As this is Lucy's Story and Lois and Clark have left on their world travels, we see even less of them in the next few chapters, though they are there at times. The focus is on Lucy and her relationships - mainly with Jimmy.
Thanks, as always, to Alisha, Beth, Nancy and CarolynK.
PDA = Public Display of Affection
*****
Chapter 9
*****
August 1989
*****
"Is anyone home?" she asked breathlessly.
"Not for about 30 minutes," he replied, his lips still on hers, fumbling with the key in the lock. Unable to make it work, he pulled away from her. He rested his forehead against hers, trying to catch his breath. "I thought this was exactly what we didn't want. Though for the life of me right now, I can't remember why."
"What exactly did you think was going to happen when we got inside?" she said, looking up at him through her eyelashes, a coy smile playing around her lips.
"I have no idea, but the way we were going there..." He kissed her again, softly. "We've never kissed quite like that."
She sighed. "I know. I missed you."
"I missed you, too."
She giggled. "I could tell."
"Ten weeks is way too long to be apart." He kissed her again before moving away from her to find his door key. "Are you really sure you want to wait until May to get married?" he asked with a grin.
"You haven't talked to Clark yet and you haven't given me that ring yet and if you don't..."
He sighed as he finally opened the door. "I don't get to see you naked on our wedding night."
"Got that right," she told him, grinning as she walked inside in front of him.
"And how do you know that I haven't talked to Clark?"
"Have you seen them since they left?" she asked quietly as she sat on the couch.
He sat sideways, facing her. "We've got thirty minutes to ourselves before Jessica and Lisa get here and you really want to talk about whether I've seen your sister and brother-in-law?"
She smiled, shifting to face him. "No, not really," she whispered.
"Good." He put a hand on either side of her face and kissed her again.
*****
"How were your classes?" Jimmy set his tray on the table next to hers.
She shrugged. "About what I expected. Syllabi, all that fun stuff."
"Same here. What time do you have to be at work this afternoon?"
"Three. Perry's got me meeting with one of his more senior research and photography assistants to teach me the ropes." Her eyes twinkled.
"Really? Which one?" His eyes twinkled back.
She shrugged. "Not sure. Some older guy, I think. I’m really not looking forward to it. He's supposed to be not very nice and horrid looking."
"Hey!" he exclaimed, indignant.
She laughed. "I'm supposed to meet you in the newsroom at three and you're supposed to start showing me what I need to do. He even said I can share your desk."
"What? You don't get your own?"
"Nope. Apparently, there's more staff than there was when you started and not enough desk space to go around, so we get to share."
He winced. "I'll have to show you how I like stuff. Or come up with some sort of sharing plan – like tape down the middle or something."
Her eyes narrowed as she took a long drink. "You don't want to share?"
"I love you, you know that, but I've seen your desk at the apartment. I know I tend to be a bit of a slob at home but my desk is different."
She rolled her eyes. "I know how neat you keep your desk. It's the exact opposite of your room."
"And your desk is the exact opposite of *your* room, which you keep neat as a pin."
"Your point?"
"That once we get married, we'll either have neat desks and a neat apartment or messy desks and a messy apartment. Or one of each."
"Well, this'll be good practice then. I'll do my best to keep the desk neat, and once you move in, you'll keep the apartment neat."
Jimmy's eyes narrowed. "Why do I feel like you're getting the better end of that deal?"
She took a bite of her sandwich and shrugged with wide-eyed innocence.
*****
September 1988
*****
Lucy flopped in the big chair that she usually shared with Jimmy for movie night, but he was nowhere to be seen. Tonight was a girls' night in.
Lisa and Jessica were on the couch and Mel Gibson and Danny Glover were about to kick some serious tail.
Of course, the girls just wanted the eye candy.
Both had recently broken up with their boyfriends, which Lucy was at least sort of grateful for. Neither were completely heartbroken over it, though they were upset, but at the same time Lucy was glad there weren't going to be any boyfriends spending the night any time soon. They had decided on a door knob hanger to be their 'do not disturb' sign, but Lucy really hoped they wouldn't be needing it. She wanted her friends to be happy, but for the moment she didn't want the reminders of what they were doing that she and Jimmy weren't – even if she did think it was the right decision for the two of them.
