A Future for Us 
By Nancy V. Sont <nancyvsont@superaje.com> 
Rated: PG 
Submitted: November 2004


All disclaimers apply. 

I wondered how things would have turned out if Superman hadn't 
rejected Lois on that fateful spring night. I wanted to read some 
stories with that theme, but wasn't able to find them, so I began 
one of my own. Any comments would be helpful and much 
appreciated.

My thanks go to Julia Kraemer, Nan Smith, Ingra, and Verena B. 
aka Sira, who have been wonderful beta readers. They really 
helped me turn a raw piece of writing into a real story worthy of 
the archives!

In this story, the Daily Planet isn't bought or blown up by 
Luthor.


Part 1

Clark hovered above the clouds, flat on his back, pondering the 
worst, most important personal problem he'd ever had. Lex Luthor 
had proposed to Lois and she was actually considering marrying 
him. How could she? Was she insane? Why was she looking beyond 
her best friend; Clark, her partner who brought her coffee, who 
played games with her, teased her, helped her through her 
troubles, challenged her when things were going smoothly? What 
did she see in Luthor? He was all flash and dazzle, manners and 
money on the outside, but she didn't even know him! Clark had 
tried to talk some sense into her. That hadn't gone well. Then 
he'd talked to her in the park, pouring out his own feelings to 
her, hoping that she would forget about Luthor once she realized 
how important she was to him and how much he loved her.

'You must know I love you, Lois,' he had said. But even though 
she had said she also loved him in return, she'd clarified that 
it was the love of a friend. She was too blind to see that their 
love was the kind that makes a good marriage. It was silly to 
think what they had was no more than friendship.

He let out a moan, rolling in the clouds, slowly at first, and 
then spinning more and more, hoping to burn off his confusion. It 
didn't do any good. His racing mind wouldn't calm down.

After he'd poured out his feelings to her, she'd asked him to let 
Superman know she needed to talk to him. When Clark had asked 
about Luthor's proposal, she'd said, 'I won't say 'yes', not 
until I speak to someone. I think you know who it is.' Sure, he 
knew who it was. It infuriated Clark that she was so devoted to 
his alter ego. It was just a load of hero worship! She wanted to 
be with Superman. But he wasn't ready to go to her apartment in 
the red and blue suit yet. What was he going to do when he 
arrived? Would he say there was no future for them, since she'd 
just rejected Clark's love? What would he say to the woman he 
loved more than life itself? What would the consequences be?

He shot up in the air, higher and higher, passing clouds until 
they were far below, and the air becoming dangerously thin. He 
let himself float slowly downward, watching the bright green 
land, the blue ocean, and the white clouds move below him.

She'd said she wouldn't say 'yes' yet. What did that mean? 
Probably that if she couldn't have a future with Superman, she'd 
say yes to Luthor. But, he couldn't let her marry Luthor, never.

She didn't want a romantic relationship with Clark. Not yet, 
anyway. He pondered the things they'd been through over the past 
year of working together at the Planet. So many things had 
happened. She'd gone from detesting him to loving him as her best 
friend. That had taken a year.

Given time, she might decide she loved him romantically. He'd 
been willing to wait for however long it took her to fall in love 
with him after she'd spurned him when they first met. She'd seen 
the smitten look in his eyes and warned, 'Don't fall for me 
Farmboy.' He had anyway. Now the time for Clark to wait patiently 
was over.

He shot through the air again, circling the globe, finally coming 
to a rest high above the frozen white arctic. He gazed dully at 
the light blue icebergs floating in the dark blue ocean.

Whatever happened when Superman went to her apartment tonight was 
going to alter the rest of Clark's life completely. He'd lose her 
forever, or he'd have her forever.

If he rejected her, would she actually blindly marry the devil, 
without investigating him? Where was her reporter instinct when 
she was around either Superman or Luthor? She was so stupid and 
pigheaded sometimes. He felt sick to his stomach imagining the 
most beautiful, brilliant woman being married to that devious 
fraud, that murderous villain. How he wished she'd listen to 
reason! But just like she'd fallen for the flash and dazzle of 
the Superman suit and his powers, she'd done the same thing with 
Luthor. He'd taken her to Italy for dinner! That wasn't a quick 
flight like it would have been with Superman. It had probably 
taken seven hours. One would hardly be interested in dinner after 
a seven hour flight! Blinded by the bright lights of Luthor's 
world, that's all there was to it.

When she had talked about marrying Luthor, it wasn't with that 
same look she had for Superman. She hadn't been swept off her 
feet. What could Clark do now, but let her dream relationship 
with Superman develop?

'For Pete's sake, Clark,' he scolded himself, 'what's wrong with 
her being in love with Superman? What's wrong with Superman being 
in love with Lois? Isn't Superman already in love with her?'

Of course he was. It took all of his effort to keep himself from 
showing her his true feelings, to keep her at arm's length, 
acting as the distant, aloof superhero. What would be wrong with 
letting her love him, with developing a romantic relationship 
with her as Superman? It would save her life. It would save 
Clark's life, too. Was it dishonest to do that? How could it be 
any more dishonest to love her as Superman without revealing his 
alter ego, than to love her as Clark without telling her his 
secret?

Could he even keep his secret from her as Superman? Certainly not 
for long. When they spent time together, could he just be 
himself, without the crossed arms, without the distant attitude?

She'd seen Superman humble before. She'd seen the pain in his 
face when things hadn't gone right in the rescuing business. She 
knew he wasn't always strong, that he had weaknesses. She just 
hadn't seen much of them. But she did love him as a man, more 
than just a two dimensional figure. She'd comforted him before.

So what was she going to say to him tonight when he arrived at 
her window? Was she going to tell him Luthor had proposed and 
that she wanted Superman more...but she'd settle for Luthor if 
Superman rejected her? Probably not. She'd want to see where they 
stood.

Well, Superman could save Lois Lane and Clark Kent and their 
future, if he gave her hope for their relationship. But without 
question, instinctively, he wanted to give her the brush off. 
What a slap in the face to reject Clark to his face and then to 
turn to his alter ego and want Superman instead?

Should Superman ask her to marry him? He loved her. She loved 
him. But, how could they ever marry? Okay, the names on the 
marriage license wouldn't be that hard. His name was Kal-El. His 
parents were Lara and Jor El. But what about Martha and Jonathan 
coming to the wedding? No, marrying her as Superman was 
ridiculous.

Would she marry Superman if she found out that he was Clark? It 
was too dangerous to be too close to Superman. She did love 
Clark, she'd said so already, as a friend, of course. He couldn't 
actually marry her until she knew he was Clark. Did Superman and 
Lois even know each other that well? Better than she knew Luthor, 
that was for sure.

If he didn't propose, but just let her know that there was 
definitely hope for them as a couple would that be enough to keep 
her from marrying Luthor? Probably. Luthor would undoubtedly find 
out and try harder to kill Superman and to woo Lois. Luthor 
wasn't a quitter. He was behind practically everything bad that 
happened in Metropolis. But he always came out smelling like a 
rose! What a case study Luthor was!

Okay, if Clark did let them have a relationship, Superman and 
Lois, against all his better judgment, what about Lois' safety? 
Would she be a target if they were seen dating? Of course, she 
would. But what were the options? If she married Luthor, wouldn't 
she be just as much a target? Luthor must have many enemies. 
Wasn't kidnapping Lois from Luthor, the third richest man in the 
world, as good a way to get something, as it was to kidnap her 
from Superman? Wasn't she already a target just because she was 
Superman's friend? If Superman couldn't protect Lois Lane, what 
better bodyguard existed to protect anyone?

His mind churned out questions and answers as the sun set, 
spraying color over the clouds beneath and above him. He had to 
make a decision. He flew back to his balcony, landed and went 
inside. He drank a glass of water, and then set the glass heavily 
onto the counter.

If Lois thought she would have a life with Superman, he had to 
propose something to her, a deeper relationship, or marriage. 
Otherwise, as soon as she married Luther and woke up from the 
moonlight and roses, she'd learn the depth of his evil for 
herself. What would Luthor do to her when she blew the whistle on 
him, as she certainly would? She'd expose him and he'd have to 
deal with her. His true selfishness would surface. No, she 
certainly wouldn't be safe with Luthor; once he found out she was 
on to him.

If Superman rejected Lois tonight, where in the universe would 
Clark be able to go to escape the pain of knowing what he'd lost? 
No, he had made up his mind. He'd give her whatever she wanted 
from Superman. He'd tell her the truth, and the real truth was 
that Superman was in love with her.

He stepped to his bedside and removed a velvet blue box from the 
drawer. It contained the ring Clark had made in case Lois had 
accepted Clark's love. Superman would do it. He would propose to 
his true love, let the chips fall where they may. He shot up into 
the sky from his balcony and headed to Lois' apartment.

He landed gently in her living room in a gust of wind. Lois was 
sitting on her couch, reading a book. She turned when the wind 
blew her hair against her shoulders. She stood, happy that he'd 
come.

"I heard you wanted to see me," Superman said.

"Yes...um...come in." She approached him and put her hands on his 
folded arms, and touched the 'S' emblem on his chest with her 
forefinger while looking into his eyes.

He was annoyed to have been put in this position. He wanted her 
to love him, all of him, as Clark, not just the dazzling 
superhero.

She began to speak. "I'm just trying to figure out...I have a lot 
of changes going on in my life and I just want to make the right 
decision...and I can't do that until I know how you feel. 
Superman, is there any hope for us? You and me? I'm so completely 
in love with you. I can't do anything else without knowing," Lois 
said, looking up into his eyes. She was practically holding her 
breath as she waited for his response.

All her defenses were down. The businesswoman that Clark usually 
saw at work had disappeared. Superman could see that Lois was 
truly humble, ready to accept whatever he said. Her life was in 
the balance. She was scared of losing him, scared of making the 
wrong decision. He knew she'd never felt this way about anyone 
before. She thought he was so good, so completely honest, and so 
trustworthy.

Seeing her open to him, radiating such love for him; his still 
partially hardened, broken heart, melted. He dropped his arms to 
his sides.

"Oh, Lois," he began, unable to hide his love for her behind that 
phony stone face. She wasn't acting. The woman he'd loved for so 
long was completely in love with him. She'd do anything for him. 
She'd fight against anyone who said an unkind word about 
Superman.

He placed his arms gently around her and kissed her forehead, 
then drew her to him in a tender embrace. Meeting her eyes he 
said, "I've tried to hide my feelings from you for so long. It's 
one of the hardest things I've ever done. I've tried to keep you 
at a distance, to keep you from getting hurt."

She looked up at him, searching his watery eyes. "Oh Superman!" 
she gasped, her arms going around him, beneath his cape. He 
didn't look the same as he usually did. She'd never seen emotions 
like these in his eyes before.

"How do you really feel about me, Superman?" she ventured. She 
thought she knew, but she had to hear him tell her. She had to 
know for sure. Everything depended on it.

"Oh Lois," he pulled her closer and rubbed his face in her silky 
hair. "I've loved you for a very long time." All he'd worked for 
in trying to keep his distance from Lois when he was in costume 
seemed of no consequence now. He had no other choice; he couldn't 
possibly let her turn to Luthor if he continued to push her away, 
always hoping she'd begin to love him as Clark. Darn it, he 
wasn't just Clark. He was Superman, too.

"Yes, Lois, there is a lot of hope for us, if you'll have me."

Her eyes were pooling with tears as she looked up into his loving 
eyes.

Their lips met in a soft caress.

"Lois, you mean the world to me. The more time we've spent 
together, the more my love for you has grown. You've been there 
for me from the beginning and I've tried to be there for you. 
I've watched over you the whole time I've lived here in 
Metropolis. Every night when I fly over the city to make sure 
things are calm, I check to see if you are all right. I know your 
voice, and if I ever hear it, I follow that sound first. I know 
your heartbeat. When you arrive at a rescue, I hear it and I know 
where you are and that you're looking for me. Countless times, 
it's taken all my willpower to keep myself from rushing over to 
grab you and fly away."

"Really?" She looked up through her tears of joy. She'd never 
imagined that she'd be hearing these words from the only man 
she'd ever really loved. Her heart overflowed. "I never knew how 
you felt about me," she sobbed. "I mean...I knew you liked me! 
But I never knew you felt that way about me!"

He held her tightly with one arm and wiped the tears from her 
cheeks with his thumb. If she could accept a proposal from Luthor 
who she barely knew and probably didn't love, then surely she'd 
accept a proposal from Superman who she did know, at least as 
much as she'd been allowed to know. She seemed to love him 
deeply. Was it really just a crush? He was ready to throw caution 
to the wind. He had to have Lois as his wife, as the mother of 
his children, if that was possible. Did he dare just date her? 
No. If she refused his proposal because they didn't know each 
other well enough, then they could always fall back into dating. 
She was already thinking of marriage.

"Lois, I know you don't know me that well. I mean..."

"But I can see beyond that, Superman. I can see who you really 
are, the good you stand for, the way it tears you up when 
someone's in pain, when you can't save everyone. How you rush to 
help everyone, no matter whether they deserve it or not."

"There's so much more to me than you know. I'm not as perfect as 
you think."

Lois hugged his waist tighter. "I'd love you even if you were 
just an ordinary man."

He swallowed, trying to stifle the stabbing pain those words 
evoked. She'd just rejected the ordinary man. He wanted to shoot 
out of the room, go somewhere far away and lick his wounds. He 
made himself relax and ignore the pain. What she was really 
saying was true; the man she loved, Superman was solid to the 
core, a decent man. He may have been crossing his arms, standing 
tall and acting aloof and emotionless, but she was looking beyond 
that, he realized. Even as Clark, she'd grown to love him as a 
close friend. She had much stronger feelings for Superman. Wasn't 
that only natural? Superman had always come to rescue her from 
the jaws of death while Clark had always gone for help. Clark ran 
away, but Superman came to help. No wonder she loved Superman so 
much. He was the man who always came.

He swallowed the painful lump in his throat. "Even when you find 
out that I have faults? I mean, sometimes I don't think you see 
any of my faults."

She looked into his deep brown eyes and saw pain and sadness 
there.

"Superman, I know you must have faults, but whatever they are, 
with so much goodness in you, you're by far the best man on this 
planet." She grinned offhandedly and continued, "And you know, I 
always go for the very best!"

