Touring Clark’s World
By Nancy V. Sont
Rated PG
Usual copyright disclaimers apply
Clark Kent put his arms around his sweetheart and nestled his face into her hair. She stood with her arms around his waist, feeling the comforting warmth of his love and his goodness. “You are so good, Clark,” she mumbled as he held her.
“Umm,” he responded in gratitude. He smelled the fresh air in her hair and rubbed his cheek gently up and down on its softness.
She leaned her head back and looked up into his eyes and smiled, her whole face radiating at him. He smiled back and drew her close again.
They stood that way for awhile. Lois had learned how much more there was to Clark than the man she’d grown to love as her partner. She’d had a hard time seeing him as Superman or Superman as Clark, as indeed, even Clark didn’t seem to be able to merge the two personalities and lives he led.
When he’d come home from the earthquake, after 10 hours of nonstop flying in and out of the rubble to uncover bodies and to rescue victims trapped in air pockets, he’d been completely exhausted. Lois had waited for him on the top step outside his apartment. He’d come around the corner after walking aimlessly as he tried to unwind. She’d listened and comforted him as he babbled about the horror, the blood and death, the anguish of children and parents who’d lost families, security, safety and all they owned. He’d poured his heart out to her before finally falling asleep in her arms on top of his bed.
Superman had never let her close enough to get to know what his own life was like, even as just the superhero. No one seemed to realize that he even had feelings or emotions, so well hidden had Clark had kept his secret identity.
They’d both slept well into the weekend before they’d roused and come back to life in one another’s arms. It felt so good to just be close. Neither had any intention to be intimate until they were married, although they’d not talked about marriage yet.
“Good morning, Clark,” Lois said looking into his face as his eyes opened. She’d been watching him, her arm draped over him and lying against his arm which was also draped over her. He opened his eyes and slowly smiled as he realized she was still beside him where they’d fallen asleep. He leaned forward and kissed her lips, then breathed deeply, his muscular chest expanding under her arm. He stretched his legs and reached his arms up, letting all the traces of his valiant fight against the earthquake out of his muscles. He relaxed, rolling over onto his back and turned his head to look into Lois’ warm brown eyes.
He smiled, “I didn’t expect you to still be here.” He looked at the clock on his bedside table. “It’s 1 pm?” He stretched again and looked toward the window. Crossing his arms behind his head his body slowly rose into the air. He rolled over and jumped to the bathroom door, landing gently and bouncing inside. He stuck his head around the corner and grinned at her.
“Showoff!” She grinned back, amazed at what she still didn’t know about him. She stretched and sat up, her sweatshirt and jeans somewhat twisted around her from sleeping in them. She contemplated making coffee for them.
Clark appeared again and jumped effortlessly across the room in a dive, landing face up on his bed, his head on his pillow and his arms outstretched for her. She giggled, then turned to snuggle into his arms as she leaned against him. Neither of them felt much like talking, but were just content to lie close to one another.
“Thanks for being here last night when I came home,” he said after awhile, “It really helped me to fall asleep to be able to talk it all out with you.” He paused for a moment, then continued, “I guess I was in pretty bad shape. I guess my brain doesn’t work so well when I’ve not had sleep in a long time.”
“Umm,” Lois responded, squeezing him with the arm that lay across his chest. “Clark,” she began, “I had no idea what your life is really like. It’s so much bigger than anything I’d ever imagined. Not only do you have a full time job at the Daily Planet, you are constantly rushing out to save the world. I’ve seen you respond to problems Superman’s had before, but only a little bit. I remember when you were so upset the week that Superman was being sued for rescuing that musician. There are so many things that are coming together in my mind. You deal with so much death and destruction. Last night was the first time I’d ever realized how it all really affects you. It’s so far beyond me what you do in the course of a day.”
He squeezed her side with the arm that lay under her head. “Thanks for listening.” He sighed, looking up at the ceiling, then back at her with a smile. Then with a twinkle in his eye, he began, “What do you say we have some fun today? I think I could use a bit of fun.”
