Disclaimer: I Own Nothing
Author's Notes: I want to thank Marcy (VisionGirl) for giving me some fantastic ideas to incorporate in RISE. And thanks for everyone else that took the time to read this little story of mine. I wholeheartedly appreciate it. So without further ado…
Chapter 5 – Entity
Clark's Apartment
"Must I do this?" Lois whined as Clark led her to the middle of the room, completely blindfolded. It took Clark a few weeks, but he finally found the perfect place. Don't get him wrong though, he loved living under the same roof as Lois, but he couldn't reach that same sentiment with her couch.
Excited, Clark removed the blindfold.
"Tada!" he exclaimed. Clark moved in front of her, gesturing to his new place. "What do you think?"
Squinting her eyes a couple times so she could adjust to the light, Lois looked around the apartment, pacing.
Swinging his arms, Clark anxiously waits for her reaction. "Well…" Clark kept waiting.
"I need a second," she tells him. Clark rolls his eyes. One one-thousand. "It's okay," she nods finishing assessing the place after what seemed like less than a second.
Clark crossed his arms and burrowed his brow. "That's it?" That can't be all.
Lois continued to nod, making her way to his kitchen. She turned the faucet handle clockwise, nothing but dirt water came out. She chuckled. "A paint job, a few throw pillows and uh… subscription to Home Depot, I foresee potential," she quipped.
Clark shook his head to prevent his smile from showing, but it was useless.
"It looks perfect for you." Clark knew she was telling the truth. It's hard to believe she could be lying when he could see the sincerity so clear in her eyes.
"Thanks," he replied proudly.
They've been partners for over a month now at the Daily Planet. When he and Lois found evidence that Carmine Falcone was extending his business from Gotham to Metropolis, it was enough for the Metropolis Police Department to get a search warrant and share Jurisdiction with Gotham PD.
Then, rumor's showed a vigilante dressed like a bat assisted the police to bring Falcone behind bars, so that and the very solid evidence of Lois and Clark's investigation, it easily eliminated any possibility of Falcone ever getting out of prison… or the Asylum for which he is now a permanent resident.
They did so well on the investigation that Perry noted how well they worked together, and before either really knew it, he officially made them partners. Clark was ecstatic over it, and he felt Lois was too, but she did better hiding it.
"So when do you think you're moving in?"
Clark had thought about this. There was a lot of work to be done in the new apartment, and he didn't want to raise suspicion by super speeding through it too quickly. Besides, one of the other explanations why he kept it as is was so he could ask Lois to help him.
He wanted her to be as much a part of this as he was. She may not know it, but he wanted to share everything with her, even his apartment. Clark wants to show her that she's always welcomed.
"I'm thinking of asking Chief for a week off so I can get settled in"
"Makes sense," she nodded. Lois thought a moment. "Do you need help?"
Clark's eyes shined. "Are you offering?"
Lois laughs. "Yeah, right! You've seen me in the kitchen Smallville… there's no difference between a hammer and a spatula when it comes to me."
He laughed back at her, a regular occurrence whenever he's with her, but then his mind got a little confused. "Then why did you offer?"
"A friend of mind is visiting this weekend. He's pretty handy with a utility belt…" Lois nearly chuckled at the description; she hadn't meant it to come out that obvious. Thank goodness it was only she that understood the meaning behind the words.
For Clark, it translated different.
Friend. Weekend. He. Clark wasn't liking it already.
"Is this the same guy you've been seeing every weekend?" Clark just had to ask the question. It's been bugging him for weeks. Every other weekend, she was either on the phone with her mysterious male friend or she was off visiting him.
He was tempted to spy, but knew nothing good would come from it.
"Yup," she answered non-chalantly.
Does she not know how uncomfortable this makes him? "You know, you never did mention his name?"
"You never asked"
"Now you're stalling"
"You never asked," she pointed out to him further.
Clark slumped; he hated it when she did that. She always got away with it. "Fine, then what's his name?" Please don't let it be Bruce Wayne, please don't let it be.
"I'm sure you already know"
Damn. "It's Bruce Wayne, isn't it?"
