LAST TIME...
“Where are we going?” she questioned.
“Well, we can’t be up *this* late without staying up a few more minutes to see the sun rise...” Superman--Clark--said, smiling lovingly at her. “And I know just the spot.”
* * * * * NOW READ ON....
There was a park on the outskirts of Metropolis that had a splendid view overlooking Hobbs Bay in the distance. He brought her there, sat her down on the grass beneath a tree, and sat beside her.
“Wow,” she murmured, in awe. She shivered a bit; the morning air was brisk.
Superman wrapped his cape around her shoulders and held her close. “I like it up here. Not too many people know about this hill. But it’s got a great view.”
“Yeah,” Lois agreed, laying her head on his strong shoulder. She took it in; the colors of the sky rising--a stunning ever-changing kaleidoscope before her eyes, the feeling of closeness she felt with Clark, the sound of his voice, his breathing. It was serene, and soon she was drifting off.
Clark heard the slight change in Lois’ breathing that indicated she’d fallen asleep. Very carefully, he lifted her in his arms trying not to rouse her. She stirred a bit and started to open her eyes. “Shh. Shh, Lois,” he whispered. “You don’t have to wake up.” He kissed her cheek softly and guided her head to rest on his shoulder once more. Then, slowly so as not to disturb her, he flew back to his apartment.
She was still asleep when he touched down on his fire escape, and carefully he carried his precious cargo through the open window and into the bedroom, where he laid her gently on the bed. He spun out of the Suit and into his pajamas, then untied the laces on Lois’ sneakers, slipping them off her feet. He crept into bed beside her, tucked her in, and let himself drift off.
* * * * *
Clark woke up an hour or so later, noticing a change in Lois’ heartbeat. She had tensed up in her sleep; he was sure another nightmare was coming on.
Gingerly, Clark embraced her and felt her body start to relax. “That’s it, Lois,” he said, his voice barely a whisper. “Let it go, honey. Let it go.” He kept his voice soft, not wanting to really wake her up, but in some small way, he hoped his gentle tone would keep her mind off of the dark shadowy memories she rehashed on a nightly basis. He smoothed his hand over her soft hair and continued.
“Think about... think about when we were in Smallville. And we went to the corn festival, and you had a caramel apple, and I won you that teddy bear...” Clark murmured. Lois snuggled closer in her sleep. “You had on that new dress, and you looked so beautiful. Then we were line dancing, and I couldn’t believe you knew how! You were so good at it...”
His voice trailed off as he watched her. She was sleeping soundly again, a small smile playing on her lips. She was the most beautiful sight he’d ever seen. He let himself sleep again, his slumber filled with wonderful dreams of Lois Lane.
* * * * *
Her voice from the next room woke him up. “...Sorry, Chief. I’ve decided to work from home for a few days,” she was saying.
Clark could hear Perry White’s voice on the other end of the phone easily with his super hearing.
“Honey, you do what you have to do,” Perry said understandingly. “What are you working on, anyhow?”
“The Hyde and SEEC rapist,” Lois replied matter-of-factly.
“Lois...” Perry sighed, exasperated.
Lois was getting indignant. “I need to, Perry. You know I do.”
“No. You’re too close to it. You know the rules.”
“You told me to ‘do what I have to do.’ And I *have* to do this. If I can stop this guy from abusing one more woman--”
“Lois, I can get somebody else on it.”
“Perry, you know Clark and I can do it better than anybody else.”
There was a pause on Perry’s end. She’d hit a nerve. She was right. “All right. Do it. But swear to me--on The King’s grave--you’re not gonna do anything crazy?”
Lois smiled. “I promise. This is good for me. It’s therapeutic,” she added convincingly. “I’ve been talking to my counselor about taking control instead of feeling like I’m losing it all the time.”
“Atta girl, Lois. Keep your chin up. You’re doing great.”
“Thanks, Chief. I’ll keep you posted on the story.”
