luthor's arrest?"

"I just LANed it to you, along with an exclusive interview with the 
girl Luthor was with when it all happened."  She smirked at him. 
"You should chill out, Perry.  Too much stress isn't just bad for you 
health, it'll wreak havoc on your love life."  With that, she turned 
back to her computer.

Perry grunted indignantly.  If that woman wasn't the best damn 
society columnist the paper had ever had....  She had better sources 
than Woodward and Bernstein.  The guys in marketing and accounting 
loved her as well, since she was in the society section as the 
subject of a story almost as often as she had a by-line, giving the 
Planet free publicity which boosted circulation.

He went back into his office, slamming the door behind him.  He 
settled in front of the computer to pull up Cat's stories.  Along 
with them, he found the copy from Mitchell and Hastings.  He looked 
down at his watch.  Forty-five minutes before deadline.  Were they 
getting more efficient as a team, or just sloppy?  There was only one 
way to find out.  Fifteen minutes later, he got up from his desk and 
walked to the conference room where the four were conversing 
casually.  "Hastings, Mitchell, this is first rate stuff, you two. 
Good work."

"Thanks, Chief," Tom Mitchell replied.

"This means I'm expecting you two to work together from now on. 
Permanent partnership."

"You got it, Perry."  Allison gathered her laptop.

"'Mitchell and Hastings.'  I like the sound of that," Tom mused as he 
held the door for her.

"Forget it.  It's 'Hastings and Mitchell.'"

"We'll negotiate the details elsewhere."

"We'll negotiate nothing, pal," she replied with a grin as the pair 
exited the conference room.

"I don't know what to say," Perry began as the door to the conference 
room closed.  "That story is something else entirely.  Thank you."

"Like you said, Perry, it was their story.  We were just glad to be 
able to help," Clark replied.

"Jimmy and I are going to put the paper to bed.  Most of the 
reporters who've been working on the Genzyme and Luthor stories will 
be getting together tonight for a little celebration.  I don't think 
they'd consider it a party if you two didn't show up."

Lois and Clark exchanged a quick glance and accepted Perry's invitation.

********

Half the Planet's city staff sat crowded around the bar in Shay's Pub 
on Newton Street, home to Metropolis's largest cluster of sports 
grills, college hangouts, coffee houses and ubiquitous yuppie bars. 
The reporters cheerfully pounded rounds while toasting everything and 
everyone from the journalists working on the investigation to Metro 
PD and Superman to Luthor's aborted swan dive off the top floor of 
the city's tallest building.

In a half-darkened corner of the bar, Cat Grant was hustling a couple 
of the sports writers in a game of pool.  An inebriated Ralph sat at 
the bar, an arm around Jimmy Olsen.  He swayed slightly and slurred 
his words as he imparted advice onto his young friend on the subject 
of picking up chicks, among other pearls of wisdom.

Allison and Tom entered the pub, apparently still negotiating, and 
quickly spotted Lois and Clark.  They sat down with them and ordered 
drinks.  Their beers arrived just as Perry shouted for everyone to 
quiet down.  Perry began his list of congratulations to his staff, 
finishing with a toast to Lois and Clark for helping the Planet get 
the exclusive.  The room burst into cheers.  Another round was 
ordered and the festivities continued.

"Look, I just think that 'Mitchell and Hastings' sounds better."

"No way, Tom.  Think Abbott and Costello.  The straight guy's name 
always goes first."

"Very funny."  Tom shook his head and sipped his beer.

"If you all would excuse me," Allison said, as she stood up from the 
table.  "I think a certain young photographer is in dire need of 
assistance."  She nodded toward the bar where Jimmy was still being 
subjected to Ralph's wisdom.  Allison detoured slightly on her way to 
the bar and subtly recruited the aide of Lindsey, the new research 
assistant who apparently had a crush on the young photographer, to 
snatch Jimmy from Ralph's paws.  The look on Jimmy's face was one of 
profound relief one would expect to see in the face of a shipwrecked 
man who'd just spotted his approaching saviors.

At her approach, Ralph gave Jimmy a rather clumsy slap on the back 
and an obvious thumbs up along with a slurred "Go get 'em, Tiger." 
Allison returned to the table to the sounds of soft applause.

"Well done," Clark said.

Allison shrugged.  "Jimmy's a good kid, but who knows how long he can 
hang around Ralph until whatever afflicts Ralph and makes him the 
jerk he is claims Jimmy, too."

