Go With Me On This One 4/4
From Part 3
“You think Clark and I could go out as friends sometimes? I mean, if he turns me down then you’ve proven your point, but he wont. He’d have to be dead or gay...or Superm...no Superman couldn’t even resist me.”
“Listen to yourself! You’re doing the same damn thing! Stay away from Clark! He’s my husband and I’m more in love with him than I’ve ever been in love with Paul or anybody else. And he’s in love with me. Don’t you dare! He would never be interested in you anyway.”
“How can you be so sure Lois?’ Linda giggled facetiously to herself.
“Because he doesn’t lie down with stray dogs. He’s afraid of catching fleas. Now I’m going to pee and then I’m leaving. I wish you and Paul well. You deserve each other.”
Clark had heard the ladies room conversation and smiled to himself. Lois had said that she was in love with him. Could it be real or was it a part of the façade? He didn’t want to get his hopes up. Mad Dog Lane...er...Kent...had handled things with Linda without allowing Linda to get to her. And Paul...that oxygen thief...had problems. Clark headed towards the ladies room.
Lois walked past Linda and just shook her head as she exited the ladies room. When Lois opened the door she ran right into Clark.
“Clark, sweetheart, can we go home?”
“Sure honey.” Clark placed his arm around Lois’s waist and guided her out, heading for home. He was so proud of her. At that moment, he realized something that he didn’t think possible. He loved Lois more.
As they left the dance, Clark having his arm possessively around Lois, started talking. “I heard you and Linda in the ladies...or should I say cat room...” He pointed to his ear briefly. Lois understood the gesture.
“I know. Can you believe her...?”
And Now Part 4
Matt had told Clark that he’d be out late again and not to wait up for him. So when Lois and Clark got home they went to bed. They laid there in dark silence facing each other for the longest. Finally Lois spoke.
“Thank you Clark.”
“For what, honey?”
“Being there for me, giving me strength...support.”
“You’re already a strong woman without me.”
“Oh, Kent. One day I’ll explain all of this to you.”
Clark stretched out his arm to welcome Lois to his chest and she accepted. She eventually drifted off to sleep with Clark cuddling her there. Clark on the other hand didn’t find sleep so easily. He was dreading Thursday...tomorrow...the last day of the conference. Friday everyone would be gone and their pretense would be over. He’d be back to sleeping alone...forever...maybe.
Superman was needed a few times during the night and Clark hated leaving Lois. She didn’t seem to sleep well when he left her. The second time he returned, Lois cuddled back into her human cocoon and mumbled, “I love you.” Clark responded, “I love you, too, more than life.” Lois didn’t seem to be fully awake. She was probably just dreaming but nevertheless the little sleepy exchange made it harder for him to leave her the fourth and fifth times that night.
Matt left at noon on Thursday after the conference closed. Clark had asked Lois to stay on Thursday night. His excuse was that there might still be reporters, namely Linda and Paul, lingering through the weekend. She agreed. Lois had wanted to stay the extra night but couldn’t come up with a valid excuse so Clark’s excuse was welcomed.
Thursday night, Clark made a special dinner for his and Lois’s last night as husband and wife. He made a Mediterranean shrimp dish over ziti pasta, with grated sun dried tomatoes and artichoke cubes, which was another one of Lois’s favorites. They had a white wine from Italy that Superman went for while dinner was in progress. After dinner they talked until late. Perry had given them a three-day weekend because of having such a busy week. At least that’s what he told them. Truth be known, he was giving them time alone to...well...work through things.
At about ten thirty, after Clark showered at super speed, he ran Lois a bath. When Lois was done with her bath and donned her gown Clark had her lay down prone on his bed while he gave her a massage. It was like an out of body experience for Lois. He applied slight heat vision in tense areas. It felt so good. Now Lois knew what he’d been doing all those times before she found out that he was Superman.
Speaking of...Superman, they had to get past that bombshell.
“Lois, are you mad about Superman?”
“Good thinking Kent. Ask when you are doing such wonderful things to my body and I can’t get mad at you. Did you plan that?”
“Nope. Improvised on the spot.” Clark chuckled.
“I’m not mad. You’ve been too wonderful to me, Clark. And I understand why you did it.”
“You do?”
“Yeah, I do.” Lois looked back at Clark and smiled.
Finally Lois and Clark got under the covers and settled in, facing each other. After a long silence, Clark leaned over and kissed Lois on the lips, thoroughly.
“Wow! What was that for?” Lois asked after the kiss.
“I guess...because it will be our last kiss...as husband and wife.” Clark giggled a little as if he had just made a joke, just to lighten the mood, but he meant every word. Lois snuggled into Clark’s embrace.
“Thank you, Clark. I put you in an awkward position and you almost had to help me...or humiliate me.”
“Trust me Lois. I didn’t do anything that I didn’t want to do.”
Lois and Clark talked until much later, with Clark making delicate circular motions on Lois’s back, arms and shoulders. Eventually they were of to sleep. Clark held Lois all night. Superman wasn’t needed. There was a God smiling down on them from heaven!
Lois awakened to Clark watching her sleep on Friday morning. It was nine thirty.
“Hello, sleepy head.”
“Hello. I must have really been tired. Why didn’t you wake me?” Lois stretched like a cat.
“I guess I didn’t want it to end.” Clark smiled a sad smile.
