Thanks again - as always - to my fabulous betas!
Am going to the new posting schedule because I would like to get it done this century
. Okay, that might be pushing it but... It is a bit on the long side. I'm going to post 2 chapters EOE [that's Every Other Evening not Equal Opportunity Employer] probably between 6-10 ET depending on the evening.
Notes:
Madame Medusa is from 'The Rescuers'.
Fred Garner is the fictional President Garner from the show. He was never given a first name but the actor's first name is Fred so... In reality, Bill Clinton was the second president who was impeached.
Last time:
ClarkI held out my hand and Linda took it. "Nice to meet you, Linda."
I didn't really like the way she looked me up and down as much as she could since I was sitting, but I realized I'd done the same thing to Lois – not something I would normally do, but I was being kind of a jerk at the time. I hoped I hadn't made her as uncomfortable as Linda was making me.
"You know," she said. "I went to high school with Lois."
"Really?" I said. My first impressions were usually pretty good – and had been since I was little, my mom told me – and my first impression of Lois, claws towards Lana notwithstanding, was much better than my impression of Linda who seemed to be regarding me as a piece of meat. It wasn't the first time a girl had looked at me like that and Lana usually got very possessive, but she didn't seem to notice this time.
"Yeah. I wouldn't recommend letting her stay your roommate. If I were you, I'd let the housing people know as soon as you can," she advised.
That sort of set me on edge a bit. "I'll take that under advisement," I told her. "But usually I like to make my own mind up about people."
"Well, don't say I didn't warn you," she said with a shake of her head.
I still wasn't sure what I'd been warned about, but one thing was sure – I was going to keep as much distance between myself and Linda as I could.*~*4*~*
~~~~~
Lois
~~~~~
When he'd called, I'd told Joe that I didn't feel well, which was the God's honest truth. Clark did seem like a nice enough guy once he put some clothes on. Before that, he'd been kind of a jerk, but he had apologized. And then, he'd thrown my attitude back in my face without being mean or anything like that. He'd make a much better verbal sparring partner than Joe ever did.
I was lying on my stomach on my bunk reading the day's edition of the Daily Planet when Clark got back from wherever it was he'd gone with Cruella and Madame Medusa. I hadn't decided who was who yet. One would skin puppies and the other was cruel to little orphan girls and then sicced her crocodiles on them. Or were they alligators? Eh. It didn't really matter – they were both sick and twisted, just like Lana and Linda.
I barely glanced at him as he walked in. "So, did the Ice Princess forbid you from sharing a room with me?"
He sighed. I really shouldn't push him if I wanted this semester to go smoothly and hope that he wouldn't report this to the housing people.
I folded the paper and sighed as I sat up. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that. Linda just rubs me the wrong way and the idea that I'm going to be sharing a suite with her for the next year has been irritating me all night."
"For what it's worth, she doesn't seem to like you either."
I snorted. Gee, that was ladylike. "That's not surprising. She's hated me ever since I told our history teacher she was cheating off of me. And the same day that Paul, our editor at the paper, asked me to Homecoming instead of her. She didn't care that I turned him down because he was a creep."
"*Was* she cheating off of you?" he asked with a raised brow.
"I wouldn't have turned her in if she wasn’t. She wouldn't know John Adams from John Kennedy if her life depended on it. She said something once about Henry Ford and Ben Franklin being presidents."
"That's pretty bad, but Lana made the Henry Ford slip once too. It's probably not that uncommon – right last name and all. And Ben Franklin *was* one of the Founding Fathers," he pointed out – just to irritate me, I was sure.
"She also said John Lennon invented Communism and Nixon was impeached."
Clark grimaced. "Well, probably 75% of the American population believes Nixon was impeached."
"But he wasn't," I pointed out. "Andrew Johnson and Fred Garner *were*."
"You made your point. She has good reason to dislike you, even if she was wrong to start with. And you have good reason to dislike her."
"Who are you? Jimmy Carter? Don't bother trying to negotiate a peace treaty between us."
"I won't."
I sighed and leaned my head back against the wall. If I had to be roomed with a guy, at least he was intelligent enough to hold his own with me. Part of me wished he wasn't nearly as good looking, but Adonis had nothing on this guy. I didn't know if I'd ever get the sight of him in a towel out of my mind. I'd never seen Joe in a towel, but I knew he didn't look like that.
"So, ground rules," I started. "No walking around in towels or otherwise undressed." There. That should take care of that – I wouldn’t be seeing that again. And that was good. Really it was. Why again? Just because I was going out with Joe didn't mean I couldn’t appreciate a well-built guy, right?
