Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Lois & Clark Fanfic Wrong Clark (212/???)

Wrong Place, Wrong Time, Wrong Clark TOC can be found Here

Part 212

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Covering the Bases
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As Lois walked down the ramp towards her desk, she saw Jimbo chatting with Clark at her partner’s desk. The guys’ laughter seemed to imply a personal rather than job-related conversation. As she neared them, Clark’s words penetrated the din of the bullpen.

“So, there I was wavering between hesitation and temptation to make a run from second to third base,” Clark went on. “By the time I made up my mind, the game was called due to a sudden shower. I swear I was this close to making a run for it, too.”

“Aww, man. That’s the breaks, sometimes,” Jimbo responded, slapping his hand with a rolled up paper. “I feel for you.”

The smile that Lois was about to share with her partner slipped from her face. What? What did Clark say? To Jimbo of all people? She sidled up next to Jimbo. “Whatcha talking about?” she asked, her voice as innocently sweet as she could make it.

Jimbo stiffened. “Hi, Lois,” his said, his voice raising an octave as he backed towards his desk. “I better get…” He ran off.

Clark instantly turned away, too, and started typing away on his computer. “The Daily Planet staff’s game against the Planet’s Little League team this past summer, minha,” he replied, not looking her in the eye. “I better finish my article.”

Lois pressed her lips together. “Uh-huh.” Riiight. “You sure about that?”

“What are you talking about?” Clark said, still keeping his eyes focused on his monitor.

“No, Clark. What were you talking about?” She set her hand on her hip and waited.

He stopped and turned his body so that he was facing her. “The baseball game against the Planet’s Little League team,” he repeated with emphasis. He raised his brow. “What did you think we were talking about?”

“Right. Baseball. Of course. What else could you possibly have been discussing?” Lois said dryly. “Ha!” She returned to her desk. She pulled out her notepad before dropping her briefcase under her desk and sitting down.

A shadow darkened her desk.

Glancing over, she saw Clark’s shoes next to her. Her eyes scanned up his tan slacks to find her partner standing with his arms crossed. “Lois, why are you upset?”

She rolled her eyes. She didn’t have time for this. “I need to type up my city council story.”

“I don’t believe you,” he said.

“That goes double for me, Chuck,” she replied, flipping open her notebook and slamming it down on her desk.

Clark set a hand on the back of her chair, so that she couldn’t turn it away from him, and leaned down so that their faces were level, waiting.

What did he expect? A kiss? After what he’d just done?

“I can’t believe you told Jimbo,” she murmured, unwilling to look Clark in the eye.

“About?”

“Oh, come on, Chuck. You know exactly what I heard and what you were talking about,” she snapped.

“The baseball game against…”

“This morning!” she hissed.

Clark stood up erect. “The Kyle Griffin hearing?” he said hesitantly.

“Oh, come on,” she scoffed. “Even you aren’t that dense.”

He still didn’t say anything, but continued to stand there. When she glanced back over her shoulder, she saw that his arms were once more crossed and he was staring at her.

“What else happened this morning that you think I’d discuss with Jimmy?” he asked.

“You know damn well…”

“Apparently, I don’t,” he said.

She stood up and glared back at him with as much as he was giving to her. “You. I. This morning.”

Clark lowered his voice just as much as she had raised hers. “Nothing happened this morning, Lois.”

“Nothing? You call that nothing?” she was practically yelling now.

“Lois, could you please lower your voice?” he said softly. “Everyone is listening.”

She looked around and sure enough, everyone was staring at them. “Conference room,” she growled.

He held out his hand for her to lead the way. She was happy to oblige.

The door to the conference room had barely shut, when she laid into him. “How could you have told Jimbo?”

“Told him what?” he responded. He was standing in his Superman pose once more.

“Do you really not…? How can you…? That wasn’t nothing to me!” she screamed.

Clark relaxed his stance and moved his hands to her shoulders. “Our sleeping together?” he whispered.

He was guessing.

