Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Lois & Clark Fanfic Aussie Rules (49/?)

The two women were still laughing when the door opened, and Clark stepped in. He held out the piece of opal - it was still rough in places, but it had been skilfully shaped. "How's this?" he said.

"I haven't seen Mayson's piece," Lois replied as she moved to him and took the opal from his hand. It was still warm. "Are you confident?"

"Yeah," Clark said. "The colouring is slightly different, and the markings aren't identical, but unless she's spent a lot of time studying it, I don't think she'll notice." He looked up hopefully. "And if she does, there's always the chance that she'll think that because it's of alien origin, it might change over time."

"I guess it's time to take back what's yours," Lois said.

"I'll help you with the disguise," Martha offered. "It's all ready."

"Thanks," Lois said. She followed Martha up the stairs. "From Lois Lane to Ultra Woman to generic young American male," Lois muttered. "And all in one night."


Part 49

Clark landed on top of the apartment building in Metropolis where Mayson Drake lived.

He stood for a moment, waiting. There was no rush of pain, no searing agony through his chest, no dizziness. Looking across the city, he focussed on the far tower of the Lexor Hotel. He located the thirty-fifth floor and zoomed in on the honeymoon suite.

The building grew a little shimmery ... he couldn't x-ray through the walls to see inside.

Dropping his head, he tried to look past his feet and through the concrete. Nothing.

It seemed he was close enough to the green rock for it to affect his vision, but not close enough to cause him pain - or, he hoped, disable him. He checked the door down into the building and discovered it was unlocked. With two quick steps, he leapt up, and somewhat to his relief, was able to shoot effortlessly into the air.

Hovering high above Metropolis, Clark located the Daily Planet from amongst the array of matchbox-sized buildings. His efforts to see through the walls proved unfruitful, so he drifted sideways and instead looked through the huge windows set high above the newsroom. Mayson was at her desk.

He turned west, hoping his brief encounter with the green rock wouldn't impede the plan. He needed to collect Lois and make the switch before Mayson even thought about returning to her apartment. He was able to fly to Smallville at his normal speed and it was only a few moments later that he landed in his parents' backyard.

He was greeted by a person whose dark hair was hidden under one of his old baseball caps. Her lower cheeks had a slight dusting of something dark - just enough to suggest the beginnings of facial growth. She was dressed in a pair of his jeans from at least ten years ago and a shirt of the same vintage. Despite his mother's alterations, the clothes hung loosely enough to hide any definitive hint of the body shape they covered.

"What are you staring at, big guy?" Lois said with a grin.

"You've actually managed to camouflage most of your femininity," Clark said with amazement. "I didn't think it would be possible."

"Amazing what you can do with some binding," she said lightly.

"Binding?"

Her hands lifted and gestured to her chest. "Yeah, you know, binding."

Her meaning hit him between the eyes. "Oh, binding," he faltered. "Isn't that ... uncomfortable?"

"Well, I wouldn't choose to be bound like a mummy for no reason," she returned. "But it's OK for now."

Clark figured he should get off this subject and back onto the real reason why Lois had squeezed her very fetching curves into stringent masculine lines. "I landed on top of Mayson's building," he said.

"And? Anything?"

"Yeah. My x-ray vision was affected. I couldn't see through walls."

"Any pain?"

"No ... but Lois, if I can't see through the walls, I can't watch you when you're in Mayson's apartment ... and that means I can't protect you."

"Is your vision working now?" She grinned cheekily. "You could check out the binding - see if it's secure enough."

Clark decided two could play that game. He fixed his eyes on her ... just a little below her chin. He awaited her response. When none came, he looked into her face. She was regarding him with a wide grin.

“Well?” she said. “How are they?”

Clark slowly shook his head, secretly loving her teasing. It was true that two could play the game ... but she could definitely play it better. “I didn’t look,” he admitted. “I didn’t even try to.”

With a chuckle, Lois put her hands on his cheeks and turned his face towards the farmhouse. “Can you see your mom and dad?” she asked.

“Yeah," he replied. "They’re sitting at the table drinking coffee."

