I apologize for the delay in posting. Huge thanks to everyone who has nudged and prodded me along.
Story TOC <><><>
Previously:
"Thank you," he murmured. "Thank you for waiting up for me tonight. Thank you for trusting me."
Her hand covered his, lacing their fingers together. "Clark, do you remember when I was out of my mind on pheromones and came to your apartment to seduce you? You didn't take advantage of me that night and you easily could have. I've trusted you ever since."
She had told him that before, years ago, but it was strangely reassuring to hear it again. His chest ached with how much he loved her. "You're my best friend, Lois."
"You're my best friend, too, Clark." Lois swallowed hard, choking on the words she wasn't sure she dared to say just yet. It seemed silly to keep them from him, especially since it was something he already knew, but she still hesitated before quietly adding, "I love you."
Clark pressed a soft kiss to the back of her head even as his heart lurched joyfully. The feeling was the same as the first time she had whispered those words to him.
"I love you, too," he whispered.
Her eyes closed as something warm and lovely rippled through her veins. It was contentment, she realized. For the first time since she had shown up in her future, she felt as though she was exactly where she belonged. And the reason had nothing to do with Superman and everything to do with Clark.
Lois snuggled back a little closer against her best friend and drifted off to sleep.
<><><>
Ricochet 8/10
<*><*><*>
1998
<*><*><*>
Even though it had been less than a minute since she last checked, Lois couldn't help glancing at her watch again. It was still just past four o'clock. The end of the work day - and her dinner date with Clark - were nearly two hours away. She sighed and lifted the camera slung around her neck to take a picture of the maroon car left unattended in a clearly marked 'no parking' zone. The sunshade splayed across the inside of the windshield made it rather obvious that the owner wasn't returning any time soon.
And speaking of any time soon… Two hours. Two long, endless hours to go until the workday was officially over. Her stomach seemed to squish happily at the thought of spending time alone with Clark. Last night had been a revelation to her; one that went deeper than simply finding out Superman's true identity. She felt as though she was finally seeing him clearly after years of only catching glimpses of the real person beneath both the cape and the glasses.
The thought of losing Clark as her best friend had been the chief reason she had been so hesitant to date him. This taste of her future life had shown her how frightened she had been. For years she had pushed people away so that she wouldn't make the mistake of trusting the wrong man. Now she could see that she had run the risk of not trusting the right one.
Lois was about to raise her wrist to check the time again, when it was grabbed and she was violently pulled into an alley.
"Hey!" she exclaimed, stumbling over her own feet in surprise. Her free hand rose instinctively to protect the camera as she was pushed toward the side of a building. Stars exploded in her vision as the side of her head met up with the brickwork. She wrenched her wrist free and turned around. Her eyes darted back and forth between the two bulky men who had her trapped in the dead-end alley. One of the men had a jagged white scar bisecting his left eyebrow.
"No pictures allowed," Scar said and a hint of a smile played on his lips. "You had to know we'd be watching."
She had to know that? Who the hell were these two and how did she know them? Clark's protest when she told him she was going to try and fit in now came back to haunt her:
"Bad idea. Even with your notes, you won't have a clear picture of what's happening with Michaels. It's probably best if you don't interact too much."She was definitely interacting now. Lois straightened her shoulders and, with as much bravado as she could muster, said "It's a free country. And this is public property. My taxes pay for this building, so it's as much mine as anyone else's. I can take all the pictures I want."
The man with the scar glowered at her. "No more games, Lois. Have you forgotten the little meeting we had?"
"Meeting? I don't--." The words died on her lips as she realized that her future self had no doubt met with these goons. "Refresh my memory. I've had a lot of meetings since then."
"This meeting you would remember. Do you really want me to go over the details again?"
Lois smiled weakly, her heart pounding with fear as she realized that she was not going to be able to fake her way through this. "I think it's the only way to keep you honest."
