This section begins with no promises that I'm back to regular posting, my life has quieted down, etc. I will, however, promise that the entirety of this story will be posted before the end of January.
For those of you in need of a brush up, the TOC can be found
here. From Part 1:
There was silence for a moment before Martha began to comfort her future daughter-in-law. "Lois, Clark will be back. Knowing him, he's probably almost back to full strength now, and he'll be back in Metropolis before you know it. And as for your mother, she just wants to help, because she loves you."
"You're right. Thanks Martha," Lois said. Straightening, she asked. "Why were you calling?"
"Well, since we hadn't heard from you since this morning when you called to tell us that Clark was in Los Angeles, we just wanted to know if you hard heard anything else? But, I'm guessing that you haven't."
"No," Lois said. "I've just been assuming he hasn't been able to get away from anyone long enough to drop the Superman façade and call me."
"Well, when you hear from him - "
"I'll let you know," Lois promised.
She and Martha exchanged a few more pleasantries before hanging up for the evening. The previous episode she had been watching had ended, and Lois was now treated to the show's theme song. Lois smiled as she heard the words.
Clark would be back soon enough, and within two weeks, they would be married and all this silly wedding nonsense would be behind them.
She was going to make it after all.
~
Part 2
"No, I will not hold!"
Clark knew to tread lightly when the first thing he heard when entering the newsroom was a frustrated Lois Lane. Glancing over at her desk, he grabbed two cups of coffee and two doughnuts before making his way over to the star reporter's desk. Gift bearing was a suitable way to combat an angry Lois.
Lois, seeing her partner, gave a sigh of relief. Leaning in, she gave him a quick kiss before straightening, the phone still to her ear. "I told Perry that I didn't think you'd be in today ... though I have to say, I'm glad to see you alive and in one piece."
"My powers came back about an hour ago."
"How are you feeling?"
"I'm fine now," Clark said. Grabbing her by the waist, he continued. "And I'll be even - "
"Hello? Yes, thank you," Lois spoke into the phone. Glancing at Clark, she mouthed 'later' before turning her full attention to the party at the other end of the line. Clark walked over to his desk, still listening to his fiancée.
"Now, listen to me very carefully. I did not order 50 wedding shower invitations. Just 50 ... no, I don't care that it's a set. I specifically ordered 50 wedding invitations. That's it ... no, I'm not having a shower ... why not? Well, where should I start ... " Seeing a look from Clark, Lois took a breath before continuing in a much calmer tone. “Regardless of why I am not having a shower, your catalog specifically says I can order 50 wedding invitations. And that is all I want. No, I just want to return the shower invitations. Why? Because I need to use the wedding invitations ... I don't have time for that. I'm getting married in two weeks, and the invitations are already in the mail!" Lois' expression darkened a moment later, and Clark began to wonder if the person on the other end of the line realized the longer they tried to reason with a Lois Lane hell bent on being right, the closer they stepped to needing a new job. "Excuse me? Haven't you ever heard of the customer always being right? I want to speak with your manager!"
"Man, CK, am I glad to see you back," Jimmy said as he walked over to the newly arrived reporter. "Where've you been?"
"Well ..." Clark began, before catching sight of Lois, who was now close to jumping through the phone in order to prove her point in person. "I was getting some wedding stuff done. Lois has been, you know, a little stressed out and all."
As if to reinforce Clark's excuse, Lois' voice rang out at that moment. "Does your company service manual require you to be as difficult as possible?!"
Jimmy glanced over to the angry woman. "Lois said you were dealing with a sick relative."
Clark looked at Jimmy. He had forgotten to ask Lois what his cover story was. "Well, I was but it ended up not really being as serious as he thought it would be, so I had time this morning to deal with some wedding stuff."
Jimmy nodded. "Oh. Well, maybe you can get Lois to calm down a little. This wedding stuff has her crazy." Jimmy leaned in closer. "And if you think this wedding is going to fall through, would you let me know so I can leave the country until Lois recovers?" Patting Clark on the shoulder, Jimmy dashed off on another one of his endless errands.
Clark shook his head as Lois got off the phone and walked over to him. "I see Mad Dog Lane has taken over our wedding preparations."
Lois grinned. "Better than my mother."
"Lois, your mother - "
"Hijacked me last night in the comfort of my own apartment. She doesn't understand the meaning of no."
