ROADTREKKING 
By Gerry Anklewicz <gankle@rogers.com> and ML 
Thompson <thomplaw@tbaytel.net> 
Rated: PG-13 
Submitted: July 2002

* * * * * * * * *

No copyright infringement is intended. We recognize that 
the characters are not ours. We are just borrowing them for 
a lot of fun and not for any profit. In other words, please 
don't sue us. We don't have any money.

PLEASE BE ADVISED THAT no dogs, squirrels or other innocent 
(or not so innocent) animals were harmed in the writing of 
this story - except perhaps for a particular eagle and 
neither of the authors make any apology for causing those 
injuries.

WARNING: This story contains irreverent humor which might 
unintentionally offend some readers.

WARNING: This story contains adult scenes and situations 
which might be unsuitable for younger readers.

We'd like to thank our faithful beta-readers Carol Malo 
(who pointed out that one small section of our story is 
very similar to Labrat's "If Tomorrow Comes"-this was done 
unintenionally, but both of us admire Labbie's writing so 
please take it as a compliment) and Jude Williams who made 
sure that our t's were dotted and our i's crossed properly. 
Thanks also to Supermom and Artemis who acted as our 
Recreational Vehicle consultants who also added to our 
knowledge. If it wasn't for them, we'd be stranded on the 
road. Thanks also to the readers on Zoom's boards both gfic 
and nfic who critiqued our story.  Thank you to Jeanne Pare 
for her work as our GE.

* * * * * * * * *
 
ROADTREKKING  

* * * * * * * * *

"What!" Lois and Clark exclaimed in unison.

Perry's eyebrows rose at this unusual moment of agreement 
on the part of his two best reporters.

"You heard me," he responded.

"I've got it covered, Chief," said Clark.

"I don't need help, Perry," said Lois simultaneously.

"And I don't recall this being a democracy," growled Perry 
in response.

"I work alone," Lois continued. "I don't need a partner."

"And you think I do?" asked Clark.

"You've been working on this for the past month. I've only 
had the story for a couple of days, and I've already caught 
up to you. Who would you say needs a partner?" Lois 
responded.

"A couple of days?" asked Clark in disbelief. "If I recall 
correctly, you've been working on this story since before I 
came to work at the Planet. I'd say that..."

"As much fun as this is," interrupted Perry, "I've already 
made my decision. You leave today." He removed a set of 
keys from his desk and placed them on top of it.

Lois and Clark both stared at the keys before, almost at 
the same moment, jumping for them. Perry had placed them 
closer to Lois, but Clark was fast. Still, Lois managed to 
get her hands on the keys first, snatching them up and 
sticking them in her pocket. She looked over at Clark 
defiantly.

"Fine," said Clark dismissively. "I'll meet you there in an 
hour. Just... don't try any funny stuff. I've got my 
reputation to think about."

A hint of a smile touched Clark's lips in response to 
Lois's scowl. Before she could find an appropriate 
response, he turned and left the room. Lois immediately 
turned to Perry.

"Perry..." she began.

"I don't want to hear it, Lois. Work it out yourselves. 
Just bring back the story."

Lois growled as she stormed from Perry's office, slamming 
the door behind her for good measure. Perry smiled. He had 
to admit that this hostility that had existed between Lois 
and Clark, since Clark had joined the Daily Planet staff a 
month ago, had brought in great stories as each tried to 
outdo the other.

Still, there was something there. Something beyond the 
cutting words and hostile looks. He wondered how long it 
would take them to realize it. He also wondered which of 
them would realize it first - if one of them hadn't 
already. And considering the stories they could bring in 
competing with one another, he was looking forward to 
seeing what they could do as a team. This story provided 
the perfect opportunity to get the answer to that question. 
It would be interesting to see what happened...well... if 
they didn't kill each other first.

* * * * * * * * *

Lois muttered scathing oaths at Perry for partnering her 
with that pretentious upstart as she stomped out of her 
editor's office. "I'll pick you up in an hour, Kent," she 
ordered as she headed toward the elevator. How dare he 
think that he could transfer from the New York Times and 
try to displace her as the Planet's best investigative 
reporter. The gall! Just because he seemed to get most of 
the interviews with Superman these days didn't give him the 
right to horn in on her investigation. Furthermore, he was 
too nice and too sweet to be able to deal with a biker 
gang. So now she had to investigate and babysit him. Just 
because he was good looking didn't make it easier for her 
to work with a rookie. All right! He wasn't a rookie, but 
he was new to the Planet. Mr. Greenjeans didn't have what 
it took to be successful in Metropolis.

* * * * * * * * *

Clark watched as Lois entered the elevator. How typical! 
He'd told her he'd meet her at the RV so, of course, she 
told him she'd pick him up. He let out a slow breath. He 
liked the idea of camping at the New Troy State Park and 
was even looking forward to getting into this 
investigation, but why did it have to be with Lois? Anyone 
else... He'd even take Ralph if he had to. So why Lois?

A corner of Clark's mouth quirked up for a moment as he 
thought about his comment to Lois when he'd left Perry's 
office. It wasn't often he was able to leave her 
speechless. If he didn't know better, he'd think he touched 
a nerve. Fortunately, she seemed to feel about him as he 
felt about her - barely constrained disdain.

Clark got up from behind his desk. If Lois was picking him 
up in an hour, he'd better get going now. After all, he 
wanted to do a patrol of the city before heading out with 
her. As he exited through the stairway, he thought back to 
the first time he'd met Lois Lane. Considering everything, 
the character of their relationship now was somewhat 
surprising. Of course, she didn't know that was the first 
time they'd met.

Clark had been working for the New York Times for about a 
year when the call came from Perry White that had brought 
him to the Planet. He'd accepted the offer immediately, 
although he'd decided to give the Times a month's notice. 
It was time to move on.

He never should have asked Linda King out that first time. 
Still, it would have seemed odd if he didn't date at all. 
He figured it was his Kryptonian biology that made him 
uninterested in women. So he'd asked Linda out. He wasn't 
quite sure how they'd ended up in a serious relationship. 
In the weeks preceding Perry's phone call, she'd been 
pushing to take the physical aspect of their relationship 
further than he was comfortable with. But he couldn't quite 
bring himself to disillusion her about their future. It was 
easier just leaving.

There certainly were times when his Kryptonian heritage had 
proven to be a problem. Linda, and his reaction to her, was 
just the latest example. But she was only one in a long 
line of disappointments. Ever since he was a teenager, 
watching his friends suddenly become interested in women, 
he'd known he was different. He'd certainly participated in 
the conversations. He'd just never seriously thought much 
about the feelings inspiring them. He knew he was supposed 
to get all hot and bothered when a beautiful woman looked 
in his direction. And although he could certainly identify 
a beautiful woman when one came along, he seemed basically 
incapable of having the normal human reactions.

His mind drifted back to one time, shortly after he'd begun 
traveling. He'd been in Viet Nam. He still wasn't sure how 
his companions had convinced him to go to that bar or why 
he'd allowed himself to be taken home by a beautiful 
Vietnamese woman - peer pressure, he suspected. But he 
wasn't sure who had been more embarrassed when she'd 
returned, after supposedly going to get him some food, 
completely naked. Fortunately, he hadn't seen her again. 
And he changed traveling companions immediately. Still, 
sometimes it would be so much easier if he were just able 
to respond like Earth males. He wondered if his reactions 
would be different if he were confronted by a Kryptonian 
woman. He suspected they would be - otherwise, what would 
drive Kryptonians to procreate?

In the month following his resignation, he had the chance 
to try out an idea he'd been playing with for a while. He 
figured that he'd been spared from death on Krypton for 
some purpose. But he couldn't use his powers to help others 
without jeopardizing his chance at a normal life. He'd 
wondered if he could come up with an effective disguise 
that would allow him to use his powers openly? When the 
offer had come from Perry, he grabbed the opportunity. He 
could try out the disguise in Metropolis, seeing if it 
worked before moving there as Clark.

He smiled. He'd first met Lois when he'd saved the 
Messenger this past May. At the time, he'd been surprised 
to find a stow-away reporter on the shuttle. Even though 
he'd just swallowed a bomb and lifted a shuttle into space, 
she had not been afraid. Knowing her now, it wasn't nearly 
as difficult to believe. The woman was fearless. In fact, 
she'd insisted on an interview. He had been impressed by 
her insightful questions. She didn't pull any punches. Her 
questions were, at times, hard hitting, but always fair. 
She had even accepted his boundaries when he'd told her 
that he wasn't prepared to answer all of her questions then 
- although she had managed to get a promise out of him to 
give her his first full interview. He had been looking 
forward to working with her.

She was even the one who had given him his name. He'd 
overheard her talking to Perry after he'd given her a lift 
to the Daily Planet. Perry had asked how strong he was. He 
could clearly remember Lois's words.

"He's really, really strong, Perry. I saw him lift the 
Messenger into space. He's super strong... He's a super 
strong man. He's a superman."

By the end of the day, every news publication in the world 
had dubbed him 'Superman'. That's what made his 
relationship with Lois now somewhat odd. Obviously, given 
his Kryptonian biology, he'd not been interested in a 
relationship with her, or any woman for that matter. But he 
had been looking forward to being her friend. He wasn't 
certain why they'd become so hostile to each other. She'd 
been difficult, sure. But he'd dealt with difficult people 
all his life. Yet, she just seemed to bring it out in him. 
And now... He chuckled. He had to admit, a few days of 
dueling with Lois did sound sort of fun.

He was somewhat surprised when he suddenly realized how 
much he actually enjoyed sparring with someone as bright as 
she was. He almost chuckled when he thought about the time 
he'd sent her to the sewage reclamation plant. She had 
retaliated the next day - making sure he received a tip 
that took him on a wild goose chase, literally. She'd had a 
source contact him, giving him a tip that took him to the 
petting farm at Metropolis Zoo. When he arrived, there were 
geese everywhere. She was the one who'd gotten the story 
that day.

* * * * * * * * *

Lois stepped out of the elevator and headed to the spot 
where Perry had told her she would find the RV. But there 
was only a vehicle a little longer than a family van. How 
could that be? Perry must have made a mistake. She checked 
the license plate number on the key chain. No, it was the 
same. She walked closer and looked in the window. The cab 
looked like Eduardo Friaz's family van that she had 
borrowed one night for a stake-out. The back wasn't visible 
because of the darkened windows. Her curiousity piqued, she 
put the key in the lock. It worked. The door opened. She 
looked towards the back of the RV. Were she and Clark 'GQ' 
Kent really going to have to spend time together in that? 
Lois had never been in a RV before , so she climbed into 
the living area ready to explore. The back was roomier than 
she had expected, but it was still small. Behind the 
driver's and passenger's seats were two other bucket seats. 
The four seats could swivel to face each other and form a 
square. There was a heavy plastic square that could be 
placed between the seats to use as a table. Lois found that 
she had no problem standing up in the RV, although she 
doubted it would be as easy for Clark.

Moving two steps toward the back, she entered the tiny 
galley kitchen containing a fridge, a hotplate with two gas 
burners, a sink and a microwave. With the way she cooked, 
she chuckled, she only needed the microwave. On the other 
side of the galley was what appeared to be a closet. She 
opened the doors and looked inside. On one side there were 
drawers, but on the other, was a toilet. She pushed the 
closet doors further open. It did provide some privacy, 
but... Lois wondered how much privacy there really was. She 
hadn't thought about personal needs before.

She walked past the kitchen/bathroom area into what was the 
sleeping area. Lois stretched her arms out. The width of 
the RV was not much greater than her own arm span. She 
shook her head in amazement. How were they ever going to 
have any privacy? On each side of the RV was a cushioned 
bench. In between, there was a table with more cushions on 
it. That was the bed! One narrow bed for the two of them? 
No way.

As Lois drove the RV to her apartment, she kept on 
wondering how she would be able to live in such close 
proximity to Clark for such an extended period of time. She 
found him extremely attractive. No, she couldn't think that 
way. They had to work together.

Her mind drifted back to the first time they'd met. She'd 
certainly noticed the good-looking man who'd come out of 
Perry's office. No woman with a pulse could not notice such 
a man. In fact, for the first time in years, the idea of 
taking a man home for the night had played in her mind. Or 
at least it had until Jimmy had shown the man to a desk. 
Suddenly she had visions of a very different kind - 
babysitting some newbie. She didn't have time for this now. 
She was up to her eyeballs following up a lead given to her 
by her narc friend.

She had directed her eyes back to some papers on her desk 
when he came over, hoping her obvious disinterest would 
keep him from speaking. Before he'd been able to introduce 
himself, Perry had called them all in for the morning story 
meeting. She could still remember that meeting as if it had 
happened yesterday.

"Boys and girls, I'd like to introduce the newest member of 
our team, Mr. Clark Kent. We've been lucky enough to steal 
him away from the New York Times."

Lois's breath had caught in her throat. She'd read this 
man's work. He was good. She'd glanced over at Perry. Was 
Perry trying to tell her something? Maybe he'd hired Kent 
because he didn't think she was pulling her weight. After 
all, for the last few years, she'd been top dog around 
here. In Lois's opinion, everyone else was just extra 
baggage.

She'd looked back at the devastating smile on the face of 
the obscenely attractive man they'd just been introduced 
to. God, he was good looking. She'd pulled her mind away 
from that thought immediately. He was the competition - and 
Lois did not sleep with the competition. Still...she 
couldn't help admiring how well put together he was.

"Thank you, Mr. White," he'd said, his voice reverberating 
inside Lois. "It's a real pleasure to be here. I've wanted 
to work at the Daily Planet for as long as I can remember 
so when I got Mr. White's offer..."

He continued on, but Lois evaluated that last piece of 
information - Kent had been approached by Perry, not the 
other way around.

"...looking forward to working with all of you." Then he'd 
turned and looked fully at her for the first time. Lois's 
heart had almost come to a complete halt when their eyes 
first met. "Especially you, Ms. Lane. I've been a big fan 
of yours for a long time."

