Well, instead of posting EOD, it's more like every 36 hours it seems... As long as I keep getting more done, it's not a problem, I suppose. It will probably be late Sunday before 28 is posted.
Anyway - here we go.
Thanks again to Alisha and Beth.
So, does Lana get hers? You decide...
Carol [who would like to point out that when she posted Chapter 1, she said she thought it would be in the 26/27 chapter range]
*****
Chapter 27
*****
Lois was aware as Clark laid her gently on their bed and pulled the covers over her. He kissed her temple softly and whispered that he'd be back in a few minutes. She heard movement in the bathroom and realized that Lana must be in there. She knew Lana still wanted Clark and would have known even if Clark hadn't told her about the whole footsies thing at the restaurant.
She briefly contemplated faking a nightmare, knowing that would bring Clark to her side in an instant and he wouldn’t leave her after that, but she couldn't do that. She heard Lana open the door to the bathroom and heard her walking across their room.
"Go to bed, Lana, and stay away from my husband," she said quietly, surprising both herself and Lana.
Lana paused, but said nothing and continued towards the living room.
Lois laid there for a few more minutes, straining to hear what was being said on the other side of the wall. It wasn't long before she heard Clark tell Lana good night and soon he slid into bed next to her.
"Hey, you still awake?" he whispered as he cautiously reached for her – unwilling to scare her if he could avoid it.
"Yeah," she whispered back and rolled over into his embrace.
"Stay away from me?"
She could see his smile. "I already told off one woman who wanted to take my husband this month, the second one might get decked." She could see his face lit by the dim moonlight coming in through the big window on the other side of their room. She reached out and touched his cheek. "I do love you, you know."
He smiled again. "I know." He turned slightly and kissed her palm. "Get some sleep. Tomorrow's a big day."
*****
The article by Cat and Eduardo, with special contributions from Lois and Clark, appeared on the front page of Monday's Daily Planet – pictures of the four men implicated in the scandal and the 60 point headline of "Campus Scandal Revealed" under which read "UNT Met VP, Professor, Star editor to plead guilty; MPD officer also implicated"; all above the fold. It told the city, and the world, the bare bones of the story that would be public knowledge by the end of the day. The hearings for the three who were pleading guilty were closed to the public, but Eduardo had been allowed in as part of the exclusive deal. No other reporter managed to get in. Tony Rader had been suspended indefinitely from the Star pending the outcome of the whole thing and part of his deal was that he would not be allowed to write any of it up for the Star for a period of time – another of their reporters would have to do it.
Eduardo arrived back at the Daily Planet just before noon with all the details. The four of them worked together to put the finishing touches on the articles they'd worked on, now that the details, like prison sentences, were finalized.
Lois' name had been thrown about for weeks by the campus paper as well as the Star before the full involvement was known. It was fairly obvious to those 'in the know' – Professor Smith was suspended because of rape allegations the same weekend that Lois and Clark were removed from the paper. It was a logical conclusion to make.
Henderson had called that morning and asked Lois to either make a statement or have a statement ready to be read at that afternoon's press conference and she'd agreed. She was in the conference room working on it with Cat when she realized that what she was wearing simply wouldn't work and Clark volunteered to run home and get her something else.
He bounded up the steps to the apartment and unlocked the door. He opened it and stopped short at what he saw.
There, on the couch, wearing one of his blue dress shirts and playing solitaire on the coffee table was Lana.
She looked up and smiled at him. "I hope you don't mind that I borrowed a shirt. I spilled milk all over my clothes and threw them in the washer but needed something else to wear until they're done."
Clark left the door wide open and quickly descended the stairs. He tossed a blanket at her. "Cover yourself up, Lana. And, yes, I do mind. Why aren't you with your parents yet?"
She shrugged and, in apparent deference to his wishes, pulled the blanket onto her lap where it did precious little to cover her long, bare legs as she stretched them out to the coffee table. "They said they'd call when they were on their way over to get me and I haven't heard from them yet."
