Beta Team: Special thanks goes out to my very patient, very talented beta team: RheaJediknight,
markclark
and special technical consultant
vanel
Disclaimer: I don't own these characters, they are the rights of their perspective owners, I am not involved with Superman Returns or the Superman comics or any other Superman franchise. DC Comics owns Superman. I am not making money from this work and no copyright infringement is intended.
Part 2– the men in her life
What about Richard, he thought. His arms still crossed staring out over the lake. He listened to Jason's heartbeat from the lake house. It was his favorite sound in the world.
"Richard and I finally realized it's over between us, romantically at least. There are still details to work out, who will keep the house, and the extent of his involvement with Jason – but we're over"
Could she read my mind? Superman thought, still amazed at what Lois had told him so far.
"Oh?"
"Richard is a good man, he deserves better then me. He doesn't love me, he loves the idea of me, and he just needed my help to understand that."
Superman thought for a moment, he thought Richard adored Lois. All the actions indicated a man who loved both of them. "Why do you think Richard wasn't in love with you?"
"It was staring me in the face all these years, but I just needed someone like Clark, who although may not have forgiven me, it's obvious he still cares for me in some ways at least."
Lois walked on the edge of the lake, her feet soaking in the water. "It's the coffee thing that tipped me off – that brought the whole thing into clarity for me a few weeks ago."
Only Lois could find the answers to her love life at the bottom of her coffee mug. He was curious though, what exactly was his involvement in this? He was always so careful at work, keeping a distance, being passive, sitting in the background. He liked Richard. He made an effort each day to not lead her away from him – so how had he accomplished just that? He paused a little longer then necessary, but he needed time to control the smile that he felt overcoming his face with this new information.
"Do you," he shifted his feet slightly not sure if he should ask, but needing to know all the same "I mean, what happened with the coffee?"
"Oh, it's silly really - you wouldn't understand."
She is literally the only person on the planet who would tell Superman 'you wouldn't understand' – he smiled inwardly at himself, in awe of the woman next to him, the only person in the world who saw him as a man, a man who could do great things, but just a man at the end of the day.
How did he leave the only woman who ever understood him? And why?
He couldn't help himself, he stepped closer to her and playfully nudged her arm, and she swayed slightly on her feet. "Try me, Lois, you might be surprised, I am quick on the uptake."
"Well," she began, slightly embarrassed, but committing herself to tell the story, "You may not know this about me, but I am not the most pleasant person before I have finished my first cup of coffee in the morning I sort of have a fully justified reputation around the office about my 'disposition' before ten o'clock." She looked at him for encouragement to continue.
"Hmmm, I may have heard something about that, but I find that hard to imagine." He turned fully away for a moment so that she could not see the smile in his eyes.
"Well, Richard's way of dealing with my 'disposition' was to wean me off the caffeine. At the house he only would brew half-cafe, and at lunch only non-caffeinated sodas for me."
She paused for a moment taking advantage of Superman's turned head, to admire his physical appearance; he was something to look at. How could I not remember sleeping with him – and why doesn't he offer any explanations, he knows I don't remember what happened to me?
Her silence was long, he didn't understand. "What does Clark have to do with that?"
"Oh," she glanced at the sky for a moment to collect her train of thought on the story. "Clark's way of dealing with my 'disposition' is that if he wants to work with me before 10 am, he always has a venti coffee waiting for me on my desk in the morning – fully caffeinated with an extra shot. – I think he rather enjoys it when I am all keyed up and on point."
He smiled to himself, he never thought of it in those terms. He simply got her coffee in the morning because he loved to see that smile on her face when she first notices it on her desk. He loved to see her happy, and he was always amazed how such a complex, sophisticated woman, could be won over by a simple venti coffee. He wanted to do it everyday, but he was afraid she might think it presumptuous.
It was odd how he purposefully was trying not to get between Richard and Lois' relationship, but he couldn't help not doing anything. The coffee seemed innocuous enough.
Saving a hundred people trapped under a building was easier then navigating around one relationship. To his credit, he did have a good amount of experience in saving people from buildings, but not a whole lot of experience in relationships to draw upon.
Lois then noticed the sun was just peeking over the horizon and causing the water to turn golden. "Wow, I didn't realize how long we were talking, I better get back before my family wakes and worries about where I am."