Plot: Lois has just landed a one on one interview with Lionel Luthor who is incarcerated in jail for murder of his parents. Events take an unexpected turn leading her to deal with an earth shattering revelation about Clark...
Chapter 1
Lois could not believe it when the letter when arrived from the Penitentiary granting her access to her first big break in journalism. She did not think for one minute she would be able to land a billionaire double murderer
She and her fellow students had been given their first assignment as soon as they started the course.
The title – Interview someone with an important story to tell.
She had landed a one-one with Lionel Luthor.
Of course she was angry towards him. He had tried to kill her cousin as well as destroy the Kents more times than she could mention, but something drew her to him. She wanted to know why he had murdered his parents and why he had it in for the Kent's. There was a rumour circulating that he only had weeks to live after contracting a fatal liver disease. This made it even more likely that he would give her a major exclusive.
Jim Bayliss, the boss at the jail had given her full unlimited access to Lionel Luthor if he agreed, one of the perks of having her father serve with Jim in Vietnam. However she still could not believe Lionel would agree to see her, but now he had so she had to prepare herself.
She felt uncomfortable on her first visit to see him. All those high risk prisoners all in one place and there did not seem to be many guards on duty. She was taken to a private room, as arranged by Jim. In fact Lois had agreed to have no guard present in the room but was given a panic button in case she needed help.
She was shocked by the appearance of Lionel, he had gone from a smartly dressed business man with wild thick hair to a bald, thin, and frail looking man. His skin had a tinge of yellow, no doubt as a result of his liver disease.
"Ms Lane..." he said politely as he offered his hand to her.
"Mr Luthor..." she remained in her seat, unmoved by his gesture. The guard handcuffed him to the table and left.
"Please call me Lionel." He said.
"Ok..." she said sternly determined not to show any emotion or weakness, even though she was very nervous.
"Thank you for agreeing to see me." Lionel said. "I appreciate the chance to get my story across."
"Lionel, you should know before you start that I am not going to be some sort of Luthor propaganda machine and will only print the truth as I see it." Lois stated.
"That's fine by me." He said calmly. "Go on...begin."
"Can I start by asking if you are dying?"
"You do not beat around the bush do you, Ms Lane. I like that. And to answer your question, the doctor has given me a month or so to live. Apparently my last blood results were not very encouraging."
"Is that why you have agreed to do this interview?" Lois asked.
"Yes it is. I want to be able to get my story across there so I can attempt to make peace with those whose life I have destroyed."
"And who would that be?"
"My son, the Kents, probably half the population of Smallville if the truth be known." He stated.
So he went on telling Lois everything. He would not allow her to record anything but she could make notes which he would sign at their last interview for proof that they were his words. Nothing was to be published until after his death.
Lois visited twice weekly for the next two weeks, spending hours each time building up a book of material. She actually found Lionel to be an easy person to interview due to his new found openness and honesty. In some ways she was starting to pity him. At every visit he had lost a few more pounds and looked more jaundiced.
None of this prepared her for the events of the third week. Gone was the weak Lionel, resigned to dying and sitting in front of her was the ruthless Lionel she had always known. It was almost as though he had a new chance at life.
"Lionel, what is different today?" she asked him directly.
"Ms Lane, I have a lot of time on my hands as you can imagine, and on reflection I have decided not to go any further with this interview. I will not authorise you to publish anything."
"What has changed?" she asked disappointedly.
"Maybe I am about to have a new leash of life." He smiled.
There was something very odd in his words and the strangest thing was, if she did not know any better she would have believed him.
"I am sorry you have made this decision Mr Luthor but I appreciate your time." She got up and walked out with saying anything else. Outside she allowed her disappointment to show.
Lois decided to drive to the Kent Farm for a few hours. She had missed them so much since moving into her dorm room. She had a single dorm room in a quiet corner of the campus. Met U was not exactly turning into the fun and wild times she was expecting.
As she pulled up she noticed Clark storming off to the barn. She wondered what was up with him.
She went to the farmhouse to see his parents in deep discussion. She tapped gently on the door making them stop what they were talking about.
"Lois..." Martha shouted as she came to give her a hug. "What are you doing here? It is great to see you again."
Jonathan smiled. "Hi Lois, how is Uni life?"
"Fine, thanks! I was just out for a drive and thought I would see if you were in."
"have a seat, I will make you a coffee." Martha said.
"Thanks, Mrs K. So how is everything around here?" she asked.
"Nothing much changes." Jonathan replied.
"I saw Clark going off to the barn. Is he ok?" she probed.
