Friends or Lovers?

Folc4evernaday | Rated: M| Chapter 3

"I cannot believe you want to work with this guy," Clark argued as he and Lois walked into the newsroom. The last few days had been hell. He and Lois had been arguing constantly over Scardino. She couldn't see that Scardino was hitting on her and when he did point it out, she told him he was being insecure.

"Clark, we've been over this," Lois argued. "It will be so much easier if we know what he's up to rather than constantly butting heads with the guy."

"You mean ME? I would be butting heads with the guy?" Clark caught the look she had given him at that last statement.

"I never said that."

"But you're thinking it."

"Clark … " Lois was exasperated.

"Lois … " Clark bandied, equally exasperated.

Agent Scardino was getting on his last nerve. The man did not know how to take a hint. He still kept hitting on Lois. Scardino kept asking Lois out right in front of him and sending her gifts. Lois ignored the gestures but still didn't correct his assumption that she was available. She wasn't, was she? As far as he could tell, they were working on their relationship. Although, they hadn't spoken two words about their relationship or what had happened the other night.

The feel of her body molded against him and the scent of her arousal was seared into his mind. He wanted nothing more than to pick things up where they'd left off, but they had a lot to work through before that was possible. Things had gotten out of control that night, way out of control. He didn't know where he stood with her and the constant presence of Agent Scardino was not helping.

"Don't start … " she warned. Lois walked away from him and took a seat at her desk. She was getting really frustrated. She had been trying to bury herself into her work to forget about what had happened the other night between her and Clark. Her ego was bruised and she was trying to prove to herself that she still was the best investigative reporter at the Daily Planet, even if she had been fooled by a pair of glasses for two years.

Whatever Mayson had been involved with regarding this 'resurrection' had to be big if the DEA was involved. What was the harm in creating a solid contact with Dan? He seemed nice enough. It wasn't like she was dating him or anything.

Clark brought her a file and laid it on her desk. "What's this?" she asked, looking up at him inquisitively.

"Background check."

Lois opened up the folder and shot him an angry look. "You had Jimmy do a background check on Dan? Clark, you can't be serious!"

"I'm sorry, now it's 'Dan'?" His tone was growing more and more agitated by the second. "The guy is a loose cannon. He's been on probation more than any other DEA agent."

Lois looked at the file and smirked. "He's also the most decorated agent."

Jimmy approached them with a file in his hands. "Hey, guys?"

"What is it, Jimmy?" Lois asked, grateful for the distraction.

"Uh, I just wanted to let you know research is kinda backed up so it's gonna be a bit longer with the name of that corpse in plot 29B … but I'm still borrowing the Jeep, right?"

Lois sighed, exhausted. "Yes. That's fine, Jimmy."

"Great. Thanks."

"I thought he borrowed it last night, too?" Clark inquired.

"I feel charitable right now. I guess the date went well." Lois flushed slightly, remembering how their first date had ended.

"Yeah," Clark said. "Good for him." He sighed and walked away from Lois' desk.

Lois stared at her computer screen for a few moments then looked up in the direction Clark had left and found him gone. Things were not going well. She picked up one of McCarthy's letters and read the last line of one of them. "A better place?" What did that mean?

Clark floated above the clouds, staring off into space. How did his life get so screwed up? He didn't even know how to handle his emotions around Lois anymore. They were so raw. The guilt he felt over Mayson's death was eating at him along with the guilt he felt for hurting Lois. He didn't know what to do. She seemed to be just pushing him away, so maybe he should just do what she wanted. Stay away.

He let out a long breath, trying to regain control of his emotions. Sometimes he hated having to be Superman. Superman wasn't supposed to cry.

"Where've you been?" Lois asked as she saw Clark strolling into the newsroom a few hours later.

"Nowhere, I just needed to clear my head," he murmured.

"Oh?" Lois eyed him suspiciously. He was acting very stand-offish and she didn't know why. "Well, I think I have a lead."

