Chp 24 – Flare
-- Metropolis – October 2010 --
Lois awoke with a start. In the darkness of her room, she smiled. She'd just had an epiphany.
Pulling back the covers, she jumped from her bed. She needed to share this information with Clark.
She yelped as she tripped over something on her floor, and fell onto the chest of Clark Kent. "Oof," she grunted. "Smallville! What are you doing on the floor?"
Clark blinked. "Um… sleeping."
"I can see that, but why are you on the floor?"
"The couch wasn't really all that comfortable. It's a little small," he explained, sheepishly.
Lois's brows rose. "Did it suddenly shrink or something? And why are you in my room?"
He ignored her first question. "I was just coming to check on you earlier… and then I decided to stay."
"Um… Clark…"
He started to blush. "Sorry, it's kind of an… involuntary reaction…"
"Involuntar… Oh! Okay." Lois moved to get off of him, inadvertently causing more of her body to rub against his.
The muscles in Clark's jaw tightened as he fought the urge to groan.
"You know what I could use right now?" Lois asked, brightly, flicking her hair over her shoulder. "Some tea. Some nice warm, soothing… and relaxing… tea. You want some?" She darted out of the door without waiting for him to answer.
Clark dropped his head back onto his pillow and took in a deep breath. When he felt composed, he got up from the floor and followed her into the kitchen.
When he arrived, he found her busily pouring liquid into two mugs.
She spoke to him without turning to face him. "I got this from your mom. Tea at night…or warm milk… never coffee, because you don't want the jitters. Tea. Comforting, calming, peaceful, serene, non-irritating, non-stimulating..."
Clark smiled as he wondered if she was trying to purposely sound like a thesaurus. "Tranquil," he offered, as she set one of the mugs on the counter and walked to the other side, to keep it between them.
"Tranquil," she repeated. "Soothing."
"You said that one. What woke you up?"
"Oh! I know who it is."
Clark frowned. "Who?"
"The Boss!" she exclaimed.
Earlier that night, they had been going through the preliminary information from Jimmy's searches, but hadn't been able to come up with any concrete leads. Lois's mind had been active even while she slept, and somehow, when she was unconscious, it had all come together.
"Bill Church, Sr.," she added.
"The Sav-Mart guy? How do you know?"
Lois brushed the hair off of her forehead. "I can't explain it. I just know it. I bet tomorrow when we get the rest of Jimmy's stuff, it will prove it."
Clark shrugged, and decided to accept her word for it. There was nothing more they could do about it until morning anyway.
They finished their tea in silence and headed back toward her bedroom. Clark needed to retrieve his pillow before heading to the couch.
As he bent down to get it, Lois eyed him suspiciously. "The couch is that bad, huh?"
"Only when I'm not floating over it."
The answer got a smirk from her. She had never tried sleeping on the thing herself. "Are you floating tonight?"
Clark shook his head. "The floor out there will be just fine."
"That's stupid," Lois said. "I've got a big bed- we can both sleep here."
Clark's eyebrows practically disappeared into his hairline. Lois noticed and rolled her eyes. "I said sleep."
He swallowed, clutching his pillow tightly. "You sure?… because the couch really isn't…"
"Yes, for crying out loud," Lois insisted, although she wasn't as confident as she let on. "You get your side. I get mine."
To make her point hit home, she walked to the bed and got under the covers, placing her large body pillow in the center. "And since you're immune, you can sleep on top of the sheets. Get the light, would you?" she asked, as she turned her back to the middle of the bed, closed her eyes, and snuggled into her pillow.
I'm not immune to everything, Clark thought to himself as he reached for the light switch.
He crept to the opposite side of the bed and lay down. Staring at the ceiling, he almost wished for the uncomfortable couch as he tried to lay as still as possible.
"Night, Smallville," Lois muttered, her voice muffled by the covers around her neck.
"Yeah," Clark responded. "Goodnight."
Clark drifted awake, getting a stronger than normal whiff of Lois's Cucumber Oil tinted scent. His eyes popped open when he remembered what had happened the night before, and how that had led to his being in her bed.
