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Chapter 12  - Snooping Matters

Lois sat on the corner of Richard’s desk as he stood behind it punching in the numbers Clark had given him the day before for the farmhouse. He hit the speaker button then the two waited as the phone rang several times before it was finally answered. They could hear Jason giggling almost non-stop in the background.

An amused voice answered almost singing the greeting, “Good morning.”

“Martha? This is Richard and Lois. How are things going there?”

“Oh good morning indeed.” Then not as loud as if she had turned her head from the phone, “Jason, it’s your mom and dad.” Back into the receiver she answered, “The two of us are having a wonderful time.”

Lois spoke up, “I just hope he’s not being too much bother.”

“Oh posh, I’m finding being a grandmother absolutely delightful, I wouldn’t trade it for the world. I suppose you really want to speak with that little boy of yours.”

“Yes, would you mind putting him on?” 

Again less loud as she turned from the phone, “Jason sweetie your mommy and daddy want to talk to you.”

The giggling got louder as the little boy slowly came to stand by his grandmother.  They could also hear rustling and movement as if he was struggling with something. “Hi Mommy, Daddy” he managed to get out between giggles.

“What’s going on there? Are you being attacked by the giggle monster?” Richard asked curious barely containing his own chuckles.

Still giggling but managing to get the words out, “Grandma let me bring the kitties in and they’re attacking me. It tickles.  Munchkin keeps trying to climb up my leg. She’s my favorite cause she’s the bravest one.”

“Munchkin? Lois asked listening to his voice trying to hear if all the giggling was causing him any respiratory distress. If it was it wasn’t evident

“Ah huh. Grandma let me name them. I named the other ones Dash, Violet, Jack Jack and Nemo.”

“Sounds like you’re having fun. Do you miss us?” She was almost afraid to ask, torn between being glad he was having such a good time and disappointed that he didn’t seem to be missing them much if at all.

“Grandma says she’s keeping me busy so I won’t have time to miss you so much Mommy.” He almost dropped the phone wiggling around as Munchkin and Dash made a duo assault on his stocking clad feet.

His giggling became more uncontrollable then calmed down as Martha picked him up and sat him on the kitchen countertop away from the kittens so he could talk without being attacked. They heard Martha tell him as his giggling finally subsided, “There, with you out of their reach it should make it easier to talk. The kitties will have to amuse themselves for a few minutes.”      

“So what have you been doing besides naming kittens? Did you sleep alright?” 

“Me and Grandma are making gingerbread people. They’re cooken right now then I get to make them special with decorations.”

Richard smiled, “Oh really are we going to get any?”

“Ah huh, I’m going to make special ones for everybody. Daddy, did you know werewolves are just pretend?”

“Um, why would you ask that?” Richard looked a little nervously at Lois.

“Cause, I thought I heard a werewolf last night and it scared me. I was afraid it was gonna get me but Daddy Clark said werewolves were just pretend and that it was really just a wolf and they are just like big dogs.”

“You heard a wolf last night and it scared you?”

“I was only a little scared, Daddy Clark said it was far away and couldn’t get here. Besides he was here and wouldn’t let it hurt me and Grandma’s got a strong house and the wolf and fox couldn’t get in anyway.”

“Fox, there was a fox trying to get in the house? Wait, when did you hear about werewolves?” Lois asked concerned.

“Daddy let me watch one of his movies a couple weeks ago about a teenager werewolf.”

Lois gave Richard a look that said we’ll discuss this more later then to Jason she asked. “Well, I’m glad Clark was there and you weren’t too scared. Have you had to use your inhaler?”

“Un ah. I feel good Mommy. My vacation isn’t over yet is it, its fun here.”

Just then the oven dinged and Jason’s attention was diverted as Martha took the gingerbread people out of the oven. “Mmmmm, Grandma those smell good, can I have one now?”

Lois heard Martha tell him they had to cool a little first then she answered him. “No your vacation isn’t over yet and I’m glad you’re having fun.”  She relaxed and smiling she continued. “Well it sounds like you’re pretty busy so we’ll let you go.  Love you munchkin. We’ll talk again later.”

“Save one of those for me Jason. Love you. Remember to call if you need anything.”

“Bye Mommy, Daddy.” Jason handed the phone back to his grandmother. She filled the two in on the foxes, wolves and roosters setting their minds at ease as Jason went back to play while waiting for the gingerbread people to cool enough for decorating.