"What?"

"I was reading over McCarthy's letters again and I got to thinking. What if he wasn't talking about the hereafter, but somewhere outside of prison? I thought maybe we could arrange a visit with his pen pal."

"Great." Clark was still very short with her. "Let's go." He grabbed the file and headed up the ramp. Lois followed behind him, eying him suspiciously. What was going on here?

Lois stood in the hallway of the Metropolis Men's Prison in a red halter top and a black leather mini skirt reapplying her lipstick and adjusting her hair. "How do I look?" Lois asked Clark. She glanced at him appreciatively. He wore a pair of rugged jeans, a wife beater, and a black leather jacket. His hair was greased up in an awkward angle that was unlike his Clark or Superman hair styles and he wore a pair of biker sunglasses. He looked good. Really good. 'Don't go there.' The memory of his body pressed against hers a few nights ago was seared into her mind. She could still feel his breath against her skin…

"Appropriately cheap," he remarked solemnly.

Neither of them had spoken of that night since. He still remained withdrawn from her. "Good." She walked up to the guard and took the role of the dumb bimbo. "Hi, we're here to see Big Buster Williams."

The guard eyed her appreciatively then hollered into the visitors' room. "Hey, Buster! You got another visitor!"

As they entered the room she turned to Clark and whispered, "Just let me do most of the talking."

"You usually do," he muttered under his breath.

She shot him a dirty look and then approached Big Buster Williams' visiting table. "Big Buster" turned out to be a dwarf. He looked to be in his thirties and eyed Lois appreciatively. "Hi, you must be Buster! I'm Angel. McCarthy's old lady. McCarthy was right. You're the best-looking guy in the joint," she gushed.

"Who's that?" Buster eyed Clark suspiciously.

"Oh, that's my brother, Spike," she said nonchalantly.

Buster eyed Lois up and down appreciatively. "That's some killer outfit."

Lois blushed and looked away in time to see Clark roll his eyes. She tried to keep up her dumb bimbo act. "Thanks."

"I didn't know McCarthy had a doll. I kinda thought he was a morals guy."

"Yeah, well, you know Sean. He was kinda tight-lipped," Lois responded.

"Are you kidding? Motor-mouth McCarthy? So did he send you to fill me in on the job?"

"The job?" Lois inquired. This was it. The break in the story they needed. What job? Who was involved? She tried to remain calm as she waited for Buster's response.

Buster began coughing heavily and wheezing sounds escaped as he continued struggling to breathe. Clark looked at him in concern. "Do you need some water?"

"No thanks, Spike. I'm okay," Buster squealed out, and then he proceeded to fall over in his chair.

Clark was at his side in a second. Checking his pulse, he announced, "He's dead. I guess that really is a killer outfit."

"Oh, my God!"

Lois stormed into the Daily Planet, aggravated at how the investigation had been going. Clark had remained completely professional, but the banter he usually participated in with her was gone. He remained aloof with her and showed zero emotion.

Not only that but they had gotten nowhere with the investigation. Buster Williams was pronounced dead via unknown causes and that was the end of it according to the coroner.

"Hey, Lois." Jimmy bounded up to her desk in his usual carefree, spirited way.

"What is it?"

"Check this out." Jimmy showed her a photograph. "He was found sniffing around the police impound lot near Mayson Drake's car."

"Oh, my God! Clark!"

"What is it?" He came up behind her to look at the picture as well.

"That's the man I told you was being buried alive."

"It does look like him, I mean, according to how you described him," Clark covered for himself when Jimmy shot him a funny look. "But how?"

"I don't know, but if he's interested in Mayson's car, so am I."

Lois and Clark crawled around the interior of what was left of Mayson Drake's car. Lois looked in the back seat while Clark scanned the front.

"What exactly are we looking for?" Lois asked.

"I don't know. Hopefully, we'll know it when we see it." He lowered his glasses and did a scan over the floor boards of the car. He spotted a silver tube on the driver's side of the floor board. "Hey, Lois, hand me a nail file."

