Dear Lois.... Love, Superman.

---------------
Description: In the original script of Man of Steel Bars, when Clark resigns from the Planet he leaves a letter for Lois, not Perry. This story, written mainly from Lois's POV, considers what might have been in that letter.
---------------

The script for Man of Steel Bars is a little different from the version which made it to screen. In the screened version, when Clark resigns from the Planet he leaves a letter for Perry. However, the script, both when he says goodbye to Lois and at the end, when he comes back, is rather different:

------- From the Script: ---------

Clark takes a sealed envelope out of his pocket. It says "Lois" on it.
CLARK: This will explain everything.

She takes it from him.

LOIS: I'm not going to read it. I know you'll be back.

He looks at her, studies her, so he won't forget her. Then he kisses her. They look at each other for a beat.

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

(And later, when Clark returns: )

Clark smiles and walks back to Lois. He spots something on her desk.
CLARK: You won't be needing this any more.
He picks up the unread note and puts it back in his pocket.

LOIS: Hey, wait a minute! I didn't even get a chance to read it. What did it say?

CLARK: I guess you'll never know.

---------- End of Extracts ---------

So what did that letter say? Read on....

- Dear Lois... Love, Superman -
by Wendy Richards (w.m.richards@hrm.keele.ac.uk)

Lois touched her fingers to her lips, barely able to believe what had just happened. Clark Kent had resigned - left the Planet. Just like that!

And - he had kissed her.

It wasn't the first time they had kissed, of course, but she hardly counted that other time. She had been trying to distract Trask while she figured out a way of getting them off that plane alive. However, at first it had seemed that Clark hadn't realised the kiss was merely subterfuge. His participation had been enthusiastic, passionate.

But this kiss... it had been tender, loving, and sad all wrapped up together. He had been saying goodbye.

She swallowed. She had never expected *Clark* to leave - and with Superman leaving as well, how was she going to cope? She was losing all her closest friends at once.

She caught her breath as she realised what she'd admitted to herself. Clark was one of her closest friends. He was; there was no denying it. He had sneaked under her skin and into her affections in the couple of short months she had known him. He had seen her at her best and her worst, and he still cared about her. He had listened to some of her worst fears and temper tantrums, and though he occasionally teased her he had mostly been infinitely patient and considerate with her. And, despite all her protests, she had really enjoyed her time in Smallville with him. She had got to know him much better, had seen him in his own familiar surroundings, and she'd had to admit that this country boy was a pretty nice guy.

And now he had left, to return to Smallville. To edit the Smallville Post - a tin-pot weekly paper no-one had ever heard of. And he'd given up a prestigious reporting job at the Daily Planet for *that*?

Why? Why would anyone do that, especially with a promising career ahead of them? Unless... unless Clark had felt he couldn't hack it, couldn't cope with living in the big city any more, couldn't take the pressure of the job.

But somehow that argument just didn't seem convincing, Lois thought. All she'd seen of Clark in the past few months suggested that he loved Metropolis; loved the excitement and vitality of the city, and the opportunities it afforded him. He had fitted into the Planet's circle very well, too; she had to admit that Clark was a very easygoing, likeable guy and in the short time he had worked there he had become a popular member of the team. Other members of the newsroom team were much more likely to stop and chat to Clark than to her, Lois had realised to her dismay a few days earlier.

And he had seemed to enjoy the job, too. He loved it when they got a scoop, when they beat off the competition to get to the story first. His delight when an investigation of theirs righted a wrong, or put someone who deserved it into prison, was palpable. And he was *good* at it. She'd had to admit that he had a way with words. Oh, he lacked her own hard edge, but he could make a story flow. He had passion and sensitivity, and no-one could write a human interest story better than Clark. His writing style complemented her own; she could see now that was why Perry had partnered them.

And now he had upped and left abruptly, just like that, in the middle of the night.... She paused for a moment as the significance of *that* little detail sank in. He had not intended to see her. He had sneaked into the newsroom at a time when he'd thought hardly anyone, and certainly no-one from the day shift, would be around. Yes, she realised, he had been surprised to see her there. All he had been intending to do, other than collect his personal belongings, had been to leave the note for her.

The note.... She looked thoughtfully down at it. Without volition, her finger traced the letters of her name on the envelope.

