Author's Notes:As per request - and I got plenty of 'em, which really blew my mind - this is a PG-13 version of the one that I’ve posted on the dark side of the boards. This story can easily stand on its own without any naughty, but for those of you who are so inclined, just know that the original version is out there, somewhere. (Like Fox Mulder’s truth. LOL!)
I set this in S2, during The Eyes Have It, except that for the purpose of this story, let's pretend it was the middle of winter then. Also, there’s no A-Plot in this. No one is going blind, no one is getting kidnapped, there’s nothing of the sort here. Hopefully, you can all live with that. <g>
Since the story is all finished and posted on the other side, I'll try and post a new part on this side every day this week.
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Like a Blizzard Through the Nightby LaraMoon
Part 1 -Clark got back to the Planet after most everyone else had already left. He had spent the bulk of that day by himself, chasing after sources and – sadly enough - was coming back with little to nothing that could be of use. Even Lois had left the newsroom by the time he finally made it back there and being that it was Friday night, that meant he wouldn’t see her again until Monday.
Lois had told him, earlier in the week, that she had plans for the weekend. She hadn't told him what they were, simply that she had them. His heart sank as he recalled a couple of phone calls she’d had with a man named Ryan. Clark didn’t know for sure what it was about, but from the tiny bits of conversation that he’d been unable to avoid overhearing, it sounded as though she was meeting him somewhere this weekend and that she was very excited about it.
Worse yet, he hadn’t been able to get himself out of Mayson’s invitation to spend the weekend up in the mountains with her. In fact, he fully expected she would show up in the newsroom to pick him up within the next few minutes.
Clark sighed dejectedly. To say that things weren’t working out well for him would have been a huge understatement. This was an absolute disaster. And it was all his own fault, too! If he’d been just a little more decisive, then the woman he was in love with wouldn’t be off on a romantic getaway with Ryan Something-Or-Other. And if he’d just been able to break it to her gently, then he wouldn’t be stuck having to spend a weekend with a woman who was clearly in love with him, but whom he really didn’t have the same sort of feelings for.
It was a wonder Clark Kent could pull off the Superman routine so well, he thought, seeing as though he felt so completely unable to stand up for himself when it came to his personal life.
As he reached his desk, Clark noticed a message that had been left there for him. For a second, he hoped that Mayson had changed her mind and called to cancel, but that wasn’t it. It was a note from Lois asking if he could call her as soon as possible. He glanced at the clock. 6:32 PM. She was probably already gone for her weekend escapade with this Ryan person, he thought, but the least he could do was call back and leave a message anyway.
He picked up the phone and dialed Lois’ number. Maybe he could try her cell phone afterwards, he thought. She would probably expect him to. After all, he wasn’t supposed to have overheard her phone conversations. As he heard the first ring, Clark started thinking of what he would leave for a message. He was taken completely by surprise when Lois picked up instead of the answering machine he was certain he’d be talking to.
“Lois? Hi. You wanted me to call you back?” he said, hoping to hide the surprise in his voice.
“Clark! Oh, good! I was about to call you at home,” she told him. “You know, in case you hadn’t gone back to the Planet. Anyway… um… I need to ask you a favor.”
He smiled, hoping this meant he’d see her tonight after all. Hoping for a second chance. And if by some miracle he was given that second chance, he wasn’t going to spoil it – he wasn’t going to just stand there and wait, like last time. Wait until things had progressed so far that she was seconds away from marrying the man. Not this time. He’d own up to the fact that he was still hopelessly in love with her; he’d even come clean about his being Superman right then and there, if need be. He was
not going to let her walk out of his life.
“Ask away,” he offered, the smile still very much apparent in his voice.
“You didn’t have any plans this weekend, did you?” Lois inquired, her tone a little hesitant.
“Actually, I did…” he started, but she cut him off immediately.
“Oh.” She sounded suddenly very disheartened.