Clark glanced at the wall. "Could that be because the phone is off the hook?"
She shrugged again. "I must have bumped it at some point."
He glared at her. "There's a whole dresser full of clothes in there that probably would have fit you a lot better than one of my shirts," he pointed out.
She shuddered delicately. "I looked in Lois' dresser but everything was so worn and outdated that I didn't want to wear any of it." She stood and moved towards him. "You really should have someone show her how to dress if she wants to be attractive."
"You don't know what you're talking about, Lana."
"Sure, I do. If she knew how to dress a little better, maybe had a few somethings sexy, that 'alleged' affair wouldn’t have happened."
Clark had moved into their bedroom and pulled a pair of shorts and a T-shirt out of Lois' dresser. He threw them at Lana as he headed towards the closet to find Lois some clothes. "Get dressed. And there was no affair. And there's not going to be. I love Lois and that's all there is to it."
His back turned, he looked through the bottom of the closet for the pair of shoes Lois had said she wanted. When they weren't there, he remembered that she'd mentioned Lucy had borrowed them to wear to graduation and that they might still be up in the loft. He turned, trying to avert his eyes from Lana, who he knew was still there. She had pulled on the pair of sweat shorts – an old pair of his he now realized – and was slowly unbuttoning his shirt. One part of him was just grateful it hadn't been a white one, the rest just wanted to get out of there.
Resolutely looking away, he hurried to the staircase and ascended rapidly. He went to the corner where Lucy kept her shoes and found the ones he was looking for. He prayed to whatever God might be out there that Lana wasn't following him up here.
That prayer wasn't answered the way he'd hoped. He turned to see her standing at the top of the staircase, having changed shirts as requested, but the way she was now backlit from the apartment below, it was obvious that she was... more generously endowed than Lois and she wasn't wearing anything under it. From the way she moved towards him, she had only one thing in mind.
Already off balance, he fell easily as she pushed him towards Lucy's bed, landing squarely in the middle of it. He started to roll but was stopped by her body on his. He felt her lips covering his own and with a loud growl pushed her upwards. "Get off me, Lana." He was practically shouting. "I don't want you. Don't you get that?" He pushed as hard as he could without hurting her and rolled away from her coming to a standing stop on the other side. "I never wanted you. Not in preschool, not in fifth grade, not in high school, not the week after I got married and certainly not now."
"You can't want *her*," Lana remarked snidely. "She's not half the woman you should have." She moved closer to Clark who moved back towards the stairs. "She never has to know. Just you and me and ecstasy, Clark. It's what we've always wanted. What you promised me. I know you married her out of some misguided sense of loyalty to a long time pen pal, but that's okay. As long as I know that you really want to be with me, I'm willing to share for now."
Clark reached the top of the stairs and carefully worked his way backwards. "No, Lana. I don't want you. I never wanted you. Get that through your head. What would your parents think if they knew you were making a pass at a married man?"
"They always wanted us to be together. Why do you think they let you live with us all those years? I asked them to and they did because they thought we would be great together."
"But I'm married, so even if they did, it wouldn't matter anymore."
Lana shrugged. "It's a minor detail."
"You're delusional." He reached the bottom of the staircase and turned around to see a startled Lewis and Laura Lang standing there.
"Clark," his former foster dad said seriously, "I think I need to have a talk with my daughter." He turned to Lana who was halfway down the stairs. "Young lady, it's about time we got a few things straight."
Clark looked relieved. "Um, you'll have to excuse me. I needed to pick up a few things for the press conference this afternoon. There's a key under the mat if you wouldn't mind to lock up whenever you're done."
Lewis nodded; his stern gaze still on his daughter. "We were planning on attending as a show of support for you and Lois, but now I'm not so sure that's a good idea."
"Thanks for the thought, but you're probably right." Clark looked his foster dad in the eyes. "I have to tell Lois about this, you know. If she sees Lana after I do... I know who's more likely to come out unscathed and it's not your daughter."
