Last time...
She knocked at the door of his apartment, and waited impatiently for him to open. But he didn’t – and she got worried.
What if he passed out or something? I better use my key.
She let herself in, and saw no sign of him. She put down the bag of groceries and the bottle of wine that she had been carrying, and she approached his room carefully.
Her heart nearly stopped.
He had set up the sun lamps, and he was lying in bed. Fast asleep. And…
My god… he’s completely… naked!
Part 59...
Transfixed by what she saw, she edged in closer, never taking her eyes off of him.
He was deeply asleep, and the slight sound her movements made did nothing to wake him.
He’s so beautiful.
She felt like some kind of peeping tom, standing there and staring, but she couldn’t bring herself to turn around and walk away.
She felt conflicting and overwhelming feelings overwhelm her senses. The sight of him lying there like that did send a jolt of apprehension into her heart. He did look exactly like his brutal doppelganger, and that could hardly have escaped her senses. But she felt other things – like sudden and powerful desire… a need to touch him and to be touched by him. It was an intense and overpowering sensation, and she felt as if it would carry her away. Her body was alive now, with the tangible effects of those emotions.
I want him. I want to touch him. I want to kiss him. I want… oh… I don’ t know. But… I can’t just stand here… I have to…
She reached out a trembling hand, and without even really being aware of it allowed it to touch the smooth skin of his chest. So warm. And alive. He’s alive, and right here. And… he’s mine.
She closed her eyes against the sudden jab of fear. Are you insane? What are you doing? Stop this right now – or you’ll set something off that you might not be able to stop. He’s naked, for crying out loud.
She opened them again and gasped in sudden shock as she saw warm brown eyes gazing at hers. A mixture of shock and curiosity burned from his gaze.
She locked her gaze onto his and they looked wordlessly at each other for a long moment. She could see the struggle in his eyes – a struggle she understood. She knew that part of him wanted to throw on clothes, to offer up hastily worded apologies for having appeared like this in front of her. But her actions in touching him seemed to have bemused him to the point that he was silent – silent and waiting for her next move.
She sat down on the bed, and ran her hand more purposefully across the strong muscles of his chest. She heard his indrawn gasp, and knew that he had liked it. So far, she still felt in control, and that sound gave her an inward thrill.
She looked into his eyes, and then, she leaned forward, moving slowly. After an agonizingly long descent, her lips finally met his, and he responded gently to her kiss. He was very carefully not to make any sudden moves.
Don’t scare her. Let her make all the moves. Let her take the lead.
She lifted her head, and gazed at him, this time, a question in her eyes.
Is this all right my love?
She fancied that he answered her – although, it wasn’t so much in her ears, or in her mind – she just saw the look in his eyes and knew his thoughts.
She fingered the hem of her shirt, and after a moment of lip-biting hesitation, she pulled it up over her head. She saw his eyes widen as he took in her bra-clad torso.
Her hands started to tremble harder as she moved her hands to the waistband of her jeans. She fumbled hopelessly at the fastening, when she felt his hand grasp hers very gently.
“No,” he whispered. “It’s okay.”
She felt a surge of gratitude. He had sensed that she wasn’t ready for that – and he had stopped her – knowing full well that she would never stop herself. Gaining strength from his control and patience, she lay herself down next to him. Her heart hammering with a mix of dread and excitement, she turned her body so she was facing him, and once again, she lifted a hand up to touch him.
This time, her hand grazed the side of his face in a loving and tender gesture.
God, how I love you.
He felt as if he was holding his breath. He was terrified to move. Terrified that his body’s response to her nearness would scare her away. Terrified that in the end, if she needed him to stop, he wouldn’t be able to, and he would ruin everything.
She leaned in, and brushed her lips against his, her hand still gently holding onto the side of his face.
She ended the kiss, and rested her forehead against his as she closed her eyes and tried to get her crazy and conflicting emotions under control.
Her eyes opened, startled, as she felt his hand stroke her arm from shoulder to elbow. She backed away slightly, and gazed at him wordlessly.
“Is this okay?” His whispered request sang along her nerve endings with its raspy, husky undertone.
She saw the glittering desire radiating out from his expression and fought to clamp down the rising wave of panic. My god. If this isn’t the most compromising situation ever, I don’t know what is.
“I… I – I think… I want you to – kiss me,” she whispered back, surprised by the words that came out of her mouth. Surprised also by the husky undertone in her own voice.
