This all happens just after "TOP COPY", before Lois knows about Clark's secret and before their relationship has progressed. It assumes everything that happened before "TOP COPY" however. Although I did not originally intend to, I've used some of the lines >from all seasons. I think the bar scene has a couple of lines from a fanfic but I'm not sure which one. I hope the author doesn't mind too much that I've used them. This is my first fanfic (or fiction of any sort) and is my way of saying thanks to all those fanfic writers whose stories I've enjoyed. All the usual disclaimers apply about DC and Warner Bros. Debby Stark has given me enormous help (and too much of her precious time) by proofing and editing the first draft, and by making many suggestions, most of which I've used. note: words inside < > indicate thoughts; words inside * * indicate emphasis RECOGNITION (TRUTH) By Ccmalo@aol.com Rated PG Submitted January 27, 1998 "What do you suppose they're planning to do out there? I can't believe they've bought the Lemieux place to farm it. The land's rocky, with thin soil, and about a third of it slopes down from the ridge. The only thing it's got is a good view of the woods." Jane Malenkov and her old and good friend, Allison James, were walking briskly along the main street of Legatteville. Jane laughed. "Allie, don't be so suspicious! You're letting that 'paper' of yours shape your attitude. They're a nice young couple, and if they don't know everything yet, they'll find out. It takes time to forget the city." They walked through the doorway of an old two-story brick building and into the small dark foyer of a comfortably shabby restaurant. "Now tell me what your niece has been doing. You must be looking forward to seeing her again after all these years." * * * Clark Kent spun out of the 'suit' in the dingy alley behind his apartment building and emerged into the neon luminescence of Clinton Street. In a few minutes he was in front of the double grey door that led into his apartment. Slowly he let himself in, the loneliness of the day returning as he walked down the few steps into his living room. He smiled slightly, recognizing the source of his feelings, remembering the last twenty-four hours. He missed her. They had met outside the heavy bronze doors of the front entrance to the 'Planet' after he had delivered Diana Stride to the FBI. It had been late and Lois had been on her way home, when he told her that he had got them 'the exclusive.' Turning, she had smiled crookedly, and said, "You're some partner." "Is that all I am, Lois?" "I don't know." And she had looked at him, searching his face. And then he had made it easier for them; suggesting they finish the chess game that they had begun a few days earlier, before the whole Diana StrIde thing had exploded. Smiling, she had taken his arm and they had entered the Planet, riding up to the seventh floor in companionable silence and then finishing their game. He had won, and surprisingly she hadn't seemed to mind. Looking up at him, she had smiled and said softly, "You win, Clark Kent." For a moment, he had stopped breathing as his eyes met hers. Then she had giggled. "This time, Kent! Come on, I'll drive you home but you can start thinking about a rematch when I get back from Minnesota." The next morning he had gone to the train station, hoping to see her before she left. Catching sight of her, he called her name and she turned, a huge smile covering her face. "Clark!" She hugged him. "I wasn't expecting this, to see you. I'm glad you came." She stepped back from him, but kept one hand tentatively on his chest as she took a deep breath and then looked at him directly. " Clark, about the date thing." "Yes?" "I was thinking. Next Saturday when I get back... dinner? You decide where." "Yes!" He felt incredible. Quickly, she kissed the corner of his mouth and then turned and strode off to catch her train. He had watched her go, a ridiculous grin on his face. *** The landscape passed by in a blur, a result of her inattention rather than the hypnotic speed of the train. Looking out the dull glass of the large window, Lois Lane saw the events of the last two days, not the brown-green of late winter fields. So much had happened. She was relieved right now that the train was taking her away from it all, giving her time to sort through her conflicting emotions. Really, she was not sure she wanted this. She had felt safe, retreating into the security of her work: she loved it; she believed it could be important; she knew it had become her passion. And she knew that it always would be. But there were different passions, and right now that was her problem. To be blunt, she admitted to herself, her problem was her partner. To her surprise, she had fallen in love with him, really in love with him, and she disapproved. It violated 'the rules' she had set for herself five years earlier, after her first year at 'the Planet.' She liked being in control: of her work, of her emotions, of herself. Any emotional entanglement she had previously experienced had proven to be a federal disaster, she thought wryly. Even her father had proven unreliable: rarely there, and critical when he was there. Her mind catalogued her past relationships: the groping inadequacies of her first "love", a second-year college football player who had quickly spread exaggerated reports of their few encounters to his teammates and, then, in her senior year, the editor of the college newspaper who had also been sleeping with her friend, Linda King. Apprentice intellectuals had proven no more sensitive than quarterbacks, and finally Claude, a sexily charming Frenchman who had been working at the 'Planet' when she had first started there, fresh from her internship at the 'Washington Post.' Then he had stolen her story, her research, her work, and had won a Pulitzer. Then Lex. At least she had not gone to bed with him. He was the first man who had asked her to marry him and after years of dedicated work at the Planet, she had thought maybe it was time to marry. That she was not in love with him had been part of her consideration. This time, she was in control and that had pleased her, but, to be honest, she had been attracted, drawn by his power, and charmed by his sophistication. And he had cared for her, been in love with her, when the man she had thought she was in love with had been remote, had told her that there was no hope for them. , she sighed , < What are you going to do now? Maybe a week away will help you get a grip, get things in perspective, get him in perspective, figure out how to get back to being totally absorbed by your work, get back to normal.> *** Lois got off the train at Legatteville, a small town in the woods of Minnesota where patches of sugar snow still pooled over the pale vegetation of late winter. Her eyes lit up with pleasure when she saw the slim, dark haired figure of her aunt waiting for her on the grey concrete platform . She waved, "Aunt Allie!" The two women hugged affectionately, and Lois felt briefly as though, in a way, she had come home. As they walked towards her aunt's small car, chatting about her trip, Lois noticed the freshness of the air, with its hint of coming spring and she felt herself relax. It would be good to be away from Metropolis for a week. After dinner that night she sat with her aunt and uncle in front of the fire in the comfortable living room of their old log cabin. It had been in her uncle's family since the 1920's, a large structure built of dark logs with high ceilings and a porch that ran along two sides. She had come with her family as a child and this place and these people had been a temporary refuge from her parents' raging battles. Allison James was her father's sister and, after her parents' marriage had exploded, Lois and Lucy had come alone as Sam Lane drifted even further from his family and Ellen had retreated for a few years into alcoholic isolation. Lois smiled as she realized that the only other place where she had felt like this was when she had been at the Kent's farm in Kansas --- or for that matter whenever she had been at Clark's place. < Not good> she thought. Their conversation moved away from family updates about which cousins were doing what and moved toward her life ( which meant her work ) in Metropolis. Lois told them about the story on the growing number of homeless in Metropolis which she had just finished for this Sunday's edition and avoided mentioning the Diana Stride story which had been in this morning's paper. she thought. And 'news' that had got her tangled up in those feelings about Clark that she didn't want to think about. Her uncle, however, could not to be trusted to stick to her script. "Read your Diana Stride article. Amazing story. Can't believe she was using ABC as a cover for criminal activities for the last five years. Executives at that network must be pretty dim." He looked at her thoughtfully for a moment. "You know, Lois, I remember you said you like to work alone but I've read the articles that you write with your partner and I can't tell what's yours and what's his. They appear pretty seamless. How do you do it?" "Oh...well... practice... you know... We both do a lot of stuff on our own too." "Like the homeless story." "Well no, not that one. Others." Allie knew evasive action when she saw it. She smiled. "What's he like, Lois?" "Clark?... Tall, sort of... not as experienced as me ...small town..." "He won a Kerth last fall, didn't he?" As the editor, chief reporter, and bookkeeper for the 'Legatteville Link,' Allie kept up on what was going on in the 'business,' particularly where it was connected with her niece's paper. "Yes." Lois smiled as she recognized her Aunt's trap and shifted their talk to her aunt's paper and listened with genuine interest as she talked about running a small town newspaper and then about the article she was researching on old farms in the area. Most of these farms had been marginal, set up almost a century ago to meet the needs of the mining companies that had operated in the area at that time and then had been abandoned or operated at a subsistence level once the mines had shut down. Then she started to talk about the old Lemieux place and her interest in the young couple who were going to work it. "Mohair goats or something. I ask you." "Why don't you interview them?" Lois suggested. "It would give you a chance to find out more about the place for your article." "And get the inside story on goat herding," her uncle Dave said dryly. * * * Lois passed the next three days happily puttering around Legatteville, becoming reacquainted with some of the places and a few of the people she had known when she was younger, but she was getting restless; she was afterall a big city girl. So on Wednesday morning she wandered down the town's main street and into her aunt's office, only to catch that energetic lady on her way out the door. "Come with me. I'm going to interview the goatfarmers. You'll get to see a * real* reporter in action!" Soon they were driving through the countryside, its flat fields broken occasionally by stands of bare-branched trees and hard planes of rock angled into the grey and beige landscape of late winter. Allie looked sideways at her niece. "Missing Metropolis?" Lois grinned. It had always been difficult to hide things from her aunt, more than anyone else in her family. Even with their infrequent contact over the last few years, it was still difficult. "Not really." Not exactly the truth. "The Daily Planet? Don't lose yourself in your job, Lois." "No, I haven't. Not really. The 'Planet' can function without me." She actually didn't believe this. She looked out the window, not seeing the passing fields. Instead, she saw the productive chaos of the newsroom, and she saw Clark standing against the edge of his desk, his face mock serious, as he teased her about some detail over which she was currently obsessing. She banished the thought. They drove around a bend in the road and approached the hill leading to the ridge where Allie said the farm was located. Then they turned into the gravel drive leading up to a small frame farmhouse, its unpainted siding weathered a silver grey. The place looked bleak, somehow uninhabited. The front porch was unwelcoming, lacking even the clutter that often accumulates as the householder copes with the uncertain weather of late winter. The front door was opened by a tall, slim man in his early thirties, neatly dressed, a dark flannel shirt tucked into faded jeans. His bland good looks suggested an accountant or a poet rather than a farmer. His polite smile did not reach as far as his eyes and his voice lacked inflection as he invited them into the small front room where he introduced them to his wife, an attractive redheaded woman. She seemed more interested in her visitors than her husband had been. She offered them coffee, and then they settled in the sparsely furnished room to do the interview. Lois listened with considerable restraint, not invading her aunt's territory as she chatted with the Andersons about their plans for the farm. They were still in the process of fixing up the place, no goats yet-- the first pair were to arrive next month, yes they had worked in Minneapolis for several years, no children, they had not been married long, Legattville was a nice town. . . As Lois listened she began to share her aunt's suspicion that something did not fit. They were far too urban, lacking any detectable enthusiasm for this 'return to the land.' They didn't really say very much; it was all so general, so rehearsed, she thought. She was uncomfortably reminded of a couple of times when she had gone undercover for a story. And why didn't she quite believe that they were newly married or married at all for that matter? she thought wryly. Still she hadn't sensed that connection between the two that she thought would be there in a newly married couple, that physical awareness of each other . As they were driving away afterwards, Allie turned to her niece. "So, what did you think?" "I'd like to see how you write that one up. It was hard for me to see a 'human interest' angle in it.' What they said seemed too pat, too predictable, and he seemed very reserved." "So you think I'm right, that this is not quite what it seems?" "Perhaps, but Allie, you can't print that. You don't have any evidence. You know you can't just go with your gut instinct." She couldn't believe she was saying that. She sounded like her editor, Perry White. "Why are you suspicious of them?" "You sound like Dave. I know they've only been here a month and maybe I'm reacting more to this sense I have that they're not interested in farming, but in something else. Lois, I do know small towns are different from big cities; after all I lived in one for most of my life. I know city people are less open; but these two seem evasive when you talk to them, and why this particular farm?" "What do you mean? It looks pretty normal, just run down." "That's the point. There are two others about the same size for sale on better land and with houses in less need of repair. You know, I've always felt there was something a little sinister about that place." A small smile flitted across Allie's face. "Well, maybe I'm just reacting to that old impression. Jane mentioned once that, when they were kids, they used to come out here a lot and that there were all sorts of stories about odd things happening." Lois raised her eyebrows. "I don't know Aunt Allie, from what I've heard, most of what happened in the fifties was a little odd--- take Elvis Presley, for instance." Allie laughed. "You think I'm imagining it then?" "I don't know, Allie," Lois replied. "I had that same feeling, that they were evasive. * * * Lois phoned Clark that night, though she wasn't sure why. She had tried to talk herself out of making the call, reminding herself that she was trying to put some distance between them, and her feelings for him. But she had found herself randomly thinking about him over the last few days, wondering how he would react to the town, if he would like her aunt and uncle, what he would think of her aunt's paper, if it would seem familiar to him. < I'm probably reacting this way because he's from a small town too > she thought. Anyway, she made the call. "Can't take the hectic pace of being on vacation, Lois?" he teased when she told him about tagging along with Allie that afternoon. "I knew you couldn't do it." He slouched back comfortably into the cushions of his sofa as he talked to her. "Ha-ha. Anyway, Clark, there are all sorts of odd rumours connected to the place the Andersons have bought. " "For instance?" "Well, the place was abandoned briefly in the '50's. Clark, they say it was because of alien landings in the early 1950's! After that it was apparently used by teenagers at times as a place to hang out, go with your boyfriend, and, well . . . you can imagine the rest. Some very wild times according to Allie who heard about them from her friend Jane. According to another one of Allie's friends one of the girls who was a regular apparently went missing and the rumour was that she had been murdered, but her body was never found. Then in the 1960's the place was bought and run, not too successfully, by a hippie commune. They left in the early 1970's and the place was later bought by a Vietnam veteran. I remember that because he was still living there when Lucy and I came in the summers. He was a recluse, they say haunted by what he had seen in the war." "Lois it's a great human interest story, but you're going off on a tangent if you think there's anything else there. There are rumours like that in every small town." "Oh yeah, farmboy. Is that your Smallville experience talking? Did you use to party at abandoned farmhouses? Somehow I can't see that. Or were you the alien?" He felt his heart pound and he held his breath for a moment. < Lois, I should tell you....