Hi!
A huge thanks goes to Mona and Kmar for their wonderful overnight beta-ing. You rock
There is one little tidbit in there, that is a bit of a controversial subject. If you need to know before the end of the story, PM me, and I'll let you know how I'm going to handle it.
Michael
Disclaimer: The recognizable characters and settings in this story are the property of D.C. Comics, Warner Bros., December 3rd Productions, and anyone else with a legal right to them, and I have no claim on them whatsoever, nor am I profiting by their use. It’s just the original stuff, that would be mine, written down to bring some entertainment to other FoLC.
The setting is right after “Season’s Greedings” in Season 2.
Blocks in >> << are literal thoughts by the character.
Rating: PG-13
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Clark has finally managed to convince Lois that he is going to be staying with her and a possible baby and they proceeded to discussing the other aspects of their unusual courtship, all the while fighting off the eerie need between them.
Part 22 /
TOC /
Comments **********
Clark felt Lois pull away from him, not really sure what was going on. One moment she was talking about deepening their carnal knowledge of each other, the next she told him to take a cold shower. And in between, she kept mentioning what their marriage could be like.
Marriage! He couldn’t believe that Lois would even consider this right now, let alone be the one to mention it. And if they got married right now, then he could directly proceed to showing Lois his feelings for her in the most physical of ways.
But hadn’t he decided just minutes earlier that it was too soon for even a proposal. They hadn’t even decided to *date* yet. Dating! He had been getting to know Lois for the past year and a half. She had gradually become his best friend and he was sure that he already knew more about her fears, her hang-ups, her hopes, and her desires than a dozen dates would teach him.
He could have sworn that the minute he mentioned marriage, Lois would run for the hills, no matter what else had happened over the past forty-eight hours. And yet, here she was, teasing him about marriage, teasing him about sex, teasing him about him needing a cold shower. Oh god, how he loved her. How he wanted her. How he needed her. How he… needed a cold shower.
His gaze found Lois, standing less than three feet away as she hugged herself and carefully avoided direct eye-contact. Had she suddenly realized that it was too much, too soon? It certainly wouldn’t be the first time for Lois to have a kneejerk reaction followed by a mad-dog-like charge until her brain caught up with her and she once more retreated behind the heavily fortified walls around her heart. And he was standing right there in front of her, and there was no way that Lois could have failed to understood his lewd intentions.
“Uh… I… I’m sorry, Lois,” Clark began to tentatively backpedal. “I don’t know what’s gotten into me.” He looked down at himself, suddenly figuring out how to retreat without stating the obvious, namely that he *was* going to take a shower. Although come to think of it, a trip to the Arctic Ocean might be a better idea. Or not. He really needed to figure out what was going on. “I, uh… I’m just going to change and… well, then we can talk about… ah, the rest.”
Lois cocked an eyebrow at that, but he had the distinct impression that she was managing to just barely *not* look at him. “Do you always run home to get changed?”
“Huh?” Clark tried to process that. Of course he changed clothes at home. It’s not like he carried spare clothes with him. Except, he was still wearing the super-suit. “Oh.” He grinned sheepishly as his right hand rose to scratch the back of his head. “Um, no. But, I… ah, I only have my business suit with me. And do you really want to talk to me while I’m dressed for the office and you’re… you’re wearing sweats?”
“Right.” Lois shook her head. “Of course, you’d want to wear something comfortable at home. Yeah, okay.” Her hands loosened from around her chest and she made a shoeing motion. “Then go, get dressed… undressed… ah, I mean, get changed.” Lois’ face had rapidly started to take on a more than healthy blush. “Just don’t make me wait too long, okay? I really don’t want to come looking for you when you’re naked.” Lois choked at that. “I mean, ready. Not ready. Yes, I don’t want to wander in on you because I’m getting bored and find out that you’re not ready for me.” Lois choked again and quickly turned away from him.
Clark just kept staring at Lois, unsure what to make of that latest rant. Was it really possible she was in just as much turmoil as he was? Should he perhaps offer *her* his shower and take the trip to the Arctic after all. Yeah, that would go over really smooth. ‘Lois, would you like to take a cold shower while I dip into the Arctic?’ Mentally slapping himself over the head, Clark turned and purposefully fled into the open bedroom, cursing for the first time that he didn’t have any doors in his apartment. Of course, whether he wanted to protect his modesty or prevent Lois from jumping him in the shower, he wasn’t sure.
