PREVIOUSLY...
She walked in and looked around before looking back at the man himself. She ducked her head slightly when she realized he was watching her. And the expression on his face, clearly illuminated by the light from the entranceway, was one she was familiar with. Apparently he wanted her as badly as she wanted him.
“Why don’t I fix us those drinks?” he suggested, removing his coat and tossing it over the back of the couch.
Her heart pounded wildly as she watched him cross to the bar to fix their drinks. There was something so sexy about this man who could turn her on merely by the way he was putting ice into glasses.**
AND NOW...
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Chapter Thirty-Seven
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**Lois sashayed slowly in Max’s direction, keeping her eyes on his hands even as her mind seemed to take on a life of its own as she imagined all the things he could do with those hands. He’d finished preparing the drinks by the time she arrived.
“Here,” he said softly, handing her a drink as he stepped around the bar. Placing his hand on the small of her back in a way that made her shiver, he directed her back to the large couch, sitting down next to her.
Her leg seemed to tingle from where it brushed against his and suddenly, she wanted more than anything in the world to be kissed. She looked up at him, focusing on his lips and saw them twist upwards into a smile.
“Do you want me to kiss you?” he asked, setting down his glass before removing hers from her hand and doing the same with it.
She nodded slowly, never taking her eyes off his lips.
“Say it,” he instructed.
She looked up into his eyes then, trying to read them. He almost seemed to be gloating in some sort of triumph she couldn’t understand. She quickly looked back down, ashamed for having thrown herself at him. He probably thought she was like all the other women who had undoubtedly thrown themselves at this very desirable man over the years. After all, how could anyone possibly resist him?
“Hey, I’m sorry,” he said, as if realizing that he’d pushed things too far. He reached over, tilting her head up and this time when she looked into his eyes, he didn’t seem to be mocking her. She must have imagined it. “I just want to hear you say that you want me as much as I want you.”
“I want you,” she whispered.
“What do you want?”
Her gaze involuntarily drifted to his lips.
“Do you want me to kiss you?” he asked.
She nodded.
“Say it,” he whispered.
She wet her lips, struggling against some unrecognizable force that seemed to be preventing her saying the words.
He sighed. “Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea,” he said, moving slightly, as if preparing to get up.
“I want you to kiss me,” she said in desperation.
His smile almost looked triumphant as his lips descended on hers, hungrily, possessively, as if he had just won some sort of victory over her. She almost gagged when his tongue invaded her mouth, but fought back the impulse. She loved him. She wanted him. This was right.
His hands began to run up her legs, snaking under the edges of her dress - and without thinking, she broke the kiss and slapped him across the face.
“Oh, I’m so sorry,” she instantly gasped.
“It’s okay. If you don’t love...”
“I do,” she objected. “I love only you.”
He grinned again even as he leaned back in, his mouth claiming hers, his hands running roughly over her breasts. It hurt.
Her knee automatically came up, connecting solidly with a very sensitive location. He groaned loudly, rolling off her to lie in a heap on the floor, tenderly clutching his vitals.
“Oh, god,” Lois gasped. “I didn’t mean...” Her voice trailed off. She had no idea what she was doing. She loved this man so much, but when he kissed her, when he touched her, something inside her rebelled.
Tears stung at the corners of her eyes as she gathered up her wrap and her purse and slunk towards the door. “Maybe I should just...”
“No,” he gasped, forcing himself to his knees. “No, wait.”
“But...”
“It’s okay. I’ll drive you home.”**
Clark was laughing by the time Lois finished her story.
“Hey, it wasn’t funny,” Lois objected. But as Clark continued to laugh, a grin twitched at the corner of her mouth. “Okay, so looking back, I guess it was pretty funny. But at the time...”
**Lois sat in a dejected heap on her own side of the car as Max directed them through the city towards her apartment. What had gotten into her?
It was Kent. It had to be. Maybe one of his powers was some sort of mind control - a power that prevented her from responding appropriately to the man she truly loved. To Max. Even his name was like music. And he had wanted her. Maybe even, with time, if she were really lucky, might have come to love her as much as she loved him.
And she had blown it.
The car purred to a stop in front of her apartment building. She sat there for a moment, but when it was obvious that Max wasn’t getting out to walk her to the door or even planning on leaning over to kiss her goodnight - not that she could blame him for that - she opened the door. After all, he was probably safer not to kiss her. She’d probably give him a black eye.
“I’ll call you,” he said.
She looked over at him hopefully. “Really?” she asked, wishing her voice didn’t sound quite so desperate.
