A/N: Thanks Mak5258 for getting this beta'd. Even with going back to school, and ramping up her story 'Identity Crisis' she got this done for me.
The three-hour flight from Metropolis to Chicago was nothing if uncomfortable. Lois sat between the two men, their shoulders entering into her personal area. Clark had apologized for brushing against her on several occasions; Richard just took it in stride. They had tried to carry on small conversations, but the weight of recent events was too much for small talk, and too important to discuss in the confined area of the plane.
When the plane finally approached their destination Richard released a sigh. He didn't like flying when he wasn't at the controls. He wondered if Clark had the same feeling, then remembered that Superman had made a comment about flying being the safest way to travel. Somehow, he felt that there was an inside joke there between his fiancée and Superman.
Then he realized what he was doing, thinking of Clark and Superman as two different people, when they were really one and the same. But then, Clark did try to keep the two identities separate. Richard wondered by what name he referred to himself in his inner dialogues, and if he thought in English, or Kryptonian. There was so much under the surface of the façade of Clark Kent he didn't even think Lois could make a scratch in it.
Once they had retrieved their luggage, and a car from the rental lot, the three reporters continued their journey to a hotel a short distance from the prison. The prison was located in a town that made Smallville look like a big city. There wasn't even a supermarket in the town, Lois noted. She groaned when she saw a sign that said, "Welcome to Grandvale, a dry town."
"Well, so much for having a nice strong drink today. What is it with small towns and liquor, Smallville?" Lois chided. Clark just shrugged his shoulders and smiled as he continued watching out the car window. "Oh, great!" Lois continued complaining "There isn't a single Starbucks or bar for miles, but Fly-Boy over here can get his fix anytime he wants, just look at him soaking up the rays."
"Yes, and my fix doesn't make me have to stop to pee every five minutes, nor will it pickle my liver," Clark poked back.
"So, how long are we staying in this backwater town?" Lois asked Richard.
"However long we need to get the story," the editor replied. "What's wrong, Lois? For someone who obsessed over the hayseed over there for as long as you did, one would think you'd like the small town atmosphere," Richard added. Lois just shook her head.
After arriving at their motel, the three reporters checked in: one room for Richard and Lois, and a separate but adjoining room for Clark. The rooms were simple, two beds, a table and chairs, with a small kitchenette. A door opened between the two rooms. Clark had excused himself to his room, as Lois and Richard entered theirs.
Richard had spent years infiltrating various organizations, studying their networks, bringing down a multitude of nefarious groups for the CIA. He had impersonated drug lords in Central America, and accounting executives in Silicon Valley. When his Uncle Perry's request for someone to protect the infamous Lois Lane came, he had no idea the extent to which this mission would come.
Richard was chosen because he and Lois had a prior relationship as teenagers, when their fathers were stationed at the same base. The story was that they met for the second time at Lois's father's retirement party. They had started talking to each other over the internet, and Richard applied for a position at the Daily Planet to be closer to Lois. They never expected the feelings that they pretended to have would become real. For Richard that happened the day two little blue eyes looked at him for the first time.
Lois had insisted that she would use no drugs during her pregnancy or labor; she worried about how they would affect her baby. She had no choice, though, when preeclampsia threatened both her and her child. Even though Lois had done everything possible to take care of herself and her child, her blood pressure kept going up, eventually to the point where she was having seizures. After a routine ultrasound found the placenta was dying, her obstetrician worried that acidocis would set in, and the baby would die. Not only that, but even with bed rest and reluctantly taken medication, Lois' blood pressure was dangerously high. At 32 weeks the decision was made to take the baby by cesarean section. During the procedure she slipped into a coma.
For the first week, Richard would split his time between the neonatal ICU and Lois's room, terrified that one or both would succumb. When Lois finally regained consciousness, she was too weak to go see Jason. He was almost two weeks old before Lois saw her son for the first time. When she saw how tiny he was, and all the equipment it took to keep him alive, Lois broke.
A preliminary birth certificate had been filled out, waiting for Lois' signature, Richard had been listed as the father. That was the "official" birth certificate. Another form was filled out by Lois, and sealed under a government order. It listed one Clark Kent as father, his current location as unknown.
After a month in ICU, Jason was able to go home. The Planet celebrated by having a champagne dinner catered to the parents, and a giant stuffed bear for the baby, hand delivered by Perry himself. That night Richard proposed to Lois. When Richard and Lois announced their engagement everyone was thrilled.
But they never proceeded with any plans for a wedding, and Lois would become very upset at the mention of setting a date. Jimmy concluded that it was because she was still in love with "you know who," and left it at that. It pained Richard, but he had to admit that it probably was Clark Kent with whom she was in love.
Richard had been trying to figure out the dynamics of Lois and Clark's relationship ever since Clark had returned. He knew that they at one time were one of the greatest reporting teams in Metropolis, but Lois had refused to speak of those days. Once he found out the truth about Clark, more and more pieces had fallen into place.
"Why do you do that?" Richard finally asked Lois.
"Do what?" Lois asked.
"Why do you taunt him like you do? Is it some mind game you like to play?" Richard asked.
"I don't quite understand what you are getting at, Richard. I don't taunt Clark."
"Yes, you do. You did it the whole drive here. You tried on the plane, too, but he just ignored you."
"I'm not taunting him, Richard," Lois said calmly
"Then you have the strangest way of flirting I've ever seen," Richard replied with a sly grin.