He smiled, holding her close. Maybe he should take a chance on 
proposing.

But shouldn't they develop their relationship more first? 
Memories of all the times they'd spent together, both as Superman 
and as Clark, raced through his mind. He thought about dating 
Lois. As Clark, he'd had to bottle up his feelings for her to 
avoid her rejection. As Superman, she'd never rejected him. 
Certainly, they should date before he proposed to her. But at the 
moment, it didn't seem like there was much standing between them. 
She knew as much about him as she needed to know. He would make 
sure he told her the truth about his identity before they 
actually got married. He certainly loved her.

His arms loosened and he reached around to retrieve the box he'd 
tucked into his belt behind his back. "Lois, I know that our 
relationship has been rather strange, and that you don't know 
everything about me." Then going down on one knee, his cape 
laying behind him on the floor, he opened the small blue velvet-
covered box to face her. "Lois Lane, will you marry me?"

Lois was stunned. Her mouth dropped open. Could this possibly be 
happening? The man of her dreams was actually proposing to her? 
She'd had no idea he'd wanted to marry her.

How scared she'd felt when she'd seen the aloof look on 
Superman's face when he'd arrived. He truly had looked like a man 
of steel. She'd wondered what she was thinking, pouring her heart 
out to him. She'd felt desperate. She'd had to find out, to get 
things out into the open. He'd never given her much 
encouragement, but he had seemed to enjoy her attention.

All her reservations about men and the terrible way they'd 
treated her, came to mind. But here was her superhero who would 
never treat her badly. She knew that as certainly as she knew she 
was Lois Lane. If she could consider accepting a proposal of 
marriage from Lex, how much more wonderful to accept a proposal 
from Superman!

"Oh, yes, Superman, I will!"

The tears were flowing freely as he stood and swept her up into 
his arms and the air, his lips finding hers. Clark felt 
wonderful. His sweetheart was going to have him! Or at least part 
of him. He'd had no idea how wonderful it would feel to tell her 
his feelings, not just the feelings of Superman the superhero, 
but his true feelings, the feelings he had as both Clark and 
Superman. How wonderful not to have to hide them from her 
anymore. It was bad enough to still keep his big secret. He hated 
lying to her all the time, but his secret was important. That 
would come later.

But for now, it felt wonderful to unlock this tightly secured box 
to let her know just how he felt about her. He wanted to tell her 
how much it had hurt when she'd rejected him as Clark so many 
times, but that would have to wait. Actually, she'd see that for 
herself when she knew who he really was.

Landing on the floor together, he took the sparkling diamond ring 
out of the box and slipped it onto her finger, then lifted her 
hand to his lips. "I love you, Lois. Thank you for saying 'yes'." 
He pulled her close and mumbled into her hair. "Thank you."

"Thank you for asking," Lois giggled, leaning her face up towards 
his.

They floated as they kissed. He'd kissed her before, but it had 
never sent such intense feelings through his very soul. This time 
it had so much meaning. Filled with joy, they floated out the 
window then quickly up into the clouds. They somersaulted, 
drifted, and spun in the gentle breeze as they kissed.

Now she'd get to know him as Superman. He'd have to leave her to 
be Clark, who would now be the secret identity. But he didn't 
want to think about that, not now. He didn't want to have any 
secrets from her. He'd deal with that eventually, when the time 
came, but right now, he just wanted to feel her in his arms, her 
soft lips upon his, her steady heartbeat close against his chest. 
He breathed deeply of her intoxicating fragrance and nestled his 
face into her hair.

Embracing, they sailed through the silence, beneath the moon and 
the stars, far above the lights of Metropolis, murmuring into 
each other's ears as they kissed, hugged, and looked at the 
enormity of space.

It had really happened. He'd proposed and she'd accepted. It had 
worked. She would forget about Luthor. His dreams would come 
true. They'd get to know each other better, he'd tell her his 
secret, and they'd marry, find a place, and have a family. All of 
his dreams were embodied in this one woman in his arms. He'd 
never seen her so happy, so radiant, so beautiful. What he had 
missed out on, not letting her display her feelings for Superman 
before, always dashing away before she suspected that he was 
really Clark, never enjoying her kisses or this incredible 
feeling of love. He'd never known that love could feel like this, 
a beautiful, heavenly bubble. Lois was going to marry him!

Lois clung to Superman, listening to his heartbeat against the 
silence surrounding them. How she'd dreamed of him expressing his 
feelings for her. She'd longed to be with him, to be what he 
needed in a companion, to soothe him when he was distressed, to 
listen to his words of wisdom, to learn to be more like him: 
good, honest and filled with love for humanity and all that was 
just and true. She envisioned them together, working to unravel 
difficult cases, him using his powers and her using her digging 
skills. She'd never imagined he'd really ask her to marry him. 
She'd never really considered living with him for the rest of her 
life. She thought about what being married to Lex would have been 
like in contrast. A man who she didn't love and therefore 
couldn't hurt her emotionally; versus a man who would accept and 
return her love, with whom she could truly be full of life and 
happiness.

What would it be like when he had to dash off in the midst of 
everything to save someone? Would it bother her? Would she be 
able to put aside her selfishness and be the wife of a Superman, 
who like a doctor was always on call? Would she feel second best? 
It was hard to imagine Superman ever making her feel second best. 
She looked up into his eyes again. No, he never would. His face 
displayed utter devotion, hopelessly lost in his love for her. 
No, he'd have to go answer calls for help. He'd never want to 
leave her, but he'd do it because he was on the Earth to help. It 
was his calling in life. But he'd always be there for her. She 
sighed and smiled.

He stiffened as his attention changed. His eyes clouded over. His 
brow furrowed. He clenched his teeth and swallowed as he turned 
to look far below.

Lois followed his gaze. She could barely see a building burst 
into flames, followed by the sound of an explosion. Their moment 
of bliss was over. Lois knew they had to go. "Let's go!" she 
said, embarking on a whole new world with her fiancé.

"Hold tight, this is going to be a faster flight than usual," he 
said tensely, covering her head and body with his cape.

Lois ducked into his chest. She was safely enveloped in his aura 
as he sped as fast as he could without endangering her. From 
beneath the protection of his cape, she'd barely felt the wind, 
though she could hear its roar as they flew downward. In moments, 
her feet touched the ground, some distance from the 
conflagration. She could feel the heat, even from several blocks 
away.

He kissed her and said goodbye before they landed in a gust. He 
rushed as a blur to the fire and smothered it with a gust of 
frosty breath.

The screams of the tenants trapped in the flaming building ripped 
at him as he moved like lightning. He found the dying, burning 
and injured. He had to fly much more slowly as he brought them 
safely to the pavement some distance from the building. Lois ran 
to them, all the while sirens becoming louder. Soon the sidewalk 
and road were filled with bodies. It reminded her of a war scene 
from Gone with the Wind.

She walked among the victims as their numbers grew. Many of them 
were practically dead, some burned beyond recognition. Superman 
had brought only the living out first. He flew in the smoke-
filled darkness from heartbeat to heartbeat, sending broken beams 
and flaming furniture out of the way to rescue people. Over and 
over he returned to the sky, blowing ice wind on new flames, then 
returning through the billowing smoke for more victims. Many 
times he paused to suck the smoke from around him and blow it 
outside.

The high-rise had been full. The residents of the 600 apartments 
included newborn babies, school children, mothers, fathers, and 
grandparents. They'd returned to the security of home after a day 
of work, school, and errands. The explosion had been unannounced. 
No one had been able to run from the building.

Lois watched in horror as the number of people on the road grew. 
Their cries of pain were deafening as she roamed among them, 
doing what little she could to comfort crying children. 
Ambulances arrived one after another. Soon a continual procession 
to fill the city's many hospitals began. Rescue workers lifted 
the burn victims onto stretchers.

Hours went by. The flames started up many times. Fire trucks 
surrounded the building. Water arches reached wherever there were 
flames. Superman flew the wounded to emergency rooms once his 
work at taking them out of the building was finished. Then, 
without any warning, the building fell to the ground, leaving a 
heap of cement and metal beams on the bodies that remained 
within.

The pile burst into flame again, while Superman worked as a blur 
to move the heap, piece by piece, to rescue the dead. He worked 
all night, recovering all those that were within. The fingers of 
dawn were reaching over the horizon before he landed on the 
ground beside Lois.

The road where the wounded victims had lain was stained with 
blood. None of the rest of those still on the road were alive.

There was no smile on Superman's face anymore. Memories of the 
joy he'd felt before, when he and Lois had gotten engaged, had 
vanished. Soot stained his face, suit, and boots. His hands were 
black. He smelled like acrid smoke, blood and burning flesh. Lois 
leaned against him, hugging him, in awe of what he had done 
throughout the night.

"I'm dirty, Lois," he choked out, not wanting to make her clothes 
any more filthy than they were already, but too tired and in too 
much emotional pain to remove her arms from around his waist.

"Here, I'll fly you home." He put his arms around her and took to 
the air. They flew silently over the city. A layer of smoke hung 
in the air and Lois coughed. Superman sucked it up and blew it 
high above the city, then wrapped his cape around her. They clung 
to one another for comfort from the horror they'd just seen. 
Before they reached her apartment, he let himself fly higher, 
hovering high above the lights of the city where they'd been 
before. It was comforting to feel her in his arms, to feel her 
arms around him, her voice soothing away the horrid visions in 
his eyes. Eventually, he sighed and lowered them through Lois' 
living room window.

She looked up at him. "You are so incredible. Thank you for all 
you did tonight. Thank you for taking me with you. I only wish I 
could have done more to help."

Any happiness that phrase would normally have imparted to him was 
lost on his despair. He nodded and mumbled, "I'd better go get 
cleaned up."

"Where will you go?" Lois asked, suddenly realizing that she 
didn't even know where he went when he was out of the public eye.

Clark remembered that she didn't know about his other life; that 
he lived in a perfectly nice apartment where he had a shower and 
a comfortable bed and a closet full of suits. He almost distanced 
himself out of habit to say, 'I have places,' but remembered he 
was now engaged to her.

He wanted his secrets from her to be as few as possible. "I 
usually swim in the ocean until the smell is gone, then rinse off 
in a lake," he said. "I'll probably go to the arctic; maybe the 
ice water will numb my mind." It was the truth, but not all of 
it. When he was clean enough, he'd go home.

"But where do you shower to get rid of the saltwater?" she 
continued.

Seeing where this conversation was leading, he hesitated, 
wearily.

"You can use my shower," she suggested. "I can wash your suit in 
my washing machine." She pictured Superman wrapped in a towel 
while he waited for his suit to be cleaned. She pulled her mind 
away. "Do you have other suits somewhere?"

Her tired mind was curious now. How many suits did he have? Had 
he brought them with him when he'd arrived from Krypton? Did the 
suit come off? Oh, of course it did, he was a man beneath it! He 
was going to marry her, for Pete's sake!

He hadn't thought any of this out yet. He still had to protect 
his secret from her, until she could finally love him as Clark. 
But how would that ever be possible? Now, she would have to push 
Clark away, simply because she would be completely faithful to 
Superman.

"Lois, I think I'd better go," he managed. He could see her face 
sadden. He was too devastated by the carnage he'd dealt with all 
night to talk anymore.

"Oh, don't go, not yet," she said as she reached up and pulled 
his face down to her kiss.

"Lois, I have to. It's nearly sunrise. You need to get some 
sleep." He felt bad pushing her away, but was too overwhelmed to 
communicate with her or with anyone. "I need to be alone for 
awhile, after all that horror."

She looked into his distraught eyes and could only imagine what 
he'd seen as he'd been pulling victims out. It had been 
sickeningly horrible from her vantage point. Her heart had been 
devastated by the pain of the people she'd seen. How much worse 
it must have been for him. She pulled him to her again and he 
buried his face in her hair.

"You can talk to me about it, Superman. I want to be here for 
you, to comfort you, to be an outlet for your feelings," Lois 
said, hugging him tightly.

"Lois, it was so awful." She could feel him sob quietly against 
her head.

"I should have seen it coming; I should have heard more and 
gotten there faster, maybe smelled the gas leak." The images of 
children and babies, pregnant mothers and all the rest flooded 
back into his mind.

"Lois, I love you with all my heart, but I have to go. I'll see 
you tomorrow." He kissed her briefly and flew through the window 
before she had a chance to respond.

She closed the window, and then wrapped her arms around herself. 
She was smoky and dirty with dried blood on her hands and 
clothes. 'That poor man, how can he possibly blame himself? He 
has no idea how much he was able to do tonight. Several hundred 
more workers would have been needed to make the difference he'd 
made tonight,' she thought.

She looked at her hands, then gingerly picked up the remote and 
turned on the TV. LNN was showing footage of the explosion; 
Superman working, the rows upon rows of wounded and burned on the 
road, the flashing red lights of the police cars, ambulances, and 
fire trucks, and the billowing black smoke rising into the dark 
night sky. She even saw herself crouching down among the wounded.

She was exhausted, mentally, physically and emotionally. She 
turned off the television. What she needed was a nice hot bubble 
bath. She dragged herself into the bathroom and drew the water, 
and then lay back amid the bubbles, remembering. Each time she 
closed her eyes, she saw rows and rows of limp, blood and smoke 
stained bodies covered in burned and tattered clothing. She 
watched Superman fly above the building over and over, reliving 
the night, seeing vividly the light from the flames illuminating 
the other tall buildings that lined both sides of the street, his 
flapping red cape and his shiny blue body. That man, that 
superhero was soon to be her husband. She smiled and sighed.

Finally wearing clean and dry clothes, she rubbed her wet hair 
with a towel as she melted onto her couch. She pulled her 
computer onto her lap, opened it, and began to type. Eventually, 
she clicked send before closing the laptop and heading to bed. 
She'd be sleeping in late today. She turned off her alarm clock 
and closed the drapes.

Part 2

Clark flew out Lois' window into the city-lit night sky and off 
to swim in the Atlantic. The sun reflected on the ocean as he 
neared. Yellow and silver touched the tops of every ripple and 
wave.