She couldn't remember how she'd responded. Something 
appropriate, no doubt. And maybe she could have put her 
initial impression of him as the competition aside if it 
hadn't been for what had happened next. She'd told Perry 
about her idea for a story. She'd received a tip about a 
new drug on the streets. No one seemed to know quite what 
it was, but it had become known as jelly-beans because, 
apparently, the drug was being injected into normal jelly-
beans. When she'd mentioned that she'd wanted to follow up 
on it, Perry had shot her down.

Then, when Perry had asked if there were any other ideas, 
Clark had spoken up. She'd almost laughed at his idea. 
Apparently he'd been down at the police station when a 
hysterical mother of a teenage boy came in. She'd told the 
police that her son had gone out to a party with some 
friends and hadn't come home. As if a missing teenager was 
news! Please! Still, instead of immediately dismissing the 
idea, Perry had asked Clark where he thought the story was. 
When Clark had mentioned similar disappearances of a number 
of other teens in recent days, Perry had told Clark to 
follow up. But it was Perry's next words that had irked 
Lois. "A story idea on your first day. That's what I like - 
initiative," Perry had exclaimed, looking around at the 
rest of them as if they were some how lacking.

Looking back now, she thought she'd handled the situation 
rather well - considering. But then he'd done the 
unforgivable - he'd stolen Superman. Any chance that they 
could work in a collegial atmosphere was lost when Clark 
brought in his first story with a direct quote from 
Superman. And Superman had gone down a notch in her 
estimation as well. He was her source, after all; she found 
him first.

She remembered how scared she had been as she stared at the 
ticking bomb on the Messenger. With, what she realized now 
was a great deal of audacity, she had tried to cut the 
wires leading to the bomb. She had known that she didn't 
have a clue about bombs, but there hadn't seemed to be any 
other hope. And then, out of the blue, this man had walked 
in, torn the plastique away from the wires, and, of all 
things, swallowed it. She had stood facing him with her 
mouth open. She had never seen anything like him before. It 
had taken her quite a while before she had returned to 
reporter mode. By that time, she knew that he was a friend. 
The answers to her subsequent questions validated her 
opinion.

And he was a friend who often turned up when she was in 
trouble, a frequent event. He had given her the first 
exclusive Superman interview, the one where she and the 
rest of the world learned that he was from the planet 
Krypton and that he had come to Earth to help. Other women 
focused in on his good-looks and fantasized about him, but 
she saw him as a good friend who treated her professionally 
and with respect. And then that first day, Clark Kent came 
with a Superman interview and undermined her position at 
the Planet. Superman was her source, after all. Clark had 
stolen him.

Lois had been so incensed at the newbie in the office that 
she decided to check him out. She called Linda King, a 
college friend, who worked at the Times' office in New 
York. Linda wasn't as helpful as she had hoped. She talked 
about Kent's skill as a reporter, but she also mentioned 
that she had dated him for a short time. Lois's ears had 
perked up. Linda mentioned that when they had first begun 
dating, Clark had been very attentive and very considerate. 
In the end, he just wasn't her type.

"What do you mean 'he wasn't your type'?" Lois asked. "You 
can't fool me, Linda. I remember you from college. Anything 
past puberty is your type." She paused for a moment to let 
her words sink in. "Come on, the truth."

"All right. When I tried to get things to move beyond the 
dating and the pristine good-night kiss, he became stand-
offish. He was still polite and everything, but he wasn't 
available as much. Not long afterwards, he handed in his 
resignation. He said he was going to work at the Daily 
Planet."

When Lois hung up the phone, she chuckled. She could 
imagine Linda coming on strong, in a way that only Linda 
could, and Clark backing off like a scared rabbit.

Still, if the past month had taught her anything, it was 
that the heart wanted what the heart wanted. And what her 
heart apparently wanted was Clark Kent. That was why 
spending time alone with him in this small RV was so 
terrifying. She was having problems ignoring her attraction 
to him as it was. How would she survive being cooped up 
with him in this intimate environment, especially given his 
obvious disinterest in her? She often found herself wishing 
she knew how to break the pattern they had fallen into - a 
pattern of fighting about everything. Maybe if they could 
just get to know each other, he'd be able to see behind her 
tough reporter persona. The problem was that he seemed to 
have no desire to change their pattern of behavior. She 
pulled the van over into a parking space in front of her 
apartment building.

After rushing into her apartment, Lois began pulling out 
items she needed on her assignment: basic clothing, 
toiletries and make-up, and some trampy looking outfits 
that she had used for other undercover work. Then she 
looked at her sleep clothes. She eyed a lace nightdress 
that she had hanging in her closet. "Don't go there, girl. 
This is business," she told herself. She threw some t-
shirts and sleep shorts into her duffel bag. Within an hour 
she was in front of Clark's apartment. He really had chosen 
a poorly kept area of town to live in. She honked her horn, 
and seconds later, Clark was coming out his front door, 
dressed in a pair of faded, tight jeans and a t-shirt that 
accentuated every muscle in his chest. Lois felt her heart 
rate increase. How was she ever going to survive in the 
snug little RV with Clark Kent if he was going to dress 
like that?

"Hey, Lois," he said as he opened the side door to the RV.

"Hi," she answered.

"Wow! This is really terrific," he said looking around. It 
didn't take him long to start opening up the cupboards to 
the kitchen. "Look at this! Wow! It's even got dishes and 
pots and pans... Hey look at this fridge. There's even some 
food in here. But we'll have to do some shopping, anyway." 
He kept inspecting, opening cupboards, checking under 
seats. "I wonder where we hook up the water and the 
electricity when we stop...Hey, Lois, get a look at this. 
There's a TV. I won't have to miss the Mets-Bills game. And 
it's even got a stereo system. Let me go get my CDs."

Before Lois could answer, Clark rushed out of the RV, went 
back into his apartment, and returned with a stack of CDs. 
Lois rolled her eyes. He got into the passenger seat beside 
her.

"Wait 'til I tell my parents about this. They'd love to go 
traveling around the country, and this would be so 
terrific. I never thought that an RV could be so well 
equipped. This is really going to be fun."

"Clark, buckle up. This is work, not the Cleavers meet Wild 
Kingdom." Lois turned on the ignition and started the four 
hour drive to New Troy State Park.

* * * * * * * * *

"Stop squirming, June," Clark said.

"I'm not," she said as she once again moved her right arm 
away from her body. He'd been calling her June ever since 
she'd made that crack about the Cleavers and it was 
starting to drive her nuts. However, correcting him had 
just seemed to provoke the matter. Maybe if she ignored it, 
he'd get tired of this little game and quit.

"It looks like you have a nervous twitch."

"I do not," Lois denied.

"You've been squirming like that since we got on the road," 
he said glancing away from the road to see her twist her 
upper body. "You couldn't keep still in the Piggly-Wiggly 
either."

"That was different, Kent." She surreptitiously twitched 
her body. "Speaking of the Piggly-Wiggly, that was some 
shopping spree you went on there," she said changing the 
subject. "It was as if you were bi- polar or something. One 
of you buys fruits, vegetables and health foods, while the 
other buys Twinkies, Ho-Hos, and cupcakes," she pronounced 
as she shifted her body and tugged at her inner arm. "I 
don't get it: you eat like an eight year old and you've got 
the body of a..." She made an erratic gesture with her 
hand, realizing that she didn't want him to know what she 
thought of his to-die-for body. "And how dare you take the 
keys away from me?"

"You were a menace, doing all those contortions while you 
were driving. What's up with that anyway?"

"Nothing." She used her whole body to shift position and 
stared at the passing landscape out the window.

He looked at her fidgeting with her shirt and her arm. 
Finally, she couldn't take it anymore. "Dammit," she 
muttered. She stood up and headed to the benches at the 
very back of the RV. Still cursing, she rummaged through 
her duffel bag. "Dammit," she muttered again. She hated it 
when the underwire of her bra cut through the material and 
began poking her in the arm. And this was a new bra, too.

Clark chuckled as Lois got up and moved to the back of the 
RV. He watched her through the rear-view mirror settling 
down to some extent, although her grumbling continued. He 
drove on. Her muttering increased. "Darn, I don't have 
another one," she said as she rummaged through her duffel 
bag.

Clark observed her. Lois was reaching back, underneath her 
t-shirt, as if she was undoing her bra. He watched closely, 
expecting her to take off her t-shirt. But she didn't. 
Instead, he saw her put her hand into one sleeve and pull 
out a bra strap. His gaze shifted to the road in front of 
him. He checked in the side mirror. There were no cars 
around him. He checked out the back. He swerved a bit, but 
he was in control.

Lois put her hand up the other sleeve and pulled out the 
other strap. Either the air conditioning in the RV wasn't 
working properly or the heater was on. He adjusted the 
dials and turned up the air conditioning a notch to check 
it out. She then reached under her shirt and pulled out a 
white lace and satin bra. He stared at the perfect piece of 
clothing and exhaled. Embarrassed by looking at her 
intimate piece of clothing, he tried to concentrate on his 
driving. He couldn't believe it: the windshield had frost 
all over the driver's side. He pulled the RV to the 
shoulder of the road.

"What happened?" Lois asked.

"I've been having some trouble with the air conditioning. A 
gust of cold air just frosted up the windshield." He leaned 
forward and started to pull down his glasses in order to 
melt the frost when he felt Lois come forward.

"Here, let me help." She had a dish cloth in her hand that 
she must have taken from the kitchen. She leaned across 
Clark to get at the window. His eyes fastened on the 
perfect curves lightly covered by her t- shirt. With every 
move they magically, but subtly changed shape, each new 
posture calling to him. He'd never seen anything like them 
before. They were alive, vibrant, compelling. He felt his 
heart rate increase, but he couldn't get his eyes off the 
material that protected her breasts. He wanted to touch 
them, an impulse that had never occurred to him before, 
even that evening when Linda King had put his hand on her 
breast.

He felt himself heat up, and he moved his hands under 
Lois's body to turn up the air conditioning. His arm grazed 
her breast and he quickly drew it back. He watched in awe 
as he saw the definition of her nipple against the t-shirt. 
He felt some heat on his face and wiped the warm moisture 
away.

"I'm going to check the engine...see if anything is wrong 
with the air conditioning."

He stepped out of the RV and walked to the hood. He flipped 
it open and looked down at himself. He had felt his jeans 
tighten, but he hadn't recognized what it was. Feeling like 
a fifteen-year-old, he pulled out his t-shirt that had been 
tucked in and got to work on the motor.

Actually, to say he got to work on the motor would have 
been an overstatement. After all, there was nothing wrong 
with the motor. His breath had frosted up the inside of the 
window. Still, he needed a moment, so he tinkered around 
under the hood of the RV. He wasn't exactly sure what had 
happened. One minute everything had been fine and the next 
he'd been hot, sweaty, not in complete control of his 
powers and... He glanced down at his body again and let out 
a breath. What was that all about?

Was it possible that he was experiencing some sort of 
Kryptonian flu? After all, didn't people with the flu get 
hot and sweaty? He was almost certain that they did. And 
didn't they often complain of aches and pains in their 
body? Yes. And right now, he was certainly experiencing 
aching in one part of his body. Maybe that was it.

Still, he seemed to be feeling somewhat better. He wasn't 
nearly as hot as he had been a few minutes ago. And that 
other problem... Even that was beginning to abate. It was 
kind of embarrassing. He hoped Lois hadn't noticed. If she 
had, he'd never hear the end of it.

"So have you figured out what happened?" asked Lois from 
the open window of the RV.

"Umm... Well, no."

"Why doesn't that surprise me?" muttered Lois.

"Listen, June, if you think you can do any better, you're 
welcome to come out here and try." He let out a breath of 
relief. It seemed that sparring with Lois was helping to 
get his mind off his problem and getting his mind off his 
problem seemed to be helping the problem go away. He'd have 
to remember to mention this to his parents when he got a 
chance. Maybe they could tell him if he'd ever had that 
form of the flu before.

"What? I thought fixin' cars and milkin' cows was the only 
reason the civilized world kept you farmboys around. If you 
can't even fix a car, what good are you?" Lois responded.

"Well, at least I know how to open the hood. I've heard you 
city girls can't even do that," Clark shot back. Yes, he 
was beginning to feel much better now. He removed the bar 
that held the hood open and allowed it to fall shut.

"You might be surprised at just what us city girls can do," 
she responded.

His eyes met hers, not quite sure what she was referring 
to, and suddenly the heat was back. He quickly broke eye 
contact and made his way back to the driver's door. He 
opened it and moved to climb in when suddenly Lois leaped 
over into the driver's seat, her arm brushing against his 
chest.

"Sorry, Kent," she said, "But since I know the way, I 
suggest you just get in the passenger side and be a good 
little boy."

Clark immediately backed away from the door. When he didn't 
respond, Lois glanced over at him. He was definitely 
sweating.

"Are you okay, Kent?" she asked, raising a hand to his 
face. However, before her hand reached its destination, he 
had moved back. She shrugged. He looked hot and flushed, 
but if he didn't want to tell her what was wrong, it really 
was his business. She just hoped he wasn't getting sick. 
That was all she needed. After all, she wasn't Florence 
Nightingale. She didn't do 'sick' well.

She waited until he silently made his way to the 
passenger's door and climbed inside. As she pulled the RV 
back onto the road, she glanced over at him again. He still 
looked somewhat flushed.

"Why don't you go into the back and have a nap while we 
go..."

"I'm fine," he snapped in return.

She glanced over at him, but he wasn't looking at her. He 
was staring silently out the window. She shrugged and 
turned her attention back to the road.

* * * * * * * *

The man rolled the cigar between his fingers as he waited 
for his visitor. He heard the door open and someone enter 
before turning around.

"So, what did you find out?" he asked.

"My source confirmed it," the new arrival said.

The man took a drag on his cigar and took a moment to 
exhale as he considered this information.

"Have they been filing reports?" he finally asked.

"Apparently not. They are deep undercover. That's why we 
didn't realize who they were before. They aren't to report 
until they have what they're looking for."

"And what's that?"

"You, sir."

The man with the cigar nodded slowly. "Then all we need do 
is eliminate them and the problem is solved." He took 
another drag on his cigar. "Call Sean McCarthy. I think 
this little problem is right up his alley."

"Yes, sir," the other man responded before turning and 
exiting the room.

