Wrong Place, Wrong Time, Wrong Clark TOC can be found
Here*** = Scene change or End of Scene.
* = Same scene, change in POV.
Part 101Part 102“I can’t do this,” Clark said, wincing and dropping his fork to his plate with a clatter.
Lois glanced down at his enchilada. “Is it too spicy?” she asked, forgetting for a second that he was also Superman. Could food be too spicy for him? It was another one of those questions to which she didn’t have an answer.
She had called Clark at work an hour before, letting him know that Henderson had tentatively identified Clark’s assailant as Joe Rory, a two-bit freelance muscle. She didn’t tell Clark that she had calls in to her sources across town about whom Rory might currently or have recently, as this case now dictated, been associated. She was still waiting to hear back from them.
Having already written up a draft of the attack and subsequent death at his apartment, Clark had said he was just finishing his exclusive Superman interview. He volunteered to add her name to his byline of the attack story and shoot the final version over to Perry with Joe Rory’s name attached. Clark then asked if he could pick up dinner and meet her at her apartment, because they needed to talk. She had said ‘yes’.
While at the Twelfth Precinct, Inspector Henderson had kindly thrown it in Lois’s face that it was Clark’s birthday. Had she forgotten, Henderson mocked, or had she given Clark a birthday gift of being left alone with a price on his head? Lois refused to feel guilty about that. For one, Clark hadn’t been alone; he was with Cat. Secondly, he had Superman’s body, even if he didn’t have Superman’s memories. He could easily take care of himself, and thankfully, the assailant didn’t have Kryptonite on him. She knew this was a hindsight observation, but she didn’t let it drag her down. Thirdly, she had picked up Clark’s gift in Washington, D.C. after President Garner had delayed their interview for several hours.
Unfortunately, Lois
had felt guilty about the way she had treated amnesiac Superman on the roof when he returned from dealing with Nightfall. She felt bad about dashing his pride for taking care of such a big problem without having his memories to guide him. He was cute like a puppy and not to blame for a mindful Clark’s repeatedly lying to her.
Guilt wasn’t a feeling she liked. It meant that she had done something wrong. She also felt a twinge of guilt for what she would have to do while undercover, but only a twinge. She figured Clark deserved it. After all the times he had left her in the dark, he could stand in it for a while himself. She decided, though, that the least she could do was wait to tell Clark that they would have to once again slow down their relationship due to her kiss with Superman, and due to the mountain of guilt she felt about that, until at least the day after his birthday
and until he had found his memories.
She hated that she had actually cheated on Clark on his birthday, of all days, despite the fact that the man with whom she had cheated on him was Clark himself. Sure, she could also argue that it technically wasn’t Clark’s actual birthday, but the birthday of the Kents’ child. Who knew when Clark’s real birthday was, or if Krypton’s calendar years were even in the ballpark of Earth’s or calculated in the same way, since it didn’t circle around this sun? None of those facts eased her guilt any.
Today was the date Clark had chosen as his birthday when he arrived on Earth, so it counted. She should have remembered it was Clark’s birthday and mentioned it to him the night before as another reason for him to kick Cat out of his apartment and let her stay. Instead, she had been bitter and angry with him, made wild untrue assumptions about him and Cat that morning, and then kissed the first man she saw. More than kissed actually, Lois had made out with Superman, pure and simple.
Lois had asked Clark if he needed directions to her apartment, but he had told her that he remembered where it was. That had been the first direct mention he made about his memories having returned. Well, the second, since he hadn’t asked for assistance on writing up his Superman exclusive.
Clark glanced blankly down at his food, and Lois realized that he had only picked at it. She placed her hand over his, having an inkling on where this ‘talk’ was leading. If she compiled a list of everything she ‘knew’ about Superman and everything she ‘knew’ about Clark, there was one major place they overlapped. They both were paranoid over her safety and somebody hurting her because of ‘him’. She decided that they needed to hold off on that conversation until later.