“You do,” he said, with a sexy and slow smile. “Kiss you, you say?”
She smiled back, unable to stop the muscles of her face from pulling the corners of her mouth upward. Not that she was even trying to contain her smile.
“Yeah,” she gasped breathlessly. “Oh. Yes.”
He moved in with such deliberately slowness that she suddenly had a violent urge to pull him closer. She held back, however, and waited for him to come down on his own accord.
He kissed her with loving and tantalizing passion. His lips moved over hers slowly and deliberately, and she felt the hotness of the tip of his tongue as he sought entrance to her own mouth, in a blatantly sensual kiss.
He was being drawn into his own passion, and emboldened by her responses, he moved his lips along the curve of her jaw, down the side of her neck, until he found that spot that had triggered such wild passion in her just a few days ago. He kissed the base of her neck, and once again began his very tantalizing ministrations.
She gasped in sudden shock as passion flooded through her limbs, and a growing heaviness overtook her. She wanted more. She wanted him. She wanted to press her body against him and feel every single inch of him against her.
Drawn in by these feelings, she looped her arm around his neck, and pulled herself in close to his body. At the same time, his arms came up around her back, pulling her in, giving her the help she needed to achieve her goal. His lips returned to hers, and they kissed wildly – it was almost a duel of tongues as they sought to learn more of each other, frantically and passionately. His arm tightened even further, and she felt her body press up tightly against his, the very hard evidence of his desire pressing against her leg.
Oh my god. He’s hard. He’s huge. He’s… he’s…
That was the only cold water she needed. Fear skittered through her like a mouse chasing after crumbs. It radiated throughout her entire body, obliterating every single trace of passion, and her body, which just seconds before had been warm, willing and wild, was now trembling with her panic as she tried desperately to regain some semblance of calm.
She whimpered deep in her throat, trying to tell him that she was scared, because she couldn’t break free from his hold.
He has his strength back! I’m pushing against him, and he doesn’t even know it! Oh god – all he has to do is just roll over, and then… and then – he can just… he’s too far gone to stop! I went too far – I pushed him past reason and control – I –
Suddenly, she was free. He pushed her gently away, gasping at his own desperate efforts to calm himself.
He lifted a shaking hand, and very tenderly stroked her arm again, this time, not to offer up a sensual caress, but instead, to give her gentle reassurance that everything was okay – that she wasn’t in danger. That he wasn’t dangerous.
His touch scorched her senses. She had to get away – just get some space between them. She felt embarrassed, humiliated by her own fears juxtaposed with her initial wanton bravado –and she couldn’t face him. Unseeingly, she jerked back away from him, and scrambled off the bed. She grabbed her discarded shirt and dashed out the door of his bedroom, and stood there, trying to recover herself by taking in some deep calming breaths.
She had just finished putting on her shirt when he gently gripped her arm.
“Please,” his voice was both gentle and urgent. “Please don’t be afraid of me. Don’t leave. Please – don’t run away. I won’t attack you… I won’t ever force you to – to have sex with me. Please, Lois – please don’t be afraid.”
The remorse, and the yearning and the love in his voice made her want to cry even more. She crushed her eyes shut, and shook her head.
“I – I’m not afraid of you,” she said, her voice strained from the tears. Resolved to make him feel no more pain and guilt, she turned around, feeling his grip loosen and drop away as she did so. Very tentatively, she opened her eyes, fearing that he might still be naked. I shouldn’t be afraid to see him like that. He’s glorious. He’s beautiful. I should be aching to see him like that.
He was fully dressed, and that hit further home the idea that his powers had returned.
“You… you’re back – with your powers,” she whispered.
“Uh. Yeah,” he said, looking down. “I – I’m sorry.”
“Sorry? Sorry that your powers came back?”
“I – I – “
“Clark! I wanted them to come back! Please don’t ever think I’d rather you didn’t have them!”
“But – then … I wouldn’t really be a Kryptonian, right? I mean – I’d still look like him – but – “
“Clark,” she said, anxious and urgent for him to understand the truth behind her words. “I love all of you. All – every –single thing that makes you you… despite the very… non-loving and unaccepting way I just reacted,” she whispered. “I’m sorry. I’m so – so sorry.” Tears sprang anew in her eyes, and she looked down. “You must be so…”
“So what,” he prompted gently.
