Sue is back!!! (((((((Sue)))))))
And what a lovely end to your story this is, Sue! But let's look at things from the beginning.
Clark's eyes opened. His entire body felt heavy and slow and yet he couldn't shake a sense of urgency. His eyes closed as he remembered staggering along a dusty road with an unresponsive Lois over his shoulder. He tried to struggle to a sitting position but his body was uncooperative.
This is a classic nightmare. In your dream you need to move to fend off some kind of horror, but your body is immobile and seems frozen to the spot. What is so poignant to us LnC fanatics about this particular dream is that Clark's desperate need to save
Lois (but apparently also his inability to do so) is at the heart of his nightmare.
Clark blinked and the room came into sharp focus. He remembered it now - seeing the dust rising on the road as a truck came closer and closer. He remembered his last desperate actions to hide Lois from view before the truck reached them. There had been a long ride to the hospital and then a confusing flurry of activity. They had taken her away from him, assuring him that he could see her later.
You are teasing us, letting Clark's confused memories tell a very abridged story of how he and Lois were saved. Well, that way you are whetting our appetite for more information.
"Just stay here, son. I'll go check on her."
"I can't," Clark said with a grimace. "I promised I wouldn't leave her. I can't let her wake up alone."
"Mom is in there with her."
"I still have to see her." Clark leaned heavily against his dad, taking small steps as he worked his way closer to her room. His dad dragged Clark's IV pole along with them.
This is such a wonderful image of hurt and injured Caring!Clark and I-have-to-be-with-Lois!Clark.
Martha didn't add that the doctor had also said if Lois didn't wake up soon, he was worried about what that might mean for her mental condition. There was simply no way to accurately gauge how the heatstroke and fever had affected her brain until she woke up.
You are scaring us, Sue.
Clark lifted her hand and kissed it softly. "Lois, can you hear me?"
There was no response. Her hand remained slack in his and her eyelids didn't flicker. He looked at her face, taking in the dark bruises on her cheek. Her hair was lank on the pillow, her complexion pale beneath the bruises. That his own body was still throbbing in pain only deepened the horror he felt for everything she had suffered.
"Please come back to me." His leaned closer to her and added, "You still owe me a date. And a kiss."
I love how Clark is watching Lois, taking in every detail as he is looking at her. I love it still more that Clark's own pain makes him feel
Lois's pain that much more strongly. He is thinking of her, not of himself.
But Sue, your Clark wouldn't be your Clark if he didn't have something humorous or challenging or banter-like to say to Lois.
Their eyes had met and, in an instant, he had gone from simply interested to smitten. At the time he would have sworn by the way her eyes darkened that she had felt the same way - or at least recognized the heat between them. As time went on he started to believe that maybe he had dreamed it. Only now was he certain that she actually had felt it too - and had pushed him away for her own mental safety.
I love that he remembers and understands this.
And of course, this is such a recurring theme in many LnC stories. He loves her, but can he believe that she loves him, too? And she loves him, but can she hope that he loves her, too?
"I told her she could leave me," Clark said quietly. His parents both looked up from the magazines they were reading. "I thought we were as good as dead and I told her she didn't have to keep her promise to stay with me anymore. It was only a few minutes later that I saw dust rising on the road. It was a long way off, but it was coming towards us. I didn't know if it was the guys who were after us or not. So I hid Lois away from the road and waited for them to get closer."
He is confessing to his parents that he told Lois that it was okay for her to die now, instead of hanging on to her life through the most horrible pain. But when he thought that the men who wanted to kill him and Lois had returned to do awful things to Lois's dying body, he had to hide her away. Becasue if he couldn't save her life, he had to save her from
that, at least.
But the people in the truck weren't the men who wanted to desecrate Lois. They were people who wanted to save Lois and Clark instead. But what if it was too late for Lois? And what if it was Clark's fault if she died, because he had told her that he had given up, so that she might as well give up too and die now?
"You didn't give up," Martha said quietly. "If you had given up, you wouldn't have tried to protect her one last time."
"I wished for something terrible." Clark closed his eyes, awash in guilt. "I wanted her to be dead."
"You didn't want her to suffer," Jonathan corrected.
Awful confession.
But the truth is worse than his parents realize:
Clark shook his head silently, uncertain that he could tell his parents the truth. The sickening boasts that Randy had made about what he wanted to do to Lois had replayed in Clark's mind. He had been desperate to save her from that fate. For a few horrifying seconds he had wished he'd had the strength to--. He shuddered, unable to even admit to himself what he had wished for.