Lois smiled at him, wondering just what his idea was fun was, now that she had started to get to know the real Clark Kent/Superman. “Sure!”
“Okay, how about we go on a tour?”
She raised her eyebrows in curiosity, “Okay. Of what?”
“May I take you on a tour of my world?”
She looked a bit puzzled, but had come to know that this man she loved could make a tour of Centennial Park into a place she’d never been before. “Okay, when?”
“Now!” He shot back with a grin.
She smiled and nodded, “Okay.” She sat up, looked back at him and headed to the bathroom. Clark opened the closet door and selected something he thought would be appropriate for a day of adventure; a t-shirt and a pair of jeans over his bathingsuit. He stood briefly in front of the mirror and smiled at himself. He’d already burned off his facial hair when he’d been in the bathroom earlier.
Lois ran his comb through her hair, shaking it back into place, and came to stand beside him in the kitchen.
He greeted her with a hug, “Okay, here’s the plan. We go over to your house so you can get ready, then we go somewhere for breakfast. You should also bring a bathing suit and a jacket. Do you have any snorkeling gear?”
“Yes. Okay,” she responded, enjoying his smile and his good mood, curious what he had planned.
He backed a foot away from her, spun into the suit, then lifted her gently in his arms, carried her to the balcony door, and shot up into the sky with her.
The wind against her hair, and the rush of movement thrilled her as she covered her ears as they popped from the altitude change. “That wasn’t too fast was it? I didn’t want anyone to see us leaving my apartment together, you know, the walls have eyes.” He rolled his eyes at her while she hugged his neck and smiled, watching the scenery blur until they were standing in her apartment.
“Nope, not too fast at all!” She grinned at him and headed to her bedroom, leaving him in the living room.
In a moment she reappeared in a pair of jeans and a yellow t-shirt. “You know, Clark, I’ve got an idea.” She grinned sheepishly at him. “You know how you don’t want anyone to know Superman likes Clark’s girlfriend?”
He made a half grin and tipped his head from side to side then nodded.
“Well, how about if Superman had a girlfriend?” Her smile widened as she pulled a strawberry blonde wig out from behind her and held it up with a smile.
He chuckled. “Sounds good to me. Here, want me to help you with that?”
She patted his chest, “No, I’ll be right back.”
In a moment she returned with the curly long hair falling over her shoulders, the puffy bangs hiding her forehead. He raised his eyebrows and grinned. “I like it!” She spun around for effect. “It’s great. Do you want to wear it today when we’re flying?”
She grinned at her latest splendid idea, “Yup!”
In a few moments, she returned to stand sideways in front of him, put an arm around his neck and raised a knee for his hand, “Up up and away?”
He scooped her up, a grin covering his face. When they were above Metropolis, he caught her lips in a tender kiss which she happily returned. He put his head back up to watch where he was going. “Let’s see, it’s 2 pm here, that means it’s 7 am in Hawaii.” He swerved to head westward.
Lois caressed the back of his neck idly with her hand, leaning her head against his shoulder as he carried her in front of himself. In a few minutes the city buildings had given way to the fields of corn of the Midwest, then to the dry brown of the foothills of the Rockies, then the snow covered peaks.
“Wow, they're so beautiful from here!” Lois cooed.
“Here, I’ll go down further so you can see them better,” Clark said, dropping in altitude. The white mountaintops contrasted with the green of the grass-covered mountains above the tree line. Forests covered the sides of the valleys.
“Nice,” Lois breathed, snuggling into Clark’s neck a bit more.
“Okay, time to go,” he said, increasing his speed again and rising a bit higher. They passed the rolling green hills of California, and then shot out across the ocean to Hawaii.
“Humm, which island? Do we want an oozing volcano on the rock island? Or do we want the crowds and activity of Maui, or the peace and quiet of the garden island of Kauai?” He pondered, “How about Kauai?” He said, not waiting for an answer.
