Bruce Wayne received two calls, as the limo driver he used when he was in Metropolis, eased Lois and himself through mid-day traffic.
The first one was from Oliver Queen.
"Just a heads up, Kal-El was in your penthouse." the Star City Billionaire informed him.
"When was this?" Bruce asked between clenched teeth. Lois was looking out of her window.
"A couple of hours ago. Dinah told me he left LuthorCorp and one of my people doing surveillance saw him fly over to your penthouse with a box. He left without it. Be careful."
"Thank you." Bruce said before hanging up. Lois looked over at him.
"What's going on? You didn't sound too happy there." Lois noted. Bruce pressed an intercom and told the driver to return to the Daily Planet. He then looked over at Lois regretfully.
"I'm sorry. Something else has come up. I really wanted to spend this time with you."
Lois shrugged and Bruce could see she really didn't believe him. He then picked up a briefcase that had been on the floor, opened it and handed her an envelope. Lois slowly took it.
"What's this?" she asked, looking it over.
"The 'custody agreement' that Kal-El has over you. I used some of my influence and made sure that it was invalidated." Bruce told her as he watched her eyes light up. She practically ripped open the envelope, then stared at the document for a moment, before looking at Bruce.
"I can't believe you got this rescinded for me." Lois breathed, taking her eyes off of him to stare at it again.
Bruce reached out and gently placed his hand on her knee.
"I hope this makes up a little bit, for my lack of attention, Lois. I want you to know I care about you very much."
Lois did not try and remove his hand from her knee. She folded up the document and set it by her purse.
"I know you do, Bruce. I just felt like maybe I was pushing myself on you or something."
"You weren't. You aren't." Bruce said before his phone rang again. This time, the caller was someone he didn't expect to hear from. At least not this soon.
"Bruce Wayne."
"Mr. Wayne, it's Davis Bloom."
"Yes?" Bruce asked, half smiling at Lois.
"We have a situation here. That 'thing' that we thought might happen, HAS happened. And the special cell has been used. How do you want me to handle it?" Davis asked.
"I'll return to Gotham. I should be there in a few hours." Bruce said, feeling slightly heavy hearted. He didn't want to have to hurt Jor-El. And under different circumstances, they might have actually been friends. There were times when he wondered if Kal-El knew how fortunate he was to have a father like Jor-El.
Bruce would now have to make sure that the box Kal-El left for him, wasn't deadly, before getting back to Gotham.
He hung up and looked at Lois.
"I have to get back to Gotham." Bruce said, curling his fingers around one of Lois's hands. "I will find out the information needed about those marriage licenses and get them to you ASAP. This could be a big story for the Daily Planet."
Not to mention my mother, Lois thought.
"Thanks, Bruce. Thanks for everything." Lois said quietly.
"I don't want your thanks, Lois. I want another chance."
Lois nodded and Bruce reached for her chin, to bring her lips to his, in a soft, but heated kiss. When it ended, Lois realized they were back in front of the newspaper. Lois rubbed his hand, before grabbing her things and getting out. She watched the limo drive away before sighing and walking back into the building.
But on the stairs, Lois felt the burn of Kal-El's grip on her inside thigh again! And it made her walk a little funny. As she got down to the basement and to her desk, she dragged herself to her chair and dropped into it. Chloe, who was typing, half watched her.
"What's wrong with you?" Chloe asked.
Lois sniffed the air.
"Kal-El was here, wasn't he? I can smell that noxious cologne he wears all of the time. Eau De Toad or something..."
Chloe stopped typing abruptly and glared at Lois!
"Why do you have to talk about him like that? Why? You know, he didn't have to get you out of jail the other day! He could have left you to rot!"
Lois removed the custody agreement from the envelope and tossed it over to Chloe.
"What is this?" Chloe asked, unfolding the document.
"It's the custody agreement Bruce got reversed that Kal-El had going there. Custody of ME! And please, don't try and defend him for whatever he was going to pull on me. That piece of paper was total BS!"