He had wished that he could kill Lois himself, to spare her that last, horrible pain and humiliation. But to think about that now....!!!
"Tell us about the wedding," Martha prompted. "Are you really married?"
Clark's fingers stroked along Lois' arm and his face relaxed. "We're really married." His lips twitched into a smile. "It wasn't planned, and it was at gunpoint, but it was a mostly valid marriage."
I love that Clark relaxes and feels so much happier when he can tell his parents that he is really married to Lois. Even here, even now, even considering what kind of wedding it was, the thought that he is married to Lois can still bring him some happiness.
"What did she say?" Jonathan glanced over at Martha. She grinned and shook her head. He had twenty dollars riding on 'not angry' while Martha had always insisted Lois would overreact and then come to her senses later.
Martha and Jonathan were making bets on how Lois would react! Poor Lois! I don't think I like that very much.
Clark's forehead furrowed as he remembered her reaction. "Nothing. She didn't say anything for such a long time I finally had to ask her say something. And then she was just..." His eyes closed as he realized how generous she had been - never once had she been accusatory. He looked at Lois, lying so still and pale, and his heart felt even heavier. "She looked so hurt and angry but she never said a thing. She took care of me."
But I'm so glad that Martha was proved to be wrong here! Lois hadn't blown her top.
"Then you'd better hang on to her, son." His mom gave him a wink.
Clark laced his fingers with Lois'. "If it were only up to me, sure. But it's her decision, too."
*sniffle* There is something so moving about this. Clark had first told Lois that she could die now. Then he told her to hang on, to keep on living. But it's just like Clark said: No matter how much we may want our loved ones to listen to us when it comes to whether they should live or die, it is ultimately their decision.
Clark was dying - bleeding to death in front of her. Lois felt as if she were underwater, all of her movements were slow and ineffective as she ripped open his shirt to stop the flow of blood. He writhed in pain and his terrified eyes silently pled for her to help him. She couldn't make her body cooperate, couldn't seem to find where all the blood was coming from. As she frantically tried to save him his eyes became distant and his body went limp.
"Clark!" She tried to scream his name but he was shrinking, disappearing before her eyes.
And this is an almost perfect parallel to the nightmare that Clark was having in the beginning of this chapter. Lois is helpless and immobile, and she has to watch in horror as Clark is bleeding to death, and shrinking and disappearing before her eyes, shrivelling to an empty shell because there is no blood left in him.
Again, the nightmare concerns losing one's loved one.
Oh god - he was Superman. Lois remembered being wrapped in the cape and tossing rocks at a narrow ledge as Clark teased her that he had only married her for her body. The memories flooded back and she tried to wrap her mind around what it seemed she had already come to terms with. Clark was Superman. And somewhere out in the desert she had not only accepted that, but she had realized that she couldn't live without him. Not because of Superman, but because he was Clark.
But Lois wakes up, and she remembers some incredibly important things, and she comes to a wonderful conclusion. Clark is Superman, and she can't live without him, because he is Clark.
"Thursday," Lois echoed and tried to remember what day she had last been awake. Was it Thursday? They got married on Monday - didn't they? It was Tuesday morning when Tony shot them. Wednesday when they found water. And Thursday? Lois tried hard to remember but there simply wasn't a Thursday. She could remember plunking rocks onto the ledge and talking to Clark but nothing beyond being cold and having him hold her. No, there was a hazy memory of him refusing to leave her in the canyon. Clark had lifted her onto his shoulder and then-- her mind went blank. Had that been Thursday? Had he carried her all the way to safety? Was that how she got here? But where was he? Why wasn't he here now?
And this is such a brilliant summary of the entire story!
"He's better?" Lois whispered, suddenly worried that she was only dreaming again. "All better?"
"He's super," Martha reassured her.
Her lips were cracked and dry and it hurt to smile but Lois grinned anyway. "Super," she repeated. Their eyes met and both women grew a little teary at the unspoken secret now shared between them.
I love it. How great that Lois and Martha have this bond and understanding between them, now that they know they are the two women who love Clark most in the world, and they also both know his secret.
Superman stepped around the corner and Lois thought for a moment that her heart had stopped. There was the Suit, not torn and blood-stained. The cape billowed out behind him as he walked towards her. He looked perfect - not a hair out of place, no sign of bruising, no way to tell that only two days before he had been near death. She could see why he'd had to leave the hospital in a hurry.
