Title: Unanswered Prayers
Author: CarolM
Rated: PG-13 [most likely, certainly not more than that, but hey they're happily married now right?]
Description: Erm... haven't come up with one yet...
Author's NotesIt is with great trepidation that I go ahead and post this...
For now, I'm going with one chapter EOD. I have [the new] chapter 5 out to betas now and the chapter 6 going out to betas hopefully today, but tomorrow if not. Depends on how much I can do before DH gets home. My laptop is in the shop so I'm on his and he'll need it to get ready for school when he's home. I'm also not feeling great today.
Once the whole thing is done, I'll probably up it to 1 chapter every day.
This picks up just a few hours after On The Other Hand leaves off. If you haven't read that, it's the monster you can find
here .
See the end of the page for very brief summary if you need it
.
Thanks, as always, to Alisha, Beth and Nancy for their beta services. And to Queenie for her brainstorming [yes, Queenie, you must actually read this one
. You too Pam!].
Without further ado...
Unanswered Prayers
*~*1*~*
~~~~~
Lois
~~~~~
It had been an amazing night.
Filled with long, slow lovemaking to the man I loved more than life itself.
The father of my sons.
My husband.
The man who had finally realized that he loved me.
That he wanted to be with me.
That his grandparents had been right.
Love isn't who you can live with – we'd been doing that in some fashion for years – but who you can't live without – and Clark had finally realized that he couldn't live without me.
It wasn't like I'd jumped him and our clothes were shed the first time he said it.
No, I made him prove it to me.
And he had.
He'd taken me to the cabin where we'd first made love – even if we wouldn't really remember it for a long time afterwards – made a romantic dinner, danced with me, fed me my favorite chocolate cake and then asked me to be his wife.
He told me that he didn't know how to breathe without me anymore and I believed him.
Finally.
And so we'd kissed and spent the next little while making love in front of the fireplace again, but the only time I'd prefer sleeping on the floor was if we were hypothermic again and getting to one of the beds would take way too long, so Clark had floated us into our room.
He'd told me to hold still and a few seconds later, we were curled up together under the covers, fire blazing, clothes still missing.
Instinct took over again from there.
And then again.
"Get some sleep," he murmured into my hair.
"Why?" I asked, an impish tone in my voice. "Am I going to need my energy for something tomorrow? I'm not planning on getting out of bed."
He kissed along my neck. "Neither am I."
"Yes, you are," I informed him. "We'll need more wood and you may get your energy from the sun that'll come streaming in through the window, but you're going to have to feed me at some point. Besides, I'm still recuperating."
"Honey, if you'll marry me – for real – but not make me wait until our wedding night to do more of what we've been doing all night, I'll bring you the moon."
I turned serious and rolled over in his arms. I looked him in the face. "Clark, are you really sure about this?"
He brushed my hair back from my face. "I love you, Lois. I don't know why I fought it for so long, but I do."
Tears filled my eyes. "I know why you did. And most of me believes you, that you do truly love *me*, but at the same this little part of me keeps rearing its ugly head deep inside and saying someday you'll realize that you really don't. That you still love... her or someone else."
He reached an arm out and pulled me close to him. "There isn't anyone else. There never will be. What I feel for you, once I let myself start feeling it, makes everything else pale in comparison." He kissed my forehead. "There's a lot I know about Krypton, about Kryptonians that I never told you."
"I know." And I did know that. I knew there were holograms he'd never really talked about, never showed me.
"And I talked to Van-El," he said. "He knew a lot more about Kryptonian society than I ever did."
Well, that made sense. Clark's brother had been sixteen when Krypton exploded, well older than Clark. Their parents had managed to make two ships – one for each brother – but Van-El's ship had taken ten or more years longer to reach Earth than Clark's, making him effectively only six years or so older than my husband.
"He told me about courtship and mating and all of that on Krypton," Clark continued. "I told him about how confused I was. I loved Lana, I really did, but the bond I felt with you... It defied – defies – explanation. Kryptonians mate for life. Jor-El told me that when I was about fifteen, but I wondered what that meant. Did it mean that there was no provision made for divorce? Did it have something to do with the physical relationship? That once a couple consummated their relationship, it meant they were soul mates or something? That by being with you after your dad's heart attack – or after our first night here, really – I'd..." He searched for the right words. "...turned you into my soul mate and if Lana and I hadn't been waiting to get married, she would have been. And then I wondered if the reason why I couldn't say 'no' to you that night was because *you* were my soul mate and what did that mean about Lana and all kinds of other things."
He paused for a breath while my head spun. "Van-El said that there's a bond between Krytponians and their mates that defies logic, which is odd because the Kryptonians were apparently very Vulcan. That consummating a relationship with someone who's not your soul mate would create a bond, but *with* your soul mate, it's different."
