Thanks to everyone for all of their support. Can really use it this week - baby #2 is doing a number on me :p
I know I mentioned it the first time I posted part 1, but don't think I did on Wednesday. This takes place in Missy's Merry Smoochie to You universe and is not related in any way to any sequel she may or may not write. It's available via the index, though not on the archive yet.
Here's part 3! Hope you like it! Comments and tomatoes encouraged [once I get my tomato shield up that is! *g*]
CM
From Part 2:
Lois had snapped out of her trance. "What are you talking about, Clark? I love Max, not you. Now leave me alone and get out of here!"
"I can't do that, Lois. And Deter can't do what he's been trying to do. He's legally bound to not see you anymore."
Lois pushed Clark away from Deter. "Not professionally maybe, but he can certainly see me personally."
A nurse interrupted the conversation. "Dr. Deter, this just came for you."
He took the piece of paper from her hand and opened it. "You're a no good piece of trash, Kent."
Lois moved to his side. "What is it, Max?"
He handed it to her while staring at Clark. "It's from the judge. You're being removed from the hospital and my care and if I come within 100 feet of you, I'll be held in contempt."
*****
Part 3
*****
Superman flew through the air with Lois in his arms.
"Where are you taking me?"
"To see the Kents in Kansas. Clark asked me to."
"Why didn't we take a plane?"
He shrugged. "I'm faster and cheaper than any airline and you and Clark are close friends of mine. I'll be bringing him a few minutes after we land."
"You're my friend, right, Superman?"
"You're the one who named me."
Lois smiled. "I remember that part."
"So, you could say we were friends, I guess."
Her finger played with his cape where it attached to the suit. "Was there ever... anything between us?"
"Anything? You mean anything romantic?"
"Yeah. I think I remember kissing you."
"We kissed on... more than one occasion."
"So are you in love with me too?"
Superman stared straight ahead, not daring to look at her. "It's complicated, Lois. You and Clark are meant for each other. I'm... I can't... I'm not in a position to care for anyone."
"But you care for me." It wasn't a question.
He sighed and worded his answer very carefully. "As Superman, I care for you more than I should."
"But you do care?"
"We're almost there. It's that farmhouse right there." He nodded in the direction of the farm below.
They landed on the lawn in front of the house.
"Go on inside."
"Are they expecting me?"
"I don't think Clark's been able to get a hold of them, but they'll love to see you."
At just that moment, Martha stepped out on the porch. Her eyes lit up as she saw the two of them there. "Lois! Cla..." she stopped at the shake of her son's head. "Clark left a message that you would be coming." She turned to the superhero. "Thank you for dropping her off. You'll be back with Clark soon right?"
Clark nodded and took off into the sky.
*****
"Lois, would you like a glass of water?" Martha wasn't quite sure how to talk to the young lady at her table, the woman who was – and wasn't – her new daughter-in-law.
"Do you have some buttermilk?"
"Sure, honey." Martha stood.
"It's good for what ails you." Lois' voice had a far off quality to it.
"Yes, it is!" Surprise was evident in Martha's voice.
"I don't know how I know that."
Martha set a full glass in front of her. "Jonathan says it all the time. I bet you heard it from Clark."
Lois took a sip and then stared into the glass. "I don't remember much about Clark at all." She sighed. "I remember some things... working together, some of the stories we wrote, but nothing... personal."
Martha sat across from her and reached out to briefly cover one hand with her own. "It'll come back to you."
"I married him, right?"
Martha sighed. "Sort of. You signed the marriage license but the clone of you was at the wedding."
"Did I want to marry Clark?" Lois fiddled with the tablecloth.
"Of course."
"Did Clark want to marry me?"
"More than anything in the world."
"He seems so mad all the time."
Martha covered Lois' hands with her own. "He's been... frustrated. And scared. He loves you and you don't think you love him. He's afraid that everything the two of you have is lost – gone forever. Can't you understand how that must feel for him?"
Lois nodded slowly. "I guess, but I don't remember any of it. All I know is that I love Max."
"I can only imagine how it hurts him to hear you say that, Lois. After everything the two of you went through to be together and suddenly you want nothing to do with him."
