Hi Barbara!
KSara asked for:
Angst! (Can be light or heavy)
A really great kiss (bonus points if it’s a first kiss)
Pre-dating or early relationship
The three things she didn't want were:
Clones
Lex
A-plot
Oh, that’s so mean! Oh, I know, what about Season 2 Lois meeting Max in a bar and getting enamored by the charming head doctor? They could even kiss!
*SCNR*
thought that was easy, because angst I can do.
Ooooh, Inside …!
For example, I was baffled, even recently when someone wrote that AnnieM's story "What the heart wants" was angsty. I still have to kind of fight the notion that angsty tales mean a horror story. I know they don't, but it's ingrained in me
Oh yeah, that’s funny! Angst the noun is a non-issue. Especially these days when TV guides use “teenage angst” in every other show’s description. And I do think my understanding probably goes back to the early days on these boards here. Angsty the adjective however, yes, I can’t completely forget the horror-aspect. Hey, wait, it’s time for New Year’s resolutions! (Yes, I started reading/FDK before New Year’s
)
Though he's had more doctor's appointments than I can count, I've never seen him with as much as a sniffle.
In…I think it’s India…traditional medicine works by paying the doctor a standing fee while you’re not sick. You stop when you get sick, and then go back to paying once you’re healthy again. So, Clark could be doing that- visiting the doctors to stay healthy.
Because that would mean I could nurse him back to health. I could put the can of chicken soup in my bag to good use and make him forget about the terrible end of our wonderful date, yesterday.
's not fai’s not fair that I expect him to forgive me in exchange for a lousy can of chicken soup.
Yes, she could have so packed some of her DFCBs.
LOIS:
Now, just wait a minute. No need to overdo things. He gets soup. That should be fine .
. It's a good thing he knows better than to give into my every whim. Sometimes I really need protection from myself.
Good thing that he needed a hobby.
She would have kissed him, maybe even invited him in.
Actually, she invited him in before their first date. A lot of women do.
He would have had a good time instead of finding himself in front of a closed door.
Nay, he’s had plenty a good times with Lois on the other side of a closed door.
So why on earth did I slam my door in his face?
TEMPUS: I got a theory!
Clark won't suddenly appear just because I want him to.
Step 1: Find Jaws of Death.
Step 2: Help, Superman!
Today of all days the breaking news hit us with the force of a tsunami.
Oops?
And hadn't it been for Superman, I'd probably have ended up in a hostage situation during a brief visit at a bank in Metropolis.
Awww, see, he’s not ghosting you at all. He’s just busy. Also, will they stop admitting Lois into banks or jewelry stores? You know, for insurance reasons.
l. Today, it seemed, Superman just couldn't take a break.
Huh, or is he in fact super-ghosting her after all?
If I'm honest everything seems so much easier when he's present.
Except operating doors.
God, I long for his touch.
Maybe she should tell him that she wants to be touched by him
I don't need him to write, really I don’t. He's more like the air that I breathe.
Awww…
So, he makes work … fun?
What if he’s actually sick enough that he can't get to the phone?
He could have had an undiagnosed heart failure or weak artery that has burst. He could be laying there in the floor, pale and stiff.
But that’s not like him is it? So far, Clark has been incredibly patient with me. Nothing I did to him scared him off. But even a man like Clark must have his limits. My throat tightens even more. Slamming the door in his face might well have been the final straw that broke the camel's back.
Nah, don’t worry. So long as you don’t get hurt by criminals or run off with a criminal, he’ll come after you.
and gives me the courage to knock at his door. The door rattles under the attack of my fist. “Clark, open up,” I shout. “I know you’re there.”
She’s adorable, banging at the door like a woman possessed.
I want to prepare a can of chicken soup and fix this whole disaster in one go. I need him and I really can’t stand another moment of this uncertainty.
Am not sure if I should laugh or go awwwwww…
And knocking a third time - banging at the door would be the more accurate description
See?
he’s taking care of his broken heart.
She really needs a directory of all the available blondes in the city.
If he’s home and unwilling to talk to me, he certainly won’t welcome my breaking into his apartment. But I guess I’ll have to take that risk.
Nah, he’s used to stalking his girlfriend, no ground to complain when she turns the table.
I look around the corner and find Clark's bed empty, safe for a few jackets and ties scattered across his bedspread.
No blondes. Good. Also, he wasn't home since the incident. And yet he told Perry he’s out sick.
. Did he get home at all last night?
Maybe he walked into a seedy bar and decided to mix things up by going home with a redhead since his luck with blondes and brunettes was so rotten.
Or did he decide to find solace in Mayson's arms?
Oh, right, the date and the explosion where in the same episode!
What will kissing him be like if he really means it? Now, I might never find out. I’m such an idiot.
TEMPUS: Galactically, in fact. Also, love the irony.
. But somehow I failed to prepare for the other option.
No shaving her legs past her knee, huh?
Sooner or later, Clark will come home. I just hope that he’s still willing to talk to me after I broke into his apartment.
Nah he won't notice, given how tired he is going to be.
a relationship with Superman isn’t quite what I want, anyway. I guess it never was, because - how would that even work?
As rescue with benefits?
It’s all so confusing. Why is it so hard to decide whom and what I really want?
Umm…
Tears spill down my cheeks. It didn’t happen like this. It never will, because I’m stupid and scared and so generally messed up that I can’t take a chance when it’s offering itself on a silver platter.
