Clark stopped abruptly and his hip hit the picture of her, Richard and Jason. She lunged for it, and Clark caught it. “Sorry,” he mumbled. Straightening, he replied, “There are two ways to spell it. With a y instead of an i.”
Lois clicked her pen on the desk. “Thanks, Clark.”
“Lois?”
She looked up. “Yeah?”
“How’s the –“ he pointed to her neck, “neck wound?”
She smiled, “I’m fine, Clark.”
“Well, it was a little scary.”
She shrugged, “A day in the life, some might say. No more scarier than being in a plummeting plane.”
“Superman was there for that one,” Clark mused thoughtfully.
“And you were there for this one.” She smiled broadly, “Guess that means I owe you my life then?”
“Keep your life, Lois. Just stay out of trouble, that’s all I ask.”
Lois laughed, “That’s like asking the sun not to shine.”
Clark frowned, “I know.” I know all too well, he thought. Clearing his throat he asked, “Are you writing about your own attack?”
Lois sat up straighter, “In a manner of speaking. Don’t worry, I plan to interview you.”
“Gee, thanks.”
“But I want to do a little background on vampires first. I mean first of all – a vampire. Myth right? And then poof—there’s one walking around in broad daylight. Vampires are only supposed to come out at night. Maybe the mythology has changed along with the vampire.”
“Lois, maybe you should leave this one alone.”
She looked aghast. “Why?”
“Certain greedy, not to mention power-hungry snakes might enjoy the attention. They could think it aids their cause.”
“You mean like Lex?”
“Yes,” Clark said nodding.
“Don’t you think the people have a right to know that vampires are out there, some of them able to walk quite literally among us? The people have a right to know, Clark.” With that, she got up and stalked off; clearly annoyed that he’d only been trying to give her some friendly advice.
He supposed that’s what he got for trying to tell Lois Lane what story to write. He’d heard enough of her and Perry going twenty rounds to figure out that she did not take kindly to being told what to do. He knew that as Clark --her somewhat friend, her co-worker, and as Superman.
He loved the idea though of for once, making her listen to what he had to say – as all three incarnations.
“What is that book, Lex?” Kitty asked, holding her Pomeranian tightly to her chest. After Lex’s threat to eat the dog should they run out of coconuts before they were rescued off possibly the smallest island on Earth, Kitty felt she needed to protect that dog from Lex’s paws. No pun intended.
Why she stayed with him, she did not know.
“This book, Kitty,” Lex said calmly as they set up shop in a seedy motel just outside Sunnydale, “Is how we’re going to bring the Master back.”
“The Master?” Kitty asked with trepidation. She did not like the sound of that at all.
“The Master is a vampire that was killed by the Vampire Slayer.”
“Vampire Slayer?”
“So much to teach you, Kitty.”
“Well, excuse me to not thinking about things like vampires. I didn’t even know they existed!”
Lex smiled, “And now you do.”
“I don’t like them. I think they want to eat me.”
Lex laughed. “Maybe so. You’d do well to stay on my good side after that stunt you pulled with the crystals, or I just might let them make you into a midnight snack.”
Kitty looked at him, condescendingly, “Or an afternoon snack with the way you’ve been giving them those…treatments.”
“At least you’re aware that you could in fact be vampire food. Now, sit back and let me tell you a little story about one girl in all the world…”
“Are you kidding me? Superman. Here? In Sunnydale. In boring, nothing new happening –“ Xander stopped off the incredulous looks he was getting. “I mean, creepy, always something going on, never boring Sunnydale.”
Giles rolled his eyes and Buffy just smirked. Willow was slack-jawed and Tara seemed to be taking it all in stride. Anya on the other hand, was primping in the hall mirror.
“And he took no issue with Spike being involved?” Giles asked primly.
Buffy shook her head, “Nope, not at all. The chip thing threw him off, but he seemed okay with it. I mean, if Spike is going to fail under anyone’s radar as something other than trustworthy, it’d be with Superman right?”
Giles raised a brow, “I would think the Slayer would be able to gauge something like that. And while he has proven himself to be an asset, Buffy, one cannot –“
Buffy waved her hand at him, “I know, I know, I know. One cannot let their guard down because the demon resides inside still and it’s only a chip blah, blah, blah. I get it. Trust me, I get it. I’m just saying that Superman is fine with Spike helping us. He’s okay with it, so I’m okay with it.”
“Have you got a crush on Superman, Buffy?” Willow teased.
Buffy blushed, “Will, wait until you see him!” She frowned, “Though you’re not really supposed to see him. He wanted to keep his presence quiet here.”
“Oh come on! He’s got to know it’s a package deal. Buffy and the Scoobies….and Spike, somehow, weirdly,” Xander said. “We’ll keep it amongst ourselves.
Everyone in the room, save for Anya, looked at him as if to say “yeah, right.”
Xander slid further into Giles’ couch, pouting, “You guys suck.”
“Does he have the curl? Does it really not move or change?” Willow asked excitedly.
Tara raised a brow and looked over at her girlfriend. “Honey, you’re a lesbian, remember?”
Willow nodded, “I know, but sweetie…you have to admit there are some men you would turn straight for.”
Tara laughed, “I suppose you’re right. He is, as you would say, of the ‘yummy’ variety.”
“Yummy?” Anya demanded as she stormed in to join the group. “He’s not just yummy. He is sex on . . . on two legs. With a red cape that can also function as a blanket.”
“Selling point right there. Super sex and a blanket for after to boot,” Buffy quipped.
Anya continued on ignoring her, “Can you imagine the sex you could have in the air? Now that would be a first. A definite new position the Kamma Sutra has never seen.”
“Uh, honey, can you remember that you do have a boyfriend and he is me, and me is sitting right here?” Xander said, pointing to himself over his head.
Buffy furrowed her brow. “I would think having sex while flying would be hard.”
“Duh, you’d have to be still!” Anya exclaimed rolling her eyes.
“Still, I mean the sheer logistics of it; you’d have to hold on for dear life. It couldn’t be much fun if you’re thinking ‘let go and I plummet to my death.’”
“He’d catch you!”
“Talk about killing the mood—“
“All right. As entertaining as this all is, how about we turn our attention to other matters and actually get done the research Buffy promised Superman she’d do?” Giles interrupted.
Grumbling, everyone reached for their respective books, and the research commenced.