[question: was it clear that Lois is playing the character of the Stage Manager rather than *being* the stage manager for the play? hoping it is but...]
Thanks, as always, to Nancy, Beth and Alisha - who did know I was posting
. And Queenie.
Last time:
Clark stifled a groan as Mrs. Sanderson called everyone to order. "Today we're just going to read through the first part of Act I. On stage, we need the Stage Manager, George, Emily, Mrs. Webb, Mrs. Gibbs, Dr. Gibbs, Rebecca, Wally, Joe and Howie. Everyone else, pay attention in case we need to do some character shuffling when the time comes – if someone is sick or something."
Abby, playing Mrs. Webb, Lois, Clark, Lana and the others headed towards the stage.
"Can't you ground her or something?" Lois whispered as they walked up the steps. "You're her mom after all."
Abby rolled her eyes. "Good luck with that."
Lois sighed as she sat in the middle chair with the 'Stage Manager' label on it. Clark was on one side of her and Lana on the other.
She sighed again. This was going to be a long play.
Chapter 3"Lois! Wait up!" Clark jogged towards her after school.
"Don't you have practice?" she asked as he caught up. She had her piñata from art class held awkwardly in both arms.
"Nope," he grinned. "Coach cancelled it." He walked backwards in front of her, his arms spread wide. "I am all yours for the afternoon. My folks aren't expecting me home for a couple hours. You?"
She shrugged. "Going home to get started on my homework and make sure Lucy does hers."
"Can I come over?"
Lois hesitated. "I don't know. I've never had that conversation with my parents."
He moved to walk beside her. "You mean having your boyfriend over after school?"
She nodded then shrugged. "Come on. They like you and I'm supposed to call when I get there anyway so I'll tell them then. Besides, it's not like Lucy won't be an annoying chaperone. And they don't know that you're my boyfriend. Just that we've gone out a couple times."
"Clark!"
They stopped and turned, sighing in unison as they saw Lana walking towards them.
"What's up?" Clark asked as she neared.
"Can I talk to you for a minute?"
He shrugged, but didn't move. "Sure."
She flitted her eyes towards Lois. "Privately?"
"You can say whatever it is in front of Lois," he told her.
"Listen, we've got the whole George and Emily thing going." She hooked her thumbs in the straps of her backpack. "What if we went to homecoming together, too?"
He glanced at Lois. "Um, actually, Lois and I are going together."
Lana raised an eyebrow. "Really?"
He shot Lois a puzzled look. "Yeah, really."
"Well," she shrugged, "if it falls through, let me know. I'll be your backup." She turned and sauntered off.
"He doesn't need a backup," Lois called after her. She turned to Clark. "What's she thinking?"
Clark sighed and reached for the piñata. "That I didn't really mean it when I told her I wasn't interested the first eighty-seven times."
They walked towards her house, across the street from the school.
"You know you don't have anything to worry about, right?" he asked as she unlocked the front door.
"About what?" she asked, pulling her key out of the lock.
"Lana." He set the piñata carefully on the floor near the door. "I have absolutely *no* interest in *ever* dating her."
"Yeah, I know. I think." She set her backpack on the couch. "But anytime you want to remind me of that, you're welcome to."
He set his backpack next to hers before pulling her into his arms. "You have *nothing* to worry about."
She wrapped her arms around his neck, her fingers playing with the hair at the base of his neck. "It's nice to hear."
"How long before your sister gets home?"
Lois looked at her watch. "A few minutes. Depends on how long she talks after school."
"Good, because I've wanted to do this all day."
With that he kissed her.
*****
"Hi, Mrs. Kent." Lois set her purse down on the table in the entryway.
"Oh, nonsense. Mrs. Kent is my mother-in-law. I'm Martha." She gave Lois a hug. "You look so pretty." She looked at Clark. "It's okay if I tell her that, isn't it?"
Clark shrugged as he shut the door behind them. "Ask her."
"Thanks, Martha," Lois said. "Thank you for having me."
"Well, you're Clark's girlfriend now," she said leading them towards the kitchen. "And we've met, but we don't really know you yet. Clark's told us a lot about you over the years, but we want to get to know you for ourselves."
"Mo-om," Clark whined. "You didn't have to tell her that."
