Table of Contents From Part 5:
“Okay,” I finally resign. “I need to get you back to your apartment anyway. As good as you look in my sweats,” I smile at him and tug on his shirt, “we can’t have you walking home in them, especially with no shoes.” I point at his feet.
He had fit into one of my bigger pairs of socks, but there was no hope on the shoes. But we’re driving, not walking to his apartment, so he’ll be okay.
I grab hold of his arm and glance fleetingly in the direction the police drove off.
Clark squeezes my arm lightly. “I promise once we’re back at my apartment and I can get into a suit, I’ll make a quick trip out and check on things,” he says, making a small flying motion with his hand. “I’ll make sure you don’t miss out on your exclusive.”
I smile at him. “Deal.”
**********
PART SIX:
“So you promise to stay here while I fly over and take a quick peek at things? You won’t decide all of the sudden that you need to see things first hand? Or decide that there’s something you just have to go check on, before I can get back?”
“I promise,” I say. When he looks at me skeptically, I put on a dramatic display of drawing an x-shape across my heart.
“When I get back we’ll talk, okay?”
I nod my head at him, and I watch wistfully as he walks out onto his balcony and takes to the air.
I pass the time for a while by looking at Clark’s photos scattered around his apartment. There are pictures of him and me, his parents, his life in Smallville. There’s still so much I need to learn about him before I really know him.
I’ve known both sides of him separately. I mean I never truly knew Superman, but I knew him better than anyone else did; just not like Clark. I definitely knew Clark. It was going to be interesting to get to know them both together as one person; my friend, my savior.
I sit down on the couch feeling my eyes begin to get heavy. Come on, wake up. This is no time to sleep.
Well, maybe I could just lay down for a minute or two. I pick up a pillow from the couch and stick it under my head as I lie down. I smell something nice and I turn my head to the side. It’s the pillow - it smells like Clark... a few butterflies start in my stomach.
The phone in Clark’s living room begins to ring. I raise up and look at it, wondering if I should answer it. Could it be Clark? The police? Should I or shouldn’t I? I hesitate for one or two more rings, but curiosity finally wins out and I answer it. After all, Clark just asked me to stay here; he didn’t say I couldn’t answer the phone.
“Hello, Clark Kent’s residence.”
“Yes. Is Mr. Kent there?” a voice asks. An odd shiver runs through me, not at all like the pleasant one I had been feeling. The voice sounds like someone is trying to disguise it - it has a very familiar quality to it.
What’s wrong with me? Clark’s got me jumpy.
“No. I’m sorry. He’s not here right now. Can I take a message?” I wait for a response but one doesn’t come. “Hello? Hello, are you still there?” No answer.
I hang up the phone, the weird shiver coming back again. Oh, Lois, it’s nothing. We just got disconnected.
...After he found out that Clark isn’t here.
Suddenly I don’t feel very safe here, without Clark. Promise or not, I think I need to get out of here. I start to walk towards the front door when the lights go out. I continue towards the door and open it to run smack into a man standing there in the shadows. I can’t make out who it is.
“Don’t you know you shouldn’t speak to strangers, Lois? Although we aren’t strangers are we? No. Two people who’re going to enter into the sacred bond of marriage can hardly be considered strangers, can they?”
I know that voice. “Lex? What are you doing here? What do you want?”
“Well I thought that was obvious, my dear. I want you; and if you won’t come willingly, I’ll take you by force. Come along, be a good girl and maybe I’ll put you somewhere with windows.”
“No! Help, Superman!” I scream, and he hits me sharply in the throat with the side of his hand, paralyzing my vocal chords. It takes my breath away, and I start coughing. “Why?” I rasp. I move backwards down the steps behind me, trying to put some distance between him and me.
He follows me down the steps. “Because you are rightfully mine. We were to be married until Clark Kent and Perry White got too nosy and messed everything up.”
“No, Lex. You’ve got it wrong,” I whisper hoarsely. I look around for anything I could use as a weapon, something I could use to hit him with. “I had already decided I couldn’t marry you. I turned you down. Don’t you remember?”
“Minor setback my dear. You would have come to your senses sooner or later. I’m putting my money on sooner. No, dear Lois, we were destined to be together. Soulmates, you and I are.” He closes the distance between us and grabs hold of me.
I repress the revulsion that is running through me. Lex really is insane. What can I do? I can’t *scream* for Superman, and he isn’t likely to hear a loud whisper; but what the heck, I’ll give it a try. “Superman!” I scream in a muted whisper.