When he returned his attention to Lois, she hadn't stopped smiling. "Did you try to locate Mayson?"

Lois was going to let him get away with not checking under her ... well, his ... shirt. Clark wasn't sure if he was relieved or disappointed. "On the way back, I hovered above the Daily Planet building and looked through the windows; Mayson was at her desk."

"Good," Lois said. "Let's go and get this done."

Clark hesitated. It worried him that Lois would be out of his sight when she broke into Mayson's apartment. "Are you sure you'll be able to open her locks?" he asked. "You've never seen them before. Promise me that if there are any problems, you'll come straight back to me."

"I'm sure I'll be able to get in," Lois said.

"But Metropolis is a big city. Her locks are probably -"

"You can listen to my heartbeat," she said, trying to reassure him. "Then you'll know I'm safe."

"Yeah ... but, I agreed to this thinking you would never be out of my sight."

Lois grinned. She didn't look worried at all. "We don't have the time to argue," she reminded him. "Do you need some encouragement to see things my way?"

The look on her face left him with no doubts about the form of encouragement she was offering.

Clark conceded. "Not yet," he said, grinning despite his worries. "But once we've given Mayson her little gift of Australian opal and thrown the green rock into space, you can give me all the encouragement you want."

Her eyes gleamed. "Now *that's* an offer I'm going to keep you to," she said. She slipped her wedding and engagement rings from her finger and offered them to him. "Could you hold these for me, please? I don't think they quite work with my current outfit."

He took them and deposited them safely into his wallet. As he did, Martha and Jonathan came out from the farmhouse, and Lois and Clark turned to them. "Everything OK?" his mom asked, her face creased a little with lingering concern.

"Everything's fine," Clark assured her.

Jonathan gave Lois a thin sheet of grey lead and a pair of plastic gloves that were long enough to reach her elbows. "Just wrap the green rock securely in this," he said, pointing to the lead.

Lois tested it and discovered it was soft and malleable. Then she inspected the gloves and shot her father-in-law a question.

"No fingerprints," he explained.

"What do you use them for?"

"Birthing calves."

Lois examined the gloves more closely, clearly trying to hide her reservations.

Jonathan laughed. "They're disposable," he said. "I haven't actually used those ones yet."

"Oh," Lois said with obvious relief. "Thanks."

Martha hugged her son and his wife. "Do you have the opal?" she asked Lois.

Lois patted the left pocket of the jeans she was wearing. "All safe in here," she said. "And the lock-picking tools are in the other pocket."

"If we don't hear anything, we'll assume it went well," Jonathan said.

"Bye, Mom. Bye, Dad." Clark picked up his wife and, with a final smile for his parents, lifted from the Smallville soil.

||_||

A few minutes later, they landed on the top of Mayson's apartment building.

Lois slid from Clark and glanced into his face, wishing there was a way to alleviate his apprehension. "Mayson was at her desk five minutes ago," she reminded him. "I won't be in any danger."

Clark's smile was weak and did nothing to erase the anxiety from his face.

Lois put on the plastic gloves and pulled the sleeves of the shirt to her wrists. "I'll get the green rock, you can pitch it into space, and we'll get back to our honeymoon," she said. She gave Clark a quick kiss, thrust her hands into her pockets, and ran down the stairs before he could protest.

He had given her clear instructions regarding the location of Mayson's apartment. Lois saw only one person on her way to Mayson's door - and he didn't even give her a second glance.

Less than a minute after leaving Clark, Lois poked the first of her tools into the keyhole. She worked methodically through the series of three locks and then pushed open the door. She closed it carefully and secured one of the locks.

Lois crept into Mayson's bedroom and opened the door of the closet. She removed the shoes one pair at a time - placing them in order. There was a small circular hole in the floor - and at this distance, the outline of the trapdoor was clearly visible. She slipped her gloved finger into the hole and the door opened easily. Inside was an old book - just as Clark had said.

She lifted the book out and flipped it open.

There it was - the innocuous-looking pebble that held the only known means to overpower Superman. She reached into the gouged-out pages and removed the rock from its hiding place.