What had he said? "This will explain everything."

Everything? Hah! What was there to explain? In the middle of a *crisis*, Clark 'Farmboy' Kent had quit. So much for a reliable partner, she thought with a cynical curl of her lip. She needed him now - *Superman* needed him to help prove that the Man of Steel wasn't responsible for the heat wave. But Clark clearly couldn't stand the heat after all, so he'd got out of the kitchen.

She tossed his note to one side, and refocused her attention on the piles of notes and books on her desk.

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

It was almost three am when Lois staggered into her apartment, piles of books scattering to the floor as her arms proved unfit for the task of holding them up any longer. She had got no further with the task of trying to work out what - other than Superman - might be causing the ongoing heatwave. And she was tired; downright exhausted, in fact. She needed a couple of hours' sleep before resuming her research.

The problem was that time was running out. Superman might even already have left town. He had given his undertaking to the court to be gone within twenty-four hours. Someone else who had barely said goodbye; she didn't really count that couple of seconds outside the court, surrounded by the media and rubber-neckers.

She glanced wistfully towards the window: perhaps he would fly in to say goodbye properly. But even as she hoped, she knew he wouldn't. He believed that his Super-abilities were causing the abnormal weather conditions, and so he would not use his powers unnecessarily. Coming to say goodbye to a reporter was not an essential use of his abilities.

<He could use the door> she thought, clinging to a desperate hope. But again, she knew he would not. She didn't know Superman very well, but she did know that he was a very proud man, and he wouldn't want to see her distress - or let her see his. She knew he was upset, that he felt rejected and hurt by the city which he had made his home and which, not long ago, had declared him Citizen of the Year. That had been apparent in his expression outside that court-room. And he would not allow Lois to see his suffering.

Superman *and* Clark - how would she cope with losing both of them?

Clark... she scowled as his departure re-entered her thoughts. How could he just walk out like that? And without even working his proper notice? She frowned suddenly - there was something nagging her, perhaps something she'd meant to do. What was it?

Oh, yes... the note he'd given her. She had been in two minds whether to bother reading it or not. But right now curiosity was getting the better of her.

She was about to search her bag for it until she remembered. It was still on her desk; she'd noticed it in her peripheral vision just as she'd been walking out of the newsroom.

Oh well, she could read it in the morning. It was hardly going to contain anything particularly important, was it?

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

She arrived at the newsroom early the following morning despite having had little sleep. It was very important that she continue trying to find out what had caused the heatwave. But to her surprise, many of her colleagues seemed to have lost interest in saving Superman; they were all dejected about Clark's departure. Jimmy had lost his jokey demeanour, Cat's pout was gone and even Perry had no new Elvis stories.

Jimmy had made up some new maps for her, plotting the 'hot-spots' against the dates and times of Superman's rescues. They still seemed to match... until Jimmy knocked some of the sheets onto the floor and two ended up stuck together. To her shock, Lois realised that by complete chance they had stumbled on proof that Superman couldn't be responsible for the heatwave: the charts showed beyond a doubt that, if the *locations* of Superman's activities were cross-referenced against the locations of the hot-spots there was no match at all.

She grabbed Jimmy's arm. "Take these charts off and fax them to that scientist from the press conference. And get hold of our science editor... Torrens, or whatever his name is. I want to know whether this rules out Superman's involvement!"

"And what else could be causing it, huh?" Jimmy added with a grin, already anticipating Lois's next request. His answer was a grunt and an impatient wave of Lois's arm.

Now she had to wait; she began to check her email but found it impossible to concentrate. Her eye was caught by a white rectangle on her desk, with 'LOIS' inscribed on it in firm black letters.

Clark's letter. She reached out for it and stared at it for a long moment.

Finally, she ripped it open and removed the contents. As she unfolded the page, another sheet of paper fell to the desk. Lois glanced curiously at it before focusing on Clark's letter. It was hand-written, in the strong, decisive script she had become familiar with over the past couple of months.

"Dear Lois,

By the time you get this I'll have left Metropolis. I've resigned from the Planet. I've told Perry that it's because I was offered the job of Editor of the Smallville Post, but that's not true. It's just a story to cover up my real reason for leaving."