> "Clark?" "Funny, Lois." He steered the conversation in a safer direction. "So how are your aunt and uncle? What's it like being back there after all these years?" He could hear the pleasure in her voice as she responded. "I'm enjoying it, Clark. It's been great being with them again. They are so...o sane. I know you'll like them when you meet them." Clark paused for a moment as he realized the implications of her comment and then he said softly, "I'll look forward to it Lois.... Oh, by the way, what time does your train arrive on Saturday? I thought we could go to dinner at Angelina's." "Angelina's sounds great. I hear they have incredible chocolate desserts there. I get in at five so we should have lots of time." "I'll meet you at the station." He paused and took a risk. "I miss you, Lois." "I miss you too, Clark. G' night." "Good night, Lois." Smiling, he put down the phone. * * * The dining room of the old, ( and only) hotel in Legatteville was unusually busy for a Thursday afternoon. In the far corner, Lois and her aunt were sitting with Jane Malenkov whom they had met for lunch. Most of the tables were occupied and the waitresses were moving a little faster than usual through the cheerful buzz of Legatteville's more prosperous citizens. Sunlight shone through the large windows, onto the dark panelling of the walls, bathing the room in a soft mellowness. The buzz subsided suddenly and Lois looked up, surprised to see the tall, confident figure of Tony Gates, the senior Senator for New Troy, enter the dining room, accompanied by the Mayor and two of Legatteville's more prominent businessmen. Then she remembered that his family had originally come from this area, his grandfather having made a fortune from the local mines before they closed down. That original fortune had been parlayed into other investments, particularly during the Second World War, so that the family had become incredibly wealthy. Now the Senator was purportedly testing the waters for a Presidential bid. Lois watched thoughtfully as the Senator stopped briefly at some of the tables to chat to people he knew. Invariably, their faces lit with pleasure at the momentary attention they were receiving from the charismatic and popular politician. Then he caught sight of the table where she was sitting with her aunt and Jane Malenkov. He walked towards them, smiling. "Jane! I haven't seen you for years. You haven't changed at all. Still the prettiest girl in town." Jane blushed. She was an attractive woman in her late fifties, but she was also an intelligent one. Lois wondered if Jane felt flattered or skeptical about the extravagance of his comment. "Tony," Jane said, a reserve in her voice that gave Lois her answer. "I don't know whether you've met Allison James and her niece, Lois Lane." Flashing white teeth, he reached out a bronzed hand and took Allison's hand. "Yes. We met, I think, at a fund-raiser a few years ago. Mrs. James , how are you? Are you still running the local newspaper? And Ms.Lane, it's good to see you again. Are you here on business or just visiting? When we last met a year ago, I had no idea that you had ties to Legatteville." This time it was Lois's turn to look a trifle chagrined as she remembered that last 'meeting' had been a small dinner party at Lex's, just after they had become engaged. She was still appalled at how easily she had been taken in by Lex, seeing only what she had wanted to see in him, not recognizing the truth. However, she quickly composed herself, and said pleasantly, "I imagine you had more important things on your mind that evening, Senator. Are *you* here on business or is this a family visit?" "Now, Ms. Lane," he laughed lightly, "is this off the record or..." he let his voice trail off as he was interrupted by an attractive blonde woman in her late thirties who managed to convey both competence and an understated sexuality . The Senator had a reputation for 'appreciating' such skills. After a brief word with her, he turned to say good-bye to them and then accompanied his associates into a smaller room on the south side of the large room. After he had left, the dining room seemed to relax back into its "pre-celebrity" conviviality. Jane arched her eyebrow expressively and said quietly, "I don't think he has my vote." "Why not, Jane?" Lois asked. "I know he has a reputation with women but his record in Congress has been solid." The arrival of their lunch stopped her from asking Jane more about her opinions of the Senator and their talk flowed to different things. * * * As it turned out it was the goat farmers who found the body, or at least the remains of the body. They had been using a metal detector on the land towards the bottom of the ridge on which their house was situated when the detector's sensor had alerted them to something beneath the ground. When Lois, Jane, and Allie returned to the 'Legatteville Link' after lunch, they heard about the discovery from Charlotte Ibbitson who ran the bakery next door to the 'Link.' They promptly headed out to the site where they found the police already at work. Pulling her jacket tightly against the cold wind, Lois forgot about protocol and went into reporter mode, an instinctive response. "Any idea who he is?" The police officer on duty looked at her coldly and then noticed her companions. Allie spoke up, "My niece, Lois Lane, Frankie. She can't help it. She works for the 'Daily Planet' in Metroplolis." He unbent somewhat, more out of regard for the two older women with her than for Lois's credentials. "Don't know much yet, but it looks like it was a woman, not a man. I'm not sure, but I think she may have been pregnant at the time of death. Look at the small cluster of bones in the area where the womb would have been." Silently, the women walked closer to where two police officers were carefully brushing dirt away from bones still partly covered in bits of faded red fabric. Matted black hair spread around the hollow eyed skull with its high cheek bones. One of the men who had been crouched by the remains stood up. "It looks like the skull has been fractured." His changed position gave them all a better view of the body. Jane stepped back, a look of horror on her face, and sighed, "Alice." Frank Johaansen looked up quickly. "Who?" "Alice Cardinal. She disappeared our last year in high school." "How do you know it's her.?" Jane was silent for a moment and she seemed much paler. Her eyes were fixed on the stark grimness before her. Then she spoke, her voice a whisper. "The locket...around her neck... I had one just like it. We shared the same birthday.... and the lockets were a present from my grandmother that year. Each locket had a picture in it of the two of us." Her face turned bleak as she struggled with her feelings. "Poor Alice. This shouldn't have happened to her." Allie took her friend by the shoulder and turned her away from the grisly remains of the body. "We'll take you home, Jane." Lois had a thousand questions she wanted to ask-- of the Andersons, of the police, and especially of Jane but they could wait. Forty years had passed since the murder; another day wasn't going to make any difference. * * * About 7 o'clock that evening the three women drove out of town along the dark road cut through the jack pines to the Ojibway reservation where Alice's mother lived alone in a small tidy house. She welcomed them into her home, leading them into her kitchen where she made a large pot of tea. As they talked, it became clear to Lois that no one outside her family and a few friends had taken the disappearance of Alice Cardinal very seriously. The reserve had been much poorer in those days, attitudes had been different, and Alice had been a wild and somewhat rebellious teenager. When she had gone missing, the good people of Legatteville had the usual explanations. 'She's run away to the city for some excitement....She's pregnant by a married man and she's gone to the city to have the baby..... She ran away with that trucker who seemed to have an eye for her.... No money here, but the city has money for beautiful girls who know how to please men.... She'll show up again in a few years, back on the reserve.' And then she was forgotten. Mrs.Cardinal had heard all the rumours and had felt bitter about the ease with which people had explained away her daughter's disappearance. She had her own suspicions about what had happened and, to be fair, the police had listened but had found no traces of the girl. And they too had attributed her disappearance to a combination of promiscuity and rebellion against her parents, both of whom were held in some respect by the Ojibway community. Lois looked at the pictures of the young woman and thought how beautiful she was. At eighteen, Alice Cardinal had already developed into a striking woman, tall with independence in her dark eyes. Beside her the young JaneMalenkov was merely pretty, obviously programmed for a life of respectability, but the two girls had been close friends, and Jane was still alive. Lois looked at Mrs.Cardinal and said softly, "She was very striking. She looks like she was very special." "Oh, she was. She knew about the woods and the stories of our people. She knew about your people too. She was so eager to do everything, but she had not learned when to be cautious, when not to trust. She gave her heart too easily. I could not tell her this." As she spoke, the old woman traced her finger over the image of her daughter and sighed, "Now it is over." Standing up , she picked up the teapot and filled it with more hot water. "Thank you for coming, Jane. You have always been a good friend." They were interrupted at this point by neighbors who, on hearing the news, had come to talk to her, to be with her as she remembered her daughter. There was anger too as the old resentment against a police system that had too often seen their people as the criminals and been too slow to investigate when they had been the victims. Lois listened, saying little, wondering what would happen now, how thorough the investigation would be this time. She felt that, finally, it was important to find the truth. * * * The next morning, as she ate breakfast with her aunt and uncle, Lois was full of plans for covering the story. Her aunt looked at her with some astonishment. "Lois, I can't do all that. This is a pretty small operation I run here. I'm not only a reporter; in fact, today I'm the bookkeeper and editor. I'll check with Frankie, but that's all I have time for." "Well, it's a good thing I'm here then! I think this is important, Allie. There's more here than a forty-year-old case. It's a matter of truth, of justice. We can't just wait for the local sheriff to hand us a press release!" she said scornfully. "So let's get started." She stood up and began clearing the breakfast dishes from the table. "I'll go into town with you this morning, Allie, and start working on it." "Planning on wrapping the whole thing up before your train leaves tomorrow?" her uncle asked innocently. Stopping in the middle of the kitchen, Lois turned to him. "I'd forgotten. Well, I'll have to stay a little longer. " Then more uncertainly, "You don't mind do you?" Her uncle grinned at her. "Mind? And miss my big chance to watch a prize winning investigative journalist in action?" Allie looked up at her. "Lois, we'd love it if you stayed longer, but I thought you were going out with Clark tomorrow night. Ordinarily I don't advise young women to put everything aside so that they can go out on a date, but I had the feeling that you thought this date was important, that Clark was special." "Oh, you know. He is... but he'll understand. We can go out any time, but this story is important. Clark and I can go out when I get back to Metropolis. He'll understand," she repeated. "I'll call and tell him." Then she paused, looking conflicted as she realized she really didn't want to miss tomorrow night. What she really wanted was Clark here. "Why not do both, Lois? Ask him to come for the weekend, for a few days if he can. He can take the train from Metropolis tonight and you can go back together on Sunday . Maybe you can convince your editor to let you both stay an extra couple of days to do a more in depth article, and you could still have your dinner date at the Legatteville Hotel on Saturday night. " * * * Straightening his tie, Clark Kent came out of the elevator, grabbed the morning edition of the paper, and headed for the coffee. Although it was only 7 A.M., the news room of the Daily Planet was beginning to show signs of life. A few of the skeleton night staff were still there, wrapping up last details as the early morning light flooded through the huge window that took up most of the east wall, casting a hazy brightness over the surfaces of desks and computer terminals. Clark looked across the room to Lois's empty desk and smiled. He would see her tomorrow. He was nervous about their date; so much depended on it. He thought back to the night of their 'almost first date,' remembering how incredible she had felt in his arms as he had carried her to the bedroom of the yacht where they had been on a stake-out. Her arms had been around his neck and her hair had bushed against his cheek as she had rested her head on his shoulder. The hardest thing he had ever done in his life, he thought, had been to leave her at that bedroom door. But she had pulled back from him again, resisting setting a new date. He knew she was afraid of the whole thing turning into a disaster, and he had assured her that if it did, 'they would always be friends,' but he wasn't sure if he could keep that promise; he thought it would hurt too much. He shook his head to clear his mind and smiled ruefully. < You've got it bad, Kent.