“I have something for you,” she said, squeezing his hand before getting to her feet. She kissed his cheek, and whispered, “Happy birthday!”
He looked at her with a startled expression.
“What? You thought
I forgot?” she teased, heading into her bedroom. “You were the one with amnesia, Chuck, not me.”
“Um… Lois?” Clark called hesitantly. “That reminds me, I’ve been meaning to ask you something.”
“Hold on,” she said, pulling open her drawer of pajamas. She left the big wrapped gift inside and took out the smaller one. The big gift could wait until after she finished her investigation. She knew she couldn’t make love to Clark tonight, and then tell him they needed to slow down their relationship tomorrow. Not only would he think that she really didn’t love him and was only after his body, but she didn’t think she would have the inner strength to do that to herself, let alone him. Therefore, it would have to wait. She sighed and shut that drawer again. She walked back into the dining room and handed him his gift. “Happy Birthday!”
“Oh, Lois, you shouldn’t have,” he said.
Lois raised a brow and looked at him. “I shouldn’t have? It’s the day we celebrate your birth, isn’t it?” she asked, not giving him room to argue.
“Yes.” Clark flushed. “I mean, thank you.”
“That’s better. It’s not much, but…” She shrugged. “I wanted to get you a tracking bug, so you’d know that I would always know where you had run off to, but I didn’t have time to get it.”
His eyes opened wide and he gulped.
Lois decided that Clark not knowing that she knew his secret could be a bit of fun.
“Plus, I didn’t want you to think that I had turned into one of those nags just because we’d… well, you know,” Lois said. When his startled expression still hadn’t changed, she kissed his cheek, and murmured, “I’m only joking, Clark. Open your gift.”
Clark focused on his gift. “What exactly did we do?” he asked.
“Do I really have to say it, Clark?”
“Please,” he insisted, taking an inordinately long time to remove the ribbon for a man who could have broken it with his little finger without thinking.
“Fine,” Lois grumbled. “Since we started our relationship, or deepened our relationship.”
“In what way?” Clark said.
“What do you mean, ‘in what way?’? Isn’t it obvious?” she countered, sitting down in her chair. “Even without those memories from before Nightfall, you
should know how our relationship has changed.”
“Some things are still a bit fuzzy,” Clark admitted.
Lois pushed his plate away from him, took the still unopened gift out of his hands, and set it on the table. Leaning forward, she wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her lips to his. Clark’s stiff posture relaxed a bit, so she brushed his lips with her tongue. He opened his mouth, inviting her inside, and Lois tightened her arms, pulling him closer.
She forgot how addicting Clark’s kisses were, and she realized that with her plan, she wouldn’t be able to kiss him whenever and wherever she pleased. With that thought, Lois slipped from her chair and into his lap, so she could deepen the kiss even more. She wasn’t lap dance kissing him as she had the Night of the Passionate Pasta, as her legs were firmly on one side of him, but she might as well have been from the reaction his kisses brought out in her. She knew she had to rein it back, and ended the kiss. She didn’t leave his lap, but let go of her hold around his neck.
“Now, does that refresh your memory on how our relationship has changed?” she asked with a naughty grin. “Or do you need some more?”
Clark cleared his throat. “So, you meant the kissing?”
“I know we did some kissing before we got back together at the Lexor Suite, but I don’t think we could really consider it a major part of our relationship until recently,” she said with a chuckle.
“No, of course not, but I was thinking…”
“Aren’t you going to open your gift?” Lois interrupted.
He gulped, and she saw his gaze dart away from hers and down her body for a split second. “My gift?”
Thank you for that, she thought, tempted to run back into her room and bring him the larger box hidden in her dresser. Instead, she took the gift from the table and handed it to him.
“Right, my gift,” he said.
Lois could tell he was distracted from most everything else with her so close, and she decided to press her advantage. “Unless you want to kiss some more?”