<Hah!> Lois thought, laying the letter down. <I knew there was more to it than he was saying! Can't take the heat, right?>

She returned her attention to the letter.

"Ever since I've known you, Lois, I've been lying to you about something. It's not something I've been proud of, but I had no choice about it. I lied to protect myself and my family. Even now, I'm not sure whether I can tell you the whole truth, but I do know that I can't lie to you about why I'm leaving. I'm not leaving because I want to. I'm going because I have no choice.

If things were different, I would love to stay; I've loved living in Metropolis and working at the Daily Planet. Most of all, I've loved working with you and, I hope, becoming your friend. I'll miss you most of all, Lois. I'd like to think that maybe you'll miss me a little too."

She paused, moved more than she cared to admit by Clark's words. She would miss him; she would miss his gentle humour, his habit of bringing coffee to her in the morning, the way he always ensured that she got her favourite doughnut from the office selection, the quiet but insistent protective stance he adopted when they were in a potentially dangerous situation - even his irritating habit of editing her copy.

Swallowing in an attempt to hide the emotion she was beginning to feel, she turned to read the final paragraph.

"I can't tell you here the real reason I'm leaving, Lois - it's not something I'd want to put in writing. But I know what a brilliant investigative reporter you are, and I think you'll be able to work it out for yourself. All I ask is that you keep it to yourself - if I ever want to make all this stuff public, I promise you can have the exclusive.

"Goodbye, Lois. It's been a privilege to know you.

"Love, Clark."

Lois swallowed again, the tears closer this time than she'd imagined. She was really going to miss him.

Taking a gulp of her coffee in an attempt to calm herself down, she reached for the other piece of paper, wondering what it could be. Was it some sort of clue to the reason for Clark's departure, this mysterious thing he'd lied to her about? She unfolded it to see that it was another letter; puzzled, she glanced down at the signature.

Superman.

*Clark* had a letter for her from Superman? But how?

She began to read.

"Dear Lois,

"You were there this afternoon; you know that I have no choice but to leave. But I'm afraid that after what has happened here Superman is unlikely to be welcomed anywhere else, so I can't let you know where I am going or what I will be doing there.

"I wanted to say goodbye to you properly, not in front of the city's press. You were the first reporter to talk to me, and your coverage set the tone for everyone else. If you had chosen to portray me as a dangerous alien, then I would not have had the welcome in Metropolis which I have had. You have also been a good friend, and I value that, more than I can say. Your own life has been put in danger a couple of times by people who wished to cause me harm, and I deeply regret that.

"I know you have been trying to find out what else might have been causing the heatwave, and for that I thank you. But, please, if you want to do something for me, let it drop now. Focus your energies and your talents on other things.

"For the brief duration of my stay in Metropolis, I have been proud to call you my friend.

"Goodbye, Lois. It has been a privilege to know you.

"Love, Superman."

Lois had given up trying to control her emotions by now, and the tears were flowing freely. Ignoring the amazed stares of colleagues, she seized a bundle of tissues and blew her nose loudly, wiping away tears at the same time. Superman's letter had been so beautiful... she would treasure it for ever.

How could she cope with losing the two of them at the same time?

But Jimmy came hurrying up to her desk at that point, disturbing her thoughts. Hurriedly sweeping both letters into her desk drawer, Lois focused on what he had to say.

"We've been looking at all these maps," Jimmy exclaimed breathlessly, "and trying to find out what other correlations there could be as well as Superman, and then we saw it!"

"Saw *what*?" Lois objected.

"*This*!" Jimmy pointed. "That dot there - that's where the heat is most intense. It's underground. And Superman hasn't been anywhere near there!"

"So what's above that dot?" Lois demanded, excited herself now. Superman was in the clear - and they might have found out what was really causing the heat.

Jimmy pointed to another map. Lexcorp Nuclear Plant.

Lois frowned. "But that plant isn't operational yet."

Jimmy considered for a moment. "Could be a slow leak out of the reactor core."

But Lois had remembered something else. Grabbing hold of Jimmy's arm, she said urgently, "They're due to go on-line this afternoon. What happens when they throw the switch?"

Jimmy grimaced. "It could send a surge of neutrons straight into the ground and then it won't matter how hot it is any more."

