And you thought it was never coming!!! I do suggest you go back and read through Parts 1-4 to refresh your mind on where this story is coming from.
************************************************
"Out of this closet would be nice.” Clark could sense Lois mentally square her shoulders and push away from the moment of weakness. Lois might be willing to let him back into her life, but she wasn't going to throw the door wide open. No, Clark was going to have to work at opening the door slowly and carefully.
“Clark?”
Clark could hear Lois moving around.
“How soon is your guy going to get here?”
“Shouldn’t be long now.”
“Well, it had better be sooner than later.”
“Lois! Are you OK?”
“I need to pee again!!” she wailed. “And stop laughing!”
Clark smothered his chuckle.
*****
“Well, that was a date to remember.” Clark was walking Lois to her apartment door.
Lois laughed. Feeding a pregnant woman put her in a remarkably good humor considering how the evening had progressed. “Yeah, after being stuck in the closet for an hour, the rest of the date had a hard act to follow!” She gave a huge yawn. “Pulitzer and I need a rest after all that excitement.”
“I am SO sorry”, Clark apologized as he had continued to do throughout the evening.
“Clark, you didn’t put me in the closet. Of course, you did leave me in there for an hour.” She couldn’t resist rubbing it in.
“How can I make it up to you?”
“Let me think on it and I’ll let you know.”
Clark gave her a rueful glance. “Okay, other than the closet incident, did you have fun?”
“Yes, it was very nice. And don’t worry, I won’t slam the door in your face.”
“Good to know. And do you kiss on the first date?”
“Clark-”
Clark raised his hands in surrender, “I take that as a no.”
“I just. . . I just, I need time, Clark.”
“You’ve got it. You’re the boss.”
“No! I don’t want to be the boss! That is not what I’m saying. You are so infuriating. And I’m so tired!”
Clark quickly took the key from her, opened the door and ushered her inside to sit down. “That’s not what I meant. It came out all wrong.”
“I don’t want to be the boss. I want us to be in this together.”
“That’s what I want too, really. What I was trying to say is that I want whatever you want. We’ll do this, whatever this is, wherever this leads, at your pace.”
“Together.”
Together. I promise.”
Lois scowl left her face and she nodded.
Clark could see that she was clearly exhausted. “What can I do to help you the most right now?”
“Just point me in the direction of my bed and lock up behind you.”
“Done.”
“Clark?”
“Yes?”
“It’s not that I don’t want to kiss you. That has always been good between us. The problem would be stopping, and I’m tired, and I don’t think we’re ready for that just yet.”
Clark immediately stood taller, as if a burden had been removed from his shoulders. He looked up and met her eyes. “Thank you for telling me. Now, you need to get to bed. I’ll lock up.”
*****
With the awkwardness of that first date out of the way, Clark and Lois spending more time together and Clark carefully planned “real dates” as well. Lois appreciated that he was going very slowly. Although old hurts sometimes caused their tempers to flare, they both had acknowledged to themselves that they wanted to back together full-time eventually.
How long they would have continued on this road, who knows? But as Lois completed her twentieth week of pregnancy, stories began to circulate in the news of escalating terrorist threats in Irrat. Lois could not help but think of the people that she had spent two years with, of the children who were happy despite the conditions that they lived in, who didn’t even know that there was a better life than the one they had. Clark was very sympathetic to her sadness and for the first time she shared with him her experiences, not just what she had printed in the Daily Planet or was publishing in her book.
“I wish we had gone together,” Clark said regretfully as he held her close in his arms as they sat on the couch watching an update.
“Hmmn. Me too.”
Their coziness was interrupted as Clark’s body became stiff just as the news announcer flashed upon the screen. “This just in: The terrorists have dumped a container that is leaking radioactive materials into the water supply in Irrat. It appears that the container began to leak in the terrorist’s camp. When the terrorists began to suffer the effects of radioactive poisoning, the affected terrorists were instructed to get rid of the poison in the place it would do the greatest damage while the as yet unaffected members of the terrorist group got as far away from the substance as possible. Many of Irrat’s citizen’s are beginning to suffer from the poisoning of their water supply. Red Cross workers have only just identified the illness that has been affecting Irrat’s citizens for several days and the quick thinking of Irratian soldiers led to the discovery of the source. The US will be dispatching a shipment of safe drinking water and medical supplies to Irrat as soon as possible and offering their assistance with the clean up.” The picture of the Irratian people that flashed across the screen made Lois’ stomach churn. She began to cry as she recognized some of the faces.
Clark stood quickly, “Lois, I’ve got to go.”
Lois nodded. “I know. I’m coming too.”
“No, Lois, you can’t-”
“This is not the time to try to tell me what to do!”
“Lois.” Clark said nothing more as his hand slid over her stomach where she was now most definitely starting to show.
“Oh. I forgot for a minute.”
“I’m sorry. I know you want to help.” Clark spun into his Superman costume.
“Be safe, Clark.”
