[Edit: the final version has been sent to the archive - I've added about 12xxx words to the archive version - that's about 5 chapters worth - there's three whole new chapters, plus a couple of words here and there as well as a couple hundred words here and there. Thanks for even being interested 
][additional note: Am nervous about posting this. Not in the 'is this any good' sense, because I think it is [and so do my betas and the people who've seen snippets] but in the 'I'm putting my baby out there for others to see and critique' sense. And the 'since I have four betas have I already reached my full audience potential? Except for Queenie who promised to read?' sense. You know that first post of something you've agonized over nervous. So FDK is encouraged, but be gentle
.]
Title: On The Other Hand
Author: CarolM
Rated: PG-13 [most likely, certainly not more than that]
Description: Metropolis University freshmen Lois Lane and Clark Kent are destined to meet, but are they destined to fall in love? And what will Lana and Joe have to say about that? Set in the early twenty-first century, will they end up together or will Utopia have to find another way?
[and that description hasn't been vetted yet
]
A few notes:
Thanks – as ALWAYS – to my *fabulous* betas: Alisha, Beth, Nancy and CarolynK. They put in hours of hard work [or something like that
] helping me brainstorm this fic. Carolyn, in particular, put her legal knowledge to work on my behalf and Nancy's world travels also came in very handy when I spent hours upon hours deciding which type of plane the flights were on to make the seating work best for me. Alisha and Beth plotted and cajoled and encouraged in chat more times than I can begin to recall. You ladies ROCK!
A couple... warnings may not be quite right, but informational tidbits perhaps.
One of the definitions M-W.com has for saga is 'a long detailed account'. This is one of those. It covers several years, in great detail in places, less detail in others. And it's long.
Most people have traumatic events in their lives over the course of several years and Lois and Clark are more likely than most to have trauma in their lives [and if you don't think so, just look at what happed between 'Just Say Noah' when they got back together and the end of 'Swear to God...'/beginning of 'Brutal Youth' when they finally made it to their wedding night]. So there is some trauma here. Some is based in things that happened in the past, some happens here. Some is explicit, some is implied. Some is blown out of proportion by characters, some is practically repressed. It's all part of life. Especially life with Lane and Kent. Er, and explicit there means that it's spelled out and you see it and all that rather than something 'behind the scenes' or 'off camera', not like *explicit* in an N sense
.
But I always put my toys back where they belong, or where they started anyway
. I like to make them happy. Of course, what makes them happy doesn't always make me happy, but that's a different issue all together.
Two chapters of this fic will also be available as the stand-alone fic [insert title later
].
This story is told in first person, something new for me, from the perspectives of Lois and Clark. Most chapters have more than one POV in them, but the first two and a couple later have only one. The first 2.5 chapters or so were originally written in third person. I think we've managed to cull out all that nasty stuff, but if you notice anything, I'd certainly appreciate a heads up.
POV changes are found between two sets of ~~~~~.
Month and year is noted where appropriate.
Posting schedule: For now, every 36-48 hours or so. Chapters are, generally speaking, between 2500-3000 words, though some may be outside those parameters but not by much. Once it's done or nearly so, I'll probably post two chapters at a time every 36-48 hours or it'll be eight hundred years before I'm done
. It's not done yet, but it is plotted. The end is written [but always subject to change] and I have quite a bit of buffer at this point. The goal is to have this done by Oct. 31 so the sequel can be this year's NaNo. That shouldn't be an issue.
And so, without further ado...
On The Other Hand*~*1*~*
August 2003
~~~~~
Clark
~~~~~
"Can you believe it, Clark? We're finally here!" Lana spun in a circle – arms spread wide – after we stepped out of the truck.
"Yep. Metropolis University." I looked around before moving towards the other side of the truck. "We're sure not in Kansas anymore."
Lana giggled as I came to a stop behind her and wrapped my arms around her waist. "Of course not, silly. That's the whole point of being here. Neither one of us wanted to stay in Kansas."
"Well, now, you know I wouldn't have minded going to Midwest, but I wanted to be where you are and Met U *does* have a good journalism program so here I am."
Lana turned in my arms so that she could face me. Her hands rested on my biceps until she slid them up to play with the hair on the back of my neck. "I'm glad you came with me."
I smiled at her. "I am too." Her lips looked so shiny and I just had to see what kind of lip gloss she had used last. I lowered my lips to hers and kissed her. Being in public kept the kiss unfortunately short and relatively chaste, but was more than enough to taste her lips. "Mmmm... Raspberry," I grinned.
Lana smiled back at me. "I know how much you like raspberries." She patted me lightly on the chest. "We better get moving if we're going to make it to the dorms anytime today." She stepped out of the circle of my embrace, linking her fingers with mine as we headed across campus, following the signs to the Lane Athletic Center where registration was being held. "I still can't believe our parents let us come all this way by ourselves. I mean we're both eighteen but... they're so old fashioned."
"I know. They mean well and if we hadn't spent the first night with Aunt Opal in St. Louis and last night with your uncle in Pennsylvania, they probably wouldn't have let us." I let go of her hand and wrapped my arm around her shoulders, pulling her close to me. "They probably still wouldn't have if they'd known you'd want to use every truck stop between here and Smallville as our own personal make-out spot."
