This is a sequel to
Love and Secrets.
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Love and Trust
Clark linked his hands behind his head and leaned back in his chair as he gazed over at Lois with a smile on his face. He was amazed at her concentration as she worked on her article. He himself could hardly concentrate. He was still bowled over by the recent turn of events. Just yesterday he finally worked up the courage to ask her out, and, despite some major misunderstandings in the form of an old girlfriend's untimely appearance, today they were together. An item. Lois Lane was Clark Kent's girlfriend.
He was distracted from his visual appreciation of his new girlfriend as he registered a familiar presence over by the elevators and heading his way. He looked up to see the joyful face of one Lana Lang. Clark smiled even more broadly, if it were possible, as he jumped up out of his chair and met her with a bear hug.
"Lana! It's so good to see you! What brings you to town?" Clark asked.
"Oh, you know..." Lana started as Lois looked up from her work to see Clark raise his hand to Lana's cheek and finger a golden curl.
"What's this?" he chuckled. "Blonde? I never pictured you as a blonde. What gives?"
At that, Lana burst into tears and lowered her head onto Clark's shoulder. Bewildered, he put an arm around her and patted her gently on the back.
"Oh, Clark, I hate it! I thought I'd do something different, you know, and instead of getting a stupid haircut, I bleached my lovely red locks blonde! It looks awful! Now I have to wait for it to grow out!" sobbed Lana.
Clark was momentarily at a loss for words. "... I'm ... sorry. I ... didn't know that you hair was so important to you."
Lana pulled back and stepped out of the hug, wiped her eyes, and said, "That's just it. It's not that big a deal. It's just..." She straightened her right hand and waved it quickly in front of her face for a moment before continuing, "I can't help it. I'm really hormonal right now."
"Um, maybe I shouldn't ask..." Clark said warily. He glanced at Lois, who was now standing at her desk glaring daggers at him. He gave her a puzzled smile and looked back at Lana. He tried to decide between dealing with an angry-for-some-reason-he-couldn't-fathom Lois and an inexplicably overly emotional Lana.
Suddenly cheerful, Lana said, "Oh, no, that's why I came by, to tell you that I'm pregnant!"
Clark laughed with delight, picked her up, spun her around, and gave her a kiss on the cheek before setting her back down and giving her another hug. "Wow! That's great! When are you due?"
"Not for a while yet," Lana chuckled. She opened her mouth to say more, but Lois stormed around her desk to confront them.
She got in Clark's face and seethed, "Pregnant?! If you've gotten your old girlfriend pregnant, so help me, I'll..." She raised her hand to slap him across the face, but he gently grabbed her wrist and lowered her hand.
"Whoah! No way. I've never slept with Lana," he insisted.
Lana, thinking it might be funny to rile up Clark's lady friend further, said with an impish grin, "Oh, that's not true, Clark. We've slept together plenty of times."
Clark glared at her and rebutted, "Blanket forts in the yard don't count."
"Blanket forts?" Lois asked, now thoroughly confused.
"But I have seen you naked, Clark," Lana teased.
"We were five, and it's not my fault you caught me skinny dipping in the pond. You were trespassing," he accused, pointing at Lana, who just laughed. He turned to Lois, releasing her wrist, and explained, "We used to make blanket forts in the yard when we were kids. My mom let the three of us sleep out there a few times when the weather was nice." He turned back to Lana. "Now stop causing trouble for me with my girlfriend, Lana." He looked from one woman to the other and said, "I guess I should introduce you two. Lana, this is my girlfriend Lois Lane. Lois, this is my friend from Smallville, Lana Lang."
"Ross," Lana corrected.
"Lana Ross. Right. I still haven't gotten used to that. Where is the third musketeer, anyway?" he asked.
"Pete? He's at a meeting or something. He didn't exactly want to walk into the middle of a major news outlet, anyway. Save talking to the press for press conferences." Lana made a face and stuck out her tongue.
Clark put his hands over his heart dramatically and said, "You wound me. I'm part of the press, you know. We're not all bad."
Lois was a bit slow on the uptake, having spent the last minute coming to terms with the fact that she didn't actually need to be jealous of yet another of Clark's old girlfriends, so it took her a bit to process the conversation. "Pete Ross?" she finally asked. "Senator Ross?" At Lana's nod, she turned to Clark and poked him in the chest. "You're friends with Senator Ross, and you never mentioned it?"
"I'm friends with a lot of people," he countered. "Am I expected to keep you apprised of them all?"
"Yes!" Lois insisted, knowing that she was being unreasonable.
"Ok, then. Just so we have the ground rules down," Clark conceded with a grin. "In the interest of full disclosure, I'm also friends with Ted Kord and Bruce Wayne."