* * * * * * *

Clark closed his eyes. Lois was back in the driver's seat 
while he was singing along to "Achy Breaky Heart". He was 
afraid to open his eyes because Lois's unconstrained 
breasts were like magnets to his eyes.

"We got a three hour ride here, Billy Ray," her voice broke 
into his off-tune serenade. "Am I going to have to listen 
to this...junk...all the way or can we talk about the 
case?"

"Talk about the case," he mumbled still keeping his eyes 
closed.

"Okay, I'll start because I know why I'm going to this 
biker hoe-down. My source told me that there is a 
connection between this drug I've been investigating and a 
biker gang."

"And, according to Superman..." Clark winced as he referred 
to himself in the third person, "the bikers were around at 
the two clubs from where the teens were last seen."

"Okay, that's a start."

"Tell me about the drug."

"It seems rather benign from what I understand. People 
who've taken it say that it relaxes their inhibitions, 
makes them mellow."

"How did you find out about it?"

"It's a source, Clark. I don't have to tell."

"No, you don't but we are working together," he argued.

Lois kept her eyes on the road debating for a moment. It 
made sense that he know her source if they were working 
together. He was still crossing over her boundaries at the 
Planet, and she had territory to protect, but she would 
compromise and tell him on a needs-to-know basis.

"He works at one of the clubs. He knows someone who I know. 
He tried to sell my friend these jelly beans, told him that 
he could get quite a buzz from them. My friend's quite 
straight-laced. He refused and, in the end, persuaded the 
seller to talk to me."

"You mentioned jelly beans. Do you really mean jelly 
beans?"

"Yeah, that's what they call them because the drug is 
injected into jelly beans. They're not expensive so kids 
can get them easily. Basically, the high from two or three 
beans is like a shot of whiskey without the bitter taste or 
whiskey breath for parents to find out or cops to find..."

"What about a breathalyzer?"

"I don't know. Anyway, according to the kids, there's a 
great buzz. Makes them party better."

"So what's the biker link?"

"According to the guy who works at the club, someone named 
Stinky comes into the club and sells bags of jelly beans. 
It's hush-hush but word gets around fast."

"Is the Glee Club that you mentioned to Perry the only 
place where the jelly beans are sold?"

"No, there are a few other places in town. I found out that 
a guy named Eagle sells in other places."

"Any relation between Stinky and Eagle?"

"I heard that Stinky alluded to some boss he had to check 
with. Another time he muttered something like 'Eagle isn't 
going to like this.'"

"And Stinky is a biker?"

"So it seems." She stared ahead at the road watching the 
road signs go by. One hundred more miles before they hit 
the turn off. She relaxed a bit. Talking business with 
Clark was easy. He asked the right questions and didn't 
waste time on trivia. She snuck a look at him. He was 
leaning back on the head rest, looking at ease and 
handsome. She wanted to run her hand over his face, push 
that wanton lock of hair back and kiss his soft lips. The 
thought was irresistible.

"Damn," she said as the bouncing RV jolted her out of her 
pleasant thoughts.

"The idea, June, is to keep the RV out of the potholes."

"Shut up, Kent. This RV isn't made for easy maneuvering." 
She drove on in silence, paying attention to the road 
ahead.

"Okay, tell me what you've got," she finally said.

Without skipping a beat, he began, "Four teens, all fifteen 
or sixteen, one girl and three boys are missing. They come 
from a variety of backgrounds and each went missing from a 
different place. The Glee Club was one of them and so was 
the Ace-o'-Clubs. The other two came from a pool hall and 
local donut shop. What these places have in common is..."

"That they're teen hang-outs."

"Right on the money, June. I asked around and found out 
that each of these kids was eating or drinking, got sick, 
went to the washroom, and never came back. Their friends 
went to look for them, one within minutes, but they were 
gone."

"So what's the Superman link?"

"Superman was in the neighborhood when another one of the 
kids got caught and heard the kid calling for help. He 
tried to stop the kidnapper , but the kid seemed to be 
really sick so he went to help him. By the time he could go 
after the kidnappers, they had disappeared. By the way, the 
kid told him that the kidnapper he saw was a woman. She was 
wearing a Metropolis Devils' jacket. He didn't see her 
face. When he was sick in the washroom she came to take him 
out. She wanted to lure him onto her bike, but he started 
to call for help and Superman appeared."

"So that's the link to the bikers? Pretty skimpy, I'd say."

"Bikers are selling drugs. The kidnapper is wearing a 
biker's jacket," he mused, wondering how tenuous the link 
was.

"And as a result, Perry thinks that our two stories are 
linked." She paused. "I think the chain is pretty weak.

"I'm not so sure about that, Lois. Think about it. One," he 
raised his pointer finger, "the drugs are sold to teens; 
two," he raised his middle finger, "teens are missing; and, 
three, bikers are common to both stories." He raised his 
third finger. "That's three things that they have in 
common."

Lois looked at his three fingers and thought about what it 
would be like to suck them. She shook her head.

"Perry may be right. I guess all we can do is get to the 
camping spot and hope that my source's eavesdropping 
abilities are as good as he thinks they are."

* * * * * * * *

Clark hadn't realized that he'd fallen asleep until a 
sudden silence jolted him awake. He looked around quickly 
to see that the vehicle wasn't moving.

"Where are we? Why have we stopped?" he asked.

"It seems that Perry didn't make sure this thing had gas 
before we left," Lois replied.

"Oh," said Clark, wondering exactly where they were. "We're 
at a gas station!" he exclaimed when it finally sank in 
that they weren't stranded on the side of the road with an 
empty gas tank.

"Well, that's where I usually get my gas, Billy Ray," she 
replied.

"I just meant...never mind," he said, shaking his head 
slightly, trying to clear the sleep from it. It seemed that 
whatever was wrong with him was draining his normal energy 
levels. After the fever had finally subsided, he'd been 
exhausted. He had heard that people who had the flu slept a 
lot. He reckoned it was just one more thing to confirm his 
self-diagnosis. He briefly wondered if this Kryptonian flu 
was contagious, but then dismissed the idea. It was highly 
unlikely that Lois would be affected by some Kryptonian flu 
bug. At least, he hoped that was the case. Maybe he should 
keep an eye on her just in case - see if she exhibited any 
of the same symptoms.

"So?" she asked.

"So... What?" he asked in response.

"Well, the gas tank won't fill itself," she informed him.

His eyebrows rose. "Are you suggesting that I should be the 
one to get out and put gas in the RV?"

"Like, duh," she replied.

"Why should I do it? You're the one driving."

"And you're the one who grew up on a farm," she replied, as 
if that should explain everything.

"You're a liberated woman. Fill your own gas tank."

"I'm also the senior reporter here," she informed him.

"Give me a break," he muttered in response.

Realizing this tactic wasn't working, she changed 
approaches. After all, there was more than one way to skin 
a cat. "Claaarrk," she purred, batting her eyelashes at 
him. "Would you please fill up the RV? After all, the gas 
tank is on your side."

Clark rolled his eyes, but proceeded to open the door. "And 
women wonder why men are so confused," Clark mumbled as he 
climbed out of the vehicle. "On the one hand, they tell us 
they can do anything and balk if we try to as much as open 
a door for them. And on the other..."

His voice was cut off as the door closed behind him. Lois 
smiled slightly before thinking back and frowning. She'd 
actually been sitting in front of the gas pumps for about a 
minute before turning off the engine. It hadn't been a 
conscious decision, but when she'd looked over and seen 
that he was sleeping, it had just been too hard not to take 
advantage of the moment to take a good, long look at her 
gorgeous partner.

His head was back and his mouth had fallen slightly open. A 
small smile found its way onto her lips as she thought 
about how adorable he'd looked at that moment. Her eyes had 
explored his face before drifting down over his tight-
fitting, black t-shirt. His arms, where they appeared below 
the sleeves of the shirt, were incredibly well-muscled. Her 
eyes followed the hard lines in his arms down to where his 
hands rested on his lap.

It suddenly occurred to Lois that his t-shirt wasn't tucked 
into his jeans. She briefly wondered when he'd pulled it 
out. After all, when she'd watched him come out of his 
apartment, she'd definitely noticed the way his t-shirt and 
jeans fit him. She brushed the stray thought aside as her 
eyes continued their trip down his body to look at the 
tight fitting jeans covering his legs that were stretched 
out in front of him. She had certainly noticed that he had 
a great body before, but to have this opportunity to drink 
it in unhindered by a fear of getting caught... Her hand 
didn't consult her brain before reaching out to run it over 
the muscles of his nearest leg. She jolted, pulling back 
her traitorous hand before it reached its destination. 
Quickly, she turned off the engine. He woke almost 
immediately.

"Do you have the company credit card?" Clark asked, pulling 
open the door to the RV.

"Umm..." Pulling open the glove compartment, she rustled 
around in it for a moment before handing the card to Clark.

"Thanks," said Clark, quickly closing the door, turning to 
walk into the station.

Lois shook her head. What was she thinking? She had to quit 
doing this. It was blatantly obvious that Clark Kent was 
not interested in her. If she kept thinking this way, it 
was only a matter of time before she would throw herself at 
him. And she was not about to humiliate herself that way.

* * * * * * * * *

The sun was low in the sky when Lois pulled the RV to a 
stop in front of the small ranger's building at the 
entrance to New Troy State Park.

"Damn," she said as she turned off the engine.

"What?" asked Clark.

"We should have called ahead and reserved a spot."

"I'm sure they'll have something," Clark responded, opening 
the door and stepping out. "Coming?" he asked.

Lois let out a breath and opened the door. She hoped he was 
right. Her cousin who owned an RV had told her it was hard 
to be spontaneous because the campsites filled up quickly. 
And since the Metropolis Devils were getting together here 
this week... She pushed open the door and stepped out of 
the vehicle as Clark entered the building.

She made her way to the door and opened it just in time to 
hear Clark say, "You must have something."

"I'm sorry. We've been filled up for the past hour," 
responded a young man who couldn't have been more than 
nineteen.

"We'll take anything," Clark tried again.

"I'm sorry mister. I really don't have anything I can give 
you."

Clark looked back at Lois. His eyes seemed to burn into her 
for a moment as if he was lost in thought. Then he began 
walking back to her.

"We'll find some place close by and..."

She listened to only the first part of his statement before 
pushing past him and walking over to the man behind the 
counter.

"Hi..." She paused, looking at him for an answer to an 
unspoken question.

"Bruce," the man responded.

She smiled. "Bruce," she repeated. She met his eyes before 
shyly looking away. "Are you sure you don't have any more 
spots?" she asked, reaching out to run her fingers over his 
tie, straightening it. "Isn't it possible that you missed 
something or that someone who reserved a spot hasn't shown 
up?" she asked.

* * * * * * * * *

"What's your problem?" asked Lois as she and Clark made 
their way back to the RV. "I got us a spot didn't I?"

"By throwing yourself at that kid," Clark responded.

"By flirting a little," she responded. "What's your 
problem, farmboy? You too pure to flirt with a source to 
get information?"

Clark ignored her to climb into the driver's seat of the 
RV. The truth was he was suddenly feeling depressed. He 
just had no idea why.

"You wouldn't be jealous, would you?" she asked as she 
climbed into the passenger's seat.

"Don't be ridiculous," scoffed Clark. Still, for some 
unknown reason, her words irked him. He wasn't jealous. He 
wasn't. After all, why would he be jealous? He just didn't 
like watching his partner throw herself at some stranger.

"I think you're jealous," said Lois, leaning back in her 
seat.

"I'm not jealous," responded Clark in a voice that sounded 
a lot like a pout.

She looked over at him in the half light of the RV, trying 
to see his expression. Deciding it was impossible, she 
shrugged and glanced out the window of the vehicle. They 
drove past a number of well-lit spots. She paid attention, 
trying to decide where the best places might be to begin 
the search. After a time, the lights got further and 
further between, and the darkness grew. Still, Clark drove 
on.

"Where are you going?" she finally asked.

"To our campsite," Clark said.

"You missed it," she said.

Clark shook his head and pointed to a stake by the side of 
the road with a number on it. '247'. She reached over and 
grabbed the paper Clark had laid on the dashboard. She 
flicked on the overhead light and read it. "Two seventy 
three," she said, glancing out the window to see another 
stake by the side of the road. This one read '249.' "We're 
going to be out in the middle of nowhere," gasped Lois.

Clark just shrugged in response, although he suddenly felt 
somewhat better.

"He gave us a spot in the middle of nowhere," she said 
again.

"Seems so," Clark responded, feeling quite a bit better 
now.

"There must be some mistake," said Lois, looking back at 
the paper she was holding. She turned it over in her hands.

"Here it is," said Clark, pulling into a deserted spot.

"This can't be it," she muttered.

"This is it," Clark confirmed, thoroughly looking forward 
to this assignment again. He pulled the RV into the spot 
and turned off the ignition. Lois continued to sit there as 
Clark climbed out. A minute or so later, he came back.

"There don't appear to be any utilities here," he said.

"What!" she exclaimed.

Clark shrugged. "I guess you didn't charm that young man as 
well as you thought you did," he said on a chuckle.

"Knock it off, Kent," Lois responded. "What are we going to 
do without power?"

"Relax, June. When we were at the Piggly-Wiggly... I always 
thought that was an odd name for a grocery store, by the 
way. When did it come to Metropolis? I thought they only 
had them down south."

"Kent!" Lois interrupted.

"Right," said Clark with a grin. It was just so much fun 
making her sweat. "When we were at the Piggly- Wiggly, I 
checked the propane level. So we have propane to cook. And 
the water tank is full. It isn't very big, but it should 
last us until morning and there seems to be a hand pump out 
here. And I even saw some candles when I was looking 
through cupboards earlier. And, just so you don't think I'm 
just another pretty face, I brought along a couple of 
flashlights. What else do we need?"

"Great," muttered Lois. "First, I get stuck out here in the 
middle of nowhere. Then I have to put up with Billy Ray 
thinking this is the greatest thing that's happened to him 
since Ma and Pa took him to the fair."

"Well, Bruce did say this spot was a little rough. What did 
you expect?"

