Hey all - I know it's been forever on this. So sorry - real life and all. I have the next several chapters almost done so hopefully it won't be too long before I continue this story. Thanks to those of you still reading, favoriting and reviewing and for all the patience you've shown me over the years on my many Smallville stories!
Again, this is the same night as the Lois/Oliver spat. This is all basically a set up for telling the Lois/Clark Luthor story and to hopefully explain why they were the way they were shown during the Luthor episode.
Hope you enjoy. Would love to hear what you think!
Two Worlds, Two Words Series: I Am
Chapter 5
Lois Lane heard the beep of her cell phone and glanced down only to wince at the text staring up at her.
Where R U? Have 3 appts lined up for us 2-night.
Snatching up her phone, Lois' fingers flew as she typed her response.
Sorry, Cuz. Working late again. Next week?
U said that last week.
As Lois was trying to come up with an appropriate response, her phone rang. And rang. And rang. She sighed, steeled herself and answered, knowing it was time to pay at least one piper.
Before she even took her next breath, Chloe Sullivan unloaded on her.
"Seriously, Lo. What's going on with you? This is the third time you've backed out on me because you're 'too busy'." Lois could practically hear the air quotes signaling that her cousin's suspicious nature was on full alert. "And it's not like I'm not used you dropping everything just to chase down a lead, but we have too much to do before the wedding, and I don't see how it's all going to get done unless some decisions are made. And that is something only the bride can do…"
"Chloe, listen, I know." Lois groaned her regret. "I know I've been seriously MIA on the wedding plans, and I'm sorry. I really am, but I just…I can't right now."
There was a pause. And then an eerily accurate theory.
"This doesn't have anything to do with Clark Luthor, does it?"
Lois' heart skipped a beat at the swift and unexpected change of topics. "What the hell? Why would you even think that?"
"Because he's gone. Vanished. Without a trace. And it doesn't look like he's ever coming back."
"And that has to do with me because…"
"Because I know you, Lois. You can't stand an unsolved mystery or an unfollowed lead. And…" Chloe sighed, her tone gentling as she began to tread on obviously thin ice. "…because I was there, remember? I know the kind of hold he had on you. And so do you…"
Lois' thoughts were instantly transported back to those crazy, early days at the Daily Planet. Back when things were fresh and new and exciting. Lois was learning about the newspaper business, the world, and herself.
She was also learning about the man she would one day come to loath. The very man trapped in a holding cell a floor beneath her feet. The man she was currently trying to save.
But back then?
He was a beautiful, intriguing mystery Lois secretly, desperately wanted to unravel.
But from a carefully-maintained distance, of course.
Because as tantalizing as the mystery of Clark Luthor was, it also came with warning signs too numerous and too big to ignore.
After Clark and Lois' sexually charged truce in his office one month prior, Lois Lane remained vigilant. Warily watching. Keeping her guard up. Waiting for the challenge that Clark had issued to begin in earnest.
Her every waking hour was filled with her job at the Daily Planet. And every sleeping moment, full of dreams. Dreams of Clark Luthor. Of his eyes. His lips. His hands doing unspeakable things to her.
The dreams were so vivid, so real, so pervasive, Lois soon discovered they were no longer content to stay in the confines of sleep. They followed her to every staff meeting that Clark, as owner and editor-in-chief, presided over. They silently stole into her thoughts at the oddest moments – while pouring a cup of coffee, waiting for a fax to send or sampling the maple doughnuts delivered to the bullpen each morning.
Even when chasing down lead after lead and writing hard-hitting articles, he was there.
Feeding her ambition. Pushing her to meet high expectations. Motivating her to be her very best.
But even as accolades started rolling in, elevating her status from rookie to star reporter in record time, Lois Lane remained untouched, unwooed and unchallenged.
As for Clark Luthor, he did what he did best. He made Lois Lane's life a living hell.
By doing nothing.
But be himself.
"He's driving me insane."
The disgruntled announcement was greeted with a knowing chuckle.
"What's he done now?" The perky and curious blonde at the kitchen counter asked as she reached for Lois' favorite mug and started pouring her favorite cousin a steaming, hot cup of her favorite coffee.