"Yeah, he is just going through a bad patch at the moment with the Lana break up." Martha explained.
"Oh I see. Is it ok if I go and see him for a while. Maybe I can cheer him up."
Jonathan nodded. "Good luck, think you'll need it."
As soon as Lois had left, Martha turned to her husband. "Have you noticed how Clark's mood picked up for the month Lois lived here? If I did not know better I would say there is a possibility of something more with those two."
Jonathan laughed. "But Martha, you do know better, don't you?"
Martha just nodded and laughed.
Clark was sitting on the sofa moping. "Hey Smallville."
"Lois, what are you doing here?" Despite his question, she could see he was smiling.
"I was desperate to come and see you again." She smirked.
"No doubt as desperate as I am to see you. It has been quiet and peaceful since you left, and it is lovely to have my bed back again." He announced sarcastically.
"I miss you too." She laughed. "So what is with your mood?"
"What mood?" he asked.
"It's Lana isn't it?" she asked.
He opened up. "Yeah I guess it is. I just got so used to being with her."
"Have you ever thought that Lana is an obsession rather than true love. You two are broken up more than together. Why don't you just give up?"
"Lois, when you love someone like I do Lana, you will understand why I can't just give up." He snapped back.
"Sorry, I am being as tactful as usually. Just remember if you want to talk..."
Clark was not impressed. "Yes, if I want to talk. I will go and see someone else."
Lois was upset by that comment. "Fine Clark, I am sorry I bothered you. You obviously don't need me." She ran down the stairs without looking back.
Lex pulled up just as Lois came out the barn. "Good luck Lex. He is in a mood." Lois remarked.
"Obviously not a good time to ask him to come and see my father with me."
"You're going to see your father." Lois asked, determined not to give away her recent visits.
"Yes, I thought it might help me come to terms with things if I can get some closure from him." Lex seemed upset.
"Good luck." She smiled, realising he had no chance whatsoever. Just then a sheepish looking Clark appeared from the barn.
"Lois, can we talk. Lex, I will be a few minutes."
Clark followed Lois to her car. "Lo, please. I need a chance to apologise. Our friendship means more to me than you will ever know." He said loudly enough for Lois to hear but quietly enough that no-one else did.
"Save it Clark!" she got in the car and sped off.
Lex and Clark headed off to the jail to see Lionel.
Lex looked at his father sitting across from him. "You don't look well, Dad. Forget to take your vitamins?"
Lionel tried to look emotional. "I know how deeply angry you are, Lex. You let them put me in this godforsaken place because of that anger. But it's too late to change anything now."
" So I've heard. A month left before your liver gives up on you for good. What, you didn't think I'd trek all the way out here without having a chat with your doctor?" Lex smiled.
"I wanted to see you, Lex, to say goodbye. Face to face. I have done many things in my life that I have come to regret. But there is one thing I'll never forgive myself... I never... said... I love you. Please."
Clark who had been waiting nearby saw Lionel suddenly lurch towards his son and tried to warn him. " Lex, no!" He dove and tackled Lionel to the floor, but not before something happened.
There was a flash of light and when Clark opened his eyes, he realised that he was staring at himself, and even worse Lex was helping up the other Clark and pulling him away out of the building.
As Clark got up, he brushed his hair with his hand and soon realised he was in Lionel's body. Whatever had happened when he tackled Lionel had resulted in a body swap. He tried to react with his powers but he no longer had them. That meant Lionel was in his body with powers.
The realisation of what that could mean suddenly dawned on him and to make matters worse he was powerless to do anything as he was dragged back to his prison cell by two burly guards.
He was placed in the cell with a little man. "Oh... you must be Lex, I'm Edgar"
"Lex? No, I'm not Lex. I'm Clark Kent."
Edgar gulped. "Oh, Houston, we have a problem. That stone was meant for Lex. No..".
" Where did Lionel get this?"
"Uh... um...I-I don't know." Edgar lied.
"Please, you have to tell me. " Clark begged to know.
"It came from this... Mayan rain god statue. Eh...one of his teams found it in an underwater ruin off the coast of Honduras."
"How did he know to search there?" Clark asked puzzled.
"Oh, he's scouring the globe, yeah. These ancient symbols - they've shown up in, uh, Egypt, Central America, even a, uh, sacred Indian cave right here in Kansas."
Edgar went onto explain how he got involved and his ability to solve seemingly impossible puzzles.
"What did you do to end up in here?" Clark inquired.
" If you ask the D.A., I embezzled $14 million from the Princeton University pension fund."
"Did you do it?" Clark asked.
"I was framed."