Did he really not know?

“Yes. No! I mean... You…” She tapped his chest. “— and me…” She patted her chest.

Clark’s brow softened from confusion to wary understanding. “I would never talk about us to Jimmy,” he reassured her.

“Then what was all that…” She waved her hand. “— talk about hovering between second and third bases about?”

“The baseball game…” He sighed and pulled her into his embrace before whispering in her ear, “Lois, we didn’t get to second base this morning.”

She pushed out of his arms. “I touched your chest. You touched mine.”

“That wasn’t second base.”

“How would you know?!”

“Because I’m not a clueless idiot,” he replied.

“And you think I am?” she scoffed, starting to tick off her fingers. “First base is French kissing. Second base is touching chests. Third base is…” She waved her hand. “Below the belt. And home run is…”

“I know what a home run is, Lois.” He was crossing his arms again. “First of all, I’d never refer to our relationship in baseball terms. Secondly, that’s not second base.”

Her brow furrowed. “It’s not?”

He shrugged. “Not above clothing, and touching my bare chest doesn’t count as second base.”

“Why not?”

Clark ran his fingers through her hair before cupping her jaw with his palm. His lips lowered to hers, kissing her gently. After a minute, he deepened their kiss.

Or she did.

Perhaps it was mutual.

Clark’s other arm encircled her waist, lifted her up, and set her down on the conference room table. Their bodies not only met from shoulder to thigh, but also pressed together. His lips left hers to kiss down her jaw towards her ear. There, he whispered another definition of second base.

Lois swallowed, heat rising to her cheeks. “Oh.” She lowered her face away from his. “Really?” She practically panted the word.

He shrugged again as if he didn’t know it from personal experience. “That’s what I’ve heard.”

“Isn’t that third?” she replied.

Now, Clark appeared apprehensive and unsure. “It’s that and… um… more.” He gave her a knowing look. “But not home run more.”

“Oh,” Lois murmured, burying her face in the nape of his neck. A giggle rose out of her chest. “Well, aren’t we pathetically ignorant?”

She could feel Clark’s smile against her cheek. “I’m okay with that, minha. As long as we’re ignorant about this together.”

In this one case, she was full agreement.

The door from Perry’s office slammed open. “What is this? Behind the bleachers at the big game?” their boss yelled, pointing back to the bullpen. “News! Now!”

Lois scooted down from the table, but Clark didn’t let go of her waist, keeping them together.

“Yes, sir,” Clark replied with a nod. “We’ll be right there.”

“Good!” Perry said, returning to his office with another slam of his door.

Lois ran the point of her index fingernail down Clark’s chest. “So, slugger, shall we round second tonight?”

Clark’s eyes smoldered with agreement, and then widened in panic. He appeared as if he couldn’t decide between shaking his head ‘no’ and nodding ‘yes.’

She kissed his cheek and headed for the door to the newsroom. “Maybe another time then.”

Lois heard Clark exhale in relief behind her. She grinned.

They’d get there soon enough.

***

Lois and Clark sat on his couch eating pizza several nights later, when she took a sip of her water and said, “Uncle Mike asked me to thank Superman for saving Café Americana from the Southside gangs this afternoon.”

Clark wiped his mouth with a napkin and smiled. “Superman says it was his pleasure.” He winked. “Anytime.”

“The gangs are getting worse.”

“It’s too bad Mayson Drake is no longer taking my calls,” Clark said with a frown.

Lois took a deep breath. “I guess I could call her instead. She never really liked me anyway.” She tossed him a grin. “But at least I didn’t dump her for a wrongly convicted, yet fully pardoned criminal.”

Clark brushed her thumb with his. “You’re not a criminal, Lois. You were trying to save an innocent man from going to jail. Your intentions were honorable.”

“Thank you for noticing. I only wish you had been there to help me,” she replied. “To save me from being arrested in the first place.”