"Of course you'll have to tell her. We're not planning on leaving for a few more days, but rest assured, my daughter is going to steer clear of you and your wife. Wayne's planning on being at the courthouse. Tell him we'll meet him back at the hotel later."
"Yes, sir."
"Lana, go sit in the living room. I want to talk to Clark for a minute. Laura, will you go with her?"
Laura nodded and moved with Lana to the couch.
"Clark," Lewis spoke quietly. "I'm sorry for the way Lana's behaved. I thought she gave up on the dream of the two of you ending up together years ago." He clapped Clark on the shoulder. "I'm proud of you, though, for standing up for your marriage, for Lois, in all forums lately. By protecting her when she needed it and by getting away from Lana when you could – and for leaving the door wide open so that we could come in without interrupting what was happening and so we'd see and hear enough to know what was going on."
"Thank you," Clark said quietly. "But I really need to get going. I'm not going to tell Lois until after the press conference. I don't think you'll see her before then, but if you do..."
"We won't say a thing. You have my word. And you have my word that, if I have anything to say about it, Lana will never bother you or your wife again."
Clark quickly gathered what he needed and left the Lang family in his living room where he was sure Lana was going to get the lecture of a lifetime.
*****
Lois stood in her best business suit listening to Henderson and the DA inform the press about what had taken place in the courtroom that morning. She could see Wayne Irig and Clark had whispered that the Langs had wanted to be there to support her as well but had been unavoidably detained and he'd explain later. She'd nodded, not really caring, but appreciating the gesture, at least from Laura who she'd had several nice conversations with over the last couple of days.
Finally, Henderson turned to her. "And now, Lois Lane-Kent will read a brief statement. She will not be taking any questions."
Clark squeezed her hand gently. "You can do this. I'm right here."
She nodded and him and took a deep breath before moving to the microphones.
"My name is Lois Lane-Kent. I was the complainant who started this whole process. Almost a month ago, while working late at the UNT Metropolitan, I was assaulted and nearly raped by Professor Paul Smith. Except for the timely arrival of my husband, Clark Kent, he would have succeeded. Later that night – or rather early the next morning – we went to Bill Henderson of the Metropolis Police Department and told him our story. A few hours later, I had a meeting with Dr. Snodgrass from the University of New Troy at Metropolis. In that meeting, he offered Clark and me degrees in exchange for signing confidentiality agreements and if we did so, Professor Paul Smith would decline to file charges of assault against my husband and other charges against me. Because we expected this, the conversation was legally recorded. It was this recording, as well as a recording we later discovered of the assault by Professor Smith, that we took to Perry White of the Daily Planet.
"While I was meeting with Dr. Snodgrass, Clark received a phone call informing us we had been fired from our positions at the Metropolis Star. During the course of the investigation that my husband and I assisted senior reporters Eduardo Friaz and Catherine Grant of the Daily Planet with, we were able to find a number of other women who, at one time or another, found themselves in the same position I was in, but without anyone to rescue them. We also discovered that other women had been in consensual relationships with Professor Smith, though it may be difficult to determine if the relationships were truly consensual as he was in a position of authority over all of them. All information we discovered was, of course, turned over to the proper authorities and it is my understanding, that some of this information was instrumental in the plea agreements this morning.
"Many of you already knew, or at least suspected, that my husband and I were involved in this and so I have come forward publically by making this statement. However, the other women involved deserve your respect and their privacy. Some of their stories, with their identities obscured, will be found in the Daily Planet over the next few days. I ask that you respect their privacy and if they choose to come forward in any publication and reveal their identities, it should be their choice, not yours.
