Hi!
As always I’d like to thank my stellar betas, Mona and Kmar, for their work on making this better
From the looks of it, it’s going to be about two or three more parts, including an epilogue. Oh, and in case you do need to know now about the way the ECP-thing is going to go, PM me, and I'll let you know
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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In part 22, Clark caved and took a cold shower, only to be surprised by Lois. Heat quickly arose and they ended up on his bed, entangled in a passionate kiss.
Part 23 /
TOC /
Comments **********
Lois knew that she wasn’t usually this uninhibited. Well, at least she hadn’t been two days ago. But now that she knew Clark in every way, she just couldn’t keep her eyes – or her hands – off of him. Of course, it didn’t really help her situation that she had seen him in the buff just ten minutes ago, fresh out of the shower on top of that. And, to her chagrin, she had to admit that she hadn’t felt even a little bit of embarrassment that Clark had been completely aware of her scrutinizing stare.
And what a vista he had offered her. She’d been immediately reminded of the first time she’d seen him fresh out of the shower, just a day after Perry had introduced him to her as her new partner. Only back then he’d been wearing a towel to protect his modesty and she’d done her very best to not let him in on the fact that she had rooted for gravity to remove the offending piece of terry cloth. It had been a futile exercise and she had been secretly relieved that Clark hadn’t called her on it.
Now of course, there was no reason for such false decorum and she’d reveled in the way Clark had taken the lead in their present encounter. She really had to hand it to him; he might have been a virgin two nights ago, but there was no doubt about what a quick and gifted study Clark was.
Her hands kept running over his back and her ankles had locked over his butt as she latched on to his mouth. Her tongue danced with his, trailing every contour of his moist cavity that she could reach, before she allowed Clark to reverse her probing and push his way back into her own mouth. It was a delicious give and take, a mutual act of equals and she felt her heart scream for more.
In some corner of her mind Lois knew that what they were about to be doing was most likely going to be makeup-sex, the release of pent-up tensions and a reaffirmation of what they meant to each other. And that was just about it. Clark had told her – multiple times – that he loved her. It hadn’t been a hurried expression in the heat of the moment. No, she was quite certain that he meant it with all of his heart, mind, and soul. And now that they were about to come together as lovers again… it was as if they’d already formed a commitment beyond society’s constraints. Which would be fine if she could look at it from an observer’s point of view.
But she wasn’t just an observer. She was right in the middle of it and the scary part was that she was perfectly aware of her own feelings for Clark. They were exactly the reason why she’d been so immeasurably angry with him; he had broken her heart, ripped it out and stomped on it, before throwing it into the sun. And her brain hadn’t taken kindly to this rude act. And yet, here she was, helpless in the face of her emotions, completely at her lover’s mercy to never hurt her again.
She should be running away, screaming in terror while digging a moat around the fortress her heart took refuge in. But her body wasn’t cooperating, and she was grateful that the moans escaping her throat were those of pleasure and joy instead of fear and despair. But was it enough? Or was it just a raging inferno, soon to die down when all the tinder had been consumed by the blazing heat of their desires. She thought not. Not if Clark had truly been in love with her for probably more than a year. And so had she, even if she hadn’t been willing to admit it – even to herself – for a long time.
Lois’ mind registered that Clark’s mouth had left hers and his hands had traveled down alongside her body, loosening her grip on his back in the process. Suddenly wary at the interruption, Lois pushed herself up slightly on her now available elbows and glanced down to where Clark was kneeling between her legs. His eyes sparkled with a happy need and she felt his fingers sneak underneath the top of the light gray sweats she’d appropriated from Clark’s closet.
Instantly aware of what was about to happen, Lois relaxed again but kept her back off the mattress until Clark had pulled the cottony fabric to just underneath her shoulders, exposing her to his view as his eyes roamed the rapidly increasing amount of exposed skin. His breathing hitched noticeably as he began an intent study of her upper body, still covered by a plain, white bra.
Lois fought the urge to bite her lower lip. It wouldn’t do to become nervous right now, especially since she’d begun to suspect that Clark could actually sense her moods with those darn super-senses of his. So instead, she ignored the fact that she was wearing a plain, white bra that covered her more than some of her skimpier bikinis did. Together with the bunched up top that covered the parts of her cleavage that her bra didn’t, she looked probably about as alluring as a nun, but for some strange reason, Clark didn’t seem to mind. His gaze simply hovered over her body, drinking in the sight of her; apparently contend to study every intricate detail of her still half-clad torso.
At first unsure whether she should blush or entice him further, Lois finally decided to go for the latter and stated with a grin on her lips, “You look like you’ve never seen me naked before.”
Clark blinked and gave a little shake of his head before his lips twisted in a reciprocal emotion. “You aren’t naked, Lois.”
“So…?”