> He sat down at his desk turned on his computer, and started to work. About half an hour later Lois phoned. "Hi Clark. Something's come up and I won't be taking the train back tomorrow." His heart sank and he did not reply. Her voice was excited. "Clark? Are you still there?" "Yeah, Lois. I'm here. What's happened?" "I've decided to stay until Monday, but I'm hoping that I can convince Perry to give me a couple of days next week as well. The local police here have found the body of a girl who was murdered about forty years ago. I think there's quite a story here and I want to work on it. I was wondering if you would come up here. If you caught the train this evening you could be here around midnight. We could work on the story together." She finally paused for a moment and continued, and this time he could hear that her voice was less confident, nervous. "I mean, I know it's a lot to ask. You probably have plans for tonight and other things to do. It's nice here though. A small town. Nice people. You'd like my aunt and uncle. You could stay here with us. We could still go out tomorrow night; it just wouldn't be Angelina's but the Legatteville Hotel. It's good though." As he listened, Clark relaxed and a grin split his face. "Lois," he began. "I'm babbling aren't I?" she said. "Like a brook," he said as he tilted back in his chair back, stretching. "I'd love to come, Lois. I'll catch the train tonight, after work. You'll meet me at the station at midnight?" "Of course. And you can stay here with us." "Are you sure your aunt won't mind." "No. In fact she's the one who suggested I ask you to come." Clark made a mental note to himself that they would name their first daughter after Lois's aunt. "I think she wants to meet you," Lois added. "Oh," he asked innocently. "Why is that?" "Clark." "Lo-is." Then more seriously, "Tell me more about this story. Do the police know who the victim is?" Lois filled him in on what she knew so far which was admittedly not too much, but he agreed that it was time for people to remember Alice Cardinal. * * * After breakfast Lois accompanied her aunt into town and then borrowed her car to drive out to interview the Andersons about the discovery of the body. As she drove along the winding road, her thoughts returned to her conversation with Clark and how much she was looking forward to seeing him tonight. Then her fears about a relationship with him returned and she spoke sternly to herself. < You're not doing a very good job distancing yourself from him. > < Why do you want to do that anyway? You know how you feel about him> < That's why I want to do it. > She pulled into the gravel driveway leading to the rundown house. As she got out of the car she thought how beautiful this spot was despite her earlier unfavorable impression. The lot was heavily treed with spruce, pine and several types of deciduous trees which Lois could not identify. Swelling buds brushed bare branches with the suggestion of colour. Through them, Lois could see the flat land of a large field at the base of the ridge on which she was standing. She wondered if it was part of the property. If it was, it made farming seem a more likely possibility. Still, she would have expected to see more activity around the farm, particularly now that the snow had mostly melted and the first day of spring was only a few days away. At the moment, the only activity was that of two police officers working methodically around the roped off area of the shallow grave. After getting no response at the house, Lois walked down to the far end of the ridge were the police were. Johaansen remembered her from the previous day and greeted her politely, hoping that she was not about to take much of his time. He wanted to get this site sweep done before the rain predicted that morning forced them indoors. "I was looking for the Andersons," Lois told him, "but they don't appear to be in." "They left about half an hour ago, down to the field over there." He pointed towards the barely visible couple some distance off. They appeared quite absorbed in what they were doing although from this distance, Lois could not figure out what that was. Turning to Johaansen, she asked if he knew. "They took that metal detector with them. Never seen one like it, latest high-tech yuppie version, I guess." As Lois turned to go, she stopped, and asked almost as an afterthought, "Find anything more here this morning?" He sighed. He had known this was coming. "Why are you interested Ms.Lane? Thought you were just visiting for a few days. Nothing here for a big city newspaper." Lois smiled at him. "Oh, Aunt Allie's short-staffed and, quite overwhelmed with paperwork. I thought I'd give her a hand before heading back to Metropolis. It's the least I could do after all she's done for me." He softened a bit. Family helping out was right, he thought. "I can't tell you much that you don't already know, Ms. Lane. We haven't found much so far. After all these years, I doubt if we will. The grave was shallow, not much more than two feet deep. Just enough so that the body wouldn't be shifted by the spring thaw. The autopsy will probably give us more information about how she died." "Any idea yourself on that?" "You saw the body yesterday so you know as much as I do. I'd only be guessing." Even if he seemed more friendly, he still wasn't very helpful. Lois wondered uncharitably if all police officers were given a standard training course on not answering questions from the press. < Evasion 101,> she thought grumpily. As she was saying good-bye, the young woman who was working with him called over. "Frank, I've found something." Lois walked the few yards with him to where the young officer was bending over a small item embedded in the soil. Reaching for it with her plastic gloved hand, she carefully picked up a gold locket and placed it in a plastic bag which she neatly tied. Then she labelled it meticulously, noting exactly where it had been found relative to the location of the body. As far as Lois could tell, the locket looked identical to the one which had been around the neck of the skeletal remains of Alice Cardinal. She remembered Jane's comment and felt her stomach knot. She turned to look at Frank Johanseen, and she could tell by the grim look on his face that he had not forgotten Jane's comment either. Lois heard herself saying carefully, "It's a common type of locket. I think I was given one when I was a girl." "I don't like coincidences, Ms. Lane." The policewoman looked up from her task. "What are you two talking about?" Frank turned to her. Before answering her question, he introduced Lois to Jenny O'Rourke. "Jenny, Ms. Lane is Allison James' niece. They were up here yesterday when we were removing the body. Jane Malenkov was with them. She I.D.'d the body when she recognized the locket around Alice's neck. Seems she had one just like it." "Oh." Jenny looked at the two thoughtfully, "I wonder how it got here, how long it's been here?" Lois and Johaansen both shrugged so Jenny returned to her methodical search of the area. Lois and Johaansen walked back to Lois's car. "You'll be talking to Jane?" she asked as she opened the car door. "Will you give me time to tell Allie so she can be there when you do?" "It can wait. It's an old crime. We'll finish here and head back to the station before we do anything else. " His eyes met hers for a moment. "This isn't Metropolis, Ms.Lane. We're all pretty close here." Lois felt rebuked. His comment reminded her that people in this community had known each other for a long time and were governed in their daily relations by that closeness. * * * Lois drove to the bottom of the ridge and stopped beside the ditch that ran along Lemieux field. She got out and walked over to talk to the Andersons, who seemed to be quite busy examining the area. They stopped as she approached and they greeted her without enthusiasm. In response to her questions, they briefly described how they had found the body yesterday as they were checking out the lower terrain of the ridge. Then Lois tried to find out more about what they were looking for. However, her probing proved futile. As she returned to the car, Lois wondered again what it was about this place that had interested them? Perhaps one of the old mines had been found to have ore still worth extracting. The mining business was a risky one, often with dubious claims of quick wealth motivating disreputable companies to commit illegal actions cloaked in secrecy. At any rate, Lois figured the chance of any goats grazing in *that* field any time soon were pretty remote. Perhaps, if she had time, she would follow that hunch and see where it led while she was covering the Cardinal story. * * * As she made the thirty-minute trip back to town, Lois thought about how Jane's locket could have got to that spot. If it was Jane's locket. Lois knew she was right about it being a common type of jewelry, often the first special gift for a teenage girl-- from her parents or grandparents, or her first boyfriend, or from her best friend. She wondered what picture would be inside this one, if it would still be recognizable, if Jane had put the picture there. She told Allie all about this when she arrived at her aunt's office. When she finished, Allie looked at her niece and said gently, "Don't look so worried, Lois. I don't have any idea how it got there, but I do know Jane. I've known her for over thirty years, ever since I first came to this town, and I do know that Jane is not a murderer. Frankie may not be a 'big city' cop, but he's pretty good at what he does. He'll sort this out." "I hope you're right, but people aren't always what they appear to be." Her aunt raised her eyebrow and Lois blushed, realizing she had sounded a bit patronizing. She smiled ruefully but continued anyway, "Seriously, Allie, sometimes even a best friend can be hiding a major secret. People aren't always what they seem." The painful memory of Lex Luthor, and how easily he had deceived her, briefly flashed through her mind. "And besides, people will think that Jane did it because the locket was found there." "Lois, you're becoming much too cynical. I've known Jane for a long time. David has known her even longer, since he started to spend his summers here with his family. She's always been a kind and generous person. The town knows that." She stood up, and then continued as she reached for her coat, "But this will be a shock for her. I hope Frankie hasn't told her yet." Allie left her desk and walked across to the old-fashioned wooden coat rack by the door. "Well, are you coming with me?" Lois smiled and nodded, suddenly aware that the high octane energy which she thought she was the only Lane to possess was quite possibly genetic. She jogged to catch up to her aunt. * * * They found Jane across the street in the old brick library where she volunteered one morning a week. The three women went into a quiet back room and settled into dilapidated leather armchairs, the donation years ago of an appreciative patron. Jane's face froze for a moment as they told her what Jenny had found. Lois wasn't sure if the look on the older woman's face was fear or sorrow. Jane stared out the large, paned window as she spoke quietly, "Alice and I were best friends all through school. My grandmother gave us the lockets on our eighteenth birthdays in February. I always wore the locket and so did Alice, but I lost it that summer, about the beginning of August. I looked for it but never found it." "Do you think it could have been stolen?" Lois asked. "I never thought of that." Lois noted the surprise in Jane's voice as she spoke. "Perhaps it was. Anyway, I never saw it again." Lois persisted, "So you don't have any idea how it could have got to the mur..... the ridge?" "No. Why do you want to know, Lois? Is there something you're not telling me. Are the police planning to talk to me?" Jane sounded calm but she turned to Allie and asked, "Do you think I should call Jeff?" "I'm not sure. I don't think you're going to need a lawyer, Jane, but Frankie will want to talk to you. I think you can count on him to handle it properly. If he thinks you'll need Jeff, he'll say so." Lois was astonished at all of this. Was this what small towns were like? She thought that Jane should get a lawyer, fast. Lois had occasionally seen police focus on the first clue as the determinant of who was guilty and then build a case after the fact. It was easier than a more time consuming, thorough investigation. Lois was hoping that her aunt's assessment of her friend's character and her confidence in the local police were correct, but she also knew she had better do some investigating on her own. Lois got to her feet. "I'll leave you two alone. I want to go back out to the reserve to check a few things before I write this up. I'll have it for you in time to go into tomorrow morning's edition, Allie." * * * It was raining lightly when Lois got into the car. As she drove along the narrow road to the reserve, she thought about the questions she wanted to ask when she got there. Then she began planning her approach to the story on Alice Cardinal's death and, along the way, did some revisions. Better keep it objective until the investigation is finished. And then, a detail that surprised her. She knew clearly that she would not mention the locket specifically; she would refer to 'items found by the police near the site of the grave.' She wondered how Clark would react to that little bit of censorship. She could just imagine the skeptical look on his face, one eyebrow raised slightly in a silent question. At times, he could be quite critical of her work although he had always supported what she had done. Even a little break and entry. At first, she had been angry at Perry's insistence that she and Clark work together on some stories but now it seemed so natural. Her mind stayed with thoughts of her partner, shifting to different memories. She could see his smile as he teased her, feel the touch of his hand as he guided her into the elevator, feel his arms around her as he comforted her, and then as he had carried her to the bedroom door when she had that bad reaction to Ralph's Pagoda take-out. Just as well she had felt a little sick; the way things had been going that night, she would have been in bed with him 'faster than a speeding bullet.' She giggled at that idea. During the time when she thought she had been in love with Superman, she had never dreamt about going to bed with him. Oh, she had wondered if "the suit came off," but that had been more curiosity than desire she realized now. Her subconscious mind had left the thought unexplored. On the other hand, she had been having increasingly erotic dreams about Clark almost from the day they had met. After the first one, she had awoken quite shocked and had ruthlessly compelled herself not to think of it. She remembered now that she had been particularly hostile to Clark the next day when Perry had sent them on an assignment together. When was it she had fallen in love with him, she wondered. She had no idea. All she did know was that she had finally recognized her feelings when she had been dressing for her wedding to Lex. That fiasco should have been a sign, she thought with some bitterness. She had thought her heart would break when Superman had rebuffed her that horrible night in her apartment. But it had not been Superman she had so desperately missed during her engagement; it had been Clark. Lois was pulled away from her reverie by a sudden increase in the tempo of the rain on the windshield. She paid more careful attention to the road which she was not remembering very well from her previous trip. After all, it had been night and she had not been driving. She was not even sure that this was the right road. Maybe she shouldn't have taken that turn a couple of minutes ago. She always got into a car with the blind assumption that she knew were she was going. she thought. Suddenly, she saw a grey Mercedez sedan coming