I’m rewarded for my efforts with a hand placed tightly over my mouth. But that’s one less hand holding my body. I twist around in Lex’s grip and bring my knee up hard into his groin. He lets go of me to double over and fall to the floor in pain. I turn to run up the front stairs, but his foot shoots out, blocking my progress and causing me to fall.
I try to get up, but he grabs my foot, stopping me. I crawl away from him, pulling myself up the stairs one at a time and pulling him with me.
“No, Lois. You won’t get away this time. I don’t want to hurt you, but I will if you make me. If you won’t give yourself to me willingly, then I’ll take you by force.”
“Superman, help!” I yell again in a muted whisper as loud as I can muster. I’ve reached the top of the stairs. I’m still crawling towards the open door with Lex in tow when I see a familiar face come walking around the corner.
It’s Mayson. I’ve never been so glad to see her in my life! “Help me!” I try to scream again.
Mayson reaches into her purse pulling out a can of Mace. She rushes inside the apartment, holding the can out in front of her. “Let go of her, Luthor.”
“Ah, this is too good to be true. I can take back my fiancé and kill off my prosecuting attorney all in one evening. This is going to be the best night I’ve had in a while,” Lex says, pulling a gun out of his pocket and aiming it at Mayson.
“Mayson, run!” I yell hoarsely. “Find Superman!”
“She doesn’t need to,” a voice says from behind us. It’s him. It’s Clark. Oh thank god. He moves in a flash to stand between Mayson and the gun Lex has pointed at her. “Let them go, Luthor. This is over. You’re going back to prison.”
“Oh? And who’s going to take me back? You, Superman? I don’t think so,” Lex says, reaching into his pocket and walking towards Clark. “I can see you obviously didn’t get the gift I left for you earlier.” Lex gives me a knowing look and shakes his head softly. “It’s a good thing I kept a little part of it.” He shoves his hand out at Clark.
I watch in horror as Clark begins to buckle under the effects of the Kryptonite. I run to Lex to try and get the Kryptonite away from him, placing myself between him and Clark. But to my shock, he simply opens his hand and blows something in my face and then on Clark. It’s more of the Kryptonite dust! Not nearly as much as what was in the bomb at my apartment, but enough.
I watch in dismay as Clark sinks to the floor, writhing in pain, knowing that I can’t go to him or help him. I look back at Mayson just in time to see her sneak out the front door. Please let her find help.
“Oh, this really is too good to be true,” Lex says, smiling maniacally. “This night just keeps getting better and better. You know when I commissioned Lex Labs to experiment on Kryptonite, to see what we could extract from it and manufacture from it, I never dreamed I’d have any use for this dust.”
His eyes are focused on Clark; so I try my best to get behind him where I can inch closer towards him unnoticed. Maybe I can get that gun away from him.
“Oh, but that was before Nigel came up with the plan to build a Kryptonite bomb,” he continued, walking closer to Clark. “Oh, poor Nigel. He just got a little too big for his britches, didn’t he? It’s a shame I had to kill him. But you can’t allow insubordination, no one will take you seriously.”
Lex lowers his gun to Clark’s head and cocks it. “It’s time for you to join him, Superman.”
“No!” I scream, launching myself towards Lex. I’m not sure how weakened Clark really is, but I don’t want to find out. I’m betting he wouldn’t survive a bullet to the head.
Lex spins around, pointing the gun at me and I halt, just inches away. “Lois, I love you, but don’t ever, EVER, get between me and what I want, and I have wanted this even longer than I have wanted you.”
“Lex Luthor, you’re under arrest!”
I look back to see two police officers standing just inside the doorway with Mayson behind them.
“Drop your weapon and walk towards us with your hands up.”
“Never!” Lex screams, grabbing me and shoving the butt of his gun in my back. “Lois, dear Lois, don’t you know that if I can’t have you, no one else will?” He looks back at Clark, lying on the floor and then back up at the officer. “Back away or she gets it.”
Would Lex really kill me? I’m suddenly not sure. I feel like all the strength has left my legs. I turn to look into Lex’s face, into his eyes, and I see a look of pain cross his face. What’s wrong? I feel the gun beginning to shake next to me, and I look back at Clark. He’s leaning up, with an extreme look of concentration on his face. His eyes are focused on the gun in Lex’s hand. I hear the gun clatter to the floor beside me, and Lex lets go of me, shaking his hand in pain. Clark had used his heat vision on the gun.
I watch as Clark collapses back down to the floor. Several police officers are now swarming around Lex and me, and I hear them slap handcuffs on his wrists.
I push through the officers and kneel down beside Clark. “Cla... Superman, are you okay?” I whisper.
