Lois looked up from the arson report and realized the newsroom had emptied while she read. A quick glance at her computer screen told her it was well past seven. Friday evenings were notoriously quiet times in the bullpen, and she figured most of her colleagues were home by now or out for happy hour drinks.
Once she would have felt bad not to have been included in happy hour plans, though she never would have admitted it aloud. But tonight she didn’t give it a second thought. Her mind was a thousand miles away on a high school football field where kickoff was imminent.
“You still here?” Cat said, dropping into her chair. She was dressed in a long, red evening gown with a plunging neckline and a slit up front.
“Arson report’s out,” Lois said, waving her hand over the papers spread across her desk.
Cat raised an eyebrow. “Anything interesting?”
Lois shook her head. “Not really. There wasn’t much left. But…all the same accelerants as the other fires.”
Investigators had unearthed the missing Toasters backpacks in Luthor’s underground lair, so any evidence linking this fire to the others seemed almost unnecessary at this point. But this would be the final pin in Luthor’s coffin.
Cat nodded, unsurprised by the findings.
“Where are you off to tonight?” Lois asked. “Or is that just your everyday grocery shopping dress?”
Cat laughed. “Charity auction. I finally got the list of items up for bid, so I thought I’d pre-write a bit of it and see if I can get out of here at a decent time tonight.”
They went back to their own tasks, working silently for a while. Lois tried to focus on the report, but finally gave up and decided to go home and wait for Clark to call, hating that there was no way for her to check on the score of the game from afar. She laughed at herself as she packed up her stuff and headed out for the night. This time last year she never could have imagined she would be spending her Friday night worrying about a high school football game in Kansas.
At home there wasn’t much to be done but wait. She tried to take a bath, but was too antsy, so she gave up and decided to watch a movie instead. She dressed in the white pajamas she had worn the first night of his visit, smiling as she remembered his reaction to seeing her in them.
She glanced at herself in the mirror as she hung her towel back on the hook and breathed a sigh of relief. The bruises were all but gone now. There was still a shadowy brown color in some spots, but the sickening green was gone, and her wrist was better too. She had taken Perry up on his advice to let the intern do the bulk of her typing this week, and she continued to wear the brace when she was typing or using her arm for anything strenuous. But she didn’t need it anymore when she was just relaxing, and she had told the intern today that she would be fine to type on her own next week. She was starting to feel normal again – stronger and less fragile. She wasn’t quite ready to go back to full workouts or taekwondo, but this morning she had done some stretching exercises before work that had felt surprisingly good.
She poured a glass of wine and curled up on the couch, flipping through the channels until she landed on an old favorite, and tried not to watch the clock. She had barely talked to Clark all week because he was so swamped with work in the lead up to midterms and the end of the regular season, and she missed him terribly. She couldn’t wait to hear his voice on the phone.
She knew he was missing her too. He called her every night before bed, even if they couldn’t talk for long. And yesterday she had come home from work to find this bottle of wine on the kitchen table along with a mason jar of wildflowers and a note that said he missed her.
When he had called later that evening, she had teased him, saying she had thought his “magic” surprises would end now that she knew his secret. And he had stolen her breath when he whispered his reply. “I’ll never stop wanting to make magic for you.”
He was so special. So precious to her. She hadn’t known she could love someone this much.
She cast another glance at the clock. The game should be well over by now, but it might be another hour before he freed himself and made his way home.
A gentle knock at the door startled her. She stood quickly and crossed the room, peering through the peephole. Then she laughed and flung the door open.
“I can’t stay long,” he said. “I promised the team I’d see them at Maisie’s in a little bit. But I miss you so much. I had to see you.”
She pulled him into the room, slamming the door behind him and slid her arms around his neck.
He lowered his lips to hers and her heart raced in her chest. She brought her hand up to stroke his cheek.
“Well?” she said when they pulled apart. “You’re going out with the team to celebrate?”
“Thirty-five to fourteen,” he said, nodding.
“Nicely done,” she said with a grin.
“They were a mess the first half,” he said. “All amped up and making stupid mistakes. We went into halftime down a touchdown. But they pulled it together in the second half. Four unanswered touchdowns. The defense never let them past midfield.”
She beamed up at him, wishing she had been there to see it. She couldn’t wait for next week, when she would be in the stands instead of waiting at home.
“I wish I could have been there,” she said.