Lois expressed a low chuckle and Clark wasn't sure if she was mocking him or just pulling his strings.
"What do you have against him?"
Clark shrugged. He could think of a couple. "I don't," he lied.
"You're such a liar," she mused.
"It's what happens when you know me so well"
"I wouldn't say that"
"Oh yeah, so there's actually something you don't know about me?" Clark replied playfully, making sure to note to himself that his Kryptonian Heritage be not used against her. "Do you love him?" he regretfully asked.
Lois gave him a sideways glance. "Listening to office gossip, I see." She gave him a moment and then smiled. "Yes, I do love him"
Clark wanted to immediately fly out of there as soon as the words left her lips. He didn't want to hear any of this, and he didn't want to hear it from her. He thought maybe…
"But as a friend," she finished just as Clark was about to make an excuse to leave. He mentally kicked himself for thinking so selfishly. He was actually going to excuse himself from his own apartment.
"A friend?" Clark hoped he heard her right.
Lois smirked, noticing him shift from discomfort to relief.
She walked slowly towards the windowsill, wiping it down before sitting herself on it. Then she searched through her memory banks. "I met Bruce while I was doing some free-lance work in Russia a few years ago," she began to explain.
Clark followed too, and sat down opposite her and waited for her to continue.
"I helped him, he helped me. At first, it was a perfectly legitimate business arrangement." She paused. "Turns out we make pretty good friends"
"I always thought…"
"It wouldn't be fair to him," she admitted as she cut him off.
Clark didn't understand. "What wouldn't be fair to him?"
Lois contemplated answering the question truthfully. "I've always had someone else in mind."
But it didn't completely register to Clark who she was referring to. "Oh," he responded sadly.
Lois shook her head, even though her partner had brilliance, he can also be incredibly dense sometimes. She was tempted to reach out to him with her hands but thought better of it.
"He's pretty cool," she began detailing. Clark can only groan. Lois kept going. "He's this very intelligent mild-mannered guy. I'm falling pretty hard for him," she says honestly.
"Great," Clark replies unenthusiastically. This was far worst than thinking she and Bruce were together.
"And he has this charm, this kindness that's a bit overwhelming," she continued softly. "I look at him but sometimes I can't because I know I'd lose myself in his baby-blue eyes if I did," she says a bit teasingly in the end.
Lois saw the change in him and immediately knew that he was finally catching on, but that didn't stop her from putting her heart out there.
"Anyway," Lois moves off the windowsill. "I hear we have ourselves an astronaut landing on Mars in a few days." Lois had to grin at the irony.
Clark's face shot up, his eyes meeting hers and for the first time since coming back, it's as if their emotions have finally been stripped raw and exposed.
At first, Clark couldn't believe that Lois was falling for someone else. He was depressed, angry even. But then suddenly, the words she used coupled with the softness in her voice, he could swear that perhaps she was talking about him.
Now that he was looking at her, blue eyes meeting green.
He knew.
It was him.
"Lois," he tried to form a cohesive thought, but all he kept seeing himself do is kiss her. Clark opened his mouth once more, but no words escaped.
Lois understood. "It's okay; I know it's a bit sudden. I just wanted you to know." She gathered the little stuff she had, mainly her purse and began to leave.
"Wait, no!" he reached out, taking her hand before she bolted off. Don't be fooled by her non-Kryptonian lineage, she's as good as him when it came to disappearing.
Lois refused to look him back in the eye. So Clark did it for her by using his two forefingers to lift her chin slightly so he could look at her again. She was a sight he wouldn't mind waking up to every morning if she'd let him.
Some years of growing and experience and a whole month of emotional confusion led them to this moment. She made the first move; something Clark was positive was very hard for her to do. Now it was his turn.
He was so overwhelmed by the moment that he changed his mind. "Screw it!" Clark cupped her face and kissed her.
To Lois, she was more than surprised. She expected words not actions, but her partner's daring move brought out a part of her she doesn't show people often. The need. The want. The crave of his affections.
They kissed, and it didn't stop.
Neither wanted to stop.