"Sounds good. What else?"
"Lights out at ten."
He raised a brow. "Ten?"
"Ten-thirty. You want to study later than that, go to the other room."
He nodded. "No alarms before six-thirty except for special events of some kind."
"Not a problem."
"And no girlie stuff lying around." He waved an arm vaguely towards the room. "No froofroo pillows or anything."
I raised an eyebrow. He could see my very not girlie navy blue comforter set. Did he really think I was going to be hanging lace curtains? "You might want to mention that to Lana before you get hitched, Farmboy." I'd peaked in their room and it looked like a cotton candy machine had thrown up all over the place. That I'd picked the lock wasn't the point. I needed the practice.
He glared at me. "None of your business, Lane."
I rolled my eyes back. "No leaving your stinky sweat socks all over the place."
He countered with, "No loud music."
"No girlfriends spending the night in your bed," I countered back.
"No boyfriends spending the night in *your* bed," he was quick to reply.
"Not that it's any of your business, but it won't be a problem," I assured him.
"For me either."
I wasn't sure I believed that. "Fine. Sleep in her bunk if you must, but not in here."
He smirked. "Don't worry about it."
"Do we need a 'keep out' system?"
"A what?"
"Well, a do not disturb sign might be a bit obvious, don't you think?"
"I guess."
I knew Joe and I weren't going to need any system, but I really didn't need to walk in on him and Cruella going at it. "Innocuous note on the outside white boards."
"Like what?"
"I don't know." I might do it every once in a while just because I could.
"So, for the sake of discussion, Lana and I wanted some privacy for some reason..."
For some reason? Surely they taught the birds and the bees on the farm.
"...I'd write 'Call Mom' on the white boards on the outside of both doors."
"That won't work."
"Why not?"
I glared at him. "My mom's dead, Rainman."
His face changed and he actually looked a bit sympathetic. "Right. Sorry. How about 'Call Dad'?"
I shrugged. "That works. Real phone messages go on the inside white board and all phone messages get written down and delivered. No exceptions."
He raised a brow. "You think I won't deliver your messages?"
"I think you might be a little too involved in determining what kind of lip gloss Ellie Mae is wearing to remember to write it down."
He started. Just a bit. I was right. I'd seen three different kinds in the bathroom and I knew that wasn't Linda's style so they must have been Lana's. It was disgusting on more levels than I knew what to do with.
"Do you call everyone names?" he asked.
"Only the people I like," I said sweetly. Too sweetly I knew. "Sorry. It's been a rough couple of days and I had a fight with Joe."
"Just Joe? He doesn't get a nickname?"
"Eh. Sometimes he's Elway, or even Farve, when he ticks me off."
"Why Elway?"
"Joe's a quarterback, but he prefers Steve Young. He's really not a Broncos or Packers fan."
"So the boyfriend is a jock, huh?"
"At least he knows the difference between the car guy and the former president. And I'm sure you've never picked up a football in your life." I stared at him. He had to be a jock so making fun of Joe – even if I wasn't particularly fond of him at the moment – wasn't really nice of him.
"I have. I played football, basketball and baseball in high school, but I'm here on an academic scholarship."
"Whatever." I sighed.
"So, Lana and Linda get nicknames – and I'm guessing you had a couple others you won't say out loud too; like the wicked stepsisters from Cinderella or something. I've gotten a couple nicknames already and Joe gets called Elway or Farve every once in a while. What gives?"
"He's nice to me." That wasn't the real reason.
"I don't buy it."
"It wasn't for sale."
A puzzled look crossed his face for a second. "I still don't buy it – for sale or not."
"Fine. Generally, I only give nicknames to people who stir up strong emotions - when they stir up those emotions – or who catch me when my emotions are already stirred up."
"And your boyfriend doesn't stir up strong emotions in you?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.
I sighed. "Not really. He's not Mr. Right. I've known that for two years and he knows that I'm not about to get serious with him. He wants someone to make out with on Friday nights and I don't really want to sit at home. That's about it."
"So you make out with him just to get out of the house?"
This guy was too intuitive for my own good. "He's not a bad kisser. He doesn't push my limits and if either one of us found someone else, it wouldn't be a big deal at all."
"I see." He looked at me contemplatively. "Well, I hope that you find someone who stirs up those emotions in you. Someone who loves you for you – nicknames and all."
I shrugged. "If that kind of love exists, maybe I'll find it, but if not that's okay too. I have a career ladder to climb anyway."
"What? No family?"
"I dunno. Maybe. Someday. Not till after the first Pulitzer I win for some big expose in the Daily Planet."
