Previously:
Lois smiled and snuggled against him. "So much for platonic."
"That wasn't platonic? Are you sure?" he teased.
"Pretty sure."
"Oh, you're talking about the Earth definition, aren't you? On Krypton 'platonic' means 'with great passion'."
Lois laughed. "You're making that up."
"Well, it could have meant that. I guess we'll never know." Clark tried to sound appropriately grave but failed miserably.
"They had someone named Plato on Krypton?" she asked dryly.
Clark laughed - she had him there. "Of course. Plato was our god of love."
"No wonder your eyes are brown. It's because you're full of..."
He cut her off with a kiss. "Don't go disparaging my planet's religion."
"No. Of course not. I would never want to make Plato angry."
He nudged her knee with his. "If you're up to it, I could show you a few of the rites."
She giggled. "Oh, so you remember them now?"
"It all came back to me earlier. After the virgin sacrifice."
At that her giggles turned into laughter. "Virgin sacrifice?"
"Yep. After the sacrifice it was traditional to take the high priestess and... well, it would probably be easier to show you." He leaned down to kiss her. "I hope you didn't need to be somewhere, because this might take a while..."
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Part 12/13
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Clark woke up slowly, his senses gradually filtering his surroundings. There was an occasional rustle of a breeze through the trees outside. Sunlight had begun to dapple on the roof of the tent. Lois' body was gently pressed alongside his. Her breathing was deep and even. He hardly dared to move in case he woke her.
He focused on the woman in his arms as he tried to memorize this moment. Her hair was tousled, the shorter hair style she had adopted recently looked anything but professional at this moment. Her face was relaxed in sleep and he was filled with wonder by her. He took in the arch of her eyebrows and the dark crescents of her eyelashes. He could see the faintest sprinkling of freckles on her nose and it made his heart beat faster. Free of makeup for over a week she was now at her most elemental - and beautiful, though he doubted she would believe him if he told her so.
He placed a light kiss on the crown of her head, his arms tightening just the tiniest bit about her. Memories of the night before sent a rush of heat straight to his groin.
"Hey," Lois murmured thickly and snuggled closer against him. "You awake?" The words were half-mumbled and he smiled at the sleepy sound of them.
"I think so," he whispered.
She tilted her head back to kiss the underside of his jaw. "You need to shave."
"Mmm, do I?" He stroked one hand down her back until it rested low on her spine.
"I want to watch when you shave." The breathy tone of her words sent another rush of blood south for him. His condition became even more urgent when she nipped at his chin, her teeth rasping across his stubble.
"And what do I get to watch you do in return?" he managed to ask.
"Nothing," she teased. "You promised me anything I wanted last night, didn't you?" Lois propped herself against him as she spoke. The press of her bare skin against his chest was intoxicating. She was right - he'd give her anything she wanted.
"I'm not sure that I should be held accountable for anything I might have promised you in the throes of passion." Clark brushed a strand of hair from before her eyes.
Lois shifted on top of him. "Too bad. It's my only advantage - using sex to make you weak. You can hardly expect me to give that up."
Clark rolled them to show her that she wasn't nearly as in control as she thought she was. "You make me something, but it's not necessarily weak."
"What is it then?" she asked as she kissed his neck. "What do I make you?"
"Religious," he answered with a laugh. He bent to kiss her. "I'm suddenly feeling religious." He lifted his head as the faint clank of Rich's cowbell penetrated his consciousness.
"What's wrong?" Lois asked.
Before he could answer the first peal of the bell had started.
"I told you to get rid of that thing," she said with a laugh. "Maybe next time you'll listen to me."
<><><>
"I think I'm actually going to miss these eggs," Bob said as he coaxed some ketchup free from the nearly-empty bottle.
"I'm not," Jenny told him. "I might miss the scenery but I simply can't wait to get home."
"You miss Dustin," Bob clarified gently.
"Yes," Jenny said with a sigh. "But at least I'll see him again tomorrow night."
Brenda sat down next to Jenny and gave her a sympathetic smile. "It's tough, isn't it? Leaving your little one behind? You don't realize how much of your well-being is wrapped up in your children until they're not around."
"I can't wait to have children," Clark said wistfully.
"You what?" Lois looked at him in horrified wonder. "Like now? You want children now?"
Clark blinked in surprise. "Not right now, no. But I would like to have a family someday."
