Karaoke at the Red K Corral - TOC Part 3Lois awoke to a blaring horn. She blinked her eyes and saw the headlights of a semi truck bearing down on her. A quick glance told her that she was lying in the dark on a wet road in the middle of… somewhere. She jumped to her feet and took a split second to make sure that Clark wasn’t lying in the street with her. He wasn’t.
She leaped backward off the road and landed in a field, in a mud puddle to be more precise. It was still raining, but it was easing up.
“Clark?” she gasped, her hand rising to her mouth.
Where was he?
Was he okay?
Was he Superman?
If so, had he flown off on her?
Was he…
dead?
Lois focused her vision to the surrounding half-mile… or was it a mile, since she was looking a half-mile in every direction? Twenty some-odd yards down the field, she saw a body. Less than a second later, she was kneeling down next to him.
What had she done?
Her hand hovered above his arm afraid to touch him, afraid what she might find. She tried to listen for his heartbeat, but her heart was beating so loud and fast all she could hear was her own blood rushing through her body.
“Clark?” she whispered. “Honey?”
He groaned and raised a hand to his head.
“Oh, thank God, you’re alive,” Lois said, pulling him into her arms and squeezing him tight. “I was… I thought… you…”
“Lois?” Clark mumbled. “Ow!”
She dropped him and took a step back. She was now standing ten feet away and started pacing. “It didn’t work. I hurt you. I could’ve killed you. I can’t believe I risked your life. I…”
“Lois…”
“You’re lucky to be alive. I told you I couldn’t handle these powers. I can’t even hug you without hurting you. Oh, gosh, did I break your arm or a rib or are you burned? Do you need medical attention?” she rambled.
“Lois, I’m fine,” Clark groaned. His tone proved that he was lying to her.
“No, you’re not fine.”
Clark stared at her before answering, and wryly at that, “You’re right. I’m not fine. My fiancée got high on red Kryptonite and shot me with a bolt of lightning.”
“Don’t be smart with me, buster,” Lois snapped, still pacing. “I could’ve killed you.”
“Yes, you could have,” he replied. “But you didn’t.”
“Only by the grace of…” She stopped and stared at him. “Why aren’t you dead?”
“Lucky, I guess,” he said as he stiffly rose to his feet.
Lois looked up into the clouds and rain dripped into her eyes. “You fell from the sky because of me…” She collapsed to her knees. “Forgive me, Clark. I know I don’t deserve you. You’re a good man. Kind, sweet, gentle, patient. You have the largest heart of anyone I know. We’ll figure out some way to make this work, Clark, I promise you. I’ll practice my control. With you teaching me, I know I’ll master it. Someday. I don’t want to hurt you again, but neither can I live without you. I can’t go back to the way it was, Clark, after you left me. The thought of living in some icy fortress in the Antarctic sounds awful and lonely.”
“I’ll agree with you there,” he replied, taking a step towards her. “Well, on that last part. Did you ever think that maybe
I was the lucky one in this relationship?”
“Don’t be silly, Clark,” she said, waving away his argument.
“I’m serious, Lois. I stupidly broke up with you, causing both of us untold pain, because I was too thickheaded to give you the opportunity to convince me I was wrong,” he went on. “I don’t want to go back to that either. Before that, I froze the woman that I love more than anything, just because she said it was the only thing to do.”
“That was my fault, too. I leapt in without thinking. I do that.”
“Yes, which is why
I should have known better and stopped you. Instead, I went along with your foolhardy plan,” Clark said, taking another step forward.
“It worked, didn’t it?” Lois retorted, watching his feet. She held up her hand. “Don’t come any closer.”
“I could have killed you. I
did kill you,” he said, both reminding her and ignoring her as he took another step towards her. “And, yet, only later on when you got knocked in the head and suffered a slight concussion did I see the danger of us spending so much time together. Why didn’t I see it
before I proposed?”
“But you didn’t. You saved your folks and me. Win-win! See, I’m brilliant.” She threw him one of her triumphant smiles. Could he see how fake it was?
“That’s never been in doubt,” Clark replied.
Lois frowned. “Only this plan didn’t work. Why didn’t the lightning share my powers into you as it did with you and Resplendent Man? I’m still ultra powered, and you’re still…” She gestured to him. “You.”