"Wow, you aim high, don't you?"
"So what if I do?"
"There's nothing wrong with that." He shrugged. "Go for it. If anyone can do it, you can."
He was right. If anyone could do it, I could.
~~~~~
Clark
~~~~~
It was a several hours later before I could sneak away. I'd called my folks – just a casual call to see what they were up to, to say hi and I missed them – and ascertained that they were getting ready to turn in for the night and I knew that, if I was going, I better get there before they did that. Knowing my folks, they were taking full advantage of me moving out. I shuddered, while at the same time hoping that Lana and I were still like that when we'd been married as long as they had.
I found a deserted part of campus and took off as fast as I could, finding myself in Kansas mere minutes later. I turned my hearing on and heard only Mom and Dad talking about their plans for the next day, so landed quickly and knocked on the door. Mom answered it a minute later.
"Clark! What are you doing here? Is everything okay?" She pulled me inside quickly, glancing around nervously before shutting the door.
I thought it was kind of funny; the closest house was nearly two miles away after all and it wasn't like they got many unexpected visitors this time of night.
She didn't appreciate my smirk.
"Clark Kent, what are you doing here?"
I shrugged. "I needed to talk to you guys and I wanted to do it in person. It's nothing too serious or anything, but I need some advice and I didn't really want to do it over the phone."
"Well, come on in and sit down. Do you want a drink?" she asked.
I shook my head. "I'm fine, thanks, Mom." I pulled her into a big hug. "I've missed you."
She put her arms around me and hugged back. "I've missed you, too, son, but it hasn't even been a week. And we did talk to you fifteen minutes ago." She kept her arms around me – a sure sign that she'd missed me – and looked up at me. "Why did we talk to you fifteen minutes ago if you were planning on coming here?"
I knew my face was as red as one of her tomatoes. "I knew I was coming, I just wanted to make sure you guys were home and not... busy."
She laughed. "Well, I'm sure your dad's wondering who's here."
I kept my arm around her as we walked to the kitchen. I knew Lana wouldn't understand how much I missed her – and Dad, too – but I had. Lana also didn't understand wanting advice from my parents either. She rarely asked hers about anything. As far as I knew, her mom had never had *the* talk with her, and I *knew* her dad hadn't. Thank goodness for health class or something. Me, on the other hand, my parents had always been honest with me. I knew far more about their love life than I would have preferred but a big part of that was because I hadn't told them right away when I started hearing and seeing things I shouldn't. I knew they'd been a lot more careful once I had told them about it – at least until I'd gotten the strange powers under control. They had both, however, talked to me about that kind of stuff, but I knew Lana's parents hadn't. I guess it was part of the close relationship with my parents that she just didn't understand because she didn't have it with hers. I hoped that someday she'd have that kind of relationship with my mom.
"Look who's here, Jonathan."
Dad looked up from the jigsaw puzzle sitting on the table. So that's what they'd been doing when I called; I hadn't been able to figure it out from the background noise. "Clark, what're you doing here?"
Mom hated it when I turned the chairs around to straddle them, but I did it anyway. "There's something I need to talk to you guys about and I'm not sure what to do."
"Lana's not pregnant, is she?" Dad asked furiously.
"What?! Dad! No!" I shook my head emphatically. "We aren't even... you know. Trust me. Lana *cannot* be pregnant!"
Dad breathed a sigh of relief. "That's good to know."
"Besides, even if we were, you guys raised me to be a lot more careful than that," I pointed out, not really wanting to make this a conversation about my lack of sex life. "That's *not* why I'm here."
"Then why are you here?" Mom asked from the counter where she was pouring herself another cup of coffee – decaf at this time of night, I was sure.
"Remember I told you I hadn't met my roommate yet?"
They nodded.
"And how unhappy you were to find out that they'd put me and Lana in the same suite?"
Mom's eyes darkened and Dad's jaw set as they nodded. Maybe it would have been a lot smarter to not request the same suite, but it was too late now.
"Well, there was a paperwork mix up."
"Is Lana your roommate?" Dad wasn't very good at hiding it when he was starting to get mad.
"No!" I shook my head. "Will you let me talk and stop jumping to conclusions?"
"He's right, Jonathan." Mom took a deep breath and I knew she wasn't as calm as she projected. She was worried about what I was about to say, too.
"Lana's not my roommate, *but*..." I paused wondering how they were going to take this. "...my roommate is a girl."
"How on earth..." Dad started but Mom put her hand on his and he stopped.