Lana smacked me lightly. "Hey! I only wanted to use half of them. The other half were all you, Mr. Kent."
I laughed then kissed the side of her head. "Just don't tell your dad, okay?"
"No problem. He'd probably fly right out here to defend my honor."
"Your honor? What about my honor?" I held my hand to my heart and pretended to swoon.
Lana looked me up and down, a look of what could only be described as appreciation in her eyes. "It may need defending as well before too long." I groaned as she continued. "As long as these city girls keep their hands off, you'll be okay."
"What about defending me from you?"
Lana grinned wickedly. "Who said anything about defending you from me, Kent?"
I groaned again, but my retort was stopped by the crowd of people in front of us. "I think we're here."
Lana sighed. "Well, I'm off to the 'L' line."
I looked at it. "It's shorter than mine. It's still going to take us hours to get through here though." We watched as the brunette at the front of the 'L' line walked off in a huff. "One down, two thousand to go."
"Now, Clark, it's not that bad. The faster we get done here, the faster we can go unload the truck and get something to eat." She gave me a quick kiss before moving to get in her line. "Now scoot."
"Yes, ma'am," I said with a wink and a mock salute. "See you in a bit." I gave her another kiss and then moved over to the 'K' line. This was going to be a long afternoon.
*****
I pulled my old truck up in front of the Weller Hall and waited for an opening. There. The Jeep Cherokee was moving. I pulled in to the spot it vacated and hopped out. Lana had finished before me and had said she was going to walk over here and try to check-in and get at least one key. I wasn't sure if she'd had time yet or not.
She hurried out to meet me. "Clark! Over here."
I walked towards her, but she held up her hands to stop me, so I waited for her to work her way over.
"I got a key to our suite. You'll have to check in too, but as long as we can get in, you don't need to yet."
I frowned slightly. "Are you sure that's okay? Will we be able to get into my room or just yours and the suite?"
Lana ran a hand up my arm. "What if we can convince our roommates to let you stay in my room?"
I rolled my eyes at her. "Our parents would flip."
She sighed. "I know. But it was worth a shot." She turned. "And yeah, we can get into all of it. They said that was fine as long as you checked in later tonight. Let's see if we can get a cart to load some of this on."
An hour later, we had moved all of the boxes and bags into the main room of our suite.
I sighed as I looked at the pile. It was going to be a long night and I couldn't speed through it – not here. "Let me move a couple of boxes into your room so you can get started and then I'm going to go move the truck so someone else can get in and then I'll come help you with all this." I picked a couple of boxes labeled 'Lana' and moved them into the still empty room she would share with another girl.
I set them on one of the desks and was stopped by arms wrapped around my waist. I turned easily in them until I could look in her beautiful blue eyes. "I'm not going to get anywhere like this." My arms slid around her showed that I didn't really want to leave.
"I know," she said, a husky tone to her voice. "Alone at last and probably not for long."
I groaned as she kissed me. Strawberry this time. How many different lip glosses did she have? By my count – which admittedly might have been a bit muddled by the intensifying kiss – this was the 6th or 7th one since we left Smallville. I moved my hands to her hips and used gentle pressure moved her farther away from me, as I pulled my head back from hers. Even I needed a minute to catch my breath. "As nice as this is, honey, I think we have other stuff we need to get doing."
"Spoilsport." She kissed me again, quickly this time.
"I liked the strawberry, though."
"You like them more than raspberries."
"I do."
She patted my chest. "Remember those words, Kent. You're going to need them."
I pulled her back into my arms for a hug, then kissed the top of her head. "You bet I am."
*****
Several hours later, I lay in my bed. My roommate had been and gone before I'd even arrived and had taken the top bunk. I wasn't very happy about that but there was nothing I could do about it at the moment. Maybe I could convince my roommate to trade with me. If I hadn't gotten hopelessly lost once we neared Metropolis, I might well have been there early enough to claim it. Lana had offered to share her top bunk with me, but I'd known she'd only been half serious about it. She would have let me if I'd really wanted to, but that was taking things way too fast for both of us, besides the fact that she had a roommate to deal with.
The last three days had been nice; spending time alone with Lana. We'd never spent that much time together and it was nice to know we could without killing each other. We'd left two days before in the middle of the afternoon. The trip to St. Louis was only about six hours and we were at my Aunt Opal's house by nine or so. We hadn't really stopped at *every* truck stop on the way to Metropolis to make out, but every time we'd stopped... well, we could never linger too long because our parents were expecting phone calls when we arrived and knew how long it should take. I would, however, under extreme duress, admit to pushing the speed limit a bit more than strictly necessary in between stops. The truck stop in Independence, Missouri had been cotton candy, I remembered.