He was tempted to comment on the fact that the reason he wasn’t there was entirely her fault. Instead, he decided it would be wiser to refrain from reminding her of the faux pas of starting her investigation against Luthor by leaving Clark in the dark. “Me, too. Why did Luthor have you pardoned?”

“He expected his slimy lawyer to get me off. When that didn’t happen, he wanted to prove to me how much power he has in the city. Maybe he wanted me to feel indebted to him. Personally, I believe it's simpler than that. It was merely for convenience’s sake. He wanted me to fly to Italy with him for dinner and I couldn’t leave the country due to my plea deal.”

Clark’s jaw dropped open. “He had the governor pardon you because he wanted to take you to dinner?”

Lois shrugged. “Lex doesn’t like being inconvenienced or told that he can’t do something.”

Clark hadn’t heard that stipulation of her probation deal either. It certainly would have put a crimp in his lifestyle as well. Taking Lois out to dinner in Hong Kong or to Mexico for a day in the sun would have been out of the question. He hated to be indebted to the megalomaniac for anything, but this situation fit the bill.

He needed to change the subject. “Phil called. He and Cat are now the proud parents of a healthy baby boy. Clark Joseph.”

“Well, that should be interesting to watch. Too bad they moved to Houston,” she replied.

“I’m sure I could wrangle us an invite.”

“It’s probably best for us to wait a few months until they’ve settled into a routine,” Lois said. “I heard a couple of new mothers, once, complaining about people dropping by unannounced. They hated it. Not only were they suffering from sleep-deprivation, but also they didn’t have time to clean themselves or their homes up, and then these people expected these new parents to entertain them, especially since the intruders weren’t volunteering to help with chores, food preparation, or babysitting.”

Clark didn’t know if Lois being overly considerate of Cat and Phil’s feelings or whether she was afraid he would volunteer them to babysit the baby. “That’s some good advice.”

She was quiet for a minute before saying, “Clark, you’ve told me numerous times that I wasn’t your first.”

He started to lift up his finger to contradict her wording. He was one-hundred percent certain that those words had never in his entire life come out of his mouth.

“So to speak,” Lois amended. “You’ve heard about Paul and Claude…” She paused, looking him in the eye.

When she didn’t continue, Clark decided it would be better if he waited for her to clarify her meaning instead of jumping to unsubstantiated conclusions.

Lois leaned back into the crook of Clark’s arm. “Paul and I dated in college. He wanted to… but I thought it was too soon. I was nervous. It was my first time. I wanted to wait until we were established more as a couple.” She leaned forward and took a sip of her water before returning to Clark’s chest. “It was a good thing, too, because he dumped me for Linda because she put out.” She ran her fingers up and down Clark’s jean-covered thigh.

“You mentioned that,” he whispered, kissing her head.

“And Claude, well, he used me to steal my story,” she went on. “Seduced me out of my story,” she corrected. “He was handsome and charming. He flirted with me, the young naïve reporter that I was, listening to me and taking me seriously even though I was a newbie at the Planet.” She nodded. “Or so I thought.”

Clark tightened his arm around her shoulder. He hoped she didn’t go into too much detail about the night she lost her virginity with that pond scum.

“I woke up in the morning to find both him and my story notes gone,” Lois said. She sighed. “After that, no man has tempted me to let down my guard again.” She raised her gaze to his. “Until you. So, as you can see, my dating history has been a federal disaster.”

“I hope I’m not on that federal disaster list,” he teased.

Lois patted his cheek. “Only time will tell, Chuck.”

Okay. He might have deserved that response. He was beginning to wonder why Lois wasn’t the one asking them to wait until marriage. Not only had she dated some very untrustworthy men, but her father had cheated on her mother as well.

“So, how about you?” she asked.

“How about me, what?”

She clicked her tongue. “Tell me about this fiancée of yours. The one who seduced you by campfire light. What was her name?”

“Um…” he stammered, not sure exactly how to tell her the truth. Finally, he murmured, “Rachel wasn’t my fiancée.”

“Rachel?” she asked, stiffening. “Her name was Rachel?”

