stands_for_hope | The Not Quite Justice League in... The Bee's Pleas!!!

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house of am

The Not Quite Justice League in... The Bee's Pleas!!!

[continued from here]

Finishing his article, clearing everything with Keith, those things took time. That was why it took a few hours before Clark was ready to make his usual call to Lois that night. He had worried that he might not make the time window that she cleared every day to talk to him and the others, but he was proud to say that he'd left himself an even half an hour as long as everything was to schedule.

After the fifth time she didn't pick up (didn't so much as text or ping him), it became clear that things were very much off schedule.

Clark made his way back to the main floor where everyone seemed to congregate and headed straight for Tony, holding up the phone to him.

"I know we're all tired and we've certainly had a long day, but... can you find out where Lois's phone is from the number here?"

In all the madness of the day, all the fighting and the close calls and the weakness brought on by the proximity of kryptonite, he'd lost track of her heartbeat. Usually, it was simple enough to pick up over the phone once again, a steady pulse that he could find his way back to once the phonecall had ended.

He couldn't hear her. He couldn't tell where she was. And she wasn't answering her phone. She always answered her phone. He didn't want to think anything was wrong, but he wasn't naive enough to discount something like this. Not after today. Not after they'd pulled out kryptonite weapons.

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Clark shared a look with Steve.

"We're gonna continue working on tweaking things around the apartment. Lois, I leave you in Jim and Diana's capable hands?"

Lois grinned up at him.

"Of course you do. You're smart."

"And while I'm working on her head, Diana can work on her feet, and she'll probably be napping by the time we're done, she'll be so relaxed," Jim teased warmly.

Clark and Steve disappeared to continue working on things. Diana slipped off to go and grab the shampoo and conditioner from the bathroom, since she knew which ones Lois used, and Lois took the time to reach over and put her hand on Jim's arm.

"I heard you had a bit of a wild ride before picking me up."

He lifted a shoulder. "There was... Well. There was a friend of Tony's who had a friend who found out that Arnim Zola wasn't exactly dead."

Wasn't exactly alive in the strictest definitions, either, but wasn't exactly dead, either. He wasn't quite sure how to say it.

"He dead now?"

And half-beaten, still recovering, fingers broken, Lois still looked like she was ready to take up a weapon and wield it in her teeth if the job needed doing.

"Hell of a thing," he exhaled, "but yeah. That kid who triaged you. Him and his dad - who you didn't meet, but who might be your father in law eventually - came and brought these computers and they chased Zola down together, the two of them and Jarvis and one named Eddie, and the rest of us stopped Hydra from bolstering Zola while they pinned him down and deleted him. Don't ask me for more details than that - that's all I can explain."

The details were truly beyond him. He still wasn't exactly sure about ATMs and how his debit card worked. He just accepted that it did.

She took a minute or so, obviously settling all the information into her mind, parsing through it before--

"My father-in-law?" She leaned up to look at Jim seriously. "This one seem" her eyes said 'better than the last one' but what came out of her mouth was "like a nice guy? Not that I don't trust Martha..."

"Nice to a fault," Jim answered. "I liked him. Liked Mike well enough, too, but..."

He trailed off, remembering just how the kid had looked at him, even if it was still unfair to think of him as a kid.

"...But he knew me as the Winter Soldier."

That made her nose twitch, as much out of irritation at the added difficulty as displeasure at the reminder of what Jim had had to deal with. Shaking it off, her usual lopsided smile slipped out.

"You'll win him over. I mean... Sam likes you now. And I'm pretty sure Steve's over the moon for you and he knew you then too."

"Steve doesn't count," Jim muttered, but it was with a hint of a smile at the corner of his mouth. "And Sam... knew me right before I came out of it. Apparently I was on an op with Mike. Neither one of us remember it all the way."

And wasn't that a hell of a thing. Both of them with altered memories, having been made to do things they didn't like.

"You're also a damn charming son of a bitch," she said with a little laugh before glancing at the box and then down at her chair.

"Should I get up or are you just gonna lift me whole hog here?"

He glanced at the box, too, and then up at her before asking, "Depends. Which one would make you happier?"

She glanced towards the rest of the apartment, then up at Jim.

"I would rather not move right this moment," she said very quietly.

"Okay." He reached over, gently touching her cheek. "Then if you want me to move you, I'll pick you up chair and all. If you want to wait a while before I do your hair, we can do that, too. Whatever you want."

She swallowed just the once and leaned into the touch before nodding gently.

"Now works. The quicker I feel clean, the better."

And with a little smile, he nodded. "Okay. I'm going to pick you up, then, and you relax."

So, carefully, he scooped up Lois and the chair as one, only asking as he was settling her back down, "Tilt your head forward, so I don't catch your hair between the chair and the counter, all right?"

All jokes aside, Lois was well able to listen to instructions and dipped her head forward to avoid just that. Diana made her way into the kitchen as the chair settled onto the box; she had the shampoo and conditioner in a small basin that would be used to wash her feet, along with a few other items.

"I'm so glad they didn't decide to fuck with my feet. Pedicures are a godsend."

Diana gave Jim a faint smile before nodding to Lois, putting the shampoo and conditioner down near Jim on the counter before kneeling to place the basin down and lay out the various items she'd brought for her own work.

"And now," he smiled, "you get to relax and let us fuss over you. I'd offer to turn on the radio, but I'd bet there's no such thing as a channel actually playing music right now."

He rolled up a towel to cushion Lois' neck as he ran the water, making sure it was warm before he started to soap. "This house is getting thicker and thicker with heroes."

Lois tilted her head back a little more to look up at Jim.

"Did we get another one or something? Is someone bunking in the study now? Come on. It's a crime when Lois Lane is the last in on the gossip."

Diana stood up again and filled a pitcher with warm water from the sink before returning to Lois's feet to start in on her own work.

"You," he said simply, looking into her eyes. "You're the hero. Just like you've always been. Just now, people know about it."

Jim kissed her forehead.

"Next thing I know, me and Steve'll have to salute you."

"Hey, I'll have you know that people knew the name of this Pulitzer-prize winning journalist well before now, mister," she said smartly, but her eyes were closed and after the words were done, her breathing evened out a bit as the both of them took care of her.

"But you're not saluting me. I will bean you both with socks before I let it happen."

"I'll hold you to it."

But he lathered her hair thoroughly, taking care to massage her scalp from forehead to temples to the lowest line of hair at her neck. And only once the bubbles were starting to slide down of their own accord did he start to rinse, using the sprayer to add more warmth and more massage to what he was already doing. And the conditioner - well, that he was a bit gentler with, and slightly less liberal. Conditioner, after all, worked differently.

Between Jim and Diana, Lois finally finally let herself uncoil a little, relax a little, pull down the walls that she'd erected to keep herself together. By the time they were at conditioner, she was utterly boneless, but there were, perhaps, a few drips of water down her face that had not come from the sink.

And he wasn't going to say a word about it. Not unless she wanted to. He was going to focus his attention on helping her hair be smooth and clean and smell like home again. Only when he was done did he reach down, with slightly damp hands, and wipe the tears away. Kiss her forehead. "Ready to sit somewhere other than the kitchen for a while?"

She was quiet for a moment before nodding up at him.

"The kitchen's pretty amazing, though. Way better than its competitors."

Diana smiled a little and patted her leg.

"We will care for the rest of you later, once you have rested."

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