With her other hand, Lois took the opal from her pocket, muttering, "Opal left ... opal left." She paused a moment to hold up the two pieces and marvel at Clark's skill and memory for detail. The opal was slightly smaller, and it had a couple of tiny dots of aqua dappled in the midst of the almost pure green. But without direct comparison, the minute differences were going to be almost impossible to detect.

Very soon, the green rock would be hurtling through space, and comparison would no longer be possible.

Lois placed the stone from her left hand into the nest of soft, old paper and then securely wrapped the treacherous green rock in the lead sheeting. She shoved the grey bundle in her pocket, closed the book, and positioned it in the subfloor space exactly as she had found it. Next, she closed the trapdoor and meticulously realigned the shoes one pair at a time.

Having completed the swap, every instinct was to turn and run back to Clark, but Lois forced herself to pause. She carefully scanned the whole area, searching for any sign of her presence. Finding nothing, she slipped her hand into her pocket and ran her fingers along her tools. Once they were all accounted for, she quietly closed the closet door.

A moment later, she peered into the corridor and checked in both directions. No one was in sight, and half a minute later, she skipped up the stairs, already thinking ahead to the long-awaited honeymoon that suddenly seemed within touching distance.

As she stepped onto the roof, relief flooded Clark's face. She'd been gone less than five minutes, but it was obvious it had seemed an eternity to her husband. Lois ran to him and flung herself into his arms.

"Are you all right?" he asked as his arms closed around her.

"I am feeling great," she said. She reached into her pocket and retrieved the grey bundle.

Clark met her eyes. "Lois, honey," he said. "I trust you totally ... but perhaps we should test it. Just a tiny amount."

Lois gaped with horror. "Clark, I couldn't hurt you ... not deliberately. I was really careful not to mix them up ... although you did an unbelievable job of shaping the opal."

He reached for the bundle, and Lois snatched it away from his grasp.

"No, Clark," she said. "I can guarantee that the green rock is in this sheeting." She felt her tiredness overwhelm her and shuddered a sigh. "Please don't," she begged. "I can't bear to watch you in pain."

Clark held out his hand for the rock.

"Promise you won't unwrap it?" Lois said.

Clark nodded. "It was silly to doubt you," he said. "I just wanted to know for sure that Mayson's piece of green rock has truly gone forever."

"It will be soon," Lois said. She smiled shakily as she gave him the small grey package. "I'll wait here."

Clark shot up faster than her eyes could follow. Lois removed Jonathan's gloves and bunched them in her pocket as she scrutinised the Metropolis cityscape. One building towered above the rest. Emblazoned across the top was the word 'LEXOR'. She grinned. It couldn't have been more ostentatious if it had a neon sigh proclaiming 'My owner has too much money'.

Clark landed next to her, and despite expecting him, Lois jumped. "Everything OK?" she asked.

He smiled and took her into his arms, holding their bodies close. "Everything is super," he said. "We'll go back to the farm, you can get changed, and then -"

Lois shook her head decisively. "No way, big guy," she said firmly.

Clark's eyebrows dipped. "No way?" he asked.

"No way are we taking any more detours or accepting any more interruptions." Lois took a masterful grip of his t-shirt. "We are going directly to Perry's fishing shack and then you are going to take off this binding that is killing me and ..." She smiled at him. "... and after that ..."

Her husband didn't wait for further enlightenment. He swept her into his arms and flew north.

||_||

Clark landed with Lois at the back door of Perry's fishing shack. He'd been right about it being private - it was built atop a small rise, nestled into a clearing surrounded by a screen of tall trees.

"We could be the only people on earth," Lois said as she surveyed the scenery.

"That sounds perfect to me," Clark replied as he flipped back the mat and uncovered the key. He unlocked the door and stood back for his bride to enter. She smiled as she passed him - a smile that smouldered with promise. He followed her in and locked the door.

The fishing shack consisted of a large room with three comfortable chairs dotted around a fireplace. The kitchen was sparse but orderly. Off to the side was a smaller room that, as Clark discovered when he lowered his glasses, contained a bed and two small bedside tables.