Lois rolled her eyes and smiled. "Now you're just making stuff up."
Clark didn't correct her, thinking that he was skirting the line already with his smart-alek remark. He turned back to Lana and asked, "So how long are you two in town?"
"Just until Friday," she answered. "Pete's busy most of the week, but we've got Thursday night free. Why don't we get together for dinner?" She turned to Lois. "That is, if neither of you are busy...?"
"Oh, I don't know..." Lois began, "I wouldn't want to intrude on your catching up."
"Intrude? Nonsense. Come on, Clark, tell her she can come," insisted Lana.
Clark turned to Lois and gave her a beseeching look. "Come? Please?" he asked mock-pathetically.
Lana got a devious glint in her eye and added, "Besides, Pete already knows all the embarrassing Clark stories (he was there for most of them), so I need someone new to tell them to."
Clark said, "On second thought, maybe you should sit this one out..."
"I'll be there!" Lois said with an enthusiastic grin.
"Great!" said Lana. "Pete will definitely want to meet you. I hope you don't mind an interrogation. Pete's sure to give you the third degree." Lois raised an eyebrow. "He'll want to make sure you're good enough for our Clark here."
Clark looked up at the ceiling. "Lana..." he whined in exasperation.
With a wry look on her face, Lois replied, "Oh, no problem. I can handle senators."
Lana chuckled. "I suppose you can," she said. She looked at her watch and grimaced. "I've got to be going now, or I'll miss my appointment. Who knew being a senator's wife was so much work? It was nice meeting you, Lois." She offered Lois her hand, and the two shook. "I'll see you two Thursday."
"Thursday," agreed Clark. "Oh, where and when?"
"How about six-thirty? And why don't you pick the place? You know Metropolis better than we do," said Lana.
"Sounds good," he said. "I'll call you."
Lana gave him the phone number at her hotel, smiled at them both one more time, and left. Clark turned to Lois, but she spoke before he could open his mouth. "So, another ex-girlfriend comes to visit, huh? How many others are going to come out of the woodwork this week?"
Clark rolled his eyes. "None. I don't have any other ex-girlfriends, Lois."
"Well, how am I supposed to know that?"
"I guess you wouldn't have, but I'm telling you now."
"So this was all some weird coincidence?" she asked. "Both your exes show up at work in one week?"
"I know you don't like to believe in them, but coincidences do exist."
Lois folded her arms and huffed. "Well, I guess I can believe this time."
Clark caught the humor in her stance and chuckled. "That's very generous of you," he said. Then his demeanor turned serious, and he said, "Lois, you have no one to be jealous of. You know you're the only one for me."
Lois couldn't quite meet his eye as she shrugged one shoulder. "I guess I'm still having a hard time believing that you're actually mine. It's kind of surreal."
"I know what you mean," he said softly.
At that, she finally met his eye to find him studying her intently.
"Lois, I know things aren't instantly perfect after our talk last night, but can you do me a favor? Give me the benefit of the doubt? I won't always do everything right, and I'm bound to hurt your feelings now and then, but can you trust that, no matter what anyone else says, it's you I want to be with? That I'm not trying to hurt you, even when I say or do something really stupid? And I'll try to give you the benefit of the doubt, too. Because if we can't trust each other, can't talk things out when we've got a problem, what chance do we have to make this work?"
Lois gave him a contemplative look for a few moments before replying, "You know I have a hard time trusting people, but I do trust you, Clark. I guess I haven't been very good at showing it lately." She ducked her head and tucked her hair behind her ear. "I'll try to not fly off the handle so much. Maybe try to hear your side before I rake you over the coals." She looked back up at him and smirked. "But don't expect me to treat you with kid gloves. I won't stop chewing you out when you deserve it."
Clark took her hand, brought it to his lips, and kissed the back of it. "Lois, I wouldn't have it any other way."
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Epilogue:
Senator Pete Ross entered his Metropolis hotel room after a long day of whatever it is that senators do when they're not filibustering. "Honey, I'm home," he called. Lana came in from the other room and walked over to give him a hug.
"How was your day, dear?" she asked.
"It was great! And I have some great news. Lex Luthor is back from the dead, he's running for president, and he's asked me to be his running mate!"
"No. No, absolutely not. I'm putting my foot down. We're not getting mixed up in that mess."
"But honey..."
"I said NO, Pete!"
"Yes, dear."
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Ted Kord is the alter-ego of Blue Beetle. He's also the owner of Kord Industries. Bruce Wayne, of course, is Batman.
Superman was created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.
Superman, Lois, Lana, Pete, Ted Kord, Bruce Wayne, and related story elements are owned by DC Comics.
