SUPER STUD 
By: ML Thompson <thomplaw@tbaytel.net>
Rated: PG-13
Submitted: November 2001


This story takes place after 'Fly Hard.' In other words, 
Lois is dating Luthor, but he hasn't asked her to marry him 
yet - although he's getting close to doing so. And Clark is 
doing what Clark does best - sitting around watching 
another man make progress with his girl. Come on, Clark! 
Get off your butt and take a risk! At the very least, ask 
the woman out!

No copyright infringement is intended. I recognize that the 
characters are not mine. I am just borrowing them for a 
little fun and not for any profit. Special thanks to the 
writers of 'Fly Hard' for giving me my starting point and 
some background. And special thanks to the writers of one 
of the other episodes - you'll know which one - for giving 
me one of my characters and inspiring the idea for this 
story.

Thanks to the people who answered my question about various 
ways to say 'I love you' on Zoomway's message boards. I 
tried to make good use of the information. My continuing 
gratitude goes out to Gerry Anklewicz and Carol Malo for 
their work on this story. As always, their assistance and 
support were invaluable. And thanks to Erin Klingler for 
editing this story for the archives.

WARNING: This story deals with adult themes and situations 
which might be unsuitable for a younger reader.


* * * * * * * * *
Super Stud
* * * * * * * * *

An attractive blonde walked through the doors and onto the 
steps outside the Metropolis Insane Asylum. Stopping 
momentarily, she pushed her hair back over her shoulders 
and let the wind play with it as the words of the old 
spiritual ran through her mind.

'Free at last. Free at last. Thank God Almighty, I'm free 
at last.'

It had actually been a brilliant plan. A small 
demonstration, by accident of course, was all it took to 
convince the jury that working with the substance day after 
day had made her not guilty by reason of temporary 
insanity. The fact that no one had been permanently injured 
had undoubtedly gone a long way to help - not to mention 
her shameless flirting with juror number four.

Still, it was all behind her now. She had been pronounced 
healthy and released. And she had used her time inside 
well. She was sure that a little tinkering was all it would 
take to change her compound, making it suitable for her new 
purposes. Lex would certainly have to love her after this.

* * * * * * * * *

Perry and Jimmy stood with a crowd of Daily Planet 
employees in front of the police tape that blocked the way 
to Perry's office. After the events of the past weekend, 
Perry's office looked like something of a war zone. Still, 
the police were going to remove the tape this morning and 
workmen were scheduled to be here this afternoon. Perry 
hoped to be back in his office later in the week. After 
all, in spite of the mess, the only real damage was to the 
floor.

"Yeah, well," began Perry, looking over at Jimmy, "I guess 
it needed a lift anyway, huh?"

Jimmy gave his boss a sympathetic smile before both turned 
back to look at his office. 

They didn't notice the delivery boy who was approaching 
Lois' desk - although, from where he was seated behind his 
desk, Clark couldn't help but see. The moment Clark 
realized what was being delivered, he knew who it was from.

"Delivery, Miss Lane," said the young man, setting down a 
vase containing a dozen long-stemmed roses. Lois noticed an 
envelope nestled between the flowers. Standing up, she 
opened the envelope, withdrawing a simple white card with 
the words, 'Love, Lex,' on it.

At first a small smile played around her mouth, until 
something in her peripheral vision caught her eye. It was 
obvious that Clark had seen the flowers, too. Sneaking a 
quick peek at him, she noticed he was biting his lower lip 
while concentrating intently on a paper in front of him. 
She felt a bizarre, completely undeserved stab of guilt. 
Why should she feel guilty? Clark was her best friend - 
nothing more. It wasn't even as if Clark had ever given her 
reason to believe that he wanted to be more than her 
partner and her friend. He seemed to be attracted to her, 
but beyond that... Her thoughts were interrupted by an all 
too familiar voice.

"Send yourself flowers again, Lois?" said Cat coming late, 
as usual, into the newsroom.

Lois gave her a dirty look before setting down the card 
from Lex and retaking her seat.

Cat turned around, addressing the people she'd seen here 
two nights ago. "What a weekend," she said with flourish. 
"Now, I know he may not look like it, but under that mild-
mannered facade, George is a wild man. I spent most of the 
weekend..." She paused for dramatic effect before saying, 
"...in handcuffs."

Everyone listening looked at one another in disbelief. They 
had spent most of the weekend in handcuffs too - although 
for an entirely different reason. 

"So, what did you guys do this weekend?" she asked. 

They simply continued staring at her, causing her to add, 
"Sorry I asked." She turned and walked away, oblivious to 
the looks that followed her. 

Lois turned to look at Clark. He was looking back at a 
paper on his desk, obviously lost in thought. Once again, 
Lois felt that confusing stab of guilt. Why on earth was 
she feeling guilty? She had nothing to feel guilty for!

Her mind flashed back to Clark's warning the previous 
morning, when they'd finally escaped from the terrorists 
who had held them hostage at the Planet. 'Be careful of 
Lex. You don't know him the way I do.' What had that been 
about? 

Lois was disappointed by Clark's comment. It just didn't 
seem like Clark to make vague comments disparaging 
someone's reputation. It was petty and beneath the man 
she'd come to know and respect. If he knew anything solid 
about Lex, he would certainly tell her. His vague comment 
had made her feel more let down by Clark than worried about 
Lex. 

Her thoughts were interrupted by a ringing phone. 

"Lois Lane," she said, picking it up.

"Lois," came Luthor's smooth voice over the line. "Recover 
yet from spending the night with me? In handcuffs, too, I 
might add," he said.

"Well, it was certainly a night to remember," she replied 
with a laugh.

Luthor's chuckle joined hers before he said, "The reason 
I'm calling, other than to hear your voice, of course, is 
that I was thinking that we really didn't have much of a 
date on Saturday night. Would you consider dining with me 
this coming weekend? I was thinking of a little Italian 
restaurant I know about."

"That sounds nice, Lex," Lois replied, forcing herself not 
to look towards Clark's desk and the eyes she instinctively 
knew were watching her.

"Good. Saturday then. I'll contact you with an exact time, 
but I was thinking sometime in the early afternoon. It will 
take us a little while to get to the place I have in mind."

"I have the weekend off, so that would be fine. And thanks 
for the flowers. They're beautiful."

"Ahh. They arrived then. Good. I just wanted you to know I 
was thinking about you."

Lois pushed a strand of hair behind her ear. It was 
certainly flattering having such a charming, powerful and 
cultured man interested in her. Before she could respond 
she heard a woman's voice in the background say, "Someone 
for the boss on line four."

"Sounds like you're needed," Lois said.

"Uh, yes. That's the down side to being the third richest 
man in the world. Someone always needs your time. I'd much 
rather be talking to you."

She smiled. "Go. Take care of business. I have to get back 
to work, too."

"Very well," he said with an exaggerated sigh. "'Til 
Saturday then," he concluded.

Lois hung up the phone and glanced around casually. She 
looked around more thoroughly when she realized Clark 
wasn't at his desk. Actually, he didn't seem to be anywhere 
in the newsroom. She was certain he had been there a moment 
ago.

Before she could follow that thought further, Jack showed 
up with some research she'd asked for. She thanked him and 
then watched as he walked off. She and Clark had met Jack 
after he had robbed Clark's apartment. Instead of pressing 
charges, Clark got Jack a job at the Daily Planet and found 
a good foster home for Jack's little brother. But that was 
Clark. Instead of seeing a criminal, Clark saw a young man 
who had been forced to the streets to take care of his 
little brother. She, personally, still doubted that Jack 
could be trusted. But Clark obviously saw something in the 
kid.

* * * * * * * * *

After saying goodbye to Lois, Luthor immediately pressed 
another phone line. "Luthor," he said briskly. He listened 
for a moment before saying, "When can you have it for me?" 
There was another pause before he concluded, "Very good. 
Contact me as soon as you return to Metropolis."

Lex Luthor hung up the phone before picking up a velvet-
covered box and leaning back in his chair. He smiled as he 
opened the box revealing a stunning diamond ring. He wasn't 
happy with the size of the diamond, but the craftsman had 
assured him that it was the largest diamond ever mounted on 
an engagement ring. 

When he had told Lois 'Italian,' he meant Italy. His 
private jet. Champagne. Hors d'oeuvres. Perhaps even a 
violin player. Then, he'd ask her to marry him. And given 
that he should have the kryptonite later this week, he 
would soon have everything he wanted - namely, Lois Lane 
for his wife and a superhero for his victim.

The intercom on his phone buzzed. He pressed the button and 
responded irritably - he hated being interrupted when he 
was dreaming about the future. 

"What is it, Mrs. Cox?" he asked.

However, before she could respond, a woman burst into his 
office. Lex was immediately on his feet. He quickly stuck 
the ring in his desk.

"Miranda," he said in a patronizing voice. "I heard you got 
out. What can I do for you?" Lex asked, waving off Mrs. Cox 
who had followed Miranda into his office.

"You've got that backwards, Lex," said Miranda once Mrs. 
Cox had left, closing the door behind her. "It's what I can 
do for you."

Luthor sat back in his chair as Miranda continued. "I've 
recently discovered that you have made arrangements to 
receive a substance which is alleged to... well, shall we 
say take care of a mutual enemy of ours."

"You wouldn't be talking about Superman, would you?" asked 
Luthor. "The last I saw of you, you were telling Superman 
you loved him."

Miranda turned her back to Luthor, walking to the other 
side of the room. "He tricked me. He infected me with my 
own perfume in order to get me to surrender myself to the 
police." She turned back around and looked at Luthor from 
the other side of the room. "Let's just say that you and I 
have a vested interest in dealing with the Man of Steel."

Luthor studied her for a moment before turning his 
attention to some papers on his desk. "Not interested," he 
replied dismissively. After all, he had his own plans for 
Superman's demise. He didn't need Miranda's help.

"Oh, but I think you will be," she said. "If I know you, 
Lex, you're planning to use your new acquisition to kill 
Superman. What if I told you that my plan is better? Oh, 
I'm sure you have something very creative in mind. But tell 
me, will your way discredit him in the eyes of the world?" 
When he continued to look bored, she spoke again. "Will it 
discredit him in the eyes of a certain reporter?"

Suddenly, Luthor was interested. "What did you have in 
mind?" he asked. 

Miranda made her way back to him, taking a seat on the 
corner of his desk.

"Do you remember my pheromone compound?" she asked.

"Of course," he responded. After all, it would be hard to 
forget how she'd sprayed the Daily Planet employees with 
her animal pheromone, making everyone drunk on love. He 
could clearly remember how foolish Lois looked mooning over 
Clark Kent. He had never seen anything more ridiculous. 
After all, Kent was a nobody. There was no way Lois would 
ever look at someone as insignificant as Kent otherwise.

"How do you think Lois would react if her hero was suddenly 
propositioning every woman he encounters?"

Luthor smiled. Miranda was right. Having Superman become 
promiscuous would completely destroy Superman's reputation 
- particularly in the eyes of Lois Lane. He knew she had 
feelings for the alien, had even worried that those 
feelings might cause her to turn down his proposal. This 
couldn't possibly have come at a better time.

"And you can do that?" Luthor asked, trying not to sound as 
interested as he suddenly felt.

"I can do that," she responded. "Now, I know he appeared to 
be affected by my perfume last time, but I suspect it was 
just an act."

"Why do you think that?" Luthor asked. He'd suspected the 
same thing at the time. However, he wasn't sure why he'd 
doubted the performance.

"He inhaled a lot of my full strength compound and yet was 
still able to think clearly enough to dilute it for use on 
me. Now, even if he wasn't attracted to me, it's common 
knowledge that he has a soft spot for Lois Lane." She 
noticed Lex's eyes narrow. Smiling, she continued, "Yet 
when he was in her presence, was even kissing her, he still 
had the presence of mind to answer your question about me. 
Had he really been affected, he wouldn't have paid any 
attention to you," she replied. "Now tell me, Lex. Why do 
you think he pretended to be affected?"

Luthor's eyes narrowed. There was only one possible answer 
to that question. He'd pretended to be affected by the 
perfume to manipulate Lois into kissing him - which she had 
immediately done. The whole incident had made Luthor sick 
to his stomach.

"So what makes you think it will work on him this time?" he 
asked, changing the direction of the discussion.

"That's where the kryptonite comes in," she responded. "I 
think
that a little kryptonite added to the formula will make 
Superman vulnerable
enough that the perfume will affect him. I spent my time 
inside wisely. I
figured out the proportions necessary to make my pheromone 
compound affect
Superman. The trick will be to add just enough kryptonite 
to allow the
perfume to affect him without hurting him. But I'm 
confident I can do that.
And think how the world will react when Superman starts 
hitting on every
woman he rescues."

"When the people at the Planet were exposed, they focused 
all their attention on one person. Why would Superman be 
any different?" Luthor asked.

"Because my perfume is based on smell. If, for example, a 
person had no sense of smell, my perfume would have no 
effect. With humans, a person is only affected to the 
degree that their sense of smell is developed. Superman, 
from what I've heard, has a remarkable olfactory sense. As 
a result, all it will take is the mildest feeling of 
attraction for him to fall wildly in love - until he finds 
someone else he's attracted to."

Lex nodded slowly. He had to admit it sounded promising. 
There was certainly a danger of Superman encountering Lois 
Lane, but it was an acceptable risk - given the potential 
benefits.

"How soon could you have it ready?"

"How soon can you get me the kryptonite?" she replied.

He considered the question. If he wanted Lois to see a 
promiscuous superhero before he proposed, he'd have to move 
quickly. "I'll have it to you by Thursday morning," he 
finally said.

"Then I'll make sure Superman is exposed Friday morning at 
the latest."

"Perfect," said Luthor. After all, that would give Lois 
plenty of time to hear all about Superman's promiscuity 
before Luthor proposed on Saturday night.

"So, can I assume that this time we can mix a little 
pleasure with our business?" she asked, reaching out to run 
one of her hands down his chest.

"I think not," said Luthor. He stopped as if reconsidering 
before saying, "Unless..."

"Unless?"