"I thought he meant I might not like the neighbors," said 
Lois. "Not that I'd have to fight the bears to get to 
civilization."

"Where's your sense of adventure, June?" Then, before she 
could answer, he continued, "Look, I'm going to get some 
firewood in case we want to have a fire tonight."

"Fine," mumbled Lois, finally getting out of her seat and 
heading to the back of the RV. She began rustling through 
drawers until she found candles. A bit more digging 
revealed the location of the flashlights. She laid the 
various items on the table at the back of the RV. She then 
returned to rustle through the drawers again. "No matches," 
she muttered. "Great! Well, maybe my big strong protector 
can make fire," she muttered sarcastically. She let out a 
breath and made her way to the door of the RV.

"Billy Ray?" she asked, stepping outside. There was no 
answer. "Clark?" she asked again, this time a little bit 
louder. Still, there was no response.

"Where..." Her voice trailed off when she realized what 
must have happened. He'd snuck off to get the story 
himself. "That rat!" she exclaimed. "I should have known 
better than to trust those puppy dog eyes." Grabbing her 
jacket and a flashlight, she stormed from the RV.

* * * * * * * * *

Space number 273 was indeed in the middle of nowhere. It 
was located on a small peninsula just north of the main 
campsite, separated by two hundred yards of brush and trees 
that encircled the whole area. Using the lights as a 
beacon, Lois marched toward the road leading to the 
majority of the RVs. She wasn't sure what she was looking 
for or what she would find, but she knew that she had to 
find it before Kent did. She couldn't believe his audacity, 
just taking off like that.

She slowed down as she approached the outer ring of RVs, 
keeping the small wood on one side of her. The sun was 
setting. The orderly formation of RVs reminded her of 
little boxes on a hillside. Motorized suburbia! People were 
sitting on lawn chairs outside their RVs having drinks; 
some were preparing dinners on outdoor barbeques while 
others were inside their travelling homes. Children and 
dogs were running around, getting underfoot. Pretty 
domestic, Lois thought. Yuck!

Lois stuck to the outer path looking for some clue that she 
was on the right track. She had almost made a complete 
circle around the campsite when she finally spotted a 
number of people wearing black leather jackets with the 
insignia of the Metropolis Devils on them. Well, she'd 
found them, but which of the various groups contained the 
people she was looking for?

Deciding she didn't have a better plan, she focused in on 
one group of men sitting in front of one RV near the edge 
of the crowd. Two of the men were wearing black leather, 
Metropolis Devils' jackets, the third wore a black t-shirt 
and jeans. She stayed close to the woods, moving a little 
to get a better view of what was going on. She heard ribald 
laughter, but she couldn't make out any words. She left the 
shadow of the woods and moved closer to the RV, crouching 
down, hoping that no one would see her. Just as she got 
comfortable, black t-shirt and jeans and a petite woman 
moved away.

"We'll speak to you in the morning. Jessie's gonna go into 
town to pick up some groceries. I'm gonna tag along and get 
a case of beer. You guys want anything?"

"Naw, I'm okay, Frankie," said the big guy with the scruffy 
hair and unkempt beard.

Lois flattened herself against the RV, hoping that they 
wouldn't see her. After Frankie and Jessie left, a tall, 
blonde woman approached the men. She had a deep tan and 
long, French manicured fingernails. Lois wondered how she 
could keep them looking so great. She probably didn't work 
for a living. Her jeans hugged her svelte figure and the 
low-cut t-shirt accentuated her ample bosom. Lois looked 
down at her own chest and shrugged her shoulders.

"Vinnie, babe, come over here," said the bearded man, "Can 
you take Cookie out for a walk? She's been cooped up here 
all day. I gotta talk to Stinky."

Lois pulled in a breath. Stinky was the name of the biker 
her source had mentioned. Was it possible that she'd 
stumbled on the right group of scumbags? The next name she 
heard confirmed her suspicions.

"Sure, Eagle, hon. That's what I been meanin' to do. I need 
a walk." Vinnie ambled over to the RV and, to Lois'ss 
surprise, she unleashed a dog. "Come on Cookie, honey," she 
said massaging the dog's head and neck, "Who's my best 
pooch?" she asked putting her face close to the dog. "Come 
on, Cookie, baby. We're going for a walk. Yes, we are, you 
good doggie, you."

When Vinnie stood up and began walking the dog, Lois was 
surprised to see the ugliest pit bull she had ever seen in 
her life. "Cookie?" she whispered, incredulously. Lois, 
whose thoughts were interrupted by a man's voice, didn't 
let herself dwell on the dog.

"Stinky, quit cleaning up here. We've got business to deal 
with."

"Eagle," said the clean-shaven, neatly groomed man, "I'll 
sit down in a minute. I'm just going to shine my boots and 
then put these beer bottles away..."

"Sit down, Stinky."

Lois watched Stinky look over to Eagle and then at the beer 
bottles scattered on the ground.

"Pull up a seat, Stinky."

"I wish you wouldn't call me that. I'm not twelve anymore. 
I couldn't help it if the skunk sprayed me."

"Yeah, that was pretty funny, wasn't it?" Eagle guffawed.

"Maybe for you. It took days until the smell went away. It 
took weeks before I could inhale without smelling it."

"That was twenty-five years ago. Get over it." He waited 
for Stinky to sit down. "Listen, buddy," Eagle leaned 
closer, "I just got a message from the Boss today. He wants 
to know if we're ready for the demonstration, if the kids 
are ready."

"Not yet, Eagle. Hold off a bit. The last batch of jelly 
beans didn't work as well as the others. We need to check 
them out. We need some more kids, too. I think I know 
what's wrong, but I want to test it on someone who doesn't 
already have a build up of the drug in his system."

Lois held her breath. This is what she wanted to hear. 
Staying close to the RV, she moved closer to the two men.

"He's getting impatient," Eagle continued.

"So, do we want to show him an imperfect product or one 
that works? Tell him we need more time, but it'll pay off." 
Stinky started folding up the extra lawn chairs as the two 
men spoke.

"I'll hold him off for a while, but who's going to get the 
kids."

"Vinnie and Jessie can do that."

"Do you think Superman saw Vinnie in Metropolis?" Eagle 
asked as he reached for another beer from the case. He 
placed the bottle on the edge of the table beside him and 
knocked off the cap. Stinky watched the cap fall to the 
ground and seemed to need to restrain himself from moving 
to pick it up.

"Nah. We would've heard something in the news. Vinnie said 
that he was too busy with the kid, and she moved out of 
there real fast."

"And we better move out of here, too. We're still too close 
to Metropolis."

"I called the campsite at Siegel," Stinky said. "They've 
got room for us there."

"Good. We need to get outta this area. How many spots did 
you get?"

"Three."

"Then we better tell Frankie and Jessie we're going."

"We need more muscle, too."

"We'll worry about it later," Eagle said taking a chug of 
beer. He got up and started walking over to the next RV.

In the distance, Lois heard Vinnie talking to Cookie. The 
dog had started barking wildly. She hoped that she wasn't 
the cause of the dog's discomfort, but just in case, she 
headed into the wood and began walking in the direction of 
Space 273. She heard the barking get closer. She flicked 
the flashlight on, feeling that she was far enough from 
Eagle's RV, and walked at a much brisker pace than earlier. 
As the dog's barking got louder, she broke into a run 
letting the darkness ahead direct her. As she moved away 
from the populated area, she lost her sense of direction, 
but she kept on moving forward. Cookie's bark got louder 
and, she feared, more ferocious. The darkness enveloped 
her.

All of a sudden, her foot got caught on a fallen branch, 
putting her off balance, and she reached out to break the 
fall with her hands. She landed face first in a puddle of 
water. Her palms hurt. She was wet. She had scraped her 
elbows. But worse, she had dropped the flashlight and it 
had gone out. She felt around for it, but only found what 
she hoped was leaves, twigs and mud. It was soft and gooey. 
She didn't want to think what else could be so soft and 
gooey. Cookie was still barking. She had no way to measure 
where the dog was in relation to her.

She got up and continued to run. She couldn't be far from 
the RV. She looked for a light, but she hadn't lit the 
candles when she left, and Clark probably wasn't back. She 
wanted to think about where Clark was, but right now she 
just wanted to get away from Cookie. She felt her t-shirt 
tear as she brushed against a branch.

Finally, the path cleared. She slowed a little to get her 
bearings and to catch her breath. All she could see in 
front of her was the night blackness. There were so many 
stars above her, but all she wanted was for someone to turn 
on the light. She felt some fur graze her leg and saw two 
eyes staring up at her. Then she heard Cookie. Lois started 
to run again, hoping that she was heading either in the 
right direction, or at least to civilization.

She placed one foot in front of her, and the ground slipped 
from under her feet. The world slowed down as she realized 
that she was falling and there was nothing to stop her or 
anything for her to grab. Her arms flailed out trying to 
reach for branches or trees, but she only found air. And 
so, she did the only thing she knew how to do.

"Help! Help!" she screamed, but she kept tumbling down.

"Heeelllp!"

And then she wasn't falling anymore. She was floating...up.

"Superman!"

"Glad to be in the area, Lois," he said as he lifted her. 
"What are you doing here?"

But Lois couldn't answer. Her heart was pounding as if it 
would burst her chest. If it wasn't for Superman she would 
probably be lying at the bottom of the cliff if not like 
bug splat, then definitely badly hurt. She tried to catch 
her breath, but all it did was make her hyperventilate.

"You're all right now. Breathe slowly. You don't have to 
talk," Superman said. He placed her down on firm ground and 
looked around.

"Looks like this cliff is eroding and the ground at the 
edge isn't very solid. What were you doing?"

"Running away," she gasped, "from a pit bull...It was out 
to get me... Barking..."

"You mean the one that was after the squirrel?"

"A squirrel?"

"Yes, I managed to save the squirrel before I saved you."

"Thanks," she said, not quite having regained her breath. 
"I'm glad... to know... I come in second... to a squirrel."

"It's not that. I knew how much time I needed to save you." 
He shrugged his shoulders." If I had saved you first, the 
squirrel would have been puppy chow."

"Oh!"

Clark finally calmed Lois down enough to get her to tell 
him where she was staying. He lifted her and flew them 
straight to the dark RV. He went inside and turned on the 
cabin lights. With the light, he was able to see Lois. She 
was shivering. He glanced over her to make sure that she 
was all right. Her t-shirt was wet and see-through. The 
damp material was clinging to her breasts. He, on the other 
hand, was feeling warm again, and the ache that he had felt 
earlier was coming back. He moved his cape to the front. He 
didn't understand why, after all these years on Earth, he 
was getting sick. He wasn't even sure that any earthly 
medications would work on him. But, he had to make sure she 
was okay before he took care of himself.

"Lois?"

"What?"

"You're bleeding."

"Where?"

"Your arm. Here."

Lois leaned back and tried to see what Superman was looking 
at, but she couldn't see.

"Do I need x-ray vision to see it?" she asked.

"No, it's here." Gently, his finger traced the gash on the 
back of her arm. He took his cape, which he had swung in 
front of him earlier, and patted the back of her arm. "It 
was bleeding pretty hard before, but now it looks as if 
it's slowing down," he said as he let his cape absorb the 
blood.

"What are you doing now?" Lois asked when she felt a warmth 
cover her arm.

"Cauterizing the cut with my heat vision. The cut's not too 
deep. It'll heal without a scar."

"I didn't realize that you knew first aid."

"I had to learn," he answered, looking for another reason 
to touch the soft silky flesh on her arm. He remembered 
when he scraped his knee, before he became invulnerable, 
his mother would kiss his "boo- boo" better. He wanted to 
kiss Lois's arm better, but somehow the kisses he pictured 
giving Lois weren't the same as the ones his mother gave 
him.

"That makes sense." She paused wondering why the superhero 
was so quiet. "What are you doing here?"

Caught up in thoughts of placing kisses on her arm, Clark 
barely heard her question. "Sorry, what did you ask?"

"I haven't seen you in a while and I was wondering what you 
were doing here?"

"Saving you...Oh, you mean what am I doing in the 
park...I...uh...um...was trying to find the woman who might 
be kidnapping those kids." In point of fact, he'd decided 
that getting the firewood was the perfect opportunity for 
Superman to put in a brief appearance in Metropolis. He'd 
only been using the disguise for a short time and didn't 
want anyone connecting Clark's trip out of town with 
Superman's absence. "I mentioned the attempted kidnapping 
to Clark and I guess you two are following it up."

"Why did you mention it to Clark and not to me? I thought 
we were friends...and now he's been getting interviews with 
you...and you told him your suspicions about this 
case...Aren't we friends anymore?"

"Lois, it's not that. It's just that...that...he's new. I'd 
like to give him a break."

"He doesn't need a break. He's a great reporter."

"He's what?" Clark wasn't sure that he heard her right. She 
didn't act as if he was a great reporter. As a matter of 
fact, she acted as if he were some hack from Nowheresville, 
trying to teach him the ropes, trying to be top banana.

"A great reporter. He doesn't need your help."

"I thought all you two ever do is fight."

"Well, of course we fight. How else would he know I was 
alive?"

"I'm not following this, Lois."

"I'm crazy about him, and he doesn't even know I'm alive." 
She pouted.

Clark gaped at Lois, not certain of what he heard, not 
certain of what to say. "I'm sure he knows you're alive, 
Lois."

"I wish I were so sure," Lois said softly. "I think he's 
incredible, but he..." Her voice trailed off. She looked 
into the superhero's eyes before continuing. "I really need 
some advice, Superman. Do you think I should tell him how I 
feel?"

"No. Absolutely not," he said without missing a beat.

She narrowed her eyes. That response had been awfully 
quick. Superman obviously knew something. "Why? Is there 
something wrong with him? Does he have a wife and family 
somewhere? Is that why he's not interested in women?"

"No. Absolutely not."

"He even brushed Cat Grant off. No one brushes Cat off. 
She's so easy, it's like offering a dog a bone and having 
it refused. Does he have some horrible disease or 
something?"