He swam around the planet to rid himself of the smoke from the 
fire. Then he headed between the icebergs of the Arctic Ocean and 
finally into the darkness beneath the polar ice cap. Afterwards, 
he dove into Lake Superior where the fresh water could remove the 
salt from his suit. He lay motionless as he floated on his back, 
letting the waves rock him and eventually push him to the heavily 
forested shore.

He replayed everything in his mind, the devastation that had 
overwhelmed him. He had acknowledged that he couldn't have done 
anything differently; hearing his mother's oft repeated words of 
comfort and support in his mind. Only then had the memories of 
the darkness been pushed away by memories of light, love and 
bliss. The joy of being engaged to Lois had finally replaced the 
scenes of devastation and sorrow. He felt ready to return to the 
life of Clark Kent.

The sun was high in the eastern sky when Superman landed on 
Clark's balcony at 344 Clinton. The tree nearby was covered in 
the light green leaves of spring. The music of birds filled the 
air. They sounded like a concert, all the many voices singing 
together. He knew which birds made which sounds and as he watched 
them, members of an orchestra. A robin carried bits of grass 
clippings to a fork in the tree and its mate flew away in search 
of more nesting material. The wind rustled through the leaves. 
What a beautiful world the Earth was. What a contrast nature in 
the spring was to the total devastation and heartache he'd 
experienced earlier. He walked through his doorway, closing it 
quietly behind him.

He entered the bathroom, spun out of the suit, and dropped it in 
the laundry basket as he opened the shower door. He let the water 
beat on him as he shampooed his hair and scrubbed his body with 
the strong soap he used for greasy soot. He stepped out of the 
shower and pulled a towel off the rack, then headed over to look 
in the mirror. He burned his beard off slowly, too exhausted to 
bother with speed.

As he headed into the bedroom wearing the towel, he glanced at 
the red numbers on his bedside clock. He sighed, late for work 
again. He just wanted to lie down and think about his life, and 
Superman's engagement to Lois. It wasn't anything he'd ever 
dreamed of. His fantasies about Lois had always involved him as 
Clark, not Superman. He had some real mental juggling to do.

He dressed for work, and looked through his many ties for one 
that reflected how he was feeling today. How could he be so happy 
about one thing and so miserable about another?

Superman flew over Lois' apartment on his way to work. She was 
curled up in her bed, hugging the teddy bear Clark had won for 
her.

When Clark stepped out of the elevator at the Daily Planet 
newsroom, he felt the absence of Lois' heartbeat, one of the 
sounds he always noticed. It was a rhythm of his life, the beat 
of the newsroom, to him. Its absence always meant his day wasn't 
quite as bright.

He pulled out his chair, booted up his computer, and then headed 
over to get a mug of coffee and a donut. LNN was on the TV 
monitors, with pictures of the fire. He moved closer and watched 
himself work, as he sipped his coffee slowly, recalling the 
details that LNN couldn't see.

He headed in to talk to his boss. "Chief, did Lois write up the 
fire last night? I bumped into Superman and wasn't sure what Lois 
had already sent in."

"Hi, Clark. You don't look so good," Perry said as Clark entered 
his office. "Except your tie, is it a new one?" At his nod, Perry 
continued, "Yes, she sent in the story early this morning. It was 
cc'd to you. That girl never sleeps, does she! She must have 
spent the whole night out there at the fire."

He nodded. "She's really something, Chief."

Clark returned to work at his desk until the call for the morning 
conference meeting. He found Lois's story when he checked his 
email. She had written the details of Superman and the fire, but 
Clark was going to write about the way Superman felt. He needed 
to let a bit more of Superman's feelings show to the world. He 
pulled out his keyboard and began pouring out the pain of the 
victims, their losses in limbs and life and most of all, 
Superman's race with the flames and his frustration as the 
building collapsed further and further until it finally fell into 
a heap. He studied the screen, reliving the feeling of not being 
able to do more, of hearing one heartbeat stop while saving 
another. Had he saved that person first, perhaps both would have 
been alive now. How terrible to watch people burn, even for the 
instant before he put the fire out. It was all there. Perhaps it 
would be of comfort to the families of the victims to know what 
Superman went through for the victims; that he hadn't in any way 
neglected something that might have been done. The lives of all 
those people, their friends and relatives, had been painfully 
changed.

As he read what he had written about how Superman had felt, a 
great wave of gratitude for his abilities washed over him. He 
sent the story to Perry, and then turned to listen to the 
messages on his answering machine, making notes of who to call 
and how to organize his day. After making sure that no one was 
watching him, he scribbled out a note from Superman, sealed it in 
an envelope, and put it on Lois' keyboard.

LNN began showing new footage of a mall that had collapsed. Perry 
was standing beside him.

"I'm on that, Chief. I'll see you later," he said, heading toward 
the stairwell.

Lois awoke with the sun streaming on her bed, remembering why her 
alarm hadn't gotten her up before now. As she reached up to push 
her fingers through her hair, her left hand snagged.

Some hair broke off as she pulled hard to free her hand, 
wondering what in the world that was all about. She broke into a 
smile, remembering her evening with Superman as she looked at the 
diamond ring that he'd put on her hand. She tilted it in the 
sunlight and watched as dots of blue reflected from it. It was a 
genuine diamond; the real thing, just like the man who had put it 
there.

She hugged her hand to her chest before looking at the ring 
again. It was beautiful.

She yawned and stretched, swinging her legs over the side of her 
bed.

An hour later when she walked into the newsroom, she'd expected 
to hear Perry's usual, "Well, so happy you could join us today." 
But he'd only nodded and signaled her to come into his office as 
she came down the ramp.

"That was a good piece if of work you sent me this morning. I've 
never seen you write like that before, Darlin'. If that's not 
Kerth material, then I'm not an Elvis fan! It was outstanding.

"Kent wrote some pretty dynamic stuff, too. What's with the two 
of you today? Well, never mind, whatever it is, the suits will be 
singing your praises today."

Lois stood dumbfounded as she listened to her editor lavish her 
partner and her with praise.

Finding her voice, she thanked him and then asked, "What did I 
miss today, Chief? I was up so late with that story last night; I 
just had to get some sleep before I'd be any good to you today."

"Well, we've got a mall that's just collapsed. LNN's been running 
the story. Kent's over there now. There was also a massacre last 
night, some sort of a deal gone sour I'd think. I left the 
details the police sent us on your desk. I want you and Clark to 
find out what happened when he gets back."

He paused and looked at her for a moment. "Something's different 
about you, Lois. You look, well, you look darned good for a woman 
who was up all night."

Lois smiled, "Thanks, Perry, I'll have a look at what you sent 
me."

Perry noticed the shiny ring on her finger as she left his 
office. "Well, no wonder!" he nodded and smiled to himself. 
Although he'd thought she was dating Lex Luthor, it was obvious 
that she and Clark had gotten engaged last night.

Lois headed over to her desk and dropped her bag on the floor 
beneath her coat rack, then turned and noticed an open document 
on Clark's computer monitor. She sat in his chair to read what 
her partner had written. She was soon mesmerized by the way the 
words flowed. This was the 'touchy feely' stuff that Clark was so 
good at. But this was especially good, much better than anything 
of his she'd ever read. It was like a window into the heart of 
Superman. She could feel his pain, his determination, his steeled 
resolve, his concern. Wow. What a piece of journalism.

She pushed 'print' with his mouse, then looked down at the ring 
on her finger and sighed. She felt more content than she'd felt 
in a long time, if she'd ever felt this way before. That was her 
fiancé who Clark had written about. She picked up the piece of 
paper as it fell into the printer tray and walked back over to 
her desk while she read it again.

She noticed the envelope on her keyboard. Idly leaving the 
article on top of the pile on her desk, she opened the envelope 
and pulled out a sheet of paper.

"Dear Lois,

Let's talk about when we'll announce our engagement before we 
tell anyone, okay? I'd like to savor this secret for a little 
while just between us.

Love, 

Guess who."

She smiled and looked at her ring again, then remembered that 
she'd promised to give Lex an answer about his proposal today. 
She picked up the phone, wondering if talking in person was 
better than on the phone for this sort of thing. Rejection might 
be hard for Lex to take. No, she didn't want to feel him pressure 
her for her reasons and to try to sweep her off her feet again. 
In a few minutes, a very bewildered Lex Luthor and a very happy 
Lois Lane hung up their phones.

She sighed and mumbled, "Done!"

Then she turned to the details Henderson had sent to Perry about 
the murders in the warehouse district. It was an intriguing case. 
Several murders. Lois got up and put her head into her editor's 
office.

"Perry, I'm going to go out there and see if I can find anything 
out," Lois said, her bag in hand.

Clark stepped out of the elevator as she was waiting for it to 
arrive. He looked at her ring. "Good morning, Lois." Clark said, 
looking happy but weary. He couldn't help but gaze into her deep 
brown eyes and remember their evening together last night.

"Hi, Clark. Perry wants us to cover this murder, come on, I'll 
fill you in on the way," she said, patting his chest.

"Okay," he said, glancing at his desk before turning back into 
the elevator with his partner. They stood in silence in the 
elevator for a moment as the doors closed and it descended. 
"Quite a ring you've got there, Lois. So you've given Lex your 
answer, I guess?" Clark asked to keep up his cover.

She nodded, suddenly realizing that if she didn't say she had 
rejected Lex's proposal, people would just assume it was Lex's 
ring until she and Superman finally announced it publicly. She 
decided not to mention anything more about it.

"You must be pretty happy. You look happy." Clark said, not 
trying hard enough to hide his joy.

She didn't notice the sparkle in his eyes that matched that in 
her own. He wanted to wrap his arms around her and kiss those 
warm soft lips that had soothed him last night after the fire. He 
wanted to float up into the clouds with her. He couldn't keep his 
eyes off her.

"Umm Humm!" she murmured dreamily, covering her ring with her 
other hand and stroking it fondly, keeping her eyes down so he'd 
not ask any questions.

The doors opened in the lobby and they stepped out. "Okay, so 
here's what's happening, Clark," she said, slipping her hand 
through his arm in her usual friendly gesture.

Clark felt the ring as it dragged across the fibers of the sleeve 
of his suit jacket and smiled. He absently squeezed the wrist 
that brushed against his side as she held onto his arm.

She didn't notice, but began to spill what she knew of the 
massacre. "The place is riddled with bullets and bodies. A dead 
guy had a mask partly torn off his face that looked like he was 
pretending to be Lex Luthor."

"Luthor?" Clark was surprised.

"Yeah, weird, huh?"

From the cab, they could see the crime scene. Yellow tape 
cordoned off the area. Lois and Clark both ducked under it, 
flashing their press passes at the rookie police officer who eyed 
them suspiciously. Chalk powder outlined the spots on the grass 
where the bodies had lain. Lois and Clark wandered around the 
area as close as they were allowed to go, making sure not to step 
on any footprints.

Clark bent his head and raised his glasses, as he studied the 
ground for tracks. He checked the foot sizes of the victims, and 
then mentally matched them with the imprints in the grass. There 
were extra footprints, probably from the police who had removed 
the bodies.

More prints might lead to a getaway vehicle. He found some narrow 
ones near the laneway. A woman's perhaps?

Nearby he scanned the ground for anything that might link them to 
the suspects. He spotted something, reached down and picked up a 
long piece of reddish brown hair. It must have arrived recently, 
since it was still lying on top of the grass. Even rain hadn't 
pushed it in-between the blades yet.

He turned to Inspector Henderson. "Here Bill," I found this by 
the tire tracks. The tall dark haired inspector nodded, pulled a 
Ziploc bag from his pocket, and let Clark drop the single piece 
of hair into the bag. "Thanks Kent. That might give us the DNA 
we'll need to link our killers to the crime scene."

They poked around, finding scratch marks on top of a large air 
conditioner housing unit. "These scratch marks and the way the 
dust has been moved look like there was some sort of exchange of 
briefcases," Clark said.

Henderson took them over to the cruiser and showed them the one 
briefcase that had been left at the scene. It contained a piece 
of granite, a normal looking rock. Lois and Clark exchanged 
glances, before she began, "Okay, so someone double-crossed the 
buyer with a worthless rock.

You think it was some kind of a drug exchange?"

"Maybe. Or maybe uncut stones for jewelry?"

"But why would anyone dress up like Lex?"

"Maybe because Luthor is always into bad..." Clark stopped 
himself, remembering how he and Lois had gotten into a fight 
about Luthor already this week. If she was pretending to be 
engaged to him, she'd probably swing into defending him again. 
"Sorry, Lois. Someone was trying to pretend he was Lex Luthor, I 
guess."

"Well, obviously!" she retorted sarcastically.

"The fingerprints on the handle will show who brought the rock. 
The other person must have been bringing the money. Or the 
goods," Clark said, and then added, "What if the rock was 
substituted for the goods? What if the Luthor look-alike was the 
one with the money? I mean, Luther has lots of money." Clark 
paused to think. "There are three possibilities. One, Luthor sent 
the look-alike, in case there was trouble. Two, someone was 
setting up Luthor to take the blame in case anything went wrong. 
Three, someone was beating Luthor to the exchange but got shot in 
the process."

Lois shot Clark a disparaging look. "Always thinking Lex is the 
bad guy...up to something!"

Clark ignored her response. As he neared the air conditioner 
unit, pain shot through his stomach and he practically doubled 
over. He instantly backed up until he was out of range of the 
Kryptonite he'd felt. He scanned the ground, finally finding tiny 
specks of green crystal on the earth beneath the grass.

"Lois, it was a Kryptonite purchase," Clark said as Lois came 
over to stand beside him, not having noticed the way he'd grabbed 
his stomach a few moments before. She shot him a puzzled look and 
he nodded to the chalked body. "Look over on the ground; there 
are tiny specks of Kryptonite down there in the grass, right by 
that twig."

Lois went over and picked at the ground with her fingers where 
he'd gestured, retrieving some tiny bits of florescent green. She 
looked up at Clark who was leaning against the tree near the 
yellow tape.

"Don't touch it Lois," Clark cautioned. "Superman could probably 
be hurt by even that tiny amount."