"Come back once you've been with Superman," he suggested. 
"Then we might have something to discuss."

She smiled, removing herself from the corner of his desk. 
"Count on it," she said before turning and sashaying out of 
the room.

Luthor settled into his chair as he watched her go. Once 
the door closed behind her, he picked up the phone. A 
moment later, Nigel entered the room.

"You wanted to speak to me, sir?" asked the very proper 
English gentleman.

"Yes, Nigel. Miranda was just here. On Friday, she will be 
having a... sort of rendezvous with Superman. I want a man 
there with a video camera. I want every touch, every word 
recorded."

"Certainly, sir," said Nigel, although he was obviously 
having serious problems believing what his employer seemed 
to think would be going on between Superman and Miranda.

"Once it's done, bring the tape to me immediately."

"If I might enquire, sir?" When Luthor gestured for him to 
continue, Nigel asked his question. "What are you planning 
to do with the tape?"

"Well, first it will have to be edited."

"Why?"

"It is critical that no one recognize the woman with the 
Man of Steel. Once that's done, I will provide a copy to 
LNN, the Playboy channel and Lois Lane - anonymously, of 
course. It should go a long way to shattering Ms. Lane's 
image of the superhero."

As Nigel left, Luthor leaned back in his chair and thought 
about his plan. If anything could change his beloved's view 
of the superhero, it was this. Of course, he wouldn't send 
Miranda all the kryptonite. After all, once Superman was 
thoroughly discredited, he would still have to die.

* * * * * * * * *

On Thursday, as promised, a small parcel arrived from 
Luthor. Miranda opened the box to find a green, glowing 
rock inside. It only took a short time to grind it into a 
fine powder. She carefully measured the powder onto the 
scales until she had the exact amount she required. 

Once the powder was ready, she slipped her gas mask over 
her head and took out her last jar of the full strength 
pheromone compound. She removed the lid and was about to 
pour some of it into a beaker when she stopped. If she used 
a one percent solution, it would only have a temporary 
effect on Superman. She could always claim that she wanted 
to be sure it worked correctly before using a permanent 
dosage. And that would ensure that Luthor would still need 
her after this was done. 

She pushed that thought out of her mind. Luthor would be 
furious if she did that. After all, it wasn't as if her 
supply of kryptonite was unlimited. But... She stood, 
debating the issue in her own mind for quite some time 
before coming to a decision.

She smiled slightly as she worked on the compound. She 
might be intent on discrediting the superhero, but that 
didn't stop her excitement at the idea of having sex with 
him. She hadn't told Lex this, and never would, but she had 
planned to be Superman's first 'conquest' after being 
affected by the pheromone compound, even before Lex had 
suggested it. After all, she might love Lex, but if he 
thought any woman would give up a chance to be with 
Superman, he was crazy.

* * * * * * * * *

It was almost noon on Friday. Lois glanced up at the clock 
again before looking around the newsroom. Where exactly had 
Clark gone to? He had been gone for a couple of hours now, 
giving one of his lame excuses before he left. If he wasn't 
such a great partner when he was around... She growled in 
frustration. 

She turned her attention back to today's story. Since 
terrorists had held them captive here last weekend, she and 
Clark had been doing further research. They had found out 
and written follow-up stories about their captives. It 
seemed that the people who had been hired were all part of 
a mercenary group that sold themselves to the highest 
bidder. They even had advertisements in Soldier of Fortune 
magazine. Their leader was wanted on a number of charges in 
the United States.

Then this morning, she and Clark had delved further into 
the story behind the money that had been hidden in the 
floor of Perry's office - thirty million dollars. Last 
night, Lois had actually located the woman who had betrayed 
Willy. Her name was Lily and she was still alive. After all 
these years, she was finally willing to talk. This morning, 
when Lois and Clark interviewed her, she confessed that she 
had, indeed, wrongfully accused Bill 'Willy' Robinson of 
murdering Murphy. As Lois typed up the story, she found 
herself haunted by Lily's words, "I chose exciting over 
devoted and I've never regretted a decision more."

Lois spent the morning trying to push the woman's words, 
and the accompanying look on her face, out of her mind. 
That wasn't what she was doing by dating Lex when she knew 
Clark was devoted to her. After all, Clark had never even 
asked her out. Actually, that wasn't exactly true. He had 
once, when he first started working at the Planet. However, 
he hadn't again since they'd become friends. No. He 
obviously realized what she did, that dating would ruin the 
greatest partnership and friendship she'd ever had.

She looked around again. Where was he anyway? She had no 
idea how she was going to end this story. She really could 
use Clark's help.

She was looking forward to tomorrow night. She hated doing 
these follow-up stories. Now that the big story was out, it 
was hard not wanting to just get on with the next big 
story. Besides, Lex had called to say that he would be by 
for her at one o'clock tomorrow afternoon. Other than 
telling her to dress for dinner, he'd refused to give her 
the slightest hint about where they were going. She had to 
admit that she was curious.

She looked up when she heard Perry growl at a workman who 
was trying to tell him that repairs to his office were not 
yet complete. She smiled slightly when Perry, over the 
workman's objections, walked into his office, removed a 
sheet covering his desk and chair and settled into his 
chair. She shook her head and turned her attention back to 
the story.

* * * * * * * * *

Superman landed on the roof of the Daily Planet building. 
He stood there, trying to stop the world from spinning 
around him. Once it finally became stable, he turned and 
headed for the stairway. He was just about to walk through 
the door when he felt that something wasn't right. He took 
another look around, but nothing seemed out of whack. Then 
he glanced down at his spandex-covered legs. This wasn't 
the way he usually dressed when he entered the Daily 
Planet. He needed to change.

He tried to spin, but the previous dizziness returned with 
the movement. He stood still for a moment before retrieving 
his clothes from where he'd hidden them on the Daily Planet 
roof when he'd left earlier and, at normal human speed, 
slipped them on over the Superman suit. Then he turned and 
entered the Planet. As he did, the dizziness receded - 
allowing him to descend the stairs at superspeed.

He had just stepped into the newsroom when he heard it - 
her heartbeat. His eyes instinctively sought out the sound 
and his heart leapt when they found Lois diligently 
studying her computer screen. He stood by the banister 
watching her for a moment, her unique fragrance filling his 
nostrils, the soft, rhythmic thumping of her heart the only 
sound he could hear. Suddenly, the urge to close the 
distance between them was overwhelming. As he walked, he 
became oblivious to the presence of everyone else in the 
newsroom.

* * * * * * * * *

"Did you get it?" asked Luthor.

Nigel held up the tape. "I should tell you though that the 
cameraman did say there were a few problems."

"Nothing we can't fix, I'm sure," responded Luthor, coming 
over and taking the tape from Nigel. He walked over to a 
video machine and inserted the tape. Nigel and Luthor stood 
watching. As they did, Luthor's eyes continued to narrow. 
Once the tape clicked off, both men stood in silence for a 
minute.

"Might I ask what you're going to do, sir?" asked Nigel.

"Fix it," Luthor responded. 

* * * * * * * * *

Lois glanced up when she noticed Clark sitting down beside 
her desk.

"Took you long enough," she said, directing her attention 
back to her computer screen.

"Miss me?" he asked, placing his elbows on her desk and 
resting his chin in his hands.

"I sure could have used your help ten minutes ago. Well, as 
long as you're here, you might as well..." Her voice 
trailed off when she looked up and saw him staring at her.

"What is it?" she asked, suddenly wondering if she had some 
food between her teeth. Her hand immediately went to check 
her hair while her tongue swept her mouth looking for any 
forgotten food crumbs.

"Nothing," Clark murmured, smiling contentedly.

Lois put the back of her hand against Clark's forehead. 
There was no temperature as far as she could tell. "You 
feeling okay?" she asked.

"Never better," Clark's voice said in a husky growl.

Lois turned her attention back to the story for a moment 
before she couldn't stand it any longer. Something was 
going on and she was determined to know what it was. 
"What?" she demanded this time. 

"I was just thinking..." Clark whispered, his eyes never 
leaving hers.

"About?"

"How beautiful you are," he concluded, reaching up and 
withdrawing a pen from behind her ear. He then took a 
moment to tuck her hair back where he had found it.

She quickly looked away. There was an intensity in his 
words and his eyes that made her breath catch in her 
throat. 

"I've traveled the whole world and I've never seen anyone 
or anything as beautiful as you," Clark continued. "You 
don't even have to try," he said, completely in awe.

"Would you quit it, Kent," Lois responded, pretending to 
ignore him. She typed along for a minute. Or at least she 
pretended to. She was glad Clark couldn't see her monitor. 
After all, she was typing nonsense. She just needed 
something to keep from looking at him while she tried to 
figure out what he was up to. There was nothing so 
remarkable about the words. After all, Lois had been hit on 
more than once - and being told she was beautiful was 
standard fair. Lex had even told her that on their first 
date - and much more eloquently, too. But there was an 
intensity in the way Clark said it, a feeling of reverence 
in his words that left her mouth dry and her hands sweaty.

He had no right to play with her like this. He was 
buttering her up for something. That was the only possible 
explanation, but he had no right to use such tactics - that 
was her prerogative alone. There had been enough times in 
the past when she'd flirted with him to get something she 
wanted. He had never resorted to such tactics. How dare he 
start now!

In her peripheral vision, she could tell that Clark was 
still sitting at her desk, watching her. She refused to 
look at him. But even without looking at him, she knew the 
look that would be on his face. She'd seen it in the past - 
until he would realize that she'd noticed him. It was a 
look of... wonder, was the word that always seemed to come 
to mind. But until now, she'd never really thought about 
what it meant. Was it possible that Clark had feelings for 
her beyond what she'd been prepared to recognize? No. That 
was ridiculous.

Besides, they had an unspoken understanding. They were 
partners and best friends. Lois knew both their friendship 
and their partnership would irreparably change as soon as 
they stepped over that invisible line. Until now, she 
thought he understood that, too. Well, there was only one 
thing to do. She had to put him back in his place. She took 
a deep breath and opened her mouth to speak as her eyes 
once again found his.

For a moment, she was lost. The look in his eyes was almost 
heart stopping. In fact, it was heart stopping. He was 
looking at her exactly the way she'd imagined the men in 
her romance novels looking at the women they loved. Her 
hand went out to touch his cheek. Suddenly, she pulled 
back. What on earth did she think she was doing? 

"Umm... I've got to..." she said, quickly rising from her 
chair and heading for Perry's office. 

She entered Perry's office without knocking, closing the 
door behind her and leaning her back against the door. 
Perry looked up from his desk.

"What can I do for you, Lois?" he asked.

"What?" asked Lois.

Perry looked confused. "Well, you come steaming into my 
office - without knocking I might add - and..."

"Oh, umm... Sorry, Perry. I just... I'll be going now," she 
said, opening the door and making a quick exit. She started 
towards her desk, but stopped when Clark looked up. No. She 
wasn't ready to face him yet. Not when that look was still 
on his face - that look that seemed to reach inside and 
touch her soul. 

She quickly made her way to the conference room, closed the 
door and the blinds and sank down into a chair at the 
table, her hands trembling. 'Calm down,' she told herself 
firmly. Something was going on. She knew that on two 
levels. The first question was, what had gotten into Clark? 
Of course, that question was not the primary one. No matter 
what had gotten into Clark to make him behave so... un-
Clark-like, she could handle him. After all, she'd handled 
advances from men all her life. 

The primary problem was how she seemed to be reacting to 
this strange behavior. Looking into his eyes sent a flutter 
down her spine to settle in the pit of her stomach, 
reminding her of something she thought she was immune to. 
The urge to touch him at that moment was almost 
irresistible. How was that possible? How was it possible 
that he was able to make her legs tremble when men who were 
so much more debonair, like Lex, were unable to affect her 
beyond a feeling of admiration and flattery?

She'd always known she was physically attracted to Clark. 
She'd felt it while investigating their first story. Going 
to Clark's hotel room, seeing him in nothing but a towel... 
It was the first time in years that she'd felt that desire 
- and never before had it been so intense.

'Of course, I'm also attracted to Superman,' she reminded 
herself. Then she shook her head. Why had she had to remind 
herself that she was physically attracted to Superman? That 
was simple. She hadn't immediately thought about how 
Superman affected her because Superman was different. He 
was... She shook her head, rejecting the word that 
immediately came to mind. She tried to find a different 
word. There had to be a different word. But try as she 
might, the word that kept coming to mind was 'safe.' She 
thought about that for a moment. Was it possible that she 
was using Superman the way many women used movie stars? No! 
Of course not! Superman was lusted after by millions of 
women around the world. She pushed away the realization 
that that was exactly the point. She could openly lust 
after Superman because, in much the same way as a movie 
star, he was unattainable - hence, 'safe.'

Clark was different. There was nothing at all safe about 
him - in fact, he was probably the most dangerous man she'd 
ever known. If she ever let him, he could break not only 
her heart but her spirit. And, if her past had taught her 
anything, it was how temporary men's feelings were. They 
were driven by one thing - the conquest. Besides, she was 
dating Lex now. Clark knew that.

And given the fact that she'd kept any indication that she 
was attracted to Clark well buried, what did Clark think he 
was doing? There was only one way to find out. Deciding to 
take the bull by the horns, she got up from the table and, 
opening the door, looked out into the newsroom. Clark was 
still sitting at her desk, giving a very good impression of 
a lost puppy. She pushed aside the feelings that evoked and 
turned her attention to what needed to be done.

She took a deep breath and walked over to her desk. He 
looked up as she approached and his face immediately lit 
up. She paused momentarily, swallowing hard. If she thought 
that lost puppy look was adorable, this was a hundred times 
more powerful.

"We need to talk," Lois said, keeping her words as clipped 
and unfriendly as she could, although even she could tell 
that her voice trembled slightly. She immediately spun 
around and headed back to the conference room, telling 
herself again what a mistake it was to get involved with a 
co-worker - especially this particular co-worker. As she 
entered the conference room, she noted that some of their 
colleagues were watching. She didn't concern herself with 
their attention. They'd all seen enough fights between her 
and Clark over the past year.

