Part Ten
Lois snuggled up to Clark, running her hand lightly over his bare chest.
"Mmmm," she murmured. "This married life is really, really nice." She placed a big kiss on his chest.
"I’m not complainin’," he said and pulled her closer to him.
"And the reason we waited so long for this is...?" she asked playfully.
"So our love making would be even more special?"
Lois smiled. It was more than special, and she was glad they had waited. She lay wordlessly beside him, knowing that they were in the right place for them. It had taken a long time to get to this point, to be married and living in their own home, but they had arrived. What was most important to her, she realized, was that no matter what lay ahead of them, what they had to endure, they would do it together. And that made everything possible.
She ran her hand over his muscular abdomen, running her finger lightly in a circle over his navel. He sighed, the one that told her that he was happy and content. And she knew that she was happy and content as well. Even working out the day-to-day living with a superhero wasn’t as onerous as she had feared it might be. This was their life together.
And it was a better life, she had learned over the last year, than life alone. She remembered how she had hesitated going out on their first date. The evening had been spectacular. Dinner at Angelina’s, the soft music, easy-flowing conversation, dancing in Clark’s arms. She reached over and placed a kiss on Clark’s lips. She could tell he had been dozing off, but once she kissed him, he rolled over onto his side and began returning the kisses.
"I sent David and Anna to Angelina’s for dinner tonight."
No answer. Clark was now nibbling at her ear.
"I hope they find the magic we did. You should have heard him when he called me earlier today. He was so excited, like a little kid who’d learned he was going to Disneyland. Mmmmm….He said Anna had asked him to dinner and he wanted to take her somewhere special, really special. I thought of Angelina’s and how romantic it was...Clark, are you listening?"
Clark, whose nibbling had brought him close to Lois’s mouth, stopped. "And why am I supposed to be interested in David and Anna’s dinner date?"
"Because they’re in love," Lois said, swatting him playfully. "And tonight will be very important to them. She’s been fighting him all along because she’s scared of what a commitment might mean to her life. Maybe she’s scared about what he’d think when he found out she’s Kryptonian..."
"I can understand that."
"Of course you can, and so can I. That’s why I’m cheering for them."
"Well, I hope he has an easier time than I did saying good-night at the door."
"You’ll never let me forget that, will you?"
"Never. Now let me show you what really should’ve happened." He looked at her lips and very slowly moved in for a kiss...
****************
He had been so close, and she backed away. David could kick himself. Everything was going so well. She was so content in his arms, at least that’s the way it seemed. So, why did she get so skittish?
David pressed the button for the ninth floor. After they had sat down at the table, Anna ate her dessert in silence, and when they had finished, she said she was ready to go back to the hotel. Walking back, she hadn’t pulled away when he’d put his arm around her waist, but she hadn’t moved closer either.
He knew Anna would be very happy if he said nothing and let the whole incident drop, but he needed to understand why she was being hot and cold with him. The evening had been perfect, almost perfect, and he needed to know why. They were standing in front of Anna’s hotel room door. If he didn’t ask now, he might not get another chance.
"Anna, I don’t understand what happened while we were dancing. I thought you liked where we were going."
"David, it’s complicated."
"You’ve said that before."
"And I’ll say it again."
He put his hand on her arm, stroking it gently. "Explain it to me, please. I need to understand," he said softly.
"How can I explain something I don’t totally understand." She paused, staring at her free hand playing with his lapel. "I like you, David... A lot. I’d like to be with you...the way you want." Her hand stopped moving. It lay flat on his chest. "But I know, for so many reasons that it won’t happen...can’t happen."
What Anna was saying to him didn’t make sense, but it didn’t matter. He could hear the tension in her voice, the tears she was choking back as she talked. All he wanted to do was take her in his arms and let her know that there was a safe place in the world where all those ‘many reasons’ didn’t really make a difference. And all he could think about was how to show her that, no matter what, he would accept her and protect her.
Anna stepped away from David, who hadn’t stopped stroking her arm, and turned to open her room door. David didn’t want to see them separated by a door, not without letting her feel what he felt, so he decided to take a chance.
"Before you go in, I just want to kiss you good-night. No. Don’t shake your head. Just listen." He looked into her eyes. "This was a perfect date...Don’t interrupt… For me, it was as perfect a date as I’d ever had. You are beautiful, intelligent, charming...now you can object..." He chuckled when Anna smiled. "And I’d like to end this perfect night, close to perfect night, with a kiss." He leaned in closer as he spoke. As long as Anna didn’t put up a stop sign, he would continue.
He focussed on her mouth. Her tongue flickered over her full, red lips and then she bit her lower lip. Not a stop sign.
He touched her soft curls around her face and leaned in closer. Anna hadn’t moved. He gently brushed his lips against hers and pulled back. She still didn’t move. This time he let his mouth linger longer on hers, and without drawing back, deepened the kiss.
And then he felt her reach behind his neck and pull him in closer to her while her lips pressed harder against his, slowly opening allowing his tongue to enter. The moan that escaped her throat sent a shot of heat through his body.
"Anna," he whispered and returned to kiss her. Too soon, he took a step away from her. "I better leave before I...we...get carried away."
"Yes. Good idea. It wouldn’t be good to get carried away." She leaned forward and kissed him gently.
Reluctantly, David turned around and headed for the elevator.
***************
Anna smiled. She couldn’t get rid of the silly grin plastered on her face. She didn’t recognize the woman she was becoming. First, she giggled all afternoon and evening whenever she thought of her new hair-do, and now she was wearing this imbecilic grin on her face.
Next she’d float in the air and do somersaults...and as she visualized the actions, she realized that she was floating. She grimaced. She was back. Just to make sure, she x-rayed the bureau in her room and clearly saw her clothes neatly folded.
And she didn’t care. She wanted to take off into the sky, do loop-de-loops and yell at the top of her lungs, I love David Morrow. All right. She wouldn’t do that, but felt she wanted to.
She wasn’t sure what had happened to her that evening, but being with David was magic, and for the life of her she couldn’t figure out why she had been trying to push him away. All the reasons she had given herself for not having a relationship just didn’t make sense. So what if she was from another planet. So what if she wasn’t human. And considering that Lois and Clark got married, she couldn’t think of what kind of complications there were. She was a fairy princess and he was her prince charming.
She did a long twirl in the air before heading to the washroom where she quickly showered and put on her robe. She doubted she could sleep tonight, but that didn’t matter because she could stay awake and think about the kiss.
She was in the middle of brushing her wet hair when there was a knock on her door.
"Who is it?"
"David."
Anna checked herself in the mirror one more time before opening the door and letting David in.
"We forgot to make..." David stopped in mid-sentence staring at Anna. She quickly reviewed her status. She was dressed, her robe done up, her hair combed...why was he staring?
"Is everything okay?"
David shook his head as if to throw off something bothering him. "We forgot to make plans for tomorrow. Breakfast. My plane’s leaving at 10:30."
"You could have phoned me."
"I thought of that, but then I couldn’t kiss you good night again."
"Good thought. Breakfast. What time?"
"Seven."
"I’ll meet you downstairs."
David reached for Anna and held her in his arms. "Good night," he said, kissing her.
They held each other a little longer, exchanging short, sweet kisses. Once again Anna felt like a fairy princess who had finally met her prince charming. He didn’t have a white horse, but maybe, maybe they might try the living happily ever after stuff.
As good as Anna felt, she knew that the evening had to end. "I think it’s time for you to go," she said.
"Good night, my beautiful Anna." He kissed her one more time.
"Good night, Prince Charming," she said, and as the words echoed in her head, she slapped her hand over her mouth. "Ohmygod."
******************
tbc