"I'm not flirting, either. It's just the way we've always talked to each other, how we keep each other focused on something other than the story. I can't really explain it to you," Lois said, shrugging.
"I guess it's complicated," Richard finished for her.
"You should have heard her at Niagara," Clark interjected, startling both Lois and Richard. "Sorry, I heard you through the door."
"Niagara?" Richard asked.
"The last story we did together, before I left. It was an expose of corruption in the honeymoon industry. I think Perry was intending it to be part of a bigger story on how the wedding industry bilks thousands of dollars out of poor unsuspecting couples. Lois and I never did finish that story," Clark shrugged.
Richard looked over at Lois, and noticed the slight blush.
"No – we got a little sidetracked. Then a big story kind of dropped out of the sky," Lois remarked.
"One we finally get to finish, I hope," Clark added. "We need to get ready. Our interview is at four, and it is already three o'clock. Nothing irritates a Kryptonian more than tardiness."
"This coming from the King of 'sorry I'm late, but...'" Lois grumbled.
Clark gave Lois an annoyed look. "We will already be testing Zod's temper by trying to pass Richard off as me. By arriving late, by even a few minutes, we would be showing him contempt. If things are as you assume, and he doesn't know who I am, than you still are not showing him the respect he feels he deserves.
"If we want any chance of success in this, we have to treat him in the manner that he assumes he deserves. That means you have to arrive on time, and I know this is hard for you, Lois, but, you have to WATCH YOUR TONGUE!"
Clark's outburst startled Richard. The first few days he had observed Clark, he had thought that he was something of a wimp. Since he had learned Clark's secret, he realized that this man not only possessed physical strength, but internal strength as well. His quiet, gentle nature was true meekness, not a sign of weakness. His confidence was overwhelming, if one just took the time to look past the illusion of Clark Kent.
Richard carried his garment bag over to the mirror that hung above the dresser. He carefully removed a slightly wrinkled suit, and a pair of glasses. Placing the glasses on his nose, and flopping his hair over his eyes, he turned towards his associates.
"Just let me get changed, and we can get going," he said in the slight Midwestern drawl of his accomplice. Lois and Clark were both stunned at the ease at which he assumed Clark's character.
"Do I taunt you, Clark?" Lois asked, breaking the silence that had grown increasingly uncomfortable since Richard went to change.
"No more than I taunt you, Lois," was his reply as he moved closer to her. He reached out and put his hand on her arm. As soon as his skin made contact with hers, she felt the electric charge between the two of them. She looked up at him making eye contact, then looked away.
"Yeah, taunt me," she stated under her breath.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" Clark asked.
"I don't want to see you stripped of your powers, Kal El," Lois stated avidly, using his Kryptonian name to emphasize her point. "Once you are under the red lights of Zod's section you would be –"
"Normal. Human. Mortal."
"You could be hurt, overcome and killed," Lois finished. "I don't trust Zod, and I don't trust the government."
"Yet you are engaged to a CIA operative," Clark argued back.
"One that stepped away from the agency after he took his last assignment, when they tried to get him to steal a premature infant from his mother, so that they could test him for any abnormal DNA sequences," Richard admitted as he reentered the room fully attired as Clark, right down to the ugly tie.
"I told the agency back then that I was the father, and that Lois and I were going to get married and raise our family together. I told them that Lois had never had a physical relationship with Superman. That other than her former partner and me, she didn't let anyone else even get close enough to have that kind of relationship with her."
"And did they believe you?" Clark asked.
"After a few days of him not reacting to sunlight, his breathing difficulties, and his overall failure to thrive, they became convinced I was telling the truth. After all, Superman's son couldn't have any defects of that nature. They've left us alone, until now.
"But I agree with Lois. If Zod knows that you are Kal El, then entering into that institution puts you at risk, and if he doesn't, then no harm done," Richard said.
"I don't understand why you are so afraid of Zod," Clark said.
Richard looked over at Lois, who nodded her assent. "Clark," she started, "the Speaker of the House, Anne Lopinski, has been meeting with Zod. She is convinced that he isn't a threat to humanity, that you were mislead, and that he was a political prisoner. She is the one behind his petitions to the UN."
"Then why does he want you, Superman's 'press agent,' the one who had been rumored to be his girlfriend, to conduct his first interview?" Clark asked.
"Because I'm just that, I am the world's foremost expert on everything Superman. I also wrote an article entitled 'Why the World Doesn't Need Superman.' And if that article didn't scream woman scorned, I don't know what would. Maybe he thinks that I would be willing to listen to him. Or maybe he wants to apologize for terrorizing me, and using me as bait to get to you.
"Listen, Clark, I'm going to that prison now, and I am going to get the second most important interview of my career. I am going to find out what that bastard is up to, then I am going to expose him for the fraud he is. And then, I hope that you finally will be able to send him back to the hole he escaped from."
Lois's adrenaline was pulsing through her body. She hadn't felt the thrill of the story for a long time, and she wasn't about to back down now, nor was she ever going to let Clark anywhere near that prison.
"Then I guess we should get going. Do either of you mind showing up with Superman? Perhaps that way we would cast some doubt in Zod's mind," Clark postulated.
A/N 2 I'm one of the biggest lurkers out there, but even I look forward to reviews. And I am trying to get better about reviewing as well. : )