“I promise,” he said, reaching over and picking up her hand to plant a kiss on her palm.
The second before his lips landed on her hand, she involuntarily jerked her hand away. “Sorry,” she said immediately.
“It’s okay.”
“Will you... still call?” she asked in despair.
“Of course.”
She wasn’t sure that he meant it. In all likelihood, she’d never hear from him again, but still... Oh, how she hoped it were true.
“I will call,” he said again.
Giving him a sad smile, she got out of the car and watched him drive off before turning towards her apartment building.**
“So did he? Call, I mean,” Clark asked.
“Well, not exactly.”
“Not exactly?”
Lois shrugged. “Annette sent him a bottle of complementary shampoo.”
“The one that caused me to shrink?”
Lois nodded. “Apparently, she didn’t realize that Max and I weren’t exactly dating. So when I finally tracked down Debby, Les and Dick, a small Max was there with them.”
“So what happened?”
“Well, after I rescued them and Dr. Klein reversed the shrinking formula and got them back to their right size, I went over to Max’s place to make sure he was all right. I think he must have decided that it was probably a good idea if I didn’t exactly... like him anymore.”
“Well, given everything he’d been through since meeting you, I guess I can understand that. Either you’re beating him up or someone is shrinking him and locking him in a doll house.”
“You don’t have to sound quite so pleased about it,” Lois responded.
“Sorry.” He didn’t even try to sound sorry.
“Hmph. Anyway...”
**“Lois, wake up.”
Lois opened her eyes and looked around in confusion.
“You must have fallen asleep,” Max said.
“Uhh... okay,” Lois said slowly. What was she doing here? Oh, right. She’d come by to make sure that Max was okay after the whole shrinking thing. Still, the sleep seemed to clog her mind, making the last few days not much more than a blur. “So... are you okay?”
“I’m fine. But you look as if you could use some sleep.”
Lois yawned. “I guess you’re right.” She rose to her feet and began walking to the door. When she arrived, she turned towards Max, leaning closer as if to kiss him when she suddenly stopped. What was she doing?
And in an instant, the memories of the last time she’d been in his apartment came flooding back. “I love only you,” she whispered.
“You shouldn’t be able to remember that,” he said without thinking.
Her instantaneous uppercut to his jaw caught him off guard. “And that’s for brainwashing me, you creep,” she said. “And if I ever find out about you trying something like that on any other woman, you’ll realize that I can make your life much more painful than a fat lip.”**
“So you remembered everything?”
“Pretty much,” Lois said. “When he decided he didn’t want me, he removed the hypnotic suggestion to keep me from pursuing him - probably was afraid for his life. But once the blinders were off, I realized what he’d done and...” She shrugged.
Clark laughed. “That’s my girl.” He sobered. “Still, it bothers me that he’s still out there - probably doing the same thing to some other woman.”
“Oh, don’t worry. After I realized what he’d done, I did a little research and...” She scrolled through the stories on her computer until finding the headline she was looking for.
‘Dr. Maxwell Deter Jailed; Women Claim Rape By Hypnosis,’ by Lois Lane.
“I’d told him I better not find out about him trying the same thing with any other women. So when I discovered that there had been other women...” She shrugged.
Clark gave her a smile before rising to his feet and stretching. “We’ve been at this a long time.”
Lois glanced at the clock. He was right. It was almost seven.
“What do you think? Should I go get us some supper or do you want to take a break and go out?” Clark asked.
“Why don’t you pick something up? I just want to get through this.”
With a nod, Clark left the room as Lois turned her attention back to her computer. But she quickly found herself her thoughts drifting - to Vicky. How could they have been so careless? Because of their stupidity, she’d ceased to exist. God, they didn’t deserve to be her parents.
Tears quickly gathered in Lois’ eyes.
“I went to...” Clark’s voice trailed off when he entered the room to find his wife in tears. “Hey, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” Lois said, quickly brushing away her tears.
Clark quickly set the food on the table. “Hey, come on,” he said, squatting down in front of her.
“I was just thinking about Vicky.”
Clark nodded. He knew how she felt. “We’ll get her back, Lois. We’ll do whatever we have to do to get her back.”
“We’re horrible parents, Clark. We made her cease to exist. How many other parents do you know who make their own daughter just... cease to exist? Other than us, no one even remembers that she ever did exist. Perry doesn’t have a god-daughter to spoil rotten. Jimmy isn’t attracting girls by showing them how good he is with kids. No one even knows what they’re missing except us. And what about your parents? They used to think she was the greatest thing that had ever happened to the world and now... Did we even tell them her name?”
