Worst Nightmare Come True

By Lee Thiher <LThiher@aol.com>

Rated PG

Submitted March 25, 1998

Summary: Just when we thought Scardino was gone for good, he returns to wreck havoc in the lives of our star-crossed lovers, bringing with him confusion and misunderstanding.

I was wondering what might happen if Lois and Clark had a little outside pressure on their relationship. I also thought that Clark needs to get mad every once and awhile. Even nice people get upset at other people and need to vent. Hope you enjoy this little story and send comments to LThiher@aol.com.

The recognizable characters in this story are the property of ABC and December 3rd Productions.

***

Lois Lane arrived at the Daily Planet building ready for another day at work. She had gotten a tip from an informant on several businesses that Intergang was using to launder money through from their illegal activities. She and Clark had spent the entire previous day researching these companies to see if they could put any of this at the door of the Church family. So far they were not having much luck with that, but they did find out that these businesses were shell companies for a corporation called Widget Corp.

After Lois had arrived at work she realized that she had nothing to do until another source of hers decided to call her back on another story she was working on. She started to daydream about how much her life had changed over recent months.

Lois and Clark had known each other for three years now and had been dating for almost four months. Clark had told Lois about his dual identify about a week after they started dating and Lois took it pretty well. She was shocked at first and a little mad (no big surprise), but she got over it and eventually told Clark that she loved him. Right after Lois found out about Clark's secret she met a DEA agent named Dan Scardino who was instantly attracted to her because she reminded him of his former partner who he was in love with. Intergang killed her because she was viewed as a threat to the organization. Scardino began to send Lois gifts and tried to get her to go on a date with him. After about a week of this, Lois finally said yes to him because she thought he was attractive and she wanted to go on date that would not be interrupted. They went out a couple of times, but Scardino would not tell Lois about his work. He kept saying that it was classified and he could not talk about it. Scardino would always bad mouth Clark to Lois by saying that Clark was boring and that he was always running out on her because he was too scared to be with her. Finally Lois decided that he did not trust her not to report what he said and she decided to end it. But mostly she decided to end it with Scardino because she really loved Clark.

Lois's going out with Scardino had not made Clark a happy person, and he and Lois never spoke much to each other outside of work during that time. Clark had even considered leaving Metropolis. Clark later told Lois what he had been thinking at the time. "I told her everything and now she hates me. There is nothing here for me anymore so I might as well move on just like in the old days," Clark had thought to himself.

He had given Perry his two-week notice saying he was going to move back to Smallville to help his parents run the farm. In actuality, he had had no idea where he was going to go. He just knew that he could not stand the sight of seeing Lois everyday and knowing that she hated him. Lois had barged right in on his meeting with Perry and heard Perry say, "Well, okay son, thanks for giving me notice. I'll miss you. Not only were you one of the best damn reporter I have ever seen, but you were like a son to me."

"Thank you, Chief, that means a lot to me coming from you," Clark said as he walked out to his desk and started typing on his story.

After Clark left Lois had asked, " What was that all about?"

"Clark is leaving the Planet. He says it is because his parents need help running the farm in Smallville, but I'm not buying it. Something else is wrong," Perry said.

"What!!!" Lois said as she flopped down on a chair in Perry's office in complete shock. "I … I … I … can't believe it."

"I know, honey. It shocked the hell out of me too," Perry said.

After Clark had left, Perry and Lois talked about a story idea that Lois had for a while and then she left Perry's office still in shock. She had wanted to talk to Clark to see what was going on but he had gone by the time she got out of Perry's office. She went to his apartment, but he was not home. She looked in the window and saw stuff in boxes and empty boxes lying around. She couldn't believe it was not some cruel dream, that this was really happening. She had started to cry and was about to go straight home when she saw an envelope lying on the ground. She picked it up and looked at it. It had her name on it. When she opened it up she found a letter addressed to her. The letter had said:

Dear Lois,

If you are reading this it means that I am moving my stuff back to Smallville until I figure out where I am going to move. Maybe I'll move to California or something, but I do not know yet. I am so very sorry that you do not like me anymore because I love you so very much. Thank you for all the wonderful times that we have spent together. I will cherish them forever. I will love you 'til the day that I die, and I hope that you find someone that makes you happy because you deserve it. Good-bye Lois.

Love,

Clark *** Lois was brought back to reality and the present by her phone ringing. It was not her source, but her mother calling to see how she was. Lois and her mother talked for about fifteen minutes about everything and nothing. Finally, Lois got rid of her and went back to waiting for the phone to ring again. Lois noticed that Clark had not come in to work yet today. She had not heard about any Superman sighting so she wondered what was up. She asked Jimmy if he had heard from Clark. Jimmy told him that Clark had several interviews set up for today and would probably be out all day.