Clark immediately wished he had phrased his answer differently. He had plans, sure, but they were plans that he very much wanted to get out of! He wondered for a moment what sort of favor she needed that would require him to be free all weekend. Realistically, it probably had something to do with watering plants or coming over to park her Jeep on the other side of the street so as to avoid getting a parking ticket.
“No, wait. Lois? I did have plans, but… Honestly? I’ve been looking for a reason to cancel them all day,” he explained, looking towards the elevator to make sure Mayson hadn’t just walked into the newsroom. Clark was very much relieved to see that she had not.
“Really? You’re sure?” Lois asked, hopeful.
“Absolutely,” he confirmed, all the while thinking that he would do absolutely anything for a good reason to stay in Metropolis this weekend. “What is it that you need exactly?”
“I… uh… well, this is the thing… I’ve just inherited a cottage,” Lois rushed to answer. The rest of her explanation came out so fast that it all sounded like one very long sentence. “From an elderly lady who passed away last week. I guess she had no other family, I’m not sure. Anyway, she’s left me this cottage up north - something to do with that piece I did that brought down a telemarketing scheme. Remember that? Anyway… there’s no way I’m ever going to start spending weekends or vacations up there, so I decided I’d be better off selling it. But I need to see it and, you know, clean it up before the real-estate agent comes by on Sunday. So, will you help me?”
Relief flooded through Clark’s veins. He couldn’t have been happier if the world had suddenly stopped needing Superman. The real-estate agent. Ryan Whoever was the real-estate agent! He didn’t need a second chance – he still had his first one intact. And he wasn’t going to let it go to waste.
“A cottage? Sure, I’ll give you a hand,” he told her.
“You will?” She sounded so very surprised now that Clark couldn’t help but chuckle.
“Yeah,” he said in a soft, but convinced tone.
“Oh, Clark, thank you! You’re such a great friend to have around.”
He winced a little at the word… Friend. That wasn’t exactly what he wanted to be to her. Even a best friend status wasn’t nearly enough. But it would have to do for now, he reasoned. He’d have an entire weekend to state his case, anyway. And he would. By the time this weekend was over, he would know once and for all if there was any chance at all that Lois might ever see him as more than someone to come running to when she needed an ear to bend or a problem fixed. He shuddered at the realization that she just might reject him a second time, but he pushed the thought as far away as he could. This wasn’t the same Lois who had almost married Lex Luthor, less than a year ago. They had grown a lot closer since then and he’d had plenty of opportunities to see that she cared about him more than she had back then. There was still a chance, he told himself, and he was going to make very good use of it.
After making quick travel plans with Lois, Clark hung up and started thinking about what he was going to tell Mayson. He obviously wouldn’t be able to tell her the whole truth – she wouldn’t understand that he was turning her down in favor of some silly spring-cleaning. Especially not considering that he’d said yes to the spring-cleaning thing
after he’d agreed to spend the weekend with Mayson. Truth be told, he hadn’t exactly agreed to it anyway – he’d been interrupted mid-answer and hadn’t been able to finish his thought, letting her believe that he had agreed. And no matter how much he had wanted to talk to her afterwards and let her know that it was just a misunderstanding, he hadn’t been able to find the words or the right moment to do it.
He sighed and picked up the phone again. Clark knew that he’d have to serve her some lame half-truth, but then, he was starting to get used to doing that. A lot. He’d find a way… He always did. He dialed Mayson’s cell phone number, closed his eyes and prayed for inspiration.
Several long minutes later, Clark left the Daily Planet. He was annoyed with himself for the obvious hurt that he’d just caused Mayson, but nevertheless in much better spirits than he'd been in when he'd arrived in the newsroom. He could have made it home in less than two seconds flat, but opted to walk there instead, hoping that this would help clear his mind and make him feel less guilty about what he’d just done.
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“So, anyway, what’s this about you inheriting a cottage?” he asked, once Lois arrived at his place.
“Didn’t I tell you?” she wondered. She was sure she had, but then she couldn’t remember the specifics of the conversation she’d had with him earlier. She’d pretty much lost track of the discussion after he’d agreed to help her out. The prospect of spending a weekend in such close proximity to him had her both jittery and excited.