Clark nodded, deciding to direct the conversation to a different, though no less volatile, topic. "And the wedding invitations?"
"Are sent." Seeing Clark's suspicious look, she added. "And I sent one to my mother. Though after last night, I don't know why I bothered."
"And the church is reserved, we have a minister, the flowers are ordered, I've reserved tuxes, we're meeting with the caterer tomorrow ... "
"But I still don't have a dress," Lois finally admitted. "Am I allowed to tell you that, or have I just broken some cardinal rule of getting married that's going to doom us?"
"Well, they do say third time's a charm," Clark said, giving Lois a quick kiss.
"For elopement, maybe," Lois groused.
"Lois, Clark, the honeymoon starts in two weeks. Until then, I still expect stories," Perry said from his office. "Oh, and Clark, nice to have you back, son."
~
One week to go, Lois thought as she and Clark continued the process of combining two apartment's worth of objects into one. Since Clark's return from Los Angeles, things had been quiet. Even Lois' mother, surprisingly enough, had backed off and let the couple plan their wedding. Well, almost - there was still the incident at the caterer's, but Lois had no desire to even live through the memory of that day again.
Putting down another box of her belongings that had been deemed nonessential for the next week and therefore safe to bring to Clark's apartment, she looked down at Clark's scrapbook of horrors as she so fondly referred to it.
"I don't see how you find these funny," Lois commented as she flipped through page after page of articles about them, mostly from scummy low-life tabloid rags. "Just reading them makes me feel like I've become a worse reporter."
"Lois, they have high comic value and they are, after all, about us. I don't know of any other couple lucky enough to get featured in the tabloids on a regular basis," Clark replied as he came up behind her and kissed her neck.
"It's just that, Clark, I feel like I know you better than anyone, and I can't even begin to understand your fascination with those things. And it makes me wonder if I really know you at all. I mean, maybe I just think I know you. I mean, we thought we knew each other, but Lex replaced me with a clone and you didn't even notice. I mean, maybe you're not really Clark but some evil identical twin the Kryptonians left and - "
"Lois, breath," Clark said, a small smile on his lips. "One, I am Clark Kent. I promise you that. Two, I blame the fact I didn't know you were a clone on the hormone-induced bliss I was in that day because of thoughts of our wedding night." Clark got a small smile from Lois from that. "Which, I am happy to say, I am still just as excited about as I was the first time around." Clark gave Lois a brief kiss to which she responded. "And finally, if I didn't keep a sense of humor about this kind of thing," he said, pointing to a picture of a scantily-clad Lois Lane with the headline 'Clark Kent is livid' blazoned across it, "then I would never have the opportunity to show our kids, who are going to get an absolute kick out of seeing boring old Mom and Dad dressed like superheroes."
Clark could see the tension finally drain out of Lois' shoulders. She gave him a smile. "Boring old Mom and Dad, huh?"
"Absolutely. I'd say we're the most boring people I know," Clark replied, as he pulled Lois closer to him and began to lower his head to hers.
Lois' response to Clark's comment, which she had thought wonderfully witty, was cut off as Clark's lips met hers for a normal session of necking.
~
"Three days to go, Lois. Sure you're not nervous yet?"
"I'm fine, Jimmy. I have a dress, all the preparations are done, the church is booked and my mother has yet to call me today. All in all, I'm a very happy person at this moment in time."
"Good, then, ah, you might want to check out the TV." Jimmy said quickly before darting off.
"Jimmy?" Lois asked, concerned. "What - " She trailed off as she glanced at the screen. "Oh no."
"This is Bob Ranner reporting live from St.Luke's Church," the balding reporter told his viewing audience, as large flames danced in the background. "Firefighters are desperately trying to contain a blaze that began approximately twenty minutes ago. Superman has yet to be spotted at the scene and with each passing moment, the structural stability of the 75-year-old church is called into question."
Lois' eyes grew wide as she half-gestured to the screen. "That's ... that's our church. The church I'm supposed to get married in is burning to the ground ... "
Though no one in the newsroom doubted that Lois would have probably appreciated a comforting word or two, no one was willing to risk her wrath at fate. And so, as Lois registered that the spot of her supposed nuptials was becoming little more than elegant firewood, everyone took a couple of steps back and some even went as far as finding errands to run outside of the Daily Planet building. After all, if there was one constant in the world, it was the unpredictability of Lois Lane's temper.