“We really should talk first,” he said, fumbling with the gift-wrap on the package again.
“Uh-huh,” she murmured, resting her lips to his and kissing him again. Then she kissed across his cheek to his ear. “Just rip the paper. It’s okay. We’re not going to keep it.”
She felt Clark quiver and added another point to her tally. He was so going to regret keeping his alternative lifestyle from her.
Clark ripped the paper and uncovered a pen case. He opened it and removed a stainless steel ‘Space Pen’ made with NASA technology. “A pen?”
“It’s the kind they use on space missions, on the Prometheus, and in the military. The ink is pressurized, so it lasts a long time, so long it’s guaranteed never to dry out. You can use it in extreme temperatures, and even under water or upside-down and the ink remains smooth and clear. I figured it was just the kind of pen a friend…” Lois’s voice faded as her guilt from her kiss with Superman crashed over her again. She cleared her throat and pushed past it. “…a
friend of Superman’s should have.”
He smiled and kissed her. “I love it. Thank you,” he said, clearly either not noticing her awkwardness or ignoring it. “This really will come in handy.”
She bet. Being that Clark actually
was Superman would mean he'd have ample opportunities to test the claims of the pen’s manufacturer.
Lois gave him a soft kiss and jumped to her feet. “I do have another gift, which I bought first, but I thought it was a little silly, and…”
“This is great, Lois. You don’t need to…”
She ran out of the room. She needed a few minutes to herself to gather her thoughts and the courage to do and say what she needed to without breaking down and giving herself away. She needed to stay strong. Clark needed her to get the man who tried to kill him behind bars and the Kryptonite disposed of safely. Lois wouldn’t be able to do that with Clark holding her back, and she knew if he knew what she was doing, he would try to stop her. She needed to keep her thoughts and emotions hidden; knowing that if he wanted to, Clark could easily glance through the wall and see her having an emotional breakdown. Should he be gentlemanly enough not to do that, he would be still be able to hear her. Therefore, she had to calm herself while under disguise of searching for this ‘other’ gift, and do so silently.
Lois tore through her bedroom, looking for the gag gift she had found at the novelty shop before discovering the Space Pen. Finally, she found it where she kept her gift-wrap. Her emotions were now back under control, and she returned to the dining room. “It’s not wrapped, but I thought it might remind you of me whenever you used it,” she said, holding it out still in the shopping bag it had come in.
“This will remind me of you whenever I use it, Lois,” Clark said, holding up the Space Pen. “Not that I ever need something to remind me of you.”
She set the bag on the table and started clearing away the dinner dishes. She had lost her appetite as well. Clark shrugged and opened the bag. His eyes widened as he pulled yet another pen out from the bag.
“Silly, right?” Lois asked.
It was a lava lamp pen, which would light up whenever he wrote with it.
“I just wanted you to know how I feel about you and, for some strange reason, that pen seemed to scream it the loudest without saying a word, you know, but everything I saw… well, until I saw the Space Pen, which I somehow
knew would be the perfect gift for you… but until then, I kept looking and looking. I know it’s because I’ve never had to find a gift for a man with whom I’m in a relationship because I’ve never dated a man who’s had a birthday. Well, of course, they
all had birthdays, but never while we were dating, and what do you give to the man whom you want to show how much you love him without flowers, hearts, pink fuzz, stuffed animals, or bubbles? Although, the lava lamp does kinda have bubbles. I know when I first saw this pen, I could picture that expression in your eyes when you gave me
my lava lamp and how you make me feel every time we kiss, because my insides turn to liquid goo like the inside of a lava lamp and…”
Clark cleared his throat, cutting off her babble. “I don’t think this pen will be one I’ll be able to use at work, Lois,” he said, standing up and removing the dishes from her hands, which for some reason she hadn’t yet set down. He set them in the sink and pulled her to his chest. “I love you too, Lois.”