Lois sighed in exasperation. "Why do men always assume women have nail files on them?"

Clark sighed, equally exasperated. "I … I'm sorry. Do you have a nail file?"

Lois smiled. "As a matter of fact, I do. But only because it's a part of my pocket knife." She handed him a pocket knife.

Clark took the pocket knife from her and worked on opening up the floor board. He pulled out a silver tube and opened it up. A small blue pill fell out of it.

"What is that?" she asked.

"What we were looking for." Clark grinned in triumph. "Come on. We need to get this over to Professor Hamilton."

Jimmy bounded up to Lois' desk and dropped a file on her desk. "I got the information you wanted on that stiff at the cemetery."

"And?" Lois looked up at him expectantly.

"Diego Martinez. 20 years for bank robbery. He was an expert at getting past security systems."

"Except when he was caught," Lois remarked, bringing attention to the obvious. Lois opened the folder and began reading. "It says he was in good health. Cause of death unknown."

"Because there is no autopsy. Budget cuts. The guy I spoke with at the Prison Infirmary said they take the bodies directly to the cemetery."

"Hmmm." Lois looked through the file some more and Jimmy headed towards his desk. She spotted Clark walking to his desk engrossed in a fax. "What's that?"

"Hmmm?" Clark looked up from the fax he was reading and recognized she was speaking to him. "Oh, Professor Hamilton's report on that pill."

"And?" she looked at him expectantly. It usually didn't take him this long to share information with her.

Clark handed her the report. "See for yourself. The pill puts your body into a temporary state of animated suspension."

"Giving the appearance of someone being dead."

"Exactly."

"Hmmm … " Lois smiled at him. "That explains Buster Williams … and that Martinez guy."

"It would be the perfect way of breaking out of prison. I mean, who would be looking for you if you were dead?"

"Well, if that is the case then the cemetery would have to be in on it."

"True. What's our next move?"

"I have a sudden urge to plan a funeral."

At that moment a courier walked up to Lois' desk with a rectangular box in tow. "Lois Lane?"

"Yes?" She looked up from her desk expectantly.

"Sign here."

Lois signed the invoice and the man handed her the box. She opened the box to reveal a bouquet of long-stemmed roses. Lois looked up at Clark, gushing, "Clark, you shouldn't have."

"I didn't," Clark muttered bitterly. The bite in his tone spoke volumes.

Lois looked at him confused. "Then who?"

"They're from an Agent Scardino," the courier supplied helpfully.

The look on Clark's face spoke volumes. He rolled his eyes as he walked away, muttering under his breath, "Oh, please, call him 'Daniel'."

Lois and Clark walked out of the funeral home in disgust. "What is that guy smoking? Nobody is THAT happy all the time … especially in this profession."

"Well, while you were distracting him I found an invoice. All of the burials for the prisoners buried here were paid for a guy named Albie Swinson," Clark said as they walked down the steps.

"Why don't you get Jimmy to find out what he can on Swinson and meet me at plot 29B?"

Clark chuckled lightly. "I don't think so. Knowing your luck someone will try to bury you alive in the five minutes it takes for me to call Jimmy. I'll walk with you. We'll call Jimmy when we're done."

Lois gave him an exasperated glare. "Clark, I don't need you to babysit me."

"I'm not babysitting. I'm making my job just a little bit easier. You do have a knack for trouble, Lois."

Lois conceded defeat and continued to walk with Clark over to the cemetery. He did have a point. It was a good sign; wasn't it? He was teasing her again.

Neither of them noticed they were being watched by the grave diggers they had encountered a few days before at Mayson's funeral.

"Do you see anything?" Lois asked as Clark scanned the ground around the plot.

Clark shook his head. "This whole area has lead lining covering most of the caskets, so, it's hard for me to see anything."

"Great. Now, what?"

Clark was about to respond when he noticed a tractor headed their way. "I think we need to get out of here now."

