From part 10:
Clark left the conference room at a jog and headed for the stairs. That was his Lois - quick on the uptake and with a brain so adroit he suspected he’d always have trouble keeping up with her. He smiled as he reached the roof, spun into the suit, and took off toward the harbor and the sea beyond it.
And now, part 11:
-----
Later that evening, after they’d answered interminable questions - from the police, from the navy, from the federal government - they finally returned to the Lexor.
Only Superman’s presence had finally convinced the naval commander that there was a serious threat.
Once they were convinced, events had moved quickly. In a surprisingly amicable and effective three-way collaboration, the feds, the navy, and the Metropolis Police Department had set up a trap for Roarke.
Boats, helicopters, and multiple law enforcement units were poised to act, watching the pier and the warehouse as well as the harbor and the larger bay area beyond it. The navy had demanded - and received in record time - two additional destroyers.
And they’d located Congressman Ian Harrington. Superman had found him, bound and gagged, in the warehouse leased to Apocolypse Consulting.
Unfortunately, while Harrington was scared, subdued, and utterly willing to cooperate, he knew nothing more than Lois and Clark already knew, although he had confirmed that the reaction Roarke planned to provoke was, indeed, a tsunami. Harrington seemed to think that, Superman or not, the city was doomed.
Superman had also apprehended Bart Teller, who was currently refusing to talk.
Clark had arrived at the pier shortly after Superman left. He had apologized for the delay, but before he could think of anything to add, Lois had covered for him. “Let me guess” she’d said, “one of our sources finally came through for us.”
He’d gratefully picked up her cue. “Yes and no” he’d said, “I got confirmation of what we already know. How Roarke’s going to do it exactly - that’s still a mystery.”
Navy security personnel, in particular, had questioned them both; after all, the whole Shock Wave project was top secret.
Fortunately, Congressman Harrington was able to corroborate their story, confirming that he’d been the one to release the information to Roarke, and that Lois and Clark had simply been in the right place at the right time. He had seemed resigned to the fact that he would probably go to jail for espionage, although Clark had overheard the naval commander’s conversation with the President that seemed to imply some degree of immunity for Harrington if he testified against Roarke.
Apparently Roarke was wanted to the extent that the federal government was willing to look the other way to some degree if doing so netted the arms dealer for them.
Lois and Clark - and Perry and Jimmy - had finally been allowed to leave, with the caution that they were to print nothing until after the scheduled test time the following day.
And Clark had confirmed that Superman would be there to help foil Roarke and stop the Shock Wave reaction if the sabotage was successful in producing a tsunami.
They had returned first to the newsroom.
It was too late for the story to make the early edition, which went to press around 9 pm every night. Perry intended to hold the story until after the test at dawn, and then release it in a Daily Planet exclusive special edition as soon as Lois and Clark called the final information in - thereby preventing rival newspapers or any other media from scooping them.
They had written as much of the story as they could. They’d laid out all of their evidence and organized the information into the main story and several sidebars, and once they were satisfied with it, they’d sent it to Perry, who would hold it for the special edition.
He would have the entire special edition laid out and ready to go to press the moment their final story was reduced to print.
“He wants me to take digital photos of the wave, if it happens,” Jimmy had said, “so we won’t hold up the exclusive waiting on prints.”
“I think we’ve drawn the finest line ever between a story and a deadline,” Lois had remarked. “We’ve got the basic story and all the proof we need to implicate Harrington and Roarke, but we have to wait and see what happens at the system test before we can finish writing it. As soon as we call it in, it goes to press.”
Now all they had to do was wait for dawn.
As soon as Lois and Clark had arrived in the suite, they’d set the surveillance equipment up again, just in case… although with Harrington presumably eliminated and Bart an apparent no-show, Roarke was unlikely to show up at the office.
If he somehow got wind of the various law enforcement arrangements that had been made for him, however, he might come to the office to destroy the evidence, so it didn’t hurt to have a warning system in place.
And Superman could apprehend Roarke if necessary.
Clark hoped it wouldn’t be necessary until dawn, though. Catching Roarke in the act of sabotage would guarantee him much stiffer penalties than would just catching him with incriminating documents.