They were here. Alone. Together. Free. Married.

Clark took Lois into his arms, hardly able to believe that he could kiss her without having to continually restrain himself - there were no longer any barriers to stop them finishing what they started.

He ran his fingers across her forehead, brushing away a lock of hair that had escaped from under the baseball cap. "Thank you for what you did for me today," he said gravely.

"Marrying you?" she said with a smile.

"That ... and getting rid of the green rock. I'm the strongest man on Earth, but you did something for me today that I couldn't do for myself."

Lois snuggled into his neck and sighed with contentment.

"You must be tired," he said quietly.

"I am," she agreed. "And the thought of a bed is just sublime." She lifted her head and winked lasciviously at him. "But I have a much better idea than sleeping."

"Really?" he teased. "I thought we'd come here to sleep."

She lifted her eyebrows. "Don't worry, big guy," she said. "Once I start kissing you for real, I'm sure you'll catch on quickly."

He grinned. "Ah ... do you need anything?"

Clark had meant his question in a practical sense, but from the response on her face, he knew the possible replies whirling through her mind had little to do with practicalities. He was surprised when she said, "Does this place have a bathroom?"

"Yeah," he said gesturing to the bedroom. "There's one through here." He put his hand on her back and guided her forward.

Once there, Lois kept going towards the far door. "I need to get this stuff off my face," she said.

"What is it?" Clark asked. "Soot?"

She nodded. "It was your mom's idea." Lois went into the bathroom and shut the door.

Clark x-rayed through the closet doors and discovered neatly folded linens. He took down the sheets and blankets and began making the bed - and didn't even bother trying not to think about being there with Lois.

||_||

Lois hunted through the little cabinet, hoping Perry's wife had come to his fishing hut at least once. She saw a small plastic bottle and grabbed it gleefully - it was moisturising soap. She used it to scrub her face. Further rummaging unearthed some eye shadow and blusher. There was no lipstick, but Lois figured Clark would be quite happy to kiss her unadorned lips.

She applied small amounts of the makeup and combed her hair. It was crinkled from having been crammed under the cap, but there was no way to fix it quickly. Again, she doubted Clark would be too perturbed by the condition of her hair.

A glance into the mirror reminded her of the ill-fitting nature of the clothes she wore. They had served a purpose - to hide her body shape. But now, it was the exact opposite effect that she wanted.

Should she send Clark to collect the bag she had left at the farm?

Lois giggled suddenly as another thought beat a path through her brain cells. What if she were to take off Clark's clothes and simply step into the bedroom stark naked? Her laughter pealed around the bathroom as she imagined the stunned look on her husband's face.

"Lois?"

The bafflement in Clark's voice set off another string of giggles.

"Lois? Honey? Are you OK?"

She couldn't do it. She was laughing too hard to be dexterous, and anyway, Clark was probably already wondering if exhaustion had rendered her hysterical. There was no need to confirm it.

Lois heaved in a steadying breath and drove her laughter away as she opened the bathroom door.

Clark stood from the bed. "Are you all right, honey?" he asked suspiciously.

"Yes," she said as she clamped her lower lip to keep control of the giggles that pressed for release. "I'm fine." She slipped her arms around his neck and buried her fingertips in his hair.

"What happened?"

"You wanna know the truth?"

Clark grinned at her jovial tone. "If you want to tell me."

"I was thinking about how these clothes couldn't be more different from what I'd planned ... and then I figured one solution was to take them off and walk out naked."

His eyebrows lifted, and a slow, wonderfully wicked smile appeared.

"Do you think you would've survived the shock?" Lois asked.

"If I didn't, it would have been worth it."

She chuckled as she continued to work her fingers through his hair. "Not true, big guy."

Clark reached into his pocket and took out his wallet. He dug into it and brought out her rings. "You weren't the only one thinking about what happens next," he said. "Although I'm not sure how my plans would have fitted if you'd followed your idea." He tossed the wallet on the little table next to the bed and rolled the rings between his thumb and fingers. "I didn't have the opportunity to say the vows I wrote for you."

"I figured you might not be up to remembering them."

