The next morning was just as weird for them as the first, as they tried to share the bathroom while they got ready to go to the office. It seemed like they were constantly in each other's way, having to reach across one another to retrieve a hairbrush or some toothpaste. Eventually, Clark was finished and vacated the bathroom, which allowed Lois to finish doing her hair and makeup while he got dressed in the next room. By the time she emerged, ready for work, Clark was already in the living room, two to-go cups of coffee in his hands, waiting for her.
Arriving in the office, the team got together to begin reviewing the information they'd collected. After Jimmy and Clark had to explain to Cat that a tsunami was not, in fact, sushi, but a large title wave, Perry mentioned reading something about a Project Shockwave that had been recently voted on by the defense subcommittee. Cat reported Harington's movements the previous day, up until going to Rourke's office. Jimmy had then taken over tailing the congressman and followed him to a warehouse near the marina where they'd stayed until it was time for Jimmy to come into work that morning. Unfortunately, he had no idea what was going on inside the warehouse since the building didn't seem to have any easily accessible windows.
Due to the time constraints that they were under, Perry gave in and offered to contact his governmental informant. While the man was no Deepthroat, he was the closest thing to. That evening had Perry, Lois, and Clark meeting the informant in a dreary and drafty parking garage. A cold breeze blew in from nearby Hobbs Bay, sending shivers all over Lois' body as she complained about the location.
Clark offered his jacket to her, which she accepted gratefully but with slight protestation that Clark would be cold. "I can take it," He assured her, "Winter in Kansas is much worse than some drafty parking garage."
A congested voice from behind them admonished Lois for not dressing warmer now that they were approaching winter, and therefore the cold and flu season. He then turned his sights on Perry, a bit put out that the old news hound had bent, if not completely broken their agreement. Perry insisted it didn't violate the spirit of their agreement and insisted the man divulge the information he had on Project Shockwave.
If the informant was surprised, he didn't show it, simply blew his nose and explained about how the Luthor-Technologies-developed coastal defense system, that was about to be tested by the Navy, worked by identifying potential threats and responding with an appropriately sized sonic wave that would shut down the electronics on any enemy technology contained within the perceived threat. He also mentioned that Rourke had also put forward a system which was second best to Shockwave. Lois correctly deduced that if Rourke could somehow sabotage the project, his system would be next in line for implementation despite not being near as technologically advanced as Luthor's Shockwave system.
Unfortunately, due to the sensitive and top-secret status of the project, the team could neither approach the Navy nor publish their findings as doing so could at the very least open up the paper for lawsuits for disclosing highly secret information, and at worse land them in prison on charges of espionage. Perry's informant strongly encouraged them to follow his lead and get the heck out of dodge to avoid being killed by the massive tidal wave that would likely wipe out everything in a several square mile radius of the bay. With that he began to walk away before throwing one last warning over his shoulder about Rourke having delusions of grandeur and being infinitely insane.
Frustrated and tired, Lois and Clark headed back to their hotel for one more night in hopes that they would find something they could use without facing sanction or legal action. As they entered their suite, they noticed the room in shambles, it was clear someone, likely Rourke's muscle, had thoroughly ransacked the place, even going so far as to spear Lois' lost credit card to the back of the entry door with a knife. Removing the card from the door, Lois ducked into the bedroom to change into something more comfortable.
As she was opening one of the drawers to retrieve a pair of comfortable pajamas, she heard what sounded like a loud bang. Running into the room, she asked what the noise was only to have Clark, who now sat on the couch, claim he didn't hear anything out of the ordinary. Lois pointed out that all their evidence was gone as Clark stated that the office across the way had been cleaned out as well. Since they now had no reason to stay, due to the office being back to the bare bones office it had been, they decided to pack up and head home. A half hour later had them checking out of the hotel room and catching a taxi back to the Planet.