She had kept the loft for herself, just as she had told Jimmy she would. Before the break-ups, all three boyfriends had built double bunks for Lisa and Jessica for the bedroom. Lucy had been right. There was a lot more space in this apartment, for cheaper than a dorm room would be, and they didn't have suitemates to worry about. And they didn't all have to have twin beds either. Lisa and Jessica had appreciated that when they'd had boyfriends.
So tonight was ice cream, popcorn and ogling night.
Nearly two hours later, Lucy clicked the TV off.
"Much better," Lisa sighed.
"Yep," Jessica agreed. "That and I have a date next Friday makes what's-his-name leaving that much more bearable." She still refused to use the name of her ex-boyfriend.
"Who with?"
Jessica grimaced slightly as she looked at Lucy. "Jaxon."
Lucy raised an eyebrow. "Really?"
Jessica nodded. "I ran into him the other day and he asked me out." She shrugged. "I said yes. I'm not expecting it to be the great love affair of my life or anything like that, but he seems nice enough – and he left you alone, Luce – as soon as he knew you were with Jimmy."
"And he did apologize," Lucy admitted grudgingly. "But please, be careful, would you?"
Jessica nodded. "I was hoping that you and Jimmy could double with us." She bit her bottom lip as she looked at Lucy.
Lucy thought for a moment. "We both have to work all weekend."
Lisa jumped in. "Well, *I* have a date that night, too. Why don't we double?"
Jessica giggled. "Looks like we might be needing that door hanger sometime soon after all."
Lucy sighed. "Just please remember to use it, would you? I *really* don't want to walk in on anything."
"And we don't want you to, believe me," Jessica told her. "Now, remind me again why you two are waiting?"
Lucy sighed. They'd been over this repeatedly. "Well, before, Clark told us both that he'd prefer we wait and at least insinuated that he wouldn't hesitate to have Jimmy brought up on charges of statutory rape once he turned eighteen. I don't think he really would have – I think he was just trying to scare us but... And at the same time, he and Perry and Alice and Lois all encouraged us to wait until we were out of high school and *we* decided together that's what we wanted to do."
"You've been out of high school for months," Lisa point out.
"True, but we've already got a wedding date picked out and we know that and..." She shrugged. "For a lot of reasons I really don't want to get into, it's right for *us*."
Jessica bit her lip some more, watching Lucy contemplatively.
"What?" her friend finally asked.
"Well, how can you know if you two are... you know, compatible in that area if you haven't... I mean, how can you know that you two are really meant to be?"
Lucy stared at the brick wall for a few minutes before answering. "Well, we both know that we want to, believe me. That's not a problem, but we love each other and that's just one aspect of why we love each other – the physical attraction. As for compatibility... well, part of it is that we figure whether we wait or not, we're in this for the long haul so if it's not... storybook at first, we'll figure it out whenever it happens. I mean, heaven forbid, something happened to Jimmy where he couldn't... you know, for some reason. Cancer, accident that left him paralyzed, whatever – that wouldn't change whether or not I love him and want to spend my life with him."
Lisa shrugged. "I guess not, but if you know you're going to spend your life with him, why does it matter if you wait?"
Lucy sighed. She'd never confided in them – even though they were her best girl friends – what life was like growing up in her house. Well, not both of them. Lisa knew some, but Jessica didn't. She didn't think Jessica especially would understand – without lots of soul baring – why disappointing Clark was such a motivating factor initially or why it meant *so* much to her that Jimmy wasn't only after her for her body but was willing, and was even the one who suggested, to wait until they were legally married.
Finally she spoke again. "I can't really explain it much better than that, guys. But it means a lot to me that he's willing to wait, that he was the one who suggested we wait. I don't know how to make you guys understand it, but, for us, it's the right decision and one that lets me know just how much he loves me."
There was a long, semi-awkward silence, before Jessica got up to put 'Indiana Jones' in for a little bit of Harrison Ford ogling.
*****
October 1988
*****
Lucy pulled her coat a little closer. If that door hanger wasn't removed – and soon – she was going to start ringing the doorbell incessantly.
They'd agreed on a few ground rules.
No boys walking around in *any* state of undress. Boxers weren't enough. Shorts were required at a minimum.
No boyfriends spending the night if they snored and only occasionally if they didn't.
No door hanger sessions during certain times of the week. These times varied from week to week and included times when one roommate or other would *need* to be home to get ready for work or whatever. The calendar needed to be marked as soon as possible, preferably before Sunday of a given week.
No leaving the door hanger on any longer than necessary so others can get in the apartment.