"Honest?" The man's scar looked even whiter as his face become livid. "You wearin' a wire, girlie?"
"What? No…"
Scar reached out, his meaty hands taking hold of the front of her shirt, and yanked it open. Lois heard the fabric tear and caught a fleeting glimpse of one of her buttons before it dropped to the ground. Shocked, she slapped the man and was pushed hard into the brick wall behind her for her trouble. Something cold and sharp was suddenly pressing uncomfortably close to the inner corner of her eye. Lois forced herself to stand still, frightened of what might happen if she moved.
"Drop the story." Scar leaned closer to her, his breath fetid with alcohol and cigarettes. "Drop it now or your husband drops dead. Can I be more clear than that?"
"Clark?" she rasped in astonishment. "You're going to hurt Clark?" As threats went, that one seemed particularly ineffective. If she wasn't in such a precarious position, she might have been tempted to dare them to try. What were the odds that they were sitting on a secret stash of kryptonite?
"So we understand each other now?"
Lois gave a faint nod and the man stepped back, clearly pleased by her acquiescence. Her gaze fixed on the object he was holding and she felt a little queasy as she recognized it was an ice pick.
The other man grabbed the camera and had it open before Lois could react. He pulled the film out and she watched with dismay as the exposed film turned a glossy brown.
"You be sure and let us know how those pictures turn out." Scar raised his hand, pointing the ice pick at her in an ominously silent warning, and then both men walked away.
<><><>
Lois clutched her shirt front closed and stumbled back to the Jeep. To her horror, her hands were shaking so badly she couldn't get the key in the ignition. She caught sight of herself in the rearview mirror. Somehow seeing the abrasion on her temple just made it sting all the more. She tried again to get the keys in the ignition but this time they fell from her numb fingers to the floor of the car. Lois swore repeatedly under her breath and fought the urge to cry.
It suddenly seemed like too much effort to pick the keys up, so Lois rested her forehead on the steering wheel and took a few deep breaths. She had been threatened before - so why was it so scary this time? Was it because she had no idea what those men had wanted or why they were watching her? The Dudley Michaels story seemed the most likely reason, but what if it was something else? What if she did something and they made good on their threat to hurt Clark? When they couldn't hurt him surely even mindless thugs like her attackers could put two and two together and come up with Superman?
What should she do? What would the future her do?
Nail 'em, her mind whispered. Those two must not have done much research or they would have learned that intimidation didn't work well with Lois Lane. Well, okay, short term it might work. But in the long run? She was going to see that they paid for whatever it was that they were trying to hide.
There was a polite tap on the window and Lois lifted her head to glance over. She gaped in disbelief at the familiar "S" shield at eye level. Through the glass she saw his expression change from mildly amused to fully concerned as he took in her disheveled appearance and the missing buttons on her blouse. Lois self-consciously pulled the front of her shirt together again.
Superman opened the door and touched her chin, tilting her head up so he could see her face. "Lois? What happened?"
"Would you believe me if I said I had no clue? Two guys accosted me in the alley. You know it's true what they say - there's never a cop around when you need one."
A tic twitched in Clark's jaw before he asked, "Big guys? One as tall as me and the other a few inches shorter? The shorter one has a scar on his forehead?"
She nodded. "That's them. They wanted me to drop some story or they said they were going to kill you." At that she let out a nervous laugh. "I didn't have a clue what they were talking about. Do you?"
"The tall one's name is Sal DeStefano. The one with the scar is Ice Pick Falsone."
"Ice Pick?" she repeated. Her stomach lurched as she realized who she had just met up with. A few months before she had leapt time, there had been rumors around town about a new mob enforcer whose trademark was giving people crude lobotomies with an ice pick.
"They threatened you a few weeks ago; the same day that you showed up here. Those two have a loose association with Dudley Michaels' favorite bookie and they warned you to drop the investigation into his building contracts."
"But I haven't been working on that story."
