Thanks to Kathy [even though she made me rewrite more :p She was right - again... Guess that's why she gets the big bucks?]
Last time
It had been a very interesting first week together and part of her hoped that not all of her life in Metropolis would be as exciting, but the rest of her craved the excitement of the big city. She'd felt truly alive as they'd walked through downtown Metropolis earlier in the day – even if meeting Clark’s Assistant District Attorney ex-girlfriend had put a bit of a damper on it.
She tightened her hold on him but startled slightly as it hit her. It was the eighth night that she'd known him – they'd met late the Tuesday before and now it was sometime early morning the following Wednesday. In those eight nights, they'd slept in the same bed, for one reason or another, for half of them.
She felt safe with him. Even before she'd known he was Superman, she'd felt safe with him.
And she was falling in love with him. She wasn't ready to say the three little words yet – and neither was he – but both were clearly headed in that direction.
When they'd gone to bed initially, he'd been wearing a shirt but it had been discarded at some point and she snuggled closer to his warmth.
She softly kissed his back and willed herself to sleep.
*~*2*~*
Clark took a big bite of his scrambled eggs, raising his fork in greeting as his grandpa walked into the kitchen.
"Morning, Clarkie," he said, heading to the refrigerator to pull out a gallon of milk.
"Morning, Gramps."
"Missed you last night. Everyone was asking where you took off to."
"Sorry about that. Something came up very unexpectedly."
"Was it bad?" Nate asked quietly.
Clark pushed his eggs around on his plate. "How long have you known?"
He snorted. "That my grandson moonlights in tights?"
Clark nodded.
"Since you first showed up on the space transport."
Clark looked up, surprised. "Really? That long?"
Nate nodded. "I figured it out a long time ago – that there was something different about your adoption. Sam had to ask for some money about the time they found you – a lot of it – to do something he never explained. I'd imagine it had something to do with your birth certificate."
"Why didn't you ever say anything?"
"It's your life, Clarkie. Your secret. I know you have very good reasons for not telling people and I figured when you were ready for me to know, you'd tell me and if you never did, I understood that, too."
Clark slowly chewed a bite of his bacon. "When did you first realize that I might be really different?"
"I heard about the UFO hunters up at the cabin and I never really believed that one of Ellen's college friends had met them at the cabin and given them her baby. I never thought they'd done something... illegal like steal a baby or something, but I knew there was something very unusual about your adoption from the beginning."
"I thought they told everyone they were looking for pieces of a satellite," Clark said, his brow furrowed in thought.
"Oh, they did, but no one really believed it. No one knew your folks had been there that weekend – they hadn't gone into town at all – so no one sent anyone to the cabin to check on anything. But everyone there knew they were looking for a UFO or some other space material."
Clark leaned back in his seat. "Wow. I never would have guessed that you knew that much that long ago."
Nate poured cereal into a bowl. "Well, I never really thought you were an alien," he admitted. "But once I read your first article about Krypton and everything, it all made sense."
"Well, I didn't know about all that till I was like fifteen."
"And that's why you didn't help out at the summer camps anymore, right? You were getting your powers?"
Clark nodded. "Yeah. Things were just too weird for me to trust myself in that kind of situation."
Gramps started to say something but was interrupted by the phone ringing. He answered and waved to Clark before walking into the other room.
Clark could hear the clicking of heels on the tile in the entryway. He smiled as Lois walked into the kitchen. She looked crisply professional and ready for her first official day in the office.
"Good morning," she said brightly.
"Morning. You look very nice," he told her as she slid onto the bar stool next to him. He leaned over for a quick kiss. "Very nice for your first official day as my assistant."
She smacked him on the shoulder. "Don't let it go to your head, Lane."
"Can I get you something for breakfast?"
Lois shook her head. "Just some coffee. I don't normally eat much first thing in the morning. I'll grab something when we get to work."
Clark, almost literally, inhaled the rest of his food before wiping his mouth on his napkin. "Ready to go?" He looked up at her to see her mouth hanging open. "What?"
"You... you *inhaled* your food," she gaped.
He shrugged. "But I'd never inhale your chocolate chip cookies. Those are meant to be savored." He winked at her. "Ready?"
"Sure."
He picked up his suit coat and shrugged it on before heading towards the garage. They climbed into his Jeep and headed towards Metropolis.
"So what's on the agenda for today?" Lois asked, taking a sip of her coffee.
He shrugged. "We'll do some more follow-up on the Harrington stuff and the accident last night. I've got a call in to a source about some of the Bureau 39 guys still on the move with some sort of new UFO sighting or something but I don’t expect anything to come of it. Probably some of Trask's men still on the loose. Sarah said she had a story for us so, if we have a chance to talk to her, we might come up with something. I've heard rumblings about some stuff with city council. The dock workers are talking about a strike." He shrugged. "We'll see what the day brings."
"Sounds good."
"You know," Clark said thoughtfully, taking her hand in his. "We haven't been out on a real date yet."
"What do you call the Corn Festival dance?"
"True," he admitted. "But I meant a date where I pick you up at the door and take you out to a nice dinner and maybe dancing or a movie or something."
"Then no, we haven't."
"So whaddya say? How about tonight?" He grinned at her. "Will you go out with me?"
She laughed. "Sure. Where're we going?"
"I was thinking Callard's for dinner and then we can decide what we want to do after that. We could go for a walk by the waterfront or..."
"A flight through the sky?"
He chuckled. "I don't see why not."
"Then you've got yourself a date, Mr. Lane."
"Seven sound good to you?"
"Sure. Need directions?"
Clark laughed out loud at that, to the point that Lois couldn't help but join him. When he finally caught his breath, he pulled her hand towards him and kissed the back of it. "Dad always said to marry a girl who could make me laugh. Guess we've got that covered."
"You were the one who came up with having Jimmy get Perry an Elvis costume," she reminded him. "It wasn't my idea to do that and we laughed hysterically."
"I need to remember to give him money for that – I didn't think he'd really do it." Clark let go of her hand to turn into the parking garage. "Here we are."
Lois picked up a bagel at the stand near the entrance. They headed to the newsroom and she started to get her desk more organized to her liking. Jimmy had left a post-it note on her computer letting her know that he'd be by later to help her set up her email and show her everything else on the network. Clark logged in and checked his email.
He looked up when he heard his name.
"Clark Lane. Where have you been hiding?"
A grin split his face. "Star!" He stood and gave the woman a big hug. "How are you? I haven't seen you in ages."
"I could say the same for you, honey." She set her purse down on his desk. "Now. What's this I keep getting about you getting married last week?"
*****
TBC
