***~~~***
Chapter 24: Together
***~~~***
It was just before 10:00 a.m. Thursday morning and Perry White was in a bad mood. Lane and Kent were his best reporters individually, and when they worked together, it was pure magic. But even his stars had to show up for work. Given what had been going on the past few days, he wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt, but today was a workday and he needed them here. They weren’t in the office and hadn’t bothered to call in.
Since Nightfall had struck, everything had been off-kilter, but both of his stars had come though hard trials better than he’d thought possible. Clark losing his memory and then his family over a period of just a few days was bad. For her part, Lois had the double shock of the loss of her home as well as the death of Superman. They had turned to each other and together they had overcome their individual challenges.
Then there was the strangeness of the past two days. First, it was Clark. Getting word confirming the death of his parents had left him walking around like a zombie all day Tuesday. It had been amazing to watch Lois take care of him. Seeing her like that reminded him of the helpful and cheerful young woman he had hired. That woman had disappeared after the Claude business when she was replaced by Mad Dog Lane. It genuinely warmed his heart to see the helpful young woman back again. Perry had been afraid that Claude had killed that person forever.
Then there was the flip-over of behavior yesterday. Suddenly Clark was cheerful and upbeat but Lois was out of it. She wasn’t in the walking-daze mode that Clark had shown on Tuesday, but she was off-kilter just the same. She was short with everyone, but the whole office could see that Clark was the source of her irritation. Something had happened the previous evening to change everything around. Perry had heard the rumors running around the office, but he knew better than to attribute any truth to them.
Perry did his best to stay out of the personal lives of his reporters. However, since he'd seen Lois shattered by Claude, he'd kept a special eye on her. In many ways, she had grown to be more like a daughter to him than an employee. She was special. He'd been hoping for years that she would find someone worthy of her. When Clark showed up with that strange mix of strength and compassion, Perry realized he might be the perfect complement to Lois both professionally and personally. He’d teamed them up as quickly as possible and his judgment had proven to be spot on. As reporting partners they complemented each other perfectly. Even Lois came to accept Clark as a work partner.
On the personal front, things would take more time. Perry believed that had it not been for two glaring distractions Lois would have already noticed Clark's potential on a personal level. However, those distractions, in the form of Lex Luthor and Superman, had left no room for Clark's qualities to shine through. Perry had desperately hoped that the one good thing that might come out of Nightfall was that Lois would finally see what was in front of her. That seemed to be happening and Perry’s hopes for Lois’s happiness were at an all time high. But these kids had reached an awkward point in their developing relationship. One false step now could cause a blowup that could drive one of them away entirely.
Perry looked out over the office again. Where were those kids? Based on what he saw yesterday, they were probably packing up Lois's belongings so that she could move into his spare room. That might be for the best. Clark was good for her, but sometimes you needed some separation for things like this to turn out right. Perry was still looking out over the bullpen when Jimmy crossed his line of sight. “Olsen!” he bellowed.
Jimmy came over and stuck his head in the door. “Yes, Chief?”
“Has anyone heard from Lane or Kent this morning?”
“No, sir,” Jimmy answered in an appropriately fearful tone. “I saw you looking for them earlier so I called Clark's apartment. There was no answer but I left a message on the answering machine. Did you know that they changed the message to say that it's the residence of Clark Kent and Lois Lane?”
Perry didn’t care about the message on the machine. He gave the young Mr. Olsen a glare to let him know that he should continue with other information if he had any. Sure enough, after a few seconds Jimmy continued nervously. “Um, right. I called Star Labs in case they were following up with Dr. Klein but they haven't been there either. I also placed a call to Inspector Henderson but with no positive results. I left messages at all of those places to have them check-in here if they show up. I don't know where else to look.”
Perry thought for a moment. The only thing that Jimmy hadn't already tried was to check with Alice. He didn't think Lois would show up at his door without talking to him first. If he didn't see them by noon, he'd call Alice just to be on the safe side. “I think you did all you could,” Perry said to Jimmy. “Let me know if you hear anything.”
“Right, Chief.”