In hopes of trying to stop Rourke, herself, Lois went straight home and changed into comfortable pants and a sweater for warmth and headed down to the docks where Jimmy had mentioned seeing Rourke's people enter one of the warehouses. Picking the lock, she slipped into the building and snuck through the halls. Seeing a light toward the end of one of the corridors, she made her way down, making sure to stay in the shadows as much as possible. Reaching the room from which the light came, she noticed the door was open and she could clearly see Congressman Harrington bound and gagged in a chair. What she didn't realize was that Rourke's henchman was sneaking up behind her and threatening her with his knife.
Rourke had the henchman tie them both up on the dock, saying it was so they could watch the events firsthand and in the best seats in the house. The henchman and Rourke soon took their leave, saying they were heading for higher ground and away from the immanent tsunami. Once Rourke was out of earshot, Lois assured the very concerned-looking congressman that it would be okay, that someone would find them in time. Harrington simply shook his head and informed her in a low voice that it was already too late. He nodded toward the horizon where a fatigue painted helicopter dropped a long tube into the middle of the ocean.
Much to Lois' relief, she soon heard the voice of her friend and partner calling out her name. She cried out to him so that he could find them. By this point the congressman was nearly catatonic. When Clark asked what his issue was, Lois shrugged and suggested that the man was probably in shock. Clark quickly busied himself breaking and removing the ropes that bound Lois and the congressman to the pier. Just as he was removing the last rope, both he and Lois noticed the large wave that began to form about two miles from shore.
"Clark, you have to do something!" Lois insisted, her voice low so that the congressman couldn't hear but she knew her friend's hearing would be able to pick it up.
Clark, while slightly perplexed at Lois' statement, quickly pulled the pair to their feet and demanded they run the other way. While they were fleeing, he removed his suit jacket, shirt and tie, leaving him in his Superman costume and took to the air to evaluate the best option to minimize the damage. Diving straight into the wall of water, he began to corkscrew himself through the water and into the silt below. The wave began to lose momentum and eventually receded.
Naturally, the events, with some information redacted, made the front page. As it turned out Luthor's system worked perfectly, but due to the sabotage it had overreacted to the stimuli, which in turn caused the tsunami that Clark as Superman had to deal with. Luthor had to made some minor modifications to avoid something like that from happening again, but his system was adopted by the department of defense with plans to install the system near every major port along both coasts. Of course, Harrington was trying to backtrack as quickly as possible, claiming that he was trying to run a sting operation on Rourke and that any information pointing to collusion on his part were simply rumor and nothing more.
When Lois returned to her apartment the next day, she had a message on her machine from the general manager of the Luxor, offering her and Clark a complementary night in the now clean Honeymoon Suite. She quickly packed her bag for the night and headed over. After changing into her pajamas and settling into the plush bed, she couldn't help but call and taunt Clark over the fact.
"Hello?" His warm voice came over the line.
"I'll give you three guesses as to where I am right now," She grinned.
"The Honeymoon suite?" Clark guessed, "How is that fair, I'm the one who was stuck on the couch the whole time."
"I guess they just like me more," Lois snickered.
"I guess so," Clark conceded. The pair sat quietly for a moment more before Clark spoke up again, "Lois, what did you mean yesterday when you said that I had to do something?"
"Clark, I think you know exactly what I meant," Lois sighed, "I can't believe you didn't tell me."
"Tell you what?" He countered.
"I know, Clark," She admitted, "I've known for a while. I was waiting for you to tell me, I assumed you had your reasons before, but now… Clark you're my best friend, and it hurts that you don't trust me enough to tell me."
"I'm sorry, Lois, I still don't know what you're talking about," Clark responded evenly.
"Stop lying to me!" Lois growled, "I know who you are, what you can do… Superman."
There was silence at the other end of the line. At first, she thought the line had gone dead, but the telltale beeping indicated that the call had been disconnected. She could hear a faint whoosh in the living area and the soft thump of a pair of boots hitting the ground. Lois slid out of bed and walked into the living room to see Clark, in his blue suit, pacing back and forth nervously. When he heard her emerge from the room, he looked over and gave her an embarrassed look.