There is something so heartbreakingly perfect and wish-fulfilling-y about this. It's like watching the reversal of the second law of thermodynamics. That is the law that says that everything must inexorably become more jumbled and messy over time, which is why things must break down sooner or later, and why people age and die. And that's why old people can't become young again, and why dead people can't rise from their graves. Seeing Superman -
Clark - so perfect and healthy and strong and clean and well-groomed, after he was so broken and damaged and weak and dirty and dishevelled; well, that is like watching the abolition and annulment of the second law of thermodynamics. It's a miracle.
Acutely conscious that they had an audience and thrilled beyond words to see him, she could only manage a breathless, "Hi."
"Hi," he answered with a smile that weakened her knees even more. "How are you feeling?" he asked, drawing close enough to take her arm and put his other hand at the small of her back for support as he led her slowly back towards her room.
"Much better," she said. "They're talking about letting me out of here tomorrow."
"That's great."
She put her arm through his in lieu of a hug. "Thanks for coming to visit me."
He ducked to softly speak near her ear. "I had to see you."
"Same," she murmured, so low that only he could hear it.
I love how the have to speak "in code", as it were. They have to say things for the benefit of the people around them, but they have to impart new meanings to the words they say, for the benefit of each other.
The hand on her back hand moved to span her uninjured ribs. It was a gesture that must have looked supportive to everyone else. To Lois the gentle pressure of his touch was so intimate that her eyes briefly fluttered closed.
This is so brilliantly written - how a gesture that looks so perfectly innocent and impersonal to the onlookers becomes so incredibly intimate and shivery-inducing to Lois. Oh, Sue, I
love it.
They left the door open to her room when they came inside - neither of them wanted to pull the door shut and set off a flurry of gossip.
How painful to be so in the eye of the public and having to keep up an innocent, rather stiff front, when they so need to hug and kiss each other and laugh and cry.
"Remember that sample of Kryptonite that Jason Trask had analyzed? Kryptonite is composed of sodium lithium boron silicate hydroxide."
Lois shook her head. "And that's what was at the mine? But you said it didn't make you sick. If it was Kryptonite, shouldn't it have done that?"
"If it was Kryptonite, it would have. They took us to a borax mine and the dust I breathed in was full of boron silicate with traces of sodium lithium. It just lacked one thing - the radiation stored in it from Krypton's red sun. So it didn't make me sick, but it took away my powers just the same."
Neat explanation, Sue, but since I didn't figure it out, I need to say in my defence that you can't store radiation from a sun
as radiation inside a metal or a mineral. Radiation, as such, is just a photon, a package of electromagnetic energy, which corresponds to a certain wavelength. The most dangerous and damaging photons pack an enormous amount of energy and correspond to incredibly short wavelenghts, but the red suns radiate mostly long-wavelength, weak sort of photons.
A metal or a mineral isn't radioactive in itself unless it contains radioactive elements or isotopes, such as, for example, uranium 238 (or whatever the precise atomic number is). These elements or isotopes are made of matter - that is, they are made of protons, neutrons and electrons - but they are unstable, and therefore they will decompose into lighter elements or isotopes that contain fewer protons, neutrons and electrons. As they decompose, they release high-energy, short-wavelength, dangerous and damaging photons in the process. It's these spontaneously released energetic photons that are the radioactivity. But if a mineral or a metal is made up of atoms that have no innate tendency to decompose, then you can't fill this mineral or metal with high-energy photons by shining the light of a red sun on it! (Okay, okay, I admit that the laws of physics could actually be slightly different in the universe of Lois and Clark!)
"If I were you, I wouldn't go flying into any borax mines in the future."
Borax mines. Borax. Hmmmm. That reminds me of that crazy guy Borat, who, I shouldn't wonder, may ooze the sort of photons that would make Clark utterly powerless.
"Clark," she whispered, turning her head away so that no one could read her lips.
"Yes?"
She smiled. "Nothing. I just wanted to call you that when you were in the Suit. I mean, I know it's you, but it's still kind of hard to..." She waved her hand, searching for the words. "I just wanted to make it official, I guess. Call you Clark and see if you answered."
I love it. Sigh.
"You can call me whatever you like and I promise I'll answer."
'Husband', she thought. Let me call you that. Or 'sweetheart' or 'darling'. An entire list of sickeningly sweet names went through her mind and yet none of them seemed so saccharine if she was referring to him. What had happened to her? Maybe it was just the residual effects of sunstroke because there was no other excuse for it. She wanted to call him 'sweetheart' and have him answer.
