The moonlight played over her features, and Clark found himself trying to memorize them. He was staring, and he knew he should look away, but he couldn’t force himself to do so.
Her hand was still in his, and he could feel it tingling. It brought up feelings in him that he wasn’t quite prepared for; to his embarrassment he found himself responded in a visceral, physical way. He found himself flushing. It was one humiliation that he’d never had to face , one more way that he’d been distinct and separate from the rest of the world.
Until now. Luckily, she was staring at his face with the same sort of intensity he was staring at her. There was something about the way she was looking at him, as though she was searching his face for something, or someone.
She was a stranger, and yet he already felt a weird connection between them, as though he’d known her all of his life. He knew it was crazy; she hadn’t even spoken a single word to him.
When she pulled away, he felt a sense of loss. He hoped that her vision wasn’t as good in the moonlight as his was; to him, she seemed to be outlined in a silver glow, lit brightly in the minimal light of a partial moon.
At least he wasn’t night blind from staring into the fire. His eyes tended to adjust much more quickly than did those of an ordinary person.
“Um, thanks,” she said. She had a beautiful voice.
“Have we met before?” Clark asked. That nagging sense of familiarity was bothering him.
Her face paled slightly, and she hesitated. “I don’t think you’ve ever seen me before…unless you’ve been in Metropolis.”
“Miss Lane?” Clark asked. He felt confused. Recognizing her voice might explain the sense of familiarity, but why was she here now?
She nodded, staring at the ground.
“How did you find me?”
She took a deep breath, straightened and said, “I’m going to be a great reporter. If I can’t find the only party in a one horse town in Kansas…”
Clark found himself grinning.
The smile slipped off his face a moment later as he felt a familiar presence stumbling through the darkness behind him.
“Who is this, Clark?” Lana asked, her nasal voice seeming somehow more annoying than it had recently. She slipped her arm into his possessively.
The truth was sometimes the best lie. “This is a friend of my aunt Opal. Lois Lane, meet Lana Lang.”
“Well a friend of your aunt is always welcome around our little fire,” Lana said. “Come on and join us. There’s lots of cute guys here. Maybe we can set you up.”
There was something grating about her voice, something that Clark would never admit to considering what they had once meant to each other.
There’d been a time when even the limited amount of love she’d had to offer had been important to him. He’d rapidly grown tired of the hypocrisy.
Maybe it was projection; his whole life was based on a lie, and so seeing it in others repelled him. Lana’s voice was friendly now, but he could feel how stiff her body was against his side. She was angry, and covering it up with a polite mask.
Lois could tell it too, he could see it in her expression.
“Sure, “ Lois said. “I’d be happy to join you.”
***************
Lois should have been bored. Sitting on a log surrounded by a group of kids not much more than half her age, she shouldn’t have much at all in common with them. She barely remembered what it was like to be this age. When kids like this had been out drinking, she’d been in the chess club and had been sitting home memorizing maps. She’d made a lot of sacrifices in her drive to be the best, to show her father that she was more than good enough.
Somehow, though, it was fascinating watching the easy camaraderie they had between them, the in-jokes, the genuine affection.
Lana looked good with Clark, even though he seemed vaguely uncomfortable with how closely she was sitting.
She was surprised when someone handed a guitar to Clark. She hadn’t realized he could play. At her look, he shrugged and said “I had to learn to play. With my voice, they wouldn’t let me sing.”
The others laughed good-naturedly at that. They started calling out the names of songs from Lois’s childhood- songs by the Eurythmics, the Police, Elton John, the Funkmasters…and from bands Lois barely even remembered.
“Why not let the new girl pick?” Lana called out. “She probably knows all sorts of big city music we haven’t heard yet.”
They eyes of the group were on her, and Lois was realizing more and more just how much she hated Lana.
“How about 'Take my Breath away' by Berlin” Lois suggested quietly.
There was a sudden moment of silence, and Lois felt herself flushing. When HAD the movie Top Gun come out anyway? It wasn’t until the late eighties. She closed her eyes for a moment.
“Why don’t you sing it for us?” Lana said, a nasty note in her voice.
Clark stood up and stepped across the gap between them. “If you’ll hum a little for me, I’ll try to play it,” he said.
Lois nodded mutely. She stood up, uncomfortably close to him and hummed the song in his ear. He nodded and frown.
Behind him, Lois could see the thunderous expression on Lana’s face.
He moved back to his place, picked up the guitar and played a few chords. He made several attempts before Lois finally nodded to him.
When she was ready, she started to sing.
**********
Her voice was like that of an angel. Clark really did find himself holding his breath, and a couple of times he had to recover at super speed when he fumbled, almost delivering discordant notes. He felt warm, and he could see that several of the other guys had the same thought.