The group looked up to see Ralph suavely hitting on an unsuspecting 
young woman.  He said something with a prominent smirk only to have 
the woman gasp and turn away in disgust.  Shot down, Ralph slumped 
back down onto his barstool and drank from his nearly empty bottle of 
beer.

"Hastings!"

Allison turned to see the new city beat intern waving to her.

"Come on," he said.  "Pool tournament's about to start.  We're 
playing doubles, so drag Mitchell with you."

Allison looked at her partner.  Tom shook his head.  "Not me. I hate pool."

"What about you, Clark?"

"Well..." Clark hesitated.

"Lois?"

"I'm game."

"Let's go, then."  With that, the two women left the table.

********

"Eight in the side," Lois said coolly before sinking the last ball 
convincingly.

"Man, Lois, you guys kicked our butts!" Jimmy exclaimed.

"We didn't play that badly, Jimmy," Lindsey smiled at him.  She 
turned back to the victorious duo.  "Good game.  Nice shot, Dr. Lane."

"Thanks, Lindsey, but please call me Lois.  All this 'Dr. Lane' stuff 
is making me feel way too old."

"You guys are definitely going to beat Cat and Eduardo."  Jimmy put 
his arm around Lindsey.  She looked at him, startled.  He began to 
withdraw his arm but stopped when she smiled at him and leaned closer 
to him.

Lois leaned back against the table.  She was startled when Allison 
turned to her and asked softly, "Lois, are you and Clark, you know, 
together?"

"Well, yes, we are," she replied, unsure where the sudden enquiry had 
come from.

Allison nodded back toward the table.  "Well, it looks as if you've 
got competition."

Lois looked back casually and bit her lip to keep from smiling.  'Oh 
Clark, you can be so naïve sometimes.'  He probably didn't even know 
that he was being hit on, although it was obvious to both Allison and 
Lois.  Lois smiled.  Shaking her head slightly, she handed Allison 
her pool cue and strode away from the table.

"...really, I am flattered but..."

"Clark?"  Lois's voice was saccharine sweet.  Clark looked over at 
her, startled.

"Tom, you don't mind if I steal Clark here away for just one minute, 
do you?" she asked as she stood behind Clark, her hands on his 
shoulders.

"Uh...no, no, not at all," Tom said with a forced smile.

"Thanks," Lois replied.  She took Clark's hand and led him across the 
bar.  She cornered him against the wall by the payphones.

"Lois are you okay?" he asked gently.

"Of course I'm okay, Clark.  You're the one who looked like you were 
in trouble."

"Ah, so you noticed," he said with a wry grin.

"Well, I think the whole bar noticed."

"So you decided to come claim what's rightfully yours?" he asked quietly.

"Maybe," she replied.  She hooked her fingers through the belt loops 
of his slacks and pulled him closer.

"Jealous?"

"Maybe."

Clark laughed softly.

"Can't say I blame him for trying.  He's got good taste in men."

"Too bad I'm not available."

"Too bad," she whispered before kissing him softly.

Allison gently punched her partner on the arm, startling him. 
"Either taken or straight, right?"

"Or taken and straight," Tom said as he drained the last of his beer.

********

"Lieutenant, would you care to revise that report on how no remains 
were recovered because the fire in the dock destroyed the body? 
Because I think recent evidence contradicts your theory."  Trask 
stared at the younger man through narrowed eyes as he paced behind 
his desk.  He tossed the folders in his hand onto the desk.  "This is 
unacceptable!"

"Sir, we had no way of knowing--"

"Lieutenant, you assured me you could kill the alien.  He seems 
rather active for a corpse, wouldn't you say?"

"Colonel, we should make another attempt.  Perhaps the delivery 
system malfunctioned."

"Well, something obviously failed, because the alien is still flying 
about, Lieutenant, and I want you to find out what it was."

"They never recovered the canister, sir.  I sent a half dozen men to 
retrieve it, but it wasn't in the docking bay and the police never 
catalogued it as evidence."

"Well, then, you've got a problem, don't you?"

"Sir, if I may, I don't think the meteorite was a total failure.  If 
it had no effect on Superman, why did he allow the bomb to detonate? 
It was a simple device.  He's diffused far more complicated bombs in 
the past.  Also, he failed to give an adequate explanation as to 
where he's been for the last week.  He looked as if he had no idea 
how to answer the question when the cop came and answered it for him. 
I think the meteorite had the desired effect, sir.  I just don't 
think it finished him off."