from the opposite direction. Startled, she looked at the driver and saw that it was Senator Gates and that he was alone. He had not noticed her as he drove past. Lois wondered what he was doing out here and decided to find out more about his connections in this area. She was so used to his political presence in New Troy and in Metroplois that she had never stopped to think much about his connections elsewhere. Although she was critical of many politicians, she admired Gates' work. He had taken a strong stand on environmental issues and on other social issues that she cared about. Understanding more about his background could be helpful in writing an article on his legislative activities. As it turned out, she was on the right road because a few minutes later she saw the outline of the cluster of houses that made up the village. She stopped and asked directions to Mrs. Cardinal's house and a moment later pulled up in front of it. She wasn't the only visitor. Jenny O' Rourke was standing just inside the white picket fence talking to one of the most striking men Lois had ever seen. He was about the same age as Jenny, tall, with dark hair and bronzed skin, his face sculpted in planes and angles. As Lois got closer she realized that they were arguing, about what she couldn't tell. She heard only acrimonious snatches of anger. They stopped abruptly as Lois approached, and she saw that Jenny's face was flushed while the man's expression was obstinate. "Hi, Jenny," Lois said. "I was hoping to get a few more background details >from Mrs. Cardinal before finishing the story for the 'Link,' if you think she's up to it." Jenny's companion looked at her suspiciously but said nothing. Lois was not sure if he would be an adversary, blocking her attempts to get the story. He obviously did not appear to want to cooperate with the police. "Hi, Lois. I'm sure that'll be O.K. Mrs. Cardinal wants the truth about her daughter to be out in the open." "I'll come with you, if you don't mind." Jenny's companion stretched out his hand to Lois. "I'm Matt Thomson, Mrs. Cardinal's neighbor." And protector, Lois thought as she shook his strong hand briefly and introduced herself. Then he turned to Jenny, who was about to leave. "I'll see you later?" "Maybe." Jenny's voice was terse but she smiled at Lois and then walked through the front gate, her body still rigid with the anger of their earlier argument. Lois wondered if it was personal or if it had to do with Jenny's investigation. Relations between Native reserves and small town police forces were not always the best and a case like this could no doubt bring out any repressed grievances. Perhaps that's why this neighbour wanted to be present during her talk with Mrs. Cardinal. Lois stayed for about half an hour as Mrs. Cardinal talked about her daughter, about Alice's ambitions and what she had been like, and the last night that she had seen her daughter. It had been late summer, the evening of a weekend dance held at the Legatteville Pavilion. Alice had been excited, looking forward to the evening. There had been a small crowd of laughing young people in the Cardinals' front room before they set off for the dance, but Mrs. Cardinal remembered thinking that her daughter had seemed preoccupied. That thought had worried her. Alice had come home after the dance but had left again shortly afterwards. She had not come home ever again. Lois touched Mrs. Cardinal's arm. "I'm sorry, Mrs. Cardinal. Thank-you for talking to me about this. I know it's been difficult, and I want you to know I'll do everything I can to find out what happened." As Lois stood up, Matt Thomson did too. "I'll see you to your car, Ms. Lane." Outside, as they stood in front of her car, Lois said good-bye to him. "I'll be interested to read your article, Ms. Lane." Then he turned to look at her directly, as if searching for something. "Mary seems to trust you." His comment surprised Lois; she had only talked with Mary twice. Then Matt added, "Let's see if this time the town takes more interest in what happened that night." * * * An out-of-control fire in a Mexican oil field had prevented Clark Kent from catching the train in Metropolis as he had planned and so he had flown to Minneapolis, hoping to board the train when it arrived there. He'd almost missed it, and had got on hastily, running across the dimly lit platform moments before the train began to leave the station. Grinning, he fumbled for his ticket, and gave it to the smiling conductor as he climbed the narrow steps into the passenger car. Looking around, he noticed that the car was about half empty. At this time of year, there were not many people going north, especially into the damp cold of Minnesota's late winter. Usually, Clark liked to talk to fellow travellers during those few trips he took by conventional means, but tonight he was glad to be alone. He was tired, something unusual for him, and he was looking forward to having time to just read a novel. Reaching forward he pulled "The Englishman's Boy" >from his luggage and relaxed back into his seat. The novel held his attention for about half an hour, but he found the motion of the train hypnotic. Putting the novel on the empty seat beside him, he looked out the window on his left, into the darkness. Although he could see quite clearly if he focused, he did not do so. Instead his mind roamed over the events of the last couple of hours and then of the last few weeks. He saw again the burning oil field and heard the screams of the workers trapped on the rigs before he had rescued them. Several had been badly burned, but no one had died and for that he was grateful. Then his mind turned to the hectic events of the week: the rush to finish the series of articles on the upcoming municipal elections, the chaos of a flood in China, and his routine evening patrols over Metropolis. He had missed Lois. Sometimes he felt she was the only thing that kept him anchored, connected to something indefinable, deep in his soul. He smiled as he looked out the window, picturing her again as she had said good-bye to him last Saturday morning, remembering her surprising shyness as she had mentioned their date. She was never very far from his thoughts. For a change, he allowed himself to think that maybe, finally , she was beginning to feel something more than friendship for him. He knew, of course, that when Lois said she planned to work on this story she meant it, but it pleased him that she had not wanted to break their date to do so. It also pleased him that she thought it was safe to introduce him to her aunt and uncle. Seeing Lois in a 'normal' family setting should prove interesting, he thought with another smile. He picked up his book again, but he soon drifted off to sleep only to be awakened at midnight by the train's slowing momentum and the conductor's announcement of the upcoming stop at Legatteville. Through the window, he saw her standing alone at the end of the platform, her features illuminated by the glow of the overhead light. He thought again how beautiful she was and how cold she looked as she waited for him. He grabbed his luggage and eagerly stepped down from the train trying not to use 'superspeed' to get to her. She called his name, and then they were hugging each other. Pulling back a bit from his embrace, she looked at him, her eyes bright . "Hi," she said, laughing as she raised her voice so he could hear her over the noise of the departing train. He touched her cheek with his thumb. "Hi." Without thinking, he bent forward and kissed her gently, a sweetly sensual kiss, their first kiss really. Pulling apart briefly, they grinned at each other, oblivious to everything around them. Her arms slid around his neck so he kissed her again, this time more deeply, lost in the softness of her lips beneath his. "Lois," his voice was low, husky with emotion. She broke their kiss and smiled at him shakily, overwhelmed for a moment. Then she spoke, "I guess we should go. My . . .uh, car is um . . .parked over there." Clark slowly came back to reality, but his voice was soft. "Yeah, we should go." Then, his voice back to normal, he said, "Lead the way, Ms. Lane." It took only a few minutes to walk to the parking lot where Lois had left her aunt's car. After stowing his bag in the trunk, he got in the car and watched her as she pulled out of the parking lot onto the highway leading west. She was a good, if somewhat aggressive, driver and he admired her skill as she swerved quickly to avoid a deer that suddenly leapt out of the darkness onto the road only a few yards ahead of the car. As it bounded back into the woods along the highway she let out a long breath. "That was close," he said. "I didn't even notice it." He had been too distracted by her to notice the deer when it had lept out onto the highway. "Thank goodness! Uncle Dave says there are more deer than usual this year. It would be horrible to hit one." She turned to look at him, her pleasure at being with him obvious in her smile. And then she thought So she said, "How was your trip? Are you tired? I mean, if you are we can go straight home, but I was wondering if you'd like to stop for some coffee before we do. It would be nice to talk for awhile. My aunt and uncle are in bed by now and I don't want to disturb them, but it's O.K. if you don't want to..." she thought. Then she remembered the sweet intensity of their kiss at the station. He was surprised at her nervousness, and touched. "Lois, I'd love to stop for coffee." Minutes later they were pulling into the darkened parking lot of the only all-night diner around, patronized by truckers taking a short cut as well as by locals looking for somewhere to hang out. Its decor had probably not changed in thirty years. The tables were set with paper placemats providing information and pictures of 'gamefish of Minnesota' and the walls were panelled with dark laminated wood, decorated with a few stuffed fish mounted on dusty wooden plaques. They had been there since Lois was a teenager. "Bet this reminds you of Smallville, Clark," she grinned. He grinned back at her. "Yep. I bet they have great apple pie!" They sat at a small table in the far corner of the room, next to a display of photographs of local fishermen and their prize catches. A pleasant looking middle-aged woman approached their table to take their order, returning a few minutes later with large white mugs of steaming coffee and one large serving of apple pie with ice cream. "Want some?" Clark offered, inching the plate towards her. "No, thanks. I had a huge piece of chocolate cake for dinner." "It's great! As good as my Mom's. You should try some." "Can't be great. Doesn't have any chocolate." "Lois, you have got to get rid of these petty prejudices. You'll miss some of life's great experiences." "For instance, farmboy?" her voice a seductive drawl and her eyes teasing. Clark put down his fork and grinned at her. Then he covered her slender hand with his. "Feeling courageous with this crowd for cover are you, Ms. Lane ?" He stroked her hand with his thumb as his gaze held hers. Lois looked down at their hands and said without raising her eyes, her voice quiet, "Not very. Actually, I'm afraid, Clark." He moved his hand to gently tilt her chin so that she had to meet his eyes. "You told me that before, Lois, and I told you I was afraid, too. And I am. I'm afraid that I'll lose the chance to be with the only woman who has ever meant anything to me." In his dark eyes, she saw an intensity and sincerity that made her catch her breath for a moment. He withdrew his hand and placed it over hers again on the table. She curled her fingers around his, thinking how right this felt. She'd been a coward, she thought, running away from him since the day they'd met, running away from her need to love someone real, running towards powerful and remote men who made it easy for her to avoid her soul. "Then I guess I'll have to take a chance on you, Clark Kent," and she smiled at him shyly. Then she withdrew her hand and looked at him somewhat defiantly, trying to regain control. "But I should warn you. My past relationships have all been federal disasters." "Then I will be your first non-federal disaster." < And Lois, you will be my first, my only, my forever > he thought. Then Lois smiled again and leaned back in her chair. "I'm really glad you've come this weekend, Clark. This will give us the kind of time together that we don't usually get." He relaxed, too. "You mean this was all a clever ruse? You never actually intended to work this weekend? You got me down here just so you could have your way with me? In the woods of Minnesota?" "You wish, Clark Kent!" Lois's laugh was a choked giggle. "You just be ready to start at nine tomorrow morning." "Ah, I knew this was all too good to be true." His gesture managed to include both her and the diner. "Good thing I was able to convince Perry to give us until the middle of the week to work on this. " "Clark! How'd you do that? He can't be interested in anything happening in a small town in Minnesota! " "I presented him with *your* angle on the story, partner. That with a bit of digging we can do a feature with the murder as a lead-in to the larger issue of what and who gets police attention and what and who doesn't. I downloaded some background information on local police enforcement with respect to Native Americans in Minnesota, New Troy, and New York. Also some general history on the Ojibway, and a couple of interesting profiles of business ventures they've recently set up." "Great! That'll help set the context. I'll show you the article I wrote tomorrow and we can build on that. I think we should . . ." Lois was distracted from their conversation as the door of the diner opened and Jenny O'Rourke and Matt Thomson came in out of the darkness. He placed his hand on her waist and turned to say something to her which made her smile. That simple gesture made Lois realize that there was something between them, an emotional bond. They looked right together, she thought, Jenny's blonde wholesomeness, a foil for Matt's dark intensity. As if aware of her scrutiny, they looked over to where she and Clark were sitting. Jenny smiled and they walked across the room. "Hi, Lois. I see you've found the best diner in Minnesota!" She looked at Clark with curiosity as he rose to his feet. "Hi, Jenny. Matt. This is Clark Kent, my partner at 'the Planet'. He's just arrived on the midnight train. Clark, this is Jenny O'Rourke and Matt Thomson." She watched as Clark acknowledged the introductions and reached his hand out first to Jenny and then to Matt. "You wouldn't be Matt Thomson of Thomson Airways would you?" Clark asked as he shook his hand. Matt smiled. "I'm surprised. I wouldn't have expected someone from out of town to know that. We're still a pretty small operation." Jenny slid her arm through his and Lois noticed an engagement ring on her finger as her hand rested on Matt's arm. Jenny looked at Matt proudly and said. "But a fast growing operation." "It sounds exciting," Lois said. "Will you join us for coffee?" "Thanks, we'd like to," Jenny said, removing her jacket and placing it on an empty chair behind her. The waitress approached their table again and asked Matt, "The usual?" "Please, Maddie. Hope the coffee's extra strong. It's been a long day." Matt then sat back in his chair and, looking at Clark and Lois, explained. "This afternoon we got an emergency call and had to fly a patient from the lumber camp north of here to Minneapolis for surgery. That forced us to delay a charter until this evening. We just got back from running the charter to Chicago." "And then the poor, exhausted man had to pick me up after I finished at midnight and wait stoically without anything to drink but lukewarm, weak coffee until I finished some paperwork." Jenny's expressive face took on the look of a martyr as she mimicked