Kate popped her chair open next to her and dropped into it, hands wrapped around a Starbucks cup. “Where’s your car? I didn’t see it in the lot. I thought you were running late.”
“Oh, we came with Clark. No sense bringing two cars.”
Kate looked at her skeptically, the fact that they had been arriving in separate cars all season unspoken between them.
Not telling anyone yet, eh?
“Mmhmm. Yeah, she’s a real Mia Hamm.”
Lois couldn’t help but laugh. Kate was clearly unimpressed with her blatant attempt to change the subject.
Lois answered automatically, eyes tracking Clark as he jogged backwards in front of the sprinting girls, urging them on. He looked up, as if sensing her gaze, and gave her a quick grin and a wink.
Kate turned and looked at her incredulously. “Did you-“
“Shh!” Lois cut her off. “And no. We didn’t… We’re just…talking.”
SQUEEEE!!! I love it—both the interaction with Kate and the flirting!
“Hey,” he said, dropping to a squat in front of her, one hand on her armrest, the other on her thigh.
“Hey,” she said softly, suddenly shy.
Awwww! Love that she’s suddenly shy. And...Clark... if you’re going to be putting your hand on her thigh in public... it’s not going to be secret for long! (But I love that maybe he doesn’t even realize/can’t help himself.)
“Kylie’s not here, and that’s not like her. Will you call her mom and see if they are on their way?
Awww so sweet!
He gave her leg an affectionate squeeze, and then reached behind his head and grabbed the collar of his sweatshirt, pulling it over his head and tucking it around her lap in one smooth movement. He gave her another quick smile and then trotted off to join the team at the bench.
OMG that gave me all the feels!!
She could feel Kate’s eyes burning a hole in her, the silence between them thick.
“Go ahead. Say it,” Lois said finally, putting the phone to her ear and listening to it ring.
“I swear to god, if you do not take that man back, I’ll marry him myself.”
Lois laughed, refusing to dignify that with a response
I freaking love it! You write conversations SO WELL.
It was somehow both completely unremarkable and incredibly special.
Awwwww!
“Fine! I’ll ask Dad!”
Lois burst out laughing. “Please do. I would love to see his reaction.”
LOL!!! She really thinks she’ll get a different answer??
“Mattie, have you met your father? If you really think he’s the parent more likely to buy his ten year old a $500 cell phone, by all means, please ask him.”
Bahahahaha!!!
Mattie huffed a sigh, but seemed to accept her fate. “Can we at least have Chinese food for dinner? The good kind that Dad buys?”
LOL wheeee! The good kind. *snicker*
“Why don’t YOU go ask him,” Maddie wheedled. “Daddy never says no to you about anything.”
Lois laughed, her cheeks warming. “I can assure you that is not true. But I’ll ask him about dinner.”
HAH!!! She may not have a phone, but she’s got your number, Lois!!
They were engaged in the kind of imaginary play that bored her to tears, and her heart fluttered watching the pure joy on Clark’s face.
GAHHHH! Waffs! Also... OMG imaginary play can go suck it.
I do NOT want to re-enact Daniel Tiger episodes using Barbies who have lost all their clothing and Peppa Pig figures anymore. I’m done! (Oh... sorry... I meant to say: You really bring the kids to life and make them each have their own personality and they’re so realistic!)
She’d known, from the first time she’d ever been brave enough to imagine a future where they had children, that Clark would be a wonderful father. But she hadn’t imagined what a joy it would be to watch.
LOVE!!! *happy sigh*
But she couldn’t help but feel guilty that playing with them often felt like torture.
Oh, Lois... same, girl. SAAAAME.
offered him a hand, which he used instead to tug her into his lap. She threaded her fingers in his hair and pulled him in for a kiss. When they broke apart, his eyes were playful and she couldn’t resist kissing him once more, briefly.
GAHHHHHHH! Love. (The kids are totally gonna catch you if you keep being so casual like this. ;))
“And I quote: ‘the good kind that Dad buys’.”
Clark laughed and had the good grace to look chagrined. “I know. I know. Cheater.”
LOL! I love the repetition of calling him a cheater.
and again, this is a direct quote -- ‘Daddy never says no to you about anything.’”
Clark buried his face in her neck, laughing. “She’s not wrong, but did she have to call me out like that? Does she have no loyalty?”
LOVE IT
“Name it. What do you want? The perfect pearl from Japan? Snow from the French alps?” he teased.
LOL heee heee
“I want you to keep a lookout while I do this.” And then she kissed him. His hands circled her waist and he dragged her closer, responding to her kisses, but letting her lead. She pulled her mouth from his with considerable effort, and slid her hands into his hair so she could layer kisses on his jaw and neck. “Do not let them catch us,” she whispered between kisses.
EEEEEEE! How’s he supposed to concentrate, tho?
“They’re coming up the stairs,” he whispered, hands tightening around her waist. “You have thirty sec-” She swallowed the rest of the word with a kiss. “Ten seconds,” he said as she returned her attention to his neck. And then in a flash, she was sitting on the bed and he was standing on the other side of the room, just in time for JP to rush through the doorway, arms loaded down with the clean laundry.
Daaaaamn. Why was that so hot?? <G>
“Who is it?” she called lightly.