“We don’t know what happened,” Clark insisted, grabbing onto her hands in an effort to stop her babbling. “And we’re going to straighten it out.”
She closed her eyes, struggling to pull herself together. He was right. The important thing right now was getting this whole mess straightened out. And they would. She gave him a nod to let him know she was okay.
It was then that she noticed the heavenly aromas emanating from the bamboo containers Clark had brought in with him.
“Our favorite little place in China?” she asked.
“But of course,” Clark said. “It seems we didn’t manage to mess that up - judging by the smell.” He opened one container and set it in front of his wife, handing her a pair of chopsticks.
When she picked up the chopsticks and just poked at her food, however, he realized that she was still not as together as she was pretending to be. Finally, she tossed the chopsticks on the table.
“I can’t stop thinking about Vicky, Clark,” she said.
“She’s okay, honey.”
“Is she? She doesn’t even exist, Clark. So how can she be fine. I mean, we changed the past...”
“As long as we remember her, she’s fine. We just have to... find our way back to her.”
Lois got up, coming over to settle on her husband’s knee. As she knew they would, his arms immediately pulled her close and she took comfort from his embrace. He was right. As long as they remembered, there was hope. And so far, their memories hadn’t been affected - at least, their new memories hadn’t replaced the old - or at least not yet. She laid her head on his shoulder, allowing herself to soak up his strength.
He held her for quite some time and she soon felt herself beginning to calm. She shifted more fully in his arms, realizing almost immediately that he was beginning to have a reaction to her proximity. She shifted again, this time her movements were deliberate, intentional.
“Oh, honey, you’re killing me here.”
Lois gave him a small grin before shifting again. Tormenting her husband was definitely helping her regain her balance. Getting her mind on other matters - or rather, one other matter.
“If you don’t watch it, you’re going to find yourself in the supply closet again,” Clark growled. “And you know how much you hate the hard surface of that old copy machine.”
A partial giggle escaped from the back of Lois’ throat as she swatted playfully at her husband.
Suddenly, his expression sobered.
“What?” she asked, noticing his change of expression.
“Come on,” he said, rising to his feet, pulling her with him.
She quickly bent over, downing a couple of pieces of sweat and sour chicken before following him, surprised when he walked directly towards the supply closet. “Clark...?” she asked cautiously.
“Shhh,” he responded, opening the door and gesturing her inside.
She stepped past him warily, watching him as he closed the door and turned the lock. “Look, I know I was teasing you back there, but we really don’t have time for...”
He held up his hand and she fell silent.
“I just...” He said before stopping once again.
She waited impatiently for a minute. Just as she was about to ask again what was going on, he spoke.
“I’ve been in here, before,” he said softly.
“Of course you’ve been in here before, Clark. You come here every time I run out of legal pads.”
“No... I mean, I’ve been in here in this reality.” He walked over to the window. “I remember. It was a Thursday evening and it was right after...” He fell silent as he spun back around to look at her.
**He had to see her, had to talk to her. He’d been pacing in front of the Daily Planet for an hour now, and still there was no sign that she had any intention of leaving - follow-up, apparently, on her story: ‘Couples Reunited; Size Restored.’ Although, given some of the conversations she’d been having with various women about someone named Dr. Maxwell Deter on the phone, he couldn’t be entirely certain.
Not that it mattered. It was already after ten o’clock. He was supposed to give his answer by midnight. That meant... He desperately needed to talk to Lane now.
He scuffed his feet against the concrete. The newsroom was almost empty. If only he had a way past security, he might be able to get in there and talk to her. Oh, she might not want to see him at first, but he needed to see her. “Last chance,” he whispered quietly to himself.
Frustrated, he decided to walk around the building. He was on the backside of the building when he first spotted it. An open window on what appeared to be the newsroom floor. Pulling his glasses down his nose he looked over the top, satisfying himself that the window opened into a deserted storage room.
After taking a quick look around, he flew up to the window, pushing it further open and stepping through.
So... What now? He looked through the door, spotting a couple of people other than Lane in the newsroom. Cat Grant was one. Clark had met Cat at a number of social functions over the years. She didn’t seem to bear him the same animus many of her colleagues did. Normally, she’d just make cat like sounds, prowl around him for a little while, sniffing, and then move on to more fertile hunting grounds.
