Reason
Clark was still feeling out of breath when the limo pulled away, Lois inside. Leaning heavily against a headstone, he hung his head and stared at the ground between his feet, uncertain if the heaviness in his heart was a lingering effect of Kryptonite or if it was because of the encounter he had just had. It had been so long since he'd felt the effects of the green meteor rocks that were all that was left of his home planet, he'd almost forgotten how agonizing it was to be around them. Like every drop of his blood was boiling from within.
He didn't move when he heard Chloe shift closer to him; neither did he react at first when she said encouragingly, "Wow…well, okay, that could have gone better. But, you know, we shouldn't give up hope. We just need to convince her that we are who we say we are…somehow."
"Yeah," Clark said heavily after a moment. "That'll be easy, I'm sure. After all, she seemed so willing to listen."
"I-it is a lot to take in," Chloe said in a tone that was clearly intended to placate him, but her voice was a little shaky as she spoke.
"I know," he responded, finally lifting his head to look at her. "Believe me, I know. You think it was easy for me to believe Lois…the Lois I just sent home; not this Lois…was from another world? You think it was easy for me to believe she wasn't crazy? But I did, didn't I? I listened to her; I didn't…didn't…"
"Didn't have the same type of history with her as this Lois seems to have had with you. Or…uh…with Kal-El at least," Chloe pointed out reasonably.
Clark winced at the words, knowing them to be true. "I know," he said heavily with a sigh before jumping to his feet to begin to pace. "It's just…I don't understand! I thought…I thought I was here to…I thought I was sent here to find my destiny! I thought I was sent here to find her! But I've found her and it's clear that she wants absolutely nothing to do with me, so what the hell am I doing here anyway? Why did I get sent to a world where Lois hates me this much that she won't even give me the time of day?"
His companion clearly didn't have the answers – or at least, if she did, she wasn't eager to divulge them. He suspected the latter when she opened her mouth to speak, checked herself, paused, and then finally said uncertainly, "M-maybe your purpose here isn't what you think it is. Maybe it's…maybe it's something else entirely. Do you know for a fact that you were sent here to find her so you'd fall in love with her?"
"I-" Clark began before breaking off with a frown. His brow furrowed as he tried to remember exactly what he'd wished as the light had spilled over him. But after all the pain and shock of the early events of the day, he could no longer bring the words immediately to mind. "I think…that is, I thought I'd wished to…to…to undo the mistakes I'd made in life." As he finished his statement, he returned to the headstone upon which he'd been leaning earlier and flung his body against it once more. The force of his action caused it to topple over, and, his arms windmilling as he fought to keep his balance, Clark followed suit a moment later. With a scowl, he rose to his feet, brushed himself off, and replaced the headstone to its previous position. "Great. Just great," he muttered to himself as he did so.
"Well…maybe that's what you're actually doing here, then," Chloe said reasonably as she pointedly refrained from commenting on his embarrassment. "I mean, it seems like you…like Kal-El…did some pretty terrible things in this world. At least to Lois. Maybe you were sent here to set things right."
"And don't I get to be happy at the end?" Clark demanded, straightening once more. "So I was sent here to make up for another man's – another me's – mistakes, and then what? I just get sent home? To be alone?" It wasn't fair for him to lay this all off on her, he knew, and her suggestion had merit. After all, though Lois had been sent to him once before, she clearly hadn't actually been sent to be his destiny. If that had been the purpose, why hadn't Destiny sent him a Lois who was looking for the man she loved, not one who had quite blissfully found him already?
It was incredibly unfair, but Clark didn't really care at the moment. He was disappointed. He had thought, from almost the very moment that he'd realized that he was in another world, that he'd been sent her to find a love like he knew the Lois he had just sent home had with the Clark of her world. Now it seemed that wasn't the purpose in his being here after all.
And to make it worse, it wasn't like he was sent here to befriend Lois and right a minor wrong in her life. She clearly had no intention of letting him do so, even if he did accept that this was the reason for him to be brought here. She not only hated him, she wished he was dead – if the fact that she apparently wore Kryptonite every minute of the day was any indication. And while it was possible she had every reason to do so, Clark didn't exactly relish the prospect of braving the agony that was exposure to Kryptonite in order to right another man's wrongs – even if that other man was himself in another world.