Lois jumped to her feet, about to race out of the building to go straight across to City Hall and the environmental protection department. But although this was important, something else was more important. She collected together the maps.

"Jimmy, you and Torrens need to get over to City Hall. Don't talk to Mayor Berkowitz - he's totally convinced the Lexcorp plant is just what this city needs. Talk to his deputy or someone else with authority. Get them to see that the plant can't go live, and that the leak needs to be found and made safe."

Jimmy stared at her. "Don't you want to do it, Lois? It's one hell of a story."

"Yes, Jimmy," she agreed with him. "And you should get a great headline and an impressive by-line with it too."

He stepped backwards, as if in shock. "You're *giving* me the story?"

She smiled at him, knowing he wouldn't understand. "I have a partner to find."

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

On the flight to Kansas Lois wondered yet again why she'd chosen to go after Clark rather than Superman. On one level it was easy to rationalise. After all, she didn't even know where to start looking for Superman, and once the news broke about the leak at the nuclear plant being responsible for the heat he would probably come back anyway. Assuming he felt welcome and wanted, that was. And if Lois had anything to do with it the Daily Planet would make sure that Superman knew he was wanted.

But Lois could have been at the forefront of that call to Superman. She could have got Perry to call a press conference, at which she could have gone public herself with the information about the nuclear plant. She could have called on Superman to come home. Then not only would she have gained public credit for the story, but she could also have earned Superman's gratitude for making him welcome again.

But instead she had chosen to hand over the story to Jimmy and, presumably, Perry, who would edit it to ensure that it was up to the high standard expected of the Planet. She had done that so that she could chase off to Smallville to find Clark.

He had to be there, she thought. Despite the fact that he'd admitted the fact that there was no job at the Smallville Post, where else would he be? She knew how close he was to his parents, after all; it had only been a couple of weeks since she had been in Smallville with him. She had seen - and envied - the real love and closeness between the three Kents.

Clark hadn't physically resembled his parents, she'd thought, other than being tall like his father. Of course, that was a merely superficial factor. Even when Martha had shown her some photographs of Clark as a boy, in which his parents had of course also been younger, there hadn't been much of a family resemblance. Still, family members didn't necessarily always look like each other. Nevertheless, Clark and his parents had presented a far more credible image of a happy family than the Lanes ever had. She had envied Clark that.

So, if he was hurting, or running away, where else would he go but home?

At Wichita airport she had to queue at the car rental counter, getting increasingly impatient as the irritating person at the head of the queue couldn't find his driving licence and then had his credit card bounce so he had to pay with another card. Finally she was on the interstate heading towards Smallville, trying to remember the route Clark had taken only a couple of weeks ago. Events in Metropolis were still occupying her mind, though, and she managed to find a news-based radio station. Half an hour later the announcer finally switched from local stories to national news, and Lois heard with relief that Jimmy had done it. The opening of the Lexcorp Nuclear Plant had been cancelled, and the environmental protection people were now investigating the plant.

There was no news of Superman, however. Apparently Mayor Berkowitz had made a public appeal for the Man of Steel to return, and had apologised on behalf of Metropolis for laying the blame for the heatwave on him. But so far there had been no sightings of Superman at all. Lois grimaced as she heard that; she couldn't really blame the guy. He'd given so much to Metropolis, he had made his home there, after all. And then to be rejected so thoroughly as he had been; it would be completely understandable if he *did* take up one of the offers his agent kept getting from other cities.

She hoped he didn't, however. She would miss him enormously. And his letter had suggested that he might miss her too....

But Superman wasn't the most important issue right now, she reminded herself. Clark was. Once she saw Clark, and got him to come back to Metropolis with her, then she could - or they could, since Clark seemed to be closer to Superman than she had realised - work on finding the Man of Steel and getting him back too.

And what had Clark meant by his statement that he had lied to her, and that she should be able to work out his reason for leaving? Lois was still none the wiser about that, though she had studied his letter again on the plane. Perhaps Martha would be able to help.

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

"Lois! What are you doing here?" Martha Kent exclaimed, hurrying down from the porch to greet her unexpected visitor. "I heard a car, and thought it might be Connie, one of our neighbours - she wanted some fresh eggs. But I never expected... what am I saying? Come inside! You must be tired!"