"I wish to thank a number of people for their support over the last month. Bill Henderson has done an outstanding job following up leads and without his help it is unlikely we would be here today. Assistant DA Jeremy Thompson has been relentless in his search for the truth and for justice for myself and the other women. Constance Hunter has as well, providing legal services for all the women involved. Perry White, Eduardo Friaz and Catherine Grant have used their incredible investigative skills to gather some of the evidence needed. One woman in particular – and she knows who she is; I won't further her embarrassment by naming her here – who was involved on the periphery told the truth at great personal cost and I thank her for that. Beverly Green, former secretary to Dr. Snodgrass, at great personal risk supplied more of the initial evidence needed to get this ball rolling. She is now working directly for the president of UNT Met and no one is more deserving of the promotion. The other women who came forward and told their stories are tremendously courageous and I respect them deeply for that. I would like to thank my sister, Lucy Lane, and good friends, James Olsen and Alice White for their support as well.
"Last, and most certainly not least, I would like to thank my husband, Clark Kent. Without him, the attack on me by Professor Smith most certainly would have been exponentially worse than it was. Without him, recovery from this incident would have been, and would continue to be, decidedly more difficult. His love and support have been invaluable in the three and a half years we've been married and absolutely indispensible the last month."
She paused for a moment and looked up from the paper she had been reading from. "Any questions you may have for me or my husband should go through Perry White, Cat Grant or Eduardo Friaz at the Daily Planet. We have nothing further to say at this time. Thank you."
*****
Lois and Clark left the area as soon as she was finished with her statement. They tried to sneak out the back of the courthouse but a few members of the press were staked out there for just such an eventuality and Clark wrapped his arm around her pulling her to his side as they 'no commented' their way through. It was only the beginning. He was sure it was going to get worse before it got better. Hopefully, if they went straight home as was their plan, no one would be there yet.
They climbed into their car and drove off, heading to Clinton Avenue. As hoped there, was no one there when they arrived.
Moments later, Lois sank onto the couch her head in her hands. Clark came to sit beside her. "I am so proud of you." He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her to him, letting her cry.
She pulled back after a few minutes. "I don't know why. I didn't do that much to be proud of. Just made a statement. Didn't even take any questions."
"That was more than enough for today. If anyone wants to know more, they can either read about it in the Daily Planet or continue to wonder."
Lois nodded then stood. "I'm going to change clothes."
"I'll wait right here," Clark told her, letting her know that she could safely change in their room rather than going to the small bathroom.
She silently thanked him as she walked towards her dresser. "Clark, do you know why some of my clothes and one of your blue shirts are on the bed?"
He groaned. "I'll tell you in a few minutes."
"I'm not going to like it, am I?"
"I doubt it."
"Great." Five minutes later, she reemerged in a pair of shorts and a Smallville High T-shirt.
He moved past her and an instant later, dressed in denim shorts and a cutoff T-shirt, was on the couch waiting for her.
She sat next to him and pulled her legs under her. "So, what is it?"
He sighed and took her hand in his. "Lana didn't listen to you."
"About what?"
"Staying away from me."
"Oh." Her voice was quiet. "Do I want to know what happened?"
He shook his head. "Probably not, but you should." In a few sentences, he told her what happened, including that she had been wearing one of his shirts but leaving out the fact that he'd inadvertently noticed her lack of undergarment. "When I made it back down the stairs, her parents were standing here and they were livid. Lewis promised me that she wouldn’t bother either one of us while they're here."
"Oh."
"I didn't want to tell you before the press conference, but I told him I'd be telling you today. It's something you deserve to know."
She shifted so that she was slightly farther from him. "You mean, that my husband saw another woman wearing nothing but one of his dress shirts and ended up under her on a bed?"
"Yeah, something like that."
She was quiet for a moment. "Did you like that?"
"What?"
"Seeing her in your shirt. Was there something inherently sexy about it?" she asked quietly.
"There was something inherently *disturbing* about it. I threw her a blanket as soon as I could."
"Oh."
"You're thinking about what you asked Mayson, aren't you?"
She nodded.
"Would you like to know? In the abstract anyway?" he asked quietly.