what she imagined her fiance's plight to have been. Clark smiled, observing the light teasing between the two. "What keeps you working so late on a Friday night, Jenny?" He asked as Maddie came over with 'the usual.' "I'm a police officer. Had to work a double shift today because one of the guys has the flu. Flyboys aren't the only ones who put in the time." Her face turned saintly. Clark chuckled, enjoying the new expression that flitted across Jenny's face as she poked fun at the man beside her. She would have made a good actress, he thought. "Sounds like it's pretty amazing that you get any time together at all," he commented. Matt smiled. "It takes some planning, but she does find a few minutes every once in a while to pencil me into her schedule." He paused and looked at the two people across from him. "So what brings you to Legatteville, Clark? Lois said you were her partner at 'the Planet.' Does that mean you're here to work on a story?" Clark wasn't quite sure how to answer. The truth was, he'd wanted to see Lois but he figured she wasn't ready yet to acknowledge any relationship with him other than their professional one. After all, she had introduced him to Matt and Jenny as her *partner at 'the Planet'*. So he said, "Lois wanted to work on a story about the body of the girl that was just discovered outside of town. I wasn't busy this weekend so I thought I'd come up." "Don't tell me 'the Daily Planet' would be interested in a forty-year-old murder in the middle of nowhere?" Matt sounded surprised. "It could be. Like most stories, it depends on what we find. And, of course, with our incredible talent, it will be a great story," Lois said lightly. "An Indian girl disappears and nobody gets too worried. They don't want to probe too deeply. It's not important enough." Lois was surprised at the bitterness in his voice and again was convinced of the appropriateness of the angle she and Clark planned to take on the story. "Well, *we* think it's important," Lois said and she became aware of a tenseness in Jenny O'Rourke. She wondered why. "I don't think we need a lot of outside attention on this," Jenny said. Noting her reserved tone, Lois decided to back off and smiled supportively at the woman across the table from her. Jenny unbent and added, "It's premature right now. We're working on the case and we'll deal with it." Matt turned to her, his voice controlled. "Premature? Jenny! Forty years have gone by. It's time we looked at why Alice Cardinal was so easily ignored. Why it was so easy for someone to get away with murder. Jenny, I don't think that can happen with just the Legatteville police and media involved." Jenny's face tightened and she seemed to distance herself almost physically >from the man next to her. "You don't think we can do the job, do you, Matt?" Both Lois and Clark were aware, now, that they were outsiders, caught in the tension between the two people across the table from them. "The job *wasn't* done by your predecessors," Matt said flatly. "It will be done this time." Jenny turned to Clark. "Please, give us some time. We may be a small town, but we're still professionals. We care about our work and we know what we're doing." She stood up and started to put on her coat. Looking at Matt, she said stiffly, "Perhaps you could take me home. As you said, it's been a long day. Good night, Lois. Clark." She turned and marched toward the door without waiting for Matt, her back very straight. Lois saw the distress flicker across Matt's face as he got up to follow her. she thought. Suddenly she felt dispirited, distressed at the thought that their conversation had triggered the resumption of the couple's quarrel. Lois realized that Jenny's pride was at stake, but she sympathized with Matt, too. For him, the murder was tied up with the larger issue of the treatment of his community. "Clark, maybe we should be going, too." He touched her hand as it lay on the table. "They'll work it out, Lois." "They're on opposite sides in this, Clark. Two different worlds." "If they love each other, they'll bridge those worlds." "You think love can do that?" "I hope it can." < It has to, Lois.> * * * Clark awoke about 7:30 Saturday morning, a smile on his face as he remembered fragments of a pre-dawn dream. He had been flying with Lois, and then they had floated down to a small, deserted island, landing on the beach. Slowly they had sunk to the sand as they kissed deeply. Somehow their clothes had disappeared as their passion increased and they had made slow, satisfying love. Lying back in the sheets comfortably, he wallowed in the memory for a moment, then stretched his powerful body and got up. Clark took pleasure in the sounds of morning, as he descended the stairs. The piping calls of cardinals and the sweet, raucous song of returning finches provided the background for the subdued sounds of breakfast preparations and the languorous murmur of a man and a woman. He walked across to the kitchen and the cozy odor of coffee and muffins. "Good morning, you must be Lois's Clark." "Yes," he smiled as he shook her outstretched hand . Allie liked the look of the young man in front of her. "I'm Allie James and this is my husband, Dave." "Morning, Clark. We're glad you could come. Allie's been curious to meet the man who Lois has been talking so much about." Clark was pleased; so he had been in Lois's thoughts, too, this last week. "Clark, I'm about to fry some eggs and bacon for Dave before he heads out to the clinic. Would you like some too?" "Please. That would be great." He turned to Dave. "Lois told me you're a doctor. What's it like practicing out here in the countryside? " "It can be pretty demanding for our full time G.P. I spend two days a week substituting for him. I know a lot of my colleagues think doctors are supermen but no doctor who is exhausted can deliver quality care. We could use another full time doctor but it's proven difficult to attract young men to practice in a small town. "Perhaps the town should try attracting young women instead?" Allie said pointedly. "Ah... the sexist slip. Didn't mean it, honey. And no, it wasn't subconscious." Allie looked at Dave suspiciously, a look that reminded Clark of Lois when she was about to zero in on him and he grinned . He wondered if Allie would let the comment go or move in for another shot, but the woman was clearly more mellow than Lois and she let it go. Instead, she explained to Clark: "Dave had a heart attack about ten years ago and, astute man that he is, (the second shot was subtle, Clark thought) he decided to leave his practice in Minneapolis and retire early. So now we live here full time." "I can see why you would want to. Your house, this spot, is beautiful." Clark was sincere in his admiration. The dining area of the large open kitchen was enclosed by three walls of floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking a view which gave him the feeling that he was eating breakfast in the woods. The bare limbs of deciduous trees allowed a better view of the lake below than would be possible in the summer. Dave handed Clark a lose pile of newspapers. "Here's today's papers. The 'Daily Planet,' the 'Star Tribune,' and the 'Legatteville Link.' If you're anything like Allie, you probably can't go a day without catching up on the news." He rose and kissed his wife's cheek. "See you later, honey. I'll try to get away by four so I can grab a quick nap before we head to Jim and Tasha's." Allie sat down across from Clark at the table and picked up her coffee mug. "Clark, I'm sorry, but Dave and I will be deserting you tonight. It doesn't seem very hospitable, I know, but we have a standing monthly date with Jim and Tasha Peterson to play bridge. We'll have to leave you on your own." Her eyes twinkled. "I'm not sure you'll mind." Clark had known this woman for just under half an hour and already he liked the way her mind worked. He grinned at her. "I think we'll be able to handle that. Being alone with your niece will be rough but I think I'll be okay ." He continued, "We thought we'd go to the Legatteville Hotel for dinner. Lois told me she made a reservation for tonight." "I know. It's a good idea to do that at this time of year. Everyone's restless after winter and, on Saturdays, the hotel has a small band so people can dance. The food's good there, too. It's a pretty popular spot. Not in the same league with Metropolis though, or even Minneapolis." Sensing her anxiety, Clark said "It sounds perfect." And he thought it would be. They talked for a while longer as Allie asked about The Planet and then about Smallville. That led them to a discussion of shared experiences working on small-town newspapers. He could appreciate the juggling act that Allie performed each week as she put together that Saturday's paper. As they talked, Allie wondered how her niece had managed to resist this man for so long, or was it that he had managed to resist her niece? She couldn't understand that either. Suddenly, he seemed distracted she noticed, as though his attention had been caught by the sound of something else happening in the house, but she heard nothing. Then she did: Lois entered the kitchen and murmured a sleepy 'Good Morning' and Allie watched Clark's face light up as he turned to look at Lois, and Allie knew then that it was Lois who had resisted Clark. Lois sat between the two of them and poured herself some orange juice from the large glass pitcher in the centre of the table. "You know, you have a bird problem out here, Allie. They're awfully noisy first thing in the morning." Clark looked at Allie and explained, "The police sirens of Metroplolis are much quieter. You scarcely notice them." Lois was waking up slowly and she frowned at Clark. "Clark, you still don't appreciate the city. Probably a bad idea to bring you here. You'll probably regress." But she smiled at him when he offered her a blueberry muffin. "Maybe the birds'll fly south soon," she added hopefully. Clark rolled his eyes and said to Allie "I've tried to broaden her outlook but it's been hard work." Allie watched the two and thought that they were made for each other. She would have to do whatever she could over the next few days to make sure her niece realized this, too. "What are you two planning to do today?" she asked, hoping she was going to hear about long walks along country roads. Lois spread a small amount of butter on her muffin as she replied. "If you don't mind, Allie, we thought we'd like to do some research, dig back through your archives to get background on Legatteville around the time that Alice Cardinal disappeared." Clark continued her thought. "Finding out about the area at that time could help us understand the circumstances surrounding her death. Unless Matt Thomson was right and her disappearance went unnoticed." "And I'd like to talk to both Jane Malenkov and Mary Cardinal some more, but I think we need more preparation before we do if we're going to add anything to the story," Lois added. Allie sighed, Lois was hopeless; but she had to agree that their plan made a lot of sense. * * * Allie drove them into town, dropping them at the only car rental agency. Lois had decided that it would be more flexible if they had their own car so Allie wouldn't have to be concerned about being without hers. After completing the paperwork, they headed over to the paper where Allie showed them the small room that archived the old editions, going back as long as the 'Link' did. The storage room had the musty odor of old paper and Lois thought it smelled wonderful. After Allie showed them the order in which the back issues were kept, they pulled out those from the spring and summer of 1957, piling them on a dark, heavy table in the middle of the room. "Okay, kids, they're all yours. I'll see you later on." After she left, Clark turned to Lois and said casually, "So what did you leave out of the story you wrote for your aunt?" Lois turned the pages of the first edition, avoiding his eyes, and said nonchalantly, "What do you mean?" "Lo-is," his voice was soft. Then he quoted her, "items found by the police," his voice a question. He waited expectantly but there was no answer. "You were there when they found 'the Items.' Why didn't you say what they were?" Then she told him about the locket. "Clark, I'm not sure why I left it out. I know I wouldn't have if I were back in Metropolis, but this is a small town and Jane is my aunt's friend. and I believe her when she says that Jane is not a murderer. Clark, I can't believe I'm saying this! But finding that locket there is probably just, you know, a coincidence." She knew it sounded lame before the words were out of her mouth. Clark was surprised at her reaction. "Lois, it's not like you to avoid following up on a clue like this. If you're worried, why don't you talk to your aunt about it?" "Yeah, I should. I will." She turned to the yellowed newspaper in front of her and started to leaf through it, the pages crackling as she did. Soon she was absorbed in the accounts of lives that time and place made so much different from her own. Some minutes later she found an item that made her chuckle. "Clark, listen to this. UFOs were sighted out on the ridge at the Lemieux place ! Apparently this wasn't the first sighting. According to this, the UFO actually landed and a being bathed in light emerged from the ship. No one abducted though; *that's* disappointing." A mock sigh, and then she giggled as she read the rest of the story. "And you didn't believe me when I told you this, Clark." "Lois, there are hundreds of those stories out there. Probably the result of too much cheap beer on a Saturday night." "You are no fun," she announced. He grinned at her, his smile distracting her for a moment. "Am, too. Just you wait, Ms.Lane." Lois's eyes lit up and she grinned back at him. "I'm holding my breath, farmboy. Waiting to see Smallville in action!" "Tonight, Lois, tonight! But I'll need to know just how much action you want to see," his tone was innocent, but there was a gleam in his eye. She laughed, but decided she was on unsafe ground now and so she retreated into the task at hand. They read for about half an hour, taking notes on the few references that they found on the local Ojibway community. The reserve was much poorer in those days and appeared to face serious problems. Attitudes then were quite different and the paper was conservative, not willing to give much sympathy to the problems of violence and alcoholism that occasionally spilled out of the reserve and into the town. "Lois, these people turned quite a blind eye to the challenges facing the Ojibway in those days. These articles are pretty judgmental." "I know. No wonder Matt cares so much about this particular case. It must represent past injustices for him." "Lois, look at this. It's a picture of Alice Cardinal. She won a scholarship to attend the University of Minnesota, to study biology. Apparently she wanted to become a doctor. The article makes a big deal of the fact that she was Indian and a woman and that her winning the scholarship was *amazing*." He made quotation gestures with two fingers of each hand as he said this last word. "Patronizing," Lois said, "but typical of the times. Look at my parents. Dad became the doctor and Mom the nurse. What's the date of the article?" "April 7th." "So Alice would probably have been pregnant then. I wonder if she knew it." "Don't women know these things pretty immediately?" he asked. "You know, sense it or something?" Aside from the obvious stuff that he had learned on the farm and in health classes when he had been fourteen, he had no idea. "Clark, where do men get their ideas about women from?" a pause and then, "Don't answer that. I *know* where they get them from: the football team! No, women don't sense it or something, but I'm not exactly experienced in that area." Clark looked at her dreamily