With that, Lois was swept into the Kent farmhouse; glancing around, it didn't seem to have changed since her previous visit. She was looking for evidence of Clark's presence, however, and the shrewd woman beside her observed that.

"Lois? Is there something you're looking for?" Martha enquired gently.

Embarrassed to have been caught staring, Lois flushed and replied rather incoherently, "No... er, that is, um, I was wondering, well... um, you must be wondering why I'm here...."

Martha smiled warmly, giving Lois a brief hug. "Not at all - we told you before, you're very welcome whenever you want to visit. Now come into the kitchen and have something to eat. Jonathan will be in for his lunch any minute, and I know he'll be delighted to see you."

Watching Martha as she bustled around the kitchen, Lois felt like a spare part; Clark's mother had certainly made her very welcome, but she was aware that she still had to explain why she was there. And so far there was no sign of Clark, though she supposed that he was helping his father out in the fields or the barn somewhere. Although Martha had only mentioned *Jonathan* in the context of lunch.

Shortly afterwards, Jonathan did indeed come in, and after the greetings had been dispensed with and Martha had served lunch, Lois finally managed to ask her burning question.

"Martha - is Clark here?"

Both elder Kents regarded her with open interest. "Is that why you came, Lois?" Martha's voice was excited, as if she was delighted that Lois had come looking for her son.

"Yeah - well, he's left Metropolis, you see, and I thought he'd be here," she explained, a little awkwardly.

Jonathan shook his head. "No, Clark said he didn't want to come back here. He was going to start again somewhere else."

"Where?" Lois demanded. It wasn't too late to drive back to Wichita and get on a plane to wherever....

But Jonathan shook his head. "He wasn't sure himself, Lois. He told us he'd call once he was settled."

Martha leaned across the table to Lois. "Why did you want to see him, honey?"

Lois swallowed; this was the question she wasn't even sure she could answer herself. Raising her gaze to meet the clear, uncomplicated expression on Martha's face, she decided to be honest. "I'm not really sure, Martha. I only knew once I'd read his letter that I had to talk to him, see if I could persuade him to change his mind. I want him to come back to Metropolis."

"Why?" The question was asked in a straightforward, non-judgemental manner, and Lois knew she had to try to answer it honestly.

She inhaled deeply; it would take courage to admit this. "Because I only realised after he'd gone just how much he meant to me."

Martha reached across and took Lois's hand in hers. "What does Clark mean to you, honey?"

Lois blinked; this was getting too intense for her. She was definitely not used to explaining, putting into words, her feelings for anyone; it was easier to bury her emotions under her hard-bitten career woman exterior that it was to admit that she cared about people. But somehow, in the couple of months she had known him, Clark Kent had managed to slip under that exterior.

Martha noticed Lois's discomfort and silently signalled for Jonathan to get back out to the barn. Once they were alone she poured Lois another coffee and sat back down beside the younger woman. "It's hard, isn't it, to admit how you feel about someone?"

Lois's eyes widened. "How do you know?"

Martha's eyes twinkled. "Oh, honey, I've been around a very long time. And I know my son - he doesn't hide his feelings very well, and I could see how much he cared for you long before he brought you here. And even underneath your awkwardness and your teasing of him, it was obvious that you cared for him too."

Now feeling miserable again, Lois nodded. "Yeah. I do. But now he's gone, and I don't know where. Or even if I'll ever see him again!"

Martha smiled sympathetically. "Of course you'll see him again, sweetie. I promise you that as soon as Jonathan and I hear from him we'll tell him to get in contact with you."

Lois grimaced. "Only if he wants to."

"And do you really think he won't?" Martha asked her incredulously. "You said he'd left you a letter, so you must have some idea how he feels about you."

Brushing away an unwelcome tear, Lois muttered, "He said he'd miss me. That he'd considered me a friend."

"He still does, honey!" Martha exclaimed. "I can promise you that. He cares about you more than you could imagine, Lois. It really cut him up to have to leave Metropolis. Jonathan and I wanted to bring him home with us, but he wouldn't come. I think he just wanted to go somewhere alone and lick his wounds."