Lois thought for a minute then nodded again. She rested her chin on her knee, refusing to look at him as he reviewed the questions in his mind.
"Let's see... Morning or night? I don't know that it matters. Whatever works for us with schedules and stuff. As for the rest... I think I’m probably more of the adventurous sort. Whatever you're comfortable with, I think I would be too, when we get to that point. Someday." He chuckled. "Given what I can do, it seems likely that we could do stuff no one else could dream of." His voice softened again. "And how I like to be kissed? We'll figure that out together some time. When you're ready." He reached out and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "Would I like to see you wearing only one of my dress shirts?" He took a deep breath. "Oh, yeah." They were quiet for a moment. "Does it bother you that I've thought about those kinds of things?"
"I don't know. In some ways, no, because I'm glad you find me attractive and want to do those kinds of things with me, but are willing to wait until I'm ready. But in other ways... yeah, it does, because I'm *not* ready for those kinds of things." She sighed. "You realize that what happened... that set me back even further."
"Yeah, I know."
"I would have liked to date this summer. To get to know each other as a couple."
"I would have too."
They sat there for a few more minutes.
"Clark?"
"Yeah?"
"Would you ask me out sometime anyway? Not just yet and probably not for a while, but would you?"
"Of course."
"Thank you."
They sat for another few minutes, each thinking about life.
"Lois, there's something else I wanted to talk to you about."
"What's that?"
"When I was talking to Wayne last night, he told me a few things."
"Like?"
"Like there's a lot more money in Smallville than I thought, for starters."
"Oh."
"He also said that his wife, Maggie, was raped about six months before they got married. They weren't dating at the time because she was off at college, but... It was their first anniversary before..." His voice trailed off.
"Wow."
"He recommended something I've been thinking about a lot today."
"What's that?"
"He said that since we have the money, and we're young and carefree enough, to just pick up and do some traveling if we wanted to. Go see the world, just the two of us. Keep writing – travel articles or a book or two, whatever – but spend six months or a year or however long we want. Get out of here where things have been so hard for us and where both of us are likely to be hounded for a while by the press, with the reminders of the past and just go."
"You and me against the world?"
"Something like that. We could still come home once a month or whatever since we won't have to pay for airfare – see Lucy and everyone. Go to little out of the way towns and play tourist off the beaten tourist path. Set up a base out of a large-ish town – say Sydney – and do day or two day trips for a couple of months and write them up for the Planet's Sunday Travel section. What do you think?"
"It sounds interesting. I'd miss this place, but getting out of Metropolis for a while sounds nice. And it *would* be a lot easier to be able to come home as often as we want without paying for airfare." She looked at him contemplatively. "Let's think about it for a week or so. Talk to Perry, see what he says."
"That's fair."
The phone rang, but they both ignored it, having already decided to let the answering machine get it. Clark's voice filled the air.
"You've reached the Lane-Kent household. We are currently screening our calls. We ask that you respect our privacy and our wishes. If you have a question regarding the press conference, please contact the Daily Planet. Otherwise, please leave a message and we will return your call when we can. Thank you.
"Mr. and Mrs. Kent, this is John Horace calling regarding the estate of Louise Lane."
Clark dashed to the phone. "Hello? Mr. Horace?" The machine clicked off. "Sorry about that; we're about to have the press at our doorstep."
The rest of the conversation consisted of Clark simply agreeing with whatever the other man said. He then said good-bye and hung up the phone.
"Well?" Lois asked.
"He's going to be in town on Thursday and wants to meet with us. He said he has some questions to ask us with regards to the stipulations that he still won't tell us about and if we meet those, then the transfer of funds will be started and we should have the money within a couple of weeks."
"That's good. It would make that whole 'travel the world' thing easier."
There was a knock on the door. Clark glanced at it. "No one we want to talk to."
"Then ignore it."
"I'm planning on it."
