~~From Part 3~~
Clark hadn't realized his back was to Lois until he felt a pair of small gentle hands run up the expanse of his back to his shoulders, stopping and to his surprise, staying there. His body immediately relaxed to her touch. He could hear her heartbeat start to accelerate but that wasn't the only sound he heard. That of a small sob caught his attention. She was crying and he knew it was because of him.
What had he done to her?
He slowly turned to face her, bracing himself for an out lash he was sure he would be receiving. But what happened next was beyond anything he ever imagined, let alone any reaction he ever expected from her.
************
~~Part 4~~
Their eyes had finally broken contact, a loss Lois felt profoundly. She actually had a strong hold on her resolve, which surprised her. She had thought for sure the fears would have taken a hold of her the moment he walked into the door, but they hadn't.
Her intentions were to let him stew for a few minutes but the diminishing look on his face, as he passed her to retreat into the kitchen, seized her heart. She was sure he probably thought everything they had just discovered about each other and themselves was over before it ever began.
Which was the furthest thing she wanted; she knew she needed to tell him that before he began to apologize and take back *this* declaration. She wouldn't let him do that, not when they had so much between them. Sure, they had a lot to talk about, to talk through before her hurt completely disappeared and her trust in him was restored. But those were things they could work out.
She followed him into the kitchen and watched him lean against the counter, his back to her. Suddenly she had this incredible urge to touch him, and reasoned to herself it was out of fear he'd withdraw from her, but more than wondered if it wasn't out of her own desire to just touch him.
Giving into her urge for whatever reason, she watched her hands snake up his remarkably muscled back up to his strong broad shoulders. Touching him was burning her fingertips as sensations she never experienced before filtered through her. She felt him relax and it was then she knew she had the control she needed.
Doing what she hoped he would, Clark turned to face her. At that moment, nothing felt more natural or right than to kiss him and that was exactly what she did.
The moment their lips met, the world faded away and all the distance between them suddenly disappeared. She felt Clark hesitate only to respond a half second later to her kiss. It started out innocent and sweet but as their kiss continued, it became more and more passionate. The intensity alone brought thoughts of heaven into Lois's mind. Their mouths melded together as two pieces of a puzzle fitted together.
Lois, somewhere along the line, realized her hand was still on Clark's shoulder. Raising her other hand, she wrapped it around his neck, pushing herself closer to him and causing the cape that was still around her to fall to the floor. She was immediately rewarded with his hands as they wrapped around her waist, pulling her even closer to him.
She felt his tongue brush against her lips and immediately opened her mouth bidding him entrance. She had never experienced a kiss even remotely like she was experiencing right at this very moment. She knew she had never felt anything so perfect in her life.
As much as she wanted the kiss to continue, she needed to breathe and they needed to talk. Resigning herself to their immediate fate, Lois slowly ended the kiss. She didn't pull out of his embrace however. She was looking into his amazing brown eyes, which happened to be looking into hers, and felt herself shyly smile.
With his arms still around her, Lois knew she was receiving the courage and strength she needed to continue with her plan.
"Clark?" She asked timidly, not sure suddenly of her next words.
"Yeah?"
Lois swore he sounded even more nervous than he did earlier in the day. She almost giggled suddenly knowing why. Something she never knew just made itself known to her. She had power over him. And she *liked* it.
"I love you," she watched him closely, "I didn't want you to know that because of an e-mail. And since you know that I do, I wanted to say it. I wanted to make it real."
"Lois?"
His facial expression of wonderment was enchanting and she wished she could have caught it on video. But his look quickly changed to what she was sure was disbelief. The last thing she wanted was for him to think this was some sort of sick joke.
She needed to lay it all on the line.
"I love you, Clark."
And she needed to tell him she accepted him.
"*All* of you."
And it was time to talk.
"But Clark, I won't lie to you. I was hurt, very hurt and angry. I couldn't believe that you had lied to me for a year." She watched him open his mouth to speak but she brought her hand down, pressing a finger to his lips, "No, please let me finish. I let you go first the last time and I don't much like how that went."