Clark entered his living room as she was hanging up the phone. She was seated on his couch munching on a cold Pop Tart. She looked adorable, her hair was disheveled from sleep and the collar of her oversized sweatshirt had slid down to reveal her bare shoulder. “Morning, beautiful.” He dropped a quick kiss on the top of her head as he passed on his way to the kitchen. “You *do* realize you’re supposed to heat those things up?”
“Yeah...” To Lois’ surprise, the Pop Tart seemingly heated itself up thanks to a long-distance shot with Clark’s heat-vision. “That is *so cool.* I don’t know if I’ll ever quite get used to that...”
Clark grinned. “You want some *real* breakfast?”
Lois smirked. “I thought you lived on junk food.”
Clark shrugged, and looked through his cabinets. “Well, I could make some pancakes or something...”
“Sounds good.”
Clark busied himself preparing a batch of buttermilk pancakes. He served Lois a generous stack, along with butter and warm syrup. She smiled, apparently impressed with his breakfast, and dove into the meal enthusiastically.
Once finished with breakfast, Lois made an announcement. “I have an idea.”
Clark raised his eyebrows. “Let’s hear it.”
“I think we should go undercover,” she stated.
Clark could see where this was going. “No way, Lois. Not this time.”
“Clark, listen to me. This is foolproof. We go to the subway platform at the Hyde Street stop. You’ll hide, and I’ll be the bait. When the guy comes, you can nab him before we even get on the train!”
Clark shook his head. He could not even believe what he was hearing. He hardly knew what to say. “Lois... I don’t think you should put yourself in that position. It’s dangerous, and--”
“Since when has that ever stopped me?” she retorted. “I want to put this guy behind bars before he lays a hand on another woman, Clark. This can’t go on.”
“All right. I admit it’s a good idea. But...” he hesitated to even say it, “does it *have* to be *you*?”
“Yes! Yes, Clark. It has to be me. I can’t play ‘helpless bystander’ anymore. I have to get over this. You know I can do it better than anyone. And with Superman right there, I’ll be perfectly safe, right?”
“Yes,” Clark admitted. She’d definitely be safe. That was for sure. No one would ever lay a hand on her if he had anything to say about it. “Let’s think about it, okay?”
Lois nodded in agreement. “All right.”
That afternoon, Lois had another counseling session with Robyn. She nearly had to sit on her hands to keep from talking about Clark being Superman. She did, however, confess to Robyn that she and Clark had admitted their feelings towards each other, and that while she wanted to take their relationship slowly, she was very excited about where it was going. Mostly she focused on how she felt about hearing what Ian had seen. It was frightening to hear about things that happened when she was unconscious--helpless to defend herself. At the same time, hearing Ian’s observations helped convince her once and for all that the rapist hadn’t had a chance to finish the job he’d started. And Ian’s care and concern had shed some positive light on what was otherwise a dark and dismal day.
Robyn was impressed by the progress Lois had made. She wasn’t sure if it was due to talking to Ian, or her budding relationship with Clark--but Lois was making many positive attitude changes that were helping her begin to heal.
Before they closed their session, Robyn told Lois that the other two women who were attacked by the Hyde and SEEC rapist were getting together for a group session that evening, and Lois was invited to join as well.
“I think I’d like that,” Lois said, nodding.
“And Lois? I want you to focus on something in the weeks ahead,” Robyn continued. “I want you to stop thinking of yourself as a ‘victim,’ and start thinking of yourself as a survivor.”
Lois thought on it for a minute, and smiled. “Thank you, Robyn. I like that idea a lot.”
“It’s the truth,” Robyn said gently, giving Lois’ hand a little squeeze. “I hope you can join us tonight, too.”
“Absolutely.”
* * * * *
Lois met up with Clark after her appointment and they headed over to the Planet for a few hours to decide what to do about their undercover operation.
As soon as Perry White saw her, he called her into his office. “Lois...? I thought you were taking some time off.”