"Maybe they noticed our interest in the parking violations office and realized you'd found a different angle to pursue Micheals?" His gaze wandered to where her hand was holding her shirt front closed.
Feeling self-conscious, Lois reached out to shut the car's door. "I should probably go home and change."
"Do you want me to fly you there?"
Clark saw her hesitate and his heart sank. Seeing her this way - her face bruised and her clothes torn while she shook from a mix of fear and righteous anger had awakened every protective instinct he felt for her. While she had trusted him the night before enough to sleep in his arms, there was no guarantee that she wasn't going to reconsider that decision in the cold light of day.
After several seconds, she gave a faint nod. "I would like that." Lois bent and retrieved the keys from the Jeep's floorboard. Then she climbed out and locked the door with shaky hands.
Clark lifted her carefully. More than anything he wanted to hold her close until she stopped shaking, but this was the wrong place and time to do so.
<><><>
Clark set Lois down gently inside their living room. She didn't step away from him; instead she kept her arms around his neck and laid her cheek to his chest. When his arms encircled her in a hug, she closed her eyes and whispered, "When those two confronted me before, was I scared?"
"Yes," he whispered back.
"What did I do?"
"Well, first you came home and told me about it and we did this." Clark's arms tightened slightly and he pressed a kiss to the crown of her head. "Then you told me about the parking tickets angle."
"I think I'm out of angles now, Clark."
"Then we'll find a new one."
Lois smiled and hugged him tighter at the realization that they really were a 'we' now. Then she stepped back from the hug and smiled up at him. "Thanks."
"Anytime. Are you hungry?"
"No." Looked up at him, hesitated and then said, "I'm going to go, uh, change shirts. Would it be okay if we did this again," she gestured at the space between them, "afterwards?"
He smiled and her heart flip-flopped in her chest at the thought that someday she was going to marry this man. "Sure."
<><><>
Lois was snuggled up to Clark on the couch. The weight of his arm across her shoulders was comforting. He was wearing a short-sleeved t-shirt and the warmth of his skin against hers was creating a pleasurable tightness in her belly to replace the tension of her earlier encounter. She remembered how, only two weeks ago, she had been tongue-tied around him, wondering what she possibly could find to say to him when they weren't at work. The answer was the same as it had always been - they talked about the little and big events of the day, gossiped about their co-workers or shared random memories. She felt relaxed - so relaxed that she dared to ask him one of the questions that had been on her mind.
"Where did we go on our honeymoon?"
A little smile played across his lips. "We were supposed to go to Hawaii."
She blinked - he hadn't really answered the question. "But we didn't? Why not?"
"We never really left the apartment."
"Oh." Lois cleared her throat nervously and blushed at the thought of her and Clark naked together. The memory of the kiss he had given her two weeks ago filtered through her memory and she was suddenly glad she was sitting down so he wouldn't see her legs wobble. "Whose apartment?" she asked, her voice squeaking a little.
"Mine." His hand took hold of hers and squeezed lightly. "You were the one who picked where we were going to live. You chose my apartment because it had the secret compartment."
Lois looked at their joined hands. How did she never notice that Superman and Clark had the same hands?
No, that wasn't exactly true - if she had never come forward in time she would have eventually recognized him by his touch alone. Her fingers stroked lightly over the back of his hand, shaping out the tendons and bones just below the skin. She touched his fingers, admiring the tapered length of them and then smoothed the pad of her finger over his thumbnail. Lois turned his hand over and traced the lines of his palm. She was full of wonder that he was the strongest man in the world and yet when he touched her, it was the lightest and softest brush.
Clark closed his eyes and tried to keep his breathing even. She had no idea what her touch was doing to him, what it was stirring inside him.
Lois snuggled closer against him, resting her cheek against the steady cadence of his heartbeat. She closed her eyes to listen to the sounds around her. There was Clark's soft, even breaths. The faint hum of the refrigerator in the other room. A metallic clang as the radiator warmed up. Somewhere outside there was the distant wail of a siren.