He raised his head a little and silently swore when he discovered that they were spooning. Lois would kill him if she woke up and found him under the covers. How had that happened?
He gently pulled away from her body, listening to her calm breathing to make sure his movements didn't cause her to wake up. He needed to move before she noticed another… erm, reaction.
After detaching himself and sliding out of the bed, he found the large body pillow that had somehow ended up on the floor on his side of the bed, and placed it back in the middle. With a quiet sigh, he headed toward the bathroom. That had been the best he had slept since… well ever.
As he dashed into the bathroom, he didn't see the smile that broke out on Lois's face as her eyes sleepily drifted open.
She yawned and decided to get up and start the Coffee Maker. Sometimes, it was good for a girl to know that she still had it.
Lois and Clark were sitting in one of the Planet's conference rooms. Jimmy's research was spread all over the table around them.
"Yes! I knew it!" Lois exclaimed.
They had spent the entire morning and part of the afternoon going through the papers in search of something that would support Lois's theory that Bill Church Sr. was the mastermind behind Intergang- and the man behind the smuggled weapons in the Congo.
The results of the cross-referenced reports showed that Church had definitely had some interaction with Intergang. While it wasn't conclusive, it was enough to make the authorities start turning over some stones.
The door to the room opened, and Perry stuck his head inside. "I need you two out of here, pronto."
Lois spun her chair around to face her boss. "We reserved this room for the entire day, Chief," she protested.
"I know it- and you haven't left it since you got here." Perry gestured to the empty Chinese Food containers on the table, and grunted. "Usually, I'm all for around-the-clock news, but as a charter member of Workaholics Anonymous, I'm doing my civic duty by kicking you out of my newsroom."
"You can't do…" Lois began.
"Actually, I can," Perry interrupted. "Kent, see if you can get your wife to take a walk." Perry knew that Clark had ways of getting Lois to act when no one else could. "I need both of you at the top of your game when this thing starts to go down- so go get some air. I don't expect to see either of you in less than two hours."
Lois glared at Perry's back as he left. "Some people just don't understand that art takes sweat and labor!"
Clark laughed and began gathering the papers into a pile. "He's right, Lois. Let's take a break. There's not much more we can do anyway."
Lois stood and shrugged into her blazer. "Fine, but you're buying the ice cream."
"Rocky Road. I know."
Lois dumped her napkins into the trash bin and adjusted her sunglasses. The weather would soon be turning cold, but at the moment, it was pleasantly cool. A great for taking a work break in Centennial Park.
"You see him?" she asked, referring to their ever-present FBI tail.
Clark chuckled. "Yeah. I wonder if he thinks that shirt makes him look casual."
"The Hawaiian print is a bit much," Lois agreed. "And that curly mop of hair is not something I would expect from an agent. I guess that most people would look at him and not have a clue he was with the Feds. That's probably what he is counting on."
Lois tucked her arm into the crook of Clark's elbow and they continued walking through Centennial Park.
After they had walked for a while in silence, Lois turned her head sideways to study Clark's troubled expression.
"What's wrong, Farm Boy? You've got that 'In Serious Thought' look."
Clark didn't answer right away. "Lois…"
Lois arched a brow. "Whoa- this is serious. Do I need to sit down?"
"That might be a good idea."
Lois searched his face inquisitively before moving to sit on the rim of the fountain they were next to. Clark ran a hand through his hair and sat next to her.
"I ran into Lana when I was in Smallville last weekend."
"Oh? How is she?"
"She's fine." Clark frowned. "But that's not why I brought it up."
"Hmm."
"It's just… when I saw her, I remembered how I used to be so immature, and…"
"Naïve," Lois supplied.
Clark smiled and nodded. "…Naïve, I used to be, thinking that I was in love with her. And when I saw her, all I could think about was you."
"She wanted to have dinner, didn't she?"
"Yes… How'd you know?"