Yes, well, it’s still a chance. It’s like a live cobra, not snakeskin boots.
Why do we make each other's lives so difficult?
Nielson ratings?
I wake up to the sound of running water.
Wonder if Clark knows she’s there.
Breaking into his apartment and sleeping on his couch without so much as an invitation surely isn’t going to score me any points with him.
Beautiful woman, waiting in his bed? Nah, he’ll be fine with it.
Or did he spend the evening with Mayson and now he’s sticky with the sweat of passion?
Oooh! Or he’s still in his bed and it’s Mayson in the shower!
How could I ever expect him to forgive me if I barge into his life, invade his privacy and don’t even allow him to have this conversation on his own terms?
By overwhelming him.
But I always bring out the worst in them.
Yeah, Claude surely was a hapless victim of her brilliance. And Lex, he was a renowned philanthropist and multiple Man of the Year before he met her and turned to a life of crime and villainy. And Clark, poor Clark was a model citizen and known boy scout. Now, just look at him. Dresses up in tights and spends his days and nights vigilanting about, skipping work and dates.
“Oh boy. Oh shoot!”
Our hands touch for a moment, as I help him gather the shards. He looks up, startled. “Lois? You're here?"
See? Black out drunk. Probably could have gotten a night of passion out of him and he wouldn't even have remembered the next morning.
I want to capture his face in my hands and kiss him until he forgets he’s angry at me.
Just one quick peck on the lips?
Something else about him looks odd, but I can’t place my finger on what that is.
No glasses. Looks a lot like Superman.
He rubs his eyes and takes a deep breath,
See?
Doesn’t he even care enough to be angry at me? Somehow that hurts more than any rebuff ever could.
Maybe she should try blowing up at him about it.
“You've called in sick because of me, you've probably drunken yourself into a stupor because of me…"
Don’t flatter yourself, Lois. He’d mope, sure. But drunken stupor? Nah, the last time he did that was when he left that Greek island and its princess behind.
. And I feel almost insulted that getting a door slammed in his face didn’t result in a severe alcohol intoxication.
But I can’t stop myself. “Did you go to her? Did she give you what you couldn’t get from me yesterday?”
Oh boy.
Again, the words are out, before I have a chance to stop myself. I clap my hand in front of my mouth
this has got to be a first!
I need him to forgive me. I need him. Period.
awww
That's not true. You could make me understand, I-"
CLARK: Lois, Superman has a World Peace fund raiser in Asia in ten minutes. I really need to be going.
“No I can’t." he cuts me off. He lets out a breath. "At least not now. Maybe not ever. But it has nothing to do with anything you said or did, I promise."
Aww, the old “its me, not you” explanation. Those always work well.
“I don’t care if I’m comfortable as long as I’m asleep.” He groans.
So, if she offered cookie right now…?
CLARK: Oooh … zzzz
He’s wearing his glasses again.
Had a wee spot of panic when he woke up the morning and remembered his glasses, did he?
feeling guilty again because I’m the one occupying his bed.
It’s a big bed…
“It shouldn’t have ended like that. I wish I could go back in time and kiss you goodnight. Can you forgive me?”
I don't know if I mentioned this already, but if she has kissed him, he would have still ghosted her the next day. That might have been worse…
. If I fail - if Clark finds me lacking, if he’ll think I’m an ice queen, just like the others did, then everything is lost.
There, there. He’s already seen the harem’s costume. No ice in sight.
And with a sudden flash of clarity, I remember exactly why I slammed the door in his face.
Door is right over there. Next to that nice cabbie with the airport-special.
My voice breaks. “Or don’t you want to kiss me?”
CLARK:
I lay my hand on his. “Unless you’re secretly married, I don’t think anything could possibly make me mad at you, Clark. You’re such a good friend. Better than I deserve.”
CLARK: Zara, my wife, is in some political trouble and needed my help. And no, our marriage is well-known on New Krypton, why do you ask?
It can," he mutters. "And what's worse, I can't stay long enough to let you yell at me all you want, because I'm still needed. Actually, I should be getting back right now, but this…"
Win win. She can practice yelling at the empty air in the room after he leaves. It will be a valuable skill in the future.
He casts his eyes down. "I'm so sorry about lying to you so many times. And in the worst way possible."
Hey, he never told her he was at the library while he was at Jumbo-Jiggles watching The Sexy Librarian untie her bun.
Lois?" He whispers. "Say something, please?" "Oh Clark," is all I manage.
g-awwww
. "But can we say goodbye the way we should have done after our date?”
Ummm, he won’t fit in his suit after that…
His voice is husky and just a tad apprehensive. “Lois…” I take both his hands in mine. “There are no doors here.”
SUPERMAN: Emergency!
“Are you going to be here when I come back?” I feel the low rumble of his voice under my fingers.
Yes, she’ll either be here or there will be a helpful note, explaining where he is supposed to deliver the bag of money to get her back.
“Will you be all right?” I whisper. His lips twitch into a small smile that is gradually becoming broader. He nods. "With you by my side, I will be.”
Awwwww
That was a beautiful story, Barbara. Kudos to doing it all single person first person present tense
Hope you don't mind, the FDK got a wee bit longish
Michael
When she breaks into his apartment and waits for him… whether or not it’s a tired Superman that finds her. But GAHHH! And you added this anger aspect because he was totally so tired, but everything just makes her bring her feelings to the front for fear of losing him! 
