Clark pulled his attention away from washing the mushrooms when he heard Lois leave the living room then and ascend the stairs up to the bedrooms, her footsteps falling somewhere between normal and stomping. He winced as he heard her slam her bedroom door shut, then severed the connection and turned his full attention back to his cooking. He sliced the thick boneless chicken breasts into thin culets, and silently pondered over the conversation he’d just overheard. On the one hand, he was livid with Bruce for trying to dissuade Lois from being with him. On the other, he wasn’t sure he expected anything different. After all, the two were friends and friends should try to keep each other from being hurt. And Clark certainly had already hurt Lois in ways that still made him shudder.
But all of that paled in comparison to the fact that Lois had defended him. Defended him and stuck by him in a way that he’d never anticipated. Lex…Lex had never done anything like that, ever. Used him, yes. Manipulated him, yes. Muttered under his breath about the responsibility of caring for a super-powered individual, yes. Made it known how much Clark was often a burden to him, when he wasn’t using Clark’s powers to his own advantage, yes. But came to his defense about anything, even when Clark wasn’t listening in…never.
He nearly sank to his knees in humility. In all his life, he’d never done anything to warrant such a passionate, stoic defense as the one Lois had given him. A lump formed in his throat and he swallowed hard, trying to get rid of it. He silently vowed to himself that he would prove to Lois a thousand times over that she was right to trust him.
“Sir? Was that truly necessary?” he heard Alfred ask as his super hearing tuned in of its own accord. Disappointment oozed from the elderly man’s words.
“I’m just trying…” Bruce started to argue, but there was less fire in his voice now.
Clark heard a dismissive snorting grunt come from Alfred. Clearly, the old butler was fed up with Bruce’s attitude as well. He cut the billionaire off. “Trying to what, Master Bruce? I’m afraid I agree with Miss Lane here. While Mr. Kent may or may not be the most reliable and trustworthy person, Miss Lane needs to be free to discover that on her own. Without comments from – forgive me – the peanut gallery.”
Bruce sighed. “Yeah, okay,” he finally relented. “I’ll talk to her later. I think it’s for the best if I don’t attempt anything right now.”
“That’s the most sensible thing you’ve said thus far, Sir,” the old man affectionately teased.
Clark smiled to himself. It felt good to have the aging butler on his – well, Lois’ – side. He once more cut the connection off and focused on his work, speeding through the rest of the meal prep. As the food simmered in the various pots and pans on the stove, he set the table in the blink of an eye, finding Lucius’ fancy china in the china cabinet in the corner of the dining room.
Within half an hour, he had a feast on the table. Chicken marsala, glazed carrots, a tomato and mozzarella caprese salad, roasted red potatoes, garlic bread, green beans with almond slices, and a fresh apple pie for dessert. True, he’d used his heat vision to get some of the components ready faster, but everything looked and smelled good, as far as he could tell. The true test would be to see how the others liked it. Still, he was proud of what he’d accomplished and how quickly he’d been able to pull the meal together.
Lois still hadn’t returned from the second floor, so Clark zipped up the steps to let her know dinner was ready. Her bedroom door was shut tight, so he gently rapped his knuckles against the scratched and fading paint.
“What?” she snapped from within.
“Hey, it’s me. Dinner’s ready,” he softly told her.
“Oh.” After a moment, he heard the lock snick as she opened it. “Thanks,” she said.
Her eyes were a little red and puffy. She’d been crying, he realized. The thought was like a punch to his gut.
“Hey, don’t let Bruce get to you,” he told her in a near whisper as he drew her into his arms in a hug.
“You…heard?” she asked, her face half-buried into his chest.
“Oh…uh…super hearing and all,” he explained with a blush as she looked up at him. He hoped she’d take it at face value and not ask if he’d deliberately listened in or not.
She shook her head and pulled back a little. “He’s been a good friend to me but sometimes? Sometimes he can be a real pain in the rear end.”
“It’s okay. He’s got good reason not to trust me. It doesn’t bother me. But…thank you. For standing up for me. No one’s ever done that for me before.”
She stretched up on her toes and kissed his cheek – just a barely-there peck on his skin. “I’ll always stick up for you,” she promised, resting a hand on his chest. “Now…whatever you made smells incredible. Let’s eat, shall we?”
“After you,” he grinned, sweeping his hand before him, inviting her to take the lead.
She nodded, then silently led the way downstairs and into the dining room. Clark had already laid out the entire meal on the table. In his mind, it looked as glorious and “shiny” as any Thanksgiving meal he’d ever seen in any movie, complete with the sparkle effects he’d seen used in cartoons to depict things in an immaculate condition. Pride swelled up in his chest as he watched Lois, Alfred, and Bruce ogle the feast in wonderment as they found their places around the table.