*sniffle* It's perfect.
When he smiled, his entire face seemed to relax and Lois realized that she had never seen Superman so at ease before. It was the end of an era, she thought. He wasn't hiding from her anymore. Just as quickly she remembered that he should still maintain the ruse for everyone else. "You should probably leave soon," she said regretfully. "Although I wish you could stay longer."
In an instant his face had returned to the distant but friendly mask of Superman. He reluctantly stood up, letting his fingers brush over her wrist as he did so. "Call and let me know when you're coming home, okay? I'll come to the airport to meet you."
Superman becomes Clark Kent even though he is wearing the Suit, because he isn't hiding or play-acting or lying to Lois anymore. But then they remember that they are in public, and Superman has to become Superman again.
Clark started to go to the door, hesitated and then turned to look at her again. "Honey?" he asked softly.
"Yes?" she answered automatically.
He grinned. "Nothing. I just wanted to call you that and see if you answered."
Aaaaawwwww....
"Hi, this is Clark Kent. I'm sorry I'm not here to take your call. Please leave a message and I'll call you back."
Lois closed her eyes, disappointed that she wasn't going to be able to talk to him in person.
"Hi, Clark. It's me, uh, Lois."
You know -- your wife, her mind added.
"I'm at the airport and you told me to call and let you know what time my flight gets in. Well, I should be there around 10:30 tonight, Metropolis time. I, uh, I know you might have something more pressing going on, so it's okay if you don't come. I mean, I understand that you're, well, you know. You don't have to come up with an excuse anymore. So, uh, so if I don't see you, I'll just give you a call tomorrow morning. Okay?"
Talking to a machine is so awkward, because it doesn't answer you and gives no indication of whether or not it has understood. So you have to be very crisp and clear, which in itself almost guarantees that you will become flustered and start babbling. And what on earth did you say anyway? It is sometimes quite hard to remember.
Anyway, Lois asks Clark to pick her up at the airport.
But then she remembers something...
She hung up the phone and then thunked her forehead against the side of the phone booth. "Idiot," she whispered to herself. "You didn't even tell him the most important part." She dialed the phone again, pressing the receiver closer as his greeting played.
"Hi, uh, it's me again. I forgot to tell you but the police are going to be looking for you. Someone from the sheriff's office came to talk to me earlier today and I didn't know what to say when they asked about you."
Lois looked around nervously. No one in the crowds bustling past was paying any attention to her, but she still felt uneasy saying anything about his alter ego.
"I told them I thought you had gone back to Metropolis to follow up on some leads about Mickey. So, anyway, uh, we can talk about it when I get back. I'm assuming that since I can't reach you neither can Henderson or anyone else. Not that you owe me any explanations for where you go or what you're doing. I don't want you to think that I'm being nosy. Because I'm not. I, uh, I'll just see you later. Or talk to you later. Probably talk to you. I'm sure there's a lot of stuff that, uh, you have to, you know, take care of. Soooo, bye now."
The police will be looking for him! He must be told about that. And then she tries to tell him that she doesn't need to know where he is, that she isn't being nosy, and then she becomes flustered and embarrassed again.
And then she realizes that she left out her most important message to him:
"Hi, it's me again. I had to tell you this, just in case. Let's face it, with my luck lately, it's entirely possible that the plane is going to explode in midair or something before I can get back to Metropolis. So the thing is..." Lois took a deep breath and tightened her hand on the phone to keep it from shaking. "I love you, Clark. I, uh, I just wanted to tell you that. I should have told you that sooner. Anyway, I know we have a lot to sort out with, uh, the marriage or annulment or whatever and all that, but I wanted you to know that I do love you. And don't think that it's because of, you know, uh, that other guy. I already felt this way, honest. I hope you can be there tonight. I'd give anything to be able to hug you right now." Her voice faded to a whisper as she realized how much she meant that. She choked on the last few words as her throat seemed to close off and tears came to her eyes. "I miss you, Clark."
And she confesses her love for him to his answering machine, and it's so, so poignant. Because she doesn't know if he loves her back, and she doesn't know where he is, and for all she knows he may be dying at the bottom of a borax mine right now and she may never see him again, and she may never touch him or hug him again, and she starts crying at the thought of his absence... but at least, at the very, very least, she has told his answering machine that she loves him.
If he was there, she could hug him. Her arms felt empty, useless almost, that she hadn't been able to hug him at the hospital.