Lois didn’t feel the need to contribute to his decisions, he was doing a splendid job of making this into a very memorable day.
They landed on a secluded warm beach. He looked around to make sure they were quite alone, then spun back into his comfortable clothes and put a hand out to pop Lois’ wig off. He grinned and met her smiling brown eyes as her silky brown hair fell into place.
“Well?” He asked, awaiting her reaction.
“Clark, you’re amazing. I'm so lucky. I used to think of saving to go to far away places like this and finally settled on Tahiti. I never got there yet though, the money’s still in the bank gathering interest.” She unzipped her leather jacket. Clark was quickly behind her to help her out of it.
“Lois, it’s the most wonderful thing to be able to have you in my life. We’ve been through a lot together. We’ve seen so many aspects of each others’ lives in the time we’ve known each other. I remember you pouring your heart out to me when you thought we were going to die in that warehouse before I had created superman. I remember so many times when you cried for help, but never until you were sure you couldn't get out of the problem yourself. You’ve seen me do heroic Superman stuff, be depressed as Clark when Superman was in trouble, be weak or sick when Superman had been near kryptonite. We’ve seen each other’s reactions to personal tragedies. The list goes on and on.
But it wasn’t until last night when you held me and let me tell you about the disaster I’d faced, that I had really been able to let you see all of me. You have no idea how wonderful it felt to have you, the woman I’ve loved from behind the mask of best friends for so long, love me back, all of me, even the most despondent, insecure, and hopeless part.
He gathered her in his arms and held her closely.
“Oh Clark,” she murmured, “I wish I could change the past. I wish I could change how I’ve treated you, how I’ve ignored you and belittled you, rejected you and stepped on you…” a tear slipped from her eye as her voice broke. “You’ve always been so good to me. You’ve always been there for me to brighten my day, to lift my spirits, to see the good in me, and to rescue me from my stupid ideas.”
They stood holding one another in silence, then almost at once, they both said, “I love you. After awhile the sounds of the birds chirping, the breeze in the leafy trees and the roar of the ocean washed their troubles away and brought them back to Hawaii.
Feeling the sun on his body, Clark was feeling quite energized and hoped Lois was also. “Shall we take a swim? My way?” Clark challenged her.
About to jump in with both feet until her stomach growled, Lois instead asked, “What about breakfast first?”
“Oops, good point,” Clark responded. “Well my princess, would you like to have dinner in a lovely restaurant, or shall we pick fruit from the trees and sit by a fire?”
Lois giggled and took his hand, looking around at the fruit trees growing near the beach. “Fruit by the fire?”
“Your wish is my command,” he replied happily. “We need a nice table,” he looked around quickly and dragged a coconut palm leaf over, broke it in half and put one piece down like a large placemat.
“Okay, now we have to have something to drink.” He looked up into the coconut trees. He flashed her a grin, ready to show off, then hugged the tree, shaking it until a coconut fell. He picked it up, pulled the thick brown outer layer off as if it were just a leaf, then looked at the dents in the top. Lois had come over and was standing beside him, a hand on his shoulder. With a short burst of heatvision, he burned two small holes in the top. “Ladies first,” he said handing her the coconut with a smile..
“What am I supposed to do with it?” She grinned and raised her eyebrows, looking into his laughing brown eyes.
“It’s filled with coconut milk. You drink it. Well, half of it,” he teased. She raised it to her lips and laughed as some of it ran down the sides of her face.
“Umm, that’s good!” She said offering some to him. He drank what she’d left him, then squeezed the shell to break it in half. Wiggling each half just enough, he made the soft coconut slide away from the shell. He put the halves on his table, then looked around at the fruit trees.
“I’ll pick us each a mango,” Lois said as she moved over and reached up to pluck two soft ripe orange-yellow mangos. She put them on the table beside the coconut.
“Hey, how about some breadfruit roasted in the fire?” Clark asked, moving into the jungle-like thickness beyond the coconut tree. He jumped up, hovered beside it and plucked a large breadfruit ball from the side of a leafy green tree.