Chloe shrugged helplessly.
"Lois, I think he just doesn't know what to do with you."
"He doesn't need to know what to do with me! I am not his responsibility or his business!" Lois flinched and got up gingerly.
"What's going on with you? You look funny." Chloe noted.
"I'm going to ER. I scraped my thigh and I don't think neosporin is going to cut it." she moaned, now feeling sick. Chloe stood up.
"What do you mean you 'scraped your thigh'? How did you do that?"
"When I messed up Kal-El's car the other day," Lois lied, "I kind of went bouncing around in the car. I didn't feel it at first."
"You should have said that that accident was serious!" Chloe scolded. She reached for her purse. "Come on. I'll go with you."
ER physician, Dr. Emil Hamilton did not like what he was seeing on Lois's thigh. At all. He cleared his throat and asked her some gentle questions. And not the usual type.
"Miss Lane, I don't know how to ask this without upsetting you, but I just have to know: did you really get this in a car accident or did someone grab your thigh?"
"Why would you think someone grabbed my thigh?" Lois asked, feeling a bit unnerved.
Dr. Hamilton waited until a nurse left the room before speaking again.
"What I mean is, did a Kryptonian do this?"
"Why would you ask that?"
"Miss Lane, you are answering my questions with questions."
"Your questions are creepy! Why are you asking that?"
"I am a student of Kryptonian culture. That mark is a symbol of the House of El." Emil told her matter-of-factly.
"I've been branded!" Lois hissed.
"No...I'm unsure of the meaning but when the Kryptonian touched you, he didn't know he was branding you. I would have to read up on it some more..."
"Uh no!" Lois said, getting up off of the table and pulled her gown around herself tightly. "Just give me some medical neosporin or whatever to make it go away."
"Miss Lane, what I am trying to tell you is that that mark will not go away! But I need time to research as to why. I can give you something for the pain."
Lois sighed.
"No. It's just irritating, that's all. I don't need vicodin or anything like that. Just don't say anything to my cousin, okay? I'll make up something."
"Miss Lane, obviously if this Kryptonian's hands were in that spot, his intentions were sinister!"
"Yeah, that too!" Lois agreed. "But he's harmless. I'll give him a piece of my mind when I see him again."
"You know him?" Dr. Hamilton asked.
"Unfortunately, yes. And my cousin out there dates him so I can't have her finding out that her guy's hand was way up under my skirt, okay?"
Dr. Hamilton nodded.
"I'll just leave you to get dressed then." he said and hurried out of the exam room. When he got back to his office, he began to look through some special books he kept, that had to do with Kryptonians. He had seen that mark before someplace...but where?
Lois lied to Chloe about what Dr. Hamilton had told her, saying that he had given her a prescription to pick up a medical salve for her thigh. Chloe kept commenting that she thought it was odd that it was just her thigh that was hurt in the accident.
Lois decided to leave work early and return to Smallville. By the time she got back to the mansion, she could see that her mother and Kal-El were engaged in some conversation about Jor-El. Lois refrained from glaring daggers at Kal-El before facing her mother.
"What's going on?" she asked.
"Jor-El has e-mailed me to tell me he is going out of town for business. I was just telling Kal-El that his father would never tell me something that important, via an e-mail." Ella said.
"I'm sure it was an emergency situation and he did not have much time." Kal-El assured her. Privately, he suspected his father had returned to Krypton to be with his mother and just had not covered himself very well with Ella.
"Mom, Kal-El is probably right. Bruce and I were supposed to have lunch today but he got called back to Gotham so he had to cancel. Maybe the two are related."
Kal-El looked at Lois.
"You did not have lunch with Bruce today? I stopped by the Daily Planet to see Chloe and she said that's where you were."
"Well that was the idea but then he got called back to Gotham. So Mom, I'm sure Jor-El is just doing something for Wayne Enterprises he can't talk about."
Ella smiled wanly.