"I've been to his apartment. There's no pictures of us, no mementos of us at all. If I mean that much to him why doesn't he have more things of 'us' around?"
Martha knew she would have to word this carefully. Lois thought she was in love with this Deter fellow and to try to make him look bad in Lois' eyes would probably only backfire. "Well," she answered slowly, "Clark was told that reminders of your feelings for him would only make things worse, so he put everything away, for your own good."
"Who would tell him a ridiculous thing like that? Things that would remind me of what was apparently a powerful emotion, would only help, wouldn't it? I did a story once..." Lois shook her head. "I didn't remember that story a minute ago. I know I didn't."
"So your memory is coming back?"
Lois sighed. "Slowly. In fits and spurts. I remember the story and I remember it was WCK but we didn't write it together."
"WCK?"
"With Clark Kent. That's how Jimmy categorized my stories – BCK and WCK."
"Ah."
"This story... I remember..." Lois stood and began to pace around the kitchen. "All the research says that reminders of the amnesiac's former life are good for them. That it helps to have familiar things around. Why would someone tell Clark otherwise?"
Martha shrugged. She thought she knew why – that Deter fellow was scum of the earth – but didn't feel she could say.
Boots thumping on the porch stopped any further conversation. Jonathan entered the kitchen followed closely by Clark.
Clark found his eyes immediately looking for Lois, as they always seemed to. He was drawn to her – he always had been and always would be. He didn't find the open hostility there he expected but there wasn't a welcoming glow either. He walked towards his mom and kissed her on the cheek, letting himself be drawn into her motherly embrace.
"She's still in there somewhere," she whispered to him.
He nodded grateful for the encouragement. This had been the right decision, bringing Lois here.
*****
"I don't understand why we're up here." Lois scrambled up the last rung and into the hayloft, lit only by the ambient light of the moon and the stars.
"She wants us to find the kittens that are missing and Dad apparently has a bum knee." Clark shrugged as he climbed after her. "You don't argue with Mom."
Lois laughed. "Not your mom anyway. I argued with my mom plenty."
"You remember?" he asked softly.
"I remember lots of things, Clark."
"Just not me." It wasn't even a question. He already knew the answer. She remembered everything but him. If he could only get his hands on that Deter....
"Clark?"
Lois' voice brought him back to the present. "Yeah?"
"Why is there mistletoe in the hayloft?"
He looked up and smiled softly to himself. "I put it there."
Lois raised an eyebrow at him. "Why?"
He sat on the blanket that was spread on the hay. He picked up a piece of straw and fiddled with it as he spoke. "I put it up before we came out for Christmas last year. The first Christmas we worked together, Cat put some mistletoe up in the newsroom and we had a conversation about kissing in the hayloft. That first year we tested out a hay bale in my apartment. Last year we came up here to test it out."
"We did?"
"Yeah."
"Did I... we like it?"
Clark grinned at her. "Oh, yeah."
Lois sat on the blanket, but he noticed she placed herself as far from him as she could without making it too obvious that she didn't want to be too close to him.
Clark laid his head back and stared at the stars out the window. It was so like it had been, but so different.
"Tell me about it."
Her voice was so soft that he almost didn't hear her.
He rolled onto his side and propped himself up on one elbow. "Well, it was a surprise. Mom sent us up here to..." He cleared his throat. "...find some kittens." He hung his head sheepishly. "I'd asked her to, but she knew what I really wanted. She'd seen the mistletoe already."
"What did I do when I saw it?"
"You laughed. Your wonderful laugh. Then you threw some hay at me, called me a farmboy and we had a hay fight."
"Who won?"
"We both did."
She looked at him quizzically.
"Let's just say we didn't throw hay at each other for long."
A look of realization spread across her face. "Ah." She plopped back so she was staring up at the mistletoe. "Did we put it to good use?"
"Put what to good use?"
"The mistletoe."
Clark turned crimson as he remembered that night. "Uh, yeah. We did." If it hadn't been for a kitten crawling over the two of them....
Lois laughed.
"What?!"
"You're three shades of red, Clark."
