Wedding Consequences: 10/10
by Nan Smith
Previously:
Her hand was trapped between them. She wiggled it free, but only in order to slip her arms around his waist. "Clark, I don't remember if I ever apologized for the terrible things I said to you, for the things I accused you of ... but I'd like to do it now. To tell you just once how sorry I am, and how grateful."
"No --"
"Yes," she said, overriding his instinctive protest. "I'm more grateful than I can ever say. You saved me from myself, and we both know what a tough opponent I am." His lips twitched in a slight smile at her feeble joke, but she hurried on before he could speak. "But mostly, I want to tell you again that I love you -- and not as a brother, either. That's something that I kept hiding behind the whole time, pretending it wasn't so. I guess when I'm determined to do something stupid, all the evidence to the contrary doesn't matter. I'll have to remember that, if I ever want to be an investigative reporter again." She drew a deep breath. "I have to say this now, though, before I lose my nerve. I'll never know why, but you say you still love me."
"I do. I always will."
"Will you marry me, Clark?"
His eyes widened. "*Now*?"
She shook her head. "Oh, not now. That wouldn't look very good, and the tabloids would never leave us alone. But maybe in six months, when all this mess has died down, and the paparazzi have forgotten about us."
"Are you sure, Lois?" His hand came up to cup her cheek. "Are you sure that's what you really want?"
She nodded. "I've never been more sure of anything in my life."
He didn't hesitate. "In that case, yes."
The overnight case landed on the ground as she flung herself into his arms, but neither of them noticed.
Lex had never kissed her this way. She had never even wanted him to kiss her this way. No matter what happened in the future, she thought dizzily, as Clark's arms tightened around her and his lips covered hers, today had to rank as the most wonderful day of her life.
**********
And now, the last chapter:
Clark was in the process of making thick sandwiches for both of them when he heard the rumble of the Kent pickup truck's engine. A glance out the window told him that the ancient vehicle had just turned onto the narrow track leading from the highway that ran past the Kent property. It sounded as if his dad needed to get the muffler fixed again.
"Mom and Dad will be here in a few minutes," he said. "That's their truck." He sliced Lois's sandwich in half, added a thick dill pickle to the plate and presented it to her with a flourish. "Here you go, my lady."
"What's their truck?" Lois asked. She picked up half the sandwich and took a large bite. "This is great," she added, with her mouth full.
"That motor," he replied, as he sliced his own sandwich and set the plate on the table across from her. "Mom and Dad just turned off the road."
She swallowed and raised the sandwich for another bite. "I don't hear ... Oh, yeah, now I do," she interrupted herself. "Your ears must be better than mine."
"You didn't hear that?" Clark sat up straight, and at the same instant Lois's eyes widened.
"Clark! Your hearing! You don't suppose ..."
"I ... I don't ..." Quite suddenly, his voice had begun to shake.
"Can you test it?"
He nodded, training his attention on the truck as it approached. The murmur of his parents' voices was indistinct, but ...
"I can hear their voices," he said, aware that his own voice was shaking harder. "I can't tell what they're saying."
"Yet," Lois added. "Clark, I think your powers might be coming back."
He nodded, blinking at the sudden stinging of his eyes. He had told himself not to hope and tried not to think about it, but now he realized just how much he had missed the part of him that was Superman.
Lois's hand was suddenly covering his. "Superman's not gone," she said. "I'm so happy for you."
He squeezed her hand, swallowing the lump that seemed to have formed in his throat, and took a bite of his sandwich. Suddenly, the food tasted wonderful.
The truck pulled up in the driveway and the engine went quiet. A moment later, the kitchen door swung open and Martha Kent came in, carrying a large bag of groceries. Jonathan followed, another bag in his hands.
"Clark! Lois!" Martha set the bag down on the counter. "I wanted to be back before you got here! Are you two all right?"
Clark got to his feet to take the bag from his father. "Pretty much," he said. "Is there anything more to bring in?"
"Just one bag. I'll get it. You sit down and finish your sandwich." Jonathan turned and went out again.
Clark set the bag on the counter. His mother pointed to the sandwich. "You heard your father, Clark. Sit. Eat. I imagine the two of you haven't had much food for the last few days."
"Well," Clark hedged, "there were blackberries. We didn't starve." At his mother's stern look, he resumed his seat. "As you can see, Lois, my mom runs the whole show around here. Dad and I do what she says, if we know what's good for us."
Lois smiled. "Then you're used to it," she said. "I'm glad I won't have to retrain you."
Martha's eyebrows flew up. "Is there something I should know, here?"
"When we got here, Lois asked me to marry her," Clark said, offhandedly. "I said yes."
Martha's face broke into a delighted grin. "I always said you were a smart boy. Congratulations, both of you."
Jonathan stepped through the door, bearing the last bag. "Am I missing something?"