These may be my favorite two sentences from this part, and maybe from the whole story. What is love? And what good are these arms, if they are not able to hug her loved one?
A week. It had been a week since they were married. A week since she had kissed him. She remembered what he had said about a scorching good night kiss and her stomach fluttered in anticipation. If he was there, if he was waiting for her, it had to mean that he -- what? Wanted her? Wanted to be married to her? Or was he just too polite to ditch her while she was this vulnerable?
Vulnerable. That's the right word. This paragraph shows just how vulnerable and emotionally naked Lois is.
Had he heard her messages? Would he be waiting for her when she got off the plane? She told herself that it wouldn't matter if he hadn't been able to make it but she knew that was a lie. It mattered. It mattered more than anything else in the world.
<"Hello, Mrs. Kent...">
That name had sent a thrill through her at the time and that was even before everything had changed. Before they had risked their lives to save each other, before she had known his secret, before she had spent the night nestled in his arms to keep warm. What if she really could be Lois Kent? How different - how amazing - would her life be if she could spend every night in his arms simply for the pleasure of being near him?
As the plane touched down her stomach lurched along with the wheels.
Please, let him be there.
Please let him want her. Please let him be warm and solid and real and
there for her.
"But, if you are married, I'm going to need to think of someone else to ask to the Press Corps Banquet next month."
"Don't flatter yourself, Brendan. You're not Clark's type."
Brendan tipped his head back and laughed. "Touche, Lois."
Maybe Brendan could ask Captain Kirk?
She had never been more aware of the sheer physicality of Clark than at this moment. Both he and Superman had always seemed so solid to her, but he was currently the only substantial thing in her world. The ephemeral night air was cool and it made a striking contrast to the warmth of his body. The Suit gave her the semblance of normality but her mind was still reeling that it was Clark - Clark! - who was flying with her. In the next instant all her fears dissolved and she relaxed into his sure embrace. She had always trusted Superman but somehow knowing that he was truly Clark increased her confidence in him.
And yes - he
was warm and solid and overwhelmingly physical and real, and he was most certainly there for her. When even the ground is not touching her feet, Superman -
Clark - is embracing her.
They landed on the sidewalk outside her building. There were a few reporters and one camera crew waiting for them. "If you want to know what happened," Lois said as they hurried up the stairs, "you can read about it tomorrow in the Daily Planet."
The reporters saw Lois and Superman(?) enter her apartment building, but they won't see Superman leave - aren't they going to they wonder?
The closer they came to her apartment, the harder her heart began to pound. By the time they got to her door she was almost dizzy. Would he stay with her tonight? Technically they were married, so that had to be okay. But did he consider them married?
This really
is pulse-quickening, and angst-inducing at the same time.
Alone. There were no prying eyes to watch them. An anxious flutter started in her stomach - was he going to leave her now?
He took a step closer to her and she lifted her gaze to his face. He looked just as hesitant as she felt. How was that possible? Leaving aside the fact that he knew she had a huge crush on him, there was still the matter of her perhaps ill-conceived phone message. What did he have to be nervous about?
"You said," he started and then had to swallow. "You said you wanted to hug me?"
Oh, that awkwardness. They so want each other, and they are so afraid of voicing their hopes. I love Clark's question - so tentative, so nakedly needy.
In response she wrapped her arms around him. All the things she had wanted to say fled from her as his arms encircled her in return. The only word she could manage was, "Clark."
"I wanted to hold you, too," he whispered near her ear. "It was all I could do at the hospital not to pick you up and fly away with you then and there."
Aaaawwww!!! The walls are just breaking down!
The realization that they were safe sank in and Lois gave up fighting her emotions. She let out a choked little sob and buried her face in his chest to muffle the next one. She cried for the fear she had felt in the truck, in the mine, and ever since she had heard that first gunshot and known that he had been hurt. She sobbed away all the accusations and hurt that learning his secret had caused. She cried for the pain that both of them had suffered and how hard they had struggled together simply to survive. Through all her tears he simply rocked her and whispered soft reassurances.
And the dam breaks, releasing all her pent-up emotions and tears. And I love that he is holding her and soothing her.
Blood. There was so much blood and no matter how frantically she searched she couldn't find the source.
"Clark! Stay with me!" she begged as his eyes closed. "Please!"
He didn't seem to hear her as she desperately pressed her hands to his chest, watching in horror as her efforts did nothing to stop the flow. Suddenly, there was a boom and he disappeared.
That horrible nightmare again.