The heat in Clark’s eyes combined with his words once again dissolved her kneecaps and Lois was ever so glad Clark was already holding her. She wrapped her arms around him and let him kiss her again, keeping her eyes firmly shut as she felt them leave the floor. She wasn’t absolutely sure that they
had left the floor, as it was entirely possible that with Clark’s kisses it merely felt like they had, now that she knew whom she was kissing, and kissing with much fervent glee. Then, again, since Clark
was also Superman, the odds of them actually floating while they kissed were in her favor.
It wasn’t until Lois felt her kitchen floor firmly below her feet again that Clark drew slightly back from her. “Lois, I need to know exactly what happened at the hospital.”
*
“Huh?” Lois mumbled in a dazed sort of manner, as if he had melted her insides into free flowing hot lava, in the good way, with that kiss.
Clark knew her rambling on about how much she loved him, and wanted to make him feel loved, compelled him to kiss her, so when they started to float during the kiss, it didn’t come as a big surprise. It had been the first time he had kissed someone and let his guard down enough to reveal himself. It wasn’t how he planned to tell Lois that he was Superman, but it was better than her finding out on her own and going nuclear on him. Somehow, though, she seemed so totally absorbed in the kiss that she hadn’t noticed them leaving the floor. Maybe his kisses usually made her feel as if they were floating, and he decided that he’d be okay with that.
“I know that you visited me while I was in the hospital, Lois. I need you to tell me what exactly happened,” he repeated, slower and more clearly. “It’s important.” He couldn’t stress how
very important it was.
Lois cocked her head to the side. “What do you think happened, Kent?”
Clark flushed. “Um… you climbed in my window and came to visit me?” he said hesitantly. “I have this drawing of…” The other Lois. He coughed and continued, “— of
you I found in my glasses case, and I was, well…” His voice became hoarse. He needed to press past his embarrassment and tell her the truth. If they
had made love without any deadly consequences in the hospital, then they could do so again, right? Moreover, after that kiss and Lois’s gift of the lava lamp pen, tonight seemed as good a time as any to move forward. “… fantasizing about you.”
Lois seemed pleased by this development. “Uh-huh. Go on,” she said, leaning back against the counter to study him.
“Why don’t you tell me what happened?” he suggested.
“Yes, I came through the hospital window. I had to sneak through another patient’s room, go out their window and along the ledge because of the guard outside your door. Henderson refused not only to let me see you, but to tell me where he was keeping you,” she said without really answering his question. “Unfortunately, you were asleep.”
“I
thought I was asleep. A beautiful superheroine flew through my window and started to kiss me. What else could I think?” Clark replied, pressing his hands against the counter on either side of her waist and leaning onto her, so that their whole bodies touched.
Lois skimmed right over ‘beautiful’ and went straight to, “Superheroine? Flew?” He could see the laughter in her eyes.
His cheeks burned hotly, and his elbows straightened just enough so that their bodies no longer touched. It felt like a million miles. He turned to remove the condiments, which had accompanied their meal, from the table. “I felt so alone without my memories and without any visitors other than Inspector Henderson and Dr. McCorkle. After you wrote me that vague note from Meena to Chuck, I began to pretend that there was more to my life than that of a lonesome reporter. I imagined that the woman in the drawing was my wife and that we had two kids and a cat. I wondered what kind of woman would be out saving the world…”
“Awww, Chuck, do you have fantasies about me having Superman’s powers?” she asked, stopping him to place a hand to his cheek. “I’d like to hear more about that. What happened after I kissed you?”
Clark swallowed and pushed his glasses up his nose in a nervous mannerism, which he hadn’t used since he was a teenager. He could feel a flutter in his stomach too. Was he nervous about hearing what really had happened between him and Lois? Alternatively, was he just anxious about telling her about his fantasy with this superheroine with her face? “Meena, actually. Um… She…
You crawled into bed with me?” he guessed unsurely.