He opens his eyes and looks up at me in pain. “Yeah, mostly. I didn’t breathe any of it in this time.”
“Come on, let’s get this washed off of you,” I tell him, helping him to his feet.
Mayson comes walking past the group of officers and stops next to Lex. “You’ll never breathe the air as a free man again. I can promise you that,” she tells him. She walks over to stand next to Clark and me. “Lois, I’m sorry. He must have had the police under surveillance. Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. Thanks, Mayson. How did the police know where we were?”
“When Luthor attacked you and Superman, I used the distraction to run outside and call for help on my cell phone. Where’s Clark, by the way?”
“Oh, um, I’m not sure. After we got back here, he went to find Superman; since Superman’s here, Clark’s probably still out looking for him. I’m sure he’ll be back soon.”
“What about him?” she asked, gesturing at Clark. “Is he going to be okay? Do you need me to call an ambulance?”
“No, that won’t be necessary,” Clark weakly replies. “I just need to get this dust cleaned off.”
“I can handle this, Mayson,” I tell her, walking into Clark’s kitchen. “You go on with the police and get Lex safely back behind bars. Clark and I will check in with you tomorrow. We’ve got some further information you’ll want for your case against Lex.”
I grab a towel off of his kitchen counter and wash my hands off, running the towel under the water as I do. Then I rub the wet towel over my face and hair. I rewet it and begin wiping it across my neck and chest.
Mayson watches me skeptically. Come on, just go, I think at her. I need to help Clark, and you need to leave.
“Okay, if you’re sure,” she says finally. “I’ll see you at my office tomorrow, then.” She follows behind the officers as they lead Lex out the front door.
I grab Clark’s trashcan and remove the jacket I’m wearing. I throw the jacket, and the towel I was using, into the trashcan and set it down as far away from Clark as I can get it.
As I walk back over to Clark, Lex breaks free of the policemen holding him and runs back through the front door. The police quickly regain possession of him by shoving him to the ground hard and surrounding him on all sides. His eyes never leave me as they pull him up off the floor. “This isn’t over, Lois!” Lex yells at me. “We’re destined to be together. You will be mine one day; I promise you.”
“Come on, you,” one of the officers says, shoving him smartly in the back. “Keep moving.”
Clark grabs my hand and squeezes it tightly. I squeeze back and wrap my arm around him to support him. We watch as Mayson follows the officers out the door, closing it behind her.
I begin to let go of Clark but his legs buckle, and he starts to fall. I grab hold of him tighter, helping him back up. “Come on. We need to get you in the shower. You did say you have *several* back up suits? I’m afraid we may need to scrap another one.”
“My mom isn’t going to be happy,” Clark says, smiling weakly at me.
Martha makes the suits for him? I stifle a giggle and smile back at him as he walks off towards his bedroom. “Um, Clark, are you going to be able to get out of that suit on your own?”
He stops and turns back to look at me. “Why? Are you offering to help...? Nurse?” He tries to smile playfully at me but ends up wincing instead.
“You and your nurse fantasies,” I roll my eyes at him and smile. “Go get cleaned up so you’ll feel better and we can have that talk.”
He reaches around behind him, fumbling with the zipper, trying to get a hand on it. He groans a little bit with the effort.
I can’t just stand here and watch him struggle. “Here, let me help,” I tell him. I’ve gotten most of the dust off of me, so I shouldn’t hurt him like before. I’d like to get a shower but I need to get him into the shower first. The quicker we get him out of that suit and cleaned off the better. “You do realize that I did what you told me. I listened to you this time. I stayed put in your apartment just like you asked me to,” I say as I move behind him.
“Yes, I do. I’m sorry this happened. I shouldn’t have left you alone like that with Luthor still on the loose.” He sounded miserable.
“I didn’t tell you that to make you feel bad. I told you that so you couldn’t say that I never listen to you,” I tease him, giving his shoulders a light squeeze before reaching under his cape. I release it from his suit and then slide the zipper down his back.
The realization dawns on me that I’m undressing Clark for the second time tonight. My stomach flutters in response, and I feel the need to take a few deeper breaths.
I pull the two halves of his suit away from his back and pause for a moment, to admire his muscular physique. I think back to him breaking down my door, and pulling me along so effortlessly when I tried to stop him from getting to that box. There’s so much strength quietly being held in check in this body.
I’m amazed to find myself musing over these thoughts; of course there is - he’s Superman. I fight the urge to press against him in an embrace. He probably wouldn’t appreciate me pressing my tainted body and clothing against his.