"So you don't think you turned me *into* your soul mate when you slept with me?"
"No. I think you always were. He said that soul mates mate for life. That doesn't mean we'll always agree on everything or that or that we'll never fight or whatever, we'll have to work at our relationship but we were meant to be together."
I sighed. I couldn't put my finger on it but some Kryptonian destiny thing didn't necessarily quell the questions.
"What it means is that I was confused about my feelings for you and Lana, and all that, but that there's no reason for you to be worried about someone else someday. It's you and me. I don't want to screw this up. I don't think I'd survive if I did. I want to be a real husband, a real father and I want us to last for a lifetime."
I believed him, I really did, but I couldn't shake the uncomfortable feeling that the other shoe hadn't dropped yet.
~~~~~
Clark
~~~~~
I hoped she believed me.
I kissed her again, doing my best to keep it gentle and undemanding, but I couldn't or Lois couldn't or both of us couldn't and soon the passion between us was flaring once again. It wasn't long before we were both breathing heavily again.
"What was that?" she asked dreamily, her ankles crossed and propped up on the headboard.
"I'm not quite sure," I said, kissing her arm where it rested by my head. She turned her head slightly so her check was resting against my upper arm. "I think you attacked me."
"Don't play 'Mr. Innocent' over there," she said rolling her eyes.
I hesitated slightly, reminded of the last time we'd made love before this trip to the cabin. In a split-second, I was turned, lying next to her, my feet propped up next to hers. "I'll spend the rest of my life letting you do that," I promised her.
"Then I'll let you spend the rest of your life doing it," she said with a yawn. "You still have a lot to make up for though."
"I know," I told her honestly. I did.
"I mean," she said, turning and sliding under the covers, "you never have taken me to Mt. Everest. And it's been a while since you made me breakfast in bed."
I moved behind her, wrapping her in my arms, pulling her close to my chest, my body curled around hers. "I'll do whatever you want to make it up to you."
"Oh I know. And I'm sure I'll have a list for you eventually," she murmured as she neared sleep. "But the first thing..." her voice trailed off.
"What's that?"
"I know I might almost like her, but don't ever mention your ex-girlfriend's name while we're naked together."
I laughed lightly. "Deal."
And, for the first time in a very long time, we fell asleep in each other's arms.
I woke a few hours later to find her still sound asleep. I smiled to myself. We'd certainly burned a lot of calories the night before – and very early in the morning. Combined with the stress she'd been under recently, it wouldn't surprise me if she slept really late. She liked to do that sometimes anyway and I was sure it would be good for her.
Carefully, I left her side and pulled on the pair of silk boxers and shirt I'd got for the night before – even though it was just the two of us, it felt weird walking around without clothes on. Even after three and half years, it wasn't something that was part of our daily life.
Yet.
Hopefully, our lives were changing.
I now knew how my dad felt when he asked Mom and me to marry him. I'd been so scared that she'd say no; that I'd ruined my chances at the best thing that ever happened to me. That I'd pushed her away so long that she'd want nothing to do with me.
My heart had been in my throat when I asked her to just go to the cabin with me. I was pretty sure that once I got her here, I could convince her that it was real; that I wanted her and the boys and the life that everyone already thought we had.
I was still trying to wrap my mind around the fact that my brother was alive. That he was here on Earth with me. That he was a *superhero*.
The name Van-El stuck in my head and that was what he went by in his superhero guise, but his real name was Dr. Bernie Klein. If I ever decided to do the superhero thing, my public name was going to be as far from 'Clark Kent' as you could get.
I walked into the kitchen and in just a few minutes, I had pancakes and bacon and eggs made. I sprinkled the tray with some of the rose petals from the night before. I put one of the long-stemmed roses in a bud vase and arranged the food on the tray, pouring a glass of milk and another of orange juice. And a cup of coffee.
I headed back towards the room where my wife – how different that word sounded than it had just the day before – waited.
I carefully opened the door and walked in. Lois had her back to me and the sheet pulled up over her shoulders. Her even breathing seemed to indicate that she was still asleep.
Until I heard the slight hitch.
I moved to the other side of the bed and set the tray on the floor out of the way. I sat on the bed next to her, gently brushing her hair off her temple. "Hey," I said softly. "What's wrong?"
She gave a half shrug.
I leaned over and kissed her temple. "What is it, sweetheart?"
"It's stupid," she whispered.
"Whatever it is, it's not stupid," I told her pragmatically. "What is it?"
"I woke up and you were gone."
The light bulb went off. "And you were afraid last night was all a dream or something?"
She nodded.
I winced. "Well, unfortunately, I've given you good reason to wonder. I was gone the morning after Nate and when you finished in the bathroom the next night. I'm so sorry, but I did bring breakfast. Even coffee. Just like you like it."