“I know,” he said, without an ounce of reproof. “If we make it to the finals, the championship is on a Saturday….”
“I wouldn’t miss it for the world,” she said. For just a minute, she was overwhelmed with the urge to tell him she would be there next week. But she wanted so badly to surprise him. She wanted to see his face when he realized she was there.
“Do you have to leave right away, or can you stay a few minutes?” she asked, tilting her head toward the couch.
He wavered. “Five minutes? I’m sorry. I just don’t want them to wonder where I am.”
“It’s okay,” she said immediately. “I understand. Come sit for just a minute.”
They walked to the couch together and she snuggled up beside him. He ran the back of his fingers across her cheekbone, examining her face. “Look at you,” he said softly. “You look so much better. The bruises are almost gone.”
She grinned. “Yeah, it’s nice not looking like Frankenstein’s monster.”
He shook his head and rolled his eyes. “Even covered in bruises, you’re the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. I’m so glad you’re feeling better though. I hated for you to be in so much pain.”
She lifted her arm and rotated her wrist cautiously. “I only wore the brace today for typing and driving. And I feel great. I won’t need it at all soon.”
“That’s great, honey,” he said, and she could see in his eyes how relieved he was. His hand drifted from her cheek down to her shoulder and he trailed his fingers along her arm. His touch sent a shiver down her spine, and that familiar ache for him settled low in her belly.
She missed his touch. Not this sweet, gentle touch, which she loved so much. But the way he made her weak with his kisses; the way his hands moved across her body like fire; the way he stoked her desire until she came apart in his arms. She wanted him like that again.
She looked up at him, and he smiled at her and bent his head to kiss her. It was tender and soft, and her heart flipped in chest, so happy to be in his presence again. So happy to feel his lips against hers.
Eventually, he pulled away and kissed her lightly one last time. “I hate to say this, but I really need to leave. If I don’t go now…it’s just going to get harder.”
She sighed, but nodded. She didn’t want him to be gone long enough to arouse suspicion. She loved that he had ducked away for a few stolen minutes, and she didn’t want him to hesitate to do it again in the future because he thought it was too big a risk.
She stroked his cheek and smiled at him. “Thank you for coming. I’m so happy you came. I was waiting for your call, but this was so much better.”
“So much better,” he agreed. “Tomorrow…. I’ve got to watch the tapes tomorrow. And I promised the kids I’d take them out to lunch and to the playground if it’s warm enough. I have so much I have to do during the day. But I’ll come tomorrow night and spend the night? And we’ll have all day Sunday together before we go to my parents’ for dinner?”
She was nodding before he even finished. She had been hoping he would come tomorrow night, but she knew he was being pulled in every direction and didn’t want to make him feel guilty if he couldn’t.
Reluctantly, she stood and held out a hand to him. Together they walked to the front door, where he kissed her goodbye.
“Tomorrow,” he said. “I love you.”
“Tomorrow,” she agreed with a smile. “And I love you, too.”
And then he was gone. She let out a small laugh as she turned back to the couch, just overwhelmed by how surreal it all felt suddenly. Her boyfriend had flown -- flown! – across the country for a five minute cuddle and a goodnight kiss.
*****
“Come in! Come in!” Martha said, ushering them through the front door on Sunday afternoon. “Oh, aren’t you a sight for sore eyes! You look so much better today. I bet you’re feeling better too.”
“I am,” Lois said with a little laugh. “I feel great.”
“Do we have a little time before dinner?” Clark asked. “I want to show Lois….”
Martha nodded eagerly. “Go ahead! We’ve got a half hour or so.”
Lois looked back and forth between them, crinkling her nose at Clark’s impish grin. He had told her before they left that he had a surprise for her at his parents’, but he refused to give her a single hint.
She reached for the buttons on her coat, but he stilled her with a shake of the head. “Keep it on. Follow me.”
She followed him through the living room, brow furrowed. Apparently whatever this surprise was, it was outside. She couldn’t imagine what it could be, given the below freezing temperatures.
He held the back door for her, and she stepped through, waiting for him to lead the way. They went down the porch stairs and through the backyard, headed, she realized, right for the barn.
She glanced up at him skeptically. “You may have forgotten, but I already got the barn tour.”
“I have not forgotten,” he said with a laugh. “As I recall, you were quite disappointed in your tour. A key element you were expecting was missing.”