"Do you need to get that?' she asked softly.
"No. It's a fire at an abandoned warehouse."
Lois opened her eyes and lifted her head to look at him. "Really? How do you know that?"
He pointed at his ear. "I can hear the emergency bandwidth signal."
"All the time?"
His body quivered in a half-suppressed laugh. "Just when there's an emergency vehicle in the area. I used to go for everything, but once we started dating I started prioritizing."
"Oh." She hardly knew what to say. "Well, thanks. It's not every day that a girl hears she's more important than a warehouse fire."
He laughed and kissed the top of her head. "You also rank higher than cats stuck in trees. In case you were wondering."
The casual affection of his kiss sent a happy shiver through her. Lois let her cheek rest against his shoulder again. Her mouth was only a couple of inches from his neck and she wondered what kissing him there would be like. Before she could really think about the implications, she had pressed her lips briefly to the soft skin just above the banded collar of his t-shirt. His flesh was pliant beneath her lips.
He smelled so good this close; a musky, clean scent that made her long to kiss him there again. This time she went a little higher, stretching her neck slightly to reach him. The inside of her lower lip got the briefest taste of him. Clark didn't move or make a sound and it felt like an invitation. Lois took another, less accidental, taste of him - just to see if he really was as darkly sweet as she thought.
He was.
His head moved, tipping back to leave his throat exposed. She tasted him again, longer and more deliberate this time. Her heart was pounding with the knowledge that he was letting her do this and he wasn't stopping her.
How far would he let things go? Or was that up to her to decide?
Another kiss along his jaw showed her the soft rasp of stubble; a new tactile sensation. He tasted a little different here. She went back for another kiss on his throat, just to check. Yes, it was definitely different.
What would his lips taste like? His chest? The inside of his elbow?
Lips first, she thought, and kissed the corner of his mouth. His hand cupped the back of her head as his face turned so that their mouths met fully.
Like the kiss two weeks ago in the hallway, this one had the power to leave her trembling. His tongue teased hers, drawing her deeper into the kiss. His other arm slipped around her waist, bringing their upper bodies into full contact.
"Oh god," he whispered before kissing her again.
Lois shifted without breaking their kiss, raising herself up and then straddling him, her body alert for the slightest signal from him that she was doing this wrong.
None was forthcoming. Clark settled deeper into the couch and his kisses grew hungrier, more assured. Lois leaned forward, eager for more. The muffled sounds of pleasure from them both filled her senses and she found that her fantasies about Clark and this reality were so commingled that she wasn't quite sure anymore what was real.
His hands drifted across her back, setting off a new ripple of anticipation as she waited for his touch. When he reached her hips, his hands suddenly stilled in their exploration. After a few more breathless kisses it seemed that his entire body had become cautiously tense.
Lois pulled away slightly, feeling the first twinge of embarrassment that she was being too forward. How could you be forward with your own husband? Sure, technically, he wasn't her husband yet. So she hadn't done much with him; but he had done
everything with her. Why would he hesitate?
He brushed her hair back from her face so that his eyes could look into hers. "You're beautiful," he said softly.
She could feel the blush - half from embarrassment and half from excitement. Before she could reply the pressure of his hand increased, urging her lips back to his. Heat bloomed inside her as his tongue slid possessively against hers. A few breathless kisses later he groaned and pulled his mouth from hers.
"Lois, we, oh god," he murmured. "I don't think I can do this."
"Do what?" she asked breathlessly. "We're hardly doing anything."
Their eyes met again and she felt another, more intense, jolt of heat at the desire evident in his gaze. He gently moved her off his lap and back to the couch.
"We waited." His voice was huskier than usual. "We were engaged for almost a year and there were nights when I wasn't sure we'd make it that long. I wanted you so much that it was torture. To be at that point again, but know what I'd be missing when I have to walk away--." His eyes closed and he let out a harsh sigh. "Even Superman has his limits."