She spent the rest of the morning waiting for the phone call from her source and finishing up some other stories about which she had been procrastinating. At lunch time, with no sign of Clark, she decided to go to his house and eat the leftovers in his refrigerator. She figured it was cheaper than eating out, and since he did not like the Greek food they had ordered two days ago, and she did, that he would not miss it. In fact, he had told her to eat it so it would not spoil. She went to his apartment, used the key he had given her, got it out of the refrigerator and took it to her apartment.

After lunch she returned to the Planet to wait by the phone. She had found no messages on her desk, and just as she sat down Perry came out of the office and came over to her desk.

"What's up Chief?"

"You been following this WNBA thing?"

"You mean the women's professional basketball league the NBA is doing? Yeah, I have been. Why?"

"Good, and since you're not too busy, I need you to write an editorial for the late edition on it."

"Why me? I'm not in sports."

"Because we lost an ad and need to fill the space, and all the sports people are busy on other stories and you're not. Now do it, or you're fired. Got it??" snapped Perry.

"Okay, Chief." Lois was not too interested in doing this, but she was less interested in aggravating the boss and standing in the unemployment line. Lois spent the most of the rest of the afternoon working on the editorial and waiting for the phone call that she never got. *I better get a call from that source of mine or I'll go crazy.* She finished the editorial at about 4:30 and sent it to Perry. Right after she did this Clark came strolling down the ramp.

"So Lois how was your day?"

"Perry made me write an editorial on the WNBA."

"You? Since when were you a sports writer?"

"Since no one else was available, I guess."

"Well, I hope it was not too painful for you," Clark said with a huge grin on his face.

"I'll live, so how was your day?"

Clark proceeded to tell her about all the interviews he had done during the day. After telling her about his day, he went to his desk and started to type up the story.

Lois heard the sound of her computer telling her that she had a memo that she had not read yet today. It was from maintenance telling everyone that the vending machine was going to be fixed and restocked. It would be out of service for a few days. She read the memo and got upset.

"Did you read that memo, Clark?"

"Yeah, guess no cheese sandwiches for you, huh?" Clark said with a big simile.

"Ha, ha, Mr. Comedian. See if you can use that comedic power of your to bring down Intergang."

"If it was only that simple."

"Well, anyway, back to the problem at hand. I need my mid-day snacks. what am I going to do?" This made Clark start to laugh. "I'll go get you something when you get hungry, okay?" Just then, Clark heard a call for help. "Are you hungry now?" He gave Lois the look he used when he needed to leave, but needed an excuse. She saw the look and got the message.

"Uh … uh, yeah, now that you mention it, I am. Get me a cheese sandwich!!"

"You got it. I'll be right back," Clark said as he ran to the back to go check out the alarm he had just heard. He returned about 40 minutes later with a cheese sandwich in tow. He told Lois what had happened. Someone had decided to rob a convenience store. Clark caught them, and delivered them to the police. After telling Lois this, he handed her the cheese sandwich and returned to work on what he had been working on before he had left. A half an hour after he had returned from the robbery, he decided to try to get Lois to go home and get ready for tonight. They did not have any predetermined plans so Clark decided to let Lois decide what they would do that evening.

"I'm going to need another twenty minutes or so to finish up. Why don't you go home and get ready?" Clark said.

"All right. What are we doing anyway?

"I don't know. Why don't you surprise me?"

Lois got a wicked smile on her face and said, "Okay, you got it."

Clark thought that the look she had spelled trouble. "Just use your key and let yourself in when you get to my place, OK?" Lois said.

"Okay, Lois, see you in a little bit."

Lois picked up her coat and briefcase and headed for the elevator. Clark watched her walk up the ramp and thought to himself, *Man, she is gorgeous. Wow!!* He started to push his glasses down, but then thought, *No Clark, you can't do that. You know better.* He was hoping that she did not have any sexy looking cloths on tonight or he would need to make a trip to the Arctic to cool off.

Clark had started to think back to the conversation that they had had about a week ago on what Lois had called "The Intimacy Threshold." Things had gotten rather heated on Lois's couch one Saturday night and Clark got scared so he stopped it before things got too steamy. At first, Lois was hurt. She thought that Clark did not find her desirable.

"Clark what's wrong. Don't you find me attractive?" Lois had asked.

"No, that's not it. I think you are the most beautiful woman in the universe."

"Then what is it?"

"Lois, I'm scared."

"Clark, what are you scared of?"

"Lois, I have a confession to make. I have never told anyone this, but I've never done this before."

"It's no big deal, Clark. I was scared my first time too. It's natural."

"Yeah, but it is different for me, Lois. You know I'm not from around here."

"I know that, Clark. What are you trying to say?"

"What if I get too excited and hurt or even kill you? I do not know about the mating habits of Kyptonions. My birth father didn't mention anything about it in his messages to me in the globe. Or what if something goes wrong?"