It just wasn't fair, and maybe it was unrealistic for him to have expected it to be. But he'd thought he was going to find what he knew the Clark from another world had. He'd thought he would find the kind of love that would last forever. But this Lois was nothing like the one he'd met in his own world; the short amount of time he'd spent in her presence had pretty well proven that. The Lois he had just sent home had been warm. Loving. True, she'd been as vicious as a wildcat when provoked and she'd attacked him when she thought he was standing between her and the man she loved. But he had no doubt that everything she did was out of love for him. Well, sort of him. He had no doubt that she would do anything for the Clark that was awaiting her return.
Was it so wrong to want some of that for himself? To want a woman who would love him, who would fight for him, as passionately as she had clearly loved and fought for the man she had been engaged to? It seemed unlikely – if not downright impossible – that he would ever find that kind of devotion from the woman he had just met. The only thing she seemed to want passionately was his death, and that was a very inauspicious beginning to any future relationship.
Chloe hadn't answered his question, but he couldn't exactly blame her. There probably was no answer that he wanted to hear. "It's just…it's not fair," he admitted. "I wanted to be the man that Lois was talking about, when she sat on my couch and told me stories about her fiancé. I wanted to find love like that. I wanted to know that…that I had a place in this world, and that I wasn't destined to be alone. But coming here…it's just that I'm beginning to wonder if I'm not supposed to be alone anyway. If I lost my chance to find that kind of love when Lois died on a mountaintop, years before I was even supposed to meet her. And I just…It's just that it's not fair, that's all," he finished lamely.
Fair or not, though, it was the situation they were left with, and Chloe didn't seem inclined to lie to him about that fact. "I know, Clark, but I don't know what to tell you." He was thankful she didn't tell him that life wasn't fair, because while he knew that to be true, he didn't particularly want to hear it. "I just know what you've told me, and that's that we were brought to this world for a reason. Maybe it's not the reason that you thought it was or the reason that you wanted, but if we're ever going to get home, we've got to do whatever it is we were brought here to do. And I don't know about you, Clark, but I do want to go home at some point."
He nodded slowly in agreement. After everything that had happened, he desperately wanted to go home – to the world where his father was still alive and where there were people who loved him. And he wasn't going to do that by sticking around the graveyard. "Okay," he agreed finally, though he knew he didn't sound happy about it. "So I guess I've got to make up for whatever it is that Kal-El did in this world. At least that's all we've got to go on right now. I don't know how to even begin going about doing it, particularly since Lois couldn't seem to want to have less to do with me if she tried, but I guess it's at least a place to start. We'll have to begin by trying, at least, to get her to listen to us…which would be a little easier, I suppose, if we had any idea where she and that Bruce guy went off to."
"That Bruce guy…?" Chloe parroted, sounding amazed. "You didn't recognize him?" At his clueless look, she explained, "Clark, that wasn't just any guy. That was Bruce Wayne, the Prince of Gotham City! Billionaire playboy, philanthropist…head of Wayne Industries…? People Magazine's hottest man of the year for at least the last decade? Possibly the most eligible bachelor in the world? Any of this ring a bell?"
Arching his eyebrows at her, he responded in a mild tone that belied his true feelings, "I don't follow the gossip rags, and even if I did, he's not my type. But, just so I have this clear, I now not only have to track down Lois and make up for whatever Kal-El did to her, I have to try to get her to listen to me when I'll apparently have a billionaire playboy who girls can't seem to get enough of vying for her attention while I do it?"
Wincing, Chloe said uncertainly, "It may not be as hard as it sounds."
"Uh huh," Clark agreed skeptically. "Okay, well…I guess if he's the Prince of Gotham in our world, he's probably got at least about the same status here, if that limo of his was any indication. So I guess we should head to Gotham first to see if she's there with him. A man with his pedigree, I don't suppose it'll be hard to track him down."
With a slightly nervous look, Chloe wrapped her arm around his shoulders and let him hoist her into his arms. "One way ticket to Gotham on the Clark Kent Express, huh? I guess I'm ready when you are." Faster than a blink of an eye, Clark raced by his father's grave to retrieve his disguise and put it on, and then they were gone.