"There was a paperwork mix-up in registration. Her name is Lois, but someone stuck a 'u' in there and made her Louis and had her down as a male, which she obviously isn't, but there aren't any empty rooms on campus and even though she's from the Metropolis area, she says she can't move home." I blurted it all out and then took a deep breath, waiting for their reactions.
There was nothing for a minute and I took that as a bad sign.
"What does Lana think?" Mom finally asked.
I shrugged. "She's not happy about it, but she doesn't have anything to worry about. Lois seems nice, but my heart belongs to Lana, you guys know that."
Mom sighed. "I still worry about you two being so serious so young."
I rolled my eyes. We'd had this conversation more times than I cared to remember. "You were this serious younger than we are, Mom" I pointed out.
"Maybe, but somehow I don't think you're planning on waiting until you finish college to propose to her, are you?"
I didn't say anything, but stared at the table.
"Or to get married," Dad stated.
"We're not you guys. I love her and she loves me," I said defensively. "We're going to the same college so there's no long distance issue and I'm not going into the Navy like Dad," I pointed out.
"No, you're not," Mom agreed, "but still..."
I sighed. "I'm not here to discuss me and Lana. I just wanted to let you know that I had a girl for a roommate and see what you thought and how I should handle it."
"Well, is there any way to get another roommate?" Dad asked.
I shrugged. "I don't think so and if we bring it to their attention, then they'd probably make her leave since she's local and I'm not and my gender was right on my forms and hers wasn't, even though it wasn't her fault."
Mom looked at me quizzically. "If she's local why can't she move home?"
"I don't know. She just said that she couldn't move home. She was in tears over it."
They shared a look before Mom spoke again. "And you always are a sucker for tears, aren't you?"
"Well, Lana said I'm too nice for my own good."
"Now, that I believe. Are you sure she wasn't just turning on the waterworks?"
I shook my head. "No. She was really upset. She said that her mom and little sister had died when she was a kid – and something's going on with her dad but she didn't tell me what. Her dad's a bigwig alumnus but even he couldn't get her back into the dorm she'd originally requested. You know Lana's scholarship – the Lucy Lane Memorial Scholarship?" They nodded. "That's her sister."
"That's rough, but what does that have to do with not moving home?"
I sighed. "I don't know. She just said that she couldn't move home and started crying. She didn't want me to see her, I don't think, but I'd gone to put some clothes on and when I came back..."
"You weren't dressed?" Mom raised an eyebrow.
I turned red again. "I'd just gotten out of the shower and went to get dressed and she walked in before I took my towel off. It's good she wasn't a few seconds later," I pointed out. "I don't know what else to do. I mean sure, I could report it to the housing people, but I told her I wouldn't and she'd have to move home which she obviously doesn't want to do or we can stay roommates, which Lana's not happy about..."
"Obviously."
"Obviously," I repeated. "She seems nice enough and we agreed to some ground rules – get dressed in the bathroom, for one. And a couple other things. She said something about a signal on the whiteboards on the doors if... one of us doesn’t want to be disturbed." I couldn't believe I said that. It earned me a glare from Dad. "Hey! It was her suggestion. I didn't say I'd need it."
"We trust you, Clark. To be responsible at the very least. And we know you haven't told Lana everything yet and you know that we'd be very disappointed if you didn't tell her first."
"I know. And Lana and I are planning on waiting until we get married. I've told you that," I reminded them. "We decided that a long time ago."
"We know that, but we also know that things change. Your dad and I just want to make sure you know where we stand."
"I do. I have since I was like five." At my mother's disapproving stare, I amended my statement. "Okay. Fifteen, but still."
"We certainly didn't discuss those things with you when you were five," Mom said, indignant.
"But you did make out in front of me all the time," I told her.
Dad gave me a look that made me wish I'd had this conversation over the phone.
"Okay, fine. Making out is a bit strong, but it was always embarrassing to have my friends over."
Secretly, I'd... not liked that they were half all over each other the whole time I was growing up, but at least I never doubted that they loved each other.
Dad took Mom's hand and looked at her the same way I remembered him looking at her when I *was* five. "When you're married, son, you'll understand." He raised a brow at me. "And I seem to remember a time or two when you and Lana were a little closer on the couch than you should have been and a few guilty looks when we walked in."
I turned beet red, I was sure. "We never crossed the line. Any line," I mumbled.
Mom patted my hand. "We believe you."
I stood up and flipped the chair back around. "I better get back. Lana's probably looking for me by now."
Dad frowned. "It's a bit late, isn't it?"
I shook my head. "We don't have to be up with the roosters like you two do." I gave them both big hugs and after a few more minutes chatting, took off for Metropolis.
*****
TBC momentarily
