Oooo that was way easier than I thought!
Thanks again to Kathy!
Last time
"Come back to Metropolis with me," he said, interrupting her thoughts. "I don't know what's going to happen with this, with *us*, but I know you belong at a world class paper like the Daily Planet. Nothing against Smallville's paper, but you're a world class reporter, destined for reporting greatness and I have every intention of riding your coattails to a Pulitzer."
She laughed and moved back slightly to look up at him. "You'll have to pull your own weight, Lane. No riding coattails around here. Speaking of..." She moved out of his arms, grabbing his hand and dragging him towards a more secluded location. "You're feeling better? Really?"
He nodded. "Not super, yet, but much better. I could feel my strength coming back at the bell thing. My hearing is better and I just *feel* better."
"Can you do any of your buzz-buzz eye stuff?" she asked.
"My what?" he asked back, an eyebrow raised.
"I know you can do stuff with your eyes. Can you do any of it?"
He tipped his glasses down and glanced around. "No. Not yet. A little bit but not really." He leaned in to kiss her again, lightly. "So whaddya say? Come to Metropolis with me."
*~*25*~*
She sighed in his arms. "I don't know, Clark. Smallville is my home."
He tucked a finger under her chin, his thumb gently rubbing over her lips. "Is it really? I mean, I know this is where your family is and where you grew up, but is it really *home* for you now? You'll always be welcome at Kent Farms and *it* will always be home for you, but is Smallville? Do you feel like this is where you belong for the rest of your life?"
Lois hesitated before shaking her head. "No," she whispered against his thumb. "This isn't where I belong."
He wanted her to say 'I belong with you. Wherever you are, it's home.' She didn't, but that was what he wanted to hear.
"So come with me."
She closed her eyes and leaned forward, resting her forehead against him. "I don't know."
"Lois? Clark?"
Clark sighed as he heard Martha Kent's voice calling for them.
"We should go see what she wants." Lois moved away from him and back towards the Festival.
"There you two are," Martha said, seeing them. "They're done judging the barbecue. We could use your help at the booth, Lois, but only if I'm not interrupting something." She glanced back and forth between them.
"Where's Lucy?"
Martha shrugged. "I'm not sure. She knows she's supposed to be back in time but..."
Clark put his arm around Lois' waist. "Let's go. I'll help."
They spent the next two hours helping serve customers at the tent. After that they wandered around for a while longer before going to watch the announcements of the assorted winners.
As expected, Jonathan Kent won the barbecue contest, Martha Kent won the pumpkin pie contest and Lois won the best cookie contest.
After that wrapped up, they – along with almost everyone else – headed home.
Clark changed into his tan Dockers and blue button down shirt. Spending the day with Lois had been nice – very nice. He could only hope that she'd come back to Metropolis with him. He sighed. If all of his powers came back, he could fly out to see her whenever he wanted.
But he'd really rather she just came to Metropolis.
He stopped as he tucked his shirt in.
Would he move to Smallville?
If she didn't want to come to Metropolis, would he move to Kansas?
What kind of job could he get? Where could he live? There was an apartment complex in Smallville. Parsons and Independence weren't too far away and they were larger towns that might have more job opportunities.
But the Daily Planet was his dream job. Would he give it up for Lois? If they started a relationship and she didn't want to move?
He'd cross that bridge when he got to it.
He headed to the living room to find Lois already there.
"Wow," he said, his eyes traveling up and down her body. "You clean up good."
"So I don't look like hell anymore?"
He reached out and took her chin in his hand, turning her face slightly to either side. "You've looked better, but you've never looked better."
"That doesn't make any sense."
"It's the truth."
The burgundy print dress hugged her body in all the right places before flaring to swirl around her legs and her soft brown leather boots. He extended his arm. "Shall we?"
He could feel the warmth of her hand through his shirt sleeve as she tucked it into his elbow.
They reached his rental car and he stopped before opening her door. "Lois?"
She looked up at him expectantly.
"Would you go out with me tonight?"
"Like on a date?"
He nodded. "Would you be my date for the Corn Festival dance?"
"It's called the Popcorn Ball," she told him, straight-faced.
His eyebrows raised. "Excuse me?"
She laughed. "Not this year, but it has been a time or two in the past."
"So will you?"
"Be your date?" she clarified.
"Yes."
"You mean like a real date? Like where I take out my best perfume, the one I bought after seeing 'Love Affair' the good one not the remake, and put a dab behind my knee, even though I have no idea why? Or I would except we're already at the car?"
"Exactly."
She smiled. "It would be my honor."
He leaned down and brushed her lips lightly with his own. "Good."
"Does this mean you're going to give me a hickey behind the Dairy Freeze?" she asked, looking up at him with wide, innocent eyes.
"If you're lucky." He grinned at her. "Or maybe I'll just take all your dances tonight."
"Not a chance."
He laughed. "Well, I guess I can share you some, as long as you promise to come home with me."
She rolled her eyes. "Of course I'm coming home with you. I *live* here. You're staying here. It's a no-brainer."
With that they headed to town.
The next morning, Clark stared out the window of the small jet sitting on the tarmac. The evening had been everything he'd hoped for. Good food. Good company. Dances with Lois. Line dances with her as his partner. Slow dances where he'd held her close, aware that nearly every eye in Smallville was on them. A long, sweet kiss under the moon as they went for a walk when they got back to the farm. Her walking him to her room and another all-too-brief kiss before she turned and walked away.
And a short, chaste, good-bye kiss in the morning as he and his parents headed to the small airport in Independence, KS.
His grandpa had read about his fight with Trask and insisted on chartering a jet for them on the way back to Metropolis so Clark wouldn't be stuck in the small seats and narrow aisles of a commercial airliner. He'd tried to convince his grandpa that he was fine but he'd have none of it. They'd returned both rental cars to the branch in Independence and were just waiting on clearance from the tower or something.
'Airport' was a bit of a misnomer. It was really an airstrip that mostly catered to crop dusters, but it was capable of dealing with a small jet or two.
"We'll be taxing towards the runway in just a moment," came a voice over the intercom. "They have one more thing to get on the plane."
With a slight hiss, the door opened. Clark continued to stare out the window, heedless of what was happening behind him.
"I don't suppose you have room for a tagalong."
His head snapped around to see Lois standing there, suitcase in hand, biting her lip. She looked at him hopefully.
"Is there room for one more?"
He didn’t say anything but crossed the plane in one large step, wrapping her in his arms and kissing her soundly.
When his dad's throat clearing and mom's soft 'Sam' made it into his consciousness, he moved back, resting his forehead against hers.
"There's always room for you, Lois. Always," he whispered.
He took her hand and led her to the small loveseat his parents had vacated in favor of the captain's chairs across the plane. They buckled in and, with his arm around her, the plane took to the sky.
They were headed for Metropolis.
Together.
Fin
[or... To Be Continued in Backwards II: Return to Metropolis]