Clark had been correct in his assumption that Bruce would be an easy man to track down. His castle – what was modestly named "Wayne Manor" – was located just outside the city and was impressive enough to almost put the Luthor Mansion to shame. What wasn't as easy was trying to figure out how to gain access to Bruce once they showed up.
"Okay, this isn't helpful," Chloe groused as she grasped the metal bars of the front gate in her hands and peered intently toward the house. "I was thinking maybe there'd be a member of the staff around that we could bribe to gain entry, but I don't see anyone at all. Do you?" When Clark mumbled a negative response, she continued, "Okay, well, I guess we can try jumping the fence." Her voice was distinctly dubious as she suggested this, for good reason. The fence didn't exactly look easy to scale.
With a sigh, Clark moved closer to the house and stared intently at the imposing flight of steps leading up to the mansion's front doors. He thought about using his x-ray vision to see inside the manor, but as hard as he stared at the building in front of him, nothing happened. Clearly, he was going to need practice. So, instead, he took position next to Chloe, gripping the metal bars in his own grasp as he closed his eyes and took a deep breath as he strained his ears. Once upon a time, he'd been able to focus his hearing so that he could identify the sound of a single voice among a sea of people. He should be able to do something similar now, to hear what was going on inside Wayne Manor.
It took a good thirty seconds before his super hearing kicked into gear, and when it did, Clark almost fell to his knees in pain. It was just like it had been the very first time he'd discovered he had enhanced hearing among his myriad powers. He didn't know if his hearing was actually more powerful than it had been before or if he had simply forgotten how overpowering it could be to hear so much all at once, but the sudden onslaught of sound almost sent him to his knees.
Letting out a sharp cry, Clark felt his knees buckle and caught his weight against the wrought iron gate. It was hard to sort through all the deafening noise, and for a second, he was afraid he'd go mad. What if he never managed to turn the ability off again? Taking deep breaths through his nose, he tried to remain calm as his father's advice came to mind.
"Concentrate," Jonathan Kent had said as he stood in the barn and tried to help his son hone his newest ability. "Listen to the sound of my voice…" They had worked at it for what had seemed like hours to Clark's poor beleaguered sense of hearing but had probably been mere minutes.
Concentrate. He had to concentrate. Though he felt the pressure of Chloe's hand on his shoulder, he kept his eyes squeezed tightly shut and tried to sort through the sounds, to tune out the unimportant ones as he attempted to focus on the object of his search.
He had to find Lois; without her, he'd never be able to get home. Though it was hard, he tuned out the ambient noises – the sounds of the cars driving on the highway a few miles away, the sound of several passersby chattering - and tried to focus on the mansion in front of him.
And then he heard her voice.
"…not exactly helpless, Bruce. I don't need protecting…"
"Lois," he murmured, his eyes fluttering open. Though he'd been trying to focus on the manor behind the gate, he'd unintentionally focused on her instead. Feeling elated that he'd managed to get another of his abilities to work (which also made him feel like it was ever so slightly less likely that his abilities would be taken from him without warning, now that he had them back), he whirled towards Chloe. "I found her!" he told her enthusiastically. "But she's not here; she's in the city somewhere."
As he said the words, they brought him up short. She was in the city, not in the mansion he'd been concentrating on, and yet his hearing and focused unerringly upon the sound of her voice. Was it because he'd been thinking about her, or was there a deeper reason? If it had been the Lois he had sent home, he would have thought he'd honed in on her voice because he was drawn to her. He had absolutely no problem imagining that he was drawn to that version of Lois Lane. But this one? The very idea was perplexing…and just a little scary. No, he consoled himself silently, he undoubtedly had focused in on her voice because he'd been thinking about her and because he knew he had to find her. There was no deeper meaning to it that that.
At Clark's words, Chloe looked confused. Looking around as if searching for a sign that indicated where Lois was at the moment, she asked in bewilderment, "H-how do you figure that?"
Clark flushed, wondering what exactly to say. "Um…I…um…I heard her talking. I…I have good hearing. Really good hearing."
Opening her mouth and then shutting it again rapidly, the petite blonde cleared her throat before saying, "This is one of those things I don't really want to know about just yet, isn't it?"
Looking sheepish, he agreed, "Pretty much."
