As always, thanks to Alisha, Nancy and Beth! This and the next one are two of the chapters that were recently added...
Last time:
Lois
"We could make up whatever rules we wanted," Clark pointed out. He grinned. "We could even play strip Happy Days Game."
I rolled my eyes.
"Fine, no strip poker, no strip Happy Days Game, no strip Scrabble, or anything like that."
"Go pick a movie," I told him.
He zipped over to the cabinet and stared at it for a long minute, before picking one out.
A few minutes later, we were sitting in the big chair we'd shared many times before.
But this time it was different.
This time we were together.
Truly together.
It was like an answer to prayer.
*~*5*~*
~~~~~
Clark
~~~~~
"Clark?"
The movie was almost over and I'd thought Lois was drifting off for a nap, but apparently not. And she sounded nervous.
"Yeah?" I asked back, kissing the side of her head nearest me.
"Should we do all those things that most couples do when they first get married?"
"Like what? I think we've gotten pretty good with the honeymoon stuff, but I think we should keep practicing as often as possible," I told her, pressing another kiss into her hair.
She twisted to look at me. "You're going to have a one-track mind from now on, aren't you?"
"Probably," I said before kissing her softly.
She rolled her eyes. "Figures. But that's not what I was talking about."
"Okay, what then?"
"Bank accounts, insurance policies, all that kind of thing. I mean, we're on the same car insurance, but that's it. Health insurance isn't a huge thing because we both have it through work so it's not like I need to be on yours or whatever. But the Jeep won't last forever, so at some point, we'll need a new vehicle and with as few bills as we have, I'd rather not take out a loan – we should be able to save up and just buy one, especially if we're living with Dad, but I have no clue how much money's in your bank account, or you mine. At the very least, we're going to have child care expenses to think about and shouldn’t we do all that kind of stuff together?"
I nodded slowly. "Makes sense. I have a lot of money saved up at the moment. I wasn't really spending it on much of anything. If we're in this together, long term – and we are as far as I'm concerned – then, yeah, we really should be in this together. Finances, decisions, all that stuff. I mean, I figured we would more than we have but there probably is some logistical stuff to work out. Put your name on the truck, mine on the Jeep – if you're willing to share, of course." I nuzzled her neck. "I'll even pay usage fees."
She sighed and tilted her head farther to the side. "Do we *want* to stay with my dad if he offers?"
"What do you think?" I murmured, kissing my way up the newly exposed neck.
"It seems kind of silly not to," she said. "Great house, probably rent free, no utilities. Daddy loves having the boys there. Jacuzzi and big shower in our room..."
I grinned against her neck. "Want to use those together sometime soon?"
"Will you wash my hair for me again?"
"Oh, yeah." I remembered doing that for her a year earlier. She'd been very pregnant with Nate and had 'won' all kinds of things from me that night – back and leg rubs, feeding her cake – much as I had two nights earlier – and washing her hair, among other things. I'd set up one of the patio chairs in Sam's shower because it was bigger than the one in our room. I hadn't really known what I was doing, but she'd liked it and I remembered distinctly thinking how sensuous and romantic it could be.
I'd have to do that here in a while. No sexual pressure, of course, because she'd said she was sore and I didn't want to hurt her.
Light candles all around the bathroom. Warm bath with the rose petals I'd left in there. I could float over her while she relaxed and wash her hair for her again.
"You know," I said, rubbing a hand up and down her arm as something occurred to me. "I think I'm glad we don't really remember the first time – that it wasn't a conscious choice."
"What? Why? I mean, I'm glad we have Christopher, too, and if we'd been conscious it certainly wouldn't have happened."
"I just mean, there's something that's scared me a bit since I was old enough to understand. That I wouldn't be able to control myself or something and I'd hurt whoever it was that I was with and that wasn't a concern the next time we were together because... I don't know. It just wasn't. You'd already had a baby at that point so that was part of it because I know it hurts for some women the first time and it wasn't your first time. But Dad and I had talked about that, about being careful and all that and I'm just glad that I don't remember hurting you – I hope I didn't but..." I sighed. "You know what I'm saying?"
She nodded. "For what it's worth, I don't remember it hurting at all, but I still don't remember it real well. I'd think I'd remember if it was bad."
"I'm glad."
The credits ended and I floated us up before lowering her back down to the chair. "Don't move."
