Thanks to all for fdk.
And thanks - as always - to Alisha, Beth, Nancy and CarolynK.
See bottom for link to the dress mentioned here. Yeah, pretend it was available in 1989
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While this section probably still qualifies as PG, the PG-13 rating will pick up in the next section as we finally get to Lucy and Jimmy's big day
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*****
Chapter 10
*****
"Where are we going?" Lois asked her sister.
"Dress shopping."
"Already?"
Lucy shifted uncomfortably in her seat. "Well, the wedding's May 20."
"What?" Lois asked surprised. "That's only nine or ten weeks away."
"Seventy days. And I'm counting every one," Lucy said wryly.
"Why?"
"So I can get my hands on Jimmy," she said with a shrug. "I've been waiting almost three and a half years. The next ten weeks are going to go *so* slowly."
"How long have you two been planning this, exactly?" her sister asked, with narrowed eyes.
Lucy bit her bottom lip. "Since last year."
"What?!" Lois exploded. "Clark said Jimmy didn't talk to him until Christmas."
"Well, we were going to give you guys the heads up last summer, after graduation, but with everything that happened..." her voice trailed off. "He did tell Clark the date when he asked him at Christmas," she finished defensively.
Lois sighed. "Well, I'm still annoyed with him for not telling me about it in the first place."
"He didn't tell you?"
Lois shook her head. "I was as surprised as you last night."
"I knew it was coming but not when. I knew it had to be pretty soon though. Invitations are going out in a couple weeks."
"Will we at least get one of those?" Lois asked sarcastically, her smile offsetting her tone.
"Maybe. You *are* still going to be my Matron of Honor, aren't you?"
Lois smiled at her sister. "Of course."
"And I'm going to ask Clark to give me away and I know Jimmy's planning on asking him to be his Best Man, too."
"I'm sure he'd be honored," Lois told her.
"You'll never guess who's able to perform the ceremony."
"Who?"
"Perry."
"Perry?!" Lois asked, incredulous.
Lucy nodded. "He's ordained by the First Church of Blue Suede Deliverance."
"You're kidding!"
Lucy shook her head as she pulled into the parking lot of the dress shop. "He told us a couple months ago when we started looking seriously for someone to officiate."
"Let me guess, they were in Graceland?"
"Have him tell you the story sometime," she said as they walked in.
Ten minutes later, Lois was seated in the dressing area waiting for Lucy to emerge.
Lucy and Alice had been there a few weeks earlier and picked out three dresses that they liked, but Lucy had held off on making a formal decision until her sister was with her.
She emerged from the dressing area and Lois caught her breath.
"You look fabulous, Luce."
Lucy blushed slightly. "Thanks. I take it you like it?"
"You're gorgeous."
Lucy moved to the small platform in the middle of the room surrounded by mirrors. "We picked out three. Alice and I have a favorite but I don't want to tell you until I know what you think."
Lois nodded and walked slowly around her sister. "What's the most important things to you in a wedding dress?"
"Well," Lucy answered with a twinkle in her eye. "I actually can wear white so..."
Lois laughed. "You have no idea how glad I am to hear that."
"Don’t worry – we'll talk about that later," Lucy told her, not noticing the look that crossed her sister's face as she did.
"What else?"
"Something I can wear for several hours without being too uncomfortable. Something fairly simple and in my fairly modest budget. We're having a full reception. Not *too* fancy, but a buffet dinner. Dancing. I want a two piece veil, so it has to work with that. I do want a train but nothing overly long or anything like that."
Lois nodded as Lucy spoke. "Anything else?"
"Something that won't take scissors for Jimmy to get me out of in less than an hour and a half," she said, blushing as she did.
Lois smiled at her. "You could always change before you leave."
Lucy shook her head. "We've waited for this for so long. I'm his wedding present and he's mine. I want to unwrap him and he wants to do the same."
Lois wouldn't look her in the eye. "I think that's really all I need to know about that."
"Regardless, something that he can help me out of fairly easily. I don't want to spend two hours undoing buttons or something."
Lois nodded. "Well, let's see the other two."
Lucy tried on the second dress, which Lois liked as well, and finally, tried on the third.
"Well?"
"I *love* it, Luce," Lois whispered.
"Isn't it perfect?" Lucy whispered back as she stepped back up onto the platform.
The strapless dress was simple in its elegance. With a short train that could be bustled for the reception, instead of buttons or a zipper, the back laced up with white satin ribbon.
"Jimmy will love it," Lois said with a smile.
"Won't he?" Lucy's grin widened. "And it's not hard to get out of," she whispered.
Lois laughed at that. "He'll definitely love that."
"So this is it?"
Lois nodded. "This is it."
"Good. Now we can find you a matron of honor dress."