Lois wasn’t anywhere near ready to admit it to anyone - much less to Clark himself - and as much as it made her feel weak and strangely inadequate, she knew that the reason she resented Mayson Drake so much was because she was jealous of the attention she got from Clark. And it wasn’t anything professional, either. She’d seen him kiss her, she’d seen them exchange pleasantries. And she hated it. She hated it, not because she was afraid of losing her best friend once he settled into a relationship with a woman; not because she felt that, as his partner, she deserved all of his attention. No. She hated it because it should have been her instead of Mayson. It should have been her he was kissing and exchanging pleasantries with. It should have been
her.
She had finally accepted the fact that she had feelings for him – she’d fought them long and hard enough to be able to recognize them for what they were. And now she was
this close to losing him to the likes of Mayson Drake. Well, that was completely unacceptable! There was
no way she was going to let anyone waltz in and steal him away without at least finding out if there was any chance that she, herself, might have a future with Clark. This weekend would be a perfect opportunity to figure things out. Just him and her, alone in the middle of nowhere, with no distractions. No running away to return a forgotten video, no missed appointments, no excuses.
“You know, it’s the darndest thing,” she finally explained. “This little old lady - who I don’t even think I’ve ever met - dies and the next thing I know I get a call from a notary who tells me I now own a cottage in the mountains. According to her will, she’s leaving it to me as a thank you for exposing a ring of fraudulent telemarketers last year. She was swindled out of a certain amount of money which she recovered after the article ran.” She shrugged. “You ready to go? It’s a long drive, we should really get going.”
She wondered how much work they’d actually have to do once they got there. Hopefully, not a lot. Half a hour of dusting and sweeping and - voilà! – the cottage would be ready to be sold. And then, they could spend the rest of the weekend… exchanging pleasantries. Like perhaps making out on the sofa, a little voice in the back of her head yelled out. Lois blushed slightly and quickly tried to push the thought away for now.
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Lois had been driving for over an hour now and it was starting to snow heavily. She was having more and more trouble seeing the road with every new mile and her shoulders and arms were starting to hurt from holding on to the steering wheel so tightly.
“We should stop and get some food and things,” she suggested. “I wouldn’t mind stretching my legs a little bit, either. You?”
“Sounds like a good idea,” Clark answered. He could tell she was having a hard time driving in this weather, but he knew she would probably not admit to it. Perhaps once they stopped he might be able to convince her to let him drive the rest of the way there.
Just then, Lois saw a sign on the side of the road which indicated that New Paltz was just a few miles away. With a sigh of relief, she took the first exit that led into town and a few minutes later, parked her Jeep in front of the first grocery store she saw.
“Clark? Uh, I should have told you before, but…” Lois said, as they got inside the store. “There’s something else you’re going to have to do, this weekend.”
“Mmm… Let me guess,” he replied, cocking his head to the side as he looked in her direction. “You only know how to make four things, three of which have chocolate in them. Is that it?”
“Something like that,” she conceded. Lois was somewhat embarrassed to have to admit that cooking wasn’t one of the things she would win awards for. It was ridiculous, of course, since Clark already knew, but somehow it made her feel very inadequate. As if she was no longer allowed to show any flaws. It had never really seemed useful or important to impress him in the past, but it did now. Very much so.
“What would you do without me, huh?” he asked, with a teasing grin.
“Order pizza?” she answered, shrugging.
He shook his head, laughing, and for the briefest of seconds, Lois almost considered giving him an actual honest answer. The truth was that she’d be more than a little lost without him. She couldn’t even begin to imagine what it would be like to go through the rest of her life if he wasn’t a part of it. She didn’t want to have to imagine it, either. Selfishly, she wanted Clark to be with her, always. If she could just stop being so scared of ruining things by taking their relationship a step forward, then maybe, she mused,
maybe she’d never have to find out.