She squinted at him. “Animals?”
“Not just animals,” he said, opening the door and ushering her out of the snow into the relative warmth of the barn. “Baby animals.”
Her eyes widened and her mouth spread into a delighted smile. “The kittens?”
He nodded. “Dad said the mama cat went missing a couple of weeks ago, and he figured she was holed up somewhere with them. He was out here tinkering yesterday and heard the little mews from the hayloft.”
They had stopped at the bottom of the ladder to the hayloft, and she reached for it automatically, eager to climb up and see the babies. But Clark put a hand on hers, stilling her. She turned to face him and he rested his hands at her waist, and smiled at her before floating them up to the loft.
She laughed and blushed. Even though she had just spent the last half hour in his arms while he flew her halfway across the country, there was something intimate about the way he was flying with her now.
He released her waist as their feet hit the floor, taking her hand instead, and leading her through the loft, past a few old bales of straw to the back corner, where the gray barn cat she had met in September lay in a bed of blankets on a pile of loose straw.
She dropped to her knees, examining the pile of fluff. “Will she be mad if I pet them?”
Clark laughed. “Nah, she’s a sweet old girl. She won’t mind.”
Lois reached out and trailed one finger along the head and back of a tiny gray and white kitten. It yawned and made a little squeak that caused her to gasp and then giggle.
The mother cat stood abruptly, dislodging her sleepy offspring. Lois pulled her hand back, afraid she had upset her. But the cat simply shook herself and meandered over to Clark, who crouched down and gave her a scratch behind the ear and a pet. “You need a break?” he teased her. “Figure you found yourself some babysitters?”
The cat rubbed against his leg a couple of times and then wandered over to a set of bowls filled with water and cat food, and Clark went to kneel by Lois, who had settled herself crossed legged on the floor and picked up an orange kitten, cradling it in the palm of her hand.
“I’ve never seen a kitten this young,” she whispered. “Look at their tiny little ears.”
Clark chuckled. “Their ears will pop up in the next few days. They’re born with their eyes and ears closed. Everything starts opening up right around this time. Looks like all their eyes are open now. Ears will be next.”
She stroked the kitten’s fur, reveling in how soft it was. Clark scooted over to sit beside her, plucking a gray kitten from the bunch and petting it. They were quiet for a minute, just loving on the babies, taking turns holding and petting each of them.
Finally Lois leaned back against the wall, the gray and white kitten she had first touched now snuggled up under her chin, nuzzling in the crook of her neck. Clark leaned back beside her, two matching orange kittens cradled against his chest.
“Good surprise?” he asked.
“Good surprise,” she agreed.
She watched as Clark looked over the mostly empty hay loft. “I haven’t been up here in years,” he said. He chuckled, then jerked his head toward the empty corner of the loft opposite them. “When Lana and I were little…. Maybe…eight? We snuck up here in the summer and rearranged all the bales of hay, hollowing out a little hideout in that corner. We brought up a battery powered radio and a stack of comic books and all the snacks we could squirrel away without getting caught. We spent every day for a month hiding up here. We thought we were so clever.”
“But your mother knew exactly where you were?” Lois asked.
“Of course she did,” Clark said with a laugh. “We weren’t fooling anybody. My dad figured if we wanted a hideout so badly, it was time to build that tree house he’d been planning since the day they brought me home.”
Lois smiled, charmed by Clark’s picturesque early childhood.
“He was going to build it all himself and surprise me,” Clark went on. “But then he decided I would appreciate it more if I built it myself. So we spent the second half of the summer working on it together. Hammering and sawing. I was so proud of that thing when it was done. You’d have thought that it was a palace.”
“Did Lana help?” Lois asked, trying to imagine them at eight.
Clark nodded. “Oh, yeah. She wasn’t going to be left out.” He paused and then laughed. “When it was done, she decided it needed curtains and convinced Mom to help her sew some. She was so thrilled with her creation that she decided she wanted to decorate the whole thing and make it a proper little house. I was appalled. It was supposed to be a fort or spaceship or a pirate ship, not a house for tea parties.”
Lois laughed, imagining Lana taking over. “Did you fight?”
“We fought like crazy for a week or two, then I gave in and told her she could decorate it however she wanted. As soon as I gave in, she lost all interest in actually doing the work. She forgot all about it, and it was back to being a fort in no time.”
