Chapter 50

Lois Lane stormed into the lab of Drs. Hamilton and Kline with a secretary hot on her heels, trying her best to stop the irate young woman.

"Dr. Hamilton! Dr. Kline!" She yelled from the top of her lungs.

"Miss Lane, you cannot come in here like this. This is a restricted area!"

"Yeah, I can spot one a mile away. And speaking of away, that's where you should go right now while I have a little private confab with the good doctors."

Dr. Hamilton, wiping his hands on a paper towel, appeared in a doorway toward the back of the room. "Miss Lane! How nice to see you."

"I couldn't stop her, Dr. Hamilton. She just—"

"I understand, Sarah. That will be all. I can handle Miss Lane."

Lois waited until the woman left before exploding again. "You've got a lot of explaining to do, Doctor Hamilton! Some doctor! Sending Clark out to go digging up bodies! What the hell did you think you were doing?" She had come up to him, thrusting her face just inches from his, and grabbed him by the lapels. Despite himself, he couldn't help but feel a little intimidated.

"I can explain—"

"I don't want an explanation! Some simple tests! That's all we wanted. Not some half-baked notions about grave-robbing and psychological—"

"Miss Lane, we needed the—"

"And I need you to leave Cl—" she looked around warily and lowered her voice. I want you to leave Superman alone!"

"Miss Lane!" Superman's voice came from the doorway and she spun around, still with a good grip on the doctor and therefore causing him to stumble. "I can fight my own battles. If you'll be so kind as to unhand the good doctor?"

And she did, albeit grudgingly, before walking over to Superman and whispering to him, "You're not doing it! I won't let you!"

"Really? Because I think I already did." He whispered as he held up a small box. "Well, I didn't quite have to go to the lengths we'd discussed, but…Lois, you shouldn't be here. Dr. Kline might—"

"Oh, hang Dr. Kline—" Her voice shot back up to full volume.

"Maybe it's just as well he's not here right now." Dr. Hamilton said dryly as he took the box from Superman.

"—I couldn't care less about the both of them. You are finished with these tests. I don't want—"

"Yes, you do. It was your idea and I'm seeing them through to the bitter end. There's no turning back now. Now, what other clichéd expressions do you want me to use on you before you see that I'm determined to do this?"

"AhhGG!" The cry was guttural, and then, she hit him.

It was a sock to his shoulder as she'd done a few thousand times before over the years, but this time, he was Superman, not just Clark. This time, it was witnessed by a very curious research scientist/doctor.

"Uh… Miss Lane?" Dr. Hamilton had come up behind her and had taken her hand, turning it over in his to examine her knuckles, her fingers, and the outside edge of her palm. "Didn't that hurt?"

"No." She rolled her eyes. "What's the matter? Miss Milquetoast out there your idea of a woman? I'm a little tougher than I look."

"No, it's just…" He grabbed her by the hand and led her toward the desk.

"Uh, Superman?" Lois looked back at him and pleaded.

"It's okay, Miss Lane. He's a doctor," Superman assured her, trying to hold in his own amusement.

"You see, it should have hurt. During these tests, we've had a few 'accidents' and …well…let's just say I've gone home with a few bruises myself." He all but pushed her into the chair beside the desk. "I'm just wondering if I could have a little blood sample? And do a DNA test?"

"Superman?"

Dr. Hamilton was already pulling out a syringe and a collection tube from a rack on the desk. "It won't take a second…"

"Miss Lane," Superman smiled and leaned against the door frame, obviously enjoying the spectacle of Lois being on the end of some tests for a change, "he's just got 'reasonable questions' and they need to be answered."

Lois closed her eyes as she heard him quote the words that had started all this back to her. She wrinkled her nose at him. He really does have total recall, darn it.

"You can do this." Superman coaxed. "It's in the name of science, after all. It won't hurt that much, and, besides, you're so tough, remember?"

She shot him a look of pure hatred as the doctor plunged the needle into her arm.

"But why on earth do you want my—" Then it dawned on her. Dr. Hamilton was in on Clark's secret. It was only Dr. Kline who didn't know. Clark had said that eventually they'd want samples from the "significant other" to conduct the rest of the tests. She relaxed slightly as the doctor withdrew the needle and deposited the red liquid in the tube.

"Superman!" Dr. Kline, his hands full of two trays of coffees, donuts and snacks, had come up behind him. "We weren't expecting you until later."

"Hello, Dr. Kline. I'll be back later for tests. I was just making a delivery."

"Ah. Well, good then." He edged past the super hero to unload his bounty on the desk. "What have we here?" His eyes had immediately gone to the vial of blood.

"A sample from Miss Lane here. She hit Superman. No bruises."

"Really?" Dr. Kline grabbed Lois' hands in his. "Which hand?"

"The right," supplied Dr. Hamilton.

The inspection of her hand began all over again.

"Oh, for crying out loud, people!" Lois stood up and marched over to Superman. "This is insane," she whispered to him as the two doctors put their heads together to discuss what tests they needed to run on Lois Lane now.

He smiled and leaned down to say softly, "I know, Lois, but why don't you just go with it though? They really do know what they're doing, despite how it looks."

"It looks like a loony bin in here," she said through clenched teeth.

"I know…Lois, did you find anything at the Planet? Anything that jogs a memory?"

"Oh yes! One of the photos made me remember—"

"Just tell me it will constitute proof of something against Grange. That's all I need to know right now."

"I think so. Well, maybe not yet, but it will once I get to a computer.

"Great. Then I need to get back to the judge."

"Miss Lane?"

She turned around to see Dr. Kline heading toward her with a long cotton swab.

Lois' eyes widened as she looked back Superman for help. But he was gone again.

"Crap!"

Author's notes:

Cloisharley- sorry, not ready for that chapter quite yet. I probably should pay more attention to chapter numbers but this chapter is one I've had written for weeks and was straining to get it worked in somewhere. So #50 is not that significant.

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