Lois didn't reply. They had never really discussed what their goals in life were. All this time she had assumed that Clark wanted essentially the same things she did. A Pulitzer. Making editor in chief. Writing a best-selling novel. She had never really pictured herself as a mother. Even as a little girl she had been more interested in what was happening in the world around her then fretting over the dolls her mother had doggedly continue to buy for her.
Something quailed at the back of her mind and her body tensed when Clark's knee accidentally brushed against hers. What had she been thinking? She had been so focused on getting Clark to see the implications of them being apart that she had failed to think about what would happen once they were together.
How well did she really know him? Sure, all those superpowers were exciting, but when it came right down to it she was marrying Clark - not Superman. And Clark sometimes drove her crazy. Suddenly "safe" was the last thing in the world he made her feel. What had he said to her that night on Spencer Spencer's island? That being with her made him feel safe, but also in danger? She understood him now. This was danger of the highest caliber. Okay, so he was nothing like her father. She couldn't honestly believe that Clark would ever cheat on her. But surely her mom had felt the same way about her dad when they were first married? No one ever went into a relationship thinking that horrible things were going to happen.
Could she trust him? Really trust him? He had broken her heart once already. What if she unknowingly violated some Rule According to Clark? What if something else happened to freak him out? He had been so stone-faced to her tears, hadn't he? So completely unyielding. So... unemotional. Sure, he was all love and romance now - but what was going to happen the next time things weren't going so smoothly?
He was always so... in control. He never acted irrationally like she did. Even their breakup had been done calmly. He could rein in his reactions, unlike her. Suddenly that seemed like less of a good quality. It seemed more like an inevitable land mine. A land mine that couldn't hurt Clark but would devastate her. She could tease him about making him weak with sex all she wanted but the truth of the matter was simple.
Clark was a force she couldn't control.
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By noon their camp had been packed up, cleaned up, and they were all standing on the bank of the lake to listen to some final instructions from Rich before they set off.
"The most important thing to remember," Rich told them, "is to keep to the left side of the river when we hit the rapids. And paddle. Paddle like your life depends on it. Because, well, it actually does. So make sure your life vests are on properly and let's get going."
For the first few miles the river was placid. Lois was in the front of their canoe, while Clark sat at the back. All of the gear was stowed between them with the exception of Clark's pillow which Lois was using as a seat cushion.
It wasn't helping - she was still uncomfortable. But it had less to do with the seat of the canoe than with the man sitting a few feet behind her. She had been preoccupied all morning, trying to think of a single time Clark had acted irrationally. She couldn't think of anything and it was really beginning to irritate her. He was an even bigger control freak than she was - he just hid it behind a guileless smile and that easy-going facade that he projected. Seriously - there couldn't be a clearer indication of someone's micromanagement tendencies than to go to the trouble of creating an alter ego in tights and a cape just so he could fix the world's problems.
She was pulled from her seething when Rich waved his paddle in the air and used it to gesture at the left side of the river. He and Dave backpaddled to keep their canoe in place as everyone caught up to them.
"Okay, it's just around the bend up here. These are mainly class II rapids, but there is one little stretch of river where it becomes a class III. Just paddle deep and hard and you'll get through it fine. Don't let yourselves get sucked into the back flow. If you end up in the river keep your feet pointed downstream through the rapids. We'll fish you out at the end of the run."
As their canoe came out of the first rapid, Lois looked over her shoulder at Clark. He gave her a delighted smile, looking like a kid on a roller coaster. She turned her attention back to paddling, smiling that he could take such obvious joy in such a simple thing.
Where was the fun in it for him? For everyone but him part of the excitement lay in the inherent danger - what did Clark get out of it? As they went into the second set of rapids that question bothered her more and more. He never took a risk, not really. He certainly didn't need her to paddle, that was for sure.
Lois found that her paddle strokes were becoming less and less effective. She glanced back at him again as they came clear of the second rapids. He gave her another infectious grin and she turned away, suddenly irritated with him.
As they went into the next set of rapids it became obvious that these were the bigger ones that Rich had warned them about. After a couple of half-hearted swipes with her paddle, Lois gave up and merely kept her paddle in the water as they bounced and bobbled through the churning water.
"Lois!" Clark yelled in exasperation as their canoe began to rotate in an eddy. She didn't seem to have heard him. Only his quick reflexes and a circumvention of gravity saved them from being capsized. "Lois! You need to paddle!"
