The Power of Suggestion
Part 4: Blow-out
Jimmy's office was almost dead silent, save the humming from all the gadgets around the walls. Chloe was the first to break the silence. "What do you think they're doing in there?"
"Probably making out," AC said expressionlessly. They had long ago gotten over the excitement of getting Clark to finally admit his secret to Lois.
"That's not really Clark's style, though. He's more of the slow seducer. They probably haven't even admitted they love each other yet," Dinah said.
"If this isn't slow, I don't know what is and I have record high IQ," Victor said modestly.
"And a record sized ego to match," AC mumbled, but keeping his promise, said no more.
"I agree with Dinah. That is why I have concocted another brilliant plan." Oliver rubbed his hands together. "Jimmy, go upstairs and see if they're there. If so, make up some excuse about not being able to open the door or something. Tell them to be at my loft at seven tonight. The rest of you be there too; I'll need backup."
--
Jimmy paused at the doorway to the bullpen, observing the two reporters sitting across from each other.
They weren't kissing or making lovey-dovey eyes at each other, so he assumed that Dinah was correct. In fact, they didn't appear to be doing anything out of the ordinary. Unless they were playing footsie under the desk and just being very good at hiding it. The only thing that suggested that they had even talked was every few seconds, Clark would cast a wary, almost hopeful expression at his still slightly blue-tinged comrade.
There was no doubt about it: they needed professional help.
"There you are!" Jimmy cried, striding into the room. "I've been looking all over for you. I went down to the freezer and you weren't there, so I thought maybe you had gotten a new story or something and this is really important!"
"For your information, we were in the freezer." Lois didn't even bother to look up as she responded. Obviously she was not in a forgiving mood.
Jimmy put on a fake puzzled look. "How did you get out? Doesn't that door weigh like a ton?"
At this, Lois did look up, her eyes flashing towards Clark as if asking something. He nodded his head almost imperceptibly. She narrowed her eyes as if to say, "we'll talk about this later." She then turned back to look at Jimmy. "Clark broke us out."
Jimmy looked from Lois to Clark. "So you told her?" His tone was somewhere between glee and surprise. He was getting used to pretending now. They should give him an Emmy. He looked back at Lois and directed his words to her. "It's about time. We've been telling him for years now to just bite the bullet and tell you. Did he tell you everything?"
"I'm pretty sure he flattened the bullet." Her glare at Clark this time clearly added, "if you haven't you'll regret it."
Deciding it was time to change the subject, Clark said, "What was the story lead you had for us, Jimmy?"
Jimmy hesitated for a moment. He hadn't actually expected them to call his bluff like that. "There's a meeting at city hall that promises to be a real duezzy."
"What are they discussing?" Lois asked. Did she sound a little suspicious or was he just being paranoid? She smelled a rat; Jimmy just knew it.
"Car tags," he responded. He hoped she couldn't see the sweat on his forehead. These intense lying sessions would be the death of him, he was sure.
"Car tags! You got us locked in a freezer for car tags?" Lois was obviously not in the mood for games. Her swinging arms caught Clark in the jugular so hard that had he not been indestructible, he would be doubled over on the ground gasping for breath. As it was, he just looked at her mildly irritated and nodded his head at Jimmy in a silent communication that it might be better for both of them if he just left quietly. Lois' eyes were narrowing and she didn't even seem to register that her hand had just collided with the equivalent of a steel wall.
Jimmy had no intention of arguing, but Oliver's command for them to be present at his party made leaving without another word virtually impossible. It was best for him if he just said it quickly and got out of there.
"Oliver says to come over for dinner tonight at seven," he said in a rush, making a break for the door. As he walked out, he felt a moment's guilt at leaving Clark behind, but he knew he could take care of himself and it wasn't like he wasn't used to it. Clark and Chloe were the only ones who could ever calm Lois down when she got into a rage.
--
"That skinny midget got us locked in a freezer over a stupid story like car tags!" Lois spat. "We could have died in there and no one would ever have found us! We'd just sit there like a pack of frozen peas until they came to bulldoze the building for parking space!"
She had been going on like that for nearly ten minutes. Everyone else in the bullpen had left only seconds after Jimmy. Braver men then they had been struck down with the force of Lois's rage. Luckily Clark wasn't a man. Well not technically. Either way he was still standing his ground.
"That never would have happened. They'd have found us before parking became an issue," Clark said consolingly.
Lois just looked at him blankly. "Your ability to make stupid jokes never ceases to amaze me."
"I wasn't joking. There is plenty of underground parking." Clark's face was perfectly serious. As was Lois'. "Come on, you know I never would have let that happen." He broke into a roguish grin.
Lois's face remained impassive, devoid of any emotion but anger no longer entirely directed at her cousin's boyfriend. "Just so long as you didn't reveal your secret though, right?" Her voice had an almost nasty tone.
Clark looked affronted, the grin slipping slightly. "I told you my secret."
"Yeah, eventually. How long did it take? Four, five years? How long was it before you told Jimmy? A day?" Her eyes were practically spitting fire now. All the resentment that had gradually been building—despite her attempts to repress it—since she had first heard that Clark had a secret bubbling to the surface.
"No!" Clark too was getting angry. "I never told Jimmy anything, he just figured it out!"
"Oh yeah? How!" Her face was turning purple.
"The same way you could have if you had just paid more attention!"
"What do you mean by that, you great oaf!"
"I mean if you had been more open to the fact that maybe not everything is so black and white and stopped seeing me as a stupid farmhand, you might have picked up on the fact that I'm a freaking alien!"
"Do you mean that I was supposed to know that you weren't human?" Lois sounded affronted.
"No, not exactly," Clark amended. "But didn't you ever find it suspicious that my entire wardrobe is red and blue or were you too focused on the fact that it also happens to be plaid flannel? How about that I always seem to be there whenever you're in trouble? Oh, no, of course not because you're too wrapped up in your precious Red-Blue Blur, which, by the way, is me! Not that you'd know that because I'm just a farm boy from Kansas, right? Not even worthy of wiping your stiletto boots, right?" He paused for a moment, panting.
Lois just looked at him with a shocked expression on her face. She didn't know how to react. She had, of course, noticed his habit of saving people and his affinity for red and blue. Why had she never put two and two together? How could she have been so stupid? Of course Clark was the Red-Blue Blur! Who else would be? She wanted to tell him this, tell him she was sorry, but she didn't know how.
"You know what, I don't need this." Clark's eyes were stony. Formally they had reminded her of the sky, but now they were the frigid ocean ice. Without another word, he turned and left.
Lois just watched his retreating back.
Coming up next: Chloe and Oliver do some emergency damage control. Look for it in part five of "The Power of Suggestion": "Conversations".
A/N: I'd just like to say happy holidays and thank you all for your reviews/favorites/alerts. Talk about making spirits bright! I would also like to warn you that I might be a little late posting next week. Family and all that. Don't worry, I won't leave you hanging for too long.