"Wha — ?" Lois was cut off by Clark scooping her into his arms at super speed and flying them back to Lois' apartment.

Back at the cemetery, the grave diggers looked around in disgust. They saw no sign of either reporter.

"Okay. This is too weird. Why are tractors chasing us down in cemeteries?"

Clark sighed. "I don't know." He was sitting on Lois' couch his head in his hands.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine."

"O-kay. You want some coffee?"

"Hmmm, sure."

"Clark, what is going on?"

"Nothing."

"No. It's not 'nothing'. Clark, you have been distancing yourself from me for the last few days … what is going on?"

"Oh, I don't know, Lois. Maybe I'm getting tired of the games," he shot back at her in frustration.

"Games? What games?"

"This. Scardino. You. Everything," he muttered, exasperated. "Look, I don't like Scardino. I can't stand the guy. I think he's trouble."

"I didn't like Mayson, but I trusted your instincts about her and you were right. She was a good person."

"Lois, you never trusted my instincts about Mayson until you had proof. I still have yet to see the good side about this guy."

"Why do you let him get to you like this, Clark? What? Are you jealous?"

"Do I have a reason to be?"

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"However you want to take it, Lois. You tell me."

"Don't you dare try to put this back on me, Clark Kent! You are the one that lied to me every day for two years!"

"Right, like you never lied to me. You're not the only one that's been hurt or betrayed. I do have feelings too, Lois."

"Clark … "

"Look, I don't know how much longer I can do this. I'm not going to compete for you. I have too much going on to deal with this too. You need to make a decision about what it is you want. I'll respect your decision either way." He got up to leave.

"Clark!" she begged him.

He opened her door to leave and found Agent Scardino standing at the doorway, arm raised, ready to knock on the door. "Great." Clark pushed his way past Scardino and left.

"Whoa! What did I miss?" Scardino watched Clark leave then turned to Lois. "You okay?"

"No." She shook her head. "You need to go." She closed the door on Agent Scardino and slumped down to the floor and cried. She had been so worried about her own feelings she hadn't even thought about Clark's feelings in all of this.

Lois closed the door to her apartment behind her and looked around the hallway, suspiciously. After making sure neither Clark nor Scardino were lurking around, she made her exit. The cold air hit her face with force as she began running. She had no direction and no destination.

The tears came from nowhere but once they formed she was unable to stop them from flowing. She came around the corner and found herself at Whispering Pines Cemetery. She wiped the tears from her eyes in anguish. She really didn't want to even think about her and Clark's investigation right now. Thinking about the investigation just brought back the memories of Mayson's death and her own feelings of guilt.

The night of her and Clark's first kiss had become bittersweet due to Mayson's death. Clark hadn't been able to get to Mayson in time because he had been preoccupied with their kiss. Their kiss had been … amazing. The memory of it was seared into her mind along with every other kiss and caress they had shared these past few months.

The truth was she didn't know what it was that she wanted. She knew she had loved both Clark and Superman as separate beings, but she was unaccustomed to merging the two together. Things Clark had said or done were things Superman had done as well. Clark had faked his death.

Superman had made her think he was dead. Clark had been the one to turn her down all those times she had thrown herself at Superman. Superman had sent her on a wild goose chase and scooped her. Did she want to try and figure out how to fix her relationship with Clark or did she just want to go back to being friends? He had said he would support her no matter what she decided.

What was that comment about Dan earlier? Was he jealous? There was nothing between her and Dan. Sure, she found him somewhat attractive but he was nowhere near as attractive as Clark. He was nothing compared to Clark …

Lois sighed in self-pity. "This is your fault, Mayson. I would never have let him know how I felt if you hadn't come along," she muttered under her breath.

She gasped as she turned the corner in the cemetery. There was Superman standing over Mayson Drake's grave with a solemn look on his face and tears in his eyes. She held her breath as she inched forward slowly, trying to get a better view.