“I guess I need to get up and get my stuff.” Lois wasn’t looking at Clark. She had dreaded this day. She had wanted this façade to be real so badly. She needed to get some emotional space. “I’m gonna run home and put on some jeans and then I’ll be back, for my stuff, okay?”
“Sure. I’ll be here unless...” Clark mad the Superman flying motion. “But don’t leave before I get back if...you know...Superman is needed.”
Lois was then up and out of bed. She thought, ‘No need to prolong the inevitable.’
Much later Lois entered Clark’s apartment with the key that he had given her earlier during the week. He hadn’t even acted like he wanted the key back. It was dark and quiet. She thought that Superman must have been needed. Lois then entered Clark’s bedroom to find him sitting on the window seat staring out the window. He seemed so preoccupied that he didn’t seem to be aware of Lois’s arrival.
“Clark?”
“Yeah.”
“You okay?”
“Yeah, honey. I’m okay. I was just thinking. It’s the first time all week that I’ve been alone long enough to think.” Clark never turned to face Lois from the window.
“I guess our little game of pretend is over. I’ll just get my things and give you back your space,” Lois stated almost as if to no one in particular. Clark’s inference sort of stung at her a little. He was obviously ready for her to leave.
“Clark, I just want to thank you...for this week…for improvising on the spot. You rescued me yet again. You always knew exactly what to say…what to do.”
Clark never acknowledged that Lois had spoken. He kept looking out the window.
“I just hate that when you do finally get married, everyone will think that you have been married before and that you failed at it and got divorced and…you can tell them that it’s my fault…and you would make a wonderful husband…and she would be so lucky…”
Clark finally turned his face to Lois and reached out his hand to her. What Lois saw tore at her heart. Clark’s eyes looked glazed over with a fresh sheet of tears. She responded by reaching out her hand to him and made steps towards him. Somewhere halfway they closed the distance until Lois was standing right in front of Clark. He then stood facing her and held both of her small hands with his much larger ones.
“Lois, honey, it was never pretend for me.” Clark bore into Lois’s doe brown eyes almost as if he could see her soul. “And don‘t even think about what people are going to think because there is only one woman that I will ever want to spend the rest of my life with and she’s standing right in front of me holding my hands.” Clark smiled. “Be my wife Lois.”
“Clark I’m a big girl now and I can handle my college associates. You don’t have to protect me anymore…”
“Lois, I meant what I said on Wednesday night as we danced. I love you. It wasn’t just a part of the charade.”
“Oh, Clark…” Lois had to fight back tears.
“Are you in love with me Lois because I am so very much in love with you?”
“Yes, I am…so much in love with you, too, and for so long…I think from the beginning. I’m just so scared, Clark.” Lois’s tears started to fall.
“Lois, honey, I’m afraid, too. I’ve never done this before. But, I will never hurt you. I don’t have much but everything I have...I am willing to share with you. I promise to take care of you and protect you. And we have no more secrets now.” Clark held Lois securely to his chest and smiled to himself, in the way that only Clark could. Lois held on to him like a lifeline. After a few moments he pushed Lois back enough to look in her eyes and asked again. “Will you marry me?”
“Yes, Clark. Yes!”
Clark looked down at Lois as he held her face gently in his hands and initiated the most loving kiss.
A few moments later after the kiss ended, Clark took Lois’s hands again and led her to sit with him on the window seat.
“Lois, why didn’t you tell me before now that you loved me…that you wanted more…than just friendship?”
“I was afraid that you wouldn’t feel the same way. I mean I’d had my chance. And we had such a wonderful friendship and I was afraid of losing it. Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I was afraid of rejection…again. I wasn’t even sure of what you would say today. I just went for it. I thought that maybe you felt something...after this week...but then I though that maybe it was a part of the charade.”
“No. It was real. It was all real...for me...the whole time. I was dreading coming back over today, to pack my things because I didn’t want it to end. I got used to falling asleep in your arms and waking up next to you. It felt so wonderful.”
“Like I said Lois, none of it was pretend for me.”
After a long moment of silence, Clark continued. “Even Matt could see that we were so in love with each other and he’d never even met you. I guess we were hopeless, huh?”
“I am so happy about it though.” Lois looked at Clark sitting beside her with so much happiness. “What do we do with these?” Lois asked as she removed the gold band from her finger.
“You can keep it but I have another one for you. It’s a little bit nicer.” Clark got up abruptly. Lois just watched him. He went over to his bedside table and opened the drawer. He removed a black velvet box and came back to Lois. Down on one knee, again, Clark asked, “Lois, will you marry me?”
“Yes!” Lois responded simply as she held out her left hand for Clark to place her engagement ring. It was a beautiful I karat emerald cut solitaire on a simple platinum setting. Tears slid down her cheeks, again...happy tears.
“Did you just…how long have you had this?”
“I’ve had it for two years, praying that one day you would love me enough to marry me. I guess I bought it…I was going to propose to you in the park that day when you told me that…well…you know.”
“Clark, I’m so sor…”
Clark quieted Lois’s apologies and her sobs with kisses…of promise.
Three days later, on Monday, Judge Dean Cain, a friend of Lois’s, married the happy couple at the Metropolis Courthouse. They’d wanted to marry as soon as possible.
After a couple of weeks honeymoon Lois and Clark would return to the Daily Planet as full partners. Perry was so proud of his reporting couple. That extra day off for the dream team did actually pay off.
fin