It was nearly 11:00 a.m. when Perry looked up to see Lois at her workstation. He was about to call her in to his office when Clark walked up to Lois’s desk with coffee. Good, they were both here. He was about to call them over when something happened that convinced him that there had been yet another shift in the personal lives of his favorite reporters. When Clark delivered Lois’s coffee cup to her desk, Lois reached up, pulled Clark’s face to hers, and kissed him. This triggered a whispered exchange of some sort where their faces were never more than an inch or two apart followed by another kiss. Perry was still trying to absorb this development when Lois happened to glance over in his direction.
As soon as she realized that he was watching them, she leaned toward Clark and whispered something else. Clark looked over at him as Lois stood. Then they both started toward his office. As usual, Lois was in the lead when they reached his door. She opened the door and stuck her head in. “Perry, do you have a minute?” she asked.
He was as curious as anyone but he needed to send the message that he was the boss and he was irritated. He pitched his voice in the most sarcastic tone he could muster. “It’s nice that you chose to grace our office with your presence today.”
That shook up Clark but Lois knew him too well for that to bother her. “We’re sorry, Perry.”
Perry didn’t think she really sounded sorry.
“It was kind of important,” she continued. “We’ll find a way to make it up to you.”
That was probably the best he was going to get. It was time to find out what was going on. “Well, come on in,” he said. “What kept you two busy this morning? Is it anything that I can put in my paper?”
They came in, closed the door behind them, and sat down. “No, Chief,” Clark answered. He exchanged a glance with Lois and they both smiled. “At least it’s not anything that will end up in the news section.”
They were obviously cheerful but this had been a distraction all morning. When their personal lives started interfering with the smooth operation of The Daily Planet, it was his problem. “Kids, I know you’ve both been under some stress lately and I’ve been trying to give you space to work things out. But you two are my top reporters and I can’t ignore it when you start missing work. Now, Lois, should I call Alice and tell her that you’ll be staying with us for a few weeks until you can get a place of your own?”
Lois stifled a laugh and then glanced over at Clark before turning back to face him. “No, Perry. Clark and I will be living together.”
“Darlin’, are you sure? The last few days seem to have been distracting.”
Lois reached out to her side and took Clark’s hand in hers. “We know, Perry. We had some issues to work through but we’ve gotten past that.” When she finished speaking, Lois smiled more brightly than Perry had ever seen before.
Perry couldn’t keep the smile off his own face. “So, you two have worked out your differences?”
They both laughed before Clark replied. “I think that’s a fair statement.”
There was something else going on here but Perry couldn’t think of a way to ask without crossing the line into the ‘none of his business’ category. He decided to simply wait and see if they were willing to explain.
Lois didn’t leave him hanging for long. “Perry, we’re married. That’s what we were doing this morning.”
Perry was in a state of shock. He barely managed to mutter, “How?”
Lois answered. “Do you remember that just before Nightfall hit there were a series of emergency laws put in place so that people could get their affairs in order before the disaster? One of the changes was that in New Troy the waiting period for a wedding license was suspended. It was supposed to be temporary but the exception was valid for a full month and is still in effect.” She looked over and smiled at Clark again. “We took advantage of that and got married this morning. Since Clark doesn’t remember any religious affiliations here in Metropolis and I’m not a member of a church, we were married by a justice of the peace.”
Perry was still struggling for words. “Um…I don’t see any rings.”
“We didn’t want to wait,” Lois’s replied. “We talked about having another public ceremony later so our friends and family can be there. We’ll exchange rings then.”
“Okay. Well, congratulations.” Perry leaned back in his chair and shook his head. “Clark, please don’t take this wrong but may I speak with Lois alone for a minute?”
“Sure, Perry. I’ll go start getting caught up on what we missed this morning.” Clark leaned over and kissed his bride before leaving the room. He was careful to close the door behind him.
Perry watched as Lois’s eyes tracked her new husband back to his desk. While watching his back, she commented, “He’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me. I can’t believe I didn’t see that sooner.” She turned back to Perry. “I hope this isn’t to tell me you think this is a mistake.”