Instead I reach out, laying my hands against his back, enjoying the warmth underneath my fingers. Before I realize what I’m doing, I lean forward and place a soft kiss between his shoulder blades.
His body stiffens under my hands. Oops. I hadn’t really meant to do that. I focus my thoughts back to the task at hand, and I pull the sleeves of his suit down his arms and off his hands. He’s now naked from the waist up. It has to feel good to get that off of his skin.
Again, before I’m conscious of my actions, I lean close to him and lightly kiss the skin on the back of his neck. I nuzzle him softly.
“Lois?” Clark whispers huskily.
Ah, what am I doing? I pull away from him, embarrassed. Clark is in pain and waiting for me to help him and I’m... I’m what? I’m taking advantage of him. How could I do that? I need to leave now and let him finish this himself, while I still have some sense left in me. I’ve helped him as much as I can anyway without intruding on his dignity any further.
“I’m sorry, Clark. I don’t know what I was... um, I’ll leave you to finish undressing.”
I begin to walk away, but his hand comes out to stop me. Did he need something? I turn to face him and find his face dangerously close to my own. I can see the pain clearly etched on his face, but he pulls me closer to him. What is he doing?
I try to pull away from him to leave, but I can’t. The grip he has on my arm is too tight, too firm. He pulls me closer to him, our lips almost touching.
He’s fast, but not fast enough; I catch the twitch in his eye of the pain breaking through on his face.
I’m dismayed. “Let me go. You’re hurting. I need to go clean...”
“No,” he whispers forcefully and then before I can say anything more, his lips press to mine in a firm, passionate kiss. All the doubt, all the hesitancy leaves me and my body relaxes into his arms.
The tip of his tongue lightly plays against the outer surface of my lips as he deepens the kiss. I allow my tongue to flit inside his mouth, tasting him as he moves his hands down my body in sensual strokes. I hear a groan and realize it came from me, deep within my chest. Oh Clark, Clark, my mind screams at him.
As the kiss becomes more reckless, more fervent, I find myself responding more urgently. I grasp his head in my hands, putting more force behind my responses to his lips. I run my fingers through his hair, gripping it as I move to the end of it. Wanting to hold more of him, I move my hands down his neck, his back, wrapping him in a tight embrace.
A groan escapes from his mouth between our lips; but, much to my dismay, it isn’t a groan of pleasure.
I pull back from him immediately. “Clark, I’m sorry. I just got carried away. Please, let me go. You’re in pain.”
“I’ve been in pain much worse than this over the past two years.”
I blush at him. “Please. I can’t do this. Not like this. You’re hurting – I can’t. Go get cleaned up. You’ll feel better.” Why am I pulling away from him? I need to clean up as well. Couldn’t we share a shower?
No. Oh god. I can’t even believe I *thought* that. I need to let him clean up and give him some time to think... give me some time to think as well.
I smile at him, trying to hide my own disappointment. I’m surprised at the longing and passion I see in his eyes in return. One part of my brain is saying, ‘Please, ask me not to go. Ask me and I’ll say yes.’ The other part of my brain is saying, ‘Please, don’t ask me. I can’t do this. I can’t refuse you if you ask me.’
Please, please, say something, Clark.
He opens his mouth. “Lois...”
“It’s okay, Clark. I promise I’ll still be here when you get done.”
I walk away from him and back to the kitchen before I can change my mind. After a bit I hear the water running in the shower. I have to restrain myself from going to take a peek.
I finish cleaning myself up and start to work on decontaminating the room, but I suddenly feel very tired. It’s extremely late. So I sit down on his couch and let my mind wander for a bit. Before too long, I feel my head dipping down. I told him I’d still be here when he got out but I don’t know how much longer I can stay awake.
My thoughts begin to drift towards my novel. I realize I have the perfect ending for it. It’s a shame that I’d probably never finish it though. The thoughts swirling around in my head and vivid scenes branded in my mind leave an intense fluttering deep in my stomach and a smile of pleasure on my face. If only the real life story would turn out this good.
Who knows, maybe it would. I could hope, anyway.
Hmm, I could do more than hope.
Deciding maybe I’m not as tired as I thought, I get up from my spot on the couch and head towards the bathroom. I can still hear the water running in the shower.
Could real life turn out to be as good?
The End
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Thank you to everyone who followed this story and for all of you who left feedback for me. I enjoyed every single comment.
If you're interested in a steamier version, check out the nfic boards.
Sue, thank you again for getting after me with that pointy stick and forcing me to make this story better. How I was so fortunate to end up with you as a beta I'll never know. Thank you!