He kisses her on her lips then to her neck, and back to her lips again while they clumsily moved about the crowded living room area. They hit tables and lamp posts, dust brooms and worn out pots. Various pieces of furniture falling made sounds like instruments that needed fine tuning.
Gasping for air, Clark breathed into her lips.
"I've wanted to kiss you for a long time." He kisses her again, making his way to the other side of her soft neck.
"What took you so long?" Lois reacted, heating up from his advances.
The two stumbled on the back wall, very close to losing control.
Nothing would've stopped him from making love to her right then and there if it not for one thing.
The truth.
Clark pulled back, surprising the both of them. While Lois calmed her breathing, Clark leaned back besides her on the wall that they were just going at it a second ago.
"I'm sorry," he says with labored breaths. Clark couldn't do it, not when she didn't even know everything about who she was getting involved with. She deserved the truth first.
"Lois I…"
Simultaneously, Lois's cell phone goes off and Clark's super hearing caught wind of a hostage situation several blocks down the street.
Lois didn't like the intrusion one bit but answered it anyway.
"Hello." She covered the receiver to prevent the other line from hearing her hard breathing; Lois was beginning to find her mind out of focus. "Yes… Jimmy… Slow down. Where are you?" Her eyes grow worried. "I'll be right there." She shut the phone and turned to Clark.
He already knew what was happening.
A hostage situation was taking place just a mile away from where they were.
"We gotta go," Lois claimed.
"I know." His mind was springing into action. There was never really a specific moment he had in mind to reveal himself, but he always knew it would happen when the situation arise. He just hadn't expected it to happen as he and Lois were finally getting somewhere.
But he had to do this.
"Lois, you have to go ahead of me." Clark didn't want to insist, but if he was going to tell her the truth about his alien heritage, he was going to tell her himself.
"What?" Lois couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Clark, you're my partner. God knows I didn't want it, but I've gotten used to it and I don't mind it all that much"
"Lois, this isn't about us. Please, I'll be right behind you"
"Clark…" Lois didn't know how to respond to that. His logic was nowhere making any sense to her, but time was running out, and Lois didn't have the time or the words to argue with him otherwise when lives are at stake.
She grudgingly left the apartment and headed straight to the scene.
Clark on the other hand flew fast to the Arctic where his Fortress of Solitude truly lay. He had discovered the stones true purpose during the debacle of the second meteor shower. In it, he has truly discovered what Jor-El really intended for him.
Flyingwith immensespeed and stealth, he stepped foot of the ice fortress like he's done many times before. He goes to the central control, and with a single insertion of a crystal into one compartment, a few seconds passed before there was a opening circling not far from him on the floor. A figure slowly lifted beneath the ground.
After his mother made the initial design of his… outfit, he had it immersed with Kryptonian technology so it can properly withstand any kind of disaster he may find himself in.
With one big solid breath, he takes it.
It was now or never.
Back in Metropolis
Police cars and S.W.A.T. teams are littering the area. Helicopters and ambulances arrived shortly. The people on the ground were in a state of panic while the oppressors in the building were holding dozen's of people hostage at gunpoint.
Nothing like this has happened to Metropolis so publicly in a long time and Lois cursed herself for being part of a humanity that can be capable of such evil and pain.
"Henderson!" she called for the detective's attention. "Henderson!"
He turns to her, aggravated. "Not now, Lane. We've got a situation here"
That was pretty obvious, she wanted to retort. "What do we got?"
Henderson sighed. If he was going to give out information, he might as well give it to the one most legitimate person. Last thing he needed right now is some selfish-two-bit newspaper twisting his words.
"We don't have an accurate count of hostages, but the security cam's showed multiple armed men with masks entering the scene." Henderson picks up an incoming call through his walkie-talkie. "Talk to me!" Lois notices an open man-hole that was overlooked not far away.
Henderson walks away from her, giving Lois the opportunity to duck and hide, discreetly backing away towards her target.
She sneaks in.
Inside the Building
Somehow, Lois manages to find her way inside with little effort. What's the use of cops nowadays if they couldn't even keep this secure.