Lois groaned. "I think I'd rather have a root canal."
*****
Lucy was quiet, sitting on one of the chairs of the balcony, staring at the stars.
"Hey," Jimmy said quietly, sitting in the chair next to her, taking her hand in his own.
"Hey, yourself."
"Did you get a dress?"
She nodded. "Lois loved the same one that Alice and I did."
"That's good." He kissed her fingers. "Am I going to like it?"
She smiled at him. "It's easy to get out of."
He threw back his head and laughed. "That *is* the most important thing. I don't want to spend an hour and a half unwrapping my wedding present."
"That's exactly what I told Lois."
"I never did manage to talk to Clark today. It was almost like Perry was making sure I couldn't."
Lucy stared at the stars for a long time before answering. "There's a reason for that."
"Really?"
"Perry probably was helping him avoid you."
"Why would he do that?"
Lucy sighed. "Because of what Lois told me today."
"What's that?"
"That..." Her voice trailed off.
"What?" he finally asked her.
"Remember how we've noticed that we've never seen them kiss and stuff?"
"Yeah."
"Well, they've never..." Her voice trailed off and she didn't continue.
"They've never what?" Jimmy asked confused.
"They've never made love," she finally said, in a rush.
"What?!" he exclaimed.
She nodded. "She told me today. When my parents died, she was afraid they were going to either send us to live with Aunt Louise, who we both hated at the time, or separate us in the foster care system. Of course, we found out later they probably wouldn't have ever sent us to live with her because of her age and stuff, but we didn't know that then. She called Clark the night they died and he came to see us the next day. She told him all that and he asked her to marry him. She told him that night that she wasn't ready for a physical relationship and he promised never to push. And he hasn't. He was going to ask her on a real, official date after graduation last year, but after everything that happened..."
She took a deep breath. "They still haven't gone out. They still haven't kissed since their wedding night when they woke up making out or something. Well, I guess she kissed him in Colorado after the whole thing last year because of some deluded things that Mom or Dad or both had told her over the years growing up. She wouldn't tell me what because she didn't want to taint me and our experiences together – at least not yet, maybe someday she said. And I guess he sort of made a move on her after the whole Hurricane Gilbert thing but it was really more sleepwalking than anything."
She sighed again. "She said he's not happy about it and that he'd love nothing more than to be with her, but he's kept his promise. She said she still has flashbacks from last year and that attraction has never been the problem, but... Maybe someday, when she tells me whatever it is that Mom and Dad did or said but... For now, I just don’t understand. She says she loves him but..."
"Wow," Jimmy breathed, leaning his head back. "I guess that explains some things."
"Like why I never heard anything I shouldn't or saw anything I shouldn't or saw any condom wrappers lying around..."
"Why they didn't make out under the mistletoe..."
She nodded. She giggled suddenly.
"What?"
"I hate that their relationship is that way, but can you imagine if we had gone next door after Aunt Louise's funeral?"
Jimmy groaned. "It would have been bad enough normally but..."
She turned serious again. "It's a lot to absorb. To find something you thought to be true suddenly shifted so completely. She said that a big part of it was that they haven't had any time together – not until after graduation."
"We'd talked about that. About how hard it must be on them."
"Still... I never would have guessed. And it makes more sense about how or why she believed he was sleeping with Mayson. That's one thing that's bugged me since she told me she believed it before they left last year. How she could still be with him like that if she believed he was cheating on her. And for two years."
He nodded. "I never thought about it like that but... It would be hard for her to pretend like everything was fine when she thought he was cheating on her, but for her to have sex with someone she thought was cheating on her just to make sure he doesn't leave so she can keep custody of you..."
"I guess she wasn't." She shifted in her seat to look more fully at him. "But it wasn't like they were successfully pretending everything was fine. I mean, as far as Clark knew, it sounds like it was just a time together thing more than anything else. I think it probably bothered him – a lot – maybe, but if we really look at the time we did see them spend together... Everything wasn't fine," she finished quietly.
"Because they weren't all over each other?"
She shook her head. "Remember the baseball game? I thought they were acting strange – almost like they were avoiding each other or something. I thought maybe they'd had a fight or something, but I'd never seen them fight or argue or anything like that. The more I think about it, the more I realize I never really saw them together at all."
"Me either."
Lucy shifted back into her seat. "But anyway, that's why Perry was running interference today. It took me like two and a half hours to drag that much out of her. She did say that things have gotten better the last six months or so and that they're more affectionate with each other but mainly, she suggested I talk to Alice. I'm guessing they'd suggest you talk to Perry."
"I guess so. I do still want to talk to him though. Just not the talk I originally planned, I guess."
"I guess."