"I don't think I could have done it," Clark admitted. "My head was pretty woozy."

"Are you feeling OK now?"

"Now?" he said with a glimmer of his smile. "Now I feel like I'm the luckiest man in the universe." Clark lifted her left elbow and unhooked her arm from his shoulder. He clasped her hand in his and positioned the rings at the end of her finger. "Lois," he said solemnly. "When I was a stranger ... you welcomed me. When I was different ... you accepted me. When I was alone ... you loved me. I will always protect you and care for you. I will love you forever. I promise you my everlasting faithfulness. My heart belongs to you ... every moment, every day, every year, my whole life long." He pushed the rings along her finger.

"Aww, Clark," she said, as tears welled in her eyes. "They are beautiful vows."

"I have a beautiful bride to inspire me."

Lois took his hand and slipped the ring from his finger. "Clark," she said. "Everyone sees your physical strength, but very few see your heart. You've given me the privilege of knowing you ... of seeing what motivates you ... of understanding what drives you to use your gifts to make the world a better place. You are not defined by what you do, but why you do it. You are a fine man, full of goodness and unshakable integrity, and I am honoured to be your wife. I promise you my faithfulness and my never-ending love. I will love you always and support you in helping those who need your help."

She pushed the ring onto his finger for the second time in a few hours and smiled up at him.

His eyes were moist, and his smile was jubilant.

"Now the wedding's over, you know what comes next, don't you?" Lois asked.

He nodded.

"Then kiss me," she said. "Kiss me like you've dreamed of kissing me."

||_||

This was really it. No more waiting. No more green rock. No cameras.

Just him and the woman he would love forever.

Clark reached down and found her lips. He started slowly - conducting a leisurely and deliberate exploration of her mouth before he gave in to the temptation to slide his tongue forward. His tongue met hers, and he felt the after-effects rumble though both of them.

She took her hands from his neck and slid them down his shoulders and along his arms. When she reached his forearms, she pushed downwards, moving his hands from her back to her butt.

He cupped his hands around the wonderful shape that he had admired from a distance on so many previous occasions. Even under the baggy jeans, she felt so rounded and curvy and intrinsically feminine.

Her hands lifted his arms, and he thought she wanted him to return to her back. Her little grunt of protest confused him at first - then he realised that she wanted his hands under the shirt.

He dropped lower again and then slid his hands up the soft slopes of her back on either side of the valley of her spine. Her skin felt like silk - warm, luxurious silk. His thumbs ran into the binding, and he grasped a strand of it and tugged it free.

"Take it off," she murmured through a kiss.

The end of the binding was already starting to unravel. As he continued to kiss her extravagantly, Clark's hands worked to free her from the length of material. Soon, it dropped away from her body, and he threw it to the floor.

Lois broke from their kiss and smiled up at him. "Ahhh, that feels good," she said. "They'd had enough of being squished."

Clark's breath was coming too fast and shallow for him to reply.

Lois reached for the top of the shirt and undid two buttons. He thought she was going to continue, but instead she grasped the hem of his t-shirt. "May I?"

Clark took off his glasses and leant over to place them on the little table beside the bed. He lifted his arms for her to peel the shirt from his upper body.

His view was still obstructed by the material when he heard her deep growl of approval. Once the shirt was past his head, he saw her ogling him with unconcealed appreciation.

"You are gorgeous," she breathed. She shook her head in wonder. "That is a magnificent chest."

Her open appreciation was great - but his skin was tingling for more than her visual attention. "Do you want to touch?" he asked shyly. "I'd really like you to."

She lifted her hand and rested it high on his chest. The side of her thumb scraped across his pectoral muscle.

Clark swayed - such was the power of her touch on his bare skin. Lois put both hands on his chest and pushed him backwards. He landed on the bed and lay there with his knees over the edge and his feet still on the floor.

Lois followed him - her knees straddling him at his waist and her hands perched on his collarbones. The shirt hung low - resting on his bare chest.

Clark fastened his eyes on her face.

She grinned. "You're allowed to look," she purred. "I know you want to."