“I’ll be home as soon as I can. Call Mariel and JC if you need anything. Please take care of yourself.” He dropped to his knees and placed a kiss on her tummy. “You, too, Pulitzer. No funny stuff. Behave and go easy on your mom.” He stood back to his feet and pressed a kiss on her forehead, then headed to the window.
Lois grabbed his arm. “Clark, I love you.”
Clark stepped out of the window, turned, and floated down until he was eye level with her. “I love you, too, Lois. Always.” Then he turned and shot off towards the east.
*****
Within seconds, Superman’s arrival in Irrat had made the news, and her phone began to ring.
“Mom? I just saw the news. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, Mariel, but I was wondering about the paper.”
“Dad’ll call in. He’s very careful to either make an appearance or call in sick. He probably will give Perry a call to fill in as editor if it looks like an emergency will take a while. Which this one will since he’ll be radioactive.”
“Perry and Alice left for Graceland yesterday.”
“Wow. Bad timing.”
“I’ll go in.”
“Do you think that’s a good idea? With the baby and all?”
“It’s a great idea. I need to keep busy. And the baby’s fine.”
“Dad won’t like it.”
“Well, he wouldn’t let me go with him. So if I can’t be there helping, I’ll help here so that he can be there.”
“So. . . how are things going with you two?”
“They’re going. When there’s anything that you and JC need to know, we’ll tell you. Otherwise, just let us figure this out on our own.”
“Got it. So, if Laney and I come by and make sure you stop for lunch tomorrow, will that be okay?”
“Of course! I love to go to lunch with my girls.”
*****
Lois’ heart was beating fast with excitement as she entered the newsroom the next day. She had chosen an outfit that was comfortably loose, hiding Pulitzer’s presence. Not that anyone would be expecting someone of her age to be gaining weight due to a pregnancy, but she didn’t want to be the topic of discussion in the newsroom. Not for that reason any way. She was looking forward to working again. She already had an editorial floating in her head that she needed to get down on paper to accompany the inevitable articles about the situation in Irrat. Since she had worked with most of the reporters when she had been editor, convincing them that Clark had asked her to fill in while he was sick and Perry was on vacation shouldn’t be a problem.
*****
As she anticipated, no one had questioned her stepping in to the editor’s position. She couldn’t believe that a few weeks ago she hadn’t wanted to come in to the Planet for fear of someone speculating about she and Clark and now she didn’t care what they thought. She guessed that knowing that both she and Clark were going to make the changes necessary to make their marriage work, that they both wanted it to work, made all the difference. Mariel insisted that she take a break for lunch and fretted about Lois taking it easy the whole time. Lois countered that she was taking it easy and that she had every intention of leaving the Planet at a reasonable hour, and going home to put her feet up. She appreciated that Mariel worried about her even while she was amused at her mothering.
She signed off on the layout at 6:00 and left the night editor in charge of any problems that might crop up overnight. Clark had confidence that the young man would be an excellent editor one day but had mentioned that he still need a bit of mentoring at this point.
She *was* more tired that she had let on to Mariel and she had no intention of arriving early at the Planet tomorrow. She watched the news in Irrat, which was full of praise for Superman’s assistance with the radiation clean-up, then rolled over and went right to sleep.
It was 9:00 the next morning before she opened her eyes. She frowned at her swollen ankles as she dressed and made a note to herself to keep off her feet as much as possible.
*****
That’s pretty much how the rest of the week went. She had called Dr. Groner about her swollen ankles and Dr. Groner had said that it wasn’t abnormal but that she needed to watch her diet and if she started experiencing headaches or dizziness to come in to have her blood pressure read and her urine checked for protein.
*****
Clark woke her with a tap on her window. She instantly came awake and hurried to let him in. To anyone else, Superman would appear as he always did, but Lois could read the weariness in his eyes and the droop of his shoulders. “Oh, Clark.” She put her arm around his waist and led him to her bed, giving him a little push to encourage him to sit. She sat beside him. “Was it bad?”
Of course, she knew that it had been horrible. Sometimes Clark would talk about it. And when it was really bad, he wouldn’t talk at all. He would just want to hold her. Her heart broke for all the times over the last few years when there had been no one to hold him after the many disasters he assisted with. Clark let out a shuddering sigh as he nodded. Lois moved behind him and rubbed his shoulders.
Lois continued to rub, even removed his cape because the folds kept getting in her way. She wasn’t sure when it had happened, but she realized that the tension in his body had changed. “Clar-”
Clark turned and almost lunged for her. She fell back onto the mattress. “Lois, Lois.” He pressed kisses on her face until he found her lips. After a thorough kiss that made her head spin, he kissed his way down her body to her stomach. He rubbed her belly, kissing her abdomen, taking joy in the life there. Lois watched him as he knelt there, still dressed in the Suit. Then he looked up at her with both a deep hurt and need in his eyes. “Lois-”
“Yes.” Lois plunged her fingers into his thick hair, guiding back up to her lips. “Yes.”
*****