“So, right now I’m looking at the woman I’ve loved since the first time I laid eyes on her, half-dressed in my oldest pair of sweats and a very classic bra, as she’s lying on my bed.” The grin on his face broadened and he looked as if he’d just been granted his greatest wish. “Do you have *any* idea just how sexy it is to see you being so completely domestic in my arms?”
Lois’ eyebrows arched and she had to stifle a giggle. “Are you saying that the idea of playing house is driving you out of your mind?”
Clark grew serious for a moment. “No, Lois. *You’re* driving me out of my mind.” He paused for a moment and she could see him mull over his next words before he continued, “That’s what I finally figured out while I was in the shower, you know?”
“Hmm?” Lois encouraged him distractedly, eagerly waiting for him to continue with his explorations instead of delving into a lecture on the reasons why she was making him all hot and bothered. After all, that subject could so much easier be demonstrated than explained.
“I guess, I should have made the connection earlier, but I didn’t really have a precedence to compare my sensations and reactions to. You see, I’m quite certain by now that I’ve found my very own revenge.”
Lois’ eyebrows furrowed. Why was Clark talking about revenge? Was he saying that getting even with her was doing it for him? But that couldn’t be right, could it? “Revenge, Clark?” she asked with trepidation. “What are you talking about?”
Clark chuckled. “Yeah, Lois. Revenge, as in the perfume you let me believe you’d been exposed to.”
“Oh.” Something clicked in Lois’ lust-clouded brain. “You mean ‘Revenge’. But you said the pheromones didn’t work on you…”
“Well, it’s not exactly pheromones I’m responding to. Or at least, not the same ones Miranda mixed into her potion.” Clark looked intently into her eyes, drawing her attention on his face, instead of the looming expense of tanned skin that was strung taught over plated steel. “No, I think it’s something much closer to home.” He smirked and lifted a finger towards her nose. “*You*, Lois. *You* drive me completely out of my mind with lust. Your body’s signals, they change and increase in accordance with your need for me and it completely overrides my self-control.”
She just stared wide-eyed at him, her mind overloading at the implications, before she slowly began to realize the truth behind his words and a fierce blush started to rise in her face. “So… so every time my body gets… every time I’m… when I…” Lois flopped back on the bed, covering her face with her hands in embarrassment, unable to spell out the concepts of bodily desires she had so callously thought about during their earlier crazed frenzy.
“Hey, what’s the matter?” Clark asked her over her desperate groan.
Lois pulled her hand away, shooting daggers at him. “Oh, nothing! I merely learned that my partner can actually sense exactly how much I crave his caress. Don’t you think that that’s just a little embarrassing to me?”
Unfortunately, Clark wasn’t willing to console her. “So, you don’t mind putting up a show in the lady’s room at the Planet, actually devising a scheme to get me to watch you through the walls, and *then* propping yourself on my desk with just enough of your skin showing to drive me to distraction, but when I tell you *how* exactly you’re affecting me, you turn into a tomato?”
“You did?” Lois asked, immediately catching on the sole tidbit in his statement that would not implicate her.
“Huh?”
“You just told me that I managed to get you all worked up right in the middle of the newsroom simply because I offered you a peek and then propped myself up on your desk.” Lois feverously worked on shifting the attention away from her own libido’s side-effects to Clark’s control issues. They really were two of a kind. She was getting all hot and bothered whenever she caught a glimpse of his body, or the way it demonstrated Clark’s very intimate thoughts for her, and all this reaction accomplished, was to intensify Clark’s own lusty state of mind. This was never going to work. Or, rather, until they found an ‘off’ switch, they would never be able to get any work done. At least now she knew why people took honeymoons. But how was she going to explain this to Perry?
>>Oh, hi, Perry. Clark and I, well, we just got together, and now we need two weeks off, so we can have a sort of honeymoon and get over the sex-crazed frenzy we always seem to fall into when we’re near each other.<< Lois gave her wayward thoughts a mental shake of disgust. This was never going to work and she highly doubted that even a mutual vow of abstinence until their real honeymoon would do them any good. No, if the desperate desire she felt for Clark right now was any indication, the only effect such a preposterous attempt would have, would be to leave them with a troubled conscience for breaking their vows.
Resigning herself to her fate, Lois gritted her teeth, swallowed, and forced herself to graciously accept her role in this play. “Well, at least that explains why you got so out of control in the courtroom.” Lois gave him a self-deprecating grin. “You know, during our fight, I was literally driven out of my mind by how much my body screamed for your touch.”
Clark’s eyes twinkled at her dreamily. “Yeah, I noticed.”
Lois felt an instantaneous return of her blushing, but she was unwilling to accept sole responsibility, even if the deprecating notion was only in her own mind. “Hey, I remember you getting very out of control yourself,” she scolded him.
