He wanted to stay here in Metropolis. He wanted to put down roots, to make a home for himself. Lana couldn't be with him, but he was sure she wouldn't have wanted him to wander aimlessly over the globe, drifting with the wind and the tide. She'd want him to make something of himself.
He ordered himself to stop thinking like that. He tried to banish thoughts of Lois by picturing Lana standing next to him.
It didn't quite work. In his mind, Lana was standing next to his desk, but instead of crossing her arms in disgust or frowning in anger or expressing disappointment, she was laughing at him.
He'd forgotten about the incident until one spring day, late in his junior year of high school, when Lana had been over for supper. His mother had walked in on a fairly intense kissing session in the kitchen, and both Clark and Lana had stood silently beside the refrigerator, seriously embarrassed, as Martha had opened the freezer to get some ice. Then, without speaking a word or looking at either of them, she'd tapped out the “shave-and-a-haircut” rhythm on the freezer door, filled her glass with water, and left the room.
The explanation had made Lana both terminally embarrassed and highly amused. The memory made Clark smile. It was a good way to remember some of the good times with her.
“I picked up Lana's personal effects from the museum today.”
Jonathan and Martha both stopped. Jonathan finally mumbled, “I thought you already had all that – all her stuff.”
“No. The employee relations director boxed it up and kept it for me. There were two containers.”
Martha put her hand on his arm. “Oh, Clark, honey, that must have been difficult.”
Clark took a big sip of tea. “It was, in some ways, but it was good, too. She had that picture of us throwing the Frisbee in the front yard on her desk.” He smiled to himself. “That was a fun day. You took the picture, Dad, the day we were playing keepaway with Wayne Irig's grandkids when they were here during spring break. I remember that one of the girls got mad at Lana for catching the Frisbee and putting her in the middle. The girl snuck up behind Lana and tried to pull her shorts down.” He laughed so hard he almost spilled his tea. “And Lana – Lana dropped to the ground so fast she got grass stains on her underwear!”
Martha joined him in laughter. Jonathan smiled widely. “You never told us that, Clark.”
“Lana wouldn't let me, Dad! She was too embarrassed!” They all laughed together.
Then the tears sneaked in. Martha buried her hands in her face and her shoulders jerked. Clark put his arms around her and held her close as she sobbed. Jonathan moved from his favorite chair to sit beside his wife on the sofa, and he put his big arms around the rest of his family as they all missed Lana together.
When Martha slowed down and tried to sit up, Clark released her. “Mom, we need to remember things like that. Lana would want us to think about her when we were all having fun or when she was happy or when she and I were making up after a fight. She wouldn't want her memory to be something that burdened us. She'd want us to remember her but go on with our lives.”
Jonathan nodded slowly. “You're right, Clark.” He sniffed once. “It's hard, though. Lana was so full of life, so determined to be a success. She was such a wonderful girl.”
“Yes, Dad, she was. But she wasn't perfect.”
Martha looked up at him. “What? You mean your wonderful and beautiful bride had faults, foibles and failings?” She lifted her hands and spoke to the ceiling. “What's the world coming to?”
Father and son shared a laugh. “Oh, Mom, there are several things that happened between us that I haven't told you two.” He gave his father a tilted glare. “And I may never share them with you.”
“Too personal, son?”
“Like you and Mom the night I told Lana about my powers.”
Jonathan looked puzzled for a moment, then he and Martha remembered at the same time than Lana had almost walked in on a very intimate moment between them. And then Lana had worked very hard not to let Clark know what she'd nearly done. It was obvious that all of them remembered that night.
Clark grinned at his parents' blushing faces. “Gotcha!”
They all laughed again. Clark stood, still smiling. “I'm hate to have to leave just now, but if I don't go Perry will want to know what in the Sam Hill I thought I was doing, being late to the most important social event in Metropolis this fall.”
His parents stood also. Martha hugged him. “Take care, Clark. And come back when you can.”
He kissed his mother's cheek. “Bye, Mom. Bye, Dad.”
Jonathan pulled his son's handshake into a manly embrace. “Be safe, son. And guard your heart.”
Clark looked deep into his father's eyes. “Always, Dad. Always.”
Lana. Lana. Lana. Lana. This was a very Lana-heavy chapter, Terry. For me, the diehard Lois and Clark champion, it was a bit painful to read.