No dominating the apartment so others couldn't have time alone.
And no... nookie while others were home, no matter how quiet you thought you were being. Or anywhere except your bed and maybe - *maybe* - the shower, but definitely nowhere that would be considered 'common areas'.
This was one of those times that Lucy needed to get in and get changed and get her things so she could go to work. One of her roommates – she wasn't sure which one – had either forgotten to take the door hanger down or forgotten that she needed in or didn't care that she did.
She looked at her watch again. She should have been in there nearly thirty minutes ago and Jimmy was going to be there any minute to pick her up. She looked at what she was wearing. It would do for work. It didn't violate the dress code or anything but was less professional than she liked to look and if the door wasn't open in about two minutes, she wasn't going to have time to change anyway.
She heard someone coming up the stairs. Seconds later, Jimmy came into view. Puzzled, he stopped a few steps from the stop.
"What's up? Why are you sitting out here?"
She jerked her thumb towards the door. "Door hanger is on."
"I thought this was an off-limits time this week."
"It's supposed to be." She looked at her watch again. "I have about 45 seconds before it doesn't matter."
They heard giggles coming from the apartment and Jessica opened the door. By the time she had it open, Lucy was standing there, and looking furious.
"What's wrong?" Jessica asked innocently.
"I have to work. There was an hour blocked out today – go check the calendar." She pushed her way past her friend and into the living room.
"Um, Luce..." Jessica started.
"What?" Lucy threw over her shoulder as she stormed into the other room.
"I don't think..."
"What the hell are you doing here and put some freaking clothes on, would you?" Lucy averted her eyes from whoever it was by glaring at Jessica over her shoulder while she headed towards her stairs.
"I tried to tell you I didn't think he was completely dressed yet," Jessica called.
"I don't care. You should have checked the calendar more closely," Lucy called back from her loft where she stayed behind the screen while she quickly changed pants. The blouse would be fine, but the jeans weren't quite nice enough for work.
She came back down the stairs a minute later to hear Jimmy's exclamation.
"Jason! So good to see you again, man."
She could almost see the smirk, even though she couldn’t see him.
"It's *Jaxon*," came another male voice.
"Right, Jason. Haven't seen you since you tried to intimidate Lucy into spending a football game with you when she didn't want to."
"Jimmy, don't give him the time of day. We have to go to work." She grabbed her purse from where she'd tossed it on the couch. "We'll talk about this later, Jess." She bounded up the stairs and out the door, leaving it for Jimmy to slam behind them.
He gladly obliged.
*****
Lisa had her books spread out on the table when Lucy walked in. She looked up. "Hey, Lucy." She chewed thoughtfully on her lip. "You know, I never told you I'm sorry Jessica gave you such a hard time that night about you and Jimmy and everything."
Lucy shrugged as she sat on the couch. "It's okay. She doesn't know why it means so much to me that Jimmy wants to wait."
"You've never told me everything, have you?" Lisa asked quietly, without accusation.
"No," Lucy whispered. "Only Jimmy knows everything. Except Lois but that's because she lived it with me and protected me from a lot of it."
"And Clark?"
Lucy shrugged. "I don't know how much Lois has told him," she said truthfully, knowing only that it wasn't much.
"Well, I'm proud of you guys for deciding what was right for you and sticking with it. I mean, I don't know that someday I'm going to wish I'd waited for Mr. Right, but even though we're not together anymore, John's a good guy and he wasn't *just* out to make himself feel good. He cared about me and that I enjoyed it as much as possible at first and more the longer we were together."
"And Mark?"
Lisa shrugged. "I don't think he's the great love of my life. He might be. But I haven't slept with him yet either. Jessica and Jaxon were in bed on the second date."
"They were?" Lucy asked, astonished. "I knew it was fast, but I didn't know it was that fast."
She nodded. "Yeah. I got here right as she was taking the door hanger off."
"Ah."
"You know it doesn't bother me that you two use the door hanger sometimes so you can have some time alone, right?"
"I know. We really haven't had a good opportunity to do so yet, though I'm thinking about it for Friday night."
Lisa raised her eyebrow. "Why?"
"Jessica and Jaxon were going at it yesterday when I had time blocked off to get ready for work. I had about thirty seconds to get changed."
"Isn't Friday their big three week anniversary or something?" Lisa asked, rolling her eyes.
"Exactly."