Clark had taken the time to study tsunamis and wave mechanics, in general. With the potential devastation a giant wave could cause, he wanted to be absolutely sure that he would be able to stop it.
He and Lois had researched the subject exhaustively, with Clark super speedreading everything they could find. They had both come to the conclusion that he couldn’t freeze the wave into a solid wall with his breath - well, he could, but that wouldn’t solve anything. They’d still have a huge amount of water hanging over the city - and ice would melt. Or break off in chunks.
After studying wave action at the seabed level, Clark had decided that his best bet was to dig a deep undersea trench just ahead of the wave; it should disrupt the wave enough that it would dissipate before it hit land. The key was to catch it far enough out in the bay that the temporary surge of water before the wave subsided didn’t flood areas along the beachfront, or damage any boats in the marina.
They had ordered a late dinner, but once they’d finished eating, both of them were still too keyed up to sleep.
They had tried a couple of board games; the Lexor’s lending library included a variety of games as well as books and videos.
They had played several rounds of Monopoly, essentially to a draw - something neither of them had expected and that they found extremely funny.
“I can’t believe this, Clark,” Lois had exclaimed, laughing. “Somebody *always* ends up with all the money!”
“And yet, here we are, huh?” he had replied, also laughing - and rising a few inches off the floor where they were sitting. “We’ve bought all the real estate, and it’s divided between us equally enough that we have the same amounts of money. I’ll bet that’s never happened before.”
“Shows what good partners we are, partner,” she’d told him, tugging on his shirt to urge him back down. He’d drifted down to the floor again, where she’d given him a quick kiss.
“Let’s try something else, okay?” she’d suggested, “I’m pretty keyed up now.”
He’d had to agree with her - he was also pretty keyed up. He’d never had so much fun with a simple board game. They’d moved to the couch and had settled on Scrabble, another game where they were fairly well matched.
It, too, had turned out to be more invigorating than calming.
Lois’s definition of legitimate words had not been the same as Clark’s, but that sort of thing had never slowed her down before.
“What’s that?” Clark had asked, as she had laid her tiles out on the board.
“It’s my word,” she’d replied, as if surprised that he’d had to ask.
“There is no such word as ‘chumpy’, Lois,” he’d told her, arms crossed in a mock imitation of Superman, but fighting a smile.
“Of course there is,” she’d said matter-of-factly, but she, too, had been fighting a smile. “Somebody's a chump. Therefore, he's chumpy.”
“Try again,” Clark had said.
“Are you challenging me?” she’d asked him, arms crossed in her own imitation of Superman.
“You bet your sweet chumpy I am,” he’d told her, laughing outright. He’d reached out to remove the tiles from the board, and she’d tackled him, knocking him backward onto the couch.
“Unhand my tiles, you!” she’d demanded, mock fiercely.
He’d been surprised at her ambush but had recovered quickly, and the game had dissolved into a wrestling match.
Lois won, naturally, because she didn’t fight fairly.
When he’d tried to roll and pin her gently under him, she’d stretched up and kissed him, putting everything she had into it. He’d instantly elevated off the couch, reflexively rolling to keep her from falling. She’d rolled with him, still kissing him.
Long, delicious moments later, when they’d both pulled back to catch their breaths, he’d drifted down to the couch, Lois still stretched out on him - and the little minx had promptly sat up, flushed and out of breath, and claimed victory.
He’d certainly enjoyed her version of Scrabble, but it hadn’t been a real relaxing game.
Now he and Lois were sitting in the hot tub, in their swimsuits, playing cards.
Lois had ordered iced coffees and a dish of chocolates - Belgian truffles - from room service. She was sitting at a right angle to him, her lower legs resting across his lap. His own legs were stretched out in front of him, feet tucked under the edge of the seat opposite.
He would occasionally lean forward and kiss her, and had decided that this was his favorite way of sampling gourmet chocolates.
It did, however, make him very distracted, so Lois was trouncing him soundly.
“Gin!” she said, giggling.
“No way!” he replied, “We just started this game!”