"So?" He stared at the piece of straw in his hand.
Lois giggled and reached for a handful of hay. Impulsively, she threw it in his direction.
It caught him off guard, but in a pleasant sort of way. "HEY!"
She giggled again. "We're in a hayloft, silly." She scooped up another handful and let it slowly drift down over his head.
A growl came from deep in his throat. "You asked for it."
He reached behind him and grabbed a handful of hay himself. He tossed it in her direction.
She scrambled to her feet, reaching for more as she did.
Next thing he knew, it was a full blown hay fight, just like the one they'd had before.
He chased her around the hayloft, until he caught her by the arm, careful as always to control his strength. He held a large handful over her head and began to let it trickle slowly out of his fingers.
She giggled and squirmed, trying to get out of his grasp.
He continued to let the hay trickle out. "You know, if you don't stop fighting, I'll be forced to take more drastic measures."
She still struggled. "Like what?"
An impish light appeared in his eyes. "I'll have to stuff some down your shirt."
Her eyes widened slightly, but she couldn't stop laughing. "You wouldn't."
He nodded solemnly. "I would."
"You wouldn't."
"Try me!"
She tried again to wiggle out of his grasp.
"You asked for it!"
In one swift move, he pinned her against his chest.
One arm held her tight to his chest and the other hand shoved hay down the back of her shirt.
He heard a loud 'eep' amidst her laughter and she wriggled away. "CLARK!" She untucked her shirt and started shaking the hay out.
"I warned you."
"Clark, help me."
Clark laughed and brushed her shoulders as she tried to get the hay out from under her shirt.
She was still laughing and she asked again that he help her get rid of the hay.
He swallowed hard and knelt down to brush at her jeans, bits of straw floating down on top of his head. His gaze moved slightly and he found himself face to face with her belly button. He stood slowly, his hands running up the outside of her body until they rested on her hips and their faces were inches from each other.
She hadn't stopped laughing until she looked up at him. He heard her breath catch in her throat and she reached up to rest one hand on his chest as though to push him away, but instead it tugged slightly on his shirt until he moved even closer to her.
Her breath was warm on his lips as she whispered, "We're under the mistletoe."
He didn't even look up. "Yes, we are."
"I guess that means we should kiss."
His faced moved imperceptibly closer to hers. "I guess we should." He lowered his lips to hers and gently brushed against them. He felt more than heard her gentle sigh and she pressed her body closer to his, her hands running up his arms until they caressed his shoulders.
Her mouth opened slightly to suck gently on his lip. He wrapped one arm around her, his hand sliding along the waistband of her jeans, his thumb slightly above it touching her soft skin. He held her tightly, his other arm outstretched as he lowered them gently to the blanket on the hay.
She offered no objection, but her lips continued to stroke his. Her tongue ran lightly along his lip asking silently for access. He opened his lips a little wider and shifted slightly so his body wouldn’t crush hers as they lay there.
Her hands continued to run over his shoulders and down his arms, sending shivers of delight throughout his body. He ran one hand up over the denim-clad hip of the woman he loved until he reached bare skin.
He hesitated, but a small moan from Lois urged him on. His hand slid under her shirt and he rubbed lightly the skin just above her waist.
When she didn't protest, but deepened the kiss he grew a little bolder. He shifted slightly again so he lay along her side, one leg intertwined with hers.
His lips stopped suddenly as something landed on his head. A 'mreow' in his ear broke the mood and Lois suddenly pushed away from him.
She rolled herself into a sitting position then stood, tucking her shirt in as she went.
Clark flopped back onto the blanket, his eyes following her every move, unable to help but notice that her shirt was a bit tighter than she'd probably like it in the front – every curve visible to him.
He could hear mumbled curses under her breath as she tried to finish tucking it in. With an exasperated sound, she finally gave up and untucked it all together so it hung loose over the voluptuous breasts he'd caressed just a moment before.
She walked towards the ladder, not speaking till just before she started down. "I'm sorry, Clark. I'm sorry if I gave you the wrong impression. I'm sorry I let things get so out of hand." She paused and it sounded as though she was going to say something else, but she left without another word.
*****
TBC