"How… How did you figure it out?" He asked softly, not even meeting her eyes.
"Remember when we were writing that story on the Toasters?" Lois asked, when Clark nodded, "The night you'd thrown me in the dumpster and I'd come to confront you on it, Toni Taylor showed up at your apartment just after I did, and you shoved me into your closet until you could distract her so that I could make my escape. Do you remember that?"
"Yeah," He nodded, waiting for her to continue.
"Well after a while, it seemed like you had either forgotten or were distracted from being able to help me to escape, so I decided to get comfortable." She continued, "I was looking for a light or something so that I could see to find an empty space to sit when my hands brushed across a section of the wall that didn't quite fit. Imagine my shock when I opened what turned out to be a secret compartment with nothing but replicas of what you are wearing now."
Clark knew she had him dead to rights but said nothing in his defense.
"At first, I thought it was a fanboy kind of thing," Lois admitted, "But then all my interactions with you, with both of you, began to run through my head and facts began to fall into place. Your weird errands you suddenly remembered you needed to do only to have Superman show up at some catastrophe or another, how you can eat like a twelve-year-old and still maintain that figure that you love to hide under all your suits but that one," She gestured to the blue and red unitard he wore. "The oddly similar advise and admonishments you both gave me over the past year or so, your mutual animosity toward Lex Luthor. Not to mention the obvious fact you're literally identical to one another. I can't believe I had been so stupid as to let a pair of glasses fool me!"
"Lois, you're not stupid," Clark tried to assure her, "You just saw what I wanted you to see. This," He gestured to his superhero regalia, "Is not me, or at least not the real me, it's simply a vehicle to allow me to use my powers to help people. Clark Kent is the real me, the man my parents found in a field and adopted to raise as their own. I'm sorry I didn't tell you, I wanted to. At first I was scared to, then you seemed to form a romantic attachment to my alter ego, and I didn't want you to love me for only that. I wanted you to love me for all of me the way I…" He sighed, "The way I love you for the amazing, wonderful, inspiring woman you are."
"You are such an idiot sometimes," Lois groaned, "I didn't love Superman for what he could do, I loved him, love you, because of the way you care for those around you. Even if you have to project that your invulnerability is more than just physical, I could always see the vulnerability in you eyes when you were unable to save everyone, do more. I don't think anyone else noticed, but I did. I know I told you not to fall for me when we first met, but that was more to protect myself than anything else because I could already feel myself falling for you and I've been burnt so many times…"
"Lois, I would never hurt you," Clark stepped toward her, arms out as if to embrace her, only to have her step back from him.
"Don't you understand that you already have?" She protested, "All the lies, the half-truths, the fact you don't trust me hurt me more than you can ever know. What did you think I would do if you had told me? Did you think I would expose you to the world? I would never do that Clark. You do so much for the world, they need both of you, Superman and Clark Kent."
"When Superman first appeared, I didn't know you as well as I do now," Clark admitted, "So yes I was afraid that you might not be able to resist exposing who I am under the cape and suit. By the time I realized I wouldn't do that to you, I'd waited so long that I couldn't figure out how to tell you. I've been trying to figure out how to tell you for so long, but ironically enough, I couldn't find the words."
"So, you figured you'd let me figure it out on my own?" Lois arched an eyebrow, "Or did you hope that I was galactically stupid enough to never find out?"
"Neither." He shook his head, "I didn't want you to find out the way you did, I wanted to be the one to tell you, my parents have been after me since before we went to Smallville for the Kryptonite story to tell you. They've known pretty much since the day I first met you that I'd fallen for you, even if I didn't realize it until a little while later. The fact they wanted me to tell you, when all my life they've warned me to keep my abilities a secret so I didn't wind up dissected in a lab like a frog, should have been enough of a reason to tell you right away, but I was scared of how you would react."
"So, where do we go from here?" Lois asked.