Lois was standing watching him, amazed at his agility, his comfortableness with his powers, and with his loving attitude. “I’ll gather wood for the fire,” she offered, and pulled the discarded coconut palm a few feet away from their table. She pulled some deadfall branches from beneath the bushes nearby, breaking it all up into campfire sized pieces, and piled them onto the coconut palm. She was surveying the would be fire when Clark came over with the breadfruit.
“Here,” he said, squatting down by the fire and lighting it with a stream of red heat from his eyes. It burst into flames. He broke a log in pieces as Lois watched in amazement at how much easier it looked than using a chain saw. He leaned them on their fire, then sat down on the warm sand. Lois sat down beside him and leaned back on her elbows, looking more content than Clark had seen her before. He stretched out and rolled onto his stomach and lay with his chin in his hands, looking into her eyes. “You’re so beautiful, Lois. Thank you so much for coming with me today.”
She grinned, “I can’t think of a better way to spend my day off than being with you, wherever you want us to go!” She giggled, her face looking like a little girl. “I’ve always wanted to be on an island, alone with someone who loves me, who I love, having a campfire on the beach.” She looked at the waves breaking nearby. The water swelled, then rolled, then broke open as white water splashed down in front of it. “Have you ever been surfing?” she asked.
“Yup, but I don’t use a board.” He teased.
“Can you walk on water, too?” She asked curiously.
“Well, I can keep myself from sinking if that’s what you mean, but the water doesn’t support me. I have to do a bit of hovering while I walk on it.
The smell of the cooking breadfruit was enticing, “Clark, where did you learn to do this?” Lois nodded at the breadfruit which was blackening on the outside.
He smiled back at her. “I stayed in a lot of remote villages in my days of traveling. Breadfruit over the fire is a staple to many of the people who live in the tropics or on islands like this one.” He reached into the fire and squeezed the breadfruit while Lois gasped. He looked over at her again, holding it in his hand. “It’s okay, Lois, I'm invulnerable, remember.”
She pushed half of her mouth into a grin. “Habit, you know.” He was breaking it in half when he quickly looked up in distraction. Remembering how he’d always excused himself quickly right after that very familiar look, the usual feeling of discouragement that Lois had grown to habitually respond to it, washed over her. “What is it?”
Clark listened for a moment longer, then turned back to her and to breaking the breadfruit in half. “A bank alarm and sirens. But it sounds like the police are on top of it.” Using a flattened piece of stick, he scraped the center out of the breadfruit, leaving the soft, bread-like meat clean. He tossed the seed into the jungle and put the halves on their table and smiled at her, their eyes locking again. “Breakfast is ready, my dear.”
“This is so nice, Clark. I just love it! I guess this is what camping would be like with you!” They sat and ate their coconut, mangoes and breadfruit, savoring the delicate flavors of fresh picked foods. She lay back onto the sand, resting her head on his leg. He looked down at her, brushing a stray bit of hair out of her face and sighed.
“It’s wonderful, Lois.” He leaned back onto his elbows and looked out over the ocean and at the birds flying over the waves. He recognized the red-footed booty landing in its colony up the beach. “Look at that bird, Lois, see it’s red feet! Isn’t that funny!” Clark laughed and pointed while Lois sat back up.
She laughed too, “Good grief, it looks like a duck that walked in red paint!” A couple of them flew nearby and landed in a tree in the nearby canopy. The small red webbed feet circled the branch, holding on miraculously.
They watched the pair for awhile. One had a fish in its beak. Suddenly it took off, while a scissor-tailed Great Frigatebird swooped down on it, making it drop the fish. The large bird dove to catch the fish before it hit the water. As the frigatebird flew back overhead, Lois cried out, “Look at that red ball on its neck!”
“It’s a male, Lois, they look like that. When they are looking for a mate, they puff it to the size of a softball.
Lois stood up. “I'm going to go put on my bathing suit,” she said, pulling her one piece suit out of her carrying bag and heading into the undergrowth.