Lois chuckled. She knew there was probably more to Lana's sudden re-appearance than a casual dinner. "Women's intuition," she replied, casually. "Why didn't you go? It probably would have been fun catching up with one another."
Clark gave her a strange look. "Because she's not the one I want to catch." He shifted his position so that he was completely facing her. "With all that's going on- with Intergang and the FBI – I just have a feeling that everything's about to boil over, and I need to say something to you before it does."
Lois tilted her head to the side. She had an idea of what he was going to say next.
"I know that we've done some things out of order," he started, reaching into the breast pocket of his suit jacket. "But that doesn't change how I feel. Seeing Lana again made me understand that what I feel for you is something that is going to last forever."
Lois's eyes widened. This wasn't quite what she'd thought it would be.
"I know now that you, Lois Lane, are my soul mate."
The conversation was taking a heavier turn than the simple 'I love you' she had been ready to deflect. Her jaw dropped slightly.
"Six years ago, you helped me make sense of my teenage angst and put the whole cave thing in perspective. I can't imagine a future without you doing the same thing." When he pulled his hand from his pocket, he was holding the silver Kawatche bracelet. "There is no one else for me than you, and to prove it, I want you to have this."
Lois didn't know what to say. She was familiar with the bracelet's history, and wasn't sure if she could… or even if she deserved… to accept it. If she did, there would be no more opportunity to hide.
"It's beautiful," she said, finally finding her voice. She still hadn't made a move to reach for it.
"It's yours."
She tentatively extended her hand to take it. Before touching it, she met his gaze. "Clark…"
"I mean it, Lois."
Lois sighed. Clark had correctly concluded that part of what was making Lois so uncomfortable when he shared his feelings for her was the ease with which he was able to say 'I love you.' Clark had grown up in a family where those words had been freely shared- Lois had not. And in turn, Lois was very careful about who she allowed to reach that status in her life.
Seeing Lana in Smallville reminded him that he had been just as free expressing those sentiments about Lana to anyone who would listen… including to Lois. It was no wonder she was having a hard time believing him when he dropped the L-bomb left and right.
He loved Lois Lane. He had told her. Now, he needed to show her.
Lois took a breath and closed her hand around the band. He had said so much without bringing up the three words she couldn't take seriously. Somewhere down the line, Clark Kent had succeeded in slipping through the chinks in her amour... again. She started rubbing the odd-shaped stone with her thumb.
Immediately, Clark reached to cover his ears, as a piercing ringing sound accosted his senses. Lois didn't hear anything, but could tell he was in pain from the tensed muscles in his jaw.
"Clark, what is it?"
The stone on the bracelet began to faintly glow, and Clark reached for it. "Lois, go home," he groaned. "I need to know… you're safe…"
Lois's brow furrowed with concern, and she reached for his arm. "Clark?"
"The caves…" he said, before pressing a hand against his right ear. "Please."
"All right, I'm going home," she conceded. "What's happening?"
"I don't know." Clark rose to his feet, with Lois doing the same. He took her hand and squeezed it. "I'll be back."
Lois watched as he jogged out of the park, disappearing as he rounded a corner. She began walking toward the car, reaching to pull her cell phone out of her bag as she went.
Jonathan picked up the phone on the third ring. "Hello?"
"Hi. It's Lois."
"Lois! Hi, I've got a little person right here that's been asking for you. Do you want me to put him on?"
"Not yet. Um, something just happened with Clark."
Jonathan frowned. "What was it?"
"He gave me the bracelet."
Jonathan smiled at the news. He knew what that meant.
"But as soon as I touched it, it started glowing and he grabbed his ears as if he was having a major migraine attack," she continued.
He tightened his hold on the phone. "Is he with you now?"
"No- he took off running right after he said something about the caves. I'm headed home right now, but I wanted to let you know in case…"
The call ended in the middle of her sentence.
"Lois? You there?"
Jonathan tried to call her back a couple of times, but kept getting her voicemail. Hanging up, he dialed the number to Martha's cell phone. He was going to ask her to come home for Cole, while he went out to find their son.
tbc
