"Well, hopefully we just won't see much of him. I mean, there are tons of people at the conference every year. How much time can we possibly have to spend with him?" Lois asked rhetorically, walking towards the front desk.
*****
Clark nodded, following her to the desk. He knew Lois didn't have feelings for him, but hearing her horror at the thought of having other people think they were a couple really stung. She had said it was the complications she was worried about… Complications. Why did everything have to be so complicated? If only Lois could return the feelings he had for her, if only this stupid pretense was real, that would simplify everything.
Clark shook his head and forced himself to stop thinking along those lines. If he was going to survive this, he needed to stop thinking there was any possibility that this was going to magically bring them together like some trite romance movie.
Jimmy gave them one last funny look, then announced that he had his key and was meeting his friend in their room and that they had plans for that night so he probably would see them until breakfast.
Lois and Clark told him to have fun and handed their driver's licenses to the desk clerk. He returned them with their keys and summoned a bellboy to carry their bags.
"So, where are you staying?" Paul asked as they walked to the elevators. "Maybe we're neighbors."
"We're in 403 and 415," Clark replied.
"You're not staying together?" Paul asked, obviously surprised.
Clark saw Lois' jaw clench out of the corner of his eye. "No," he said calmly. "This is a business trip."
"Ahh, I see," Paul said, raising an eyebrow suggestively.
"Besides," Clark said, trying to ignore Paul's innuendo, "Jimmy and I were supposed to share a room until he discovered his friend was going to be here."
"So, you have a double all to yourself?" Paul asked. At Clark's nod, he rushed on. "That's perfect! The guy I'm rooming with is a real wet blanket. I planned to just pay the difference and get a single when I got here, but the entire hotel is booked solid."
"Ah, I-" Clark started, desperately trying to think of a tactful way to tell Paul he didn't want to room with him.
But Paul didn't wait for Clark's response. "This will be great. I'll just go get my stuff and I'll meet you back in the room," he said, grabbing one of the keys out of Clark's hand.
Before Clark could say another word, Paul disappeared into an elevator. Clark turned to Lois, his jaw slightly ajar.
"How did that just happen?" he asked, shaking his head slightly.
Lois shook her head and sighed. "That's Paul for you." Then the reality of the situation seemed to dawn on her. "Oh, Clark. What are we going to do?"
"There's nothing we *can* do, Lois. If I tell him that he can't stay with me now, it's only going to cause more problems. We've already agreed that we're going to have to keep playing along with this, this is just going to complicate things a little bit."
"A little bit?"
"Ok, so, we're going to see a little more of Paul than we thought. It's no big deal. And we probably won't see that much more of him. I mean, how much time are we going to be spending in the room? We'll just hang out in your room when we're not at the events. Besides, Paul will probably be off with his friends too."
Lois didn't look convinced, but she didn't protest any as they made their way to the rooms to unpack and get settled in.
*****
Clark set his suitcase down on one of the beds and unzipped it, pulling out the itinerary for the week. He scanned the brochure, looking to see when and where they were supposed to register for the conference. He was less than thrilled about the prospect of sharing a room with Paul, but he was resigning himself to the fact that it wouldn't be too bad. He might be able to keep an eye on him surreptitiously to make sure he wasn't causing any problems for Lois. His only real fear at this point was how he would explain himself if he had to leave suddenly to be Superman. His friends had become accustomed to his random disappearances, but it was harder when you were sharing a small hotel room with a total stranger.
"So, I bet you and Lois are looking forward to this week, huh?" Paul asked.
Clark looked up just in time to catch a wicked gleam in Paul's eyes. Clark shifted uncomfortably, not exactly sure what Paul was insinuating, but getting a pretty good idea from his smug grin.
Clark cleared his throat. "Well, it should be fun. I'm looking forward to hearing Bob Woodward speak."
Paul raised an eyebrow. "Yeah…. But you know how these things are, the real fun doesn't begin until the sessions are over. The bar downstairs is where the real action takes place. Well, that's where the action starts, anyway. It usually doesn't take me too long to take it somewhere a little more private," Paul said with a grin.
Clark hoped he was interpreting Paul's innuendoes incorrectly. "What about Jennifer?"
"Oh, come on. It's not like we we're married. Besides, what she doesn't know won't hurt her."
Clark shook his head slightly, dropping his gaze and busying himself with aimless rearranging the items in his suitcase.
"Too bad Lois is here. I'm sure she'll keep you on a tight leash."
Clark's head jerked up. "She doesn't have to keep me on a leash," Clark said, nearly spitting out the distasteful words. "I would *never*…"
Paul laughed. "Yeah, I heard you were a bit of a boy scout. That's just as well, though. In fact, I was kinda counting on it. I figured that since Lois had her own room – and you being a devoted boyfriend, completely wrapped around her little finger – you'd be over there anyway, so rooming with you would be just as good as having my own room. I guess it was a stroke of luck that I ran into you in the lobby, huh?"