“I’ll always be me, Lois, whether or not I have super powers,” he said softly, taking another step towards her. “Either you love me as I am, or this relationship will never work.”
She put her hands on her hips. “You know what I mean, and I do love you.”
“Me?” he asked before clarifying, “Clark Kent me?”
“Did you forget that I dumped Superman for you?” she snapped. “For just Clark Kent you.”
“No, but since you discovered that I’m also Superman…”
“Was Superman,” she corrected with a sniffle.
He disregarded her interruption. “You’ve been acting as if you’re a bit invulnerable because of me.”
Lois held out her arms so he could get a good look at her Ultra Woman costume.
Clark pressed his lips together, tilting his head slightly to the side with annoyance. “You know what I mean. Before…” He waved at her uniform. “—
this happened.”
“Well, this conversation is moot, now, isn’t it?” she said, her voice getting rough. “Because now the only one of us who can die is you!”
“Did you think I liked it better when you could die?” he asked.
“No,” she mumbled. Tears rushed to her eyes as she began to sob. “But I liked it better.”
Clark encircled her with his arms, pulling her to her feet. She rested her head on his shoulder. “Becoming invulnerable is an adjustment,” he whispered.
She slugged his shoulder.
“Ow,” he groaned. “Lois, please remember your strength.”
She ran her hand softly over the area she had hit. “Oh, Clark. I’m sorry. I keep forgetting to rein in my strength with you, because I… I’ve… never had to before.”
Clark set his hand over hers, halting her action. “I know. It’ll take practice. Please forgive me for ever putting you in harm’s way.”
“You didn’t.”
“I froze you,” he murmured, lifting her hand off his arm and kissing her knuckles. “And in those moments when I thought I couldn’t wake you…” He swallowed. “They were some of the worst...”
“Clark, it’s okay,” she reassured him. “Water under the bridge.”
He shook his head. “Then what was all that about ‘payback’?” he asked.
Lois gulped. “Red Kryptonite talking?” she said weakly. She had hoped he wouldn’t bring that up.
“It can’t make you feel things you weren’t before, only amplify them,” he replied.
“Okay,” she admitted, taking a step away so she wouldn’t have to look him in the eye as she spoke. “A part of me thinks that you should have disclosed to me that I’d be saving Superman’s folks before Superman froze me. It felt as if he…
you took advantage of my selfless deed, that you
used me to save your parents. You should have recused yourself somehow from the act…”
“You’re absolutely right,” he granted, with a bowed head.
“But you didn’t,” she continued, steamrolling over his admission of guilt. “— and then you had the nerve to propose to me
still without telling me everything…” Lois threw out her hand. “— despite the fact that I had been willing to risk dying to save your parents, something I can guarantee you I wouldn’t have volunteered to do had it been anyone else’s parents, including my own. If that doesn’t prove to you how much I love
you, Clark Kent, how can anything else?” She turned back around in time to catch the wince on his face.
“Good thing this issue is water under the bridge,” he grumbled to himself, obviously forgetting that she had his sensitive hearing now. Clark raised his voice as soon as he saw that Lois was glaring at him. “I believe you’re willing to risk yourself to save a stranger’s life, Lois… or even your parents.”
She opened her mouth to debate the likelihood of that happening, but he placed a finger to her lips.
“How about a truce? I’ll forgive you for striking me with lightning, against my will I might add, if you’ll forgive me for being an idiotic, selfish jerk, who can’t see straight when his family is threatened.” He reached out and took hold of her hand. “Oh, good. The ring wasn’t damaged. I was worried that…”
She raised an eyebrow. “Can I quote you on that?”
“I won’t hold your past transactions over your head, if you don’t hold mine over my head,” he countered.
“You promise to stop being a lunkhead?”
Clark looked skeptical. “No guarantees on that one. Sorry.” He smiled sheepishly.
Lois could never resist that smile. “Marry me and I’ll promise never to try to hurt you on purpose… again.”
“No more proposals though. They seem a bit hazardous to our health.” Clark let go of her hand and ran it up her arm, past her shoulder, up her neck, until he was cradling her jaw in the palm of his hand.
How had she never noticed that gesture before that moment when he had frozen her?
“I love you, Ultra Woman,” he murmured, resting his lips against hers.