He watched her go, pleased that she’d chosen a modest suit. He spun into his swimming trunks and walked down closer to the water, stooping down to watch the sea life in the water. Three red-tailed tropicbirds, white birds with long slender red tails and red beaks did a flight display of somersaults over the water as Lois returned, barefoot, with her mask and snorkel in hand, ready to play. “Woah!” she said as she looked at what Clark was watching. “What’s with red and Kauai birds?”
Clark just grinned, “I guess they know they’re on a tourist island and want to impress the visitors!” He ducked as Lois swung good naturedly at his head.
They waded out into the warm water. Lois put on her gear and grinned at him and dove into the waves. They swam out for awhile, then Clark came over and caught Lois. “Look down here!” He didn’t have to wear a mask or snorkel to see clearly to the bottom. They swam along holding hands, their faces in the water. He pointed to a large rock at the bottom. For a moment it didn’t look too interesting, but then Lois saw movement beneath the rock. Two huge green sea turtles were beneath it. One was moving itself forward, pushing with its long flipper legs against the sand, pushing the other turtle out from under the rock. Once successful, the powerful turtle took a moment to slide in beneath the rock and settle down for a nap. Meanwhile, the other turtle angled upward, and slowly rose in the water, it’s powerful flippers moving gently back and forth. When it reached the surface, it put its head out of the water, opened its large mouth and floated. Lois and Clark up righted themselves in the water and Lois pulled her goggles up to watch the sea turtle’s head above the water. He was olive green with dark eyes. His open mouth looked sharp on the edges. They were only about two yards away from the big animal, but it took no notice of them at all.
“It’s so strange, Clark, to see it in it’s world, then to come up here and see half of it in ours!” He squeezed her hand and grinned.
“There’s more over there,” he pointed underwater. Lois put her goggles back on and followed his finger, pulling him along as she began to swim over to where he was showing her. Sure enough, there were more sea turtles either sleeping on the bottom, or pulling at underwater plants.
“How old do you think they are?” Lois said, her snorkel tube still in her mouth. She knew Clark would be able to hear her clearly under the water. He held up one finger for her to see, released her hand and dove down to the turtles at the bottom. He looked under the rock and paused to count the shapes on the turtles’ backs.
Lois was startled to hear a flock of black and white speckled geese flying over head. She rolled on her back as she took off her gear and watched the large birds fly to the trees near where they’d had their campfire. A thin trail of smoke rose from their little campfire in the sand. She floated on her back for awhile, watching the flock land. One landed on the beach and walked over to their breakfast table. The others seemed to be landing in berry bushes and balancing on the slender branches while pecking at the berries. Lois watched in wonder until a splash announced Clark’s arrival beside her.
“The turtles are over a hundred years old.” He stated, nodding back down to the water where he’d been.
Lois acknowledged his effort in finding out, put an arm around his neck and pointing to the geese. “What are they?”
He smiled at her confidence that he’d know all the answers to her questions, “Nene. They’re a really tame Hawaiian goose, the state bird.”
“STATE?” Lois’ eyebrows shot up. Wow, that’s hard to believe, way out here in the middle of the ocean on a tropical island, we’re in a state!”
He flashed her a grin. “Okay, are you ready for some adventure?”
“You mean a different one?”
“No, just, well, this is a tour of MY world, remember?”
Lois smiled and pulled him close and kissed him. “How could I forget?”
“Okay, well, after I have to deal with some pretty dirty places when I'm doing rescues, or when I'm just really frustrated, or something, I often come here for a swim. Well, not just here actually, sometimes I do laps in the Atlantic, you know, between Metropolis and London.”
Lois’ face lit up as she shook her head in disbelief. “I feel like the part of you that I know is just so tiny!”