I went to our bathroom and started the water in the large bathtub.
"What're you doing?" Lois asked.
I looked up from where I was pouring bubble bath in to see her leaning against the door way.
"That's *way* too many bubbles," she told me.
"I didn't put that many in?" It was more question than statement. What did I know about bubble baths? I was determined to learn though – now that I had someone to enjoy them with, or making them for, anyway.
"It doesn't take much, especially in a Jacuzzi tub." She looked amused.
I looked back at the tub. Sure enough, it seemed like a lot of bubbles and not a lot of water at this point.
"So, what're you doing, exactly?"
"Well, you were supposed to stay put," I reminded her. "But I'm trying to make you a bubble bath for you to relax in."
"I see." She pointed towards the bedroom. "I'm going to pump real quick then." She shifted uncomfortably. "I'm just hoping that between the weekend and this little vacation, Nate's not ready to stop."
I sat on the edge of the tub. "You know, I've never actually seen you nurse one of the boys."
She shrugged. "There's a reason for that. If you want to, though, you can when we get home – if Nate cooperates, of course."
"I've wondered, you know," I told her, not looking at her. "Thinking it was cool that you were feeding my baby and all that, but..."
"Just one more way we were different?" she asked quietly.
"Yeah."
"I'll be back in a few minutes." She turned and headed back into our room. I blew a cooling breath around the bathroom, lit the candles and jump started the fire in the fireplace between the two rooms. I used the bowl I'd left in there – with rose petals in it – to scoop out the extra bubbles and tossed them in the shower.
"Capful, tops," Lois said, leaning against the door again, this time in her bathrobe. She was smirking again.
"I've learned my lesson."
"Are you getting in with me?" she asked, biting her lip a bit.
I shook my head. "Not just yet. I have to run an errand real quick and then I'll be back. I should only be gone a few minutes." I kissed her softly. "I love you."
She smiled. "I love you. Thanks."
I flashed her a smile. "Be right back."
~~~~~
Lois
~~~~~
I took my bathrobe off as I heard Clark's 'whoosh' out the back door and stepped into the tub. It wasn't too hot, which was nice, and it wasn't too cold, which was also nice though as soon as Clark got back he could reheat it for me if I asked him to.
I was kind of glad that he wasn't with me at the moment. I loved him and I would have loved having him with me, but I was also looking forward to a few minutes alone to try to absorb everything that had happened over the last few days.
And while I'd enjoyed – very much – what we'd been doing a lot of since we'd gotten here and I knew Clark wouldn't intentionally push me, I knew I'd want to and he'd want to – and I really needed a bit of a break.
And this was all still so new to us.
This whole 'communication' thing was pretty new to us.
"Dollar for your thoughts," came a quiet voice from the doorway.
I looked up to see Clark, obviously holding something behind his back, dressed in his swim trunks.
I shrugged, not sure how to broach the subject with him. 'Oh, by the way, no sex tonight. It was great and all, but...'
"What did you get?" I asked instead, swirling the ubiquitous bubbles around and sinking deeper in the warm water.
He pulled a bag of rose petals from behind his back. "The ones I put in here the other day were wilted."
"Ah." I hated this. Not this, but this. Trying to decide whether or not to read something into his behavior. And if so, what. If we'd been dating for a while and gotten married, it'd be different, but this... Jumping from married friends with kids to lovers with no crash course in body language and other subtleties was something I didn't know how to deal with.
"It would have been one thing to have them in here when you came in and saw everything or whatever, but now that you're already in the tub, it seems kinda silly to sprinkle them around or something."
"Put them in the fridge and use them later?"
He flickered in front of me and reappeared a second later sans bag of petals.
"So are you going to tell me what's bugging you?" he asked, sitting himself cross-legged in mid-air.
I shrugged again.
He stretched himself out and bobbed towards me, reaching out and tucking that strand of hair behind my ear. "Talk to me? Please?"
I didn't look at him, but stared at the animal shapes I found in the bubbles. "It's weird," I finally said.
"What's weird?"
"This. Us. It's weird."
"Yeah. Some," he said slowly. "But what, specifically, is it that's bothering you now?"