Clark's jaw dropped slightly, and he stood stunned for a second. Surely Paul wasn't implying that he thought Clark was going to be spending his nights in Lois' room, leaving the room empty for his…. Well, for whatever he was planning to do.
Paul, oblivious to Clark's surprise, was busily hanging his suits in the closet. "Anyway, I'm supposed to meet a friend of mine from The Boston Globe for lunch, so I've got to get going. I'll see you around later."
With that, Paul grabbed his wallet from the desk and smiled at Clark one last time before disappearing out the door. Clark shook his head to clear his thoughts, and replayed the conversation he'd just had with Paul. The more Clark learned about Paul and Jennifer's relationship, the less he understood it.
As for his assumption that Clark would be spending his nights in Lois' bed, leaving the room free for his revelry…he could only hope that Paul's opinion of his own charms was greatly inflated and there would not actually be a need for him to vacate the room.
He sighed then told himself that at least this might solve the Superman problem. If he had to disappear in the middle of the night, Paul would just assume that he was visiting Lois.
*****
"Do you want to have breakfast in the restaurant downstairs before the first session?" Clark asked, leaning against the frame of Lois' open door.
After successfully registering for the conference and getting settled into their hotel rooms, they had decided they were too tired to spend their first night in DC out exploring the city. Instead, they had settled for changing into sweats and curling up on Lois' bed to watch a movie on television.
Clark had to admit that he was happier with that choice than any of the others he had presented. He loved visiting the monuments at dusk, but that didn't compare to an evening watching silly movies with Lois curled up beside him. He could still feel the soft warmth of her head nestled against his shoulder, the smell of her shampoo filling his senses.
They hadn't heard from Paul, and Clark had concluded that he was in no danger of being kicked out of his room for the night. Tomorrow he could explain to Paul that he and Lois weren't sleeping together. They hadn't been dating for very long, so there was no reason for anyone to assume that they were. He'd just have to set him straight.
"Breakfast sounds good," Lois said, breaking into his reverie. "Why don't we meet at eight? You want to come over here and get me?"
Clark smiled and nodded slightly. "Yeah, that sounds good."
He turned to leave and came face to face with an obviously drunk Paul. Draped over him seductively was a scantily-clad woman Clark could only imagine was the 'old friend' Paul had gone to meet for dinner.
"Hey, Buddy! I want you to meet someone. This is my friend, Amanda."
Amanda looked up from where she was layering kisses at the base of Paul's throat just long enough to nod to Clark.
"Thanks again for the room, man," Paul said with a wink as he maneuvered into the room.
Lois had joined Clark in the doorway in time to see Paul enter the room with woman and catch his parting words.
"Um, Clark. I don't think you want to go in there," she said, her voice a bit strained.
Clark turned to look at her, worried. "Maybe they're just…."
Lois shook her head and laughed mirthlessly. "It's exactly what it looks like, Clark. You don't have to try to protect my feelings. Paul can sleep with whoever he wants to. It's not like I'm jealous."
"I know, I just…."
"Look, the real problem here is not that Paul is screwing some stupid woman. The problem is that he's doing it in your room."
Clark shifted uncomfortably, not sure what to say. It was obvious that his only choices were to go across the hall and physically throw Paul and his date out of the hotel room – not an altogether unpleasant thought, but definitely not a practical one – or he was going to have to stay with Lois.
"Come back in, Clark. You can stay here tonight. It's not a big deal," she said, waiting for him to reenter the room before gently closing the door.
"Maybe I should go down the hall and stay with Jimmy," Clark offered, studiously averting his eyes from the queen-sized bed in the middle of the room.
Lois seemed to contemplate that suggestion for a minute, then shook her head. "Paul assumes that you're spending the night in here. If he sees you coming out of Jimmy's room in the morning…."
"He's going to start asking questions," Clark finished for her.
"You'll just have to stay here tonight," she said brusquely. "It's not ideal, but it's the only reasonable solution."
Clark nodded slowly, glancing around the small room.
"Unless you really don't want to…" she said softly. "I mean, I don't want to make you uncomfortable."
"No!" Clark answered quickly. He surveyed the room quickly. It would be possible to pull the two armchairs together to form a pseudo-bed, but it certainly wouldn't be comfortable. "I don't mind. I can just sleep on the floor. It's not a problem."
Lois followed his gaze around the room, settling on the bed. "No. You don't have to do that. We can sleep together – I mean, we can share the bed. We're adults. We're best friends. It's not a big deal, right?"