Once inside, Lois waited until she heard Clark close the 
door before turning around. She took an immediate step back 
when she discovered that Clark was standing right in front 
of her. 

"Listen," said Clark, "it's obvious that neither of us are 
getting any work done. So why don't we take the day off?"

Lois, who was still slightly off balance from finding Clark 
standing so close, mumbled something which made no sense 
even to her. How was it possible that she hadn't realized 
before how incredible Clark smelt? 

"We could fly to a small island in the Pacific I know 
about. You'd love it. I've dreamt about taking you there 
since the day we met. It's only a few miles across. It's 
covered with palm trees and has the whitest sand I've ever 
seen. And there's this waterfall..."

"What are you talking about, Clark?" Lois interrupted - his 
words finally breaking through her hormone-clouded mind. 
"Even if I agreed to take the day off, we'd never be able 
to get there and back." As she spoke, she began backing 
away from Clark. There was something definitely wrong. She 
swallowed hard when he followed her. It wasn't long before 
he had her backed against the wall. He placed an arm on the 
wall beside her head and, leaning on it, bought his body 
within inches of hers. However, to his credit, he wasn't 
touching her. Still, the closeness of his body was making 
it impossible for her to think clearly.

"Getting there isn't a problem," said Clark dismissively. 
"Besides, I know you have feelings for me. You're just 
scared. Don't worry. I'd never hurt you the way the others 
have. You mean more to me than my life. I'd rather die 
myself than ever hurt you."

"What are you talking about, Clark?" Lois demanded as 
briskly as she could - trying unsuccessfully to ignore how 
close he was coming to the truth about her.

"I love you, Lois," he whispered before taking one of her 
hands with his free one and raising it. Keeping his eyes 
firmly on hers, he turned her hand over and gently kissed 
the inside of her wrist. 

Lois immediately felt lightheaded. She wasn't sure if it 
was the kiss or the look in his eyes. She quickly yanked 
her hand away from his grasp. "I don't know what you think 
you're doing, but this is really starting to make me 
uncomfortable."

Clark immediately took a small step back. "I'd never do 
anything you didn't want me to," he said, as if horrified 
that she might think otherwise. "You do know that, don't 
you?"

She let out a breath. "I know that, Clark," she conceded. 
"It's just... Well, you are acting a little strange."

"I can't help how I feel. I'm so completely in love with 
you, baby." 

Baby? Lois fell silent. What was going on here? Why was 
Clark calling her 'baby'? No one called her 'baby' and 
actually lived to tell the tale. However, before she could 
respond, Clark's face broke into a smile. 

"Let's get out of here," he said.

"What? Clark, it's the middle of a work day. We can't 
just..." Her voice trailed off when Clark suddenly became a 
blur. When it finally stopped, Superman was standing in 
front of her, hand stretched out to her. 

"What... How... Omigod!" Lois gasped as the implications of 
what she had just seen began to sink in.

"Lois!" Clark exclaimed, reaching out and catching her as 
her legs gave out from under her. He lowered her into a 
chair before kneeling in front of her. 

Lois' hand came up to his face, tracing the lines as she 
struggled to see her partner in the superhero. "Why did you 
do that?" she asked after a moment. After all, Clark had 
obviously gone to a great deal of trouble to conceal his 
identity - or was it the other way around? Why was he 
revealing this to her now?

"Do what, baby?" Superman asked, as if completely 
mystified. One of his hands came up to cover the one of 
hers that was still resting on his cheek.

"Do..." her voice trailed off as she looked into Superman's 
bewildered eyes. He didn't seem to realize what he'd just 
revealed to her. What the heck was going on here?

"I'd really like to kiss you," Superman whispered. 

"What?" asked Lois, still completely rattled by what was 
happening. Suddenly, her breath caught in her throat as the 
man before her - was it Superman or Clark? - began to lean 
in. Unable to get her mind to focus on any single thought, 
she did nothing as he moved closer. Then, instead of 
touching his lips to hers, his lips began to trail down the 
outside of her throat. "What the..." Lois said, her mind 
coming back in full force as his lips burned a path down 
her neck. She instinctively reached up and pushed him 
violently away, causing him to crash back onto the floor 
behind him. She jumped to her feet, fighting the feeling 
that too much information combined with too many feelings 
were being flung at her faster than she had the power to 
handle it.

"What do you think you're doing?" she demanded, glaring 
down at him and growing angrier when she realized that her 
voice had taken on a husky texture. "I never..." Her voice 
trailed off at the confused, hurt and almost mortified look 
on his face. It suddenly hit her. Whatever was going on 
here, he had less power to control it than she did. She 
knelt down beside him, carefully studying his eyes. His 
pupils were dilated and his skin was flushed. She let out a 
breath when it hit her. She wasn't sure how it was 
possible, given who he was, but she was fairly certain 
Clark had been drugged. It was the only thing that made any 
sense. However, before she could explore that idea further, 
the door to the conference room started to open. 

Lois' mind made a dozen different leaps of logic in a 
nanosecond. Suddenly, she was on her feet, rushing to the 
door to slam it shut again. Everyone had seen Clark come in 
here. How would they... or actually, she, since Clark was 
probably not going to be any help ...possibly explain Clark 
disappearing to be replaced by Superman?

"What the Sam Hill is going on in there?" demanded her 
boss' voice.

Lois cringed. It would have to be Perry. "Just give us a 
minute, Perry," Lois begged through the door. She then 
turned her attention back to Superman who was still sitting 
dejectedly on the floor. "I need you to change back into 
Clark," she said.

"I thought you liked the suit," said Superman, getting up 
off the floor and looking much more hopeful now that she 
was talking to him again.

"I do," said Lois quickly. "It's just... I loved that spin 
thing and want to know if you can do it backwards."

Superman's face lit up in a smile. He quickly spun. She 
gasped when a second later, Clark stood in front of her. 
"That's... Umm... Impressive. Now, I need you to promise me 
something."

"Like to love, honor and cherish you for as long as we both 
shall live?" Clark asked, stepping closer.

Lois swallowed hard at the powerful image those words 
invoked. "No," she said softly, not meeting his eyes. "I 
need you to promise not to let anyone know you're Superman 
unless I say it's okay."

He looked slightly confused but gave the promise. Lois let 
out a breath before turning to open the door to their boss.

* * * * * * * * *

Getting Clark out of the newsroom hadn't been hard. It was 
lunch time, after all. As she climbed behind the wheel of 
her jeep, she realized that she had no idea where she was 
taking him. All she did know was that this man... her mild-
mannered partner who, as it turned out, was also an 
invincible superhero, was not in his right mind. She had to 
get him out of the newsroom before he did something that 
couldn't be explained away. She might not know the reasons, 
but she did know that he wouldn't want anyone to know that 
he was Superman. After all, he wouldn't have gone to such 
great lengths to create a separate identity if he wanted 
people to know.

Clark's place? Her place? Somewhere entirely different? It 
only took her a moment to make the decision. Her place. At 
least there she'd be in control. And there was no one else 
around for Clark to reveal his secret to. But there was a 
problem. There was definitely a problem with being alone 
with him at her apartment.

She glanced over at him. Clark had turned slightly to watch 
her. The look on his face made her heart skip a beat. His 
look was a mixture of what could only be described as 
adoration and longing. She quickly turned back to peer out 
the front windshield. Whatever he was on had definitely 
made him amorous. The problem was that she was quickly 
discovering that she was no longer immune to him - if she 
ever really had been. The look in his eyes sent shivers 
down her spine. Why hadn't she realized before what he 
could do to her with just a look? Maybe it was because he 
didn't normally allow himself to look at her that way. 
Whatever it was, she couldn't react to it. It wouldn't be 
fair to either of them and it would certainly end the 
greatest friendship she'd ever had.

* * * * * * * * *

"You wanted to see him, sir?" Nigel asked.

"Yes, Nigel. From his picture he looks perfect for the 
part, but I want to make sure he can stand up to the 
scrutiny."

Nigel nodded. "Aren't you concerned about him telling 
someone about this?"

"He won't be alive long enough to tell anyone," Luthor 
stated. "You'll make sure of that."

Nigel smiled. "Very good, sir. Shall I bring him in?"

"Yes, Nigel," Luthor replied.

It was only a moment more before the man was standing in 
Luthor's office. They were introduced. After listening to 
the man for a moment, Luthor was tempted to find someone 
else. But then he looked the man over carefully. He was 
perfect for the role.

"You know what you need to do?" asked Luthor.

"Yeah, sure," the man replied, chomping down on the stick 
of gum in his mouth.

"You'll be well compensated for your efforts," Luthor said, 
escorting the man to the door of his office. Once he was 
gone, Luthor turned to Nigel. "Just make sure he gets rid 
of that gum," he instructed his subordinate. "And whatever 
you do, make sure he follows the script! That man can't be 
trusted to make up dialogue."

* * * * * * * * *

Lois told Clark to make himself comfortable before making 
her way to the washroom. She needed a moment to compose 
herself without Clark's scrutiny. This was the first chance 
she'd had to do that.

She stared at herself in the mirror while she tried to get 
her thoughts in order. Within the last half hour, she'd 
found out that Clark was Superman. She'd concluded that 
Clark had somehow been drugged, making him unusually 
amorous. That had led to the painfully obvious realization 
that she was seriously attracted to Clark, at least on a 
physical level. Was it because she now knew that he was 
Superman? No. She'd realized the attraction before he'd 
revealed the connection. 

And, if that wasn't bad enough, she had no idea how she 
should be reacting to the realization that the two men she 
respected most in this world were actually the same man. 
There hadn't been time to even think about that. She 
figured she should be furious with Clark, but how could she 
when he seemed oblivious to the fact that she hadn't known? 
When she thought about it, it really wasn't a stretch 
believing that Clark and Superman were one in the same. 
Both men cared - really cared - about others. Both men 
treated her as if she made the sun rise. Both men cared 
about truth and both in their own way fought to make the 
world a better place. It wasn't just a physical 
resemblance. They both had the same heart. The fact that 
she hadn't realized the connection... the fact that no one 
realized the connection was remarkable. It would 
undoubtedly take her some time to figure out the reasons 
for that.

And not only was he Superman. He was an unusually amorous 
Superman. It was almost as if he had lost all of his normal 
inhibitions. A small smile played around the corners of her 
mouth for a moment as she considered the implications. 
After all the fantasies she'd had about Superman since he'd 
arrived on the scene, it looked as if she finally had her 
chance. Suddenly, she closed her eyes and had to fight the 
urge to groan. He might be Superman, but he wasn't just 
Superman. He was Clark.

If he were only Superman, she'd be tempted to give in to 
his none-too-subtle advances, but his being Clark, as well, 
changed everything. It wasn't that she found Clark so 
undesirable - quite the contrary. The problem was that if 
she slept with Superman and it didn't work out, life would 
go on much the same as it had until now, with the exception 
that she would no doubt be left with an incredible memory. 
However, to make love with Clark could devastate her. She 
knew how vital Clark had become to her happiness. She 
wasn't quite sure how he'd done it, but somehow he'd 
managed to insinuate himself into her life. She couldn't 
lose him. Thus, no matter how tempting it might be to find 
out exactly what Superman was like as a lover, she couldn't 
let herself give in to Clark. There was just too much at 
stake.

"Lois, are you okay?" she heard Clark ask through the 
washroom door. She flushed the toilet before washing her 
hands. She knew Clark would just have to look through the 
door to realize that she was using going to the washroom as 
a cover. However, she also knew that Clark would never do 
that.

"I'll be right out," she called back.

Suddenly she heard the radio. Clark was obviously flipping 
through channels, looking for something to listen to. She 
swallowed hard when he stopped on a channel playing soft, 
romantic music. 

What were they doing here? Focus, girl. They were here so 
that they would have some place private to talk,so that 
Clark wouldn't give away his secret and so that Lois could 
find out what was wrong with Clark. And that was absolutely 
all that was going to happen!

She made her way out of the washroom and then gave herself 
more time by heading to the kitchen to make some coffee. 
Once it was ready, she poured two cups. As she was adding 
real cream to Clark's coffee, she suddenly chuckled. At 
least this explained how Clark was able to eat like an 
eight year old and look like Mr. Hardbody. In fact, a lot 
of the things about Clark that she had previously found so 
incomprehensible made sense now. His constant disappearing 
act. His fading into the background whenever an emergency 
arose. His handing in his resignation when Superman had 
been ordered to leave Metropolis during the heat wave last 
November.

But who was this Clark Kent? He said he was from Kansas, 
and until today she would have never questioned that fact. 
She knew his parents and had visited the farm he claimed to 
have grown up on. She'd even seen his baby pictures, for 
crying out loud. Besides he was just such a wholesome... 
She heard another love song come on the radio. ...hot-
blooded, American boy. She steadied herself before picking 
up the coffee and making her way into the living room. 

She stopped in the doorway and watched Clark. He was 
sitting on the sofa. He had found a picture of her and Lucy 
and was adoringly running a finger over her image. He must 
have heard her, because he looked up. His face immediately 
lit up with one of his patented thousand-watt smiles. She 
broke eye contact and made her way over, handing him his 
coffee and then, deliberately, taking a seat in a chair at 
the far end of the couch.

How to begin the conversation? She stared at her coffee for 
a moment, contemplating the problem. She had to find out 
exactly what had happened to him. She glanced up at Clark 
and immediately looked back at her coffee. That look was 
back on his face. She was astounded that, with just a look, 
he could speak volumes. He obviously was not struggling 
with what to say, as if just looking at her was enough. She 
cleared her throat. Might as well just take the plunge.

"Clark, I think you've been drugged," she said. Good start, 
she decided immediately. "Can you tell me when you started 
to feel this way?"

"What way?" he asked in absolute innocence.

She cleared her throat. "When did you start to feel this 
way about me?" she asked. If he could remember that, she 
might be able to work out how, or at least when, he'd been 
drugged.

"When did I fall in love with you?" he asked for 
clarification. When she nodded, he continued, "When you 
walked into Perry's office," he answered.