Half an hour of picking out food items and arguing over the nutritional value of various snacks later, they made it out of the store with enough to feed a small army. Lois couldn’t believe that Clark had actually convinced her to buy all these things. Of course, he apparently possessed a bottomless pit in lieu of a stomach, but it still seemed way too much for a weekend and two people.
Lois waited as Clark placed the supplies in the back of the Jeep. A small sound of annoyance escaped her lips as she tilted her head from side to side, unsuccessfully trying to work a crick out of her neck.
“Are you all right?” he asked, a frown of concern creasing his brow.
“Hm? Oh, yeah,” she assured him before closing the trunk and moving over to the driver-side door. “Just a little stiff from driving.”
“C'mere,” he said softly as he moved behind her and raised his hands, kneading his fingertips gently into the sides of her neck.
His thumbs worked up to the sensitive spots right below her ears, then downward, lingering over every knot until it relaxed under his touch. He knew the exact amount of pressure to use as his fingers danced in slow circles, soothing her aching muscles. As if by magic, all of the tension began to drain from her body.
“Is this something you learned from your Nigerian Princess?” she enquired.
“She wasn’t exactly mine, you know.” He chuckled. “And she only taught me how to dance. This… is all me. It’s one of my many hidden talents.”
The moan of approval she gave caught right at the base of his spine and he had to suppress a shiver.
“Oh… this feels so good,” she said, dreamily.
Lois swayed slightly on her feet, and, resting back against the solid expanse of his chest, wondered idly what other kinds of magic his hands could work. His breath hitched as she leaned against him and he marveled at the idea that something as simple as a neck rub could be the Man of Steel's final undoing. Unlike Kryptonite, there was no recovering from Lois Lane.
“I just might ask for more of this, you know,” she told him, semi-seriously.
“You can ask for anything you like, Lois,” he whispered in her ear.
Clark’s words and the tickling of his breath on her cheek caused a wave of pleasant dizziness to wash over her. Anything, he’d said. And it occurred to her that these weren’t the words of a friend. Friends did not promise each other
anything. Not in a breathless whisper.
Anything was something a man promised a woman. Could it be that, even though he’d taken it all back that morning in front of the Planet, could it be that he’d really had feelings for her all along? Her heart sang at the thought. Maybe they’d just both been waiting for the other one to make the first move? Well, there were ways of finding out how far Clark’s
anything could stretch, she thought.
Slowly, Lois turned to face him and peered into his eyes. Biting her lower lip slightly, she looked at his for a second before looking back up again.
Kiss me, her eyes begged him silently. He seemed to move towards her hesitantly. She gave him an encouraging smile.
Please kiss me, she thought as hard as she could, as if hoping he would read her mind. Anticipation now flowing through her veins, she held her breath and reached up closer to him, standing on the tip of her toes. Her lips parted ever so slightly, in expectation of the kiss she now so desperately longed for.
Instinctively, he closed his eyes and the distance between them. The world started dissolving the instant his lips brushed against hers. Clark’s last rational thought was quickly dispelled as he felt the silky touch of her tongue on his bottom lip. Immediately, they were caught in a delirious whirlwind of emotions and sensations. Bodies fused together in a tight embrace; tongues dancing and curling around one another; hands running madly along shoulders, backs and hips; heartbeats becoming ever more erratic with each new vocal expression of pleasure.
The kiss ended as suddenly and unexpectedly as it had begun, Lois having taken a step back, almost gasping for air. She looked up at Clark, her deep brown eyes sparkling like the ocean in the moonlight and the snowflakes in her hair shimmering like as many stars in the night sky.
“Can I ask a favor?” she said, sweetly.
A million different answers came to his mind.
Anything. Everything. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you. I would give you the world. But when he opened his mouth to speak, the only thing that came out was “Yeah,” in a ragged whisper.
“Would you drive the rest of the way?” she asked, a wide smile gracing her beautiful face. She held up the keys to the Jeep and dropped them in the open hand he had extended towards her in answer.
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To Be Continued...
