Chapter 70

"So what does it do to him?" Lois asked evenly, barely containing her anger that something this important was kept from her by both Clark and her own cousin.

"Lois, that's not as important right now as figuring out just how he was exposed."

"Well, he's flown off to—" It was at that moment that she finally noticed the familiar looking, small, lead box in Chloe's left hand. Stopping in mid-sentence, she took a deep breath, her hands spread out in front of her as if making a grand effort to keep her own feelings in check. She tore her eyes away from the box to look levelly at her cousin. "Chloe, tell me right now, before I lose it, is Clark capable of hurting anyone like this? Or worse, hurting himself?"

"Well, he probably—"

"Probably? Then let's go. And will you put that away!" She grabbed her purse. "I'm not going to stay here and wonder what's going on. Maybe we can—"

"No! No, Lois, he won't hurt anyone, at least I don't think he will."

"You don't think he will?' Lois headed for the door, but Chloe caught her by the arm.

"Not physically anyway. At least, he usually doesn't. And I'm not sure you should be around him right now."

"Usually? Probably? You don't think? Chloe, we're talking about the superest guy on the—"

"Superest?"

"—planet possibly going Incredible Hulk on innocent people, and unless you can change those to 'always,' 'definitely,' and 'know,' I'm going!" She pulled out of Chloe's grip and headed once more for the door.

"Lois!" Chloe winced at the thought of what she knew she was going to have to say. "You've actually been around Clark yourself when he's been exposed to red Kryptonite."

"Oh- my- god!" She stopped mid-stride and turned around. "That was what was wrong with him at Lex's place that day! I knew he was acting…well, he certainly wasn't good old say-the-word-sex-to-me-and-I'll-die Clark that day. I mean, he grabbed my butt!"

Chloe burst out laughing. "Oh, that day, oh, no, no, no, no." She held out a hand to stop Lois from continuing. "Actually that really was not Clark. But that's an even longer explanation. We'll save that one for some boring, rainy day sometime, shall we?"

"Hate to break it to you, cuz, but we don't have a lot of boring any kind of days." Lois stood, hands on hips, waiting for an explanation.

"Yeah, well…No, the time you saw him on red K was that memorable," she rolled her eyes, "or in your case, unmemorable Valentine's Day a few years ago."

"Valentine's Day?" Lois' eyes widened as she remembered the bits she could of that day. "Chloe," she said carefully, "Clark said that nothing happened—"

"Oh, a lot happened," Chloe said, as she started roving around the room, looking for the offending rock. "He just didn't want to let you know about it. You see, whenever Clark is exposed to that stuff, his emotions are affected, and not in a good way. He…well, he has no inhibitions about hurting anyone's feelings. He's been known to do things like rob banks, let people see him use his powers openly, and lash out—"

"Whoa! Back this info-train up there. Rob banks?" Lois stood open-mouthed. "We are talking about the real Clark Kent here?"

"Yeah. He really did once, as hard as it is to believe." Chloe huffed as she straightened up from the floor where she'd been looking underneath the dresser. "It was a long time ago." She looked at Lois. "Now where was it you first noticed him acting strangely?"

"By the front door, right after he got here. He was okay at first, but then…" She followed Chloe, who was already on her way back into the living room. "But, Chloe, shouldn't we—"

"In fact, it's been a long time since he's been exposed." She looked all around the door, and then stood there, trying to cover every inch of the room. "You see, there's only one meteor strike that had red…" Chloe's eyes came to rest on Lois, "…meteorites. Hmm…you're not wearing any jewelry…and Clark's had a total aversion to wearing any since—" Her gaze had stopped at Lois' face. "Lois! You weren't wearing that shade of lipstick when I left!"

"No," Lois said absently, "I changed it. The other shade was too—" She threw up her hands in frustration. "Chloe, what's lipstick got to do—" She froze, and her voice fell to a whisper. "Holy crap! That lipstick. It was red." She wiped her fingers across her lips and looked at the crimson smear left on them. "Why didn't it…"

"Affect you? Yeah. Good question. Lois, where is that lipstick?"

"In my purse…I was going to take it with me for touch ups…Chloe! It's expired! There was a sticker that had a date on it. Whatever aphrodisiac stuff that was in there…"

"—Isn't potent enough to affect you anymore. Well, red K doesn't expire. You're lucky Clark didn't get to the point of Stage I Clinical Testing Kryptonian/human sex…" Chloe looked through the open door to the bedroom and saw the crumpled sheets and bed spread. "Lois, you and he didn't…?"

"No. No, darn it, we didn't, but I'm kind of wishing…"

"Lois! You can't! Not until they figure out that you won't get hurt!"

"And how long until that happens? Huh? When one of your boring, rainy days comes around? I'm sick of not knowing if it can ever happen!"

"So am I." The voice came from the bedroom. A second later, Superman stood in the doorway.

"Clark!" Lois turned in surprise, then immediately corrected herself, "Kal."

Chloe reached into her pocket.

"Chloe, don't," he ordered quietly, crossing his arms and leaning casually against the door frame.