"Oh, honey, at some point, I'll get out the baby Clarkie photo albums," Martha told him.
"Mo-om!"
Lois giggled slightly. "I look forward to that Martha."
"Tell your mom I got her email and thank her for the pictures of the two of you."
"I will."
Martha motioned to the table. "Have a seat. Dinner's almost ready."
"Can I help?" Lois asked tentatively.
"Oh, no. It's almost ready." Martha pulled a pan out of the oven. "Clark said you like Mexican so we're having Mexican chicken. I hope that's okay."
"It's fine."
Clark flipped the seat next to her around and straddled it, his chin resting on his hands on the back.
"Clark." Martha's voice held a warning in it.
He rolled his eyes. "She hates it when I do this." He popped a chip in his mouth.
Lois watched him carefully out of the corner of her eye. He was different here. Not bad different, just different. More relaxed. At home. Comfortable.
Jonathan came in just then and the conversation turned to a variety of other topics as they ate dinner.
They played a couple games of Outburst before Martha and Jonathan excused themselves.
"Want to go for a walk?" Clark asked as his parents headed upstairs.
Lois shrugged. "Sure. Show me the farm, Farmboy."
Clark laughed. "It's too dark to see much. You'll have to come back when it's light out."
"You think they'll have me back?"
He took her hand, linking his fingers with hers, as they went down the stairs off the porch. "Well, I'm having you back at some point. And they loved you. Promise."
"You think?"
"I know." He stopped. "What do you want to see?"
"Just walk?"
"Sure. Are you cold?"
"No, I'm fine." She mentally kicked herself. She should have said she was. Holding hands was nice, but maybe he would have put his arm around her again.
"We need to have a spot," Clark said suddenly, stopping in the middle of the gravel road.
"A spot?"
"Yeah. A spot. Couples have songs and movies and all that. We need a spot."
"O-kay..." Lois looked at him skeptically.
"Yeah, a place that's ours. Where we go."
"Like where?"
"Well," he said thoughtfully. "There's a couple of nice clearings in the trees, but I don't think we'd want one of those to be our spot. If it's cold or rainy or something..."
"Right. So where do you suggest?" Having said she was warm, Lois was loathe to realize that she was starting to shiver just a bit.
"Well, the most popular place on a farm," he told her with a grin, "is the hayloft."
She raised a brow at him. "The hayloft?"
"Yep."
"Okay. Show me and then I'll decide."
He put his arm around her as they walked towards the barn. She put her arm around his waist and rested her head on his shoulder.
A few minutes later, he followed her up the ladder to the hayloft.
She stood and looked around. "So this is a hayloft?"
Clark pulled a blanket out of the cabinet and spread it on the floor. "Yep." He opened the big doors in front of them. "There." He sat close to her on the blanket. "How's this?"
"Nice."
"So this could be our spot?"
"Sure."
"Good." He leaned over and kissed her lightly. "So it's our one week anniversary. Well," he amended, "yesterday was, but we had a football game last night."
She nodded. "Yeah. So?"
"I got you something."
She looked at him in surprise. "Really? For one week?"
He nodded. "Yep."
"Well, gimme!" she said excitedly.
He laughed. "It's not all that great." He pulled something out of his pocket. "You don't seem like the class ring, letterman jacket type – and if I'm wrong, let me know – but I wanted to give you something to show that we're together." He held it out. "If you don't like it, or don't want it, that's fine. It doesn't really matter if there's some *thing* that says you're my girlfriend; it's enough to know that you are, so..."
She sighed and held out her hand. "Gimme."
He gave it to her. "It's from my letterman jacket."
She looked at the small, gold 'CK' pin.
"And I don't really know what you'd do with it, but I couldn't come up with something else that it didn't seem too soon for."
"It's great, Clark. Really." She thought for a minute. "I could put it on my backpack until it's cold enough to wear my coat all the time or something." She sighed. "That doesn't seem right, though. I'll figure something out." She grinned suddenly. "I'll make sure I wear it in the play, though."
He laughed. "I think that's a great idea."
She leaned over and kissed him lightly. "Thank you. I didn't get you anything. I didn't know we were celebrating our one week anniversary."
Clark shrugged. "Last week seemed too soon to give you something. It was our first date after all."