Lois yawned. "I didn't sleep well last night. I think I'm going to try to take a nap."
"Good idea. Do you want me to lay down with you for a while?"
She shook her head. "No, but just stay close."
"Always."
*****
Lois rubbed her eyes as she emerged from their bedroom.
"Hey," Clark said quietly. "You feeling better?"
She nodded. "Yeah. Anything interesting happen while I was asleep?"
"Lucy's home. She went to take a shower. Perry called. I told him we had something we wanted to talk to him about sometime soon and he said to come in tomorrow. He said that they had to print extra copies of the afternoon edition and that they've had a number of requests for interviews with one or both of us."
"Wow."
"Yeah, I know. He also said they may come by tonight. And Constance Hunter called and wants to meet with us tomorrow. I guess they filed the suit late this afternoon against the university and against the Star. She said the university wants to settle quickly and amiably rather than drag all of you through a trial and everything. They knew this was coming and are meeting with her either later tonight or first thing in the morning. Both UNT Met and the Star."
"That's awfully nice of them. They should have prevented it from happening in the first place."
"I know that and so does Dr. Emmert. He wasn't even at UNT Met when this all started, but he's the one who's going to get all the blame for it."
"So it's self-preservation and good PR."
"I think that's probably part of it, but he's been more than fair over the last few weeks. I think he's genuinely interested in making amends as much as possible."
"That'd be nice."
There was another knock on the door. Clark looked that way then stood. "It's Perry and Alice."
Lois quickly found herself in the embrace of the woman who had become almost a surrogate mother to her.
Perry held up a large bag from Luigi's Pasta House. "We brought dinner and Jimmy should be along soon." He stopped suddenly on his way to the kitchen. "I hope your friends from Smallville aren't coming – I didn't bring enough."
Clark shook his head. "No. They have other plans tonight and even if they didn't, I don't think they'd be here."
"Want to give you two some time?"
"Something like that."
"More like Lana tried to seduce my husband," Lois said.
"What?!" the Whites and Lucy, fresh out of the shower, asked in unison.
"Something like that anyway," Clark told them.
She raised an eyebrow at him. "You said she was wearing only one of your shirts and somehow managed to pin you - *you* - on Lucy's bed."
"*My* bed?" Lucy looked aghast. "You won't let Jimmy up there for fear of something happening – and believe me, if something was going to happen, not letting Jimmy up there wouldn't stop us."
Lois glared at her. "Is there something we need to talk about, Luce?"
"No," Lucy snapped back. "So, Clark, what were you doing on my bed with another woman?"
Clark shot a dark look at her. "I was looking for Lois' shoes and she caught me off guard. I got out of there as fast as I could and I *tried* to make it clear that I do *not* want her that way and her parents came in the wide open front door and heard the whole thing. Lewis told me he'd make sure Lana stayed away from us," he explained again. He looked straight at Lois. "You don't have anything to worry about."
Lois raised a brow at him. "That's the second time in a month that someone's tried to move in on you. I don't particularly like the frequency with which that's happening."
Clark sighed. Perry moved to Lois' side and put his arm around her. "You know you don't have anything to worry about, darlin'."
"I know, but that doesn't mean I have to like it." She sniffed the air. "Did you bring garlic parmesan manicotti?"
"Of course. I know what's good for me."
Fifteen minutes later, Jimmy had joined them and the six of them were sitting around the living room.
"So, what is it you kids wanted to talk to me about?"
Lois and Clark shared a look. "Um, just something we were thinking about doing."
"What's that?"
"A... good friend who went through something like this with his wife years ago offered a suggestion and we were thinking about it."
"What was the suggestion?"
"The two of us, going away together, going to see the world, just the two of us." Lois stared intently at her plate as she spoke.
"Ah..." Perry wasn't sure what to say.