“I love you, too, Clark Kent,” she replied, accepting the kiss. She didn’t deepen the kiss, still out of fear of hurting Clark by losing her control, and nothing seemed to make her lose control faster than kissing Clark. Well, Red Kryptonite aside.
He added a little pressure to his side of the kiss before drawing slowly back and resting his forehead against hers. “Do you mind if we finish this conversation out of the rain?”
“Oh, Clark! You’re soaked to the bone. You’ll catch your death of cold. Here, let me…”
“No!” he pleaded, stepping out of her embrace and holding up a hand to stop her. “I’m fine. Really.”
“I’m not going to turn you to ashes, Clark. I promise,” she said.
“I know you won’t, Lois,” he replied, taking her hand in his and floating up into the air. “But it really isn’t necessary.”
Lois stared at him until she felt her own feet leave the field, and not on their own power. “You sneak!”
Clark grinned.
“My plan
did work!”
He shrugged. “I never said it didn’t.”
She caught up with his height and nudged his arm. “Then what was all that caterwauling for?”
“I was not,” he exclaimed. “Apparently, it hurts when someone with your own strength slugs you, whether you have powers or not. It’s a new experience for me.”
“I’ll try to be extra gentle then,” Lois said, before body slamming him.
He spun out of control for a few seconds before catching himself. “Lois, please remember that I’m not dressed in my uniform. It’s probably best not to draw unnecessary attention to us.”
“Uh-huh,” she said wryly, not believing his excuses. They were in the middle of a dark thunderstorm, in the middle of the night, somewhere over the middle of nowhere in the Carolinas.
Clark zipped up to her, pulled her into his embrace, and wiped her smirk off her face with a kiss that for the first time didn’t feel as if he was holding anything back.
Before she knew it, they were out of the rain, over the clouds, and surrounded by stars.
“Oh, my,” she said, when she came up for air. She took a couple of gulps of what was surrounded them, before saying, “If you’re going to take my breath away, Clark, you should do it at a lower altitude.”
He smiled. “I’ll try to remember that in the future.”
“Since we’re both super, we should put our heads together and come up with a plan to get the red Kryptonite away from the Newtrich sisters without either of us going loco in the process,” Lois suggested, dodging his kiss by turning her head to the side. “Two super heads have got to be better than one.”
“Lois,” Clark replied, his voice deepening to Superman’s timber. “It seems that whenever we put our heads together, all rational thought flies straight out of my head.”
She laughed, pulling him up to her chest once more. “Trust me, when I say that problem will only get worse.”
Clark whimpered under his breath and Lois could practically see what he was imagining as his face reacted to these thoughts. He cleared his throat and let go of her waist, but not her hand. “Probably best to clear up that whole Newtrich sister mess first, before we delve into the unknown,” he said.
With mock seriousness, Lois nodded. “Yes, probably for the best,” she replied and then winked. She tugged his hand and headed towards Metropolis. “Should we tell your folks the good news?”
“I’d rather spend the night with you… I mean,
evening… definitely evening… Although, it is pretty late… I wasn’t trying to… We’re not ready to… Although, I know your secret and you know mine… No! That’s no excuse. We can wait... Um… until after we deal with the Newtrich sisters. Yes, that’s the right thing to do…We can tell my folks about our engagement in the morning. I mean,
I will over breakfast. Unless, of course, you want to be there for breakfast… for telling them… not that I’m inviting you to spend the night with me when my folks staying at my...” He covered his face with his hand, before mumbling to himself, “Oh, God, shut me up now.”
“And you say I ramble?” Lois said, laughing. She had meant announce the return of his powers, but she liked his answer better, so she didn’t correct him. “If you’d like me to come over for breakfast, come over tomorrow morning that is, so that
we can break the news to them, I’d be delighted. But can we keep the part where I struck you with lightning out of the announcement?”
“You mean that you want it to remain our little secret?” he asked with a knowing look. “Not on your cute little chumpy. We’re even now, and we can honestly say we’re past the stage where we try to kill each other.”
“Ha-ha! Very funny,” she deadpanned, not in the least amused. “We’re not telling your folks.”
“Fine. I’ll tell them.”
“Clark Jerome Kent!” Lois growled.