"I--." Did he think she had been deliberately trying to seduce him? Yes, okay, she was trying to seduce him. But she hadn't started out to do it
deliberately. Her cheeks burned with embarrassment. "I wasn't trying to…"
"I know." He leaned forward and kissed her forehead before standing up. "Maybe I had better go and check on that warehouse fire."
He disappeared in a blur of blue and red. Lois stood up and paced back and forth a few times, trying to get her heart and her hormones back under control. It wasn't working. She crossed the room to look at the pictures hanging by the stairs.
That was what she wanted - her future. But she wanted it now. She wanted to be the one he flew home to, the friend who held him, and the wife he made love to - she wanted all of that. Instead she was only getting tantalizing tastes of her future and the man who would share that future with her.
Lois glumly climbed the stairs and went to the guest room. She sat down on the bed and the word 'limbo' popped into her mind. Wasn't that what it was called when you were caught between heaven and hell?
She was definitely stuck in limbo.
<*><*><*>
1995
<*><*><*>
It had been nearly a month now and Lois was still there. Everyone thought that she and Clark were dating, even his own parents. Clark had told them that Lois knew his secret, but left out the details of how and why.
The longer she was stuck in the past, the more the boundaries between her friend and her husband seemed to blur together. No matter what year this was, he was Clark - her Clark. He was undeniably the man she loved with every fiber of her being. She was starting to feel reckless when they kissed and that made her afraid that some night, when she was feeling vulnerable and needy, she was going to take things too far.
Tonight, Lois feared, might be that night. They were sitting close together on Clark's couch and she was on her second glass of wine. She could feel the alcohol slowly unwinding her past the point of mere relaxation. The warmth of his leg next to hers had her thoughts moving in an unproductive direction.
Would it change anything if she seduced him? She had changed so much already and it didn't seem to matter. Lex was dead and Mayson was still alive.
And Lois was still here.
She took a sidewise look at Clark and her resolved slipped a little more when she saw longing in his eyes. Lois quickly looked away and took a deep breath. She knew she should move. She should get up and walk out the door but the thought of spending the night in her empty-feeling apartment was exactly the reason she had spent the last few nights sleeping on this very couch. That, she realized belatedly, might have been a bad idea. Surely HG Wells had not sent her back in time so that she could slowly torture both Clark and herself.
"What's wrong?" he asked, slipping one arm around her shoulders.
Lois bit her lip and almost wished he wouldn't touch her. Did he have any idea what he was doing to her? Deep down, she rather suspected that he did. He might be a virgin, but he wasn't exactly innocent.
"I'm just… thinking," she mumbled.
"About what?" His hand stroked over the back of her neck, sending a pang of need straight through her.
She resolved to resist him and tried to steer the bent of her thoughts in a more constructive direction. "What if there's something I'm supposed to warn you about?" she suggested.
Clark brushed a kiss near her ear and whispered, "Like what?"
He had to stop doing that. She could almost resist the urge to touch him, but she'd never be able to resist him if he kept kissing her like this. Lois moved her head slightly away from his lips and shrugged.
"I don't know. It could be anything." She sighed and tried to think straight. What else was left to change? What was soon supposed to happen? After a several seconds she said, "Don't kiss Diana Stride."
His head lifted in surprise, taking the sensation of his warm breath from her neck. "From Top Copy?"
"That's the one. She's a contract killer and she gives you a kiss laced with kryptonite. And you should keep an eye on Kyle Griffiths father."
"The Prankster?"
"Yes, that guy. Oh, and this is important. If a smarmy DEA agent named Daniel starts putting the moves on me, you have my permission to deck him."
Clark frowned. "What do you mean, putting the moves on you?"
Lois waved her hand to dismiss the jealousy she could hear in his voice. She was on a roll now and she didn't want to get sidetracked. "Watch Nigel St. John and Jace Masik. Then again, the kryptonite they had came from Rollie Vale, so just make sure his cache gets turned over to Dr. Klein at STAR Labs."