"We haven't the means to either confirm or deny that, Lieutenant."

"We still have part of the meteorite, sir."

"I don't want to try it again without insurance.  If we attack and it 
fails, then we destroy our chance at terminating the alien threat. 
He must have another weakness.  Assemble all the information we have 
on the alien, including anyone who could possibly be assisting him. 
They may be our key to finding out how we can destroy him. 
Dismissed."

"Yes, sir."  The lieutenant saluted smartly before exiting the office.

********

Lois dropped onto the couch after a long, grueling day.  Two 
operations, one of them a double bypass, were followed by an 
afternoon helping Mrs. O'Neil straighten up the patient records. 
Knowing that NIH was likely to approve the grant proposal, she had to 
prepare the records so that they could be transferred to the 
patients' new doctors in the event of her prolonged absence.

She turned on the news and caught an update on the piecemeal 
investigation into Luthor's colossal empire.  A knocking startled 
her.  She found the remote and muted the TV before getting up to 
answer the door.

"Geez, Lois, how long does it take you to return a call?"

"Hey Lucy, come on in.  I'm sorry.  I totally forgot."

"I'll bet you did.  So how long were you planning to wait before 
telling me about Superman?"

"What?"

"Don't even start that with me, Sis, and don't try telling me that 
you don't know what I'm talking about.  I know all about how you're 
the one who was hiding Superman."  Lucy plunked down on the couch.

Lois sighed and quickly decided it wouldn't be worth the expended 
energy to argue with her sister.  "Lucy, he needed help."

"And out of the blue, he decides to go to you?"

"I have met him before, Lucy, remember?  He did save my life."

"And he's done the same for thousands of other people.  Yet you're 
the one he goes to when he needs help.  My sister, personal friend 
and confidant to a superhero, and you didn't even tell your own 
sister about it!" Lucy exclaimed.  "Wait, there isn't more, is there? 
You and he aren't...are you?"

"Of course not, Lucy," Lois snapped irritably.

"Right, okay.  But you are friends, right?"

"I guess you could say that."

"I can't believe you didn't tell me!" Lucy exclaimed again.

"He asked me not to say anything, so I didn't."  Lois frowned.  "How 
do you know about this, anyway?"

"Mom and Dad are in DC and they asked me to stop by the house to feed 
the fish and water the plants.  I went over Sunday night and the 
answering machine came on and some scientist left a message asking 
Dad if he could get in touch with you or Superman," Lucy said with a 
shrug.

Lois sighed again.  "You think a scientist with national security 
clearance would be just a little more careful."

"So who's the scientist and why did he need Dad to get in touch with 
you and Superman?"

"Lucy," Lois warned her younger sister.

"Come on, sis."

"Forget it, Luce.  I'm not telling you anything more."

"What, are you invoking Doctor Patient Confidentiality?" Lucy joked.

Lois did her best not to react to her sister's question.

"Wait a minute.  That's it, isn't it?  Of course!  Why else would 
Superman go to three scientists?  I can't believe you've been holding 
out on me!  You're Superman's personal physician."  Lucy shook her 
head in disbelief.  "I guess if I were you, I wouldn't tell anyone 
either.  Does the suit actually come off, sis?"

"Lucy!"

"Chill out, Lois.  It was just a joke."

"I will not," Lois replied indignantly.  She gave her younger sister 
her best disapproving stare.

"All right, Lois, I give," Lucy held up her hands.

Lois's hand shot out and she grabbed Lucy's left hand.  Her younger 
sister grinned.  "Lucy is that...?"  Lois examined the gold ring and 
its mounted diamond on her sister's finger.  Lucy nodded.

"When?"

"Valentine's Day."

It was Lois's turn to berate her sister for poor communication 
skills.  "And you didn't tell me?!  That was a week and a half ago!"

"And since then, you've been too busy playing doctor with Superman to 
return my calls," Lucy joked.

Lois let the barb go without comment.  "Wow, I can't believe it!  I 
mean, congratulations.  How did he ask?  Did you say 'yes' right 
away?"

Lucy grinned as she related the details.  "I was getting ready for 
work Friday morning.  Scott was supposed to by back from Tucson on 
Thursday, but his flight to Chicago was cancelled because of the 
snowstorm.  We cancelled our plans for the weekend, so I wasn't 
expecting to see him at all, but there he was at seven thirty, in the 
street under my bedroom window.  He got down on one knee in the snow 
and asked me to marry him.  I must have scared him because I couldn't 
even say a word.  I ran downstairs and finally shouted 'yes!' when I 
saw him."