He grinned. “Well, want to take a fast swim? I mean, I won’ t go as fast as I usually go, but I think you’ll like it.” To her nod, he hugged her to his stomach. “Now, when you need to breathe, just squeeze me, or something. I’ll probably be able to tell by how your body feels in my arms, but just to be on the safe side, let me know if I'm not fast enough to get you some air.” He took her snorkeling gear and tossed it way back to the beach where it landed beside her bag.
“Okay,” she said, breathing deeply. He leaned them sideways in the water, and shot out into the distance beneath the waves, watching her face. The water rushed past them, massaging their bodies as they sped out into the vast ocean. As he began to feel Lois’ body needing air, but long before she was desperate, he shot them out of the water and above it, flying just above the tops of the rolling waves. “Wow!” Lois said slowly, grinning from ear to ear as she watched the whitecaps blur beneath her. “Was that ever fun!”
He smiled and leaned in for a kiss, “Want to do it again?”
“Um hum,” she responded, finding his lips again as he flew in a circle to face the shore, still moving.
“Okay, deep breath!” He watched her inhale and hold her breath before he slowed down their flight to break gently through the water’s surface. He grinned at her underwater and hugged her tightly. Without moving much, Lois brought her lips to his, not in a real kiss, but just a safe underwater touch as they sped along. He smiled beneath her lips and kissed her in a real kiss that she didn’t dare completely return, not while she was holding her breath underwater anyway.
As they came within surfing distance of shore, he rolled onto his back, and floated up to the surface of the water. She raised her head up and took a good breath, then laughed, “You’re so funny! Kissing me like that when I can’t kiss you back!”
“Well you started it!” He said squeezing her. He turned his head to look at the waves that were beginning to form ahead of them. “Now, how about some surfing?”
“You may not need a surfboard, but I do!” Lois grinned.
“I’ll be your surfboard!” He announced happily. When the wave comes in beneath me, I’ll tell you when to stand up on my chest! Don’t worry about falling, you won’t hit the water as long as I'm around!” He grinned again.
She raised her eyebrows. The thought of standing on someone’s chest was bad enough, but to stand on someone who was floating in the water was pretty dumb! That is, unless he were Superman. She seated herself on Clarks’ stomach. “You’re sure about this. I know it sounds dumb, but I don’t want to hurt you.”
“Lo-is!” He chuckled. “Okay, stand up!” She climbed up on his chest. “Here, I’ll hold your ankle so you don’t fall off me. I’ve watched people tie their surfboards to their ankles with a long line so the board won’t get away from them if they fall, but I’ll use my hand!” He tickled her ankle a bit beneath his fingers briefly till she gave him one of those ‘not now, Buster,’ looks.
“Okay, here it comes, get ready,” he said just before a swell rose up beneath Clark, moving them toward the shore. The wave rolled beneath him, while Lois used her leg muscles to maintain her balance and to subdue the wave beneath. Clark was holding onto each of her ankles, and looking up at her. She had a determined look on her face, which broke into a grin as the wave grew beneath them, crashing just up beyond Clark’s head.
“This is SOOOO cool!” She shouted, “Oh, Clark, this is SOOO amazing!”
“Welcome to the world of Clark Kent!” he called up to her, enjoying the feel of the muscles in her feet as they pushed against his solid chest as she maintained her control of her ‘surfboard’. The wave rushed them toward its dry goal.
She bent her knees slightly as the force of the wave beneath her moved Clark up and down. Experimenting, she pushed downward on her back foot, as if to turn the board to go along the length of the wave. It worked. Well, with Clark’s incredible cooperation. The ‘board’ turned sideways, and suddenly they found themselves in the midst of a wave tunnel, with Clark skimming the smooth water of the bottom of the tunnel, the smooth water rising in a wall beside and above them, with a roaring white waterfall on the other side. It seemed like a long time that they surfed in the tunnel, before the wave disappeared from around them and they found themselves being washed ashore. She jumped off his chest onto the beach as he jumped up to his feet.
She could hardly contain herself. Grabbing his arms by his side, she bent over in laughter. “Clark, that was so incredible! I can’t believe we did that! I can’t believe we stayed on the top of the wave, then were inside it! Oh Clark, I can’t believe what a fantastic date you are!” She flung her arms around him in a hug, laughing, then stumbling down to the warm sand.