"Dr. Klein?"
"Bernie Klein. You can trust him. But don't trust Bill Church or his son. They're behind Intergang. And probably his trophy wife, too."
"Intergang?"
"The group that steps in to fill the void Lex leaves behind." Lois looked at him. Clark's eyes were wide as he tried to take in the overload of information she was giving him. "Most of all, Clark, don't break my heart," she told him quietly.
"What?" He stared at her, not quite sure he had heard her right.
"You're going to break my heart."
He shook his head slowly, refusing to believe it. "No."
"Yes. You break up with me and we're apart for a couple of months."
"Why?" Clark's chest seemed to have tightened on him. It was impossible that he would ever do anything to hurt her, let alone that he would voluntarily choose to end their relationship.
Lois let out a rueful chuckle. "You thought it was for my own good. You were afraid that people would use me to get to Superman. So you told me that we should just be friends."
Clark blinked a couple of times and then shook his head emphatically. "Lois, I promise I won't do that. How could I, when I know that we end up together?"
She swirled the wine in her glass, staring at it as her mind tried to push away the thought that haunted most of her waking moments. "What if I never go back?"
Clark didn't know what to say. Deep down, he had secretly started to hope that she really was here to stay. It would be too hard to go back to the way things had been. He had grown used to having Lois in on his secret - and he wasn't sure he could go back to having her keeping him at arm's length. The past few nights he had awakened several times simply to listen to her soft breaths in the next room. The night she had actually slept next to him in his bed was forever etched in his memory.
Lois sighed. "I've changed the future, over and over again, Clark, and I'm still here. What if this is it? What if I'm doomed to spend the rest of my life reliving the last three years over and over again?"
She regretted her words almost instantly when Clark's mouth twisted into a frown. "Mind you, not all of it was bad. In fact, there are some things I would relive again in a heart beat." Lois set down the glass of wine and took hold of Clark's hand, squeezing it gently.
"Like what?" he asked.
Lois didn't even have to think about her answer. "Moments like this, actually. When it's just the two of us, hanging out together."
"So this is what it's like, being married?"
"Basically, yeah."
Clark gave her a knowing grin. "But not entirely. There are certain benefits to being married, right?"
Lois feigned ignorance. "Well, sure. There are a few benefits. Joint tax returns, for one."
"And you wouldn't walk away after a couple of kisses." His fingers tightened on hers.
"No, I wouldn't." Lois closed her eyes and wished that she dared to kiss him right now.
"When did you know that you were in love with me?" Clark asked quietly.
Lois opened her eyes and looked over at him. "When you got shot and I thought you were dead." She shook her head. "No, wait. That's not true. I first knew I felt something more than just friends for you when I was about to marry Lex. When you got shot, I knew for certain that I did."
"That was two months ago."
Lois nodded.
A surge of happiness shot through Clark - it wasn't just the future Lois who loved him. "So when you agreed to date me, you were already in love with me?"
She furrowed her forehead, trying to remember just how she had felt. "I was thrilled, and a little scared, when you asked me out. But, in the end, I was willing to risk taking a chance on you. And then we started dating and you drove me crazy with your constant disappearing act. But I couldn't walk away from you, Clark, even when I really wished I could."
"I'm sorry," he whispered. "I really did want to tell you."
She touched his cheek. "I know that. Hindsight really is everything."
That had to be right, Clark thought. Foresight was maddening. It seemed insane to have to wait to marry her. Clark's heart began to race in his chest as he realized why she was here. The answer seemed so simple, so suddenly certain to him. He moved to kneel in front of her and took hold of her hand.
"Lois? Will you marry me?"
<><><>
End 8/10
Author's Notes: Ice Pick and Sal are in another story I've been working on for ages, but they were just too much fun not to use here when I needed a couple of villains.
