Thanks as always to Carol, Beth, and Kelly for a great job BRing, cheerleading, etc.
Also thanks for Kelly, Jill, and Nancy for all their help with making sure the stuff I wrote about the life of a first year medical resident was realistic.
From Chapter 2
“Make love to me,” I whispered.
“Really?” Chad breathed into my ear.
“Really.”
Chad leaned up to pull his shirt over his head quickly before moving back to capture my lips again. “Lois,” he whispered reverently as his hands made their way to buttons on my blouse.
A second later, two buttons undone, he backed away and stood up. “We can't do this,” he said, his tone repentant and pained.
“What?” I asked, confused by the fact that he was suddenly standing by the side of the bed.
“We promised we wouldn't do this. We would never make this decision in the heat of the moment. If we want to revisit the decision that's fine, but only when we're both clear headed,” he leaned over to hold the top of my blouse closed, “and fully clothed.”
I buttoned my blouse back up, but looked at him with wide eyes. “That was before…”
“I know, baby,” Chad, with his shirt back on, said as he sat back on the bed. “But nothing's really changed.”
I started to argue, but then realized he was right. Nothing had changed. “I know,” I finally said, leaning my head on his shoulder. “I know.”
Chapter 3
September 1993
“Hey, Perry,” I said with a smile as I entered my editor's office.
“Lois, I'm in the middle of something.”
“Oh, sorry. It's just… well, I have that mood piece you wanted on the Bernhardt Theater,” I explained, glancing at the man sitting in Perry's guest chair.
“Thanks, sugar,” Perry said as I handed him the piece. “I'm sure you'll be happy to get back to hard news,” he smiled at me.
“Well, you know me, Perry. I'll do whatever you ask, but I much prefer a meaty story.”
“Lois is one of our star reporters at the Planet,” Perry told his guest.
“Nice to meet you,” the man stood up, extending his hand towards me.
“You, too,” I tried to smile at him warmly as I shook his hand. “What are you doing here?”
“I just moved to Metropolis from Kansas and was hoping to get a job here. My name is Clark. Clark Kent.”
“Well, nice to meet you, Clark,” I said as I turned away, ready to head back to my desk. Before I made it through the door, though, I heard Perry tell him, “As I was saying, Kent, I think it takes real guts to come here and ask for a job, but we just don't take reporters with the limited experience you have.”
For some reason, I found myself turning around and smiling at Perry, “Oh, come on, Chief. You were inexperienced once. Give him a chance.”
Perry sighed and gave me an exasperated look, but then his faced cleared. “Fine. You think I should give him a chance, I will. But you need to show him the ropes, Lois. Clark Kent, welcome to the Planet. Meet your new partner, Lois Andrews.”
************
I looked over my new partner as he unpacked his belongings into a desk next to mine. I hoped that had not been a mistake. In the light in Perry's office, Clark had looked sort of… I'm not sure what, but not the way he looked here.
In my experience, good looking male reporters were just not nice guys. I remembered how Linda, my closest college friend, had been so terribly conned by Paul, the editor of our college paper. Similarly, Cat, one of the nicest women at the Planet, had been used and abused by Claude, a suave Frenchman who knew just how good looking he was.
On the other hand, there was Ralph, a slightly plump man who was prematurely balding. Ralph, though, was one of the nicest guys here and a really hard worker.
Unfortunately, as it turned out, my new partner looked more like Claude and Paul than Ralph. I sighed. I knew it was never a good thing to stereotype and I just had to remember, this one was from Kansas. Farm boys were nice, weren't they?
Besides, there was little he could really do to me. Linda and Cat had been hurt as they'd fallen for Paul and Claude. There was no way I was going to fall for Clark. I hadn't had eyes for anyone but Chad since I was sixteen years old.
************
“Hi, honey,” Chad said as he snuggled up behind me. “Whatcha doing?”
“Making toast,” I told him as I leaned my head to the right so he had better access to my neck.
“Is it your night?” he asked distractedly as he ran his lips up and down my neck, before latching onto my earlobe.
“Yes,” I informed him, gripping the countertop to stop my knees from giving way. “I… um… ordered Chinese, but they said it won't be here for another forty minutes.”
“Perfect,” Chad whispered into my ear as he leaned down to lift me into his arms.
************
Forty minutes later, Chad threw a robe on to answer the door. “I'll be down in a minute,” I told him feeling drowsy. My interest in dinner had abated.
A moment later, though, I could smell the Chinese food and my stomach growled. With a sigh, I got up, throwing on a t-shirt and shorts that were sitting next to my side of the bed.
“That smells great,” I said to Chad as I moved the plates out of the cupboards.