Could she not hear him above the water? Clark watched as she paddled, but the effort looked less than enthusiastic. Was she tired? Was that the problem? He dug in with his paddle, getting them free of the trouble spot. He watched her shoulders but this time she didn't turn around to check on him after the river turned calm.
Her behavior had him puzzled. Since Brenda and Jim were traveling alongside them, it didn't seem like a good time to bring up the subject. It wasn't until they were almost finished setting up their tent that he finally decided to ask her about it.
"Lois, is it my imagination or did you deliberately stop paddling in the middle of that rapid earlier?"
"Like you really needed my help." She tried to say it flippantly but failed.
Clark hit the stake he was pounding too hard, driving it flush with the ground at one stroke. He frowned in irritation and tried to keep his tone light as he replied, "I thought we were supposed to be working as a team."
"Okay, so maybe I was just testing you." This time she did sound flippant.
His head snapped up to look at her. "Testing me?"
"Can't you ever just let something happen, Clark? Do you have to be in control of everything?"
"I don't control everything." Clark was taken aback, both by her words and her angry tone. "I don't even try."
"Really?" This was spoken with unmistakable sarcasm.
"I can't control you, that's for sure," he muttered.
"News flash, Kent, I don't want you to control me." Control her? Hadn't their breakup - at his hands no less - shown him that he was the only one in control of this relationship?
"That's not what I meant." Clark sighed, pushing the next tent stake into the ground with his finger, forgetting for a moment that he should be using a rock to do that task.
"That's not what I meant either," she admitted.
"What did you mean?"
"Just once, Clark, let something go. If it's not life or death, just let it happen. Or be reckless."
"Reckless?"
"Yes. Just once do something reckless. Otherwise I'll feel like I'm the only unstable one in this relationship."
"So you would rather I had let the canoe flip over and we'd be in wet sleeping bags tonight?"
She shrugged. "Maybe not that. I didn't really do it on purpose. But something, anything, just once to show me that you're not always such a..., a..., a Boy Scout."
"Boy Scout?" His eyebrows raised in surprise.
"Yeah, you know. Squeaky-clean Clark. He never does anything wrong. And don't even get me started on," her voice dropped and she finished in a whisper, "Superman."
"What do you want me to do, Lois? Rob a bank?" He didn't try to hide the irritation in his voice.
"I didn't say illegal, Clark. Just something unexpected. Is that too much to ask?"
Clark looked around to see where the others were before he leaned closer to her and sarcastically said, "So surprising you with a shower and a pizza wasn't your idea of 'unexpected'?"
She glared at him. "That's not what I meant."
"Then what did you mean?"
She shrugged, hating the way she was suddenly the bad guy. The unstable one. "Just once, let something go. Don't try to fix it. Don't make it better. Just be reckless. Surprise me. Do something... different." She spread her hands and shrugged. "That's all I'm asking."
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They ate dinner without speaking to one another. Lois didn't know what to say to him anyway and she felt alternately irritated and horrified by it. Clark was stretched out on their bedding, one hand behind his head as he read the paperback book he had brought. She was ostensibly playing solitaire but in reality she was moodily watching him. She had no doubt that he knew she was watching, but he was steadfastly refusing to look over at her.
Lois sighed loudly to try and break the silence. She knew it was wrong for her to feel so trapped by the easy intimacy of the past few days. The way he had made love to her was everything she had ever wanted. Clark would do anything for her - she knew that. Would she do anything for him? Was she just getting cold feet over the whole commitment thing? Was that her problem?
She couldn't take his silence anymore so she asked, "Do you really think that I put myself in danger to test you, Clark?"
He looked up, somewhat startled, from his book. "Test me? You don't think I'd rescue you?"
She sighed loudly. "Rescue me? That's not what I meant at all," she said in exasperation. "I'll be right back." She unzipped the tent's flap to beat a hasty retreat.
"Stay out of the river," he mocked as she left.
"Stay out of the river," she mimicked in a sing-song tone as she walked away. What kind of an idiot did he think she was? She nodded a greeting to Bob and George and then headed straight for the river.
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Lois stood on the bank on the river, her arms crossed in an attempt to keep warm. Now that the sun was starting to set it was getting cold in a hurry. She swatted away a mosquito and watched the water. It was hard to believe this placid stretch of water belonged to the same river as those rapids.
She was just about to turn and head back to camp when the movement of one of the canoes caught her eye. It was coming loose from the shore. She walked over and took hold of the front of it, pulling on it but was unable to get it to move. She frowned. Maybe if she pushed it from behind?