"Clark, I know you could never hurt me no matter how excited you get. You are a very gentle man."

*I sure hope she doesn't ask me about what else I'm afraid of because she'll get mad if I tell her,* Clark thought. Lois saw that he was deep in thought and she realized something else was bothering him.

"There is something else, isn't there?" Lois said.

*Here goes nothing,* Clark thought, but said, "Yeah there is. Lois, I know that you have not had the best of luck when it comes to relationships, and neither have I. I have not had a serious relationship since college. Heck, our first date was the first real date I've been on since college. I need to tell you about that relationship because I think it will help you understand why I am scared. I met her my sophomore year in college. We were in Spanish class together. I really liked her but she was going out with someone else at the time so I did not ask her out. Then my senior year she was unattached and was in my journalism class so I asked her out. We ended up getting pretty serious. Anyway, we had been going out for a few months and Megan made it very clear that she did not want to go all the way until she got married which was just great with me because I was scared what might happen being that I am an alien. So, the last day of school there was this party at this guy's house and we decided to go. We were dancing and having a good time, and then I had to go use the restroom. She had gone earlier in the evening so I asked her to show me where the bathrooms were. Anyway, we went upstairs and she sees these people making out in one of the bedrooms. They had forgotten to close the door. She got mad and accused me of trying to take advantage of her by forcing her to have sex when she told me she did not want to. She broke up with me right then and there, stormed out of the party, got in her car, and left immediately. I did not go out and try to find her right away because then I would have to explain how I caught up to her without a car and no one at the party was in any shape to drive. So the next day I tried to talk to her, but she refused to see me and I never saw her again. I know that other men have taken advantage of you Lois and I don't want you to feel like I'm just using you; I don't want you to think that I'm only interested in your body because I'm not."

"Oh Clark, I know you're not like other men. I know you would never use me for any reason. That is not your style and you had plenty of opportunities to take advantage of me and you never did. You were and are a complete gentleman."

"What opportunities, Lois?"

"How about every time you visited me as Superman or when I was under the influence of the pheromone compound? If you would have pushed as Superman I probably would have said yes."

Then Clark got 'the look' and had to go.

Clark was brought back to the present by the screen saver on his computer and then started to finish up his story.

When Lois got to her apartment she decided to take a shower and freshen up. She thought about the look she had just seen on Clark's face when she was walking up the ramp to the elevator and smiled. *I hope he's thinking what I'm thinking because I can't take it anymore. He is so gorgeous that I just want to throw myself at him every time we are alone and I know he wants to also. Well Clark, after you see what I have in store for us tonight you won't be able to help yourself anymore,* Lois thought. She had only started to feel this way in the last couple of weeks or so. She trusted him more than anyone she had ever met. After all, he trusted her with his most personal secret.

After she got out of the shower Lois went into her closet to pick the attire for tonight's event. An attire she hoped she would not need for very long. She had all the lights off in the apartment except for the ones in the bathroom and bedroom. Lois decided that she was literally going to throw herself at Clark as soon as he walked in the door. *He has wanted to do this with me for years and tonight he will get his chance. I just hope nothing comes up on his way over her,* Lois thought. About ten minutes later Lois heard the locks of her door being unlocked. Lois moved over to stand behind the door so that she could surprise Clark. She planned to wait for him to close the door and then she would turn off the light and knock him to the ground and start kissing him.

The door opens and Lois is ready to pounce like a animal on its pray. Excitement gets the best of her and she does not even wait for the door to close. She hits the switch and lunges. They hit the ground and Lois is just about to kiss the person when she realizes it is not Clark.

"I know it's been along time but it is nice to see you too Lois."

"Oh my God, Dan!!!" a stunned Lois said.

Just then the door opens. "Lois, is everything all right? The door was part way … " says Clark as he stops dead in his tracks when he sees a not fully clothed Lois sitting on Dan Scardino in a very intimate way. Clark's worst nightmare had just come true right before his very eyes. He was so stunned to see this that all he managed to say before he left was, "Sorry, I didn't realize you had company."

"Oh no, no, Clark come back I can explain, CLARK!!!" Lois was screaming as she ran down the hall but he was already gone. About a second later she heard the familiar whoosh sound followed by the sonic boom. she walks back into her apartment to find Scardino still on the floor.

"What in the name of God are YOU doing here," she screamed at him.

"After I got back in town I came by to surprise you. Ha, guess I was the one in for the surprise, huh?" Scardino said while laughing. "Nice outfit. It fits you well.

"Yeah, well I thought you were Clark. How dare you break into my house. I told you it was over. Were you not listening?"

"I heard you, but come on, Lois. Kent is a idiot. I'm much more fun than he is. Besides I bet he still runs out on you."

