Last time:
Lois
Clark leaned next to me. "It doesn't look like a little girl's room," he commented.
"No. The cabin always had kind of a rustic thing going even when we were little." I looked at the four poster bed that Lucy had loved. Made of knotty wood, it looked like something out of a hunting lodge catalog. The rest of the furniture matched. The bathroom door was off to the side, but I knew what was in there. A really nice bathroom, just like mine directly below it.
I knew that someday I'd bring my husband here and we'd spend romantic weekends and Christmases and everything else just like Daddy had planned for both of us. There was a pang in the middle of my heart as I realized again that Lucy wouldn't ever get that chance.
The tears started falling again and Clark put his arm around me once more, pulling me to his side. Before I knew it, I'd moved to stand in front of him, my arms around him, crying into his chest.
*~*13*~*
~~~~~
Clark
~~~~~
She'd been through so much. I'd lost parents I didn't remember, I knew that. But this was different. She'd been ten when she lost her mom and little sister. Somehow, I didn't think she'd ever really let it out. She'd probably tried to be strong for her dad and never let anyone see the vulnerable little girl who was still hurting over losing half her family.
And so when she started crying, first on the bed and then leaning against the window, I felt compelled to comfort her, but I hadn't expected to find myself actually holding her in my arms.
She was shorter than Lana, one part of my mind thought. Just the right height to rest my chin on the top of her head.
I didn't know how long we stood there, but she finally moved back.
"I'm sorry," she whispered, moving back to sit on the bed.
I smiled at her as I gingerly leaned against the window again. "I bet that's the first time you've really let that out, isn't it?"
She nodded. "Yeah." She motioned vaguely to the rest of the room. "Anyway, welcome to your home away from your home away from home for the next day or two."
"Thanks. This really is a great place."
"Yeah." She smiled. "Daddy doesn't do things halfway. There's the great room – which you've seen – then this half is split into two sides. This side has Lucy's room up here, mine in the middle and the garage and storage area below it. The other side has Daddy's room and above it two more, smaller bedrooms and a bathroom."
I looked around. "I think this room is bigger than my room and my parents' room and the guest room and both bathrooms put together."
"Told you. My room downstairs is just as big. My room at home isn't quite but there are a couple of bedrooms that are this size or bigger – besides the master suite."
"It must be quite a place," I said softly.
"It is. Long gated drive. Three or four horses, right now, I think. A guest house by the pool. It was Mom and Dad's dream house – and then some. Robin Leach's people looked at it once but decided it wasn't quite big enough for 'Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous'."
"Wow." That was impressive, but more importantly, "You've got horses? I didn't know that!" I loved horses. Always had.
She nodded. "Mine's name is Strawberry. I miss her."
"Why don't you go see her more? You can't have been back more than once or twice since the semester started."
She shrugged. "I don't want to run into the girlfriend."
"Ah."
I was going to say something else, but footsteps stopped me. We looked towards the open door to see Sam coming up the stairs. "Hey, kids. It's going to be two days before we can get a truck out here to dig out the car. I need to get back to Metropolis. Do you want to come with me or stay here and wait to drive the car back?"
Lois spoke first. "I'll stay. I signed the car out so I'm responsible for it."
"Well, then I guess I'm staying too. I don't like the idea of leaving you here by yourself," I told her.
Relief was evident on Sam's face. "I don't like the idea of her staying by herself either." He looked more closely at Lois. "You okay, Princess?"
She nodded. "I just haven't been up here since..." He nodded back at her. "It just hit me hard; that's all."
"It hit me hard the first time too." He clapped his hands and rubbed them together. "Well, I'm going to be leaving here in the next half hour or so. All of your clothes are in the dryer and I'll get some more of mine out for both of you before I go."
"Thanks, Daddy," Lois said.
We watched as Sam left.
"You don't have to stay you know," she said as soon as he was out of earshot. "I can take care of myself and I'm sure Lana doesn't want you staying here with me. All alone. And I'm sure she doesn't know we spent the night together in our birthday suits. That would make it worse."
I sighed. "I didn't want to get into that over the phone, but just because she's my girlfriend and I love her doesn't mean she runs my life. I *don't* like the idea of you staying by yourself and we were on this trip together, so I'm staying."
She stood up. "Okay. But if she gets mad at me, you get to run interference and remind her that I probably saved your life. Somehow I doubt she'll get past the 'Lois slept naked with my boyfriend' thing long enough to be grateful."
"Well, I think she will be, but even if she doesn’t say it, I'm grateful and I know my parents are."
"That's something, I guess." She moved towards the door. "I'm going to say good–bye to Daddy."
