Don’t Go Away
by coolgirl
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Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today in the sight of God, and in the presence of these witnesses, to join together this man and this woman in holy matrimony.
Part 1 : I can’t marry you
“I…” Lois hesitated.
“Lois?” her fiancé inquired, surprised at her sudden reluctance to say the words.
“I... can't.” said Lois, to the man standing before her, whose shock at her words were drowned by the sudden crash as Perry, followed by Jimmy, Jack and the Metropolis police squad threw open the rear door.
Lois could understand only bits-and-pieces of the chaos that surrounded her, as she was escorted safely out of the church by Perry. She remembered Perry telling her that she couldn’t marry Lex and the police chasing after Lex, but couldn’t still come into terms with the reality. As if in a haze, she let Perry drag her out of the church. A thousand thoughts collided inside her mind.
What was happening? Was she married? No! She had said ‘No’. Hadn’t she? Lex was being charged with crime? What about Mrs. Cox, that promiscuous, mean-looking secretary of his? Why was she in handcuffs? Was she the approver? Lex *had* committed crimes? Clark was right? Lex was really a scoundrel? Did she have a narrow escape? She was an investigative reporter, wasn’t she? Why hadn’t she known? How had Clark known? And where was Clark?
“Where’s Clark?” she turned to face Perry who was walking behind her, effectively stopping him from moving further without running into her. Perry tried to walk around her gently escorting her with a hand at her waist, to get away from the crowd closing in upon them.
“Come on honey. This is no place for you. Let us get you home.” he said, trying to guide her into the cab that was waiting for them. Lois dug her heels in, stopping Perry with a fierce grip on his arm and got out of the cab.
“I want to see Clark! Where’s Clark? Didn’t he come? Is he still angry?”
“I don’t know, honey. He must be somewhere. Should be in his apartment *atleast* by now! Hasn’t been home since last night! Poor boy, probably getting drunk -” his explanation was cut short when a sudden commotion made them all look up. Lois got out of the cab only to see Lex Luthor, the master-criminal take his final plunge to the ground from his Penthouse balcony.
Perry buried her face onto his shoulder, unable to let her witness the death of her former fiancé. He soothed her and finally guided her into the cab before she could fall victim to the *other* press-reporters. Perry almost snorted at the irony. Two-months before, he would have urged his reporters to pursue such a story relentlessly. Yet now he was here shielding one of the reporters of his non-existent newspaper from such people.
“Take me to Clark! I have to see him!” she cried to Perry. Still soothing her Perry ordered the cab driver to take them to Clark’s apartment. Looking down at Lois, still buried in his shoulder, crying her heart out, he was filled with a sudden wave of tenderness. She had made a terrible mistake and he hadn’t been able to stop it. It seemed to him that he had somehow failed in yet one more duty.
Lois was like his daughter. He had seen her since she had been a cub-reporter - innocent, curious - with a nose for news and spark of intelligence that had made him hire her. He had been sure from the first moment that she would go to great heights, though he had to admit that, more than once he had feared for her rather than admire her fearlessness. He had seen her grow up and mature. He had seen her *fall* on so many occasions at the personal level, and yet get up, dust herself and bounce back with a force much greater than before. That was Lois!
But this was not just another failure in her personal life. It was a huge mess and he was half-worried that she might not be strong enough to face it. She would have to get through this, too. She had to!
Her reckless, ‘barge-in-without-thinking-of-the-consequences’ nature was becoming too much for him. He had always secretly hoped that some *special* man - who would take care of her without suppressing her immense energy - would drop down from the *sky*. If only his *instincts* were true!
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Lois got out of the car and ran up the steps to Clark’s door. Perry followed her at an incredible pace for his age, and bent down to retrieve the key from under the mat.
“He is not home yet?” she half-cried in despair.
“It seems so, honey! Anyway let us go inside and get a bit comfortable. I’ll cook.” He said, as he sauntered into the kitchen. Jimmy and Jack, who had followed them into the apartment, almost gagged and hurried after their chief, and Lois was left sitting alone in the living-room sofa.
“Err… chief, we thought we would cook today, you know, umm…share the work. Why don’t you go and have a nice clean bath…err… chat with… umm, Lois.” Jimmy said tentatively, remembering Perry’s inedible, *cooked* crawfish a few days before.
Lois saw Perry come towards her and asked him why Clark wasn’t back yet, again. She was half-afraid that something might have happed to him.
“He should have been home by last night.” he muttered, half to himself, being a bit concerned now. Then he added, with forced cheerfulness, “Don’t worry, honey. I am sure he is in some bar getting hopelessly drunk.”
Then, in a commanding voice, he urged, “Now Lois, enough of this! You are going into one of these rooms now to sleep and not waking until I have cooked something for us. God knows! I had a miserable time with your mother today trying to let you to come with us, than I had in my entire retirement vacation. She must have turned at least a hundred hairs on my head white and taken a few years off my life. I never want to go through that, convincing her that you were safe with us -”
His voice trailed off as he saw that Lois had gotten up and dragged herself to Clark’s room, and smiled ruefully.
Lois shut the door gently and leaned back against it. “Clark, please come back soon. I need to talk to you,” she whispered to herself.
And then, softly, she breathed, “Clark. I love you, too!”
TBC
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I started writing this sometime in 2004 but never finished it. It has been in one of my floppies all this time. I don’t remember exactly how I wanted the story to go, or if I would even post it.
When I joined lcficmbs, I went through the Fanfic Challenge Boards for some inspiration, but then decided to revive this one which I accidentally found this along with a few other *unsuccessful* attempts a few weeks back in that floppy.
I thought I would give it a title and make some changes and post it (consequences be damned!) I was browsing when I found this one that I really liked.
Title: Dont Go Away Artist: Oasis
So don't go away
Say what you say
But say that you'll stay
Forever and a day in the time of my life
'cause I need more time
Yes, I need more time, just to make things right
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(I have no beta, yet!)