"Okay, so…you think you can track her down?" Chloe asked, clearly relegating the topic to the "not going to deal with it now" section of her mind. When Clark nodded his assent, she wrapped her arm around his neck and let him hoist her into his arms again. "At this rate, I'm gonna forget how to walk pretty soon," she grumbled good-naturedly as he sped off again.
It didn't take long for Clark to hit the center of Gotham, but he did find tracking Lois down more difficult than he'd anticipated. Apparently, he was going to need quite a bit more practice before he'd truly honed his abilities.
Just when he was about to scream in frustration, however, Chloe saved the day. Spotting a phone booth, she gestured eagerly at it as she exclaimed, "With any luck, it'll have a phone book inside." With a teasing grin, she added, "It's how we mere mortals without extraordinary powers track down people." After giving him this good-natured ribbing, she scooted past him and shot into the phone book, to begin flipping through its pages. When she finally found the proper page in the phonebook, her eyes scanned the page and she frowned. "There's not a Lois Lane listed," she said heavily.
Before Chloe could snap the book closed, Clark stuck his finger in the page and suggested, "You know, after the first year that I played for the Sharks, Lana and I had to change our number because our number had been listed and we got so many calls from fans wanting to either congratulate or heckle my performance the night before. When we got our number changed, we didn't want to have it totally unlisted because we wanted people to still be able to track us down if they needed to, so we had our number listed by our initials instead."
Pulling the book closer to him, he tiled his head to read over her shoulder and glanced at the list of names. "What's her middle name?" he asked as he scanned the various numbers listed under "L. Lane."
"Um…Joanne," Chloe supplied, and Clark grinned when he saw that there was only one "L. J. Lane" in the book.
And they were off again. It didn't take long for Clark to find Lois's apartment building; it was a huge towering structure about three blocks from the Gotham Gazette. Unfortunately, Lois lived on one of the uppermost floors and the building had a doorman who was as attentive as a pit bull guarding the front entrance. There was no way Chloe and Clark could just waltz through the front door, and there was also absolutely no way that Lois would buzz either of them up.
As they stood outside the building and looked up at the sheer height of it, Clark sighed, feeling like he'd hit a dead end. He wanted to use his x-ray vision to see into her apartment – or at least manage to determine which specific apartment was hers. Unfortunately, his x-ray vision was on the fritz or something because nothing happened.
He couldn't just sit there and bemoan the unfairness of the situation, though, so instead he closed his eyes and tried to concentrate on honing his super hearing. When it finally kicked into gear, the noise almost deafened him and he clapped his hands to his ears to try to drown it out. It was worse this time, even, than it had been when he'd tried this trick while standing in front of the relatively secluded Wayne Manor – undoubtedly because of his proximity to most of the various distractions currently threatening to deafen him. Groaning miserably, he tried to focus through the pain, but it was hard to concentrate when it felt like a million voices were drilling into his brain, ripping it apart.
Lois. He tried to picture Lois. It was hard to picture her as she had been in the cemetery, the way she'd looked at him in such loathing. So, instead, he focused on the woman he had come to know. The smile on her face when she talked about another world's Clark. The ferocity with which she'd threatened him when she thought he was a danger to the man she loved. The way she'd kissed him as she wished him goodbye.
"…ow what you're talking about, Bruce." The voice was Lois's, and Clark sighed in relief as he focused intently upon it and let the rest of the sounds of the world fade away.
Bruce was apparently still with her, because Clark heard him reply, "I know you're still bothered by what happened. You can talk to me about it, you know." Clark didn't know how he felt about this different version of Lois – on the one hand, he tried to remember that this was the same woman he almost fell in love with. On the other hand, however, it was hard to forget that she hated him. But, still, his heart broke a little at the misery in her voice.
She sighed. "I know." After a brief pause, she continued, "You've always been a great friend to me. It's just…this is…it's…complicated."
"It's Kal-El," Bruce returned, his voice gentle.
"Yeah."
In another moment, she spoke again, sounding a little aggravated as she did so. "It's just…I don't understand…what's he doing here? And why now? Why me? He can't possibly think I'll fall for his act again!"
"We don't know what he wants, Lois. And we won't until we talk to him," Bruce said reasonably.
Maybe a bit too reasonably, because Lois sounded frustrated when she spoke again. "Oh, no! I know what you're doing! What makes you possibly think that there's even a chance I'd subject myself to that conversation?"