for a moment as this pleasant thought crossed his mind. "What?" Lois noticed he seemed distracted. "Nothing. I just thought you knew everything." "Nearly everything." "Ah." "Clark, being pregnant and unmarried would have changed everything for her. There was quite a stigma attached to it in those days. I wonder who the father was?" "We'll need the coroner's report. It should tell us how old the fetus was and then we can count backwards and try to find out who, if anyone, remembers who she was dating then. How do you think her mother will handle that type of question? Does she know that Alice was pregnant?" "Yes. She didn't know at the time but the police told her when they told her they had found the body. She had sensed that her daughter was worried about something but she didn't know what." Lois moved her chair closer to his so they could both read the paper at the same time. She began to read the article aloud and commented. "She sounds pretty confident, looking forward to the future. I don't think she can have known about the pregnancy." They read for another hour or so, their conversation limited to reading each other bits of data that they thought pertinent to either the case or the feature article that was taking shape in both their heads. Lois found two more references to UFOs and said jokingly, "Well, right now the only pattern that is emerging is that this murder happened during the same period that aliens were making pit stops in Legatteville. I'm beginning to conclude that the father was an alien and that was the motive for the murder." "You're probably right, Lois. I can see the headline: 'Minnesota Native Killed in Jealous Rage over Alien Love Child.' Perry'll send us right over to the 'National Whisper.'" "What? You don't like my argument? You don't think an alien could impregnate an earth woman?" Her voice feigned disappointment at his lack of imagination and then she looked at his face. "Clark, what is it? Are you all right?" "Lois, this alien thing. There's something I should. . ." He didn't finish; he heard footsteps in the outer office and then Allie entered through the open door of the room where they were working. She was carrying two cups of coffee and a small, white bakery box which she placed on the table. "Muffins," she said. "From Charlotte's bakery next door. Believe it or not, they're even better than mine." "Thanks!" They both spoke in unison. Allie indicated the stack of papers with a wave of her hand. "Find anything useful?" "Not yet. Just a reference to the science scholarship that Alice won that year." "Really. That's interesting. You know, I don't think I ever knew anything about Alice at all." "Has Dave ever talked about her?" Lois asked. "No, he's never mentioned her although they were about the same age. He was just a summer visitor so he likely didn't know her. Jane never talked about her either. Just that one time years ago when she was showing me a picture of Dave when he was a teenager. The picture next to it was one of her and Alice." "I don't suppose you remember what Jane said then?" Clark asked. "Not really. It was a long time ago, but I don't think there's anything to remember anyway. But, now that I think of it, I do recall that when I first started to spend summers here with Dave, after we were married, kids used to say that somebody was murdered on the ridge and that the Lemieux place was haunted. Oh, by the way, I ran into Jenny on the way over. She's expecting the coroner's report this morning. I asked her if she'd talk to you about it later today and she said she would." Lois smiled. "It helps to have contacts in the community." Allie said seriously, somewhat aggressively, "This is my town. Whatever happened out there may be long in the past, but it's still important to find out the truth." As she turned to leave, Allie said, "And don't you two forget that you have a date this evening. I was talking to Ben outside the hotel. Says there's a good jazz group there tonight." And then she was gone. "Are all small towns like this, Clark? Everyone knows everyone in some kind of intricate pattern of relationships. I can even see that in the papers we're reading." "Probably. At least Smallville is. But like Smallville, this town is probably going through changes too. Getting bigger, but losing some of its young people to better opportunities in bigger cities. Matt Thomson is the exception, staying here to build something new." "Yes, but I expect he stays because of his commitment to his people. His dad's the band chief." She flipped through one more paper. Then she spotted a picture that caught her interest next to an article on the events of the 'first day of spring' celebration. "Clark look at this." She slid the paper across to him and Clark looked at a large picture of a few young people laughing at something that had happened during one of the day's contests. There, in the centre of the picture, were two couples, David James hugging Alice Cardinal, and Tony Gates and Jane Malenkov, who were jointly holding a large cup pronouncing them the winners of the 'Spring Slush' contest. Clark quickly read the article which accompanied the picture and then raised his eyes to meet Lois's. "I guess they knew each other pretty well at that time." His voice was soft, thoughtful. Then, "I didn't realize Senator Gates had ties here." Lois ignored his latter comment and voiced the first thought that had occurred to her. "Clark, do you think Uncle Dave was dating Alice Cardinal then? That would mean that he could be the father of her baby." He looked at the worry in her face and tried to reassure her. "Lois, he's just hugging her. The last I heard, it takes a little more than that." She relaxed. "You're right, but don't you think he would have mentioned Alice to Allie at least once or twice, later on. You know, when he was reminiscing about the past." "Why? If there was nothing between them, I doubt if he would even think about it." "I guess so." But she still didn't like the intuitive twinge she felt about this. It didn't take them long to finish going through the few remaining papers . They found the notice of Alice's disappearance at the end of August and the follow up story that suggested she had "eloped" with an out-of-state trucker she had met while waitressing at the diner during the summer. Then there were no further references to the incident. It appeared that Matt Thomson was right; the town had ignored the whole thing and gone on with its life. Dave James had become a doctor, married, and remained a summer visitor with his wife and family; Jane Malenkov had stayed in Legatteville and married one of the town's leading businessmen; and Tony Gates had moved >from the family business to national politics and prominence. Clark finished reading the last paper. "Let's put these back and go get some lunch. Then maybe we can see if the police have finished with the coroner's report." * * * Jenny O'Rourke looked up from her work with mixed feelings as the reporters from the Daily Planet entered her office. Personally, she had taken a liking to them but, professionally, she was wary. As reporters for one of the largest newspapers in the country, their motivation would be to get the 'Big Story,' probably including in it as much sensationalism as possible. She hoped that the 'Planet' would not run the story. After all, the murder was a very old one; there must be dozens of similar incidents in Metropolis. Her face took on a very official look as she spoke to the two reporters. "I take it you're interested in the report we got this morning?" She slid the report across her desk towards them. Lois picked it up, skimming quickly through it as Clark read over her shoulder. Alice had been between five and six months pregnant at the time of her death. The cause of death was a blow to the back of the skull, although there was also damage to the collarbone and the neck vertebrae, and the left arm was fractured. Death probably would have been instantaneous. Not much more. Clark looked up. "Do you know anything about the last week of her life?" "Not much. I wanted to have this report before I asked Mary Cardinal more about that." Her face was serious. "Don't talk to her yet. I'll be going out there later this afternoon and I'm not sure it'll help either the case or Mary if you two are there at the same time." "Are people out there pretty upset by this? Matt seemed hostile about it last night," Lois asked. Jenny's eyes flashed briefly. "Understandably. His family is close to Mary." "We would like to talk to her, but it can wait until tomorrow. Anything else you can tell us from the lab reports?" Clark asked. "The locket you already know about. Textile fragments indicate she was wearing a red dress, a synthetic satin type fabric. One earring was found. Blood particles on some of the hair on the back of the skull. That's about it." Her last comment was a dismissal. Out on the street, as they walked to the car, Lois expressed her frustration. "Clark, she isn't being very helpful. I wonder if Henderson was running the course on 'Media Relations' the year she took her training?" Clark turned to look at her, his face composed. "No, not likely. He probably saved himself time and just sent a fax to all the graduates, 'Beware Lois Lane.' He's quite effIcient, you know." Lois made a face at him and then turned more thoughtful. "She has a lot at stake in this too. I wonder if she and Matt resolved their differences." "I don't know. Let's hope the Legatteville Police handle things more thoroughly this time, but it's a very old trail to follow." He opened the door of the car for Lois to get in and they headed out to the Anderson's place so that Clark could take a look at the site of the crime. * * * Clark's first thought as he looked at the Lemieux house was that it needed a lot of work. The steps of the small porch tilted slightly downward, paralleling the angle at which the porch had settled. Grey paint was flaking off the wood of the window frames and the front door. Jeff Anderson opened it to the two reporters and invited them into the small front hall. After Lois had introduced Clark, she explained why they had come. While she was talking, Clark looked over to the spartan living room where he saw a computer terminal up and running. Remembering Lois's suspicions about the couple, he decided to check out the monitor. While Lois was politely asking about Jeff's wife, Clark unobtrusively lowered his glasses and zeroed in on the computer screen. What he saw surprised him. It was a compilation of all the UFO sightings that had been reported in the area. The address on the report was even more interesting: Bureau 39. For a moment he was very still. He had thought that Bureau 39 had been shut down over a year ago after Trask's paranoia and criminal activities had discredited government investigations of alien contact. He had been naive to think that he realized now. Government agencies rarely closed. Some bureaucrat or politician must still think Bureau 39's mandate was valid. Remembering what had happened with Trask in Smallville, he wondered what else the Bureau was investigating, where else it was investigating. His thoughts were interrupted by Brenda Anderson as she entered the front hall. After introducing her to Clark, Jeff said, "I think I've read some of the work you two have done in the 'Daily Planet,' stories about Superman." He turned to look at Lois speculatively, but his tone was casual. "Ms. Lane, there seems to be some connection between the two of you; there's no other individual Superman has been linked with in the reports I've read." Lois was surprised at this turn in their conversation, not much liking it. She knew that some people had thought there was something between her and Superman, but she didn't want them thinking that now, especially not Clark. She looked at him, but his face was blank, a mask. So she said to Jeff, "I've got into trouble a few times, chasing down leads. I've been lucky that he's been there to bail me out." "He's an amazing creature," Jeff replied. "Creature!" Lois's voice was angry. "You make him sound inhuman." "Well, Ms. Lane, he's not human, is he? He's an extraterrestrial." Clark was aware of the sudden flash in Lois's eyes, recognizing the sign of an impending eruption of the Lane temper. Now was not the time to alienate Jeff Anderson; not before he could figure out what the Andersons were looking for. Quickly thanking them for their permission to look around, he took Lois by the arm and turned her to the door, not giving her a chance to speak again. As they walked away from the house, Lois said indignantly, "Clark, why did you do that? I wasn't finished with that man! Clark, what he said is just so. . . so. . ." her voice trailed into a sputter. "True?" his voice was bitter and she looked at him in surprise, forgetting her anger at him. "Clark! Not you too!" She stopped to stare directly at him. "Surely you can't think that way. You're his friend too." He kept walking, as though he were avoiding her. He'd been thrown off balance by what he'd seen in the Anderson's living room. He hadn't liked Jeff's interest in Lois's relationship with Superman. That she could be threatened by that relationship had been a fear in the back of his mind, and it now came unbidden to the surface. "Let's check the lower ridge," he said as he walked down toward the area that was still marked off by the yellow ropes and wooden stakes left by the police. He willed his mind to focus on the crime they were investigating, blocking out the implications of Jeff Anderson's comment, and tried to distance himself from the attractive woman behind him. Her startled cry caught his attention and he looked up to see her in the process of falling. In a flash he was beside her, catching her just before she fell. He was doomed he thought; he would never lose that protective feeling he had for her. Steadying her, he said softly "You okay?" "Yes. Thank you." She was walking gingerly, testing the reliability of the ankle that she had twisted a moment ago when she had stumbled on a loose rock. "You moved quickly, Clark! How'd you do it?" "Adrenaline, I guess. I seem to have a sixth sense where you're concerned, Ms. Lane." "Good. That's good." She smiled at him and put her hand on his chest, and then searched his face. "Clark, what's bothering you? Why did you pull me out of the house so quickly?" He let out a shallow breath. He didn't want to talk to her about this yet. It had been unexpected and he wasn't sure what to do, but he knew that Lois would be sure what to do. She'd whirl back in that living room like a righteous tornado. "Lois, I'm okay. . . And you. . . you were about to blow! The Lane volcano!" She wasn't satisfied with his response, but she decided to let it go for now. Tonight, they would have time to talk. So she said, "Okay, partner, let's get to work." He took her hand ( in case she tripped again, he told himself ), and they walked farther down the ridge, their feet cushioned by the fallen leaves of last October. When they got to the place where Alice Cardinal had been buried, they stopped. Lois looked back at the house while Clark tramped around the site looking for anything that the police, with less powerful vision, might have missed. Lois was trying to reconstruct in her mind what had happened. She walked over to him and said, "Clark, what do you think might have happened that night? I know that Alice left for the dance with a group of friends. Likely one of the group was her date. We could ask Mary Cardinal that tomorrow." "I wonder if they went directly to the dance or if Alice and her date decided to come here first, to the empty house?" Clark added. "Jane might know that," Lois said. A small unbidden voice also said, < and ask your uncle>. "Perhaps Alice and her date used the house to talk, most likely about her pregnancy. Then a