Clark felt his heart rate speed up and his throat constrict. Sharing a bed was most definitely a big deal. He would lie beside her all night. She would be only an arm's reach a way. He could touch her, hold her. He wouldn't, of course, but he could.
“Right, it's not a big deal.”
“Ok, well then I'll just….” She said, gesturing to the bathroom. “I mean, unless you want to go first.”
“No, no! Go ahead. I'll wait. I need to call the front desk and have them send up a tooth brush, anyway. All my stuff is….” He motioned in the general direction of the room across the hall.
Lois nodded and walked into the bathroom, closing the door behind her.
Clark made the call quickly, then slumped onto the bed, resting his head in his hands. Try as he might, he couldn't decide if this was a blessing or a curse. He had dreamed of having her in his bed more times that he could count, but never under these circumstances.
It was hard enough to control himself where she was involved. Now he was not only pretending to be her boyfriend, he was sharing a bed with her. It would be so easy to forget himself and do something stupid that would cost him her trust and her friendship, and he would never forgive himself if he did.
A moment later Lois exited the bathroom, and Clark took his turn. When he returned, she was already in bed, propped up against the headboard.
“I didn't know which side of the bed you wanted, so I just…” She trailed off nervously.
“This is fine. I don't really have a preference,” Clark said, sliding in beside her.
“Should I go ahead and …?” Lois asked, motioning to the bedside lamp.
“Sure. I'm ready.” Clark said, waiting for her to click off the light before scooting down into a lying position.
He waited while Lois just looked at for a minute.
“What?” he asked finally
“Don't you want to take off your glasses?”
Clark froze for a second, unsure what to do. He couldn't refuse to take them off, that would look way too suspicious. But he didn't relish the thought of taking them off in front of her.
“Oh, right,” he said, forcing his voice to sound as casual as possible. “It's always the last thing I do at night.” He pulled them off slowly and turned away from her to place them on his nightstand.
Lois clicked off the light and followed his lead, moving to lie beside him stiffly. They lie in silence for a few minutes before he felt Lois begin to relax and settle into the bed. He stretched tentatively, careful not to touch her accidentally. His mind was too active to allow him to sleep yet, but he tried valiantly to keep from tossing restlessly.
His whole body snapped to attention when he felt Lois rest her hand on his arm. “Relax, Clark. I'm not going to jump you, I promise.”
“That's the least of my worries,” he muttered.
“What's the matter?” she asked softly, her hand gently stroking his arm.
“I just…. I don't want to make you uncomfortable, I guess. I mean …” he trailed off, unsure how to explain his concerns.
“I'm not scared of you, Clark,” she said. “I trust you.”
Clark felt some of the tension drain from his body. He'd worked so hard to gain her trust. It was such a precious gift from a woman who trusted no one.
He reached over and squeezed her hand reassuringly before moving away and settling into the bed, relaxed this time – or, at least, more relaxed than he had been.
“Good night, Lois,” he said, closing his eyes.
“Goodnight, Clark.”
*****
Lois awoke the next morning to the incessant beeping of her travel alarm clock. She reached over to the nightstand, hit the snooze button, and settled back into her pillow before she remembered where she was and who she was sharing the bed with. She turned her head slightly and peeked out of one eye, trying to determine whether Clark was awake yet. To her surprise, the other side of the bed was unoccupied.
Now fully awake, she sat up and surveyed the room. Clark was nowhere to be found. She shrugged to herself and pushed the covers off her legs, starting to get out of bed. As she did, a paper on her nightstand caught her eye.
“Lois, I hope you got a good night's sleep. I just ran out to get breakfast. Be back soon, Clark.”
Lois' stomach rumbled at the thought of breakfast. She stretched and decided she might as well grab a shower while Clark was gone. When he returned they could eat and head down to the opening programs. She let the note drift from her fingers to the floor and headed to the bathroom.
As Lois climbed into the shower and let the warm water wash away her sleepiness, her brain began to function at full speed again. The events of the day before came back to her and she felt her stomach churn.
What were the chances that she and Paul would wind up at the same conference after all these years? And what were the chances that he would insist of taking over Clark's room, forcing her to sleep with him? Not that it was so bad really. Actually, if she was be completely honest, it was kind of nice to sleep with Clark. He'd been adorably nervous at first, strengthening her trust in him. But he'd reached over and held her hand for a minute, reassuring her that he wouldn't take advantage of the situation. It was so sweet. So Clark.
She finished her shower and stepped onto the mat, toweling off slowly. She wrapped one of the hotel-issued towels around her body, glancing at the mirror and noting how little it left to the imagination. She grabbed another towel from the rack and began blotting the water out of her hair. Her mind wandered back to last night again, lingering on the memory of his hand covering hers, squeezing gently. There was no romance there, and there was no reason that she should feel slightly breathless at the memory of an innocent touch. But her mind refused to let go of the subject yet, and she found herself thinking that this might not be such a bad week after all.