"First of all my relationship with Clark is none of your business, and second, he is the most intelligent, caring person I have ever met. He trusts me with his life and with his family's lives. You don't even trust me enough to tell me what you do. Or at least he did trust me until you broke into my house. NOW GET OUT!!!" Lois screamed at him as she started to shove him out the door.

"No, I'm not leaving until you come to your senses and agree to go out with me again."

"No, you jerk. GET OUT!!!"

Scardino did not move so Lois decided to take drastic measures. "Help, Superman, Help! This guy will not leave," she screamed.

Clark had flown home after he left Lois's in complete shock. His whole life was crashing down around him. The worst thing in the world had happened he thought. Lois did not love him anymore and she was involved with Scardino. Clark was not sure who he hated more, Scardino or Lex Luthor. He decided it was Luthor. *At least Scardino is not an evil criminal, or at least not that I know of,* Clark thought. *I should have known that this was too good to be true. How am I going to live without her,* he thought. He was just about to call his parents to talk to them about it when he heard Lois's call. *Great, it's Lois. I better go make sure she's all right.* In a split second he changed and left.

Lois really wanted to get Scardino out of her apartment but he did not seem to want to leave. So she figured that once Clark showed up Scardino would leave or at least Clark would get to have the pleasure of throwing him out. *Hopefully right out the window,* Lois thought. "I'm not scared of Superman, Lois. He's not going to do anything to me. He's too much of a boy scout. Come on Lois. At least think about it."

"I don't need to think about it. I already know the answer and it is still no." Lois was about to say something else when Superman arrived.

"What do you want, Lois ?" Superman snapped.

"Well, I asked Mr. Scardino here to leave several times. I was wondering if you could show him how to get out of the building." *Preferably through the window.*

"Lois, it would be my pleasure. Mr. Scardino, after you." Scardino just stood there for a moment. "you can walk out the door or be dragged out the door. It makes no difference to me," Superman stated. He and Scardino walked out the door and Clark shut it behind them. When they got to the elevator Clark said, "By the way, I saw Clark outside on the steps and he told me what happened. I hope you and Lois are very happy together."

"Thanks. I know we will be."

With that the door opened and Superman pushed Scardino on and left. Clark went to the front steps to wait for Scardino. About a minute later he showed up. "Hey Scardino, did you enjoy my girlfriend?" Clark asked.

"Yeah she was magnificent."

"Look, let's cut straight to the chase. I don't like you, you don't like me, but it is obvious that Lois likes you better than me. So I am only going to say this once. Lois is the woman that I love more than anything in this universe and if you ever do anything to hurt her I will make sure you regret it. You got that?"

"Is that a threat Kent?"

"No it's a promise!"

"Look Kent, she doesn't love you. She never loved you. She just felt sorry for you."

"Oh, really, and how would you know Scardino?"

"Because she told me that she loves me and not you just tonight."

"Well good for you." With that Clark walked away to an ally to change into the suit and go home.

Lois sat in her apartment crying. *My god, what have I done? Clark must really hate me. He's so hurt that he couldn't even hide it as Superman. "Ohhhh Clark, no, Nooooooo." Lois said that out loud as more tears began to flow. "I've gone out with three guys in the last two years and he's seen me kiss the other two. Both of them he hates more than anything in this world." She started to think back to the conversation they had about Lex Luthor when Clark admitted that he had seen them kiss.

"You know the worst day of my life was the day I saw you and Lex kiss."

"When did you see us kiss?"

"It was the night you accepted his proposal. I had come by Luthor's penthouse in the suit to apologize to you for my behavior when you told me you loved me as Superman. I wanted to ask you if you were going to marry him and if you loved him. I was hovering outside the window when I heard you say yes and then you kissed him. I was so distraught that I flew to the arctic and screamed at the top of my lungs and then just broke down and started to cry. I had done that a few other times when I was really upset and my mom said that she had heard me and figured out that things did not go very well."

"Oh my lord! I wasn't hearing things then. That was you?"

"You heard that?" Lois nodded her head yes, "Yup, that was me."

"Wow, you got one set of lungs there."

"I know. I caused two avalanches that night. Fortunately, it was a deserted area so no one got hurt," Clark laughed.

Lois was stirred from her memories by the doorbell. *Hope that's Clark,* Lois thought. When she opened the door she saw that it was a messenger from the planet.

"Miss Lane, you left your cellular phone at the Planet. Here you go."

"Oh, thank you very much."

"You're welcome ma'm. Have a nice night." Lois closed the door and started crying all over again.

Clark had decided instead of going home he was going to check the city to make sure that everything was okay. He thought that it would help him to take his mind off of what had just happened. He made his rounds but nothing was going on that required his services so he decided to go home. He got home and decided to call his parents. It was 11:00 p.m. Metropolis time and he figured they were still awake. Just when he picked up the phone he remembered that they were in Wichita visiting friends. "Guess I will have to wait until they get back." He decided to take a shower and then go to bed. He laid in bed for a while tossing and turning, unable to sleep. He decided to turn on the radio and listen to some music. He stopped on the country station and heard the second verse of Allen Jackson's "Who's Cheatin' Who."