“Read ‘em and weep,” she said, showing him her hand.
He shook his head, smiling, and she laughted outright.
“This is too easy, Clark,” she said, “You’re not concentrating at all.”
“Mmmmm hmmmm…” he said softly, leaning forward and kissing her gently. “Concentrating on what?”
“See?” she said, “You’re all distracted and - “ He kissed her again, lingeringly, and she kissed him back, sliding closer to him and murmuring approvingly when he lifted her into his lap.
Some time later, she rested her head on his shoulder. “…What were we talking about?” she asked him.
“You said Gin and then I… distracted you,” he said.
“Mmmm, but I still won the game,” she told him, “*and* I got the prize - you.”
He laughed softly and continued to hold her on his lap, wrapped in his arms, in the warm water. Her head was tucked against his shoulder as he leaned against the edge of the tub, and they simply sat and enjoyed their closeness.
Eventually he stirred.
“Are you asleep?’ he asked her.
“Yes,” she said.
He floated up out of the water, transferring his hold on her so that she was cradled in his arms when he stood on the tile surrounding the tub.
She sighed into his neck, making him shiver deliciously - and float slightly off the floor - and he marveled at the effect she had on him.
“Okay… I guess I’m awake,” she grumbled, and he floated back down and set her on her feet, then handed her one of the thick towels the Lexor provided in generous quantities.
She started toward the bathroom, but then halted.
“Clark…” she started, then hesitated.
“Yes, Lois?” he asked, tucking a few strands of her hair behind her ear and smiling encouragingly at her.
“Will you… do you want to… will you hold me again tonight?” she asked.
“Yes,” he answered immediately. “I will. I do… I want to. I was hoping you would ask,” he added.
His answer was obviously the correct one because she gave him a blinding smile that lifted him six inches off the floor.
His reaction seemed to restore her self-confidence, and she laughed as she turned toward the bathroom again.
“I think we’ve got a lot of practicing to do, flyboy, to keep you grounded,” she said.
“I’m looking forward to it,” he told her.
-----
Despite their fairly late night, Lois and Clark were both awake in plenty of time to arrive at Pier 31 well before the test occurred. Lois arrived by Superman Express, as she called it, and Clark showed up a few moments later bearing coffee.
When she kissed him enthusiastically, Clark told her, “I’m not sure who you’re happier to see, Lois, me or the coffee!”
“Mmmmm, well, you both taste good,” she told him, as Jimmy jogged up.
During their wave research, Lois and Clark had discussed how to handle the fact that both Superman and Clark were supposed to be present during the test.
They had decided that Superman would ‘deliver’ Lois to the staging area, the roof of a parking garage near the piers. This would establish his presence at the scene early, for the benefit of the law enforcement groups involved. After conferring with Inspector Henderson, who was coordinating the pier area groups, Superman would fly off as if getting into a position to observe unseen.
Clark would arrive next. Once Jimmy arrived, Lois and Clark would split up in order to interview more people, a move Jimmy had seen them use many times in order to get the most thorough information for a story.
Superman had already scanned the area; Pier 31 was deserted. Widening his scan area, he’d spotted Roarke in a small, sleek motorboat hugging the south shore just outside the mouth of the bay.
“Henderson talked to the navy,” Lois told Jimmy and Clark. “They’ve got SEALs in the woods along that shore and a couple of Coast Guard cutters who have long range visual contact with him. They’ve also got helicopters ready to go. They say if Superman can deal with the wave, they can head Roarke off once he triggers the system.”
“So we’ll meet here after it’s all over, okay?” she continued, and at his nod, grabbed his tie, pulling down on it. As he bent toward her, she stretched up to kiss him swiftly.
“Be careful,” she whispered against his lips, as Jimmy goggled at them, “and did you notice? You’re not floating!”
He couldn’t help laughing as he moved away, especially as he heard Jimmy saying, “Uh, Lois? Is there something I’m missing here? Are you guys… still undercover?”
He laughed even harder when he heard her reply dismissively, in her best Mad Dog Lane voice, “What on *earth* are you talking about, Jimmy? C’mon, let’s go - we need to get down onto Pier 31 right *now*.”