She makes her way through the empty corridors, but before she could make it past the hallway, she was knocked out from behind, putting her in a state of unconsciousness.
Moments Later
Lois woke up with a throbbing headache. She was handcuffed and secured to a chair.
"Boss, she's awake." She heard a man say. He didn't sound that much older than her. Lois achingly lifted her head, the pain intensified when the criminal gripped her neck tightly. "What do you want me to do with her, boss?"
"What else? Kill her." Lois barely registered what any of them were saying. She could barely breathe, let alone think. "Throw her over the building, show them that we mean business"
Lois could almost feel their eyes smirking devilishly at her.
"It'd be my pleasure"
Open Window
The homicidal maniac held onto her with a sadistic smile. "It's too bad, it would've been nice playing with you," he says maniacally before licking her cheeks.
Not the ending she ever expected for herself.
He makes one more play. "Ready to die?"
But Lois didn't give him the satisfaction. "Sure I am," she could barely give out before kneeing him in the groin. The two men that joined him cocked their guns ready to fire, but if she was going to die, she'd do it with a bang, and it wouldn't be to her head.
As if by instinct, she did something worse than getting killed.
She jumped to kill herself.
That was a stupid move.
Getting knocked unconscious, tied up, threatened, choked and shot at. Diving to one's death seemed the most logical step from the most illogical perspective. But as she neared the end, she closed her eyes shut, keeping the unexpected in tact to the very end.
But there was no end.
With her eyes closed, her descent didn't feel at all like falling. Opening her eyes, she found her self held by a strong pair of arms.
A strong pair of blue arms… and a… is that a red cape?
She opened her eyes even wider, looking down at the city that seemed to get smaller and smaller. She was afraid to look into the eyes of her savior, but somehow, she found the will to do so.
And when she did…
"Hello," he smiled, turning around and flying her down. Lois didn't feel the change. "Are you all right, ma'am?"
Lois blinked. "What?"
"Are you hurt?" His voice was calm, collected, assuring.
She looked back down and saw the city getting bigger. He was taking her down. "What?" She was at a lost for words. She found no trace of anything keeping him airborne.
As they descended into the middle of the street, the crowd of people circled back, making room for the strange savior that flew out of the sky like a red and blue blur. No, he was a red and blue blur, but they just hadn't completely comprehended it yet.
"You're going to be okay," he promised.
Before he could leave, Lois pulled him back, her arms wrapped gratefully around his neck. "We'll talk about this later," she whispered to his ear. "Smallville." She kept her voice impassive, but the shock still present in her face.
Within her embrace, the Clark raised his eyebrows in surprise, and slowly let her go. The words he'd just heard her say processing into his mind.
Before he could do anything, he heard the call for help and he had to let her go. But he didn't have to, because she had done it for him.
He floated in the air effortlessly, and for the first time, she saw him from top to bottom. She was speechless, a rare first for Lois Lane. The red and blue tight suit with the "S" emblazoned across his chest confused her more than ever before.
With her mind working a mile a minute he flew up and away.
She didn't even have to blink.
Several Hours Later (Night Time)
Lois Lane stood atop of her balcony, immobile but alive. After hours of giving reports to the Police, and a deadline for Perry about the mysterious flying savior that rescued her, she didn't quite know how to feel.
"Lois?"
She closed her eyes at the sound of his voice in an attempt to understand the man she thought she knew, to the other that flew and rescued her and dozen's of other people a few hours ago.
Clark could feel the fast beating of her heart. He was afraid that he'd lost her, that he lost the one opportunity at happiness. Happiness with her. He hoped in his every being that he wasn't too late.
"Lois, please…"
Recalling their earlier tryst. "It explains what happened today," she says, her back still turned to him. "I was half-expecting you to fly here"
Clark breathed. "I kind of did," he replied softly, without sounding condescending or sarcastic. He had flown back to her apartment and quickly changed before heading inside.
Lois expressed nothing but a mocked laugh before turning her head to him. She eyed the bag he held in his hands and made a face.
"Is that…"
Clark looked at the possession in his hand and raised it. "Yeah," he replied, tossing it on the couch like it was nothing. It was more than nothing, he humbly held the world in that bag.