She thought about that for a moment. That didn't make any 
sense. He'd been fine when they'd first come into work this 
morning. And as far as she could remember, she'd only been 
in Perry's office once today,and that was after Clark had 
begun acting weird. "When was that?" she asked.

"When I was interviewing," he responded, scooting down the 
couch to sit closer to her. He picked up her free hand.

Trying to work out what he was talking about, she was 
distracted enough that she didn't withdraw her hand. "What 
are you talking about?" she asked.

"When I first interviewed at the Daily Planet, you stormed 
into my interview and my heart at the same instant. I fell 
in love with you at first sight," he said, bringing her 
hand up to his lips to kiss it.

She looked at him in stunned silence. From one revelation 
to another. He'd fallen in love with her at first sight. 
She'd barely noticed him. And for the past year, she'd 
thought he was just interested in being friends. It was 
almost too much information to process. She pushed the 
thought from her mind. She should take anything Clark told 
her right now with a healthy degree of skepticism. 

Okay, that tactic was obviously not working. Well, she knew 
that he had probably been drugged some time this morning. 
She withdrew one hand from Clark's grasp while using the 
other to set down her coffee on the coffee table.

"Clark, I need you to help me," she tried again, obviously 
struggling to be patient. "Can you tell me what might have 
happened? Is there anything that can drug Superman?"

Clark looked confused for a moment. Suddenly, his 
expression cleared and he smiled. "You've always been like 
a drug to me, Lois," he informed her. "I get high when you 
laugh. I get stoned when I see you walk into a room. The 
truth is I've been drunk on you all year. The cops should 
take away my driver's license whenever you're around."

She let out a breath. This was getting her nowhere. Well, 
if she couldn't get the information from him... She got up 
out of her chair and made her way to the phone. After 
punching in a number, she took a seat as she waited for an 
answer.

"Jimmy, I need you to find out what Superman was doing this 
morning," she said when Jimmy finally came on the line. 
"Call me at home when you get the information."

She hung up the phone and turned around. She let out a 
start of surprise to find that Clark had got up off the 
couch and was approaching. "Clark, why don't..." 

"Do you know how incredible you are?" he interrupted. "I 
just love to watch you when you get all fired up about 
something, sort of like you are now." 

While she was trying to figure out how to respond, Clark 
arrived directly in front of where she was seated. She was 
utterly speechless when he suddenly dropped to one knee in 
front of her and took her hand in his.

"Will you marry me, Lois?" he asked.

"No!" she gasped instinctively, pulling her hand from his. 
Then her breath caught in her throat at the look of utter 
devastation that settled on his face. "I mean..." she 
stuttered. Her voice trailed off. After all, what was there 
to say? She couldn't marry him. What did he think he was 
doing?

'He's not in his right mind,' a little voice in the back of 
her mind reminded her. 'And you're breaking his heart,' it 
said again. 

"I'm sorry," stuttered Clark, slowly rising to his feet and 
making his way to the sofa to plop himself down on it in 
defeat.

She let out a slow breath as she watched him. He really did 
look heartbroken. And he was the best friend she'd ever 
had. She had to find a way to get him to quit hurting. Not 
by marrying him, of course, but there had to be a way.

She made her way to him, taking a seat beside him on the 
couch. He shifted away from her. She took a deep breath and 
reached out to take one of his hands in hers. "Clark, look 
at me," she instructed when he continued to look away. When 
he still didn't look at her, she reached out her free hand 
and placed it on the far side of his face in order to turn 
his face towards her.

It still took him a moment to meet her eyes. She realized 
that his eyes were moist, as if he were on the verge of 
tears. Her heart went out to him. Without thinking it 
through, she did the only thing that came to mind. She 
leaned over and lightly kissed him. 

She pulled back almost immediately, only to find that his 
hand had slipped from hers so that he could wrap both arms 
around her. He began pulling her back to him. This time, 
his lips found hers. Why didn't she push him away? In 
retrospect, she'd come up with a hundred different reasons, 
including that she was just so surprised. However, she 
already knew that Clark was a great kisser. He'd kissed her 
for the first time just before Trask had thrown her out of 
an airplane and then during a stakeout at the honeymoon 
suite at the Lexor hotel. She'd kissed Superman on a couple 
of occasions as well.

So, when his lips lightly brushed over hers, she found 
herself involuntarily responding. It was less than a second 
before his lips once more caressed hers, as gently as the 
first time. However, this time, he lingered before his lips 
pushed gently against hers, his tongue lightly touching her 
lips. 

The surrender was almost unconscious when she opened her 
mouth and found his tongue with hers. She knew his taste 
from their previous kisses, but never imagined how 
powerfully it would affect her now. Maybe, without her 
knowing it, her feelings for Clark had changed over the 
last few months. Whatever the reason, two kisses turned 
into three followed by four and five. Each kiss seemed to 
last longer and be a little more intimate than the one 
before. Soon both had lost count, becoming completely lost 
to the activity.

Without abandoning his lips, Lois adjusted her position, 
slipping her arms around his neck. When he reclined on the 
couch, she followed him over until she was lying against 
his chest. Suddenly it occurred to Lois what she was doing. 
She tried pulling away only to catch sight of his kiss-
swollen lips and the dreamy look in his eyes. She groaned. 
Unable to stop herself, she lowered herself against him to 
once again find his lips.

"We interrupt this program to inform you of a late breaking 
story," a voice on the radio said, interrupting the soft 
playing music. "A fire in suicide slum is threatening to 
kill a number of people - mostly children. It is believed 
that there are some children trapped in the building which 
was being used as a daycare facility. Firefighters have, so 
far, been unable to reach them..."

Clark's lips gently touched hers. 

"Clark..."

His hand came up to her cheek, following which he gently 
ran his fingers down the soft skin.

"...According to firefighters, the only hope the children 
have now is if Superman..."

"Clark..." Lois repeated a little more forcefully, this 
time pushing at his chest to raise herself.

"I'm sorry, baby. I thought..."

"Clark, didn't you hear the news report?" Lois asked. 

"Umm... yeah. It's too bad about those kids," he said, 
before once again reaching for her.

She evaded his grasp. He looked confused by her sudden 
change of attitude. 

"Don't you think Superman should help?" she asked.

Clark looked at her for a moment more before he seemed to 
realize what she was saying. "Omigod," he whispered. 
"What's happening to me? I've got to..." he said, jumping 
to his feet.

"Go!" Lois exclaimed. 

He stood there for a moment and Lois could swear she saw a 
battle going on behind his eyes. It was as if he was trying 
to convince himself that he had to go, but at the same time 
couldn't quite bring himself to leave her.

"I find it incredibly sexy when you do your Superman 
thing," she whispered.

Suddenly, his eyes cleared, as if no longer in conflict. He 
spun into the Superman outfit and disappeared out the 
window. 

Lois collapsed back into the sofa, wondering what on earth 
had just happened in her apartment - well, other than the 
obvious. She shook her head slightly, still trying to come 
to grips with how quickly things had gotten out of control. 
How quickly she had gotten out of control. Kissing Clark 
had been... She raised her hands to her cheeks, amazed by 
the amount of heat.

She turned off the radio in favor of the television, 
quickly turning the channel to LNN. She was glad to see 
that LNN was covering the fire. She'd much rather watch 
Superman in action than listen to the play-by-play. She saw 
Superman appear on the scene. A small smile crept onto the 
corners of her lips. It had only been moments before 
that...

What was she doing? What had been happening moments before 
couldn't happen again! This time she was not jumping in 
without checking the water level! Even he seemed to know 
that he wasn't reacting rationally. He almost hadn't 
realized that he should be responding to the fire. Then, 
even when he had, he'd struggled to leave her. It was only 
when she indicated that she would be impressed if he helped 
out at the fire that he had gone. And if he wasn't exactly 
in his right mind, it would be unforgivable for her to let 
anything happen between them.

She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She had no 
doubt that he would be back at her window as soon as the 
fire was under control. That gave her some time to figure 
out how to handle the situation. 

Her attention was once again directed to the television. 
Somehow knowing that Clark was the man inside the suit made 
Superman's feats that much more impressive. He was, after 
all, just an ordinary guy doing the most extraordinary 
things. It was at that moment that Lois had an epiphany - 
the man she was watching was Clark. The suit was just a 
disguise. 

The cameras were focusing their attention on Superman. She 
watched with a sense of awe as Clark made one trip after 
another to get the children out of the building. 

"That's my partner," she said to her fish, an incredible 
amount of pride in her voice. She turned her attention back 
to the television. After the children were all out, 
Superman went back into the house one more time and 
reappeared with a young woman - probably the woman in 
charge of the daycare - in his arms.

Then Lois' shoulders tensed as the look on Superman's face 
seemed to change. He was looking at that woman the way he 
had looked at her earlier. She pushed the thought away. She 
was being paranoid. But then her original diagnosis was 
confirmed when Superman leaned in and kissed the woman as 
he floated them slowly to the ground. 

Lois didn't remember doing so, but she suddenly found 
herself on her feet in front of the television. What was he 
doing? She felt her heart plunge into her stomach. Even 
though she had known, intellectually, that Clark's actions 
were motivated by something other than her, it still hurt 
to watch him kiss another woman. Although the volume was 
low, she could hear the correspondent saying that obviously 
even Superman wasn't immune to a beautiful woman and 
wondering if the Man of Steel had finally succumbed to 
love.

She watched as the kiss suddenly broke. The look on Clark's 
face was one of sheer horror. He immediately set the woman 
down and was gone, leaving putting out the actual fire to 
the firefighters. Lois was relieved when the correspondent 
reported that, now that the people were out of the 
building, the firefighters were confident they could handle 
the fire. The correspondent, however, found it odd that 
Superman would disappear before the fire was out. 

Lois sank back down onto the couch, a tear slipping slowly 
down her cheek.

* * * * * * * * *

"Well, that was certainly interesting," commented Luthor. 

Luthor turned his attention back to the television. He 
picked up the remote and turned the volume up. Maybe it was 
worthwhile listening to what the commentators had to say 
about the kiss.

"This just in," said the anchor, his hand coming up to his 
ear as he listened to the radio transmitter in it. 
"Apparently, a flower shop has just contacted the station 
to report that Superman was just in. And he purchased... a 
dozen roses. There you have it, folks. It seems that this 
woman..." The screen behind him again showed the young 
woman being kissed by Superman. "...has captured Superman's 
heart."

"Any idea who the flowers are for?" Nigel asked.

"It could be anyone," Luthor replied. "Until he recovers 
from the effect of Miranda's perfume, he's likely to try to 
seduce any woman he finds attractive. This time it shook 
him up enough that he left before the fire was out. Next 
time, with any luck, he'll get distracted before he's 
finished what needs to be done."

"Aren't you concerned about Ms. Lane, sir?"

Luthor thought about that for a moment. "Not really, Nigel. 
I've made studying Ms. Lane an art form. Nothing scares her 
quite as much as an aggressive male. If Superman comes on 
too heavy, I think it will scare her off, at least for a 
time. And before she can change her mind, my work 
discrediting Superman will be complete. And neither a 
promiscuous superhero nor a dead man are much of a threat 
where Lois Lane is concerned."

* * * * * * * * *

Lois brushed the back of her hand over her cheek, 
desperately trying to remove the tears lingering there. She 
already knew that getting involved with Clark would be a 
mistake. She already knew that something - she still didn't 
know what - was making him act this way.

Knowing that it wasn't her was probably a good thing. At 
least now she would have the strength to avoid his 
advances. If he even bothered to come back to her. After 
all, the purchase of roses indicated that he had found 
someone else after the fire. If it wasn't the woman at the 
fire, of course. However, Lois didn't think so. She had 
seen the look of horror on Clark's face after he kissed the 
woman - it was the same look that had been on his face when 
he'd realized that he was kissing her instead of going to 
help at the fire.

She reached over and picked up the phone when it rang.

"Hi, Lois," came Jimmy's voice over the line.

"What have you found, Jimmy?" asked Lois. She knew her 
voice was abrupt, but it was the only way to keep her 
emotions under control.

"Apparently, Superman was busy this morning. He cleaned up 
a thirteen car pile-up on the freeway. Rumors are that he 
rescued two cats from trees. And there was some incident at 
the Lex Corp Nuclear Plant that he helped out with. I take 
it you've seen LNN and the woman Superman's apparently 
fallen in love with."

"I saw it," she snapped. She closed her eyes, getting 
control of her emotions before saying, "Thanks, Jimmy."

She hung up the phone. It was going to take a while to find 
out where whatever had happened to Clark had happened. The 
most obvious choice was the nuclear facility. However, 
she'd seen him take on the nuclear reactor once before 
without any negative consequences. 

If only she knew what he'd been exposed to. Was it a 
temporary thing or was this the new Superman? That could be 
a disaster. And, no, she wasn't just thinking about 
herself. Clark was almost acting as if he'd been... 
Suddenly, she gasped. He was acting exactly the same way 
she'd acted when she'd been exposed to that horrible 
pheromone compound. Was it possible...?

She shook her head. Clark hadn't been affected by it. On 
the other hand, Superman had. Wait a minute! She'd seen 
Clark sprayed. He had even commented on the smell when they 
had confronted Miranda, and yet he hadn't been affected. 
He'd actually withstood two days of advances by her. At the 
time she'd almost believed that he wasn't attracted to her, 
and he had encouraged the idea. So then, how was it that a 
short time later when Superman had been exposed, he'd been 
affected? That brat! She never would have believed that 
Superman would deceive her into thinking that he'd been 
affected just to get her to kiss him, but knowing that he 
was Clark... That brat! She chuckled slightly. It had been 
a great kiss - almost as great as their kisses here 
earlier... 'Don't go there, girl,' she warned herself 
firmly, pushing her mind back to the problem at hand.

Okay, so the pheromone compound didn't affect Superman. Or 
at least it hadn't last time. Still, she should check out 
the possibility given Clark's current behavior. She'd 
wanted to forget the entire episode, so she hadn't followed 
up on what had happened to Miranda, but it was time to find 
out. After all, although she hadn't been able to affect 
Superman last time, that didn't mean she hadn't found a 
way. Lois immediately picked up the phone and called Jimmy 
back. 

