Chapter 41
Lois awoke in Clark's bed from the nightmare, heaving a sigh of relief. "It was only a dream," she whispered to the empty room. "A dream…" It took several minutes for her heart rate to slow and her breathing to calm as the images flashed through her consciousness: Clark being forced to drink liquid Kryptonite, Clark pierced through the heart with a huge, glowing, green spear, Clark lying dead on the ground with bright green rocks scattered all around him, Clark drowning in a vat of stagnant, green, slimy…
She shut her eyes against all the images, but more of the same kept swimming before her anyway.
This is no good. I have to see him…now!
Not having her familiar bunny slippers at hand, she slipped on a pair of socks. She was already wearing one of Clark's old flannel shirts, so, looking down, she figured she was covered enough even for Mrs. Kent's standards. After all, it nearly reaches my knees. Well, almost. Sort of. I'm just going to make sure he's all right. No one's going to see me anyway.
Making her way down the stairs, she was careful not to step on the three spots that, she knew by now, squeaked. She'd just peek in on him, make sure he was okay, and then beat it back up the stairs. Then she'd be able to sleep, once she knew he was all right.
He was lying on his stomach and she couldn't see his face from the bottom of the stairs. Maybe I'll just sneak a little closer…I need to see his face.
All of a sudden she found herself next to the couch, listening to the sound of his steady, rhythmic breathing. She felt compelled to kneel down so she could get a look at his face, which was halfway buried in the pillow.
He's okay. It was only a nightmare. You can go back to bed now, Lane. You don't want to wake him up, do you?
But she didn't move. She just watched him sleep.
He was wearing a white tee shirt and pajama bottoms. He had not even bothered with sheets or a blanket to make his bed on the couch. The pillow was enough for him. Was that one of his abilities? To be able to fall asleep when he needed to with only minimal comfort?
For the first time, she noticed that, even at this hour of the morning, he had no beard growth. She'd never thought about it, but now she wondered, Does he even have to shave?
He was twenty-four years old, a man by any standard anywhere. So how could that face be that innocent? How could the most powerful man in the whole world be that…that…childlike in so many ways? True innocence. She was staring at it and she knew it. Had Krypton been full of such people? Was he one of a kind? Had the Kents stumbled on some way of creating such complete innocence that it could hold over into adulthood?
Clark stirred and turned over, still sleeping soundly, and now she had a full view of that beautiful face. God, what a beautiful face! She'd certainly noticed that the first day she'd seen him.
Her mind traveled back in time to a scorched-out clearing in a corn field with lightning striking all around her. Considering he'd been stark naked at the time, she had noticed just how far that beauty extended with him. She smiled.
It was that moment that Clark opened his eyes.
"Lois!" He was startled to see her there, just inches from him. "Is something wrong? What is it?"
"No! No… I wanted to…" No, she wasn't going to tell him about the dream. She'd been caught watching him sleep, but she wasn't going to tell him why. She wasn't that stupid. "I was going to have some cereal. Want some?" she asked brightly.
Peering into her eyes questioningly, he only said, "Sure, sounds good." He ran a hand through his hair and rubbed his eyes, trying to finish waking up fully. Grabbing his watch from the coffee table before following her into the kitchen, he noticed the time: 5:23. He'd had a whole three hours of sleep, but for him, that was plenty.
"Well, it's still dark out, so I don't think the rooster woke you up. What did?" He took a seat at the kitchen table, since she was obviously going to take care of serving him breakfast.
"Stupid dream. Nothing to tell really. Coffee?"
"Yeah. Want me to do that?"
"No, I don't. Your mom has taught me well. I have even mastered coffee," she said proudly.
"Wow. Quite the homemaker these days, aren't you?"
"It never hurts to learn new things."
"Yeah, mom says that all the time. You've been indoctrinated…." He let the words trail away. He had been going to say "into being a Kent" but maybe he shouldn't bring that idea up just yet. Lois seemed to be taking so many things he said these days in ways he didn't expect.
"Are you going in to Star Labs again today?" she asked, as she filled the carafe with water and then measured the coffee.
"Yeah. This afternoon for a couple of hours." When she didn't reply or even turn around, he asked, "Lois, are you still upset about yesterday? I didn't want that to happen. I just wanted to—"
"I'm fine," she said, but then turned around and looked straight into his eyes. She couldn't lie to those blue eyes. "No, I'm not fine." She set the two coffee cups down with a double thud. "Look, maybe you should ask Dr. Hamilton if there's a way to make you immune to this Kryptonite stuff. Maybe like a vaccine or something? I mean, there's got to be some way to—"
"I wouldn't ask him that even it were possible, and I don't really think it would be. Lois, there really does need to be some way to control me. That's been proven quite well to me in the past. And no," he said, before she could even ask the question, "I'm not telling you about those times. Not yet, anyway."
"I didn't ask you to."
"I can't believe you accepted that I'm an alien from another planet just fine, but my one weakness has you so—"
"I am not—"
"…freaked out," he finished.
"Okay, how many times would you say you've been exposed to Kryptonite as Clark Kent?"
He hesitated. He could tell her the exact number, but he chose to be vague. "A few dozen times, I guess."
"And some of those times have been by accident, some on purpose. Now, if this secret gets out, how many times do you think Superman is going to be exposed intentionally? Huh? Yeah. And it might only take once. Someone like Lex Luthor…"
"Lex is dead, Lois. And believe me, knowing that about Superman would be power and Lex did not share power with anyone. I don't think he would have told anyone about it. Will you stop worrying? I'm far more concerned about people trying to kill you, since that has happened twice quite recently." He got up and poured the coffee since she seemed to have forgotten all about what she had been doing in the kitchen. "This morning, I'm going to pay a visit to that guy, Simon Grange. Don't worry, I won't go alone. I'll take—"
He had turned from the coffee maker to get his first unencumbered-by-the-furniture look at Lois' lack of clothing. "Lois! Didn't Chloe pack a robe for you?"
She looked down at her bare legs. "Oh, come on, Smallville, all the good parts are covered." She grinned. "Besides, you've got X-ray vision. Isn't it sort of pointless to worry about a robe with you?"
"Do you really think I would—" He swallowed, as she leaned back against the table edge and propped one foot up on the chair, exposing even more leg to him.
Lois laughed. "I think Kryptonite isn't your only weakness, Smallville."
Clark shook his head and drank his coffee at super speed. "And I think I'll go get my chores done while you put some clothes on, partner."