As dawn approached, events began to move quickly.
The navy ships that were conducting the test went through their preliminary preparations; there was a flurry of signals between the two ships, then a blast of a ship’s horn. The test torpedo was fired, and the gathered observers held their collective breath.
As the wave rose out of the sea, Clark dove straight through it for the seabed. Moving so fast that he left a trail of heated water behind him, he dug the sea trench from one end of the bay to the other, across its widest point.
This *had* to work; his only fall-back plan, which was more like plan J than plan B, was to freeze the wave solid if the trench failed to stop it.
He emerged at the far end of the bay only seconds after entering the water, just as the wave hit the trench. To his relief, the wave seemed to melt in on itself, leaving only a broken series of two- and three-foot waves cresting and disappearing in the middle of the bay.
Ignoring the cheers coming from the ships and the staging area, he headed toward the mouth of the bay where Roarke had been positioned. One of the Coast Guard cutters already had him aboard, handcuffed and accompanied by both navy and federal government officials.
Clark circled back around to the pier to confirm Rourke’s capture to Bill Henderson. He accepted the congratulations of the jubilant law enforcement team members with Superman’s grave courtesy, and then, with hardly any qualms whatsoever, ‘heard’ another ‘emergency’ and shot up into the sky.
“C’mon, Jimmy, we need to get back to the Planet… Where’s Clark?” Lois said briskly, closing her cell phone. As Clark jogged up, she continued, “Oh, good - excellent timing, Clark. Let’s go!” without missing a beat.
---
Bill Henderson, expansive in his department’s successful role in the capture of one of the FBI’s most wanted, offered the three of them a ride via patrol car back to the Planet.
Jimmy, sitting in the front, was so ecstatic at the thought of the photos he’d taken that he could hardly sit still during the drive. Under the cover of his excited conversation with their driver, an equally excited young patrolman, Lois tucked her hand quietly into Clark’s and leaned against his shoulder.
“Even though I knew Superman was there,” she confided to him in a low voice, “there was a moment when that wave was hanging over us that I couldn’t move, or even think. Thank you, Clark.”
He cupped his free hand over their joined ones, running his thumb gently over the back of her hand. “It was a joint effort, Lois,” he said softly to her. “Thanks to your help, Superman was completely prepared to deal with that wave. And thanks for covering for me,” he added. “That was a masterful touch, there at the end, by the way,” he added, raising their joined hands and kissing hers.
“My ‘where’s Clark/oh good/excellent timing bit’, you mean?” she asked with a grin, still speaking barely above a whisper. “What can I say? You… inspire me. And not just when it comes to work, either,” she added with a wink.
Her eyes widened as she felt him start to rise, and she hurriedly let go of his hand to grab his forearm, pushing downward. He settled back into the seat, shaking his head ruefully, while she tried unsuccessfully to smother her laughter.
“Thank you, my love,” he murmured, “But if you will insist on saying things like that…”
She grinned at him, then said in a normal tone of voice, “I called in the story; Perry’ll have it set and ready for our final go-over as soon as we get back to the newsroom.”
As the patrolman pulled up in front of the Daily Planet, she said, “And Superman was going to give you his story, right? Let’s get that down so Perry can go to print.”
She flashed him a quick playful grin before turning to the young patrolman and thanking him for the ride. Then, in true Mad Dog Lane style, she grabbed Clark’s hand and practically dragged him into the building, snapping “Let’s go, Jimmy!” at the young photographer, who was already hot on their heels.
Perry was in full editor mode when they arrived in the newsroom. He hailed them at a full bellow from his office doorway. “Lois! Clark! My office! Jimmy! Get those photos downloaded and printed yesterday!”
Jimmy rushed to his desk with a quick, “I’m on it, Chief!”
Perry handed Lois and Clark the transcribed copy of the phoned-in story the minute they entered his office, with instructions to go over it as fast as possible. As they headed for their desks, he turned to bellow at Jimmy again.
Lois shot a saucy smile at Clark, scooting her chair closer to his so that they could go over the copy together. “Too bad there’s witnesses - we can’t really go through this as fast as possible, can we?
