Almost Lois (Chapter Thirty-One)

"You just... your job is a large part of who you are. I mean, working at The Planet." He smiled. "You have all you ever wanted."

She tilted her head. "How did you know that?"

"I... I just sense it, I guess. I'm not here to step on your toes. It's the opposite. I just want to..." He was leaning in.

She could hardly believe it. He was leaning in. Or was she? She was drunk. There was no other explanation. This was all a hallucination brought on by too much wine. Country mice did not sit next to her on stone benches in lush gardens and lean.

Of course, this was not a hallucination. She knew that the moment she felt lips. When was the last time she'd felt lips? She didn't know and she didn't care. She let her eyes close. His breath puffed lightly against her mouth as his lips touched hers. It was nice. She felt a hand on her face and that was nice, too. She kissed back, taking his bottom lip between hers. It didn't feel strange at all. It felt nearly natural.

She tilted her head and leaned forward. Maybe she was lonely. Maybe the lack of this very thing was her problem. She'd never thought a kiss from Clark Kent could solve all her problems. But as his hand slipped down her shoulder to her back, everything melted away.

His other hand rested on her waist and the headaches went away. He rubbed back and forth against her lips and Lex Luthor went away. He made this humming sound and pulled her closer. Her envy of his story went away. Her tongue came forward, glanced along the seam of his lips and... Clark went away.

She opened her eyes. He was standing, staring at her. "I'm sorry," he said quickly.

"Uh... It's..."

"I mean, I had no right to just... do that."

"It's fine." Her head was swimming. Everything that had gone away hit her like a ton of bricks along with the effects of the alcohol.

"No. It's not fine. I shouldn't have..."

"It's totally fine, Kent." She stood on legs that felt like jelly. She'd thought this night couldn't get much weirder. "We were drinking."

"I wasn't," he said. He was staring at the ground. "I have no excuse for just..."

"Well, I was, then," she cut in. He looked up and she held his gaze a moment. "Don't worry about it, Kent. It's just a kiss. It's not like it means anything." He had this hangdog look about him and she felt this urge to go to him. "I need to use the ladies' room." She rushed away. She wanted to get away from Kent, away from Luthor, away from all these people who pulled her in their direction. She wanted her own direction. Right now, her direction was the ladies' room. After that... Well, she wasn't sure.

In the hallway, she bumped into a blonde in a tight dress. "Oh, sorry..."

"You will be," the blonde muttered, grabbing herarm, but she didn't let go.

"Excuse me?"

"You just... you stay away from Lex," the blonde spat, her eyes narrowed.

She rolled her eyes. This was that assistant, Eve something-or-other. "Listen, I have no designs on your employer."

"Oh, really? Because I know you... I think. Before Lex ran off and came back without remembering stuff..." She stepped away and pointed at Lois. "You stormed into his office and beat him up."

"What?"

"It was you." Eve pulled at Lois' mask. The flimsy strings broke and Eve stared hard at her. "See? I knew it."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"You! You came in and told me to go away and you beat him up. I swear... Or..." Eve looked conflicted. "I mean, your hair was shorter then, but it was still blonde..."

Lois laughed. "I think you're confused." She pulled at her wig and let it slide off, leaving some bobby pins behind. "Maybe I just look like someone with this wig."

Eve opened and closed her mouth. "Well... No. I'm positive. You look just like that girl and... Maybe you dyed your hair or something. But I'm not letting you do it again."

"Do what again?"

"Whatever you did that made him run away." She moved closer, speaking right into Lois' face. "I take care of my man."

"You mean your boss?"

Eve shrugged. "For now. So you just watch your step." She bumped Lois' shoulder and walked away.

The weird factor had officially shot past her grasp. She could not take anymore of this night. She picked her mask up from the floor and tossed it and her wig into the nearest waste basket. She bypassed the ball room and went straight to coat check to get her purse, pulling her tag from the blue apron. She was leaving. She had a bit of a story from Bitty and her home number.

As for Lex... Well, she'd think about Smallville. It might be good to do her own research from work first. She'd just bet most of what Lex couldn't remember was fairly incriminating. Maybe she'd also tell him to reign his guard dog in. The woman was just sme ditzy blonde that... It was funny, though.

You look just like that girl and... Maybe you dyed your hair or something. She'd found a picture of Chloe. It was on Smallville High's website. It was old. She couldn't have been more than sixteen. But she did look like her. She was blonde underneath her dye job? She had a vague memory of Linda doing it. When was that? Why was that? She kept her roots up, but she was pretty fuzzy on the details...

She waited for the headache as she hailed a cab. It didn't come. Maybe she should drink every night. She shook her head as a cab stopped by her. She wasn't about to turn into a drunk. She'd see her doctor again over the week.

*******************

Clark hovered near the roof. He'd abandoned the matador outfit. He'd left it on the roof of the hotel. He'd have it cleaned and returned to the rental shop tomorrow. For now, he'd just focus on Lois. He'd watched her through the building. He'd seen her talk to Eve. He'd watched her leave and he'd waited until she'd got in the cab. Now he followed the cab.

Nothing else was going on. About the only thing he had on his plate now was making sure she was okay. He'd heard some of what Eve had said. Oliver had told him that Chloe had done something foolish before they'd left for The Yukon. Something that had made Lex travel to Star City in search of her. Whatever Grady had taken from Eve, it wasn't enough.

The cab hadn't traveled far before stopping in front of her building. She looked upset. He lowered slightly. Sometimes it was hard to zoom in with his X-ray vision, especially when he was this tired. And he was tired. Dead tired.