Lick his wounds? Exactly what was going on? Lois was more confused than ever. But she was determined to find out what was going on. "Martha, exactly why did Clark leave Metropolis? You know, he told Perry that he'd been offered the Editorship of the Smallville Post, but in his letter to me he told me that wasn't true."

"He did?" Martha now seemed intrigued. "What else did he tell you?"

Lois dug out Clark's letter from her bag and showed it to Martha. "Martha, what does he mean, he's lied to me since he met me?"

Clark's mother frowned briefly as she read the letter, but when she passed it back to Lois her eyes were twinkling again. "Lois, I'm not sure this is my business to tell you - even if I knew what Clark was talking about. But he says that you should be able to work it out for yourself, so maybe you should think about any clues he might have left for you, or that you might find in his behaviour." She paused briefly, then continued more seriously, "And I know this isn't my place to say to you either, but perhaps you should think about why you want to know. Is it just to satisfy your curiosity? Because if so, that might not be what Clark needs."

Lois hesitated, frowning as she tried to think. After a moment, she reached into her bag again. "This was in the same envelope - I thought at first it might have something to do with what Clark wouldn't tell me, but it turned out to be a letter from Superman." She paused, then added, "I did wonder why Clark had a letter for me from Superman."

Martha merely smiled, adding, "I have a lot of respect for your intellect, Lois. Maybe you just need to think about things for a while." Standing up, she added, "I need to get on with a few things, but you're very welcome to stay for as long as you want." She paused on her way out of the kitchen. "If you'd like to talk some more later, honey, you just come and find me."

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

Left alone in the kitchen, Lois smoothed the two letters out in front of her again and mused on Martha's words to her. It was clear that Martha knew more than she was letting on, but it was equally clear that the older woman had no intention of saying any more than she had already done.

So Lois should think about any clues that Clark might have left, should she? Or that might be apparent from his behaviour.... She began to puzzle over Clark's behaviour during his final day at the Planet. She hadn't actually seen all that much of him, not since the evening before when she had gone over to his apartment with food for him and Superman. Clark hadn't seemed especially pleased to see her, but she had put that down to his usual jealousy when Superman appeared on the scene. He really seemed to resent the fact that she considered Superman a friend.

No, that wasn't true, Lois conceded. Clark was upset that she was *interested* in Superman - romantically interested. Which was silly, really, because even she knew that she was never going to get anywhere with Superman. Why would he be interested in her? He hadn't exactly encouraged her, although he had told her that she would always be special to him. And he usually seemed to be very concerned about her whenever he saved her life. That letter, as well... Superman had made it clear that he cared about her. But as a friend, of course.

So really, Clark hadn't had any real reason to be jealous. Yet he clearly had been that evening; once Superman had appeared he had stayed out of the way, and had then rushed off to cover the threatened rail disaster without waiting for her. And the next day she hadn't seen him at all; he had called in sick, though later she'd discovered that he'd managed to make it down to the courthouse to cover Superman's surrender and agreement to leave Metropolis. The next time she'd seen him had been late at night, when he'd simply announced he was leaving.

So... what clues could Martha be referring to? Clark was jealous of her feelings for Superman. He had kissed her just before he'd left. If she put those two things together, did it mean...?

Surely not! she told herself impatiently. <Okay, maybe Clark has a little crush on me, but that's nothing. It doesn't mean anything....> And that couldn't possibly be why he'd left, she assured herself.

And anyway, didn't he know that Superman was also leaving? Of course he did! He'd written the article for the Planet about Superman at the court; he'd written it as a sort of valedictory for the Super-hero.

So, given that he knew Superman was out of the way, if he *did* have a crush on Lois why would that make him leave? It didn't make sense.

Lois tried to focus on working out what else she knew which might present a clue, but instead Martha's other remark floated back into her mind. 'You should think about why you want to know. Is it just to satisfy your curiosity?' the older woman had cautioned. She had added that, if this was Lois's reason, then it might not be in Clark's best interests for Lois to find out whatever it was he was hiding or had lied to her about.

Why did she want to know? Come to think of it, why had she flown more than a thousand miles from Metropolis, just to find Clark and get him to come back?