The mama cat sauntered back over, flopping down on the blankets, and the kittens scrambled to find a spot to feed.
“We should put these guys back,” Lois said reluctantly, nuzzling her cheek against the sleeping kitten.
Clark reached out and gently scooped her kitten in one hand, bringing it back together with the siblings he had been cuddling, and deposited them all in front of their mama, where they joined the scramble for milk.
Clark sat back and put his arm around her, and she snuggled up against his side just watching the kittens for a minute.
She was so content just being with him like this. He had arrived at her apartment late last night, a thick stack of grading in his bag and a mouth full of apologies.
He had clearly felt bad that what little time they had together this weekend would be spent catching up on work, and he apologized repeatedly, until she hushed him and told him pointedly, “I didn’t invite you here for a vacation. I wasn’t expecting fancy dinners and tourist attractions.” He had recognized his own words immediately, and kissed her sweetly.
They had gone to bed shortly after he arrived and fallen asleep immediately. And by the time she woke in the morning, he was already at the kitchen table grading essays.
She had spent the day working and reading and catching up on a few chores while he finished grading and prepped for next week’s classes. And she couldn’t get over how much she enjoyed just having him there, even when they were barely interacting.
“We should go in and see if dinner’s ready,” Clark said.
She pulled out of his embrace and kissed his cheek. “Thanks for keeping your promise to bring me back to cuddle the kittens,” she said with a grin.
He laughed, and she knew he was remembering their conversation in the barn that night. “Trust me, I’ve never been happier to keep a promise.”
He kissed her, and for a moment all thoughts of dinner and his parents were replaced by the feel of his lips on hers and the memory of his other promise — to take her up to the hayloft and make out with her.
She twisted to face him fully and slid her fingers into his hair, letting out a little whimper as she deepened the kiss. He hesitated and for just a fraction of a second she was scared that he didn’t want her like that anymore. That he loved her, obviously he loved her, but that he didn’t want her. Not after seeing her so broken. Not after spending a week nursing her damaged body.
And then he was kissing her, really kissing her, and there was no doubt. Every nerve in her body was a live wire of electricity, radiating pleasure. Her brain spun, whirling incoherently with thoughts of him and his body and his touch. When she pulled back, chest heaving, his eyes twinkled and his mouth quirked into a self-satisfied grin, but she could see his chest rising and falling erratically too.
“We have to go to dinner with my parents,” he said with a little laugh, and she blushed and giggled like a schoolgirl as she nodded in agreement.
“But we’re going to continue this later,” he promised with a laugh that shot another spark of desire right through her, and she nodded in agreement to that too.
They made their way back to the house, where dinner was waiting for them, and they helped ferry platters of spaghetti and homemade meatballs and salad and fresh bread to the table.
Conversation meandered easily, as it always seemed to do, and eventually, as they were finishing their meals, it turned to the story of their first meeting in Miami. His parents already knew the basics about the conference and the class she taught, but Martha wanted to hear more about the time they spent together, and Lois was happy to reminisce.
“He asked me to dinner,” Lois said, when Martha asked what happened when they finally stopped talking in the conference room after her class.
Clark rolled his eyes and laughed. “I was so smitten, I completely forgot I was there as a chaperone. It just popped out, and before I could even recover from the shock of her saying yes, I remembered I already had a dinner commitment. So then – like a total dork – I had to ask her if she would actually be interested in having dinner with me, Lana, and eight high school students.”
His parents laughed, but Lois shook her head. “You think that was bad luck, but it totally worked in your favor. I accepted the invitation impulsively, and then as soon as I did, I started panicking, thinking about how I didn’t know anything about you, and I was crazy to accept your invitation, and I wasn’t at this conference for some one-night romance. I was halfway to convincing myself I should backtrack and make up some reason I couldn’t do it after all when you told me about dinner with your students.”
“You never told me that,” he said, his surprise evident.
She shrugged and smiled. “When you asked if I wanted to have dinner with your students, I was relieved. That couldn’t be a date. No chance of sending you the wrong signals. No chance of getting my heart all confused.”
She rolled her eyes at her past self, and he laughed and reached out to squeeze her hand.
He turned back to his parents. “And then Lana….”
Lois burst into giggles. “Lana was determined to be the ultimate wingman.”
“She would not shut up,” Clark said. “She kept going on and on about my high school football career and-”
“And the hordes of girls who were in love with him,” Lois teased.