"I suppose you're right. I think I'm going to eat in my room tonight. The cook will prepare dinner for the two of you though."
Kal-El nodded and Ella patted Lois's face before leaving the room. Kal-El walked over to the bar and then looked back over at Lois.
"Join me for a drink?"
"No. I'm not going to be eating in the dining room either." she replied. Kal-El fixed his own drink, contemplating what Lois's failed lunch with Bruce meant. Did he head directly back to Gotham? Did anyone find that bat suit he planted in Bruce's penthouse?
Kal-El now knew that Lois did not see it, which was the point!
Lois walked over to him. She just couldn't let her 'condition' slide.
Kal-El looked down at her.
"You clearly have something you want to say to me. Is this about my car? Or my proposal from this morning?"
"Your 'proposal' had me in the emergency room earlier."
Kal-El raised a brow.
"I don't follow you..."
"You grabbed me so hard that you left a mark, Kal-El! And the doctor knew it was Kryptonian! He said it was your family crest! You have some nerve! I'm not fixing your car until this thing on my INNER thigh, goes away, are we clear?"
Kal-El just stared at her. And for a moment, Lois was uneasy. It was clear to her that he knew exactly what she was talking about.
"It IS going to go away, right? What is it?"
Kal-El set down his drink.
"Yes, Lois. If it is what I think it is, it does go away." he allowed. Lois nodded.
"Well good. So I'm going to my room now."
"To eat dinner?" Kal-El asked. Lois eyed him.
"Maybe. Probably not. I'm kind of tired."
Kal-El said nothing to that. Lois shrugged and walked out of the room. Kal-El did not take his eyes off of her until he saw her disappear up the stairs. He then pulled out an emergency phone he used to contact Jor-El, when he supposedly was away on business. If that mark on Lois was what he thought it was, then it would indeed go away, once she was pregnant with his child.
Bruce walked into the lab with Lucious Fox. Davis and Myron were busy watching a weakened Jor-El, who was in the fetal ball position on the floor of his 'prison'.
"He is just being weakened, right? Is this contraption capable of killing him?" Bruce asked, trying to hide his worry for the older Kryptonian.
"If he's in there for longer than a couple of days, maybe. I have been trying to keep as far away from it as I can." Davis informed Bruce.
"And the serum?" Lucious asked.
"Is done. Myron has agreed to demonstrate how it works." Davis told him. Myron Nygma stepped forward.
"It is in liquid form right now. One drop on the skin turns earth beings invisible. Kryptonians, if they touch this serum, will become sick."
Bruce nodded, dragging his eyes off of the suffering Jor-El.
"I plan to speak to General Sam Lane, who is the point man for the military on this thing. Keeping Jor-El here will force a confrontation with your father, Davis...and probably Kal-El as well."
"They are the main architects of this take over." Davis told them. "If they are forced to leave the planet, then others will go with them as well."
Bruce folded his arms.
"Yes, that is true. But there is something else I need to know."
Davis folded his arms as well.
"What is it?"
"I have been told that you took something from Krypton. That the only reason the Kryptonians wanted to take over, was in case they could not find you and retrieve what you took from them. Is that true?"
Davis shrugged.
"I have no idea what you are referring to, sir." he said quietly.
"I hope not, Mr. Bloom. Because if any of what I heard was true, then none of this was necessary, was it?" Bruce asked. He could not conceive that Davis hated his own people enough, to let them die. But then again, one never knew about people and what was going on in their minds.
Lucious looked at Myron.
"We would like to see the serum at work." he said. Myron nodded, then brought out a small bottle. He unscrewed the top, which had an eye dropped attached. He then squeezed a drop onto his wrist and slowly disappeared. Even the serum he was holding was invisible!
Meanwhile, from his cell, Jor-El saw what was taking place. He had to find a way out of here and warn Kal-El and Zod what was happening! Their best bet at this point, was to get their hands on Lor-Zod and turn him over to his father, who would torture the missing crystal out of his son.