“Wow, Clark, this all looks amazing,” Lois complimented him as she sat.
“Indeed,” Alfred agreed.
“If it tastes half as good as it looks, you may have found your calling,” Bruce added, and Clark wasn’t sure if it was a genuine compliment or if the man was just making an effort to be nice for Lois’ benefit.
“Here,” Clark offered, “let me serve everyone.”
Before anyone could protest, he was portioning out the chicken onto everyone’s plates. It took only a couple of minutes before everyone had a little taste of each item before them. Lois wasted no time in digging right in. At the first bite of the chicken marsala, she smiled.
“Wow! That is good,” she praised.
“Thanks. I’m glad you liked it. I, uh, haven’t tried this recipe before,” he stammered, rubbing the back of his neck subconsciously.
“You…haven’t?” Alfred asked in disbelief.
“I never got the chance to,” Clark explained as he cut his chicken. “I saw something on TV about making it just before Lex sent me to try and kill Bruce. As I’ve mentioned before, my memory is pretty good, and the recipe jumped into my head when I realized we had all the right ingredients for it. So, I figured I’d give it a shot.”
“Well, it’s very good,” Bruce said. “On par with some of the best I’ve had, honestly.”
“Thanks,” Clark said, nodding once.
A companionable silence fell for a few minutes, then Alfred broached the quiet. Easy, if not mundane, conversation began. Clark was pleased to see every plate cleaned, even after everyone went back for seconds. Once dinner was finished, Clark packed up the leftovers and put them in the fridge before washing the dishes. With the help of his super speed, he was done in less than two minutes. By then it was getting late, so he immediately set to work prepping the table for dessert.
As with dinner, the apple pie – which he served a la mode – was a hit. Half the pie was devoured before they all declared that they were too full to take another bite. Alfred offered to clean up after dessert, but Clark declined the help. In half a minute he was done and had joined everyone in the living room. He claimed the open space on the couch next to Lois and prepared to get engrossed in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Immediately – and perhaps even a bit pointedly - Lois snuggled into his side. He didn’t care. He wrapped his arms around her and his entire body flooded with peace. Nothing in the world could possibly be wrong so long as he felt the comforting sensation of Lois’ body weight against him. His pulse slowed a little and his breathing went deep and even as he relaxed, though he was very aware that Bruce was sitting not five feet away, likely judging the whole scenario in his mind. Clark simply did not care. He kissed the top of Lois’ head and felt her sigh in contentment.
When the credits rolled some time later, Lois got up and stretched. “I’m heading upstairs,” she announced. “See you in the morning.”
“Me too,” Alfred said, seconding Lois’ notion. He yawned.
Bruce checked the clock on the wall. “I’ve got some speeches to work on,” he decided. “There’s only a couple of weeks before the first debates start.” He took a couple of steps toward the stairs.
“Clark?” Lois asked.
“Yeah,” he hesitantly said, thinking of the journals he’d hidden away. “I may as well head up too.”
Single file, they all ascended the steps to the second floor, where they parted ways, each of them retreating to their own bedroom. For a moment, Clark wasn’t sure what to do. Then he gathered up his clothing and headed into the shower. Three minutes later, he was clean and in his pajamas. Then he floated down the steps, back to the living room, to avoid hitting any of the creaky spots on the staircase. As he’d done the night before, he set himself up at the rolltop desk. Thumbing through what he’d already written, he took up his pen and picked up right where he’d left off. This time, however, he felt a little more comfortable in his writing, despite the subject matter. He employed a bit of his speed and wrote at a pace no mere human could ever match. Within an hour, he’d filled the rest of the first journal, before deciding to call it quits for the night.
Above him, as he’d worked, he’d heard each of the others taking turns using the hallway bathroom shower. Each time, he’d frozen in his writing, listening intently, ensuring that none of them would make their way down the stairs and catch him writing. But none of them did and he was left in peace to continue his work.
With the first journal filled, he set everything aside again. He could pick up with the rest the following night, he reasoned. Once everything was away and he was sure no one would notice anything out of place, he stood in the middle of the living room, running his hand through his hair. He was so close to finishing his work. Just another night or two, if he could continue to manage sneaking down and having some uninterrupted time to work. But now, he was feeling the exertion of the day. He supposed he’d done a bit too much in flying around the world with his powers only so newly restored. But the thought honestly hadn’t even entered his mind. He’d been entirely focused on giving Lois the best day of her life.