“But not today,” he amended. “Maybe on our fifth anniversary. It’ll be a funny story, then.”
“They’ll never find it funny, Clark. You promised not to hold this over my head,” she reminded him.
“I’m not. It’s not just any superhero who would fly into a thunderstorm and risk killing herself and her fiancé only so she wouldn’t be the only super powered being on the Earth,” he said, leaning over to kiss her cheek. “Thank you for loving all of me.”
“You’re welcome.”
They flew along quietly enjoying flying together and each other’s company, or so she thought.
“Uh… Lois?” Clark said hesitantly, a minute later. “What was that you said about ‘dumping’ Superman for me? You didn’t dump Superman.”
“At the courtroom, after he…
you won your lawsuit. I told you that I wasn’t going to chase after you anymore,” Lois explained.
“Um… Lois, you weren’t dating Superman.”
She scoffed. “Yeah, right.”
“He who does not exist cannot date.”
“He existed for me,” Lois corrected him. “I thought he was real, hence we
were dating.”
“Fine. Superman doesn’t date,” Clark said.
Lois wrapped her arms tightly, but not too tightly, around his waist and super sped him into her apartment. “That’s right. He’s officially off the market.”
“Lois, that’s not what I meant.”
“Oh,” she said with a sly smile, letting go. “Does that mean that Ultra Woman is still available too? I did receive quite a few flowers bouquets at the office.”
“Ultra Woman is seeing Superman exclusively,” Clark said, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her towards him for a kiss.
“My, Clark Kent. Won’t my boyfriend mind if you kiss me?” she replied, laughing. “He’s quite big and strong.”
“Lois,” he grumbled, and then shrugged with a grin. “Nope.” He pressed his lips to hers.
Mmmm. Lois sure did love how kissing Clark felt so amazingly different when they both had powers.
Clark broke the kiss first, panting. “And Lois didn’t date Superman, so she couldn’t have dumped him.”
Lois groaned. “This again. Do you need me to prove it to you?”
He sat down on her sofa and rubbed his hands through his hair. “I’m going to regret saying this, aren’t I? But yes.”
With a giggle, she sat down next to him and patted his knee. She just loved it when he asked her to prove him wrong. She recounted all the public kisses between her and Superman, not to mention all the romantic things Superman had done for her, such as dance with her after the Cost Mart Ball, check up on her after her date with Clark to the Kerth Awards, and having dinner with her.
“When? When did Superman have dinner with you?” he asked.
“Oh, wait. That was your clone. Never mind,” she said in a singsong voice. “Maybe it was
him I dated, not Superman.”
“Terrific,” he grumbled. “So, all this time I thought I was doing well at keeping my… Superman’s distance from you, everyone, including Stoke, Luthor, and Jace Mazic, knew Superman’s crazy for you. When we write our Ultra Woman exclusive, make sure she announces that Superman’s off the market.”
“No more bachelor auctions, Clark?” she asked, batting her eyelashes innocently.
“And none for you either,” he retorted.
“Won’t that be a bit of a coincidence? Lois Lane and Clark Kent getting engaged at the same time that Ultra Woman and Superman become exclusive?” she asked.
“Okay. Maybe not a formal announcement, just yet,” he grumbled. He lifted up a finger and pointed it to her. “But as soon as I put on my uniform, Superman is going to be seen kissing Ultra Woman!”
“I thought the Newtrich sisters figured out that Lois Lane is Ultra Woman. Wouldn’t that just be revealing to them that Clark Kent is Superman, since everyone knows that we’re back together?”
Clark groaned and dropped his head into his hands. “And I thought
one secret identity to deal with was confusing enough.” He raised his head and looked her over.
Lois set her hand on her hair. Had it dried funny on the flight back?
“I’ve decided that I’m going to take back my powers from you as soon as I can,” he announced.
“Now, wait a gosh-darn minute!” she argued. She would have agreed with him an hour ago but he had just made another decision without consulting her.
“You’re just too smart now. I mean, before I could kind of keep up, or fake it, but now… nope, sorry, Lois. The speed at which your analytical mind works, jumping to conclusions I’d never in my wildest dreams have realized… it just wouldn’t be fair to the criminals of the world to allow you to keep these powers. Investigations would become boring,” he said, leaning back on the couch and putting his hands behind his head.