~
"Where were you?"
Clark Kent had slipped into the newsroom five minutes before, not looking forward to encountering his fiancée. As he had correctly assumed, she was a long ways from happy.
He glanced around before answering through partially clenched teeth. "There was a pile-up on Interstate 75. By the time I could leave to do something about the fire, it was too late. I'm sorry."
"It's not your fault, Clark. Even you can't be everywhere at once." Lois took his hand and squeezed it to emphasis her words. "But Clark, we're supposed to get married in three days in a church that burned to the ground a half hour ago. That's it. Clark, we're cursed. I mean, it's like the Gods want us to get happy, comfortable, enjoy a little peace and quiet and then *wham*! Take down, grapple and pin, happiness loses!"
"Honey, it's going to be fine," Clark said he pulled Lois into a half hug. "We are getting married, because our being together is bigger than anything that has ever been!" Clark reached up to push back a stray strand of hair from Lois' face. "It's destiny."
"But we still don't have a church. I mean, maybe our destiny is to love one another from afar. Maybe we're destined to set the world record for most amount of failed attempted weddings."
Clark's hand, still resting lightly against the side of Lois' face, gently caressed her cheek. "The church was just a building. Everything else is still in order. We are going to get married in three days." He smiled lightly. "Besides, it's not like the Wedding Destroyer broke out of the Asylum or something."
Lois pulled back. "Clark, don't say that. You say that and she's going to come after us. You want to talk about fate or destiny, you say something like that and it's just tempting - Hi Perry."
Clark glanced behind him to see a rather sheepish editor-in-chief standing there. Perry glanced at both of them. "Listen, kids, I think you should take the rest of the day off and try and find a place to get married."
Lois' shoulders visibly relaxed. "Perry, you don't have to do that. I mean, we're taking leave for our honeymoon and everything - "
Clark, not quite sure from where Lois' suddenly relaxed nature had appeared, cut in before Lois could say anything else. "If you don't mind, Perry, we'll go ahead and take it."
~
"Yes? Hello, this is Lois Lane?"
Clark watched Lois as she talked with the last church on their list. Two days until the big day and a day after their church had burned to the ground, and they were down to one more place. He had been responsible for calling other places that might have a room suitable for a wedding - hotels, restaurants, community centers - in short, any place in Metropolis that had not been condemned, which ruling out the several abandoned warehouses in the Hobbs Bay area that were otherwise available.
"So, you're booked?" Lois asked, the resignation clear in her voice. "But it's a funeral, right? Couldn't you rearrange it? I mean, the person is already dead - "
Clark interceded, taking the phone out of Lois' hand, apologizing to the person on the other end of the line, putting the phone back in the cradle and then giving Lois a long look. "It was completely tasteless, I know. But Clark, that was the last place on the list. Who knew this was a popular weekend for weddings and funerals?"
"Or that there was a huge expo in town?"
Lois gave a long sigh. "So that's it then. My apartment or yours?"
"What?"
"I'm not not getting married on Saturday, Clark. I am not having three failed weddings. I say we cut down the guest list and have it in one of our apartments. I'd say yours, but we'd have to move out all the boxes. On the other hand, we could go ahead and move all of my furniture out of my apartment since we'll have to do that anyway," Lois explained.
"You're serious."
Lois nodded. "Worst case scenario." She gave a nervous smile. "I have a list of them on my computer. Everything from no church to international emergencies to no dress. After yesterday, I am not trusting anything to chance."
Clark smiled at Lois as a knock sounded at the door. Lois went to answer it and found two Smallvile residents on her doorstep. Clark, who had come up behind her, stepped forward in surprise.
"Mom? Dad? I thought you weren't flying in until tomorrow."
Martha walked into the room to embrace Lois and then her son. Jonathan followed a discreet distance behind, ever the observer. "We were going to, honey, but given everything you two have been through, we figured you could use a little extra help. We took the first flight we could. Can you believe yesterday afternoon's flight was booked solid? Who knew so many people went back and forth from Kansas to Metropolis."
"Martha, Jonathan, you didn't have to - "
"Of course we didn't have to, we wanted to. And I can only imagine what kind of state I would be in if I lost my church three days before my wedding," Martha said slyly, giving Lois a look.