Still, he didn’t want to be seen by Cat. After all, although she wasn’t exactly hostile towards him, she did have a remarkable nose for gossip. She could smell a scandal the same way Lane could smell a story. No. Definitely not Cat Grant - or as Linda called her, ‘Never Say Can’t Grant.’
Of course, Cat Grant was a day at the beach compared to the other individual, still seated at his desk, clear glass windows looking out into his newsroom. Perry White. If White caught him here, he’d be out on his butt so fast that he’d hardly have time to look in Lane’s direction, let alone talk to her.
So how... His thought trailed off when he spotted a sheaf of writing paper - and a box of pens. What if...
Grabbing a sheet of paper and pen, he quickly wrote his note and then, using a little blast of superspeed, he folded it up. Making sure no one was outside the door, or looking in Lane’s direction, he opened the door far enough that were she to look in the appropriate direction, she would see him. Now all he needed to do was to get her to look in his direction. Piece of cake.**
“I remember this,” Lois said, taking over the story.
**Lois sat at her desk, engrossed in writing up her notes. The list of Dr. Deter’s former patients that Jimmy’s hacking skills had netted her was turning out to be a gold mine. Not that it particularly pleased Lois. In fact, ‘disgusted’ was probably a for more apt description of what she was currently feeling.
Men were such pigs.
When she thought about how close she’d come to being another one of Deter’s victims, it made her physically ill. Only the memory of him rolling around on the floor after she had kneed him in the groin seemed to keep her spirits up.
So she was taken completely by surprise when a paper airplane came in for a perfect landing across her notes. She looked up quickly for the pilot and then crinkled her eyebrows in confusion. Cat was sitting at her desk, primping herself in front of a handheld mirror. Perry was still in his office, his eyebrows furrowed as he worked his red pen on some copy.
She looked back at the airplane, only then noticing the writing on one of the wings.
‘Storage room.’
She immediately looked in the appropriate direction, seeing the man hiding there.
Kent!
She looked back down at her notes. Maybe if she ignored him, he’d go away.
The second airplane’s landing was as flawless as the first. It taunted her, demanding that she pay attention. She quickly looked around. Cat and Perry were still occupied. She grabbed the airplane, crushing it into a ball and dumping it in the trash. The third airplane was on her desk by the time she’d managed to dispose of the second.
With a growl, she jumped to her feet, storming in the direction of the storage room.
“What?” she demanded the moment she stepped inside the storage room, slamming the door behind her.
“I need to talk to you.”
“So... talk,” she said, folding her arms across her chest.**
“I can remember how close I came to leaving at that point,” Clark said.
“That’s what I figured when you told me it was a mistake coming there and walked back towards the window. I think that’s when I knew that whatever you’d come to talk to me about... Well, that it was important. And so I forced myself to calm down and really listen. But I still wasn’t expecting what you told me.”
**“I’m not quite sure where to start,” Clark said.
“Well, why not start at the beginning?”
Clark nodded. It was as good a place as any. “You asked how I developed these powers,” he said, knowing immediately that he’d snagged her interest. “And at the time, I didn’t know why I had these powers. But I do now.” He let out a breath as he began pacing the length of the storage room.
It was only when he saw her take a seat on the windowsill and pat the spot next to her that he realized that his restlessness was driving her nuts. He sat down, fiddling nervously with his hands.
Seeming to realize that he was still uncomfortable, she turned on the massive ledge so that she could sit cross legged on the sill, her back to the window frame. When he followed suit, she reached out and took his hands.
“Talk to me, Kent,” she said softly.
He drew strength from the gentle contact of her hands in his, lightly rubbing the backs of her hands with his thumbs.
“Okay,” he finally said, his eyes focused on their joined hands. “What I’ve known for years is that I’m adopted. I never knew who my real parents were. All I knew is that one night my adopted parents were driving near Schuster’s field when they saw what they thought was a meteor shoot across the sky...”
Talking to her about all of this was easier than he’d expected. In fact, before he knew it, he’d told her all about the space craft he’d been found in, the strange government people who had come nosing around, how his parents and their neighbors had rallied together to get rid of the government agents, how slowly over the years, one after one, he’d developed these strange powers, how he’d learned that he wasn’t human. He even told her about his encounters with both green and red S-126 and how it tore him apart inside to have to stand by and do nothing so many times when he knew that if only he could go public, he could do so much more.
Finally, he fell silent.
“So why are you telling me all this now?” she asked.
He took a deep breath. “Because today I finally learned where I came from.”
“So... Where do you come from?”
“Another planet. The planet Krypton.”