She pushed up, holding the sheet carefully around her, and scooted back against the headboard. "Coffee?"
I laughed and set the tray in front of her. "Your breakfast is served."
She smiled a bit shyly at me. "Thank you."
I glanced at the sheet that stayed with her the whole time she moved. "Did they teach you girls how to do that when the boys were talking about hygiene or something?"
She munched on a piece of bacon. "What?"
I nodded at her torso. "The sheet thing."
She shrugged. "Nope. While you were learning sports metaphors. Besides, you're clothed."
I grinned and leaned over to kiss her gently. "If you decide you want to do something about that, let me know."
She blushed. "Is this weird for you, too?"
"What?"
"You. Me. Us. Like this."
I floated over her and sat next to her on the open side of the bed, snatching a piece of bacon as I did. "A little. There's a lot we don't know about each other and stuff that we should know. It's not like we've been building towards this night for a long time or anything."
She nodded.
I took a deep breath. "I want to date – for real. Kind of like the second year, but better. Knowing we're building towards something together – towards keeping what we have now and making it infinitely better."
She stared at her plate for a minute. "Are you really sure?"
"That I want to date you?" I asked puzzled.
She shook her head. "That this is what you want. That *I'm* what you want. Not just the idyllic family life we've portrayed for the last few years, but the idyllic family life with *me*?"
"No," I said slowly. "I don't want the idyllic family life we've portrayed. I want *real* life. With fights and sick kids and bills to pay." I smiled at her. "Okay, I could do without the bills part, but I don’t want a fifties sitcom. I want you and our boys and real life without a dictator threatening us."
She leaned against me. "That's what I want, too. I guess my brain is just having a hard time letting my heart believe it's really real – that it's really what you want."
"It is," I told her softly. "So what do you say? Will you go out with me tonight?"
Her brow furrowed. "I don't know about tonight."
"What? Why not?"
"I told you. I'm not planning on leaving this bed all day."
I chuckled. "Okay, how about tomorrow night then?"
She munched on some bacon. "You're on."
I kissed her again. "Good. Because you're not ever getting rid of me."
"Good," she told me as she kissed me back.
*****
TBC
On The Other HandVery long story very short:
Lucy and Ellen were killed in a car accident when Lois was 10. Sam is rich beyond belief and he and Lois, generally, have a very close relationship.
Clark's history is told in a 2 chapter story within OTOH. Called 'He Didn't Have to Be', it's Ch. 48/9 of OTOH and worth the read IMO
[it's in the TOC].
Lois and Clark are roommates their freshman year in college. Lois is sort of dating Joe and Clark and Lana are joined at the lip and planning to get married before long. There's also Kryptonite and L/C end up stuck at her dad's cabin where they do things Wells likes to interrupt [but don't realize they did until later]. They end up in Latislan with an unhappy dictator, General Navance, claiming her baby. They get married to negate his claim and find out later have to stay married for 5 years. Lois breaks up with Joe, Clark breaks up with Lana. A bunch more stuff happens including [but not necessarily in this order
]:
* Lois gives birth to Christopher Jonathan Kent
* find Lois' half brother's adopted brother [Ellen gave up a son for adoption her sr. year of HS], Jimmy Olsen
* meet Billy Norcross and Serena Judd [who later married]
* get jobs in the DP mailroom/clerical services
* meet Perry White
* move in with Sam who provides security for Christopher [constantly] and Lois [as needed]
* two years later, she gives birth to Nathaniel David Kent, a result of their only night together after Sam had a heart attack
* Nate has health problems [very similar to those of my own son if you're familiar with our story] and the solution includes hospitalization and surgery when Nate is 3.5-4mos old
* Unpleasant encounters with Lana who is very not happy with the way things turn out. Lana gets pregnant [with a friend from HS] and loses the baby after a car accident.
* Eventually, Lana comes to terms with everything and is instrumental in saving Christopher from being abducted at college graduation as well as pushing Lois and Clark together when the threat comes to an end.
The relationship between Lois and Clark goes from strained at best to friendly and back again and everywhere in between over the course of about 3.5 years until Navance is killed. They'd always planned on divorce after the threat was gone. Lois had known for a while that she was in love with Clark. Clark finally realized that he couldn't live without Lois and he took her back to the cabin and asked her to marry him. She agreed and they smooched and then that's where we pick up here.
Oh, and Clark has a brother
. Dr. Bernie Klein was born on Krypton and recently created the superhero persona 'Van-El'. He's engaged to Ashley.
[Hmm... That didn't take nearly as long to write, but somehow I think it loses something in summarization
. I tried AutoSummary in Word but it kinda freaks out... there's a shock...]