That might have been part of what made him let his guard down when she'd looked so damned vulnerable and... kissable. Maybe it was the blonde wig. She'd seemed like Chloe again with it on. And he felt allowed. It was as if the past year hadn't happened and he could just do what he wanted to. But that wasn't true.

There were consequences and one of them was probably the pained look on her face. She took out her keys, but didn't go in. She sank to her front stoop instead, pulling pins from her hair and tossing them to the street. It was late. The trick-or-treaters were all in bed. Good thing for him. They'd been screaming bloody murder all night and he'd chased them all over town. Only twice had he done anything necessary.

"Worst night of the year," Inspector Henderson had said when he'd seen him outside the convenience store where a man was held up. He'd used his heat vision on the gun. The police were hardly surprised when he pitched in anymore.

"Call me if you need me," he'd told Henderson.

"Well, we got about fifty werewolf sightings," Henderson had laughed. "Doubt you want to check those out." Clark had just flown off, trying to smile. This was actually the first quiet time he'd had all night. He tested a branch and rested on it. He wasn't leaving until she went in. He tried to move a hanging branch out of his way and dislodged a smaller branch. He watched it fall directly toward Lois. It wouldn't hurt her, but...

"Hey! If someone's up there, they should know that children shouldn't be playing in trees!"

He squeezed his eyes shut and deepened his voice. "Um... It's me." The jig was up. He floated down.

"Superman?" She stared up at him. He noticed that a hand moved up to smooth her hair. There was a leaf in it. "Hi... Uh... Anything going on?" Her hand went to her purse. He'd just bet she was about to pull out a tape recorder.

"No," he said quickly. "I just wanted to make sure you got home safe."

She tilted her head. "How did you know I was out?"

"Well, I... I was flying by the grand and I saw your friend. The tall guy with the glasses..."

"Oh, Clark." She sighed. "We're not exactly friends. I mean, we might be, but we weren't out together... I mean, we were, but we aren't dating. He's just this guy I work with so... I'm single," she burst out.

He wasn't sure how to react to any of that. He knew how Clark felt. But what should Superman say? "Well... I'm glad you're okay. Clark said you were upset."

"Me? Nah!" She waved a hand. "Just fine. Just thinking. Except that hurts." She looked down and fumbled in her purse. She pulled out a bottle of aspirin and popped one, swallowing it dry.

"Are you sure?" he asked.

"This is just for my headache."

"Oh. Well, the party must have been..."

"Oh, it stunk," she cut in, zipping her purse shut abruptly. "Between Clark ditching me and Luthor plying me with wine and contacts and crazy blondes and... What am I doing?" She stared up at him, letting out a small laugh. "Venting to you. I mean, you've probably dealt with real problems all night."

"You'd be surprised. It's Halloween. People kind of... go nuts tonight."

She patted the step beside her. "You're free to vent. I mean, I gave you some of my troubles."

He glanced from the step to her half smile. Why not? He settled down next to her. It felt surreal. He'd never sat just hung out in this outfit. In fact, he rarely sat in it. "Just stupid kids," he said, taking care to lower his voice. "I can hear across the distance, but it's hard to make out what's real distress and what's just... pranks or some little boy spooked by a monster mask."

She laughed. "Maybe you need an aspirin."

"No, I'm fine. Just..." He turned to her. "Is it the wine? Does that give you a headache?"

She sighed and shook her head. "They're just chronic, I guess. I seem to get them whenever I think too hard." She shrugged. "I know. Sounds nuts. My ex-shrink told me there's no connection, but I think..."

"Ex-shrink?"

She started. "Oh, God! Now you'll think I'm nuts. It's not like I have a disorder or anything..."

"No," he assured her. "I know you're not..."

"It was just that... I was a little down. At least, I think I was. And I was seeing this doctor, but he left town."

"He left?" He found himself standing.

"Well, it wasn't because of me," she said quickly. "I mean, I'm not that nuts. I'm really not nuts at all."

He relaxed his stance. "Lois, I really don't think you're nuts. Really."

She half-smiled. "Well, that's comforting. Because I... Well, I sometimes think I must be."

He sat next to her again. "Why?"

"Oh, who wouldn't?" She shook her head. "I have these blank spots and whenever I try to remember what should be there, I get these awful headaches like pinpricks that go straight through my brain. They've been worse without my shrink. My regular doctor thinks I just work too hard."

He stared hard at her. "Maybe you do." But the headaches worried him. Apparently, they were worse. And now Grady had just left. There had to be a way to find him.

"What else can I do?" Lois turned to him and smiled. "My job is just... everything. I mean, could you go a day without seeking out someone in trouble and helping?"

"No. I guess not."

"I search for the truth." She shrugged. "It's a full-time job."

"Maybe you should take time off and have some fun."

"Oh, what's fun anyway?"

"Well, there's..." He found himself stumped. He couldn't remember the last thing he'd done just for fun. "I don't know." He laughed. "I really don't."

She laughed with him. "I guess we're both workaholics."

He grinned and stared at her and, for the second time that night, felt himself pulled to her. Whoever he was, she still pulled at him. But he wouldn't give in again. He stood. "Well, I'm glad you're home safe."

"Oh, yeah..." She looked disappointed. "Thanks for the... check-up, I guess."

"Any time." He floated upward. "Don't work too hard."

"Same to you," she called up. He still waited above the trees until he saw her stand and unlock the door. "Goodnight, Superman," he heard her call before it closed.

He smiled. It seemed like she knew everything. Everything except... well, everything she had a right to know. About Lex and about herself and... Grady had left town. He'd find him. He'd take Grady to STAR labs, whether he wanted to go or not. Murray could help. If they could figure out how Grady's power worked, they could reverse it. All of it. Lois could kill him later. This just had to stop.

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