She studied him for a moment, thinking about his answer. “So that would make you... What? A Kryptonling... Kryptoning... Krypt...?”
“Kryptonian, I think.”
“You think?”
He let go of her hands then, rising from their shared seat on the windowsill. “I still don’t know everything. But I met someone today. Her name is Zara. And she said she’s come to take me to my new home.”
“Your new home?” Lois asked cautiously, unfolding her legs so that they were dangling over the edge of the windowsill as she continued to watch him.
Clark shrugged. “Apparently, I was sent to Earth when the planet Krypton was destroyed. Others also escaped and they established a new home.”
“Really?” Lane asked, now sounding slightly skeptical.
Clark nodded. “They call it New Krypton. I’m apparently Lord Kal El. And they want me to return with them to take up my rightful place in society.”
“And that would be to...?”
“Be their ruler.” He paused, meeting Lane’s eyes before continuing. “They want me to go back with them... forever. It I don’t, there will be civil war. Anyway, I’m planning to say yes. I just...” He shrugged. “I guess I just wanted to say goodbye.”
He stopped in front of where she was still seated on the windowsill. Moving ever so slowly, he raised his hands until they were cupping her cheeks. For a long moment he stared into her suspiciously moist eyes before leaning in and kissing her, attempting in that one moment to sear her onto his soul forever. **
“I can remember that moment as if it were yesterday,” Lois said softly. “I felt as if the world had just come to an end.”
“Why? I mean, we weren’t even together.”
Lois raised her eyebrows, looking at him as if he were an idiot.
And maybe he was. “Okay, dumb question.”
Lois sighed. “After you left, I spent the next few hours thinking about you leaving forever. Never seeing your face. Never hearing your voice. I’m not sure I’d ever felt quite so alone in my life.”
**Lois dug through her purse again. Damn. She was sure she’d brought her lock picking equipment. Frustrated, she looked at the door again. There had to be a way in there.
Well, he might be from Krypton, but he was also from Kansas so...
Spotting a flower pot sitting next to the door, she picked it up.
“Bingo,” she said, snagging the key hidden beneath it. Putting the flower pot down, she turned her attention to the door. A moment later, she was standing on the threshold of his darkened apartment. “Kent?” she called. Just because he hadn’t answered the door didn’t mean he was gone. It didn’t.
He’d said that he was supposed to meet with this Zara person - if that was her real name - at midnight to give his answer. It was almost two. Surely he had to be back by now.
Unless, when he told her that he would go with her to this New Krypton, she’d insisted on going immediately.
No.
No.
That just wasn’t possible. He’d have to come back at least to pack a bag.
Unless he’d done that before he’d left.
Or none of his clothes would be appropriate on his new planet.
“Kent?” she called again, stumbling down the steps into his apartment. Maybe he was asleep. That would certainly explain why he hadn’t answered the door when she’d knocked. Maybe he was just a heavy sleeper. Yes. That had to be it. He was still here. He was just asleep.
She made a beeline to the door to his bedroom, prepared to call again, only to have his name die on her lips when she realized that the bedroom was also empty.
All the energy suddenly left her body and she slumped against the doorframe. She was too late. He was gone.
She allowed herself to slide down the doorframe to sit on the floor, still staring at the bed as images of some of the best moments of her life flooded into her mind - moments spent with Kent in that bed. Unlike the rest of their relationship, the moments they’d spent in that bed had been ones of complete harmony - as if in those brief instances in time nothing had stood between them. There had been no past, no lies, only truth.
He’d felt it, too. She knew he had. The file she’d seen at Smiley’s resort all those months ago had certainly proven that he’d been as unable to move beyond it as she had. Even the fact that he’d come to her this evening, even with the way he thought she felt about him, just to say goodbye, told her as much.
That goodbye kiss had been the sweetest... and the saddest moment in her life.
How could she have just let him fly out the window after that kiss? Was that the last time she was ever going to see him? That thought was almost unbearable to her.
“You’re an idiot, Lane,” she said quietly to herself.
But how could she have done anything else? Given everything she knew about him, surely his leaving was for the best. Maybe now she could truly let go.
Why did that thought bring her no comfort? What she wouldn’t give for one more chance to see him, to touch him, to have him touch her.
The unexpected sound of a door opening brought Lois scrambling to her feet.
Spinning around, she looked towards the front door to see a massive silhouette framed by the doorway.
“Kent,” she whispered and a moment later, without conscious thought, she was hurling herself across the room and into his arms.