"I don't think it should be up to me," Clark shrugged, "I'm not the one who has been wronged in this. If I had it my way, we'd start dating, hopefully eventually get married, start a family… but I think it would be best if you set the pace for whatever we will be. If you don't want to work with me anymore, or be my friend after this, I would understand and respect your wishes, no matter how much it hurt to see you every day and not be able to be near you like we have been since the day Perry teamed us up. If you want to stay friends, I'm okay with that too. If you want to try for something more, I'd be elated, but again, you'd be the one setting the pace for that. No matter what, I want you to have the time to heal from the hurt I caused out of fear and stupidity."
Lois nodded, taking a seat on the couch, and thinking over all of what he had said. It seemed so weird to be talking to Clark when he was dressed the way he was, "I know it might be a weird request, but could I please just talk with Clark?"
"You are talking with Clark," He pointed out.
"I know, I mean, it's just weird talking to you when you are dressed like that," Lois gestured to his costume, "It's a bit distracting, not in an entirely bad way, but if I'm going to be able to have any kind of rational conversation with you, it would be helpful if you could cover up a bit more."
Clark blushed catching her meaning before spinning in a blur of red and blue only to emerge wearing comfortable jeans and an old KU sweatshirt. "Is this better?"
"Much," Lois nodded, scooting over on the couch and patting the cushion beside her, "Take a seat." She waited for him to get settled before speaking again, "I don't want to lose you either, not as a partner and not as a friend. As much as I want to see where things would lead romantically between us, I'm scared. You hurt me, lied to me, and that's going to take some time for me to get over, until then we can stay friends, still hang out, and once I've had time to lick my metaphoric wounds, maybe we can try a date?"
Clark nodded solemnly, "I understand, just let me know when you're ready, I owe you at least that much."
Lois gave him a small smile, "I do have one request before you go," She gave him a hesitantly hopeful look.
"What's that?" He asked.
"I know it seems silly, considering what happened after captured Miranda and thwarted her pheromone spray scheme, and the other day when, I'm assuming, you heard the maid coming and tackled me on the bed…" She drifted off a moment before collecting her nerves and continuing, "What I'm saying is that I've been kissed by Superman, and by Lola King's husband Charlie, but I've never gotten a kiss from you."
Clark gave her soft smile and stood, offering his hand to her. When she stood, he gently wrapped one if his arms around her waist to pull her close to him, the fingers of his other hand tucked a strand of hair back behind her ear as his thumb gently caressed her cheek bone, his eyes never leaving hers. They both looked into each other's eyes, the longing intensity from both of them palpable in the room before he slowly lowered his lips to hers in a soft kiss that slowly grew deeper.
Lois felt her knees to weak when she felt his tongue gently caress her lips requesting entry in order to deepen their kiss. She trusted him to hold her up and let him deepen the kiss. It was so heavenly, she felt as if she was floating on air as they continued to kiss. When Clark leaned back, Lois suddenly realized that they were literally floating about a half a foot off the ground.
"I got you," Clark assured her, tightening the grip he had around her waist to back up his words as he slowly lowered them to the ground.
The moment her feet were back on terra firma… or at least on the floor of the hotel room she smiled up at him, "Wow, that was… that was something else. If I let you kiss me like that more often, I just might get over being angry with you a lot faster."
Clark returned her smile with one of her own, "Take your time, you know where I'll be when you're ready. Until then, I should probably head home, I'll see you at work on Monday, if not sooner. So, I'm going to have to say good night, Lois." He spun back into his costume and headed toward the window."
"Good night," Lois responded quietly, watching as he took off out the window, "Clark." She watched until he picked up speed and was out of sight, whether to respond to a cry of help or to go back to his own place, she didn't know. Either way, she had this large honeymoon suite to herself, she was going to enjoy it. If the small voice in the back of her mind started listing off things to remember for the day she returned with Clark, for real the next time, she was okay with that, too.
As she stripped off her clothes and settled back in the luxurious tub, she smiled. Sure, she had been crushed when she found out the truth, but was glad that her crushes on her friend and partner as well as his super alter ego, had now grown into something more… better… a future with infinite possibilities.