Once she'd given Jimmy some more instructions and hung up 
the phone, another problem occurred to her. If Clark was 
attracted to every woman he came across, he might not even 
come back to her. And considering how easily he'd let her 
know his real identity... Maybe she shouldn't have told him 
to go. No. That hadn't been an option. If he hadn't gone, 
those children and that young woman would have died.

Tap, tap, tap.

Lois looked up at the sound of tapping at the window. She 
breathed a sigh of relief. Only one man in the world 
knocked on the window of her apartment. She walked over and 
opened the window. Superman was floating on the other side.

"May I come in?" he asked, not quite looking at her.

Lois moved to the side, allowing him to float into the 
room. He pulled something from behind his back. A dozen 
roses. He reached out, offering her the flowers.

"What's this?" asked Lois, staring at the flowers.

He shrugged before saying sheepishly, "I imagine you saw 
what happened at the fire."

Lois nodded, trying once again not to react to the 
knowledge that he'd kissed another woman. She could hardly 
believe she was acting like a jealous girlfriend, but 
couldn't seem to stop herself. She reminded herself once 
again that he couldn't be held accountable. Still, she 
suddenly understood Alice's reaction when she'd discovered 
that, while under the influence of the pheromone compound, 
Perry had pursued another woman.

"She means nothing to me, baby. I swear. I just... I don't 
know what I was thinking. Can you ever forgive me?" Clark 
asked.

Lois was suddenly struck by a thought. Although she'd 
pursued Clark shamelessly while under the influence of the 
pheromone compound, she'd ignored all other men - including 
Lex. She knew why. If she were honest with herself, she'd 
always known why. There were only two men in the world she 
had a base animal attraction to - and Clark had wisely kept 
the superhero out of sight until she recovered.

She felt a flash of anger. Clark was obviously attracted to 
more women than just her. She forced her anger down. He was 
a man after all. And men were much more susceptible to 
sexual temptation than women were, at least in her 
experience. What was remarkable was that he'd stopped. 
Regardless of what he'd been infected with, he stopped 
kissing that woman. She almost smiled when she realized 
that hadn't been the case with her. With her, he wouldn't 
have stopped if she hadn't sent him to rescue those 
children. Besides, it wasn't as if there was anything 
between them anyway. It would be out of line for her to 
torment him with this, especially when his emotions were so 
close to the surface.

She looked at Clark. He was standing in front of her in his 
Superman outfit, staring intently at his feet. She followed 
his gaze. With his left foot, he was scuffing at an 
imaginary spot on the floor. He looked for all the world 
like a little boy who'd just been caught with his hand in 
the cookie jar and was silently waiting for his mother to 
pronounce judgment. A small smile began to tug at one 
corner of her mouth as all traces of anger fled. How on 
earth was she supposed to stay mad at that?

"It's okay, Clark," she said softly.

His face immediately lit up. He set the flowers on the 
coffee table, and then, before she could react, he pulled 
her into his arms, finding her lips with his. Her mind 
screamed at her. She couldn't let this continue. Summoning 
every bit of strength she possessed, she broke the kiss. 
She was about to rebuke him, but suddenly remembered how 
she'd felt when she was affected by the pheromone compound. 
The entire episode was fuzzy and there were moments she 
still couldn't recall, but she could remember feeling pain 
at every rejection.

"It's not as if this isn't nice," she said quietly, "but 
we've got work to do." Following the words, she slipped out 
of his arms. 

Clark sighed and let her go. As amorous as he was at the 
moment, he was also responsive to her commands. That was 
the good news. All she had to do was remember what her 
commands should be - that in itself was enough of a 
challenge. Especially...

"Clark, would you get out of that suit?" she said, 
convinced that it would be easier dealing with Clark than 
with Superman. 

Clark immediately spun. When he stopped, Lois' mouth 
dropped open. Clark was now standing before her, wearing 
nothing but his briefs.

"What about you, baby?" Clark asked.

"Huhh?" asked Lois, her eyes automatically drifting down 
his body, over his powerful shoulders, across his hard 
pecs, taking in his washboard stomach. Being unable to stop 
there, her gaze drifted lower.

"Well, surely you don't expect me to be the only one to get 
out of my clothes?" he said, stepping closer again.

"What are you..." Her voice trailed off and she forced her 
eyes to meet his. "...doing?"

"You wanted me to get out of my suit," he said, sounding 
confused. 

"I just meant... Your Clark clothes."

"Oh. Do you want me to..."

She nodded vigorously.

Clark immediately spun again and in a moment Clark was 
standing in front of her, dressed as Clark.

She sighed - as much in relief as regret. She knew having a 
scantily clad Clark Kent in her apartment was not a good 
idea. Still, she had to admit he had a great body. However, 
seeing that for herself was certainly not good for her own 
resolve. She needed some distance and she needed it now!

"I'm just going to put these in some water," said Lois, 
grabbing the flowers and scurrying from the room. "You just 
wait here," she instructed when she noticed that Clark was 
starting to follow.

She grabbed a vase and put some water in it. Then, with 
trembling hands, she opened the little packet that came 
with the flowers and dumped the contents into the water. 
She unwrapped the flowers and grabbed a knife and a cutting 
board to cut the ends off the roses. She knew she needed 
some time to calm down. Okay, so he had a great body - a 
remarkable body even. She swallowed hard. The idea of 
running her hands over that remarkable body was suddenly 
playing in her mind. He'd not stop her. He'd accept, 
without question, any... What was she doing?

"Ouch!" she gasped.

"Everything all right?" Clark asked, suddenly appearing in 
the doorway. 

"Yeah," said Lois, staring at her finger. "I just cut 
myself." Her hand automatically went to her mouth. Before 
it could reach its destination, Clark had taken her hand in 
his.

"Allow me," he whispered, and then, before Lois could 
discern his intention, he took the tip of her finger in his 
mouth. Their eyes met over her finger and Lois' mouth 
immediately went dry. She tried to swallow, but didn't even 
have enough moisture in her mouth to do that.

Her finger slipped slowly from his mouth. Clark opened his 
mouth to once again close it over her finger. Suddenly, 
what was happening seeped into her consciousness. She 
quickly withdrew her hand and diverted her eyes.

"Lois," Clark whispered.

"Look, Clark," she said, ignoring the guttural sound of his 
voice and putting the flowers in the water. She picked up 
the vase and headed to the table without looking at Clark. 
"We've got to figure out what's going on. Do you think you 
can help me do that?"

"I'd do anything for you, baby," Clark replied.

She glanced over at him. "Just have a seat, Clark," she 
instructed, setting the vase on the table and working on 
arranging the flowers. Well, at least she knew what he'd 
done with the roses he'd purchased. Suddenly, she was 
struck by a terrifying thought. "Clark, how did you pay for 
these?" she asked. "I mean, you didn't use a credit card or 
something. Did you?"

"I paid cash," Clark replied. "Do you want to see a 
receipt?"

"No, I..." She turned towards him. Whatever was going on 
here, she had to protect his secret. "Clark, I need you to 
promise me something."

"Anything," Clark replied, placing his elbows on the table 
so that he could put his chin in his hands and settle his 
adoring gaze on Lois.

She tried to ignore the look. "You've got to remember not 
to let anyone know that Superman is Clark Kent. That means 
when you're in your Superman suit, you can't do or say 
things that Clark would do and visa versa."

"Okay," said Clark congenially.

Lois blinked. She had expected to have to try to explain to 
him why this was important. She wasn't sure what she was 
going to say. After all, she hadn't had time to figure out 
why Clark used a disguise, so how could she explain it to 
him? However, given how carefully he seemed to guard the 
secret, she had to assume he had his reasons. Until he 
could explain all this to her himself, she really had no 
choice but to accept that his reasons were legitimate and 
help keep his secret. 

His simple 'okay' took her by surprise. It was almost as if 
Clark was so focused on her that any subject not directly 
related to her held no real interest for him. He'd probably 
not give away his secret on purpose, but he could very well 
simply not be aware of what he was doing. That still left 
protecting his secret up to her. Her introspection was 
interrupted by Clark's voice.

"You know what I'd really like to do right now?" he asked.

'I think so,' she thought. After all, she was trying not to 
think about doing the exact same thing.

"I'd like to go dancing," Clark continued.

Lois' mouth dropped open. When she'd been under the 
influence of the pheromone compound, the only thing she'd 
wanted to do was to climb into bed with Clark. She'd wanted 
it to complete and utter distraction, unable to think of 
anything else. But then that was her and this... This was 
Clark. And the pheromone compound didn't change a person's 
personality, it just broke down a person's normal 
inhibitions. And if she knew anything about Clark, it was 
that no matter what, he'd never try to force her into 
something she wasn't comfortable with. She smiled slightly. 
Maybe that was why she loved... She mentally shook her 
head. ...liked him so much.

"Dancing?" she asked. To his enthusiastic nod, she 
continued, "Clark, that sounds... really nice, but we still 
have work to do."

"Oh... right," said Clark, making his way to his chair and 
sinking back into it, a pout on his face.

Lois watched him for a moment. They did have to work, but 
maybe he had a point. After all, if he was under the 
influence of the pheromone compound, he would likely be 
this way for the next couple of days, unless of course... 
Clark had said something about Miranda having a permanent 
form of the pheromone compound. She pushed that thought out 
of her mind. This was temporary. It had to be. 

If she was serious about making sure that Superman didn't 
do anything to ruin his reputation or give away his secret, 
she would have to stay with him until it wore off. Dancing 
in public was probably a better idea than spending all 
their time alone together. 

"But we can get some dinner and go dancing later if you 
want," she added.

"Okay," said Clark, immediately perking up.

* * * * * * * * *

After a shower, Lois retreated to her bedroom to get ready 
for her 'date.' So far, she hadn't gotten very far in the 
investigation. Clark's ability to concentrate on anything 
but her was limited to minutes at a time. The longest he'd 
been able to go without telling her he loved her was 
probably fifteen minutes. After the first few times, he 
managed to get creative. She now knew that 'Je t'aime' was 
'I love you' in French. 'Ich liebe dich' was German and 'Ya 
lubiu tebya,' Russian. He'd also acquainted her with 'I 
love you' in a couple of dozen other languages. At one 
point, he'd started tapping his fingers on the table. Given 
the fact that she couldn't make out a pattern, she'd asked 
what he was doing only to be informed that he was telling 
her he loved her in Morse Code.

Between Clark's behavior and having to constantly remind 
herself why she couldn't just go back to what they had been 
doing on the couch earlier, she'd not been able to 
concentrate on finding out what was going on. Later in the 
afternoon, Lois discovered that if she let Clark play with 
her hand he was content enough. Although, even that slowed 
her efforts.

She'd managed to get confirmation from Jimmy that Miranda 
had been released from the asylum after being found not 
guilty by reason of temporary insanity. However, he'd been 
unable to find an address for the woman. After her release, 
Miranda had apparently disappeared into thin air. Lois had 
put in calls to a number of her most reliable sources, 
including Bobby Bigmouth and Louie. However, so far she 
hadn't heard back from any of them.

Lois tried searching the internet and read everything she 
could find there about Superman's activities that morning. 
There were a few sites where fans would get together to 
discuss Superman. Lois had spent time on them in the past. 
Usually, they would discuss every activity the superhero 
had been involved in. Today, they seemed to be occupied 
with discussing him kissing that woman, nothing else.

Clark had seen where she was looking and been fascinated - 
until he got distracted by how her hair had fallen across 
her face. She could hardly believe he hadn't known that 
such sites even existed. But then that was Clark. 

There was one small incident during the afternoon. Lois 
left Clark sitting at her laptop in order to get herself 
another cup of coffee. When she returned, she noticed Clark 
typing furiously. She gasped and pushed him away from the 
computer when she realized what was happening. Clark was in 
an argument with one of the on-line fans who was insisting 
that Superman was in love with the woman he'd kissed this 
afternoon. Clark was insisting that Superman loved Lois 
Lane, a reporter for the Daily Planet. Lois quickly signed 
off, being grateful that no one on-line knew her real name, 
especially since Clark was typing under her sign-on name.

During the course of the afternoon, there were a couple of 
incidents which Superman would normally help out with, but 
since no lives were in danger, Lois hadn't let Clark go. 
Unless it couldn't be handled by others, she wasn't about 
to let him out of her sight long enough to be 'rescuing 
cats from trees.'

She called Perry to say that she and Clark were involved in 
an investigation and wouldn't be in for the rest of the 
day. Since they had the weekend off, at least that wouldn't 
be a problem. She fudged a little bit on the details of 
their investigation. She was sure that Perry knew something 
was going on, but he didn't probe. Lois was surprised, but 
grateful.

Bringing her mind back to the present, she looked at the 
red dress she'd put on and immediately changed her mind. 
She looked great. Too great. After all, she had to be very 
careful tonight. It would be hard enough fighting off 
Clark's advances without making him any more amorous. She 
quickly removed half the make-up she was wearing and then 
slipped out of the dress. She still wanted to fit in. That 
meant she couldn't wear an old pair of jeans and a 
sweatshirt. She looked through her closet, finally deciding 
on a short sleeve, black turtleneck and a short, greyish-
black skirt. She quickly dressed and adjusted her makeup. 
She looked for a pair of shoes, before choosing a pair of 
short, black boots. Taking a last, approving look at 
herself in the mirror, she opened the door and entered the 
other room where Clark was waiting for her.

Clark's face lit up. "You look fabulous," he said softly, 
almost provoking Lois into running back into her room to 
find that pair of jeans and sweatshirt. "I think I'll 
change, too." Then, before Lois could object, he flew out 
the window. Before a full-fledged sense of panic could set 
in, Clark was once again standing in her apartment.

Without realizing what she was doing, she ran her eyes over 
him. He had obviously had a shower and changed. He looked 
great. He looked really great. He'd put on a pair of black 
dress pants and a white shirt. He was wearing an outlandish 
tie, one that told the world he was Clark. Over the shirt, 
he was wearing a tan colored jacket. 