"Wow."

"I know.  Lois, he flew from Tucson to Houston to Tampa to Baltimore 
and drove the rest of the way overnight because he said he wanted to 
surprise me."

"I can't believe it, Luce."

"You can't believe it?  How do you think I felt?"  Lucy smiled.  The 
two sisters hugged excitedly.

********

"Sir?"

"What is it?" Trask snapped irritably.  He looked up at the young 
officer standing in his doorway.

"I have the information you requested."  The lieutenant handed his CO 
the manila folder.  Trask took it from him, quickly flipping through 
the file.  He pulled out several paper clipped stacks, each with a 
driver's license style photograph attached to it.  He spread the 
stacks out across the wooden surface of his desk one by one.

"Perry White, editor, Daily Planet.  The first and only exclusive 
interview with Superman, and two editorials, all three very positive 
spins.  Aged fifty-three, wife Alice of twenty-eight years, two grown 
sons, Jerome and Lawrence.

"Inspector William Henderson, Metropolis Police Department.  Highly 
decorated, highly respected head of the Special Crimes Unit.  Works 
with Superman on a regular basis, intervened on the alien's behalf at 
the press conference.  Aged forty-seven, divorced, no children.

"Dr. Lois Lane, Cardiothoracic surgeon.  Rescued by Superman during 
the Genzyme debacle, credited with bringing forward the evidence that 
brought Luthor down. Family ties to Perry White, cooperated with 
Henderson on both counts.  Aged twenty-nine, single, no children."

"We also have these, sir."  The lieutenant handed Trask several 8x10 
black and white photos.  "They're from news coverage.  We can place 
Lane at the alien's first positive sighting and at Luthor's arrest," 
he explained as Trask flipped through the photos.

"Anything else?"

"Luthor apparently had some sort of fixation on Lane.  We can place 
both of them at the same place together on several occasions.  He 
offered to fund her research project repeatedly and she refused 
repeatedly.  Footage of his arrest shows him clearly speaking to her 
as he was led away by police.  He didn't seem too happy to see her. 
She lost her research funding and is now applying for grants to work 
at the National Institute of Health.   It is very likely that she 
will be leaving the Metropolis area for Bethesda, Maryland."

"Keep an eye on all three of them," Trask said brusquely.  "And keep 
me informed on all developments."  Trask turned to the more 
substantial bios that had been compiled and included in the file, 
ignoring his subordinate.

"Yes sir."  The lieutenant waited to be dismissed, but when it became 
clear that Trask was no longer paying any attention to his presence, 
he backed out of the office unobtrusively.

********

"Morning, Clark.  Rough night?" Geoff grinned as he turned away from 
his computer to look at his beleaguered colleague.

Clark mumbled a half response as he poured himself a cup of toxic 
java.  He left an oil rig fire only half an hour before heading in 
for the ED.  He had helped the Coast Guard get the blaze under 
control before racing back.  A relatively long shower later, he still 
smelled like oil and smoke.  It had been messy but thankfully no one 
had been killed.  He then spent four hours in the ED on a rather 
uneventful shift.  If the chief of the ED hadn't been so flexible as 
to allow Clark to put in half shifts, there would have been no way he 
could have continued working in the ED.

"So come on, what have you got planned for tonight?"

"Huh?"

"Don't pretend you don't know what I'm talking about, Kent.  You only 
turn thirty-one once you know."

Clark groaned inwardly.  He had hoped his birthday would pass 
unnoticed, though that was clearly not the case.  He prepared himself 
for the ribbing he would undoubtedly receive from his colleagues. 
"Nothing exciting, I'm afraid, Geoff."

"Come on, Clark.  Do you really expect me to buy that coming from a 
guy who used his sick days to help Superman bring down the richest 
man in Metropolis?"

Clark hid a grimace.  Didn't anyone in this city read the Metropolis 
Star?  He was uncomfortable about getting himself in the paper, 
especially linked to Superman.  "Yeah, well, that was enough 
excitement for me."

"That's a shame considering all the trouble Steve and Andy went to in 
order to hire that stripper."

"They did what?"

"It was supposed to be a surprise.  I told them you probably had 
plans, but they insisted.  They figured that if you didn't show, you 
wouldn't mind them celebrating your birthday."