Realizing the truth of what he was saying, she made sure there 
wasn't any on her fingers. She needed a lead box. But this was a 
crime scene. The less the police knew about Kryptonite being 
available, the better. She searched her bag, and retrieved a 
stick of lipstick. Making sure nobody could see what she was 
doing, she dabbed the lipstick at the pieces of Kryptonite, then 
wound it down into the case and put the metal lid back on top. 
She wrapped it up in a handkerchief and put it in her cosmetic 
bag, hoping that all those layers would be at least some 
protection for Superman. It wouldn't be enough, but it might work 
for the moment, just to get it away from the scene.

Clark stood at attention, wanting to find out if he'd be affected 
by Lois as she came over to stand beside him. When she'd gotten a 
few feet closer, he began to feel it and backed up, saying, 
"Lois, I'm going to go see what Jimmy can find out." He trotted 
around the corner of the nearby buildings and took off into the 
sky.

"Clark! We just got here!" Lois demanded as he turned and started 
away. She sighed in exasperation as he disappeared. "Always there 
when you need him!" She shook her head and looked for Henderson. 
"Did you already run any checks to see who these guys were and if 
they matched the prints on that briefcase?"

"Yup, Lois. We've got it right here. The guy under the mask is 
Mike Smithers; the one by the air conditioner unit is Harold 
Topac."

"Thanks," Lois jotted down the names. "Who were these other 
guys?" she asked, waving her hand at the three other chalk-marked 
body outlines in the grass."

Henderson pulled his pad back out of his shirt pocket. "They're 
Larry Rankin, Joe Kelly, and Tom Williams."

"Okay," she said as she looked up at him. "Can you tell me what 
happened here?"

"Well, from the look of it, there was an exchange and a shootout. 
We've recovered bullets. They're all over this side of the area, 
so they must have come from the look-alike side. I'll let you 
know what kind of gun they came from when we find out."

Lois looked over near the body of the look-alike for signs of 
footprints. She could see tire tracks from a large car and 
footprints all around the area where the body lay and behind the 
car's most indented tracks. She'd get Superman to come and blow 
on these tracks for her so they could take a frozen sample back 
to the lab to find out what kind of car it had been.

"Bill, do the footprints here match the shoes of the people that 
were murdered or are there more people that are missing? I guess 
the car's gone, so there must have been a driver. Were there more 
people?"

"Lois, we've got one car," he waved his hand over at the other 
side of the park. "It's riddled with the same prints as these 
guys, but at least one somebody got away, probably with the money 
and the goods. If this piece of hair is anything to go on, we 
have a long haired red-head in the mix."

"Mrs. Cox." Lois mumbled, finding it difficult to believe that 
the masked man was of any connection to Lex. She looked around 
for awhile longer, and then flagged a cab to head back to the 
Planet.

Part 3

Clark couldn't wait to tell his parents about his engagement to 
Lois, so as soon as he was done at work, he headed to Kansas.

"Mom, Dad," Clark said as he entered the kitchen where his 
parents were sitting down to lunch.

The television was running the story of Superman's overnight 
rescue at the apartment building in Metropolis as well as the 
collapsed mall.

"Hi, Clark! How are you feeling? We saw what you did last night. 
That was quite a disaster."

Martha got up, came over, and hugged him. She was much shorter 
than her boy. She looked at him with pride and concern.

"I'm fine, Mom. It w as horrible. Over half the people in the 
explosion died."

"I'm sure you did the best you could, Son," Jonathan patted him 
on the shoulder as Clark seated himself in one of the chairs 
between his parents, feeling their love for him. He had such 
mixed feelings about the results of the fire and about his 
engagement to Lois. He needed to talk about what he'd done.

"Thanks, Dad. I did what I could," he responded, ready to tell 
them about how he'd dealt with Lois' proposal from Luthor. "I 
didn't come here about that, though. You remember what I told you 
about how I was going to tell Lois my feelings for her?"

"Yes, what happened, Clark?" Martha smiled and leaned closer.

"I told her how I really felt, and she let me know that she only 
loved me as a friend."

"Oh, Clark!" Martha began in sympathy, placing her hand on his 
arm.

"She wanted me to send Superman to see her. She was going to say 
'yes' to Luthor's proposal, but not until she talked to Superman 
first."

"That's rough, Son!" Jonathan added his hand to rest on Clark's 
arm.

"So I went there as Superman. When she asked him if there was any 
hope for them, he said there was, and he told her how he felt and 
asked her to marry him!"

Martha and Jonathan's eyes widened. "You did? But Clark, that's 
dishonest!" his father responded.

"I know, Dad. But she said 'yes!'" A grin illuminated Clark's 
face in spite of the worried look on his father's face. Martha 
got up to hug her son.

"But what are you going to do now?"

"I don't know, Mom. I really don't know. Lois doesn't really know 
Superman, not like she knows Clark. I have always left quickly 
when she and I were talking. I have always known, or at least 
felt that if I spent too much time with her as Superman she'd 
discover the similarities to Clark too quickly."

"Clark, I get so confused when you talk about yourself in the 
third person," his mother admonished him.

Jonathan raised his eyebrows and nodded his head in agreement. 
"So how do you feel about this? She rejected you as Clark and now 
she's marrying you as Superman. Don't you feel like you've 
tricked her?"

"Well Dad, what was I to do? I couldn't just let her marry 
Luthor!"

"But Clark, you can't interfere in her decisions."

"So, are you going to tell her your secret?" Martha asked. "I 
guess not for awhile, right?"

"No, not now."

"But you're engaged to her? Doesn't she have the right to know?"

"Yes, but..." he hesitated, still unsure how he was going to 
handle everything. "We could have a long engagement, at least 
until I know I can tell her. At least until I know she won't hate 
me because I'm Clark. But I have to tell her before we get 
married. I could never actually marry her otherwise. I left her a 
note this morning asking her not to tell anyone we're engaged 
until we talk about it first."

"Ouch!" Martha grimaced.

"I thought if we wait, then we can announce her fiancé as Clark 
Kent. It could never be announced as Superman. Imagine how people 
would try to hurt her to get to me. Anyway if she still wants to 
marry me when she finds out who Superman really is, then she'll 
be marrying Clark."

"Okay, son, let's say you're able to do this. Have you thought 
about the logistics? Where do you live? I mean, will you always 
be dropping in to her apartment? Where do you go to change and to 
sleep? She's going to start asking a lot of questions," Jonathan 
said.

Clark had been raised to have high morals like his parents. It 
was unthinkable that he would move in or have premarital sex with 
her. It wasn't the way to treat a woman. It didn't show her any 
respect. No, a woman deserved security, to know that her man 
would be there permanently for her before she gave him her 
virtue.

Clark thought about his answer. "What if Superman moves in with 
Clark? That way I would have an answer for where I live. Then we 
could be together at my own apartment, too. I wouldn't have to 
have an extra bed there, since I usually levitate when I sleep 
anyway, or I could say I sleep on the couch."

"Won't she get suspicious if Clark's never there when she comes 
over to visit?"

"Well, I've been thinking about that." He smiled broadly.

"I'm really fast, Mom and Dad. What if Lois, Clark, and Superman 
had a visit, the three of us, but we sat far enough apart that 
she couldn't look at us both at the same time? I mean, I could 
even be Superman in the living room with Clark cooking in the 
kitchen and whenever she looked at one or the other of us, I 
could flash over there and be in the right place as the right 
person!" He paused then added, "I'd usually leave as Clark to 
give the two of them time to be alone together though. I don't 
think it would be very good to stick around!"

Clark exhaled with a grin on his face. His mother burst out 
laughing.

"Wouldn't all of you get dizzy?" Martha asked when she'd gotten 
control of her voice.

"Well, let me practice!" Clark said, smiling at each of his 
parents. Suddenly Superman was sitting opposite him at the table.

"I think this will work!" Superman agreed.

"I can still be in the apartment when Superman's there," Clark 
said from the opposite side of the table. Jonathan looked at the 
empty seat across from his son and shook his head.

In a flash Superman was occupying the other chair again.

"Well, I sure can't see you leave one chair, I only see you in 
the next one when you speak. It does feel like there are four of 
us at the table! Boy, you are fast, changing clothes and 
everything, and looking like you've been sitting there all along! 
There is a bit of wind though," Martha said, smiling.

"I could leave the window open to account for the breeze. Here, 
I'll deal. Let's see how well we can play a foursome of cards!" 
Clark grinned at his surprised parents and began shuffling. It 
made sense that Clark and Superman should be on the same team, 
since they obviously knew the same hands! The game proceeded 
quite nicely, with Clark shifting from one side to the other 
after each had played their turn. It wasn't even tiring to keep 
that up. He still looked comfortable.

All four of them played a good game.

"Well, you're right, Clark," Martha finally said an hour or so 
later when the game ended. "I certainly felt like I was playing 
at a table of four people."

Jonathan nodded in agreement at Clark who was sitting across from 
Superman's empty chair. "It works very well when we've got our 
mind slightly distracted. I think you could pull this off if you 
need to. I don't like it though, it's so deceitful."

"I think it's going to work perfectly, Clark! I just wish you 
could tell her everything, but I can see that is going to have to 
wait for awhile, at least until this Lex Luthor thing blows 
over," Martha smiled and nodded as she spoke.

Clark took a deep breath. "You know, Mom, Dad; I just don't know 
how I'm going to do this with Lois. It's so easy to inch my way 
closer as Clark. I'm just not sure what to do about being 
Superman with her. Our lives are so different. We only see each 
other at crime or disaster scenes; or when she's in dire 
straits." Martha pursed her lips and nodded as he spoke. "It's 
just not the same. I mean, I have always *avoided* her when I'm 
Superman, now I'm going to be doing a complete flip-flop. I don't 
know how this is going to work out, or if it will at all! I did 
decide to let part of my real personality in, though. I don't 
think Superman has enough personality to be a partner with 
anyone!"

"Well, Honey, she loves you as Superman, and you said tonight 
that she loves you as Clark, too!"

He nodded with half a grin. "As a friend, Mom, just as a friend." 
Clark was slowly trying to get his mind around this totally new 
swing of events.

"It could be a lot worse, Son, she wants to marry you!"

"Yeah, I know, Dad, so far so good!"

"Maybe she's always kept you away as Clark because she's being 
faithful to Superman," Martha injected.

Clark pursed his lips and thought about that. Maybe.

"So what's your next move, Son?" Jonathan asked. "I'm intrigued 
by your idea of moving in with yourself." He shook his head. "I 
thought hearing you talk about yourself in the third person was 
strange before, but I can see I haven't seen anything yet. What 
are you going to do about being seen together in public? When the 
media gets wind of this, it will blow sky high."

"I was thinking, I could talk to Lois about my wearing some 
regular clothes to go out with her. I'd be in a third disguise, 
but it might just work. Maybe I could get a fake beard or 
something, too."

His parents exchanged questioning looks. Martha patted him on the 
shoulder. "I just hope you know what you're doing son, but don't 
let all of this make you careless with your secret! It's not only 
the secret you have to protect, Lois needs protecting, too."

"I'll be careful, Mom," he said, standing up. "I think I'd better 
get back to Metropolis for my nightly patrol."

They said their goodbyes and Superman shot across the night sky 
to Metropolis.

Part 4

Lois was at her desk when Clark walked into the newsroom the next 
morning. Jimmy was discussing something with her. She looked up 
when she saw Clark coming down the ramp, straightening his tie. 
Shoving his hands in his pockets, he was about to head over to 
Lois' desk when the faint beginnings of the stabbing pain of 
Kryptonite irritated every inch of his body. He backed up as 
quickly as he could, getting out of range of Lois' purse.

He ducked into the stairwell, and in a moment, with an 
identifying whoosh, he flew in to the newsroom through the window 
as Superman. He landed, keeping his distance from Lois, just in 
case the Kryptonite was on her.

Lois heard the familiar sound and got up from her chair to 
approach him. He realized he wouldn't crumple from Kryptonite, as 
she neared and stood beside him. "Superman!" she said, her eyes 
radiant, a smile covering her face.

He smiled, trying to be discreet, then scooped her up and flew 
out the window before she had a chance to object. 

When they were out of sight of the newsroom, she nuzzled her head 
against his shoulder, kissing his neck as they flew. He laughed, 
"Cut that out, Lois!"

She leaned back in his arms. "How are you today?"

He smiled down at her beautiful face. "I'm fine. I'm sorry I 
didn't come over last night. I was pretty tired after that 
explosion the night before."

"You don't have to apologize to me. I read the story Clark wrote 
about you. I guess you must have seen each other before he came 
into work yesterday. The story really brought out the feelings 
you had while you were doing that rescue."

"Yes, I stopped by his place to talk to him. He had LNN on and 
had already heard all about it."

He kicked himself mentally for yet another lie. Couldn't he have 
ignored the question? Did he *have* to keep lying to her? It 
would be so nice to tell her who he was. Guilt swelled within him 
again. Superman had played a dirty trick on Lois. That's the way 
she'd look at it, wasn't it. It reminded him of the time when his 
father had said 'No.' and he'd gone to ask his mother who'd 
unsuspectingly said 'Yes'. Well, here he was. The only man in the 
world who so clearly stood for truth and justice, and what was he 
doing? He was no better than any of the other men she'd had 
relationships with in her life. Take what you want regardless of 
what she would do if she had all the information. Well, he wasn't 
*quite* the same, but near enough.

"Where are we going?" Lois was looking around at the thick 
cumulous clouds that surrounded them. They flew through the large 
holes in the clouds that resembled rooms.

Finding a good view, he stopped where he could float just above a 
cloud as if he were sitting on it, with Lois on his lap.

"I have to talk to you. Clark said you found some Kryptonite at 
that crime scene yesterday. Where is it now?"

"It's in a lipstick container in my bedroom."

Superman pulled a small lead box from the back of his suit and 
handed it to her. "Could you please put it in here and then I'll 
get rid of it?"

"Okay." Lois smiled. "I didn't dare leave it at the crime scene 
in case someone got hold of it."

He nodded thoughtfully. "Okay, when I come to your apartment 
later, could you get it for me?"

"Sure."

"Good." He paused and looked into her deep brown eyes. "What time 
do you think you'll be done with work today? I want to take you 
somewhere."

"I can be ready at seven in my apartment." She smiled, looking at 
his smooth face as she fingered his cheek gently with one hand.