“Upset. Angry. Disappointed. Frustrated. Come on, Clark – all the other times we’ve been together, I grant that I’ve not been a tease… but this? I lay down next to you and started to touch you…. When you were naked. Any man would be forgiven for believing that I had intended to follow through with my … actions.”
“Angry? Upset? Come on! Lois. You always have the right to change your mind – with me, or with any other man. It’s your body. Just as I always have the right to say no to you. ”
“ But you aren’t saying no to me. You were willing – and more than ready… and – “
“Look. I can’t deny that when you touch me, my body immediately goes into ‘ready-for-action’ mode. I can’t help that. It’s just… you know – a natural male reaction to a beautiful and incredible woman … hey – you don’t even have to touch me for that to happen. Even before we started our relationship … you affected me like that… it doesn’t mean we have to make love – it doesn’t mean anything other than the fact that I love you, and I’m unbelievably attracted to you. “
“But… what about… disappointed and frustrated,” she asked in a small voice.
“Okay,” he said, giving her one of his heart-stopping smiles. Even now, with her painful feelings running so hard and rampant, she melted under that smile. “I admit… I’m … yeah – I’m frustrated… and – my body’s disappointed… but not my mind. Never my mind. I know that this is … that there’s a lot in your past that’s going to come out at times like that. I – frankly – I’m amazed you had the courage to do that. To lie down next to me like that. If anything… I’m in awe of you.”
She smiled back at him, feeling comforted by his words.
“It… it was pretty courageous of me, wasn’t it,” she said. “I guess… I didn’t even think about it. I saw you, and – I just… acted on instinct.”
“If I’d known you were coming over, I wouldn’t have fallen asleep like that. I guess I wanted to give those lamps full…uh… access… to … all of me.”
“Right. Because,” she said, suddenly struck by the humor of the situation, “of course… you wouldn’t want to have a super-powered body, with the exception of…”
“Lois!”
“I mean – then you couldn’t very well let them call you the man of steel.”
He winced. “Oh god. Do you know how sexy you are when you tease me?”
She gave him a mischievous smile. “Good. I’ll remember that.”
“So… are we… good? Are we okay?”
“Yes! Oh god – Clark… I may freak out like this when we get close like that… but we will never not be good.”
“Well… I know that I was a little slow in figuring it out – back there – and if you felt angry or threatened, I’d want to know.”
“I don’t,” she said, blushing. She looked away, embarrassed still to talk about it. “You would not have raped me,” she whispered. “I know that for a fact. You couldn’t.”
“I’m glad,” he said carefully. “That even despite my own crazy ramblings the other night – you know that I wouldn’t. No matter how out of control I ever may feel – I can’t imagine I could ever lose sight of what you were feeling to that extent. Lois – if I ever scare you – you can send me a telepathic message to stop, and that surely will penetrate the fog around my brain.”
She moved into his space by taking a step forward, and she circled her arms around his waist, and laid her head on his chest.
“I love you,” she said, suddenly overwhelmed by that feeling. “And I thought I’d lost you. I – I can’t even tell you how horrifying that was.”
“What… what happened,” he asked gently as his hand came up to carefully rub her back. “I only know parts of the story… and… I guess I’m hoping you’ll fill in the blanks.”
She backed up a bit, and he immediately let her go. He saw the look of uncertainty cross her face, and even thought he saw a glimmer of worry.
“Lois? What is it? You can tell me anything, you know. I – I’m here for you – through and through.”
“I just… it’s not all that pretty… and – I don’t want… you to… think… of – of me… differently.”
Dread seized his heart. Did the clone hurt her? Did he – could he have raped her? Or – maybe did she seduce the clone in order to find me? It can’t be –right? Because then – wouldn’t she be more – agitated and – physically afraid of being around me all over again?
“I… I killed him,” she confessed, her voice so low, only he could have heard it.
“Killed… Luthor?”
“No. No – he’s in jail. I… I killed your clone.” She lifted tear-filled eyes to him, and said it again. “I killed your clone. Clark. I murdered him!”
Clark listened silently, waiting for her to continue.
“Don’t you understand,” she said, her voice increasing in agitation. “I’m a killer. I killed a man. Your clone, for crying out loud. I’m a clone-killer – a – a – “
“Lois! Please. If you killed him, it’s because you felt you had to. I don’t blame you at all. Did … what did he do to you, Lois. Did – did he – did he hurt you?”