Clark dropped his head into his hands and shook his head, thoroughly embarrassed. “She’s never going to forget that,” he muttered.
“I thought it was sweet,” Lois said, reaching out to rub his back. “How hard Lana was obviously pulling for him. I figured he must genuinely be a nice guy for her to be singing his praises so hard.”
Clark raised his head from his hands. “It was humiliating.”
“Well, it doesn’t seem to have done any damage,” Martha said with a smile.
“And if it wasn’t for Lana, we would have gone our separate ways after dinner, and who knows what would have happened,” Lois chided him.
She turned back to his parents to explain. “After dinner we all walked back to the hotel. We had talked for hours, and it was clear we were hitting it off, but…there didn’t really seem to be anywhere to go from there. Lana cornered us before we got on the elevators and volunteered to chaperone the kids up in their rooms, then told us to go get a drink in the hotel bar or something.”
“That was nice of her,” Jonathan said.
“It was,” Clark said, more serious now. “I wouldn’t have asked her to do that. I wouldn’t have…. I’m definitely grateful to her for that. And that night….”
Lois looked at him and smiled. “We closed the place down,” she said quietly. “We talked for hours and hours. I’ve never….
“It was incredible,” Clark said. Then a rueful smile spread across his face. “Except the part where she told me she ended her last relationship because the guy moved away, and everyone knows long-distance relationships don’t work, and she didn’t want to waste her time.”
It was Lois’ turn to grimace and hide her face in her hands while Clark’s parents laughed.
“I’m sorry,” she said sheepishly, when she lifted her face again.
“After they kicked us out of the bar, I walked her to her room and gave it my best shot…and she shot me down without a single hesitation. Said I lived a million miles away. Broke my heart.” he teased.
She rolled her eyes, but reached out to stroke his cheek. “If it makes you feel any better, I was just as disappointed. I wasn’t just saying that about long distance relationships. I really didn’t think it could work. And I was dreaming of a world where you lived in Metropolis, and we could give it a try.”
“What happened?” Martha said, on the edge of her seat. “Obviously something made you change your mind.”
“She stalked me,” Clark said.
Lois laughed and swatted at his hand.“I did not! I came down for breakfast in the morning at the hotel restaurant, and they were there. Sarah invited me to join them.”
“Sarah Taggart,” Clark added for his parents’ benefit. “Joe and Ellie’s oldest girl.”
“I had no idea they’d be at breakfast at the same time,” Lois insisted.
“She stalked me the whole weekend,” Clark repeated with a grin. “The truth is that she did all the pursuing. I wasn’t even attracted to her.”
Lois’ jaw dropped open, mock outraged. “Liar! You are so attracted to me.”
She was laughing before she could even finish the sentence, and he winked at her, prompting an adorable blush. He smirked at her, and she turned away from him back to his parents to plead her case.
“I ran into him at breakfast-”
“And then she invited herself to help me chaperone all morning.”
Lois laughed. “I have no defense against that accusation. That part’s true.”
“Is this the part where you sat with your arm around her all morning?” Martha asked with a twinkle in her eye.
Lois’ jaw dropped again, but this time she turned to Clark with a curious look rather than outrage.
“Lana,” he said, rolling his eyes. “A week or so after the conference – Sophie’s birthday? We were all standing around talking, and I started giving her grief – telling her and Pete to get a room because they were being all lovey-dovey. I swear she was setting me up, because the second I said it, she said something about how I had no room to complain about public displays of affection.”
Lois felt her cheeks burn, mortified that their behavior at the conference had been fodder for gossip. At the same time, it was surreal to imagine Clark back in Smallville in the weeks after their first meeting, talking to his family about her.
“We…sat together during the morning speeches,” Lois confirmed. “And talked a little more. That’s when he told me that you had been Freedom Riders. One of the speakers was a college professor of mine who traveled with Dr. King and wrote extensively about him. And then we had lunch together. And then he walked me back to my room again. I had to prepare for my speech that night, and I was leaving on a red eye right after the speech, so that was…goodbye.”
“And that’s when you changed your mind and gave him your number?” Jonathan asked.
Lois grimaced again.
Clark laughed. “No, that’s when she shot me down…again.”
Lois covered her mouth and laughed. He turned to her, laughing, and threw up his hands in mock disgust, “Are you laughing at my pain? I practically begged you-”
“Hey!” she interrupted. “I was literally in tears. Let’s not act like I was some cold-hearted villain.”