"He wants to be called Kal now, Chloe." Lois, fake smile firmly plastered across her face, turned back to her cousin to see her pulling out a lead box from her pocket, and she shrieked, "What are you doing?"

"Clark, it's for his own good!" she said as she fumbled with the latch.

"It's okay, Lois. I've decided 'Clark' is fine with me. However…being brought to my knees with Kryptonite right now is not." As he said it, a fine stream of rippling heat shot from his eyes across the room, sealing the box shut, before Chloe could manage to open it.

The metal heated up in her hands so fast, she dropped it. "Clark, you're—"

"Not myself. Yeah, I've heard that one before…several times, as a matter of fact. But I am. I am just more myself than you want to admit."

"No, you're not. You're dangerous this way. You're always sorry afterwards. You—"

He walked slowly across the room, smiling as he saw Chloe retreat, and picked up the box. "Don't worry, Chloe. I'm fine. Go home. I have no intention of hurting Lois…in any way. We'll even give her this to insure it. Okay?" He blew softly on the heated metal box to cool it and tossed it to Lois, who caught it handily. "Now, go home," he said, leading her to the door and gently pushing her out into the hallway."

"But, Clark—" she continued her protests from the other side of the door.

"Chloe, quit disturbing Lois' neighbors. Go home." With his X-ray vision, he watched as she finally turned to leave, knowing it wouldn't be that simple. She'd go to Oliver next, if she hadn't called him already. But, at least now, he had some time to explain some things to Lois.

He looked back to see her sitting down on the sofa, turning the box over and over in her hands nervously.

"Lois, if you're afraid of me—"

"Afraid? Hardly." She threw the box at him with all her might. "But if I were," she answered, and watched him catch it easily, "that would be pretty much useless. I'd need a blowtorch to open it."

"Oh yeah, right," and he ran a fingernail along the lead where he'd only minutes before melted it. "There." He walked over and placed it in her hands. "Now, we need to talk."

"We certainly do. Valentine's day ring a bell?"

********

Ahh…the long, awaited, Author's Notes: First thanks to all who read this far and I hope you enjoyed it. Heck, if you didn't, you're sure a glutton for punishment!

Ch 68 Mari2Anne - but he's got nothing to be embarrassed about…yet. (and everybody rushes to read your review to see what you said) LOL, haven't actually decided which way to go on that. PrincessBella15 – but if I had let Lois be affected, I'd have had to give this story a different rating. WaffleNinja – we agree, Lois is no dummy. CloisHarley – yeah, we still haven't got to what the real Clark is thinking yet. Sigh. And sorry, I didn't get to knock you off your seat. I may, stay tuned! Ily18-

Gosh, I've forgotten what I teased you with on that chapter. I hope I followed through. Must go check. But here's more Chloe for you and hopefully I didn't mess with her too badly. Vanishing point – Yeah, I'm so far behind in comic reading, it's pitiful. I must catch up someday. Framework 4 – maybe that's because I am evil! Hee Hee! Callista Wolfwood – your middle name is update, right? chewbie – you are so close to where I'm going. AdriGoddess – I do so hope I keep you shocked, because every time I submit a new chapter I think 'Man, this isn't as good as the others.' LeaMarie - You're reading this on a phone? Now, I'm impressed! And I know, it's gotten to book length now. It's a hard one to start. Azurelle – Oh gosh, one sitting! Impressed again. And humbled that I got someone staying up until 4AM…of course, I'm up at that time all the time…I don't do schedules real well. Johnny Carson's fault.

Ch 69 – Shopgirl909 Ah, a fellow 12 year old! (even though people think I'm way older…maybe because of my 58 year old body? Did I just give away my age! Mari2Anne – yep, didn't make the promised self-imposed deadline. Imagine Lois at the next karaoke night singing Sinatra, nah, Elvis had the better version, "Regrets, I've had a few…" (For the 12 year olds, that's "My Way") And did you catch the use of the ellipsis from me? WaffleNinja – I'm beginning to think they're all transition chapters! CloisHarley – You made a very good point. Except I did love the Bizarro and Lionel as Clark (or was it Clark as Lionel) so much because I enjoyed the acting, I didn't miss Clark so much, but I was glad to see him back to normal in the end. I hope I'm not overdoing it here, but I'm really trying to say something with this. I think. I hope! Enjoy the coffee! Callista Update Wolfwood – Yeah, there it is again. Anacaro – Alas, I'm always disappointing you. But yeah, I don't think I'd have done as much thinking as Lois at all in that situation with that man. And resisting? HA! PrincessBella15 – I hope so, probably a lot more than you do! Azurelle – You are right. Next chapter should explain a bit more. Ily18 – The siren didn't really mean anything except putting a bit of me into Lois. I could actually tell the difference when I was a teenager. In the town where I grew up, the different services must have used different kinds of sirens that were different notes. My dad, who was a policeman, was amazed. Today the ones I'm hearing are mostly the same note, so it's harder to tell. And your post made me change this chapter completely. Hope you like it. I think I can get back to the other bit I was going to include as well in the next chapter with a bit of doing. That's what I get for planning.

Did I just write a half chapter's worth of notes? Shut me up, someone. I'm a little hyper today.