Lois rolled her eyes at him. "We've known each other for ten years. You kissed me and told me you were going to marry me ten minutes after we met."
"I was smitten."
"Why?" she asked suddenly. "Why me?"
He leaned on his elbow and took her hands in his. "I can't explain it. I just knew."
She looked at their joined hands. "Do you still feel that way?"
"Now more than ever," he told her quietly. "I don't know how to explain it, but we feel *right*, you and me." He sighed. "I'm scaring you, aren't I? I don't want to, but I know that I want to marry you someday."
She shook her head. "No, you're not *scaring* me. I just wonder *why*, that's all."
"Why do my mom and dad love each other? Or your parents? How did they know they were right for each other? They just did. Your parents have been together since high school, mine have been together almost twenty years. Who knows *why*, it just is."
He leaned over and kissed her again. "But now I've got to get you home or your dad'll have my hide."
*****
"Clark!"
He sighed and turned. "Hey, Lana. What's up?"
"You did well in Geometry last year, didn't you?" she asked, catching up with him.
Clark shrugged. "I guess. Why?"
"I could really use some help."
"Did you talk to Mr. Baldwin?"
"I don't want to bother him. I was hoping you might help me."
He tried desperately not to roll his eyes. "I guess."
She smiled brilliantly at him and, if he didn't know better, batted her eyelashes at him as well. "Thanks so much. When?"
He sighed. "Now?"
"That's great!"
He turned and started walking the other way.
"Where're you going?"
"To study," he called over his shoulder.
She hurried to catch up with him. "Where?"
"Lois' house."
She stopped in her tracks. "What? Why?"
He stopped and turned to look at her. "Because that's where I'm going to study and if you want me to help you, that's where I'm going to be. Is that a problem?"
She sighed and shook her head. "No, not really. But with... Lois and her little sister there, are you really going to be able to help me?"
"Sure. If you want me to." He turned and started walking towards Lois' house. "She just got her wisdom teeth out and I'm taking her work to her, so if you want help..."
She followed him and they waited at the sidewalk for a break in the post-school traffic.
He knocked as he opened the door. "Lois?"
"Hey," Lois said, looking up from her spot on the couch, surprised by what she saw. "Lana. What's up?"
"She needs some help with Geometry," Clark told her, setting his backpack on the floor next to her before he kissed her lightly. "Sorry," he whispered.
Lois shrugged. "As long as you don't marry her," she whispered back, confident that Lana was far enough away that she wouldn't hear.
He laughed. "Don't worry." He kissed her again. "How're you feeling?" he asked, heading towards the kitchen.
Lois leaned her head back against the top of the couch. "My jaw still hurts and I slept half the day. The all Jello diet is getting old."
"I bet." He motioned towards the couch. "Have a seat, Lana. You want something to drink?"
"No, thank you." She sat awkwardly on the edge of the chair.
"How about you, sugarplum? You want something?"
Lois sighed. "A cheeseburger. And I'm not a sugarplum."
Clark laughed. "A couple more days and I know. Thought I'd try it out. Sugarlips didn't work..."
"No, it didn’t. And neither did babe or snickerdoodle or sweetie or cuddle bug or any of the dozen other names you've tried."
"I know, so I'll keep trying until I come up with something good." He took a long swig of his soda. "Hey, your stuff is in my backpack."
Lois unzipped it and started pulling out papers. "I'd say thanks, but I really don't want to do homework."
"Are you going to be ready for the play?" Lana asked suddenly.
"It's not for three weeks," Lois reminded her. "I'll be fine."
The door banged open. "Lois! Guess what?" Lucy bounded into the house. "Hey, Clark."
"Hey, Luce." He grabbed another soda out of the fridge and handed it to her.
"Hey, Lana," Lucy said, popping open the can. "So, Lois, guess what?"
Lois sighed. "What?"
"Daddy came to school today for lunch and he said we get to go to Metropolis for Christmas to see Grandma and Grandpa. How cool is that?"
Lois tried not to let her true feelings show as she glanced at Clark. She could see the same thing on his face. "That's great, Luce."
It was. She loved going to see her grandparents, but at Christmas? She and Clark had been looking forward to spending most of Christmas vacation together.