He slid his eyes down her face to the elegant slopes of her neck. Then, he went lower. "Lois," he murmured. "You are beautiful."

"You'd see better if you took off the shirt," she said with a smile in her voice.

"It's my shirt," he reminded her. "We won't need it again." He clasped each panel of the shirt and, with a quick movement, tore it apart as buttons pinged across the room.

The shirt hit the floor, followed by the rest of Lois's clothing. Clark's clothing wasn't long in joining them scattered around the room.

And on the bed, Lois and Clark discovered the joy of intimate love.

||_||

Lois sifted her fingers through Clark's hair where his head lay on her shoulder.

He rose onto his elbows and looked down at her, his eyes bursting with questions and laced with hope. "Ah ..." he said.

Lois smiled with satisfaction. "I'm not sure how you will ever better that," she said. "But I'm looking forward to you trying."

He grinned, though his questions lingered. "So ... it was good?"

"Awww, Clark," she said. "I have dreamed ... I have hoped ... but I couldn't have imagined it would be that incredible."

His grin widened.

"How about for you?" Lois asked.

"I have never been that close to anyone," he said quietly. "Not physically. But it's more than that. I feel like we were melded together ... physically, emotionally ... our souls, our bodies, our minds. I feel like we bonded in ways that can never be broken."

"They can't be broken," she assured him. "Everything else may change, but what will never change is that you and I will be together."

As she looked at him, a tear broke from his eye and rolled down his cheek.

And she understood.

This act was precious to both of them, but for him - a man who, deep in his psyche, never forgot he was different to everyone else - it spoke of acceptance and belonging on a level she could only glimpse.

She reached up and kissed the tear away.

||_||

Lois woke to the wholly wonderful sensation of Clark's arms wrapped around her and her back tucked tight against his chest.

She sighed with overflowing happiness.

For a long time, she had wondered about her first experience of love-making. She'd hoped it would be good, but she had tried to be pragmatic enough to realise that the automatic perfection they portrayed in movies might not represent reality.

Yet, with Clark as her lover, it had been better than her most quixotic dreams.

Outside, the final dregs of daylight were fading fast. Lois lifted her head high enough to see the digital clock. It was twenty to eight.

That made it twenty to ten Sunday morning in Sydney, where she was supposed to meet Chris for breakfast.

Except, she remembered with a smile, Seb was hoping she wouldn't show up.

There was risk in them being together without her - but from what Lois had witnessed in Seb's shop, they were going to be spending a lot of time together in the future anyway.

If Lois didn't appear this morning, Chris would think Lois was with her lover ... which was the truth.

Seb would think she'd feigned sickness.

If they compared what they knew, there were going to be questions asked that would be very difficult to answer.

Except neither Seb nor Chris pried into the business of others. Chris hadn't needled her for information - even though Lois knew that she would have struggled to keep her curiosity under control had their positions been reversed.

And Seb ... Seb had given her a valuable piece of opal ... and not demanded to know the truth about why she needed it.

She could trust both of them.

And hopefully, they would be more interested in each other than pondering what she might be doing.

Maybe ... one day ... they would be where she and Clark were now.

Lois chuckled. Not in the Adirondacks exactly, but waking up together with the same sense of joyful happiness that was awash in her as she lay in the haven of her husband's arms.

She wriggled further up the bed, reached for her mobile phone, and saw with relief that she had some network. She quickly punched out a text message - 'Sorry, can't make breakfast, meet you in the hotel room at 11:30.'

She sent the text, hoping that if Chris felt any initial disappointment, it would be quickly wiped away by the prospect of breakfast alone with Seb.

Behind her, Clark moved, and she felt his mouth begin to kiss behind her ear. "Good morning, big guy," she said.

He murmured a greeting but didn't stop kissing her.

She twisted in his arms, faced him, and smiled. "You look exactly how a groom should on the morning after his wedding," she said.

"Insatiable?" he guessed with a wide grin.

"I was going to say gorgeous and happy, but I'll take 'insatiable'."

Clark kissed her mouth - and his kisses moved swiftly from 'Good morning' to 'I have a great idea'.