He smiled to himself. Of course, he couldn’t speak on her behalf, but he thought he’d succeeded on that front.
But now he yawned. He was ready to relax and perhaps do some reading before going to sleep. As tired as he was, he was still too hyped up from the day to rest just yet. He’d had his first date with Lois – his first date ever, to be precise - and it had gone amazingly well. So well that they’d wound up making love before the date was even over.
He shook his head in disbelief. How had his life gotten to this point? How had a ruthless assassin become an ordinary man in love? How had his future gone from wondering who his next target would be to wondering what career he should pursue? How had he gone from being isolated, alone, abused, and unable – or perhaps just unwilling – to feel anything but numb emptiness to contemplating a future with Lois and wondering if she would one day be his wife? How had Lex gone from being the center of his world to becoming the object of Clark’s hatred and the target he was most interested in taking down – one way or another?
He lifted up off the floor and floated back up the steps, down the hall, and into his bedroom. He floated to his bed, stretching out and hovering just an inch over the comforter. His book was on the nightstand, so he picked up it and opened it to where he’d stuck a gas station receipt he’d found lying around in as a makeshift bookmark. But his mind and body were still way too abuzz from having been intimate with Lois to allow him to concentrate. After a while, he gave up on trying to read, when he’d failed to comprehend more than two sentences on the page.
He was just about ready to climb under the blankets and try to sleep when a faint knock sounded at his door. Lowering himself to sit on the bed, he X-rayed through the door. Wordlessly, he got up and crossed the room.
“Lois,” he breathed as he opened the door.
“Hi. Can I come in?” she asked, looking uncertain as she stood there in soft lavender fleece pajamas.
“Of course,” he replied, stepping aside to let her in.
“Did I wake you?” she asked, either not seeing or not recognizing that the bed was still perfectly made, not rumpled from a sleeping body.
“No,” he answered, shutting the door soundlessly behind him. He gestured for her to sit on the bed. “I was up. To be honest, I’m still a bit…buzzed, I guess is the right word. From today I mean. I…I had a really great time with you, Lois. Best day of my life. Even without what happened in the barn.”
“Me too,” she said with a shy smile. “I don’t…I can’t believe how…easy this is. It’s like…like I’ve known you forever.” She gently reached over and cupped his cheek and he found himself melting under that feather-soft touch. Her eyes shimmered with love for him and he once again wondered how this could all be real. He wasn’t supposed to find love, yet here Lois stood before him, trusting him not to hurt her, showing him in a million little ways that she loved him. “The real you. Not that…imposter I first met six-ish months ago.”
“I feel the same way. Ever since we really started talking, I mean really started talking, it’s like…like I found the missing piece of my life. Like I should have known you my whole life. I feel…complete now that I know you.”
“You’re a pretty great guy, Clark. Aren’t you?” she haltingly asked.
“Bruce really got in your head, huh?” he offered. “I promise. I will never hurt you. And if I do…Bruce has Kryptonite,” he half-teased with a grin.
“Mmm,” she hummed, patting the bed, wanting him to sit.
He did as he was bid, his arms immediately encircling her. “I’d rather die than ever hurt the woman I love,” he swore in a feather-light voice.
She didn’t say anything to that. But she did stretch her neck up to kiss his lips. Clark lost himself to the feel of her lips on his. He wasn’t even aware of her pushing him backwards. He didn’t feel his head touch his pillow. He was only abstractly aware of her body weight pressing down on his until she broke their kiss. He was about to say something to her when he noticed the look she was giving him. Part love, part lust, and all need, it sent a bolt of desire though him.
“Here?” he squeaked.
“Oh yeah,” she purred.
“But the others…” he weakly protested.
“Hopefully asleep,” she flippantly replied. “And if not…who cares? If they get jealous…they both have hands.”
The remark should have made Clark laugh, but her boldness and fierce disregard for Bruce and Alfred’s close proximity to them only hastened his desire.
“God, you’re amazing,” he declared in response to her.
He tried to lift Lois’ shirt off, but she stilled his movements with a gentle touch to his wrists.
“No,” she told him.
“But, I thought…”
“What you did in the barn to me was incredible,” she clarified. “Now it’s my turn to return the favor.”
She kissed him again, cutting off any thought of responding to what she’d said.
***
Love. So this is what love is, Clark mused after he and Lois had both reached their pleasure. All those times I dismissed the concept as a myth…all those times I scoffed at the notion of anyone wanting to bind themselves to someone else forever…
He mentally sighed in contentment.