"Well, you won't hear anything from me about it. They did make me late for work the other day. I say go for it. Spend a couple hours making out or whatever it is you two do when you're not having sex."
Lucy smiled. "I think we just might."
*****
"Are you sure you want to do this, Lu?"
She opened the door and stuck the hanger on the outside.
"Of course, I am," she fumed.
"I mean, really sure?" He met her as she reached the bottom of the stairs and took her in his arms. He held her for a moment before kissing her softly. "Are you sure this is the best way to deal with Jessica not following the rules?"
"I'm completely sure," she told him with a smile. "Don't you like the... fringe benefits that come with this revenge?"
He grinned. "Oh, yeah." And he kissed her again.
"Come on." She grabbed his hand and led him to their favorite chair. "What movie did you get?"
Jimmy laughed and held it up.
"Good choice."
"And you're really sure you want to do this?"
"I'm not making her miss work or anything. I’m just taking away her rendezvous with Jaxon this evening." She rolled her eyes. "It's their three week anniversary or something big like that."
"Hmmm... that's a big important occasion," Jimmy said, settling her in front of him.
"Oh, it will be after we get married, but I'm not too concerned about them missing out on some alone time. We stay away from here enough for the two of them sometimes; they can give us some alone time in equal measure. What we do with it is our business, not theirs."
"Are you sure Jessica will see it that way?" he asked as he pulled her a little closer and kissed the side of her neck.
She sighed softly as she relaxed in his arms. "No, but I don't care at the moment."
"Are we actually going to watch any of this movie?" he murmured into her neck.
"Not planning on it."
"Good."
They weren't sure how much later it was when a knock on the door interrupted what was shaping up to be a very nice make-out session on the couch.
"Who is it?" Lucy whispered.
"How am I supposed to know?" Jimmy whispered back. "I'm not Clark. I can't see through doors."
"Think its Jessica?" She grinned as she said it.
"Could be." He kissed her again. "Want to look?"
"Not really. Lisa's working tonight so I know it's not her and actually, Jessica and Jaxon made her late the other day and I mentioned that we should do this – not you and me, but me and her – and she said that you and I should do it tonight. She said she'd call if she was coming home for any reason."
"Gotcha." He grinned down at her as another knock sounded. "So we keep making out?"
"Yep."
"Works for me."
The clicking of the VCR into rewind mode told them that the movie was long over.
Lucy sighed. "Guess it's time to take that door hanger off. I think I either want to be asleep or long gone when Jessica gets back, but..." She smiled up at him. "...that was worth it."
"And you're really still set on a May wedding?" he asked as he sat up. "You don't want to get married... say at Christmas? Or next weekend?"
Lucy laughed as she straightened her hair. "We'll make it to May. It's seven months."
"No, it's *seven months*," he whined.
She wrapped her arms around him and rested her head on his shoulder. "It'll be okay. We'll make it."
He sighed and wrapped his arms around her. "I know, but that doesn't mean I don’t wish it was sooner."
*****
"What the hell were you doing?" Jessica demanded up the stairs the next morning.
Lucy groaned and pulled the pillow over her head.
"I'm not going away."
Lucy sighed, got up and headed down the stairs. "What?"
"You knew Jaxon and I were coming back here last night and Lisa was working so what the hell were you and Jimmy doing putting the door hanger out?"
Lucy rolled her eyes. "A three week anniversary is not important enough to reserve the apartment and we were here first. We have *never* used the door hanger for any reason until yesterday, but you almost made me late for work and you did make Lisa late last week because you didn't pay any attention to the calendar."
"So you locked us out?"
Lucy shrugged. "It was the first night Jimmy and I had to ourselves in weeks and we wanted some time alone together. Deal with it."
Jessica sighed. "You guys aren't even having sex."
"So?" Lucy glared at her. "Does that mean we don't get time alone together? You didn't object to that when we were making up the rules. I said then that if you guys could lock us out for sex, we could lock you guys out for alone time and you didn't say anything about it."
"That was before you interfered with my date."
Lucy headed for the bathroom. "Get over it. I have to get ready for work."
*****
December 1988
*****
Lucy watched as Jimmy pounded on the door to Lois and Clark's room at Perry's.
"Come on, guys. It's Christmas morning." His voice more than bordered on whining.
Lucy couldn't quite make out what Clark said back. Jimmy mumbled something else before saying, "Good!" loudly.