“You cried?” Martha asked softly.
Lois turned to her, suddenly serious. “It was breaking my heart. I… We had this connection. I can’t explain it. But I…. I wanted so badly to believe we could have a future. But I really didn’t think it could possibly work out. We lived so far away. Our lives were so different. I thought I was sparing us both a lot of heartache by nipping it in the bud.”
“I kissed her goodbye,” Clark said. “I thought I’d never see her again after her speech.”
“But…?” Jonathan asked, clearly just as interested in this story as his wife.
“After my speech, I was in the lobby waiting to check out. And I just…. I couldn’t do it,” Lois said, smiling at Clark before turning back to his parents. “I couldn’t leave. I couldn’t just walk away. A couple of Clark’s students walked by, and I asked if he was still in the conference hall. I was going to go find him, but they offered to go get him for me, since I was waiting in line. When they brought him back…that’s when I finally gave him my number. Nothing like holding out until the last second.”
Jonathan and Martha laughed, but Clark just looked thoughtful as he smiled at her.
“Do you remember what you said?” he asked, giving her a playful grin. “When I got there?”
She shook her head, confused.
He laughed fondly. “When I found you in the lobby, I said that I had heard you were looking for me, and you said-”
“You weren’t supposed to hear that!” she exclaimed.
He laughed and tugged on his ear, and then shrugged. “Sorry.”
“No fair,” she said, smacking him playfully on the arm. “That’s cheating! No super powers!”
“I didn’t mean to!” he said, raising his hands in surrender. “I had no idea you were going to whisper something.”
Lois turned back to Clark’s parents and found them smiling indulgently, waiting patiently for the story to continue. She sighed and rolled her eyes at herself. “He said, ‘I heard you were looking for me.” And I said – under my breath so he would not hear me-”
“All my life,” Clark finished with a grin, and his parents let out a chorus of awws.
Lois hid her eyes behind her hand and shook her head, her cheeks on fire. Clark laughed and pulled her hand away from her face, then stroked her cheek.
“Come on,” he said. “Give me this one little victory. You shot me down hard three times. I needed that. I might not have had the courage to call you if I hadn’t heard you say that.”
She nodded slowly, conceding. It wasn’t the worst thing for him to have overheard that. She imagined he did need that boost to his confidence after she had turned him down repeatedly.
“Well, it’s true,” she said, gazing at him adoringly. “I can admit it outloud now.”
It was Clark’s turn to blush now, and she watched him war with himself, clearly wanting to kiss her but knowing they were sitting at the dinner table with his parents.
Lois took pity on him finally, and turned back to his parents, who were watching their interplay closely and smiling. “Tell me how the two of you got together. I know you grew up together, but did you date in high school? Did you always plan to get married after graduation?”
Martha laughed, and turned to Jonathan who was already shaking his head.
“We knew each other vaguely in high school,” Martha said. “They way everyone does in this town. But he was a senior when I was a freshman, so we didn’t really travel in the same circles. We didn’t start dating until the summer after I graduated. We ran into each other at a friend's wedding and got to talking.”
“It was love at first sight,” Jonathan said. “Or second sight. Whatever you want to call it. I went home that night, sure as anything I was going to marry her.”
“For you too?” Lois asked Martha eagerly.
Martha hesitated. “Well, I sure did think he was handsome. And I had enjoyed talking to him. I was excited when he called me the next week and asked me to dinner. But I can’t say marriage was on my mind.”
Jonathan laughed. “There’s the understatement of the year.”
Lois and Clark both turned to look at him curiously.
“We dated for six months, and I thought we were on the same page. I thought it was time to make it official….”
Martha reached over and patted his arm. “I loved him. I did. But I was barely nineteen. I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life. I wasn’t sure….”
Jonathan turned to Clark. “You want to talk about being shot down? I asked your mother to marry me three times before she finally said yes.”
“What?” he said, obviously stunned.
Lois was shocked too, not just by this revelation from this couple who seemed to have the perfect marriage, to be the perfect parents, but also by Clark’s obvious surprise. He clearly hadn’t heard this story before.
“Every time I turned him down, he'd just go out and plow another field of snow,” Martha said, laughing fondly.