He caught her hand in his and brought it to his mouth to kiss it, 
playing with the ring. "Lois, I know it must have sounded bad 
when I asked you not to say anything to anyone about our 
engagement yet, but there's...something that you need to know 
about me first. I have a lot of secrets. I guess that's kind of 
obvious." He paused as she looked at him.

"Well, you'd have to. If everyone knew where you stayed when you 
weren't making rescues, they'd all be swarming you for autographs 
or for a lift somewhere. I know there are a lot of things *I* 
would like to know about you."

He smiled wistfully at her. "I can't tell you yet. I've never 
told anyone some of the things I have to tell you, so it's going 
to take a lot of thinking and courage before I can do that, but I 
will. Can you wait for me to get up my nerve?"

His face looked strange, a mixture of fear, hope, and 
determination on it. Lois wasn't the kind of person who could 
just look a secret in the face and not ask what it was. She was 
far too curious for that. "Why can't you just tell me? You can 
trust me."

"I know I can trust you, that's why I *will* tell you. But I 
can't do it yet. I have to get up some nerve." He grinned. "Can 
you trust me and just wait until I'm ready?"

"I guess so," Lois said, unconvincingly. "But I don't 
understand."

"I know. I wish I could just say it all now. You have no idea how 
much I want to tell you everything. But I can't. After I tell 
you, then we can announce our engagement, but until then, nobody 
can know about it. It sounds silly, I know, but you'll understand 
why later. Please trust me on this, Lois." His eyes revealed the 
seriousness of his secret. "I know you're a strong woman and an 
investigator. This is probably going to be one of the hardest 
things I ever ask you to do, to just sit back, and wait until I'm 
ready to share this secret with you."

"You're not gay are you?" Lois asked suspiciously, trying to find 
some reason for his caution.

"No, Lois. Don't be silly," he chuckled at the thought of it, 
squeezing her.

"It'd sure be a waste, with a body like yours!" she said under 
her breath.

"I heard that, you know!" he smiled and dipped his face to meet 
her lips. "Okay, there's another thing I wanted to tell you. 
Clark and I've been talking and he's agreed to share his 
apartment with me. I think it would be important for me to have a 
place where you can find me if you want me when there's no 
disaster or anything, and it's somewhere that I can live nearby. 
Oh, and speaking of disasters, I've got this for you." He pulled 
a thin chain out from behind his belt. It was attached to a small 
dog whistle. He smiled at her and held the necklace open while 
she ducked her head to let him put it on her. "It's just a dog 
whistle, but I'll hear it farther away than a cry for help. It 
won't do you much good if you are tied up, so if you could try to 
anticipate danger before you walk into it, I can at least know 
what you're involved in."

"You're so good to me." She threw her arms around his neck and 
hugged him. "But I really *can* take care of myself."

He grinned at her just like he had for the past year as Clark. "I 
love you with all my heart, Lois, and I know you're good with 
Karate, but no, you can't take care of yourself, at least under 
certain circumstances. Remember the bomb in the space shuttle 
when we met? How about when the invisible robbers locked you up 
in the gold vault and you practically suffocated? Or remember the 
time you were pursuing the tsunami and were about to be wiped out 
by a tidal wave?"

He could see that he had taken the wind out of her sails, but 
continued anyway, to drive home the point. "What about when Trask 
threw you and Clark out of the plane, and when Miranda was 
lowering you into the vat, while she sprayed Metropolis with her 
pheromone spray? Remember when you stood in front of the Magic 
Channel until I came to rescue you?"

"Well, that time you got hypnotized and 'you' were the one who 
had locked me up to drown in that box!"

"Okay, but I did save you in the end! I did tell you, I'm not 
perfect, remember?"

"Umm... Okay, I couldn't take care of myself a few times," she 
muttered softly.

He laughed at her inability to admit her faults, and then 
continued, trying to help her realize her limitations, so she 
wouldn't get killed when he was out of town on a rescue, "And 
when it wasn't me that rescued you, it was Clark. Remember when 
Clark saved you from being strangled by the make-up man in your 
kitchen?"

"Okay. Fine, that's enough," she said through clenched teeth.

"Just admit you're wrong, Lois, it's the easiest way!" Clark 
laughed with her, teasing her, the way Clark always did. It felt 
good to be open with her as Superman. It had been so hard to 
bottle up all his feelings for her and to keep her at arms length 
when he was in the suit.

"So just whistle for me before you get into a bad situation, 
okay? Please?"

She looked up at him, placing her palm on his cheek, and smiled 
lovingly. "If you kiss me, I won't make you beg."

He smiled and pressed his lips against hers. Awhile later, he 
dropped his arms from around her and took her hands. "Okay, I'll 
take you back to work."

She took a deep, blissful breath. "Did anyone ever tell you 
you're a wonderful kisser?" She smiled again at that wonderful 
smile of his.

"Only you! I'm not a Casanova you know, Lois. I only have eyes 
for you."

She leaned in for another kiss before he lifted her onto her feet 
and stood up, supporting her in the thin air.

"One thing about being up here, you certainly just can't get up 
and walk out on me if I annoy you," Superman said.

She followed his gaze down to the dotted scene of Metropolis 
through the quickly moving clouds.

He smiled. "I think I'll bring you here when I tell you my 
secret."

Their arms were around each other. It was easy for Lois to forget 
that she had to be touching him in order to exist up in the 
clouds. She could just see how sensible it would be for him to 
bring her up there if he ever wanted to tell her something that 
would make her fly off the handle. She did have a bad temper. She 
had to get a better grip on it. Unlike her, she'd never seen 
Superman let his emotions get out of control, even when he'd been 
tormented by the worst of criminals.

"So your secret is going to make me mad?" she teased, moving her 
hands up and down his back under his cape.

"It might. It could. It probably will. You may hate me for 
awhile."

She raised her eyebrows. "I can't imagine you saying or doing 
anything that could make me hate you. You're the most wonderful, 
gentle, kind, selfless, helpful man I've ever known." She held 
her hand out to look at her ring as it sparkled in the sunlight, 
and smiled. He looked at it too.

"I made it for you, you know?"

"You what?"

"Well, I didn't make the ring and the setting, but I made the 
diamond."

Her mouth dropped open.

He nodded and she closed her mouth. "I can do stuff like that, 
Lois. You know, super strength."

"But how? Where?"

"I have a friend who owns a coal mine."

"So this is really just a piece of coal?"

"Well, it was, for a very long time. It was a lot bigger then, 
too!"

He smiled at her amazement. "Come on, we've got to get going."

She didn't take her eyes off her hand as she held him with one 
arm. He pulled her close to him and kissed her forehead.

"Okay, I'm ready," she whispered, hugging him again. "Can we fly 
like this or do you have to carry me?"

"This is good!" He smiled and then met her lips with his as they 
descended feet first out of the clouds.

As they neared the globe of the Daily Planet below them, she 
returned to work mode. "I'm glad you found a box for the 
Kryptonite. I didn't know what I was going to do with it. I 
certainly didn't want to bring it anywhere you'd be affected by 
it, but I didn't dare leave it there! So who do you think wanted 
it?"

Superman's body stiffened. "Luthor. I'm not sure, but he's let me 
know on more than one occasion that this planet's not big enough 
for the both of us. I'm sure he'll use it to try to kill me. He's 
smart and devious. It amazes me how he gets away with so many 
things, still looking like he's got clean hands." Clark shook his 
head slowly. "He has a way of turning things around so he looks 
really good to everyone, perhaps even saving their lives, while 
he's behind the biggest mass murder at the same time." Clark 
landed beside the stairwell door on the roof of the Daily Planet.

"So Lex is really bad? How do you know?"

"Well, the first time I met him, I saw that he was trying to 
replace the Prometheus with his own space station. He was behind 
the sabotage. He was having an affair with Dr. Baines. When I 
discovered his involvement, after the project was saved, I went 
over there and told him I knew about him. He said he thought of 
my warning as a welcome challenge. He actually looked forward to 
seeing how he could win against me." He paused and turned to face 
Lois. "It's not like it's about winning against Luthor. I just 
want right to prevail. I just want people to be safe and happy. 
But he sees me as a threat to his empire and to his freedom to do 
whatever he wants."

Lois was amazed by what he was saying. "But he seems so nice!"

"That's the thing, Lois, he's convincing and well-mannered. He 
speaks with such an air of wisdom and sophistication." Clark 
shook his head again.

"But he has always treated me with the greatest respect and 
consideration. You know this is really hard to believe!"

"I can imagine. He's pulled the wool over the eyes of most of the 
world. Most people think he's a benevolent person whose only aim 
is to help the world and to share his wealth. But I've listened 
in to his phone calls. I've heard what he conspires. I've seen 
some of the things he initiates. Do you remember when your father 
was making those limb replacements?" Lois nodded, dumbfounded. 
"Well, he was the one behind the whole thing. He was paying for 
the research and the wrestlers so that he could create an army of 
supermen. That was his goal. Remember when he saved your life?" 
She nodded and he continued, "It was all a setup. He was behind 
the man attempting to kill you in the first place. He was just 
killing two birds with one stone, doing away with someone and 
making you appreciate and admire him at the same time."

Lois furrowed her brow. "Are you sure?"

"Positive, Lois. He's an awful man. I really don't want to say 
too much about it. I can't prove enough to send him to jail, 
because I learn a lot by keeping my eye on him; looking through 
his building to see what he's planning. It's unbelievable. 
Anyway, I'll have to go over and x-ray his penthouse to see if 
he's got the Kryptonite there somewhere."

Lois was agitated. "I just can't believe how blind I've been! How 
could I have been right there with him and not known?"

"Well, did you ask him about his work?"

"Yes, a bit, but he was pretty evasive. I just thought he didn't 
want to bother me with the details of running a huge empire."

"Well, there's more to it than that. Did he take any phone calls 
when you were with him?"

"Yes, several times. He'd never tell me what they were about. He 
just left the room and wouldn't tell me what he was involved in, 
like it would be boring for me to hear about it. But it was 
obviously something important to him. That 'personal assistant' 
of his is in on everything that goes on in his life." Clark could 
hear the bitterness in her voice. "She looked like a lot more 
than a secretary to me. She's got long reddish brown hair and 
wears short skirts and does 'whatever is necessary'." The words 
came out of her mouth laden with distaste.

Clark was nodding. "His private morals aren't any better than his 
business ones. Well, I know he wants to kill me. I know he 
supports research and does experiments to further his evil plots. 
He's no ordinary man. There's absolutely nothing he wouldn't do, 
Lois."

"So will you go over there and see if you can find any Kryptonite 
now? Clark and I will see what Henderson has about those prints 
and see if we can find out more about this look-alike guy and 
those other people. Do you think Lex was suspecting a double-
cross and hired the look-alike to take his place in the exchange, 
just in case he got shot? It was certainly a well thought out 
plan."

"He doesn't miss a trick, Lois."

"I can't believe I was thinking of marrying him!"

She felt Clark stiffen in her arms. He didn't say anything, since 
she'd never told Superman about Lex's proposal.

He just looked off through the clouds into the distance, so 
grateful that she'd chosen him over Luthor. "I'm glad you chose 
me instead, Lois." He cradled her in his arms again, burying his 
face in her hair.

A shrill noise distracted him. He put his head up and spotted a 
plane on an angle high above the layer of clouds in the distance, 
spiraling downward. He had to go.

"Lois, I've got to go catch that plane before it crashes," he 
said pointing upward and pulling the door to the stairs open for 
her. "I'll come by for the Kryptonite later." He kissed her 
quickly and shot back into the air.

Lois stood watching him go, and then headed down to the newsroom. 
She noticed that Clark was still gone. She walked back to her 
desk, fingering the small box. She slipped it in her satchel, 
turned to her computer and pondered what Superman had just told 
her about Lex. She thought about how he'd tensed when she'd 
mentioned Lex's proposal. She'd not told him about that and 
wondered how it must have made him feel, knowing everything he'd 
said about Lex. She felt ill and suddenly made a dash for the 
restroom. She was ashen-faced and shaking when she returned to 
her desk. Why hadn't she listened to Clark? How could she have 
been so rude and angry with him when he'd tried to tell her how 
bad Lex was when she'd first told him he'd proposed to her? She 
looked toward his desk again.

Her thumb fingered the ring on her finger and she looked down at 
it. Oh my gosh! Clark thinks I'm going to marry Lex! She felt her 
stomach begin to churn again, cramping. Her hands went to her 
mouth and she took off to the restroom again.

It was some time before she came back to her desk this time, 
stopping at the coffee stand for a donut to settle her stomach.

"How's that story coming, Lois?" Perry asked as he headed to the 
coffee stand and began pouring himself a mug of coffee.

"Well, there's definitely a lot to it. It looks like more than we 
thought." She nodded to his office and began to walk towards it 
as he followed her. He closed the door while she sat down. "It 
looks like it was a Kryptonite purchase, Perry. Clark found some 
specks of it next to where one of the bodies had lain."

Perry let out a low whistle. "Do you think you and Clark can get 
that rock back?"

Lois eyed him. "I'd like to try. But it could be anywhere. 
Superman's going to x-ray Lex's building and see if he can find 
where he hid it."

"Good work, Lois. Keep me posted on this. If you can bring down 
Lex Luthor..." He caught himself, remembering her fondness of the 
philanthropist. "I'm sorry, Lois. I forgot you've been dating 
him. But anyway, if you can bring him down, I think you're going 
to be looking at that Pulitzer you've always wanted. You and Kent 
are the ones who can do this."

"You know about Lex?" Lois asked, the pain in her stomach 
worsening.

"I didn't get to be editor of the best newspaper in the world by 
choosing the newsroom donuts, Lois."

She didn't want to share a Pulitzer with Clark, but it would 
certainly be better than not getting one at all. This story was 
obviously going to be too big to be investigated and written all 
by herself, as much as she hated to admit that there was anything 
beyond her abilities. She knew if she got into trouble, Superman 
wouldn't be able to come and rescue her if there was Kryptonite 
around. But she could always depend on Clark. Even without 
superpowers, he was quite a smart guy and had gotten her out of 
trouble before, like Superman had said. Well, just a few times.

Perry looked squarely at Lois. "What's wrong with you, you look 
as white as a ghost."

"I've not been feeling too well."

"Lois, you go on home and get some rest."

"No, Perry, I'll be fine. I'm feeling better now," she lied, 
running her hand through her silky brown hair.