He laughed, tucking one foot under the rung of the chair to make sure he stayed seated. “I can go through it pretty quickly if you’ll keep watch,” he told her with a smile. “How much do you think we can say about Shock Wave?”
“Well, I don’t think either the navy or the government can object; we didn’t name it,” Lois said. “We’re just referring to it as a coastal defense network. That doesn’t give any information away; a ‘coastal defense network’ could be anything from a series of underwater sensors to… to a bunch of guys with telephones living on the beaches. And maybe this’ll force them to take another look at the system.”
They went over the story quickly but thoroughly. Clark entered the corrected story into the computer, then wrote up Superman’s point of view. He typed at a just-slightly-faster-than-normal pace, while Lois stood and leaned against him, reading over his shoulder.
“Okay?” he asked, smiling up at her from the chair. She dropped a quick kiss on his lips, startling him. He rose slightly off his chair, but returned to it in almost the same moment when she leaned more heavily against him.
“Lo-is!” he whispered, trying but failing to sound very reproving, and she giggled softly as she leaned over him and hit the ‘send’ button.
“ There,” she said, “Perry’s got his story.” Dropping her voice, she continued, “Do you think you’ve got a grip on gravity, there, flyboy? Or do I need to keep holding you down?”
Shaking his head ruefully, he assured her that he was fully seated, adding with a laugh, “You really are high-maintenance, you know.”
“Yup,” she agreed cheerfully as she straightened up, “but you love me in spite of it.”
“I love you because of it, Lois,” he told her seriously. He turned toward her as she sank back down in her chair. “I love you because of your beauty, your drive, your tenacity, and your brilliance. I love you because of your stubborness, your competitiveness, and your soft heart. I love your sense of humor and your leaps of logic. I love you for everything you are. Even the Mad Dog Lane part,” he added with a smile.
Her eyes had softened as he’d spoken, and she sighed, smiling tenderly at him. “You are the most romantic man I know, Clark. You’ve almost got *me* floating.”
The moment was interrupted by Perry, who stepped out of his office with a huge grin on his face, calling out, “That’s it, people! The special edition has been put to bed.” He held up a huge mock-up of the front page, continuing, “And people will read about it first in the Planet!”
The mock-up read DAILY PLANET EXCLUSIVE SPECIAL EDITION across the top, with multiple headlines below it, including SURF’S UP next to one of Jimmy’s photos of the huge wave. Below that were SUPERMAN BUILDS UNDERSEA TRENCH, SAVES METROPOLIS WITH SECONDS TO SPARE and THADDEUS ROARKE HELD FOR QUESTIONING.
Perry read the first few paragraphs aloud:
“Hobbs Bay is calm, ruffled with small waves as the sun climbs up over the horizon. This is Metropolis at dawn. The first indication that this isn’t an ordinary morning is a faint rumble, a vibration that shakes the pier and causes bathtub ripples on the water.
As the sun begins to shimmer on the quickening waves, there is a sudden explosive hum. The ripples become waves that begin to rise in power, rocking boats in the marina hard against their moorings. Is this a storm? But no, the sky remains clear, sunrise tinted pink and orange and blue. There are no storm clouds in sight.
The water suddenly draws away from the dock, as if a drain has been opened at the bottom of the bay. The observer’s eyes, following the receding water, lift - to see a towering monster, a massive wave looming high over the city, which lies tiny in its shadow. The wave begins to crest as it rushes forward, and the observer knows there is no way to outrun this.
As the wave begins to curl over, the impossibly tiny figure of Superman flashes across its face and disappears within it. Frozen in horrified awe, the observer forgets to breathe, waiting for the moment the wave will tip over and fall upon the city.
In that instant of frozen fear, the wave collapses suddenly in upon itself and disappears into the bay. The only indications it was there at all are the small craft that are lying undamaged but high and dry on the docks where they came to rest when the water began to rise.
Superman has built an undersea trench and has disarmed a tsunami. He has saved the city and its citizens from certain destruction, with only seconds to spare. And the city sleeps on, its citizens unaware of the fate they’ve so narrowly avoided.”