"So I assume you don't wear that often." Lois didn't know how else she was going to start this conversation.
Clark stumbled for a response. He hoped she wouldn't find out this way, but nothing ever really went according to plan. For the first time, this was one situation he wished it did. "Today was my first," he replied truthfully, but while he was mixed in his own fear, he had missed Lois's surprise reaction.
"My mom likes it though," he added, hoping to break the ice that was coldly frozen between them.
Somehow, Lois wasn't surprised, but she held her smile.
"Why didn't you tell me?" her voice was so soft, Clark was tempted to hold her.
Clark stepped closer into the balcony and he was relieved when she made no move to turn away.
"I figured the first question would be, was it the meteor shower?"
Lois eyed him confusingly. She had already figured that the meteor's were largely a part of it.
"Why would you ask that?"
He weakly smiled and took her side by the edge of her balcony. Clark stared out into the sky, searching for the right words to express… to tell her everything.
"The meteors didn't do this to me." Lois looks confused and he continued. "It's a part of me. A part of who I am"
"I don't understand…" After a moment, it dawned on her. Was it possible? "You mean…" Clark nods. "You're a…" He slowly nods once more.
"You can say it, you know. I've made peace with it a long time ago." When she didn't say anything, Clark decided to say it for her. "I'm an alien, Lois." He exhaled, finally relaxing.
Lois's mouth was left agape.
The man she's falling in love with is an alien. Figures. No other man could hold her interest that it had to take an alien to literally sweep her off her feet.
"You're an alien?" Stupid question repeated, but as a reporter, having it confirmed twice wasn't a bad thing.
"Yes." Clark understood that she needed time to process everything; he had no intention of rushing her.
"So all this time…"
"I've been keeping it from everyone, yes." He easily finished for her. Years of secrecy and hiding his powers, he knew the signs all too well.
"Why didn't you tell me earlier?" She was sincere in her question.
"I've been hiding it for a long time, Lois," he revealed to her honestly. "I felt that as long as nobody got hurt, it was okay." When Lois didn't say anything. "Are you mad?" he asks in a low voice, almost afraid to hear her answer.
"I'm not mad," she says.
Clark didn't believe her though, he's had too much experience in this to think otherwise.
"Are you angry?"
Lois looks at him, her eyes showing annoyance. "That's the same as mad"
Clark shrugged. "Are you disappointed?" he rephrased. There had to be something.
Her face changed and she revealed a smile. "You saved my life today." She reminded him. "Save a lot of other people as well. You didn't have to, but you took a chance and showed yourself. As hard as it is for you to believe, I'm very proud of you"
Clark stood upward, not quite believing what she was saying. After years of worrying, her simple words lifted all the years he had about being exposed.
"You're proud of me?"
They both seem to have a habit at repeating each other's words.
Regardless of his invulnerability, she smiled that smile that made him weak in the knees. He reached out and took her hand with is own.
"Will you fly with me?"
Lois looks at him, startled but unafraid. She wasn't expecting that.
"Are you serious?" she asks skeptically. He nods, he was being serious. "You can do that?" She gestured outwardly with her hands. "Just fly whenever you want to?
Clark couldn't help but chuckle about the way she described it. "Never that so dramatically," he teased, which she retaliated with a playful hit on his shoulder, like she's done so many times before back when they were just teenagers.
It all seemed like a lifetime ago.
He took her hands with both his own once more and pulled her in. Embracing her with gentle ease. Lois was surprised at how easily she let him take her in with no questions asked but one.
"What about your…"
Clark cut her off with a kiss. "Not tonight," he answered in regards to his suit. He wanted this experience with Lois for himself.
"I won't let you go," he promised.
Lois believed him.
"You do that and I'm leaving you on my sofa," she threatened teasingly.
Clark grinned. "Was there ever an alternate?"
Lois grinned in return. That was a question that has yet to be answered, but she had a feeling they'll have all the time in the world to find it. And at that very moment, he flew her away. Where to was only the beginning.
To be continued…