“No, Lois. I wouldn’t do that. I’m happy for you, but this seems kind of sudden. I mean, I’ve always thought you two would be great together but I thought…I don’t know…maybe you’d try dating first. Just what happened to trigger this?”
She looked thoughtful for a second but never stopped smiling. “There were a lot of factors. After Nightfall, Clark has been a lot more forthright about his feelings. I’ve been confused but I finally let myself admit how much I’ve come to care for him. Also, Clark and I have been on a few dates since we’ve been living together. But to answer your question, I think you were responsible for us getting married.”
“Huh? What did I do?”
“You suggested that I move out and come live with you and Alice,” Lois answered, her voice still bubbly. “When Clark got to thinking about my moving out, he proposed. That scared me so much that I almost moved out on the spot. What I did do was think about what I wanted and what he meant to me. I finally realized that I’ve never been happier than since I’ve been living with Clark and I want that to go on…forever.”
Perry felt obligated to ask the obvious question. “But Lois, honey, do you know him well enough to get married?”
Now Lois’s voice turned solemn. “That was one of my last fears. Then I remembered what Rachel, the sheriff back in Smallville, said about Clark. She said that with Clark, what you see is what you get. Since I’ve been living with him I’ve come to understand what she meant. Other guys I’ve been around put on a certain false front so you have to figure out the real guy behind the façade. Clark is the only guy I’ve run into that doesn’t do that. The nice, friendly man that everyone sees is the same through and through. When you get to know him, Clark is exactly the kind of person that he looks like on the surface. I’m sure he has some secrets and it will be odd discovering them together, but I’m sure of him as a person. And I’m sure that he’s the right guy for me.”
There was a light coming from Lois when she said those words that made it impossible to argue. “Well, then, I’m happy for you,” Perry said. “To be honest, I always had a feeling about the two of you. I started to think he might be the one for you that day you came in with the Godzilla doll from the sewage treatment plant. So, are you going to take a honeymoon?”
“We talked about it but right now we want to keep on working to finish off the leads that have come out of Lex’s downfall.”
“Well, at least let me give you the rest of the day off today. It’s turning out to be a nice sunny day outside. You two should have some personal time to enjoy your wedding day. Did you plan to make an announcement to the office?”
“Yeah. We were going to tell everyone right after we finished talking to you.”
“The why don’t we get out there and do it so the two of you can get out of here. If we’re in here much longer Clark’s likely to think I really am trying to talk you out of the marriage.”
Perry led the way out of his office. They arrived at Clark’s desk to find him reviewing leads relating to Luthor. He was so tied up in what he was doing that he didn’t notice them until Lois put her hand on his shoulder, startling him.
Clark’s head jerked around. As soon as he saw whose hand was on his shoulder, a huge smile appeared. “Hi,” he said to Lois. “I’ve been merging our story information. I think I have the leads sorted out from most to least promising. We can get started as soon as you’re ready.”
“Perry wants us to take today off to celebrate,” Lois said to her husband.
“And to get settled into your new living arrangements,” Perry added. “It sounds like you have the story background all ready to go for getting a quick start here tomorrow morning.”
A huge smile crept up Clark’s face. “Thanks, Perry. We’d planned to work today but it would be great to have today to ourselves.”
“My pleasure, Clark. Now, are you going to make your announcement?”
“I guess it’s time.” Clark looked around the office. There were enough people here to pull this off. He raised his voice to just below that of a shout. “Excuse me. May I have everyone’s attention for a minute?” He must have been loud enough because the room went quiet and all eyes were on him. “At 10:07 a.m. this morning, Lois and I were married.” He paused for a moment as trying to think of something else to say. “I think I’m the luckiest man in the world.” Clark turned to Lois to find her beaming up at him. “Well, I am.” He whispered. And those that had failed to notice their kisses when they first arrived had another opportunity.
Perry couldn’t help but think how right he’d been about these two.
***~~~***
For Lois and Clark the rest of the day passed quickly. The first step was reorganizing the apartment. Demolition came first as they removed the temporary door that had been dividing the sleeping area into a separate room. Then it was just a question of dividing drawer and storage space. In the long run, this apartment would be too small for them but it would be fine for a while.