“Meena, huh?” she teased.
He shrugged. Going to turn on the faucet to wash the dishes, he noticed that there was still food on the plates, so he scraped them into the trash, and then turned on the water to wash them.
“You’re right, I did lie down next to you,” Lois went on, leaning against the counter next to him. “It’s much easier to kiss and cuddle with you that way. I had no idea that you didn’t know who I was. Why should’ve I have? You didn’t correct me when I called you ‘Chuck’ and you responded by calling me ‘Meena’.” A contemplative expression came to her face. “Although, I should have wondered at your different pronunciation.”
“I spoke to you?” Clark asked. He had been sure that part was his dream.
“A bit. I don’t remember all that was said. We discussed the cons about making love in the hospital. You were all for it,” she said. “Practically begged me to make love to you, in fact.”
Clark could feel the blush creep up his neck to his cheeks again, but he kept his gaze on the dishes, unable to face Lois with his thoughts so plainly written on his face. “Stop kidding, Lois. I’m serious,” he said, his voice cracking. The only problem was that he faintly remembered such a conversation with Meena from his dream.
“Kidding?” Lois chuckled. “”I hear it’s the best cure for being cold,’ you told me. There’s a come-on line straight out the hypothermia playbook.”
Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw her cross her arms and study him.
“You really
don’t remember, do you?” she went on, a smile tugging at the corner of her mouth. She looked exceedingly pleased with this development.
Clark shifted the weight from one foot to the other. He wasn’t pleased at this loss of control with the situation, not in the least.
“We decided that it wouldn’t be good to attract the guard’s attention with your screams of pleasure,” she purred, breathing the words into his ear.
“That’s not true!” he insisted, switching off the water and grabbing her hand towel off the oven door.
She shrugged as if to say, ‘if you say so’, and they both knew he had no idea. “So, what do
you think happened after we cuddled for a while?” she asked.
Clark started to dry the dishes, so he wouldn’t have to have eye contact with her. “I… um… no, you… uh…” He flushed. “
We took off your jacket and vest.”
“Yes, go on,” she admitted.
He set down the first plate and picked up the second one, still unable to look at her. He couldn’t believe that everything in his fantasy so far had been real. “You took off your shoes… and, uh… and your pants, and slipped under the blankets with me, and proceeded to…” He paused, glancing at her.
Lois seemed absorbed in what he was saying. “Proceeded to
what, Clark?” She had a big entertained grin on her face. “Discuss the current sociopolitical crisis?”
Clark cleared his throat. “Kiss me,” he said, chickening out.
She raised a questioning eyebrow, and he knew she had caught his omission.
“Amongst other things,” he mumbled, setting down the plate. He had run out of busy work to avoid looking directly at Lois.
Lois wrapped her arms around his waist. “Clark, are you trying to ask me whether or not we made love?”
He pulled her tightly against his chest, so she wouldn’t see his embarrassed expression. “Hot passionate sex, actually,” he murmured into her hair.
“Oh? Was it any good?” she asked, and he could hear her teasing tone.
He shot her a ‘do you really need to ask?’ expression.
“So, I pleased you?” she asked innocently, brushing his lips with a kiss.
“Oh, yes,” he moaned, deepening the kiss. He was waiting for her admission of their lovemaking to scoop her up into his arms, a la Superman, and carry her to the bedroom. “Very much so.”
“And did you please me?” Lois murmured between kisses.
Clark leaned back and stared at her. “Lois, please, you don’t know how important this is.”
“Don’t you know if you pleased me? Wasn’t that important on your to-do list in your fantasy?” she asked, her gaze narrowing. “Or are you merely worried about performance issues, like the ones you had with your ex-fiancée? Because I, personally, think you should exclude such things from any fantasies in the future.”
He groaned. “Lo-
is!”
“Do you really not remember if we made love?” she asked.
Clark shook his head. He hated admitting how out of control and weak he had been that he couldn’t tell his fantasy from reality.