The music wasn’t anything he’d ever heard before, but it was her performance that made it work. Her voice was high and clear and perfect.
He felt Lana shift beside him, and a glance showed that she had a scowl on her face.
He hated hurting her, but perhaps it was for the best. What he’d had with Lana had been a dead end. It was fun while it lasted, but to let it continue would be simply cruel. Plus, Lana was exhausting, She was demanding, impertinent, and high maintenance.
Lois Lane wouldn’t be anything like that, Clark was sure. She seemed like the perfect girl, the sort of girl he could take home to his mother. Yet there was enough mystery that she was still intriguing.
The crowd clapped when Lois finished, and they quickly switched to group singalongs before Lana could say anything nasty. Clark wasn’t the only one to notice her scowls.
**********
They made her feel like a part of the group. It had been a long time since Lois had felt that way. Even in high school, she’d always felt a little separated from her friends. In college, it was even worse. After Linda had betrayed her, Lois had closed herself off. Claude’s betrayal had completed it, and she’d retreated within the shell of mad dog Lane. She’d immersed herself in her work and allowed herself to ignore the other parts of her life.
It hadn’t been until Clark had come into her life that all of it had changed. He’d managed to thaw her, inexorably by the sheer force of his goodness. He’d stood up to her when no one else had. He’d been strong, but not overbearing.
He’d always been there for her when the times were at there worst. He’d been the first dependable man she’d ever had in her life, with the exception of her uncle- and unlike her uncle, Clark hadn’t HAD to love her.
He just had.
Someone handed Lois a soda. She took a sip, and then scowled. New Coke. What a fiasco that had been. She set it down quietly, and someone brought her something a little better.
Apple cider. Now this was more what she’d expected from Smallville. Hot apple cider, rosy cheeked kids. She’d always expected Clark’s hometown to be something like a Norman Rockwell painting. When she’d talked about small town secrets with Clark, it had been partially out of jealousy. In the big city, no one knew you. You had anonymity, and you were alone.
Here everyone knew everyone else. At the best of times, it was like having one gigantic family of people who loved you.
As Lois tried to stand up, she felt a little woozy. She stared down at the small cup of cider she’d been given. Surely someone hadn’t spiked the cider. She was driving.
A whispered question to the girl next to her elicited an answer: the bathroom was in the small house at the top of the hill.
Lois stepped around several of the couples, and headed for the darkness.
She had to be very careful walking, and it took her a little time to find the small back door. Everything was dark and quiet.
Lois found the bathroom at the end of a bare hall. The house looked as though it had been abandoned, but the water was still running.
She felt relieved shortly afterwards. She washed her hands and turned off the light. Her eyes were dazzled, and the hallway seemed pitch black.
Hurrying to step outside, Lois found herself feeling slightly apprehensive. She wasn’t feeling well, and she couldn’t see.
As she stepped outside the house, she felt someone grab her arm.
**************
Clark’s head shot up as he heard the sound of the scuffle coming from the house. He excused himself and stepped out of the firelight before accelerating to a speed that humans could barely see.
Lois was there, and on the ground was Lana.
“You bitch!” Lana said. “Let me go!”
“I’ll let you go if you calm down,” Lois said calmly.
Clark stepped around the corner, as neither of them had seen her.
“What are you, some kind of psycho?” Lana asked as Lois cautiously moved away.
“You shouldn’t have grabbed me when I couldn’t see you,” Lois said. “I have a brown belt.”
Lana scrambled to her feet. “You just leave Clark alone. He’s mine.”
“He doesn’t look like he wants to be,” Lois said. “You’ve been sticking to him like glue all evening.”
“I know what’s best for him,” Lana said. “He can be a little stubborn, but he’ll come around.”
Clark stepped around the corner and said, “We’ve talked about this already.”
****************
Lois felt herself flushing as Lana and Clark began to quietly argue.
Was she doing the same thing Lana was? She’d decided to drive across the country and change Clark’s life, not because it was something that had to be done, but because it was something she wanted. She’d been so desperate for even a little part of him, to hear his voice, to see his face, that the consequences had become immaterial.
How much had she changed already? There were going to be questions about her song mistake in a couple of years; if not from the others, then from Clark. He had a memory like a trap. Their first meeting was already spoiled.
Lois found herself becoming increasingly woozy, and she felt as though darkness was enclosing her.
***************
Lana stormed off, and Clark felt a sense of quiet satisfaction. Maybe she’d be able to let go. Pete had been in love with her for years, and the two of them had a lot in common.
Pete was the sort of man who could handle a high maintenance woman.
It wasn’t until he looked back at Lois that he noticed how she was swaying.
“Lois,” he asked. “What’s wrong?”
“Who are you, and where am I?” She stared at him with terrified eyes.
The strange sense of knowledge that had been in her eyes was gone. In its place was only a frightened young girl.