<"Stay out of the river.">
Well, that sealed it. She'd go in the river. She was only going to get wet to her knees. Heaven help him if he decided to lecture her on it. She pulled off her shoes and rolled her pant legs up to her knees. She carefully put one foot in the river, feeling for a smooth rock to step on. The water was so cold she sucked in a quick breath and thought about scrapping the plan. She could go back and tell Clark and he'd have the canoe pulled back on shore in no time.
Her lip curled at the thought. That was all he needed - one more example of how she couldn't do anything without him. Besides, it would be satisfying to show back up in camp with her pants rolled up as evidence that she had, in fact, gone into the river. She found she was half-hoping he would say something about it. She was just spoiling for another fight.
She worked her way over the slippery rocks to the back of the canoe and pushed. It took a few tries but she succeeded in getting it moved back to shore. Lois took a step backwards to get around the canoe and head back to shore when her foot found an especially mossy rock. Her arms windmilled wildly but it was no use. She slipped backwards, landing with a loud splash. Icy water closed over her face and she came up sputtering. Irritated, she waded out of the water and jammed her feet halfway into her shoes. She set off for camp, her footsteps clomping loudly and wondered how she could possibly sneak past Clark without him noticing she was soaking wet. Lois muttered a few choice explicatives to herself as she walked - how many fish had to be in a river to make it smell like fish?
Clark was standing at the fire talking to Dave when she appeared back in camp. He froze, his expression disbelieving when he caught sight of her.
"I'm fine," she snapped as she went past him.
"What happened?" Clark followed her towards their tent.
"I, uh, I slipped."
"You went in the river?" he asked, enunciating the words slowly in his disbelief. "Why?"
"It wasn't supposed to happen like it did," she admitted glumly. "Besides, I thought you loved my recklessness."
"So you did this on purpose?" He was aghast. "Is this what you meant when you said you were testing me?"
"Are you actually going to tell me what I can or can't do?"
"No! I was being sarcastic, Lois!"
"It didn't sound like sarcasm," she lied. "It sounded like..." She frowned, unable to find the right word.
"Like what?" His eyes narrowed, daring her to finish that thought.
Lois shrugged and crawled into the tent. Clark followed behind her, zipping the flap shut before asking, "Why didn't you call me for help?"
"I just slipped in the water, Clark. Believe it or not, I had it all under control."
Clark gestured at her wet clothes. "Right. You sure look like it was all under control."
The set of his jaw was a warning but Lois chose to ignore it in her anger. "I know you're going to find this hard to believe, but my first thought when something bad happens is not to wonder where you are and how long it will take before you show up to save me! I actually can take care of myself, Clark!"
"Just like in the rapids today? Was it that kind of 'under control', Lois? How did you manage to live long enough to meet me? Have you always been this foolhardy or are you like this because you know I'm around?"
Her jaw dropped in amazement. "I can't believe you just said that."
"I can't believe you deliberately went in the river to test me."
"I went in the river because a canoe was coming loose! Should I have called you to come and fix that? Doesn't that seem like a waste of talent for you?"
"No job is too small," he shot back.
"Can you please leave? I need to get changed."
He frowned at her, wanting to finish this argument but not entirely sure what had started it. "Fine," he finally bit out and picked up his flashlight. "Maybe I'll just go check on the canoes. I'd hate for you to have to go back later just to prove you have it all under control."
"My hero," she said sarcastically.
<><><>
Clark hurried down to the shore and pulled each canoe a little further up the bank, just in case. Then he exhaled yet another angry sigh, unsure what he should do now. Should he sit at the fire with the others? It was getting dark so he couldn't really go for a walk. Mostly he wanted to fly - fly somewhere else and get away from here. What was Lois' problem? He couldn't figure her out. He would never understand her - he never really had. Had they gotten too close? Was this her way of establishing some distance between them? If she didn't really want to marry him she should just say so, for crying out loud.
The beam of a flashlight was bouncing closer to the river and he squinted, trying to make out who it was but the rapidly advancing darkness made the figure a dark outline. It was a female, but not Lois.
"Hey, Clark," came a voice from behind the light.
"Hi, Debbie," he replied. "How are you doing?" Debbie had seemed so quiet and withdrawn since her tumble off the trail and he had started to wonder if she was having some kind of post-traumatic reaction.