fight?" "Or, instead, maybe they came here after the dance. I think that would have been more likely, but, given the coroner's report, I think you're right about the fight, Lois." "Assuming they fought in the house, then Alice's body would have been dragged or carried down the ridge to where we're standing." Lois looked around her. "This spot is heavily treed and completely hidden from the road. It would be possible to dig a shallow grave and not be noticed." As Clark listened to her, he followed her gaze up to the top of the ridge, to the back of the old house. "Let's go back up there and try to work out the easiest way down. I think we just took the quickest way down, rather than the easiest." They climbed back up to the top and then walked along the ridge looking for a likely way down. "I don't suppose after all these years we'll be able to find anything." Lois said as she looked over the landscape. "Anyway, if something dropped or fell off, it's probably buried now beneath a couple of inches of decayed leaves and soil." They walked down the easiest incline this time and stood looking back up through the trees. Clark was standing behind her so it was easy for him to do a quick scan of the hillside, and then he thought he saw it, a bit of gold lying under the dark earth along the path they had just taken. He wondered how he could legitimately 'find' it and then he remembered what Lois had told him about the metal detector that the Andersons had been using. "Lois, why don't we ask the Andersons if we can borrow their metal detector to scan this part of the slope. Maybe we can turn up the other earring." Then he realized grimly that this might also give him another chance to find out more about what the Anderson's were looking for. When they reached the front of the house, Brenda was outside, about to get in her car. She agreed easily to their request and minutes later Clark was carrying the instrument and a rusty garden trowel that Brenda had found in a small shed near the house. "Do you mind if I come with you?" she asked. They looked at her in surprise. "I admit, I'm curious about what did really happen. If you do find something, I can act as a second witness, so to speak." "That's a good idea," Lois said. Once again they made their way down the slope and began to search the 'route' Lois had pronounced to be the easiest but found nothing. About half way up the second path, they heard the high pitched frequency of the electronic sensor and stopped. Digging carefully, Clark uncovered the earring. It was gold, a large hoop incised with stylized outlines of two snakes, each set with a small garnet. "Don't touch it," Brenda said automatically. "I'll contact the police and they can check this area properly. They'll be able to say if it's a match for the original." She stood up and climbed briskly up the slope. "Why do I get the feeling she's not unaccustomed to finding this sort of thing, Clark?" "She does seem pretty efficient." "Clark, what do *you* think they're looking for out here?" He looked at her for a moment, uncertain what to say. He wanted to be sure before he told her. Then he spoke quietly, "Lois, I don't know. Look, why don't we continue scanning the hill." He stepped away from her, sweeping the detector back and forth across the earth, noticing as he walked backwards down the slope that the instrument he was using was quite sophisticated, able to sense more than mineral fragments. As he worked, he wondered if the Bureau was still interested in Superman, or if Jeff's earlier comment had been coincidental. He would have to find out. Lois watched him, his head bent as he concentrated on his task. She felt chilled, as if he had removed his warmth from her. She wasn't sure what was going on. It was like he was running out on her again, only here there was no video store to flee to. What was he afraid of? Sitting on an exposed boulder, she watched him until he reached the bottom. He looked up at her. "Nothing," he said. As he was walking back toward her, Brenda appeared at the top of the ridge and called down. "I've phoned the police. They're on their way. Why don't you two come up to the house for some tea until they get here?" Lois stood up and turned around. "Thank you. I could use a cup of tea right now." Clark was beside her. "That would be great. Thanks." Moments later they were standing on the faded linoleum floor of the Anderson's front hall. Lois removed her boots. "Do you mind if I use your washroom?" She slid out of her jacket and handed it to Brenda. "It's upstairs, second door on the right," she said as she tossed Lois's coat on a chair and then turned towards the front room. She paused for a moment as though noticing the room for the first time. "We still haven't completely moved in." Her voice was apologetic as she spoke to Clark. "Sit down. I'll go make some tea." Clark looked around the room while Brenda was in the kitchen. He wondered were Jeff had gone but was glad for the moment to be alone. He walked over to the corner which housed the computer, printer, modem--all the peripherals, the latest and the best. He did a quick scan of the workspace but noticed nothing unusual. The top of the desk was almost bare, mail neatly organized in a black mesh holder and files stacked by the computer. Lying to one side was a magazine on farming, one that he recognized as having been a mainstay in his home back in Kansas since he was a boy. That and the 'National Geographic,' he thought with a smile, suddenly nostalgic for the simpler times of his childhood. This particular issue of 'Natural Farm' featured an article on goat farming. He smiled appreciatively. he thought. He turned as he heard Lois's footsteps on the stairs and he watched her as she came into the room. Then, at that moment, Jeff entered the room, carrying an armload of firewood. "Hi. Have you two finished checking things out, then?" He walked across the room and deposited the wood in front of the dark brick fireplace in the centre of the far wall. Kneeling, he carefully arranged logs and kindling in the hearth and then lit a match. Once he was satisfied that the fire was burning successfully, he sat down and smiled slightly at his visitors. "We seem to have stumbled on quite a mystery out here," he said. "I understand you found the body quite by accident, " Clark said. "While you were searching for something else, I believe." "Just a hobby," Jeff said. "We heard there were a lot of mines in this area once. Perhaps we might find something worthwhile." Brenda entered the room and placed a tray with a brown teapot and plain mugs on a small square table in front of the sofa. As she poured the tea, she said, "We haven't found anything yet, though." "I guess you'll have to keep looking. Never can tell what you'll find." Clark decided to do some digging." Lois tells me there were rumours of aliens being spotted out here years ago. Maybe you'll find some evidence of that." "I doubt it. You two have probably had more contact with aliens than I have." Jeff sipped at his tea and then said, "Afterall, Superman is not exactly from around here." Brenda spoke. "What's he like? You know, I'm not even sure if he is an alien. He could be the result of secret government or corporate experiments in biotechnology and genetic engineering. If so, it'll be interesting to watch how he develops over the next couple of years. The results of these experiments are often short-lived, I believe." Lois was floored, but before she could speak, Jeff said, "It's a great opportunity for you two as reporters though. When the next big development connected with him happens, you'll be on top of the story." Clark placed his mug on the table carefully, fearful he might break it if he got distracted. "Development? What are you expecting?" "Remember last year when Superman was out of control, committing acts of vandalism?" Jeff asked. "Yes, but that wasn't his fault," Lois spoke in Superman's defence. "Wasn't it? I know what your paper said, but next time, it could be more serious. People could be seriously injured," Brenda said. Lois tried to be reasonable. "Look, you don't know Superman, but we do. He wouldn't hurt anyone." Brenda was not convinced. "I don't know if I agree. Remember, Superman shows no signs of emotion. I recall when he first appeared, he seemed to have some feeling for you, Lois, but that could have been part of the plan; after all, it's useful to have a media connection, particularly one with your credentials." Clark was aware of Lois's intake of breath and the increase of her heart rate as Brenda finished speaking. Surely she didn't believe that Superman had been using her. He didn't recognize his voice when he spoke; it seemed to be coming from someone else. "You think he's a threat then?" "No. Not at the moment," Jeff said. Silence, and then Lois spoke, astounded at what he had said. "Not at the moment? Superman has saved so many lives! How can you even think that he could be a threat?" "Ms. Lane," his voice was serious, "You're obviously too close to him. We don't know what he is, how he got here, why he's here. He's been here less than two years. There may be more like him and who knows what they are planning, what their goals are? We don't know much about him either, except that he's not human." Brenda spoke, her voice almost clinical. "It would be interesting to know more about his body, his biological structure. I wonder if anyone has ever been able to take a sample of his body tissue?" Lois felt her blood go cold as they spoke. "I don't think you understand. Maybe it's because you don't live in Metropolis, haven't seen the things I have, we have." She turned to look at Clark, to include him in her comments. "Superman has helped so much, made such a difference to so many people. He's the best we can be, not some sort of alien threat. He's not some specimen to be dissected!" "How can you feel so strongly about him. How do you know you can trust him?" Jeff looked at her skeptically. "Because I can." There was no doubt in her voice. "I know that he would never willingly hurt anyone or betray anyone." "You haven't said very much about this, Clark. Perhaps you don't agree with your partner." Jeff's voice was speculative as he spoke. Clark had been listening, not pleased with Brenda's perception of Superman as a potential lab specimen, but he spoke lightly, "I know better than to disagree with my partner." He somehow felt Lois's icy glare. "I do agree, however, that Superman would never willingly hurt anyone. He is no threat." His voice was firm. Then he said, "I'm curious though, Jeff. Do you think the government should keep Superman under surveillance, just in case he does turn out to be a threat?" "It would be a good idea. We can't afford to be caught by surprise. Superman's intentions may very well be harmless but we don't know very much about him. It's our lack of information that's dangerous." "I suppose the government has some sort of contingency plan in case he does turn out to be a threat," Clark commented. Jeff shrugged his shoulders. "Who knows?" Lois had been surprised by Clark's questions but decided to follow his lead. "By the way, we saw references to UFO sightings in this area in the 'Link' when we were doing a background check on Alice Cardinal this morning." "I've checked out a few reports, nothing in any depth," Jeff said. They continued to talk about the reported sightings around Legatteville for awhile and then turned to other things, both Lois and Clark trying to probe more into their background and not having much success. About 4 o'clock Frank Johaansen arrived and they all walked with him to where Clark had uncovered the earring. Frank had come prepared and now he opened his kit and put on a pair of plastic gloves. As he carefully turned the hoop in his hand he said, "It's a match for the other one. Must've come off as the body was dragged downhill." * * * For awhile, they drove back to Allie and Dave's in silence, each preoccupied with unwelcome thoughts. Lois stared unseeingly out the window of the car and then turned to look at Clark's hands on the steering wheel, finding some reassurance in them. He rarely drove, so when he did she was always surprised at how good a driver he was. His hands were large, strong, and calm on the wheel. He's like that she thought. Her gaze shifted to his face and her reassurance vanished. The skin across his cheekbones seemed tight, his face a mask as he stared ahead at the road. She didn't understand what was happening. Somehow, he seemed to sense her uneasiness. He turned, a small rueful smile crossing his face. "What happened back there, Clark? About Superman, I mean?" He let his breath out slowly and she could feel his tension. She touched his arm gently, her eyes fixed on his face, and waited. "Lois, have you ever really *thought* about Superman; I mean, who he is, what he is? Have you never really thought about the fact that he's, well, not normal?" "Clark," Her tone told him that she thought his question was pretty obvious, "he can fly! I had noticed that no one else I knew could do that." "Lois!" but he relaxed slightly at the teasing tone of her voice. "Okay, I admit, for a moment, I was shaken. It had never crossed my mind that he could be using us. Is that what's upset you, too? I know you thought he was your friend. And he is. Clark, what the Andersons said is not true. He's risked his life for Metropolis. Remember rule number one: always consider your source, and the Andersons I doubt. For starters, they're not married." "How do you know that?" "Well, when they're together, they've never seemed like a couple to me. There doesn't seem to be a connection between them. You know." He turned briefly to look at her, his face a question. Women were astonishing he thought. How did they reach these conclusions? "Proof?" "Ah hah!" Her voice was pleased. "When I was upstairs the doors to the bedrooms were open so. . ." "You couldn't resist and found. . ." "Not much," her voice was triumphant. "Like the rest of the house, a place to stay, but not. . ." "a home. Empty rooms. . ." he continued her thought. "One empty room," she corrected him. "The other two bedrooms are both being used. Clark they aren't. . ." "sleeping together." "Right! Clark, if we were married we definitely would be sharing the same bed." Then a pause as she realized what she'd said. "I mean, you know. . . most couples. . . it's only natural. . ." "Yeah." He grinned and took her hand. He'd thought about that. A lot. * * * But Jeff and Brenda's comments wouldn't leave him. He dressed slowly for his date with Lois, wondering, for the first time, if having a relationship, if getting married was the right thing. He had wanted that for so long, been so sure that they were meant to be together. He had never lost that conviction, even during the nightmare that had been her engagement to Lex Luthor, but Jeff's comments this afternoon had shaken him. That, and the reappearance of Bureau 39. Apparently the government had not dropped their investigations, did not fully trust Superman. What right did he have to pull Lois into this, to put her at risk? It was bad enough that his parents were involved. Maybe he had been wrong to think that he could have a normal life, friends, a job, someone to love. Maybe it would be more responsible to isolate himself, to retreat into solitude. Bleakly, he looked in the mirror, searching for some sign that he was different but he couldn't see one. He wished that Jeff had been right about his lack of emotion; that he were some kind of Spock-like being, operating on pure logic, mildly bewildered by the human feelings around him. He had rarely felt physical pain in his life but he felt it now as his stomach twisted at the thought of what he knew he had to do tonight. He could not put Lois at risk. He would tell her that he had been wrong, that they could not be together. He was waiting