"No. No. Absolutely not." Clark needed to get away quickly. 
Lois was getting too curious and he wasn't sure how long he 
could put her off. Gathering all his control so that he 
sounded calm and normal, he said, "Look Lois. Don't worry 
about this. Clark is fine, I'm sure. Don't let this get to 
you. Now, I've got to go and finish up my patrol. You're 
all right, aren't you?"

"Yes."

"Then I'll see you. Just stay out of danger's way." He flew 
off.

Lois liked him, he thought. No, she was crazy about him. 
How was he going to deal with that? He almost wished he was 
like other men. After all, Lois was a beautiful, vibrant, 
intelligent, exciting woman. Any man would have to be a 
fool to refuse her advances. If only he were capable of 
those types of feelings, it would be awfully tempting to 
consider her as more than a colleague. As it was, he could 
only hope she'd take Superman's advice and keep her 
feelings for him to herself.

He shook his head, directing his attention away from Lois 
and onto his own problem. Right now he needed to find some 
way to deal with this fever. He even felt a little 
lightheaded. He was certain that he'd not handled Lois's 
declaration of her feelings for Clark as well as he could 
have were he able to think clearly.

Considering that Earth medications were unlikely to work, 
he had to find an alternate solution. Suddenly, he had an 
idea. He had heard something about bathing fever patients 
to lower their temperature. However, it was unlikely that a 
bath in cool water would even affect him. But maybe... He 
smiled. A dip in the Arctic Ocean seemed like just what the 
doctor ordered.

* * * * * * * * *

As soon as Superman left, Lois made her way into the 
trailer. She tried to run her hand through her hair. It was 
wet, grimy and full of mud. She glanced down at herself and 
pulled at her shirt. She hoped Superman hadn't noticed 
exactly how revealing her current attire was. She pushed 
the thought out of her mind. He'd undoubtedly seen enough 
during his many rescue attempts not to be shocked by her 
state of dress. It would be like a doctor being turned on 
by his patient.

She picked up her duffel bag. Whether or not Superman 
noticed her appearance, she felt grimy. And it wasn't just 
the physical filth. Coming that close to dying had left her 
seriously chilled. She needed the soothing feeling of 
having warm water running over her body. When she'd been 
out earlier, she'd noticed a public shower. She rustled 
through her bag for a moment. Although she'd brought lots 
of slutty outfits, she'd not brought what she needed now-- 
something big and comfortable and comforting. Glancing at 
Clark's bag, she nibbled on her lower lip.

"Oh, just do it," she said, before grabbing his bag and 
opening it up. Finding a flannel shirt near the top, she 
pulled it out.

Then, throwing the shirt over her arm, she grabbed what she 
needed and headed for the building housing the showers. 
Once she arrived, she looked around. She could hardly 
believe people actually came to places like this for fun. 
She stepped into the small room adjacent to the showers and 
sat down on the small bench. She was about to remove her 
running shoes when she noticed how disgusting the floor 
was. Sighing, she took them off, removed her socks and then 
put her runners back on. This might not be the ideal way to 
do this, but it beat the alternative.

Once she was ready, she stepped into the shower. She sighed 
for an entirely different reason when the water began to 
flow. At least the water was hot. As she worked the shampoo 
into her hair, she thought again about her meeting with 
Superman.

He had been pretty adamant that she shouldn't tell Clark 
how she felt. It really seemed as if he knew something. She 
gave a sad smile. Maybe it was just that Clark had told him 
that he detested her. How could she feel so strongly about 
a man who could hardly stand her? Why couldn't she have 
fallen for someone more accessible to her like... Well, 
like Superman for example?

She considered that for a moment. Superman was certainly a 
great man. She had to admit she admired him very much. He 
gave so much of himself and never asked anything in return. 
But Clark... She sighed. Clark gave to everyone around him. 
She had watched him carefully since he joined the Planet, 
and she had read his articles. He seemed to have a natural 
compassion which people responded to easily. Superman was 
certainly strong. He'd proved that many times since he'd 
come to Earth. But Clark had a quiet strength that was 
infinitely more attractive to Lois. Superman was certainly 
good looking. But Lois liked the way Clark looked more. 
Lois chuckled slightly. Was that a sign that you were 
falling in love? Thinking that your man was more 
compassionate, stronger and more attractive than Superman?

She turned her mind back to her comparison of Clark and 
Superman. Clark's suits hid so much; whereas, Superman's 
appearance was out there for everyone to see. A small smile 
crept onto Lois's lips. The way Clark's clothes draped his 
body left so much more to the imagination. The idea of 
peeling off those clothes to discover the contours of the 
muscles that lay beneath for herself was almost 
irresistible.

She shook her head, trying to clear the images that were 
suddenly playing in her mind. She shouldn't be thinking 
this way. Superman had made it very clear that she 
shouldn't let Clark know how she felt. And, although he 
hadn't said why, it was obvious that he knew something. She 
would just have to find a way to get control of these 
feelings.

* * * * * * * * *

Clark noticed the light on when he approached the RV. He 
stopped and took a deep breath before continuing on his 
journey.

"Lois," he called as he laid down the firewood that he'd 
picked up on his way back. After all, that was the reason 
he'd given for leaving earlier. He wasn't looking forward 
to explaining why it had taken him so long. "Lois," he 
called again when no one answered.

Confused, he walked to the door of the RV and knocked. 
There was no answer. He opened the door and climbed inside. 
There was no one there. He walked back outside, feeling 
slightly concerned. What if she'd wandered off again and 
had gotten herself in trouble? He doubted he'd have heard 
her scream during his trip to the Arctic. And she had 
something of a talent for getting herself in trouble. He 
glanced down the road and felt an undeniable sense of 
relief when he noticed Lois walking towards him.

He noticed that she'd changed. What was more, she was 
wearing... Was that his shirt? His heart skipped a beat. In 
addition to the jeans and oversized shirt, she had no 
makeup and her hair was still wet. He could smell the 
lavender of her shampoo from where he stood. How was it he 
hadn't realized how beautiful she was before now? He 
glanced down at her runners and smiled. She'd obviously 
showered in her shoes. Somehow that little fact made her 
even more endearing. He made a mental note to give them a 
blast of heat vision after she fell asleep.

"I see you decided to make an appearance, Billy Ray," said 
Lois as she headed past him and into the RV.

"Umm... yeah," he said.

"I guess we should think about supper," said Lois as she 
sat down and pulled off her shoes. She gave them a dirty 
look before placing them outside and grabbing the towel to 
dry her feet.

"Umm... yeah," he replied.

She stopped what she was doing and looked up at him. 
"What's up with you?" she asked.

He shook his head. "Nothing," he said. "So you want to have 
supper?"

"Don't you?"

"Of course," he replied.

"Maybe we can even talk while we eat," she said.

"Talk?" he asked nervously, thinking again about what she'd 
told Superman.

"About the story," Lois clarified. He really was acting 
strangely.

"Oh, right," he said, suddenly relaxing. Work was good. 
Work was safe. "So what's for supper?" he asked.

"Don't look at me," she responded. "I had intended to pop a 
Lean Cuisine..."

"You brought Lean Cuisine to a campground?" Clark asked in 
disbelief.

"Yeah," Lois responded with a shrug of the shoulders.

"Well, I've got salad in a bag, chicken breasts and pasta. 
I suppose we could make something up with that. "

"What do you mean 'we', farmboy?" asked Lois.

"I just assumed..."

"You assumed wrong. My skills in the kitchen include frozen 
dinners, and macaroni and cheese. I don't even know what 
half the stuff you bought is."

"Lois, you're an adult. You must..."

"I'm a reporter, Billy Ray," said Lois. "You have heard of 
those, haven't you? I don't do food."

Clark stared at her in disbelief for a moment before 
saying, "You really aren't June Cleaver, are you?"

"Great deductive reasoning, Sherlock," Lois responded. 
"What was your first clue?"

* * * * * * * * *

Lois could hardly believe how incredible the food was that 
Clark had managed to whip up for them. The salad was 
dressed with a light vinaigrette, the pasta was tossed with 
some fresh herbs, garlic and succulent chicken slices. As 
she dug into her food, she turned her mind to Clark's 
earlier disappearance. He claimed that he'd had to go to 
the other side of the campground to get firewood. She 
wasn't entirely sure she believed him, but let it go. Right 
now there were more important things to worry about. She 
filled Clark in on what she'd overheard Eagle and Stinky 
talking about.

Clark leaned back in his chair when she finished. "From 
what you're telling me, I'm getting the impression that 
they've kidnapped a lot more than just four kids."

"That was my feeling, too."

"And they indicated that they are using the kids for some 
kind of experiments?" Clark asked.

"That was my distinct impression. They also mentioned the 
jelly beans. But that doesn't make any sense to me. After 
all, from what I'd found out previously, the jelly beans 
were no different than drinking and while that's not ideal, 
why would someone want to find out what effect drinking 
would have on teenagers?"

"Unless they inject more than one type of drug into the 
jelly beans," said Clark.

Lois nodded slowly. "Look, Clark," Lois said, her voice 
betraying her uncertainty about what she was about to say, 
"I was sort of thinking that maybe... I mean in the light 
of the seriousness of this particular story..."

"That we should call a truce?" asked Clark.

She shrugged.

"I agree," said Clark. "So any ideas about where we should 
go from here?" he asked.

"Well, I think we have to follow them to their new 
campsite. And, given the fact that Stinky said they needed 
more muscle..."

"We should use that to infiltrate the group," Clark 
concluded.

They looked at each other and smiled.

"Okay, then I'm going to go back to the ranger's station to 
make a call to reserve us a spot for tomorrow," said Clark. 
"What was the name of the park we're going to?"

"Siegel Park."

"Siegel. Hmm. Didn't he write comic books or something?"

Lois shrugged her shoulders. "Do I look like the type who 
reads comics? Just go do it Clark. I'm going to write up 
our notes," said Lois, rising from her seat and carrying 
their dirty dishes into the kitchen.

"Just one more question," said Clark.

"And that would be?"

"Why are you wearing my shirt?"

Lois felt a moment of panic, but that quickly died as a 
response occurred to her. "I'm sorry," she said casually. 
"Do you want it back?" With her words, her hand went to the 
top button on the shirt and she began to undo it.

"No! No, that's okay," gasped Clark, his eyes seeming 
unable to leave her hands.

Lois shrugged and lowered her hands. She smiled when she 
realized that her actions had Clark blushing.

"I'll be back in a few minutes," said Clark awkwardly. "I'm 
going to run up to the ranger's station now."

Clark immediately rose and headed for the door to the RV. 
Lois was deep in thought as she watched him go. Every 
action has an equal and, at times, a surprising reaction, 
she thought. However, it was almost as if she'd known he 
would respond the way he had. It seemed odd to her that he 
had stopped her. Most men, at least in her experience, 
would have let her proceed - to see how far she would have 
actually gone. She'd had her response ready had he not 
stopped her prior to undoing the second button. "In your 
dreams, Kent." But she hadn't had to use it. What was it 
about Clark Kent anyway?

* * * * * * * * *

Clark returned to the RV pleased to tell Lois that he had 
managed to reserve a fairly good spot at the Siegel 
campsite for the next day. Instead, he found Lois lying 
diagonally across the bed. Asleep.

"I get the gas," he muttered to himself. "I cook the 
dinner, and she gets to sleep in the bed. I can't believe 
how she always manages to get her way." Clark shook his 
head while trying to figure out how to set up the bucket 
seats into some semblance of a bed. He removed the table 
that they had used for dinner, and played around with two 
of the seats until he had them facing each other. He 
glanced back at Lois cuddled on the bed. "I thought women's 
lib was all about equal treatment of the sexes. Why do I 
feel like I'm getting the short end of the stick here?" Not 
that he really minded, but he did wonder what was to happen 
to the middle of his body as he lay between the two seats. 
They were supposed to turn into a bed somehow. He'd just 
have to make do. He took the pillow and blanket that Lois 
had left for him and lay down.

He looked over at Lois lying snugly on the bed, arms 
wrapped around her pillow, knees curled up to her chest. 
She looked peaceful. He tried to find a comfortable 
position where his bottom didn't sag between the two seats. 
He rolled over. "I don't get it. How do I let myself be 
manipulated by her? She got everything she wanted today." 
He shifted his long legs on the second seat and finally let 
one drag onto the floor. "That woman is going to drive me 
nuts. No wonder I like to work alone." He rolled over and 
tugged the blanket over his shoulder.

He tossed and turned a few more times before he got up and 
went to the fridge for some milk. If he could float, 
without worrying about Lois seeing him, then he would get 
some rest. As long as he worried about being discovered, he 
couldn't let his guard down. Who knew what Lois would do 
knowing he was Superman? He could deal with this, he told 
himself. He got back into his makeshift bed and covered 
himself.

But his eyes weren't closing. He looked toward the back of 
the RV. Lois was still lying in the same position. He 
looked at the outline of her legs curving up her back. 
Where did her legs end? They seemed so endless, as if some 
artist took a brush and painted this intriguing line that 
represented her. Like a Picasso. He heard her soft, 
rhythmic breathing. He wondered if a composer ever used 
that sound to create music. Clark threw off his blanket. 
The night was warmer than he'd expected.

As if they were in sync, Lois moved, throwing off her 
blanket. Her graceful, long legs stretched out on the bed 
and she rolled to her other side, facing him now. His eyes 
strayed down the length of her body to her feet. The 
circumference around her ankle was so small; he could 
easily wrap his hand around it. The skin looked so smooth. 
He looked down at his hand that seemed sandpaper rough in 
comparison. Her perfume permeated the RV and Clark wondered 
why he had never noticed how good a woman's shampoo 
smelled. He wondered if there was a window he could open.

Once again, Lois shifted position. Clark stared at the 
exquisite movement wondering if she took dance lessons when 
she was younger. His eyes traveled from her shapely legs 
and followed the buttons on the shirt to the top button 
which revealed the soft curve of her breast. Was it as soft 
as it looked? His finger wanted to trace that line, to feel 
the softness. He knew he shouldn't be thinking like that, 
staring at her, but he couldn't stop.

The heat washed over Clark again. He started to feel the 
walls of the RV closing in. Obviously, he wasn't going to 
get any sleep. Flying a patrol over Metropolis seemed like 
a good idea.