“Why don’t you whisper in my ear what happened in your fantasy, and I’ll tell you whether it’s true?” Lois suggested.
Whispering in her ear would be good, then he wouldn’t have to look her in the eye. He placed his mouth next to her ear and started to describe in detail what he could recall from his fantasy with Meena.
“Oh!... uh-huh… yeah…” Lois coaxed him on as he spoke. “Oh, my.”
He could feel her hot breath against his neck, hear her heartbeat quicken, and could almost taste her body reacting positively to what he was saying, tempting him to stop to kiss her once more, consequences be damned.
“Go on,” she murmured, her voice softer, more guttural, as if she were breathing her words instead of speaking them. “Yeah… uh-huh… oh. Oh… uh-huh… twice, huh?”
His hands coasted down Lois’s back, touching, squeezing, wanting, yet resisting the urge to pull her shirt up, just so he could touch the soft skin at her waist. He knew words had the power to move people, but he never knew that describing their love making to Lois could be so erotic. It was almost as if they were reliving it with their clothes on.
Lois swallowed. “Uh-huh… And then again? Wow… I did
what?” she gasped, leaning back and staring him. “I most certainly did not make us float. I’m sorry, Clark, but that’s outside of my powers.”
“I know that we didn’t
actually float, Lois,” he admitted wryly. Even he hadn’t had the power to do that, having been exposed to Kryptonite. “I said it
felt as if we were floating.”
“Well, I guess that could be possible, since just your kisses do make me feeling like floating. Yes, we did cuddle, and kiss, and I did fall asleep in your arms, but I can guarantee you that
I didn’t bite
your neck to stop from screaming out loud with pleasure,” she said, moving her hands off his chest to her vest, pulling it modestly together. “The rest… wow, Chuck.” She fanned herself. “You have some steamy…
steamy fantasies. It makes me wonder what you’ll really be like, when we
do finally make love.”
Clark felt his face fell. They hadn’t made love. They hadn’t proven Herb wrong. He still couldn’t risk being intimate with Lois. The curse was back, hanging like a Jolly Roger over their heads and laughing in derision at them. He closed his eyes as he felt his dreams and all his hopes crash against the rocks of reality. Of course, Lois hadn’t made hot, passionate love with him in a hospital room for their first time. She wouldn’t do that. He had been lying in a hospital bed, for heaven’s sake. She knew better than to chance harming his recovery. She wouldn’t risk them being caught by Nurse Michelle or Officer Jones. She might be impetuous with everything else, but with her private life, she was cautious.
“Hey, Clark,” Lois said, resting her hand on his cheek and turning his face towards her. “We’ll get there, someday, Chuck, don’t worry. I promise.”
He leaned over and rested his head against hers. “I had hoped…” He couldn’t speak.
“I’m sorry. I should’ve just told you that we had made love, and then all your unfounded fears, which had disappeared with your memories, would have stayed gone,” she said, kissing him. “But I can’t do that, I’m sorry. Really, I am.”
“I love you, Lois,” Clark murmured.
“I know.”
He took a deep breath and stepped back. “I came here tonight planning on breaking up with you, but I can’t… I just can’t do it. I’ve worked too hard to get to this point that I can’t just throw it away.”
Lois’s eyes widened with worry, and he could hear her heartbeat start to race. “Break up with me? Why?”
“Someone is trying to kill me. Somebody, or organization, out there wants me dead. If it became public knowledge that you and I… that we…” he said, looking at her sad eyes. He cupped her jaw with his hand. “If they discovered how much you mean to me, they could hurt you to get to me. I can’t let that happen, but I also… I also can’t stay away… I can’t break your heart, Lois. I don’t have the strength.”
Lois stared at him with a longing he knew intimately, and then nodded. “I understand, Clark,” she said, her voice soft. “Then I’ll do it.”
“What?”
