By Jose Antonio Chamorro <danlx86@yahoo.es>
Rated: PG
Submitted: December 2001
Summary: Shortly after meeting Superman, Lois discovers his secret. What will Clark do?
<…> means thoughts
***
<Is that the rule? > Lois thought. <He has fooled everybody. >
She was on her way to the Apollo Hotel. She had been dreaming about Superman. He had taken her flying. It was fantastic. Until she realized. She wondered why the question was so familiar. The events of the week appeared in her mind. The conversation with Kent.
"I live by three rules…" she had said to him.
No. The farmboy from Kansas was Superman.
***
Lois knocked on Clark's door insistently.
"Lois, what are you doing here? It's one a.m." Clark said after opening the door.
Lois studied him. Of course he was him. The same hair, the same face. The glasses. They had fooled her. Lois came into the room.
"What's your game, Kent?" Lois asked angrily.
"What are you talking about?" Clark replied, not knowing the subject.
"Is that the rule?" Lois asked him, mocking him and shaking her head.
Clark froze. <She knows. > "You know?"
"Of course I know. Do you think I'm galactically stupid?" Lois blurted.
Clark snorted. This was bad. Really, really bad. All the dreams he'd had suddenly vanished.
"How many people…?" Clark wanted to know how fast he had to go.
"Only me," Lois answered. "Clark, I didn't recognize you. And I've been working with you all this week."
Clark remembered what Lois had said. "The rule question."
"Yeah."
"Oh God. That was a mistake. All of this is a mistake." Clark spoke. "If I didn't ask the question this wouldn't happen. It would be better if I hadn't created Superman. I invented him as a way to help," Clark explained. "I invented him so I can stay in Metropolis. I want to stay in Metropolis because the woman of my dreams is here I fell in love with her just after I saw her. And now all is lost."
"Why?" Lois asked, not understanding his speech.
"Why, do you think? Tomorrow the entire planet will know that Clark Kent is Superman. And after that the government will lock me up in a lab," Clark told Lois. "But it's not too late." He went toward the closet and took out his suitcase.
"What are you doing?" Lois inquired.
"I'm quitting. Tomorrow, before you give Perry the article. I and my parents will disappear from the surface of the earth," Clark explained.
"What article?"
"The one that will expose me as Superman," Clark replied.
"I didn't say I would write about it," Lois said.
"Come on, Lois. I know you. This is a sure Kerth, almost a Pulizer. Are you going to forget the article for a Hack from Nowhereseville?" Clark told her venomously. "Go, Lois. It will be for the best," Clark finally said as he showed her the door.
Lois didn't know what to think. She went out of the room and heard the door close at her back. She started to walk. It was late, she needed to sleep, but she wasn't sure she could sleep.
"Will I write the article or won't I?" Lois thought as she went home.
THE END
Author note: I always thought that Clark made a slip of the tongue with the rule question. So I wrote this story. What will Lois do? I don't know. I have no intention of writing a sequel. If somebody wants to continue this, I'll be glad to read it. How would she avoid Trask's questioning?
Thanks to LabRat for editing this story and my previous one, "Secrets, Lies and Revelations." Unforgivably, I forgot to acknowledge the fantastic (and sometimes repetitive) work she did.