Lois glanced over at Clark as the newsroom staff began to applaude. “Kinda touchy-feely, there, partner,” she told him with a smirk.
He smiled back at her. “I prefer to think of it as drawing the reader in, partner, then hitting them with the hard facts. Besides, *you* wrote it, you know.”
She began to laugh. “I did, didn’t I?” she agreed. “Good thing the rest of the story is written in my - what did Perry call it when he made us permanent partners? - my hard-bitten-reporter style. I have a Mad Dog reputation to maintain.”
Perry interrupted them. “Get outta here, you two! You deserve the rest of the day off,” he told them.
-----
Eight hours later, they were sitting on the couch in the Honeymoon Suite together, sipping coffee after another of the Lexor’s excellent dinners.
“This whole undercover operation went pretty well, didn’t it?” Clark remarked, topping off their cups.
“Better than I ever dreamed,” Lois agreed, “and this whole living together thing has been… kinda fun.”
He laughed. “You know that Jimmy saw us,” he said with a smile, recalling her kiss and her tactics for keeping him grounded when they’d first arrived on the roof of the parking garage.
She giggled back at him. “What can I say?” she asked him, “You already know I like to live dangerously.”
He groaned in mock dismay. “Lo-is,” he said, “I have a feeling I’m going to have to stay on my toes - literally - around you, aren’t I?”
It was her turn to groan.
Remembering her reaction to Jimmy’s question after that same kiss, Clark asked her soberly, “What are we going to tell our coworkers… about us, I mean?”
“Nothing, really,” she replied blithely, “It’s not their business, anyway.”
“Do you… want to hide it?” he asked tentatively. He would never force her to do anything she wasn’t comfortable with, but he wanted to shout his love from the rooftops. If she wanted them to act as if they were still just friends in the newsroom, it would be hard for him to go back to hiding his feelings for her.
“No,” she replied. “Unless… do you?” she continued, biting her lip. She sounded worried.
“No!” He hurried to reassure her. “I love you, Lois, and I don’t really care who knows that. I am the most fortunate man in the world that you love me too.”
She caught her breath. “And I’ll say it again, Clark… you are the most romantic man.” She tugged his head down and kissed him sweetly.
He wrapped his arms around her, keeping her with him as he floated up off the couch. He returned her kiss wholeheartedly, stretching out supine with her resting on him.
Some time later, they both pulled back, gasping for breath. “I do love you, Clark,” she said in a husky voice that made him want to kiss her again, “And I don’t care who knows that, either. As a matter of fact, I want people to know you’re not available.”
She was promptly rewarded for that statement with a passionate kiss, to which she responded enthusiastically.
When he lifted his head again, she tucked her head under his chin for a moment. His hand came up to cup the back of her head lovingly, and they stayed that way for a while, floating about a foot above the couch, catching their breaths.
Eventually she raised her head again. Resting her chin in her hands, she propped her elbows on his chest and smiled at him. “We’ll probably have to avoid those power kisses of yours in public, though, hoverboy,” she said cheekily.
He laughed. “We should probably talk about that, you know,” he said thoughtfully, as he floated them back down to the couch. “…what about the floating, Lois?” He settled onto the couch in a reclining position, his head on the arm, and she slipped off him to lie beside him, cradled in his arms.
“Hmmm… yes, that’s something we need to work on…” she said. “Maybe we could use code words of some sort?” He raised an eyebrow in inquiry. “I could torture you… er, *warn* you… with a trite saying of some sort,” she continued, laughing,” like ‘keep your head out of the clouds’… or wait, I know, ‘keep your feet on the ground’…”
He rolled his eyes. “How about if you just use your little trick of pushing down on me when this happens?” he asked her, “or pulling on my tie?”
“Yeah… that does seem to work,” she agreed. “I just think we’re going to need a lot of practice, though,” she continued, giggling.
He kissed the top of her head, and she sighed and snuggled closer against him. “We *are* going to practice, Clark,” she said with a smile as she tipped her head to look at him.
He gave her a fake leer, saying, “Oh, believe me, I’m looking forward to more… practice.”