"Lois and Clark are engaged," Martha told him. She hurried to Lois and bent to hug her. "I always wanted a daughter. Now it looks like I'll have one."
Jonathan turned to look at Clark. "That was fast. When's the big event?"
"In six months or so," Lois said. Clark could see that her cheeks were faintly pink. "First we have to take care of some things. At least this time, I know I've made the right choice."
"There's something else, too," Clark said. "My powers are starting to come back. They're not a hundred percent yet, but it's happening."
Jonathan glanced at Lois, and nodded. "That's a relief. We were a little worried."
"Finish your snacks, and then we want to hear about what happened," Martha said. "Dinner will be in about two hours. Do you think you'll be able to eat again by then?" she added, looking at Lois.
She swallowed another large bite of sandwich. "I've got several days to make up for," she said. "I don't think there'll be any problem."
**********
Lois helped herself to the chicken casserole and let Clark shovel more mashed potatoes and chicken gravy onto her plate. The food was delicious, especially after four days of being hungry in the middle of nowhere. She made a mental note to ask Martha Kent for a few cooking lessons. Since she and Clark were going to be married, it would be nice if she could make something besides macaroni salad for dinner occasionally, and Martha looked like a very good prospect to teach her. After Clark's powers fully returned, it wouldn't be too difficult to visit Kansas frequently enough to gain a little skill in the kitchen, she thought.
"You know," Clark said, "I was afraid the media might have staked out the farm. I was wondering what to do if they had. Did you have any trouble with them?"
"The first day we did get a few calls, trying to get our reaction to what had happened," Martha said. "After some slimy character from the Tattler called, looking for any kind of scandal between you and Lois, we turned off the phone. We never saw any of them, though. Later Rachel told us that people had been directing the few that showed up in town all over Kingdom Come when they asked how to get here. It was kind of a game about who could send them to the worst spots, or get them going in circles."
Clark grinned. "That I'd like to have seen."
Jonathan chuckled. "After the pair from the Whisper had to have their car towed out of Potter's Slough, she said they kind of lost their enthusiasm. Fortunately, most of the papers were much more interested in Lois than you, Clark. Our local paper printed the story, and Carrie Johnson interviewed your mother and me, but that's been pretty much all of it, at least so far. A couple of tabloids called this afternoon, but your mother told them that although we'd talked to you by phone, that we wouldn't be flying out to Metropolis to see you until next week because we were going to be butchering hogs and would be too busy until then."
"I didn't see any hogs," Lois said.
"We don't have any," Martha said. "They don't know that, though. I gave them both a graphic description of the process -- until the guy at the other end hung up."
Lois had to work not to laugh with a mouthful of potatoes. Clark grinned approvingly. "Well, with the rental car in the shed, if any of them come snooping around, there'll be nothing to tell them that we're here," he said. "I guess we'll just have to lay low. Maybe you could go into town and get Lois a change of clothes," he added. "I won't be able to go get what we left behind at the plane until my powers come back fully, and that might be a while."
"How about your family, Lois?" Jonathan asked. "Did you get to talk to them?"
"I called my mother after we got to civilization, just to let her know I was okay," Lois said. "She's been on tranquilizers since the wedding, anyway though. The press has been camped out in front of her apartment ever since, too, so nothing has really changed. Besides, I think she kind of likes the drama."
Martha shook her head. "Don't these people realize that the last thing a family needs during a crisis is to have reporters crawling all over them?"
"They realize it," Clark said. "A lot of them just don't care about the feelings of the people involved, if there's a story to be had."
"I'll never forget it again, after this," Lois said, quietly. "I got a close look at just how it feels from the other side. I think it can only improve how I do my job in the future. Clark and I have been discussing how I can become a non-story as soon as possible. If it's all right, I'd like to call Perry tomorrow morning, and ask him to do some things for me. By the time Clark and I get married, we don't want a bunch of media attention. It might make it hard for him to do his job. His other job," she clarified. She turned her head to look at Clark and smiled. He smiled back and his hand slipped over to clasp hers under the edge of the table.
It was funny, she thought, how everything had changed in the days after her wedding to Lex. The things that she had thought important a couple of weeks ago didn't seem to matter anymore. The unreachable hero who had haunted her dreams had been replaced by her best friend, and all the glitz, power and luxury that Lex had waved in front of her to impress her had become a stone around her neck: a barrier to the important things that she wanted to do with her life.
Well, they would return to Metropolis next week and ride out the storm of their fifteen minutes of fame. She would rid herself of the burden of Lex's money, and then she and Clark and Superman would go to work as a team to find out who had tried to kill them. The "Mrs.", whoever she was, was going to find out the hard way that she had tangled with the wrong people.
And then, when everything was back to normal, she and Clark would be married quietly. Their partnership at work would become a partnership in life.
That was going to be the most thrilling adventure of all.
The End