He stood and tugged on her hand, pulling her into his arms. "Hey, even if we decide we don't want to talk to Perry and Alice or whatever, we'll figure it out together. I love you and I want to be with you and you love me and you want to be with me. Even if we do talk to them, we'll have to figure out what works for us. What we like, what we don't like, all those kinds of things. We'll figure it out together."
"I know. It makes me sad for them though. Something that's supposed to be so wonderful..."
"I won't be like that for us," he whispered.
"I know." She looked up at him and kissed him lightly. "I love you, James Olsen."
"And I love you, Lucy Lane."
"Seventy days."
"Seventy days, Babe." He grinned. "And you'll be my wife."
She smiled back. "I can't wait."
*****
May 1989
*****
"I can't believe how fast time has flown by," Lois said as they walked through the mall.
"Speak for yourself," her sister said. "In some ways, it's flown but in others... Let's just say there's a time or two Jimmy and I wished we hadn't promised we'd wait until Saturday. And there's a reason the wedding's at three and the reception at five."
Lois groaned. "That's more than I needed to know." She looked around. "What are we shopping for exactly?"
"Well, I need a couple new dresses and a couple new swimsuits."
"What's wrong with your swimsuits?"
Lucy shrugged. "Nothing, but you guys said we're going somewhere fairly remote and private and I want a swimsuit or two I can wear in front of my husband."
"Ah," Lois said, understanding dawning on her. "One of those skimpy ones we didn't look at last year."
"Yep."
"So it's back to Scardino Swim and Ski, huh?"
Lucy nodded. "If that's okay with you."
"Fine with me. I really don't need any new ones though so wherever you want to go is fine."
"Then let's go. I saw one in the window the other day that I thought was perfect."
*****
They sipped smoothies as they walked towards the car.
"I still cannot believe you thought that was an acceptable swimsuit," Lois said, shaking her head.
Lucy giggled. "I'm only planning on wearing it where only Jimmy can see."
"Still... I don't think I'll tell Clark that was on the shopping list."
Her sister groaned. "Please don't. He might decide to strand us on separate desert islands until we're fifty."
"Where to next?"
"The apartment. Lisa and Jessica moved out last weekend and Jimmy and Clark are moving his stuff in Thursday. Having Clark around to help with that will be really nice, but they're supposed to deliver our new bed this afternoon."
Lois raised an eyebrow at that.
"What? You think we're going to use my little single bed or that double bunk bed contraption? Lisa and Jessica took that to their new apartment. And, I know you and Clark are still on your world tour and all and said that we could have whatever furniture we wanted while you're gone, but we decided to draw the line at your bed." She took a long sip from her straw. "Besides, Jimmy's mom is feeling all guilty about not being around much or helping pay for the wedding and bought us a really nice new bed."
"I see."
Lucy rolled her eyes. "You'd rather I still slept in the loft and Jimmy slept at his mom's house or something after we get married, wouldn't you?"
"So what if I'm not sure I like the idea of my little sister and a guy – even one as great as Jimmy – doing... you know." She made a vague motion with her hand as she waited for Lucy to unlock the car.
Lucy waited until the doors were shut and she'd pulled out of the parking spot to speak again. "You know what, Lois?" she whispered conspiratorially.
"What?"
"Saturday night..."
"What about it?"
"Jimmy's going to see me naked."
Lois groaned.
"And I'm going to see him." Lucy sighed. "Can't you just be happy for us?"
"I am, Lucy, I promise. The whole topic makes me uncomfortable and I'm glad that you guys are going to have what we don't, but at the same time... I don't want details."
"Well, even if we didn't tell anyone we're planning on making love on Saturday, everyone would know it anyway. That's what people do on wedding nights."
"Most people anyway," Lois sighed, almost under her breath, a tear sliding suddenly down her cheek.
Lucy reached out a hand and squeezed her sister's arm, but didn't say a word.
She didn't know what to say.
*****
"Let's go over the schedule for tomorrow and then I have a something for you." Lois sat on the couch with a diet soda in her hand. "Tomorrow morning, we're getting a massage at nine. That's the first thing on the agenda. We're meeting Alice and Cat back here after that. Cat's going to do hair and make-up for us. We'll eat lunch around eleven thirty. Finish hair and make-up, get dressed – that actually shouldn't take too long – and the limo gets here at 12:45 to take us to the church for pictures. Clark and Jimmy will meet us there, but you won't see Jimmy until the wedding. Wedding is at three. Reception is at five. The limo will take all six of us over there. Limo leaves for the Lexor whenever you two want it to, but..." Her eyes twinkled. "...please at least wait until we're all the way out before slamming the door shut and taking off."
Lucy laughed nervously. "We're not going to skip out on the reception. I promise. We may not stay very long once everything is done that's supposed to be and we've chatted with the guests a bit, but we'll be there at least through the dollar dance. Believe me."