Lois shook her head, disgusted with herself for letting her thoughts get so far off track. She bent down, flipping her hair forward and began to towel it off violently, forcing all thoughts of Clark from her mind.
*****
Clark juggled the paper bag filled with pastries and the two cups of steaming coffee as he searched his pockets for the card that would let him into the room. He finally managed to get the door open, and he strolled into the room whistling to himself.
When he'd been awakened by a little girl's scream this morning, he'd been sure he would arrive on the scene to find an unspeakable horror. He'd paused only long enough to scrawl off an excuse for his absence should Lois awake before he returned before dashing across town to the source of the commotion. But instead of finding an attempted kidnapping or something equally horrifying, he discovered that the little girl – a precious six-year-old with blond ringlets – had screamed because the neighbor's dog had chased her kitten into a tree. The superhero had returned the terrified kitten to her overjoyed owner who had apologized profusely for scaring both Superman and her mother, who had dashed out of the house at the sound of her scream. She had then begged him to autograph the poster hanging on her bedroom wall.
After playing with the little girl for a few minutes and reminding her once again to remain calm and alert an adult should something like this happen again, rather than screaming and scaring everyone, he had flown off.
He had then zipped to Metropolis to make a quick patrol, making sure he was spotted a number of times. With Clark Kent away, it was imperative that Superman be spotted in Metropolis a couple of times. He couldn't let anyone wonder why Clark and Superman seemed to disappear at the same time.
As soon as he had been sure that a number of people could attest to the fact that Superman was in Metropolis making his normal patrols, he had started back for DC, hoping he hadn't been long enough to arouse Lois' suspicions. His note had promised breakfast, and, checking his watch quickly, he had realized that he had time to zip across the world and pick up some Parisian delicacies for Lois' breakfast. He knew he should stop doing things like that – eventually Lois was going to get curious about where the treats he brought her came from. She was the smartest person he knew, and it was only a matter of time before she set her mind to discovering his mystery. But he had figured that one more time wouldn't hurt, and he couldn't pass up the chance to make her smile when he handed her the treat, or the chance to hear the wonderful noises she inevitably made as she savored each bite.
“Lois? I'm back,” Clark said, kicking the door shut behind him. “I brought breakfast.”
Clark looked around the room and saw no sign of Lois. The bed was empty and unmade, and his gaze fell to his note, lying on the ground by the bed. He sighed, realizing that Lois had probably missed his note when she woke up. He glanced at the clock and decided she had probably gone down a little early for the morning session.
He set the bag and cups on the table, trying to shake the feeling of disappointment he felt. It was nothing really. Just a missed opportunity for breakfast. It wasn't as if they had something planned. It wasn't as if they were a couple and he could reasonably expect to have breakfast with her. And really, it was just breakfast, not something really important. The fact that she wasn't there when he got back was not necessarily a bad sign.
Clark sighed and pushed his worries from his mind. He figured that he might as well take a shower with the extra time he had before he had to head down to the morning session. He grabbed one of the extra towels they'd left sitting on a chair the night before and spun out of his clothes. He slowed to a stop, securing the towel around his waist.
He swung the bathroom door open, and immediately was assaulted by the steam and the sweet smell of Lois' shampoo. He froze in the doorway, shocked. In front of him stood a flesh-and-blood version of something he hadn't even allowed himself to fantasize about. Well, that he hadn't allowed himself to fantasize about too often.
Lois' head snapped up, flipping her hair back - giving him a view of her smooth, white neck and the shocked look on her face.
“I…I…I…” Clark fumbled.
Lois stood up quickly, one hand fluttering to where her towel was tucked into itself.
“Clark? What…?”
Clark stood transfixed, unhearing as his eyes involuntarily swept her body. Her skin was still wet and glowing from the shower. Her long legs were exposed to his gaze. He started at her feet, and his eyes traveled upwards for what seemed like an eternity. The tiny hotel towel did little to hide her enticing curves. Her hair dripped onto her shoulders, sending rivulets of water down sliding down her collar bone and the swell of her breasts before slipping under the towel. He watched, fascinated as the process repeated itself, imagining the droplets' paths after they slid out of view.
Suddenly he realized what he was doing and tore his gaze from her body to her face. He cringed, expecting to see her ready to strike at him for taking advantage of this situation. He was ashamed of himself for not immediately turning and leaving the room, and expected to be chastised.
“Lois, I'm sorry, I…” Clark stopped when he realized she wasn't listening. Her gaze was focused on his chest, or somewhere lower. Her mouth hung slightly ajar, and it wasn't reproach that he saw on her face.
*****