He squeezed his eyes shut. Lois recognized the name. The name of the girl who died at Walt Irig’s drunk hands back in Smallville. Only the Rachel of his old dimension hadn’t died. She was still alive and well. During that first trip to Smallville, Clark had told Lois that the dead Rachel had been his first girlfriend. “Uh-huh.” He waited for Lois to explode in fury, but for some strange reason she didn’t.

A minute passed before she asked in a rough voice, “Who was she then?” Apparently, learning about his ex-girlfriends was as difficult for her as hearing about those men who had treated Lois badly had been for him.

Clark wasn’t quite sure how to describe his and Rachel’s relationship. “She was my…” Best friend? Would Lois want to hear that? Probably not, even though it was the truth. Too many comparisons to their relationship. “Uh… the first girl I… woman… um… my first… the first woman I… uh… loved…” He cleared his throat. That hadn’t been better. He really ought to stick with the straight truth.

“What happened?”

“We spent that one night together… uh… by the campfire,” he said, shifting his seat and trying to get into a more comfortable position in which to discuss this subject with Lois. He doubted there was such a position. He had never spoken to anyone about that night with Rachel. “I wanted more of a relationship, more than that one night, but… she left me,” he stated, looking down at his folded hands. That wasn’t quite right. “Actually, I don’t know what happened after that night.” He didn’t, mostly because he had never spoken to Rachel about that night afterwards. They had never gotten proper closure. Maybe Rachel had never considered him more than a friend. Perhaps she didn’t think he would ever think of her in that way. All he knew was that even though he had felt tenderly towards Rachel, he had never felt for her what he did for Lois. “She was gone when I came back for her.”

Lois’s hand caressed his cheek. “I’m sorry, Clark. That rejection must have been very difficult for you after all you had lost.”

He closed his eyes.

No one needed to tell him that. Still, her empathy felt good.

She turned towards his chest and he felt her lips brush his. “I love you, Clark. I won’t abandon you.”

He swallowed down the heart in his throat. Lana had never told him that. “Thank you.”

Lois kissed him again.

“You know, I won’t hold you to that,” he murmured between kisses. “I’ll understand if you change your mind, someday, and feel the need to leave.”

“Thanks,” she said flatly, stopping her kisses and curling back against his chest.

Lois went quiet again, and Clark worried that she had taken his words in the wrong way. He tried to think of another way to let her know that she didn’t have to stay with him, even though she promised him she would.

“You don’t sound bitter,” she said.

“Huh?”

“You don’t sound angry that she left you. It’s okay to be mad at her for rejecting you,” Lois clarified.

“I’m not mad.”

Lois faced him. Curiosity, wonder, and a bit of bewilderment filled her eyes. “You loved her and she left you.”

And? He shifted in his seat under her gaze. “I’m not mad.”

“Why the hell not?”

“Because we shared a beautiful night together. I’m not sorry about that,” he tried to explain. “She was there for me when nobody else was. I had wanted more, but…” He glanced away. “I left first. She was gone when I returned, so I don’t think she ever knew how I felt. I don’t think I knew how I truly felt until after that night.”

“So, you just forgave her? Just like that?”

He nodded.

Lois stared at him as if some vital information was missing from his story. “Why did you leave?”

“Had to. It was already planned. We got together on the eve of my departure.”

She nodded slowly as if digesting his words. “But you came back?”

“Of course I did. It meant something to me. I don’t have one night stands, Lois,” he said.

“But she rejected you.”

Clark shook his head. “She didn’t wait for me. She had moved on,” he replied.

He honestly harbored no ill will towards Rachel. There would always be a soft spot in his heart for her. She taught him that he could have a future with an Earth woman if he wanted to, which he desperately did. Rachel removed from his life that stress and fear that he’d always harbored that he would end up alone.