“I was going to wait until after your birthday to tell you this,” she said. She paused a moment, and then plunged ahead. “I cheated on you.”
“Oh, Lois,” Clark said, closing his eyes and pulling her back into his embrace. He had forgotten that she still thought that. “No, Lois, no.”
“I did, Clark,” Lois said. “I kissed Superman… twice. Once this morning, and then again this afternoon when he returned from dealing with Nightfall. That’s why I couldn’t write the article. I don’t trust myself around him at the moment.” She stepped away from Clark and started to pace.
The guilt, which he had pushed into the corner of his heart when he had seen and kissed Lois this afternoon as Superman, flooded back two-fold. Clark hadn’t yet told Lois the secret of his dual identities and decided that indeed the time had well passed for him to do so. “Lois, I know…”
“You
know?” she growled, flinging her hands into the air in frustrated fury. “Did
he tell you? How could
he do that to me? Superman knows that you’re my …
my… that
I should have been the one to tell you! We’re dating. You and I are
dating. He knows that! It was my responsibility. If he thinks he’ll win my heart from you by going behind my back, he’s got another thing…” she said, shaking a finger at the ‘absent’ hero.
“Lois,” Clark tried calmly to interrupt. “He didn’t tell me.”
“Oh.” Her anger abated somewhat.
“As I was saying,” he went on. “I know how you feel about him, I’ve always known, and I…”
“You
forgive me?” she said, the expression in her eyes unreadable.
“Yes, I do, because I know that you love me and that you also love Superman…”
Lois held up her hand. “You
forgive me?” she repeated. “I kissed Superman, with passion, no less. I placed my lips to another man’s lips, and you’re okay with this? Are you okay with me kissing any man, or is it just Superman?”
Clark’s mouth fell open. Was that what she thought? No wonder she was mad. “Of course not!”
“So, if I had kissed Lex last night, you’d…”
He took hold of her arms and bore his gaze into hers. “Did you?”
Lois pushed his hands away. “No! So,
that’s not okay, but kissing Superman is?”
“Well, yes, Lois, because…”
“I know that you and Superman have this weird connection… this weird friendship thing going on…”
This time, he interrupted her. “Yes! Yes, we do. Let me explain about that…”
She took a step away from him and looked at him with disgust. “You better not make any lewd suggestions, regarding the three of us, because I’m not Cat. I don’t do that sort of thing.”
“No, I would never suggest…” Clark started before the full force of what she thought smacked him in the head and he grimaced. “Oh, goodness, no! Lois, no!”
“Well, thank God, because I…” Lois held up her hands in protest. “Look, Clark, I know that you adore the guy. You were willing to take a chance on these damaged second-hand goods, knowing that I may never learn to love you, or anyone else, after how badly he hurt me when he broke my heart last summer. I know that you love me. You have demonstrated it over and over. You are so sweet and patient and caring and generous and…”
He took her hands into his. He couldn’t let her go on praising his virtues in the same breath as admitting how much Superman had hurt her. “Please, Lois, don’t. I’m none of those things,” he murmured. “I don’t deserve you, because I’m…”
“And modest,” she added, cutting him off again. “
That’s the man with whom I fell in love. You don’t deserve
me, Clark.” She pulled her hands free from his and started to pace again. “I heard Cat calling to you this morning outside of your apartment. My mind leapt to some crazy place, where I thought that you cheated on me with Cat, just as my dad had cheated on my mom.”
“Never!” Clark gasped. “No, Cat was just helping me recover my memories. I give you my solemn vow.”
“Oh, I know that,
now, but Superman came upon me right after, when I was in the worst midst of my delusions, before I had calmed myself down and started to think about things logically… and I… I threw myself at him. It wasn’t his fault in the least, Clark. He had told me repeatedly that we should never kiss… and… and I’m such a horrible person,” she sobbed.
He wrapped his arms around her. “Don’t say that, Lois. Please, don’t,” he said, her words the salt to the gaping wounds of his deception.
