Chapter 10

The realization that she was no longer an important part of Superman's life had left a big hole in Lois. She had subconsciously loved the feeling that she was special in the man of steel's life and had felt safe in the knowledge that no one could take her place in his affections. To be so rudely disabused of that notion and to have it done in front of Richard was shocking in the extreme.

She still didn't know what her feelings about the whole Superman/Clark issue but she did know that she was going to have to sort it out sooner rather than later.

Her feelings for Superman had become comfortable and easy to hide, like an old boyfriend whom you still had feelings for. Superman didn't do life, he was bigger than life, but Clark Kent was life personified with his polite upbringing and niceness.

To have them as the same person had brought into stark contrast the knowledge that she could have some sort of relationship with Clark Kent/Superman that could be real and based in those realities.

Richard had understood when she had told him that she was very confused and didn't know what to think anymore. He had taken the whole episode in his stride and had been so supportive to her as she thought it through, but she could tell that her continued excuses for not having sex with him were starting to grate.

She loved Richard but she was questioning whether she loved him or was in love with him. He was safe and dependable and he was always there for when she needed him but was that enough for her. It was all complicated by the fact that Jason adored Richard and it would be so easy to just continue the way it was.

"It's not that I could ever love Clark Kent but . . ." she would think to herself. That "but" seemed to be the step that she couldn't get over.

She knew that all her thinking and processes to find an answer were important to her but meaningless in the conundrum of Clark Kent and his choice to leave humanity behind.

One thing she was sure of was that Superman leaving his humanity behind wasn't a good idea. From all the accounts she had read, the terrible destruction committed by General Zod and his minions on the world was devastating and no one wanted that repeated by any Kryptonian.

Superman's humanity or empathy for humanity was what separated him from the likes of General Zod. For Superman to choose to live outside humanity could have scary and far-reaching consequences.

So for the last week the burning question that was in her mind was, "What will bring Clark Kent back to the world?"

If she was going to do this then she was going to have to find out what made Clark Kent tick. She knew that the motivational trigger for a life changing or attitudinal change could only come with knowledge. She had to find the motivational trigger that would work with Clark Kent and to do that she was going to have to dissect his life from top to bottom.

That was why she was sitting in Metropolis airport waiting for a flight to Smallville, Kansas.

In her hand on a piece of paper, were two names written like signposts.

Vice-president Pete Ross and Lana Lang were one of most high-profile couples in the world. The amount of coverage they received was unprecedented. She was acknowledged as one of the world's most beautiful women and he was one of its most powerful men.

Their names and images had continually appeared whenever Clark's did in the Smallville Gazzette. It was obvious that they had spent a lot of time together as teenagers and this had prompted her to make an appointment with Pete Ross's secretary to visit his Washington office.

She had been shocked to receive a personal call from Pete Ross inviting her to Smallville for the weekend and she had leapt at the chance.

"How well does Clark Kent know the Vice President and his wife but more to the point how much do they know about Clark?" she thought to herself and she got up to walk through the departure gates.

To be continued . . .