Superman landed on the rooftop of the Daily Planet having just returned from providing aid to victims of a bridge collapse in the southeastern province of Hunan, China.  Many had died almost instantly but at least he had been able to provide aid to those still alive and bring closure to the families of those who would otherwise have gone missing perhaps for days or even weeks.

Settled back at his desk he pulled up his search engine and started keying in search parameters for Jane Does. When he had spoken to the contacts in Grand Cayman no mention had been made of a woman in the group of people with Luthor. It made Clark wonder if she had outworn her usefulness; it wouldn’t be the first time.  One of the editions of the newspapers his mother had saved for him had reported that Miss Tessmacher had been found dead and barely recognizable in an out of the way alley near her mother’s home in Hackensack, New Jersey just months after he’d left on his trip to Krypton.   It also speculated that even from prison Luthor had somehow seemingly, though not provable, been able to put a hit on her.

His search included all the east coast and south coast areas as well as all the Caribbean Islands.  Even so he was surprised to see such a long list of Jane Does over such a short period of time. Wasting no time he looked at each account quickly dismissing them until he found just what he had been looking for near the bottom of the list. There was no picture but the description and details were too close to be coincidental.  The woman had been found by fishermen off the coast of Jamaica badly beaten and half dead from exposure just a few days earlier clinging to a small piece of driftwood.  It had to be her. Getting up Clark started to leave just as Gil called out.

“Clark Richard wanted to see you.” 

Getting up he pushed his glasses back in place as he headed towards Richard’s office. Knocking then poking his head in the door he asked, “You wanted to see me?”

Looking up Richard nodded, “I was just wondering how Jason did last night. It was his first night away from home without us.”

“He did fine. I was there most of the night. Being a city kid I think some of the sounds freighted him a little but he was a little champ.”

“Actually, we already spoke to both him and Martha and he told us about the ‘werewolf’.  He’s not really the real reason I wanted to speak with you. It’s Lois, I’m afraid I’m losing her and I…well you and I haven’t really had a chance to talk, alone that is. Just what are your intentions with Lois?”

Clark took a deep breath. “She…they’re both better off with you” was all he said in answer.

“She still loves you.”

Clark looked away from him over towards where Lois sat. Richard realized he was most likely seeing her behind the short cubical wall that usually hid her from his own view. Turning back to face Richard Clark answered. “No she just loves the hero and that can never work. She doesn’t really even know me. Give her time, she’s just confused.”

“Don’t you love her?”

“I love her enough to let her go.”  Richard didn’t need to be able to hear the other man’s heart to know he was speaking the truth, it was written all over his face.          

“I need to go, I just found a possible lead to Luthor’s girlfriend.”  Richard nodded and Clark backed out of the room and soon was miles away headed to a hospital in Jamaica.



A short time later Superman was speaking to the doctor in charge of the Jane Doe along with the small hospital’s administrator. He had already determined it was indeed Katherine Kowolski by using his x-ray vision as soon as he knew where the Jane Doe was located in the hospital.
So far she had not regained full consciousness.  Finally he was allowed to see her.

Her fine features were near ruined, eyes sunken with dark circles, her lips blistered and drawn. Her hair was a mess although he could tell the nurses had tried to tame it.  That was not all, her left cheekbone appeared badly broken with dark burses and broken skin. Had Luthor done this to her and then just tossed her away to a slow death? He placed his hand on hers noticing how rough it felt. She seemed so vulnerable and broken. He grasped her hand and spoke softly. “Miss Kowolski, can you hear me? It’s Superman.”

She didn’t respond. He stood there several minutes just watching her breath till finally speaking again. “If you can hear me focus on getting better, I’ll be back soon.” He turned to go but stopped as he heard her breathing and heartbeat change ever so slightly indicating she was regaining consciousness. Turning back he watched as she slowly opened her eyes trying to focus. He returned to her side once again taking one of her hands in his.

He could tell from her eyes that she knew he was there and just who he was. With the gentlest tone he asked, “Did Luthor do this to you?” 

She moaned nodding ever so slightly. She tried to speak but her voice was just not there. Tears escaped from the corners of her eyes.
          
“I’m going to arrange to take you back to a hospital in the states where they can provide you with more direct care.” He saw her tense up and understood why. “It’s alright, you’ll be safe.”

She somehow managed to rasp out, “Why?”

He looked at her and gave her a half smile understanding that what she was asking was why did he care about what happened to her. “Everyone deserves a second chance.”