Of course, if Lois and Clark aren't soulmates, and if it was sheer coincidence that Clark met Lois, then he might so easily have married Lana instead, I suppose. (Not, as Carol would have pointed out, that the LnC show gave us much reason to think that Clark was in love with Lana, or that he would have been happy with her if he had married her. But maybe Smallville is seen as the "canon" story of even LnC Clark's teenaged life and love these days?)
Somehow I found it particularly painful that Clark can't talk to his parents about the attraction he feels for Lois. I have just started to watch the first season of LnC, and I so vividly remember how Martha mouthed to Clark, "I love her!!!", after she had first met her. Here we hear how Jonathan warns Clark to "guard his heart" instead, as if Jonathan is warning Clark not to fall in love again, and not to respond to Lois.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, your Lois is so much more attuned to Clark than Clark is attuned to Lois. This was fairly impressive:
Perry nodded. “Good. How's he doing?”
She shrugged. “It was hard for him, but he's coping.”
“Coping? Or just putting up a good front?”
She paused in momentary thought. “No, he's coping.”
He frowned. “You guessin' or you know it?”
“I know it.”
“Uh-huh. How?”
She opened her mouth to answer but nothing came out. Surprise crept across her features. She shook her head and said, “You know, I never thought about that until just now.”
“Now that's a leading comment if I ever heard one.”
She grinned crookedly. “I guess it is. I can't explain it, Perry. If I listen for it in my head, I just know how Clark feels. It's – I don't know how to describe it. I just sense it in my mind.”
Perry's eyes widened. “You sense it?” She nodded. “Just how much do you sense?”
“Nothing really specific, just his general mood.”
Wow. Lois can actually sense Clark's mood. It is as if
Lois was the telepathic one, as if it was humans - or at least people from the Lane family - who had a telepathic rapport with their loved ones. I thought that the mental bond between Lois and Clark had something to do with some kind of Kryptonian telepathy. But Clark deosn't seem to be nearly as aware of Lois as Lois is aware of him.
Well, sigh - it reminds me about something Paul the apostle said about men and women (1 Chorinthians 11: 8-9):
8
For man did not come from woman, but woman from man;
9
nor was man created for woman, but woman for man;
Well, if woman was created for man, but man was not created for woman, then it makes sense that women should be more attuned to the moods and needs and feelings of men, than men should be attuned to the moods and needs and feelings of women. Admittedly though, that is not how I want to think of Lois and Clark. I want their relationship to be mutual, and mutually giving and taking.
It is not as if your Clark is totally immune to Lois. I liked their dance together:
Her smile bathed him in its radiance. “Are you asking me to dance with you, Mr. Kent?”
He reflected her brightness in his own smile. “Only if you're of a mind to do so, Ms. Lane.”
She lifted her hands. He gently pulled her into position, leaving an easy few inches between them. Lois concentrated on her steps as they glided through the crowd. After a few moments of safety in Clark's arms, she glanced around and saw several other couples joining them.
He looked around also, then smiled down at her. “Looks like we've started something here.”
She grinned back but didn't respond. She looked up at him again and thought to herself just what it was that they might have started between them.
I'm interested in seeing how Clark will ultimately deal with his feelings for Lana and Lois. When I was a kid, there was an "imaginary comic book story" where Superman was split in two, Superman Red and Superman Blue. One of them - Superman Blue, I think - stayed on the Earth and married Lana. The other one went to Krypton with his bride, Lois. It was as if Superman could be married to Lois and Lana at the same time.
![[Linked Image]](http://www.dialbforblog.com/archives/4/superman162_schaffenberger.gif)
Your Clark can't marry two women at the same time, because he can't turn himself into two persons. Also, Lana is dead. But maybe he can "remain married" to Lana in his heart, while he later becomes married to Lois.
Sorry, Terry. I would wish every widower well if he met another woman in real life. It's just that when it comes to Clark, my ficitional hero, I wish that Lois would be his only real love. Then again, if I had asked that of this story, I shouldn't have started reading it.
Hmmmm. This sounded very negative. Well, I enjoyed the chapter, even if it didn't sound like that. Most of all, and as usual, I enjoyed your portrait of Lois. I almost always think that your Lois is (Terry)fic.
Ann