I thought I knew her well

I really couldn't tell that she had another lover on her mind

See it felt so right, when she held me tight

How could I be so blind

Still you wonder who's cheatin' who and who's bein' true

And who don't even care anymo'

It makes you wonder who's doin' right

With someone tonight, and whose car is parked next door.

"I hear you there, Allen. I hear you." Clark said.

About midnight the phone rang. "God, I hope it is not Lois. I'm too upset to talk to her now. I'll say something I will regret." He decided to let his answering message get it.

"Hi, you've reached the residence of Clark Kent. Unfortunately, I can't come to the phone right now so if you would just leave a message after the beep I will call you back as soon I can. Thank you and have good day." Beep.

"Clark, it's Lois. If you're there, pick up." Lois pauses for a second. "Please?" Another pause. "Okay, look come over as soon as you get this message. We need to talk. I know you're upset, but please come over. I love you. Bye."

After hearing this message Clark got even more upset. *You got a funny way of showing it, Lois!! How could she do that? I mean, why didn't she just tell me that she wanted to see other people. I could have dealt with that. I got to get out of here.* With that he changed into the suit and headed for the place he loved to go to at times like this, the arctic. He flew there as fast as he could and was there within two minutes. He just could not get the sight of Lois and Scardino out of his head. He just kept getting more and more upset until finally he let it out.

After Lois had hung up the phone she went to her freezer for what she always used to help her in situations like this, Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream. "Oh Clark, please come over. I'm so sorry. Darn you, Dan. Why did you have to come over tonight of all nights? What do I have to do to get it through your thick head that we're done? what was I thinking? I should have been more careful. I wanted this to be a night to remember for Clark and me, but now I've ruined everything. Ohhhhhh!!!" Lois sobbed to herself. All she could do was wait and hope he would show up. About a minute later she heard a familiar noise. "Oh Clark!" Lois began to cry again.

Clark began screaming at the top of his lungs "Nooooo!!!" just like he had after he saw Lois and Lex Luthor on that fateful night over a year ago. He was starting to get a nightmarish feeling of deju vu and he kept hoping that he would wake up form this horrible dream, but it never happened. For only the second time in his life without Kryptonite being involved he felt sick to his stomach. His head was spinning and he just wanted to curl up into a ball and die. His heart was broken and his throat was dry and he felt like he was choking. *I'd rather swallow a chunk of Kryptonite than be without Lois. My whole life is crashing down around me. Why Lois, why if you love him more than me? Why didn't you say something? All I want is for you to be happy and if he makes you happy then okay I understand. I don't like it, but I'd understand.* He sat in the freezing weather for a while and decided to go home.

When he got home he saw that it was 3:00 a.m. He saw that the message light on his answering machine was on and he decided, "Well, might as well get this over with." He changed into the suit and head for Lois's apartment. When he got there he saw that she was asleep on the couch curled up into a ball hugging a pillow. When he saw her he lost his nerve. *She is so beautiful, I love to just watch her sleep. I have to be at work in a few hours and I really don't want to do this tonight. I'm going home.* With that, he flew home to try to get some sleep.

***

Clark arrived at work at 7:00 a.m. looking like a man whose life was in disarray. He got off the elevator and saw his good friend Jimmy Olsen coming toward him.

"Morning CK!"

"What's up, Jimmy?"

"CK, you don't look so good. You and Lois have a good time last night?" Jimmy said while elbowing, winking and smiling at Clark.

"No, we did not Jimmy," he snapped.

"Oh." Jimmy immediately lost his smile. "Anyway, here's that research you asked for on Intergang."

"Thanks, Jimmy." With that Jimmy quickly left Clark alone.

At 8:00 a.m. Clark remembered that he had a meeting with a source at 1 p.m. about which he had forgotten to tell Perry White, the editor-in-chief of the Daily Planet.

"Hey Chief, got a sec? I forgot to tell you that I need to meet this source of mine about that robbery story I'm working on so I won't be able to make it to the staff meeting."

"Okay Clark. Hey, did you see Lois last night?" When Perry said that Clark cringed. "Did she have some bad food or something because she said that she was not feeling well and needed to take the morning?"

"I saw her for a few minutes last night, maybe she over exerted herself last night," Clark snapped.

"Okay, thanks, son."

"No problem, Chief." With that Clark left the office.

"Oh this can't be good," Perry thought out loud.