“Well,” Lois started, “I was going to, but I decided to come in and put a few hours in... I didn’t want you to forget who I was or anything.” A faint smile crossed her face.
“All right, Lois. Just don’t overextend yourself. And if you want a different assignment--”
“No,” Lois stated firmly. “I want to work on the Hyde and SEEC rapist. I have a few ideas on how to find him...”
Perry gave her a look. “Lois... this was just what I was worried about.”
Clark had been listening in with his super hearing. Just then, he rapped on the door and entered. “Sorry to interrupt, Chief. Lois, I just wanted to let you know I heard from Superman. He’s agreed to supervise our stakeout.”
Perry raised an eyebrow. “Clark...? Don’t tell me you’re in on this, too?”
“Chief, I’ll be the first to admit I don’t like the idea of Lois going into the subway to attract this guy. But now that Superman has agreed to be there, it would be very safe.”
“Lois. You’re not doing it.”
Lois rose, her hands clenched into fists. “But, Perry--!”
“Someone else can do it. Get Cat Grant in here.”
“Perry, it’s not fair. It was Lois’ idea.” Clark chimed in.
Perry gave Clark a firm stare. “Now listen here, Clark. That girl is like a daughter to me,” he said, gesturing towards Lois. “I can not in good conscience let her go and lure the very rapist that tried to violate her.”
Lois was red in the face. “Quit talking about me like I’m not in the room!” Her voice escalated to nearly a shout. “Listen. I’m doing this because Clark will be there and Superman will be there, and together we can catch this guy! Perry, you and Clark have done nothing but shoot me down since I came up with this. If someone can think of a better idea, I’d like to hear it.” She waited a second, the two men’s eyes glued on her. They remained silent. “I thought so,” Lois continued, calming a bit. “I need to do this. I need to be in control of the situation for the first time since it happened. I can’t identify the guy in a court room, but I *can* do this.” She stared at Perry, her stance firm, her shoulders back confidently.
Perry stared back, and, at long last, stepped towards Lois and embraced her. “Please just be careful, honey. If something happens to you, I don’t know what I’d do.”
“Neither would I,” Clark added softly, as Perry released Lois from his embrace.
Perry watched his two best reporters leave his office together. He was proud to have them on his team. He was even prouder to see that the Hyde and SEEC rapist had done nothing to squelch Lois’ spirit. He smiled as he watched Lois slip her hand into Clark’s as they headed for the elevator.
* * * * *
“My name is Lois L--”
“No last names, please, Lois,” Robyn interjected gently. “Our group will be as anonymous as we can manage. Go on.”
“I’m Lois. It happened on Thanksgiving. I was working late that night, conducting a few interviews. I don’t remember how it happened, but all of a sudden I felt like I collapsed and then I woke up in the hospital two days later. I had no idea what was going on until the nurse explained it to me...”
Her story was not unlike the other two women’s. Esperanza was a wife and mother of two young children; she had been taking the train to the 24-hour pharmacy to get some cough medicine for her son’s cold. Tina was an 18-year-old freshman at SEEC, and was returning to her dorm after staying part of the night at her boyfriend’s apartment. Both of these women were raped. Lois was moved by their bravery.
All three of them could easily relate to each other’s feelings of bewilderment after being unable to recollect any of the events that had happened on the train. They had all experienced similar feelings of alienation immediately following the attack, and found similar problems in talking to their partners about what had happened. They discussed their fears at length, and were able to offer each other coping methods. It was comforting to realize that they were not alone in their suffering; the single group counseling session had cemented the three of them together as a community--there to support each other with Robyn’s help and guidance.
* * * * *
Lois gave Tina a ride back to her dorm, where she was resuming classes after missing a few weeks. Then she headed to Clark’s apartment--the place they’d agreed to meet after Lois’ counseling session. The door was unlocked when she arrived. Once inside, she was greeted by a delicious smell.