There was a soft sound of fabric brushing against fabric. Then Bruce said softly, "Lois I know you. Your curiosity always gets the best of you. This is gong to keep bugging you until you do something about it…even if that's just finding out what Kal-El is doing here. Do you honestly think you can just let this go?"
Lois sounded incredibly annoyed when she heaved a heavy sigh and huffed, "Fine. No, I probably can't. But you know this sucks, right?"
The soft sound of footfalls followed this comment; one person was walking away. Then Bruce said very softly, "More than you know."
Clark didn't know why, but those four little words broke the spell and he opened his eyes as he stopped concentrating on the conversation going on above him. Though it was none of his business (and he wasn't sure if he cared anyway, he reminded himself churlishly), he wondered what kind of relationship Bruce and Lois had. Of course, he'd known they were friends after the scene at the graveyard, but this…
Bruce clearly knew her, definitely more than Clark did. Probably more than Clark knew the Lois he'd sent back to another world. They were obviously close; Clark couldn't imagine that this world's Lois would open up to people easily, not if her attitude towards him was any indication. But it was clear that she had opened up to the man with her in the apartment above. He thought about the sound of fabric rubbing against fabric, and his mind conjured a dozen different images to explain the sound, each one more unsettling than the last.
Were Bruce and Lois friends? Lovers? Something more? Did the two of them have the same kind of relationship he knew another Lois had with the man she loved? Clark didn't know why, but the very thought of it made him grit his teeth and he felt his hands clench into fists as his stomach twisted into knots. But why did he care? He'd already decided that this Lois was nothing like the woman he'd known and that there was no way that he'd been sent to her doorstep for any other reason than to make amends for another man's sins. There was nothing romantic between them – far from it – and when he thought about the scene in the graveyard, Clark really didn't think he honestly wanted there to be. So why the hell did he feel a sudden inexplicable surge of…something when he thought about the two of them together?
It was because he kept thinking of a kinder, gentler, warmer Lois who was deeply in love with another man. At least that's what he told himself, though in return, a voice in his mind asked softly, So why isn't that Lois the one you pictured in Bruce's arms? The Lois currently being held by Bruce in his mind had her hair ruthlessly pulled back from her face, her face flushed with emotion, her eyes flashing fire…softening only for the man in her arms.
There it was again. That inexplicable something.
Shaking his head abruptly, Clark ruthlessly pushed the thought of Lois and Bruce together out of his mind. He didn't know why he was dwelling on that imagined scene; it wasn't like he cared if the two of them were together. He knew he wasn't destined to be with this Lois, so why should he care if she was with another man? Hell, he'd not felt this thing churning in the pit of his stomach when he'd been with the other world's Lois, and he'd longed to be with her, had wondered what it would be like to be loved by her. If she didn't bring forth this feeling, why should the woman in the apartment above bring it out in him?
It had to be the stress, he told himself firmly. He'd been under quite a bit of it today. And maybe some residual effect of exposure to Kryptonite, though he didn't remember the effects lingering in such a fashion before – and what he was feeling now was entirely unlike what he felt when he was exposed to the radiation from meteor rocks. Still, it was a more palatable idea than anything else that came to mind at present, Clark decided to latch onto that idea for all that it was worth. Anything else was just inconceivable.
"Hello! Earth to Clark! Come in, Clark!" Chloe said in his ear, and Clark turned to her in surprise. He'd almost forgotten she was there, he'd been so lost in his thoughts. When their eyes met, hers narrowed as she said, "You were a million miles away a minute ago, I swear. And you looked…" Her voice trailed off as if she was waiting for him to explain, but when he didn't, she shook her head and grimaced. "None of my business. Check. Anyway, did you have any luck?"
"Not much," he said heavily, thinking back upon the words he'd overheard without focusing too much about the parties involved. While it had been slightly encouraging in the sense that Lois might at least be willing to listen to him (more than she was before, certainly), it hadn't been terribly helpful. He hadn't been able to determine exactly which apartment the voices were coming from. Maybe after a bit more practice, he would be able to do such a thing, but the fact was that he was just too rusty at the moment.