We'd spent the night in Foristell, Missouri, just outside St. Louis. I'd slept on the couch, but Lana had snuck down to 'get a drink of water', she'd said, though why she'd need fresh watermelon lip gloss to do that, I'd never know. I grinned to myself at the memory. We'd left early the next morning for Carlisle, Pennsylvania where her Uncle Henry lived. That was closer to a fourteen hour drive. The truck stop in Terra Haute, Indiana had been pink lemonade and Zanesville, Ohio had been marshmallow and had looked kinda shimmery. We'd left Foristell early and arrived at her uncle's house about nine in the evening. I'd slept on the couch again, but her Aunt Jane was a light sleeper and their room was between Lana's and the stairs, so she hadn't been able to 'get a drink of water' that night.
That morning, we'd gotten gas in Carlisle before heading out. Bubble gum. Carlisle to Metropolis University should have taken about four hours, but the unfamiliar streets and highways and even traffic had made it into a six hour, extremely frustrating drive full of muttered expletives that would have made my mother wash my mouth out with soap. But she'd never tried to drive in Metropolis, I was sure. I'd have to watch that. Lana hadn't been crazy about it either, but since she was the one who left the map on top of the car so it could blow away, she didn't say anything.
I missed my parents though. Part of me wished this could have been a family trip – though how all three of us would have fit in my truck and been remotely comfortable was beyond me. And Lana's parents couldn't come either so that would have been difficult too. But, my dad's back surgery had only been a couple months earlier and, while he was doing well, a cross country road trip was out of the question. My mom couldn't afford to be gone that long either. Lana's dad had a town meeting tonight and since he was mayor and they were talking salaries, he had to be there. Lana's mom didn't go anywhere without Lana's dad.
And so we'd been allowed to travel across the country by ourselves. I wasn't quite sure what to make of Met U just yet, but one thing was sure, there was no way it was going to be boring.
*****
I woke at precisely 6:30 a.m. That was 4:30 in Smallville, but it was a big day and I had to be up and around early – Metropolis time. Four-thirty in the morning wasn't completely out of the ordinary on a farm, but I preferred to sleep a bit later most of the time.
I could hear my roommate breathing in the bed above me. I moved quietly, pulling a pair of shorts on over my boxers and grabbing a shirt, socks and a pair of shoes as I went. I scribbled a note and taped it to the door, exiting into the living area.
Lana was sitting on the couch with a cup of black coffee in her hand.
"Hey," I said quietly.
She glared at me. "How come you're always so chipper in the morning?"
I stood behind her on the couch and gave her a quick upside down kiss. "It's the best time of day. Anything's possible first thing in the morning."
She grunted a response.
I laughed. "It won't be so bad once we get adjusted to the new time zone."
"I hope not."
"How's your roommate?"
Lana shrugged. "Fine, I guess. She got in late last night after I was in bed. You?"
"Came in after I was asleep. Still sleeping now. I tried to be quiet when I left."
"Boy scout."
"You love it," I grinned.
"Yeah, I guess." She yawned and stretched. "Okay, Kent, let's figure this place out."
*****
Lana and I managed to duck out of orientation a few minutes early. We were sitting near a door on the side of the auditorium and decided that leaving ten minutes before orientation ended would give us a twenty minute head start on our suitemates – maybe even more, depending on where in the mass exodus they would get caught.
We'd spent the morning finding our way around campus – finding buildings and even some classrooms. Lana wondered idly who the Lane family was and why they were so all-fired important that half the campus was named after them. I reminded her that one of the reasons we weren't at Midwest was because she'd qualified for the Lucy Lane Memorial Scholarship. She grudgingly admitted she was grateful for that because Midwest was just too close to Smallville.
We made record time – at least for us, we had no idea how long it should actually take for someone to get from place to place on campus – in getting from the auditorium back to Weller Hall. The plan had been for a bit of a make-out session because we figured we might actually meet our roommates in a little while and, if we spent time together as suitemates that evening, making out wasn't going to happen.
And so we'd been kissing on the couch and things were just starting to heat up when we heard a noise in Lana's room.
"Damn, she made it here fast," I muttered.
"Clark! Watch your mouth!"
"Sorry, Baby." I grinned at her. "I was just hoping for a little more time with you before we got interrupted by roommates."
"I know." She kissed me swiftly. "But we have all year."
"I know." I sighed and stood up. "I'm going to take a quick shower since I didn't get one this morning." I leaned over to kiss her one more time then headed to the shared bathroom. I stopped and went to my room and grabbed a few things and then winked at her as I started to close the bathroom door behind me. "I liked the pina colada, by the way."
Lana giggled. This was going to be some school year.
*****
I sighed. There just wasn't much room in the bathroom for getting dressed. I'd showered and toweled off, but space, apparently, was at a premium in Weller Hall. I glanced through the wall to make sure there was no one in the common sitting area. Giggles were coming from Lana's room so I figured it was safe to run the gauntlet to my own room. I turned my eyes that direction. Nope. No roommate yet.
I grabbed my clothes – old and new – and headed to my room. I was just getting ready to drop the towel and pull on a pair of boxers when I heard the key in the lock. Best wait on that, I decided. Sure, guys generally had a locker room mentality but I hadn't even met my roommate yet. In the buff probably wasn't the best way to do it and who knew if anyone else was there or walking by in the hallway?
Well, here went nothing.
*****
TBC
[Bonus points to anyone who gets the Easter eggs]