Herb Wells returned it. Clark shook that thought from his head. Actually, Tempus had done more to bring up those fears again by revealing his secret to the world than Herb had by telling him about the curse after Clark had fallen for this Lois. There was a chance that Herb had been wrong about how the curse affected this Lois and him. Anyway, the man had only been trying to keep Lois alive and well. Clark couldn’t fault the man for that goal.

Okay, Clark had to admit a part of him was ready to be furious with Herb if it turned out he had led Clark astray.

Lois shook her head. “You amaze me.”

Clark smiled. He was fine with that.

“Your power to forgive should be listed as one of Superman’s abilities,” she said.

“It’s not infallible,” he admitted. “I doubt I’ll ever forgive Luthor for what he did to you.” He ran his hand over her short haircut.

Lois brushed his lips with hers. “That makes two of us.”

They kissed for several blissful minutes before Lois spoke up again. “So, you never made it to second base with Rachel?”

Clark sighed. What was Lois’s obsession with baseball terms all of a sudden?

“What I mean,” Lois rambled on, “was that Claude and I had kissed several times before that night, but on that night we kind of jumped ahead…” She blushed and glanced away. “And… um… in our rush, we kind of skipped a few bases on our way to home plate.”

Clark flushed and he averted his eyes. So had he and Rachel.

Lana, too. Although, with Lana, she hadn’t enjoyed making out… well, with him at any rate… so they never did much, or any, heavy petting. The night of their original engagement when she finally agreed that they should make love – now that Clark could look back on that night objectively – it seemed more something that she was trying to get it over with quickly rather than something special that they were sharing that would bring them closer.

“And at the hospital…” Lois started and then stopped, sucking her lips into her mouth.

They must have skipped a few bases as well.

Dear God, was he as bad as Claude? No, Lois had already reassured Clark that he was better, the best that she’d ever… then, again, there had been only Claude, and Lois seemed excited by the prospect that Clark could improve upon his performance. In his defense, Clark had been in the hospital with amnesia at the time. With full faculties, he was sure… determined to do better.

Clark cleared his throat. “So, what you’re saying is that you don’t want us to rush?” he asked. He was totally fine with them taking things slowly.

“I’m just saying that we should make sure that we cover all our bases,” Lois replied.

Clark smiled and looked Lois in the eye. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

Keeping it out of his mind would be the difficult part.

***

Lois tossed and turned in her bed, unable to sleep. She just couldn’t get it out of her head that Clark had been married before. Rach and Kal-El. She wasn’t sure how marriage worked on Krypton, but it seemed slightly different than it was here.

Rach-El hadn’t been that fiancée who Clark had told Lois about when they were undercover at the Lexor. Rach-El had been Kal-El’s first wife. The first woman to whom he gave both his heart and body.

Moreover, she had left him, just as his fiancée had. What was wrong with Kryptonian women?

It was no longer any surprise why Clark had been distracted when they had discussed going camping and sitting by the campfire. Lois guessed that making love next to an open flame must have been part of the Kryptonian marriage ceremony. Maybe that had been why he said that he wanted to go camping with Lois someday, but not now. No wonder he hadn’t wanted to discuss Rach-El with Lois. How painful it must have been for Clark to go away for…

Lois’s brow furrowed. Clark had never mentioned to her for how long or to where he had been gone. Knowing Clark, it must have been some kind of rescue. Wasn’t that his usual reason for disappearing?

On the other hand, Clark had said it was a planned departure. That didn’t sound like a rescue. Nor would he take time away from saving someone to get married and to consummate his marriage. No, that didn’t make sense.

Then again, he said that he and his fiancée – the other one, the one he hadn’t married – had been together for twelve years. Lois had originally thought that Clark had been quite young when they had started dating, but now that Clark had said that he was older than the date on his driver’s license… Anyway, who knew how long a year was on Krypton? Also, they might not have been together during all the time that they had dated. Maybe he had been off on some kind of manditory Kryptonian military service during much of that time.