Clark looked at him suspiciously. " And you just happened to end up in this prison in Lionel Luthor's cell?"
" Yeah. That was pretty lucky, huh? All I have to do is get my hands on a couple of these symbols, and, um, he set me up with his lawyers. They're still trying to get me outta here. I just hope he lasts long enough..".
" What do you mean?"
Edgar offered a sympathetic smile. " He's dying. Yeah. Yeah, he's dying. Mathematically speaking, it's happening. He only has a few weeks to live."
Clark could not believe this was happening. "If he's dying, then... that means... I'm gonna die."
Lois headed back to her dorm room and mulled over the events of the past few hours. She could not work out why she was so affected by Clark Kent and his words. She realised she had been way out of order as well and decided that she would go and talk to him to smooth things over.
When Clark lay in the cell that night, he lay and thought about things. He needed to act fast. Who knows what Lionel with his powers could do. He would be living with his parents and amongst his friends, he could hurt them. The only way he could help was to get back into his body or at least out of jail.
He did not know who he could warn. His mom and dad would not believe him, Chloe did not know about his powers and he did not want to place anyone in danger. He felt powerless to act, his frustration was getting the better of him.
Edgar could hear Clark shifting about on the bottom bunk so he peeped his face over the edge of the bunk.
"Clark, you will have to get Lionel back here and touch him with the rock for you to transfer into your own body again."
"There is no way that Lionel will come within a mile of this prison. He will be able to see straightaway what I have planned. I need to find out my parents are ok. I do not want to think about what Lionel could do to them."
"Is there no-one who will believe you?" Edgar asked him.
"No, my parents are the only ones and they will never come to visit Lionel in jail. They hate him."
"Lionel never was one to get a lot of visitors although he did spend hours with some journalist. He said something about putting his side of the story across before he died."
"How did he manage to get a journalist to come and see him. Do you know who he was? Maybe he might know something." Clark probed.
"It wasn't a man. It was a pretty young girl, in fact now I think about it, she wasn't a fully fledged journalist."
"Who was she?" Clark asked, looking anything that might help him get out of this situation.
"Let me think! Now I remember...She was a student at Met U."
"Do you know a name?" Clark probed further.
"No I can't remember it, but she had the same initials as Lionel. He used to joke about that."
Clark suddenly had an idea. "It wasn't Lois Lane was it?"
Edgar's face lit up. "You're hit the jackpot! Do you know her?"
"Yes, you could say that. Now I just need to get her back to the jail."
"Lionel severed his ties with her a few days ago, so why don't you just send her a letter saying you have had a change of heart and want to talk again."
Clark smiled. "There is no harm in trying it." He just hoped the reporter instinct would kick in and she would agree to a meeting. After all she was his only hope.
The next day, Lois sat in her dorm rooming reading the letter from the jail. She was convinced that Lionel was just playing some sick game with her, so she tossed it to one side, deciding she did not want to get drawn into whatever plan he was hatching.
Meanwhile she decided to head over to see Clark. She needed to clear the air with him.
She turned up at the farm to find it empty except for a light in the loft. She marched up the stairs, practising her apology the whole way up.
She was shocked when she laid eyes on Clark, he was all dressed up.
"Hi Clark, where are you off to?"
"mmm...Lois, what can I do for you?" he seemed distracted.
"I came to apologise for my behaviour the other day." She said coyly.
"What behaviour?" he asked puzzled.
"My rudeness when I was telling you not to bother with Lana." Lois announced quietly.
"Why did you say all those things?" Lionel was enjoying this opportunity to wind everyone up.
"I don't know. I don't like to see you get hurt and you always seem to get hurt when you and Lana are together."
Lionel smirked and walked towards her. "Lois, I don't believe you. I think there is more to it than that."
"Like what?" she asked puzzled.
"You are jealous. I can see it in your eyes." Lionel whispered in her ear when he got close enough.
Lois tried to back off. Clark's close proximity and actions were making her feel very uncomfortable.
"Jealousy, don't be ridiculous!" she fired back.
"I think you have feelings for me." He sneered, before planting a kiss on her lips.
Lois recoiled in horror at the touch of his lips. "Clark...Stop it." She pushed him off but wasn't having much luck. He continued to kiss her. Eventually she distracted him and pushed him away.
"Don't you ever do that to me again." She spat as she walked off shocked at what had just happened.
Lionel laughed, this was so much fun.
On the way home, she played the kiss over in her head. She had admitted to herself so many times that she did feel some sort of attraction to Clark on some kind of weird level. However that had been like being kissed by a stranger. What was going on with him? This stuff with Lana had obviously screwed him up well and truly...