"Ready?" he asked, holding an arm out for her.

She swallowed hard before nodding. 'You've spent the 
evening with Clark before,' she reminded herself. 'In fact, 
you spent a couple of nights with him at the honeymoon 
suite at the Lexor hotel. Just think of it as another 
assignment, one where you're keeping Superman from doing 
something stupid. Dinner and dancing. It's better than 
spending the evening alone with him.' 

Reaffirming that this was the best way to handle the 
situation, she slipped her arm through his and accompanied 
him from her apartment. As they left, she briefly wondered 
what she'd do if Clark didn't snap out of it soon. Just the 
idea of two days - the length of time she'd been under the 
pheromone's influence - of Clark being so uninhibited was 
driving her nuts. If this went on one minute longer than 
two days, she wouldn't stand a chance.

* * * * * * * * *

Luthor paced in his office. Superman had been conspicuously 
absent this afternoon. Luthor wanted a few more incidents 
like this morning. Otherwise, the press was going to be 
reporting Superman kissing that woman as an isolated 
incident. If that happened, then people wouldn't see 
Superman as promiscuous; they were going to conclude that 
he'd developed feelings for a particular woman, not for 
women in general.

There was still one bright spot. The tape. The tape by 
itself might be enough to destroy Lois' admiration of the 
superhero, giving him the chance he needed to make her his 
wife, but he was still salivating over the idea of ruining 
Superman's reputation in the eyes of the world. 

So where was the superhero? If Luthor were really lucky, 
the reason Superman hadn't been around was that he was 
having sex with some woman - or better yet, several women. 
Still, unless the woman or women told the press, the only 
way they were going to have any chance to discredit him was 
if more incidents happened in the public arena. He'd have 
to arrange something.

He was brought out of his thoughts by Nigel entering the 
room.

"Do you have it?" Luthor asked.

Nigel held up a tape.

"Put it in the VCR," Luthor instructed. Nigel did and for a 
time, Luthor and Nigel watched in silence. "It's perfect," 
said Luthor. "I must admit, it's more than I hoped for. 
That was a nice bit of improvising."

"Thank you, sir. What would you have me do now?"

"Make sure copies are delivered to the intended recipients 
first thing tomorrow morning," Luthor replied.

* * * * * * * * *

Lois pulled Clark's jacket tighter around her as the two of 
them made their way up the stairs to his apartment. The 
evening had been incredible. 

They'd gone to a little out of the way spot with soft 
lighting and soft music - one of those underrated places 
Clark always seemed to know about. They'd gotten a secluded 
booth near the back. Lois realized that Clark hadn't 
forgotten about her promise to go dancing when she noticed 
that the place also had a dance floor.

During supper, Clark retold story after story about their 
activities during the past year, everything from when 
they'd first met to their being held hostage at the Daily 
Planet last week. This time each story was told from the 
perspective of how much he loved her. At first, Lois tried 
not to listen to the stories, realizing that he'd never be 
telling her all this if he were in his right mind. But soon 
she found herself getting caught up in what he was saying, 
and asking questions and reveling in every detail. 

When he told her about his difficulty pulling away from her 
after their kiss at the Lexor hotel, she realized that this 
couldn't all be the result of the perfume. He'd obviously 
been in love with her most of this past year and never had 
the nerve to tell her. Of course, he'd be mortified when he 
recovered from the perfume and realized how much he'd 
revealed. Still... Much to her own surprise, rather than 
the stories scaring her, Lois found that knowing how long 
Clark had been in love with her caused her to feel things 
she hadn't allowed herself to feel for quite some time - 
safe and protected as well as surprisingly free. Being 
completely adored was a new experience for Lois. And she 
found herself not only liking it, but responding as well.

Her thoughts drifted more than once to the sight of Clark 
standing in the middle of her living room in nothing but 
his briefs. She'd find her eyes roaming over his shirt, 
realizing what incredible muscles lay beneath. His entire 
body seemed to her as if it were a well-oiled machine, hard 
steel covered by soft, warm, inviting flesh. 

She drank nothing but water during supper, afraid of what 
would happen if she gave in to as much as a single drink. 
Then the strangest thing happened. It was almost as if 
Clark had recovered from the effects of the pheromone 
perfume. She puzzled over it for a moment before the truth 
sank in. He hadn't changed during the course of their meal, 
she had. She found herself reaching out to run her fingers 
over his cheek or touch his hand as much as he was touching 
her. His smiles were met by hers. She'd find herself 
pushing a strand of hair behind her ear and glancing at him 
from under her eyelashes. 

When dinner was finally finished, they ordered dessert and, 
while they waited for it to be served, he asked her to 
dance. She kept her head down, watching the floor in front 
of her as he led the way to the dance floor. At first, she 
was nervous. Without his inhibitions, would she be fighting 
his hands all night? Not that she couldn't handle it, but 
she really wasn't looking forward to being groped by a man 
she liked and respected. By the end of the dance, she 
relaxed. He was still Clark. He'd managed to propose twice 
and had told her 'ta gra agam ort' and 'wo ai ni' - which 
turned out to be 'I love you' in Irish and Chinese - but 
his hands couldn't have been more respectful. They had 
stayed passively on the small of her back, or in a more 
daring moment, had traced light circles.

She rebuked herself for thinking anything else. 
Occasionally, she would see a heated look in his eyes, 
leaving her with no doubt that he wanted her. However, if 
she were honest, he'd done nothing since being affected 
that he didn't believe she was comfortable with. He'd asked 
to kiss her before kissing her neck while in the conference 
room at the Daily Planet. She'd not told him he couldn't. 
When she'd suddenly pushed him away and yelled at him, he 
looked abashed. Then when they'd ended up kissing on the 
couch, she'd kissed him first. If he hadn't been under the 
influence of the pheromone compound, he'd probably not have 
kissed her back. But even then, she'd responded. Of course, 
there was that moment when he'd spun out of the suit. 
Still, that had been because he thought that was what she 
wanted.

After the dance, they went back to their table and Lois 
relaxed in the realization that he wouldn't pressure her. 
That fear had been playing in the back of her mind all day. 
Oh, she knew he'd never force her. Nothing could cause him 
to do that. However, she had worried that he'd keep pushing 
the limits, trying to get her into bed. And as that fear 
left, Lois really began enjoying the evening. They laughed 
as they shared a dessert, taking turns feeding each other. 
In fact, she suddenly realized that she'd never enjoyed a 
date more. Being with Clark this way just felt so 
incredibly right. Every now and then she'd find herself 
remembering that this wasn't real, but most of the time, 
she found herself getting as lost in Clark's presence as he 
obviously was in hers.

Most of the rest of the evening was spent on the dance 
floor. Each dance was closer than the one before. Resting 
her arm on his shoulder and running her fingers through the 
hair on the back of his head was becoming the most natural 
thing in the world. She reveled in the soft sounds that 
came from the back of Clark's throat with each new touch of 
her hands.

The first kiss on the dance floor was Clark's idea. When 
she first realized he was going to kiss her, she tensed. 
But then, at the gentle touch of his lips, she relaxed. 
Almost as quickly as it had begun, it was over. He'd pulled 
her a little closer and she heard him sigh into her ear. 
She closed her eyes, laying her head on his shoulder. Never 
had she felt so much as if she'd come home.

The second kiss had been initiated by her. She hadn't even 
thought about what she was doing. After that, dancing was 
interspersed with short kisses, touches became more 
intimate and looks grew increasingly heated.

As they left the restaurant, Lois shivered. Clark's jacket 
immediately appeared on her shoulders. She smiled shyly as 
she pulled it on properly allowing her hands to disappear 
under the edges of the sleeves. Her heart rate increased 
when Clark reached out, finding her hand beneath the fabric 
so that they could hold hands as they walked towards her 
jeep.

* * * * * * * * *

Lois was lost in thought as they made their way towards 
Clark's place. She knew what she had to do - she just 
needed to fortify herself to do it. She would put him to 
bed, give him a kiss on the cheek, make him promise not to 
leave his apartment before she returned in the morning and 
go home. If that wasn't possible, maybe she could borrow 
something to sleep in, send him to bed and sleep on his 
couch. She'd have to play it by ear. But whichever way this 
went, absolutely nothing could happen between them.

She said nothing as they ascended the steps to his 
apartment. She watched silently as he removed his key and 
opened the door for her to step through. Once inside, she 
turned towards him, preparing to speak. However, before she 
could, his arms reached for her. All her resolve suddenly 
melted away. She felt completely powerless to stop him as 
he gently pulled her to him, finding her lips with his.

She moaned softly into his mouth before her arms slipped 
around his neck. Just one kiss. One real, uninhibited kiss. 
Surely she could have that. She tightened her arms, pulling 
herself securely into his embrace. It felt so right being 
held by him this way, so incredible being kissed by him. 
His taste, his smell, the feel of his body pressed up 
against hers, the soft noises coming from the back of his 
throat, all of it combined to feed her senses, pushing her 
beyond her mind's ability to listen to reason. 

She had to stop this. She had to stop this now. Her hands 
found their way into his hair as he began backing her 
further into the room. Trusting him completely, she allowed 
him to guide her backwards down the steps into his 
apartment. Contact was lost and regained again and again as 
they dispensed with their footwear, including the short 
socks Lois had elected to wear instead of nylons, and 
slowly navigated the course towards the couch. Her hands 
gently cupped his face as she changed their kissing pattern 
into a series of kisses.

She felt something hinder her backward movement and was, 
for a moment, brought back to reality by the realization 
that they had reached the couch. She pulled back slightly. 
She had to stop this now. His hands slipped under the edges 
of his jacket, the one she was still wearing, and slipped 
it off her shoulders. She straightened her arms, allowing 
it to fall to the floor. His head descended to her throat 
and she whimpered as she felt his soft, wet kisses trailing 
down her neck. She pushed her head back, determined to give 
him maximum access, suddenly wishing she wasn't wearing a 
turtleneck. No. He wasn't in his right mind. She couldn't 
let this go on. 

She felt his arms tighten around her and his lips left her 
neck as he placed a knee on the couch behind her. What the 
heck did she think she was doing?

She reached up and removed his glasses, tossing them on the 
coffee table. His lips returned to her neck as they sank 
into the couch.  'Damn,' thought Lois distractedly. 'I 
really have to stop... Oh no. Yes.' His hand had found its 
way under her shirt to stroke the sensitive skin of her 
stomach. No. Stop now. Can't... 

"I love the way your heart races when I do that," Clark 
breathed into her ear. "I also love the way your heart 
races when I do this," he continued before nibbling his way 
down her neck. When he reached the edge of her turtleneck, 
he pushed it down with his chin, kissing her neck as far 
down as the material would allow.

Lois groaned. Damn those superpowers. They definitely gave 
him an advantage over other men. He knew exactly how she 
was reacting to each kiss, each caress. The implications of 
that were... Again, she groaned. Why had he had to tell her 
that? It certainly didn't help her resolve to end this. Why 
did he have to be so uninhibited? 'Because of the perfume,' 
a small voice inside reminded her. 'That's why you can't do 
this. You've got to...' Her thought trailed off when he 
spoke again.

"Te amo," he whispered. She knew enough Spanish to know 
that he was once again telling her that he loved her.

His lips found hers. She met his kiss with careless 
abandon. Her hands slipped between their bodies and she 
struggled with his tie. Before she managed to get his tie 
completely undone, she began pulling at the buttons of his 
shirt. When she finally managed to get it undone to his 
waist, she slipped her hands beneath the fabric. She was 
slightly surprised to discover that he didn't have the 
Superman suit on, but didn't follow through on the thought 
as her hands ran over the muscles of his chest. What was 
she doing? She couldn't let this go on. He had no choice in 
the matter. She did. 

Lois closed her eyes tight. She had to stop this. It wasn't 
fair of her to let this continue. But... She groaned 
softly. How had she let it get this far in the first place? 

"Clark, please," she whispered.

Clark's head came up, his hands stilling on her back, a 
question on his face. Looking at his flushed face and kiss-
swollen lips and listening to his labored breathing, Lois 
found herself fighting the urge to bring him back down to 
her, losing herself and her conscience in his arms. She 
closed her eyes.

"We can't," she forced herself to whisper.

She expected Clark to immediately pull away and possibly 
even apologize, so she was surprised by his reaction.

"You don't want to do this?" his befuddled voice asked. 

She opened her eyes and looked into his. When she thought 
about his question, it was an honest response. After all, 
she'd been a full participant in this. He had no idea about 
the battle that had been going on in her mind. Her hand 
came up to his cheek and gently stroked it as she 
considered her answer.

"It's not that," she assured him even as her mind 
registered just how much of an understatement her response 
was. "I know you don't understand this, but you aren't... 
What you're feeling isn't real. You've been drugged. You 
wouldn't be doing any of this if you hadn't been drugged."

Clark crinkled his eyebrows, obviously struggling to 
understand what she was saying. He was still doing so as 
she squirmed to get out from under him. He let her go, 
sitting back on the couch. "You don't believe I love you?" 
he asked.

Lois glanced up at him from where she was struggling to 
straighten her clothes. That was a question she hadn't 
expected. It took her a moment to formulate her response. 
Their conversation at dinner had convinced her that he 
loved her, regardless of whether or not he was drugged. "I 
do believe you, Clark," she finally said.

"Then what do you mean that my feelings aren't real?"

"Umm..." her voice trailed off. What exactly did she mean? 
She struggled with it for a moment before giving up. "I 
just don't think we should do this," she said, gesturing to 
the couch and indicating what they'd been doing earlier.

Clark nodded slowly, even though the confused look on his 
face didn't lessen. 

Lois got off the couch before looking back at Clark. She 
let out a breath, sitting back down beside him. She took 
his hand and lightly played with it. "Are you okay with 
this?" she asked.

"If you don't want to make love, it's okay," he replied 
softly, bringing her hand up to his lips and kissing it. "I 
wish we could keep kissing though."

She almost smiled. There was the Clark she knew, although 
it was obvious that he hadn't understood a word she'd said 
to him. But then even she was having problems understanding 
it at the moment. She really wished they could keep kissing 
too, but knew how very hard it would be to stop it there. 
"We can't, Clark," she said softly.