Turning to look at the building again, he tilted his head back and pondered the height of the structure. It was possible, of course, that he'd have more luck if he tried to focus in on them from the roof, as it was closer to Lois's apartment. He wasn't entirely sure it was a good idea, however. Considering how long it had been since he'd attempted a super jump, there was no guarantee that he'd hit his target. He could just imagine either splatting on the side of the building or totally overshooting and leaping over the building entirely. Then there was the thought of the landing. Given that he'd had some pretty spectacular dirt-eating moments when all he had been doing was going for a run, he shuddered to think of the fallout if he tried to land from a super jump and didn't do a very good job of it.
"Okay," Chloe said beside him, her disappointment almost palpable. "Well, it's probably a bad idea to stand out here on the sidewalk as we try to think of a way into the building. It could take a while, and the doorman keeps looking our way. I think he suspects we're casing the place or something. C'mon." Grabbing his sleeve, she gave it a tug as she turned away.
Together, they moved to the curb, sat down, and pretended to be engrossed in watching the cars pass by on the street as they tried to figure out a way to get into Lois's building. Clark could run in, of course, but he was reluctant to do so with Chloe in his arms. He'd have to run at full speed in order to avoid being seen, and he wasn't sure if that was a particularly good idea at this point. He also wasn't sure what kind of effect that level of speed would have on her.
Almost an hour later, they still hadn't come up with anything concrete. Clark was trying to think of a way to distract the guard so that they could sneak into the building when Chloe sat up abruptly and grabbed his arm. "Look!" she hissed, gesturing towards the front entrance.
Gazing in the direction she was indicating, Clark saw what had caught her attention and he felt his spine stiffen in the few seconds that passed before he jumped to his feet. Bruce Wayne was currently leaving the apartment building, heading towards a car parked on the curb. Before he could get away, Clark rushed forward, certain that Chloe was a step or two behind.
"Wait!" he called as he approached Bruce, who turned and looked at him with a steely glare. Though he knew the other man had every right to be suspicious of him, Clark still felt himself react as he stood as tall as he could and met Bruce's eyes with a gaze that was deceptively confident.
"Why am I not surprised?" the billionaire philanthropist drawled, apparently not impressed. "Although I admit, I didn't expect you to show yourself in broad daylight, after everything you did. Aren't you afraid of being identified?"
As he'd been distracted by the something feeling that was still roiling in the pit of his stomach, Clark was thrown by the sudden attack and didn't really know how to proceed. His illusion of confidence faded, and he felt his shoulders sag slightly as he stammered, "Um…I…" and tried to think of how to proceed.
Bruce spoke before Clark could formulate an even lamer response. "So I assume you're here to see Lois? I imagine you're aware that you are the absolute last person she ever wants to see again."
Nervously adjusting the angle of his hat, Clark said a bit churlishly, "Yeah, I got that point. But I don't have a choice. I need to see her." His companion's eyes flickered over his shoulder and fell on the blonde standing just behind him. Since Bruce didn't seem inclined to respond, Clark explained reluctantly, "It's important, I swear. But…I can't…we can't get into the building."
Though Bruce didn't pull his speculative gaze from Chloe's face, when he spoke, he addressed Clark. "And you need my help, I imagine? Why don't you just fly to her balcony? You've done it a million times before."
Behind him, Chloe blurted out, "You can fly?"
Clark cried, "No!" just as Bruce was declaring the exact opposite. Looking between Bruce and Chloe, Clark felt himself blush as he explained awkwardly, "I…I know that I'm supposed to be able to fly, but I don't know how. Kal-El can fly. I can't." He really didn't want to explain that he was afraid of heights. Setting his jaw mutinously, he glared at Bruce when he saw the other man's skeptical look. "I already told you. I'm not Kal-El from this world. I know you don't believe me, but it's the truth."
After a moment, Bruce shrugged. "Since you know I don't believe you, I have to ask. Why should I help you get within six city blocks of Lois? She means a lot to me, you know, and I was at the hospital with her after the last time the two of you had a 'discussion.' In fact, I was the one who had to rush her to the ICU when she was coughing up her own blood. So why should I do a damn thing for you now?"