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Clark quickly grabbed the pair of jeans that were hanging over the chair and a t-shirt from the closet on his way into his bathroom. A moment later, he was resting against the sink, gulping in heavy breaths in an attempt to calm himself. What was it with him today? Lois was in the *living room*, he was in the *bathroom*, and yet he still felt as if he had to fight the very pressing urge to jump her.
He began to quickly strip off the tight spandex, fumbling through long practiced motions as if they were suddenly all new to him. His red briefs almost paid the ultimate price for his lack of concentration, and he let go of a soft curse. He would never be able to explain to his mother why he only needed new briefs while the rest of the suit was still in perfect working condition. And why was he this distracted anyway? It was as if Lois was right there with him, her scent permeating every square-inch of his skin.
Clark drew in another calming breath. It didn’t work. Well, it did work, as in it got him even more worked up. And he knew that he only had two options left. He could either step into the shower and take care of his control issues the old-fashioned way, or he could step back out into the living room and take Lois. He swallowed. No, he had more control than this. He wasn’t going to succumb to his hormones so easily. Two times in two days was enough.
The next things to go were his underwear and socks and then he stepped into the shower stall, pulling the curtain closed and turning the water on and all the way to ‘freeze’. The cold spew would have had a normal human yelping and falling right out of the shower, but to him it was just water. And from the way his thoughts kept traveling to how he would love to see a very specific human yelping in the shower with him, Clark wondered why the water didn’t just evaporate when it hit his burning skin.
He braced himself against the cold, wet tiles, trying to dispel the memories of Lois as she had been with him two nights ago, naked and responsive. And all the time, the water kept pounding on his shoulders, still cold and still without effect. And yet he kept standing there, his breathing relaxing gradually back to a normal rhythm. Finally, the crises had been averted. He was sane again. Yes, he could think again.
Clark swallowed and picked up the shower gel to soap himself up. Sighing contently, Clark gave himself over to the shower. He had had no idea how much he had actually craved the hot water that was relaxing his taught muscles. Wait. The water was still turned all the way to cold. He paused for a brief moment, testing the temperature with his senses. But no, there was no difference to what he usually felt when taking a shower. Strange, even if he didn’t get cold, the water should still *feel* cold to him. Shaking his head, Clark decided to turn the temperature back up, even if it was just for propriety’s sake.
A few minutes later the reminders of today’s horrors had been washed off his body and Clark turned the water off. That’s right. He still had to talk to Lois about Intergang and the train disaster. At least she had only been involved in all of this by chance. He knew, if she’d been the main target and the train the distraction, she’d be just as distraught as he already was. And they certainly couldn’t *both* be filled with the grief and guilt that it had been them that had been the reason for the immense destruction today.
His mind firmly focused on this matter, Clark pushed the shower curtain back, reaching for the towel. And then it hit him again. It seemed the hot water had dispelled the memories from inside the enclosed space that formed the shower stall, but now they were back, full force. No, no, no, this couldn’t be happening. Not again. He had to *talk* to Lois, and he couldn’t afford to be driven out of his mind from desire. He just couldn’t spend the rest of his days in the shower stall. That would be pathetic and he was stronger than that.
Gritting his teeth, Clark kept rubbing his body dry and did his superhumanly best to ignore his screaming libido, the desire to just walk back out into the living room and pin Lois onto couch as he wrought his satisfaction from her body.
Dry at last, Clark slung the towel around his hips and stepped out of the shower to grab his change of clothes. Then he saw it. There was a heap of rumpled back fabric thrown carelessly into the corner. And on top of it there was a small scrap of white lace.
Clark swallowed heavily, and stepped over to examine the unknown objects. At least he told himself that he had no idea what he was looking at. But deep down, he knew. Oh, how he knew those pieces of silk and cotton. With shaking fingers, Clark carefully picked up the white lace, examining it carefully as the underwear brought back even more memories, this time from earlier today.
Clark flung the scrap down as if he’d been burned. The implications were too crazy to contemplate. Lois would think he’d gone nuts. Or perhaps she’d think he was a pervert. But whatever she thought, the final conclusion would still be the same. They could never be together. It would never work.