He noticed the diamond ring on her finger. "Lois, is there 
something you want to tell me?" he asked, and then nodded to her 
ring when she looked at him questioningly.

"Oh, no. This is a ring my mother gave me. I guess it was her 
mother's ring. I've just decided to start wearing it, you know, 
to try to keep certain people away from me."

"Oh," Perry answered, nodding slowly. "Um hum. Well, it's none of 
my business. Just let me know if anyone's harassing you and I'll 
see what I can do."

"Thanks, Perry, it's nobody at work! I just go out sometimes and 
don't want guys to get the wrong idea."

He nodded again, knowing full well she was lying through her 
teeth, "Well, that's good. So you're free to leave if you'd like, 
or if you'd rather, you can just rest on the couch for awhile. 
Just keep me posted on what you and Clark find. Where is that 
boy? He sure wrote a good piece of journalism this morning. Did 
you read it yet?"

"Yes, I did. It was really nice. I don't know where he is. I 
haven't seen him. I thought he came in a little while ago, but I 
guess he must have forgotten something."

Perry shook his head, "That boy's forgotten more stuff in the 
year I've known him than I've forgotten in my whole life. He 
really should take a time management seminar. That boy needs to 
use a planner."

Lois stood up and headed back to her desk, looking over at 
Clark's empty workstation. Where was he anyway?

Someone turned up the LNN news broadcast. Lois saw Superman 
standing beside a plane, talking to reporters. She sighed. What a 
life he leads. He goes from disaster to disaster, hardly taking 
time to breathe in-between.

Maybe Perry was right, maybe she should just go home. Lois left 
the newsroom and drove down Clinton Street, hoping to find Clark 
at his apartment. She wanted to talk to him about this look-alike 
case before she went home to rest and to get ready for her date 
with Superman at seven.

Clark probably wouldn't be there, but she'd pass his place on her 
way home, anyway, so she stopped by. Just as she was parking her 
car, she heard a whoosh of wind, and saw Superman drop from the 
sky into the alley beside Clark's apartment building.

She quickly pulled over and parked her car, heading into the 
empty alley to see her fiancé. She heard the balcony door of 
Clark's apartment close and turned back to head up the front 
steps of his building.

Superman landed on the balcony and stepped inside. He'd forgotten 
to bring the file Henderson had given him to the office where he 
and Lois could study it. He was just going to pick it up and go 
back to the Planet to write up his rescues of the day and his 
findings. He stepped to his desk where the file lay, when he 
heard a knock at the door. It was Lois. He exhaled. Was she here 
to see Clark or had she just seen Superman land? He spun into his 
business clothes and headed to the door, pushing his glasses up 
his nose and straightening his tie.

"Hi, Lois," he grinned.

"Hi, Clark!" she said as he moved out of the way, holding the 
door open for her. She trotted down the stairs past him, tossing 
her bag onto the overstuffed chair at the bottom and looking into 
his bedroom as she walked into his living room. "Where's 
Superman?"

"Superman?" Clark asked before realizing that he'd been seen 
landing in the alley. "Oh, he's in the bathroom. How'd you know 
he was here?"

"I saw him land out back." She was heading for the bathroom.

"What are you doing, Lois, give him some privacy. Sheesh!"

Lois turned back to face him, forgetting her pursuit of her 
fiancé. Her demeanor changed from determination to humility. 
"Clark," she began remorsefully, "Superman told me about Lex. I'm 
sorry I got so mad at you."

He grinned; glad she had finally started to listen to reason. 
"It's okay, Lois." He smiled and added, "Just don't let it happen 
again!"

"Oh, you!" she said, swatting his chest playfully." His smile 
widened. He felt like sweeping her into his arms, but he'd have 
to wait until he was in the suit again. This could certainly 
become habit forming.

He stepped over to his desk again, picked up the file folder, and 
headed to the door. "I've got to get back to work, are you 
driving?" He picked up her satchel and handed it to her, trying 
to get her to go up the stairs.

"Wait, I want to say 'hi' to Superman."

Clark sighed. "I'll wait for you at your car," he said, stepping 
out the door and flashing back in again as Superman before the 
door closed behind Clark. Superman came out of the bathroom 
smoothing back his hair.

"Hi, Lois, I heard you come in."

"Hi Superman, I saw you land and thought I'd just stop to see 
you."

They exchanged a few words. "You're not looking so well, are you 
all right?"

"It was all that you said about Lex. It really makes me sick to 
think of what he's like," 'and how close I came to marrying him,' 
she added silently.

"I'll be by for you at seven," Superman said, embracing her and 
dropping a kiss on her forehead.

"I have to get back out there. Metropolis needs me." He dipped to 
give her a kiss and headed out the window.

In a flash, he arrived next to Lois' car as Clark, before she 
left his apartment and came down the stairs.

"Clark, I'm done at work for the day. I just stopped by to see if 
you'd found out anything new. I've got to get ready for my date 
tonight."

Clark nodded, noting the early hour for her to be quitting for 
the day. "Are you okay, Lois?"

She shrugged. "I'm just tired. I was up late. So, where'd you go? 
Haven't seen you much in the last two days! We're supposed to be 
partners, you know!"

"I had some errands to do. I went by to see Henderson and pick up 
this file, but I left it here earlier. I just came in to get it."

"Oh. Why did Superman come over?"

"Didn't he tell you? He's going to be living with me. He said he 
was going to tell you that."

"Oh, he might have mentioned something about it to me. Anyway, 
are you going to tell me what's in the file?"

They opened the file on the hood of her jeep and looked over the 
information that Clark had gotten from the police about the 
massacre.

"Superman took them some frozen tire tracks. They've been trying 
to ID the tires. They also printed out the police checks on those 
guys at the scene for me," Clark explained.

Part 5

At his desk again, Clark quickly wrote up the story about the 
plane crash that Superman had supposedly told him about. He hoped 
that Lois wouldn't ask when he'd had time to talk to Superman. 
Superman had obviously just finished taking care of that rescue 
when he'd dropped into his apartment alley. Lois knew that Clark 
had not had time to talk to Superman before she arrived or before 
Clark left.

He sent the story to Perry, and then got up to get a cup of 
coffee. He made a few phone calls and checked his messages before 
he looked at his email. Satisfied that he'd sent in several good 
Superman stories today, he shut down his computer. It was 5 p.m. 
He had to hurry if he was going to be at Lois' apartment on time. 
He turned to the stairwell and left from the roof the way he 
always did, too fast to be seen by the naked eye. He must have 
landed at his apartment too slowly earlier, after all, Lois had 
seen him. Who else had seen him on other occasions? He'd have to 
be more careful about that.

Later in the day, Superman left the Daily Planet and headed to 
Luthor Towers to search for the Kryptonite from the sky. Pleased 
with his findings, he returned home to prepare for his date.

There wasn't a lot he had to do to get ready to meet Lois. It's 
not like he had a lot of choice when it came to what he was going 
to wear: red, yellow, and blue suit, or red, yellow and blue 
suit? He did shower though, and changed into a fresh Superman 
suit before he flew to Holland to buy Lois a bouquet of red 
tulips.

He was looking forward to developing a real relationship with her 
as Superman so that they'd actually be 'ready' to get married. 
She only knew a tiny bit about him as Superman. She had to be so 
solidly in love with him as Superman that when he finally told 
her Superman was Clark, she wouldn't walk out of his life 
forever. She'd said she was 'completely in love with him' last 
night, but she didn't really know what *completely* meant in his 
case.

He landed at the flower market in Amsterdam, selected and bought 
a bouquet of tulips, and wrapped it in his cape before he took 
off again. He wasn't fast enough, however. A photographer in the 
market caught him buying the flowers. He was sure he'd see that 
photo in the papers soon, with headlines that Superman must have 
a girlfriend.

Lois had some time before her date. She leaned back in the 
bathtub, surrounded by mounds of white bubbles. The tap was 
dripping as she reached one foot up to let the droplets fall on 
her big toe, slide down over her nail, and disappear into the 
fragrant bubbles. She picked up the bubble bath container from 
the side of the tub and read the label...Coconut-Mango.

She breathed deeply of the fragrance and let her shoulders slide 
under the water. The heat felt good on her sore body. She hadn't 
felt too well since Superman had told her about Lex.

She mentally re-enacted the look-alike case they'd been 
researching. She wondered what Superman had seen in Lex's 
penthouse. She idly searched it in her mind, wondering just where 
Lex would keep a piece of Kryptonite. Perhaps he'd put it in his 
safe. Was that lead lined?

Weren't most safes? She didn't know. Superman would.

What would Lex do to Superman? Would he really kill him? How 
could Lex be like that...evil and calculating? He seemed like 
such a wonderful man. He'd always been so loving and attentive 
towards her. She splashed some water on her face and closed her 
eyes, feeling it run over her chin and up into her hairline 
before it dripped into the water. She splashed her face again, 
enjoying the heat penetrating her skin.

She didn't want to think about Lex. She didn't want to have to 
face her most dangerous weakness *again*. Men! She could do most 
things very well. She'd achieved high honors, was even a leading 
public figure. Long ago, she'd stopped counting how many people 
she'd put away for their underhanded deeds. Superman was always 
out catching the crooks at crime scenes where there was some sort 
of known accident or something. If there was something invisible, 
or something he could hear, like an explosion, or cries for help, 
he could save those people.

But she'd saved so many other people in a different way. People 
had been scammed by crooks who hid under the cover of secrecy. 
She'd caught the bosses behind the crimes. Superman was out 
catching the dealers while she was out catching the growers, 
breaking up crime rings, bringing down the crime lords, dashing 
the black market to smithereens.

She tossed bubbles into the air and watched them spin as the 
overhead fan stirred the air in the bathroom. She might be 
terrible at picking men, but she was pretty good at catching 
them...and women, too. She remembered watching Colombo as a 
child. Now he was good. He'd been her investigative hero for 
years.

She threw up another handful of bubbles, wondering what it would 
be like to be a private investigator. She'd taken that handful 
from too deep in the tub, and water splashed back down, and 
slopped more bubbles into her face. She reached for the towel 
hanging within reach of the tub.

She craned her neck to see her watch on the chair near the 
bathtub. When she realized the time, she reluctantly abandoned 
her hot bath and got out of the tub. Soon she was searching her 
closet for an outfit that would go with Superman's red, yellow, 
and blue costume. She reached into the closet, pulled a soft 
yellow dress by the skirt and looked at it for a moment. He 
didn't have a lot of yellow on his suit. Maybe they would go well 
together. She pulled it out and stood with it in front of her as 
she faced the full length mirror. She tossed it to the bed and 
got out the hair dryer.

At 6:55, she stood in front of her mirror again, admiring her 
good taste. The yellow dress had a flared skirt and a fitted 
bodice with capped sleeves. It had a rounded neck with a high 
back. Her brown hair fell in place, just brushing her throat 
above the dress. She slipped her feet into a pair of matching 
yellow high heels and reached for a pair of dangling gold 
earrings. No. The diamond ones would be better. She'd just 
finished putting them on when she heard Superman land in the 
living room.

Lois stepped out of her bedroom and caught sight of Superman 
calmly standing just inside the window.

"Hi!" Lois said as she approached.

"Hi, Lois. Could you please give me the Kryptonite and I'll get 
rid of that before we go?"

"Oh! Of course!" She dashed back to the bedroom where she'd put 
the kryptonite lipstick in the lead box.

Superman received it with a smile. "I'll be right back!" he said 
and disappeared.

A moment later he returned with a dozen red tulips, looking much 
more relaxed. He reached out to hand them to her. "Wow, Lois. You 
look fantastic!" he said, hardly having enough breath to say the 
words.

She giggled as she took the flowers and looked into his loving, 
puppy dog brown eyes.

"You look pretty nice yourself!" she grinned. Superman always 
looked incredible, she thought as she noted his muscular body. 
She turned her attention to the bouquet and dipped her nose into 
them. "They're beautiful." She sighed blissfully and headed with 
them to the kitchen. "I'll just put them in a vase." He followed 
her over and reached for the vase in the cupboard above her head.

"Thanks, Superman."

Superman responded, kissing her cheek as she worked.

She cut the ends of the long stems off. "There," she said as she 
placed the water filled vase of flowers on the table. They're so 
lovely, and they're red!" she noted, knowing that red stood for 
love and romance. "Let me just get my jacket and I'll be ready to 
go." She handed the jacket to him.

Unable to keep his mind off her stunning beauty, he opened it up 
and spread it low across her back as she slipped her arms into 
the sleeves. When he pulled it up over her shoulders, his fingers 
rested on the side of her neck. He bent down to kiss where his 
fingers had touched. She turned around and blushed, then lifted 
her face to meet his lips. Her arms slid around his neck as his 
went around her back. "Lois," he murmured. "I love you so much." 
He nestled his cheek against her hair. "Umm, you smell good."

She smiled and nodded against his chest. "You're so wonderful. I 
just can't believe this is really happening!" She pulled her head 
away from him and looked up into his smiling eyes.

"Me, neither," he said, shaking his head slightly, and then 
bending down for another lingering kiss. Her lips felt warm 
beneath his own; so soft, so inviting. How long he'd wanted to be 
close to her, to have the freedom to kiss her. How easy it had 
been to propose to her as Superman. It was such a contrast to how 
he had to tiptoe around her as Clark all the time.

A few moments and words of endearment later, he scooped her up 
and lifted them off into the evening sky. The sun was nearing the 
horizon, illuminating the world in soft warm colors as they flew 
through the clear air. Lois' head rested against Superman's 
shoulder and his chin rested in her hair as they flew in the 
silent sky, their heartbeats both calm and rhythmic. "I thought 
we could go to a quiet restaurant on the beach in Mexico. I've 
always loved being around the Mexican people. The have such a 
loving presence."

"It sounds wonderful, Superman." Lois breathed deeply, she loved 
the feeling of flying, the feeling of being held by the only man 
she'd ever truly loved and who loved her in return. She felt 
safe, relaxed, and completely accepted. It was a wonderful 
feeling to be with this amazing man who had actually proposed to 
her. "You know, I named you Superman. What was your name before 
that?"

"Kal-El. I'm the son of Lara and Jor El of the house of El," he 
said, looking into her eyes, inches from his own.