Jonathan smiled at her. “I didn’t know what to do with myself. I was trying to throw myself into work to keep from thinking about it, but it was the middle of winter.”
“But you obviously worked it out eventually,” Lois prompted.
“By springtime, I’d figured out getting married wasn’t just about my feelings,” Jonathan said. “She needed time. And I needed to give her that time. I realized that didn’t mean she didn’t love me. She was just young. She needed time to decide what she wanted out of life – what she wanted her life to look like – before she could commit to a lifetime with me.”
“We dated for another year or so,” Martha said. “And the next time he asked me to marry him, I couldn't say yes fast enough.”
Lois smiled, imagining them as eager young twenty-somethings just starting their lives together.
When she looked over at Clark, he was smiling at her in a way that made her heart skip a beat as visions of white dresses and gold rings and all the other wedding paraphernalia that she had always thought she didn’t care about suddenly flashed before her eyes. She shook away that thought and just allowed herself to enjoy this moment without thinking about the future.
Finally they dragged themselves from the table and tidied up. Lois insisted on helping Clark with the dishes this week, assuring everyone that if her wrist was healed enough to wash dishes at home, it was healed enough to wash them here. And Martha packed them the rest of the cookies she had made for dessert over Jonathan's protests that she really ought to save just a few for him.
And then there were hugs all around with a promise she would see them next Sunday that elicited a knowing grin from Martha.
When they were in the air, on the way home, Lois found herself gazing at Clark, thinking of that kiss in the barn, and how badly she wanted him to kiss her like that again.
By the time they arrived back at her apartment, she had worked herself into a ball of nerves, unsure what to expect. It was late, and the plan had been for him to go home and sleep there after he dropped her off since he had to be at work earlier than his already-horrifying usual start time because of a newspaper staff meeting. But she hoped he would stay for a little while and not rush off. And she hoped he hadn’t been kidding when he told her earlier they would continue that kiss later.
They hung up their coats and deposited the container of cookies on the kitchen counter, and then she lingered anxiously in the living room, scared for some reason to make the first move.
“What’s going on with you?” he said, looking her over suspiciously. “Why are you acting nervous?”
“I’m not,” she said, her voice unconvincing even to herself.
He came to stand in front of her and tucked her hair behind her ear, studying her face. “You are,” he said. “What in the world are you nervous about?”
“Kiss me,” she said quietly.
“You’re nervous about me kissing you?” he said, clearly baffled.
“No,” she said, laughing. “Just do it. Please. Kiss me.”
He shrugged and grinned, still clearly confused about what was happening but just as clearly happy to comply with that request.
He looked at her for a second first, the way he always did, like he couldn’t believe his good luck. And then he bent his head and kissed her, gently at first. She wrapped one hand around his neck, their kiss building slowly in intensity. Her other hand pressed flat against his stomach and then slid up slowly. She tore her lips from his and then breathed his name in that desperate way she knew made him crazy.
His lips were back on hers immediately, no longer gentle and tentative but urgent and needy. Her body responded to him immediately. She slid her arms around his neck, and he groaned at the contact as their bodies pressed flush against each other. She kissed him passionately, desperate for his touch.
They stumbled toward the couch, and he managed to guide them into a sitting position. His hands roamed her back, and she twisted in his embrace to reach him better, sliding one hand down his chest.
Suddenly, his hands were on her waist, and he was lifting her, pulling her toward him. He hesitated, waiting for her approval, and she realized he wanted her on his lap. Her mind flashed back to the first night of his visit, the way he touched her, how delicious it had felt to move her body against his for the first time, and she scrambled forward, throwing one leg over his thighs, straddling his lap and cradling his face in her hands as she whimpered her approval against his lips.
Her heart raced as his hands explored her body, sliding up from her waist to cover her breasts, and then back down to drag her hips closer to his. They kissed and touched until she couldn’t think straight and her heart threatened to hammer out of her chest.
Finally, he slowed their kisses, his chest heaving as he gently slid her hips back from his. She kissed him once more, then dropped her head to his shoulder, waiting for her breathing to regulate. His hands stroked her back gently, and she took another shaky breath, then let out a little giggle.
“I guess that means you do still want me,” she said, laughing a little at her own insecurity.
Clark tugged her backwards, forcing her to look at him. “Was that ever in doubt?”