"Me? I'm okay." Debbie sat down on a boulder a few feet away from him. "I guess I've seemed a little preoccupied the past couple of days, huh?"
"It's understandable," Clark said. "It's a scary thing to face your own mortality like that."
"I guess." She turned her flashlight off and hugged her knees to her chest.
"Is everything okay?" Clark asked her.
"What?" She sounded surprised. "Yeah, everything is great. Better than great. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to seem like I was bummed out or anything."
Clark sat down on the front of the nearest canoe. "So what's the first thing you're going to do when you get home tomorrow?"
"Take the world's longest, hottest shower," she laughed. "Then I'm going to order some Chinese food and pig out. What about you?"
"I think that sounds perfect."
An easy silence fell between them before she spoke again, her voice softer. "There are so many things I still want to do, to experience. And maybe it was almost dying or something, but I see things differently now. What if we don't get a later? You know?" Debbie shrugged and sighed. "I heard somewhere that life is what happens while you're making other plans. I just hate to think that I'm going to get to the end of my life and realize that I put everything off and never really lived."
"It's nice to get a second chance," Clark mused softly.
"What would you do if you knew that today was the last day of your life?" Debbie asked. "What would you change?"
"I... don't know." Clark shrugged and turned the flashlight in his hands over and over. He had never really considered his own mortality. It was human nature to avoid the subject, but he, especially, always figured that death and disaster were lurking for the other guy and not for him. Sure, he'd had a few brushes with Kryptonite but it wasn't like the entire world was walking around with the stuff in their pockets.
Truthfully what he had learned from Kryptonite was that being "normal" was no fun at all. Pain actually hurt. A lot. How did people get used to that? How did they manage to get through the day when there were paper cuts and stubbed toes and car accidents lying in wait for them everywhere? How could Lois be so reckless when it was a surety that she was going to be hurt? Where did she find the courage?
"Sorry," Debbie said ruefully. "I'm being maudlin, huh?"
"No," Clark assured her. "I think I take a lot for granted myself. It's good to have the reminder."
"I hope I'm not butting in here, but after what just happened back at camp - sorry, it was hard not to overhear you both - I actually came down here to tell you that Lois isn't pushing you away. I know it must seem like it, but she's not."
"Then what is she doing?"
"You should know that I would normally keep my nose out of this but, well, I owe you. So I'm going to tell you one of the secrets about women. She's just testing you, Clark."
He let out a frustrated chuckle. "That's what Lois said but I haven't got the faintest clue what she meant by it. Testing me for what?"
"To see if you love her no matter what. It's a scary thing, getting married. Having children. Giving up your independence for someone else. I was the same way with George. I still am sometimes."
"I don't want her to give up her independence. Lois being Lois is why I love her."
"But that's scary, too. When I fell for George I was constantly worried that I had somehow lost my edge or gone soft. I've avoided the subject of having kids for years just to try and keep things on an even keel."
"And now?" he asked.
"Now..." Debbie sighed. "Now I think I'm ready to talk about it. Just give her time, Clark. She'll get there." Debbie turned on her flashlight and stood up. "It's a scary thing, letting someone mess up your perfectly ordered life. The trick is to tell her that you love her even when she's being unlovable."
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Clark had come to bed almost an hour ago. He hadn't said a word about the new sleeping arrangements. Once she had dressed in dry clothes again, Lois had unzipped their sleeping bags from each other's. She didn't care how cold it got that night - it was only one more night and she'd suffer through it without any sleep if she had to. Now, however, the fact that he had just crawled into his bag and turned off his flashlight was unnerving.
Lois felt absolutely miserable. She worried at the ring on her finger and wondered what was going to happen when they got back to Metropolis. She knew she should talk to him, knew he was still awake, but she couldn't find a good opening gambit. Lois fought against the urge to squirm - the last thing she wanted him to think right now was that she was restless. Let him believe she was lying there with a clear conscience.
"Lois?"
"What?" she whispered back.
"Do you remember when we were doing that story about the WestCorp scandal? And that guy pushed you? You went down those stairs?" he asked softly.
Lois grimaced at the memory. Geez, she had felt so stupid when that happened. "Yeah," she said cautiously.
"Did it hurt?"
"Did what hurt?" She rolled onto her back, turning her head towards him as she tried to puzzle out what he was trying to accomplish by bringing the subject up.
"Falling down the stairs like that. Did it hurt?"