His fist smashed into the wall, and for a moment he thought he’d crashed through the stone. But the surface wasn’t damaged, there wasn’t even dust raining down on him. Unsure whether that was a good sign or a bad one, Clark carefully pulled his arm back and picked up his underwear to get dressed again.
“Clark, is everything all right in there?” Lois called out to him from around the corner.
Lois! Of course, Lois was still next door, so to speak. And he’d been stuck in here, with the shower running, for god knows how long. “Uh, yeah. I… I just had to take a shower to… to…”
“…get a grip?” she supplied helpfully with a playful tone in her voice.
Clark immediately felt himself turn to a very rich shade of crimson. “I… yes. I… The rescue I had to attend to before the hostage situation, it was pretty messed up. And I… I do want to talk to you about it. And it’s not just…”
He trailed off as Lois suddenly stood in the doorway, having snuck up on him when he’d been focusing on changing from the towel into his underwear. Her eyes grew wide but from what he could tell, she wasn’t lowering them shyly to his exposed skin. No, he realized with sudden embarrassment, she had actually lowered her *head* to stare at him. Openly, and with undisguised lust in her eyes as she licked her lips.
“I… Lois, what…?” he stammered after a few tense seconds. Then his sense of self-preservation kicked in and he quickly stepped into his briefs.
When his modesty was once more taken care of, Lois slowly raised her head again, her hungry eyes obviously feasting on every square-inch of his torso. He knew he should feel embarrassed, and hadn’t he just *felt* embarrassed as he had stood in front of her like Michelangelo’s David. It couldn’t possibly be just his briefs, could it be? They didn’t really do much more than cover him from the most obvious of stares.
“So, shouldn’t you say something about your expecting me to be ready?” he asked her with a raised eyebrow, remembering her shy stammering from before. Perhaps it really would be best if Lois kept a minimum distance from him, showing just enough embarrassment so they could both refrain from humping each other like bunnies high on ‘Revenge’. At least for now.
Lois stepped closer to him, resting a hand on his chest and gently worrying his right nipple with her index finger. “Clark,” she purred. “I think we *both* know that you’re ready.” She smiled up at him, and her brown eyes were shining back at him with something he hadn’t seen before in them. Not even when she’d seduced him two nights ago. He couldn’t describe it in one word, really, but if he would try to list what he saw reflected back at him, it would include joy, hunger, hope, longing, and he could swear, even trace elements of trust.
Clark was torn between his feelings. He wanted to fly away, rush to the frigid safety of the Arctic Circle, and at the same time, he wanted nothing more than to prove to Lois just how ready he was. He drew a heavy breath and realized something else. Lois was ready too and his arms snaked around her, pulling her flush against him. “I want you,” he mumbled as he brushed a kiss over her lips. “I want to make love with you the way it should have been.” Another kiss followed; this one was longer, more instant, a dress rehearsal for the act that would follow next.
“God, yes, Clark,” Lois breathed against his lips and his probing tongue. Her hands were wrapped around his neck, crossed behind him and locking him against her. Her right leg wandered upwards and around his thigh as she sensuously rubbed her body alongside his.
Clark’s mind finally processed the fact that Lois had just consented to him, Clark. Not to the superhero or the caveman. No, here she was, flush in his arms and wanting him. After everything they had put each other through, she still wanted him. His left hand slowly crept lower, and when he found the right place for a firm but gentle grip, he pulled her up a few inches, never breaking the contact with her lips.
Taking advantage of her elevated position, Lois pulled herself closer, her left leg following its counterpart in its journey around Clark’s hips. Her hands, too, had managed to travel further and were now fisted into his hair.
Clark was torn between merely securing her against him with a steady hand and exploring the pliable flesh he could feel underneath the soft cotton of the sweats she was wearing. Before today they had been his sweats, but now, he would never be able to wear them again. They would serve as a constant reminder of how she looked in them. How she felt in them. How his desire for her was almost unbearable.
On cue, Lois exhaled a slow moan, and he realized that his hands had chosen on their own volition. Resigned, but happy that she was so responsive in his arms, Clark began to slowly walk towards the bedroom, the fussy bundle of female flesh tightly holding on to him for dear life.
When he reached his bed, Clark feverously tried to figure out how to lower his precious cargo onto the soft mattress without losing the close contact he had with her. But try as he might, he couldn’t figure how to solve this problem. Of course, it was a very distinct possibility that aforementioned cargo had a very big part in his inability to focus.