"I am so sorry," she heard him say. "You never deserved this." Lois' breath caught as she heard the catch in his voice. She had never seen Clark or Superman like this, ever. He was vulnerable. He was emotional. He was crying. Feeling like an intruder she backed away and headed toward the exit of the cemetery.

Lois opened the door to her apartment and locked the many locks behind her. What was she going to do? She owed Clark an apology. That was for sure. While trying to mend her broken heart and heal her wounded pride, she had lost sight of the most important thing: Clark. She hadn't thought of his feelings at all. She had been too busy trying to prove she hadn't lost her edge; she had just pushed him aside and ignored him completely.

She hadn't done that since her engagement to Lex. Clark had warned her of Lex's criminal activities, but she hadn't listened. She had ignored his pleas for her to stay away from Lex and had ended up almost marrying the man. When the truth of all of Lex's dealings in the criminal underworld came to light, Clark had been her rock. He had not once said 'I told you so'. He had been supportive. He had been her friend.

It couldn't have been easy for him to listen to her declare her love for Superman when she had just told him earlier that she didn't have those feelings for him.

"I've been such an idiot," she muttered to herself.

"Lois?"

She jumped up with a start when she saw Clark floating outside her bedroom window.

"Clark! You — you scared me."

"I — I'm sorry. I didn't mean to startle you."

"No, it's okay." She began to straighten up her living room out of nervous habit. "Come on in."

He stepped into her apartment and spun back into the business suit he had been wearing earlier that day. She looked on in awe. "Wow. Where do you keep the suit?"

"I can't tell you all my secrets. Where would the fun in that be?" He winked at her and then took a seat on the couch next to her. "I'm really sorry about the way that I left things. I had no right to blow up at you like that."

"No, actually, you did," Lois conceded thoughtfully. "Ever since I confronted you about Superman I haven't been clear with you about what I want. You're right. It's not fair to me or you. I shouldn't have forced Dan on you like that. You may be Superman, but you're also my partner and we're supposed to be a team."

Clark smiled. She still thought of them as a team. This was a good sign. "Always," he said wistfully. "Look, I saw you at the cemetery earlier."

"Oh." Lois grew quiet. "I wasn't trying to eavesdrop. I swear. I just went for a run."

"No, it's okay. I know you weren't eavesdropping or purposefully trying to spy."

"I'm sorry if I invaded your space, Clark, but I'm not sorry I was there. I never realized how much you were hurting. I'm so sorry." Lois began to cry all over again. "I am a horrible friend. Someone just died in your arms a few days ago and I'm over here creating more drama … " She stopped a moment, realizing Clark was watching her with a smirk on his face.

"What?"

"Nothing. It's just kind of funny when you go off on your tangents."

Lois stared at him in awe. He was the most powerful being on the planet yet he was captivated by her. What was so special about her that drew him to her so strongly?

"Why were you glad you were there?"

"Because, being there, watching you, it made me realize how vulnerable you really are. I mean, you put on a façade for the rest of the world. The invincible hero, but you are still vulnerable, especially here." She patted his chest.

"Lois … " The emotion in his voice was threatening to overwhelm him.

"Clark, I'm an idiot. I claimed to love you when I really didn't even know you. I threw myself at you shamelessly and meanwhile I treated you — the real you, my best friend — so shabbily … how can you even stand to be around me?"

"Simple. I love you. No matter how irritating you can be I still love you, Lois."

"Oh, Clark." She stroked his cheek with her thumb. "I do love you, too. It just scares me."

"Why?"

"Because you're the one person that I thought I couldn't have. You were safe. Now being in a relationship with you just seems surreal to me."

"What do you want, Lois?"

"I want to be happy."

"Then give us a chance," he said solemnly. "Give me a chance. We have been doing this dance since I first asked you out, a month ago. Everything in the world seems to be getting in our way. I love you, Lois, and I want to be with you. The question is, do you want to be with me?"

TBC...