It wasn't more than a minute later that Jimmy was pounding on the door again. "Guys!"
A few seconds later Clark opened the door. "Good grief, Jim. Your presents aren't going anywhere."
"Perry won't let any of us go downstairs until everyone goes," Jimmy told him petulantly.
Lucy caught her sister's eye as she exited the room behind Clark. That was a mistake as they both dissolved into giggles.
"Jim, you're worse than Lucy ever was," Lois told him when she caught her breath.
"Hey!" Lucy said, indignant.
Perry and Alice came out of their room, robes over their pajamas. "Merry Christmas, kids," they said, in tandem.
The younger couples laughed, but Jimmy still had a slightly pouty look on his face.
One Lane family tradition had stuck. On Christmas Day – unless there was some compelling reason to do otherwise – they stayed in their pajamas all day. Clark was going to make breakfast and Christmas dinner since he could do it quickly and well.
But first came presents.
Lucy was disappointed that an engagement ring wasn't among them but did her best not to let it show. She knew it was coming, she just didn't know when.
*****
March 1989
*****
Lucy fidgeted slightly as she waited for Jimmy. There had been no more problems with Jessica ignoring the calendar to spend time with Jaxon even though they were still dating. Lucy didn't get why her friend was sleeping with him when they weren't exclusive, but Jessica was okay with it so...
Jimmy was on his way over to pick her up for their long awaited trip to The Blue Note. Clark had promised to take them all last summer, but they'd had to leave for Greece more quickly than originally planned and they hadn't made it. Clark was making up for it tonight by taking them all.
Before long, they were sitting eating dinner and chatting with Lois and Clark and Perry and Alice. Once dinner was over, Clark asked Lois to dance, but Jimmy stopped them by clearing his throat.
"Um, before you do that..." He cleared his throat again nervously. "There's something I want to say."
Clark sat back down expectantly and Lucy watched her boyfriend, puzzled.
He shifted to look at her. "Luce, we have been together for years now and I know we're still young, but I love you. I love you more than I could have ever believed possible." He slid off of his chair and down on to one knee, pulling a box out of his pocket and opening it as he went. "Lucy Ellen Lane, will you marry me?"
Lucy heard Lois gasp at the same time she did, but was unable to take her eyes off Jimmy.
Tears spilled over on to her face as she pulled the promise ring off her finger. "Oh, Jimmy! Of course I'll marry you!"
He slipped the new engagement ring on her finger before he pulled her to her feet and wrapped his arms around her, kissing her soundly.
His arms were still around her as he turned to the others. "If my *fiancé* agrees, I'm going to take her to dance." Lucy nodded before walking to the dance floor with him.
She moved close to him, resting her head on his shoulder. "It's about time," she whispered. "I was starting to wonder if you were going to propose at the rehearsal dinner."
Jimmy laughed softly. "I didn't get a chance to talk to Clark until after Christmas or I would have proposed then."
"I wondered why you didn't. I'll even admit to being a little disappointed."
"Well, I didn't get to talk to him until right before they left. Every time I started to bring it up, someone or something interrupted." He kissed her head. "I did tell him when the wedding was though so they wouldn't be surprised. When they didn't come home last month, it through a bit of an additional wrench in the works. I didn't want to propose without them there."
"I'm glad you didn't." Lucy sighed a happy sigh. "I'll have to take Lois shopping tomorrow. I need to get my dress picked out officially. And get her one and... And I need to ask Clark if he'll walk me down the aisle..."
"And I have to ask him if he'll be my best man, but no worries right now."
She smiled up at him. "No worries right now." She watched as her sister and brother-in-law danced on another part of the floor. "Have you noticed there's more PDA between them than there used to be?"
"I noticed at Christmas, but I wasn't sure what it meant."
"I'm still not sure, but it's nice to see."
"We'll have to try to talk to them tomorrow, too."
Lucy nodded against him. "I have no desire to ask Jessica about for advice about sex."
Jimmy laughed softly. "Not when she's with Jaxon, that's for sure."
She looked up at him again. "Have I told you how much I love you?"
"Not since I asked you to marry me," he grinned.
"I love you."
"And I did get you a diamond," he pointed out.
She fingered the ring. "Yes, you did."
"Does that mean I get to make love to you on our wedding night?"
"Unless you'd rather play Scrabble."
"Not a chance."
She kissed him softly. "Good."
"I love you, Lucy."
"I love you, too."
*****
TBC