Clark left for lunch at about noon so he would have plenty of time to eat. He decided he wanted to go to Callard's. About 15 minutes after he got there his hearing picked up a police call that there was a break in at 344 Clinton Street. "Oh great, the perfect end to a miserable 24 hours. Well, I can't do anything about it now so I might as well eat and go talk to my source. First Lois, now this, what else could go wrong?" said an exasperated Clark as he shook his head.

At about 1:10 Clark got a call from his source saying that he could not make the meeting and he would have to reschedule. After he got off the phone with his source he called Perry to tell him about the robbery. *I asked for it, didn't I?* he thought to himself about his previous comments.

When he got to his apartment he saw Inspector Henderson and a couple of uniform police officers collecting evidence and talking to people. "Hey Clark, I see someone broke into your apartment again," Henderson said when he saw Clark.

"Yeah, some people have all the luck, huh? So, you going to dust for fingerprints this time?" Clark said laughing remembering Lois's tirade when Henderson wasn't dusting for fingerprints when Jack had broken into Clark apartment.

Henderson started laughing too. "Speaking of fingerprints, where is that partner of yours?"

"Probably back at the Planet writing a story about how people get too attached to their old junk."

"Well, you remember the drill, don't you?" Clark nodded. "By the way, what was in this secret compartment over here, anyway?"

"Oh no, they got into that, too?" Henderson nodded. "That's where Superman keeps his extra suits. Man, he's going to kill me when he finds out they're gone. When it rains it pours, hey Inspector?"

"Well, we got everything we can get here. Try to get me that list as soon as possible and I'll see what I can do; sorry about this, Clark."

"Yeah, thanks, Inspector." With that Clark headed back to the Planet and his inevitable meeting with Lois.

When Clark got back to the Planet he found that Lois was in Perry's office. He walked down the ramp and ran into Jimmy. "Hey Jimmy, I see Lois is feeling better."

"If she is feeling better right now I would hate to see worse. I heard about your apartment, man. I'm sorry. They got any leads?"

"Nothing yet, hopefully something will come up soon."

"Well, good luck."

"Thanks, Jimmy"

Lois was in Perry's office crying about what had happened the night before. "Honey, just tell me what happened," Perry said when Lois started to cry.

"Well, last night Clark and I were going to get together at my place and decide what we wanted to do. Actually, I had already decided what I wanted to do and was sure that he would want to do it to. So anyway, I put the appropriate clothing on hoping that one thing would lead to another, you know what I mean." Perry nodded and she continued, "So I decided that I was going to literally throw myself at him as soon as he came in the door. So I hid behind the door so I could surprise him as soon as he closed it. The door opened, then closed, so I turned on the lights. When they were off I did it. Only thing is, it was not Clark. It was agent Scardino. You know, I dated him a few months ago?" Perry nodded again. "Anyway, he broke into my apartment, but that not the worst part. Right after we hit the ground Clark walked in and now he doesn't trust me and now I feel horrible. Now he's going to want to break up and I really love him and I will be miserable without him and … " Lois was starting to babble, so Perry interrupted her.

"Did you talk to him about this?"

"No, he was too upset to talk last night and I have not seen him yet today."

"Well, he might not be around very much today. His apartment just got broken into a little while ago so … "

"Oh no. Again? I'll bet that will make him even more upset than he already was."

"Well I don't know. He's back. Let me talk to him and see if I can help. Is that okay with you?"

"Sure, maybe he'll listen to you right now. Thanks, Chief." Lois left his office to try to go back to work.

She saw that Clark was at his desk typing away on his computer. Lois paused for a moment trying to decide whether or not to say something to him. She decided to give it a try.

"Hey Clark, I heard about the robbery. I'm sorry."

'Oh, Hi Lois. Thanks for your concern." Clark said this without any emotion at all and without looking up from his computer screen.

Lois recognized that Clark was now in what she had started to call his "Superman Mode." In this "mode" Clark was very polite but did not show any emotion whatsoever. "You're welcome," Lois said and then went and sat back down at her desk.

Just then Perry decided to talk to Clark about what was going on. He called Clark into his office and told him, "Look, son, I know you're hurting, but at least give her the benefit of the doubt, all right?"

"All right, Chief, I'll try to." Clark left Perry's office and went back to work. Perry had an idea. He was going to get them to talk to each other. His idea was simple, get them into a room alone together and let nature take its course. He e-mailed both of them and told them that he wanted to see all their notes, interview, research, etc. He wanted it organized and ready for presentation as soon as possible and he wanted it done at the Planet so the information did not end up in the wrong hands. The truth was he wanted them on neutral ground so that if they started talking he could keep them talking until they worked it out.

Lois decided that she needed to get something to eat at about 5:30. She would have asked Clark to go with her, but she figured he would just say that he was not hungry. About ten minutes after she had left, Clark got an unwanted visitor.

"Come by to gloat, Scardino."

"No, I came by to see MY girlfriend. Is she here?"

"She left for the day, *I hope.* I'll be sure to tell her you stopped by, if I see her."