The cool night air jolted him back to reality as he headed 
back to the city. He really needed to find some time to fly 
to Smallville and speak to his parents about this flu. They 
probably had a better idea of what was happening to him 
than he had. Let's face it: he'd never been sick before. 
Interestingly, the symptoms didn't last long, and the cool 
dip in the Artic seemed to lower his temperature, at least 
for a short period of time. Funny, the aching only seemed 
to occur in one place though. Clark thought that the achy 
feeling associated with the flu was supposed to be all-
over.

Obviously, he should stay away from Lois because there 
might be a possibility that a human could catch it, and he 
didn't want Lois to get sick. She looked so beautiful lying 
there asleep. For the first time, he really understood why 
artists liked to sketch women. They had such interesting, 
soft curves. He remembered once again the curve of her 
breasts that peeked out from beneath the shirt she was 
wearing. He remembered those breasts under the wet t-shirt. 
He closed his eyes and retrieved the memory of those 
images.

"Sorry," he said as he flew into a light beacon on top of 
the Metropolis Tower, bending it out shape.

Clark looked down into the streets below him. It was fairly 
quiet except for a group of people hanging around the 
deserted harbor. He flew in closer.

"Boys," Clark said as he descended to street level, 
"defacing property is a criminal offence. You should know 
better than that. You're going to have to..." Clark stared 
at their graffiti. Curves, like Lois's curves. Curves that 
represented people, obviously men and women...Clark took a 
closer look. He tilted his head to the right and then to 
the left. Having never really studied this kind of graffiti 
or artwork before, he moved in toward the wall.

Brad Nimmons worried that they were busted. He and his 
friends had decided to spray paint the Metropolis Customs' 
Office with some erotica to protest the illegal 
confiscation of imported erotic artwork. Many art dealers 
felt that the wanton destruction of the artwork in the 
latest batch of books was an indication of the custom 
officials' Puritanism and ignorance. Brad and a group of 
friends from the Metropolis College of Art had decided to 
adorn the office building with some examples of the work 
that was being destroyed. They hoped that a reporter from 
the Daily Planet, perhaps, would come to see their work. 
Instead, Superman had arrived. Surprisingly, he did not ask 
them to remove the artwork, did not take them into custody, 
did not ask them to clean the wall. Instead, he just stared 
at the artwork, floating around, trying to understand it.

"Can someone really do that?" the superhero asked.

Brad looked at his friends and shrugged his shoulders. "How 
would we know?" Not getting an answer that helped him, 
Superman rose in the air, studying the picture for a moment 
longer. His fever was rising. He took off again hoping that 
a higher altitude would cool him off a bit.

Brad and his friends looked at each other in disbelief as 
Superman took off. Wasn't he supposed to bust them?

Not understanding this unexpected turn of events didn't 
stop the young men from taking advantage of it.

"Come on guys," said Brad. "Let's finish this off before 
anyone else comes."

The cool air helped Clark get on track again. He watched 
the city below him, looking for any oddities that would 
call for his attention. It was quieter than usual. He liked 
floating in the clouds. The freshness of the air reminded 
him of Lois'ss shampoo and the clean, soapy smell that rose 
from her skin. She had glowed when she came back from her 
shower. She was brilliant, courageous, beautiful... very 
beautiful, he admitted to himself. He liked looking at her, 
watching her move. She reminded him of a fine painting, an 
exquisite sculpture. She had classic lines. Maybe that was 
what Earth men found so appealing in their women. Maybe, he 
thought, he found Lois attractive. No, no, he argued, 
that's impossible. He was Kryptonian. How could he ever 
find an Earth woman attractive? Could he be turned on by an 
Earth woman? It had never happened to him before even when 
Linda King and Cat Grant had used their seductive charms. 
No. He was not susceptible to them. He was left cold by it. 
No. He was just appreciating Lois as an example of 
perfection...well, except for when she was stubborn and 
querulous.

Clark looked around. He was no longer in Metropolis. Below 
him was water, lots of water. He wondered how he'd got over 
the Atlantic Ocean. It definitely wasn't the direction he'd 
been heading in. The last place he was aware of was on the 
outskirts of the city. How did he get over the ocean? The 
water looked cold. He decided to take a dip before he 
returned to New Troy State Park.

* * * * * * * * *

Lois woke up the next morning feeling uncomfortable. The 
bed was harder than she'd expected and her bladder was very 
full. She remembered that she was in an RV, on an 
assignment with Clark Kent. She looked around for Clark. 
She called his name, but he didn't answer. Alone in the RV, 
she decided that she couldn't wait, that she had to risk 
going to the washroom. She looked at the privacy panels 
that blocked off the rest of the RV from the toilet. Her 
bladder told her that she didn't have much of a choice-she 
had to go. Lois swung out the privacy panels so that one 
blocked off the midsection of the RV from the back, and the 
other blocked it off from the front. She sat down on the 
toilet. Looking around, she was surprised to see Perry 
reach past the panel to get a glass of water from the sink.

"Excuse me, darlin'. I'm sure you won't mind."

"Perry? What are you..." Before Lois could get the rest of 
the question out, Cat Grant opened one panel and walked 
through to the back.

"Now, I could give this mattress a good try out. Lois, what 
have you done with that Clark of yours? I'd love to have 
his slippers under my mattress," said Cat, as she casually 
walked by.

"Are you looking for me, Cat?" asked Clark, following Cat 
to the back.

"Way to go, CK," Jimmy cheered his friend on.

"Excuse me," intoned Lois. "Excuse me. I'd like some 
privacy, if you don't mind."

* * * * * * * * *

Lois woke up feeling uncomfortable. Her bladder was full 
and she was in this RV where there was very little privacy. 
It took her a minute to realize that although the RV was 
real, what just happened before was a dream. She sighed in 
relief. But she was still stuck with a full bladder. She 
didn't really want to walk to the camp washroom. It made 
the Metropolis Sewage Reclamation Plant look sanitized. She 
looked around. Clark was not in the RV so she opened up the 
privacy panel and risked using the toilet. Never had anyone 
ever gone to the washroom quicker.

Lois took a seat on the edge of the bed and wondered where 
Clark was. It seemed that every time she turned around, he 
was gone. She jolted slightly when she heard what sounded 
like water running. She peeked between the slats covering 
the window just in time to see Clark walking towards the 
pump he had mentioned last night, carrying what appeared to 
be a pot of water. Why would anyone be taking water to a 
pump? Wasn't the idea to get water from the pump?

Still, as she watched him walk away from the RV, she found 
herself admiring the way his jeans fit across the muscles 
of his posterior. She gave a small sigh. She quickly jumped 
back when he glanced at the RV, almost as if he'd heard 
her. She laughed at herself for the thought. Besides, the 
windows were dark and the slats provided further privacy. 
Even if he had heard her, which was impossible, he couldn't 
possibly see her watching him.

Still, she waited a moment before crawling across the bed 
on her hands and knees until she was once again at the 
window. She moved the slats as little as possible to look 
out again. His back was towards her, and he was bending 
over slightly. She watched his t-shirt slip out of his 
jeans, giving her a glimpse at his lower back. She let out 
a slow breath, wishing she had x-ray vision.

Watching him raise the pot containing the water, she was 
fascinated to realize that he was pouring the water into 
the pump. What an odd thing to do! She continued to observe 
as he set down the pot and began working the lever. A small 
smile crept onto her lips as she watched the muscles in his 
arm move under the tight skin. She seldom got to really 
appreciate his muscular arms. Why would anyone hide muscles 
like that under a suit? Soon she could see water coming out 
of the pump. He bent over to place the pot he'd just 
emptied into the pump underneath the stream of water.

She jumped back when she saw him get splashed. Although she 
couldn't hear what he was saying, she could tell that he 
was probably muttering something as his hands reached over 
his head to grab the neck of his t-shirt. As he did, she 
realized that his shirt was wet.

"Yes," she breathed as the t-shirt slowly slipped from his 
body. She sucked her lower lip into her mouth as her eyes 
took in every new bit of skin. She watched in transfixed 
silence as he held the t-shirt out in front of him for a 
moment as if by looking at it he could make the wetness go 
away. Then he glanced at the RV, lowered his shirt and 
wrung out the excess water before turning back to the pump.

As he resumed his task of filling the pot, she watched the 
hard muscles of his back work. It wasn't long before he 
stopped, picked up the pot and began carrying it towards 
the RV. She sank down slightly but couldn't quite stop 
looking. If she thought his back was fantastic, running her 
eyes over his hard pecs, still glistening with drops of 
water from his mishap, and following his chest down to his 
well-defined abs and then on to the belt holding up his 
jeans, was incredible.

Her tongue automatically went to the corner of her mouth to 
catch a bit of drool that was trying to escape in response 
to the sight before her. There was not a spare ounce of 
flesh anywhere on his body. He could have been the model 
for Michelangelo's David.

He disappeared from view momentarily. Frowning, she 
wondered if that was the end of the show, but she smiled 
again when he walked back with a towel slung over his 
shoulder. He soaped his upper body and she watched the 
lather coat his bronzed skin. She settled down on her knees 
on the bed, making herself more comfortable as she 
continued her foray into the world of voyeurism - the very 
satisfying world of voyeurism, she thought with a grin.

Suddenly, she noticed that the window wasn't nearly as easy 
to see through as it had been a minute before. She puzzled 
over the problem for a moment before realizing that she'd 
been sitting so close that she'd managed to steam it up. 
Using the sleeve of Clark's shirt, she quickly wiped the 
area in front of her so that she could continue watching.

In all too short a time, Clark picked up his shirt and 
headed for the RV. She sighed and then was struck by a 
different thought. He was coming in here. That hunk of a 
man was coming in here and... he was shirtless. She ran her 
tongue over her lower lip and could feel her heart rate 
increase at the mere thought that she was going to be so 
much closer to those fabulous muscles.

Her breath caught in her throat as the door opened and 
Clark climbed aboard.

"Morning," he said when his eyes met hers.

"Morning," she replied. "How long have you been up?" she 
asked, getting up from the side of the bed.

"A while," he replied vaguely, walking towards her to put 
the pot back in the cupboard.

Seeing her opportunity, she moved at the same moment.

"Excuse me," she said, pushing herself past him. There was 
barely enough room for one person in the confined space. 
She had to push herself through the space between him and 
the wall. As she did, her hands touched the bare skin of 
his back.

His warm body felt just as incredible as she had thought it 
would. The muscles seemed to have a life of their own, 
twitching under her fingers as if responding to and trying 
to connect with her on some instinctive level. She almost 
laughed at her fanciful thoughts.

She tottered slightly, pressing herself up more solidly 
against him while her free hand landed on his waist. She 
felt his stomach muscles contract slightly under her touch.

"Sorry," she muttered, trying to sound apologetic. He gave 
some indistinct reply. Knowing she couldn't linger any 
longer without making a complete fool of herself, she was 
soon standing on the other side of Clark. She didn't dare 
look at him to see how he was reacting to their close 
encounter, knowing that her own cheeks were now a revealing 
shade of pink. She spotted her duffel bag, picked it up and 
began to rustle through it. However, she was unable to 
concentrate on the items of clothing her hands were 
currently touching - still being consumed with their last 
encounter.

"I guess I should give you some privacy to get dressed," 
said Clark, turning and without looking at her heading back 
out of the trailer.

"Umm... yeah," said Lois, somewhat confused by how abrupt 
his exit had seemed. Still, she turned her attention back 
to her duffel bag, pulling out the clothes she needed to 
begin the day and wishing, once again, that she had a bra.

* * * * * * * * *

"It will just take a minute," said Lois in exasperation.

"Look, why don't we stop somewhere after we get on the 
road?" replied Clark as he shifted the RV into drive. "Then 
we can have a proper breakfast."

"Listen, Billy Ray, we don't go anywhere until I've had my 
coffee. If you had a little more foresight you'd have 
thought to buy some coffee at the Piggly-Wiggly."

"Me?" asked Clark in disbelief. "Why me? You were there, 
too."

"You're the chef, not me," Lois replied, looking out the 
window as the RV made its way through the campground."

"Chef. As in cook," said Clark. "That doesn't..."

"Exactly," interrupted Lois.

Clark let out an exasperated breath. He'd been about to 
explain that just because he could cook didn't mean that he 
could anticipate her every whim. Still, he, once again, 
gave in, pulling the RV up in front of the convenience 
store located next to the ranger's station. She had the 
door open before he even got the vehicle in park.

"I'll just be a minute," said Lois, jumping out and heading 
into the building.

Clark leaned back in his chair and ran a frustrated hand 
through his hair. Lois Lane was going to drive him 
absolutely 'round the bend before the day was out. He 
briefly considered following Lois inside; he'd really like 
a cup of coffee too, but then rejected the idea. He had the 
driver's seat. He wasn't about to risk losing it.

He glanced out the window at her disappearing form and 
smiled. He had to admit, he admired her spunk. She knew she 
would want coffee in the morning. She should have been the 
one to think about buying it. And yet... He chuckled.

The chuckle died and a small furrow appeared on Clark's 
brow as he realized just how much he was enjoying spending 
time with Lois. What was it about her? At times she drove 
him absolutely bonkers and other times... It suddenly 
occurred to him to wonder... Nah. It couldn't be.

His mind drifted back to a conversation he once had with 
his father.

"Someday, Clark," Jonathan had said, "you'll have a wife 
and family of your own."

Without missing a beat, Clark answered, "That will never 
happen."

"Why do you say that?"

Clark answered with absolute conviction, "I'm not made that 
way."

"But you've got all the parts of a man."

"Yes, but it's not all physical. Dad, a long time ago, I 
realized that it's not going to happen for me."

He wasn't attracted in that way to Earth women. It just 
wasn't in him. Or was it?

* * * * * * * * *

Lois entered the convenience store and was relieved to see 
a small coffee table. It appeared to work on the honor 
system. The sign said fifty cents for a cup of coffee and 
beside the sign sat a bowl with various coins inside.

She was just about to make her way over when the woman 
currently getting coffee turned towards her. Lois 
recognized the very attractive native woman immediately, 
although it took her a moment to find the right name. 
Jessie. She was with Frankie outside Eagle's trailer last 
night. She quickly redirected her course, grabbing a 
magazine from a nearby rack, and hid her face behind it.