"We talked about getting an apartment or something in a city like Paris or Sydney and taking day trips or short overnight trips to the surrounding country, going to out of the way places and writing about them for the Sunday travel section. Spending time together like we've never been able to before," Clark went on. "Getting to know each other like we should have years ago, away from the press that could hound us for a while, away from the memories of how difficult the last few years have been."
"The whole travel section thing could certainly be arranged, but how are you planning on financing this trip? The Planet can't."
"Oh, we know that, Perry," Lois told him. "We found out this weekend that Clark has a lot more inheritance from his parents than we thought and Wayne said he'd let us use it for this. We also heard from Aunt Louise's lawyer and should be getting some of that soon. And Clark said Constance called and she thinks that university will want to offer a pretty decent settlement just to get this all over with for them and all of us. The Star is going to do the same thing. So we have the money to do it ourselves if we want. And," she teased, "it's not like we'd let you print those articles for free, you know."
Perry laughed then nodded slowly. "You're not officially under contract with the Planet yet so that's not a problem. We'd miss you kids..."
Clark grinned. "That's one of the beauties of it. Since all of you know about me, we can come home for a visit pretty much whenever we want. Once a month even, if we wanted to."
"That's true, though you'd have to be careful about people finding out you're home that often," Perry said slowly.
"Well," Clark said thoughtfully. "We haven't really thought through the logistics yet or anything, but if it's okay, we could maybe stay with you guys and Lucy and Jimmy could come over most of the time that we're here rather than going out. We could still go out sometimes, but most of the time we're here, just spend it with you guys in a private setting." He shrugged. "It's just something we started thinking about this afternoon. We said we'd think about it for a while, see what you thought, and go from there."
"Well, it's definitely something to think about."
"Does that mean I could live here?" Lucy suddenly said.
Lois shrugged. "I guess, but I thought you were living on campus."
"Are you kidding? This place is cheaper than a dorm room with two roommates and three more suitemates. It's bigger too. If the three of us could live together in a dorm room, we could certainly survive here."
Another knock sounded at the door. Clark looked over at it again and groaned this time.
"Who is it?" Lois asked.
"Lana," he said grimly.
"What's she doing here?" Lois stood and walked purposefully to the door. She flung it open. "What do you want?"
"Um, can I come in?"
"No."
"Fine." She turned on one heel and started to stalk off before turning again. "But don't say I didn't try to apologize."
"And don’t say I never told you to keep your hands off my husband, because, if it ever happens again..." Lois let the words hang in the air.
Lana looked her up and down. "If you'd keep him satisfied, you wouldn't have to worry about it."
Lois laughed. "A much better woman than you has tried to take him from me and that didn't work. What makes you think you can do it?"
"I know things about him you don't; that you never will because you didn't grow up with him. You didn't spend long summer days together. You never went skinny dipping together. You weren't the first one he promised forever to. You weren't the first one he kissed."
Lois raised a brow at her. "Really? When was the first time he kissed you? I mean, really kissed you and not some six-year-old, let's pretend we're getting married kiss."
"We were sixteen."
She laughed. "Sorry, Lana. Hate to break it to you, but you weren't his first kiss or his first anything else. And you don't know him nearly as well as you think you do. I'll tell you what I told that other woman. He's spent the last three and a half years in my bed, in my arms, kissing me first thing in the morning and last thing at night. If you think waltzing in here and parading yourself around in one of his shirts and trying to convince him to do something he hasn't the slightest interest in is going to win you points with him, you're sadly mistaken. You may have been the one he promised forever to when he was six, but I'm the one he said 'forever' to in front of a preacher and I'm the last one he'll say that to." She moved to shut the door. "Stay away from my family."
She closed the door and collapsed on the floor as the adrenaline from the confrontation fled. Clark was instantly at her side, taking her gently in his arms, murmuring sweet nothings against her hair until she was strong enough to stand up.
She turned and looked at Clark, straight in the eyes. "You know, the more I think about it, the more I think seeing the world is the thing to do."
Clark pulled her into his arms. "I think you're right."
*****
TBC