Would it be, like, SUPER inappropriate to say “booty call”?
Clark stood framed in the doorway, cape blowing in the wind. “Lois, who else knocks-”
“On your third story window?” she finished, watching with a grin as the memory surfaced for him.
“All these years, and you still baffle me.”
I absolutely ADORE all the little nods to their past. So freaking sweet.
She watched as his amused grin slid from his face, replaced by something far more heated. “Is that my shirt?”
“You left it here...a few weeks ago.” His sharp intake of breath told her he knew exactly when he left it. “I washed it, and I was going to return it, but then...I didn’t.”
Haha, love it!!!
“You can keep it,” he whispered, his voice husky.
GAH!!
As soon as they reached the chair, she pushed him gently, letting him sink into the seat. Then she climbed on his lap, legs straddled, hands in his hair. “I got cheated last time. The kids were back way faster than I had planned,” she whispered.
Totally agree... (for reals... where are the fire emojis?)
She tore her mouth from his, gasping for air, and he began to layer kisses across her throat. She raised a hand to stroke his hair tenderly. “I love you. I’ve missed you so much,” she whispered, unclear whether she meant during their estrangement or during the past two days when they’d been too busy working and caring for the kids to find time to connect.
LOVE it! Especially the part about her being unclear how she meant it.
He raised his head to look her in the eye. “I am completely in love with you.”
GAHHHHHHHHH!!! Love.
Her heart twisted at the intensity in his eyes. She opened her mouth to say something, but couldn’t find the words and settled instead for another kiss.
Love this too! Love the twisting heart!!
His hands roamed her body, finally sliding under the t-shirt to circle her hips and tug her closer, sending sparks through her as she ground against him. Their kisses grew more frantic as her hips found a steady rhythm.
“Wait, Lois.” he gasped, sliding her hips away from his and slowing their kisses.
(I mean... plus fire emojis. But the strangled cat dude seems to being doing a fair impression of my reaction to this, at least.
“My god. How can you possibly be insecure about how much I want you?” he said, his self-deprecating laugh lightening the mood. “I want this more than anything in the world. But I don’t want just one night. I want a thousand more nights like this. A million. And I promised you we’d go slow. There’s about to be nothing slow about this. I just need…a minute.”
Guuuuuh.... Yeah... love the heated moment (still looking for fire emoji...) and LOVE his words!!
When his voice came again, it was softer, less strained. “When I came to you the first time, two years ago, after the earthquake...I wasn’t even thinking straight. I just knew you were the only thing that could save me.”
She stroked his chest, remembering that night. The brokenness in his eyes. The desperation in his voice when he told her he needed her. She’d had no idea what to do, what to say. She only knew that during their marriage, on nights like those, she had made love to him and held him in her arms. And so she had opened her arms to him.
AWWWWWWWWW
“I was terrified afterwards,” he confessed quietly.
She sat up and looked at him questioningly.
“I was afraid you would be angry or hurt. Afraid you would resent me. Feel taken advantage of, like it had been some sort of obligation you were pressured into.”
“Oh, Clark,” she said, shaking her head. “Loving you has never been an obligation. Those nights were so special to me.”
“I know that now. I do. But at the time, I was terrified that I’d ruined any chance I might have had to repair things between us. We were just finding our footing then. We’d only just found our way back to being friends.”
“I was scared too,” she confessed. “I was afraid you came to me in a moment of weakness and would regret it in the light of day.”
He cupped a hand around her cheek, stroking gently with his thumb. “How could I ever regret loving you?”
I love this ALL. Like, every word. Why are you so good at this, Annie???
“I know I’m not easy to love. I’m-”
“Loving you is as easy as breathing. It’s the most natural thing in the world. I don’t know any other way to live.”
AWWWWWWWWWWW (need some heart emojis up in here, too...)
She leaned forward and kissed him, gently this time. She dropped her head to his shoulder again, struggling to meet his gaze. “It was such a long time before this latest time. I thought you were never coming again,” her voice shook, revealing her secret fear.
AWWWWWWWW
She kissed him again, unable to talk through the lump in her throat. When she sat back, he stroked her cheek and whispered, “Those nights have been among the best moments of my life over the last two years. But I don’t want more of them. The next time we make love, I want to be able to tell you how much I love you without worrying it will scare you. I want to stay all night and fall asleep with you in my arms. I want to wake up with you in the morning. I need all of you. I need to know it’s not the last time.”
“I want that so much,” she whispered.
GAHHHHHHHHHHH
“I know you do,” he said gently. “But I also know you aren’t ready. I promised you we could go slow, and I wasn’t just saying that to get what I wanted. I want you to be as ready as I am. This is too important to me to take any chances. And in the meantime, I need us to go slow with this.”
LOOOOOOOOOVE this. All of it. ALL of it. And especially for him stating his needs.
She smiled and leaned forward to kiss his neck sweetly. “That doesn’t mean we can’t just kiss for a little while, does it?”
“Well, if you insist,” he teased, brushing a series of gentle kisses down her cheek.
“Don’t let me twist your arm.”
LOL awwww! You and the twisting.
Ahhh... that’s like two really waffy parts in a row...so, clearly you’re getting ready to pull the rug out from under us with a little wham. At least you let us go into the weekend happy!