From the table of Chloe Sullivan's apartment at The Talon – an apartment, ironically, situated above a coffee shop in Smallville – Lois Lane scoffed.
"Nothing. Not a damn thing."
"And this bothers you because…?"
"It bothers me, Chloe, because I expected more from him. And who wouldn't?" Lois dug out the latest gossip rag from her purse – the one with Clark Luthor's face on the cover accompanied by a tantalizing snippet about the revolving doors of his love life – and waved it in the air as visible proof of her verbal argument. "He's the premiere playboy of Metropolis who shows up at parties with a different woman on his arm practically every night. Sometimes two. He shamelessly flirts with everything in a skirt and he's always surrounded by these giggling, moon-eyed little model-types."
Lois slammed the magazine on the table. "But when it comes to the Daily Planet, there he is being all proper and professional and obscenely appropriate. It's unnerving just how different he is from what I expected him to be. And, you know, I think he's doing it on purpose. It's...it's like he has this twisted, diabolical little plan to lull me into a false sense of security so he can strike when I least expect it."
"Diabolical?" Chloe queried, choosing the one word in Lois' rant that begged for more explanation.
"Well, what else would you call it when a man declares he wants you and that he always gets what he wants and then he turns around and, and…"
"And what?" Chloe prompted as she added cream and sugar to Lois' favorite concoction.
"Does nothing!"
"Ah, I see." Chloe's grin spread as a knowing light glinted in her eyes. "You thought it would be a full-on, 24/7 pursuit once you started working for him."
"Well…duh." Lois rolled her eyes.
"And now that it isn't, you're…" Chloe place the cup in front of Lois and slipped into the chair opposite before finishing her thought. "…disappointed."
"Disappointed?" Incredulous, Lois' staccato sigh filled the room. "Chloe, what part of 'I do not want Clark Luthor' do you not understand?"
"Oh, I understand every word. I just don't believe you. Not the first time you said it or the million times after that." Chloe chuckled when Lois crossed her arms defiantly over her ample chest, hrumphed and childishly stuck out her tongue for added effect. "Look, it's been pretty clear from day one that Clark Luthor has you all kinds of hot and bothered so…" Chloe shrugged as she took a sip of coffee before offering a solution. "…why are you fighting it? Just make the first move."
"Are you out of your mind?"
"No. But clearly, his inattention to you is driving you out of yours. So…"
"Uh-huh. No way. I will not be that girl." Lois' pony tail bounced from side to side as she viciously shook her head.
"What girl?"
Lois released an exaggerated sigh before launching into her first line of defense once again. "The girl that relentlessly pursues the boss until she gets a nice big promotion with an even bigger salary and a corner office to boot."
"Ok, Lois, I get that you don't want that to be your reputation or your M.O., but seriously? This is Clark Luthor here. One of the sexiest men to ever walk the earth. Not to mention, one of the baddest of the bad boys. And I know you. You're drawn to them like a flea to dog."
Lois' face scrunched up in disgust. "Ew. Couldn't you have picked a better analogy?"
"Nope. Clark's a man. Men are dogs. It couldn't be more perfect if I tried." Chloe grinned at her logical connection as she bit into a fresh blueberry muffin.
"Except the part where I'm a flea."
Chloe chuckled then brought Lois back to her original point. "I honestly don't see what the problem is. So he's a one-night stand kind of guy. Maybe it's time for you to be a one-night stand kind of girl. Have some fun. It's not like anyone's asking you to fall in love with him or anything. I mean, honestly, Lo, how long do you really think you can go on like this?"
"Indefinitely, if I have to." Lois stated with a confidence she wasn't quite sure she felt. "I just…I wish I knew his game plan. That way I could be prepared instead of constantly waiting for the other shoe to drop."
"Well, I must say…" Chloe spoke around another bite of muffin. "…if he does have a plan and this is it? It's….quite brilliant."
Lois rolled her eyes in protest. "Oh, puhleease. Don't give him that much credit."
"Why not? He's taken a defiant adversary and turned her into someone who can't stop thinking about him…"
"Not true." Lois lied.