Clark had the good grace to at least show his own guilty feelings at their encounter, before he seemed to bring his emotions back under control and back on topic – namely her. “You didn’t seem to mind too much,” he said with a defensive note in his voice.
Lois thought for a moment, realizing that she had to reaffirm her partner a bit. Although, why she had to be the one to steer him clear of the shallows and cataracts in their sea of love was a mystery to her. “No, I didn’t. But if you keep talking instead of acting, I *will* mind,” she growled playfully as she languorously stretched her arms over her head.
The motion apparently had the desired effect and Clark’s fingers found their way back to the bunched up sweater, pulling the material further upwards, over her head, and finally free of her arms.
Lois moaned a satisfied murmur and this time around, Clark didn’t waste a second watching her. Instead, she became almost immediately aware of his heated kisses alongside her jaw. Taking his delicious time, Clark nibbled, licked, and suckled his way down her throat, trailing her pulse line and then further. Her breath hitched when she felt his soft lips grace her skin as he diligently explored her cleavage.
She reached forward again, suddenly in dire need to feel Clark with her hands instead of simply with her skin. Lois’ fingers traced into his hair, ruffling it in distracted pleasure, before she gently pushed him downwards a little.
Clark proved himself a quick study and as his mouth began to work its magic on her, he shifted his weight to her left side, propping himself next to her. His now available left hand quickly removed her bra, before it joined in the teasing exploration of her feminine curves.
This change in his position inexplicably pulled him out of comfortable reach of her right hand, and now only her left limb remained to play with his hair. Her other hand, however, joined the group of five explorers that were working their way across the hills and valleys of her newly exposed skin. There she joined her hand with his, their fingers becoming entwined as both their hands worked to evoke wonderful sensations within her body.
The titillation kept going on, Clark seemingly perfectly content this time with gentle caresses and touches, until Lois finally reached the conclusion that Clark wasn’t going to abandon her upper body without some further incentive. The matter thus decided, she began to lead his left hand away from her breast and down over the naked skin of her belly. When Clark’s fingers grazed over her belly-button, Lois was startled at the electric tingle that his touch left behind on her skin as his thumb tickled the sensitive spot.
As their joined hands reached the waistband of her sweat pants a few moments later, Clark became aware of her intentions and shifted his head sideways so he was now almost lying on her chest as he gazed back at her. “Are you sure?”
Feeling a twinge of annoyance mixed with something she couldn’t really discern in the face of his wary coyness, Lois determinedly showed Clark exactly what she required of him, and to her relief, her – Lover? Boyfriend? Mate? – Whatever, didn’t require more than this little push to set him back on track. His left hand soon proved to be lacking its counterpart and Clark robbed downwards to position himself next to her hips, before both of his hands reached again for the waistband of her pants.
Lois encouragingly raised her hips off the mattress and Clark pulled the soft material down and almost to her knees when he suddenly stopped, all the playfulness at once gone from his face.
“Clark?” she asked him worriedly while her mind feverously worked on coming up with an explanation, even as her eyes kept begging his to answer the as of yet unvoiced question.
Clark’s eyes shot back and forth between looking at her hips and gazing into her eyes and each time he stared back at her, she could see more shame radiate from him.
What was going on? Had he suddenly decided that the more intimate side of their relationship was inappropriate? Did he consider her a slut and himself a Don Juan for jumping into bed with her this early into their romantic involvement? But she was certain that it was his own free will that was controlling his actions right now, so he couldn’t possibly feel disinclined to further his knowledge of her, right? So what was going on?
“Clark, what’s the matter?” she asked him, her right hand involuntarily traveling down to provide some cover for herself.
“I… Oh, god, Lois. I… You didn’t even say…”
“Clark!” she silenced his stammer. “Please, just tell me what’s going on. Have you reconsidered? Do you want to wait, or did you just realize that you don’t want to go through with it after all?” Lois’ voice was heavy with strained patience and wary with the plea lingering underneath. She just couldn’t accept his pulling back now. Not like that. Not when she was completely exposed to him, completely depending on his acceptance of her for them to go further.
“But how could you…?” The shock was written plainly on his face. “After what I did to you the last time we… After how I…” Clark turned away. “Oh, god, what did I do…?”
Lois’ felt her patience wear thin and she pushed herself into a sitting position next to him, pulling her knees close. “Clark, if you don’t want me anymore, just *tell* me, okay? I mean, sure, you told me that you love me, and I told you that I… that I…” Lois knew she had to say it. And now was just as good a time as any if she wanted it to mean something. But if she did say it out loud and Clark pulled completely away from her then… Could she really risk this final heartbreak? Could she really allow Clark to deliver the coup de grace to her heart? Did it even matter after now if he mortally wounded her hopes for a shared future for them?