"You do that Kent, you do that."

"Since I'm sure you don't have any other business here, why don't you leave?" With that Clark grabbed him by the arm and pulled him to the elevator. The strength of Clark surprised Scardino as he was led to the elevator.

"You work out Kent?"

"Nope, maybe you should start though, Agent Scardino. Have a nice life." Clark pushed him on and the doors closed.

About a half an hour later Lois returned from dinner. They gathered up all the information that they had and headed for the conference room. Clark was not looking forward to this, but he needed to keep Perry happy so that he could keep his job and because he truly loved working at the Daily Planet and especially with Lois Lane. He had been trying not to think about what had happened yesterday, but he just could not put it out of his mind. He was so upset and confused that he wanted to yell, but he couldn't.

Lois was not looking forward to this either. She knew how hurt he must be. *Lord knows guys have cheated on me before.* She knew the next few hours could determine the rest of her life. *If I can't convince him that nothing happened, my life will never be the same again. How am I going to convince him?* They had been working in silence for about twenty minutes and she decided that she was going to break it.

"Having any luck? Lois said.

"A little, how about you?"

"Yeah, a little." Lois could see that he was not going to start talking to her so she thought she would try another approach.

"So, was anything taken form your apartment?"

"Just some worthless nick knacks."

"Do you want me to get in touch with my friend like I did last time?"

"Yeah, whatever."

*Strike Two,* Lois thought, so she went to plan three. "You know, maybe you should move. That's twice in a little over a year you've been robbed. You don't live in the best neighborhood, you know."

After she said that Clark lost his cool and got mad. "Don't start with me, Lois!!!"

"Don't start with you? What's your problem anyway?" She knew what the problem was and was glad to see that he was finally going to express his feelings. Anything was better to Lois than the polite small talk that he was making.

"What's my problem? What's my problem? That's classic, Lois. You know what my problem is, Lois," Clark snapped. "How could you do that to me after everything that has happened? Because I wouldn't cross "The Intimacy Threshold with you, you go out and jump the next guy who walks in the door. Do you know what that was like for me to see, you half-naked on top of … of … of HIM?"

"Clark nothing … "

Clark interrupted her. "Lois, just sit there and listen to me for once. You never listen to me when I ask you to be careful, so just listen to me now. If you are in love with him and not me why didn't you just tell me. It would have been much easier for me to handle than to hear it from him. Seeing you like that was my worst nightmare come true right before my very eyes.

"What?"

"Yeah, he told me outside on the steps after I escorted him from your apartment."

"That lying son of a … I never told him that, not last night, not ever. I did not even invite him into my apartment; he broke in. When he picked the locks I thought he was you and I wanted to surprise you. I could not believe it when I looked down and it was him. I wanted to just kill him and then you walked in and saw us like that. I really wanted to cross it with you and I thought if I did that when YOU walked through the door that it would erase all your fears. I see the way you look at me and I can see the desire in your eyes and I love that you feel that way about me because I feel the same way about you. I also know that it's not just about the physical with you because, like I said before, you have had plenty of chances. I feel the same way about you as you do about me. I never dreamed that anything like this would happen. Clark, you know me better than anyone. Do you think that I'm lying to you?"

He could tell that she was not lying. He'd seen her lie to other people before. He could see in her eyes that she was telling the truth about everything. "I'm sorry Lois, I just overacted. Like I said, I thought my worse nightmare had come true, that you couldn't take my double life anymore." Clark broke down and started to cry. "Please don't be mad at me for not trusting you."

"It's not your fault, Clark. What else would you think when you see something like that? I should have been more careful."

"I'm that transparent when I look at you, huh?" Clark said laughing.

Lois happy to see that she had convinced him that Dan meant nothing to her and that she had not cheated on him, joked, "Come on, Clark, I've had enough men give me that kind of look walking down the street to know it from a mile away."

"Well, that's because you're so gorgeous that I can't help myself. How long have you been able to tell?"

"Oh, a couple years."

This embarrassed Clark a little bit. He had tried not to let Lois notice before she loved him as Clark. "Oh, you were not offended by that, were you?"

"No, because I never saw you look at anyone else in the same way, not even Mason."

"I never felt the same about her as I did about you."

Just then Perry walked in to see the two of them smiling at each other.

"So how's it going in here?" Perry asked.

"Never better, Perry," Lois said.

"Life is good Chief," Clark said beaming.

"Oh, that's nice, why don't you two just get out of here."

"What about organizing our information, Chief?" Clark said.

"I changed my mind. I don't need it after all."

This made them both happy since they did not want to do all that work anyway so they just nodded their heads and got their stuff and headed for the elevator. When they got on the elevator Lois told Clark, "You know, I have a problem that I need to solve."

"What's that?"