Lois laughed with her. "Staying through the dollar dance is definitely a good plan. You guys can use the cash."
"Are we going somewhere expensive?" Lucy asked.
"I told you the honeymoon's all taken care of."
"I know, but are we going to be spending twenty bucks or more for every meal?"
"When I said it's all taken care of, I meant it."
"Okay."
"Did you pack that swimsuit?"
Lucy giggled. "Will there be somewhere I can wear it?"
Lois laughed with her. "Yes. And that's all I'm telling you."
"Okay." Lucy moved to sit sideways on the couch, legs crossed in front of her. "So what did you get me?"
Lois went to get something out of her suitcase and brought it back.
Lucy opened the wrapping paper and then the box before she gasped. "Lois, it's beautiful." She held the black satin gown up by the delicate spaghetti straps.
Lois smiled. "I know you don't plan on needing it for your wedding night so I didn't get white, but maybe some other time..."
"It's perfect, Lo." Lucy leaned over and hugged her sister tight for a long moment. "I'm going to go get ready for bed. I love you, Lois."
"I love you, too."
Ten minutes later, Lucy found Lois sitting on her bed in the loft. "What are you doing up here?"
"Why are you sleeping up here instead of on the nice, big new bed?"
Lucy blushed. "We agreed neither one of us would use it for anything until after we got married."
"So where am I sleeping then?"
Lucy bit her lip. "I guess you can use it. That's not one of us. I guess I didn't really think that through," she said apologetically.
Lois shook her head. "I'm not using your brand new bed before you do. I'll sleep on the couch."
"Are you sure?"
Lois nodded. "I've missed that couch, believe it or not."
Lucy pulled the covers back and slipped in between the sheets, but Lois made no move to leave.
"There is one more thing."
"What's that?"
"Scoot over a bit."
Lucy obliged and Lois sat against her headboard. Lucy rested her head on her pillow and Lois gently stroked her sister's hair.
"Once upon a time, in a land not so very far away, there were two very lonely little girls," she started.
A tear slipped down Lucy's cheek.
"They had a mom and a dad, but their mom was always drinking until she was drunk and their dad... Well, he had lots of other friends that he would rather spend time with." Lois smiled at her sister as a tear ran down her own cheek. "The two sisters had each other. They were only about nineteen months apart, but sometimes it seemed like so much more than that. The older sister would often tuck her little sister in at night and make up stories to tell her about magical lands far away where the sisters were fairy princesses and the fairy princes came and swept them off their feet and they lived happily ever after."
Lois wiped at her cheek with her free hand. "For a long time, the older sister didn't believe in 'happily ever after', but the younger sister never gave up on it. One day, when they were teenagers, their parents were killed in a car accident. A few days later, the older sister married an old friend to keep them out of foster care. She wanted more than anything for her little sister to be spared the additional trauma of bouncing from place to place after the lives they'd already had.
"The sister and her new husband did get custody and the younger sister lived with them until she graduated high school and they left to explore the world. But at some point, the younger sister met Prince Charming. Prince Jimmy Charming."
Lucy let out a little laugh through the tears.
"Prince Jimmy Charming rescued the younger sister and protected her on their first date. He protected her from many things and then one day about three years later, he asked her to be his wife. And now they were getting married. The older sister had grown cynical over the years. She still didn't believe in the happy endings she'd given to all of the stories she'd told growing up. Her own husband, Prince Clark, believed in them and worked hard to make sure that someday she would again, too, but it was going to take a long time. And so when Prince Jimmy proposed, the older sister felt a moment of sadness. She didn't want her little sister to get hurt, but over the years, Prince Jimmy had proven over and over how much he loved the younger sister. The older sister still had a hard time believing."
Lois wiped her cheeks again. "But then, at the rehearsal dinner, the older sister saw the younger sister and her groom dancing at the restaurant and suddenly she knew. Happy endings do exist and they exist for the little sister. Tomorrow Princess Lucy will marry her Prince Jimmy Charming and live happily ever after. The older sister knows this now and is so happy that Princess Lucy has found the other half of herself. Someday, the older sister knows that she'll love Prince Clark like Princess Lucy and Prince Jimmy love each other and like Prince Clark loves her, but for now, she's happy knowing how much her little sister loves the man who's going to be her husband. Who is going to take care of her, have children with her, grow old with her. Princess Lucy and Prince Jimmy were going to live happily ever after, the older sister is sure of it."
Lois paused, before standing and bending down to kiss her sister's head softly. "I love you, Lucy, and I'm so proud of both of you. I'm so glad you've gotten your happy ending. Sleep tight," she whispered. "Tomorrow you marry your prince."
*****
TBC
Lucy\'s Dress