I sighed. "I love you. You're my best friend. And I don't want you to take this the wrong way, but that’s not saying a whole lot right now. Ever since we got married, more or less, I've isolated myself from close friendships. I couldn't afford to let anyone get too close. To a certain extent, it's only because you were in that mess with me. You were the only one I *could* talk to about that stuff. Jimmy's basically family. Serena's probably my next best friend and, heck, after everything the last week or so, Lana's probably next in line. But at the same time, even though you are my *best* friend, at the moment, it's still a fairly relative term."
He lowered himself until he rested on the edge of the tub, still stretched out. "I'm sorry. I should have done more to be your friend. I understand why you cut yourself off, and I have, too, to a large extent, but not like you had to. Josh and Pete are still good friends, but it's mostly 'Hey, the kids are good. How's the fishing this year?' that kind of stuff. A bit more with Jimmy, but he knows about all the stuff like the other guys don't and if I needed any of them, all I'd have to do is say the word and, literally, at the drop of a hat, they'd come running. And same for me with them."
I nodded. They would – and he would. And he would for me, too. He *had* for me. Literally and figuratively, a number of times.
"So you're my best friend, but that doesn't mean I'm at that point where I'm automatically going to easily tell you anything and everything. Would you mind warming the water up a bit?" I asked avoiding things a bit longer.
I could see a faint red tint in his eyes as the water warmed up.
"So what is it that you're having a hard time telling me?" His fingers brushed through my hair.
"That I don't want to have sex tonight," I said in a rush before I could lose my nerve. "I mean, not that I don't *want* to but..." I was sure my face was the color of a tomato.
He leaned over – probably floating some at least – and kissed my temple. "I know."
"You do?" I was a bit surprised.
"Well, yeah. You said so earlier. I wouldn't want it to be painful or uncomfortable or whatever for you. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a bit disappointed, but your comfort is much more important."
I still didn't look at him. "And all this isn't to try to get me to change my mind?"
"No!" He sounded insulted. And he was probably right to be, but it wasn't like we had a history of me reading these situations wrong or something.
"I wasn't sure..." My voice trailed off. "This is all new, okay? How am I supposed to know if this is all just a nice gesture or a ploy to try to get me naked again?" I asked defensively.
"Are you wearing your swimsuit?" he asked, floating over me and flipped onto his stomach.
I stared at the bubbles some more as I shook my head.
"Then I succeeded, didn't I?" His voice sounded playful and I finally looked at him, taking note of the twinkle in his eye.
"Yeah, I guess you did," I said, shaking my head slightly at his obvious amusement.
He floated down, reaching out to tip my chin towards him. "I love you. I want to be with you. I want to make love to you tonight and probably pretty much every night from here on out. But that doesn't mean that one or both of us will always be in the mood or that we won't have sick kids or deadlines or whatever. And that doesn't mean we can't hold each other or make out. We've never done that," he pointed out. "The only real make-out session I think we've ever had was the other day and that wasn't really a *make-out* session. That was me desperate, hoping you felt what I felt and you stopping when we were half-naked because we hadn't resolved enough of our issues yet."
"And you're okay with that?" I asked dubiously.
"If we hadn't ended up in Latislan, if you'd found out you were pregnant when we got back from Europe and Joe offered to marry you and you said yes, do you really think you or he or both wouldn't have nights where – for whatever reason – you didn't want to have sex? Or me and Lana for that matter? It's the way it is with all couples."
"On what is essentially our honeymoon?" I asked with a raised brow. "And I thought I told you not to mention her name when we're naked," I muttered.
"*I'm* not naked," he answered with a grin. "And sure. We've been pretty busy over the last couple days. It's natural that we'd need a break at some point." He floated closer and kissed me softly. "I love you for more than your body and what we can do together in that respect."
"I'm still getting used to that, I guess."
"Well, the whole point of all this wasn't to get you to change your mind, but hopefully so you could relax. You still had a pretty big ordeal a couple of days ago. And I was thinking about how much you enjoyed getting your hair washed last year and that I might do that for you if you wanted. But that's it. No pressure."
"Thank you," I whispered. Part of me – probably my heart – was still in that 'if I don't have sex with him as much as he wants, he'll leave' phase. I doubted anything but time and reassurance would really change that, though I thought my head was starting to understand that Clark really was in this for the long-term.
"So do you want me to?" he asked, unaware of my internal musings.
"To what?"
"Wash your hair for you."
I smiled almost shyly at him. "I'd like that."
*****
TBC