Lois smiled. "It's not fun. We've been calling places for the past day."
"Where will you be having the wedding?" Jonathan asked.
Clark glanced at Lois. "We were about to decide when you guys showed up. What do you think? My place or hers?"
"What?" Martha and Jonathan asked in stereo.
"Well, every place in town is booked. So, we're resorting to Worst Case Scenario Number Two - "
"Wait, you have them numbered?" Clark interrupted.
"And cross-referenced in case anything would happen to me again. For that look under either clone or breaking story," Lois explained, giving Clark a guilty smile before continuing. "Our options at this point are no wedding or a wedding at one of our apartments. And given that we've already not had a wedding once, I'm not waiting again."
"There has to be another option," Martha reasoned.
"We've tried everything, Mom. We even considered having 'Superman' fly guests somewhere, but decided that could create potential problems we didn't want to deal with."
Lois glanced up at her phone when it rang. "Let me get that. I'll just be a minute." Lois dashed over to the phone and picked it up. "Hello?"
"There were two places that said they would call us back if something opened up," Clark said by way of explanation for her behavior.
"Hello mother."
Neither Martha nor Jonathan missed the pained expression that came across Clark's face. "She'll be fine, son. That's just how mothers and daughters are," Jonathan commented.
"He's right, Clark. When Betty Johnson got married two years ago, her mother refused to show up to the reception over an argument the two had had over beef or chicken for the entrée."
"Yes, Mother, that was our church ... no, we don't know where the ceremony will be held ... Yes, we will figure something out ... What? What do you mean you found a place? We've been calling every place in the city for the past 24 hours and everywhere is booked. Where is it? ... What do you mean, you won't tell me? It's my wedding!" At this point, Clark walked over to Lois and whispered into her ear. After a moment, she nodded. "Mother, why don't you meet Clark, his parents and I for lunch?"
~
"I don't believe it! She won!" Lois said as she threw her purse onto Clark's couch.
Clark finished closing and locking the front door before maneuvering through the numerous boxes that now crowded his apartment. "Lois, it's not a contest. And, honestly, if she has a place, how can we fault her?"
Lois sank down onto the couch. "It's just that, after everything, Clark, the fact my mother is going to take over the ceremony all of the sudden just seems, well, wrong. This was supposed to be our show, remember?"
Clark sat down beside Lois and gingerly took her hand. "And it is going to be our show. It's our wedding, Lois, and you know - "
"Oh no," Lois said, pulling away from Clark.
"What? What's wrong?"
"I'm turning into my mother. This past week, it's like I've completely forgotten how to be Lois Lane, reporter, and I've turned into Lois Lane, Ellen Lane, Jr. This kind of stuff never used to bother me. And sure, I've been under a lot of pressure in the past few months, but - "
Clark took a deep breath. "Lois, you're not your mother - "
"Not yet, but give it five years, and I'll probably be popping an aspirin every time a breaking story comes in and consulting my therapist about my stress level once a week. And I'll stick my nose in where it doesn't belong and - "
"Lois, you do that already."
"I do?" Lois' eyes widened. "Do I pry too much into your life, Clark? I do, don't I?"
Clark fought back a grin. "Lois, you're a reporter. You have three Kerth awards because you're nosey."
Lois nodded. "But, Clark, I've never been this high strung before." At Clark's silence, she pressed further: "You think I'm high strung?"
"Lady, you're a Stradivarius," Clark commented, his lips lightly brushing hers.
At this, Lois laughed, and Clark stood to pull her into a hug. Looking at each other for a moment, their faces weaved in closer as Clark spoke in a low, breathy voice that ran up Lois' spine in all sorts of wonderful ways. "You are the most high-strung, completely neurotic woman I've ever met, but that's why I love you."
Lois' response was a long kiss as Clark wrapped her into his arms and pulled her closer.
~
Lois dashed out of her bathroom the next morning, tube of mascara in hand as she had only done one eye, as her phone rang. "Hello?"
Lois crept towards the oven, knowing there would be a surface she could use as a substitute mirror, cradling the phone against her shoulder.
"Lois, this is Perry."
"Is there a problem?" Lois stood on tiptoes and slid back and forth as she tried to find the best angle before beginning to somewhat haphazardly apply the make-up.
