Thanks again to Kathy!
Last time
In California, you can't shoot any kind of game from a moving vehicle – except whales; those were fine to shoot. Of course, this was also the state that said no vehicle without a driver could go more than sixty miles an hour and a city – Blythe – that told you that you weren't allowed to wear cowboy boots unless you already owned two cows.
With all of those, and all of the other crazy laws still on the books, was it *possible* that sleeping in the same bed in Lowell County made you legally married?
How would she find out? Was it worth looking into? Would she even *want* to be married to Clark?
Memories of kissing him flooded her mind. He was a good, kind, honest man. He was everything she'd ever wanted in a man – and he could fly.
Maybe it was worth looking into after all.
*~*4*~*
Clark kept one eye on Lois the rest of the day.
Once Star left, she'd been oddly quiet. She hadn't even talked to her mom when he'd finished.
She'd eventually asked if he thought they could leave for Smallville by five or so. He didn't see why not – it was a pretty quiet news day. Most of what they were doing was phone calls and follow-ups not chasing down leads outside the office.
They'd have to take off from work rather than heading home to change, but Lois said that was fine with her. She had clothes to change into at home if she wanted to. Clark had a change of clothes in his locker so that wasn't an issue either.
They took off from the roof of the Daily Planet building, with Lois still not saying much. When they landed in the farmyard, no one else was there.
Lois started talking the second her feet hit the ground. "I'm going to go change and I'll meet you back here in a minute." She hadn't finished before she headed towards her room. Clark had changed before they left but took the opportunity to spin out of the Suit.
It was less than five minutes before Lois was in the living room where Clark was waiting for her.
"Come on." She grabbed his hand and dragged him into the yard, heading towards the storm shelter. "I have something to tell you."
A few minutes later, his ship was there in front of them.
"I didn't tell you the whole truth," she said quietly.
They were leaning against one wall as they gazed at the ship. Their shoulders brushed against each other but that was the only physical contact between them.
"About what?" he asked, in equally quiet tones.
"What your father said to me when we were here last time."
He tried to stop annoyance from welling up inside him. Why wouldn't she have told him what his father said? And why had his father said it to her anyway – and not him at the same time?
"'In the absence of the House of Ra, you have my blessing.'"
He barely heard her speak, her voice was so low, and he hadn't really been listening anyway – caught up in his own thoughts.
"What?"
"'In the absence of the House of Ra, you have my blessing'," she said again. "That's what he said to me."
"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked, puzzled. "And why didn't you tell me?"
She shrugged. "It seemed... personal, somehow. Like he was talking to *me* and I guess I just wasn't ready to deal with the implications."
"What implications?"
"You have some Kryptonian birth wife. It seems like you're from the House of El. Krypto Chick must be from the House of Ra. That's the conclusion I came to anyway."
He nodded slowly, taking it in. "I guess that makes sense."
"And what he said to us the other day seemed to indicate that he thought that Krypto Chick *might* make it to Earth with you. I guess it means that if she didn't, I have his blessing to be with you, in your life, I guess."
He nodded again. "Okay. So why are you telling me all this now? Why are we here before five?"
"Because of what Star said to me today." She started pacing nervously.
He grimaced. "Lois, I've told you that Star's record is spotty at best."
Her fingers twisted nervously together. "She knows you're an alien," she blurted out.
"What?" He felt sucker punched.
Lois nodded. "She hasn't had a feeling this strong since your parents found you in that ship is what she told me."
"What feeling?" he asked, skeptically.
"That someone from your past is going to come between us."
"Like who? Mayson? Not happening. No one else was serious enough for it to matter." He grasped her hands as she walked by him again and turned her to face him. "Promise."
He kissed her softly, intending for that to be the end of it, but she practically threw herself at him with abandon. She kissed him, passionately, urgently.
For long moments, he lost himself in her, in her kiss, before he pulled back. It shocked him to see tears on her face.
"What is it, sweetheart?" he asked softly, brushing them away with his fingers.
"My gut is saying she's right, Clark. Something's going to happen to come between us and that's going to be the end of it. *Something's* going to happen."
He searched her eyes for a long moment. He wasn't sure what it was that was freaking her out, but something told him that her concern was genuine. This wasn't some ploy – though to what end she would be... ploying was beyond him.
He pulled her close to him, holding her as tears streamed down her cheeks.
"I don't want to lose you just after I found you," she finally whispered.
"You're not going to."
"How can you *know* that?"
"Marry me."
The words were out before he had a chance to even think about them.
She moved back, looking deep in his eyes. "Do you mean that?"
"I do," he said sincerely.
She pulled away from him, starting to pace again.
"What?" he finally asked.
"I have to tell you something else and I really don't know how this is going to play out and I didn't mean to cry and all that." She took a deep, steadying breath. "It occurred to me that the whole sleeping together rural legend might be reality. There's some really strange laws out there that are still valid – like in New Orleans, you can't chase a fish in a city park or in Alaska you can shoot a bear but you can't wake one up to take a picture and you can't push a live moose out of an airplane, but I guess that means you could push a dead one out. And I didn't really think you'd ask me – sort of – to marry you but..."
He took both of his arms in his hands, forcing her gently to stop and look at him. "Lois, honey. You're babbling again. What are you saying?"
She stopped to look at him, tears still filling her big, brown eyes. "I'm saying I wonder if there might be some kernel of truth to the sleeping together thing and if, somehow, we're already married."
Clark's jaw dropped and his eyes blinked rapidly. "What?"
*****
TBC