Okay, she missed him. *Missed* him? Lois Lane, who never wanted a partner, *missed* Clark Kent, the hack from Smallville? Clark had said something similar, she remembered. Just before he'd given her the letter, as she'd been trying to persuade him to stay he'd told her that she didn't need a partner and never had done. She had told him that she *wanted* one.

Yes, she wanted a partner now. She wanted *Clark* as her partner. She'd become accustomed to him in the few months he'd been at the Planet; his writing style did seem to complement hers, and he had a talent for investigative work. There were times when she just didn't know how he did it, but he came up with the goods. That farmboy from Kansas sometimes seemed to be able to find a needle in a haystack!

So she would miss him as a partner. But, strangely enough, she would also miss him as a friend. Those few days in Smallville with him had shown her that. She had seen a side of him she'd never glimpsed before; a more relaxed, natural Clark, who was more confident and sure of himself. He had been on home territory, after all, while she had been the visitor. She smiled slightly as she remembered that evening they'd spent together at the Corn Festival, putting work aside for a while. She had asked him to dance, and they'd had a great time doing the line dancing routines together. He had turned out to be a great guy to spend time with; no pressures, no fending off unwanted attentions, just relaxing, laughing and having fun.

Then, the next day, when she had arrived at the farmhouse just in time to see Trask pulling a gun on Clark, she had been frozen to the spot with cold dread. She had managed to alert him with a warning shout, but it had only been Sheriff Harris's swift response which had saved Clark's life. And Lois had been so relieved; even more relieved, she realised, than when she'd discovered that Superman had survived the missile which Trask had aimed at him several weeks earlier.

She sat back in her chair as it dawned on her that she would have been devastated had Clark been killed. She had revealed her feelings to him in that moment when, overcome by reaction, they had hugged and she had caressed his face, holding him close to her. He had touched his forehead briefly to hers before Martha, untied by Jimmy, had hurried up to urge Clark into the house to get into some dry clothes. Lois had then stood alone for a few moments, not realising that she too was shaking until Jonathan Kent had come to lead her inside.

Involuntarily, her hand lifted to run itself shakily through her hair. Yes, she cared for Clark. Martha had been right; but it was very hard for Lois to admit that. She knew why, of course; no need for her to spend a fortune on therapists just to be told that her inability to admit to her feelings was due to her previous history with relationships, both family and lovers. Everyone she had loved or trusted had let her down. So why should she care about anyone else? What reason was there to trust anyone?

But somehow she had come to have feelings for Clark, although she usually did a great job of covering it up with barbed remarks and flippant quips. Martha had realised that; she hadn't had to be told why Lois had come to Smallville looking for her son. But what Martha had also understood was that Lois herself needed to accept her reasons for needing Clark. *That* explained her request that Lois examine her motives for discovering the nature of Clark's deception.

Lois sat back in her chair as the implications of that discovery sank in.

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

In the barn Jonathan was busy sharpening farm implements; he looked up and smiled warmly as Martha approached him. Laying down his scythe, he asked, "How's Lois doing?"

"I left her to do some thinking about why she came looking for Clark," his wife explained.

"Do you think we should contact Clark?" Jonathan suggested.

But Martha shook her head. "Not yet - we can call him a little later, if Lois is as honest with herself as I hope she will be. Otherwise, maybe not at all."

Jonathan leaned against the barn wall, frowning. "Yes, I think you're right, dear. Our boy's suffered enough and if he has to start over somewhere else we don't want him getting upset by seeing Lois again."

Martha hurried to correct him. "I never got a chance to tell you, but I heard on the radio just before Lois arrived. They found out that it wasn't Clark causing the heatwave in Metropolis after all - it was some nuclear plant which had sprung a leak." She shook her head in disbelief, then added, "Actually, the reporter said it was some newspaper journalists who'd worked it out - I must ask Lois if it was her. Seems they're calling for Superman to come back now."

Furious, Jonathan exclaimed, "And they hounded our boy out of town! Well, he should just keep on going - start over again somewhere else. Metropolis doesn't deserve him, and he should tell them so."

But Martha laughed. "Jonathan, you know very well that Clark won't do that. His heart's in Metropolis now."

Both Kents turned their gaze towards the house, both well aware that most of their adopted son's fondness for Metropolis was connected with the young woman presently sitting in their kitchen.

Part 2