"Why are you sleeping on the floor?"
"Your couch is too small."
"So you chose the floor?"
He shrugged. "I've slept in worse places. Your floor really isn't that bad."
On impulse, Lois laid down, looking first at her ceiling and then at him. "You're right. It's not that bad, considering."
So sweet. I love it.
"No. It's wonderful." Lois ran her hand over the spot where his wound had been and then propped herself up on his chest so that she could see his face. Her hand moved to cup his cheek as her eyes drank in the sight of his beloved features free of the bruises and blood that haunted her dreams. On impulse she leaned closer and touched her lips softly to his. His lips parted slightly but he didn't kiss her back. Lois moved to kiss the corner of his mouth and then his cheekbone. "I'm glad you're back to being you, Clark. When I woke up in the hospital and remembered what had happened I was so worried about you. Hearing that you were fine - and then seeing that you were - well, it was like a miracle."
Clark
is a miracle. He defies the second law of thermodynamics.
She kissed him again, letting her mouth linger against his so she could savor the feel of his lips. It seemed to her now that things had gone far too fast in that Vegas hotel room. She hadn't thought to memorize the way that kissing him had felt. They had all the time in the world now and she settled against him, content simply to take little tastes of him as his warm breath played across her mouth.
A wave of longing surged through Clark. More than anything he wanted to kiss her back and tell her how he felt. He wanted to leave her without any uncertainty about his feelings for her and their marriage. He didn't want to pressure her so he had been careful to avoid the subject. The gentle weight of her body against his and the feather-soft brush of her lips were dissolving all his good intentions.
And they are so gentle and careful around each other, even though they long for each other so incredibly. But even their gentle touches are fanning their desire.
"I love you," he whispered before their kiss melted into another. He said it again when that kiss ended, unable to hold back any longer. "Lois, I love you. I always have."
"I love you," she told him, more than a little breathless from both his words and his kisses. She searched his dark eyes, feeling another jolt of heat low in her belly at the intensity of his gaze. Lois ran her fingers through his hair, captivated by the pull of his silky locks tickling through her fingers. A lock slipped away from her and fell onto his forehead in a shallow curl.
I love how you write about that little curl, the classic Superman curl. I once read an article where someone claimed that the genius of Joe Shuster, the first Superman artist and the original creator of the Superman looks, was that he gave Superman that little curl. Because there is a lot of innocence in such a little lock of hair. Thanks to his hairstyle, Superman looked innately innocent and good. Which is why I always missed that little curl in Dean Cain's Superman... but then again, Dean Cain's Clark Kent always had great hair.
Clark let out a shaky laugh. "If I start touching you now, I might not stop. I want you. I don't just mean for tonight or for... this." He swallowed hard and then added, "Lois, I meant every word I said in that wedding chapel. I want you for my wife."
Her heart seemed to have burst, spilling happiness into every cell of her body. "And I want you for my husband."
And finally, finally they dare to admit it to each other. They don't want an annulment. They want each other, forever.
He placed a kiss just below her ear as his arms tightened around her. "To have and to hold."
Lois tipped her head back to look into his eyes, remembering the fear and horror at the mine and how they had struggled together to get away. "For better or for worse."
Clark smiled, remembering the very different circumstances of the nights they had spent together. From a posh hotel room to lying beneath the stars with only his cape and their shared body heat to keep them warm. "For richer or poorer."
"In sickness and in health." As she spoke the words she could still remember how horribly wounded he had been and how brave and determined he must have been to save them both.
"To love, honor and cherish." Having nearly lost her he knew the true value of what he now held. It was a promise he meant with all his heart - he would spend the rest of his life cherishing her.
"Until death parts us." Lois remembered making him promise that he wouldn't leave her and how he had exacted the same promise from her.
His eyes darkened with emotion. "Not even death, Lois. I'll love you forever."
For a moment it seemed that time stood still as the full impact of what they had just promised set in for them both. Married. They really were married. For a breathless moment they could only stare at each other.
Then Lois put her arms around his neck and whispered, "Make love to your wife."
It's kind of lame to quote the entire ending, but... it is just so perfect and beautiful, Sue.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for this beautiful story.
Ann
Never mind.
And I do hope too for an nfic part 
![[Linked Image]](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v224/BlownAwayByClay/gifs/loveshower.gif)
![[Linked Image]](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v224/BlownAwayByClay/gifs/sigh.gif)
It's all anyone will be able to get out of me for the rest of the afternoon, I'm plenty sure.
