Thanks - as always - to Kathy.
Last time
"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?"
*~*5*~*
Lois watched a myriad of emotions play across Clark's face.
"What?" he asked again. "You think we could already be married?"
"I don't know. But Star has that feeling and I don't know why it's important that we've been married since last week instead of flying off to Vegas or something but it is."
She searched his face again, unsure of what emotions and thoughts were playing out in his head. She backed away from him. "But, um, I mean I know lots of people who've slept together in Smallville who married other people without any problems so I guess maybe it's not legal or at least not without us going in and signing something, which I don't see us doing so I don't think you have to worry about causing problems if we don’t' work out in the long run. I mean, really. Star's spotty at best. She's probably not any more right about this than she was about aliens stealing her thoughts or whatever when she left. Like tin foil could keep aliens out of your head if they really wanted to steal your brain or alter your genetics or something."
She would have continued but she found her lips occupied. She moaned slightly and melted against him, his arms holding her up.
They pulled away in unison a minute later.
Clark was grinning.
"What?" she asked, half irritated.
"I think I found a surefire way to get you to stop babbling." He kissed her softly. "I meant it earlier when I said 'marry me'. I'm just caught off guard about the whole sleeping together maybe being real. That's it. I mean, how off-guard would you be if some... IRS agent showed up one day and said that we filed our taxes wrong because we'd registered as a married couple last weekend? Just trying to wrap my brain around it that's all." He kissed her one more time. "So how do we find out if we're already legally married?"
"You mean it?" She searched his chocolate eyes for any sign of hesitation and didn't see any.
"Of course I mean it. How else am I going to get to eat your cookies for the rest of my life? And surely my father-in-law will, someday, tell me how to make his barbecue for my wife."
She laughed. "I wouldn’t count on that. Even *I* don't know what he does – I don't think Mom does either."
"So what do we do?" he asked again.
She moved away from him and spoke as they worked to put his ship back in the secret compartment. "We go to town. My uncle is the county clerk. We go to his office and ask him. He's the one who gives out marriage licenses and stuff. And if he has no clue or says it's not really a law, then we fly to Vegas and hope it really doesn't matter." She headed out of the shelter. "Then we have dinner with my folks, fly back to your apartment and..." She couldn’t look at him – not with the implications of what she was saying. "...bunk together for the rest of our lives."
The metal door slammed shut and then Clark was behind her, with his arms around her waist. "I like the sound of that," he murmured. He tightened his grip. "I'm just going to fly us real quick okay?"
She nodded and wrapped her arms over his.
Mere seconds later, they landed near the court house.
She took his hand and led him into the basement. Near the far side, she went into a door marked 'county clerk'. "Uncle Joe?" she called.
"Lois?" The voice coming from a back room sounded surprised.
"Yeah, it's me."
Her uncle, tall and slender with thinning blond hair, came out of the office. "What can I do for my favorite niece?" he asked.
"This is Clark Lane. Clark, my uncle Joe Kent." The two men shook hands. "We have a question for you but..."
"But what, sugar?"
Lois bit her lip. "Are you bound by any confidentiality laws or anything?"
He nodded slowly. "I can't just call up your mom and say 'hey Lois and some guy just got a marriage license' if that's what you mean, but once the paperwork is filed, it's public information. Parts of all information collected are available to anyone who requests it. Not like... Social Security Numbers, but a lot of the other information is. Is that what you mean?"
She nodded. "I need to ask you something and keep it under wraps for now."
"I can do that." He grinned. "You'd be surprised at the number of things I know." He winked at her. "What's up?"
She took a deep breath. "Is there any truth to the sleeping together in Lowell County means you're married thing? There's lots of weird laws all over the country and we were wondering if that might be one of them."
Joe nodded slowly. "It is. I don't remember the last time someone used that particular regulation though."
"We want to." Clark said it and Lois breathed a sigh of relief that he was still on board.
He looked at them both for a long moment as Lois nodded. "You sure, Punky?" he asked quietly.
She nodded. "I am."
"You don't want a traditional wedding and all that?"
Lois shrugged. "Maybe we'll have one someday but not now. Right now, we just want to do this. Please."
He nodded. "Let me find the form. Most people think it's a joke and it's not automatic anyway," he called from the other room. "You have to fill out a form to make it legal. Originally, you only had to have two witnesses that said you slept together claim it and sign the form and it was legal but it was changed in... the thirties, I guess it was, so that the couple had to sign the form. If anyone challenges it, you'll need two witnesses who know you slept together to validate it, but that challenge has to be made within thirty days so..."
He emerged from the office with a dusty file folder. He pulled a sheet of paper out and ran it through the copy machine. "I don't think this form's been used since I've been the clerk and it's been almost twenty-five years now."
A minute later, they were sitting at his desk, filling out the marriage license form. Once they'd filled in their personal information, Joe took it from them to fill out his portion.
Clark stood suddenly. "Where's the restroom?"
Lois looked up at him, confused. "Everything okay?"
He nodded. "Just point me the right direction." Joe did and Clark disappeared.
Her uncle turned back to the form. "Okay... Other. See form 92-B4," he muttered as he wrote a note on there. He handed her the newly copied sheet of paper. "Fill that one out, too, hon." He pulled it away as she tried to take it from him. "Are you *sure*?"
She nodded. "I'm sure, Uncle Joe," she said softly and took the form from him, filling in the relevant information about where and when they'd slept together and listed several possible references of people who knew.
Clark chose that moment to walk back in. He pulled something out of his pocket. "I thought you'd want this for today."
Tears sprang to her eyes as she eyed the pendant she'd worn to the fundraiser the night before – the one every woman in his family had worn on their wedding day for generations.
"Thank you," she whispered, sweeping her hair off her neck so he could fasten it for her. His hands came to rest on her shoulders and he pressed a kiss against the crown of her head.
"Okay, kids," Joe said, interrupting the moment. "Let's make this official."
*****
TBC