Finally giving up, Clark shifted his arms and reluctantly relaxed his hold on her. Lois grumbled in frustration against his lips, but her tongue never ceased to explore his mouth. Then he began to tilt them forward, using his floating capabilities to position them horizontally before he lowered Lois down onto his bed.
By the time her back touched the soft bedding, Lois had figured out that she didn’t need Clark to keep their bodies flush against each other and with a viselike grip her, legs locked around his hips.
The unexpected contact, immediately followed by the gentle bite Lois took from his lower lip, caused Clark to lose what little control he had and he crashed the final inches down onto his bed, trapping Lois underneath him.
The sudden jolt tore Lois’ lips from his and she let go of a sensuous moan.
Clark took the moment to draw in a ragged breath, his eyes still locked with Lois’. There was something lurking underneath the lusty haze that clouded his mind. Something important. He pushed himself up on his arms, giving Lois a little breathing space where he had been crushing her sternum before.
Lois immediately compensated for the loss of contact by shifting underneath him, trying to keep as much contact between them as possible. “Clark?” she breathed a question before pulling herself upwards on his neck to press her lips against his once again.
Clark understood the invitation but the little tidbit in the back of his mind wasn’t going away. What was it? It couldn’t be the fact that they were already going at it again, was it? There was nothing wrong with that. They were practically engaged, if he took into account his intention to wait with asking her until they had resolved their issues and her already existing expectation that they would get married. Actually, they could already consider themselves married by now. Married with children.
His eyes suddenly snapped wide open and he pulled his head back from her. Lois responded with a startled cry, her eyes looking at him accusingly even as her body pursued its own agenda.
“Lois, wait,” he carefully whispered as he pulled further back from her.
“Clark?” Lois released the hold she had on his neck, falling back on his bed only to prop herself up on her elbows. “Don’t you… want me?”
Her question was so silent, even his super-hearing had trouble picking it up. And she broke his heart, looking at him with a vulnerability that was so unlike the Lois he got to meet on a daily basis. No, this was the Lois who had come to him when the Prankster had singled her out, the Lois he had comforted after the whole Luthor mess. She was hurt and unsure, and he couldn’t bear to see her this way.
“Shh, my beautiful Lois,” Clark soothed. “Of course, I want you.” He determinedly pressed his body against hers, adding deeds to his words of reassurance.
“Then why?” her voice carried a dangerous sniffling edge with it.
Hastily, Clark appended, “Protection, Lois. I, ah, I still need to go and buy-”
“Oh.” Lois’ eyes lit up in comprehension, immediately losing their scared look. She loosened her legs around him and began to pull out from underneath him and into a sitting position.
Clark instantly regretted the loss of contact, but he firmly told his libido that it would have to suffer through this. After all, it was *its* fault they were in this particular position in the first place.
“I…” Lois began tentatively. “Clark, I’ve been thinking. I… think that getting pregnant right now would be the last thing we’d need. There’s still… there’s still so much we need to figure out. And besides, I’d like to be married for a while before I have kids, and…”
Clark quickly sat up himself, settling down on his legs as he scooted closer to Lois and pressed his right index finger on her lips to shush her. “Lois, I know all that and I… I agree.” He gave himself a self-deprecating smile. Which is why I need to go *now* and buy protection…,” he trailed off, a sudden thought rising unbidden and unwelcome in the back of his mind. “That is, unless you want us to wait until we’re, well…” He broke off, debating whether he should bring this sentence to its logical conclusion. It wasn’t the way he wanted to say this. And he wasn’t even sure if it would count. At least, he was sure that nobody had ever phrased it like that. Afterwards, sure, he could imagine a couple to talk and decide, but to open up with a sentence like that… It would just spell disaster, wouldn’t it?
“…married?” Lois supplied with a small smile playing over her lips.
Clark swallowed. “Yes,” he pressed out in surprise.
“You know, I can see why you’d think that, Clark.” Her eyes twinkled. “And if I had to think about it, I might even agree.” At his alarmed look, Lois quickly continued, “But now that I know what it is like to be with you in every way, I don’t think my body would allow me to.” Her voice had grown silent with the second half of the sentence and her eyes fell away from him shyly.