Clark sat next to her and put an arm around her shoulders, kissing the side of her head as she leaned against him. "It's okay," he whispered. "Sugar bug."
She groaned. "No. No sugar bug." She sighed. "Okay, Luce. Homework time." She pulled one of the folders towards her and took out the top piece of paper. "Twenty short essay questions on 'Huck Finn'? That's going to take forever."
Clark squeezed her shoulders gently before he leaned forward, removing his arm from around her. "It's not due until after Christmas so you have plenty of time."
Lois sighed again. If she was going to Metropolis, she'd have plenty of time to get it done over break.
She picked up her copy of Huckleberry Finn and shifted slightly. "Would you mind moving down a bit?"
Clark set his English book on the table and moved to the end of the couch. "How's that?"
"Perfect." She took one of the throw pillows and positioned it behind her as she stretched her legs towards him, propping her feet up on one of his legs. "Thanks."
"My pleasure, schmoopsy poo."
Lois glared at him as Lucy groaned. "Don't you two ever stop?"
Clark grinned and Lana just looked uncomfortable as he pulled her open Geometry book towards him. "Nope."
*****
"Think she got the hint?" Lois asked as she sat next to Clark on the porch swing. She was curled up under a blanket as he gently propelled them back and forth with one foot.
Clark shrugged. "Who knows with Lana. She offered to be my back up again the other day. She tried to play it off as a joke but..."
"Homecoming was almost two months ago. Why do you need a back up?" Irritation seeped into Lois' voice.
"No, my marriage back up. You know, the whole 'if we're not married by the time we're nineteen' thing."
"Nineteen?"
Clark nodded against her head. "Yep. She said nineteen. Knowing Lana, I think she was at least half serious, but it kind of went with the conversation with Abby and Pete so..."
"What did you say?"
"That I didn't need a back up," he told her softly.
"Good answer." She twisted so she could see him, turning in her seat so one of her legs was tucked underneath her and the other hung over one of his. She pulled the blanket around her and he helped her reposition it so it covered both of them, his hand coming to rest on her knee. "I think I've fallen in love with you," she said quietly, earnestly, as she looked into his eyes. "I know I have."
His other hand played with the hair at her temple. "That's good," he told her, his tone matching hers. "Because I fall in love with you a little more every day. I know we haven't officially said it yet, but I love you, Lois Lane."
She smiled back at him. "I love you, Clark Kent."
He kissed her softly before she settled her head back against his shoulder, his arms wrapping around her. "You know I'm going to ask you to marry me someday."
"Yep. And no waiting until we're thirty-five nonsense either."
Clark snorted. "Thirty-five? Sweetie, I doubt we'll be twenty before I ask."
She wrinkled her nose. "Sweetie? Clark, that's pathetic."
"Honey?"
"No."
"Sweetheart? Darling?"
"I am not in a Disney movie about a cocker spaniel. My name is not Darling," Lois informed him, softening her words with a kiss.
He grinned suddenly. "My little tornado?"
She groaned. "We're disgusting."
"You love it."
"I love you." She kissed him again, before settling back in next to him.
They stayed like that for a long moment before Clark spoke again. "So what'll you say?"
"To what?"
"If I ask you to marry me before we're twenty."
"As long as we're at the same school, I'd probably say yes. If we're at different schools halfway across the country..."
"Well, yeah, but probably? Only probably?"
Lois sighed. "I love you. I know we just said it for the first time, but I think I've known it forever. And I'm going to marry you. But if you propose to me the week after graduation, will I be ready for that? Will you? Will *we*? That's still so young. I *am* going to marry you, but will that be the right time?" She shrugged against him. "I don't know. I hope we've talked enough before you actually do ask that we'll both know it's the right time."
"I do, too, because I don't think I could take the rejection."
"I won't reject you. Not for any reason. Unless maybe you're hiding some big secret from me and you spring it on me the night before the wedding. Then maybe."
Clark was silent for a long moment. "What if I sprung some big secret on you after I proposed but long before the wedding and you thought it was a kinda cool secret?"
"What kinds of secrets do you have, Clark Kent? You didn't make Eagle Scout?"
He chuckled. "No, nothing like that. Just curious. In the abstract."
She shrugged. "As long as you're not secretly married to Lana, I think we'll be good."
*****
TBC