Then they spent much of the day strolling around Metropolis. The weather was almost back to normal. Since Nightfall there had been an excess of clouds and rain. In many ways Metropolis, and much of the world, had experienced a Seattle, Washington winter. Day after day it had been cloudy and grey. The meteorologists said it was all part of the extra moisture been kicked up from the Nightfall fragments that had landed in the oceans. Now they were saying that the worst was over and weather patterns all over the world were returning to normal. For Lois and Clark it couldn’t have come a day too soon. Between the weather and the time spent in the investigations, this was just about the first chance that they had to spend any time in the sun.
For dinner they had gone back to the site of their first date and it had been even more fun than the first time. That first date, like any first date, had carried the burden of nervousness and expectation. This was a very different feel. Tonight, the dominant feelings were of joy and anticipation. Their talks alternated between discussing each other’s perspectives on what it had been like living together and considering their new future.
Unfortunately, one negative marred their evening. At dinner, Clark noticed problems with his vision. Almost everything he looked at had a shadow. It was like seeing double. He found that the harder he concentrated, the worse it got. It never got too bad and he found that relaxing seemed to minimize the problem. Nevertheless, by the time they arrived home that evening, he was fighting a headache.
“Lois, have you seen my glasses?”
“No. They must be around. Are you having a problem with your vision after all this time?”
“Yeah. I told you back right after Nightfall that my glasses didn’t seem to do anything. I’ve been seeing fine without them so I haven’t bothered putting them on.”
“I noticed. Honey, I think you look good without them. But, you looked pretty good with them too.”
It only took less than a minute of searching before Clark found a pair in a drawer. Putting them on made all the difference. “This is much better,” Clark said when he put them on.
“Are you near-sighted or far-sighted?” Lois asked.
“I don’t know. I don’t think either.” He took he glasses off and looked around the room. He tried looking at objects at different distances with them on and off. “They don’t seem to have anything to do with distance correction. When I take them off, I sometimes see double images. When I put them on everything is fine.”
“Really,” Lois replied. “Let me see.” Clark handed her the glasses and she repeated the same steps that Clark had before. After a minute she took them off and offered them back to Clark. “I can’t see that they do anything. You’re right that there’s no distance correction. For me, everything looked exactly the same with them on or off. When I was wearing them it was like I was looking though flat glass.”
“Well, they help me a lot. At least they do tonight. They eliminate those funny double images. We’ll need to see if we can find records of my eye doctor.”
“I think that can wait for another night,” Lois said in a suddenly very suggestive tone. “Don’t you, Mr. Kent?”
“I do, Mrs. Kent.”
***~~~***
This was their first evening preparing for bed together. The casual relaxation that had present throughout the day was nowhere to be found now.
They never talked about how to handle going to bed, but it worked out that Clark was ready first and it was Lois that joined him in bed. As they moved into each other’s arms, Clark was almost overcome by the feeling of love and a general sensation of ‘rightness’ that he felt when they held each other this way. “Lois, I love you.”
“I love you, too, Clark. And I’m amazed how easy it is to say that.”
“Honey,” he said. “I’m nervous about…sleeping together tonight.”
“Darling, we’ve slept together two nights in a row.”
“But that’s it. We’ve only slept together. I’m… well, I’m hoping that there’s more than just sleep on the plan for tonight.”
“You can count on it, mister. But come on, Clark. Did you lose all your memories of…other times?”
“Lois, since this morning I’ve tried to remember but there’s nothing there. I would have expected an emotional echo of something as significant as…sex. I wonder…”
“What, Clark.”
“Well, either I thought sex was so meaningless that it didn’t leave an emotional imprint, which I find very hard to believe, or…”
“Or, what?” she asked.
“Or there were no other times.”
“Are you telling me that you’re…a virgin?”
“Honey, I don’t know. All I do know is that I have no reference and I certainly don’t have any memories.”
She repositioned herself so she was on top of her husband. “Let’s see about making some memories.”
TBC
Bob