She watched him try to place her comment. Gods, how they had lost a lot of time due to their damned self-preservation on both of their parts.
"Anyway, after I left this afternoon, I walked around and did nothing but think. I needed to know why you wouldn't tell me, especially something so big that affected both of us. Granted, you didn't know I was even remotely interested in you until today, let alone that I was in love with you. So I really didn’t have any reason to be mad to begin with, but that didn't stop the feelings flying within me. In my mind, all I could think was that you should have told me because friends tell each other everything. But the more I thought about it, I started to see why you didn't."
Lois let her hand drift over his cheek, caressing it, almost as if she was memorizing the very feel of his skin. She took a deep breath and continued.
"I knew part of it was to protect me. If people realized I knew your true identity, they’d try to use me to get to you. They already know how friendly Superman—I mean you—and I are, as it is. So of course, they’d try to come after me. Why wouldn’t they? If you haven’t noticed, danger seems to migrate to me. What am I saying? Of course you’ve noticed.” Knowing she was getting off track, Lois stopped, took a breath and refocused.
“But seeing the other side of the coin was when I finally realized *why* you didn't tell me until now. And it's something I'm quite ashamed of." Her voice cracked and tears threatened to fall as she admitted her biggest downfall besides not telling him sooner how she really felt. "I mean, why would you tell someone that you were Superman when she was completely oblivious to the ordinary man beneath the suit?"
She felt his arms tighten around her waist as to give her strength, which she was very grateful for.
"Clark, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you, not like that. Never like that. I was so scared of what I had been feeling for you, even then, but I wouldn't let myself admit to it. I couldn't because with you I had everything to lose and I could get hurt. With Superman it was just the opposite; I had no real stock with him. He was simply a fantasy. But with you, you were everything to me, and I could lose that. I wasn't strong enough."
Lois felt the hot tears escape and roll down her face.
"I know..." but Clark was cut off once more.
"You didn't tell me because you wanted me to love you as you and not as Superman. With that realization, my anger dissolved; I was disgusted with my behavior." She backed out of his embrace, broke eye contact and let her arms fall down to her sides. Those actions punctuated her words and with a very small voice, she finished with a last sentence, "And I don't understand how you can love me after all that."
"Oh, Lois. No. Don't think that." He took the minimal step required to get her back into his grasp. Once there he tipped her chin up so their eyes locked anew, brushing a new tear from her cheek, "I love you..."
"But Clark..."
"It's true. I love you, Lois. Nothing can or will ever change that." She stared at him unbelieving, but couldn't doubt the love shining in his eyes as he continued. "I've loved you since the day we first met in Perry's office. I never stopped. I lied to you the day outside the Planet..."
"When you told me that you didn't really have those feelings for me and only said that so I wouldn't marry Lex."
"Yeah."
"I sorta hoped that was the case. But still..."
"Lois, I can't say that I wasn't hurt when you turned me down for Superman, because I was. I was angry too. I knew it doesn't make sense since I'm both of them...I mean me. See, I can't even keep it straight. How could I have expected you to? And I didn't make the whole thing easy for you. I made you, along with the world, believe I was two different people. You're right though, I wanted you to love me as Clark not Superman. It wasn't fair to you and even more to ask for."
"Oh God, Clark. No, it's not. You have every right to want someone to love you for you. And I do, it just took me longer than it should have to let myself see it."
"And I should have told you about Superman sooner."
"Maybe." She watched him smile at that, making her melt even more. Her next question was rhetorical but needed to be voiced, "We really messed up along the way, haven't we?"
She felt both his hands on her shoulders only to slide down and rest on her forearms. He was rubbing his thumbs in circles, making her skin tingle all over. Gods, how she loved being touched by him. She looked into his deep chocolate brown eyes and smiled so brightly it could have blocked out the sun.
"I love you, Clark. So much it hurts."
"And I love you, Lois. More every second."