Clark wasn’t sure how to take this. He was reasonably certain that he had enough blood left in his head for his ears to function properly and for his brain to translate electrical impulses into the proper frequency patterns. Frequency patterns that correlated to certain sounds. Sounds that his brain could understand and process as words and speech. But this would mean that Lois hadn’t merely consented to continue to have a physical relationship with him before they were married, it also meant that being married to him wasn’t just an abstract concept for her any more. Okay, so maybe he *didn’t* have enough blood in his body for all parts to function properly. A pity, because he really would have loved for Lois to tell him those words.
Lois focused back at him. “But there’s also the little matter of us having had unprotected sex – twice – in the last forty-eight hours.”
Clark’s mind snapped back to Lois. How was it that he suddenly had enough blood after all? And this had been a far more complicated matter to understand than ‘take me, take me now’. So could it be that Lois really *had* said what she’d said? His heart began to race in anticipation and joy.
“And no matter how much I’d lo-, wa-, might consider to think about having your children after we’re married and settled into a nice apartment or townhouse, *now* is not the time I want to become a mother.”
His mouth fell open and he tried to read Lois’ eyes, but she’d turned them away from him again. Frustration warring with confusion, he lifted her chin and turned her head so she’d look at him again. “Lois, I don’t think we’re going to have much of a choice in that matter, do you?” He swallowed. “Except one and that would…”
“No, Clark.” She stared back at him. “I’m not talking about an abortion. I’m not even pregnant yet, if I’d actually get pregnant when the time comes. But there is an alternative. It’s early enough and while they don’t *advertise* it far and wide, there’s the possibility of preventing a pregnancy from happening after the fact. It’s not something I’d want to do on a regular basis, but this once…”
Clark’s confusion was plain on his face. “Then what…?”
“There’re drugs that delay the ovulation or prevent the egg from nesting, and so on. It’s just pretty strong hormones. They offer them to, well, rape victims all the time. But I can also get them if I ask my gynecologist.” Lois kept looking at him throughout her explanation, but he could see that she wasn’t completely comfortable.
“But don’t you think that… I mean, I’m an… I’m not exactly *human*, Lois. And what if this is our only chance at…”
Lois’ eyes widened and he had the distinct feeling she was looking at him as if he was a few bolts short of a spaceship. “Clark Jerome Kent!” she scolded. “You’re the most human person I know. And unless fate intervenes and something happens that prevents me from getting pregnant in the future, then we’ll have the same chance of getting pregnant later as we’re having now. It’s not like you’re suddenly going to become infertile because you turn thirty or something.”
“Well, I’m still Kryptonian and you’d never know what our reproductive cycles are,” he replied sheepishly but without much conviction and only the simple intent of saving at least *some* face. Lois did have a point, he had to admit. If they *were* at all compatible on a genetic level, it wouldn’t make much of a difference whether Lois prevented a pregnancy from happening this early in their relationship. And while he’d love their baby no matter when it came, right now *would* turn their lives upside down. Well, even more upside down than they already were.
Lois raised her left eyebrow. “Is that really your best argument? Because I can tell you, it just sounds like a desperate last ditch attempt at saving face.”
Clark took a deep breath and wondered just when Lois had begun reading his mind. And why couldn’t that have started two days ago. They might have been better off. Yeah, right. Who was he kidding? Lois would have exploded either way, and at least this way they had finally found each other. “Okay. I’m not overjoyed with it, but I do understand where you’re coming from. So, you’re going to go and visit the doctor tomorrow?”
Lois nodded, her lower lip slightly sucked into her mouth as she worried it with her teeth.
“And what happens now? I mean, I don’t expect anything, and we still have a lot to talk about and there’s still the thing about how I’m not able to keep my hands off of you. You know, it’s actually a funny story if you think about it. If I hadn’t felt it myself, I might not even believe it, but well, the drug seems to have nothing to do with it…”
Clark trailed off as Lois eyed him like a tiger about to jump its prey. Which was exactly what he was trying to tell her. Well, later. He could always tell her later. Or not. It might actually be more rewarding if he didn’t tell her, the less chance that Lois would work on preventing their sudden bouts of complete loss of control.
A second later, Lois squealed as the prey had pounced on the predator and she was pinned underneath him. His mouth kept plundering hers, his hands threading through her short tresses, and his body worked to generate a delicious friction between them.
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tbc