"Are you wanting to wait 'til we get married?" he asked. 
"Cause I could fly us to Las Vegas tonight so that..."

"No," she interrupted. "It's not that. It's just... Look, 
we just can't do this right now," she paused. "I need you 
to do something for me."

"Anything, baby. You know that."

"I'll be back first thing in the morning. I need you to 
promise not to leave the apartment before I get back."

"Is it important?" he asked, obviously not wanting to 
agree.

"It's important, Clark," she replied, wondering exactly 
where he wanted to go. She was looking forward to getting 
out into the cool night air, hoping it might sooth her 
rampaging hormones. She briefly wondered what Superman did 
to alleviate his frustration.

"Okay," he answered after a moment.

She got up off the couch. "I'll see you in the morning," 
she said, leaning over and giving him a light kiss on the 
cheek before heading for the door, picking up her socks and 
boots on the way. She had to get out of here now. She'd put 
her things on outside.

"Lois?"

"Yeah?" asked Lois turning to face him.

Clark got up, but didn't approach. "Will my feelings be 
real tomorrow?" he asked.

"I hope so, Clark," she said before turning back to the 
door and grasping the doorknob. However, rather than 
opening the door, she stood there, thinking about Clark's 
question. If this was Miranda's perfume, and in Lois' mind 
that was the most likely possibility, then it should take 
two days to wear off. But this was Superman. She supposed 
it could wear off more quickly on him.

So what would happen tomorrow if the perfume's effects were 
gone? Would that mean everything would go back to normal? 
After all, Clark's inhibitions might have to do with more 
than a fear of rejection. He might have never let her know 
how he felt for a hundred other reasons. Maybe he didn't 
feel ready for a relationship and didn't want to risk 
hurting her. Maybe he didn't think it was right, because he 
was an alien, to get involved with anyone. Maybe he was 
afraid of what might happen to her if it became known that 
she was in a relationship with Superman. Maybe he was 
afraid of the strain Superman's lifestyle might place on a 
relationship. Maybe he didn't believe he was supposed to 
have a life here.

And what would that mean for them? What if tonight was all 
they would ever have? The instant that thought sunk in, she 
turned around. Dropping her boots and socks on the way, she 
practically flew down the stairs and back into Clark's 
arms. 

"Lois?" Clark asked, as he stumbled back slightly, 
instinctively wrapping his arms around her.

"Take me to bed, Clark," she breathed into his ear.

Without a word, one of Clark's arms slipped under her legs 
and in a flash, he was carrying her into his bedroom. One 
of her arms encircled his neck as the other hand ran 
beneath his shirt to trail over his bare chest. She began 
nuzzling at his neck. Now that the decision had been made, 
she felt no conflict.

"I love you, Lois," he softly whispered, causing any 
defenses Lois still had to come crashing down. After 
hearing that so many times today, it wasn't the words. It 
was her absolute conviction that he really meant it. It 
felt as if she'd been fighting a great battle against Clark 
since the day they'd first met - like Sisyphos of Greek 
mythology, she had been pushing a rock up a hill only to 
have it roll back down. Now, finally, the battle was over 
and it no longer mattered who had won or lost - she was 
his. She brought his face to hers and kissed him in 
unconditional surrender.

* * * * * * * * *

"Do you want to tell me what went wrong?" Luthor demanded.

"Just because more hasn't been reported doesn't mean that 
anything went wrong," Miranda responded. "Give it a little 
time."

Luthor eyed her warily. "Tell me something. You had two 
strengths of pheromone compound. Which one did you use?"

Miranda squared her shoulders, refusing to be intimidated. 
"I used the one percent solution."

"What?" Luthor demanded.

"I needed to find out exactly what effect it would have on 
him before making it permanent. Don't worry. Increasing the 
percentage won't cause a greater effect - it will just 
lengthen the time he's affected. No. If he's not properly 
affected, I will have to tinker with the actual compound. 
All we need is a little... experiment. Superman will be 
affected for another day or so, depending on his metabolic 
rate. That gives us plenty of time."

"What did you have in mind?" Luthor asked, beginning to 
wonder if it wouldn't be better just to eliminate Superman. 
Could he really trust Miranda? He wasn't sure. Maybe he 
already had what he needed, thanks to Nigel's creative 
thinking.

"You know Samantha O'Neil, I assume," Miranda said.

"Are you talking about Metropolis' most famous madam?"

Miranda smiled. "That's her. When I was working on the 
compound, I needed a test group. She wanted her girls to be 
a little more... shall we say, enthusiastic, about their 
work. So she agreed to let her girls be exposed. Of course, 
it didn't work as well as she had hoped. After all, the 
girls fell in love - and not necessarily with their 
customers. Then, we tried it the other way. The result, 
although it couldn't be reported, was beyond our wildest 
expectations. While they were under the influence of the 
pheromone compound, the men spent a small fortune to be 
with the object of their affection."

"What does any of that have to do with this?"

"Sam owes me. If we arrange some sort of emergency at 
Metropolis' version of the Playboy Mansion... Well, you can 
imagine what will happen when a pheromone-affected Superman 
comes to the rescue."

Luthor smiled. She did have a point. He, himself, had used 
Madam Samantha's girls on occasion. She was known for 
having the most beautiful, not to mention the most sensual, 
women in the business.

"Swimsuits would be my suggestion for attire. There is a 
pool at the mansion, is there not?"

"There is."

"Very good. Then contact Madam Samantha. I'll create the 
'emergency' for Superman to respond to. Now, if I recall 
correctly, Samantha has cameras in all her rooms as well as 
outside the premises. That should work well for our 
purposes."

"You seem well acquainted with her place, Lex," said 
Miranda in amusement.

"Her girls have entertained a number of clients for me," 
Luthor responded. 

* * * * * * * * *

Sunlight began seeping through the window to spill across 
the bed. Clark groaned as his mind registered the presence 
of soft curves pressed up against him. He didn't open his 
eyes. He wasn't ready to wake up. An easy smile played on 
his lips. He knew that shampoo. Instinctively, he pulled 
her closer. She made a small sound of protest, but then 
snuggled up more tightly, draping her leg across his. He 
groaned again. He loved this dream. Wait a minute! This was 
no dream!

He cautiously opened his eyes, confirming what his other 
senses were telling him. There was a mat of soft, brown 
hair covering his chest. He could feel the gentle rise and 
fall of her chest against him.

He tried to clear his mind. Moving slightly, he felt an 
unusual stab of pain shoot through his head. He closed his 
eyes. Maybe when he opened them again, the world would make 
sense. 

Warily, he moved his hand over her back. In spite of 
closing his eyes, she still seemed to be there. 

"Mmmmm," came her sleep filled voice as she turned her head 
slightly to kiss his chest.

There was an immediate and undeniable rush of blood away 
from his head. He didn't know what was going on, but he did 
know that if he didn't get out of this bed right now... He 
let the thought end there. 

Opening his eyes, he cautiously glanced at her. 
Fortunately, she appeared to be mostly asleep. He held his 
breath as he attempted to dislodge his arm from where it 
was wrapped around her. He stopped. It would be almost 
impossible, given the fact that she was partially lying on 
top of him, to extract himself from this bed without waking 
her. Unless... He glanced at her again, satisfying himself 
that she was still mostly asleep. Floating both of them up, 
just a fraction of an inch off the bed, he was able to move 
her slightly to the side so that when he lowered them 
again, she was resting on the bed. Then, as cautiously and 
quietly as he could, he slipped out of bed and headed for 
the washroom.

He glanced around briefly and noticed their clothes 
scattered around the bed, indicating a lack of care at 
removing them - or, he thought, that someone wanted it to 
look that way. He stepped into the washroom and closed the 
door before beginning to breath again.

'Don't panic,' he told himself severely. 'There's got to be 
a logical explanation. You've just got to find it.'

He closed his eyes, trying to find his last memory. He 
could remember getting up on Friday morning - what day was 
it now, anyway? 'Don't get distracted,' he told himself 
firmly. 'Focus on figuring out what happened after you got 
up.' He took a deep breath and once again concentrated on 
Friday morning's activities. He and Lois had interviewed 
Lily and then gone back to the Daily Planet. Lois had 
seemed distracted about something, but she'd had the 'no 
trespassing' signs out so he hadn't probed. 

He took a deep breath and let it out. All right. Where was 
he? His hand was on the soft flesh of her stomach. In his 
mind, he could almost hear her moan. Even though he knew it 
wasn't happening now, he had to steady himself against the 
sink. As quickly as the memory had come, it faded. He shook 
his head forcing himself to continue figuring things out.

Almost as soon as they'd arrived back at the Daily Planet 
after interviewing Lily, he'd heard the awful sound of 
tires skidding on pavement followed by gnashing metal. He'd 
left Lois while she was in the middle of a sentence with 
some excuse about needing real coffee. He hadn't been fast 
enough and by the time he'd arrived on the scene, thirteen 
cars had been involved in the accident. Amazingly, no one 
had been seriously injured. Still, given the fury of some 
of those involved, he'd stayed until the police arrived, 
afraid that if he left, the anger would turn into a serious 
case of road rage.

On his way back, he'd heard a child's terrified cry - the 
type of sound that always sent a cold chill down his spine. 
Upon further investigation and much to his relief, he 
discovered that her kitten had been chased up a tree by a 
neighborhood dog. He'd returned the dog to its home and 
given the terrified kitten back to his grateful mistress. 
He'd just taken off when the scene seemed to repeated 
itself. He'd been surprised. He could sometimes go weeks 
without a rescuing a cat caught in a tree. Still, he'd 
responded.

He was just about to return to the Daily Planet when his 
hearing had picked up an emergency broadcast saying that 
there was some sort of leak at the Lex Corp Nuclear Plant. 
Although the plant had been closed down since he'd stopped 
the reactor from coming on line back in November, any sort 
of incident at a nuclear facility was always dangerous. 
He'd immediately changed directions, heading for the Lex 
Corp Nuclear Plant.

'You stormed into my interview and my heart at the same 
instant. I fell in love with you at first sight.' The words 
seemed to come out of nowhere. Had he really told her that 
or was it all part of some overly vivid dream? He would 
have dismissed it as a dream except for one crucial fact. 
He'd just woken up in bed with Lois Lane. He placed a hand 
on his pounding head. He didn't get headaches, although 
given the situation, he supposed it was understandable.

* * * * * * * * *

Lois woke the instant Clark left the bed - her hot water 
bottle having suddenly vanished. She watched through half 
closed eyes as he made his way to the washroom, thoroughly 
enjoying the view. She sighed contentedly. 

For the next few minutes, she drifted in and out of sleep. 
Then, rubbing the back of her hand over her eyes, she 
forced herself to wake. She glanced towards the bathroom 
door. What was taking Clark so long? She wanted her water 
bottle back. After all, they had the day off, so why wasn't 
he here to pick up from where they'd left off last night?

Last night. A small smile found its way onto her lips and 
she softly purred. After they'd made love, she'd half 
expected him to withdraw from her. She was surprised when 
the opposite happened. He'd become gentler, more 
affectionate. They'd cuddled, whispering sweet nothings and 
talking nonsense until their passions had once again taken 
hold.

At times, he'd seemed hesitant. The thought had crossed her 
mind that he wasn't overly experienced. Of course, she 
hadn't really expected him to be. Clark might be a seasoned 
world traveler, but he was also the naive country boy. 
Although she had no doubt that he could have almost any 
woman he wanted in either of his guises - Clark or Superman 
- she suspected that he'd not had a lot of lovers. He just 
wasn't the type to take making love lightly.

Still, he had been good - really good. But then that wasn't 
surprising either. After all, Lois knew what every woman 
has known since the days of Adam and Eve - that how good a 
man is in the bedroom has as much to do with how he treats 
a woman before they ever get to bed as anything else. And 
Clark - Clark knew how to treat a woman, how to make her 
feel special and cherished and loved.

She stretched her arms over her head and purred again. 
Loved. She liked the thought of that. Clark Kent was in 
love with her. 'I could get used to this,' she thought 
contentedly, glancing around the room.

Her gaze fell on the washroom door. Had he fallen asleep in 
there?

"Clark," she called towards the door, "did you die in there 
or something?"

* * * * * * * * *

Clark glanced in terror towards the door. She was awake. 
What was he supposed to do now? She obviously knew he was 
in here, although she might not realize that they'd been in 
bed together earlier. He started towards the door before 
realizing that he couldn't go out there - not without 
either his glasses or his clothes.

He glanced around the washroom in desperation. There were 
no windows in here for him to fly out. If there were, he 
could fly home to Kansas. If he flew full speed, he'd be 
almost invisible. He could get some clothes and a spare 
pair of glasses and be back before she even knew he was 
gone.

Since that wasn't an option, he needed time to figure out 
what to do. Looking around the washroom, he got an idea. He 
quickly turned on the shower. He breathed a sigh of relief. 
That should give him a bit more time.

* * * * * * * * *

Lois sighed when she heard the shower start. It was going 
to be a little while before he came back to her. Suddenly, 
she smiled. There was nothing to stop her from going to 
him. Pulling back the covers, she got out of bed and made 
her way to the door to the washroom. She took a deep breath 
before turning the handle.

* * * * * * * * *

Clark turned towards the door in absolute horror when the 
doorknob began to turn. He held his breath, unable to 
remember if he'd locked the door, but then let out a sigh 
of relief when it turned out that he had. What was she 
doing?

He listened carefully as she walked away only to come back 
a moment later. He heard the soft sound of metal on metal 
and wondered briefly what it meant. When it finally hit 
him, he pulled in a sharp breath. She was picking the lock!

* * * * * * * * *

On discovering that he'd locked the door, she'd almost gone 
back to bed. But the idea of sneaking into the washroom and 
climbing in the shower with him was just too much of a 
temptation for her to let a locked door stop her. She'd 
quickly found a solution. Her lock-picking equipment was in 
her purse. 