"*Superman* seems so formal, so distant. May I call you Kal?"

He squeezed her shoulders, checking again where he was flying, 
"Yes, you can call me anything you want, as long as you call me!" 
His smile was beautiful.

She reached up to kiss his cheek, but he turned his face to 
receive it on the lips. She snuggled her head back into the crook 
of his arm and sighed. "This must be what heaven is like."

"I hope so."

They flew in silence again, just content to feel the nearness of 
one another.

"Did you get rid of the Kryptonite?" Lois asked after awhile.

"Yes."

"Where did you put it?"

"I took it to the bottom of the ocean and put a small mountain on 
it. That ought to keep it out of the way!"

She chuckled. "I thought you'd want to toss it into outer space!"

He nodded against her hair, "Um hum. I thought of that." They 
flew southward with the setting sun illuminating the earth from 
the west. Lois watched the clouds change color and the hue of the 
earth continually darken from yellow to dark brown.

After awhile he spoke again, "I found the Kryptonite. It's in 
Luthor's office in a locked desk drawer."

Lois sat up straight in his arms and looked into his face. "Do 
you think I can break in and get it?"

He readjusted his hold on her, smiled, and looked at her 
carefully. "Are you asking for Superman's blessing on stealing?"

"Well, yes."

"Why don't I just get a walkie talkie and hover above Luthor 
Towers and have Henderson go in with a warrant to seize it. I can 
keep my eye on it and let him know if anyone touches it before 
they arrive on the scene."

"But what if the police want to keep the rock for evidence?"

"I think I can persuade them that the chances of it being stolen 
and being used against me are harmful enough that they should 
just use a photo, or go ahead and show it to the judge before the 
trial. I think it needs to be at the bottom of the ocean with 
that other bit of it on your lipstick. I might need to show them 
that for evidence at the massacre site, actually."

Lois nodded. "Clark wanted it out of the way in case you ran into 
it somehow."

He nodded in response. "I talked about it with Henderson. He 
knows I have it." He smiled. "He wasn't too thrilled about you 
and Clark tampering with the evidence, but I told him it was the 
best thing to do at the time. We couldn't run the risk of other 
people finding out that it was there."

Lois nodded, "Um."

The stars were beginning to shine in the darkening sky as they 
left the mainland and crossed the Gulf of Mexico. Lois was amazed 
as they flew through a huge flock of white snow geese heading 
north.

"Wow, they're beautiful. I can hear their wings beating! I didn't 
know birds migrated at night! Have you ever flown with the 
birds?"

He nodded his head again as she looked into his eyes which were 
focused on the tiny specks of light in the distance. "Many times, 
Lois. Some birds roost at night, but a fair number migrate at 
night. It's not safe for some smaller birds since the owls are 
aware of them. The ones that migrate fly high enough that they're 
pretty safe from all but the raptors. Hawks, eagles, and falcons 
circle up on the thermals after them, though."

"Have you ever done that?"

"Circled on the thermals or chased small birds?" he answered 
teasingly.

She nudged him with her elbow. "Kal!" she chided him, enjoying 
the sound of his real name.

"When I was younger. I used to fly to some high mountain cliffs 
and wait for the rising hot air to lift me up. It's quite a nice 
experience. The birds use their wings to make them circle. I 
don't need to use wings or my arms; I just seem to be able to 
will myself to go wherever I want. I remember migrating with a 
flock once. I flew in a kettle of broad shouldered hawks. There 
were thousands of them around me. I just sailed along in the 
center of the group. It was really interesting to watch their 
reactions to me. At first they were scared of me, but after 
awhile they realized I wasn't going to hurt them."

Lois was watching his face in awe as he carried her in his arms.

"We can ride the thermals sometime if you want, though." He 
smiled at her and pulled her closer.

"That will be fun!"

As they flew, the sky slowly filled with stars. "They're so 
close," Lois whispered in awe. "And there are so many of them."

Clark looked overhead, and then rolled over in the air so they 
were facing the sky. Lois giggled, finding herself lying on her 
side curled up in Kal's arms. "Hey, I like this!" She wiggled 
against him cozily.

"Hey, cut that out!" he murmured huskily. He spun back over.

"Aww, I'll be good!" she moaned.

"Okay, but just stay still, okay?"

She smiled at him teasingly. "Okay."

He turned them over again and continued to fly, moving her off to 
the side of him where she lay on his arm, her leg alongside his. 
"There, that's better. I wanted to show you some stuff."

She sighed. "Always the gentleman."

He smiled at her and touched her nose with his finger. Then he 
looked skyward. "That's the Northern Cross," he said, pointing 
upward.

"Which one?"

"There," he outlined the constellation with a beam of red heat 
vision.

She turned and smiled at him. "You never cease to amaze me."

He smiled and continued, "That's the big dipper." He outlined 
another more familiar line of stars, "and that's Cassiopeia over 
there." He showed her the wide 'W', then paused. "That's the 
north star, Polaris above the cup of the big dipper at the end of 
the small dipper."

Lois followed the line of red light, slowly outlining the various 
constellations, trying to remember which stars had made up which 
ones. "How do you know all of this?"

He had been about to reply, 'hours of lying on the field in 
Kansas when I was young, or flying upside down over Kansas' 
before he caught himself. "I've been flying for a long time, 
Lois. I can get pretty high where the city lights don't obscure 
the stars at all."

Lois nodded. "I was never interested in the stars before. I 
wasn't able to see them, but even when I saw them through an 
observatory or something they still seemed pretty dull. Nothing 
ever changes up here."

Clark raised his eyebrows at her, remembering the fate of his 
home planet. "Some of the stars we're seeing aren't really 
there."

She'd heard that before. "The light takes so long to get to us 
that we'll still see them from Earth for centuries or millennia," 
she completed his thought.

He nodded. "I tried to fly to a star, once."

"And?" She looked at him incredulously.

"Nope. It was too far. I found out I can only hold my breath for 
twenty minutes. I knew enough to take an oxygen tank, just in 
case, but when the stars hadn't moved and I'd used up about a 
third of my oxygen, I decided I'd better head back."

"But what about the asteroid you stopped?"

"Nightfall?" At her nod he continued, "It wasn't that far away. 
It was just outside of our atmosphere. The stars weren't any 
closer then, either."

He gently turned them over to face the earth again. "Wow, it's so 
bright!" Lois realized aloud.

"That's where we're going, down there," Clark pointed at a small 
cluster of lights. He began their descent.

Lois started in surprise. "That's water down there! I thought 
that was just more black land. I can see the shore."

"You see that light beside the beach?" He pointed with a short 
thin ray of red light, making sure not to hit the restaurant.

"Careful!" Lois said, squeezing his hand around her shoulders as 
he carried her in his arms again.

"I know. It's a short beam. It won't touch them."

Lois let out a breath of air. "Don't scare me like that."

He raised his eyebrows at her. "You forget who you're talking 
to!" he chuckled. "I am a pretty careful guy, you could say."

She nudged him. "I know. I'm sorry. You'd never hurt anything." 
Then a moment later she asked, "What do you do about mosquitoes?"

"They don't hurt me, Lois. They can't bite my skin. Invulnerable, 
remember?" he shrugged slightly. "Comes with the body."

"Oh, you!" She elbowed him jokingly again.

"Okay, here we are. I'll land us in the darkness out behind the 
building. We'll have to drop down quickly. Hold onto your 
stomach!" he flashed her a grin. They had slowed down as they 
arrived over a large mass of lights. He flew to the edge of the 
illuminated area, and dropped quickly down onto the ground. He 
held Lois close, making sure Lois had regained her balance; he 
took her in his arms and kissed her properly, the kind of kiss 
that needed all his attention. Neither of them noticed the sound 
of a digital camera recording their affection for one another 
until it was over.

Kal looked up at an astonished man who was hurrying away 
clutching a camera close to his chest. He turned away just as Kal 
thought about zapping the picture.

He turned back to kiss Lois again. When they came up for air, Kal 
said, "I forgot, Lois. I was going to ask Clark for a change of 
clothes, and maybe pick up a fake beard so I could be seen 
publicly with you without the paparazzi having a heyday with us." 
He nodded at the man leaving the scene. "But it looks like we're 
too late!"

Lois thought it was a great idea for him to have a disguise. "Is 
there a shop around? I could go buy you some clothes and maybe a 
beard or something."

Clark looked pensive. "Yup. There's one over there." With that, 
they were airborne again. He landed them out of sight behind a 
row of shops that were still open. He told Lois his size and 
waited high overhead while she made a few purchases. When she 
headed back to the darkness where they would meet without being 
seen together, he was already waiting for her.

She looked around for somewhere he could change.

"It's okay, Lois. Nobody's around." He held the clothes she 
handed him and spun. A moment later, he stood before her, wearing 
a wig and a set of loose Mexican pants and a fancy shirt. He 
slipped the poncho she held over his head.

"Wow!" she said as he stopped spinning in front of her. "You sure 
move fast! And you don't look like Superman!" She grinned 
broadly. "This is so much fun! I had no idea you were such a 
character!"

"You ain't seen nuthin' yet, Senorita!" He grabbed her and dipped 
her backwards, planting a kiss on her mouth. She was still 
laughing when he brought her back up. "Ready for dinner?"

She nodded. "Just let me catch my breath, Kal!" She breathed 
deeply, playing with the design on the front of his woolen 
poncho.

He met her laughing eyes and pulled her close. A Mexican mariachi 
band was playing when they landed behind the restaurant. "Aye, 
aye, aye, aye, canta no llores..." The deep voices of the singers 
and the melody of the acoustic guitars resonated across the 
softly illuminated beach.

The couple emerged from the darkness to the front doors of the 
restaurant. Inside, bright tablecloths decorated the tables.

"Dos, senores?" A man in an embroidered shirt and black slacks 
greeted them. At Kal's request, the host led them out back to the 
beach. Little thatch-covered gazebos enclosed candle-lit tables. 
Thick banana plants and other tropical species formed walls which 
separated the booths from one another. One open side faced the 
beach and the lapping water beyond.

The booth had a round table in it with a circular high-backed 
bench. Banana leaves woven into thick cushions made the wooden 
bench soft and inviting.

"Tequila?" the waiter offered, bringing over a tray with two 
salted wine glasses.

"No, thank you," Lois and Clark both agreed.

"Do you have fresh fruit drinks?" Kal asked in Spanish.

As the waiter left, Kal settled in across from Lois, leaning back 
and looking at her.

"Your face is framed with those banana plants behind you, and the 
yellow of your dress is lovely against the green of the leaves," 
he said, his eyes giving away his deep love for her.

Lois blushed and turned slightly to look back at the foliage that 
surrounded them, her slightly curved brown hair swinging back 
into place as she stopped moving. A coconut palm rustled above 
the thatch of the roof. "This is so cozy and romantic, Kal," she 
said, smiling as she gazed deeply into his eyes. She leaned 
forward and touched his hand where it lay on the table.

"I like it when you call me Kal. I don't think anyone ever has," 
he said, taking her hand in his.

"But you said it's your name," Lois looked puzzled.

"Only on Krypton."

The waiter politely interrupted them as he arrived with their 
mango juice drinks. They withdrew their hands and waited until 
the waiter had given them menus and left.

"Lois, tell me about you. Where did you grow up?"

As the meal progressed, they discussed Lois' childhood, the 
things she'd loved to do in the summers when she'd visit with her 
Aunt, the games she'd played with her sister, and her fascination 
with investigative journalism among other things.

Part 6

"Lois," he began, not knowing if it was safe to tell her about 
his past, but sure that it was unfair to be romantically involved 
in a semi-one-sided relationship. He decided to let nature take 
its course and continued, "You asked me about my name and why no 
one had ever called me that before. There are things I can't tell 
you, about my secret, but I want to tell you all that I can. Will 
you be okay with getting this in dribbles, as I'm feeling safe 
about talking about it?"

"Well, it's frustrating and I don't like it, but I guess I have 
no choice." She shrugged and moved around the table to sit beside 
him.

He grinned. He knew her so well. He'd expected nothing different. 
He put his arm around her and took a deep breath. "I was born on 
Krypton. My parents, Lara and Jor El, loved me very much. They 
knew that the planet was about to blow up. I'm not sure how they 
knew, but they were quite scientifically advanced. They built a 
small space ship for their baby and found that Earth was a 
hospitable planet where I might be able to grow up and live. They 
were taking quite a chance, but they knew that I'd die with them 
if they did nothing. So they wrapped me in my blanket. It had the 
family crest on it, the 'S'. They closed me up in my little space 
ship with some of my toys and sent me off towards Earth.

"I landed on this planet and was found by a couple that couldn't 
have children, my parents. It was a good thing that the space 
ship made a huge streak in the sky, or I may have suffocated in 
there.

"I don't know how long I would have been able to live in there if 
no one had seen the ship arrive. It must not have taken very long 
for me to get here though, because I don't think I had any food 
on the way, and there were no traces of food in the ship with me. 
There wasn't even a baby bottle or anything. Who knows about 
being in a dirty diaper...I never asked my parents about that."

Lois was riveted by Kal's words as he spoke. "So, my parents 
raised me. I didn't have any powers as I grew up, but they slowly 
began to appear. I'd pick up the refrigerator or something." He 
smiled at her amazed expression, and squeezed her shoulders. "I 
couldn't fly until I was 18."

He took a deep breath, waiting to see how Lois was going to react 
to what he had just told her. He'd left out his alter ego's 
identity. She was a smart woman. He wasn't ready for her to 
figure out that he was the man she'd rejected in the park, her 
partner at work.

"So, you were raised on Earth. Where? What's your name, the one y 
you've gone by your whole life? That means you have a secret 
identity." She was feeling irritated. What was he saying? That he 
walked among the rest of humanity as one of them?

"Lois...please. I can't tell you that yet."

"Why not? Aren't we engaged? When are you planning to tell me?"

"Lois, could I just finish telling you what I started telling 
you? We had to keep my identity a secret. It would have been 
dangerous for my parents to reveal that I was from another 
planet. Actually they weren't sure where I was from and why I had 
powers. That was back in the 60's when the space program was 
quite a hot topic. They were sure that I'd be taken from them and 
that tests would be performed on me to see what an extra-
terrestrial was like. So they arranged for me to be adopted and 
they've raised me as their own. They sent me to school and taught 
me all they could about right and wrong.