I nodded and watched as she left. She was right. Lana wasn't going to be happy about this.
~~~~~
Lois
~~~~~
As I snuggled under the blankets, I couldn't help but think about waking up this morning, in Clark's arms. Even though it was unexpected and kind of weird, it was also nice. I had never really wanted to wake up with Joe, even if all we'd done was sleep. And I'd never really wanted to... not sleep with him either. He was something to get me out of the house on Friday nights and I was someone for him to make out with and help him look good in front of his friends.
That's all it had ever been. Oh, maybe not the first few dates, but after that... We'd broken up several times. I went out with Les once or twice and he went out with Julie a few times then we dated again until he decided he wanted to go out with Debbie. There was no real commitment or anything remotely close to what Clark and Lana had.
Part of me was jealous of Lana. She had a great guy like Clark completely committed to her – to spending his life with her.
The rest of me was continuing to plan my career as an award winning journalist. *Then* maybe I'd settle down with a guy and start a family.
But not until then.
Though it wasn't the weekend I'd planned, it was turning out okay. I'd soaked in the tub earlier until my fingers looked like raisins. It had helped with the sore muscles from walking through the snow half carrying Clark. I'd have to do that again before we left. And another long hot shower would be good too.
I'd told Clark I was going to my room and not coming back out until morning. Part of me felt a little guilty about it. There was no television reception and Daddy didn't bother with satellite for the little bit of time we were here. There were plenty of books and I knew he loved to read so he could keep himself occupied. There was even a copy of 'To Kill a Mockingbird' which he'd said was his favorite.
I was completely relaxed and was asleep before I knew it. I dreamed the same dream Clark must have been having that morning when I woke him up – we were married and on our honeymoon in my room. It should have disturbed me more than it did but for some reason it seemed right. I pondered that as I laid there first thing in the morning, sunlight streaming in through the window. Why was that? Must just be the emotion of the weekend.
There was a soft knock on the door.
"Come in," I called.
Clark poked his head in. "Did I wake you up?"
I shook my head and pushed myself into a sitting position. "No, I was awake, but I finally got the bed warmed up just right and didn’t want to get up."
"Do you want some breakfast?"
"I'll just have a bowl of cereal."
"Nonsense. Your dad brought a whole bunch of supplies with him when he came. I can whip up breakfast in no time."
I shrugged. "Fine."
"So, pancakes or bacon and eggs or both?"
I was suddenly ravenous. "Both. Did he bring stuff for biscuits and gravy too?"
Clark laughed. "Yep."
"And you know how to make all that stuff?"
"Mom made sure I knew how to cook."
"That's good because I burn water."
He laughed again. "Breakfast in twenty."
I nodded. "Thanks."
*****
Clark
*****
I flipped one of the pancakes over when I heard the door to Lois' room open. I glanced over to see her walking down the stairs from her room. "Almost ready," I called.
I pulled the biscuits out of the oven – making sure to use one of the pot holders – and checked the gravy. Almost done. I turned the bacon and then another pancake, before scooping the scrambled eggs into a bowl. "Have a seat. Do you want OJ or milk?"
"Both."
I got four glasses out and set them on the breakfast bar, filling two with milk and two with OJ. I loaded two plates with everything and set one in front of her, then moved the rest of the dishes to the bar where we could reach them easily if we wanted seconds. I knew I would. "Syrup?"
She shook her head. "Powdered sugar if we have any." She pointed to the cabinet. "It would be in there."
I pulled a bag out and handed it to her. "That's a new one."
She shrugged. "It was my mom's thing. It stuck."
I set the syrup on the bar but decided to try the powdered sugar thing, too. "Not bad," I said after taking my first big bite.
We ate in silence, both of us very hungry. I realized we hadn't eaten much of anything since the hot dogs in Bremerton. We'd slept until Sunday night and we both went back to sleep pretty quickly. Neither one of us ate much on Monday and now it was Tuesday morning.
Lois drizzled syrup over her third pancake. "Do you think we're missing classes or is it bad enough that the school shut down?"
I shrugged. "I need to call Lana here in a bit anyway if that's okay. I can ask her."
She was silent after that, but continued to eat like she hadn't seen food in a week. I guess the near death experience was enough to give her a huge appetite. Now that I was feeling better, I knew I'd be eating a lot more too.
I finally spoke. "So when did your dad say his friend would be here?"
She shrugged. "I talked to him last night and he said hopefully by Thursday afternoon, but he wasn't sure. He said it could be Friday or Saturday."
"Wow. A full week here." I shook my head. It wasn't an unpleasant thought, but unexpected.