Lois stared at him, wondering what his ulterior motive could be. Did he want her to choose to keep her powers, because he told her to get rid of them? Did he want her to stay invulnerable because she took, according to him, unnecessary risks? However, he could just be flirting with her. No, he was painting on a thick coat of compliments. He wanted something, but she had no idea what it could be.
“It won’t work, Clark,” she said, standing up. “No matter how much flattery you throw my way, you’re still not staying the night.”
His jaw dropped. “I… I wasn’t…” His face went an adorable shade of beet red. “I swear…”
She bent down so that they could see each other eye to eye. She saw his eyes dart a fraction lower before moving back up to her gaze. “Who knows if I’m still being affected by the red Kryptonite and I’d hate for you to think it might be boosting my…” She licked her lips. “— desire for you.”
Clark made another guttural whimper noise.
“Then again,” she continued, pausing long enough to bite her bottom lip. “They do say that intimacy after a fight can be quite enjoyable.”
He gulped, scooted to the end of the couch away from her, and stood up. “Yes, I better go then. Too many variables…”
“So soon?” Lois pouted.
“Yes, I’d hate for my…
our first time to be when you’re possibly still under the influence of…”
A burst of ultra speed allowed Lois to interrupt him with a kiss. “You’re rambling again, Clark.”
“Uh-huh,” he murmured. Either his eyes were still shut from the kiss or he was gazing at her lips through veiled lashes. He suddenly blinked his eyes, opening them wide. “It’s been a long, eventful day,” he said, with an exaggerated yawn before pointing over his shoulder with his thumb. “I should go… patrol. I haven’t… in days.”
“
Superman doesn’t have any powers, remember,” Lois said him with a wink. “We’d hate for the Newtrich sisters to learn the truth and foil our sneak attack.”
“We have a plan?” he sputtered.
She grinned. “I like the jump in with two feet approach, myself.”
Clark ran a hand over his face. “Because
that has served us well all those other times we’ve employed it.”
Lois ignored his sarcasm. She would just employ her new way of torturing him to get him back, though. She ran her finger down his torso, drawing a large ‘S’ on his chest. “Perhaps you should stay and we should put our heads together some more.”
He gulped. “Mom and…uh… um…
Dad will wonder where I disappeared off to.”
“Clark, I get the strange feeling that there’s something else that you’re not telling me,” she whispered. She hadn’t let the ‘delve into the unknown’ and the ‘first time’ slip past her.
He cleared his throat. “I don’t have any idea to what you could be referring. I’m Superman.” He floated off the floor. “See. Flying. And though I hale from Krypton, I was raised in Kansas as Clark Kent. You know everything of…” His voice cracked as he took a step backwards. “—
any importance about me. Open book, who should really be leaving now,” he said with an enthusiastic nod. He pointed over his shoulder towards the door.
“Wait!” Lois said, pressing him up against her door. “I should probably change before you leave, just in case… open door and all.” She zipped down the hall and threw on her schlumpy Superman sleep shirt again. She returned to find Clark still leaning against her door, now covering his eyes.
“Lois,” he said weakly, lowering his hand. “You do know that I… I can… when you change super fast… I still can… now… um…” He pointed to his eyes.
Actually, she had forgotten about that. “Did you finally get your peep?” she asked. Nervously, she bit her top lip. “What did you think?”
Clark’s lips were on hers so fast that she didn’t have time to react before he flipped them around so that
she was the one pinned against the door instead of him. “I can’t wait until we wrap this investigation up and start planning our wedding.”
“Who’s wedding? Ours or Superman’s?” she asked.
“Whichever, as long as we’re both there.” He lowered his mouth to hers again, murmuring, “And it leads directly to our honeymoon.”
“We could do karaoke instead of hiring a band,” she suggested between kisses.
“You’re kidding, right?” he asked. “Have you met our boss?”
Lois shrugged. They would either iron out the details later or just jump in with two feet. Personally, she preferred the latter method. Planning was overrated.
***The End***Or is it? My very patient beta reader, Christina, says it was not. She thinks there are some dangling strings that need knotting in a Part 4. Do you agree that I should fix those danglers now, or should I just leave the door slightly open for a possible sequel sometime in the future? Let me know.
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