"Ready?" she heard a male voice ask.

She peered around the edge of the magazine to see the man 
who'd spoken. It was Frankie. Keeping her face obscured by 
the magazine, she inched slightly closer to the couple.

"Yeah," replied Jessie. "Oh, and thanks for stopping, hon."

"Well, I know you can't start the morning without your 
coffee," Frankie replied, giving her a brief kiss on the 
cheek.

Lois fought back a sigh. She'd practically had to pull 
Clark's teeth out to get him to stop at the store. Why was 
the bad guy the one who took care of his woman? Not that 
she was Clark's 'woman,' she thought sadly. Still...

"I really should have thought to pick some up when we went 
for groceries last night," said Jessie, pouring some milk 
into her coffee.

Okay, so maybe that was the trick - to apologize even if it 
isn't your fault. Maybe if she had, Clark would have been 
easier to persuade to stop. She rejected the idea 
immediately. She wasn't about to feed his ego just to get 
him to do things for her. That wasn't her style. Not that 
she particularly had a style when it came to men. Maybe if 
she had, she'd have some idea what to do about Clark Kent.

"So, are you ready?" asked Frankie.

Jessie nodded. "Did Eagle say where we were to meet them. 
After all, it is a big campsite. Much bigger than this 
one."

"Yeah. He said to meet them at four at Sykes.

"Not that smelly, noisy bar," groaned Jessie. "Please, tell 
me it isn't."

"'Fraid so," said Frankie. He slipped an arm around her 
waist as they walked towards the exit. "Look at it this 
way," he continued. "At least it will be dark enough that 
no one should notice if we..." He placed his mouth next to 
her ear and whispered something that made her grin and then 
slap his chest playfully. Then the door opened and they 
were gone.

Four o'clock. Sykes. She pulled the magazine away from her 
face and for the first time noticed what she was holding. 
Playgirl. She looked at the picture in front of her for a 
moment before shutting the magazine and quickly sticking it 
back where she'd found it. She glanced around, hoping no 
one had noticed what she'd been looking at. She observed an 
older woman sitting at one of two booths close by, looking 
at her curiously.

"Always wanted to see what was in those things. It's 
disgusting," Lois concluded.

"I've always thought they were kind of interesting myself," 
the woman responded, completely startling Lois. Then the 
woman looked at her companion, another woman, and added. 
"Trust me, those men are better looking than my Eddy."

Lois fought back a laugh as she made her way over to the 
coffee table. As she prepared her coffee, she briefly 
wondered if she could persuade Clark to pose for Playgirl - 
or at least long enough for her to take the pictures. She 
had a sneaking suspicion that the models in that book had 
nothing on Clark. She finished with her coffee and was 
about to leave when she hesitated. Setting her cup down and 
tossing another fifty cents in the bowl, she poured a 
second cup of coffee, preparing it the way Clark liked it.

* * * * * * * * *

Clark glanced in the rearview mirror to see Lois rustling 
around in the back. He'd tried to tell her that she 
shouldn't be moving around while the RV was moving, but she 
had more energy than anyone he'd ever known before. Maybe 
it would have been better to let her drive. At least in the 
driver's seat, she was likely to stay seated.

He jerked and looked forward when he hit a pothole. He 
quickly looked back to be sure that Lois was all right. She 
was still trying to catch herself. Realizing that she was 
all right, he was about to look back at the road when he 
hit another pothole. As the RV bounced, he couldn't help 
but notice the fascinating movement of her breast under the 
light t-shirt.

Suddenly, he found that breathing was something of a chore.

"You really don't have to hit every pothole, you know," 
said Lois sarcastically as she once again steadied herself.

Clark quickly glanced back at the road. "Sorry," he 
muttered.

He concentrated on his driving for a moment, but his mind 
was still consumed with what he had seen only a moment 
before. He wondered briefly if Lois looked anything like 
the woman in the graffiti he'd seen last night. Suddenly, 
he had to know. Without thinking about what he was doing, 
he pulled down his glasses and concentrated his x-ray 
vision on the image in the rearview mirror. He blinked when 
the mirror vanished and he was staring, not at the image 
he'd wanted to see, but out the windshield of the RV.

"What do you think you're doing?" he asked himself in 
absolute horror. What could possibly have possessed him to 
do such a thing as attempting to invade her privacy that 
way?

"What?" asked Lois's voice behind him.

"Nothing," muttered Clark, turning his mind back to the 
road. "I was thinking that maybe we should stop and pick up 
some more supplies on our way to the campground," he said, 
trying to redirect his mind to another subject.

Still, try as he might, his mind kept taking him back to 
what he'd done... or almost done... or tried to do. 
Attempted voyeurism. How could he have done that? He'd 
never even been tempted to do something like that before. 
It must be this flu. What... His thought trailed off as a 
new thought struck him. The flu. Why had he never made the 
connection before now? The fever symptoms always started 
when he was with Lois. Was it possible that she was somehow 
responsible? But how...

Suddenly he gasped.

"Everything all right?" asked Lois, coming up to take a 
seat beside him.

"Umm... yeah, fine," Clark replied. 'Liar,' his mind 
taunted him. He glanced over at her quickly before again 
looking away. Why hadn't he considered that the heat, the 
aching and the longing he was experiencing were due to the 
woman next to him? The answer came to him almost 
immediately - because he had believed himself incapable of 
those types of feelings for an Earth woman. He chewed on 
his lower lip as he considered the possibility. The 
reactions he'd been having over the past day were certainly 
consistent with what he knew intellectually about sexual 
attraction. In fact, they were so consistent that he could 
hardly believe that the connection hadn't done more than 
flitted through his mind on a couple of occasions. And when 
he thought about it now, they were connected with seeing 
Lois or thinking about Lois. In fact, that was the only 
thing that the timing of these incidents seemed to have in 
common. But why Lois?

He certainly admired Lois. And there was no denying the 
fact that he found her beautiful. Still, it wasn't just the 
high cheek bones and the legs that seemed to go on forever. 
It was...he couldn't quite define the quality that Lois had 
that he found so attractive. It was little things he didn't 
expect, like bringing him a cup of coffee this morning, 
that moved him. But did that necessarily mean...? He 
sighed. He just didn't know. It certainly made sense. But 
after more than ten years of absolute conviction that he 
was different, it was still hard accepting the idea that he 
was like any other man - at least when it came to Lois 
Lane. Why couldn't he have come with a Kryptonian manual 
that explained these things to him?

* * * * * * * *

Clark pulled into the parking lot of Shop-and-Save off the 
I-23 about a hundred miles east of Siegel.

"Let's go into the supermarket and pick up those supplies 
we need."

Lois sat up and looked around the parking lot. Across from 
the Shop-and-Save was a Costmart.

"You buy the groceries, Clark. I need to pick something 
up", she said as she rummaged through the glove 
compartment. "What did you do with the credit card?"

Clark took out the credit card from his wallet and was 
about to hand it to her. "Wait a minute. I need it for the 
groceries. What do you need it for?"

"I just need it, Billy Ray. It's none of your business."

"If it's a business expense, then it is my business, Lois. 
Remember, we're a team."

"Okay. If you really want to know, I have to buy a bra."

Clark couldn't stop his eyes from moving down to her 
breasts. He didn't want to see them constrained.

"That's not business," he argued.

"Yes, it is. I have to be dressed appropriately for the 
part."

"You brought your own toothpaste and toothbrush. You 
brought your own underwear. Why didn't you bring a bra?" he 
asked, even though he knew why she didn't have one.

"It was damaged," she said very conscious of where Clark's 
eyes had settled. Sarcasm was one way she could deflect her 
discomfort. "Look, Billy Ray, this is a legitimate business 
expense. I need to be dressed properly, and I need to be 
wearing a bra under some of the outfits I brought. And I 
don't need you ogling my breasts, so hand over the credit 
card and go get the groceries." She grabbed the plastic out 
of his hands and headed off to Costmart.

"Women," he muttered. "Earth women."

* * * * * * * *

Lois managed to get behind the wheel after they had 
completed their purchases. The start of this leg of the 
journey began uncomfortably, and they drove along in 
silence, both lost in their own thoughts. Suddenly, against 
a background of music, they heard a voice on the radio.

"How you doin' out there?" the voice asked.

Both Lois and Clark mumbled something incomprehensible.

"You ever seem to have one of those days when it just seems 
that everyone's getting on your case from your teacher all 
the way down to your best girlfriend?"

"Yes," both Lois and Clark responded. Then they looked over 
at each other and grinned.

"Well, you know I used to have them just about all the 
time. But I found a way to get out of it. Let me tell you 
about it."

Then, a song began to play.

	Sittin' in the classroom, 
	thinking it's a drag, 
	Listenin' to the teacher just ain't my bag, 
	Noon bells ring,
 	you know that's my cue,
 	I'm gonna meet the boys on floor number two.

"I haven't heard this song in ages," said Lois, almost as 
if in awe. Then the chorus started and, as if they had 
somehow been cued, Lois and Clark both started singing with 
the voice on the radio.

	Smokin' in the boys' room,
	Smokin' in the boys' room, 
	Now teacher don't you fill me up with your rules, 
	But everybody knows that smokin' ain't allowed in 
school.

Lois glanced over at Clark. "Don't give up your day job, 
farmboy," she said with a giggle.

Clark grinned at her and they both fell silent to listen to 
the second stanza. Lois's hands began tapping against the 
steering wheel in time with the music. Clark pretended he 
had an electric guitar.

	Checkin' out the halls, 
	Making sure the coast is clear, 
	Lookin' in the stalls, 
	No there ain't no body here, 
	My buddies Sixx, 	
	Mick and Tom To get caught would surely be the death 
of us all.

Lois and Clark's voice came in on cue.

	Smokin' in the boys' room, 
	Smokin' in the boys' room, 
	Now teacher don't you fill me up with your rules, 
	But everybody knows that smokin' ain't allowed in 
school.

"Hit it, Clark," Lois said and he immediately stepped up 
his efforts on his imaginary guitar as Lois's hands on the 
steering wheel acted as the drum accompaniment.

	Put me to work in the school bookstore, 
	Checkout counter and I got bored, 
	Teacher was lookin' for me all around, 
	Two hours later, 
	You know where I was found.

When the chorus started this time, Lois and Clark both 
belted out the song with as much enthusiasm as the singer 
on the radio.

	Smokin' in the boys' room, 
	Smokin' in the boys' room, 
	Now teacher don't you fill me up with your rules, 
	But everybody knows that smokin' ain't allowed in 
school.

	Smokin' in the boys' room, 
	Smokin' in the boys' room, 
	Now teacher I ain't fully aware of the rules, 
	But everybody knows that smokin' ain't allowed in 
school.

As the song faded into the background, Lois and Clark began 
to laugh. When the laughter ended, Lois glanced over at 
Clark.

"I bet when you were in high school, you were never caught 
smokin' in the boys' room," she said.

Clark laughed. "No. I just never saw the attraction. 
Besides, I hate the way smoking makes your breath and 
clothes smell. I've never smoked. What about you? I bet you 
were a handful in high school. Were you ever caught 
'smokin' in the boys' room?'"

Lois chuckled. "Never! I was a good kid in school." In 
response to Clark's raised eyebrows, Lois continued, "Okay, 
I challenged the administration. I wrote stories for the 
school paper that drove them nuts, but I never understood 
the attraction with smoking either. Not that the 
administration wouldn't have been thrilled to catch me 
smokin' in the boys' room."

"To have a legitimate reason to suspend you?" Clark asked.

"Exactly! I wasn't about to give them that."

"I'd have expected nothing less from Lois Lane."

Lois glanced over at him. He wasn't looking at her. 
Instead, he suddenly seemed lost in thought. She turned her 
attention back to the road as they continued along with 
nothing but the sound of the radio to keep them company.

* * * * * * * * *

A half hour later, they pulled into their reserved space at 
Siegel Trailer Camp.

"At least this place is decent," said Lois as she got out 
of the RV and checked out the electrical, water and sewage 
hook-ups.

Clark, leafing through the owner's manual, followed her to 
the back of the RV. Lois, meanwhile was connecting the 
hoses.

"How do you know that you're making the right connections 
there, June?"

"No brainer, Billy Ray, there are symbols to show where 
each hose goes," she said tapping him on the shoulder. "Run 
along. I'm going to change into something appropriate, 
now."

Clark took Lois's advice and walked over a few sections, 
looking for Stinky and Eagle. Instead, he spotted the 
couple he'd seen emerging from the convenience store that 
morning. He thought Lois called them Frankie and Jessie. 
She had also told him that she'd overheard them mentioning 
the meeting at Sykes. Knowing that he had to infiltrate the 
gang, Clark was wondering if he should approach them and on 
what pretext. He watched the woman, Jessie, move toward the 
motorcycle behind an RV. She was a petite woman, dark-
skinned with dark brown hair tied in a braid. She moved 
with athletic grace. Clark could imagine her as a gymnast. 
She hopped on the saddle of the bike and turned on the 
ignition. Suddenly, Clark heard a familiar clicking. 
Without thinking, he propelled himself onto Jessie and 
dragged her away from the bike. Within a nanosecond, the 
bike exploded in a flash of flame. Clark rolled on the 
ground with Jessie keeping his body between her and the 
flames. It wasn't a big explosion, just enough so that if 
Jessie had been sitting on the bike, she would have been 
seriously burnt, if not in fact killed.

Frankie came running over with a fire extinguisher. He kept 
his eye on Jessie while aiming the spray at the bike. Clark 
got up and took the fire extinguisher. He saw Frankie go 
over to Jessie so, while aiming the hose at the flames, he 
also used the opportunity to blow out the fire with his 
breath.

"Jenn...Jessie...honey. Are you okay?" he asked while 
holding her in his arms. Jessie was lost in his hug. 
Frankie's much larger frame encompassed her five foot three 
body. "Oh sweetie, you could have been seriously hurt! 
Jess, Jess," he murmured into her ear.