"I'm so glad I listened to Lucy and filled out that questionnaire." She giggled at what a simple e-mail, or actually two e-mails, could do in a day's time.
"So am I." Clark looked at her and once more she felt her heart fill up so full that she thought it would burst. He let go of her arms and wrapped his own around her waist, pulling her closer yet. She then watched him lean down slightly so his lips were mere centimeters from hers, eyes twinkling, "You know you're just the perfect height."
Lois looked at him strangely. What in the world was he talking about?
"Huh?"
"To capture my lips in a kiss." He grinned at her.
She burst out laughing as she recognized her own words from the questionnaire. But her laughter soon quieted as Clark's lips lightly touched her own.
"We still have a lot to talk about, you know." She was trying to act nonchalant about the impending kiss, which was backfiring as her voice took on a higher octave with her next words, "I'm not letting you off the hook yet, farmboy."
"I hope you never do." His husky voice caught Lois off guard, "I'll answer every one of the questions I know you have. Later."
"Much later." She agreed quickly and all thoughts of talking were whisked away as their caressing of lips turned into a full fledge, soul-uniting kiss.
The questionnaire and the botched attempt of Lois's e-mailing skills would forever live in their memory.
************
Perry walked out of his office, determined to talk to Lois before the day was over. He was going to light into her for a few minutes but then loosen up to find out what had been bothering her earlier. He knew something was up; he could smell it in the air.
Once he made it to Lois's desk, he knew immediately she was gone. Her computer was turned off and her coffee cup was upside down in her plant. Well, it could wait until tomorrow. He had to admit to a little worry about her, though.
With a new idea for gaining some information, he walked over to Clark's desk. He thought he was in luck when he saw his computer on, but there was no Clark. He looked around, spotting Jimmy.
"Olsen!"
"What's up Chief?" Jimmy answered, suddenly standing opposite Perry.
"Have you seen Kent lately?"
"Not for about an hour. CK took off pretty quickly after Lois left."
"In the King's name, does anyone work here anymore?" Perry threw up his hands up, slightly grazing Clark's mouse causing the screensaver to stop functioning and bringing all active programs into view on Clark's monitor.
What Perry was faced with was something he had suspected but was never concrete about until now.
To: loislane@dailyplanet.com
From: clarkkent@dailyplanet.com
Subject: Answers for Answers
1. IF YOU COULD BE ANY TYPE OF ANIMAL WHAT WOULD YOU BE? A Horse
2. WORST FEELING IN THE WORLD: Letting this opportunity of us becoming an 'us' slip away
3. BEST FEELING IN THE WORLD: Being loved by Lois
4. HAVE YOU EVER BEEN IN LOVE? Not until I met Lois Lane. Actually been* is the wrong word, I *am* in love.
5. FULL NAME: Clark Jerome Kent, also known as, Kal-El
___________________________
Lois's earlier attitude or lack there of, completely made sense. It seemed maybe those two had a few things to work out. And maybe he'd just let this one ride on by.
With quick fingers, Perry exited all programs and shut down Clark's computer. That boy needed to be careful with things like that. Never know who may just be lurking around computer screens these days. Jimmy, for one such person, could have done what he had and gossip city would have been erected.
He noticed the young man still standing across from him and motioned for him to follow.
"Jimmy, why don't you and I call it a night?"
"Really Chief? Awesome!" Jimmy started walking away but stopped and turned back to Perry, "Hey Chief, if I knew something that...well, I don't think I was supposed to know but had accidentally found out..."
"You just keep it to yourself." Perry finished his sentence, but was quickly trying to defuse the situation before Jimmy shouted out that Clark was Superman.
"But Perry, it's sorta funny."
"Jimmy!" He warned him.
"Geez, is Lois's tattoo that confidential?" Jimmy shrugged his shoulder, slightly deflated.
Perry let a huge sigh of relief escape. Good thing it wasn't what he thought Jimmy's *discovery* was. Jimmy's last statement resounded in his mind.
Lois had a tattoo? For Elvis's sake, what else was he going to find out tonight?
The End
(Or is it?)