He caught her easily enough - just as she’d trusted him to do. The feel of his solid form in her arms brought a moment of peace. But still, it wasn’t enough. Pulling his head down, her lips found his in kiss after sweet kiss. Time seemed to stand still as they searched out the secrets of each other’s mouths. The gentle exploring of lips and hands, as if seeking to be sure the other was really there.
“Lane,” he whispered, finally breaking the kiss. His arm swept under her legs and a moment later she was being carried into his bedroom.
“Yes,” she whispered when he gently laid her on the bed.
He stood above her for a moment, as if just drinking her in with his eyes. She reached for him and he moved closer. Placing a knee on the bed and his hands on either side of her body, he loomed over her, just watching, as if memorizing her features, memorizing the feelings flooding through him, the smells and the sounds of this single moment in time.
“Kent, please.” The softly spoken words as her hands came up to caress the lines of his face seemed to give him permission to move.
And so slowly that it was almost painful to Lois, he came closer until his lips brushed across hers in a feather-like touch.
And as if that had been the turn of the lock, the damn seemed to burst inside for both of them. Too many long months of denying this connection between them. Too many nights of wishing, wanting, fantasizing and dreaming crashed together in this all too real moment.
Lois’ hands began frantically working their way under the edges of his t-shirt, pushing it up until he had to pull back to pull it over his head and toss it carelessly aside.
His fingers trembled as he worked the buttons of her blouse. Finally getting it open, he pushed the fabric aside to plant kisses over every inch of bare skin he could find. Her hands ran through his hair as he laid a trail of kisses down her body. When he finally began working his way back up, she pushed him off her, rolling him over so that she could return the favor. For a moment, like him, she just stared, memorizing every curve and line of his body. And then, the feelings well up in her again, refusing to be denied, and she pounced.
Her tears dropped onto his chest as she allowed her mouth and hands to explore every inch of him.
This was a goodbye. They both knew it. And so they kissed and touched and finally made love with an intensity designed to keep this single moment alive for them forever.**
“Hey, it’s okay,” Clark said softly, reaching over and cupping his wife’s face. He used the pads of his thumbs to wipe away the tears he found there. “This didn’t really happen - or at least it won’t have when we get things sorted out.”
She gave him a wobbly smile. “But, Clark, it did happen. Or at least... my feelings when you left with the New Kryptonians in our reality... they were the same. Only in our reality, I didn’t have the courage to show you how much I loved you.”
“You did show me,” Clark corrected. “I knew.”
“Yeah, maybe. But I just wish... Clark, in our reality I was so scared that if you and I were together... like that... that I’d lose you. I just wasn’t able to break past those barriers - not even when I thought I was losing you forever. So why was I so ready to make love to you in this reality?”
“Maybe because, in this reality, that was all we had. Our bodies could come together in a harmony that our minds could never achieve. In our reality, we had so much more. We were friends and partners - as well as being in love. There was so much more to lose by becoming physical. In this reality... Well, obviously this connection between us...”
“The lure of the soulmate connection?”
Clark nodded. “Obviously, we had to connect on some level and this was the only avenue available to us.”
Lois nodded slowly, supposing it made as much sense as anything. Wells had told them that they were destined to meet and fall in love lifetime after lifetime. In this reality, her mind would not allow her to connect with Clark on anything but the physical level - so she’d gabbed onto that. Personally, she’d rather have it all. Without conscious thought, her hand grabbed onto that of her husband. Still, there was little point in worrying about that now. She turned her mind back to the past. “Anyway, I can remember what happened after we made love...”
**“Do you really have to go?” Lois whispered into his chest. Dawn had broken some time ago and now, Kent fully dressed, she wrapped only in a sheet, stood in each other’s arms, dragging out one final hug in the doorway of his apartment.
“If I don’t, there will be civil war.”
“But what’s that to you?”
“They’re my people, Lane. I have to go.”
She pulled back far enough to look in his eyes. She searched them for a moment before realizing the decision was made. He would go. The only question remaining was whether she would let him go gracefully - or fight it with everything she had. He seemed to be silently pleading with her to make it easy for him to do what he felt he needed to do.
“Go,” she whispered, forcing the single word past her lips even as the lump in her throat grew painful.
He leaned in for one more kiss and she put her entire heart and soul into the exchange. And then, after one final look into each other’s eyes, he disappeared in a rush of wind.
She slowly sank to the floor. “It’s over,” she whispered. “Everything is over. I never should have let him go.” She buried her head in her hands and finally allowed her tears to flow freely.**
* * * * * * * * *
End Of Season Three
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TO BE CONTINUED...