On hearing the explosion, Lois, dressed in a tight pair of 
faded blue jeans and a very low cut t-shirt that revealed a 
lot of cleavage and flesh as a result of the new push-up 
bra she bought, came running out of the RV. She watched the 
tableau in front of her trying to make sense of it. It 
wasn't long before others from the immediate vicinity began 
gathering around as well. Clark, glancing at Frankie and 
Jessie, realized that neither of them needed the extra 
attention. He told the crowd that everything was under 
control, that no one was hurt, and managed to get them to 
disperse.

Frankie, reassured that Jessie was fine, stepped back and 
looked at Clark. He extended his hand. "Thanks. I don't 
know if I could have gotten to her as fast as you did. You 
saved her life. Thanks."

"I'm just glad I was around to help," Clark said, making a 
deliberate attempt not to look at Lois's breasts. He 
remembered only too well how she'd noticed previously.

"I'm Frankie. I don't know how to thank you enough..." He 
paused waiting.

"Billy Ray," Lois piped up. "He's Billy Ray."

Clark raised his eyebrows at Lois who just shrugged her 
shoulders.

"And I'm Jessie, Billy Ray. Thank you. How did you know?"

Again, Clark was put on the spot. "Well, I...uh...heard 
something ...and...and this is June," he said looking at 
Lois. He hoped that by not finishing the sentence and by 
introducing Lois, they would fill in the blanks for 
themselves, and he could deflect the question.

"Come on, let me get you a beer or something," Frankie 
offered. "I know I could use one myself." He went into his 
RV and brought out a six-pack of Labatt's Blue.

"Canadian, eh?" asked Clark. "Their beer is so much better. 
Thanks."

The two couples sat down on the lawn chairs that Jessie 
brought out.

"So does someone want to tell me what that was all about?" 
Clark asked as he took a swig of beer.

"Nothing," said Jessie.

"Just...a...a...a mechanical problem with the bike," 
Frankie said, glancing nervously at Jessie.

Lois and Clark shared a look of disbelief.

"But I heard..." Clark said, "I didn't think that a 
mechanical problem would blow up that way."

"Um, I do my own repairs," Jessie said, "I'll have to get 
someone else to handle it from now on."

Lois, realizing that they weren't getting anywhere with the 
conversation changed the subject, making a note at the back 
of her mind to look into this later.

Jessie and Frankie seemed relieved by the change of topic 
and soon the two couples were talking comfortably about a 
variety of subjects. During the course of the conversation, 
Clark let slip that he was looking for a job and was very 
worried because he was running low on money, and June was 
quite a spender.

"What kind of work do you do?" Frankie asked.

"I've been a farm-hand, a bartender and bouncer..."

"Bartender? Where?"

"In Metropolis. Place called the Metro Club. It's closed 
down now," Clark volunteered.

Jessie caught Frankie's eye. He nodded in agreement and 
then said, "Look Billy Ray, these guys that I've been 
working for will be here in a few hours. They need some 
more muscle to help them out with a project. I know that 
you're fast-thinking. You strong?"

"Strong enough," answered Clark.

"You interested in the job?"

"What do I have to do?"

"Basically, what you're told. That's what I've been doing."

"Well, we sure could use some extra money, can't we June, 
honey?" he asked, looking at Lois who glared at him. He 
guessed that he was safer calling her June.

"Good. I'll come and get you after Eagle and Stinky get 
here and set up camp."

* * * * * * * * *

A few hours later, Frankie knocked on the door of the RV. 
"They're here and they'd like to meet you."

Clark made his way out of the RV with Lois on his heels.

"I recommend that June stay here," Frankie stated.

"Why?" she asked.

"Eagle appreciates women," explained Frankie.

"So?"

"If he sees someone he likes, he makes sure he gets her." 

"But I'm with Billy Ray here."

"It doesn't matter."

"Doesn't he have a girlfriend or anything?" Lois asked 
remembering the ditz with the fingernails.

"His wife, Vinnie, but he doesn't let her stop him from 
doing what he wants."

"June, stay here. I'll see if I can get this job with 
Eagle."

"Like hell I will. I'm not staying away from a man just 
because he doesn't know how to handle a woman. I'm not 
going to be a victim here." Lois folded her arms across her 
chest and glared first at Clark and then at Frankie.

Frankie put his arm around Clark. "She sounds just like 
Jessie. Once she makes up her mind, there's no changing 
her." He turned around and looked at Lois. "Well, come meet 
the world's biggest male chauvinist pig then."

* * * * * * * * *

Clark carefully scanned the people in the bar as he and 
Lois accompanied Frankie inside Sykes. As they headed 
towards a particular table, he evaluated the two men 
sitting there, drinking beer. Lois had said the men she'd 
seen were called Eagle and Stinky. He was fairly confident 
which one was which. The man slouched in his seat was a 
big, beer-bellied man whose hair looked as if it could 
stand a good combing, not to mention a trim. He was 
obviously Stinky. The other was neatly dressed, sitting up 
properly and scanning the bar like a hawk . He was 
obviously the boss: Eagle. Clark directed his attention to 
Eagle as they approached the table.

He was surprised when Frankie introduced the big, shaggy 
looking man as Eagle. He glanced between the two men at the 
table before focusing on Eagle. Clark almost offered Eagle 
his hand before remembering who he was supposed to be.

"Sit down," Eagle directed, stubbing his cigarette out in 
the ashtray. His eyes roamed to the woman standing slightly 
behind Clark.

Clark started to pull out a chair for Lois, but a slight 
shake of her head when their eyes met changed his mind, and 
he sat down in the chair himself. In the back of his mind, 
he realized that Lois had chosen to remain standing.

"I heard you might have a job for me," said Clark.

Eagle gestured him off, his eyes firmly focused on Lois.

"Who's the doll?" he asked, as his eyes drifted down to 
where her breasts were almost popping out of her revealing 
t-shirt.

"No one important, Eagle," said Frankie, trying to direct 
Eagle's attention back to Billy Ray. "This is Billy Ray. 
The one I told you about. He might be able to help us..."

"So what's your name, baby?" asked Eagle, cutting off 
Frankie.

"June," replied Lois, deliberately keeping her voice level.

"Listen, do you have a job for me or not?" asked Clark, 
shifting uncomfortably in his chair. It wasn't the fact 
that another man was interested in Lois. It was the way 
Eagle was looking her over. It was not a look of admiration 
or even desire. It was the look of hunger in Eagle's eyes 
and the cautious tone in Lois's voice. And every bone in 
Clark's body felt an unfamiliar urge of protectiveness 
towards the woman standing behind him.

"I assume she's yours," said Eagle, shifting his eyes from 
Lois to Clark and then back to Lois.

Clark could almost feel Lois tense. He reached behind him 
and subtly touched Lois's hand, trying to forestall any 
reaction by Lois.

"Yeah," Clark replied.

"Tell you what," said Eagle, looking at Clark again, "give 
me half an hour with your woman and you've got the job."

Clark was immediately on his feet. He was about to let into 
the man seated at the table when he felt Lois's hand on his 
back. He glanced back at her and immediately understood 
what she was trying to tell him - he had to keep his cool. 
The lives of who knew how many kids were at stake. Taking a 
deep breath, he turned back to Eagle.

"I don't share my woman," said Clark. "Now, do you have a 
job for me or not?"

"We need the help, Eagle," said Stinky. His comment was met 
by a scowling look by Eagle.

"I'll tell you what," Eagle said, "I'll arm wrestle you for 
it. You win, you get the job. You lose, I get a half hour 
with your woman and you still get the job. I'd call that a 
win-win proposition."

"Deal," said Clark immediately. He felt Lois grab the back 
of his shirt, tugging on it. "Just a minute," said Clark, 
moving away from the company of men.

"What do you think you're doing?" hissed Lois.

"I'm getting us inside," replied Clark. "Don't worry, Lois. 
I can take him."

Lois bit back the retort that came to mind, glancing over 
at Eagle. It did get them in, but... She turned her 
attention back to Clark. "If you lose, you're a dead man."

"Deal," said Clark. He knew he couldn't lose. The trick 
would be not to win too quickly. He turned back to Eagle.

"So is your woman going to let you wrestle me?" asked 
Eagle, obviously contemptuous by Clark's apparent need to 
consult with a woman.

"I said we had a deal, didn't I?" Clark replied, sitting 
back down at the table.

Both men got comfortable and cleared off the table in front 
of them before placing their elbows on the table. Their 
hands locked and Stinky told them to begin. Clark kept 
himself focused, applying just enough pressure to give 
Eagle the illusion of a struggle. He crunched up his face 
slightly, trying to look as if he was putting effort into 
this contest. Slowly but surely, Eagle's hand began to move 
backwards, towards the table.

"Come on, Billy Ray," Lois breathed into his ear.

Clark blinked. The feel of her breast lightly brushing 
against his back. The touch of her hot breath on his ear. 
The sound of her voice. His concentration shifted to the 
woman standing behind him, remembering how she looked in 
that tight, low cut shirt. He wished he could turn around 
right now. His face would undoubtedly be on level with...

"I win!" exclaimed Eagle triumphantly, snapping Clark out 
of his reverie.

"What?" Clark gasped. His sentiment was echoed by the woman 
standing behind him. "Two out of three," said Clark.

"Now why would I do that?" asked Eagle. "I already won."

"Then I'll throw in our RV."

Eagle's eyebrows rose.

"I've seen their RV," said Frankie. "It's a nice one."

"Why are you doing this? I just want half an hour. I'll 
give her back to you when I'm finished - no worse for wear, 
I promise. And maybe even a little bit more knowledgeable 
about pleasuring you."

"I don't like to lose," said Clark, his mind evaluating all 
the exit routes to this place.

Eagle shrugged. "Well, if you want to lose your RV, too, 
who am I to object?"

Clark immediately held up his hand again, waiting for Eagle 
to take it. This time, he didn't fool around and it wasn't 
long before he had the RV, a job, and Lois.

* * * * * * * * *

"You were awfully quiet in there," commented Clark as they 
left Sykes to go back to their RV for supper. They'd made 
arrangements to meet up with everyone later, but for now 
they wanted some time to evaluate their next move. "I would 
have expected you to jump down Eagle's throat or 
something."

"And blow our cover?" asked Lois incredulously. "Listen, 
Billy Ray, I might be playing the role of the 'little 
woman' for the sake of this assignment, but if you think... 
What's so funny?" she demanded when Clark burst out 
laughing.

"Nothing. It's just for a moment there I wondered where 
Lois Lane, intrepid reporter, went. Glad to have you back."

She shot him a dirty look.

"And thanks for calming me down back there," Clark added. 
"I was just about to find out how much force it would take 
to pull Eagle's arms out of their sockets."

She was about to respond with some smart ass remark when 
she thought better of it. He'd just thanked her , after 
all. "You're welcome," she said softly. "And thanks for 
risking the RV - although I was looking forward to planting 
my knee somewhere that would make Eagle think twice before 
looking at any other women the way he was looking at me."

Clark chuckled. "I think I'd have paid to see that."

Lois smiled at him. "Well, after saving Eagle from a fate 
worse than death...and getting us inside...I guess I owe 
you a supper."

"I thought you couldn't cook."

Her grin widened. "I've got a few tricks up my sleeve," she 
replied before directing him to get things set up out here 
while she disappeared inside the RV.

* * * * * * * *

Clark was surprised by the atmosphere around the campfire 
later that night. He hadn't known what to expect-bikers 
around a campfire was not a concept that he had bothered to 
think about before. Contrary to any stereotype he could 
imagine, a couple of Eagle's men had pulled out some 
guitars and strummed old favorites while a woman with a 
raspy folk-singer's voice, joined them. A few of the gang 
members were sitting around playing cards, their women 
hanging decorously onto them. Several couples were 
engrossed with the fire or with each other.

It was pleasant being with Lois like this. She sat beside 
him staring into the fire. Occasionally, she would hum 
along with a song that the others were singing. Over 
dinner, they'd managed to find their groove, an easy calm 
that they hadn't experienced since they'd left Metropolis.

Their evening meal had actually been quite nice. When Lois 
had volunteered to prepare dinner, Clark was a bit 
apprehensive. Lois cooking? From what she had told him, and 
from what she had bought, he felt that the best he would 
get was Lean Cuisine or possibly macaroni and cheese. He 
had hinted that macaroni and cheese was not his idea of 
eating. At college, he had told her, they affectionately 
called it 'the yellow death'. Lois had scooted him out of 
the RV and told him not to worry. He worried. She'd have to 
warm up four packages of Lean Cuisine to satisfy his 
appetite, he thought. He used the time tidying up the 
campsite around the RV. Remarkably, dinner had been ready 
in minutes. Lois had stood in front of the table looking 
extremely smug. She had ushered him to his seat and 
gallantly shown him dinner-warmed up leftovers from the 
previous night.

Lois realized that she had enjoyed dinner. She could still 
hear Clark's bubbling laughter when he saw the meal. The 
discussion that followed suited the mood. Once they 
understood the parts they were going to play in their 
investigation and made some tentative plans, Clark told her 
about some of the characters he had grown up with in 
Smallville while she told him about their counterparts in 
Metropolis. He revealed, through his stories, the close 
relationship he had with his parents. She let him know that 
her childhood wasn't as idyllic. She was impressed that he 
sensed her mood and changed the topic to Mrs. Irig's 
candied apples and the stunts he and his friends played at 
Halloween. In a way, she was sorry when they decided to 
clean up and head over to the campfire. For a short time, 
she had forgotten that they were at work and not on on a 
date.

Eagle and Stinky were sitting off to the side deep in 
conversation. Earlier, Lois had managed to find a seat 
close enough to them to hear what they were saying, without 
being obvious. Clark sat beside her; Jessie and Frank sat 
across the fire from them.

"I'm having some trouble with the formula," Stinky 
whispered to Eagle. "I can't get it thick enough and it 
spills out of the jelly beans."

Lois stared deeper into the fire, straining to hear what 
the two men were talking about.

"So put more cornstarch in. That'll thicken it," suggested 
Eagle.

"That doesn't work, Eagle. I told you, that's why that kid 
in Metropolis was fighting so much. The cornstarch changes 
the strength of the solution."

"So, what do you want m