Lois sat up in bed and rubbed her forehead. None of this made any sense. She guessed that was par for the course when one was in love with a time-traveling flying man from another planet. She knew that Clark had been honest with her about his folks dying when he was a baby and his adoptive parents dying when he was ten. He seemed quite reluctant to talk about the customs of his home planet, though. Often, she suspected that he was translating his history into Earth-like scenarios so that she could better understand what happened to him. Was he afraid Kryptonian customs would seem too bizarre in comparison to American or Earth customs?

She thought back to what Clark had told her of his previous relationship. Relationships now. She hadn’t realized that there had been two women before her. Other than at the Lexor, she could only recall Clark acting weird about his past when they were in Smallville that first time. He had just learned that the Sherriff’s Max’s sister, who had also been named Rachel, had died. Hadn’t Clark said something about her being his first love? Clearly, Clark had associated the Sheriff’s dead sister with his first wife, because they had similar names. Then, again… he had acted as if it was his Rach-El who had died. Lois shook her head.

Had Rach-El died while Clark had been away on his journey? Was that why he didn’t hold her in contempt for leaving him? Did he blame himself for her death?

Lois rolled her eyes. Of course he did. He would blame himself if Lois stepped on an ant.

Had that contributed to why he had been engaged for so long without getting married to that other woman? Was he afraid that she would’ve died if they had married? In the end, his fiancée had left him as well. Was that why Clark kept their relationship – his and Lois’s – at a crawl? Was he still afraid that Lois would die or leave him? Even though he had traveled through time to make sure that she wouldn’t? Die, that was. He had said that he wouldn’t hold Lois to her promise that she would never leave him.

Then, again, maybe that was what he expected her to do. Everyone he ever loved seemed to have died or left him, his birth folks, his adoptive folks, Rach-El, and… she really needed Clark to tell her his ex-fiancée’s name. She knew it was painful, but Clark seemed to act as if talking about his past was worse than having his teeth pulled… or in his case, being exposed to Kryptonite.

She bent her knees and rested her elbows on them as she rested her head in her palms. Why did Clark Kent have to have so many issues?

With a stretching yawn, Lois laid back down in bed, determined not to let these thoughts keep her awake any longer.

As she drifted off to sleep, she wondered what the Kryptonian consummation ceremony consisted of. Did it take place at a type of shrine with marble columns and a fire pit in the center?

Lois could just picture a young Clark arriving, wearing some sort of toga, taking her hand and leading her to an ancient Greek type temple. She was dressed similarly in white robes with her long hair tied back with white ribbons. Between the columns of the temple were lit torches and musicians beating out some sort of pagan rhythm on drums and odd sounding wind instruments, something like the didgeridoo. Colorfully dressed dancers swayed and swirled between the musicians and the columns, chanting along with the tune. In the center of the temple were a roaring fire pit and a silk pillow-filled bed. Before they went to the bed, Clark led Lois through the temple following the movements of the dancers.

After she and Clark had danced thirteen times around the center pit, Lois became so hot from dancing and the flames, she was thankful to disrobe. Clark similarly disrobed and they made love to the sounds of chanting, the rhythm of the drums, and the dancers’ bare feet dancing on the marble floors surrounding them.

As Lois basked in blissful afterglow, watching the firelight reflect off Clark’s sweat-shined naked body as he slept in her arms, an elder – possibly some sort of priest – arrived and pulled them to their feet. He raised both Clark’s and Lois’s hands over his head in victory. Everyone cheered.

“From now on you will be known as Lois-El first mate of Kal-El, even if you choose not to marry him and bear his sons,” announced the silver-haired elder. “Come, Kal-El, it is time for you to don the uniform of your ancestors and join us in battle!”

Kal-El then spun into his Superman uniform and, with one last longing look back at Lois-El, flew out into the dawn’s morning light.

Lois awoke with a gasp, panting for breath, almost as if her heart had been ripped out of her chest. She kicked off her covers, wishing she hadn’t switched to her winter pajamas, and reached over to pick up the phone next to her bed, dialing the number she had memorized.

***End of Part 212***

Part 213

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