"I think you and Clark should take the day off."
Lois almost lost her hold on the mascara wand in shock. "What? Why?"
"With the wedding tomorrow and all, given all the stress you two kids have been under, I'm thinking maybe it would be best if you just took a breather before your big day."
"Perry, we're fine." Lois inched closer to the oven to get a better view of her top lashes.
"Listen, honey, I've already spoken with Clark, and he agrees with me."
"What?" Lois responded, almost smearing the mascara across her face. "Well, fine, he can take the day off. But he's not my keeper and if I want to work, then I'll work."
Perry sighed. "Lois, I've already handed out assignments for the day. Stay home, put your feet up and enjoy the calm before tomorrow."
Lois, already forming a main argument and two supporting reasons as to why her editor was wrong, glanced over as someone knocked at her door. Resigning herself to the fact her cordless was dead and the telephone cord would not stretch to the door, based upon a previous experience, she said, "I need to go Perry. I'll see you later today."
She hung up before Perry could say anything else and walked over to the door. Martha stood on the other side, a wide smile on her face that instantly made alarm bells go off in Lois' head.
"Hi Lois. Clark told me Perry was going to make you two take the day off, and I thought you might need some company," the older woman explained.
Nodding, Lois opened the door wider and let her soon-to-be mother-in-law enter.
"Clark wanted to come over himself but right after he got off the phone, he heard sirens. Since he's planning on giving Superman some time off for the next few days, he thought he should use his extra time today to put a few more appearances than usual. And since he's busy and Jonathan's found out that one of the conferences in town is for farmers, it's just the two of us. So let's go out and make sure you enjoy your last day of being a single woman!"
~
Fourteen hours later, Lois found herself sitting on her couch, taking in the increasingly empty room. Martha had left about thirty minutes ago, and now, for the first time since she had begun to pack up her things, she realized she really was going to be leaving this apartment tomorrow.
When she had moved into this apartment with Lucy five years ago, she had never really paid much attention to it: it was convenient, it suited her needs and was in an area of town that was quiet with relatively few families. It had sat more or less empty for the first weeks, as Lois found her job at the Daily Planet much more important that playing Martha Stewart. It had only been after Lucy had borrowed a friend's inflatable furniture to put into the family room that Lois had finally relented and gone shopping.
A knock at her window broke her from her reverie, and she looked over to see a familiar red and blue figure. Going over to unlatch the window, she smiled as Clark floated into the room.
"Hi. I missed you today," Clark told her as he closed the distance to slip his hand behind her head and give her a kiss.
"I missed you too. But I had fun with your mom. And I've even forgiven Perry for giving me the day off," Lois said, a small smile playing along her lips.
Clark grinned in return. "Only you, Lois, would consider getting a day off of work a punishable offense."
"Only when it's the day before my wedding, and I have a two-week vacation stretching in front of me. Do you know this will be the longest I've ever been away from the newsroom? I mean, other than when it was closed." Lois gave a half shrug. "It's just strange to think about. Everything changes tomorrow, Clark, and while most of it's a good change, it's all a little overwhelming."
Lois watched Clark's expression, hoping he hadn't taken any of what she had said as cold feet. She wasn't afraid of marrying him or living with him or any of the other alterations she was about to make to her life. It was more that she knew everything about her life was about to drastically shift, and she couldn't help but feel the need for a bit of reflection. It seemed that even award-winning journalists who had dealt with everything from megalomaniac billionaires to imperialistic aliens were capable of being awed by the most normal of life's progressions.
To her surprise, though, Lois saw Clark's expression change to one of understanding. "I know what you mean. I was doing a patrol just now when I realized this is the last night I'll ever be able to fly through that window and surprise you. And I know that wherever we live, I can still fly through a window to see you." Lois laughed at this as Clark's hand came up to momentarily cup her cheek. "It's just hard to believe we really are leaving all of this behind. No matter how much I can't wait to be your husband, I am a little sad that this part of our life is over.”
Lois pulled herself against Clark in a loose embrace. "I'll always remember the night you came in after you helped my uncle with his restaurant."
Clark smiled. "Dance with me?"
At Lois' affirmative reply, Clark took Lois fully in his arms and like the night almost two years before, blew the window shut as they danced with not even a floor to restrict them
TBC ...