"I used to help people at home. I can move very quickly, so I was 
able to go undetected for the most part, but I was always very 
careful."

Lois was mentally deciding that she'd do a search for all 
unexplained rescues since 1980.

"I traveled the world for a few years after I finished 
university. Then I decided to move to Metropolis, find a girl, 
marry and raise a family, if that would be possible. My mother 
made me my suit so that I could help people without having to 
reveal who I really was." He took a deep breath.

"I thought you were referring to your mother on Krypton when you 
told Amy that at the space shuttle! You made me believe you had 
just arrived on Earth when I met you," she accused him.

"I couldn't tell people otherwise, Lois. My parents would be in 
danger. They are my vulnerability. You are, too. I'd do anything 
so they wouldn't be hurt."

Lois furrowed her brow, trying to come to grips with the fact 
that this information had been purposely withheld from her when 
she'd interviewed him. She tried to see things from his point of 
view, as hard as that was. "You really love them, don't you," 
Lois finally said, squeezing his leg. It irritated the heck out 
of her that she'd not been in on the secret.

They sat quietly for awhile. Kal was hoping that she'd figure out 
why he had done it. It was better to let her diffuse her anger 
before going on. One thing about Lois Lane that he'd come to know 
was that she needed time to mentally sort through things before 
moving on.

Dessert came and went before she spoke again. Finally she said, 
"It must have been hard for you to have two identities. Were you 
afraid that people would discover who you were?"

"I still do have two identities. I hate lying to you, Lois. It's 
so awful. I have an apartment. I have a job, a career, a life in 
my other identity. Can you imagine how hard it is to hold down a 
job when I have to dash off and rescue people all the time? Not 
every boss will let you just disappear without an explanation 
several times a day."

"What do you tell him? Your boss, I mean."

"I make up excuses. I'm not very good at it. I should sit down 
and think up a better way of dealing with it than I do." He 
looked off into the wall of banana plants across the table, 
watching the candle light flicker on the greenery. "But, Lois," 
he paused and sighed, "can you understand why I can't tell you 
about my other identity? It's always been a heavily guarded 
secret. If it got out, I'd have to leave Metropolis, I'm sure. My 
whole ability to even exist as a semi-normal man depends on my 
identity being a secret."

Lois listened, mesmerized by his fascinating story. Why hadn't it 
occurred to her that he'd have another identity? "Has anyone ever 
come near to discovering your secret identity?"

"Well, before I had the suits, people would discover that I could 
do amazing things. I always had to leave and start over somewhere 
new." He sighed deeply again. "I know that having met you means 
that I'll have to tell you everything one day, before we get 
married." He paused, sighed and added, "But I'm scared. Terrified 
actually."

She furrowed her brow. "You're scared of me? But you...you're 
Superman!"

He pursed his lips. "Every cell in my body revolts against 
revealing this secret. Can you understand that? My father always 
told me I'd be taken away, locked up in a lab, and dissected like 
a frog. I've been terrified all my life of that happening. I have 
always avoided hospitals, at least if I'm the patient."

"But...as Superman...nobody could really do that, dissect you!"

"Have you ever had fears that are so difficult to deal with that 
thinking about it just shuts you down?"

She nodded. "Men. Rejection. Being used by men and then 
rejected."

He squeezed her shoulder and bent down to place a gentle kiss on 
her lips. "It's hard isn't it?"

She nodded. "I've built a wall around my heart to keep men out. 
You're the first man I've allowed in for a long time. I haven't 
even let Clark in, and he's been my best friend. Even now, I'm 
still terrified that you'll betray me and leave me with the whole 
world laughing at my back." Tears swam in her eyes.

"Oh, Lois, how terrible. I can't imagine what you've been 
through. I can't imagine being afraid to love. Do you think I'll 
betray you, too?"

"Well, not intellectually, but emotionally. I just can't help 
it." Hot tears ran down her cheeks.

He cupped her face, turned it toward him, wiped them away with 
his thumb and moaned, "It rips at the very core of me when you 
cry." He looked into her clear, brown eyes. He felt he could see 
right into her soul. "It's the same for me. Intellectually I know 
I can tell you my secret, well, I think I can. But emotionally I 
have so many layers of walls to protect myself, that actually 
telling you is impossible. There's no way my tongue would form 
the words. There's no way it would slip out." He smiled 
lopsidedly. "I guess we're very much alike then. I think it's 
more than trust. Because I know I can trust you, I just can't get 
beyond what's deep inside me. Do you understand?"

She nodded, wiping her tears with the back of her hand. But she 
still wondered who his secret identity might be. It was hard for 
her not to push for more answers. After all, she was an 
investigative reporter, trained to ask questions and uncover 
secrets. But he had asked her to trust him, and she would. He 
would tell her, eventually. This one time she had to be patient. 
It would be hard, but it would be worth it.

They sat in silence for a while, each pondering the walls they 
hid behind.

Finally, Lois spoke. "I've let you in, though. I can't imagine 
how I did it, but I do feel very safe with you. It's more than 
just your powers, it's your personality. You care so much for me. 
Nobody in my whole life has ever cared for me as you do."

He nodded. "I could never leave you, Lois. Never. I think we're 
soul-mates."

She nodded back, resting her head on his shoulder again and 
thinking about their conversation.

"When we get married, whenever that will be, I want to get 
married in my secret identity. I can be with you then, all of me. 
But if I'm only married to you as Superman, we could never be 
seen together in my normal identity. People would think you're 
having an affair with my secret identity if I married you as 
Superman. Plus it would put your life at great risk if Superman 
were to have a family."

She smiled and nodded. "That makes sense. So do you go off to 
work every day?"

"Um hum."

"Do you like your job?"

"Very much."

"Do people suspect anything?"

"I don't think so. My boss once caught me when I was about to 
change into my suit and fly out the window. He was mystified why 
I was sitting in the storage closet when I'd told him I was about 
to make a phone call. I'm sure he thought I was crazy." He 
laughed. Lois joined in, squeezing his hand.

"What did you do?"

"I told him I'd be out in a minute and, eventually, he left and I 
flew out the window." He chuckled as he remembered it. "I've been 
doing this for so long that it's second nature to cover up my 
powers."

"It must be." She nodded thoughtfully. Curiosity getting the 
better of her, she continued, "You know, it's really hard for me 
as an investigative reporter to not immediately go search the 
databases for all the unexplained rescues in the world and launch 
a full scale search into who your other identity is."

He nodded. "I know, and you could find out in minutes if you 
tried. Well, I think you could. You're very good at what you do. 
But please..." His eyes were pleading with her to be patient.

"No, I won't," she sighed and said honestly as she squeezed his 
hand reassuringly. "I've gone this long without knowing. I'm 
amazed I hadn't thought of it earlier. "But I'm sure that if I 
bump into you and find your other self is quite like this one, 
I'm bound to start thinking. Secrets and surprises aren't my 
forte. I don't handle them well."

Kal smiled, genuinely pleased and somewhat relieved. "I feel good 
that I've told you this much. Are you mad?"

She shrugged. "Well, sort of, but not really. I'll think about it 
for awhile and then I won't be mad."

He squeezed her again and tipped her head up so he could kiss 
her. They cuddled for a few minutes, before he said, "I told my 
parents we'd gotten engaged. They were worried about my secret. 
My mom thinks I should just tell you, but my dad isn't so sure. 
None of us have ever unlocked this Pandora's Box. Not even a tiny 
bit."

The musicians had migrated over to their booth and were 
serenading nearby. Lois looked out toward the ocean, watching the 
waves break almost in time with the music, the white caps in the 
distance appearing and disappearing.

"Why is it so light over the ocean?" Lois asked suddenly.

Kal pointed to the spotlights on the top of the main building 
behind the musicians. "It's nice, isn't it? I wondered about that 
myself when I first noticed it." He held her as she leaned back 
against him, watching the waves breaking.

Kal dipped his head down and leaned his cheek on her hair and 
murmured, "Thank you for letting me tell you my secret in 
dribbles, Lois."

She turned to look at him and he cupped her cheek with his hand 
and brought his mouth down to hers again.

Her hand slid up around his shoulders as she felt the warmth of 
his lips against hers and returned the kiss. Oblivious to the 
music, they kissed then held one another close.

Simultaneously, they both whispered.

"I love you, Lois."

"I love you, Kal."

Some time later, they flew back to Metropolis. Kal held her close 
to him, feeling the warmth of her body against his. He was 
content. She leaned her head against his chest. All was right 
with his world.

They snuggled and chatted as they flew, getting to know each 
other better. Kal already knew all about Lois, but was anxious 
for her to know as much about him as he dared tell her without 
giving away that he was Clark Kent. They discussed some of the 
places they'd both visited, Lois on assignment, and Kal on his 
travels. They found they'd both been to the same places in the 
Congo and had a good discussion about the culture of the people 
they'd met. It had been quite fascinating for each of them, as 
they had both been involved in very different spheres. Kal had 
been back repeatedly since then as Superman.

As they landed in Lois' living room, neither of them wanted to 
separate for the rest of the night.

"Do you have the day off tomorrow?" Kal asked.

"Uh, yes, I do!" Lois responded, wondering what Kal was thinking.

"Would you like to spend the day with me?"

Her face glowed as her smile broadened. "Yes! Of course! I'd love 
it!"

"Okay!" Kal was as pleased as she sounded. "I want to take you 
somewhere. Shall I come for you in the morning?"

"Okay! First thing?"

"Yeah," Kal said as he kissed her again, then stepped away back 
from his sweetheart. We'll have a great day together! Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Kal. I love you so much!"

He smiled again, that puppy dog look in his eyes. "I love you, 
too. Goodnight."

With that, he flew out the window and soon landed on the balcony 
of 344 Clinton Street, his red cape falling in behind him as he 
walked through the door.

Part 7

It was bright and early when Kal tapped on Lois' living room 
window, then pushed it gently open and stepped into her living 
room. He looked through her walls and saw her fast asleep in bed. 
He stepped forward and knocked softly on her bedroom door. "Lois, 
wake up sleepy head!"

He heard a soft moan from Lois with his superhearing. "Time to 
wake up. We've got a big day!" He knocked again and then opened 
the door. "I'm coming in to wake you up," he warned her as he 
approached and knelt beside her bed. Her eyes flickered open as 
he lowered his lips to meet hers. Her arms slowly awakened then 
slid around his back as she responded warmly to his kiss.

"I'll go make coffee for you! We're going out for breakfast!" Kal 
whispered against her ear.

Kal stood in the kitchen preparing coffee, hearing the water 
running in the shower. Soon Lois came out and he offered her a 
mug. He put his arms around his sweetheart and nestled his face 
into her hair. She leaned against him with her arms around his 
waist, feeling the comforting warmth of his love and his 
presence. "You are so good, Kal," she mumbled as he held her.

"Umm," he responded in gratitude. He smelled the shampoo in her 
hair and rubbed his cheek gently up and down on its softness.

She leaned her head back, looked up into his eyes, and smiled, 
her whole face radiating at him.

He smiled back and drew her close again. They stood that way for 
awhile. Then she spoke. "There are so many things that I'm 
learning about you. You deal with so much death and destruction. 
I'd never realized how much it affects you. It's so far beyond me 
what you do in the course of a day."

He squeezed her. "Thanks for listening to me last night." He 
sighed, remembering yet another disaster last night after they'd 
gotten home from Mexico. He'd come over afterwards and poured his 
heart out to Lois who had comforted him better than his arctic 
plunge had. Looking up at the ceiling, then back at her with a 
smile, he began, "What do you say we have some fun today? I think 
I could use a bit of fun."

Lois smiled at him, wondering just what his idea of fun was, now 
that she had started to get to know the real Superman. "Sure!"

"Okay, how about we go on a tour?"

She raised her eyebrows in curiosity, "Okay. A tour of what?"

"May I take you on a tour of my world?"

"Oh yes!"

"Okay, here's the plan. You'll need to bring a bathing suit and a 
jacket. Do you have any snorkeling gear?"

"Yes," she responded, enjoying his smile and his good mood, 
curious what he had planned. This was certainly not the distant 
man she'd come to know as Superman before. There was so much more 
about him than she'd ever imagined. She headed to her bedroom 
closet to find the things she'd need.

After a few moments, she returned from packing her things to 
stand sideways in front of him, put an arm around his neck and 
raised a knee for his hand, "Up, up and away?"

He scooped her up, a grin covering his face. When they were above 
Metropolis, he caught her lips in a tender kiss, which she 
happily returned. He put his head back up to watch where he was 
going. He swerved to head southward.

Lois caressed the back of his neck idly with her hand, leaning 
her head against his shoulder as he carried her through the air. 
In a few minutes, the city buildings had given way to the hills 
of the Appalachians and then the cotton fields of the south.

"Wow, they're so beautiful from here!" Lois cooed. "It was dark 
when we flew over here last night."

"We were more to the west than this. But here, I'll drop down 
further so you can see them better," Kal said, descending toward 
the earth. The haze-covered Smoky Mountains gave a faraway 
feeling. The sun was dotting the tops of the mountains, lighting 
up the thick forest.

"Nice," Lois sighed, and snuggled deeper into Kal's neck. "Hey, 
why don't we have turbulence when we fly together?"

He grinned and raised his eyebrows. "Turbulence, Lois?"

"Well, yeah! Airplanes get bounced all around in the wind."

"They only have a few engines to power them. We have Superman!"

She nodded and chuckled, "Yeah, that makes a lot of difference. 
Like a rocket versus a bird!"

He laughed, "Yes, you could say that."

They watched the mountains move beneath them for awhile. "Okay, 
time to go," he said, increasing his speed again and rising a bit 
higher. "We still haven't had breakfast! We don't want to be out 
here all day!"

"Who says?" Lois protested in jest.

They passed the sandy flatland of Florida and then shot out 
across the Caribbean over Cuba and onward toward the mountainous 
island of Jamaica. They landed on a secluded warm beach. He 
grinned and met her smiling brown eyes as her silky brown hair 
fell into place.

"Do you like it?" he asked, awaiting her reaction.

"Kal, you're amazing. I'm so lucky. I saved up some money to go 
to far away places like th