'Well, that was thoughtful of them,' Clark mused.  "Yeah, well, I'm 
afraid I'll have to skip this one."

"Previous engagement?  And you said you didn't have any plans." 
Geoff shook his head in mock disapproval.  "Then again, can't say I 
blame you.  I'm sure Lane wouldn't be too pleased.  But what do you 
need a stripper for with a babe like Lane--"

Clark shot Geoff a truly menacing look.

"--with whom you obviously share a deep, meaningful relationship," 
Geoff finished quickly.

Clark silently took his coffee cup and made his way to his own desk, 
leaving Geoff to ponder his latest faux pas.

********

It wasn't until after six when Lois showed up at the lab.  Clark 
looked up as he heard her approach.  When she walked through the 
door, he immediately caught her eye.  She favored him with a bright 
smile and all traces of weariness from the long day vanished from his 
expression.

"Hey, Lois," Geoff said with his typical comedic enthusiasm, which 
was neither cute nor funny.

"Hello, Geoff," she replied in scant acknowledgement of him.

Behind her, the doors to the lab burst open and Andy and Steve bounded in.

"Hey, Kent!  Happy birthday, man!" Andy yelled.

"Wait till you get a load of what we've got planned for you.  You are 
not going to believe...."  Steve's smile faded as Lois turned around.

"But of course, if you've got other plans, we can, uh, just go 
another time..." Andy interjected.

"Strip bar?" Lois asked nonchalantly.

Andy shrugged.  "Private stripper," Steve said, avoiding eye contact.

Lois nodded thoughtfully as though his clarification was the most 
fascinating thing she'd ever heard.

"I'm afraid I have other plans, guys," Clark said as he grabbed his overcoat.

"But it is the thought that counts," Lois added as Clark took her hand.

"Have a good time," Clark said with a grin as he clapped Andy on the back.

"Uh, thanks, Clark," Andy replied.  "Happy birthday!" he called out 
to Clark's retreating form.

When they were in the hallway, Lois turned to him with a grin.  "You 
know, we could cancel if you want to take them up on that offer."

Clark shook his head smiling.  "I don't think so."

"Good, because do you know how difficult it is to get a table at Chez 
Henri on a Friday night, even if you are Sam Lane's daughter?"

He chuckled and stopped walking.  He pulled her into his arms and 
kissed her softly.

"Happy birthday," she said.

"Thanks," he replied.  "So you made reservations for Chez Henri, huh?"

"Well, I had to pull some strings, but, you know."  She gave him an 
impish smile.  "Now come on.  As much as I enjoy wasting time with 
you in this hallway, we've got an eight thirty reservation and one of 
us can't get ready at superspeed."  The last part was said quietly 
although the corridor was quite deserted.

********

"Good evening, Pierre."

"Always a pleasure, Dr. Lane.  Table for two.  Right this way, si 
vous plais."  With a slight bow, the slender man turned to lead them 
to their table.  As he handed them the menus, he turned to Clark and 
said, "Dr. Kent, Henri has asked me to extend to you his personal 
wishes for a very happy birthday."

"Thank you," Clark replied.

With a nod and a kind smile, Pierre was gone.

********

"You know, they never actually say that in the movie."

"What?" he asked.

"'Play it again, Sam.' No one ever says that."

"Come on."

"I'm dead serious."

"Then where does the line come from?" he challenged her.

Lois shrugged.

"Are you sure?"

"Clark, you are talking to the expert on 'Casablanca.'"

"All right then, Ms. Expert, tell me.  Why does Ilsa agree to go with Laszlo?"

"Ha!"

"Ha?"

"It's simple, Clark.  Laszlo won't leave unless she goes.  If he 
stays, he gets killed.  So she goes to save his life."

"And not because she actually cares about him."

"Nope."

"Not at all?"

"Clark, of all the times Laszlo tells Ilsa he loves her, the best 
response he gets in the whole film is a tepid 'I know.'  Not exactly 
the stuff of storybook romances."

"But she was still in love with Rick?"

"Completely."

"And you think she made the right decision?"

"It was Hollywood in World War II.  Sacrificing love for the greater 
cause was the only ending they could possibly get away with."  She 
noticed Clark tilt his head slightly to one side.  He frowned, deep 
in concentration.  He looked at her, his eyes conveying a silent plea.

"Go, Clark," she insisted softly.

"Lois,