“What are you making?! It smells phenomenal!” she announced, grinning broadly. She shrugged out of her overcoat and folded it over the back of a nearby chair. Her cheeks were rosy from the bitter mid-December air.
Clark looked up at her from his kitchen, grinning. “Veal marsala.”
“Wow... you must be making it for somebody special, huh?” she teased, stepping up behind Clark and wrapping her arms around his waist.
Clark turned around to face her, still in her arms. “Yeah, she’s pretty great. You should see her.” He leaned in close and nuzzled the top of her head, placing a feather-light kiss on her temple. “She’s beautiful...” he murmured, kissing her across her cheekbone, “and she’s brilliant...” he trailed another kiss to her cheek, “and she’s feisty as hell,” he finished, finally capturing her lips softly in his.
Lois giggled. “Mmm, wow. You must really like this girl.”
“Like her? I love her!” He raised both hands up to cup her face, drawing her chin up so her lips met his once more. He pulled back and tucked her hair behind her ears and studied her intently. Her eyes seemed brighter somehow. Her spirits were so much better today than they had been in days. Weeks, even. “How was your meeting?”
“It went really well. I think it was a great idea to have the three of us get together to share experiences. I was feeling like the only person in the world that’s ever had to deal with something like this. I guess I felt... alone. And now I realize that’s not the case at all.”
“Lois,” Clark said softly, “you’ll never be alone. Not if I have anything to do with it...” He was lost in her features again. Her eyes were dark and enticing, her lips full and moist and parted. He stole another kiss before forcing himself to pull away. “We... better eat before it gets cold.”
Lois had other plans. “It couldn’t get cold,” she said, gently lifting his glasses from the bridge of his nose. She pushed them up to the top of his head, pulling him close for another kiss.
“It couldn’t?” he murmured, a quizzical look on his face.
“Well, you have that heat vision thingy, don’t you?”
“Ah,” Clark replied with a smile, trailing kisses down her neck. “I like the way you think, Lane.”
* * * * *
“Dinner was excellent!” proclaimed a very satisfied Lois Lane.
“I hope you saved room for dessert,” Clark said, lifting a bakery box from the top of his refrigerator. He cut the red-and-white thread that secured the box shut and opened it, revealing six miniature cream puffs.
“Ooh!” Lois squealed. “Where did you--?”
“France,” he whispered, smiling.
“Wow, thanks! This is definitely a perk. Sorry I don’t have any cool powers to impress you with,” Lois teased.
“Sure you do,” Clark replied, grinning.
“Oh, you mean, *this*?” Lois said. She reached out and gripped his shirt collar in both hands, pulling him near, and planted a kiss on his lips that made him weak in the knees. She wound her fingers into his hair at the nape of his neck. Her touch was gentle, electrifying... Her kisses were deep, sensual, inviting... Clark had to pull back before he lost his composure. He knew moving slowly was vital for Lois, but at the same time, her kisses were driving him crazy!
“Lois,” he almost moaned.
Lois saw how flushed Clark had become when he pulled back. “Sorry, Clark, I--got a little carried away...” Her own desires were scaring her a little bit. She knew she wasn’t ready for their physical relationship to move ahead. Still, she couldn’t deny the fact that she wanted to kiss him like that.
“It’s okay, Lois. I just don’t want you to feel uncomfortable.” He took her hand, offering it a little squeeze.
“You’re doing fine, Clark. I’ll tell you to stop if I’m not ready.” She had a feeling that talking about it so seriously had just killed the mood. Distractedly, she took a cream puff and indulged. “Oh, Clark, these are amazing,” she gushed.
“I knew you’ d like them,” he replied, smiling and taking one for himself.
The silence that followed was anything but awkward. They ate quietly, but Lois erupted in giggles as Clark accidentally got cream on the end of his nose. Clark retaliated by making sure Lois also ‘accidentally’ got cream on her nose, too. They shared a sweet kiss, both still breathless from laughing.
* * * * *