"Or talking about him."
"Only because he's so damn annoying." Lois shot back.
"Dreaming about him."
Lois scoffed. "He wishes."
Chloe bit back a grin as she took a sip of coffee and watched as Lois' gaze involuntarily shifted to the handsome face staring up at her from the magazine on the table. Lois' expression morphed from adamant to dreamy in a heartbeat. And when her bottom lip slipped between her teeth and a small, playful smile tripped across her lips, Chloe knew she was primed for her next question.
"So? Are they of the romantic variety or do the two of you just get right to the down and dirty stuff?"
"Chloe!"
Grinning from ear to ear, Chloe easily defended herself. "What? It's a fair question. The man is hotter than hell. I can tell you right now, if he were the star in my fantasies, I wouldn't let him out of the bed in my head."
Caught and knowing it, Lois conceded the point reluctantly. "He makes it out. Every once in a while."
"Ha! I knew it!" Chloe announced triumphantly as Lois scrunched up her nose in mock disgust. A new thought hit her. "You know, all kidding aside, maybe the reason he hasn't made a move is because he really heard you and he's respecting your wishes. Maybe…he's waiting for you to come to him."
"Yeah, well, he'll be waiting a long time before that happens." Lois responded flippantly.
Too flippantly.
"Ok, Lois. Truth time." Chloe put her elbow on the table and held out her pinky, a throw-back gesture to those childhood days when the truth was as simple as who really had the biggest tower before they were both knocked down. Through the years and countless challenges, it has served a greater purpose. A gut check. A compass to find True North. "Is he really that unlikeable? Or is he so likeable that you're just really scared?"
Pausing, Lois considered the question. And the answer.
When Lois had interviewed Clark, she'd sensed that he was so much more than the superficial playboy image that was prevalent in Metropolis' gossip columns. Given her experiences with him so far, she couldn't say that part of him didn't exist. It did. But she also wondered if it wasn't part of a larger strategy. A way to hide the real man behind the Luthor name.
Working for him at the Daily Planet only proved her suspicions correct.
He was brilliant. Fair. Hard working. He didn't play favorites, and he treated each employee with the same level of respect – regardless of their title. His instincts for what news would sell and what wouldn't, were spot on. And he never demanded of his staff what he himself wasn't willing to give - ten fold.
And that made him more dangerous than Lois ever dreamed.
Lois sighed and linked her pinky with Chloe's before giving an honest and sober answer. "No. He isn't. And yes, I really am."
"Yes, he had a hold on me. Had being the key word there, Chloe." Lois snapped back.
"I know, Lois. I know you've moved on and I'm glad. I'm really glad that you have. But you and I both know there's a part of you – even if it's just a small part – that's still feels something for Clark."
"Are you even listening to yourself, Chloe? Ollie and I are getting married. Married. How could you possibly think I'm still have feelings for Clark?"
"Because you never left the Daily Planet." Chloe stated simply. Truthfully. "After everything that happened, how much he hurt you, you still stayed. In his world. Why is that, Lois?"
Swallowing past the lump in her throat, Lois reflexively answered. "Because after everything that happened, how much he hurt me, my career was the only thing he didn't ruin. And I refused to let him take that away from me too."
Chloe's heavy sigh filled the silence between them. "Look. I'm just worried about you, ok? Oliver loves you, Lo. So much. And he's been good for you. And until Clark disappeared, I thought you'd really moved past…the past. But now? Now, you're suddenly dragging your feet on the wedding and…" Chloe paused, clearly trying to choose her words carefully. "I just want to be sure you've not gotten sucked back in to the Luthor drama somehow. That's all."
Voice strained, Lois denied Chloe's suspicions even as her own heart thundered against every word. "I haven't, ok? I couldn't care less where Clark is or what he's doing or who he's doing it with. As far as I'm concerned, that is one mystery that can remain unsolved."
"Truth time, Lois." Chloe stated suddenly. "Are you truly, finally free of him?"
"Yes, Chloe." Lois Lane swallowed hard and lied to her cousin for the first Truth Time ever. "I am."
TBC…