“Yeah, we always get good food on your nights,” he teased. Chad was a phenomenal cook whereas I burnt water. Thus, on Chad's nights, we ate gourmet meals. On my nights, we got take out. But, I learned quickly which were the best places to order from in the neighborhood, while Chad still had no idea.
“So, how was your day?” I asked him as I spooned some moo shu chicken onto a pancake.
Chad poured the sauce over his as he looked at me in confusion. “Didn't you get my email?”
“Oh, honey, I'm sorry. I didn't even remember to check my email before I left work today. It was busy.”
“No problem,” Chad said with a smile, “but I had a great day. Carla woke up.”
I stood up to give him a hug while I finished chewing. “That's great, honey!” I said when I finished. Carla was one of Chad's patients – a thirty year old woman with three kids who had been hit by a drunk driver in a parking lot a few weeks ago. She had been in a coma since and they were starting to think she was never going to recover.
“What about you?” he asked as I sat back down.
I shrugged, “Well, nothing compared to your day. But Perry hired a new guy and he saddled me with him for a partner.”
“Is he bad?” Chad asked.
I shrugged again. “No idea, yet. Apparently, he has almost no experience. He seems nice enough, though. Besides, Perry only saddled me with him as I suggested he give the poor guy a break.”
“Perry didn't want to hire him?” Chad asked as he reached for the rice.
“You know Perry. He likes experienced writers.”
“And you asked him to hire this guy, why?” Chad asked.
“Are you jealous?” I asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Should I be?” Chad smiled.
I giggled as he leaned over for a kiss. “I don't know. I felt bad for the guy. He just moved to Metropolis from some small town in Kansas, Tinytown or something. Yes, really,” I said off Chad's raised eyebrows. “I mean not Tinytown, but something like it. Smallville, maybe? Anyway, can't you imagine how cold Metropolis can seem when you haven't lived here all your life? Particularly when you spent your life on a farm or something? I just thought he deserved a break.”
“Lois Andrews. The hard hitting reporter with the heart of mush,” Chad smiled at me.
************
“So, tell me about him?” Clark said three nights later. We were on a stake-out, our first together. The past few days working with Clark had been weird, but not bad. He was a good writer, much better than I had expected given Perry's near dismissal of him. His style was a little different than mine, but it was good.
Still, it was hard to get used to working with someone else and I found it annoying that Clark felt the need to edit my copy all the time, even though I did it to him as well.
Despite Perry's promise that once I finished the theater article, I would have some real news to sink my teeth into, the city hadn't cooperated. So, it had been a quiet few days filled with working on small stories. There had been lots of them, though, and so I hadn't really had a chance to talk to my new partner.
This question, though, came out of the blue and I had no idea what he was talking about. “What's who like? Mike McDougal?” I asked, wondering why he thought I'd have any more information than he did on the person we watching for the night.
Clark smiled, “Only if McDougal is your husband.” He pointed to my wedding ring. “What's your husband like? And if it's McDougal, please let me know as this stakeout is about to get a lot shorter.”
I smiled in spite of myself. So far, Clark had acted exactly the way I'd expect a farm boy to act – kind and nearly chivalrous at times, none of the awful pretty boy scenes Claude had favored. And acknowledging that I was wearing a wedding ring was a real step up from Claude.
“No, I am not married to McDougal,” I assured him, before setting back in my seat a little. “My husband's name is Chad. Chad Andrews.”
“You took his name, I see,” Clark said.
“Chad and I got married right out of college. I hadn't really started my career yet. Unless writing for the paper at Met U counts,” I explained.
“College sweethearts?” Clark asked.
“High school, actually,” I said.
“You met your husband in high school?” Clark asked and used to this question, I replied quickly.
“I know it's weird nowadays, but when it's right, you know it.”
Clark shrugged. “I wasn't arguing. I met my girlfriend in high school, too. Although, I guess officially, we're still trying to decide if it's right.”
“What's her name?” I asked.
“No fair!” Clark said, his grin wide and disarming. “You haven't told me nearly anything about Chad yet.”
I sighed, prepared to give him the short version of our life story. “I met Chad when I was sixteen. He was my first boyfriend. We decided to go to college together and while he had to start a year after me to go help take care of his sick grandfather, he took some extra courses and we graduated together. We got married right after college.”
Clark looked at me with eyes wide. “Did you breathe at all during that monologue?”
I laughed. “No. Chad thinks I'm part fish.”
Clark's smile softened a bit. “So, what does Chad do?”
“He's a doctor at Metropolis General. He's low man on the totem pole, actually still doing his residency, but he loves his job.”
“What kind of doctor?” Clark asked, his voice soft to match mine.
“He's a pediatrician,” I said. “Although as a first year resident, he has to provide overflow support for the ER and so lately he's been working a lot of shifts there and I think he likes that, too.”