“I
used him. I used Superman to get even with you. That’s why you shouldn’t forgive me, Clark, for kissing Superman. While I was kissing him, I figured out that you would never cheat on me, because your love for me is so pure, even without your memories you’re this great guy. Anyway, you would never sleep with a skank like Cat. You’re too classy for that. Therefore, it is
I who is like my father in this scenario, Clark, not you. Me!” Lois hit herself in the chest. “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, I guess.”
“Lois, please, don’t say that. Let me explain…”
“Clark, don’t you understand?” she said, staring him in the eyes. “There is
nothing you can say that will make this okay. What I did to you is unforgiveable. Maybe someday, I’ll let you forgive me, but I know that I will never forgive myself for cheating on you.”
“Oh, Lois, there’s one thing that if you knew…”
“Clark, you were right,” Lois said, which in itself was enough to shock him into silence. “Maybe we do need some time apart. I need to work some things out, which I can’t do if we’re together. This doesn’t mean I don’t love you, because I do. I’m doing this
because I love you, Clark.”
“You’re breaking up with me
because you love me?” he echoed, his voice full of sarcasm. That was the most lunkheaded, to coin a phrase, thing he had ever heard.
“Well,” she snapped. “Isn’t that what you were going to do? Break up with me for my own good?”
Clark sheepishly glanced down at his shoes, knowing she was right.
Lois tilted his chin back up. “I love you, Clark. I need you to trust me, that that’s not going to change. I just need a little time to prove something to myself, and you need a little space to discover that nobody is going to hurt me because of you.” She placed her lips to his in a soft kiss.
He deepened it as he pulled her tightly against his chest. How had they gotten here from almost making love earlier? Finally, when she pulled away to rest her head against his, he whispered, “I love you so much, Lois.”
“I know, Clark. Do you have a place to stay?” she asked.
For a split second, he felt the adrenaline rush of hope that she was asking him to stay in her guest room, but then he realized that wasn’t what she was saying. “Jimmy said I could sleep on his and Jimbo’s couch,” he said. “Not that I have any clothes. My apartment is still a crime scene.”
Lois patted his arms, went to her guest room, and returned with his emergency suitcase that she had insisted that he bring over when she had been high on Revenge. Even then, she was the smartest woman whom he’d ever met.
“Thank you for dinner, Clark. I’m just sorry that neither of us was in the mood to eat it,” she said, walking out of the kitchen and back into the dining room. She picked up his gifts, the two pens, and handed them to him.
He nodded. “What should we do about tomorrow?”
“What do you mean?”
“Are we still partners?” he asked, not knowing what he’d do if she said ‘no’.
“Always,” she said with a weak smile, which didn’t go to her eyes. “The only person who knows about us being officially more than partners is Cat, and I’m sure you can explain your whole ‘we needed to break-up for my protection’ reason to her. Maybe you could even put her to work on quashing any rumors about a more than friendship relationship between us.”
Clark stood at her front door, his suitcase in one hand and his birthday gifts in the other. “I hate this,” he whispered.
“Me, too,” Lois agreed. “You need to remember that this is only temporary, Clark, and it’s just a ruse.” She set her hand over his heart. “We’ll be together here, if nowhere else.” Then she leaned in and kissed him softly, never letting go of his heart.
***End of Part 102*** Part 103 How is that for twists and turns? Motion-sick yet?
Comments Space Pen . These pens are great. I had one (or maybe still do somewhere in my desk). I’ve never replaced the ink cartridge though I’ve owned it for 10 years (okay, for 5 of those years it was lost in my desk, but still!) I still have the refill cartridge I bought with the original pen.
[img]https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRIytIe0TWIRsTSrm_0G3xaKpLtrTCIIcXi3fusOwpRUfmeHfGB[/img]. I’m thinking the lava lamp pen looks something like this, only cheesier.