"You should have gone back with my dad," she told me between bites of biscuits and gravy.
"I didn't want to leave you here by yourself. I stand by the decision."
"You're going to be in Lana's doghouse."
I shrugged. "I know."
We finished breakfast and loaded the dishwasher. I wanted to just hand wash them, but Lois insisted that's what the dishwasher was for. When I asked what we were supposed to do since there was no television, she walked over to a large cabinet on one side of the great room.
"Here." She opened the doors wide. There, on the shelves, sat just about every movie ever made and a bunch of board games. "Sorry I didn't think to mention these last night, but Lucy's room doesn't have a TV in it. Mine and Daddy's do as does one of the other rooms."
"Wow." I moved over and looked at the collection of movies, running my finger over the spines as I read the titles. Mel Gibson movies. Harrison Ford movies. Bruce Willis. Comedies. A bunch of girlie love story movies. More action adventure. Sci-fi. Romantic comedy. I didn't see any horror movies, but they weren't really my cup of tea anyway. I moved to the games. Board games. Word games. Card games. "Game or movie?" I asked her.
She shrugged. "Don't really care. What do you want to do?"
"Well, Webster. How about a game of Scrabble?"
"Prepare to lose, Merriam."
Maybe I should have called her Merriam. I pulled the Scrabble game out and she grabbed one of the comedies.
"Let's go," she said shutting the cabinet and heading towards her room.
I hesitated slightly but it made sense. If we were watching a movie it wasn't going to be in the great room.
~~~~~
Lois
~~~~~
What had I been thinking, grabbing a movie?
I was surprised Clark was following me.
Okay – I knew what I had been thinking. Subtle mentions in front of Lana about how Clark and I spent all day in my room one day we were here. Just because I knew it would make her mad.
There was plenty of room on the floor so it wasn't like we were going to be on my bed. There was even a table in there. And a fireplace though it had never been used. Daddy had put them in all the bedrooms – for ambiance and out of necessity in case we were ever stranded in a snowstorm. Providing we weren't hypothermic when we arrived, of course, they should help prevent us from freezing. Thankfully, we'd never had to use them. I'd also figured I'd use it when I came up here for a romantic getaway with my boyfriend or fiancé or husband some day but that day hadn't come yet.
And Clark sure didn't count.
I left the door wide open. Not that shutting it would have made a difference. We were the only two people there.
I put the movie in and grabbed the remote, turning the TV on as I did so.
I sat down on the floor, my back against the footboard of my bed. "Set it up, Farmboy."
An hour later, Clark challenged my word. "There is no such word as 'chumpy'."
I glared at him. "It's a word."
"No, it's not."
"Yes, it is."
"Use it in a sentence."
"You are a chump. That makes you chumpy."
He raised an eyebrow at me. "I'm a chump?"
I shrugged. "Call 'em like I see 'em."
He shook his head and reached for the dictionary. He opened it then flipped it around. "Not there."
I glared at him again and took my letters back. I sighed as I stared at the board. Finally I stuck the 'M' after an 'A'.
Got tons of points for that one.
Clark used his last four letters to turn 'more' into 'evermore'. "That's all of them. You get one last turn."
I stared at my c-h-u-p and then the board and then my letters and then the board and then my letters... Finally I stuck the 'h' above the first 'e' in 'evermore'. "I'm done."
Clark added up the final scores and subtracted points for my c-u-p a bit too gleefully for my taste. He held up the score pad. "So sorry, Lolo."
"Don't call me that."
"I heard Joe call you that once."
"You're not Joe."
"No, I'm not."
Together we put the game up. "What do you want to play next?"
He shrugged. "Surprise me."
I took Scrabble back out to the other room. I glanced through the games and finally pulled a couple of boxes out.
~~~~~
Clark
~~~~~
I watched the three 'City Slickers' riding the range while waiting for Lois to come back.
I raised an eyebrow when I saw what she had. "Poker?"
"Relax. It's not strip poker," she said with a roll of her eyes.
Strip poker. Now there was a thought. That could be fun under other circumstances – and with Lana, of course. Someday. Maybe next summer after we got married. Well, if we got married next summer, but I thought we would.
"Fine. What're we playing for?"
She shrugged. "Bragging rights."
"That's no fun."
"Then what do you want to play for?"
"KP."
"What?"
"Kitchen Patrol. Loser makes dinner."
She snorted. "Not sure that's the best plan."
"Why not?"
"I burn water remember."
"Oh, right." Forgot about that. I looked at her contemplatively. "Do you have any other thoughts?"
"Haul wood?"
"What?"
"Loser brings more wood in."
"Deal."
*****
TBC