“You what, Lois?” Clark whispered dejectedly, his head hanging low but he wasn’t looking at her still partially exposed body.
Lois took a deep breath. “I love you.” She breathed in deeply again, trying to dispel the tension and the adrenalin this confession had brought up in her body. “And if you’re going to declare that love isn’t enough for us, then I will have to deal with that.” She looked at him through glistening eyes. “But please stop playing with me. I can’t… I just… can’t, okay?”
“No, Lois, I don’t want to run away from you. I just… I just don’t understand how you can even stand my touch after what I did to you earlier,” Clark whispered with a peculiar hitch in his voice.
What had he done to her, earlier? Lois wracked her brain, but she wasn’t getting anywhere. “What, Clark? What did you do to me?” And as an afterthought she added. “And if you even *think* of telling me that you feel guilty for the little intermezzo in the courthouse, then I’m not sure what I’m going to do to you.
Clark’s eyes grew wide and he swallowed audibly.
“No, Clark,” she groaned. “No, please don’t tell me that that’s it, because then I really don’t know how else to convince you,” she begged. “Hadn’t we just recently established that I wanted this just as much as you did? And just because you ruined my wardrobe doesn’t change that little fact, okay? Or do you remember hearing me complain?” she challenged him; her arms were locked around her knees and a deep furrow was creasing her forehead.
“I… No… But-” Clark gently lifted her hands before stretching her legs out on the bed. “-I hurt you.”
“What?” Lois asked incredulously, her voice almost a squeak.
“There,” Clark answered, his left hand pointing to her thighs.
“Oh…” Lois noted meekly, for the first time being reminded of the bruises that marred her white skin of her legs just below her hips. “Oh, that.” Desperate to stifle a relieved giggle, Lois worked hard on conveying her next words in a serious voice. It just wouldn’t do to introduce humor into the situation. Not with Clark being so completely obtuse about the concept of rough sex. “Clark, you didn’t hurt me.”
When Clark looked at her as if she’d just told him that she was a Kryptonian, she appended. “Okay, I did walk a bit funny when I left the courthouse, but the bruises, that wasn’t *you*. That was *us* and a very unyielding table.” Suddenly reminded of the fate of said table, Lois finally lost her battle against the humor of the situation. “Well, okay, in the end we remained victorious over that fiendish piece of furniture, but-“ Her voice grew serious again. “-if you begin to freak out every time I get a little bruise when we choose to use whatever we have available to prop us up against at our times of need, well, we’re not going to have much fun.”
Lois’ right hand reached for his, and started to trace the spotty bluish marks where her legs had repeatedly clashed with the conference table. “I didn’t even notice at the time and if you look, you will see that those are the only bruises I carried away from this encounter.” She looked intently at him. “And Clark, you did handle me pretty decisively, you know? But I didn’t bruise from your touch. *You* didn’t hurt me, even when you were completely out of control.”
Clark slowly nodded and Lois prayed that he truly understood the difference, when another thought came unbidden to the forefront of her mind. Clark had been pretty high-strung these past two days and her behavior hadn’t been helping him in keeping his temper. And she *had* wondered, if ever so briefly, if his anger had merely stripped away a carefully constructed shell, exposing a ruffian lurking underneath. But no, that wasn’t fair and all the while they’d been fighting, Clark had never even delved into insults, but merely thrown an angry truth and some misinterpretations into her face. In fact, the most out of control she’d seen him, had been when he had been with her in the courthouse, and she couldn’t really fault him for this behavior, either.
“I’m sorry, too,” she whispered.
“What?” Clark’s form had suddenly gone rigid.
“I’m sorry that I was such a bitch and pushed all those buttons I knew would hurt you the most,” she sniffled.
“Lois, don’t,” he implored her. “We’ve both been idiots those past two days…”
“Make that years, farm boy,” Lois quipped.
“But if you keep bringing it up, we will never have a chance to heal.” His eyes shone with hope as they begged her to consider his plea.
Lois sighed as she mulled his words over in her mind. “Okay…,” she drawled. “But only if you give up your own double standards.”
“What double standards?”
“If you want *me* to put it to a rest, then so must *you*,” she decreed. At his uncertain look she pressed on, “Clark, you can’t keep feeling guilty about the way you behaved. Not without making me feel guilty at driving you to this behavior in the first place. Which in turn will make you feel guilty about how you lied to me and how you hurt me with your playing Clark and Superman against me. Of course, then I’m going to be reminded of how different I treated both of you. And you will be reminded of what happened with Luthor. And I will flash back to this horrible episode in my life and then-”
Lois stopped as a pair of gentle, warm lips sealed her mouth, effectively disrupting the stream of words that gave a voice to her inner demons and she slowly settled against the strong chest in front of her, her arms seeking out a better grip on his head even as Clark slowly pushed her back towards the covers.
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tbc