* * * * * * * * *

Not knowing what to do, Clark quickly stepped into the 
shower. If she did, and he had no doubt the lock on his 
washroom door wouldn't keep her out for long, get in, she'd 
expect him to be in the shower. Surely she'd stop at the 
shower door. Or would she? After all, she was right now 
picking the lock on his washroom door!

He stood there for a moment before deciding he had to take 
action. He turned the water off, grabbing one towel for his 
hair while wrapping a second one around his waist. He 
placed himself in the way of the washroom door just as it 
began to swing open.

"Umm..." said Clark hesitantly, placing his foot in the 
door's path. "Do you know where my glasses are?" he asked. 
"I really do need them. I can't see a thing without them."

"Huh?" asked Lois on the other side of the door.

"Could you see if you can find them?"

"Umm..." Lois said hesitantly. "Sure."

* * * * * * * * *

Lois backed away from the door in confusion. It quickly 
shut. Stepping on something, she looked down and saw 
Clark's shirt, the one he'd been wearing last night. She 
bent down and picked it up, slipping it over her shoulders 
and doing it up as she tried to figure out what he was 
talking about.

Clark didn't need glasses. He was Superman. His vision was 
perfect. More than perfect, in fact. And now that she knew 
he was Superman, he didn't need them as a disguise. So what 
was he talking about?

She made her way out to the living room as she puzzled over 
his request. She could remember throwing his glasses on the 
coffee table. She picked them up and started slowly towards 
the bathroom again before it hit her. The perfume must have 
worn off and... How much did he remember? How on earth was 
she supposed to explain to him what had happened?

Her first thought was to throw on her skirt and boots and, 
without taking time to change out of his shirt, flee. She 
stood frozen to her spot before rejecting the idea. He'd 
woken up in bed with her - it being fairly obvious by even 
a cursory glance around the room, what had happened. If she 
fled now, they were finished. And, no matter what happened 
between them after this, she wasn't prepared to give up 
their friendship or their partnership without a fight. 

She silently cursed herself. She had vowed that this time 
she wasn't going to jump in without checking the water 
level first. Yet here she was. In over her head, with the 
very good possibility that she was about to drown. 

'Just take one very careful step at a time,' she told 
herself. And the first step was... She glanced down at 
herself. She needed something to wear. 

Walking back into Clark's bedroom, she looked around. She 
rejected the idea of putting on the outfit she'd worn here 
last night. It wasn't as if she could pretend she'd never 
been out of it, after all. Unless... No. If his experience 
with the pheromone compound was anything like hers, he'd 
remember as time went on. If she wasn't honest now... She 
opened one of his dresser drawers and saw a pair of sweats. 
She pulled them out and put them on. She quickly rolled up 
the pant legs before turning towards the washroom door.

On her way there, another thought occurred to her. Walking 
over to his closet, she opened it to remove his robe. 

It was only a moment more before she was back at the 
washroom door.

"I have your glasses, Clark," she said softly. When he 
opened the door far enough to reach out, she handed him his 
robe first.

"Thanks," she heard him mumble. The sentiment was repeated 
when she handed him his glasses.

As he closed the door, Lois quickly tidied up the bedroom. 
It would probably be easier talking if neither were staring 
at some article of underwear. Then she took a seat on the 
side of the bed, waiting for Clark to emerge, all the time 
fighting the urge to run.

It was a couple of minutes before Clark slowly opened the 
bathroom door and stepped out. He stopped just outside, 
facing her but at the same time avoiding eye contact. He 
stood in silence for a moment before saying, "Now, whatever 
you might think, I didn't take advantage of you. At least, 
I don't think I did, but..."

"You didn't," she said quietly, interrupting his line of 
thought.

"I didn't?" he asked.

She shook her head. Now it was her turn to divert her eyes.

He watched her for a moment before asking, "Are you saying 
you know what happened? Why I woke up in... You know what 
happened?"

Without looking up, she bit her lower lip and nodded. She 
tried, without much success, to steady the butterflies that 
were suddenly flying in mass in her stomach. If he asked 
what happened, she was certain she would die.

"What happened?" he asked, moving over to sit down on the 
bench by the window.

* * * * * * * * *

Clark opened his mouth to repeat the question, but closed 
it almost immediately. The image of her sitting on that 
same bed, pulling her turtleneck over her head was suddenly 
the only thing he could see. He swallowed hard, diverting 
his eyes from where they had suddenly focused on her chest.

She glanced over at him, causing him to color. If she asked 
what he thought had happened, he was certain he would die.

"What do you think happened?" her voice came right on cue.

"What do I... Lois, don't do this to me," he responded, his 
final words leaving no doubt that he was deadly serious. 
"What I know..." He emphasized the word. "...is that we 
interviewed Lily. Then, after we got back to the Daily 
Planet, I heard... I decided we needed some real coffee and 
then...." He shrugged.

"Well, it's good to know some things don't change," she 
muttered.

"What does that mean?" The irritation in Clark's voice had 
more to do with his frustration at not being able to figure 
out what was going on than any real anger at Lois.

"Well, Superman, from what I've heard you were out acting 
as a traffic cop, a fireman - two cats, if I recall 
correctly - and..." She was already kicking herself for her 
outburst, but was unable to stop herself. She knew his 
memory of yesterday had to be anything but perfect - she 
should be sensitive to that fact. It was just that hearing 
Clark give another one of his stupid excuses after what had 
happened between them last night pushed all her buttons. 
"...dealing with some sort of problem at the Lex Corp 
Nuclear Plant."

"What are you talking about?" stammered Clark. "I'm not..."

"Superman?" She rolled her eyes. 

Clark opened his mouth to reply - his basic instinct for 
self-preservation kicking in - but then closed it again 
when his eyes met Lois.' He'd known her for almost a year 
now, and if there was one thing he knew it was when he'd 
lost to Lois Lane. This was definitely one of those times. 
The fire in her eyes practically dared him to deny it 
again. He dropped his head and stared absently at his 
hands. 

After a moment of awkward silence, Clark spoke again. 
"Fine. So I guess you know. That still doesn't explain how 
we ended up..." He gestured towards the bed she was sitting 
on. 

Lois bit her lower lip. Pushing him about the fact that he 
had lied to her had been cover - even she knew that. Oh, 
sure. There was still some residual anger there. And she 
imagined that once she had an opportunity to think about 
all the lies over the past year, she'd be furious, but even 
she had to concede that her only reason for pushing it now 
was to avoid telling him what had happened. But it seemed 
he was not about to be distracted.

"I'm not exactly sure what happened," she said softly, 
taking a quick peek at him before once again looking away.

He sat in silence, waiting for her to continue. 

"But sometime yesterday morning, when you were out..." She 
made a wavy motion with her hand. "...you know..."

He looked at her curiously before it sank in what she was 
indicating. His eyebrows crept up. He'd never heard anyone 
describe his powers in quite that fashion before - a wave 
of the hand and a 'you know.' He brushed the surprise off 
as she continued to talk.

"I think you were somehow affected by Miranda's pheromone 
compound."

"What? How could..." He suddenly fell silent, deep in 
thought.

Lois glanced over at him then, waiting for his next 
question. A question she knew was coming. A question she 
was dreading. 

"Are you saying that we..." He gestured to the bed.

Closing her eyes and biting her lower lip, she nodded.

"But..." There was a long pause. "Were you affected by the 
perfume, too?" he finally asked.

Without looking at him, she shook her head. He went back to 
silent contemplation. She glanced over at him. He wasn't 
looking at her so she continued to watch as a hundred 
different emotions flitted across his face. It felt as if 
an eternity passed before he continued. 

"How could you?" he finally gasped in disbelief, rising to 
his feet. She looked down. "I came back from... well, from 
wherever. You figure out that I've been affected by 
Miranda's perfume. You knew that I wasn't exactly rational 
and what? I'm not in my right mind so you decide, 'Hey, 
let's take Clark for a spin around the block. He'll never 
know the difference.'"

"That's not..."

"I can't believe you'd do that to me. I'm vulnerable and 
you take advantage of the situation. I really hope it was 
worth it, Lois. I hope you enjoyed you're little..." His 
voice trailed off for a moment before he found his next 
thought. "You raped me!" he exclaimed. "I'm in a..."

He continued on, but Lois' thoughts stopped dead in their 
tracks at his last statement. 'You raped me.' She stared at 
him in shock for a moment. She might have let things get 
carried away. She might have even been guilty of taking 
advantage of the situation. But rape? It was only a moment 
more before she was on her feet, her eyes flashing in 
consort with his.

"Rape?" she demanded, bringing his continuing rampage to a 
halt. 

"Yes, rape," he spat back, knowing even as he said it that 
he didn't really believe it. But he was in a state of 
shock, hardly able to comprehend what she was telling him 
had happened here and wishing desperately that he could 
remember it.

"I might be guilty of a lot of things here. Bad judgment. 
Jumping in without checking the water level and maybe even 
finding you adorable when you were... Clark, I can hardly 
believe you'd say that."

"If our situations were reversed... If, when you had been 
under the influence of the pheromone compound, I'd taken 
advantage of the situation, what would you have called it?" 
he shot back.

"I'd have said... I mean, you would have... It's not the 
same," she objected, giving what looked a lot like a 
childish stamp of her foot. "Besides," she added, suddenly 
realizing that she had an argument against his accusation, 
"you weren't quite as innocent as you're making out."

"What are you talking about? I was drugged, you..."

"I'm not talking about yesterday. I'm talking about when I 
was under the influence of the pheromone compound."

"I was a perfect gentleman," he objected.

"Really," Lois drawled sarcastically. "Then tell me, Clark, 
what would have happened if I had been affected for... I 
don't know, maybe a day more? Unless I'm very much 
mistaken, when I recovered, you said something about not 
being able to take it anymore. That if I still wanted you, 
you were mine."

Clark immediately opened his mouth to respond. He closed it 
again when he realized she was right. Had she been under 
the influence of the perfume any longer, they'd have ended 
up in bed. "It's not the same," he responded.

"Really?" she asked in disbelief. "And tell me, Clark. How 
exactly is it not the same? The only difference between you 
and me is that I recovered in time to prevent anything from 
happening."

"But you're not in love with me," Clark responded before he 
could realize exactly what he was saying. 

The conversation came to an abrupt halt. Both stared at 
each other for a moment before looking away. 

"So what?" asked Lois when she finally recovered the power 
of speech. "Are you saying that loving me would give you 
the right to..."

"No! Of course not, but having you throw yourself at me for 
two days..." He ran his hand through his hair in 
frustration. How had he suddenly been put on the defensive? 
"You don't even particularly like me," he concluded weakly.

"Don't like..." Lois started, before her voice trailed off. 
She really didn't want to pursue this line of discussion. 
She'd been trying to avoid thinking about what her feelings 
were for Clark. And if she hadn't been prepared to think 
about it while they were making love last night, she really 
didn't want to think about it while fighting with him.

"Oh, I get it," said Clark a note of sudden understanding 
in his voice. "This isn't about me at all, is it. It's 
about Superman."

"Superman?"

"Come on, Lois. You've been throwing yourself at him for 
the past year. So, suddenly you find out that... You saw 
your chance, didn't you?" He snorted. "I should have known. 
I mean, that was the one thing that didn't make any sense. 
Why would you go to bed with the 'hack from Nowheresville'? 
But that's not what happened, is it? You didn't go to bed 
with Clark Kent. No. You went to bed with Superman."

"You are Superman!" she exclaimed.

"No, Lois. I'm Clark. Superman..." He snorted again. "I 
guess I got you. You went to bed with someone who doesn't 
even exist. He's a sham, a farce. He's something I 
invented."

"Clark," Lois begged, unable to stand the venom in his 
voice, not after the night they'd shared. 

"My first time should have been..." His voice trailed off 
as he suddenly seemed to realize what he was saying. 

Lois' mouth dropped open at what he had just said. There 
was only one way she could possibly interpret his statement 
except... Omigod. She had recognized that he was 
inexperienced but it had never crossed her mind to think 
that he could be... However, before things could get really 
awkward, she seemed to lose his attention. 

A moment later, he said, "I've got to go." 

Before Lois could react, Clark became a blur and then Lois 
saw Superman speed out the window.

Lois sank down onto the bed, her hands trembling and her 
heart pounding. "Clark," she breathed before letting her 
head fall into her hands.

* * * * * * * * *

Clark wasn't sure whether responding to the radio 
transmission was a rescue effort or an escape. After all, 
this wasn't something that couldn't be handled by the 
police. After all, the M.P.D. had the best bomb squad in 
the world. 

As he made his way to the address given as the target of 
the bomb threat, he couldn't get his mind off the scene in 
his apartment. In spite of everything, when he first 
realized that he and Lois were in bed together, he'd been 
hopeful that, even if the circumstances might have been 
anything but perfect, it signaled that Lois felt more 
towards him than she'd ever let him see. Until, of course, 
he'd realized the truth. She'd taken Superman to bed. 

He knew he'd been harsh. He didn't feel raped. And he was 
sure, at the time, he'd done everything in his power to get 
her into bed. He definitely remembered how difficult it had 
been on him when Lois had been under the influence of the 
perfume. She was right. Had she not recovered from the 
perfume when she had, he'd have done the exact same thing 
she had done. He didn't doubt that. He'd spent that entire 
night pacing the floor. By the time he heard her moving 
around in his bedroom, he'd decided that he wasn't going to 
continue resisting.

He suddenly blinked as his mind flashed back to the night 
before. Even though he knew it was just a memory, it was 
the most vivid memory he'd ever had - making love to Lois 
Lane. His flight came to a complete halt and he simply 
hovered in the air as short flashes began coming back. Her 
eyes were what he remembered first. She had looked at him 
in ways he'd never seen before, in either of his guises - 
looks that vacillated between tenderness and torridness. 
Her body was what he remembered next. The way she molded so 
perfectly against him, as if she'd been destined to be 
there. She'd been so soft, so responsive, so...

He shook his head. What was he doing? He couldn't shirk his 
responsibilities just because he wanted to savor these 
memories. If anything went wrong and someone was killed, 
he'd never forgive himself. Taking a deep breath, he looked 
around until he found the address th