“It must be hard to be there for him, given what he sees every day,” Clark said compassionately.
“I guess,” I shrugged. “Chad's a real optimist, though. He rarely seems down. Except when he loses a patient, he's always sure that things will work out fine.”
Clark's eyes were intent on me and his voice soft as he said, “You love him very much. It's all over your face.”
I smiled. “Well, he's pretty terrific,” Then, eager to get the focus off of me, I said, “So, tell me about this high school girlfriend.”
Clark looked out the window and now I found myself watching him as closely as he had been watching me. “She's not really my high school girlfriend. I dated this girl named Lana in high school, but we were completely wrong for each other. Or at least she thought so.” Clark looked at me, blushing slightly. “I do, too, now, but at the time, I was crushed. She dumped me just before our senior prom.”
“Ouch,” I said, remembering what a big deal that night had seemed like at the time; how much it would have stung to have Chad break up with me and leave me without a date.
“Lana broke up with me for my friend, Pete and Pete had been dating Rachel at the time. I didn't really know Rachel all that well – except for a few double dates with her and Pete, I'd never really talked to her. But you know, getting dumped at the same time creates a bond.” Clark shot a smile my way.
“Anyway, we decided to go to the prom together as friends. And that was all it was. It was fun and Rachel was a lot more interesting than I'd known before, but at the end of the night, we kissed on the cheek and that was that.”
“But, you know, school wasn't really over yet, and so we'd still see each other in the hallways and stuff. And then it turns out we were going to college near each other. Or sort of. Kansas State, where I went, was just south of Rachel's college and on her way home to Smallville. So, we started going back and forth together during breaks.
“We ended up stuck on the way to Kansas State one year on our way back after Thanksgiving and had to spend the night in a hotel. We were poor college kids so we split the room. Nothing really happened, but we ended up staying up all night talking. I kissed her just before we got out of there and we've been together ever since.”
I smiled at his story. It was sweet and wholesome. Very farm boy-ish. “So, where is Miss Rachel?” I asked.
He turned to me, his eyes shining with laughter, “Miss Rachel? This isn't Driving Miss Daisy, you know.”
I laughed. “Okay, okay. But where is she?”
“In Smallville,” Clark said, his voice more sober. “She's sheriff now.”
“Your girlfriend is the sheriff of the town you grew up in?” I asked.
“Yeah, so as I said, we're still trying to decide…”
“What's to decide? Do you love her?” I asked. The issue seemed simple to me.
“I do,” he said. “But… I don't think I'm a small town guy.”
I laughed. “You grew up in someplace called Smallville,” I pointed out.
“I know,” Clark smiled, “and at heart, I guess I do feel like a farm kid. But… I'm not sure I want to live my whole life there, you know? I guess, I do love Rachel and I know she loves me, but I'm not sure we want the same things in life.”
“Chad has always wanted to move to the country,” I confessed. “But, you know, being a journalist in a small town just isn't the same. So, he agreed to stay here in Metropolis with me.”
“He must love you as much as you love him,” Clark observed, his face sad.
“Is Rachel not…” I faltered, not sure how to ask the question in a way that wasn't too personal.
“No,” Clark said, looking at me. “I think she'd move to Metropolis in an instant if I asked, but she wouldn't be happy here. I don't know. For now, we've decided that I should try big city living for awhile and see how I like it and then we'd decide. Maybe I'll hate Metropolis.”
I felt my nose scrunch up. “Hate Metropolis?” I asked. I could not imagine that.
Clark laughed. “Maybe hate is a strong word. But I may like it as someplace to visit, but not to live,” he clarified.
I relaxed slightly. I could see that. Sort of.
************
October 1993
I tried not to growl as I hung up the phone. I was an adult and she should not be able to make me so nervous. Still, despite how I wanted to feel, the truth was that my mother still brought up lots of emotions I preferred not to deal with. Things were different with us now than when I was kid, better, but it was hard to erase all of those years with a few okay memories. So, I was hardly looking forward to her visit.
“Lois?” Clark asked, his voice soft beside me.
“What?” I replied, more harshly than he deserved.
He took a small step back, but laughed slightly as he said, “No need to bite my head off. I was just checking to see if you had the lead-in on the James story. I've finished the end and the side bar.”
I sighed, “Sorry, I just… well, I'm just sorry. I need a few minutes to finish up the lead-in, though.”
“Of course,” Clark said as he turned to go back to his desk. “Lois?”
“Hmm?”
“Can I take you to lunch or something? No pressure, it just seemed like maybe you could use a break from this place or something when you finish the lead-in,” Clark asked me.
I smiled. A lunch out of the office would probably help me relax. “I'd like that,” I admitted, smiling slightly as I went back to writing.