She swatted playfully at his chest. “No, not that, you lunkhead…” she said, laughing, and he bent his head and took her lips in another kiss, gentle and loving and full of promise.
“Well, okay, yeah, that too…’ she murmured, practically purring, “but you can’t keep stumbling and grabbing things to hide the floating. Although it’s worked so far, I guess… “ she added thoughtfully.
He continued to hold her, content to listen to her as she worked through his gravitational issues.
“But I think we can fix this…” she said, obviously thinking aloud, as she idly walked her fingers up his chest.
Helplessly, he elevated off the couch again, twisting slightly to keep her from falling.
She was startled out of her musings, and stretched along him, making him catch his breath and float even higher. She gave him a quick kiss. “Well, maybe not overcome it completely,” she conceded. “But I think we can at least subdue it. It’ll certainly be a lot of fun trying, anyway,” she purred, deliberately moving against him again.
Without warning, he flipped them in midair and rapidly floated them down to the couch, covering her with his body but careful not to rest his full weight on her. She gave a startled squeak that was cut off as his lips came down on hers. He kissed her deeply, then lifting his lips a hairsbreadth away from hers, whispered, “I will *never* be able to mute my reaction to you, Lois. You will still have this effect on me when you’re eighty.”
She arched under him, moaning softly, and he feathered kisses along her neck before returning to her lips. “I love you,” he murmured, “I loved you the moment I saw you, I love you even more now, and I will love you forever.”
“Clark!” she gasped, holding tightly to him. He lightened his kisses, brushing his lips gently against hers before rolling slightly to the side. She turned with him, pulling his head down to hers again.
“Maybe instead of fighting the reaction,’ she said, “we can… anticipate it.” She punctuated her words with a delightfully thorough kiss. “Instead of a liablility,” she continued, as he lifted a few inches off the couch, “we can treat it as an advantage.” She tucked one leg over his, allowing her to rise with him.
“An advantage?” he asked.
“Yes,” she said firmly. “An advantage. We are in this together - you and I share Superman’s secret. We share the secret, and we share the solution. Of course, I have the added bonus of having power over the most powerful being known to man,” she added cheerfully.
He laughed. “Oh, yes… you certainly do,” he said, still floating with her above the couch. “You also have the most powerful being’s heart, and all his love.” He brushed a light kiss over her mouth.
“Mmmmm,” she agreed, “and he has mine.” She slipped one hand into his hair, holding him to her while she deepened the kiss.
Long moments later, she murmured, “Of course, that *does* mean I’ll be… testing that power occasionally…”
He laughed again. “You already do, you little minx,” he told her.
“Admit it - you like having me in control,” she told him sassily. She sobered. “You can relax and just be you, you know,” she said seriously.
“Yes,” he agreed. “I don’t have to hide from you, do I? I don’t have to hide who I am, or what I can do – I’m not alone anymore.”
He tightened his arms around her, drawing her fully onto him again, and kissed her with all of the love he felt for her. She responded with all of the love she felt for him, and slowly they drifted up into the shadows of the room.
He had placed himself completely into the hands of his love, and she had placed him in her heart.
******************** ** End ** ********************
This story came about because I’ve always wondered about Clark’s control over his powers when he was distracted. He smashed an alarm clock trying to turn it off, probably because he’d been sound asleep; he squeezed the pillow too hard and it exploded… etc.
There’ve been countless theories and discussions over the years about his ability to control, in particular, his strength. I’ve never paid a huge amount of attention to *why* he could safely have a relationship with Lois, I’ve just accepted that he could. An ability, if you will, just like his flying was an ability – not really explainable.
But -- there was a short scene in the pilot where the Planet staff is at Luthor’s ball, and Jimmy and Clark catch sight of Lois for the first time. Jimmy is in awe, and we see Clark inadvertently drift upwards off the floor. Not just an inch or so, either. A short, almost throwaway scene that really demonstrated Lois’s impact on Clark. …So I wondered, what if that sort of thing – inadvertent floating – happened *all the time*? How would that have changed Lois and Clark’s story?