"Of course it hurt. I had bruises all over me for days afterwards."
"I remember your hand was bleeding," he said quietly.
"Well, yeah. I scraped it when I landed at the bottom."
"But you got up and went charging up the stairs again."
Lois let out an exasperated sigh. "Of course I did. Why wouldn't I?"
He was quiet for few seconds. Lois wondered if he'd had a point or if he just wanted to subtly remind her of how graceless and idiotic she could be sometimes. She started to turn away from him but his hand came to rest on her shoulder to stop her.
"You amaze me," he said softly. "You're not afraid of anything."
"Neither are you," she said, feeling utterly confused.
"Yes, I am," he answered. "You're right, I'm a control freak. But how can I just stand by and watch when I could be helping people?"
"You can't. I wouldn't want you to. Clark, I..."
"Do you know what scares me the most?"
"What?"
"You. Losing you. Or seeing you hurt..."
"Oh my god, do I know that!" she hissed the words as she cut him off. "Trust me, I'm very aware of your issues with my well being."
Clark fell silent, more than a little stung by her reaction. "I guess I just don't understand sometimes how you can do it," he offered.
"Do what?" she asked irritably.
"Run back up the stairs when you know you might get hurt again."
"What other choice do I have, Clark? I could lie at the bottom in a heap but that's not going to fix anything."
His hand moved from her shoulder to lightly brush the backs of his fingers over her cheek. "I love you, Lois."
She gasped and blinked, caught off guard by both the gesture and his words, spoken so softly but with such emotion.
"I know we have a lot of things to talk about before we get married," he continued. "I know I'm not going to pass every little test you set out for me. But I do love you. Promise me you'll always remember that." His hand left her and she found she was aching for him simply to touch her again.
"Clark..." She had found her voice at last. "I wasn't intentionally testing you. I'm not reckless on purpose."
"I know. But you were right, about my needing to be in charge."
Her cheeks flushed at the unexpected direction her mind took at those words. "Do you know what amazes me the most about you, Clark?"
"What?"
"If I could fly and bend steel with my bare hands and everybody was always being deferential to me... Well, I think I'd be a monster. You aren't." She reached out blindly in the darkness and her hand found his arm. She closed her fingers over his bicep and squeezed it reassuringly. "I love you, Clark. I'm not testing you. I'm just scared of... I don't know. Not you - I'm not scared of you. It's... I don't know. I guess it's a little scary to suddenly get everything you ever wanted. Maybe I'm just worried that something might happen to screw it up."
"Something did happen to screw it up," he said quietly. "Me. I happened. I messed it all up, Lois. I guess we're each allowed a turn at that."
"Are you saying I messed up today?" she asked defensively, pulling her hand away from him.
"No." He caught her wrist and sat up, putting her hand to his chest so she could feel his heart hammering nervously inside him. "I'm telling you that I'm grateful you gave me a second chance. Please give me a third chance, Lois. And a fourth. And a fifth. Or however many chances that it takes. I'll do whatever you want. I'll be reckless or whatever it is that you need. Just don't push me away, Lois. Talk to me about whatever it is and we'll find a way to work it out, okay?"
"Okay," she whispered as her throat tightened and tears came to her eyes. She should apologize. She should say something, anything, instead of lying here in silence.
In the end he spoke again first. "Lois? Can I ask you another question?"
"Sure."
"Did you go in the river on purpose?"
She was quiet for a few seconds as she thought about the answer. Finally she whispered, "Yes."
Conflicting emotions raced through him. Anger, fear, amusement, irritation and frustration all warred for prominence. She was never going to back down, he realized. She was always going to be Lois. Maybe, in another twenty years, he'd have her figured out. Then again, maybe the attraction lay in the mystery? He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "You really do amaze me," he said softly.
Lois frowned. Did he really think flattery was going to fix this? "In a good way, I hope."
"Not always," he admitted. "But most of the time."
She pulled her hand from his chest. "I didn't go in the river to worry you. Or because I wanted you to rescue me. I'm grateful for the times that you have, don't get me wrong, but I find it insulting that you think I couldn't survive two minutes without you."
"That's not what I meant." Clark tamped down his frustration. How in the world had she misunderstood him so completely?
"Good night, Clark." She rolled over, facing away from him, and snuggled down deeper into her sleeping bag.
"Good night," he answered after a few seconds. "Sweet dreams."
<><><>
End 12/13