in the living room when he heard her steps at the top of the staircase. He stood up and turned to look at her, catching his breath as he did so. He thought she had never looked more beautiful, more seductive, her dark hair skimming the top of her bare shoulders. Her dark burgundy dress was cut low over the swell of her high breasts, emphasizing the narrowness of her waist and the curve of her hips. He could not move. Lois smiled at him radiantly as she entered the living room. He really was gorgeous, she thought. He was wearing dark charcoal slacks and shirt, and a grey tweed coat and she wanted very much to kiss him. Instead, she walked over to him and slid her arm through his. "Shall we go, Mr. Kent?" She felt him flinch as she spoke and looked up, surprised. His face had taken on that tight, drawn look that she had seen earlier today. She pulled her hand away from his arm, suddenly uncertain. "I'll get your coat," he said, and walked to the closet to pull her long woolen coat from its hanger. Standing behind her, he helped her on with it, distracted by the fragrance of her perfume, the softness of her hair as it brushed lightly against his cheek. For a moment he kept his hands on her shoulders and then said softly, "Let's go." Their date was a disaster. Clark behaved like an idiot, acting more like a Vulcan than a Krptonian raised in Kansas by loving and affectionate parents. The drive to the Legatteville hotel seemed to take forever as Clark confined his conversation to polite observations about the similarities between Smallville and Legatteville. Lois thought he sounded like a cultural anthropologist. At one point she thought hysterically that she was on a date with Data and started to giggle only to be met by his silence. By the time they were walking into the hotel, she was so unnerved she wanted to bolt. Dinner was no better. Their conversation was stilted with only the occasional welcome relief of the waiter bringing the next course or pouring water or wine. Her mouth was dry and she kept drinking water like someone who has been lost for days in a desert. Once, she reached across to touch his hand and he had immediately withdrawn it. She was sure she could hear the sound of her knife on her plate. Lois was panicking; she had known it would be a mistake to go out on a date with him and she had been right. All her relationships were disasters, she thought. How could she have been so wrong about him? After all, he did keep disappearing on her, usually when she wanted to talk to him about something important. That should have been a big clue! But she had thought there had been an intensity there in his feelings for her. It was what had frightened her until she had recognized, and then accepted, that the intensity was there in her too. Clark was miserable. He looked across the table at Lois, sitting very straight in her chair, pushing her food back and forth across her plate and drinking incredible amounts of water for some reason. Her eyes had long ago lost the glow they had held when she had walked over to him at the beginning of the evening. "I guess this wasn't such a good idea, " he said finally. "I guess not." Her voice was toneless and she kept her eyes on her plate. For a horrible moment she thought she was going to cry, her sense of loss seemed so great. "I'm sorry, Lois." He knew he owed her more, but he couldn't bring himself to speak. He hadn't known anything could hurt so much. The band started to play, the music an old standard, smoothly romantic, ironic. "Let's go Clark. There's no reason to stay any longer." She stood up, feeling she had to escape. "I'll just visit the Ladies' Room and then I'll meet you in the lobby." He watched her cross the room, a look of longing on his face. He signalled the waiter and asked for the bill. In the washroom, Lois looked at herself in the mirror, not pleased at the despair she saw there. What had happened? Until this afternoon she and Clark had been so close, quietly pleased with themselves about their upcoming date, each of them aware of it in an almost conspiratorial way. What had changed that? Thinking back to this afternoon, she realized he had started to act oddly after their talks with the Anderson's about Superman. Was that it? Had those conversations reminded him of how she had thrown herself at Superman? Did he think that he was her second choice and realized he couldn't accept that? Her face took on a determined look. "Well, Clark Kent, I'm not giving up on us that easily." She spoke out loud to her reflection in the mirror, then suddenly realized she was not alone. She turned to the woman who had stopped to look at her and said the only possible thing in the circumstances. "Men!" The woman smiled and said, "Good luck." Clark was standing in the lobby waiting for her when she came out. As she approached him, she had a look in her eye that made him uneasy, one he had seen before but never directed at him. He held out her coat for her. She took it, folded it over her arm, and looked at him like a general about to go into battle. "Okay, Clark. This has been the worst date of my life. Even worse than the date with the computer guy in my second year of college." She jabbed him in the chest. "Even worse than the blind date that Cat set up for me with the sales rep from Microsoft." She jabbed his chest again "Even worse than..." "I get the picture, Lois." "And, *you* are coming with *me* right now." She gestured toward the hotel bar. "We are going to talk." She moved away from him, striding into the darkened bar, and then, spotting a table in the far end of the room , she headed toward it. She did not look back to see if he was following her. She sat down in the corner alcove, sinking back into the leather-covered bench, watching him carefully as he approached the table. He slid onto the bench so that he was sitting at a right angle beside her, but he said nothing. The waiter came over, quickly took their orders, and left. "All right, Clark, what happened out there this afternoon?" Her voice was firm, insistent. Then she reached out to touch his hand and her voice lost its aggressive edge, "I thought you wanted us to be closer." She watched his face, searching for some clue to his thoughts. "Lois, it's not as simple as that, and I don't think we can talk about it here." But he didn't pull his hand away, although he said nothing more. Lois sighed and decided to raise the stakes, rationalizing that nothing could be worse than where they were right now. She absently brushed her thumb across the back of his hand, aware of his tension. She spoke softly, keeping her eyes fixed on his face. "Tonight should have been wonderful, Clark. Is it Superman? That talk this afternoon? Do you think that I'm still in love with him? Is that it?" "Lois, this afternoon, I saw a document with Bureau 39 in the heading on the computer at the Anderson's. I think they're probably government agents, and given their comments about Superman, it looks like the government still has not decided what Superman is. Lois, if you were involved with Superman, you could be at risk." She was faintly puzzled by his comments. Why was he so preoccupied with this? Why did he think that he had to warn her about this? "But Clark, we are involved with him. We're his friends and if he's under suspicion, then he needs us. We can't let him face this alone. He has to know that he can count on us. In some ways, you know, I think he's a bit naive. He'll need us." "Oh, so you're going to protect Superman, are you?" "Yes. Somebody has to!" He laughed briefly then, aware of a sense of surprise and wonder at her attitude, at the decisiveness in her voice, and felt some of the tension drain from his body. He had overreacted to the presence of the Bureau agents; there were bigger threats out there than they posed. And, he thought, Lois Lane wasn't going to let him face those threats alone, regardless of how much he might want to protect her. He leaned back against the upholstered seat and said softly, "You are incredible, Ms. Lane." She flashed a brief grin at him. "It's about time you realized that, Clark Kent." Then she shifted in her seat so that she was facing him. "Clark, I guess it was pretty obvious how I felt about Superman. He was safe to love. He's honest, good, he cares about people and I admire those things. I was infatuated with him, with what he stands for, and I'll always care for him. I can't imagine not doing that. But Clark, you're like that too. Only there's more, so much more." Her voice turned shaky and she looked at him ruefully. "And sometimes when you smile at me, Clark Kent, the back of my knees go weak." She took a breath and then decided to go the distance. "I've never felt like this before, and I'm not going to let you go. I'm in love with you Clark; nothing is going to change that." "I guess I've been a bit of a jerk, tonight." His voice was soft. "Uh huh. Fortunately, I'm a forgiving sort of person." "Fortunately." He bent forward and placing his hand on the side of her face, he kissed her, slowly, sweetly. "I love you too, Lois Lane. I've loved you for such a long time." He'd been a fool; the decision about their relationship had never been his to make; it had been hers. It had been hers since the first day they had met, and she had been right; he did need her. The waiter interrupted them as he hovered by the side of their table for a moment before putting down their drinks. Lois regained her composure enough to thank him while Clark paid him, leaving a very generous tip. The waiter grinned appreciatively; lovers were always generous. A boisterous group of about seven people entered the bar and took the empty table next to theirs. Serious conversation turned out to be impossible and so they sipped their drinks in silence, holding hands, content to be together, each knowing there were still things they hadn't said, that they wanted to say to each other. Later, as they were leaving the bar, Clark impulsively pulled Lois against him and kissed her hard. Sitting beside her, just holding hands had taken its toll on his self restraint. After she caught her breath, Lois looked at him with narrowed eyes. "I bet you're pleased with yourself, Kent." "Right now I'm feeling *very* pleased, Lois," he said, his eyes glittering. She felt the back of her knees go weak. * * * Shortly after midnight, as she snuggled contentedly in her bed, Lois drowsily thought about the rest of the evening. After they had left the bar, they'd returned to the dining room, drawn by the soft sounds of old jazz classics. A very young and very talented woman was singing, her voice low and throaty, "At last my love has come along My lonely days are over And life is but a song." As she had continued to sing, Clark had taken Lois's hand and she had followed his lead as they danced, far enough apart so that they could gaze at each other as they listened to the lyrics of the song, their eyes shining. When the song ended, Clark bent his head and softly kissed her neck, just behind her earlobe. "That's how you make me feel, Lois," he'd whispered. Lois fell asleep thinking about how they'd talked and laughed for the next couple of hours, how incredible his arms had felt around her as they had danced, how she wanted more, how she wanted him. Across the hall, Clark was still wide awake, thinking about the incredible woman in the opposite room. It had taken every ounce of his self-control not to use his x-ray vision to watch her, < spy on > he thought, as she had got ready for bed. Well, okay, that wasn't quite true. For the first time in his life he actually had used his vision for that purpose. He had been dreamily remembering how good she had felt in his arms, how soft her lips had been as he had kissed her goodnight, and then he had heard it, the sound of a zipper being pulled down in the room across the hall. It had been automatic; he had looked. He had watched mesmerized as she had stepped quickly out of her dress and then walked to the closet to hang it up. As she hung it up she had smiled about something and then giggled and it was at that moment that his conscience caught up with him. He shook his head and refocused, disgusted with his adolescent behavior. He sighed, and fell into bed, images of Lois Lane's voluptuous body refusing to leave his mind. < Lois, we're going to have to do something about this very soon.> He was already at the table the next morning when she came down. "Good morning," he said looking at her for some affirmation of what they had shared last evening. "How are you?" "Fine, fine. Dreamt about you last night," she said as she poured orange juice. He grinned wickedly at her. "Was I good?" Immediately she turned red and then the Lane pride took over. She sat back in her chair and raised an eyebrow, her voice indignant. "You hope." But Clark had no pride where she was concerned and he grinned again. "I do." They were laughing as Dave joined them in the kitchen. "You two seem in good spirits this morning." He opened the fridge and started rummaging for food. "We were a little later than usual last night and Allie's still asleep. Thought I'd see if I could figure out how to make pancakes. "In truth, he didn't figure he could but was hopeful that his niece could, assuming as he was that it was part of every girl's basic training. Clark spoke up. "Want some help?" He walked over to the fridge and pulled out a container of buttermilk and some eggs. "Where do you keep your flour?" Dave wasn't sure about that but his third guess turned out to be right. Realizing gratefully that breakfast was not going to be a lost cause, he poured himself some orange juice and sat down beside his niece. For a moment they both watched as Clark efficiently went about the task of making pancakes. "Talented guy," he said to Lois. "That's what I keep telling her," Clark said as he spooned the batter onto the grill. "I have multiple uses." Allie walked in at that moment and looked at the scene in front of her. "I'd offer my help but it doesn't appear necessary." Clark turned to her, "Just tell me where the maple syrup is and you'll shortly be having Kent's gourmet pancakes." As she reached into the cupboard next to the fridge, Allie said, "So, how was dinner last night? " She hoped she sounded casual as she asked the question. She was surprised by their response; Lois giggled and Clark turned to watch her while she answered. "Well, I'm not sure what I ate; I was so enthralled by Clark's *brilliant* conversation, it was hard to notice." Clark rolled his eyes and turned back to his task. As he flipped the pancakes, he said to Allie. "Nerves. Your niece overwhelms me. Performance anxiety." It was Lois's turn to roll her eyes and then she said demurely, "He improved though." Clark turned and flashed her a happy grin, and Allie smiled, thinking that this time she would go to Lois's wedding. She handed Clark a plate onto which he piled the pancakes. He carried it over to the table and they all helped themselves . "These are pretty good," Dave said after he swallowed his first mouthful. "How'd you learn to make these?" his voice was thoughtful as he looked at his forkful of pancake. "Maybe there's some hope for my husband. This could mean that I would be able to leave him alone for breakfast. He wouldn't starve." "Umf," Dave's reply was a grunt as he continued to eat his breakfast. "It's my Mom's recipe. I'm an early riser and so she decided pretty early that I had better learn to manage for myself first thing in the morning." "Wise woman." Allie was curious about his parents, what they were like. "She is." Lois commented. "Both Clark's parents are pretty wonderful," she said, remembering how they had always made her feel part of their family, >from the very first time she had visited Smallville. "They're half the reason I tolerate Clark," she smiled at him mischeviously. "Although these pancakes could be