She heard the very anxious edge to her voice, and remembered the look of shock and worry on his face after Henderson had mentioned that the clone had gotten fresh with her. He had immediately passed out, and she had forgotten that he had been left with an unfinished version of the story.
“He … scared me. A lot. And… I thought he was going to… to rape me. But – I didn’t get hurt. And Clark – he was there too – with Lois – and so… I guess I should just start at the beginning and tell you the story. Do you want to sit down?”
“Only if you do.”
“Yeah. I do.”
“Then let’s sit.”
He held her hand and led her gently to the couch. She sat down, and he sat down next to her, giving her a little space.
“It all started when our link was so brutally broken. I was enjoying that so much,” she said, a sad smile on her face, “and then – it was gone. You were gone. I tried so hard to reach out to you – to make contact – I called you, I tried mental contact – but nothing… and I was so scared! I was sure something bad had happened, but it wasn’t like I had anything I could call and tell the police about. I finally fell asleep out of exhaustion, but as soon as I got up, I called Perry. He … he knows, by the way. About us. I hope that’s okay.” She nervously looked at him as she awaited his answer.
“Hey. It’s okay! It’s great!”
“Uh… my mom knows too. And… um… Lucy… and… I think my dad knows.”
“It’s – “
“Oh! And Bernie. So… I’ve kind of divulged our little secret. I hope that – you aren’t…”
“Lois! Please – I think it’s wonderful.”
“Okay. Okay. So where was I? Uh…anyway – he told me to turn on the TV, and I did – and I saw… well – Superman. I still – didn’t feel right about – about things. I was going to call you and ask you to come see me, but something stopped me – some … feeling of things not being right. So instead, I … I went in search of you. I got to downtown, and you were gone – that’s where you last had been spotted. I – I decided to go into our alley and call you. I guess that wasn’t very prudent, but I did it anyway- and as my luck would have it, there was a mugger in there.”
“Lois! Are you okay? Did he hurt you?”
“No. No… it was at that point, that I called ‘Help, Superman!’, and he arrived… and he picked up the mugger as if he was a rag doll, and hurled him violently against the wall of the alley. That kid… he just crumpled into this heap. He’s…in a coma, now, actually… I called and checked on him.”
“Oh… god…” Clark buried his head in his hands.
“It’s not your fault, Clark,” she said gently, placing a comforting hand on his knee. “You were helpless, you couldn’t have done anything –and you aren’t the one who did this.”
“I know,” he said. “But I still feel responsible for what he did – I know that’s not logical.”
“No… but I understand. And I’m sure that you’re going to have to deal with people who … maybe not blame you, but perhaps fear you by association, thanks to what that guy did. I’m sorry – you shouldn’t have to deal with this… insult onto injury.”
“It’s okay, Lois. I’ll worry about that later… but I do feel I owe that kid an apology.”
“Mmm. Maybe not the best thing to go try to give it. He may be traumatized by it. I mean – I guess – like me… you know?”
“Yeah. You’re making a lot of sense.” His voice sounded defeated.
“We’ll worry about that together, Clark,” she said kindly. “You aren’t alone in this anymore.”
“I know. Thank you. I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
“So… so what happened after that?”
“He turned around to talk to me, and I just knew that something was wrong. I didn’t know what – yet… but I just had a bad feeling about him. I was afraid of him. I guess I just knew he wasn’t you.”
“Or… you thought he was me, but maybe under the influence of something? Were you afraid of me?”
“No! I – would NEVER think you capable of hurting someone like that… at least not since I’ve trusted you. I didn’t yet have any answers, but I did suspect he might be from another universe. Anyway – he grabbed me – and flew away with me – to your place! I tried to tell him I was scared, but he didn’t seem to care or understand.”
“Oh my god, Lois. I can’t even believe… you went through all this, and – you must have been so terrified. I’m sorry – sorry I didn’t – “
“It’s okay, Clark. I’m okay. Really.”
“But what did he do – at my place…god…here… right here… did he…”
“He … groped me. He kissed me… and he tried to go further than that, but I resisted. He was angry,” she shuddered, “but I pretended not to notice, and just tried reminding us of our date later on. He still seemed intent on… having his way… but I managed to get him to let me go in the end. It … it was terrifying, Clark.”