"I need to get Dan to leave me alone for good, and I have an idea on how to do that, but I need your help.

"While you were gone he showed up, I escorted him out of the building again."

"I'm glad you did. You didn't happen to throw him off the roof, did you?"

"With pleasure, Lois, with pleasure."

"No, that's okay. I have another idea. I need your help if this is going to work. Think you can handle it?"

"Can't wait to do it, Lois."

***

Everything at work was going well the next day, and Lois was ready to get rid of Dan for good that night, so she called him and told him to come over to her apartment at 8:00 and to knock before he let himself in the door. *Unlike you did last time.* She had what she thought would be a surefire way to get rid of Dan once and for all. *If this does not work nothing will. I can't wait to see the look on his face when he sees this. Oh well, if this doesn't work I can always just deck him.*

Lois and Clark arrived at Lois's apartment at 7:30. Lois went into her bedroom to change her cloths for the evening. She emerged from the bedroom in shorts and a T-shirt. When Clark saw her he swallowed hard and his heart rate increased to a very rapid pace. Lois saw the effect she was having on him and went into the kitchen with a big smile on her face. Clark sat down on the couch and turned the TV on. He turned to the country music station and saw the video for "Who's Cheatin' Who." He started laughing out loud.

"What in the world is so funny?"

"Ha, ha, ha, it's just this song."

"Yeah, Alan Jackson is just so funny."

Clark shook his head, "It's a long story, Lois."

"Must be some of that cutting edge Smallville humor." Clark clutched at his chest . "Oh stop you're killing me," Clark said laughing. Lois started laughing too. Just then there was a knock on the door. "Lois, are you here? I knocked this time just for … " What Scardino saw left him speechless. Lois and Clark were in the midst of a very passionate kiss. Scardino just stood there for a minute in shock. Clark had felt the same at first when Lois had started to kiss him. She had not told him what she had in mind, but he never dreamed this was it. After the initial shock he started to feel his body respond and he loved it. after a few more seconds Lois broke the kiss.

"Oh, hey Dan, I did not hear you come in. Thanks for coming by." After the shock started to wear off Scardino started to get mad. Clark could hear Scardino's heart beat faster and he could tell Scardino was getting mad.

"Kent, how dare you kiss my woman like that, you stupid hick." Just then Scardino took a swing at Clark using a right hook. Clark ducked and Scardino missed him, but Lois who was standing right beside Clark was not fast enough and Scardino hit her in the side of the head knocking her to the floor. When Clark saw Lois on the floor he lost his temper. He picked Scardino up by the neck, just like he would if he was dealing with a criminal as Superman. Still holding him by the neck Clark slammed him into the wall.

"How dare you hit the women I love. I ought to … " Clark started to squeeze his neck tighter. He really did not like Scardino. This combined with what just had happened was driving him to act like this. Lois got back to her feet and saw what was going on. She was scared that Clark would kill him. She was really mad at Scardino but knew Clark would never forgive himself if he hurt Scardino.

"Clark, it's okay. I'm fine. Please put him down. I know you're mad, but this won't solve anything. Please Clark, put him down." Clark looked at Lois for a second and then decided that she was right and put Scardino down.

"Get out, Scardino, and if you ever show you face here or at the Planet ever again I will have you arrested so fast it will make you head spin. If that doesn't scare you, next time I can't promise that Clark will let go and as you can tell he is a pretty strong man." With that Scardino left and went home to lick his wounds. Clark had calmed down and now turned his attention to Lois.

"Lois, are you all right? Did he hurt you?"

"I'll be all right, though I'll have a bad head and shoulder ache tomorrow, but I'll live."

"I'm so sorry. I should not have ducked. I didn't realize you were standing right next to me or I would have let him hit me. He could not hurt me." Clark felt really bad that a punch meant for him had hit her instead. "Do you want some aspirin or ice or something?"

"Yeah, both please. Clark, don't worry about it. You didn't mean for me to get hit. It's not your fault. It's his. I can't believe that just happened. I never thought he'd do that."

"That's true. It is his fault. I can't believe it either. It's a good thing he did not knock you out."

"What do you mean?"

"If you had not said what you said I probably would have killed him. I saw you laying on the floor and I just lost it. I just wanted to kill him. I've never felt that way before in my entire life. I was just so angry at him and I felt like it was my fault because I ducked. If there is one thing I cannot stand it's guys who hit their girlfriend or wife."

"I know how you felt, Clark. I fell the same way, but please don't blame yourself. You did nothing wrong. Who knows what he would have done. You were just trying to protect me from him, that's all."

"All right, Lois, all right. I'm really glad that you're not hurt too badly. I'll go get you that ice and aspirin now." Clark started to the bathroom for the aspirin, but stopped in the door of her bedroom and said, "I love you, Lois."

"I love you too Clark, I love you too."

THE END

(for now anyway)