Bruce's calmly spoken statement hit Clark like a ton of bricks. He had done that? To Lois? Okay, not him, him, but still…he couldn't believe that any version of him could have hurt her like that. The thought sobered him and scared the hell out of him at the same time; he caught a glimpse of his reflection in the polished windows of the apartment building before him, and for the first time in years, he wondered what as much as who he was seeing in his reflection.
"I…I…" he stammered, his shoulders slumping further still, and had to swallow heavily before he could continue. He felt sick to his stomach. It didn't matter that it technically hadn't been him who had done whatever Kal-El had done to Lois; the very thought that he might have been that man, had things been different, terrified and sickened him.
As he tried to quell the nausea rising in the back of his throat, he noticed the speculative look his companion was giving him and tried to put his fear and disgust aside to concentrate on the issue at hand. Though he suspected Bruce was never going to believe that he wasn't Kal-El, Clark still couldn't give up. He had absolutely no other choice; he had to get them to listen to him.
After a moment, he finally managed to say with a semblance of confidence in his tone, "B-Because I know Lois. I don't know the woman in the apartment above us, but I know her. And I know that she'll want to hear what I have to say. It'll drive her crazy until she does." In all honesty, he didn't really know this as well as he was pretending, but since he'd heard Bruce say pretty much the exact same thing not long before, he was sure that Bruce, at least, would believe it.
When Bruce's expression didn't even flicker, Clark added a little desperately, "Besides, you know as well as I do that I couldn't hurt her, even if I wanted to. She has Kryptonite, and that means she can kill me. Please…just…ten minutes. That's all I ask. If after ten minutes, she doesn't want to have anything to do with Chloe and I, we'll leave. You can certainly force me to do so, and you know it. Just…give me a chance. Please."
Though he still didn't look the least bit swayed by this argument, Bruce finally gave a brusque nod and turned, silently leading the way into the building. Not one to press his luck, Clark didn't speak as he followed, Chloe close behind him.
Well before he'd managed to figure out how he was supposed to convince Lois he was telling the truth in the next ten minutes, Clark found himself just outside Lois's door. He noticed that Bruce didn't knock before he opened the door and escorted them inside, and once again he felt that inexplicable surge of something deep inside. "Lois? Before you freak out, I need to tell you…" Bruce began, but he didn't get a chance to finish his thought.
Before he could do so, Lois walked out of the bedroom, dressed in a faded tank top and shorts. Though it was clear she was getting ready for bed, Clark saw that she still wore a green pendant on a chain around her neck. Kryptonite.
As soon as she caught sight of her new guests, Lois sucked in a sharp breath and raised her hand to finger her necklace in a nervous gesture. As if reassured by its solid presence, she steeled her shoulders and raised her chin bravely. Glaring at both Clark and Chloe, she spat, "I thought I was pretty clear when I said I never wanted to see either of you again."
Stepping forward, Clark felt his stomach sink as he noticed that she swayed backwards as if her initial instinct was to skitter away from him. However, she stayed in place as said earnestly, "Lois, please…I know you don't want to listen to me right now, but…I really do need your help."
"And why should I listen to you?" she demanded, crossing her arms over her chest. When she moved, Clark saw the bottom of her tank top lift slightly to reveal what looked like a the edge of a thin pink scar on her stomach, just above her right hip. Only about two centimeters were revealed; the rest was hidden under the waistband of her pajama shorts.
As if realizing the direction of his gaze, Lois dropped her arms abruptly and placed her hands on her hips instead. "Well?" she demanded sharply.
"You don't have anything to lose," he blurted. Frankly, he didn't know what else to tell her, so he continued desperately, "Look, you hold all the cards here. You have Kryptonite, so you know I can't hurt you. I can't even come close to you. And you're skeptical of everything I say, so you're not going to be too quick to believe me. You won't be easily fooled again, if that's what you're worried about.
"You have nothing to lose and everything to gain. I know you're curious to find out what I'm doing here, why I've been telling you I need your help. And I know it's going to bother you until you have answers. Just…give me a chance. Ten minutes. If you don't believe me after that, tell me to go and I'll go. And I'll never bother you again. I just…please. Hear me out."
He watched as Lois pressed her lips together tightly, looking uncertainly between Clark, Chloe, and Bruce. As the latter stepped forward and rested his hand comfortingly on her shoulder, she nodded abruptly. "Okay," she said, still fixing Clark with a glacial stare. "Start talking."