His arm came around her, and he gently squeezed her shoulders, offering up belated reassurance and comfort.
She gratefully leaned into him as she continued her story.
“I got back to my apartment, and I was terrified – I had no idea what to do next, and then Herb showed up. Oh. He knows about us too,” she said, smiling up at him impishly.
“He must have been… surprised – to say the least – that is… about us.”
“He was, but he recovered quite well. He sensed your life force dimming,” she shuddered again. He knew you were dying. Dying! “And… he came to find out what was going on. When I told him, he called in the other Lois and Clark. That was a little … upsetting… because Clark was dressed just like Lord Kal- and for a rather horrifying long moment, I thought he was Lord Kal.”
“Why in the world – “
“Long story, and I don’t know most of it, but I’ll fill you in. Don’t worry though – he’s not going to be Lord Kal for long, and he’s not doing anything dangerous … Lois isn’t in any danger from him. Okay?”
“Okay… “
“After he found out why I was upset, he flew here to get some of your clothes. Then – a lucky break came our way… Carissa showed up, all upset about what had happened. She had some of the junk she slipped into your wine with her, and gave it to me. I hatched a plan where I’d slip it into the clone’s drink. Clark was appalled by the idea, but Lois thought it was a good one. They hovered nearby while I tried to lure your clone into drinking a glass of wine. It was very close, but he did, and we ended up disabling him. After that, we called in Perry and Inspector Henderson, and mounted our rescue mission. Clark was able to use telepathy to find you.”
“My god… but when the clone came here… before he drank the poison – he didn’t hurt you in any way?”
“He was… he kissed me, and he groped at me – and he was rough and… not willing to take no for an answer, so- yeah – he hurt me a little, and scared me a lot… but – in the end… it all worked out.”
“Oh, Lois.”
“And… I learned something really cool. I learned that my love for you is far stronger than my fears …and that was really important for me to realize. I realized then that you and I – we’re right together, and this is going to work. We will cross over into that kind of intimacy… it’s going to happen. And it’ll be wonderful when it does.”
“Lois,” he said, pulling her close into a warm embrace. “I’m glad you finally believe that.”
“And if you think about it – okay – it’s a very hard way to get what you want… but we NAILED Luthor. He’s going to prison forever. Now… I’m not saying I would willingly want you to be put in such a horrible situation for that outcome, but since it happened, I’m inclined to want to celebrate that rather wonderful outcome. I brought a bottle of wine… tonight, we are going to have that date that we didn’t get to have…do those wonderful things we talked of doing.”
“I’d like that,” he said, his voice suddenly hoarse with emotion and desire.
“I have some work related things to do,” she said, her voice still slow and langorous as she traced an imaginary S on his chest. “Together,” she said, backing away a little so she could look easily into his eyes, “we need to write the article about the arrest of Lex Luthor. I called in some stuff, but it was very much a skeleton of the story. I didn’t want to have anything published that you didn’t want published. But I do want to tell my story as well- the bit about the clone, uh… censored a bit… and… what?”
He was grinning at her, and she was nonplussed. Was he amused by her?
“Oh… Lois – it’s just that – it’s fun to watch you in reporter mode!”
“Oh. But… you should have seen me back in the day. It wasn’t so much fun, as frightening. Lets just say that asking your permission before printing the story wouldn’t even have occurred to me.”
“And that’s why you’re the best. You never set out to deliberately hurt anyone, Lois – you just were fighting for truth and justice. You can’t argue with that!”
“So – exclusive then?”
“Yeah, I think you deserve it… after…” He deliberately let his voice trail off teasingly.
“Oh! After what!” She sounded indignant, but he could see the glimmer of humor in her eyes.
“After all – you were a very big part of the whole story. After everything you went through to save my life! The story is incomplete with you. Just like… me. I’m incomplete without you.”
“Likewise,” she shuddered. “I never want to know that feeling again.”
“Me either,” he agreed in a heartfelt assent. He pulled her close again, trying not to remember how desolate and lonely he felt when she wasn’t here – or when she was here, but absolutely terrified of him.
“Lois… about our date tonight?”
His voice rumbled in his chest, and she loved how it vibrated throughout her entire being. She pressed even closer against him, feeling safer than she ever had in her entire life.
“Yeah?”
“Stay the night,’ he said, backing away slightly to make full eye contact. “Stay the night… spend the night with me…”
Tbc…