She averted her eyes, embarrassed. “No…. I mean…. I just…it’s been a crazy few weeks. And…I know you love me. I do. And god, you’re so sweet to me. I love the way you kiss me. I love the way you touch me. I just…. I was a little nervous. There were a lot of changes all at once. And you spent a lot of time…taking care of me. Helping me shower. Changing my bandages. That’s not…very sexy. That’s…I wouldn’t have blamed you if it was a little awkward. If you weren’t-”
“You thought I wasn’t attracted to you anymore?” he asked softly, his voice unexpectedly sad.
“No,” she said. “I just…didn’t know. It’s been a while since we were…like this.” She waved a hand at their bodies, still pressed together intimately. “And Friday night, I was wearing those same pajamas, and you didn’t even notice-”
He laughed, and she could hear in his tone that he was laughing at himself, not her. “Oh, honey. I noticed. Trust me, I noticed. I’ve been thinking about that…nonstop for days. It’s been making me crazy. But I had five minutes on Friday. And the things I wanted to do with you in those pajamas…were going to take way more than five minutes.”
She laughed, her cheeks warm again, and she nuzzled her face into the crook of his neck.
“Honey, I never stopped being attracted to you. Not for a single second. Last week…you were hurting so much. I love you way too much to take a chance on hurting you. And Friday, you were obviously feeling so much better, and I wanted…god, I wanted you. But I had five minutes. And this weekend, I was so busy. I don’t want to rush this. It has been a while, you’re right. And when we make love again, I want to take my time. I want to wake up with you in my arms. I want-”
“Me too,” she said. She straightened up, and then slid from his lap to the couch beside him. She reached up and stroked his cheek, thankful for how much he loved her, how much thought and care he put into the way he loved her. “I’m not upset that we haven’t made love. I just wanted to know that you still wanted to. After…everything.”
He laughed again, cheeks flushed. “Trust me, you have nothing to worry about there.” He reached out and cupped her cheek, waiting for her eyes to meet his again. “This week is going to be crazy. But next week is Thanksgiving. Next week, we’ll have a lot of time. And I want to spend so much of that time loving you.”
She nodded, wanting that so badly. And then she hesitated, wanting to tell him what she had decided this week but not finding the words. Wanting him to know now, so that he didn’t worry it was a decision made in haste later.
He waited patiently, seeming to know there was something more she wanted to say.
“When we make love next time,” she said tentatively, and he nodded immediately, listening. “I…. I don’t want to wait for…anything else. I want to love you. I want to be with you…completely. I…”
She saw the understanding wash over his face and stopped her babbling.
He stroked her cheek. “Are you sure?”
She laughed as she nodded. “I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life. I love you so much.”
“I love you, too, honey.” He kissed her again, sweet and tender this time, and she let herself revel in his love.
When they pulled apart, he looked at her awkwardly and cleared his throat. She laughed and waited, certain whatever he was going to say could not possibly be more awkward than any of the other conversations they had already survived.
“Do you want me to pick up some condoms?” he asked finally.
“Oh,” she said. “Uh, no. I mean, unless you want…. I’m on birth control. So that’s….” She knew that he knew she was on the pill. The little white pack of pills had sat on her bathroom counter all last week unmentioned. She had tucked it away while he was in town for his visit, but it had been sitting in its normal place by her toothbrush when he spent the night after her run in with Luthor. At that point, hiding it had seemed pointless, and she had just arranged her other prescriptions on the counter beside it.
“That’s great,” he said. “I just wanted to check. In case you wanted….”
“Thank you,” she said, lifting her face to kiss him.
She did some calculations in her head and chuckled. When he raised an eyebrow, she laughed a little harder. “I went on the pill after I came to see you in September. I didn’t know exactly what was happening between us, but it seemed pretty clear where this was heading. I called my doctor when I got home, and she called in a prescription for me…and told me to make sure to wait two months before relying on it on its own. That if I had sex in the next two months, I should use a backup method because it takes two months to be fully effective. And I laughed because I thought I was way ahead of the game, and it was going to be way more than two months before I was even thinking about…. And it’s going to be two months almost to the day.”
Clark smiled at her explanation, but then looked at her hesitantly. “And you’re sure? We’re not moving too fast? We don’t have to-”
She pressed her fingers to his mouth. “I think it’s fate,” she said with a gentle smile. “I think the timing is exactly right.”
Then he kissed her again, and any shred of awkwardness was washed away by the rush of love and desire.