He wanted to ask her many more questions but that would have to wait. She needed to some time to recover first. His first priority was to get her someplace safe where she would have the care she needed and at the same time be protected from Luthor. He knew just who could help.



Lois noticed Clark leave and almost immediately went to his desk for a clue as to where he had disappeared, after all they were suppose to be working on this story together she justified. Was it that mysterious source? She smirked as the saw his computer was still running and the sleep mode had not yet closed access to the desktop. She clicked the icon to open up his mailbox but was stopped in her efforts, unfortunately his mailbox was password protected.  She sat back in his chair and considered for a second. Then typed Loislane and hit enter. That wasn’t it so she tried Jason surprised to find that still wasn’t right.

The window was telling her she had only one more attempt before locking the program that would require a reset by the IT department. “Darn! What could it be?” Taking a minute she regrouped going over in her head what she knew. It had to be a new password no older than his re-hire date. Surely he didn’t assign some long meaningless password that only some superhuman could remember. Did he?

She took a chance and keyed in Smallville then grimaced as the screen locked her out. “No!” Still not willing to give up she clicked on his still open web browser and checked the history of the last pages he’d viewed. Up popped the entry about a Jane Doe found in Jamaica. Lois quickly read the gist of the article and hit print realizing the woman’s description fit that pretend hooker, the one who had been on Luthor’s boat. He had found Luthor’s girlfriend, or more likely his former girlfriend from the looks of her current condition.

She took the printout and went back to her desk to continue her on research.



Clark got back into the office and opened up his computer. Opening up his email window he was surprised to find he was locked out. He looked over at Lois knowing without a doubt she was the only one it could have been. Sure enough she had a very guilty expression on her face as she mouthed opps at him. Rolling his eyes he picked up his phone to call IT just as Lois came over.

“Sorry, but it is your own fault you know. If you would just tell me who your mysterious source is I wouldn’t have to go snooping.”

Clark shook his head in resignation as the call was answered. “Uh, this is Clark Kent, it seems I... un need to have my password reset. ….Yeah, thanks I’ll be more careful in the future.”

He hung up the phone and turned to look at her. “Lois, did it ever occur to you that if I wanted you to have access to my email I would have provided you the password or made it so obvious that you would have guessed it.”

“I just figured you hadn’t had time to give it to me yet. I bet you know mine.”

“Lois, anyone that knows you could figure your password out. You really need to change it at least every five years or so.”

“I don’t like having to remember new passwords. What was yours anyway?”

“It doesn’t matter. It wouldn’t mean anything to you anyway. It was just a series of sixteen numbers and six letters converted to simple single digit numbers.  I’ll even tell you what they were 330925200032622200113.”

Lois grabbed a notepad and pen but only got a few of the numbers at the end. “Wait, I didn’t have time to write them all down. What was it again?”

“Well if I let you write them down I would just make up a new password rather than reusing that one.”

“I thought you told me no more secrets. Besides I already know you found your hooker friend.”

“She’s not my hooker friend and you know that Lois. She was Luthor’s girlfriend but now she’s just his latest victim. He tried to kill her.”

Her voice softened. “Is she alright?”

“She will be. I’ve moved her under an assumed name to a hospital in the states. One Luthor would never think of checking just in case he was keeping an eye on her.”

“Did she know anything that could help us?”

Clark sighed. “She’s too weak, I didn’t have the heart to try and question her in her present condition. She needs at least a day to recover.”

“Um aren’t you going to update your password and well, check your email?”

Clark sighed. “I already updated my password you just didn’t see me do it. I’ll check my mail when I know you aren’t trying to read over my shoulder. We may share a child along with past and perhaps future bylines but we don’t share a life and my emails have nothing to do with you or Jason. When and if they do, I’ll be happy to share.”

Lois stepped back hurt. He was obviously pushing her away, setting boundaries just as she had done the day before. “Fine, be that way. I’ll be at my desk if you need to ‘share anything’.”

Clark hated having to treat Lois that way when what he really wanted to do was take her in his arms and fly off to someplace quiet to rekindle the love they’d lost. The numbers in the password may not have meant anything to Lois but they meant the world to him. Lois’ initials converted to simple one digit numbers, the date of that perfect night when Jason was conceived, Jason’s initials converted, Jason’s birth date and finally his own initials converted. He wasn’t ready to make up a new password but maybe he could help Lois move on. It was a step.