“I thought you’d like that, Lois! I knew you’d be up for the challenge. You’re good, too. It’s not many people that can stay up on their first time! And certainly not the way you managed to ‘control the board’,” he said, inserting a wink.
Lois pulled her knees up to her chest, a grin filling her face. “Clark, I can’t believe I did that! I’ve never surfed before. I’ve skied a lot, but never surfed. That was so incredible. How much of that did I do, and how much were you doing?”
“You were great, the way you were using your muscles against me was exactly right. I did help a bit, I didn’t let the wave get control of us. It’s nice to be able to hover when you need to. I tried to stay just on top of the wave. I also kept us in the tunnel without going too fast or slow so it wouldn’t break on us. That was pretty neat wasn’t it!”
“Darn right!” She patted his leg beside her where he was sitting cross-legged.
“Lois, this is so wonderful for me!” His eyes were so filled with happiness and sincerity. “I’ve always wanted to show you my world. It’s one thing to have a wonderful world of your own, but if you cant’ share it with anyone, it’s just not much fun!”
“Yeah, I don’t suppose you take your mom or dad surfing!” She teased.
“Nope, there’s some things that are far more fun with a girlfriend!” He winked at her, “Like kissing underwater!” Lois blushed and turned her face towards the crashing waves, digging her toes into the sand.
She gazed at the black cliff down the beach then changed the subject. “The rock is black here because this island is made of lava?”
Clark nodded. “Yup. Do you want to fly over the volcano on the Big Island when we leave?”
“Will it be hot?”
“We won’t be that close, otherwise it would be!”
“Okay.” Lois changed her gaze to look in the other direction, down the beach where the waves were opening out in lines pointing to the shore. “Clark, what’s that?” She pointed at a large grey lump emerging onto the sand.
Clark followed the shore with his eyes, then focused in on what she was seeing. “It’s a monk seal, I think. Want to go have a look?”
“Should we? I mean are they dangerous or anything?”
“Not if you’re not a fish!” He stood up and reached down to give her a hand. “I’ve read that they come onto the beach to rest, to get some good sleep. When they’re in the water they’ve always got to be somewhat careful about their enemies, but they get their rest on land. They’re endangered now because so many people come up to them when they’re on the beach and keep them awake. Then when they go back into the water they’re too tired to defend themselves properly.”
“Well, we don’t have to go bother it,” Lois conceded.
“The signs I’ve read say to stay 100 yards away from them. We don’t have to get any closer to get a good look. I’ve seen them sleeping under picnic tables. On the more public parts of the island, when one comes ashore, the conservationists put up yellow tape to keep the people way back.”
They began walking, hand in hand along the beach, the sun having dried them off. Clark’s slick-backed hair had become puffy again with that curl hanging down over his forehead where it usually fell. Lois looked up at him and pushed it up into place. He stopped walking and turned to face her. “Lois…” he began, “you have no idea how much fun I'm having with you today. It’s so good to be with you.” He leaned down and kissed her. She smiled beneath his lips and reached her arms around him and ran her fingers through his soft hair.
“I love you, Clark Kent. You’re so good to me. How can I ever let you know how much I appreciate having you in my life?”
“You could marry me,” he said, leaning back in for another kiss.
“I could, if I were ready,” she responded without letting go. Their eyes met once again. “When I'm not so scared of marriage!”
“Any idea when that will be?” Clark prodded, his forehead against hers.
“Umm, when I'm ready. You’ll wait for me, won’t you?”
“I’ll wait for you forever, Lois. I don’t want to, but if that’s what it takes, I’ll wait.”
They heard a sound from the monk seal and looked toward it. Clark squeezed her hand and said, “Let’s go see it, no sense thinking about stuff you can’t have until you can have it!” She gave him a peck on the cheek as they started down the beach.
To Be Continued