I was wrong. I’m thrilled to know I was wrong. Love is real. And it’s…so incredibly powerful…more than I ever could have imagined. It’s…it’s the most powerful force on Earth. It’s stronger than I am. I’m…helpless against it. And what’s more…I want [/i]to be helpless against it. I want it to wash over me and carry me away in its current and drown me in its healing power. I should be terrified of how much its changed me, but I’m not. I’ve never felt this good, this connected to the world in all my life. And I have Lois to thank for that.[/i]
Lois laid next to him on the bed, her breathing ragged, one arm thrown across her stomach in a comfortable way. Clark gasped for breath. He hadn’t realized he’d been breathing so fast or so heavily as Lois had worked her magic. His entire body was flying with the lingering haze of his pleasure and he chuckled a little to himself.
“What?” Lois gently asked.
“Nothing,” he immediately answered. “It’s just…you make me feel so good. Not just the sex but…everything. It just doesn’t feel right to not laugh, you know? It’s like…it just feels weird not to be flying up into the heavens and shouting to the world about how happy you make me and how in love I am with you.”
Lois chuckled in turn, then turned and faced him. Clark did the same, propping himself up on his elbow. “I understand that perfectly,” she told him.
“You make me feel things I thought only existed in movies,” he told her. “Before you, love was a foreign concept to me. I didn’t understand it in the least. But now, with you, everything’s different. It’s like the entire world has changed. Colors seem brighter. Sounds are more sensual and complex. Things even taste different. You’ve…opened up a part of me that I never would have imagined I had.”
“As much as I’d love to take the credit for all of that,” she said softly, stroking his upper arm tenderly, “you made the choice to change and to open up your heart enough to let me in.”
“Well, so did you,” he pointed out. “You made the choice to forgive me and to accept my apologies, as inadequate as they were and still are. You made the decision to let me into your life. Thank you.”
Lois’ face was a little flushed. “Well…you’re welcome,” she haltingly said, as if uncomfortable taking any credit for his transformation. Then, “I guess…I really should get cleaned up.” She chuckled almost nervously.
Clark laughed too. “Yeah, me too, I guess. After you, of course.”
Lois got up from the bed and crossed the room, while Clark appreciated a nice, uninterrupted view of her backside. She cracked the door open a smidge, listening. Clark took a second to scan the house with his superior hearing.
“They’re asleep,” he informed her. “Alfred really should see a doctor about his snoring,” he added with a slight wince as a particularly loud snore threatened to deafen him.
Lois nodded, then bounded out of the room and door that hall, naked as the day she was born. Clark heard the bathroom light switch flick on, then the water in the sink start to flow. A few moments later, he heard the toilet flush, then the sound of Lois washing her hands, turning out the light, and finally the soft-barely audible sound of her footsteps as she returned to his room. Clark stood up then, striding proudly toward the door, his body still half alert from the close proximity to Lois’ unclothed beauty. He took his time in cleaning up, brushing his teeth, and using the toilet, then he returned to his room. To his surprise, Lois was still there and still naked, only this time, she was laying under his blankets.
“Can I stay?” she asked as he entered the room.
“Of course,” he answered, perhaps too quickly, as he soundlessly shut the door behind him.
He crossed the space and slipped under the covers on the unoccupied side of the queen bed. Instantly, Lois was in his arms as he laid back against the pillows, resting her head on his broad chest, listening to his heartbeat. But tiredness had replaced all of her raw, sexual energy and she yawned mightily.
“You sound sleepy,” Clark whispered after a moment.
Lois stifled another yawn. “Yeah, I guess I am.”
“Seeing the world will do that to a person,” Clark gently joked, hugging her just a little tighter, afraid that, somehow, if he let go, this would all just be a dream and he’d find himself back in his cell, collar around his neck, and the object of Lois’ contempt.
“I guess so,” she laughed sleepily.
“Good night, Lois,” Clark whispered into her hair as he buried a kiss amongst her perfect dark tresses.
“Good night, Clark,” she murmured, her eyes already shutting. “I love you.”
“I love you too.”
Just like that, and he felt her body relax fully and her breathing change. She was asleep. But, tired as he was, he fought sleep off, drinking in the feeling of having her naked, vulnerable body curled up against his equally nude and vulnerable – albeit in a different way – body. It should have scared him, to be so exposed – in every way – but it didn’t. Instead, he felt the most confident and the least afraid he’d ever felt in his life. He felt like he could take on the entire world if he needed to.
When sleep at last claimed him, Clark’s dreams were bright, happy, and inspiring. In them, Lois was his wife and they worked side by side to destroy Lex and to reshape the world into a peaceful utopia where no one ever had to fear the things that had haunted his entire life.
To Be Continued…
